Hong Kong: HK to become top green finance hub

Financial Secretary Paul Chan

Looking to the future, the potential and opportunities of Hong Kong as an international financial centre (IFC) is just boundless, thanks to the unique connectivity with the Mainland and the world. We are determined to excel in many areas. Among them, our fund-raising platforms, our role in the renminbi's internationalisation, the unique connect schemes with the Mainland, asset and wealth management, centre for risk and corporate treasury management and much more. The list could be long.

But to echo this morning's inspiring panel discussions, please allow me to highlight Hong Kong's development in just two areas. Green and sustainable finance, and fintech.

Around the globe, governments have been drawing up action plans to peak greenhouse gas emissions and achieve carbon neutrality, seeking to reach the targets in the Paris Agreement.

The Mainland has set out its 3060 Dual Carbon Targets: that is, peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. In Hong Kong, we set our target to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

Along the global momentum, Hong Kong has this vision: to become a premier centre for green and sustainable finance that serves the green transformation in the Mainland, the region and the world.

On this, we have much confidence. The National 14th Five Year Plan supports Hong Kong's development into a green finance centre, in particular Hong Kong's strategic position in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, where green transition is high on demand for this burgeoning, 11-city region with a population of 86 million.

Adherence to high international standards is also why we have good prospects to succeed. We have reporting and disclosure standards that align with international best practices. We are seeking to adopt a green classification framework along the Common Ground Taxonomy. Green bonds issued in Hong Kong are trusted by global investors.

In realising this vision, we lead by example. We have issued government green bonds since 2018. Through the concerted efforts of regulators and the industry, green and sustainable debts issued or arranged in Hong Kong reached more than US$56 billion in 2021, four times that of the previous year, and top in Asia. Deep liquidity aside, the market covered a diversified investor base and project categories. To encourage the development of green finance, we continue to provide expenses subsidies for eligible issuers and borrowers for their borrowings in Hong Kong.

In many ways, we are setting the benchmark and standards for green finances in this region. Last year, we became the first Asian government to issue 30-year and 20-year green bonds denominated in US dollars and euros respectively, which were the longest tenor of Asian government bonds at the time. The response from investors was overwhelming.

Mainland provincial and municipal governments are supporting our efforts as well. Shenzhen, our neighbouring city, was the first mover, and they issued their first ever offshore RMB green bonds worth RMB3.9 billion in Hong Kong last year. It was followed by the provincial government of Hainan, which announced just last week the issuance of blue and sustainable bonds worth RMB5 billion in Hong Kong, for marine and sustainable projects.

Green finance seeks to support humanity's responsibility for the environment, and we do not forget that this is what our people should own and benefit from. In May this year, we issued the inaugural retail green bonds of US$2.5 billion, which was also the largest globally. The costs are slightly more expensive and administration a little more burdensome. But it will reinforce our residents' sense of ownership of our green vision and help us achieve financial inclusion goals.

Allow me to turn to the future of finance. The key word to this is definitely fintech.

Hong Kong's strengths as an IFC and as part of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area facilitate our development of a strong fintech sector: we have an extensive presence of top global financial institutions here providing a complete range of financial services; a deep pool of financial expertise and talent; an internationally recognised regulatory regime and sophisticated IT infrastructure, etc.

Building on this foundation, we have been adopting a multipronged approach in fostering fintech development. They include:

Forward looking and facilitating policies and measures. For example, a Fintech 2025 strategy has been promulgated by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) to help all banks to go fintech. Sandboxes of all the financial regulators are linked up to facilitate development of cross sectoral fintech solutions.

Encourage innovation. For example, we issued on October 31, a policy statement on virtual assets (VA). We make our policy stance clear to the markets to demonstrate our determination to explore financial innovation together with the global VA community.

Development of essential infrastructure. For example, a faster payment system connecting all bank accounts and electronic wallets for individuals, enabling them to make instant transfer of funds among them. The Commercial Data Interchange allows businesses to share operational data on a consent basis, so the banks may make better informed assessments of loan applications while SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) may gain access to financing services more conveniently.

Leveraging on our unique super connector role to facilitate cross-boundary collaboration in the development and application of fintech solutions. Cross-boundary supervisory sandbox in the Greater Bay Area is a recent example. Besides, an online platform will be launched to connect the fintech companies to users, partners and investors in the Mainland, Southeast Asia and beyond. Meanwhile, the HKMA is also working with the Bank of International Settlements and three peer central banks on the mBridge project, exploring the use of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) to expedite cross-border trade settlements.

Capacity building. We ensure there are facilitating and welcoming polices to attract Mainland and overseas talent while providing subsidised training and education opportunities for our own locals. Fintech qualifications have been established under the Qualifications Framework so as to provide a clear career path to fintech practitioners. The recent Policy Address of the Chief Executive has also rolled out even bolder measures to attract talent.

Nurturing the ecosystem. We provide subsidies for firms in their technology adoption; provide an incentive for startups and private equity firms to establish here, and we have set up funds to support and invest in fintech companies at various stages of development. Last year, we rolled out an electronic consumption voucher scheme. As a result, consumer accounts and merchant accounts of the relevant stored-value facility operators have increased by more than eight million and 150,000 respectively from the year before. Application of electronic payment has now infiltrated into different businesses and walks of life, from shopping centres to wet market, from hawkers to taxi drivers.

We have come a long way in a short time. Five years ago, Hong Kong counted no more than 180 fintech companies. Today, we are home to more than 800 companies, many of them are founded by entrepreneurs from the Mainland, France, Israel, the UK and other places. We also have nurtured several local unicorns.

But we do not stop here. The virtual asset policy statement mentioned earlier sets out our vision, regulations, thoughts on investor protection and attempts in emerging areas such as non-fungible token (NFT), tokenisation, and eHKD.

As an IFC, Hong Kong is open and inclusive towards global innovators. We are working with the financial regulators towards providing a facilitating environment for the sustainable and responsible development of the virtual asset sector in Hong Kong.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan gave these remarks at the Global Financial Leaders' Investment Summit on November 2.

This story has been published on: 2022-11-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Xi sends condolences to Indian president, PM over bridge collapse

Xinhua) 08:02, November 02, 2022

BEIJING, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday sent a message of condolence to Indian President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over a bridge collapse in India's western state of Gujarat, which had caused serious casualties.

In his message, Xi said he was shocked to learn of the deadly collapse. 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.

On the same day, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang also sent a message of condolence to Modi.

(Web editor: Cai Hairuo, Liang Jun)
Kerala High Court on Monday made it clear that it cannot rely upon Islamic clergy to decide on a point of law related to Muslim personal law. On this, Court clarified why ordinary scholars and the Islamic clergy have no formal legal training. This came from the Division Bench comprising Justice A Muhamed Mustaque and Justice CS Dias while dismissing a revision petition challenging its own decision regarding the interpretation of Khula. Khula is a procedure through which, a woman can give a divorce to her husband in Islam. "Courts are manned by trained legal minds. They shall not surrender to the opinions of Islamic clergy who has no legal training on the point of law. No doubt, in matters related to beliefs and practices, their opinion matters to the court, and the court should defend their views," observed the Court. The Court further observed that the legal norms are the cornerstones of creating a social and cultural order within the community. The dilemma relating to Khula is perhaps more related to the practice that has been followed for years. In such circumstances, it is expected to look at the legal norm by the Court. (ANI)
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, said on Tuesday that the Parwanoo-Solan section of NH-05 (old NH-22) in Himachal Pradesh has been developed under Phase III of the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) from the end of Parwanoo bypass to Solan, adding that the infrastructure of 'New India' is developing at a fast pace under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Gadkari said presently this national highway is part of the ancient and historical route known as Hindustan-Tibet Road. In the 70s, it was upgraded to the NH specification. The minister said that this national highway connects the districts of Solan, Sirmaur, Shimla, Kinnaur, Lahaul and Spiti and its subdivisions, the Seraj region of Kullu district and the Karsog subdivision, which constitute more than 30 per cent of the land area in the state. He said this project has brought a large number of electronic and non-polluting industries in the Shimla section of the state, in Parwanoo town, Solan and Sirmaur districts. Gadkari said the border areas of Kinnaur/Lahual and Spiti have been opened by the government for domestic and foreign tourists. The influx of tourists has contributed significantly to the development of road traffic in these districts and to the all-round economic development of the state. The minister said the road height in this project area is 874 to 1,659 metres above MSL (mean sea level). --IANS kvm/arm ( 246 Words) 2022-11-01-20:38:03 (IANS)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the inaugural session of Invest Karnataka 2022, the Global Investors Meet of the state, today at 10:30 am via video conferencing. According to the official press release, the meeting aims to attract prospective investors and set up development agenda for the next decade. The three-day programme, being held from November 2 to November 4 in Bengaluru, would witness more than 80 speaker sessions. The speakers include some of the top industry leaders like Kumar Mangalam Birla, Sajjan Jindal, and Vikram Kirloskar. Along with this, a number of business exhibitions with more than three hundred exhibitors, and country sessions would run parallelly, as per the official statement. The country sessions would each be hosted by the partner countries - France, Germany, Netherlands, South Korea, Japan, and Australia - which would bring in high-level ministerial and industrial delegations from their respective countries. The global scale of the event will give Karnataka an opportunity to showcase its culture to the world as well, read the official statement. (ANI)
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu said on Tuesday that the decades old pending issue of Arunachal-Assam inter-state boundary disputes would be resolved once and for all, probably by the end of November. The Chief Minister chaired a day-long meeting on Monday with a high-level delegation from Assam headed by its Border Protection and Development Minister Atul Bora. "The meeting with the Assam delegation can be termed as the penultimate one in the series of meetings held between the two states after the historic Namsai declaration," Khandu told the media. He said: "One more meeting is to be held between me and my Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma for a final agreement and permanent solution. Both of us are determined to resolve all our differences by the end of November." Khandu informed that following the Namsai declaration, 12 committees were formed headed by cabinet ministers of both the states. These committees jointly visited the disputed areas, took feedbacks from people of both sides and submitted their reports to their respective state governments. "We have discussed these reports district-wise in depth. I am happy that all reports are positive in effect and the committees of both the states have sincerely and jointly worked to find a permanent solution to this boundary issue," he said. He pointed out that "if there is a strong political will", no issue can remain unresolved for decades. "I have to specially thank Himanta Biswa Sarma for personally stepping out to resolve the boundary row, not only with Arunachal Pradesh but with all other northeastern states that share boundaries with Assam," the Arunachal CM said. --IANS sc/arm ( 284 Words) 2022-11-01-23:10:04 (IANS)
Lieutenant Governor of Delhi V.K. Saxena has never been 'abusive' in his communications with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the L-G Secretariat said in a statement on Tuesday. On the contrary, even in matters of extreme breach of properiety or blatant verbal misconduct on the part of the Chief Minister, his ministers and members of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the L-G has ignored and refrained from making any comment, the statement said. Earlier on Tuesday, Kejriwal had said during a media briefing, "I have noticed that the kind of language used by the L-G is very unfortunate and abusive at times. However, I have no problems with it. Arvind Kejriwal is not important, what the L-G says to Kejriwal is not really the issue. My only ambition is to serve the people of Delhi well." Kejriwal added, "But what bothers me is that when the L-G abuses Kejriwal, he is not just abusing me but the Chief Minister of Delhi. This is a constitutional post. The CM of Delhi is the CM of over 2 crore people of the national capital. By abusing the CM, you are also abusing 2 crore people who have given this opportunity to Arvind Kejriwal. You are also abusing the mandate that these people have given to me and my party. This I think is very unfortunate on the part of the the L-G. The people of Delhi do not deserve this. Also, no good has ever come out by using abusive language." Refuting Kejriwal's claims, the L-G office said that the Lieutenant Governor has never been abusive in his communication with the Chief Minister. "It may be noted that it took the Delhi Hight Court to reprimand and restrain them from being abusive towards the L-G," read the L-G office statement. "Even in matters of procedural impropriety, deliberate lapses and apparent misdemenour in matters of governance affecting the people of Delhi, the L-G has conveyed his views in writing, in a most dignified, proper and parliamentary language. His choice of words even in conveying his displeasure or non-concurrence over valid issues of concern to the people of Delhi has been more than civil and proper," it added. "It is unfortunate that an issue is being tried to be manufactured with the help of predecided planted questions through the media, where none exist. This is obviously an attempt to deflect people's attention from real issues that have recently come to the fore and should be avoided by the CM. It will do the people of Delhi a lot of good if the CM and his government follow the advice or directions given by the LG in a constitutionally valid manner and in unquestionably dignified, civil and proper language," the statement read. --IANS avr/arm ( 477 Words) 2022-11-01-23:22:03 (IANS)
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Tuesday called the state's foundation day its "Vijay Diwas", saying 22 years ago, on this very day, the struggles of the people had ended. A separate state of Chhattisgarh was founded -- after carving out of Madhya Pradesh, on November 1, 2000. During an interaction with IANS, CM Baghel spoke on a host of issues including the development and upliftment of the tribals who constitute a considerable part of the state's population. On the occasion of the state's 23rd Foundation Day, the Chief Minister inaugurated the third National Tribal Dance Festival by playing a tribal musical instrument, Nagada in Raipur in which artists from 28 states and 10 countries participated. In the programme, artists from 28 states, seven Union Territories of India and, 10 foreign countries -- Mozambique, Togo, Egypt, Mongolia, Indonesia, Russia, New Zealand, Serbia, Rwanda and Maldives -- mesmerised the audience by their performance. Raipur is hosting the festival to celebrate Chhattisgarh's 23rd Foundation Day (Chhattisgarh Rajyotsava) from November 1-3 at Science College Ground. Around 1,500 Indians and foreign artists are said to be participating in this event. Baghel said it is a wonderful coincidence that there is a similarity in the dance style, rhythm and instruments of tribals around the world. "This is because all of them have one heart and have the same hopes and desires," he said. He added that the objective of the National Tribal Dance Festival is to preserve the primitive culture. "The festival had started with the intent to carry the state's cultural beauty to the world. It became major since it gained success in the first event itself. It is considered a national event, but tribal communities from India as well as foreign countries participate in this," the Chief Minister said. Baghel also thanked artists from the states, union territories of India and from all over the world for joining them in the celebration and said that they were responsible for making the culture appear more beautiful with the colours of their cultural beauty. "The festival is a great opportunity to share one's thoughts and experiences. Everyone learns, understands and thinks of ways to make the world a better place together," he added. He said that a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the state government and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), Delhi to provide an opportunity and platform to the tribal artists of Chhattisgarh to perform abroad, which will increase the scope for the spread and exchange of tribal culture. Asked about the steps being taken by his government for the upliftment of the state's tribal community, Baghel said that work is being done for the tribals and all the people, like waiving the farmers' loans. He added that the government decided to buy paddy for Rs 2,500 and is also buying Tendu leaves at the rate of Rs 4,000 per sack, hence improving the financial condition of the tribals. --IANS moin/fs/pgh ( 504 Words) 2022-11-01-23:28:03 (IANS)
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday sought a time-bound judicial enquiry into the Morbi bridge collapse case that claimed 135 lives on Sunday evening. "A time-bound judicial enquiry led by a sitting SC/HC Judge is the only recourse," Kharge tweeted. He said that accountability must be set for the loss of lives in Morbi after the suspension bridge collapsed. "Accountability must be set for the loss of 135 lives in the Morbi bridge collapse. The conduct of the municipality, Pvt. firm and officials must be thoroughly investigated," read Kharge's tweet. https://twitter.com/kharge/status/1587417145520320512?t=QvHTH2Wc4040-txUi5AQiQ&s=08 Addressing a public rally in Hyderabad on Tuesday during Bharat Jodo Yatra, Kharge attacked the TRS government in Telangana, saying it had extended support to some bills in parliament which were opposed by the opposition parties and it was now talking of ousting the BJP government at the Centre. "Whenever we used to oppose any bill in Parliament, they (TRS) used to support BJP but they still say that they'll bring a non-BJP government. If anybody has to bring a non-BJP government, it's us who'll form a non-BJP government under Rahul Gandhi's leadership," Kharge said. Kharge, who was elected Congress president last month, had sidestepped a similar question before his elevation to the top party post. "There is a saying 'Bakrid mein bachenge toh Muharram mein nachenge'. First, let these elections get over and let me become president, then we'll see," Kharge had said when asked who would be the party's prime ministerial face. There have been efforts by some opposition leaders to bring together opposition parties against the BJP for the 2024 elections. In his remarks at the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP and TRS of "working together" and alleged that state Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao does "drama before polls" but is in "direct line" with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "Whenever there's any bill in Parliament, TRS supports BJP and diverts attention from Opposition issues. BJP and TRS work together. Your CM (KCR) does drama before polls but he's in direct line with PM Modi. PM Modi gives orders to your CM on phone," Rahul Gandhi alleged. Telangana will face assembly polls next year. The ruling Telanagna Rashtra Samiti has decided to change its name to Bharat Rashtra Samithi as part of its ambitions to have a national footprint. (ANI)
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, asking him to appear for questioning on November 3 in its ongoing probe into illegal mining case, sources said on Wednesday. Soren has been asked by the agency to appear before its Jharkhand''s Ranchi based regional office by 11.30 am. The ED''s move came almost a month after it seized a passbook and a chequebook, including two signed cheques, of Soren from the home of his alleged close associate Pankaj Mishra, who enjoyed political clout being the representative of Soren and exercised considerable control over illegal mining businesses as well as inland ferry services in Sahebganj and its adjoining areas through his accomplices. Mishra is in judicial custody now for exercising control over the mining of stone chips and boulders as well as installation and operations of several crushers set up across various mining sites in Jharkhand''s Sahebganj district. The ED made the revelations after it filed a Prosecution Complaint under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 before the special court at Jharkhand''s capital Ranchi against Pankaj Mishra, Bachhu Yadav, and Prem Prakash. During the investigation, 47 searches were conducted by the ED throughout India on several dates resulting into the seizure of Cash amounting to Rs 5.34 crore, freezing of bank balances amounting to Rs 13.32 crore, freezing of an inland vessel MV Infralink -III, reg. No- WB 1809, 5 number of stone crushers, two Hyva trucks besides the seizure of incriminating documents along with two numbers of AK 47 Assault Rifles. ED had arrested Pankaj Mishra on July 19, Bachhu Yadav on August 4 and Prem Prakash on August 25. All the accused persons arrested so far are presently in judicial custody. ED initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of First Information Report registered by Barharwa Police Station, Sahebganj under various sections of Indian Penal Code, 1860, against Pankaj Mishra and others. Later on, several FIRs regarding illegal mining lodged under IPC, Explosive substances Act, Arms Act have also been taken into the ambit of scheduled offence. Till date, the ED has identified Proceeds of Crime relating to illegal mining to the tune of more than Rs 1,000 crore in this case. "PMLA Investigation revealed that Pankaj Mishra, who enjoys political clout, being the representative of the Chief Minister, MLA from Barhait, Sahebganj, Jharkhand controls the illegal mining businesses as well as inland ferry services in Sahebganj and its adjoining areas through his accomplices," the ED had said earlier in a statement. Proceeds of Crime amounting to Rs 42 crore approximately acquired by Pankaj Mishra have been identified till date, the ED has said. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday will inaugurate 3024 newly constructed EWS flats at Kalkaji, Delhi built for rehabilitating slum dwellers under the 'In-Situ Slum Rehabilitation' Project. He will hand over keys to eligible beneficiaries from Bhoomiheen Camp in a program at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi, said the Prime Minister's Office. The program is slated for 4:30 PM today. "In line with the vision of the Prime Minister to provide housing for all, in-situ slum rehabilitation in 376 Jhuggi Jhopri clusters is being undertaken by Delhi Development Authority (DDA). The objective of the rehabilitation project is to provide a better and healthy living environment to the residents of the Jhuggi Jhopri clusters, with proper amenities and facilities," read an official statement by PMO. The Delhi Development Authority has undertaken three such projects at Kalkaji Extension, Jailorwala Bagh, and Kathputli Colony. Under the Kalkaji Extension Project, in-situ Slum Rehabilitation of three slum clusters namely Bhoomiheen Camp, Navjeevan camp, and Jawahar camp located at Kalkaji is being taken up in a phased manner. Under Phase I, 3024 EWS flats at the nearby vacant commercial center site have been constructed. The Jhuggi Jhopri site at Bhoomiheen Camp will be vacated by rehabilitating eligible households of Bhoomiheen camp to the newly constructed EWS flats. Post vacation of Bhoomiheen Campsite, in Phase II, this vacated site will be utilized for rehabilitation of Navjeevan Camp and Jawahar Camp. "Phase I of the Project has been completed and 3024 flats are ready to move in. These flats have been constructed at a cost of about Rs. 345 crores and are equipped with all civic amenities including finishing having been done with vitrified floor tiles, ceramics tiles, Udaipur green marble counter in kitchen, etc. Public amenities have also been provided. The allotment of flats will provide the people ownership title as well as a sense of security," the statement added. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the inaugural function of ''Invest Karnataka 2022'', the Global Investors Meet of the state, via video conferencing today. The address is slated for 10:30 AM today. The meet is aimed to attract prospective investors and set up development agenda for the next decade. The three-day program, being held from November 2-4 in Bengaluru will have more than 80 speaker sessions. The speakers include some of the top industry leaders including Kumar Mangalam Birla, Sajjan Jindal, and Vikram Kirloskar among others. Along with this, a number of business exhibitions with more than three hundred exhibitors, and country sessions would run parallelly, read an official statement by the PMO. The country sessions would each be hosted by the partner countries - France, Germany, Netherlands, South Korea, Japan, and Australia - which would be bringing in high-level ministerial and industrial delegations from their respective countries, the statement said. The global scale of the event will give Karnataka an opportunity to showcase its culture to the world as well, the statement added. On Tuesday, Karnataka chief minister talking to reporters after inspecting the arrangements for the three-day meet at Palace Ground in Bengaluru said the ''Invest Karnataka'' is going to grab the attention of the whole world. He stated that global investments are coming to Karnataka as the state has a rich atmosphere. This will put a strong foundation for the development of Karnataka in the next five years. It is a most important meet and all technocrats, young engineers, IT/BT experts, startups, educational institutions and global and domestic investors are welcome to Bengaluru. "We are expecting over Rs 5 lakh crore investment and the State High level Committee has already given clearance for investment over Rs 2.8 lakh crore. This is our commitment to our investors and we are going to distribute the certificate of investment tomorrow. We will sign an agreement with new investors and give all the clearances in the next few days. The State of Karnataka is making a big leap in the industrial sector and it will be evident in tomorrow''s meet," the chief minister said. Bommai said most of the investors have shown interest for investment beyond Bengaluru, and new industries are coming up in Ramanagar, Hubballi-Dharwad, Ballari, Kalaburagi and Mysuru. "We are expecting over Rs 5 lakh crore investment and the State High level Committee has already given clearance for investment over Rs 2.8 lakh crore. This is our commitment to our investors and we are going to distribute the certificate of investment tomorrow. We will sign an agreement with new investors and give all the clearances in the next few days. The State of Karnataka is making a big leap in the industrial sector and it will be evident in tomorrow''s meet, "the CM said. The dream of Beyond Bengaluru is becoming a reality, he said. Last week, the FMCG Cluster to come up in Dharwad was inaugurated in Hubballi and expected an investment of Rs 10,000 crore. It is going to provide employment to over one lakh people. The textile park will come up in Kalaburagi, Vijayapura and Raichur districts; Pharma Park in Yadgir; Electronic Park in Mysuru and Defence production unit in Tumkur. "The situation is conducive in Karnataka and plays an important role in building New Karnataka. Our aim is to contribute One Trillion Dollar to the Prime Minister''s five Trillion dollar economy of India. The ecosystem that exists in China is present in Karnataka. The state has made achievements in the manufacturing sector," the chief minister said. (ANI)
In a major breakthrough after the news of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren summoned by the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday aired, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) Party leader Manoj Pandey alleged the Centre government of vendetta politics. "PM should also be summoned in several cases," Pandey said. "We'll approach the Court if there's injustice. Don't know if the ED can summon a Chief Minister. If so, the Chief Minister will respond after consulting legal experts," JMM leader told ANI. Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has been summoned by Enforcement Directorate (ED) on November 3 for investigation over contravention of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and in a money laundering probe linked to an illegal mining case in the Sahebganj district. While reacting to ED's summon to Hemant Soren, Jharkhand BJP State President Deepak Prakash said, "The law will not spare the one who does wrong. Jharkhand people are apprised of the fact that Hemant Soren has taken an illegal mining lease in the name of his Press Advisors, his key aide MLA Pankaj Mishra, and his wife. There has been a scam of thousand crores. If the ED is summoning the Chief Minister, it is a welcome move." Asked about the JMM's party leader's allegations of the Centre doing 'vendetta politics', Deepak Prakash said that the people, who are accusing are those who did the work of looting the mineral wealth of Jharkhand, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leaders have resolved to ransack the poor. Meanwhile another BJP leader from West Bengal, Saumitra Khan supported the ED's move. "One always has to pay for wrong deeds. If the Chief Minister did something wrong then he will pay for it," Saumitra said. Notably, Soren has been asked by the agency to appear before its Jharkhand's Ranchi based regional office by 11.30 am. The ED's move came almost a month after it seized a passbook and a chequebook, including two signed cheques, of Soren from the home of his alleged close associate Pankaj Mishra, who enjoyed political clout being the representative of Soren and exercised considerable control over illegal mining businesses as well as inland ferry services in Sahebganj and its adjoining areas through his accomplices. Mishra is in judicial custody now for exercising control over the mining of stone chips and boulders as well as installation and operations of several crushers set up across various mining sites in Jharkhand's Sahebganj district. The ED made the revelations after it filed a Prosecution Complaint under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 before the special court at Jharkhand's capital Ranchi against Pankaj Mishra, Bachhu Yadav, and Prem Prakash. During the investigation, 47 searches were conducted by the ED throughout India on several dates resulting into the seizure of Cash amounting to Rs 5.34 crore, freezing of bank balances amounting to Rs 13.32 crore, freezing of an inland vessel MV Infralink -III, reg. No- WB 1809, 5 number of stone crushers, two Hyva trucks besides the seizure of incriminating documents along with two numbers of AK 47 Assault Rifles. ED had arrested Pankaj Mishra on July 19, Bachhu Yadav on August 4 and Prem Prakash on August 25. All the accused persons arrested so far are presently in judicial custody. ED initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of the First Information Report registered by Barharwa Police Station, Sahebganj under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, against Pankaj Mishra and others. Later on, several FIRs regarding illegal mining lodged under IPC, Explosive substances Act, Arms Act have also been taken into the ambit of scheduled offence.Till date, the ED has identified Proceeds of Crime relating to illegal mining to the tune of more than Rs 1,000 crore in this case. "PMLA Investigation revealed that Pankaj Mishra, who enjoys political clout, being the representative of the Chief Minister, MLA from Barhait, Sahebganj, Jharkhand controls the illegal mining businesses as well as inland ferry services in Sahebganj and its adjoining areas through his accomplices," the ED had said earlier in a statement. Proceeds of Crime amounting to Rs 42 crore approximately acquired by Pankaj Mishra have been identified till date, the ED has said. (ANI)
A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi heaped praise on Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Congress leader and former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot termed it as a "very interesting" development that "should not be taken lightly." "The PM had similarly praised Ghulam Nabi Azad in Parliament. We saw what happened after that," Pilot said. Talking to reporters here, Pilot said, "We all witnessed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's praises during his visit to the Mangarh Dham, We all have seen similar things, earlier in the Rajya Sabha as well when the PM heaped praises on former Rajya Sabha MP Ghulam Nabi Azad on his farewell day. Everybody knows what happened after that. It is an interesting development yesterday and should not be taken lightly." Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday visited Mangarh Dham in Rajasthan and shared the dias with Gehlot at the event "...When PM Modi goes abroad, he receives great honour. Because he is PM of the nation of Gandhi, where democracy is deep-rooted. When the world realises this, they feel proud that the PM of that country is coming to them...," Gehlot said. Addressing the event, PM Modi recalled his days as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. "Ashok ji (Gehlot) and I had worked together as CMs. He was the most senior in our lot of CMs. Ashok ji is still one of the senior-most CMs among those who are sitting on the stage right now," he said. Meanwhile talking to reporters here today, Pilot also said that the time has now arrived "to take action against indiscipline" and sought action against errant MLAs of Rajasthan. Pilot said MLAs who have been served notices should be told to file their replies. "Congress is an old party... I request the new president to take action against indiscipline," he said. "As far as Rajasthan is concerned, a CLP meet called on September 25 couldn't be held. AICC considered it a matter of indiscipline...Rules same for all. So, if indiscipline occurred and replies were given, action should be taken. I believe party chief Mallikarjun Kharge will take a decision soon," Pilot said. In the run-up to the nomination for Congress president election, Gehlot was forced to bow out of the process after Congress MLAs supporting Gehlot did not attend a Congress Legislature Party meeting on September 25. (ANI)
The beneficiaries of newly constructed EWS flats at Kalkaji in the national capital expressed their happiness after knowing they would get the keys to their new house today. "I lived here for 40 yrs. It's a joyous day as we have been told that we will get the keys to flats today," said one of the beneficiaries of the 'In-Situ Slum Rehabilitation' project, Gopal Mandal. Another beneficiary expressed her gratitude stating that her children will now get to live in a "big flat". "I will get to move out of this congestion. I was born here and now my children have also grown up, they will get to live in a big flat," said another beneficiary of the 'In-Situ Slum Rehabilitation' project wherein Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate 3024 newly constructed EWS flats on Wednesday evening. These EWS flats are equipped with all civic amenities and their finishing has been done with vitrified floor tiles, ceramics tiles, Udaipur green marble counter in the kitchen and more. The flats are also accompanied with various public amenities such as community parks, electric substations, sewage treatment plants, dual water pipelines, lifts, and underground reservoirs for providing a hygienic water supply. The Prime Minister will hand over keys to eligible beneficiaries from Bhoomiheen Camp in a program at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi in a programme that is slated to be held at 4.30 pm today, the Prime Minister's Office said. "In line with the vision of the Prime Minister to provide housing for all, in-situ slum rehabilitation in 376 Jhuggi Jhopri clusters is being undertaken by Delhi Development Authority (DDA). The objective of the rehabilitation project is to provide a better and healthy living environment to the residents of the Jhuggi Jhopri clusters, with proper amenities and facilities," PMO stated. The Delhi Development Authority has undertaken three such projects at Kalkaji Extension, Jailorwala Bagh, and Kathputli Colony. Under the Kalkaji Extension Project, in-situ Slum Rehabilitation of three slum clusters namely Bhoomiheen Camp, Navjeevan camp, and Jawahar camp located at Kalkaji is being taken up in a phased manner. Under Phase I, 3024 EWS flats at the nearby vacant commercial center site have been constructed. The Jhuggi Jhopri site at Bhoomiheen Camp will be vacated by rehabilitating eligible households of Bhoomiheen camp to the newly constructed EWS flats. Post vacation of Bhoomiheen Campsite, in Phase II, this vacated site will be utilized for rehabilitation of Navjeevan Camp and Jawahar Camp. "Phase I of the Project has been completed and 3024 flats are ready to move in. These flats have been constructed at a cost of about Rs. 345 crores and are equipped with all civic amenities including finishing having been done with vitrified floor tiles, ceramics tiles, Udaipur green marble counter in kitchen, etc. Public amenities have also been provided. The allotment of flats will provide the people ownership title as well as a sense of security," the statement added. (ANI)
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday issued notice to Commissioner of Delhi Police for not providing adequate security to Supreme Court lawyer and activist Vineet Jindal. "Inaction by the Delhi Police authorities, in this case, is a matter of concern for the Commission as it relates to the Protection of the Right to Life of the complainant and his family," NHRC said. The inaction by the Delhi Police authorities, in this case, is a matter of concern for the Commission as it relates to the Protection of the Right to Life of the complainant and his family, said the commission. The Commission directs the Commissioner of Police, Special Commissioner of Police, Protective Security, Police and Deputy Commissioner of Police, North West Delhi to send an action taken report to the Commission immediately but not beyond 2 weeks from the date of the orders of the Commission. This is the last and final opportunity granted to the authorities to submit their report within the stipulated time. In case, no response is received within 2 weeks, in pursuance of the provisions laid down u/s 13 of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, they will be called in person by the Commission for submission of the requisite report. Vineet Jindal, a practicing Advocate and complainant recently moved NHRC and stated that he has filed PIL and many complaints against anti national elements before the Supreme Court of India, Delhi High Court and Delhi Police as well as before the Supreme Court of Pakistanand Bangladesh against violation of the human rights of the minority Hindu community. It was also mentioned in the complaint that the complainant has also filed a complaint on 17.01.2022 against "Sikh For Justice" which is a Pro-Khalistani Organization and against its head Gurpatwant Singh Pannu who is a declared terrorists, with the New York Police Commissioner to stop their unlawful activities against India. The complainant had stated that he has been telephonically receiving threats to life from unknown numbers on behalf of these anti-India organizations from different locations across the world that they will kill him for opposing Khalistan and filing the complaints with various authorities. The complainant was reportedly provided one PSO on 20.01.2022 in view of the threats being received by him but as mentioned in the complaint, that will also be withdrawn soon by the police authorities. The complainant had stated that he has requested for round the clock security for him and his family in view of the serious threats extended by the international terrorists. It was mentioned in the complaint that the complainant received a fresh threat on 26.07.2022 from Islamic terrorists but no action has been taken by the police. The complainant stated that recently a large number of people have been killed by the Islamic terrorists as they were not provided adequate security by the police, in time. The complainant had requested the Commission to intervene in the matter and issue directions for adequate security for him and his family to save their lives from said Khalistani and Islamic terrorists who are constantly extending threats to him. (ANI)
In a major turn in the Morbi bridge collapse case in Gujarat, the Additional Public Prosecutor of the case made a huge revelation, saying that one of the accused managers of the Oreva company cited " Act of God" in the court as a reason for the tragic mishap. "One of the two managers of Oreva company (that have been arrested) told the court that it is an 'Act of God'," said Additional Public Prosecutor, Advocate HS Panchal. Another major revelation came up to the fore that the cable wires of the bridge were not in the ideal condition to be opened for the general masses and were "rusting away". "In the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report, the Investigating Officer (IO) said that the cable (of bridge)was rusting away. The Investigating Officer says that only flooring of the bridge was done and the cables were not changed, oiling-greasing also wasn't done," Advocate HS Panchal said. Adding that Prima facie, FSL officer says that it was an old cable. Asked about details of the accused sent to police custody today, Panchal said, "Out of the 4 people who were sent to Police custody, two are managers at Oreva Co and two others did fabrication work for the bridge. The five others who were sent to judicial custody are security personnel and ticket vendors." "In the report, the Investigating Officer (IO) stated that the tender process did not take place and contract was directly allotted," Advocate Panchal further said. Out of nine persons arrested pertaining to the October 30 collapse of the century-old suspension bridge, killing 135 people, Gujarat's Morbi Court on Wednesday has sent four people to police custody and the remaining five into judicial custody till November 5. Of the four persons in police custody, two are managers of the Oreva company, which threw the bridge open for visitors after seven months of maintenance works, and the other two are fabrication work contractor's people. Speaking on the ongoing investigation, Rahul Tripathi, SP Morbi, said, "We are questioning all the four accused in our custody and we are trying to establish the liability of the different kinds of lapses in the bridge renovation. We are doing a thorough investigation and if anyone's role comes forward, he or she will be booked and arrested." He added further, "Yes, We have given a scientific report to the court but details of the same can't be shared with you at this stage as this will hamper our investigation."The Gujarat Police has filed a First Information Report under IPC sections 304 and 308 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) in the bridge collapse tragedy. Earlier, the Gujarat government constituted a five-member committee to probe the bridge collapse incident. "An FIR has been registered against the maintenance and management agencies of the bridge, under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), and 114 (abettor present when offense is committed) of the India Penal Code," said Morbi B Division Police Inspector, Prakashbhai Dekavadiya. Briefing mediapersons here, Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi said, "The death toll in the Morbi hanging bridge collapse incident has gone up to 132. The Chief Minister has constituted a high power committee yesterday itself while leaving Ahmedabad. All officers, posted at different locations, were asked to report at Morbi by 2 am. The investigation is going on." The Gujarat Home Minister further informed that a criminal case has been registered in connection with the incident. "An investigation has begun today under the leadership of Range IGP," Sanghavi said. Everyone worked all through the night. The Navy, NDRF (National Disaster Relief Force), Air Force and Army arrived at the spot quickly. More than 200 persons have worked the entire night for search and rescue operations," Sanghavi said. At least 135 people, including women and children, were killed and over 100 are receiving treatment for their injuries sustained after a cable suspension bridge in Morbi town collapsed on Sunday, plunging people into the Machchhu River. The search and rescue operation is underway in the Machchhu river. "According to the information received from the district administration, one or two people are still missing. We are carrying out search operation along with other agencies. 5 teams of NDRF are working here," Prasanna Kumar, NDRF commandant said today. (ANI)
Congress leader and former Maharashtra Energy Minister Nitin Raut was admitted to a hospital in Hyderabad after receiving injuries. Raut sustained injuries in his right eye, hand, and leg as he fell down after being allegedly pushed by the police during the 55th day of the Bharat Jodo Yatra. "I was in Bharat Joda Yatra and had already crossed Charminar. I was moving towards the stage when Rahul Gandhi's convoy came, seeing which the police panicked and started pushing people here and there. The ACP pushed me strongly by placing both hands over my chest. I fell near a barricade at the road and sustained injuries. I started bleeding and was then finally taken to the hospital," Congress leader Nitin Raut told ANI on Wednesday. The incident took place after the Bharat Jodo Yatra resumed the march from Hyderabad city, which was briefly joined by actress-filmmaker Pooja Bhatt. https://twitter.com/INCSCDept/status/1587496980645048320 Earlier in the day, the senior Congress leader and party president, Mallikarjun Kharge, interacted with Bharat Jodo Yatra marchers at Bowenpally in Hyderabad. Kharge in his interaction said that the marchers are also walking 3,500 km with Rahul Gandhi. They bring positive energy to our Bharat Jodo Yatra and are a great source of inspiration to our party cadres. Kharge also claimed that Bharat Jodo Yatra is bringing a silent revolution that will change the political landscape. While tweeting from its Twitter handle Congress said that every day a new chapter of history is being added. Every day the count of people is taking a jump who wants love and peace in their country. On Tuesday, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) working president and minister KT Rama Rao (KTR) on Tuesday called Congress leader Rahul Gandhi a "wannabe PM", hit back at him stating that the "international leader" should first convince his people to elect him as an MP than ridiculing Telangana Chief Minister KCR's national party ambitions. "International leader Rahul Gandhi who can't even win his own parliament seat in Amethi, and ridicules Telangana CM KCR's national party ambition. Wannabe PM should first convince his people to elect him as an MP," tweeted KTR. Meanwhile, in the sequence of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee is going to start a three-day yatra from Chamoli District's Mana village on November 7. State Congress President Karan Mahara told ANI that in the course of the Bharat Jodo Yatra Congress will take out padyatra from five places in the state. The first such yatra is starting from Mana. He said that similarly yatras will be taken out from Kumaon and other parts of Garhwal at different times. Mahara said that apart from the issues of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, state-level issues will also be included in the padyatra. He said that these yatras originating from five places in the state would be under his leadership, in which senior party leaders and workers would be involved. On October 31, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) planned to launch the Bharat Jodo Yatra, from Assam on Tuesday with the aim of covering 834 km distance in the state. The Assam march will be led by APCC president Bhupen Kumar Borah on Tuesday and plans to cover 834 km across the state within 70 days. The Bharat Jodo Yatra, Assam will start from Golakganj in the Dhubri district, situated along Assam-West Bengal border to the Sadiya district, along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border. (ANI)
A three-day dance festival was embarked in Chhattisgarh's Raipur on Tuesday with the aim of promoting tribal culture and reviving the endangered craft of Matparai. Asserting that the culture of crafting Matparai was "almost extinct", Abhishek Sapan is trying to revive it by participating in the festival. "Matparai is a handcraft made from soil and paper. Since this craft has almost extinct, I am trying to revive it through this festival," Durg-based engineer-cum-craftsman Abhishek Sapan told ANI. Sapan is the only artist making Matparai craft for the last 11 years. Earlier his mother and grandmother used to make it, he said. He further said that the festival has a good marketing approach and the craftsperson can get a good response from other states and abroad as well. "This festival has good marketing and we get good responses from other states and abroad. This is the first time that we have participated as it is a good opportunity to revive our handmade craft and culture," he added. He is the only Matparai artist hopeful that their earnings can be increased through this festival. Mat means soil, and Parai meaning paper and both are mixed like "Papier-mache" art. Raipur is hosting a three-day national Tribal dance festival where artists from 28 states and seven union territories of the country participate. Besides, the festival is also attended by ten other countries-- Mozambique, Togo, Egypt, Mongolia, Indonesia, Russia, New Zealand, Serbia, Rwanda and Maldives-- who perform tribal dance here. This year, around 1500 domestic and foreign artists are participating in this event. Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has said that the festival is aimed to protect the age-old traditions and rights of the tribal people. It will also promote their culture across the world, CM Baghel said. On the occasion of the National Tribal Dance Festival and Rajyotsava, CM Baghel also inaugurated the Chhattisgarh Shilpgram and Departmental Exhibition in Science College, Raipur. (ANI)
Hindu College under the University of Delhi organized a grand welcome for the first-year students through an 'Orientation Programme', with University officials as special guests. The event held on Tuesday was meant to introduce the new batch of students to the academic culture at Hindu College. The programme began with a documentary showcasing the rich history of the college and the role it played in various national movements and describing Hindu College as the 'Heart of the Nation'. Speaking on the occasion, Hindu College Principal Professor Anju Srivastava said, "After a long gap of two years, we get to celebrate your addition in the Hindu College community. Today, you become members of something greater than just a building, entering a lifelong association that will only grow deeper with time." Prof Srivastava informed that 987 students got admission to various departments of the college this year. Dean of Academic Affairs, University of Delhi Professor K Ratnabali said that the new course structure gives rise to the flexibility to help students to form a conducive academic pathway as per their interests. "Students should have a multidisciplinary approach and should have exposure to multidisciplinary subjects, like social sciences including political science, history, etc," he said. Delhi University Registrar Vikas Gupta said, "The motto is that you have to move forward, taking all of us together. There should be a race, but not a cutthroat competition. Once we understand the importance of collaboration, we would be able to make our best in future endeavours." Alankaar, the Indian Music Society of the College mesmerized the audience with their melodious voices, which was followed by Adhrita, the Indian Dance Society of the College, captivating the gathering with their angelic and graceful movements. The students were also greeted by their respective departments with seniors and faculty making all efforts to make them settle into their new institution quickly. The overall atmosphere of college was oozing with excitement and cheerful conversations. (ANI)
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday arrested an absconding accused in a case related to the murder of a local Trinamool Congress leader. The arrested accused has been identified as Palash Khan alias Faizul Khan. He was absconding after the murder. In a statement, CBI mentioned that Bhadu SK, who was a Deputy Pradhan and resident of Village Bogtui of District Birbhum in West Bengal was killed in March this year. CBI had registered a case in April 2022 on the orders High Court at Calcutta in connection with killings that happened in a village in Birbhum district where 10 people were killed and FIR was registered at Police Station Rampurhat against 10 accused on a complaint. It was alleged that on March 21, the accused threw a bomb targeting Bhadu SK and he fell down on the ground. It was also alleged that the accused kept throwing more bombs aiming at him. The complainant took his brother to Rampurhat Hospital where Doctor declared him dead. CBI collected digital as well as other scientific evidence. It was found during the investigation that there was long-standing rivalry between two groups in the area. One group was led by the deceased Bhadu Sk and another was led by FIR named accused. Bhadu Sk was killed in furtherance of the said rivalry.A chargesheet was filed against the said accused and three others in June in the court. The said accused was evading his arrest and absconding since the inception of the case. He was seen and identified hurling a bomb on Bhadu SK. The arrested accused was produced on Wednesday before the Court of ACJM, Rampurhat and has been sent to 8 days police remand. (ANI)
The Central Election Committee (CEC) of the Congress will meet here on November 4 to finalise the candidates for the Gujarat Assembly elections which are expected to be announced in the coming days. The meeting will be held at the party headquarters. Congress, which had put up a strong fight in the last assembly polls, is seeking to oust the BJP from power in Gujarat. With AAP also seeking to make its presence felt in the state, the challenge for Congress has increased in this election. The BJP has won six consecutive assembly polls in Gujarat. The Congress is keen to take an early decision on candidates to give them more time for campaigning and is seeking to bolster its campaign through yatras. Prime Minister Modi has already held a slew of public meetings in the state. Mallikarjun Kharge became Congress chief last month and elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat will be the first elections to be fought by the party under his leadership. Himachal Pradesh will go to the polls on November 12 and counting of votes will take place on December 8. (ANI)
106-year-old Shyam Saran Negi, the first voter of Independent India, exercised his right to franchise for the 34th time for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections through a postal ballot at his residence in Kinnaur district on Wednesday. Negi, a teacher by profession who hails from the tribal district of Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh exercised his right to franchise for the 34th time for the 14th Vidhan Sabha elections through a postal ballot at his home in Kalpa today. He cast his vote through a postal ballot for the first time. Born in July 1917, Negi voted for the first time in 1951 in the general elections of India and has voted for sixteen times in Lok Sabha Elections. He cast his vote in every Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabha and all local bodies right after 1951. He has also been made a state election icon in 2014. Popularly known as Master Shyam Saran, the centenarian has voted in every election since 1951 and has never missed an opportunity to vote. After casting his vote, Negi said that every citizen should vote for strengthening the democratic set-up. "The young voters should consider their duty to vote and contribute in strengthening the Nation," he said, adding that we should feel proud of our voting right as it helps in choosing the right representative to lead the Nation. District Election Officer cum Deputy Commissioner, Abid Hussain Sadiq said that a red carpet was laid to bring him to the postal booth set up in the compound of his house. Negi was brought on a red carpet to the booth where he exercised his right to franchise and soon thereafter his vote was sealed in an envelope and dropped in the ballot box. Sadiq along with the returning officer cum SDM Kalpa, Major (retd) Shashank Gupta and the other officers and officials of the district administration honoured the first voter of Independent India. Meanwhile, as many as 5,093 people have cast their vote through the postal ballot in Himachal Pradesh for the Assembly elections. Voting by postal ballot commenced on November 1 and will be completed before November 11. According to the Election Commission, to make the electoral process inclusive and ensure the participation of special category voters a total of 1,70,403 Form 12-D were issued to those above 80 plus, Persons with Disability (PwD) voters and those employed in essential services in the state. Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Maneesh Garg said that out of the total forms as above 43,143 forms were received back complete in all respects. He said that 4,330 postal ballots of 80 plus and 763 ballots of PwDs were received back from all over the State. Garg further informed that on Wednesday, the number of postal ballot cast were 366 in Kangra, 297 in Kullu, 1991 in Mandi, 528 in Una, 838 in Bilaspur, 315 in Solan, 669 in Shimla and 89 in Kinnaur. Himachal Pradesh is all set to go to polls on November 12, the results of which will be declared on December 8. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday praised 106-year-old Shyam Saran Negi, a resident of Himachal Pradesh's Kinnaur, for exercising his right to franchise for the 34th time. "This is commendable and should serve as an inspiration for the younger voters to take part in the elections and strengthen our democracy," PM Modi said in a Twitter post while retweeting the ANI news. 106-year-old Shyam Saran Negi, the first voter of Independent India, exercised his right to franchise for the 34th time for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections through a postal ballot at his residence in Kinnaur district on Wednesday. Negi, a teacher by profession who hails from the tribal district of Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh exercised his right to franchise for the 34th time for the 14th Vidhan Sabha elections through a postal ballot at his home in Kalpa today. He cast his vote through a postal ballot for the first time. Born in July 1917, Negi voted for the first time in 1951 in the general elections of India and has voted for sixteen times in Lok Sabha Elections. He cast his vote in every Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabha and all local bodies right after 1951. He has also been made a state election icon in 2014. Popularly known as Master Shyam Saran, the centenarian has voted in every election since 1951 and has never missed an opportunity to vote. After casting his vote, Negi said that every citizen should vote for strengthening the democratic set-up. "The young voters should consider their duty to vote and contribute in strengthening the Nation," he said, adding that we should feel proud of our voting right as it helps in choosing the right representative to lead the Nation. District Election Officer cum Deputy Commissioner, Abid Hussain Sadiq said that a red carpet was laid to bring him to the postal booth set up in the compound of his house. Negi was brought on a red carpet to the booth where he exercised his right to franchise and soon thereafter his vote was sealed in an envelope and dropped in the ballot box. Sadiq along with the returning officer cum SDM Kalpa, Major (retd) Shashank Gupta and the other officers and officials of the district administration honoured the first voter of Independent India. Meanwhile, as many as 5,093 people have cast their vote through the postal ballot in Himachal Pradesh for the Assembly elections. Voting by postal ballot commenced on November 1 and will be completed before November 11. According to the Election Commission, to make the electoral process inclusive and ensure the participation of special category voters a total of 1,70,403 Form 12-D were issued to those above 80 plus, Persons with Disability (PwD) voters and those employed in essential services in the state. Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Maneesh Garg said that out of the total forms as above 43,143 forms were received back complete in all respects. He said that 4,330 postal ballots of 80 plus and 763 ballots of PwDs were received back from all over the State. Garg further informed that on Wednesday, the number of postal ballot cast were 366 in Kangra, 297 in Kullu, 1991 in Mandi, 528 in Una, 838 in Bilaspur, 315 in Solan, 669 in Shimla and 89 in Kinnaur. Himachal Pradesh is all set to go to polls on November 12, the results of which will be declared on December 8. (ANI)
Veteran leader and former Chief Minister Shankersinh Vaghela has requested the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court to initiate suo motu case in the Morbi bridge collapse, in which 141 persons died. In a letter to the Chief Justic, Vaghela, citing the unnamed FIR and later the arrest of security guard and booking clerks and workers, claimed that "to save the actual offenders, police have arrested poor people to make them scapegoats, therefore there is pressing need for an independent inquiry and unbiased investigation into this incident". He has alleged that the FIR does not mention the name of the owner of the Oreva group and no top person from the management has either been arrested or investigated. Drawing attention towards the repair and renovation, Vaghela said that "media reports say the wires (cables) of the suspension bridge were not changed, without obtaining fitness certificate, or permission to inaugurate it or open it for public. Oreva group has started charging Rs 17 and Rs 12 for visiting the said bridge. The tickets had no numbering. Though the bridge load bearing capacity was 10 to 15 persons, hundreds were allowed." --IANS har/vd ( 207 Words) 2022-11-02-19:26:06 (IANS)
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has prepared a set of 50 questions which would be asked to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren who was summoned by the agency on Wednesday in connection with a money laundering case pertaining to illegal mining and extortion in Jharkhand and Bihar, a source said. Soren has been called to join the investigation for Thursday. "He will have to appear at our Ranchi office by 11 a.m. We will question him in parts. We are ready with around 50 questions," the source said. The ED had recently filed a chargesheet at a special court in Ranchi against Pankaj Mishra, a close aide of Soren, and Bachhu Yadav and Prem Prakash who are also said to be close to the Jharkhand Chief Minister. The ED has also written a letter to the Jharkhand Police to make appropriate security arrangements ahead of his questioning. The court has already taken a cognizance of the chargesheet. The ED said that during investigation into the case, 47 searches were conducted throughout India on several dates resulting into the seizure of cash amounting to Rs 5.34 crore, freezing of bank balances amounting to Rs 13.32 crore, freezing of an inland vessel, 5 stone crushers, two Hyva trucks besides the seizure of incriminating documents along with two AK-47 assault rifles. Earlier ED had arrested Pankaj Mishra, Bachhu Yadav and Prem Prakash. The accused are currently in judicial custody. The ED initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of the FIR registered by Barharwa Police Station, Sahebganj District, Jharkhand under various sections of IPC, against Mishra and others. Later on, several FIRs regarding illegal mining lodged under IPC, Explosive substances Act, Arms Act have also been taken into the ambit of scheduled offence. Till date, the ED has identified proceeds of crime relating to illegal mining to the tune of more than Rs 1,000 crore in this case. The investigation revealed that Mishra, who enjoys political clout, being the representative of the Chief Minister, controls the illegal mining businesses as well as inland ferry services in Sahebganj and its adjoining areas through his accomplices. "He exercises considerable control over the mining of stone chips and boulders as well as installation and operations of several crushers, set up across various mining sites in Sahebganj. Proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 42 crore acquired by Mishra have been identified till date," said the ED official. --IANS atk/pgh ( 416 Words) 2022-11-02-20:54:04 (IANS)
The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has issued a notice to Delhi Police after five out of seven Uzbek girls, who had complained about trafficking and sexual exploitation in India, went missing from a private shelter home. The police said that they have registered an FIR based on the girls' complaint and arrested three accused persons in connection with the case. The Uzbek girls had alleged that they were brought to India on the pretext of jobs, but when they arrived here, they were forced into prostitution and sexual slavery. According to DCW, the girls had informed that while some of them were brought to Delhi via Nepal, others were brought to India directly on tourist and medical visa at different times. "They alleged that the passports and other documents of those who were brought to Delhi via Nepal were snatched in Nepal itself, while the documents of the others were taken away by the traffickers after their arrival in India," said a DCW official. "When they reached India, they were forced into prostitution and when the girls resisted, they were threatened and beaten up. The girls also told the Commission that they were sold to different owners during their stay in Delhi and were raped repeatedly," said the official. "The girls had named 10 accused persons, of which seven are yet to be arrested. The girls desperately needed their documents to go back to their country, but the Delhi Police was unable to arrange the same. Also, the girls were sent to a private shelter home and now the commission has learnt that five girls have gone missing from there," said the DCW official. The DCW has also asked the police as to why their identity documents, including passports, could not be retrieved from the clutches of the traffickers and returned to the girls. Meanwhile, DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal has also issued a notice to the private shelter home to understand the circumstances under which the girls had gone missing from there. "Seven Uzbek girls had exposed a big international racket involving trafficking and sexual slavery. Delhi Police registered an FIR, but all the accused persons were not arrested and the girls' passports could not be recovered from the traffickers," she said. "Now, five of the seven girls have gone missing from the shelter home. I am concerned that the traffickers may have orchestrated this since all of them are yet to be arrested. I have issued summons to Delhi Police," said Maliwal. "I want them (Delhi Police) to produce these five girls before the commission, ensure the arrest of all the traffickers and recover the girls' passports. Strongest action should be taken against such international sex rackets operating in the national capital," Maliwal added. --IANS ssh/arm ( 478 Words) 2022-11-02-21:08:04 (IANS)
In the viral video, it was seen that pigs were licking utensils used to serve the food to poor.

The footage was of "Indira Rasoi Yojana" recorded in front of MSJ College in Bharatpur, which was being run by an institution named Mother Teresa.

At the "Indira Rasoi Yojana", people are served food for Rs 8.

The programme was introduced under the resolution "Koi Bhukha Nahi Soyega" (none would sleep on an empty stomach).

The images emerged weeks after Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot urged all public officials to eat at the Indira Rasoi canteens at least once a month, stating that doing so would strengthen their bonds with the people.

After the video went viral, the Bharatpur municipality official said some irregularities were found, and the organisation's contract had been cancelled.

"We found irregularities and the organisation's contract was cancelled. Teams formed to probe the matter," said Akhilesh Pipal, Municipal Commissioner, Bharatpur Nagar Nigam.

There is a budget of 100 crores for Indira Rasoi. There are 25 Indira Rasoi in Bharatpur only.

Meanwhile, BJP has described it as "disgusting" and "humiliating.

BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla posted the video on his Twitter account and demanded an enquiry into the matter.

"A video from Bharatpur in Rajasthan put out by many media organisations shows the reality of Congress' schemes meant for the poor! Pigs eating from plates meant for the poor in Indira Rasoi centres! Not only is this unhygienic and disgusting but it is humiliating! Enquiry is a must," Poonawall tweeted. (ANI)
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved a mechanism for procurement of ethanol by public sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) under Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme. The CCEA has approved higher ethanol price derived from different sugarcane-based raw materials under the EBP programme for the forthcoming sugar season 2022-23 during ESY 2022-23 from December 1, 2022, to October 31, 2023. "The price of ethanol from C heavy molasses route be increased from Rs.46.66 per litre to Rs 49.41 per litre, the price of ethanol from B heavy molasses route be increased from Rs.59.08 per litre to Rs.60.73 per litre, the price of ethanol from sugarcane juice/sugar/sugar syrup route be increased from Rs.63.45 per litre to Rs.65.61 per litre, additionally, GST and transportation charges will also be payable," the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) statement reads. All distilleries will be able to take benefit of the scheme and a large number of them are expected to supply ethanol for the EBP programme. A remunerative price to ethanol suppliers will help in early payment to cane farmers, in the process contributing to minimize the difficulty of sugarcane farmers. The government has been implementing Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme wherein OMCs sell petrol blended with ethanol up to 10 per cent. This programme has been extended to the whole of India except the Union Territories of Andaman Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands with effect from April 1, 2019, to promote the use of alternative and environment-friendly fuels. This intervention also seeks to reduce import dependence for energy requirements and give a boost to the agriculture sector. The government has notified and administered the price of ethanol since 2014. For the first time in 2018, the differential price of ethanol based on feedstock utilized for ethanol production was announced by the government. "These decisions have significantly improved the supply of ethanol, consequently, ethanol procurement by Public Sector OMCs has increased from 38 crore litre in Ethanol Supply Year 2013-14 (ESY - currently defined as ethanol supply period from 1st December of a year to 30th November of the following year) to contracts of over 452 crore litre in ongoing ESY 2021-22. The target of achieving an average of 10 per cent blending has been achieved in June 2022, much ahead of the target date of November 2022," the statement reads. The government has advanced the target of 20 per cent ethanol blending in petrol from earlier 2030 to ESY 2025-26 and a "Roadmap for ethanol blending in India 2020-25" has been put in the public domain. Other recent enablers include: the enhancement of ethanol distillation capacity to 923 crore litre per annum; Long Term Off-take Agreements (LTOAs) to encourage setting up of 431 crore litre per annum capacity of Dedicated Ethanol Plants (DEPs) in ethanol deficit States by private players which is expected to bring in investments of Rs.25,000-Rs.30,000 crores in coming years; multimodal transportation of ethanol and ethanol-blended petrol by railways and pipelines. All these steps add in facilitating ease of doing business and achieving the objectives of Atmanirbhar Bharat. The government has taken many decisions for the reduction of cane farmers' dues including the diversion of sugar and sugar-based feedstock for the production of ethanol. Now, as, a large quantity of ethanol is available right from the beginning of sugar season due to the conversion of sugarcane juice and B heavy molasses to ethanol, it has been decided to redefine Ethanol Supply Year as a period of ethanol supply from November 1 of a year to October 31 of the following year from November 1, 2023 onwards. Moreover, as the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of sugarcane & ex-mill price of sugar have undergone changes, there is a need to revise the ex-mill price of ethanol derived from different sugarcane-based feed stocks. (ANI)
Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) is India's internal matter, Bangladesh Information and Broadcasting Minister Hasan Mahmud said Tuesday at a media interaction at the Press Club of India. "CAA is India's internal matter. Pleas have been submitted to the Supreme Court. This is a legal matter. I have no comments," the minister said. This comes as India's apex court is set to hear a batch of petitions on December 6 challenging the CAA, 2019. CAA was passed by Indian Parliament on December 11, 2019, and it was met with protests all across the country. The CAA came into effect on January 10, 2020. During the interaction, the minister stressed on the role of media in strengthening the bilateral ties. "Last September, I came here to inaugurate Bangabandhu Media Centre at this press club. It was a grand initiative taken by the Press Club of India and it was a great pleasure for us. This is a historic press club," the minister said. He also thanked India for its role in Bangladesh's independence war in 1971. "I shared my sufferings and my feelings last year when I came. I must say in 1971, 10 million people have been given refuge in India.. in different neighbouring provinces." The minister said that India not only opened their borders but also opened its minds because "in 1971, many people took refugees not only in the refugee camps but many Indians gave Bangladesh refugees at their homes." "They never treated them as a burden. Indian Army fought with us. Our relationship is bonded with blood and is never separable. Under Hasina and Modi the relationship has gone to a new height." Over climate change, Information minister Hasan Mahmud called Bangladesh one of the "innocent victims of climate change." He said "India too is a victim. Dhaka has contributed nothing to climate change." Earlier, he said the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is taking tough action against the miscreants who target the Hindu minority in the country. The minister made these remarks while speaking exclusively to ANI on the sidelines of the 4th Bangladesh Film Festival which began on Saturday at Press Club Kolkata. In recent years, there have been instances where Hindus and their places of worship were targeted. While commenting on the steps taken by the Bangladesh government to protect minority rights, the Minister said, "Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies are supporting these fanatics groups. Their main politics is anti-India and anti-Hindu. Our government has taken tough action against the miscreants." While speaking to ANI, Dr Hasan Mahmud added, "There are about two crore Hindus in Bangladesh. This year there were over 33,000 Durga Puja pandals. Hindus are in a good position and supported by the government. Prime Minister Hasina has ordered our party workers to keep a watch on puja pandals so that no wrongdoing happens like last year." Moreover, on cattle smuggling from the India-Bangladesh border, Bangladesh's I&B minister Dr. Mahmud said, "Both governments are working on it and it has come down in the last few years." "Under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and under the leadership of Indian PM Narendra Modi, the ties between Bangladesh and India have been strengthened over the last couple of years," he added. Not only on the economic front, the minister said the partnership between India and Bangladesh has been strengthened across sectors. "Our government has given the emphasis on connectivity and the connectivity which was closed after the 1965 war, many of those have been already opened and some others are in the process of opening.More exchange of culture will further strengthen our ties. In particular, in Bangladesh and in West Bengal in Tripura, we speak the same language and we sing the same songs and we eat the same food, wear the same clothes. We have all the similarities," he added. Notably, on July 15, the homes of the Hindu minorities were set on fire in the Sahapara area of Lohagara, Narail. The mobs went on a rampage after Friday prayers, saying that an 18-year-old man from the neighborhood hurt their religious feelings on Facebook. As far as cattle smuggling is concerned, earlier in 2020, the number was 46,809. However, numbers are falling consistently over the last three years as they plummeted 71 per cent from 77,410 in 2019 to 21,917 in 2021. From the year 2022 till July 31 only 12,864 seizures of cattle were reported at the Bangladesh border. Emphasizing for broadening the ties by also opening up broadcasting channels, he said, "There are obstacles to showing our TV channels, especially in West Bengal but there is no obstacle to broadcasting Indian channels in Bangladesh. All the Indian channels are broadcasted in Bangladesh which is not the case in West Bengal." (ANI)
For the next general elections in Bangladesh, the Pro-Pakistan radical Islamist party, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami (BD JeI), is trying to enter the electoral process under the new banner, Bangladesh Live News reported. All the political parties in Bangladesh are strategizing their policies to participate in the 12th national elections that are scheduled to take place at the end of 2023. Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami (BD JeI) is infamous for opposing the independence of Bangladesh and supporting the Pakistan Army in the Liberation War of 1971, reported Bangladesh Live News. Even in 2013, Bangladesh High Court declared the registration of Jamaat-e-Islami illegal and the Election Commission cancelled its registration in 2018 as its charter was not consistent with the Constitution and the spirit of the Liberation War. However, with the new change in JeI, the party can get the registration, Election Commissioner of Bangladesh Md Alamgir said. Earlier, Alamgir said that Bangladesh Jamaat-e Islami could get registration under a different name if they fulfil all the conditions. JeI is trying to get registered under the banner of the Bangladesh Development Party (BDP) which has applied for registration with the Election Commission (EC), as per Bangladesh Live News report. "If now any new political party applies for registration and their charter is consistent with our Constitution and the spirit of the Liberation War, there is no war criminal among them and fulfils all other conditions, you can't brand someone as a Jamaat man," Election Commissioner said. He, however, said there is no scope for any party to get registered as Jamaat-e-Islami now, United News of Bangladesh reported. The deadline for new political parties to apply for registration will expire on October 30, according to United News of Bangladesh. Bangladesh Development Party (BDP) comprises politicians who were once in leadership positions of the banned Jamaat-e-Islami. Md Kazi Nizamul Haque, the party's general secretary, is currently a leader of Jamaat's Dhaka South unit, reported Bangladesh Live News. This is not the first time that the JeI has tried to re-enter the political process by means of a name change. In 2020, the BD JeI launched a new, separate party named Amar Bangladesh Party (ABP). Meanwhile, BNP leaders have already rejected the Election Commission's plea to join the parliamentary polls in 2023 and have called for the ouster of the Hasina government. One of them has even threatened "a repeat of 1975", alluding to the violent coup that killed 16 members of Hasina's family, including her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and small children, as per Bangladesh Live News report. (ANI)
At least five police officials were killed in gang wars that rocked the Ecuadorian coastal provinces of Guayas and Esmeraldas prompting President Guillermo Lasso to declare a state of emergency in two provinces, El Telegrafo, Spanish-language daily newspaper in Ecuador, reported. After the attack, Lasso announced the State of Exception in Guayas and Esmeraldas, on Tuesday. During the press conference, the President described these acts as "sabotage and terrorism." He assured that "they are a declaration of war against the Government and you, the citizens," according to El Telegrafo. President Lasso indicated that before his government "drug crime lived in a paradise, today it feels uncomfortable," but he warned that "we are not afraid of them." In addition to the declaration of a State of Exception, the president also announced that he, in person, will lead the Unified Command Post that will be installed in Guayaquil. He also confirmed that the curfew will start at 9:00 pm, reported El Telegrafo. Meanwhile, the National Police of Ecuador confirmed the death of Police agents Hugo Davila, Jimmy Sarango and Marlon Iza in Duran and Guayaquil. After their announcement, the death toll touched 5 police officials. "The murder of our companions #SgosHugoDavila, #CbosJimmySarango and #CbosMarlonIza, who were victims of criminal attacks, in #Duran and #GYE. Peace at the grave of our police heroes and strength to their families," the National Police of Ecuador tweeted. Earlier, a police official confirmed that officials Rommel Chunata and Felix Contreras were murdered during the early hours of this Tuesday, November 1, 2022, according to El Telegrafo. The attacks would be linked to reprisals by drug gangs, following operations by the National Service for Comprehensive Care for Adults Deprived of Liberty and Adolescent Offenders (SNAI) in the Litoral Penitentiary. Taking to Twitter, the General Commander of the National Police of Ecuador said, "The criminal acts that mourn our country are inadmissible, we have apprehended several individuals who cowardly attacked the humanity of our POLICE OFFICERS We demand respect for life and honour the value and sacrifice of each police server." Regarding the investigation, National Police further tweeted, "We respond with determination by capturing the perpetrators of the latest attacks against police servers in the #Zona8 2 GUNS 3 pistols different calibre ammunition 2 vehicles and more clues." (ANI)
South Korea's military on Wednesday said that North Korean missiles have, for the first time, landed close to South Korean waters. Denouncing North Korea's latest missile launch as being the first into an area close to the South's territorial waters since the division of the peninsula more than seven decades ago, South Korea's military called it an "intolerable" act, reported Yonhap News Agency. "The North Korean missile launch is very unusual and unacceptable as it fell close to South Korean territorial waters, south of the maritime border," said Kang Shin-chul, Director of Operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. North Korea fired at least 10 missiles of various types, Seoul's military said, shortly after confirming that a ballistic missile had landed close to South Korean waters for the first time. Earlier in the day, the North launched at least three short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) into the East Sea, one of which flew across its de facto maritime border with South Korea, according to the South's military, reported Yonhap News Agency. The launches came just hours after Pyongyang demanded that the United States and South Korea stop large-scale military exercises, saying such "military rashness and provocation can be no longer tolerated." The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the missile firing from a site in or around the North's eastern coastal city of Wonsan was detected at around 8:51 am. "North Korea's missile launch, which marks the first time since the division of the peninsula that has landed near our territorial waters south of the Northern Limit Line, is very rare and intolerable," the JCS said in a press release. "Our military vowed to respond firmly to this (provocation)," it added. Tensions are escalating in the Korean peninsula as Kim-led North Korea launched several missile tests, including one that flew over neighbouring Japan this month. The United States and its allies have responded with bombing drills. (ANI)
It is predicted that Chinese premier Xi Jinping's re-election as the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the head of the state for the next five years will witness more hard-lined policies with regard to the economy, foreign relations, human rights and public dissent. After securing his third term, Xi has surpassed China's great leader Mao Zedong, hailed as the 'red sun'. However, with an emboldened Xi, we might witness a world worse than what Mao created, reported Voices Against Autocracy. The warning signs have been showing for a long time now, as witnessed by the debt trap many countries find themselves in. It is one of the many ways in which China is trying to dominate the world. It is also being speculated that just like Mao's time saw the annexation of Tibet by China, Xi is planning to execute his long-term plan of taking over Taiwan, reported Voices Against Autocracy. Xi's plan is to hold the world to ransom, just like Mao's time witnessed heightened aggression against other countries that resulted in China's border problems with the Soviet, India and his intervention in the Korean War, reported Voices Against Autocracy. Xi's comfortable filling the Politburo Standing Committee with his close allies forebodes a future where there would be no one in the Chinese political elite to stop him from doing as he pleases, no matter how that might impact the country and the world at large. There are many similarities being drawn between the 20th National Congress and the 9th National Congress which hailed Mao as the 'red sun' that was perhaps expected to illuminate the Chinese land with brilliant rays. A lot of scholars are predicting a reversal back into the Maoist era, reported Voices Against Autocracy. The emphasis on security has particularly accelerated under Xi's reign, as he tides to maintain his political relevance amidst slowing economic growth and the rising geo-political tension with the West. Added to these are the recent surge in internal protests by the Chinese citizens against the establishment for a plethora of issues, including the draconian lockdown led zero-COVID strategy, purging of his detractors, economic hardships and the declining real estate sector, reported Voices Against Autocracy. Xi intends to counter all of these unfavourable oppositions, hence, his emphasis on national security. He confirmed this approach change by saying, "The era of championing growth at all costs is behind us." Under Xi's rule, there might also be a clear move away from the market economy envisioned by Deng Xiaoping to a state-led economy. One example has been witnessed in China's ruthless pursuit to achieve self-reliance in core technologies, reported Voices Against Autocracy. The efforts are further expected to be intensified as the US is preparing to categorically limit the sale of semiconductors and chip-making equipment to Chinese buyers. Investment in research and development of core technologies in a directed manner will most likely come from government support, implying a greater involvement of the state in these sectors. The dependency that China has created for the world on itself, will allow Xi to dominate the global and Chinese economy like never before. It has become nearly impossible to decouple the Chinese economy from the world's economy, so it is an issue of grave concern, reported Voices Against Autocracy. (ANI)
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, becoming the first head of state to visit China since Xi's re-election for the third time. This is also Sharif's first visit to China since assuming office in April this year and follows his meeting with Xi in Uzbekistan in September. "During his maiden 2-days visit to China, PM Shehbaz Sharif and President Xi Jinping met at the People's Great Hall of China to discuss broad-based cooperation in economy and investment and exchanged views on regional and global developments," tweeted Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). Sharif is heading a high-level delegation, including Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. He is also scheduled to hold delegation-level talks with Premier Li Keqiang review the All-Weather Strategic Cooperation Partnership between China and Pakistan. Ahead of his visit Sharif in an opinion piece for Chinese media outlet Global Times on October 30 said: "I would be soon in Beijing on my first bilateral visit after assuming office, and that too at an opportune time, soon after the successful conclusion of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China." "For Pakistan, relations with China form the cornerstone of our foreign policy; in China, Pakistan is described as Ba Tie i.e. China's Iron Brother, and elsewhere our ties are appreciated for their unique strength, enduring permanence and unfathomable trust," he wrote. Before leaving for China, Sharif said that his discussions with Chinese leadership will focus on revitalization of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor among many other things. "My discussions with Chinese leadership will focus on revitalization of CPEC among many other things. 2nd phase of CPEC promises to usher in a new era of socio-economic progress that will uplift quality of our people's lives. There is a lot to learn from Chinese economic miracle," Sharif tweeted. CPEC's next phase of high quality development will encompass key areas such as industry, energy, agriculture, ICT, rail and road network and developing Gwadar Port as a hub of trade and transhipment, investment and regional connectivity. Meanwhile, China raised the issue of safety and security of Chinese personnel and projects in Pakistan ahead of Sharif's visit. Xi Jinping was elected General Secretary of the Chinese communist party for the third time in the recently held 20th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party where he was elected as the general secretary and head of the pary for the next five years. (ANI)
Kabul security department's spokesperson said eight people were wounded in a blast that targeted a vehicle that was carrying the employees of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, TOLO news reported.

The blast targeted a minibus of Taliban employees in front of a government building in Police District 5 during the morning rush hour.

"I was near the area when a really loud explosion was heard, many people were injured. The explosion happened next to a bus," a local resident was quoted as saying by TOLO.

Police have cordoned off the area and banned the access of people including journalists to the site of the blast, according to media reports.

So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the blast. (ANI)
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday expressed his "great concern" about the safety of Chinese nationals in Pakistan, and conveyed his hope that its all-weather partner will provide a reliable and safe environment for Chinese institutions in the country. President Xi conveyed this concern when he met with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on his official visit to China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing today. "President Xi expressed his great concern about the safety of Chinese nationals in Pakistan, and conveyed his hope that Pakistan will provide a reliable and safe environment for Chinese institutions and personnel working on cooperation projects there," the official statement from the Chinese said. This follows the recent surge in targeted attacks on Chinese nationals in Pakistan by ethnic rebel groups. In the wake of increasing attacks, Beijing has expressed concerns about the inadequate security measures by Islamabad. After the Karachi university bombing in April this year, the Pakistani media reports said the Shehbaz Sharif government has decided to bear the security costs of almost all Chinese projects. In a joint statement today, both sides also expressed their strong determination to counter all threats and designs against CPEC and China-Pakistan friendship. "Pakistan reaffirmed its commitment to the safety and security of all Chinese personnel, projects and institutions in Pakistan. The Chinese side appreciated Pakistan's strong determination and vigorous measures in this regard," the statement read. During his meeting with Xi, Shehbaz Sharif congratulated Xi on the successful conclusion of the 20th CPC National Congress. "He lauded the central role of the CPC and its leadership in promoting China's development, prosperity and national rejuvenation," the statement read. He reaffirmed Pakistan's commitment to further strengthen and deepen the "All-weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership" and enhance practical cooperation in all areas. The two sides also exchanged views on bilateral relations, as well as, the regional situation and international political landscape. "The two sides agreed on the importance of the China-Pakistan All-weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership amidst the emerging global challenges. The meetings were marked by traditional warmth, mutual strategic trust and commonality of views," the statement read. In the joint statement, the two sides also raked up the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. "The Pakistani side briefed the Chinese side on the situation in Jammu & Kashmir. The Chinese side reiterated that the Kashmir issue was a dispute left from history that should be properly and peacefully resolved based on the UN Charter, relevant UN Security Council resolutions and bilateral agreements," the statement added. (ANI)
Amid the escalating tensions in Ukraine, Russia on Wednesday issued a statement outlining the risks of nuclear war, saying "nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought". "In implementing its policy on nuclear deterrence, Russia is strictly and consistently guided by the tenet that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. Russian doctrinal approaches in this sphere are defined with utmost accuracy, pursue solely defensive goals and do not admit of expansive interpretation," Kremlin said in a statement on preventing nuclear war. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has raised concerns about the security situation at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP). The ZNPP site has been controlled by Russian forces since March. Until recently, operational decisions were taken by its Ukraine staff, but Russia has announced it has taken control of the facility and is now taking those decisions. In recent months the site has been beset with power outages caused by shelling, putting nuclear safety and security at the plant at risk. Russia said it is strongly convinced that in the current situation, "caused by irresponsible and impudent actions aimed at undermining our national security," the most immediate task is to avoid any military clash of nuclear powers. "We urge other states of the 'nuclear five' to demonstrate in practice their willingness to work on solving this top-priority task and to give up the dangerous attempts to infringe on vital interests of each other while balancing on the brink of a direct armed conflict and encouraging provocations with weapons of mass destruction, which can lead to catastrophic consequences," it added. In a further sign of the precarious situation in the area of the ZNPP, the IAEA team has reported there had been shelling in the vicinity of the plant in recent days, following a period of reduced military activity. Last week, shelling near the thermal power plant switchyard temporarily disconnected one of the ZNPP's three back-up power lines through which the town of Enerhodar has been receiving electricity. "Operating staff at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant are working hard in very challenging circumstances to prevent the kind of repeated power outages we saw in early October," Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi of the IAEA. "While their determined efforts have had some positive results, the plant's power situation remains extremely vulnerable." Director General Grossi has engaged in high-level talks with both Ukraine and Russia in recent weeks aimed at agreeing and implementing a nuclear safety and security protection zone around the ZNPP as soon as possible. (ANI)
Australia on Wednesday announced the donation of dozens of semi-automatic rifles to the Solomon Islands where it is competing for influence with regional rival China. The Australian Federal Police said the handover of 60 Daniels Defense MK18 rifles and 13 police vehicles was part of an ongoing rearmament program and would help the South Pacific archipelago nation "counter criminal threats and maintain peace and stability." The gifting ceremony was attended by Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare and Australia's commissioner Lachlan Strahan, who said the donation represented another landmark in the longstanding security and policing partnership between the two nations . "We have been with each other through thick and thin. As Prime Minister Sogavare has said, our partnership is based on our shared duty to ensure that our region remains peaceful, prosperous and stable," Strahan said. "Australia and Solomon Islands' security cooperation is multifaceted, spanning not just policing, but also Defence, border security, justice and non-traditional security threats. Australia's support is quick, forthright and responsive," he added. The Solomon Islands, consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, relies heavily on foreign aid. The country struck a security deal with China last year, which also supplied it with police gear, prompting Australia to scramble to counter Beijing's influence. Solomon Islands opposition leader Matthew Wale slammed Australia on social media for "sucking up" to PM Sogavare and questioned the purpose of giving high-power rifles to a nation with no external enemies. In 2021, the Solomon Islands saw a wave of deadly anti-government protests that led Australia and New Zealand to deploy peacekeepers. Their troops will be stationed in the country until the end of 2023. (ANI)
North Korea is providing Russia with a significant number of artillery shells to use in the ongoing war in Ukraine, the United States has claimed. "Our information indicates that the DPRK (North Korea) is covertly supplying Russia's war in Ukraine with a significant number of artillery shells, while obfuscating the shipments, by making it appear they are going to countries in the Middle East and North Africa," White House Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby told reporters on a call. The number of shells that North Korea is allegedly sending to Russia is "not insignificant," but the White House does not believe the supplies can tangibly change the direction of the conflict in Ukraine, Kirby said. "We don't believe that the material he [Russian President Vladimir Putin] is currently getting or going to get is going to change the outcome on the battlefield in any appreciable way," he said. White House Strategic Communications Coordinator said the US will raise the issue during consultations with its allies and partners, and will also do so at the United Nations regarding undertaking any additional accountability measures against North Korea. Last month, the United States said it saw indications that Russia approached North Korea to purchase ammunition. In addition, US media reported, citing Biden administration officials, that Moscow is looking to buy artillery shells as well as missiles from Pyongyang. Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia has since denied the claims. This comes as increased escalating tensions in the Korean peninsula as North Korea launched nearly two dozen missiles on Wednesday, including one that landed near South Korean waters. North Korea carried out a record number of weapons tests in 2022 in the face of pressure from the Biden administration. The US and South Korean forces earlier this week conducted joint air exercises, which North Korea described the drills as a "ceaseless and reckless" provocation. (ANI)
Uvalde police have been criticized for their handling of the shooting. Austin American-Statesman/Reuters

A trapped Uvalde student begged police dispatch to send help, according to audio obtained by CNN.

The fourth-grader told police she was searching for Band-Aids to help her wounded friend, CNN reported.

"Please get help. I don't wanna die. My teacher is dead. Oh, my God," the student told a dispatcher.

A student trapped inside of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, during the mass shooting begged a police dispatcher to send help during gut-wrenching, newly surfaced 911 audio.

Then-10-year-old Khloie Torres made her first 911 call at 12:10 p.m. during the shooting on May 24, telling a dispatcher: "Please hurry. There is a lot of dead bodies," according to the audio obtained and published by CNN.

"Please get help. I don't wanna die. My teacher is dead. Oh, my God," the fourth-grader  who survived the shooting and is now 11  pleaded to the dispatcher.

At 12:12 p.m., Torres begged the dispatcher: "I need help  please. Have y'all captured the person?"

The child was repeatedly told by the dispatcher to stay quiet and to keep her wounded, moaning friends quiet, CNN reported.

"I'm telling everyone to be quiet but nobody is listening to me," the student told the dispatcher, according to CNN. "I understand what to do in these situations. My dad taught me when I was a little girl. Send help."

Torres revealed to police how she was trying to help her friends while the gunman was in an adjoining classroom.

"I stood up to look for Band-Aids 'cause my friend had a big cut," Torres said, according to CNN.

Despite Torres' calls for help and a massive amount of law enforcement officers already on the scene, it took another 40 minutes before authorities breached the classroom door and fatally shot the gunman.

In total, it took authorities more than an hour for police to confront the gunman. Law enforcement's botched response to the massacre  which left dead 19 students and two teachers  has come under heavy scrutiny.

The child's father, Ruben Torres, a former US Marine, told CNN that the actions by his daughter that day "were absolutely incredible."

As for law enforcement who responded, the dad said, "None of them had courage that day."

Read the original article on Insider
This is part of the L.A. Times 2022 Gift Guide. See the full guide here. If you make a purchase using some of our links, the L.A. Times may be compensated.

Theres an old etiquette tip that when invited to someones home for a dinner party, you should ring the doorbell with your elbows. The following host gifts may not take two hands to hold, but that doesnt make them any less special. Here, we have chosen gifts from Los Angeles stores in the hopes that you can easily grab something en route to your holiday party.

Suay Sew Shop remade flannel potholder

Suay Sew Shops oversize (9-by-9 inch) one-of-a-kind potholder is made with three different recycled flannel fabrics and quilted with contrasting thread. The potholders are sewn in the Frogtown shop and are machine washable. The collection of remade flannel housewares also includes coasters ($28) and an oven mitt ( $42).

$26 at Suay Sew Shop

All Roads Studio Tea Towel

This handwoven cotton kitchen towel from Joshua Tree-based All Roads Studio is great for drying your hands or adding a pop of color to your kitchen during the holidays. The hefty cotton towels are machine washable and get softer the more you wash them. We like that you can use them as a potholder if necessary. Heath Ceramics on Beverly Boulevard carries a wide variety of All Roads Studio's distinctive tableware, including napkins, table runners and tablecloths.

$42 at Heath Ceramics or All Roads Studio

P.F. Candle Spruce Candle

Kristen Pumphrey and Thomas Neuberger started P.F. Candle Co. as an Etsy shop, but you can now find their candles in a wide variety of independent gift shops throughout Los Angeles, especially during the holidays, when the company offers its spruce scent. If youd rather not bring something with a specific Christmas aroma, we recommend year-round grapefruit or amber and moss. And if you want to come up with something truly unique, you can add succulents to one of their recycled candle jars and offer it as a host gift.

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$24 at P.F. Candle Co.

Rickett Brewing Co.s Jolie Fleur Pink

If your hosts are more interested in THC-infused beverages than wine or beer, bring them a bottle of Rickett Brewing Co.s Jolie Fleur Pink. At a recent taste testing, the SoCal-based brewing company's Champagne-like beverage was praised for its lovely color, appropriately bubbly carbonation and its smooth and pleasant and wine-adjacent taste that evoked everything from rose to sour ale. One taste tester even commented, This would make a great hostess gift.

$14 to $22 at multiple L.A. dispensaries

Plant cutting

The adorable Pilea peperomioides is known as "the friendship plant" because it produces so many baby plants, or pups, at its base that you can pull out, propagate and gift to friends. Simply cut one of the pups and place it in water. Place it  or another of your favorites  in a tiny bud vase from Heath ($32) or a recycled jam jar and offer it like a flower. After a week or two, when the cutting sprouts roots, it can be planted in a small pot. Note: Your host will probably say, I kill plants. Dont worry. This theory has been disproved many times after similar gifting scenarios. For a visual, watch this YouTube video from the Crazy Plant Guy.

A plant suited to your hosts zodiac sign

(Lively Scout / For The Times)

We did some research and came up with the best houseplant for every zodiac sign . If your host is a Virgo, for example, an intricate bonsai money tree, or Pachira aquatica, which requires pruning and trimming, will satisfy their perfectionist inclinations. Or perhaps a California native plant is a better option? Do nonnative species from the Mediterranean and South Africa make your host apoplectic? Buy them a California native plant based on their star sign. Consult our handy guides for suggestions on which plants to give and where to buy them.

Greentree rope taper candles

Taper candles are always nice to have on hand to add romantic ambience (or illuminate during a blackout) and can be found in grocery stores and independent boutiques. Greentree hand-poured beeswax candles, which we spotted in a variety of local gift shops, come in several lovely shades and shapes, making them stand out from the grocery store variety.

$28 at BellJar in Los Feliz or Greentree Home

Atelier Saucier Jungle Book cocktail napkins

Atelier Sauciers fall collection is "all about extravagance and enchantment." If your host is a maximalist who appreciates the concept of "more," these 4- by 5-inch cocktail napkins on reclaimed fabric will suit their style perfectly.

$36 at Atelier Saucier

Nickey Kehoe winged hand broom

This Shaker-style flat broom is made by hand by Brooklynite Erin Rouse of Custodian Studio on an 1890s broom machine. Hand brooms work well for dusting cobwebs, but as conceived by Rose, they are a beautiful stand-alone artwork that will make a statement in your hosts kitchen. You can choose your bristles and cords preferences if ordering online through Custodian Studio.

$88 at Nickey Kehoe or Custodian Studio

Coffee from a local roaster

Canyon Coffees organic coffee, roasted in Los Angeles, can be found in most independent gift shops around town, as well as grocery stores like Gelson's and Whole Foods. The local seller uses beans from Mexico, Ethiopia and Colombia, but owners Ally Walsh and Casey Wojtalewicz say their Beachwood beans, which are from Mexico and roasted in Los Angeles, are their most popular with L.A. coffee fans.

$18 at Canyon Coffee or multiple L.A. shops

Twenty-Four Blackbirds artisan chocolates

You dont have to drive to Santa Barbara to enjoy Twenty-Four Blackbirds artisanal chocolates. Potted in Atwater will be stocking the Flight of Truffles, caramels and Mexican drinking chocolate for the holidays. I like to give and get useful and beautiful gifts," says Potted's Mary Gray. "Planters and food  what else is there?

$30 at Potted or Twenty-Four Blackbirds

K. Studio lavender plant sachet

A bundle of sachets filled with lavender and embroidered with plant details will make your favorite plant parent smile.

$36 at Lost & Found in Hollywood and Santa Monica or K Studio

Brightland vinegar

Brightland vinegars, which we spotted all over Los Angeles, are made on a family-run farm in Californias Central Coast. Made with chardonnay and zinfandel grapes, navel and Valencia oranges, and ripe Triple Crown blackberries, the vinegars taste great. More important, they come in great-looking bottles with cool graphics.

$22 to $44 at these L.A. stores or Brightland

Pineapple Collaborative's the Olive Oil

Your hosts will never lose the olive oil when you gift them this delicious California-made organic variety that comes in colored tins  white, pink or yellow. For someone who appreciates substance over style, we should note that the tasting notes are described as "green tea, grass and ripe apple with a slightly peppery finish."

$34 at Heath Ceramics, Broome Street General Store, Lady & Larder or Pineapple Collaborative

CarbonShack tiles

CarbonShack's 6-by-6-inch Polycittaria Star ceramic tile, which takes its inspiration from the detailed etchings of 19th-century naturalist and scientist Ernst Haeckel, are too big for coasters but would make a great hot plate for your favorite host. CarbonShack tiles are hand-glazed on clay sourced from the Sacramento region and are designed, hand-decorated and fired in all-electric kilns in Los Angeles. The Polycittaria Star ceramic tile design is available in two colorways, Sky and Yellow. Dimensions: 6 by 6 by 7/16 inches

$38 per tile at CarbonShack

Front Range Planes Planter

Eric Flanagan designs his modern handmade ceramic planter/saucer combo in unglazed blush and terra cotta earthenware clays and satin white glazed options as a way to complement the plants. Pair one with a plant from Greenwood Shop or Folia Collective, which both carry his line and offer potting services free of charge.

$38 to $46 at Greenwood Shop and Front Range (Folia Collective carries similar planters by Flanagan.)

Ace of Cups crystals and wine pairing kit

Sommelier Fahara Zamorano and Madison Young, owner of Mid-Citys Open Eye Crystals shop, have teamed up to to create a wine-and-crystals pairing for every seasonal shift. The Winter Solstice Ritual Kit from Ace of Cups features two biodynamic wines paired with crystals and intentional rituals to help you navigate the solstice. The box comes with guidance cards and, in a nice touch, there's even a QR code that links to a moody Spotify playlist.

$150 at Ace of Cups

More gift guides

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A teen was shot Tuesday night in Rock Hill, police said.

The male victim, age 18, had been shot in the arm and leg, Rock Hill Police Department Lt. Michael Chavis said.

The victim, who was not identified, was found by officers on the ground outside a home on Rich Street after 6 p.m. Tuesday.

The residential area where the victim was found is south of downtown Rock Hill.

The victim was taken to Piedmont Medical Center and then to a Charlotte hospital for injuries, Chavis said.

No arrests have been made as the investigation continues. Police did not say if the victim lived at or near the site where he was found shot.
Two Columbia men were sentenced to life in prison for the shooting deaths of three other men during a Dec. 17, 2019, home invasion in the St. Andrews area.

Jeremy S. Cornish, 41, and Justin Tyler Hopkins, 24, went to the Woodland Village Apartments near Bush River Road in Lexington County and approached an apartment where Branton Booker, 28, Sheldon Devon Livingston, 26, and Duwan Williams, 27, were, according to the 11th Circuit Solicitors Office, which announced the sentencing on Wednesday.

Booker was shot twice when he opened the door, and Cornish and Hopkins went inside the unit, the solicitors office said. Livingston was shot 12 times and Williams was shot four times while they were sleeping.

Cornish and Hopkins then rummaged through the apartment to look for items to steal, prosecutors say.

They then fled from the scene in a Chevy truck and were taken into custody several days later.

A crime of this nature shocks the conscience of our community. We cannot tolerate violence in our neighborhoods and in our homes, 11th Circuit Solicitor Rick Hubbard said in a news release. Our office worked diligently to prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law.
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.
Two foreign nationals from the Democratic Republic of Congo who pleaded guilty in federal court in Seattle to participating in a smuggling ring that brought illegal ivory, rhinoceros horn and pangolin scales into the U.S. have been sentenced.

Herdade Lokua was sentenced to 20 months and Jospin Mujangi was sentenced to 14 months in prison on Tuesday, the Justice Department said.

They both in July pleaded guilty to two counts of an 11-count indictment alleging they worked with a middle man to facilitate shipments of poached items into Seattle.

The court determined Lokua was the organizer of a trafficking operation involving more than five other co-conspirators whose goal was to ship a cargo container full of elephant ivory, white rhinoceros horn and pangolin scales to Seattle. Mujangi helped package the wildlife products and handled the financial details to process the payment.

Officials said the men acknowledged that from November 2019 through June 2021, they shipped 49 pounds (22 kilograms) of ivory from Kinshasa, arranging for the tusks to be cut into smaller pieces, painted black, and labeled as imported wood. In June 2021, they brought in rhino horns and discussed a shipment of ivory and pangolin scales, the Justice Department said.

The men admitted they traveled from Congo to Seattle in November 2021 to meet in Edmonds with prospective buyers who were actually undercover federal agents. They were arrested after the meeting and indicted by a Seattle grand jury.
ABC News

Republican officials in two counties in Arizona and Pennsylvania declined on Monday to certify their midterm election results, with some citing concerns about the integrity of the voting system that have become commonplace among conservatives. Republicans on the election boards of Cochise County in Arizona and Luzerne County in Pennsylvania voted against motions to certify the election results there.
Three MiG-31K interceptor jets of the Russian Air Force, which can carry Kh-47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, are now deployed at the Machulishchy airfield in Belarus.



Source: Faktisk, a Norwegian outlet; Belaruski Hajun, an independent Belarusian military monitoring media outlet

Details: The Norwegian Faktisk has published satellite images of the Machulishchy airfield, which were taken by Planet Labs on 18 and 31 October at 10:41 (Kyiv time).

The latest photos show three MiG-31K supersonic interceptors, which can carry Kh-47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic air-launched ballistic missiles; the interceptors are capable of launching them at a distance of 2,000 km.

The Belaruski Hajun monitoring group reports that these are interceptor jets with the following registration numbers: RF-92462, RF-92339 and RF-92333.

October 31

Photo: Planet Labs

In addition, the images show several missile containers where Kinzhal missiles can be stored.

The monitoring group previously reported on the possible delivery of Kinzhals to Machulishchy airfield.

The missiles could be delivered to the airfield on 16 October, when three Il-76 military transport aircraft of the Russian Air Force (RF-86902, RF-76722, RF-76724) arrived from Russia.

6 Mi-24 helicopters and 2 Mi-8 helicopters of the Air Force of Belarus were also identified in the photos.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
 Russia has damaged nearly 40% of Ukraines energy infrastructure.



Thats according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who revealed the figure during a meeting with EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson. According to the president, a wide range of energy generation and distribution facilities were affected: thermal power plants, combined power and heating plants, and hydroelectric power stations.

 Ukraines Constitutional Court has ruled that a 2019 law stripping MPs of parliamentary immunity is constitutional.



The court reviewed the law following an appeal by 50 MPs. Having come to the conclusion that the constitutional procedure for considering, adopting, and enacting the law was not violated, the Constitutional Court recognized the disputed Law as consistent with the Ukrainian Constitution, the court said.

 The IAEA begins inspections at two Ukrainian nuclear facilities to dispel myths of dirty bombs.



The inspectors are expected to finish their work and present a report later this week, the IAEA said. A similar inspection last month found no evidence of irregular activity. Russia has consistently alleged that Ukraine is developing nuclear weapons, despite the utter lack of evidence for such a claim.

 Meanwhile, power supply to the fourth reactor of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant was again interrupted, this time due to a landmine explosion, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi revealed.

 The UN has declared that Russian assertions that Ukraine targeted ships involved in the grain initiative during an attack on Sevastopol Bay to be false.



On the night of Oct. 29, when the alleged attack took place, there was not a single ship in the corridor, and not a single ship reported the incident over the weekend, said UN Deputy Secretary General Martin Griffiths. Adviser to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Mykhailo Podolyak, told Russian TV channel Dozhd that its absurd to suggest that convoys of civilian grain ships could have anything to do with an attack on Russias naval base in occupied Crimea, hundreds of kilometers away.

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 Putin announces the end of mobilization in Russia.



No decree was issued to that effect, but the Russian dictator stated that the process had completed at a press event on Oct. 31. But it has been completed; its done, he said. The announced end to mobilization may not mean that mobilization is over  but the order may lessen pressure on Russia autumn conscription intake, held twice annually.

 Chechen warlord Kadyrov expands recruitment in order to ensure mobilized Chechens stay under his control.



Despite the announced end of mobilization, Ramzan Kadyrov warned that it is possible that Chechens will continue to receive draft notices. In response, hes stepped up recruitment for military formations personally controlled by him. "Now the call-ups will begin, and if he (the soldier) is already enlisted in some regiment or battalion, he will not have to go to the (Russian) army, he will be among his own, Chechens, Kadyrov said.

 Yuriy Vitrenko has been ousted as head of Naftogaz.



Vitrenko was appointed by Zelenskyy in April 2021. While a reason for the dismissal has not been made clear by the government, rumors among Ukraines political class have said that the move may have something to do with the current Minister of Regional Development, Oleksiy Chernyshov  who may soon see his ministry dissolved and merged with the Ministry of Infrastructure. In return, hes said to be the frontrunner for the post of Naftogaz head.

 The volume of non-performing loans in Ukrainian banks has increased by more than UAH 30 billion in the last month.



Thats about $809 million, according to Ukraines central bank, which noted that the share of NPLs grew to 33.6% in October, compared to 30.8% in September. The growth of problem loans is directly related to the consequences of Russian aggression, the NBU said. However, the level of NPLs will not increase rapidly, as banks are allowed to conduct flexible restructurings to support debtors, the NBU said.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
A Brockton woman was found brutally murdered in the driveway of her Crescent Street home on Wednesday afternoon, Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz announced.

Veronica Goncalves, 48, was the victim of a targeted attack by a person she had been in a relationship with for several years, Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz said while speaking to reporters at the crime scene on Wednesday afternoon.

At approximately 8:30 p.m., Cruz announced that the suspect in Goncalves death was in custody while in critical condition at a hospital. Cruz identified the suspect as 56-year-old Joao Correia.

BREAKING NEWS UPDATE

The suspect in todays stabbing homicide in Brockton is in custody in critical condition at a hospital. He is identified as 56 year-old Joao Correia. The investigation is ongoing.  DA Tim Cruz (@PlymouthCtyDAO) November 3, 2022

This appears to have been a targeted attack and not a random act of violence. Thats pretty much where Im at right now. This is a savage, brutal incident. This woman did not deserve this, Cruz said.

Veronica Goncalves, 48, of Brockton was found murdered in the driveway of her home on Nov. 2, 2022, authorities said.

Pedro Rosario, the victims nephew, told Boston 25 that the family is in a state of shock.

A very wonderful mom, definitely a strong independent woman, whos been in this country not for so long, only been here for a couple years  kind hearted, said Rosario. Were all in a state of shock that someone would do this to her is beyond belief, were just trying to put the pieces together.

Rosario also told Boston 25 that Goncalves was killed in front of her two-year-old grandchild, but police have not confirmed those details yet.

UPDATE: Plymouth County DA identified the woman killed as Veronica Goncalves. Her nephew says she was killed in front of her 2-year-old grandchild, who was in the car. Police found her body in her driveway, calling this a brutal, savage attack. Live update at 6 @boston25 pic.twitter.com/VLTi5QhhQR  Litsa Pappas (@LitsaPappas) November 2, 2022

The Goncalves and her alleged attacker were not strangers, Cruz said, adding that police believe there was a prior relationship for several years before she was murdered.

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Officers responded to 342 Crescent St. on the citys East Side at approximately 1:00 p.m. after receiving a report of an unconscious person.

When officers arrived, they found the woman lying on the ground in the driveway with obvious trauma to head and face area, Cruz said. She was pronounced dead at scene.

An investigation is ongoing.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

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Cumberland Falls

The Bluegrass State's biggest claims to fame may be bourbon and basketball, but Kentucky has no shortage of beautiful landmarks that drive people to the commonwealth as well.

Aqua Expeditions, a small-ship booking agency, recently polled more than 3,000 people about which U.S. landmarks they wanted to see the most. And Cumberland Falls, a waterfall in a state park near Kentucky's borders with Virginia and Tennessee, came in at No. 13 on the list.

Kentucky's total of five sites on the list of landmarks was the ninth-highest total among all states, according to Aqua Expeditions' release, with Hawaii, Tennessee and California rounding out the top three.

Take a look at what sites in Kentucky made the list:

#13 - Cumberland Falls

Cumberland Falls, a waterfall on the border of Whitley and McCreary counties in the state's southeastern corner, came in at No. 13.

Known by many as the Niagara of the South, a reference to Niagara Falls on the border between the U.S. and Canada, Cumberland Falls spans about 125 feet across and drops more than 60 feet onto a "boulder-strewn gorge" into the Cumberland River according to its entry on stateparks.com. The view is spectacular by day but may be even better by night  it's one of just a few locations around the world where you can see a "moonbow," a lunar rainbow formed at either end of a full moon.

Speaking of the stars:Meteors of Halloween: What you need to know about the Taurid meteor system

Moonbows have been seen at times near active lava in Hawaii and at the base of Yosemite Falls in California along with a few other places in the world, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation, but they're a regular sight throughout the year at Cumberland Falls on clear nights when the moon is full.

The Cumberland Falls State Resort Park is located off of Highway 90 in Corbin and is open throughout the year. More information is available on its website.

Cumberland Falls visitors have several options for entertainment, including:

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Visiting the falls in the park.

Touring the Pinnacle Knob 1937 Fire Tower.

Hiking Eagle Falls or Dog Saughter Falls.

Going horseback riding through the forest.

Gem mining for fossils.

Going birding or fishing.

Four other Kentucky landmarks were listed alongside Cumberland Falls in the rankings, which included a total of 250 U.S. locations:

#28 - Red River Gorge Geological Area in Wolfe County

Overlooks of the Red River Gorge Geological Area on the Chimney Top Trail. Sept. 19, 2020

The Red River Gorge Geological Area includes about 29,000 acres of forest along canyons, cliffs, waterfalls and other natural beauties.

Mammoth Cave National Park is the world's largest cave system that spans over 52,000 acres across Edmonson, Hart and Barren counties.

Natural Bridge is a a 51-foot cliff in Slade, Kentucky, at Natural Bridge State Park thats been carved by a nearby creek into a perfect bridge.

The Natural Bridge a walking trail and natural attraction in the Red River Gorge Geological Area in Slade, Kentucky.

Grayson Lake State Park is a 1,500-acre park featuring sandstone canyons and gentle slopes in Olive Hill.

More on parks: A great hike often leads to a great overlook. Here are 5 to see at Kentucky State Parks

Contact reporter Rae Johnson at RNJohnson@gannett.com. Follow them on Twitter at @RaeJ_33.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: America's favorite landmarks: 5 Kentucky spots ranked in list
Second in a four-part series

The knock on the door came at 4 a.m.

Rickey Hill and Herget Harris, two protest leaders at Southern University, peeked out and saw sheriffs deputies outside their apartment.

Hill had been arrested the week before for disrupting the campus. Now, on Nov. 16, 1972, the deputies were looking for Harris and others in their Students United protest group.

Harris jumped out a rear window to avoid detection. After the deputies left, he and Hill learned in hurried calls that Fred Prejean, a 25-year-old community activist, and three other students were being taken to jail.

Hill and Harris decided to ask Southerns president, George Leon Netterville, to secure the students release. As they and their supporters walked toward the two-story brick administration building around 8 a.m., students ran up to find out what was going on.

So they followed, Harris said, and the following grew as we continued on.

By 8:30 a.m., 75 students were outside the building  some members of Students United, others just curious onlookers. Netterville, who was fed up himself after weeks of demonstrations and boycotts over the quality of education at Southern, agreed to let Hill, Harris and three others into his wood-paneled office.

Hill did the talking, asking Netterville to call the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriffs Office and get their classmates out of jail.

Netterville said later that he made it clear he would not act under duress. But before he left for a meeting downtown, three of the students insist  and a Southern official later confirmed  that Netterville said he would see what he could do.

There was nothing unusual about the look on his face, Hill said. We took him at his word.

Campus security officials, however, viewed the situation much more ominously  and had already called the sheriffs office several times to ask for help in dispersing the students, according to summaries of interviews in nearly 2,700 pages of FBI files obtained by the LSU Cold Case Project.

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In one call, a Southern official reported that 40 to 50 students had followed Hill and Harris into Nettervilles outer office, prompting the presidents staff to barricade him in a nearby room before guards escorted him to his car.

Law-enforcement officials first thought Netterville had been taken hostage. And once they realized he had left the campus, they began assembling a force to drive the students from the building.

Soon, 85 sheriffs deputies and state troopers armed with shotguns, rifles and tear gas would arrive on campus, heightening the chance for a violent confrontation.

PART 1:For two families, a Southern University education meant everything. Then came tragedy.

The crowd of students outside the building swelled to about 150 as protest leaders waited inside for Netterville to return. Southern officials did not warn the students that they had called for such a forceful response, an oversight that a gubernatorial commission would later conclude was a recipe for disaster.

Students who were not involved in the protests also were drifting onto the scene, including two 20-year-old juniors who were more focused on their schoolwork.

Leonard Brown had just finished a breakfast of grits, eggs and bacon with his girlfriend, Rosie Taylor, in the dining hall across from the administration building. He was wearing the blue training uniform of the National Society of Pershing Rifles, a military-style honor society. Taylor had braided his hair the night before to keep dirt out of it during the groups training exercises.

Denver Smith, a computer science major, had finished his only class for the day and stashed his backpack on the commuter bus he rode to and from New Roads.

It was around 10 a.m. and chilly, and the sun was coming out, as he walked over to see what was going on, possibly thinking that his younger sister, Josephine Smith, who supported the protests, was in the crowd.

Keyed up by the frantic calls

When Mike Barnett woke up that morning, he grabbed his .30-caliber rifle, helmet and flak jacket and got in his cruiser to drive to the parish prison, just down the road from Southern.

By 8 a.m., he was having coffee and donuts with other members of the sheriffs new tactical team  a specialized unit that had just started to receive training in crowd control. Deputies were playing cards in a small building called the junior deputy hut and tossing a football to pass the time.

Since the protests started in mid-October, they had been called to Southern twice.

Wed wait until people out on Southerns campus told us they were beginning to form a crowd, Barnett said in a recent interview. And then we would move from the junior deputy hut out to Southern.

So far, the deputies had been placed on standby three other times but had not had to deal with anything worse than students shouting insults. State and federal investigators later found that the deputies remained woefully unprepared for a bigger confrontation.

Sheriff Al Amiss, who had just been elected earlier that year, arrived at the hut sometime after 9 a.m., just as his top deputies were fielding increasingly frantic calls from Southern officials. Even as they reported that Netterville was safe, FBI records show, the Southern officials stated  falsely, as it turned out  that a campus guard was being held hostage. The officials kept asking how long it would be before the deputies got to campus.

Barnett and the tactical team were pulling on their gear.

Were certainly more keyed up because we knew something had happened and a confrontation would in all probability occur when we got there to get them out of the building, Barnett said, referring to the students.

A 30-man Louisiana State Police tactical squad was on the way, and top sheriffs officials radioed more deputies, called up reservists and pulled guards from the prison.

Dalton Honore, a Southern graduate and the first Black deputy hired by the department, overheard the chatter on the radio and, like some other deputies, brought his own gun from home. Department policy allowed that at the time. Another deputy was getting his truck fixed at a muffler shop when he responded to the calls.

Deputies were divided into squads in front of the junior deputy hut, and most of the officers with shotguns carried both tear gas and buckshot cartridges. The cartridge shapes were identical but were different colors  light blue for buckshot, light green for tear gas.

In an interview with the FBI, Amiss said he told the men not to harm the students, and his deputies briefed those with shotguns on the rules: Load the tear gas into the storage magazine first, followed by the buckshot. And never push live ammunition into a gun chamber unless ordered to do so or you feared for your life.

At 10:10 a.m., the deputies loaded into cars and rolled out from the prison with the State Police. Leading the convoy was a bright blue, armored vehicle that the State Police called Big Bertha. It could fire tear gas grenades from a cannon mounted on top.

MORE INVESTIGATIONS:The FBI thought he was dead. Now he's the last living witness to a brutal Louisiana murder

Lining up near the palm tree

At 10:30 a.m., Rickey Hill and Herget Harris were sitting in Nettervilles office when they heard a commotion outside. They went to the window and saw police cruisers and Big Bertha screech to a halt in the street in front of the building.

Officers in riot gear spilled out of the vehicles, formed up and started jogging in single file down a sidewalk toward the building.

We were perplexed, Hill said in a recent interview. We had no idea what was going on.

Hill, Harris and the other male students moved outside while Josephine Smith, Rosie Taylor and the other female students gathered inside, thinking they would be safer there.

We sat on the steps thinking that, you know, once they saw us outside the building, they wouldnt do anything, Hill said. But we were apparently naive about that.

State troopers in their dark blue uniforms and body armor took up positions in front of an academic building to the students left.

Three squads of deputies formed a line across a lawn in front of the administration building, about 75 to 100 feet from the students. Wearing flak jackets and helmets with peaked visors that obscured their faces, the deputies formed an arc behind a large palm tree in the center of the lawn, their shotguns and rifles gleaming.

At 10:32 a.m., a voice boomed out of Big Berthas loudspeaker:

This is Sheriff Amiss of the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriffs Office. Im ordering you to disperse. Im giving you five minutes to clear the area and leave the building.

The thin and energetic Hill and the well-built Harris, who wore a distinctive military-style helmet liner, were easy to recognize. Many of the deputies had seen them at previous demonstrations.

Hill and Harris told the students to stay put, but some got up and left.

You now have two minutes, Amiss announced over the loudspeaker.

The rest of the students remained defiant as time expired. Some held up their fists in the Black Power salute. Officers told the FBI that other students shouted obscenities at them and yelled, Come and get us.

Still, both Barnett and Honore said the students, who were unarmed, did not appear to be threatening.

I didn't see a single student break the law other than trespassing in the building, Barnett said.

The troopers marched up close to the edge of the administration building. Barnett was in one of the squads of deputies on the lawn in front of the building. They started inching forward past the palm tree, moving slowly to keep in line. Some deputies were now just 40 to 50 feet from the students.

At this point, Amiss told the FBI, he thought it was still possible to clear the building without having to arrest the students, and he started moving toward the front of the deputies line to make another announcement.

'There were higher hopes':Did the FBI fail in trying to resolve civil rights cold cases?

Then all hell broke loose

At about the same time, a State Police captain approached the left front corner of the administration building, also to make another plea for the students to leave. They refused.

Looks like well have to gas them, he told his men.

At 10:39 a.m., Barnett saw the State Police start to put on their gas masks. A moment later without warning the sheriffs deputies  a trooper pulled the pin on a tear gas canister and rolled it toward the students. He had mistakenly thought the captains comment was an order.

Thick, white smoke billowed out of the canister. A student picked it up and tossed it back. It had a defective fuse and exploded in mid-air, showering the troopers with tear gas before some of them could finish sealing their masks.

Then, as one deputy would later say to the FBI, All hell broke loose.

State Police threw more canisters, and students threw them back, with the second one exploding over the deputies heads.

Some of the officers had not seen the trooper roll the first canister and believed the students had started the attack. Some deputies scrambled to put their masks on, but many did not. The squads broke apart as unmasked deputies, blinded by the gas, coughed and choked and retreated past the palm tree and toward the street.

Big Berthas cannon opened up, firing 13 gas grenades at the building in rapid succession. Some of the shells broke through windows, filling the rooms inside with gas.

Several deputies fired tear gas shells from their shotguns. The air was so thick with gas it was difficult to see. The noise was overwhelming. Some deputies did not even know who was standing next to them.

The students on the steps bolted to their right, past an auditorium and through an opening that law-enforcement officials had left to encourage students to flee.

Hill sprinted around the corner, ran through a ravine and hid in the woods. As Harris fled, Denver Smith was on his right and Leonard Brown was on his left. The three of them were at the end of a stream of students running away from the tear gas and the officers.

Only a minute or two had passed since the first canister had been rolled and Big Bertha and the deputies had started firing tear gas shells.

Barnett heard a louder shotgun blast ring out. He said in the recent interview that it came from behind him to his right  from an area in front of the palm tree.

Smith and Brown fell to the ground. Many of the officers did not even see them fall. Others thought they had tripped. But something didnt look right.

When theyre running and the shot goes off, they both fall forward, Barnett said. And they dont even try to catch themselves.

Honore added that with the tear gas in the air, they just looked like mannequins, you know, just laying on the side.

MORE COLD CASES:Almost 60 years later, family still seeks answers in disappearance of La. man

Why? Why?

In the administration building, where Josephine Smith, Rosie Taylor and the rest of the female students were taking cover, windows had shattered, showering them with glass. Tear gas filled the rooms, and they struggled to breathe.

Someone had a pack of cigarettes, Smith said, and to block the gas were sticking butts up our nose.

An eerie quiet set in as the wind swept the tear gas away, and a campus security officer went inside and told the students to evacuate.

Taylor was one of the first to leave. She walked by the bodies lying on the sidewalk but forced herself not to look.

Ambulances loaded Smith and Brown onto stretchers at about 10:55 a.m. Brown was dead. Smith died 20 minutes after he got to the hospital.

The head of campus security called the Louisiana Board of Education, where Netterville was meeting with board members and Gov. Edwin Edwards. Netterville told them two students were dead.

Netterville closed the campus, and students were told to pack up and leave. While she was gathering her books and belongings, Smith and her roommates turned on the news. Her brothers smiling face flashed across the screen.

That is how she and her family found out.

Brown would not be officially identified until later. But when Rosie Taylor saw footage of the students bodies on the news, one of them had braided hair.

It dawned on me who it was, Taylor said.

Shortly after the shooting, the schools registrar office was set on fire, causing more than $200,000 in damage. Edwards called in the National Guard, worried about potential riots, and promised an investigation into how a live round was fired.

In a recent interview, Josephine Smith recalled the question that was on everyones mind.

It was why. Why? Why? she asked. Who did this and for what?

COLD CASES:FBI might release thousands of files on Louisiana KKK, civil rights-era murders

Brittany Dunn, Allison Allsop, Shelly Kleinpeter, Claire Sullivan, Alex Tirado, Olivia Varden, Cayli Pham, and Brea Rougeau contributed reporting. This series is supported by the Data-Driven Reporting Project.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Questions surround Southern University students shooting in 1972
Adarus Black has been found guilty of murder in the drive-by shooting death of NaKia Crawford, 18, who was shot multiple times while running errands with her grandmother in June 2020.

Jurors deliberated for about four hours before announcing they had convicted Black of the lone count he faced  murder with a gun specification.

Summit County Common Pleas Judge Kelly McLaughlin will sentence Black on Nov. 30. He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison with possible parole after 18 years.

Black plans to appeal, his attorneys said.

The Akron shooting gained national attention, with initial reports indicating the slaying may have been racially motivated, but police later saying it was a case of mistaken identity.

Nearly two years later, Black was arrested in Georgia by a fugitive task force.

Black, who was 17 at the time of the shooting and is now 19, went on trial last week.

Here are key points about the case, as well as highlights from the trial.

Grandmother recalls drive-by shooting

Lynn Williams, Crawford's grandmother who was the first witness in the trial, shared her recollections about the drive-by shooting that claimed her granddaughter's life.

More:'I think I got shot:' Grandmother recalls Akron teen Na'Kia Crawford's final words

Williams said she and Crawford were chatting at a red light when she heard a noise, then looked over and realized Crawford had a mark on her neck. She said Crawford told her she'd been shot, which were her final words.

Williams said she didn't see who shot Crawford or what type of vehicle the shooter was driving.

Openings: Attorneys dispute merits of evidence

Assistant Prosecutor Brian Stano said in his opening statement that Jaion Bivins and Black were the two people in the car used in the shooting. He said jurors won't be able to hear from Bivins because he is dead.

Stano said which of the two did the shooting doesn't matter. He said both are "guilty of murder."

John Alexander, one of Black's attorneys, though, emphasized the evidence prosecutors lack to tie his client to the slaying, including his image on surveillance video, DNA or fingerprints.

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"He didn't do it," Alexander said.

Two men testify about seeing Black, Bivins at party on day of shooting

Two men testified Thursday about seeing Black and Bivins at a party on the day of Crawfords shooting.

Brian Dickerson said the party at a house on Merton Street in Akron was to celebrate the birthday of Martel Spragling, a friend of his. He said Bivins came to the party in his black Camaro.

Dickerson said Bivins was with someone else, but he didnt know who. He said he later found out it was Black.

Dickerson, though, said he didnt see Bivins and Black get in or out of the car together.

Support local journalism:6 reasons why you should subscribe to the Akron Beacon Journal

Spragling, who had an attorney in court with him, said he sold the Camaro to Bivins for $5,000 and Bivins was going to take over the payments. When Spragling owned the car, he said, he put a memorial on the hood in honor of his cousin who was shot and killed.

When Spragling saw the car on the news as being sought in connection with Crawfords shooting, he said he told Bivins he needed to turn himself in with an attorney, which Bivins then did.

Spragling said he saw Black and Bivins at his party but didnt see if they came or left together.

Assistant Prosecutor Brian LoPrinzi, though, asked Spragling about a statement he made to Akron police Lt. Dave Whiddon shortly after Crawfords shooting in which he said Bivins and Black left and returned to the party together. Crawfords shooting happened during this time period.

Spragling said he said this because he was trying to end the interrogation and go home.

Alexander pressed Spragling about whether he saw if Black left or came back to the party with Bivins.

Spragling said he did not.

Closings: Prosecutors tout tech evidence, while defense highlights lack of scientific evidence

Black's trial concluded Monday afternoon with closing arguments from the attorneys.

Prosecutors emphasized evidence presented in the case they say showed Black was in the car involved in the drive-by shooting, including from CyberCheck, a new technology tool that found Black's cyber profile was at Howard and North streets at the time of the shooting.

Alexander, though, highlighted the evidence that wasn't found, including any DNA or eyewitnesses, that could tie Black to the shooting or place him in the car.

Na'Kia Crawfords shooting draws national attention

Na'Kia Crawford

Crawfords shooting drew national attention when it initially appeared to be motivated by race.

Crawford was shot June 14, 2020, while she was stopped at a traffic signal at Howard and North streets. She was taken to the hospital where she later died.

Memorial to victim:Car used in shooting of NaKia Crawford apparently features memorial to man killed in Akron

Witnesses reported that the shooter was white, with concerns then raised that Crawford, who was Black, may have been targeted because of her race.

Ben Crump, a nationally known civil rights attorney, agreed to assist Crawfords family. He has represented families in numerous high-profile cases, including the family of George Floyd, the Minneapolis man who was killed when an officer kneeled on his neck and whose death sparked protests in Akron and across the country.

Akron police and the FBI, however, dispelled the racial component when they said the main suspect in the shooting was Adarus Black, who is African American. Investigators said Black mistakenly shot Crawford because he thought the car she was driving belonged to a rival.

Mistaken identity:NaKia Crawford shooting was mistaken identity, not racially motivated, Akron police say

Crump withdrew from representing the Crawford family.

Adarus Black wasnt the only one charged in Na'Kia Crawfords shooting

Black was one of three people who were originally charged in Crawfords shooting.

Bivins, 20, of Akron, was charged with obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence. Janisha George, 25, of Tallmadge, was charged with obstruction.

Prosecutors dropped the charges against Bivins and George in March 2021 without prejudice, which means they can refile the charges.

Gunman at large:Charges dismissed in Na'Kia Crawford killing as suspected shooter remains at large

That wont happen with at least Bivins, though, because he was killed in Kentucky.

George testified in Blacks trial. She wasn't in the car at the time of the shooting.

Adarus Black is arrested in February in another state

After Crawfords shooting, a national manhunt began to find Black.

Police tracked down leads around Ohio and into Michigan, Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee.

Adarus Black was arrested Feb. 8, 2022, in Georgia.

Black eluded police, though, until February when the Northern Ohio Fugitive Task Force got a report that he was living in Atlanta, Georgia, under a fake name. The task force, along with local law enforcement, arrested him and he was returned to Summit County.

Video of arrest:Footage shows Adarus Black, suspect in Na'Kia Crawford shooting, being arrested in Georgia

Black, because of his age and the severity of the charge, was automatically bound over from Summit County Juvenile Court to common pleas court to be tried as an adult.

Adarus Black didn't waive his speedy trial rights

If it seemed like Blacks trial happened quickly, thats because it did.

Black and his attorneys refused to waive his speedy trial rights, which required that his trial happen much faster than normal for a murder trial.

People charged with felonies in Ohio who are in custody must be tried within 90 days, but attorneys often waive this right to have longer to prepare for the trial and to have the chance to address issues like competency and suppression questions.

Alexander, who is representing Black with Ed Smith, declined to discuss why they did not waive his speedy trial rights.

Murder trials in Summit County often take at least a year to go to trial and with the pandemic, some of have been delayed for up to two years.

Na'Kia Crawfords slaying resonates in Akron community

Crawfords shooting struck a chord in the Akron area, especially because it happened at a time of heightened concern about both gun violence and racial issues.

Protesters gathered June 15, 2020, on North Howard Street in Akron after the death of Na'Kia Crawford.

Vigils and protests were held and a large Black Lives Matter mural was done nearby by volunteers. A $50,000 reward was offered for information in the case.

Many referred to the shooting as senseless, especially because Crawford appeared to not be the intended target.

NaKia Crawford was in the wrong place at the wrong time, Deputy Chief Jesse Lesser said in a news conference in June 2020.

Crawford was a recent North High School graduate and planned to attend Central State University to study computer science. Her family said she was a kind, loving person. They said she stayed out of trouble and made no enemies, making her death even harder to believe.

Family speaks:Na'Kia Crawford's family thankful for arrest, ask who helped suspect hide for 20 months

Her family members were pleased by Blacks arrest and had said they wanted to see Black locked up for the rest of his life.

To me, hes an animal, Saria Crawford, NaKias grandmother, recently told the Beacon Journal. They put animals in cages.

Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com, 330-996-3705 and on Twitter: @swarsmithabj.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Adarus Black convicted of killing Na'Kia Crawford in drive-by shooting
By Alexander Winning and Tim Cocks

PRETORIA (Reuters) -The Ethiopian government and regional forces from Tigray agreed on Wednesday to cease hostilities, a dramatic diplomatic breakthrough two years into a war that has killed thousands, displaced millions and left hundreds of thousands facing famine.

Just over a week after formal peace talks mediated by the African Union (AU) began in the South African capital Pretoria, delegates from both sides signed an agreement on a "permanent cessation of hostilities".

"The two parties in the Ethiopian conflict have formally agreed to the cessation of hostilities as well as to systematic, orderly, smooth and coordinated disarmament," said Olusegun Obasanjo, head of the AU mediation team, at a ceremony.

Obasanjo, a former Nigerian president, said the agreement also included "restoration of law and order, restoration of services, unhindered access to humanitarian supplies, protection of civilians".

An agreement had not been expected so soon. Earlier on Wednesday, the AU had invited media to what it described as a briefing by Obasanjo. It was only when the event began, about three hours behind schedule, that it became clear a truce was about to be signed.

"This moment is not the end of the peace process. Implementation of the peace agreement signed today is critical for its success," said Obasanjo, adding that this would be supervised and monitored by a high-level AU panel.

Obasanjo, who stepped down as Nigeria's president in 2007 and has since mediated conflicts across Africa, praised the process as an African solution to an African problem.

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed expressed gratitude to Obasanjo and other mediators on the conclusion of the peace talks, saying in a statement the government's commitment to the implementation of the agreement was strong.

"Our commitment to peace remains steadfast. And our commitment to collaborating for the implementation of the agreement is equally strong," the statement on Twitter said.

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'MAJOR CONCESSIONS FROM BOTH SIDES'

At the Pretoria ceremony, Getachew Reda, a spokesman for the Tigray authorities, spoke of the wide scale death and destruction in the region and said it was his hope and expectation that both parties would honour their commitments.

In Washington, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said the United States remained committed to supporting an African-led peace process for Ethiopia.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the truce was a welcome first step that would bring solace to millions of civilians who have suffered in the conflict, according to a U.N. spokesman.

Alan Boswell, Project Director for the Horn of Africa at the International Crisis Group, said the first huge test would be whether the parties immediately stopped fighting as agreed.

"This is a huge breakthrough that involved major concessions from both sides, even if the parties punted the thorniest details to future peace talks," he said.

"If they do stop fighting, then today will just be the start of what will surely prove a very bumpy, long, and difficult peace process."

Troops from Eritrea, a separate country which borders Tigray, as well as forces from other Ethiopian regions, have taken part in the conflict on the side of the Ethiopian army.

Neither Eritrea nor the regional forces participated in the talks in South Africa and there was no mention at Wednesday's ceremony of whether they would abide by the truce.

"Im very happy, because this will put a hold on the suffering," said one Tigrayan man in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa who declined to be identified for fear of repercussions at his workplace.

"We still have questions on the agreement ... we didnt hear anything about Eritrea. I hope that it will be in the details."

DEEP POLITICAL TENSIONS

The war stems from a catastrophic breakdown in relations between the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), a guerrilla movement turned political party which dominated Ethiopia for 27 years, and Abiy, who was once part of their ruling coalition but whose appointment in 2018 ended the TPLFs dominance.

Escalating tensions in 2018-20, including over Abiy's peace deal with the TPLF's sworn enemy Eritrea, and the TPLF's decision to defy him by holding regional elections in Tigray that he had postponed nationwide, tipped the parties into war.

Wednesday's agreement does not address the deeper political tensions that contributed to the conflict.

The AU said in a statement it stood ready to continue accompanying the Ethiopian peace process "towards a more democratic, just and inclusive Ethiopia in which youth, women and men participate fully and in peace".

"The lasting solution can only be dialogue," said former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, a co-mediator in the talks.

The TPLF has accused Abiy of centralising power at the expense of the regions and oppressing Tigrayans, which he denies, while Abiy has accused the TPLF of seeking to return to power at the national level, which it rejects.

The United Nations says the war has led to a de facto blockade of Tigray that has lasted close to two years, with humanitarian supplies of food and medicines unable to get through most of the time.

Some aid supplies did get delivered to Tigray between March and August this year during a temporary ceasefire, but fighting restarted in August and the World Health Organization said last week Tigray had run out of vaccines, antibiotics and insulin.

It said health facilities were resorting to using saline solutions and rags to treat and dress wounds.

The government has consistently denied blocking aid and has said it was distributing food and restoring electricity and other services to areas under its control.

Human rights violations by all sides in the war, including extra-judicial killings, raping, looting and displacing people by force, have been documented by U.N. bodies, Ethiopia's state-appointed human rights commission, independent aid groups and media including Reuters.

All sides have denied the allegations.

(Reporting by Alexander Winning and Tim Cocks; Additional reporting by Ayenat Mersie in Nairobi, Michelle Nichols in New York, Jeff Mason and Jarrett Renshaw in Washington; Writing by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by James Macharia Chege, William Maclean)
Nov. 2Kipnuk school

The principal and several school staff members left the community of Kipnuk in Southwest Alaska over the weekend in two chartered planes following reports of a banishment order, occupation of a school building and a brief blockade during a visit by Alaska State Troopers.

As of Tuesday, the Chief Paul Memorial School in Kipnuk remained closed for the second day in a row, with plans to switch to remote learning Wednesday, according to the Lower Kuskokwim School District, which cited "the concern for the physical safety for students and staff" in a written statement.

Many of the basic facts involved in the incident remain unclear, with tribal, state and school officials pointing to brief public information releases, or in some cases, not responding to inquiries.

Most of what is known comes from an Alaska Department of Public Safety dispatch published online this week, saying that on Friday afternoon, Alaska State Troopers heard that Principal LaDorothy Lightfoot "had locked herself in her office at the school after Kipnuk Tribal Police attempted to take her into custody by serving a banishment order for unknown reasons. It was reported that local community members and Kipnuk Tribal Police Officers were inside the school as well as LKSD teacher housing searching for the school principal."

Kipnuk, with a population of around 700 people, sits on the Kugkaktlik River in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, about 85 air miles southwest of Bethel and near the Bering Sea coast. The population is primarily Yup'ik.

Banishment has long been a way for Alaska's indigenous communities to enforce rules and mores, a practice pre-dating contact and territorial laws. In recent decades, the state's legal response has waffled between raising objections over individuals' constitutional rights and honoring the rulings of sovereign tribal governments, which federal courts have sided with in instances involving Indian Country and self-governance. In an incident that drew headlines at the time, in 1995 Kipnuk leaders expelled a white resident accused of bringing drugs into the community, arguing with neighbors and pointing a gun at people.

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According to Troopers, they were unable to travel to Kipnuk Friday "due to the lack of availability of aircraft," but talked by phone with Lightfoot, who ultimately returned to her house that night.

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The school district described the incident more bluntly, writing in its statement that members of the Kipnuk Traditional Council "told students to go home as they were attempting to get to school."

"On October 28, 2022, a large group of people purportedly representing KTC entered and occupied the school building and refused to leave, greatly disrupting the educational environment in the school. Thereafter, tribal police attempted to enter LKSD teacher housing units," the school district wrote.

Kipnuk aerial 2

According to the district, problems go back further to at least Oct. 13, when the traditional council passed a resolution directing students not to attend school, other than athletic programs.

In response to an interview request, LKSD Superintendent Kimberly Hankins wrote, "The District does not have any more to say on the matter at this time other than what has already been released."

Troopers did reach Kipnuk on Saturday afternoon, but could not immediately get into town.

"Upon arrival, Kipnuk Tribal representatives and Tribal Police Officers had blocked the boardwalk from the airport to the village. Troopers were advised the tribe was not allowing access to the village. Alaska State Troopers were able to de-escalate the situation and travel to the school," the Department of Public Safety wrote.

Troopers then met with school personnel, ultimately determining "that no crimes had been committed." They noted that no threats were made toward school staff, and that after informing the state district attorney's office about the situation there have been no criminal charges issued for anyone involved.

According to Troopers, "the principal along with other school staff chose to leave and were flown out of the village on two aircraft chartered by the school district."

A spokesman for the Department of Public Safety referred questions to the Lower Kuskokwim School District and tribal entities.

An email and message left with the Kipnuk Traditional Council's office were not returned as of Tuesday afternoon.

On Facebook Tuesday, several Kipnuk residents responded to the news with confusion, frustration and brief mentions of poor conduct by school leadership.

Lightfoot did not respond to emails requesting an interview.

For the time being, the school is closed and extracurriculars are suspended, according to the district.

"Some staff will be teaching remotely from the District office in Bethel," the district said in its release. "It is LKSD's goal to return to in-person learning as quickly as possible while ensuring the safety of staff and students."
Migrants arrive at the Port of Dover, after being rescued while crossing the English Channel. (Reuters)

The number of Albanians crossing the Channel into the UK in small boats has increased by at least 1,300% in a year, according to a new report.

Some 11,102 Albanian nationals arrived by small boat from May to September 2022, official government figures showed.

In contrast, over the whole of 2021 there were a total of 815 who came by the same method, which is a difference of 1,300%.

The number of arrivals will be higher as the stats for 2022 only include five months rather than the whole year.

Read more: Stop using Albanians as excuse for your failures, Albanias PM tells UK

The migrant holding facility at Manston Airfield. (Getty)

It comes as home secretary Suella Braverman is under pressure for her handling of severe overcrowding at the Manston migrant processing centre, as well as questions about her own efforts to procure hotel accommodation for those seeking asylum in the UK.

She has frequently singled out Albanian asylum seekers after their numbers crossing the Channel in small boats spiralled.

The criticism has led Albanian prime minister Edi Rama to accuse Braverman of discriminating against Albanians to excuse policy failures during the migration crisis.

Read more: Starmer accuses Sunak at PMQs of making grubby deal with Braverman

Rama argued that 70% of the 140,000 Albanians who have moved to the UK were living in Italy and Greece, while 1,200 are business people, and that Albanians in the UK work hard and pay tax.

In total, 39,913 people have crossed the Channel into the UK so far this year and in October alone 6,912 people made the journey, with 1,065 arriving in a single day, figures showed.

This was the third highest monthly total this year, after 8,641 were recorded in August and 7,961 were recorded in September.

Watch: Keir Starmer asks PM, Who broke UKs asylum system?

Figures show Albanian nationals are less likely to be granted asylum than other nationalities with the current grant rate 53% compared to 76% for all nationalities.

The stats revealed just 14% of Albanian adult males whose cases were concluded in the latest year were granted protection, while the rate for children and female Albanian asylum seekers was significantly higher at 90%.

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This made the average grant rate for cases being concluded higher overall.

MPs previously heard that some 12,000 Albanians have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel so far this year, of whom 10,000 are single, adult men.

This is compared with 50 in 2020.

Figures also showed from May to September 2022 Albanians comprised 42% of small boat crossings.

Nearly all of those who recently arrived after crossing the Channell in small boats will still be awaiting a decision on their claim so the grant rates could be substantially different.

Albanian prime minister Edi Rama has urged Suella Braverman to stop discriminating against Albanians. (Getty)

On Wednesday, prime minister Rishi Sunak admitted the migrant crisis was a serious and escalating problem and not enough asylum claims were being processed.

He was challenged at Prime Ministers Questions (PMQs) by Sir Keir Starmer, who said responsibility for an asylum system which Braverman described as broken lies with the Tories, who have been in power since 2010.

The Labour leader said just 4% of the asylum claims made by people who crossed the Channel in small boats last year have been processed.

He added: Theyre only taking half the number of asylum decisions that they used to. Thats why the system is broken.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper had earlier said the French and British authorities need to step up work to prevent migrants risking the dangerous English Channel crossing.
It's been a few short weeks since the third season of "Love Is Blind" premiered on Netflix. Since then, we've watched as five couples' relationships unfold with drama, heartbreak and of course, love.

Alexa Alfia, 27, and Brennon Lemieux, 32, were the first couple engaged on Season Three of "Love Is Blind."

Compared to some of the other fireworks-filled dynamics others couples share, Alfia and Lemieux's relationship seems relatively drama-free. Lemieux frequently praises Alfia, and she returns the compliment. He also survived meeting her large, loving family.

Here are a few standout moments from Alfia and Lemieuxs relationship so far, ahead of the finale and reunion on Nov. 9.

Alifa and Lemieux bond in the pods despite their religious and cultural differences

When Alfia and Lemieux meet for the first time in the pods they instantly bond over their shared love for food, specifically the Israeli dish made of eggs, tomatoes and spices  shakshuka.

From there Alfia, opens up to Lemieux about her Jewish faith, telling him that she comes from a big Israeli family and has six siblings. While she expresses that she isn't super religious, she tells Lemieux that being Jewish is a part of her identity.

Lemieux, who is not Jewish, is a self-identified "country boy." In the show, he's seen rocking his cowboy hat.

They also come from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Before getting engaged, Lemieux shares that his family often struggled financially growing up. But he tells her that he wants to give her the best life he can, one that is full of happiness and love.

Brennon loves Alfia the way that she is

In her first confessional interview, Alfia, the first curvy women on the show, opens up about her body and the pressure shes faced to lose weight. She explains how she's looking for a partner who will accept her for who she is, regardless of what she looks like.

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In the pods, Lemieux never asks Alfia about her weight. I havent even seen you or touched you. I dont know any of that stuff, but I know I love you, Lemieux says to Alfia in the pods.

As the couple leaves the pods and travels to Malibu, the couple discusses prenups to Alfia's wardrobe requirements. Still, Alfia's dimensions never come up in conversations.

From the beginning of everything I just saw more of love for all my curvy ladies and all my Jewish loves from across the globe, Alfia told TODAY. I have had support and its been really, really amazing.

After the pods, Alfia asks Lemieux for a prenup

When Alfia and Lemieux return home from their Malibu getaway Alfia brings her fiance to her apartment in Dallas. They go on to have a conversation about the future  and how money will play into it.

Lemieux shares with Alfia that he has around $32,000 in student loans. Alfia, on the other hand, says the only bills she has are from her online shopping orders.

As the couple continues to talk about their future, Alfia explains her hopes to one day be a stay-at-home mom. Meanwhile, Lemieux shares that growing up never going where his next meal is going to come from that saving money is important to him.

I always want to be comfortable, like, where we can go have nice dinners, travel, and stuff like that," Alfia says. "For me, like, I never want to have to worry about money.

Lemieux says that it's obvious Alfia has more money than him. But regardless he said that he'll sign a prenup because he loves her.

Alfia and Lemieux met each others' families

In Episode Six, Alfia and Lemieux meet each other's families for the first time. What could go wrong? While at Alfia's house, Lemieux and Alfia's dad have a serious conversation about the couple's future.

I can promise you 100 percent just like I want to promise her  I work every day, Lemieux says to Alfia's dad. Ill work my a-- off to give her the best life that she deserves.

Alfias father, Adam Alfia, responds, And I speak my mind. If I see you f--ing around and slacking off and not living up to your full potential, Ill tell you.

Lemieux tells Adam that he is committed to loving his daughter despite their religious differences. Although Lemieux isn't who Alfia's father envisioned his daughter marrying, he gives Lemieux his blessing.

Are Alfia and Lemieux still together?

Curious whether Alfia and Lemieux are still together? We are too. As far as we can tell from social media the couples posted a number of photos together.

Without confirming whether they're still married, Alfia posted a series of photos of her and Lemieux with a telling caption. "Pictures really do say a thousand words," Alfia shared in the Instagram caption.

Lemieux, who told TODAY that he'd never been very active online before going on the show, also shared pictures of Alfia on his Instagram. "When you can see all the stars deep in the heart of Texas  but you only have eyes for one," he wrote on his most recent post.

But until the season finale is released on Nov. 9, we can also guess what will happen with Alfia and Lemieux on their wedding day.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
MarketWatch

Organizations took the fast track to a world dominated by remote technology, which meant that business leaders had to make a more concerted effort to be human. COVID had a personal dimension that affected people in so many different ways. No one had the answers, of course, but lending an empathetic ear and facing these challenges together somehow made the world a little safer and more manageable.
By Nancy Lapid

(Reuters) - Medical device makers and scientists are working on new technologies to improve widely-used devices that assess potential heart and respiratory problems given mounting evidence that current ones could lead to inadequate healthcare for patients with darker skin.

Doctors have long known that pulse oximeters are less accurate in estimating blood oxygen levels in non-white patients, but the discrepancies were considered insignificant. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed some of the real dangers of these flaws, as the devices gave falsely high oxygen readings in patients with dark skin.

As a result, some patients faced COVID treatment delays or were denied treatment, and some were discharged from emergency rooms instead of receiving care, researchers found, adding to the litany of healthcare disparities experienced by non-white populations.

Expert advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration met virtually on Tuesday to discuss improvements in standards for pulse oximeters.

The devices, which clip to a fingertip, pass red and infrared light through the skin and measure how much light is absorbed by oxygen-carrying hemoglobin. Melanin pigment in darker skin also absorbs the light, however, and current devices do not adjust for that effect.

To address the problem, some researchers are testing devices that use other wavelengths of light not absorbed by melanin.

Among the furthest along in development is a sensor from Rockley Photonics Holdings that uses spectrophotometers and laser instruments on chips to emit a broad spectrum of light, which the company says more accurately monitors not only blood oxygen but also hydration, blood pressure and other biomarkers.

Rockley Chief Executive Andrew Rickman told Reuters his company plans to begin shipping the product next month to companies that would package it into wearable and other devices. Customers include Medtronic Plc, a major manufacturer of oximeters, which announced a partnership with Rockley in March. It is not clear when the new devices will become available.

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At Brown University, researchers Kimani Toussaint and Rutendo Jakachira are experimenting with light at wavelengths insensitive to melanin.

Valencia Koomson of Tufts University is developing a device that takes into account a patient's skin tone and presence of melanin to better adjust oxygen level estimates.

All agree that more accurate pulse oximeters are long overdue.

Imarc Group market research firm forecast the global pulse oximeter market reaching $3.25 billion by 2027.

'ENORMOUS' PROBLEM

In recent years, studies have shown that low oxygen levels more often go undetected in Black adults and infants, and that Black patients receive less supplemental oxygen than similarly ill white patients due to pulse oximeter inaccuracies.

COVID amplified those risks. The coronavirus can cause dangerously low oxygen levels even before a patient feels out of breath or appears to be in distress, making healthcare providers even more dependent on accurate oximeter readings.

Pulse oximeter problems "suddenly became enormous" during the pandemic, said Dr. Philip Bickler, director of the University of California, San Francisco's (UCSF) Hypoxia Research & Pulse Oximeter Test Facility.

Bickler, whose laboratory analyzes pulse oximeter accuracy for manufacturers, said he believes industry leaders "are all working to address the devices' shortcomings."

Experts say the FDA needs to strengthen its criteria for approving new devices. Current rules require that pulse oximeters be tested in a minimum of just 10 subjects, only two of whom must be "darkly-pigmented."

When more than 10 subjects are involved, only 15% must be non-white, although some manufacturers do test in larger, more racially-balanced groups. The agency does not require a standardized assessment for classifying skin pigmentation, tools that would be critical in evaluating inaccuracies.

FDA staff speaking at Tuesday's meeting acknowledged that although variables in sick patients affect accuracy, pulse oximeters are tested under "ideal" laboratory conditions in healthy individuals. Pediatric devices are tested in small adults rather than children or infants.

In advance of the meeting, some pulse oximeter manufacturers appeared open to discussing improvements while maintaining that their devices worked well.

Medtronic told Reuters it "looks forward to sharing perspectives and recommending ways we can collaborate with other industry members, standards organizations, clinicians, researchers and academics to continue to strengthen these technologies."

Medical technology company Masimo Corp said its equipment does not have "a bias problem between Black and white subjects." Still, the company told Reuters, "we will continue to improve our pulse oximeters."

For now, Tufts' Koomson said, devices that are less accurate on dark skin and in sicker individuals will remain in wide use.

The first step to ensure appropriate access to care requires raising awareness about the potential inaccuracies, especially among healthcare providers, she said.

While the devices are still useful, UCSF's Bickler said, doctors "should not base patient care only on pulse oximeter findings."

(Reporting by Nancy Lapid and Shawana Alleyne-Morris; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Bill Berkrot)
Many of Black Hollywoods favorites, from Quinta Brunston to Brian Tyree Henry, will be honored at the Critics Choice Associations 5th Annual Celebration of Black Cinema & Television.

Hosted by comedian and actor Bill Bellamy, the event will take place Dec. 5 at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. The event will air on KTLA in January and be shown nationwide across Nexstar stations in February to commemorate Black History Month.

The event will feature 15 categories to honor achievements in Black television and film, including Motown founder Berry Gordy receiving the Icon Award, Angela Bassett receiving the Career Achievement Award for her career, including her current role in the Black Panther franchise as Queen Ramonda, Michael B. Jordan receiving the Melvin Van Peebles Trailblazer Award his career and his upcoming directorial debut in Creed III, which he also stars in as Adonis Creed.

Scott Kid Cudi Mescudi will also receive the Groundbreaker Award for his Netflixs television event Entergalactic, which he co-created and stars in as Jabari. P-Valley star Nicco Annan will receive the Actor Award for Television for his role as the barrier-shattering Uncle Clifford.

Elegance Bratton, Brunson, Danielle Deadwyler, Ayo Ediberi and Henry are also among the events recipients. Bratton, who wrote and directed The Inspection, will receive the Social Justice Award, while Brunson will accept the Actress Award for Television for creating, writing and starring in Abbott Elementary as Janine Teagues. Deadwyler will accept the Actress Award for Film for her role as Mamie Till-Mobley in Till, and Edebiri will receive the Rising Star Award for her role as Sydney on The Bear. Henry will receive the Supporting Actor Award for his role as James Aucoin in Causeway.

A second actor will also be awarded a Rising Star Award. Quincy Isaiah, who has earned the award, presented by IMDbPro, for his role as Magic Johnson in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty. Jonathan Majors will accept the Actor Award for Film for his portrayal of Jesse Brown in Devotion, and Gina Prince-Bythewood has earned the Director Award for Film for her work on The Woman King. Writer/director Nikyatu Jusu will receive the Breakthrough Film Award for the film Nanny.

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Rounding out the awards includes the Ensemble Award, which will be given to the cast of The Wonder Years, including Elisha EJ Williams, Dule Hill, Saycon Sengbloh, Laura Kariuki, Julian Lerner, Amari ONeil and Milan Ray.

The Celebration of Black Cinema & Television has grown tremendously over the last five years, said CCA CEO Joey Berlin in a statement. Were thrilled to be able to recognize such outstanding projects across both film and television, and to honor these incredible actors and filmmakers for their work.

It has truly been a year to celebrate, said CCA Board Member and the events executive producer, Shawn Edwards. The unprecedented amount of content about the Black experience on film and television made it very difficult to choose our honorees for this milestone year. And our special Icon Award honoree, Berry Gordy, pushed open a heavy door during the 70s and 80s through his Motown Productions with a string of movies and TV series that helped pave the way for future Black storytellers.
GOMA, Congo (AP)  Kenya's president said Wednesday that his country is sending more than 900 military personnel to eastern Congo to join a new regional force tasked with trying to calm deadly tensions fueled by armed groups.

Kenyan President William Ruto called the mission necessary and urgent for regional security, and said he and Congos president had agreed on how Kenyan forces would work with Congolese and other forces on disarming rebels and peacekeeping.

The Kenyan forces will be based in Goma, eastern Congo's largest city. The East African Community regional force, agreed upon by heads of state in June and led by a Kenyan commander, also has two battalions from Uganda, two from Burundi and one from South Sudan.

Late Tuesday, angry crowds set fire to United Nations vehicles in Goma as frustrations mount over the advance of M23 rebels and the deteriorating security situation in the country's east.

Violence by armed groups has led to a diplomatic crisis between Congo and neighboring Rwanda. Congo has accused Rwanda of supporting the rebels, which Rwanda denies while accusing Congo of backing another rebel group hostile to Rwanda.

The U.N. vehicles were targeted in Goma amid false rumors that the U.N. had transported rebels, adding to the dissatisfaction many people in eastern Congo have with the efforts of a peacekeeping mission known as MONUSCO.

Because of these rebels, we have fled our homes in Rugari, Kibumba," protester Kasereka Munyafura said, standing next to the truck on fire. "That is why we are angry, and we have just burnt the vehicles of MONUSCO because it makes us suffer.

Earlier Tuesday, the U.N. peacekeeping mission announced a strategic and tactical withdrawal from embattled Rumangabo. The M23 rebels have been trying to advance on the town, which houses a military base.

The M23 rose to prominence more than a decade ago when its fighters seized Goma, which sits along the border with Rwanda. After a peace deal, many of M23s fighters were integrated into the national military.

The group reemerged last November, saying the government had failed to live up to its decade-long promises. Over the weekend, the rebels doubled the territory they hold, seizing control of two major towns.
The Russian invaders are looking for someone to fill vacant positions in their illegal "government" in the occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

Source: report of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as of 18:00 on Wednesday, 2 November

Quote: "According to the updated information, as a result of the successful actions of the defence forces units in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, over the previous days, the occupiers brought about 100 seriously wounded [soldiers -ed.] to hospitals in Tokmak and Melitopol.

Due to the regular deaths of collaborators and their refusal to perform their duties, the enemy is holding competitions to fill vacant positions in the occupation authorities in the temporarily occupied territory of Zaporizhzhia Oblast."

Details: In general, the Russian Federation is trying to hold the temporarily occupied territories, focusing its efforts on deterring the actions of the Ukrainian defence forces on certain fronts. The Russians are conducting offensive actions on the Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Novopavlivka fronts.

Russian troops are attacking units of the defence forces along the contact line, carrying out fortification equipment along the borders on certain fronts, and conducting aerial reconnaissance. The invaders continue to strike critical infrastructure and civilian housing in violation of international humanitarian law, and the laws and customs of war.

Over the course of the day, the Russians carried out one missile and 12 air strikes. and more than 25 MLRS attacks.

At night, the Russian troops again attacked infrastructure facilities in Ukraine with missiles and Iranian-made Shahed-136 attack UAVs in the area of more than 15 settlements. Among them are Kremenchuk in Poltava Oblast, Uhledar and Vodiane in Donetsk Oblast, and Smila in Cherkasy Oblast.

There are no significant changes on the Volyn and Polissia fronts. The Republic of Belarus continues to support the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. The threat of new strikes and UAV attacks remains, particularly from the territory of the Republic of Belarus.

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The Russians opened fire on other fronts:

on the Sivershchyna front - from mortars and tubed artillery, in the areas in and around the settlements of Hai and Senkivka, Chernihiv Oblast;

on the Slobozhanshchyna front - from mortars, tubed and rocket artillery, in the areas in and around the settlements of Vovchansk, Hatyshche, Hlyboka, Dvorichne, Kozacha Lopan and Krasne;

on the Kupiansk and Lyman front - from mortars, tubed and rocket artillery, in the areas in and around the settlements of Berestove, Hrekivka, Zarichne, Nadiia and Nevske;

on the Bakhmut front - from tanks, mortars, tubed and rocket artillery in the areas in and around the settlements of Bakhmut, Bakhmutske, Bilohorivka, Ivanhrad, Maiorsk, Rozdolivka, Opytne and Soledar;

on the Avdiivka front - from tanks, mortars, tubed and rocket artillery, in the areas in and around the settlements of Avdiivka, Vodiane, Krasnohorivka, Marinka, Nevelske, Novomykhailivka and Pervomaiske;

on the Novopavlivka front - from tanks, mortars, tubed and rocket artillery in the areas in and around Velyka Novosilka, Vremivka, Vuhledar, Mykilske, Pavlivka and Prechystivka settlements;

on the Zaporizhzhia front - from tanks, mortars, tubed and rocket artillery, in the areas in and around the settlements of Bilohiria, Huliaipole, Kamianske, Mala Tokmachka, Novopil, Novosilka, Orikhiv and Shcherbaky.

on the Pivdennyi Buh front, more than 15 settlements situated along the line of contact came under Russian fire.

The Ukrainian Air Force carried out 20 strikes on Russian troops over the past 24 hours. The Ukrainian forces hit clusters of weapons and military equipment, as well as positions of the Russian air defence systems.

Ukraines Rocket and Artillery Forces hit three clusters of manpower, weapons and military equipment, an ammunition depot and the other important sites used by the Russians in the course of the day.

Ukraine's confrontation with the Russian large-scale invasion continues for 252 days.

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Security cameras installed at House Speaker Nancy Pelosis home in San Francisco captured the break-in before her husband was attacked by a man with a hammer last week, but U.S. Capitol Police officers werent actively monitoring them at the time.

While the Speaker was with her security detail in Washington, D.C., the San Francisco cameras were not actively monitored as they are when the Speaker is at the residence, USCP confirmed in a statement Wednesday. The Command Center personnel noticed the police activity on the screen and used the feeds to monitor the response and assist investigators.

USCP also said the department will conduct an internal investigation to review its security practices.

The Washington Post first reported Tuesday that the cameras were unattended.

The news raises additional questions about how someone was able to break into the Democratic leaders home Friday and attack Paul Pelosi, who remains hospitalized after surgery for his injuries. But it also reflects the ongoing difficulties the Capitol Police and local law enforcement have in protecting members of Congress amid a surge in violent threats.

As the House speaker and a near-constant target of conservative ire, Pelosi receives more violent death threats than any other member of Congress. But the total number of recorded threats against lawmakers has surged more than tenfold in the five years since Donald Trump was elected president.

The Capitol Police monitor about 1,800 cameras each day, most at the Capitol complex in Washington but some at other points in the country. The Post notes the agency installed cameras at Pelosis home eight years ago and that she has a round-the-clock security detail. But she left her home in San Francisco last week, and most of the security detail left with her. The cameras were also not being monitored full time while she was in Washington.

David DePape is accused of breaking into Pelosis home seeking to kidnap the speaker and break her kneecaps, according to The Associated Press. The Post, citing current and former law enforcement officials, said officers monitoring the Capitol Police feeds early Friday only noticed there was an issue when they saw police lights flashing on the feeds from Pelosis home.

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Paul Pelosi called 911 after the break-in, and police arrived while he was being attacked.

Police stand at the top of the closed street outside the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband, Paul Pelosi, in San Francisco on Friday. Paul Pelosi, was severely beaten by an assailant who broke into their home. (Photo: Eric Risberg/Associated Press)

Police stand at the top of the closed street outside the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband, Paul Pelosi, in San Francisco on Friday. Paul Pelosi, was severely beaten by an assailant who broke into their home. (Photo: Eric Risberg/Associated Press)

DePape has since been charged with attempted murder, burglary and attempted kidnapping of a U.S. official. He was ordered held without bail at an arraignment in San Francisco Superior Court on Tuesday after pleading not guilty.

Lawmakers are reportedly considering how to better address security concerns after the latest attacks and the fallout from the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. The Post added that the U.S. Capitol Police have been reminding those on the Hill about the resources that are available, including funding for at-home security systems and increased security budgets for individual lawmakers who may face more threats.

The Capitol Police have been working to improve intelligence and strengthen the relationship with local law enforcement agencies. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said Tuesday that the attack on Paul Pelosi was an alarming reminder of the dangerous threats elected officials and public figures face during todays contentious political climate.

During this time of heightened political tension, we continue to monitor thousands of cases across the country  in an effort to stop potential threats before they make headlines, Manger said in a statement, noting the agency was on track to meet a goal of hiring 280 additional officers by the end of the year.

Most members of Congress receive little security from the government, and its rare for their families to have any taxpayer-funded protection. Although one recent review of Capitol security recommended the Capitol Police hire 800 new officers, that proposal was not followed.

The Times noted that Republicans and Democrats receive similar numbers of threats, however, the GOP has balked at spending money to strengthen lawmakers protection. After the Pelosi attack, some Democrats said they would push to readdress the lack of new funding.

Its inconceivable that the family of the person, the woman, who is second in line to the presidency, doesnt have appropriate security, Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), told the Times. I think its important that we address that inconsistency.

Congress included nearly $708 million in funding for the Capitol Police for 2023 in its appropriation bills, which are set to be hashed out after the midterm elections.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

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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.
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP)  Ethiopias warring sides agreed Wednesday to a permanent cessation of hostilities in a conflict believed to have killed hundreds of thousands, but enormous challenges lie ahead, including getting all parties to lay down arms or withdraw.

The war in Africa's second-most populous country, which marks two years on Friday, has seen abuses documented on both sides, with millions of people displaced and many near famine.

The level of destruction is immense, said the lead negotiator for Ethiopias government, Redwan Hussein. Lead Tigray negotiator Getachew Reda expressed a similar sentiment and noted that painful concessions had been made. Exhausted Ethiopians, urged by the parties to stop voices of division and hate, watched them shake hands.

A draft text of the agreement, shared with The Associated Press by a diplomat, says Tigray forces will be disarmed, starting with light weapons within 30 days of Wednesdays signing, and Ethiopian federal security forces will take full control of all federal facilities, installations, and major infrastructure such as airports and highways within the Tigray region. The final, detailed agreement was not made public, but the brief joint statement notes a detailed program of disarmament and restoration of constitutional order" in Tigray.

Ethiopias government will continue restoring basic services to the Tigray region, where communications, transport and banking links for more than 5 million people have been severed since fighting began. The parties also commit to unfettered humanitarian access.

The devil will be in the implementation, said former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who helped facilitate the talks. An African Union panel with representatives from both sides and Africa experts will monitor the process.

It was not immediately clear when independent journalists and human rights researchers would be allowed into Tigray.

Major questions remain. Neighboring Eritrea, which has fought alongside Ethiopia, was not part of the peace talks. Its not clear to what extent its deeply repressive government, which has long considered Tigray authorities a threat, will respect the agreement. The draft says the Ethiopian and Tigray sides agree to stop collusion with any external force hostile to either party." Eritreas information minister didnt reply to questions.

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Eritrean forces have been blamed for some of the conflicts worst abuses, including gang rapes, and witnesses have described killings and lootings by Eritrean forces even during the peace talks. On Wednesday, a humanitarian source said several women in the town of Adwa reported being raped by Eritrean soldiers, and some were badly wounded. The source, like many on the situation inside Tigray, spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

Forces from Ethiopias neighboring Amhara region also have been fighting Tigray forces, but Amhara representatives also were not part of the talks. Amharas cannot be expected to abide by any outcome of a negotiations process from which they think they are excluded, said Tewodrose Tirfe, chairman of the Amhara Association of America.

But observers long strained by the conflict welcomed the agreement. This is very much a welcome first step, said the United Nations secretary-general's spokesman, Stephane Dujarric. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters she was delighted because what it means is that lives will be saved.

Another critical question is how soon aid can return to Tigray. Doctors have described running out of basic medicines like vaccines, insulin and therapeutic food while people die of easily preventable diseases and starvation. U.N. human rights investigators have said the Ethiopian government was using starvation of civilians as a weapon of war.

Were back to 18th-century surgery, a surgeon at the regions flagship hospital, Fasika Amdeslasie, told health experts at an online event Wednesday. Its like an open-air prison.

A humanitarian source said their organization could resume operations almost immediately if unfettered aid access to Tigray is granted.

It entirely depends on what the government agrees to. ... If they genuinely give us access, we can start moving very quickly, in hours, not weeks, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The conflict began in November 2020, less than a year after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for making peace with Eritrea, which borders the Tigray region. Abiys government has since declared the Tigray authorities, who ruled Ethiopia for nearly three decades before Abiy took office, a terrorist organization. The Ethiopian government will facilitate the lifting of that designation, the draft agreement says.

The brutal fighting, which also spilled into the Amhara and Afar regions as Tigray forces pressed toward the capital last year, was renewed in August in Tigray after months of lull that allowed thousands of trucks of aid into the region. According to minutes of a Tigray Emergency Coordination Center meeting on Oct. 21, seen by the AP, health workers reported 101 civilians killed by drone strikes and airstrikes, and 265 injured, between Sept. 27 and Oct. 10 alone.

The agreement signed today in South Africa is monumental in moving Ethiopia forward on the path of the reforms we embarked upon four and half years ago," Abiy said in a statement after the agreement. "Our commitment to peace remains steadfast.

But he made clear he saw the agreement as a win for his government. In a speech hours before Wednesday's announcement, the prime minster said: We need to replicate the victory we got on the battlefield in peace efforts, too.

___

Anna reported from Nairobi, Kenya. Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed.
Thanks to Waymo, self-driving cars are gaining in popularity and demand. Already operating driverless taxi rides in Phoenix, their autonomous cars are ready to take on the busy airport streets.

Waymo Drop-offs & Pick-ups

Ready to provide services to include Phoenixs Sky Harbor International airport, this presents a profitable opportunity for Waymo. Research shows that trips to and from the airport account for an estimated 20% of manual taxis. Companies like Waymo, are under pressure to deliver exponential profits as the industry is shrinking and tech stocks are dropping.

Waymo Current Services

Photo Credit: Waymo

Waymos vehicles have been in service in the suburbs of Phoenix since 2017. They also developed a commercial service called Waymo One, Waymo One is made up of vehicles with and without safety drivers. They recently started providing services in the Phoenix metro area earlier this year.

Test Programs

In 2021, Waymo launched their Trusted Tester program, a reintroduction to their Early Rider program that operated in suburban Phoenix. Passengers interested in using Waymos robotaxis register for a wait list, and once theyre approved they must sign nondisclosure agreements to learn more about the technology and service areas.

How Waymo Opens To The Public

Photo Credit: Waymo

After the markets been tested by customers under the NDAs, services open up to the public allowing regular paying customers. Eventually some of those trips will be in fully autonomous vehicles.

Now trips to the airport are already full of obstacles with the current taxi drivers, therefore Waymo has a lot of work to do before introducing autonomous vehicles. Now that airport traffic is increasing post pandemic, Waymo must make a lot of cash for their parent company Alphabet or make the news for vehicles getting confused and causing horrible traffic.
NatWest is closing another 43 branches as banks cut their presence on the high streets. Photo:Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters

Four new banking hubs will be created across England in an effort to give customers easier access to their money as banks continue to close branches.

Bury Park in Luton, Haslemere in Surrey, Prestatyn in Denbighshire, and Welling in south-east London are the communities set to benefit from shared banking hubs.

Banking hubs are similar to traditional bank branches but spaces are shared. They consist of a counter service operated by Post Office staff, where customers of any bank can withdraw and deposit cash, make bill payments, and carry out regular banking transactions.

Read more: NatWest: Full list of bank branches closing

There will also be private spaces where customers can speak to community bankers from their own bank for more complicated matters that require specialist knowledge or privacy. The banks will be working on a rotating basis, so there will be staff from different banks available on different days.

Two banking hubs are already open in Rochford in Essex and Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire.

Bank branch closures have fuelled fears about people continuing to be able to access their money. The government has previously said it will legislate to protect the future of cash.

Which? research shows 587 bank branches have closed this year. Another 75 are scheduled for closure this year and 60 are scheduled for closure in 2023.

Jenny Ross, Which? Money editor, said: Banking hubs could play an important role in ensuring the cash needs of local communities are met. However, the rollout is taking far too long and the hubs must open as soon as possible so consumers can benefit.

Our figures show how the number of bank branches and free-to-use ATMs has been slashed in recent years, so its vital that new legislation protects free access to cash for the millions of people who rely on it.

NatWest (NWG.L) recently revealed it was closing a further 43 branches, as lenders reduce their presence on the high streets to cut costs and to adapt to more customers taking up online banking.

Story continues

Several branches in Scotland, including in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen, are among the fresh wave of closures.

Half a million people across Scotland who are dependent on cash risk being cut off from accessing their money as banks ramp up branch closures, according to a report from the Scottish Affairs committee.

More than half (53%) of all bank branches in Scotland have shut down since 2015.

John Howells, CEO of Link, said: Were really pleased to confirm that Welling, Haslemere, Prestatyn and Bury Park in Luton will receive a banking hub and we hope more communities will apply. We know more people are banking online, but there are still millions of people who rely on cash.

Banking hubs are proving exceptionally popular with consumers and helping to breathe life back into high streets.

In 2009, around 56% of transactions were in cash, but today cash payments represent only 17% of all transactions.

Read more: Half a million Scots risk struggling to access cash amid bank closures

Despite this, cash remains the second most frequently used form of payment, second only to debit cards

Currently, 5.4 million people, or about 10% of adults in the UK, are reliant on cash.

As part of an agreement between the banks and building societies, following the closure of any bank branch, ATM network Link identifies whether a community requires further cash services. Communities can also contact Link directly and ask to be assessed for support.

Link also confirmed that six additional locations will receive increased support for depositing cash. They are Bingley, West Yorkshire; Finchley, north London; Leigh-on-Sea, Essex; Melksham, Wiltshire; Plympton, Devon and Sandbach in Cheshire.

Natalie Ceeney, chair of the Cash Action Group, said: Time and time again, businesses have told me that the inability to run out to the bank at lunchtime to refill their tills or at the end of the day to bank takings is one of the reasons why its easier to stop accepting cash.

Local deposit solutions are vital to keeping cash viable in local communities.

A further 27 hubs have been promised by the banks and are planned to open in the coming months with locations yet to be confirmed.

Watch: Watch: What is a credit rating and why does it matter?
A Beaufort man faces multiple felony charges as deputies from the Beaufort County Sheriffs Office continue to search for the other suspect believed to be involved in a violent kidnapping attempt.

Jayron Sneed, 28, was charged Wednesday with attempted kidnapping and assault and battery by mob, jail records show. Attempted kidnapping is considered a felony and carries the same punishment as kidnapping, according to South Carolinas Code of Laws.

Marquise Rayshawn Singleton, 26, of Beaufort, who police believe to be the second suspect involved in the kidnapping attempt, has not yet been located, according to Maj. Angela Viens, a spokesperson for the Beaufort County Sheriffs Office.

The incident occurred the evening of Sept. 16 as the victim stood outside of his home in Beaufort. Sneed and Singleton allegedly approached the residence and assaulted the man with the intent of kidnapping him, Viens said. The victim received injuries to his head and eyes but was able to get away.

Sneed was in custody at the Beaufort County Detention Center. A bond hearing has not yet been held.

Anyone with information about this incident or the whereabouts of Singleton is encouraged to call the Crime Stoppers of the Lowcountry anonymous tip line at 843-554-1111.

When we publish mugshots

The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette publishes police booking photos, or mugshots, in the following instances:

In situations where a public figure or someone in a position of public trust is arrested

In cases where there is an immediate and widespread threat to public safety

In cases where the arrested person is accused of a crime reporters have evidence to believe involved numerous, unknown victims

Reporters will avoid using mugshots as lead images for online articles in order to limit their circulation on social media, except in cases where the public is served by the immediate identification of the accused. Reporters and editors may use discretion in situations that dont meet the criteria outlined in this policy but still present a compelling reason to publish a mugshot.
Two beauty pageant contestants just revealed their relationship  and their weekend wedding. (Dreamstime / Tribune News Service)

Forget the crown  these beauty queens got the rings.

Mariana Varela and Fabiola Valentin, a.k.a. Miss Argentina and Miss Puerto Rico, respectively, met when both were competing in the 2020 Miss Grand International pageant. On Friday, they were married. The next day, they posted about it on Instagram.

"After deciding to keep our relationship private, we opened those doors on a special day," they wrote in Spanish on Instagram, sharing the date of their wedding.

The post included photos and videos showing the women traveling, snuggling, kissing and flashing their wedding and engagement rings. They revealed "te amo," or "I love you," written in red rose petals on a hotel bed.

Also included: shots from their proposal, which included the balloon message "Marry Me?" covering a decorated window in a room filled with candles and more balloons.

Both women's Instagram bios indicate they were in the top 10 contestants in the 2020 pageant, which was held in Thailand after being postponed until early 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2020 winner, Abena Akuaba of the United States, had well wishes for the couple, posting in comments, "Omg congratulations MGI brought together a beautiful union."

On Wednesday, Varela and Valentin both posted a photo in their Instagram Stories showing a coffee mug that read, in Spanish, "The best wife in the world."

"How nice it is to read each message," they wrote in Spanish. "Thank you all for your words and good wishes."

The 2022 Miss Grand International pageant  the 10th annual event  crowned its newest winner Oct. 25 in Indonesia. The bouquet and crown went to Miss Brazil, Isabella Menin. Next year's pageant will be held in Vietnam.

Miss Grand USA is the branch of the pageant that determines the United States' entry into Miss Grand International. In 2022 that was Miss Colorado, Emily DeMure.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Minsk, Belarus

According to Tertel, the supposed conflict could place Belarus under threat of a nuclear strike, or even U.S. military invasion.

Read also: Belarus has supplied Russia with 65,000 tons of ammunition

"There are specific plans regarding the invasion of our territory, by the military forces from the territory of Poland as well, Tertel said providing no evidence.

We know of the 101st Airborne Division of the United States, which is partially already based on the territory of our neighboring state."

Contrary to what Tertel said, the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division is currently deployed in Romania, close to the Ukrainian border  as opposed to Poland.

Read also: Ukraine reinforces Belarus, Transnistria border sections amid new invasion fears

Tertel added that a probable nuclear attack could also target Belarus.

We also know of the paperwork regarding nuclear strikes that are planned on our territory, as it was during the Soviet Union times. added the head of the Belarusian KGB.

Read also: Russian nuclear weapons expose Belarus to Western response, military expert says

Russia uses Belarus to launch air and drone strikes against Ukraine, and its initial invasion force crossed from Belarus into Ukraine on Feb. 24, seeking to capture Kyiv. Moscow and Minsk recently announced a Joint Grouping of Forces, consisting of units from the militaries of both countries, to be stationed in Belarus, north of the Ukrainian border.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Russia and Belarus have started preparations for the new military exercises called Union Shield 2023, which are planned to be held next year.

Source: Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Belarus, citing Viktor Khrenin, the Minister of Defence of Belarus, on Telegram

Quote from Khrenin during the joint collegium of the Ministries of Defence of Belarus and Russia: "The joint military systems are being improved. According to this goal, our military administrations conduct joint activities, exchange best practices, improve the regulatory legal framework, and conduct joint training.

Preparations for the joint operational training Union Shield 2023 have begun.

Details: These exercises will be "the next years main event [in terms] of the joint training of the military administration and troops."

Khrenin added that during the collegium, they will hear reports "on the main ways of countering attempts to falsify history", as well as on the condition and ways of improvement of the Joint CIS Air Defense System.

The Minister of Defence of Belarus repeated the Kremlins and self-proclaimed Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenkos narratives of Belarus and Russia being under "unprecedented pressure and hybrid influence", and NATO is allegedly "improving the military infrastructure facilities near the borders of the Union State".

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By Nick Carey

LONDON (Reuters) - Luxury British carmaker Bentley said on Wednesday that its operating profit for the first nine months of 2022 more than doubled, as global economic uncertainty failed to dent customer interest for niche models and increased car customisation.

The unit of German carmaker Volkswagen posted an operating profit for the first three quarters of 2022 of 575 million euros ($568 million), more than the 275 million euros in the same period of last year.

Bentley said global sales were up 3% at 11,316 units, while revenue jumped 28% to 2.49 billion euros from 1.95 billion a year earlier.

"While Bentley continues to tackle the challenges it faces in the global market, this latest set of financial figures shows strong results in most regions," Chief Executive Adrian Hallmark said in a statement.

Bentley said sales were up 18% in Europe in the first nine months of the year, and were up 17% in the Asia Pacific region. Sales in the Americas, Bentley's biggest region by sales, were up 7%.

($1 = 1.0128 euros)

(Reporting By Nick Carey; editing by David Evans)
(Reuters) - President Joe Biden's administration will make $13.5 billion available to help low-income U.S. households lower their heating costs this winter, the White House said on Wednesday.

As part of the initiative, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is providing $4.5 billion in low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funding, it said in a statement.

U.S. consumers can expect to pay up to 28% more to heat their homes this winter than last year due to surging fuel costs and colder weather, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projected in its winter fuels outlook in October.

The new funding will help Americans with heating costs and unpaid utility bills and repairs of home energy appliances that will help lower their energy costs, the White House said.

Separately, the U.S. Department of Energy will allocate $9 billion in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act to support up to 1.6 million households in upgrading their homes to lower energy bills.

About 90% of the roughly 130 million U.S. households rely on natural gas or electricity for heat. The rest use either heating oil, propane or wood for heat.

EIA forecast the average household will spend about $931 for gas heat this winter and about $1,359 for electric heat. That is a 28% increase for gas and a 10% increase for electric versus last year.

Homes using heating oil will spend about $2,354 for heat this winter, up 27% from last year, while propane users will see their costs rise 5% to $1,668, according to EIA's outlook.

Despite the big increase in cost, gas will remain the nation's cheapest source of heat.

Families are already having a hard time paying their electric and gas bills with about one in six U.S. households in arrears, according to estimates from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA) in October.

NEADA, which represents the state LIHEAP directors, said U.S. families were about $16.1 billion behind on their utility bills.

"The rise in home energy costs this winter will put millions of lower income families at risk of falling behind on their energy bills and having no choice but to make difficult decisions between paying for food, medicine and rent," NEADA Executive Director Mark Wolfe has said.

(Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama and Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru and Scott DiSavino in New York; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Tomasz Janowski and Jonathan Oatis)
Joe Biden branded Governor Ron DeSantis Donald Trump incarnate at a fundraiser in Florida on Tuesday, perhaps indicating how Democrats intend to frame the man who could be on the Republican presidential ticket in 2024.

Speaking at an event in support of Charlie Crist, currently running against an incumbent Mr DeSantis in the Florida gubernatorial election, the president said that the current governor did not have the ability to restore decency to public life and unite the country, Bloomberg reports.

This guy is not  he doesnt fit any of the categories I talked about, Mr Biden said of Mr DeSantis. The way he deals, the way he denies.

Charlie is running against Donald Trump incarnate, the president added, deploying the religiously loaded word often used to reference the devil.

Mr Biden also called out the Florida governor for his callous attitude that has contributed to the toxic nature of contemporary US politics and more generally criticised Republicans for their response to the 6 January 2021 Capitol riot, and the continued questioning of the results of the 2020 election.

How can you say that you in fact care about democracy when you deny the existence of a win? he said.

The president added that the violent rhetoric that has built up over the years was to blame for the attack last week on Paul Pelosi, husband of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, at home in San Francisco.

Look what happened. Im talking to Nancy Pelosi, look at what happened. Look at the response, the so-called response from Republicans, making jokes about it.

Later that evening at a rally in Miami, Mr Biden said everything is at stake in next weeks election, imploring Floridians to go to the polls on Tuesday.

The Washington Post reports that preparations are underway for the president, who turns 80 later this month, to run for a second term in 2024. It is believed a decision may be made after the midterms.

Similarly, former President Donald Trump is also expected to announce another campaign for the White House once the results of Tuesdays vote are known.

Story continues

Mr DeSantis is widely believed to be eyeing a run for the presidency with a New York Times poll regarding a hypothetical 2024 primary already giving him approximately one-quarter of the Republican vote to Mr Trumps 49 per cent  a formidable amount versus the man widely said to dominate the party.

The Florida governor has been a sharp critic of Mr Biden during his time in office but the two were forced to work together in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.

During a trip to see the damage around Fort Myers, Florida, the president said: We have very different political philosophies but weve worked hand-in-glove.

Mr DeSantis complimented Mr Biden for the speedy deployment of federal disaster relief.
(Bloomberg) -- Joe Biden assailed Ron DeSantis as Donald Trump incarnate, a remark that unveils a key question batted around in the White House: Will the president be facing the rival he knows or the one he doesnt in 2024?

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The US presidents barb at a Democratic fundraiser in Florida offered a preview of how an incumbent might handle a future showdown with the insurgent Florida governor. Whats clear is that DeSantis has grown in political stature.

Hes done that by channeling Trumps mannerisms and populism in ways that are more palatable to mainstream Republicans. Polls suggest that if Trump opts not to seek the presidency again DeSantis will be the GOP frontrunner.

Biden said that unlike Charlie Crist -- the former House representative and governor seeking to derail DeSantiss re-election bid  his Republican rival lacked the ability to restore decency to public life and unite the country.

This guy is not -- he doesnt fit any of the categories I talked about, the president said Tuesday evening of DeSantis. The way he deals, the way he denies.

Charlie is running against Donald Trump incarnate, Biden said.

Bidens deployment of the word incarnate is one that comes loaded with religious meaning and is frequently and colloquially used to describe the devil. It points to a souring of the political debate that has descended into mud-slinging on both sides. Trump said on his social media platform that the country was evil.

Bidens criticism Tuesday was a marked difference from his last visit to the state, when he and the governor traded niceties as they consoled victims of Hurricane Ian. But with the midterm elections approaching in just a week -- and the focus shifting to the 2024 presidential campaign shortly afterward -- the president singled out a possible challenger, arguing that DeSantis had displayed a callousness that toxified politics.

Story continues

How can you say that you in fact care about democracy when you deny the existence of a win? he said, criticizing Republicans broadly over the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol and for questioning the results of the 2020 election. Biden again blamed violent rhetoric for the attack last week on Paul Pelosi, the husband of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Look what happened. Im talking to Nancy Pelosi, look at what happened. Look at the response, the so-called response from Republicans, making jokes about it.

Earlier: DeSantis Wont Say in Debate If He Plans Presidential Run

The president told attendees later Tuesday at a rally in Miami that everything is at stake in next weeks election, imploring a packed house to turn out to vote. The gathering, in which Biden elicited loud cheers as he stalked the stage with detached microphone, was the sort of event Biden often had to forgo during his 2020 campaign because of Covid-19 restrictions.

Biden, who turns 80 this month, has said he intends to run for re-election and will announce a final decision after the Nov. 8 midterms. And while he has repeatedly expressed confidence he would beat Trump in a rematch of their 2020 race, he has said comparatively little about DeSantis up to now.

DeSantis, 44, has declined to say whether he plans to run for president in two years, but he is expected to cruise to re-election as governor next week over Crist.

He has bolstered his national profile in recent months by being a sharp critic of Biden and Democratic policies, including on immigration. He drew Bidens criticism in September for allegedly using taxpayer dollars to fly dozens of Venezuelan migrants to Marthas Vineyard, a resort island off the coast of Massachusetts.

The president at the time accused Republican governors, without naming DeSantis, of using people as props and Bidens transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, called for an investigation into whether DeSantiss transportation of the migrants broke federal flight rules.

The president and governor, though, were forced to work together when Hurricane Ian slammed into Florida creating widespread damage. They spoke on the telephone and DeSantis complimented Biden for quickly lining up federal disaster relief.

Earlier: DeSantis and Biden Play Nice at Ian Epicenter in 2024 Preview

DeSantis did deliver a subtle jab at Biden, who surveyed the storm damage near Fort Myers from a helicopter. You can go over it in a helicopter and you see damage, but it does not do it justice until you are actually on the ground, he said.

Moments later, Biden responded: Im sure its much worse from the ground. But you can see a whole hell of a lot of damage from the air.

Biden told reporters during that trip that despite their differences he was able to work with DeSantis to deliver aid.

We have very different political philosophies, Biden said. But weve worked hand-and-glove.

Winning a second term at the helm of the nations third most populous state could provide DeSantis with a solid platform for mounting a campaign for the White House -- as an alternative to Trump in a Republican primary and, perhaps, a potent challenger to Biden.

DeSantis poses the greatest threat against Trump in a hypothetical 2024 primary, according to a July New York Times/Siena College poll. One quarter of GOP voters said they would vote for DeSantis -- compared to 49% for Trump -- with college graduates, younger Republicans and those who voted for Biden in 2020 picking DeSantis as their top choice.

Florida has increasingly become difficult for Democrats to win. Trump beat Biden there by three percentage points in 2020.

At a Tuesday night rally, Crist nodded to DeSantiss potential White House ambitions. Ron DeSantis wants to do to America what hes done to Florida, and we can stop him, right here, right now, he said.

DeSantis, though, leads Crist by 11 percentage points and had a 53% approval rating among likely Florida voters, according to a mid-October Florida Atlantic University poll. DeSantis led Biden 48-22% in a hypothetical 2024 match-up, according to the same poll of Florida voters, while Trump led Biden 45-41%.

Bidens Florida visit kicks off his final campaign stretch before the midterms, in which his party is fighting to keep control of the House, Senate and key statehouses. Hes also appearing with Senate hopeful Val Demings, who is trailing her Republican opponent, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, in polling.

Florida Democrats rubber-stamped Joe Biden and his disastrous agenda every step of the way, so theres no better way for them to spend their final week than campaigning by his side, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement.

(Updates with Biden rally in 9th paragraph, Crist quote starting in 24th.)

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President Biden on Wednesday evening will deliver a speech focused on threats to democracy ahead of the midterm elections and following the violent attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosis (D-Calif.) husband last week.

The speech will be made on Capitol Hill, White House senior adviser Anita Dunn and deputy chief of staff Jen OMalley Dillon announced at an Axios event on Wednesday morning.

Biden will speak at the Columbus Club in Union Station at 7 p.m. The speech, hosted by the Democratic National Committee (DNC), will focus on the threat of election deniers and those who seek to undermine faith in voting and democracy, according to the DNC.

I think you can expect to hear from him this evening, similar to what hes been saying over the course of the last several months, that there is a lot at stake in terms of democracy and everyone has a role in that, OMalley said. The other thing that will be really important [is] people will be able to vote  democracy works to make sure every vote is counted.

Dunn called it appropriate that it will be made on Capitol Hill because on Jan. 6, we saw violence geared towards subverting democratic processes there.

Biden also made a prime-time speech focused on democracy in September from Philadelphia, which was centered around warning that former President Trump and Republicans aligned with him are threats to the country.

Dunn on Wednesday said that political violence is something that unites almost all Americans and we can all be united against, and obviously weve seen horrible things happen quite recently  the Speakers husband.

Paul Pelosi was attacked early Friday morning in the couples San Francisco home and underwent surgery for a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands. He remains hospitalized.

The suspected attacker, David DePape, who reportedly posted fringe conspiracy theories online, entered a not guilty plea for state charges on Tuesday. He was charged Monday with federal assault and attempted kidnapping as well as several state charges, including attempted murder.

Biden on Tuesday ripped Republicans who responded to the attack on Paul Pelosi by making jokes about it, and he criticized those who didnt offer a full condemnation of the incident. Additionally, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has said that Americans have a responsibility to call out political violence in response to the latest details about the attack.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Former President Clinton will be stumping for Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday in one of New Yorks hotly contested House districts less than a week before the pivotal November midterms.

An advisory from Ryans campaign on Tuesday said that Clinton and Ryan would be participating in an event with military families and veterans in New Windsor, N.Y.

Ryan won a special election in New Yorks 19th Congressional District earlier this year in a race that was viewed as a bellwether between campaigning on issues like the economy, inflation and abortion ahead of the November midterms. But Ryan represents a seat that was drawn before the New York congressional maps were redrawn for this years midterms, meaning the congressman is now running in the new 18th Congressional District this cycle.

The nonpartisan election handicapper Cook Political Report rates the seat lean Democrat.

Last weekend, Clinton also campaigned for Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (N.Y.), the chairman of the House Democrats campaign arm. Maloney currently represents the 18th Congressional District but chose after redistricting to run in the 17th Congressional District.

A mix of national headwinds and a district that includes a majority of new constituents have made Maloneys reelection chances more challenging for the powerful Democrat.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
(Bloomberg) -- As an ESG fund class facing mass downgrades attracts vast client flows, industry insiders confess they dont understand why investors arent being more cautious.

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The fund class in question is called Article 9Europes top environmental, social and governance disclosure designation. The problem is that analysts, industry associations and lawyers advising fund managers acknowledge that a significant number of Article 9 funds dont currently meet the EUs strict sustainability requirements.

Dozens of funds have already lost their Article 9 tag, including offerings from Pacific Investment Management Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.s NN Investment Partners. Yet despite the cloud hanging over Article 9, the fund class drew almost 13 billion ($13 billion) in client flows last quarter, bringing the total over the first nine months of this year to 29 billion, Morningstar Inc. data show.

I am somewhat mystified at the continuing inflows, said Hugo Gallagher, senior policy adviser at the European Sustainable Investment Forum, whose members represent about $20 trillion in assets under management. I can only suspect that its due to many end-investors not being entirely cognizant of the ambiguities around Article 9.

Flows into Article 9 products, which Morningstar said were boosted by passive strategies, buck the overall trend. A less stringent designation within the EUs ESG investing rulebookthe Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulationknown as Article 8 saw 29 billion of outflows last quarter, bringing the total cash exodus over the first nine months to more than 120 billion.

There could be hundreds of Article 9 downgrades in the next six months, said Hortense Bioy, Morningstars global director of sustainability research, in an email last week.

Story continues

Some investment managers are already announcing plans to remove Article 9 tags from funds. Axa Investment Managers, which oversees about 820 billion, said it has reclassified 21 funds to Article 8 from Article 9 in recent months and plans to downgrade another 24 in the near future.

What Id say to other asset managers and what were trying to do ourselves with our clients is around education, Clemence Humeau, head of sustainability coordination and governance at Axa, said in an interview. Were trying to explain the long-term intention and the short-term challenges of the EU rules, she said. Its all about being proactive and transparent in our communications with clients.

SFDR was enforced in March 2021. The EU has since provided guidance to the fund industry that all Article 9 funds need to be filled with sustainable assets, with some allowances for hedging and liquidity. Industry practice had tilted toward a less strict interpretation of the rules.

Morningstars latest industry analysis shows that less than 5% of Article 9 funds target sustainable-investment exposure between 90% and 100%. That raises questions about the feasibility of the new regulatory guidance, the research firm wrote in an Oct. 27 report.

In light of all these recent developments and in expectation of further downgrades, we can expect the number of Article 9 products to decline in the next six months from its current level of 1,080 funds, Morningstar said.

The situation has led to criticism of SFDR, with regulators in the EU seeking urgent clarification from the EU Commission on a number of key pillars within the regulatory framework. Chief among these is the EU Commissions perceived failure to provide an adequate definition of sustainable investment, according to the three European Supervisory Authorities.

The ESAs have sent a letter to the EU Commission asking the blocs executive arm to provide answers as soon as possible. The Commission said in October it has received the queries and will reply in due time.

Morningstar says its currently unclear whether the EU Commission intends to respond before the end of the year. Behind the scenes, market participants are interpreting signals from the EU Commission to mean it probably wont provide answers before next year, according to people familiar with the matter.

That means the fund industry probably wont have an adequate definition of basic ESG terms before a new SFDR disclosure deadline kicks in. The so-called regulatory technical standards, which include templates for reporting investments negative effects on the environment, and efforts to mitigate these, will be enforced from Jan. 1.

The European Securities and Markets Authority, which is among EU regulators to have asked the EU Commission for answers, plans to fill the void by offering some guidance to help asset managers navigate existing rules in the coming weeks and months.

For fund managers, a key concern now is that any clarifications from the EU Commission might depart significantly from market practice.

The market has landed on interpretations of the rules because where something has been unclear people have just had to interpret it themselves, said Ben Maconick, a managing associate at the law firm Linklaters.

Im less worried about there not being clarifications of things that I would want clarified than I am about further commission or ESA guidance that cuts across what people are currently doing, he said. People are particularly worried about the questions about what counts as a sustainable investment. Its hugely important to fund categorization.

(Adds Morningstars assessment of timing of EU Commissions response to ESA questions)

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Mykhailo Podoliak, adviser to the Head of the Office of Ukrainian President, believes that the "Russian blackmailer" [i.e. Vladimir Putin] surrenders to those who are stronger; this can be seen in the example of Russia's decision to return to the Black Sea Grain Initiative, thanks to the intermediation of Turkiye.

Source: Podoliak on Twitter

Quote: "What lesson should Western leaders learn from Ottoman grain diplomacy? A blackmailer with Russian roots is inferior to those who are stronger and know how to state their position clearly.

The way to pacify the aggressor lies through a reasonable demonstration of force."

Background:

Russia announced the suspension of its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative after the attack on vessels of the Black Sea Fleet in occupied Sevastopol (Crimea) on 29 October.

The UN then stated that all agreements remained in force and that inspectors of the organisation would carry on checking the ships.

The very next day [31 October], Putin began to hint that the Russian Federation was prepared to return to the agreement; on 2 November, Russias Ministry of Defence announced its return to the grain deal following receipt of "guarantees" from Ukraine.

Amir Abdullah, UN Permanent Representative to the Joint Coordination Centre in Istanbul, welcomed Moscow's return to the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
The Alexandria Police Department is conducting a homicide investigation after a body with multiple gunshot wounds was found Wednesday morning beside drainage canal near Rose Marie Street.

Family members have been notified but the identity of the victim is not being released pending further notification, the department says in a news release.

Those with information is asked to contact the Alexandria Police Detective Division at (318) 441-6460 or APD Dispatch at (318) 441-6559.

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Body with multiple gunshots found near drainage canal in Alexandria
Bolivia's Lake Poopo was once a fountain of life for local inhabitants, but now due to a confluence of factors, it is a desert with abandoned boats lying on cracked ground. For Indigenous communities who farmed along its banks and fished from the waters for more than a century, life has been completely upended.

Located in the high-altitude altiplano area of southwestern Bolivia, Lake Poopo sat at an altitude of 12,000 feet above sea level. In 1986, the lake was at its peak, spanning nearly 1,350 square miles, making it larger than the entire state of Rhode Island.

An aerial shot of an abandoned boat on the bed of dried-up Lake Poopo. (AFP) An aerial shot of an abandoned boat on the bed of dried-up Lake Poopo. (AFP)

But, according to a European Space Agency, satellite images have tracked the lake's decline, showing that Lake Poopo had "fully evaporated" seven years ago in 2015 -- a result of what scientists found is climate change and water extraction for farming and mining in the area.

"Here was the lake," Felix Mauricio, a member of the Uru Indigenous community who used to be a fisherman, told AFP while kneeling in a now dry bed. "It dried up quickly."

Mauricio, now 82, has always lived in Punaca Tinta Maria, a village in the southwestern region of Oruro. He told AFP that his grandparents settled in the area over a century ago when the water levels of Lake Poopo flourished.

Two Uru men walk on the dried-up bed of what used to be Lake Poopo. (AFP)

The Uru, who still call themselves "water people," used to catch the fish, hunt the water birds and rely on the fertile land that surrounded the lake. But, now that the lake has dried up, the members of the Uru Indigenous community, who once lived off the lake's natural offerings, are leaving.

"Who thought the lake would dry up? Our parents trusted Lake Poopo...It had fish, birds, eggs, everything," Luis Valero, the spiritual leader of Lake Poopo's Uru Indigenous community, told the AFP. "It was our source of life."

According to a 2013 survey, there are only about 600 members left of the Uru Indigenous community in Punaca Tinta Maria.

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Luis Valero, the spiritual leader of Lake Poopo's Uru Indigenous community, talks to AFP with the dried up Lake Poopo in the background. Luis Valero, the spiritual leader of Lake Poopo's Uru Indigenous community, talks to AFP with the dried-up Lake Poopo in the background. (AFP)

"We the Uru people have been left without land. We trusted in the lake, our parents trusted in the lake, that it would stay forever, but it didn't," Valero said. "The lake dried up all of a sudden and left us without a job."

The remaining Uru have had to learn to adapt to their new environment.

Valero said many "water people" have been forced to become bricklayers, miners or day laborers. Some people continue to grow small crops, like quinoa, which is a "drought tolerant" plant, according to the Ag Marketing Resource Center (AGMRC).

A wall painting of Uru Indigenous person fishing Lake Poopo. (AFP) A wall painting of a Uru Indigenous person fishing Lake Poopo. (AFP)

Lake Poopo's last gift to the Uru is a large evaporated bed of salt. The remaining people have collectively raised enough money to get equipment for a small plant to mine and refine the salt left behind. But, the endeavor fell short when they couldn't find $500 to buy the bags with which to package the salt.

It's not just the Uru people who are experiencing water scarcity. Over the past year, water levels have alarmingly dropped in Europe, the United States and South America. According to the United Nations (UN), water scarcity affects almost one-fifth of the world's population. And, with the existing climate change scenario, almost half of the world's population will be living in areas of "high water stress" by 2030, the UN reports.

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By Brian Ellsworth and Rodrigo Viga Gaier

SAO PAULO/RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -Supporters of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday held rallies to call for an armed forces intervention following the election of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a move that military experts say is out of the question.

The country's electoral authority on Sunday said Lula won almost 51% of the vote. Bolsonaro has not officially acknowledged the result, though his cabinet has initiated a transition, with Lula set to take over the presidency on Jan. 1.

Bolsonaro's supporters in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro led festive rallies on Wednesday, carrying Brazil's yellow-and-green flag draped over their shoulders, blowing horns and chanting anti-Lula slogans.

"We hope the army will intervene in this situation, we know that those elections were fraudulent," said Reinaldo da Silva, 65, a retired government worker at a rally at the entrance to a Sao Paulo army barracks.

"I came today because I want Brasil to be free, socialism does not work with the Brazilian nation."

Similar rallies were held in 24 of Brazil's 26 states, as well as the capital Brasilia, according to Brazilian online media portal G1.

In response to a request for comment, Brazil's defense ministry said peaceful demonstrations were part of free expression under Brazilian law, adding that "the Defense Ministry is guided by the Federal Constitution."

Bolsonaro, a former army captain, has cultivated strong ties to the military since his 2018 election, winning over the political sympathies of some of the top brass.

Like many politically conservative Brazilians, he has often waxed nostalgic for the 1964-1985 military dictatorship. Lula, by contrast, was jailed in the 1970s for protesting against the military government.

But the armed forces have been wary of direct involvement in politics since the dictatorship, which left the country in economic chaos.

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Paulo Chagas, a retired cavalry general who campaigned for Bolsonaro in 2018, said in a message to Reuters: "The military know full well what their duty is: the constitution does not allow them to intervene in politics."

General Otavio Rego Barros, a former spokesman for Bolsonaro, said in a column published on Wednesday that it was time for the election losers to concede and think of Brazil's future. He criticized "groups with no sense of responsibility that still seek to destabilize a weakened social fabric with provocations and misinformation."

Chagas and Rego Barros fell out with Bolsonaro over his pressure on the armed forces to endorse him politically.

Political leaders around the world have congratulated Lula on his victory, with the White House commending him for winning "free, fair and credible elections." Spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said on Wednesday that the Biden administration was glad Bolsonaro had acknowledged the result.

Before Sunday's vote, Bolsonaro had repeatedly made baseless claims that the electoral system was open to fraud.

As well as echoing that false claim, some Bolsonaro supporters argue Lula should not have been allowed to run after being convicted as part of a sweeping corruption scandal linked to his Workers Party, which was overturned by the Supreme Court last year.

"We need a federal intervention, we have a Supreme (Court) that sold out to the Workers Party," said one demonstrator at a rally outside a regional military headquarters in the center of Rio de Janeiro.

Truckers, one of Bolsonaro's core group of supporters, blocked roads around the country on Monday and Tuesday to protest the results, creating miles-long backups and threatening to disrupt supply chains.

However, several truckers interviewed by Reuters said they supported Bolsonaro but did not agree with the blockades and authorities said on Wednesday that they were making headway in clearing the blockades.

(Reporting by Brian Ellsworth in Sao Paulo and Rodrigo Viga Gaier in Rio de Janeiro, additional reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu in Sao Paulo and Anthony Boadle in Brasilia, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
Screenshot of two men carrying long-bladed weapons in a car park in Singapore. Police said they have launched a manhunt operation after two men had injured two other men at Boon Lay Drive. (PHOTO: Facebook/Screenshot)

SINGAPORE  A man used a bread knife to attack another man at a wedding celebration in Boon Lay on 6 April this year, after he got upset that the man was talking to his girlfriend.

Muhammad Sajid Saleem, 20, pleaded guilty on Wednesday (2 November) to one count of voluntarily causing grievous hurt with weapons, and also faced one count of being a member of a secret society between July 2020 and April 2022.

Three other charges will be taken into consideration during sentencing on 23 November.

The attack took place in a carpark near Block 175 Boon Lay Drive. The day before, Sajid and his friend, a 19-year-old man, had discussed going to the wedding reception as they knew the person who was talking to his girlfriend would be at the wedding.

The pair went there with two 23.5cm-long bread knives and attacked two guests at the wedding celebration.

DPP describes attack as 'hideous'

Deputy Public Prosecutor R. Arvindren describing the attack as hideous, and asked the court to sentence Sajid to 39 months jail and six strokes of the cane, citing the need for deterrence.

Sajids lawyer N. Divanan from Phoenix Law Corporation had asked the court to call for a report to determine his reformative training. Reformative training involves detention in a centre with a strict regimen that can include foot drills and counselling.

However, DPP Arvindren said that, even if the report were to show Sajids suitability for reformative training, the prosecution would stand by its position of calling for a jail sentence.

District Judge Carol Ling called for the reformative training report.

For voluntarily causing grievous hurt with weapons, Sajid can be jailed for up to 15 years and fined or caned. For the charge under the Societies Act, he can be jailed for up to three years and fined up to $5,000.

The other man, who is accused of being an accomplice in the slashing incident, faces charges for being part of the same secret society between 2016 and April 2022.

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He is expected to plead guilty to his charges on 9 November, and cannot be named as he was 14 years old in 2016.

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

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter. Also check out our Southeast Asia, Food, and Gaming channels on YouTube.
A Border Patrol union fired back at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Wednesday after the left-wing organization condemned moves by agents to deal with illegal migrants who had allegedly assaulted them.

"We read this morning that the ACLU is upset that BP agents have the audacity to defend themselves," the National Border Patrol Council tweeted.

"We have a response for them. Go to hell."

The union was responding after the ACLU expressed outrage over an incident that took place Monday and was partially caught on camera. The group of Venezuelan migrants illegally crossing into El Paso, Texas, as they waved an enormous flag. Agents can be seen pushing migrants back into the river while firing pepper balls near them to control the crowd.

ILLEGAL MIGRANTS WAVE VENEZUELAN FLAG AFTER CROSSING US SOUTHERN BORDER, ATTACK BORDER PATROL AGENTS

In a statement, CBP said a group of Venezuelans had attempted to illegally enter the U.S. while protesting along the Rio Grandes international boundary.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

The agency said one of the protesters assaulted an agent with a flagpole while another threw a rock at agents, injuring one in the process. That, in turn, led the Border Patrol to initiate crowd-control measures.

"These measures included the use of the authorized less-lethal force pepperball launching system," the statement said. "The crowd then dispersed and returned to Mexico."

CBP has said that its Office of Professional Responsibility is reviewing the incident.

ICE LAUNCHES TAKEDOWN OPERATION IN GUATEMALA TO NAB HUMAN SMUGGLERS AND CORRUPT COPS, RESCUE MIGRANTS

The ACLU called the incident "the latest in a long line of abuses carried out by CBP."

"Our government's failed attempts at preventing people from seeking protection in the U.S. lead to death and suffering. The Biden administration must restore a humane process for seeking asylum," the group said.

Story continues

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The incident comes amid a continued flood of illegal migration across the U.S. border. There were more than 2.3 million migrant encounters in FY 2022, and more than 227,000 in September. Fox News cameras this week have seen a number of large groups of migrants coming across the border.

In just the Del Rio Sector alone, Border Patrol reports more than 50 large groups of more than 100 migrants since the beginning of October.

Fox News' Bill Melugin contributed to this report.
BOSTON, Ma.--- Theres a push by the community toward city leaders to make Bostons Franklin Park safer.

Its in the Dorchester, Roxbury, and Jamaica Plain neighborhoods of Boston.

Boston 25 News told you about several recent incidents of violence there and nearby.

That includes 91-year-old civil rights activist, Jean McGuire being stabbed there in October. Now some people say there needs to be more lights and cameras in the park to help keep people safe.

Im more worried and thinking about when the sun goes down, says Marcel, a Boston resident.

Franklin Park was once known as a place where families could go. Now some people tell me not so much.

Used to be a really chill, quiet area and so when I heard of Jean and what happened to her it really struck me as odd, says Marcel.

Three weeks after someone stabbed civil rights activist Jean, McGuire while walking her dog, the Franklin Park Coalition had a virtual meeting to address public safety. The call included city leaders and people who live by the park voicing their concerns.

It is not being maintained properly. When Ms. Jean was attacked, they came from an area where it was overgrown and where the person could not have a line of sight, says Louis Elisa, a Boston resident.

After leaving the hospital, McGuire said shed never walk in the park alone again because she doesnt feel safe, but Boston Police said during the Zoom call that crime in the park is actually down 30 percent since last year. However, city councilor Tanya Fernandes Anderson disagrees with those who say the park is safe.

Me as black woman, am I safe to walk down in Franklin Park by myself? We have to look at the data and see who is getting hurt and who is not getting hurt, says Tania Fernandes Anderson, Boston City Council.

So whats the solution? People in the park say safety is a complex issue, but that a start could be better lighting.

I guess parts of it get pretty dark. Lighting wouldnt hurt, says Anna Sherr, a Boston resident.

Story continues

Besides more lighting, some people mentioned that they would like to see an increased police presence and park rangers.

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STORY: Brazil's Federal Highway Police (PRF) said protesters were blocking highways partially or fully in 156 locations as of Wednesday morning, down from around 190 the previous night. The blockades began Sunday night after polls closed in Brazil.

Although smaller than in previous days, the protests are still likely disrupting fuel distribution, meat production, food deliveries to supermarkets and shipments of grains to ports.

Police said 601 roadblocks had been cleared so far across the country, though roads remained blocked or partially blocked in 15 of Brazil's 26 states, most notably in Santa Catarina and Mato Grosso, where Bolsonaro has strong popular support.
(Reuters) - Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday asked protesting truckers to clear road blockades in place since he lost the country's presidential runoff election on Sunday, a video shared by his Health Ministry on Twitter showed.

"Blocking roads in Brazil obstructs our right to come and go, which is in our constitution," he said in one part of the video. "I want to make an appeal: clear the roads."

(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Editing by Christian Plumb)
Burkina Faso's new military leader on Wednesday visited Mali for his first foreign trip since taking power, holding what his Malian counterpart hailed as "fruitful" exchanges on peace and security.

Captain Ibrahim Traore, who seized power in Burkina Faso in a September 30 coup, flew to the Malian capital Bamako for what Mali's foreign ministry said would be a roughly three-hour "friendship and working visit".

Traore left Mali for Burkina's capital Ouagadougou Wednesday evening, an AFP journalist reported.

"With a view to improving the security of our respective populations, (Traore) and I had fruitful exchanges this afternoon on the major challenges that impact the peace and stability of our states," Mali's Colonel Assimi Goita, who came to power in an August 2020 putsch, said on Twitter late Wednesday.

He greeted 34-year-old Traore in the afternoon as he dismebarked from the plane at the airport in the capital Bamako.

The two men then headed to a VIP airport lounge for private talks before continuing on to the presidency for further meetings with their respective delegations.

A Burkinabe official had earlier said the main issue discussed would be "the fight against terrorism", referring to the two countries' bloody struggle against jihadists.

The two Sahel states rank among the poorest and most volatile nations in the world.

Both leaders came to power at the head of army officers angered by failures to roll back Islamists linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

Along with neighbouring Niger, the two countries have suffered thousands of fatalities and more than two million people have fled their homes.

Traore ousted Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who in January had toppled Burkina's last elected president, Roch Marc Christian Kabore.

Under Goita, Mali began to weave closer ties with the Kremlin, acquiring aircraft to strengthen its beleaguered armed forces and bringing in Russian "trainers", described by Western countries as Wagner mercenaries.

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As this relationship intensified, ties with Paris, Mali's traditional ally, deteriorated and France became a target of vilification.

Paris this year pulled out the last troops it had deployed in Mali as part of its Barkhane anti-jihadist force in the Sahel.

The latest coup in Burkina has been marked by anti-French protests in which some demonstrators have waved Russian flags and demanded the departure of a contingent of 400 French special forces.

On Sunday, Burkina Faso's new prime minister hinted that his country may look at stronger connections with Russia, in the light of "the new deal" in security.

ab-sd-stb/prc/bp
(Bloomberg) -- Canada Goose Holdings Inc. lowered its outlook for the year, saying coronavirus restrictions in China and significant uncertainty in the global economy will hurt sales and margins.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The Canadian manufacturer of high-end parkas and apparel said it expects revenue to come in at C$1.2 billion ($882 million) to C$1.3 billion for the fiscal year that ends next March. Previously, it projected as much as C$1.4 billion.

The shares fell 1.8% to $16.10 as of 10 a.m. in New York.

Canada Goose is in the middle of its most important season -- it sells most of its goods in October, November and December. It is extremely challenging to project the bulk of the years trading, based on merely a few weeks of visibility. But recent events impacting trends are not supportive of our original outlook, Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Sinclair told analysts.

Estee Lauder Sinks on China Impact Duration Concern: Street Wrap

Chinas restrictive Covid policies, which have resulted in intermittent store closures, dont change the companys confidence in the country as a long-term growth market, Chief Executive Officer Dani Reiss said. Canada Goose continues to seek leases in the most important malls, in the most important places in China, he said.

Canada Goose also cut its forecast for adjusted earnings before interest and taxes, giving a range of C$215 million to C$255 million for the fiscal year. Thats nearly 15% below earlier projections.

The revised guidance assumes that Covid-19 restrictions in Mainland China will continue to negatively impact performance, the company said in a statement. It also reflects significant uncertainty from the broader macroeconomic and political environment, the firm said.

Story continues

Canada Goose shares had fallen about 56% in New York this year. Its been a tough year for luxury stocks, with the S&P Global Luxury Index dropping about 30% so far in 2021.

(Updates with share move, details from conference call.)

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2022 Bloomberg L.P.
In the wake of the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband last week at the couple's San Francisco home, U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said in a statement Tuesday that "today's political climate calls for more resources to provide additional layers of physical security for members of Congress."

"With the increasing number of threats against elected officials from city council members to federal judges, our work to further our efforts to protect the members of Congress becomes increasingly urgent," Manger said. "We will continue to work with our congressional partners to add additional agents and security enhancements to support our protective operations mission."

According to San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, in the early morning hours of Oct. 28, the suspect, David Wayne DePape, forced his way through a rear glass door at the Pelosi home and made his way upstairs, where Paul Pelosi was sleeping.

The couple's San Francisco home did not have security because the speaker was in Washington, D.C., at the time.

CBS News has confirmed there were cameras outside the Pelosi home which captured the break-in, but Capitol Police only learned of it after an officer in the department's command center saw a police cruiser in the Pelosi driveway and alerted superiors. No security alarm in the house went off when DePape broke the glass, CBS News confirms. The news about the cameras was first reported by The Washington Post.

Authorities said Paul Pelosi attempted to get to the home's elevator, and asked the suspect if he could to go to the bathroom, where he made a 911 phone call. The suspect then realized Pelosi had made the phone call, Jenkins said.

When two officers arrived on scene, they witnessed the suspect strike Pelosi with a hammer, Jenkins disclosed.

Police tape blocks a street outside the home of Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in San Francisco, Oct. 28, 2022. / Credit: Eric Risberg / AP

"What is clear, based on the evidence that we have thus far, is this house and the speaker herself were specifically targets of the defendant," Jenkins said Monday.

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DePape pleaded not guilty Tuesday to attempted murder and other state charges. He still faces federal charges.

Manger said Tuesday that USCP has engaged in a review of the attack on Pelosi, and security improvements were made after the 2017 shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise, and the 2011 shooting of former Rep. Gabby Gifford.

"We cannot disclose the details about these improvements because our country cannot afford to make it easier for any potential bad actors," Manger said.

Furthermore, Manger said USCP has long-term plans to increase security, not just in the wake of the Paul Pelosi attack, but also the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Sen. Graham must testify in election probe after Supreme Court refuses to halt order

U.S. and Chinese officials working to set up meeting between Biden, Xi Jinping

Newark mayor provides update on shooting of 2 police officers
Photo: The Washington Post (Getty Images)

New reports about the attack on Paul Pelosi last week are more alarming than any conspiracy theory: On Wednesday morning, the Washington Post reported that U.S. Capitol Police had cameras installed outside the Pelosis San Francisco home that recorded footage of the attackbut no police officers were monitoring the camera feeds at the time of the attack.



As Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi is third in line to the presidency. Current and former law enforcement sources told the Post that if Capitol Police had the best chance to protect any member of Congress from a break-in or violent attack, it would be Pelosi. The newspaper also made the chilling observation that the attack, and law enforcements failure to stop it, put a spotlight on the immensityand perhaps the impossibilityof law enforcements task to protect the 535 members of Congress at a time of unprecedented numbers of threats against them.

Read more

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the Capitol Police said in a statement that the department is on track to hire about 300 additional officers this year. The countrys political climate is going to necessitate additional layers of physical security, the agency said. Its not entirely clear what 300 additional police officers neglecting to monitor cameras placed outside political leaders homes will do to keep anyone safe.

On the same day that Paul Pelosi was attacked, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and the Capitol Police issued a joint report warning of an increased risk of terror attacks leading up to the midterm elections on Nov. 8, primarily by lone offenders who leverage election-related issues to justify violence. They identified candidates running for office, elected officials, election workers, political rallies, and people of color and religious minorities as potential targets of this violence.

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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 targetssuch as ideological opponents and election workers, the agencies wrote.

The man who attacked Pelosi, David Depape, has already confessed to the FBI that the attack was politically motivated, and he sought to kidnap the speaker because she was the leader of the pack, referring to Democrats. His social media feeds are awash with QAnon and Trumpian election conspiracy theories, Holocaust denial, and racist rants against George Floyd.

The attack on the Pelosis home is emblematic of the rising tide of political violence that were being warned about. In recent weeks, someone burglarized the headquarters of Arizonas Democratic candidate for governor, Katie Hobbs, as she continues to face death threats and harassment for certifying Arizonas 2020 presidential vote as secretary of state. Vice reported that on Monday, the home of Richard Ringer, a Democratic candidate for state house in Pennsylvania, was broken into and that Ring was knocked out by his attacker.

It was widely predicted that 2020 election lies would yield violence, and that violence has persisted long past the Jan. 6 insurrection in 2021. Now, as political violence surges, it seems our leaders only plans are to invest further in the same police who couldnt even be bothered to monitor cameras outside the Pelosis home.

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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 Capitol police have 1,800 cameras, yet failed to monitor the video feed outside Nancy Pelosi's home.

Law enforcement told The Washington Post the House Speaker receives the most death threats.

Capitol Police installed cameras around the Pelosi property more than eight years ago.

The Capitol police have 1,800 cameras used to monitor the Capitol and the homes of certain lawmakers and yet, nobody was watching the video feeds outside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home the night her husband was attacked, according to a report from The Washington Post.

Several current and former law enforcement officials spoke with The Post anonymously and said if the Capitol Police were going to prevent an attack at any member of Congress's home, they had the best chance of doing so at Pelosi's. One official added that Pelosi is the subject of the most violent death threats compared to any other lawmaker.

Police attribute the level of threats the house speaker receives due to her being a woman, being second in line to the presidency, and being targeted by Republicans, per The Post.

On Friday, suspect David DePape broke into the Pelosi residence and assaulted Paul Pelosi, the speaker's husband, with a hammer in a "politically motivated" attack. On Tuesday, DePape pleaded not guilty to charges including attempted murder and kidnapping.

The Post reported the Capitol Police installed cameras around the House Speaker's property more than eight years ago and that she has a 24/7 security detail. The night of the attack, most of her security detail traveled with her to Washington, DC, and officers only partially monitored the video feeds outside her home, as per the outlet.

In a press release on Tuesday, Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said that while there have been improvements, such as plans to hire 280 more officers this year, the country's "political climate" is going to require "additional layers of physical security."

Pelosi has been the target of violent threats before. In March 2019, a man in Florida called her office to tell 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.

Violent threats to lawmakers have increased dramatically in recent years, according to police. Data from the Capitol Police found that threats to Congressional lawmakers increased by 144% between 2017 and 2022.

Read the original article on Business Insider
BEIRUT (Reuters) -Lebanon's caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati on Wednesday said that U.S. guarantees would protect a maritime border deal with Israel should Israel's conservative former premier Benjamin Netanyahu win a majority in elections.

Netanyahu had threatened to "neutralise" the agreement, which came into force last week after years of indirect U.S.-brokered talks that finally set out the Mediterranean boundary between the two enemy states after decades of hostility.

The United States pledged to remain a guarantor of the agreement. The mediator for the talks, U.S. energy envoy Amos Hochstein, told reporters in Lebanon that he expected the deal to withstand both contentious Israel elections and a transition to a new president in Lebanon.

Mikati appeared confident, too, telling Reuters in a phone interview from the Arab League Summit in Algiers that he was "not afraid" for the fate of the deal.

"We're not afraid of a change in the authorities in Israel. Whether Netanyahu wins or someone else, no one can stand in the way of this (deal)," he said.

He said the United States "as the sponsor of this deal" would be responsible for its smooth implementation.

Though limited in scope, the delineation deal is expected to pave the way for more exploration for energy resources by both Israel and Lebanon.

Officials in both countries, as well as the U.S., had said that the economic interests would be enough to deter any disruption of the deal by either side.

Deputy speaker of parliament Elias Bou Saab, Lebanon's top negotiator in the deal, said he was "assured" repeatedly by the U.S. that a change in leadership in Israel would not have an impact.

"I asked multiple times including during the negotiations and after the fact  especially when Netanyahu said that if he wins, he would cancel the deal  whether his victory would affect the deal. The answer from the American side was always no," he told Reuters.

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He said cancelling the deal would create an issue with the U.S. as its guarantor.

"Do we want stability and economic prosperity and growth for both countries or do we want a conflict that may lead to a war? That's a decision that someone has to think about very carefully," he said.

With roughly 85% of votes counted, Netanyahu's conservative Likud and its likely religious and far-right allies were on pace Wednesday to control a majority in parliament.

(Reporting by Laila Bassam and Maya Gebeily; Editing by Nick Macfie)
By Diana Mandia

(Reuters) -Sodexo expects its operating profit margin to rise to over 6% in 2025 as more companies outsource their catering and benefits needs and the French food services group boosts its voucher business to meet more demanding employees' expectations.

The company delivered a 5% margin in its last fiscal year and last week forecast an increase to 5.5% for 2022-2023.

Sodexo, presenting its 2025 strategy, said on Wednesday it would particularly look to expand its Benefits and Rewards (B&R) business as companies seek more ways to retain staff in tight labour markets and greater flexibility as a growing number of employees work remotely.

French voucher group Edenred said last month it expected profit growth to accelerate over the next three years as staff shortages and rising inflation pushed employers to spend more on worker benefits.

B&R will target capital spending close to 10% of revenue per year between 2022 and 2025 and an underlying operating profit margin exceeding 30% in 2025, Sodexo said.

The caterer, whose businesses also include workplace design, reception and cleaning services, also said it would step up its focus on food offers as rising inflation leads more companies to outsource services.

It will provide more options with seasonal fresh foods and locally sourced products, as well as enhancing digital options, CEO Sophie Bellon said.

Sodexo, which serves 100 million consumers each day across 64 countries, also aims to boost its growth in the United States, where first-time outsourcing contracts are increasing and accounted for 44% of signings last year.

However, the company's organic sales growth target of between 6% and 8% for fiscal 2024-2025 is lower than its forecast last week of 8% to 10% for 2022-2023.

Its shares were down 3.2% to 85.92 euros at 1406 GMT.

AlphaValue analyst Yi Zhong described B&R's 2025 margin target of more than 30% as "prudent".

"They have many plans and at the end the margin targets remain the same (over 30%) for 2023 and 2025, versus 31% in 2019, ie it will need at least 3 more years to return to its pre-pandemic margin level", she said.

(Reporting by Diana Mandia in Gdansk; editing by Milla Nissi and Mark Potter)
OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said on Wednesday it was shutting its news bureau in Beijing after waiting two years in vain for a China work permit for its journalists.

The publicly owned news outlet had numerous exchanges with Chinese officials in Canada over the past two years about visas but without a resolution, CBC News Editor-in-Chief Brodie Fenlon said in a blog post.

A letter sent to China's ambassador to Canada in April was acknowledged but not followed up, Fenlon said.

The Chinese embassy in Ottawa did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The decision comes months after CBC News, which has had an office in China for over 40 years, was forced to shut its Moscow bureau by Russia's foreign ministry in response to a Canadian ban on Russian state TV station Russia Today.

A correspondent for CBC's French-language service, Radio-Canada, was still waiting for a visa from China after having applied for one in October 2020, Fenlon said.

CBC's English language journalist who returned to Canada when China started to lock down at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic has not been able to return as a permanent correspondent either.

"While there was no dramatic expulsion or pointed public statements, the effect is the same. We can't get visas for our journalists to work there as permanent correspondents," Fenlon said.

CBC would search for a new a location to cover east Asia over the coming months, while Radio-Canada will station its journalist in Taiwan for the next two years, Fenlon added.

(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Editing by Chris Reese)
Leslie Moonves, former chairman and chief executive of CBS Corp., has agreed to pay $2.5 million to resolve a lingering inquiry after his corporate departure. (Chris Pizzello / Invision / Associated Press)

The New York attorney general's office released a sweeping report Wednesday that detailed an elaborate cover-up at the highest levels of CBS in late 2017 and 2018 to try to contain allegations of sexual harassment by former chief Leslie Moonves.

The report comes five years after a Los Angeles Police Department captain tipped off CBS executives, telling them a woman had come to the department's Hollywood station to report that Moonves had allegedly assaulted her in the 1980s.

"Somebody walked in the station about a couple hours ago and made allegations against your boss regarding a sexual assault," the police captain said in a Nov. 10, 2017, voicemail message left for a CBS executive, according to the report. "Its confidential, as you know, but call me."

Over the next few months, the LAPD captain  whose role was not previously revealed  secretly provided Moonves and CBS executives with status updates on the LAPDs investigation as well as personal details about the alleged accuser, the attorney general's office said. The captain slipped CBS a copy of the accuser's report, and top CBS executives then "began investigating the victim's personal circumstances and that of her family," the report said.

The police captain was friendly with CBS executives because he had been part of Moonves' security detail for the Grammy Awards for several years, according to the document.

Both sides sought to downplay the gravity of the woman's complaint, which came as the #MeToo movement was reaching a fever pitch. CBS executives were assured by the captain that LAPD "implemented controls to prevent news of the police report from leaking to the press," the document said.

"Hopefully we can kill media from PD. Then figure [sic] what [Complainant #1] wants, Moonves wrote the captain and a CBS assistant in one text message obtained by the attorney general.

More than eight months went by before the public became aware of the allegations against Moonves.

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"CBS and its senior leadership knew about multiple allegations of sexual assault made against Mr. Moonves and intentionally concealed those allegations from regulators, shareholders, and the public for months," according to a statement from New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James' office.

James announced that CBS and Moonves would pay $30.5 million, with much of the money going to CBS shareholders.

Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore told The Times that his department only recently became aware of the allegations involving a ranking officer. The department later identified the officer as Cmdr. Cory Palka, who was captain of the Hollywood station in 2017 and 2018 and has since retired.

"What is most appalling is the alleged breach of trust of a victim of sexual assault, who is among the most vulnerable, by a member of the LAPD," Moore said. "This erodes the public trust and is not reflective of our values as an organization."

Capt. Kelly Muniz, an LAPD spokeswoman, said the department was "fully cooperating with the New York and California attorney general offices" and had also initiated an internal investigation.

The New York attorney general's report contained other findings, including how CBS' former chief communications officer Gil Schwartz, who has since died, sold more than 160,000 shares of CBS in June 2018 as the company tried to contain the explosive allegations. Schwartz sold the stock with CBS' approval, netting more than $8.8 million, knowing that damaging information could come out, and it did a few weeks later.

The attorney general's report also said Moonves allegedly misled investors about the scope of the sexual harassment uncovered at CBS  information that was damaging to CBS' stock.

Moonves will be barred from serving as an executive or corporate officer at a public company that does business in New York for five years, unless he obtains written approval from James' office.

Moonves, through a spokesman, declined to comment. Moonves has denied the allegations of sexual harassment.

Paramount Global separately announced that it and Moonves had agreed to pay the New York attorney general's office $9.75 million to resolve lingering shareholder claims over its handling of past allegations of sexual harassment. Moonves will contribute $2.5 million of that amount.

The company also said its insurance provider would resolve a separate $14.75-million class-action lawsuit brought by shareholders.

CBS and Leslie Moonves attempts to silence victims, lie to the public and mislead investors can only be described as reprehensible, James said. As a publicly traded company, CBS failed its most basic duty to be honest and transparent with the public and investors. After trying to bury the truth to protect their fortunes, today CBS and Leslie Moonves are paying millions of dollars for their wrongdoing."

The Los Angeles Times in 2018 reported on the allegations of the accuser, Phyllis Golden-Gottlieb, as a key piece in CBS high-profile investigation into the alleged misconduct of Moonves.

Golden-Gottlieb, who has since died, was a TV show development executive in the mid-1980s when she worked with Moonves at Lorimar Productions in Culver City. She told The Times that in a parking lot outside a restaurant, Moonves forcibly grabbed her head and slammed it into his crotch, then ejaculated into her mouth.

Moonves denied the allegations, and Los Angeles County prosecutors declined to bring charges because the statute of limitations had expired.

The attorney general's report detailed CBS' campaign to conceal the issue  all while publicly asserting that the company had no tolerance for sexual harassment.

A week after Golden-Gottlieb lodged her complaint, CBS executives were grappling with reports about inappropriate behavior by morning show host Charlie Rose. Moonves approved the decision to fire Rose, telling reporters that he felt that Rose needed to go.

Moonves on Nov. 25, 2017, requested an in-person meeting with the police captain. He and an underling, Ian Metrose, met with the captain at a restaurant and vineyard in Westlake Village to plan strategy. The police officer volunteered to come wearing a suit, rather than his uniform, according to the report. Metrose could not be reached for comment.

"During the meeting Moonves said that he wanted the LAPD investigation closed and discussed contacting other public officials," the prosecutors wrote.

Four days later, at Variety magazine's Innovate Summit, Moonves called #MeToo "a watershed moment," according to the report. It quoted Moonves as saying: "It's important that a company's culture will not allow for this."

The next day, according to the report, Metrose passed along a message to Moonves from the LAPD captain, who alerted them that another police officer would be wrapping up the report on Golden-Gottlieb's complaint the following week: "[H]owever, it's a definite REJECT - no witnesses and/or corroborative Evidence."

As The Times previously reported, members of CBS' board became aware of the allegations by Golden-Gottlieb by early 2018. An outside law firm was brought in to review information about allegations and the police inquiry but concluded that no further investigation was warranted, sources told The Times in 2018.

Behind the scenes, then-CBS Vice Chair Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder, had learned from reporters about sexual harassment allegations involving Moonves, the report said. She told another board member about reporters' pursuit of the Moonves story.

Redstone began agitating for a board investigation  and sweeping changes at the company.

In July 2018, the New Yorker magazine published the first of several articles by investigative reporter Ronan Farrow, detailing the allegations of six women who alleged Moonves assaulted or harassed them. Farrow's report prompted swift action. CBS' board hired two prominent law firms to investigate Moonves and the company's culture. The board then fired Moonves on Sept. 9, 2018.

That day, the LAPD captain emailed Metrose saying: "I'm so sorry to hear this news, Ian. Sickens me. We worked so hard to try to avoid this day."

The captain sent a note to Moonves two days later: "I'm deeply sorry that this has happened. I will always stand with, by and pledge my allegiance to you. You have embodied leadership, class and the highest of character through all of this."

With Wednesday's revelations, CBS is trying to close a troubling chapter that destroyed Moonves' career and triggered the company's eventual merger with Viacom.

"We are pleased to have reached an agreement in principle to resolve this matter concerning events from 2018 with the New York attorney generals office, without any admission of liability or wrongdoing," a Paramount spokesman said in a statement.

The New York attorney general's inquiry was one of several open investigations into how CBS handled the 2018 sexual harassment scandal.

A group of shareholders also sued, alleging that the scandal was destroying the value of their holdings. New York agencies, including the New York City Commission on Human Rights and the New York County district attorney, quickly opened inquiries.

In 2018, shareholders Gene Samit and John Lantz, among others, filed class-action lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. A judge later consolidated the lawsuits into one, with the lead plaintiff being the Construction Laborers Pension Trust for Southern California.

Investors alleged multiple federal securities law violations, including that executives made "materially false and misleading statements" and that the company failed to disclose key information to investors.

"With the exception of one statement made by Mr. Moonves at an industry event in November 2017, in which he allegedly was acting as the agent of CBS, all claims as to all other allegedly false and misleading statements were dismissed," Paramount said in its filing.

The company eventually agreed to settle with the plaintiffs "for $14.75 million, which will be paid by the companys insurers," according to the filing. The settlement is pending final approval.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
ASHBURN, Va. (AP)  Chase Young practiced with the Washington Commanders on Wednesday, his first time doing so in nearly a year since tearing the ACL in his right knee.

Young took part in individual drills as expected Wednesday after the team started his 21-day clock to activate him off the physically unable to perform list. Coach Ron Rivera would not commit to Young playing Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings.

Thats probably jumping the gun," Rivera said. "He did look good. Well see how he is tomorrow, how he reacts to the amount of work he had. He looked quick. He looked spry. He was excited. Were going to follow what the trainers and doctors tell us about this.

Young, the team and doctors have taken it extra careful with the pass rushers recovery from surgery, which involved grafting part of his left patellar tendon to fix the tear on the other side. The 23-year-old said even though the practice was without pads and helmets he felt like a football player again.

He insists he did not have a timeframe for when he'd be back.

It was really just more day to day, Young said. Just focusing on the plan at hand, not really worrying about the noise  just really worrying about myself, soul-searching and just staying focused.

Even missing Young, Washington's front four led by defensive tackles Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne and edge rusher Montez Sweat has been a key part of the team's three-game winning streak to get back to .500 at 4-4.

The No. 2 pick in 2020 out of Ohio State, Young was the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year that season when he had 7 sacks. He had 1 last season before getting injured Nov. 14 against Tampa Bay.

ARREST IN ROBINSON SHOOTING

Off the field, police in Washington announced they made an arrest Wednesday in the August shooting of rookie running back Brian Robinson Jr.

D.C. Police said it arrested a 17-year-old who was 16 at the time of the robbery and charged him with assault with intent to rob while armed.

Story continues

Robinson was shot twice in the right leg Aug. 29. He went on the non-football injury list and played five weeks later and has since run for 175 yards and a touchdown in four games.

RIVERA MOURNS MOTHER

Rivera ran practice Wednesday after the team announced his mother, Dolores, died earlier in the week. He spent two days with her in California last week.

If there was an inspiration in my life more so than admiring who my father was, it was taken from my mom, Rivera said, crediting his start in football in part to his mother. And that's the hard part.

In Buffalo, Bills general manager Brandon Beane opened his news conference to discuss the acquisitions of running back Nyheim Hines and safety Dean Marlowe by talking about Rivera, with whom he worked in Carolina.

First off, I learned last night that Ron Riveras mother passed away so I want to send our condolences from me and my family, the McDermotts and all the people in the Buffalo Bills for Ron and his family. 

___

AP Sports Writer John Wawrow in Buffalo, New York, contributed.

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
Associated Press

Retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre is asking to be removed from a lawsuit by the state of Mississippi that seeks to recover millions of dollars in misspent welfare money that was intended to help some of the poorest people in the U.S. An attorney for Favre filed papers on Monday saying the Mississippi Department of Human Services groundlessly and irresponsibly seeks to blame Favre for its own grossly improper and unlawful handling of welfare funds and its own failure to properly monitor and audit how organizations used the money. Including Favre in this lawsuit has had the intended effect  it has attracted national media attention to this case," Favres attorney, Eric D. Herschmann, wrote in the filing in Hinds County Circuit Court.
China pledges further efforts to support self-employed businesses

Xinhua) 08:06, November 02, 2022

A stall owner arranges vegetables at a market in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, July 9, 2022. (Xinhua/Lu Boan)

BEIJING, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese officials on Tuesday pledged more efforts to support self-employed businesses amid difficulties as the country unveiled a new regulation on advancing the development of self-employed businesses.

Guo Qimin, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission, said more will be done to enhance macro policy implementation, improve the business environment, and promote employment and entrepreneurship.

Efforts will also be made to lower burdens on small firms and self-employed businesses, help them with financing, and stimulate consumer demand, Guo told a press conference on the new regulation.

The regulation, which came into effect Tuesday, has set out specific preferential policies in areas including optimizing the business environment and protecting the lawful rights and interests of self-employed businesses.

Pu Chun, deputy head of the State Administration for Market Regulation, said the regulation has given full consideration to the concerns of self-employed businesses and put forward practical and effective measures.

For instance, he said, local governments should, according to the new regulation, provide more business sites while reducing the cost of using such sites. They should fully consider the needs and difficulties of self-employed businesses in decision-making.

"To advance the development of self-employed businesses is to support the real economy," said Pu.

To cushion the epidemic impact and other difficulties, China has made constant efforts to reduce burdens on self-employed businesses. From 2020 to the end of September this year, tax and fee cuts for self-employed businesses reached nearly 1.03 trillion yuan (about 142.9 billion U.S. dollars).

Currently, over 80 percent of China's self-employed businesses are free from taxes, according to Dai Shiyou, an official with the State Taxation Administration.

By the end of September, China had 111 million registered self-employed businesses, accounting for two-thirds of the country's market entities, official data showed. Nearly 90 percent of these are in the service sector, while over 30 percent have engaged in new businesses like online streaming and e-commerce.

(Web editor: Cai Hairuo, Liang Jun)
Photo: Contributed

We love to put things into nice and neat boxes.

Grief is one of those things that just doesnt fit in one. Grief has some surprising and confusing faces, leaving us feeling alone and confused. I love speaking about grief, and Im finding people are grateful to learn about this very human experience.

We grieve for many reasons and not only when someone dies. Loss of any kinda relationship, job, self-image, health status, security or a dream can cause us to grieve. Im curious if much of the anger and aggression prevalent in todays world stems from grief arising from the many loses experienced societally during the pandemic.

November is grief awareness month for the Canadian Hospice and Palliative Care Association, culminating with National Grief and Bereavement Day on Nov. 15.

Through volunteering with Central Okanagan Hospice Association, and working as a palliative-care nurse and minister, Ive learned the more understanding we have about grief, the better support we are for ourselves and others.

While we all experience many losses in life causing us to grieve, the grief process often remains a mystery. Learning about grief and how it presents is so helpful. When some of the lesser-known faces of grief show up, it can be confusing, isolating and frightening. Fear only adds complexity.

Theres no prescribed, predictable path of grief. Its not a neat-and-tidy sequential process. Grief often hits us out of the blue, taking us by surprise. It doesnt have a predictable time-line and its unique to each person, experienced differently each time we experience a loss.

Grief isnt just an emotion of sadness, and it affects us on every level: physical, mental, and emotional.

Physically, grief may present as:

 Poor appetite

 Digestive issues

 Breathing challenges, feels like a weight on our chest

 Sleep challenges

 Shakiness

 Exhaustion; grief takes a huge amount of our energy.

As a nurse, I caution people to see their physician if those symptoms persist.

Mentally, grief can cause:

 Inability to concentrate

 Poor memory

 Impaired decision-making

When my dad died, I couldnt remember how to log into a computer Id used thousands of times or turn on my stove. It was scary and frustrating. Ive met many grieving people whore afraid theyre losing their minds. They are not, theyre just grieving.

Sadness isnt the only emotion felt after a loss. Emotionally, grief may appear as:

 Numbness, feeling remote and detached

 Guilt

 Blame

 Mood swings

 Anger and irritability.

Ive seen families blown apart when grief shows up as anger. Just when we need to come together and support one another, people feel isolated and alone. When angers felt toward a loved one who passed, guilt may arise. Guilt only complicates matters.

These lists of some of the many faces of grief are not comprehensive, but offer information showing its not a predictable, cookie-cutter process. Its often messy and unpredictable and we need support.

Cultures in which grieving folks wear certain attire for periods of time after a loss may be on to something. Space is made for them in their process and theyre held in understanding and compassion.

Following a loss its best, if possible, to put off making major decisions until the ability to think more clearly returns. Be patient with yourself and one another. Even people close to us can feel awkward and avoid contact. They dont know what to say or do to help, so they may stay away or offer empty, sometimes annoying platitudes. That can lead to loneliness, disappointment and fractured relationships.

Each person has different needs as they grieve. Let people know what you need and how they can help. People often want to help but are unsure of what they can do. They cant fix whats happened but they can be present. Helpful presence is a gift.

Eat, sleep and exercise as best you can. We love to stay busy to avoid our painful feelings. In this busy world with so many demands, dont overbook yourself, and allow some flexibility in your routine, and let others help you. Finding a balance between being social and taking time for yourself is important.

If you need to cry, then allow yourself this release with no need to apologize. And, when those big, hard feelings come upon you like a wave, remember to breathe and be present with yourself.

Even though grief is not a sexy topic of conversation, Im finding people want to learn about it and talk about it. I see them visibly relax as they learn they are normal in their grief, whatever normal is.

We are truly blessed within Kelowna to have the Central Okanagan Hospice Association. I cant say enough about the good it does in our community. It offers programs and support for people needing support with grief.

No one should have to die or grieve alone. Please know help is available.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
A child was flown to a Pittsburgh hospital after being struck by a vehicle in Aliquippa.

According to Beaver County 911, the male child was hit in the 200 block of Grand Avenue at 6 p.m.

The boy was flown to a hospital for unspecified injuries.

Additional information is not immediately available.

This is a developing story, and Channel 11 is working to learn more. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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A woman carrying an umbrella walks past the logo of Foxconn outside a company building.

Chinese authorities have locked down a district in Zhengzhou city - which is home to the world's largest iPhone factory - under the country's strict coronavirus measures.

The lockdown started on Wednesday and is set to last for seven days.

The move may have an impact on production of the new iPhone 14, which is made at Foxconn's plant in the city.

Chinese people and businesses are continuing to grapple with President Xi Jinping's rigid zero-Covid policy.

On Wednesday, local authorities said the lockdown of the Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone would start immediately and end at midday local time on 9 November.

Public transport services have been suspended and people advised to work from home, according to an official notice on the WeChat social media platform.

Officials said they would "resolutely crack down on all kinds of violations of regulations".

Zhengzhou is the capital of Henan province in central China and is home to about 10 million people.

It reported 167 locally transmitted infections in the seven days to last Saturday - up from 97 in the previous week.

The lockdown comes at a key time for Apple, shortly after the launch of the iPhone 14 and ahead of the crucial Christmas and Lunar New Year shopping seasons.

Foxconn's Zhengzhou plant, which employs around 200,000 workers, produces the majority of Apple's new phones.

On Tuesday, Foxconn said it had quadrupled its daily bonuses at the manufacturing hub after a breakout by workers during a Covid lockdown.

The firm said bonuses for assembly line workers will be raised to 400 yuan ($55.02; 47.76) a day.

Foxconn also said that people who worked for more than 25 days a month at the factory would be awarded a maximum bonus of 5,000 yuan, up from 1,500 yuan.

It added that those who put in their "full effort" in November - without taking any leave - could be paid a total bonus of more than 15,000 yuan for the month.

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The company said the bonuses were part of an effort to "gradually resume orderly production" and "thank our fellow employees' persistence".

It has not yet provided an official count of how many people had been infected by the coronavirus at the plant.

Foxconn workers leaving the Zhengzhou plant on Sunday

Last Wednesday, Foxconn said a "small number of employees" in Zhengzhou had been "affected by the pandemic" and were being provided with "material supplies, psychological comfort and responsive feedback".

"At present, the epidemic prevention work in Zhengzhou is progressing steadily, and the impact on the group is controllable. The operating outlook for this quarter remains unchanged," it added.

However, footage shared on Chinese social media, and by the BBC's China correspondent Stephen McDonell, showed that workers were allegedly filmed escaping from the grounds to begin lengthy walks back to their hometowns, in a bid to avoid being caught on public transport.

One 22-year-old worker, surnamed Xia, told the Financial Times it was "total chaos in the dormitories" he and colleagues were being kept in.

Workers also claimed that the area surrounding the plant had been locked down for days, with Covid-positive workers being quarantined and tested daily to try to contain the outbreak.

On Sunday Foxconn said it would no longer require workers at the plant to eat meals in their rooms "to improve the convenience and satisfaction of employees' lives".

The firm added that it was working with the local government to provide a "point-to-point orderly return service" for workers who wanted to go home.

It is unclear how workers will now be able to return home after the district was locked down. Foxconn and Apple did not immediately respond to a BBC request for comment.

Other businesses in China have been hit by coronavirus outbreaks in recent days.

Earlier on Wednesday Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio confirmed that it had suspended production at two of its factories in the eastern city of Hefei.

This week the firm reported that it had delivered more than 10,000 vehicles in October.

It said the figures were "constrained by operation challenges in our plants as well as supply chain volatilities due to the Covid-19 situations in certain regions in China".

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(Bloomberg) -- Chinas Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said that the countrys property sector is an area of concern, although risks are manageable.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Thats what we are concerned about, Vice Chairman Xiao Yuanqi said in response to Hong Kong Monetary Authority Chief Executive Eddie Yues question about real estates impact on banks. The interview was aired at the Global Financial Leaders Investment Summit in Hong Kong Wednesday.

Xiao added that the property sector is stable, and that Chinese banks exposure to real estate is at a reasonable 26% of total loans. The default ratio of mortgage loans is lower than 0.1%, he said.

Chinas prolonged property crisis has sparked turmoil in its economy. Home-sales slump intensified in October, and builders that had long been considered safer are tumbling into distress. The sector has at least $292 billion of onshore and offshore borrowings coming due through the end of 2023, according to Bloomberg calculations.

The $52 trillion banking industry is also dealing with an increasingly difficult outlook. Banks have been urged by Beijing to accelerate lending just as their balance sheets are weighed down by bad loans in a risky environment.

Chinas Last Offshore Property Bond Havens Are Crumbling (1)

In an earlier segment at the summit, Peoples Bank of China Governor Yi Gang said he hopes the housing market can achieve a soft landing. Chinas potential growth rate is expected to remain in a reasonable range, and the central bank is working on supporting investment in capital expenditure and infrastructure, which will reflect in fourth-quarter data, he said.

Story continues

The central bank has implemented a raft of measures to stabilize the real estate market, including lowering mortgage rates and rolling out a special lending program for developers. Analysts say that the policies have done little to help the sector. Economists forecast China to grow at 3.3% this year, much lower than the official government target of around 5.5%.

--With assistance from Amanda Wang, Lin Zhu and Zheng Li.

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(Bloomberg) -- Trading desks across China have become inundated with unverified talk of a shift in Xi Jinpings Covid Zero policy, sparking an epic rally in stocks and underscoring just how desperate investors have become for signs that the countrys $6 trillion market rout is ending.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Multiple screen shots purporting to show the worlds second-largest economy is moving closer to a reopening have been circulating on Twitter, WeChat and other social media platforms since late Monday.

While none of them have been confirmed -- and all outward signs from Chinese officialdom are that the Covid Zero policy remains intact -- investors have propelled the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index to an 8.4% two-day gain in Hong Kong, paring its slide since February 2021 to 56%. Trading volumes have soared, and the Chinese yuan has strengthened from a 15-year low against the dollar.

Its all hearsay, and theres no way to either prove the rumors true or false in the short term, said Du Kejun, partner at Beijing Gelei Asset Management Center Limited Partnership. At the end of the day, its just that people are eager to buy the selloff.

Even by the standards of a market notorious for rumor-fueled swings, this weeks frenzied moves stand out -- particularly against a backdrop of continued lockdowns and virus flareups across China.

Read: China Locks Down Area Around Foxconns IPhone City Plant (1)

The market gains have been stoked by hope that Xi will relent on Covid Zero to rescue the ailing economy after he solidified his grip on power at last months Party Congress. But the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong has given no public indication of a shift, and experts have cautioned that the country has made too little progress on vaccination to reopen without a surge in deaths.

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For investors worried about missing out on a rally when it does finally come, the stakes are potentially enormous. When Chinese shares surged from their lows in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, the bulk of the gains occurred during the span of a few months, followed by years of choppy trading.

It just shows that there is a lot of pent up demand for Chinese equities, which have been beaten to death in the last six months, said Manish Bhargava, fund manager at Straits Investment Holdings in Singapore. The market could stage a massive rally if Beijing does announce a gradual reopening, he said.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index gained as much as 3.2% on Wednesday before trading in Hong Kong was halted due to an approaching tropical storm. Reopening stocks including vaccine makers, airlines and casino shares led the advance, with CanSino Biologics Inc. rising 63% in Hong Kong.

Wild Swings

The market frenzy was first triggered by social media posts that a committee was being formed to assess ways to exit Covid Zero. Another unconfirmed document made the rounds on Wednesday, purporting to show that China is expected to hold a meeting on Friday to announce a slew of changes including shortening mandatory quarantine.

It seems to me that people are sort of choosing to believe what is out there, said Hao Hong, a partner at Grow Investment Group, who has circulated some of the speculation on Twitter. The market has been so oversold. People have to cover their shorts, and those who dont have positions would fear to miss out the rally. And thats why people are participating.

Beijings stringent Covid restrictions have been the biggest concern for investors, making the market sensitive to the slightest signs of a change in the policy. Covid curbs and lockdowns have made China stock measures some of the worlds worst performers this year.

Even with growing market speculation, China has shown little signs of loosening its Covid restrictions. Authorities locked down an area where Foxconns iPhone plant is located on Wednesday afternoon. On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said hes not aware of a committee to assess Covid Zero exit scenarios.

People may have misunderstood when they see the headline that it is about completely opening up, but in our view it is quite unlikely for China to completely abandon Zero Covid, said Zerlina Zeng, senior credit analyst at CreditSights. It is politically sensitive to do away with it because during the party congress, the rhetoric around Zero Covid has been so strong.

--With assistance from Ishika Mookerjee, Yuling Yang, Charlotte Yang, Wenjin Lv, Mengchen Lu and Lorretta Chen.

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BEIJING (Reuters) - China will continue to support Pakistan as it tries to stabilise its financial situation, state media quoted President Xi Jinping as saying on Wednesday, during a visit by Pakistan's prime minister to Beijing.

Pakistan had been struggling with a balance of payments crisis even before devastating floods hit the country this summer, causing it an estimated $30 billion or more in losses.

Pakistan was expected to seek debt relief from China, particularly the rolling over of bilateral debt of around $23 billion.

China's central bank and the State Bank of Pakistan have signed a memorandum of cooperation recently for the establishment of an RMB clearing arrangement in Pakistan, in a bid to facilitate the use of RMB for cross-border transactions by enterprises and financial institutions in both countries, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said on Wednesday.

China and Pakistan should also move forward more effectively with the construction of their economic corridor, as well as accelerate the construction of infrastructure for the Gwadar Sea Port, Xi told Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during their meeting at the Great Hall of the People.

China has been involved in major mining and infrastructure projects in Pakistan, including the deep-water Gwadar port, all part of the $65 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Xi added that the countries should work together to create conditions for the early implementation of the Mainline-1 (ML-1) railway upgrading project and the Karachi Circular Railway project.

China will also export technology for a 160 km/h high-speed railway train to Pakistan, state broadcaster CCTV said on Wednesday.

The developments and projects in Pakistan, a longtime Chinese ally, are part of Xi's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to improve China's road, rail and sea routes with the rest of the world.

China is willing to deepen cooperation in the digital economy, e-commerce, photovoltaic technology and other new energy-related areas, Xi said.

Story continues

Sharif was one of the first leaders to meet Xi since he secured a third term as leader of the ruling Communist Party in October .

(This story has been corrected to fix grammar in paragraph 10 and the name of State Bank of Pakistan in paragraph 4)

(Reporting by Ella Cao and Ryan Woo; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Kim Coghill)
Several overseas Chinese nationals gathered on the streets of New York City on Halloween with anti-Xi Jinping placards to protest against the ruling Chinese government.

Around 30 protesters marched in Manhattan on Monday night to oppose the Chinese presidents authoritarian rule.

I hold certain political beliefs, so naturally I came along because there was an activity," a protester, only identified by his surname Wang, toldRadio Free Asia. There was no decision-making process to go through."

Some protesters were reportedly seen carrying banners in English and Chinese with phrases such as Free China! and Stand with Hong Kong. Some of them also called for a Class boycott to remove the dictator Xi Jinping. The protesters were Chinese nationals studying and working in New York City, according to reports.

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The protesters reportedly used the messaging app Telegram to communicate their plans to meet at Freeman Plaza West. Those who organized the march advised participants to wear something that would cover their faces and to also turn off any phones due to the fear of Chinese agents infiltrating them.

A woman who attended the march was spotted carrying a card referencing Tank Man, a man who was photographed standing in the way of a phalanx of Chinese tanks near Tiananmen Square on June 5, 1989.

This [protest] is a continuation of that spirit. He disappeared after he made that stand. I don't think we should let him disappear, the woman, whose name was not revealed, told RFA, adding that the man who hung anti-Xi banners from a Beijing overpass last month also encountered a similar fate. That man, identified on social media as protester Peng Lifa, was later dubbed online as the "Bridge Man."

More from NextShark: GOP lawmakers demand explanation for 'deeply troubling' Chinese police station in New York City

Zhou Fengsuo, a former protest leader at Tiananmen Square who now runs Humanitarian China, a human rights group based in the United States, was glad to see younger people joining the protest on Monday. Zhou noted that the march had no backing of an official group or individuals, calling it a last resort method, given the current circumstances."

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The will of the people is like a volcano; their dissatisfaction is suppressed, bottled up inside and covered over, so you can't see it. But from time to time it gets an opportunity to burst out, Zhou told Radio Free Asia.

It's crucial that young people get to experience this," he added. "Now that they've done this, they definitely won't be the same as before."

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The recent protest came more than a week after Xi secured his third term as the general secretary of the Communist Party.

Featured Image via Mr.7

More from NextShark: Woman caught writing fake Chinese, Russian history on Chinese Wikipedia for over a decade
The Xpeng X3 flying car prototype. Xpeng

Xpeng, a Chinese electric-vehicle maker that competes with Tesla, unveiled a new flying-car prototype.

The X3 is a car with four rotors on it, enabling it to switch between driving and flying.

A video of the vehicle's maiden voyage shows it roll out of a garage and take off.

It's a drone! It's a car! It's ... both?

Xpeng, the Chinese electric-vehicle maker that rivals Tesla, unveiled a new flying car prototype in late October internally named the X3. It shared a video of the X3's maiden voyage that shows the vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) vehicle roll out of a garage and take to the skies.

In the clip, the X3 takes off, flies forward, hovers a bit, and spins in place before returning back to the launch pad.

Most "flying car" ideas from startups are heavy on the flying, light on the car. They're personal aircraft that often don't have wheels. But the X3 looks more like a road-going car that happens to also have a giant drone attached to its roof.

"Designed for both air flight and road driving, the flying car conveniently features a sleek rotor fold-away system for seamless conversation between driving and flying," the company said in a press release.

Xpeng designed the X3 to "fly over traffic congestion, obstacles, and rivers to meet a new host of short-distance mobility needs." The company's flying-car division, Aeroht, was founded in 2013.

Many startups and established aerospace firms are working on VTOLs that may someday serve as air taxis in urban environments or complete short flights for airlines. In September, United Airlines ordered 200 VTOLs from Embraer.

But firms will have to overcome technological and regulatory hurdles before VTOLs can become a viable way to get around cities. Making flying cars a reality has proven more difficult and time-consuming than expected for some ventures. In 2020, Uber sold its air taxi division to Joby Aviation, a startup. Google-backed air-taxi startup Kittyhawk shut down in October.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Christina Applegate said she gained 40 pounds and uses a cane after her MS diagnosis.

She refused to let changes in her health affect the ending of her Netflix series "Dead to Me."

"Acceptance? No. I'm never going to accept this. I'm pissed," Applegate told the New York Times.

Christina Applegate got candid about the ways in which her body and mobility have changed after her multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis in a recent interview with the New York Times reporter Alexis Soloski.

"This is the first time anyone's going to see me the way I am," Applegate said, reflecting on the fact that the third and final season of her Netflix show "Dead To Me" will be released on November 17. "I put on 40 pounds; I can't walk without a cane. I want people to know that I am very aware of all of that."

The actor, who has been working in Hollywood since she was in kindergarten, said her self-awareness doesn't mean she's accepted the way her life has changed because of MS, a neurological disease that has varying symptoms but often affects vision, speech, and mobility, according to the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). It can also cause cognitive issues, including trouble with attention, memory, and concentration, the site reported.

Christina Applegate attends "Dead To Me" #NETFLIXFYSEE For Your Consideration Event at Netflix FYSEE in 2019. Amy Sussman/Getty Images

MS occurs when the myelin sheath  a protective covering surrounding the nerves  is damaged. This damage disrupts nervous system communication between the brain and body and can lead to some of the symptoms listed above.

"Acceptance? No. I'm never going to accept this. I'm pissed," Applegate told the Times.

She said that in hindsight, a clear sign of her MS presented itself in 2021 when she was having trouble with balance while filming a dance sequence for "Dead To Me." Years prior to that, she reported experiencing tingling and numbness in her body, but was officially diagnosed while on set of the Netflix dramedy in the summer of 2021.

Production shut down for about five months after Applegate's diagnosis so she could receive treatment and "process my loss of my life, my loss of that part of me," she said.

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There was even talk of completely shutting down production of the dramedy about two friends who meet in a grief group and subsequently entangle each other in all types of murderous drama, all while sharing bottles of wine, watching "The Facts Of Life," and laughing at themselves.

Linda Cardellini and Christina Applegate star in Netflix's "Dead to Me." Netflix

Applegate  who plays the no-nonsense widow, real estate agent, and mother of two alongside Linda Cardellini's Judy Hale, a spacy, artistic, hippy foil  refused to end the story early. She said she had an "obligation" to Cardellini and the show's creator Liz Feldman, to finish telling the story as it was intended.

"I said, 'No. We're going to do it, but we're going to do it on my terms,'" Applegate recalled. She defined those terms as she needed to when filming resumed.

Some accommodations included a wheelchair transport to set and less hours working in the heat. Some days, she couldn't come to work at all. But the Times reported that changes in the script were rarely needed as much as adaptations to the blocking of a scene.

The "Bad Moms" star told the Times that she won't be watching the final season of "Dead To Me" because it will reportedly be "too painful."

Applegate has been acting since she was in kindergarten. Saeed Adyani / Netflix

As for if her MS will be evident on the show or change viewers' experience of it, Applegate said she does worry but tries not to care too much.

"If people hate it, if people love it, if all they can concentrate on is, 'Ooh, look at the cripple,' that's not up to me," she said, adding that she hopes people can just enjoy the end of the show.

The final season of "Dead To Me" airs on November 17 on Netflix.

Read the original article on Insider
Photo: The Canadian Press Freedom Convoy organizer Chris Barber.

The Freedom Convoy protest that gridlocked downtown Ottawa for weeks last winter was a leaderless movement that saw power struggles among its key organizers, a public inquiry heard Tuesday.

Organizers Chris Barber and Brigitte Belton said they connected on TikTok and sprouted an idea to organize a protest against federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates for cross-border truck drivers.

The two assembled a loose group of core organizers, including controversial figure Pat King, and within two weeks, thousands of trucks were wheeling towards Ottawa. It "exploded overnight," Belton said.

But tensions arose quickly. With no official leader, Barber said rifts among organizers became apparent even before protesters arrived in Ottawa in late January: "It was a power struggle a lot of the time."

Barber and Belton were among the first organizers to testify at the Public Order Emergency Commission, which is examining the federal government's invocation of emergency powers in mid-February to clear what had become a weeks-long occupation of downtown Ottawa.

Ottawa residents, business associations, officials and police have already testified at public hearings, which are set to continue until Nov. 25 and culminate with testimony from federal leaders including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The public viewing gallery was lively Tuesday, with Justice Paul Rouleau threatening to close proceedings off from in-person spectators if they wouldn't agree to treat the inquiry like a courtroom.

Barber, who runs his own trucking company in Swift Current, Sask., earned applause upon his arrival. The self-described internet "troll" has admitted to posting racist memes online and displaying Confederate flags, though he said the flags are now stored in his garage.

He was arrested Feb. 17 and charged with mischief, obstructing police, and counselling others to commit mischief and intimidation. He is co-accused with fellow organizer Tamara Lich, and their trial is expected to take place next year.

Barber distanced himself from other organizers of the protest during his testimony and made it clear that groups involved in the convoy were there for different reasons. He said that the Ottawa crowd was not affiliated with those who were inspired to organize cross-border blockades elsewhere in the country.

It was clear that Belton, too, saw tensions among the organizers. In a TikTok video shown to the commission, she raised questions about how Lich intended to spend some of the millions of dollars crowdsourced for the effort. Lich is expected to testify later this week.

In the leadup to the protests, another organizer Pat King, who will also testify, suggested in a social media video that Trudeau would "catch a bullet." This caused some participants to want King to stay home, Barber said.

Barber said he was also at odds with another organizer, James Bauder, who runs the "Canada Unity" group. He said it had mapped a route to Ottawa before he and Belton started on their own plans.

He said he didn't even read the group's "memorandum of understanding," which demanded that the Senate and Governor General force Trudeau and provinces to eliminate all COVID-19 restrictions, and it wasn't part of his group's motivations.

It was yet another group, the "Farfadaas" out of Quebec, that came to occupy a major intersection east of the parliamentary precinct, the inquiry heard.

In an intelligence report tabled at the commission, the Ontario Provincial Police described it as anti-government and quasi-sovereigntist. Member Steeve Charland, who is facing criminal charges related to the protests, said Tuesday he had little contact with the convoy's original organizers.

The intersection was one of many where Barber said it was difficult to organize the clearing of lanes for emergency vehicles.

Early on, after working all day to clear a lane on Kent Street, an artery that runs north to Parliament from Ottawa's central highway, he said he came back to find it "completely plugged" the next morning.

"Occupying or parking all over the city was never part of why we came," he said, expressing surprise that police escorted his group onto Wellington Street rather than a nearby staging area.

It would've been better if trucks were led off main streets at the start, he said. "I don't know how things went so wrong when we first arrived."

Both Barber and Belton described the protest itself as a peaceful, joyous event, with Barber saying the number who joined in was beyond his wildest dreams.

But a government lawyer confronted Barber with a graphic threat emailed to Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland. "When you start a fire and fan the flames, it can get out of control, and you had no control over those other factions who had come to this protest," said federal lawyer Andrew Gibbs.

For the first time, the inquiry heard about the frustrations that led protesters to a boiling point in the first place, with Belton describing COVID-19 health rules as "demeaning" and saying she didn't feel listened to when she contacted public officials.

When questioned by a lawyer representing downtown Ottawa residents who felt terrorized by the protesters and their truck horns, Belton pushed back on whether listening to honking was really more serious than being forced to follow health restrictions: "Which is more inconvenient?"

The distrust of government underpinning the protest was present at the inquiry Tuesday, too. Jane Scharf, a representative for Belton and a member of a group called "Stand4Thee" that called for Trudeau's arrest earlier this year, questioned the legitimacy of the commission.

Speaking to reporters outside the room, she accused Rouleau of being affiliated with the Liberals. The justice later responded that while the federal government did appoint him to lead the commission, he has been an independent judge for more than 20 years.
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Two Belgian climate change activists who last week targeted the famous Johannes Vermeer painting "Girl with a Pearl Earring" have been sentenced to two months in prison by the Dutch court, of which one month was suspended.

To highlight how seeing artwork destroyed evokes a similar feeling to seeing the planet destroyed, one activist glued his head to glass covering the world-famous painting at a museum in The Hague, though the artwork was not damaged, gallery staff said.

"An artwork hanging there for all, for all of us, to enjoy, has been smeared by defendants who felt their message took precedence over everything else," the prosecutor said.

The public prosecutor had asked for four months of which two suspended, but the judge said she did not want her sentence to discourage other people to demonstrate.

The two men went to trial through a fast-track judgment on charges of destruction and open violence against the painting. A third activist, who did not agree with the trial being fast-tracked, will appear in court on Friday.

All three are part of the climate group Just Stop Oil Belgium, which is not affiliated with Just Stop Oil in Britain. Just Stop Oil Belgium said the verdict was "ironic".

"Isn't it ironic that climate activists who nonviolently oppose the mass slaughter of life on Earth are being condemned?", the group said in an email.

(Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout; Editing by Josie Kao)
KHARNAK, India (AP)  For decades, Konchok Dorjey grazed the worlds finest cashmere-producing goats in the arid, treeless Kharnak village in Indias Ladakh region, a high mountainous cold desert that borders China and Pakistan. But a decade ago, the 45-year-old nomad gave up his pastoral life in search of a better future for his family. He sold off his animals and migrated to an urban settlement in the outskirts of a regional town called Leh.

Dorjey now lives with his wife, two daughters and a son in Kharnakling, where scores of other nomadic families from his native village have also settled in the last two decades.

It was a tough decision, Dorjey said recently, sitting on the veranda at his home. But I did not have much choice.

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EDITORS NOTE: This story is part of an ongoing series exploring the lives of people around the world who have been forced to move because of rising seas, drought, searing temperatures and other things caused or exacerbated by climate change.

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As this region in Asia is particularly vulnerable to climate change, shifting weather patterns have already altered peoples lives through floods, landslides and droughts in Ladakh, an inhospitable yet pristine landscape of high mountain passes and vast river valleys that in the past was an important part of the famed Silk Road trade route.

Frequent loss of livestock due to diseases, lack of health care, border conflict and shrinking grazing land  worsened by extreme climatic changes  has forced hundreds to migrate from sparsely populated villages to mainly urban clusters in the region known for its sublime mountain landscape and the expensive wool.

In the remote Himalayan region, glaciers are melting fast while still villagers largely depend on glacial runoff for water.

Dorjey, the nomad-turned-cabbie, has seen it all.

When growing up, Doriey said elders would often talk about moving somewhere else because there was so much snow that daily life was difficult.

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As I grew up, snow fell so little that we would contemplate leaving the place, Doriey said.

He still stuck out there, herding some 100 cashmere goats, yak and sheep. But an illness of his younger daughter, Jigmet Dolma, now 18, changed the familys course.

Dolma initially suffered from pneumonia. Then she had seizures and would often faint, sending the family some 100 miles (170 kilometers) north to Leh, where they would spend days for her treatment. As the family was yet to come to terms with her ailment, incurring losses to their livestock due to diseases and cold was draining them of their resources, Dorjey said.

It was a cataclysmic year and extreme cold badly hit livestock. It just devoured large number of baby goats, he said. At about 15,000 feet altitude, the temperatures in the region can fall to minus 35 Celsius (-31 Fahrenheit) during long winter months.

In 2011, Dorjey locked his stone house and left Kharnak for good. He painstakingly built his new life in Kharnakling and now drives a taxi for a living. The health of his daughter Dolma has improved while the two other children are studying.

Ultimately, it boils down to safeguarding your family, he said as he took a deep breath.

Urban life has brought its own issues and almost everything runs on money, he said as he explained his earlier predicaments of new life. Life was much easier there (in Kharnak) with all its hardships.

Dorjeys wife, Sonam Kunkhen, expressed contentment about their flight from old village.

It's better here for me and my family, the 47-year-old woman said. It took us a while to adjust, but I'm glad we moved here.

On a recent sunny day, Dorjey drove to his native village Kharnak where he met his maternal uncle, Tsering Choldan. The 64-year-old nomad announced to him that he too was leaving soon. Other shepherds were also packing up their bags.

Dorjey pointed out that the village in recent years had received considerable attention as authorities built some prefab huts for nomads and spruced up animal feed facilities. But he said he was skeptical by experience that such facilities would stop migration.

There are some facilities that were not there when I was living here. But there are also some other regressive changes that have occurred, Dorjey said.

The worst, he said, is unpredictability of the weather and shortage of water in recent years.

Many of Kharnaks pasturelands have become barren owing to unusual weather in recent years. And the multiple glaciers that covered the surrounding high peaks have shrunk drastically in last two decades causing water shortages, the shepherds said.

Few small ones that rested on mountain peaks in my years of nomadic life have now almost entirely disappeared, Dorjey said pointing to a barren mountain range in Kharnak.

Dubbed as a part of water tower of Asia, Ladakh is home to thousands of glaciers, including Siachen glacier that is the longest outside the Polar region. Some of the regions glaciers also feed the Indus Basin Irrigation System, one of the worlds largest that services India and China and considered a lifeline for agricultural land in Pakistan.

But they are receding at an alarming rate, threatening the water supply of millions of people.

In recent years, the changes on the ground are visually stark.

There are some fruit and vegetables, like apple and broccoli, now grown in the region due to favorable weather conditions. About a decade and a half back such farming was unheard of.

Bird watchers now spot winged creatures like paradise flycatcher and Eurasian scops owl that dont belong to the region. At the same time some native wildlife like Tibetan antelope or Ladakh urial are disappearing from the regions landscape.

The ongoing military standoff between India and China has witnessed deployment of tens of thousands of additional soldiers to the already militarized region and has led to massive infrastructure development in recent years. It has in turn increased localized pollution manifold, mainly in the form of carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels like coal and kerosene, and wood for heating shelters to keep soldiers warm in freezing temperatures.

Dorjey said some places in the region still receive a regular snowfall, but it melts fast, an indication of what experts point out to Ladakhs warming weather.

A quiet flight of nearly 100 nomadic families from the village has dwindled its population to just 17 families who herd some 8,000 animals. While food security, health care and education are at the heart of their migration, the worsening climatic conditions exacerbated their flight.

Among the former Kharnak dwellers, most aging and old people are nostalgic about their old village. But theyre mostly ones who have lived their productive years of life and now sit inside their homes or assemble in prayer halls or roadside shops to reminisce about what theyve lost and gained.

Dorjeys eldest daughter, 21-year-old Rigzen Angmo, has visited Kharnak only twice. I would like to visit there once in a while. Just that. There is not much for me there, said Angmo who is an undergraduate business commerce student.

The other lot, mostly young, are largely apathetic. Most of them want to do anything but shepherd animals high in the mountains. Many of them are working in government offices, run their own businesses or do menial jobs with the Indian military.

Sitting on bank of a brook in Kharnak, Dorjey said he cant take the nomad out of himself.

It was the hardest decision in my life to leave my village. My soul is still here, he said. But he also acknowledged he was thinking less and less of returning as urban life has possessed and softened me.

On practical terms also, Kharnakling has better food and health facilities. Weather is not as harsh, he said.

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Follow Aijaz Hussain on Twitter at twitter.com/hussain_aijaz

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Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about APs climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
The clitoris contains more than 10,000 nerve fibres, several hundred more than previously thought, according to new research that counted these nerves for the first time in the pleasure centre of the vagina.

It is commonly understood that the clitoris has 8,000 nerve endings. However, researchers, including those from the Oregon Health & Science University, say this number is derived from an outdated claim made on the sex organ in cows.

No study has yet quantified the number of nerve fibres (axons) innervating the human clitoris, scientists wrote in the yet-to-be-peer-reviewed research, presented last week at a joint meeting of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America.

In the study, scientists examined nerve fibres of the clitoris called the dorsal nerves (DNC), which are a dense bundle of nerve fibres relaying sensory signals from the sex organ to the brain.

Reporting the number of these nerve endings is an important step to further understand the organs sexual response, according to scientists, who say the findings also have many implications for other fields of medical practice.

A better understanding of the nerve connections in the organ could also help restore the organ to its proper functioning following injuries and cases of genital mutilation and gender-affirming genital surgery as well.

This knowledge will also be an important factor contributing to the optimisation of nerve selection and sensory outcomes in gender-affirming genital surgery, researchers added.

Major(a) clitoris news!



You may have heard that the clitoris has "8,000 nerve endings"a number that derives from an outdated study on cows 



Today at @SMSNA_ORG's annual conference, @queersurgeon revealed that the HUMAN clitoris actually contains > 10K nerve fibers pic.twitter.com/PYOD0kfNEj  Rachel E. Gross (@rachelegross) October 27, 2022

In the research, scientists obtained DNC samples from seven transmasculine patients undergoing gender-affirming surgery after getting informed consent from them.

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Researchers then assessed the microscopic structure of the dorsal nerve in 1000x magnification, and found the average number of nerve fibres was over 5,000 by using image analysis software.

With two dorsal nerves present per clitoris, researchers say more than 10,000 insulated nerve fibres are present in the sex organ.

All these nerve fibres are present in the clitoral glans  the visible part of the clitoris where the inner lips of the vulva meet.

In comparison, the median nerve running through the wrist that supplies sensation to most of the hand, contains about 18,000 nerve fibres, study co-author Blair Peters told Live Science.

This study is the first to report the number of myelinated nerve fibres in the human dorsal clitoral nerve and approximate the number of nerve fibres innervating the human clitoris, scientists wrote in the research.

It is clear that far more than 8,000 fibres innervate the human clitoris, they added.
The Columbus City Attorney's office has filed a public nuisance complaint against a South Side scrapyard after investigators found more than 80 alleged cases of fraud involving vehicle titles, stolen cars and parts.

In addition to declaring Columbus Auto Shredding a nuisance, the attorney's office also plans to ask Franklin County Municipal Court to impose strict requirements on staff at the facility to verify Ohio vehicle titles and to cease certain operations until the additional safeguards are implemented, according to a news release.

An investigation into the salvage dealer at 2181 Alum Creek Drive began in July when Groveport Police discovered that Columbus Auto Shredding was paying several towing companies for vehicles with Ohio titles that did not match up to the vehicles being scrapped. The facility was also allowing vehicles without proof of ownership to be junked.

The following month, a Bureau of Motor Vehicles investigator began reviewing several state vehicle titles submitted by the facility for junked vehicles. The investigation uncovered fraud and dozens of falsified and improper vehicle titles, according to the news release. BMV investigators also discovered Columbus Auto Shredding was counseled multiple times for failure to verify true and recent Ohio BMV records but did not comply.

The alleged cases of fraud include:

Seventeen titles that previously had been reported as stolen or lost by previous owners.

Sixteen titles listed company names as the owner of the vehicles, but representatives from those companies did not sign them.

Fifteen vehicles had titles that were missing the required notary.

Fifteen vehicles did not have the required labels for junk designation.

Eleven titles that did not match the legal owner/seller signatures, which were determined to be forged and falsified.

Three titles were signed by the wrong person.

Zach Klein, Columbus city attorney

The City of Columbus has zero tolerance for criminal enterprises that moonlight as businesses," said City Attorney Zach Klein in the release. "Not here. Not ever. Businesses that perpetrate fraud and deal in stolen property will be held accountable, they will be prosecuted, and if necessary, they will be shut down."

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A preliminary hearing is set for Nov. 14 at 12 p.m.

More:Citizens demand action by Franklin County justice system about rising youth vehicle thefts

More:Kia, Hyundai cars too easy to steal? Columbus residents sue automakers in federal court

mwalker@dispatch.com

@micah_walker701

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus scrapyard headed to court due to alleged cases of fraud
(Getty Images)

The US government should ban the Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok, according to Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr.

TikTok, which has more than one billion users worldwide, is owned by Chinese company ByteDance and once faced a ban under the Trump administration.

Mr Carr, who is one of five FCC Commissioners and a critic of China, has previously called for Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their stores.

Mr Carr told Axios that there was not a world in which you could come up with sufficient protection on the data that you could have sufficient confidence that its not finding its way back into the hands of the (Chinese Communist Party).

And he added: I dont believe there is a path forward for anything other than a ban.

The FCC has no authority to regulate TikTok, which is in negotiations with the Council on Foreign Investment on whether it can be divested by ByteDance and be run by an American company, reports Axios.

The app has been the subject of criticism over American data potentially being sent back to China and accessed by the countrys government.

TikTok Chief Operating Officer Vanessa Pappas told Congress in September that ByteDances staff in China had no access to US data and the company would not give it to the Chinese government.

The Independent has reached out to TikTok for comment.

Commissioner Carr has no role in the confidential discussions with the U.S. government related to TikTok and appears to be expressing views independent of his role as an FCC commissioner, a TikTok spokesperson told Axios.

Donald Trump proposed banning TikTok in the US citing security concerns before the company announced a partnership with Oracle and Walmart.

The sale of the US part of the business was put on hold after Joe Biden defeated Mr Trump.
It is hardly news that for the last decade the Pentagon has fallen short of its strategic ambitions in the Indo-Pacific. Still, it is quite conspicuous when evidence of that say-do gap emerges within 24 hours of the publication of the Pentagons most important strategic document.

Last week, the Pentagons new National Defense Strategy declared that China is the pacing challenge of this decisive decade while citing posture as a key element of deterring Chinese aggression. Within hours of the strategys publication, the Financial Times reported that the Pentagon is set to withdraw two fighter squadrons stationed at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan over the next two years. The Pentagon later confirmed the withdrawal. And though it plans to begin temporary deployments of more advanced aircraft during the withdrawal, it acknowledged it has made no decision on a long-term solution to replace the loss of forward-stationed combat power.

The problem with withdrawing permanently stationed fighter aircraft from Japan is not about symbolic presence or the message the decision sends to Beijing. The central issue is combat-credible posture. Eliminating one-quarter of the permanently stationed fighter squadrons west of the international date line, promising temporary rotations as a substitute, and offering no long term plan for their replacement does not enhance combat-credible posture.

Defenders of the decision say the retiring F-15C and D aircraft currently stationed at Kadena are old, fourth-generation aircraft that would not contribute much in a conflict with China. Yes, the Air Force should upgrade fighter aircraft in the Indo-Pacific. Indeed, we strongly support stationing F-35As at Misawa Air Base in Japan. But that is not what the Air Force has announced. It has promised temporary rotations of more advanced aircraft but has not finalized plans beyond an initial six-month rotation for F-22s from Alaska. Moreover, after operating fifth-generation aircraft for nearly two decades, the Air Force has announced no plans to permanently station any fifth-generation aircraft west of the international date line.

Send Air Force F-35s to Japan

Other observers argue withdrawing U.S. fighter aircraft from Kadena Air Base is wise given the bases vulnerability to Chinese missile strikes in a contingency. Repositioning fighter aircraft from Okinawa to other bases in Japan or elsewhere in the Second Island Chain certainly has merit. But once again, that is not what the Air Force has announced.

The Air Force has made no decisions to base additional aircraft at any other Indo-Pacific bases. More to the point, the Air Force appears to have no intention of leaving Kadena. In a statement last week, the Air Force pledged to maintain a steady-state presence at Kadena. Indeed, the Air Force is still investing in the base. Its fiscal year 2023 budget request asked for $148 million in military construction at Kadena. The year before it asked for $232.1 million.

Still others argue that permanently stationing fighter aircraft at Kadena or other forward locations in the Indo-Pacific is not necessary. They contend that rotational forces would be just as effective. Failing that, aircraft can deploy rapidly from elsewhere around the world in the event of a contingency. We disagree. Analysis from the RAND Corporation suggests it is much more costly to rotate forces than to permanently base them abroad, and thus that continuous rotations should be minimized to the extent possible.

The source of rotational forces also matters. If rotational aircraft are sourced from elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific area of operations (such as Alaska or Hawaii), the withdrawal of permanently stationed aircraft from Kadena would result in a net reduction of combat power in the region. Moreover, a rotational model raises the possibility of gaps in forward presence. And while it is true that aircraft could deploy relatively quickly to the Indo-Pacific in the event of a contingency, thats cold comfort in plausible scenarios where minutes and hours could make the difference in denying a fait accompli invasion attempt. Relying too heavily on aircraft from outside the theater reduces options in competition, crisis, and early in a conflict. Moreover, introducing forces into theater in a crisis (instead of those forces being present from the start) may add to the risk of escalation.

The decision to withdraw two permanently stationed fighter squadrons from Japan without a ready replacement plan demonstrates that the Indo-Pacific is not being treated as the posture priority so often touted.

Year after year, the Air Force has divested older aircraft in search of budget savings. Just in FY23, its seeking to cut 150 aircraft while purchasing just 82. Meanwhile, its used new aircraft to replace missions at domestic bases set to lose aircraft.

Consider the F-35. As of today, the Air Force has decided to station F-35As at no less than six active component bases, four Guard bases, and one reserve base in the United States. It has chosen just one overseas base for the F-35A in the United Kingdom. Thats twelve F-35-A bases with zero planned for the Indo-Pacific.

How many more U.S. or European bases will the Air Force select to receive F-35As before a single base in the Indo-Pacific west of the international date line? The same question should be asked about the F-15EX.

The Air Force has been considering the retirement of the F-15 for at least the last five years. But even with the benefit of time, F-15 retirements at Kadena will commence with no plan for their replacement. Thats a stark contrast to Europe. The Air Force selected RAF Lakenheath as its first F-35 base in Europe back in 2015. Until F-35As began arriving in December 2021, the Air Force used European Deterrence Initiative funds to keep F-15s at RAF Lakenheath. The aircraft finally departed in April 2022.

Congress needs to ask the Pentagon and the Air Force some pointed questions:

What is U.S. Indo-Pacific Commands risk assessment of the near-term loss of two permanently stationed fighter squadrons?

How does the Japanese government view this decision?

In the short term, will the Air Force maintain continuous rotational presence at Kadena?

Will rotational aircraft be sourced from the continental United States or from those already assigned to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in Alaska and Hawaii?

In the longer term, will the 48 F-15s at Kadena be replaced tail-for-tail?

Will their replacements be permanent or rotational?

Will those replacements go to Kadena, or will other Indo-Pacific bases be considered?

How many other bases will receive F-15EX and F-35A aircraft before these two Indo-Pacific squadrons are replaced?

Until these questions are answered, Congress needs to intervene legislatively. As the defense committees finalize negotiations on the National Defense Authorization Act for FY23, lawmakers should prohibit the withdrawal of F-15s from Japan pending the submission of a classified assessment by U.S. Indo-Pacific Command of the impact of the withdrawal as well as a clear transition plan from the Air Force for its fighter aircraft posture in Japan and elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific.

The new National Defense Strategy was correct that we are living through a decisive decade and that we must prioritize the China challenge in the Indo-Pacific region. How the Pentagon responds now in putting forward an urgent plan to enhance  not just backfill  combat-credible air power in the Indo-Pacific will be the first major test of translating this new defense strategy from words into action.

Mackenzie Eaglen is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute where she works on defense budget, defense strategy, and military readiness. Eric Sayers and Dustin Walker are nonresident fellows at the American Enterprise Institute. Walker was the lead adviser to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Europe and the Indo-Pacific from 2017 to 2020. Sayers was the lead adviser to the Senate Armed Services Committee on the Indo-Pacific from 2014 to 2016 and an adviser to the commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command from 2016 to 2018.

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HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)  A Connecticut man who was linked to the sexual assaults of four women in 1984 by information on a genealogy database was convicted Wednesday of all eight kidnapping charges against him.

A state jury in Hartford took less than an hour of deliberations to unanimously convict Michael Sharpe after a five-day trial. He faces 25 to 100 years in prison when he is sentenced on Jan. 9.

Sharpe, 71, who had been free on a promise to appear in court, was detained after the verdicts because a judge set a new bond at $2.5 million.

At least two of the victims were in the courtroom and wept after the verdicts were announced, The Hartford Courant reported.

Sharpe's public defender, Dana Sanetti, said in her closing argument Tuesday that the only evidence connecting Sharpe to the attacks was his DNA, which was only a piece of the puzzle, Hearst Connecticut Media reported.

Sharpe, of Marlborough, was once the chief executive officer of a group that ran the Jumoke Academy, a tuition-free charter school in Hartford.

Prosecutors said he broke into the womens homes in four different towns and sexually assaulted them at gunpoint in June and July of 1984. Investigators found DNA evidence at the homes, but no matches could be found at the time and the cases went cold.

Police said they were able to identify Sharpe as a suspect in 2020 because his relatives had given DNA samples to the GEDmatch website. DNA samples taken from trash outside Sharpe's home, and later from his cheeks, matched the DNA found at the crime scenes, officials said.

Sharpe could not be charged with sexual assault because the statute of limitations expired, but authorities were able to file kidnapping charges, which have no such time limit.
By Jennifer Rigby

LONDON (Reuters) - Monkeypox can spread before symptoms appear, British researchers said on Wednesday, providing the first evidence indicating the virus can be transmitted this way.

It was previously thought that monkeypox was almost entirely spread by people who were already sick, although pre-symptomatic transmission had not been ruled out and some routine screening had picked up cases without symptoms.

Monkeypox, a relatively mild viral illness that is endemic in several countries in western and central Africa, exploded around the world earlier this year, with outbreaks in dozens of countries where it had never previously appeared.

There have been almost 78,000 confirmed cases and 36 deaths since, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although cases have peaked in many countries, this week the World Health Organization said the outbreak still represented a global health emergency.

The virus is known to spread through close contact and causes symptoms including fever, body aches and often painful pus-filled skin lesions.

To find out more about how monkeypox was transmitting in Britain, a team from the UK Health Security Agency used routine surveillance and contact tracing data for 2,746 people in the country who tested positive between May and August.

Their average age was 38, and 95% of the patients reported being gay, bisexual or men who have sex with men.

Related video: 2 Chicago residents die in Oct. after monkeypox diagnosis

Researchers analysed the "serial interval" - the time from when symptoms began in the first case to when they began in a connected case - as well as the incubation period, the typical time from exposure to the virus to the onset of symptoms.

Using two statistical models, they found that the median serial interval was shorter than the median incubation period. This indicated that "considerable" transmission happened before the appearance or detection of symptoms has taken place, the researchers wrote in the paper published in the British Medical Journal.

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Four days was the longest period before symptoms began that transmission was detected, and the team said up to 53% of transmission may have taken place before symptoms began.

The study raises questions over tackling monkeypox worldwide, including whether asking people to isolate when symptoms appear is enough to stop the virus spreading.

Many richer countries have vaccinated high-risk populations to curb the outbreak, but shots are limited and there are none available in Africa.

Independent experts said the findings could have important implications for global infection control, if supported by other studies.

"These are urgent questions that need answers," said Boghuma Kabisen Titanji, assistant professor of medicine at Emory University, Atlanta.

Other scientists said the work was robust but needed clinical data before it could be labeled definitive or applied globally.

"It's an important part of the transmission jigsaw," said Jake Dunning, senior fellow at the Pandemic Sciences Institute at Oxford University, "but personally I want to see it joined up with other pieces."

(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
A Cordova man said he and his girlfriend were shot by two people who they believed were trick-or-treaters dressed in Halloween costumes with masks.

Police said the incident happened on Carlton Ridge Drive on Halloween night.

The man said the family opened their door to give candy to who they thought were 14- or 15-year-old teenagers.

The man said the robbers stormed his home shooting at him and his girlfriend.

Initial reports indicated the man was shot in the leg and the woman was grazed in the face.

The man was initially rushed to the hospital in critical condition but later upgraded to non-critical and released from a hospital.

Police are looking for the shooters. Anyone with information should call the Shelby County Sheriffs Office at 222-5500.

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Karen Smith, a member of the Central Bucks School Board, is seen at her home in Chalfont, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 30. A former Republican, Smith began serving as a Democrat when local resistance to COVID safety measures grew especially vitriolic.

Karen Smith, a member of the Central Bucks School Board, is seen at her home in Chalfont, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 30. A former Republican, Smith began serving as a Democrat when local resistance to COVID safety measures grew especially vitriolic.

BUCKS COUNTY, Pa.  It all started with COVID.

When the coronavirus began spreading in the United States, the 23 schools in the Central Bucks School District were forced to shutter to keep students and staff safe. When students eventually returned to classrooms, they were still following safety measures like masking and social distancing.

Many parents in the wealthy, majority-white Bucks County refused to accept the new reality  and they made their opposition known at school board meetings.

We had this fairly active group that was coming in to make public comments, speaking at every meeting, Karen Smith, who represents some of the towns that make up the district for the board, told HuffPost. And they were adamantly opposed to wearing masks.

The battles over masks and COVID safety measures  which Smith saw as commonsense steps to keep kids and staff safe  became so heated that they inspired her to become a Democrat after six years on the school board as a Republican.

As time went on, Smith noticed school board meetings that were supposed to be about pandemic policies veering in very different directions: primarily, toward anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and panic over critical race theory.

Residents would come to public meetings and read excerpts from books they wanted to ban, cherry-picking explicit passages so they could accuse the libraries of having pornographic material.

They take Genderqueer and they open it up to the page where there is a dildo blow job, but they dont talk about the rest of the book or what the book is even about, Smith said, referring to Maia Kobabes bestselling book that describes their journey to figuring out theyre nonbinary.

The entrance to the Central Bucks School Districts administrative building in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

The entrance to the Central Bucks School Districts administrative building in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

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When the school board election rolled around in November 2021, and five seats were up for grabs, the divide was clear. Democratic candidates generally ran on COVID safety, while Republicans candidates bolstered their campaigns by claiming the mantle of parental rights, which included anti-masking, vitriol about gender identity and outrage about CRT, a college-level academic theory that conservatives claim is being taught in public schools and used to teach white children to hate themselves.

The parental rights crowd won out, and the Central Bucks school board became a 6-3 conservative majority.

With that came a tangled web of proposals designed to silence anyone who isnt white, straight, cisgender and conservative, including rules to dictate what teachers can wear and how students can express their gender identity and sexuality.

Conservatives may be preaching about specific issues  like so-called sexually inappropriate library books being made available to students  but the whole movement is about destabilizing public institutions like schools.

This dynamic is playing out in school districts across the country, especially in reliably red states. But in perennially purple Pennsylvania, the moral panic over social justice and books with LGBTQ themes is happening against the backdrop of critical midterm races that could determine the states political leanings for years to come. Republican Mehmet Oz, a TV doctor who is vowing to fight cancel culture, is facing Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) in a tight Senate race. And for governor, far-right state Sen. Doug Mastriano, a Christian nationalist who has advocated for banning books, is up against Democratic state Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

The school board proposes a controversial new library policy

About eight months after the conservative majority took over the school board, dozens of Bucks County residents gathered before a vote on Policy 109.2, which lays out the criteria for removing books from school libraries and, critically, allows anyone in the district to challenge any book and potentially get it pulled from circulation.

More than two dozen people made public comments during the meeting, mostly to voice their opposition to the proposed policy.

An apology to the three of you who are trying your damnedest to live up to your oath and protect the lives of children, English teacher Stephen Albert said to the Democrats on the board. But to the majority: At long last, have you no sense of shame?

The room erupted in applause.

But the conservatives werent swayed, and the policy passed. There was scattered applause in the room, as well as a few boos. Meeting attendees yelled Shame! and Shame on you! as they filed out.

Look at the adults we have in the room, a Republican board member said sarcastically, reprimanding the people opposed to the policy.

Policy 109.2 was enacted in July, but educators, staff and residents are still waiting for the board to clarify who will be in charge of determining the fate of challenged books.

Smith voted against a proposal to allow anyone in the school district to challenge any library book and potentially get it pulled from circulation.

Smith voted against a proposal to allow anyone in the school district to challenge any library book and potentially get it pulled from circulation.

Smith was one of the votes against the library proposal. No, absolutely not, she said when she stepped up to vote.

The evidence of Smiths new liberal leanings are clear both inside and outside of her home: She has a big rainbow flag flying outside, pro-reading bumper stickers on her cars and a tote bag declaring READ BANNED BOOKS next to her desk.

These are human rights issues and the rights of our students, Smith said. Im not going to be quiet about that.

During the public comment section of one school board meeting last November, two residents made transphobic and antisemitic statements. Smith tried to cut off a man making antisemitic comments, but other board members pushed back and said she was infringing on residents First Amendment rights.

Many of those same conservative school board members were throwing their support behind the book-banning and censorship policy just a few months later.

Bucks County parents fight back

Kate Nazemi, who has two children in Central Bucks schools, is in staunch opposition to the new book policy. In September, she organized a parade against book banning.

Like Smith, she noticed a shift on the school board when the pandemic began. When experts said masking and social distancing would keep staff and students safe, conservatives pushed back and said they were wrong. When school librarians chose books with care for their students, the conservative majority said those books were inappropriate or pornographic.

I called it the COVID formula: Belittle the experts in the field, and then say we dont need to listen to them, we can figure it out our own way, Nazemi said while sipping coffee in a busy cafe in Doylestown, the county seat.

Theres this narrow worldview that is being applied to all 17,500 kids. Its limiting kids access to books, materials and discussions in the classrooms, she added. How are these kids supposed to think critically about issues and develop as humans, if they are so limited in what theyre able to read and discuss and learn?

Kate Nazemi, a mother of two children in the Central Bucks School District, is seen at her home in Doylestown on Nov. 1. Earlier this year, she organized a local parade in protest of book bans.

Kate Nazemi, a mother of two children in the Central Bucks School District, is seen at her home in Doylestown on Nov. 1. Earlier this year, she organized a local parade in protest of book bans.

Earlier this month, the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed a complaint against the school board on behalf of seven students, alleging widespread discrimination and hostility toward LGBTQ students.

In the complaint, the lawyers say that the school board does things that actively harm LGBTQ students, including removing Pride flags and directing teachers not to use preferred names. They specifically call out the library book policy, saying its a thinly disguised effort to censor LGBTQ+-themed materials. The school board president responded by asking the ACLU to reveal the names of the students filing the complaint.

The U.S. Department of Education has opened up an investigation.

The board members are not interested in a democracy, Nazemi said. What they want are either one of two things: public schools with Christian values, or public schools that fail so badly that we can then use our tax dollars to pay for private school.

Some parents are worried that schools will be more likely to go down this path if Mastriano is in the governors mansion.

At an October hearing at the statehouse, parents from all over Pennsylvania testified in support of a parental rights bill that Mastriano had put forth. The bill says it aims to give parents more say in how public schools are run, but critics say its an attempt to silence and bully LGBTQ students and families.

His supporters showed up with campaign buttons on their clothing. Mastriano, who was present at the Jan. 6, 2021, riot but maintains he did not enter the U.S. Capitol building, is running a far-right campaign that aims to stoke fear of immigrants, liberals and transgender people among his fan base.

Whats happened to us where bureaucrats get to decide how your kids identify? Pronoun games have no place in schools, Mastriano said at the statehouse, apparently forgetting that grammar is a core part of schooling. This has to end. Madness has come in. Parents have the last say, period.

Various parents expressed similar thoughts. School administrators all over the country, including Pennsylvania, have decided parents should be excluded from vital conversations with regard to their childs education and well-being, said Megan Brock, a parent from Bucks County.

Democratic state Sen. Maria Collett represents the 12th District, which includes CBSD. She didnt participate in the parental rights bill hearing, even though she is a member of the state government committee.

The people of the 12th District elected me to use my time, energy and resources to better their lives, she said. Not to legitimize horseshit.

She is unabashed in her criticism of the conservatives leading the charge in the outrage over books.

They distract, they deflect, and they make up a story about a boogeyman that is trying to lure your kid into an alley with a pornographic book, Collett said from her office desk, which features a photo of herself and President Joe Biden.

They dont have answers to the problems that are plaguing Pennsylvania, she added. Thats why theyre so fixated on identity politics.

Collett said her constituents arent calling her to complain about library books or rainbow flags in schools  theyre more worried about issues like Social Security benefits and unemployment plans.

Evidence of the anti-lockdown to critical race theory panic to book-banning pipeline can be found all across the country. What began as the idea that wearing a mask was an affront to freedom morphed into a panic about teaching kids about racial privilege in the wake of George Floyds murder, then seamlessly became an effort to censor books with racial justice or LGBTQ themes.

Conservatives on the Bucks County school board want

Conservatives on the Bucks County school board want "one of two things," Nazemi says. "Public schools with Christian values, or public schools that fail so badly that we can then use our tax dollars to pay for private school.

The book bans came first as a trickle, then as a storm. According to PEN America, the past year saw a record number of book challenges in schools and libraries across the country. State lawmakers proposed bills and made lists of books they wanted to ban; parents claimed that schools and libraries were filled with sexually explicit books, and that anyone who didnt stand with them was aiding and abetting child abuse.

Why are books in school libraries the latest target for conservative ire? Books are democratizing. They help students expand their worldview. And if your end goal is control over society by any means, having a well-read and well-educated public is not in your best interest.

Although the Bucks County border is just 10 miles from Philadelphia, more than 80% of the 646,000 residents are white. The wealthy suburb typically leans Democratic, but the school board has lurched to the right in just one election cycle  and some residents worry that the shift will only continue, especially considering Mastrianos influence on the state.

Even if he loses the race, Mastriano and the CBSD are setting the stage for Pennsylvania to become a blueprint for conservatives in other states, not unlike how conservative education policies in Florida and Texas have provided a playbook for Pennsylvanias GOP.

We will still have like Mastriano-style politics here on the school board until the next election, Nazemi said.

And if Mastriano does win, the effects are sure to be felt across the state. On the campaign trail, he has vowed to turn Pennsylvania into the Florida of the north.

We have one of the candidates saying, I want to model us after a state weve seen pass really damaging legislation that is hurting children, teachers and parents, Collett said. If we dont stand up and say, No, not on my watch, then we all become complicit.

Related...
Photo: The Canadian Press North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The White House on Wednesday accused North Korea of covertly shipping a significant number of artillery shells to Russia in support of its invasion of Ukraine.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. believes North Korea is trying to make it appear as though theyre being sent to countries in the Middle East or North Africa. He declined to provide a specific estimate on the quantity of ammunition being sent to bolster the Russian effort.

Kirby said North Korea is covertly supplying the ammunition to Russia, but that, were still monitoring this to determine whether the shipments are actually received."

Kirby insisted that the North Korean shipments are not going to change the course of the war," citing Western efforts to resupply the Ukrainian military.

The White House would not specify the mode of transportation or whether the U.S. or other nations would attempt to interdict the shipments to Russia.
By Leroy Leo and Nandhini Srinivasan

(Reuters) -CVS Health Corp on Wednesday forecast a 2023 profit below Wall Street estimates and said it hoped to mitigate the hit from a performance rating decline for its most popular Medicare plan by encouraging members to shift to other plans.

The company also announced it agreed to pay about $5 billion over 10 years to resolve thousands of lawsuits accusing its pharmacy chain of mishandling opioid painkillers. CVS took a pre-tax charge of $5.2 billion in the third quarter related to the settlement, a move that ends years of uncertainty for the company's finances.

The settlement price, which was below investor expectations, according to Evercore ISI analyst Elizabeth Anderson, and other measures announced by the company lifted CVS Health shares more than 4%

In its insurance business, CVS said it is trying to move members out of Aetna's National PPO plan, which currently accounts for 59% of its Medicare Advantage plan members.

"That has been part of our longer term strategy," Chief Executive Officer Karen Lynch said in an interview, explaining that the plan performance rating is manageable.

CVS' largest health insurance plan for Medicare recipients received a lower performance rating from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which in turn could affect payments from the government for 2024, the company said last month.

CVS said the ratings decline and its loss of Centene's pharmacy benefit management (PBM) contract is expected to reduce 2024 revenue by $2 billion, although that figure could come down with company mitigation strategies.

The diversified healthcare company also disclosed that it is considering selling its Omnicare long-term care business, after last month announcing it will sell its bswift insurance software developer.

The company recorded a $2.5 billion charge related to Omnicare in the quarter.

CVS said it will repurchase shares to meet the 2024 earnings target it set last year, and that it is still open to acquisitions in healthcare services. Lynch described the company as looking for "the right capabilities at the right time."

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The company earlier this year agreed to buy Signify Health for more than $8 billion.

"At our current valuation, an M&A deal is likely less accretive than share repurchase," Chief Financial Officer Shawn Guertin said during a conference call.

CVS forecast adjusted 2023 earnings of $8.70 to $8.90 per share, below Wall Street expectations of $9.06, according to Refinitiv data.

"While financial engineering is not the strongest way to meet its previously laid out plans, CVS shareholders will likely appreciate that double-digit earnings growth ... is still possible in 2024 and beyond," Morningstar analyst Julie Utterback said in a note.

CVS raised its 2022 profit forecast to $8.55 to $8.65 per share from it prior outlook of $8.40 to $8.60 on the strong performance of its health insurance and PBM business.

CVS' health insurance business as well as peers Elevance Health and UnitedHealth have benefited from a slow recovery in elective procedures and a fall in COVID cases that has kept costs in check.

(Reporting by Leroy Leo and Nandhini Srinivasan in Bengaluru and Caroline Humer in New York; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi and Bill Berkrot)
By Brendan Pierson

(Reuters) -CVS Health Corp, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc and Walmart Inc agreed to pay about $13.8 billion to resolve thousands of U.S. state and local lawsuits accusing the pharmacy chains of mishandling opioid pain drugs, potentially bringing years of litigation close to the finish line.

CVS said on Wednesday it had agreed to pay about $5 billion over 10 years, and Walgreens said that it had agreed to pay about $5.7 billion over 15 years. Neither company admitted wrongdoing. Walmart has agreed to pay $3.1 billion, mostly up front, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Paul Geller, one of the lawyers who negotiated for the governments, said that settlements with pharmacies "will bring billions of additional dollars to communities that are desperate for funds to combat the epidemic" of opioid addiction.

"We know that reckless, profit-driven dispensing practices fueled the crisis; but we know just as surely that with better systems in place and proper heeding of red flag warnings, pharmacies can play a direct role in reducing opioid abuse and in saving lives," Geller said.

CVS general counsel Thomas Moriarty said in a statement the company was pleased to resolve the claims and the deal was "in the best interest of all parties, as well as our customers, colleagues and shareholders."

Walgreens in a statement said: "As one of the largest pharmacy chains in the nation, we remain committed to being a part of the solution, and this settlement framework will allow us to keep our focus on the health and wellbeing of our customers and patients, while making positive contributions to address the opioid crisis."

Both CVS and Walgreens said their agreements would not be final until certain non-monetary terms were worked out, and that the total amount could be reduced if not enough government plaintiffs sign on.

Walmart did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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The proposed settlement, which would be the first nationwide deal with retail pharmacy companies, follows nationwide opioid settlements with drugmakers and distributors totaling more than $33 billion.

HUMAN AND ECONOMIC TOLL

In more than 3,300 lawsuits, beginning in 2017, state, local and Native American tribal governments accused drugmakers of downplaying the risks of their opioid pain medicines, and distributors and pharmacies of ignoring red flags that prescriptions were being diverted into illegal trafficking.

They said the resulting human toll, as well as strain on public health services and law enforcement, was a public nuisance that the companies must pay to fix.

CVS, Walgreens and Walmart are the three largest retail pharmacies in the country by market share. If their settlement becomes final, it will put much of the sprawling, years-long litigation over opioids to rest, though cases are still pending against smaller, more regionally focused pharmacy operators including Rite Aid Corp and Kroger Co.

Plaintiffs had scored some significant trial victories against pharmacy chains, including a $650.6 million judgment in favor of two Ohio counties against CVS, Walgreens and Walmart, and a ruling that Walgreens contributed to San Francisco's opioid epidemic.

San Francisco is not included in the national settlement, and is scheduled to begin a second trial against Walgreens next week to determine how much the company must pay.

State and local authorities have said they will use the money from the settlements to combat the opioid crisis, which according to federal government data has caused nearly 650,000 overdose deaths since 1999 and is continuing to worsen.

Prescriptions for opioids rose sharply in the 1990s as companies aggressively promoted the drugs, long used primarily in cancer patients, as a safe way to treat all kinds of chronic pain.

Overdoses involving opioids, including prescription pills and heroin, surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing 38% in 2020 over the previous year and another 15% in 2021, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The agency has attributed much of the recent rise in overdose cases to illegally manufactured fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid.

A congressional report last month put the economic toll of the opioid crisis in 2020 alone at $1.5 trillion.

(Reporting by Baranjot Kaur in Bengaluru, Brendan Pierson in New York and Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi, Mark Potter and Bill Berkrot)
Cyber-attacks on small companies surged between 2020 and 2021

When Elana Graham started selling cyber-security software to small companies five years ago, business was relatively slow.

Now demand is booming, driven by a rapid expansion in remote work that has left small firms vulnerable to attack.

Business at her firm has tripled since the start of the year, she says, reaching an all-time high.

"It was a total head-in-the-sand situation. 'It's not going to happen to me. I'm too small.' That was the overwhelming message that I was hearing five years ago," says Ms Graham, co-founder of CYDEF, which is based in Canada. "But yes, it is happening."

Cyber-crimes are expected to cost the world $10.5tn (9.3tn) by 2025, according to cyber-security research firm Cyber Ventures.

On the current trajectory, small businesses will absorb most of the hit.

They are three times more likely to be attacked by cyber-criminals compared to large businesses, cloud security firm Barracuda Networks has found.

And the risks shot up during the pandemic.

Business has tripled this year for cyber-security software boss Elana Graham

Between 2020-21, cyber-attacks on small companies surged by more than 150%, according to RiskRecon, a Mastercard company that evaluates companies' cyber-security risk.

"The pandemic created a whole new set of challenges and small businesses weren't prepared," says Mary Ellen Seale, chief executive of the National Cybersecurity Society, a non-profit that helps small businesses create cyber-security plans.

In March 2020, at the cusp of the pandemic, a survey of small businesses by broadcaster CNBC found that only 20% planned to invest in cyber-protection.

Then the Covid-19 lockdowns came into force and firms scrambled to move operations online.

Working remotely meant more personal devices like smartphones, tablets and laptops had access to sensitive corporate information. However, lockdowns strained budgets, limiting how much companies could spend to protect themselves. Costly in-house experts and cyber-security software were often out of reach.

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The result was weak cyber-security infrastructure that was ripe for hacking.

"A lot of the attacks now are coming through them because bad guys know larger organisations have done a pretty good job of protecting their infrastructure. The weakest link is small businesses. And it's really easy to get in there," Ms Seale says.

Small Business USA

If it's true to say the US is the engine of the world economy, then small and medium-sized businesses are the fuel that drives that engine.

Small businesses create nearly two-thirds of new jobs in the workforce and account for 44% of US economic activity. So what's the secret to their success? What challenges do they face and which are the best cities and regions for them to thrive?

Read more from our Small Business USA series

For would-be criminals, such attacks are low risk and high reward, since they are less likely to catch the attention of authorities and often the companies themselves.

It typically takes 200 days from the moment of the hacking until discovery, says Yoohwan Kim, a computer science professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. In many cases, customer complaints are what alert companies to a problem.

And with one compromised supplier, criminals can access networks of organisations further up the supply chain.

"Large businesses depend on small businesses," says Ms Seale. "They are the lifeblood of the United States, and we need a wake-up call."

Small businesses account for more than 99% of companies in the US and employ nearly half of all Americans, playing a critical role in the global economy.

Dr Kim says they are like the economy's "Achilles heel".

Yoohwan Kim also leads a group of cyber-security experts at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas that helps small businesses build up their online defences

"They may be a small company but what they sell to large businesses could be very important. If they're hacked, [their product] won't be fed into supply chains and everything will be affected," says Dr Kim.

Cyber-attacks can be devastating to small businesses, prompting their products to be removed from supply chains and triggering legal fees, investigations and regulatory filings.

About 60% of small businesses shut down within six months of facing an attack, the National Cybersecurity Alliance estimates.

"The cost could reach thousands of dollars. Some companies simply can't pay that kind of money," Dr Kim says. "They just can't handle it."

But although small businesses are the most vulnerable, Ms Graham says that most cyber-security tools have been made for big companies, and are often difficult to understand and install without an in-house expert.

"That's a huge challenge for small companies that don't understand what these people are trying to sell them," she says.

Experts say there are simple steps small firms can take to improve their protections, such as creating basic response plans and identifying what and where critical data is.

Educating employees on how to avoid and detect attacks is also important, since the vast majority of data breaches involve human error.

Attacks in which cyber-criminals hacked into business emails were the costliest cyber-threat during the pandemic, amounting to $1.8bn in reported losses, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Also known as spear phishing, such hacks use a targeted attack, unlike more traditional strategies like spam, which reaches large numbers of people. Ms Graham describes the tool as "the new frontier in criminal activity" and says it has become the most common type of cyber-attack her clients face.

But firms should not despair, says Ms Seale.

"The biggest thing is to convey to small business that it's not hopeless. It's not an unsurmountable task," she says.
The Real Housewives of Atlanta star Cynthia Bailey is opening up about what led to her split from husband, sportscaster Mike Hill.

Bailey discussed the dissolution of her marriage during an appearance on Mondays episode of the Two Ts In a Pod podcast hosted by Teddi Mellencamp and Tamra Judge. When asked what her final straw was for leaving the marriage, the reality TV star said it was their lack of friendship.

I feel like we werent friends anymore, she said. I think friendship just has to be there in a marriage.

Bailey later explained that her previous marriage to restaurateur Peter Thomas played a role in her decision to split from Hill. She said that her and Thomas, whom she was married to for eight years, probably shouldve ended it earlier, and that she didnt want to make the same mistake twice.

I dont want to ride it out, Im 55 years old, she said. I want to be happy and have peace. I want my man to be happy and to have peace. And... if were not able to achieve that together, then we shouldnt be together.

Mike Hill and Cynthia Bailey at the 2021 Ebony Power 100 presented by Verizon at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez via Getty Images)

Mike Hill and Cynthia Bailey at the 2021 Ebony Power 100 presented by Verizon at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez via Getty Images)

Hill and Bailey announced their separation in a joint statement posted on social media last month. They said in their statement at the time that no one was to blame for their split.

The two wed in October 2020 in Acworth, Georgia. Parts of the celebration was filmed for the Bravo reality TV series The Real Housewives of Atlanta.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
Ryan Murphy. Jeff Kravitz / Getty Images

"Dahmer" creator Ryan Murphy contacted Netflix after the LGBTQ tag was removed from the series.

Netflix removed the tag in September after it received backlash from viewers.

Murphy defended the tag, saying the series is about a "gay man" and his "gay victims."

"Dahmer" creator Ryan Murphy has criticized Netflix for removing the LGBTQ tag from the series after receiving complaints from viewers.

The LGBTQ tag on the streaming platform has been used to highlight series and movies that feature, or are about, LGBTQ characters.

Following its September release, viewers complained that the tag did not seem appropriate for "Dahmer  Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story" due to the nature of the show. The series dramatizes the life of notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, who preyed on and targeted predominantly gay men.

A week after the series' release, Deadline reported the tag had been removed.

In a new profile piece in the New York Times, Murphy criticized the backlash and said he spoke to Netflix when they removed the tag.

"I also don't think that all gay stories have to be happy stories," the show creator said. "There was a moment on Netflix where they removed the LGBTQ tag from 'Dahmer,' and I didn't like it and I asked why they did that and they said because people were upset because it was an upsetting story."

The award-winning writer added: "I was, like, 'Well, yeah.' But it was a story of a gay man and more importantly, his gay victims."

Murphy also said he was happy about the sixth episode, which focused on Tony Hughes, a Black deaf man who was killed by Dahmer in 1991.

"There's a five-minute scene of three gay deaf men at a pizza parlor talking in sign language about dating, gay life, and how hard is it for them," he said. "I could not believe that I was getting the gift of putting it on television."

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Rodney Burford as Tony Hughes and Evan Peters as Jeffrey Dahmer Netflix

Last month, Hughes' 85-year-old mother, Shirley, told the Guardian that the episode was inaccurate.

"It didn't happen like that," she said. "I don't see how they can do that. I don't see how they can use our names and put stuff out like that out there."

Family members of other victims have also criticized the series. Tatiana Banks, the daughter of Errol Lindsey, who was killed by Dahmer in 1991, told Insider that she hasn't been able to sleep since the show was released.

She and her aunt Rita Isbell both told Insider they were not contacted by Netflix.

"I feel like they should have reached out because it's people who are actually still grieving from that situation," Banks said. "That chapter of my life was closed and they reopened it, basically."

Last week, Murphy said at an event in Los Angeles that he and his team contacted "20" of the victims' family and friends during their fact-checking process, but nobody responded to them.

In the New York Times profile, Murphy also hit back at the critics who said the series should not have been made in the first place.

The showrunner said that he wanted the series to shed light on the racism and homophobia in the case.

"It was the biggest thing I've ever seen that really sort of examines how easy it is to get away with things with the white privilege aspects," Murphy said. "What are the rules now? Should we never do a movie about a tyrant?"

Read the original article on Insider
Twitter is praising Len Goodman for clapping back at Tyra Banks after she tried to provide witty banter on the Dancing with the Stars stage.

The moment happened during the series Halloween night Monday, when Charli DAmelio and professional partner Mark Ballas danced a spooky Argentine tango. Head judge Len Goodman said that the dance transported him to an Argentine club.

After the judges gave their commentary, Banks tried to be funny by saying that she felt like the crowd was confused as to what type of club Goodman was talking about.

Sheproceeded to make noises similar to house music or disco. Goodman replied, I dont know what youre talking about.

Twitter exploded when this moment happened, with fans reveling in Goodman being seemingly tired of Banks' antics.

WHAO Len hateeees Tyra, wrote one commenter on Twitter, according to Popculture. That was so uncomfortable during Charlis comments lol. Another wrote, Len is tired of Tyra. Bruhhhhhhh, with another fan adding in part, LOOOOOOOOL Lens finally had enough of Tyra.

WHOA Len hateeees Tyra That was so uncomfortable during Charlis comments lol. #dwts  Kelli (@kellynn23) November 1, 2022

Len is tired of Tyra. Bruhhhhhhh #DWTS  Regina May (@RMay1st) November 1, 2022

Another commenter sympathized with Goodman, writing in part, "We feel you Len idk what she's saying most of the time."

Len saying to Tyra I dont know what youre talking about is amazing. We feel you Len idk what shes saying most of the time  Ashley (@Ashleeymartiin) November 1, 2022

After Goodman's clapback, Banks tried to explain her joke, but the fans weren't having that either, with one writing in all caps, "OMFG NOT TYRA EXPLAINING HER JOKE TO LEN HELP MEEE."

The best part of #dwts is how much Len hates Tyra, wrote another viewer.

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LOOOOOOOL Lens finally had enough of Tyra  #dwts

he said: pic.twitter.com/pV08hd7xiN  ari  (@ariX__21) November 1, 2022

Overall, it wasn't Banks' finest moment once again.

Over the course of this current season, Banks has gotten on the viewers bad side multiple times for mispronouncing peoples names, saying unfunny and annoying banter, and generally making the night about her. Many viewers have taken to Twitter each week to declare how they want Banks to relinquish her hosting duties.

You can watch Dancing with the Stars live at 8/7c on Disney+ and on replay throughout the week at the streaming service.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP)  Despite finishing first in Denmark's election, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen decided to step down along with her Social Democratic government Wednesday in an attempt to build a broader coalition across the political divide.

Frederiksen's announcement came after a dramatic vote count in which the center-left bloc that has backed her since 2019 retained its majority in Parliament by a single seat.

In theory, the 44-year-old Social Democratic leader could have stayed in power as head of a minority government. But she said she would stick to promises made before Tuesday's election to try to form a wider governing coalition that includes parties on the center-right.

I am happy, proud, and grateful, Frederiksen said. It has been a very difficult few years to be prime minister: first the pandemic, now inflation. A lot indicated that a sitting government would not achieve reelection.

Frederiksen handed her resignation Wednesday to Queen Margrethe, Denmark's figurehead monarch. Frederiksen will remain as prime minister in a caretaking capacity until a new government is formed.

Frederiksen called the election last month amid fallout from her governments contentious decision to cull millions of minks as a pandemic response measure. The cull and chilling images of mass graves of minks have haunted Frederiksen since 2020 and eventually led to cracks in the center-left bloc.

On Tuesday, the Social Democrats won 28% of the vote, or 50 seats in the 179-member Danish Parliament. Exit polls and early results had suggested the center-left parties together would not gather the 90 seats needed for a majority. They were one seat short until the very end of the ballot count, when the decisive seat flipped.

Before that, former Prime Minister Lars Lkke Rasmussen appeared set to become kingmaker. His newly formed Moderate party won 9% of the vote for 16 seats, according to the full vote count, which was preliminary. Final results were expected later.

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Lkke Rasmussen, a two-time government leader who lost the 2019 election to Frederiksen and abandoned the center-right Liberal party following an internal power struggle, said he would support Frederiksen's attempt to form a government, but not necessarily with her as prime minister.

I know for sure that Denmark needs a new government, he told jubilant supporters in Copenhagen. Who is going to sit at the end of the table? We do not know.

Election results from Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory which has two seats in the legislature, confirmed early Wednesday that the center-left bloc would have a one-seat majority in Parliament.

Some of Frederiksen's former partners expressed disappointment that she opted to seek a broader coalition rather than continue to govern with support from the center-left. Troels Bggild, an associate professor of political science at Aarhus University in western Denmark, said Frederiksen now has two options for forming a new government.

Either go with the Moderates (at the center) and the Liberals, and if that fails, she can crawl back to the red bloc and form a government there, he said. By resigning, she shows that her election promises to build a broad center government are serious."

Frederiksen said a broad coalition would be better placed to face major challenges such as inflation, climate change and shortcomings in the public health care system.

Before the election, opposition leaders Jakob Ellemann-Jensen of the Liberals and Sren Pape Poulsen of the Conservatives dismissed the idea of joining forces with Frederiksen, saying they aimed to form a center-right government. The center-right bloc won 73 seats, well short of a majority, after a poor showing by the Liberals.

Frederiksen, who became Denmarks youngest prime minister when she took office in 2019 at age 41, teamed up with the opposition to increase NATO-member Denmarks defense spending in the wake of Russias invasion of Ukraine. Her steadfast leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic was partly overshadowed by the mink-culling episode.

The decision to slaughter up to 17 million minks to protect humans from a mutation of the coronavirus was taken in haste and without the required legislation in place. It dealt a devastating blow to Danish mink farmers, even though there was no evidence the mutated virus found among some minks was more dangerous than other strains.
Rural school districts suffered the smallest academic setbacks in math during COVID compared to urban and suburban systems, yet simultaneously the largest losses in reading, new data show.

The puzzling finding comes from figures released Friday by education researchers at Harvard and Stanford universities. Their new resource, the Education Recovery Scorecard, compiles test scores from roughly 4,000 schools that serve some 12 million students in third through eighth grades across 29 states and the District of Columbia. Their work presents the first school system-level analysis of student learning through the pandemic.

Students in urban and suburban schools were 65% and 54% of a school year behind in math, respectively, according to the Scorecard; yet young people at rural schools were buffered somewhat, losing half a year. Meanwhile in reading, where drops were less dramatic overall, rural students fell behind by a third of a school year while urban and suburban students were just 29% and 24% of a year back.

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Focusing on math scores, where COVID losses were more stark, Harvard education professor Thomas Kane said his findings are relatively good news for rural schools.

The average rural district fared better than the average urban district, he said in an email.

The reasons explaining the trend still remain something of a mystery, added his research partner, Stanford education professor Sean Reardon.

We havent had a chance yet to dig into possible explanations for why we see some difference between rural and urban districts, he said.

The Scorecards analysis also includes town school districts, which are typically less remote and more populated than rural districts, but further from city centers than suburban districts. Town school systems had drops in math similar to their suburban counterparts and losses in reading slightly less severe than rural districts.

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Alex Baum works as director of advocacy and research at the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque, which supports several rural counties in Iowa and runs a regional reading initiative. He has not yet seen clear and convincing data explaining the differences between rural and urban schools through the pandemic, he said. (Iowa is not yet included in the Scorecard.) But he believes part of the reason for relatively larger drops in reading scores among students who live in more remote locations may be their limited access to outside-of-school learning opportunities.

With fewer literacy programs, summer learning options [and] libraries,  rural students didnt have the additional support that urban students had, leading to a larger decline in reading proficiency scores, Baum said.

Related: Gifted Summer Programs Skew White & Wealthy. Not Baltimores  And Its Free

Nancy Mondragon, a classroom aide in Arkansass Waldron School District, said the childrens struggles reflected the parents economic woes.

In rural communities like ours, parents were juggling a lot in trying to make a living, and children spent more time on devices, she said. The reading loss definitely shows.

Mondragon is training to become a lead teacher through Reach University, a program working to combat teacher shortages in rural districts. Reach Dean of Undergraduate Studies Kimberly Eckert believes those persistent staffing issues may also be a factor behind literacy losses.

For reading, where different learner needs demand different interventions, the teacher shortage may be more of the issue here, she said. Access to reading specialists in rural communities may have been impacted by COVID, even if schools remained open.

The length of school closures has been a commonly cited factor in the conversation around missed learning, particularly in math. Schools play an especially large role in teaching students arithmetic, and sparsely populated areas were less likely to shutter their campuses during the pandemic.

Its plausible that the difference between rural and urban districts scores could have hinged significantly on rural systems reopening sooner, said Reardon. But vastly different virtual learning programs from one district to the next and with young people juggling traumatic life-changing events like the death of a caregiver, he stressed that other factors also certainly played in.

There was a lot happening in communities that shaped the magnitude of learning losses in addition to when schools were open or remote, he said.

Related: Strong Link in Big City Districts 4th-Grade Math Scores to School Closures

Overall, the Harvard and Stanford research suggests that school closures were not the primary element explaining achievement losses. Though setbacks tended to be higher where schools remained closed longer, there was wide variation in the results. Districts that remained virtual for equal amounts of time often had vastly different learning outcomes, and states and school systems that underwent extended closures in many cases outperformed those that opened sooner for in-person learning.

The Scorecard relies on state test scores for its analysis, but because many states use different exams, the researchers used results from the Oct. 24 National Assessment of Educational Progress to normalize the data so they could make apples-to-apples comparisons. States that have not yet released their test scores are not included in the analysis, including several with large drop-offs in achievement and high rates of school closures during COVID, such as Maryland, New Jersey and New Mexico.

Beyond differences between rural, urban and suburban schools, their research reveals several other key findings on pandemic learning:

Losses were most pronounced in high-poverty districts compared to more affluent ones. The wealthiest quarter of districts in the sample maintained an extra 21% of a years worth of learning in math and 6% of a years worth of learning in reading over the most economically disadvantaged quarter.

Weve seen the greatest increase in inequity in our lifetimes over the last few years, said Kane. Unless we act over the next couple of years, these losses could become permanent and could have long-term consequences for social mobility.

Math setbacks exceeded a full years worth of learning in the school districts of over a half million students, some 5% of those represented in the analysis. On average, students were behind about a half grade level in math and about a quarter grade level in reading. A small minority attended districts that made gains in math, 2.5%, or reading, 15%, from 2019 to 2022.

Over a half million students attend districts that are a year or more behind in math. (Stanford University and Harvard University)

Recovering missed learning will be expensive. In nearly two-thirds of districts included in the analysis, catching students up will likely require investments exceeding the total cash delivered to schools via the American Rescue Plan. (The researchers reached that conclusion by assuming the cost of additional recovered learning will be equivalent to the typical cost of learning during the school year. In other words, catching students up on 25% of a years worth of learning will require 25% of a districts annual operating budget.)

Federal COVID aid may not be enough to foot the bill for learning recovery, Kane and Reardons analysis suggests. (Stanford University and Harvard University)

Tequilla Brownie, CEO of TNTP, said she sees the new data as a call to action.

It is clear that the problems pre-date the pandemic and, therefore, we should not confine ourselves to solutions that present a path back to pre-pandemic levels of proficiency, she said.
David DePape, the 42-year-old suspect accused of attacking Paul Pelosi, the husband of Nancy Pelosi, allegedly told the House speaker's husband that it was the "end of the road" for him after breaking into the couple's San Francisco residence and said he was "sick of the insane f---ing level of lies coming out of Washington, D.C," according to court documents.

Court documents filed Tuesday by San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins paint a clearer picture of what happened when DePape allegedly broke into the residence on Friday shortly after 2 a.m., stating that Paul Pelosi was "knocked unconscious" by the suspect and woke up in a "pool of his own blood."

The documents state that Paul Pelosi was knocked unconscious for about three minutes and that there were Ring security cameras "everywhere."

Paul Pelosi was taken to a local hospital to undergo surgery to repair a skull fracture in addition to other injuries.

US CAPITOL POLICE OFFICERS WEREN'T WATCHING LIVE HOME SECURITY CAMERAS WHEN PAUL PELOSI WAS ATTACKED

According to the documents, DePape had "several targets," which included a local professor, several prominent state and federal politicians, and relatives of those state and federal politicians."

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

After DePape allegedly broke in, the motion to detain states that he woke up Nancy Pelosi's husband by stating, "Are you Paul Pelosi?" with a hammer and zip ties in his hand.

"She's not here," Paul Pelosi responded. DePape then asked when Nancy Pelosi would return, to which Paul Pelosi responded, "She's in Washington, she's not going to be back for a couple of days."

"OK, well, I'm going to tie you up," DePape said to Paul Pelosi, according to the documents, which also state that the suspect "threatened to tie up Mr. Pelosi about 10 times."

When Paul Pelosi attempted to escape through an elevator near the bedroom, DePape "held the door" to prevent him from leaving, according to the documents. Nancy Pelosi's husband then sat on the bed and asked DePape why he wanted to see the House speaker.

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"Well, she's No. 2 in line for the presidency, right?" DePape said. After Paul Pelosi agreed, DePape said that they're all corrupt and "we've got to take them all out."

Paul Pelosi then asked if he could call anyone, to which the defendant responded that "it was the end of the road" for the House Speaker's husband, according to the documents.

PAUL PELOSI ATTACK: DAVID DEPAPE WAS ON 'SUICIDE MISSION' DURING ALLEGED ATTACK, TARGETED OTHER POLITICIANS

DePape then allowed Paul Pelosi to use the bathroom, where court documents say his phone was charging, which is when he called 911.

Paul Pelosi told the 911 operator that he didn't need police, fire or medical assistance in an attempt to "defuse the situation" as DePape was watching him on the phone, the document states. He then asked where the Capitol Police were because "they are usually at the house protecting his wife."

"Uh, he thinks everything's good. Uh, I've got a problem, but he thinks everything's good," Paul Pelosi told the dispatcher, who then asked him to call back "if he changed his mind."

"No, no, no, this gentleman just, uh, came into the house, uh, and he wants to wait for my wife to come home," Paul Pelosi responded. After he gave identifying information to the dispatcher and said he didn't know DePape, the suspect said that he was a "friend of theirs."

PAUL PELOSI ATTACK: 'MENTALLY ILL' SUSPECT PREVIOUSLY LIVED WITH JAILED 'NUDIST' LOVER, 'CONSTANTLY PARANOID'

"He's telling me I'm being very lazy, so I've got to stop talking to you," Paul Pelosi said. When the dispatcher offered to stay on the line, he responded, "No, he wants me to get the hell off the phone," and the call ended. The 911 operator then issued a priority well-being check, according to the documents.

Nancy Pelosi arrives at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital on Sunday. Her husband, Paul Pelosi, was the victim of a violent home invasion on Friday.

After heading downstairs, DePape said, "I can take you out," and approached Paul Pelosi's right side with a hammer. Pelosi then put his hand on the hammer's handle.

When police officers arrived at the scene and asked what was going on, DePape smiled and said that "everything's good."

Officers gave an order for the men to drop the hammer, to which DePape responded, "Um, nope," and then stepped back and lunged toward Paul Pelosi, allegedly hitting his "head at full force with the hammer," according to the complaint.

The police offers then entered the house and took DePape into custody. DePape allegedly told officers that he was on a "suicide mission."

ALLEGED ATTEMPT TO KILL KAVANAUGH FOLLOWS MONTHS OF HEATED RHETORIC FROM DEMOCRATS

"I didn't really want to hurt him, but you know this was a suicide mission. I'm not going to stand here and do nothing even if it cost me my life," DePape allegedly told police. "Hurting him was not my goal. I told him before I attacked him that he's escalating things, and I will go through him if I have to."

NANCY PELOSI BREAKS SILENCE ON HUSBAND PAUL'S ATTACK: 'HEARTBROKEN AND TRAUMATIZED'

"I'm sick of the insane f---ing level of lies coming out of Washington, D.C. I came here to have a little chat with his wife," DePape added.

DePape said that he came to the house with the intention to "take Speaker Nancy Pelosi hostage," adding that if she lied to him, he would "break her kneecaps."

Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was severely beaten by an attacker who broke into their San Francisco home early Friday morning.

"He forced his way into the Pelosi home intending to take the person third in line to the presidency of the United States hostage and to seriously harm her. Thwarted by Speaker Pelosis absence, Defendant continued on his quest and would not be stopped, culminating on the near fatal attack on Mr. Pelosi," Jenkins wrote in the filing.

Jenkins also wrote, "This case demands detention" and "nothing less."

A criminal complaint filed by the San Francisco District Attorney's Office states that DePape has been "convicted of other crimes."

DePape pleaded not guilty to state-level charges during a Tuesday court hearing, which include attempted murder, residential burglary, assault with a deadly weapon and elder abuse, among others.

An Immigrations and Customers Enforcement source told Fox News that DePape, a Canada native, has been in the U.S. illegally after overstaying his visa by a "long time."

Officers with the U.S. Capitol Police have a feed of live surveillance video outside of the Pelosi residence in San Francisco but weren't watching it when the break-in allegedly took place, sources told Fox News.

The officers were monitoring a live-feed of many cameras, which include surveillance of the Capitol complex, but also monitor some points away from the Capitol, including the Pelosi residence.

Paul Pelosi Jr. speaks to FBI investigators outside the home of his parents, Nancy and Paul Pelosi, on Friday.

According to sources, an officer was monitoring the feeds and saw police lights on a dark street outside the Pelosi residence. When going through surveillance footage, the officer saw the alleged attack when DePape allegedly struck Paul Pelosi, people briefed on the incident said, according to the report.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Sources tell Fox News that Capitol Police pay less attention to security cameras when one of its protectees is away, and the House speaker wasn't with her husband in San Francisco .

If the officers were watching the feed monitoring in real time, the break-in would have been seen.
Police in Indiana have charged a 50-year-old local man with the 2017 Delphi murders  more than five years after the bodies of best friends Libby German and Abby Williams were found close to a wooded trail.

Richard Allen was charged with two counts of murder on Friday and has pleaded not guilty.

The investigation is far from complete, state police superintendent Doug Carter said at a news conference on Monday as he urged the community to come forward with more information.

After the arrest announcement, Libbys family revealed that they had an encounter with the man now accused of her murder, as they accused him of hiding in plain sight the whole time.

Libbys sister, Kelsi German, also took to Twitter to say the world feels safer following the arrest.

Libby, 14, and Abby, 13, were murdered after setting off on a hike on the Monon High Bridge Trail in Delphi in February 2017. Their bodies were found around half a mile off the trail the next day.

Delphi murders

Delphi murder victims family says suspect was hiding in plain sight

Man arrested worked at local CVS store in heart of Delphi

Local man Richard Allen, 50, arrested in connection to murders

Indiana State Police to hold press conference about case

Richard Allen posed for smiling selfie in front of police sketch of suspect

Chilling footage of suspect

07:00 , Andrea Blanco

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 had previously released a grainy image from the video and a chilling audio of the man telling the two girls: Go down the hill.

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.

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)

Libby and Abbys final picture

05:00 , Andrea Blanco

On the day the girls went missing, Libby had posted photos on Snapchat of her and Abby walking along the trail.

Story continues

The happy image of the two best friends is believed to be the last photo of them before they died.

Their bodies were found on 14 February 2017 in a wooded area around half a mile off the trail.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has more:

Everything we know about the Delphi murders and arrest of Richard Allen

03:00 , Andrea Blanco

For years, police 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.

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.

The warrant also revealed that the teenagers had been killed by some type of weapon, which 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.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has the story:

Who is Richard Allen  the man arrested over the 2017 Delphi murders?

Who is Richard Allen?

01:00 , Andrea Blanco

Among the few concrete details shared during a press conference on Monday, authorities confirmed that they had arrested Richard Allen in connection with the Delphi murders.

As the high-profile case continues to unfold, more details are expected to be revealed in the case that has captured international attention for years.

Mr Allen, a married man and worker at a local CVS, was initially booked into Carroll County Jail following his arrest.

He was eventually moved to a state facility, reportedly for his own safety.

Mr Allen, 50, has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is said to be refusing to cooperate with the investigation.

Heres everything we know about him:

Who is Richard Allen  the man arrested over the 2017 Delphi murders?

Whats next in the Delphi murders investigation?

Tuesday 1 November 2022 23:00 , Andrea Blanco

Following the breakthrough arrest of suspect Richard Allen in the infamous Delphi murders, officials cautioned that the case is far from over.

Mr Allen, a 50-year-old living in Delphi, was arrested on 26 October in connection with the 2017 slayings in the Indiana town with a population of just 3,000.

He was charged with two counts of murder on Friday, more than five years on from the double slayings of teenage best friends Libby German and Abby Williams.

Andrea Blanco and Rachel Sharp have the story:

Whats next in the Delphi murders case after Richard Allen arrest?

What happened to Libby and Abby?

Tuesday 1 November 2022 20:55 , Andrea Blanco

The girls 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 Independents Rachel Sharp has the story:

Everything we know about the Delphi murders and arrest of Richard Allen

Suspects wife posted chilling selfie of him with police sketch

Tuesday 1 November 2022 18:45 , Andrea Blanco

In a chilling photo, posted by Mr Allens wife Kathy on Facebook in December 2021, Mr Allen is seen smiling alongside his wife in a local bar in Delphi.

On the wall behind him is the 2019 police sketch. Mr Allen bears some likeness to the drawing.

The selfie was posted on social media the same month investigators issued a fresh appeal urging members of the public to come forward with information about an online catfishing account thought to be tied to the murders.

Prior to his arrest on suspicion of the double homicide, Mr Allen appears to have no prior criminal record.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has the story:

Who is Richard Allen  the man arrested over the 2017 Delphi murders?

Breakthrough arrest in Delphi murders case

Tuesday 1 November 2022 17:08 , Andrea Blanco

ICYMI: Richard Allen, 50, has been charged with two felony murders in the Delphi murders.

Officials would not rule out the possibility that other individuals were also involved in the teenagers brutal murders and, if so, vowed that they will also face charges.

The probable cause affidavit is currently under seal and officials declined to provide additional details about the investigation.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has everything we know about the case:

Who is Richard Allen  the man arrested over the 2017 Delphi murders?

Who is suspect Richard Allen?

Tuesday 1 November 2022 15:41 , Andrea Blanco

Married to his wife Kathy with whom he shares an adult daughter, Richard Allen, 50, is a trained pharmacy technician.

He received his most recent pharmaceutical licence in February 2018  one year on from the murders and most recently worked at the local CVS store  coming into contact with members of the community as part of his job.

CVS offered its condolences to the victims families and said it would cooperate with the investigation in any way it can.

As members of the Carroll County community, we remain devastated by these murders and our hearts go out to the German and Williams families, the company said in a statement to local outlet WRTV.

We are shocked and saddened to learn that one of our store employees was arrested as a suspect in these crimes. We stand ready to cooperate with the police investigation in any way we can.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has more:

Who is Richard Allen  the man arrested over the 2017 Delphi murders?

Victims grandparents recount chilling encounter with suspect

Tuesday 1 November 2022 14:21 , Andrea Blanco

Mike and Becky Patty, the grandparents of Libby German, told reporters after Indiana State Police Mondays press conference that they remembered suspected killer Richard Allen.

They that Mr Allen had served them one time in the local CVS where he worked as a trained pharmaceutical technician.

The family was printing photos of Libby and her friend Abby Williams for their funerals at the store when Mr Allen assisted them in processing the photos.

He didnt charge them for the images when they went in to collect them.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has the story:

Delphi murder victims family reveal chilling encounter with suspect Richard Allen

What happens next after Richard Allen arrest?

Tuesday 1 November 2022 13:00 , Megan Sheets

At a press conference announcing the arrest of Richard Allen on Monday, authorities cautioned that the case is far from over.

Mr Allen was taken into custody on 26 October and charged with two counts of murder two days later.

He has pleaded not guilty.

Speaking to reporters, Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland emphasised that details made public about the case would remain limited for the foreseeable future.

Today is about Abby and Libby, Mr McLeland said, adding that court documents regarding Mr Allens arrest would be sealed for at least the next 30 days.

At present, a pretrial conference hearing is scheduled for 13 January 2023.

The murder trial is set to begin in March, although the timeline is subject to change.

Libby Germans sister says the world feels safer

Tuesday 1 November 2022 12:33 , Megan Sheets

The sister of Delphi murder victim Libby German shared an emotional message hours after police formally announced charges against Richard Allen.

Taking to Twitter, Kelsi German wrote: We have so much more work to do but the world felt a little safer today.

She included a photo of a fall-foliage covered path.

Earlier in the day, Kelsi tweeted: We got him. October 28th was the day.

She shared Mr Allens mugshot and the police press release about the development, adding in a follow-up tweet: *innocent until proven guilty.*

The Independents Rachel Sharp has more:

We got him: Delphi victims sister reacts as Richard Allen charged

Delphi murder victims family reveal chilling encounter with suspect Richard Allen: Hiding in plain sight

Tuesday 1 November 2022 12:00 , Rachel Sharp

The family of one of the Delphi victims has revealed that they had a chilling encounter with the man accused of her murder as they learned that he had been hiding in plain sight the whole time.

Mike and Becky Patty, the grandparents of victim Libby German, told reporters after Mondays press conference that they remembered suspected killer Richard Allen serving them one time in the local CVS where he worked.

Mr Allen, a trained pharmaceutical technician who worked in the store in the heart of the small town of Delphi, processed some of the photos for the family and didnt charge them for the images when they went in to collect them.

Aside from that, the family members said they didnt know Mr Allen but  in a close-knit town of just 3,000 people  had likely encountered him on other occasions over the last five years.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has the full story:

Delphi murder victims family reveal chilling encounter with suspect Richard Allen

Everything we know about the case

Tuesday 1 November 2022 11:00 , Rachel Sharp

Its been more than five years since best friends Libby German, 14, and Abby Williams, 13, set off on a walk in their hometown of Delphi, Indiana  never to be seen alive again.

Since then, several local men have fallen under suspicion for their murders.

But no arrests were made, no suspects formally named and one promising lead after the next went cold. Until now.

For the first time, a man has been arrested and charged with the 2017 murders of the teenagers.

Richard Allen, a 50-year-old married Delphi man, was taken into custody on Wednesday (26 October) and booked into Carroll County Jail. He has since been moved to a state facility for his own safety.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has the full story:

Everything we know about the Delphi murders and arrest of Richard Allen

We got him: Delphi victims sister reacts as Richard Allen charged with murders

Tuesday 1 November 2022 10:00 , Rachel Sharp

The sister of one of the Delphi victims has welcomed the news that a suspect has finally been charged with the murders  more than five years after her sister and her best friend were found dead after going on a hike.

Libby Germans sister Kelsi German wrote we got him on Twitter on Monday, after police delivered a press conference announing charges had been filed against local man Richard Allen.

We got him. October 28th was the day, she tweeted.

Ms German shared Mr Allens mugshot and the police press release about the development, adding in a follow-up tweet: *innocent until proven guilty.*

The Independents Rachel Sharp has the full story:

We got him: Delphi victims sister reacts as Richard Allen charged

Everything we know about suspect Richard Allen

Tuesday 1 November 2022 09:00 , Rachel Sharp

The 50-year-old married man arrested last week in connection with the 2017 Delphi murders has now been charged more than five years on from the double slayings of teenage best friends Libby German and Abby Williams.

Richard Matthew Allen, from Delphi, Indiana, was taken into custody on Wednesday (26 October) and booked into Carroll County Jail. On Friday, he was charged with two counts of murder and was moved to a state facility, reportedly for his own safety.

Indiana State Police announced the charges on Monday  a bombshell development in the high-profile case that has rocked the small, close-knit community of Delphi and had gone unsolved for more than half a decade.

Mr Allen, 50, has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is said to be refusing to cooperate with the investigation.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has the full story:

Who is Richard Allen  the man arrested over the 2017 Delphi murders?

Breakthrough comes after several leads went cold over years

Tuesday 1 November 2022 08:00 , Rachel Sharp

The arrest of Richard Allen comes more than five years on from the murders of Libby German and Abby Williams.

Back in December, Libbys grandmother Becky Patty told The Independent that she was no longer getting her hopes up with each development in case after so many leads had gone cold over the years.

Weve had so many things that have come up that we dont get our hopes up, she said at the time.

Were going to wait and let the police do their jobs.

Read the full interview from December here:

Catfishing account tied to case

Tuesday 1 November 2022 07:00 , Rachel Sharp

In what was one of the biggest updates in the case to date, Indiana State Police announced in December that officials had uncovered a fake online profile called @anthony_shots which had been used to communicate with at least one of the victims around the time of their deaths.

The profile was used from 2016 to 2017 on platforms including Snapchat and Instagram and used photos of a known young male model  who has no ties to the account or the case.

Investigators said the person behind the account was Kegan Anthony Kline, 27-year-old man with addresses in Kokomo and Peru, close to Delphi.

Kline admitted to authorities that he used the account to groom underage girls online and get them to send nude photos and their addresses and try to get them to meet him. He allegedly admitted to receiving about 100 sexual photos and about 20 sexually explicit videos from around 15 underage girls.

Kline was arrested on 30 felony charges including child sexual abuse images and child exploitation in 2020.

According to an affidavit, Indiana State Police and the FBI had executed a search warrant at his home in Peru on 25 February 2017 - less than two weeks after Abby and Libby were murdered.

Kline denied any knowledge or involvement in the two teenagers deaths and he has not been charged in the case.

However, the account remained of interest to investigators who urged anyone who had communicated with, met, or attempted to meet the individual posing as @anthony_shots to come forward with information.

It is not clear if the account is in any way connected to the arrest and charging of Richard Allen.

ICYMI: Police charge Richard Allen with Delphi murders

Tuesday 1 November 2022 04:50 , Rachel Sharp

A 50-year-old local man has finally been charged with the 2017 Delphi murders  marking the first step towards justice for teenage best friends Libby German and Abby Williams who were brutally killed more than five years ago.

Indiana State Police announced at a press conference on Monday morning that Richard Matthew Allen, a local Delphi man and married father to an adult daughter, was charged with two counts of murder on Friday.

Mr Allen, 50, has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is being held without bond. A pre-trial hearing has been preliminarily scheduled for January with a trial date set for March.

I am proud to say that today  actually last Friday  that today is the day. An arrest has been made, said Doug Carter, superintendent of Indiana State Police.

However, Supt Carter added that today is not a day to celebrate as Libby and Abbys families are still forced to go on without them.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has the full story:

Delphi man charged with murders of Libby German and Abby Williams

Local residents said suspect seemed normal'

Tuesday 1 November 2022 03:50 , Rachel Sharp

Local residents reacted with shock when news broke on Friday of Richard Allens arrest on Friday, saying that he seemed like a normal guy.

When I will go into CVS as a customer myself, he would say do you need any help? I would be like no, Chandler Underhill, the manager of the local Brick & Mortar Pub, where he said Mr Allen was a regular, told Fox59.

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.

Libbys grandfather told reporters on Monday that his granddaughters accused killer had been hiding in plain sight the whole time.

CVS offers condolences after suspect is revealed to be employee

Tuesday 1 November 2022 02:50 , Rachel Sharp

CVS has offered its condolences to the families of Libby German and Abby Williams after it emerged that suspected killer Richard Allen was a company employee.

Mr Allen is a trained pharmaceutical technician and worked at the local CVS store in the heart of Delphi, Indiana  where the two teenagers lived with their families before their brutal murders.

As members of the Carroll County community, we remain devastated by these murders and our hearts go out to the German and Williams families, the company said, per local outlet WRTV.

We are shocked and saddened to learn that one of our store employees was arrested as a suspect in these crimes. We stand ready to cooperate with the police investigation in any way we can.

Photo shows Richard Allen posing with police sketch of suspected killer

Tuesday 1 November 2022 01:50 , Rachel Sharp

A photo has revealed how the local man charged with the 2017 Delphi murders posed for a smiling selfie in front of a police sketch of the suspected killer.

The photo shows Richard Allen, 50, smiling alongside his wife Kathy in a local bar in Delphi, Indiana  the small, closeknit community where he has lived for more than 15 years and where victims Libby German and Abby Williams lived with their families before their brutal killings.

On the wall behind him is a police sketch released by Indiana State Police in 2019 of the man suspected of murdering the teenage best friends. Mr Allen bears some likeness to the drawing.

The selfie was posted by Mr Allens wife on Facebook in December 2021  the same month investigators issued a fresh appeal urging members of the public to come forward with information about an online catfishing account thought to be tied to the murders.

Now, 10 months later, Mr Allen has been arrested and charged with Libby and Abbys murders.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has the full story:

Man arrested over Delphi murders pictured with police sketch of suspect in background

Victims captured video of man before murders

Tuesday 1 November 2022 00:50 , Rachel Sharp

In a move that propelled the investigation forward, Libby German 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 on the day the two friends were murdered.

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

Investigators have long suspected that this man is the girls killer and have praised the girls for documenting the video as evidence.

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)

What happened to Libby German and Abby Williams?

Monday 31 October 2022 23:50 , Rachel Sharp

Libby German, 14, and Abby Wiliams, 13, went missing on 13 February 2017 after they set off on a hike along the Monon High Bridge Trail in Delphi, Indiana.

During the walk, Libby posted a photo of her best friend walking along the Monon High Bridge. It was the last known photo of Abby before she was killed.

Later that day, the teenagers were reported missing when they failed to return to a spot where a family member was picking them up.

The next day  Valentines Day 2017  their bodies were discovered in a wooded area around half a mile off the trail.

For the last five years, police have remained tightlipped about the crime scene and how the girls died.

However, shocking new details about the murders came to light in a 2017 search warrant application obtained by podcast The Murder Sheet and shared with The Independent back in May of this year.

The warrant 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.

Richard Allen court dates:

Monday 31 October 2022 22:50 , Rachel Sharp

Richard Allen, 50, pleaded not guilty to the charges at an initial hearing and is being held without bond at White County Jail.

He is due back in court in 13 January 2023 for a pre-trial hearing.

His trial date has been set for 20 March 2023.

Everything we know about suspect Richard Allen

Monday 31 October 2022 21:50 , Rachel Sharp

The 50-year-old married man arrested last week in connection with the 2017 Delphi murders has now been charged more than five years on from the double slayings of teenage best friends Libby German and Abby Williams.

Richard Matthew Allen, from Delphi, Indiana, was taken into custody on Wednesday (26 October) and booked into Carroll County Jail. On Friday, he was charged with two counts of murder and was moved to a state facility, reportedly for his own safety.

Indiana State Police announced the charges on Monday  a bombshell development in the high-profile case that has rocked the small, close-knit community of Delphi and had gone unsolved for more than half a decade.

Mr Allen, 50, has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is said to be refusing to cooperate with the investigation.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has the full story:

Who is Richard Allen  the man arrested over the 2017 Delphi murders?

Police not ruling out other assailants

Monday 31 October 2022 20:50 , Rachel Sharp

Officials would not rule out the possibility that other individuals were also involved in the brutal murders of Libby German and Abby Williams and vowed that  if the investigation leads them to other suspects  they will also face charges.

If any other person had any involvement in the murders in any way, that person will be held accountable, said Indiana State Police Supt Doug Carter in Mondays press conference.

Members of the public were urged to continue to submit tips  not only about Richard Allen but about any other information regarding the case.

Delphi murder victims family reveal chilling encounter with suspect Richard Allen: Hiding in plain sight

Monday 31 October 2022 19:51 , Rachel Sharp

The family of one of the Delphi victims has revealed that they had a chilling encounter with the man accused of her murder as they learned that he had been hiding in plain sight the whole time.

Mike and Becky Patty, the grandparents of victim Libby German, told reporters after Mondays press conference that they remembered suspected killer Richard Allen serving them one time in the local CVS where he worked.

Mr Allen, a trained pharmaceutical technician who worked in the store in the heart of the small town of Delphi, processed some of the photos for the family and didnt charge them for the images when they went in to collect them.

Aside from that, the family members said they didnt know Mr Allen but  in a close-knit town of just 3,000 people  had likely encountered him on other occasions over the last five years.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has the full story:

Delphi murder victims family reveal chilling encounter with suspect Richard Allen

More than 70,000 tips received

Monday 31 October 2022 19:10 , Rachel Sharp

More than 70,000 tips have been sent in by the public in the almost six years since Libby and Abby were murdered.

Officials thanked the public for their help in catching the suspect and urged people to continue to come forward with any information about the case.

People are told to contact Indiana State Police with information  not only about Mr Allen but about any other information regarding the case.

Tips can be submitted to abbyandlibbytip@cacoshrf.com or by calling 765-822-3535.

Everything we know about the case

Monday 31 October 2022 18:50 , Rachel Sharp

Its been more than five years since best friends Libby German, 14, and Abby Williams, 13, set off on a walk in their hometown of Delphi, Indiana  never to be seen alive again.

Since then, several local men have fallen under suspicion for their murders.

But no arrests were made, no suspects formally named and one promising lead after the next went cold. Until now.

For the first time, a man has been arrested and charged with the 2017 murders of the teenagers.

Richard Allen, a 50-year-old married Delphi man, was taken into custody on Wednesday (26 October) and booked into Carroll County Jail. He has since been moved to a state facility for his own safety.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has the full story:

Everything we know about the Delphi murders and arrest of Richard Allen

Victims grandfather says suspected killer was hiding in plain sight'

Monday 31 October 2022 18:30 , Rachel Sharp

The grandfather of victim Libby German has spoken out about learning that his granddaughters suspected killer was hiding in plain sight in the close-knit Delphi community this whole time.

Mike Patty told reporters after Mondays press conference that the family does not know suspect Richard Allen but most likely encountered him in their small town of 3,000 people.

As [Indiana State Police Supt] Doug Carter said that earlier, if you recall. He said hes hiding in plain sight, he said.

And thats the case. Didnt know, I dont know the gentleman personally at all. Ive probably seen him. Its a small county. But definitely I dont know him.

Suspect lived five minute drive from crime scene

Monday 31 October 2022 18:10 , Rachel Sharp

Richard Allen lived less than a five-minute drive away from where the bodies of Libby and Abby were found, in a neighborhood southwest of the Monon High Bridge.

He has lived in Delphi since at least 2006 and in Indiana his entire adult life, records show.

Mr Allen, 50, is a trained pharmaceutical technician and worked at the local CVS store in the heart of the small town, home to only around 3,000 residents.

Photo shows Richard Allen posing with police sketch of suspected killer

Monday 31 October 2022 17:50 , Rachel Sharp

A photo has revealed how the local man charged with the 2017 Delphi murders posed for a smiling selfie in front of a police sketch of the suspected killer.

The photo shows Richard Allen, 50, smiling alongside his wife Kathy in a local bar in Delphi, Indiana  the small, closeknit community where he has lived for more than 15 years and where victims Libby German and Abby Williams lived with their families before their brutal killings.

On the wall behind him is a police sketch released by Indiana State Police in 2019 of the man suspected of murdering the teenage best friends. Mr Allen bears some likeness to the drawing.

The selfie was posted by Mr Allens wife on Facebook in December 2021  the same month investigators issued a fresh appeal urging members of the public to come forward with information about an online catfishing account thought to be tied to the murders.

Now, 10 months later, Mr Allen has been arrested and charged with Libby and Abbys murders.

The Independents Rachel Sharp has the full story:

Man arrested over Delphi murders pictured with police sketch of suspect in background

Indiana Lt Governor speaks out about Delphi case

Monday 31 October 2022 17:30 , Rachel Sharp

Indiana Lt Governor Suzanne Crouch has spoken out about the development in the Delphi case.

In a statement posted on her Facebook page, she wrote: I want to thank the Indiana State Police and all the other law enforcement and community partners who have worked tirelessly to find closure for the families of Libby German and Abby Williams.

Although the investigation continues, an arrest has been made.

She continued to urge anyone with information about the case to submit a tip to abbyandlibbytip@cacoshrf.com or 765-822-3535.

Richard Allen served victims family members in CVS

Monday 31 October 2022 17:10 , Rachel Sharp

The man accused of killing teenagers Libby German and Abby Williams in a brutal double murder in 2017 served family members of his victims in his job at the local CVS, it has emerged.

According to WTHR journalist Emily Longnecker, Libbys grandparents Mike and Becky Patty recall Mr Allen processing photos for them at the store.

The suspected killer didnt charge them for the photos, they said.

Aside from that, the family members said they dont know Mr Allen.

The Pattys..Mike and Becky..Libbys grandparents confirm Richard Allen processed photos for them at local CVS and didnt charge them. Say they dont know him. pic.twitter.com/jtPz879fnH  Emily Longnecker (@EmilyWTHR) October 31, 2022

CVS offers condolences after suspect is revealed to be employee

Monday 31 October 2022 16:50 , Rachel Sharp

CVS has offered its condolences to the families of Libby German and Abby Williams after it emerged that suspected killer Richard Allen was a company employee.

Mr Allen is a trained pharmaceutical technician and worked at the local CVS store in the heart of Delphi, Indiana  where the two teenagers lived with their families before their brutal murders.

As members of the Carroll County community, we remain devastated by these murders and our hearts go out to the German and Williams families, the company said, per local outlet WRTV.

We are shocked and saddened to learn that one of our store employees was arrested as a suspect in these crimes. We stand ready to cooperate with the police investigation in any way we can.

We got him: Delphi victims sister reacts as Richard Allen charged with murders

Monday 31 October 2022 16:30 , Rachel Sharp

The sister of one of the Delphi victims has welcomed the news that a suspect has finally been charged with the murders  more than five years after her sister and her best friend were found dead after going on a hike.

Libby Germans sister Kelsi German wrote we got him on Twitter on Monday, after police delivered a press conference announing charges had been filed against local man Richard Allen.

We got him. October 28th was the day, she tweeted.

Ms German shared Mr Allens mugshot and the police press release about the development, adding in a follow-up tweet: *innocent until proven guilty.*

The Independents Rachel Sharp has the full story:

We got him: Delphi victims sister reacts as Richard Allen charged

Richard Allen trial dates:

Monday 31 October 2022 16:10 , Rachel Sharp

Richard Allen, 50, pleaded not guilty to the charges at an initial hearing and is being held without bond at White County Jail.

He is due back in court in January 202 for a pre-trial hearing.

His trial date has been set for March.

We got him: Victims sister celebrates charges

Monday 31 October 2022 15:50 , Rachel Sharp

The sister of one of the Delphi victims celebrated the announcement that Richard Allen had been charged with their murders more than five years on from the killings.

Kelsi German, sister of Libby German, tweeted on Monday after the police press conference: We got him. October 28th was the day.

She shared the mugshot of the man accused of killing her sister and the police press release.

In a followup tweet she added: *innocent until proven guilty.*

We got him.



October 28th was the day. pic.twitter.com/dJMlOj3Whs  Kelsi German (@libertyg_sister) October 31, 2022

Richard Allen pictured in mugshot

Monday 31 October 2022 15:30 , Rachel Sharp

Richard Allen has been pictured in his mugshot following his arrest for the 2017 murders of Libby German and Abby Williams in Delphi.

Mr Allen was arrested on Wednesday before being charged on Friday with two counts of murder.

Here is his mugshot:

Richard Allen pictured in mugshot after arrest for Delphi murders (Indiana State Police)

Police not ruling out other assailants

Monday 31 October 2022 15:09 , Rachel Sharp

In the press conference, officials would not rule out the possibility that other individuals were also involved in the brutal murders of Libby German and Abby Williams and vowed that  if the investigation leads them to other suspects  they will also face charges.

If any other person had any involvement in the murders in any way, that person will be held accountable, said Indiana State Police Supt Doug Carter.

Members of the public were urged to continue to submit tips  not only about Richard Allen but about any other information regarding the case.

Police statement in full - Arrest made for the murders of Abigail Williams and Liberty German

Monday 31 October 2022 14:40 , Oliver O'Connell

Here is the full statement regarding the arrest of Richard Allen.

After an extensive investigation, the Delphi Double Homicide Task Force made an arrest for the murders of Abigail Williams and Liberty German.

On February 13, 2017, Abigail Williams and Liberty German were tragically murdered while visiting the Monon High Bridge in Delphi, IN. Shortly after, the Indiana State Police and Carroll County Sheriffs office created the Delphi Double Homicide Task Force, which encompassed federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. This task force has worked diligently the last five and a half years to ensure this horrendous crime did not go unsolved.

On Wednesday, October 26, 2022, detectives with the Delphi Double Homicide Task Force took Richard Allen, 50, from Delphi Indiana into custody at the Indiana State Police Lafayette Post for the murders of Abigail Williams and Liberty German. Allen was transported to Carroll County Jail, where he was being held.

On Friday, October 28, 2022, Allen was formally charged with two counts of murder and transported to the White County Jail, where he is currently being held without bond.

We would like to thank everyone who was involved throughout this investigation, which included the Indiana State Police, Carroll County Sheriffs Office, Delphi Police Department, Carroll County Prosecutors office, United States Marshals Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and numerous other federal and local agencies. These agencies have invested countless hours and resources into this investigation.

This is an active and ongoing investigation. There is no further information to release at this time.

*All criminal defendants are to be presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Monday 31 October 2022 14:27 , Oliver O'Connell

Despite the arrest of Mr Allen, officials stress the investigation is still ongoing and that they will keep the tip line open on both phone and email, encouraging more members of the public to come forward with any additional information.

Allen pleads not guilty

Monday 31 October 2022 14:18 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Allen has entered a preliminary plea of not guilty and is police remind the press conference that he is innocent until proven guilty.

Law enforcement will not reveal what the evidence was that led to Mr Allens arrest per a court order.

Mr Allen is being held without bond.

Breaking: Richard Allen charged with Delphi murders

Monday 31 October 2022 14:14 , Oliver O'Connell

A 50-year-old local man has finally been charged with the 2017 Delphi murders  marking the first step towards justice for teenage best friends Libby German and Abby Williams who were brutally killed more than five years ago.

Indiana State Police announced at a press conference on Monday morning that Richard Matthew Allen, a local Delphi man and married father to an adult daughter, is charged with two counts of murder.

Rachel Sharp has been following the case.

Delphi man charged with murders of Libby German and Abby Williams

Allen charged with two counts of murder

Monday 31 October 2022 14:13 , Oliver O'Connell

Richard Allen is facing two counts of murder in the Delphi Investigation @WNDU pic.twitter.com/FE4U1npkyp  Lauren Moss WNDU (@LMossWNDU) October 31, 2022

Monday 31 October 2022 14:11 , Oliver O'Connell

Superintendent Carter says further details or documents will not be released regarding the arrest  today is not that day.

He reminds the assembled media that when someone is arrested they are considered innocent until proven guilty.

The police line appears to be that further details will be provided as and when appropriate as the investigation proceeds.

Press conference underway

Monday 31 October 2022 14:05 , Oliver O'Connell

The first speaker at the press conference is Doug Carter, superintendent of the Indiana State Police.

He says: Today is not a day to celebrate, but the arrest of Richard Allen on two counts of murder is the next step leading to the conclusion of this long-term and complex investigation.

Mr Carter officially confirmed that Mr Allen was arrested on Friday.

So far there is no mention of any charges.

How to watch police update on case:

Monday 31 October 2022 13:40 , Rachel Sharp

Officials from multiple law enforcement agencies  including Indiana State Police, the Carroll County Sheriffs Office, Carroll County Prosecutors Office and the US Marshal Service  as well as members of the victims families are scheduled to hold a press conference shortly.

Indiana State Police said that the briefing will begin promptly at 10am EST.

It will be broadcast live via Facebook Live on the Indiana State Police Public Information Office page here:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064696688402

The Independent will be post live updates on this blog.
Photo: The Canadian Press

High demand for metals ranging from copper to cobalt is pushing the mining industry to explore the worlds deepest oceans, a troubling development for scientists who warn that extracting minerals from critical ecosystems that help regulate climate could cause irreparable damage.

The issue will be in spotlight this week as dozens of scientists, lawyers and government officials gather in Jamaica to debate deep sea mining as part of a two-week conference organized by the International Seabed Authority, an independent body created by a United Nations treaty.

The organization is the global custodian for deep ocean waters that dont fall within any countrys jurisdiction. It has issued 31 exploration licenses so far, and many worry the worlds first license to go the next step and mine international waters could soon be approved with no regulations currently in place.

Experts say mining could spark a rush to collect minerals that take millions of years to form and unleash noise, light and smothering dust storms deep in the Earths oceans.

Its one of the most pristine parts of our planet. Theres a lot that stands to be lost, said Diva Amon, a marine biologist, National Geographic explorer and a scientific adviser to the Benioff Ocean Initiative at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The first exploration license was issued in the early 2000s, with most of the the current exploratory activity is concentrated in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone, which covers 1.7 million square miles (4.5 million square kilometers) between Hawaii and Mexico. At least 17 of 31 licenses have been issued for this zone, with exploration occurring at depths ranging from 13,000 to 19,000 feet (4,000 to 6,000 meters).

The push for deep sea mining has grown to the point that the authority is now meeting three times a year instead of two, with a key decision expected as early as July 2023.

Mining companies argue that harvesting minerals from the sea bed instead of land is cheaper and has less of an impact, avoiding a host of environmental and social issues, according to UK Seabed Resources, a subsidiary Lockheed Martin Corp. to explore the Clarion-Clipperton zone under two contracts.

We will not have collapsed tailings dams, destruction of cultural sites, clearing of rainforest, child artisanal miners, to name a few recent ones, UK Seabed Resources said in a statement, referring to some of the impacts from mining on land.

The International Seabed Authority issues licenses to state-owned businesses and countries that subscribe to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea and agree to sponsor private companies that seek to explore international waters for copper, nickel, cobalt, iron, manganese and other minerals. Notably, the U.S. does not subscribe to the law.

The International Energy Agency has estimated a sixfold increase in demand for minerals by 2050 given that electric vehicles and renewable generation are so dependent on them, according to a Fitch Ratings report issued in early October.

Emissions intensity of cobalt, aluminum and nickel mining and processing is high, so skyrocketing demand may result in rising net carbon footprints, it stated.

Nauru, a tiny island northeast of Australia, is leading the push to allow for actual mining, arguing that its at high risk of climate change and seeks to financially benefit from the mining of metals sought in part for green technology like electric car batteries.

The push has worried countries ranging from Germany to Costa Rica that are seeking to strengthen proposed regulations in the next two weeks.

We are still very concerned about the consequences, said Elza Moreira Marcelino de Castro, Brazils representative at the conference that began Monday.

French President Emmanuel Macron said earlier this year that he supports a ban on deep sea mining, while on Wednesday, Germany, which has two exploration contracts, announced it would not sponsor such mining until further notice.

Several major companies have pledged not to use metals extracted from the deep sea and nations including New Zealand, Fiji and Samoa have called for a moratorium until more is known about its potential impact, a move cheered by scientists and legal experts.

You cant regulate what you dont understand, said Duncan Currie, an international and environmental lawyer and legal adviser to the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, a Netherlands-based alliance of environmental groups.

Less than 1% of the worlds deep ocean waters have been explored, an endeavor that experts say is expensive, technical and time-consuming.

Its known that the ocean stores more carbon than the Earths atmosphere, plants and soil, and scientists are still finding new species during rare exploration trips, with sample studies taking months or even years, Amon said. Among the discoveries is a ghost octopus nicknamed Casper.

We do not understand what lives there, how they live there, the global function that this ecosystem plays, and what we stand to lose by irreversibly impacting it, she said, adding that life in the deep sea is incredibly slow, with minerals growing one to 10 millimeters every million years. That means that it is highly vulnerable to disturbance and is extremely slow to recover.

The Deep Ocean Stewardship Initiative, a global network, said some experts believe it could take anywhere from six to more than 20 years to collect enough data needed to protect the marine environment from deep sea mining.

Other concerns over deep sea mining include how revenue would be distributed and how companies seeking sponsorship would be reviewed and their activities regulated.

Pradeep Singh, a fellow at the Institute for Advance Sustainability Studies in Potsdam, Germany, said there are growing concerns over potential sponsorships of convenience in which private companies might shop for a country based on its tax exemptions, potential lax environmental laws and other factors.

Quite a number of states are starting to raise an eyebrow about these relationships happening behind the scenes, he said.

Singh also noted that he and others are concerned that the International Seabed Authority would earn a portion of revenues if actual mining were to start given that the agency awards licenses: Its a big conflict of interest.

The authority did not return a message seeking comment.

Michael Lodge, secretary general of the International Seabed Authority, said during his opening remarks at the conference that the agency wants to ensure protection of the marine environment as member countries work on draft regulations.

During a meeting earlier this year, he noted that the authority widened a protected area to 1.97 million square kilometers in a vast region for which a majority of exploration licenses have been awarded.

Environmental management plans for other areas under exploration are still being developed.
Brad Horrigan/Hartford Courant/Tribune News Service via Getty Images; Jessica Hill/AP Photo; Insider

Gov. Ned Lamont is running against Republican Bob Stefanowski in Connecticut's gubernatorial race.

This is one of 36 gubernatorial elections taking place in 2022.

Lamont narrowly defeated Stefanowski in 2018 and is likely to retain his seat in this rematch.

Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont and Republican Bob Stefanowski are engaged in a rematch in Connecticut's gubernatorial election.

Lamont defeated Stefanowski in the 2018 election to succeed outgoing Gov. Dan Malloy.

Connecticut's gubernatorial candidates

Lamont is the governor of Connecticut, with voters electing him in 2018. Prior to being elected governor, he chaired the state investment advisory council where he oversaw a multibillion-dollar state pension fund. Lamont also made an unsuccessful run for US Senate in 2006. In 2008, he served as a state co-chair for Barack Obama's presidential campaign.

The 68-year-old governor's handling of the pandemic lifted his approval ratings from the bottom to the top.

In March 2020, Lamont closed restaurants, bars, and other public venues, but kept schools and businesses open throughout most of the pandemic. When vaccines became available, he offered them by age cohorts, making the vaccines simple to administer, placing Connecticut among the leaders in vaccination rates.

Connecticut has had a Democratic trifecta  Democrats control the state's governorship and majorities in both chambers of the state legislature  since 2011. The state is one of 14 Democratic trifectas in the country.

Lamont defeated Stefanowski in the 2018 election by a slim margin  just over 3 percentage points, or about 44,000 votes. A recent new Western New England University survey for Hearst Connecticut/WFSB showed Lamont with a 15-point lead over Stefanowski.

Stefanowski, Lamont's challenger, is a certified public accountant and certified financial analyst. Prior to entering politics, he served as an executive at multiple global companies, including DFC Global, UBS, 3i Group, and General Electric. Since then, Stefanowski has worked as an independent consultant.

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During the pandemic, he and his wife, Amy, co-founded and launched "Masks for Heroes" in an effort to help the state fight COVID-19 when personal protective equipment was scarce. They went on to found "Masks for CT" and "Masks 4 Schools," hosting giveaway events with cloth masks for children, teachers, and bus drivers. These initiatives earned the Stefanowskis an NAACP Award from the Waterbury NAACP Youth Council.

Stefanowski was endorsed by President Donald Trump in 2018, but as of late, has appeared to distance himself from the embattled former president. He said he supports Connecticut's current gun safety laws, including the universal background checks and limits on high-capacity military-style weapons that were imposed after a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. He has also described himself as a supporter of abortion rights, saying he supports the state's current laws affirming a right to abortion up to fetal viability.

Connecticut's voting history

Joe Biden defeated Trump by a 20 percentage point margin in 2020. The state has voted for the Democratic candidate for the last eight presidential elections.

The money race

Both personally wealthy, the two candidates have chosen to largely self-fund their election campaigns. Lamont, who does not take the state's annual $150,000 salary for the job of governor, earned more than $54 million last year. Most of it came from investment earnings, per newly released tax records.

Lamont has spent roughly $14.8 million, according to reports filed for the three-month period ending on September 30. His opponent, Stefanowski, has spent $9.2 million, as of September 30.

What experts say

The race between Lamont and Stefanowski is rated as "solid Democratic" by Inside Elections, "likely Democratic" by The Cook Political Report, and "likely Democratic" by Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; Zach Nunn's campaign; Insider

Rep. Cindy Axne is running against Republican Zach Nunn in Iowa's 3rd Congressional District.

The 3rd District is located in the southwestern region of Iowa.

Axne has raised more than triple the amount as Nunn. But experts say the race is either a "toss-up" or "leans Republican."

Democratic Rep. Cindy Axne faces off against Republican state Sen. Zach Nunn in Iowa's 3rd Congressional District.

Iowa's 3rd Congressional District candidates

Axne is a member of the Committees on Financial Services and Agriculture. Prior to her time in Congress, she worked for the Tribune Company, the State of Iowa, and as a small business owner with her husband.

Axne was elected to the House in 2018, becoming one of the first two women from Iowa elected to the House in the nation's history after she defeated incumbent Rep. David Young. In 2020, she faced off against Young again, narrowly defeating him by just over 1% of the vote.

During the current congressional session, Axne was one of dozens of members of Congress identified as having violated the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012 for improperly disclosing personal stock trades.

Nunn, Axne's challenger, is an Iowa state senator, Air Force veteran, and consultant. Nunn handily defeated his GOP primary opponents, bringing in nearly two-thirds of the vote.

Voting history for Iowa's 3rd Congressional District

Iowa's 3rd Congressional District is located in the southwestern region of the state.

The district voted for former President Donald Trump over President Joe Biden in the 2020 election prior to redistricting in the state, making it one of seven districts to vote for Trump in 2020 but elect a Democratic representative.

The money race

According to OpenSecrets, Axne has raised $6.6 million, spent $5.9 million, and has about $712,000 million on hand, as of October 19. Her opponent, Nunn, has raised about $2.3 million, spent $1.9 million, and has about $351,000 cash on hand.

As of late October, several dozen super PACs, national party committees, politically active nonprofits, and other non-candidate groups had combined to spend about $6.7 million to advocate for or against candidates in this race, including during the race's primary phase. The National Republican Congressional Committee and Congressional Leadership Fund, a pro-Nunn super PAC, account for the majority of that spending.

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What experts say

The race between Axne and Nunn is rated as a "toss-up" by Inside Elections, "lean Republican" by The Cook Political Report, and "leans Republican" by Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Republican Jennifer-Ruth Green, left, faces off against Democratic Rep. Frank Mrvan, right. Paul Beaty/AP Photo; Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images;Insider

Rep. Frank Mrvan is running against Republican Jennifer-Ruth Green in Indiana's 1st Congressional District.

Once reliably blue, the 1st District may join the majority of congressional districts in the state controlled by Republicans.

If Green is elected, she will put a stop to Democrats' 92-year winning streak in Indiana's 1st Congressional District.

Democratic Rep. Frank Mrvan faces off against Republican Jennifer-Ruth Green in Indiana's 1st Congressional District.

Democrats have nearly a century-old winning streak in the district, but it could become Republican territory for the first time since Herbert Hoover was president.

Indiana's 1st Congressional District candidates

Mrvan, first elected to the US House in 2020, is no stranger to politics. He served as township trustee in North Township from 2005 to 2021. Prior to his role as trustee, Mrvan worked as a licensed mortgage broker and pharmaceutical sales representative.

Mrvan is a member of the House Committee on Education and Labor and chairs the Subcommittee on Technology Modernization. The Democrat from Hammond, who supported President Joe Bidens' infrastructure bill, also co-chairs the Congressional Steel Caucus.

Green, Mrvan's challenger, is a certified flight instructor and a commercial pilot  she's one of a relatively small number of female Black professional pilots in the nation. A graduate of the US Air Force Academy, she currently serves in the Indiana Air National Guard. During her 12-year-long career in the military, Green was deployed to Baghdad in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Green founded MissionAero Pipeline, a college and career preparation non-profit with a focus on aerospace, science, technology, engineering and math.

She listed a free-market economy and limited government regulations as issues important to her on her campaign website. Green defeated her GOP opponents in a four-way primary, narrowly overcoming second-place finisher Jesse Reising by fewer than than 1,000 votes.

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Abortion access is an issue where Mrvan and Green hold starkly opposing views.

"I have seen their rights taken away. I want to make sure that no one, not a policy or politician, gets in the way of healthcare choices and my daughter's choices as they are going forward," Mrvan said in an interview with local media.

Green, conversely, has said that "empirical evidence shows that life begins at conception and that a child in the womb is a distinct, developing, whole human being."

Voting history for Indiana's 1st Congressional District

Indiana's 1st Congressional District covers Gary, Hammond, and other steel-belt cities immediately east of Chicago's metropolitan area.

Joe Biden had a 9 percentage point margin of victory over President Donald Trump under the district's previous boundaries in 2020 before it was redrawn to add more of LaPorte County's western area in redistricting following the 2020 Census, making it slightly less Democratic-leaning.

The money race

According to OpenSecrets, Mrvan has raised more than $2.2 million, spent $1.9 million, and has $466,000 on hand, as of October 19. His opponent, Green, has raised $2.9 million, spent $2.2 million, and has $702,000 cash on hand, as of October 19.

As of November 1, more than a dozen super PACs, national party committees, politically active nonprofits, and other non-candidate groups have together spent more than $12 million to advocate for or against candidates in this race, including during the race's primary phase. Congressional Leadership Fund, a pro-Green hybrid PAC led by national Republicans, alone accounts for about half of that spending.

What experts say

The race between Mrvan and Green is rated as "lean Democratic" by Inside Elections, a "toss-up" by The Cook Political Report, and a "toss-up" by Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Tom Patti's campaign; Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo; Insider

Rep. Josh Harder is running against Republican Tom Patti in California's 9th Congressional District.

San Joaquin County makes up the majority of the 9th District.

In 2018, Harder became one of seven congressional newcomers who flipped California districts from Republican to Democratic control.

Democratic Rep. Josh Harder faces off against Republican Tom Patti in California's 9th Congressional District.

California's 9th Congressional District candidates

Harder is a member of the Committees on Agriculture and Appropriations and currently represents the 10th District. When the decennial redistricting process broke up his current district, Harder initially announced his run in the new 13th District. He later switched his candidacy to the 9th District after longtime Democratic incumbent Jerry McNerney announced he would not seek reelection.

Prior to his time in Congress, Harder worked as a consultant, a venture capital investor, and taught business at Modesto Junior College.

Harder was elected to the US House in 2018, becoming one of seven congressional newcomers who flipped California districts from Republican to Democratic control after he defeated incumbent Rep. Jeff Denham.

Patti, Harder's challenger, is a San Joaquin County Supervisor and businessman. Patti came in second in the eight-way nonpartisan primary, bringing in 28.6% of the vote to Harder's 37.8%. Both men advanced to the general election under California's rules.

In November, California voters will also vote on a constitutional amendment on abortion rights. Harder is a supporter of abortion rights and recently voted in favor of the Women's Health Protection Act. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Patti said he would not vote for a federal abortion ban and that he would follow the "will of voters."

Voting history for California's 9th Congressional District

California's 9th Congressional District is centered in Stockton, and San Joaquin County makes up the majority of the district.

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President Joe Biden had a 3 percentage point margin of victory over President Donald Trump under the district's previous boundaries in 2020. The newly-drawn district lost the heavily Democratic Contra Costa County cities of Brentwood and Oakley in redistricting following the release of the 2020 Census, making it slightly less Democratic-leaning.

The money race

According to OpenSecrets, Harder has raised about $6.1 million, spent more than $6.4 million, and has about $3.1 million on hand, as of October 19. His opponent, Patti, has raised $1.4 million, spent about $1 million, and has $423,000 cash on hand, as of October 19.

As of late October, several super PACs, national party committees, politically active nonprofits, and other non-candidate groups have together spent $71,899 to advocate for or against candidates in this race, including during the race's primary phase, with national-level committees all but avoiding this race.

What experts say

The race between Harder and Patti is rated as "likely Democratic" by Inside Elections, "likely Democratic" by The Cook Political Report, and "leans Democratic" by Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Sandy Smith's campaign; Donald Davis' campaign; Insider

Democrat Don Davis is running against Republican Sandy Smith in North Carolina's 1st Congressional District.

The 1st District is located in the northeastern region of the state.

Trump-endorsed Smith looks to flip the open seat to Republican control.

Democratic state Sen. Don Davis faces off against Republican Sandy Smith in North Carolina's 1st Congressional District.

Rep. G.K. Butterfield, who is serving his ninth term in the US House, will retire at the end of this term, leaving the seat vacant.

North Carolina's 1st Congressional District candidates

Davis, first elected to North Carolina's State Senate in 2008, currently represents the state's 5th Senate District. In his six terms as a state senator, Davis has worked to expand high-speed internet, raise teacher pay, and ensure that military pensions are tax-exempt.

Prior to being elected state senator, Davis served as the mayor of Snow Hill, North Carolina, for seven years. He also served in the US Air Force and aided in Air Force One operations at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

The Democrat from Snow Hill, who clinched Butterfield's endorsement, supports codifying abortion rights at the federal level.

Smith, Davis' opponent, is a business executive, entrepreneur, and real estate investor. Former President Donald Trump endorsed Smith at a campaign rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, in late September.

Smith, who ran against and lost to Butterfield in 2020 by 9 percentage points, described herself as "the unapologetic America first, Pro-Life, Pro-Guns, Pro-Military, freedom loving, Pro-Trump fighter" on her campaign website.

Of abortion, she said it "should never be used as a form of birth control or gender selection, period. If a bill comes across my desk and it is to restrict abortion and includes exceptions, I would support it."

Smith defeated Sandy Roberson and six other candidates in the 2022 GOP primary, bringing in just over 30% of the vote.

Voting history for North Carolina's 1st Congressional District

North Carolina's 1st Congressional District stretches through a primarily rural part of the eastern side of the state and borders Virginia.

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Joe Biden had a 9 percentage point margin of victory over Trump under the district's previous boundaries in 2020 before redistricting made it slightly less Democratic-leaning.

The district, which voted for the Democratic candidate in each of the last six presidential elections, hasn't been represented by a Republican since 1883.

The money race

According to OpenSecrets, Davis has raised $1.73 million, spent more than $1.5 million, and has $184,000 on hand, as of October 19. His opponent, Smith, has raised $1.6 million, spent $1.25 million, and has about $365,000 cash on hand, as of October 19.

As of early November, more than a dozen super PACs, national party committees, politically active nonprofits, and other non-candidate groups have together spent more than $8.5 million to advocate for or against candidates in this race, including during the race's primary phase. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee leads all spenders.

What experts say

The race between Davis and Smith is rated as "likely Democratic" by Inside Elections, "lean Democratic" by The Cook Political Report, and "leans Democratic" by Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

Read the original article on Business Insider
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -Denmark's Social Democratic Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who narrowly won Tuesday's general election, handed in her resignation on Wednesday and said she would begin exploring a coalition across the political middle.

The prime minister had campaigned on the need for a broad coalition across the traditional left-right divide, arguing that unity is needed at a time of international uncertainty.

The talks are expected to be lengthy as both friends and foes of Frederiksen have expressed scepticism about such a coalition, making the outcome uncertain.

"This is going to take some time, and compromises will be needed," she said during a debate with other party leaders on Wednesday, adding that forming a new government "will be very, very troublesome".

"I wholeheartedly believe that with the climate crisis, inflation, war in Europe ... and a potential recession in the European economy, we must put the harsh words of the election campaign behind us and come to the negotiating table," she said.

The left-leaning bloc, which includes the Social Democratic party, won 90 seats, the slimmest possible majority in the 179-seat parliament, while the right-wing bloc won 73 seats and a newly formed centrist party secured 16.

The Social Democrats secured their strongest backing in two decades despite criticism of Frederiksen for having centralised power around her office and a controversial decision to cull all mink during the pandemic.

Professor of political science at Aarhus University, Rune Stubager, said it would be difficult to find common ground with right-leaning parties.

Frederiksen could begin negotiations with former prime minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his new non-aligned centrist party, the Moderates, which have also campaigned for a coalition of mainstream parties.

"I don't think Mette Frederiksen has any real interest in a broad government," said Joachim B. Olsen, a former MP and now political commentator for newspaper BT.

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He warned that forming a coalition of the traditional mainstream parties could backfire, because it could eventually strengthen the more radical parties as seen in other European countries, including France.

"We may well face a rather chaotic tenure, and perhaps also a short one," he said.

(Reporting by Stine Jacobsen and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, editing by Terje Solsvik and Nick Macfie)
Former President Donald Trump settled a civil lawsuit Wednesday that alleged his security guards violently assaulted protesters outside Trump Tower in 2015.

The case, brought by Efrain Galicia and four other protesters of Mexican origin against Trump and his head of security, Keith Schiller, was in the middle of jury selection in Bronx Supreme Court when the parties came to a confidential agreement.

Video from the September 2015 rally appeared to show Schiller smacking Galicia in the face after he reached for a sign that said "Trump: Make America Racist Again."

PHOTO: In this Sept. 3, 2015, file photo, demonstrators stand outside of Trump Tower in New York to protest Donald Trump's candidacy for U.S. President. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters, FILE)

"Defendants were staring down the barrel of a Bronx jury who were about to be presented with overwhelming evidence in support of plaintiffs claims," Ben Dictor, the plaintiffs' attorney, said in a statement to ABC News. "Nevertheless, plaintiffs are proud to have settled their claims and to have obtained written recognition by Donald Trump of their right to protest on the public sidewalk. Powerful men may put their names on buildings, but the sidewalk will always belong to the people."

The settlement was announced in a stipulation that said the two sides agreed the matter should be "discontinued in its entirety." The stipulation did not disclose terms.

MORE: Trump, in deposition, calls 2015 protesters 'troublemakers'

"Although we were eager to proceed to trial to demonstrate the frivolousness of this case, the parties were ultimately able to come to an amicable resolution. We are very pleased with this outcome and are happy to finally put this matter to rest once and for all," Trump's attorney, Alina Habba, said.

A joint statement from Trump, signed by Habba on his behalf, and the plaintiffs, said, "The parties all agree that the plaintiffs in the action, and all people, have a right to engage in peaceful protest on public sidewalks."

Trump said Schiller "did nothing wrong" and called the protesters "troublemakers" during a deposition in October 2021.

MORE: Trump sits for deposition in lawsuit brought by demonstrators alleging assault

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"I think they were troublemakers, yes I do. I think they were," Trump said, according to a transcript.

The protesters said they were lawfully on the public sidewalk outside Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan when they were "attacked and their property destroyed." Their lawsuit also alleged infringement on their free speech rights.

Two of the protesters wore Ku Klux Klan outfits to call attention to David Duke's endorsement of Trump's immigration policies during the campaign.

Donald Trump reaches settlement with protesters who allege they were assaulted by his security originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
(Reuters) - The Ukrainian government on Wednesday urged citizens not to post details about soldiers and civilians who are missing, saying this could help Russia identify valuable prisoners and track down people who are trying to avoid capture.

Deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar said people were turning to social media to seek more information, especially about soldiers who were in captivity or missing.

"Why are such posts dangerous? The point is that this specific person may indeed be in captivity, but the enemy considers them to be a civilian," she wrote on Telegram.

"Alternatively, the person may simply be hiding in temporarily occupied territories and looking for a way to return. By publishing the data and pictures of such people, you give the enemy a reference point for searches."

Publishing details about prisoners' personal lives, political views, social status or employment history greatly complicates the process of securing their release and often endangers their lives, she added.

"This encourages the enemy to scrutinize a particular person, and as a result, the demands for their exchange become higher, and the process itself becomes highly complicated," she said, noting that Russia had so far swapped 1,030 Ukrainian men and women.

Ukrainians worried about people they cannot trace should instead turn to a special unit the defence ministry has set up to deal with prisoners of war, she said.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Dr. Oz (left) and the Star Barn at Stone Gables Estate.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, a noted New Jersey resident and the Republican nominee for Senate in Pennsylvania, bills himself as a moderate who will combat the partisanship and extremism in Washington, D.C. Hes even publicly supported federal legislation to protect same-sex marriage. But on Wednesday evening, hes set to appear at a rally hosted at a venue that bans same-sex marriages.

Per Ozs campaign website, the rally will take place at 7 p.m. at Ironstone Ranch on the Stone Gables Estate in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The estatewhich also features the popular wedding venue, Star Barn Villageprohibits same-sex marriage due to the owner David Abels religious beliefs. The venues website states that it reserve[s] the right to restrict events that arent God-honoring and dont adhere to its core values.

Read more

Ozs Senate campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Previously, his campaign event venues included a museum where he stood in front of Hitlers car. Notably, the $5,000-a-plate event was hosted by Rep. Matt Gaetzs (R-FL) in-laws.

Oz is currently on TV lying to the people of Pennsylvania that he is a moderate, but now he is holding a campaign event at a venue that bans same-sex couples, has January 6th marchers on his staff, and is rallying with Trump and Mastriano this weekend, the campaign for John Fetterman, Ozs Democratic opponent and Pennsylvanias Lieutenant Governor, said in an emailed statement to Jezebel. How are you going to reject extremism in DC if you wont reject it right here in PA?

Ozs Wednesday event at the Stone Gables Estate is billed as a get out the vote rally, featuring the Republican candidate himself. Abel, a Republican donor who maxed out donations to Pennsylvanias Republican gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano, will also be in attendance.

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Abels attendance further highlights the close links between Ozs campaign and Mastrianos. Contrary to Ozs self-identification as a moderate, Mastriano has called restrictions on LGBTQ conversion therapy disgusting, and expressed support for a total abortion ban in Pennsylvania and for abortion patients to be charged with murder. A recent Daily Beast report found Mastrianos official Facebook account remains an administrator of the Facebook group Mastriano Memes, which is brimming with racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-LGBTQ memes.

Of course, its not just Ozs Mastriano links that should cast serious doubts about his moderate credentials. On Sunday, Rolling Stone reported that his campaign employs several people who either supported or attended the Jan. 6 insurrection, despite Ozs public skittishness on the Big Lie. Oz narrowly won the Republican nomination earlier this year, relying largely on former President Trumps endorsement. Oz has called abortion at any stage murder, and at last weeks debate with Fetterman, Oz famously insisted that decisions about abortion should be made between women, doctors, [and] local political leaders.

Ozs decision to host a major campaign event at Ironstone Ranch marks a glaring hypocrisybut at the same time, hes hardly an LGBTQ rights advocate. More recently, Oz has spoken out against transgender athletes and backed legislation that mimics Floridas dehumanizing dont say gay law. Even while hosting the Dr. Oz Show, he platformed advocates for gay conversion therapy, which actual medical experts have pointed out amounts to the abuse and torture of LGBTQ children. All content pertaining to conversion therapy has since been scrubbed from his websitethe latest act of political flip-flopping from Oz on abortion and LGBTQ rights.

Oz and Fetterman are currently polling neck-and-neck with less than a week out until their election day.



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Photo: The Canadian Press Quebec Premier Francois Legault.

Quebec Premier Francois Legault is maintaining that the province cannot accept more than 50,000 immigrants a year despite Ottawa's plans to significantly raise the country's immigration levels.

Legault told reporters today that the federal government needs to understand that Quebec is facing a special challenge to preserve the French language.

The premier's comments are in reaction to the federal government announcing Tuesday that it intends to welcome about 500,000 annual newcomers to Canada by 2025. By comparison, the Immigration Department says 405,000 permanent residents were admitted last year.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa today that immigration done correctly can help address labour shortages in Quebec and that Ottawa would be there to help the province create more economic growth.

Quebec's immigration agreement with Ottawa permits the province to welcome a percentage of newcomers equal to its demographic weight in the country  23 per cent  which would equal about 115,000 people should Canada accept 500,000 immigrants a year.

Legault says the most annual immigrants the province can properly integrate is 50,000, adding that even the most ambitious plan presented by a political party during the recent provincial election set a maximum target of 80,000 newcomers.
El Paso police are searching for a "dangerous" driver of a Ford Mustang who fired a gunshot that nearly hit a child in another car on Tuesday night on the West Side.

The "road rage" encounter occurred about 7 p.m. in a construction zone in the 3200 block of Doniphan Drive near the famed Rosa's Cantina, police said.

Police said that the driver of a black Ford Mustang was tailgating another vehicle as they headed eastbound on Doniphan in a one-lane construction zone.

Violent crime:Man sentenced in 'horrific' kidnapping, machete assault of off-duty Border Patrol agent

Traffic backed up, forcing the victim to brake and the Mustang driver fired a gunshot at the victim's vehicle, police said. The bullet went through the car's truck before getting lodged in the passenger seat where an 8-year-old boy was sitting.

"Thankfully, the round did not penetrate through the seat and the child was unharmed," the Police Department said in a news statement.

El Paso police patrol car. File art.

The shooter's car is a late-model black Ford Mustang with dark-tinted windows, black rims and possibly Texas license plates. The car's windshield could possibly have a bullet hole, police added.

Homicides:'Road rage' suspected in unsolved El Paso freeway shooting that killed driver

Drivers are advised to never engage with enraged drivers and, if possible, create a distance from the other driver. If followed, head to a location where there are other people and call 911.

Anyone with information on the car or driver involved in the Doniphan Drive shooting may call detectives with the Crimes Against Persons Unit at 915-212-4040 or may anonymously call Crime Stoppers of El Paso at 915-566-8477 (TIPS).

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Driver sought in El Paso road rage shooting that nearly hit child
Bobby Joe Claybrook, Jr., 41, has been sentenced to 40 years in federal prison on the two-year anniversary of the night he violently ambushed law enforcement officers while they were serving a warrant, shooting an officer, who survived, three times.

Claybrook was sentenced for assault on a federal officer with a deadly weapon and discharging a weapon, U.S. Attorney Kevin Ritz announced on Tuesday.

This defendant pled guilty to committing a violent assault on federal law enforcement officers," Ritz said.

On Nov. 2, 2020, the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force in the Western District of Tennessee was attempting to serve arrest warrants to Claybrook, then a fugitive, who was on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations Most Wanted list.

More:3 shots and a Purple Heart: Officer awarded high honor a year after being wounded in line of duty

More:Law enforcement captures top 10 most wanted fugitive after Marshal shot

Claybrook was wanted since August 2020 by the Dyersburg Police Department on charges of attempted second-degree murder, three counts of aggravated assault and felon in possession of a handgun.

As the team approached a residence in Jackson, they were ambushed by gunfire from Claybrook, who shot at the team through a small porch window, striking Task Force Officer Joe Frye three times. As team members rendered aid to Frye, other members of the task force moved under fire to evacuate him from the scene. As Frye was transported to the hospital, the remaining task force members held the perimeter while the Jackson Police Departments SWAT Team arrived and took command of the situation.

After a four-hour standoff, Claybrook surrendered and was transported to the Madison County Criminal Justice Complex.

Frye survived the attack and was awarded last year a Purple Heart presented by Gov. Bill Lee. The award is given to military personnel and law enforcement officers wounded in the line of duty.

Special Agent Joseph Frye is presented a Purple Heart Award by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, Department of Corrections Commissioner Tony Parker, U.S. Marshal Tyreece Miller and TDOC Director of Investigation and Conduct Donna Turner.

"Thats an extremely serious crime, deserving of this extremely serious sentence," Ritz said. "The United States will not hesitate to bring significant resources to bear when citizens attack our law enforcement partners.

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On Oct. 28, Chief United States District Judge S. Thomas Anderson sentenced Claybrook to 480 months in federal prison to be followed by five years of supervised release.

There is no parole in the federal system.

Law enforcement are public servants that place their lives on the line everyday, enforcing laws throughout our communities. Sadly, the possibility of physical danger and harm are part of what it means to wear a badge," U.S. Marshal Tyreece Miller said. "But trying to hurt a Deputy U.S. Marshal has serious consequences. We are glad our Deputy Marshals werent seriously injured, and thankful for the steadfast work of the U.S. Attorneys Office in bringing this case to closure.

The case was investigated by the U. S. Marshals Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Jackson-Madison County Narcotics, and the Jackson Police Department SWAT Team.

This article originally appeared on Jackson Sun: Bobby Claybrook gets 40 years in prison for assaulting federal officer
Williamson County early voting numbers are lagging behind the early ballots cast during the last midterm elections in 2018.

Turnout for early voting is trending low for Williamson County, officials say.

The turnout was 24.3%, or 101,489 voters out of 418,338 registered voters, as of Monday, which was the eighth day to cast a ballot early. Over the same time period in 2018, during the last midtermelections, the early voting turnout was 34.5%, said Chris Davis, the county's election administrator.

The turnout in 2018 by the eighth day of early voting was "leaps and bounds better than what were currently seeing for this election," Davis said.

A total of 62.25% of registered Williamson County voters cast a ballot in the 2018 midterm election, including early voting, according to the county's website.

First week of early voting in Hays County trending close to 2018 turnout

Davis said he expects the numbers to jump, especially during the last two daysof early voting on Thursday and Friday. By early Wednesday afternoon, the early voting turnout in the county had increased to 26.6%.

In Williamson County, the ballot includes races for county judge, two county commissioners, four justices of the peace and two county courts-at-law seats. There are also races for the Round Rock and Leander school boards.

Low early voting turnout is not unusual for Texas, said Joshua Blank, director of research for the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas.

"After record-setting turnout in 2018 and 2020, 2022 is looking more like a traditional Texas election, which means low turnout," Blank said.

Williamson County judge race pits Bill Gravell against 2018 opponent Blane Conklin

Statewide, 21.5% of registered voters had cast ballots as of Tuesday, according to the Secretary of State Office's website. In 2018 during the same period, 30.1% of the state's voters had cast an early ballot, it said.

"Compared to 2018 and 2020, the election environment is much more favorable to Republicans due the absence of Donald Trump, who wasreplaced by a Democrat in the White House during a time of economic anxiety," Blank said. "So it's not surprising to see more normal levels of engagement, which likely means lower levels of engagement from among potential Democratic voters."

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Blank said that due to demographic differences between the two parties, Republican voters tend to vote more reliably from one election to the next.

Conservative candidates join forces in bids for Round Rock school board seats

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Early voter turnout in Williamson County lags behind 2018 election
Every school shooting can be stopped  but educators and police must identify youth with an affinity for violence and spring to action before a single shot is fired.

Thats the message that federal law enforcement officials touted Tuesday during a first-ever National Summit on K-12 School Safety and Security hosted by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a division of the Department of Homeland Security. While a demographic profile of school shooters doesnt exist, according to Secret Service research, soon-to-be gunmen exhibit signs that can be identified prior to attacks  such as a fixation on violence or a history of depression.

Officials endorsed threat assessment, an approach pioneered by the Secret Service thats become a common but controversial strategy in schools to predict future perpetrators and prevent targeted campus violence. The Secret Service is part of Homeland Security.

Weve seen the tragedies that have happened when that information, on behavior that objectively elicits concern, was not acted on, said Lina Alathari, chief of the Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center. But we also need to make sure were setting a lower threshold for what we want to intervene with  such as being bullied, depression, suicidality  because weve also seen those in the background of these students that resorted to violence.

Lina Alathari

Following the mass school shooting in May at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school, districts statewide are set to receive nearly $8 million in federal funding for campus security, including for the creation of threat assessment teams.

Yet the deployment of such teams, which generally include school administrators, mental health officials and police officers, has civil rights groups on edge. Critics warn the approach could misidentify struggling students as future gunmen and unnecessarily push them into the juvenile justice system. While school shootings remain statistically rare, student behaviors that are factors in threat assessments  like alcohol use and a history of mental health issues  are exceedingly common.

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Such concerns were largely downplayed at this weeks summit, a three-day virtual event where law enforcement officials, educators and other experts gathered to offer recommendations in responding to a range of campus security risks, including mass school shootings, cyber attacks and online extremism.

Steven Driscoll, the threat assessment centers assistant chief, stressed that the approach is not based on profiles or identifying types of students but rather a focus on identifying threatening behaviors and intervening early.

Related: The Students Were the Danger: In Racially Diverse Schools, Police Were More Likely to View Students as Threats, Study Shows

Schools need training not only on the behavioral threat assessment process best practices but also on things like implicit biases which have historically permeated a variety of school-based programs, Driscoll said.

In a letter to the Education Department last year, a coalition of 50 student civil rights groups warned that the adoption of threat assessment in schools is likely pushing many children of color and children with disabilities out of school, into the school-to-prison pipeline.

These threat assessments are likely to target large numbers of children who arent actual threats  including disproportionate numbers of children of color and children with disabilities  and cause them significant and lasting harm, while doing little or nothing to increase safety in schools, according to the letter, which was signed by groups including the National Center for Youth Law, the National Disability Rights Network and the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates. In addition, they may refer children to services that do not exist.

Related: New Law Requires Schools to Create Threat Assessment Teams, Identify Students

Last year, a Secret Service report analyzed 67 school violence plots that were thwarted between 2006 and 2018, finding that plotters in each case were met with criminal charges or arrests. Yet the primary objective of threat assessments is not to administer discipline, the report notes, but to identify students in crisis or distress and provide robust interventions, before their behavior escalates to the point of criminality.

Amy Lowder, the director of student safety and well-being at a suburban Charlotte, North Carolina school district, acknowledged during the summit that threat assessments conducted improperly can have detrimental effects on youth, including unnecessary student expulsions and juvenile justice referrals. Thats why its important, she said, for threat assessment teams to take a whole-child approach in gathering the necessary information about students causing concerns.

Meanwhile, Greg Johnson, a high school principal from West Liberty, Ohio, said that school leaders must balance students civil rights against their need to ensure campuses are secure. Johnson was principal of West Liberty High School in 2017 when a student shot and injured a classmate.

Youve got that balance because you want to support student rights and individual rights but you also want to keep people safe and thats a huge responsibility, Johnson said. Thats a huge responsibility to keep your students safe.

In an interview with The 74 that opened the summit, Homeland Security Secretary Alejando Mayorkas noted that there have been more than 250 reports of gunfire at schools in 2022, more than any other year on record.

Related: With Dont Say Gay Laws & Abortion Bans, Student Surveillance Raises New Risks

Given the reality that school shooters often leak their plans to friends or online, summit panelists also endorsed a need to monitor students on the internet  a practice that has raised a separate set of civil rights and digital privacy concerns. Thats why its important for districts to employ experts in digital analyses, said Colton Easton, the project and training manager at Safer Schools Together, a Canadian-based, for-profit company that offers threat-assessment training and a team of threat analysts to assist districts in investigations.

Maybe a student made a threat involving a gun and we see that gun posted on TikTok, we would consider that behaviors consistent with the threat and law enforcement could obtain a search warrant and remove access to the means, Easton said. Today, digital leakage is that golden ticket for school safety and threat assessment teams.

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CAIRO (AP)  Egypt's foreign minister Wednesday urged world leaders and negotiators to deliver on previously made pledges to battle climate change ahead of this month's U.N. summit.

Sameh Shoukry, the president of the COP27 climate change conference to be held in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh on Nov. 6-18, said participants should aim to take meaningful and tangible steps" to implement the 2015 Paris climate accord.

The Paris Agreement aims to keep global temperatures from rising another degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit) between now and 2100, a key demand of poor countries ravaged by rising sea levels and other effects of climate change. Last years summit in Glasgow produced a compromise deal aimed at keeping that key global warming target alive.

We aim to restore the grand bargain at the center of the Paris Agreement and our collective multilateral climate process, Shoukry said in a four-page letter to world leaders and delegates taking part in the COP27.

This year the picture is less encouraging, he said, warning of backsliding on the delivery of finance pledges to developing countries to increase their efforts to address climate change.

Shoukry said the summit comes amid uphill challenges including the failure of the G-20 meeting of industrial and emerging-market nations earlier this year to produce an agreement on environment. He also pointed to a lack of concrete agreements to allow financial support to address the impacts of climate change during the fall meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The annual conference convenes 197 nations for deliberations on how to address climate change. The COP27 comes as the world faces an energy crisis and a war in Europe that have rattled the global economy.

In recent years, many developing nations and activists have increased long-standing calls to establish a fund to compensate poor countries for devastation brought about by climate change, disproportionately caused by rich countries because of past emissions.

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The call was rejected during last years summit. Many supporters of the idea, often called loss and damage, hope to make progress on it this month. Their arguments could get a boost by the symbolic significance of this conference being held in Egypt, a developing nation in North Africa.

The Egyptian minister said significant progress was achieved over the past year, including a $40 billion resilience fund created by the IMF, and the Green Climate Fund which provides some $2.5 billion a year to support developing countries addressing impacts of climate change.

This progress proves that when there is political will, a sense of urgency and a functional structure, we can collectively make strides in our joint effort to combat climate change, he said.

He called for countries to launch implementation frameworks stemming from the negotiating process of the U.N. climate change convention.

COP27 creates a unique opportunity for the world to come together, mend multilateralism, rebuild trust and unite at the highest political levels to address climate change, he said.

The conference, dubbed Africa COP," centers around financial aid to poor countries struggling to cope with the impacts of climate change. It is expected to draw more than 45,000 delegates, including President Joe Biden, and over 100 head of states and governments.
Scott Kowalchyk/CBS

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) didnt pull any punches when Stephen Colbert asked her to weigh in on Twitters new owner Elon Musk during an interview set to air on Wednesday nights Late Show.

The senator unleashed a massive eye roll when Colbert brought up Musk dabbling in conspiracy theories on the platform he recently took over. Youve never been a huge fan of billionaires, especially ones who dont pay their taxes, the host remarked before asking her what she thinks about the worlds richest man controlling Twitter.

Senator @ewarren says she's "got a real problem" with Elon Musk as Twitter's new CEO.#Colbert pic.twitter.com/txlJr4R9lK  The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) November 2, 2022

So I look at it this way, Warren replied. Somebody is going to make the decisions about what we see on Twitter, right? It can be made out in the open, it can be made in public, it could be made by a commission, we could decide to do that. We could make the rules out there and for anybody to see.

Or, it could be made by one billionaire in a very dark room, based on whatever is running around in the middle of his head, she continued ominously. Me? I think those decisions ought to be made out in the open. I dont think any billionaireany billionaireought to be the one who has that kind of power to decide how Americans, how people around the world get a chance to talk to each other. So Ive got a real problem with him.

And that problem is not new to Musk since he acquired Twitter. In fact, it was on that site almost a year ago that Warren went after him, tweeting, Lets change the rigged tax code so The Person of the Year will actually pay taxes and stop freeloading off everyone else.

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Trevor Noah Reveals How Elon Musk Can Make Twitter Profitable

In response, Musk brought up the allegations that Warren misrepresented her Native American heritage before adding, You remind me of when I was a kid and my friends angry Mom would just randomly yell at everyone for no reason. And then later, Please dont call the manager on me, Senator Karen.

It seems almost inevitable that Musk will use Twitter to fire back at Warren for her latest comments, especially after he spent Wednesday tweeting at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) for criticizing his business model.

Lmao at a billionaire earnestly trying to sell people on the idea that free speech is actually a $8/mo subscription plan, the congresswomen tweeted, to which Musk replied, Your feedback is appreciated, now pay $8.

SNL Rips Into Elon Musk for Claiming He Fixed Kanyes Antisemitism

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By Clara Denina and Sarah McFarlane

LONDON (Reuters) - Europe needs its industrial companies to save energy amid soaring costs and shrinking supplies, and they are delivering - demand for natural gas and electricity both fell in the past quarter.

It is far too early to rejoice, though. The drop is not just because industrial companies are turning down thermostats, they are also shutting down plants that may never reopen.

And while lower energy use helps Europe weather the crisis sparked by Russia's war in Ukraine and Moscow's supply cuts, executives, economists and industry groups warn its industrial base may end up severely weakened if high energy costs persist.

Energy-intensive industries, such as aluminium, fertilisers, and chemicals are at risk of companies permanently shifting production to locations where cheap energy abounds, such as the United States.

Even as an unusually warm October and projections of a mild winter helped drive prices lower, natural gas in the United States still costs about a fifth what companies pay in Europe.

"A lot of companies are just quitting production," Patrick Lammers, management board member at utility E.ON told a conference in London last month. "They actually demand destruct."

Euro-zone manufacturing activity this month hit its weakest level since May 2020, signaling Europe was heading for a recession.

GRAPHIC: Europe's manufacturing slowdown https://graphics.reuters.com/EUROZONE-ECONOMY/egvbynbnypq/chart.png

The International Energy Agency estimates European industrial gas demand fell by 25% in the third quarter from a year earlier. Analysts say widespread shutdowns had to be behind the drop because efficiency gains alone would not produce such savings.

"We are doing all we can to prevent a reduction in industrial activity," an European Commission spokesperson said in an email.

But a survey released on Wednesday showed companies in Europe's industrial powerhouse Germany were already scaling back because of energy costs.

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More than one business in four in the chemicals sector and 16% in the auto sector said they were being forced to cut production, a survey of 24,000 businesses by the German chambers of commerce and industry (DIHK) showed. Moreover 17% of auto sector companies said they were planning to move some production abroad.

"The effects are clearly visible: energy-intensive producers of intermediate goods in particular are cutting back on production," said DIHK Managing Director Martin Wansleben, referring to critical semi-finished products, such as chemicals and metals.

EXODUS FEARS

European industry has been shifting production to locations with cheaper labour and lower other costs for decades, but the energy crisis is accelerating the exodus, analysts said.

"If the energy prices stay so elevated that part of European industry becomes structurally uncompetitive, factories will shut down and move to the U.S. where there is an abundance of cheap shale energy," said Daniel Kral, senior economist at Oxford Economics.

For example, EU primary aluminium output was halved, cut by 1 million tonnes, over the past year.

Trade figures compiled by Reuters show all nine zinc smelters in the bloc have either cut or stopped production, which was replaced by imports from China, Kazakhstan, Turkey, and Russia.

Reopening an aluminium smelter costs up to 400 million euros ($394 million) and is unlikely given Europe's uncertain economic outlook, Chris Heron at industry association Eurometaux said.

"Historically, when these temporary closures happen, permanent closures come as a consequence," he added.

Western efforts to secure supplies not just for energy but also for key minerals used in electric vehicles and renewable infrastructure are also at risk from high energy prices. Brussels is expected to propose new legislation early next year - the European Critical Raw Materials Act - to build up reserves of minerals indispensable in the transition to green economy, such as lithium, bauxite, nickel, and rare earths.

But without more renewable power and lower costs, companies are unlikely to invest in Europe, Emanuele Manigrassi, climate and energy senior manager at European Aluminium, warned.

GRAPHIC: Natural gas price discrepancies https://graphics.reuters.com/UKRAINE-CRISIS/egpbynbkyvq/chart.png

PACKING UP

Examples of industrial erosion are piling up. Europe became a net importer of chemicals for the first time ever this year, according to Cefic, the European Chemical Industry Council.

More than half of European ammonia production, a key ingredient in fertilisers, has shut, and has been replaced by imports, according to the International Fertilizer Association.

Norwegian fertiliser maker Yara is utilising around two-thirds of its European ammonia production capacity.

"We are watching the situation in the gas market closely and are making contingency plans," CEO Svein Tore Holsether told Reuters via email.

Last week, the world's largest chemical group BASF questioned whether there was a business case for new plants in Europe.

The company has also warned it would have to shut production at its main Ludwigshafen site - Germany's single-biggest industrial power consumer - if gas supplies fall below half of its needs.

Some firms, including German viscose fibre maker Kelheim Fibres which supplies Procter & Gamble, are looking to other energy sources. This year, the German company has cut output twice at its factory in Bavaria.

"From Jan. 1, we will be able to switch to oil," company executive Wolfgang Ott said, as the company seeks government help to cushion energy costs. It is even pondering a 2 megawatt solar project.

In Greece, Selected Textiles, a small cotton yarn producer, has cut output as orders mainly from northern Europe have fallen.

At its plant in Farsala, central Greece, CEO Apostolos Dontas estimated production would fall 30% this year.

"We see our clients (...) are seriously concerned whether there will be an equivalent consumption of finished products in Europe and whether northern European manufacturers themselves will have access to natural gas," he told Reuters.

Tata Chemicals, which usually operates on a five-year plan, is now working on a quarterly basis, its Europe managing director Martin Ashcroft said.

"If this is a structural change and gas prices stay high for three or four years, the real risk is industry investment will be directed elsewhere to places with lower energy prices," Ashcroft added.

($1 = 1.0164 euros)

(Additional reporting by Kate Abnett in Brussels, Christoph Steitz in Frankfurt, Josephine Mason, Mark John, Richa Naidu and Pratima Desai in London, Michael Shields in Zurich and Angeliki Koutantou in Athens; Graphics by Vincent Flasseur; Editing by Josephine Mason, Tomasz Janowski, William Maclean)
The Michelin Guide and car-sharing app Turo are collaborating on a new campaign called Drive To Table Experience. Beginning November 1st, participants will be privy to exclusive dining and lodging experiences approved by The Michelin Guide. From private cocktail classes to behind-the-scenes experiences with chefs as well as dinner reservations at Michelin-starred restaurants in New York and California.

Participating Restaurants

Drivers will have their choice of fine dining among these Michelin star restaurants:

Al Coro  New York City

Clover Hill  Brooklyn, NY

Barndiva  Healdsburg, CA

Bells  Los Alamos, CA

How To Book Through Turo

This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience with a focus on sustainability, Cara Cornelius, Director of Food and Travel Experiences for Michelin America said in a statement released today. Its the perfect blend of offerings from Turo and the MICHELIN Guide all rolled into one unforgettable weekend.

Photo Credit: Geoffrey Taylor

The only way to participate in these experiences is to visit Turos Drive To Table link on its website. From there, drivers will be able to select the dining experience of their choice once they book the electric car that is assigned to the Michelin experience. Each of the cars will be available to book for $ 150 per day starting Tuesday, November 1st through December 18th.

Turo CEO Andre Haddad

We are thrilled to be teaming up with Michelin to continue bringing Turo guests an experience they cannot find anywhere else, by celebrating the countrys best chefs and most innovative electric vehicles, said Turo CEO Andre Haddad. This partnership is a natural fit because both Turo and Michelin open the door to extraordinary experiences.

Support Black-Owned

Chef Charlie Mitchell of Michelin Star restaurant Clover Hill  Photo Credit: Geoffrey Taylor

If youre looking to support a Black-owned Michelin-star dining experience via Turo be sure to book the car associated with the restaurant Clover Hill in Brooklyn.
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy discussed sending grain to African countries after Russia said it would resume participation in the Ukraine grain deal.

In an interview with Turkish broadcaster ATV, Erdogan said Russian President Vladimir Putin had earlier proposed to him sending grain to countries like Djibouti, Somalia and Sudan first, saying people were currently starving there.

"The situation there is not good at all. If there is a problem in other African countries, we will carry out these shipments. We talked about this with Zelenskiy this evening," Erdogan said.

Moscow announced the resumption of its participation in the deal after Turkey and the United Nations helped keep Ukrainian grain flowing for several days without a Russian role in inspections.

The grain deal, reached three months ago, has alleviated a global food crisis by lifting a de facto Russian blockade on Ukraine, one of the world's biggest grain suppliers.

Erdogan also said in the interview German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had changed his stance and was now saying common ground must be found with Putin in order to end the war in Ukraine.

(Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, William Maclean)
The leaders of Ethiopia and the Tigray region have agreed to end their civil war. PHILL MAGAKOE/AFP via Getty Images

The Ethiopian government on Wednesday reached an agreement with officials in the country's Tigray region to stop fighting, bringing an end to a years-long civil war that has killed thousands and caused millions to be displaced from their homes.

The New York Times reported that leadership from both sides shook hands and signed an agreement to cease open warfare. The truce comes at the end of a 10-day conference in South Africa, helmed by the African Union, that was aimed at bringing a final conclusion to the bloody conflict.

A reporter for the South African Broadcasting Corporation tweeted an image of a joint statement from the combatants, in which the two parties "agreed to permanently silence the guns and end two years of conflict in northern Ethiopia."

"We have agreed to implement transitional measures that include the restoration of Constitutional order in the Tigray region, [and] a framework for the settlement of political differences," the statement added.

The agreement concludes a civil war that first began in November 2020, when leaders of the Tigray region reached a boiling point with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The tensions would turn from anger into physical violence, and the Tigray region was soon engulfed in war.

The war became one of Africa's bloodiest and deadliest, with reports of numerous war crimes taking place throughout the conflict. The fighting has also led to a significant humanitarian crisis, with BBC News reporting that 90 percent of people in Tigray suffered from hunger.

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Photo: The Canadian Press An array of products advertised as containing synthetically derived delta-8 THC is offered for sale at a smoke shop in north Seattle on Friday, Feb. 25, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Gene Johnson

Two people are facing charges for allegedly giving out Halloween candy in Winnipeg that included THC, the psychoactive compound in cannabis.

More than a dozen parents in the South Tuxedo neighbourhood reported that their kids, while out trick-or-treating Monday night, were given a clear sandwich bag with full-sized chocolate bars inside and a small package that looked like a popular candy known as Nerds, police said Tuesday.

Police released photographs of the packages, which are bright and colourful with a similar design to the candy. But the product was labelled "Medicated Nerds" and the packaging said it contains 600 milligrams of THC.

The product was not something that can be legally sold in Canada, police said, due to labelling requirements that limit the use of colours and logos, as well as mandated health warnings. Drug tests were still pending Tuesday to determine whether the products actually contained THC.

"There have been stories in the past where  items have been put out that perhaps weren't actually containing THC, and that's why we said further testing will be required," Const. Dani McKinnon, a Winnipeg police spokesperson, said.

"But we are treating this as a real cannabis product at this point until proven otherwise."

Police obtained a search warrant for an area home and took two people into custody  a 53-year-old woman and 63-year-old man who they say face charges including criminal negligence causing bodily harm and administering a noxious substance.

"We don't know the motive behind this," McKinnon said.

Police say their investigation is ongoing, the two have been released from custody and there have been no reports so far of any children being harmed by the product. They are reminding parents and guardians to carefully check their childrens Halloween candy.
Former banker and alleged Alex Murdaugh accomplice Russell Laffitte is fighting to get access to an internal report commissioned by his former employer that he says will clear him of some his impending federal charges, according to a court filing.

As Laffittes trial date draws closer, the ex-banker is fighting to get access to the findings of an investigation conducted by former federal prosecutor, Greg Harris.

In particular, Laffitte has said that the findings of the report, prepared for the Palmetto State Bank, will directly contradict the prosecutions assertion that Laffitte secretly issued a $680,000 check to Murdaughs former law firm, which has renamed itself the Parker Law Group in an attempt to distance itself from the disgraced attorney whose family founded the firm.

The bank has asserted that the report is protected by attorney-client privilege.

Its not the first tussle over records from Laffittes former employer. The former CEO of the Palmetto State Bank has also been attempting to get access to emails and an audio recording of a Nov. 3, 2021, executive session of the banks board with their counsel.

In a motion filed Oct. 31 in U.S. District Court where Laffitte will be tried, his attorneys expressed urgency in their clients efforts to obtain the report.

The Harris Report likely contains information about how the Banks Board of Directors authorized the $680,000.00 check and contradicts the Governments charge ... that Mr. Laffitte issued the check without any involvement from the Banks Board, Laffittes attorneys wrote in the motion, which was filed in opposition to the Palmetto State Banks move to quash the subpoena.

The $680,000 payment is believed to be connected to the case of Donna Hay Badger, whose family was allegedly swindled out of millions of dollars by Murdaugh after her death in a car accident.

Right now, we have no comment, said Josh Myers, one of Laffittes attorneys.

The bank retained Harris, a former South Carolina federal prosecutor, in November 2021.

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Harris, who declined to comment for the article, was brought in to investigate and advise (the bank) as to certain matters involving Alex Murdaugh ... that were, and likely would be, the basis of pending and future litigation.

Palmetto State Banks attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.

In opposing Laffittes subpoena requiring the bank to hand over the information, the bank wrote that they had entered into a clear attorney-client relationship with Harris. As a result, his report was protected from disclosure.

But Laffittes lawyers  Trenholm Walker, Thomas Gressette and James Clement  disagreed with this characterization. In a response filed Oct. 31, they argued that Harris investigation was not only intended for use by third parties, but the bank had already waived its privilege by providing confidential records to the government.

Laffittes attorneys pointed to a statement by Jan Malinkowski, Palmetto State Bank president, published in the Greenville News in January 2022, announcing an investigation as proof that Harris work was intended for public awareness.

The dual-purpose of the Harris Reports causes it to fall outside the attorney-client privilege, Laffittes lawyers said in their motion.

They also pointed to an email chain marked CONFIDENTIAL-ATTORNEY CLIENT PRIVILEGE INFORMATION that was provided to the government. Handing this over effectively waived the banks right to withhold the documents, Laffittes lawyers argue.

While the bank stated that sharing these emails did not constitute a waiver of ... attorney-client privilege, Laffittes attorneys have argued that the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals does not allow those kinds of limited exceptions.

This public back-and-forth comes after U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel, who is presiding over the trial, placed a seal over records of a previous attempt by Laffittes attorney to obtain a recording from the bank.

The recording is believed to be of a conversation between the Palmetto State Bank board of directors and their attorneys.

In an Oct. 25 order sealing the records, Gergel stated that he weighed the protections of attorney-client communications and the defendants right to fair trial against the the public right of access to the documents.

The Court at this time seals these communications with the Court and the related documents, Gergel wrote in his order.

Laffittes trial is set to begin Nov. 8 in Charleston federal court.

It will be the first criminal trial in the twisting Murdaugh saga. The one-time banker is facing up to 30 years in prison for his alleged role in Murdaughs scheme to defraud his own clients of millions of dollars from settlements.

A once prominent Lowcountry lawyer, Murdaugh remains jailed in the double slayings of his wife and son. He is expected to go on trial for their murders Jan. 23.

Both sons of prominent Lowcountry families, Laffitte, 51, and Murdaugh, 54, have known each other since childhood and grew up on the same street. Laffittes family bought Palmetto State Bank in 1955, and Laffitte started work for them in 1997, rising from teller to CEO.

Besides Myers, attorneys Bart Daniel and Matt Austin are representing Laffitte in his criminal trial. Assistant U.S. attorneys Emily Limehouse and Winston Holiday are prosecuting the case.
For the fifth time in four years, Israelis went to the polls, and once again, no clear victor immediately emerged.

Exit polls by Israeli media gave former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his nationalist and religious allies a slight edge early Wednesday, but the final tally could change as the official count is conducted.

Already, there was talk that a small Arab nationalist party could play spoiler, leaving Netanyahu and his opponents evenly split in Israel's Knesset, or parliament, and putting the country on track for yet another election early next year.

Meanwhile, a Jewish ultranationalist faction was projected to become the third-largest party in the Knesset. It would gain unprecedented clout in a Netanyahu-led government  but only if one can be formed.

Here's a look at where the election results stand.

___

WHAT WERE THE RESULTS OF ISRAEL'S ELECTION?

Official results won't be published until later this week, but exit polls carried out by Israel's three main TV channels projected that Netanyahu and his allies will win 61 to 62 seats in the 120-member Knesset, just enough to form a government.

His opponents, an array of parties from across the political spectrum currently led by caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid, a political centrist, were projected to win 54 seats.

A small Arab nationalist party, Balad, was reportedly close to the electoral threshold of 3.25% of the vote. If it passes that threshold, it would gain four seats and erase Netanyahu's edge. If it falls short, those votes would be wasted, strengthening Netanyahu's camp.

No political party has ever won an outright majority in Israel, so larger parties like Netanyahu's Likud must assemble majority coalitions with smaller ones, which can involve weeks of negotiations. That process can only really begin once the official results are in.

___

WHAT WAS THE MAIN ISSUE IN ISRAEL'S ELECTION?

This election, like the previous four going back to 2019, was largely centered on Netanyahu, who is on trial for serious corruption charges and remains a deeply polarizing figure.

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Netanyahu was Israel's longest-serving prime minister, holding the office for 12 straight years  after an initial three-year run in the 1990s  before being ousted by a broad but fragile coalition last year.

His supporters view him as a champion of Israel's nationalist right and a master statesman who is the victim of a witch hunt by political opponents in Israel's judiciary, law enforcement and media.

Netanyahu's critics view him as a crook who threatens Israel's democratic institutions by placing his legal woes above the national interest.

With the focus on Netanyahu, Israel's decades-long conflict with the Palestinians has been left on the back burner in recent elections, even as violence has steadily risen and hard-liners on both sides have gained popularity.

___

WHO ARE THE FAR-RIGHT POLITICIANS GAINING INFLUENCE IN ISRAEL?

The only clear winner from the elections so far is Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right politician who has moved from Israel's ultranationalist fringe to the mainstream as the country has drifted rightwards over the past two decades.

His Religious Zionism faction, formally led by another far-right figure, Bezalal Smotrich, is projected to win 14 to 15 seats and emerge as the third-largest party in the Knesset. If Netanyahu forms a government, Ben-Gvir is expected to request a Cabinet post as the minister in charge of police.

Ben-Gvir is a disciple of Rabbi Meir Kahane, an anti-Arab racist who called for the mass deportation of Palestinians and stripping Arabs of Israeli citizenship. His Kach party was banned in Israel and outlawed as a terrorist organization in the United States, and Kahane was shot dead in 1990.

Ben-Gvir, who was convicted of incitement and supporting terrorism years ago and has represented Jewish extremists facing similar charges, has been careful to publicly distance himself from Kahane's most extreme beliefs.

But he has still called for the deportation of Arab lawmakers, the death sentence for convicted terrorists and greater immunity for Israeli security forces battling Palestinian militants.

Ben-Gvir also makes frequent, provocative appearances in areas where Israeli-Palestinian tensions are running high, often exacerbating them before TV cameras. Last month he brandished a handgun in a tense Jerusalem neighborhood while shouting at police to fire on Palestinian stone-throwers.

___

WHAT WOULD A NETANYAHU-LED GOVERNMENT LOOK LIKE?

If the exit polls hold and Netanyahu is able to form a government with his natural allies, it would be the most extreme right-wing coalition in Israel's history.

Any peace negotiations with the Palestinians, which collapsed shortly after Netanyahu last ascended to the premiership in 2009, would be virtually unthinkable. That could heighten tensions with the Biden administration, which supports a two-state solution, as well as Israel's allies in the U.S., particularly the more liberal Jewish-American community.

A Netanyahu-led government could enact reforms that would make his legal woes disappear, something that critics say would undermine Israel's democracy and the rule of law.

Netanyahu's supporters have sought to tamp down such worries, saying any changes to the legal code would not apply in his case and that he can rein in more extreme coalition partners like Ben-Gvir. But that could prove difficult if  as the polls project  Religious Zionism accounts for a quarter of the coalition's seats in parliament.

If Netanyahu fails to form a government, the country will most likely head to elections again in March, potentially giving him yet another shot at returning to power.
The body of an American who died fighting in Ukraine is being held for a potential war crimes investigation, his family said Tuesday.

This is another in a series of delays as Joshua Jones family waits to lay his body to rest. After the 24-year-old was killed in August while fighting as a member of the Ukrainian Foreign Legion, the Russians held his remains in the Donbas region. But last week, the family was notified that Ukraine had finally negotiated an exchange for his remains.

His family began to prepare for a ceremony to put his body and some aspects of their grief to rest after receiving the news last week, but those plans were put on hold Tuesday.

His mother, Misty Gossett, said they were not given any further details about why Ukraine was potentially opening a case, but they were told a second autopsy was needed and the family should send a DNA sample.

Initially, the family was relieved to hear that his remains were secured, but since Oct. 26, the lack of information has been agonizing, she said.

Every day this gets prolonged and were just trying to put him to rest, Gossett said, as tears welled in her eyes. We dont know anything as far as how much longer its going to be, when hes coming home. The communication is exhausting.

Misti Gossett holds the bear her son gifted to her when he started the army and, at left, a detail from the letters that Joshua Jones sent to his mother while he was in Fort Benning in 2016. (Andrea Morales for NBC News)

Ukraine has worked to document potential Russian war crimes since the invasion began, investigating the alleged murder, torture and rape of civilians and soldiers. The Ukrainian Office of the Prosecutor General said Tuesday it had documented more than 43,000 cases of Russian war crimes and crimes of aggression and identified more than 600 suspects from the Russian Federation.

Moscow has denied the many war crimes allegations it has faced.

Jones served in the Ukrainian Foreign Legion, a military unit comprised of non-Ukrainians that was organized after Russia's invasion. The Foreign Legion informed Jones family Oct. 26 that Ukraine had fulfilled an exchange for his remains.

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for the legion referred questions to the Ministry of Defense's military intelligence service, called GUR, where Jones served in a unit. GUR did not respond to a request for comment.

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The State Department, which confirmed to the family that Jones' remains were secured, did not respond to a request for comment.

Ned Price, spokesperson for the State Department, said in a statement last week, however, that the remains of a U.S. citizen were in Ukrainian custody  though he did not specifically mention Jones.

"The United States expresses our condolences to the family of the U.S. citizen killed in the fighting in Ukraine, whose remains have now been identified and released to Ukraines custody," he said. "They will soon be returned to the family. The United States is appreciative of Ukraine for including recovery of this individuals remains in its negotiations with Russia."

A shelf in Misti Gossett's living room dedicated to her son Joshua Jones, in Hernando, Miss., on Nov. 1, 2022. (Andrea Morales for NBC News)

Gossett described Jones as a rebellious yet loving child who was steadfastly committed to joining the U.S. Army. He fulfilled his dream and left the service after three years. In March, he decided to join the fight in Ukraine. He left the day before his birthday, shortly after telling his mother his plans.

Jones died Aug. 23: the birthday of Gossett's oldest son (Joshua's brother) and her parents' wedding anniversary. In years past, it was a special day of celebration for the family. Now it is a day of mourning.

Until she received confirmation that her son's body had been recovered, Gossett said she sometimes convinced herself that he was still alive.

"Your mind during grief plays tricks on you," she said as she fought through tears. "He was so strong that I thought there was a chance. On Wednesday  it's just emotions that bounce back so cruelly," referring to the day they received the news last week.

Gossett said to get her son's remains to the Ukrainian side was arduous for the family. She said they now had two notebooks full of contacts they'd accumulated since his death. Getting to this point required staying up eight to 10 hours a day making constant calls and being told that they had filled out the wrong paperwork or contacted the wrong office.

"We got to the point that we were at a standstill and were told over and over, 'He's on a list, he's on a list, he's on a list,'" Gossett said, adding that she is frustrated by the continued delay.

Misti Gossett hugs her sister, Angie Marchese, at her home in Hernando, Miss., on Nov. 1, 2022. (Andrea Morales for NBC News)

Those who have worked on similar cases said that now that Jones' body was recovered, it could take weeks for his body to come back to the family.

"We've seen this process take a month or so from when the Ukrainians get the body," said Dominik Byrne, who leads The Presidium Network, a U.K. nonprofit group that has helped families who have had loved ones killed or captured fighting in Ukraine.

Gossett said she hopes those who have family members traveling to Ukraine as well as other Americans learn more about what is happening in the country. The war has added further chaos to a process that is grief-stricken, shocking and deeply emotional.

"It's just so unorganized and exhausting," she said. "If your child goes or your spouse goes there and you lose them, what you have to go through is something no one should have to do  on top of losing someone they love."

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Months after prosecutors determined that the fatal shooting of a Pennsylvania trans woman during a wellness check was lawful, bereaved family members continue to seek justice and support.

Maddie Hofmann, 47, was shot to death by Malvern police in their home in the 800 block of Charleston Greene on May 19. They are survived by their wife, Rebecca, and two children aged 9 and 4.

They belonged on medication, not on a shelf, Rebecca told The Philadelphia Inquirer, referencing the box holding Hofmanns ashes. Theyre supposed to be here long enough to get better.

Police conducted the wellness check after an unidentified individual called 911 to report that Hofmann was having a mental health crisis. The caller claimed that Hofmann had just sent an email that they interpreted as a suicide letter.

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Hofmann had also posted a series of concerning tweets in the past three weeks. Worries for their well-being escalated after they shared a photo of a firearm.

In a news release on June 2, the Chester County District Attorneys Office described how Hofmann had armed themself during the check and aimed the gun at police. In response, an officer shot them three times, killing them on the spot.

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Based on the totality of the circumstances, it was apparent that the subject proceeded to take actions that placed all officers in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury, the district attorney said. By waving her firearm with her finger on the trigger while struggling over the gun, she jeopardized the lives of all present.

As a result, no officer will be charged in the incident.

The subject created a situation where the police officer had a reasonable belief that his life, and the lives of others, were in danger of serious bodily injury or death, thereby justifying the use of deadly force according to 18 Pa. C.S.A. 508, the district attorney added.

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With no single person held accountable for Hofmanns death, their family continues to seek answers. They believe police lack the training necessary to support persons undergoing a mental health crisis.

It has been a struggle, Hofmanns sister, Emily Flynn, told NextShark. Maddie was my best friend and someone I loved very, very deeply. Every day has been difficult since they passed. While we weren't twins, the bond and closeness we had was so tight.

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Hofmann, like Flynn, was a Korean adoptee raised by white parents. Flynn said her sister had been struggling with their mental health for a few years but was seeking care.

Like many transracial adoptees, Maddie struggled with their mental health and only in the past few years did they begin the arduous process of healing, finding language and validation for some of the things they were struggling with, and processing the trauma they have experienced, Flynn shared. Also, like many transracial adoptees, Maddie struggled with their identity, as we often did not have Asian role models or know any other Asian people in our white communities and schools in which we were raised.

Flynn said she was in contact with her sister up until the tragic incident. Photos she had shared on a GoFundMe page show their close bond as younger siblings.

You can see how Maddie cared for their little sister, even from a young age, Flynn said. That love and care continued every single day of our lives up until the moment they were killed.

Flynn started the GoFundMe campaign to help cover initial legal fees, fund the education and mental health counseling of Hofmanns children and raise awareness to prevent similar incidents. Any additional funds will be used to start a foundation or scholarship fund for trans youth in the foster care system in Maddies name.

At present, Malvern police are not investigating Hofmanns death, according to Flynn. She has never been in contact with the department nor the Chester County District Attorneys Office, which only investigated for two weeks and decided not to charge the officers.

Still, the family is determined to find justice. Attorneys at Beldock Levine & Hoffman LLP are investigating Hofmanns death on their behalf, Flynn said.

Maddie was a trans woman, Korean adoptee, POC, father, brother, son. I feel that so many people could identify with some aspect of who Maddie was, Flynn told NextShark.

We are hoping to raise awareness about what happened to Maddie so that this does not happen to another family. Police were responding to a wellness check and instead of helping Maddie, they shot and killed Maddie after Maddie retreated into their home.

Featured Image via Emily Flynn / GoFundMe
Story at a glance

FDA panel meets to discuss pulse oximeters, which are medical devices that measure blood oxygen levels.

Studies have suggested that oximeter readings are less accurate for people who have darker skin pigmentation.

The FDA says that more data where skin pigmentation is included as a study parameter are needed.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held a meeting on Tuesday to examine and discuss what an agency panel called mounting real-world evidence suggesting that pulse oximeter devices do not provide accurate readings for people with darker skin pigmentations, according to the agencys website.

Inaccurate readings could affect how patients get care in hospitals and may mean that they are not moved into intensive care units when they need it. The agency recommended more studies to understand the issue and suggest that device makers include skin pigmentation as a potential factor affecting accuracy in labeling.

Pulse oximeters work by shining a light source through a fingertip and analyzing the light that passes through. Past studies have shown that pulse oximeters, which are meant to detect low blood oxygen levels, may be inaccurate when used with people who have darker skin. In this meeting, the FDA reviewed published literature, Medical Device Reporting (MDR) data and clinical evidence from studies regarding the accuracy of blood oxygen readings from pulse oximeters in people with darker skin pigmentation.

The panel discussed the concerns about the devices and made recommendations for health care providers, labeling for patients and study design and analyses.

Studies on this topic are often using data in hindsight, meaning that some types of data are not collected or may be inconsistently collected, the panel noted. For example, some patients may self-report their race and ethnicity, but this does not indicate their skin pigmentation. The groups are also not randomized and may not be easily compared.

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Overall, despite these limitations, there appears to be mounting real-world evidence that pulse oximeter accuracy varies by self-reported race, and skin pigmentation, states the meetings executive summary. However, there is a need for prospective studies that utilize standardized measurement of skin pigmentation, capture simultaneous measurement of SaO 2 and SpO 2 paired data and systematically collect data on important confounders, to have more robust evidence about the impact of skin pigmentation on real-world pulse oximetry.

The agency had issued a Safety Recommendation in February 2021 warning that the accuracy of pulse oximeters can be affected by poor circulation, skin pigmentation, skin thickness, skin temperature and tobacco use. The FDA also points out in this panel that only about 18 percent of pulse oximeter devices list on their label that dark pigmentation is a factor that may affect accuracy. Other factors included on device labels are intravascular dyes, excessive light in the environment, presence of electromagnetic sources, patient movement, nail polish and extreme moisture.

Going forward, the FDA is looking for more data from studies where variability in skin pigmentation is integrated into the design of the study. Part of the issue in collecting such data is that there may be less of a precedent for considering skin pigmentation in study design or medical device development, the panel noted.

There is no consensus on the best approach to assess skin pigmentation for medical device development. Neither current FDA guidance nor the recognized ISO standard for pulse oximeters recommend a particular methodology to assess skin pigmentation, the panelists said.

They are funding two studies: one in adults and another in children and young adults.

These studies will provide prospective data, where the researchers determine which types of data are collected from the outset, rather than retrospective data, on skin pigmentation and oxygen readings because they can decide what data should be collected in advance of pulse oximeter measurements being taken. They will also be able to test for blood oxygen levels using other methods and cross check with the pulse oximeter readings.

By designing the studies from the beginning to consider skin pigmentation, researchers may be able to provide a better understanding of when the devices are inaccurate and how they should be used in treating patients.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Democratic candidate John Fetterman has a path to win the Pennsylvania Senate race despite a halting performance at last weeks debate with Republican candidate Mehmet Oz that raised questions about his health months after a stroke he suffered in May, say strategists and experts.

The race has tightened significantly since mid-September, when Fettermans lead over Oz swelled to as much as 10 points in a Marist poll, but Fetterman still has Democratic voters solidly behind him in Pennsylvania, a state where there were 666,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans in 2020.

Nexstar Pennsylvania Senate Debate

Democratic Pennsylvania Senate candidate Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz.

Senate Republican strategists think Fettermans difficulties at the debate effectively ended his chances of winning a race that has trended toward Oz over the past five weeks.

Hard to imagine any Pennsylvania voter who tuned in for that debate saw Fetterman as their next United States senator, said one Senate GOP strategist.

I think were going to win there. Public polling is starting to move in Ozs direction, the source added.

Fetterman at times had difficulty finding his words and needed to use a closed-captioning system because of an auditory processing issue related to this stroke. He repeated his statements at times during the debate, including in a response to a question about fracking.

Some Democrats have questioned whether Fetterman should have gone through with the debate, but the candidate in an interview this week said he thought it was important to have done so.

I just always understood that it wasnt going to be easy. I am five months into recovery from that, but I thought it was important that I show up and I did it. And at the end of the day, we did, I think, make some important points, he told CNNs Don Lemon.

Two polls conducted by InsiderAdvantage and Wick Insights since the debate show Oz now with a narrow lead over Fetterman, though critics say the pollsters oversampled Republicans and their results should be viewed skeptically.

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The InsiderAdvantage survey conducted on Oct. 26 showed Oz with a 3-point, lead while the Wick Insights poll conducted Oct. 26 and 27 showed Oz up by 2 points.

Fetterman speaks at Temple University in Philadelphia on Oct. 29, 2022.

Poll watchers expected a new survey to come out from Muhlenberg College on Wednesday that will shed more light on the tightness of the race.

A Muhlenberg College poll of 420 likely voters conducted from Sept. 13 to Sept. 16 showed Fetterman leading Oz 49 percent to 44 percent.

Independent experts and strategists in both parties say the Pennsylvania Senate race is still a toss-up and that Fetterman has a good chance of winning despite the debate.

It was, to put it mildly, a weak performance, said Terry Madonna, a longtime nonpartisan Pennsylvania pollster and senior fellow at Millersville University.

But Madonna said Fettermans base of support is very firm and predicted there will be an empathetic reaction among his base of supporters.

Now the big question is, does Oz pick up support, especially among Republicans and independents? One of the reasons he trailed Fetterman is support among Republicans was not as strong as Fettermans among Democrats, he added, describing the lingering effect of Ozs bruising primary against hedge fund CEO David McCormick.

Berwood Yost, the director of the Franklin & Marshall College Poll, said hes looking forward to the results of the Muhlenberg College poll on Wednesday and expects it to show the race is close.

Its pretty clear that Republicans should be having a field day here given how dissatisfied people are, and in our poll we showed a 5-point generic ballot advantage for Republicans, he said.

Despite the favorable environment for Republicans, Oz has failed to capitalize because of the success Fetterman and Democrats had defining him early in the race.

Oz greets supporters in Bensalem, Pa. on Nov. 1, 2022.

The fundamental problem that Oz has is perceptions that hes viewed unfavorably  minus 19 in our poll  and also the fact that about half of Republicans wish they had a different Republican to vote for, Yost said. Its possible you may seem movement because of that debate, but I would imagine that if there is some movement that it probably settles back to where it was before.

Historically, those polling bumps arent sustained, he said.

Yost said he doesnt think the debate was a fatal blow for Fetterman because theres a lack of consensus on what the candidates jumbled syntax means about his fitness for office.

Some voters say hes probably not capable, while others say hes pretty courageous for doing this, and some voters more sympathetic to Fetterman argue the debate format doesnt play to his strengths and he is better in other situations, Yost said.

Oz didnt emerge from the debate unscathed either.

Democratic operatives pounced on his statement that local political leaders should have a say in deciding abortion rights.

I want women, doctors, local political leaders, letting the democracy thats always allowed our nation to thrive to put the best ideas forward so states can decide for themselves, he said on stage.

Democrats recast that to claim that the decision whether to have an abortion should be made by a woman, her doctor and local political leaders.

Arguably you could suggest in some ways that the biggest mistake made in that debate was by Oz, not Fetterman, in term of his comment on abortion, Yost said.

Strategists in both parties say the percentage of undecided voters who watched the debate was too small to make much difference in the outcome of the race. They say whats more important is how the theatrics of the debate feed into the ongoing narrative about the candidates and the campaign.

It felt like there was an enormous amount of discussion about the debate in advance like it was the fulcrum of the campaign, and its just not the case. The number of undecided voters who are going to watch a U.S. Senate debate two weeks out is so miniscule that it cant even be measured, said J.J. Balaban, a Philadelphia-based Democratic strategist.

Some Republican strategists acknowledge that the Pennsylvania Senate contest remains very much a race even though some other advisers in their party are ready to declare it game over for Fetterman.

It was just uncomfortable to watch, but I think the reality of the situation is that unfortunately debates just dont have the impact that they maybe had years ago, said Vince Galko, who served as executive director of the Pennsylvania Republican Party in 2005 and as deputy director of George W. Bushs 2004 presidential campaign in the state.

He noted that a large number of Pennsylvanians have already cast their ballots through early voting and people who watch debates are more likely partisans who already know who theyre going to vote for anyway.

But he argued that two things play in Ozs favor.

Any undecided voter who watched that debate cant help but walk away thinking only one of the guys there was up to the task of being a U.S. senator, and the amount of coverage, post-[debate] coverage was remarkable, Galko added. I dont remember a nonpresidential debate getting as much coverage, not only in the state but nationally as well.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman is holding on to a razor-thin lead over Republican opponent Dr. Mehmet Oz in the state's closely-watched Senate race, according to a new Monmouth University poll.

Approximately 39% of the Pennsylvania registered voters said they will "definitely" vote for Fetterman, while 9% said they would "probably" vote for the lieutenant governor, according to the Monmouth survey released Wednesday.

This totals approximately 48%, which is consistent with previous Monmouth results showing 48% support for Fetterman in October and 48% in September.

FETTERMAN AND OZ SEPARATED BY 1 POINT IN RACE FOR PENNSYLVANIA SENATE SEAT: POLL

Oz is right on Fetterman's heels with 44% support, 32% of respondents saying they will definitely support the Republican candidate and 12% saying they will probably support him. Fetterman's lead is within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor and Democratic candidate for US Senator John Fetterman speaks to supporters at a "Get Out the Vote" rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 26, 2022.

Oz's "definite" support has ticked upward by 7 percentage points since early October as the Republican doctor continues to slowly scoop up independent voters' support.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

The poll of 608 registered voters was taken Oct. 27-31, after the race's only debate where Fetterman struggled to communicate after a stroke took him off the campaign trail in May.

Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz speaks during a Republican leadership forum at Newtown Athletic Club on May 11, 2022, in Newtown, Pennsylvania.

OZ TOUTS SURPRISE ENDORSEMENT FROM FETTERMAN'S HOME PAPER, SAYS THEYVE HAD ENOUGH, TOO'

A Morning Call and Muhlenberg College poll released Tuesday which was conducted over four days  three of which immediately followed the debate  showed Fetterman with a 1-point advantage.

Mehmet Oz, Republican Senate candidate for Pennsylvania, speaks during a campaign event in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, US, on Thursday, June 9, 2022. Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman campaigns for U.S. Senate at a meet and greet at Joseph A. Hardy Connellsville Airport on May 10, 2022, in Lemont Furnace, Pennsylvania.

The survey also found that Pennsylvania voters were closely divided in who they want to represent the state in the Senate but lean toward the state being run by a Democratic governor.

CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The gubernatorial race between Democrat Josh Shapiro and Republican Doug Mastriano gives Shapiro a 14-point lead over his opponent.

For the congressional races, Pennsylvania voters prefer Republican candidates over Democrats, 48% to 43%.
For the first time in its history, Arkansas has recognized October as Filipino American History Month.

The recognition came in the form of official proclamations issued by Gov. Asa Hutchinson and the state capital of Little Rock, according to KATV.

Joshua Ang Price, deputy director of Arkansas United, an immigrant-focused nonprofit, is credited for leading the petition for the recognition at the city, county and state levels. He received the in-person county and city proclamations on Oct. 25 from Pulaski County Judge Barry Hyde at a Quorum Court meeting and from Mayor Frank Scott, Jr. at a Little Rock City Board of Education Directors meeting.

Price previously served as election commissioner of Pulaski County and president of the Filipino Young Leaders Program. He is also the first Arkansan to be inducted into the Knights of Rizal, the official Order of Chivalry of the Republic of the Philippines, as per KATV.

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Filipino American History Month was first recognized by the U.S. Congress in 2009. Today, Filipino Americans compose the third-largest AAPI group in Arkansas, with most living in Little Rock and Pulaski County.

The recent proclamation recognized that 260,000 Filipino and Filipino American soldiers had served in World War II under General Douglas MacArthur, who was a native of Little Rock. It also encouraged the public to recognize and celebrate the contributions and accomplishments of Filipino American men and women in our communities.

The Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS), a nonprofit dedicated to promote understanding, education, enlightenment, appreciation and enrichment of Filipino American history, is urging others to follow Arkansas example.

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We encourage other communities to do the same in the month of October to recognize Filipino American History Month in their respective cities and states, the nonprofit wrote in a Facebook post on Monday.

Story continues

Featured Image via F McGady (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Russia announced Wednesday that it views Norways work with other countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as provocative, warning that Norways efforts to bolster its military in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine this year will likely be the death knell for Oslo-Moscow relations moving forward.

Oslo is now among the most active supporters of NATO's involvement in the Arctic, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Wednesday, according to TASS. We consider such developments near Russian borders as Oslo's deliberate pursuit of a destructive course toward escalation of tensions in the Euro-Arctic region and the final destruction of Russian-Norwegian relations.

In her statement, Zakharova also warned that any further unfriendly actions will be followed by a timely and adequate response.

The news of Russias complaints about Norway comes just a day after Norway raised its military alert level in response to suspicious drone sightings. Norway has arrested several Russians, including one son of an associate of Russian President Vladimir Putins, and accused them of illegally flying drones in Norwegian airspace or taking photos in restricted areas as concerns abound about potential Russian attacks on critical infrastructure. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stre warned Russia to cut it out, according to Norwegian broadcaster NRK.

NATO countries ought to be on alert to Russias aggression in light of the war in Ukraine, Stre warned Monday.

Today, we have no reason to believe that Russia will want to involve Norway or any other country directly in the war, Stre said. But the war in Ukraine makes it necessary for all NATO countries to be more vigilant.

Putin Parades New Missile Nightmare in Latest Warning to West

Norway has previously hosted exercises and has long hosted rotational deployments of U.S. troops for arctic training. Russias announcement comes weeks after the U.S. Air Force participated in a combat arctic integration training exercise with NATO allies and the Royal Norwegian Air Force at Norways rland Main Air Station, according to the U.S. Defense Department. The allies worked to operate quickly across weapons platforms and systems to try to deter Russia along NATOs eastern flank.

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The sum is that together, we can better defend not only Norway and the Nordic countries, but also Europe should the need arise, Col. Martin Tesli, the 132nd Luftving Base commander, said in a statement.

The U.S. Air Forces 90th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron deployed for the exercise was also able to work with the Air Force from Finland, which is in the process of joining NATO in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Moscows warning appeared to be just the latest Russian attempt to assert its own narrative as its relationships with countries across Europe and the West continue to deteriorate.

Its not the first time Russia has tried to raise red flags over what it sees as provocative action from European countries and NATO cooperation. Moscow warned before it invaded Ukraine this year that it views the expansion of members in NATOwhich was established to counter threats from the Soviet Unionas a threat to Russia. The Kremlin has maintained that Ukraines interest in joining the military alliance poses a threat to Russia, a claim it had repeated in recent days.

This Russian Socialite Spy Used Chintzy Jewelry Infiltrate NATO in Italy, Bellingcat Reports

Russias aggression towards Ukraine and European nations is the most serious security policy situation we have experienced in several decades, Stre emphasized.

Norway has been working to help Ukraine defend against Russias invasion since the outset of the war. The country has sanctioned the Russian government in an attempt to get Moscow to back off from the war and had provided Ukraine with military assistance. The assistance includes an air defense system, Mistral surface-to-air missiles, thousands of anti-tank missiles, protective gear such as bulletproof vests and helmets, and armored vehicles.

Oslo has also sought to ramp up its military budget. Just last month, Norway proposed boosting its defense budget for next year by nearly 10 percent, according to Defense Minister Bjrn Arild Gram. A chunk of the increase is dedicated to weapons for Ukraines defense against Russia.

Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine is a threat to Norwegian and European security. The war has already had major security political, economic, and humanitarian consequences, Gram said. The need for military support to Ukraine is necessary, extensive, and time-critical. This budget strengthens the Armed Forces and stands up for Ukraine.

Norway is also helping to train Ukrainian soldiers alongside the U.K. and has promised to provide Ukraine over $1.1 billion (in USD) in financial assistance over the next two years.

Norway isnt the only nation Russia has protested in recent days. Late last month Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that Moscow sees no point in maintaining diplomatic relations with Western states writ large.

Lavrov noted that Russia would like to focus its world diplomacy on countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, rather than work with the West.

We will shift the center of gravity to countries that are ready to cooperate with us on equal and mutually beneficial terms and look for promising joint projects, Lavrov said.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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The federal indictment of 25 people in an Erie-based drug-trafficking ring alleged the defendants flooded the city with three kinds of illegal narcotics from 2020 to May 2022.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said the case involves as much as 220 pounds of cocaine, including crack cocaine, with a street value of as much as $3.2 million; quantities of methamphetamine; and 15,000 fentanyl pills worth as much as a total of $75,000 on the street.

The indictment, returned in May, has yielded its first guilty plea. It relates to fentanyl.

One of the defendants has admitted to being part of an operation in which he traveled to Arizona and helped mail the 15,000 fentanyl pills from there to Erie between Feb. 28 and March 3 of this year.

The defendant, Erie resident Vincent A. Feliciano, 32, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Erie on Monday to the only two charges against him. They are one count each of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute illegal drugs, and use of mail in interstate commerce in aid of a business enterprise involving illegal drugs.

On Monday at the federal courthouse in Erie, a 32-year-old Erie resident entered the first guilty plea to drug charges connected to what federal prosecutors said was a 25-person drug trafficking ring.

The charges carry a maximum sentence of life due to the amount of drugs involved. Under the plea deal, the U.S. Attorney's Office and and the defense are recommending that Feliciano get a sentence of 10 years in federal prison and forfeit $8,826 in cash, according to the plea letter filed on Monday.

A sentence of 10 years represents the mandatory minimum sentence for Feliciano for his guilty plea to the conspiracy count, according the plea letter. The letter states that a 10-year sentence would also be in the recommended range of the federal sentencing guidelines for Feliciano's crimes.

U.S. District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter accepted Feliciano's plea and sent sentencing for Feb. 1 at the federal courthouse in Erie. Feliciano remains incarcerated without bond.

Feds link blue fentanyl pills linked to Mexican cartels

The overarching drug ring that included Feliciano is one of the largest alleged to have operated in Erie. The indictment accused Feliciano and a co-defendant, Luis Lopez, of Meadville, of running the part of the ring that mailed the fentanyl pills from Arizona to Erie.

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Lopez, who was 25 when he was indicted, has pleaded not guilty. So have the other 23 co-defendants whose cases are pending. Lopez remains incarcerated while his case is pending.

The 15,000 fentanyl pills represent at least 400 grams of the synthetic opioid, according to court records. The pills, known as "blues" because of their color, were disguised to look like legitimate oxycodone pills, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Sellers said detention hearings for the defendants in May, following the return of the indictment.

The pills sold for $3 to $5 on the street, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. He said the source of the illegal pills is often Mexican drug cartels.

Feds: Cocaine came from Costa Rica, through Puerto Rico

The cocaine at the center of the suspected drug-trafficking ring originated in Costa Rica and was shipped from Puerto Rico to Erie in a total of 54 packages from January 2000 to May of this year, according to the indictment and information the U.S. Attorney's Office presented at the detention hearings.

The cocaine ended up on the street in powder and crack form, though federal authorities have not specified the amounts of each in court. The organizers of the ring are accused of the relying on Erie street gangs to distribute the drugs, the U.S. Attorney's Office alleged in a court filing docketed in July.

The defendant the government accused of running the cocaine ring is Miguel Antonio Pabon Rivera, of Erie, who was 27 when he was indicted. The indictment alleges his second-in-command was Eric Suarez Robles, of Orlando, Florida, who was 42 when he was charged.

U.S. District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter is presiding over the 25-defendant drug case in federal court in Erie.

The indictment names the third-highest defendant in the suspected cocaine ring as Victor Felix Ogando DeLeon, of San Juan, Puerto Rico. He was 27 when he was arrested in Puerto Rico in May.

Based on the information presented at the detention hearings, DeLeon is accused of acquiring the cocaine through sources in Costa Rica and getting it to Puerto Rico, where, according to the government, Rivera and Robles arranged to have it shipped to Erie. The conspiracy also operated in central Florida, the government said.

In Erie, a number of defendants distributed the drugs to street-level dealers, some of whom were also charged, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. The cocaine was sent via U.S. mail to Erie, where the shipments were first delivered to a drop site and passed along to residences in Erie, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The probe started when authorities in Erie intercepted a package of cocaine, according to evidence presented at the detention hearings. The government at the hearings also said the FBI tapped the phones of five of the defendants, including Rivera, the lead defendant.

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNpalattella.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: 1st guilty plea made in Erie drug case; 15,000 fentanyl pills mailed
Photo: The Canadian Press FILE - Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed speaks at a final campaign rally at a stadium in the town of Jimma in the southwestern Oromia Region of Ethiopia on June 16, 2021. Ethiopia's warring sides have formally agreed to a permanent cessation of hostilities in a 2-year conflict, negotiators for the parties announced Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene, File)

Ethiopias warring sides agreed Wednesday to a permanent cessation of hostilities in a conflict believed to have killed hundreds of thousands, but enormous challenges lie ahead, including getting all parties to lay down arms or withdraw.

The war in Africa's second-most populous country, which marks two years on Friday, has seen abuses documented on both sides, with millions of people displaced and many near famine.

The level of destruction is immense, said the lead negotiator for Ethiopias government, Redwan Hussein. Lead Tigray negotiator Getachew Reda expressed a similar sentiment and noted that painful concessions had been made. Exhausted Ethiopians, urged by the parties to stop voices of division and hate, watched them shake hands.

A draft text of the agreement, shared with The Associated Press by a diplomat, says Tigray forces will be disarmed, starting with light weapons within 30 days of Wednesdays signing, and Ethiopian federal security forces will take full control of all federal facilities, installations, and major infrastructure such as airports and highways within the Tigray region. The final, detailed agreement was not made public, but the brief joint statement notes a detailed program of disarmament and restoration of constitutional order" in Tigray.

Ethiopias government will continue restoring basic services to the Tigray region, where communications, transport and banking links for more than 5 million people have been severed since fighting began. The parties also commit to unfettered humanitarian access.

The devil will be in the implementation, said former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who helped facilitate the talks. An African Union panel with representatives from both sides and Africa experts will monitor the process.

It was not immediately clear when independent journalists and human rights researchers would be allowed into Tigray.

Major questions remain. Neighboring Eritrea, which has fought alongside Ethiopia, was not part of the peace talks. Its not clear to what extent its deeply repressive government, which has long considered Tigray authorities a threat, will respect the agreement. The draft says the Ethiopian and Tigray sides agree to stop collusion with any external force hostile to either party." Eritreas information minister didnt reply to questions.

Eritrean forces have been blamed for some of the conflicts worst abuses, including gang rapes, and witnesses have described killings and lootings by Eritrean forces even during the peace talks. On Wednesday, a humanitarian source said several women in the town of Adwa reported being raped by Eritrean soldiers, and some were badly wounded. The source, like many on the situation inside Tigray, spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

Forces from Ethiopias neighboring Amhara region also have been fighting Tigray forces, but Amhara representatives also were not part of the talks. Amharas cannot be expected to abide by any outcome of a negotiations process from which they think they are excluded, said Tewodrose Tirfe, chairman of the Amhara Association of America.

But observers long strained by the conflict welcomed the agreement. This is very much a welcome first step, said the United Nations secretary-general's spokesman, Stephane Dujarric. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters she was delighted because what it means is that lives will be saved.

Another critical question is how soon aid can return to Tigray. Doctors have described running out of basic medicines like vaccines, insulin and therapeutic food while people die of easily preventable diseases and starvation. U.N. human rights investigators have said the Ethiopian government was using starvation of civilians as a weapon of war.

Were back to 18th-century surgery, a surgeon at the regions flagship hospital, Fasika Amdeslasie, told health experts at an online event Wednesday. Its like an open-air prison.

A humanitarian source said their organization could resume operations almost immediately if unfettered aid access to Tigray is granted.

It entirely depends on what the government agrees to. ... If they genuinely give us access, we can start moving very quickly, in hours, not weeks, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The conflict began in November 2020, less than a year after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for making peace with Eritrea, which borders the Tigray region. Abiys government has since declared the Tigray authorities, who ruled Ethiopia for nearly three decades before Abiy took office, a terrorist organization. The Ethiopian government will facilitate the lifting of that designation, the draft agreement says.

The brutal fighting, which also spilled into the Amhara and Afar regions as Tigray forces pressed toward the capital last year, was renewed in August in Tigray after months of lull that allowed thousands of trucks of aid into the region. According to minutes of a Tigray Emergency Coordination Center meeting on Oct. 21, seen by the AP, health workers reported 101 civilians killed by drone strikes and airstrikes, and 265 injured, between Sept. 27 and Oct. 10 alone.

The agreement signed today in South Africa is monumental in moving Ethiopia forward on the path of the reforms we embarked upon four and half years ago," Abiy said in a statement after the agreement. "Our commitment to peace remains steadfast.

But he made clear he saw the agreement as a win for his government. In a speech hours before Wednesday's announcement, the prime minster said: We need to replicate the victory we got on the battlefield in peace efforts, too.
Deputies in Florida are searching for a mother and daughter who did not show up for work and school Monday.

Jacqueline Shivers, 30, and her 2-year-old daughter, Ariyah, are from Deltona and are traveling in a white 2018 Toyota Camry with the Florida license plate 11DDIM, Volusia Sheriff's Office says.

The pair visited a family member in Fairfax, Virginia, last Wednesday, deputies said. However, they left and were last tracked in North Carolina.

Friends and family are concerned about the well-being of the two. They may be returning to Florida.

NEW YORK DOCTOR CHARGED IN $100M FRAUD RING VANISHES IN ATLANTIC OCEAN

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If you see them, please contact Detective Barrett via email at DBarrett@vcso.us regarding case no. 22-20926. You can also call the non-emergency number at 386-248-1777 or 911 in an emergency.
A Florida judge has rejected defense attorneys bids for accused "Killer Clown" Sheila Keen-Warren to be freed from jail pending trial, and for prosecutors to be sanctioned for their handling of the case, court records show.

Keen-Warren, the woman accused of gunning down her husbands former wife in late May 1990 while dressed as a clown, will remain behind bars as she awaits trial decades after the alleged murder. Florida Circuit Judge Scott Suskauer on Friday acknowledged "the delays in this case, especially the most recent delays attributable to the State," but rejected the defenses motion for Keen-Warrens pre-trial release.

In the motion  the defenses second push for Keen-Warrens release pending trial  attorney Greg Rosenfeld argued that his client has spent five years in jail as she awaits trial.

"Ms. Keen-Warren is presumed to be innocent," he wrote. "She should not be punished and should not have to sit in jail pretrial, because the State repeatedly fails to follow the law."

Sheila Keen Warren, right, appears in court for a pre-trial hearing Monday morning, Nov. 13, 2017. Keen Warren is facing charges in the death of Marlene Warren in 1990.

Rosenfeld instead sought house arrest with restrictions. On Tuesday, he told Fox News Digital his client "is not guilty."

"She did not commit this crime," he wrote in an emailed statement. "The defense team will continue to fight and Ms. Keen-Warren is looking forward to having her day in court."

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Marlene Warren, 40, was shot and killed at her Wellington, Florida, home on Saturday, May 26, 1990, officials have said. She had just finished breakfast with her son and his friends around 10:45 a.m. when they spotted the vehicle roll into the driveway, the Palm Beach County Sheriffs Office said.

A person who was allegedly wearing a red nose, an orange-haired wig and face paint exited the sedan and walked to the homes front door, police said.

"The person dressed as the clown was carrying a flower arrangement and two balloons," the sheriffs office went on. One balloon reportedly bore a picture of Snow White, the other was emblazoned with the words, "You're the Greatest!"

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"Marlene answered the front door and as the clown offered the items to her, witnesses heard a gunshot and Marlene fell to the ground," police said. "The person dressed as a clown calmly walked back to the LeBaron and drove away."

Warren suffered a gunshot wound to the face and was rushed to a local hospital, where she died two days later.

Police arrested Keen-Warren 27 years later, on Sept. 26, 2017.

Investigators learned Keen-Warren, who was married to someone else at the time of the murder, went on to wed Marlenes husband, Michael Warren, in 2002. The pair had been living in Tennessee, where they operated a restaurant, police said.

A grand jury voted on Aug. 31, 2017, to charge Keen-Warren with Marlenes murder. Police then tracked her to Washington County, Virginia, where they arrested her without incident. She was 54 at the time.

In Fridays latest rulings, Suskauer further rejected Rosenfelds push for sanctions against prosecutors, who produced a "clown sighting file"  just eight days before Keen-Warren was scheduled to go to trial, and despite previous claims that no such documents existed.

Paramedics take Marlene Warren to an ambulance on May 26, 1990, after she was shot in front of her home in Wellington, Fla.

The 25-page file contains information related to other reports of clown sightings in the area at the time of Warrens slaying, court records show. It allegedly includes the names and contact information related for "roughly 40 credible" clown-sighting leads from around the time of the murder.

Rosenfeld argued that prosecutors "failed to disclose" additional details of exculpatory evidence, including interviews with a man who allegedly confessed to the murder.

Suskauer ruled Friday that prosecutors and law enforcements delay in producing the file was not "willful conduct," court records state.

No new trial date has been set.
PureWow

Now that the countdown to Christmas has officially begun, the British royal family has already started getting into the holiday spirit by decorating their glamorous tree at Windsor Castle. Last week, the official Instagram account dedicated to the Royal Collection Trust revealed an exclusive first look at the Christmas tree sitting right in St. Georges Hall at the royal residence this year. The charity shared that the tree is completely covered with 3,000 lights, hundreds of iridescent jewel-sh
A Miami man is facing seven counts of attempted murder after deputies say he intentionally rammed an SUV into his ex-wifes home where several kids were also present.

>>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<<

Orange County deputies responded to the home on Lambing Lane in Apopka just after 2 a.m. Sunday for what was reported as a burglary in progress.

READ: Man in his 20s shot to death in Orange County

They arrived to find extensive damage to the home and the suspect, identified as 46-year-old Nisan Ortega, inside on the floor. He was handcuffed and taken to a hospital to be assessed for injuries related to the crash.

The victim told investigators Ortega went to the home and asked to come inside, but became angry when she denied him access due to his violent tendencies.

Thats when the victim said Ortega got back into the drivers seat of his black Ford Explorer, started it, and began driving towards the entrance to the home.

READ: 3 being charged after infant overdoses on meth in Lake County

According to the sheriffs office, six kids between the ages of two and 15 years old were present with the victim at the time, and they were all forced to retreat to the back of the home to avoid being run over by Ortega.

After examining the evidence at the scene, investigators determined Ortega attempted to drive into the home once, but likely overshot the entrance because he was drunk and ended up hitting a car parked in the front.

Deputies say he then backed up across the street approximately 100 feet before accelerating again into the front door, causing major damage to the home.

Investigators say Ortega then parked in the front yard and entered the home through the damaged front entrance just as deputies arrived on scene.

READ: Postal carrier attacks on the rise nationwide: Heres what most robbers are after

Ortega faces a list of charges that include seven individual counts of felony attempted murder, burglary, and aggravated assault.

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Hes being held in the Orange County jail on a total of $62,000 bond.

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By Jonathan Allen

(Reuters) -Nikolas Cruz, who murdered 17 students and staff with a semi-automatic rifle at a Florida high school, was formally sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday after listening to hours of anguished testimony from survivors and victims' relatives.

A jury voted last month to spare Cruz, 24, the death penalty, instead choosing life in prison without possibility of parole for one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history.

Cruz pleaded guilty last year to premeditated murder for his rampage on Feb. 14, 2018, then faced the three-month penalty trial earlier this year.

Broward County Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer agreed to a prosecution request to first allow relatives of Cruz's victims to address the court before the sentence was handed down. The sentencing proceedings began on Tuesday with victim impact statements.

Many victims' relatives castigated the jury's decision and criticized a state law requirement that all 12 jurors be unanimous in order to sentence a convicted person to be executed.

"How much worse would the crime have to be to warrant the death penalty?" said Annika Dworet, the mother of 17-year-old victim Nicholas Dworet.

Some relatives also chided Cruz's defense lawyers, who fruitlessly objected to the judge about the criticism of them and the jurors on Tuesday, noting that Cruz had a constitutional right to legal representation.

Many victims' relatives directly addressed Cruz, who sat inscrutable behind large spectacles and a COVID-19 mask at a table alongside his public defenders, wearing red prison overalls and handcuffs. He removed his mask when the mother of one of his victims told him keeping it on was disrespectful

Anne Ramsay, the mother of 17-year-old Helena Ramsay, told him he was "pure evil;" Inez Hixon called him a "domestic terrorist" for killing her father-in-law, school athletics director Chris Hixon.

Cruz was 19 at the time of his attack on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, about 30 miles (50 km) north of the courthouse in Fort Lauderdale. He had been expelled from the school.

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Some of the survivors went on to organize a youth-led movement for tighter gun regulations in the United States, which has the highest rate of private gun ownership in the world and where mass shootings have become recurrent.

Cruz spoke only briefly at the hearing, answering the judge's questions about whether he understood the proceedings.

Samantha Fuentes, who Cruz shot in the leg, asked Cruz if he remembered making eye contact with her when she lay bleeding in her classroom.

"You are a hateful bigot with an AR-15 and a god complex," she said. "Without your stupid gun, you are nothing."

Victoria Gonzalez, whose boyfriend 17-year-old Joaquin Oliver was among those Cruz killed, told Cruz they were in the same class together.

"I'm sorry that you never saw the love that the world is capable of giving," she told Cruz. "My justice does not lie in knowing if you live or if you die. My justice lives in knowing that I experienced a love that a lot of people go their whole lifetimes without experiencing."

(Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Richard Pullin)
DETROIT (AP)  Ford Motor Co.'s top quality executive is retiring as the company continues to struggle with high warranty claims and reliability issues.

Stuart Rowley, chief transformation and quality officer, is leaving after 32 years with the company. He'll be replaced by Jim Baumbick, who is now vice president of product development operations and internal combustion engine programs, the company said Wednesday.

Quality is our No. 1 priority as a company, and Jim Baumbick is the right leader to deliver world-class quality and reliability at Ford, CEO Jim Farley said in a statement.

Farley has complained about quality, warranty claims, recalls and problems with launching new vehicles since his appointment as chief executive two years ago.

At the company's annual shareholders meeting in May, Farley said the problems are affecting Ford's financial performance, but also causing pain for customers.

Weve made more progress on our launch quality and initial quality, you could see it in the surveys and our ramp-up of production, Farley said at the meeting. However, we are not satisfied at all with our quality performance, including our recalls and customer satisfaction efforts, which we need to quickly accelerate. 

He said fixing the problems will require new talent, which the company has, as well as a culture shift and better processes for engineering, manufacturing and supply chain management. Its very frustrating for our customers, and so were doing everything we can to accommodate them with the right policies to support them when they do have a problem, and rest assured this management team is completely committed to fixing our gap to competition and return the company to being benchmark," he said.

Ford's statement said Josh Halliburton, who was hired in January from survey and data analysis company J.D. Power to be executive director of quality, will report to Baumbick.

The move, Ford said, will integrate quality improvement work in design, engineering, manufacturing and the supply chain.

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Rowley will retire Dec. 1 after more than three decades with the automaker, where he held multiple positions including chief operating officer for North America, president of Ford Europe.

The change is among several management moves the company announced Wednesday.

Joy Falotico, president of the Lincoln luxury brand, will retire after 33 years with the company. She'll be replaced by Dianne Craig, now president of the International Markets Group.

Steven Armstrong, vice president for the India and South America transformation, also will retire, after 35 years with Ford.

The moves come at a time of profound change that Farley is leading at Ford, including separating the company into electric vehicle and internal combustion units.

In August the company let go of 3,000 white collar workers to cut costs and help make the long transition from combustion vehicles to those powered by batteries.

Governments across the globe are pushing to eliminate combustion automobiles to mitigate the impact of climate change. Companies like Ford are orchestrating the wind-down of their combustion businesses over multiple years, even though they are still generating the cash to fund electric vehicle development.
A former Allegheny County police officer has filed a federal lawsuit claiming discrimination because he was not granted a religious exemption for the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Ronald Gaudelli, who described himself as a devout Catholic, filed the lawsuit after a decision by the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board found that the countys vaccine mandate did not violate the police unions collective bargaining agreement, Channel 11 news partner the Tribune-Review reports.

Hearing examiner Stephen Helmerich wrote that the countys vaccine policy is aimed at ensuring that the county can continue to provide critical services by making sure it has adequate staffing, Helmerich added. The county needs healthy employees showing up to work to maintain the effectiveness of its vital programs, including the police department.

According to Helmerichs findings, the county received 215 exemption requests, most stating religious reasons. As of hearing date, none of the religious exemptions had been granted, and the county granted only one or two medical exemptions, Helmerich wrote.

The county police department has about 217 employees, four of whom did not comply with the vaccine mandate and were fired.

Gaudelli was one of them. He was hired by the county police in July 2000 and terminated last Dec. 30, according to the Trib.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ilya PITALEV / SPUTNIK / AFP) (Photo by ILYA PITALEV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images

A former US ambassador said Russian use of nukes in Ukraine would "end" Putin's military.

Kurt Volker said that Putin is "increasingly desperate" and is embroiled in a war he can't win.

Putin recently said he wouldn't use nuclear weapons, following earlier hints that he would.

Any use of nuclear weapons by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine would result in "the end of the Russian military," a former US ambassador said.

Putin has committed himself to a war he can't win and is "increasingly desperate," Kurt Volker said in an interview with Lithuanian national broadcaster LRT, published Monday.

Volker, the US ambassador to NATO between 2008 and 2009 and a former special envoy to Ukraine, gave a damning assessment of Putin's position over the war in Ukraine, which he said the Russian leader "doesn't have the means to win."

Amid Ukraine's recapture of considerable amounts of territory in the country's north and east in the early fall, Putin made chilling comments that raised the spectre of Russia launching a nuclear attack on Ukraine.

In September, as he announced the mobilization of a further 300,000 reservists to the offensive, Putin referenced the country's modernized nuclear arsenal and added that its military will "use all the means at our disposal" if Russia were threatened.

"This is not a bluff," he added.

Putin recently denied those comments were about nukes, and signaled that he would not deploy them, as the Associated Press reported. "We see no need for that," he said, per the AP.

When asked about the potential for Putin to use nukes, Volker did not refer to Putin's statement but said "We should be concerned that this is a possibility."

Volker was also a special envoy to Ukraine between 2017 and 2019, when former President Donald Trump was in office. In 2019, he testified as part of Trump's first impeachment.

US intelligence learned that senior Russian military leaders recently held discussions over using a tactical nuclear weapons, as The New York Times reported.

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Putin was not involved in the discussions, and it is unclear exactly when they were, but the intelligence circulated the US government in mid-October, the Times reported.

Nonetheless, US intelligence has seen none of the preparations that would typically be made ahead of a nuclear strike, the report said.

Russia is estimated to have around 2,000 tactical nuclear weapons amid an even larger stockpile of bigger, strategic nukes.

Then-Ambassador Kurt Volker testifying before the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2019. AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Volker said that Putin using these weapons is not "the most likely scenario."

"I think it will not achieve a military objective for Putin," he added. "You can't seize and hold territory if you make it radioactive. It would also damage his own forces, they're not prepared."

"They also know that there would be a devastating military response against Russian forces if they did it," he said.

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan warned in September that Russia would suffer "catastrophic consequences," if it took that step.

Volker's assessment mirrors that of EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who said in October that Russia's army would be "annihilated" by the West's military response  albeit a non-nuclear one  if Putin launched a nuclear weapon.

President Joe Biden has said it would be "irresponsible" to spell out exactly what the US response would amount to, as Politico reported.

Western leaders have generally not given specifics on how they would retaliate to a nuclear strike in Ukraine, but some have said that they would not use nuclear weapons in response to avoid escalation.

Volker said he believed there's no realistic prospect of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.

"I think that Putin has committed himself to a set of military objectives in Ukraine that he does not have the ability to achieve," he said, adding that this puts Putin in a "very desperate situation" politically.

Read the original article on Business Insider
PARIS (Reuters) - France aims to speed up the expulsion of illegal migrants while making it easier to obtain residency permits for those who work in sectors struggling to find workers, the interior and labour ministers said in a joint interview published on Wednesday.

Over the past weeks the subject of expulsion orders for undocumented migrants has been at the heart of public debate in France, following the murder of a 12-year-old girl, for which the main suspect is an Algerian woman with no residency permit.

"If I had to summarise, I would say that we must now be mean to the bad guys and nice to the good ones," Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said in a joint interview with Labour Minister Olivier Dusspot in Le Monde newspaper.

They described a bill due to be voted on in parliament in early 2023 that would include measures favoured by the right: making expulsions easier, eliminating protection for groups such as those who arrived in France as small children, and denying welfare benefits to those told to leave.

But the tougher stance would be mitigated by measures such as automatic renewal of residency rights for some of those holding long-term residency permits. It would become easier for migrants who work in sectors that struggle to hire staff to legalise their situation and obtain residency, they said.

Serge Slama, a public law professor at the University of Grenoble-Alpes, said having the interior and labour ministers discuss the policies jointly was an attempt to win wide support by showing it is a "balanced law".

There are already procedures to legalise the situation of workers in under-staffed sectors - a list was created in 2007 - but the process is not "dynamic enough to respond to real needs of businesses," Slama said.

Without a majority in parliament, the centrist government needs to convince other political forces to back their proposals to turn them into law.

(Reporting by Layli Foroudi; Editing by Ingrid Melander and Peter Graff)
Photo: The Canadian Press Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz is seated at the defense table for a sentencing hearing at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022. Cruz was sentenced to life in prison for murdering 17 people at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School more than four years ago. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP, Pool)

Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz formally received a sentence of life without parole Wednesday after families of his 17 slain victims spent two days berating him as evil, a coward, a monster and a subhuman.

Cruz, shackled and in a red jail jumpsuit, watched Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer as she pronounced 34 consecutive life sentences  one each for the slain and the 17 he wounded  for the Feb. 14, 2018, massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in suburban Fort Lauderdale.

The judges voice broke as she read the first of the sentences, but her voice gained strength and volume she moved down the list. Cruz showed no emotion as she spoke.

Scherer had no other choice; the jury in Cruzs three-month penalty trial voted 9-3 on Oct. 13 to sentence him to death, but Florida law requires unanimity for that sentence to be imposed.

The sentencing came after two days' worth of parents, wives, siblings and other relatives of slain victims and some of the surviving wounded walking to a lectern 20 feet to address him face to face.

The judge commended the families and wounded who testified, calling them strong, graceful and patient.

I know you are going to be OK, because you have each other, Scherer said.

Some parents and other family members wept as she read. When she finished and Cruz was led from the courtroom, one father muttered Good riddance.

Cruz, 24, will be taken within days to the Florida prison system's processing center near Miami before he is assigned to a maximum-security prison. Families and the wounded spent two days verbally thrashing Cruz, wishing him a painful demise and lamenting that he could not be sentenced to death.

Real justice would be done if every family here were given a bullet and your AR-15 and we got to pick straws, and each one of us got to shoot one at a time at you, making sure that you felt every bit of it, and your fear continued to mount until the last family member who pulled that last straw had the privilege of making sure that they killed you," said Linda Beigel Schulman, mother of slain teacher Scott Beigel. Thats real justice for you.

Beigel Schulman said she takes some comfort in knowing that Cruz will have to worry constantly about his safety for the rest of his life.

From what I hear, child killers are highly frowned upon and hated in prison, Beigel Schulman said to Cruz. I welcome the day that Im told that youve been tortured and taken out for your cold-blooded, premediated, calculated, heinous murders, because you deserve no less.

David Alhadeff, the uncle of Alyssa Alhadeff, told Cruz via Zoom from his classroom in Maryland that he deserves the opportunity to rot away.

You deserve the opportunity to absorb the look of terror on your face once you leave this courtroom," Alhadeff said. "You deserve the opportunity of knowing that justice will prevail at some point, causing you great anguish, minute by minute, day by day.
Around 40,000 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year (Gareth Fuller/PA) (PA Wire)

The French and British authorities both need to step up work to prevent migrants risking the dangerous English Channel crossing in small boats, a Cabinet minister said.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said the partnership with the French needed to improve.

His comments came as efforts continued to move detainees out of the Manston migrant processing centre to ease the dangerous overcrowding at the Kent site.

Around 40,000 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year, with Home Secretary Suella Braverman warning of an invasion on the south coast, comments which have been condemned by opponents.

Provisional Government figures to date show 39,913 people have arrived in the UK after making the journey.

No crossings were recorded by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Tuesday and 46 people arrived in one boat on Monday.

In October alone 6,912 people made the journey, with 1,065 arriving in a single day. This is the third highest monthly total this year, after 8,641 were recorded in August and 7,961 were recorded in September, PA news agency analysis of the figures show.

Mr Harper told Sky News: I think both countries, Britain and France, could do more. What we need to do is work with the French, they do a lot already.

We provide resources to help them and, of course, people will know our border controls in France are actually physically located in France, and weve always worked in close partnership with French authorities.

Do we think they could do more? Yes. We could do more as well. Its about improving that partnership.

He said work was ongoing to get migrants from Manston quicker but said it is reasonable to say it is not going to happen overnight.

Military personnel were involved in efforts on Tuesday to help move migrants away from Manston.

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said the numbers at the site had fallen substantially on Tuesday, with more expected to be moved on Wednesday.

Unless we receive an unexpectedly high number of migrants in small boats in the coming days, numbers will fall significantly this week, he said.

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Its imperative that the site returns a sustainable operating model and we are doing everything we can to ensure that happens swiftly.

Sir Roger Gale, Tory MP for North Thanet which includes the site, welcomed the development having clashed with Ms Braverman about her handling of the chaos at Manston.

Once again I am grateful to Border Force and the catering and medical teams for their dedication under very difficult circumstances and to the Minister for his help in rectifying the mistakes that have been made by others.



This must never be allowed to happen again. 2/2  Sir Roger Gale MP (@SirRogerGale) November 1, 2022

He praised Mr Jenrick for rectifying the mistakes that have been made by others, adding this must never be allowed to happen again.

It is unclear whether those moved from Manston will be taken to hotels or alternative accommodation.

Ms Braverman has been forced to deny ignoring legal advice telling her to procure more accommodation, while the Governments efforts to secure hotel space have also faced challenges in the courts.

Sheila Oxtoby, chief executive of Great Yarmouth Borough Council which won a legal case against the Home Office, said the local authority objected to having decisions about the use of hotels in tourist areas imposed on it.

She told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: We have always, right from the beginning, offered to work with the Home Office to find the most suitable accommodation and the best solution for both the asylum seekers and the existing community  but that has largely fallen on deaf ears and our offer has not been taken up.
MUNSTER, Germany (AP)  Top diplomats from the worlds major industrialized democracies will grapple with the implications of Russias war in Ukraine, Chinas growing economic clout and aims on Taiwan and Irans treatment of anti-government protesters when they open two days of talks in Germany this week.

Meeting in the western German city of Munster, foreign ministers from the Group of Seven nations  Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States  will take stock of the situation in Ukraine nearly a year after they first banded together to warn Russia of massive consequences if it went ahead with plans to invade the former Soviet republic that some believed were exaggerated at the time.

Since that warning was delivered  two months before the invasion was actually launched  the G-7 nations have largely followed through with their vow to punish Russia, although the sanctions have done little to deter Moscow, which has instead escalated its attacks targeting civilian infrastructure, sent more troops, claimed to have annexed areas of Ukraine and raised the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons.

One looming crisis the ministers had expected to address at the meeting was averted Wednesday when Russia agreed to resume a wartime agreement that allowed Ukrainian grain and other commodities to reach world markets.

But, there remain other troubling aspects to the Ukraine situation, including energy supplies, Russian claims that Ukraine is preparing to use a so-called dirty bomb and suggestions it might respond with nukes.

Senior Biden U.S. officials traveling with Blinken said they expected the discussions on Thursday and Friday in Munster's town hall  which local officials say was last used for an international diplomatic event in 1648 when the Treaty of Westphalia was signed ending the 30 Years War  to reaffirm G-7 alignment and consistency on Ukraine and a number of other issues.

Those include joint approaches to China, which has sided with Russia over Ukraine while also seeking to boost investments in critical and sensitive infrastructure in the West, and Iran, which in addition to conducting a brutal crackdown on protesters is accused of supplying Russia with armed drones and possibly other weapons for use in Ukraine.

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In maintaining that unity, the G-7 has had to weather numerous major changes since the foreign ministers issued their stark pre-war ultimatum to the Kremlin last December in Liverpool, England: Britain is on its third prime minister, theres a new right-wing government in Italy, relations between Germany and France have frayed and control of the U.S. Congress may be about to shift with potential implications for Ukraine policy.

The G-7 discussions will look at holding the bloc together in the face of the Ukraine conflict, which has exacerbated global shortages of food and energy as famine looms in parts of Africa and winter approaches in Europe. Europe is now considering moving forward with price caps on Russian energy imports aimed at further stifling Russia's income in what some hope might help convince the Kremlin to stop the fighting and engage in diplomacy.

Theres a lot of common positions and solidarity, I think, within Europe, within the United States, in terms of the need to support Ukraines heroic efforts to stand up to this invasion by Russia, said Howard Solomon, a senior official in the State Departments European affairs bureau.

On China, which has disappointed the West by siding with Russia over Ukraine, U.S. officials said the G-7 would be looking to further harmonize their policies related to Chinese investment in their countries as well to caution against antagonistic moves that Beijing might take against Taiwan.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will soon be visiting Beijing  the first European leader to make the trip since the Ukraine war began  as Chinese investment in a major port project in Germany has raised concerns in Washington and other capitals that China might gain a controlling interest in critical infrastructure in the heart of an allied country.

U.S. officials said they were pleased that the contract had been amended to reduce Chinas stake in the Hamburg port to a minority position but said it was important that all nations look carefully at proposed Chinese investments and the potential security threats they might bring. Scholz has pledged to use his trip to make the case for Chinese moderation and assistance in calming the situations with Ukraine and Taiwan.

There seems to be a growing unity in terms of positions and approaches on China, Solomon said.
FIRST ON FOX: Liberal billionaire George Soros dropped massive last-minute cash into Texas to help save two far-left district attorney candidates he previously helped propel into office, according to campaign finance records reviewed by Fox News Digital.

Soros pushed $1 million directly from his name and added $150,000 from his federal Democracy PAC II into the Texas Justice & Public Safety PAC in mid-October, filings submitted this week to the Texas Ethics Commission show. Soros is the sole funder of the Texas-based PAC, which is led by Whitney Tymas, his longtime operator of such committees that pop up in various states supporting progressive prosecutor candidates.

The money has since gone toward purchasing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of television and digital advertisements, direct mail and polling services supporting Bexar County DA Joe Gonzalez and Dallas County DA John Creuzot in the days following the cash infusion, the records show.

Soros' latest donations follow the nearly $1 million in backing he gave to Gonzalez and more than $200,000 to Creuzot four years ago. Like other Soros-backed candidates, the duo favors lax enforcement of lower-level crimes to reduce incarceration rates.

STACEY ABRAMS' FIRM RECEIVED THOUSANDS TO CONSULT GEORGE SOROS DISTRICT ATTORNEY EFFORTS, FILINGS REVEAL

Gonzalez is facing Republican Marc LaHood, who received more than $300,000 in October from the Defend Texas Liberty PAC, while Creuzot is facing Republican Faith Johnson. Soros' committee put the bulk of its recent cash toward Gonzalez, considered the more vulnerable candidate of the two.

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Soros views district attorneys, who decide which crimes to charge and which to let slide, as a significant component of overhauling the criminal justice system. He has financially backed dozens of far-left prosecutor candidates in recent years, including Larry Krasner in Philadelphia, Kim Foxx in Chicago, Kim Gardner in St. Louis and George Gascon in Los Angeles.

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GEORGE SOROS PROVIDES ANOTHER $1M BOOST TO STACEY ABRAMS' CANDIDACY

In addition to prosecutor candidates, Soros has bankrolled numerous initiatives intending to overhaul the criminal justice system. In 2020, his Open Society Foundations network pledged $70 million to local efforts for such reforms. The money was part of a more significant $220 million push for racial equality.

Soros also funneled cash into an effort that calls for abolishing the police. In 2019 and 2020, his Foundation to Promote Open Society, a nonprofit in his sprawling network, earmarked $4.5 million to the Community Resource Hub for Safety and Responsibility, Fox News Digital previously reported.

Soros' cash helped create the group, which has reviewed "alternatives to policing in the context of police abolitionist frameworks," the group's memo to organizers said.

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Soros' Open Society Policy Center, his advocacy nonprofit, also pushed a $500,000 donation into the failed 2021 effort to "dismantle" and replace the Minneapolis police department. That effort was spearheaded by far-left activists and supported by Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar.

Michael Vachon, Soros' spokesperson, did not respond to a Fox News Digital inquiry on his Texas DA cash.
Bibb County deputies announced a nontraditional rescue on Wednesday.

Deputies say they rescued an owl after a person noticed it struggling with an injured foot and reported it to the county.

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In their post announcing the rescue, deputies said the bird was a barred owl.

The owl was evaluated and taken to a local wildlife rehabilitation center for recovery, deputies say.

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Police in Georgia on Sunday released a new image of a suspect seen with a 13-year-old murder victim in the hours before he was fatally shot.

Jamiren Crosby was found dead around 4 p.m. on the 2600 block of Parkway Trail in Lithonia on Sept. 19, the DeKalb County Police Department said. The 13-year-old had been shot in the wood line behind the townhomes and police have been investigating his death as a homicide.

Police released home surveillance video that shows Jamiren walking through a backyard in a nearby neighborhood at 3:11 a.m. on Sept. 18 with an unknown male who was wearing a black hoodie, face mask and pants.

While police are searching for the suspect in the video for questioning in the investigation, Jamirens mother told FOX5 Atlanta that she hopes the new images will help lead authorities to the murderer or force him to turn himself in.

NY MOM GRIEVING DAUGHTER ALLEGEDLY KILLED BY ESTRANGED HUSBAND BLAMES HOCHUL POLICIES FOR MURDER

The teens mother said her son knew the male in the video but did not elaborate.

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"I know who Jamiren hangs with, I know exactly who he was," his mother said, referencing the video. "They have a history together."

She told the station that Jamiren was a straight-A student and played football. She last saw him alive on Sept. 17 when he left home with some friends around 2 a.m.

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Authorities asked anyone with information about Jamirens death or who can identify the suspect to contact the DeKalb County Police Departments homicide unit at 770-724-7850 or Crime Stoppers at 404-577-8477.
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
A 10-year-old Uvalde student trapped with the gunman who slaughtered 19 children and two teachers repeatedly called 911 over 40 minutes before police stormed the classroom, a report says.

Khloie Torres, who is now 11, survived the 24 May attack at Robb Elementary school, the deadliest ever at a Texas public school.

Her pleas for help to police dispatchers were made 30 minutes after the 18-year-old gunman got into the school, and 40 minutes before he was shot and killed by law enforcement, according to CNN.

CNN says it got the tapes from a source and has published them with the approval of Khloies family.

Im in classroom 112, the little girl can be heard telling the police dispatcher at 12.10pm. Please hurry. There is a lot of dead bodies.

And she added: Please get help. I dont wanna die. My teacher is dead. Oh, my God.

Several minutes later she can be heard on another call begging for assistance.

I need help  please. Have yall captured the person? she asked at 12.12pm, and a few minutes after that she asked, You want me to open the door now?

While the youngster was bravely calling and raising the alarm, a total of 376 armed law enforcement officers were gathering outside the classroom and school building and waiting to act.

Then at 12.15pm, the youngster told the 911 operator that her shot teacher, Eva Mireles, was still alive and asked for an ambulance.

Khloies father, former Marine Ruben Torres, praised his daughters actions in the midst of the unbearable violence that had unfolded around her.

That day, the things that she did were absolutely incredible, he said, comparing it to the actions of the adults and professionals who responded.

None of them had courage that day, he told the news network.
A Phoenix man accused of shooting and killing an 8-year-old girl after a road-rage clash with her father faces a murder charge, Arizona police reported.

Sidney Garrand, 48, shot at the fathers vehicle as he drove away, killing a girl in the back seat in the incident at 11 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, Phoenix police said in a news release.

Court documents say Garrand became upset when the other vehicle turned left in front of him at a four-way stop sign, AZ Family reported. The 28-year-old driver of the other vehicle had just picked his daughters up from school.

Garrand followed the other driver, then got out of his vehicle and attacked him, police said in the news release. The 28-year-old father stabbed Garrand, then got back into his vehicle and drove away, police said.

Police said Garrand pulled out a handgun and began shooting at the vehicle, striking the 8-year-old girl, who later died. No one else was hit.

Police arrested Garrand on Monday, Oct. 31, on a charge of first-degree murder.

He had been hospitalized in critical condition after the fight, KNXV reported. The 28-year-old man suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

I think for us its just a matter of letting people know that she wasnt just the 8-year-old victim, Thali Vargas, the slain girls aunt, told AZ Family. That she was somebodys daughter, sister, niece.

Son tracks down moms stolen car and opens fire on people inside, Missouri cops say

Road rage suspect opens fire on off-duty officer and his teen son, Texas police say

Officer kills driver after woman thrown from car during fit of road rage, GA cops say
The debate over New York Penn Stations future has reached the court system.

The Penn Community Defense Fund and other citizen groups sued Empire State Development and the New York State Public Authorities Control Board  the government entities overseeing the redevelopment  in October over their plans to rejuvenate the area surrounding the busiest transit hub in North America.

They accused the government entities of developing a reconstruction plan in violation of environmental law and improperly entering a revenue-sharing agreement with the city over the proposed developments, according to court documents filed in New York Supreme Court.

At issue is the more than 18 million square feet of commercial, residential and hotel space proposed on properties in the immediate vicinity of Penn Station. Revenue generated from these developments, according to Empire State Development, would help fund other Penn Station improvement projects, including:

A southward expansion of the station with up to 12 more tracks.

New entrances, elevators and escalators.

A new pedestrian corridor that would directly connect Penn Station with more subway stops.

Other public realm improvements.

But the lawsuit argues there's "no basis" for ESD's claim that it would generate the revenue needed to fund New York's share of station projects. AndSam Turvey, chair of the transit planning group ReThinkNYC, which is among those behind the lawsuit, said the plans do more to benefit real estate developers than transit users.

"This is supposed to be about Penn Station and fixing up a transit facility, and they dont have any of that figured out," Turvey said. "The first thing they should have done is figure out what the transit plan is and how it could work and build back from there."

People are shown as they enter Penn Station from Seventh Avenue, just before the start of the evening rush. Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Former state official 'outraged' by plans

For decades, plans to reimagine Penn Station and increase train capacity at and into the station have stagnated, and the station has become a notorious chokepoint, which former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo likened to a ring of hell in Dantes Inferno." Delays for improvement are in large part due to bureaucratic malaise, political scandal and the sheer complexity of getting multiple states, agencies, political leaders and companies on the same page about how to fix the station.

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This lawsuit is the latest example of the feuding over the station's future.

The complaint hinges on multiple technicalitiesthat its petitioners say put ESD and PACB in violation of state law, and that therefore their development plans should be deemed null and void.

Spokesmen from ESD and PACB said the agencies would not comment due to the pending litigation.

While the 19-page lawsuit addresses the finer points of state environmental and development law, the petitioners beefed up their complaint with 67 exhibits and two affidavits. One affidavit was from former New York Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch. In it, Ravitch said he is genuinely outraged by the plans.

ESD certainly has a good cause  rehabilitating Penn Station  but it has altogether failed to explain why that requires a real estate giveaway on this scale, said Ravitch, who also formerly chaired the ESD, when it was the Urban Development Corporation, and the MTA board.

Richard Ravitch

Also included in the exhibits are emails between agency officials and representatives from the main developer, Vornado, obtained through a public information request. Vornado owns most of the property that would be redeveloped and is accused in the lawsuit as being a "de facto partner" in the plan's creation.

"Holly Leicht, ESDs Executive Vice President for Real Estate Development and Planning at the time, began to worry that the plan would not withstand public scrutiny," according to court documents.

"In an email to ESD staff and senior Vornado executives in advance of a public meeting, Ms. Leicht wrote: 'We need to coordinate and script this meeting to ensure were cohesive and have a good story to tell about why we landed on these [tower] densities.'"

Steven Roth, chair of Vornado, and his family donated at least $384,000 to political campaigns for Cuomo. Roth and two company trustees also gave the maximum $69,700 to current New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, according to court documents.

Vornado could delay the projects, according to a report in Crain's New York Business, which quoted Roth on a conference call as saying the "current environment" is not conducive for development. Questions emailed to Vornado did not get an immediate response.

Penn Station's long, controversial history

The current New York Penn Station has been a source of controversy since the original building  considered by many to be an engineering and architectural marvel  was destroyed in the 1960s, scaled down and rebuilt, opening in 1968.

The now-54-year-old structure was designed to handle 200,000 people a day, but for at least two decades it has operated over capacity, with as many as 650,000 people using the station daily in 2019.

The Hudson River rail tunnels that feed NJ Transit and Amtrak trains into the station are at capacity at peak hours, making Penn Station a significant chokepoint on the Northeast Corridor when delays occur. Delays have become more frequent since Superstorm Sandy, when the tubes were inundated with saltwater, causing corrosion that will ultimately require a complete overhaul.

Plans to rehabilitate the existing tunnels and build two new ones were upended when former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie vetoed those plans in 2010. A new version of those plans, known as the Gateway Program, is in the process of securing federal funding, but news came this summer that that agreement would be delayed another year.

Asked if suing to halt the development plans is worth it, given the urgency to improve the experience for commuters and tourists, Turvey said yes. He noted they aren't seeking to stop other plans in the works, like Gateway.

"We dont think they are creating a new Penn Station; we think its a shimmer and a hoax," Turvey said. "Theyre doubling down on the initial terrible decision to take a train station and put it under a basketball facility, so we think theyre selling the heavens to give us mediocrity below ground level."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Penn Station NYC redevelopment plan goes to court in lawsuit
A 18 years old young woman with a tablet computer

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U.S. workers are looking for good reasons to stay home and to log off, according to a new study.

Frank Recruitment Group, a technology recruiting company in the United Kingdom, analyzed Google search engine traffic from 2018 and 2022 and released its findings on Tuesday.

According to the report, U.S.-based Google searches for excuses to miss work are at a five-year high and rose 630% during that time period.

The report found that phrases such as "believable excuses for missing work", "good excuses to miss work", and "realistic excuses for missing work" were all popular searches.

Frank Recruitment President of Americas Rowan O'Grady said that the findings seem to correlate with workers returning to a traditional office setting after remote work became more popular during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

RELATED: Around 1 in 5 Americans May Develop Long COVID, Large CDC Study Finds

"This hasn't been the easiest transition for everybody," O'Grady said in the report. "The important thing, of course, is not to try and 'go back to normal' but to go forwards to a healthier tomorrow."

Similar findings were discovered in a paper published by Harvard Business School earlier this year.

The research revealed that coming into the office just one or two days a week may be ideal for many workers.

RELATED VIDEO: Flight Attendant Shares Emotional Goodbye Speech on Final Flight Before Being Furloughed

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Of everyone who participated, the group that came into their office one or two days a week ended up creating higher quality work when compared to the others, their managers told researchers.

While mentioning that past research has shown that full-time remote work can lead to isolation from colleagues, Harvard researchers said that "intermediate hybrid work" could be a "sweet spot" for employees.
Photo: The Canadian Press FILE = Timothy Teagan, a member of the Boogaloo Bois movement, stands with his rifle outside the state capitol in Lansing, Mich., Sunday, Jan. 17, 2021. Teagan who has described himself as a backer of the anti-government, pro-gun extremist movement called the boogaloo has been arrested by the FBI in Detroit. Teagan was expected to appear Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022, in federal court when charges will be unsealed, said FBI spokeswoman Mara Schneider. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File )

The FBI has arrested two alleged members of the far-right anti-government group the Boogaloo Boys, with authorities increasingly concerned about the potential for violence in the leadup to next week's midterm elections.

Timothy Teagan appeared Wednesday in federal court in Detroit on charges of being a drug user in possession of firearms and ammunition, and giving a false statement in connection with the acquisition of a firearm, according to an unsealed federal complaint.

Meanwhile, the FBI says in a criminal complaint filed Monday that there was enough evidence to charge Aron McKillips, of Sandusky, Ohio, with illegal possession of a machine gun and the interstate communication of threats. It says McKillips is a member of the Boogaloo Boys and is believed to be in a militia group called the Sons of Liberty.

McKillips' lawyer, Neil McElroy, said via email Wednesday that McKillips was taken into custody and that he has asked for McKillips to be released pending a Nov. 9 detention hearing in Toledo, Ohio.

In the criminal complaint against McKillips, the FBI alleges that he made multiple online threats, including one to kill a police officer and another to kill anyone he determined to be a federal informant.

The FBI contends that McKillips provided other members of the Boogaloo Boys equipment to convert rifles into machine guns, as on a trip to Lansing, Michigan, in April 2021. I literally handed out machine guns in Michigan, McKillips said in a recording, the complaint states.

In September 2021, he said in a private chat group, Aint Got a federal badge off a corpse yet, so my time here aint near done yet lol, according to the complaint.

In May of this year, McKillips and another user in the Signal messaging system threatened to kill a different Signal user in the belief the person was an informant who worked for the FBI or Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the complaint says. And in July, McKillips threatened in a Signal chat group that he would smoke a hog, meaning kill a police officer, if conditions worsened following a fatal police shooting in Akron in July, it says.

McKillips frequently advocated violence against police officers, federal agents and government buildings, big box stores like Walmart and Target, and he even threatened to blow up Facebooks headquarters, the criminal complaint says.

During Teagan's hearing on Wednesday, a federal magistrate ordered him held pending a Friday bond hearing.

Dressed in colorful Hawaiian-style shirt  a uniform of sorts for adherents to the so-called boogaloo movement, which espouses that a second U.S. civil war is coming  Teagan told the court that he might seek to retain his own attorney.

Police in the Detroit suburb of Plymouth arrested Teagan on Oct. 25 and charged with assault and battery in connection with an attack on his father. FBI agents searching his room at his father's Plymouth home four days later found body armor, boogaloo movement flags and patches, and gas masks, according to the criminal complaint. They also seized a handgun from his brother's vehicle.

According to the complaint, Teagan submitted an ATF form on July 17 for the purchase of a firearm and certified that he did not use controlled substances. But on Oct. 27, agents seized packages of what appeared to be marijuana, bongs and other drug paraphernalia from Teagan's room.

His brother, Christopher Teagan, told an FBI agent on the Joint Terrorism Task Force that he brought Timothy Teagan a ton of weed following his brother's release on the assault charge, the complaint states.

Teagan's arrest Tuesday came a week before the midterm elections. Election workers have increasingly been targeted by threats and harassment since the 2020 election, and its only gotten worse in recent weeks, with federal authorities having charged at least five people already. Nationally, elections officials are concerned about a flood of conspiracy theorists signing up to work as poll watchers, with some groups that have trafficked in lies about the 2020 election recruiting and training watchers.

Teagan was among a dozen or so people who openly carried guns while demonstrating in January 2021 outside of the Michigan Capitol in Lansing. Some of them promoted the boogaloo movement. Teagan told reporters at the time that the purpose of the demonstration was to urge a message of peace and unity to the left and right."

Some boogaloo promoters insist they arent genuinely advocating for violence. But the movement has been linked to a string of domestic terrorism plots. The Department of Homeland Security has warned of potential domestic terrorism threats posed by boogaloo supporters.

Teagan's brother, Christopher Teagan, told The Associated Press following Wednesdays hearing that his brother, through his association with the boogaloo movement, has never been involved in anything of any type of violent nature.

Hes just been to protests, Christopher Teagan, 24, said outside the courtroom. I think (the FBI) will go after him unjustly or harsher because of his association with the group.

Timothy Teagan's arrest came just days after three militia members were convicted of supplying material support for a terrorist act over a plot to kidnap Michigan's Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer. Prosecutors argued that the defendants supported the boogaloo movement.

And Steven Carrillo, an Air Force sergeant who officials say is associated with the boogaloo movement, was sentenced in August to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the killing of a Northern California sheriffs sergeant. In June, a federal judge sentenced Carrillo to 41 years in prison for killing a federal security agent who was attacked along with a colleague while guarding a federal building in Oakland.
One afternoon in 2012, a man drove down a residential street in southeast Los Angeles. Unbeknownst to him, at that exact moment, a Google Street View camera nearby snapped a photo of him. Years later, multidisciplinary artist and educator Felix Quintana saw this image and recognized the person in the photograph: his father.

With Google Maps Street View, the focus on buildings and roads diminishes figures. By obscuring the faces caught between moments, people almost appear invisible. In his practice, Quintana manipulates these Google images using cyanotypes, an early photographic technique that produces prints coated with a Prussian shade. With collage-making, he plays around with different textures  some are created with a stucco finish, others smoother. The found materials and assemblage pieces reference signs and landmarks unique to Quintana.

Quintana, who works with the mediums of photography, poetry, drawings and sculpture, often asks a compelling question in his work: "How can we visualize the past in the contemporary moment?" Shifting perspectives and reframing narratives are themes Quintana also revisits in a recently opened solo show, "Love is the Given of the Place," at Edouard de Merlier Photo Gallery, Cypress College, and a group exhibition, "We Run Things, Things Don't Run We," by Slanguage Studio.

The 31-year-old artist grew up in Lynwood, where his parents sought refuge from El Salvador's civil war. He grew up just three miles from the Watts Towers, and yet there was a spatial distance between him and the sculptural monument. "I feel like that's a metaphor for how close yet so far I was to world-class art," he says. "It took my exploration through public transit or by car to be able to witness something so profound like the towers."

As a kid, Quintana accompanied his mother to Encino, where she worked as a children's caretaker. He vividly remembers being inspired by a Frank Romero mural, "Going to the 1984 Olympics." Along the walls of the Hollywood Freeway, the imagery of pastel-colored automobiles, heart shapes and palm trees slowly fading from the blistering sun stood out.

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Formative years included bus rides to Fairfax Avenue, a destination for skateboarders and hip-hop heads. Quintana, just a teenager, was introduced to photography, where he chronicled street happenings, backyard shows and graffiti. His parents, who gave him a Nikon camera for a high school photography class, supported his endeavors.

While studying studio art and photography at Cal Poly Humboldt, he experimented with self-portraits. "I was doing a lot of interior work," he says. "It was rare to photograph brown male bodies." Quintana recorded himself performing free-flowing dance movements  stacking long-exposure photos of light to create a mark. He found that each image revealed further proportion and depth. "The camera was like a paintbrush or pen," he says. "It was very abstract."

After graduating, Quintana worked as a teaching artist, adopting models of social practice introduced by artists and educators Mario Ybarra Jr. and Karla Diaz of Slanguage Studio, an artist-run space in Wilmington. He later obtained a master of fine arts in photography at San Jose State University.

There, Quintana found that cyanotypes  once used for architectural designs  could serve as an emotional and cultural blueprint of L.A. This art form would allow him to engage with subjects, bringing people, objects and locales into focus while adding context to signage and exteriors like walls, gates and sidewalks, which Street View often neglects. The manual approach of cyanotypes, countering the rapidness of Google technology and digital characteristics, offered Quintana time to thoughtfully develop the image.

Quintana credits James Rojas, community activist and urban planner whose concept of "Latino urbanism" examines how traditions are part of the cultural landscape as a key influence. "If you go to East Los Angeles," Quintana shares, "you will notice the houses don't start at the front door; they begin at the yard."

Quintana knows the history of photography but enters the medium in a new way, says Vanessa Arizmendi, a curatorial associate at the Hammer Museum.

His process is multifaceted: Quintana takes screenshots of Google images, creating digital negatives that undergo heavy editing. Then, he hand-coats a paper with a cyanotype solution that adds slickness to the piece. Once dry, he presses a piece of glass against the materials, which results in a contact print. Quintana then scratches onto the surface with a blade, leaving white sketches of bushes, for example, sprouting from asphalt, that captures elements of erasure and existence. In the final stages, the photo is exposed to ultraviolet light and developed in liquids.

"The images that he works with, even just the etchings, palm trees and mimicking of grilles on a metal screen door, is so much about a particular kind of language that some of us are familiar with," Arizmendi says. This familiarity she describes is palpable among those close to the subject matter, almost like the inscriptions are a part of collective memory.

His most circulated series, the "Los Angeles Blueprints" (2019-present), is a response to the work of Doug Rickard, a white artist and photographer from San Jose who amassed a collection of Street View images, archiving primarily communities of color along the Rust Belt. For Quintana, sourcing photos of places under surveillance opens up conversations about intervention and offers reverence to pedestrians, street vendors and laborers.

In his piece "Families Walking to Paramount Swapmeet" (2022), rituals in public spaces become sacred. Some of the titles stem from Quintanas own observations, such as "Posted on an Inglewood Corner, City of Changes" (2022) or "Cholo Walking by the Pawn Shop at a Strip Mall in Compton" (2022).

He adds another dimension with collages in "Para los Lil Homies" (2019-present), some of which are in his solo exhibition. "Much of my work is a dialogue in response to literary material," he says. The chosen title, "Love is the Given of the Place," borrowed from Roberto Lovato's memoir, repurposes Joan Didion's reference to El Salvador: "Terror is the given of the place."

"Even though there is struggle happening in these neighborhoods, there is beauty," Quintana says. The show is a tribute to the Salvadoran diaspora, featuring blueprints, mixed-media collages and installations. He adds, "It is also dedicated to L.A. and the places that have strongly impacted and influenced me."

Quintana is also showing with Slanguage Studio as part of its 20th anniversary group exhibition. Inside Angels Gate Cultural Center in San Pedro, Quintana focuses on site-specific work with framed postcard cyanotypes that map a conceptual route in Wilmington. Outside, Quintana transforms the images into a digital collage banner offering a panoramic view. It serves as an "insider tour" featuring familiar sites, like the Don Hotel or Fallas Paredes store. Quintana also chose an image of a historical Chicano mural painted on a former liquor store that local artists restored, and the building Slanguage Studio now sits in when it was an auto shop.

"I wanted to mainly honor Wilmington and those spots that you'd only know if you grew up there, or, in my case, had a lot of friends and mentors from there who would show me these places," he says.

Quintana has long been thinking about how we consume images, not just how we make them, and what tools youth are equipped with when interacting with portrayals of themselves. That's part of what drives him to teach digital photography at Cerritos College and arts education at UCLA. "Above all else, I lean on breaking ceilings for the next generation who follows me," he says.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
At an AI-focused press event today in New York, Google announced that it's bringing its AI-powered wildfire detection system to the U.S. Canada, Mexico and parts of Australia. It's one of several "AI for good" efforts the company detailed this morning, which also included Google's efforts to expand flood forecasting to more regions around the world.

The previously announced system utilizes machine learning models trained on satellite data to track fires in real time and predict how it will spread. The feature is initially focused on helping first responders determine how best to control the fire.

"Our machine learning models trained using satellite imagery allow us to identify and track wildfires in real time and predict how they will spread, enabling us to support firefighters and other first responders," Katherine Chou, senior director at Google Research, said onstage.

Weve trained ML models using satellite imagery to identify and track wildfires in real time and predict how they will evolve to support first responders.(https://t.co/RTkFCMGb0k) We're announcing our wildfire detection system now works in the US, CAN, MX and parts of AUS.(3/5) pic.twitter.com/TX1BnvUjeN  Google AI (@GoogleAI) November 2, 2022

Weve trained ML models using satellite imagery to identify and track wildfires in real time and predict how they will evolve to support first responders.(https://t.co/RTkFCMGb0k) We're announcing our wildfire detection system now works in the US, CAN, MX and parts of AUS.(3/5) pic.twitter.com/TX1BnvUjeN  Google AI (@GoogleAI) November 2, 2022

This time last year, Google announced that the technology was being added as a layer in Google Maps. The company noted at the time:

[W]ere now bringing all of Googles wildfire information together and launching it globally with a new layer on Google Maps. With the wildfire layer, you can get up-to-date details about multiple fires at once, allowing you to make quick, informed decisions during times of emergency. Just tap on a fire to see available links to resources from local governments, such as emergency websites, phone numbers for help and information, and evacuation details. When available, you can also see important details about the fire, such as its containment, how many acres have burned, and when all this information was last reported.

The feature joins a similar ML-based flood forecasting feature announced back in 2018. The former is now being expanded to an additional 18 countries with the global launch of the new FloodHub, Google's platform that displays flood forecasts and shows when and where floods may occur. The countries are: Brazil, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Angola, South Sudan, Namibia, Liberia and South Africa.

Weve trained ML models using satellite imagery to identify and track wildfires in real time and predict how they will evolve to support first responders.(https://t.co/RTkFCMGb0k) We're announcing our wildfire detection system now works in the US, CAN, MX and parts of AUS.(3/5) pic.twitter.com/TX1BnvUjeN  Google AI (@GoogleAI) November 2, 2022

Google also noted, as previously covered in a piece by Wired, that it's using machine learning models to identify damaged buildings after natural disasters such as hurricanes. By analyzing the same satellite imagery as its wildfire detection tools, the models provide crises responders information about the most heavily hit areas in the first phase of a response effort, Google says.

Google first applied the tech in partnership with nonprofit GiveDirectly to identify and funnel donations to low-income households impacted by Hurricane Ian. More recently, the company applied the models to support government relief efforts during the recent flooding in Pakistan, Chou says.

"We hope to continue to empower organizations to deliver aid faster to those who need it," she added.
A GOP congresswoman has been forced to delete a tweet mocking the hammer attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Claudia Tenney, a Republican from the 24th District of New York, retweeted a photoshopped image of a group of men holding hammers in front of what some claim is the home of Pelosi-attacker David DePape.

LOL, Ms Tenney wrote on 28 October.

On Tuesday morning, journalist Aaron Ruper tweeted a screenshot of the post, writing that Ms Tenney posted this remarkably cruel tweet laughing at the brutal beating of her colleagues husband and then when people started dragging her for it, she turned off the replies instead of deleting. Cowardly.

Sometime today, after I called her out for it, @claudiatenney deleted this tweet without comment, Mr Rupar added on Tuesday night.

Actor George Takei tweeted: A sitting Republican Rep running in upstate NY using a homophobic meme to make light of political violence. Yep, sounds about right coming from MAGA deplorable @ClaudiaTenney.

She will win in a landslide. Ny24 is predominantly Republican. Hence why she is running in a district she doesnt even live in, one Twitter user responded.

Ms Tenney shot back: I live and vote in Canandaigua which is in the heart of the district. These replies are so funny!

Former Republican strategist and Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt tweeted: Hey @claudiatenney WTF is wrong with you? You are a Member of Congress. An 82 year old man was beaten with a hammer and had ... surgery. He is a husband, a father and a grandfather. He is an American who was asleep in his home. Wow! You are sick, broken and unfit. Good god.

California Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell wrote: Wow. I called @claudiatenney out for this disgusting tweet about Paul Pelosi. Thousands of you condemned it. What did she do? Did she take it down? No. She blocked your ability to comment. Snowflake.

The level of evil it takes to find humor in the violent attack of an 82 year old man is not something I ever want to understand. However @claudiatenney you have most certainly proven beyond all doubt that you are unfit to sit in the US Congress, one Twitter user said.

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Several Republicans have made light of the attack on Mr Pelosi.

Arizona GOP gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake went on Fox News on Monday and told host Tucker Carlson that she was being silenced by the media for joking about the attack.

Nancy Pelosi, well, shes got protection when shes in DC  apparently her house doesnt have a lot of protection, Ms Lake said during a campaign event earlier on Monday, according to NBC News.

We cant talk about all these issues because the media has told us theyre prohibited, Ms Lake told Mr Carlson. You cant talk about vaccines. You cant talk about elections. You cant talk about Paul Pelosi  now you cant talk about Nancy Pelosi. And you cant talk about the elections.

Im dangerous to people like Liz Cheney and the folks that she hangs out with, and they want to stop people like me, she added.
Alaskan Gov. Mike Dunleavy Becky Bohrer/AP Photo; Insider

Gov. Mike Dunleavy is running against Democrat Les Gara, Republican Charlie Pierce, and independent candidate Bill Walker  a former governor  in Alaska's gubernatorial race.

This is the first Alaskan gubernatorial election since the state implemented a top-four election for the primary.

This is one of 36 gubernatorial elections taking place in 2022.

Republican incumbent Gov. Mike Dunleavy faces off against Democrat Les Gara, Republican Charlie Pierce, and independent candidate Bill Walker in Alaska's gubernatorial election.

This is the first Alaskan gubernatorial election since the state implemented a top-four election for the primary and ranked-choice voting in the general election.

Alaska's gubernatorial candidates

Dunleavy was elected in 2018 and is finishing up his first term as governor. Prior to being elected governor, Dunleavy was a member of the Alaska State Senate, a seat he held from 2012 to 2018.

Following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the precedents set by Roe v. Wade in June, Dunleavy pledged to propose a constitutional amendment in the coming legislative session to "answer the question whether abortion shall, or not be a constitutionally protected right."

Former President Donald Trump endorsed Dunleavy on the condition that Dunleavy doesn't endorse Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, for re-election.

"He has my Complete and Total Endorsement," Trump said, "but this endorsement is subject to his non-endorsement of Senator Lisa Murkowski who has been very bad for Alaska, including losing ANWAR, perhaps the most important drilling site in the world, and much else."

"ANWAR" refers to ANWR, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the northeastern corner of Alaska.

Dunleavy, along with fellow Republican candidate Pierce, has also been endorsed by the Alaska Republican Party.

Pierce was the mayor of the Kenai Peninsula Borough from 2017 to 2022, and prior to that, sat on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly for six years. At a debate in October, he said he opposed access to abortion and as governor would support a vote to amend the state constitution to permit an abortion ban.

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Gara, the Democrat in the race, was a member of the Alaska House of Representatives from 2003 to 2019. Gara considers himself "pro-choice" and received an endorsement from the Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates in July.

Walker is an independent and served as governor of Alaska from 2014 to 2018. As governor, Walker used his executive authority to expand Medicaid in the state. He's running on a platform to boost the Alaskan economy, invest in education, and protect "the rights of all Alaskans, including LGBTQIA+ Alaskans."

Alaska's voting history

Trump defeated Joe Biden by a 10 percentage point margin in Alaska in the 2020 presidential election. The state has voted for the Republican candidate in every presidential election since 1968.

The money race

According to the most recently filed campaign finance reports, Dunleavy had more than $900,000, as of October 7. Gara had nearly $360,000 cash on hand, Walker had $450,000, and Pierce had just over $6,000.

What experts say

The race between Dunleavy and Gara is rated as "likely Republican" by Inside Elections, "likely Republican" by The Cook Political Report, and "likely Republican" by Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Scott Jensen's campaign; Shari L. Gross/Star Tribune via Getty Images; Insider

Gov. Tim Walz is running against Republican Scott Jensen in Minnesota's gubernatorial race.

This is one of 36 gubernatorial elections taking place in 2022.

The state's pandemic response has become a central issue, with Jensen being a harsh critic of Walz's performance.

Democratic incumbent Tim Walz faces off against Republican Scott Jensen in Minnesota's gubernatorial election.

Minnesota's gubernatorial candidates

Walz is the governor of Minnesota and was elected in 2018. Prior to being elected, Walz represented Minnesota's 1st Congressional District for six terms, from 2007 to 2019. This district, situated in a rural and mostly conservative part of Minnesota, was one of 13 Democratic-held House districts that former President Donald Trump won in the 2016 presidential election.

Walz, who touted middle-of-the-road politics and boasted an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association for each of his five successful reelection campaigns, now has an "F" rating from the NRA. Prior to running for governor, Walz had been a consistent supporter of gun rights, but his current tone on guns is decidedly different: he supports gun control and enhanced background checks for gun purchases.

As a congressman, Walz served as the ranking member of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. He also introduced the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, a bill that sought to limit congressional insider trading. On March 22, 2012, then-President Barack Obama signed the bill into law. The bill had strong bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate, but as Insider has reported, is now frequently violated by members of Congress, and some federal lawmakers want to ban congressional stock trading altogether.

Jensen, Walz's challenger, is a physician and former state senator. In 2016, he was named the Minnesota Family Physician of the Year.

Born and raised in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, Jensen represented Senate District 47 from 2017 to 2021. As a state senator, he took the lead on an insulin affordability bill that passed with bipartisan support. Prior to being elected state senator, Jensen served for nine years on the Waconia School Board.

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The physician-turned-political candidate saw his national profile rise when he shared unconventional views on the coronavirus pandemic and the vaccine. The state's pandemic response has become one of the main issues in this election cycle, with Jensen being a harsh critic of Walz's performance.

Jensen handily defeated his GOP opponents in a three-way primary, clinching over 90% of the vote.

Minnesota's voting history

Joe Biden defeated Trump by a 7-percentage-point margin in 2020. The state has voted exclusively Democratic in every presidential election since 1976, last voting Republican during Richard Nixon's landslide victory in 1972.

The money race

Walz has raised more than $4.2 million since the beginning of the year, and has $3.2 million on hand, as of mid-September. His opponent, Jensen, has raised more than $3 million and has $864,000 available to spend.

What experts say

The race between Walz and Jensen is rated as "likely Democratic" by Inside Elections, "likely Democratic" by The Cook Political Report, and "likely Democratic" by Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Great British Bake Off viewers are demanding answers to a mystery from the latest episode.

The baking series continued on Channel 4 on Tuesday (1 November) with the contestants tasked with cooking eight spring rolls in 80 minutes.

When it came time to judge the finished products, Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood commended Janusz  but pointed out he had baked just seven spring rolls.

Nobody was more shocked than Janusz, who was adamant he had baked eight. Seeming genuinely surprised, he looked at his fellow contestants, and whispered: What? I baked eight!

Viewers were left urging Janusz to speak up, and expressed confusion over the case of the missing spring roll.

Everyone shut up wheres Hanusz missing spring roll, one viewer wrote, with another adding: Where the hell is his f***ing spring roll?

It was branded by one viewer as one of the greatest television mysteries of our time, with an additional fan stating: I will not rest till I find out what happened to Januszs 8th spring roll.

The shows official Twitter page leaned into the mstery, knocking up a missing poster, and writing: We need your help! Januszs missing eighth spring roll is out there, somewhere, maybe!

Find more reactions below.

I'm launching a full-fledged investigation into where Janusz's missing spring roll has gone. #GBBO pic.twitter.com/8tT7xN4oPI  BONRAW FOODS (@bonraw) November 1, 2022

Need to get VAR in to see what happened to the 8th spring roll #GBBO  Antony Fitzpatrick (@afitz27) November 1, 2022

This smells like sabotageI need everyone to turn out their pockets because WHERE IS JANUSZS EIGHTH SPRING ROLL?? #GBBO  uu (@slytherin4sam) November 1, 2022

GBBO continues Tuesdays at 8pm on Channel 4
Lafayette, Ind.  In response to the recent developments in the homicide case of Liberty German and Abigail Williams, Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski shared support and solidarity of neighboring city, Delphi.

Roswarski also paid thanks to those in law enforcement who helped make the recent arrest in the case possible.

Doug Carter, superintendent of the Indiana State Police, announced Monday Richard Allen, 50, of Delphi had been charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of Libby and Abby. Carter added the probable cause affidavit remains sealed.

Mayor Tony Roswarski speaks during a blue mass, Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022, at St. Mary Cathedral in Lafayette, Ind.

TOP NEWS:Delphi man charged with murder in killings of Libby German and Abby Williams

"Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to the families of Abby and Libby, and all the citizens of Delphi and Carroll County, as we go into the next chapter of this tragic situation," Roswarski said. "We also thank and pray for all those in law enforcement and the criminal justice system who have worked tirelessly for justice for these girls, and will continue to work diligently to bring closure to this incredibly sad crime."

West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis, who was out of the country until just recently, also shared his thoughts and support with Delphi.

"I heard on my way home last night from the Chicago airport after returning from Ireland with my wife Mary about the arrest of Richard Allen in the Abbey and Libby case, and I was moved to tears," Dennis said. "As a former police officer, a father and a grandfather, I cannot express how relieved I was that such a monster was arrested and will be brought to justice. Even though there is nothing that will ever fill the hearts and souls of Abbey and Libbys families and friends, the arrest of Richard Allen will aid the family in their daily struggle with this incredible loss, and start the healing process the families, friends and the entire community. I will continue to keep them all in my prayers."

Margaret Christopherson is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. Email her at mchristopherson@jconline.com and follow her on Twitter @MargaretJC2.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: 'Incredibly sad time' for community as arrest made in Delphi murders
Guatemalan officials in 2018 circled the U.S. Embassy in U.S.-sourced military jeeps in an operation interpreted by American diplomats as an act of intimidation, according to a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report.

The offending patrols happened in late August 2018 after former Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales announced his intention to expel members of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), a United Nations anti-corruption panel that had set its sights on Morales.

According to [Defense Department (DOD)] and State documentation, on the day the decision was announced, seven DOD-provided weapons mounted Jeeps circled the U.S. Embassy and were later observed parked on a street directly in front of the CICIG headquarters in Guatemala City. The U.S. government viewed this as an act of intimidation, according to DOD officials, reads the GAO report.

The jeeps were provided to Guatemala as security assistance to aid the country in counter-narcotics activity, but were not subject to a program where Pentagon officials monitor the end-use of sensitive military equipment abroad.

Any assistance to Guatemalas military is high-risk. Among the Western Hemispheres security forces, it has one of the longest and most egregious records of corruption and human rights abuse. Policymakers at the State and Defense Departments knew of this risk: human rights advocates were warning them at the time this program got started, said Adam Isacson, director for defense oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America.

According to the report, U.S. officials raised the issue of misuse with their Guatemalan counterparts, who said the jeeps were not used for intimidation purposes, but to protect different justice and security entities.

The Hill has reached out to the Guatemalan Embassy in Washington for comment.

I am appalled by todays GAO report, which provides unequivocal evidence that the Guatemalan government grossly misused military Jeeps provided by the United States on multiple occasions, including using them to intimidate American embassy officials, said Rep. Norma Torres (D-Calif.), a Guatemala-born legislator who was a fierce advocate for CICIGs mission.

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Still, Defense officials investigated other incidents where the jeeps were allegedly used for purposes not included in the agreement to transfer them from the United States to Guatemala.

In October 2018, the jeeps were allegedly spotted patrolling the University of San Carlos campus in Guatemala City, where students were protesting against Morales.

And State Department officials sent a diplomatic note to Guatemala requesting information on patrols allegedly misusing the jeeps in Guatemala City in 2019.

Another incident of alleged misuse happened under current President Alejandro Giammatteis administration, when the jeeps were allegedly used to suppress protests against a mining company in El Estor, Guatemala.

The alleged political use of the armed vehicles raises questions about the effectiveness of the inter-agency task forces (IATFs) that are supposed to operate the jeeps under civilian control.

According to the report, the IATFs are tasked with the goal of preventing, combating, dismantling, and eradicating criminal activities, and are controlled by the Ministry of Government, rather than the Guatemalan military.

But GAO investigators also raised concerns about the ability of the Pentagon to supervise the use of potentially lethal military equipment transferred abroad.

After the initial allegations of misuse, DOD conducted a policy review and found that the Guatemalan government had engaged in repeated misuse of DOD-provided Jeeps. In response, on February 12, 2019, DOD decided to stop providing any additional security cooperation equipment and training to the IATFs, reads the report.

The decision left 38 more jeeps that had already been shipped to Guatemala in storage, but Defense officials said they lacked authority to retrieve the allegedly misused vehicles.

The failure to invest sufficiently in robust end-use monitoring of this high-risk military aid had disastrous consequences. Those consequences were also obvious and foreseeable, which makes this even more disappointing, said Isacson.

U.S. officials also asked Guatemala to transfer the remaining IATF jeeps to the military; according to the report that transfer was agreed to but remained pending as of July.

And while both Defense and State officials maintain spreadsheets to track alleged misuse of U.S.-sourced equipment, the GAO report found that the databases were incomplete and both agencies lack policies on how to track allegations of misuse.

The lack of documented policies for recording allegations of misuse resulted in DOD and State having an inaccurate account of the allegations that they have responded to in the past. This may have prevented agencies from having adequate information to identify patterns, such as repeated allegations of misuse by the same unit, or involving the same types of equipment, reads the report.

And while the jeeps were not subject to an enhanced end-use monitoring program known as Golden Sentry, Defense officials told GAO their response to the allegations of misuse would not have been any different under Golden Sentry because they responded and engaged with officials from the government of Guatemala after the incidents and applied similar [end-use monitoring] expectations and standards.

It is even more outrageous that GAO determined the Departments of Defense and State had no and still have not put any policies in place to accurately record and respond to the misuse of military equipment provided by the U.S. As a Member of Congress, I have fought to place restrictions on the transfer of military equipment, and considering todays news, it is clear work remains to ensure better oversight of transfers to nations with a long history of abuse and crimes against its own people like Guatemala, said Torres.

According to the report, Defense officials said incidents of misuse of U.S.-sourced equipment are more likely to be identified by third-party reports, such as press coverage.

The GAO report only included the allegations of misuse attributed to Guatemalan officials, although it also reviewed materiel transfers to Honduras and El Salvador.

Neither State nor Defense investigated misuse reports in either of those countries between 2017 and 2021, including a 2018 press report that Honduran police used U.S.-made rifles to injure and kill civilians and a 2021 State Department report on Salvadoran human rights violations.

When we asked the agencies whether they used these reports to identify potential concerns about misuse of DOD-provided equipment, State officials said they had not considered doing so and DOD officials did not respond to our questions, wrote GAO investigators.

This story was updated at 4:59 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Police have arrested a man suspected of shooting of two New Jersey police officers, according to reports.

Kendall Howard, 30, of East Orange, evaded a large police manhunt for 24 hours before he was arrested on Thursday, police sources told NBC New York.

He has been charged with the attempted murder of two Newark police officers, who were wounded in Tuesdays shooting, the outlet reported.

The officers had been responding to a tip about a previous shooting when a suspect began shooting at them from what police described as an elevated position outside an apartment building about a mile from Newark Liberty International Airport.

A bullet grazed one officers neck, while the other was shot in the leg during the incident. Both officers were taken to University Hospital and were in a stable condition, according to ABC7.

The suspect fled into an apartment building and managed to escape, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka told the Associated Press.

Police had placed a Newark neighbourhood under lockdown for 12 hours as they searched for Mr Howard, who authorities said was armed and dangerous in a statement.

Kendall Howard, 30, of East Orange, New Jersey, has been named as a suspect in the shooting of two police officers (Essex County Jail)

Federal, state and local law enforcement were involved in the manhunt.

Mr Howard has also been charged with unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.
Goop's 2022 gift guide features Flamingo Estate's $75 free-range compost. Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle brand Goop released its annual holiday guide on Tuesday.

The guide features a $75 bag of animal waste manure, among other pricey items.

Neon toilet paper, a joint-rolling machine, and a $225 personalized song are also included in the guide.

Gwyneth Paltrow's wellness brand Goop suggests you gift a bag of poop to your loved ones for the upcoming holiday season. On Tuesday, Goop released its 2022 "Ridiculous but Awesome Gift Guide," which features a $75 bag of compost from Flamingo Estate.

Goop's "Ridiculous but Awesome Gift Guide" went live on Tuesday. Goop

Flamingo Estate is a Los Angeles-based farm that sells a variety of natural goods like candles, beauty products, and wine, per the company's website.

According to the product description on Goop, the compost is "a blend of free-range goat, horse, chicken, and cow manure."

The free-range composted manure is only available for local delivery in Los Angeles and is currently sold out, according to Goop's website.

The Los Angeles-based natural goods company is selling free-range composted manure for $75. Flamingo Estate

Representatives for Goop did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Other gifts featured in Goop's holiday guide include a $239 satin baguette bag, a joint-rolling machine that nearly costs $300, and an African safari priced at $135,000 per person.

This isn't the first time Paltrow has sold controversial items.

In January 2020, Paltrow shocked the internet when Goop began advertising a $75 candle that smelled like her vagina. According to Insider's Canela Lopez, the candle sold out in hours. Later that month Paltrow revealed on NBC's "Late Night with Seth Meyers" that the product "sort of started out as a joke."

Price points for items featured in Goop's 2022 holiday gift guide. Goop

In May 2022, Paltrow sparked controversy on social media when Goop announced that $120 jewel-encrusted, alpaca wool disposable diapers were available for purchase on the website.

In a May 11 video shared on Goop's Instagram, Paltrow said the announcement was a hoax that intended to "highlight what a diaper tax could cost families annually."

Read the original article on Insider
A proposed 10-story residential and commercial building at 43rd Street and the Green Line on the South Side is among the projects that have been reviewed by Chicago's Committee on Design. (LBBA/Moody Nolan Architecture)

Chicago developers worried last year that construction projects would face bureaucratic snarls after city planners added a layer to the approval process. Builders already had to run a gantlet of officials on several commissions and committees, as well as City Council. Some now had to face the Committee on Design, a panel of experts who would critique designs and press developers to make improvements.

The idea of having another step like that was concerning for us, said Jeff Head, vice president of development for The Habitat Co., a Chicago-based developer that in March presented, along with its partner P3 Markets, plans to the committee for a 10-story residential and commercial building at 43rd Street and the Green Line on the South Side.

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But Heads fears did not come true, he added. The new committee, an all-volunteer group of architects, urban planners, designers and developers, praised Habitats development, calling it a refreshing addition to a neighborhood with little new investment.

Members did advise some changes, such as crafting a new and more prominent residential entrance, all relatively easy adjustments, and the partners updated plan secured approval in September from the Chicago Plan Commission.

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The Committee on Design was pitched to developers as a way to accelerate the approval process, and I felt that in our case thats what happened, according to Head. It didnt disrupt the timeline.

Although none of the several dozen projects analyzed by the committee since its first public monthly meeting in August 2021 have started construction, most have marched steadily toward full City Council approval and several developers are ready to begin construction over the next few months.

That shows the 24-member committee is doing its job, according to city planners. Its helping shape what Chicagoans will experience when they walk through new developments, and the committees influence is likely to grow as it focuses attention on the most important projects. That includes new towers in Fulton Market and affordable housing developments in neighborhoods historically ignored by investors.

By and large, the projects that go before the Committee on Design are getting their signoffs earlier, said Gerardo Garcia, deputy commissioner of Chicagos planning department. And we are elevating design excellence for all, and for every community,

The brainchild of Department of Planning and Development Commissioner Maurice Cox, each month the committee holds an online meeting, focusing on several proposals picked by planning staff, split roughly between major private developments, often for Fulton Market, and affordable developments, often part of Mayor Lori Lightfoots INVEST South/West initiative.

Committee members say the goal isnt to block development, and they most often recommend refinements, rather than wholesale revisions.

Were really not there to be an aesthetic police force, to decide whether a facade is red or blue, or to put obstacles in front of people or their projects, said Brian Lee, consulting partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. All of us on the committee have experience with the approval process, are sensitive to it, and are concerned about issues such as costs and scheduling.

The committees mostly modest recommendations mean it probably wont revolutionize Chicago architecture, according to member Reed Kroloff, dean of Illinois Institute of Technologys College of Architecture. But it does push applicants to think more about how their buildings will impact surrounding neighborhoods, and whether they can include more public goods such as parks.

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What we typically ask a developer is, what are you doing to maximize the public benefit of that property?  Kroloff said. Most of the conversations have been very convivial, very friendly, and a lot of the architects have jumped in and engaged as they realize that this isnt something put in place to make their lives more difficult. I also think a fair number of developers surprised themselves by enjoying it as well.

George Baird, a former dean of the University of Toronto  John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, said he saw the same thing about 17 years ago when he joined the then-new design review committee established by Waterfront Toronto, the nonprofit that directs new development on the citys waterfront.

In the beginning, people were wary of it, but over time the sophisticated developers have really decided to just roll with it, he said.

Chicago planners recruited their committee members, all serving two-year terms, in spring 2021 from a range of disciplines, Garcia said, to ensure feedback on all aspects of development. Membership includes landscape architect Hana Ishikawa of Site Design Group, Andre Brumfield, an urban planner and principal at Gensler and Jeanne Gang, architect of Chicagos Aqua Tower.

Garcia emphasized that committee members make recommendations rather than enforce mandates. Staff then sits down with developers and architects to revise plans.

Kroloff advises developers to see going before the committee as an opportunity.

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Its free advice from a group of experts and concerned citizens, he said.

John Law, a landscape architect and assistant commissioner of the citys planning department, said its best if design teams meet the committee before plans are set in stone.

We want to get projects early in the review process so the committee can have some influence on the outcome, he said.

The committee wasnt able to influence developer Trammell Crows plan for a pair of Fulton Market skyscrapers, meant to help create a life sciences hub, as much as some members would have liked. It went before the group during its first meeting in August 2021 and was the first major private development critiqued.

After patiently listening to the development team outline a proposal for an office tower on a podium at 315 N. May St. that twisted up to 410 feet, a 369-foot residential tower just to the north at 1112 W. Carroll Ave., as well as a public park, Philip Enquist, consulting partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and several other members asked whether it was possible to flip the two structures, placing the taller on the North Side, opening the park to more sunlight.

A proposal for a residential tower at 1112 W. Carroll Ave. is among the projects the Committee on Design has reviewed. The developer behind the project followed the committee's recommendation that some of the site's aboveground parking be moved below ground. (ESG Architecture & Design)

Looking south, an aerial view of the empty lot and one-story building at 1112 W. Carroll Ave. and 315 N. May St., the future sites of a two-building complex with offices and residential. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

Most of the green space in this project appears to be behind that taller tower, and as a result, its in shadow for much of the day, said Casey Jones, principal, Perkins & Will.

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John Carlson, principal of Trammell Crow, said his team could not make such significant changes. Company officials had already spoken to potential tenants for 315 N. May St. and were told they strongly preferred the southern site, so flipping the buildings would upend the business plan, trumping any worries about the park.

Trammell Crow declined to comment for this article.

Maybe flipping the buildings was a step too far, Garcia said.

But Carlson did respond enthusiastically to a more modest proposal from Gang, who asked whether Trammell Crow could redo the office buildings podium and shift some of aboveground parking, perhaps below ground or to elsewhere on the site, potentially exposing the park to more sunlight and bringing tenants down closer to the park.

I understand why that site is attractive for the life sciences, Gang said. But Im not a huge fan of podiums.

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Thats a great comment, Carlson said. Well think about that and challenge ourselves to do that.

City Council approved Trammell Crows updated plan in November 2021. The company largely followed Gangs recommendations, putting the parking for 315 N. May St. underground, and reduced the buildings bulk to allow more sunlight into the park.

Underground parking is typically more expensive, said Garcia, but in this case its worth it.

It created more publicly accessible space, and thats a benefit to the project and the community as a whole, he said.

David Block, director of development for Evergreen Real Estate Group, said such advice is why his firm was eager to get its proposals in front of the committee. Evergreen and its partner LUCHA even volunteered to present in October 2021 its plan for Encuentro Square, a 196-unit affordable housing development on the western end of The 606.

I knew if we waited much longer, wed be too far down the road, Block said. I actually think prepping for the Committee on Design is a good exercise for developers architectural teams. It forces them to put their ideas out there to a very sophisticated audience.

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Spirited conversations often result, according to Kroloff, but its nothing new for architects. Peer review is how everybody learns when they enter the profession.

Every architect, every landscape architect and every planner has been inculcated in this process from the first moment when they stepped into school, he said. The committee is simply bringing that to Chicagos design process.

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Developers with the INVEST South/West program may have an advantage when they meet with the Committee on Design, according to 548 Capital CEO A.J. Patton, because they receive so much scrutiny.

He presented several such projects this year, including Galleria 89, a mixed-use development at 8840 S. Commercial Ave., which will have 58 units in two buildings, including the rehab of a historic structure, and 3831 W. Chicago Ave., a 60-unit, block-long development in Humboldt Park that will include almost 8,000 square feet of commercial space.

Galleria 89, a mixed-use development, is among the Chicago projects that have been reviewed by the Committee on Design. (Farr Associates/Rivetna Design)

A historic building, the future home of Galleria 89, on South Commercial Avenue, in Chicago on Oct. 19, 2022. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)

Before the committee eyeballs INVEST South/West proposals, the city conducts a design review, and developers must win a competition against other teams vying for the project, as well as hold several community meetings.

The INVEST South/West projects have already been through the wringer, picked over and scrutinized, Patton said.

He doesnt mind the extra analysis.

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The city is heavily subsidizing these projects, so I think its very appropriate for it to have a lot of influence on the final product, he said. I dont get to be snooty about public engagement.

Significant adjustments were made on other Fulton Market projects. CRG and Shapack Partners eliminated a bridge between two portions of 170 N. Green St., their proposal for a mixed-use complex with 275 residences, 350,000 square feet of office and a hotel, after committee members pointed out during the February meeting it might overshadow a public plaza. The updated plan was approved by the Chicago Plan Commission and City Council in April. And partners GSP and Golub & Co. agreed to include more sidewalk space and add retail to the base of their 362-unit 301 S. Green St. after meeting with committee members in April.

I just want to go on record and say we are very happy with this process, said Lee Golub, managing principal of Golub & Co., during the Oct. 20 Plan Commission meeting. CPC approved the update.

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The Committee on Design is still considered a pilot project, but after a little more than a year, planners are expanding its role, according to Garcia. Instead of simply holding public meetings to comment on proposals, members now also function as an informal brain trust for the department, advising staff on a wider range of projects, and may begin meeting with design teams even earlier to further smooth out the approval process.

Baird said Waterfront Torontos design group also expanded its role over the past 17 years, and now reviews about five proposals each month, giving each an up-or-down vote.

The process in Toronto has evolved over time, so its not surprising thats happening in Chicago as well, he said.

This is a new thing for the development community, to have us as a resource, said Gang during the February meeting. Were trying to open this up and really talk about it, so our city can continue to lead in design and architecture.

brogal@chicagotribune.com
MYKOLAIV/KHERSON FRONTLINE  Its now been over eight months of full-scale warfare since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

But while the war continues, the features of the battlefield have changed significantly  both in the systems employed, and the tactics used to counter them.

Ukraines military, which began the war with largely Soviet-era equipment, has transitioned into an ever-more Western-armed and -trained force. By contrast, much of Russias best equipment  and its most professional troops  have been destroyed or killed in months of relentless combat, leading Moscow to draw on older stocks as the Russian force regresses.

Few people, or units, know this better than Ukraines 59th Motorized Brigade. Stationed in Kherson oblast at the start of the war, the 59th was subjected to the full force of one of Russias best-prepared strike groups, an armored thrust northwards from occupied Crimea. But while they were forced to cede Kherson City in early March, the 59th held back Russias spearheads from seizing Mykolaiv, the next city along the coast towards Odesa. Now, after seven months of largely static warfare, the changing balance of power sees the 59th poised to play a major role in the upcoming battle to liberate Kherson.

The soldiers of the 59th are bullish on their prospects of beating the Russians back at Kherson City. They talk dismissively of the battlefield effectiveness of the Iranian drones that have made headlines in recent weeks  weapons well-suited to harassing civilian infrastructure but less effective against prepared military units. Consistent degradation of Russian logistics and supply lines has hampered the enemys ability to effectively contest the battlefield. Russian leaders desperate moves to staff their front line with unwilling conscripts, their focus on looting Kherson of anything moveable, and even their use of air defense systems to attack ground targets, all buoy the 59ths morale. They smell blood in the water.

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On a sunny day in late October, one platoon from the brigade was catching some sleep during a break in the action a few kilometers back from the frontline. The soldiers and officers present shared with Military Times their impressions of how the war has changed  for them, often for the better  over the past few months.

One of the hot topics in recent weeks has been Russias heavy deployment of Iranian-made Shahed 136 loitering munitions. Carrying a warhead of up to 50 kilograms and with a range of 1,500 kilometers, these kamikaze drones have been employed across Ukraine, in particular to strike heating and power infrastructure in Kyiv and other cities. While they have been used on the battlefield as well, soldiers say they have not been particularly effective militarily.

A drone is seen in the sky seconds before it fired on buildings in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 17, 2022. (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

Iranian drones are attacking Mykolaiv constantly, says Vadym, a senior lieutenant in the 59th. Theyre active over the entire region, but most of them are shot down. They are only really useful against civilian targets, when they can slip past air defense, he says.

One of the difficulties drones present to many air defense systems is a small radio and heat signature, which can make it difficult to achieve lock-on. With advance warning of an approaching drone, however, this can be mitigated  and there are other tools that work even better.

Its difficult to hit [a Shahed] with any system that works by heat lock, such as a Stinger [MANPAD], unless you have extra time to track it, Vadym says. But our foreign partners have provided us with some very effective systems. The German Gepards [self-propelled anti-aircraft guns] are very good against them. They see the [drone] and can easily shoot it down. Even machine guns can down [Shaheds] quite easily if they are not flying too high  they are quite large and slow, he explains.

Other troops agree with Vadyms estimation.

These drones [Shaheds] are not a problem at all, says Zhenya, a sergeant major. If you have warning and anti-aircraft weapons, you can down them quite easily. Thats why [Russia] uses them against cities  they are not useful on the battlefield, he says.

Mikhail, a senior Ukrainian military lieutenant at a post near the front, is pictured in the trenches here in October 2022. (Neil Hauer/Courtesy photo)

The use of these systems speaks to the difficulties Moscow is facing in maintaining a steady level of long-range strikes eight months into the war. As its stocks of precision-guided munitions deplete, Russia has turned to other methods, some not designed for the task: soldiers say that S-300 missiles, originally designed for air defense, are now one of the primary weapons used to strike Mykolaiv. Despite their poor accuracy when used against ground targets, the missiles are still fired at the city regularly at night.

Ukraines efforts to degrade Russian logistics and supply routes in Kherson are also paying dividends.

American HIMARs [precision rocket artillery] have been incredibly useful for us. Once we started hitting the bridges, the intensity of the [Russian] shelling decreased a lot, says Vadym, describing the Ukrainian shelling of the Antonovsky and Nova Kakhovka bridges, the only two connections between Kherson and the rest of Russian-held southern Ukraine. We destroyed a lot of their artillery and ammunition warehouses as well. Before, [the Russians] used to shell everything, just firing as much as they wanted at any targets. Now, they are forced to economize, Vadym says.

American-provided long-range artillery systems have been crucial to shifting the tide here as well. Vadym specifically names the M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzer and the M777, whose guided Excalibur shells can hit targets up to 40 kilometers away with high accuracy.

Before we had the M777, we couldnt reach their [artillery] systems, but now we can, he says.

Finally, it is not just Russian equipment that has been depleted. Much of Moscows professional infantry corps, many of whom were transferred from eastern Ukraine to Kherson over the summer in anticipation of an impending Ukrainian assault, has been put out of action. With competent manpower consistently lacking and contract servicemen, many of whom have been fighting without a break since Feb. 24, increasingly dwindling, Russia has thrown in a new stopgap to bolster the lines: conscripts.

The men of the 59th are unimpressed by what they have seen.

Weve already gone up against their mobilized men here, says Mikhail, another senior lieutenant at a post closer to the front. They are nearly useless. Many of them can hardly hold a gun, let alone a position. We have killed their professional soldiers, and now [Russia] is hoping to slow us down with bodies, he says.

As the situation shifts in Ukraines favor, the soldiers want for only one thing: extra artillery and tanks to crack Russias defenses and exploit breakthroughs in the inevitable assault on Kherson.

We have almost everything we need, Vadym says. We just need a bit more artillery, to fight against their guns, and especially tanks  maybe the most important element in an attack. There will be positive developments here [in Kherson] very soon.

Editors note: This story was updated after publication to remove references to the Ukrainian units location that could potentially put them at risk.
Daniel Radcliffe said J.K. Rowling's views don't represent those of everyone in the franchise.

The star spoke to IndieWire about why he wrote a letter supporting the trans community in 2020.

Radcliffe explained it was "really important" to reassure fans.

In the last few years, "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling has faced criticism over her history of offensive comments about the transgender community, which has shocked fans of the popular franchise, largely because the books and movies preach acceptance and tolerance.

At the height of the controversy surrounding the author, leading man Daniel Radcliffe wrote a letter about supporting the transgender community in a piece published on The Trevor Project's website.

Now, the actor is discussing why he felt he needed to write the letter in a recent interview with IndieWire.

Radcliffe explained that he's met a number of "Harry Potter" fans who identify as queer and transgender over the years, and he wanted to make sure they felt supported by him.

The actor said: "The reason I felt very, very much as though I needed to say something when I did was because, particularly since finishing 'Potter,' I've met so many queer and trans kids and young people who had a huge amount of identification with Potter on that."

Radcliffe went on to say that he also felt it was important to make sure fans knew that while Rowling's views were dominating the headlines, not everyone involved with the Wizarding World cinematic franchise shared her opinions.

He added: "And so seeing them hurt on that day I was like, I wanted them to know that not everybody in the franchise felt that way. And that was really important,"

The actor also pointed out that he's supported The Trevor Project for over a decade, which is why he wrote the touching letter for the charity.

He said: "It was really important as I've worked with the Trevor Project for more than 10 years, and so I don't think I would've been able to look myself in the mirror had I not said anything. But it's not mine to guess what's going on in someone else's head."

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In 2020, Rowling increasingly began to espouse controversial viewpoints about the transgender community on Twitter, with some labeling her as a "trans-exclusionary radical feminist" ("TERF"). In June 2020, she published a statement on her website with the caption "TERF wars" on Twitter in which she attempted to explain her previous statements. In it, as Insider previously reported, she made claims about trans people that both furthered potentially harmful myths and were not supported by data. In the past, the author has said that she had been threatened with violence on the basis of her comments.

Radcliffe isn't the only "Harry Potter" star to discuss Rowling in the last few weeks, as Lord Voldemort actor Ralph Fiennes recently spoke out against the backlash the author has received because of her inflammatory comments. He told The New York Times that he can't understand the "disgusting" verbal abuse leveled against her.

Radcliffe's costars have previously expressed their support for the trans community, with Rupert Grint explaining how he respects Rowling's work but disagrees with her opinions. Meanwhile, Emma Watson took to Twitter to say trans people shouldn't be questioned simply for being who they are.

Read the original article on Insider
Bill Nighy has shared a surprising insight into his love for suits, revealing that his go-to sartorial look is a result of insecurities about his body.

The actor, 72, also discussed his love of sweet treats ever since he quit smoking.

In a new interview with The Independent ahead of the release of Living, in which he plays a bureaucrat diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer, Nighy said he mostly opts to dress in formalwear because I hate my body.

Its basic insecurity. Youll think, At least I can look well turned out in a suit.

Sharing his love of sweets, Nighy said there is no limit as to how much ice cream he can consume in one go.

Im an animal when it comes to sugar. I used to eat a four-pack of Magnums and a four-pack of Soleros in one sitting. Thats my relationship with sugar, he said.

His favourite ice cream flavours include strawberry and honeycomb: Theres a restaurant I went to where they made honeycomb ice cream and that was pretty unbeatable, he said.

Elsewhere in the interview, Nighy revealed that he does not plan to retire any time soon.

He explained: Im in a job which you can do fortunately as long as you can remain upright. And well, actually you dont have to remain upright. As long as you can deliver a line sitting down, you could probably get some kind of employment.

Nighy went viral on social media earlier this year, after one TikTok user spotted him reading Sylvia Plaths The Bell Jar on the London Underground.

The Love Actually star, who grew up in south London, was spotted sitting on a Jubilee line train, dressed in smart grey trousers and a navy blue wool coat as he read the novel.

Living will be released in cinemas on 4 November
Photograph: Agencia Press South/Getty Images

The week began with the discovery of two headless bodies, left dangling from a pedestrian bridge. Then prison guards were taken hostage by inmates, nine car bombs detonated in two coastal cities and five police officers were shot dead.

The string of horrifying attacks across Ecuador this week would once have been unthinkable, but this kind of bloodletting is now becoming almost routine in the Andean country, as gang violence escalates to levels never seen before.

Late on Tuesday, President Guillermo Lasso announced a 9pm curfew under a new state of emergency in the affected Guayas and Esmeraldas regions. He called the violent incidents a declaration of open war and said he was prepared to act harshly.

He added that soldiers and police had raided jails and seized weapons, ammunition, explosives and phones.

On Wednesday, police arrested 28 people, and seized thousands of explosives and dynamite sticks, but fresh prison clashes were reported in Guayaquil.

Analysts say criminal gangs emboldened by lucrative links to Mexican drug cartels are using terror tactics to intimidate the authorities and civilians as the country of nearly 18 million teeters on the edge of becoming a narco-state.

Ecuadors interior minister, Juan Zapata, said the two officers shot dead on Tuesday lost their lives at the hands of organized crime. Two more officers were injured in a separate attack on a police station.

This year has been very sad and tragic for the national police, said Zapata. With these two cases we now have 61 police heroes fallen in the line of duty.

Related: Agony of Ecuadors brutal prison massacre endures for bereaved relatives

The latest spate of attacks is believed to have come in response to the transfer of detainees from Guayaquils Litoral prison, the scene of the worst prison massacre in the countrys history last year, which left at least 119 dead.

The latest bloodshed comes just months after a deadly bomb attack killed at least five and injured 17 people in Guayaquil, marking an escalation of terror tactics against civilians, and prompting a fourth state of emergency in the violence-torn city.

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In certain areas, the state has been displaced, said Col Mario Pazmino, the former director of Ecuadors military intelligence, referring to parts of Guayaquil and Ecuadors Pacific coast. We are talking about criminal rule with this new escalation in the level of violence.

More than 400 prison inmates have been killed  many burned alive or beheaded since February 2021 in an explosive rise in murders as rival gangs fight for control of lucrative cocaine trafficking routes to the US and Europe.

Ecuador  which sits between Colombia and Peru, the worlds two largest cocaine-producing countries  is a strategic smuggling route due to its long Pacific coastline and large shipping and fishing fleets.

Analysts say the spike in violence started when local criminal gangs began vying to work with the rival Mexican Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation drug cartels.

During the first eight months of this year, there were 2,785 violent deaths in Ecuador, a 10-year record which has already exceeded the total number of murders in 2021, according to police figures. About two-thirds of those deaths were in coastal regions.

The rate nearly doubled in 2021 to 14 per 100,000 inhabitants and reached 18 per 100,000 between January and October this year.

Luis, 42, a hydraulic parts dealer in Guayaquil, the coastal city which has been the focus of the violence, said he was afraid to leave his home because criminals hang out on his street corner.

You cant go out of the house in the evening. Its really tough, he said. Every day there are more criminals, you dont even want to catch a taxi, he added.

He was also suspicious of the police, believing like many Ecuadorians that the institution had been penetrated by narco-trafficking.

As for the governments response, he responded: Its really lukewarm. Trying to impose a curfew, [the criminals] will just laugh in your face.
A hiker is in critical condition after being stabbed for unknown reasons on the Panhandle leg of the Florida National Scenic Trail, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriffs Office.

It happened late Tuesday, Nov. 1, on a section of the 1,500-mile trail near Crestview, 50 miles northeast of Pensacola.

The victim is hospitalized with a stab wound to the abdomen, the sheriffs office said in a news release.

A man who is homeless is a suspect in the attack, officials said.

The victim and his wife had befriended a homeless man when they arrived in Crestview and set up a camp on the Florida Natural Scenic Trail about a mile east of Highway 85, the sheriffs office said.

For unknown reasons, 37-year-old Jonathan Davis of Havana (Florida) stabbed the 45-year-old victim from Ohio in the abdomen, then left. The victims wife went to a location where she could use a cell phone to call 9-1-1 and describe the suspect.

Davis was found walking along State Road 85 by a Crestview police officer and taken into custody, officials said.

Details of who came to the aid of the victim were not released.

The suspect has been charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, and was found to have outstanding warrants in Leon County, Florida, for burglary, theft and criminal mischief, according to jail records.

A search turned up a bloody knife and blood on Daviss clothing, officials said. At last word the victim was in critical condition at an area hospital, but expected to survive.

The Eglin Range Patrol and emergency communications center handled the initial calls and response and facilitated launch of an aircraft to help in the search, county officials said. Dogs from the Okaloosa Correctional Institution also joined the search, officials said.

The Florida National Scenic Trail is a congressionally-designated, long-distance hiking trail that weaves its way across Florida from Big Cypress National Preserve in the south to Gulf Islands National Seashore in the western end of Floridas panhandle, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

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The incident took place on a leg of the trail that parallels forest land along the Shoal River in central Okaloosa County.

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Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton has condemned the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosis husband Paul.

Mr Pelosi was taken to hospital on Friday after being assaulted with a hammer by a man who broke into the familys house in San Francisco.

In an interview with MSNBC, Ms Clinton lashed out at the Republicans over their failure to decry the attack while making crime an election issue for the upcoming midterm polls.

This midterm election weve seen a lot of ads by Republicans running for everything touting crime. Crime is the issue. But when an 82-year-old man is attacked by an intruder in his own home they dont seem to be too bothered by that. Because that person is married to the speaker of the House who is of a different political party, she said.

I would just like your viewers, and every American to think about that.

This is the kind of violent rhetoric that leads to violent action that props up authoritarians and thats what we see the Republican party supporting.

Hillary Clinton on MSNBC: "This midterm election we've seen a lot of ads by Republicans running for everything touting crime. Crime is the issue. But when an 82-year-old man is attacked by an intruder in his own home they don't seem to be too bothered by that." pic.twitter.com/qqFJZmpQvO  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 1, 2022

Law enforcement officials have been warning about an increased threat of political violence ahead of the midterm elections.

Authorities have charged David DePape, a 42-year-old man from nearby Richmond, California, with attempted murder, burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, false imprisonment of an elder, and threats against a public official and their family.

After breaking into the Speakers home on the night of 28 October, Mr DePape allegedly woke Mr Pelosi up and confronted him about the whereabouts of Speaker Pelosi and shouting where is Nancy?, according to some reports.

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Ms Pelosi was in Washington DC at the time of the attack.

On Saturday, Ms Clinton blamed the GOP for spreading hate and deranged conspiracy theories after it emerged that Mr Pelosis alleged attacker had been spewing far-right conspiracies online in the lead-up to Fridays assault.

Tesla and SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk, who completed his takeover of Twitter last week, responded to Ms Clinton on Sunday by pushing a conspiracy theory that the attack was not what it seemed.

Mr Musk later appeared to have taken the tweet down.

To his credit he took that down. I dont see Republicans running for Congress or Governors or any other office taking their comments down, Ms Clinton said to MSNBC.

Would we trust somebody who is stirring up these violent feelings... scapegoating, making a joke about a violent attack on Paul Pelosi?
WASHINGTON  The violent assault on Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in their San Francisco home has made members of Congress anxious about the safety of their own loved ones and spurred discussions on increased security measures and the protection of high-profile legislative leaders.

But some legislators who spoke with NBC News said they have yet to take advantage of a program rolled out in August by the House sergeant-at-arms' office, which covers up to $10,000 for each member to pay for the installation of security system equipment at their residences, including for cameras, locks, motion sensors and panic buttons. They can also receive $150 per month toward monitoring and maintenance fees.

The new benefit was announced in July in response to a spike in threats against lawmakers. Capitol Police said it investigated more than 9,500 threats to members in 2021, almost double from 2018. Just days before the benefit became available, Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Republican nominee for governor in New York, was attacked on stage during a campaign event by a man wielding a sharp object. Zeldin was not seriously hurt.

One House Democratic lawmaker said he has not used the program, although friends have been encouraging him to hire a private detail at his residence overnight through Election Day. He said the spouses of some high-profile lawmakers may need security details in the future, in addition to using home security systems.

"The attack on Paul does strongly suggest that the most visible spouses need some protection," said the lawmaker, who requested anonymity to discuss security matters.

A House GOP lawmaker said he, too, does not make use of the $10,000 security allotment because his family lives in a condo complex with lots of neighbors. But, he said, extra security should be made available for "every member in leadership since they become lightning rods for the conference."

Capitol Police in riot gear at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Wolf / AP file)

The GOP lawmaker also warned that rank-and-file members who "insist on saying things that are highly incendiary" should pay out of their own pockets for home security.

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"Maybe if you incurred the costs of your security," he said in a text message, "you might think about what you are saying/doing more closely."

'There are not enough resources'

While it's unclear how many legislators have signed onto the security benefit, the attack on 82-year-old Paul Pelosi  who was seriously injured when a hammer-wielding intruder broke into the couple's home early last Friday  has some elected officials reassessing their security needs. Second in line to the presidency, Nancy Pelosi, along with the large security detail that always accompanies her, was in Washington at the time of the incident, U.S. Capitol Police said.

Court documents allege the suspect had been in search of the House speaker and was on a "suicide mission" with additional targets.

Pelosi's position as a senior legislative leader grants her a security team through the Capitol Police, but the vast majority of lawmakers on Capitol Hill aren't afforded the same perk. Spouses of top lawmakers also aren't covered.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who says she is regularly targeted with violence, death threats and Islamophobic rhetoric, has received texts from family and friends urging her to boost her security. However, "there are not enough resources available to me to do that," she said on MSNBC following the attack on Paul Pelosi.

"If people are able to get to the speaker of the House, who has full detail with her and has access to the level of security that she does, and harm her husband to the point that he needs surgery, can you imagine how somebody like me who doesn't have Capitol security detail, that doesn't have the resources to be able to get 24-hour on-the-clock security detail for my four children, my husband and my relatives  I am mortified," said Omar, who is running for re-election.

In 2017, in the wake of the congressional baseball shooting that nearly claimed the life of then-Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., the Federal Election Commission changed its guidelines to allow campaign funds to be used for installing or upgrading a residential security system. The commission last year expanded the policy to include the hiring of bodyguards.

Omar's office declined to comment specifically about the security allocation for House members, but campaign finance records show she has spent more than $27,000 in "security services" in August and September.

She told NBC News on Wednesday that there should be a policy change in who receives protection, and said she's worried about what might happen if the GOP controls the House under current House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

"Under Speaker Pelosi's leadership, I've had the privilege of being protected when I needed it," Omar said. "But I can't imagine if a Republican like McCarthy was solely in charge of who gets protection. As a country and as a Congress, we need to re-evaluate who gets security protection and how we make those determinations."

Capitol Police increase their ranks

To ramp up protection, Capitol Police said Monday they expect to meet their goal of hiring nearly 280 officers by the end of the year, though it will take close to another year before new recruits complete their academy training.

Security improvements have been a priority since the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot, although the attack on Paul Pelosi is the latest incident to underscore the need for enhanced protections, the department said.

"The USCP has engaged in a review of Friday's incident," Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said in a statement. "We believe today's political climate calls for more resources to provide additional layers of physical security for Members of Congress. This plan would include an emphasis on adding redundancies to the measures that are already in place for Congressional leadership."

Manger declined to detail its security improvements, citing concerns it may help "potential bad actors," but any recommendations will almost certainly require a notable increase in funding for Capitol Police, which has an annual budget of more than $600 million.

A Capitol Police car parked at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Al Drago / Bloomberg via Getty Images file)

On Wednesday, the chairwoman of the House Administration Committee, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., sent a letter to Manger requesting information on whether Capitol Police has a "codified strategic plan" for officers and whether protocol was followed by the department and personnel in San Francisco in the wake of the assault on Paul Pelosi.

"This incident and related circumstances, including the manner in which the Speaker and her family were targeted, raise significant questions about security protections for Members of Congress, particularly those in the presidential line of succession," Lofgren wrote.

Sounding the alarm

Lawmakers have grown increasingly vocal about the threats of political violence they face.

In August, Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., a close Pelosi ally and vocal critic of former President Donald Trump, said a man called his staff and threatened to come to his office and shoot and kill the congressman.

Bloodshed is coming," Swalwell tweeted at the time, foreshadowing the Pelosi attack. A 22-year-old man pleaded guilty last week to charges of making threats to kill Swalwell.

And last month, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told The New York Times that someone had smashed a storm window at her home, an escalation from the typical verbal threats she has been getting since 2018, when she announced her support of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

"I wouldn't be surprised if a senator or House member were killed, Collins told The Times.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., told The Washington Post in September that a man had recently come to her home with a gun and yelled obscenities and said she should kill herself. She called Capitol Police and also wrote a letter to Pelosi on improving member security.

"I think we have to be really clear about what this is and how it's affecting us individually and how it's affecting us as a country. So I think that's real and I think we have to keep calling it out," Jayapal later told reporters.

Daniel Schuman, policy director for Demand Progress, a progressive group that seeks government transparency and accountability, said it's not economically practical for every member of Congress to have a security detail supported by tax dollars.

But it's still important, he said, that the hundreds of millions of dollars going toward Capitol Police is being used in an effective manner and that the department is subject to oversight of how it's training its officers.

"The Jan. 6 attack was foreseeable. The Paul Pelosi attack was foreseeable," Schuman said. "A lot of this comes down to continual failures within the Capitol Police to properly assess these threats and protect members."

The cost of high-tech security and round-the-clock security can also be daunting for members of Congress. Security firms in Washington said it can cost upward of $50 an hour just to have one person watching the outside of a home, and even more than that for an armed multiperson team to escort around a lawmaker.

In the case of Capitol Police, the department has the ability to monitor live feeds from some 1,800-plus cameras in the Capitol complex and around the country. At the time of the attack on Paul Pelosi, an exterior camera of the home was on one of those feeds, but no one was actively monitoring it, according to two sources familiar with the situation.

Manger confirmed in a statement Wednesday that the cameras were not actively monitored because the House speaker was not home at the time, but that he was launching an internal security review.

Derrick Parks, the president of Metropolitan Protective Service, a D.C.-area based security firm, said whether a lawmaker's security system is a single camera on the front door or a bodyguard stationed at the home, they can't afford to not have anything if they believe lives are at risk.

"The price is worth the peace of mind," Parks said.

Scott Wong reported from Washington, and Erik Ortiz from New York.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Ash Jurberg on a bike ride with his wife in Costa Rica. Courtesy Ash Jurberg

After canceling our wedding three times, we had little time to plan a honeymoon.

We chose Costa Rica at the peak of the wet season and were advised to cancel.

We found so many benefits to vacationing in the off-season that we plan to do it again.

I had always wanted to visit Costa Rica, so without much thought, my wife and I booked flights to visit the popular town of La Fortuna for our honeymoon in late September. When I told friends, they thought it was a terrible idea, saying, "You know it's the wet season. It will rain all day."

We were advised to cancel and book elsewhere, but having canceled our wedding three times and finally locking in a date that seemed like it was going to stick, we didn't want to cancel the honeymoon we had our hearts set on.

Since we were staying the course, it looked like we would get wet. Very wet.

But what we thought would dampen our honeymoon  quite literally  actually turned into a positive, and we learned that there are some unexpected benefits of honeymooning in Costa Rica during the wet season.

It felt like we had the red carpet rolled out for us the whole time

Often on a honeymoon, you pay more for a private, romantic dinner. We found almost every meal we had turned into a honeymoon special, but without the additional cost.

With so few tourists visiting, many restaurants were empty. Not only did this provide a romantic atmosphere, we received unparalleled service from the staff. They treated us like VIPs, happy that we had visited in the wet season. We often received a special cocktail or a free dessert as a thank-you. Perhaps even better, we got to chat with them and learn more about the local culture.

And it wasn't just the staff happy to see us. During one meal, we even got a visit from a friendly sloth. This is rare, as sloths are notoriously shy, but because there weren't many people around, we got to have a special experience. It seemed even he was looking for people to meet!

A friendly sloth. Courtesy Ash Jurberg

The VIP service also extended to tours. We booked a guided tour through the rainforest and were delighted to find we were the only two people who'd made reservations. So not only did we feel like visiting celebrities with red-carpet service, but it allowed us to customize the tour to our interests and pace.

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There was no waiting for other guests to visit the toilet or rest; we had a private guide there, ready and willing to provide the perfect tour suited to our needs.

We learned that rainy weather doesn't have to be a bad thing

In La Fortuna, we stayed near the base of Arenal Volcano, and since the hotel was empty, we were upgraded to a room with a beautiful view. There was nothing better than waking up and looking out at the volcano.

To our surprise, it turned out that the peak of the wet season is also the best time to get views of the volcano. Clouds often obstruct it, but before and after rain, the clouds part to reveal a stunning view.

Other activities were also better than they might have been other times  we went white water rafting on the Pacuare River and enjoyed bigger rapids thanks to the rainfall; zip-lining felt even more exhilarating flying over the top of the trees after a storm.

Zip-lining in Costa Rica. Courtesy Ash Jurberg

It was an Instagram dream, without the Instagrammers

It seems the primary focus of a holiday for many people is to capture the perfect Instagram moment. Visit any popular site, and it's swarmed with people with their phones out, all trying to capture the perfect photo.

Not only does it make it hard to maneuver and get where you're going  and get your own photo, if you want  but it detracts from the enjoyment and can make it hard to be present in the moment.

One morning we took a short hike to No. 1-ranked attraction in La Fortuna  the La Fortuna Waterfall. I had seen photos online, and while it was gorgeous, the online reviews always mentioned hordes of tourists.

The La Fortuna Waterfall in Costa Rica. Courtesy Ash Jurberg

When we visited, there was barely anyone there. This allowed us to take some great photos without other people in them or waiting for people to move so we could get the perfect shot.

Once we had taken our photos, we sat peacefully by the water's edge and took it all in, listening to the power of the waterfall and enjoying the absence of chatter.

A massage with a different kind of happy ending

On our last afternoon, we were waiting at a bar, enjoying a beer while watching the heavy rain outside. We had planned a break and enjoyed watching the storm when a man approached us. He had a warm smile and a pile of tourist brochures.

Though I am often wary of people scouting for business, all the Costa Ricans we had met had been friendly, so we welcomed him. He offered us a range of activities, but we'd already done many of them. He seemed to have a flash of inspiration.

"You are on your honeymoon? Perhaps a couple's massage would be nice?" he said.

That did sound great, of course.

"And you are lucky  the spa is very quiet, so they have big discounts," he added.

"Big discounts" are words I love to hear.

We ended up getting a super-special deal: a couple's massage for the price of one person, plus a 30-minute foot massage, facial, a bonus scrub, and so on.

To be honest, they had me at the two-for-one deal.

I had never had a facial before and would never have thought of trying one, but this was the best part of the spa experience. The stress of organizing the wedding melted away, and I felt 10 years younger.

Our honeymoon gave me a new perspective on travel  and a new travel mantra

In many countries with tropical weather, the wet season often means at least an hour or two of heavy afternoon rain every day. But you can easily plan around this by doing activities in the morning and heading to your hotel or resort in the afternoon or evening.

And when the weather is humid, rain is often a welcome relief because it cools things down. So take advantage of the wet season and enjoy a better experience  it is my new travel mantra, and we'll definitely be doing it again.

Read the original article on Insider
(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong closed its $4 trillion stock market early as severe tropical storm Nalgae moved closer on a day when the city hosted a top-level summit for global bankers.

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Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. scrapped afternoon trading of stocks and derivatives after the government raised the No. 8 storm signal  its third-highest warning. The halt came as the Hang Seng Index had its best two-day gain in seven months. Schools were also suspended and workers were advised to go home.

Being affected by a tropical cyclone so late in the year is a rarity for Hong Kong, which had only raised the no. 8 signal a handful of times in November since 1946. The storm approached as more than 200 financiers gathered in the Four Seasons hotel ballroom for a summit designed to revive Hong Kongs status as an international finance hub. The conference, attended by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.s David Solomon and Morgan Stanleys James Gorman, wasnt affected.

Hong Kongs Wall Street Summit Avoids Talk on China Risks

Nalgae, which means wings in Korean will edge closer to Hong Kong on Wednesday evening than previously forecast to skirt within 100 km of the city, the local observatory said. At 4 p.m., Nalgae was centered about 140 km southeast of the city and was forecast to move northwest at about 10 kilometres per hour, it said, adding that the no 8 signal will remain in force before 6 p.m.

The summit continues on Thursday, when top fund managers including Carlyle Group Inc. founder Bill Conway and Man Group Plcs Chief Executive Officer Luke Ellis take part in a forum at the main hall at the stock exchange. There are two panels, entitled Creating Value Through Uncertainties and Managing Through Volatile Markets.

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The Hang Seng Index closed 2.4% higher, adding to Tuesdays 5.2% gain which was triggered by unverified talk of a shift in Xi Jinpings Covid Zero policy.

Hong Kong is typically hit by about six typhoons annually, usually from June to October, but only a fraction of those result in market or school closures. The last time was in late August, when tropical storm Ma-on hit the city.

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Hospitals nationwide are seeing a surge in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a seasonal cold and flu-like respiratory illness that can be dangerous to children five years and younger as well as older adults said to be immunocompromised.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), RSV can lead to lower respiratory infections including bronchiolitis and pneumonia. If infected, children six months and younger may require hospitalization. Children at high risk include premature infants; infants six months and younger; children under two years of age with chronic lung or congenital heart disease; children with suppressed immune disorders; and children with neuromuscular disorders.

Older adults said to be at high risk include those 65 and older with chronic lung and heart disease and adults with weakened immune systems. RSV can also be problematic for anyone with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and congestive heart failure.

The CDC listed RSV symptoms as a runny nose; a decreased appetite; a cough; a fever; irritability; sneezing; wheezing; and in severe cases difficulty breathing. Symptoms are said to appear in stages. Contagion lasts three to eight days. Most children will have an RSV infection before the age of two.

Dr. Mobeen Rathore, Chief of Infectious Diseases and Immunology at The University of Floridas College of Medicine, described RSV as a right of passage for most children two years of age and younger. Once infected, the disease is manageable to treat.

Health officials are giving COVID 19 restrictions a nod for the recent uptick of cases, claiming a lack of exposure.

Dr. Rathore explained that more cases are being diagnosed as more children are becoming exposed to RSV now as opposed to the tenure of COVID 19 lockdowns.

During the pandmic, as we protected ourselves and our communities by wearing masks, social distancing, not going to school and staying home when sick, we were decreasing the chance of transmission of many infections, not only COVID. As a result, many children were not exposed to this virus.

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Dr. Rathore added that even older children are now contracting RSV at increasing rate and re-infections can occur.

Even older adults, he continued. But everyone has to get it in order to build up an immunity to this viral infection.

Dr. Rathore explained that children who meet the criteria of being high risk are given a preventative treatment of immunoglobulin once a month for five months - a protocol thats been done for decades. He also said that most children diagnosed with RSV dont get very sick.

Its just like a cold, he said. A smaller number of children do get sick enough to get medical attention and even smaller number get admittied to the hospital. I dont want parents to be overly concerned that every child who gets RSV is going to get terribly ill.

According to the CDC, more than 7,000 tests came back positive - nationwide - for RSV last week alone. The Florida Department of Health says that Floridas RSV statistics are running parallel in comparison. Dr. Rathore said that Northeast Floridas season for RSV also lasts longer due to the states tempid climate.

To date, a vaccine is not available to prevent RSV, therefore prevention is key. Parents of young children are encouraged keep theirs - and their childrens - hands clean. Additional suggestions include washing hands with soap and water often; using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer; avoid touching your face, including eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands; avoid all close contact with sick people; covering your mouth when coughing or sneezing; disinfecting hard surfaces; disinfecting common public surfaces; and staying home when sick.

Dr. Rathore reminds parents that both the flu and COVID-19 vaccines are available to children 6 months and older and encourages parents to have a discussion with their doctors on the parameters of RSV and ways to treat it.

Parents who think their child may infected with RSV are encouraged to call their pediatricians. Those experiencing severe symptoms including difficulty should be taken to the nearest Emergency Center.








Chinese premier puts forward five-point proposal on promoting SCO cooperation

Xinhua) 08:14, November 02, 2022

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang hosts the 21st Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) via video link at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 1, 2022. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

BEIJING, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday chaired the 21st meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Beijing and put forward a five-point proposal on promoting SCO cooperation.

Kazakh Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Akylbek Japarov, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Tajik Prime Minister Kokhir Rasulzoda, Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov, foreign ministers of India and Pakistan and representatives from SCO observer states attended the meeting, which was held via video link.

Li said that the SCO has made important contributions to peace and stability in the region and to the development and prosperity of regional countries. He added that at the meeting of the Council of Heads of State held in Samarkand last September, the parties reached new common understandings on the development of the SCO.

Upholding peace and pursuing development remain the trend of our times and the people's aspirations. China will continue to work with members of the SCO family to deepen political trust, win-win cooperation and friendly exchanges, champion the Shanghai Spirit, and jointly deliver greater benefits to the peoples of all countries, Li said.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang hosts the 21st Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) via video link at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 1, 2022. (Xinhua/Yue Yuewei)

He then made five proposals on advancing SCO cooperation:

First, safeguarding security and stability to foster a sound environment for development. China is ready to deepen law enforcement and security cooperation with all parties to provide safeguards for the economic and social development of all countries, Li said.

Second, expanding trade and investment to bolster regional economic recovery. Li said SCO countries need to jointly uphold the WTO-centered multilateral trading regime, support the development of an open world economy, and enhance trade and investment facilitation.

Third, enhancing connectivity to realize integrated development of the region. Li pointed out that it is imperative for SCO countries to further align development strategies, raise the efficiency of clearance at ports of entry, and preserve the resilience and stability of regional industrial and supply chains.

Fourth, promoting sustainable development to build up resilience against risks. Efforts must be made to enhance the capacity of regional countries for food and energy supply and pursue a balanced and orderly transition to green and low-carbon development, Li said.

Fifth, enhancing people-to-people and cultural exchanges to strengthen the bond between peoples. SCO countries need to fully leverage the cooperation mechanisms on education, culture, science, technology and press, and ensure the success of activities under the SCO Year of Tourism next year, Li added.

In briefing participants on China's economic situation, Li said that confronted with complex and intricate factors at home and abroad, the Chinese economy once came under downward pressures beyond expectation, with a notable decline early in the second quarter.

"China responded swiftly and resolutely, and introduced a policy package for stabilizing the economy and follow-up measures," said Li, adding that China focused on helping market entities stay afloat and keeping employment and prices stable. China relied on deepening reform to better unlock market vitality and social creativity.

Li said through these efforts, the Chinese economy reversed the downward trend in time.

"We will vigorously promote steady, sound and sustainable economic development," he added.

Li said China has more than 160 million market entities, and its people are hardworking and intelligent. This is where the greatest resilience and confidence lie in China's economic development.

China will continue to work for the full delivery of the policy package introduced for stabilizing the economy, work to maximize its effects, keep major economic indicators within the appropriate range, and strive for better results, Li said.

Li said China will stay committed to the fundamental national policy of reform and opening-up and the win-win strategy of opening-up.

China will continue on the path of peaceful development, take an active part in the reform and development of the global governance system, and work with all parties to advance world peace, stability, development and prosperity, he said.

Participants of the meeting spoke positively about the important outcomes of SCO cooperation in various fields and noted the SCO's stature as an effective platform for international cooperation and its increasingly important role in maintaining mutual trust between member states, boosting development and promoting regional peace and security.

They expressed the willingness to further tap into the cooperation potential, strengthen the mechanisms for cooperation, enhance cooperation in such areas as economy and trade, investment, innovation, environmental protection, agriculture, people-to-people and cultural exchanges, connectivity and digital economy, uphold multilateralism, and jointly tackle the challenges of food and energy security and climate change, to improve the well-being of all peoples and promote regional and global stability and prosperity.

The meeting released a joint communique and adopted a number of cooperation documents and resolutions in economy and trade, digital economy and other fields.

(Web editor: Cai Hairuo, Liang Jun)
NEW YORK  Elon Musk said Wednesday that Twitter will not allow anyone who has been kicked off the site to return until it sets up procedures on how to do that, a process that will take at least a few weeks.

That would mean people banned from the site for violating Twitters rules for harassment, violence, or election and COVID-related misinformation will not be able to return before next Tuesdays U.S. midterm elections.

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The pledge came after Musk, who took control of the social-media site last week after buying it for $44 billion, said in a tweet that he had met with a handful of civil-society leaders about how Twitter will continue to combat hate & harassment & enforce its election integrity policies.

Those attending the meeting Tuesday asked Musk not to restore the banned users ahead of the midterms, said Jessica Gonzalez, an attorney and co-CEO of the advocacy group Free Press who attended the meeting.

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The attendees  including leaders from the NAACP, Anti-Defamation League and Color of Change  also requested Twitter have a transparent process on how it plans to restore accounts. Musk has publicly said that he would let former President Donald Trump back on the site, though Trump  who routinely touts his own platform Truth Social  has given no indication as to whether he will return.

Gonzalez said the attendees also requested Twitter enforce election-integrity measures that are already in place, and encouraged him to hear from a diverse array of people  particularly racial minorities and those whove been targeted by hate and harassment campaigns.

He agreed to all of those things in our meeting, but actions speak louder than words, Gonzalez said. Ive had a lot of meetings with tech CEOs. And Ive been made a lot of empty promises. And with Elon Musk in particular, hes shown himself to be inconsistent, saying one thing that one day and another thing the next. So we fully intend to hold him accountable to these promises and more.

The NAACP, for its part, said in a statement that it expressed to Musk its concerns about the dangerous, life-threatening hate and conspiracies that have proliferated on Twitter under his watch. The organization cited a report about a spike in hate speech on Twitter in the hours following the Musk acquisition, saying a failure to take action will put human lives at risk and further unravel our democracy. It also said any account that perpetuates misinformation about elections should not be allowed on the platform.

As long as hate, misinformation, and disinformation spread across Twitter, the bird cannot be free, the organization said. After taking over Twitter last week, Musk tweeted the bird is freed, a reference to the sites logo. In a separate letter to Musk on Tuesday, the NAACP, along with the National Urban League and the National Action Network, said they were alarmed by the rise of racial and religious hatred on Twitter and accused the billionaire of unwittingly unleashing the worst of human nature.

Musk said last week he wont make major decisions about content or restoring banned accounts before setting up a content moderation council with diverse viewpoints. He reiterated that point on Wednesday, adding the council hes assembling will include the civil rights community and groups who face hate-fueled violence.

No group representing the LGBTQ community was present during Tuesdays meeting and Twitter did not immediately reply to a request for comment on whether Musk plans to meet with one. The billionaire Tesla CEO has said in the past that he supports transgender people, but has criticized the use of different pronouns. In a tweet this summer referring to Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson, who was locked out of his account following a post about transgender actor Elliot Page that seemingly violated Twitters rules, Musk said the platform was going way too far in squashing dissenting opinions.

A spokesperson for the advocacy organization GLAAD said the group remains in communication with Twitter and expects to continue to provide feedback and research about LGBTQ safety on the site, as it does with every other leading platform.

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Twitter and other social media platforms have long been awash with misinformation about voting and elections, as well as the COVID-19 vaccine. The platform is retaining its misinformation labels for the 2022 midterms and attempting to debunk tweets that contain misinformation with links to credible information.

In one part of the meeting on Tuesday, Gonzalez said the group told Musk  who posted and deleted an article over the weekend that contained misleading claims about the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosis husband  that he needs to set the tone for what he expects on the platform.

Some of the groups in the meeting were part of a coalition that sent an open letter to top Twitter advertisers on Tuesday, calling on them to commit to halting advertising on the site if Twitter under Musk undermines community standards and guts content moderation. In his own open letter to advertisers, the primary source of Twitters revenue, Musk said last week that he would not let the site become a free-for-all hellscape in his quest to promote free speech.

Meanwhile, David Cruz, the national director for The League of United Latin American Citizens, said Sindy Benavides, who seemingly represented the Hispanic civil rights organization at the meeting, was not a member of the organization. In an email, Cruz called Benavides a rogue, former respected leader who has decided to place herself above the organization that trusted her.
A group of House Republicans on Tuesday called on Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Chris Magnus to resign in the wake of a report that alleged the official is unengaged at his job.

In a letter to President Biden requesting Magnuss resignation, 16 Republicans led by Rep. Jody Hice (Ga.) cited the report by Politico, where five unnamed officials leveled accusations against Magnus.

According to a recent report by Politico, Commissioner Magnus continually fails to attend high-level meetings regarding the border crisis. Even worse, he was caught sleeping through some of the meetings he actually attended, wrote the lawmakers in the letter first reported by the Daily Caller.

The report goes on to detail Commissioner Magnus constant complaining about his fellow senior officials in Department of Homeland Security (DHS) instead of focusing on the CBP mission to secure our border, they added.

Magnus, a former Tucson, Ariz., police chief, was chosen by Biden in part because he spoke out against the Trump administrations crackdown on immigrants and its negative effect on relations between law enforcement and immigrant communities.

Still, Magnuss background in policing rather than immigration and border enforcement raised some questions about his ability to take on a complex agency amid historically high border crossings.

More than ever, we need a commissioner who understands the complexity of border policy and the innerworkings of the CBP agency. Commissioner Magnus has admitted that during his first ten months in office he spent more time learning the many complex areas of CBP rather than leading on the massive issues at the border,' the lawmakers wrote.

But the complaints also levied anonymous accusations that questioned Magnuss push against the internal culture of the Department of Homeland Security, CBP and the Border Patrol, a CBP agency.

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Officials cited in the Politico story complained that Magnus is focused on addressing the longstanding allegations of racism in the Border Patrol.

One of Magnuss first moments in the national spotlight was in 2014, when as chief of the Richmond, Calif., police department, he held up a Black Lives Matter sign during racial equality protests.

While the appointment of an outsider with little immigration enforcement experience rattled the culture of CBP, complaints against Magnus also seem to have an interagency component.

For instance, the anonymous administration officials said Magnus ruffled feathers by calling a meeting with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to address complaints that Border Patrol agents had against Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a separate DHS agency led by Director Tae Johnson.

Still, the GOP lawmakers focused their letter on the more than 2 million migrant apprehensions at the southwest border in fiscal 2022, a key campaign issue.

Mr. President, it is imperative that the leader of CBP not only understand the border but has a deep and keen understanding of immigration policies. The CBP Commissioner should be engaged on these issues and not asleep at the wheel during the largest border crisis in U.S. history, they wrote.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Ukrainian servicemen fire a mortar in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine, Oct. 25. (Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/Reuters)

Should Republicans retake control of one or both houses of Congress in the midterm elections, the implications for U.S. foreign policy in Ukraine could be profound.

On Oct. 18, just weeks after the U.S. announced it was sending another $1.1 billion in military funding to Ukraine, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy made clear that a Republican majority in either chamber would signal possible changes to future payments.

I think people are going to be sitting in a recession and theyre not going to write a blank check to Ukraine, McCarthy told Punchbowl News. They just wont do it. ... Its not a free blank check.

Other Republicans have been outspoken in their view that the U.S. needs to halt military aid to Ukraine, with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene characterizing such funding as a money-laundering scheme. She and other far-right lawmakers have insisted that America faces more urgent priorities, such as securing the U.S.-Mexico border.

According to Politico, Biden aides anticipate funds to Kyiv to keep flowing, though perhaps on a smaller scale. This uncertainty is one reason why lawmakers have reportedly been considering the passage of a new aid package in the lame-duck session of Congress that would make the most recent $12 billion in aid approved in September look like pocket change, as an unnamed Republican senator told NBC News.

An estimate of U.S. aid to Ukraine from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy stood at $52 billion dollars as of Oct. 11, including more than $27 billion in military aid and close to $25 billion in humanitarian and economic aid. On Oct. 28, the Biden administration committed another $275 million in military aid to Kyiv.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

Several experts who spoke to Yahoo News said that aid to Ukraine would not change significantly should Republicans take control of the purse strings, though some admitted that nonmilitary funding could take a hit.

Both parties have a strong majority that favors support for Ukraine, said Stephen Sestanovich, the George F. Kennan senior fellow for Russian and Eurasian Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. There may be a greater pretense of oversight and greater scrutiny of the mix of aid that Ukraine receives, he added. But major change? Dont count on it.

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Jon Lieber, managing director for the U.S. at the Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy, offered a similar perspective, saying that McCarthys statement has been widely misinterpreted in the media. Its worlds away from saying that they wont get any check.

The bottom line for Lieber is that Congress will have more members who are openly skeptical of the U.S. making a broad, open-ended commitment to defending Ukraine. But this seems unlikely to spur a collapse in support for Ukraine.

They will be effective in forcing more oversight, putting conditions on the aid, and demanding an endgame strategy from the administration, Lieber said, but they will not be effective in stopping the U.S. from supporting Ukraine.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Oct. 5 showed that 73% of Americans favor continuing to provide funding for Ukraine. But that support appears to be slipping among Republicans. A Pew Research survey in September found that 32% of Republican voters said the U.S. is providing too much aid to Kyiv, 23 points higher than when the same question was asked in March.

While GOP support for funding Ukraines government appears to be softening among some members of Congress, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has been steadfast in his support of Kyiv.

President Biden at the White House on Wednesday. (Leah Millis/Reuters)

The vast majority of us, certainly including myself, think defeating the Russians in Ukraine is high priority, McConnell told DefenseNews in a mid-September interview.

The midterms could usher in a new crop of isolationist Republicans, however, such as J.D. Vance, the GOP nominee for Senate in Ohio.

I think were at the point where weve given enough money in Ukraine, Vance said in a recent interview. We cannot fund a long-term military conflict that I think ultimately has diminishing returns for our own country.

Yet if Ukraine continues to see military gains on the ground against Russia, that reluctance might become a trickier political position.

If Ukraine loses ground to the Russians, youll see congressional Republicans demanding that the administration do more, Sestanovich noted. You may even see increased support.

Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, insisted that military aid was unlikely to change markedly. I dont see a more aggressive or larger effort, he said. I dont think they are going to be able to shave it too much either.

Given that this populist group on the right is going to be larger and perhaps part of the majority, I think it would be hard to expand military aid, Cancian added. The one place where aid is vulnerable is not the military aid but the economic aid.

Ukrainian officials have reportedly been insisting to Republicans in Washington that aid must continue to go beyond military assistance to include economic support. The country faces numerous financial challenges, from paying for its war effort amid vastly reduced economic activity to rebuilding critical infrastructure.

Farming machinery lies in ruins after being destroyed during fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces, Kharkiv, Ukraine, Oct. 23. (Carl Court/Getty Images)

On Monday, Russia pounded Ukraines electrical grid and water supply through dozens of targeted missile strikes that left many without electricity or water.

In terms of the infrastructure, by virtue of the electrical grid being impacted, we are seeing impacts in terms of water supply systems, water treatment, things like that, which is affecting access to water among the civilian population, a senior Pentagon official told reporters on Monday.

The strikes epitomize Russias war effort in Ukraine, which has included sustained efforts against military and civilian targets. For Ukrainians, that makes economic support an indispensable part of the aid mix.

Speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a virtual Yale forum on Oct. 28, Sen. Lindsay Graham reassured that Republican support of the war effort was steadfast. Things are going to work out, he said, predicting a robust package of military and economic assistance in the near future.

A new crop of Republican politicians view Graham and McConnell as neocons whose foreign policy ideas are outdated. How that divergence of opinion on funding Ukraines war effort could play out should the party retake control of Congress remains to be seen.

To my Republican colleagues who dont want a blank check: Thats fine, Ill be glad to sit down with you to make sure the money goes where it should go, Graham said at the Yale forum. But I promise you the majority of Republican senators [is] fully committed to seeing this through.
By Uditha Jayasinghe

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Hundreds of people marched in Sri Lanka's largest city Colombo on Wednesday protesting against higher taxes, inflation and alleged state-led repression as the country struggles to emerge from its worst financial crisis in seven decades.

The anti-government protest, jointly organized by opposition political parties, trade unions and civil society groups, was blocked by police as marchers attempted to reach a central part of the city where the president's house and other ministries are located.

"People can barely eat three meals a day and this government has done nothing to support people other than impose more and more taxes. We need solutions and we will keep fighting for them," Ceylon Teacher's Union Secretary Joseph Stalin said.

Sri Lanka has been gripped by a deep financial crisis this year caused by record-low foreign exchange reserves that has left the island of 22 million people struggling to pay for essential imports including fuel, food, cooking gas and medicine.

Widespread protests in July resulted in former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fleeing the country and resigning after protesters stormed his office and residence.

His successor President Ranil Wickremesinghe will be presenting his first budget on Nov. 14 that is likely to include steep tax increases and other reforms to put the country's tattered economy back on track and get approval from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $2.9 billion bailout.

However, increased taxes, which will include corporate and personal income taxes hiked to a high of 30%, coming on top of soaring inflation that hit 66% in October, is triggering public discontent.

Protesters carrying national and black flags shouted slogans of "Ranil go home," during the march and called for new elections. They also accused the government of using draconian anti-terrorism legislation to crack down on protest leaders and jail two of them.

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"Everyone must be within the law. That is democracy. But this government has been using anti-terrorism laws to repress protest leaders and this must be stopped," said main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) senior member Eran Wickramaratne.

"Everyone must stand up against this government. We have to fight for our rights."

(Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Cassie Schoene said getting to live, work and play at Walt Disney World is truly a "magical" experience. Cassie Schoene

Cassie Schoene was a sophomore in college when she got into Disney's college program.

She loves working at Epcot and says she's saving money by using the cast discounts.

However, being in the program often means working long, unsocial hours and strict attendance rules.

I was a sophomore at Drake University when I got accepted into the Disney College Program. It had been a dream of mine since I found out about it in high school.

I filled out two online surveys, which served as entry tests. Usually there's an in-person interview, but they were still paused as a COVID-19 precaution. I was accepted on October 25, 2021, five days after applying.

It's a work program that usually lasts four to seven months and can be extended for up to a year. Disney College Program participants, or CPs, must be enrolled in a university or have graduated in the past two years.

Through the program, you live at Disney and are assigned a work placement from a variety of roles, including operating rides, housekeeping, and being character performers.

You don't have to take a break from school to attend the program, but you should. The work hours get long, and there is not much time for classes. I chose to take 12 credits of online classes. My school approved this because it was treated like an off-campus internship, but most students take a semester off. It was very stressful to juggle studying and shift work.

What the truly magical program is like

I moved into the program's housing in March. I was meant to stay for seven months, but I've extended my program until January 5. It truly is a "magical" experience, but it's had its ups and downs.

All CPs live in two housing villages. The parks are about a 20-minute drive from my village. The villages are nice apartment blocks with a gym and pools. I live in the cheapest accommodation: a shared bedroom and bathroom and a living space with two other roommates for $740 a month.

There's also a one-time $415 or $435 entrance fee for the program. I'm making $14 an hour, so these initial costs were a financial hit.

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CPs don't get to choose their work locations and roles. You have no say where you get placed, and you don't change roles. Sometimes people will leave the Disney College Program if they don't get the role they want.

It's hard to say which roles are better than others; it all depends on the person. I do have a lot of respect for the people placed in custodial roles working in food and beverage or resorts. Those are tough spots with tough hours.

It's my job to help make sure the Mission: Space ride at Epcot runs safely and smoothly

I work at the Mission Space ride at Epcot  the only Disney attraction to have sickness bags on the ride. Luckily for me, our wonderful custodial team cleans up when anyone gets sick.

Passing under the Walt Disney World sign to get work never gets old. That said, I've gotten used to Epcot, and entering that park feels just like going to a job. Sometimes I'll be standing in Mission Space and suddenly remember I'm at Disney World. Then everything feels magical again.

Once I've clocked in, I get placed in a position in Mission Space, where I'm responsible for ensuring guests and cast members are safe and that the ride runs accordingly.

At my attraction, rotation goes around about every 45 minutes to put cast members in new positions. It keeps things fresh and stops us from getting tired. Staying alert is important since some positions in the line are critical for maintaining the ride's safety.

My favorite position is "grouper," in which I organize the different groups guests will be in to get on the ride. It's like human Tetris.

CPs are the bottom of the barrel when it comes to shifts

I typically work from 2:45 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. CPs tend to work the closing shift, no matter the location. So if you're at Walt Disney World after 2 p.m., it's likely that the cast member in front of you is a CP.

But when staffing gets low, CPs bear the brunt of the long shifts. There were times when I worked three to four 12-hour shifts a week. As part of our contract, we have to commit to working late nights, early mornings, weekends, and holidays for no extra compensation.

Disney has a strict attendance policy that's monitored with a point system. Clocking in even one minute late earns you half a point. Calling out of a shift is one point. Three points in 30 days equals a reprimand. We were told four reprimands means you're fired. (Editor's note: Disney did not respond for comment)

CPs work the same hours as full-time staff, but being a CP is being the bottom rung on the ladder shiftwise. My schedule isn't consistent, but I've worked the longer hours consistently.

Being able to experience Disney so cheaply makes up for it

But we do get Disney perks. I get into all Disney parks and Typhoon Lagoon for free. I get discounts on Disney merchandise, restaurants, quick service, and cruises.

People come from all over the globe to visit Walt Disney World. I've met people from England, Mexico, France, Brazil, and more. Some guests even bring little notes or goodies for cast members, and it makes my entire day. I keep every single one I receive.

I save money within Disney by being a cast member, so I often stay in the Disney bubble. The rest of Florida may be cheaper, but I get to experience Disney World cheaper than the rest of Florida.

I live, work, and play at Walt Disney World. It truly is a magical experience.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Hutchinson Camp, Hermann Fechenbach, 1942. Credit - Courtesy of www.hermannfechenbach.com

On the morning of Sunday 12th May 1940, a fleet of motor cars roared from Scotland Yard, Londons police headquarters. Many of the officers dispatched to make the days arrests had been unaware of their task until they arrived at work that morning. By the end of the day, around two thousand individuals had been taken into custody to be handed to the military authorities. These individuals were not dangerous criminals, however, but refugees, mostly Jewish, many of whom had come to Britain fleeing Nazi oppression. The days arrests were reminiscent of the roundups they had narrowly avoided at home in Germany and Austria. Now they were being interned by their supposed liberators, subject to a collective trauma: to be imprisoned by ones liberator is to endure an injustice of chronology.

In recent months rumors had abounded that a fifth columna neologism to Britain at the time, now universally understood to refer to traitors living within their country of asylumhad assisted the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Tabloid newspapers had stoked national paranoia with claims that a similar network of spies lurked in Britain. Hysteria had overcome logic. Most refugees spoke thickly accented English, were unaccustomed to British social norms and would make ineffectual spies. Fifth Columnists were far likelier to come from the ranks of British fascists. As the politician Herbert Delaunay Hughes wrote, pseudonymously, at the time: It is lamentable how quickly people seem to have forgotten who exactly the refugees are and how it is that they came to this country.

A widespread ignorance of the true numbers of foreigners to whom Britain had offered asylum hastened the change in public attitudes. In 1940 one poll asked British citizens to estimate the number of refugees who had come to Britain from Nazi Germany in the previous six years. Respondents put the number at anywhere between two and four million. The true figure was just 73,500.

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The recent German occupation of France meant an invasion attempt seemed not only plausible but imminent. While many British citizens acknowledged there was injustice in a mass internment policy, they felt that it was nevertheless an appropriate, justifiable measure. On 11th May 1940, one day after he became prime minister, Winston Churchill authorized the arrest of thousands of so-called enemy aliens. When Hitler learned of Churchills internment policy, he reportedly gloated: The enemies of Germany are now the enemies of Britain too. Where are those much-vaunted democratic liberties of which the English boast?

29th May 1940: Germans and Austrians leaving mainland Britain for an interment camp on the Isle of Man, arriving at the station escorted by police. Fox Photos-Getty Images

Status and class, those twin armaments of privilege, provided no protection. Nazism had pushed a wave of luminaries toward Britain. Now these Oxbridge dons, surgeons, dentists, lawyers, and celebrated artists were taken into custody. The police arrested Emil Goldmann, a 67-year-old professor from the University of Vienna, in the grounds of Eton College. At Cambridge University, dozens of staff and students were detained in the Guildhall, including Prince Frederick of Prussia, a grandson of Queen Victoria (who, while interned, received food packages from the luxury department store Fortnum & Mason allegedly paid for by the British royal family). That years Cambridge law finals nearly had to be cancelled because one of the interned professors had locked away the exam papers, and taken the key.

Many internees were first transferred to transit camps, where conditions ranged from comfortable to, in the case of Warth Mills, an abandoned, decaying cotton mill in the north of England, uninhabitable. On arrival, British soldiers took valuables from the internees money, wristwatches, cigarettes, writing paper and typewritersdistributing these items among themselves in full view of the looted. Doctors watched, bewildered, as the soldiers pocketed their stethoscopes. Academics argued that they should be allowed to keep their textbooks. Artists pleaded to keep their drawing paper.

For some, this ransacking crowned a brief period that had transformed their view of Britain, and their place within it. At Warth Mills two thousand internees shared a single bathtub, and eighteen water taps. There was no sewerage system in place, and the lavatories amounted to sixty buckets housed outside, beneath an oblong tent. Dr Simon Isaac, a former professor at the University of Frankfurt who had overseen makeshift hospitals on the Russian Front during WWI, wrote that he had never seen a place less fit for the accommodation of human beings. The indignities of isolation from friends and relatives, meagre food rations, lice, and inadequate sanitary arrangements led many internees to draw parallels between the mill and the Nazi detention camps from which they had fled. According to an official Ministry of Information report, two men, both of whom had previously been incarcerated in Nazi camps, died by suicide.

Internees were soon transferred to one of the permanent camps, ten of which were situated on the Isle of Man. One of these camps, P Camp, or Hutchinson, opened on 13th July 1940. In Hutchinson around 1,200 internees were packed in requisitioned boarding houses that bordered a picturesque square, with views leading down to the harbour. For some there was a frisson of an unexpected holiday. The older men better understood the precariousness and uncertainty of their situationimprisoned without charge or trial, subject to the outrageous accusation of being a member of the regime that precipitated their exile, and with no idea how long they would be held. These were holiday homes, but this was no holiday.

Hutchinson Camp, Hermann Fechenbach, 1942. Courtesy of www.hermannfechenbach.com

Through happenstance, Hutchinson became home to a dazzling array of luminaries, Nobel-prize-winning professors, lauded composers, award-winning journalists and feted international lawyersincluding one who claimed to count the Vatican among his clients. There was Heinrich Fraenkel, journalist and chess-setter for the New Statesman, who was busy writing the book, Help Us Germans To Beat The Nazis, for Victor Gollancz, from his bed inside the camp. There was the archaeologist Professor Gerhard Bersu, a world expert on Vikings, the music critic Rudolf Kastner who claimed to have discovered the American violinist Yehudi Menuhin, and Walter Neurath, a book publisher who later founded the publishing company Thames & Hudson with the wife of his Hutchinson colleague, Wilhelm Feuchtwang.

The camps population included fashion designers such as Otto Haas-Heye, whose designs defined German womens style in the 1920s, and Harald Marenholtz, a friend to Pablo Picasso, Christian Dior, and Gabrielle Coco Chanel, whose clientele at his Mayfair fashion house included Her Royal Highness the Princess Margaret, the Royal Ballet dancer Margot Fonteyn, and the Hollywood actor Vivien Leigh. There were architects, such as Carl Franck, who helped changed the silhouette of the British city, and doctors, such as the eye surgeon Oskar Fehr, who via his pioneering operation to fix a detached retina, changed the course of medicine. And among the camps considerable contingent of Oxford and Cambridge academics were world experts in law, philosophy, and history.

Two days after the camps opening some men emerged from their boarding houses carrying chairs and ladders which they set up around the terraced lawn. They beckoned passers-by, and, when they had a small crowd, began to hold forth on their specialist subject. Soon the lawn became filled with speakers and their various audiences, like, as one observer put it, a scene from Ancient Athens. A listener could wander freely between subjects, from Greek philosophy, industrial uses of synthetic fibres to Shakespeares Sonnets.

Bruno Ahrends, an architect who had, during an illustrious career, designed Berlins highly influential modernist housing estates, approached the camp commandant, Captain Hubert Daniel, and requested permission to organise a formal schedule of lectures. Daniel offered Ahrends a room on the first floor of the camps administration building. Together with his assistant, the young art historian Klaus Hinrichsen, the pair assigned daily lectures, organised theatre and music performances and, arranged lessons and tutorials for the younger internees to prepare them for the exams they would, hopefully, still be able to sit upon their release.

Portrait of Bruno Ahrends, Kurt Schwitters, 1941. Courtesy of the Ahrends family.

Professional actors and film directors staged productions of, among others, A Midsummer Nights Dream and Of Mice and Men. The backdrops to these plays were built from scavenged components by the set-designer Este Stern, a frequent collaborator of Max Reindhart and Noel Coward. The artists in the camp, including the famous Dadiast Kurt Schwitters, soon established a semi-exclusive Artists Cafe, housed in a laundry room extension. Schwitters converted his attic bedroom into an impromptu studio. And, on the lawn outside, he offered to sketch passers-by, with prices set on a sliding scale: 3 for a head and shoulders; 4 for head, shoulders, and arms; 5 for a half figure. Meanwhile, the journalists published a fortnightly camp newspaper, featuring news, articles, fiction, and illustrations  edited by Leo Freund under the penname Michael Corvin.

Some internees established a Technical School, and arranged to installation of a speaker system throughout the camp. Codesigned by Dr. Hans Rothfels from St. Johns College, Oxford, and installed by Herman Rahmer, one of the first people to perform with the Theremin instrument, it consisted of 2,700 yards of wire, which fed fifty-three speakers in each houses dining room, and enabled the broadcast of radio programs from the BBC. The system also enabled the commandant to relay messages from his desk to the entire camp. Captain Daniel warmed to his role and would routinely announce the latest cricket scores to the bewildered internees.

Despite the cultural richness of the camp, depression was rife, as the men waited for news of their loved ones, worried about their businesses, and obsessed over freedom. Lest this all sounds too rosy a situation, Klaus Hinrichsen noted, let me assure you that all these frantic activities were entered into as a means of distraction from the ever-present anger at the injustice the constant worry about wives and children left without a provider from the lack of communication and, of course suffering from the cramped living conditions and the lack of freedom.

In London campaigners such as the MP Eleanor Rathbone, Helen Roeder, secretary of the Artists Refugee Committee, and the Quaker Bertha Bracey secured books to open an impromptu library in the camp, where Lewis Carrolls Alice in Wonderland and Daphne du Mauriers Rebecca proved to be the most borrowed titles. In government, attitudes to the mass internment policy had begun to shift, hastened by the news of the sinking of the SS Arandora Star, when 650 men, including German, Austrian, and Italian refugees en route to Canadian internment camps, were drowned after a U-boat torpedoed their liner. It was shipping disaster with one of the gravest losses of life of the Second World War. The economist John Maynard Keynes, an adviser to the government, claimed that he had not met a single soul, inside or outside government departments, who is not furious at what is going on. Undoing the mess, however, proved time consuming and complex.

In the autumn of 1940, the British government released a white paper outlining several categories under which internees could apply for release. Those who were too young or too old, too infirm, or who already had permits to work in positions of national importance could apply to be freed. Artists, writers, and musicians were not included until later revisions, and had to prove they had achieved distinction in their chosen field. As Helen Roeder, secretary of the Artists Refugee Committee, put it: Do you think [the criteria could] be stretched to include the poor souls who have been too busy being hunted to achieve distinction in the arts?

In the early months of internment, the fact that so many brilliant men of self-evidently anti-Nazi beliefs had been interned highlighted the absurdity of the situation. As the autumn nights grew longer, however, any sense of perverse delight clotted into dismay and bitterness as, one by one, the camp emptied of celebrated individuals. The weeks until Christmas and after seemed to be just one endless gloom and depression, the lawyer-turned-painter Fred Uhlman wrote. Every day I waited in fear and hope till the names of the released were announced, only to crawl back to my room too miserable to eat.

By March 1941, 12,500 internees had walked free, representing almost half of those who had been interned the previous summer. Most eminent individuals quickly found a way out of the camps, but many of those without connections were left to languish, some for more than three years. While the internees were relatively comfortable, internment was a near-constant misery for most, one that, as the Oxford academic Paul Jacobstahl wrote, caused a trauma. At least fifty-six internees died in internment on the Isle of Man, many to suicide.

After the war few went as far as Tristan Busch, a former internee who described the British policy as a war crime, but it is indisputable that the hasty measures heaped unhappiness and anguish upon thousands of people already enduring the ordeal of fleeing their previous lives. Only a single sentence spoken by Sir John Anderson in the House of Commons on 22 August 1940, months before most of Hutchinsons internees were freed, provided something approaching an apology: Regrettable and deplorable things have happened, he said, as if the cruelties of internment had been the result of natural phenomena, and not a series of deliberate choices.

Unlike the wartime internment of Japanese Americans in the United States, which is an episode of ongoing lament, the British internment of so-called enemy aliens has been mostly kept separate from the prevailing story Britain tells itself about its wartime character. There has been no attempt to repair the damage by the British authorities in failing to distinguish between refugees and enemy aliens a dehumanizing term that, in 2021, the U.S. government pledged never again to use. The battle between a nations responsibility to help those in need and to maintain national security persists in every age, every generation. But the notion of the refugee who is not who he or she claims to be is an enduring story that can be easily used to justify institutional cruelty or overreach. While the context and detail shifts, the debate remains the same. Each successive generation must answer the question: How far can we go in the rightful defence of our values, before we abandon them along the way?

Adapted from Simon Parkins The Island of Extraordinary Captives: A Painter, a Poet, an Heiress, and a Spy in a World War II British Internment Camp
Two Iowa high school students killed their Spanish teacher last year as retaliation for receiving a bad grade, prosecutors said in court documents on Tuesday.

The documents reveal a possible motive in the case for the first time since the teenagers  Willard Miller and Jeremy Goodale  were arrested in November 2021. The boys, who were 16 at the time, face murder charges for the death of their 66-year-old teacher Nohema Graber.

According to investigators, Miller had met with Graber on November 2, 2021, to discuss his poor grade in her class. The teacher drove later that day to a park where she was known to take daily walks after school. Witnesses reported seeing her van leaving the park less than an hour after she arrived with two males in the front seat.

The van was left at the end of a rural road and a witness later picked up the two boys as they walked to town on the same road, investigators said.

SUSPECT WHO FLED FROM IOWA OFFICERS DIES AFTER EXCHANGING GUNFIRE

Graber's body was found at the park the next day underneath a tarp, wheelbarrow and railroad ties. She had been beaten to death with a baseball bat, according to investigators, and one of the teenagers bragged about the incident on social media.

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In speaking to police, Miller said he was frustrated over Graber's teaching methods and how his grade in her class was lowering his GPA.

"The poor grade is believed to be the motive behind the murder of Graber which directly connects Miller," court documents filed by Jefferson County Attorney Chauncey Moulding and Assistant Iowa Attorney General Scott Brown stated.

Miller initially denied involvement in his teacher's death but later said he had knowledge of the events but did not participate and that a "roving group of masked kids" were the real killers, who forced him to give them his wheelbarrow to help move her body. He also claimed the alleged masked kids had him drive her van from the park, according to court documents.

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IOWA MAN RESCUES 4 SIBLINGS FROM RAGING INFERNO AFTER MAKING WRONG TURN: LIVES WERE SAVED HERE

A witness provided photos to investigators of a Snapchat conversation with Goodale that reveals "Goodale's admissions that he acted in concert with another person to bring about Graber's death." The witness said Goodale made comments implicating himself and Miller by name.

But Miller's lawyer, Christine Branstad, claims four search warrants were issued illegally in part because "law enforcement failed to provide information to the issuing magistrate to show the informant is reliable or that the information from the informant should be considered reliable."

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Branstad is asking the court to invalidate all four search warrants and suppress evidence from Miller's home, comments he made to police and information obtained from his cellphone and Snapchat.

Miller is scheduled for trial on March 20 and Goodale's trial is set for December 5. The teenagers, both 17, will be tried as adults.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Iran may soon arm Russia with surface-to-surface short-range ballistic missiles, three U.S. and Western government officials said, in what would be significant escalation of Iranian support for President Vladimir Putins war in Ukraine.

In recent weeks, the United States and at least one allied nation have observed indications that Iran is preparing to transfer the weapons, the officials said, although its unclear how close Iran is to sending them. As of now, the U.S. has no indications any missiles have been sent, a senior U.S. defense official said.

If delivered, they would be the first advanced, precision-guided missiles that Iran has provided Russia since the war started. Short-range ballistic missiles have a range of hundreds of miles, and could help Moscow replenish its dwindling stockpile, which have been depleted by Russias war in Ukraine.

Two of the officials say the surface-to-surface missiles are expected to be part of a tranche of roughly 1,000 additional weapons  including more weaponized drones  that Iran could transfer to Russia by the end of this year.

A man works among the rubble of his destroyed home (Ed Ram / Getty Images)

We remain concerned about the potential for Iran to provide Russia with surface-to-surface missiles, White House National Security Council adviser John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday. They are very actively involved in supporting Russia and its efforts to kill innocent Ukrainians and to damage Ukraines civilian infrastructure.

The Washington Post first reported on Oct. 16 that Iran planned to send short-range surface-to-surface missiles to Russia, citing U.S. and allied security officials. The White House said on Oct. 20 that it was concerned Iran may provide surface-to-surface missiles to Russia.

Yuriy Ihnat, the spokesman for Ukraines Air Force Command, told reporters that Ukrainian forces would do whatever it could to counter any Iranian missiles that Russia places across Ukraines northern border. Still, he said, Ukraine only has air defense systems, not missile defense, making that task extremely difficult.

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Irans Mission to the United Nations didnt respond to a request for comment. But previously, Iran has firmly denied selling armed drones to Russia for use on the battlefield in Ukraine, calling those allegations unsubstantiated.

Such unfounded claims, which are solely based on false flags and fabricated assumptions, are nothing more than a propaganda apparatus launched by certain states to further their political agenda, Irans government said in a statement on Oct. 14.

The Biden administration has also accused Iran of sending military trainers and technical advisers to Crimea to help Russias military use Iranian-made drones. Russian military bases in Crimea, which the Kremlin illegally annexed in 2014, have been a key staging ground for Russias attacks against Ukraine since the war started in February.

A week or so ago, we had solid information that they did have personnel on the ground. It wasnt a very large number, Kirby said Tuesday. But whether theyre still there, or in what number, I couldnt say today.

Irans preparations for a potential missile transfer come amid stalled U.S. efforts to resurrect a deal with Tehran and world powers to address Irans nuclear weapons program, with the U.S. saying talks are at an impasse.

The U.S. has long maintained sanctions on Iran separate from and in addition to nuclear-related sanctions that were eased under the 2015 nuclear deal, which collapsed after President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the pact in 2018.

Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a think tank that advocates a hard-line position on Iran, said the potential weapons shipment provided another reason for the U.S. to back away from efforts to negotiate with Iran over its nuclear program.

With reports that Iran plans to send short-range ballistic missiles to Russia to use against Ukraine  and as the people of Iran cry out in the streets for a change in regime  the U.S. and its European allies should withdraw all sanctions relief offers made to Tehran and complete the snapback of U.N. sanctions at the Security Council, Goldberg said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
DUBAI (Reuters) -An Iranian delegation will visit Vienna in the coming days to try to narrow differences with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said.

"We will send a delegation from Iran to Vienna in the coming days to start talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and we hope to resolve remaining issues based on what we have agreed in the past days," he told a news conference.

Amirabdollahian also said he would speak to the EU's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, to discuss efforts to revive Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Indirect talks between Tehran and Washington on reviving the largely hollowed-out 2015 nuclear deal are stalled, with officials saying one important sticking point has been Iran's demand that the IAEA end an investigation into uranium traces found at undeclared sites.

(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Andrew Heavens, William Maclean)
Chickens

P oultry farmers in the Republic of Ireland have been ordered to keep their flocks indoors amid outbreaks of bird flu.

T he latest case of bird flu was confirmed in a dead swan in County Cavan.

T he order follows a similar move in England with both set to take effect from Monday.

F armers are being urged to maintain strict biosecurity measures around their flocks.

T here have been detections of avian flu across the island of Ireland in recent months.

An outbreak of H5NI avian flu was confirmed in a captive flock in County Wicklow in late August, the second confirmed outbreak in the region in a matter of days, reports Irish national broadcaster RTE

T he most recent case in Northern Ireland was found in captive birds at the Castle Espie Wildfowl and Wetlands Centre in County Down.

T he Irish agriculture department said there was no evidence that there was a risk to the public associated with eating properly prepared and cooked poultry products.

A uthorities said the risk of infection in humans was very low.

T he Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) said it would not be implementing a housing order due to lower rates of infection.

A spokesperson said there had been a only one avian influenza detection in captive birds this season and a "relatively small number" of positive wild birds.

However, Northern Ireland remains under bird flu prevention zone restrictions

T he publicis being urged not to handle dead or wild birds and report sick or dead wild birds to the relevant authorities.
A donated heart is examined and perfused with blood while being prepared for transplant using the TransMedics Organ Care System (OCS) Heart System. Nicknamed Heart in a Box, this new technology resuscitates a stopped heart, keeping it pumping outside of the body until it can be transplanted into a waiting patient. (Northwestern Medicine)

For the first time in Illinois, surgeons have successfully taken a heart that stopped beating inside a patient and transplanted it into another person with the help of a new, science fictionlike device.

Surgeons at Northwestern Memorial Hospital announced Wednesday that they performed a heart transplant Oct. 12 using a machine nicknamed heart in a box. Its an advance that doctors hope will make more hearts available for transplant. About 3,400 people across the country are now waiting for heart transplants, including 182 in Illinois.

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Usually, hearts are only considered for transplant if a donor suffers brain death, but the donors heart is still beating in their body, either on its own or with mechanical assistance. That can sometimes happen after a traumatic injury or drug overdose. In those cases, the heart is removed from the donors body and put on ice for transport to a recipient, which must occur within about four hours.

The heart-in-a-box device, however, allows surgeons to use hearts from donors who suffer circulatory death, which is when the heart and respiratory system shut down. After the heart stops beating, surgeons have about 30 minutes to retrieve it and place it in the device. The device then resuscitates it and keeps it beating by pumping warm, oxygenated blood through it, until it can be transplanted into a donor.

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The patient who received the heart at Northwestern, 55-year-old Jerry Dorsey of Champaign, is doing well, and was preparing to go home this week, said Dr. Benjamin Bryner, associate director of heart transplantation and mechanical support, and director of the expanded donation program at Northwestern Medicines Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute.

I think its one of the most significant advances in heart transplant in a few decades, Bryner said. It opens up a lot of hearts that were sort of discarded.

Bryner estimates the device could increase the number of heart transplants by about 20% to 30% at Northwestern and across the country. Northwestern now performs about 30 to 40 heart transplants a year, Bryner said.

Until now, patients usually could not be considered as potential donors unless they were brain-dead, limiting the number of hearts available. The new technology allows surgeons to take hearts from patients who are not technically brain-dead but have no hope of recovery. Those patients may also have suffered a traumatic injury or drug overdose, and have lost nearly all brain function, but arent considered brain-dead because they may have a reflex still intact or a small trickle of blood flow into the brain, Bryner said. Theyre not considered as donors unless theres no hope left, he said.

If a patient reaches that point, the patients family can make a decision to take the person off life support, so they stop breathing and their heart stops beating. The person then suffers circulatory death, and surgeons can retrieve the heart and place it in the device to be transported to another patient.

Dr. Benjamin S. Bryner, associate director of heart transplantation (bottom), and Dr. Duc Thinh Pham, director of heart transplantation and mechanical circulatory support (top), are shown performing a transplant using a heart donated after circulatory death (DCD). The surgery was the first DCD heart transplant in Illinois, performed at Northwestern Memorial Hospital on Oct. 12, 2022. (Northwestern Medicine)

Because the device keeps the heart pumping, surgeons have more time to transplant it than with traditional methods. The device can keep the heart viable for eight or nine hours, compared with about four or five hours when a stopped heart is on ice before a transplant.

With the traditional methods were limited in terms of amount of time and distance we can travel, said Dr. Duc Thinh Pham, director of heart transplantation and mechanical circulatory support at Northwesterns Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute. This device allows us to travel farther distances and for (a longer) travel period.

The device also gives surgeons more time to examine a hearts condition, searching for signs of injury or coronary artery disease, before its transplanted into another patient.

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Before, it was too big of a risk to take a heart that had already stopped out of someone and implant it and hope it would work, Bryner said.

Only a handful of U.S. hospitals have used the technology to perform heart transplants, though hospitals in the United Kingdom and Australia have been using it for years, according to Northwestern. The technology is similar to those that have been used to transplant livers, lungs and kidneys in recent years, including in the Chicago area.

The new portable device is called a TransMedics Organ Care System Heart System and was recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use with organs from donors after circulatory death.

A paper published in the journal Cureus earlier this year noted that the technology has the potential to increase the number of hearts available for transplantation but is expensive and can be more complex to transport than hearts preserved using ice.

Pham called the device one of the biggest developments that hes seen in heart transplantation and said it could benefit more patients with heart failure. He also urges people to sign up to be organ donors. In Illinois, people can sign up by going to https://apps.ilsos.gov/organdonorregister/ or calling 1-800-210-2106.
David Beard said he expected 23 Manx boats to fish for king scallops

A cut in the size of Isle of Man king scallop fishing fleet should mean Manx boats make a profit "for the first time in years", the industry body has said.

New rules around who can enter the fishery mean 60 vessels have been permitted to catch the shellfish this year, 15 fewer than in 2021.

David Beard of the Manx Fish Producers Organisation said local crews had been "really struggling" in recent years.

The controls on fleet size should make the fishery more profitable, he added.

The new entry requirements ban any boats without a sufficient track record of fishing in the 0-3 mile area of the Manx territorial sea in the past four years.

The move forms part of a long term management plan developed by the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture (DEFA) in conjunction with the fish producers and processors.

The latest king scallop fishing season started on 1 November

The plan comes after a period where the impact of Brexit led to higher export costs for Manx firms trying to sell scallops on into Europe, while some markets were closed off during the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Beard said the fishery was at its "lowest ebb" in 2019, as scallop stocks were declining, and any increase in shellfish numbers was quickly reduced due to the large number of boats attracted to fish in Manx seas.

He said, although Manx fishermen "still aren't making any money", it was hoped that restricting the size of the fleet would be a "first step" in reversing their economic fortunes.

Many of the measures taken to protect the Manx fishery could be used as a model for other nations like England and Wales, who were now developing new fisheries managements agreements, he added.

Why not follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and Twitter? You can also send story ideas to IsleofMan@bbc.co.uk
MILAN (AP)  Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday defended her government against criticism that a decree banning rave parties could be used to clamp down on sit-ins and other forms of protest while a march by thousands of fascist sympathizers to the crypt of the country's slain fascist dictator went unchallenged.

The decree on illegal raves was among the first actions of Melonis far-right-led government. Both the political opposition and judicial magistrates voiced alarm that the tough law-and-order stance signaled the government's possible intolerance of disobedience.

Critics noted that no action was taken against the weekend march by several thousand admirers of the late Italian dictator Benito Mussolini wearing fascist symbols and singing colonial-era hymns in Predappio, Mussolini's birth and burial place, while the government in Rome took extraordinary action to break up a rave party in the northern city of Modena.

We will never deny anyone the right to express dissent,''Meloni said in a Facebook post, accusing those suggesting that might be the case of instrumentalization."

She said the decree was necessary after years in which the government has bowed its head in the face of illegality." When property is occupied without authorization and drug use and sales are prevalent, it is right to prosecute illegal raves," Meloni said.

She did not address the criticism over the handling of the rave versus the march by fascist sympathizers.

Earlier, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that he deplored in the most absolute way the march held Sunday in Predappio marking the 100th anniversary of the March on Rome that ushered in two decades of fascist rule. Still, he dismissed the event as a clownish stunt.

He said similar gatherings had happened throughout the years without trouble and under control of police, and that any acts that violated Italian laws criminalizing apology of fascism would be turned over to magistrates.

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We live in a democratic country with solid institutions and a constitution in which all political parties are recognized. We have the antibodies to defeat whoever wants to go in another direction, Piantedosi said.

Melonis government is the first led by a party with neo-fascist roots since Mussolinis fascist dictatorship was ousted during World War II, ending a disastrous alliance with Hitler's Germany.

Meloni has tried to chart a moderate course, seeking to distance her Brothers of Italy party from its neo-fascist origins and denouncing Mussolini's racial laws that sent thousands of Italian Jews to Nazi death camps. But many remain concerned about the more militant pasts of the premier and some of the ministers serving in her government.

Speaking to Corriere della Sera, Piantedosi denied that the decree targeting illegal raves would be used in other contexts, calling such suggestions offensive.

The decree, which still must be debated and approved by parliament to become law, would make the organizers of unauthorized gatherings of more than 50 people in public or private settings eligible for prosecution and prison terms of up to six years.

According to legal experts, the decree cites the presence of 50 people for creating a gathering, a term which could be applied to political, union or even sporting events. An expert in criminal law at the University of Bologna, Vittorio Manes, told Italian newspaper Quotidiano Nazionale the measure was extremely generic and therefore slippery,

Italy's Constitution allows limits on the right to assembly only for proven reasons of public safety and security, and does not discuss threats to order or public health  the rationales cited in the decree, Giovanni Maria Flick, a former president of Italy's constitutional court, told daily newspaper La Repubblica.

Flick said the government's drawing up a new law looked especially heavy-handed when existing statutes could be applied to break up rave parties.

Concerns were accentuated by a police action last week to break up a student protest against a meeting at a Rome university that included a lawmaker from Melonis party. Video showed riot police blocking students who had protested behind a banner reading: Fascists out.

Asked whether force was necessary in that case, Piantedosi told Corriere that he could not second-guess the professionality and the sensitivity of those in the field who have to make decisions in a few seconds.

The decree was approved Monday as some 2,000 young people from throughout Europe gathered in the northern Italian city of Modena for a rave in an abandoned warehouse. Authorities said the warehouse was dangerous and risked collapsing from loud music vibrations. They also cited the impact on traffic.

Event participants abandoned the site when instructed.
UPDATE, 6 p.m.: According to a news briefing from Jacksonville Sheriffs Office, a suspect was pulled over by a surveillance team at a traffic stop on Wednesday afternoon.

The suspect was involved in a fentanyl overdose death from a week ago.

When the suspect was stopped by police he started to shoot, then ran away on Cain Lane.

[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]

The suspect was jumping through backyards to get away from police.

Moments later, two other officers found him, then the suspect began to shoot at police. The suspect missed, but officers fired back several times.

He was pronounced dead in a front yard.

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Police has not yet identified the suspect.

JSO started a Narcotics Overdose Squad three years ago to identify drug dealers.

According to JSO, there has been 380 overdoses so far this year.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2:20 p.m.: The Jacksonville Sheriffs Office is responding to an officer-involved shooting in the Paxon neighborhood on the Westside.

No officers are injured and no suspects are outstanding, JSO said.

Sources say one person is dead in the shooting.

Action News Jax is working on learning more information.

Action News Jax has received a video of several Jacksonville Sheriffs Office cars and a Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department ambulances on Broadway Avenue.

Watch FOX30 Action News Jax at 4 and refresh this story for the latest updates.

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In his first public statement since losing Brazils presidential election, Jair Bolsonaro failed to concede victory to his opponent, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Two days after his loss, he also defended widespread protests by his supporters as an outpouring of indignation and a sense of injustice.

However, the hard-right presidents chief-of-staff Ciro Nogueira confirmed afterwards that the transition to the new administration would now get underway with liaison beginning with Lulas team.

President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro looks deflated at a press conference two days after being defeated by Lula da Silva (Getty)

It remains to be seen whether Bolsonaros somewhat ambiguous statement would end the action of his followers, who had set up roadblocks across the country, called on the military to carry out a coup, and are planning mass protests on Wednesday, Brazils Day of the Dead.

There has been widespread concern that Bolsonaro, described as Trump of the Tropics, would refuse to accept the outcome of the election, having regularly claimed that the election would be stolen from him.

In his statement at his official residence in the capital Brasilia on Tuesday afternoon, the president did not mention the outcome of the vote once. He was narrowly defeated by his opponent after taking 49.1 per cent of the vote to Lulas 50.9.

But he wanted to stress: I have always been labelled as antidemocratic and, unlike my accusers, I have always played within the four lines of the constitution.

Were for order and progress and stand for God, fatherland, family and freedom. As president and as a citizen I will continue to follow all the commandments of our constitution... Our dreams are more alive than ever.

Bolsonaro did not concede defeat in his speech (Gett)

While Bolsonaro, a 6-year-old former army captain, remained silent for two days after the election, his supporters took to the streets and put up barricades, halting supplies getting through and leading to the cancellation of dozens of flights from Sao Paulos international airport with access routes blocked.

The head of Brazils Supreme Court, Alexandre de Moraes, warned the protests were becoming a risk to national security and ordered that the roads be cleared. However, more than 260 were still being blocked with most of the country affected.

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The roadblocks were mainly put up by truckers who have been a powerbase for Bolsonaro and have benefitted from low diesel prices under his administration. Police cleared some of the barriers but there was also footage on social media of them helping to set them up at a few places.

Bolsonaro supporters during a protest outside a military facility in Belo Horizonte on Tuesday (Reuters)

The Federal Highway Police (PRF) have been accused of attempting voter suppression in the northeast of the country before the vote. The day before the polls, Silvenei Marques, asked people on his social media platforms to vote for Bolsonaro.

Judge Moraes said officers who sought to prevent voting from taking place faced criminal charges.

WhatsApp groups of Bolsonaro supporters, including former members of the armed forces, celebrated the road closures. And the mood among many of his hardline followers was to continue with the protests.

Eduardo Teixeira, a 2-year-old mechanic, said after watching Bolsonaros address on television the president was pointing out that he is a man of principle. You could sense that he did not think the result was correct. We have every right to continue to demonstrate.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won the presidential run-off election on Sunday (AFP/Getty)

His companion Xavier, a former policeman, added people are very angry at what has happened. They were in a shock for a day and then they came out onto the streets. I dont think everyone is just going to stop, our countrys future is at stake.

Lula, who is due to be inaugurated on 1 January, said there was an urgent need for Bolsonaro to accept the will of the people.

I need to know if the president we defeated will let there be a transition, he said. We need to start preparations to govern this country.

He repeated his pledge to unite a divided nation, saying: I will govern for 215 million Brazilians, and not just for those who voted for me. There are not two Brazils. We are one country, one people, one great nation.
TOKYO (AP)  Former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso left for Seoul on Wednesday to meet with South Korean officials as the two countries try to improve ties that were badly strained by Japanese wartime atrocities.

At the center of the disputes between the two countries are South Korean court rulings in 2018 that ordered Japanese companies to compensate wartime forced Korean laborers. The Japanese government and the companies have refused to comply with the rulings, saying all compensation issues have been settled under a 1965 normalization treaty and accusing South Korea of violating the international law.

But ties have started showing signs of improvement since South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's conservative government took power in May. As key Asian allies to the United States, having a strained relationship also poses a concern for their security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region as it faces growing threats from China and North Korea.

Gaffe-prone Aso is also known for his family business wartime use of forced laborers.

In 2008, wartime documents surfaced showing that Korean forced laborers were used at Aso's grandfathers mine, from which he has distanced himself. Aso kept mum when Japans Health and Welfare Ministry acknowledged that other wartime documents showed that the Aso family mine in Fukuoka, southern Japan, also used 300 British, Dutch and Australian prisoners from April 1945 through Japans surrender four months later.

The trip comes days after a crowd surge in the South Korean capital, Seoul, killed over 150 people. Yoon declared a national mourning period Sunday.

Kyodo News Agency said Aso was to meet with Yoon later Wednesday.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Aso is not representing the government, but is visiting South Korea as the head of a non-partisan Japan-South Korea friendship organization made up of political and business representatives.

Matsuno declined to confirm reports that Aso may meet with Yoon, and denied that Aso was carrying a letter from Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to Yoon.

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Another veteran ruling lawmaker, Fukushiro Nukaga, who heads a group of parliamentarians promoting friendship between the two neighbors, was also due to visit South Korea, Kyodo News agency reported.

Nukaga is expected to meet with Yoon on Friday.

Matsuno said earlier Tuesday that exchanges of lawmakers and private sector representatives between the two countries are a meaningful way of supporting bilateral relations. He said the two sides need to bring their relations back to a healthy state based on friendship and cooperation that the two countries have built since the normalization of their ties.

We intend to continue to closely communicate with the South Korean government, he added.
Ohio Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance said on Tuesday that hell accept the results of his midterm race, even as he continued to question the outcome of the 2020 election.

During a Fox News Town Hall on Tuesday, Vance, who has been endorsed by former President Trump, said hell trust the integrity of the states elections and will accept the results if he loses to his opponent, Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan (Ohio).

I expect to win, Vance said at a Columbus, Ohio, town hall hosted by Fox News. But, of course, if things dont go the way that I expect, Ill support the guy who wins and Ill try to be as as supportive as I possibly can, even accepting that were going to disagree on some big issues.

Vance, like many other prominent GOP candidates this election cycle, has embraced Trumps continued false claims that the 2020 election was stolen amid voter fraud.

During the same town hall, Vance dug his heels in when asked about his past comments casting doubt on the results of President Bidens win.

Yeah, look, I have said that, and I wont run away from it, he told the moderators.

Vances appearance came directly after a similar town hall with Ryan, who was pressed about his stances on issues like energy.

The Ryan-Vance showdown is one of the most closely watched Senate races of the midterm elections, and could potentially determine which party wins control of the upper chamber. Both candidates are vying to replace retiring Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who announced plans to leave his position last year.

Outgoing Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), a member of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6., 2021 attack at the Capitol, publicly endorsed Ryan on Tuesday during an interview on PBS Newshour.

Recent polling has shown Vance with a steady but narrow lead. The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election handicapper, currently rates the race as lean Republican.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Grateful Dead lead singer Jerry Garcia performing in Oakland in 1992. (Krsity McDonald / Associated Press)

Before his death, the Grateful Deads Jerry Garcia tried to get clean after years of freebasing cocaine and other drugs, so he gifted a marijuana pipe to a fellow musician who socked it away in his San Francisco home.

About 31 years later, the handmade pipe has resurfaced in a Marin County antique shop, whose owner considers it a unique rock 'n' roll artifact.

My shop is fun and a lot of fun stuff walks in the door, Steve Cabella, owner of the Modern i Shop in San Anselmo, told The Times. But when this walked in the door, it was simply one of the more interesting things that have walked through that door.

Cabella declined to say if the pipe will be on display at his shop, only that he hopes to donate it to a museum.

Few people would be surprised to hear that the guitarist for the eclectic California rock band got high or that he owned a pipe. With his birds nest beard and spectacles, Garcia captivated legions of fans with his blend of blues, folk and psychedelic rock while playing with the Grateful Dead. But by 1985, Garcia was arrested in San Francisco for freebasing cocaine in his car.

In an effort to get clean, Garcia decided to give away his pot pipe. According to Cabella, the pipe was created and given to him by Owsley Bear Stanley, the bands audio engineer and reputedly one of the first people to mass produce large quantities of LSD in the 1960s.

In many ways, the pipe could be viewed as a relic from the psychedelic rock era, but Cabella said he doesnt plan to sell the pipe or even smoke out of it. He views it as an artifact, one that extends beyond the drug paraphernalia history.

The Grateful Dead had legions of devoted fans, known as Deadheads, who followed the band as it toured the world. Sotheby's auction house appealed to such devotees last year when it auctioned off musical instruments, gear, clothing, concert posters, guitars and other memorabilia from the band.

The pipe  made of bone and leather  was last seen after longtime collaborator and keyboardist Merl Saunders and Garcia worked on the album Blues From the Rainforest in 1991, according to Cabella. Garcia stored the smoking pipe at Saunders San Francisco home while the two recorded the album, the family told Cabella. Then it was completely forgotten.

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The shop owner would not reveal how much he paid for the pipe, only saying that it was several months of his budget to purchase goods and in the "low thousands."

The pipe is adorned with a carving from Garcias 1978 solo album Cats Under the Stars and a second carving of a tiger. Cabella believes the pipe predates one of Garcia's custom-made guitars he named "tiger" and adds another notch to the pipe's place in music history.

Owsley [Stanley] had a lot of sources for imagery that he used on the [pipe], Cabella said. So he bestows the name on Jerry and Jerry is so into that he names his guitar tiger.

Stanley picked up his skills at making jewelry and other crafts in a prison hobby shop during a three-year prison sentence following a police raid on his LSD lab in Orinda, Calif., according to Tim Scully, who traveled with the Grateful Dead as the band's electronic designer.

"Bear wanted to be known more for being an artist than for being an LSD manufacturer," Scully wrote in an email to The Times.

But Stanley's son, Starfinder, questions whether his father made the pipe, saying it doesn't share any similarities with Stanley's work, which was of a higher quality.

"Bear made some carved hash pipes in prison and subsequently, but all of his sculpture was very distinctive, and this looks nothing like his work," Starfinder Stanley wrote in an email.

Starfinder Stanley said Cabella's claim that Stanley made the pipe is purely fabricated in an attempt to raise the value of the item.

In response, Cabella said if it wasn't Stanley, then who would have made Garcia the pipe?

"It has to be Owsley, historically speaking," Cabella said in a text message.

Stanley not only influenced Garcia later in the bands career, but he also financed the band and designed its Wall of Sound, a literal wall of speakers that accompanied the bands live sets in 1973. He would go on to build a massive archive of live sessions from numerous bands he mixed sound for over the years.

Born Augustus Owsley Stanley III in Kentucky on Jan. 19, 1935, he was the grandson of a Kentucky governor and son of a naval commander.

Dubbed the Acid King by the media, Stanley was immortalized in Tom Wolfes book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. The nonfiction work detailed a series of parties thrown by author Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters, who came to epitomize a louder, more vibrant sect of the beat generation that used LSD supplied by Stanley.

More than 30 years after the pipe was last seen, it reappeared when Saunders family was clearing out his San Francisco home. The pipe was in an envelope dated 1985 in a hideaway bed built into a wall, Cabella said.

Although Garcia gifted the pipe to Saunders, the keyboardist did not use drugs and hid the pipe. When reached by phone, Saunders son declined to comment.

When Garcia died in 1995 at age 53, he was staying at a rehabilitation facility trying to get clean from his years of drug addiction. His death reverberated across generations of music fans. At the time, President Bill Clinton told MTV he and then-15-year-old daughter Chelsea were fans of the Grateful Dead.

Stanley died in 2011 after he crashed his car while driving in a storm near the town of Mareeba, Australia.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
New Jerseys former Republican governor Christine Todd Whitman on Wednesday accused her party of having gone wayward and said a part of her hopes that "all the crazies" win next weeks midterm elections so that Americans will be forced to live with their decision.

Speaking at an Axios News Shapers event Wednesday, Whitman said she was "fearful" that the midterms would be an ugly election and give way to a "rough two years" if certain far-right candidates are elected to public office.

Christine Todd Whitman, former governor of New Jersey, speaks during a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 2, 2018.

"In that time frame theres a part of me that says, I hope all the crazies do win and everybody has to live with that for a while and see how much they like," Whitman said, before walking back her comments. "But then I realize, no, I dont want to have to live in that world and I dont want to leave it for my grandkids, either, the damage they could do."

She reiterated that if Republicans take the House  as they are widely expected to do  "its going to be a rough two years."

GOP WINS BALLOT BOX TRANSPARENCY LAWSUIT IN GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN

"It will also give us an opening to really let people know what a difference elections make [and] how important it is to vote and to consider those candidates and to understand what they mean for the future in policymaking," Whitman said.

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Whitman, who was the governor of New Jersey from 1994 to 2001, said she is still a registered Republican but votes as an independent.

Former President Donald Trump embraces Arizona Republican nominee for governor Kari Lake during a campaign rally at Legacy Sports USA in Mesa, Arizona, on Oct. 9, 2022.

While discussing the centrist Forward Party, which she formed with former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, Whitman accused the Republican Party of having abandoned its principles and of having become a cult.

"It did not adopt a platform at the 2020 convention. So, there is not a set of central principles on which its based. Its whatever Donald Trump says people should believe at any particular moment," Whitman said. "Thats not my definition of a party."

Whitmans comments echo Democratic talking points of the democracys supposed impending downfall if "ultra MAGA" Republicans take office.

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President Biden, who has said that "democracy is on the ballot," is set to speak later Wednesday at Washingtons Union State, blocks away from the U.S. Capitol.

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White House senior adviser Anita Dunn told Axios that the president "will be very clear tonight that he is speaking to people who dont agree with him on any issues, who dont agree on his agenda, but who really can unite behind this idea of this fundamental value of democracy."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R) is leading Democratic challenger Mandela Barnes by 2 percentage points in Wisconsins Senate race, according to a new poll from Marquette Law School.

The survey of likely Wisconsin voters found Johnson ahead with 50 percent of the vote, while Barnes earned 48 percent. The 2-point different is well within the polls margin of error of plus or minus 4.8 percentage points.

The results indicate Barnes may be gaining on Johnson among likely voters, as a previous survey from early October found the incumbent with a more comfortable 6-point lead, with 52 percent to the Democrats 46 percent.

Among the broader group of all voters, however, including those who say they plan to register, Johnson is up 3 points, 48 to 45, a shift in the Republicans favor from the early October poll, which found the two candidates deadlocked at 47 percent each.

As the close race barrels toward the midterms, less than a week away, both parties are fighting hard for a seat that could be crucial to control of the Senate.

Democrats are banking on being able to spur young voters to the polls to give Barnes a boost, despite concern among political handicappers that Johnson may clinch reelection.

The Marquette Law School poll was conducted Oct. 24 through Nov. 1 and surveyed 802 Wisconsin registered voters, 679 of which were likely voters, who are certain to vote or have already voted.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Arizona drop box Olivier Touron/AFP via Getty Images

A federal judge in Arizona on Tuesday enjoined the right-wing advocacy group Clean Elections USA from open-carrying firearms or wearing body armor within 250 feet of ballot drop boxes, taking photos or videos of voters, or interacting with them within 75 feet of a drop box. The injunction from U.S. District Court Judge Michael Liburdi, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, lasts through next week's midterm elections.

Liburdi had declined to limit Clean Elections USA's drop box activities last week in response to a request from the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans and Voto Latino, saying he hadn't seen evidence of harm to voters. But testimony from hounded voters during a hearing on Tuesday, in a parallel case brought by the League of Women Voters of Arizona, appeared to persuade him that the box watchers had crossed the line into voter intimidation.

Liburdi also ruled that some individuals affiliated with Clean Elections USA must post messages on Truth Social correcting their previous false statements that voters can't drop off multiple ballots. He suggested some language, too: "It is not always illegal to deposit multiple ballots in a ballot drop box. It is legal to deposit the ballot of a family member, household member, or person for whom you are the caregiver."

Before Tuesday's hearing in Phoenix, Clean Elections USA had agreed to stop openly carrying guns or following or talking with voters near drop boxes. After the hearing, lawyers for the group said said they would contest Liburdi's ban on photographing and posting information about voters online and his order they stop "making false statements" about Arizona's ballot abuse law, arguing those parts of the injunction violate the poll monitors' First Amendment rights.

"Arizona is home to some of the most competitive, crucial races in the country, including those for governor and U.S. Senate," Politico reports. "It's also been ground zero for election conspiracies, with the Republican candidates for governor, U.S. Senate, secretary of state, and attorney general all having a history of election denial."

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Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 9 Ingrid Reyez removes pieces of the front portion of an aircraft on Oct. 24, 2022, in Chicago. American Airlines is partnering with the Aviation Institute of Maintenance in Chicago after staff shortages of maintenance workers airlines are currently facing. (Michael Blackshire / Chicago Tribune)

Aviation Institute of Maintenance students attend the institute on Oct. 24, 2022, in Chicago. American Airlines and United Airlines, which both operate major hubs at OHare International Airport, are now creating programs geared toward aspiring mechanics to address a hiring need for airplane mechanics. American Airlines now has a partnership with the Aviation Institute of Maintenance.
PHOENIX (AP)  A federal judge on Tuesday ordered armed members of a group monitoring ballot drop boxes in Arizona to stay at least 250 feet away from the locations following complaints that people wearing masks and carrying guns were intimidating voters.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael Liburdi said members of Clean Elections USA, its leader and anyone working with them are also barred from filming or following anyone within 75 feet (23 meters) of a ballot drop box or the entrance to a building that houses one. They also cannot speak to or yell at individuals within that perimeter unless spoken to first.

The temporary restraining order was requested by the League of Women Voters of Arizona after Clean Elections USA, encouraged people to watch 24-hour ballot boxes in Maricopa County, Arizonas most populous county.

It is paramount that we balance the rights of the defendant to engage in their constitutionally protected First Amendment activity with the interest in the plaintiffs and in voters casting a vote free of harassment and intimidation, Liburdi said.

A second set of defendants in rural Yavapai County  groups known as the Lions of Liberty and the Yavapai County Preparedness team, who are associated with the far-right anti-government group Oath Keepers  were dismissed from the case on Monday after they pledged to stand down their operations.

Local and federal law enforcement have been alarmed by reports of people, some armed, watching 24-hour ballot boxes in the two counties as midterm elections near. Some voters have complained alleging voter intimidation after people watching the boxes took photos and videos, and followed voters.

Sheriffs deputies have been providing security around the two outdoor drop boxes in Maricopa County after a pair of people carrying guns and wearing bulletproof vests showed up at a box in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa. The countys other 24-hour outdoor drop box is at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center in downtown Phoenix, which is now surrounded by a chain link fence.

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Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, has called on voters to immediately report any intimidation to police and file a complaint with his office. Arizonas Secretary of State Katie Hobbs last week said her office received six cases of potential voter intimidation to the state attorney general and the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as a threatening email sent to the state elections director.

The U.S. attorneys office in Arizona has vowed to prosecute any violations of federal law but said local police were at the front line in efforts to ensure that all qualified voters are able to exercise their right to vote free of intimidation or other election abuses.

The temporary order issued by Liburdi on Tuesday will be in effect for two weeks and the cooperation from the monitoring group shall not be construed as an admission they have engaged in any of these activities, the judge added.

The 250 foot (76 meter) perimeter around drop boxes also applies to group members wearing body armor.

Other stipulations include the groups post on their websites and social media that it is untrue that dropping off multiple ballots is illegal in all cases. Exceptions are allowed for family members, members of the same household and caregivers.

Alexander Kolodin, the lead attorney for the defendants, said the League of Women Voters of Arizona ultimately failed to completely shut down the monitors mission. Still, the groups are not happy about the limits, since he said they could prevent them from discouraging ballot box stuffing.

Theyre worried they cant record what happens within the 75 feet. They may have missed an opportunity to deter unlawful conduct, Kolodin said. Todays order may make drop box voting a little less secure.

An Associated Press review this summer found no major fraud from the expanded use of ballot drops boxes in the 2020 election.

The League of Women Voters of Arizona encouraged voters to keep using the drop boxes.

Todays U.S. District Court decision is a victory for the voters of Arizona who have the right to cast their ballots free from intimidation, threats, or coercion, Pinny Sheoran, the groups president, said in a statement.

This lawsuit was folded into another case before Liburdi.

On Friday, the judge said Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans failed to make its argument against Clean Elections USA. Another defendant, Voto Latino, was also removed from the case.

Defendants have not made any statements threatening to commit acts of unlawful violence to a particular individual or group of individuals, the judge wrote.

Liburdi concluded that while this case certainly presents serious questions, the Court cannot craft an injunction without violating the First Amendment. The judge is a Trump appointee and a member of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization.

The Department of Justice on Monday said it would join the case, saying that the actions raised serious concerns about voter intimidation.

Luke Cilano, a Lions of Liberty board member, said the organization had dropped its Operation Drop Box initiative last Wednesday due to being lumped in with people who don't adhere to the law and our rules of engagement.

The Lions of Liberty are not associated with Clean Elections USA, he said. They are connected to the Yavapai County Preparedness Team. But he says the team was not involved in ballot box monitoring.

Similar groups around the United States have embraced a film that has been discredited called 2000 Mules that claims people were paid to travel among drop boxes and stuff them with fraudulent ballots during the 2020 presidential vote.

Theres no evidence for the notion that a network of Democrat-associated ballot mules has conspired to collect and deliver ballots to drop boxes, either in the 2020 presidential vote or in the upcoming midterm elections.

___

This story has been corrected to show that the order does not apply to the Lions of Liberty and the Yavapai County Preparedness Team, groups that were dismissed as defendants Monday after agreeing to stop their activities at drop boxes.

____

Follow APs coverage of the elections at: https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections

Check out https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections to learn more about the issues and factors at play in the 2022 midterm elections.
A voter places a ballot in an election drop box in Mesa, Ariz., on Friday. (Ross D. Franklin / Associated Press)

A U.S. district judge in Phoenix limited the ability of a far-right group to monitor ballot drop boxes in Arizona on Tuesday by restricting photo and video, ordering members to stay at least 75 feet away from the receptacles, and barring the open carry of firearms and wearing of body armor within 250 feet.

People wearing body armor and carrying weapons have been observed in recent days photographing and filming voters and their vehicles at ballot collection boxes in multiple states after former President Trump and his allies urged supporters to monitor them.

The temporary restraining order prohibits members of Clean Elections USA, which is led by Melody Jennings, a QAnon adherent who claims the 2020 election was stolen, from filming or photographing voters within 75 feet of a drop box; following people going to drop off ballots; physically being within 75 feet of the boxes or an entrance to a facility where the boxes are located; and from yelling at or speaking to voters dropping off ballots unless first engaged. Judge Michael Liburdi also ordered Jennings and Clean Elections USA to post on social media that Arizona law allows people to drop off ballots for relatives and spouses. Jennings has repeatedly claimed that voters cannot drop off more than one ballot.

The move comes after Liburdi, a Trump appointee, on Friday refused an injunction request from the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans to block Clean Elections USA from monitoring voters dropping off their ballots, saying that the Constitution protected the activities of citizens gathering near ballot boxes.

Liburdi said Tuesday the temporary restraining order balances the 1st Amendment and voting privacy.

"The balance is [the drop box watchers] can get their information as long as the vehicle, the individual, is outside of that 75-foot limit, but when that person is actually reaching into the car to grab a ballot or ballots or putting the ballot or ballots into the drop box, they are entitled to some greater degree of privacy from being surveilled and video recorded and photographed, somewhat similar to what they would receive in the voting location," he said.

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The League of Women Voters of Arizona, which filed the lawsuit against two far-right groups including Clean Election USA, argue that organized third-party monitoring of ballot drop boxes, such as taking video or photos of people dropping off ballots and discussing the footage on social media, amounts to illegal voter intimidation.

"From the primaries till now ... the potential voter intimidation ... at the drop boxes have advanced and has made us pivot from what we would normally do to educate the voters and tell them how to protect their vote," Pinny Sheoran, president of the League of Women Voters of Arizona, testified Tuesday.

Earlier this week, the court combined two separate Arizona lawsuits seeking to block the Arizona chapter of the Oath Keepers and Clean Elections USA from surveilling drop boxes in Arizona's Maricopa and Yavapai counties. A third group, Lions of Liberty, was dropped from the League of Women Voters case after agreeing to stop monitoring drop boxes.

Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans has filed an emergency appeal in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Justice Department argued in its filing that that it is possible to craft an injunction blocking threatening activity in a manner consistent with 1st Amendment protections of free speech and assembly.

While the First Amendment protects expressive conduct and peaceable assembly generally, it affords no protection for threats of harm directed at voters, the departments lawyers wrote. ... The First Amendment does not protect individuals right to assemble to engage in voter intimidation or coercion. Nor does it transform an unlawful activity for one individual  voter intimidation  into a permissible activity simply because multiple individuals have assembled to engage in it.

The use of secure ballot drop boxes increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Attention from the far right has been fueled by the debunked film 2000 Mules, which alleged that supposed ballot mules tracked by cellphone geolocation data stuffed drop boxes with fraudulent ballots during the 2020 election.

Liburdi also heard testimony Tuesday from multiple people who said they were photographed and filmed when they went to vote, including a witness whose name was not made publicly available because of concerns for his safety.

The voter from Mesa, Ariz., said he encountered a group of eight to 10 people while dropping off his and his wife's ballots on Oct. 17. Several of the people who photographed and filmed them were armed, including one person who had a telephoto lens, the witness said, noting that his wife wanted to leave without voting. They were concerned the group would use the lens to photograph their signatures and phone numbers, which were on the ballot envelope as required by Arizona law. The witness said he hid the ballots under his shirt while he was out of vehicle. The group shouted at him that they were "hunting mules" and followed the couple's car as they tried to leave the parking lot, he said.

"My wife was terrified," he said before taking several moments to compose himself.

Jennings, the leader of Clean Elections USA, boasted online that photos and video of the man went viral on social media, claiming her group had caught a "mule." The images also appeared in news stories nationwide. The witness said only a handful of family and friends know he is the person in the images and he fears being identified and harassed.

The Department of Justice weighed in on the case Monday, arguing in a brief that monitoring drop boxes could amount to illegal voter intimidation.

Such vigilante ballot security measures, probably violate the federal Voting Rights Act, the Justice Department said in a statement of interest. Monday's filing was the first time the Justice Department has involved itself in a case during this midterm election cycle.

The Justice Department filing states that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 provides broad legal protections for voters against coercion and intimidation throughout each step of the voting process  including depositing ballots in drop boxes provided under local or state law.

Although lawful poll-watching activities can support democratic transparency and accountability, when private citizens form ballot security forces and attempt to take over the States legitimate role of overseeing and policing elections, the risk of voter intimidation  and violating federal law  is significant, the department said in the filing.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Julie Powell, notable food writer known for cooking over 500 of Julia Child's recipes over a year and creating the popular blog the Julie/Julia Project, which inspired the 2009 movie "Julie & Julia," has died, her publisher confirmed. She was 49.

Eric Powell, her husband, said she died of cardiac arrest on Wednesday, Oct. 26 in her home in Olivebridge, New York, according to the New York Times.

Judy Clain, editor-in-chief of Little Brown and Powell's editor, shared the following statement with TODAY Food via email:

JULIE AND JULIA became an instant classic and it is with gratitude for her unique voice that we will now remember Julies dazzling brilliance and originality. We mourn her loss with her husband Eric and her family. We are sending our deepest condolences to all who knew and loved Julie, whether personally or through the deep connections she forged with readers of her memoirs. She was a brilliant writer and a daring, original person and she will not be forgotten.

Julie Powell (Carlo Allegri / AP)

Garnering increasing online attention, her blog, which followed her cooking from Julia Childs "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," inspired the 2009 film "Julie and Julia," starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams and directed by Nora Ephron.

Also inspired by the Julie/Julia Project, Powell wrote her first book, "Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen," in 2005. In 2009, she published her second read, "Cleaving: a Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession."

Powell was born in Austin, Texas and graduated from Amherst College in Massachusetts in 1995 with a Bachelor's degree in both theater and dance and fiction writing.

Amherst noted that Powell has received several awards for her writing over the years, which has appeared in publications like Bon Appetit, the New York Times, House Beautiful, Food and Wine, the Washington Post and the Boston Globe, among others.

Julie Powell (Matt Sayles / AP)

Some of her most distinguished awards include two James Beard awards, a first annual Lulu Blooker Award, a 2006 Quill Book Award for Debut Author and an honorary diploma from the Cordon Bleu, the same school Child attended in 1950.

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After graduating from college, Powell moved to New York City where she worked as a temp before making headlines with her best-selling book. In 2009, when the movie came out, she joined NBC News' Lester Holt for an interview on TODAY.

"I always used cooking as a sort of comfort and Julia Child's cookbook had been with me since I was a small child, and so when I was looking for something to do to challenge myself and sort of give my life some purpose, Julia's book spoke to me," she said at the time.

Admitting she's an "OK cook," Powell joked to Holt that she's more "avid" than she is "expert" in the kitchen. "I like to cook. I cook all the time."

Powell is survived by her husband, brother and parents.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) -A U.S. jury began deliberations on Wednesday in the trial of Tom Barrack, the onetime private equity executive and fundraiser for former President Donald Trump, on charges that he acted as a foreign agent for the United Arab Emirates and lied to federal investigators.

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn last year charged Barrack with using his influence with Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and later his administration to push the UAE's policy interests without notifying the U.S. attorney general as required by law that he was acting as an agent for the Middle Eastern country.

Barrack, 75, is also accused of obstruction of justice and making false statements to FBI agents in 2019 about his interactions with Emirati officials and their representatives.

He has pleaded not guilty and has described his interactions with Middle Eastern officials as part of his role running Colony Capital, now known as DigitalBridge Group Inc. Barrack testified in his own defense during the trial, telling jurors he never agreed to be a UAE agent.

Barrack raised money for Trump during the 2016 campaign and chaired Trump's 2017 inaugural committee.

After three hours of deliberations, U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan said the jury had requested transcripts of Barrack's testimony regarding the charges of lying to investigators.

Barrack testified last week that there were no questions he refused to answer during the FBI interview.

"I didn't believe this was an inquisition," Barrack said.

During the six-week trial, prosecutors displayed hundreds of text messages and emails they said showed that Emirati officials gave Barrack input on what he should say in television interviews and an op-ed article about the Middle East, and that Barrack passed along sensitive information about U.S. foreign policy.

The OPEC member nation paid Barrack back in 2017 and 2018 by investing $374 million from its sovereign wealth funds with his company, then known as Colony Capital, prosecutors said.

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Barrack's lawyers did not dispute that he had been in touch with Emirati officials and occasionally sought their feedback, but they said any impact on U.S. policy or public opinion was insignificant.

"Try, just try to figure out where in this case you heard anybody who talked about real policy that was affected," Randall Jackson, a lawyer for Barrack, said in his closing argument on Tuesday.

Jackson said Emirati investments represented less than 1% of Colony's balance sheet. He said that while Barrack, who is of Lebanese descent, wanted better U.S. relations in the Middle East, he never agreed to act subject to the UAE's "direction or control," as U.S. law defines agents for foreign governments.

Sam Nitze, a prosecutor, countered in a rebuttal that Emirati officials were "thrilled" at Barrack's comments about the country and its leaders during television interviews. Nitze said the law was designed to make sure the U.S. government knew when someone was acting as a "mouthpiece" for a foreign government.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Will Dunham and William Maclean)
A jury has ordered FedEx Services to pay $365 million in punitive damages in a racial discrimination and retaliation case brought against it by former FedEx Services employee Jennifer Harris.

FedEx says it plans to appeal the verdict.

Harris filed the suit in Texas in May 2021, alleging she was discriminated against during her employment because of her race and was fired as retaliation for her complaints about the discrimination.

According to court documents: In 2019, Harris, a district manager for field sales, reported to human resources that she was discriminated against for being Black when her white manager asked her to take a demotion. She said that, following the report, she was written up for her performance by the same manager and eventually terminated.

A FedEx Express airplane on the tarmac of the Memphis executive airport terminal on Friday, Aug. 2, 2019.

After trial on Oct. 25, a jury found in favor of FedEx Services on the discrimination claims but awarded Harris compensatory and punitive damages for the retaliation claims.

FedEx news:FedEx to make drop boxes ADA compliant as part of settlement in class action suit

FedEx technology:FedEx drops project developing Roxo, same-day delivery robot

FedEx submitted a report to the Securities and Exchange Commission the same day, stating that it disagreed with the verdict and planned further legal action.

We strongly disagree with the verdict and will appeal," the company said in an emailed statement Tuesday. "FedEx does not engage in or tolerate retaliation. We followed our protocols for performance management with Ms. Harris and are confident that we acted properly regarding her termination.

Niki Scheinberg is the FedEx and logistics reporter at The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at monika.scheinberg@commercialappeal.com.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: FedEx must pay $365 million in retaliation suit filed by ex-employee
PETERSBURG  Two people, including a juvenile, are in a hospital with critical injuries after being shot late Tuesday night, police said.

Both shootings occurred shortly before midnight very close to Lakemont Elementary School in the city's east end. One of the victims was found in the 40 block of Gibbons Avenue across the street from the school, and the other was found two streets over on Slagle Avenue near an alley.

One of those shot was a young girl, Deputy Police Chief Emanual Chambliss said. The other was a man. Both were rushed to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries.

No motive or suspect information has been released.

Anyone with information about the shootings is asked to contact Petersburg-Dinwiddie Crime Solvers at (804) 861-1212 or use the P3Tips mobile app.

This is a developing story.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Petersburg Police invstigate shootings of juvenile, adult Tuesday
A Kansas City man who pleaded guilty to selling women and teenage girls through the sex trade was sentenced Tuesday to 18 years in federal prison.

Corey Lavelle Smith, 28, pleaded guilty in March to two felonies for sex trafficking and participating in a sex trafficking conspiracy in the Western District of Missouri. U.S. District Judge Howard Sachs ordered Smith to spend 18 years in prison without the possibility of parole, reflecting the binding plea agreement reached in March.

The case against Smith as a local sex trafficker was led by Homeland Security Investigations. It began when a 14-year-old girl, identified in court documents as FV1, was treated at Childrens Mercy Hospital in December 2018 after being involved in a traffic crash involving a stolen vehicle.

The teenager was treated at the hospital and screened for signs of sexual assault as she reported to staff that she had been physically forced to have sex and had previously had sex for money, according to charging documents for Smith.

A few weeks after the car crash, Homeland Security was investigating the case of a 14-year-old runaway who had left a drug treatment facility in Jefferson City. An unnamed informant later contacted a tip line to say the young girl could not reveal her location as she feared retaliation from her captors if she did so.

A federal agent with HSI obtained personal items held by Blue Springs police belonging to the teenager, including a cellphone. Social media messages led investigators to a 16-year-old in Mississippi who said she was the girls best friend and had also been trafficked by Smith.

The second teenager, identified as FV2, told investigators in early 2019 that she had recently left Kansas City and provided a phone number for the 14-year-old. Investigators used that information to track the other girls location to an apartment building in the 3500 block of Paseo.

Surveillance was set up on the apartment until the 14-year-old was seen exiting the building with Smith and others. She and the group entered a vehicle that fled a traffic stop but was stopped a few blocks away at 39th Street and Forrest, according to court documents.

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During a police interview, the 14-year-old told investigators Smith was her pimp and that he went by the name Fatz. She said she told him she was 16, and that he groomed her into the sex trade by buying her things and partying with her.

Eventually, the girl recounted, Smith would encourage her to lie about her age. He also became meaner with time, she said, and would deprive her of food, keep her locked in an apartment and take most of the money she was paid.

She said she was forced into prostitution around the Kansas City area and advertised on the internet. If she was paid $150, she said, Smith would keep all but $10 or $20.

She estimated she had performed 10 commercial sex acts within the week before Smiths arrest. Agents noted her phone continued to receive solicitations for commercial sex acts while she was in federal custody.

Prosecutors say the 16-year-old, FV2, also described cases where Smith would strike her and FV1 with extension cords and that they could not leave the business unless they died.

In letters to Judge Sachs, several family members and other supporters wrote that Smith was remorseful for his actions and had taken steps to reform his life since his arrest. Noting his federal case was the only example of criminal activity on his record, they said Smith could be a productive member of society if given the opportunity.

Prosecutors said Tuesday that another involved in the sex trafficking conspiracy, Kenyashae Monae Roach, 29, of Kansas City, still awaits sentencing. Roach pleaded guilty in March to a felony of transportation for illegal sexual activity.
The Stars editorial board has learned that the state-appointed Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners has agreed to make a multimillion-dollar payment for yet another in a growing list of police brutality cases cleared this year. And while this settlement and other smaller payouts involve public dollars, they are handled with virtually no real public input, oversight or accountability.

Its another consequence of Kansas City not having local control of its police department.

The five-member board of commissioners  four appointed by the governor, in addition to the citys mayor  has not yet announced how much it has agreed in Mondays closed-door meeting to pay to clear a brutality case connected to the May 26, 2019, police killing of 30-year-old Terrance M. Bridges. We expect the board to reveal the exact figure when all settlement documents are signed.

After a brief foot pursuit in the middle of the night in the 7000 block of Bellefontaine Avenue, Bridges  who was unarmed  was shot once in the chest by officer Dylan Pifer, who claimed hed been attacked by Bridges, even though evidence suggests there was never a physical altercation.

Pifer never identified himself as a police officer, according to court documents. Hes still on patrol in Kansas City, and police wont say whether he has ever faced any consequences for his actions that night. Bridges family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in August 2020.

The police board has agreed to a settlement that, according to sources close to the police board, could be as much as $5 million, which would be the largest payout in the history of the KCPD for a police brutality case.

There has been zero public discussion by the oversight board about what changes in training and protocol have been implemented at the police department as a result. Unfortunately, thats par for the course for a board that lacks local accountability  even though the Kansas City Council and mayor are required to fund the department.

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The lack of local control of our police force is an ongoing injustice to everyone in this city.

In this latest case, there was a lack of transparency at the board, which appears not to have followed Missouris Sunshine Law in the way it shut the public out of its meeting.

That the board called an emergency, last-minute meeting to discuss a matter related to litigation is well within the bounds of the states Sunshine Law. Usually, notices about meetings are posted 24 hours in advance, as required by law.

An exception to the 24-hour rule requires a board to open a public meeting and then enter into the minutes the legal reasons for breaking the rule. Then the board, still in open session, votes to close the meeting to handle its business out of public view or earshot. The public is required to be allowed to remain in the chamber while the board retires to the executive session.

Those steps were not taken, according to a police spokesman. The meeting, even the portion that should have been open, was held in a public-excluded video conference. That is not the definition of an open public meeting.

Obviously, we are uncomfortable and have registered our concerns repeatedly about the way closed sessions are handled, said Morgan Said, the spokeswoman for Mayor Quinton Lucas, who is a member of the police board.

Local control has been a primary demand from activists who have pushed for police reform in Kansas City. And judging from these multiple cases, reform is desperately needed.

This year alone, several KCPD cases have resulted in six-figure payouts. On Monday, the parents of 45-year-old Brian Prince, who died after being tackled by a Kansas City police officer at a Walmart store, were awarded a $500,000 settlement by a judge.

The police board also agreed to award a teen $325,000 after he was punched and tased by three Kansas City police officers. The board also agreed to pay $110,000 to a teenage girl who, along with her father, was pepper-sprayed near the Country Club Plaza during a protest against police brutality in 2020, and also paid $900,000 for a wrongful arrest that put a 15-year-old behind bars for three weeks.

In the aftermath of these payouts, what changes took place in the department? What discipline was imposed? What new training was implemented, if any? The public is left in the dark on all these issues.

What is clearer than ever is that Kansas City residents should have local control of the police board making decisions that are costing the city millions.
Arizona Republican Kari Lake lauded Donald Trumps former strategist Steve Bannon as a modern-day George Washington as he made a surprise appearance to campaign for her in the state.

The right-wing former TV anchor is involved in a competitive race with Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, to be the states governor.

I want you to meet and give a big Arizona welcome to one of my favorite guys in the world, one of the most patriotic men I know, I call him a modern-day George Washington, Steve Bannon, she told a crowd on Tuesday night.

Ms Lake is a pro-Trump Republican who has supported the one-term presidents lies about 2020 election fraud.

After he was brought out on stage, Mr Bannon told the crowd that Arizona has a rendezvous with destiny on election day next week.

It started here back in November of 2020. It started right here. And its going to end right here, he told the crowd.

The historical references were flying in Arizona on Tuesday night:



Gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake (R) introduces former Trump adviser Steve Bannon as "a modern-day George Washington." pic.twitter.com/Z8Al3yuLxG  The Recount (@therecount) November 2, 2022

Mr Bannon, who is also an election denier, has been sentenced to four months in prison after being convicted of defying a subpoena from the January 6 House select committee probing the attack on the US Capitol.

Earlier this week, Ms Lake drew a big laugh from her supporters as she made a joke about the brutal hammer attack on Nancy Pelosis husband, Paul Pelosi.

It is not impossible to protect our kids at school, they act like it is. Nancy Pelosi, well, shes got protection when shes in DC, apparently, her house doesnt have a lot of protection, she said.
How Britain deals with refugees is a major political controversy at present in the U.K. The nations South Coast is receiving large numbers of refugees in small boats and other watercraft; some 40,000 migrants have arrived so far this year. The beleaguered British Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, was under serious media and opposition fire Tuesday for injudiciously describing this mass arrival of asylum-seekers as an invasion.

With that backdrop, Chicagos Remy Bumppo Theatre Company has opened a still-timely 2013 play from London, Rachel De-lahays Routes, a politically engaged piece that looks at the twin demons of government immigration policy: (a) insufferable delays in processing and (b) the detention of non-criminals in facilities that bear too much resemblance to jails. And this is, of course, hardly a problem unique to Britain; it roils throughout Europe and also on this side of the Atlantic.

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Routes, which is just 80 minutes long, follows a young British Somali, Bashir (the excellent Lucas Looch Johnson at my performance), who finds himself effectively stateless even though he grew up in the U.K., naturalized but lacking full citizenship. In the detention center, we watch his friendship grow with Kola (TJ Thomas), an emotional young offender whose loving but struggling mom (Kristin E. Ellis) actually works for border control and, later, we also see Bashir interacting with his volunteer advocate, a well-meaning but removed young woman who lacks the ability to fix his situation in any kind of coherent or immediate way.

Meanwhile, we simultaneously watch another story involving a 40-ish Nigerian man, Olufemi (Yao Dogbe) trying to acquire a fake passport from one of the ubiquitous fixers (Kevin Trevon Patterson) in order to get to Britain and just be with his wife and family. The play doesnt so much explore the reasons for global migration as lament how inept even seemingly liberal nations have become when it comes to responding to the needs and rights of migrants in a timely and compassionate way.

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In many ways, the play is a critique of bureaucratic power structures, endlessly empowered with putting people into Kafkaesque limbos. And with that idea in mind, director Mikael Burkes production, with a set by Mara Zinky, puts a sheet of glass between the action and the audience; its a good idea in theory and symbol, but it comes at the cost of removing a lot of the liveness of the interaction between play and audience. The show is billed as shattering, so maybe it should break its own barrier.

Terry Bell and Evelyn Lockley in "Routes" by Remy Bumppo Theatre Company. (Nomee Photography / HANDOUT)

As a piece of writing, Routes is distant itself: it has a clinical kind of detachment that sometimes seems at odds with the urgency of the subject matter. Burke struggles with making the end of the show really stick, a problem that I think is baked into this very short play that has many powerful individual moments but doesnt always feel dramatically fleshed out.

That said, you also can see a clash between this play and a production that wants to assign good and evil more overtly and that doesnt sufficiently embrace De-lahays determination to show us humans trying their best under an inhumane system. The staging turns Anka (Amanda Winston at my performance), written, I think, as a Polish immigrant, into a chilly, upper-class Brit (in demeanor, at least), which removes you from the plays message of the dehumanization of fundamental human decency.

Perhaps thats the difference between 2013 and the greater urgency of 2022, with this crisis still so acute, pervasive and damaging, but it doesnt really serve this play.

Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.

cjones5@chicagotribune.com

Review: Routes (2.5 stars)

When: Through Nov. 20

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Where: Remy Bumppo Theatre Company at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave

Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

Tickets: $32-$40 at 773-975-8150 and remybumppo.org
Kenya's President William Ruto announced Wednesday that Nairobi was deploying troops to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in a joint regional operation against a rebel offensive.

The mineral-rich DRC is struggling to contain dozens of armed groups whose recent advances in the country's east have revived old animosities and led to a surge in tensions with neighbouring Rwanda.

Leaders of the seven-nation East African Community (EAC) bloc, in which Kenya is the regional heavyweight, agreed in April to establish a joint force to help restore security in the DRC.

Speaking at a ceremony in Nairobi to flag off the deployment, Ruto said the troops were "on a mission to protect humanity".

"The destiny of DRC is intertwined with ours," he added, without giving details of the deployment schedule.

"We will not allow any armed groups, criminals and terrorists to deny us our shared prosperity. We owe our brotherly duty to DRC until the job is done."

Kenya will command the force, which will also include soldiers from Burundi, South Sudan and Uganda.

A Rwandan contingent will be deployed along the border, after Kinshasa objected to Kigali's participation in any operations within the DRC.

The Kenyan contingent will be deployed for an initial period of six months and will set up its command base in Goma, the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) said.

- 'Military escalation' -

Military officials in Nairobi declined to reveal the number of Kenyan soldiers involved, citing "obvious security reasons".

But the KDF said "close to a thousand" soldiers had undertaken the mandatory pre-deployment training.

A UN force, known by its French acronym of MONUSCO, is already operating in the DRC.

Burundi and Uganda also sent troops to the DRC earlier at the invitation of the Congolese government.

The M23 rebels, a mostly Congolese group, resumed fighting in late 2021 after lying dormant for years, accusing the DRC government of failing to honour an agreement to integrate its fighters into the army.

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Fresh advances by the militia across North Kivu province last month prompted the UN peacekeeping mission there to increase its alert level and boost support for the Congolese army.

The M23's resurgence has had resounding repercussions for relations in central Africa.

The DRC accuses Rwanda of backing the militia, claims denied by Kigali.

On Saturday, Kinshasa decided to expel Rwanda's ambassador. In turn, Kigali accused its neighbour of being "on the path of continued military escalation".

As tensions have spiked, DRC residents have staged angry protests against M23 and Kigali, with hundreds taking to the streets in South Kivu province on Wednesday and chanting: "Let the Rwandans go home!"

The demonstration followed a protest on Monday in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, where thousands marched through the city demanding weapons to fight Rwanda.

- Calls for ceasefire -

The increase in violence has alarmed the international community, with the African Union appealing for a ceasefire.

Current EAC chairman, Burundi's President Evariste Ndayishimiye, said on Tuesday he held talks with his regional counterparts on "managing the security crisis" and agreed to hold a summit at a date yet to be announced.

The EAC comprises Burundi, the DRC, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

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 in eastern DRC, many of them a legacy of two regional wars that flared late last century.

The groups include the FDLR, a Rwandan Hutu rebel group based in the DRC which Kigali views as a threat and has regularly accused Kinshasa of supporting.

While Rwanda has denied backing M23, a report by independent UN experts seen by AFP in August found that Kigali had provided direct support to the militia.

The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) -- which the Islamic State group claims as its Central African offshoot -- is also active in the region and is accused of slaughtering thousands of Congolese civilians and carrying out bombings in neighbouring Uganda.

ho/amu/imm
US climate envoy John Kerry said Wednesday he expects bold new action by Mexico and Brazil's next government, raising hopes of achieving progress at this month's global warming summit in Egypt.

Kerry also gave his firmest indication yet that the United States was willing to engage on compensating poor nations that have already been hit hard by climate change, set to be a major agenda item at the talks known as COP27.

In Brazil, where the Amazon plays a vital role counteracting the planet's carbon emissions, leftist former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva triumphed in Sunday's elections against the far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, an ally of agribusiness in the rainforest.

Lula in his victory speech pledged to work toward zero deforestation.

"President-elect Lula is committed," Kerry told reporters in Washington, pointing to Lula's efforts as president in the century's first decade on the environment.

"Now I hope we'll be able to refine that program and move forward even more rapidly with the reforms that are necessary in order to try to save the Amazon," Kerry said.

"Under the Bolsonaro government, regrettably, the level of deforestation increased in the Amazon and it is at perilous high levels today."

Kerry insisted he was not "tone deaf" to economic concerns around the world including in Brazil, Latin America's biggest economy, noting that many residents of the Amazon made a living on cattle or logging.

"We in the rest of the world are going to have to recognize that if we're going to value this great forest, we have to help them to be able to preserve it," he said.

Kerry, a former secretary of state and key architect of the 2015 Paris accord, has returned to his globe-trotting in his climate role, recently visiting Mexico as part of efforts to mobilize action ahead of COP27.

He said he expected more countries to raise their ambitions in coming days through their so-called Nationally Determined Contributions, plans they submit under the Paris agreement.

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"We will have a major announcement, which President (Andres Manuel) Lopez Obrador has agreed to, with respect to what Mexico is now going to undertake," Kerry said.

- 'Upfront' on loss and damage -

One year after the Glasgow summit, the summit in the Red Sea resort Sharm el-Sheikh will again draw world leaders including President Joe Biden, who this year sealed a landmark legislative package to fight climate change.

After successive UN meets focused both on reducing emissions and adapting to the impact, activists have stepped up a campaign for countries with historic responsibility for climate change to pay for losses and damage already being sustained.

Developing countries are bearing the brunt of some of the worst of climate change with Pakistan, which emits less than one percent of global carbon output, this year seeing one-third of its territory submerged by floods that killed more than 1,700 people.

After initially dismissing loss payments as politically unfeasible, Kerry in recent weeks has said the United States is willing to discuss the issue, although some green campaigners have voiced fear that wealthy countries will simply try to neutralize the topic through talks that go nowhere.

Kerry insisted the United States was willing to look at concrete measures and to speed up a two-year timeline set in Glasgow for assessing a way forward on the issue.

"We are anxious to see the loss and damage issue dealt with upfront and in a real way at COP," Kerry said.

"We certainly support coming out with some kind of structure that provides for appropriate financial arrangements," he said.

"We don't feel that this has to be an issue that has to be pounded at people because we agree -- as do almost all nations now -- that much more has to happen, faster."

But the rival Republican Party, if it wins control of Congress in elections next week, is expected to target climate assistance.

Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate in 2004, played down a report that he could retire after the election, saying he was focused on COP.

sct/dw
(Reuters) - Ethiopian government and regional forces from Tigray agreed on Wednesday to cease hostilities after nearly two years of war, which has killed thousands of civilians, left millions of people needing food aid and displaced millions more.

Here are some of the main events in the conflict:

Nov. 4, 2020 - Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sends troops into Tigray, accusing the region's ruling Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), of attacking military bases in the area.

The TPLF, which dominated national politics until Abiy took office in 2018, says it seized military equipment and took prisoners because Abiy was preparing to send in troops into the region after a September vote held in defiance of the federal government.

Nov. 9, 2020 - Ethnic killings erupt in the town of Mai Kadra, killing hundreds of people. Ethnic Tigray and Amhara civilians blame each other. Tens of thousands of Tigrayans flee western Tigray to Sudan.

Nov. 14, 2020 - The TPLF fires rockets at two airports in neighbouring Amhara region and Eritrea's capital Asmara, accusing Eritrea of sending soldiers into Tigray.

Nov. 28, 2020 - Abiy says operations in Tigray are over and soldiers control the regional capital Mekelle.

Nov. 28-29, 2020 - Eritrean troops kill hundreds of people in the town of Axum.

February-March 2021 - Tigrayan civilians move deeper into Tigray from the west, whose fertile fields are also claimed by Amhara.

March 23, 2021 - Abiy confirms that Eritrean troops entered Tigray, after months of denials from both nations.

June 11, 2021 - The United Nations says 350,000 Tigrayans are experiencing famine conditions with millions at risk. It accuses Ethiopia of using food as a weapon; Ethiopia denies it.

June 29, 2021 - Forces loyal to the TPLF take control of Mekelle after months of fighting. Ethiopian and Eritrean troops withdraw from most of Tigray except west Tigray.

July 13, 2021 - Tigray forces move south and west into land claimed by Amhara.

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July 19, 2021 - Tigray forces attack the Afar region, moving towards a vital road and railway to Ethiopia's neighbour Djibouti.

Sept. 29, 2021 - Only a trickle of food aid reaches Tigray. The United Nations accuses the government of a de facto blockade, which it denies.

Oct. 11, 2021 - Ethiopia launches a ground offensive to push Tigray forces out of Amhara and Afar and then restarts air strikes in Tigray.

Nov. 2, 2021 - Ethiopia declares a six-month state of emergency after Tigray forces gain territory and say they are considering marching on Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa.

December 2021 - Ethiopia's military recaptures the town of Lalibela from Tigray forces, the first of a string of gains.

Feb 15, 2022 - Ethiopia's parliament votes for an early end to the six-month state of emergency.

March 24, 2022 - Ethiopia's government declares a unilateral truce to allow aid into Tigray. Tigray forces later say they will respect a ceasefire if sufficient aid is delivered.

April 1, 2022 - Twenty trucks carrying food aid enter territory controlled by Tigray forces, the first time aid enters Tigray by road since mid-December. More starts arriving.

June 14, 2022 - The federal government forms a committee to negotiate with forces from Tigray, a public step to peace talks.

Aug. 20, 2022 - The World Food Programme says almost half the population of Tigray is in "severe" need of food.

Aug. 24, 2022 - Fighting between Tigray and government forces erupts around the town of Kobo, ending a ceasefire.

Sept. 20, 2022 - Tigray forces say troops from neighbouring Eritrea launched a "full-scale offensive" in the region.

Oct. 5, 2022 - More than 50 people are killed in an air strike that hit a school sheltering displaced people.

Oct. 5, 2022 - Ethiopia's government and forces from Tigray accept an African Union invitation for talks in South Africa.

Oct. 17, 2022 - The Ethiopian army captures Shire, a key town in the north of Tigray.

Oct. 25, 2022 - After two weeks of delays, the first formal peace talks begin in Pretoria, South Africa.

Nov. 2, 2022 - The government and Tigray forces agree a cessation of hostilities.

(Reporting by Nairobi newsroom; Editing by Alexandra Zavis and Edmund Blair)
A duo charged in or suspected of five murders in a 2021 multi-state killing spree that stretched from Missouri to Tennessee to South Carolina have pleaded guilty to two of them and will spend the rest of their lives in prison, court officials said Wednesday.

Tyler Donnet Terry and Adrienne Simpson agreed to the pleas in two murders and other shootings in York and Chester counties in South Carolina, in exchange for prosecutors not seeking the death penalty, lawyers said in Chester County court Wednesday.

Simpson, 34, and Terry, 27, are also suspected of homicides in St. Louis and Memphis during the crime spree from May 2-18, 2021, prosecutors said.

Some law enforcement officials dubbed the pair a modern day Bonnie and Clyde after the series of crimes before Terry was caught in a manhunt that lasted six days and garnered international attention.

Prosecutor: Killing spree

6th Circuit Solicitor Randy Newman, Chester Countys top prosecutor, said in court Wednesday the two were involved in shootings in several states.

This was a killing spree, Newman said.

Simpson was captured May 18 after a police chase in Chester County in which six deputies were fired on. Terry fled into the woods and eluded police for almost a week, sparking a manhunt that included several hundred federal agents, as well as South Carolina and local police. More than 350 officers were involved in the search.

This was the most extensive manhunt in the history of Chester County, Newman said in court.

Terry was found hiding in a rural Chester County field near Interstate 77 six days after the manhunt began.

The plea agreement is for life in prison without parole for both Terry and Simpson.

B.J. Barrowclough, 16th Circuit Public Defender, said the guilty pleas include an agreement that neither York nor Chester prosecutors would seek the death penalty. The agreement also provides that Missouri and Tennessee prosecutors would not seek the death penalty, lawyers and the judge said Wednesday.

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Both Terry and Simpson agreed with Judge Brian Gibbons when Gibbons explained the negotiated plea agreement is for life in prison without parole, and prosecutors would not seek capital punishment.

Tyler Donnet Terry

Gibbons asked Terry how he pleaded on 25 S.C. charges.

Guilty, Terry said.

Terry declined to speak further.

Gibbons asked Simpson how she pleaded to 16 charges.

Guilty, Simpson said.

Simpson apologized to the victims families.

There is so much heartache and I wish I could change what happened, Simpson said.

Simpsons lawyer, Geoff Dunn of Rock Hill, said Simpson cooperated with police and has been contrite and remorseful since her arrest.

Dunn said in court Simpson has been the repeated victim of abuse at the hands of men.

Adrienne Simpson

The murders in South Carolina

Terry and Simpson pleaded guilty to the killing of Simpsons husband in Chester County on May 2. Eugene Simpsons body was found in a Chester County field on May 18.

They drove into the woods and made Mr. Simpson believe the car was breaking down, Newman said in court. Mr. Simpson was then shot multiple times in the head and abdomen.

Pamela Simpson, Eugene Simpsons mother, said Terry and Adrienne Simpson caused chaos and pain across the country.

Nobody deserves what these people did, Pamela Simpson said in court. All these victims. All this killing. They did this.

Terry and Simpson also admitted to the May 2 killing of Thomas Hardin in the city of York. Terry knew the victim and police discovered Adrienne Simpsons debit card at the scene, 16th Circuit Solicitor Kevin Brackett of York County said.

Investigators later found the same gun was used in other shootings in Chester and York County, Brackett said.

Hardins family thanked police for making the arrests. The family was terrified for their safety during the Terry manhunt, family members said.

St. Louis and Memphis killings

The pair are suspected of murder in Missouri in the May 15 killings of a doctor and woman in St. Louis County, Mo., officials said. Barbara Goodkin, 71, and 58-year-old Dr. Sergei Zacharev were fatally shot in unrelated incidents about an hour apart, St. Louis County and South Carolina prosecutors said. Zacharev was also robbed, prosecutors said.

Terry and Simpson also are suspected in a May killing in Memphis, Tenn., before the couple fled back to South Carolina, Brackett said.

Other York, Chester shootings

Terry also admitted to shooting at a York County man May 17, 2021, after a womans mobile home was set on fire with her inside, officials said. Simpson admitted to arson in the fire. The woman escaped the fire.

The pair also admitted to two shootings in Chester outside a Taco Bell and outside a home on May 2.

Check back for updates on this story.
(Bloomberg) -- Japans central bank should swap its exchange-traded fund holdings for perpetual bonds to ensure that an eventual exit from stimulus doesnt upend equities, according to one of Prime Minister Fumio Kishidas advisers.

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The idea would enable the Bank of Japan to reduce its exposure to risk assets by moving them off its balance sheet in a way that doesnt trigger market turmoil, according to Ken Shibusawa, chairman of Commons Asset Management Inc. and a member of Kishidas new capitalism panel.

As of the end of March the central bank held 51.3 trillion yen ($348 billion) of ETFs at market value, roughly around 7% of the market capitalization of the Japanese stock market at that point, Bloomberg data shows.

According to Shibusawas pitch presented to the panel last month, a new government-backed fund would issue the perpetual bonds while converting the BOJs ETFs into stocks.

Assuming the dividends from the shares were larger than coupon payments to the BOJ on the perpetual bonds, the proceeds could be used to fund measures to improve financial literacy among members of the public, Shibusawa argued.

Unlike the central banks massive holdings of government bonds, the ETF holdings wont just disappear from the balance sheet if no action is taken, since they dont mature. While the market value of the holdings shows a large markup on their book value, the ETFs could lose value over time.

Theres an urgent need to take ETFs off the BOJs balance sheet, as they are risky assets with no way out in the form of redemptions, Shibusawa wrote in his proposal.

He expressed concern that if the BOJ sells its ETFs as part of an exit from monetary easing, it would have a destructive impact on the market. He argued that a special fund holding ETFs in perpetuity would eliminate the risk of an imbalance of supply and demand in the equity market.

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Some market participants have suggested passing the ETFs on to the countrys massive pension fund, its innovation fund, or even individual investors. Others have suggested pressuring firms to buy back their shares.

Shibusawas proposal is based on the thinking of Kenichi Hirayama, chief strategist at Tokio Marine Asset Management who published a book on the subject last year. Hirayama says that creating an independent fund to hold the risk assets is possible, much in the way of Japans giant pension fund.

By converting the ETFs into stocks, trust fees could be cut to one fifth their current level, while corporate governance could also be improved if the fund took an active role in influencing companies behavior, Hirayama argues.

The Shibusawa proposal is positive for market supply and demand, said Shingo Ide, chief equity strategist at NLI Research Institute. If voting rights are exercised, a positive effect can be expected in terms of governance and corporate reform, and if financial literacy is increased, the number of individual investors will also increase.

Still, the plan essentially transfers the risk of holding the assets from one public institution to another, while leaving the market heavily influenced by government policy, he added.

In March, Kishida was asked about Hirayamas idea. His response was that the central banks monetary policy, including its exit strategy, should be determined by the BOJ.

So far, there has been no major response from the government to the Shibusawa proposal.

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By Jack Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea's Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said on Wednesday police must explain how they responded after receiving multiple emergency calls in the hours before a Halloween party crush killed more than 150 people in Seoul.

The disaster on Saturday night killed 156 and injured 172, leaving 33 in serious condition. At least 26 citizens from 14 countries were among the dead.

"The police must conduct thorough inspections and provide a clear and transparent explanation to the public," Han said at the televised beginning of a task force meeting on the disaster.

Tens of thousands of young revellers had crowded into narrow streets and alleyways of the popular Itaewon district for the first Halloween festivities in three years virtually free of COVID-19 restrictions.

Transcripts of emergency calls released by the police on Tuesday showed the first warning of a possible deadly crush roughly four hours before the disaster, with the caller requesting police dispatched to an alley where partygoers were already packed wall-to-wall.

Police received 10 other similar calls, with the callers pleading with growing urgency and desperation. The final call was placed just minutes before people in the narrow and sloping alley began to fall over each other.

The transcripts appear to confirm the accounts of witnesses, who told Reuters they saw some police directing traffic on the main road but few or no officers in the crowded pedestrian alleyways and side streets.

Roughly 100,000 people were estimated to be in Itaewon on Saturday, an area known for its hills and narrow alleys. There were 137 police officers there at the time, the authorities have said.

Police went to the scene for four out of the 11 calls, a police official told reporters. It was not immediately clear why they did not deploy officers on the other calls or what safety measures they took after arriving.

"When someone dials 112, it is when the situation is very urgent and the help of police or action is desperately needed," Han said, referring to South Korea's emergency police hotline.

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The release of the transcripts fuelled further criticism of missteps by the police that may have been a key factor leading up to the crush that has become the deadliest accident since a 2014 ferry sinking that killed 304 people, mainly high school students who drowned amid botched rescue operations.

Opposition members of parliament called for the immediate dismissal of the national police chief and the interior minister.

National Police Commissioner General Yoon Hee-keun on Tuesday acknowledged crowd control at the scene was "inadequate" and promised a thorough internal investigation.

(Reporting by Soo-hyang Choi; Editing by Gerry Doyle)
Two women drink tea in their kitchen during a power outage in Kyiv, Ukraine, on October 22, 2022. Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

Ukraine is facing a shortage of electricity, water, and heat as Russia targets its energy infrastructure.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that more than 1,000 heating points will be set up in the city.

The stations have generators and water supplies, he said.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Wednesday that more than 1,000 heating points will be set up around the city as Russia continues to target Ukraine's energy.

"Due to the aggressor's missile attacks on critical infrastructure facilities, we are considering various scenarios of the development of events," Klitschko said in a Telegram message.

"The worst one is where there will be no electric power, water, or district heating at all," he added. "For that case, we are preparing over 1,000 heating points in our city,"

Klitschko said the stations will not only have generators but will also have other necessities so that people can "warm up, drink tea, recharge your phones, and get the necessary help."

Ukraine is facing an extreme shortage of electricity, water, and heat after Russian forces launched a series of airstrikes on power stations and gas and water supplies in the last week weeks.

Officials said nearly 40% of Ukraine's energy infrastructure has been damaged, according to The Associated Press.

Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave his nightly video address in darkness, saying: "We are not afraid of the dark. The darkest times for us are not without light, but without freedom."

A Ukrainian minister also said last week that those who fled the country after Russia's invasion should remain abroad so that everyone can "survive the winter," Al Jazeera reported.

Targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure has become a new focus of Russia's invasion in the last few weeks.

They attacks represent a different type of warfare from Russia, which has been losing on the battlefield to Ukraine, and are being done far from the front lines in the east of Ukraine, reaching far across the country to close to Ukraine's western border with other European countries.

The mayor of the western city of Lviv said Russia's tactics are to use the cold as a weapon against Ukrainians as the harsh winter months draw closer.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Nov. 2Selected eighth-grade girls with the Lake Mills Community School District traveled to Ames, Iowa, last week for a program designed to empower young girls about career opportunities available to women.

Marie Menke, teacher leadership compensation technology coach and K-12 talented and gifted coordinator for the district, runs enrichment programs throughout the district and said she took seven students to Iowa State for a conference that was called "Go Further."

"It was put on by the Iowa State Program for Women in Science and Engineering, and so it was all about showing females all of the different job opportunities or career opportunities that are available to women ... [and] just showing girls that they can do great things."

The conference, open only to eighth-grade girls, was designed to empower others, help them persevere through obstacles and encourage them to be leaders. To that effect, the program allowed girls to explore different science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects, including aerospace and glass blowing.

Before students broke off for different sessions they could attend, they listened to keynote speakers Katrina Williams, a teacher in Ames, and LeQuetia Ancar, director of multicultural student success at Iowa State.

The girls then were able to choose from different sessions, which included a Lego-building one.

"They were practicing being an engineer, and they were given a problem and they had to try to solve the problem building something with Legos," she said.

Another session, Be the Predator, asked students to find ways to avoid the spread of diseases.

There was a session on aerospace, where they learned how to put together 3-D printed airplanes and discussed the different parts of the plane and what the purposes of those parts served. Another session involved the use of magnets. And then there was one with food.

"The one that a lot of the kids did go to in the afternoon, it was the very last one, it was called 'The Phases of Chocolate,' and so they got to learn how chocolate was made," she said. "They also got to taste some different kinds of chocolate at the very end. And that was one of their favorites."

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Menke's goal was to show the girls there were lots of different job opportunities for people with a math, science or technology-related interest.

"Sometimes if somebody says they're interested in science you gear towards the medical field where there's so many other opportunities that you can explore," she said. "Sometimes kids are just unaware of all of the options that are available to them."

In a recorded video after the conference, student Josephine Islas said she enjoyed making model airplanes with 3-D printed pieces, while fellow student Laylah Ingledue said she enjoyed playing a game and analyzing data during the "Be the Predator" session.

Students also discovered learning could be fun.

"I learned I can have fun while also doing science," Lily Young said.

Menke herself was excited to see students get excited and hoped to bring opportunities these students had to the classroom.

"Overall the girls had a great time," she said.

Students who attended were nominated by either Ranen Spies  the eighth-grade science teacher  or herself.

This was the second time Menke took girls to the conference. Previously, she went with girls to a conference in 2019. Iowa State discontinued the program during the pandemic.

"I've enjoyed it, the students have enjoyed it, and so it's just been something that I was excited to share with more kids," she said.

She plans to attend the same conference next year with a new batch of eighth graders.
Opposition to a proposed plan to pipe carbon dioxide to North Dakota made its first appearance Tuesday at the Codington County Commission meeting.

Summit Carbon Solutions is planning to send liquefied carbon dioxide via a below-ground pipeline to underground storage in North Dakota. The project has yet to receive the go-ahead from the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission. Some landowners, citing various concerns, are resisting Summit's attempts to obtain easements for the pipeline.

The pipeline would go through Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota and Nebraska. It would cover about 1,900 miles with an estimated cost of $4.5 billion. It would collect carbon dioxide from ethanol and fertilizer plants.

More:Judge combines 5th circuit cases involving Summit Carbon Solutions

Carbon dioxide is created during the refining process for corn-based ethanol. Some states have banned ethanol sales because of the levels of CO2, thus limiting the marketability of the alternative fuel. Summit and refiners are hoping the capture of carbon dioxide at the creation process will create a larger market for ethanol  and for corn farmers.

Complaints about the proposed project began after the commissioners discussed an agenda item regarding the potential hiring of Banner Engineering of Brookings as manager of the countys eventual haul-road agreement with Summit, should the pipeline be approved.

County Highway Superintendent Rick Hartley told commissioners he wasnt asking for a signed agreement with Banner, only alerting the firm that the county would be seeking a contract if the pipeline project begins. The commissioners discussed the motion and voted 4-1 against it.

Near the end of the meeting, during the open session, Troy Skelton and Wendy Schulz chastised the commissioners for even considering the motion since the project hasnt been approved. They then gave a litany of reasons why the project was flawed and said Summit is using pressure tactics.

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In my opinion they, are not a public carrier. They are not a public utility and therefore should not have the right of eminent domain, said Skelton, who added that Summit is facing multiple court cases in the states where the pipeline would be located.

Schulz said the county has no plan to rescue individuals trapped by carbon dioxide leaks. She also pointed out that the liquefied CO2 will be transmitted at 2,100 pounds per square inch and shutoff valves will be separated by 20 miles. And, she claimed, Summit is suing landowners who deny surveyors access to their property and has sued counties asking for a moratorium on the project.

The commissioners briefly questioned Schulz before Chairwoman Brenda Hanten said the meeting was not a public hearing and that county landowners will have an opportunity to speak at public hearings if the project receives PUC approval.

More:Summit lawsuits take issue with pipeline moratorium in Brown Co., fee increases in Edmunds

Landowners in a few South Dakota counties have sued Summit regarding the ability to access private land to do survey work. But Summit, citing state law, contends the work is allowed without express permission as long as 30 days notice is given to affected landowners. Last week, Summit Carbon Solutions sued Brown County after commissioners imposed a one-year moratorium on hazardous materials pipelines to take time to look at permitting regulations. Another lawsuit against Edmunds County was filed because commissioner drastically increased some permitting fees.

Concerns about eminent domain and whether the pipeline would be safe or is even needed have been raised across eastern South Dakota. Some residents have said they feel it's just a money grab to access tax credits.

In other action, the commission:

Authorized Hanten and Auditor Cindy Brugman to sign documents allowing the county to act as a conduit for the issuance of tax-exempt economic development bonds for the nonprofit project at The Village of Harmony Hill.

Approved an application for hazard mitigation grant funds on behalf of Sioux Rural Water for the purchase of a $174,000 generator for the Kranzburg plant. The payment will be reimbursed to the county by the First District of Local Governments. Travis Steffensen, general manager at Sioux Rural Water, said without the new generator, 88 residents, Waverly School and about 3,600 head of cattle would be left without water during a power outage.

Approved the $1,000 purchase of a used Ford Explorer formerly owned by the Disabled American Veterans of South Dakota and formerly used by the Codington County Veterans Service Office. The county welfare office will use the Explorer to transport individuals within Watertown.

Renewed a contract with Interlakes Community Action Program for office space. The organization will pay the county $100 per month for 10 to 15 hours of work for the county.

Approved an updated job description for the welfare community care coordinator position.

Took no action on imposing a countywide burn ban.

This article originally appeared on Aberdeen News: Residents in Codington County opposed Summit CO2 pipeline project
Chicago police Superintendent David Brown walks near the scene where seven people were shot on the 7900 block of South Exchange in the South Chicago neighborhood on March 13, 2022. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)

More than a year after he was given an analysis that raised questions about the effectiveness of Chicago police patrol response and assignments, Superintendent David Brown is now calling the study lacking, and he announced that he plans to seek his own officer deployment evaluation.

Brown made the statements last week at his first appearance of the newly seated Community Commission for Police Safety and Accountability, where he faced questions about how the department handles critical decisions about patrol assignments, including whether there is a disparity in how Chicago neighborhoods are policed.

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Brown offered detailed responses about the study, which was done by the University of Chicago Crime Lab with input from the Police Department. The comments came three days after he appeared before the City Council budget committee, took questions on parts of the labs analysis and said he would give an alderman copies of the work, without mentioning that he was starting another study.

Brown told the Community Commission about the new study on Oct. 24. He said the Crime Lab study was missing some elements, including that non-patrol teams are on the street to help when violence increases. He added that the department does hourly evaluations of crime trends to deploy immediately to blocks in need and he pointed to a reduction in shootings and homicides citywide.

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Anthony Driver Jr., second from left, and other Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability members listen in as COPA Chief Administrator Andrea Kersten answers questions during a commission meeting in Chicagos Englewood neighborhood on Oct. 27, 2022. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

Three days later, the commission continued to express concerns about the departments lack of transparency about what, if any, plan exists to decide long-term work assignments in the department.

We appreciate that the superintendent came out and answered our questions in public and agreed to provide us with important data, Commission President Anthony Driver Jr. said Thursday at the groups regularly scheduled monthly meeting. Were going to need to work together, and Monday was a good step in that direction. But so far, weve learned very little that addresses the concerns we began with.

We are deeply concerned that the communities that are suffering the most are still subject to slow response times and inadequate staffing at the times crime and violence occur the most, continued Driver, a community activist and executive director of the SEIU Illinois State Council, who also told the Tribune that he has lost dozens of friends and family members to violence. And were concerned that communities are routinely being policed by officers who dont know the community, which is bad for residents and police officers.

Driver, reached by the Tribune after the meeting, was skeptical about the need for a new study.

Seeking efficiency, equity and transparency

Having a workforce allocation plan that studies a variety of data, including response times and historic trends about where and when crimes happen, is standard for police departments. They need to ensure coverage that is sustained and matches the public safety issues in all communities, which have varying levels and types of crimes.

Police officers stand during the Chicago Police Department's graduation and promotion ceremony at Navy Pier, March 29, 2022. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

Under a federal consent decree, the Chicago Police Department is mandated to develop a staffing model, with use of data, that allows for officers to be assigned to consistent shifts with the same supervisors as a way to achieve more unity and control.

The Crime Lab launched its effort to do such a comprehensive workforce allocation study in 2019.

The study was done pro bono. In a summary of the work, the lab said the project was seeking to build efficiency, equity, and transparency in patrol staffing and insulate the deployments from politics or pressure on where cops should work.

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The allocation of police department resources in most U.S. cities is based on the desires and intuition of key decision-makers and often winds up being highly political and unequal, a summary of the workforce study released by the lab reads.

The summary also notes that CPD leadership helped to direct the scope and planning of the study. It said the department was working toward work assignment strategies, including that officers would be able to dedicate 60% of their time to responding to calls but still have 40% of their day for administrative or proactive work in the community.

The lab has for years worked with CPD to analyze data and publish findings.

While the lab conducted several preliminary analyses on this project, the work between the lab and the department stalled. In an emailed statement Monday, lab officials said that without being able to do its usual review and quality assurance, it has not made the analysis public.

The Tribune in an open records request in August obtained copies of three analyses that were part of the overall study. The records supplied to the Tribune were heavily redacted, and they were not the complete study.

There were key takeaways from the reports, despite the redactions. The findings released to the Tribune relied on GPS tracking to determine where and when officers assigned to three separate units were on the street.

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Among the conclusions was that 14% of shootings are happening between midnight and 5 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays in the citys least safe areas, but just 3.8% of the work hours of Chicago patrol unit tactical teams were logged during that same 10-hour period. The analyses showed similar disconnects with the units assigned to patrol cars and those assigned to the citywide community safety teams.

In addition, an analysis showed how many patrol officers in each district responded to 15 or more calls in one month. A response was counted when an officer reported answering a 911 call or other dispatched events, such as a ShotSpotter alert.

For all districts combined, the number of officers responding to 15 or more calls per month was 3,000. There are about 11,500 sworn officers in the department, with most assigned to patrol.

Chicago police officers at the scene of a mass shooting at Polk Street and California Avenue in East Garfield Park, Oct. 31, 2022. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)

Brown seeking gold standard study

During the commission meeting, Brown was asked about the analyses, including the potential that patrol officer assignments dont match with the times when violence happens.

Brown answered, in part, by saying the Crime Labs study had not accounted for when patrol officers get pulled away from their beats to help the detective division respond to shootings.

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I think that is the one deficiency, he said. ... It didnt include the investigative impact of resources for the districts that have the majority of the violence. Its a significant challenge and drain of resources. .... That can account for a disparity.

Driver then asked Brown if he was acknowledging a disparity, and he said no, but repeated that there is a significant drain on resources for areas with violence.

Brown did not address whether he considered such work, responding to shootings, the job of patrol officers.

Brown said that the department also uses non-patrol units to add presence and response on the street. But according to the GPS analyses obtained by the Tribune, the three units that were part of the study were nearly the only units on the street at the time.

Brown then told the commission he was seeking a gold standard study.

Ald. Matt Martin, 47th, who at the budget hearing had asked Brown for a copy of the analyses the Tribune was given, expressed concern that Brown is seeking a new study.

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Before we launch into a new study, lets figure out first in an open and transparent way, what do the most recent studies say? And are we looking at whatever recommendations? Martin said. Are we just jumping from study to study to study?

Ald. Harry Osterman, 48th, who has also asked for copies of the workforce study in the past, was also surprised by news of another study.

Its surprising and disappointing that the superintendent has not come to the City Council to seek funding for this important work, he said. That is something that members of the City Council will be following up with him about.

Deployment issue at critical stage

The Tribune asked to speak to Brown about the commissions comments and to clarify his criticisms of the lab study. He issued an emailed statement that nearly matched the statement he sent out in August.

The Chicago Police Department continuously reviews and adjusts resources across the Department to enhance public safety and address crime patterns, it read. These precision deployments and strategic resource allocations, along with community partners and a whole-of-government approach to community building, have led to reductions in shootings and homicides this year. Year to date, homicides are down 15.88% and shootings are down 19.65% compared to the same time period last year.

While shootings and homicides are down, they are adjusting from a historic two-year 60% spike that coincided with the pandemic and national unrest over policing practices.

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Police deployments and assignments have long been a source of criticism amid concerns about whether all Chicago neighborhoods are afforded the kind of police response required. The issue has gotten more critical given the national surge in gun violence and the fact that in Chicago the violence spread across the entire city.

The newly seated Community Commission, which has authority to write and approve department policy, seek documents from the department and request the citys inspector general to investigate, has made department assignments a priority, given the departments $1.9 billion proposed budget and the fact that more than two-thirds of that money is dedicated to personnel costs.

Chicago police Superintendent David Brown speaks during a hearing on the Chicago Police Department budget at City Hall on Oct. 21, 2022. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)

In addition to concerns over the potential disparities in policing among districts, commissioners queried Brown about how much he relies on the use of citywide units to add extra coverage in areas where there is violence.

Such movement of officers into neighborhoods for patrol responsibilities means they are less likely to know the area and also at risk for having less supervision, something that runs the risk of fraying relationships between police and the community, commissioners said.

If these individuals are in citywide units ... are you going to (be) allocating those resources so the same individuals are in the same districts, in the same location, getting acquainted with the community, all of those gold standard things? asked commission member Yvette Loizon, a private attorney who has served as both a prosecutor and the chief legal counsel for Illinois State Police. Can you elaborate what that plan looks like?

Brown and his chief of patrol, Brian McDermott, explained that they use historic crime data for all assignments. McDermott also said that each day he draws personnel from the detective division, the office of constitutional policing and counterterrorism bureau to add support to neighborhoods.

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Loizon asked whether they are tracking how often these outside units are in the same neighborhoods, providing continuity. McDermott said the department tries to do that but acknowledged it is not 100%.

When asked about the potential lack of personnel on the street at the times when violence is surging, McDermott said the department had prioritized the 55 least safe beats and that he evaluated by the hour to move resources from other areas of the city to assist as needed.

It is a constant moving people around and doing our best to put the resources in the right places at the right time, McDermott said.

Chicago criminologist Wesley Skogan, who listened to the hearing, said what McDermott described is a critical part of providing public safety. But it is more of an emergency response.

A deeper workforce planning system for deployments should also be the goal, although Skogan acknowledged it can be complicated by everything from shifting crime patterns to union contracts,

In a follow-up email, Skogan, who is a professor at Northwestern University, said the goal should still be a data-driven plan that is used to continually update baseline personnel assignments.

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Deviations from this in response to events, intelligence, strategic initiatives would then be transparent, he said.
A suspect in the cold case killing of a Las Vegas woman in her home 42 years ago has been arrested, police said Tuesday.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said Paul Nuttall, 64, was taken into custody on suspicion of murder, sexual assault and other charges for the 1980 death of Sandra DiFelice. DiFelice, 25, was sexually assaulted and killed on Dec. 26, 1980, police said.

Officers responded to the scene that evening amid reports of a dead body.

Nuttall was a person of interest during the initial investigation but DNA from under the fingernails of DiFelice linked him to the killing, police said.

CONFESSED FLORIDA COLD CASE MURDERER NOW SUSPECTED IN SERIAL KILLINGS, POLICE SAY

The investigation into her death went cold, but the case was renewed in February 2021 when DiFelice's daughter, who was 3 at the time of the murder, called authorities for an update. Investigators then submitted additional evidence for DNA testing using new technology.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

Once Nuttall was linked to the crime, an arrest warrant was issued.

"After Paul Nuttall was taken into custody, my cold case investigators had the pleasure of making the phone call that every cold case detective wants to make," Las Vegas Police Lt. Jason Johansson said, the news outlet reported. "And that was to call the family member, specifically Sandra DiFelices daughter, and let her know that there had been a development case, and that we had arrested the suspect responsible for the murder."

Authorities said Nuttall was not friends with DiFelice but knew her roommate, Fox 5 Las Vegas reported.

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Nuttall was booked into the Clark County Detention Center and is being held with no bond. He is slated to appear in court Wednesday.

Authorities have not disclosed a motive for the killing.
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP)  Arab leaders on Wednesday concluded the 31st summit of the largest annual Arab conference after seeking to bridge the gap on several divisive issues in the Middle East and Africa. The first Arab League gathering in three years took place against the backdrop of rising inflation, food and energy shortages, drought and the soaring cost of living across the region.

The kings, emirs, presidents and prime ministers discussed several thorny issues during a two-day gathering in the capital Algiers. Among them was the establishment of diplomatic ties between Israel and four Arab countries as former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies appeared to be heading to an election victory.

The summits discussions also focused on the food and energy crises aggravated by Russia's war in Ukraine. The conflict has had devastating consequences for Egypt, Lebanon and Tunisia, among other Arab countries struggling to import enough wheat and fuel to satisfy their populations.

Arab leaders acknowledged the dire consequences of the war for their nations and one after another called for a collective Arab action to face common challenges. Those include food and energy shortages and the effects of climate change on their societies. But they presented no details on a potential mechanism that would help feed their people.

Deepening the crisis is the worst drought in several decades that has ravaged swaths of Somalia, one of the Arab Leagues newer members, bringing some areas of the country to the brink of famine.

Reduced grain supplies have also deepened the hunger that grips Yemen, the Arab world's most impoverished country, after eight years of civil war. According to United Nations estimates, half a million Yemeni children are severely malnourished and more than two-thirds of the population are in need of humanitarian assistance.

The war in Ukraine has added to Yemen's misery as the east European country supplied 40% of Yemen's grain before Russias invasion.

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Reports from Turkey on Wednesday said that Russia has agreed to return to a Turkish and U.N. -brokered deal that allows the shipment of millions of tons Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea. That may provide some relief for Arab leaders grappling with soaring food prices and shortages of basic staples.

Many Arab countries are almost entirely dependent on Ukrainian and Russian wheat exports and fertilizers, and Russias reinforcement of its blockade on Ukraine's Black Sea ports on Sunday threatened to further escalate the crisis.

The Arab League summit provided an opportunity for Algeria  Africas largest country by territory  to showcase its leadership in the Arab world. Algeria is a major oil and gas producer and is perceived by European nations as a key supplier amid the global energy crisis that stems from Russias war in Ukraine.

Algeria, along with other Arab countries, remains fiercely opposed to the series of normalization agreements the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco signed with Israel over the past three years that have divided the region into two camps. Sudan has also agreed to establish ties with Israel.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune urged league members to reaffirm their support for the Palestinians in their conflict with Israel as the Arab and international communities' attention shifts to other conflicts and crises.

Our main and first cause, the mother of all causes, the Palestinian issue, will be at the heart of our concerns and our main priority," Tebboune said in his opening speech Tuesday. He blasted Israel for its continued occupation of Palestinian territories and expanding its illegal settlements.

Last month, Algeria hosted talks in a bid to end the Palestinian political divide and reconcile the Fatah party, whose Palestinian Authority rules parts of the occupied West Bank, and the militant Hamas group, which has control of the Gaza Strip.

The Arab summit took place at a time of heightened tensions in the occupied West Bank, where the Israeli military has conducted nightly arrest raids in searches for Palestinian militants. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in recent months, including armed gunmen, stone-throwing teenagers and people uninvolved in violence.

The 22-member Arab League last held its summit in 2019, before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

___

Surk reported from Nice, France. Associated Press writer Jack Jeffery in Cairo contributed to this report.
The esteemed film festival is set to return in person and virtually next June.

Get ready for ABFF in 2023. The esteemed festival will return in Miami next year, with Emmy award-winning writer, producer and actor Lena Waithe taking on the role as the festivals official ambassador.

Planning for American Black Film Festivals 27th annual event is already underway, with an in-person event planned for next June in Miami Beach, Florida, with a virtual event to follow. Last year, Issa Rae was the festivals official ambassador, which saw the premiere of various projects like the creators new HBO Max series Rap Sh!t, episodes of Prime Videos A League of Their Own and more.

This coming year, Waithe will take on the task of ambassador, helping to bring awareness to ABFFs mission of showcasing Black talent and discovering new voices and will collaborate with the festival for one-of-a-kind moments, per the release sent to theGrio.

Nicole Friday, Lena Waithe and Jeff Friday attend the American Black Film Festival Honors Awards Ceremony at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on Feb. 23, 2020, in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

In a statement shared alongside the press release, Waithe expressed excitement regarding her collaboration with the festival, saying, I am so honored to have been chosen as ABFFs 2023 Festival Ambassador. I am excited to collaborate with the festival to shine a light on unique and groundbreaking stories and the creatives behind them.

Festival producer and president of ABFF Ventures LLC Nicole Friday shared in a statement regarding Waithes inclusion in next years festival, Lena is a powerhouse in the film and television industry and a trailblazer for emerging creative artists. Her commitment to elevate diverse voices personifies ABFFs commitment to diversify Hollywood. We are excited to have her unique perspective and talent as our 2023 ABFF Ambassador.

As Friday alluded to in her statement, Waithes work and dedication to not only protecting diverse talent but also fostering it is seen through her company, Hillman Grad Productions. Outside her achievements in TV and film with shows like Twenties and films like Queen & Slim, her production companys mission is to, empower underrepresented artists by amplifying and celebrating the stories and voices of diverse, historically marginalized communities across all industries. The company also has a Mentorship Lab program for creative executives, actors and writers looking to break into and foster a career in the industry.

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The 27th ABFF will return to Miami Beach June 14 to 18, followed by a virtual event June 19 to 25 on ABFF PLAY. For more on the festival, submission deadlines, how to attend and more, head to the official site here.

TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku and Android TV. Also, please download theGrio mobile apps today!

The post Lena Waithe to serve as ambassador at 2023 American Black Film Festival appeared first on TheGrio.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (D-Bakersfield) speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in 2019. (Michael Reynolds / EPA)

To the editor: It should be obvious to anyone thinking clearly exactly what House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) stands for  the quest for his own political power, regardless of the cost to the nation. He may be adept at fundraising and the glad-handing of common folks, but shame on those who are taken in by this slick political ruse while failing to recognize the harm he is doing to our democracy. ("Ambition keeps him loyal to Donald Trump. But what does Kevin McCarthy stand for?" Oct. 27)

McCarthy said in one of his speeches that "Biden has launched an assault on the soul of America." McCarthy has been a willing participant in the Republican assault on America's soul for years. He represents the kind of mendacious, self-serving political operative that most Americans have always said they despise. Even that contempt has given way to tribal loyalty and denial of truth in the Republican base.

McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) may hold their party factions together, but they fail at setting standards of integrity and decency for the nation. Unless their constituents and the vast majority of voters reject such corrupt politicians, our experiment with democracy is doomed to fail, and soon.

TR Jahns, Hemet

..

To the editor: Shame on The Times for running a front-page subheadline that calls McCarthy "likely the next House speaker." With this, The Times has cast its lot with other traditional media outlets that can potentially have a corrosive effect on voter turnout by making such assumptions.

It also ignores the fact that most registered voters are either women, young people or people of color, most of whom are quite unhappy with what the Republican Party has come to stand for (or not stand for). I am reminded of the famous words of Yogi Berra, "It ain't over till it's over."

I also note that this "potential leader" with 18 years in Congress did not even respond to The Times' request to be interviewed for this article. This is not hard to understand from a man who has not been associated with any landmark legislation but now wants to lead a rudderless party.

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Joe Grauman, Los Angeles

..

To the editor: Gospel of Mark, Chapter 8, Verse 36: "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

Too bad the Republican Party doesnt have some sort of religious underpinning  like, say, the evangelical movement  that would give it some insight into morality.

Larry Markes, Hollywood

..

To the editor: Your article shows how McCarthy was once maybe qualified to be speaker of the House, but now is someone whose only priority is becoming speaker. His Faustian bargain will result in the House becoming subsumed into the executive branch if former President Trump were to win reelection.

The House wouldn't be part of a separate branch of government; it wouldn't seek oversight over Trump's actions; it would simply act to enable Trump.

With Trump clearly one with autocratic tendencies who finds democracy an impediment, McCarthy could well invite the fox into the henhouse.

Bruce N. Miller, Playa del Rey

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Nov. 1LIMA  Lima police are continuing their investigation into a stabbing incident that occurred Monday.

According to a press release issued by the LPD, officers responded at approximately 1:30 p.m. to the 1500 block of Allentown Road to investigate an altercation that resulted in a stabbing. Both parties have been identified, but not named, and the investigation is ongoing.

The case will be presented to the Allen County grand jury for possible charges. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Matt Boss at 419-221-5156 or CrimeStoppers at 419-229-7867.
Lindsay Lohan revealed in a new interview that she wished she had social media throughout her rise to fame because it may have helped her control her own narrative.

The 36-year-old shared her candid thoughts about social media during an interview with Cosmopolitan on Monday for the cover of the magazines latest issue.

Lohan, who first started acting at the age of five, told the publication that while theres too much of social media nowadays, there are still parts about it that are nice. She noted how different her life could have been if social media had existed during the early days of her career.

When I first started out in the business, none of us had a say in how to control our own narrative, the Freaky Friday star said. There were paparazzi pictures, and then people ran with it. So I think its really good that in this day and age, people can say who they are and who they want to be. And I admire and appreciate that.

She went on to say shes a bit jealous of people who did grow up with social media and shared some strategies she keeps in mind when using it, such as being cautious about what she posts.

I think it moves really fast and I just try to keep up as best I can, she continued. And I check everything before I post it. Ill send it to people. Because you have to.

When discussing the difficulties of social media, like trolls and the pressure to have a good reputation online, Lohan said that she tries not to let negative things get to her.

You have to take everything people say with a grain of salt and just be you, The Parent Trap star added. And slow down, because everyones so quick right now. People just dont stop. Youve got to chill.

While Lohan opted to stay out of the spotlight in recent years, moving to Dubai in 2014 with her now-husband Bader Shamma, now shes officially returned to acting. Her newest rom-com, Falling For Christmas, comes out on Netflix this month.

During her conversation with Cosmopolitan, she also discussed how busy shes been with work and how much shes enjoying acting again.

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Its fun to be back in New York and doing shoots. And I love this part of the process, she said. After youve filmed, this is the fun part. So I feel really great and just really excited and happy.

The Mean Girls star also acknowledged that as her approach to acting has continued evolving, there are many different things that she considers when taking on a new role.

It comes very naturally to me to play a role, especially in a romantic comedy, so it doesnt always feel like work, Lohan added. But when you really look at the character and how much more you can give people onscreen through the characters eyes, theres so much to play with and change.
Liz Cheney has said she would rather vote for Democrat candidate Tim Ryan instead of Donald Trump-backed Republican JD Vance in Ohios Senate race.

The Ohio Senate race has become a neck-and-neck battle between Congressman Tim Ryan, a centrist Democratic member of the House, and author JD Vance, who wrote the book Hillbilly Ellegy, which was adapted into a Netflix movie by Hollywood filmmaker Ron Howard.

Mr Vance subsequently launched his political career and was endorsed by one-time president Mr Trump.

I would not vote for JD Vance, Ms Cheney, the Republican representative for Wyoming, said in an interview with PBS NewsHour on Tuesday.

When asked if she would vote for Mr Ryan if she were a Buckeye State voter, Ms Cheney said: I would.

Liz Cheney endorses Tim Ryan for Senate, and does so with a little humor injected into the discussion. pic.twitter.com/HlKHdYsrcq  Ron Filipkowski  (@RonFilipkowski) November 1, 2022

This is not the first time that Ms Cheney has pledged support for a Democrat candidate.

Ms Cheney crossed party lines last week after she announced her endorsement of Democratic representative Elissa Slotkin of Michigan.

Ms Cheney also stated last week that she will no longer be a Republican if Mr Trump is made the Republican nominee for president in 2024.

Were Mr Trump to successfully win the nomination, the party would shatter, she said.

Ms Cheney was one of only 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Mr Trump for his role in the Jan 6 riot at the US Capitol.

She has also led the House Select Committee probing the riots.

In August, she was defeated in Wyomings Republican primary by Trump-backed candidate Harriet Hageman.

The Ohio Senate race is being closely watched as it would solidify the Democrats hold to some degree while a Republican hold on the seat will be crucial for them to have any chance of retaking the upper house.

At present, Republicans hold the seat in the form of Rob Portman, the states junior senator.
Anti-violence activists and members of the community attend a gathering near the intersection of South California Avenue and West Polk Street in Chicago on Nov. 1, 2022 after at least 14 people, including a 3-year-old, were shot in a drive-by shooting during a vigil the previous night. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)

Chrissy Sanders, 32, had just finished taking her 6-year-old son trick-or-treating on Halloween night and arrived at the vigil for a friend in East Garfield Park a little late, around 8:30 p.m.

As Sanders began to pay respects with friends and loved ones of the woman who died, Sanders female cousin told her, Im taking the kids to the car, and took Sanders 6-year-old and her two small children to their car parked nearby on California Avenue.

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Im so glad she scooped them up and away from the scene, Sanders said of her cousin.

Sanders stood between two cars, talking about funeral arrangements, and then began to cross the street. She heard assailants let off 20 to 30 rounds and somebody scream, Get down!

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I ducked in between the trucks, Sanders said.

She didnt see the car the assailants were in but heard people around her yelling: Im shot, Im shot  Im down  Im hit!

Her adrenaline rushing, Sanders didnt realize she was shot or even feel it. I took off running, she said.

A relative picked her up and drove her to the hospital. Thats when she noticed a hole in her leg.

Once at Mount Sinai Hospital, multiple other victims streamed into the emergency room and her son began crying, Oh, I hope my momma doesnt die!

Looking back on it, Sanders, who was recovering at her West Side home on Wednesday afternoon, a bullet still lodged in her thigh, said the situation is sickening.

People dont have any compassion, Sanders said of the shooters, who she believed knew children were on the scene.

Her 6-year-old, who said he never wants to celebrate Halloween again, told Sanders: God spared you.

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At least 14 people were shot, including a 3-year-old and two other minors, in the drive-by shooting Monday night during the East Garfield Park vigil on the West Side, police said. Another woman trying to flee the scene was struck by a vehicle as she was crossing a street.

The group had been standing on the corner of South California and West Polk Street for the vigil at about 9:20 p.m. when two people from inside a dark SUV began shooting, police said. The vehicle fled south.

An 18-year-old woman, who asked to remain anonymous out of safety concerns, said she was at the vigil and balloon release for a relative and was mostly surrounded by family that night.

Suddenly, shots went off, she said. She turned away from where the shots were being fired from, so she didnt see a car or anyone, she said.

I just heard the shots, and I ran a little bit. I felt a bullet go past my back, a little sting, she said. Kept hearing gunshots, people screaming ... Just screaming. I heard my mom screaming ... My mind went like blank.

The woman got under a car before she was able to run to her nearby house, she said. A lot of her family lives in the area and she said the violence is not always like this.

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Once the shots were over, she ran back across the street and called police and a cousin, telling them that people got shot.

The woman found her mother, who was shot in the leg, but her mom didnt know or feel that she was injured until a cousin pointed it out, she said.

The police began to arrive and started attending to the victims. The woman said most of those who were shot were members of her family.

Her mom, an aunt and the children, who are her cousins, were shot. Two have since left the hospital but one was still there as of Wednesday, she said. They dont know who the shooters were or why they targeted the family vigil, she said: Maybe wrong place, wrong time.

Everyone is trying to recover, she said. Honestly, Im mind-blown that this happened. Im mind-blown that it happened to my family, whatever the case may be. I never in my life thought we would be in a situation like that. I do hope that who did do it gets caught and goes to jail, but anything else, I dont have nothing to say.

Earlier Wednesday, a small crowd gathered at the same spot where the shooting occurred.

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The Rev. Cornelius Parks greets people arriving for a news conference at which political, religious, and community leaders spoke out against violence on Nov. 2, 2022, following the mass shooting Halloween night in East Garfield Park. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

The crowd of about 60 people was a mix of elected officials, representatives of nonprofits like Breakthrough Urban Ministries and Institute for Nonviolence Chicago, and other community leaders. They had come to the corner of South California and West Polk Street to let people know violence is not tolerated in the neighborhood, or anywhere else.

A few Chicago police squad cars were also parked at the intersection, and officers watched the news conference from the street. The event started with a group prayer.

Yolanda Fields is the executive director of Breakthrough, a community-based organization that provides violence prevention and intervention services in East Garfield Park. The nonprofit responded to the scene after the shooting.

Fields said the shooting was not normal for the neighborhood and there have been boots on the ground every hour of every day since, but she called on more people to take an active role in solutions that the community is working on to protect against violence instead of only mourning along after something happens.

It is not business as usual, and we refuse to behave as such, Fields said. Were not washing, were not rinsing and were not repeating.

Fields said that 10 of the shooting victims are part of one family and it was a relative of that family who had passed away for whom the vigil was planned. She said two of the children injured are siblings.

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I know the mom is concerned about her children right now, Fields said. The youngest one was going into surgery yesterday, and so their immediate thoughts are about being well, and thats been the extent of our conversations.

Some of the family members had already been released from the hospital, Fields said, while one was still in critical condition and two others were in serious condition.

Chicagos Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Elena Gottreich said at the news conference the investigation into the shooting is still ongoing, and more details will be released as the Police Department sees fit.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaks during a news conference at California Avenue and Polk Street in Chicago on Nov. 2, 2022, days after a mass shooting at that location. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)

On Wednesday evening, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, five aldermen, and other elected officials such as state Rep. Lakesia Collins and U.S. Rep. Danny Davis joined clergy for an emotional prayer vigil at the street corner where the shooting occurred. More than a hundred community members showed up.

We cannot allow these despicable, cowardly acts to be normalized or accepted in any way. Are you with me on this? asked Lightfoot, to various cheers and applause from the crowd. She then called for a statewide ban on assault weapons.

To begin in a tangible way, Lightfoot said, the people responsible for the shooting have to turn themselves in so the victims can begin to heal. And the city, she said, must address young peoples addiction to guns.

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What we must do is make sure that our young people know  they are not safer when they pick up a gun. They are not, Lightfoot said. Its like holding a grenade in your hand and pulling the pin. The question is not if the tragedy is going to happen. The question is when.

Police Superintendent David Brown was also present. After Lightfoot addressed the shooters, Brown also took some time to send a message.

You can run but you cannot hide from the Chicago Police Department, he said. He then addressed the Garfield Park community. So goes the West Side, so goes Chicago. So you are a strong community. Hold your head high, Brown said. Because we need you to stay strong. Stay committed to your young people. Stay committed to your families.

Faith remained the main focus of the vigil, as clergy shared thoughts and led prayers for attendees. Many speakers asked for federal, state and local resources to be poured into the West Side community just as Highland Park saw after the July 4 mass shooting.

Rep. Collins, a mother of three, said she lives in fear of getting a phone call that one of her children was hit by a stray bullet or killed by gun violence in the city. No mother should have to face that, she said.

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To close out the vigil, Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th, who represents the East Garfield Park community, reminded everyone, Faith without works is dead. Today we pray  tomorrow we work.

Cornelius Parks, senior pastor at Good Hope Freewill Baptist Church in the neighborhood, said he and several others have been serving this community for 52 years but they cant do it alone.

We need men and women to take accountability of your own community, Parks said. Theres only so much CPD can do. Theres only so much that outsiders can do. If you dont take a stand in your own community, that could be your son, that could be your daughter.

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He said there was a time when he was growing up and was able to walk to school and when the neighborhood was a true community, but said something happened to that feeling and now childrens lives are in jeopardy.

The community needs to get to the table and band back together, he said, to show the neighborhoods strength and what is needed to make improvements.

U.S. Rep. Danny Davis speaks during a news conference on Nov. 2, 2022, near the scene of Monday night's mass shooting. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

Collins, a Chicago Democrat, saw a comparison to the mass shooting at the Highland Park July 4 parade, and said the Black community, whether on the West or South Side, wants to see the same level of response as Highland Park did.

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We want the same ugency in our community, the same attention, and we dont need any more allies, Collins said. We need co-conspirators, people who are intentional about uplifting the Black community, because we have been ignored for so long, and we are tired of the same old cries and narratives.

Kathleen Sances, president and CEO of the Gun Violence Prevention Political Action Committee, or G-PAC, said in a statement Wednesday the organization is committed to making sure the momentum to ban guns is channeled into meaningful policy change and thanked Lightfoot for joining the statewide call for gun violence prevention.

Illinois has seen 48 mass shootings since the beginning of the year, 37 of which were in Chicago, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Mass shootings make up only a fraction of fatal shootings across the state, according to the statement from G-PAC.
KLANG, Malaysia (AP)  Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim appealed to voters Wednesday for another surprise victory when Malaysia goes to the polls later this month, as he faces challenges from a resurgence of ethnic Malay support for rival parties.

Anwar's Pakatan Harapan), or Alliance of Hope, won a stunning victory in 2018 and aims to repeat its success on Nov. 19. The victory was short lived after defections caused the government to collapse in early 2020 and brought back to power the Barisan Nasional coalition led by the United Malays National Organization.

Speaking at the launch of his alliance's election manifesto, Anwar said PH is more united now after being purged of members who were not committed to its reform agenda.

To save this country from endless political turmoil and corruption, I appeal to the people to give their support so that PH can emerge with a clear majority in the upcoming election," he said.

Anwar didn't participate in the 2018 vote because he was in prison on a sodomy conviction he said was politically motivated. The PH campaign was led by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who became the world's oldest leader at 92 after its victory. Anwar was pardoned shortly afterward and was to take over the baton from Mahathir. But distrust and infighting led to the collapse of the government sparking political turmoil that has continued under the new governments that took power.

Malaysia has had three prime ministers since the 2018 polls. Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob dissolved Parliament on Oct. 10, nine months ahead of schedule, buckling to pressure from UMNO for early polls despite the risk of floods during the yearend monsoon season.

Anwar's alliance faces challenges not just from UMNO's National Front, but also from a number of Malay parties including a new one set up by Mahathir. The addition of about 6 million new voters, including many young people, also adds to the uncertainty.

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Anwar is often accused by his Malay rivals of not championing the rights of ethnic Malays. Recent by-election victories by UMNO appeared to indicate that rural Malays who abandoned the party in 2018 have returned to its fold. Malays comprise about two-thirds of Malaysias 33 million people, with large Chinese and Indian minorities.

Anwar said he isn't apologetic for running on a multiracial platform. He said race and religion have long been used by UMNO and other Malay leaders to garner support, but that such an approach is outdated. He said poverty, for example, affects other minority groups in addition to Malays, and that preferences given to Malays in contracts are often abused by those in power to enrich themselves.

With the slogan We Can," Anwar said PHs manifesto will prioritize 10 key issues including sustainable growth, combating corruption and boosting the country's competitiveness. If it wins, he said a key task will be to resuscitate the economy and address the rising cost of living, a concern of voters amid a weakening currency and an expected economic slowdown next year.

I appeal to the people to give a chance for PH to emerge as a clear winner ... so that we are not given ultimatums, and free from threats to save this country from endemic corruption and abuse of power," he said.
BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali expects Russia to send shipments of fuel, fertiliser and food worth around $100 million to Mali in the coming weeks, the West African country's economy minister, Alousseini Sanou, said on Wednesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the provision of such supplies with his Malian counterpart in August - a sign of deepening ties as Bamako's relationship soured with its long-time ally and former colonial ruler, France.

Speaking on national television from Moscow, Sanou said Russia was going to send 60,000 tonnes of petroleum products, 30,000 tonnes of fertiliser and 25,000 tonnes of wheat.

Mali's ruling military junta came to power in a 2020 coup and has sparred repeatedly with neighbouring countries and Western powers over election delays, alleged army abuses and cooperation with Russian mercenaries in its fight against an Islamist insurgency.

Fighters from the Wagner Group, a Kremlin-linked private military company, have been supporting the Malian army in its fight since late last year.

In October, Putin told Mali's interim president, Assimi Goita, that Moscow was committed to strengthening cooperation to help root out "terrorist groups" in Mali.

(Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo in Bamako; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
A 23-year-old man is accused of shooting a young woman to death outside of a Kansas City gas station after she told friends she was receiving harassing and threatening phone calls from someone she knew socially.

DAngelo L. Fisher, of Kansas City, is charged in Jackson County Circuit Court with first-degree murder, first-degree assault or attempted murder, two counts of armed criminal action and unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He is accused of targeting and killing Myana Henderson, 21, as she was leaving a store in the Pendleton Heights neighborhood.

Fisher, who was on parole at the time of the shooting, was being held without bond in the Jackson County jail as of Tuesday evening.

The shooting unfolded on the morning of Aug. 13. Kansas City police officers were summoned shortly before 10 a.m. to a gas station and convenience store in the 1900 block of Independence Avenue, where two gunshot victims were found.

Henderson, 21, was located on the northwest side of the parking lot. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

A second gunshot victim, a man identified in court documents only by his initials, was found near the business entrance with a wound to his leg. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital.

One eyewitness told police he was listening to music inside his truck when he saw the two gunshot victims walking together in the parking lot toward the store. Afterward, the witness said, a white car parked beside one of the gas pumps.

A man wearing an orange hoodie and bandanna around his face emerged from that white car and ran toward the store as the two victims were exiting. The shooter fired at the male first, striking him, then fired several more times at Henderson as she ran away while the gunman chased her, the witness recalled.

Video surveillance cameras showed the suspected shooter exit a white Chevy Malibu as the victims were walking through the stores doorway, a detective with KCPD wrote in charging documents for Fisher. It also showed the vehicle being driven away from the shooting scene and north on Maple Boulevard, the document says.

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Detectives interviewed the surviving gunshot victim. He told them he did not know who the shooter was and had no further information to give investigators, according to charging documents.

Others interviewed by detectives included Hendersons boyfriend.

He told police Henderson had received calls over the course of about one week from a man she identified only as DAngelo, saying she was threatened with physical violence for about one month prior to the shooting. He also said the man was recently released from prison, had a tattoo on his face and had accused Henderson of cheating on him, according to court documents.

Detectives reviewed roughly 30 calls from a blocked number that were associated with that period of harassment by telephone.

Another friend of the victim told police Henderson had recalled a situation where a man had tried to force himself on her and had been stalking her roughly one month before the shooting.

A roommate recalled a man by the name of DAngelo visited the apartment for two days.

Crime scene investigators reported collecting nine shell casings from the shooting scene. On Oct. 6, detectives were notified of a crime lab report showing DNA associated with Fisher was found from the shell casings found at the shooting scene.

Further investigative work included contact with Fishers parole officer, who confirmed Fisher drove a Chevy Malibu. Detectives reviewed video records of traffic stops for comparison with the store surveillance video of the shooting.

Fisher was arrested Oct. 31. He was carrying a semi-automatic handgun at the time, authorities allege.

During a police interview, Fisher allegedly confirmed to detectives that he drove a white Chevy Malibu but declined to speak outside the presence of a lawyer when asked if he knew why detectives wanted to speak with him, according to charging documents.

Court records did not list an attorney for Fisher as of Tuesday.
A man wanted in connection to the July homicide of Kentrail Williams was arrested in Kane County, Illinois.

Markarion Cole, 21, is charged with criminal homicide, according to a Metro Nashville Police release. Police said the shooting was targeted.

Williams was fatally shot July 22 at the Thornton's Market on Eagle View Boulevard at Bell Road in Antioch as he was walking out of the store, the release said. He died after arriving at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Growing up in Memphis, Williams worked since he was 16 to try and save money to buy his mom Elizabeth Hunt a home, his girlfriend Taylor Barlow said.

Williams and Barlow were new to Nashville when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down their factory jobs. The two would drive around their new city, she said Williams felt at peace at the wheel.

When lockdowns eased up, Williams went to school for his commercial driving license. He wanted to become an owner-operator of his own trucking business, and he was working toward getting his hazmat license.

Reach reporter Craig Shoup by email at cshoup@gannett.com and on Twitter @Craig_Shoup. To support his work, sign up for a digital subscription to www.tennessean.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Illinois police arrest man in connection with July shooting
Photo: Michael B. Thomas (Getty Images)

Unsealed court documents have revealed that the man who burned down a Planned Parenthood clinic on New Years Eve was also at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, according to the Tennessee Lookout and the Associated Press. The man joins a list of others engaged in anti-abortion violence who were present at the insurrection, including a convicted clinic bomber.

The FBI used surveillance footage to identify now-deceased Mark Thomas Reno as the man who fired a shotgun at the doors of a Knoxville, Tennessee, abortion clinic on January 22, 2021the 48th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. FBI Agent Thomas Calhoun said in the unsealed affidavit that Reno returned to the clinic nearly a year later, in the early morning of December 31, 2021, to set fire to it. The clinic, which had been closed for renovations since December 7, burned to the ground.

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About two weeks before he shot up the clinic, Reno had attended the Capitol riot with a fake cane and glasses. He didnt bring his phone to avoid being identifieda fact he shared with an undercover FBI agent. (The FBI said theres no evidence he entered the Capitol or broke any other laws that day.)

In late January 2022, Reno told a plainclothes investigator from the Knoxville Fire Department that he belonged to a group called Church Militant Resistance and that he was willing to fight for his beliefs and that the neighborhood was better after the clinic burned down.

Reno went to a gathering at the clinic site on April 26, 2022, and told the plainclothes investigator from the Knoxville Fire Department that he planned to burn the building down again when reconstruction began, and that he had developed a plan to burn a second abortion clinic in town, the Knoxville Center for Reproductive Health. He also mentioned targeting federal buildings and said he wanted to abolish the Departments of Education and Energy.

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On July 3, he fired shots into a federal office building, and he was arrested on July 18. Shortly thereafter, federal grand jury indicted him on one count of destruction of property for shooting at the federal building.

A search of Renos phone after he was arrested showed that he texted a news article about the clinic arson to someone and wrote we were busy in THE CULT OF JESUS.

Court documents show that Reno had been detained since July and had been temporarily released in August to receive medical care. Reno died on August 15 at age 64 after suffering a medical episode in jail.



Ashley Coffield, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi, noted in a press conference on Monday that anti-abortion rhetoric leads often to actual violence. The man who was arrested in this case is not the only one who holds responsibility, Coffield said. When politicians use hateful rhetoric against abortion providers and support extreme laws, like the total abortion ban we have in Tennessee, it shouldnt surprise us that some people believe real world violence is justified. Fires need fuel and politicians are all too eager to provide it.

Coffield also criticized Gov. Bill Lee (R) for not condemning the attack on the abortion clinic. By contrast, Lee spoke up after an attempted arson at an anti-abortion crisis pregnancy center in July, which he called terrorism.

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A man who threatened to kill Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Baileys in a voicemail left at his Springfield offices phone has been charged with felony counts for threatening a public official, harassment by electronic communications, and telephone harassment, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Wednesday.

Im going to skin Darren Bailey alive, making sure he is still alive, and Im going to feed his f***ing family to him as he is alive and screaming in f***ing He is a piece of white a** racist s*** and honestly if he doesnt kill himself, I will. You know what? I know where he lives. I know where he sleeps. I know where his kids sleep. And I know the f***ing school he works at, prosecutors state Lennox said in the voicemail.

The Cook County presiding judge has barred Lennox from interacting with Baily or his family and ordered him to wear an electronic monitoring device. Bail has been set at $75,000, per the Sun-Times report.

Lennox allegedly sent the violent voicemail following a heated political discussion at the bar amongst his friends following the political ads airing. The 21-year old man reportedly stated that he felt little warmth for Baileys Democratic rival, Illinoiss incumbent governor J.B. Pritzker, though he disliked Bailey even more. Pritzker is one of the chief architects of Illinoiss widely unpopular SAFE-T Act which will make the state the first in American history to abolish cash bail without any backstops.

Coming on the heels of the attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosis husband in San Francisco last week, many political leadersincluding Pritzkerhave used the occasion to condemn political violence of any sort.

Hatred in any form has no home in Illinois, Pritzker tweeted.

Illinois Speaker of the House Emanuel Welch also demanded that such violent threats must stop.

Polling currently shows Bailey to be the underdog in the race.

More from National Review
A man is in custody after he started a fire at his ex-girlfriends apartment complex, Louisiana fire officials say.

Baton Rouge fire officials said they responded to a building fire on Monday, Oct. 31, at Lake Tower Apartments. After investigating, fire officials said they determined that the fire was set intentionally and the alarm had been disabled.

A resident alerted officials that her ex-boyfriend, Ihab Mohamed Mustafa, had been sending her harassing messages, officials said. Investigators checked surveillance camera footage at the building and identified Mustafa.

Mustafa, 40, was taken into custody on Wednesday, Nov. 2, officials said. He is charged with aggravated arson, terrorizing, simple burglary and aggravated criminal damage to property.

The fire caused about $4,000 in damage, according to officials. There were approximately 50 people inside at the time of the blaze. No one was injured.

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A suspected hit-and-driver was charged in connection with a crash in Shrewsbury that claimed the life of a young woman who was walking home from work.

Jerry Santiago, Jr., 24, was arraigned Wednesday in Westborough District Court on charges including leaving the scene of personal injury resulting in death and unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, according to the Worcester District Attorneys Office.

Officers responding to a report of a crash involving a pedestrian in the area of Route 9 at the South Street intersection around 10 p.m. Saturday found 20-year-old Ghufran Mutar suffering from serious injuries, the DAs office said.

Mutar was taken to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, where she later died of her injuries.

An investigation revealed that Mutar had finished her shift at CVS moments before she was struck. Authorities say she was simply crossing the busy highway at South Street, trying to get home.

Police allege Santiago was driving a borrowed 2011 Dodge Journey that belonged to his girlfriends mother, eastbound on Route 9 when he struck Mutar.

After the crash, police say Santiago did not stop, but instead, kept on driving, east on Route 9. He allegedly pulled over in the parking lot of a nearby Mercedes Benz dealership. And there he was seen on surveillance, getting out of the car, checking out the damage.

In court, a prosecutor said surveillance video showed a woman was in the car with Santiago, and that they threw away a  full bottle of tequila and a piece of the car, both of which were recovered from the parking lot.

They discarded several items including bottles of alcohol and the side view mirror to their vehicle. After obtaining that side view mirror, they were able to determine that it belonged to a dodge journey, prosecutor Julieanne Karcasinas said in court.

Monday afternoon, the Dodge Journey was found in the parking lot of the Extended Stay American Suites hotel in Westborough.

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Thats where Santiagos girlfriend, Justina Riopelle and her mother, Tara, were staying.

The girlfriend allegedly told police, the couple knew they struck someone on Route 9, but that Santiago refused to go back to the scene of the crash.

She also told them, immediately before the crash, they were in the parking lot of a U-Haul Storage facility in Worcester.

Video surveillance allegedly shows Santiago getting into the car, and driving towards the crash site 4 miles away.

After the arraignment, Santiagos family refused to comment.

Police say neither Santiago nor Riopelle were licensed to drive and that Santiago only had a Learners Permit.

Santiago is held on $50,000 bail and is due back in court later this month.

State police detectives assigned to the DAs office are assisting Shrewsbury police with an investigation.

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A Maryland sheriff's deputy has been arrested and fired from the force after a woman told police she had been pulled over, sexually assaulted and then repeatedly pursued by him while on duty.

Steven Abreu, 30, is charged with felony second-degree rape according to a press release from the Wicomico County Sheriffs Office in Salisbury, Maryland  which is on Maryland's eastern peninsula near the Delaware border. He is also facing seven misdemeanor counts, according to court records viewed by Oxygen.com: fourth-degree sexual offense, second-degree assault, false imprisonment, sexual contact while a person is in law enforcement custody and three counts of misconduct while in office.

RELATED: Brian Laundrie's Parents Ask Judge To Protect Them From 'Annoyance' And 'Embarrassment' In Upcoming Deposition

He was terminated as a result of the investigation after being employed for less than a year, the sheriff's office added.

According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Delmarva (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia) CBS affiliate WBOC, the woman who reported Abreu went to the station just before noon on Sunday and asked to file a complaint about a deputy. But, once the 27-year-old woman began describing what officers termed a sexual assault, detectives were called in.

A police handout of Steven Abreu

Steven Abreu Photo: Wicomico County Sheriffs Office

The woman told police that she had met a male friend in the local Kohl's Department Store parking lot  which is adjacent to her place of work  on Wednesday morning around 1:00 a.m. when a deputy, later identified as Abreu, pulled in behind them and told them they weren't allowed to be there. Abreu then had her friend exit the vehicle, spoke with him out of earshot and told him to leave. (In a separate interview, her friend confirmed they'd been stopped by an unknown deputy and he'd been released by himself.)

Abreu then allegedly returned to the vehicle, asked the woman's name and phone number and told her to exit her car because he needed to search for any illegal substances.

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"She complied and described that he did not search her vehicle but proceeded to 'frisk' her," the affidavit stated. "She stated that he used his hands to grab her breasts and then grabbed her buttocks."

RELATED: Judge Delays Chad Daybell's Trial Less Than A Month After Suspending Trial Against Lori Vallow

The woman, who police said was visibly shaking and upset when recounting the incident, told police that Abreu told her to return to her vehicle and, once seated, he shone his flashlight on her, shoved his left hand down the front of her pants and "penetrated her vagina with his fingers," after which he used that hand to reach up under her shirt and touch her breasts.

"[She] stated that she did not consent to any of the sexual acts," police wrote in the affidavit. "She stated that she did not feel free to leave and was fearful of what would happen if she did try to run away or fight him."

Abreu's alleged assault was interrupted when, the woman said, the friend who had been in the car called to check on her, and she told Abreu that it was her babysitter being worried she was late. She said he wrote his phone number down and sent her off, after which he allegedly used the phone number he'd obtained after pulling her over to call her  she didn't answer  and text her something of a sexual nature.

She told police that, after the text, she blocked his number.

Shortly before 11:00 p.m. on Friday  less than 72 hours later  the woman told police she was driving home from work and talking to her fiance when she noticed a marked police car following her and told her fiance she knew it was Abreu. The office then allegedly turned on his emergency lights, pulled her over and walked up to her passenger-side window to explain she had a tag light out. He allegedly told her that he hadn't realized it was her when he pulled her over.

He then returned to his car briefly, and walked up to her driver's side window to speak to her.

A still from Peacock's A Friend of the Family

"She said that she told him she only had a few minutes to get to the store to get diapers for her child before the store closed," the affidavit stated. "She said he asked her why she didnt go to a different store, closer to her job, before heading in the direction of her home, indicating he had been watching her prior to her leaving from work and knew where she had gone."

She told officers that he then reached into the car, grabbed her face and tilted her head, remarking that bruises he'd seen on her neck during the initial encounter were no longer visible.

"She said that he then let her go and told her that he would see her again and that she was not to tell anyone about their interactions," the affidavit states.

On Saturday the woman said had her fiance drop her off and pick her up at work. When her fiance arrived at her place of employment around 10:15 p.m., he allegedly noticed a marked police vehicle with its headlights on, seemingly waiting in the parking lot of her job. Her fiance exited his vehicle and took a video of his car to show that all the required lights were operational  and then taped the police vehicle, which drove off.

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She reported Abreu on Sunday morning. Police then allegedly had her call him and recorded the conversation.

"In that call Abreu spoke to [the woman] about the incident and apologized three separate times," police wrote in the affidavit. "Abreu also admitted that he had turned off the camera systems in his car and his body-worn camera after the initial approach and prior to engaging in the conversation at the driver side door of [her] vehicle.

When police went to interview him around 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, he allegedly told his fellow officers that he'd stopped by the woman's car on Wednesday night because he recognized her passenger, but claimed the two had driven off together. He allegedly denied having turned off his body-worn camera during the encounter and denied having had contact with her in the days since.

At the end of his interview with police, Abreu allegedly admitted to all aspects of the assault as the woman had described them, but claimed it had all been consensual.

Abreu was arrested on Sunday. After a Monday hearing, he was ordered held without bond, according to court records reviewed by Oxygen.com. He has been assigned a public defender and is due back in court for a preliminary hearing on Nov. 29.
A Maryland man was found not guilty of ethnic intimidation but guilty on charges of stalking, criminal trespassing and two counts of harassment from a 2021 series of incidents in Manheim Township.

Dillon Crabill, 23, of Manchester, Maryland, was accused of repeatedly visiting the home of Juan and Rafael Diaz, members of a Hispanic family, yelling racial slurs and harassing them.

The impact on the Diaz family:One year later, York County family still lives in fear after alleged racial harassment

Common Pleas Judge Harry M. Ness presided over the trial with Chief Deputy Public Defender Matthew Sembach representing Crabill and Assistant District Attorney Larissa Wright prosecuting.

Rafael Diaz testified a motorcyclist approached him while he was mowing the lawn and began yelling about teaching him a lesson, giving him the middle finger and yelling a series of racial slurs. Rafael said later a cyclist came back around with Crabill in a car behind him,

According to Juan Diaz, Rafael's son, Crabill came back that evening in a car with a cyclist who both harassed him at his property.

Juan Diaz testified that two days later Crabill and another individual came back to their property at night and started harassing them. Juan Diaz followed the two off the property until they turned off on a road towards Crabill's property, where he said they made death treats to him.

"I live in a very secluded area and watching these guys sneak into my driveway and the ... racial threats that they said were pretty unsettling," Juan Diaz said during his testimony. "We live with constant trauma worrying what could happen the next day."

Ethnic intimidation, graded a third degree felony in this case, is any offense of arson, criminal mischief or other property destruction that is clearly motivated by the race, color, religion or national origin of the victim.

Crabill is scheduled for sentencing on November 29.

Jack Panyard is a reporter at the York Daily Record, part of the USA TODAY Network. Contact him at jpanyard@ydr.com, 717-850-5935 or on Twitter @JackPanyard.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Md. man acquitted of ethnic intimidation, guilty on 4 other charges
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker on Monday requested additional assistance from the Biden administration to resettle asylum-seekers arriving in his state from countries like Afghanistan and Haiti.

The Republican governor penned a letter to Department of Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra requesting assistance to secure jobs and benefits for thousands of individuals claiming refugee status in the U.S.

The letter comes as local officials have slammed the Baker administration for relocating migrants arriving in Massachusetts to hotels in Plymouth and Kingston due to an overwhelmed shelter system, State House News Service reported.

"Massachusetts is proud to welcome individuals and families seeking asylum and refuge and is dedicated to helping families live with dignity, but additional federal support is required," Baker wrote.

MARTHA'S VINEYARD: MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR SOLICITS DONATIONS IN MIGRANT HOUSING UPDATE

Venezuelan migrants gather at the Vineyard Haven ferry terminal in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, Sept. 16. The group was transported to Joint Base Cape Cod in Buzzards Bay.

According to the governor, in fiscal year 2022, Massachusetts agencies have processed 4,334 migrants, including over 2,000 Afghan humanitarian parolees, 822 Cuban and Haitian entrants, and 548 refugees. The state Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) reported 133 migrant families, totaling more than 400 individuals, entered shelter since July 2022.

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Baker requested that DHS and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services "expedite and streamline" work permits for new arrivals and asylum seekers, so they can support their families and contribute to the economy.

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas testifies before the Senate.

INTERNAL DHS EMAILS DESCRIBE ROUGH MEETING BETWEEN MAYORKAS, BORDER PATROL AGENTS

He also asked the Office of Refugee Resettlement to expand the category of migrants who are considered eligible for federal benefits, calling the current system "arbitrary and unproductive."

"I ask that HHS and ORR rectify this inequity and provide equal support to newly arrived Cuban and Haitain Entrants, Amerasians, Asylees, and Certified Victims of Human Trafficking  and extend support to those with Temporary Protected Status and asylum applicants," Baker wrote.

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Local officials in Kingston and Plymouth expressed frustration with the Baker administration last week and said they were not given proper notice that migrants and homeless people would be relocated to hotels in their towns. The Boston Globe reported that 107 people, including 64 children, were sheltered at a hotel in Kingston. Most of them were reportedly illegal immigrants and non-English speakers from Haiti.

MAYORKAS 'WHIPGATE BOMBSHELL LIKELY TO WORSEN RELATIONS BETWEEN DHS SECRETARY, BORDER AGENTS

Kingston Town Administrator Keith Hickey complained that the presence of these migrants would put an unexpected strain on the town.

"I have expressed my disappointment to the representatives of DHCD," Hickey told the Globe. "The Kingston School Department is going to have to educate these children with resources and tools that were not expected, that were not anticipated."

Plymouth Town Manager Derek Brindisi said his community is ready to help the migrants, "But it would have been easier to provide support if we had been a part of the planning process."

Illegal migrants gathered at the U.S. southern border Nov. 1, 2022

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In his letter, Baker said that Massachusetts and other states are not able to handle the influx of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers pouring over the unsecured southern border.

"As long as the situation at the southern border is unchanged, Massachusetts and many other states will struggle to cope with this substantial increase in immigrant families accessing shelter and other services. I respectfully call on the federal government to do its part in providing urgent assistance," he added.
Police in Massachusetts announced the arrest of a suspect accused of breaking into multiple apartments occupied by college students in the Boston area.

Adam Auditore, a 26-year-old from Medford, is facing two counts of attempted breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony and one count of trespassing in relation to the alleged incidents that unfolded on Halloween in North Andover.

"During the early morning hours of Monday, October 31, 2022, North Andover Police and Merrimack College Police responded to Royal Crest Estates for reports of two attempted break-ins and three break-ins to apartments occupied by Merrimack College students," the North Andover Police Department said in a statement.

"As a result of a cooperative investigation, video evidence, and help from the public responding to social media and local media posts, an arrest was made," police added.

2 WOMEN NEAR RUTGERS UNIVERSITY REPORT BEING SEXUALLY ASSAULTED IN CONSECUTIVE DAYS WHILE SLEEPING

The apartments are located across the street from Merrimack College, a private university with an enrollment of around 4,000 students.

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Investigators say no individuals suffered any injuries during the alleged break-ins and further charges are expected.

The investigation remains ongoing, and Auditore is set to make his first court appearance Wednesday.
Matthew Perry has said he begged Friends producers to get rid of a signature Chandler characteristic.

The actor  who played Chandler Bing in the 10-season comedy series  made a number of revelations about his time on the show in his memoir, titled Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.

Reflecting on his time starring in the series, which ran from 1994 to 2004, Perry said he was annoyed with his characters signature intonation and wanted to change Chandlers voice.

In an excerpt published by Variety, he wrote that he had to beg the producers to stop writing his lines this way.

Riffing on his characters catchphrase, Perry wrote: That particular cadence  could it be more annoying?  had been so played out that if I had to put the emphasis in the wrong place one more time, I thought Id explode, so I just went back to saying lines normally, for the most part in season six and then beyond.

Watch: Matthew Perry's Friends co-stars reached out about his new memoir

Perry, 53, claimed that he had actually created Chandler speak himself, when he was a child living in Ottawa, Canada, and trying to be a comedian.

I read the words in an unexpected fashion, hitting emphases that no one else had hit. I was back in Ottawa with my childhood friends the Murrays; I got laughs where no one else had, he explains, per Deadline.

The actor also revealed that he had asked co-creator Marta Kauffman if Chandler could say the last ever line of dialogue in the show. She accepted his request.

(Getty Images/Warner Bros Television)

The final exchange in season 10, which takes place in Monicas (Courteney Cox) apartment sees Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) asking the gang to get coffee, to which Chandler responds: Sure. Where?

His response is, of course, sarcastic given that the group always frequent the Central Perk coffee house downstairs.

Friends, Lovers, And The Big Terrible Thing is available now.
Migos rapper Takeoff died Tuesday in a shooting. He was 28. (Amy Harris / Invision / Associated Press)

The Harris County medical examiner has ruled the death of Migos rapper Takeoff a homicide, just a day after the artist died in a shooting outside a Houston bowling alley on Tuesday. He was 28.

Takeoff, whose real name was Kirshnik Khari Ball, died of "penetrating gunshot wounds of head and torso into arm," said the preliminary autopsy report, reviewed by The Times on Wednesday. The report is not yet completed.

According to the Houston Police Department, officers responded to a shooting at 810 Billiards & Bowling shortly after 2:30 a.m. and arrived to find one man dead on arrival During a press briefing Tuesday, Houston police Sgt. Michael Arrington said the shooting occurred after an argument broke out following a private party at the bowling alley.

TMZ reported Tuesday that Takeoff and his uncle and Migos collaborator Quavo were playing dice at the party when an altercation broke out and someone opened fire. Two other people, a man and a woman, reported nonlife-threatening injuries and were hospitalized.

Houston police Chief Troy Finner said Tuesday that he believed two firearms were used at the shooting and that the shooter or shooters were present at the party and in their 20s. Finner added that he and his team had no reason to believe that Takeoff was "involved in anything criminal at the time" of the shooting.

Takeoff performs at the BET Experience in Los Angeles in June 2019. (Richard Shotwell/ Invision/ Associated Press)

As of Wednesday morning, police have not identified any suspects or announced any arrests.

During Tuesday's briefing, Finner urged the rap community to take action.

Im calling upon everybody  hip-hop artists in Houston and around the nation, we got to police ourselves, he said. Theres so many talented individuals, men and women, in that community  who again I love and I respect. We all need to stand together and make sure nobody tears down that industry.

Takeoff, along with Quavo and cousin Offset, made up Migos, the chart-topping trio best known for hits including "Stir Fry," "Bad and Boujee" and "Walk It Talk It."

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Shortly after news of Takeoff's death, fellow artists, including Chloe Bailey, Drake and Teyana Taylor, paid tribute on social media.

On Tuesday, Takeoff's music label Quality Control blamed "senseless violence and a stray bullet" for the rapper's death. In a separate statement, Quality Control's co-founder Pierre Pee Thomas mourned the slain Migos member.

"I dont know where to begin but I want to say that anybody that knows me knows how much I love you and anybody that knows you knows that you definitely didnt deserve to die at such a young age," he wrote on an Instagram post shared Wednesday.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
CHICAGO  The buses filled with migrants from the Texas border continue to arrive in Chicago, but its easy to forget that people are on those buses, people with stories often overshadowed by politics and conversation around the flawed immigration system in America, or by the desperate need to find shelter, warm food and clean clothes for the new arrivals.

Nearly 4,000 migrants arrived in the city directly from Texas on the buses sent by Gov. Greg Abbott, according to city officials, but many more refugee seekers  mainly from Venezuela  have also been coming, on their own, to the promise of safety and job opportunities in Chicago.

Without any governmental help, a small house of worship on Division Avenue, Adalberto Memorial United Methodist Church, has turned into a temporary shelter that has housed nearly 100 migrants. Many have transitioned into more permanent housing and found jobs, establishing a network within the group to lend each other a hand in their new home, Chicago.

At the church, the migrants share their journeys, fears, and dreams. As some move out, others make room for new arrivals by cleaning up the sleeping areas in between church pews. And during Sunday service, everyone  those who have transitioned out and those who recently arrived  is invited to have lunch together.

They are creating a new home, we give God thanks for their new home, said Jacobita Cortes, the churchs pastor.

Beyond the new reality that the migrants face and the story of their desperate need to flee their home countries to undergo a journey north where most are now homeless, are people who once had homes, and jobs.

Here are some of their stories.

My dream is to have a family

As the sun sets in Chicago, a small church in Humboldt Park fills with the smells of Venezuelan food and chatter as migrants arrive at their temporary home after a day of looking for work. A joyful Erly Jose Tovar, 40, welcomes people as they walk in.

He had been assigned to watch the makeshift shelter after arriving in the first week of September. He unlocks and locks the doors and makes sure that everyone is safe.

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Im glad to be here, he said with a smile, his long, blonde hair extensions carefully braided. Tovar is a hairstylist by trade who made his way to Chicago after being bused to Washington, D.C., where he heard of the beauty of the city and its job opportunities.

Migrating to the United States was never part of his plans. In fact, through his childhood he only ever dreamed of moving to Spain to eventually open his own hair salon.

But it all seemed so distant, Tovar said. Though full of dreams, his childhood was painful.

When he was 5 years old, his troubled mother gave him away to an aunt, he recalled as his voice began to break. But his aunt also didnt care for him, leaving Tovar to practically live in the streets, begging for food through his childhood.

In his teens, his mom took him in again, but his stepfather would beat him so hard that Tovar decided to leave once again, this time for his grandmothers home. Thats when he finally came out as gay, he said. But things took a worse turn. A family member raped him, according to Tovar, forcing him to seek refugee elsewhere.

The family of one of his friends took him under their wing for the rest of his teen years.

I began to grow up and looked for ways to support myself, Tovar said. He eventually learned to read with the help of a teacher who agreed to take him in their classroom without needing to register.

As he grew older, he found a livelihood in working the cornfields in rural towns; also an attempt to run away from discrimination and bullying for his sexual orientation, he said.

Tovar eventually learned to accept and embrace himself. He developed a love for hairstyling from a friend who had a beauty salon, he said.

Those friends became my family, Tovar said.

Before deciding to migrate north, he moved to Colombia with a distant cousin. There, he worked for several years until he saved enough money to make the journey north.

It was a chance for a whole new beginning, he said. A chance to start over and leave all the pain of his childhood behind.

So this new life, though uncertain, gives him hope of finally healing and finding peace, he said. My dream is to have a family, Tovar said emotionally. He wants to find a partner and get married. Hopefully adopt kids at one point.

I would work so hard to give them everything, all the love and the things I didnt have.

A family business that failed

Sitting on a church pew after eating dinner, Marianella Hernandez, 47, still savored the dish. Theres so much food, I still cant believe it, I may even get a stomach ache, she smiled as she looked at her husband, Manolo Francisco Palma, 43, sitting next to her on a chair. In Venezuela, she said, their neighbors are struggling to feed their families because even working two jobs they cant make ends meet. The prices of the food, if available at all, are inflated, but the shelves at the stores (are) empty, she said.

It was particularly heartbreaking for Hernandez to see her adult children unable to feed their own children. She shook her head and spoke a little softer when she recalled the days before the family decided to leave their whole life behind to make their way to America.

I didnt want to come, I was scared to cross that jungle, I was worried for my grandchildren, but we really had no other option. People dont understand that, Hernandez said.

Their older son, Jhonder Adrian Garabito, 32, was the first one to leave their native town of Santa Fe de Tuy. He sold his motorcycles and most of his assets, leaving his wife and three young girls with only their bed and a fan, his mother said.

Hernandez gave him her blessing and he headed north. When he left, he promised he would immediately look for a job to save enough money to help the rest of his family reach the American Dream, Hernandez said.

He did. After just a few weeks of arriving, Jhonder found a job at a factory. He sent enough money to help bring over his wife and children, his two brothers and his parents.

The family was happy, and food was abundant.

Marianella and her husband began their own business selling fruits and vegetables from town to town in a small truck.

The business was sustainable, and even after the economic collapse that began in 2014, they were able to manage and in 2020, suddenly, the business picked up, she recalled. They even bought a new truck. Not once did it cross her mind that one day they would all flee their beloved town and leave their small home empty to migrate north, Hernandez said. But just as suddenly as business picked up, it all disappeared. We had to sell our truck, then some of our other belongings. Then it was hard to feed the family, she recalled.

So when her older son made the decision to migrate north, she and her husband felt the responsibility to support him and eventually follow him. For a while she tried to convince her husband to let her stay in Venezuela because she didnt think she would survive the months journey to Chicago because of underlying health issues. But Manolo, her husband of 30 years, begged her to do it.

I couldnt leave her behind. Weve spent a whole life together, it was already hard enough to leave everything behind, Manolo said wiping away tears.

In Venezuela, the only thing left is their empty home and Hernandezs 67-year-old mother.

Though she hopes to see her again one day, as much as it hurts, I dont know what will happen next, Hernandez said.

But we are happy to be here together, she added. Manolo was specifically glad to be starting work already. His son was able to get him a job through a staffing agency.

All we need is a place to live.

He left the uniform behind

For more than a decade, Robinson Briseno, 39, served as a police officer in Cojedes, Venezuela, a job that he grew into after joining the military in his youth. I fell in love with the uniform, with helping others, he said.

After growing up in a rural town and working the fields, Briseno found a way to better his life through his profession. He then went on get a degree to teach physical education and was a substitute teacher at a local school, he said. Through those years, he fathered seven children and he intended to support them as they sought higher education.

It all sounds nice, but one thing is to hear the story and another one is to live it, Briseno said while sitting on a church pew just two days after arriving in one of the buses sent from Texas transporting migrants.

Though he tried to make enough to support his family, he couldnt. His salary was not enough. And even on the good days, seeing the other hungry children while I couldnt feed mine, didnt feel right, Briseno said.

Its not easy to wear a uniform, to wake up every day in a country that is falling apart, to see people in the streets that are dying of hunger; and to then be forced to oppress those same people that are protesting and fighting against the corrupt government because they are hungry, he said.

The only difference between those protesting and him was the uniform.

So he left it left it behind and believes that he could never return  for fear of retaliation from the governmental officials that he once served.

In Chicago, he reunited with two other former officers who also chose to leave Venezuela to migrate to the United States. The three are staying at the church until they find a new job, far away from the one they had in Venezuela.

I hope that people take the time to know more about us: Some of us are professionals, engineers, lawyers, and many more, Briseno said.

A girl mom

Zulmairys Massiel, 31, said, I love being a mom. Her three girls, one 10, another 5 and the youngest one 3, have finally started school since arriving in Chicago. I thought they were going to be scared, but they have been so excited, Massiel said. Attending school will give the girls some sense of normalcy amid so much uncertainty, she said.

The months since early June have been traumatic for the three young girls. Their father, Jhonder Adrian Garabito, 32, first left them in Venezuela when he took on the journey to migrate to Chicago. For a few days, the family lost touch with Garabito and didnt know if he was dead or alive. It was one of the most difficult times of my life, Massiel said. To tell the girls that their father was OK when we had no idea of his whereabouts.

But she kept positive. Garabito had told her that once he arrived in the States, he would find a job and send enough money to bring them over.

Thankfully, he did. Massiel and her three girls began the migration north in mid-August and arrived in Chicago a month later. There was fear through the way, she recalls. People say they rape women and children, Massiel said. Her main concern was crossing the infamous Darien Gap, a jungle linking Colombia to Panama. Sequera was afraid she wouldnt be able to protect her three girls, or herself from harm.

I prayed every step of the way, she said. In Chicago, Garabito waited for them.

He had paved the way for his two younger siblings and his parents too. When he arrived, he found help at Cortes church in Humboldt Park  he was one of the first migrants to arrive in the church  but quickly found a job in a nearby factory packing toys, he said. Cortes helped him to find a place to rent, to make sure that his wife and children had a place to live upon arrival.

The family has created a home out of an old empty storefront. Were getting ready for the cold, Massiel said. The girls are excited to see snow for the first time. In Venezuela, the daughters were used to spending time playing outside while their mother dedicated her time to doing nails and their father helped with the family business of selling fruits and vegetables.

My family and I have always been so hardworking, we had our own business, he said. Garabito is Marianella Hernadez and Manolo Francisco Palmas oldest son. His parents and his middle brother were the last ones to arrive. So we are here to work and do better for our families, he said.

Now in Chicago, Garabito and Massiel want to provide for their three girls and recover everything that they lost when they left their beloved Venezuela. I want my girls to attend a good school, to go to college and have a career, Massiel said. Back home, I couldnt afford to buy them their school uniform and there were few teachers.

The beauty of Venezuela

Just a days after arriving in Chicago from the Texas border, Jose Gregorio Rondon Benitez, 28, went out to look for work.

Ill do anything, work at a factory, restaurant, construction, Ill learn and do the work, he said. Through his 20s Venezuela was already suffering economically, he said. There are few jobs and the salary is mediocre. He tried his luck in Peru, where he met the mother of his only daughter, he said. Before that also spent time in Colombia. He has worked the fields, as bank security and a cashier, and driving a motorcycle from town to town to transport people. But the pay was also low, so when he heard that people migrating from Venezuela were being allowed in the United States while they filed their asylum case, he saved his money and left.

I told my family I would be back if things dont work out, Rondon said. But I hope its worth it.

On the way, Rondon witnesses many more migrants, including women and children, returning to their home country, unable to continue the journey. Others were turned away at the border.

So I feel blessed to have made it here, he said.

He learned of the shelter at church through other migrants who gave him the pastors phone number. He called her and luckily there was room for him.

He remembers learning of Chicago in movies.

I loved Chicago after hearing of the stadiums, the snow and its lake, he smiled. If Im honest, I never thought I would actually come here.

Rondon loved to live in Venezuela, he recalled. Though money was limited, he was set to make a life like many others had, working the fields or other blue-collar jobs. I loved everything, the beaches, the scenery, the food and our people, he said.

While he now tries his luck in Chicago, he will think of his daughter and partner in Peru. Its all for them, he said. Rondon calls them almost every day. He also calls his mother in Venezuela.

I feel destroyed because I need my family, but I also feel committed to work to make sure that I can help them, Rondon said.

He wants to send money to help his daughter and younger relatives finish school so that they can too see the beauty of Venezuela before running away.

I want my daughter to have everything I didnt have, Rondon said. But if it doesnt work out here, I will return with my family. All that matters is that at least I tried.

____
LONDON (Reuters) -Three Afghan asylum seekers who were taken to London from an overcrowded migrant processing centre in southeast England voluntarily returned to the site on Wednesday after being left with nowhere to stay, according to a Reuters photographer.

The British government is under pressure over conditions at the site at Manston in Kent, which is operating at more than double its capacity, with people staying much longer than the intended 24-hour period and sleeping on mats on the floor.

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said the numbers at the site had fallen "very substantially" since the weekend.

Two British newspapers reported on Wednesday that a group of about 40 migrants from Manston were dropped at a coach station in central London on Tuesday and while about 30 had family or friends they were able to contact to stay with, 11 were left with no accommodation and were helped by a charity worker.

They cited a British Transport Police spokesperson who said police had responded to reports of a group of asylum seekers looking for assistance at Victoria station late on Tuesday.

"Officers engaged and liaised with charity partners, rail staff, and government colleagues to help them find accommodation for the evening," the spokesperson was quoted as saying.

A Reuters photographer outside the Manston processing centre said three Afghan men who said they were taken to London on Tuesday but left with nowhere to stay returned to the site in Kent on Wednesday evening as they had no other shelter.

The Home Office, Britain's interior ministry, declined to comment on operational arrangements at Manston.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman has been accused of failing to listen to legal advice on prolonged detention at the centre, a claim she has denied. An independent inspector said one Afghan family last week told him they had been there 32 days.

Jenrick told Sky News on Wednesday the Home Office was facing legal action over the centre.

"I believe we have received the initial contact for a judicial review," he said, declining to comment on who had brought the challenge. He added that he expected the site to return to being legally compliant "very rapidly".

(Reporting by Henry Nicholls, Writing by Kylie MacLellan, Editing by William Maclean and Richard Pullin)
A pair of international pageant winners are showing love knows no boundaries.

Miss Argentina 2020, Mariana Varela, 26, and Miss Puerto Rico 2020, Fabiola Valentin, 22, wrote on Instagram that they got married on Oct. 28 after having kept their relationship out of the public eye.

"After deciding to keep our relationship private, we opened the doors on a special day. 28/10/22," the couple wrote in a joint message on both of their Instagram pages.

TODAY has reached out to the couple for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

An accompanying 30-second video shows candid moments between the two at the beach and on a boat ride. The video also includes scenes from their engagement, with rose petals, red-and-white balloons, and gold and silver balloons spelling "Marry Me?" in the background as they share a kiss.

Valentin is then seen putting an engagement ring on Varela. They later show off similar diamond rings after the wedding.

The final scene shows Valentin wearing a white blazer dress and Varela wearing a white jacket as they share a kiss in front of the Marriage Bureau in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The couple had posted photos together in recent years but had not shared that they were dating.

Same-sex marriage was legalized in Puerto Rico in 2015 when it was legalized across the U.S. following a Supreme Court ruling. Argentina legalized it in 2010.

The couple represented Argentina and Puerto Rico in the 2020 Miss Grand International competition, whose organizers sent well wishes to them on their marriage.

"Congratulations to both of you," the organization wrote on Instagram. "MGIO always support LOVE without boundaries "

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They also received support from fans and fellow beauty contestants like Samantha Bernardo, Miss Grand Philippines 2021.

"Omg! Congratulations sisters! Lovelovelove! " Bernardo commented on Instagram.

The couple expressed their thanks at the outpouring of support.

"Weve been reading them and it sounds great!" they told TODAY in an email.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
A Missouri bowhunter hunter has been credited with the harvest of two antlered deer with one shot.

Although Mike Lewis shot only one deer, the buck carried the skull of another buck in its antlers, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation. The agency explained:

Bowhunter Mike Lewis legally harvested two antlered deer in one shot during archery season. The deer he harvested still had the skull and antlers of another deer locked in its rack!

ALSO: In San Diego, a dead great white shark and a plea to anglers

The MDC continued: Mike contacted Nodaway County Agent Kris Smith after recovering the deer and asked for a wildlife disposition to legally possess the extra deer skull and antlers. What a find!

Click here to view images of Lewis with his unusual harvest.

White-tailed deer image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

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The 45 best movies streaming free for Amazon Prime members (October 2022)

Story originally appeared on For The Win
TOKYO (Reuters) - Mitsubishi Motors Corp, a junior partner in the Nissan Motor Co and Renault alliance, has not made a decision yet on whether to invest in the French automaker's electric vehicle company, a top executive said on Wednesday.

"It's necessary to gain the full understanding of our shareholders and board members, and for this reason, it is necessary to carefully examine the figures," said chief executive Takao Kato. "We do not expect to reach a conclusion in such a short period of time."

Mitsubishi would consider whether taking part in the EV unit would be beneficial for the Japanese automaker's product development in the future, Kato said.

The Japanese and French automakers said last month they were in talks about the future of their alliance, including Nissan potentially investing in the electric vehicle business being spun out of Renault.

Mitsubishi will likely invest a few percent in the new Renault unit to retain its alliance relationship, Reuters reported last month, citing a person familiar with the matter.

(Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama; Editing by Kim Coghill)
(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered an extensive inquiry into a bridge collapse in western India that killed at least 135 people over the weekend in one of the countrys deadliest accidents in a decade.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Modi, on Tuesday, visited the site where the colonial-era bridge had once stood in the Morbi district of his home state of Gujarat. He reviewed the situation and instructed the authorities to stay in touch with the affected families to ensure they receive all possible help, according to a statement from his office.

The need of the hour is to conduct a detailed and extensive inquiry which will identify all aspects relating to this mishap, the statement quoted Modi as saying.

The accident comes just weeks ahead of state elections, which are expected to be held by December. Modi has been on the campaign trail in Gujarat over the last week, touting the state and countrys manufacturing and infrastructure development push.

Opinion polls, the most recent published early last month, show Modis ruling Bharatiya Janata Party projected to win 135 to 143 seats in the 182-member state assembly. That would be a jump from its current narrow majority of 92 seats.

However, with the upstart Aam Aadmi Party set to contest the state elections, the BJP may lose some vote share with the relative newcomer likely to eat into the main opposition Congress party.

Soaring inflation and unemployment will have a bigger impact on the ballot than the weekends tragedy, said Sanjay Kumar, a professor at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in New Delhi.

A survey in the state by the Lokniti-Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, published on Oct. 31. had half the respondents citing price rise as most important electoral issue. Another 15% raised unemployment and 6% referred to poverty.

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The tragedy has also raised concern over the viability of the countrys infrastructure push. Since coming to power in 2014, Modi has been increasing spending on infrastructure to create new jobs and bolster an economy that was hit by an aggressive wave of Covid-19 infections.

The bridge had been opened to the public last week after months of renovation.

Nine people, including four officials of a firm that managed the bridge, have been arrested, Ashok Kumar Yadav, a senior state police official, said on Monday. Technical and structural flaws and some maintenance issues appear likely to have been behind the accident, he said.

(Updates with analyst comment in sixth paragraph)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2022 Bloomberg L.P.
The mother of the officer who died amid the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, says in a new ad that her son died because of people like Kari Lake, the Republican nominee for governor of Arizona.

The ad from the Republican Accountability Project, a political action committee that opposes Republicans who supported efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, features Gladys Sicknick, the mother of fallen U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick.

Sicknick says in the ad that Lake saw what happened during the insurrection and continues to spread false information about the 2020 presidential election being stolen from former President Trump.

Its very dire for our democracy, for our country, with the candidates like Kari Lake, she said. My son died because of people like Kari Lake.

Sicknick said more violence will occur in the future if people believe whatever she says.

The ad includes clips from the rioters storming the Capitol and Lake making speeches, including a couple appearances she did with Trump.

Brian Sicknick died one day after the insurrection, which the D.C. chief medical examiner attributed to two strokes, concluding he died from natural causes.

Brian Sicknicks partner, Sandra Garza, said in June that she blamed those around Trump, specifically his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner, for not speaking publicly before the insurrection that the 2020 election was legitimate.

Sicknick was sprayed with a chemical irritant, but the medical examiner did not find evidence that he had any allergic reaction to it. The man who sprayed Sicknick with the irritant, George Tanios, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and trespassing charges in July and could be sentenced to up to a year in prison in December.

Lake has been a close ally of Trump and has openly questioned the legitimacy of President Bidens victory in the 2020 election.

Polling has recently shown Lake pulling ahead of her Democratic rival, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, but a Fox News poll released Tuesday showed her only ahead by 1 point.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A Mount Laurel officer accused of hacking a woman's Snapchat account to access her nude photos allegedly had numerous other victims, a court record says.

Rookie officer Ayron Taylor, 22, was logged onto another persons Snapchat account when detectives seized his cellphone, according to a probable cause statement for his arrest.

Taylor is charged with leaking nude photos taken by the Evesham woman to her social media contacts and with posting the images on her Facebook page.

More: Shore towns say they didn't know lifeguard OT pay changed. They're on the hook for $400k

He admitted to breaching the womans Snapchat, Facebook and two email accounts while the victim sought repeatedly to stop the spread of her photos, the statement says.

At one point, the statement says, both the hacker and the victim were logged into the womans Facebook page at the same time. The woman was deleting (nude images) as they were being posted, it notes.

Taylor told investigators he obtained login and password information for hacks from Reddit, a sometimes-sketchy online community. He told officers he sexually gratified himself "to the nude images of the females whose accounts he would access," the statement says.

The statement also tells how a detective posed online as a 13-year-old girl to send a friend request to the hacker in control of the victim's Snapchat account. It says the hacker responded by sending the girl unsolicited nude photos of the Evesham woman and by asking the teen for pictures in return.

Taylor was suspended without pay after his Oct. 21 arrest and is facing termination proceedings, according to a statement from Mount Laurel police.

"We are deeply troubled at the charges that have been filed against Taylor and give our full support to the investigation being conducted by the Burlington County Prosecutors Office," it said.

The charges are only allegations and Taylor has not been convicted in the case.

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An attorney for Taylor on Tuesday said his client "adamantly denies the charges."

"This matter will require an extensive forensic review of the digital evidence linking Mr. Taylor to the crimes alleged," said attorney Kenneth Aita of Haddonfield. "I am in the process of obtaining the evidence and plan on mounting a vigorous defense on behalf of Mr. Taylor."

This may possibly be a case of mistaken identity," Aita continued. "I implore all to not jump to any conclusion regarding Mr. Taylors guilt. He is presumed innocent."

The three-page statement details a month-long investigation that used warrants and subpoenas to collect potential evidence, such as Internet addresses and cellphone information, from Snapchat and tech giants AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Meta, the parent firm of Facebook.

Warrants are pending for potentially incriminating information from Microsoft and Google.

According to the statement, the Evesham woman contacted police in that township on Sept. 20, saying her Snapchat account had been hacked one day earlier. She said naked images from the account had been distributed to all her Snapchat contacts by an unknown individual."

More:Why hasn't construction started on Haddon Point Mount Laurel housing project?

The nude photos, some taken by the woman when she was a minor, were stored in the My Eyes Only section of her account, which required a PIN code to access, the statement says.

The hacker changed the email address associated with the account, preventing the woman from accessing it. A second distribution of naked photos occurred on Sept. 22.

The hack expanded five days later, when nude photos were posted to the victim's Facebook wall and sent to her contacts via Facebook messenger.

The woman said the hacker also was sending Facebook Messenger messages to her friends "and then deleting the conversations so she would not know the naked images/videos were being sent."

A subpoena to Comcast Corp. revealed an attempt to breach the womans Snapchat account had happened much earlier than first suspected  on May 4, the statement says.

According to Mount Laurel police, Taylor was off-duty on the dates of the incidents in May and September.

More:Updated waterpark, new eats at former Chili's site among what's new in Mount Laurel

Taylor also told investigators he had tried to hack the womans Instagram account, it continues.

Taylor became a full-time police officer with Mount Laurel's department after graduating from the academy in October 2021. He is charged with three counts of computer crime, as well as invasion of privacy and endangering the welfare of a child. He was taken to Burlington County Jail after his arrest, but was released following an appearance in Superior Court.

Anyone with information about alleged hacks by Taylor is asked to contact Evesham police Detective Christopher DeFrancesco. He is assigned to the prosecutors High-Tech Crimes Unit as a task force officer.

Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post, the Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Mount Laurel cop who leaked nude photos allegedly had more victims
People around the country were eager to celebrate Halloween this year, as it was the first somewhat normal one since the pandemic started. Unfortunately, senseless gun violence marred celebrations in two U.S. cities.

On Twitter, Daily Loud reported 20 injuries and one fatality in two separate mass shootings in Chicago and Kansas on Halloween night.

For those of us who live in the U.S., this is a frighteningly common occurrence.

What Happened In Kansas City?

According to sources, the shootings in Kansas City, Kansas occurred first. They happened about thirty minutes before the ones in Chicago.

There was a Halloween house party with high school- aged attendees.

Police Chief Karl Oakman said the shooting broke out after a group arrived at the party without being invited.

What Happened In Chicago?

Chicago, also called the Windy City, was the site of a drive-by shooting.

Of the 14 people shot, two were teenagers and one was just three years old.

They were struck by gunfire near the intersection of South California and West Poke street at around 9:30 PM.

Americans Are Largely Desensitized

Because of the frequency of mass shootings, many Americans have resigned themselves to the very real possibility that nothing will change.

The statistics are sobering. According to BBC, in 2020 alone, more than 45,000 Americans died at the end of a barrel of a gun, whether by homicide or suicide, more than any other year on record. The figure represents a 25% increase from five years prior, and a 43% increase from 2010.

Also, Small Arms Survey, placed the US way ahead of other gun-owning countries.

The US ratio of 120.5 firearms per 100 residents, up from 88 per 100 in 2011, far surpasses that of other countries around the world, they found.

People On Twitter Sounded Off About The Shootings

An overwhelming amount of Twitter users said they werent surprised.

Socialoutcast49 wrote, USA cant catch a break.

OEbuka said, Bro its getting worrying ngl.

Quepepen added, celebrating Halloween in Chicago is asking to die.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk single-handedly led a call on Tuesday with civil rights groups in an effort to assure them that he would curtail hate speech  and stop the spread of misinformation ahead of the midterm elections.

Musk said that Twitter employees responsible for election integrity who had been locked out of their moderation tools during the companys acquisition will have their access reinstated by the end of the week, three people on the call confirmed.

Musk also said that users banned by the platform  including former President Donald Trump  will remain off the site for at least a few more weeks.

Seven civil rights and policy groups were on the call with the tech billionaire, who handled the meeting solo, apparently without additional staff joining him. The gathering was part of Musks effort to set up a content moderation council, which would presumably police users and content on the platform  and help ease concerns from worried advertisers.



Musk said Tuesday night that he wanted his council to include representatives with widely divergent views, which will certainly include the civil rights community and groups who face hate-fueled violence.

Twitter has acknowledged a surge in hateful content in the days since Musk took over. And while Musk himself has said he didnt want the site to become a hellscape, a tweet from his account on Sunday that forwarded a false story about Paul Pelosi has stirred controversy and led some advertisers to consider pausing their business dealings with Twitter.

Some of the participants on Tuesdays call remain wary of Musk. We are cautiously optimistic, but more important than anything else, it is the outcome: Will the safeguards be in place for this election cycle that were already in place and can they be enhanced? said NAACP President Derrick Johnson, who participated in the call.

Jessica Gonzalez, co-CEO of media advocacy group Free Press, said shes going to wait and see if Musk  whos known to change direction quickly  will stay the course. These are words and we will hold him accountable based on his actions, not on his words, she said.

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Participants on the Zoom call included Free Press, the Anti-Defamation League, the Asian American Foundation, Color Of Change, the George W. Bush Presidential Center, the NAACP and the former CEO of LULAC, a nonprofit representing Hispanic communities in the U.S.

Free Press, ADL, Color Of Change, the NAACP and LULAC are members of the Stop Hate for Profit coalition, which aims to hold social media companies accountable for hate speech on their sites.

With midterms less than a week away, the groups stressed the importance of keeping existing safeguards to prevent election misinformation. We requested that they retain and enforce the election integrity measures that Twitter had in place when he got there, Gonzalez said.

Focusing past the midterms

Yael Eisenstat, head of the Anti-Defamation Leagues Center for Technology and Society  who was on the call  said it came together within 24 hours, after Musk reached out to ADL president Jonathan Greenblatt who is a leader in the Stop Hate for Profit coalition.

Eisenstat urged the world's richest man to expand Twitter's content policies  particularly those related to elections  to go beyond the Nov. 8 midterms, warning that election-denying rhetoric does not go away after the polls close.

Following an election can be a critical period and a dangerous period, she said. We want these policies to not just be in effect, but also to actually be resourced and enforced.

She said Musk declined to share how long the companys election misinformation policies will be in place after the elections end.

Little clarity on moderation council

Musk also discussed his idea of creating a council to review content and policies related to potentially harmful material, but he did not lay out any specific next steps.

However, the groups reminded Musk that any such organization should include those who are targeted with hate-filled online language.

NAACPs Johnson said he was skeptical that a council could be effective.

The question for us is what type of true authority would this council have, what type of true input it would have and whether or not this council will be in a position within the institution to actually add their voice to protect people and to protect communities, Johnson said. Thats still outstanding.

However, LULAC  the oldest Hispanic advocacy organization in the country  said that the groups former CEO Sindy Benavides, who participated in the call, did not represent LULAC, as she was terminated from her position on Oct. 22. LULAC was not actually represented in the meeting, David Cruz, the groups communications director said.
Elon Musk on Wednesday said de-platformed Twitter users will not return for at least a few weeks.

Before taking over Twitter on Thursday, Musk had previously vowed to reverse former President Trumps permanent suspension on the platform, but Musks new tweet suggests Trump and others would not return to the platform until after the midterm elections.

Twitter will not allow anyone who was de-platformed for violating Twitter rules back on platform until we have a clear process for doing so, which will take at least a few more weeks, Musk wrote in response to a tweet from the companys safety and integrity head about manipulation surrounding the midterm elections.

Musk added that he met with civil society leaders at the Anti-Defamation League, NAACP, League of United Latin American Citizens, Color of Change, Free Press, the Bush Center and the Asian American Foundation to discuss Twitters future harassment and election integrity policies.

Many of those leaders are fierce critics of Musks new ownership of Twitter.

The Tesla CEO has promised to change the platforms content moderation policies, but critics have expressed worry that Musks reign will allow misinformation and hate speech to thrive on the platform.

Twitter will not allow anyone who was de-platformed for violating Twitter rules back on platform until we have a clear process for doing so, which will take at least a few more weeks  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2022

When the worlds richest man/owner of this very site himself traffics in conspiracy theories days after claiming to advertisers that hes going to be a responsible leader, all I can say is: Im not overreacting by expressing my concerns. Actions always speak louder than words, tweeted Yael Eisenstat, who serves as vice president at the Anti-Defamation League and later met with Musk.

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Musk has repeatedly indicated he will form a content moderation council before making any major changes to how Twitter adjusts its moderation policies.

Twitters content moderation council will include representatives with widely divergent views, which will certainly include the civil rights community and groups who face hate-fueled violence, he wrote early Wednesday morning.

Jessica Gonzalez, the co-CEO of Free Press who also met with Musk, retweeted an article last week railing against the council that argues it provides no substitute for real, independent regulation and oversight.

Just days ago Elon Musk promised Twitter advertisers that this site would not become an anything-goes hell-scape. We got news for you. It already is, Gonzalez wrote in another tweet.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Regarding "This is why New Jersey's temporary workers need stronger protections," NorthJersey.com, Oct. 25:

Too often, politicians in Trenton respond to reports of wrongdoing by pushing for overbearing new laws instead of advocating for better enforcement of those already on the books.

Thats whats happening today with a complex and likely destructive bill that could hurt temporary workers, staffing agencies, and the client businesses they help to fill important positions on a temporary basis.

The staffing industry is a major contributor to New Jerseys economy, helping place more than 500,000 people annually into jobs through an estimated 1,150 staffing and temp agency offices across the state.

Staffing and temp agency employees support nearly 100,000 workers each week in temporary roles, where they can earn paychecks and support the needs of thousands of businesses across the broad spectrum of industries that make up the Garden State economy.

First responders at the scene where a multiple fatal accident took place on the southbound Palisades Interstate Parkway in Englewood Cliffs around 1:45 a.m. on Sept. 2, 2022.

The entire temporary work ecosystem is now at risk of having onerous new requirements and unfair liabilities placed upon it through legislation, S-511, sponsored by my colleague Sen. Joseph Cryan, D-Union.

His bill, which has stalled just short of final passage, could affect everyone from mom-and-pop shops to large corporations that use temporary workers to help fill positions where work needs to be done.

While Cryan should be lauded for his desire to improve protections for temporary workers, we have heard from both staffing agencies and the business community that his proposal is not equitable or reasonable.

And many of the problems his bill seeks to address are already covered by existing laws that simply need better enforcement.

In a recent op-ed calling for the passage of his bill, Cryan recounted several tragic events involving temporary workers, all of which appear unlikely to have been prevented by his legislation.

In one of the given examples, a van carrying temporary workers from a job site was involved in a fatal wreck. None of the passengers were wearing seat belts when the driver suffered a medical episode leading to the crash, which no new law could have prevented.

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In another example he cited, a temporary worker operating a forklift was killed in a warehouse accident. The worker apparently did not receive training to use the equipment, a violation of existing safety requirements.

Unfortunately, Cryans legislation would do nothing to prevent or remedy workplace safety violations before tragic accidents like that occur.

Those violations, however, can be identified through greater diligence by state and federal safety inspectors or reported anonymously by workers with concerns.

Cryan also expressed concern that many temporary workers make less than $15 an hour, which itself is not illegal. Any worker, temporary or otherwise, who is paid less than the minimum wage (currently $13 an hour) can easily report wage violations to the Department of Labor for investigation.

His bill, however, goes much further than simply ensuring that temporary workers are paid the minimum wage. It actually requires them to be paid the same wage and provided the same benefits  or the equivalent cash value  as a permanent employee of the client who does similar work.

As a result of the bill, a temp worker with no experience in a certain role could have their compensation tied to that of a dedicated employee of a company who worked hard over many years to gain experience, build a reputation for good work and earn pay increases.

That equal-pay provision certainly isnt fair to a high-performing permanent employee who actually earned a higher wage, nor is it a reasonable burden to place upon a business that should be able to fill a role temporarily at a market-supported rate.

Rather than pay an unreasonable wage for a temp, many businesses will simply leave jobs unfilled, which would lower productivity, hurt our economy and result in fewer opportunities for temporary workers to earn a fair paycheck.

Finally, Cryans bill would create unreasonable risk in the form of joint liability for temp agencies and their client companies for violations that may be committed by the other party.

A client company that does everything by the book, for example, could be sued and held liable if the temp agency doesnt handle paperwork or paychecks for workers correctly on its end.

Its unfair to hold a business financially liable for mistakes it didnt make and cant control.

A better alternative is legislation I've proposed, S-3182, that addresses a number of Cryan's legitimate transparency and transportation concerns without putting the entire temporary work industry or our New Jersey economy at risk.

My bill is based on a well-researched law recently implemented in Massachusetts and is supported by both the New Jersey Staffing Alliance and the New Jersey Business and Industry Association.

What Ive proposed is an equitable, reasonable and achievable alternative that can end the logjam in Trenton and provide temporary workers the increased protections they deserve.

State Sen. Holly Schepisi, a Republican, represents the 39th District, which includes parts of Bergen and Passaic counties.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ temporary worker protections held up by Trenton logjam
North and South Korea have fired a number of missiles into waters near each other's coasts in a marked escalation of hostilities.

The North launched its most missiles in a single day - at least 23 - including one that landed less than 60km (37 miles) off the South's city of Sokcho.

Seoul responded with warplanes firing three air-to-ground missiles over the disputed maritime demarcation line.

Later Pyongyang fired six more missiles and a barrage of 100 artillery shells.

The North says the launches are in response to large-scale military exercises current being held by South Korea and the United States, which it calls "aggressive and provocative".

On Tuesday, Pyongyang warned they would pay "the most horrible price in history" if they continued their joint military drills, seen as a veiled threat to use nuclear weapons.

US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and his South Korean counterpart, Park Jin, condemned North Korea's "escalatory launch of ballistic missiles".

The North has tested a record number of missiles this year as tensions have risen.

Despite crippling sanctions, Pyongyang has conducted six nuclear tests between 2006 and 2017, and is rumoured to be planning a seventh. It has continued to advance its military capability - in breach of United Nations Security Council resolutions - to threaten its neighbours and potentially even bring the US mainland within striking range.

Wednesday's exchanges began with missile launches by Pyongyang into waters close to South Korea, triggering air raid sirens on Ulleung, an island controlled by Seoul. Residents there were told to evacuate to underground shelters.

One ballistic missile crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL), a disputed maritime border between the Koreas.

It landed outside South Korea's territorial waters but it is the closest a North Korean missile has come.

map

Seoul called it an "unacceptable" breach of its territory.

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Officials in the South said the air-to-ground missiles fired by its military landed a similar distance past the NLL off the North's coast.

The tit-for-tat launches come as attention is focused on South Korea during a period of national mourning, following the crowd crush in Seoul at the weekend which killed more than 150 people.

South Korean military officials at first said the missile the North had fired over the NLL was one of at least 10 launched in both east and west directions on Wednesday morning.

They later updated the North's tally for the day to 23 launches - seven short-range ballistic missiles and 16 other missiles, including six surface-to-air ones.

The missile that came nearest South Korea was launched before 09:00 (00:00 GMT) and landed about 26km south of the de facto border, 57km east of the coastal town of Sokcho and 167km north-west of Ulleung island.

The launch was picked up immediately by South Korean and Japanese authorities, who swiftly condemned the escalation from Pyongyang.

South Korea's military said it was the first time since the division of the Korean peninsula following the 1950-53 Korean War that a ballistic missile had "landed south of the NLL near our territorial sea".

President Yoon Suk-yeol - who has made it his policy to take a tough line on North Korea - labelled it an "effective territorial invasion", although the missile landed outside South Korean territorial waters, vowing a "swift and firm response".

Under international law, countries can only establish territorial claim to 12 nautical miles of sea off their coastline.

Tensions have been rising this year - the peninsula has already witnessed more than 50 missile launches from North Korea in 2022, including one ballistic missile that passed over Japan.

On Monday, a US nuclear-powered submarine arrived off the coast of South Korea to take part in the latest in a series of joint US-South Korean drills, which began in August.

Dubbed "Vigilant Storm", they are the largest exercises Seoul and Washington have ever held, involving hundreds of military aircraft from both sides.
An illustration of Nasas Capstone spacecraft near the Moon (Nasa)

Nasas beleaguered small satellite mission to the Moon, Capstone, has overcome its latest hurdle to get back on track to the Moon.

The microwave-oven sized spacecraft completed an important course correction maneuver on 27 October crucial to setting the spacecraft on track to enter orbit around the Moon by mid-November, according to a Nasa update.

Capstone spent a month in safe mode, tumbling through space, after a malfunction following another course correction maneuver on 8 September.

The team identified the most likely cause as a valve-related issue in one of the spacecrafts eight thrusters, Nasa announced in an update posted on Monday. The mission team will design future maneuvers to work around the affected valve.

Capstone will require two more manoeuvres to insert the spacecraft into an experimental orbit around the Moon.

Capstone stands for Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, and is owned and operated by Colorado-based company Advance Space on behalf of Nasa. Its mission is to explore an unusual near rectilinear halo orbit, tracing a long oval with nearly flat sides and the Moon not centered, but tucked in one of the ovals corners.

This unique orbit allows Capstone to fly relatively low over the Moons South Pole and high above the lunar North Pole, the same orbit Nasa intends to use for its Lunar Gateway, a lunar space station to be constructed as part of the space agencys Artemis Moon program. Nasa astronauts will use the Gateway as a way station for traveling to and from the lunar surface and the Orion Spacecraft that carries then to the Moon from Earth.

Capstone was launched from New Zealand on 28 June, and promptly lost contact with the spacecraft on 4 July, shortly after it separated from the upper stage of the rocket that set it on course for the Moon.

Ground operators would reestablish communications on 6 July after determining they had accidentally sent a command to the spacecraft telling it to turn its radio off. An error in Capstones software kept the radio from rebooting itself.

Capstone then proceeded through its lengthy ballistic lunar transfer flight path, which saw the spacecraft fly out beyond the orbit of the Moon, reaching a peak distance of 963,00 miles from Earth, before allowing the Suns gravity to pull it back for a rendezvous with the Moon.

If Capstone remains error free for the rest of the mission, it will reach lunar orbit on 13 November.
A Cabarrus County state House race could determine who controls the balance of power in the North Carolina legislature.

House District 73 pits Democrat Diamond Staton-Williams, a Harrisburg town councilmember, against Republican Brian Echevarria, a rising star in the NCGOP.

At stake is a possible supermajority for the Republican Party that would allow them to override Gov. Roy Coopers veto power.

READ MORE: Channel 9 General Election Guide: North Carolina state House candidates

Republicans already hold strong majorities in the House and Senate, but if they pick up three House seats and two Senate seats, the party could enact their policies without pushback from the governor.

With party power possibly in the balance, newcomers Echevarria and Staton-Williams are vying for the seat vacated by retiring Republican Rep. Larry Pittman.

The boundaries of the district changed significantly with new redistricting maps leaving the race as a toss up.

Echevarria landed in the spotlight after a speech earlier this year on Critical Race Theory during a Cabarrus County School Board meeting.

Im biracial, Im bilingual, Im multi-cultural, he said during the meeting. The fact is, in America, in North Carolina, I can do anything I want and I teach that to my children. And the person who tells my little pecan colored kids they are somehow oppressed based on the color of their skin would be absolutely wrong and absolutely at war with me.

ALSO READ: Brawley and Budd face off in NC House district race

After that speech, he made the rounds on the Megyn Kelly Show and on Fox News.

Channel 9 reached out to Echevarria multiple times asking for an interview. He did not respond to our requests.

But on social media, he has shared his views on a number of topics, including on hot-button issues like abortion.

I will vote for the best bill we can get through, he said in a Facebook video titled Abortion that he posted last month. The one that will save the most lives, whether thats 15 weeks, 12 weeks, heartbeat.

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In an interview with Channel 9s government reporter Joe Bruno, Staton-Williams said she supports a womans right to choose.

READ ALSO: Battle for Congress could hinge on North Carolina district

I dont believe anyone besides myself as a woman and my doctor should be involved in the decisions that impact me and my body. And I believe a lot of women feel the same way, Staton-Williams said.

She says education is the biggest issue facing the district.

We want our kids to be able to get jobs in the future and this learning gap we had has been detrimental to them, so we want them to be able to catch up and we want our teachers to be paid well, Staton-Williams said.

(WATCH BELOW: Vote 2022: NC House District 98)
ROME (Reuters) - Three charity boats carrying almost 1,000 rescued migrants on Wednesday urged Italian or Maltese authorities to welcome them into one of their ports, saying those onboard needed urgent assistance.

The vessels operated by Doctors Without Borders (MSF), SOS Mediterranee and SOS Humanity have been at sea for more than a week. They said all their requests to dock have so far proved unsuccessful.

"572 men, women and children still waiting for a safe port," MSF wrote on Twitter, referring to its Geo Barents vessel.

In emailed comments to Reuters, SOS Humanity said it has 179 people onboard its Humanity 1 vessel, located off the eastern coast of Sicily. The German charity said it has been sending requests to dock to state authorities for the past 11 days.

The vessel run by SOS Mediterranee is currently carrying 234 people.

In an interview with the Corriere della Sera daily, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi did not reply to a question on whether the migrant boats would be allowed to dock, but said Rome cannot take charge of migrants rescued at sea by "foreign boats".

There was no immediate response from Maltese authorities to a request for comment.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's new rightist government is threatening to ban charity ships from its waters, as Rome looks once again to embrace a tough stance against boat migrants.

In comments to be included in a book, confirmed by her staff, Meloni accused sea rescue charities of breaching international law by acting as a "shuttle" between Africa and Europe.

She insisted that the flag nations of the charity ships in question - Germany and Norway - should take care of the migrants currently stranded at sea, rather than Italy or Malta.

"If an NGO ship flies, let's say, the flag of Germany, there are two possibilities: either Germany recognises it and takes care of it, or that ship becomes a pirate ship," Meloni told book author Bruno Vespa.

(Reporting by Angelo Amante and Alvise Armellini, Editing by William Maclean)
This is an excerpt from Incoming, BuzzFeed News morning newsletter dedicated to making sense of this chaotic world we live in. Join the club here.

They were 12 when Trump became president. Now, theyre voting for the first time.

Peyton Jackson; Berlyn Schelling; Alex Stevens

Teens who are now old enough to vote for the first time on Nov. 8 were just 12 years old when Donald Trump was elected in 2016. Since then, theyve seen massive protests over police brutality, the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Republicans targeting trans youth, and an insurrection at the Capitol.

Now 18 and registered to vote, they see abortion access, LGBTQ rights, and immigration as not just issues on which to make their voices heard, but as matters their lives depend on.

Anxiety over a possible school shooting consumed Berlyn Schelling until she transferred from a public high school to an online school. Its hard to focus on the rest of the day when you have to think about how someone can come in [to school] and kill me and my classmates right now, she said. This Nov. 8, Schelling is voting for gun control in her home state of Montana.

Across the country, Alex Stevens, a first-year student at Texas A&M University, has been closely following Texass race for governor between Republican incumbent Greg Abbott and Beto ORourke. Recently, Abbott worked on the states abortion ban, sent immigrants to sanctuary cities in other states, and directed an investigation into the parents of trans kids for child abuse.

Im LGBT, Stevens said. I was born female. Im Hispanic. Currently, Greg Abbott doesnt have my best interest at heart, and I know that. And its really scary to live in a state where he only really cares about the financial gain of Texas and cis white men."

Grain deal is back on

Russia agreed to resume the grain export deal on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. The UN-brokered grain deal was arranged to ensure supplies could still reach food shortage areas during the war in Ukraine. This past weekend, the Kremlin had called off the deal over allegations that Ukrainian forces were attacking Russia's Black Sea fleet.

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SNAPSHOTS

More details about Takeoff's death have surfaced, but there have been no charges or arrests made yet. Roughly 40 people fled the scene where Takeoff was shot and killed, so authorities are still trying to gather evidence, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner explained at a news conference. "Please step up, get the information to us, so we can bring some closure to this family who is hurting right now," Finner said.

Yes, the Powerball jackpot is over a billion dollars, but here's why you shouldn't buy a lottery ticket. The prize is the fourth-largest ever in US history, but rich people can't enjoy The White Lotus in the same way as the rest of us.

These are all the signs that Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady were over long before they announced their divorce. In a recent interview with Elle before the couple split, Bundchen said, "This is a very violent sport, and I have my children and I would like him to be more present.

Parkland victims' loved ones confronted the shooter in court

Linda Beigel Schulman (right) hugs Debra Hixon after Hixon gave a victim impact statement. Amy Beth Bennett / AP

Before the Parkland shooter officially received his life imprisonment sentence, loved ones of his victims confronted him Tuesday in court. More than a dozen people  parents, siblings, grandparents, and teachers  addressed Nikolas Cruz, who pleaded guilty to opening fire in his Florida high school in 2018, killing 17 students and faculty members and injuring 17 more.

Cruz could have received the death sentence for his crimes, but on Oct. 13, a jury recommended him to life imprisonment. A judge is expected to formally sentence him to life in prison on Wednesday. Victims' families have overwhelmingly decried the jury's decision, with many expressing anger that Cruz would be allowed to live after cutting so many lives short.

Meghan Petty said she felt "betrayed by our justice system" that Cruz would get to live out his life in prison after her little sister "died scared" and "alone on a dirty classroom floor." Stacey Lippel, a teacher who was shot but survived, said the experience left her "broken and altered" and that she "will never look at the world the same way again."

Those killed in the attack were: Alyssa Alhadeff, 14; Scott Beigel, 35; Martin Duque Anguiano, 14; Nicholas Dworet, 17; Aaron Feis, 37; Jaime Guttenberg, 14; Christopher Hixon, 49; Luke Hoyer, 15; Cara Loughran, 14; Gina Montalto, 14; Joaquin Oliver, 17; Alaina Petty, 14; Meadow Pollack, 18; Helena Ramsay, 17; Alexander Schachter, 14; Carmen Schentrup, 16; and Peter Wang, 15.

IMAGE OF THE DAY

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket side booster lands after launch on its mission with a classified payload for the US Space Force at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Nov. 1, 2022. Joe Skipper / Reuters

In X and Barbarian, nothings scarier than an aging woman

Maddie Abuyuan / BuzzFeed News; 20th Century Studios; A24

Spoilers ahead. Youve been warned.

X and Barbarian, two of this years best horror films, both play with the psycho-biddy horror trope, featuring an older, unstable woman whose violence is activated by jealousy, sexual desire, and resentment, Celia Mattison writes.

Its a genre thats been maligned as anti-feminist: Films with this trope have been accused of fetishizing female youth and beauty and demonizing older women, especially older women who openly seek sexual pleasure. But in both X and Barbarian, the villainous women characters serve as investigations of concepts Hollywood has glamorized, exaggerated, and attached to women: so-called hysteria, jealousy, and childish simplicity.

Xs Pearl has always had violent desires and she chooses to act on them  her family and loneliness might have shaped her, but she decides to become a monster. Conversely, the grotesque villain of Barbarian  known simply as the Mother  is initially a victim born from the sins committed by her father, and the result is terrifying, violent, and lonely. Taken together, the two films are a new look at feminine monstrosity, bringing dimension to these "psycho-biddy" villains without excusing the things that make them evil.

Still reading, eh? Seems like you might want to get this in your inbox. No pressure though. Just some food for thought.
A Catawba County jury convicted a 35-year-old Newton man of multiple sexual offenses on Tuesday ending a trial that lasted seven days.

ALSO READ: Taylorsville man sentenced after pleading guilty to indecent liberties with a child, secret peeping

Jonathan Ray Lail was found guilty of statutory rape of a child by an adult, statutory rape of a child younger than 15, two counts of indecent liberties with a child, incest with a child under the age of 13 and incest with a child 13 years of age.

The victim told investigators that the sexual abuse started when she was 9 years old and living in Texas.

The abuse continued when she moved to Conover and Newton until she was 13 years old.

The crimes occurred between late 2016 and 2020.

A medical examination and interview when she was 13 years old corroborated the allegations against Lail.

The victim took the stand to testify during the trial.

>>Watch Channel 9s LIVE STREAM wherever you are, at this link

You didnt break me, said the now 16-year-old victim prior to Lails sentencing. You pushed me. You pushed me and pushed me again, but you didnt break me.

Lail was given an active prison sentence of 66 to 95 years.

VIDEO: Indian Trail man arrested on indecent liberties charges
There's expected to be lots of interest if and when the Melnyk family puts the Senators up for sale. (Getty)

Just a day after news broke that the Melnyk family has retained the services of a bank to explore the possibility of selling the Ottawa Senators, rumblings linking potential bidders are already growing loud.

According to the Ottawa Sun's Bruce Garrioch, Toronto-based brothers Jeffrey and Michael Kimel have "expressed an interest" in buying the team if and when it goes up for sale.

The Kimels, who owned a minority stake in the Pittsburgh Penguins until the franchise was sold last year, are on the board of venture capitalist firm Harlo Financial, which invests fairly heavily in the entertainment industry.

Garrioch added that Toronto billionaire Michael Andlauer, whose conglomerate owns and operates multiple logistic and transportation companies throughout Canada, may have "kicked tires" on buying the Senators previously. Aside from his business empire, Andlauer also owns the OHLs Hamilton Bulldogs along with 20 percent of the Montreal Canadiens.

Montreal-based billionaire Andre Desmarais, who was connected to a group bidding for a new arena near Ottawa's LeBreton Flats in 2016, could also emerge as a potential suitor, Garrioch added.

As far as any potential local buyers go, Garrioch, citing sources with knowledge of the league's inner-workings, says it's not believed that anybody based in or around Ottawa has the ability to purchase the team as a solo buyer at this time, and would need partners or a group to go in with them.

The Senators are reportedly expected be put up for sale by Anna and Olivia Melnyk, the daughters of late Senators owner Eugene Melnyk, in the next month or so, according to Garrioch.

Melnyk, who owned the Senators from 2003 until his passing, died in March at the age of 62 after a lengthy battle with an undisclosed illness and left the franchise to his daughters.

More from Yahoo Sports
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Olusegun Obasanjo has had mixed results as a mediator of intractable conflicts across Africa since he stepped down as Nigeria's president in 2007, although he has never tired of trying.

But on Wednesday the 85-year-old secured a surprise win, leading the team that announced a cessation of hostilities in Ethiopia, marking a diplomatic breakthrough in a conflict that has killed thousands, displaced millions and left many starving.

Aware that permanent progress in ending two years of fighting with roots that can be traced far further back in Ethiopia's history, the former army officer struck a cautious note.

"This moment is not the end of the peace process," the African Union mediator said. "Implementation of the peace agreement signed today is critical for its success."

Welcoming Ethiopia's government and the Tigray forces to a signing ceremony on Wednesday in South Africa's capital Pretoria, where talks have been held since Oct. 25, he said the agreement would allow the restoration of humanitarian supplies to Tigray.

Obasanjo stepped down from Nigeria's presidency in 2007 and presided over elections that marked the first handover of power from one civilian head of state to another in Nigeria since it became independent from Britain in 1960.

Many Nigerians wondered at the time of that vote whether the man who regularly spoke of his plans to retire to his chicken farm really meant to relinquish power, after his allies had at one stage sought a constitutional change to secure a third term for him.

In the end, he delivered on his promise, at least in part.

He gave up the presidency, but instead of heading off to tend his poultry he launched a new career trying to calm flare-ups across the continent, stretching from the Ivory Coast and Liberia to Congo, Angola, Burundi and Mozambique.

Some cooled down, others simmered on.

The test now is whether Ethiopia's conflict is on track for a permanent peace deal or just a temporary respite.

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ONCE HAILED A DEMOCRATIC HERO

His own country, meanwhile, has remained prey to instability.

When president of Nigeria, an OPEC state which has struggled with violence across much of its territory, he faced insurrection in the oil-producing Niger Delta, which he was criticised for dealing with harshly.

He did all in his power to block a presidential bid by his estranged deputy, Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

That move was blocked by the Supreme Court, although Abubakar never managed to secure the top job.

In the eyes of many in Nigeria and abroad, these manoeuvres tarnished his reputation as a democrat.

Obasanjo first gained prominence during the 1967-1970 civil war over the Biafra region. As a young colonel in the federal army, he received the surrender of the secessionist Biafrans.

After a coup in 1975, Obasanjo was number two in the military government of Murtala Mohammed, and when Mohammed was assassinated the following year, he became head of state.

He presided over elections in 1979 and handed over power to an elected president -- the first Nigerian army ruler to do so.

Ater a long period out of the limelight, Obasanjo was convicted of plotting to overthrow dictator Sani Abacha, on what were widely seen as trumped-up charges, and jailed in 1995.

After Abacha's death in 1998, Obasanjo was released and was elected as civilian president in 1999.

As president, he restored Nigeria's status as a major African power after years of isolation under Abacha, sending peacekeepers into several war zones and being feted at international summits.

He brought in a team of economic reformers who introduced more budget discipline and launched a war on corruption, although critics at the time said that crackdown was aimed mainly at his opponents. Despite its oil wealth, Nigeria's economy has continued to falter.

Obasanjo, like others before and after him, failed to curb ethnic, religious and regional tensions, including the continuing instability in the Niger Delta, where oil production has been severely disrupted by kidnappings and violence.

(Editing by Edmund Blair, William Maclean)
On the night of 2 November, air defence aircraft shot down six Iranian drones on their approach to Kyiv; one of the Shaheds hit an infrastructure facility in Cherkasy Oblast.

Source: press service of the Kyiv City Military Administration; Ihor Taburets, Head of the Cherkasy Oblast Military Administration

Quote from the Kyiv City Military Administration: "At night, 6 Shaheds were destroyed by fighter aircrafts of air defence units and units that defend objects on approach to the capital."

Details: Ihor Taburets, Head of the Cherkasy Oblast Military Administration, reported that the Russians terrorised one of the hromadas of the Cherkasy district all night [an administrative unit designating a town, village or several villages and their adjacent territories]. Air defence shot down two Shaheds, one of which hit an infrastructure target. Taburets said there were no casualties.

Background:

The Air Force reported that during an attack by the invaders on the night of 1-2 November, they shot down 12 out of 13 Shahed-136 kamikaze drones, six of which were eliminated in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.

Since 10 October, the Russian Federation has carried out a series of massive attacks on energy facilities in Ukraine, also using Iranian kamikaze drones.

Oleksii Kuleba, Head of Kyiv Oblast Military Administration, said that if the Russian army continues to attack energy infrastructure facilities, interruptions to power and heat supply might last several weeks at a time.

On the morning of 2 November, hourly power outage schedules were again implemented in Ukraine due to damage to critical infrastructure as a result of Russian shelling.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
New Jersey law enforcement agents have captured the "armed and dangerous" suspect accused in the attempted murder of two Newark police officers on Tuesday afternoon.

Kendall Howard, 30, was taken into custody on Wednesday morning, when investigators captured him inside the residence building where police had been searching for him Tuesday, according to the Essex County Sheriff's Office and acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens II.

"Howard was at the residence, the location where the shooting took place. He was taken from there," Stephens told reporters Wednesday. He lauded the assistance of civilians, a "young woman" in particular, who helped police in making the arrest.

"That's what makes this job gratifying for anybody up here, because everybody here works as hard as we can to put the public in a good position," he said. "And when a good Samaritan who, [it's] not their job, what they find as their duty to really come forward and assist in that environment, that makes it all worthwhile. And you may not know her name now, but I think in the near future she'll be known because he deserves a great thanks for her efforts."

NJ SUSPECTED GUNMAN AT-LARGE IN NEWARK POLICE OFFICER SHOOTING CONSIDERED 'ARMED AND DANGEROUS,' OFFICIALS SAY

Howard, who went by the nickname "Book," shot two Newark police officers on Tuesday while they were trying to question him near Chancellor Avenue and Van Velsor Place, the prosecutors office said. Police were intensifying their manhunt on Wednesday.

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Officers received a tip shortly before 1 p.m. Tuesday from a "concerned citizen" who thought they recognized a suspect from a previous shooting. Newark Public Safety Director Fritz G. Frage said at the time officers were working to identify the suspect and went into a local building to try to do so.

They were unsuccessful inside the building, but Howard approached them in the parking lot in the back of the building as they were leaving, Frage and other officials said.

Story continues

TWO NEW JERSEY POLICE OFFICERS SHOT, OFFICERS SEARCH DOOR-TO-DOOR FOR SUSPECT

The officers then tried to question the suspect, at which point "a violent interaction occurred," Frage said. The suspect shot the officers at a "close range" and the officers fired back, officials said. He then ran into the building and was allegedly able to escape the area.

NEW JERSEY LAW ENFORCEMENT ON THE SCENE WHERE MULTIPLE OFFICERS WERE SHOT BY A GUNMAN IN NEWARK, NEW JERSEY

One officer suffered a gunshot wound to the face and shoulder and required surgery. The second officer was shot in the leg, police said. Both officers were rushed to a local hospital and were expected to survive.

Crime scene of shooting in Newark, New Jersey, on Tuesday.

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Police described Howard, who goes by the name "Book," as being 6-foot-3 inches tall, 180 to 200 pounds, and has brown eyes.

Howard, who police said has a criminal history, has been charged with attempted murder, unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, the prosecutors office said.

Fox News' Shelly Xu contributed to this report.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  Air raid sirens sounded on a South Korean island and residents evacuated to underground shelters after North Korea fired more than 20 missiles Wednesday, at least one of them in its direction and landing near the rivals tense sea border. South Korea quickly responded by launching its own missiles in the same border area.

The launches came hours after North Korea threatened to use nuclear weapons to get the U.S. and South Korea to pay the most horrible price in history in protest of ongoing South Korean-U.S. military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal. The White House maintained that the United States has no hostile intent toward North Korea and vowed to work with allies to curb North Koreas nuclear ambitions.

The Norths barrage of missile tests also came as world attention was focused on South Korea following a weekend Halloween tragedy that saw more than 150 people killed in a crowd surge in Seoul in what was the countrys largest disaster in years.

South Koreas military said North Korea launched at least 23 missiles  17 in the morning and six in the afternoon  off its its eastern and western coasts on Wednesday. It said the weapons were all short-range ballistic missiles or suspected surface-to-air missiles. Also Wednesday, North Korea fired about 100 artillery shells into an eastern maritime buffer zone the Koreas created in 2018 to reduce tensions, according to South Koreas military.

The 23 missiles launched is a record number of daily missile tests by North Korea, some experts say.

One of the ballistic missiles was flying toward South Koreas Ulleung island before it eventually landed 167 kilometers (104 miles) northwest of the island. South Koreas military issued an air raid alert on the island, according to the Souths Joint Chiefs of Staff. South Korean media published photos of island residents moving to underground shelters.

Hours later, South Koreas military said it lifted the air raid alert on the island. South Koreas transport ministry said it has closed some air routes above the countrys eastern waters until Thursday morning in the wake of the North Korean launches.

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That missile landed 26 kilometers (16 miles) away from the rivals sea border. It landed in international waters off the east coast of South Korea. South Koreas military said it was the first time a North Korean missile has landed so close to the sea border since the countries division in 1948.

This is very unprecedented and we will never tolerate it, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

In 2010, North Korea shelled a front-line South Korean island off the peninsula's western coast, killing four people. But the weapons used were artillery rockets, not ballistic missiles whose launches or tests are banned by multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Later Wednesday, South Korean fighter jets launched three air-to-surface, precision-guided missiles near the eastern sea border to show its determination to get tough on North Korean provocations. South Koreas military said the missiles landed in international waters at the same distance of 26 kilometers (16 miles) north of the sea border as the North Korean missile fell earlier Wednesday.

It said it maintains a readiness to win an overwhelming victory against North Korea in potential clashes.

North Korea firing missiles in a way that sets off air raid sirens appears intended to threaten South Koreans to pressure their government to change policy, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. North Koreas expanding military capabilities and tests are worrisome, but offering concessions about alliance cooperation or nuclear recognition would make matters worse.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff earlier identified three of the North Korean weapons launched as short-range ballistic missiles fired from the Norths eastern coastal town of Wonsan, including the one that landed near the sea border.

North Korean short-range weapons are designed to strike key facilities in South Korea, including U.S. military bases there.

In an emergency meeting with top security officials, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered officials to take swift unspecified steps to make North Korea face consequences for its provocation. He said he would consider the North Korean missiles landing near the border a virtual violation of (our) territorial waters.

During the meeting, officials also lamented that the North Korean missile launches came as South Korea is in a mourning period over the crowd crush. They noted this clearly showed the nature of the North Korean government, according to South Koreas presidential office.

Earlier Wednesday, Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said at least two ballistic missiles fired by North Korea showed a possibly irregular trajectory. This suggests the missiles were the Norths highly maneuverable, nuclear-capable KN-23 missile, which was modeled on Russias Iskander missile.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called North Koreas continuing missile tests absolutely impermissible.

Analyst Cheong Seong-Chang at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea said the danger of armed clashes between the Koreas off their western or eastern coasts is increasing. He said South Korea needs to make proportional responses to North Korean provocations, not overwhelming responses, to prevent tensions from spiraling out of control and possibly leading the North to use its tactical nuclear weapons.

Animosities on the Korean Peninsula have been running high in recent months, with North Korea testing a string of nuclear-capable missiles and adopting a law authorizing the preemptive use of its nuclear weapons in a broad range of situations. Some experts still doubt North Korea would use nuclear weapons first in the face of U.S. and South Korean forces.

North Korea has argued its recent weapons tests were meant to issue a warning to Washington and Seoul over their joint military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal, including this weeks exercises.

In a statement released early Wednesday, Pak Jong Chon, a secretary of the ruling Workers Party who is considered a close confidant of leader Kim Jong Un, called the Vigilant Storm air force drills aggressive and provocative.

If the U.S. and South Korea attempt to use armed forces against (North Korea) without any fear, the special means of the (Norths) armed forces will carry out their strategic mission without delay, Pak said, in an apparent reference to his countrys nuclear weapons.

The U.S. and South Korea will have to face a terrible case and pay the most horrible price in history, he said.

U.S. and South Korean officials have steadfastly said their drills are defensive in nature and that they have no intentions of attacking North Korea.

We reject the notion that they serve as any sort of provocation. We have made clear that we have no hostile intent towards (North Korea) and call on them to engage in serious and sustained diplomacy, White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said late Tuesday.

North Korea continues to not respond. At the same time, we will continue to work closely with our allies and partners to limit the Norths ability to advance its unlawful weapons programs and threaten regional stability, Watson said.

This year's Vigilant Storm military exercises are the largest-ever for the annual fall maneuvers, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said. About 1,600 flights are planned involving 240 U.S. and South Korean fighter jets. The round-the-clock drills, which began Oct. 31, are to continue through Nov. 4 and include warfighting tactics both in the air and on the ground, it said.

___

Associated Press writers Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Aamer Madhani in Washington, D.C. contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON  The U.S. has information that indicates North Korea is covertly supplying Russia with a significant number of artillery shells for its war against Ukraine, the White Houses National Security Council spokesman said Wednesday.

John Kirby said North Korea is trying to make it appear as though theyre being sent to countries in the Middle East or North Africa.

He declined to provide a specific estimate on the quantity of ammunition being sent to bolster the Russian effort, but noted the U.S. doesnt believe they are in such a quantity that the would change the momentum of the war.

U.S. officials believe the shipments, with drones Russia has acquired from Iran, show that the grinding war and Western sanctions have sapped Russias arsenals and ability to produce new weapons.

As [Russian President Vladimir Putin] continues to lose ground, lose soldiers, to lose momentum, hes reaching beyond his borders, Kirby said. Its a sign both of the isolation that he continues to feel economically. His own defense-industrial base cant keep up with the pace at which he is using armaments in Ukraine.

After the White House warned Russia might look to North Korea for new arms, Pyongyang in September denied it had or would do so.

On Wednesday, the White House did not provide evidence to support the new accusations or answer questions about how many weapons were involved, how they were being conveyed or how the U.S. might respond.

Asked about the number of shells, Kirby said: Were not talking dozens here. Its a significant amount.

The U.S. was monitoring to see whether the weapons were received and would consult with allies and partners about what accountability measures to apply, he explained.

The Biden administration warned last week Russia might seek short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missiles from Iran, but Kirby said there was no indication that had happened as of Wednesday. Russia has been using Iranian-made drones to strike Ukraines power stations and other civilian infrastructure.

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The White House reaffirmed its willingness, and the willingness of allies, to provide military aid to Ukraine.

According to Bruce Klingner, a former CIA Korea deputy division chief now with the Heritage Foundation, North Korea would likely be providing Russia with 122mm and 152mm shells, as well as rounds for multiple rocket launchers. Those rounds would be compatible with Russian systems and from systems North Korea is trying to replace with newer systems, which require new calibers, he said.

The age and quality of the rounds involved is an open question. During the Norths artillery bombardment of South Koreas Yeonpyeong Island in 2010, a quarter of the rounds that hit the island didnt detonate. If its older ammo, then that also raises the idea of quality, Klingner said.

Tension on the peninsula

The White House also condemned North Koreas reckless launch of at least 23 missiles  17 in the morning and six in the afternoon there on Wednesday  off its eastern and western coasts. It said the weapons were all short-range ballistic missiles or suspected surface-to-air missiles.

North Korea also fired about 100 artillery shells into an eastern maritime buffer zone the Koreas created in 2018 to reduce tensions, according to South Koreas military. The launches came after North Korea threatened to use nuclear weapons to get the U.S. and South Korea to pay the most horrible price in history in protest of ongoing South Korean-U.S. military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal.

The White House maintained that the United States has no hostile intent toward North Korea and vowed to work with allies to curb the Norths nuclear ambitions.

These launches did not pose an immediate threat to the American homeland or U.S. personnel, and we are of course coordinating with our allies and partners, Kirby said, defending the ongoing exercises as long planned.

Theres an annual exercise ongoing right now, bilateral exercises in South Korea, Kirby said. These launches just underscore the need to make sure we have the appropriate military readiness in and around the region.

This years Vigilant Storm military exercises are the largest-ever for the annual fall maneuvers, according to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. About 1,600 flights are planned involving 240 American and South Korean fighter jets. The round-the-clock drills, which began Oct. 31, are to continue through Nov. 4 and include warfighting tactics both in the air and on the ground, it said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will welcome South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-Sup at the Pentagon on Thursday, the department announced separately on Wednesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
People watch a television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a railway station in Seoul on November 2, 2022 Photo by JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images

North Korea launched at least 23 missiles on Wednesday, the most it's ever fired in a single day.

According to multiple reports, South Korea issued an air raid alert for the first time in years.

The missile barrage comes as the US and South Korea hold joint exercises this week.

North Korea launched at least 23 missiles on Wednesday, the most it has ever fired in a single day, prompting an air raid alert from its southern neighbor for the first time in years.

The missiles  all short-range ballistic missiles or surface-to-air missiles  were fired from North Korea's eastern and western coasts, according to the South's Yonhap News Agency. Additionally, Seoul's military noted that the North fired over 100 artillery shells into the ocean.

Multiple media outlets reported that one ballistic missile landed near South Korea's Ulleung island, prompting the military to issue an air raid alert and send residents into shelters. It was the first such alert in six years.

In response to the provocation, South Korean fighter jets fired a barrage of precision-guided missiles into waters across the de-facto maritime border between the two countries in its own show of force, Yonhap said.

North Korea's actions drew international criticism. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, for instance, said Tuesday that "North Korea's unprecedented launch of multiple ballistic missiles is recklessly threatening the security of the Republic of Korea," adding that "North Korea's actions continue to undermine Indo-Pacific stability and violate multiple UNSC resolutions. Pyongyang must cease this action."

North Korea's latest missile launches appear to be a response to joint air drills between the US and South Korean militaries, which began on Monday and are slated to last until Friday. The US Air Force said the event is to bolster combat readiness and strengthen the two countries' ability to work together.

North Korea, however, has long bristled at these types of exercises, characterizing them as preparations for an invasion.

Story continues

After an initial ballistic missile launch Wednesday morning local time, US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement that it was aware of the launch and working closely with its allies.

"While we have assessed that this event does not pose an immediate threat to US personnel or territory, or to our allies, the missile launches highlights the DPRK's reckless behavior and the destabilizing impact of its unlawful WMD and ballistic missile programs," the US Indo-Pacific Command said.

Missile launches have skyrocketed in 2022 compared to previous years, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Missile Defense Project.

In an analysis of North Korea's missile program, the Washington-based think tank said the country has invested significantly in the "development of increasingly long-range ballistic missiles and the miniaturization of its nascent nuclear weapons stockpile," allowing it to more easily field nuclear payloads on its arsenal of ballistic missiles.

Beyond its recent missile testing, activity has also been detected around North Korea's Punggye-ri nuclear test site, raising concerns the country may be preparing to conduct a seventh nuclear test. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared his country's nuclear-armed status irreversible in a speech earlier this year as diplomatic efforts pursuing denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula have stalled.

Read the original article on Business Insider
By Josh Smith and Soo-hyang Choi

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea fired at least 23 missiles into the sea on Wednesday, including one that landed less than 60 km (40 miles) off South Korea's coast, which South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol described as "territorial encroachment" and Washington denounced as "reckless".

It was the first time a ballistic missile had landed near the South's waters since the peninsula was divided in 1945, and the most missiles fired by the North in a single day. South Korea issued rare air raid warnings and launched its own missiles in response.

The launches came just hours after Pyongyang demanded that the United States and South Korea stop large-scale military exercises, saying such "military rashness and provocation can be no longer tolerated".

In Washington, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby called the North Korean launches "reckless" and said the United States would make sure it had the military capabilities in place to defend its treaty allies South Korea and Japan.

The missile landed outside South Korea's territorial waters, but south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), a disputed inter-Korean maritime border.

South Korean warplanes fired three air-to-ground missiles into the sea north across the NLL in response, the South's military said. An official said the weapons used included an AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER, which is a U.S.-made "stand-off" precision attack weapon that can fly for up to 270 km (170 miles) with a 360-kg (800-lb) warhead.

The South's launches came after Yoon's office vowed a "swift and firm response".

"President Yoon Suk-yeol noted North Korea's provocation today was an effective act of territorial encroachment by a missile intruding the NLL for the first time since (the two Koreas') division," his office said.

When asked whether the missile was flying towards the South's territory and should have been intercepted, a senior presidential official said, "Strictly speaking, it did not land in our territory but in the Exclusive Economic Zone under our jurisdiction, therefore it was not subject to interception".

Story continues

North Korea has continuously been launching missiles over the past year in violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.

"It's unprecedented in the sense that there were so many," she said of Wednesday's launches.

Kirby told his news briefing that the United States has information that indicates North Korea is covertly supplying Russia with a "significant" number of artillery shells for its war in Ukraine and that Washington would consult with the United Nations on accountability issues over the shipments.

Kirby said North Korea was attempting to obscure the shipments by funnelling them through countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

North Korea said in September it had never supplied weapons or ammunition to Russia and has no plans to do so.

AIR RAID SIRENS

The missile that crossed the NLL was one of three short-range ballistic missiles fired from the North Korean coastal area of Wonsan into the sea, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. The JCS later said as many as 14 other missiles of various types had been fired from North Korea's east and west coasts.

The JCS said at least one landed 26 km south of the NLL, 57 km from the South Korean city of Sokcho, on the east coast, and 167 km from the island of Ulleung, where air raid warnings were sounded.

"We heard the siren at around 8:55 a.m. and all of us in the building went down to the evacuation place in the basement," an Ulleung county official told Reuters. "We stayed there until we came upstairs at around 9:15 after hearing that the projectile fell into the high seas."

The North also fired more than 100 rounds of artillery from its east coast into a military buffer zone, South Korea's military said. The firing violated a 2018 military agreement banning hostile acts in border areas, the JCS said.

North and South Korea are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

Nuclear-armed North Korea has tested a record number of missiles this year, and officials in Seoul and Washington say the North has completed technical preparations to conduct a nuclear weapon test for the first time since 2017.

GRAPHIC: North Korean ballistic missile programme (https://graphics.reuters.com/NORTHKOREA-MISSILES/mopandankva/graphic.jpg)

Despite Yoon's declaring a national week of mourning after more than 150 people were killed in a weekend crowd surge in Seoul, the United States and South Korea began one of their largest combined military air drills on Monday. Dubbed Vigilant Storm, the exercises involve hundreds of warplanes from both sides staging mock attacks 24 hours a day.

MAJOR MILITARY DRILLS

North Korea, which for years has pursued missile and nuclear programmes in defiance of U.N. sanctions, had said that a recent flurry of launches were in response to allied drills.

Pak Jong Chon, secretary of the Central Committee of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, said in a statement on Wednesday that the number of warplanes involved in Vigilant Storm proved the exercise was "aggressive and provocative" and specifically targeted North Korea. He said even its name imitated the U.S.-led Operation Desert Storm against Iraq in the 1990s.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that the drills were purely defensive and harboured no hostile intent. Price added that Washington and its allies had also made clear that there would be "profound costs and profound consequences" if North Korea resumed nuclear testing. He did not elaborate.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told a regular briefing in Beijing that safeguarding peace and stability on the peninsula was in everyone's interest.

"We hope that all parties concerned will stick to the direction of political settlement of the Peninsula issue, meet each other halfway, and prevent the situation from escalating," he said.

South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said that because of the launches, some air routes over the sea between North Korea and Japan would be closed until Thursday.

(Reporting by Soo-hyang Choi, Choonsik Yoo and Josh Smith; Additional reportng by David Brunnstrom in Washington, Sakura Murakami in Tokyo, and Liz Lee in Beijing; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan, Nick Macfie and Alex Richardson)
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea fired six additional missiles off its east and west coasts on Wednesday, after launching 17 missiles earlier in the day, South Korea's military said.

The Japan Coast Guard also said North Korea fired at least one likely short-range ballistic missile eastward, which flew at an "extremely low altitude below 50 kilometres (31 miles) at maximum."

(Reporting by Joyce Lee, Hyonhee Shin and Kantaro Komiya)
North Korea is secretly supplying Russia with a signficant amount of ammunition, attempting to disguise the shipments as deliveries to the Middle East and North Africa, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Wednesday.

"We're not talking dozens here. It's a significant number of artillery shells," Kirby said. "This is a sign of not only the degree to which North Korea is willing to continue to bolster support Russia, but a sign of Russia's own defense articles, shortages and needs.

The NSC spokesperson refused to give an estimate on the exact amount.

Sanctions and export controls have forced Russian President Vladimir Putin to collaborate with outside sources such as North Korea and Iran  which has provided drones and other weapons  for supplies in its war against Ukraine, Kirby said. The U.S. is monitoring whether the shipments from North Korea are actually received.

Kirby did not provide evidence to support the claims or detail other weapons in the shipment. The shipments were first reported by CNN .
North Korea is covertly supplying a "significant number" of artillery shells to Russia for use in Ukraine, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday.

Kirby said North Korea is trying to obscure the destination of the shipments by funneling them through countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

"Our indications are that the DPRK is covertly supplying and we are going to monitor to see whether the shipments are received," Kirby said.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un at a large-scale air attack training exercise for the Korean People's Army Air Force on Oct. 8, 2022. (KCNA / AFP - Getty Images)

"It is not an insignificant number of shells, but we don't believe they are in such a quantity that they would change the momentum of the war," he added.

In September, North Korea denied U.S. intelligence reports that it supplied weapons to Russia and said it had no plans to do so. The New York Times reported at the time that Russia was buying millions of artillery shells and rockets from North Korea.

Kirbys announcement came amid a period of heightened tensions between North and South Korea.

North Korea fired more than 20 ballistic missiles Wednesday, a record, sending residents of a South Korean island to underground shelters.

The exchange marked the latest significant escalation between the two neighbors after months of provocations from Pyongyang.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
(Bloomberg) -- North Korea fired at least 23 missiles Wednesday including the first ballistic one to fly over a nautical border with South Korea, in its biggest daily barrage under leader Kim Jong Un.

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The launches came about a day after Pyongyang threatened to take powerful measures if the US doesnt halt military drills with partners including South Korea, in what might be an effort by Kim to lay the groundwork for his first nuclear test in five years.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called the launch a territorial violation, and his country responded a few hours after barrages were fired off in the morning by firing three air-to surface missiles into international waters on North Koreas side of the sea border known as the Northern Limit Line. South Korea also closed some air routes east of the peninsula for safety reasons, the transport ministry said.

The North Korean missiles were fired in batches that included four short-range ballistic missiles at 6:51 a.m., three short-range ballistic missiles at 8:51 a.m. and 10 missiles of various types fired to the east and west at 9:12 a.m., South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff said. It confirmed an additional six surface-to-air missiles were shot off later in the day and that Pyongyang also fired about 100 artillery shells into a maritime buffer zone off the east coast.

One of the missiles fired at about 8:51 a.m. fell into international waters some 26 kilometers (16 miles) south of the sea border known as the Northern Limit Line, it said.

Unprecedented Provocation

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin discussed the launches and condemned what they saw as an unprecedented military provocation, the Foreign Ministry in Seoul said in a statement.

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The missiles triggered the first ever air raid alert on South Koreas Ulleung Island, about 100 kms east of the coast. South Korea last sounded such a warning in 2016, after a long-range rocket launched by North Korea prompted an alert on an island near a western sea border, an interior ministry official said.

South Korea protested the launches, which came as it was in a national mourning period for 156 people killed in a crowd crush at a nightlife district in Seoul over the weekend. South Koreas military also raised its alertness level, Yonhap News Agency reported.

South Korean and Japanese defense stocks advanced after North Korea began its latest short-range ballistic missile barrage, with Hanwha Aerospace Co. surging as much as 5.9% to its highest since Sept. 26.

The tit-for-tat missile exchange is an escalation of tensions after the two Koreas on Oct. 24 fired warning shots at each near a nautical border on the west side of the peninsula. Earlier that day, Seoul said a merchant vessel from its neighbor crossed the sea border. That exchange coincided with the US and South Korea beginning joint naval drills that included warships such as guided-missile destroyers.

We have been in the season of North Korean provocations for the past couple months, so the latest missile launch should not be seen as an anomalous behavior, said Soo Kim, a policy analyst with the Rand Corp. who previously worked at the Central Intelligence Agency.

The largest single-day ballistic missile barrage under Kim had been on June 5 of this year when North Korea fired eight short-range missiles from four locations within about 35 minutes, South Koreas military said. The test appeared to be a demonstration of the states ability to quickly deploy and fire off missiles from various sites, which could make it difficult for US-operated interceptors in the region to shoot them down.

The US and South Korea this week started air drills known as Vigilant Storm that will run through Friday and involve about 240 aircraft in about 1,600 sorties to hone their wartime capabilities, the US 7th Air Force said in a statement. The drills have added to a series of joint exercises on land, sea and air in recent weeks, some of which have also included Japan, that have led to complaints and provocations from Pyongyang.

Since the end of September, when the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier group was in the region for exercises, North Korea has fired one of its biggest barrages of missiles under Kim.

The US, Japan and South Korea have warned Kim could soon raise the stakes even higher with a nuclear test, which would be its first in five years and seventh overall. Washington, Tokyo and Seoul have all promised a harsh and coordinated punishment if Pyongyang sets off an atomic device, which would be a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

The test might be used to advance Kims pursuit of miniaturized nuclear warheads to mount on missiles to strike South Korea and Japan, which host the bulk of Americas troops in Asia.

The North Korean leader is finding space to ramp up provocations as the Biden administration focuses on Russias war in Ukraine. Russia and China, two long-time partners of North Korea, have veto power at the UN Security Council and have shown no intent to punish Kim with extra sanctions.

North Korea has made it clear, at the highest levels of the government, that it will respond to US and South Korean military drills in kind, and it will not back down, said Rachel Minyoung Lee, a regional issues manager at the Vienna-based Open Nuclear Network who worked as an analyst for the CIAs Open Source Enterprise for almost two decades.

We can thus expect North Korea to continue stepping up military activities and weapons tests, she said, adding this could include an inter-Korean military conflict in the Yellow Sea and a seventh nuclear test.

--With assistance from Sophie Jackman, Shinhye Kang, Seyoon Kim, Philip Glamann, Youkyung Lee and Muneeza Naqvi.

(Updates with additional missiles in lead, third paragraph.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2022 Bloomberg L.P.
People watch a television screen showing a news broadcast with live footage of the island of Ulleungdo at a railway station in Seoul (AFP via Getty Images)

South Korea and Japan say North Korea fired at least 17 missiles towards its southern neighbour on Wednesday, including one projectile that flew close to South Koreas Ulleung island before hitting the waters off its east coast.

The barrage triggered a response from Seoul, which fired off three of its own missiles.

This is the first time both Korean nations have fired missiles which have landed in each other's coastal territory, with the South Korean military warning it represented a highly unprecedented escalation.

The launch of 17 missiles is a record number of daily missile tests by North Korea, experts claimed.

Air raid sirens were activated to warn South Korean residents on Ulleung island to take cover, officials from Seouls defence ministry said. Local media reports said the sirens blared for around three minutes, though people were not initially aware of what they were supposed to signify.

The first barrage included at least three-short range ballistic missiles and seven missiles of other types which were not immediately identified, South Korean officials said.

The ROK (South Korean) military, at around 8.51am, detected three short-range ballistic missiles that North Korea fired from Kangwon Provinces Wonsan region, and one of these fell in international waters of the East Sea, south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), said an official statement.

The NLL is a line generally recognised as the sea border between the two Koreas, though North Korea has not formally acknowledged this.

North Korea has not yet commented on the launches, but warned it would take action as the US and South Korea went ahead with joint military exercises.

South Korea responded to the missiles fired by its neighbour with its own test-launch involving at least three air-to-ground missiles, the military said.

The precision air-to-surface missiles reportedly fell a similar distance into North Korean waters, north of the NLL, to the North Korean missile that landed near Ulleung.

Story continues

South Korea said it deployed a US-made stand-off precision attack weapon  an AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER  that can fly for up to 270 km (170 miles) with a 360 kg (800-pound) warhead, in the tests.

South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeols office had said it would deliver a swift and firm response to ensure the North pays the price for provocation.

North Koreas provocation today was an effective act of territorial encroachment by a missile intruding the NLL for the first time since (the two Koreas) division, Mr Yoons office said.

Wednesdays launch is one of the largest single missile bombardments fired by Pyongyang since 2010.

For those who've never lived in South Korea, this is NOT normal procedure for North Korean missile launches, which routinely occur without the general public even noticing.https://t.co/34zTKPTsJw  William Gallo (@GalloVOA) November 2, 2022

It takes the total number of missiles fired by Pyongyang this year to well over 60  including nearly 50 ballistic missiles. Most of these were fired in the direction of the East Sea.

Additionally, the Kim Jong-un led country also fired more than 100 rounds of artillery from its east coast into a military buffer zone established in an agreement with the Seoul, South Koreas military said.

The launches were also reported by Japan, but it did not immediately confirm a tally of missiles fired.

North Korea has launched a suspected ballistic missile. More updates to follow, Japans prime ministers office said, issuing directions to its units to prepare for contingencies.

Seouls army lieutenant general Kang-Shin-chul said the launches on Wednesday were highly unprecedented and can never be tolerated. Our military declares we will respond firmly to this, the top military official said.

As a result of increased tensions in the Korean peninsula, South Korea has shut some air routes over the sea between North Korea and Japan till Thursday morning, its ministry of land, infrastructure and transport said on Wednesday.

Our military can never tolerate this kind of North Koreas provocative act, and will strictly and firmly respond under close South Korea-US cooperation, JCS said in a news release.
The holidays are coming early after a Nova Scotia family selected Bostons annual Christmas tree for the 2022 season.

Christmas Island, Nova Scotia grew a 45-foot white spruce tree which is being donated by landowner Roddy Townsend, along with his children. The Tree for Boston is the Provinces annual thank you to the city for sending medical personnel and supplies to Nova Scotia within hours of the Halifax Explosion in 1917.

The holidays are a time of reflection and gratitude, said Tory Rushton, Minister of Natural Resources and Renewables. The Tree for Boston continues to be a sign of our deep appreciation for the aid Boston provided after the Halifax Explosion.

The tree is being cut down on November 16 and will be shipped to Boston for a tree-lighting ceremony on December 1 at 7 p.m. at the Boston Common.

Get to know the tree:

Name: Tree for Boston

Age: 37

Height: 45 feet

Birthplace: Christmas Island, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Type: White Spruce

Donors: The Townsend Family

Favorite Colour: Forrest Green

Favorite Food: Maple Syrup

Favorite Taylor Swift Song: Christmas Tree Farm

GET TO KNOW ME!



Name: Tree for Boston

Age: 37

Height: 45 feet

Birthplace: Christmas Island, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Type: White Spruce

Donors: The Townsend Family

Favourite Colour: Forrest Green

Favourite Food: Maple Syrup

Favourite Taylor Swift Song: Christmas Tree Farm https://t.co/YPyDjQe5U8  Tree for Boston (@TreeforBoston) November 2, 2022

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
Vanessa L. Williams and LaChanze performed during the ceremony that renamed the Brooks Atkinson Theatre after the late singer and activist.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams were on hand at the Lena Horne Theatre renaming ceremony on Tuesday. The Nederlander Organization renamed Broadways Brooks Atkinson Theatre after the late singer-actress-activist.

The Nederlander Organization worked in tandem with Black Theatre United to rename a Broadway auditorium after a Black theater legend. Horne, the first Black woman nominated for a Tony Award, was selected, leading to a public event commemorating the renaming.

The former Brooks Atkinson Theatre currently houses the two-time Tony Award-winning show, Six: The Musical.

NYC Mayor Adams, New York State Governor Hochul attend Lena Horne Theatre renaming on Broadway. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

The renaming ceremony featured remarks by Adams and Hochul, as well as actresses Tamara Tunie, Audra McDonald and Karen Boykin-Towns of the NAACP. The event included special performances from Vanessa L. Williams and LaChanze. Williams sang Stormy Weather, while LaChanze performed Im Here.

Adams called the renaming of the theater a historical event. He then gave props to the Nederlander Organization, which renamed Broadways Cort Theatre the James Earl Jones Theater in September.

This is a historical moment thats taking place, Adams said. Dont think that the renaming of this theater is an insignificant moment taking place on the stage of Broadway history. A few weeks [ago], [the Nederlander] family named a theater after James Earl Jones. Now were doing Lena. What we are saying is that the Great White Way must have some chocolate on it also.

Adams was serving as Brooklyn Borough President when the Bandshell at Prospect Park was renamed the Lena Horne Bandshell last year.

Hochul also spoke about the importance of the renaming and the longevity of Hornes legacy. This week were making herstory. Not history; were making her-story,' Hochul said. The first time that a Black womans name has graced a theater like this.

Story continues

McDonald was joined by the Adams, Hochul, members of Hornes family and a number of young Black female Broadway performers as the new marquee was unveiled to the public.

TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku and Android TV. Also, please download theGrio mobile apps today!

The post NYC Mayor Adams, New York State Governor Hochul attend Lena Horne Theatre renaming on Broadway appeared first on TheGrio.
Nov. 1An Odessa man facing a murder charge is back in jail after prosecutors discovered that despite the fact he was placed on home confinement, he began leaving his house on a regular basis nine days after his release.

According to Ector County District Court records, Shemar Javorkovit Harrington, 21, was released from the Ector County Adult Detention Center Sept. 9 after posting surety bonds totaling $230,000. He was placed on a GPS monitoring device and ordered to stay home.

On Oct. 18, Assistant Ector County District Attorney Elizabeth Howard asked Judge Denn Whalen of the 70th Ector County District Court to revoke Harrington's release stating Harrington left home on 12 occasions from Sept. 9 through Oct. 11.

Harrington was booked back into the jail Monday.

According to the Odessa Police Department, Harrington was arrested May 29 after Erika Renee Pena, 31, was shot and killed while breaking up a fight at an apartment complex in the 4600 block of Oakwood Drive.

Witnesses told police Harrington and another man were fighting outside one of the apartment complex's buildings when Pena tried to separate the two of them. They reported hearing a gunshot and seeing Harrington running toward his apartment complex nearby and the other man running to an apartment near where the shooting took place.

Officers found the other man suffering from a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to the left arm and he was taken to Odessa Regional Medical Center Hospital, according to the report.

Officers found a 9 mm cartridge case near where Pena was shot and they also found 9 mm magazines and ammunition in Harrington's apartment.

Harrington was immediately arrested on suspicion of murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, but released from jail after posting bond two weeks later.

Harrington was indicted on the same charges Sept. 9 at which time Whalen ordered him to wear a GPS monitoring device and stay home, unless he was working or shopping during his allotted two hours per week.
Modernization efforts brighten global prospects

By OUYANG SHIJIA in Beijing and MA ZHENHUAN in Hangzhou (China Daily) 08:31, November 02, 2022

An unmanned rice planter operates on Qixing Farm on the Sanjiang Plain, a major rice growing area in Heilongjiang province, in May, 2020. [Photo by Wang Lijiao/For China Daily]

China's path to common prosperity seen as development model for world

Qiu Jiebo is among over 400 college graduates who have chosen to return to their hometown of Cixi, Zhejiang province, to participate in rural vitalization during the past decade, creating more channels for increasing rural incomes and leading over 6,000 local farmers to achieve prosperity.

Unlike his parents' generation, Qiu started his own business with the help of blossoming modern technologies. In June last year, he bought the first unmanned rice planter in Cixi. It is equipped with the Beidou Navigation Satellite System and internet of things technology, marking a key step to upgrade traditional equipment, improve efficiency and increase local farmers' incomes.

Over the past decade, Zhejiang, an economic powerhouse and a demonstration zone for achieving common prosperity, has achieved more balanced and coordinated development in its exploration efforts for common prosperity and modernization. The income of residents in urban and rural areas of Zhejiang has more than doubled in the past decade, and the per capita annual income gap between urban and rural residents in Zhejiang has narrowed  from a ratio of 2.37 to 1, to 1.94 to 1.

While delivering a report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, laid out a key task of advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization for the next five years and beyond.

Common prosperity for all is a feature of the Chinese path to modernization, and achieving common prosperity is a defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics and involves a long historical process, Xi said.

"We will endeavor to maintain and promote social fairness and justice, bring prosperity to all, and prevent polarization," he said.

Experts said China's intensified efforts to strive for common prosperity for all will help boost domestic demand, advance the new development paradigm of "dual circulation"  in which the domestic market is the mainstay and the domestic and international markets reinforce each other  and foster innovation-driven and high-quality development, offering a development path for the world to deal with common challenges and injecting new impetus into global prosperity.

Foreign companies applauded China's solid steps to promote common prosperity, saying this will offer more growth opportunities for global stakeholders.

"With the pursuit of common prosperity as the current goal, it will mean further positive changes in the lives of one-fifth of the global population living in China," said Marc Burrage, managing director of Hays Asia.

"It is based on China following a practical path that will see a great increase in the size of its middle-income population. This will naturally trigger greater demand in the market. That increased demand will undoubtedly lead to more opportunities for foreign businesses," he said.

Denis Depoux, managing director of Roland Berger, said, "Foreign businesses have to be more careful to seize opportunities in industries that are synergizing with the goal of common prosperity."

Experts said the key to achieving common prosperity lies in bridging regional divides and narrowing the gap between rural and urban areas, the rich and the poor, to pursue a more balanced and coordinated development, a crucial part of China's commitment to advancing and expanding Chinese modernization.

"China's path to socialist modernization differs from the West's modernization, as it adheres to the people-centered philosophy of development," said Luo Zhiheng, chief economist at Yuekai Securities.

He highlighted the importance of promoting common prosperity for all amid a more complicated and grimmer international environment and a cloudy global outlook, saying this will provide the world with China's solution to address uneven development.

Jia Ruoxiang, a senior researcher at the National Development and Reform Commission's Institute of Spatial Planning and Regional Economy, said that China, with steady high-quality development, will first make the pie bigger and then divide it properly through reasonable institutional arrangements.

Over the past decade, China, now the world's second-largest economy, achieved sustained and healthy economic development. In 2021, China's economy accounted for 18.5 percent of the world economy, 7.2 percentage points higher than in 2012. China's per capita disposable income stood at 35,128 yuan ($4,830) in 2021, more than double that of 2012.

Jiang Jinquan, head of the Policy Research Office of the CPC Central Committee, told a recent news conference that to advance common prosperity, the relationship between making the "cake" of wealth and the division of the cake must be well managed, and the fair division of the "wealth cake" can happen only on the precondition that the cake has been well made.

China will ensure and improve people's livelihood in the process of development and adhere to an income distribution system under which distribution according to work is the mainstay while multiple forms of distribution exist alongside it, he said.

In the report to the 20th CPC National Congress, Xi highlighted the system of income distribution as the foundational system for promoting common prosperity.

Liu Zhihua contributed to this story.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Ohio Task Force 1 (OH-TF1) is hosting a training class for Heavy Equipment Rigging specialists and instructors in Ohio to train first responders in the use of rigging techniques, according to the public information officer (PIO) with OH-TF1.

>>Can you help? Police are searching for 2 male suspects who attempted to break into a jewelry store

The class started on Monday, Oct. 31st., and will be wrapping up on Thursday, Nov. 3rd., the PIO said. This 32 hour HERS course is being held at the OH-TF1 Training Center in Dayton.

The primary purpose of the HERS course is to provide functional training to US&R Task Force members in the utilization of, and communication with, contractors, trade union members and heavy equipment operators, the PIO said in the media release.

The class goes in depth on the basic and advanced concepts of the use of heavy equipment and other types of rigging during urban search and rescue incidents (US&R), the PIO said.

Students taking this class will learn many skills such as:

Common rigging terminology

Heavy equipment hand signals

How to safely and efficiently deploy mobile cranes and other heavy equipment during critical US&R operations

How demolition contractors and their equipment may be effectively used

Identify the non-traditional uses of mobile cranes and other heavy equipment that may be employed during US&R operations.

>>Police ask for publics help finding suspects who fled traffic stop, ran into wooded area

Students will work with structural engineers, rescue specialists, riggers and equipment operators to learn the more advanced skills, the PIO said.

The International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 18 Regional Coordinator, James Singleton, has worked closely with OH-TF1 to deliver this course to students for the sixth time, the PIO said.

The course coordinator and one of the lead instructors, Michael Muhl, is a Rescue Team Manager with OH-TF1 and a Battalion Chief with the Huber Heights Fire Division, the PIO said.

Story continues

>>Search of Hamilton apartments seized enough fentanyl to kill 190K people

Steve Shupert is the lead instructor for this course, the PIO said. Shupert is a Rescue Team Manager with OH-TF1.

The Task Force now has nearly 30 personnel trained as Heavy Equipment Rigging Specialists, 13 of them recognized Federal Instructors for the HERS curriculum, the PIO said in the media release.












































chrisdorney / Shutterstock.com

With the rising costs of everything from dining out to airline tickets, and even necessities like car insurance and prescription medicine, Americans are looking to save money in every way they can. And for Gen Z and millennials, this includes taking some personal finance tips from their grandparents.

The first on the list? Become an AARP member for the rewards and savings.

Next: 9 Bills You Should Never Put on Autopay

Check Out: If Your Credit Score Is Under 740, Make These 4 Moves Now

You might be surprised to learn that people as young as age 13, who fall squarely into the Gen Z cohort that begins with those born in 2008, can sign up for AARP. In fact, according to AARP, while the interest group is dedicated to people over 50, there is no minimum age requirement.

As part of the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement, many people in their 20s and 30s, as well as their 40s, are looking for creative ways to save money. And, with a price of just $12 for the first year when you sign up for automatic renewal, an AARP membership fits the bill.

However, if you appear to be significantly under the age of 50 and plan to use your AARP discount to snag 10% savings at many restaurants, as well as other deals, be prepared to receive some strange looks. As awareness spreads, however, it may become more common to see card-carrying AARP members of all ages.

Also, be aware that some benefits may only be available to members ages 50 and up, according to the AARP website.

Take Our Poll: Are You Struggling To Keep Up With Your Utility Bills?

The trend of younger people signing up for AARP may be driven, in part, by TikTok. When actor and travel blogger Mr. Abel posted about younger people signing up for AARP, the organization got roughly 150,000 new members, according to The Wall Street Journal.

An AARP spokesperson told the WSJ that the organization has seen an increase in younger members in recent years, but wouldnt share specific data on the demographics of its membership, which totals roughly 38 million people.

Story continues

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: How Old Do You Have To Be To Become an AARP Member? You Might Be Surprised
Image: Shutterstock (Shutterstock)

The biannual changing of the clocks is once again looming in the United States, with Daylight Saving Time ending on Sunday, November 6. Research out this week may throw fuel onto the long-running debate over whether to end the practice and how exactly it should be done. By analyzing millions of hours of traffic data, the study estimates that establishing permanent Daylight Saving Time would prevent more than 35,000 deer deaths and thousands of human injuries from animal-car collisions every year.

Daylight Saving Time, for those unclear with the concept, mandates that people set their clocks one hour forward during the warmer months of the year; in the U.S., this is from March to November. Once the colder months show up, the clocks are set back an hour to Standard Time. The back-and-forth is meant to ensure that people on average get more daylight during their most active hours, with the return to Standard Time in the fall meaning that sunrises and sunsets begin earlier as well, relative to DST (DST was not enacted on behalf of farmers, as is commonly believed).

Read more

Unfortunately, evidence has been piling up over the years that these clock changes are actively harmful. Studies have found, for instance, that fatal car crashes increase in the week following the return of DST, at least in part because the abrupt change in sleep patterns can induce a sort of jetlag in drivers. As a result, some experts and even lawmakers have launched concerted efforts to abolish the shifts and to establish a permanent year-long routine.

Study author Calum Cunningham, a wildlife researcher at the University of Washington, and his colleagues had been studying the potential effects on sunlight on animal-vehicle collisions when they noticed that the implementation of DST and Standard Time every year meant that sunrises and sunsets occur at different clock hours. To better understand the impact that these shifts could have on accidents, they decided to look closer at data collected by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Ultimately, Cunningham and his team analyzed over a million deer-related car crashes and nearly 100 million hours worth of traffic data. And they came to a pretty clear conclusion.

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The twice-yearly shifts between time systems cause an abrupt change in the timing of human activity relative to sunrise and sunset. This means that shifting from daylight saving to standard time in the autumn causes peak traffic to shift to after sunset, Cunningham told Gizmodo in an email. Because animals are more difficult to see at night, the increase in traffic after dark causes a 16% increase in deer-vehicle collisions [in the week after Standard Time returns].

Going a step further, the team also created models for how the frequency of these crashes would be affected by either permanent Daylight Saving Time or Standard Time. They estimate that permanent DST would prevent about 36,550 deer deaths, 33 human deaths, 2,054 human injuries, and $1.19 billion in accident costs per year, with the largest benefits seen in the eastern portions of time zones. By contrast, permanent Standard Time would lead to an extra 73,660 deer deaths, 66 human deaths, 4,140 injuries, and $2.39 billion in costs every year. These estimates, Cunningham added, are likely to be conservative, since the model relies on reported collision data and many such crashes arent officially tallied. The teams findings were published Wednesday in Current Biology.

While many people would prefer sticking to a consistent clock schedule, theres no shortage of debate over which system is best to keep. Earlier this year, for instance, the U.S. Senate surprisingly passed a bill that would enshrine permanent DST. But the decision was soon met by fierce criticism from medical experts and organizations. These groups have long argued that permanent Standard Time would be better because of DSTs well-established, if subtle, negative effects on our health, particularly our sleep patterns.

Cunningham says that their findings add some weight to the argument that permanent DST would be best to adopt, though he notes that either change would come with trade-offs. Indeed, in an accompanying editorial, sleep scientist and chronobiologist Eva Winnebeck argues that the reduction in human deaths from animal-related crashes as a result of permanent DST likely wouldnt offset the increase in human deaths from car accidents in general caused by DST-induced drowsiness (perhaps over 1,200 a year, based on research she cites on the effects of living in misaligned time zones).

The Senate bill is languishing in Congress, with no apparent plans by the House to vote on their own version anytime soon. So for at least one more year, DST will come to its scheduled end this month. But even if DST is ultimately abolished in place of permanent Standard Time, there may yet be a way to better ensure the safety of both deer and humans. Cunningham notes that animal-related collisions seem to be 14 times more likely in the two hours after sunset than in the two hours before it. So any policies that can reduce nighttime driving overall should still be able to prevent many accidents, even in the absence of permanent DST. These policies could also be focused on hotspots of deer activity and timed to November specifically, since thats when deer are more active for the two to three weeks of their breeding season. And it also means that people can do their own part to keep themselves and their furry neighbors safe on the road.

In terms of what individual people can do, if you are able to get your driving done before nightfall, then that will significantly reduce your risk of killing wildlife and in turn reduce the risk of harming yourself, Cunningham said.

More from Gizmodo

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Click here to read the full article.
Good afternoon, OnPolitics readers!

Exclusive new poll findings paint a picture of what next week's elections may yield. Politics Managing Editor Caren Bohan writes:

Barack Obama is headed to Nevada as the latest USA Today/Suffolk poll shows a dead heat in the Senate race.

Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, whose seat is a top target for Republicans seeking to flip the Senate, is locked in a virtual tie with GOP challenger Adam Laxalt.

With a week left to go until the Nov. 8 midterm elections, Cortez Masto has a razor-thin edge over Laxalt, 45%-44%, a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll finds.

The governor's race in Nevada is also shaping up to be a cliff hanger, Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page writes.

Democrat Steve Sisolak and Republican Joe Lombardo, the Clark County sheriff, are dead even in the poll at 43%-43%.

Former president Obama is headed to the state Tuesday to campaign Cortez Masto and Sisolak. Former president Donald Trump has visited to stump for Laxalt and Lombardo.

The poll of 500 likely midterm voters, taken Oct. 24-28 by landline and cell phone, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

 Read more about the poll findings:Pivotal Nevada Senate race a virtual tie amid economic alarm

Real quick: Stories you'll want to read

Chief Justice Roberts grants hold on Trump tax dispute : Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday temporarily blocked the House Ways & Means Committee from obtaining former President Donald Trump's tax returns, giving both sides until later this week to submit arguments in the case. The administrative order will put any action in the case on hold.

Arizona ballot drop box monitoring is likely illegal : The Justice Department indicated support of an Arizona lawsuit accusing groups monitoring ballot drop boxes of illegal voter intimidation. The DOJ described filming or harassing voters as examples of vigilante ballot security measures, suggesting those behaviors violate the federal Voting Rights Act.

How Ohio may help Republicans take control of Congress: Republican leaders in Ohio and across the country have trained their focus on reclaiming control of the U.S. House and Senate to serve as a buffer against President Joe Biden's priorities. While the party deals with unpredictable races, Republicans hope Ohio will show up for U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance.

History of threats against Speaker Pelosi: The FBI has investigated a series of threats of violence against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dating back nearly a decade, although federal prosecutors rarely pursued charges. Pelosi isn't alone  more than 80 members of Congress have been seriously threatened, according to a USA TODAY sampling of federal records.

 Don't miss it: U.S. Senate candidates Democrat Tim Ryan and Republican J.D. Vance will meet on stage once more during a town hall hosted by the Fox News Channel Tuesday night. Here's how to watch the meeting and follow along with our live coverage for the full breakdown.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why Obama is headed to Nevada: Seat could flip Senate
Greetings, OnPolitics readers! It's Amy with today's top stories.

Democratic Senate nominee John Fetterman said debating his GOP competitor Dr. Mehmet Oz "wasn't exactly easy."

Did it hurt him with PA voters? Politics Managing Editor Caren Bohan writes:

Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman's debate performance last week was bumpy enough that even some of his fellow Democrats questioned whether it made sense for him to go toe-to-toe on stage with the GOP's Dr. Mehmet Oz.

Five months after suffering a stroke, Fetterman has had lingering auditory processing difficulties.

When he took the debate stage on Oct. 25, he used closed captioning to be able to read questions before giving a response and he sometimes struggled to formulate his sentences.

Fetterman himself acknowledged a day after the debate that it "wasn't exactly easy."

But what did Pennsylvania voters think?

In a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll, more than half of those surveyed said they watched the debate and those who did viewed Oz as the winner by a huge margin, 62%-17%

As USA Today Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page reports, 7% of those now backing other Senate candidates or who were undecided said they would have backed Fetterman were it not for his stroke.

The poll underlined a close race in one of the most closely watched battleground states in the Nov. 8 midterms, with Fetterman at 47% and Oz at 45%. In a September poll, Fetterman had a larger lead of six percentage points.

In the race for Pennsylvania governor, Democrat Josh Shapiro is faring much better. He leads Republican Doug Mastriano, 52%-40%.

The poll of 500 Pennsylvanians who are likely to vote or have already cast their ballots, taken by landline and cell phone on Oct. 27-30, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

 Exclusive poll:Debate erodes Fetterman's lead over Oz in pivotal Pennsylvania Senate race

 Lets see your masterpieces: I Voted stickers could use a revamp. Thats why were looking for your designs! Put that creative brain to work and design an I Voted sticker. Were excited to see what youll create! Submit your design here.

Story continues

In case you missed Ohio's Senate town hall:

Ohio's U.S. Senate candidates took the national stage Tuesday to tackle issues from inflation to immigration as the competitive race nears the finish line.

Republican J.D. Vance and Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan participated in a town hall in Columbus hosted by Fox News. Unlike previous debates, the candidates did not appear on stage together and separately fielded questions from moderators and audience members. Here are some takeaways from Tuesday's town hall.

Real quick: Stories you'll want to read

Oath Keepers leader tried to message Trump after Jan. 6: Just days after the U.S. Capitol was stormed by a mob of pro-Trump rioters, Stewart Rhodes, leader of the right-wing militia the Oath Keepers, tried to send a message to former President Donald Trump in which he urged the president to invoke the Insurrection Act and be a savior of the republic.

Democrats may not be able to lean on Latino voters in GOP states: For many years, Democrats have hoped that Latino voters could be the key to turning traditionally red states to purple. Now, its unclear whether that will be the case. Here's what the new polls say.

Arizona judge rules out intimidation tactics at ballot box: A federal judge granted an emergency order from the bench that bans Arizona's ballot drop box monitors affiliated with conservative group Clean Elections USA from taking photos of voters while they are within 75 feet of a ballot box.

New Hampshire Senate debate happening tonight: Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan and Republican challenger Don Bolduc are set to meet on the debate stage Wednesday night. Read the full recap of their debate last week, where the two candidates sparred over inflation, abortion and false claims of 2020 election fraud.

 Biden to speak on democracy and election deniers: Days before the midterm elections, President Joe Biden will amplify his argument that democracy itself is at stake, delivering an evening speech amid growing fears about political violence. Find out more about the president's speech here.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What do Pennsylvania voters think about Fetterman after debate?
Decorative Scales of Justice in the Courtroom

RUFUS, Ore.  The mayor of a rural Oregon town is facing accusations of attempted murder following a road rage incident Monday night.

The Hood River County Sheriffs Office said Rufus Mayor Dowen Jones was arrested Tuesday for allegedly firing multiple rounds from a handgun at a passing vehicle near Parkdale, KPTV reported.

Deputies said two adults and two children at about 8:45 p.m. were traveling south of Hood River on Highway 281 following an SUV that was driving erratically. The SUV then abruptly pulled over.

Deputies said the familys vehicle slowed to get a description to report to authorities but Jones stepped out of the vehicle and fired the weapon at the familys car, damaging it. No one was hurt.

It wasnt immediately known if Jones has a lawyer to comment on his behalf. Jones was identified as the suspected shooter and arrested Tuesday in Rufus by deputies with the Sherman County Sheriffs Office.

Jones was lodged into the Northern Oregon Regional Corrections in The Dalles on one count of attempted murder and four counts of first-degree attempted assault.

Rufus is a tiny town east of Portland along the Columbia River.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon mayor arrested in alleged road rage shooting
Debts of Ukrtelecom's owner will be auctioned

The State Oschadbank has put up for sale the right of claim to the majority owner of Ukrtelecom, ESU LLC, for almost $49 million.

The auction will be held on the CETAM system, and is scheduled to take place on Nov. 18.

Read also: Akhmetov media channels switch to translating telethon, and media groups websites no longer updated

The receivables of the ESU to Oschadbank arose due to the outstanding bonds of the company, which the bank bought in 2013.

After ESU LLC delayed the repayment of the bonds and failed to pay the accrued coupon income, the state bank went to court.

ESU tried to get an instalment plan for the execution of court decisions in court, but the Supreme Court cancelled it. The court proceedings lasted almost two years.

Read also: Ukrtelecom to sue Russia for $12.3 million as compensation for losses

In early August 2022, the Kyiv Commercial Court opened bankruptcy proceedings against ESU and introduced a procedure for the disposal of its property.

ESU owns 92.79% of Ukrtelecoms shares. The ultimate beneficiary is businessman Rinat Akhmetov.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- People get nervous around nuclear power plants, which means that demolishing one has to be done very, very carefully. The Vermont Yankee power plant sits on the bank of a scenic river in Vernon, Vermont, and for more than 40 years, the atoms split in its reactor generated as much as 70% of the states electricity. But then natural gas prices undercut the plants electricity and local anti-nuclear protesters worried about safety marched with signs that read Hell no, we wont glow.
Mehmet Oz, a candidate for US Senate representing Pennsylvania, campaigns in Bensalem. Warren Rojas / Insider

Mehmet Oz campaigned on Tuesday in the Philadelphia suburbs where he spoke about fentanyl.

The GOP talking point hit home with one rally-goer but fell flat with another who said there were other drugs plaguing the inner city.

The GOP candidate running for US Senate is facing a tight race against Democrat John Fetterman.

BENSALEM, Pennsylvania  Senate Republican hopeful Mehmet Oz leaned into the GOP's war on fentanyl Tuesday, warning supporters at a rally in suburban Philadelphia that keeping illicit drugs out of the hands of unsuspecting Americans is one of the top three issues at play in the midterm elections.

"I've talked to families in every part of the Commonwealth who fear what's in their mailbox because they know their kids literally order pain pills which are laced with fentanyl that could kill them," Oz told a few hundred supporters who'd gathered to cheer him on at a local firehouse.

The Trump-backed celebrity doctor, who also told attendees that they needed to vote Republican next week in order to stabilize the economy and quash rising crime, punctuated his drug control pitch by sharing an anecdote about a woman who he said at a prior rally told a story about finding her 32-year-old daughter dead from an accidental overdose.

"That makes us a border state," Oz said. "That fentanyl came across the border."

The scare tactic, which Republicans all around the country have used to hit President Joe Biden for halting the construction of Donald Trump's border wall and as a soft-on-crime cudgel, didn't ring exactly true for Philadelphia resident Don Jackson.

"I know fentanyl is like the big thing on the list, but there's a lot of drugs in the inner community. There's still people out here that are smoking crack, believe it or not," Jackson told Insider after Oz's speech

Jackson, who said he runs a technical training school in Philadelphia and works with at-risk inner-city children, gave Oz credit for talking bluntly about how crime and drugs destroy communities. And while Jackson said problems at the southern border are certainly felt throughout the country, "Philadelphians are pretty much not really affected by that."

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Oz, who is facing off in a tight race against Democrat Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, fared better on the border front with a first-time rally-goer who said she knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Like he said, you can get drugs but you can't get baby formula," Terry, a middle-aged woman who declined to give her last name, added that during the pandemic she had had to run all over the city looking for formula" for her granddaughter.

The Bensalem resident told Insider she moved away from Philadelphia because of all the issues Oz laid out.

"I just think the drugs are out of control," Terry said, adding, "I used to work in the city. I would never go down into the city again."

Read the original article on Business Insider
STORY: The man was identified as 54-years-old Habbas Rayyan, according to Palestinian officials. The Israeli military has yet to confirm the death but Palestinian officials say they were informed Rayyan was killed by an Israeli liaison office.

The attack occurred at Maccabim Checkpoint, on road 443 which leads from the central city of Modi'in to Jerusalem, the Israeli military said in a statement.

Israeli emergency services said they were treating a 20-year-old male with limb injuries who was in severe condition.

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. On Sunday, A Palestinian was shot dead after he carried out a car-ramming attack against Israeli soldiers in the West Bank.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -An Israeli officer shot dead a Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank who the army said had rammed his vehicle at the soldier then got out of the vehicle to attack him with an axe.

CCTV video appeared to support the army account of the incident at a checkpoint near the city of Modiin on Wednesday.

The officer, who fired at the Palestinian after being knocked to the ground by the vehicle, was seriously wounded, the army said.

Palestinian officials said they were informed by the Israeli liaison office that a 54-year-old Palestinian had been killed.

The incident, a day after an election that looked set to return former right-wing prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to power, follows months of tensions in the West Bank with repeated clashes and raids by security forces.

Outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid said Israel would continue to "initiate operations to prevent terror incidents".

CCTV video of Wednesday's incident, which was circulated on social media, shows a van ramming a soldier against a checkpoint guard booth. The driver gets out of the vehicle and makes stabbing motions over the soldier lying on the ground, who raises a rifle. The driver then collapses.

In a previous incident on Sunday, a Palestinian was shot dead after he carried out a car-ramming attack against Israeli soldiers in the West Bank, one of the territories which Palestinians hope will eventually form an independent state.

(Reporting by Emily Rose, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
JERUSALEM (AP)  A Palestinian slammed his car into an Israeli army officer near a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank Wednesday, seriously injuring him, the Israeli military said. The officer opened fire on the man, the military said, and according to the Palestinians, he died soon after.

The Palestinians identified the suspected attacker as Habas Abdel Hafeez Yousef Rayan, 54.

The army said in a statement that the attacker arrived in a vehicle at the Maccabim checkpoint on a busy commuting route and struck an officer. The attacker left the vehicle and tried to attack the officer with an axe, the statement said. The officer fired at the man. The officer was injured, according to the army, and transferred to a hospital. Rush-hour traffic was backed up for miles as official cars lined the road, part of a link between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

The Palestinians and rights groups accuse Israeli forces of using excessive force in their dealings with the Palestinians, without being held accountable. The military says it contends with complex, life-threatening scenarios.

It was the latest in a spate of violence between Israel and the Palestinians and came as results were still being counted in the countrys fifth national election in four years. Results were not final. But turnout was the highest it's been in decades and four fifths of the ballots counted so far show former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared headed toward victory Wednesday as Israelis gave him and his far-right allies what looks like a stable majority in the parliament.

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, with several more killed in a recent spasm of violence. The Israeli army says most of the Palestinians killed have been militants. But stone-throwing youths protesting Israeli raids and others not involved in confrontations have also been killed. The nightly military raids in the West Bank have contributed to the tension.

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.
Arab leaders on Wednesday vowed their "total support" for the Palestinian cause, as veteran Israeli hawk Benjamin Netanyahu inched closer to a return to power.

The declaration came in the final statement of the first Arab League summit since the United Arab Emirates normalised ties with the Jewish state in 2020, sparking a string of similar moves that have divided the region.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas had called for more support from the 22-state bloc in the face of "crimes" by Israel, which he accused of "systematically destroying the two-state solution and throwing away agreements it has signed".

In a speech to the summit in Algeria, Abbas made no reference to the Israeli election on Tuesday, but urged Arab leaders to "save the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre before they're Judaised", referring to sensitive religious sites in the Israeli-annexed Old City of Jerusalem.

Member states affirmed in the summit's final declaration the "centrality of the Palestinian cause and our absolute support for the Palestinian people's inalienable rights" including to an independent state with east Jerusalem as its capital.

Israel seized east Jerusalem and the Old City in the Six-Day War of 1967 and later annexed it, in a move not recognised by most of the international community.

The statement made no mention of the US-mediated Arab normalisation deals with Israel, but said the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should be resolved "on the basis of land for peace".

It also voiced support for the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative that calls for Israel's withdrawal from land it occupied in 1967 including the West Bank.

- 'Concrete actions' not statements -

The Arab League has for decades been a forum for strident statements of solidarity with the Palestinians, but has had little real impact in its 77 years of existence.

Leaders addressing Wednesday's session took turns in declaring support for a Palestinian state, and the final statement backed moves to make the state of Palestine a full member of the United Nations.

Story continues

Abbas avoided directly mentioning the Israeli election that, according to initial results, looks set to deliver a comeback by former premier Netanyahu, who has long dropped any support for a two-state solution.

Netanyahu's possible return comes almost two years after a normalisation accord with the UAE mediated by the administration of former US president Donald Trump.

It was quickly followed by another with Bahrain, a provisional deal with Sudan and a re-launch of ties with Morocco, helping rekindle the kingdom's decades-old rivalry with neighbouring Algeria.

Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Israel would be committing "a grave error" if it stands in the way of a two-state solution, as Palestinians and Arab citizens of Israel already form a majority in the territory Israel controls.

But an editorial in the Palestinian Al-Quds newspaper said Palestinians "don't need any more statements, of which we've heard many, but concrete actions on the ground".

It also called for the summit to take a stand "against Arab countries' normalisation deals with the occupier (Israel) which totally ignore our cause".

- Libya, Syria, oil -

The summit also touched on conflicts across the region.

It expressed "support for efforts to end the Libyan crisis through an inter-Libyan solution" and "a joint effort" by Arab states to end fighting in Syria.

In a nod to Saudi Arabia, it expressed its backing for oil producers after the Saudi-led OPEC cartel and allied producers headed by Russia angered Washington by slashing production by two million barrels a day from November, further pushing up already elevated crude prices.

The statement said the "balanced" policy would help stabilise markets and "help the interests of both producer and consumer nations".

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, however, was the summit's most notable absentee, staying away with a reported ear infection.

King Mohammed VI of Morocco, Algeria's main rival, also stayed away.

Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita told AFP that Algeria had sent "no confirmation via the appropriate channels" when Moroccan diplomats in Algiers asked how the monarch would be hosted, but that the king had invited Tebboune for a "dialogue" in Rabat.

ezz/par/ami/pjm
Amy Beth Bennett/Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty

In the final hours of the two-day sentencing hearing for Nikolas Cruz, the gunman who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the family members of some of his victims had the chance to fiercely confront not only him but his defense team for their behavior before, during, and after the trial.

This man, this animal, this piece of shit, this bastard took the lives of 17 people, seethed Michael Beigel, the father of slain Parkland teacher Scott Beigel. You have a right to defend him. You have no right, no right to demean the people who lost somebody. None.

At another point in his Wednesday statement, Beigel referenced a moment caught on a court camera weeks earlier. Just before a pre-trial hearing, one of Cruzs attorneys, Tamara Curtis, noticed a cameraperson manually adjust their setup to focus on their table. She raised her middle finger, rubbing it on her cheek. Cruz then appeared to smother a laugh.

THIS is the moment the judge was talking about. The week before the trial began and before a hearing began, two defense attorneys appear to notice the new camera setup. One seems to suggest they flip off the camera and then this happens:

#ParklandShooter https://t.co/aGUC8MOSMv pic.twitter.com/wZxWjF314f  Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) November 1, 2022

Zealous representation of a confessed murderer does not mean flipping the bird when you think the cameras arent on you, Beigel said. You should be embarrassed.

Manuel Oliver, whose son Joaquin, 17, died after being shot four times, calmly lifted his own middle finger at Cruzs counsel during his testimony, scoffing at them for hiding your actions.

Continuing to address them, Oliver added that after the nearly four-week, livestreamed trial, a lot of people will hate all of you guys now.

Story continues

MOMENTS AGO: Manuel Oliver, Joaquin Olivers father, I was advised not to be in this room [to misspeak and cause mistrial].  You shot my kid 4 times. You blew his head. His marvelous brain and ideas and dreams. You destroyed him. #NikolasCruz https://t.co/2pplEdRF9O pic.twitter.com/yPO0rZIhkj  WPEC CBS12 News (@CBS12) November 2, 2022

The defense had been watched closely by the parents of 17-year-old Nicholas Dworet, Annika and Mitch Dworet, who attended every day of the trial. In her statement, Annika Dworet called the experience of being in the same room as the the monster who killed her son unbearable.

But one of the most disgusting and unprofessional actions that occurred in this courtroom, she continued, was the defense team holding, touching, and giggling with this cold-blooded murderer.

Statements from the families ran the gamut from measured to passionate, but emotions in the courtroom did not reach the heights seen Tuesday, after Judge Elizabeth Schererwho had been locking horns with Cruzs team for weeksraised her voice over the defense as they tried to argue they were being personally attacked by victims families in their first day of testimony.

When these people are upset about specific things that have gone on from that table, Scherer snarled at one point on Tuesday, like shooting the middle finger up at this court, and laughing, and jokingMrs. McNeill, be quietwhen these people have sat in this courtroom and watched this behavior from that table and they want to say that theyre not happy about it, what is the problem?

"This man, this animal, this piece of shit, this bastard took the lives of 17 people! You have a right to defend him. You have no right, no right to demean the people who lost somebody. None!" - Father of victim Scott Beigel to #ParklandShooter defense team. pic.twitter.com/XOHdGB5NaG  Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) November 2, 2022

After repeatedly telling members of the defense counsel to sit down and be quiet, Scherer eventually ejected lead public defender Melisa McNeill and her chief assistant David Wheeler from the courtroom on Tuesday.

The next day, as the parents turned one by one to address Cruz, they castigated him as a monster while openly grieving what hed taken from them on Feb. 14, 2018.

Oliver said he had been advised not to attend the hearing, over concerns he might speak out of turn and harm the proceedings. But his voice was steady as he pointed at Cruz and said, Youre gonna die before me. And I will celebrate when you die.

You shot my kid four times. You blew his head. His marvelous brain and ideas and dreams. You destroyed him, he said. Despite having earlier said that he would try not to use profanity, Oliver added that he saw it as the duty of the Parkland parents to come here and let you know what is right or wrongwhen you fuck with our childrens.

"One of the most disgusting and unprofessional actions": The mother of Parkland shooting victim #NicholasDworet called out the gunman's defense team for holding, giggling and touching with the murderer. "We found this to be so offensive to our family," she said. pic.twitter.com/IzIXKbLKGG  Law&Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) November 2, 2022

As every day before in court, the shackled Cruz faced the court blankly, showing no emotion as relatives of his victims railed at him.

Linda Beigel Schulman, Beigels mother, painted a more explicit picture of what punishment some relatives wished Cruz would get. Real justice would be done if every family here were given a bullet and your AR-15 and we got to pick straws, she said, and each one of us got to shoot one at a time at you, making sure that you felt every bit of it, and your fear continued to mount until the last family member who pulled that last straw had the privilege of making sure that they killed you.

Cruz was formally sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Wednesday, after a jury recommended the punishment over the death penalty. The decision angered many family members of the victims, including Manuel Oliver.

Even the death penalty was not enough for me, he told ABC News at the time. The way that Joaquin died... the amount of suffering and pain, the shooter will have never received that punishment.

WATCH: #JoaquinOliver's father throws up his middle finger at the Parkland murderer's defense. "You need to learn how to do a middle finger. So you don't need to apologize to anyone," Manuel Oliver said. pic.twitter.com/hC2CO8gj26  Law&Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) November 2, 2022

Later that day, he tweeted that the outcome of the trial sent a disturbing message to other would-be gunmen. Mass murderers: you get to live your natural life, you get your 3 hot meals a day, you get to shower every day, get medical attention, hey, even a hobby or a new education.

At that point, Oliverwho chose not to attend the death penalty trialsaid he was undecided on whether he would make an appearance to make a victim impact statement. I might need to do that, but I dont know, he said. I dont want to spend more time thinking about this horrendous person, this monster.

Before she read out the totality of Cruzs 34 life sentences, Scherer turned to the families, commending them and their testimony. I know you are going to be OK, she said, according to the Associated Press, because you have each other.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Family members of victims vented their anger that the gunman was spared the death penalty

The gunman who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

A jury last month voted for the defendant to be spared the death penalty, in a decision that outraged relatives of the victims.

Ahead of the sentencing, victims' family members delivered emotional messages of grief and anger.

The gunman pleaded guilty in October last year to the 2018 murders.

Shackled and wearing a red prison jumpsuit, the killer showed no emotion as Broward County Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer formally sentenced him on Wednesday.

During hard-hitting statements over the course of two days, family members of the victims addressed the murderer - 24-year-old Nikolas Cruz - without ever using his name.

Earlier on Wednesday he removed a mask after Jennifer Guttenberg, the mother of Jaime Guttenberg, said it was "disrespectful" of him not to show his face.

Beigel Schulman said she was glad the killer would have to worry about his personal safety for the rest of his days in a maximum-security prison.

Theresa Rabinovitz, whose 14-year-old granddaughter, Alyssa Alhadeff, was among those killed, said: "I hope your every breathing moment here on earth is miserable."

Meghan Petty, the sister of 14-year-old victim Alaina Petty, said she felt "betrayed" by the jury's decision on 13 October to let the gunman live.

"He has escaped this punishment because a minority of the jury was given the power to overturn the majority decision made by people who were able to see him for what he is - a remorseless monster who deserves no mercy," Ms Petty was quoted as saying by the Washington Post.

A former Stoneman Douglas student, the gunman was 19 years old when he entered the school and opened fire using a legally purchased rifle. In addition to the 14 students and three staff members who were killed, 17 people were wounded.

Story continues

Over the course of a three-month trial, prosecutors sought to prove the crimes were "cold, calculated and premeditated" and met the state's definition of "aggravating factors" warranting execution.

The defence team argued that their client was plagued by mental illness, partly as a result of being exposed to drugs and alcohol while still in his mother's womb.

Before the sentencing, some victims' family members directed their anger at the defence team, prompting public defender Melisa McNeill to unsuccessfully ask the judge to impose restrictions.

"Karma will eventually catch up to you all," said Patricia Oliver, whose son, Joaquin, was killed in the incident.

The shooting reignited the US debate over guns, and prompted a wave of youth-led activism that gained national attention, but failed to achieve its legislative goals such as a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
David DePape, the suspect accused of violently attacking Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was on a "suicide mission" when he allegedly carried out the attack, according to court documents.

Court documents filed on Tuesday state that DePape, 42, plotted to target other federal and California elected officials.

DePape faces multiple felony charges after he allegedly broke into the Pelosi residence in San Francisco on Oct. 28 and beat Paul Pelosi with a hammer, resulting in injuries that forced the House speaker's husband to undergo surgery to repair a skull fracture in addition to other injuries.

In the court filing, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins wrote that DePape's intent with the attack "could not have been clearer."

PAUL PELOSI ATTACK: 'MENTALLY ILL' SUSPECT PREVIOUSLY LIVED WITH JAILED 'NUDIST' LOVER, 'CONSTANTLY PARANOID'

"He forced his way into the Pelosi home intending to take the person third in line to the presidency of the United States hostage and to seriously harm her. Thwarted by Speaker Pelosis absence, Defendant continued on his quest and would not be stopped, culminating on the near fatal attack on Mr. Pelosi," Jenkins wrote in the filing.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

DePape, according to the filing, told police officers that he was sick of the "lies coming out of Washington D.C."

"I didnt really want to hurt him, but you know this was a suicide mission. Im not going to stand here and do nothing even if it cost me my life," the filing said.

Jenkins wrote in the filing that "This case demands detention" and "nothing less."

NANCY PELOSI HUSBAND ATTACK SUSPECT DAVID DEPAPE ARRAIGNED IN SAN FRANCISCO COURT

A criminal complaint filed by the San Francisco District Attorney's Office states that DePape has been "convicted of other crimes."

According to a federal affidavit filed on Monday, DePape told police that he intended to hold Speaker Pelosi hostage and interrogate her.

"If Nancy were to tell DePape the truth, he would let her go, and if she lied, he was going to break her kneecaps," the affidavit states.

Story continues

"DePape also later explained that by breaking Nancys kneecaps, she would then have to be wheeled into Congress, which would show other members of Congress that there were consequences to actions," according to the court document.

Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was severely beaten by an attacker who broke into their San Francisco home in the early morning of Friday, October 28th, 2022. Paul Pelosi, 82, was taken to the hospital and is being treated by doctors for injuries after he was beaten with a hammer

DePape pleaded not guilty to state-level charges, which include attempted murder, residential burglary, assault with a deadly weapon and elder abuse, among others.

He is accused of breaking into the Pelosi's residence through the rear of the house and entered the bedroom where Paul Pelosi was sleeping, according to Jenkins.

Paul Pelosi attempted to dial 911 in the residence's in-home elevator, but was blocked from doing so by DePape, according to Jenkins, adding that Paul Pelosi was able to escape to a bathroom within the house and dial 911.

When police officers arrived at the residence, they saw both Paul Pelosi and DePape struggling over a hammer, San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said. When given an order to drop the hammer, DePape began attacking Paul Pelosi, Scott said.

The suspect allegedly demanded to talk to "Nancy" during the attack, referring to the House Speaker, according to an affidavit.

NANCY PELOSI HUSBAND ATTACK: SAN FRANCISCO DA ANNOUNCES CHARGES AGAINST SUSPECT DAVID DEPAPE

Paul Pelosi Jr. speaks to FBI investigators outside the home of his parents Nancy and Paul Pelosi, Friday October 28, 2022. His father, Paul was the victim of a violent home invasion earlier this morning.

Judge Diane Northway said in a Tuesday court hearing that a police report filed in relation to the incident states that "The assault occurred in the presence of two uniformed police officers."

Adam Lipson, the San Francisco Deputy Public Defender representing DePape said in a statement that "Mr. DePape is entitled to a vigorous legal defense, and we intend to give him one."

An Immigrations and Customers Enforcement source told Fox News that DePape has been in the U.S. illegally after overstaying his visa by a "long time."

In the area of DePape's former residence, which was inside a Richmond, California, garage, neighbors described the suspect as being quiet and isolated. One neighbor said that he wasn't surprised about DePape's alleged actions.

"I also was, a little bit, saying, Oh no to myself, because I more or less knew this would happen," Jin Molnar said. "He didn't do anything violent or reckless, but that would be the perfect cover for buying his time until he had the chance to do something."

"He was an odd guy," Molnar said, adding that DePape was "gravitating towards the new right talking points."

PAUL PELOSI ATTACKER TOLD INVESTIGATORS HE PLANNED TO BREAK HOUSE SPEAKER'S KNEECAPS: AFFIDAVIT

An LGBTQ flag with marijuana leaves was seen outside of Taub's home, where DePape previously lived, along with a heavily worn down van which displays a "natural addiction treatment" poster. A sign reading "Berkeley stands united against hate" can also be seen displayed on a window.

A court document states that officers found "two hammers, a sword, and a pair of rubber and cloth gloves" when executing a search warrant on DePape's garage residence.

DePape previously lived with his former partner, nudist activist Gypsy Taub, who he raised two sons and daughter with in a Berkeley home, according to ABC7.

Taub told ABC7 in a phone interview that she is DePape's "ex-life partner," and described him as "mentally ill."

"He is mentally ill. He has been mentally ill for a long time," Taub said, stating that she met DePape around 20 years ago.

Taub is currently in prison after being found guilty in the abduction of a 14-year-old boy which took place around a Berkeley high school.

General views of the home in Oakland which is believed to be have been the one-time residence of David DePape, Friday, October 28, 2022. DePape is alleged to have attacked Paul Pelosi in a home invasion earlier this morning.

Taub said that DePape once left home for a year only to return "in very bad shape."

"He came back in very bad shape. He thought he was Jesus. He was constantly paranoid, thinking people were after him," Taub said. "And it took a good year or two to get back to, you know, being halfway normal."

She said that DePape had very similar politics to her, which are "very progressive."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

"Well when I met him, he was only 20 years old, and he didn't have any experience in politics, and he was very much in alignment with my views, and I've always been very progressive. I absolutely admire Nancy Pelosi," Taub said.

FBI agents went to the Berkeley home on Friday, and a young man said that DePape hasn't been at the residence in years.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. This is a developing story.
US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, speaks during her weekly press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on August 12, 2022. Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

The man accused of attacking Paul Pelosi told cops he had plans to target other politicans, court documents say.

Prosecutors allege that David DePape said he was "on a suicide mission" after he broke into the Pelosi's San Francisco home.

DePape faces both state and federal charges for the last week's attack on the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The man accused of violently attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband with a hammer during a break-in at the couple's San Francisco, California, home told cops that he planned to target other politicians and their families, according to a state court filing.

Prosecutors allege that David DePape, 42, told police that he was "on a suicide mission" after he broke into the townhouse in the early morning hours Friday and struck 82-year-old Paul Pelosi in the head with a hammer, knocking him unconscious for three minutes.

"I'm sick of the insane fucking level of lies coming out of Washington, DC. I came here to have a little chat with his wife," DePape told officers and medics at the scene, according to the Tuesday filing.

DePape, who faces both federal and state charges for the incident, allegedly sought to hold Nancy Pelosi hostage and told investigators that he wanted to break her kneecaps to send a message to other Democratic members of Congress.

"I didn't really want to hurt him, but you know this was a suicide mission. I'm not going to stand here and do nothing even if it cost me my life," DePape allegedly told police who responded to the home, according to the state court filing. "Hurting him was not my goal. I told him before I attacked him, that he's escalating things, and I will go through him if I have to."

When cops asked DePape whether he had other plans, prosecutors say he named several targets, "including a local professor, several prominent state and federal politicians, and relatives of those state and federal politicians," the state court document says.

It was not immediately clear who those other alleged targets were.

Story continues

The attack on Paul Pelosi  which happened in front of police  left him hospitalized with a skull fracture and other injuries. Nancy Pelosi was in Washington, DC at the time of the incident.

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins wrote in Tuesday's court filing that DePape's "intent could not have been clearer."

"He forced his way into the Pelosi home intending to take the person third in line to the presidency of the United States hostage and to seriously harm her," the court document says. "Thwarted by Speaker Pelosi's absence, Defendant continued on his quest and would not be stopped, culminating in the near fatal attack on Mr. Pelosi."

DePape "also described other persons who served as his targets," the filing says, adding, "But Defendant repeated, nothing would stop him."

"Defendant's self-proclaimed determination, execution, and other planned targets illustrates his danger to public safety," the court document said.

DePape, who has pleaded not guilty to the state charges filed against him, was ordered to remain in jail without bail at his Tuesday arraignment in San Francisco Superior Court.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that absentee and mail-in ballots that are not dated correctly will not be counted.

The ruling orders county boards of elections to refrain from counting any absentee and mail-in ballots [that are] contained in undated or incorrectly dated outer envelopes.

Absentee voters should receive multiple envelopes with their ballots. Directions on how to fill them out can be found here.

The ruling goes on to direct county elections boards to save and segregate any of those incorrectly dated ballots.

Allegheny County officials tell Channel 11 theyve already been setting aside undated ballots and notifying voters who did not date ballots of the chance to correct them.

Channel 11 spoke with three voters who agreed with the courts decision.

If youve already turned in your ballot and are worried youve made a mistake, you can call 1-877-VOTESPA.

Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW

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Winning Powerball ticket sold in Westmoreland County Channel 11 Exclusive: Surveillance video shows moment gunfire erupted during funeral Several Pennsylvania tickets win large Powerball prizes VIDEO: Local cheerleader claims she was suspended after eating gummy laced with drugs DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts
 In case you were wondering how the One Percent live: Supermodel Heidi Klum dressed as a worm for Halloween.

Today in health, Pfizer said its RSV vaccine was found to be effective at preventing symptoms in infants when the shot was administered to their mothers while pregnant.

Welcome to Overnight Health Care, where were following the latest moves on policy and news affecting your health. For The Hill, were Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi. Someone forward you this newsletter?

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RSV vaccine helps prevent severe illness: Pfizer

An experimental maternal vaccine for RSV from Pfizer, administered during pregnancy, was effective at preventing infants from developing severe symptoms from birth through their first six months, the company said.

Unlike some other RSV vaccine candidates, Pfizers shot is administered during pregnancy, with the aim of transferring antibodies from mothers to infants.



Other maternal vaccines include the flu shot, as well as one for tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis.

The company said that it plans to file the data on the vaccine with regulators by the end of the year, with the hope of having it available by next winter.

There are currently no vaccines available for RSV, and the only treatment is monoclonal antibodies, usually reserved for extremely high-risk cases, including infants born prematurely or those with chronic diseases related to the heart and lungs.

According to Pfizers news release, the vaccine reduced the rate of severe illness in infants that required medical attention by about 82 percent through the first 90 days of life.



That efficacy dropped to 69 percent over a babys first six months, meaning protection likely wanes as children get older.

RSV season usually occurs during colder weather, though its been hitting unusually hard and early this year, contributing to a wave of respiratory infections that is overwhelming childrens hospitals nationwide.

Story continues

Read more here.

Online requests for abortion pills spiked after Dobbs

Telemedicine requests for abortion pills spiked dramatically after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, according to new research released Tuesday.

The analysis, led by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and published in the medical journal JAMA, analyzed requests made through Aid Access, a nonprofit telemedicine organization based in Austria that provides abortion pills for home use in states where the practice is restricted.

During the initial period of the study from September 2021 to May 2022, when abortion was legal in every state, the organization received an average of about 83 requests a day. After the opinion draft was leaked, between May and June 23, daily requests increased to about 137.



After the Supreme Court released its opinion on June 24 and some states immediately enacted abortion bans, the average daily requests jumped to nearly 214.



The study looked at requests for medications to the service starting in September 2021, before the Supreme Courts decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization, through August 2022.

Alternative avenues: The findings show that putting limits on abortion within the formal health care setting did not eliminate it. People instead went outside the system, and self-managed abortions increased.

The increases indicate that while abortion bans create access barriers that lead to more people self-managing their abortions, self-managed abortion is also a method of choice for some, said Abigail Aiken, lead author and an assistant professor at the University of Texas Austins LBJ School of Public Affairs.

Read more here.

THREE EXPERIMENTAL EBOLA VACCINES HEAD TO UGANDA

Three experimental Ebola vaccine candidates are being shipped to Uganda to aid in combatting the ongoing outbreak in the country, which has so far seen 129 confirmed cases and 37 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health of Uganda.

The outbreak, caused by a version of the virus that originated in Sudan, has reached Ugandas capital, Kampala, and is affecting six other districts, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

A different virus: There is an approved and available vaccine for a different type of Ebola virus, the species named Zaire ebolavirus. However, the species named Sudan ebolavirus does not have an approved vaccine available.

The three experimental vaccine candidates being sent to Uganda are currently in development to protect against that species. As they help fight the current outbreak, their use in the country will also supply additional data for clinical trials.

The shipment of the vaccine candidates is part of a large-scale coordinated effort between health agencies, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the CDC, and the Ugandan government to fight the outbreak.

Read more here.

TELEMEDICINE MAY HAVE HELPED WITH RISING BLOOD PRESSURE DURING PANDEMIC: STUDY

The availability of telemedicine may have helped mitigate the rise in blood pressure levels that was observed during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study published on Tuesday.

Researchers analyzed the electronic health records of 137,593 patients and found that blood pressure levels noticeably increased in the eight months after stay-at-home orders were issued in comparison to the roughly 18-month period before the pandemic.



The amount of people with controlled blood pressure  levels that are below what is considered to be high blood pressure  also dropped by about

3.4 percentage points in this same time frame.

Even though a worsening in blood pressure was observed, the NIH noted that the results of the study were not as bad as would be expected. The agency attributed this to the rapid adoption of telemedicine and home blood pressure monitoring.

We expected blood pressure control to be worse due to decreased physical activity, stress, poor sleep, and other cardiovascular disease risk factors that worsened during the pandemic, study leader Hiroshi Gotanda said. But the results were better than we expected, probably because the use of telemedicine and home monitoring of blood pressure.

Read more here.

FDA reports shortages of amoxicillin

A type of amoxicillin used by children is in short supply in the U.S., according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Amoxicillin comes as a capsule, a tablet, a chewable tablet and as a liquid to be taken by mouth, depending on the age of the patient. The FDA listed the liquid form of the drug, which is used by young children, in its drug shortage database.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Sandoz, the generics division of Novartis, have all reported shortages of various doses of amoxicillin, which is most commonly used to treat bacterial infections in children.

The FDAs website lists increased demand as the reason for shortages at Hikma, Teva, Aurobindo and Rising.

A shortage at a fifth company, Sandoz, was listed as other.

The FDA only lists drugs on its website once it has confirmed that overall market demand is not being met by the manufacturers of the product.

An agency spokesperson told The Hill on Oct. 26 it did not consider amoxicillin to be in shortage because at least one manufacturer was able to fully supply market demand.

Read more here.

WHAT WERE READING

With Republicans on the verge of congressional control, science is on the line (Stat)

Mehmet Ozs medical research was rejected in 2003, resulting in 2-year ban (Washington Post)

CDC warns of bacteria in dental waterlines after children are infected (NBC News)

FDA panel to examine evidence that pulse oximeters may not work as well on dark skin (CNN)

STATE BY STATE

Hospital investigated for allegedly denying an emergency abortion after patients water broke (Kaiser Health News)

Kentucky health cabinet reports discrepancy in recent CDC COVID transmission levels map (WTVQ)

How South Dakota voters could help save the lives of uninsured moms (PBS NewsHour)

THE HILL OP-ED

COVID is down, but far from out: It might be time for a booster shot

Thats it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hills Health Care page for the latest news and coverage. See you tomorrow.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A box labeled the PlayStation VR2 with the headset and controllers.



Sonys new VR headset is set for release in February and will set you back around $550.

After months of waiting, we finally have an idea how big your wallet will need to be for you to strap Sonys new PlayStation VR2 headset around your noggin. Essentially, its going to cost you more than the price of a full PS5 for just the base setup.

The company wrote early Wednesday that the VR2 headset will cost $549.99. This includes the headset itself and controllers. Of course, youll need a PlayStation 5 console to run the damn thing. While preorders for the headset, controller charging station, and initial slate of games should be available on Nov. 15, the official release date is set for Feb. 22, 2023. Direct orders from PlayStation will ship out on launch week.

Read more

Sony also revealed its Playstation VR2 Sense controller charging station thats going out the gate at $49.99. Thankfully, it does not seem to be a necessary addition, as you can still charge the controllers using the PS5s USB ports.

PlayStation also revealed the initial slate of 11 PS VR2 titles that are also launching next February. It includes games weve already seen, such as the rail shooter The Dark Pictures: Switchback or the rhythm game Pistol Whip VR. This is in addition to already announced games like Horizon: Call of the Mountain and a VR version of Resident Evil: Village.

Its been six years since Sonys last VR release, but this new edition will only work on PS5, compared to the previous device that was compatible with PS4 consoles as well. Of course, its running upgraded specs that put it above devices like the Meta Quest 2 in terms of both price and power.

Unfortunately, all those PS VR1 players wont be able to take their games onto the PS VR2, which is a very strange decision considering how the PS5's limited game library is bolstered due to its wide backwards compatibility with PS4 games. PlayStation exec Hideaki Nishino said this was because PS VR2 is designed to deliver a truly next generation VR experience, especially with its haptic feedback controls and environmental scanning systems.

Story continues

Sony probably needs a win with its PS VR system, as its latest quarterly earnings from Tuesday show that the company has lost close to 2 million PlayStation Plus subscribers since it relaunched the service. The company has sold only 3.3 million PS5 units this past quarter, which is the same as last year and is far below what itll need to reach its target of 23 million consoles sold by March.

More from Gizmodo

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WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland will build a razor-wire fence on its border with Russia's Kaliningrad, its defence minister said on Wednesday, amid concerns that the enclave might become a conduit for illegal migration.

Construction of the temporary 2.5-metre (8ft) high and 3-metre deep barrier will start immediately, Mariusz Blaszczak told a news conference.

With tensions rising due to the war in Ukraine, he cited security concerns and referred to a crisis triggered last autumn when thousands of African and Middle Eastern migrants tried to cross the Belarus border into Poland, some of whom died.

However, a spokesperson for Poland's Border Guard said no illegal entries from Kaliningrad into Poland took place in October.

"The Polish-Russian border is stable and calm. There has been no illegal crossing of the border," Anna Michalska said.

"We are not only there in times of peace. We are prepared for various crisis situations and after what happened on the Polish-Belarusian border we are even more prepared for everything, for all of the darkest scenarios," she added.

The European Union at the time accused Belarus - a close ally of Russia - of flying the migrants in as part of a "hybrid" warfare campaign to destabilise Europe. Minsk denied wrongdoing.

Blaszczak said the Kaliningrad barrier would be similar to the one that Poland set up along the border with Belarus last year.

Online business magazine Russia Briefing reported last month that Kaliningrad is seeking to attract airlines from the Gulf and Asia under a new open skies policy.

The enclave, where Russia has a significant military presence, lies on the Baltic coast between Poland and Lithuania and is separated from Belarus by a border corridor.

(Reporting by Joanna Plucinska and Anna Koper; editing by John Stonestreet and Angus MacSwan)
One person was arrested Wednesday in connection with a threat made about Granite City High School on social media, Granite City police said.

This was the third time since a student and teacher were killed in a St. Louis high school on Oct. 24 that a metro-east police department has made an arrest in connection with high school security concerns.

Belleville and OFallon police made arrests last week.

In the Granite City case on Wednesday, police said the department learned at about 8:30 a.m. that someone had made a threat against Granite City Senior High School via social media.

The Granite City Police Department immediately initiated an investigation into the matter and quickly identified the person who made the threat, Major Nick Novacich said in a news release.

That individual was located and taken into custody without incident, the statement said. Due to the age of the individual apprehended, no identifiable information can be released.

Details about the threat on social media were not released by the police department.

Granite City School District 9 Superintendent Stephanie M. Cann said the district received a report of a social media post of concern on Snapchat.

Due to the quick action of Granite City High School students, staff, administrators and the Granite City Police Department, the situation has been investigated and resolved, Cann said in a statement. After a thorough investigation, it was determined there was no imminent threat to students or staff.

Previous arrests

OFallon police on Thursday arrested a 16-year-old student in connection with a false threat of a weapon at OFallon Township High School.

On Tuesday, Oct. 25, the day after the St. Louis shooting, two students, ages 14 and 15, were arrested at Belleville East High School in connection with the seizure of a gun and ammunition.

The St. Louis shooting occurred on Monday, Oct. 24 in the Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, which was previously known as Southwest High School. The gunman, Orlando Harris, a former student at the school, was shot and killed by police officers after he had fatally shot sophomore Alexzandria Bell and health teacher Jean Kuczka.
A child was ejected from a vehicle after the driver crashed while fleeing a traffic stop in New Castle, according to police.

A Facebook post from New Castle police said a red Jeep Cherokee with Kentucky registration was stopped on Lowery Street, near Falls Street, on Tuesday.

Police said the vehicle initially stopped but accelerated at high speed from the traffic stop.

Officers attempted to catch up to the vehicle. While rounding a bend near Round Street, police saw the vehicle had crashed. A small child and the driver were both ejected from the vehicle.

The child was flown to UPMC Childrens Hospital. The driver is being treated in a hospital and will be turned over to police custody when released.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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A Meriden man was charged in connection to a burglary at a gas station in Southington early Tuesday morning, according to the Southington Police Department.

Police responded to the Sunoco at 957 West Street in Southington for an alarm activation. Officers discovered that the front door was smashed in and two cash drawers and several lottery scratch-off tickets were stolen, police said.

Surveillance footage from the store showed the suspect, appearing to be a man in his mid-40s to 50s, take a large rock out of a white Cadillac SUV and smash the glass front door. The man then entered the store and left with a rack of scratch-offs, according to police.

Southington police then received word from the Bristol Police Department that the same suspect attempted a convenience store burglary in Bristol, too. Bristol police located the man after his car broke down. Police said there were several books of lottery tickets in his car, which he allegedly said he stole from a gas station in Southington.

The suspect, identified as 50-year-old Michael Menta of Meriden, was arrested and transported to the Southington Police Headquarters. He was charged with third-degree burglary, third-degree larceny, second-degree criminal mischief and third-degree criminal mischief.

He was held in lieu of a $100,000 bond and was scheduled to appear in New Britain Superior Court on Tuesday.
By Hamad Mohammed

MANAMA (Reuters) - When Pope Francis visits Bahrain this week, it will be a dream come true for many Christians in the Gulf Arab country, but especially for Najla Uchi, whose father helped build the first Roman Catholic church in the island state.

Lighting a candle at her home altar lined with religious icons, 78-year-old Najla Uchi said she had been saying a daily prayer for Pope Francis, who is due to arrive on Thursday.

"Many people didn't even dream that they could see the pope here," she told Reuters. "When I go to church, they don't believe it, they are all getting excited."

Uchi's father Salman was the main contractor for the Sacred Heart Church, built on a plot of land gifted by the ruling emir. Its bells first rang on Christmas eve 1939, according to its website.

Her father came to Bahrain from Iraq and was later granted Bahraini citizenship. Uchi was born in Bahrain and is a citizen.

Bahrain is about 70% Muslim and, unlike Saudi Arabia, allows the small Christian community - made up mostly of foreign workers - to practice their faith publicly in the two churches there.

In the Sacred Heart Church yard, people pose for pictures in front of posters of Pope Francis.

"I am happy to be there (church) - not only because of my father, everything is wonderful there...we are all like one family," Uchi said.

During his four-day visit, the pontiff will attend the 'Bahrain Forum for Dialogue: East and West for Human Coexistence', and is expected to hold mass.

In 2019, Pope Francis visited Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, the first pontiff to visit the Arabian peninsula and say a Mass there.

(Reporting by Hamad Mohammed; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
By Catarina Demony

LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal is likely to scrap its "golden visa" programme giving wealthy foreigners residence rights, Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Wednesday, saying that the 10-year-old scheme had already fulfilled its role.

The Authorisation of Residence for Investment Activity for people from non-EU countries, commonly known as the golden visa programme, has been heavily criticised at home for sending house prices and rents up, and the European Commission has called for the end of such national schemes.

In Portugal, it has attracted 6.5 billion euros in investment by foreigners, mainly from China, Brazil and South Africa, with the bulk of the money going into real estate. Rules have changed this year to redirect investments from a red-hot property market in big cities to depopulated areas.

Speaking at Lisbon's Web Summit, Europe's largest tech event, Costa said several visa schemes offered by Portugal were currently being re-evaluated and the golden visa was one of them.

"(It) probably has already fulfilled the role it had to fulfil and, at this moment, is no longer justified to keep it", Costa told reporters.

An official decision would be announced when the evaluation is completed, he said.

Costa said Portugal wanted to continue to be attractive, with one example being its recent law, enacted on Monday, that created the so-called digital nomads visa. It gives foreigners with high monthly income from remote work to live and work from Portugal for a year.

The European Commission has called on EU governments to end national programmes to sell citizenship to investors, which the bloc has long considered a security risk.

Britain scrapped golden visas for rich investors in February amid concerns about the inflow of illicit Russian money, just before Russia's invasion of Ukraine that brought on unprecedented Western sanctions against Moscow.

(Reporting by Catarina Demony; Additional reporting by Patricia Rua; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Angus MacSwan)
A major regulation to promote China's self-employed businesses came into force on Tuesday  and government officials and industry experts said it will greatly stabilize expectations of individual businesses amid COVID-19, and drive the real economy over the long term.



The regulation promises greater supportive policies, including on taxation, finance, employment, digital development and intellectual property protection, to individual businesses. It stipulates, for instance, that local governments should increase the supply of business premises and reduce costs like electricity and rents.

"The move aims to inject practical impetus into individual or family-run small businesses, which play an irreplaceable role in promoting economic development, driving employment, increasing income, and facilitating people's lives," said Pu Chun, deputy head of the State Administration for Market Regulation, during a news conference on Tuesday.

"Notably, recent years have witnessed rising self-employed businesses from emerging sectors like livestreaming, micro-sized e-commerce and new media. They account for nearly 30 percent of the country's total self-employed households and offer new vitality into the market," he said.

According to him, more than 111 million self-employed businesses were registered nationwide as of the end of September, accounting for two-thirds of the country's total number of market players. Up to 90 percent of them focused on the tertiary sector, including retailing, accommodation and catering, and residential services.

Wei Jianguo, former vice-minister of commerce and vice-chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said that the measures included in the regulation are "timely and targeted".

"It will greatly boost confidence and stabilize market expectations for these self-employed businesses, especially when many of them are facing difficulties in operating costs, recruitment, and getting loans amid the pandemic," Wei said.

A survey provided by the administration to China Daily showed that since the beginning of this year, nearly 80 percent of individual households brought in an average monthly operating income of less than 10,000 yuan ($1,389), which can only support basic living standards.

"Compared with previous support policies, the new regulation emphasizes that the authorities concerned should not discriminate against self-employed businesses when putting forward policies, as such businesses, which are usually small in scale and have a limited voice, are vulnerable to discrimination from all aspects in their business activities," Wei said.

Over the past few years, the government has launched a package of policies to support the development of self-employed businesses or cottage industries.

"A combined tax supporting policy will be implemented this year to further support self-employed businesses. Specifically, they can enjoy large-scale VAT (value added tax) refund policies like other enterprises," said Dai Shiyou, an official with the State Taxation Administration.

Dai said that from 2020 to the end of September this year, more than 1 trillion yuan worth of taxes and fees have been reduced for such groups.
By Michael S. Derby

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged on Wednesday the U.S. central bank's latest ethics stumbles and said it was working hard to make sure it meets its new, very stringent standards.

"The public's trust is really the Fed's, and any central bank's, most important asset," Powell said at a news conference after the end of the central bank's latest policy meeting. Citing the new ethics standards imposed on policymakers earlier this year, Powell said "anytime one of us, one of the policymakers, violates or falls short of those rules, we do risk undermining that trust."

Powell spoke in the wake of the latest developments in a controversy that's dogged the Fed for little over a year now.

In September 2021, financial disclosures showed active trading by the Dallas and Boston Fed presidents, leading both men to retire early later that month after Powell failed to express confidence in their leadership. Fed second-in-command Richard Clarida resigned early this year amid questions about his own trading.

Announced last year and implemented this year, the Fed imposed a new ethics code that highly limited what officials, senior staff and their families can invest in and when they can move money.

But even with those new standards, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said last month that he had accidentally violated the ethics code officials were operating under before the new rules came into force, which banned ownership of bank stocks and prohibited trading around monetary policy meetings and periods of market stress. Bostic then restated his disclosures and the Fed asked its in-house Inspector General (IG) watchdog to look into the matter.

The Fed got another black eye from a New York Times report in October that found that St. Louis Fed President James Bullard spoke last month behind closed doors to a banking group, skirting rules that caution central bank officials from doing exactly that. The St. Louis Fed said it heard the criticism and would weigh changes for future appearances.

Story continues

In his news conference on Wednesday, Powell said that Bostic's challenges were uncovered as part of the regional Fed leader's efforts to make sure his personal financial situation was meeting the requirements of the new ethics code. Powell did not comment directly on Bullard's appearance before the bankers' group.

The Fed chief said officials had a discussion at the start of this week's two-day policy meeting on "the importance of holding ourselves individually and collectively accountable for knowing and following the high standard that's set out in our existing rules with respect to both personal investment activities and external communications."

"We do understand how important those issues are," Powell said and added "we recommitted to each other, to this institution, to hold ourselves to the highest standards and avoid these problems."

IG REPORT

What happens next on the ethics front is unclear. While Clarida and Powell were both cleared by the IG of deliberately violating central bank financial rules - Powell also had some accidental investment changes during prohibited periods - a separate report looking into what happened at the regional banks has not yet been released.

A spokesperson for the watchdog recently declined to say when that report might be released.

The report is highly anticipated in large part because Robert Kaplan, a former top leader at Goldman Sachs, had bought and sold, to the tune of many millions of dollars, a wide range of stocks and other investments. Kaplan did not reveal in his existing disclosures the full scope of that trading and had spurned requests to do so.

(Reporting by Michael S. Derby; Editing by Leslie Adler and Paul Simao)
Yevgeny Prigozhin

The agency notes that in the last two months, Prigozhin has abandoned any claims that he is not associated with the Wagner Group and has become more open in his public statements.

Read also: Prigozhin continues to create rifts within Russias government  ISW

"He is likely trying to burnish his credibility within the stressed Russian national security system," the UK intelligence agency said.

Prigozhin stated on Oct. 23 that Wagner's units were advancing 100-200 meters a day, which he said was "normal in modern warfare."

Read also: Ukraines SBU interrogates PMC Wagner members, digs more proof of war crimes

However, according to the Kremlins military doctrine, Russian troops are expected to advance 30 kilometers or more per day under most conditions.

The UK Defense Ministry believes that back in February, Russian troops planned to advance 1,000 kilometers across Ukraine within a month.

In September, Ukrainian forces achieved an advance of more than 20 kilometers per day, the intelligence added.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Boeing officials vowed Wednesday to significantly increase airplane production and cash flow in the next few years as the company seeks to recover from two deadly crashes and years of mistakes in its airline and defense businesses.

Boeing said it expects to boost revenue to $100 billion and generate $10 billion in annual cash flow by 2025 or 2026. That upbeat forecast is based on raising production of its best-selling plane, the 737 Max, from 31 to 50 per month and moving beyond billions of losses in fixed-price contracts for the Pentagon.

Two Max crashes that killed 346 people, production flaws with a bigger plane, the 787, bad military contracts and other missteps have left Boeing chasing its European rival Airbus for supremacy in aircraft manufacturing.

Do I think weve given up leadership in this industry? Not for one minute, declared CEO David Calhoun at an investor day meeting with analysts in Seattle.

Shares of Arlington, Virginia-based Boeing Co. rose 5% in afternoon trading. They had fallen 29% this year through Tuesday, compared with a 19% decline in the Standard & Poors 500 index.

Boeing last recorded $100 billion in revenue in 2018. The first of the Max crashes occurred in October of that year, followed more than a year later by the pandemic, and accompanied by cost overruns to build training jets, refueling tankers, a space vehicle and new Air Force One presidential jets for the government.

Last week, Boeing reported a $3.3 billion third-quarter loss on disappointing revenue and huge charges for the government programs. Its debt stood at $57 billion, up from $19 billion in mid-2019.

Company officials said at the investor presentation that they can generate cash instead of burning more of it this year. Calhoun ruled out issuing new stock -- which would dilute the value of current shares  to pay down debt.

To hit its goals  the first financial guidance Boeing has offered since 2019  the company will have to dramatically boost production and delivery of the Max and the 787, both of which have been held up for extensive periods in recent years to fix design and manufacturing flaws.

Boeing is under pressure to come up with a successor to the 737, a workhorse of short, domestic routes that is more than 50 years old. Calhoun said it wont build a new model until the middle of next decade because the technology for such a plane is still evolving.
Since the death of Mahsa Amini, Iran has charged around 1,000 detained people in Tehran and around the same amount beyond the capital. The nationwide protests came to global attention and resulted in many being detained. Iran has decided the trials of those accused will be heard in public in coming days.

Ali Al-Qasi Mehr, chief justice of Tehran province, confirmed the decision to hold the mass public trials.

Those who have serious accusations, including assaulting or martyring security guards, and setting fire to public property  have been scheduled in Revolutionary Court, Mehr said, according to IRNA.

Related: Travel Bloggers Placed In Iranian Prison For Flying Illegal Drone

What we know:

The public trials come as the Iranian authorities increase efforts to end ongoing protests and riots. In the sixth week now, the nationwide shake-up has seen many demonstrations and protests. Since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini protestors have joined voices to express concern about other governmental issues.

Journalists detained

With Iranian women journalists being detained and political rappers being arrested, the sheer amount of protestors is varied. On Sunday, Toomaj Salehi, an underground rapper was one of the latest to be arrested, reports CNN. Allegedly, he was arrested for propagandistic activity against the government, cooperation with hostile governments and forming illegal groups with the intention of creating insecurity in the country. IRNA released a photo of Toomaj blindfolded in the backseat of a car.

Related: Strict Hijab Laws Lead To The Death Of Young Iranian Traveler
Diana, Queen Elizabeth II and Charles all pictured in 1992, the year that is referred to as the late Queen's 'annus horribilis'. (Getty Images)

The year of 1992 was a terrible one for the Royal Family and Queen Elizabeth II summoned the two words that described it more succinctly than anything else and would go down in history  annus horribilis.

In a speech at the Guildhall marking her 40th year on the throne, she referred to it as "not a year I will look back on with undiluted pleasure".

She added: "It turned out to be an annus horribilis."

What does 'annus horribilis' mean?

Annus horribilis literally translates to "horrible year"  and for the royals it certainly was one.

Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by Prince Philip, makes a speech at Guildhall on her 40th Anniversary in 1992  the 'annus horribilis'. (Getty Images)

The Queen had to steer her family through several major public relations crises including fire, marriage breakdowns and embarrassing leaks - the scale of which was unmatched in her previous decades as monarch.

Her speech at the Guildhall showed how deeply it had impacted her as she called for "moderation" and "compassion" from the Royal Family's critics.

Yahoo News UK runs down the events that turned the royals' lives upside down.

Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Margaret, the Queen Mother, Prince Charles, Diana and Harry outside Clarence House in August 1992. (Getty Images)

Sarah Ferguson splits from Prince Andrew  and the Royal Family

The first scandal of the year came in January, when photographs of Sarah Ferguson and a Texan financier named Steve Wyatt on holiday two years earlier were stolen by cleaners and leaked to the press.

In March, the couples separation was announced  they didnt officially divorce for four more years  but it was the beginning of the end for her chequered history with the Windsors.

Prince Andrew and Sarah, Duchess of York with their two daughters Beatrice and Eugenie in Windsor, 1992. (Getty Images)

More compromising headlines emerged in August, when photographs were published in the press of US financial manager John Bryan seemingly sucking the toes of a topless Ferguson while on holiday.

Her expulsion from the inner circle of the Royal Family was reported to be swift and immediate. It would be many years before she was welcomed back  even somewhat  into the fold.

Since then, the Duchess of York has always spoken highly of the Queen. She has even claimed that during the divorce proceedings with Andrew she told Queen Elizabeth that she didn't want a large financial settlement  and instead would rather prize the monarch's "friendship'.

Story continues

Sarah, Duchess of York with Prince Andrew and Queen Elizabeth II outside Clarence House, in 1992. (Getty Images)

Prince Andrew and Ferguson have maintained good relations and still live together at the Royal Lodge in Windsor.

Anne and Mark Phillips finalise divorce after cheating claims

Having announced their intention to separate the previous September, Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips' divorce was finalised in April.

Their marriage had been plagued by rumours of infidelity on both sides. In 1989, letters to Princess Anne from her mother's equerry  Tim Laurence  had been leaked to the press.

This had been the final blow and led to Anne and Mark separating at the time. Months after her divorce to Phillips was finalised, she married Tim Laurence in a small and discreet ceremony at Crathie Kirk on the Balmoral estate.

Tim Laurence and Princess Anne are seen in their car after their wedding at Crathie Kirk, Scotland in 1992. (Getty Images)

The Church of Scotland had different rules about divorced people remarrying, so the ceremony could not have taken place in England in an Anglican Church  particularly as the Queen is supreme governor of it.

Laurence and Anne remain married.

Diana reveals Charles' affair in Andrew Morton biography

For the then-Prince and Princess of Wales, 1992 really was exceptionally bad in terms of public relations.

In June, Diana: Her True Story was released. Unbeknownst to the rest of the Royal Family, Diana had been collaborating with its author, Andrew Morton, for some time. The book opened the door on the dysfunctional state of her marriage to Charles.

Charles and Diana in Spain in 1992. (Getty Images)

Diana admitted to Morton that she suffered from bulimia and Charles' relationship with then Camilla Parker Bowles. Most shockingly, she revealed that she had repeatedly attempted suicide.

While she admitted that she had encouraged her friends and family to cooperate with Morton, it was only after her death that she had been directly involved was made public.

Later in the summer of 1992, just days after Sarah Ferguson's 'toe-sucking' scandal had broken in the press, came yet another scandal.

Diana in Luxor, Egypt, in 1992. (Getty Images)

Squidgygate, as it came to be known, were recordings taken from phone calls in late 1989 between Diana and her close friend, James Gilbey, and published by The Sun in August.

The 23-minute recording featured a male voice referring to Diana as 'Squidgy' and 'Darling' multiple times and saying "I love you".

The recordings are still a matter of controversy: at an inquest into Diana's death in 2008, Ken Wharfe  former protection officer for the princess  said: "It's my belief that this internal recording was probably made by GCHQ."

He added he believed that "GCHQ at that time were monitoring members of the Royal Family because of heightened IRA activity at the time".

The suggestion was dismissed by the home secretary at the time, Ken Clarke, as "wild" and "extremely silly".

The affectionate conversation between Gilbey and Diana also revealed more about her real feelings towards her husband and other members of the Royal Family.

"He makes my life real, real torture," Diana said about Charles.

Charles and Diana in South Korea on their last royal tour together, 1992. (Getty Images)

In December, it was announced that Charles and Diana were officially separating. Although they did not - at that stage - plan to divorce, they would live separate lives going forward.

Windsor Castle Fire

In November, 1992, just four days before the Queen's speech at Guildhall, a huge fire broke out at Windsor Castle.

Faulty electrics started the fire in Queen Victoria's chapel, but it quickly spread. All in all, 115 rooms were destroyed: nine of which were state rooms.

Restoring Windsor Castle took five years, and cost nearly 40 million. Initially, it was said the repairs would be funded by the taxpayer, however this controversial suggestion caused outcry from the public after a long year of sordid scandals.

Windsor Castle on fire in November, 1992. (Getty Images)

Instead, Buckingham Palace had to be opened to the public to cover some of the costs. The Queen also used some of her private wealth and had to offer to pay income tax from then on to settle the controversy.

She said in her Guildhall speech that year: "I sometimes wonder how future generations will judge the events of this tumultuous year. I dare say that history will take a slightly more moderate view than that of some contemporary commentators."

Queen Elizabeth II at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, in May 1992. (Getty Images)

The late Queen may well be right. The new season of The Crown will serve as a reminder of what a tumultuous year it was for the royals, and a whole new generation will learn about it for the first time.

Whether they will - after all this time - take the moderate view, remains to be seen.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) on Wednesday dismissed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abramss concerns about election accessibility in the state as silly.

Her argument  its silly. It doesnt make sense. Its not logical, Raffensperger said on CNN This Morning.

Abrams has long criticized new voting rules in the state, known as SB 202, which went into effect last year.

It is an abomination that SB 202, a law that has allowed racist white supremacists to challenge the legal authority of citizens to vote, is being held up as some sort of native good. It is a terrible law that has already sent people home from the polls, people who were denied the right to vote, Abrams said at the recent Georgia gubernatorial debate.

Amid Georgias record-breaking early voting, Abrams said the fact that people are voting is in spite of SB 202, not because of it.

But Raffensperger on Wednesday waved off Abramss criticisms.

We now have photo ID for all forms of voting  and that really helps you identify with, you know, enhanced security and confidence in the process. And so were seeing that people really feel that we have safe, secure and honest elections. And look at the numbers. Were having record turnout for early voting. People are seeing that the lines are move quickly. Were not seeing any major issues in any area, he said.

Abrams, who is challenging Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) after losing narrowly to him in 2018, has made voting rights and election accessibility pillars of her campaign platform.

Even as early voters surge in, the Democrat has underscored continued voter suppression issues in the state, particularly for voters of color.

Abrams was seen as instrumental in mobilizing Black voters to cast their ballots in the 2020 presidential election and has dismissed recent concerns that she might not be speaking to that same demographic in her second gubernatorial bid.

SB 202 overhauled the states voting setup, adding new identification requirements and shortening the window in which a Georgia voter can apply for a mail-in ballot, among other changes.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Randall Emmett, director of "Midnight in the Switchgrass," poses at the Los Angeles premiere of the film at Regal L.A. Live on July 19, 2021. (Chris Pizzello / Invision/AP)

One of Randall Emmett's former assistants has sued the once-prominent filmmaker, accusing him of racial discrimination and creating a hostile workplace that included the use of the N-word.

Martin G'Blae, 29, worked at the production company Emmett/Furla Oasis for much of 2020 and served as a production assistant on Emmett's action movie "Midnight in the Switchgrass."

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, G'Blae, who is Black, alleges that race discrimination was a factor in his termination.

The complaint  against Emmett, business partner George Furla and their L.A.-based film production company  asserts that Emmett made racist comments about Black performers, including rappers 50 Cent, Cardi B and Quavo. The Atlanta rapper Quavo of Migos co-stars in "Savage Salvation," an Emmett-directed movie starring Robert De Niro, which is scheduled for release next month.

"Randall Emmett has never used a racially derogatory term in his life and Mr. GBlae knows it," Suann MacIsaac, Emmett's attorney at the Kinsella Weitzman law firm said Tuesday night in a statement. "Mr. Emmett looks forward to vigorously defending this action."

G'Blae's lawsuit contains 24 claims of alleged legal violations, including that Emmett asked G'Blae to retrieve a "brick of cocaine" from a hotel room in Puerto Rico during a work trip in early 2020. The former assistant also said Emmett enlisted him in an "insurance fraud scam," asking him to file an insurance claim for his missing Rolls Royce, which G'Blae maintains wasn't actually stolen.

"By bringing to light the illegal pay scheme, discrimination, harassment, and retaliation that I suffered during my employment with Randall Emmett and his companies, Im glad to open the floor for these discussions to take place," G'Blae said in a statement. "I hope, through this, a message is made that there are just some things you cannot remain silent about  illegal practices, abuse, and your rights within the workplace are just a few of many."

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Several of G'Blae's complaints were described in a Los Angeles Times investigation last summer into Emmett's crumbling empire. The Times detailed allegations of mistreatment of women, assistants and investors who poured millions of dollars into Emmett's film projects. Several financiers are now suing Emmett and Furla for civil fraud, which both men deny.

In June, Emmett's spokesperson Sallie Hoffmeister declined to comment on claims of his alleged past drug use but emphasized that the producer has been sober since October 2021. She added in a statement at the time that GBlae has only recently criticized Randall, despite previously speaking about him in glowing terms  even after leaving EFO.

The filing comes amid a rising tide of discontent among Hollywood assistants, who have spoken out about low wages and harsh treatment by Hollywood executives.

Emmett has been a fixture in Hollywood for two decades, producing more than 120 movies, including low-budget action films starring Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson. Emmett also has co-produced critically acclaimed movies, including Peter Berg's "Lone Survivor" and two Martin Scorsese films, "Silence" and the Oscar-nominated "The Irishman" for Netflix.

The lawsuit said Emmett became upset in August 2020 after reading a book by Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, who has a dim view of Emmett. The two men were once business partners and co-produced the Starz series "Power," but they had a public falling-out in 2019. In early 2020, Jackson released the book, "Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter."

"Emmett got mad at 50 Cent and GBlae. He called 50 Cent, 'this f-----g n----r,' and then said to GBlae, 'All you guys are alike. All you guys do is hustle people.' He then threw the book at GBlae," the lawsuit states.

G'Blae contends he was targeted in other ways.

"Emmett often dropped money around GBlae, and left expensive watches and jewelry around him, as if to see if he would steal them," according to the lawsuit. "Other employees noted to GBlae the oddity of it, as they noticed Emmett would only do this around GBlae."

Emmett also asked G'Blae, then the only African American employee at Emmett/Furla Oasis, to "turn out his pockets to check if he had stolen anything," the lawsuit said. " Emmett did this to play into the stereotype that African Americans are thieves."

In another incident, while watching the Black Latina rapper Cardi B on TV, Emmett allegedly "called her a 'ratchet b' and expressed that he had trouble understanding what she was saying. So, he asked GBlae to 'translate' for him," the lawsuit said.

The complaint added that Emmett said he had trouble understanding Quavo and once asked G'Blae: "Martin, if I go out with Quavo, would anyone know who he is? Or is it just like a culture thing?

Martin G'Blae in June 2022. (Allie Leepson + Jen McClary / For The Times)

G'Blae, who was paid $1,500 every two weeks, said he was on call 12 hours a day and on weekends, resulting in pay that amounted to less than California's minimum wage. And he said he often was asked to cover Emmett's personal expenses, including meals and stays.

"To date, GBlae has only been partially reimbursed for these expenses," according to the complaint.

In her statement, MacIsaac accused GBlae of "attempting to extort thousands of dollars from Mr. Emmett for months. Although he claims he is owed for past expenses, Mr. GBlaes story perpetually changes and he has refused to back up any of the supposed unpaid expenses," she said.

In the lawsuit, , G'Blae said he was subjected to religious discrimination because he is a Muslim, and faced discrimination based on a disability, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

In June 2020, Emmett called G'Blae into his office  in front of at least two other people  and asked: "'What was that sickness you had that makes you retarded?' Although uncomfortable with the question, GBlae reminded him that he had ADHD," according to the lawsuit.

Employment attorneys Young K. Park and Tara Hattendorf of the law firm Marlis Park are representing G'Blae. The suit does not specify damages sought but does ask for a jury trial.

Last year, in an effort to get his expenses repaid, G'Blae sent text messages to EFO's accountant and Emmett.

The producer then left several voice memos, including one offering G'Blae $50,000 to help produce a movie, saying he "was in a sad place right now."

The voice memos, reviewed by The Times, were left just days after Emmett's former fiance, Lala Kent, a star of "VanderPump Rules," broke off their relationship amid allegations that Emmett was cheating. Kent, who shares custody of a young daughter with Emmett, has been outspoken about their relationship.

Last month, Emmett's former wife, Ambyr Childers, sought a restraining order against the producer after she received emails in which Emmett's attorney allegedly spoke about her in a threatening manner. A judge denied Childers' request. She and Emmett have two daughters together.

Staff writer Amy Kaufman contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Washington states backlog of untested rape kits has been a problem for years.

But a new audit by the Office of the Washington State Auditor shows the state has made some progress.

The office was required to review the status of the backlog this year, due to legislation that was enacted in 2019 aimed at addressing the backlog which established deadlines for testing older kits.

As of January 2022, auditors found that more than 6,000 sexual assault kits had yet to be tested by the Washington State Patrol.

WSP is responsible for testing all sexual assault kits statewide and can have tests performed at one of its crime labs or by contracting with a private lab.

It also established an online kit-tracking system in 2018 that allows survivors of sexual assault to track the progress of submitted kits.

The agency has received about 24,000 total kits since 2015 and has tested about 74% of them, according to the report. About 15,000 of those total kits are considered historical kits, as they were collected before July 2015.

Auditors also reviewed the practices of the patrols State Crime Laboratory and found it had implemented recommended practices.

The Washington State Patrol has taken the right steps, but eliminating the backlog of untested sexual assault kits will take more time and it is still absolutely necessary, said State Auditor Pat McCarthy. We encourage the Patrol to continue its work, and we will return to this important subject again in the future.

In response to the report, WSP Chief John R. Batiste and David Schumacher, director of the Washington Office of Financial Management, sent a joint letter to McCarthy.

WSP agrees with the State Auditors Office that the testing backlog for sexual assault kits must not fade from the public consciousness, reads the letter. Each SAK represents a person and WSP is committed to ensuring they are not forgotten.

WSP estimates that the remaining kits will be fully tested by December 2023.
LM Otero/AP Photo; Insider

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is seeking a third term as governor of Texas.

Abbott faces former Rep. Beto O'Rourke, a Democrat.

In 2018, Abbott beat Democratic gubernatorial nominee Lupe Valdez by 7 percentage points.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas is running for a third term against former US Rep. Beto O'Rourke, a Democrat.

Texas gubernatorial candidates

Abbott, a conservative first elected in 2014, is seeking his third term as governor. He's been in the political arena since running for a district court judge post in 1992, and was later appointed to the Texas Supreme Court by former Republican governor-turned-President George W. Bush.

Abbott is no stranger to controversy, having presided over the Lone Star state during a raft of mass shootings, crippling energy crises, the COVID-19 pandemic, and partisan clashes over immigration at the Southern border. Abbott has reportedly spent more than $12 million of taxpayer funds busing asylum-seekers from ruby-red Texas to liberal bastions such as Washington, DC, New York City, and Chicago in order to torment Democratic leaders.

O'Rourke is running his second statewide campaign since serving three terms in the US House. He tried unsuccessfully to unseat Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018, losing by 2 points. O'Rourke also briefly ran for president in 2019, dropping out after seven months on the campaign trail when his campaign failed to gain traction in early primary states.

O'Rourke has made combating gun violence and preserving abortion rights cornerstones of his bid to replace Abbott.

Texas' voting history

Texas trends Republican in federal races. The state went to President Donald Trump by 5 points during the 2020 presidential election. More recently, Republican Rep. Mayra Flores won by 7 points in the June 2022 special election to replace Democratic Rep. Filemon Vela, who resigned midway through his term.

The congressional delegation is predominantly Republican, retaining control of both US Senate seats since 1993 and holding two-thirds of the delegation's current US House seats.

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The Texas governor's race involves a lot of the culture war issues both parties have used the bash the other side around the country, including abortion.

Abbott got out ahead of the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade this summer, signing into law last fall a statewide ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy coupled with a $10,000 bounty on anyone who "aids and abets" in any such procedure after the month-and-half window. The Roe reversal activated a corresponding state trigger law that makes performing abortions in Texas a felony punishable by life in prison.

The money race

According to Transparency USA, Abbott has raised $94.3 million, spent $120.5 million, and has $16.4 million of cash on hand, as of September 30. His opponent, O'Rourke, has raised $65.7 million, spent $45.8 million, and has $16.5 million of cash still left to spend, as of September 30.

The Texas Tribune reported that O'Rourke set a new campaign fundraising record this year, hauling in $27.6 million in less than five months.

What the experts say

Texas' gubernatorial race is rated as "Likely Republican" by The Cook Political Report and Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, and "Solid Republican" by Inside Elections.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The 24th session of the Standing Committee of the 13th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee held a plenary meeting on Tuesday.

Wang Yang, chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, attended the meeting.

Members of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee shared their views on studying and implementing the guiding principles of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

They expressed complete agreement with the grand blueprint charted and plans made at the 20th CPC National Congress on building a modern socialist country in all respects and pledged efforts to work and strive together in unity.

A total of 15 members of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee made their remarks. Among them, Xie Fuzhan said it is a must to uphold the CPC leadership, adhere to the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, stay committed to developing the whole-process people's democracy, and advance national rejuvenation on all fronts through Chinese modernization.

On behalf of the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang, Zhang Xueqiao noted that non-CPC political parties, as participants in governance, ought to improve their capabilities of performing duties.

The meeting was presided over by Ma Biao, vice chairman of the CPPCC National Committee.
Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP Photo; Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo; Insider

Republican Rep. Mayra Flores is running against Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez in Texas' 34th Congressional District.

The 34th District is located along the Texas-Mexico border.

Republicans are determined to hold onto the seat Flores flipped red in June.

Republican Rep. Mayra Flores faces off against Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez in Texas' 34th Congressional District in a rare general election battle of sitting members of Congress.

Texas' 34th Congressional District candidates

In June, Flores flipped the 34th District seat previously held by Democrat Rep. Filemon Vela during a special election after Vela resigned in March.

Flores is among three Republican Hispanic women running for Congress  along with Monica De La Cruz and Cassy Garcia  who could change the political landscape of historically Democratic South Texas.

Flores was born in Burgos Tamaulipas, Mexico, and immigrated to the US at six years old. Prior to entering politics, she worked as a respiratory care practitioner, caring for the elderly and disabled with chronic respiratory issues. Flores has also been on the front lines of medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She made history as the first Mexican-born US House member when she won her election in June.

Gonzalez, a three-term congressman who currently represents Texas' 15th Congressional District, serves on the Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth. He chose to seek reelection in the 34th Congressional District after the state legislature placed his home, and much of his old district's urban core, in the newly drawn district.

As this is a race along the border, immigration and border security are two major issues at hand. Gonzalez wants the US to work with Latin American countries to process asylum seekers before they set out for the border.

"We have a labor shortage in this country, and we need the labor. They need the jobs. We just need to do it in an orderly way. What's happened on our southern border, not under just the Biden administration, under the Trump administration and administrations before has been disgraceful," Gonzalez told a local news outlet.

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Gonzalez is among several dozen members of Congress that Insider and other media have identified as violating the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012 by improperly disclosing personal financial trades.

Voting history for Texas' 34th Congressional District

Texas' 34th Congressional District stretches from Kleberg County on the Gulf Coast to Cameron County and includes a part of Hidalgo County.

Joe Biden had a 4 percentage point margin of victory over President Donald Trump under the district's previous boundaries in 2020 before the decennial redistricting process excised a large portion of the district that extended far north into Gonzales County and included more conservative parts of the state.

The money race

According to OpenSecrets, Flores has raised more than $3.8 million, spent $3.47 million, and has $365,000 on hand, as of October 19. Gonzalez has raised $2.92 million, spent almost $3.9 million, and has $475,000 cash on hand, as of October 19, according to Federal Election Commission records.

As of early November, several dozen super PACs, national party committees, politically active nonprofits, and other non-candidate groups have together spent about $10.9 million to advocate for or against candidates in this race, including during the race's primary phase. The Congressional Leadership Fund, a national Republican hybrid PAC that backs Flores, alone accounts for nearly half that spending.

What experts say

The race between Flores and Gonzalez is rated as "tilt Democratic" by Inside Elections, a "toss-up" by The Cook Political Report, and a "toss-up" by Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images; Jay Chen's campaign; Insider

Rep. Michelle Steel is running against Democrat Jay Chen in California's 45th Congressional District.

The 45th District is home to Little Saigon, which contains the largest Vietnamese population in the nation.

The Vietnamese American vote was instrumental to Steel's success in 2020.

Republican Rep. Michelle Steel faces off against Democrat Jay Chen in California's 45th Congressional District.

California's 45th Congressional District Candidates

Steel sits on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Committee on Education and Labor. In 2020, Steel, fellow California Republican Rep. Young Kim, and Democratic Rep. Marilyn Strickland of Washington made history as the first Korean American women ever elected to Congress.

Steel narrowly defeated incumbent Harley Rouda in that election by just over 2 percentage points, flipping a House seat Republicans lost in 2018.

Prior to her time in Congress, Steel, 67, served on the California State Board of Equalization, the nation's only publicly-elected tax board. Elected in 2006, she served more than nine million residents as the highest-ranking Korean American elected official in the country. In 2011, Steel was named vice chair of the board. After her tenure, she served for several years on the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

Chen, Steel's challenger, is a lieutenant commander in the US Navy Reserve and a small business owner. He also serves as president on the board of trustees for Mt. San Antonio College, a local community college located in the 38th District, east of the 45th.

Steel and Chen, who are both Asian American, are battling in one of the most heavily Asian American districts in the country, where a quarter of eligible voters are Asian.

Recently, with just over one week left before election night, a political action committee that supports Asian American and Pacific Islander candidates, pulled its endorsement of Steel, citing the "accusations, negative advertisement, and red baiting that are coming from the 45th congressional race," as the reason.

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Steel's campaign had sent flyers to Orange County Vietnamese American voters  many of whom settled in the area after escaping from Communism  that portrays Chen as a Communist sympathizer.

Earlier this year, Chen got himself in hot water with some members of the Asian American community over comments he made that appeared to mock the South Korean-born congresswoman's accent. Insider also revealed that Chen failed to properly disclose investments he made in two pharmaceutical giants that manufacture COVID-19 vaccines.

Voting history for California's 45th Congressional District

California's 45th Congressional District straddles Los Angeles County and Orange County  the third largest in the state  and includes Little Saigon, home to the largest Vietnamese population in the United States.

Vietnamese American voters, on balance a conservative voting bloc, were instrumental to Steel's success in 2020. On a national scale, the Vietnamese American voting bloc was the only one of the six biggest Asian groups  Chinese, Indian, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese  that was under 50% for Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

After the district lines were finalized in the decennial redistricting process following the 2020 Census, Steel announced she would switch districts to run in the 45th District.

Had Steel stayed in her coastal district, the new 47th, she would have had to face Democratic Rep. Katie Porter, one of the most powerful fundraisers in the House. The new 45th District, which includes more middle and working-class areas, as well as large immigrant and refugee communities, is a sharp contrast to her old political turf which was conservative, wealthy, and 70% white.

The money race

According to OpenSecrets, Steel has raised $6.7 million, spent $5.8 million, and has about $1 million on hand, as of October 19. Her opponent, Chen, has raised $4.5 million, spent $4.2 million, and has about $429,000 cash on hand.

As of late October, several dozen super PACs, national party committees, politically active nonprofits, and other non-candidate groups have together spent more than $5.2 million to advocate for or against candidates in this race, including during the race's primary phase. The pro-Republican Congressional Leadership Fund has alone accounted for more than half of that spending, with the National Republican Congressional Committee accounting for much of the rest.

What experts say

The race between Steel and Chen is rated as "lean Republican" by Inside Elections, "lean Republican" by The Cook Political Report, and "leans Republican" by Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Photograph: Morry Gash/AP

The Republican candidate for governor in Wisconsin told supporters at a campaign event that if he is elected his party will never lose another election in the state.

Related: The Trump playbook: Republicans hint they will deny election results

Tim Michels opponent next Tuesday, the incumbent Democrat Tony Evers, said the comment, which was released by a left-leaning group, showed the Republican was a danger to our democracy.

Michels, a construction company owner, is endorsed by Donald Trump. He has repeated the former presidents lie that his defeat by Joe Biden in 2020 was the result of electoral fraud, and refused to say if he would certify results in a presidential election if he was governor and a Democrat won Wisconsin.

In a debate with Evers last month, Michels did not say he would accept the result of his own election. He later said he would.

Republican candidates in other swing states have cast doubt on whether they will accept results next week.

Fred Wertheimer, president of the non-partisan group Democracy 21, told the Guardian this week: Theres great danger that the Trump big lie is going to spread to states all over the country.

If election deniers lose their elections by narrow margins we can expect that they will reject the results and refuse to accept them.

The Wisconsin governors race remains extremely tight. On Wednesday, the polling website FiveThirtyEight.com gave Michels a 1.6-point lead. The Cook Report, a non-partisan outlet, rated Wisconsin a toss-up.

On Tuesday night, the Republican Wisconsin senator Ron Johnson, locked in his own tight fight with the Democrat Mandela Barnes, declined to commit to accepting that result.

Well see what happens, Johnson said. I mean, is something going to happen on election day? Do Democrats have something up their sleeves?

The Barnes campaign said it would accept the result.

A spokesperson for Michels said the candidates remark about never losing an election was not an indication the Republican would seek to thwart the will of the people.

While revving up supporters to get out and vote, Tim was referring to winning and leading and then being rewarded by voters for doing a good job, the spokesperson said.

An Evers spokesperson said: Democracy is on the ballot. Tim Michels has made it clear he will do anything in his power to make it harder for Wisconsinites to vote and could even overturn the fair results of our elections if he doesnt like the outcome.
Rickey Mackey, 34, is accused of shooting 53-year-old Allen Mullins during an altercation on the Near East Side on Tuesday.

Columbus police are searching for Reynoldsburg man accused of fatally shooting a man during an altercation Tuesday afternoon on the Near East Side, the second homicide in two days.

Rickey Mackey, 34, is charged by city homicide detectives with murder in connection with the death of 53-year-old Allen Mullins.

According to police, around 12:25 p.m. Tuesday, Mullins, who lived on the Near East Side, and Mackey got into an altercation on the 1600 block of Harvard Avenue on the Near East Side.

Mackey is accused of shooting Mullins, who went to Ohio State University East Hospital on his own and succumbed to his injuries at the hospital at 2:36 p.m. Tuesday.

Homicide database:Here's where homicides have occurred in Columbus since 2017

Police said Mackey should not be approached if he is located and police should be contacted immediately.

It's the second homicide in two days that Columbus police are investigating.

Woman's body found in vacant North Linden home

On Monday afternoon, the body of a woman, identified by police as Jessica Sykes, 36, was found in a vacant home in North Linden.

Columbus police said they were called to the 2500 block of Howey Road after someone reported finding a body inside a home that was currently vacant. Sykes was located and pronounced dead at the scene.

Related coverage:Man killed by officers in St. Ann's ER fatally shot a man two days earlier, police say

The investigation later determined Sykes had been shot and her death was a homicide.

Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at 614-645-4730 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-TIPS. All calls to Crime Stoppers are anonymous.

bbruner@dispatch.com

@bethany_bruner

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Reynoldsburg man sought after Near East Side shooting turns fatal
(Bloomberg) -- UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said hell attend the United Nations climate change talks in Egypt next week, reversing his previous decision not to attend.

Most Read from Bloomberg

There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change, Sunak wrote in a Tweet on Wednesday that confirmed his attendance at the Nov. 6-18 summit, known as COP 27.

Its an about-turn from the premiers stance last week, when he said he needed to focus on the depressing domestic challenges we have with the economy. That provoked criticism from Alok Sharma, the minister in Sunaks own government who served as president of the previous COP26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland. He told the Sunday Times he was disappointed the premier wasnt going to Egypt, and argued it would promote engagement with other world leaders on climate issues.

Former premier Boris Johnson announced on Tuesday that he would attend the summit, ratcheting up the pressure on Sunak to change his mind.

Johnson made climate change a focal point of his tenure, but his replacement in Downing Street, Liz Truss, was less committed to the cause and became embroiled in a row with King Charles III after her administration advised the famously environmentalist monarch not to go to the summit. That advice to the King remains, Sunaks office has said.

Questions have been asked in the past about Sunaks commitment to combating global warming, not least when he cut taxes on fuel and flying just days before COP26. While its not unusual for a head of government to miss the UN summit, theres additional impetus for the British premier to go because the UK is handing over the presidency of the talks to Egypt.

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Read: Boris Johnson to Attend COP27 as UK Premier Sunak Mulls U-Turn

--With assistance from Tuhin Kar.

(Updates with details starting in first paragraph)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

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Antonivskyi bridge

According to the message, Kherson River Port remains the only remaining way for civilian vehicles to cross the Dnipro River in Kherson and surrounding areas. The port is near Antonivka Road Bridge and Kakhovka Dam  both are frequently shelled by Ukrainian forces, as they attempt to prevent Moscow from reinforcing its troops on Dnipros western bank.

Read also: Russia expands evacuation of civilians in Kherson Oblast

The decision was reportedly taken due to escalating threats to the civilian population.

The restrictions do not apply to local businesses and companies, transporting food and medical supplies across the river.

Read also: Russia moves Kherson administration to Dnipros east bank

People can get across to Dnipros eastern bank on river transport, or in their own cars via a barge (at the river port), the occupation authorities said.

On Nov. 1, Ukraines General Staff said that Moscow has already moved its civilian administration in the region from Kherson to Skadovsk  60 kilometers south of the regional capital.

Russian propaganda continues to spread narratives of Ukraine allegedly planning to blow up the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Plant dam, which would flood vast areas of Kherson Oblast.

Collaborationist and Moscow-appointed governor of Kherson Oblast, Volodymyr Saldo, earlier said that the evacuation zone from the temporarily captured settlements of Kherson Oblast was extended to 15 kilometers from the Dnipro River.

Read also: Ukraine calls for urgent UN-EU monitoring mission at Kakhovka HPP

Ukrainian Military Intelligence reported Ukraine could liberate the city of Kherson by the end of November.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
UNITED NATIONS (AP)  The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday overwhelmingly rejected Russias attempt to establish a commission to investigate its unfounded claims that Ukraine and the United States are carrying out military biological activities that violate the convention prohibiting the use of biological weapons.

Russia only got support from China in the vote on its resolution, with the U.S., Britain and France voting no" and the 10 other council nations abstaining. The resolution was not approved because it failed to get the minimum nine yes votes required for adoption.

The 2-3-10 vote reflected the councils continuing opposition and skepticism about Russias actions since its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. The council has been paralyzed from taking any action against Russia's military offensive because of Russia's veto power.

Russia circulated the draft resolution and a 310-page document to council members last week alleging that military biological activity is taking place at biological laboratories in Ukraine with support from the U.S. Defense Department.

Russias deputy ambassador Dmitry Polyansky said after the vote that his government was extremely disappointed that the council did not respond positively to its request to establish a commission. Its proposed resolution called for the Security Councils 15 members to carry out the investigation of Russia's complaint, as allowed under Article VI of the biological weapons convention, and present a report with recommendations to the council by Nov. 30.

Polyansky claimed Western countries demonstrated in every way that the law does not apply to them and are ready to trample any norm, to flout any rule, accusing them of a colonial mentality."

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield countered that the United States voted against the resolution because it is based on disinformation, dishonesty, bad faith, and a total lack of respect for this body.

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Before the vote, Russias Polyansky called the resolution a considerable milestone that would show whether the Security Council was prepared to act in line with international law giving state parties to the biological weapons convention the right to seek an investigation at the Security Council.

It is a milestone for Russias deception and lies, Thomas-Greenfield shot back. And the world sees it.

At a meeting in September of the 197 state parties to the biological weapons convention, she said, Russia failed to provide any credible evidence to support these false allegations and an overwhelming number of countries that spoke considered that the issues raised by Russia were unsubstantiated and had been conclusively addressed.

But Thomas-Greenfield said that wasnt enough for Russia and it inappropriately raised the same false claims here, abusing its position and abusing us.

Mexico's deputy ambassador Juan Manuel Gomez Robledo, whose country abstained, said Russia didn't provide evidence to activate an investigation. He said it was not realistic" to set up a commission to report in 28 days  and a commission could not be independent and objective if Russia as a council member was included so it would have to be excluded since it is one of the parties involved in the armed conflict."

Russias initial allegation of secret American biological warfare labs in Ukraine in March has been disputed by independent scientists, Ukrainian leaders and officials at the White House and Pentagon. An Associated Press investigation in March found the claim was taking root online, uniting COVID-19 conspiracy theorists, QAnon adherents and some supporters of former President Donald Trump.

Ukraine does have a network of biological labs that have gotten funding and research support from the U.S. They are owned and operated by Ukraine and are part of an initiative called the Biological Threat Reduction Program that aims to reduce the likelihood of deadly outbreaks, whether natural or manmade. The U.S. efforts date back to work in the 1990s to dismantle the former Soviet Unions program for weapons of mass destruction.

Russia called a Security Council meeting on its claims last Thursday, which the United States and its Western allies vehemently dismissed.

Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador, called the meeting a colossal waste of time and said the claims are part of a Moscow disinformation campaign that is attempting to distract from the atrocities Russian forces are carrying out in Ukraine and a desperate tactic to justify an unjustifiable war.

Ukraine does not have a biological weapons program, she said. The United States does not have a biological weapons program. There are no Ukrainian biological weapons laboratories supported by the United States.

Russias U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused the U.S. of conducting work in Ukraine with deadly pathogens  including cholera, plague, anthrax and influenza  that couldnt be justified under the guise of public health. He said documents and evidence recovered by Russian authorities suggested a military application.

Nebenzia told the Security Council that the Russian military during its time in Ukraine had recovered drones capable of spraying bioagents as well as documents that he said related to research on the possibility of spreading pathogens through bats and migrating birds.

Thomas-Greenfield countered that Russias claims are absurd for many reasons, including because such species, even if they could be weaponized, would pose as much a threat to the European continent and to Ukraine itself as they would to any other country.

Russia's Polyansky told the council Wednesday that regardless of the vote, the questions to the United States and Ukraine is something that we do retain and the evidence accompanying our complaint still requires clarifications."

He said Russia will continue to make efforts to establish the facts through the biological weapons convention and any violators will still have to be held accountable by the international community.

___

Associated Press writer David Klepper contributed to this report.
NextShark

Qatar World Cup coverage in China has sparked an uproar among Weibo users, who have been speaking out against the Chinese governments implementation of its strict zero-COVID policy. Initial coverage of the football tournament that showed audiences not wearing protective masks in Qatar has caused many in China to question the continued widespread lockdowns, quarantines and mass-testing campaigns in the country. Weibo users pointed out that the maskless crowds show that the rest of the world has found a means to live with COVID-19 without excessive measures, according to Agence France-Presse.
(Reuters) -President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday reserved Russia's right to withdraw again from an international agreement allowing Ukraine to export grain via the Black Sea, after ending four days of non-cooperation with the deal.

If Russia did so, however, Putin said it would not impede shipments of grain from Ukraine to Turkey.

Moscow had on Saturday pulled out of the arrangement, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations, saying it could not guarantee the safety of civilian ships crossing the Black Sea because of a drone attack on its fleet there.

Wednesday's U-turn followed a phone call between Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday and consultations between their defence ministers.

In a statement, Russia's defence ministry said that, with the help of the United Nations and NATO-member Turkey, it had obtained sufficient written guarantees from Ukraine that it would not use the secure shipping corridor or its designated Ukrainian ports for strikes against Russia.

Putin affirmed the receipt of those commitments, and said that if Russia withdrew once more because of Ukrainian breaches, it would substitute the entire volume of grain destined for the "poorest countries" for free from its own stocks.

But, in a nod to Turkey's influence, as well as what he called its "neutrality" in Russia's conflict with Ukraine, he added: "In any case, we will not in the future impede deliveries of grain from Ukrainian territory to the Turkish Republic."

'UNEXPECTED TURNAROUND'

Moscow had said on Monday it would be risky and unacceptable for ships to continue sailing through the secure corridor set up under the deal, which had freed up Ukrainian ports and shipping lanes that Russia had previously blockaded.

Despite the Russian move, ships had continued to export Ukrainian grain, and a record volume moved on Monday.

"This is quite an unexpected turnaround," said Andrey Sizov, head of the Russia-focused Sovecon agriculture consultancy.

Story continues

"We did not bury this deal, but we did not expect Russia's return to it so soon either, as it was not very clear what kind of guarantees Russia could get and how quickly it would happen. But, well, good job Erdogan."

Even after the call with the Turkish leader, the Kremlin had said Moscow would only consider resuming the agreement after a "detailed investigation" of a drone attack on Saturday against its Black Sea Fleet in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, which it accused Ukraine of carrying out with support from Britain.

Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for the attack and denies using the humanitarian corridor for military purposes. Britain has denied involvement and accused Russia of trying to divert attention from its military failures in Ukraine.

Russian political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya said Wednesday's announcement represented an acknowledgement by Putin that he could not block the shipments.

"The Kremlin itself simply fell into a trap from which it did not know how to get out," she said.

"It was necessary to retreat and put on a good face (not very successfully) when faced with a bad game. That is, Putin, no matter how preoccupied he is with Ukraine, his historical mission and his faith that he's right, remains a moderately rational politician who knows how to retreat if necessary."

(Additional reporting by Polina Devitt, writing by Mark Trevelyan, editing by Guy Faulconbridge/Andrew Osborn)
The middle route of China's South-to-North Water Diversion Project has completed its annual water diversion target this year, with the amount of water transferred hitting a record high.

The route has transferred about 9.21 billion cubic meters of water from major rivers in the south to the country's parched north from Nov. 1, 2021 to Oct. 31 this year, 27.4 percent more than the yearly plan, according to the Ministry of Water Resources.

So far, the middle and eastern routes of the water diversion project have transferred over 57.6 billion cubic meters of water, benefiting 150 million people, said the ministry. Meanwhile, rivers and lakes along the routes have been replenished with more than 9.2 billion cubic meters of water.

The country's South-to-North Water Diversion Project has three routes.

The middle route begins at the Danjiangkou Reservoir in central China's Hubei Province and runs through Henan and Hebei before reaching Beijing and Tianjin; the eastern route transfers water from eastern Jiangsu Province to areas including Tianjin and Shandong; and the western route is yet to be built.
Ukrainian soldiers in a frontline trench in the Kherson region on Sept. 21, 2022. (Jim Huylebroek/The New York Times)

WASHINGTON  Senior Russian military leaders recently had conversations to discuss when and how Moscow might use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine, contributing to heightened concern in Washington and allied capitals, according to multiple senior American officials.

President Vladimir Putin was not a part of the conversations, which were held against the backdrop of Russias intensifying nuclear rhetoric and battlefield setbacks.

But the fact that senior Russian military leaders were even having the discussions alarmed the Biden administration because it showed how frustrated Russian generals were about their failures on the ground, and suggests that Putins veiled threats to use nuclear weapons might not just be words.

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Still, American officials said they had seen no evidence that the Russians were moving nuclear weapons into place or taking other tactical measures to prepare for a strike.

The intelligence about the conversations was circulated inside the U.S. government in mid-October.

U.S. officials would not describe the scenarios the military leaders considered for use of a nuclear weapon. However, William J. Burns, the CIA director, has previously said that Putins potential desperation to extract a victory in Ukraine and setbacks in the war could lead Russia to use one.

John F. Kirby, a National Security Council official, declined to comment on the particulars of this reporting.

Weve been clear from the outset that Russias comments about the potential use of nuclear weapons are deeply concerning, and we take them seriously, Kirby said. We continue to monitor this as best we can, and we see no indications that Russia is making preparations for such use.

The Pentagon estimates that Russia has a stockpile of as many as 2,000 tactical nuclear weapons, which are designed to be used on battlefields to overwhelm conventional forces. No tactical nuclear weapon has ever been used in combat, but one could be deployed any number of ways, including by missile or artillery shell.

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Tactical nuclear weapons carry lower yields and are meant to be used at shorter ranges than the warheads carried on intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Military experts say the use of a nuclear weapon  for the first time in more than 75 years  would fundamentally change the shape of war. Although the resulting destruction would depend on many factors, including the weapons size and the winds, even a small nuclear explosion could cause thousands of deaths and render parts of Ukraine uninhabitable.

Putin has sole authority over whether to use a tactical device and would make the decision to deploy one regardless of the views of his generals.

The new intelligence surfaced when Moscow was also promoting the baseless notion that Ukraine was planning to use a so-called dirty bomb  a conventional explosive laced with radioactive material. And it came amid a flurry of contacts between U.S. and other Western officials and their Russian counterparts, including two calls between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the Russian defense minister, Sergei Shoigu.

While the risk of further escalation remains troublingly high, Biden administration officials and U.S. allies also say that the phone calls between Western and Russian counterparts late last month helped ease some of the nuclear tensions. A speech by Putin last Thursday in which he denied that Moscow was preparing to use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine further lowered the temperature, according to some of the officials.

We see no need for that, Putin said in his speech. There is no point in that, neither political, nor military.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February and suffered significant casualties, Putin himself has fanned fears that he might resort to a nuclear weapon.

A European official said the speech was seen among allies as part of Putins regular pattern of inflaming tensions, watching the reaction of the West and his own public, then taking steps to calm the situation.

Russia conducted an annual military exercise last week testing nuclear-capable missiles. Austin said U.S. officials did not believe the maneuvers were some kind of cover activity to use a tactical nuclear weapon against Ukraine.

In Washington, administration officials say they still do not think Putin has made plans to use a tactical nuclear weapon or even a dirty bomb.

We have not seen anything to indicate that Putin has made a decision to use a dirty bomb, Austin told reporters at the Pentagon last Thursday. He said that even talk of the use of nuclear weapons was dangerous.

But he said the administration was certainly concerned about escalation, as it has been since the war started.

It would be the first time a nuclear weapon has been used in over 70 years, he said. If this happened, we have been clear from the very beginning that you would see a very significant response from the international community.

Biden administration officials have steadfastly refused to publicly describe what that response would be, but the president has indicated he has no plans to retaliate with a U.S. nuclear device.

Im the guy that makes the recommendation to my boss on what we should do and how we should do it, and so Ill make sure that he has credible responses that are actually effective in terms of what we want to do, Austin said, without elaborating.

For Putin, using a smaller-yield, tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine presents more complications than ordering the firing of a strategic weapon, like an ICBM. Moving a tactical nuclear weapon is not simply a matter of giving an order and having two people turn keys.

There would be practical steps that Russian commanders would be alerted to be ready to carry out, including how to mitigate any risk to Russian military personnel in the blast area.

If theres an order from the Kremlin, it cant just magically happen, Peter B. Zwack, a retired one-star Army general who was the U.S. defense attache in Moscow from 2012 to 2014, said in an interview last week.

From the beginning of the war, U.S. intelligence agencies have been looking for signs that Putin is taking preparatory steps to use a nuclear weapon, such as undeclared nuclear exercises or strategic forces being put on alert.

But American officials said that the warning systems to detect such steps were imperfect, and that there was no guarantee that military or intelligence officials would be able to give the White House much advance warning. That is one reason the intelligence about the Russian discussions was viewed with such interest.

With the high-level nuclear discussions, the Russian military is weighing what might prompt Moscows use of a tactical weapon. And any additional intense discussions among senior leaders about the use of a nuclear weapon is something American officials have been profoundly concerned about  especially if Russias army in the south of Ukraine were to collapse.

Tensions over nuclear weapon use have been rising steadily since Ukraines successful counteroffensive in early September.

Since then, Putin has taken steps to escalate the conflict  calling for a mobilization, annexing territory in Ukraine, getting more directly involved in war planning, and approving a campaign to attack and degrade the electrical power grid of Ukraine with cruise missiles and Iranian drones.

Those steps have not changed Russias fortunes, and Ukrainian forces continue to move forward on fronts in the northeast and the south.

Still, some of those escalatory moves, like bringing in more troops, could have more impact on the battlefield by early next year.

Officials expect intense fighting to continue into next month, but muddier conditions and colder weather in the next few weeks could force a pause into earlier next year.

 2022 The New York Times Company
Russian President Vladimir Putin with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Gen. Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the Russian military's General Staff, September 13, 2021. Kremlin Press Office / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Russian leaders discussed using a nuclear weapon in Ukraine, The New York Times reported.

The discussions have heightened concern among western officials.

Russia has suggested it could use the weapons as it sees setbacks in its invasion of Ukraine.

Russian military leaders have discussed using tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine amid a string of battlefield setbacks, The New York Times reported.

Senior US officials told the publication that the group of Russian military leaders had discussed how and when Russia might deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

The report said that Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has ultimate authority over their deployment, was not part of the conversations, the Times reported.

The conversation has alarmed officials in the Biden administration, the report said, because they show how frustrated Russia's leaders are about the failures in Russia's military campaign, and that there may be substance behind Putin's recent threats to use nuclear weapons.

But US officials did tell the Times that there was no sign that nuclear weapons were being readied for use by Russia.

And National Security Council official John F. Kirby told the Times that "We continue to monitor this as best we can, and we see no indications that Russia is making preparations for such use."

It is not clear when exactly these Russian military conversations took place, but the Times reported that the US government got intelligence about them in mid-October.

Tactical nuclear weapons are designed for use on the battlefield, and even though they have a lower destructive capacity than those designed to destroy whole cities, they could still kill thousands and render parts of Ukraine uninhabitable.

According to the Times, it was unclear what specific situations might lead to a nuclear strike by Russia.

CIA Director William Burns has previously said that Putin's "potential desperation" to achieve victory in Ukraine, and the failures of the Russian military, could prompt the use of a nuclear weapon.

Story continues

In recent weeks, the Ukrainian military has pushed Russia back across a swath of territory in east Ukraine.

Reports have spread of hastily mobilized Russian civilians sent into battle with little to no training or equipment in response to high battlefield casualties.

Putin has annexed territory in east Ukraine, and said Russia would attack the West with nuclear weapons if it sought to interfere.

Russian officials have baselessly claimed Ukraine is planning on using a "dirty" bomb, in what some analysts said could be a way for Russia to spread fear it was planning to launch a nuclear strike of its own.

But the report said that following recent direct talks between Gen. Mark Milley, Chariman of the Joint Chiefs; and his counterpart, Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff, temperatures have cooled, and Putin in public remarks last Thursday said Russia was not planning on using a nuclear weapon.

Read the original article on Business Insider
LONDON (Reuters) - Russia will resume its participation in the Black Sea grain deal, its defence ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

Here is a translation by Reuters from the Russian.

"The Russian Federation suspended the implementation of the agreement on the export of agricultural products from Ukrainian ports (the "Black Sea Initiative") after Ukraine committed a terrorist act on October 29 this year against ships of the Black Sea Fleet and civilian vessels involved in ensuring the security of the "grain corridor."

"Russia's position was brought to the attention of U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the U.N. Security Council.

"With the help of an international organisation and Turkey, the necessary written guarantees from Ukraine on not using the humanitarian corridor and Ukrainian ports designated for the export of agricultural products for military operations against the Russian Federation were obtained and submitted to the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) on 1 November 2022.

"In particular, the Ukrainian side officially pledged that 'the Maritime Humanitarian Corridor will be used only in accordance with the provisions of the Black Sea Initiative and the related JCC regulation.'

"The Russian Federation believes that the guarantees received at the moment appear sufficient, and resumes implementation of the agreement  the Initiative for the Safe Transportation of Grain and Food from Ukrainian ports (the 'Black Sea Initiative') - which was suspended after the terrorist attack in Sevastopol."

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
A Salisbury man pleaded guilty and was sentenced in an attempted murder case in which shots were fired during a party, the Office of the State's Attorney for Wicomico County said.

Mohammed Tarer, 20, pleaded guilty Oct. 26 to one count each of attempted first-degree murder and possession of a regulated firearm - under 21, according to the Wicomico County state's attorney's office Tuesday news release. Newton Jackson, senior judge of the Circuit Court for Wicomico County, sentenced Tarer to a total of 30 years in prison, suspending all but 20 years of active incarceration.

On Nov. 20, 2021, Salisbury Police officers responded to the area of Williams Landing for reports of shots fired. Once there, officers located a person who had struck by three bullets, the state's attorney's office said. The victim was taken to TidalHealth Peninsula Regional for treatment and surgery.

Officers learned a group of four men, including Mohammed Tarer, came to the location uninvited and attempted to gain access to a party, the Tuesday news release states. When turned away, they began fighting with those at the party.

The victim attempted to stop the fight, but "Tarer pulled a gun from his waistband and fired multiple times, striking the victim and one other individual who was with the suspect," the Wicomico state's attorney's office said.

BACKGROUND: 19-year-old arrested in connection with Salisbury shooting that sent 2 to hospital: police

Initial police reports said a semi-automatic handgun had been fired into the crowd.

Surveillance footage from the area and multiple social media accounts aided in identifying Tarer as the shooter, the news release states. Tarer was located and arrested Nov. 22, 2021.

This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: Salisbury man convicted, sentenced in attempted murder
NEWARK  Authorities are still searching for a man who allegedly shot two Newark police officers at close range Tuesday afternoon during an altercation outside a city apartment building, Mayor Ras Baraka said at a news conference later that night.

The officers - whom Baraka declined to identify - were investigating a citizen's report that 30-year-old Kendall Howard, wanted for a separate shooting on Oct. 28, was holed up inside a building on Van Velsor Place, the mayor said. Units from the city's 5th Precinct responded to the address at about 1:15 p.m., Baraka said.

The officers could not find Howard inside, according to the mayor. But they allegedly stumbled upon him in the back parking lot as they went to leave the complex, he said. Police spoke to the man briefly, and an altercation ensued. Then Howard allegedly pulled a gun and shot two officers at close range, Baraka said.

The police quickly returned fire as the man retreated inside. On Tuesday night, SWAT units were moving through the building, searching each apartment in pursuit of Howard.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka speaks during a press conference on Goldsmith Avenue after 2 Newark Police officers were shot on Tuesday, November 1, 2022.

Baraka urged nearby residents to stay in their homes until authorities found the suspect.

The mayor said one officer was shot in the leg while the other was shot near the neck and shoulder, a wound that required surgery. Both are in stable condition and expected to live.

Howard should be considered armed and dangerous, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office said. He has been charged with two counts of attempted murder plus weapons offenses. He is 6-foot-3-inches tall, weights between 180 and 200 pounds, and has a tattoo on the back of his neck that says "feather," according to the prosecutor's office.

Officers from a number of local, county, state and federal agencies swarmed the area around the apartment building, which was cordoned off for about a half-mile in each direction. Authorities set up a staging area near Goldsmith Avenue, which remained busy late into Tuesday night.

A New Jersey State Police helicopter hovered overhead for much of the afternoon as authorities continued their search.

Story continues

Public officials reacted to the shooting in statements throughout the day.

Democratic Congressman Donald Payne Jr. said in a statement Tuesday afternoon that he was aware of and closely monitoring the active shooter situation unfolding in Newark.

I encourage everyone to follow the directions of police, stay away from the scene and remain vigilant by going indoors and locking your doors, Payne said. I am also praying for the two courageous officers wounded today and am praying for their full recovery.

Gov. Murphy tweeted Tuesday that he was "aware of and closely monitoring an unfolding situation in Newark."

"I am in touch with local authorities and the State is providing resources as requested," Murphy wrote. "We will continue to support local law enforcement and ensure that all residents are safe."

Law enforcement respond on Chancellor Avenue after 2 Newark Police officers were injured on Tuesday, November 1, 2022.

Elijah Moore was in his bedroom when he heard gunshots ring through his neighborhood. He immediately moved away from the window after hearing what he said were a lot of shots, possibly more than a dozen.

I didnt know what to do, if they were getting into my building, said Moore, 33.

This report contains material from the Associated Press.

Check back for more on this developing story.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Newark NJ police officers shot and injured, mayor says
Senegal's main opposition leader Ousmane Sonko on Wednesday urged his supporters to remain calm on the eve of a court hearing in a rape case against him that has previously sparked deadly riots.

"I solemnly ask everyone to stay quietly at home or to go about their business quietly," said the 48-year-old politician, who came third in the last presidential election and plans to run again in 2024.

He was accused last year of raping an employee of a beauty salon where he was getting a massage.

His arrest and indictment in March 2021 led to several days of riots, looting and destruction that left about a dozen dead.

"If we accept to fight, we will do it," Sonko -- who claims he was set up by President Macky Sall's government to knock his 2024 presidential bid off course -- said in a livestreamed address Wednesday.

"We are not there yet, my fellow citizens."

Sonko, who is expected in court at noon (GMT and local) Thursday, told his supporters that the summons would be an "ordinary" procedure that he had in fact been "demanding for a very long time".

"We have wanted it because this system must be definitively dealt with -- because it is a plot hatched at the top of the state," he said.

Earlier Wednesday, members of Sonko's political coalition expressed their solidarity with him, promising to "stand together" in the face of "any injustice".

- 'Tactical game' -

Sonko claims the president is attempting to set a trap for him and his supporters.

"Don't go to my house, don't go to court -- we don't have to fall into Macky Sall's trap," he said.

"(Sall) is in a dynamic of creating chaos... We are now in a tactical game; they must not be more intelligent than us."

Sonko, who was elected mayor of the southern city of Ziguinchor in January, has enjoyed a rapid political rise in part thanks to his popularity with young people -- half of Senegal's population is under 20 years old.

But critics characterise him as a populist firebrand. He regularly tears into social elites and corruption, slamming the economic and political grip of multinational firms and former colonial power France.

Story continues

He attempted to contest the July legislative elections, but the candidate list he was named on was invalidated over a technicality.

That led to fresh clashes in June that left several people dead.

Senegal has a general reputation for stability in a region where political turbulence is widespread.

In recent years, several other prominent opponents of the president have seen their political careers cut short by legal cases.

Sall, who was elected in 2012 and again 2019, has remained vague on whether he intends to run for a controversial third term in 2024.

amt-prc/imm
Vladimir Putin Alexei Babushkin/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images

Senior Russian military leaders recently had discussions on when and how the Kremlin might use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine, The New York Times reported early Wednesday, citing multiple senior U.S. officials. Russian President Vladimir Putin, the only one in Russia who could order a nuclear attack, was not part of the discussions.

The intelligence about the discussions, which circulated within the U.S. government in mid-October, did not change the prevailing assessment that Russia is not taking steps to actually use a tactical nuke or "dirty bomb" in Ukraine, the Times reports. The fact that these senior Russian officials were even discussing the option, however, "alarmed the Biden administration because it showed how frustrated Russian generals were about their failures on the ground" and suggests "Putin's veiled threats to use nuclear weapons might not just be words."

A tactical nuke is a relatively low-yield nuclear weapon, and a dirty bomb is a conventional explosive laced with radioactive material  both would spread radiation and terror around Ukraine.

"We've been clear from the outset that Russia's comments about the potential use of nuclear weapons are deeply concerning, and we take them seriously," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told the Times. "We continue to monitor this as best we can, and we see no indications that Russia is making preparations for such use."

Putin recently walked back his suggestion that Russia might use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine, saying "there is no point in that, neither political nor military." The Pentagon has said it has plenty of ways of responding if Russia did cross that line, and the general assumption is the response would involving conventional, non-nuclear attacks on Russian targets in Ukraine. "Military analysts believe that in a head-to-head matchup of conventional forces, NATO far and away has the advantage," The Washington Post reports.

"That's why he's been making these nuclear threats all along anyway; he's been trying to deter NATO from getting involved conventionally," Heather Williams at the Center for Strategic and International Studies tells the Post. She said the bigger deterrent, though, is the "huge risk" that "any nuclear use" would cost Putin the support of China and India, Russia's last remaining powerful allies.

Story continues

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The South Korean National Police Agency raided Seoul police stations Wednesday as part of an investigation into the weekends deadly crowd surge that left 156 people dead.

The raids came after it was revealed that Seouls police department received at least 11 calls about the out-of-control Halloween partyers amassed in the Itaewon neighborhood Saturday, leading to a crushing event in a narrow alleyway.

The raids were conducted on offices of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and Yongsan Districts police station, district office and fire department. Local police have been criticized for not deploying more personnel or crowd control measures in the popular nightlife area.

National police chief Yoon Hee-keun said investigators were looking into how the emergency calls were handled and how officers who were at the scene responded to the surging crowd size.

Lee Im-jae, chief of the Yongsan police station, was also suspended, according to the National Police Agency.

Transcripts of the emergency calls, including one made about four hours before the deadly crush, were also released publicly.

People arent able to come down but [people] are also pushing up and I think [they] could get crushed to death, one caller who was in front of a convenience store observing the scene said.

Another caller reported that people were falling down and getting hurt hours before the first deaths were reported.

We are on the brink of having a major accident here, a caller told officials soon after.

Please do something about this street. I really think people are going to die, said another.

Can you come as quickly as possible? It looks like a very dangerous situation here right now, said another caller about 20 minutes before the deadly crush.

The investigators acknowledged the lackluster response.

There were a number of reports on the police emergency hotline indicating the seriousness of the (situation) just before the accident occurred, Yoon, the national police chief, said.

The chief also described the local police response as inadequate.

With News Wire Services
A retired police sergeant died from an illness resulting from his rescue efforts at ground zero on Sept. 11, 2001, the New York State Police said in a news release.

Ivan Morales, 42, joined the New York City Police Department in 2001 and, while he was still at the police academy, assisted in rescue and recovery efforts at the World Trade Center following the terrorist attacks, according to his obituary.

Morales later joined the New York State Police in 2005, serving on the force for 17 years and retiring as a sergeant, according to the release.

Ivan loved nothing more than being a dad and watching the New York Yankees, stated his obituary.

Almost 10,000 first responders to 9/11 have been diagnosed with cancer and [m]ore than 2,000 deaths have been attributed to 9/11 illnesses as of 2018, according to the Poughkeepsie Journal.

No one has ever codified or captured all the stuff that was released from that pile [at ground zero], Dr. Michael Crane, medical director of the World Trade Center Health Program Clinical Center of Excellence at Mount Sinai, told the outlet. Its an unknown exposure.

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Next Tuesdays midterm elections will have huge implications for President Biden, his party and the Republicans who hope to replace him in the White House in the 2024 election.

The careers of some of the most senior members of Congress will also be on the line.

Here are the seven people who will have the most at stake as the results come in.

President Biden

President Biden speaks during a visit to the Democratic National Committee headquarters

President Biden speaks during a visit to the Democratic National Committee headquarters on Monday, Oct. 24, 2022, in Washington (Associated Press).

Its hard to overstate the importance of the midterm results for the president.

If Democrats lose control of the House  an outcome that is highly probable  Biden will be hamstrung for the final two years of his first term, at least when it comes to domestic policy.

Its also virtually certain that he, his administration and his family  in particular, his son Hunter Biden  will face GOP-led investigations. Whether or not actual wrongdoing is discovered, those probes could be personally embarrassing and politically arduous.

Then theres the impact on the presidents broader political standing to consider.

If Democrats keep their House losses modest and retain control of the Senate, Biden can push forward in seeking a second term.

But if his party suffers heavy defeats, the whisperings about whether the president should step aside after a single term will grow much louder.

Even if Biden were to choose to soldier on in that scenario, the chances of a primary challenge would rise exponentially.

Former President Trump

Donald Trump

Former President Donald Trump departs Trump Tower, Aug. 10, 2022, in New York, on his way to the New York attorney generals office for a deposition in civil investigation. (Associated Press)

Trump has involved himself in the midterms from the start, making a huge number of endorsements in Republican primaries. In most cases, his backing helped lift his chosen candidates to victory.

But next Tuesday brings a moment of truth as the former president and his party mull the possibility of him running again in 2024.

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The fate of Trump-backed candidates in tight races will be crucial. Senate candidates Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, Herschel Walker in Georgia and J.D. Vance in Ohio as well as two Arizona candidates  Kari Lake for governor and Blake Masters for Senate  will be the most closely watched of all.

If most or all of those candidates win, it will be a powerful rebuttal to the argument that Trump and Trumpism have limited or fading appeal.

On the other hand, if the Trump-backed candidates lose, it is bound to fuel doubts, even within the GOP, about his belligerent and polarizing approach.

Such an outcome would also prove that one of Trumps main internal foes, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), was on solid ground when he fretted about candidate quality back in August.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R)

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) electability argument is on the line in the Nov. 8 midterm elections. (Getty)

DeSantis is widely seen as the only Republican who has a chance of defeating Trump for the partys 2024 presidential nomination.

DeSantiss backers contend that he has many of the same right-wing populist instincts as Trump but brings less of the self-defeating chaos to the table.

DeSantiss electability argument is likely to grow stronger next Tuesday, when the Florida governor is expected to win reelection comfortably over his Democratic opponent, former Rep. Charlie Crist (Fla.).

In the RealClearPolitics average on Tuesday, DeSantis led Crist by 12.3 percentage points.

If the actual result is close to that margin, it will be very impressive in a state that is still a battleground, albeit a Republican-leaning one.

Trump defeated Biden in the Sunshine State by just 3 points in 2020, and DeSantis himself edged out Democrat Andrew Gillum by less than a point in his first gubernatorial race in 2018.

Conversely, an unexpectedly strong performance by Crist would put a dent in the Florida governors 2024 hopes.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D)

Gavin Newsom

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at the California Association of Realtors Legislative Day in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, April 27, 2022. (Associated Press)

For Californias governor, next Tuesday isnt really about his own race.

There is no serious doubt that Newsom will win a second term to lead the Golden State. Most polls give him a lead of about 20 points.

But results elsewhere could be crucial for his future ambitions.

Newsom has been the boldest Democrat in putting his name in the frame as a potential alternative to Biden in 2024.

He has run TV ads on the other side of the country, dinging DeSantis in Florida  a move that seemed mainly designed to spur buzz and media speculation.

He has been critical of the national partys messaging and overall approach, asking rhetorically during a September appearance in Texas, Where are we? Where are we organizing, bottom up, a compelling alternative narrative? Where are we going on the offense every single day?

And although he contends hes not running for president, its hard to find many Democrats who believe him  especially if Biden falters.

On the other hand, an unexpectedly strong night for Democrats next Tuesday could close the window of opportunity for Newsom.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) addresses reporters during her weekly press conference on Friday, September 30, 2022. (Greg Nash)

Pelosi has led House Democrats for almost 20 years, but her epic run will likely come to an end soon if the party suffers a significant defeat next Tuesday.

Pelosi is a formidable political operator, but it seems highly doubtful she, at 82, would try to hold on to her leadership position in the hope of reclaiming the Speakers gavel in 2024 or beyond.

Plenty of House Democrats are already restless about a leadership team that is rounded out by 83-year-old Rep. Steny Hoyer (Md.) as majority leader and 82-year-old Rep. James Clyburn (S.C.) as majority whip.

All that being said, its perilous to ever count Pelosi out.

If Democrats were to surprise everyone by holding on to the House, or even limiting the GOP to a tiny majority, all bets would be off.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.)

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.)

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) addresses reporters following the weekly policy luncheon on Tuesday, September 20, 2022. (Peter Afriyie)

The Florida senator is sometimes mentioned as a potential 2024 presidential candidate, but he has a lot riding on the Senate results on Tuesday for other reasons too.

Scott is head of the Senate Republicans campaign arm, the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

More importantly, a proposal he outlined back in February has been seized on by Democrats.

One aspect of Scotts 11-point plan proved more politically toxic than any other  the proposal that all federal legislation would sunset after five years, meaning that it would lapse unless it was reauthorized.

The provision would apply to Social Security and Medicare, enormously popular programs on which seniors depend.

Democrats, including Biden and former President Obama, have hit the point hard on the campaign trail, suggesting the GOP would decimate the programs.

McConnell sprinted away from Scotts plan almost as soon as it was announced.

If Senate Republicans have a disappointing night, some of the blame will accrue to Scott.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.)

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.)

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) speaks during a House Jan. 6 committee hearing on Thursday, October 13, 2022 to focus on former President Trumps efforts to remain in power following his 2020 election defeat. (Peter Afriyie)

Cheney, Trumps most ardent Republican foe on Capitol Hill, has no election to fight. She was defeated in a landslide by pro-Trump challenger Harriet Hageman in an August primary.

Cheneys alienation from todays GOP is all but complete  in recent weeks, she has even endorsed some Democratic candidates, including Rep. Tim Ryan (Ohio) for Senate and Rep. Elissa Slotkin (Mich.) for reelection to the House.

Its a very safe bet that Cheney will be watching closely for how the most pro-Trump candidates fare  especially those who have echoed the former presidents false claims of election fraud, including Arizonas Lake.

The GOP writ large isnt going to come around to Cheneys point of view anytime soon. But she would likely take some measure of satisfaction if the MAGA wing had a bad night.

If the results go the other way, it will just be one more sign that she was on the losing side in the GOPs civil war.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Rich Polk / Getty Images

Sharon Stone said she was misdiagnosed and mistreated for what turned out to be a large fibroid.

On Instagram, the actress urged women to seek second opinions, which can be life-saving.

Women can be at higher risk of misdiagnoses, in part due to how medical students are trained.

Sharon Stone is encouraging other women to "get a second opinion" after learning she has a "large fibroid tumor" that, she says, was originally misdiagnosed and improperly treated.

In an Instagram story Tuesday, the 64-year-old Basic Instinct star said that after her misdiagnosis, her pain worsened to the point of needing a "double epidural." So she sought a second opinion and learned about the tumor, which "must come out," she said.

Stone didn't say what her original diagnosis was, or what "incorrect procedure" was performed.

Fibroids, or tumors in the uterus that are almost always noncancerous, are very common and usually don't cause symptoms, according to UCLA Health. When they do, though, they can cause pelvic pain and bleeding. Treatment options range from watchful waiting to various types of surgery.

Stone, a Golden Globe winner and an Academy Award nominee, said that recovering from her treatment will knock her out for four to six weeks.

"Ladies in particular: Don't get blown off," she wrote. Getting a second opinion, she added, "can save your life."

Instagram/Sharon Stone

Stone also shared a screenshot of an article stating that studies show women are more likely than men to suffer misdiagnoses.

Indeed, one study found that younger women were two times more likely than young men to have a medical expert give a mental-health diagnosis when their symptoms pointed more to heart disease.

Research also shows that women patients also tend to wait longer for cancer and heart-disease diagnoses than men, Insider previously reported.

Women are "not being believed, and that's causing significant delays in care, misdiagnosis, late diagnosis, ineffective treatment, and ineffective triaging," Dr. Garima Sharma, an internal-medicine physician and cardiologist at Johns Hopkins previously told Insider. "Women are paying a very heavy price," she added.

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One reason for misdiagnosis disparities is that medical literature largely focuses on how symptoms present in white men. So, students and doctors might not know how to spot these signs in other patients or suggest treatment plans for them.

Dr. Christina Johnson, a family physician who said she's been misdiagnosed and gaslighted herself, previously told Insider she recommends patients set expectations with their providers ahead of the visit, understand that clinicians can't perform every test at once, and ask specific questions like "what's our next step?" if they're not satisfied.

If that doesn't work, seek second and third opinions.

"There are thousands and thousands of clinicians out there who love what they do," she said, "who love helping patients, who love answering their questions and getting those diagnoses, who love helping to prevent disease, who love helping people to overcome their illnesses and get through their illnesses every day."

Read the original article on Insider
CANAL WINCHESTER  The Fairfield County Sheriff's Office responded to a reported bomb threat at Canal Winchester Middle School on Tuesday, according to a news release from Sheriff Alex Lape.

According to Lape, the school initially became aware of the potential risk when the suspect called Canal Winchester Middle School and made the bomb threat. From there local officials acted fast to respond to the threat.

School officials coordinated a temporary evacuation while Fairfield County Sheriff's Office Deputies and the Columbus Fire Department searched the premises. The Columbus Fire Department Bomb Squad Canine Unit was utilized to conduct a thorough search which ultimately resulted in no explosive devices being located. No injuries were reported as a result of the evacuation.

Fairfield County Sheriff's Office Detectives have identified a juvenile suspect, a 12-year-old male, and will be preparing an appropriate charge referral.

This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Sheriff responds to bomb threat at Canal Winchester Middle School
Wreckage of an Iranian-made kamikaze drone used by Russia

The UAVs were destroyed in Kyiv Oblast as they approached the capital.

Read also: 300 Shahed-136 drones destroyed by Armed Forces, including 6 in last night

"At night, fighter aircraft of air defense units and units that directly defend objects on the outskirts of the capital destroyed six Shaheds," the message reads.

In total, 12 out of 13 kamikaze drones were shot down in Ukraine overnight. The Ukrainian Air Force clarified that the attack drones were destroyed in the eastern and central regions of Ukraine, but did not say in which specific oblasts.

On the night of Nov. 1, the Russian military struck Poltava Oblast with four suicide drones.

Read also: Iran to supply Russia with more than 200 drones in November, says Ukrainian defense intelligence agency

On the night of Nov. 2, it was reported that Shaheds were moving toward Poltava Oblast from Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Later they were spotted over Kremenchuk.

Since early October, the Russian military has been attacking Ukrainian cities with Iranian-made kamikaze drones. According to intelligence, in November Iran plans to supply Russia with more than 200 combat drones.

CNN wrote that Tehran also intends to supply the Kremlin regime with 1,000 short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missiles for the war against Ukraine.

Read also: Iran ready to send more drones, missiles to Russia for its war against Ukraine, reports Reuters

At the same time, the Iranian authorities  despite their being ample evidence of Irans military cooperation with Moscow  continue to deny supplying weapons to Russia.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
A new judge will hear San Luis Obispo Countys redistricting case.

The case was originally assigned to San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Rita Federman, but she recused herself in October.

The court has since reassigned the case to San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Craig van Rooyen, according to an Oct. 11 court document.

Local group San Luis Obispo County Citizens for Good Government filed a lawsuit against the county in January, arguing that the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors wrongly applied and flagrantly ignored the redistricting requirements set forth under Californias Fair Maps Act when they adopted a controversial new district map known as the Patten Map.

The map changed the boundaries of the five different districts represented by the board.

According to a Tribune analysis, the Patten Map favors Republican voters, as it moved most Democratic voters into two coastal districts: Districts 3 and 5. Voters in Districts 1, 2 and 4 lean Republican.

In February, Federman ruled that the map could be used in the June and November 2022 elections, and a California Superior Court refused to hear an appeal on Federmans decision.

Still, SLO County Citizens for Good Government continues its fight to disqualify the map.

The cases next hearing will be on Dec. 2 in San Luis Obispo County Superior Court, according to court spokesperson Nikki Rodriguez.

Why did SLO judge drop redistricting case?

According to court documents, Federman declared self disqualification from the redistricting case in October, citing California penal code.

Under California penal code, a judge can recuse themself because they believe their recusal would further the interests of justice or that there is a substantial doubt as to (their) capacity to be impartial.

Another reason for recusal is if A person aware of the facts might reasonably entertain a doubt that the judge would be able to be impartial, penal code says.

Federman did not specify why she was recusing herself.

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In its Oct. 24 newsletter, SLO County Citizens for Good Government said that judges can recuse themselves from a case without explaining their reasoning, and they dont know the details about why Federman dropped the case.

We are confident, however, that it was not a reflection on the strength of our case and we remain confident that regardless of the judge we will prevail, the newsletter said.

Federmans replacement, van Rooyen, is the presiding judge at San Luis Obispo Superior Court, according to the courts website.

Once a prosecutor at the San Luis Obispo County District Attorneys Office, van Rooyen was appointed to the Superior Court bench in 2016 by then-Gov. Jerry Brown.

The judge has handled multiple high-profile cases, including the preliminary hearings leading up to the Kristin Smart murder trial.

He ruled to move the trial to Monterey County, where a jury found Paul Flores guilty of murdering Smart.
NEW BRUNSWICK  A Camden County man has pleaded guilty to the 2019 killing of a co-worker at her Plainsboro apartment while she was home during a lunch break.

Kenneth Saal, 33, of Lindenwold, pleaded guilty Wednesday to murder, a first-degree crime, burglary and stalking before Superior Court Judge Pedro Jimenez Jr. in the murder of Carolyn Byington. Saal is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 23, 2023, according to a court spokesperson.

He faces a 55-year state prison term as part of the plea agreement reached with Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Tzva Dolinger, Assistant Prosecutor Lynne Seborowski, Saal and his attorney.

During the plea, Saal stated that in April 2019 he copied Byington's house key while she was at work and used the key to enter her apartment on multiple days, and also planted hidden surveillance cameras to record her at her home without her knowledge, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone.

Kenneth Saal allegedly visited Carolyn Byington's apartment several times before the day she was fatally stabbed.

He also described how he brutally killed Byington when she came home unexpectedly and found him in her home, Ciccone said.

On June 10, 2019, Byington, 26, a 2011 Ridge High School graduate, was working at Engine US in Princeton, a marketing solutions company, as a market research project manager when she went home for lunch.

But when she failed to return to work, co-workers asked police to do a wellness check. Around 5:57 p.m., Plainsboro police went to her home and found her dead in her apartment.

Authorities said she had died from numerous stab wounds and blunt-force trauma.

Previously: South Jersey man faces trial in Plainsboro co-worker's 2019 murder

Two months later in August 2019, Saal was arrested and charged with murder and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.

He was later indicted on murder, a first-degree crime, burglary, a second-degree crime, as well as endangering an injured victim, hindering ones own apprehension, burglary and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, all third-degree crimes. The indictment also included charges of stalking and tampering with evidence, both fourth-degree crimes.

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A police investigation determined Saal allegedly visited Byington's apartment several times before the day she was fatally stabbed.

Saal began working as a staff accountant at Engine US in July 2016, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Co-workers reported Saals demeanor changed after Byingtons death. He allegedly lied about where he was at the time Byington was on her lunch break, and he allegedly asked a co-worker if he could be arrested based on circumstantial evidence.

Saal allegedly told his boss on June 10 he was getting repair work done on his car and would be late returning to work. His boss later learned Saal had not been at an auto repair shop.

Other co-workers also reported seeing cuts on Saals hands on the days after Byingtons death.

Police dash cam footage also showed a vehicle matching Saals traveling in Plainsboro about 2 p.m. June 10, about six miles from the office where Saal and Byington worked.

Last week Saal was charged with conspiracy to commit murder, a first-degree crime, conspiracy to tamper with a witness and conspiracy to hinder his own prosecution, both second-degree crimes, for plotting a copycat murder with another inmate to create doubt in his case. Saal allegedly offered to pay the inmate $15,000.

That case was unraveled with a wiretap, according to court documents.

Saal on Wednesday also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit witness tampering in the copycat murder plot, according to the prosecutor's office.

He admitted that in an effort to derail his trial which was scheduled to begin Dec. 5, he conspired to hire a fellow inmate at the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center, where he has been held since his arrest, to commit a copycat murder to make it appear Byington's killer had not yet been apprehended, according to the prosecutor's office.

He also acknowledged that as an alternative, he conspired a plan to kill one of two witnesses who were scheduled to testify at trial and have their deaths staged as a suicide with a note claiming responsibility for Byington's murder, the prosecutor's office said.

"Securing justice for the victim in this case would not have been possible if not for the collective efforts of Sgt. David Abromaitis, Detective Paul Kelley of the prosecutor's office and Sgt. Timothy McMahon of the Plainsboro Police Department," Ciccone said. "We are grateful for their work and the work of other members of the various law enforcement agencies who assisted throughout the investigation of these crimes."

Email: srussell@gannettnj.com

Suzanne Russell is a breaking news reporter for MyCentralJersey.com covering crime, courts and other mayhem. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Plainsboro NJ co-worker stabbing death suspect pleads guilty
MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's Interior Ministry should hand over to parliament all footage of a mass border crossing to clarify the circumstances around the deaths of at least 23 migrants, the main opposition said on Wednesday, a day after a BBC documentary said the ministry was withholding CCTV evidence.

On June 24, about 2,000 migrants took part in the attempt to storm the border post between Morocco and Spain's North African enclave of Melilla, with scores managing to reach Spanish territory.

A video from the Moroccan Association for Human Rights of the attempted crossing's aftermath showed dozens of bodies piled together. Both Morocco and Spain denied using excessive force.

On Tuesday, British broadcaster BBC released a documentary that claimed lifeless bodies were dragged by Moroccan police from an area that was Spanish-controlled and that Spain's Interior Ministry was withholding crucial CCTV evidence from formal investigations.

The ministry said the report "made very serious accusations without any evidence to back them up" and reiterated its support for the Guardia Civil's actions, saying police officers acted proportionately.

"Absolutely no one, neither the Guardia Civil, nor the (Moroccan) Gendarmerie, nor the Attorney General's Office, nor the Ombudsman nor the Moroccan authorities maintain that the deaths took place on national territory," it said.

The Melilla disaster has returned to the political spotlight following a damning report from Spain's ombudsman and a statement by United Nations human rights experts condemning what they described as "excessive and lethal use of force" by Moroccan and Spanish law enforcement.

On Wednesday, the opposition Popular Party requested that Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska testify before parliament for a second time and that the footage be made available to lawmakers.

"Spaniards should not have to see what the ministry itself has through a foreign media outlet," spokeswoman Cuca Gamarra told reporters, adding that the ministry should hand over the footage so that parliament could examine the facts and clarify responsibilities.

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Gamarra did not rule out requesting a parliamentary inquiry.

The Interior Ministry told Reuters all footage had been submitted to the offices of the public prosecutor and the ombudsman, "their intended recipients".

Other groups which usually support the minority government to pass legislation, such as the Basque left-wing party EH-Bildu, called for a parliamentary inquiry.

Bildu spokesperson Jon Inarritu said lawmakers deserved to see the footage so "it doesn't have to be the BBC that's the one to tell us what happened".

(Reporting by Emma Pinedo; additional reporting by David Latona; editing by Charlie Devereux and Nick Macfie)
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP)  Sri Lankan police blocked more than a thousand protesters who were attempting to march to the capital's main railroad station on Wednesday to demand the release of two detained protest leaders and an end to a government crackdown on demonstrations against an economic crisis that has engulfed the island nation for months.

The protesters, including opposition lawmakers and trade union and civil rights activists, also urged the government to abolish a harsh anti-terror law under which the two student protest leaders have been held for more than two months.

The Rev. Jeewantha Peiris, a Catholic priest and prominent protest organizer, said Wasantha Mudalige and Galwewa Siridhamma have been detained for 74 days under the Prevention of Terrorism Act without any legal basis.

Mudalige and Siridhamma were involved in anti-government protests earlier this year, and their arrests drew wide condemnation.

The protesters marched Wednesday along a main road in Colombo toward the railroad station where they planned to hold a rally. But hundreds of police blocked the road, forcing them to abandon the demonstration.

We are protesting because this government is not respecting the democratic rights of people, said opposition lawmaker Eran Wickremerantne.

There was no immediate comment from the government on the protesters' demands.

In March, the government introduced some reforms to the anti-terror law. However, opposition and rights groups called the reforms cosmetic and said the law still allows the detention of suspects without warrants and the use of confessions obtained through torture. They say the law, introduced during the countrys civil war in 1979, has been widely abused, causing a large number of innocent people to spend years in prison without trial.

Sri Lankans protested for months earlier this year over the economic crisis, which has led to severe shortages of many essential imported items such as medicines, fuel and cooking gas. Thousands stormed the presidents residence in July, forcing then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee and later resign.

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The protesters also occupied other key government buildings, including the offices of the president and prime minister.

The countrys new president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, cracked down on opposition, ousting the protesters from the government buildings.

Dozens of protest leaders and activists have been arrested, with some later released.

Rights groups say the military has sought to curtail protests through intimidation, surveillance and arbitrary arrests since Wickremesinghe took office in July.

The months of protests earlier this year dismantled the powerful Rajapaksa familys grip on politics. Before Rajapaksa resigned, his older brother stepped down as prime minister and three other family members quit their Cabinet positions.

Wickremesinghe was elected by Parliament to complete Rajapaksas term, which ends in 2024. He is unpopular because he is supported by lawmakers who are still backed by the Rajapaksa family, which ruled Sri Lanka for most of the past two decades. Many accuse Wickremesinghe of protecting the Rajapaksas, who are widely blamed for corruption and misrule that led to the crisis.

Sri Lanka is effectively bankrupt and has suspended repayment of nearly $7 billion in foreign debt due this year pending the outcome of talks with the International Monetary Fund on an economic rescue package. The countrys total foreign debt exceeds $51 billion, of which $28 billion has to be repaid by 2027.
St. Michael Medical Center is celebrating a special milestone.

On Oct. 27, the center marked the 25th anniversary of its Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner or SANE program, still the only program on the Kitsap Peninsula to provide uninterrupted 24/7 critical and compassionate care for sexual assault survivors in Kitsap, Mason, Jefferson and Clallam counties.

Compassionate, patient-centered care that is accessible to all is at the heart of what we do. As we recognize this significant milestone, I am extremely proud of our team for supporting victim-survivors for over two decades and going above and beyond to care for our community every day. Since the SANE program launched, we have seen more than 4,000 patients and have never lapsed in providing this service to Kitsap, Mason, Clallam and Jefferson counties, said Chad Melton, president of St. Michael Medical Center.

Kate Espy, SANE program manager, has been with SANE since it was launched.

Its been an honor to support victim-survivors alongside my dedicated colleagues, said Espy. Our patient-first approach ensures we create a safe and secure environment where all our patients receive high-quality care.

St. Michael Medical Centers SANE program is designed to ensure compassionate care for victims, assist law enforcement in the prosecution of crimes and provide sexual assault education to the community. The sexual assault nurse examiners provide trauma-informed care to victim-survivors, explain all the choices available to them and empower patients to make the best decision for themselves.
Editors note: This story is available as a result of a content partnership between WFTV and the Orlando Business Journal.

Seattle-based coffee chain Starbucks has filed plans for three new Orlando area stores.

Read: Hurricane Lisa to make landfall in Belize; another disturbance possible off Floridas east coast

They are slated for the College Park area, the Hunters Creek community and near the University of Central Florida.

Read: Popular Southern breakfast franchise to open first of 20 Orlando-area locations

Why this matters: New restaurants bring jobs and construction opportunities. In addition, eateries can improve the quality of life in a region and encourage more relocation.

Click here to read the full story on the Orlando Business Journals website.
WASHINGTON  Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes wrote a message intended for former President Donald Trump in the days after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, calling upon Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act to stay in power and arrest members of Congress.

If you dont then Biden/Kamala will turn all that power on you, your family, and all of us. You and your family will be imprisoned and killed, Rhodes wrote in a message presented in court Wednesday. You and your children will die in prison.

The message, which also called for Trump to have members of Congress and state legislators arrested, was not delivered.

Jason Alpers, a government witness in the Oath Keepers seditious conspiracy trial, testified Wednesday that he had a recording device in his pocket that was disguised as a thumb drive when he met with Rhodes on Jan. 10, 2021, just a few days after the Jan. 6 attack. Alpers said he bought the recording device on his own and had previously used it. Alpers testified that he was not working on behalf of a federal law enforcement agency when he made the recording.

The meeting took place in a parking lot of an electronics store in Texas. In the audio, Rhodes asks others at the meeting to "get rid of your phones," and Alpers testified that everyone put their phones in a car to make the meeting more secure.

Alpers, the owner of a software development company and a former military special operations operator who was deployed overseas, said he started communicating with the FBI months after the attack on the Capitol and his meeting with Rhodes. Alpers testified that he had connections to Trump's inner circle and said he could get a message to Trump "indirectly."

When he met with Rhodes on Jan. 10, he had Rhodes type a message intended for Trump on his phone. Alpers ultimately did not send the message to Trump or any of Trumps associates, he testified.

You must do as Lincoln did," Rhodes wrote in the message. "He arrested congressmen, state legislators, and issued a warrant for SCOTUS Chief Justice Taney. Take command like Washington would. ... Go down in history as the savior of the Republic, not a man who surrendered it."

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I am here for you and so are all my men. We will come help you if you need us. Military and police. And so will your millions of supporters," Rhodes wrote.

Alpers said he disagreed with the path Rhodes was laying out, so he did not send the message.

It would have wrapped me into agreeing with that ideology in some way, which I did not, Alpers said. I didnt want to get involved."

Rhodes and four other Oath Keepers  Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins and Thomas Caldwell  are on trial charged with seditious conspiracy for their actions on Jan. 6. The Justice Department alleges that Rhodes and members of his organization plotted to oppose the peaceful transfer of power and stockpiled guns in quick reaction forces just outside Washington that could be taken into the city at a moments notice. Other members alleged to be part of the conspiracy will go on trial this month.

Prosecutors on Wednesday also played some recordings of Rhodes that Alpers captured, including audio of Rhodes talking about civil war in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack.

Fights coming. Im not f---ing living on my knees, no f---ing way.  Were just the tip of the iceberg. Theres millions of others that feel the same way about this s--- that we do," Rhodes said in a recording.

Hows he want to go down in history? Hell go down in history as the greatest president since George Washington if he does the right thing," Rhodes continued.

Members of the Oath Keepers at the Capitol (Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP file)

Rhodes said in the recording that his "only regret" about Jan. 6 was that they didn't bring firearms with them.

We should have brought rifles. We could have fixed it right then and there. Id hang f---in Pelosi from the lamppost," Rhodes said.

Oath Keepers general counsel Kellye SoRelle has said Rhodes was asking her for her Trump world contacts in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 attack. As NBC News has reported, SoRelle was in touch with Andrew Giuliani, a Trump White House official and the son of Rudy Giuliani, after the November 2020 election. SoRelle, who had a relationship with Rhodes, was charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack in September and pleaded not guilty.

The government indicated Wednesday that prosecutors would present two more witnesses, both FBI special agents, before they rested their case.

Oath Keepers members Joshua James, Brian Ulrich and William Todd Wilson all pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy. Several other Oath Keepers have pleaded guilty to other charges, including two  Jason Dolan and Graydon Young  who testified at the trial. Dolan testified that he was prepared to die to keep Trump in office. While Young testified that he was "acting like a traitor" on Jan. 6, Dolan testified that he was hoping to scare members of Congress.

I wanted them to be afraid of me, Dolan has testified. If they werent going to, in my perspective, do the right thing, maybe they could be scared into doing the right thing."

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
The City of Lubbock indicated last week its intent to become the latest city to join Amarillo, Abilene, Wichita Falls and some of Texas' largest cities in suing Disney, Hulu and Netflix for what they say is 15 years' worth of unpaid fees owed to the cities.

Lubbock's city council approved a contingent legal services agreement with McKool Smith, P.C., Ashcroft Sutton Reyes LLC, and Korein Tillery LLC on Oct. 25 to join a lawsuit accusing the video streaming giants of failing to pay franchise fees which state law requires video providers pay to municipalities for use of the public right-of-way.

The suit, which was filed in a Dallas County district court in August and later moved to federal court, lists more than 25 Texas cities as plaintiffs, including Austin, Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth. The cities claim Disney, Hulu and Netflix have failed to pay franchise fees since 2007 and aims to recover those fees and require them moving forward.

The cities say the streaming companies should be and have been required to pay the fees for using communications lines in public rights-of-way just like traditional cable providers and video-over-IP television carriers (like Vexus).

More: Texas cities say streaming giants Disney, Hulu, Netflix owe them millions in unpaid fees

A group of Texas cities has sued Netflix and other streaming services, claiming the companies owe cities years' worth of unpaid franchise fees.

Franchise fees are usually used by cities to pay down debt and help fund its general budget, including core services like police, fire and road maintenance. The fees owed are based on a percentage of a video company's revenue under state utilities law.

Steven Wolens, a former Texas lawmaker and lead attorney for the cities, told the Texas Tribune in August that cities have not made up lost revenue from consumers flocking to internet streaming services from more-traditional cable providers.

They should have been paying this fee from the very beginning, Wolens said. Shame on them because they are using the public right of way that every other company pays the city to use.

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The exact amount the streaming companies would owe the cities is not known, but could total in the hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars, Wolens said.

Representatives for the streaming services had not immediately responded to the lawsuit.

More: City of Wichita Falls to sue Netflix, Disney and Hulu for franchise fees

The logos for Netflix, Hulu and Disney Plus are among services pictured on a remote control.

Because the City of Lubbock's agreement with the litigating attorneys is contingent on winning the suit, joining it will be at no cost to the city, according to a council agenda document. If the litigation is successful, attorney compensation would be deducted from the settlement, a portion of which the City of Lubbock would receive.

Other Texas cities that initially joined the lawsuit are Allen, Arlington, Beaumont, Carrollton, Denton, Frisco, Garland, Grand Prairie, Irving, Lewisville, McKinney, Mesquite, Nacogdoches, Pearland, Plano, Rowlett, Sugar Land, Tyler and Waco.

This story contains information previously reported by the Texas Tribune's Joshua Fetcher.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include the City of Wichita Falls. Wichita Falls city councilors voted to join the suit on Oct. 18.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Lubbock joins Texas cities suing Disney, Netflix and Hulu
Police swarmed a Pennsylvania high school after a student protest against dress code restrictions devolved into chaos, officials said.

Officers from several local departments responded to Academy Park High School around 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 1, for a report of a large fight, the Sharon Hill Police Department said in a release.

Fights broke out across campus, inside and outside, in what the department described as a riot.

Police and school employees were attacked, the department said, and property was damaged inside the building. More police  both Delaware County and state law enforcement  were brought in to help control the situation.

Multiple students were arrested, the release said.

The protest came in response to a recent decision by the Southeast Delco School District to ban hoodies and hats, according to district officials.

Yesterday, students at Academy Park High School engaged in a walkout and demonstration  (but) after the assembly of students adjourned, some students engaged in physical disruption, which necessitated a lockdown and police response, the district said in a statement.

Students were dismissed early from school and the campus was cleared. School officials are working with local authorities to identify those parties involved and appropriate consequences will be issued per our district code of student conduct.

An emergency school board meeting has been scheduled for 7 p.m. on Nov. 2, according to an alert on the districts website.

Sharon Hill is about 10 miles southwest of downtown Philadelphia.

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Beloved officer  granddad to 10  dies after stopping school fight, GA officials say

Parents swarm Texas high school and clash with police after false report of shooting
By Nia Williams and Rod Nickel

(Reuters) - Suncor Energy's acquisition of a larger stake in the Fort Hills oil sands project is a sign that Canada's second-largest oil company is looking for alternatives to extending the life of its biggest mine, which has run into political obstacles, industry observers said.

The purchase indicates Suncor is looking to acquire new bitumen supply to replace production from its Base Mine instead of, or in addition to, developing its own oil sands leases, energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie said, raising expectations of more deals.

Suncor's Base Mine is a key part of the company's operations in northern Alberta, producing around 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) of bitumen used to feed upgraders at its oil sands base plant that produce higher-value synthetic crude. The open pit mine, operating since 1967, is expected to run out of bitumen by the mid-2030s.

The company proposed the Base Mine Extension project, an expansion of the existing mine to produce 225,000 bpd from around 2030, but the federal government said in April that the mine would not pass an environmental review because projected emissions are too high..

Canada's oil sands hold the world's third-largest crude reserves and the long-life projects can produce for decades. However, carbon-intensive new mines are difficult to square with Ottawa's goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, making it important to keep existing ones running.

Last week Suncor agreed to buy Teck Resources' Fort Hills stake for about C$1 billion ($737 million) in cash as "part of our Base Plant mine replacement strategy". The deal increases Suncor interest in the project to 75.4%, giving it higher share of bitumen output.

"This is the first time Suncor has hinted at the risk that (Base Mine Extension) may not be going ahead," said Mark Oberstoetter, Wood Mackenzie's head of Upstream Americas.

Oberstoetter said the extension is likely still Suncor's base-case scenario, but interim CEO Kris Smith's comments around Fort Hills suggested the company was looking at alternatives.

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Suncor did not respond to requests for comment. It releases quarterly results on Wednesday.

Other acquisition targets could include French major TotalEnergies' stake in Fort Hills and its 50% share of the Surmont thermal oil sands project, Oberstoetter added.

Last month TotalEnergies said it plans to spin off its Canadian oil sands assets into a separate company.

Jamie Bonham, director of corporate engagement at NEI Investments, a Suncor shareholder, said for oil companies, consolidation seemed a safer bet than developing new assets that may have cost overruns or become stranded assets if oil demand wanes faster than expected during a transition away from fossil fuels.

"This doesn't increase the overall number of barrels being added, (so) it could be aligned with a low-carbon transition path," Bonham said.

The Fort Hills deal is the latest move by Calgary-based Suncor to focus on its core oil sands business. Earlier this year the company sold its wind and solar assets and Norwegian oil assets.

It is unusual for companies to make big acquisitions while under an interim CEO, but prioritising core assets was a key demand of activist firm Elliott Investment Management, which disclosed a Suncor stake in April.

Suncor's previous CEO Mark Little resigned in July after a string of fatalities at Suncor sites.

(Reporting by Nia Williams; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
More than a year after he was given an analysis that raised questions about the effectiveness of Chicago police patrol response and assignments, Superintendent David Brown is now calling the study lacking, and he announced that he plans to seek his own officer deployment evaluation.

Brown made the statements last week at his first appearance of the newly seated Community Commission for Police Safety and Accountability, where he faced questions about how the department handles critical decisions about patrol assignments, including whether there is a disparity in how Chicago neighborhoods are policed.

Brown offered detailed responses about the study, which was done by the University of Chicago Crime Lab with input from the Police Department. The comments came three days after he appeared before the City Council budget committee, took questions on parts of the labs analysis and said he would give an alderman copies of the work, without mentioning that he was starting another study.

Brown told the Community Commission about the new study on Oct. 24. He said the Crime Lab study was missing some elements, including that non-patrol teams are on the street to help when violence increases. He added that the department does hourly evaluations of crime trends to deploy immediately to blocks in need and he pointed to a reduction in shootings and homicides citywide.

Three days later, the commission continued to express concerns about the departments lack of transparency about what, if any, plan exists to decide long-term work assignments in the department.

We appreciate that the superintendent came out and answered our questions in public and agreed to provide us with important data, Commission President Anthony Driver Jr. said Thursday at the groups regularly scheduled monthly meeting. Were going to need to work together, and Monday was a good step in that direction. But so far, weve learned very little that addresses the concerns we began with.

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We are deeply concerned that the communities that are suffering the most are still subject to slow response times and inadequate staffing at the times crime and violence occur the most, continued Driver, a community activist and executive director of the SEIU Illinois State Council, who also told the Tribune that he has lost dozens of friends and family members to violence. And were concerned that communities are routinely being policed by officers who dont know the community, which is bad for residents and police officers.

Driver, reached by the Tribune after the meeting, was skeptical about the need for a new study.

Seeking efficiency, equity and transparency

Having a workforce allocation plan that studies a variety of data, including response times and historic trends about where and when crimes happen, is standard for police departments. They need to ensure coverage that is sustained and matches the public safety issues in all communities, which have varying levels and types of crimes.

Under a federal consent decree, the Chicago Police Department is mandated to develop a staffing model, with use of data, that allows for officers to be assigned to consistent shifts with the same supervisors as a way to achieve more unity and control.

The Crime Lab launched its effort to do such a comprehensive workforce allocation study in 2019.

The study was done pro bono. In a summary of the work, the lab said the project was seeking to build efficiency, equity, and transparency in patrol staffing and insulate the deployments from politics or pressure on where cops should work.

The allocation of police department resources in most U.S. cities is based on the desires and intuition of key decision-makers and often winds up being highly political and unequal, a summary of the workforce study released by the lab reads.

The summary also notes that CPD leadership helped to direct the scope and planning of the study. It said the department was working toward work assignment strategies, including that officers would be able to dedicate 60% of their time to responding to calls but still have 40% of their day for administrative or proactive work in the community.

The lab has for years worked with CPD to analyze data and publish findings.

While the lab conducted several preliminary analyses on this project, the work between the lab and the department stalled. In an emailed statement Monday, lab officials said that without being able to do its usual review and quality assurance, it has not made the analysis public.

The Tribune in an open records request in August obtained copies of three analyses that were part of the overall study. The records supplied to the Tribune were heavily redacted, and they were not the complete study.

There were key takeaways from the reports, despite the redactions. The findings released to the Tribune relied on GPS tracking to determine where and when officers assigned to three separate units were on the street.

Among the conclusions was that 14% of shootings are happening between midnight and 5 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays in the citys least safe areas, but just 3.8% of the work hours of Chicago patrol unit tactical teams were logged during that same 10-hour period. The analyses showed similar disconnects with the units assigned to patrol cars and those assigned to the citywide community safety teams.

In addition, an analysis showed how many patrol officers in each district responded to 15 or more calls in one month. A response was counted when an officer reported answering a 911 call or other dispatched events, such as a ShotSpotter alert.

For all districts combined, the number of officers responding to 15 or more calls per month was 3,000. There are about 11,500 sworn officers in the department, with most assigned to patrol.

Brown seeking gold standard study

During the commission meeting, Brown was asked about the analyses, including the potential that patrol officer assignments dont match with the times when violence happens.

Brown answered, in part, by saying the Crime Labs study had not accounted for when patrol officers get pulled away from their beats to help the detective division respond to shootings.

I think that is the one deficiency, he said. ... It didnt include the investigative impact of resources for the districts that have the majority of the violence. Its a significant challenge and drain of resources. .... That can account for a disparity.

Driver then asked Brown if he was acknowledging a disparity, and he said no, but repeated that there is a significant drain on resources for areas with violence.

Brown did not address whether he considered such work, responding to shootings, the job of patrol officers.

Brown said that the department also uses non-patrol units to add presence and response on the street. But according to the GPS analyses obtained by the Tribune, the three units that were part of the study were nearly the only units on the street at the time.

Brown then told the commission he was seeking a gold standard study.

Ald. Matt Martin, 47th, who at the budget hearing had asked Brown for a copy of the analyses the Tribune was given, expressed concern that Brown is seeking a new study.

Before we launch into a new study, lets figure out first in an open and transparent way, what do the most recent studies say? And are we looking at whatever recommendations? Martin said. Are we just jumping from study to study to study?

Ald. Harry Osterman, 48th, who has also asked for copies of the workforce study in the past, was also surprised by news of another study.

Its surprising and disappointing that the superintendent has not come to the City Council to seek funding for this important work, he said. That is something that members of the City Council will be following up with him about.

Deployment issue at critical stage

The Tribune asked to speak to Brown about the commissions comments and to clarify his criticisms of the lab study. He issued an emailed statement that nearly matched the statement he sent out in August.

The Chicago Police Department continuously reviews and adjusts resources across the Department to enhance public safety and address crime patterns, it read. These precision deployments and strategic resource allocations, along with community partners and a whole-of-government approach to community building, have led to reductions in shootings and homicides this year. Year to date, homicides are down 15.88% and shootings are down 19.65% compared to the same time period last year.

While shootings and homicides are down, they are adjusting from a historic two-year 60% spike that coincided with the pandemic and national unrest over policing practices.

Police deployments and assignments have long been a source of criticism amid concerns about whether all Chicago neighborhoods are afforded the kind of police response required. The issue has gotten more critical given the national surge in gun violence and the fact that in Chicago the violence spread across the entire city.

The newly seated Community Commission, which has authority to write and approve department policy, seek documents from the department and request the citys inspector general to investigate, has made department assignments a priority, given the departments $1.9 billion proposed budget and the fact that more than two-thirds of that money is dedicated to personnel costs.

In addition to concerns over the potential disparities in policing among districts, commissioners queried Brown about how much he relies on the use of citywide units to add extra coverage in areas where there is violence.

Such movement of officers into neighborhoods for patrol responsibilities means they are less likely to know the area and also at risk for having less supervision, something that runs the risk of fraying relationships between police and the community, commissioners said.

If these individuals are in citywide units ... are you going to (be) allocating those resources so the same individuals are in the same districts, in the same location, getting acquainted with the community, all of those gold standard things? asked commission member Yvette Loizon, a private attorney who has served as both a prosecutor and the chief legal counsel for Illinois State Police. Can you elaborate what that plan looks like?

Brown and his chief of patrol, Brian McDermott, explained that they use historic crime data for all assignments. McDermott also said that each day he draws personnel from the detective division, the office of constitutional policing and counterterrorism bureau to add support to neighborhoods.

Loizon asked whether they are tracking how often these outside units are in the same neighborhoods, providing continuity. McDermott said the department tries to do that but acknowledged it is not 100%.

When asked about the potential lack of personnel on the street at the times when violence is surging, McDermott said the department had prioritized the 55 least safe beats and that he evaluated by the hour to move resources from other areas of the city to assist as needed.

It is a constant moving people around and doing our best to put the resources in the right places at the right time, McDermott said.

Chicago criminologist Wesley Skogan, who listened to the hearing, said what McDermott described is a critical part of providing public safety. But it is more of an emergency response.

A deeper workforce planning system for deployments should also be the goal, although Skogan acknowledged it can be complicated by everything from shifting crime patterns to union contracts,

In a follow-up email, Skogan, who is a professor at Northwestern University, said the goal should still be a data-driven plan that is used to continually update baseline personnel assignments.

Deviations from this in response to events, intelligence, strategic initiatives would then be transparent, he said.
A 24-year-old Loudon man is facing manslaughter and aggravated assault charges in connection with a deadly shooting at an Alcoa Highway nightclub last month.

Bredy Adrian Mancia-Caceres was taken into custody Friday in Loudon County by members of the Knoxville Police Department's Violent Crime Unit and Loudon County Sheriffs Office deputies, a Knoxville police spokesperson said in a press release.

Mancia-Caceres is set for a Nov. 15 preliminary hearing into the evidence on one charge of manslaughter and two counts of aggravated assault, court records state. He remains in jail on an immigration hold, according to court records.

Officers responded to El Pulpo Loco, 2909 Alcoa Highway, at around 2:30 a.m. Oct. 16 for a shooting with multiple victims. Pablo Roberto Nunez Acosta, 32, of Louisville, Tennessee, died at the scene. Anderson Sanchez, 21, of Knoxville, was in critical condition at University of Tennessee Medical Center. A third man, Joel Canales, 28, of Knoxville, sustained a gunshot wound that was not life-threatening.

A witness told police he had driven Mancia-Caceres from the scene and then took him back later to pick up his vehicle, court records state. The witness said he overheard Mancia-Caceres saying he shot and killed someone.

According to court records, Mancia-Caceres admitted getting into a fight with one of the victims over an alcoholic beverage and punching him. A larger fight ensued in the parking lot, ending in the shooting.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Suspect arrested in fatal shooting at Alcoa Highway nightclub
Nov. 1The Switchbacks began the USL Championship playoffs with a first: the first playoff game ever at Weidner Field. Sunday, they have another first, the club's first ever Conference Final.

The Switchbacks travel to Toyota Field to take on San Antonio FC in the Western Conference Final. Kickoff is at 6:30 p.m.

Colorado Springs matched up against San Antonio FC twice in the regular season, and the Texas club won both contests 1-0.

On the line Sunday is a trip to the USL Championship Final which will take place Nov. 13 at 6:30 p.m. against the Eastern Conference champion. The eastern bracket will be decided Saturday, as Tampa Bay Rowdies take on Louisville City FC. That game kicks off at 5:30 p.m.

Barry, Lindley notch USL Championship all-league second-team honors

Colorado Springs Switchbacks midfielder Cam Lindley and former forward Hadji Barry were named to the USL Championship's all-league second team.

Lindley created a league-high 94 chances, or key passes that led to a scoring opportunity, for Colorado Springs this season. He also finished with an 80% pass completion rate, 36 interceptions and 205 recoveries.

Barry followed up his 2021 MVP and Golden Boot season with 16 goals in 30 appearances with Colorado Springs this season before transferring to Egyptian Premier League Club Future FC.

Switchbacks three wins away from preseason goal of winning a championship, host Sacramento Republic FC on Saturday

Sports

Switchbacks three wins away from preseason goal of winning a championship, host Sacramento Republic FC on Saturday

* Hugh Johnson

hugh.johnson@gazette.com
In this photo released by the Taipei Zoo, Chinese panda experts, Wei Ming (left) and Wu Honglin (centre) look at Tuan Tuan at the Taipei Zoo in Taipei, Taiwan on 2 November 2022. Taiwan has welcomed the pair of experts from China to help with the ailing panda in a rare opportunity for contact between the sides (AP)

Two Chinese experts have arrived in Taiwan to treat a sick panda, in what is being called a rare diplomatic win for the two sides.

Veterinary experts Wei Ming and Wu Honglin arrived at the Taipei zoo on Tuesday to look at ailing panda Tuan Tuan in Taipei. The panda is suspected to be suffering from a malignant brain tumour.

Taiwans Central News Agency (CNA) reported that the beloved pandas brain tumour has been progressing rapidly since it was first diagnosed in September.

Dr Wu and Dr Wei are from the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda in Wolong, southwest Chinas Sichuan province.

State-run Global Times reported that Dr Wu has been engaged in disease prevention for giant pandas and scientific research into the breeding of giant pandas at the centre since July 2001. Dr Wei specialises in feeding management and artificial rearing of giant pandas.

Tuan Tuan, an 18-year-old male giant panda and his mate Yuan Yuan, were gifted to the zoo in 2008, the Associated Press reported, during a time of warming relations between China and Taiwan, which split amid the civil war in 1949.

Since then, ties between the two sides have deteriorated sharply.

China often sends pandas as a goodwill gesture to countries in what has been termed panda diplomacy. But it maintains ownership over the animals and any offspring they produce.

The Taipei zoo, in a statement, said an MRI of Tuan Tuans brain showed lesions on his brain had grown, indicating that the disease was progressing rapidly.

Eve Wang, animal section chief of the Taipei Zoo, was quoted as saying by Global Times that although the diagnosis for Tuan Tuan had not yet been confirmed, it was highly probable he has been suffering from a brain tumour.

She said that, based on his physical condition, it can be highly risky for the panda to go through an invasive examination to obtain the final diagnosis.

Two Chinese veterinary experts arrived in #Taiwan yesterday in a rare exchange between the two sides after male panda Tuan Tuan was moved into palliative care. Tuan Tuan was gifted by #China in 2008 as a symbol of then warming ties. (photo credit: Taipei Zoo ) pic.twitter.com/KIehVQMc5v  Amber Wang (@ambermywang) November 2, 2022

Ma Xiaoguang, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of Chinas State Council, said that after receiving an invitation from the Taipei zoo, the China Conservation and Research Centre made preparations to send two experts to help diagnose and treat Tuan Tuan.

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Last week, before the arrival of the Chinese experts, zoo officials had said that it was impossible to predict how long Tuan Tuan can survive.

Since being gifted to Taiwan by China, Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan have given birth to two cubs: Yuan Zai in 2013 and Yuan Bao in 2020.

When the Taipei zoo posted on its social media about Tuan Tuans sickness, local media said people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait expressed concern and best wishes to the panda.
New details regarding rapper Takeoffs recent death have been revealed in the coroners report.

The former Migos bandmember was fatally shot on Tuesday (1 November) in a bowling alleyway in Houston, Texas during an altercation that reportedly emerged after a dice game.

His death was announced by his representative and confirmed shortly after by police.

Takeoff  real name Kirshnik Khari Ball  was 28 years old.

According to the coroners report, obtained by the New York Post, Takeoff was shot several times. It confirmed his cause of death was penetrating gunshot wounds.

During a later press conference, the police said a 23-year-old male and 24-year-old female were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Takeoffs uncle and Migos groupmate Quavo was present during the incident. And while his status remains unknown, the 31-year-old is not believed to have been injured.

(L-R) Migos members Takeoff, Quavo and Offset (Invision)

As of yet, no suspects have been arrested, however, Houston police chief Troy Finner called on witnesses to step up with information about the shooting.

Finner also added: We have no reason to believe that he was involved in anything criminal at the time.

Police said that shots were fired from at least two weapons during a private party.

Takeoffs record label has said that the rapper was killed by a stray bullet, although officials have not confirmed this.

Since the tragic news of his death, numerous celebrities have honoured the rapper.

Drake posted an Instagram photo of himself with Takeoff onstage with the caption: I got the best memories of all of us seeing the world together and bringing light to every city we touch.

Meanwhile, Offset, the third Migos member, who was not there at the time of the shooting, paid tribute by changing his Instagram profile photo to one of Takeoff.

Follow the latest updates following Takeoffs death here
Takeoff, one-third of rap trio Migos, has been confirmed dead aged 28 after a shooting in Houston, Texas.

The rapper  real name Kirshnik Khari Ball  had been at a private party with his bandmate and uncle, Quavo, full name Quavious Keyate Marshall, late on Monday (31 October).

Fellow Migos member Offset is not thought to have been with them at the time.

According to reports, the shooting began amid a game of dice at a bowling alley. Takeoff was pronounced dead at the scene early on Tuesday (1 November).

Prior to confirmation of Takeoffs identity, Houston police stated that a Black male in his 20s was the victim of a shooting.

Officers had responded to reports of gunshots at a private party held at a bowling alley called 810 Billiards & Bowling in downtown Houston.

They later added that two other victims were taken in private vehicles to hospitals.

According to Houston police, Quavo & Takeoff were at a private party prior to the shooting. They did not name the victim of a confirmed homicide at the time, but Takeoffs representative confirmed his death.

The Independent has reached out to Takeoffs representative for further comment.

Quavo was unharmed in the incident. Since the shooting, several graphic vidoes  which apparently show the incident and its aftermath  have emerged online.

Fans have condemned the sharing of the footage and urged those posting them to remove the videos.

Celebrities including Khloe Kardashian and AJ Tracey have paid tribute to the musician. Fellow rapper Desiigner  behind the hit 2016 song Panda  has since shared an emotional video of himself breaking down in tears speaking about the rappers death.

The Houston police held a press conference on Tuesday (1 November) to address the fatal shooting.

Police Chief Troy Finner reminded reporters in the room of the human element of the incident, stating that has has spoken to Takeoffs mother.

Takeoff, Offset, and Quavo of Migos (Getty Images for The Recording A)

Finner confirmed that a 23-year-old male and 24-year-old female brought themselves to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after the incident. This would appear to confirm that Quavo was not injured during the altercation since he is 31 years old.

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The police also urged people to remove videos of the incident, which are currently circulating online.

Alongside the late Takeoff and Quavo, Migos also features Offset, who is married to Cardi B.

Migos is a hip-hop rap group established in 2008 in Georgia, US. The three-piece were raised by Takeoffs mother, growing up on music including Outkast, Lil Wayne, and Hot Boys.

The group have had several successful singles, including Bad and Boujee featuring Lil Uzi Vert. The track peaked at No 1 in the Billboard Hot 100 in 2016. They have also achieved two No.1 albums in the US.

You can follow along with live updates on the shooting here.
Maasai pastoralists have filed a court case against Tanzania's government, challenging its decision to cordon off land for wildlife protection, a lawyer representing the community said Wednesday.

The nomadic community in Loliondo in the northern district of Ngorongoro has accused the government of trying to force them off their ancestral land in order to organise safaris and hunting expeditions.

But the government has rejected the accusations, claiming it wants to "protect" 1,500 square kilometres (580 square miles) of the area from human activity.

"The case is crucial for the Loliondo residents," lawyer Yonas Masiaya told AFP in a message.

"The area is strictly prohibited to graze or enter and the residents of the area were depending (on) it for grazing, water, rituals and herbs," he said, adding that the community wants judges to nullify the government's decision.

The case was filed in September, he said, weeks before a regional court ruled in favour of the government in a separate petition.

The Arusha-based East African Court of Justice upheld the government's decision in a verdict announced on September 30, saying that no compensation was due to the pastoralists who have complained of being evicted from their land.

Tensions have soared in recent months with violent clashes breaking out in June in Loliondo between police and Maasai demonstrators.

More than two dozen Maasai protesters were charged with murder over the death of a policeman in the clashes.

Tanzania has historically allowed indigenous communities such as the Maasai to live within some national parks, including the Ngorongoro conservation area, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

But the authorities say their growing population is encroaching on wildlife habitat and began moving the pastoralists out of Ngorongoro in June, calling it a voluntary relocation.

The move has sparked concern, with a team of UN-appointed independent rights experts warning in June that "it could jeopardise the Maasai's physical and cultural survival."

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Since 1959, the number of humans living in Ngorongoro has shot up from 8,000 to more than 100,000.

As climate change leads to prolonged droughts and low crop yields, pressure on the pastoralists has increased, forcing them into conflict with wildlife over access to food and water.

In 2009, thousands of Maasai families were moved out of Loliondo to allow an Emirati safari company, Otterlo Business Corporation, to organise hunting expeditions there.

The government cancelled that deal in 2017, following allegations of corruption.

str-amu/imm
The stalled US$10 billion Bagamoyo mega-port and other Chinese-funded projects are expected to top the agenda during Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan's state visit to China from Wednesday.

China's foreign ministry said President Xi Jinping would host a welcome ceremony and banquet for Hassan, who will be in China until November 4.

"The two heads of state will hold talks and attend the signing ceremony of cooperation documents," ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Friday.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

Hassan will be the first African leader to visit China since the conclusion of the Communist Party's 20th congress in October.

Since coming to power last year following the death of president John Magufuli, Hassan has moved to improve relations with Tanzania's neighbours as well as with major economies, including China.

Tim Zajontz, research fellow with the Centre for International and Comparative Politics at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, said both sides wanted Hassan's visit to show that their oft-invoked "all-weather friendship is unwavering".

While neither side would admit it officially, the years under Hassan's predecessor had been "rather traumatic" for the Chinese, Zajontz said.

Magufuli was outspokenly critical about some Chinese practices in Tanzania and stood in the way of several high-profile projects, including the Bagamoyo mega-port, the privatisation of the Tazara railway, and Chinese investments in the mining and energy sectors.

"These projects will certainly be on the agenda during Hassan's Beijing visit," Zajontz said.

Work has yet to start on the Bagamoyo port and special economic zone, 65km (40 miles) north of Dar es Salaam, despite a ceremony in 2015 to officially mark its beginning.

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The deal was signed in 2013 - in the presence of Xi, who travelled to Tanzania to witness the agreement soon after he became president - but stalled after a number of concerns were raised by Magufuli, including over the generous tax breaks demanded by the Chinese investor in the proposed special economic zone.

Magufuli also opposed halting the development of other maritime facilities, such as the Dar es Salaam port, while the Bagamoyo project moved ahead. And he rejected Chinese demands for a 99-year management lease on the mega-port.

Magufuli described the zone's terms as "exploitative and awkward" and finally suspended the port project in 2019.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is greeted by his Tanzanian counterpart Jakaya Kikwete in 2013, when the Bagamoyo port deal was signed in Dar es Salaam. Photo: Xinhua alt=Chinese President Xi Jinping is greeted by his Tanzanian counterpart Jakaya Kikwete in 2013, when the Bagamoyo port deal was signed in Dar es Salaam. Photo: Xinhua>

Zajontz said negotiations with China Merchants Holdings International had resumed under Hassan, but the geopolitical and economic climate has changed significantly since Xi and then Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete shook hands on the deal in 2013.

"We might see the project materialising in a slimmed down version," he said.

Zajontz said he expected the Tanzanian government would insist on maintaining control over customs and other regulatory affairs at the port and was unlikely to agree on far-reaching tax exemptions, or a 99-year lease.

Muhidin Shangwe, a political scientist at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, also said he understood the Tanzanian government had expressed interest in reviving the Bagamoyo port.

"We haven't heard any significant progress since that was announced more than a year ago. I expect this will be top on the agenda when the two presidents meet," he said.

Shangwe said there were additional talks to revive or upgrade the Tanzania-Zambia railway - also known as Tazara railway - from Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia to the port of Dar es Salaam built in the 1970s. "They want to upgrade it into the Standard Gauge Railway," he said.

Construction of the central line was initially awarded to a Chinese contractor, before the deal was scrapped and given to a Turkish company. Nevertheless, Chinese contractors are involved in the last two phases of the railway.

"It is a different arrangement. The money is not coming from China but the Chinese are the contractors," Shangwe said.

Chinese firms China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) and China Railway Construction last year won a US$1.3 billion contract to build the fifth phase of Tanzania's Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) linking Mwanza - a port city on the shores of Lake Victoria - and the southern town of Isaka, 341km away.

The Tanzanian government had been trying since 2019 to secure funding for the third and fourth phases of the SGR, Shangwe said.

"There were talks with China's Exim Bank, but the Chinese were not interested. This will be an opportunity for President Hassan to again try to convince the Chinese to finance those two phases."

China has also opened its market to Tanzanian agricultural products such as soybeans and cassava. "It is in the interest of the Tanzanian government to seek further opportunities for its agricultural products in China in a bid to get a fair share of trade between the two countries. Trade balance is hugely in favour of China," Shangwe said.

Hassan may also have an opportunity to revive coal and iron ore projects, first mooted about a decade ago when Tanzania signed a US$3 billion deal with Chinese firm Sichuan Hongda to develop the resources.

The deal involved construction of the Mchuchuma coal mine, development of a 600 megawatt thermal power station, and the Liganga iron ore mine. Financing hitches and a lack of previously negotiated incentives, including tax holidays, have held back the projects.

But recent developments, including a compensation agreement with those who would be displaced by the projects, could make a difference, Shangwe said.

"Given that there was Chinese interest in this area, this is an opportunity to talk to the Chinese side and probably come up with an agreement."

Apart from infrastructure, the visit is an opportunity to strengthen party-to-party relations. "Hassan is the chair of the ruling party CCM, and Xi is the general secretary of [the Communist Party]. I am sure there will be some discussion on party-to-party relations," Shangwe said.

David Shinn, a China-Africa expert at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, said China and Tanzania's especially close relationship dated back to the government of Julius Nyerere in the 1960s.

This made Hassan a good choice for the first visit to China by an African leader after the party congress. "The visit provides the leadership in Beijing an opportunity to modify its policy towards Africa in the aftermath of the congress," Shinn said.

"For example, will the Belt and Road Initiative take a back seat to the more recent Global Development Initiative and Global Security Initiative?"

Shinn said Tanzanian agricultural exports were likely to be discussed, because of Dar es Salaam's enormous trade deficit with China.

"The future use of the Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Leadership School sponsored by the Communist Party of China may also be on the agenda," he said.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright  2022 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2022. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
HONG KONG (Reuters) -Tencent Holdings and state-owned telecommunications company China Unicom have received regulatory approval to set up a joint-venture company, a public document showed on Wednesday.

The State Administration for Market Regulation approved the application, based on a list it published on its website.

The regulator first disclosed details of the as yet unnamed company in September, when it published a document describing it as an entity focused three areas: internet data centres, content delivery networks and edge computing, which is the use of augmented reality and machine learning to analyse bulk data.

Unicom Innovation Venture Capital, a subsidary of China Unicom, will control 48% of the new company while the Shenzhen Tencent Industry Venture Capital, a subsidary of Tencent, will control 42%, based on the document published in September. The additional 10% will go to the company's employees, this document said.

In a statement released on Wednesday evening, China Unicom said the joint venture was formed to fulfill the company's "strategic need to comprehensively foray into the digital economy". It said that Tencent is a long-term strategic investor in the Unicom Innovation Venture Capital.

China Unicom also added that the joint venture is still in the process of being established and it does not have an impact on China Unicom's current business.

China Unicom shares surged 10% in Shanghai late on Wednesday, prompting a temporary trading suspension. Trading in its Hong Kong-listed shares had ended before the news emerged as the stock market there closed early due to a typhoon.

Tencent's shares rose 1.4% in Hong Kong in afternoon trading.

Chinese media has earlier described the venture as a "mixed ownership reform" company.

China Unicom did not respond to such a description in its statement. Tencent declined to provide immediate comment.

(Reporting by Josh Ye; Editing by Edwina Gibbs, Jane Merriman and Louise Heavens)
Texas border agents recently thwarted an attempt by four illegal immigrants to smuggle drugs into West Texas.

Lt. Chris Olivarez of The Texas Department of Public Safety shared video and images of the encounter on Tuesday.

Olivarez said DPS Aircraft Operations located four illegal immigrants backpacking narcotics through mountainous terrain, roughly 26 miles south of Van Horn in West Texas.

Several immigrants concealed themselves within canyons and tried to hide the drugs in the brush, Olivarez said. He indicated that the apprehension was part of Texas Gov. Greg Abbotts Operation Lone Star, a border security initiative aimed at addressing illegal crossings and criminal activity.

BORDER PATROL UNION SLAMS COVERAGE OF CLASH WITH ILLEGAL MIGRANTS, CALLS ON MAYORKAS TO DEFEND AGENTS

Olivarez told Fox News Digital that the Aircraft Operations Division encounters illegal immigrants who "expose vulnerabilities along the southwest border by traversing miles on foot through the desolate mountainous terrain of West Texas in order to avoid detection as they are able to smuggle narcotics into the interior."

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"DPS relies on ground tracking techniques and aerial support to detect, disrupt, and interdict criminal activity," he said.

The drug seizure comes as the migrant crisis, which has roiled the southern border since early 2021, continues to see streams of large groups of migrants cross into the U.S. illegally.

On Monday, a massive group of illegal migrants crossed into the U.S. waving a large Venezuelan flag and  according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)  attacked Border Patrol agents before being pushed back into the river as agents used crowd-control measures.

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Republicans have blamed the Biden administration for the crisis, saying that its policies of rolling back Trump-era border security and enforcement have only served to draw more migrants to the southern border  with many of them being released into the U.S.

Fox News Bill Melugin and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
(Bloomberg) -- Texas Democrat Luke Warford is looking to do what no one from his party has managed to do in almost 30 years -- win statewide office.

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In his quest to help lead the Lone Star states powerful oil regulator, the 33-year-old former energy consultant has gained the support of his opponents chief rival for the Republican nomination, Sarah Stogner, who after losing the primary and endorsing Warford quit the party altogether.

Warford -- who raised more than $1 million in the past year -- is battling more than just lack of name recognition as he seeks to unseat Republican incumbent Wayne Christian on the Texas Railroad Commission. Polling show voters leaning toward Christian, 72, whose close ties to the industry he oversees include a $100,000 donation from an oilfield-waste company just days after he voted to approve a key dump permit.

Meanwhile, Christians campaign has been flush with oil and gas money. Over the past year he raised more than $1.2 million, including contributions from the political arms of explorers such as ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp. and APA Corp., as well as several $10,000 donations from individual energy CEOs.

Warford stands in stark contrast to Christians avowed skepticism toward climate change and renewable energy. When a 2021 UN report said climate change should be a death knell to fossil fuels, Christian told an oil conference that avoiding global warming wouldnt be worth the cost of decarbonizing the economy. A better solution, he said, would be to turn the damn air conditioner up.

With less than a week to go until the Nov. 8 election, Christian held a 14-point lead over Warford, according to a University of Houstons Hobby School of Public Affairs poll. The online survey of 1,200 likely Texas voters was conducted Oct. 19-26 and had a 2.8% margin of error.

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Thats one of the reasons no Democrat has won statewide office in Texas since 1994. Youd have to go back another four years before that to find the last Democrat to win a seat on the railroad commission, which evolved from a regulator of locomotives to fossil fuels more than a century ago.

The commission, Texas oldest regulatory agency, employs more than 900 people and has a annual budget of almost $150 million. The agency, which provided the template for OPECs founders in 1960, is governed by three commissioners who serve staggered, six-year terms. Only one seat is up for election this year.

The commissions duties include issuing drilling permits, inspecting wells and ensuring companies follow state and federal laws on safety and pollution. It also has the authority to strictly ration crude production in response to global price gyrations, a step most-recently considered during the early 2020 oil-market collapse.

Warford, who has won support from editorial boards of four major Texas newspapers, has said hed challenge the agencys laissez-faire approach to flaring, the practice of burning off excess natural gas that flows out of oil wells. He condemned the approval of flaring requests via so-called consent agendas, or using a single up-or-down vote to allow dozens of permits en masse.

The vast majority of the things that are passed right now are passed on the consent agenda, with no discussion, no witnesses, no public hearings, no accountability and no transparency, Warford said. As an individual commissioner, I could dissent and force more transparency, more public debate on these issues.

Most of Warfords campaign cash has come from individual contributions under $100. Actress Jane Fonda voiced support for Warford in a social-media post on Wednesday.

As for Christian, his largest single contribution in recent months was $100,000 in May from Sayad Javaid Anwar, the Midland Energy Inc. president who gives generously to Texas Republicans.

It says that I support pro-business policies that create jobs and reduce the cost of energy for consumers, Christian told Bloomberg via email.

The oil and gas industry contributed $15 million to political campaigns of Republican railroad commissioners between 2015 and 2020, representing 67% of total contributions during that time, according to non-profit watchdog group Commission Shift.

(Updates with Jane Fondas endorsement in 12th paragraph.)

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Mahek Bukhari and her mother Ansreen Bukhari. Mahek Bukhari/TikTok

Influencer Mahek Bukhari has been accused of murdering Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin and Saqib Hussain.

The court heard that Bukhari and her mother ran them off the road to keep an affair secret.

Eight people in total are accused of causing the crash that killed the men.

Mahek Bukhari, who had a large following on TikTok and Instagram, is on trial for murder after prosecutors accused her of killing two men in a plot to keep an affair between one of them and her mother a secret.

Bukhari, 23, denied the two counts of murder, as did her mother, Ansreen Bukhari, 45, and six other defendants charged in the ongoing court case. The group have been accused of running Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin and Saqib Hussain, both 21, off the motorway near Leicester, UK back in February. Before Bukhari was arrested, she had 126,000 followers on TikTok and 43,000 on Instagram. Ansreen would often appear in Bukhari's content, including one video where Bukhari described them having "an elite relationship."

The allegations and developments in the trial have spawned numerous videos from true crime fans on TikTok that include clips of Bukhari's past videos and comments on the media coverage of the charges. The search term for "Mahek Bukhari" has over 28 million views on the platform, reflecting a wider appetite for true crime and court proceedings that have become prominent subgenres on there.

On the first day of the trial at Leicester Crown Court, the jury was told that Hussain was in a romantic relationship with Ansreen and had been threatening to blackmail her for 2,000 ($2,295) with videos and images of their 3-year affair after they broke up and he became "obsessed" with her, according to the BBC. This is what led to Bukhari, Ansreen, and the other defendants who are all in their 20s, to plan the crash, the prosecution alleged.

Hussain and Ijazuddin died when their car crashed into a tree at 1:35 a.m. on February 11. Just beforehand, Hussain had called emergency services saying their car was being rammed by attackers in balaclavas, according to the Evening Standard.

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"They're trying to ram us off the road. Please, I'm begging you, I'm going to die," he said in the call which was played before the court. The call then cuts out after a scream and the sound of a collision, which is when the car crashed into the central reservation and burst into flames.

Prosecutor Collingwood Thompson KC described the incident as "not simply a tragic road-traffic accident but a deliberate murder." The court heard that Bukhari and Ansreen had lured the men to meet them at a car park in Leicester before the attack.

Thompson told the jury Bukhari "burst into tears" when she found out the men had died. Evidence presented by the prosecution includes knowledge of a phone call between Bukhari and codefendant Raess Jamal when police arrived at her house, and a Snapchat message to Ansreen from Bukhari which reads "Risky...if anyone else was in the car...he said just say you and Mum."

"It seems pretty clear what happened was a concocted story was put together in order to deceive the police," Thompson said.

Read the original article on Insider
Ohio Democratic Senate candidate Tim Ryan distanced himself from national party leaders on Tuesday and said that "crime is an issue" ahead of next week's midterm elections.

Ryan also attempted to defend prior comments he made regarding the elimination of cash bail and the release of "all the nonviolent criminals" from prison, insisting that his position on the two issues are driven by his support for the legalization of marijuana.

Ryan's comments came during a Fox News town hall event with Fox News hosts Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier in Ohios capital city of Columbus.

"Crime is an issue. I dont care what anybody says about that," Ryan said. "We need more cops, we need better paid cops, and we need to make sure that we invest into police training."

TIM RYAN'S PLEDGES TO RELEASE ALL THE NONVIOLENT CRIMINALS, SLASH PRISON NUMBERS CONTINUE TO HAUNT HIM

Ohio Democratic Senate candidate Tim Ryan particpates in a Fox News town hall event in Columbus, Ohio, on November 1, 2022.

Pressed on the issue of crime by MacCallum, Ryan was asked specifically about prior remarks on crime that he made during his campaign for president in 2019 that favored the elimination of cash bail nationwide and his pledge to release "all the nonviolent criminals" and cut the prison population in half.

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"Well, what I'm talking about here is marijuana crimes," Ryan said. "I think we need to legalize marijuana."

"You said all nonviolent criminals out,'" MacCallum interjected.

"I think the focus is marijuana crimes, in my mind, right," Ryan said. "We spend  this may be the stupidest expenditure of federal money in taxpayer money in the history of our country. You get caught with marijuana, then you end up in prison. That's insane for us. We should tax the marijuana and put it into addiction treatment, we should use it to keep fentanyl and these hardcore drugs out of our country, out of our society. We should invest in the shop class, we should invest into early childhood education."

"There's so many better ways to spend this money than locking somebody up for marijuana crimes and especially when White and Black people use marijuana equally, Black people are six times more likely to go to prison. That's an unfair system," he added.

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During his campaign for president in the 2020 presidential election, Ryan made several comments that have come back to haunt him as he seeks support from Ohio voters in the Senate race.

DEMOCRAT OHIO US SENATE CANDIDATE REP. TIM RYAN ONCE CALLED FOR AN END TO UNFAIR CASH BAIL SYSTEM

U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, speaks at the UAW Local 12 union rally in Toledo, Ohio on August 20, 2022.

Ryan once called for an end to cash bail nationwide and called the system "inherently unfair" during a civil liberties forum in September 2019.

"A good portion of people who are in jail right now are there pretrial. Right, people who have not been convicted, they retain their presumption of innocence. And we're seeing states end cash bail state-by-state. Would you support that nationally?," asked Jeanne Hruska, former American Civil Liberties Union political director.

"Yeah," Ryan replied at the time. "The bail system is inherently unfair and what it does is it sets people down a spiral of not being able to go to work, not being able to take care of the kids, then you have adverse childhood experiences, and all the sudden a parent's not at home. It's not much different than what we talk about when we see these kids separated from their parents through the immigration situation."

Ryan also signaled his support for releasing nonviolent criminals from prison in June 2019.

Ohio Democratic Senate candidate Tim Ryan and Ohio GOP Senate candidate J.D. Vance.

Ryan was approached by an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) "rights for all voter" who asked him if he would commit to reducing the U.S. prison population by 50 percent, should he take the White House.

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"I dont know if its by 50 percent or not, but we want to get all the nonviolent criminals out, for sure," Ryan responded .

Ryan will face off against his Republican challenger, JD Vance, in the Ohio Senate election on November 8.
Mamiko Moda (L) and her partner Satoko Nagamura, with their son, hold a same-sex partnership certificate as they pose for a photograph after a press conference at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building on Nov. 1. Credit - Yuichi YamazakiAFP/Getty Images

Good news arrived in Soyoka Yamamotos inbox on Tuesday. The 37-year-old, a representative of the organization Partnership Act for Tokyo, received an email with a downloadable PDF of a certificate from the Tokyo metropolitan government, recognizing the relationship between her and her partner of 11 years.

This is the first time for the public to recognize us officially as a couple, says Yamamoto, who petitioned Tokyos government to make the change. It feels weird right now, but I feel safe.

Advocates say the Tokyo governments issuance of partnership certificates to same sex-couples, which began on Nov. 1, is an important moment for LGBTQ rights in Japan.

Tokyo isnt the firstseveral prefectures in Japan have already introduced some form of partnership system. But the addition of Japans capital and most populous city now means that more than 60% of Japans population is covered in this way, according to advocates and local media.

Hurdles remain, but Its a big step for future action, Gon Matsunaka, the president of Pride House Tokyo, tells TIME. Its a good step for everyones life.

Miki showing a picture of her wedding with her partner Katie at their home in Tokyo, Oct 30. Tokyo began issuing partnership certificates to same-sex couples who live and work in the capital on Nov. 1, a long-awaited move in a country without marriage equality. Yuichi YamazakiAFP/Getty Images

How does getting a partnership certificate help same-sex couples?

At the end of last week, more than 130 same-sex couples had applied online for partnership certificates, which are available to couples with at least one partner living, working or studying in Tokyo. Under the so-called Tokyo Partnership Oath System, same-sex couples can benefit from some services and welfare programs that opposite-sex couples are eligible for. A partnership certificate might simplify housing by making it easier for couples to apply for mortgages, or to move into public housing designated for families. It may allow a person to collect their partners life insurance, give consent for a medical procedure if their partner is ill or injured or to visit their partner in government-run hospitals.

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Read More: A Court Ruled Japans Same-Sex Marriage Ban Unconstitutional. Heres Whats Next for LGBTQ Rights

We always have to explain our relationship to get services, says Yamamoto. But now it will be easier. We dont have to convince anybody that were a couple.

Others agreed that their new certificates would bring them a bit more security. Now we will be able to use the certificate to prove our relationship as a family at hospitals during an emergency. That will give us peace of mind, Mamiko Moda, who is raising a 10-month-old baby with her female partner, told local media. The 42-year-old was speaking at a press conference in October, when applications for the certificates opened.

Still, the new system is not legally binding and partnership certificates fall short of full marriage rights. Its totally different, says Matsunaka. He points out that Tokyo couples that want to move may no longer be covered, and that the private sector doesnt have to follow the system.

Despite her relief at receiving a certificate, Yamamoto says the new system is, not really quite enough for us to believe that we are equal.

Plaintiffs pose for photo during a press conference after the same-sex marriage lawsuit in front of Sapporo District Court in Sapporo, Hokkaido Prefecture, on March 17, 2021. The Yomiuri Shimbun/AP

What LGBTQ rights look like in Japan

Japan is the only country in the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations that doesnt fully recognize same-sex partnerships and it ranks second-to-lastonly ahead of Turkeyin gay and transgender rights in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a group of 38 wealthy and middle-income countries. The ruling conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has held power almost continuously since 1955, promotes traditional family values. Attempted advances for LGBTQ rights have sparked fierce backlash and discriminatory comments from some LDP lawmakers.

But Japans LGBTQ movement has gained momentum and public support in recent yearsespecially among younger people. More than 92% of Japanese people aged 18 to 29 say homosexuality should be accepted by society, according to a 2021 report by the Pew Research Center.

A push by activists ahead of last summers Tokyo Olympics to pressure the government to pass a law banning discrimination against LGBTQ people failed. But it sparked an outpouring of public support, with hundreds of thousands of people signing petitions backing the law. Major corporationsincluding Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Deloitte and the Japanese company SegaSammy (whose holdings include Sega video games)threw their weight behind the legislation.

Read More: Japan Failed to Improve LGBTQ Rights Ahead of the Olympics. Japanese Athletes Are Coming Out Anyway

Activists say that the latest news is a step in the right direction. This momentum will change public awareness and also the awareness of companies and some local politicians, says Matsunaka.

Kanae Doi, the Japan director of NGO Human Rights Watch, says that the new system shows the overwhelming popular support for marriage equality and it highlights the backwardness and the reluctance of the national government and the Diet on LGBT rights. (The Diet is Japans legislature.) The Japanese government and the Diet should heed to the demands of the Japanese people and need to introduce and pass comprehensive LGBT equality laws including the area of marriage, she adds.

The latest development could help propel forward marriage equality, although activists recognize that a change in the next year or two is unlikely. The current government might not face a general election until 2025, and a series of challenges winding their way through the countrys legal systemmore than a dozen same-sex couples filed lawsuits at district courts around Japan on Valentines Day in 2019may take years to get an outcome.

So far the legal cases have had mixed results. In the first ruling, made in March last year, the Sapporo District Court said Japans definition of marriage, which excludes same-sex couples, violated constitutional guarantees of equality. But in June, a court in Osaka ruled that freedom of marriage in the constitution referred only to male-female unions, and that the countrys ban on same-sex marriage was therefore constitutional. The Tokyo District Court is scheduled to hand down its decision on a third case in late November.

Read More: This Buddhist Monk Is a Makeup Artist and an LGBTQ Activist

Doi, of Human Rights Watch, says that having a majority of Japan covered by same-sex partnership systems will increase pressure on the national government to take action on LGBTQ rights and marriage equality, and influence the judges of the pending marriage equality litigation cases.

The influence over the judges is important since unless the national government or the Diet act swiftly, the supreme court will eventually be the institution which decides whether it is constitutional to leave the marriage law as it is or not, she says.

Although progress is slow, advocates say they are hopeful for the future. The Tokyo partnership system, says Matsunaka, is a good sign for the younger generation.
WASHINGTON (AP)  A top ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is demanding fresh answers from the U.S. Capitol Police about security failures that led to a brutal attack on Pelosis husband last week, questioning the embattled agency about whether it can keep lawmakers and their families safe.

House Administration Committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., sent a four-page letter to Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger on Wednesday, saying the attack on Paul Pelosi raises significant questions about security protections for Members of Congress. The man who beat Paul Pelosi with a hammer was looking for Nancy Pelosi and later told police that he wanted to hold her hostage and break her kneecaps to make a political point, authorities said.

The searing letter lays out a series of questions for Manger and orders the agency to lay out its plans for protecting lawmakers and their families, including how they are interacting with other law enforcement agencies, how officers are trained for such situations and whether there are special plans in place to protect lawmakers in the presidential line of succession, as Pelosi is.

The letter from Lofgren, whose panel oversees the Capitol Police, comes as the beleaguered agency is still trying to rebuild after the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, when hundreds of former President Donald Trumps supporters overwhelmed officers and more than 100 were injured. Threats to lawmakers have skyrocketed in recent years  almost 10,000 threats were investigated last year  and the agency has struggled to protect lawmakers, their families and the Capitol campus with limited resources.

The Capitol Police issued a statement Wednesday saying they will fast track the work they had already been doing to protect members outside of Washington.

Our brave men and women are working around the clock to meet this urgent mission during this divisive time, the USCP statement said. In the meantime, a significant change that will have an immediate impact will be for people across our country to lower the temperature on political rhetoric before its too late.

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The USCP said it has access to roughly 1,800 cameras, including one on Pelosis house that was not being monitored during the attack on Paul Pelosi because the speaker was not there. The Capitol Police video is expected to show an extended struggle by the intruder, David DePape, to break into the Pelosi house as he first worked to break a window in the rear of the home and moved around to break glass in doors on the side of the house, according to a person briefed on the situation who requested anonymity to discuss it.

The San Francisco Police Department often posted a patrol car at the Pelosi house, particularly after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol, but there was no police car present at the home during the time of the attack, the person said. Among many other questions in the letter, Lofgren asked if the agency had any special agreements with San Francisco police to have security stationed outside of Pelosis house.

In a speech Wednesday night near the Capitol, Biden bemoaned the dangerous rise of political violence and voter intimidation over the past two years.

Theres an alarming rise in the number of people in this country condoning political violence or simply remaining silent, Biden added. In our bones we know democracy is at risk, but we also know this: Its in our power to preserve our democracy.

DePapes state case will continue Friday, though the defendant will not appear in the courtroom. His public defender entered a not guilty plea on his behalf Tuesday and vowed to pursue a vigorous legal defense. An arraignment on federal charges has not been scheduled.

Paul Pelosi remained in the Intensive Care Unit in a San Francisco hospital, and was receiving regular visits from Nancy Pelosi and other family members.

In a federal complaint released earlier this week, officials said DePape, 42, was carrying zip ties, tape and a rope in a backpack. He went upstairs where 82-year-old Paul Pelosi was sleeping, and demanded to talk to Nancy.

In the letter to the Capitol Police, Lofgren noted that the agency has previously reported that Pelosi receives the most threats of any member of Congress. She asked whether USCP has established protocols for the personal residences of lawmakers who are in the presidential line of succession  Pelosi as speaker and Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont as president pro tempore of the Senate. She also asked if the department has coordinated with the Secret Service to protect those lawmakers, in particular, and whether there is a plan to protect their families.

Members of Congress from both parties have expressed concerns about the increased threats in recent years and in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection, when Trumps supporters broke into the Capitol and sent lawmakers running for their lives. People have showed up at their houses, threatened them online and even shot at them.

Five years ago, a left-wing activist opened fire on Republicans as they practiced for an annual charity baseball game, and 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.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who had a man show up at her house in Seattle over the summer carrying a pistol, is one member who has been aggressively pushing for more resources. This summer, she convened a call with other House Democrats to crowdsource how to stay safe while in their districts and out campaigning.

It makes no sense for members of Congress to be doing that, Jayapal said about the unofficial conversations with her colleagues.

We fear for ourselves, we fear for our staff, and we really fear for our loved ones, Jayapal said.

___

Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro and Farnoush Amiri in Washington and Stefanie Dazio in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
(Bloomberg Government) -- A senior House Democrat is demanding answers from the U.S. Capitol Police about protection for members of Congress after a hammer-wielding assailant broke into Speaker Nancy Pelosis home and attacked her husband.

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House Administration Committee Chair Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) asked Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger to answer for the department in a Nov. 1 letter obtained by Bloomberg Government. In it, Lofgren said the break-in and assault that put Paul Pelosi in the hospital raise significant questions about security protections for Members of Congress, particularly those in the presidential line of succession.

The bevy of questions come as the Capitol Police announced Wednesday the opening of an internal review investigating why no one was actively monitoring cameras watching Pelosis home when the assailant broke in. The department said in a statement that the cameras are not actively monitored when Pelosi is in Washington with her security detail, as she was during the attack. The department has access to roughly 1,800 cameras in its command center.

Lofgren, whose committee oversees the Capitol Police, rehashed past concerns with the departments ability to asses and mitigate risks. Her dozens of questions to Manger included what, if any, emergency protocols exist for the homes of lawmakers in the presidential line of succession. She also asked whether Capitol Police have taken action on her panels requested plans to create field offices in San Francisco and Tampa, Fla. to deal with increased threats.

Lofgren raised further concerns about the Capitol Polices ability to coordinate, referencing an offer from the FBI to have Capitol Police officers who were detailed in San Francisco and Tampa assigned as task force officers to the FBIs Joint Terrorism Task Forces, which investigate threats to lawmakers.

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Is that accurate? Lofgren wrote. If so, why did the USCP decline this offer? Lofgrens questions point to larger concerns about the Capitol Polices ability to keep lawmakers and their families safe as threats against members have skyrocketed. Lawmakers faced approximately 9,625 threats in 2021, according to Capitol Police data, a dramatic increase from prior years.

Lofgren cited that estimate in the letter, as well as the departments reporting that Pelosi receives the most threats of any member of Congress.

Threats Escalating

National Terrorism Advisory System bulletins and other alerts have warned since February 2021 that calls for violence by domestic violent extremists directed at democratic institutions, political candidates, party offices, election events, and election workers will likely increase, Lofgren cited in the letter.

Given that, Lofgren asked whether Capitol Police have a plan of action or a request to extend coverage to the spouses and other family members of the congressional leaders in the presidential line of succession.

If not, why not? she asked.

Lofgren noted of the thousands of threats, only 217 cases were presented to the various United States Attorneys offices for prosecution. Overall, 27 cases, less than one-third of one percent of all threats, were accepted for prosecution, she said in the letter.

The California Democrat also asked how many of the threats and cases presented for prosecution involved congressional leaders in the presidential line of succession, respectively?

In a Monday statement, Pelosi said her husband Paul Pelosi is making steady progress on what will be a long recovery process.

Billy House contributed to this report.

To contact the reporter on this story: Emily Wilkins in Washington at ewilkins@bgov.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fawn Johnson at fjohnson@bloombergindustry.com; Angela Greiling Keane at agreilingkeane@bloombergindustry.com

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Rep. Zoe Lofgren, who leads the House panel that oversees Capitol Police, in a five-page letter demanded answers from the department about how members are being protected outside D.C. after the attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosis husband Paul Pelosi.

This incident and related circumstances, including the manner in which the Speaker and her family were targeted, raise significant questions about security protections for Members of Congress, particularly those in the presidential line of succession, wrote House Administration Committee Chair Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) in the letter dated Tuesdayto Capitol Police chief Tom Manger.

Lofgrens letter represents the first public attempt from lawmakers to seek answers from the Capitol Police in the aftermath of the attack on Paul Pelosi. He was hospitalized last Friday after David DePape allegedly broke into the Pelosi house and assaulted Paul Pelosi with a hammer. Federal and local prosecutors have filed separate charges against DePape, who has told police he intended to hold Nancy Pelosi hostage and would break her kneecaps if she lied to him.



It also marks one of the first public attempts at oversight of the two brand new satellite offices the Capitol Police set up to assist in security outside of D.C. in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Security protocols for the line of succession were one of Lofgren's main areas of interest. She asked the department for answers on home security, threats and security protocols for the top congressional leaders. Pelosi is second in line to the presidency as the speaker, and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) is the third as the chamber's president pro tempore.

In particular, Lofgren is seeking clarity about a new residential security program launched for all House members in August and if it was based on proven security measures taken at residences already monitored by Capitol Police, like Pelosi's. The program, launched in August, allows the House sergeant at arms to cover a narrow set of security costs for lawmakers' personal residences, up to a combined total of $10,000.

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The Capitol Police released a statement Wednesday they were gathering input and questions from our Congressional stakeholders. The department acknowledged in that statement that the cameras at Pelosi's residence were not actively monitored during the home invasion as officers would do if she were home.

The Command Center personnel noticed the police activity on the screen and used the feeds to monitor the response and assist investigators, the Capitol Police said.

The department also said it was immensely grateful for the support Congress had already provided after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, so now they would fast-track their existing work to enhance the protection of lawmakers outside Washington, D.C. Officials said they'd do so while also providing new protective options that will address concerns following Fridays targeted attack.

Lofgren also asked the Capitol Police whether they would address issues on the forces training program for its dignitary protection division, which is tasked with protecting lawmakers.

The Administration Committee chair asked the department for the strategic plan for the field offices, policy directives, standard operating procedures and short- and long-term goals for the agency's new regional approach to threats against lawmakers  and requested an explanation if any of those items did not exist. The locations in California and Florida were chosen based on the number of threats originating from those states, and Manger has said the offices were meant to help investigate and prosecute threats.

Members have pressed the Capitol Police for years to improve and streamline cooperation with local law enforcement to help facilitate security for major events and basic operations of district offices. Lofgren's letter digs into what formal agreements the department has with local law enforcement agencies across the country and if there was any kind of official agreement with San Francisco's police department ahead of the attack on Paul Pelosi.

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said Tuesday there were no Capitol Police or private security present at Pelosis house when the attack took place. Paul Pelosi called 911 after the intruder broke into the house and police stopped the assault after entering the Pelosi home.

The San Francisco Police Department on Wednesday rejected POLITICOs request for a recording of Paul Pelosis call for service and for the footage from responding officers body cameras, both of which have prosecutors have cited in detailing their allegations against DePape. Jenkins has said she will not release the 911 call and has indicated the body camera footage may emerge during a trial.

We have to make sure that what we release to the public is what we believe is necessary in order just to straighten out this record and what we believe the public should have access to, Jenkins said on Tuesday, "but it's not going to be every single detail of this case."

Jeremy B. White contributed to this report.
Wisconsin GOP gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels said Republicans would never lose an election in the state.

"Tim Michels is a danger to our democracy," Gov. Tony Evers said on Twitter.

The Michels campaign clarified the comment, saying that Michels would boost support for Republicans.

Wisconsin GOP candidate Tim Michels said Republicans would never lose a race in the state should he become governor, concerning opponents that he would take steps to alter election results once in office.

American Bridge 21st Century, a left-leaning political action committee, released an audio clip Monday of Michels recorded during a campaign event in Jackson County, Wisconsin. Michels is running for governor against Democratic incumbent Governor Tony Evers.

"Republicans will never lose another election in Wisconsin after I'm elected governor," Michels, who co-owns the state's largest construction company, can be heard saying.

In response to the audio clip, posted on Twitter, Evers replied, saying: 'Tim Michels is a danger to our democracy."

"Democracy is on the ballot in this election," Sam Roecker, a spokesperson for Evers told Insider. "Tim Michels has made it clear he will do anything in his power to make it harder for Wisconsinites to vote and could even overturn the fair results of our elections if he doesn't like the outcome."

Michels, a candidate endorsed by former President Donald Trump, has questioned the results of the 2020 election and has declined to answer questions as to whether or not he would certify presidential election results as governor should a Democrat win the state in a national election.

Michels also suggested that he could pursue an unconstitutional effort to decertify Biden's 2020 win in Wisconsin once he became governor, telling local station WKOW that he would "need to see the details."

In a statement to Insider, the Michels campaign denied the audio had anything to do with election integrity. Rather, the campaign said, Michels would garner more support for Republican candidates in the state by implementing "lower taxes, better schools, uniform election laws and safer communities."

Story continues

"While revving up supporters to get out and vote, Tim was referring to winning and leading and then being rewarded by voters for doing a good job," Brian Fraley, a spokesperson for Michels, told Insider in a statement.

"Any attempt to make more out of that quip shows just how pathetic and desperate Tony Evers and his supporters are getting as we approach election day. They want to talk about anything other than his four years of failure."

An NBC analysis found 60% of Republican candidates in five key battleground states deny or question whether or not President Joe Biden won the 2020 election.

Experts told The New York Times that election deniers who win key offices could refuse to accept the 2024 elections, resulting in legal battles across the country.

Michels is looking to unseat Evers next Tuesday in a race that has been rated a "toss-up" by Inside Elections, The Cook Political Report, and Sabato's Crystal Ball.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Beijing's PM2.5 density drops 15.2 pct in first three quarters

Xinhua) 08:34, November 02, 2022

Tourists visit the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 22, 2022. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)

BEIJING, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Beijing saw its average concentration of PM2.5 fall 15.2 percent year on year during the first three quarters of 2022, official data showed on Monday.

During the January-September period, the city's average concentration of PM2.5, one of its primary air-pollution index readings, was 28 micrograms per cubic meter, indicating Beijing's improved air quality, according to the Beijing Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau.

PM2.5 readings are a gauge monitoring airborne particles of 2.5 microns or below in diameter.

Since the beginning of this year, Beijing has beefed up its air quality improvement efforts, strengthening its management and control of volatile organic compounds and organizing over 180 enterprises to launch cleaner production auditing, according to the bureau.

(Web editor: Cai Hairuo, Liang Jun)
Leonardo Munoz/Getty

Inundated with lawsuits and ongoing trials, the Trump Organization on Wednesday chose to settle with anti-MAGA protesters who were beaten up by corporate security guards outside Trump Tower in 2015 rather than trying to convince a Bronx jury.

After three days of struggling to find jurors who didnt already have strong feelings about former President Donald Trump and his eponymous companya difficult undertaking in liberal New York Citydefense lawyers at the last minute chose to settle.

Minutes after Justice Andrew Cohen sent potential jurors out to lunch at midday, Trump Organization lawyers approached the protesters who filed the suit and presented them with a stack of papers that they quietly signed.

A lawyer representing the Trump Organization, Jeffrey Goldman, was overheard telling the judge that everything was goldenand that nearly everyone had finished signing the agreement.

Efrain Galicia, the lead plaintiff, signed the paperwork along with Florencia Tejeda Perez, Miguel Villalobos, and Norberto Garcia.

The parties all agree that the plaintiffs in the action, and all people, have a right to engage in peaceful protest on public sidewalks, read a joint statement, which was also signed by Trump Organization defense lawyer Alina Habba.

Trump Organization Criminal Trial Kicks Off With a Tall Task

In court, Habba declined to discuss the terms of the settlement. She signed the agreement at 12:32 p.m. Benjamin Dictor, who represents the protesters, said, The matter has been resolved to the satisfaction of all parties.

In a later statement, Habba added: Although we were eager to proceed to trial to demonstrate the frivolousness of this case, the parties were ultimately able to come to an amicable resolution. We are very pleased with this outcome and are happy to finally put this matter to rest once and for all.

The Bronxa diverse, blue-collar borough known for its no-nonsense street smartsis famous for the way juries there often reward plaintiffs with outsized awards, especially when punishing corporations and the rich.

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As legal writer Victoria Bekiempis recently explained on Twitter, civil rights lawyers have described Bronx jurors Robinhood-ism, and the way they take from the rich and give to the rest of us.

Galicia and fellow protesters showed up outside Trump Tower weeks after Trump announced his presidential run in the summer of 2015. They were angry about his racist comments in which he berated Mexican migrants seeking refuge in the United States as rapists. They also sought to draw attention to the potential dangers of Trumps statements and presidential ambitions, given that he had just been endorsed by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.

When they showed up on Fifth Avenue outside Trump Tower in KKK hoods and large signsremaining on the public streetTrump corporate security guards attacked them, tackled Galicia, and ripped a sign from his hand.

Although the protesters soon sued the company, the lawsuit was held up while Trump remained in the White House. It wasnt until this year that damning details came out from a surprise witness in the office upstairs: Michael Cohen, Trumps then right-hand lawyer, who revealed that the executive had personally ordered his security chief to get rid of the protestersand later reveled in their abuse.

Justice was done, Galicia said walking down the courthouse steps after the agreement was signed.

And remember, the sidewalk belongs to the peopleno matter whose name is on the building, Dictor added.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Donald Trump and his namesake company have settled a lawsuit by protesters who said his security guards violently attacked them while they were demonstrating outside Trump Tower in September 2015 over his statements about immigration.

Trump, the Trump Organization and the plaintiffs agreed to dismiss the seven-year-old lawsuit over the alleged assault in a joint filing on Wednesday with a New York state court in the Bronx. A trial had gotten under way this week.

"The parties all agree that the plaintiffs in the action, and all people, have a right to engage in peaceful protest on public sidewalks," both sides said in a joint statement.

Lawyers for the protesters did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment.

"Although we were eager to proceed to trial to demonstrate the frivolousness of this case, the parties were ultimately able to come to an amicable resolution," Trump lawyer Alina Habba said in a statement. "We are very pleased with this outcome."

The Sept. 3, 2015, incident at Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan occurred 2-1/2 months after Trump, while announcing his first White House run, complained about immigrants being sent to the United States by Mexico.

"They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists," Trump said.

According to the complaint, Trump's head of security struck one protester, Efrain Galicia, on the head, while a security guard attempted to put Galicia in a chokehold.

The protesters, all of Mexican origin, said they had been carrying signs satirizing Trump's campaign slogan "Make America Great Again!" by substituting "Trump: Make America Racist Again!"

Like some other lawsuits against Trump, the protesters' case was delayed in part because Trump was president.

Trump sat in October 2021 for a video deposition, where he expressed concern about possibly being struck at public appearances with fruit, but denied trying to encourage supporters to be violent.

"I wanted to have people be ready because we were put on alert that they were going to do fruit," he said. "And some fruit is a lot worse than - tomatoes are bad, by the way. But it's very dangerous."

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Mark Porter)
Tumblr has updated its community guidelines to allow nudity even though it has maintained that sexually explicit posts are still off limits.

The platforms ban on content deemed not safe for work (NSFW) had come into effect in December 2018 and went beyond illegal content, banning photos, videos, or Gifs that show real-life human genitals or female-presenting nipples, and any content  including photos, videos, Gifs and illustrations  that depict sex acts.

The company has now reversed these guidelines, formally allowing a broader range of imagery, including the naked human form.

We now welcome a broader range of expression, creativity, and art on Tumblr, including content depicting the human form (yes, that includes the naked human form), the company noted.

So, even if your creations contain nudity, mature subject matter, or sexual themes, you can now share them on Tumblr using the appropriate Community Label, it said.

However, the platform has said that visual depictions of sexually explicit acts are still off-limits.

 This is not a drill.

 Our new Community Guidelines are here.



Read more https://t.co/W8m2ZJ29OU pic.twitter.com/zfsqal4qia  tumblr dot com (itschristmas) (@tumblr) November 1, 2022

Further clarifying the changes in a help centre post, the social media company said while text, images, and videos that contain nudity, offensive language, sexual themes, or mature subject matter are allowed on Tumblr, visual depictions of sexually explicit acts (or content with an overt focus on genitalia) are not.

User content on historically significant art depicting sex acts that one may find in a mainstream museum such as from Indias Aua ga Empire, is also now allowed on the platform, the company added.

Story continues

Nudity and other kinds of adult material are generally welcome. Were not here to judge your art, we just ask that you add a Community Label to your mature content so that people can choose to filter it out of their Dashboard if they prefer, it said.

When Tumblr was owned by Verizon in 2018, it explicitly banned adult content, including female-presenting nipples after the discovery of child sexual abuse imagery on its blogs.

The company was then sold to Wordpress.com owner Automattic, whose chief hinted in September that while fully overturning the ban wasnt feasible, it might loosen restrictions on some content with the introduction of the Community Labels filtering feature.

We hope this shift creates more room for artistic expression to flourish on Tumblr while empowering each of you to craft your own experience and safely explore and discover the things you love, the company said in its new guidelines.
ANKARA (Reuters) -Russia is concerned about its security and the obstacles it faces exporting fertiliser and grains, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlu Cavusoglu said on Wednesday, days after Moscow suspended its participation in a U.N.-brokered export deal.

Ankara, in talks with Kyiv and Moscow to fully resume the agreement that it helped broker in the summer, has sounded optimistic that a solution can be found after Russia announced its suspension on Saturday.

Speaking at a panel in Ankara, Cavusoglu cited two reasons for Moscow's move.

"Russia has some security demands after the recent attack on its ships," he said of an attack on Russia's Black Sea Fleet over the weekend.

Moscow is also concerned about its fertiliser and grain exports, "which are not on the list of sanctions but the ships that are carrying these still cannot dock," Cavusoglu said, echoing comments by Russian officials.

"They still cannot get insurance and payments are not made," he said. "Therefore, a lot of countries' ships are shying away from carrying these loads."

(Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen and Ezgi Erkoyun; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Angus MacSwan)
(Bloomberg) -- Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. shares rose after two major investors struck a deal with Rio Tinto Group that paves the way for the London-based mining giant to advance its $3.1 billion takeover.

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Shares of Turquoise Hill surged 6% to C$42.77 at 10 a.m. in Toronto, bringing it closer to Rio Tintos C$43-a-share offer for the Montreal-based mining company.

Rio Tinto said Tuesday afternoon that it struck a deal with Turquoise Hill shareholders critical of its offer. Pentwater Capital Management LP and SailingStone Capital Partners LLC agreed to withhold their votes in exchange for C$34.40 per share and they will enter into arbitration over a remaining consideration for their shares. Rio said its offer remains its best and final.

The two investors, which combined hold about 16% of Turquoise Hills outstanding stock, had publicly opposed Rios offer, arguing that it undervalued the company. Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. echoed that view, while advisory firm Glass Lewis & Co. recommended investors support the transaction in part due to significant near-term financing risks faced by Turquoise Hill.

Rio Tinto has sought the 49% of the Canadian miner it doesnt already own, in a deal valued at about C$4.24 billion. At stake is Rios control of Mongolias massive Oyu Tolgoi project, which is expected to become the worlds fourth-largest copper mine.

Turquoise Hill rescheduled a shareholders meeting to vote on the takeover to Nov. 8 at the request of Rio Tinto.

The vote required two-thirds approval of all votes from Turquoise Hill shareholders, including Rio Tinto, and approval of a simple majority of votes from minority shareholders.

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Turquoise Hill said in a Wednesday statement that Rio advised it on Oct. 30 of potential terms of an agreement with Pentwater and SailingStone, two days before a shareholder meeting in Montreal to vote on the transaction. Shareholders related to those firms hold about 32.6 million shares in Turquoise Hill, according to the statement.

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North Korean missiles are seen during a military parade in 2018. The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images

North Korea is covertly sending artillery shells to Russia to assist them in their ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration said Wednesday.

The accusation was first reported by CNN, and later confirmed during a briefing by White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby. Kirby said the U.S. had received intelligence that North Korea had been sending "significant" weaponry to Russia through backdoor channels in the Middle East and Africa, Reuters reported.

"Our indications are that [North Korea] is covertly supplying, and we are going to monitor to see whether the shipments are received," Kirby said. He added that U.S. officials would be consulting with the United Nations over possible next steps.

However, Kirby said the North Korean shells were unlikely to change the outcome or course of the war, especially given the strategic alliances Ukraine has with Western partners. "We don't believe that [the artillery shells] are in such a quantity that they would change the direction of this war or tangibly change the momentum," Kirby told reporters, per The Associated Press.

Reports of Russia purchasing weapons from North Korea first came to light in September, though North Korean officials have denied sending Russia any supplies.

The accusation from the United States comes amidst continuing tensions between North Korea and much of the Western world, and occurred as the hermit state launched a barrage of at least 23 missiles into the sea off the South Korean coast, which South Korean officials called "territorial encroachment."

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Two U.S. officials confirmed to CBS News on Wednesday that senior Russian military officials discussed in mid-October how and when they might use nuclear weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine. The intelligence concerned U.S. officials because the relevant discussions came not long after Russian President Vladimir Putin, seeing Ukrainian forces claw territory back from his troops, hinted that he could resort to nuclear weapons.

Putin warned in late September that he would "certainly use all the means at our disposal" to defend Russian territory.

Asked about the U.S. intelligence on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed it as "purposeful pumping" of nuclear weapons rhetoric.

"We have not the slightest intention to take part in this pumping, and consider it very, very irresponsible," Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

The discussions among Russian officials, first reported by the New York Times, were not detailed by the U.S. officials who confirmed the intelligence to CBS News.

In a statement shared with CBS News, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said he couldn't provide "any comment on the particulars of this reporting," but said the U.S. had been "clear from the outset that Russia's comments about the potential use of nuclear weapons are deeply concerning, and we take them seriously."

The talk within the Russian military came as Moscow claimed, without offering any evidence, that Ukraine was preparing to use a radioactive "dirty bomb." Ukraine and its Western partners dismissed the claim as a bid by Russia to create a pretext to blame Ukraine for its own possible use of such a device.

A dirty bomb is a device that uses conventional explosives to disperse radioactive material. They are not generally weapons stocked by national military forces, but more often associated with terrorism. Their use is, however, hypothetical: A dirty bomb has never been detonated in an attack, but they have been tested. Their size and lethality depends entirely on the potency and quantity of the radioactive and explosives materials used.

Story continues

Since the intelligence about the unidentified Russians' conversations first came to light, concern within the U.S. government has eased, principally, one American official told CBS News, because the Russians' own rhetoric has been dialed back.

Putin was not said to have been part of the conversations, and Kirby and the U.S. officials who spoke to CBS News on the condition of anonymity said there were no indications that Russia was then or is now making preparations to use a nuclear weapon.

What is a tactical nuclear weapon?

Fears that Putin  who makes all final decisions about Russian military deployments and operations  could order the use of any kind of nuclear weapon in Ukraine increased last month as his invading forces were dealt a series of defeats, retreating from a number of villages and towns in regions of eastern Ukraine that Putin has declared Russian territory.

His unilateral annexation of four eastern Ukrainian regions at the end of September has been dismissed by the United Nations and most of the global community as an illegal landgrab.

In addition to his battlefield losses, there were also indications last month of discontent within Russia.

As Ukraine's troops advanced and a hastily-called military mobilization sent hundreds of young Russian men running for Russia's borders to avoid serving in Ukraine, and hundreds more who were drafted sent to the front lines with inadequate training and equipment, senior Russian officials started voicing rare public concern over the trajectory of Putin's war.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States does not see any signs that Russia is making preparations to use nuclear weapons, White House spokesman John Kirby said on Wednesday, adding that he had no specific comment on a New York Times report about such Russian discussions.

"We've been clear from the outset that Russia's comments about the potential use of nuclear weapons are deeply concerning, and we take them seriously," Kirby said. "We continue to monitor this as best we can, and we see no indications that Russia is making preparations for such use."

(Reporting by Steve Holland; writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale of guided multiple launch rocket systems and related equipment to Finland in a deal valued at an estimated cost of $535 million, the Pentagon said in a statement on Wednesday.

The principal contractor will be Lockheed Martin Corp, the Pentagon said.

"Finland intends to use these defense articles and services to increase its national stock, bolstering the land and air defense capabilities in Europe's northern flank," it said.

"The increased national stock is critical to Finlands defense and deterrence due to the deteriorated security situation in Europe," the statement said.

(Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Ismail Shakil)
 Flash

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday chaired the 21st meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Beijing and put forward a five-point proposal on promoting SCO cooperation.

Kazakh Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Akylbek Japarov, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Tajik Prime Minister Kokhir Rasulzoda, Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov, foreign ministers of India and Pakistan and representatives from SCO observer states attended the meeting, which was held via video link.

Li said that the SCO has made important contributions to peace and stability in the region and to the development and prosperity of regional countries. He added that at the meeting of the Council of Heads of State held in Samarkand last September, the parties reached new common understandings on the development of the SCO.

Upholding peace and pursuing development remain the trend of our times and the people's aspirations. China will continue to work with members of the SCO family to deepen political trust, win-win cooperation and friendly exchanges, champion the Shanghai Spirit, and jointly deliver greater benefits to the peoples of all countries, Li said.

He then made five proposals on advancing SCO cooperation:

First, safeguarding security and stability to foster a sound environment for development. China is ready to deepen law enforcement and security cooperation with all parties to provide safeguards for the economic and social development of all countries, Li said.

Second, expanding trade and investment to bolster regional economic recovery. Li said SCO countries need to jointly uphold the WTO-centered multilateral trading regime, support the development of an open world economy, and enhance trade and investment facilitation.

Third, enhancing connectivity to realize integrated development of the region. Li pointed out that it is imperative for SCO countries to further align development strategies, raise the efficiency of clearance at ports of entry, and preserve the resilience and stability of regional industrial and supply chains.

Fourth, promoting sustainable development to build up resilience against risks. Efforts must be made to enhance the capacity of regional countries for food and energy supply and pursue a balanced and orderly transition to green and low-carbon development, Li said.

Fifth, enhancing people-to-people and cultural exchanges to strengthen the bond between peoples. SCO countries need to fully leverage the cooperation mechanisms on education, culture, science, technology and press, and ensure the success of activities under the SCO Year of Tourism next year, Li added.

In briefing participants on China's economic situation, Li said that confronted with complex and intricate factors at home and abroad, the Chinese economy once came under downward pressures beyond expectation, with a notable decline early in the second quarter.

"China responded swiftly and resolutely, and introduced a policy package for stabilizing the economy and follow-up measures," said Li, adding that China focused on helping market entities stay afloat and keeping employment and prices stable. China relied on deepening reform to better unlock market vitality and social creativity.

Li said through these efforts, the Chinese economy reversed the downward trend in time.

"We will vigorously promote steady, sound and sustainable economic development," he added.

Li said China has more than 160 million market entities, and its people are hardworking and intelligent. This is where the greatest resilience and confidence lie in China's economic development.

China will continue to work for the full delivery of the policy package introduced for stabilizing the economy, work to maximize its effects, keep major economic indicators within the appropriate range, and strive for better results, Li said.

Li said China will stay committed to the fundamental national policy of reform and opening-up and the win-win strategy of opening-up.

China will continue on the path of peaceful development, take an active part in the reform and development of the global governance system, and work with all parties to advance world peace, stability, development and prosperity, he said.

Participants of the meeting spoke positively about the important outcomes of SCO cooperation in various fields and noted the SCO's stature as an effective platform for international cooperation and its increasingly important role in maintaining mutual trust between member states, boosting development and promoting regional peace and security.

They expressed the willingness to further tap into the cooperation potential, strengthen the mechanisms for cooperation, enhance cooperation in such areas as economy and trade, investment, innovation, environmental protection, agriculture, people-to-people and cultural exchanges, connectivity and digital economy, uphold multilateralism, and jointly tackle the challenges of food and energy security and climate change, to improve the well-being of all peoples and promote regional and global stability and prosperity.

The meeting released a joint communique and adopted a number of cooperation documents and resolutions in economy and trade, digital economy and other fields.
(Bloomberg) -- UBS Group AG is effectively closing its on-the-ground dealmaking and advisory operations in the Middle East and North Africa, according to people familiar with the matter.

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The divisions last senior banker in the region tendered his resignation recently, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. A decision to retreat from in-person operations was taken in recent weeks.

Instead, bankers and specialists from other jurisdictions such as the US and UK will fly into the region to handle deals, they said. The Swiss lender will retain a local presence through other divisions, including its global trading and wealth units, where it has continued to hire.

A spokesperson for UBS declined to comment.

Departures at the investment banking team picked up after Michael Cleanis, a managing director and head of global banking for the region, left the firm in March to join Abu Dhabi wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co. He had spent 12 years with UBS in Dubai, mainly covering the regions sovereign wealth funds.

Read More: Top UBS Middle East Investment Banker Set to Join Mubadala

The Swiss lender has been scaling down investment banking operations in several emerging markets including India and South Africa. UBS restructured its dealmaking teams globally in 2019 when it elevated Javier Oficialdegui and Ros Stephenson to co-lead investment banking, which includes advising on corporate takeovers and raising funds through stock and bond sales.

The pullback in the Middle East and North Africa comes as some banks beef up their in-person presence to capture increased deal activity. Investment banking activity has been picking up in the region, spurred by a raft of initial public offerings in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia.

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A surge in oil prices at the start of 2022, as well as increased investor inflows, led to a flurry of listings in the Persian Gulf, which notched up its best first half on record for stock-market debuts.

The Swiss bank has advised on several major deals in the region and worked alongside other banks as an adviser on the public listing of Dubais Tecom Group earlier this year. In 2016, it also advised on the merger of Abu Dhabis two largest lenders to create First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC and the public listing of Dubais Tecom Group.

UBS saw revenues at the investment-banking unit decline 19% in the three months to September amid a broader slump in deal-making and equities. Advisory revenue fell 58%.

(Adds Middle East had best first half on stock market debuts in eighth paragraph)

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LONDON (AP)  U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday reversed an earlier decision not to attend the U.N. climate summit in Egypt.

Sunak's office previously said he had to skip the talks, which start on Sunday, because of pressing domestic commitments," including the closely-watched government budget statement, expected to be announced on Nov. 17.

But Sunak tweeted Wednesday that he would attend the two-week gathering because there is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change."

There is no energy security without investing in renewables," he wrote.

Sunak's earlier decision to skip the talks were criticized by many, including climate adviser Alok Sharma.

The U.K. currently holds the presidency of the Conference of the Parties (COP) and hosted the climate summit last year in Glasgow, Scotland.

Green Party lawmaker Caroline Lucas said Sunak's U-turn was an embarrassing misstep on the world stage.

Let this be a lesson to him  climate leadership matters, she tweeted.

___

Follow APs climate and environment coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment
The United Kingdom has started tightening its cybersecurity over concerns that Chinese and Russian agents may target ministers.

Russian spies allegedly hacked former Prime Minister Liz Trusss phone in the summer during her challenge for party leadership, which ultimately resulted in her taking the countrys top seat for around 44 days.

British politicians have called for an independent investigation into the report, particularly regarding the claim that Truss hid the hack over fears it would undermine her campaign. She served as the foreign minister and was involved in Britains response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the time of the alleged hack.

However, Westminster has also moved to tighten up security measures at several levels over fears of further hacks. Ministerial aides will undergo vetting for connections to "hostile state actors" such as China and Russia, iNews reported.

50 COUNTRIES URGE CHINA TO IMPLEMENT UN RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING VIOLATIONS AGAINST UYGHURS

The check will occur as an extension of the counter-terrorism check starting Oct. 31 and will examine whether applicants previously worked with public figures from "hostile" nations and, therefore, may be unqualified to handle extreme sensitive material to which ministers have access.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

Conservative MP Bob Seely said that the change was a "move in the right direction" and "should have happened years ago."

The government allegedly planned to apply these changes even before the revelation of the hack on Trusss phone, but the news would have accelerated those plans.

UK HOME SECRETARY FACES BLOWBACK, CALLS TO STEP DOWN AFTER CALLING MIGRANT CRISIS AN INVASION

A cabinet spokesperson said the new clearance vetting was just "part of the wider Cabinet Office vetting modernization program of work, which makes greater use of automation and data checks to deliver national security vetting."

Lord John McFall, Baron of Alcluith and Speaker of the House of Lords, urged parliament in March to strengthen its vetting process on the heels of Russias invasion of Ukraine following calls for a Russian-born member of the house to lose their privileges, the Guardian reported.

Story continues

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, London.

"I would urge the government to look at this, drawing upon the work of those who have already taken extensive evidence on this and proposed sensible reforms," McFall said in a letter published in March. "I am always open to engagement with the government on these matters."

He called the reform "just one element" of a "bigger package of reform" needed in the House of Lords.

NORWAY INCREASES MILITARY PREPAREDNESS, STRESSES IMPORTANCE OF VIGILANCE

Other European nations have started to question their relationships with Russia and China, including Germany, which has seen a greater divide on the subject ahead of Chancellor Olaf Sholzs visit to Beijing, German outlet DW reported.

French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes German Chancellor Olaf Scholz before a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris Oct. 26, 2022.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday said now it is "crucial" that Germany communicate its position on "the question of fair competition, the question of human rights and the question of the recognition of international law."

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"The Chinese political system has changed massively in recent years, and thus our China policy must also change," the minister said during her visit to Uzbekistan.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has backtracked on his plan to skip the COP27 climate summit in Egypt and announced Wednesday that he will in fact join world leaders at the resort town of Sharm El Sheikh.

"There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change," Sunak tweeted. "There is no energy security without investing in renewables. That is why I will attend COP27P next week: to deliver on Glasgow's legacy of building a secure and sustainable future."

Sunak initially planned to avoid the summit, citing "pressing domestic commitments," including preparations for the autumn budget, but a government spokesperson had stressed that Britain remained "absolutely committed" to "leading international action to tackle climate change."

But opposition party leaders and climate critics insisted that Britain could not lead if it was not present, pressuring Sunak to reverse his decision.

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Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that he planned to attend the summit, increasing pressure on Sunak to change course  and he eventually caved.

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Green MP Caroline Lucas called Sunaks original decision "an embarrassing misstep" and welcomed the "screeching" turnaround, saying it would serve as a "lesson" that "climate leadership matters."

UK HOME SECRETARY FACES BLOWBACK, CALLS TO STEP DOWN AFTER CALLING MIGRANT CRISIS AN INVASION

Liberal Democrat climate change spokesperson Wera Hobhouse said the recent U-turn "debacle" showed that "environment is simply not a priority for Rishi Sunak" and insisted he only changed his mind because Johnson planned to attend, The Sun reported.

Downing Street rejected Hobhouses claim, saying Sunak has "always recognized the importance of this summit and indeed tackling climate change more generally." A spokesperson said the prime minister "wanted to make sure" the government made "good progress" on its domestic agenda and felt there was now "sufficient space to make this trip."

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The United Kingdom hosted COP26 in Glasgow last year, during which Sunak, then chancellor of the exchequer, called on the private sector to make big investments into green initiatives, such as providing fresh financing to poor countries trying to cope with climate change. He insisted that "public investment alone isnt enough."
By Jonathan Landay and Tom Balmforth

FRONTLINE WEST OF KHERSON, Ukraine/KYIV (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly endorsed the evacuation of civilians from parts of Ukraine's southern Kherson region on Friday, the latest sign of Russia's retreat in one of the most bitterly contested areas in Ukraine.

"Now, of course, those who live in Kherson should be removed from the zone of the most dangerous actions, because the civilian population should not suffer," Putin told pro-Kremlin activists as he marked Russia's Day of National Unity.

Moscow has already been ferrying people out of an area it controls in Kherson on the west bank of the Dnipro River, and this week announced that the evacuation zone would also include a 15 km buffer area on the east bank. But the comments appear to be the first time Putin has endorsed the evacuations personally.

Russia says it has been taking residents to safety from the path of a Ukrainian advance. Kyiv says the measures have included forced deportations of civilians out of Russian-occupied territory, a war crime, which Russia denies.

Putin's comments come as signs are emerging that Russia could be preparing to abandon its military foothold on the west bank of the Dnipro River, including Kherson's regional capital - potentially one of the biggest Russian retreats of the war.

On Thursday, Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian-installed occupation administration in Kherson, said Russia was likely to pull its troops from the west bank. In later remarks, he was more equivocal, saying he hoped there would be no retreat but "we have to take some very difficult decisions".

CURFEW

Pictures have circulated on the internet showing the main administration building in Kherson city with Russia's flag no longer flying atop it. Kyiv has been wary, saying such signs could be Russian deception to lure Ukrainian troops into a trap.

A 24-hour curfew was imposed on the city on Friday, Stremousov said, adding the measure was necessary to defend Kherson from a likely Ukrainian offensive.

Story continues

Ukrainian soldiers in a mechanized infantry company dug in on a tree line at the front west of Kherson city were confident the Russians would eventually retreat, but would fight as they fall back, auguring a potentially bloody battle for the city.

Vitalyi, 48, the company's deputy commander, said recent moves by the Russians to beef up their defences appeared aimed at protecting a withdrawal rather than holding on to Kherson.

"They have dug into every field," he said, as his men took advantage of the unusually mild weather to improve bunkers and clean their weapons amid thumps of intermittent artillery fire.

"They have large amounts of tanks and people, but I don't think they have a realistic plan to stay more than one or two weeks," he said.

One of his soldiers, Vladyslav, 27, said he expected the Russians would fight: "We will fight as well. We have no where else to go. This is our home. This is our land."

The regional capital, which is located on the west bank at the mouth of the Dnipro, is the only big city Russia has captured intact since its invasion in February. Its loss for Russian forces would be one of the severest blows of the war.

The surrounding province controls land access to Russian-occupied Crimea, and securing it was one of the few successes of an otherwise disastrous Russian campaign.

'METHODICAL' EFFORT

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he "certainly" believed Ukrainian forces could retake the Russian-held area on the west bank, in perhaps his most optimistic comments on the counter-offensive to date.

"Most importantly, the Ukrainians believe they have the capability to do that. We have seen them engage in a very methodical but effective effort to take back their sovereign territory."

The Pentagon later announced $400 million worth of additional security assistance, including HAWK air defenses against Russian drones and cruise missiles.

A Western official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said some Russian military commanders had already moved across the river to the east, effectively abandoning the troops under their command on the opposite bank.

"We would assess that in Kherson, it's likely that most echelons of command have withdrawn now across the river to the east, leaving pretty demoralized and often in some cases leaderless troops to face off Ukrainians on the other side," the official said.

Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed head of the occupied province, has said it was evacuating civilians to facilitate "a layered defence" in order to repel Ukrainian attacks.

(Reporting by Reuters bureauxWriting by Peter Graff and Frank Jack Daniel Editing by Philippa Fletcher and Gareth Jones)
Iran may transfer ballistic missiles to Russia for war against Ukraine

Ihnat said the threat of Russian using ballistic missiles is not new, and Ukraine had already faced a greater one in the first days of Russias full-scale invasion, when Russian Iskander-M and Tochka-U ballistic missiles were widely used throughout the country.

Read also: Zelenskyy discusses Ukraines air defenses with Scholz

Ihnat explained that ballistic missiles are more dangerous than the cruise missiles and Iranian suicide drones that Russia has frequently used to attack Ukraine in recent weeks.

Unfortunately, we have no effective defense means to counter ballistic missiles, he said.

This is ballistics  it flies almost from outer space, flies downward at high speed. Its actually impossible to shoot them down, but its possible to counter them in different ways.

Read also: US will work to stem supply of Iranian weapons to Russia, State Department says

He said the best method is to destroy the weapons at their launch sites.

He said Iranian-supplied missiles have ranges of 300 to 700 kilometers.

Ukraines Military Intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov earlier warned that Russia could deploy Iranian missiles against Ukraine as early as November.

Read also: Russia could soon start attacking Ukraine with Iranian ballistic missiles, military intelligence says

The Washington Post reported on Oct. 16 that Iran has agreed to supply Russia with two types of surface-to-surface missiles  the Fateh-110 and Zolfaghar. These short-range ballistic missiles can strike targets up to 700 kilometers away, the newspaper reported.

U.S. news channel CNN reported on Nov. 1 that Iran is preparing to send Russia approximately 1,000 additional weapons to use in its war against Ukraine, including short range ballistic missiles and more attack drones.

Read also: Iran to supply Russia with more than 200 drones in November, says Ukrainian defense intelligence agency

The U.S. Department of Defense has yet to confirm the media reports that Iran will provide Russia with short-range ballistic missiles soon.

At the same time, Tehran continues to deny it is supplying the Russian regime with weapons, despite the overwhelming evidence of its current military cooperation with Moscow.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
(Bloomberg) -- The United Nations said vessels loaded with grain are expected to move through Ukraines crop-export corridor on Thursday. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on the world to press Russia to allow operations of the Black Sea passage from Ukrainian ports.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The UN had earlier called a halt to grain ships moving through the corridor after Russia warned that vessels werent safe using the route.

French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to provide additional air defenses to Ukraine and help rebuild energy infrastructure in a telephone call with Zelenskiy, who called the exchange extremely important.

Zelenskiy told a top European Union official visiting Kyiv, energy commissioner Kadri Simson, that Russian attacks seriously damaged 40% of Ukraines power infrastructure. Ukraines power grid operator announced plans for cuts on Tuesday in Kyiv, as well as in seven central and northern regions.

(See RSAN on the Bloomberg Terminal for the Russian Sanctions Dashboard.)

Key Developments

Ukraine Grain Exports to Transit Black Sea Corridor Thursday

Conflict in Ukraine Moves Toward War of Drones as Winter Looms

Grain Markets on Edge for Escalation After Russia Warns on Ships

Ukraine Crop-Export Inspection Pace Soars as Russia Steps Back

Holland & Barretts Russia-Linked Owner Buys Back 99% of Loans

On the Ground

Russian forces maintained an offensive toward the cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka in the Donetsk region, while continuing to transfer individual units to Belarus, according to the Ukrainian General Staff. Russia has launched more than 400 Shahed-136 drones against Ukraine, more than 300 of which have been shot down, Yuriy Ignat, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, said in a video briefing. Russian officials in occupied Kherson are using shifting rhetoric to describe a Ukrainian threat to the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, potentially to accelerate an evacuation from the west bank of the Dnipro river and eventual withdrawal of Russian forces, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

Story continues

(All times CET)

Zelenskiy Calls for Protections for Grain Corridor (12:45 a.m.)

Zelenskiy, in his nightly address to the nation on Tuesday, said the grain corridor needs reliable and long-term protection. He spoke as the UN announced that the shipments on the Black Sea route would continue.

We expect loaded ships to sail on Thursday, the UN coordinator for the Black Sea Grain Initiative said in a tweet. No movements were planned for Nov. 2 under the initiative, he added.

Grain vessels continued to leave Ukraine on Monday and Tuesday, even after Moscow withdrew its support for the deal and the UN said the shipments would be halted. The UN on Tuesday called those movements temporary and extraordinary.

Zelenskiy, in his address, said Russia should clearly know that it will receive a tough response from the world to any steps that disrupt our food exports. This is literally a matter of life for tens of millions of people.

US Provides $47.6 Million for Mine Removal (10:40 p.m.)

The State Department has awarded $47.6 million to a California company that will help Ukraine find and remove landmines, unexploded shells and other explosive hazards.

The company, Tetra Tech Inc., will train Ukraines de-mining and explosive ordnance disposal teams to international standards and provide them with the tools necessary to do their jobs, the department said in a statement on Tuesday evening. According to Ukrainian government estimates, as much as 160,000 square kilometers of land may be contaminated with explosive devices, the department added.

Russia May Receive Surface-to-Surface Missiles From Iran, US Says (5:23 p.m.)

We are concerned that Iran might be considering the provision of surface-to-surface missiles to Russia in addition to the drones, John Kirby, spokesman for President Joe Bidens National Security Council, told reporters in Washington. Iran has already provided Russia with drones used by the Kremlin to attack Ukraine.

UN Halts Flow of Ukraine Grain Export Ships on Wednesday (5:01 p.m.)

Wheat prices rose after the UN announced the decision, taken jointly with Turkey and Ukraine. It didnt explain the reasoning but the move comes after a deal aimed at allowing for crucial Black Sea grain shipments unraveled and Moscow said ships safety couldnt be guaranteed.

Russia suspended its role in the pact over the weekend, citing drone strikes against its naval vessels. The agreement -- signed in July -- guaranteed the safe passage of Ukraine crop exports, which are badly needed by food importers amid surging prices and a global cost-of-living crisis. Grain vessels continued to leave Ukraine on Monday and Tuesday, even after Moscow withdrew its support for the deal.

Russia Seriously Damaged 40% of Power Infrastructure: Zelenskiy (4:28 p.m.)

The Ukrainian leader discussed the consequences of Russian attacks on the countrys energy system with the EUs Simson. Thermal power plants, heat suppliers and hydro power stations were hit by Russian missiles and drones, forcing Ukraine to halt its electricity export to Europe. Zelenskiy told Simson that Ukraine seeks to resume deliveries once the situation stabilizes.

Simson earlier called for increased assistance -- and condemned Russian attacks against infrastructure as winter approaches. Help had to come from EU institutions and member states as well as international partners and private donors, she said in Kyiv.

Macron Pledges Help on Aerial Defense, Rebuilding Infrastructure (3:50 p.m.)

The French leader pledged to bolster military backing for Ukraine, especially in aerial defense, the Elysee Palace said following the phone call. The two agreed to organize an international conference in Paris on Dec. 13 to assist the rebuilding of Ukraines energy system after Russian attacks.

We must act before winter, Macron said on Twitter. Zelenskiy earlier thanked Macron for his unwavering support after the two spoke.

Ukraine Accepts Naftogaz CEO Vitrenkos Resignation (3:28 p.m.)

Ukraines cabinet accepted the resignation of Yuriy Vitrenko from his post as chief executive of state-run energy giant NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy. Vitrenko will continue to serve as CEO until Nov. 3, the company said.

Vitrenko, whod served as Naftogaz CEO since April 2021, was embroiled in a clash with the government over its debt servicing as energy prices surged following Russias invasion earlier this year. In July, Vitrenko said he was surprised the government had ordered the company to spend its foreign-currency holdings to buy more natural gas for the upcoming winter instead of paying bondholders, as Naftogaz had planned to do both.

Ukraine Crop-Export Inspection Pace Soars as Russia Steps Back (3:07 p.m.)

The pace of cargoes cleared to head abroad has soared, helping to ease a pileup of vessels, since Russia suspended its role in the Black Sea grain accord.

Some 46 outbound vessels passed inspection in Istanbul on Monday, up more than tenfold from the average for the rest of the month, according to data posted by the United Nations. The pickup comes after Russia stepped back from the landmark Ukraine grain-export deal, which was agreed in late July and has revived the countrys seaborne trade.

Erdogan Confident of Solution on Grain Corridor After Putin Call (2:58 p.m.)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Russias leader, Vladimir Putin, that hes confident that parties will take a solution-oriented approach in efforts to sustain the Black Sea grain corridor, according to a statement on the call.

A constructive approach on the grain crisis can encourage a return to negotiations, Erdogan said, without giving further details.

Kremlin Says Partial Mobilization Is Complete (12:10 p.m.)

The partial mobilization of 300,000 reservists is complete and no presidential decree is needed to formally put an end to it, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The Defense Ministry announced last week that the call-up was completed, but the lack of a new presidential order formally rescinding it had raised fears it could be restarted at any moment. Asked about the issue late Monday, Putin said he would check with legal aides and determine whether he needed to sign another order. Peskov said that analysis concluded none is needed and the previous decree has lapsed because the target of 300,000 troops has been reached.

Putins initial announcement of the mobilization in September fueled public alarm and triggered an exodus of hundreds of thousands of people from the country.

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The US has collected evidence which indicates that North Korea is covertly supplying Russia with a significant number of artillery shells for its war in Ukraine, it has been revealed.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby explained on Wednesday that Pyongyang was attempting to obscure the shipments by funneling them through countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

It is not an insignificant number of shells, but we dont believe they are in such a quantity that the would change the momentum of the war, Mr Kirby said.

It comes afyer Russian president Vladimir Putin resumed Moscows participation in a UN-brokered deal allowing Ukrainian grain exports after he was urged by western officials to stop using food as a weapon.

Russia suspended its involvement in the Black Sea Grain Initiative over the weekend, saying it could not guarantee the safety of civilian ships because of a major drone attack on Russian vessels in the Bay of Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula  an area Mr Putin annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Key points

North Korea supplying Russia with artillery shells, US says

UK sanctions four Russian steel and petrochemical tycoons

Russia to resume participation in UN-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative

Russia summons UK ambassador over Black Sea Fleet drone strike

Poland building electric fence along border with Russias Kaliningrad

UN Security Council to vote on Russia's dirty bomb claims

Putin is plunging worlds poorest into further despair, Cleverly to warn

04:13 , Arpan Rai

Foreign secretary James Cleverly will urge international allies to bolster resilience against Vladimir Putins weaponisation of energy and food at a meeting of G7 foreign minister in Germany today.

Mr Cleverly will warn that the Russian leader is plunging the worlds poorest further into despair.

He is set to stress the need to work together in the face of economic insecurity driven by Moscows war on its neighbour.

Mr Cleverly will accuse the Russian president of exploiting a scheme to export grain from Ukraine to low-income countries around the globe  claiming this shows his willingness to hold the worlds vulnerable hostage, the foreign office said.

Story continues

Read the full story here:

Cleverly to warn allies Putin is plunging worlds poorest into further despair

Ukraine destroys four Russian ammunitions depots

03:35 , Arpan Rai

At least four Russian ammunition depots situated in Ukraines south have been destroyed, the Ukrainian militarys southern unit said today.

The Ukrainian salvo of 150 fire missions and an airstrike on Russian positions traced in Ukraines south have destroyed four Russian depots and tanks carrying fuel, the southern command said in an update.

Now, Russia now has seven ships in the Black Sea, including one warship and one surface-to-surface missile carrier with eight Kalibr cruise missiles on board, the military unit said.

Russias blackmail on food grain deal has failed, says Zelensky

03:25 , Arpan Rai

Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscows blackmail has failed and remained fruitless as Vladimir Putin has been forced to take a U-turn and resume the grain exports deal in Europe.

Today, we have a significant diplomatic outcome for our country and the whole world  the Grain Export Initiative will continue being implemented. Russian blackmail has led nowhere, Mr Zelensky said in his address last night.

He added: Once again, everyone saw that there is only one threat to global food security in our region, and that is the Russian Federation, and no one else.

The Ukrainian president thanked the UN and secretary general Antonio Guterres for personally responding in a principled and effective way.

This entire situation was immediately reflected in the stock exchanges indicators  we see some decrease in the price of both wheat and corn. Every time Russian blackmail intensifies, food prices rise. And every time the world does not give in to blackmail, foodstuffs become cheaper, Mr Zelensky said.

Mr Zelensky said that the phantom threat of the global food crisis would have not existed had there been no attack from Russia on Ukraine.

Because every Russian missile that hits our ports, grain storage facilities, and power plants that power our agricultural production ultimately affects the standard of living of tens of millions of people in many countries. This includes Egypt, Algeria, Somalia, Sudan, Lebanon, Bangladesh, India, China, Indonesia, Vietnam..., he said.

03:14 , Arpan Rai

Good morning, welcome to our coverage of the Ukraine war on Thursday, 3 November.

Wednesday 2 November 2022 18:31 , Katy Clifton

Thanks for following our live updates, we are pausing our coverage for the evening.

Pakistan slams baseless claim from Russian senator of helping Ukraine develop nukes

Wednesday 2 November 2022 17:30 , Emily Atkinson

Pakistan has denounced statements from a Russian senator that accused Islamabad of helping Ukraine develop nuclear bombs, calling them illogical.

Pakistans ministry of foreign affairs said on Tuesday that the statements were baseless and sought an explanation from its Russian counterpart.

We are surprised by such an unfounded and baseless statement. It is without any rationale, and is entirely inconsistent with the spirit of Pakistan-Russia relations, foreign office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said in a statement.

Shweta Sharma reports:

Pakistan slams baseless claim from Russian senator of helping Ukraine develop nukes

Watch: Ben Wallace pledges to 'fight for as much money as he can get' to fund defence department

Wednesday 2 November 2022 17:00 , Emily Atkinson

Putin U-turn on grain deal as West tells Russia to stop using food as a weapon

Wednesday 2 November 2022 16:30 , Emily Atkinson

Russian president Vladimir Putin has been urged by Western officials stop using food as a weapon after Moscow agreed to rejoin the UN-brokered deal allowing Ukraine grain exports.

Russia suspended its involvement in the Black Sea Grain Initiative over the weekend, saying it could not guarantee the safety of civilian ships crossing the Black Sea because of an attack on its fleet there.

The Kremlin claimed there was a major drone strike on Russian vessels in the Bay of Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula  an area Mr Putin annexed from Ukraine in 2014  part of which it said had originated from within the grain export corridor. Ukraine has said that was a false pretext.

Read our full report here:

Putin U-turn on grain deal as West urges Russia to stop using food as a weapon

Moscow reserves right to quit grain deal, says Putin

Wednesday 2 November 2022 16:00 , Emily Atkinson

Vladimir Putin has said Moscow reserved the right to withdraw again from a UN-brokered grain shipment deal that it had returned to  but that if it did so, it would not impede grain shipments from Ukraine to Turkey.

In televised remarks, Putin said that, in return for rejoining the agreement, Russia had demanded guarantees that Ukraine would not launch attacks from parts of the Black Sea covered by the deal.

North Korea supplying Russia with artillery shells, US says

Wednesday 2 November 2022 15:34 , Emily Atkinson

The US has collected evidence which indicates that North Korea is covertly supplying Russia with a significant number of artillery shells for its war in Ukraine, it has been revealed.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby explained on Wednesday that Pyongyang was attempting to obscure the shipments by funneling them through countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

Our indications are that the DPRK is covertly supplying and we are going to monitor to see whether the shipments are received, Kirby said.

It is not an insignificant number of shells, but we dont believe they are in such a quantity that the would change the momentum of the war, he said.

And its certainly not going to change our calculus ... or with so many of our allies and partners about the kinds of capabilities were going to continue to provide the Ukrainians.

Putin weakened by Ukraine war but no leadership change expected anytime soon

Wednesday 2 November 2022 15:11 , Emily Atkinson

Vladimir Putin has been weakened by the invasion of Ukraine but the world should not expect a leadership change in Moscow anytime soon, Western officials believe.

The Russian military has suffered a series of humiliating blows on the battlefield in recent weeks, with the momentum behind Ukraines armed forces heading into the winter.

But it comes amid concerns among some in the West Mr Putin may resort to nuclear weapons as hopes of an easy victory remain out of reach.

Western officials believe while Mr Putin has been weakened, with reports of a growing unhappiness in relation to the conflict, there is little doubt the war will continue to drag on.

Dominic McGrath reports:

Putin weakened by Ukraine war but no leadership change expected anytime soon

Russia says it is committed to preventing nuclear clash

Wednesday 2 November 2022 14:53 , Emily Atkinson

Russia has claimed that avoiding a nuclear clash was its first priority, but accused the West of encouraging provocations with weapons of mass destruction.

The Russian foreign ministry said it feared the five declared nuclear powers were teetering on the brink of a direct armed conflict.

We are strongly convinced that in the current complicated and turbulent situation, caused by irresponsible and impudent actions aimed at undermining our national security, the most immediate task is to avoid any military clash of nuclear powers, the ministry said in a statement.

Putin must stop using food as a weapon, says Cleverly

Wednesday 2 November 2022 14:12 , Emily Atkinson

Foreign secretary James Cleverly has urged Russian president Vladimir Putin to stop using food as a weapon after he froze and later resumed Moscows participation in a UN-brokered deal allowing Ukraine grain exports.

Taking to Twitter on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Cleverly added: He has realised he shot himself in the foot by stopping ships from entering Ukrainian ports to load up grain to feed the world.

The Grain Initiative must now be extended beyond November without further Russian impediments.

Putin must stop using food as a weapon.



He has realised he shot himself in the foot by stopping ships from entering Ukrainian ports to load up grain to feed the world.



The Grain Initiative must now be extended beyond November without further Russian impediments.  James Cleverly (@JamesCleverly) November 2, 2022

Putin calls for Russias weapons to be modernised

Wednesday 2 November 2022 13:48 , Emily Atkinson

President Vladimir Putin has called for the weapons used by Russias military to be modernised.

Weapons must constantly, continuously improve and remain effective. To achieve this, I repeat, it is important to ensure that there is active competition between manufacturers and developers, Putin told a meeting of his co-ordination council.

Russia-Ukraine war: What is a dirty bomb?

Wednesday 2 November 2022 13:20 , Emily Atkinson

Kyiv and western allies have accused Russia of claiming Ukraine plans to use a dirty bomb as a plot to use a threat of a missile laced with nuclear material as a pretext for escalation of the war.

Moscows defence minister Sergei Shoigu phoned Western counterparts to tell them his country suspected Kyiv of planning to use a dirty bomb and that the war was trending towards uncontrolled escalation.

Ukraine does not possess nuclear weapons, while Russia has said it could protect its territory with its nuclear arsenal.

Russia-Ukraine war: What is a dirty bomb?

Watch: No water for much of Kyiv amid heavy barrage of Russian missile and drone strikes

Wednesday 2 November 2022 12:55 , Emily Atkinson

US 'sees no indications Russia to use nuclear weapons

Wednesday 2 November 2022 12:30 , Emily Atkinson

Washington does not see any signs that Moscow is making preparations to use nuclear weapons, a White House spokesman has said.

John Kirby also said that he had no specific comment on a New York Times report about such Russian discussions.

Weve been clear from the outset that Russias comments about the potential use of nuclear weapons are deeply concerning, and we take them seriously, Mr Kirby said.

We continue to monitor this as best we can, and we see no indications that Russia is making preparations for such use.

Russia cant block worlds food, US envoy to UN says

Wednesday 2 November 2022 12:05 , Emily Atkinson

Russia cannot stand in the way of global food production, Washingtons ambassador to the United Nations said as Moscow announced it would resume participation in a UN-brokered deal allowing Ukraine grain exports.

They cant stand in the way of feeding the entire world. US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told CNN in an interview, adding that she was delighted to hear about Russias return to the agreement, and that Moscow clearly had been convinced they needed to resume participation.

UK sanctions four Russian steel and petrochemical tycoons

Wednesday 2 November 2022 11:40 , Emily Atkinson

Four Russian steel and petrochemical tycoons have been sanctioned by the UK government in relation to the war in Ukraine.

Those sanctioned included Alexander Abramov and Alexander Frolov, who the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) described as known associates of oligarch Roman Abramovich, who was himself sanctioned earlier this year.

The pair were targeted for their involvement in the extractive, transport and construction sectors, the FCDO said.

Today we are sanctioning an additional four oligarchs who rely on Putin for their positions of authority and in turn fund his military machine, foreign secretary James Cleverly said.

By targeting these individuals, we are ramping up the economic pressure on Putin and will continue to do so until Ukraine prevails.

Watch: Russia summons UK ambassador over Black Sea Fleet drone strike

Wednesday 2 November 2022 11:09 , Emily Atkinson

Russia to resume participation in UN-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative'

Wednesday 2 November 2022 10:33 , Emily Atkinson

Russia will resume its participation in the Black Sea grain deal, state news agency TASS reported, citing the defence ministry.

Moscow suspended its involvement in the deal over the weekend, saying it could not guarantee the safety of civilian ships crossing the Black Sea because of an attack on its fleet there.

Russia summons UK ambassador over Black Sea Fleet drone strike

Wednesday 2 November 2022 10:25 , Emily Atkinson

Moscow will summon the UK ambassador to Russia Deborah Bronnert over its baseless accusation that British specialists had been involved in an alleged Ukrainian drone strike on its Black Sea Fleet in Crimea.

The foreign ministry announced the intervention after it suspended participation in a UN-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative on Saturday for what it claimed was a major drone attack on vessels in the Bay of Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula  an area the Kremlin annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Russias defence ministry said the attack was carried out under the guidance and leadership of British navy specialists, an assertion the UK has dismissed as false.

These actions were carried out under the guidance of British specialists, foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

In this regard, the British ambassador will shortly be summoned to the Russian foreign ministry.

Moscow detains Ukrainian citizen on allegation of sabotage to Crimean power line

Wednesday 2 November 2022 10:00 , Emily Atkinson

Moscow has detained a Ukrainian citizen on suspicion of planning to sabotage a power line in Crimea, Russias Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Wednesday.

The FSB said a man in his 40s had been found carrying diagrams of power lines, three explosive devices and instructions on how to use them, and suspected the man had been recruited by Ukrainian intelligence.

Ukraine grain exports down 32%'

Wednesday 2 November 2022 09:21 , Emily Atkinson

Ukrainian grain exports have slumped in the 2022/23 season to almost 13.4 million tonnes from 19.7 million tonnes at the same date a season earlier, agriculture ministry data shows.

The countrys grain exports have plummeted since Russia invaded in February, with the closing off of its Black Sea ports driving up global food prices and prompting fears of shortages in Africa and the Middle East.

Three Black Sea ports were unblocked at the end of July under a deal between Moscow and Kyiv, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey. The shipments are continuing despite Russias decision to suspend its participation in the agreement.

Poland orders construction of wall along Kaliningrad border

Wednesday 2 November 2022 08:40 , Emily Atkinson

Polands defence minister has ordered the construction of a temporary barrier along the border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

The move comes as Warsaw suspects that Russia plans to facilitate illegal border crossings by Asian and African migrants.

Defence minister Mariusz Blaszczak said the border needs to be secured in order for Poland to feel secure. He said he had authorised the construction of a temporary barrier along the 210-kilometre (130-mile) border.

The work will begin on Wednesday.

Russian Wagner forces making advances of 100-200m per day'

Wednesday 2 November 2022 08:09 , Emily Atkinson

The owner of the Russian Wagner Group private military company has claimed that its forces were making advances of 100-200m per day, according to the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD).

In its daily intelligence update, posted to Twitter, the MoD said that Yevgeny Prigozhin alleged the sizeable advance was normal in modern warfare.

The post continues: According to their military doctrine, Russian forces plan to advance 30km or more per day in most conditions. In February, Russian forces planned to make a 1000km advance through Ukraine within a month. In September, Ukrainian forces achieved advances of over 20km per day.

In the last two months, Prigozhin has abandoned any pretence that he is not associated with Wagner and has been more explicit in his public statements. He is likely trying to burnish his credibility within the stressed Russian national security system.

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 02 November 2022



Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/hqAH81WAjr



 #StandWithUkraine  pic.twitter.com/u0xrrTCTpm  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) November 2, 2022

Russia launches Soyuz rocket carrying military satellite'

Wednesday 2 November 2022 07:50 , Emily Atkinson

Moscow has launched a Soyuz rocket carrying a military satellite into space, Russian news agencies reported, citing the defence ministry.

The rocket - a Soyuz-2.1b medium-class launch vehicle - was launched at 9:48 a.m. Moscow time (0648 GMT) from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, the ministry was quoted as saying.

It did not provide details about the purpose of the satellite.

Watch: Russian state TV editor blames 'Friends' for division between Russia and America

Wednesday 2 November 2022 07:30 , Emily Atkinson

Ships sail after Russia exits grain deal

Wednesday 2 November 2022 07:15 , Sravasti Dasgupta

Ships loaded with grain have departed Ukraine despite Russia suspending its participation in the UN-brokered deal that ensures safe wartime passage of food supplies.

The UN said that three ships carrying 84,490 metric tons of corn, wheat and sunflower meal left Ukraine through the humanitarian sea corridor set up in July, while 36 other vessels cleared inspections near Turkey to head to their final destinations.

The corridor, brokered by Turkey and the UN, was seen as a breakthrough to ensure Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia would receive grain and other food from the Black Sea region during Russias war in Ukraine.

Russia backed out of the deal last weekend.

The UN said that while ships sailed on Tuesday, such vessels would not travel on Wednesday, raising fears about the future of the initiative.

Amir Abdulla, the agreements UN coordinator, said that ships are expected to sail again on Thursday.

Exports of grain and foodstuffs from #Ukraine need to continue. Although no movements of vessels are planned for 2 November under the #BlackSeaGrainInitiative, we expect loaded ships to sail on Thursday.  Amir M. Abdulla (@AmirMAbdulla) November 1, 2022

Ukraine official pleads for more air defence help

Wednesday 2 November 2022 07:00 , Sravasti Dasgupta

Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior Ukrainian adviser and a chief negotiator, said to The Independent that Russia had one aim: to destroy the civilian population of Ukraine by making them freeze to death.

Mr Podolyak wants Ukraines allies, particularly the UK, to help reconstruct damaged facilities and to send more weapons.

Read Bel Trews exclusive report from Kyiv:

Dont watch us die of cold live on TV: Ukraine pleads for more air defence help

Russia begins semi-annual autumn recruitment drive

Wednesday 2 November 2022 06:45 , Sravasti Dasgupta

Russia has started its semi-annual military recruitment drive for the autumn amid reports of continuing covert mobilisation for the war in Ukraine.

2,700 draft committees across the country have begun the process of calling up 120,000 men, Russian defence minister Sergey Shoigu was quoted as saying by The Kyiv Independent.

Experts say that Russia is continuing to enlist and mobilise soldiers despite the ministers earlier statements announcing the conclusion of partial mobilisation and transition into the conscription period on 28 October.

ISW: Russia begins its semi-annual fall conscription drive amidst reports of continuing covert mobilization.



Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that 2,700 draft committees across the country began the fall conscription call-up of 120,000 men, the ISW reports.  The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) November 2, 2022

Putin may consider resuming grain deal if Ukraine gives 'guarantees'

Wednesday 2 November 2022 06:30 , Sravasti Dasgupta

Russian president Vladimir Putin has said that Moscow may consider resuming a deal allowing grain exports from Ukrainian seaports but only after securing real guarantees from Kyiv.

According to a statement released by the Kremlin, Mr Putin told his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on a phone call that Russia has sought real guarantees from Kyiv about the strict observance of the Istanbul agreement, in particular about not using the humanitarian corridor for military purposes.

Last weekend Russia claimed a Ukrainian drone attack against its Black Sea fleet in announcing that it was suspending its participation in the grain deal.

The Kremlin statement added that Russia wants a detailed investigation into the circumstances of this incident.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (Mikhail Metzel/AP) (AP)

Kyiv prepares 1,000 heating points amid Russian attacks on energy infrastructure

Wednesday 2 November 2022 06:15 , Sravasti Dasgupta

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said that authorities in Ukraines capital are preparing more than 1,000 heating points in case its district heating system is disabled by continued Russian attacks.

The worst one is where there will be no electric power, water or district heating at all, he said in a post on Telegram.

For that case, we are preparing over 1,000 heating points in our city.

He added that the locations will be equipped by generators and have a stock of necessities such as water.

City lighting turned off at twilight in Kyiv downtown, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 31, 2022 (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Zelensky calls for stronger defence of grain corridor

Wednesday 2 November 2022 06:00 , Sravasti Dasgupta

Ukraines president Volodymyr Zelensky has sought stronger defence of the UN-backed grain corridor.

In a late night address on Tuesday, Mr Zelensky said that while ships were still moving out of Ukrainian ports with cargoes a long term defence is needed.

But a reliable and long-term defence is needed for the grain corridor.

Russia must clearly be made aware that it will receive a tough response from the world to any steps to disrupt our food exports.

At issue here clearly are the lives of tens of millions of people.

The UN-brokered Black Sea grain export deal is aimed at easing a global food crisis.

Russia withdrew from the accord last week and said it could not guarantee safety for civilian ships because of an attack on its Black Sea fleet.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (Handout/PA) (PA Media)

UN Security Council to vote on Russia's dirty bomb claims

Wednesday 2 November 2022 05:46 , Sravasti Dasgupta

The UN Security Council will vote on a resolution that calls for a commission to probe Russias claims that Ukraine and the US are carrying out military biological activities that violate the convention prohibiting the use of biological weapons.

Russia called the meeting last week, after making unsubstantiated allegations that Ukraine is planning to use a dirty bomb and blame Moscow for the blast.

The claim has been dismissed by Kyiv and many western states as transparently false.

According to diplomats it is highly unlikely that the Russian draft resolution will be adopted by the Security Council.

(FILE) UN Security Council meeting (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Wednesday 2 November 2022 05:36 , Sravasti Dasgupta

Welcome to The Independents live coverage of the Ukraine war for Wednesday 2 November.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine have repelled Russian attacks in the vicinity of 12 cities, towns and villages in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts over the course of the past 24 hours.

Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook, information as of 06:00 on 2 November

Quote: "Enemy forces are trying to maintain control over the temporarily occupied territories and are focusing their efforts on preventing the advance of Ukraines defence forces on several fronts. They are undertaking offensive operations on the Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Novopavlivka fronts."

Details: The General Staff reported that Ukraines defence forces have repelled Russian attacks in the vicinity of Makiivka, Nevske and Bilohorivka (Luhansk Oblast) and Verkhnokamianske, Spirne, Bakhmut, Maiorsk, Pervomaiske, Novomykhailivka, Vodiane, Pavlivka and Prechystivka (Donetsk Oblast).

The General Staff additionally reported that Russian forces are firing on units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces along the line of contact; carrying out engineering tasks to reinforce their positions on several fronts; and conducting aerial reconnaissance. They are also continuing to carry out attacks on critical infrastructure and civilian homes in violation of international humanitarian law and the norms and customs of war.

Over the course of the past 24 hours, Russian forces carried out 7 missile strikes and 47 airstrikes, as well as over 90 attacks using multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS).

More than 25 Ukrainian cities, towns and villages came under Russian fire, including, Mykolaiv (Mykolaiv Oblast), Poltava (Poltava Oblast), Mykilske (Zaporizhzhia Oblast) and Kramatorsk and Pavlivka (Donetsk Oblast).

There is an ongoing threat of missile strikes from the territory of Belarus, including with the use of attack UAVs.

There were no significant changes on the Volyn and Polissia fronts. The Republic of Belarus is continuing to support and aid Russias military aggression against Ukraine and its people.

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On other fronts, the Russians continued to fire on military and civilian targets:

On the Sivershchyna front : Russian forces deployed mortars and tubed artillery to fire on areas in and around Hai and Senkivka (Chernihiv Oblast) and Mefedivka, Vovkivka, Zarutske, Myropillia, Hirky, Yunakivka, Zapsillia and Oleksandrivka (Sumy Oblast);

On the Slobozhanshchyna front : Russian forces deployed mortars and tubed and rocket artillery to fire on areas in and around Hlyboke, Kamianka, Vilkhuvatka, Neskuchne, Vovchansk, Kozacha Lopan, Milove, Starytsia, Strilecha, Veterynarne, Udy and Chuhunivka;

On the Kupiansk and Lyman fronts: Russian forces likewise deployed mortars and tubed and rocket artillery to fire on areas in and around Dvorichna, Kupiansk, Kucherivka, Kyslivka, Berestove, Dvorichne, Hrekivka, Zarichne, Ivanivka, Kotliarivka, Makiivka, Nadiia, Nevske, Yampolivka Terny;

On the Bakhmut front: the Russians deployed tank guns and various types of artillery to fire on areas in and around Spirne, Bilohorivka, Rozdolivka, Yakovlivka, Soledar, Bakhmutske, Bakhmut, Ivanhrad, Opytne, Zelenopillia and Maiorsk;

On the Avdiivka front: the Russians deployed tank guns, mortars and tubed and rocket artillery to fire on areas in the vicinity of Avdiivka, Marinka, Vodiane, Paraskoviivka, Kamianka, Krasnohorivka, Pervomaiske, Nevelske, Netailove and Novomykhailivka;

On the Novopavlivka front : the Russians deployed tank guns, mortars and tubed and rocket artillery to fire on areas in and around Bohoiavlenka, Pavlivka, Velyka Novosilka, Prechystivka, Vuhledar, Novomaiorske, Vremivka, Neskuchne and Paraskoviivka;

On the Zaporizhzhia front: Russian forces fired on areas in and around Huliaipole, Huliaipilske, Mali Shcherbaky, Novoandriivka, Orikhiv, Pavlivka, Zaliznychne, Dorozhnianka, Stepove, Olhivske, Malynivka, Novodanylivka and Chervone using tank guns, mortars and tubed and rocket artillery;

On the Pivdennyi Buh front, more than 18 cities, towns and villages situated along the line of contact came under Russian fire. The city of Nikopol and the village of Illinka (Dnipropetrovsk Oblast) sustained damage as a result of Russian MLRS attacks.

Russian occupation forces are continuing the forcible "evacuation" of civilians from cities, towns and villages in the temporarily occupied territory of Kherson Oblast. Civilians in Velyka Lepetykha are being loaded into buses and taken away. People are banned from using their own vehicles to evacuate.

Russian occupiers have been seen removing archival documents from administrative buildings in the city of Kherson.

The General Staff has confirmed Russias losses near Muzykivka (Kherson Oblast) from 29 October: the Ukrainian Armed Forces destroyed a Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile system and damaged up to 10 other pieces of Russian military equipment. Additionally, 12 Russian soldiers were killed in the vicinity of Snihurivka (Mykolaiv Oblast) on 30 October.

According to the available information, Russian forces have set up an additional field hospital near Zavitne Bazhannia (Donetsk Oblast), where the existing hospital is overflowing with wounded and injured soldiers from the Russian occupation forces.

Men of conscription age are continuing to receive call-up notices despite the official end of the partial mobilisation campaign in the Russian Federation.

On 1 November, Ukrainian aircraft carried out 33 airstrikes, striking 26 clusters of Russian weapons and equipment and 7 anti-aircraft defence systems.

In addition, Ukrainian forces struck down a Russian helicopter, 2 Orlan-10 UAVs, 6 Shahed-136 kamikaze drones and 2 KUB-BLA loitering munitions.

Ukraines Rocket Forces and Artillery struck 4 clusters of Russian military personnel, weapons and equipment, 3 ammunition storage points and 6 other crucial military targets.

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The University of Florida has formally approved outgoing Nebraska GOP Senator Ben Sasse as its new president, despite protests over his hiring.

The appointment of Mr Sasse was given the green light on Tuesday from the universitys Board of Trustees in the face of protests from some members of the faculty and parts of the student body, the Associated Press reported.

The state university system Board of Governors will vote on 10 November to make Mr Sasse the 13th president of the school.

The compensation package for the senator has been recommended to be $1.6m  a matter that will also be decided at the board of governors meeting.

The meeting at the campus in Gainesville lasted four hours on Tuesday, during which Mr Sasse said he would take a pledge of political celibacy concerning partisan matters.

I would have no activity in partisan politics in any way as I arrive at the University of Florida, he said.

He claimed that his candidacy wasnt being boosted by any elected officeholders in the state, including GOP Governor Ron DeSantis.

Mr Sasse was elected to the Senate in the 2014 midterms. The protests against his appointment have centred around his opposition to gay marriage.

Both faculty and students have shared concerns about Mr Sasses qualifications to run a school with 50,000 students.

This led to a vote of no confidence by the faculty Senate at the university.

Mr Sasse is a historian and has a doctorate from Yale University. He previously served as the president of Midland University in his home state  a school with around 1,600 students. He has also taught at the University of Texas.

Nathaniel Pelton, a freshman, asked at the meeting on Tuesday: I want to ask, senator: Why are you here?

I dont want any politician to be my president. I want someone who cares about my community, he added.

Dozens of people protested outside the meeting, according to the Associated Press.

The 50-year-old Mr Sasse said that he doesnt believe the US Supreme Court will change the ruling legalising same-sex marriage across the country, adding that LGBT+ students and staff will be treated with dignity and respect.

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Communities of ideas are built on respect and trust, Mr Sasse said. Everybody is created with infinite worth.

The student body president, Lauren Lemasters, said that some of the students want assurances that Mr Sasses promise of being politically neutral will be held up.

There is this hill of trust that is going to have to be climbed by you, she said.

Mr Sasse said that Chinese students should feel welcome despite his severe criticism of the Chinese government.

We want the best faculty to stay at this place and to be recruited to this place, and that requires academic freedom, he said. We want more and all students from every background.

A lot of the protests against the appointment of Mr Sasse focused on the anonymous process of choosing a candidate. Mr Sasses name was only revealed when he was the only person left in the selection process.

Trustee chairman Mori Hosseini said I can tell you for a fact  none of the top 12 we considered would have moved past the initial conversation with us if the selection process had been public.

Its that simple, he added, according to the AP.

If he becomes the university president, Mr Sasse would leave the senate and a replacement would be appointed by the Nebraska governor to serve the remaining four years of his term.

Outgoing president Kent Fuchs has been in the role since 2015.
 Flash

Exit polls from Israel's parliamentary elections suggested Tuesday that former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc has a good chance of making a comeback after the country's fifth elections since 2019.

Exit polls of three main Israeli TV channels indicated that the long-time leader and his alliance of far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties won 61-62 seats in the 120-seat parliament, suggesting they have enough seats to form a ruling coalition government.

Speaking with supporters at his campaign headquarters, Netanyahu said the early results are "a good start," and called the supporters to wait for the final results. Exit polls suggested his Likud party won 30 to 31 seats.

Prime Minister Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid party was projected to gain 22-24 seats and his wider alliance to secure 54 to 55 seats, according to the exit polls.

Lapid said early Wednesday that it was too early to make conclusions about the final outcome. "Nothing is decided" until the last vote is counted, said Lapid. Neither Netanyahu nor Lapid has claimed victory yet.

The polls also showed that ultra-nationalist lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir's Religious Zionism won 14-15 seats, becoming Israel's third-largest party. Bezalel Smotrich, chairman of the Religious Zionist Party, tweeted that the party "made history." The pro-settler leader wrote: "This is the day God made a revelation and we rejoice in it."

Hadash-Ta'al, an alliance of two Arab parties that doesn't support either of the blocs, is projected to win four seats, exit polls indicated.

The elections were held after repeated elections with inconclusive results that have paralyzed the Israeli political system for almost four years.

In a statement Tuesday, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) slammed the elections, noting that it "will not confer on Israel any legitimacy."

No matter who wins the elections, "Israel will remain a permanent occupation power on the Palestinian land," Hamas spokesman in Gaza Abdul Latif al-Qanou said in the statement.
Correction: A previous version of this article misrepresented background information on the report. The report was commissioned by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, but it does not reflect the commissions official recommendations to Congress. The commissions recommendations will be released later in November 2022 in its annual report.

WASHINGTON  A report commissioned by the congressionally mandated U.S.-China commission suggests Congress fund backchannel military diplomacy with Beijing, citing growing gaps in Washingtons knowledge of personnel matters and reform efforts in relation to the Peoples Liberation Army.

A report on PLA personnel from BluePath Labs, requested by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, advocates for nongovernmental and quasi-governmental dialogues with the Chinese military. The U.S.-China commission is due to issue its full set of recommendations to Congress on Nov. 15 in its annual report.

While the current state of U.S.-China bilateral relations is not conducive to exchanges in this area, Congress should work with the Department of Defense to reestablish Track 1.5 and 2.0 military dialogues with China if conditions support, the report states. Given the increasingly closed nature of Chinas information sphere, properly planned and managed interactions could be enormously helpful in better understanding the inner workings of the PLA.

Track 2 diplomatic dialogues between two countries are usually comprised of nongovernment representatives from academia and think tanks. In a Track 1.5 dialogue, each delegation consists of a mix of government representatives acting in an unofficial capacity alongside outside participants.

China and the United States previously had multiple forums for exchanging military-related information, the report reads. However, almost all of these have disappeared in recent years, likely in part due to worsening bilateral relations and the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, the United States has lost access to valuable information concerning the PLA, including educational and promotion pathways, how unit leaders are chosen and the success of reform initiatives.

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The PLA began slow-walking senior military leaders exchanges between the two countries prior to the pandemic. China also suspended multiple military dialogues with the United States following the visit of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to Taiwan in August.

During the pandemic, China also began to crack down on backchannel exchanges. Professor Wang Jisi of Peking University visited Scott Kennedy, a China analyst at Washingtons Center for Strategic and International Studies, in February  the first apparent Track 2 event between the two countries in more than two years.

The report also suggests Congress fund an organization that can facilitate the purchase of PLA open-source publications, which China provided for free until 2018.

One of the keys to understanding the PLA and its personnel is having access to PLA primary sources, including newspapers, journals, books, and websites, the report states. Although some organizations have limited access to at least some, but not all, of those publications, the cost has increased appreciably and each organization must pay for them individually.

Despite the decreased visibility into the PLA in recent years, the 63-page report details the Chinese militarys efforts at personnel modernization, including recruitment and training reform for noncommissioned officers and enlisted personnel as well as its anti-corruption campaign.

While progress has been uneven, the sum of these initiatives is likely to produce a PLA that is more educated, professionalized and technically proficient in the coming years, the report says.

The Chinese military in 2021 switched from one to two conscription cycles per year to boost combat readiness.

Nonetheless, the report also mentions that many commanders are still judged as incapable of properly assessing situations, making operational decisions, deploying forces or leading forces in a modern, joint, informationized war.

The PLA has made significant changes to its non-commissioned officer (NCO) corps, gradually empowering it to take on greater responsibilities, according to the report. It has also begun new partnerships with civilian academic institutions to provide education to NCOs, as well as directly recruiting civilians with in-demand technical skills as NCOs.

The report notes that efforts to recruit a more educated enlisted force overall appear to be succeeding, even if they have not always met the PLAs high recruitment targets.

While the PLA has recruited students to study aerospace, radar, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), missile technology, and maritime science, it does not efficiently use them after their recruitment, the report adds.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Communist Party has declared victory on President Xi Jinpings war against corruption in the ranks. But the report states that its unclear if this has actually changed the culture of pervasive corruption in the PLA, which has historically included bribery for promotions and graft in the defense procurement process.

The report also recommends Congress fund a follow-up report specifically devoted to the annual training cycle for each service, force, and branch of the Chinese military as well as a conference on PLA force structure and reorganization.

The reports release coincides with a bipartisan push to create a China Grand Strategy Commission via an amendment to the fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, which the Senate is expected to vote on later this month.
ARLINGTON, Va.  The head of the U.S. Navys Strategic Systems Programs office is confident the service can field hypersonic weapons on a Zumwalt-class destroyer in 2025 and on a Virginia-class submarine in 2029 despite the significant workload that remains.

Vice Adm. Johnny Wolfe said time is not our friend as the Navy races to finish hypersonic missile development alongside the Army by 2023. Next up is designing and testing the integration between the missile and USS Zumwalts hull and combat system ahead of a 2025 shipyard period where the weapon will be backfit onto the large destroyer. In parallel, engineers must work through the physics of launching the weapon from under the sea ahead of a 2029 fielding on Virginia-class submarines.

The Navy had previously said the Virginia-class submarines would field the hypersonic weapon, which the Navy calls Conventional Prompt Strike, in 2028. The new date is due to a delay in the planned delivery of the first submarine that will house the large missile  the future Arizona, the first submarine with the Virginia Payload Module  not a delay in the missile development itself.

On the hypersonic weapon, Wolfe said the Navy and Army are in a good place leading up to the Armys debut next year. He said he was optimistic about how much the services had learned so quickly, despite two live flight tests over the past year that fell short of their full testing goals.

Wolfe claimed success or failure was in the eye of the beholder: the two services have added stretch goals to each of their missile flight tests, so even when a flight doesnt meet its full objectives, engineers are still learning much faster than they would under a traditional acquisition and test program.

If were going to go fast, and were going to deploy a system that, quite frankly, we just decided in 2018 that we were going to put in warfighters hands  were going to have to lean forward, and were going to have to take risk, he said in remarks at the Naval Submarine Leagues annual conference here.

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In a June test called Joint Flight Campaign-1, officials wanted to test the new rocket motor booster stack developed by the Navy. The services decided to also integrate the weapons glide body, which had already been proven in previous testing, into the setup. Wolfe said the stack worked well and both stages lit off successfully. However, he added, the test weapon did not reach its target due to an unexpected integration issue.

Within seven weeks of that flight, we had identified what the issue was, we had developed a corrective action, and it is already in the next round that were going to fly, he said.

Lt. Gen. Robert Rasch, who runs the Armys Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office, previously told Defense News that if we would have just declared that all we were going to do was just to shoot up a missile stack, it would have been 100% a success. Rather, he said, given the rarity of these events, we always have stretch learning goals, and thats where the flight test fell short.

Wolfe also addressed an October 2021 test, Flight Test-3. He said the Army wanted to get additional data to supplement a separate flight test and decided to connect the hypersonic glide body to an old booster stack that had been sitting around. The booster stack had problems and caused the test to fail, but Wolfe said the Army learned a lot during the test, contributing to this development program moving quickly.

The delivery of the first prototype hypersonic hardware to Soldiers of the 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, 17th Field Artillery Brigade is completed on Oct. 7, 2021, with a ceremony at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. (Spc. Karleshia Gater/US Army)

The Army will field the weapon next year using a hot launch method from ground-based launchers: the rocket motor will light off immediately, creating a hot cloud of gas near the ground.

Because that hot launch is incompatible with Navy ships, a key effort ahead of 2025 is working through a different in-air launch capability for the hypersonic missiles coming off Zumwalt destroyers. Pressurized air pushes the weapon out of the missile tube and up to a great enough height that the missile can light off without hurting the ship.

Wolfe said the Navy has already shown in testing that it can do this.

Launching from undersea is even trickier: the missile has to exit a submarines missile tube, shoot to the surface and up into the air, and then light off while airborne.

Wolfe said the Navy is building its underwater launch test facility in Crane, Ind., already, which will help the service understand the hydrodynamics of the missile pushing through the launcher and the water on its way to the air. The vice admiral noted that a similar mechanism is already in place for the Trident nuclear weapon program shot from ballistic missile submarines and for the Tomahawk missile shot from guided-missile submarines, so he said the fundamentals are there to inform this in-water launch capability for Conventional Prompt Strike.

A common hypersonic glide body (C-HGB) launches from Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii, at approximately 10:30 p.m. local time, March 19, 2020, during a Department of Defense flight experiment. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy)

The Navy will also have to figure out how to incorporate the hypersonic weapons combat system, which the Army will field next year, into the combat systems that already exist on Zumwalt destroyers and Virginia submarines.

We are well on our way because the Army needs it first next year, and one of our tests that weve got coming up here in the next year will be with a combat system that will deploy with the Army, Wolfe said.

From there, the Navy will figure out if that system can be fully integrated into the ships combat systems or if it will have to be kept as a stand-alone weapon.

In summarizing the work ahead, Wolfe said no single engineering effort was especially difficult or worrisome, but rather a lot of work exists and the Navy is on tight timelines.

Its all about schedule. We understand what the payload tubes look like.  Were building those for what were going to put on Virginia, what were going to put on Zumwalt, he said. So its just schedule that were fighting with right now.
US pharmacy chains CVS Health and Walgreens said Wednesday they had reached preliminary agreements to together pay more than $10 billion to resolve opioid claims from US states, cities and tribes.

The opioid crisis, which has caused more than 500,000 deaths over 20 years in the United States, has triggered a flurry of lawsuits against drugmakers, distributors and pharmacies from victims as well as cities, counties and states.

The pharmacies' agreements in principal are for much bigger sums than previously agreed by pharmacy chains, putting that sector in the same ballpark as drugmakers like Teva and Johnson & Johnson and distributors like AmerisourceBergen and McKesson that have previously reached multi-billion dollar agreements.

"We are pleased to resolve these longstanding claims and putting them behind us is in the best interest of all parties, as well as our customers, colleagues and shareholders," CVS chief policy officer Thomas Moriarty said in a statement.

"As one of the largest pharmacy chains in the nation, we remain committed to being a part of the solution," Walgreens said. "We believe this is in the best interest of the company and our stakeholders at this time."

Lawsuits against the retail chains have alleged the drugstores didn't do enough to root out the deluge of opioids that have ravaged communities across the United States.

The stores have argued they are not responsible for the crisis and that the health care system relies on pharmacies to fill legitimate prescriptions.

CVS and Walgreens each said the settlements include "no admission of wrongdoing or liability" by the companies.

The agreements announced Wednesday are contingent on sufficient approvals by counties, states, tribes and other political subdivisions and do not cover lawsuits involving private litigants.

Bloomberg News reported that Walmart also reached a tentative agreement involving billions of dollars. A Walmart spokesman declined comment.

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CVS said its agreement will involve paying $5 billion to states, political subdivisions and tribes over the next 10 years, beginning in 2023.

CVS Chief Executive Karen Lynch told an earnings call that the company recognizes "the seriousness of the opioid abuse misconduct has had on so many Americans."

Walgreens plans payments of about $4.8 billion over 15 years to settling states, plus $144.5 million to Native American tribes over the same period and $753.5 million in attorney's fees over six years.

Both companies signaled they would continue to fight other lawsuits.

"The company will continue to vigorously defend against any litigation not covered by the Settlement Frameworks, including private plaintiff litigation. The Company continues to believe it has strong legal defenses and appellate arguments in all of these cases," said Walgreens.

- Multiple lawsuits -

CVS earlier this year announced an agreement to pay $484 million to the state of Florida to settle opioid claims, with the money set to fund treatments for drug misuse and health effects of the crisis.

The chain, along with Walgreens, Rite Aid and Walmart, agreed last summer to a $26 million settlement with two counties in New York state.

And an Ohio jury last November sided with two of the state's counties that sued Walmart, Walgreens and CVS, determining the three companies acted illegally in filling significant opioid prescriptions, creating an "oversupply" of the drugs and a "public nuisance."

For many people, opioid addiction begins with prescribed pain pills, before they increase their consumption and eventually turn to illicit drugs such as heroin and fentanyl, an extremely powerful synthetic opioid.

Opioid victims and their families addressed the Sackler family, owners of Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, directly in a US courtroom in March as part of the company's bankruptcy case.

"We buried Matthew and Kyle because of your family's vicious acts of disregard for human life," Liz Fitzgerald said of the deaths of two of her sons, who died at ages 32 and 25 after years of dealing with opioid addictions.

"Two boys are gone because of your 'safe' medication," Fitzgerald said.

dho-caw-jmb/caw
In 2016, University of South Florida researcher Elizabeth Aranda was wrapping up a project on young adult immigrants. She had conducted interviews with troves of people, all willing to share their stories of life without permanent legal status.

But on the morning that former president Donald Trump was elected, something changed. One of Arandas interview subjects didnt show up for a scheduled meeting. In fact, she never heard from him again. It kept happening.

Throughout his campaign, Trump had made a crackdown on immigration a key issue. He promised harsher penalties for people living in the United States without permanent legal status, and crushed the hope that many carried for a path to citizenship.

His takeover resulted in new waves of fear and uncertainty for immigrants  especially for those who arrived to the United States as children and had been granted protections under former President Barack Obama that Trump was aiming to undo.

It got me thinking, How are people in precarious legal status going to negotiate the next four years? Aranda recalled.

Its the question that rests at the center of a research paper published this summer by Aranda and her collaborators Elizabeth Vaquera, Heide Castaneda, and Girsea Martinez Rosas.

Over multiple years, Aranda and her team interviewed more than 50 young adults from the Tampa Bay area who were living under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), as it came under threat of elimination. The goal was to understand the toll of uncertainty around their immigration status.

The majority of participants reported their mental health declined as a result of stress because of threats to the program and their status. About 20% reported suicidal thoughts. Half of the sample said they had engaged in some form of self-harm.

The DACA program, which was implemented by the Obama administration in 2012, provides protections for immigrants who arrived in the United States as children  many of whom know no other home.

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Under the act, these Dreamers are protected from deportation, granted work permits and can pursue higher education. But the program stops short of providing a path for permanent residence, and has faced frequent threat of elimination over the last near-decade.

The result has been a life in limbo for the more than 24,000 DACA recipients in Florida  and hundreds of thousands nationally  who are forced to live court case to court case, in constant fear of having their protections revoked. Theyre people like Hillsborough County resident Nanci Palacios, who immigrated from Mexico when she was 6 years old.

Palacios, 33, participated in Arandas study.

Like many interviewed, Palacios said that threats to the program and fear of deportation changed the way she lived and the choices she made.

Making money became her top priority. She worried about saving up in case she was forced to leave the U.S., a threat that changed how she thought about her future.

She stopped going to college so she could work. She didnt buy a home when they were still in her price range, back before a record rise in housing costs. She worried about losing her health care.

Everyday you live in fear, Palacios said. That takes a toll on the entire family. It hurts.

Her experience is representative of the greater themes realized in Arandas research.

The study found that uncertainties about the future affected work and educational outcomes for DACA recipients. It also impacted feelings of belonging.

Aranda found that participants talked about the potential end of DACA in a way that mirrored the way people living with terminal illness talk about the looming end of life.

It is a form of trauma, Aranda said. Now, imagine if we actually lost DACA. This could possibly amount to a public mental health crisis among this population.

But another finding of Arandas research was increased civic engagement among recipients.

Thats because the need to advocate for greater protections is more important than ever, said Cirenio Cervantes, another participant.

Like Palacios, Cervantes also emigrated from Mexico as a child. Cervantes, 29, was a teenager working on a farm in Michigan when the deferred action program first went into effect. Now, hes a graduate student, studying public health in Florida.

At the time, he wasnt involved in advocacy work, he said. But when attacks on the program became more serious after 2016, Cervantes said, he realized a need to speak out. He didnt have the option of staying quiet.

Uncertainty continues to haunt us every day, Cervantes said. Its my hope that we continue to highlight the stories that are often left in the shadows and advocate for permanent residence.

Want to learn more?

To learn more about the study and for more information on DACA, visit: https://cisneros.columbian.gwu.edu/consequences-inaction-narrative-toolkit-social-mental-and-emotional-effects-uncertain-future-daca
By Marianna Parraga, Mayela Armas and Diego Ore

CARACAS/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Venezuela's government and the country's opposition plan to resume dialogues in Mexico as soon as this month after a long delay, and are expected to focus on negotiating conditions for a presidential election, four sources close to the talks said.

Last year, delegations representing President Nicolas Maduro and the opposition led by Juan Guaido made no progress on resolving the nation's deep political crisis, which has stoked a sometimes-chaotic migration wave of over 7 million people.

"We are working on resuming the dialogue process in November," said one of the people familiar with the arrangements.

Maduro and Colombia President Gustavo Petro said in a joint statement on Tuesday they hoped for "a successful return" to the dialogues.

The renewed talks, again facilitated by the Norwegian government, would cover the election, status of hundreds of political prisoners, U.S. sanctions on Venezuela and a "social agreement" that would enable distribution of $3 billion in goods and investment for humanitarian aid from a U.N.-administered fund.

Resumption of the dialogue has repeatedly been delayed by disagreements on terms, especially elections, a topic that may again force last-minute changes, including possibly postponing discussion to a second meeting, one of the sources said.

Venezuela's information ministry, opposition's envoy Gerardo Blyde, the Norwegian government and Mexico's foreign affairs ministry did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

Several parties warned Washington in October they are unwilling to support U.S.-backed Guaido's interim government in 2023. This makes resumption of talks crucial for the opposition coalition, which has been diminished by exile, imprisonment of leaders, internal fractures and lack of funds.

The talks were abandoned by Maduro's envoys a year ago after disagreements over the extradition of an ally of the Venezuelan president who faces money laundering charges.

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Maduro had said his government would not return to talks unless all U.S. sanctions were lifted, while the opposition has insisted on guarantees for a fair and transparent presidential vote, supervised by foreign observers, in late 2023 or 2024.

The U.S. government has tried to encourage dialogue, easing some sanctions and freeing two relatives of the Venezuelan fist lady, who were jailed on drug trafficking charges.

Maduro also released six former executives of U.S.-based refiner Citgo Petroleum.

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration, trying to increase global oil supplies to bring down prices that have surged since Russia invaded Ukraine, has said the dialogue progress could trigger sanctions relief, including a license for U.S. oil company Chevron to expand operations in Venezuela.

A growing influx of Venezuelan migrants to the United States is also prompting Washington to look for solutions to the South American country's crisis.

(Reporting by Marianna Parraga, Mayela Armas, Deisy Buitrago and Diego Ore; Writing by Marianna Parraga; Editing by David Gregorio)
Homicide detectives with the Lee County Sheriff's Office are investigating a fatal stabbing in Lehigh Acres.

When they arrived in the 1500 block of Sunniland Boulevard, near the intersection with 16th Street West, authorities found one victim shortly before 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Attempted murder charges: Punta Gorda man faces attempted murder charges in brutal stabbing at Trading Post

Escaped murderer: Escaped Georgia convict found walking along I-75 in Charlotte County

The sheriff's office says the incident is isolated and still under investigation.

No further information was available Wednesday afternoon.

This story will be updated.

Tomas Rodriguez is a Breaking/Live News Reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. You can reach Tomas at TRodriguez@gannett.com or 772-333-5501. Connect with him on Twitter @TomasFRoBeltran, Instagram @tomasfrobeltran and Facebook @tomasrodrigueznews.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: LCSO investigates after Wednesday fatal stabbing in Lehigh Acres
DUBAI, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Videos on social media showing Iranian security forces severely beating protesters have gone viral as anger grows at a widening crackdown with arrests of prominent figures from rappers to economists and lawyers aimed at ending seven weeks of unrest.

Protests ignited by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini on Sept. 16 after her arrest for inappropriate attire have shaken Iran's clerical establishment with people from all layers of society demanding wholesale political change.

The nationwide demonstrations which have called for the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are posing one of the boldest challenges since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iranian leaders have blamed the crisis on the United States and other Western powers, a narrative few Iranians believe.

Khamenei said on Wednesday that U.S. officials who support protests are "shameless", state media reported.

"Those who think the U.S. is an untouchable power are wrong," Khamenei said. "It is completely vulnerable as seen with current events."

Defying a harsh warning by the chief of the widely feared elite Revolutionary Guards, Iranians have risked their lives and arrest by remaining in the street despite a bloody crackdown.

One video dated Oct. 22 that went viral on social media showed a dozen riot police beating a man at night on a street in southern Tehran. One of the officers on a motorbike ran him over then another shot him at close range. Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the footage.

"This shocking video sent from Tehran today is another horrific reminder that the cruelty of Iran's security forces knows no bounds," Amnesty International said on Twitter about the Oct. 22 video.

"Amid a crisis of impunity, they're given free rein to brutally beat & shoot protesters. @UN_HRC must urgently investigate these crimes."

Other videos of the beating of protesters, which Reuters has been unable to verify, have also spread online.

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Iran's police issued a communique on Tuesday saying that a special order was issued to examine the details of a video showing police officers beating a citizen, without giving any detail on the video in question.

"The police does not approve of harsh and unconventional treatment, the offending police officers will certainly be dealt with according to the law," the statement read, according to Tasnim news agency.

The activist HRANA news agency said around 300 people had been killed in the unrest, including 46 minors. Iran said at least 36 members of the security forces were also killed.

Some 14,160 people have been arrested, including about 300 students, in protests in 133 cities and towns, and 129 universities, it said.

The crisis has hit Iran's currency. The U.S. dollar was selling for as much as 342,600 rials on the unofficial market on Wednesday, losing nearly 7% of its value since the protests started, according to Bonbast.com.

On Monday night, security forces went to the house of prominent economist Davoud Souri and arrested him. The officers took his laptop and mobile phone with them, and after his arrest, they informed his family that he was at Evin prison, according to a social media post that Reuters could not verify.

Iranian media published on Wednesday a video of the arrest of famous Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi, showing him blindfolded and saying he did not mean what he had said in previous comments critical of the authorities.

He was detained following his release of several rap clips in support of the protests. (Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Nick Macfie)
You need to be prepared so you can vote on Election Day. AP Photo/Charles Krupa

Leer in espanol

With the general election drawing close, its important to know your rights in case your vote is challenged.

The best way to ensure that your vote is counted is to advocate for yourself. Im a civil rights attorney and lecturer for the University of Southern Californias undergraduate civil rights advocacy initiative, Agents of Change. Here are several straightforward ways to ensure your vote is counted and two practical remedies for you to consider if your vote remains challenged.

A major part of ensuring that you are able to vote is doing the necessary preparation before you even get to the polling place.

Are you registered to vote? Check it out

Before you vote, you need to ensure that youre registered to vote. You can verify your registration status using this tool. If you cant use an online tool, then call your local election office or a voter help line like the ones listed in the hotline section below.

If you find youre not registered, you can use this tool from the National Conference of State Legislatures to find your states online registration application. If you need to do this in person, then call your local election office for instructions.

At this point, you may have missed your states deadline for voter registration. But it may not be too late to register.

Many states allow same-day registration at the polling site. You can find your states same-day voter laws detailed here. Ask the poll worker, at the correct polling location, for a same-day registration form; complete the form, and then ask for a conditional ballot. A conditional ballot allows election officials to count your vote after verifying your voter eligibility. If you cant research online, you can call your local election office to find out if you can register on Election Day.

People at a voter registration table at a voter registration event May 6, 2022, in Griffin, Ga. Elijah Nouvelage for The Washington Post via Getty Images

Gather documents to verify your identity

Voter ID laws generally cover in-person voting, not absentee ballots or mailed ballots.

If you live in a state that requires identity verification to vote in person, gather the required documents  which may range from drivers licenses to bank statements with identifying information  before traveling to the correct polling place. You can find your county election offices contact information here. This webpage includes a table listing each states acceptable ID documents and possible exceptions for some folks. You may also call your local election office to find out whats required.

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Find the correct polling location

You can ensure that youre headed to the right polling place with this tool. Or call your county election office to find your polling place and its hours of operation; you can look up your countys election office contact information here.

Once you know your polling place and its hours, you can go there and check in. In most cases, youll be handed a ballot, shown where to vote and asked to put your ballot in a machine or a box, and then you can go merrily along your way.

But the moment of check-in is where things might go wrong.

Problems at your polling place

Here are potential vote challenges and ways to overcome them.

Possibility #1: Out-of-order polling machines.

If youre asked to leave because of malfunctioning machines, dont. Instead, ask for a paper ballot.

Possibility #2: Youre in line and officials announce the polls have closed.

If youre in line at the polling location before it closes, dont let them turn you away at closing time if you havent voted. You have the legal right to vote under those circumstances, so stay in line and wait to cast your ballot.

Possibility #3: Youre not on the registered voters list.

If youre told you cant vote because your name is not on the voter roster, ask the poll site worker to check again and to check whats called the list of supplemental voters. If they still cant find your name, ask the poll worker to verify that youre at the right location.

Poll workers want you to vote. But sometimes there are problems. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Possibility #4: Someone claims you shouldnt be allowed to vote.

If your voting eligibility remains challenged after ensuring youre at the right polling location, ask to cast a provisional ballot, which is available in every state except Idaho and Minnesota. You can find details about your particular states provisional ballot rules here.

Track your provisional ballot here.

Call a hotline

If you are not given a provisional ballot, call an election hotline for help. Here are four hotlines, run by members of the nonpartisan Election Protection coalition, that can help you:

English: 866-OUR-VOTE/866-687-8683, The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

Spanish: 888-VE-Y-VOTA/888-839-8682, The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Education Fund

Asian Languages: 888-API-VOTE/888-274-8683, Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote

Arabic: 844-YALLA-US/844-925-5287, Arab American Institute

Report voter intimidation

If someone tries to scare you into voting or not voting for a candidate, stand your ground and demand a ballot from the poll site, call a hotline above to report the intimidation, and file a claim with the FBI later by phone at 800-CALL-FBI - 800-225-5324 - or online at tips.fbi.gov.

File a lawsuit

If you are still blocked from voting, consider legal action  but get advice on your exact situation from one of the hotlines, which have free lawyers on hand. Its a good idea to write down the names of people who prevented you from voting and to ask people who witnessed the incident for their contact information.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. If you found it interesting, you could subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

It was written by: Karen Figueroa-Clewett, University of Southern California.

Read more:



Karen Figueroa-Clewett 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.
 Flash

In Pingxiang, a border county in south China's Chongzuo city, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, flat-bed and container trucks carrying fruits, building materials and industrial equipment are lining up to cross the China-Vietnam border.

The county, home to around 130,000 people, has witnessed the rapidly growing trade and even closer practical cooperation between the two neighboring countries in recent years, which also gave a strong boost to local trade and economic development and brought more benefits to the people of both countries.

After China and Vietnam normalized their relationship over 30 years ago, they forged a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership in 2008, and the two countries have been maintaining communication at all levels, and working together to step up synergy in development strategies, facilitate practical cooperation, promote cultural and people-to-people exchanges and advance regional connectivity.

With joint efforts, the two countries' cooperation has been advancing steadily. China has remained Vietnam's biggest trading partner and the second largest export destination, while Vietnam has continued to be China's biggest trading partner in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Bilateral cooperation in such areas as investment, infrastructure and green energy has also flourished.

Statistics of China's customs showed that the two countries' trade increased by 19.7 percent to 230.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, the first time in history surpassing the 200-billion mark. It is a hard-won achievement amid the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the staggering global economy.

The booming cross-border fruit trade has been one of the new highlights of bilateral trade in recent years. Thanks to fast transportation, cold chain logistics and the development of e-commerce, Vietnam's fruit exports to China have increased rapidly year by year, and the China-Vietnam border city Chongzuo has become the largest city for import and export of border fruits trade in China.

In the third quarter this year, the foreign trade volume of Chongzuo jumped to 78.12 billion yuan (10.6 billion dollars) with a surge of nearly 50 percent year-on-year.

On Sept. 19, after years of small-scale trade around the border areas, fresh durians from Vietnam were officially exported to China for the first time, offering new opportunities to durian growers, packers and producers in the country.

Eyeing the huge potential of China's market with over 1.4 billion consumers, Rang Dong Agricultural Product Import-Export Company in Vietnam's southern Long An province hopes to deliver more fresh and processed fruits to China, especially after the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership came into effect on Jan. 1.

Nguyen Tat Quyen, the company's director, said that besides the gigantic size, the Chinese market has another big advantage, namely being close to Vietnam, and convenient for road, sea and air transport.

During the 14th meeting of the China-Vietnam Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation in July, the two sides agreed to bolster their Belt and Road cooperation, work together to build a mechanism for ensuring and promoting the stability of industrial and supply chains, strengthen port construction and facilitate customs clearance.

As a flagship project of Belt and Road cooperation, the China-constructed Cat Linh-Ha Dong metro line project in Hanoi, the first of this type in the Southeast Asian country, has transported millions of Vietnamese since its commercial operation in November last year.

The metro project has greatly facilitated the travel of residents along the route. Many residents have begun to abandon the traditional travel mode of motorcycles and choose to take the metro.

"Taking these trains, I will no longer have to worry about congestion every morning while going to work," said Hoang Thi Huong, a 30-year-old passenger from Hanoi's Thanh Xuan district, hoping that more urban railway projects will be constructed to ease transportation in the city.

The past years have also witnessed growing friendship and mutual understanding between the people of the two countries. An increasing number of Chinese films and TV series have gained popularity in Vietnam, while the flourishing bilateral ties have attracted more and more Vietnamese students to study and work in China.

"As a Vietnamese student in China, I'm familiar with both countries, and I hope to help promote exchanges and make the two countries better understand each other," said Nguyen Huyen Trang, a medical student at Guangxi University in China.

Seeing the bright development prospect of China, Nguyen said he plans to find a job related to China-Vietnam medical cooperation and stay in Guangxi. "The experience of studying in China will give me more advantages in this regard," he added.
While some states prohibit voters from taking photos of their ballots, "ballot selfies" are legal in others. Brittany Murray/MediaNews Group/Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Images

The last day to vote in the 2022 midterm elections is Tuesday, November 8.

Many voters like to share pictures of their ballots on social media to encourage other voters.

But before you snap a selfie, make sure to check if it's legal to do so in your state.

The 2022 midterm elections are on Tuesday, November 8.

Social media has become a popular way for people to encourage others to exercise their right to vote. Posting photos of yourself with your ballot  also known as a "ballot selfie"  is one way voters share how they're exercising their rights. This can be anything from a picture with a mail-in ballot to a photo of an "I voted" sticker. While this may be allowed at certain polling places, many states actually have laws making it illegal to snap selfies at the voter booth or take photos of a marked ballot.

The problem with phone use at the polls mostly revolves around people taking photos of their marked ballots. While state laws don't specifically ban posting photos of ballots on social media, they do prohibit showing marked ballots to others. These laws are to protect voters from bribery, vote-buying, and voter coercion, securing Americans' right to a secret ballot.

Currently, 27 states and the District of Columbia allow voters to take ballot selfies or use cell phones at the polls. Some states let voters use their phones to access information about the candidates if they need assistance making their decision on Election Day.

Phone usage or ballot selfies are completely banned in 20 states. Although there are no specific laws about phone use in Delaware and Maine, phone use is strongly discouraged.

In Alaska, Arizona, and Texas, only photos of mail-in ballots are allowed.

Many polling places will display signs indicating the rules of phone use, so be sure to check what your local station does and does not allow. It is rare for states to prosecute voters for violating phone use laws at the polls, however it's to double-check the law to avoid the risk of your vote being challenged or discarded.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Trojans Wire

Why should Lincoln Riley care about what the #Packers do? What kind of question is that? It's not nearly as weird as you think. #USC #Badgers
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty

Harvey Weinsteins lawyers on Wednesday managed to throw a wrench, if only briefly, into the latest criminal trial against the disgraced movie titan and convicted rapist by showcasing an ugly dispute between a woman accusing him of assault and her former friend.

In essence, a woman who prosecutors planned to call to corroborate a former actress allegations that Weinstein sexually assaulted her refuses to take the standbecause she claims the accuser and her husband stole thousands of dollars from her.

The strange twist came before the jurors were brought into the courtroom on Wednesday in the second week of the trial in which Weinstein is accused of sexually assaulting five Los Angeles women between 2003 and 2014.

The sideshow began when Weinsteins lawyers told Judge Lisa Lench that they had received word from the prosecution Tuesday night that theres a severe problem with one of their witnesses.

Defense attorney Mark Werksman explained that prosecutors had planned to call Christina Zweers to the stand to corroborate the testimony of Kelly Sipherd, who testified on Monday that Weinstein had sexually assaulted her twice in Toronto over the span of two decades. Specifically, she said Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her, inserted his fingers into her vagina, and put his penis in her vagina for a few seconds inside a hotel room in 1991.

Seventeen years later, in 2008, Sipherd told jurors, Weinstein masturbated in front of her in another hotel roombefore ejaculating orange sperm [that] didnt look normal.

Werksman said his team had received an email chain between Zweers and Assistant Deputy District Attorney Paul Thompson, which he claimed contained a scathing and blistering indictment of the character of Sipherd. Sipherd has been identified in court as Kelly S., but her lawyer previously confirmed that she can be identified by her full name. Her lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

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Former Actress Alleges Weinstein Approached Her With a Hot Cloth in Hotel Room

This allegation is that over a period of 10 years Kelly and her husband looted $10,000 from this former friend of Kelly, who is going to be a witness, Werksman said, arguing that if Zweers had shown up in court, we would be able to elicit her testimony about the honesty and truthfulness and moral turpitude of Kelly S.

While Zweers claims of theft, embezzlement, elder abuse and fraud by Sipherd and her husband are merely allegations that do not pertain to Weinstein's trialand Sipherd has not been charged with any crimethe former Hollywood producers lawyers went for the jugular.

In essence, Weinsteins defense lawyer argued that Zweers claim should effectively render Sipherds testimony moot.

[Zweers] basically says I dont want to have anything to do with this, Werksman told the judge.

As a prior bad acts witness, Sipherds allegations against Weinstein are not a part of his criminal chargesbut are meant to bolster the prosecutions argument that he exhibited a pattern of predatory behavior. Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to almost a dozen charges against him in the L.A. trial, which comes two years after he was sentenced to 23 years in prison on similar crimes in New York.

Weinsteins lawyers on Wednesday also suggested that another witness set to corroborate Sipherds story had flaked on taking the stand, as well.

Werksman asked prosecutors to reveal correspondence with the second witness to see if she also refused to testifyand stressed that Sipherd should be forced to come back to court and face impeachment. In a criminal trial, impeaching a witness is the process of calling into question the accuracy and credibility of their testimony. Sometimes, impeachment results in a judge ruling a witness testimony should be stricken from the record.

The defense lawyer went on to say he would also accept Sipherds testimony being struck from the record. This is the danger of the [prior bad act witnesses], they bring in these 30-year-old complainants without vetting them, he said.

Prosecutors naturally pushed back on Werksmans harsh critique.

Deputy District Attorney Marlene Martinez said that Zweers email and allegations were not relevant to the case against Weinstein. She added that her understanding was that Zweers anger against Sipherd stemmed from a loan that the former actress had not yet paid back in fullnoting that the claim was not one of fraud.

These are just allegations. There is no proof of anything. The defense would have to have some sort of witness or even evidence to bring this up, Martinez said. If Kelly were to return, these would be just hearsay statements.

Zweers is upset and theres been a falling out between the two. I just think shes angry and upset, the prosecutor added, indicating that Zweers has never previously mentioned that any of this affected the statements that she gave initially.

Ultimately, Judge Lench ruled that she was not going to force the prosecution to turn over additional email communications with witnessesbut stressed that she still needs to think about whether the defense will be allowed impeachment based on this information.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Read also: What Ukraine needs to win the war

The Kremlins terror tactics are unlikely to break the spirit of the Ukrainian people or transform Russias faltering military fortunes. However, the deliberate targeting of Ukraines critical infrastructure will further Moscows goal of destroying the Ukrainian state. The prospect of a humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine now demands the kind of tough and urgent response from the international community that has often been lacking.

For the past eight years, the West has consistently lagged behind events and handed the initiative to the Kremlin as Russia has escalated its aggression against Ukraine. The slow and underwhelming international response to Russias spring 2014 seizure of Crimea set the geopolitical tone and led directly to Moscows subsequent invasion of eastern Ukraine.

Read also: Russian attacks on civilians and infrastructure are attempt to spread panic, Pentagon says

Long before the current full-scale invasion began on February 24, Kyiv was imploring its Western partners to provide heavy weapons and air defense systems. If a credible deterrent had been in place, it is entirely possible that Putin would not have rolled the dice and launched his special military operation. Even if the attack had proceeded as planned, Ukraine would have been far better prepared to defend itself and many thousands of lives would have been saved.

Russias invasion is now entering an ominous new stage. Moscows decision to deprive Ukraines civilian population of heating and other essential services during the winter season places tens of millions of lives in jeopardy.

Many Ukrainians see this weaponization of winter as a repeat of the early 1930s genocide perpetrated by the Soviet authorities, who engineered an artificial famine and starved millions of Ukrainians to death in a bid to crush the countrys statehood ambitions. Stalins famine is known to history as the Holodomor, meaning death by hunger. Ukrainians are now giving Putins terror-bombing campaign an eerily similar name and referring to it as the Kholodomor, or death by freezing. Infamously, Western leaders in the 1930s either downplayed or completely ignored Stalins genocide. Will the current generation make the same mistake?

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Recent history suggests this is a genuine possibility. Despite clear evidence of modern Russias undimmed imperial ambitions and readiness to use overwhelming military force in Chechnya, Georgia, Crimea, and eastern Ukraine, much of the Western worlds political and intellectual establishment has preferred to delude itself about the true nature of the Putin regime.

Over the past two decades, there has been no shortage of prominent figures prepared to argue for constructive engagement with the Kremlin while dismissing the dangers of dependence on Russian gas and claiming that mutual business interests would somehow tame Moscows imperial instincts. Meanwhile, an array of apologists have readily echoed Putins historical grievances and his protests over NATO enlargement while ignoring the Russian rulers increasingly unhinged ideological attacks on the West.

Read also: Ukraine War: Vladimir Putin has gambled everything and lost

Even now, more than eight months since Russia unleashed the largest European conflict since World War II, self-styled realists continue to advocate policies of appeasement. Again and again, peace plans are proposed that ask nothing of Russia while calling on Kyiv to cede Ukrainian land in exchange for peace in Europe.

Efforts to appease Putin are fundamentally flawed. Russias foreign policy is not a response to a series of legitimate and isolated grievances that can be addressed in a rational manner; it is the product of the countrys deeply imperialistic political culture and authoritarian state institutions. Any attempt to make sense of Putins Russia that fails to recognize this reality is tantamount to ignoring the fact that Hitlers Germany was a Nazi state.

For far too long, the realist camp has refused to take warnings from Russias neighbors seriously. Politicians and commentators in Poland, the Baltic States, Ukraine, and other countries with first-hand experience of Russian imperialism have struggled to make themselves heard in Western capitals and have frequently faced accusations of Russophobia. It is now time to acknowledge this error and accept that those who sought to raise the alarm about resurgent Russian imperialism were right all along.

It is also important for Western leaders to understand that Putin is escalating because he is losing the war. Ukraines attrition tactics and skillful military maneuvering have paid off in recent months, enabling rapid advances that have liberated large swathes of occupied Ukrainian territory. The Russian army has suffered catastrophic losses and is deeply demoralized.

Read also: Attacks on civilian infrastructure sign of Russias defeat in war, says Zelenskyy

Faced with defeat on the battlefield, Putin is seeking to raise the stakes and is directly threatening the entire Ukrainian civilian population. If Western leaders wish to avoid another Kremlin genocide in Ukraine, they must respond with speed and decisiveness to Russias methodical destruction of Ukraines civilian infrastructure. This means supplying the air defense systems and other military hardware Ukraine desperately needs.

At the same time, Ukraines international partners must also show the kind of patience that will allow the Ukrainian military to wear down Putins invasion force and liberate the rest of the country. This may take longer than expected and could lead to growing Ukraine fatigue in Western capitals. Nevertheless, it is both morally and strategically the right thing to do.

Read also: Four ways the war in Ukraine might end

The only way to end Putins criminal invasion is by ensuring that the Ukrainian army prevails militarily. This victory would have far-reaching repercussions for the wider region. Crucially, the survival of the Ukrainian nation would serve as a severe blow to the imperial mindset that remains dominant in modern Russia. This is a necessary step if post-war Russia is ever to establish normal relations with its neighbors.

The alternative would be disastrous for the entire Western world. If Russia is victorious in Ukraine, Putin will embark on further international aggression geared towards subjugating his neighbors and undermining the West. The current Cold War will continue indefinitely, while the nightmare scenario of a direct military conflict between Russia and the West will loom ever larger. Putin is already committing genocide in Ukraine and is now openly threatening to freeze millions of civilians to death. The price of peace will continue to rise until he is decisively defeated.

This column was first published by the Atlantic Council. NV is publishing it with the permission from the author.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
ABC News

With the Biden administration urging people to get both a COVID-19 booster and a flu shot as soon as possible, the White House's Dr. Ashish Jha said Sunday that updated vaccinations will help people "move on" from the pandemic. "It's been, obviously, a long two and a half years for Americans, and we understand that people want to move on," Jha, the White House COVID-19 coordinator, told ABC "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz of the virus that has killed more than 1 million people in the U.S. "The good news is people can move on if they keep their immunity up to date." COVID-19 deaths are still averaging more than 2,000 per week and only about 11% of the country has gotten the latest booster compared to 80% of people who completed the primary course of vaccination that was rolled out in 2021, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Hurricane Lisa made landfall in Central America late Wednesday afternoon, raising the risk for flash flooding and wind damage across several countries. But after it moves over land, there are multiple scenarios for where and how the storm could finally dissipate.

After it made landfall along the Belize coastline as a Category 1 hurricane on Wednesday, Lisa will continue to move across southern Mexico and northern Guatemala on Thursday and unleash a swath of heavy rain and gusty winds along its path.

Now that the storm is inland, "Lisa is expected to quickly lose wind intensity and transition into a tropical rainstorm," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Adam Douty said.

This transition to a tropical rainstorm is forecast to happen as early as Thursday afternoon as Lisa is cut off from its energy supply from the warm Caribbean waters and encounters the terrain of Central America. While the current forecast track of Lisa has the cyclone skirting by some of the highest terrain of southern Mexico on Thursday as it takes a turn to the northwest, a slower turn could do some real damage to the system.

If Lisa's anticipated brisk pace and quicker northwestward turn come to fruition, then it would be more likely that the system would survive long enough to reach the Gulf of Mexico. Should Lisa slow down considerably, the cyclone may dissipate over land after its circulation is disrupted by the rugged terrain.

"If Lisa can hold together enough over land, it will emerge over the southern Gulf of Mexico as a tropical rainstorm (or perhaps a tropical depression) before completely dissipating," Douty explained.

The cyclone will have rather hostile atmospheric conditions to contend with if it does manage to emerge over the southern Gulf of Mexico late this week.

"Disruptive wind shear will be on the uptick in the southern Gulf late this week and this weekend that could keep Lisa's intensity at bay," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said.

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This wind shear will limit Lisa's ability to move northward once in the Gulf of Mexico and may even shred its circulation apart.

"If Lisa manages to remain a trackable tropical rainstorm, it might survive long enough to loop back around and head south toward Mexico," Douty said, adding that this is not the most likely scenario.

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Regardless of status, any remaining moisture from Lisa can go on to produce heavy rainfall in parts of southern Mexico into the weekend.

"There can be a secondary area of heavy rain along portions of Mexico that border the southernmost section of the Bay of Campeche," Douty added.

Residents, along with those who have interests in southern Mexico, will need to monitor the progress of Lisa in the coming days.

Lisa is the 12th named storm and sixth hurricane of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season. With the development of Martin in the open Atlantic earlier this week, activity has picked up once again in the basin as the final month of hurricane season gets underway.

This is the first year that two hurricanes have simultaneously spun over the Atlantic basin at the same time in November since 2001, according to Colorado State University Meteorologist Philip Klotzbach. It's also just the third year that this has ever occurred. Two hurricanes were also observed at the same time in November 1932.

The Atlantic hurricane season officially runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.

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Every investor in Perusahaan Sadur Timah Malaysia (Perstima) Berhad (KLSE:PERSTIM) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. We can see that private companies own the lion's share in the company with 36% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And public companies on the other hand have a 35% ownership in the company.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Perusahaan Sadur Timah Malaysia (Perstima) Berhad, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for Perusahaan Sadur Timah Malaysia (Perstima) Berhad

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Perusahaan Sadur Timah Malaysia (Perstima) Berhad?

Institutional investors often avoid companies that are too small, too illiquid or too risky for their tastes. But it's unusual to see larger companies without any institutional investors.

There are many reasons why a company might not have any institutions on the share registry. It may be hard for institutions to buy large amounts of shares, if liquidity (the amount of shares traded each day) is low. If the company has not needed to raise capital, institutions might lack the opportunity to build a position. Alternatively, there might be something about the company that has kept institutional investors away. Perusahaan Sadur Timah Malaysia (Perstima) Berhad might not have the sort of past performance institutions are looking for, or perhaps they simply have not studied the business closely.

Perusahaan Sadur Timah Malaysia (Perstima) Berhad is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Versalite Sdn Bhd with 33% of shares outstanding. With 27% and 7.3% of the shares outstanding respectively, JFE Holdings, Inc. and Mitsui & Co., Ltd. are the second and third largest shareholders.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 2 shareholders have a majority ownership in the company, meaning that they are powerful enough to influence the decisions of the company.

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While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. Our information suggests that there isn't any analyst coverage of the stock, so it is probably little known.

Insider Ownership Of Perusahaan Sadur Timah Malaysia (Perstima) Berhad

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Perusahaan Sadur Timah Malaysia (Perstima) Berhad. Insiders have a RM65m stake in this RM550m business. This may suggest that the founders still own a lot of shares. You can click here to see if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 17% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Perusahaan Sadur Timah Malaysia (Perstima) Berhad. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 36%, of the Perusahaan Sadur Timah Malaysia (Perstima) Berhad stock. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.

Public Company Ownership

We can see that public companies hold 35% of the Perusahaan Sadur Timah Malaysia (Perstima) Berhad shares on issue. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

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 2 warning signs for Perusahaan Sadur Timah Malaysia (Perstima) Berhad that you should be aware of.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.

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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The White House on Wednesday said that President Biden is giving remarks on democracy because of the alarming number of Republican officials who have said they wont accept the results of the midterm elections.

The president  is making this speech because were seeing an alarming number of Republican officials who are saying, theyre being very clear, theyre not going to accept the results of these elections. Thats a problem, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

Hes going to continue to call this out. What were seeing is an attack on our democracy and the president has been very clear, we need to protect our democracy, we need to strengthen our democracy.

Biden will deliver a speech on Wednesday evening from Union Station that is focused on the threat of election deniers. The speech will be hosted by the Democratic National Committee. He gave another democracy-focused speech in September in Philadelphia, which was an official event, while Wednesdays is a political event.

An analysis from The Washington Post last month found that a majority of Republican candidates for the House, Senate and key statewide offices deny or question the outcome of the 2020 race.

However, some candidates who have questioned the outcome of the 2020 election, like Ohio Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance, have said they will accept the results the midterm elections.

The attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosis (D-Calif.) husband, Paul Pelosi, also factored into the presidents decision to make the speech, according to Jean-Pierre.

Paul Pelosi was attacked early Friday morning in the couples San Francisco home and underwent surgery for a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands.

Clearly we are seeing an uptick, a sad uptick, of rhetoric, of political rhetoric, coming from extreme Republicans in office and also yes, we saw this violent, awful, horrific attack on Paul Pelosi. And so there are reasons that he believes the time is now to make sure that he spoke directly to the American people, Jean-Pierre said.

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During a Tuesday fundraiser in Florida, Biden ripped Republicans who joked about the attack on Paul Pelosi, and he criticized those who didnt offer a full condemnation of the incident.

When asked if Biden has reached out personally to Republican leaders to offer more forceful response, Jean-Pierre said Biden shouldnt have to call them and that it should not be controversial to speak out against political violence.

Additionally, she called it a ridiculous question when asked if Biden thinks it is a threat to democracy if an American votes for a Republican. She added that Biden would also call out Democrats who deny election results.

We are talking about mega MAGA Republican officials who have been very clear about this, she said. They have been very clear about pushing and peddling the Big Lie, pedaling dangerous conspiracy theory. And so thats what were talking about.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The White House on Wednesday accused North Korea of covertly shipping a significant number of artillery shells to Russia in support of its invasion of Ukraine.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. believes North Korea is trying to make it appear as though theyre being sent to countries in the Middle East or North Africa. He declined to provide a specific estimate on the quantity of ammunition being sent to bolster the Russian effort.

Kirby said North Korea is covertly supplying the ammunition to Russia, but that, were still monitoring this to determine whether the shipments are actually received." He added that the U.S. has an idea of which country or countries the North may funnel the weapons through but wouldn't specify, because the administration continues to look at how it might respond to North Korea's actions.

Kirby insisted the North Korean shipments are not going to change the course of the war," citing Western efforts to resupply the Ukrainian military.

The White House would not specify the mode of transportation or whether the U.S. or other nations would attempt to interdict the shipments to Russia.

The White House revealed the new intelligence nearly two months after first alleging that U.S. intelligence officials had determined the Russian Ministry of Defense was in the process of purchasing millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea for its ongoing fight in Ukraine.

Even as the administration revealed information about the covert North Korean artillery shell shipments, the White House also ought to downplay their significance.

We dont believe that they are in such a quantity that they would change the direction of this war or tangibly change the momentum either in the east or in the south" where some of the heaviest fighting in Ukraine is taking place, Kirby said.

The finding comes after the Biden administration in August said the Russian military took delivery of hundreds of Iranian-manufactured drones for use on the battlefield in Ukraine. The Biden administration said Iran has also sent personnel to Russian-controlled Crimea to provide technical support on operation of the drones. Iranian officials have denied they have provided drones or other support to Russia.

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North Korea has sought to tighten relations with Russia as much of the West has pulled away, blaming the United States for the Ukraine crisis and decrying the Wests hegemonic policy as justifying military action by Russia in Ukraine to protect itself.

The North Koreans have shown interest in sending construction workers to help rebuild Russian-occupied territories in Ukraines east.

North Koreas ambassador to Moscow has met with envoys from two Russia-backed separatist territories in the Donbas region of Ukraine and expressed optimism about cooperation in the field of labor migration, citing his countrys easing of pandemic border controls.

In July, North Korea became the only nation aside from Russia and Syria to recognize the independence of the territories, Donetsk and Luhansk, further aligning with Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.

The Norths arms export to Russia would be a violation of U.N. resolutions that ban the country from exporting to or importing weapons from other countries. Its possible dispatch of laborers to the Russian-held territories in Ukraine would also breach a U.N. resolution that required all member states to repatriate all North Korean workers from their soil by 2019.

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Follow AP's coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
 Flash

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday sent a congratulatory message to Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the rotating president of the Council of the Arab League (AL), on the convening of the 31st AL Summit in Algiers.

He said that the Arab League, committed to seeking strength through unity in the Arab world, has been actively advancing peace and stability in the Middle East and making unremitting efforts to safeguard multilateralism and the common interests of developing countries.

The Chinese president expressed appreciation for Algeria's long-term commitment to strengthening solidarity among Arab countries, its active role in safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries and its emphasis on collective cooperation between China and Arab countries.

China has forged an everlasting friendship with Algeria and other Arab countries, Xi said. In recent years, political mutual trust has been increasingly consolidated, Belt and Road cooperation has made tangible progress, and practical cooperation in various fields has yielded fruitful results.

In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, China and Algeria have been supporting and helping each other in times of difficulty, setting a fine model for South-South Cooperation, he said.

China is willing to work with Arab countries to enhance mutual support and expand cooperation in a joint effort to build a China-Arab community with a shared future for the new era, so as to create a bright future for China-Arab relations and make contributions to world peace and development.
The White House called on Congress to take action to address gun violence in the aftermath of multiple high-profile shootings in the past two days, saying that enough is enough.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement that President Biden will continue to do everything in his power to reduce gun violence and wants Congress to increase funding for community violence intervention, establish universal background checks and pass legislation banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

Gun violence in this country is an epidemic that will not end with thoughts and prayers alone, she said.

Jean-Pierre mentioned a shooting in Newark, N.J., that wounded two police officers and one in Houston that killed the rapper Takeoff from the hip-hop group Migos and injured two others on Tuesday. She said 14 people, including three children, were injured by gunfire in Chicago on Monday, and six were injured and a teenager was killed at a Halloween party shooting in Kansas City.

These are only the shootings that made national headlines, she said. In other cases, we may not know the names of the victims but we equally mourn with their families and communities.

Biden signed major gun reform legislation into law in June in the aftermath of the shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. The law enhanced background checks for gun buyers aged 18 to 21, made obtaining a firearm through trafficking a federal offense and closed the so-called boyfriend loophole, among other provisions.

Congress passed the bill after members of both parties reached a bipartisan agreement, but Democrats recognized the legislation as only a step toward addressing gun violence and back additional proposals, such as banning certain firearms and implementing nationwide universal background checks.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
By David Brunnstrom and Idrees Ali

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States has information that indicates North Korea is covertly supplying Russia with a "significant" number of artillery shells for its war in Ukraine, White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby said on Wednesday.

Kirby told a virtual briefing that North Korea was attempting to obscure the shipments by funneling them through countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

"Our indications are that the DPRK is covertly supplying and we are going to monitor to see whether the shipments are received," Kirby said, adding that Washington would consult with the United Nations on accountability issues over the shipments.

"We do have a sense on where they are going to transfer these shells," Kirby said, but declined to give any more details as the United States weighs its possible options.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price at a regular news briefing suggested that sanctions were among the options, as in the case of Iran's provision of weapons to Russia.

"Just as we're using every tool and will use every tool to counter the Iranian provision of weapons to Russia, we will do the same when it comes to the DPRK's provisions of weapons to Russia," he said.

"There are existing sanctions on the books. We will look at additional tools and authorities that we may be able to call upon to counter this activity," he said.

The United States in September imposed sanctions on an Iranian company it accused of coordinating military flights to transport Iranian drones to Russia and three other companies it said were involved in the production of Iranian drones.

Kirby said the amount of shells was not insignificant, but was unlikely to change the momentum or outcome of the war. However, they could still be deadly for Ukrainians, he said.

"And it's certainly not going to change our calculus ... or with so many of our allies and partners about the kinds of capabilities we're going to continue to provide the Ukrainians," he said.

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Kirby said the North Korean shipments were a sign not only of Pyongyang's willingness to support Russia but of Moscow's munitions shortages brought on by U.S.-led sanctions and export controls.

North Korea in September said it had never supplied weapons or ammunition to Russia and has no plans to do so, while warning the United States to "keep its mouth shut" and stop circulating rumors aimed at "tarnishing" the country's image.

Referring to North Korea missile launches on Wednesday, Kirby said they did not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel in the region, and added that the United States would make sure it had the capabilities there to defend its allies.

North Korea fired at least 23 missiles into the sea on Wednesday, including one that landed less than 60 km (40 miles) off South Korea's coast, which the South's President Yoon Suk-yeol described as "territorial encroachment."

It was the first time a ballistic missile had landed near the South's waters since the peninsula was divided in 1945, and the most missiles fired by the North in a single day. South Korea issued rare air raid warnings and launched its own missiles in response.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom, Idrees Ali and Susan Heavey; Additional reporting by Simon Lewis and Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Mark Porter)
Daniel Radcliffe attends the New York premiere of "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story" at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Downtown Brooklyn on Tuesday. (Andy Kropa / Invision/Associated Press)

Daniel Radcliffe is holding firm in his stance against transphobia, shedding light on why he felt the need to speak up in 2020 when "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling made polarizing remarks about transgender people.

The "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story" star, who came of age onscreen as the titular boy in Warner Bros.' eight-film "Harry Potter" franchise, joined several Wizarding World leads in condemning the billionaire author and standing up for those who were hurt by Rowling's tweets mocking the phrase "people who menstruate."

"The reason I ... felt very, very much as though I needed to say something when I did was because, particularly since finishing Potter, Ive met so many queer and trans kids and young people who had a huge amount of identification with Potter on that," Radcliffe recently told IndieWire. "And so seeing them hurt on that day I was like, I wanted them to know that not everybody in the franchise felt that way. And that was really important."

At the time, Radcliffe had for years been working with the Trevor Project  the crisis intervention and suicide prevention hotline for LGBTQ youth  and wrote an open letter for the nonprofit that asserted, Transgender women are women.

"Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I, he wrote, also acknowledging that Rowling was "unquestionably responsible for the course my life has taken."

The 33-year-old actor, who has since starred in films including "Escape From Pretoria" and "Guns Akimbo," also reiterated that position in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter published Monday.

Radcliffe said that since playing Harry, he'd come to appreciate how many of his fans were trans or nonbinary or gender non-conforming in some way, and Potter was a huge part of that identity.

That and a growing awareness of the money I had and wanting to do something useful with that led him to start working with the Trevor Project while performing "Equus" in New York, he told THR.

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There was a moment where I was like, I cant look myself in the eye if Ive been working with this organization for 10 years and I dont say anything," Radcliffe said.

Since completing work on the final "Potter" film, 2011's "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows  Part 2," the actor has made several unique creative choices. He worked in theater and shied away from franchise fare. He also played a series of eccentric characters in films and TV projects such as Swiss Army Man," Horns, "Miracle Workers" and The Lost City.

The roles he chose turned out to be by design and helped him land his most recent gig in "Weird" as parody musician Yankovic. (He's also starring in an upcoming off-Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheims "Merrily We Roll Along.")

When I finished 'Potter' and was trying to figure out what my career was after that, I always said that I wanted to be the kind of actor that keeps his roles interesting enough that when youve got something coming out, people go, Oh, hes in that, he always makes interesting choices, he said.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Rishi Sunak Attends Prime Minister's Questions

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak leaves 10 Downing Street to attend Prime Minister's Questions at the House of Commons on Nov. 2, 2022 in London, England. Questions. Credit - Dan KitwoodGetty Images

Eight days into the job, Rishi Sunak, the U.K.s third Prime Minister in 16 weeks, has clocked his first major U-turn after announcing he would attend COP27, the U.N.s annual climate change conference.

Downing Street initially said Sunak would not travel to the gathering of representatives from around 200 countries because he was occupied by other pressing domestic commitments. The U.K. had experienced weeks of political and economic instability before Sunak took office on Oct. 25, culminating with his predecessor Liz Trusss resignation, making her the countrys shortest-serving leader in Britains modern history.

COP27 is being held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt from Nov. 6-18, and will focus on climate initiatives in Africa and the Global South.

On Wednesday morning, before leading his second Prime Ministers Questions, Sunak tweeted that he will now attend the conference. His statement read: There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change. There is no energy security without investing in renewables. That is why I will attend @COP27P next week: to deliver on Glasgows legacy of building a secure and sustainable future.

Downing Street previously confirmed that King Charles, a lifelong environmental advocate who delivered a speech at the opening ceremony of COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland last year, would not attend COP27. The decision was reportedly a unanimous agreement between the government and Buckingham Palace. But The Sunday Times reported that the King last month had abandoned plans to attend following objections from Truss while she was Prime Minister. The Queen gave an entirely non-political address at Cop last year it sounds like he is not being given the choice. That is an error of judgment on the part of the government, a source told the newspaper.

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Many took the new monarchs subsequent decision to host a pre-conference reception at Buckingham Palace on Friday for 200 international business leaders, decision makers, and NGOs as evidence the decision was not unanimous. As things stand, there are no plans to reverse the decision for Charles to miss the conference.

Why did Sunak U-turn on his decision to skip COP27?

In his previous role as finance minister, Sunak was not viewed as having a strong commitment to the Net Zero agenda. Sunak dropped COP26 President Alok Sharma from his cabinet. Sunaks record also saw him vote in line with his party against measures to lower carbon emissions, and in his March 2022 spring statement, Sunak ruled out a windfall tax on oil and gas companies.

The U.K has also failed to make $300 million of promised climate finance payments ahead of COP27 to support countries hit hardest by the climate crisis.

On Tuesday, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in an interview with Sky News that he is very happy to accept an invitation to COP27. The comments had piled pressure on Sunak to attend the conference and not be upstaged by Johnson, who led the U.K. when it hosted COP26.

Read More: Britains New Prime Minister Is Already Facing His First Crisis

Ed Miliband, Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero and a former leader of the opposition Labour party, characterized Sunaks decision as a tactical one. He tweeted: The Prime Minister has been shamed into going to COP27 by the torrent of disbelief that he would fail to turn up. He is going to avoid embarrassment, not to provide leadership.

Meanwhile, Sharma said he was delighted by Sunaks reversal, having previously told The Sunday Times that he was pretty disappointed by his decision not to attend. Sharma believes the Prime Ministers attendance will demonstrate the U.K.s continued commitment to Net Zero.

Is the U.K on track to meet its climate goals?

U.K. governments have cut energy emissions by over 70% from 1990 to 2021 by closing coal-fired power stations and investing in renewable energy sources. Additionally, in 2021, Johnson established a target for all of the U.K.s electricity to be generated by carbon-free sources and to install heat pumps in around 90,000 homes so that no new gas boilers need to be sold by 2035. But U.K. Carbon Code of Conduct said the nation is lacking a clear strategy and the government risks not reaching its 2035 target.

During COP26, climate commitments rose from 30% to 90% of the global economy being covered by Net Zero targets. Furthermore, 60 of the 100 companies listed on the U.K.s FTSE 100 stock index representing many of the countrys largest companies, have committed to Net Zero by 2050.

While the U.K. has a number of ambitious targets in place, campaigners say it must now demonstrate its efforts to achieve them. Inger Andersen, under-Secretary-General of the U.N. and Executive Director of the U.N. Environment Programme, told Channel 4 that her advice to Sunak, as a new head of state, is to think beyond his leadership term when taking climate action.

Climate cannot be put on the waiting list, climate action is on the now list and so all leaders need to see how they can lean into this but dont kick that can down the road to a successor or to a second term, Andersen said.
Thailand has designated a mythical creature as its national symbol to promote the nations history, culture and creative economy.

On Tuesday, government spokesperson Ratchada Thanadirek announced that the mythical naga serpent will be used as a symbol of Thai culture following the Cabinets approval of the National Culture Commissions proposal.

Nagas, which have been present in Thai culture, traditions and rituals since ancient times, hail from Indian mythology and often represent water and abundance. The mythical creatures are believed to be protectors of Buddhism, and are often placed on staircase rails that lead to sacred Buddhist establishments.

In Thailand, the story of the mythical serpent is told in various cultural forms from architecture to festivals, including the Illuminated Boat Procession and the Naga Fireball Festival.

More from NextShark: Japanese, Korean and Turkish languages originated from farmers in northeast China, study reveals

The naga is a symbol of Thai culture due to its close relationship with Thai peoples beliefs, Ratchada said. This symbolic announcement can boost the countrys soft power and be used in dramas and film productions to benefit the economy.

According to Ratchada, the Cabinet has chosen the mythical naga serpent as its national symbol because they want to encourage residents to learn more about the nations history and culture. The Cabinet also wishes to inspire citizens to create unique products that will boost Thailands soft power and creative economy.

Thais reportedly believe that there are four royal families of nagas: golden Virupakkhas, green Erapatha, rainbow-color Chabbyaputtas and black Kanhagotamakas. The National Culture Committee worked with the Fine Arts Department to design a prototype of the national naga symbol. Their drawing includes the largest naga based on Thai folklore.

More from NextShark: 'I was stressed at work, so I set the store on fire': Burned-out Japanese part-time worker arrested for arson

According to the Ministry of Culture, there are 157 countries across the world that have announced 229 mythical creatures as their national animals. There are also nations with two creatures, such as China with their dragon and panda or Indonesia with their Garuda and Komodo dragon.

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Featured Image via Chiang Rai Times

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Kang Daniel drops his first full-length album 'The Story'
Nina Rothschild left work late on February 24, 2022. As she walked down the stairs of the New York City subway, she felt someone hit her on the head with what she thought was a baseball bat.

I kept saying, Stop! Stop! which, of course, was completely useless, Rothschild, 58, of Queens, New York, told TODAY. I started calling, Help! Help! and two police officers coming running from the platform below.

The attacker  who hit her about 14 times with a hammer  took her purse. It had her credit cards, phone, insurance card and even some jewelry in it. The police called an ambulance, which rushed her to NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center where doctors reconstructed her shattered skull.

As I like to say, they put Humpty Dumpty back together again, Rothschild said.

Attack and skull surgery

Rothschild never saw the attacker and didnt even learn he wielded a hammer until later. She believes she was conscious throughout the attack.

When I was still on the subway steps where Id been assaulted, I touched my head with the back of my hand and became upset, she said. I dont remember any pain at all.

When the ambulance arrived at the scene, she asked them to take her NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Her primary care doctor was there, so she knew theyd accept her insurance. As help arrived, Rothschild began to calm.

They put the oxygen mask over my nose I just felt a sense of relief, she said. "This was the beginning of a healing recovery."

When Rothschild arrived at the hospital, she underwent an MRI so doctors could better understand her injuries and staff prepared for surgery. Doctors then removed the dirt and debris in the wounds in order to repair her skull.

To recovery from foot drop, vertigo and a broken hand required a lot of physical and occupational therapy. (Courtesy NewYork-Presbyterian Health Matters)

She was quite good actually when I first met her, Dr. Justin Schwarz, a neurosurgeon at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, told TODAY. But she had quite a few complex lacerations right down to her bone and obviously the impact of the hammer had caused her fracture her bone right in the top of her head in multiple locations to the point where they were quite depressed. Schwarz felt stunned by how calm Rothschild was when she arrived. He and his colleagues performed a craniotomy on her to reconstruct her damaged skull.

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What we did is one, removed the pulverized bone. Theres actually a lot of dirt and gravel embedded into the fractured bone in two places in particular, he said. We removed really the piece of bone right where the bone was most injured.

The medical team washed out the areas with an antibiotic solution to reduce the likelihood of infection. Then they needed to put skull back together. Unfortunately, the hammer had damaged some parts of her skull beyond repair.

In her situation, two pieces of titanium mesh (were needed) to really reconstruct the bone and the contour of the bone and then really primarily repair all of the lacerations that she had the best we could, Schwarz said.

While Rothschild experienced some bruising of her brain right under where she had the hardest blow, she experienced very little injury to her brain. She has foot drop  an inability to lift the front of the foot because of muscle weakness or paralysis  caused by the attack and some post-concussive like symptoms. She also sustained a fracture of her left hand, and she experienced benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, which made her feel as if she was spinning, at times.

For several days, Rothschild stayed in the neurological intensive care before moving to a step-down unit. Almost immediately, she started physical therapy, even though her foot drop made walking challenging.

These two physical therapists were trying to encourage me to walk a little bit. I could barely sort of lurch practically wrapped around them from my bed into the hallway, she said. That was sort of staggering and lurching and not being very successful.

But she kept trying. The support from hospital staff, including nurses, doctors, physical and occupation therapists, as well as friends and family helped her as she recovered.

People were just so wonderful, Rothschild said. It was really morale boosting.

Still, some of recovery was a learning experience.

One of the nurses said, Would you like to take a shower? and, of course, I was thrilled, Rothschild recalled. To be assisted in the showering process was not something that had ever happened to be as an adult. So, it is quite a change of mindset because I definitely pride myself on being pretty independent  all of a sudden you need assistance with some of the basic activities of daily living. Its a bit of a shock.

After two weeks of in-patient rehabilitation, Rothschild started outpatient physical, occupational and hand therapy.

I needed to learn how to walk again. I had foot drop, she said. I wasnt able to use that foot for anything."

After weeks of physical therapy, though, Rothschild had a breakthrough.

I started to move my toes. There had been very, very, very minimal ability to do anything and all of a sudden I was gaining strength, she said. I was thrilled.

Surviving a brutal subway attack and recovering has reaffirmed Nina Rothschild's love of life. (Courtesy NewYork-Presbyterian Health Matters)

Riding the subway again

In July, Rothschild finished hand therapy. By early September, she finished physical therapy. She recently returned from a vacation to Sicily and is back to working full time at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. And she still rides the subway.

Im raring to go and really its almost as if there are no traces left of what happened. Although I am reminded of it every day when I cant move my head because my skull feels a little different, she said. I am more concerned when I go up and down subway steps than I was in the past. I often look behind me.

While the attack felt scary and required a lot of recovery, Rothschild hopes it doesnt cause people to think of New York or the subway as dangerous.

Im afraid that for some of them it might just confirm their fears of New York because there was a whole rash of incidents for a while, the most horrifying being when that woman was pushed off a subway platform, she said. You should be aware and alert at all times.

Rothschild doesnt feel like shes experiencing any heightened anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder from her attack. In fact, her experience reaffirmed how much she enjoys life.

I really love life, she said. I want to live every minute to the fullest.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
The woman Miami Township police say was stabbed Tuesday by a man whom they later shot has died.

Police said the man charged officers with a knife before he was shot.

The Hamilton County Coroner's Office identified the woman Wednesday morning as 58-year-old Melissa Amburgy. She died Tuesday at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, the coroner's office said.

Miami Township police said in a news release Tuesday that officers dispatched to Valencia Drive about 1 p.m. found a woman who had been stabbed numerous times.

Police said the suspect, later identified as Joshua Amburgy, fled the scene as officers and detectives converged on the area. Officers received a call that Joshua Amburgy was on the back patio of a residence on Geneva Court, according to Miami Township Police Chief Mike Mills.

Mutual aid police departments showed up to help find the suspect and K-9 units were deployed to search the area. Two calls came in that reported where the subject was, though one that stated he was over a mile away from the crime scene was unfounded, Mills said. The second call identified the correct location.

Officers found Amburgy, who was armed with a knife on Geneva Court, police said. A detective armed with a gun and another officer armed with a taser engaged with him, telling him to drop the weapon.

He reportedly charged at officers. The taser missed him, but the detective fired two shots at the suspect and struck him with a single round on the lower part of his body.

Officers rendered medical aid, applying a tourniquet until medics arrived at the scene.

Amburgy was transported to the University of Cincinnati Hospital Medical where he is in serious condition.

The exact relationship between the victim and Amburgy isn't being released yet, though Mills said they are "close relatives."

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation will conduct an independent investigation of the incident, per Miami Township Police Department protocol.

The Enquirer will update this story as more information becomes available. Photo provided by Enquirer Media partner Fox 19.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Woman stabbed in Miami Township before police shot suspect has died
If voters don't want to vote in-person, they can submit their mail-in or absentee ballots before Election Day to be counted. David Becker/Getty Images

Election Day is Tuesday, November 8.

Many voters choose to cast mail-in or absentee ballots.

Here are the deadlines for mail-in ballots in each state.

The last day to vote in-person is Tuesday, November 8. When casting a vote in the 2022 midterm elections, many voters will chose to submit an absentee ballot. Many states require mail-in ballots be postmarked or received before Election Day.

The deadline to request a mail-in ballot has passed in many states, however there are some states that allow requests within a week of the election.

The earlier you submit your ballot, the better to avoid any possible delays with the Postal Service. You can also drop off your ballot at some in-person polling locations during early voting and on Election Day.

Make sure to check if your state requires the ballot to be postmarked or received by the due date listed. On average, first-class mail takes two to five days to be delivered, so it is best to set aside enough time for your ballot to be received on time for counting.

Some states, including California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington, conduct all-mail elections and voters will be automatically sent their ballots without having to request them.

Election Day, November 8, is the deadline to postmark absentee ballots in all states. California, Kansas, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia will accept ballots  mailed by or on Election Day  up to 10 days after the election.

Mail-in ballots were used in historic numbers during the 2020 election due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some states have "no-excuse voting" where voters can request an absentee ballot without haven't to provide a reason why, but otherwise, voters living outside the county or those who have a disability or an unforeseen illness must submit an excuse for why they cannot make it to the polls.

Under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, members of the military living overseas and other American citizens living abroad can request absentee ballots and vote in federal elections. Mail-in ballot due dates may differ for overseas and military personnel, so be sure to check the last day your state will accept your ballot to make sure your vote counts.

Read the original article on Business Insider
By Ali Kucukgocmen and Pavel Polityuk

ANKARA/KYIV (Reuters) - Russia said on Wednesday it would resume its participation in a deal freeing up grain exports from war-torn Ukraine, reversing a move that world leaders had said threatened to exacerbate global hunger.

Moscow announced the sudden reversal after Turkey and the United Nations helped keep Ukrainian grain flowing for several days without a Russian role in inspections.

The Russian defence ministry justified the change by saying it had received guarantees from Kyiv not to use the Black Sea grain corridor for military operations against Russia. Kyiv did not immediately comment on that, but has denied in the past using the agreed shipping corridor as cover for attacks.

"The Russian Federation considers that the guarantees received at the moment appear sufficient, and resumes the implementation of the agreement," a defence ministry statement said.

The grain deal, originally reached three months ago, had alleviated a global food crisis by lifting a de facto Russian blockade on Ukraine, one of the world's biggest grain suppliers. The prospect that it could fall apart this week had revived fears of global hunger and pushed up prices.

Eight months into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian counterattacks have wrested back territory in the east and south, and Moscow has sought to slow Kyiv's momentum with stepped up missile and drone strikes targeting its energy grid.

On Wednesday, authorities in the Kyiv region began emergency shutdowns of the power generating system after a spike in consumption, the regional administration said.

In a statement, it said the move was necessary to "avoid major accidents with power equipment", after Russian drone and missile attacks that have badly damaged the grid in and around the capital.

GRAIN FLOW 'WILL CONTINUE'

Russia suspended its involvement in the grain deal on Saturday, saying it could not guarantee safety for civilian ships crossing the Black Sea after an attack on its fleet. Ukraine and Western countries called that a false pretext for "blackmail", using threats to the global food supply.

Story continues

But Russia's suspension failed to stop shipments, which resumed on Monday without Russian participation, in a programme that was brokered by Turkey and the United Nations. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had told his Turkish counterpart the deal would resume.

The prices of wheat, soybeans, corn and rapeseed fell sharply on global markets after the announcement, which allayed concerns about the growing unaffordability of food.

Insurance companies had paused issuing new contracts, raising the prospect that shipments could stop within days, industry sources said. But Lloyds of London insurer Ascot told Reuters after Wednesday's resumption announcement that it had resumed writing cover for new shipments.

FUTURE STILL IN DOUBT

"This is clearly a positive development for grain users and consumers which will please the food industry and provide some reassurances as prices should ease," said Mark Lynch, partner at Oghma Partners, a finance advisory firm for consumer industries.

"We do however envisage that some risk premium is likely to be sustained due to the fragile nature of the agreement and the ongoing war in Ukraine," Lynch said.

Andrey Sizov, head of Russia-focused Sovecon agriculture consultancy, said Moscow's decision was "quite an unexpected turnaround" but the deal remained shaky given uncertainty about whether it would be extended past its Nov. 19 expiry.

"...The discussion around this topic will apparently continue," Sizov said.

A European diplomat briefed on the grain talks told Reuters that Russian President Vladimir Putin was likely to use the need for an extension as a way to gain leverage and dominate the Nov. 13-16 G20 summit in Indonesia.

Putin said on Wednesday that Russia reserved the right to withdraw from the grain pact if Ukraine violated its guarantees. But, in a nod to Turkey's influence, as well as what he called its "neutrality" in Russia's conflict with Ukraine, Putin said that if Moscow did pull out it would not impede grain supplies from Ukraine to Turkey.

A senior Ukrainian official who declined to be identified told Reuters that Moscow's decision was mainly the result of Turkish pressure on Russia.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Moscow had miscalculated. "When you want to play blackmail, it is important not to outplay yourself," he said.

The United Nations said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "warmly welcomes" the deal and would continue working towards its renewal.

FOOD SHORTAGES

The Russian blockade of Ukrainian exports through the Black Sea since its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 has worsened food shortages and a cost of living crisis in many countries.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy credited Turkey and the United Nations for making it possible for ships to continue moving out of Ukrainian ports with cargoes.

"But a reliable and long-term defence is needed for the grain corridor," Zelenskiy said in a video address on Tuesday night. "At issue here clearly are the lives of tens of millions of people."

The grains deal aimed to help avert famine in poorer countries by injecting more wheat, sunflower oil and fertilizer into world markets.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlu Cavusoglu said earlier Russia was concerned about its fertilizer and grain exports, echoing Russian officials in saying ships carrying them could not dock even though the exports were not included in Western sanctions.

There was no mention of any concessions on those issues in the Russian statement on the resumption, but the U.N. statement said Guterres would work to get those obstacles removed.

(Additional reporting by Jonathan Spicer and Ezgi Erkoyun in Ankara, other Reuters bureaux; writing by Philippa Fletcher and Mark Heinrich; editing by Angus MacSwan, William Maclean and Alex Richardson)
Atlanta police believe metal detectors and more security are helping curb crime at a popular shopping destination.

There were no shootings at Lenox Square in the past 10 months.

Channel 2s Audrey Washington was in Buckhead where she spoke with police who told her theyre expecting large crowds at Lenox Square this holiday season. Which is why they want to keep security measures in place and firearms out of Lenox Square.

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

They walk around with the dogs. Standing guard, shopper Alexis McKinney.

McKinney noticed the changes as soon as she and her daughter Aniya walked inside Lenox Square.

Atlanta police confirmed zero shootings at the shopping destination over the past 10 months.

Thats a big change from 2020 and 2021 when police responded to a number of shootings at Lenox Square, some deadly.

So whats different?

Whats working?

Well, on Wednesday, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said the Connect Atlanta platform helps the department keep an eye on Lenox Square.

It allows us to have access to their cameras. To patrol virtually, Schierbaum said.

TRENDING STORIES:

In 2021, Channel 2 Action News got an exclusive look at the new technology and safety measures in place at Lenox Square.

Those measures included the following:

More security cameras.

K-9 units that can sniff out gun residue.

Metal detectors that can specifically spot guns and where theyre located on a person.

Bad guys should recognize, dont come to Lenox and break the law, were watching you, we see you, John Rulli, Chief Administrative Officer at Simon Properties Group said.

We checked some of the security measures at other metro Atlanta malls:

Both Cumberland and Perimeter malls have firearm detecting K-9 units.

Story continues

In addition to regular security, the mall at Stonecrest in DeKalb County also has security robots.

And as we get closer to the holiday shopping season, Atlanta police said shoppers should see more uniformed officers here at Lenox Square.

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IN OTHER NEWS:
Nelson County Public Schools is set to go receive $790,000 in federal funding for the purchase of two electric school buses, part of money awarded through the Environmental Protection Agency. U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, D-Va., on Oct. 26 announced $30.8 million in federal funding to help Virginia schools buy 81 clean and zero-emission school buses that will accelerate the transition to zero-emissions vehicles and produce cleaner air in communities across the state. The funding was made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which Warner and Kaine helped pass last year.

Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, school districts in Virginia are set to receive millions in funding for zero-emission and low-emission school buses that will help provide students with safe and reliable transportation to and from school, Warner said in a news release. As we continue to look for ways to reduce pollution and combat climate change, I am glad to see this federal funding directed towards replacing old school buses with 21st century, eco-friendly equipment.

Kaine said Virginia students deserve buses that wont accelerate climate change and pollute the air in their communities.

Im glad to see Virginia is receiving federal funding so that school districts can purchase more energy efficient school buses, Kaine said.

The Clean School Bus Program will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save money for school districts, and produce cleaner air, according to the release.

Diesel air pollution is linked to asthma and other conditions that harm students health and cause them to miss school, particularly in communities of color and Tribal communities, the release said. Phasing out these diesel engines will ensure cleaner air for students, bus drivers, and school staff working near the bus loading areas, as well as the communities through which the buses drive each day.
A Charlottesville company is seeking a special exception permit from Amherst County officials to operate a utility-scale solar generation facility on a 141-acre tract off Izaak Walton Road.

The Amherst County Planning Commission on Oct. 25 unanimously recommended approval of the permit to the board of supervisors. The facility shall not exceed 10 megawatts on the parcel zoned Limited Residential (R-1), that is currently vacant with much of the timber removed.

About 90 to 95 acres of the site roughly seven miles south of the Town of Amherst is included in the proposed development area with 60 acres devoted to solar arrays and 30 to 35 acres contributed to a fenced-in facility, according to county documents.

Daniel Band, project developer with the applicant, Sun Tribe Development, LLC, said the facility will produce enough electricity for 2,500 homes on an annual basis with about a 30-year lifespan.

The project produces electricity without producing noise or emissions during operations, Band said. Theres no permanent on-site lighting. There is minimal traffic. This will provide substantial tax revenue to the county.

The company estimates about $563,000 over the lifetime of the project, which is called the Partridge Creek Solar Project, including $212,000 in projected machinery and tools tax and $350,000 forecasted in real property taxes, he said.

There will be substantial indirect revenue through jobs to build it, Band said. There are a lot of spillover effects to local businesses. Unlike other potential development on site, this use doesnt draw much on county services or infrastructure.

The project will use panels electronically connected and mounted on racking equipment from metal framing with racks oriented in rows along a north-south axis, according to county documents. The rows of panels will use motors to rotate east to west following the suns path each day.

The solar operation will interconnect to Appalachian Power Companys distribution system via attachment facilities located at the northwest of the site, according to the documents. Setbacks of at least 150 feet or more are proposed from adjacent property lines to panel arrays to be sensitive to neighboring properties.

Band said the company has taken steps to ensure the solar operation is not impactful to neighboring properties.

We worked on making this a community-focused design, making those setbacks larger than generally needed, Band told the commission. We also prioritized wildlife protection. There are additional safeguards. So there are quite a few hoops that we jump through in terms of this to make sure what we are building is good for the environment and good for the neighbors.

Construction is estimated at a four to six-month period, he said. Once established, the facility will be monitored remotely 24 hours a day, seven days a week. At the time Partridge Creek Solar Project permanently ceases operations, the company has a decommissioning plan process in place to safely disconnect the system and remove the components.

Crystal Burks, who is buying property adjoining the project, said during a public hearing she favors a solar operation over other potential land uses such as a housing development.

Burks Road is quiet, not a lot of people, and Id like to keep it that way, she said.

Billy Mays, a county resident, said he thinks the solar facility is a great idea.

Its a clean, natural resource, Mays said. The direction the world is going into now, it just makes sense to go solar. Several homes in our neighborhood have solar panels on the roof. I dont think you can go wrong with it. I think its a good opportunity.

Zkyler Zunk, co-founder and CEO of Energy Right, a nonprofit he said serves as a conservative voice in clean energy discussions, also spoke in favor during the hearing.

We want these projects to be good neighbors, Zunk said. We want to do right by rural Virginia. If we dont do these right, if we arent good neighbors, communities like Amherst are going to stop permitting them. We think they are a good opportunity, a good economic driver for the areas they are sited in.

Zunk said such solar operations should be well buffered with appropriate setbacks for neighbors.

We put solar panels on our homes and businesses all the time and with proper prep work and proper application, work going into these projects, they can be a safe land use, Znk said. We think that developing clean power in our communities helps our energy security and helps our energy independence so were not relying on anyone else when we want to turn on the lights.

In other news:

Commissioner member Leslie Gamble asked Interim County Administrator Jeremy Bryant why the property known as the former Scottish Inn motel on U.S. 29 Business in Madison Heights, in the vicinity of the Dillard Road intersection, wasnt completely demolished.

Thats such a horrible blight down there, Gamble said. At one point do we say enough is enough and they have to tear it all down?

Bryant said a legal agreement the county outlined with the owner a few years ago, which resulted in much of the site being torn down after numerous code issues arose, indicates a Howard Johnsons will be coming to the lot.

And their model was to renovate that building, Bryant said, referring to the structure still on site. So they are going to build a new freestanding, two-story hotel with that section. The owner asked it to be left if they tore down the other part.

Bryant said as long as the remaining structure is safe it is in compliance with county building code. He told the commission hes heard multiple times a site plan for the new hotel may soon be forthcoming.

Bryant recently was promoted to the interim county administrator and serves as the director of community development. He informed the commission that Tyler Creasy, a county planner, and Nate Young, who heads building and inspections, will serve as co-directors of community development.
Lynchburg City Council held the first discussion on its 2023 legislative agenda draft on Tuesday, examining the citys priorities for the upcoming years Virginia General Assembly session.

Each year, city staff and council collaborate for a document that lays out the most important legislative issues for the locality, and then holds a legislative dinner with the local state delegation, passing off the items to them to potentially carry in the General Assembly.

The Virginia General Assembly opens its 2023 legislative session on Wednesday, Jan. 11.

In its 2022 legislative agenda, the city prioritized the police departments role in mental health, hoping to bring legislation to revise the states emergency custody order (ECO) and temporary detention order (TDO) legislation.

One year later, the same issue tops the 2023 legislative agenda draft, as the police department still is combatting the toll that ECOs and TDOs take on the departments resources.

With these orders in place, police officers are required to stay with people who are in need of mental health treatment for extended periods of time.

The goal of this legislation is to basically force the state to put some type of structure in place that would allow someone other than a sworn law enforcement officer to sit with that patient while they are under an ECO, Police Chief Ryan Zuidema said during Tuesdays work session, as well as sit with that patient to transport them to, you know, various localities around the state for mental health treatment.

The police chief added since 2016, the department has spent very conservatively, over $2 million of our taxpayers money to fund officers salaries to sit with mental health patients.

Zuidema said the commonwealths system needs a massive overhaul, in his opinion, and said, Were not talking about just changing slightly. Were talking about investing and having the infrastructure in place to do what needs to be done.

Our mental health system is broken, and when I say broken, I mean tragically broken, the police chief later added.

Zuidema said in the past, state Sen. Steve Newman, R-Lynchburg, has put forward bills that have increased funding for localities, and while Zuidema said thats a good thing, he said very honestly, that funding is a Band-Aid on an arterial bleed.

Ward III Councilman Jeff Helgeson weighed in on the issue, saying previous government solutions are whats causing todays issues.

If you bring someone to the Blue Ridge Jail Authority, you dont sit there with them all day. You transfer them. So the thing needs to be the same. I think what weve done is make things much too bureaucratic, he said.

Helgeson later said, It shouldnt be just overhauling with just another huge price tag of a solution; it just needs to go back to some common sense.

The city also prioritized two other issues in its legislative agenda draft  911 reclassification and swatting.

According to Benda, 911 reclassification would allow public safety communications specialists to be classified as safety-first responders within the Virginia retirement benefits for hazardous duty service.

With 14 current vacancies in the emergency operations center, Benda said, this reclassification would make it easier to recruit and retain qualified public safety communicators for different answering points across the city.

Its a hard job, Benda said. Three different shifts, one of which is at midnight. Youre receiving phone calls from people in distress and so it can be one of those positions or jobs that is tough. So were trying to think about all the ways we can make it as attractive as possible.

Swatting, the other key priority in the agenda, is the act of making a hoax communication to 911, or even to a private citizen who then communicates the false information to 911, regarding a threat to human life with the intent to draw law enforcement response, which could potentially involve a SWAT team  hence the name.

Zuidema said an example of this was a recent threat at E.C. Glass High School that ended up being a hoax.

The chief said law enforcement departments across the commonwealth are experiencing this issue and hope to solidify this law a little bit more and give some additional options for prosecution to law enforcement in the event of a swatting attempt.

The legislative agenda advocates for several additional items and will be discussed more in depth during councils legislative dinner. Items can be changed on the list at the discretion of council.

Ward IV Councilman Chris Faraldi advocated for the inclusion of more funding for local commonwealths attorney offices from the state, saying thats a need weve been informed of to a very fine point, as well as providing resources that will keep LPD officers from having to try some misdemeanor cases on their own.

Recently, Lynchburgs Commonwealth Attorney Bethany Harrison announced due to staffing constraints and high caseloads, her office no longer would be involved in the prosecution of some standalone misdemeanors, leaving the prosecution to LPD officers.

Faraldi similarly hopes they can add language asking for increased teacher salaries without the need for a local match.

Lynchburg residents also have the opportunity to make their voices heard in the legislative agenda, as its open for public comment on the homepage citys website at lynchburgva.gov.

Comments should be sent no later than 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 23 to Metchi Braun at metchi.braun@lynchburgva.gov or by calling (434) 455-3984.

Council will hold a final vote on the agenda during its Dec. 13 regular meeting.
North Korea fired at least 23 missiles on Wednesday. It is extremely rare for the country to launch more than 20 missiles in a single day.

The South Korean military said the North fired at least 17 short-range ballistic and other missiles from several sites in the morning. It added that the North also launched six surface-to-air and other missiles in the afternoon. The military said those missiles flew toward the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea.

The military said one of the three short-range ballistic missiles launched in or around Wonsan in the east between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. crossed a maritime boundary called the Northern Limit Line or NLL, which was set by UN forces. It added the missile fell in international waters 167 kilometers northwest of Ulleungdo Island.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff denounced North Korea, saying it is the first time that a North Korean missile has crossed the NLL and fallen near the country's territorial waters since the division of the two Koreas.

An air raid alert was issued for the island. South Korean media report that it is the first such alert in the country in six years and nine months. ...continue reading
, Nov 03 ( NHK ) - A district court has ordered the Yamaguchi prefectural government to urge the governor to pay back 20.9 million yen, or about 142,000 dollars, that it spent to buy a luxury car for official use.

A resident, who is a former prefectural government employee, filed a lawsuit over the prefecture's purchase of a Toyota Century as its official car in 2020.

The plaintiff said the car purchase is a deviation from the governor's authority and an illegal use of public funds.

The prefectural government said it was a reasonable decision as the car is used to carry VIPs.

On Wednesday, Presiding Judge Yamaguchi Noriyuki of the Yamaguchi District Court noted there are not many prefectures that own a Century as their guest car. He said the necessity of buying a new car and the model to be purchased should be taken into account from the viewpoint of cutting spending. He said he has no choice but to say such a consideration was significantly insufficient. ...continue reading
The number of COVID-19 cases jumped 25% in Nebraska last week, a sign that the virus may be embarking on another winter surge.

Nebraska recorded 1,405 new cases  up from 1,127 the prior week  marking the second straight weekly increase, according to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The percentage increase in cases for the week was the 10th highest in the country, though Nebraskas overall virus levels are about the same as the U.S. average.

Six counties in Nebraska are recording high levels of virus transmission, five of them in the states Panhandle.

Of the 15 wastewater surveillance sites across the state, most of those for which recent data was available showed an increase in virus present over the past 15 days, including the two in Omaha and Lincoln. Because people infected with the virus shed it in their stool, wastewater can provide another indicator of infection trends.

Thats important at a time when fewer people are testing for COVID and more of those who are testing are using at-home tests that arent included in official case counts.

The virus in the previous two years of the pandemic surged during winter months. It was a year ago this week that the omicron surge first took hold in Nebraska. Over the next four months, nearly 1 in 10 Nebraskans would contract the virus.

Currently gaining ground in the U.S. are two descendants of the omicron subvariant BA.5, which remains dominant. However, by late last week, BQ.1.1 and BQ.1 made up an estimated 13% and 14% of positive virus samples that had been genomically sequenced.

The number of U.S. cases also rose last week, with the 2% increase ending three months of weekly declines. Deaths also were up, with the virus killing nearly 400 people a day.

An average of 138 Nebraskans were hospitalized with the virus last week, up slightly from the prior week.

Health officials are urging people to get vaccinated and, if vaccinated, boosted with the new shot designed to cover BA.5. Theyre also encouraging Nebraskans to get flu shots. Influenza has begun to tick up in the state, although respiratory syncytial virus cases appear to be dropping somewhat.

Nebraska added four COVID deaths last week, increasing the toll of confirmed or probable deaths in the pandemic to 4,550. Almost 534,000 total cases have been reported.
State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald recently awarded a $10,000 College Savings Iowa contribution to the Smith family of Council Bluffs.

Two-year-old Oliver was randomly drawn as the winner of the 2022 September College Savings Month Giveaway.

College Savings Iowa is all about helping families save for higher education, Fitzgerald said in a press release. Through giveaways such as these, we emphasize the importance of investing in our youth and their future. College Savings Iowa is a great way to help you do that.

College Savings Iowa joined other 529 plans in September to celebrate College Savings Month, which is a national campaign designed to inform family and friends about the importance of saving for higher education. As part of the College Savings Month festivities, College Savings Iowa hosted a giveaway in which one participant was eligible to win a $10,000 College Savings Iowa.

The Smith family received their College Savings Iowa contribution during a check presentation with Treasurer Fitzgerald on Oct. 19 at Iowa Western Community College. Nick, the winning participant, was accompanied by his wife, Sloane, and two their sons, Oliver and Tate.

As educators, my wife and I will always stress the importance of education to our children, Nick Smith said. We are extremely grateful for this gift that will help open more opportunities for Olivers future. We appreciate how easy the College Savings Iowa 529 plan has been to set up and contribute to so we can help relieve some of the financial burden higher education can pose for our children, nieces and nephews.

College Savings Iowa is a tax-advantaged way for families to save for education-related expenses. Earnings in an account grow deferred from state and federal taxes, and qualified withdrawals are tax free. If a participant is an Iowa taxpayer, they can also deduct up to $3,522 per beneficiary account from their 2022 state income taxes.
UPDATE: Service was restored shortly after 3:30 p.m.

911 communications officials in Pottawattamie County have discovered a 911 service outage impacting Verizon Wireless customers throughout the county.

All Verizon Wireless customers living or working in Pottawattamie County should call 712-328-5737 and press Option 1 for access to emergency services OR call 911 from another non-Verizon phone number. This policy will be in effect until normal service is restored.

There is no indication as to the cause or potential duration of the outage.

These types of disruptions are planned for, and the Pottawattamie County Sheriffs Office 911 Communications Center has excellent redundancy and emergency procedures in place for situations just like this, Doug Reed, Emergency Management Director, said in a press release.

Verizon customers in Pottawattamie County should monitor local media outlets and Emergency Managements Facebook and Twitter pages for updates. Also, residents should sign up for Alert Iowa emergency notifications at pcema-ia.org.

The first alert we send is through Alert Iowa, Reed said. The system was used this morning for the 911 outage and distributed over 35,000 alerts by multiple methods (voice, email, text, social media).

The system isnt just for weather notifications. Real-life, everyday emergency notifications are sent over this system. We cant inform you if we cant contact you, so sign up today to help keep yourself, your family and your coworkers safe, he said.
Sixteen German high school students are to board flights home Wednesday after spending two weeks attending Rock Island High School.

Rocky is one of two local high schools, along with Bettendorf, to offer the German-American Partnership Program (GAPP). Due to COVID-19, this is the school's first GAPP exchange group since 2018.

Seven Rocky students visited Germany in June, staying in Rottenburg am Neckar. They stay with a host family who has a child in GAPP, and vice-versa for the German group while in Rock Island.

The idea of GAPP is to open the borders between two countries and to try and establish friendships and connections between the two different countries, which I think is very necessary in our times, said Christiana Rude, the German students GAPP coordinator.

Romy Neu, a junior at St. Meinrad Gymnasium school in Rottenburg, was excited to see the students she met over the summer again.

I love meeting Americans. They are always so friendly, she said. I was excited to stay with my host family and live that American lifestyle, because everything is super different  the people, the schools. Here, I think everything is more relaxed.

She and her peers were shocked, she said, to see students using their cellphones at school  something that's not allowed at her school. One classmate, junior Luis Hornung, was surprised by the short time Rocky students have to travel between classes.

I always feel a bit stressed, because the building is so big, and all the stairs look the same, so I always have to look to my exchange student and go with them, he said. In Germany, we have double lessons, then a 20-minute break. Here, the lunch break is only 30 minutes, and in Germany we have an hour and 30 minutes.

Hornung also said German students are allowed to leave school for lunch, contrary to Rocky's lunch protocol.

Junior Lotta Grathwol particularly noticed the differences in scenery and infrastructure here compared to Germany.

Everything is bigger, she said, listing cars, streets and fields as examples. Houses are very far apart, which you dont see in Germany. I really like the cities. I think theyre really pretty, and I really like the rivers. I love the views when you drive and can see the rivers.

Grathwol admitted the Quad-Cities confuses her, however, because she never knows which city shes in. She also found pre-tax pricing and tips confusing.

Hornung thought the differences in public transportation were particularly noticeable.

Theres a lot more public transportation in Germany. Here, not many people use the bus, he said. So I thought it was very cool that our exchange students could drive cars.

Rocky senior Lucas Hansen also saw these differences from his experience in Germany.

I feel like theres a little more to do in Germany, because everything is so close together, and we could just take the bus or train, he said. The cities had a lot more history, and just a lot of cool things you wouldn't see here.

Another Rocky student, sophomore Jake Osborn, agrees.

I feel like its a lot cooler for us to go there. But its also very cool for them to come here, and for us to give them the same experience they gave us hosting, he said. I was pretty excited, but nervous at the same time to host people.

Nick Eli, German teacher and Rockys GAPP coordinator, said schools become involved with GAPP by requesting a partner school through the programs website. GAPP will then pair the interested school with a foreign counterpart that is similar in its surrounding areas population.

GAPP has a handbook for teachers who are interested in becoming coordinators. The GAPP coordinator, i.e. German teacher, is responsible for organizing and planning the school groups' exchange trip to Germany, and the partner schools visit from Germany, he said. It is an incredible amount of work that begins in the fall of the year before traveling and continues until the end of the visit by the German group.

Since 2004, Rocky students in GAPP visit Germany in the summer of even years, then host German students the following fall.

We participate in GAPP for various reasons. First and foremost, it provides an opportunity for our students to experience a two-way home-stay exchange, Eli said. Another reason is that GAPP provides our group with grant money to cover some travel costs and other items, like insurance. GAPP also requires our students to visit places and learn about things that connect with our programs topic, which is to explore the patterns of settlement in each area.

For example, Rocky students learned about Rottenburg's history as a Roman settlement, the lifestyle of monks in a nearby abbey and prehistoric settlements on Lake Constance, where Germany, Switzerland and Austria meet.

The cross-cultural experiences our students have help open their minds to new perspectives, different ways of living and how to find common ground in spite of these differences. I think that, at a high school level, is extremely important to have, Eli said. These opportunities prepare them to be world citizens when they become adults.

Hansen describes his GAPP experience as eye opening.

My biggest takeaway is just how different people live compared to us. I had never been outside of the country before, so seeing a different type of culture and area was big for me, he said.

Neu said her U.S. trip marks the longest shes been away from home. But because of her GAPP experience, she isnt homesick.

I think Ive learned to be more open and just not be scared to ask questions when I dont understand things or topics being discussed, and I think we can learn a lot, Neu said. Meeting new people is always a nice experience, and you learn more about yourself as well.

The German groups topic was "meeting America in the past and present." Aligning with this subject, the group began their trip in Washington D.C. Following the steps of former president Abraham Lincoln, the group also made stops in Springfield and New Salem, Illinois.

Students had to prepare for that by doing research work on their own and presenting it to the group, Rude said. We also did a tour of the Amish in Kalona, Iowa. So they had to prepare about immigration, like what kind of people came here and for what reason.

Neu particularly enjoyed meeting Amish, saying, That was super interesting, because its just a whole new culture and we got to ask them a lot of questions about how they live. We also visited Bishop Hill and learned more about American history. We have to learn about that in school, so it was cool to see some of those things in museums.

Something hes only previously seen in movies or video games, Hornung enjoyed getting a glimpse of the real country in Iowa on their trip to Kelona. But he was also wowed by some of the Midwests urban hubs, namely Chicago.

Ive never seen such huge skyscrapers. In Germany, many of our downtown areas are very old, so there arent many big buildings or skyscrapers, so that was very interesting to me, Hornung said. I took so many photos.

Like Neu, Grathwol enjoyed broadening her knowledge through GAPP field trips.

I honestly really liked learning more about American history; I knew some things, but others were new to me or I didnt know much about, she said. That was really cool to me, because when youre in Germany learning about American history, its different from actually being and learning it here.
One person was killed and another was seriously injured early Tuesday in a one-vehicle rollover crash on Nebraska 370 in Bellevue.

A vehicle that was eastbound on the highway crossed into the median about 4 a.m. and rolled several times, according to a Bellevue police spokesman. One person was ejected from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene.
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The World Bank team in charge of the supervision mission of the Blue Economy Program, conducted jointly with the Moroccan Ministry of Economy and Finance October 17 to 26, congratulated various partners and the program management unit (PMU) for all the work accomplished.

At the end of the supervision mission, the World Bank team congratulated the various partners and the PMU for all the work done since the beginning of this program and issued recommendations on future activities to come, said the Ministry and the WB in a joint statement.

Morocco and the WB signed in June this year a loan agreement of $350 million destined for the blue economy program, which aims to unlock the economic potential of this new engine of growth through sustainable development of marine and coastal resources and improved institutional coordination vertically and horizontally, within and between the sectors concerned, said the statement.

The program is based on three pillars namely, national food security, economic development and job creation, and the protection and use of natural resources.

The project, led by the Ministry of Economy and Finance through the program management unit, coordinates eight implementing entities.

These are the Department of Maritime Fishing (DPM), the Moroccan Society of Tourism Engineering (SMIT), the Department of Sustainable Development (DDD), the Moroccan National Office of Tourism (ONMT), the National Agency for Water and Forests (ANEF), the Directorate of Ports and Public Maritime Domain (DPDPM), the National Agency for the Development of Aquaculture (ANDA) and the National Institute of Fisheries Research (INRH).
Ethiopia has awarded a Pan-African prize to late King Hassan II of Morocco in recognition of his contributions to the establishment of the African Union and his dedication to the emancipation of Africa and to Pan-Africanism.

Ethiopias Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed presented the award to the speaker of the Moroccan House of Representative on Tuesday in a ceremony held in Addis Ababa, on the occasion of the first African Youth Summit held from October 29 to November 1 in the Ethiopian capital.

Through this award, Ethiopia pays tribute to the late King for his dedication and contribution to the emancipation of Africa and to Pan-Africanism, sources of inspiration for the young generations for the renewal of African Leadership.

Late King Hassan II was honored with an exceptional recognition as a defender of the unity of Africa and the prosperity of the continent in a presentation before the Ethiopian Prime Minister, former African Heads of State, members of the government, the diplomatic corps accredited in Addis Ababa and high-level personalities.

The actions of the late Moroccan King in the fight against colonialism, in the establishment of peace, development and prosperity of Africa and his defense of Africas noble causes were highlighted during this ceremony.

In addition to the late Moroccan sovereign, the Ethiopian PM presented awards to the families of other late leaders, Founding Fathers of the Organization of African Unity and Pan-Africanism.

These include Ethiopias Emperor Haile Selassie I, Zambias Kenneth Kaunda, Tanzanias Julius Nyerere, Zimbabwes Robert Mugabe, Guineas Ahmed Sekou Toure, and Malis Modibo Keita. Other awards went to Cote dIvoires Felix Houphouet Boigny and Senegals Leopold Sedar Senghor.

The fact that this prize was awarded on the occasion of the organization by Ethiopia of the first African Youth Summit attended by 54 African countries recognized by the UN, denotes a great change and recognition of the efforts of the Kingdom of Morocco, said the Speaker of the House of Representatives, in a statement to the press after the ceremony.

This Prize was decided by the Ethiopian Prime Minister in recognition of the efforts undertaken by African kings and leaders, he stressed, noting that the late Hassan II is the only North African Head of State who has been honored by Ethiopia as the founder of the pan-African organization and a leader who has contributed greatly to resolving several disputes and supporting the liberation of African peoples from the yoke of colonialism.

The four-day African Youth Summit brought together youth from across Africa, who debated ways of strengthening pan-Africanist visions and promoting the best interests of the continent.

African youth are the ones who engineer what Africa could become by realizing the continents potential and looking beyond where it is now, said the Ethiopian PM on Twitter.

He highlighted the leaderships of pioneers from the past, saying that they have exemplified Pan-Africanism and laid the groundwork for it.

Highlighting Africas great potential, the Ethiopian Prime Minister entrusted African young leaders with bringing Africas hope to fruition.
Equatorial Guinea authorities have launched a nationwide campaign to expel illegal migrants ahead of November 20 general elections, Anadolu news agency has learned.

In accordance with the directives of the government of Equatorial Guinea, the security forces () have launched since October 20, vast operations of control and expulsion of foreigners in irregular situation, Toundi Richard, Consul of Cameroon in Malabo to his countrymen in a statement seen by the Turkish news agency.

On Monday, 52 Cameroonians voluntarily left Bata in Equatorial Guinea and landed at Douala International Airport. They were welcomed by the authorities of the city, Governor of the Littoral region, Samuel Dieudonne Ivaha Diboua told the agency.

One of the returnees from Malabo, Timbang Nestor, indicated that they preferred to return to Cameroon than to live the ordeal in Guinea. For several days now, the police have been hunting down foreigners in this country. This has always been the case, even if this time Malabo makes us understand that it is because of the elections scheduled for November 20, he stressed.

Guinea authorities reportedly last week decided to close borders from October 31st until after Nov. 20 general elections in view of ensuring that the electoral process goes on smoothly.

The country will hold presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections in mid-November, and this decision to close the borders, which will be reopened after the electoral confrontations, is taken to ensure the security of all candidates until voting day, the countrys broadcasting corporation RTVGE said in a statement.

London-based human rights organization Amnesty International in April indicated that Guinea authorities launched a nationwide campaign last year to flash out illegal migrants. The campaign, the organization said took place between October 31 and early December and targeted cities such as Malabo, Bata, Mongomo and Ebibeyin.

Over 5,000 people mainly from Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal, Cote dIvoire, Mali, Chad, Central African Republic, were detained over lack of stay permit. The arrestees according to the rights group also indicated they were victims of maltreatment and beatings.
Benins Central Office of Protection of Minors has launched an investigation against Nougbognon Hyppolite Hazounme, a lawmaker of Union Progressite Le Renouveau; a party ally of President Patrice Talon, reports say.

The office did not reveal the rationale behind the probe but Hazounme has been accused by his secretary of alleged rape.

The lawmaker reportedly tried to bride his victim and her husband in view of suffocating the affair.

An audio tape that local media Banouto accessed of a mediator who is also the lawmaker collaborator can be heard urging the victim who has not been named, to accept a deal in view of saving the image of parliament members and his family.

Moise Yehouenou, a municipal councilor, aka Delta Force, has been also summoned by the police for interrogation, local media 24 Au Benin reports.
Morocco on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Capgemini Engineering, a global leader in consulting, digital transformation, technology and engineering services.

The MoU provides for the creation of 1,500 jobs in the fields of engineering by 2026.

The agreement is set to create 1,500 additional jobs in the engineering sector by 2026, Moroccos Minister of Industry and Trade Ryad Mezzour, who initialed the deal on the part of Morocco, said in a statement.

The investment embodies the growing confidence in Moroccan skills and confirms the attractiveness of the Kingdom as a technological and engineering destination of choice for outsourcing, Mezzour added.

The other signatory of the MoU, Managing Director at Capgemini Engineering Morocco Idriss Elasri indicated that the agreement is set to support the strong growth of the companys engineering activities in Morocco.

Elasri added that the agreement would create 1,500 additional jobs in Capgemini Engineerings cutting-edge fields, by preparing talents and mobilizing the ecosystem.

He noted that Capgemini Engineering group is the first player in the technology and Information Technology sector in the North African country, comprising 5,300 talents.

The MoU aims to put in place the conditions necessary for the training of talent in order to continue to develop this profession and offer all the assets that can position Morocco as a technology destination, he added.

The company created 900 job opportunities in Morocco this year, Elasri added, stressing that Capgemini Engineering is the largest recruiter of engineers and scientists in the North African country.

General Manager of Capgeminis Engeneering Centers, Celia Reis, noted that the MoU reflects the commitment to continue working together for the future, calling on all actors to mobilize together to go faster and attract more investors in this area.

Founded in 1982 by Frenchmen Alexis Kniazeff and Hubert Martigny, Capgemini Engineering is a global leader in engineering and Research and Development (R&D) services. Previously known as Altran, the company was rebranded in 2019 to take on the parent companys name, Capgemini.
LEXINGTON  A 27-year-old Kearney man was arrested after allegedly making threats against the Nebraska State Patrol office in Lexington.

According to a State Patrol press release, Clifton Dedrick was arrested at the Comfort Inn in Lexington about 2:50 a.m. Wednesday after evacuating an adjacent room. NSP attempted to contact Dedrick several times before breaching the room. Dedrick surrendered without incident, the patrol said, but a handgun was found in the room.

Dedrick is lodged in Dawson County Jail for outstanding warrants and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.

The incident began Tuesday evening when the NSP received information from the Lexington Police Department that a man with outstanding warrants who was known to be armed was missing. The Kearney Police Department told NSP that the same person had made a threat against the patrol office in Lexington, the release said.

A second incident early Wednesday in Jefferson County led to the arrest of Christopher Drees, 51, after a standoff at a residence on Nebraska Highway 4 near Daykin.

Drees allegedly fired a weapon outside the house. His parents, who also live there, the patrol said, fled and reported the incident to the Jefferson County Sheriffs Office.

The patrols SWAT Team was called to the scene and breached the home about 4:50 a.m. Drees was taken into custody without further incident, the release said.
NEUILLY-SUR-SEINE, France, November 02, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News:

M6 Group (Paris:MMT) has entered into exclusive negotiations with the company Passat S.A., with a view to the sale of its subsidiary Best of TV, which is 51% owned.

Best of TV (importer / wholesaler) offers, for mass retail, various niche products including some that are exclusive to home shopping. They are generally accompanied in store by modern and attractive displays with a demo vide.

Passat S.A. and Best of TV evolve in the same competitive universe and offer different and complementary ranges to their customers. This complementarity of offer, as well as the sharing of common values, will accelerate the development of their business.

This project has the support of the management of Best of TV.

Completion of the transaction remains subject to finalisation of the negotiations and to consultation with employee representative bodies.

With this disposal, M6 is continuing the turnover of its diversification portfolio whose development is notably based on the strength of the Groups TV channels.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005482/en/

Contacts

INVESTOR RELATIONS

Guillaume Couturie +33 (0)1 41 92 28 03 / guillaume.couturie@m6.fr

PRESS

Paul Mennesson +33 (0)1 41 92 61 36 / paul.mennesson@m6.fr
As young adults and college students continue to pack out the traditional bars in downtown Auburn, one Alabama entrepreneur has seen an opportunity to try something a little different. Hunter Wiggins is the owner of Session, a cocktail lounge in Tuscaloosa with a deliberately limited seating capacity. His concept has served a mix of classic and modern classic cocktails since 2019. Now Wiggins is getting ready to open his second Session location in Auburn, in December.

Just dont call Session a bar, though.

Its something that Ive struggled with, and weve been trying to get away from that terminology bar, because were not a bar, Wiggins said. When you hear bar youre really thinking of plastic shot cups and Miller Light and were definitely more of a higher end concept.

The concept Wiggins has built is simple. He says Session uses a five-step process to take care of customers: Greeting, seating, serving, making, and thanking.

To begin, Session customers are greeted at the door, and no one is allowed in unless there is room for them to be seated.

Its the thing that people love about us, and its the thing that makes people the most mad, he said. On Friday and Saturday nights to preserve the experience we make sure that if youre sitting at the bar, no one is going to order a drink standing over you.

When customers are seated, whether at the bar or at a booth, a server takes their order. Wiggins said he wants to provide his customers with VIP hospitality.

We make your drink free of defect, always with consistency and in a timely manner and then we thank you graciously for coming in when you when you leave the door, Wiggins said. Keep it simple, nothing crazy, you know?

Wiggins said his entire staff is trained and held accountable to these standards.

We want to be the nicest place in town, he said, but we also want to be a place that is fun and casual enough that if you just want to go have a drink after work, were also your go to spot.

The Tuscaloosa native said he has been working in bars since he was 19 years old. A gig at a late-night bar while attending Community College convinced Wiggins to consider starting his own concept. He said he did three weeks of school, dropped out and immersed himself in cocktail culture.

The cocktail revolution was happening in major markets across the West Coast, in the Northeast, and places like Portland, LA, Chicago, New York. I wanted to bring that to a place like Tuscaloosa in its simplest form, Wiggins said. I dropped out, went all in on a dream and now going on 10 years later, were getting ready to open our doors in downtown Auburn and hopefully this will be the first of many establishments we have the opportunity to be a part of.

Part of the appeal of opening Session in Auburn was the level of crossover between Tuscaloosa and the loveliest village on the plains. Seeing students and families constantly traveling between the two cities opened Wiggins to the possibility of locations in multiple college towns.

We want to show that if we can come down here and we can work really hard and have the kind of success I know we can have through hard work, determination, and thoughtful decision making, then we have a concept that will work in a lot of markets very similar to Auburn and Tuscaloosa, essentially SEC style markets, Wiggins said. I feel really confident. Its going to be a lot of hard work but I like the opportunity thats presented in front of us, Wiggins said.

For now, though, Wiggins wants to give Auburn residents a new experience in hospitality and cocktail culture.

Our main focus is providing that VIP over the top hospitality, he said. Were going to make great drinks, but we want to be more than just a place where they get cocktails, we want to be a place where they can create memories. Thats whats going to separate us in this downtown area.

Session Auburn will be located at 157 E Magnolia Avenue in the former the University Donut Company location.
Nicola Peltz Beckham, 27-year-old actress, scrunches up her gorgeous face in confusion:



 I dont know why they say feud? I mean, maybe they picked up on something? And now theyre labelling it feud?https://t.co/gBLauc5EFl  The Times and The Sunday Times (@thetimes) October 30, 2022

Nicola Peltz-Beckham spoke with The Sunday Times to promote her ever-growing resume and empire. She talks kids, the feud with Vicky B, and why they named their dog Label.Peltz-Beckham told The Sunday Times no family is perfect while discussing her rumoured feud with mother-in-law Victoria Beckham.Its not a feud! I keep seeing everywhere that word, feud, feud, feud!? I mean, maybe they picked up on something? And now theyre labelling it feud?I think it all started, and Ive said this before, because I didnt end up wearing Victorias wedding dress, but the real truth is, I really, really wanted to wear it and I thought it was so beautiful that Brooklyn's mom got to make that for me!And I was really excited to wear it! And I didnt end up wearing it... but I, truthfully, was really excited to wear her dress. It makes me sad when I read things that people say I was never planning on wearing it. Thats just not true.He wants kids yesterday. I think in a couple of years. We definitely want a big family. He has three siblings, I have seven.Its a lot but... I dont know... we want to adopt some kids, have some of our own. That would be the dream."Obviously he's covered in tattoos and he's British. So, he did a few parts in the background, which if you pay attention, you can find, but in one scene he's like, 'Can I put the mic on, I wanna say a line?'" she continued.I started laughing so hard, Nicola recalled. He had the most British accent ever. I ended up cutting him out! He sat there, in the editing room, he was like, 'Did you really just cut me out while I'm sitting here?'... I was like, 'Yes, I love you so much!'"'Lola James' follows a 19-year-old girl living in middle America in the early 2000s who's fighting to get her little brother out of a toxic home situation. Nicola is starring in, producing, and directing the feature, which does not yet have a release date.She will next star in the television series Welcome to Chippendales, playing Dorothy Stratten, a Playboy Playmate who was murdered at the age of 20.The Disney+ series about the founder of Chippendales, the international male stripper franchise, will air in January next year.Unclear what Brooklyn is pursuing these days but here's a semi old TikTok that haunts me as to why these two named their dog. "A Fun Fact About Brooklyn"
I literally miss her. I was such a huge fan, and now I haven't seen her in anything in a while, since she had a baby. Wait, Don't Look Up. I loved her in the Hunger Games of course, the X-Men Movies, Mother!, etc. I saw her in Passengers, but it's not ringing a bell, and I just rewatched the trailer, and I know I saw it, but I don't remember if I liked it or not lol. She needs to do a movie again with a better role.

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Passengers would have been better as a psychological horror from her perspective than an action romance from Crisp Ratt's.

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Having never seen the movie but knowing some of the twists, I thought it was a psychological horror.

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Yeah, Nerdwriter on Youtube has a video on this film, changing just the perspective of the lead (and the ending) and immediately becomes a better movie.

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yeah, that was certainly a choice to try to make it into a romance because its literally the stuff of nightmares.

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Yeah, visually is a very interesting movie and I like her performance

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I don't remember much of it but I liked Passengers. I like watching characters in space in hopeless situations.



The fact that she feels like her name isn't her own anymore is kinda freaking me out. I can't imagine what that's like.

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I'm confused. I just looked at her Wiki page, it still says her last name is Jennifer Lawrence. Did she change it, what is it?

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she goes by jennifer maroney in her personal life because that's her husband's name. i'm assuming she's still using lawrence as her stage name only.



Edited at 2022-11-02 03:44 pm (UTC)

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I liked Passengers as well (although I wish it hadnt been Chris Pratt).

I think some of the discourse surrounding it was unfair, when the contentious aspect was literally addressed as the pivotal point in the plot (repeatedly)

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If you like that type of movie then watch aniara!

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Die, My Love, an adaptation of the Ariana Harwicz novel that will be directed by Lynne Ramsay



Don't know the novel, but the Lynne Ramsay part interests me.

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mother! but with post partum depression.

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The novel is boring as fuck but I can see it making an interesting film.

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[ Spoiler (click to open) ] walking thru a glass door This book was boring. The only good part was siscuz idk how ppl do that.

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Just realized I saw Don't Look Up, so I've seen her in that. It was a kinda good movie. Again, idr lol. I'll check out this new movie, Causeway, though.

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Good for her! Relatable queen!!



Im glad she didnt bash her earlier work. Hunger Games gave us 2 stars from that franchise, amazing how neither are Liam Hensworth



I cant believe she knows Adele like that?!



Edited at 2022-11-02 03:41 pm (UTC)

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I mean, Henry Cavill's brand of beauty (while nice) isn't my thing and he's better in some roles than others but I can see the appeal of him as Geralt. Replacing him with Liam is like losing 50 dollars on the street and getting a 5 dollar refund check in the mail on the same day; it's nice, but not what you want. Liam was also in the Independence Day sequel as a draw and people didn't particularly care for it. He's "generic-handsome" but doesn't have that "It" quality that makes people want to watch you. Will Smith has it. Mads has it. Matt Smith has it in spades. Liam doesn't.

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Liam doesnt have charisma.

JLaw had it in her early career.

Trevor Noah has it.

Its how Chris Hemsworth stays booked and busy.



Poor guy. Hes like the 4th Jonas brother

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I find them both equally bland and expressionless.

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Chris took all the charm in the Hemsworth family

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Adele and Jennifer went to Pieces!

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I feel like they're good friends? I've definitely heard of them hanging out before. And I think they lived in the same neighbourhood in LA for a while

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I feel like shes friends with a lot of famous women around the same age as her but they arent super public about it. Like Emma stone.

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Sorry, but who is the second star?

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About the hunger games, although I dont like the third movie at all, and think most of it could have tackled as like, 20 minutes of what then became the fourth movie, ultimately I find that even being a pop phenomenon they still have a true beating heart AND artistic merit.

Catching Fire is almost perfect imo.

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Splitting the last book into two was a huge mistake and killed all momentum of the series. The first part of it just didnt have enough plot

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agreed but the studio seeing the potential for almost an extra billion squashed all logic :/

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I agree



It infuriates me tbh

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Catching fire remains one of my favorite movies ever <3

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I guess I still don't understand how she was the biggest actress of the 2010's.



She's competent enough, but a lot of actresses are better than her and didn't get that much success. During her peak, they gave better performances, chose better films, were more productive too. I feel like Lawrence had the right image (Cool Girl) at the right time (Lena Dunham/white feminism/Taylor Swift Girl squad era) and that propelled her forward. It was pretty insufferable though. Lest we forget, she was one of Harvey's protegees too (remember her Oscar speech?) and he probably forced a few hands to make her happen.



The run that took her from indies to THG to superhero franchise to best actress Oscar was iconic though, and likely will be never replicated the same way.

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The protege thing is gross, it would be at least coerced sex and certainly not something we need to name and shame anyone for



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Thank you for verbalizing why I felt uncomfortable with that comment. Harvey's bullshit is not her fault, and considering how at a certain point people were speculating if she and Harvey did things is going dangerously into Gretchen Mol territory and we all know how true that was.

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I knew y'all were gonna come for me for this comment but are we really acting like Weinstein didn't play any part in Lawrence's career business-wise? I'm not talking about rape of course. I'm talking about image and awards: he was powerful and his tactics to advance directors and actors he liked are well documented. Miramax was behind Silver Linings Playbook and I added this factor to my analysis of her career.

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The Harvey comment ain't it.

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I mean, she was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for Winter's Bone in 2010 and that's what got her X-Men and The Hunger Games.

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JLaw was at her most famous before the TS white feminism era, which actually created a lot of backlash against her because she was perceived as "not like the other girls" even though she didn't actually bash other women. She blew up with Winters Bone in 2010, Hunger Games was 2012 and pop feminism took off in 2014, when Jlaw was really overexposed.



She wasn't insufferable, she just said some problematic things. The media pigeonholed her into this wild crazy relatable stereotype... which she definitely fed into early on, but also really clearly tried to distance herself from in the mid 2010s before she went away.

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This revisionist history and then the Weinstein part. WOOF!

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I think I get what you're saying in regards to Harvey having an impact in her career, she was already big by them but her Oscar win was in parts thanks to him.



I also agree with other when they say that calling someone Harvey's protege might have some insensitive connotations, knowing what we know about him.

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The reactions to your comment are quite a testament to how ONTD did a 180 on JLaw bc 5-10 years ago people would absolutely stand behind it, and even find a way to shrug off the Harvey part (in the context of knowing what we know now) over the bigger point.



FYI I don't fully agree nor disagree either way, and I don't mean that as judgment bc I think it's a natural process, it's more of an observation of how obvious it is when the tide changes here (and how people tend to rewrite history).



I do like this more mature JLaw a lot tho.

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It's difficult for me to understand her fame as well, considering her acting wasnt amazing in most things and she was the epitome of not-like-other-girls even though its probably genuine. But a lot of my feelings also probably stem from internalized misogyny and jealousy from wanting to be like her and never being able to.



Still find her a bit annoying and she put her foot in her mouth more than once, but I wish all the best for her tbh.

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Theres not much to understand imo. Shes a good actor, shes a conventionally attractive white woman, she had the right team behind her, and the timing of her come up was pretty serendipitous.

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There were definitely a few movies she shouldn't have been casted for. She was blatantly too young and didn't have any of the life experience to make up for it in American Hussle, and she looked like a child next to Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook. I don't think she and Chris Pratt looked good as a couple either but the casting made sense given what a creep his character is. Red Sparrow might have done a lot better in the box office if people didn't see it as a bootleg Black Widow movie that we'd all rather have instead; but I think this also came out around the time when we're all getting tired of her shenanigans. That story she told of rubbing her but on sacred rocks when she was explicitly told not to, and accidentally knocking it down the cliff has really soured me on her; it's not a case of teenagers being teenagers, it's ethnocentric and blatant disregard for other people's culture.



That said, I'm not sure it's fair to call her Weinstein protegee since that would imply it's completely consensual on her end when we don't know the nature of their relationship.

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She did good to take a break when she did because she was really getting overexposed. Sometimes you have to let people miss you, you know?



It's also interesting that she says even with her skillset there were roles that never crossed her table and if the great Jennifer Lawrence is experiencing that how much worse it must be for POC actors in the business?

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Its wild how much an actors team can control what they do, by virtue of controlling what makes it to their desk. Wasnt it Lady Gaga (oop veering to musicians) whos management told Weird Al he didnt have her blessing for a parody song without ever asking her, and when she found out later she was hella pissed bc having a Weird Al parody is a huge honor?

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Yep. I think doing Causeway is a way of getting back her own voice back in the decision making. I also think it was the reason behind why she fired her agency and certain team members; if I wanted to do something like Hereditary or Midsommar and I found out later that I didn't even get to see the script because my team passed on it because they felt like it wouldn't be "good" for my career I would be grimy as fuck.

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Did she though? She had a huge movie last year. And Dark Phoenix in 2019. 2020 was the only year she didn't have anything coming out. I know she's been less visible in the media but is weird how people talk about her coming back from a break when she never really went away.

I do like her and I think she's a competent actress.

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i came in to say i really just never need to see crisp ratt.

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I really like her, idc



I was born with the name Jennifer Lawrence, but that got taken from me when I was 21 and I never got it back, she said. So it didnt feel like I was giving up anything. That name already belongs to them.



Thats heavy.

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I was born with the name Jennifer Lawrence, but that got taken from me when I was 21 and I never got it back, she said. So it didnt feel like I was giving up anything. That name already belongs to them.



"Who does she picture now if asked to visualize Jennifer Lawrence? She thought about the question for a moment."



Jennifer Lawrence is Katniss Everdeen, I guess, she said. Is that weird?



this is so sad!!!!!!

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I still remember the moment she became famous to me- it was when she as at the Oscars and she was wearing this very simple red Calvin Klein dress and everyone was like WHO IS THAT??? lmao



I loved winters bone

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the red Calvin Klein dress was EVERYTHING and lives in my head rent free. such a Star Is Born moment for her 

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Yeah she looked so amazing in it, it was such a moment in time

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Still one of the best Oscar dresses ever more than ten years later, ugh absolutely iconic

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She looked so good in that dress.

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yesssss. It reminds me of the dress Britney wore to the Grammys in 2000, both so good

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She was so stunning in that dress.

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That dress was so perfect for that moment, and I love how it seems timeless in a way

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Jennifer Lawrence will no longer star as Elizabeth Holmes in Adam McKay's BAD BLOOD, she told me. She came to that conclusion after watching Amanda Seyfried play Holmes in "The Dropout": "I thought she was terrific. I was like, 'Yeah, we don't need to redo that.' She did it."  Kyle Buchanan (@kylebuchanan) November 2, 2022

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The right choice tbh.



Also, slightly OT: I can do the Elizabeth Holmes voice perfectly, and it freaks my husband out so much lmao.

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yaaas, doing that accent is fun. it's Kermit-adjacent

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Good choice.

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oh good, I forgot about that

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Here for a new Amanda stan 

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Bolsonaros supporters have gone insane, theyre blocking roads so traffic cant go through, theyre doing exactly the same things the MAGAts did. Repulsive.

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Right wing nuts only scream democracy when they're blowing up other countries. But when it comes to their own they'll do anything to stop the process when it doesn't go their own way. Nut jobs.

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My friend was vacationing in florianopolis with her partner, they were finally able to cross yesterday back to Argentina, after extending their stay due to the road cuts, she said they had to beg to be let through. Exactly the kind of behavior expected from his followers.

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A torcida do Corinthians botou moral na Dutra, desbloqueou tudo kkkk

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Eu vi a galera do Atletico Mineiro fazendo o mesmo kkkkk mas acabei de ver um video de umas galera fazendo o Nazi salute cantando o hino Brasileiro. Que vergonha, e medo.

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lol, gavioes da fiel ao resgate da nacao!

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Damn, just saw that a car ran over protesters blocking the Washington Luiz Highway. 10 people were run over, no confirmed deaths so far.

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i have to travel next week to the area where all these bolsolosers are protesting and i'm scared lolll.

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yup, maga freaks are absolutely gleeful about it, too

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I saw a thing earlier (I think it was 538 tbh lmao) that said Republicans look likely to take both the House and Senate???



A bunch of the crazies are looking to win in my state, too.



I dont get people. I really dont.

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I can't listen to 538 anymore after they believed Hillary would win lol.



I'm just very numb about everything but I hope i'm very wrong and that democrats do decently.

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I have been relatively calm (numb) this election, but then all of the panic hit me yesterday and today. I think the last poll I saw said that dems are likely going to lose Nevada in senate and everything else is basically a toss up. ugh. I hate it.

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I just dont understand it! Who the fuck is voting for Walker in Georgia? The scamming grifter doctor in Pennsylvania? The crazy in Arizona?? All of them all over!! Who? Why?!





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I don't trust any polls.



They've been pretty bad since 2016 and pollsters are still struggling to figure out why and adjust their methodology.



So I'm try so hard to be zen about things.



But idk. Maybe a week from now, I will have drunk myself to death watching election results roll in. TBD.

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I just asked about polls re: Beto and scriptedending brought up a good point that theyre kind of unreliable. I know I dont pick up random phone calls and neither do many young people so it might be skewing older in that way depending on the way they conduct their polls.

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Don't trust polls. In the UK the polls are pretty much owned by right wingers and sow the seed that the situation is hopeless. It happened with us last time and now we have a shit show because it's like a self fulfilling prophecy. Go vote. Get people to vote. Fight till the end.

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i had no idea things were looking that grim :\

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yep. it's going to be a very dark time for many people.

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lots of polls (even "trusted" ones) actually come from republican sources and 538 uses them for their data, so i wouldn't fully trust them. not saying to take away 538's validity, but to take it all with a grain of salt and that tbh, both are in dead heat



i'm not saying it will be fully a blue win this year, but there's LOTS of ground movement to get voters going. and i think the media's been doing a lot of circle jerk of the polls looking red and saying that d's will lose when it's closer to 50/50, tbh



nevertheless, i said it here before, if you're really anxious about it (which i've been) text and phonebanking release those nerves in a weird way. but do what you can in your own capacity, and take care of yourself mostly



Edited at 2022-11-02 08:43 pm (UTC)

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Typically the president's party loses support during midterms. That plus inflation still being high, it would take a miracle for dems to hold the house and Senate.

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I am not looking forward to Lake potentially being my state's Governor 

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Interested in seeing if his wife really plans to leave him after his loss lol

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Damn she unfollowed the kids too?



(lol they're adults, right?)

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Has anyone ever looked more like a Bond villain than Oleg Tinkov?

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I never really got into Brazilian politics, but how left is the new president? Are we talking centre left or like left left? As an American this always confuses me because leftist is used for Centre Democrats(Biden) and even more progressive lefts like AOC.

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Left, by American standards he'd be called a commie and stoned to death by a fox news reporter on live tv. This will be his third mandate.

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tbf, in america the bush family are now left-wing communists

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Its pretty much an American thing that someone like Biden and someone like AOC would even be in the same party.

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he is left-left. he was president before and did a lot of very amazing things wrt income inequality and left office with an 85% approval rating. the corruption scandal unfortunately did a lot of damage to his reputation but it is a testament to his enduring legacy that he was able to overcome literally being in prison

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I think The Guardian is a banned source, but Tom Phillips wrote up a pretty decent summary of him on Monday. It's a short article, but it gives a good perspective of his political stance.

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I've heard him described as more left than Bernie Sanders.

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To unitedstatians pov, he is super left. Here in Brazil, we consider him center-left. well, unless you are far-right and thinks he a commie.

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hes def left but not the leftest there is.

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He is center left, which would be radical left by us standards

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(lmfao at whoever photoshopped Lindsay Graham's face onto Grima Wormtongue)



Nah fuck them the audacity to do that to my creepy hubby! Grima baby I'm so sorry!

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i was pretty impressed by how fast the results of the brazil election came in, why did it take the US almost a week

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IDK about trends generally but my locality switched to paper ballots because it was determined our electronic voting was too easy to hack. Wondering if this year's will take even longer than usual if those kind of changes are common.

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we use electronic ballot boxes that do not have internet connection or way to hack into, as the ballot closes it is printed information of how many votes each candidate has gotten as a physical receipt, as well the information is sent to the organization who takes care of it. we watch it being seen live as the ballots are computed, it starts at 5pm and normally ends at 8 or 9.

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they don't have to deal with the electoral college nonsense, for one

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our electronic ballots are amazing

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it was also pandemic time so many people were voting via mail in ballots too

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-This is the most missiles North Korea has fired at South Korea in a single day



cool. cool cool cool. Everything is definitely chill.



Has NK given any reason for the missiles? Is it in response to anything in particular or is it just to show off that they have them?

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Sabre rattling, dick measuring, take-us-seriously-ing,

NK shouldnt be dismissed as *just* a troublesome neighbour but more often than not its shit stirring for the sake of it, thats my guess for this ond

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I think I read their upset about the us/sk joint training thats either happening or about to happen and are feeling bold because the uss focus is on Ukraine or something.

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Reason? Kim Jong-un is an attention whore and mad everyone's attention is on Russia/Ukraine, the mess in the UK, and the upcoming US election.

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My attention whoring is much less dramatic.



I just post my makeup looks in my group chats, fishing for compliments.



Maybe Kim Jon-un should try that instead of firing missiles.

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Wish Lula all the luck and cooperation: he's going to need it.

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Is unfollowing your husband on social media the 21st century divorce now.

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fucking right wingers in my country are not even creative and are copying the trump followers moves, they definitely will try to pull their own january 6th.

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Somewhat related, but I cant wait for the political ads to end on TV. However, there is a local guy (Democrat) running ads where hes petting his dog, and the dog looks so happy and relaxed. Sadly Im not in his district, so I dont get to vote for him or his dog.

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Awww! Do you know if the doggo and its ad are on YouTube?

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It's so weird here- I rarely see a Vance ad. Like watching football with my dad last weekend and I saw a number of Ryan ads, one Vance ad, and one Republicans against Vance ad. And there's no signs for that guy anywhere.



I know he's probably going to win the state but it's weird seeing almost nothing for the man

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Omg I am so /sick/ of political ads! Idk if its like this everywhere else but its literally back to back ads while Im watching tv. One will be attacking an opponent, then the next ad is of that opponent attacking them back and then the next 3 will be about props like enough already

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OP, Serena Bolsonaro already implied it was his son who did the unfollowing as he's the one responsible for his social media. People were creating a fanfiction that she'd come out doing a big expose or something but that vile opportunistic cunt ain't doing shit until she knows for sure she can get away with it.

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Ohhhh, okay I didn't know anything about him so I guess they don't like her, that makes sense tho

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Russia withdrew from the grain deal 4 days ago. The UN, Turkey and Ukraine called Moscows bluff, continuing the ship convoys regardless. Faced with the choice of sinking third-country merchant ships or an embarrassing climbdown, Putin chose a climbdown. https://t.co/Wvwat7m00p  Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) November 2, 2022

the boats just contiued to sail and even russia isn't dumb enough to sink them (and they are running out of missiles)



Edited at 2022-11-02 08:36 pm (UTC) the boats just contiued to sail and even russia isn't dumb enough to sink them (and they are running out of missiles)

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Crazy to Russia's soft and hard power evaporate like this.



Edited at 2022-11-02 09:04 pm (UTC)

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Brazil saw record oil and gas production in September, with the countrys oil industry poised to perform strongly despite a new President that is less friendly to the oil sector.

This September, Brazil saw record oil and gas production in addition to more promising discoveries being made this year. State-owned oil firm Petrobras appears to be going from strength to strength. However, there are concerns about what the recent change in presidency will mean for the future of the countrys fossil fuels, as incumbent president Lula looks to shift policies on energy and deforestation. These fears could be seen in the Petrobras stock price which sunk to its lowest level in a month on the news that Lula had won the election.

In September, Brazilian oil and gas output reached 4 million bpd of oil equivalent and 143.1 million cubic meters per day of natural gas. This marked an increase of 2.04 percent from August, breaking the previous record set in January 2020. Most of this production came from the pre-salt province, around 74 percent of the total, with the Tupi and Buzios oilfields providing the most at 1.16 million bpd and 676,600 bpd.

In October, state-owned Petrobras announced it had made a new discovery in the Sepia offshore field. The find was made 250 km south of Rio de Janeiro at 2,197 meters under the sea and is currently being assessed. Petrobras released a statement saying that the net oil column is one of the thickest ever recorded in Brazil. Three other international energy companies also have a stake in the field, TotalEnergies (28 percent), QatarEnergy (21 percent), and Petronas (21 percent), alongside Petrobras, which has a 30 percent stake. Petrobras made another discovery in the pre-salt Campos Basin and carried out a full analysis in July this year.

Meanwhile, TotalEnergies announced the discovery of the Pedunculo well in the Sepia co-participated area. The Sepia shared reservoir is operated by Petrobras, which has a 51.9 percent stake in the field that produces around 170,000 bpd at present. David Mendelson, Senior Vice President, Americas Region at TotalEnergies Exploration & Production stated The resources confirmed by the Pedunculo well appear to exceed pre-drill expectations and add to the potential for future development of the area. Thanks to their exceptional productivity and the innovative technologies used in their developments, these resources fully fit in TotalEnergies low-cost, low-emission oil portfolio.

There are high hopes for Petrobras, which already dominates Brazils oil and gas industry. The firms shares are cheap and were viewed as having the potential to rise following last weeks presidential election. If the international price parity policy remains in place, local hedge fund Legacy Capital believes that Petrobras stocks will rise, even if Lula interferes more in the oil companys business. Petrobras currently has a policy of tracking international fuel prices, requiring the government to compensate the firm if it has to sell fuel at less than market value. So, while there is room to maneuver, a change in this policy could be detrimental to Petrobras shares.

Last month, Petrobras announced a tender for the charter of three oil rigs to carry out development operations in the Buzios pre-salt field in the Santos basin. Contractors were asked to submit proposals by 28th October, with Petrobras offering charters of 1,065 days, with the project expected to start in late 2023 or early 2024. This follows the Petrobras qualification, earlier this month, of seven bids in a tender for several more drilling rigs for the Transocean, Diamond, Ocyan, and Constellation offshore developments at a cost of $3 billion.

But while Petrobras and Brazils fossil fuel industry appear strong, the recent change in president could have a dramatic effect on the countrys energy outlook. This week, German-listed shares in Petrobras fell by over 7 percent following the election of leftist President Lula. He takes over from far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who strongly backed the ongoing development of Brazils oil and gas resources. Lula returns as president, having previously served as leader between 2003 and 2010.

Lula has repeatedly pledged to protect the Amazon Rainforest, unlike his predecessor, which could have a knock-on effect on the countrys energy industry. An oil and gas analyst at Fitch Solutions, Dominika Rzechorzek, explained that Lulas win could affect the functioning of national oil company Petrobras, and as a key implication, we expect Lula to strengthen government control over Petrobras. During his campaign, Lula has been vocal about the benefit of state ownership of strategic energy assets. Hence, in our view, his government would likely attempt to slow, suspend or fully reverse the sale of strategic downstream and natural gas assets pursued by Petrobras in the framework of the divestment programme.

The new president has extensive experience in oil and gas, overseeing the development of the countrys offshore pre-salt layer during his first presidency. Yet, Lula is expected to respond to international pressures to combat climate change and eventually shift away from fossil fuels to renewable alternatives. However, he currently lacks the congressional majority to make any major immediate reform changes. In addition, he has significant centrist and right-wing opposition that are bound to make it difficult to change Brazils energy legislation.

Brazils oil and gas industry has seen strong results this year, with record production levels and the announcement of several new discoveries by both state-owned Petrobras and international operators. There is great optimism around the future of Petrobras, which has been provided with favorable policies to ensure its success. However, the recent change in presidency could lead to an eventual shift in energy policies, responding to international pressures to shift away from oil and gas to renewable alternatives as President Lula also acts to curb deforestation.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
This year, the United States became the world's biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter as deliveries to energy-starved buyers in Europe and Asia surged. In the current year, five developers have signed over 20 long-term deals to supply more than 30 million metric tons/year of LNG or roughly 4 Bcf/d, to energy-starved buyers in Europe and Asia.

Unfortunately, whereas the United States has the worlds largest backlog of near-shovel-ready liquefied natural gas projects, takeaway constraints including limited pipeline capacity are seen as the biggest hurdle to growth of the sector. In the Appalachian Basin, the countrys largest gas-producing region churning out more than 35 Bcf/d, environmental groups have repeatedly stopped or slowed down pipeline projects and limited further growth in the Northeast. Indeed, EQT Corp. (NYSE: EQT) CEO Toby Rice recently acknowledged that Appalachian pipeline capacity has hit a wall.

Luckily, the Permian Basin and Haynesville Shale are still able to shoulder much of the growth forecast for LNG exports including pipeline development. Analysts at East Daley Capital Inc. have projected that U.S. LNG exports will grow to 26.3 Bcf/d by 2030 from their current level of nearly 13 Bcf/d. For this to happen, the analysts say another 2-4 Bcf/d of takeaway capacity would need to come online between 2026 and 2030 in the Haynesville.

And it appears the U.S. is up to the task.

According to RigZone, initial findings from Westwoods upcoming onshore pipeline market forecast has revealed that between 2022 and 2028, the world will spend ~$369B on 310,000km of new oil and gas pipelines, with North America responsible for the lions share. The forecast says that 205,000km, or two-thirds of total installations, will be gas pipelines, with several projects already lined up in the United States. Related: Is This The Next Big Step For Geothermal Energy?



Heavy investment in O&G pipelines is also anticipated in China as the country looks to boost imports, including the West-East Gas Pipelines 4 & 5 (a combined 6,323km) and the Xinjiang Coal-to-Gas pipeline (8,372km). Strong activity is also expected in Eastern Europe & FSU, driven by the construction of additional pipeline capacity in Russia to serve Asian markets. In Africa, the proposed 6,500km-Central African Pipeline System designed to link 11 countries and improve energy security in the region could potentially mark one of the biggest pipeline projects on the continent.

U.S. Gas Projects In The Pipeline

According to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), four U.S. LNG projects are currently under construction, and another 12 have won regulatory approval by federal regulators while four more have been proposed totaling 40 Bcf/d of potential LNG exports.

The pivotal Permian Basin is preparing to unleash a torrent of gas and gas projects to meet exploding LNG and nat. gas demand. Energy Transfer LP (NYSE: ET) is looking to build the next large pipeline to transport natural gas production from the Permian Basin. The company is also working on the Louisiana-based Gulf Run pipeline, which will transport gas from the Haynesville Shale in Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana to the Gulf Coast.

Back in May, a consortium of oil and natural gas firms namely WhiteWater Midstream LLC, EnLink Midstream (NYSE: ENLC), Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DVN) and MPLX LP (NYSE: MPLX) announced that they had reached a final investment decision (FID) to move forward with the construction of the Matterhorn Express Pipeline after having secured sufficient firm transportation agreements with shippers.

According to the press release, The Matterhorn Express Pipeline has been designed to transport up to 2.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas through approximately 490 miles of 42-inch pipeline from Waha, Texas, to the Katy area near Houston, Texas. Supply for the Matterhorn Express Pipeline will be sourced from multiple upstream connections in the Permian Basin, including direct connections to processing facilities in the Midland Basin through an approximately 75-mile lateral, as well as a direct connection to the 3.2 Bcf/d Agua Blanca Pipeline, a joint venture between WhiteWater and MPLX.

Matterhorn is expected to be in service in the second half of 2024, pending regulatory approvals.

WhiteWater CEO Christer Rundlof touted the companys partnership with the three pipeline companies in developing incremental gas transportation out of the Permian Basin as production continues to grow in West Texas. Rundlof says Matterhorn will provide premium market access with superior flexibility for Permian Basin shippers while playing a critical role in minimizing flared volumes.

Matterhorn joins a growing list of pipeline projects designed to capture growing volumes of Permian supply to send to downstream markets.

WhiteWater revealed plans to expand the Whistler Pipelines capacity by about 0.5 Bcf/d, to 2.5 Bcf/d, with three new compressor stations.

MPLX has several other expansion projects under construction. The company says it expects to finish construction on two processing plants this year, and recently reached a final investment decision to expand its Whistler Pipeline.

Also in May, Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI) subsidiary launched an open season to gauge shipper interest in expanding the 2.0 Bcf/d Gulf Coast Express Pipeline (GCX).

Meanwhile, KMI has already completed a binding open season for the Permian Highway Pipeline (PHP), with a foundation shipper already in place for half of the planned 650 MMcf/d expansion capacity.

In an effort to increase LNG exports to the European Union to stave off an energy crisis amid Russias war on Ukraine, the U.S. Department of Energy has authorized additional LNG exports from the planned Golden Pass LNG Terminal in Texas and the Magnolia LNG Terminal in Louisiana.

Jointly owned by Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) and Qatar Petroleum, the $10B Golden Pass LNG export project is expected to become operational in 2024, while Magnolia LNG, owned by Glenfarne Group, will come online by 2026. The two terminals are expected to produce more than 3B cf/day of natural gas, although Magnolia is yet to sign contracts with customers.

Previously, American LNG developers were unwilling to construct self-financed liquefaction facilities that are not secured by long-term contracts from European countries. However, the Ukraine war has exposed Europes soft underbelly and the harsh reality is forcing a rethink of their energy systems. To wit, Germany, Finland, Latvia, and Estonia recently expressed the desire to move forward with new LNG import terminals.

Meanwhile, the DoE has approved expanded permits for Cheniere Energy's (NYSE: LNG) Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana and its Corpus Christi plant in Texas. The approvals allow the terminals to export the equivalent of 0.72 billion cubic feet of LNG per day to any country with which the United States does not have a free trade agreement, including all of Europe. Cheniere says the facilities already are making more gas than is covered by previous export permits.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Crude oil began trade today with a gain on the back of expectations that China may begin to ease its Covid restrictions and on data from the American Petroleum Institute pointing to another decline in U.S. crude oil inventories.

Chinas Covid lockdowns have been one of the big headwinds for oil prices, keeping a lid on any rally since the summer as one of the worlds biggest consumers continues with its zero-Covid policy.

Yet stock price movement data this week reflects growing hopes that Beijing will soon begin to relax restrictions, which would have a strong positive effect on oil demand and, therefore, prices.

Meanwhile, the API estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States had shed 6.53 million barrels last week, with gasoline stocks also declining, by 2.64 million barrels, while distillate stocks added a modest 865,000 barrels, according to the industry group.

Government data on crude oil and fuel inventories is due out later today.

On Tuesday, crude oil benchmarks Brent and WTI both gained about 2 percent thanks to the news from China but also to a weaker U.S. dollar, after their first monthly gain since May, as October proved cumulatively positive.

Analysts quoted by Reuters in a recent report have pointed to even higher prices, too, citing the OPEC+ production cuts, record U.S. exports, and the possibility that the Biden administration will stop releasing crude from the strategic petroleum reserve.

Meanwhile, OPEC reported steady production rates through October despite an agreement to cut output by a modest 100,000 bpd, which was more symbolic than actual with so many members of the cartel already falling short of their quotas.

Russias October output, however, was significantly lower than a year ago, at 9.9 million bpd. This compares to an OPEC+ quota of 11 million bpd.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
The real concern is next winter when Europe will have to restock its gas storage without the help of Russian supply.

Mild weather in October and early November has further eased concerns about a major gas shortage in Europe this winter.

Europes natural gas storage sites are nearly full and there is a steady flow of LNG to the continent that will allow it to get through winter.

Europe is more or less prepared to face this winter with nearly full gas storage sites and a steady flow of LNG imports. The real concern about gas supply is for the winter after that, the top executives of Europes biggest oil and gas majors say.

As of October 31, gas storage sites in Europe were 95% full, with German storage at 99% full, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe.

The comfortable storage levels, the high rate of LNG imports, and the mild weather in October and early November have eased concerns about gas supply and demand balances in the early part of the heating season. In fact, milder weather across most of Europe is postponing the start of the heating season, giving countries the opportunity to stock more gas with the decreased call for gas for heating - for now.

The benchmark gas prices at the Dutch TTF hub have fallen this week and stay below $99 (100 euros) per megawatt-hour (MWh) as a warm October has allowed for more injections into storage instead of withdrawals. In Germany, for example, the warm weather since the start of October has helped industry and households save 22% and 26%, respectively, of their gas consumption compared to the 2018-2021 average, says the Federal Network Agency, Bundesnetzagentur, the regulator which will enforce rationing if need be.

Analysts believe that Europe will also continue to see a high volume of LNG imports as the new snap Covid lockdowns across China would weaken demand there.

The latest bout of Covid restrictions in China and declining demand in Asia overall should see (European) LNG imports remaining robust. This should ensure the record level of cargoes into north-west Europe and UK continues, Refinitiv analysts told Reuters.

However, the significant drop in Russian gas supply this year occurred only in June, meaning that Europe could still stock up on some Russian gas earlier this year.

Related: Venezuelas Oil Exports Plunge In October



Ahead of the 2023/2024 winter, the gap in gas supply in Europe will be much wider without Russian gas. Europe will not be importing much Russian gas - or none at all if Russia cuts off deliveries via the one link left operational via Ukraine and via TurkStream - compared to relatively stable imports from Russia in the first half of this year before Moscow started gradually cutting volumes via Nord Stream in June until shutting down the pipeline in early September.

Executives at European majors BP and Eni also believe that it will be next winter that will be much more difficult for Europe.

I think it has been addressed for this winter, BPs chief executive Bernard Looney said at a panel at the ADIPEC energy conference in Abu Dhabi this week.

Its the next winter I think many of us worry, in Europe, could be even more challenging, Looney said during the panel moderated by CNBCs Hadley Gamble.

Claudio Descalzi, the chief executive of Italys Eni, said on the same panel, We are in good shape for this winter.

But as we said, the issue is not this winter. It will be the next one, because we are not going to have Russian gas  98% [less] next year, maybe nothing, Descalzi added.

Russell Hardy, CEO at the worlds biggest independent oil trader Vitol, noted, Weve got a difficult winter ahead, and subsequent to that weve got a more difficult winter in the year ahead of that, because the production that is available to Europe in the first half of 2023 is considerably less than the production we had available to us in the first half of 2022.

In case of a normal winter this year, the gas system can ensure demand and supply adequacy, according to a newly published Winter Supply Outlook 2022/23 from the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG). But in a colder than normal winter, all European countries are exposed to a risk of 10% demand curtailment for the entire winter season and of 10% to 27% in case of a peak day.

The outlook also says that preparedness for winter 2023/2024 is critical, and maximum injection to all European storages should continue where possible and for as long as possible.

Not anticipating security of supply needs for the next gas year could result in the depletion of the gas storages at the end of the winter and make their refilling next summer impossible, according to the outlook.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Fears of demand destruction sparked by a global economic slowdown are at odds with the very real threat of a supply shortage.

For about two months now, signals from the oil market have pushed traders from one extreme to another, as headwinds clash with tailwinds, with the global economic slowdown countering fears of a shortage. In the past couple of weeks, the see-sawing has increased considerably, as both concerns about the slowdown of the global economy and fears of an oil or fuel shortage intensify. As a result, the oil market has become a very confusing place.

Earlier in October, for example, the International Monetary Fund issued a stark warning about the global economy. In it, the IMFs Economic Counsellor and Director of Research, Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, wrote that The 2023 slowdown will be broad-based, with countries accounting for about one-third of the global economy poised to contract this year or next.

The three largest economies, the United States, China, and the euro area will continue to stall. Overall, this years shocks will re-open economic wounds that were only partially healed post-pandemic. In short, the worst is yet to come and, for many people, 2023 will feel like a recession.

Naturally, such a forecast is rather bearish for oil, but at the same time, warnings have been flashing about the state of the diesel market. U.S. inventories of distillate fuels are at record lows, demand remains robust, and an impending EU embargo on Russian fuels are all contributing to the shortage, whose original cause was the reduction in refining capacity in both Europe and the U.S. and the faster-than-expected rebound in demand after the pandemic lockdowns.

Related: Bidens Plan To Refill The SPR Is Unlikely To Boost U.S. Oil Output

Its getting worse by the day, too. CNBC called it a perfect storm, with low inventories combining with rising demand ahead of winter, which is a recipe for even higher prices spilling out across industries and hitting consumers already emptying pockets.

Ultimately, then, the diesel crisis should also be bearish for oil demand, but only theoretically. Diesel moves economies. Demand destruction will only appear when the supply situation becomes catastrophic, and this would certainly involve a dip into recession. Yet even then, the demand destruction would be limitedlike oil, its derivatives are quite inelastic when it comes to price.

The latest figures about institutional trades are telling. Reuters John Kemp writes that while big speculators made two large purchases of crude over the last four weeks, at 62 million barrels and 47 million barrels, and then made two large sales, at 34 million barrels and 50 million barrels during the same period.

OPEC meanwhile raised its forecast for long-term oil demand and once again reiterated its calls for new investment in fossil fuels, just days after the IEA said oil and gas demand are about to peak in a few short years as we expand wind and solar capacity.

The overall investment number for the oil sector is $12.1 trillion out to 2045, said OPECs secretary-general Haitham Al Ghais at the ADIPEC conference in the UAE, as quoted by Reuters.

However, chronic underinvestment into the global oil industry in recent years, due to industry downturns, the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as policies centred on ending financing in fossil fuel projects, is a major cause of concern.

This means that the future supply of oil in volumes that correspond to demand is not guaranteed at all. Neither is the buildout of wind and solar because of a looming copper shortage, which two mining executives have warned in the past couple of weeks will be severe. In addition, Indonesia is mulling over an OPEC-style organization for battery metal miners, which would make the supply chain for the energy transition even more challenging.

Investment in new oil production does not seem to be lined up and ready to go, either, amid the peak-demand scenarios. This suggests the oil market will remain an extremely uncertain place for the observable future or at least until those countries that are expected to slip into recession do so.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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U.S. President Joe Biden has announced plans to shell out $13.5 billion to help reduce energy costs for low- and moderate-income households.

The vice president will highlight how President Bidens economic plan will help households afford energy-efficient equipment when they need to make home repairs, so they can save money on their utility bills for years to come, the White House said on Wednesday.

Vice President Kamala Harris will formally present the new steps during a stopover at a Boston union hall and training facility. To make this a reality, Bidens administration will tap into $4.5 billion from the Department of Health and Human Services to help cover home heating costs and unpaid utility bills for low-income families. The aid package will also help low-income households make cost-effective home energy repairs to lower their bills.

The Biden energy package, however, pales in comparison to similar packages announced in Europe.

Back in September, the German government announced that it will ditch earlier plans for a gas levy on consumers and instead will introduce a gas price cap to curb soaring energy bills, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz setting out a 200 billion ($194 billion) defensive shield to protect companies and consumers against the impact of soaring energy prices.

"The German government will do everything in its power to bring [energy] prices down. We are now putting up a large defensive umbrella ... which we will endow with 200 billion," Scholz said at a press conference in Berlin, which he attended virtually due to a Covid-19 quarantine.

The announcement was the culmination of days of negotiations between the Economy Minister Robert Habeck from the Greens and Finance Minister Christian Lindner from the liberal Free Democrats.

This decision is a crystal clear answer to [Russian President Vladimir Putin]. We are economically strong, and we mobilize this economic strength when necessary, Lindner declared at the press conference.

Europes biggest economy is currently grappling with surging gas and electricity costs occasioned by a collapse in Russian gas supplies to Europe, with Moscow blaming the crisis on Western sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine in February.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

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In December, Iran expects to sign an energy agreement with Russian gas giant Gazprom worth around $40 billion, a senior Iranian diplomat was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

We have concluded an agreement worth about $6.5 billion with Gazprom. We hope that the remaining agreements totaling to $40 billion will be signed next month. The negotiations are currently ongoing, said Mahdi Safari, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy, as quoted by the ISNA news agency of Iran.

The agreement comes as Russia and Iran are expanding bilateral cooperation and energy and trade ties, united by a common goal of using each other to offset Western sanctions.

Earlier this week, Russia and Iran agreed to sign a free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday.

We have also agreed to remove all barriers that exist today on the way of developing bilateral trade. And we are talking about reducing barriers at the borders with third countries. We have agreed to conclude an agreement on a free trade zone between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union in the near future, Novak said at a Russia-Iran forum.

Also on Tuesday, Novak said that Russia had started deliveries of oil products to Iran under swap deals. Russian-Iranian relations - both economically and geopolitically - are of strategic nature, Novak added.

Irans Petroleum Minister Javad Owji said at the bilateral forum that the public and private sectors in both countries are looking to neutralize the sanctions.

There is now a strong will in the public and private sectors of both countries to neutralize the sanctions, Owji was quoted as saying by the oil ministrys news service Shana.

Russias Novak, for his part, said that The amount of Russian investment in Irans oil fields will increase.

By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com

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Russia overtook OPEC heavyweights Iraq and Saudi Arabia to become the largest crude oil supplier to India in October, with record shipments of

946,000 barrels per day (bpd), the Economic Times reported on Wednesday, quoting estimates from energy analytics firm Vortexa.

Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, India was a small marginal buyer of Russian crude oil. After Western buyers started shunning crude from Russia, India became a top destination for Russian oil exports alongside China.

Indian refiners havent expressed hesitation to deal with Russiatheir primary incentive to buy has been the much cheaper Russian oil than international benchmarks and similar grades from the Middle East and Africa.

According to Vortexas estimates, Indiathe worlds third-largest crude oil importershipped in a record 946,000 bpd of crude from Russia last month, up by 8% compared to September. Total Indian imports increased by 5% month on month in October, Vortexa data cited by the Economic Times showed.

Of note was that Russia surpassed both Iraq and Saudi Arabia to become the number-one crude oil supplier to India. Russian crude accounted for 22% of all Indian imports last month, while Iraqs share was at 20.5% and Saudi Arabiasat 16%.

Going forward, there will be a lot of uncertainties among buyers over Russias oil exports when the EU embargo enters into force on December 5.

Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), two of the biggest state-owned importers of Russian crude oil in India, have reportedly stopped looking for spot Russian crude oil supply set to arrive after December 5, as they await more clarity on the EU sanctions regime ahead of the deadline, including on the possibility of secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian crude.

India will also further diversify its oil imports to better prepare for future OPEC+ production cuts that raise oil prices and tighten supply, its Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said last month.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Russian exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) rose in October to their highest level since March, vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg showed on Wednesday, in a sign that the worldincluding Europeis scrambling to reduce dependence on Russian gas.

In October, Russias LNG exports increased by 1.1% compared to October 2021 to the level last seen in March, just after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Europe hasnt sanctioned Russian LNG or pipeline gas, but buyers have tried to shun Russian cargoes where possible. The EU is considering a price cap on gas, but deliberations continue as the member states are divided on the issue.

Unlike the rise in LNG exports, Russias pipeline gas exports to Europe are at very low levels after Gazprom cut off all gas supply to several EU countries for their refusal to pay in rubles for gas. Gazprom also started to reduce supply via the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany in June, claiming an inability to service gas turbine maintenance outside Russia due to the Western sanctions against Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine. The Russian gas firm halted Nord Stream in early September, while the pipeline was found to have been sabotaged at the end of that month.

Still, Russias LNG exports remain strong, and the top importers of the cargoes  although nearly half of them are still en route to their final destinations  were France, China, and Japan, according to the data compiled by Bloomberg.

Traders have told Bloomberg that China is buying a lot of Russian LNG to take advantage of a discount for Russian cargoes compared to the prices on the spot market.

In September, Chinese imports of LNG from Russia rose by one-third compared to the same month of 2021, according to Chinese customs data cited by Bloomberg. All imports of LNG into China were down by 12% in September.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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Saudi Arabias energy infrastructure may face the threat of another attack by Iran based on intelligence shared between Riyadh and Washington, though threat assessments have not been confirmed by the Pentagon or the U.S. Department of State.

The intelligence-sharing over a potential Iranian attack was reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal.

Speaking to CNN late on Tuesday, one unnamed U.S. official said intelligence of a possible attack on Middle East energy infrastructure had been shared between Saudi Arabia and the United States.

That alleged threat has not yet led to an increase in U.S. military protection levels, according to the official, while a second unnamed official noted that F-22 fighter jets are already in Saudi Arabia should they be required.

So far, the State Department has said only that they are concerned about the threat picture, CNN reports, and are in constant contact with the Saudis through military, diplomatic, intelligence channels.

On September 14, 2019, oil markets were destabilized when Yemens Iran-backed Houthis launched a drone attack on Aramco oil facilities in Eastern Saudi Arabia, cutting Saudi oil production in half - or taking some 5% of global supply off the market.

It was unclear if the intelligence shared between Saudi Arabia and the United States referred to the threat of a direct Iranian attack on Middle East energy installations as a means to divert attention from seething unrest and protests at home, or whether the threat was of another Iran-backed Houthi attack.

The truce in Yemen expired on October 2nd and efforts to extend it have failed, leading to a new surge in violence.

The Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) has also been a recent target of Iranian missiles due to the regions inclusion in Irans nationwide protests over the death of a young Iranian Kurdish woman after being taken into custody for a headscarf violation.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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Venezuelas crude and product exports slumped in October from September and from October last year due to lower oil production, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing ship-tracking data and export figures of state oil firm PDVSA.

Venezuelas exports of crude oil and products averaged 533,968 barrels per day (bpd) last month, PDVSA and Refinitiv Eikon vessel-tracking data showed. The exports in October were 25% lower than in September and 23% lower than the volumes exported in October last year.

Lower production was the main reason for the lower exports. Most of the oil cargoes that departed from Venezuela in October were headed to Asia, mostly Malaysia and China, via intermediaries, according to the data cited by Reuters.

Petrochemical and oil by-product exports, however, rose, partly offsetting the low crude and product exports.

October saw the fourth-lowest monthly exports of oil from Venezuela, which has been grappling with U.S. sanctions on its exports, a lack of investment in aging infrastructure, and foreign oil firms backing out of the sector in the country holding the worlds largest oil reserves.

Venezuelas crude oil production dropped in September compared to August, according to the latest Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) by OPEC. According to OPECs secondary sources, Venezuelas crude output fell by 19,000 bpd from August to 659,000 bpd in September. Venezuelas self-reported figures to OPEC showed a decline of 57,000 bpd to 666,000 bpd.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Europe is nearing a recession, and the U.S. may be right on its heels, the worlds second-largest container carrier told Bloomberg TV on Wednesday.

Recession fears have put a cap on oil prices as analysts mull just how deeply a recession would cut into the demand for the commodity that is stealing the political limelight in Russia, OPEC countries, and the United States.

And A.P. Moller-Maersk A/Swhich controls one-sixth of the worlds container tradesees global trade slowing between 2% and 4% in a stark warning for not just the container industry but the oil and gas industry as well. A recession, according to Moller-Maersk, is a near certainty in Europe, thanks in no small part to the war in Ukraine and the looming energy crisis.

Its really hard to be very optimistic with a war on our doorstep and a bigger energy crisis this winter so that is impacting consumer confidence and therefore also demand, Maersk CEO Soren Skou said in an interview on Bloomberg Television, adding that global trade was moving backward.

Its quite likely that we either are or will soon be in a recession, certainly in Europe but potentially also in the US.

Moller-Maersks share prices dropped in early trading on the publication of the gloomy forecast that sees plenty of dark clouds on the horizon, its Q3 earnings report read.

Moller-Maersk sees the global container market broadly flat to negative next year, skewed to the downside. We will see where this lands or normalizes.

Maersks Q3 EBITA rose to $9.48 billion, beating analyst estimates.

The crude oil market has been nervous about a recession, keeping a lid on oil prices even after OPEC cut its production targets by 2 million bpd, which begins today.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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Douglas Countys election commissioner predicts that voter turnout on Tuesday could come close to a record high for a non-presidential election year.

Brian Kruse predicts a turnout of 57%, which would equal more than 204,000 votes cast.

That figure is just below the top turnout rate in the past few decades  57.7%, in 2018.

We always encourage voters to prove me wrong in the right direction, Kruse said. Thats one mistake Ill be happy to admit I was wrong on, if we go over that 57%.

The Nebraska Secretary of States Office said it is predicting a statewide voter turnout of 58%. That guess slightly tops 2018s figure, which was 57.9%.

For the primary election in May, voter turnout in Douglas and Sarpy Counties set new highs, compared with other recent gubernatorial primary elections.

Kruse said hotly contested races such as the one in Nebraskas 2nd Congressional District and various legislative contests, plus such local special issues as charter amendments and school bonds, prompted him to predict high turnout.

As of Tuesday night, Kruse said, about 65% of the roughly 100,000 early ballots that were requested had been returned. He stressed that from now on, voters should put their ballots in one of the 13 county election drop box locations and not return them by mail to ensure that their vote is collected in time to be counted.

Ballot drop box locations can be found at votedouglascounty.com, where voters also can check the status of their early voting ballot.

In Sarpy County, Election Commissioner Emily Ethington predicted 53% voter turnout, which would land between 2014 and 2018 turnout figures. That would amount to more than 65,000 votes.

Ethington said the 2018 gubernatorial election had 60.25% turnout, but the county now has about 10,000 more registered voters than there were then. Therefore, despite a lower predicted voter turnout percentage, the number of votes cast this year would be similar to 2018  only about 3,000 fewer, she said.

In Douglas County, just over 359,000 residents are registered to vote, while in Sarpy County the number is about 123,000.

Both Kruse and Ethington said all polling sites will be fully staffed.

Kruse doesnt expect long lines, but the typical busy times are first thing in the morning, at lunchtime and after the workday.
The Omaha Police Department is getting a new armored vehicle.

The $341,678 Lenco BearCat G3, unanimously approved by the City Council on Tuesday, will replace an armored vehicle used by the departments SWAT team since 2006.

Before the councils approval, Omaha Deputy Chief Scott Gray and Lt. Jake Ritonya advocated for the purchase and addressed significant public pushback shared on social media last week.

A number of tweets, including one from State Sen. Megan Hunt, questioned the cost and need for the vehicle.

No police department in Nebraska needs an armored vehicle. This is a waste of taxpayer money and an affront to public trust, Hunt tweeted.

One opponent spoke during Tuesdays City Council meeting to raise concerns over the public perception of the armored vehicle as militarization of the police.

Omaha police have used the vehicle 137 times in the past year, often for high-risk warrants, barricades, hostage rescue or event security, Ritonya said.

Gray said the vehicle is meant to protect officers.

It is not in any way some kind of offensive military vehicle like its been portrayed by some, Gray said.

The departments current vehicle is 17 years old and encountering some serious maintenance issues, Ritonya added.

He pointed to a hostage situation at a southwest Omaha hotel last week. The truck was out for maintenance at the time and Omaha police had to borrow a similar vehicle from the FBI.

That situation ended safely, with a woman and her baby rescued and a suspect taken into custody.

Even if were shot at, (the vehicle) gives us the opportunity to stay safe and maybe use a less-lethal option, or to de-escalate some things so we dont have to take lethal action, Ritonya said.

Councilman Brinker Harding said he received a lot of emails criticizing the potential purchase.

He contended that the purchase would promote public safety.

This is not a tank, Harding said. This is a replacement vehicle.

The armored vehicle will take about a year to be built, meaning it likely will roll onto Omaha streets in early 2024.
Mujtaba Karimi got lucky, in a way: An American soldier helped him get a seat on the first refugee flight out of Afghanistan last year as the country collapsed around him.

In the fallen government of President Ashraf Ghani, Karimi, 27, was an assistant working on issues of health and empowerment. Suddenly he was alone, penniless, seeking asylum in the United States.

He had never heard of Nebraska until just before he moved here.

When I looked it up, what I could find is corn, he said with a laugh.

After a stint loading trucks for Walmart, he now works for a resettlement agency in Omaha, helping refugees like himself find their way in a new country.

On Tuesday, Karimi was one of about 100 people  including dozens of Afghan refugees  attending a public briefing by Thomas West, the U.S. State Departments special representative for Afghanistan, at the University of Nebraska at Omahas student center.

UNOs Center for Afghanistan Studies sponsored Wests visit, which was moderated by its director, Sher Jan Ahmadzai.

This center has been in existence for 50 years. Its a premier center of learning and study in the U.S., West said. We view UNO as a partner.

West painted a grim picture of life in the country where U.S. service members fought for 20 years to build democracy, until it fell to fundamentalist Taliban forces about 15 months ago.

West said 97% of its 38 million residents are now living in poverty. Half of them need life-saving food assistance to prevent starvation. Girls are barred from school, and women are barred from work. Forced marriages are increasing.

The scale of what were seeing is devastating, West said.

At the same time, he added, the world has provided $4.4 billion in aid for the Afghan people, one-fourth of that from the United States.

For many Americans, the plight of Afghanistan has faded. But the U.S. government, West said, continues ongoing and robust engagement with the Taliban government.

He said the Taliban seeks international acceptance. It wants to reopen embassies around the world, and rejoin the United Nations, and get relief from crushing international sanctions. To salvage its economy, the country needs to regain access to the worldwide banking system.

I dont think the Taliban has earned any of this, West said. Most of the rest of the world has not moved on any of these issues.

He said the Talibans awful human rights record and its continued tolerance of terrorists in Afghanistan stands in the way.

West stressed the need for the Afghan people to stand up to the Taliban and insist on their rights  though not with armed resistance. He said there will not be a return of Western military forces.

The group of people who have the most leverage over the Taliban are Afghans, he said.

Ahmadzai acknowledged that 90,000 Afghans with ties to the U.S. and its coalition partners have been evacuated. But he pressed the diplomat as to what the U.S. is doing to help tens of thousands of allies who remain stranded.

That includes the employees of the Center for Afghanistan Studies Kabul office, which for years was involved in training Afghan women to teach in girls schools.

My colleagues are still stuck there, Ahmadzai said.

West agreed that the delays are frustrating. He said the U.S. and its allies will continue to bring in as many as possible.

Afghans are not being relocated quite at the clip we would like, he said, but efforts will continue.

Wests job means personally negotiating with the Taliban, and he believes the effort has been worthwhile. He said the effort has helped humanitarian aid get into Afghanistan, and helped avoid a shutdown of health services in several provinces.

Its important to be clear-eyed and honest about what 15 months of engagement has produced, West said. So far, we have judged a policy of engagement versus isolation as one that can help us.

Karimi said he hopes to make a home in Nebraska, but he would like to have his family with him. His parents, a brother and a sister gained refugee status in Canada. Two other siblings are in Turkey and one in Indonesia.

We had a good life in Afghanistan. We are the result of the U.S. investment, Karimi said. I hope we will create a better world.
El Salvador fights gangs by destroying members' tombstones

SANTA TECLA, El Salvador (AP)  El Salvadors government has taken its efforts against the countrys powerful street gangs to another level by sending inmates into cemeteries to destroy the tombs of gang members at a time of year when families typically visit their loved ones graves. Armed with sledgehammers and pry bars, inmates broke up tombs marked with MS, of the Mara Salvatrucha gang in a San Salvador suburb Tuesday. Santa Tecla Mayor Henry Flores says the crews had destroyed nearly 80 tombstones in the municipal cemetery and erased gang-related graffiti. Our plan is that there is no graffiti so the people feel safe.

Family of bullied Utah girl who died by suicide files claim

SALT LAKE CITY (AP)  Attorneys representing the family of a Black fifth grader in Utah who died by suicide alerted a northern Utah school district on Wednesday they plan to file a lawsuit seeking damages for their inadequate response to bullying. They said in a letter to Foxboro Elementary School and the Davis School District that Brittany Tichenor-Cox planned to seek $14 million in damages for the death of her daughter Isabella Izzy Tichenor. Tichenor died by suicide after months of being bullied over her race, disabilities and for being homeless. Attorneys argued in a letter that the school and its administrators had violated state and federal laws meant to protect students.

Musk: People banned from Twitter won't be restored for weeks

NEW YORK (AP)  Elon Musk says Twitter will not allow anyone who has been kicked off the site to return until it sets up procedures on how to do that  a process that will take at least a few weeks. That would mean people banned from the site for violating Twitters rules for harassment, violence, or election and COVID-related misinformation will not be able to return before next Tuesdays U.S. midterm elections. The pledge came after Musk met with a handful of civil-society leaders Tuesday. Meeting attendees said they asked Musk not to restore the accounts of banned users before the midterm. They also requested Twitter to have a transparent process on how it plans to restore accounts and enforce election integrity measures are already in place.

Autopsy: Takeoff died from gunshot wounds to head, torso

HOUSTON (AP)  Authorities say rapper Takeoff died from gunshot wounds to the head and torso following a shooting outside a private party at a downtown Houston bowling alley. Wednesday's announcement following an autopsy comes as police are still seeking the publics help in tracking down the person or persons responsible for the rappers death a day earlier. Takeoffs primary cause of death is listed as penetrating gunshot wounds of head and torso into arm and his manner of death was called homicide. The 28-year-old rapper was killed around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday when gunfire erupted outside the bowling alley following a private party. Takeoff formed one-third of the Grammy Award-nominated rap trio Migos from suburban Atlanta.

Woman says humiliation kept her silent on Weinstein assault

LOS ANGELES (AP)  A massage therapist has told a jury that Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted her after an appointment at a Beverly Hills hotel in 2010. Testifying Wednesday at the former movie mogul's Los Angeles trial, the woman said Weinstein came into the bathroom, blocked the door, masturbated and groped her breasts after the massage. She said she reluctantly agreed to see Weinstein three more times in the months that followed, and had similar experiences. She said the embarrassment she felt at allowing that to happen kept her silent about her assault for years. Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to 11 sexual assault counts and has denied engaging in any non-consensual sex.

Climate activists get a month in prison for Vermeer protest

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP)  Two Belgian activists who targeted Johannes Vermeers Girl with a Pearl Earring in a climate protest last week have been sentenced to two months in prison, with prosecutors saying their action crossed a line of acceptable protest. Half of the sentence was suspended by a judge in The Hague at a hearing Wednesday, meaning the men will serve one month. A third suspect is due in court Friday. Their identities were not released, in line with Dutch privacy rules. One man glued his head to glass protecting the 17th-century masterpiece at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague while another poured a can of thickened tomato soup over his head. The painting was not damaged.

Filmmaker Haggis takes stand to 'clear my name' in rape suit

NEW YORK (AP)  Filmmaker Paul Haggis told jurors on Wednesday that it was years before he learned that a woman now accusing him of rape saw their sexual encounter as anything other than consensual. The Oscar-winning screenwriter and director took the stand Wednesday to begin what could be days of testimony. His accuser, a publicist, testified earlier that he forced her to perform oral sex and then raped her in 2013 as she repeatedly told him no. Haggis says the encounter was consensual and that she never indicated otherwise until her attorneys let him know in 2017 about the allegation. Breest sued late that year.

What are the 500 best albums? Rolling Stone has an answer

NEW YORK (AP)  Is Fleetwood Macs landmark album Rumours better than To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar? Should Tapestry by Carole King be ranked higher or lower than Thriller by Michael Jackson? Rolling Stone magazine has some answers in a new book thats sure to spark conversations  The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. But if you disagree with the rankings, dont blame the folks at Rolling Stone. Blame Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Nile Rodgers, Questlove, Billie Eilish, Herbie Hancock, Saweetie, Lin-Manuel Miranda and members of Metallica and U2, among dozens of other artists. They were among the judges.

Psychedelic 'magic mushroom' drug may ease some depression

A preliminary study says the psychedelic chemical in magic mushrooms may ease depression in some hard-to-treat patients. The effects in a study released Wednesday were modest but they occurred with a single dose in people who previously had gotten little relief from standard antidepressants. The study is part of a resurgence of research into potential medical uses of hallucinogenic drugs, and the results echo findings in smaller studies of the mushroom compound psilocybin. The compound was taken by capsule during medically supervised sessions lasting up to eight hours. The researchers say larger and longer studies are needed to determine the effectiveness and safety of using the chemical for depression.

Going to win $1.2B Powerball prize? Consider not taking cash

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  Think youre a sure bet to win an estimated $1.2 billion Powerball jackpot? If so, you need to decide whether to take cash, which would actually pay out $596.7 million, or choose the $1.2 billion annuity option that is twice as large but is paid out over 29 years. The numbers drawn Wednesday night were: 2, 11, 22, 35, 60 and the red powerball 23. Winners of giant jackpots nearly always take the cash, and financial advisors say that might be a mistake. Nicholas Bunio, a certified financial planner from Downingtown, Pennsylvania, said that even with his expertise, he would take an annuity because it would so dramatically reduce his risk of making an investment mistake.
CHICAGO  Applications for the Golden Apple Accelerators and Scholars programs are now open for working adults and college students who want to become teachers and will commit to working in high-need schools.

The programs are meant to help address the teacher shortage in Illinois. The Accelerators program is largely focused on working adults looking to shift careers into teaching. They take part in a 15-month program that includes remote classes and a year-long residency at a partner school in downstate Illinois.

Accelerators have been placed in local schools in recent years.

The Scholars program helps current college students in teaching programs to pay for college and find experiential opportunities and mentorship. Students at Illinois State University, Illinois Wesleyan University, Eureka College, Eastern Illinois University and Millikin University can all qualify. Participants agree to work in a school of need for five years within seven years of graduating.

As we continue to feel the effects of Illinois teacher shortage, we are reminded of the enduring impact a good teacher has on their students lives. Now more than ever, we must uplift the teaching profession and support next generation educators so every student in Illinois may feel that impact, Golden Apple CEO Alan Mather said in a statement.

The Accelerators application is open through Jan. 3 and the Scholars application closes April 1, 2023, but has a Dec. 1, 2022, priority deadline. More information and links to applications can be found on the Golden Apple website at goldenapple.org.
NORMAL  A temporary exhibit at Illinois State University looks to humanize the impact of Border Patrol policies.

Hostile Terrain 94 uses toe tags, like ones placed on cadavers, pinned to a map to track roughly 3,200 deaths across the Sonoran Desert of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. ISU students wrote and placed the tags.

Senior Lois Inez Plascencia Chermanskys grandfather immigrated with his entire family, so she had a personal connection to the work.

This really was hard to for me to do, but also good for me to do, she said.

For senior Mirranda Campbell, creating the tags gave a chance to learn about and remember the people who had died, across all ages, some as families or in groups with others they were traveling with. It also highlighted the way sociology opens up the connection between policies and people.

Writing out the toe tags was a very emotional process for the professors and students involved, said Matt Himley, professor of geography.

You realize that youre looking at very personal information of individuals whose lives ended trying to cross the border, he said.

When students of Alejandro Enriquez started writing the tags, the class was very quiet and somber, he said.

The associate professor of languages, literatures and cultures shared with them a past tag that had included a message written on the back by a volunteer for another such exhibit. That helped the students see it also as a celebration of life.

Its also an act in which we, who do not know these victims, can remember and honor their lives, he said.

The exhibit grew out of a 2019 visit to ISU by Jason De Leon, professor of anthropology and Chicana/o studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. He spoke for the Bone Lecture Series about his book The Land of Open Graves, which looked at the deaths and immigration policies.

He also is executive director of the Undocumented Migration Project. UMP created the exhibit and helps institutions across the country and globe host temporary exhibitions.

The name Hostile Terrain 94 comes from the policy implemented by the Border Patrol in 1994 called Prevention Through Deterrence, which concentrated enforcement near urban ports of entry and other areas seeing high levels of attempted border crossings by undocumented immigrants.

The prediction is that with the traditional entry and smuggling routes disrupted, illegal traffic will be deterred, or forced over more hostile terrain, less suited for crossing and more suited for enforcement, the Border Patrol wrote in its Border Patrol Strategic Plan 1994 and Beyond.

An reception Tuesday evening opened the exhibit in Room 70 of Julian Hall, which will remain up until Friday. Opening the exhibit on Nov. 1 was fitting, said Maura Toro-Morn, director of the Latin American and Latina/o studies program.

We selected this day because today is actually the Day of the Dead, she said. () This is a way for us to pay homage, this is a way for us to stop and reflect.

The event also brought together a lot of different fields of study, including groups from Latin American and Latina/o studies, sociology, anthropology and geography.

In that way it really brought people together who may not have had relationships before, Himley said.

The exhibit is the product of two colleges at ISU, the Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts and the College of Arts and Science, Toro-Morn said.

It is important to remember that the migrant crisis is caused by U.S. policies like prevention through deterrence, said Livia Stone, associate professor of sociology and anthropology. The North American Free Trade Agreement was passed the same year as the Border Patrol policy was adopted, which led to increased migration to the U.S. as Mexican farmers could not compete with subsidized American corn, she said.

It was not always like this, Stone said.

The exhibit will be open from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesday, 9 a.m. to 12:50 p.m. and 1 to 4 p.m. Thursday and 9 a.m. to noon and 2 to 4 p.m. Friday. It is free and open to the public.
S.Korean PM says Halloween crowd crush blamed on incomplete crowd management

Xinhua) 08:39, November 02, 2022

SEOUL, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- The crowd crush that happened Saturday night at Itaewon district of the South Korean capital Seoul during Halloween celebrations can be blamed in part on incomplete crowd management, according to South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Tuesday.

"It seemed that one of the significant reasons (for the incident) was eventually crowd management, for which (South Korea) somewhat lacks sufficient institutional support and systematic efforts," Han told a press conference with foreign correspondents in Seoul.

Han said that even if more police officers were to be deployed to Itaewon, it would have had limitations in controlling the massive crowd given that the country had incomplete regulations on crowd management.

The prime minister vowed to enhance relevant rules to prevent the recurrence of similar disasters, noting that what were the decisive factors of the incident would be determined by the ongoing police investigations.

At least 156 people were killed and 151 others injured in the country's deadliest disaster since a ferry sinking incident left 304 people, mostly high school students, dead in April 2014.

The incident was believed to have been caused by huge crowds surging into a narrow hilly alley and toppling over one another at the popular nightlife district in Seoul.

Most of the victims were those in their late teens, 20s and 30s as over 100,000 people gathered in Itaewon for the country's biggest no-mask outdoor Halloween festivities since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The shortage of police officers to control the crowd, who got trapped and crushed on the overcrowded streets, was believed to have fueled the disastrous crowd crush.

According to the police, 137 police officers had been mobilized for the Saturday Halloween event.

(Web editor: Cai Hairuo, Liang Jun)
BLOOMINGTON  Italian chocolate maker Ferrero hosted state and local officials on Wednesday to celebrate the expansion of its Bloomington operations, which will invest $214.4 million and create 200 new jobs.

The ceremony highlighted the start of construction for the facility that will produce Kinder Bueno, a cream-filled wafer covered in dark chocolate and hazelnut drizzle. The candy bar is already popular in Europe and was launched in the United States in 2019. The new facility is slated to open in 2024, and begin hiring in the summer of 2023.

The company, which also is known for products like Ferrero Rocher, Nutella, Tic Tac and Kinder Joy, said the 169,000-square-foot addition in Bloomington will represent the first time Kinder products will be made in North America.

"This investment will fuel our momentum in North America, a strategic growth area for Ferrero," said Alanna Cotton, president and chief business officer of Ferrero North America. "We're grateful for the strong partnerships we have with state and local leaders here, and proud that our expansion is part of Bloomington's amazing success story."

Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who was joined by state and local government leaders at the event, said the company has more than 1,400 full-time employees in the state, with more than 350 of those in Bloomington. He said the expansion is a testament to Illinois' quality workforce and reputation on the global stage.

"Central Illinois is one of the hottest growth areas, and Bloomington-Normal as a metro region is like a boomtown in the Old West," Pritzker said. "Area companies like Ferrero are growing and new companies are getting started."

The production center will be one of the largest built by Ferrero outside of Europe, officials said. It will be added on to the processing facility and built directly next to the existing 226,000-square-foot Ferrero building at 2501 Beich Road in Bloomington, which currently manufactures 100Grand, Raisinets, Crunch and Buncha Crunch.

"Ferrero's expansion here shows why Illinois is the hub of America's food and confections industry," U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), said during the event. "Our incredible workers and world-class infrastructure are fueling innovation and growth."

Bloomington Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe said the facility is a logical step in a series of "transformational investments" from the company since it broke ground in last fall on its $75 million chocolate processing facility in the city.

That 70,000-square-foot facility is expected bring up to 50 jobs to the area and begin operating in 2023.

"Beyond providing jobs, Ferrero has been a wonderful community partner, supporting community events and organizations. We look forward to a prosperous future together," Mwilambwe said.
CHICAGO  A 25-year-old man has been charged with child endangerment after the children of a South Chicago Heights Public Works employee told him they thought they got strange candy.

Jarod Feilen was charged with five misdemeanor counts of child endangerment after handing out gummy bears wrapped in baggies that previously held cannabis, said South Chicago Heights police Chief William Joyce.

Police say anyone who went trick-or-treating on Cherry Lane and received yellow colored gummy bears packaged with no branding or wrapped in clear shrink film over silver foil with a black back panel should turn the package in to police.

Joyce said the bags had marijuana residue inside. While police sent samples of the candy to a crime lab, it is not yet clear if the candy was infused with cannabis, he said.

He put the gummies in bags that previously had marijuana in them, Joyce said.

On Monday night, a public works employee called police stating his children received bad candy. The children described the house to police, and officers arrived and took Feilen in for questioning.

He admitted that he put gummy bears in previously used packaging. He believes he distributed about 20 of them, Joyce said.

Feilen was released about 1 a.m. Tuesday after posting a $1,000 D-bond, Joyce said.

Police warn consuming the candy could be harmful to a young child. If a child ate the candy, police said the child should be taken to the doctor.

Police ask anyone with more information or with packages of the candy to contact the South Chicago Heights Police Department at 708-755-3520.
The development facility of the eco.business Fund, managed by Finance in Motion, in partnership with Fidelity Bank Ghana, hosted two agricultural summits in Ghana to discuss economical and sustainable solutions to the challenges currently faced by the local poultry sector.



The summits offered more than 100 participants a mixture of trainings and knowledge sharing sessions on access to finance for inputs and feeding, sustainable farm management practices, disease control, insurance, as well as how to navigate the current global uncertainty and impact of climate change. Key takeaways from the summits included the need to coordinate feed sourcing by aggregating demand and exploring alternative carbohydrate and protein sources to reduce the cost of production.



The summit held in Accra for players in the poultry sector follows a similar one held last month in Sunyani over two days and gathered numerous industry participants such as farmers, experts in animal husbandry, members of GIRSAL and GAIP, insurance companies, agricultural exporters and many more.



The initiative is the outcome of the eco.business Funds recent partnership with Fidelity Bank Ghana in supporting sustainable practices across various agricultural value chains in Ghana, including poultry. In addition to financial support, the fund provides technical assistance to the banks staff and end borrowers.



Poultry is the most developed livestock farming in Ghana and plays a vital role in providing the countrys population with poultry meat and eggs. The sector is also key in reducing poverty, promoting economic growth, and improving the livelihood of players in this industry. However, it faces considerable domestic challenges, such as the high cost of inputs, diseases, inefficient production methods, inadequate access to the market and poor processing facilities, are putting many poultry businesses out of business and the countrys food security at risk. Other challenges include competition from cheap imports, and access to affordable credit.



The adverse effects of changing climatic conditions on the industry are also significant. Prolonged exposure to high temperatures results in excessive panting, poor growth of the birds, reduced egg production, smaller sized eggs, and lower quality eggshells.



Fidelity Bank, a leading financial institution and a significant player in Ghana's agricultural business finance space, has supported the sector for many years. The bank believes that preventing a further deterioration in the already fragile sector requires stakeholders to get together to find creative ways of solving the main challenges.



Dr. Jens Mackensen, Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the eco.business Fund, said: The support of the eco.Business Fund goes beyond access to finance. These summits, co-hosted with Fidelity, demonstrate our commitment to support farmers and industry stakeholders in the country by equipping producers with the skills they need to withstand potential threats to their businesses and adapt to the challenging global environment and climate change.



On his part, the Managing Director of Fidelity Bank Ghana, Mr. Julian Opuni, noted that Ghana's agribusinesses have a lot of potential to contribute to the country's economic development. As a local bank, Fidelity Bank has always explored ways of supporting SMEs. It is thus a fulfilling moment for us to see that this journey in supporting agribusinesses has had a smooth take-off with our poultry seminars held with industry players in the sector. We are confident that the lessons from the discussions and presentations will advance the industry and maximise poultry farmers' returns on investment.



The summit held in Sunyani had participants drawn from Ashanti, North East, Bono, Bono East, Upper West, Upper East and Savanna regions while the Accra edition had participants from the southern sector of Ghana.







About the eco.business Fund

The eco.business Fund aims to promote business and consumption practices that contribute to biodiversity conservation, to the sustainable use of natural resources, and to mitigate climate change and adapt to its impacts in Latin America and the Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Africa.



The fund pursues its mission by providing dedicated financing and technical assistance to financial institutions and businesses committed to sustainability and focuses on four economic sectors: agriculture and agri-processing, fishery and aquaculture, forestry, and sustainable tourism.



By leveraging the power of blended finance, the fund is able to amplify its impact and outreach by drawing its capital from various layers and investing either via financial intermediaries or directly in businesses.



An impact investment fund advised by Finance in Motion, the eco.business Fund was initiated by Germanys KfW Development Bank and Conservation International with financial support from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the European Union.



The funds impact management system, through its advisor, Finance in Motion, underwent an independent verification by impact auditor BlueMark affirming strong Operating Principles for Impact Management alignment in 2021.

For more information, please visit www.ecobusiness.fund and follow us on Twitter @ecobusinessfund

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 Group Head of Marketing and Corporate Affairs at the insurance group, Hollard Ghana, Cynthia Ofori-Dwumfuo, is the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana's (CIMG) Marketing Practitioner of the Year, 2021. She was honoured at the just-ended 33rd Annual National Marketing Performance Awards ceremony at the Labadi Beach Hotel.



This year's event was under the theme "Creative Marketing and Innovation in a Volatile Global Economy." CIMG recognised Cynthia for leading Hollard Ghana's innovative brand-building efforts. In addition, they cited her for excellence in marketing insights, people, corporate and reputation management, CSR, and sound marketing strategies. According to the Institute, this set Cynthia and Hollard apart as corporate achievers for 2021.



Cynthia expressed gratitude to the Governing Council of CIMG for the honour. She said, "Thank you! It's fulfilling to be acknowledged by the prestigious CIMG for our quest to create and secure a better future through inventive marketing. Impactful marketing happens at the confluence of visionary leadership, an enabling environment, purpose, hard work, a fantastic team, and a great brand style. It takes a village, so I thank Hollard, my family, and the extended community for their supportive advocacy. "Akpena wo," to Group CEO Patience Akyianu, MDs Daniel Addo and Nashiru Iddrisu, and the larger purple team, especially Elorm Senah and Aviel Benni Derry."



"Marketing insurance is no small feat, especially in this volatile global economy. It requires the right expert to drive strategic brand and customer initiatives that are attractive to target audiences. Hollardite Cynthia has been remarkable at promoting our vibrancy and business purpose. Her impactful work with her team has resulted in our group's exceptional brand growth. Also, her collaborative work with our People Team has seen increased staff engagement and company pride.



Furthermore, through our unconventional brand engagements, she has undoubtedly spurred a burst of competitive activity in our previously quiet insurance industry. As a result, she has contributed to increasing insurance penetration in Ghana while making us a favourite.We are proud of her CIMG achievement and dedicate the win to our customers, partners, and stakeholders for being receptive audiences. As a marketing-oriented company, we will continue to serve them better through our original products, distinctive distribution channels, and customised policies curated for every need", Patience added.



About Cynthia Eyram Ofori-Dwumfuo



In 2021, Cynthia was named a top 25 innovator in Europe, the Middle East & Africa in the prestigious SABRE (Superior Achievement in Branding, Reputation, and Engagement) Innovator 25 list by globally respected PRovoke Media. Moreso, she is called one of the Top 10 Women in PR by Women in PR Ghana and listed by Avance Media among the 50 Most Influential Young Ghanaians in Leadership and Civil Society.



Cynthia is currently the Group Head of Marketing and Corporate Affairs at Hollard Ghana. Previously, she held senior roles at top advertising and communications agencies and worked in the USA, UK and pan-Africa. Consulting, she coordinated local and international projects, some funded by Rockefeller Foundation and CGAP/World Bank.



Cynthia is the Board Chair for the Springboard Roadshow Foundation and serves on several boards, including the executive council of the Institute of Public Relations Ghana.



She is an Accredited Public Relations Professional (APR) with an MA in Professional Communication from Clemson University, USA, and a BA in Economics from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.



About Hollard Ghana



Hollard is the country's favourite insurance group, with subsidiaries Hollard Insurance and Hollard Life Assurance. The group combines its deep local knowledge of the market, having operated for 25 years as Metropolitan Insurance, with the world-class expertise of an international brand in 18 countries worldwide. With feet firmly planted on Ghanaian soil but headquartered in South Africa, Hollard delivers cutting-edge solutions customised to unique risks. Through its subsidiaries, the group offers different life and general insurance products, including funeral, personal accident, motor, business, travel, home, and more, and can be reached via the following means: 0501603967 (Hollard Insurance) and 0501533698 (Hollard Life). Beyond various nationwide office branches and Hollard 2U franchise shops. Find Hollard at Shell Fuel Station Welcome Shops, Melcom stores and online at www.hollard.com.gh, www.melcom.com/hollard-insurance and www.jumia.com.gh.





Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Akufo-Addo administration has said it has so far paid an amount of $3.6 billion in the past seven years for the alleged ENI Sankofa gas pipeline deal signed by the Mahama administration.



Director of Public Affairs at the Ghana National Gas Company Limited (GNGC), Ernest Owusu Bempah who was briefing journalists in Accra on Tuesday, November 1, 2022, said that the contract was the most expensive gas contract in the whole world.



On a monthly basis, he explained, Ghana is paying $46 million, making it $552 million yearly.



This contract, he intimated, was also signed for 20 to 25 years.



The Akufo-Addo government had no choice but to continue with the contract when it came into office because of the terms and conditions, he said.



This contract was signed for 20 to 25 years, monopoly for that period and the IMF questioned it, he said.



We wouldnt be going to the IMF but for some of these reckless dubious contracts signed by the Mahama administration, he stressed.



Mr Owusu Bempah further explained that the contract is partly to blame for the current economic challenges facing the country.



The government is unable to reduce the cost of electricity for thermal generation, he stressed.



Former President Mahama signed the agreement with ENI and Vitol Energy at a ceremony at the Peduase lodge near Aburi in 2015



This was, at the time, probably the biggest single largest foreign direct investment in West Africa and indeed Ghana since independence.



The project was situated in the Western region.



The oil production from the offshore cape three points was estimated at eighty thousand barrels per day.



Recently, the World Bank Country Director(Ghana), Pierre Frank Laporte mentioned losses in the energy sector of the economy as one of the challenges that forced Ghana into a situation where it is now seeking support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).



Mr Bempah referred to a recent interview with the country's World Bank chief Mr Laporte indicated that losses in the energy sector are compounding the challenges.



The big issue has been on the fiscal side. Before the current crisis happened, we observed certain challenges on the budget side that really have been the area more hit by everything. Also where actions are required now to deal with them.



For instance, on the revenue side, we have always been saying that this is an area where Ghana should do better. We are encouraged by the fact that this should be one of the areas for potential programmes and support from the World Bank. The problem is fiscal, not just revenue.



The problem is that there are also spillovers from other sectors. For instance, the energy sector. There are about one billion dollars going to the energy sector because of losses. The sector itself is not financially viable and to keep it going you have to subsidize.



Actions are required. Of course with Covid, the general business environment is been a bit more difficult.

Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/peacefmonline.com/ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Automobile Dealers Union (ADUG) has described as fake a letter indicating that they plan on embarking on a demonstration.



A statement purported to be from the Union and signed by the General Secretary of the Union, Benjamin Owusu Yankey, threatened to go on demonstration if President Akufo-Addo don't dismiss Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta.



The impact of exchange rates are really having a devastating effect on businesses, and all our investments are going down the drain...we are giving the President two weeks ultimatum if he fails to release Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta from his position as the Finance Minister of the Republic of Ghana, we will stage a huge demonstration against him (H. E. Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo) on November 19, 2022, at 8:00 am, at Obra Spot, Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra, portions of the statement read.



However, Eddie Kusi Ankomah, CEO of Erata Motors in an interview on Peace FM's morning show 'Kokrokoo' said the Union has not planned to embark on any demonstration.



"We've never held any meeting on this...the one claiming to be the General Secretary; no one knows him. We've never planned to go on demonstration...we sell cars and we are not into politics and so we can't command the President to sack Ken Ofori Atta. The letter is fake...no one intends to embark on any demonstration" he indicated.



"We apologize to the President," he stated.



Listen to him in the video below





Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/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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Scientists say that an invasive species of malaria-carrying mosquito from Asia has spread to Africa, where it poses a particular threat to city-dwellers.



In Africa, where the majority of global deaths from malaria occur, the disease is mostly spread by a mosquito specific to rural areas.



But the Anopheles stephensi species of mosquito, which is responsible for most of the cases seen in Indian and Iranian cities, breeds in urban water supplies - and is resistant to most insecticides in common use.



The mosquito has already caused cases in Djibouti and Ethiopia to rise, seriously complicating efforts to eradicate the disease.



Researchers say that if it spreads widely in Africa it could put nearly 130 million people at risk.

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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Bernard Allotey Jacobs has blamed the current petroleum price increases on the defunct Tema Oil Refinery (TOR).



Speaking on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" morning show about unrelenting price hikes in fuel and other petroleum products which have become a major burden to vehicle drivers and passengers, affecting transport fares and so forth, Allotey Jacobs believed the situation would be different and better if TOR were functioning.



The politician cum Social Commentator, in addressing the TOR issue, hinted that very soon the company will be in the hands of scrap dealers.



"In about two/three years time, TOR will be scraps for scrap dealers . . . if TOR were so active [economically active], would petrol price come to this point?", he told host Kwami Sefa Kayi.



TOR



Since 1963, TOR has been the engine of growth for Ghanas economy in the vision of successive governments efforts at having a vibrant and robust energy sector.



But the Ghanas only refinery has over the years been plagued with funding challenges resulting in several shutdowns.



The company has run into huge debts that successive governments, in order to rescue the company, have had to institute a recovery debt levy to offset its indebtedness.



This notwithstanding, TOR is currently dysfunctional.





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 Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Professor Emeritus Stephen Adei, has intimated that the government's measures to get the country out of the current economic hardship are insufficient.



According to Prof Adei, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo failed to announce measures that would give hope and take the country out of the current economic situation.



In a TV3 interview monitored by GhanaWeb, the ex-NDPC chairman said that if he were the president, he would immediately review some of the government's flagship policies, including the Free SHS policy, and cut down the size of the government drastically.



"There is something we call leadership communication I think that the fact that the president has not reshuffled his government up to now is not good. It is not good for him, for the perception of the government being more of a state capture.



"Even if the minister of finance has to go, it should not be let the minister of finance go and let somebody replace him. There must be clear restructuring. If I were president, I would give Ghanaians a Christmas package. And that will be concluding the IMF one (negotiations) via change in my government, bringing down the numbers of ministers and everything.



"Mahama was talking about 60 or 65 (ministers); I think that Ghana can be ruled by 40 ministers, then you are showing that you are serious about the challenges," he said.



President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, during his address on Sunday, admitted that times are hard economically and that his government is working assiduously to provide relief to the citizenry.



He stressed in an address on the economy that his administration was ready to work towards restoring and resetting the economy on the path of progress and stability.



These views were contained in his October 30, 2022, address to the nation on the state of the economy.



"For us, in Ghana, our reality is that our economy is in great difficulty. The budget drawn for the 2022 fiscal year has been thrown out of gear, disrupting our balance of payments and debt sustainability, and further exposing the structural weaknesses of our economy.



"We are in a crisis; I do not exaggerate when I say so. I cannot find an example in history when so many malevolent forces have come together at the same time," he added.



"But, as we have shown in other circumstances, we shall turn this crisis into an opportunity to resolve not just the short-term, urgent problems but the long-term structural problems that have bedevilled our economy.



"I urge us all to see the decision to go to the International Monetary Fund in this light," he stressed.







Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Ghanaian Academic and Research Network (GARNET) and the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Ghana (CARLIGH) have agreed to cooperate towards the delivery of relevant infrastructure and interoperable open

scholarly services to enhance the delivery of research, teaching and learning in higher education institutions in Ghana.



The two organisations have signed a memorandum of understanding to guide their steps in this cooperation. The signing ceremony was held at the LIBSENSE National Open Science Symposium in Accra on October 19, 2022 The move by GARNET and CARLIGH demonstrates their alignment with trends in scientific research and scholarly publishing championed by the open access and open science movements.



Under this cooperation, the two organisations, with the support of the Library Support for Embedded NREN Services and E-infrastructure (LIBSENSE) and the West and Central African Research and Education Network (WACREN), will explore the use of federated identities to simplify access to academic and research services. When realised, all libraries, researchers and students under the GARNET, CARLIGH umbrella will have a single sign-on credential to access library resources and services across Africa and the World.



Under this MoU, the two organisations will also explore the provision of national platforms for repositories and scholarly publishing, data management services and storage, library management systems, learning management systems and other systems relevant to their respective communities.



GARNET and CARLIGH have also agreed to cooperate on capacity building to enhance the skillset and delivery of academic services and explore ways of improving membership to ensure quality service delivery to their communities.

It is expected that the outputs of the efforts by the two organisations will foster robust, open science practices and culture within Ghana's research and education landscape.



About GARNET



GARNET is a not-for-profit organization open to all accredited tertiary institutions in Ghana including research and educational institutions, Libraries and teaching hospitals. It is established for the purpose of promoting research collaboration among researchers and educators locally and internationally. The Vision of GARNET is to build and operate a World-Class Network Infrastructure and services to link all the Ghanaian Research and Education community to support teaching, learning and research among all public and private institutions of higher education in Ghana, and by extension, connect its members to the Global Research and Education Network communities. Currently, GARNET has close to 40 members. See here https://garnet.edu.gh/ for more information on GARNET.



About CARLIGH



The Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Ghana (CARLIGH) was founded in 2004 to ensure continued availability and access to library and information resources as well as to conduct training for members. It envisions to be a centre of excellence in all formats for teaching, learning research activities in Ghana. CARLIGH has 42 members, including public and private universities, technical university libraries among others. More information on CARLIGH here - https://www.carligh.org/



About LIBSENSE



LIBSENSE (Library Support for Embedded NREN Services and E-infrastructure) is a WACREN-led programme aimed at building a community of practice for open science and progressing the adoption of open science services and infrastructures in Africa. This Africa-wide programme provides an avenue through which different stakeholder communities collaborate to define priority activities, share knowledge, and develop relevant services. LIBSENSE is making strides towards advancing open science through strengthening and expanding services at the institutional, national, regional and continental levels. Read more about LIBSENSE here - https://libsense.ren.africa/en

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
Mr Daniel Mpeng Bayoi, a portfolio Management Officer at the African Development Bank (AfDB), says the financial institution will continue to support Ghanas development agenda, particularly, in the cocoa sector to grow the industry and improve the lives of cocoa farmers.



Such support, he added, is in line with the development banks drive to play a leading role in Africa's economic transformation.



Mr Bayoi said this when a delegation from AfDB and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) was led on a tour to assess the progress of the ongoing cocoa rehabilitation exercise at Sefwi Wiawso in the Western North Region.



The team also visited some nursery sites and other projects being jointly funded by the two development partners.



In 2020, AfDB, JICA and other co-financiers signed a facility with Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to support various projects within Ghanas cocoa industry. The projects primarily targeted support for cocoa productivity through infrastructure support to cocoa value addition and consumption.



Mr Bayoi said the Loan Facility given to COCOBOD for projects within the cocoa sector has begun to pay off and expressed pleasure at the effort made by COCOBOD to improve the industry.



Coming to the field has given us an opportunity to experience the tangible impact of the intervention funded with the facility, he emphasized.



The Acting Executive Director of the Cocoa Health and Extension Division (CHED), Rev. Edwin Afari, who led the delegation to the farms in the Aboagyekrom and Boako Districts, said the Management of COCOBOD is keen on restoring all cocoa farms affected by the Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease (CSSVD) to increase the country's production and thanked the team for solidly rallying behind the Board in that regard.



Pointing to one of the treated farms, Rev Afari said, This farm is 65.65 hectares and COCOBOD has managed it for the past two years, aside the cocoa you see on the farm, there are other economic trees and the farmer is benefiting greatly because of the financial investments given to us by your outfit.



The team again was at a 100-hectare Plantain Sucker Nursery site owned by Kumad Afarinik in the Dadieso District to inspect the progress of work at the site. The site is one of the sources of suckers for the rehabilitation and replanting process.



Professor Ofosu-Budu, who received the delegation explained that the plantain suckers are planted to serve as temporary shade trees for newly transplanted cocoa seedlings on farms during the rehabilitation, adding that they also serve as alternative livelihoods for farmers as the cocoa grows.



The plantains we nurse here are given to the farmers free of charge to plant. When they harvest, they sell them for extra income while COCOBOD continues to manage the farms for 2 years as part of the programme, he noted.



The delegation also had the opportunity to interact with some beneficiary cocoa farmers in the Boako District. The farmers expressed their gratitude to COCOBOD and the financiers for contributing positively to the sustenance of the sector.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
Last year, over 15 communities in the Anloga District and Ketu South Municipality of the Volta Region were hit by tidal waves.

The affected communities were Fuveme, Dzita, Akplorwortor, Agbledomi, Atsiteki, Anyanui, Atokor in the Anloga District, and Amutinu, Salakorpe in the Ketu South Municipality respectively.



A year after the incident, the residents say they have not seen anything being done to protect them against a future reoccurrence of the disaster.



In November last year, many structures including newly constructed schools were affected by the tidal waves.



A local guesthouse and lodging place called 'Meet Me There African Home Lodge', a healthcare centre and several other houses were rendered uninhabitable.



The main road along the stretch was covered with sea water, making vehicular and human traffic difficult.





Farms were also not spared, as many of them, were submerged. At Anyanui for instance, tomato and cassava farms were also destroyed, a situation which affected agricultural production in the area.



A year after the incident which forced many of the residents to vacate the affected areas, nothing concrete has been done.



Some of the residents have called for the construction of a sea defence wall to protect them and prevent a situation where they will have to lose the land they have occupied for so many years.



'We need a sea defence wall. Lives and properties must be protected in our area.'

Those were the words of Mr Sylvester Kumawu last year. He is the assembly member for Amutinu-Salakope, one of the communities hit by the tidal waves in the Ketu South municipality in the Volta Region.



He said life had been very tough for the affected families, and that what was required was a long-term solution to the problem.



The tidal waves disrupted the economic activities of the people and affected the peoples health, education and other daily engagements.



For months, over 1,000 residents of Agavedzi, Adina, Amutinu and Salakope in about 135 homes were affected and rendered homeless by the ravaging sea, which kept swallowing homes and destroying property.



Amplified call



The amplified call for a sea defence wall in the affected area appears to have become urgent because the sea  which used to be 500 metres away from human settlements  is now about 100 metres closer to the people.



The tidal waves became intense from 2015, for which reason the government signed a contract with Amadi Company Limited for a sea defence project.



The first phase of the project, which commenced in 2016, tackled the coastal stretch from Havedzie/Horvi-Blekusu-Agavedzi, which at the time was at the mercy of the destructive force of the waves.



The second phase was to be from Agavedzi-Salakope-Amutinu-Adina to other coastal communities.



The repercussions of the annual tidal waves have always been disastrous, although no casualty is recorded.



The Keta-Aflao road in the area is currently on the verge of being swept away by the sea, threatening to leave the communities trapped between the sea and the Keta Lagoon.



The peoples fear



The people fear that if the sea takes away the Keta-Aflao road around the area where the communities are located, it could further take away the main Accra-Aflao ECOWAS road if the sea defence wall is not constructed within the next two months.



To the people of the area, the only solution to the problem was a sea defence wall to protect residents of the affected communities.











Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
The family of a man who was allegedly killed by some police personnel at Adomfe, in the Asante Akyem South Municipality of the Ashanti Region, have filed a GH10 million suit against the Inspector General of Police, COP Dr. George Akuffo Dampare; the Ghana Police Service, and the Attorney General.



The suit, according to a report by The Chronicle newspaper, is jointly filed with nine others.



Stating the details available to it, the newspaper said that the deceased man, 33-year-old Kofi Ampomah, was allegedly seized by nine police officers on October 15, 2022, just after he had closed from work.



Further details said that upon his seizure, the police officers allegedly assaulted him by using pepper spray on him, after which they butchered him with cutlasses or machetes.



The police are then said to have left the man unattended.



Maxwell Boamah, who is said to be a customary successor of the late Kofi Ampomah, is also reported to have said that the body of the deceased was handled like an animal by the officers from the Konongo Division of the Ghana Police Service.



The police finally dumped the deceased at Konongo Odumasi Government Hospital and lied that he had been killed by armed robbers, details of the writ said.



The report added that the family of the deceased is filing a suit for GH10 million as compensation that will be used for the education, maintenance, upkeep, and trauma suffered by the dependants of the deceased.



Why Kofi Ampomah was killed?



The Chronicle newspaper explained that Boamah, the relative of the deceased, said that Kofi was mistaken for a young man who had allegedly reported the defendants (the nine policemen) to the Bompata police for apparently releasing a woman.



The woman, it added, was allegedly selling local gin mixed with a substance suspected to be Indian hemp to the public.



He averred that the police, on two different occasions, arrested and released the woman in question after extorting GH3,000 and GH4,000 respectively from her, the report said.



Police officers named in the writ:



According to the writ, the following are the names of the officers alleged to have been involved in the death of Kofi Ampomah:



General Sergeant Suleman Seidu (Sully Seidu), G/CPL Seth Agbango (Seth Agbango), D/L/CPL Salifu Yakubu, G/SGT Samuel Awrjamb, G/SGT Opare Samuel (Opare Samuel Antwi), D/CPL James Astikson Mensah (James Mensah), G/CPL Nyame Hayford, G/CPL Emmanuel Divines Delasi (Delasi Divine), and G/L/CPL Samuel Kwame Gorman (Gorman Samuel).



Additionally, the writ has named the IGP, COP Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, and the AG, Godfred Dame, jointly in the case.



About the late Kofi Ampomah:



Details contained in the writ showed that the deceased was a Sprinter 'trotro' driver who plied his trade along the Adomfe to Kumasi Road.







Source: ghanaweb.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
The Executive Director of Crime Check Foundation (CCF), Ibrahim Oppong Kwarteng who lost his wife to breast cancer seeks answers to whether a Covid-19 injection his late spouse took triggered the disease.



Mr. Kwarteng in his narration of how his wife, Amina Oppong Kwarteng died, said she complained of a lump in her left breast three weeks after she had gone for a Covid-19 jab.



Whiles speaking in an interview with Radio Ghana, it baffled him how in a few weeks her healthy wifes condition deteriorated so fast that she did not survive despite her treatment in one of the countries with the experts in curing cancers.



By the time she went to the hospital for treatment, her lymph nodes which fight against diseases had been damaged, he indicated.



Mr. Kwarteng wants an investigation into who and what category of persons could go for the injection.



Could it be that there is a category of people who must be eligible for the Covid jab? I think it is worth digging deeper because I suspect the injection triggered the disease. Lets investigate further the composition of people who should take the jab, said.



However, Mr. Kwartengs consolation has been his lead in the fight against the disease, which gave him a big blow.



The vision of his wife whiles she was in her sick bed mounting an unending fight against breast cancer, according to him, has cemented his motivation to save the lives of patients who cannot afford treatment.



This birthed the Meena Breast Cancer Foundation (MBCF).



Cancer is very destructive. It does not matter if you have money when the damage has been caused already. It is not all about the money though we need to support the passion and the drive to create awareness of the deadly disease.



With passion, the support will follow so we are keeping the momentum across the country. Taking up my wifes dreams and vision to help needy patients consolidates my motivation to go all out, he said.



The MBCF has begun a sensitization and screening outreach in Senior High Schools across the country.





Source: ghanaweb.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
Police in Tepa in the Ahafo Ano North district of the Ashanti region has arrested Tepa-Danyame New Patriotic Party(NPP) Polling station Chairman for murder.



Kwaku Seidu alias Kukrudu believed to be in his 50s shot his wife over a disputed family land he attempted to sell to settle his debt and provide money for the family upkeep a week ago.



Kwaku Siedus two wives, upon hearing their husband's decision, reported him to the Danyame Zongo Chief Nana Mazua.



Provoked by the action taken by his wives, the NPP chairman pulled a short gun in front of the Zongo Chief in his Palace and shot one of his wives identified as Sister Adwoa dead right in front of his family members while settling the misunderstanding between them.



Frederick Nyamekye, assembly member for the Danyame electoral area said angry community members provoked by the NPP Chairmans action, almost lynched him. He was, however, saved by the timely intervention of the police from the Tepa district command.



He is currently under arrest and admitted at the Tepa government hospital for treatment under police surveillance following the assault.



The lifeless body of the deceased mother of three is deposited at the hospitals morgue for preservation.





Source: starrfm.com.gh









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
The Director of Caritas and Socio-economic Development of the Arch Diocese of Cape Coast, Very Rev. Father Stephen Amoah Gyasi, has humbly called on President Akufo-Addo to step down if he cannot fight the galamsey activities with all the power vested in him.



The priest was worried about the deteriorating state of the river bodies, which has negatively impacted the Agric sector, making it difficult for farmers to use this water for their food crops.



He made the statement in an interview with Kwame Owusu Asante Shadrack of Angel News during a collaboration with the Rotary Club of Canada, which Commissioned a Mechanized borehole worth 10,000 dollars at Assin Domeabra in the Assin South District.



The project, according to the club, will benefit a population of over 1,200 who have been struggling to get portable water in the area.



It is so pathetic how our water bodies have been destroyed as a result of the galamsey activities. When you mentioned the name Assin Fosu, it was first known by the River Pra, but as it stands currently, one cannot fetch water from the same river to even water crops.



I believe that when theres an elderly person in the house, and he overlooks wrongdoing, he becomes the first that comes to mind whenever the wrongdoers are being counted. So, therefore, it is time we all showed interest in the fight because we all have a role to play to ensure we end it, he said.



According to Rev. Father Stephen Amoah Gyasi, the president, in his capacity, has the mandate to stop the practice because the powers vested in him cover everything in the country, including the lands in which these activities are being carried.



He was, however, quick to indicate that If he [Akufo-Addo] cannot do that, then he should give back the votes we gave him so that we find someone who can do that job. When you are given a position, and you cannot possess it well, then



He used the opportunity to ask other stakeholders, such as Chiefs, Religious bodies, and government officials, to join forces to bring a halt to the galamsey menace to protect water bodies.



A member of the Rotary Club of Canada who funded the project, Kim Spirou, noted she was surprised by how people struggle to access water for their household chores whiles the situation was different in Canada.



She revealed that the project is her 53rd water project under her leadership in the Central Region and pledged to do more until everybody in the region gets access to good drinking water.



The elated residents thanked Rotary Club for their support of the water project and promised to maintain it to achieve its purpose.





Source: ghanaweb.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
In an expanding exodus of Twitter's top management, officials including its advertising and marketing chiefs left the company in the past few days, according to statements and a person with direct knowledge of the matter.



The departures come after billionaire Elon Musk's $44 billion takeover of the company last week, followed by his firing of CEO Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde, Reuters reported, citing sources.



Sarah Personette, who was chief customer officer and ad boss, tweeted on Tuesday that she resigned last week, adding to advertisers' uncertainty over how the social media company will change under Musk.



Chief People and Diversity Officer Dalana Brand announced on Tuesday in a LinkedIn post that she had resigned last week as well. General manager for core technologies Nick Caldwell confirmed his departure on Twitter, changing his profile bio to "former Twitter exec" by Monday night.



Chief marketing officer Leslie Berland, Twitter's head of product Jay Sullivan, and its vice president of global sales, Jean-Philippe Maheu, have also left, a person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. It was not immediately clear whether they quit or were asked to leave.



Berland tweeted a blue heart but did not give details.



Caldwell declined further comment. The other five did not respond to requests for comment.



Multiple employees who spoke with Reuters said they continue to receive little communication about the future of the company. An all-staff meeting that was scheduled for Wednesday was canceled, following the cancellation by Twitter of a check-in call last week.



Musk's team is meeting with advertisers this week in New York, as the company's increasingly skittish customers raise alarms about the potential for harmful content to appear next to their ads.



Hateful content has skyrocketed since Musk closed the deal. Use of the n-word has increased by nearly 500% on Twitter, said the Network Contagion Research Institute, which identifies "cyber-social threats."



A coalition of more than 40 advocacy organizations including the NAACP and Free Press sent an open letter to Twitter's top 20 advertisers on Tuesday, asking them to pull their ads if Musk guts content moderation on the platform.



Mediabrands, a unit of ad holding company IPG, has advised its clients to pause advertising on Twitter for the next week until the company gives more details about its plans to protect trust and safety on the platform, according to a source familiar with the matter.



IPG works with major advertisers like Coca-Cola.



Musk has attempted to reassure advertisers. "Twitter's commitment to brand safety is unchanged," he tweeted on Monday.



He previously said he would reverse Twitter's ban on former President Donald Trump, who was kicked off because of concerns he could incite further violence after the U.S. Capitol riot last year.



Reporting by Sheila Dang in Dallas and Katie Paul in Palo Alto; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, Sayantani Ghosh and Leslie Adler









Source: Reuters









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
A planned strike by pilots at Kenya Airways (KQNA.NR) would jeopardise the airline's recovery from the pandemic and would be unjustified, the company's board said on Wednesday.



KALPA, a union that represents more than 400 pilots at the carrier, issued a notice that is set to trigger a strike at midnight on Wednesday over a dispute involving pensions, accrued back salaries and other complaints.



"None of the grievances advanced by KALPA merits an industrial strike," the board said in a statement, adding all pay deals with unions must reflect the company's effort to return to profit.



"It (a strike) will delay and disrupt the financial recovery," the board added.



In a separate statement, Kenya Airways put estimated losses if the strike goes ahead at 300 million shillings ($2.5 million) per day.



KALPA, which has been ordered by a court not to proceed with the strike, declined to comment. Muriithi Nyaga, its general secretary, told Reuters the union would issue a statement when it was ready to.



If the strike goes ahead, it will paralyse travel in one of Africa's key aviation hubs, which serves business and leisure travellers. Kenya Airways ferried an average of 8,000 passengers every day in the first half of this year.



The union is demanding the airline restarts contributions to its staff pension fund, stopped during the pandemic, and the payment of all back salaries that were accrued at the time.



Like other airlines, Kenya Airways grounded its fleet and deferred pay for workers when the pandemic took hold.



The board said it had been making progress, with all workers now getting full pay every month and some extra cash towards gradually settling the deferred pay.



Nyaga did not comment on that or the court injunction against the planned strike. The union is also demanding the sacking of the airline's CEO Allan Kilavuka.



The board said it had full confidence in Kilavuka.



The financial turmoil at Kenya Airways preceded the pandemic. The airline sank into heavy losses after it took on huge debts to purchase new aircraft, at a time when its passenger business slumped mainly due to frequent militant attacks in Kenya.













Source: Reuters









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
Seasoned Journalist, Kwesi Pratt Jnr. says President Nana Akufo-Addo missed some relevant points during his nation address on the economic challenges facing Ghanaians.



The President on Sunday, October 30, 2022 assured the citizenry that his government is tackling the economic problems and believed they will soon be relieved of the hardships.



Highlighting some measures the government is undertaking to address the plight of the populace, the President said; "We are in a crisis, I do not exaggerate when I say so. I cannot find an example in history when so many malevolent forces have come together at the same time. But, as we have shown in other circumstances, we shall turn this crisis into an opportunity to resolve not just the short-term, urgent problems, but the long-term structural problems that have bedeviled our economy.



"I urge us all to see the decision to go to the International Monetary Fund in this light. We have gone to the Fund to repair, in the short term, our public finances, and restore our balance of payments, whilst we continue to work on the medium to long-term structural changes that are at the heart of our goal of constructing a resilient, robust Ghanaian economy, and building a Ghana Beyond Aid.



"I am able to report to you, my fellow Ghanaians, that the negotiations to secure a strong IMF Programme, which will support the implementation of our Post COVID-19 Programme for Economic Growth and additional funding to support the 2023 Budget and development programme, are at advanced stages, and are going well."



But to Mr. Pratt, the President should have touched on the concerns of the Members of Parliament and Ghanaians about the Finance Minister and the size of his government.



According to him, sacking the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta and reducing his government size is not the solution to the economic problems, however it will give the people hope that he (President Nana Addo) is paying attention to them and is serious about resolving the economic challenges.



Speaking to host Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM's morning show "Kokrokoo", Mr. Pratt explained that the President should, for aesthetics purposes, heed the calls to dismiss the Finance Minister and minimize the number of his Ministers.



"Sometimes, something is not the real foundation but it helps in terms of public perception and so on. I believe those calling for the dismissal of Ken Ofori-Atta, Charles Adu Boahen and saying the number of Ministers should be reduced are not saying it because that's the solution to the problem, because it is not the solution to the problem, but it helps with aesthetics. It gives people the confidence that the government is concerned about their grievances and wants to do something about it. That is the context . . ." he stated.







Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Suame MP and Majority Leader, has explained portions of a statement he signed, in which President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo pleaded with some Majority MPs to allow Ken Ofori-Atta conclude Ghana's negotiations with the IMF and present the 2023 budget. The appeal came after the majority MPs organised a press conference to demand the finance minister's removal from office.



According to the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, the president when he met the Majority MPs did not categorically say he will dismiss Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, and Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Charles Adu Boahen, after the IMF negotiations and 2023 Budget reading and appropriation.



He explained in a Joy News interview monitored by GhanaWeb that, the President did not say that. To quote his words, he said lets finish with this, the IMF and the budget thereafter, we should hold on until after these."



Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu continued that the president's statement could result in an 'either or' decision.



It could be. I mean, either of them is subject to interpretations that okay hold on after the events then we come back and discuss, or hold on after the event I will act.



I will act may not necessarily mean that I will do that. According to what the President told us, you hold on untilso it could be that Ill come back to consider it or Ill give in to your demands.



The plea was - hold on until after these events, the IMF discussions and the budget. In fact, I even added when there appeared to be some unclarity about what happens after the presentation of the budget, I said no if the budget is presented by a person, youd require that same person to shepherd the appropriations.



And that is how come for the avoidance of doubt I said let us include the appropriation so that theres no doubt in anybodys mind that after the budget has been read then agitations will start again, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu noted.



About 95 NPP MPs demanded the immediate dismissal of the Finance Minister.



The MPs at a press conference stated that the continuous stay of Ken Ofori-Atta in office was delaying the IMF bailout the country is seeking due to the fact that the Minister has lost all credibility.



They demanded the President to either remove him or face a boycott of his business in Parliament.



The President, however, appealed to them for more time for the embattled Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to conclude negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) before any talks of resignation.

Source: Ghanab.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
James Kwabena Bomfeh, a former Acting General Secretary of the Convention People's Party (CPP), has rubbished the calls on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to take responsibility for Ghana's economic turmoil.



Some critics, after listening to the President's address on the economy televised on Sunday, October 30, 2022, say they are disappointed in him because he didn't admit his faults with regard to how he is running the economy.



To them, the President should have rendered an apology to Ghanaians to show remorse for the difficulties that the citizenry are facing in their daily living.



But to James Kwabena Bomfeh, a.k.a Kabilla, the President owes no one such apology.



Discussing the President's address during Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" programme, he questioned the critics' logic in blaming President Nana Akufo-Addo as he wondered if the President is the cause of the crises that have devastated the country.



"Should the President say he is the cause of COVID? Should the President be blamed for the senseless invasion of Ukraine by Russia? Should the President admit that he advised Putin to do that?", he further asked.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
Former Minister for Central Region, Kwamena Duncan, has charged Ghanaians to be resolute in their faith that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will salvage the economy.



Speaking on Peace FM's morning show 'Kokrokoo', Kwamena Duncan hailed the President on his nation address on Sunday, October 30, 2022 on the state of Ghana.



The Minister believed the President touched on all salient areas affecting Ghanaians and well-outlined how his government is going to restore the economy to bring relief to the grieving Ghanaians.



To him, what the citizens need to do following the President's assurance of a better Ghana under his administration is to rally behind him to realize this vision.



"Let's not do anything that will draw the progress we intend to make to overcome this difficulty [this challenge], will draw this progress back," he said.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
The aspiring General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Dr. Peter Boamah Otokunor has said he has no intention to step down from the race to be General Secretary should there be any approach for him to do so.



According to him, he is the next General Secretary, and nobody can stop him from contesting.



In an interview with Nimatu Yakubu Atouyese, he said nobody can bribe or persuade him from contesting.



It is not true (I have been asked to step down). I have picked nominations. I am the next General Secretary of the NDC.



He also added that he is a stronger contender in the race, and although he is the youngest person vying for the position of the party, age is the least of the things that should be used to determine his capabilities.



Let me emphasize that the wisdom of Solomon has nothing to do with the age of Methuselah. You dont need to be old before you become efficient. Is Ghana huger than France? The Facebook that youre on, the internet that youre on, the website that you are on, they were all generated by young people, he said.











Source: ghanaweb.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
James Kwabena Bomfeh has urged President Nana Akufo-Addo to double up his efforts to curbing corruption.



According to him, the President's zeal to nip corruption in the bud has dwindled, hence giving Ghanaians little to no hope that he is committed to the fight.



The former Acting CPP General Secretary, popularly referred to as 'Kabila', made this submission while tackling President Nana Akufo-Addo's nation address on the economy.



Televised on Sunday, October 30, 2022, the President reiterated his commitment to making the lives of Ghanaians better.



"We are in a crisis, I do not exaggerate when I say so. I cannot find an example in history when so many malevolent forces have come together at the same time. But, as we have shown in other circumstances, we shall turn this crisis into an opportunity to resolve not just the short-term, urgent problems, but the long-term structural problems that have bedeviled our economy.



"I urge us all to see the decision to go to the International Monetary Fund in this light. We have gone to the Fund to repair, in the short term, our public finances, and restore our balance of payments, whilst we continue to work on the medium to long-term structural changes that are at the heart of our goal of constructing a resilient, robust Ghanaian economy, and building a Ghana Beyond Aid.



"I am able to report to you, my fellow Ghanaians, that the negotiations to secure a strong IMF Programme, which will support the implementation of our Post COVID-19 Programme for Economic Growth and additional funding to support the 2023 Budget and development programme, are at advanced stages, and are going well," he stated.



But Kabila is unenthused by the President's performance against corruption.



"One of the things that the President, today, will admit is that the excitement and the appeal that people got that he will bring a radical approach to fighting corruption, it is missing. We are not seeing it. If the President will step up within his 2-year term left to do something and show that he is taking steps with the fight against corruption, perceived or real, that alone apart from all that he has done will boost everything he is doing," he said while joining the Wednesday's panel on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' morning show.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
" " The U.S. Supreme Court in its official portrait Oct. 7, 2022. The court will hear two cases this term which could determine the fate of affirmative action in the U.S. Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. military learned a valuable lesson about race during the Vietnam War: Diversity does not happen without affirmative action.

That helps explain why a distinguished group of 35 military officials wrote a brief to the Supreme Court supporting the use of race as a part of college admissions  as the U.S. military has done at its four service academies over the last nearly 50 years.

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While the Supreme Court has agreed in the past that racial diversity on college campuses is an important goal, the problem is just how to achieve that goal without using race as a factor.

In two cases that are expected to determine the fate of affirmative action programs across the country, the court heard oral arguments Oct. 31, 2022, that could bring an end to using race as one of many factors in college admissions decisions.

Questions from the justices reflected the ideological divisions on the court. Conservative justices argued that race-based admissions policies had no defined end point.

"I don't see how you can say that the program will ever end," Chief Justice John Roberts said.

Associate Justice Clarence Thomas cut right to the point in his questions.

"I may be tone-deaf when it comes to all these other things that happen on campus, about feeling good and all that," Thomas said to one of the attorneys defending affirmative action. "I'm really interested in a simple thing: What benefits academically are there to your definition or the diversity that you're asserting."

In sharp contrast, liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor reminded the court that diversity was deemed an issue of national importance in previous rulings and that without such programs, the number of historically disadvantaged applicants decreases substantially.

"What we know," Sotomayor said about the nine states who have tried dropping affirmative action programs, "in each of them, white admissions have either remained the same or increased. And clearly, in some institutions, the numbers for underrepresented groups has fallen dramatically, correct?"
The South Korean government is facing serious scrutiny after a deadly crowd surge left 156 people dead and over 150 others injured  marking the countrys worst disaster in years.

Thousands of excited young people converged in Itaewon, the capitals vibrant nightlife district, on Saturday night to celebrate the first Halloween festivities since COVID restrictions had been lifted. However, excitement soon turned to terror when a crush developed in a narrow alley.

Onlookers, police and paramedics respond to the crowd crush in the popular nightlife district of Itaewon in Seoul, South Korea. (Jung Yeon-Je/AFP via Getty Images)

Local officials first heard of reports of people "buried" in the crowd. Footage from moments before the crowd crush shows people unable to move in the tightly packed street, and a short time later, emergency responders giving CPR on those lying on the street. Choi Seong-beom, a fire official, confirmed that many of the victims were women in their 20s. Of the 19 foreign nationals who died on Sunday, two were American.

South Koreas police chief admitted that officers did not effectively handle the emergency calls about the accident and said he felt a heavy responsibility for failing to prevent it. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol called for new safety measures to prevent disasters like this from happening in the future.

Why do crowd disasters happen?

Disasters such as crowd crushes can occur when too many people populate a narrow area. Speaking to Yahoo News, Ali Asgary, a professor of disaster and emergency management at Canadas York University, said that they can occur for a number of different reasons, including when there is no crowd management in place and when there is a perceived threat, like a fire.

Emergency services personnel transport a victim of the crowd crush in Seoul. (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

"'Group think,' is a key factor in causing crowd surges," Dr. Rami Hashish, a body performance and injury expert, explained. "This phenomenon happens when an individual, or a few individuals, performs an action, and the behavior is largely adapted by the crowd. Often the actions are somewhat irrational, such as surging forward or throwing miscellaneous items."

Story continues

What injuries happen during a crush?

As a result of too many people being in a tight space, three factors can cause an acceleration of injuries and in some cases, death, Hashish said.

As a result of overcrowding, heat levels rise, which can lead to increased fatigue and exhaustion, he said. People begin to panic, which elevates their heart rates and affects their breathing patterns. An overcrowded and collapsing crowd also places pressure on your chest, further affecting your ability to breathe, sometimes causing sporadic breathing, or in the worst cases  causing one to stop breathing.

People react after the crowd crush incident in Seoul. (Albert Retief/AFP via Getty Images)

According to a report conducted by the World Health Organization about key considerations for the public health of mass gatherings, there are two types of fatal consequences of crowding: trampling and crushing.

The report warns that planners must have a thorough understanding of crowd behavior and the relevant safety systems. The combination of high crowd density and difficult access points is a major risk factor for a catastrophic stampede or trampling disaster.

How can people protect themselves if they find themselves in this situation?

The best advice to avoid finding yourself in this type of situation is to not follow the crowd, Hashish said. It is also important to be aware of your surroundings and have a plan, so I also advise individuals to become familiar with the area they are in and try to identify an exit route upon arrival, should the crowd, or event, become dangerous.

Lastly, try to remain calm and control your breathing to save energy and prevent fatigue, he added.

What is the worst crowd crush in history?

Unfortunately, accidents like these have become more common in recent years. The most infamous was in 1990 when around 1,400 Muslim pilgrims died in a stampede in the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The crush occurred when some people stopped in the middle of an air-conditioned tunnel and others outside in the 112-degree heat began to push in to get relief, the New York Times reported at the time. Since then, there have been five more accidents that have occurred during the yearly hajj, or Islamic pilgrimage, in Saudi Arabia.

Incidents around the world and in the U.S.

Other infamous crushes have taken place in the U.K. and Indonesia.

In 1989, 96 people died and at least 200 were injured after soccer fans flooded the standing section of a Sheffield, England, stadium that was nearly at full capacity. The tragedy became known as the Hillsborough disaster. Reports at the time claimed that stadium officials allowed fans to stream in without checking whether they had tickets.

The scene of the Station nightclub fire in West Warwick, R.I. (David L Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

However, there were attempts to blame the fans and defend the police in charge of the safety at the match. The families of the victims spent decades seeking justice for their loved ones. In 2016, an inquiry overturned the original ruling from a coroner that it was an accident. Six people, including police supervisor David Duckenfield, who was in charge of the safety of the event, were eventually handed criminal charges.

Earlier this month in Indonesia,125 people were killed, including a 5-year-old child, and 323 were injured when police threw tear gas into the crowd at a soccer stadium in a bid to stop people from invading the pitch. The tear gas triggered a stampede, Nico Afinta, the East Java police chief, said.

There have been several cases of stampedes and crushes across the U.S. In 2003, 100 died and 230 others were injured after a fire began in the Station nightclub in Rhode Island. It started when a bands tour manager set off four fireworks, causing people in the club to run toward the exit and resulting in a crush.

A buddhist monk pays tribute to the victims of the Halloween celebration disaster in Seoul, South Korea. (Chris Jung/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

One year ago, 10 people died and 300 others sustained injuries after a crowd surged at rapper Travis Scotts Astroworld music festival in Houston, Texas. A month later, a coroner's report stated that those who were killed died from compression asphyxia. At least two families of victims have settled their cases against Scott, Live Nation and other companies involved in the event.

Will they become more common in the future?

As the worlds population continues to rise and urbanization grows, Asgary said that these events will become a more common occurrence. Crowds are an urban issue for the most part and many of our urban spaces and mass gathering events can be subject to crowd disasters, he said. The larger events we have, the more compact our spaces are, the less resources we have and so we must manage the crowd or else these incidents may occur.

How can they be avoided?

Like many other disasters, crowd disasters are for the most part human-made and can be avoided with planning, management, awareness, compliance, training, and education, Asgary said. Avoiding crowd incidents and disasters should be a shared responsibility of government agencies at all levels, businesses, and individuals.
The figure depicts the deep ancestries of the ancient individuals of the Americas and archaic ancestry in ancient South America and Panama. The pie chart radius reflects the proportion of shared archaic ancestry in the individual. Credit: Florida Atlantic University

The Americas were the last continent to be inhabited by humans. An increasing body of archaeological and genomic evidence has hinted to a complex settlement process. This is especially true for South America, where unexpected ancestral signals have raised perplexing scenarios for the early migrations into different regions of the continent.

Many unanswered questions still persist, such as whether the first humans migrated south along the Pacific coast or by some other route. While there is archaeological evidence for a north-to-south migration during the initial peopling of the Americas by ancient Indigenous peoples, where these ancient humans went after they arrived has remained elusive.

Using DNA from two ancient human individuals unearthed in two different archaeological sites in northeast BrazilPedra do Tubarao and Alcobacaand powerful algorithms and genomic analyses, Florida Atlantic University researchers in collaboration with Emory University have unraveled the deep demographic history of South America at the regional level with some unexpected and surprising results.

Not only do researchers provide new genetic evidence supporting existing archaeological data of the north-to-south migration toward South America, they also have discovered migrations in the opposite direction along the Atlantic coastfor the first time. The work provides the most complete genetic evidence to date for complex ancient Central and South American migration routes.

The first southern North American groups entered South America and spread through the Pacific coast settling the Andes (yellow arrow). At least one population split occurred soon after, branching the first groups that settled the Atlantic coast (green arrow) from the groups that gave rise to the ancient populations of Southern Cone. New Migrations may have then emerged along the Atlantic Coast, with a possible origin around Lagoa Santa, heading north toward Northeast Brazil and Panama, and south to Uruguay. Eventually, Uruguay and Panama were linked by a south-to-north migration route closer to the Atlantic coast (purple double-headed arrow). Credit: Florida Atlantic University

Among the key findings, researchers also have discovered evidence of Neanderthal ancestry within the genomes of ancient individuals from South America. Neanderthals are an extinct population of archaic humans that ranged across Eurasia during the Lower and Middle Paleolithic.

Results of the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B : Biological Sciences, suggest that human movements closer to the Atlantic coast eventually linked ancient Uruguay and Panama in a south-to-north migration route5,277 kilometers (3,270 miles) apart. This novel migration pattern is estimated to have occurred approximately 1,000 years ago based on the ages of the ancient individuals.

Findings show a distinct relationship among ancient genomes from northeast Brazil, Lagoa Santa (southeast Brazil), Uruguay and Panama. This new model reveals that the settlement of the Atlantic coast occurred only after the peopling of most of the Pacific coast and Andes.

"Our study provides key genomic evidence for ancient migration events at the regional scale along South America's Atlantic coast," said Michael DeGiorgio, Ph.D., co-corresponding author who specializes in human, evolutionary, and computational genomics and is an associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science within FAU's College of Engineering and Computer Science. "These regional events likely derived from migratory waves involving the initial Indigenous peoples of South America near the Pacific coast."

Researchers used teeth from ancient samples collected in archeological sites in northeast Brazil. Teeth are especially important in ancient DNA analysis because of the excellent preservation of biomaterials within the tooth. Credit: Laboratorio de Arqueologia Biologica e Forense, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco

Researchers also found strong Australasian (Australia and Papua New Guinea) genetic signals in an ancient genome from Panama.

"There is an entire Pacific Ocean between Australasia and the Americas, and we still don't know how these ancestral genomic signals appeared in Central and South America without leaving traces in North America," said Andre Luiz Campelo dos Santos, Ph.D., first author, an archaeologist and a postdoctoral fellow in FAU's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

To further add to the existing complexity, researchers also detected greater Denisovan than Neanderthal ancestry in ancient Uruguay and Panama individuals. Denisovans are a group of extinct humans first identified from DNA sequences from the tip of finger bone discovered around 2008.

"It's phenomenal that Denisovan ancestry made it all the way to South America," says John Lindo, Ph.D., a co-corresponding author of the article who specializes in ancient DNA analysis and is an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at Emory University. "The admixture must have occurred a long time before, perhaps 40,000 years ago. The fact that the Denisovan lineage persisted and its genetic signal made it into an ancient individual from Uruguay that is only 1,500 years old suggests that it was a large admixture event between a population of humans and Denisovans."

The Alcobaca archaeological site, in which the skeletal remains of Brazil-12 (northeast Brazil) were unearthed. Credit: Henry Lavalle, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco and Ana Nascimento, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco

Previously at the Federal University of Pernambuco in Recife, Brazil, dos Santos and colleagues uncovered the remains of the two ancient humans from northeast Brazil, which date back to at least 1,000 years before present, and sent them to Lindo for DNA extraction and subsequent genomic sequencing and analyses. Raw data were then sent to FAU for computational analysis of the whole genome sequences from northeast Brazil.

Researchers compared the two newly sequenced ancient whole genomes from northeast Brazil with present-day worldwide genomes and other ancient whole genomes from the Americas. As of the publication date of the article, Lindo says that only a dozen or so ancient whole genomes from South America have been sequenced and published, in contrast to hundreds from Europe.

Apart from the occurrence of mass burials in the sites that yielded the samples from northeast Brazil, Uruguay, southeast Brazil and Panama, there is no other evidence in the archaeological record that indicate shared cultural features among them. Importantly, the analyzed ancient individuals from southeast Brazil are about 9,000 years older than those from northeast Brazil, Uruguay and Panama, enough time for expected and noticeable cultural divergence. Moreover, northeast Brazil, Uruguay and Panama, though more similar in age, are located thousands of kilometers apart from each other.

"This groundbreaking research involved many different fields from archaeology to biological sciences to genomics and data science," said Stella Batalama, Ph.D., dean, FAU College of Engineering and Computer Science. "Our scientists at Florida Atlantic University in collaboration with Emory University have helped to shed light on an important piece of the Americas puzzle, which could not have been solved without powerful genomic and computational tools and analysis."

Study co-authors are Amanda Owings, Ph.D., Emory University; Henry Socrates Lavalle Sullasi, Ph.D., Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil; and Omer Gokcumen, Ph.D., State University New York at Buffalo.
Felix Mauricio is a former fisherman who had built a life around a lake that is now gone.

An abandoned boat rests on the cracked earth where formerly it floated. Lake Poopo, once Bolivia's second-largest, has mostly disappearedtaking with it a centuries-old culture reliant entirely on its bounty.

Felix Mauricio, a member of the Uru Indigenous community, used to be a fisherman. Now 82, he gazes over a barren landscape and chews coca leaf to suppress the hunger pains.

"The fish were big. A small fish was three kilos," he recalls of the good old days.

At its peak in 1986, Lake Poopo spanned some 3,500 square kilometers (1,350 square miles)an area more than twice the size of Greater London.

But by the end of 2015 it had "fully evaporated" according to a European Space Agency timeline of satellite images tracking the lake's decline.

Scientific studies have blamed a confluence of factors, including climate change and water extraction for farming and mining in the area on the Bolivian high plains, some 3,700 meters above sea level.

"Here was the lake... It dried up quickly," Mauricio told AFP, kneeling in the dry bed and playing with a miniature wooden boat he had carved himselfpushing it around with a wistful look, like a kid lost in an imaginary world.

Mauricio has always lived in Punaca Tinta Maria, a village in the southwestern region of Oruro.

His grandparents settled in the area in 1915 at a time when the waters of Lake Poopo lapped at doorsteps and intermittently flooded huts.

Scientists have blamed a confluence of factors including climate change and water extraction for Bolivia's Lake Poopo's lake drying up.

No land either

Mauricio's is one of only seven families left in Punaca Tinta Maria, which used to have 84 of them, according to locals.

There are only about 600 members left of the Uru Indigenous communitywhich goes back thousands of years in Bolivia and Peruin Punaca Tinta Maria and the neighboring settlements of Llapallapani and Vilaneque, according to a 2013 survey.

"Many lived here before," said Cristina Mauricio, a resident of Punaca Tinta Maria who guesses her age at 50.

"They have left. There is no work."

Since 2015, rainfall has returned a shallow film of water to parts of the lake, but not enough to navigate or to hold the fish or water birds the Uruwho still call themselves "water people"used to catch and hunt.

With none of the lake's natural offerings left, the Uru have had to learn new skills, working today as bricklayers or miners, some growing quinoa or other small crops.

Lake Poopo was once the second-largest in Bolivia.

A major problem is that the Uru have little access to land.

Their villages are surrounded by members of another Indigenous community called the Aimara, who jealously guard the farmland they occupy with property titles from the government.

The state has announced plans to distribute land to the Uru as well, but the community claims most of it is infertile and useless.

'We have been orphaned'

What is left of the lake is largely an evaporated bed of salt the village's remaining residents had hoped would be Poopo's last gift to them.

They banded together and invested what little they managed to raise into equipment for a small plant to mine the salt and refine it.

But they hit an unforeseen snag: they could not find the $500 needed to buy bags to package the salt in.

The business has stalled.

"The Urus will disappear if we do not heed the warnings," senator Lindaura Rasguido of Bolivia's ruling MAS party said on a visit to the community in October.

What is left of the Lake Poopo is largely an evaporated bed of salt the village's few remaining residents had hoped would be the lake's last gift to them.

She and her delegation were met with traditional dancing and poems in a language very few still speak.

"Who thought the lake would dry up? Our parents trusted Lake Poopo... It had fish, birds, eggs, everything. It was our source of life," lamented Luis Valero, the spiritual leader of the Uru people of the region.

As his five children chased each other around an unused canoe grounded outside the family's mud hut, the 38-year-old mused: "We have been orphaned."

But Mauricio, wearing a traditional poncho and a hat made of totoraan indigenous reed from which boats used to be fashioned, still holds out hope that things will go back to how they were.

Staring at the bare soil where he once navigated through waves and wind, he told AFP the lake "will return. In five or six years' time, it will be back," he insisted, with more hope than confidence.

There are only about 600 members left around Lake Poopo of the Uru Indigenous community, which goes back thousands of years in Bolivia and Peru.

Luis Valero, spiritual leader of Bolivia's Uru people around Lake Poopo, said the lake used to hold everything the community needed.

Members of the Uru Indigenous community around dried-up Lake Poopo have had to find other ways of making a living.

A 2020 study in the journal Nature Reviews Earth & Environment said global annual mean lake evaporation rates are forecast to increase 16 percent by 2100.

And according to the UN, the number of people living in water-scarce areas will rise to between 2.7 and 3.2 billion people by 2050 from 1.9 billion in the early- to mid-2010s.

Natural disasters displaced 30.7 million people within their own countries in 2020, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.

 2022 AFP
Typical yellow mosaics on the leaves of a barley plant infected with the BaMMV virus in the greenhouse (left) in direct comparison with a healthy plant (right). Credit: IPK Leibniz Institute

Genome editing comes with great hopes for the improvement of crops in regards to the challenges posed by climate change, but also for breeding of disease resistance and an improved sustainability of agriculture.

A research team led by the IPK Leibniz Institute has now succeeded in modifying a gene in barley using the Cas9 gene scissors, making new resistances to important viruses available for winter barley. The results were published today in the renowned Plant Biotechnology Journal.

Like fungi and insects, viruses are serious crop pathogens. In the case of cereals, viruses that are transmitted to the plants via microorganisms in the soil are becoming increasingly important. For barley, these are mainly the barley yellow mosaic virus (BaYMV) and the barley mild mosaic virus (BaMMV). Both are transmitted to young seedlings of winter barley in autumn and can cause yield losses of up to 50 percent.

Resistance breeding plays an essential role to cope with these pathogens. Although almost all current European winter barley varieties are resistant to these viruses, some virus strains have already overcome this widely used resistance through genetic adaptation. A broad breakthrough of the natural defenses is only a matter of time. Given the tediousness of breeding measures, there is an urgent need to identify new sources of resistance and deploy them to breeding in an accelerated manner.

In search of such new resistances, a research team led by the IPK Leibniz Institute screened material from the Institute's gene bank. In 2014, they found what they were looking for in old landraces and wild relatives of cultivated barley.

"These investigations have shown that the PDIL5-1 gene, which is involved in the formation of 3-dimensional protein structures, also plays a central role in the resistance of plants to viruses," explains Robert Hoffie from the "Plant Reproductive Biology" research group.

This is a so-called susceptibility factor host-dependent viruses utilize to reproduce themselves in the plant tissue. "A decisive finding for us was that resistant gene bank material contained variants of the PDIL5-1 gene that had lost their function through mutation and hence can no longer be used by the virus," says the IPK scientist and first author of the study.

However, crossing such resistance-mediating gene variants into the existing breeding material of European winter barley is laborious and time-consuming.

"Therefore, we used the Cas9 gene scissors to switch off the PDIL5-1 gene in two susceptible barley varieties by targeted mutagenesis, thus achieving success much faster and without any additional genetic changes in the barley varieties," says Hoffie. The results were more than promising; "the targeted plants were resistant to barley mosaic virus (BaMMV) infection in the greenhouse trial and there were no negative effects on growth or yield."

"The study exemplifies how we can take advantage of our gene bank material for plant breeding today with extremely efficient and precise biotechnological tools such as the Cas9 gene scissors," comments Dr. Jochen Kumlehn, head of the study and head of the "Plant Reproductive Biology" research group. At the same time, the new findings also open up further perspectives of research. For example, we assume that the modification of PDIL genes may also lead to virus resistance in other plant species.

More information: Robert Eric Hoffie et al, Novel resistance to the Bymovirus BaMMV established by targeted mutagenesis of the PDIL51 susceptibility gene in barley, Plant Biotechnology Journal (2022). DOI: 10.1111/pbi.13948 Journal information: Plant Biotechnology Journal

Provided by Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research
Farmland inundated with saltwater, gradually eats away the soil in the Mediterranean town of Mutubes, in Kafr el-Sheikh province, Egypt, Friday, Sept. 9, 2022. The impact of climate change has long been obvious to farmers, in the creeping salt that eats away roots and cakes their fields, turning them barren. Credit: AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty

Sayed Abuel-Ezz has seen his crops wither from seawater before. As the Nile Delta farmer walks among his mango trees on his land not far from the Mediterranean Sea, he worries it will happen again despite spending the equivalent of tens of thousands of dollars to prevent it.

"If it gets higher, the trees will die," Abuel-Ezz said, looking towards the sea.

Here, the impact of climate change has long been obvious to farmers, in the creeping salt that eats away roots and cakes their fields, turning them barren. They pay a fortune to bring in truckloads of earth to try to raise their crops above the salt pushed into the soil by rising sea levels. But they say it is getting worse.

Bus drivers can see the changes too, how the sea more and more easily spills over onto the land. Now every winter, parts of the vital international highway running the length of Egypt's coast are flooded, say drivers on the route.

Situated on Egypt's northern coast on the Mediterranean, the Nile River Delta is one of the world's three most vulnerable hot-spots to climate change impacts, including rising sea levels, according to a 2007 report by the United Nations-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

As Egypt hosts the U.N.'s global climate summit COP27 this month, the country's leaders have said the predicament of the Delta, known for millennia for its fertile soil, is foremost among their concerns. Residents are hoping for help to deal with the consequences of a warming planet.

The Delta covers roughly 240 square kilometers (93 square miles), starting just north of the capital of Cairo where the Nile River fans out. The rivers' branches created the rich, fertile land by depositing silt as they made their way to the sea. Since ancient times, the area has been the food basket of empires.

It's heavily populated, home to some 40% of Egypt's 104 million people and accounts for half of the country's economy, according to the U.N. food agency. Farms and fisheries along the two Nile branches, Rosetta in the west and Damietta in the east, help feed the country and provide products for export.

All of that is increasingly threatened by climate change and rising seas. A quarter of the Delta sits at or below sea level. An increase between 0.5 and 1 meter (1.6 to 3.2 feet)which could happen by 2100 in one of the U.N.-backed panel's worst case scenarioswill shift the coastline inward by several kilometers, submerging large areas and rendering more barren with salt. That's according to a recent report by an international group of scientists overseen by the Cyprus Institute's Climate and Atmosphere Research Center and the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry.

"This would imply severe challenges for coastal infrastructure and agriculture, and can lead to the salinization of coastal aquifers, including the densely populated and cultivated Nile Delta," said George Zittis, who co-authored the report.

The scenario judged to be more likely by the panel is that the sea will rise by 0.3-0.6 meters by 2100. That will still render thousands of acres unfit for farming or habitation.

The Associated Press spoke with more than three dozen farmers, fishermen and other residents in several villages and cities along the Mediterranean coast, the breadth of the Delta.

Spanning several generations, they said they have sensed climate change's effects for years, particularly in rising sea levels. They have seen greater shore erosion and groundwater contaminated by salt. The saltwater intrudes as pressure grows from rising sea water, and the counter-pressure from fresh water has lessened.

Saltwater intrusion is the most challenging threat to the Delta, said Mohamed Abdel Monem, a senior adviser on land and climate change with the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

"This means less productivity and in many cases crops' death and therefore food insecurity," he said.

Hamdy Salah, a 26-year-old farmer outside the town of Rosetta in the western Delta, says planting practices have changed drastically. They once grew a variety: tomatoes, eggplants, pumpkins, and other vegetables. Now they grow mostly mango and citrus, which are less vulnerable to salt.

"We tried other crops like apple, but saltwater also killed its roots," he said.

Abuel-Ezz's family have farmed in Rosetta for generations, and he and his two brothers cultivate two farms of mango and citrus, five acres each.

A decade ago, they elevated their farmlands, one field by 1 meter (3.3 feet) and the second by 2 meters (6.6 feet), to combat rising saline water in the body of their farms. It cost them around 2 million pounds ($101,700) by today's prices, said Sayed's brother, Saber Abuel-Ezz.

Farmland inundated with saltwater, gradually eats away the soil in the Mediterranean town of Mutubes, in Kafr el-Sheikh province, Egypt, Friday, Sept. 9, 2022. The impact of climate change has long been obvious to farmers, in the creeping salt that eats away roots and cakes their fields, turning them barren. Credit: AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty

The elevation, along with a government-built runoff system meant to reduce salt in the soil, bought them some time.

"It was costly but there was no alternative," said Sayed, a 36-year-old father of two.

Besides bringing in tons of earth, many cultivate plants in raised beds and use whatever natural or chemical fertilizers they can afford to counteract the saline.

Without these measures, the land quickly turns desolate. On the other side of the river from Rosetta town, sheets of dried salt cover former farmland outside the town of Mutubas.

On one September afternoon, a half-dozen farmers sat near a machine pumping water from an irrigation canal onto raised beds in a mango farm in Mutubas. The trees have just started to blossom, next year could be their first harvest.

Ouf el-Zoughby, one of the farmers, said this is his third time trying to grow mangos. Past attempts have been thwarted by salt.

"You see the tree dying before your eyes," the 47-year-old farmer said, remembering how he had to pull the husks out one-by-one. His fields are within 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) of the Mediterranean.

This time, he's hoping the newly elevated farmlands and a government-built runoff system will help them survive, in addition to expensive chemical fertilizers. He's not sure what he will do if the crop fails again. He worries that without more government help, thousands could desert their farms.

The area has always been exposed to the nearby sea, but formers say salinity was kept in check by supplies of fresh water and silt from the Nile. Even after the construction of the Aswan High Dam in over 50 years ago ended seasonal flooding, fresh water still reached the fields through canals. But even that has lessened, as the government has rationed agricultural water use, to account for the country's growing population. There's no longer enough to wash away the salt.

Further down the coast on the eastern side of the Delta, concrete barriers have been put down just outside the city of Port Said, aiming to keep the rising waves back.

Abdel-Wahab Ramadan, a 61-year-old retired engineer, remembers spending summer vacations on white sand beaches here 30 years ago. Now, his grandchildren play next to the massive wave breakers in the muddy shallows.

"We are aware that this is necessary, but there are protection methods better than this ugly one," he said.

They are still just a half measure. They were not enough to stop waves from flooding beach-side restaurants and cafes in the town of Ras el-Bar in recent winters. Many now close during the winter months.

"Last year, we spent a week to repair the place, but unfortunately water flooded it again," said Abd Allah Gareib, who manages a cafe by the beach. It sustained water damage the past two years. This year, the sea already crossed the first two lines of wave breakers in October.

The barriers and runoff systems are part of government efforts to protect the Delta from climate change's effects.

Egypt's former Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Mohamed Abdel-Atty, said in January the government had installed concrete barriers on 120 kilometers (74 miles) along the Mediterranean coast, meant to shelter 17 million people. That is equivalent to about half the coastline of the Delta and the city of Alexandria. Egypt's entire Mediterranean coast stretches 990 kilometers (615 miles). Abdel-Atty said they were also working to build a warning system to alert any climatic changes like rises in sea levels.

At the same time, authorities are trying to put a stop to high-polluting practices, like brick-making and an old farming custom, the burning of rice straw, which shrouds the Delta's skies with smoke every year after the harvest.

But there's understanding from Egyptians that this is a small step in tackling a global problem.

"Though Egypt contributes 0.6% of the global carbon dioxide emissions, it is one of the most vulnerable (countries) to the impacts of climate change, and the agriculture sector and food production are the most affected," said Abdel Monem, the FAO's expert.

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
To reduce air pollution, cities and municipalities first need to measure it. Credit: Jacek Dylag via Unsplash

Urban smog is a major threat to human health. New sensors and data-collection techniques will help to improve air quality.

Each day, we take about 20,000 breaths. The oxygen in the air nourishes the cells in our bodies. But when the air we breathe contains harmful particulate matter and chemicals, those contaminants can also find their way into our body.

Air pollution is one of the greatest threats to human health and kills millions of people worldwide every year. According to estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2019, 99% of the global population lived in places where air quality failed to meet WHO guidelines.

In the European Union the same year, 307,000 people died prematurely as a result of chronic exposure to tiny particles of pollution, according to the European Environment Agency's report on air quality in Europe.

Minimal measuring

To reduce air pollution, cities and municipalities first need to measure it. But the traditional equipment is expensive and bulky.

"It's a big container, three by four meters, with its own aircon and electricity 24/7," said Leonardo Santiago of Bettair Cities, which coordinated a project to spur a more nimble measuring technology. "And then they have to have specialized people to do maintenance."

Coming up with better methods to gauge and map air pollution can't come soon enough.

Cost benefits

If an EU city has more than 100,000 inhabitants, European rules require that it monitor air quality. The expense and hassle of traditional monitoring stations mean that many smaller cities free of the obligation to do the checking don'tand that bigger cities use only a handful, according to Santiago.

"With the number of stations that a city usually has, it's not enough for them to create an actual map," he said. "They normally use mathematical models to estimate what is happening, but they don't see the reality."

Called MappingAir, the Horizon project created a platform that draws on data from a network of less-expensive sensors developed by Spain-based Bettair Cities. The company's helmet-like sensors sit underneath the bulbs of smart streetlights, checking the air for pollutants.

Traditional monitoring stations cost upward of 200,000, while the smaller sensors have a price tag of about 4,000 and do not require frequent, specialized maintenance.

In addition to establishing the monitoring platform, the project, which ended last month after three years, enabled Bettair Cities to transform its sensor from a prototype into a ready-to-use product.

Nimble sensors

The device is currently used in street and traffic lights in a number of European and South American cities, with the biggest test in Rome. Some of these sensors are part of trials to showcase their efficacy, while others are commercial installations. More metropolises have shown interest, Santiago said.

Inside its plastic shell, the sensor contains electrochemical cells that detect the presence of pollutants. However, these cells also react to humidity and temperature, which can distort their readings.

"What we have done is to use artificial intelligence to analyze how all of these variables affect the sensor," Santiago said. The AI algorithms effectively strip out the noise in the data caused by other variables including humidity and temperature.

When the sensor data are fed into the company's "blackbox full of artificial intelligence," the output is pollution information that tallies with that produced by the traditional container-sized stations about 94% of the time, according to Santiago.

Owners need to replace the cells only every two yearsmuch less than regular maintenance for traditional stations. An added benefit of the sensors is that they contain noise-pollution monitors too.

Sky-high

Researchers are also taking to the skies to tackle urban air pollution.

Using satellites along with monitoring stations, a separate research project has generated maps of air quality for various cities around the world.

"When we combine Earth observation data with socio-economic data, including health data, we come so much closer to the real problems, or the real reasons for the problems," said Evangelos Gerasopoulos, leader of the Health Surveillance Air Quality Pilot. "We are then also one step closer to decision-making."

His work is part of e-shape, a Horizon project harnessing the glut of data from Europe's Earth observation infrastructure for the benefit of people in fields ranging from agriculture and energy to health and water.

"E-shape was built with and for users," said Thierry Ranchin, director of the Center Observation, Impacts, Energy at MINES ParisTech in France and scientific coordinator of e-shape.

The air-quality pilot's Teaser platform gives usersmunicipalities, companies and individuals, for examplea taste of what is possible by combining Earth observation, health and socio-economic data from 2018 to 2020.

For dozens of cities around the world, the cloud-based platform offers an aggregated risk indexused to assess the impact of air quality on health.

For example, during the winter months, major arterial roads in Athens are a source of air pollution, but these also happen to be highly populated areas. The map shows not just the extent of the pollution but also the exposure of people at risk.

"We provided a one-stop shop," said Gerasopoulos, who works at the National Observatory of Athens in Greece.

Tailored data

For a handful of cities, the project teamed up with local users to tailor data to their needs. Eleni Athanasopoulou, also working at the National Observatory of Athens, provided the following examples of such co-design experiences.

In Athens, the Health Surveillance Air Quality Pilot team worked with the city and other stakeholders to map the public's street-level exposure to the common chemicals coming from vehicles. In response to the pilot's findings, the Greek health ministry, faced with data illustrating the extent of air pollution risk, bolstered its environmental monitoring.

In Helsinki, the pilot worked with the Finnish government and private sector to determine how industries around the city affected air quality for residents. In Munich, the focus was the spatial distribution of air pollution, allowing users to zoom in on specific postcodes. And in Bari, Italy, air pollution data was combined with population density and linked to sustainable development goals.

These examples showcase both the many ways that Earth observation information can be applied and the power of combining data, said Gerasopoulos.

"If we go to different communities like the health community, they might have no clue where they can find our type of Earth observation data and we don't know how to get hold of their data," he said. "The project demonstrates the capacity, perspectives and potential of having them all together."
Credit: Nature (2022). DOI: 10.1038/d41586-022-03444-7

Ahead of COP27, researchers are calling for the "massive" carbon footprint of the world's armed forces to be measured and managed, in an article published today in Nature.

The new publication highlights that UK and US armed forces emit as much carbon dioxide per person as many carbon-intensive countries, and the American military alone (the world's largest in terms of expenditure) emits more greenhouse gases than many entire countriesincluding Peru, Singapore and Switzerland. If it were a nation, the US military would have the highest per-capita emissions in the world (at 42 metric tons of CO 2 per staff member).

Researchers also warn that a current lack of accurate ways to calculate emissions from military activities means these figures may be even higher, as estimates can increase dramatically when factoring in other energy supplies, raw materials, supply chains and equipment manufacturingnot to mention the carbon emissions from warfare itself.

The military sector's share of global greenhouse-gas emissions is estimated to be around five percentcomparable to emissions from the aviation and shipping industries. However, militaries have been left out of international agreements to declare emissions since the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, on the basis of preserving national security. A lack of published data makes it hard to estimate totals, and only a handful of forces (including those of the UK and US) have published strategy documents on climate action.

One of the article's authors is Dr. Benjamin Neimark, Senior Lecturer and Fellow at Queen Mary University of London, who's currently leading the Concrete Impacts research project to map the environmental footprint of the US military in Iraq.

Dr. Neimark commented that "we need robust independent research to properly calculate military carbon emissions, so we can fully understand how armed conflicts affect the climate and start developing low-carbon recovery pathways."

"It's particularly apt, with the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) starting this weekend, that we should call on militaries and researchers to join forces in reporting and reducing the carbon footprint of the armed forces. If the military doesn't act on this issue, it simply won't be able to uphold obligations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change."

More information: Mohammad Ali Rajaeifar et al, Decarbonize the militarymandate emissions reporting, Nature (2022). DOI: 10.1038/d41586-022-03444-7 Journal information: Nature
Lobster fishermen work at sunrise in the Atlantic Ocean, Sept. 8, 2022, off of Kennebunkport, Maine. Scientists, lawyers and government officials are gathered in Jamaica the week of Nov. 1, 2022 to debate deep sea mining as part of a two-week conference organized by the International Seabed Authority, an independent body created by a United Nations treaty. Credit: AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File

High demand for metals ranging from copper to cobalt is pushing the mining industry to explore the world's deepest oceans, a troubling development for scientists who warn that extracting minerals from critical ecosystems that help regulate climate could cause irreparable damage.

The issue will be in spotlight this week as dozens of scientists, lawyers and government officials gather in Jamaica to debate deep sea mining as part of a two-week conference organized by the International Seabed Authority, an independent body created by a United Nations treaty.

The organization is the global custodian for deep ocean waters that don't fall within any country's jurisdiction. It has issued 31 exploration licenses so far, and many worry the world's first license to go the next step and mine international waters could soon be approved with no regulations currently in place.

Experts say mining could spark a rush to collect minerals that take millions of years to form and unleash noise, light and smothering dust storms deep in the Earth's oceans.

"It's one of the most pristine parts of our planet. There's a lot that stands to be lost," said Diva Amon, a marine biologist, National Geographic explorer and a scientific adviser to the Benioff Ocean Initiative at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The first exploration license was issued in the early 2000s, with most of the the current exploratory activity is concentrated in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone, which covers 1.7 million square miles (4.5 million square kilometers) between Hawaii and Mexico. At least 17 of 31 licenses have been issued for this zone, with exploration occurring at depths ranging from 13,000 to 19,000 feet (4,000 to 6,000 meters).

The push for deep sea mining has grown to the point that the authority is now meeting three times a year instead of two, with a key decision expected as early as July 2023.

Mining companies argue that harvesting minerals from the sea bed instead of land is cheaper and has less of an impact, avoiding a "host of environmental and social issues," according to UK Seabed Resources, a subsidiary Lockheed Martin Corp. to explore the Clarion-Clipperton zone under two contracts.

"We will not have collapsed tailings dams, destruction of cultural sites, clearing of rainforest, child artisanal miners, to name a few recent ones," UK Seabed Resources said in a statement, referring to some of the impacts from mining on land.

The International Seabed Authority issues licenses to state-owned businesses and countries that subscribe to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea and agree to sponsor private companies that seek to explore international waters for copper, nickel, cobalt, iron, manganese and other minerals. Notably, the U.S. does not subscribe to the law.

The International Energy Agency has estimated a sixfold increase in demand for minerals by 2050 given that electric vehicles and renewable generation are so dependent on them, according to a Fitch Ratings report issued in early October.

"Emissions intensity of cobalt, aluminum and nickel mining and processing is high, so skyrocketing demand may result in rising net carbon footprints," it stated.

Nauru, a tiny island northeast of Australia, is leading the push to allow for actual mining, arguing that it's at high risk of climate change and seeks to financially benefit from the mining of metals sought in part for green technology like electric car batteries.

The push has worried countries ranging from Germany to Costa Rica that are seeking to strengthen proposed regulations in the next two weeks.

"We are still very concerned about the consequences," said Elza Moreira Marcelino de Castro, Brazil's representative at the conference that began Monday.

French President Emmanuel Macron said earlier this year that he supports a ban on deep sea mining, while on Wednesday, Germany, which has two exploration contracts, announced it would not sponsor such mining until further notice.

Several major companies have pledged not to use metals extracted from the deep sea and nations including New Zealand, Fiji and Samoa have called for a moratorium until more is known about its potential impact, a move cheered by scientists and legal experts.

"You can't regulate what you don't understand," said Duncan Currie, an international and environmental lawyer and legal adviser to the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, a Netherlands-based alliance of environmental groups.

Less than 1% of the world's deep ocean waters have been explored, an endeavor that experts say is expensive, technical and time-consuming.

It's known that the ocean stores more carbon than the Earth's atmosphere, plants and soil, and scientists are still finding new species during rare exploration trips, with sample studies taking months or even years, Amon said. Among the discoveries is a ghost octopus nicknamed "Casper."

"We do not understand what lives there, how they live there, the global function that this ecosystem plays, and what we stand to lose by irreversibly impacting it," she said, adding that life in the deep sea is incredibly slow, with minerals growing one to 10 millimeters every million years. "That means that it is highly vulnerable to disturbance and is extremely slow to recover."

The Deep Ocean Stewardship Initiative, a global network, said some experts believe it could take anywhere from six to more than 20 years to collect enough data needed to protect the marine environment from deep sea mining.

Other concerns over deep sea mining include how revenue would be distributed and how companies seeking sponsorship would be reviewed and their activities regulated.

Pradeep Singh, a fellow at the Institute for Advance Sustainability Studies in Potsdam, Germany, said there are growing concerns over potential "sponsorships of convenience" in which private companies might shop for a country based on its tax exemptions, potential lax environmental laws and other factors.

"Quite a number of states are starting to raise an eyebrow about these relationships happening behind the scenes," he said.

Singh also noted that he and others are concerned that the International Seabed Authority would earn a portion of revenues if actual mining were to start given that the agency awards licenses: "It's a big conflict of interest."

The authority did not return a message seeking comment.

Michael Lodge, secretary general of the International Seabed Authority, said during his opening remarks at the conference that the agency wants to ensure protection of the marine environment as member countries work on draft regulations.

During a meeting earlier this year, he noted that the authority widened a protected area to 1.97 million square kilometers in a vast region for which a majority of exploration licenses have been awarded.

Environmental management plans for other areas under exploration are still being developed.

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Trophy head NS052 (photo D. Socha). Credit: Journal of Archaeological Science (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2022.105688

A trio of researchers from the University of Warsaw, Collegium Medicum of Nicolaus Copernicus University and Centro Italiano Studi e Ricerche Archeologiche Precolombiane di Brescia has found evidence of early Nazca people in southern Peru using psychoactive and stimulant plants. In their paper published in Journal of Archaeological Science, Dagmara Socha, Marzena Sykutera and Giuseppe Orefici describe their study of trophy heads and mummies excavated as part of the Nazca Project.

Prior research has shown that the Inca gave ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic beverage, to people who were to be sacrificed, likely to keep them calm. In this new effort, the researchers studied the remains of Nazca people buried along the southern coast of Peru during the years 3500 BC to 476 AD.

The Nazca people have become famous in modern times for their advanced irrigation techniques and their geoglyphs in the Pampa Colorada desert. In this new effort, the researchers wanted to know if the Nazca also gave hallucinogens to people prior to sacrifice.

The work involved collecting hair samples from four trophy heads and from 18 mummies to look for evidence of chemicals that might have been used to calm victims. Prior research has shown that the Nazca had developed techniques for preserving the heads of some people for use in rituals or ceremonies. The Nazca also developed techniques to preserve whole bodies of some people who died, resulting in mummified corpses.

The researchers found evidence of chemicals from the San Pedro cactus in hair from one of the trophy heads, that of a childthe findings marked the first time that evidence had been found of Nazca sacrificial victims being given stimulants before death. They also found evidence of cocaine and Banisteriopsis caapi, a major ingredient in ayahuasca in some of the other samples.

Anthropomorphic Mythical Being, with a San Pedro cactus growing from its shoulders (Catalog online, Ministry of Culture Peru). Credit: Journal of Archaeological Science (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2022.105688

The researchers also compared the locations where the remains had been found to track the use of such chemicals by the Nazca people. They also note that a large number of artifacts, such as pots and textiles, had been found close to where the remains were buried.

More information: Dagmara M. Socha et al, Use of psychoactive and stimulant plants on the south coast of Peru from the Early Intermediate to Late Intermediate Period, Journal of Archaeological Science (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2022.105688 Journal information: Journal of Archaeological Science

 2022 Science X Network
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Fishing is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.

The International Labor Organization has estimated that every year, fishing vessel accidents claim as many as 24,000 fishers' lives. This figure is more than 10 times more lives claimed than in accidents on merchant ships which transport either cargo or passengers.

Unlike safety of merchant vessels, which is governed by the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), safety of fishing vessels has fallen through the cracks, making it largely unregulated and unmonitored.

Unsafe fishing vessels are also linked to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and may contribute to abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear, which is becoming a global concern as it can be a navigational hazard and major source of ocean plastic pollution.

Yet, there is currently no international treaty governing the safety of fishing vessels that has entered into force.

Fishing vessel safety under international law

167 states and the European Union have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which obliges every state to ensure safety at sea for all ships flying its flag.

For decades, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the United Nations' specialized agency for regulating international shipping, hasn't succeeded in bringing regulatory instruments on fishing vessel safety into force.

The latest treaty on fishing vessel safety is the Cape Town Agreement, which was adopted in 2012 to update, amend, and replace the previous treaty: the 1993 Torremolinos Protocol. However, there are only 17 contracting parties with just over 1,000 eligible fishing vessels to datefar from the minimum requirements for the Agreement to enter into force.

The Cape Town Agreement states the conditions to ensure the seaworthiness of fishing vessels of 24 meters in length and over. It requires the availability of life-saving appliances, communications equipment, and fire protection on fishing vessels.

In October 2019, during an IMO-led conference on fishing vessel safety and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, there was a momentum for the Cape Town Agreement to gain wider support.

During and after the conference, a total of 51 states declared their commitment to ratify the Cape Town Agreement by the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the agreement, which was 11 October 2022.

Since the 2019 Conference, however, the Agreement has only gained four additional ratifications, far below expectations. The tenth anniversary of the Agreement has now passed and the Agreement still has not entered into force.

What about Indonesia?

Many Asian states are among the world's top seafood producers. At least two-thirds of 4.1 million global fishing vessels are flagged to Asian states.

Unfortunately, none of the Asian states are parties to the Cape Town Agreement.

Indonesia, the world's second largest seafood producer, claims to have more than 600,000 fishing vessels in 2014.

The exact number of Indonesian fishing vessels remains unknown. But the majority of Indonesian fishing vessels are small-scale fleets, which are likely beyond the scope of the Cape Town Agreement.

Many Indonesian fishers also work for foreign fishing vessels. The latest data shows 186,430 Indonesian nationals working on board Malaysian fishing vessels; 12,278 on Taiwanese fishing vessels; and 4,885 people on South Korean fishing vessels in 2018.

Sadly, none of these countries are parties to the Cape Town Agreement. Thus, it is very likely that their domestic regulations on fishing vessel safety vary. Leaving it to each country to regulate fishing vessel safety is problematic, as some countries can be more lenient than others.

An international regulation like the Cape Town Agreement would resolve this problem, by ensuring uniform minimum standards that are applicable to all states.

How to protect more lives at sea

Governance of fishing vessel safety is more than a century behind that of commercial shipping, even though fishers' lives are just as priceless as seafarers.

As both workers have the same right to work in a safe environment at sea, fishing vessels shall receive equal attention as commercial shipping. Thus, wider ratification to the Cape Town Agreement is necessary.

Countries with large numbers of migrant fishers, like Indonesia, should have the highest interest to ensure that the Cape Town Agreement enters into force as soon as possible. This is critical to ensure that their nationals are not working on substandard fishing vessels that could put their lives in danger.

We must hope that more nations will finally act and ratify the Cape Town Agreement, so that we're no longer losing tens of thousands of fishers' lives at sea every year.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Artisanal and small-scale mininga low-tech, indigenous mining subsectoris taking on increasing economic importance in many developing countries. Over 150 million people worldwide are estimated to derive their livelihoods from this activity indirectly. In Ghana, it supports millions and contributes up to 43% of the nation's total gold production.

The sector employs over 1 million rural Ghanaians directly, while the upstream and downstream industries employ 4.5 million people, accounting for 60% of the country's mining workforce. But artisanal and small-scale mining is also responsible for complex environmental challenges: destruction of land and vegetation and chemical contamination of water.

Ghana is one of the first countries in Africa to promulgate a small-scale mining law. Ghanaian mining codes not only recognize artisanal and small-scale mining as a legitimate livelihood source but also establish a framework aimed at formalizing it.

So far, though, the regulation of artisanal and small scale mining in Ghana has been mostly unsuccessful. More than 85% of small-scale mining operations still occur in the informal and illegal sector of the economy and remain largely unregulated.

As part of my Ph.D. research I explored the reasons for this persistent illegality, from the point of view of licensed and illegal miners. The study identified two key related factors that drive illegal mining in Ghana. First, the mines are transient but getting a mining license is time-consuming. Second, the regulatory framework doesn't take into account the diverse reality of operations. It is difficult for people to comply with rules that do not adapt to their conditions: they will seem irrelevant to them.

To effectively manage and control the activities of artisanal and small-scale mining, these factors must be considered.

Disconnect between rules and reality

I carried out fieldwork between December 2020 and May 2021 in three mining communities in Ghana: Wassa Akropong, Bogoso and Gbane. I conducted interviews with illegal miners and gold dealers, licensed miners, local land owners, government officials, NGOs and others.

The first finding was that informal local mines were transient and often operated on a subsistence basis. The miners lacked adequate capital and geo-prospecting knowledge.

According to local informants, the productive lifespan of most of these kinds of mines was 6 to 18 months. But the formal procedure to get a small-scale mining license in Ghana can take up to three years. According to the Minerals Commission, this process should normally take three to four months. A major reason why many locals don't apply for a license is this disconnect. As one illegal miner puts it:

"to me, it doesn't make sense to wait for three years for a license to undertake a six-month project. I will rather hide and do my galamsey (illegal mining)."

The second problem is another kind of disconnect. The miners in this research were of diverse kinds but the rules are supposed to apply to all equally. The operators ranged from alluvial miners removing stream bed deposits to those mining hard rock for gold near the surface. They used a wide range of techniques, practices and forms of knowledge to extract and process minerals. Different miners therefore had different perceptions about the formal licensing requirements. For example, some did not think they required a license to operate because their activities caused no destruction to water bodies.

Ghana's key legal and regulatory instruments for small scale mining show that the sector is poorly defined and classified. Poor rural people panning for shallow alluvial gold with rudimentary tools are subject to the same permit procedures as operators with more sophisticated tools.

This generic regulatory framework fails to link the diverse types of the sector's operations to appropriate levels and forms of control. Some of the sector's most vulnerable operators can't comply.

Reforming Ghana's mining regulations

It is important to create a regulatory framework that makes all miners accountable and also enables them to formalize their operations.

The burdensome, costly and overly time-consuming licensing process needs reform.

This could mean devolving more small-scale mining decisions to local governmental agencies and different local stakeholders. Kenya has recently set an example: counties and municipal authorities are empowered to issue mining licenses through consultation with different local interest groups.

The reason local miners move their operations frequently lies in poverty and lack of education. So the regulatory frameworks should set up support for miners, including education and training, technical and financial support. This would enable miners to make investments to prolong the economic lifespan of local mines.

Policy reforms also need to reclassify Ghana's artisanal and small-scale mining sector. This would result in more effective control and accountability measures. "Small-scale" and "artisanal" mining aren't necessarily the same thing, so they may require different rules. In the DRC, for instance, artisanal mining is seen as an indigenous livelihood source where operators only require "exploitation cards." Cameroon also distinguishes between "small mines" based on proven ore deposits and "artisanal mines" worked with specified levels of technology.

Ghana's framework should consider these differences if the fight against illegal mining is to be successful.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
This map shows the estimated total fishing vessel activity and the amount of this activity obscured by suspected disabling of automatic identification systems in areas with sufficient satellite reception. Areas with highest fishing vessel activity and the highest fraction of activity obscured by disabling occur in three regions of concern for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing: near Argentina and West Africa, and in the Northwest Pacific. In contrast, fisheries in waters near Alaska are some of the most intensively managed in the world. Credit: Global Fishing Watch

Data from the shipboard Automatic Identification System (AIS), which was created as a collision avoidance tool, can provide information about global fishing activity, including illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. Fishing vessels may disable their AIS devices, but a new analysis identifies intentional disabling events in commercial fisheries and shows that, while some disabling events may be for legitimate reasons, others appear to be attempts to conceal illegal activities.

The new study, published November 2 in Science Advances, presents the first global dataset of AIS disabling in commercial fisheries, which obscures up to 6% of vessel activity.

First author Heather Welch, a project scientist in the Institute of Marine Sciences at UC Santa Cruz, worked on the study with researchers at Global Fishing Watch, which maintains an AIS dataset of vessel activity, and NOAA Fisheries. After Global Fishing Watch developed a way to distinguish intentional disabling from gaps in satellite coverage and other technical issues, Welch used a machine learning method to identify four primary reasons for AIS disabling.

"There are some legitimate reasons why vessels disabled their AIS, but we found two situations in which it is done for potentially nefarious reasons, either to fish in unauthorized locations or to obscure unauthorized transshipments," she said. "This dataset is now operationalized, and the data are produced in real time, so it can be used to target inspections and improve fisheries management."

For the study, the researchers identified over 55,000 suspected intentional disabling events between 2017 and 2019, obscuring nearly 5 million hours of fishing vessel activity. More than 40% of the total hours obscured by suspected AIS disabling occurred across four hotspots, three of which are areas of concern for illegal fishing: the Northwest Pacific and areas adjacent to the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of Argentina and West African nations. These areas contain rich fishing grounds with limited management oversight.

"AIS data can tell us a lot, but so can the lack of it," said coauthor Tyler Clavelle, a data scientist at Global Fishing Watch. "We might not always be able to see what vessels are doing, but knowing when they're intentionally hiding their movements provides valuable information that managers and scientists didn't have before. Having a better understanding of where vessels may hide their position allows authorities to deploy valuable on-the-water resources more strategically, supporting improved fisheries management."

Disabling events were concentrated in waters adjacent to EEZ boundaries, suggesting that vessels may be disabling AIS before entering unauthorized locations to fish illegally. In many cases, vessels go dark as they approach the edge of an EEZ where they are not authorized to fish, Welch said. "For example, you might see a Korean-flagged vessel heading toward Argentina, and then it goes dark in international waters just outside of Argentina's EEZ," she said.

Notably, disabling was particularly common within and adjacent to EEZs with overlapping claims, such as the Falkland/Malvinas Islands that are disputed by the U.K. and Argentina. The political conflicts in these regions may create blind spots for enforcement.

Disabling events were also common in areas with high transshipment activity, where boats transfer their catches to refrigerated cargo vessels. Transshipment can be an efficient way to get the catch back to shore and resume fishing quickly, but it can also be used to obscure illegal fishing activity, effectively "laundering" the illegal catch through the cargo vessel. In addition, it can enable forced labor on fishing boats that never visit ports.

The study also found evidence that some disabling is done for legitimate reasons by vessels engaged in legal activities. In some cases, Welch said, AIS disabling may be done to hide the locations of good fishing grounds from competitors. The fourth disabling hotspot was caused by U.S. trawlers disabling in U.S. waters off the coast of Alaska. "This is one of the most intensely managed fishing grounds in the world, and these events likely constitute location hiding from competitors," she said.

The other legitimate reason for disabling AIS is for protection from piracy. "Using a database of historical attacks, we can see that vessels switch off AIS in these historically dangerous waters, and that may be so that pirates aren't able to track and intercept them," Welch said.

The approach demonstrated in this study could be used to support surveillance and enforcement efforts.

"This new dataset is an untapped resource that provides a real opportunity to detect previously unobserved behaviors and illegal fishing activities," Welch said. "Authorities could use this information to decide where to send surveillance drones or patrol vessels, and it could also be used to focus port inspections on vessels that have disabled AIS adjacent to EEZ boundaries or in transshipment hotspots."

In addition to Welch and Clavelle, the coauthors of the paper include Timothy White, Jennifer Van Osdel, Timothy Hochberg, and David Kroodsma at Global Fishing Watch; Megan Cimino, an assistant researcher at the Institute of Marine Sciences and assistant adjunct professor of ocean sciences at UCSC; and Elliott Hazen, assistant adjunct professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCSC.
Differential strength of diversity dependence of origination (blue) and extinction (red) rates while accounting for fluctuations of environmental variables using CTE. Each bar (means  SD) represents the mean of four CTE analyses with different conditioning variables: Tdiversityextinction|temperature, Tdiversityextinction|13C, Tdiversityextinction|87Sr/86Sr, and Tdiversityextinction|34S. Only radiolarians show nonsignificant (ns) values relative to a null model without diversity dependence (13). nats, natural unit of information. Credit: Science Advances

An article in the journal Science Advances, published by scientists from Pragues Charles University (Center for Theoretical Study and Faculty of Science), shows that the Earth's biodiversity is regulated on the scale of tens of millions of years by a feedback loop between diversity on the one hand and the origination and extinction of species on the other, so that it cannot grow indefinitely. This sheds new light on the current biodiversity crisis.

Life began almost 4 billion years ago, but we only have fossils that tell us more about its history from the last 540 million years. The question that has always vexed paleontologists and ecologists alike is whether biodiversity has grown steadily over that time, or whether there were limits to it, imposed by the limited capacity of the global ecosystem.

Early analyses suggested that the number of taxa did not change much during the Paleozoic, but after the largest extinction event at the turn of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras (a quarter of a billion years ago), diversity has steadily increased until the present day. This has started to be challenged in the last two decades, based on the idea that the apparent diversity increase might stem from the fact that the closer we get to the present, the more information we have about the past diversity of life. Some analyses have suggested that when these artifacts are removed, the Earth's biodiversity is quite stable, implying there is some mechanism that regulates it. The question remained how such a mechanism could work and whether it was universal.

New light has now been shed on this by a study by Valentin Rineau, Jan Smycka and David Storch, a group working at the Center for Theoretical Studies, a joint institute of Charles University and the Czech Academy of Sciences. They asked what influences the observed appearance and disappearance of taxa in the fossil record. They analyzed the available fossil time series of nine groups of marine organisms (their time series are much more complete than those of terrestrial organisms) and used new statistical methods to determine whether environmental changes (temperature and resource availability) or diversity itself was responsible for these changes. They focused mainly on whether higher biodiversity in a given group leads to lower rates of origination of new taxa or to higher rates of their extinction. This would be the mechanism by which diversity is regulated.

The effect of environmental change has been shown to be highly variable and group-specificsome types of organisms respond to changes in temperature, others to changes in environmental productivity, and in other groups the emergence and disappearance of taxa in fossil time series is independent of environmental changes. In contrast, the effect of diversity is virtually universalhigher diversity leads to lower rates of origination and higher rates of extinction.

As a result, the Earth's overall biodiversity is kept within certain limitsthe higher it is, the more likely it is to decrease in the next time interval. The authors speculate that this feedback mechanism is due to the fact that when the amount of resources on Earth is limited, an increase in the number of species is necessarily accompanied by a decrease in their population sizes. This then leads to a higher risk of extinction and a more difficult time for new species to become established.

The authors used state-of-the-art analytical techniques for their study, which, unlike traditional statistical methods such as regression techniques, can reveal the direction of causal relationships and uncover non-linear effects and lags. As a result, it has been shown that while the emergence of new taxa responds to changes in diversity in the very next period, extinctions are often delayed by up to several million years. "This has major implications for understanding the potential consequences of the current biodiversity crisis. It is possible that the current changes will have consequences for a very long period in the future," says David Storch, who, in addition to CTS, also works at the Faculty of Science at Charles University in Prague.

Most importantly, if the Earth's biodiversity is regulated by the limited amount of resources available to organisms, then any reduction in this supply of resources will necessarily lead to a reduction in the Earth's diversity. It is estimated that the human population consumes more than a quarter of the primary production of ecosystems (not to mention taking away space for wildlife), so it is hardly possible to maintain the same number of species on Earth as there would be without human appropriation of resources.

More information: Valentin Rineau et al, Diversity dependence is a ubiquitous phenomenon across Phanerozoic oceans, Science Advances (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.add9620, 36306361 Journal information: Science Advances
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

For many, the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, which ended nearly a half-century of federal abortion rights, came as a shock. To historians, however, it's one more link in a chain that extends much farther into the past than is immediately obviousonly the latest episode in a saga of U.S. history that spans centuries.

A brief history in the U.S. goes something like this: Policing of women's bodies in the American colonies can be traced to a 1625 statute adopted from Britain that asserted women who gave birth to stillborn children would be found guilty of infanticide if they hadn't taken certain steps to prepare for the birthpreparing the appropriate child bed linens, for example.

Abortion itself didn't show up in a criminalized fashion until the early 19th century, when Britain began to outlaw abortion. This became a precedent for the U.S., referred to by doctors there who saw it as a scourge on their own profession that women could terminate their own pregnancies.

This notion of professionalizing ultimately came to shape discourse around abortion.

"Some reasons [for attention on abortion] early on have to do with professional authority over women's bodies: 'Who really knows what's going on with women's bodies? Who has authority to regulate those bodies?' And there's a general feeling among male, academically trained practitioners that most of what women bring to bear on treatment of their bodies is suspect," says Kathleen Brown, the David Boies Professor of History in the School of Arts & Sciences (SAS) and a historian of gender and race in early America.

"They're considered 'old wives' tales,' coming out of places of superstition and ignorance, and a kind of outdated folk wisdom that doesn't have a place in modern medicine in the 19th century."

These suspicious attitudes doubly applied to enslaved Black women. Brown says there was intense interest in their reproduction, though rather than pinning the blame on abortion when a pregnancy failed, physicians tended to assume enslaved women were incapable of ending their own pregnancies. Instead, they pegged them as bad mothers, or looked to the treatment of them by those who claimed to own themhow hard they were worked in the field or the state of their living conditions.

When the American Medical Association (AMA) was established in 1847, the medicalizing of abortion accelerated. Brown says that, in her archival work, she's unearthed dissertations from Penn medical students in the 1850s that discuss the rights of the unborn, a notion that was unheard of at the time.

What grew out of this time period was a sense, Brown says, that a woman's own testimony about her body wasn't to be trusted. It could be claimed, for example, that a "quickening," which was a term for the moment a woman can perceive movement of a fetusand to some a legal term, for the timecould merely be gas.

"Doctors had a stake in their own medical authority and their own effort to establish objective criteria for assessing and diagnosing what was going on during pregnancy," Brown says. "And they also had a strong interest in distinguishing themselves from that older, more traditional, female 'folk' wisdom and treatment of women's bodies."

There was also, says Jessica Martucci, the associate director of undergraduate studies in the History and Sociology of Science Department in SAS, a commercial incentive: Prior to the second half of the 19th century, reproductive health was in the purview of a midwife, who delivered a child, provided herbal remedies for a slew of ailments, and generally served as counsel. This was perceived by the medical establishment as a problem.

"As medical scientific practitioners or allopathic physicians, as they were called, became more plentiful and powerful, they banded together under the umbrella of the AMA to try to gain access to the growing health care market, because if you are a woman in the early-to-mid 19th century, and had a health problem, for the vast majority their first stop is the midwife," Martucci explains.

"So, pushing midwives out becomes really important to physicians in this period to secure a place for themselves in their very lucrative and expanding marketplace for health care, and one way they do that is to go after abortion."

Physicians, then, Martucci says, would label midwives as "irregular physicians" and cast them as unsanitary and immoral. They began expanding gynecology and obstetrics and pushed for anti-abortion lawsnotably under the leadership of physician and anti-abortion activist Horatio Storer.

Criminalization of abortion took off in the late 1860s, when states began passing laws banning the procedure. By 1880, abortion was outlawed in most states. This wave of criminalizing legislation was, importantly, furthered by the Comstock lawsofficially, the Comstock Act of 1873, sometimes referred to as Anthony Comstock's "chastity laws"that criminalized "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" materials in the mail and any information that related to birth control, sex, and methods of terminating a pregnancy.

Martucci says the Comstock Laws essentially began a century-long effort to restrict women's access to safe abortions. Even contraceptives were labeled as "illicit" or "obscene."

All the while, nursing as a profession remained neutral on the subject.

"Nursing has always struggled to establish its professionalizing credentials, and around issues in this case, which really come to the forefront in the 1920s with issues around abortion and birth control in the public discourse, they stay as far away from it as possible," says Patricia D'Antonio, a professor in mental health nursing at Penn's School of Nursing and director of the Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing. "My latest book was on public health nurses in New York in the '20s and '30s, and even the most progressive public health nurses were explicitly told not to talk about birth control with patients  and to refer them to their physician, pastor, priest, or rabbi to get answers."

D'Antonio says nurses at the time thought commenting on abortion would cause them to become social pariahs and interfere with the naturalizing process of establishing nurses as scientific professionals. This, again, was also at the expense of midwives, who by the early 20th century were largely out of mainstream practice even as they did attempt, D'Antonio says, to evolve by accepting new medical practices. (Midwives would later see a resurgence in the 1960s and '70s, she explains, because of middle-class women seeking more natural birthing options.)

By the 1910s and '20s, says Kathy Peiss, the Roy F. and Jeannette P. Nichols Professor Emerita of American History in SAS, the birth control movement had begun, led by activist Margaret Sanger, among others, and it became evident that abortions were still taking place despite the criminal statutes.

"[Sanger] had a number of clinics that surveyed clients and found about 20 percent of all pregnancies of women who came in were intentionally abortedworking-class clients," says Peiss. "And so, the need was certainly perceived by many women, including single women and married women who had already had some children and felt they couldn't handle it financially, or had a fear of dying from being pregnant."

In the decades that followed, medical professionals began discussing how to treat patients who were seeking care after having illegal abortions and were critically bleeding or otherwise ill.

"How to help those women was a real question: Did you help them or not?" says Peiss. "A number of hospitals set up 'therapeutic abortion' committees in the 1960s to decide how to provide care and under what circumstances they would provide care. There was a reform movement among some liberal medical professionals before Roe v. Wade about expanding the categories for abortion to protect the life and psychological well-being of the pregnant woman."

The feminist movement eventually fought against criminal abortion laws as a sustained effort until the Roe v. Wade ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973, a full century after the passage of the Comstock Act. But up to the moment of the ruling, there were state efforts moving toward reform, before shifting to repeal by the beginning of the 1970s.

"The main theme, I think, is that it has been very difficult to recognize the needs of persons who are pregnant," says Peiss. "And even while Roe overturned abortion laws, very quickly there was denial of the idea that abortion is part of reproductive health care and that women have the freedom to make choices. Congress passed the Hyde Amendment to deny federal funding for abortion procedures under health care provision. Many women were unable to afford or access abortion as restrictions increased in many states."

With the Dobbs decision, Martucci says, the U.S. enters a new moment where trust in medical institutions has begun to wane, calling into question the ability of doctors to use their professional judgment when it comes to abortion. Moral arguments from lawmakers, instead, have become more salient. There are also ongoing concerns about how technologyparticularly GPS, social media platforms, and health tracking appscan make way for a new type of information monitoring that, if not exactly a Comstock 2022 law, recalls some of its principles.

Moreover, she says, Dobbs serves as a reminder that history is not a straight line.

"The gains we have made as a society in terms of women's rights and access to appropriate health care and knowledge and all that, it has not been inevitable," she says. "People have had to fight every step of the way to get from the Comstock laws and state laws of the 1860s, '70s, and '80s, to Roe v. Wade, and that fight is going to have to continue, and setbacks do happen."
Morgan Freeman in "Lean on Me." Credit: Warner Brothers

Morgan Freeman has given many powerful, memorable performances. His role as Mr. Clark, a New Jersey-based high school principal known for dispensing authoritarian discipline in "Lean on Me," is certainly memorable, but that depiction and many others of Black male teachers are based on prejudiced tropes about Black families that were generated from 20th-century social science researcha form of racial knowledge that reified an anti-Black epistemic order of knowledge, according to a new study published by Daniel Thomas III of the University of Kansas. In fact, the scripts of the most popular Hollywood films depicting Black male teachers from late '60s onward are all derived from anti-Black social science scholarship's depictions of Black fathers.

Thomas, assistant professor of curriculum & teaching at KU, found that movies have cast Black male teachers in four main stereotypical tropes, and those depictions are not just based on Hollywood's collective imagination. "This research sought to scapegoat socio-historical issues of white supremacy and racist public policies by attributing the cause of any issue or inequity experienced by Black America to dysfunctional families caused by absent Black fathers," Thomas said. "Hollywood loves to thrust this assumption into the mainstream, and viewers love to consume the trope."

Thomas, along with co-authors Marcus Johnson of Texas State University and Anthony Brown of the University of Texas at Austin, analyzed 11 popular films that prominently featured Black male teachers. Their study, outlining how the teachers are confined to four stereotypical tropes and how such scripts couldn't exist without flawed social science research, was published in the journal Educational Studies.

"The bodies of Black men and boys are discursively rearranged within movie scripts to quench America's thirst for pathological representations of Blackness," Thomas said. "Both non-Black viewers of color and white moviegoers have such a limited sense of Black existence that they come to believe they have actually had an 'authentic' Black experience with film. In reality, these viewers are lured into a deeper state of delusion where their myths and stereotypical fascinations and fears of Black men and boys are presented as truths."

For the study, the authors analyzed "To Sir, with Love," "Cooley High," "Hard Lessons," "Lean on Me," "House Party 2," "Menace II Society," "Major Payne," "Higher Learning," "To Sir, with Love II," "Nutty Professor" and "One Eight Seven." Black male teachers were scripted to remain confined to four anti-Black tropes generated from social science research that constructed Black fathers as: absent and wandering, impotent and powerless, soulful and adaptive, and endangered and in crisis. As a result, the authors organized their findings into the following four themes: There's no script without absent or powerless Black fathers; (un)natural saviors and motivators; saviors from death; and deviance and motivating the lazy and irresponsible.

Before illustrating how the films fall into the aforementioned tropes, the authors summarize how popular culture converged with social science's utilization of prejudiced and methodologically inaccurate research since the early 20th century to depict Black families in America. The Moynihan Report of 1965 was disturbingly influential in casting Black households as dysfunctional due to a matrifocal structure, the authors wrote.

Studies have disproven the Moynihan Report showing that there was no statistically significant difference between Black and white families regarding the presence of fathers, and a current study from the Pew Research Center found that Black men were the most involved fathers.

"The stereotypical assumption has still been adopted in subsequent academic research and the 'popular public pedagogy' of Hollywood films," Thomas said.

In fact, the first trope is reflected in the fact that fathers are absent in 10 of the 11 films. In only two of the analyzed films are fathers of main characters portrayed. The only film that didn't fall into the trope was "Nutty Professor," which depicted the Black male teacher as having a highly competent white research lab assistant.

The trope of "taking their (un)natural place" runs through the films by showing teachers being completely comfortable and highly effective in situations such as teaching in largely white schools, but the films frame the characters as being out of their natural element.

Morgan Freeman's Mr. Clark character is shown early in "Lean on Me" as a comfortable, impactful teacher, but out of place working with white students. That, and other cases of unnatural fits, never address Black male educators' content knowledge, counter-hegemonic pedagogical approaches or their interpersonal skills; they simply fit.

Once the teachers take their place in filling the void created by absent Black fathers in the films, they often fall into the third trope of saviors from death and deviance, the authors wrote. Teachers in "Hard Lessons" and "To Sir, With Love II" are shown attempting to save Black youth from gang-related deaths. In other films, the teachers are shown attempting to keep young men away from drugs and jail, but they are never shown reading, designing lessons or teaching in a typical classroom setting.

The final trope revolved around teachers motivating lazy and irresponsible youths to achieve. Laurence Fishburne's Professor Phipps character in "Higher Learning" exemplified the trope when he critiques a student for being lazy and thinking the world owed him something, saying, "It is laziness that has kept Black people down in this country."

While movies are not reality, they are part of the public consciousness, and Hollywood is part of a global economic machine, Thomas and co-authors wrote. The public portrayals reinforce stereotypes, fundamentally alter standards and expectations, and are reflected in public education policy as education laws are driven by either contempt from conservative lawmakers or pity from liberal approaches.

Building off themes explored in the paper, Thomas is designing a class tentatively called Black Men and Boys in Education. The course will examine how contemporary experiences of Black men and boys are a byproduct of historical discourses that have situated the essence of Blackness as a problem since the 15th century, Thomas said. Considering that historical construction from that starting point until the 21st century will offer a look at the uninterrupted framing of the population as problems within the realm of education, which is reflected in Hollywood films as well as the American education system.

"The films continue being made because they have proven to be popular and profitable, but also because they reiterate false notions produced by academic fields within academe that have been able to portray these stories as authentic precisely because they emerged from an institution with the power to legitimize truth," Thomas said. "Not only has the intersection between this research and Hollywood films misconstrued the image of Black families, fathers and boys on national and global scales, but they also fail to address the intellectual, political and ideological depth of Black male teachers due to these stifling constraints."

"I cannot think of a single example of a Hollywood movie that counters these ubiquitous narratives," Thomas added. "Hollywood will probably not release a film that that addresses the systemic, sociohistorical origin story of racialized educational inequity encountered by Black folks. It's terrifying to know that people leave the theater after watching these films thinking, "All we need is magical Black male teachers, they can fix it." We have to stop utilizing Black families, fathers and Black male teachers as scapegoats for centuries of anti-Black policies."

More information: Daniel Thomas et al, (Un)Natural Saviors and Motivators: Analyzing the Pathological Scripting of Black Male Teachers in Hollywood Films, Educational Studies (2022). DOI: 10.1080/00131946.2022.2096454
Hurricane Lisa is headed towards Central America with maximum sustained winds of 120 kilometers (75 miles) per hour and even higher gusts.

The northern part of Central America was on high alert Wednesday for the passage of Hurricane Lisa, with warnings of devastating winds, downpours and flash floods also affecting Mexico's Yucatan peninsula.

The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) has issued a hurricane warning for Honduras' Bay Islands, the coast of Belize and Mexico's Yucatan area stretching from Chetumal to Puerto Costa Maya.

Lisa was moving westward in the Caribbean Sea at a speed of 24 kilometers (15 miles) per hour with maximum sustained winds of 120 km/h (75 mph) and even higher gusts, said the NHC.

"Additional strengthening is forecast as Lisa approaches Belize. Weakening is expected after the center makes landfall," it added.

Heavy rains could create flash flooding conditions across Belize into northern Guatemala, the far southeast of Yucatan, the east of Chiapas state in Mexico as well as the state of Tabasco, according to the advisory.

"A storm surge will likely raise water levels by as much as 4 to 7 feet (1.2 to 2.1 meters) above normal tide levels near and to the north of where the center of Lisa crosses the coast of Belize and extreme southeastern portions of the Yucatan Peninsula," said the center.

It also warned the surge would be accompanied by "large and damaging waves" and swells as far away as Jamaica and the Cayman Islands possibly causing "life-threatening surf and rip current conditions."

Honduras's Center for Atmospheric, Oceanographic and Seismic Studies (CENAOS) issued a red alert for the Bay Islands.

Ronnie Mcnab, mayor of the largest of the islands and a major tourist draw, Roatan, declared a state of emergency that allowed for classes to be suspended and schools to be turned into shelters.

He urged people to stock up on food and guests not to leave their hotels for 36 hours.

In Belize, the government declared a red alert for coastal areas and closed schools, while in Guatemala and El Salvadorexpecting lesser impactsthe authorities were on alert.

In Belize, many residents were fearful of losing everything they own.

"Many people have houses that are not safe," resident Jazmin Ayusola told AFP ahead of the storm.

Lisa arrives not even three weeks after the passage of Julia, another Category 1 hurricane, which caused dozens of deaths in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

 2022 AFP
Western red cedar grove, Moose Creek, Selway-Bitteroot Wilderness, Idaho. Credit: Answer.to.the.rock, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Six years have passed since Bruce Albert witnessed the sudden, inexplicable death of a dozen Western red cedars on his property.

The trees fell victim to a nameless culprit in the span of a single summer, showing no signs of a killer pest or deadly pathogen. Nearby, Douglas firs, maple, alder, black cottonwood and more than a dozen surviving red cedars remain unaffected, if not thriving, to this day.

Albert is puzzled.

"There's no pattern to it," the 70-year-old said.

Similar symptoms have been seen among red cedars throughout the Pacific Northwest.

For millennia, the trees have been pillars of stability and survival for the region's forests and its inhabitants. Scaly, green-blue leaves adorned with small, oval cones hanging from drooping branches provide sustenance for elk when food is scarce during winter. The striped wood, fibrous and forgiving, protected by a soft layer of iconic red bark, wraps around a sturdy trunk that offers shelter for bears or useful material for humans.

Diebacks have felled countless trees throughout the region but, according to emerging research, perhaps never so prominently among Western red cedars or in such noticeable concentrations west of the Cascades.

Albert has been watching dozens of red cedars grow in his backyard since he moved to Snohomish County in 1976, back when heat waves, drought and wildfire were less common amid the region's lush, forested corridors and abundant rain.

Now, just beyond the next hill, the Bolt Creek fire has been burning since early September, an unnerving portent of west side fires to come as summers become increasingly severe and unpredictable.

The ailing red cedars could be the latest victim of an influx of extreme weather events.

Scientists, in their search for a cause, point to a changing climate, but to understand the nature and extent of the invisible threat looming over this beloved species, researchers need more time.

The Western red cedar, or Thuja plicata, is the largest tree in the Pacific Northwest and one of the oldest in Western Washington.

It is one of the most common conifers here, an evergreen, native to the Pacific Coast of North America. The species first laid its roots thousands of years ago in the rich soils of British Columbia. Tools made of red cedar found in Yuquot, a small settlement on Vancouver Island, have been dated as far back as 4,000 years.

Now, it can be found in young groves and ancient forests stretching from California to Alaska.

Sam Barr, a Samish tribal citizen and a supervisor of the Stillaguamish Tribe's historic preservation office, relies on the tree for his art, spirituality and way of life.

"A lot of people refer to the cedar tree as a grandparent because it provides essential gifts that you need to survive in life," Barr said.

He has been harvesting materials from the tree for 14 years, using bark and wood to create art, tools, canoe paddles and drums inspired by traditional Coast Salish peoples.

Not only does the tree provide him with essential materials to build and carve, but it also provides a connection to his ancestors and their history.

Red cedars have been used by Indigenous communities to build homes, canoes, totem poles, rope, instruments, utensils, bowls, blankets, baskets and more. The tree's natural oils and buoyancy help make it water- and rot-resistant and therefore ideal for use in boats, rooftops and clothing.

White settlers also found the tree useful for shingles, a use that continues today, as well as for deck-building and fencing, among other things, by Northwesterners through the region.

Should the dieback worsen, it's difficult for Barr to fathom the loss of such an essential species, especially one so invaluable to the cultural heritage of First Nations, and foundational to the region's history and growth.

"When you peel the bark off the tree and put your hand on the bare trunk you can feel how alive the tree is, you can feel the fluids that flow up and down the trunk," he said. "It's almost like you can feel the tree's heartbeat."

To examine possible differences between healthy red cedars and those experiencing dieback, researchers from Washington State University, Portland State University and Reed College have collected about 30,000 coressmall, cylindrical cross-sections taken from inside the tree to examine their age and healthfrom 280 red cedars at 11 sites in Washington and Oregon.

Early findings suggest the dieback could be causing red cedar growth to sputter.

Scientists found the species to be growing largely in unison, regardless of previous health conditions, until about seven years ago during the early stages of a statewide dry spell.

"So they grow less and less right up until they die," said WSU researcher Henry Adams.

Something happened after 2015 that caused them to respond very differently, said his colleague and co-author Robert Andrus.

That year marked the beginning of uncommonly hot, dry weather in Washington that didn't relent until 2018.

In the past 20 years, Washington experienced seven of its 10 hottest years since 1895. Just in the past decade, the state endured a period of unprecedented heat in which soaring temperatures were bookended by an unprecedented drought in 2015 and the infamous "heat dome" of 2021.

Between each bout of extreme weather, cedars were afforded little time to recover.

Red cedars can normally survive a seasonal drought or a single heat wave. But such events in quick succession can gradually weaken a tree's ability to retain water, grow and protect itself from bugs and illness.

Red cedars are particularly sensitive to climate conditions in May and June, Adams said, because that's when they prepare themselves for the subsequent dry season.

A disruption of that cyclelike the unusually cold and wet spring weather Washington saw earlier this yearcould mean the difference between life and death.

"If there's not as much moisture available during that period, then they're going to grow a lot less," Andrus said. "And they're going to shut down their growth a lot earlier."

For years, climatologists have warned that global warming will destabilize the planet's natural systems, pushing them beyond a tipping point into an irreversible feedback loop that eventually leads to mass extinctions and the collapse of entire ecosystems.

In 2008, British scientist Timothy Lenton identified nine planetary tipping points, including the melting or retreat of ice sheets in Greenland, the western Antarctic Ocean and East Antarctica; the collapse or disruption of oceanic currents and monsoons in and around the Atlantic, West Africa, South Asia and India; and large diebacks in the Amazon rainforest and boreal forests.

These tipping points are difficult to foresee, according to the report, as they arrive suddenly and can even trigger or "cross" with other tipping points. For the largest of Earth's natural systems, the process could take millions of years.

But smaller, localized tipping points are expected to emerge as climate change, fueled by humanity's consumption of fossil fuels, continues to worsen.

Researchers fear Western red cedars may have reached a tipping point.

"You don't know where the edge is until you've gone over it," Adams said.

If red cedars have, in fact, reached this climatic point-of-no-return, they face a dreadful prospect: a situation in which broad swaths slowly but inexorably fall victim to this dieback over the coming decades or centuries, and the species becomes extinctor close to it, by receding into habitats on the fringe of their livable range.

The Pacific Northwest has suffered far bigger diebacks than this but almost exclusively at the hands of an aggressive bark beetle infestation, a fatal disease or deadly fungal infection.

While researchers believe the cause of the Western red cedar dieback is environmental and abiotic, or nonliving, the precise cause and mechanics of itwhy the trees are responding this way, which are most vulnerable, what can be done to stop itremain a mystery.

Perhaps the trigger is unimpeded sunlight. Perhaps it's dry soil. Perhaps it's low snowpack or too much competition. Perhaps the species is migrating north into British Columbia, as has been projected for several tree genera as the climate crisis alters their livable habitat, often pushing them into higher latitudes and higher elevations. Perhaps it's all of the above.

Each condition would require a different treatment.

Aerial surveys of tree health and species distribution have been conducted in Washington and Oregon by both states and the federal government for nearly 80 years. But it was only in 2017 that researchers began using a new label on their map: DC, short for "Dying Cedar."

The surveys show the dieback is sparsely spread across the whole region but largely concentrated in urban corridors and low elevations on the west side.

Joseph Hulbert, from WSU's Forest Health Watch, leads a project gathering data on the red cedar dieback from a network of community scientists. The project has garnered around 1,800 data points from 250 contributors, which has helped Hulbert and other researchers better understand what's happening from the ground.

In South King County's Cedar Creek Park, the wilting remains of a young red cedar stood like a distress beacon as it slowly decayed alongside thriving maples, hemlocks and firs.

Its branches were skeletal and bare, its crown colorless and its striped trunk posthumously studded with tiny holes carved by wood-boring beetles.

"This one is completely dead," said Glenn Kohler, a forest entomologist who studies insects' impact on forest health, said in August.

He touched the soft bark before removing a small patch to check underneath. The tree lived in a healthy grove surrounded by urban corridors in King County, enjoyed good access to sunlight and showed no signs of common tree killers.

The casualties are still manageable if the dieback doesn't worsen, Kohler said.

If drought is to blame, Kohler said, reducing competition by thinning the understory could help red cedars get more water. But if it's a combination of drought and heat, the solution might require a more tailored approach.

Melissa Fischer, an expert on the red cedar dieback and a forest health specialist with the state Department of Natural Resources, said red cedars undergoing dieback appeared to be more often exposed to sunlight. Trees under the canopy were more often healthier than those receiving direct sunlight.

During a drought, air bubbles drawn from parched soil can break a tree's water column, causing that part of it to wither or die. High temperatures and wind can cause a tree to become dehydrated quicker in the upper canopy.

In Western Washington and Oregon, low spring snowpack may be correlated with severe cases of the dieback.

While these clues are helpful, it's too early to draw conclusions.

"We only have hypotheses as to what's happening," Fischer said.

Timber harvesting should be done cautiously, she said, and perhaps more red cedars should be left for every acre harvested so that they have a canopy to protect them.

"The biggest question is: How do you manage for this species right now?"

2022 The Seattle Times.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

As the cost of living crisis worsens, scores of workers in the gig economy globally are grappling with another threat to their hard-earned wagesthe double-edged sword of online reviews. New research has exposed how tech companies are compounding the problem, leaving scores of workers in fear of their future income.

The study, led by researchers from the University of Bristol and University of Oxford, analyzed the reputation systems of some the biggest gig economy platforms, such as Upwork and Fiverr, which use customer feedback to produce ratings. It found the algorithmsprocesses used to rank workers according to performance metricslack transparency and are highly volatile, leaving workers vulnerable to capricious and malicious customers.

Findings revealed most gig economy freelancers (7 in 10) working remotely from across the world for some of the biggest online platforms, providing services ranging from data entry to website design, were worried about clients providing unfair feedback and negatively affecting their future earnings.

Lead author sociologist Dr. Alex Wood, Lecturer in Human Resource Management and Future of Work at Bristol, said, "It was shocking how workers expressed continuous worry about the potential consequences of receiving a single bad rating from an unfair or malevolent client, and how this could leave them unable to continue making a living."

The situation is creating a growing trend of "reputational insecurity" in the workforce, where self-employed contract workers are experiencing greater instability and concern about future access to work.

Unlike traditional references and personal recommendations, gig economy platforms rely on algorithmic systems that score and rank workers according to customer-generated online ratings. Special categories, such as "rising star" and "top-rated," are created to allegedly denote high-quality and trustworthy workers. But the study found the algorithms are opaque and unstable, leaving workers anxious about how they will be rated by potentially malicious customer ratings.

The fleeting nature of reviews also means some workers have been resorting to put in extra hours unpaid or even doing entire jobs for free in a desperate bid to avoid negative ratings. This finding emerged from qualitative interviews carried out by the researchers in international cities, including London, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Manila. The researchers also analyzed surveys of nearly 900 gig economy workers from the UK and Europe. Around seven in 10 (67%) of the 436 UK workers agreed "reputational insecurity" is widespread while 62% of the 430 from Europe felt this was true.

Dr. Wood said, "We discovered some workers continued to make free revisions for clients to help ensure their satisfaction and favorable feedback. Others canceled the contract and provided their work for free if they felt the customer was unhappy and might leave a harmful rating."

The study, published today in Sociology, found the companies operated without checks and balances to verify the ratings, and effective processes to seek redress and corrections were also lacking.

Study co-author Vili Lehdonvirta, Professor of Economic Sociology and Digital Social Research from the University of Oxford, said, "This study is important as tech companies continue to rewire the social fabric of our lives and platform rating and reputation systems are becoming increasingly ubiquitous beyond the gig economy. Therefore, countering these processes of reputational insecurity will not only be an important policy endeavor for improving gig work but also the wider platform economy."

A recent national survey indicated there are approximately 600,000 gig economy workers in the UK, who have used a website, platform or app to make money, and around a third are remote online workers.

More information: 'Platforms disrupting reputation: precarity and recognition struggles in the remote gig economy', Sociology (2022). Journal information: Sociology
Chart: Mitchell Institute Source: DESE

When Australia's borders slammed shut during COVID, international students were among those who were stranded. This disrupted lives and studies, and put a major revenue stream for Australian universities in doubt.

The latest data shows international students are returning to Australia. Since international borders reopened in December 2021, the number of overseas students in Australia has risen by more than 120,000.

Applications for student visasan indicator of future student numbersare also at record levels.

But this growth is not shared equally around the university sector. It is the larger, more prestigious universities that are likely to benefit the most from students coming back.

Last week's 2022-23 budget included Labor's election policies to increase university places by 20,000 and provide 180,000 fee-free TAFE spots.

But away from the budget headlines, we need to look at Australia's international education policy (which determines where international students study and what they pay). This will have the biggest impact on funding for universities and TAFEs.

Students are coming back

Before COVID, there were about 580,000 international students living in Australia.

When Australia began to close its international borders in January 2020, many international students were in their home countries during the semester break. Because of this, thousands were left stranded outside Australia.

Despite repeated attempts by universities and governments to bring them back, current and new international students were largely unable to enter the country. By December 2021, the number of international students in Australia had more than halved to about 250,000.

The lifting of travel restrictions and quarantine requirements for fully vaccinated non-citizens in mid-December 2021 halted the decline.

By October 2022, international student numbers in Australia had grown back to about 370,000. There are still more than 72,000 international student visa holders outside Australia. About half these are Chinese international students, who are still subject to travel restrictions in their home country.

Visa numbers are a good sign

It will take some time for international student enrolments to return to pre-pandemic levels.

This is because the pandemic disrupted the pipeline of students. Students typically study for two to four years. Without new students to replace those finishing their courses, international student numbers fell.

This also means the losses experienced during the pandemic will be felt for several years. But there are encouraging signs.

One way to measure future demand of international students is through the number of student visas granted. Student visas are a leading indicator because students require a visa before they can enroll.

Student visas granted for July and August 2022 are the highest they have been compared to previous years.

Visas for students from China and India, two of Australia's biggest markets, have returned almost to previous levels. Applications from other countries are growing, too.

New international students excludes visas granted where the last visa held was a student visa Credit: Chart: Mitchell Institute Source: DHA

Part of this may be due to policies that make Australia a more desirable study destination. Australia, like the United Kingdom, has increased access to post-study work rights. This means students in some courses can stay for longer in Australia after they have finished their course.

The Australian government has also temporarily relaxed working restrictions, removing the cap on the hours international students can work.

Why are international students so important?

International students are a vital resource for Australia's higher education sector. No university could function as they currently do without the revenue from international student fees.

In 2019, before the pandemic hit, international student revenue was A$10 billion across the university sector.

But this resource is concentrated in certain institutions. And it is the larger and more prestigious universities that benefit the most.

The most prestigious (the so-called "Group of Eight" universities) account for more than half of the revenue universities receive from international students.

This is because these universities, which include the universities of Sydney, Melbourne and Queensland, can charge more due to their prestige, higher rankings, greater resources and favorable location.

For a business degreethe most common course for international studentsGroup of Eight universities charge around $50,000 annually. This more than double what some other universities charge for the same course. For the same local student, universities receive $15,600.

The revenue international students bring is enormous. For example, in the recent budget, the Albanese government announced $485 million over four years for 20,000 extra places for local students. In the four years before the pandemic, universities increased their international student revenue by $4.6 billion. Group of Eight universities accounted for half this increase.

Increasing gaps between universities

The disparity risks encouraging a form of what researchers call "residualisation".

This occurs when students from more economically and educationally advantaged backgrounds are able to enroll in more prestigious, well-resourced universities.

Revenue from high-paying international students is used to subsidize other activities across these universities, such as research. The extra revenue enables greater investment in infrastructure, which also increases a university's attractiveness as a study destination for local and international students.

The smaller universities, which often cater for more disadvantaged cohorts, miss out. Lower enrolments and less resources also mean these smaller universities face additional challenges such as limited subject offerings and less student support services.

It is a similar problem in the vocational sector, where only 5% of international students study at TAFE colleges. This means TAFEs don't receive much needed revenue.

What happens now?

The reasons for the lopsided benefits are complex. International education policy is intertwined with migration policyall international students are temporary migrants. Access to the labor market and the relative status of certain institutions all play a role in driving student choice.

But the value of international students to Australia's education sector and the resources they bring are vital.

Finding ways to ensure the benefits are spread more evenly would go a long way to making the sector more equitable.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Pucklike bioelectronics designed at Rice University contain programmable bacteria and are attached to an electrode that delivers a signal when they detect a target contaminant, enabling real-time sensing. Credit: Brandon Martin/Rice University

When you hit your finger with a hammer, you feel the pain immediately. And you react immediately.

But what if the pain comes 20 minutes after the hit? By then, the injury might be harder to heal.

Scientists and engineers at Rice University say the same is true for the environment. If a chemical spill in a river goes unnoticed for 20 minutes, it might be too late to remediate.

Their living bioelectronic sensors can help. A team led by Rice synthetic biologists Caroline Ajo-Franklin and Jonathan (Joff) Silberg and lead authors Josh Atkinson and Lin Su, both Rice alumni, have engineered bacteria to quickly sense and report on the presence of a variety of contaminants.

Their study in Nature shows the cells can be programmed to identify chemical invaders and report within minutes by releasing a detectable electrical current.

Such "smart" devices could power themselves by scavenging energy in the environment as they monitor conditions in settings like rivers, farms, industry and wastewater treatment plants and to ensure water security, according to the researchers.

The environmental information communicated by these self-replicating bacteria can be customized by replacing a single protein in the eight-component, synthetic electron transport chain that gives rise to the sensor signal.

"I think it's the most complex protein pathway for real-time signaling that has been built to date," said Silberg, director of Rice's Systems, Synthetic and Physical Biology Ph.D. Program. "To put it simply, imagine a wire that directs electrons to flow from a cellular chemical to an electrode, but we've broken the wire in the middle. When the target molecule hits, it reconnects and electrifies the full pathway."

"It's literally a miniature electrical switch," Ajo-Franklin said.

Pucklike devices designed by Rice University scientists and engineers contain multitudes of programmable bacteria that can detect contaminants and report their presence in real time. The bacteria release an electrical signal when triggered. Credit: Brandon Martin/Rice University

"You put the probes into the water and measure the current," she said. "It's that simple. Our devices are different because the microbes are encapsulated. We're not releasing them into the environment."

The researchers' proof-of-concept bacteria was Escherichia coli, and their first target was thiosulfate, a dichlorination agent used in water treatment that can cause algae blooms. And there were convenient sources of water to test: Galveston Beach and Houston's Brays and Buffalo bayous.

They collected water from each. At first, they attached their E. coli to electrodes, but the microbes refused to stay put. "They don't naturally stick to an electrode," Ajo-Franklin said. "We're using strains that don't form biofilms, so when we added water, they'd fall off."

When that happened, the electrodes delivered more noise than signal.

Enlisting co-author Xu Zhang, a postdoctoral researcher in Ajo-Franklin's lab, they encapsulated sensors into agarosein the shape of a lollipop that allowed contaminants in but held the sensors in place, reducing the noise.

"Xu's background is in environmental engineering," Ajo-Franklin said. "She didn't come in and say, 'Oh, we have to fix the biology.' She said, 'What can we do with the materials?' It took great, innovative work on the materials side to make the synthetic biology shine."

With the physical constraints in place, the labs first encoded E. coli to express a synthetic pathway that only generates current when it encounters thiosulfate. This living sensor was able to sense this chemical at levels less than 0.25 millimoles per liter, far lower than levels toxic to fish.

In another experiment, E. coli was recoded to sense an endocrine disruptor. This also worked well, and the signals were greatly enhanced when conductive nanoparticles custom-synthesized by Su were encapsulated with the cells in the agarose lollipop. The researchers reported these encapsulated sensors detect this contaminant up to 10 times faster than the previous state-of-the-art devices.

The study began by chance when Atkinson and Moshe Baruch of Ajo-Franklin's group at Berkeley Lawrence National Laboratory set up next to each other at a 2015 synthetic biology conference in Chicago, with posters they quickly realized outlined different aspects of the same idea.

Rice University synthetic biologists Caroline Ajo-Franklin and Joff Silberg and their labs have developed programmable bacteria that sense contaminants and release an electronic signal in real time. Credit: Brandon Martin/Rice University

"We had neighboring posters because of our last names," said Atkinson. "We spent most of the poster session chatting about each other's projects and how there were clear synergies in our interests in interfacing cells with electrodes and electrons as an information carrier."

"Josh's poster had our first module: how to take chemical information and turn it into biochemical information," Ajo-Franklin recalled. "Moshe had the third module: How to take biochemical information and turn it into an electrical signal.

"The catch was how to link these together," she said. "The biochemical signals were a little different."

"We said, 'We need to get together and talk about this!'" Silberg recalled. Within six months, the new collaborators won seed funding from the Office of Naval Research, followed by a grant, to develop the idea.

"Joff's group brought in the protein engineering and half of the electron transfer pathway," Ajo-Franklin said. "My group brought the other half of the electron transport pathway and some of the materials efforts." The collaboration ultimately brought Ajo-Franklin herself to Rice in 2019 as a CPRIT Scholar.

"We have to give so much credit to Lin and Josh," she said. "They never gave up on this project, and it was incredibly synergistic. They would bounce ideas back and forth and through that interchange solved a lot of problems."

"Each of which another student could spend years on," Silberg added.

"Both Josh and I spent several years of our Ph.D.s working on this, with the pressure of graduating and moving on to the next stage of our careers," said Su, a visiting graduate student in Ajo-Franklin's lab after graduating from Southeast University in China. "I had to extend my visa multiple times to stay and finish the research."

Silberg said the design's complexity goes far beyond the signaling pathway. "The chain has eight components that control electron flow, but there are other components that build the wires that go into the molecules," he said. "There are a dozen-and-a-half components with almost 30 metal or organic cofactors. This thing's massive compared to something like our mitochondrial respiratory chains."

Rice University postdoctoral researcher Xu Zhang prepares a water sample for testing with programmable bacteria that test for contaminants and release an electronic signal for detection in real time. Credit: Brandon Martin/Rice University

All credited the invaluable assistance of co-author George Bennett, Rice's E. Dell Butcher Professor Emeritus and a research professor in biosciences, in making the necessary connections.

Silberg said he sees engineered microbes performing many tasks in the future, from monitoring the gut microbiome to sensing contaminants like viruses, improving upon the successful strategy of testing wastewater plants for SARS-CoV-19 during the pandemic.

"Real-time monitoring becomes pretty important with those transient pulses," he said. "And because we grow these sensors, they're potentially pretty cheap to make."

To that end, the team is collaborating with Rafael Verduzco, a Rice professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and of materials science and nanoengineering.

"The type of materials we can make with Raphael takes this to a whole new level," Ajo-Franklin said.

Silberg said the Rice labs are working on design rules to develop a library of modular sensors. "I hope that when people read this, they recognize the opportunities," he said.

Silberg is the Stewart Memorial Professor of BioSciences and a professor of bioengineering at Rice. Ajo-Franklin is a professor of biosciences. Atkinson is a visiting National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow at Aarhus University, Denmark, and has an affiliation with the University of Southern California. Su is a postdoctoral research associate and a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Cambridge.

More information: Caroline Ajo-Franklin, Real-time bioelectronic sensing of environmental contaminants, Nature (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05356-y. www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05356-y Journal information: Nature
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Hurricane Ian's ravaging of Florida's southwest coast left more than 125 people dead, thousands of homes destroyed and a monumental path to recovery for the storm's survivors.

Reported losses to private insurers are expected to reach up to $67 billionand experts say damages to the market could make getting insurance more difficult and more expensive for homeowners in the future.

Coastal homeowners are especially vulnerable to stronger, more destructive storms. But a significant challenge to the adoption of climate-resilient upgrades, for both new construction as well as existing homes, comes from homeowners themselves.

As part of a study published in National Hazards Review, researchers found most homeowners fail to make upgrades to better protect their homes from increasingly severe storms caused by climate change.

The issue is a matter of perspective: Why act now, and spend the money now, to protect against future damage when any storm could shift directionand any sustained damages will be covered by insurance?

Debra Javeline, associate professor of political science and co-lead author of the study, said insurance companies play a pivotal role in how homeowners perceive risk and could be doing far more to encourage action to minimize losses. Her research, in collaboration with Tracy Kijewski-Correa, professor of civil and environmental engineering and earth sciences and global affairs, aims to inform insurers, leaders and policymakers about what incentives could help mobilize homeowners to protect themselves.

In the following Q&A Javeline discusses insurance in an era of heightened climate risk.

How do insurance companies fit into the big picture of climate risk for coastal homeowners?

Building codes are relevant only for new construction. That leaves over 90 percent of the country's housing stock unaffected, even if states hypothetically enacted the strictest codes recommended by engineers for maximizing life safety and minimizing property damage.

The question then is how to motivate owners of the vast majority of American coastal homes to reduce their risk, when the law is not compelling them to do so. That is where insurers could fill a void. They have carrots and sticks at their disposal, in the form of premium discounts to reward risk-reducing home upgrades and higher premiums to penalize inaction.

Our research suggests that insurance companies could play a bigger role than they currently play by drawing greater attention to these sticks and carrots, where they already exist, and by offering more of them, especially positive incentives to reduce coastal vulnerability.

What do insurers and policymakers need to do to improve practices?

Insurers need to be able to charge actuarially fair rates to stay in business, and that is the political conundrum. If rates cannot be raised, private insurers will increasingly withdraw from hurricane-prone areas, leaving the government as the only insurer in town.

Policymakers seeking reelection have no incentive to take the politically unpopular position that homeowner insurance should reflect the true risk of coastal living, so instead, they largely ignore the issue. At some point soon, however, the unsustainability of this risk-sharing will become apparent. Government insurance will go bankrupt.

One potentially viable solution, economically and politically, is for both private and government insurers to make retrofitting a strict condition of post-disaster bailouts. But a much better approach, we argue, is not to wait for disaster to hit. "Wait to fail" is not sound public policy; it drains coffers and endangers public health. Acting before the damage, or sunny day decision-making, is much more cost-effective and healthy for homeowners and communities.

Reports following Ian speculate that the mounting losses will make it harder for homeowners to get insurance coverage. What is the most important thing for coastal homeowners to know now?

The most important thing they should know is just that: They may not be covered by insurance in the future. Therefore, they should imagine now that they personally are assuming all the risks of owning a home in a vulnerable location, and they should act accordingly. That means assessing the protection provided by windows, doors, roof, roof-to-wall connections and other structural features, and where these are deficient, investing in upgrades.

Some homeowners may not be able to afford these upgrades, and for those individuals, the socially just answer may be government assistance. However, many coastal homeowners, especially those with second residences, currently prioritize other home upgrades to, say, kitchens and bathrooms, that provide aesthetic appeal or greater comfort and convenience but do not enhance protection against hurricane damage.

In those cases especially, the homeowners need to ask themselves whether the amenities are the best use of resources if and when their homes are uninsured and they themselves would have to bear the full cost of losses.

They should also ask themselves what evidence of harm or impending harm would lead them to rethink coastal residency altogether. That is the elephant in the room, the national conversation that needs to happen but is currently avoided by politicians and beach-loving citizens unwilling to face climate reality. Insurers may be just the entities to force that conversation as they increasingly tell us that there is no sustainable insurance market where seas are rising, storms are becoming more hazardous and too many properties will be damaged to turn a profit.

More information: Debra Javeline et al, Do Perverse Insurance Incentives Encourage Coastal Vulnerability?, Natural Hazards Review (2021). DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)NH.1527-6996.0000533
A thick layer of dust can be seen on the lander and its solar panels on April 24, 2022. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The day is approaching when NASA's Mars InSight lander will fall silent, ending its history-making mission to reveal secrets of the Red Planet's interior. The spacecraft's power generation continues to decline as windblown dust on its solar panels thickens, so the team has taken steps to continue as long as possible with what power remains. The end is expected to come in the next few weeks.

But even as the tightknit 25-to-30-member operations teama small group compared to other Mars missionscontinues to squeeze the most they can out of InSight (short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport), they've also begun taking steps to wind down the mission.

Here's a glimpse of what that looks like.

Preserving data

The most important of the final steps with the InSight mission is storing its trove of data and making it accessible to researchers around the world. The lander data has yielded details about Mars' interior layers, its liquid core, the surprisingly variable remnants beneath the surface of its mostly extinct magnetic field, weather on this part of Mars, and lots of quake activity.

InSight's seismometer, provided by France's Center National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), has detected more than 1,300 marsquakes since the lander touched down in November 2018, the largest measuring a magnitude 5. It even recorded quakes from meteoroid impacts. Observing how the seismic waves from those quakes change as they travel through the planet offers an invaluable glimpse into Mars' interior but also provides a better understanding of how all rocky worlds, including Earth and its moon, form.

"Finally, we can see Mars as a planet with layers, with different thicknesses, compositions," said Bruce Banerdt of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, the mission's principal investigator. "We're starting to really tease out the details. Now it's not just this enigma; it's actually a living, breathing planet."

The seismometer readings will join the only other set of extraterrestrial seismic data, from the Apollo lunar missions, in NASA's Planetary Data System. They will also go into an international archive run by the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology, which houses "all the terrestrial seismic network data locations," said JPL's Sue Smrekar, InSight's deputy principal investigator. "Now, we also have one on Mars."

Smrekar said the data is expected to continue yielding discoveries for decades.

Managing power

Earlier this summer, the lander had so little remaining power that the mission turned off all of InSight's other science instruments in order to keep the seismometer running. They even turned off the fault protection system that would otherwise automatically shut down the seismometer if the system detects that the lander's power generation is dangerously low.

"We were down to less than 20% of the original generating capacity," said Banerdt. "That means we can't afford to run the instruments around the clock."

Recently, after a regional dust storm added to the lander's dust-covered solar panels, the team decided to turn off the seismometer altogether in order to save power. Now that the storm is over, the seismometer is collecting data againthough the mission expects the lander only has enough power for a few more weeks.

Of the seismometer's array of sensors, only the most sensitive were still operating, said Liz Barrett, who leads science and instrument operations for the team at JPL, adding, "We're pushing it to the very end."

Packing up the twin

A silent member of the team is ForeSight, the full-size engineering model of InSight in JPL's In-Situ Instrument Laboratory. Engineers used ForeSight to practice how InSight would place science instruments on the Martian surface with the lander's robotic arm, test techniques to get the lander's heat probe into the sticky Martian soil, and develop ways to reduce noise picked up by the seismometer.

ForeSight will be crated and placed in storage. "We'll be packing it up with loving care," Banerdt said. "It's been a great tool, a great companion for us this whole mission."

Declaring mission end

NASA will declare the mission over when InSight misses two consecutive communication sessions with the spacecraft orbiting Mars, part of the Mars Relay Networkbut only if the cause of the missed communication is the lander itself, said network manager Roy Gladden of JPL. After that, NASA's Deep Space Network will listen for a time, just in case.

There will be no heroic measures to re-establish contact with InSight. While a mission-saving eventa strong gust of wind, say, that cleans the panels offisn't out of the question, it is considered unlikely.

In the meantime, as long as InSight remains in contact, the team will continue gathering data. "We'll keep making science measurements as long as we can," Banerdt said. "We're at Mars' mercy. Weather on Mars is not rain and snow; weather on Mars is dust and wind."
Aerial view of Alaska out the window of a NASA Gulfstream III plane. The land is mostly lush and green, with lakes dotting it and rivers snaking through the landscape. The sky is blue and has puffy white clouds. Credit: NASA / Sofie Bates

From the window of a NASA Gulfstream III research aircraft, Alaska looks like a pristine wilderness untouched by humans. The land is covered in lush, green vegetation and dotted with bright blue lakes. Snow-capped mountains reach toward the sky, and chocolate milk-colored rivers snake across the landscape. The obvious signs of human activitycities, roads, infrastructureare hard to spot.

But on closer inspection, some hints of human-induced change appear to the eye. Sunken pockets of land. Abnormally tilted trees. Ponds where there used to be dry ground. Through the eyes of scientists collecting data from the ground and the air, the signal is clear: The Arctic is being affected by climate change more than most places on Earth. Since 2015, scientists participating in NASA's Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) have been studying the impacts of climate change on Earth's far northern regions and how those changes are intertwined.

"ABoVE is a large-scale study of environmental change, not just climate change," said Peter Griffith, a carbon cycle researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and one of the leaders of ABoVE. "And we're doing this as only NASA can: by studying this region from leaf to orbit."

Previous field and airborne campaigns focused on things like changes in plant cover and shifting animal migration patterns. In the summer of 2022, the team investigated permafrost thaw, methane emissions from lakes, and the effects of wildfires in Alaska and northwestern Canada. They did this with instruments observing from research aircraft and with scientists collecting measurements on the ground.

Studying Arctic Changes from Air and Space

One of the key components of ABoVE is the airborne campaign, which uses research aircraft like the NASA Gulfstream III airplane. This year the plane was mounted with the Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar, or UAVSAR, which sends out pulses of radio waves that reflect off of Earth's surface and give scientists an accurate idea of the shape of the land and water surfaces beloweven when looking through clouds or thick vegetation.

Each year members of the ABoVE team fly over their field sites, as well as wildfire burn scars and other areas of scientific interest, allowing them to compare measurements taken from both the air and ground. They also revisit sites from year to year to see how the landscapes evolve over time.

UAVSAR is similar to the main instrument on an upcoming satellite. The NASA-ISRO (NISAR) satellite will be a joint mission between the Indian Space Research Organization and NASA to observe Earth's land and ice. NISAR is also part of NASA's upcoming Earth System Observatory.

"ABoVE and UAVSAR give the research community a really good example of what NISAR data will look like and what kind of science they can extract from these datasets," explained Franz Meyer, a NISAR science team member who also is the chief scientist of the Alaska Satellite Facility in Fairbanks.

NISAR will collect data globally and year-round, allowing research groups like the ABoVE team to study critical processesthe development of methane emission hotspots, how and where permafrost is thawing, long-term consequences of wildfireseven when they can't be there in person.

With scientists in the field and research aircraft in the sky, a team of scientists with NASA's ABoVE mission are working to decode the secrets of the Arctic. Credit: NASA / Katie Jepson

Thawing Permafrost is Making New Lakes, New Methane Hotspots

Permafrostlayers of soil that have stayed frozen for at least two yearsunderlie much of Alaska and northwestern Canada. In some areas, especially within the Arctic Circle, the landscape is rich with permafrost. In others, this frozen soil is found in patches. Either way, it has mostly stayed frozen for thousands of years.

But as our planet warms, permafrost is thawing at an accelerating rate. This is changing the shape and vegetation of landscapes and, in some cases, creating new ponds and lakes that are also hotspots for greenhouse gas emissions.

When the hard, frozen permafrost layer warms, it changes into softer, spongier ground. That mushy ground sinks and can damage roads, houses, and other infrastructure sitting on top of it. In some areas like interior Alaska, the permafrost layer also contains large chunks of ice. As permafrost thaws and this ice melts, the resulting sinkholes can fill with the meltwater and form new ponds and lakes.

The warmer temperatures that cause permafrost to thaw also increase the activity of microbes that digest dead plants and other thawed organic matter. This microbial decay releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas that bubbles to the lake surface and enters the atmosphere.

This thawing process is happening all over Alaska and northwestern Canada, which already has millions of lakes and ponds. But most of these lakes are hundreds or thousands of years old, meaning the microbes have run out of organic matter to decompose and the lakes are no longer releasing significant amounts of methane.

In 2022, the ABoVE team closely examined Big Trail Lake, just outside of Fairbanks. "Lakes like Big Trail are new, young, and important because they are what's going to happen in the future as the climate changes and permafrost thaws," said Katey Walter Anthony, an ecologist at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks working with the ABoVE team.

Arctic and Boreal Fires are Becoming More Extreme

Year-to-year observations from the sky and the ground are especially important for understanding the evolving impacts of wildfires on Arctic and boreal landscape. Fires have long been a natural part of these ecosystems. But as Earth's climate changes, wildfires in these areas are becoming larger, more frequent, and more severe. This can make it difficult for ecosystems to recover after a firechanging the plants that grow back and accelerating permafrost thaw.

Fires in Alaska and northwestern Canada can be different from those in the continental United States. Sometimes the ground itself burns, as the soft, peaty layer of soil and organic material above the permafrost layer is flammable. Also, fires in remote areas are usually left to burn themselves out unless they threaten houses or other infrastructure. This gives scientists a "natural experiment" to see how fire runs its course.

"These tundra fires are so rare that we don't always get a great opportunity to study them," said Liz Hoy, a wildfire researcher at NASA Goddard and one of the lead scientists for ABoVE.

For several years, the ABoVE team has flown over recent wildland fires. For instance, the team flew over the site of the 2019 Shovel Creek Fire and the 2021 Yankovich Road Fire before and after they burned. Such repeat flights allow scientists to see the immediate impact of wildfire and how the ecosystems respond. This year the team flew over the site of the Contact Creek Fire, which burned in late May 2022 in a largely treeless tundra near Katmai National Park in Alaska.

The ABoVE team is interested in not only in the local impacts on the ecosystems, but also how the fires may be caused by or contribute to climate change.
Rough bumps on the pads of polar bears paws (pictured) offer the animals extra traction on snow. Credit: Journal of The Royal Society Interface (2022). DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2022.0466

A trio of researchers at the University of Akron in Ohio has conducted a study of the polar bear paw with a focus on the papillaethe microstructures on the footpad that help with traction. Nathaniel Orndorf, Austin Garner and Ali Dhinojwala have published their paper in Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

As climate change progresses, ecosystems around the world have begun to change. One of those ecosystems is the Arctic, where creatures such as polar bears live. And as such ecosystems change, scientists study the possible impact on plants and wildlife. In this new effort, the researchers noted that polar bears have received much attention in the news due to loss of ice that they need to survive.

But they also note that many aspects of polar bear anatomy have yet to be seriously studied. To that end, they undertook a study of the polar bear paw, which the researchers suggest plays a major role in its survival.

Prior research has shown that polar bear claws are shorter than those of other bears, and their paws are smaller relative to their body size. But what has not been studied is the papillaethe microstructures that grow on the bottom of the paw pad that help with traction.

The work began with a simple comparison of bear paw types. They found that besides polar bears, black and brown bears also have bumps on their pads, but sun bears do not. They also noticed that the bumps on the paws of the polar bear looked different from the bumps on the other two kinds of bears. That led them to take a closer look. They found that in the papillae, the crests of the bumps, were taller in polar bears than in the other two species.

Suspecting that taller papillae served a specific purpose, the researchers created 3D models of the polar bear paw pad that showed that taller papillae result in better tractionan important characteristic for a bear that walks on ice most of the time. More specifically, they found that the papillae were 1.5 times taller than those of brown or black bears. They also found that the taller papillae meant that polar bears had 1.3 times more paw surface area, giving the polar bear paws a 3050% increase in frictional shear stress.

More information: Nathaniel Orndorf et al, Polar bear paw pad surface roughness and its relevance to contact mechanics on snow, Journal of The Royal Society Interface (2022). DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2022.0466 Journal information: Journal of the Royal Society Interface

 2022 Science X Network
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Being an intercultural citizensomeone who supports the principle of a multicultural state and also demonstrates positive personal attitudes towards diversity is considered essential from a human rights perspective. What kind of learning best supports its development?

To try to answer this question, I surveyed close to 400 recent Ontario high school graduates who attended regular and specialized programs in public and private schools and interviewed 14 students.

My survey questions sought to gauge the extent to which graduates demonstrated openness, interest, positivity and comfort with others. My study defined this as having an open intercultural orientation.

I found that graduates who attended publicly funded schools were more likely to have open intercultural orientations than those who attended private schools. I also found positive associations between those who attended schools with students of different backgrounds and experiences.

Yet despite these positive associations, my research also suggested that learning environments may constrain intercultural relationships and fail to support racialized students, LGBTQ+ students and students from non-Christian religious backgrounds in expressing their views.

Gaging perspectives

To gauge the intercultural orientations of graduates, I used survey questions developed by the Ontario Human Rights Commission for a 2017 survey that took the pulse on people's opinions on human rights in the province.

These questions presented graduates with examples of human rights accommodations and discriminatory statements and asked respondents the extent to which they agreed with them. I also asked graduates about the characteristics of the high schools they attended.

Of the 390 survey respondents, graduates self-identified their backgrounds, based on categories from the Ontario Human Rights Commission, as: British (84); other European ancestry (49); Chinese (50); South Asian (47); Black (30); Arab (19); Latin American (13); French (11); South East Asian (14); Indigenous (10); West Asian (7); Multiple (8); Filipino (6); Korean (6); Japanese (1). Thirty-five respondents preferred not to say.

Study participants were more likely to disagree with statements such as "we would be better off in Ontario if we stopped letting in so many immigrants," "some jobs are better suited for men, some are better suited for women," "discrimination is no longer a major problem," if they attended schools that were publicly funded.

They were also more likely to disagree if they attended schools where many or most other students did not share their ethnicity or belong to their religious group.

Friendships across differences

My study, drawing on both survey questions and interviews, found that higher levels of diversity in school enrolment and graduates' relationshipsthe friendships they had with people from different ethnicities and faithswere related to higher levels of interculturalism.

Thirteen students I interviewed attended public schools throughout all or most of high school; one interviewee attended a private school. Eight interviewees self-identified as having European ancestry, four identified as Black and two as Asian.

Six of the seven interviewed graduates with higher levels of interculturalism had attended schools they reported had diverse enrolments and the seventh attended a school with a significant number of Indigenous students.

Marginalized perspectives in classrooms

Graduates who had regular contact with or were members of groups that are often the target of discriminationpeople of color, LGBTQ+ graduates, those with disabilities and womenheld fewer discriminatory views.

However, surveyed graduates who were Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim or Sikh, and interviewed graduates who were people of color or LGBTQ+, reported less comfort expressing their views in their high schools.

This suggests that students who are racialized, from non-Christian faiths and LGBTQ+ may be more open to others, while experiencing more exclusion themselves.

It also suggests schools have work to do in order to make all students comfortable enough to share their perspectives.

The school teaching and learning environment, curricula and how teachers engage students in discussion all impact what students learn and how they affirm cross-group relationships and perspectives.

Programs of choice

My research also found that students developed relationships with those they interacted with on a daily basis at school. In specialized programs, this often meant only with others in their program.

As education researchers Gillian Parekh and Ruben Gaztambide-Fernandez have found, students within specialized arts, gifted and French immersion programs are disproportionately white and wealthy. This should make us question whether such programs help graduates adapt successfully to environments of increasing diversity.

It is also a reason to ask whether such programs will build the more inclusive, innovative and safer future societies we want, or serve to rationalize and perpetuate division, inequality, distrust and violence.

Research shows that when parents choose educational programs based on large scale assessments and measurable achievement outcomes, they are often choosing programs that rank racialized socio-economic privilege rather than quality teaching and learning.

Graduates who attended specialized programs felt they were more academically inclined and motivated than those in regular programs, and graduates in regular programs had internalized the view that these programs were for students who were smart.

Taken together with existing research, the intercultural associations in this study suggest that enrolment in specialized programs, schools ranked by standardized assessments and private schools may work to silence minority voices and help maintain cultures of privilege and power.

More research needed

My study calls for more research on intercultural dialogue through education, one of the objectives of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

It asks how our publicly funded schools can move towards contextualizing academic merit and away from specialized programs and schools of choice. It also asks how these schools can ensure more students are comfortable in their classrooms and all student voices are heard.

Doing so would mean all students experience a sense of belonging and could provide Ontario high school students with greater understanding of the full range of cultural perspectives that exist in society.

This will be important for creating intercultural citizens poised to contribute to our societies, and enhancing the intercultural understanding and co-operation so urgently needed to tackle the democratic and climate crises that threaten our collective future.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Thousands of galaxies flood this near-infrared, high-resolution image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

A team of Canadian astronomers, including experts from the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics in the University of Toronto's Faculty of Arts & Science, have used the James Webb Telescope (JWST) to identify the most distant globular clusters ever discovereddense groups of millions of stars that may be relics containing the first and oldest stars in the universe.

The early analysis of Webb's First Deep Field image, which depicts some of the universe's earliest galaxies, was published Sept. 29 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

"JWST was built to find the first stars and the first galaxies and to help us understand the origins of complexity in the universe, such as the chemical elements and the building blocks of life," says Lamiya Mowla, a post-doctoral researcher at the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics and co-lead author of the study, which was carried out by the CAnadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey (CANUCS) team.

"This discovery in Webb's First Deep Field is already providing a detailed look at the earliest phase of star formation, confirming the incredible power of JWST."

In the finely detailed Webb's First Deep Field image, the researchers zeroed in on what they've dubbed "the Sparkler galaxy," which is nine billion light years away. This galaxy got its name for the compact objects appearing as small yellow-red dots surrounding it, referred to by the researchers as "sparkles." The team posited that these sparkles could either be young clusters actively forming starsborn three billion years after the Big Bang at the peak of star formationor old globular clusters. Globular clusters are ancient collections of stars from a galaxy's infancy and contain clues about its earliest phases of formation and growth.

The researchers studied the Sparkler galaxy located in Webb's First Deep Field and used JWST to determine that five of the sparkling objects around it are globular clusters. Credit: Image via Canadian Space Agency with images from NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Mowla, Iyer et al. 2022.

From their initial analysis of 12 of these compact objects, the researchers determined that five of them are not only globular clusters but among the oldest ones known.

"Looking at the first images from JWST and discovering old globular clusters around distant galaxies was an incredible momentone that wasn't possible with previous Hubble Space Telescope imaging," says Kartheik G. Iyer, a post-doctoral researcher at the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics and co-lead author of the study.

"Since we could observe the sparkles across a range of wavelengths, we could model them and better understand their physical propertieslike how old they are and how many stars they contain. We hope the knowledge that globular clusters can be observed at from such great distances with JWST will spur further science and searches for similar objects."

The Milky Way galaxy is known to have about 150 globular clusters, but how and when exactly these dense clumps of stars formed is not well understood. Astronomers know that globular clusters can be extremely old, but it is incredibly challenging to measure their ages. Using very distant globular clusters to age-date the first stars in distant galaxies has not been done before and is only possible with JWST.

From left: Kartheik Iyer, Vince Estrada-Carpenter, Guillaume Desperez, Lamiya Mowla, Marcin Sawicki, Victoria Strait, Gabe Brammer and Kate Gould (on laptop screen), Ghassan Sarrouh, Chris Willott, Bob Abraham, Gael Noirot, Yoshi Asada, Nick Martis. Credit: Lamiya Mowla and Kartheik Iyer

"These newly identified clusters were formed close to the first time it was even possible to form stars," says Mowla. "Because the Sparkler galaxy is much farther away than our own Milky Way, it is easier to determine the ages of its globular clusters. We are observing the Sparkler as it was nine billion years ago, when the universe was only four-and-a-half billion years old, looking at something that happened a long time ago. Think of it as guessing a person's age based on their appearanceit's easy to tell the difference between a five- and 10-year-old, but hard to tell the difference between a 50- and 55-year-old."

Until now, astronomers could not see the surrounding compact objects of the Sparkler galaxy with the Hubble Space Telescope. This changed with JWST's increased resolution and sensitivity, unveiling the tiny dots surrounding the galaxy for the first time in Webb's First Deep Field image. The Sparkler galaxy is special because it is magnified by a factor of 100 due to an effect called gravitational lensingwhere the SMACS 0723 galaxy cluster in the foreground distorts what is behind it, much like a giant magnifying glass. Moreover, gravitational lensing produces three separate images of the Sparkler, allowing astronomers to study the galaxy in greater detail.

"Our study of the Sparkler highlights the tremendous power in combining the unique capabilities of JWST with the natural magnification afforded by gravitational lensing," says CANUCS team lead Chris Willott from the National Research Council's Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre. "The team is excited about more discoveries to come when JWST turns its eye on the CANUCS galaxy clusters next month."

The researchers combined new data from JWST's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) with Hubble Scape Telescope archival data. NIRCam detects faint objects using longer and redder wavelengths to observe past what is visible to the human eye and even the Hubble Space Telescope. Both magnifications due to the lensing by the galaxy cluster and the high resolution of JWST are what made observing compact objects possible.

Gravitational lensing is used by astronomers to study very distant and very faint galaxies. Credit: NASA, ESA & L. Calcada

The Canadian-made Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) instrument on the JWST provided independent confirmation that the objects are old globular clusters because the researchers did not observe oxygen emission linesemissions with measurable spectra given off by young clusters that are actively forming stars. NIRISS also helped unravel the geometry of the triply lensed images of the Sparkler.

"JWST's made-in-Canada NIRISS instrument was vital in helping us understand how the three images of the Sparkler and its globular clusters are connected," says Marcin Sawicki, a professor at Saint. Mary's University who is Canada Research Chair in Astronomy and co-author of the study. "Seeing several of the Sparkler's globular clusters imaged three times made it clear that they are orbiting around the Sparkler galaxy rather than being simply in front of it by chance."

JWST will observe the CANUCS fields starting in October 2022, leveraging its data to examine five massive clusters of galaxies, around which the researchers expect to find more such systems. Future studies will also model the galaxy cluster to understand the lensing effect and execute more robust analyses to explain the star formation histories.

Collaborating institutions include York University and institutions in the United States and Europe.

More information: The Sparkler: Evolved High-redshift Globular Cluster Candidates Captured by JWST, The Astrophysical Journal Letters (2022). DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ac90ca Journal information: Astrophysical Journal Letters
Senegal's Lake Retba, or Pink Lake, experienced a dramatic rise in water levels during this year's rainy season.

Maguette Ndiour stands on the edge of Senegal's Lake Retba, famous for its pink-hued waters, and points to a mound of salt slowly being shovelled into bags by men toiling under the hot midday sun.

"This is the last of what we were able to save as the waters rose," Ndiour, the head of an association of artisanal salt collectors, says of the 200-tonne pile.

In two months, he says, they will have sold all the salt they were able to rescue before the lake swallowed up the rest.

After that, it could take up to four years before the coveted mineral can be harvested again, he adds.

That's because of torrential rains this year that a top meteorological expert says could be in line with warnings about climate change.

Widely known as the "Pink Lake," Retba is a magnet for tourists, lying 25 miles (40 kilometres) northeast of the capital Dakar.

Separated from the Atlantic by a narrow dune, the shallow lake is so densely laden with salt that, as in the Dead Sea, bathers float like corks. Harvesting and selling the salt from its famed waters is a lucrative sideline.

At the height of the rainy season in August, water cascaded into the lake, nearly tripling its usual depth to around six metres (20 feet), according to Ndiour and an environmental activist, Ibrahima Khalil Mbaye.

The water influx washed away thousands of tonnes of harvested salt.

The influx washed away some 7,000 tonnes of salt that had been harvested, a financial hit of nearly a quarter of a million dollars, according to Ndiour.

Around three thousand families earn their livelihoods extracting bucketfuls of salt from the lake bed, which are then hauled back in boats and dried on the shore.

But the salt deposits are now more dilute because of the greater water volumeand the greater depth now means they are out of reach for the diggers, who stand in the lake's shallows.

No more pink

Worse, said Ndiour, the salt plays a key role in imbuing the lake with its signature tinge"so if there is no more salt, we can't have the pink."

That spells bad news for tourism.

On a clear October afternoon at the height of Senegal's hot season, Julien Heim, a 21-year-old French tourist, disembarked from a wooden fishing boat after a row around the lake.

Activists worry the drainage water is polluted and contaminating the lake.

"It was cool," he said. "It's just that there are no more terraces on the banksand the lake isn't pink."

Standing in the village where Heim's tour ended, Maimouna Fedior, a 47-year-old owner of a lakefront store, said the floods had caused misery.

The mother of four lost much of her merchandise, including paintings, masks and wooden knick-knacks.

Now she borrows another space further inland and hopes the state will step in to help.

"Tourism is all we know," she told AFP. "I've been here for 30 yearsall my children, I pay for their schooling with this, I feed them with this."

'Choked'

Ousmane Ndiaye, director of meteorology at the National Agency for Civil Aviation and Meteorology, said this year's rainy season was "exceptional".

"The intense nature of the rain is consistent with the outcome of the latest IPCC report... (on) the frequency of extreme weather events," he said referring to the UN's expert panel on climate change.

The lake is a magnet for tourists, drawn by the pink tinge caused by the salt.

Mbaye said the water had been pumped into the lake from the suburbs of Dakar, fuelling concern that it carried toxic residues.

"This water passed through streets, alleyways, petrol stations," he said.

Mamadou Alpha Sidibe, director of flood prevention and management at the ministry of water, denied that the water had been pumped.

No pipelines or drains had been installed and ditches that brought the water into the lake from the surrounding areas had been formed naturally, he said.

The flooding has affected the tourism industry.

Sidibe blamed the rains for triggering the flooding but said it was aggravated by exponential urbanisation.

"The area began to experience development around the early 2000s," Sidibe told AFP.

"All this was done in a context in which we didn't have so much rain, so people (built) on waterways."

Environment Minister Alioune Ndoye visited the area in early October and spoke with salt miners and those in the tourism industry.

This years rainfall was exceptional, and could plausibly be linked to climate change, according to Senegals meteorology agency.

His ministry has collected water samples for a quality analysis, the results of which have not yet been released.

But as things stand, Mbaye said the lake "is being choked... it's a catastrophe."

 2022 AFP
The post on the left contains one student's name in the text of the post (Jane Doe) and one student's face in the image. This post would be coded as having one identifiable face because there is only one name and one face; thus, they can be identified together. The post in the right panel contains no student names in the text of the post but one staff last name (Johnson). The image would be coded as having three student faces, despite there being five individuals pictured because only three of the student's faces are the eyes, nose, mouth, and/or ears clear and visible. This post would be coded as having zero identifiable faces because none of the pictured students are named in the text of the post, and there is no staff face in the image to be identified with the listed name. Credit: Educational Researcher (2022). DOI: 10.3102/0013189X221120538

U.S. schools and school districts have shared an estimated 4.9 million posts that include identifiable images of students on public Facebook pages, unintentionally putting student privacy at risk, according to a new study. Around 726,000 of these posts are thought to identify one or more students by their first and last names. The research was published today in Educational Researcher.

The study examined publicly accessible posts on U.S. school and school district Facebook pages from 2005 to 2020. During that time, schools published about 18 million posts, with the annual frequency of posts, and the proportion of posts with photos, increasing each year. Public Facebook posts are accessible by all visitors to the platform, including those without a Facebook account.

"While the percentage of Facebook posts that identified students was small, the sheer volume of posts meant that hundreds of thousands of students had personally identifiable information shared by their schools," said coauthor Joshua M. Rosenberg, an assistant professor of STEM education at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. "These findings suggest that student privacy may inadvertently be threatened by the social media activity of schools and districts."

While previous research has looked at how social media sharing by individual educators may place the privacy of students at risk, Rosenberg notes this study is the first to consider the privacy implications of social media activities undertaken by schools and districts.

Rosenberg conducted the study with Conrad Borchers (Carnegie Mellon University), Macy A. Burchfield (University of Tennessee, Knoxville), Daniel Anderson (Abl Schools), Sondra M. Stegenga (University of Utah), and Christian Fischer (University of Tubingen).

Using CrowdTangle, Facebook's tool for scholars and journalists that provides access to data on the platform's public posts, the researchers accessed public Facebook posts from all public schools and school districts in the United States. They found the posts by searching for links to Facebook pages from school and district website homepages. Thus, only schools and districts that linked to their Facebook page from their homepage were included in the sample.

The researchers found that of the 18 million posts, approximately 13.9 million included images of individuals of any age. Extrapolating from an analysis of a randomly selected sample of posts, the researchers estimated that 4.9 million of the posts had identifiable images of students, and 726,000 of these identified students' first and last names.

"The posts we studied may represent the largest existing collection of publicly accessible, identifiable images of minors," said Rosenberg. "It is likely that the photos are being accessed by a range of actors, including government agencies, predictive policing companies, and those with nefarious intent."

Credit: American Educational Research Association

The study notes that government agencies in the U.S. and other countries regularly access public social media data for purposes ranging from monitoring immigration and predicting crime risks to documenting social connections. It also notes that the Australian government's online safety agency has reported that tens of millions of harmless images of minors originally shared on social media have been downloaded and saved on child exploitation sites.

"The threat to privacy will continue to grow, perhaps quickly, due to expanding facial recognition technology," said Rosenberg. He also explained that a simple reverse image search on Google could link a student to other sources of personally identifiable information online.

Rosenberg and his coauthors said there are practical steps that school leaders could take to mitigate risks. These include not including students' full names in posts; asking parents to opt in to, rather than opt out of, the sharing of their children's information on school social media; making it easy for parents to request that photos of their children be removed; and making school or district pages private.

Media companies, Rosenberg added, should consider changing the default settings for schools, automatically making pages private, which would drastically reduce the risk that student information is collected at a large scale for unintended secondary uses.

He also noted policymakers and government regulators could do more to reduce the risk that schools and other organizations that serve children will inadvertently compromise children's privacy.

"As a nation, the U.S. needs to devote greater attention and resources to mitigating the potential downsides of the pervasive sharing of children's information on social media, particularly when it is organizations such as schools and districts that are doing the sharing," said Rosenberg.

The study's authors acknowledged the importance of parent engagement efforts, including the use of social media by schools. However, they noted this must always be balanced with safety and privacy protections on multiple levels.

"While parents and schools can take steps to protect student privacy, it is also the responsibility of social media platforms and the wider society to ensure that policies and regulations keep pace with rapidly evolving technology," Rosenberg said.

More information: Joshua M. Rosenberg et al, Posts About Students on Facebook: A Data Ethics Perspective, Educational Researcher (2022). DOI: 10.3102/0013189X221120538

Provided by American Educational Research Association
Graphical abstract. Credit: iScience (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104954

Aging, and the struggle against it, has long been a popular theme in classic and modern literature in human history. From the ill-fated Qin Shi Huang's expedition to the sea searching for eternal life to Count Dracula's popularity in the West, aging is a mystery that has captured the world's imagination for thousands of years and yet remains unsolved.

An HKUST research group led by Prof. Tom Cheung, associate professor of life science, whose work focuses on studying muscle stem cells (MuSCs), has discovered a method to identify the aging MuSC based on its chromatin signature. Aging MuSCs, unlike their younger counterparts, show reduced stemness (the ability to become new stem cells or turn into specialized cells to replace damaged tissues). If the chromatin signature of an aging cell can be reverted to that of a young cell, then the process of cellular aging, and, in this case, the aging of skeletal muscle tissuecould be put on hold or even reversed.

Their findings were published recently in the open-access journal iScience.

"The regulation of chromatin accessibility is critical for cell fate decisions," said Prof. Cheung. "Changes in the chromatin state can lead to dysregulation of gene expression. In our study, we were able to identify the chronically activated chromatin state as a hallmark of stem cell aging, which could be a target for developing anti-aging strategies."

Chromatin, a complex of DNA that wraps around histones to maintain DNA in its proper architecture, undergoes rapid changes in its structure in response to the extrinsic environment. As a continuation of their previous study, the team pre-fixed muscle stem cells in the mouse to obtain quiescent cells (dormant cells that will activate to repair injured muscle) and obtained their gene and chromatin signatures, in which they then compared the chromatin accessibility over time.

"We showed that the chromatin environment of young muscle stem cells is very compact during quiescence, becomes highly accessible on early activation, and gradually re-establishes the compact state after long-term regeneration. However, aged muscle stem cells lose their ability to maintain such a compact chromatin environment during quiescence," said Dr. Anqi Dong, first author of the study and a former member of Prof. Cheung's research group who is now a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Universite libre de Bruxelles.

Many possibilities are waiting to be unearthed now that scientists have gained a better understanding of what happens to an aging cell, opening a variety of avenues for anti-aging strategies to be pursued further.

"Have we solved the mystery of aging? Yes, but not quite," noted Prof. Cheung. "If we can find chromatin-modifying regulators that are downregulated in aged stem cells, these will be potential targets to prevent aging by restoring their expression. As we are able to make a clear comparison between the chromatin states of young and old muscle stem cells, we have also identified target locations that are specifically accessible in young muscle stem cells. If the accessibility of those regions can be maintained during aging, we may be able to find ways to keep cells young and healthy longer."

"Our current study describes the changes in chromatin accessibility during stem cell isolation and activation, but the journey has just begun," said Prof. Cheung. "We look forward to further investigating the mechanisms that alter the chromatin state during muscle stem cell isolation and activation, and it is important we conduct the same study in vivo for more insights."

More information: Anqi Dong et al, Global chromatin accessibility profiling analysis reveals a chronic activation state in aged muscle stem cells, iScience (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104954 Journal information: iScience
Daniel Knopf and Josephine Aller in the SoMAS Aerosol Research Laboratory where they simulate aerosols from ocean waters that can initiate ice crystals affecting cloud formation. Credit: John Griffin/Stony Brook University

While there are several sources of ice forming particles in the atmosphere, sea spray aerosols (SSAs) are recognized as a significant source of ice-nucleating particles (INPs). But what comprises SSAs, how they affect cloud formation, and how they may in turn affect climate remain outstanding and important questions for atmospheric scientists.

Now researchers at Stony Brook University have developed a way to simulate SSAs in laboratory tanks that mirror ocean conditions. This has allowed them to determine the organic compounds associated with and released by growing marine microorganisms, and discover clues to the role of these compounds as INPs. They also studied the formation of ice is itself a complex process and can be formed by various mechanisms. Their findings are detailed in a paper published in Science Advances.

Aerosols generated by winds blowing over the ocean surface and bubbles form sprays of fine salt particles coated with organic compounds that can be transported high up into the atmosphere where clouds form. They are among various other particle types including dust, soot, and ash from wildfires that contribute to ice formation in the atmosphere.

Oceans cover 70% of the planet, with areas away from the continents where SSAs are the major contributors to INPs and cloud formation. For scientists to predict the formation of clouds and to assess their climatic impact, they first need to understand under which conditions ice crystals can form from particles originating from the largest source, the ocean.

Corresponding author Daniel Knopf, a Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry, and co-author Professor Josephine Aller, a microbial oceanographer in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) at Stony Brook University, and their research team simulated ocean water and generated ice-forming SSA particles. They examined these and found that the SSA particles were made up of the metabolic products of microorganisms living near the ocean surface.

In the SoMAS Aerosol Research Laboratory at Stony Brook, SSA particles were produced in sealed simulation tanks to reproduce the conditions of the oceans. The airborne particles produced were used for their cloud formation experiments. Their experiments demonstrated that these particles produce ice crystals by two distinctively different pathways under typical atmospheric conditionsice can form either by water vapor onto the SSA particles or from liquid SSA droplets.

"Our findings unambiguously link microbiological processes in ocean surface waters with cloud formation," says Knopf. "The study revealed that the polysaccharides and proteins released by microorganisms serve as the nucleating agents in SSA particles. Therefore, we were able to identify on a molecular species level the organic matter that triggers ice nucleation."

The team, Knopf said, could only achieve this discovery by examining in fine detail the composition of individual particles using X-ray microscopy technology at the synchrotron light source at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

"This study not only identifies the ice nucleating agent but also provides the first holistic parameterization to predict freezing from SSA particles," adds Aller. "This new parameterization includes immersion freezing, as the INP is engulfed in a liquid, usually water, and the deposition ice nucleation where ice forms on the INP without any visual water. Our new parameterization covers two freezing scenarios and can be applied in cloud-resolving and climate models to assess the climatic impact of ice crystal containing clouds."

One region where this modeling of ice formation and clouds can help is in the polar Arctic. Both Knopf and Aller say that the model may help to constrain the uncertainties when predicting how the polar regions will warm in the futurea region that is warming faster than other regions of the world.

Overall, the authors point out that the application of these new freezing process results, in combination with data from other studies, has led to a clearer model to describe how the ice forming process occurs and how it can be predicted knowing only temperature, humidity, and SSA particle size.

This research came about as a multidisciplinary investigation combining the analysis of the biochemistry of microbial organisms in ocean surface waters with cold cloud formation processes in the atmosphere.

The project was spearheaded by the Aller and Knopf research teams, which involved the work of three former Stony Brook University graduate students: Peter Alpert, the lead author, and now a research scientist at the Paul-Scherrer Institute in Switzerland; Wendy Kilthau, now at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, and Bingbing Wang, now a professor at Xiamen University in China.

More information: Peter A. Alpert et al, Ice-nucleating agents in sea spray aerosol identified and quantified with a holistic multimodal freezing model, Science Advances (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abq6842 Journal information: Science Advances
Credit: Zhejiang University

Coronaviruses have brought about three massive outbreaks in the past two decades. Each step of its life cycle invariably depends on the interactions among virus and host molecules. The interaction between virus RNA and host protein (IVRHP) is unique compared to other virus-host molecular interactions, and has emerged to be a very hot topic in recent studies.

These studies provide essential information for a deeper understanding of IVRHP, which represents not only an attempt by viruses to promote their translation/replication, but also the host's endeavor to combat viral pathogenicity. In other words, there is an urgent need to have a panorama of coronavirus RNA-Host protein interactions, which will then aid in the discovery of new antiviral therapies.

On October 6, 2022, Prof. Zhu Feng from College of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Zhejiang University, Prof. Han Lianyi from College of Life Sciences in Fudan University and Prof. Lin Tao from College of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Hangzhou Normal University published an article titled "CovInter: Interaction Data between Coronavirus RNAs and Host Proteins" in Nucleic Acids Research.

Prof. Zhu says, "Given the devastating and persistent threat of coronaviruses, CovInter is highly expected to fill the information gap in the whole process of the 'molecular arms race' between coronaviruses and their hosts, which will therefore facilitate the identification of new therapeutic targets for drug discovery/repurposing."

In this study, Prof. Zhu's research team focused on constructing the panorama of coronavirus RNA-host protein interactions, and a knowledge base named CovInter was developed, for the first time, to provide the interaction data between virus RNA and host protein. This knowledge base comprehensively described the experimentally verified function of thousands of host proteins in viral infection and their ability to sneak past the immunity.

It also quantitatively demonstrated the differential expression patterns and phosphorylation sites (before and after infection) of these key proteins. Furthermore, to achieve an in-depth insight into the host response pathway activated by host proteins during infection, hundreds of infection-associated pathways were also systematically identified.

Moreover, due to the rapid variation in coronavirus RNA, significant gain/loss of interaction (especially IVRHPs) has been frequently reported, which is highly expected to lead to substantial changes in the rate of both virus transmission and case fatality. Thus, it is key to have an in-depth understanding of the level of the conservation among the IVRHPs of various virus variants/strains.

Credit: College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University

Therefore, in this study, Prof. Zhu's team systematically mapped the IVRHP interaction network for each virus RNA and then demonstrated their level of conservation among virus strains (see figure above). The red circle represents a particular RNA, green circles indicate different host proteins, orange circles denote other RNAs (from other strains of SARS-CoV-2) that interacted with the same host protein as that of the studied RNA. The diameter of green circle indicates the number of virus' RNAs that could interact with the host protein.

The larger the diameter of a protein is, the more virus RNAs this protein interacts with. The profile reflects the molecule's role in the life cycle of the coronavirus. All in all, this study identified that the conserved interactions between coronavirus RNA and host proteins were highly variable.

Provided by Zhejiang University
Ple. Miss Joaquim 'Agnes'. a The flower of Ple. Miss Joaquim 'Agnes' in front view with a dorsal sepal (ds), two lateral petals (lp), labellum (la), a modified petal, two lateral sepals (ls) and the gynostemium (gy), which is enlarged in the white-bordered inset image. b Terete leaves of Ple. hookeriana (PH), Ple. Teres (PT) and the hybrid Ple. Miss Joaquim 'Agnes' (PMJ), from left to right. Credit: Communications Biology (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-03940-6

A collaboration between A*STAR's Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) and SingHealth Duke-NUS Institute of Biodiversity Medicine (BD-MED) has decoded the entire genetic blueprint of Singapore's National Flower, Papilionanthe Miss Joaquim, also commonly known as Vanda Miss Joaquim (VMJ). Chemical profiling, informed by the genome analysis, further uncovered natural products such as flavonols and anthocyanins, notable for their antioxidant properties and distinctive color pattern. The study was published in Communications Biology on September 15, 2022.

VMJ was declared the National Flower of Singapore in 1981, and has since fascinated locals and tourists alike. The GIS and BD-MED teams employed various genetic sequencing technologies to assemble the entire VMJ genome for the first time, revealing a total of 19 chromosomes spanning 2.4 billion nucleic acid base pairs with approximately 32,000 genes. These genes influence the production of proteins which impact the orchid's traits and cellular processes, and demonstrated the presence of natural products in our national flower responsible for its distinctive color pigmentation, smell, and other natural bioactive compounds.

Knowledge of the VMJ genome enables the team to perform chemical profiling to uncover VMJ's antioxidant properties and distinctive color patternflavonols and anthocyanins. The orchid was also found to contain vandaterosides, a bioactive compound capable of slowing the skin-aging process which was previously discovered in Papilionanthe Teres, the seed parent of VMJ.

Prof. Teh Bin Tean, Director of SingHealth Duke-NUS BD-MED, and Senior Group Leader of the Laboratory of Biodiversity Genomics at A*STAR's GIS, said, "We are heartened to be able to construct and decipher the genetic blueprint of our national flower, and hope that this achievement will be a significant contribution to our national heritage. VMJ is an orchid hybrid with magnificent blooms, and it is widely used as a breeding stalk for over 400 various orchid hybrids.

"Findings on its genomic makeup could help us better understand how to enhance genomic resources and pave the way for future research in gene and metabolite engineering. Deciphering the genetic code of flora species such as the VMJ also allows us to uncover naturally occurring bioactive compounds, which could be used for healthcare purposes and to understand, prevent and fight diseases."

Prof. Patrick Tan, Executive Director of GIS, said, "Singapore's biodiversity is well represented, with over 4,000 species of native flora which are threatened in the face of global climate irregularities and issues. Thanks to advancing sequencing technology, we are able to conserve the genomes of flora by preserving the genetic code through sequencing. We are tremendously honored to start our journey studying Singapore's plant biodiversity with our national flower."

More information: Abner Herbert Lim et al, Genome assembly and chemogenomic profiling of National Flower of Singapore Papilionanthe Miss Joaquim 'Agnes' reveals metabolic pathways regulating floral traits, Communications Biology (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-03940-6 Journal information: Communications Biology
Seagrasses store carbon in their dense root systems, called rhizomes. These continuously growing root systems are actually horizontal underground stems, that send out lateral shoots and roots. Carbon is stored in these systems forever, and their density and structure also provide critical benefits to coastal communities through sediment capture, stabilization, and as a line of defense against storm and wave energy. Credit: Photo courtesy of Cristina Mittermeier and SeaLegacy, 2020

An international team of researchers has used movements of tiger shark populations to make estimations regarding the size of a seagrass ecosystem. In their paper published in the journal Nature Communications, the researchers describe the methods they used to measure the amount of seafloor covered by seagrass in the Bahama Banks in the Bahamas.

As climate change proceeds, scientists around the world continue to study regions that might be impacted and possible ways to slow its progress. In this new effort, the researchers noted that up to 17% of carbon sequestered in marine sediments is held in seagrass, which suggests it could play a major role in climate change.

Unfortunately, no one really knows how much of the world's ocean floors are covered in seagrasses. In this new effort, the researchers hoped to increase that knowledge base by measuring the size of the seagrass ecosystem in Bahama Banksa location that has major seagrass coverage.

Seagrass meadows are more than just blue carbon sinks, and act as feeding and nursery grounds for an abundance of marine lifesuch as elasmobranchs like sharks and rays, and economically and culturally significant species like Queen Conch. Credit: Photo courtesy of Cristina Mittermeier and SeaLegacy, 2021

To measure how much of the Bahama Banks seafloor is covered with seagrass, the researchers turned to tiger sharks, which are known to prefer living in areas that are covered with seagrassit makes it easier to sneak up on prey.

The researchers captured 15 of the sharks and attached location trackers to them and then let them go. Tracking their movements over time allowed the researchers to create a virtual map of the seagrass fields in which they lived. The researchers also conducted 2,500 surveys by diving into the seagrass fields.

Video evidence of tiger shark habitat use of seagrass habitat. Example of video footage obtained from free-ranging, camera-mounted tiger shark on the Little Bahama Bank, with clear evidence of seagrass composing the benthic seafloor habitat. Credit: Austin Gallagher et al, Nature Communications

Using data from both efforts, the researchers created a reasonably accurate map of the seagrass field in Bahama Banks and estimated its sizeapproximately 66,000 to 92,000 km2. That finding, the researchers found, makes the field the largest known to date. They also note it expands the known seagrass coverage globally by approximately 41%. And this, they note, highlights the importance of research surrounding the amount of seagrass covering the oceans floor. Finding ways to protect or expand such fields could prove useful in slowing climate change.

More information: Austin J. Gallagher et al, Tiger sharks support the characterization of the world's largest seagrass ecosystem, Nature Communications (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33926-1 Journal information: Nature Communications

 2022 Science X Network
Credit: Brian A Jackson / Shutterstock

Policing has long been known as a "job for life." With low rates of leaving and high rates of loyalty, a career of 30 years or more was very much the norm. However, times have changed.

Government figures show that the number of voluntary resignations from the police service in England and Wales has increased by 72%, from 1,996 in 2021 to 3,433 in 2022. Voluntary resignations now account for 42% of all police leavers, compared to 33% in the previous year.

A decade ago in 2012, there were 1,158 voluntary resignations, accounting for just 18% of all leavers. In just ten years, voluntary resignations have increased by 196%.

In 2016, the National Police Chiefs' Council referred to "healthy churn as positive". But after several years of increasing resignations, retention is now one of the biggest challenges in policing. This problem can't be tackled without a better understanding of why officers are leavingwhether it is due to dissatisfaction with the job or the organization, or part of a planned move towards a second or "portfolio career."

For the last few years, we have interviewed nearly 100 former police officers across England and Wales who have voluntarily left the service. We wanted to know more about their reasons for leavingnegative public perceptions of policing, the nature of the job itself or other reasons entirely.

Our findings show that officers are not resigning due to the often challenging and stressful occupational role of being a police officer but rather because of internal, organizational issues. Much like the issues facing any other workplace, retired officers complained of poor leadership, lack of promotion or progression opportunities and a lack of voice.

Officers felt that they weren't valued or even known by their line manager, and described relationships with their managers as poor and distant. It is not surprising that some viewed yearly appraisals as "a waste of time." This creates a cycle where officers don't feel comfortable raising issues or challenges they have with their line manager.

Some also described a lack of appropriate role models in the senior ranks. This was particularly true for female officers with children who returned from maternity leave, often part time. As one officer said:

"The really senior females that are married with children  they seem to be always far and few between."

Not being able to learn from or seek support from a leader who has navigated a similar journey left officers feeling that the job was not for people like them.

Organizational injustice

Officers described a sense of unfairness around promotion opportunities, and lack of guidance on how to achieve career goals. As one said:

"Everyone's so busy sorting themselves out that development  it's all driven by you."

Officers were exasperated by the use of temporary promotions as a way to deal with resource issues, predominantly at sergeant rank. Some described the promotion process as cutthroat, and being about ambition, not ability.

Others said that the process rewarded nepotism, and said that higher-ups promoted people with similar qualities to themselves, creating a barrier to diversity in senior ranks. Officers described having to choose between seeking promotion and specializing in particular roles, as there were no opportunities to do both.

Those we interviewed felt they were viewed as "just a number" by their police force, and that their voices were not heard. Participants did not feel they could share their opinions or be involved in decision making on issues that impacted their day-to-day role.

They also felt major decisions like where they were posted after a successful promotion, returning from absence or due to restructuring within the force, were out of their hands.

This lack of voice was also evident in "group thinking" within the organization. Officers said that attempts to challenge dominant thinking and practices were met with defensiveness, exclusion or being told to "shut up and get on with it." The policing organization is rightly facing calls to root out the damaging aspects of its culture and to encourage officers to speak out about poor behavior.

The head of the College of Policing Andy Marsh has warned of the dangers of a "culture of defensiveness"police forces being unwilling to change their practices. Our evidence however suggests that even if officers are willing to do so, their voices may not be heard.

Exit interviews

Most of our interviewees believed their decision to resign was the right one but that didn't hide their disappointment, regret and sadness in leaving:

"I was gutted, absolutely gutted, because I was really proud to be a police officer."

These feelings of an absence of organizational support are made worse by the lack of meaningful exit interviews. A number of officers described their participation in our research interviews as being "cathartic" and providing "a bit of closure," as exit interviews are not routinely offered by police forces.

Only 35% of officers we spoke to were offered an exit interview, with only 26% of officers completing one. None felt they were offered a meaningful opportunity to discuss their reasons for leaving. They viewed the process as a "tick-box exercise" and perceived management as uninterested, with little information being actually recorded.

Understanding why there has been a 196% increase in voluntary resignations from the police service in England and Wales in the last decade may be a painful undertaking for many forces, but without that information, retention may only get worse. Starting those difficult conversations and providing leavers with the voice they lack within the force is the first step to solving the problem.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Using data from the newly released Uniform Appraisal Dataset, which includes 47.3 million home appraisals conducted over the last decade, WashUs Elizabeth Korver-Glenn and Junia Howell of the University of Illinois Chicago demonstrate stark inequalities in appraisal values between homes in white neighborhoods and communities of color. Credit: Shutterstock

In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, religion, sex and nation of origin in the sale, rental or financing of housing. More than 50 years later, however, discrimination in the housing market not only exists, but is getting worse.

That is a key finding of a new report, "Appraised: The persistent evaluation of white neighborhoods as more valuable than communities of color homes," released Nov. 2 by Elizabeth Korver-Glenn, assistant professor of sociology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, and Junia Howell, visiting assistant professor of sociology at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Using the newly released Uniform Appraisal Datasetthe most comprehensive set of market appraisals in the nationHowell and Korver-Glenn find that homes today in white neighborhoods are appraised at double the value of comparable homes in communities of color. This represents a 75% increase in neighborhood racial inequality in home values over the last decade.

"Although the racial inequality in home values has been increasing since 1980, the rate by which it is increasing has tripled in the last decade," Howell and Korver-Glenn write in the report. "From 1980 to 2015, the neighborhood racial gap in appraisals expanded by $6,000 a year. Yet, in this last decade, this gap grew by $18,000 a year."

COVID-19 pandemic worsened inequality

In the report, Howell and Korver-Glenn reveal that the unprecedented rise in home values during the COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated racial inequality in appraised home values. Over the last two years, the average home in white neighborhoods increased in value $136,000, which is more than twice the appreciation a comparable house in a community of color experienced ($60,000), they write.

The difference was even more dramatic in the hottest marketsincluding Austin, Texas, Boston, Colorado Springs, Colo., Miami, San Diego and Seattlewhere racial inequality in appraised values increased by $91,000, or 43%. According to the authors, this increase in inequality is nearly three times greater than the increase in racial inequity in stable housing markets like St. Louis.

"Nearly half of the growth of inequality observed over the decade occurred during the pandemic," Howell said. "Our study shows that industry and monetary policy decisions made during the pandemic enabled an influx of capital into the housing market, primarily in white neighborhoods. This substantial increase in inequality will have ripple effects on racial inequities in wealth and well-being for years to come."

Unequal harm among communities of color

Finally, Howell and Korver-Glenn examined differences in appraisal inequality across various communities of color. Their results show the difference between white neighborhoods and communities of color is particularly stark for American Indian, Alaska Native, Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander communities. In 2021, homes in white neighborhoods were appraised over three times more valuable than comparable homes in similar American Indian and Alaska Native neighborhoods located within the same metropolitan area, the authors said. Likewise, homes in white neighborhoods were appraised as three times more valuable than comparable homes in otherwise similar Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander communities.

"With the release of this report, we hope to put an end to any doubts about the continuation of racism in the housing industry and point the way forward for regulators and industry leaders who are committed to changing the methods of appraisal that created this problem," said Korver-Glenn, author of the book "Race Brokers: Housing Markets and Segregation in 21st century Urban America."

Appraisal practices rooted in racist beliefs

In the United States, purchasing or refinancing property with a mortgage loan requires a professional appraisal, which is intended to minimize the lender's potential losses. Appraisers compare information about the homesize, bedrooms, bathrooms, etc.,and the neighborhood to comparable homes to determine their opinion of the home's value. Appraisers also look to previous sale prices, making it more difficult to correct previous injustices. The appraised value determines the maximum loan amount.

While fair housing laws made it illegal to include explicitly racist criteria on appraisal forms, the same methods and logic still inform practices today. Previous research by Korver-Glenn found criteria like "neighborhood demographics," "economics" and "appeal" function as stand-ins for the older explicitly racist notions of desirability and risk. And these appraisal standards are perfectly legal.

"Appraisal discrimination is not just a story about individual racist appraisers, but rather a story about the racism that underpins the appraisal industry and housing market as a whole," Korver-Glenn explained.

The Uniform Appraisal Dataset provides researchers and policymakers an unprecedented opportunity to examine up-to-date data provided directly from licensed appraisers. Altogether, the dataset includes 47.3 million market appraisals conducted between 2013 and the second quarter of 2022 on single-family properties. The database was commissioned by President Joe Biden's Interagency Task Force on Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity (PAVE).

To evaluate the data, Howell and Korver-Glenn used statistical modeling to compare communities with comparable housing stock, socioeconomic status and local amenities. They used census tracts as a proxy for neighborhoods and ran separate models for each housing market.

For the purpose of this study, they only included metropolitan areas with a total population greater than 500,000 and at least 50,000 residents of color. According to Korver-Glenn and Howell, this helped them ensure their estimates of racial inequality are robust and not due to the abnormalities of a single house or neighborhood.

"These findings are extraordinary, and a very strong indictment of the appraisal industry and the ways that it has not only maintained but increased neighborhood inequality in home values through the use of fundamentally racist practices and policies that continue to equate value with race," Korver-Glenn said.

"Racial inequality in home values directly contributes to the persistent racial wealth gaps and residential segregation, which in turn influences racial inequalities in health, income and educational outcomes," Howell added.

As the newly release data shows, racial inequality in home values not only exists, but is worse today than it was 40 years ago. Overhauling appraisal practices will be an important first step, but Howell and Korver-Glenn also argue that it is time to have a serious conversation about reparations.

"Given the cumulative harm caused by these federally sanctioned practices, we believe reparations are necessary to rectify past and present injustices," Korver-Glenn said.
KINGSBURY  One of the men accused of stealing 31 guns from Calamity Janes on Oct. 21 is now facing federal charges for allegedly stealing from the store about one week before that incident.

Jonathon Combs, 42, of Wells, Vermont, is charged with possession of a firearm by a felon and theft of a firearm from a federal licensee.

An interview with a confidential informant conducted by officers from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives revealed that Combs allegedly stole a shotgun from Calamity Janes on Dix Avenue on Oct. 15, prior to the break-in the following week, according to the complaint filed on Oct. 22 in U.S. District Court of Northern New York.

Investigators then confirmed the story by viewing surveillance footage from the store and interviewing employees.

The documents state that two people matching the descriptions of Combs and the person who was interviewed can be seen in the store on video. In the video, the man believed to be Combs takes a camouflaged shotgun off a display rack and puts it in his pants before exiting the store.

According to The Post-Stars news partner, WNYT-TV NewsChannel 13, Combs is currently being held on the federal charges in the Rensselaer County Jail.

Combs is already a convicted felon after he served time in prison for a third-degree criminal possession of stolen property charge in Washington County in 2015.

In April 2015, he was also sentenced to 2 to 6 years in prison out of Albany County Court for convictions of third-degree criminal mischief and third-degree criminal possession of stolen property.

Combs was released from prison in April 2020, according to the Department of Corrections website.
GREENWICH  A woman was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly spitting on an emergency medical service technician while they attempted to help her.

State police on Tuesday arrested Amanda E. Emery, 32, on a charge of felony second-degree attempted assault.

On Sept. 29, police responded to a residence in the town of Jackson, to assist EMS. According to police, Emery struck and intentionally spit on an EMS technician while they were attempting to provide aid to her.

She was transported to the Greenwich state police station for processing and was issued an appearance ticket for Jackson Town Court on Nov. 10.
WHITEHALL  A Whitehall man was arrested by Whitehall Police after allegedly shooting his 4-year-old son in the stomach with a rifle BB gun.

On Saturday at approximately 7:20 p.m., the Whitehall Police Department responded to 20 Potter St. for a report of a child who had been shot in the stomach by a BB gun.

Eric L. Prosser, 31, was charged with first-degree criminal contempt and second-degree assault, both felonies, and endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, according to a news release from Whitehall Police Chief David Buxton.

Buxton has been with the department since August 2021 and said it was a one-of-a-kind call since hes joined. He said it was out of the ordinary for the area.

Its the first person shot with a BB gun to this extent since Ive started working here. Its not typical to get on scene and the pellet is still lodged in them, he said.

Officers arrived on scene, along with Skenesborough EMS, and attended to the child. The motive of the shooting is still under investigation, according to Buxton.

The 4-year-old victim was transported by Skenesborough EMS to Glens Falls Hospital and was later transported to Albany Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries.

Prosser was sent to Washington County Jail pending arraignment in Washington County Centralized Arraignment Court.

Prosser was arrested on July 24 and charged with three counts of acting in a manner to injure a child less than the age of 17 and one count of second-degree harassment with physical contact following reports of a domestic abuse incident, according to a NYVTmedia report.
QUEENSBURY  State police have arrested a Jackson man for allegedly stealing items from the AT&T store in Queensbury.

State police responded to the store at about 3:14 p.m. on Oct. 22 for a report of a larceny. An investigation determined that Joseph M. Brandmeyer, 42, entered the store and stole multiple items. He then put them in a vehicle located in the parking lot, according to a news release.

Brandmeyer was charged with misdemeanors of seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and petit larceny. He was issued an appearance ticket and released.

The vehicle was owned by 49-year-old Cambridge resident Penny R. Phillips. Police recovered an illegally possessed handgun and items containing drug residue. Police said he gun was stolen from Calamity Janes Firearms and Fine Shoes store on Dix Avenue in Kingsbury.

Phillips is one of five people arrested in connection with the theft of Oct. 21 of guns from the store.

Phillips was charged with third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property, criminal possession of a firearm and a misdemeanor count of seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance in that case.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP)  Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz formally received a sentence of life without parole Wednesday after families of his 17 slain victims spent two days berating him as evil, a coward, a monster and a subhuman.

Cruz, shackled and in a red jail jumpsuit, watched intently as Judge Elizabeth Scherer sentenced him to 17 life terms for the Feb. 14, 2018, massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in suburban Fort Lauderdale and an additional 17 for the attempted murders of those he wounded.

Scherer had no other choice; the jury in Cruzs three-month penalty trial voted 9-3 on Oct. 13 to sentence him to death, but Florida law requires unanimity for that sentence to be imposed.

Cruz acknowledged under questioning by the judge before sentencing that he is on medication but could understand what was occurring.

The sentencing came after two days' worth of parents, wives, siblings and others of slain victims and some of the surviving wounded walking to a lectern 20 feet to address him face to face.

The judge commended the families and wounded who testified, calling them strong, graceful and patient.

I know you are going to be OK, because you have each other, Scherer said.

This is a breaking update. APs earlier story follows below:

Parkland school killer formally sentenced to life in prison Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz has been formally sentenced to life in prison without parole. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer sentenced him Wednesday for the 2018 murder of 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Scherer could not sentence him to death because the jury in his recently concluded trial could not unanimously agree that he deserved execution. Before Cruz was sentenced, parents and other relatives of Cruzs victims spent two days telling him of their anger and hate toward him. They called him evil, a coward, a monster and a subhuman.
MAYS LANDING  Jurors began deliberating Tuesday in the trial of a Pennsylvania man accused of killing a 25-year-old Egg Harbor Township woman in 2014.

Jurors were given the case against Timothy Wright on Tuesday afternoon following closing arguments in front of Atlantic County Superior Court Judge Dorothy M. Incarvito-Garrabrant.

This is not about winning, Wrights attorney John Bjorklund told the jury. Its about facts and evidence. We cant guess someone guilty.

Deliberations lasted nearly three hours before Garrabrant excused jurors for the day. The jurors were set to reconvene Wednesday.

Wright, 42, who declined to testify, has been in jail since 2019. Hes accused of murdering Joyce Vanderhoff, who, according to testimony, was staying at his house before she died.

The prosecution has alleged Wright strangled Vanderhoff with an object while she was at his home.

The pair often had casual sex and did drugs together, Assistant Prosecutor Seth Levy said in both his opening and closing statements.

Vanderhoffs body was found Feb. 14, 2014, along Weymouth Road in Hamilton Township. Her naked body was lying in snow near the Atlantic Blueberry Companys field when it was spotted about 9 a.m. that morning.

Wright was arrested after information gathered by detectives showed hed made a cellphone search for directions between where Vanderhoffs body was found and his home at the time in the Hamilton Greene complex off the Black Horse Pike.

Prosecutors have also questioned why Wright rented a carpet cleaner around that time.

Bjorklund, however, disputed the cellphone data and a body temperature reading collected when investigators arrived.

During closing arguments, both Bjorklund and Levy cited testimony and evidence presented during the nearly two-week trial, including maps and images of the crime scene that were displayed on poster boards during their statements.

Trial begins in Joyce Vanderhoff murder case MAYS LANDING  The trial of a Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, man accused of murdering 25-year-o

Vanderhoffs mother and stepfather sat quietly in the gallery behind Levy as attorneys recounted the details of her death and presented pictures of her naked body laid out at the medical examiners office.

Those images showed what a medical examiner described as slippage, a state in which the skin begins peeling during decomposition.

While prosecutors alleged Vanderhoffs body was left overnight before being discovered, Bjorklund argued the body hadnt been there as long, which would challenge the prosecutions timeline. Vanderhoffs body temperature of about 50 degrees doesnt equate to the hours the prosecution argues she was exposed to the cold, Bjorklund said, calling it the most telling factor.

Theres no way she could have been dumped at that time, Bjorklund said.

The defense attorney also told the jurors a search of the Hamilton Greene home turned up no incriminating evidence.

Levy told jurors that since Vanderhoff was strangled, no traces of blood would be found at the home. He also maintained evidence collected by detectives can prove their reasons to accuse Wright arent fantasy.

Jury selection begins for man accused of 2014 killing of 25-year-old woman MAYS LANDING  The trial of a Chambersburg, Pa., man in the 2014 strangling death of an Egg 

This trial has not been brought to you by Disney, Levy said. This trial has been brought to you by this defendant.

Since the trial began, Bjorklund has implicated another friend of Vanderhoff, Michael Heuser Jr., who was working at the Mays Landing Walmart overnight before Vanderhoff approached him for a ride. Heuser also had a sexual relationship with Vanderhoff, according to the defense.

Bjorklund on Tuesday said detectives must examine Heuser as a suspect, given statements by his father, Michael Heuser Sr., dont back up his sons alibi.

Heuser Jr., who also testified during the trial, has not been charged in connection to Vanderhoffs death.
MAYS LANDING  An Atlantic County jury on Wednesday found a Pennsylvania man guilty of murdering an Egg Harbor Township woman in February 2014.

Timothy Wright, 42, faces a minimum of 30 years in prison in the murder of 25-year-old Joyce Vanderhoff. He is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 16.

The jury began deliberations Tuesday afternoon and returned the verdict Wednesday after about six or seven hours of discussion, according to the Atlantic County Prosecutors Office.

Kathy Lydon, Vanderhoffs grandmother and primary guardian, said she was in bed reading The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey on Wednesday morning when her daughter, Vanderhoffs mother, called and told her of the verdict.

Ive been praying, Lydon said. I thank the Lord that hes been found guilty.

Once their call ended, Lydon began dialing friends and family to share the news.

Jury deliberations continue today in 2014 killing of Egg Harbor Township woman trial MAYS LANDING  Jurors began deliberating Tuesday in the trial of a Pennsylvania man accused 

Wright was represented by attorneys John Bjorklund and Alex Settle, neither of whom could be reached for comment Wednesday.

Assistant Atlantic County Prosecutor Seth Levy presented the case against Wright during the more than two-week trial.

The jurors also heard from people who were believed to be the last to speak to Vanderhoff before she died.

The body of Vanderhoff, 25, was discovered naked on a desolate stretch of Weymouth Road in Hamilton Township about 9 a.m. on Feb. 14, 2014. Her death was ruled a homicide by strangulation.

Wright, of Chambersburg, was extradited to New Jersey in 2019 after detectives found evidence they alleged tied him to Vanderhoffs murder.

Wrights defense told jurors that the prosecution time line was off; Bjorklund argued Vanderhoffs body hadnt been there as long as the prosecution said it had been, based on her core temperature when discovered.

Prosecutors presented to jurors evidence that Wright searching for directions between his then home in Mays Landing and the area near where Vanderhoff was found, although defense attorneys challenged that evidence as well.

Cocaine was found in Vanderhoffs system when she died, according to toxicology reports. She also used heroin, Lydon said, a drug that she became.

Lydon said her granddaughter was an outgoing child who loved art, was in the Girl Scouts and played youth sports with her brother, Joe.

Lydon remembers lying next to her granddaughter on a bed one night pleading for an end to her substance troubles.

Before her murder, Vanderhoff was in a recovery program, Lydon said, adding she would take Vanderhoff for visits to the John Brooks Recovery Center for help.

Vanderhoff alluded to wanting to stop abusing drugs on Facebook about four months before she died.

Got to get my life straight (expletive) 25 years old and im a nobody well guess what wait til u see who i am in the next year, Vanderhoff wrote on Oct. 19, 2013.
MAYS LANDING  A Weymouth Township man who shot at his girlfriends car before barricading himself in his home in 2020 pleaded guilty to aggravated assault Wednesday, the Atlantic County Prosecutors Office said.

James Weinerman, 31, was arguing with the girlfriend before he shot at her vehicle while she was about 10 feet from it, the Prosecutors Office said in a news release.

The plea deal includes eight years in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 14.

On Sept. 12, 2020, a 911 caller reported Weinerman firing a gun near the car while he threatened his girlfriend and her children, telling them they werent allowed to leave the home.

Pennsylvania man found guilty of murdering Egg Harbor Township woman in 2014 MAYS LANDING  An Atlantic County jury on Wednesday found a Pennsylvania man guilty of murde

Weinerman said no one would be able to leave if he shot the cars engine block, the Prosecutors Office said.

State Police arrived at the home while Weinerman was barricading himself inside, causing an hours-long standoff, the Prosecutors Office said.

During the standoff, Weinerman, from an open doorway, fired several rounds at one of two armed police vehicles at the scene.

The vehicle had about 10 state troopers either in or behind it, the Prosecutors Office said.
NEWARK  Two police officers were in stable condition Tuesday after being wounded in a confrontation with a gunman being sought in connection with another shooting, authorities said.

The afternoon shooting occurred outside an apartment building in residential neighborhood about a mile west of Newark Liberty International Airport. Frightened residents were forced to remain inside as police blocked off nearby streets to search for the gunman, who was still at large in the early evening.

One officer was shot in the leg. The other officer's neck was grazed by a bullet that lodged in his shoulder, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said at an evening news conference.

The two officers returned fire and the gunman fled into the apartment building, Baraka said. Police believed he was hiding in an apartment and were searching door to door, while moving residents to safety.

Prayerfully, we can end this with a person in custody this evening," Baraka said.

Police had responded at approximately 1 p.m. after a citizen who had seen a flier about a previous shooting called in a tip about the suspect's possible identity, according to Baraka. Police were exiting the building when they encountered the suspect in the parking lot and, during an altercation, he pulled a gun and began shooting, the mayor said.

Wildwood Crest man sentenced for shooting himself in leg, flooding jail cell A Wildwood Crest man will spend 11 years in prison for three separate offenses he committed 

A video taken by a bystander and posted online appeared to show someone helping an officer off the ground and soon after, others in uniform helping the limping officer into a car.

Video taken from news helicopters showed police officers in tactical gear staging on streets in the neighborhood and searching on top of and around the base of at least one multistory apartment building. Police vehicles could be seen placed to block roads in the area.

As darkness fell, Lauren Adelsky was still waiting to be allowed past the yellow tape and back to her building near where police were stationed. She had been waiting since about 4 pm, when she came back from work.

Im hungry, Im tired, I just want to go home, she said.

Elijah Moore was in his bedroom when he heard gunshots ring through his neighborhood. He immediately moved away from the window after hearing what he said were a lot of shots, possibly more than a dozen.

I didnt know what to do, if they were getting into my building, said Moore, 33.

Mays Landing man fatally wounded in Atlantic City shooting ATLANTIC CITY  The Atlantic County Prosecutors Office is investigating a fatal shooting th

He turned on the television where he learned more about the shooting. His panic subsided minutes later, he said, when he saw police swarming his neighborhood.

Gov. Phil Murphy said in a statement that he was monitoring an unfolding situation in Newark, but didnt immediately share details.

I am in touch with local authorities and the state is providing resources as requested. We will continue to support local law enforcement and ensure that all residents are safe, he said.
ASBURY PARK  A grand jury has declined to bring criminal charges against a New Jersey police officer who fatally shot a knife-wielding man during a standoff at the Jersey Shore in 2020.

The New Jersey Attorney Generals Office said late Tuesday that the actions of Asbury Park Police Sgt. Sean DeShader were justified under the circumstances, noting that Hasani Best held a knife throughout the 45-minute encounter with police and was not deterred by being shocked with a stun gun.

A spokesman for Bests family on Wednesday denounced the decision.

Attempts to demonize Hasani Best, who was unnecessarily murdered, and vindicate Officer Sean DeShader, who murdered this Black man immediately following the national civil rights reckoning in the post-George Floyd world, tells us nothing has changed, said Randy Thompson, CEO of the advocacy group Help Not Handcuffs.

There continues to be no transparency when police, prosecutors and judges abuse their positions and there are no protections for civilians within critical processes such as abuses within grand jury proceedings, he said.

On Aug. 21, 2020, a neighbor called 911 to report a dispute taking place. Police arrived and spoke with a witness who said she had been assaulted by Best, who was inside the home with a knife, according to an account of the incident from the attorney generals office.

Suspect in wounding of 2 Newark police officers apprehended Authorities are searching for a gunman who wounded two Newark police officers as they sought to question him about a previous shooting. Authorities say 30-year-old Kendall Howard is considered armed and dangerous. Authorities say Howard opened fire on the officers in a parking lot outside an apartment building about a mile west of the citys airport on Tuesday. The officers returned fire and the gunman fled into the building. The search for the suspect lasted for hours, but Howard escaped capture. The officers remain in stable condition at a nearby hospital. Howard is charged with attempted murder.

Police told Best numerous times to drop the knife and come out of the home. A special response unit was called for, and while officers were awaiting its arrival, Best opened the door and, among other things, made a sudden motion as if he was going to come toward the officers, the statement read.

Shortly afterwards, while gesturing with the knife, Best said, Im gonna stab him.

At that point, DeShader shot Best twice, fatally wounding him.

During a September 2020 news conference across the street from police headquarters, Carol Sanders, Bests mother, said he did not deserve to be killed.

He was talking to them and explaining his hurt, his feelings, she said. They didnt have to take his life.

According to the attorney generals office, the shooting fell within the guidelines under which officers may use their weapons.

2 police officers shot in Newark; suspect at large Police in Newark, New Jersey were responding to a report of officers shot Tuesday in a residential neighborhood about a mile west of the citys airport. Details on the number of officers injured or the extent of their injuries werent immediately available. Video taken from news helicopters showed police officers in tactical gear staging on streets in the neighborhood and searching at least one rooftop. Gov. Phil Murphy said in a statement that he was monitoring an unfolding situation in Newark, but didnt immediately share details. I am in touch with local authorities and the state is providing resources as requested. We will continue to support local law enforcement and ensure that all residents are safe, he said.

An officer may use deadly force in New Jersey when the officer reasonably believes it is immediately necessary to protect the officer or another person from imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm, the office said.

Bests family is pressing a wrongful death lawsuit against the officer, the city and others concerning the shooting.
Five people involved in an 8-person conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in the Quad-Cities were sentenced to federal prison last week.

During sentencing hearings Oct. 24 in U.S. District Court, Davenport, three of the conspirators were sentenced:

 Joshua John Paarmann, 32, was sentenced to 35 years in prison to be followed by five years on supervised release. Paarmann had been found guilty by a federal jury on May 25 of one count of conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, two counts of possession with the intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug crime and one count of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.

 Donnie Wayne Robinson Jr., 36, was sentenced to 25 years in prison to be followed by five ears on supervised release. Robinson had pleaded guilty April 12 to one count each of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance-50 grams or more of methamphetamine, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug crime.

 Joshua Steven Ennis, 40, was sentenced to 20 years in prison to be followed by five years on supervised release. Ennis pleaded guilty May 9 to one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance-50 grams or more of methamphetamine and two counts of felon in possession of a firearm.

During sentencing hearings held Oct. 25 in U.S. District Court, Davenport, the final two conspirators were sentenced:

 Theodore Thomas Browne, 50, was sentenced to 20 years in prison to be followed by five years on supervised release. Browne had pleaded guilty March 9 to conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance-50 grams or more of methamphetamine.

 Karley Ann Smith, 29, also was sentenced to 20 years in prison to be followed by five years on supervised release. Smith pleaded guilty March 22 to one count each of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance-50 grams or more of methamphetamine and possession with the intent to deliver a controlled substance-50 grams or more of methamphetamine.

The other three conspirators already have been sentenced.

In June, Chelsey Renae Lira, 32, was sentenced to 15 years in prison to be followed by five years on supervised release. Lira pleaded guilty Jan. 26 to one count each of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance-50 grams or more of methamphetamine, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug crime. According to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, Lira is serving her sentence in the Aliceville, Alabama, Federal Correctional Institution. She is scheduled to be released Feb. 16, 2034.

In August, Taylor Christopher Graeber, 25, was sentenced to 10 years in prison to be followed by four years on supervised release. Graeber pleaded guilty March 31 to one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance-5 grams or more of methamphetamine, and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug crime. He is serving his sentence in the Federal Correctional Institution in Greenville, Illinois. He is scheduled to be released May 15, 2029.

Also in August, Robert Stanley Nelson III, 42, was sentenced to 14 years in prison to be followed by five years on supervised release. Nelson pleaded guilty March 31, to one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance-50 grams or more of methamphetamine. He is serving his sentence in the Pekin, Illinois, Federal Correctional Institution. He is scheduled to be released March 3, 2033.

According to federal court records, in the fall of 2020, eight people were identified by area law enforcement as being part of a large-scale methamphetamine trafficking operation in Davenport.

The conspiracy operated from at least July 1, 2020, and continued until March 29, 2021. The conspiracy ended when agents with the Quad-City Metropolitan Enforcement Group captured a truck that had made a trip to Colorado and returned to the Quad-Cities with a load of meth. From that truck, agents seized 431.8 grams, or just under 1 pound, of crystal methamphetamine.

Police have said that the normal dose of methamphetamine is one-tenth of a gram, which means there were 4,318 doses of meth in the truck.
Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza is calling on lawmakers to pass during the veto session a measure that aims to ensure timely pay for families of fallen first responders and armed-forces members.

Surrounded by local police, firefighters, EMS personnel and elected state and local officials in Moline Wednesday, Mendoza detailed House Bill 5785, which aims to ensure timely compensation is given to the next of kin of those who perish in the line of duty.

The bill would ensure a continuing line of funding is available without disruption, so there is no delay to the families.

"It's so crucial to remember that this legislation is about real people, about real heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice," Mendoza said.

She recalled the first time she became aware of the need for the legislation in late spring, during the annual Illinois Police Officers Memorial in Springfield, where 11 fallen officers were honored and remembered.

Mendoza said she was approached by Tammy Pierce, who said she was waiting for benefits for her son, Brian Pierce Jr., an officer for the Illinois Brooklyn Police Department, who died in the line duty in August 2021.

The state's Line of Duty Compensation Act currently provides benefits for families of law enforcement officers, firemen, paramedics, and other first responders killed in the line of duty. But the funding for the benefits sometimes is exhausted prior to the end of a fiscal year, requiring the legislature to approve additional appropriations.

The legislature commits $5 million annually to families who lose a loved one in the line of duty.

State Rep. Mike Halpin, D-Rock Island, said passing the legislation is a bipartisan effort and that the last thing the legislature wants is for a family to not receive an award that they are entitled to after losing a loved one.

"This is really, for me, a no-brainer," Halpin said. "No family should have to go through this and, with this legislation, we can get this passed."

The bill would allow Mendoza's office to receive financial assistance immediately, rather than waiting for approval by the legislature.

David Johnson, treasurer of the Illinois Concerns of Police Survivors, COPS, lost his brother, Rock Island Auxiliary Officer Todd C. Johnson, in 1993. He said Illinois COPS will, "support any and all legislation that benefits the family members with fallen police officers who gave the ultimate sacrifice in protection of others."

Chuck Sullivan, president of the Associated Firefighters of Illinois, Fire Chief John Swan with the Colona Fire Protection District, and Moline Mayor Sangeetha Rayapati also spoke at the Wednesday news conference by Mendoza, saying they support the measure and want to see it pass during the November veto session.

The Associated Firefighters of Illinois represents over 15,000 firefighters and paramedics in 225 communities across the state.

The bill was filed in August and could pass during the upcoming veto session or the lame-duck session in January  before new lawmakers are sworn in for the next general assembly.
Don't Miss

"Lark Ascending" by Silas House; Algonquin Books (288 pages, $27)



Is it possible to create a hopeful work of art about the end of humanity? In the capable hands of Silas House, the answer is an emphatic yes.

"Lark Ascending" begins in America in the near future. The West burns and the fires spread, pushing the teenaged Lark north and east with his family. They join other climate migrants on a ship bound for Ireland, where Lark's parents believe sanctuary awaits in Glendalough, where the mystic and earthly realms combine to create a sanctuary from climate disaster.

Strained by the large number of refugees arriving on its shores, Ireland offers a chilly reception, and in a series of events, Lark becomes separated from his family. He soon meets Seamus, a dog, and the two become close companions in search of the sanctuary promised by Lark's parents.

House makes Lark a keen observer of the wonders of a still-green Ireland. He sees the land through his parents' stories. In a ring of hazel trees, he remembers how his father had loved them. "He'd loved Yeats above all others," he said, quoting "The Song of Wandering Aengus." "Each time he told me about the power hazel trees possessed. How they offered protection to those who acknowledged them."

Silas House makes poetically clear what is at stake in the battle to save life on Earth. "Lark Ascending" is both ode to the Earth's wonders but also an elegy for what we stand to lose.



Lorraine Berry is a book critic in Oregon.
The Rock Island County Coroner's Office identified the person killed in a crash earlier this week in downtown Rock Island as a Davenport man.

Abbott Lee Perry, 52, Davenport, was killed and another injured after a stolen Hyundai Azera and a Chevrolet Aveo collided at the intersection of Illinois Route 92 and an off-ramp of the Centennial Bridge in downtown Rock Island.

The crash occurred just before 4 p.m. Tuesday, and the driver of the stolen Hyundai fled on foot, police said. At least one injured passenger remained in the vehicle.

Perry, driving the Aveo, was extricated from the vehicle and taken to UnityPoint Health-Trinity Rock Island, where he was pronounced dead.

Preliminary results of an autopsy performed Wednesday indicate he died from blunt-force trauma to the head, chest and abdomen, county Coroner Brian Gustafson said.

Police reported that both the Aveo and Azera were heavily damaged during the collision.

A passenger in the Hyundai also was taken to Trinity with serious injuries that were not life-threatening.

Witnesses to the crash told police that the person driving the Hyundai fled the scene. The Azera was reported stolen out of Rock Island on Sunday.

The crash remains under investigation by the Rock Island Police Departments Traffic Unit and the Criminal Investigation Division.

Anyone with information about the case, including the identity of the person who fled the scene, is asked to call the Rock Island Police Department at 309-732-2677 or Crime Stoppers of the Quad-Cities at 309-762-9500 or use the P3 Tips App.
Austin Kaus loves the surprise of meeting people hes sure never visited The Pomp Room. Then he mentions the dive bar in a rough part of Sioux Falls that was the greatest rock and roll club in South Dakota.

They smile in a way that lets me know they absolutely know that place, Kaus said, chuckling.

The Pomp Room closed after its New Years Eve show in 1998 but lives on in the memories of many people who, like Kaus, know there will never be another place like it. Kaus, of Rapid City, and his filmmaking partner, Jesse Yost of Sioux Falls, immortalized the venue in their new documentary, The Pomp Room: A Rock N Roll Bar Story.

The Journey Museum and Learning Center in Rapid City is hosting screenings of The Pomp Room at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Admission is free. Fridays screening will include a Q&A time with Kaus, the documentarys director.

The amount of bands that came through The Pomp Room and loved playing there still blows my mind, Kaus said. Thats amazing, and  you have kids like me seeing stuff you could not see anywhere else in South Dakota, things that stuck with us.

Duane and Jeannie Ertz bought the Pomp Room in 1971 and ran it for 27 years. The Ertzes sons, Ward and Jon, gave their blessing to The Pomp Room documentary, Kaus said.

The Ertz family expanded the bar at the corner of Eighth Street and Dakota Avenue multiple times, eventually taking over other nearby businesses.

We break it down in the movie. We have a cool napkin drawing  it was this was built here and then the building next door and pretty soon (the Ertz family) ended up owning the whole (complex), Kaus said.

The Pomp Room hosted local, regional and national bands including some of the biggest names in rock music. Metallica, Scorpions, Cheap Trick, Steve Earle, Quiet Riot, Great White, Matt Guitar Murphy, Indigenous, the Bad Examples, Less than Jake, Crash Alley, Wakefield, and the Jayhawks played there. So did counterculture stalwarts Danzig, Marilyn Manson and Korn. The most legendary appearance was perhaps a non-publicized show by Aerosmith in 1993. The band sang "Mama Kin," "Come Together," "Love In An Elevator," and "Walk This Way," and the performance is immortalized on an MTV Rockumentary.

For Kaus, Yost and countless others, The Pomp Room was an indelible part of their lives.

The place was only around in my life for four or five years, but it stuck with me. There was a life to that place I couldnt figure out. It was dirty. It was kind of gross, Kaus said. I never forgot about it.

Kaus grew up in Wessington Springs. He was a teenager just starting to get into punk rock and whatever craziness when he made his first trip to The Pomp Room in the early 1990s.

I wrote a fake dentist note  the first of many  to get out of school, Kaus said, chuckling. Every time I needed to go to The Pomp Room, I wrote a fake dentist note.

Kaus still remembers the first time he saw The Pomp Room.

Here we are in downtown Sioux Falls and this bar looks insane. It looks ramshackle, the doors are thick steel. I dont know what this is going to be but Im going to dig it, he said.

He went there as often as he could in high school and while attending the University of South Dakota. Hed planned to drink his first beer at The Pomp Room when he turned 21, but the club closed before Kaus got the chance.

Yost and his family are part of The Pomp Rooms history. Yosts older brothers performed at The Pomp Room, and Yost ended up leading a band that played there on New Years Eve 1998 before the venue shut down for good. By then, The Pomp Room building was falling apart, and in 2000 it was demolished to make room for a parking ramp.

After Yost and Kaus discovered they shared a love for The Pomp Room, between our interests and our level of enthusiasm that overwhelms common sense, (we said) Lets do a documentary, Kaus said.

They started a Facebook page for the film and it quickly gained a couple thousand followers in a short time, Kaus said, and he realized people would be interested in their project.

Kaus and Yost made the documentary in their spare time over a 10-year period, gathering photos and memorabilia and interviewing more people than could possibly fit in the finished documentary.

Im a sucker for the familys where you find them theory, and this movie just reinforces that. You get to see generations of families that came together because of The Pomp Room, Kaus said.

Kaus hopes The Pomp Room movie will eventually be online for streaming, and DVDs will be available next year. For information and updates about The Pomp Room: A Rock N Roll Bar Story, follow m.facebook.com/thepomproomdoc, @pomproomdoc on Twitter or go to thepomproom.com.
Discussion surrounding a Box Elder preliminary zoning ordinance draft pertaining to recreational vehicles sparked controversy at Tuesday nights council meeting.

The ordinance, Zoning Ordinance 44-160, relates to recreational vehicles, and was on the Planning and Zoning agenda Tuesday evening as a discussion item, prior to the council meeting.

A preliminary draft of the RV section highlighted areas recommended for deletion, generally non-controversial proposed changes and the area open for considerable debate.

One section that generated controversy, and prompted public comment during the councils meeting Tuesday night, included language specifying when an RV is considered in use.

For the purpose of code enforcement, the proposed change reads, "an RV shall be considered in use when the following occur: leveling or supportive jacks have been fully extended and are in contact with the ground; on RV units which contain slides or awnings, when slides and awnings have been extended in an outward position; and an RV is connected to one or more utilities, including: power, water, sewer, or cable/internet."

Sections of the same ordinance, already adopted, stipulate that RVs being used as living quarters shall be placed in an RV park, and habitation of an RV when used in conjunction with active building permits may be used for temporary living quarters for no more than 18 months.

Box Elder Planning and Zoning noted the agenda item was discussion only, and nothing was up for adoption at Tuesdays council meeting. According to the city, a request for proposal was awarded in November 2021 to Rural Community Consultants for an update/revision draft to the Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Ordinance, where the recommended RV revisions stemmed from.

Several members of the Box Elder community were present Tuesday night to express disapproval over the suggested changes, including former Box Elder Mayor Al Dial.

Ervin Morse Sr., a Box Elder resident, told the council their freedoms and property were being oppressed, saying theyre starting to tell us what we can and cannot have on our properties, how we can and cannot have the things on our properties.

This started over a year ago for me when I was accused of living in my camper and it's still going on, he said. We don't want some code enforcement person coming to our house telling us you may not have that on your property. If its not hurting anyone, leave it alone.

He asked the council to review the ordinances, and if its not imposing on someone else, to remove it.

Dial said, as an owner of a camper, you cant do nothing until you open the doors, such as remove linens to wash and put back. He also said batteries need to be plugged in to keep them alive, and smoke detectors need to run 24/7.

So is the city ready to start replacing everybodys batteries because you wont let them plug a camper in without saying that its being occupied? he said. Enough is enough with the hardcore rules.

Another speaker, Ervin Morse Jr., said rules dictating how many trailers he can have on his property and whether or not he can send his kids to play in his camper have made Box Elder not feel like it was his home.

Officials with the city said after additional review and discussion, the city council will consider a final version for adoption in the future. Officials indicated that if all the necessary due diligence items and administrative reviews are completed, the ordinance is anticipated to be voted on as early as December 2022.
Scrubs Camp wasn't just a chance to teach high school students about health care professions for Kiara Rath Tuesday.

Instead, it was a chance to instill the curiosity of getting into nursing in the same way she was assured of the career path.

"They get a little excited when they can hear that thump," Rath said.

Rath, who is currently a nursing student at Western Dakota Tech, went through Scrubs Camp when she was still at Sturgis Brown High School. After the camp, she enrolled in dual classes, graduated from Sturgis Brown in May 2021 and will complete her LPN track this December.

She said when she went to camp, they got to "do needles" and learn about EMTs and surgical technicians.

"It was really cool to see all the different aspects of nursing and to kind of decide which area I wanted to go into," Rath said. "Going into Scrubs Camp kind of helped me know that I would like to go into nursing."

Rath taught more than 60 Black Hills area juniors and seniors attending the camp how to manually take blood pressures. She said the students listened to each other.

She said manual blood pressure reading can be very intimidating because they want to hear the right number and make sure they're accurate.

"As long as they're hearing those noises and they know what to listen for, I'm OK with it," Rath said. "If they're not super accurate right now, that's fine, but just an idea."

She said when she went through camp, she remembered her palms being sweaty and being scared. Rath said as a teacher, she wants to make sure she gives the students clear instructions and let them know that it is hard to do, and that it is OK if they don't hear the number accurately.

"That takes time," she said.

Landon Cast, a Douglas High School student, said he attended the camp because he was interested in the nursing program at Western Dakota Tech. He said he thought it was a good opportunity.

Cast said he wasn't sure what to expect when it came to camp, but he thought it would be fun. He said it was a great time learning about paramedics and mobility challenges.

"It gave me a lot of impact on what I would want to go into," he said. "It's definitely helped me to see if I want to be out in the field or if I just want to stay in the hospital, but right now I'm kind of feeling like going out in the field after what I learned at the paramedic stuff."

In addition to blood pressure reading and paramedic careers, students learned about phlebotomy and being a medical laboratory technician. They also learned about dental assisting, surgical technology and health information management careers.

Rath said she recommends for students interested in getting into nursing to dual enroll for credits. She said it's going to be hard, but they can make it.

"You'll feel like you're not learning anything, but over time you'll start thinking about things and you'll realize that you know a little more than you thought, so it takes time," she said.
Attacks on the Democratic Party, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jamie Smith and local media were met with cheers and applause Wednesday during a campaign rally for Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem in Rapid City.

Noem and former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard spoke about the governor's leadership style and what it is like to be a woman in politics in front of a standing-room only crowd at the Holiday Inn Rapid City Downtown Convention Center.

Members of the state Legislature, including Rep. Mary Fitzgerald, R-Spearfish, and Meade County Sheriff-elect Pat West attended the rally. State Sen. Helene Duhamel, R-Rapid City, served as emcee. Even Noem campaign volunteer Corey Lewandowski looked on from the crowd.

Noem, who was introduced by Lt. Gov. Larry Rhoden, said people in South Dakota and across the nation have learned that leadership has consequences.

"It matters who sits in leadership positions, they impact our lives every single day," she said.

Noem said the governor of every state is the defense against the federal government, and people have to look no further than the families and businesses in each state. She said she is running against an opponent that embraces every policy President Joe Biden stands for and fights for every day.

"I tell people every day my job has turned into getting up every day and fighting the federal government, defending the people of the state and making sure that we continue to be free and make our decisions," she said.

Gabbard, who was elected to Congress as a Democrat in 2012 and was a 2020 presidential candidate, said the country is in a downward spiral with the direction the Biden administration and Democrats in Washington, D.C., have taken. Gabbard announced she was leaving the Democratic Party in October, but said Wednesday that she has not joined the Republican Party.

She said the Democratic Party now is led by people who hate freedom. Gabbard said the party has thrown the Constitution in the trash and seeks to undermine the document.

"What's so dangerous about these positions is that they're doing so and carrying out these policies using the force of law and law enforcement behind them," Gabbard said. "We see this through the politicization and weaponization of public institutions designed to serve us like the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, like the Department of Education, Health and Human Services."

Noem said members of the Democratic Party have openly embraced socialism and socialist policies.

She said she does think her message is resonating with Democrats and Independents, particularly with the growth the state is experiencing in population and wages.

Noem and Gabbard were also asked about leadership styles, particularly as women in a male-dominated field.

Gabbard said servant leaders are the greatest leaders, which are leaders who see themselves as servants. She said she considers Noem to be a servant leader. Noem said there are talkers and there are doers.

She said there are a lot of talkers, and Gabbard is a doer. Noem said Smith has not passed a bill in years.

"He's served in the Legislature for years, hasn't passed a single bill," she said.

Noem's claim is partially false. Smith was not the prime sponsor on passed bills in 2021 or 2022, but successfully sponsored several pieces of legislation from 2017-2020.

Smith started his time in the state Legislature in 2017. According to the state Legislature, he was listed as the House prime sponsor of five bills in 2018, two of which were signed by Gov. Dennis Daugaard in March 2018. they include House Bill 1293, which increased the penalty for certain assaults committed against firefighters, ambulance service, or health care facility personnel while engaged in the performance of their duties; and Senate Bill 83, which authorized certain patriotic societies access to public schools.

Smith is listed as the House prime sponsor for seven bills in 2019, two of which were signed by Noem. They include Senate Bill 1, which adds a legislator to the membership of the Extraordinary Cost Oversight Board, to establish the board in statute, and to repeal the administrative rules creating the board; and Senate Bill 113, which provided that certain information contained within applications for money lending licenses be public record.

In 2020, Smith was listed as the House prime sponsor of six bills, two of which were signed by Noem. They include House Bill 1295, which revised provisions regarding contagious disease control and enforcement and to declare an emergency; and House Bill 1298, which provides for the postponement of certain elections and to declare an emergency.

Gabbard also said she internally chuckles when she is asked about what it means to be a woman working in Washington and what women care about.

"It falls kind of in the same line of a lot of labels that are attached to us, right? Whether it's a party label or ethnicity, race, religion, all of these different things," she said. "Really, when it comes down to leadership, what are we really looking for?"

She said she didn't vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016. Gabbard said people told her, "How dare you not vote for this person, she's going to be the first woman president of the country."

"How dare you reduce me to my sex," Gabbard said.

In response to a question on if there can be a bipartisan effort to lower the political temperature and discourse in the country, Gabbard said there has to truly be a bipartisan desire.

She said the direction the country is headed in is not sustainable, and there are powers in Washington, both in politics and media, that intentionally try to "stoke the fires of divisiveness between us because the more we are focused on being angry at each other, the less we're paying attention to what they are doing in spending our tax dollars."

Gabbard said it's up to the leaders to set the example and to show how they relate to others.

Noem said people don't feel like they're being listened to now, and people are so busy talking they're not listening. She said the media doesn't help.

Noem claimed three South Dakota reporters have told her they didn't run stories about her because they were too positive and that media organizations in South Dakota have manipulated articles.

"We have to realize that we have to continue to be bold and truthful and use every opportunity we have to make sure that the public are informed because most of the time, even in a small state like South Dakota, you're not going to get it picking up the Rapid City Journal," Noem said. "You're just not. You're gonna have to go out there."

The governor's statement about the Journal was met with applause. Noem did not provide examples about when the Journal was not truthful or allegedly manipulated articles.

Both Gabbard and Noem said getting out to vote in the upcoming election is important. Election Day is Nov. 8. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.
Local veterans were given the trip of a lifetime to Washington, D.C. last month, with the Old Dominion Honor Flight (ODHF) providing a meaningful day of police escorts, visiting war memorials and a heartfelt welcome back brigade in honor of their service.

The trip, which took place on Oct. 22, marked the third ODHF mission and offered veterans from the Richmond and Newport News areas a free, jam-packed day of site seeing and ceremonies with provided transportation and meals.

It really is all about taking the vets to D.C.  at no charge to the veteran  to see the memorials that were built to honor their service and sacrifice, and to say thanks on behalf of the nation for their service, said Steve Combs, ODHF vice president.

ODHF operates under the Honor Flight Network, which is a national network of independent Hubs working together to honor the nations veterans with an all-expenses paid trip to the nations memorials. With the first Honor Flight launched in 2005 with pilots flying World War II veterans to Washington, D.C., the idea quickly caught on and Hubs began to sprout up around the country, with this year marking the 250,000th veteran flown through the program.

The ODHF Hub was founded in 2019 and launched its first mission in November 2019. After several delayed trips due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they were able to conduct their second mission in April 2022.

ODHF Mission 3 had two departure points, with two buses travelling out of Newport News and two buses departing from the American Legion Post 175 in Mechanicsville. Out of the 84 passengers on the two Richmond-area buses, 18 were from Hanover County, Combs said.

Combs said it was really a community attraction, as Hanoverians gathered in the morning to send off the veterans in style. The Hanover County Sheriffs Office assisted with stopping traffic for the buses; the Mechanicsville High School NJROTC cadets lined flags on the route as veterans boarded the buses; community members stood along the road to wave farewell signs as the buses pulled out of Mechanicsville; and Virginia State Police offered a police escort all the way up to Quantico  their first destination of the day.

The four buses together visited the National Museum of the Marine Corps, the World War II Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial, and the Changing of the Guard ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery before making a final stop for dinner at American Legion Post 320 in Spotsylvania.

Every veteran is paired with a volunteer Guardian who serves as their personal escort for the day. Photographers, EMTS and other ODHF team members are also on-hand throughout missions, with snacks and a boxed lunch provided on the bus throughout the day.

The Changing of the Guard ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery is probably the highlight of everyones day, Combs said.

Honor Flight Hubs are awarded a special privilege by Arlington National Cemetery for their buses to drive up to the amphitheater, which is in front of where the ceremony is held, and for special seating to accommodate for veterans in wheelchairs.

Although the tomb guards are traditionally not allowed to speak during the ceremony, they always scuff their heels as a special salute to Honor Flight veterans, Combs said. Visitors during the trip were also able to speak with the guard that was on duty.

Jim Wright, a Mechanicsville resident who was a participant on the Mission 3 trip and served for 30 years in the military, said his first viewing of the ceremony was particularly memorable.

I enjoyed it because I guess the solemnness of it and the precision in which they performed it  very professional, and it was kind of a heartwarming event, Wright said.

It can be a very emotional day for the veterans, and for the Guardians and for team members like me, Combs said.

He said another moving visit was to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, as a majority of participants were Vietnam War veterans.

We go to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and for some of the vets theyve maybe never been, or they go and theyre finding the names of buddies that were lost in Vietnam, Combs said.

ODHF Mission 3 participant and Vietnam War veteran Ronnie Rust, a Hanover County resident who had never before seen the memorial, placed a rose on the name of a fallen friend that was printed on the wall.

Rusts most memorable experience of the day was their arrival back home. Hanover Fire-EMS welcomed the veterans back with an American flag flying from a ladder truck as family members waved signs and cheered.

It made you feel like you were actually appreciated because, at the time, the Vietnam War was not the most well-liked conflict that the United States has been involved in, Rust said.

Combs said he has received a number of emails from veterans commenting on how much the return home meant to them.

We of course make a big point to say thank you, and some of the vets will say, No ones ever said thank you for your service. No one has said welcome home. And thats what we do, Combs said.

Wright and Rust encourage interested community members and veterans to try applying for an upcoming ODHF Mission, as it offers a worthwhile and educational experience for all.

Its a very interesting tour because it kind of gives you an insight of why you are a veteran and, you know, whats behind you being a veteran, Wright said. So it is a worthwhile trip for a veteran.

Rust said it is an especially meaningful experience for younger generations to learn sides of history that they may never learn in school.

You just got to talk about it  thats how we remember, Rust said.

Combs encourages any interested veteran who served in uniform from World War II to the Vietnam War along with interested community members to apply for the free trip as a veteran or a Guardian. Guardians are asked to make a $100 contribution to cover some of the trips expenses, which is additionally supplemented with community donations.

They are currently accepting veteran and Guardian applications for their Mission 4 trip scheduled for April 22, 2023, through the ODHF website, which provides both an easy online application and a printable PDF copy with mailing information. They operate on a first come, first served basis, with World War II veterans prioritized. They already have between 25 to 30 veterans who have applied for Mission 4.

Combs said while they have not yet run out of seats, the maximum number of veterans they can take per bus is around 24. If they run out of seats, applicants will be prioritized for the next mission.

He offered final remarks on why he enjoys participating in ODHF as a team member.

My reward is the smiles, the tears, and just the chance to say, Thank you, Combs said.
Federal prosecutors this week filed exhibits of internal Richmond police emails that for the first time publicly describe the precise nature of the tip authorities received about a potential July 4 mass shooting, and they confirm that police received no specifics on the time or location of the purported event.

The first report indicated that one of the Guatemalan men arrested in connection with the alleged plot intended to shoot up schools, events. The tip was soon refined after a Spanish-speaking officer contacted the tipster, who advised the suspect was planning on shooting up a large gathering event on July 4th, according to copies of the emails filed in U.S. District Court in Richmond.

The chain of emails  introduced Monday during an evidentiary hearing for Julio Alvarado Dubon, who is charged with possessing several firearms the tipster feared would be used in the shooting  further undercuts former Richmond police Chief Gerald Smiths claim during a July 6 news conference that Dogwood Dell had been targeted for the violence. The news conference was held days after seven people were killed in a shooing at an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago.

Smith resigned from the force last week amid growing scrutiny about the Dogwood Dell investigation. An official cause was not given.

In August, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that Smiths own department had provided him information in writing before his news conference that the location of any potential mass shooting incident was unknown, according to records the newspaper obtained under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.

A police official emailed those records to Smith and an assistant seven minutes before Smiths 2 p.m. July 6 news conference. The records also show that Richmond police shared with the FBI that a location was unknown.

Richmond police Sgt. Brian Rogers with the departments strategic violence interdiction unit, who assessed the tip, and Spanish-speaking Master Patrol Officer Bryan Ferrerias, who interviewed the tipster, testified about the tip police received and how they responded to it during Mondays hearing.

The proceeding was devoted to whether Rogers, Ferrerias and Detective Michael Kiniry legally entered the house where Dubon and co-defendant Rolman Balcarcel-Bavagas were staying in the 3100 block of Columbia Street after police acted on the tip and seized three firearms from Dubons bedroom. The tipster identified Balcarcel-Bavagas, a co-worker he knew as Chapin, as the person planning the shooting.

The tipster first called police communications using the departments language line, which assists non-English speaking callers.

According to an email sent by Richmond Officer Sheryl Austin-Summerville to Sgt. Wesley Partin III at 1:59 p.m. July 1, the tipster reported that Chapin had told him that he had an AR-15 and other big weapons, and his intentions are to shoot up schools, events, etc. The tipster further said that Chapin used to work for the drug cartel.

The tipster said he is trying to be a good citizen and report this to police. He advised that Chapin is from Guatemala and resided at the house on Columbia Street.

Shooting up a large gathering on July 4th

Partin then emailed Lt. Cynthia Hayes at 3:44 p.m. about the tipster, noting that the call was difficult to take as we were using the language line [and] no Spanish speaking officers [were] at 2nd [precinct] at that time.

Partin further advised that Ferrerias called the tipster to get first-hand information and would then update the report about the tip and re-notify everyone included in the email chain.

At 4:58 p.m., Ferrerias emailed Hayes and Partin and copied seven other high-ranking officers with the information he obtained from the tipster.

He stated that Chapin showed him two long guns on 6-21-22 in the evening hours, Ferrerias wrote. The first long gun was an AR style with 6 metal magazines and was equipped with a red dot sight under the barrel.

The second long gun was a higher caliber than the first, Ferrerias wrote. The barrel was longer and had several holes on the handguard. It also has a two-leg kickstand.

The tipster was told by the subject that he was planning on shooting up a large gathering event on July 4th. No specification on what time or location, Ferrerias said in his email.

The subject is associated with a Mexican gang call[ed] Los Zetas (The Zs), and used to be an enforcer within the gang. He also fired the rifles through out the week in his back yard, Ferrerias added.

After discussing the tip with Kiniry and Ferrerias, Rogers testified Monday that he instructed Kiniry to do a little investigation by checking out the Columbia Street residence before they knocked on the door. There was a large, noisy party being held across the street from the home when they first arrived, so they decided to wait until the party died down before approaching the house.

Rogers testified he conducted some background work that included calling a man the tipster advised was Balcarcel-Bavagas work boss, who verified that Balcarcel-Bavagas was employed by him. The boss also verified a photo of Balcarcel-Bavagas as the person of interest.

Rogers said he also called Richmond emergency communications to learn whether there were any calls for service at or near the Columbia Street home within the past couple of months.

He learned there was a June 9 call for random gunfire in the 3100 block of Columbia Street, and another on June 24 in the 2500 block of Columbia Street, Rogers said. One of the calls was determined to be exploding fireworks instead of gunfire.

Following those inquires, Rogers, Ferrerias and Kiniry went to the Columbia Street home after 11 p.m. and Dubon eventually answered the door after several knocks. The party across the street was still ongoing and remained loud.

Fourth Amendment rights questioned

Jose Aponte, Dubons attorney, said the officers violated his clients Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure. Aponte said police conducted an illegal search of the home, looked around without Dubons consent and seized the firearms without a search warrant. Dubon further alleges there were no exigent circumstances to justify the officers entry into the house, and their actions did not constitute a valid protective sweep.

Federal prosecutors responded that Dubon agreed to allow the officers inside and opened the door for them to enter. After entering, the officers soon noticed there were magazines and a rifle round in the front living room.

After some initial conversation about whether Dubon knew the person they were looking for  Balcarcel-Bavagas  the officers told Dubon they were going to check to make sure no one else was in the house. At that point Dubon told them, go ahead and check, and Kiniry began to make a sweep of the house, prosecutor said. Balcarcel-Bavagas appeared shortly after police entered.

Seconds into the sweep, Kiniry saw what appeared to be one of the guns described by the tipster, and Dubon then accompanied the officer to the bedroom and directed him to the location of two other firearms.

Prosecutors contend Dubon never told the officers to leave, stop checking for other people or otherwise protested their actions. In sum, the defendant consented to and complied with the officers attempts to locate others and firearms in the residence, they said, and therefore did not violate Dubons constitutional rights.

Prosecutors added that even if the officers had not received consent to enter, they would have been justified in conducting a protective sweep because of the circumstances surrounding the encounter which implicated a potential mass shooting suspect ... and the likely presence of firearms in the residence.

Balcarcel-Bavagas pleaded guilty in August to re-entering the U.S. after having been deported, the only offense for which he has been charged federally. He is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 10.

Following Mondays three-hour hearing, U.S. District Judge M. Hannah Lauck took the governments evidence under advisement. She directed Aponte to file an amendment to his motion to suppress the evidence against his client, and federal prosecutors will file a response. After those briefs are filed by early December, a hearing date will be set for arguments before Lauck makes a ruling.

Continuing coverage of alleged Dogwood Dell shooting plot The latest from the Richmond Times-Dispatch on an alleged mass shooting that police say was planned July Fourth at Dogwood Dell.
Richmond police on Wednesday released surveillance camera images of who they say are persons of interest in a commercial burglary last month.

Police responded to the business in the 6300 block of Jahnke Road at 8:16 a.m. on Oct. 18. Police said suspects entered the closed business and stole various items, including a firearm.
St. Michaels Episcopal School in Richmond has closed its middle school temporarily after an outbreak of influenza-like illnesses, the latest sign of a worse-than-usual flu season in Virginia.

There have been about 100 illnesses at the south Richmond school, which has about 400 students from kindergarten through eighth grade.

This is really unusual, said Bob Gregg, head of school. This is far beyond anything we experienced with COVID.

The middle school closed Wednesday and plans to reopen Tuesday, following already-scheduled off days Friday and Monday.

Cases of flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and rhinovirus in children have pushed Richmond-area hospitals to near capacity. As of Oct. 22, there have been seven outbreaks of influenza in the state, with six coming at schools, according to the state health department.

At St. Michaels, illnesses were at a normal level until Monday, when the number of sick students began to spike. Health officials said its hard to tell where the outbreak originated or what specific viruses are spreading, Gregg said.

During their time at home, students will learn at their own pace, Gregg added. Many eighth graders are currently working on essays to apply to high schools.

Administrators are considering asking students to wear masks when they return. Health experts say mask wearing, washing hands and avoiding crowds are the best ways to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses.

While the illnesses at St. Michaels mainly impacted the middle school, most hospitalizations have occurred in infants and toddlers.

The flu season just began in October, but the number of people in the state seeking care for influenza-like illness is higher than at this point in each of the past four years.

Cases typically peak in January or February, and the state is on trajectory to have its worst flu season in at least five years.

Trinity Episcopal School, a high school located a mile away, has seen significantly fewer students with flu-like symptoms, said Trinity head of school Rob Short. Trinity is keeping an eye on families that overlap the two schools.
The counties of Henrico and Chesterfield will ask voters next week to approve bonds.

The commonwealth of Virginia requires counties (but not cities) to have a bond referendum  a vote of the people to issue general obligation bonds.

Henricos last bond referendum was in 2016, and Chesterfields was in 2013. Measures on both referendums were overwhelmingly approved by voters.

Henrico County

Henrico County is asking residents for their approval to issue $511.4 million in bonds.

In an effort to be transparent, Henrico County officials break down the referendum into four categories, giving voters the chance to approve or deny each bond in each category separately. The yes-or-no questions will ask voters to approve projects for schools; recreation and parks; fire station and public safety; and flood prevention and stormwater drainage.

About two-thirds of the proposed bonds are for Henrico County Public Schools projects. If the schools category is approved by voters, the county would issue $340.5 million for those projects. The most expensive project is the rebuild of Quioccasin Middle School, which is estimated to cost $89 million.

The six projects in the fire and safety category amount to $83.85 million and include the rebuilding of three firehouses.

The stormwater drainage projects category is priced at $50 million and would address the more than 7,000 homes in the county with drainage problems. The smallest category, parks and recreation, is slated for $37 million and would pay for a new park in the Three Chopt area and improvements to Deep Bottom Park in Varina and Tuckahoe Creek Park.

Chesterfield County

Unlike Henrico, Chesterfield lumps all of its projects into one question on the ballot. Chesterfield voters will decide whether or not to approve measures in a $540 million bond referendum.

The bonds would provide $375 million to the Chesterfield County Public School district and $165 million to the county government to fund projects for parks and recreation, the library system, fire stations and police precincts.

Schools projects include four school replacements, two new schools and an expansion of Thomas Dale High School. The county governments projects include $81.1 million for public safety facilities, $45.7 million for libraries and $38.2 million for parks and recreation.

The general obligation bonds, if approved, will finance 26 capital improvement projects over the next eight to 10 years in Chesterfield. The referendum this November will be the largest referendum that weve ever pursued, according to Deputy County Administrator Matt Harris.
Lynch had hoped to recharge a stalled effort with a proposal to call the span the Belvidere Bridge, after the street that meets its northern side.

Thats what a lot of people call it anyway, she said.

And when she learned that belvidere can be translated as beautiful view, she thought she had a winner, after her resolution from two years ago to launch a community process to find a new name came to naught during the pandemic.

But shes heard  not directly and not from anyone in her district, which reaches both ends of the bridge linking Oregon Hill with South Richmond  that the Belvidere name is stirring controversy.

It was the name of the mansion that the planter William Byrd III built above the falls of the James River in 1758, with wealth hed amassed  and eventually gambled away  from the work of the hundreds of slaves on 179,000 acres he inherited.

Lynch has also heard it was the name of a Quaker-run school for the children of freed slaves.

Richmonds history is complicated, she said.

She said that by withdrawing her renaming proposal, her old resolution calling for a community process to decide on a new name remains in force.

Lynch introduced it before the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police sparked nationwide calls to rethink Confederate monuments and street names.

Its probably the most prominent feature named after Robert E. Lee, she said.

Originally called the James River Bridge when constructed in 1933, it was renamed for the Confederate general a year later and remained that way when the crossing was rebuilt in 1985.

Lynch said shes hoping that the community renaming process she wanted to launch now takes life.

I just want the signs down.
Republican Glenn Youngkin is joining the pantheon of Virginia governors who put their foot in their mouth, reducing themselves to punchlines.

Youngkin, campaigning last Friday for a congressional candidate in Northern Virginia, seemingly made light of the attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in the couples San Francisco home by a radicalized, hammer-wielding assailant whose intended target was the congresswoman.

Though Youngkin decried the violence  and might have stopped there  he continued: Were going to send her back to be with him in California.

Democrats were apoplectic, demanding Youngkin apologize for confounding horror as humor. Republicans went to ground, leaving it to Youngkin to defend himself, which he attempted in a hospitable setting: right-wing television.

Questioned by Greta Van Susteren on Newsmax, Youngkin twice refused to apologize. Instead, he said that he doesnt condone violence, adding that he and first lady Suzanne Youngkin are praying for Paul Pelosis recovery.

Queries about the faux pas to at least three operatives in Youngkins vast imaging operation went unanswered, affirming an important rule of crisis communications: Minimize further embarrassment through the strictest control of messaging.

Thats why Youngkin engaged a conservative media friendly whose national audience  Youngkins preferred audience, given his presidential ambitions  is less likely to think the worst of him and almost certain to believe mainstream news outlets are blowing his misstep out of proportion.

Though Youngkin  aided in his narrow 2021 victory by a titanic verbal goof by his Democratic opponent  said on Tuesday he didnt do a great job expressing anguish over the attack, according to online Punchbowl News.

In Donald Trumps Republican Party  because his aberrant behavior is the standard for anyone with ambition  apologies are for wimps. An apology is a sign of weakness. Its the cruelty thats important, satiating voter resentments rooted in race, culture and class. Besides, an apology can extend the life of a story a politician would prefer die.

Toddlers and politicians have something in common: their rewarded behavior is repeated behavior, said Stephen Farnsworth of the University of Mary Washington, author of Presidential Communication and Character: White House News Management from Clinton and Cable to Twitter and Trump.

A lot of Republicans have gained ground politically by being very combative. Youngkin is following suit. This matter demonstrates that Youngkin is no longer portraying himself as a Virginia centrist. Hes now trying combativeness with 2024 in mind.

Youngkin joins a rogues gallery of gaffe-gushing governors  Republicans and Democrats:

Ex-segregationist Mills Godwin, in 1981, attacks Democrats on racially charged issues, including statehood for heavily Black Washington, D.C., and, in 1985, criticizes Doug Wilder, a Black Democrat then running for lieutenant governor, for proposing the state song be junked because of its racially offensive lyrics. Democrats swept that year.

In 1991, Wilder, as the nations first elective Black governor and a presidential prospect, suggests Clarence Thomas, who had just been nominated for the U.S. Supreme Court, be pressed by senators for his stance on abortion because, as a Catholic, he has an allegiance to the pope. Denounced by Catholics, Wilder apologizes.

In 1994, George Allen, a Republican, rallies his party against Democrats in that years U.S. Senate race, declaring, Lets enjoy knocking their soft teeth down their whining throats. Running for re-election to the Senate in 2006, Allen commits an epic boner, using a racial epithet  macaca  to describe an Indian American Democrat. It costs Allen a second term.

Gov. Jim Gilmore, a Republican, appropriates a phrase made famous by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., declaring in 1999 Virginia free at last, free at last with the GOP taking total control of state government for the first time in more than century after the party installs a majority in the House of Delegates. Black Virginians brand Gilmores remark a sacrilege.

In 2016, U.S. Sen. Tom Kaine, a former governor and the Democratic nominee for vice president, out-Trumps Trump by frequently and rudely interrupting Republican Mike Pence during their televised debate at Longwood University. The performance augurs the only defeat, so far, of Kaines career.

Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, bungles his response to the blackface calamity that nearly drove him from office in 2019. He compounds the humiliation by offering to perform a Michael Jackson-like moonwalk after disclosing he participated in a dance contest in the 1980s dressed as the performer  even smearing black shoe polish on his face.

Democrat Terry McAuliffe, running against Youngkin in 2021 for a second non-consecutive term as governor, blurts during a broadcast debate that parents have no place in the classroom. The blunder overnight becomes fodder for Youngkin, contributing to McAuliffes defeat to a political newcomer running on a parents rights plank.

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Except for McAuliffe and Allen, who tried and failed against Kaine in 2012 to avenge his Senate loss, all of these governors survived politically, though they were trivialized by their bombast and the tone-deafness, arrogance and ignorance that apparently contributed to it.

Former Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, a Republican who briefly sought his partys gubernatorial nomination in 2013, said our vitriolic politics demands that candidates and officeholders get it right the first time on whatever point theyre trying to make because when youre in the public spotlight 24/7, you dont get any do-overs.

Bolling, who teaches politics and policy at George Mason University, said apologies are impracticable because supporters believe they convey vulnerability and opponents consider them disingenuous: Its a no-win situation.

Before his oops moment, Youngkin  having visited a dozen states as part of his continuing presidential audition  wasnt breaking through with Republican primary voters. GOP polling firm Echelon Insights, in an Oct. 24-26 survey that had Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida at roughly 60% and 30%, respectively, put Youngkin and nine others at 0%.

Youngkins gaffe could be just the boost he needs.
On the one-year anniversary of his election, Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Wednesday made campaign stops in South Dakota and Oklahoma to boost fellow GOP governors in unexpectedly close re-election contests.

Youngkin headlined an afternoon rally in Sioux Falls, S.D., for Gov. Kristi Noem, who is trying to fend off Democrat Jamie Smith, a state legislator. On Wednesday night, he was the featured guest at a Red Wave rally in Tulsa with Gov. Kevin Stitt, who is in a close race with Democrat Joy Hofmeister, the state superintendent of public instruction.

During the rally at the South Dakota Military Heritage Alliance in Sioux Falls, Noem called Youngkin an inspiration and said his 2021 campaign for governor was a light to the rest of the country on what common sense was, what leadership was.

Noem also said South Dakotas economy is thriving.

People are coming here to South Dakota  and theyre not coming for our beaches, she said, drawing laughter from the crowd. And theyre not coming for our January thats coming, either, she said.

Theyre coming because they want to be like us. They want to be somewhere where the government respects them.

Youngkins speech traced themes he often has addressed in trips to boost other GOP candidates for governor in states such as Nebraska, Michigan, Maine, Nevada, Georgia, Kansas, New Mexico, Oregon, Arizona, Wisconsin and New York.

Youngkin again depicted Virginia as previously in a dark place  with schools and businesses shut down by the pandemic and parents shut out of their childrens K-12 education  before he said his election ushered in a renewed spirit of Virginia.

He said South Dakota residents had not faced such problems because Noem was their governor and looked out for their rights.

Youngkin made broad assertions about the election he won by about 2 percentage points. For example, he again said that he won the Latino vote and won the Asian vote. Exit polls indicated that Democrat Terry McAuliffe carried both groups.

On November 2nd, Virginians stood up and said We are red, Youngkin said.

Before Youngkin presented Noem with one of his trademark red campaign vests, she gave him a South Dakota accessory  a white cowboy hat. Youngkin said its not his first cowboy hat. He noted that his wife, first lady Suzanne Youngkin, hails from Texas.
In mid-October, the Virginia Department of Education launched a social media campaign aimed at addressing our states teacher shortage. I desperately hope that Virginia students have the educators they deserve at the fronts of their classrooms. However, I am skeptical that either this campaign or the governors executive directive will do much to combat the shortage. The efforts do not address or acknowledge the reasons teachers are leaving the classroom: low pay, the increasing politicization of the teaching profession, and challenging working conditions.

As an educator, I agree that good teachers can change everything for their students. Teaching is hard work worth doing. However, the current teacher shortage has little to do with the careers meaningfulness. The VDOEs sentimental pandering feels ironic and disingenuous considering the events of the last year.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin set this shortage in motion by stoking mistrust in teachers as a cornerstone of his 2021 campaign. On the campaign trail, he questioned the fitness of teachers to make curricular and instructional decisions in their classrooms. Upon taking office, he created a notorious tip-line where parents could report teachers for teaching divisive topics (a coded phrase for topics relating to race or gender).

The administration continues to pit families against teachers in rhetoric and policies. This false binary disregards what is best for students, who benefit when teachers and caregivers work in caring collaboration.

Now, the administration is making it easier to obtain teaching licenses to put teachers in classrooms. This is an unimaginative solution that, again, belies the causes of the shortage.

Research tells us that teachers depth of preparation impacts their students learning outcomes. We also know that teachers with less preparation are more likely to leave the classroom within a few years. It seems shortsighted to lower the bar for licensure  and ironic given Youngkins critiques of teacher qualifications and recent test scores.

Virginians who are trying to decide whether to enter or leave the teaching profession are not doubting whether the work is meaningful. Theyre wondering whether they can stomach the lack of respect and low pay that comes with the fun and fulfilling work.

We need innovative solutions to recruit and retain qualified educators. Training to be a teacher should be affordable but not haphazard. Close collaboration between teacher preparation programs, districts, families, and politicians offers our best path forward.

Several Democratic candidates running to represent Central Virginia in Congress have made education a core part of their platforms. Their opponents have said nothing about how theyll address the teacher shortage, instead focusing on the witch-hunt to root out divisive issues in schools. To solve the teacher shortage, our politicians must focus on educational disparities by empowering Virginias current and aspiring teachers. This might include expanding Public Service Loan Forgiveness, TEACH grants and other programs that help teachers get a free or reduced-cost education. Such initiatives have the potential to make teacher training more affordable, while also maintaining the rigorous standards that Virginias students deserve.

Making sure that every Virginia student has a quality teacher is on the ballot next week. I encourage you to do your research to understand your candidates commitment to this issue. A good teacher can change everything, but we need to change something about the current climate to position teachers to make changes for their students.
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The surge of warmth that enveloped the state for the first of November will ease back for a day or so, but any cold air sliding out of Canada this week will hold in the western United States through the weekend.

The result for Virginia is a weather pattern with temperatures near or warmer than normal through this weekend, with no legitimate chance of accumulating rainfall until at least the first of next week.

Though it will be consistently warmer than normal through that time, we will fall far short of a record.

Going back through Richmonds weather records, the first week of November has had wild fluctuations in weather patterns. The coldest such period was in 1954, when the average temperature that week was 41.4 degrees. Four of the seven nights that week were below freezing, and no afternoon was above 55.

A huge area of cold low pressure, what jokingly might be called a polar vortex today, drifted over Virginia for a couple days. Two spells of cold rain also fell during that time, keeping highs in the 40s those two days. This was part of an especially active period in Richmond during the fall of 1954, as Hurricane Hazel had just raced from south to north across Virginia a couple of weeks before.

Conversely, the warmest first week of November was 1977, with an average temperature of 67.4 degrees. Two of those afternoons reached 78 degrees but, more importantly, all but one of those nights stayed above 60. Taken as a sum, those seven days were a collective 14 degrees warmer than normal.

But as a testament to how fast things change in November, the temperature plummeted to 17 degrees on the Sunday morning after Thanksgiving in 1977 (the record for that date is 14 in 1974).

The general weather pattern across the U.S. during that week is similar to what is out there this week, with cold air surging south into the Rockies and the Pacific Northwest, while warmer weather prevails east of the Mississippi River.

Any warm weekly record for Richmond is out of reach for this year, as we still expect nights in the 50s. In 1977, the storm that moved into the Rockies re-energized along the Gulf Coast, forcing winds in Virginia from the south. This brought higher humidity levels and higher temperatures at night.

This year, however, the cold system in the Rockies is going to race from southwest to northeast just west of the Appalachians. This leaves a broad area of high pressure from New England to the North Atlantic Ocean. As a result, our winds will have more of a component from the east, which also makes us susceptible to periods of low clouds and the occasional foggy night, even with no significant rain.

In general terms, expect afternoons in the upper 60s to mid-70s, with daybreak temperatures in the 50s for this week into the weekend. There are mixed signals about the next chance of rain but, for the moment, it appears to come in the form of a weakening system approaching from the southeast, spreading waves of showers into Virginia from the North Carolina coastline Tuesday or Wednesday.

Tropics
A state legislators private business venue in Pulaski County is listed for sale, but the manager said she hopes nobody buys it.

Im just praying every day that it does not sell, said Brenda Blackburn, manager of the Big Red Barn, billed online as a community worship center. We have been targeted.

The 10-acre property at 4241 Lee Highway in Pulaski is owned by a company of state Del. Marie March, R-Floyd, but was posted for sale last week, amid an ongoing permitting dispute with county government. Blackburn blames one person for that dispute: County Administrator Jonathan Sweet.

The main reason weve been targeted is because of Jonathan Sweet, and Ill tell him to his face, Blackburn said during a phone call. This barn has cost Marie a whole lot of money.

Sweet said Pulaski County has a tremendous amount of written record demonstrating its efforts to work with March and company in allowing the Big Red Barn to legally operate.

We continue to want to see successful businesses that comply with our zoning ordinance operate and be successful there, Sweet said during a phone call. Were happy to work with the existing owner or future owners to help make that happen.

Blackburn said the barn was meant to become a place to host numerous events, from weddings to receptions to birthday parties, and March had envisioned it would become a local Republican headquarters.

If its Gods will for her to sell that barn, then she will sell it, Blackburn said. But God is in that place.

Sweet said the county building official, zoning department as well as his administration office have done everything they can to work with the Big Red Barn.

Were just trying to work with them to allow them to reach compliance, and be consistent with every other business owner, property owner in the county, Sweet said. We want them to comply with zoning, and we want them to be successful there.

The barn property is zoned for agricultural uses.

I was told when its zoned agriculture, and it is, you can have anything you want to, Blackburn said. You can do whatever you want to in the barn.

The listed asking price of $715,000 for the Big Red Barn property is 78% higher than its purchase price last June for $400,000, according to online real estate listings.

Sweet said a lot of people in the county find this to be an interesting turn of events.

Weve had very little productive communication from the Big Red Barn, so were not certain what their plans are, or what the issues are, Sweet said. Looking at what they purchased the property for versus what theyre selling the property for, it doesnt look like theyre very interested in selling.

Likewise, Blackburn said she is unsure about future plans for the business. Church services that started a couple months ago will continue at least until the end of the year, she said.

I dont know why Marie done it, I really dont. But I think she just got fed up, Blackburn said. Youre going to have to be a real rich person to afford this barn, with the price thats on there right now.

March did not respond to a request for comment. Blackburn said she hopes Sweet is satisfied.

You cant fight the devil so long, Blackburn said. But you know what, Gods still the winner, and I still feel like Im on the winning side. And so is Marie.
Carilion Clinic will relocate outpatient mental health services, currently housed at the clinics Riverside complex in Roanoke, to a site within Tanglewood Mall by next fall.

Dr. Robert Trestman, the chair of the psychiatry program at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, said that the new location was chosen to address growing demand for therapy and other outpatient mental health services in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Carilion originally included its behaviorial health component as part of a previously announced $300 million expansion to the health systems Riverside complex.

Separating them does a few helpful things, Trestman said. It reduces stigma, and provides extra space for parking and for access to the facility.

The new location would also provide space for expansion, should needs for treatment continue to increase as they have during the pandemic, according to Trestman.

In recent years, demand for outpatient mental health care has grown dramatically throughout the U.S., and the Roanoke Valley is no exception, he said. We have grown our capacity a lot, and were still barely keeping up with the needs of the community.

When Carilions Riverside expansion was announced before the pandemic, both outpatient and inpatient care were planned as part of it. Trestman said that inpatient care will still be relocated, with officials seeking a place closer to the complex along South Jefferson Street and Reserve Avenue

Tanglewood Mall is already the site for a separate Carilion property, the Carilion Childrens Clinic, which opened last year in an extensively renovated former J.C. Penney store. The new mental health clinic hub will be situated adjacent to the Childrens Clinic.

Carilion said when completed the new space will include about 80 employees involved with treating mental health patients from children to elders. That will be in addition to an influx of clinic workers already active at the Childrens Clinic.

The health systems movement into the mall coincides with Roanoke Countys Reimagine 419 Plan, an ongoing effort to revitalize the nearby Virginia 419-Electric Road corridor.

Roanoke County Board of Supevisors member Jason Peters said Tanglewood Mall, which had declined as a commerical hub, revenue generator and employer, has been a boon for the revitalization effort and for the facility itself.

If you look back at 2016, when I started, that mall was dead, Peters said. With Carilion and other businesses moving in, the mall has improved a lot since then.

The Reimagine 419 Plan has particular focus on the Tanglewood area, a gateway to southern Roanoke County. The goal is to transform the busy commerical stretch beyond the Interstate 581-U.S. 220 interchange with Virginia 419 into pedestrian-friendly, self-sufficient neighborhood, with services beyond dining and retail offered within the mall.

That concept would provide services for families moving into new housing built in the area, according to Megan Cronise, Roanoke Countys transportation planning administrator.

One of the biggest things we found when looking at reimagining the area was a need for new housing, Cronise said. Over and over again, what people told us was that they wanted an area where they could leave their cars and walk or bike in.

Construction in the area is set to continue through 2026, with plans to build new traffic interchanges, a new connection between Virginia 419-Electric Road and Ridgetop Road, and modifications to traffic signals along the corridor.
The city of Radford has entered into an option agreement on a future purchase of the 80-acre site foundry site on the New River owned by Virginia Castings LLC.

The foundry operation closed almost a decade ago.

The six-month option will give the city time to complete updated and additional environmental testing on the foundry site, according to a city news release.

If Radford purchases the property located along the New River on the west end of the city, it will pay $250,000 for a parcel of land roughly the size of its Bisset Park, Mayor David Horton said Wednesday.

Economic Development Director Kim Repass believes the proposed deal will greatly benefit the city.

The ability to acquire new industry and commercial businesses on this property will be a game changer for the City of Radford, she said in the release.

Horton said the city has been working for years to find the best use of the land, but no outside businesses or developers were interested in purchasing the entire site, which is what Virginia Casting is seeking.

However, he said if and when the city acquires the property, it would be open to selling off parcels of the property to various investors.

This is a great investment for the city, and for future industry, Horton said Wednesday. It is right next to the river and to the railway, which makes it very attractive for new industry.

The foundry was once one of the citys largest employers, first operating in 1880 and employing 1,500 at its peak in the 1970s, before closing for good in 2013, according to the city.

The factory on the property was purchased by Radford Trading LLC in 2015, and the city council granted the company a special permit in 2019 to operate a portion of its 70-acre property to process and store scrap metals as well as recycle electronics and copper wiring.

Attempts to reach the owner were unsuccessful Wednesday, but Horton said the company has yet to become fully operational due to the pandemic and supply chain issues.

Horton said it is not yet known what the extent of the cleanup will be, but outside groups and agencies have told city officials the land likely does not need a large overhaul before being ready to use again.

Most of the infrastructure has been removed from the site, with little more than foundations of old building remaining, according to Horton.

Radford will be looking to secure grants for environmental evaluation, remediation, site access, cleanup and redevelopment, Horton said.

The mayor said the city wouldve likely entered into this deal sooner, but the pandemic slowed down the process.

We have been looking at this for probably the last two years or so, Horton said. We will be responsible for any necessary cleanup on the site.

Soil contamination, the state of the detention pond and the onsite water control facility will be chief among the due diligence the city engages in over the next six months, Horton said.

He said he believes this will be a valuable asset for Radford going forward, and something from which the city will benefit greatly in the near future.

Horton said the city will use regional and state partners to help lure new businesses to the site.

For years the city didnt attempt to do much with the property, but that has changed over the last four years, he said. We have to take the wheel and drive to our future.
Attorney General Jason Miyares office has received a nearly $20,000 deposit from Virginias NAACP chapter to fulfill a Freedom of Information Act request concerning the offices Election Integrity Unit.

Robert Barnette, president of Virginias NAACP, said theres not enough transparency about the unit.

He said the organization sent Miyares office a letter on Sep. 14 asking for records related to the establishment of the Election Integrity Unit as well as its expenditures and activities. It also requested records of documented cases of election fraud in Virginia.

Formed in September, the unit is composed of more than 20 attorneys, investigators and paralegals. Its tasks are to provide legal advice to the Department of Elections as well as investigate and prosecute violations of state election law.

I pledged during the 2021 campaign to work to increase transparency and strengthen confidence in our state elections, Miyares said in a statement when he announced the unit in September. It should be easy to vote, and hard to cheat. The Election Integrity Unit will work to help to restore confidence in our democratic process in the Commonwealth.

Barnette said that the Attorney General Office responded by quoting about 500 hours of estimated time to produce the records and a nearly $20,000 deposit.

He added that he feels the price of the FOIA is a tactic to dissuade the NAACP from pursuing its request.

Given the importance of fair elections, the Attorney Generals stated desire for transparency, we would have thought he would want to make these records public, Barnette said in a news conference outside the state Capitol on Tuesday. We would have thought that the Attorney General would want his Election Integrity Unit to operate in the light of day.

Miyares spokesperson Victoria LaCivita said state law allows public bodies to charge compensation for time and resources to fill FOIA requests.

This is a matter of state law, she said. We have nothing to hide, and the responsive documents will be provided in a timely manner.

During the news conference, Barnette noted Virginias deplorable history of intentional voter disenfranchisement and voter suppression, and added that his organization is alarmed that the Election Integrity Unit could intimidate people of color from voting.

Bertrall Ross, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said that historically people of color have been directly or indirectly intimidated from voting through prohibitive laws.

He noted the literacy tests and poll taxes required to vote in Virginia until the mid-1960s and how they disproportionately affected African Americans who faced generational economic and educational disparity in the years after the Civil War until the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Ross pointed to allegations of vigilante groups intimidating voters at polling locations in Arizona as a recent example of how the present maps on to intimidation tactics that were being used post-Reconstruction and all the way through the first half of the 20th century.

Amid the fallout of the 2020 election, a wave of GOP-proposed election laws have surfaced around the country, including one signed by Georgia governor Brian Kemp last year and more recently the creation of an election police unit in Florida that governor Ron DeSantis signed this spring.

You kind of can see the mirror images of that particular time with respect to this Election Integrity Unit which can generate within people a sense that theres something awry, Ross said.

LaCivita pushed back against the idea that the Attorney General Office would play a role in voter intimidation or suppression.

It is an absolute insult to the Attorney General to falsely claim that he, as the first Hispanic ever elected to statewide office in Virginia, is trying to intimidate and prevent Virginians of any color or background from exercising the rights that were denied to his own family members, LaCivita said. The right to vote is one of the bedrock freedoms that brought the Miyares family to the United States to begin with.

She added that Miyares mother left Communist Cuba in the 1960s to come to America and he is the first Latino to serve as Virginias Attorney General.

Miyares understands how precious a free society is and is passionate that every American has a voice and is guaranteed to be heard at the ballot box, she said.

LaCivita said that the Attorney Generals office received the deposit from NAACP on Tuesday and that it will fill the request within seven business days, or on Nov. 10.
Democrats have continually created policies that are too soft on crime, and we see the devastating effects on our communities. Felons are not being prosecuted for violent crimes. Unsurprisingly we have seen a spike in gun violence and other crimes due to the radical left neglecting crimes in their communities.

We are constantly seeing this too soft on crime policy impact Virginians directly, particularly in communities like Roanoke. Last month, the Democratic Mayor of Roanoke, Sherman Lea, spoke out against the policies enacted by Gov. Ralph Northams administration and the Democrat-led legislature. They were too soft on crime and dealt a devastating blow to our law enforcement officers in the commonwealth.

Democrat Sen. John Edwards stated to The Roanoke Rambler, I think we did the right thing, and I stand by it. Im proud of what we did, and I dont know whos complaining, but they dont know what theyre talking about.

This demonstrates the clear break with reality the Democrats in the legislature are experiencing, as they cannot even listen to elected officials from their own party. Obviously, there needs to be a change, and we must be more aggressive on crime.

When Democrats are starting to agree with Republican viewpoints on their own policies, this is no longer a partisan issue. For most Virginians, its common sense that criminals should not be let out on the streets. These policies are allowing violent felons to put others lives at risk.

Democrats such as Sens. John Edwards and Louise Lucas cant wrap their minds around the fact that these policies are creating unsafe environments in all Virginia communities.

Mayors and other local elected officials from their own party are saying as much, and their response is, I dont know whos complaining, but they dont know what theyre talking about. Its borderline insanity for a Democrat Senator to state that a mayor does not know what they are talking about when it comes to crime in their own city. It demonstrates the ability of the so-called Brick Wall Caucus to completely ignore what is going on in our commonwealth. They are simply divorced from reality.

These disastrous, radical left policies are serving to incentivize criminals. The concept of reform as a means to reduce crime is already the cornerstone of our justice system; allowing these violent felons to roam free wont contribute to the reform process. Instead, it will teach the lesson that you can commit a crime and face no consequences, creating danger for all Virginians.

We are fortunate enough to have Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, and Attorney General Jason Miyares, who work hard each day to make Virginia a better and safer place to live.

Americans have gone through a lot over the last two years that has impacted many people socially and mentally. We see addiction rates continue to rise, and the presence of meth, fentanyl, and other narcotic drugs are prominent in Southwest Virginia.

We should prioritize keeping our communities safe for elected officials like Senators Edwards and Lucas. Instead, they treat this as a challenge to make our communities more dangerous.

The simple fact is, thanks to the Democrats harmful policies, many Virginians dont feel safe in their own neighborhoods.

Crimes are occurring in broad daylight, with few repercussions. Its no surprise that Americans all across the country are fleeing Democrat-run cities.

The ignorance and callous attitude they display to their communities by allowing violent felons to roam free is nothing short of treacherous. Progressive prosecutors across the state are putting Virginia families and communities in jeopardy.

To see a change in these soft-on-crime policies, we must elect Republicans in November. The safety of Virginians is the top priority, and sadly, it seems that nothing will convince the Democrats in the Virginia Senate to listen.
Detection of new COVID-19 sub-variants in India raises concern

08:53, November 02, 2022 By Peerzada Arshad Hamid ( Xinhua

NEW DELHI, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- New virulent sub-variants of Omicron spreading COVID-19 infection have been detected in India, raising concerns over infections spreading with the onset of winter.

Sub-variants XBB, XBB.1 and XBB.3 have been found in various parts of India.

XBB, a recombinant lineage between two Omicron sublineages, BJ.1 and BA.2.75 is a fast-spreading sub-variant of the COVID-19 virus.

Other sub-variants of Omicron - BA.2.3.20 and BQ.1 variant - have also been detected for the first time in India from the sample of a patient in Pune. The BQ.1 is a descendant of BA.5. Sub-variant BF.7 was detected by Gujarat Biotechnology Research Center in mid-October.

XXB VARIANT: A NEW CONCERN

Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) experts said XBB and XBB.1 are perhaps the most immune-evasive sub-variants to date and can evade the immune response of vaccines currently being used to fight COVID-19.

In wake of the detection of these new sub-variants, India's health officials have urged people to strictly follow COVID-19 appropriate behaviour to prevent themselves from getting infected and thereby contribute to lessening the spike in such cases.

According to World Health Organization (WHO), Omicron remains a COVID-19 variant of concern, with early evidence pointing to XBB and XBB.1 posing a higher reinfection risk than other circulating Omicron sub-lineages.

Nine states in India have reported the presence of XBB sub-variant.

Local media reported that there were 380 confirmed cases of XBB in India.

INSACOG KEEPS VIGILANCE

Scientists at INSACOG are closely monitoring the emergence and evolution of the new sub-variants. INSACOG is a consortium of 54 laboratories to monitor the genomic variations in COVID-19 virus.

"In the current phase of the pandemic, the SARS-CoV-2 virus is continuously accumulating mutations, some of which might contribute to increased transmissibility and immune evasion resulting in transmission advantage over other variants," Rajesh Gokhale, who heads INSACOG, was quoted by local media as having said.

"In India, the Omicron sub-lineages or sub-variants keep diversifying. It has a few new spike mutations," said Gokhale.

According to Gokhale, a modest increase in the spread of XBB in Singapore has been observed, however, in India, there have been no reports of an increase in the severity of the disease or in hospitalizations associated with these variants.

VACCINES, ONLY PROTECTION AVAILABLE

Last month India's vaccine maker Serum Institute of India (SII) said it had to dump 100 million expired doses of their COVID-19 vaccine.

According to Adar Poonawalla, CEO of SII, the vaccine maker stopped producing the Covishield vaccine in December last year due to low demand.

India has administered over 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines and Covishield accounts for over 90 percent of the doses given in the South Asian country.

According to federal health ministry data, more than 70 percent of the Indian population has taken at least two doses.

India began offering booster doses to healthcare and frontline workers, and those above 60 years with comorbidities in January this year. The coverage was extended to all adults from April 10.

So far, India has administered 220 million booster doses, the health ministry said.

Dr. Sanjay Pujari, infectious diseases expert and member of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), has said vaccines may work well in preventing severe illness associated with the new XBB sub-variant.

"XBB sub-variant is perhaps the most immune-evasive variant till date, especially for escaping neutralizing antibody responses induced by vaccinations or previous infections. This can lead to an increase in infections. However, there is no data about it being associated with more severe illness," said Pujari.

"Based on the Singapore experience, it seems vaccines may work well in preventing severe illness associated with this sub-variant," he said, urging the public to receive booster doses. "Hence taking boosters are important, especially for individuals with high risk for severe illness."

(Web editor: Cai Hairuo, Liang Jun)
April Chavez is the Santa Maria City Reporter for the Santa Maria Times. If you have information, or a story idea that you would like to share, send her an email at AChavez@SantaMariaTimes.com.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Six days before major midterm elections, President Joe Biden is imploring voters to save American democracy from Trump supporters' election-denying lies and the violence that he says they have inspired
Two billion years ago, a likely asteroid crashed into modern-day South Africa. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory, Lauren Dauphin / University of Rochester, Julia Joshpe

About 2 billion years ago, an impactor hurtled toward Earth, crashing into the planet in an area near present-day Johannesburg, South Africa.

The impactormost likely an asteroidformed what is today the biggest crater on the planet. Scientists have widely accepted, based on previous research, that the impact structure, known as the Vredefort crater, was formed by an object about 15 kilometers (approximately 9.3 miles) in diameter that was traveling at a velocity of 15 kilometers per second.

But according to U.S. National Science Foundation-supported researchers at the University of Rochester, the impactor may have been much biggerand would have had devastating consequences across the planet. The study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, provides a more accurate understanding of the large impact and will allow scientists to better simulate impact events on Earth and other planets, both in the past and the future.

Over the course of 2 billion years, the Vredefort crater has eroded. That makes it difficult for scientists to directly estimate the size of the crater at the time of the original impact, and therefore, the size and velocity of the impactor that formed the crater.

An object that is 15 kilometers in size and traveling at a velocity of 15 kilometers per second would produce a crater about 172 kilometers in diameter. However, this is much smaller than current estimates for the Vredefort crater.

The current estimates are based on new geological evidence and measurements estimating that the structure's original diameter would have been between 250 and 280 kilometers (approximately 155 and 174 miles) during the time of the impact.

The scientists conducted simulations to match the updated size of the crater. Their results showed that an impactor would have to be much largerabout 20 to 25 kilometersand traveling at a velocity of 15 to 20 kilometers per second to explain a crater 250 kilometers in size.

"This team has used a modern approach to obtain new insights into the environment of the early Earth," says Justin Lawrence, a program director in NSF's Division of Earth Sciences. "The findings may lead to better prediction of the potential effects of impactors in the future and the consequences for global climate."

More information:

Natalie H. Allen et al, A Revision of the Formation Conditions of the Vredefort Crater, Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets (2022). DOI: 10.1029/2022JE007186

Provided by National Science Foundation
Seguin, TX (78155)

Today

Cloudy this evening with showers after midnight. Thunder possible. Low 64F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

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Cloudy this evening with showers after midnight. Thunder possible. Low 64F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Seguin, TX (78155)

Today

Cloudy skies this evening. A few showers developing late. Low around 65F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Cloudy skies this evening. A few showers developing late. Low around 65F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
 Interesting accounting of what we know about violent crime and voter concerns a week before Election Day 2022 | Main | "Constitutional Limits on the Imposition and Revocation of Probation, Parole, and Supervised Release After Haymond" 

November 1, 2022

Federal judge orders briefing on whether to appoint historian to resolve challenge to federal felon gun possession ban after Bruen

This new CNN article, headlined "Federal judge blasts the Supreme Court for its Second Amendment opinion," alerted me to a notable new opinion emerging from new challenges to federal felon in possession laws in the wake of the Supreme Court's new Second Amendment standards set forth in Bruen. Here are the basics from the press piece:

A federal judge based in Mississippi has released a scorching order expressing frustration with the Supreme Courts Second Amendment opinion issued last summer and ordered the Justice Department to brief him on whether he needs to appoint an historian to help him decipher the landmark opinion. The opinion in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen changed the framework judges must use to review gun regulations. Going forward, Justice Clarence Thomas said that a gun law could only be justified if it is consistent with this Nations historical tradition of firearm regulation. Judge Carlton Reeves  who is considering a case concerning a federal statute prohibiting felons from possessing firearms  said he is not sure how to proceed. This court is not a trained historian, Reeves wrote in an order released last week. The justices of the Supreme Court, as distinguished as they may be, are not trained historians, he continued. And we are not experts in what white, wealthy and male property owners thought about firearms regulation in 1791, he said. The Bruen decision, he said, requires him to play historian in the name of constitutional adjudication. Reeves, who sits on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, ordered the parties, including the Justice Department, to brief him on whether he should appoint a historian within 30 days. Not wanting to itself cherry-pick the history, the Court now asks the parties whether it should appoint a historian to serve as a consulting expert in this matter, he said. The challenger to the felon possession law, Jesse Bullock, says the regulation cannot withstand the Supreme Courts latest decision interpreting the Second Amendment. Founding era legislatures did not strip felons of the right to bear arms simply because of their status as felons, Bullock argued.

The full six-page order in US v. Bullock is available at this link. Here are a few passages:

Bruen instructs courts to undertake a comprehensive review of history to determine if Second Amendment restrictions are consistent with the Nations historical tradition of firearm regulation. 142 S. Ct. at 2130. In fact, Justice Alito commends the majority for its exhaustive historical survey. Id. at 2157 (Alito, J., concurring). But historical consensus on this issue is elusive. As the Seventh Circuit put it, scholars continue to debate the evidence of historical precedent for prohibiting criminals from carrying arms. United States v. Yancey, 621 F.3d 681, 684 (7th Cir. 2010) (collecting authorities); see also United States v. Skoien, 614 F.3d 638, 650 (7th Cir. 2010) (Sykes, J., dissenting) (scholars disagree about the extent to which felons  let alone misdemeanants  were considered excluded from the right to bear arms during the founding era.).... This Court is not a trained historian. The Justices of the Supreme Court, distinguished as they may be, are not trained historians. We lack both the methodological and substantive knowledge that historians possess. The sifting of evidence that judges perform is different than the sifting of sources and methodologies that historians perform. See id. at 2177 (Breyer, J., dissenting) (Courts are, after all, staffed by lawyers, not historians.). And we are not experts in what white, wealthy, and male property owners thought about firearms regulation in 1791. Yet we are now expected to play historian in the name of constitutional adjudication.... Not wanting to itself cherry-pick the history, the Court now asks the parties whether it should appoint a historian to serve as a consulting expert in this matter. See Fed. R. Evid. 706. This Court is acquainted with the historical record only as it is filtered through decisions of the Supreme Court and the Courts of Appeals. An expert may help the Court identify and sift through authoritative sources on foundingera firearms restrictions.

As many of the readers of this blog surely know, the author of this interesting order is not just a federal district judge, he is also the new Chair of the US Sentencing Commission. Interesting times.

Prior recent related posts:

November 1, 2022 at 10:34 PM | Permalink

Comments

Judge Reeves is a Virginia man, U.Va. undergrad and law school. He will figure it out and get it right! And I am sure that some historians from The University will be glad to help him do it.

Posted by: Jim Gormley | Nov 1, 2022 11:03:42 PM

I think Judge Reeves went to Jackson State for his undergrad, Jim.

Posted by: Doug B | Nov 2, 2022 9:04:53 AM

Why does he need the parties to tell him if he should appoint a historian? If he needs one, he can appoint a special master no matter what their views may be.

Judges are routinely called upon to decided questions in areas outside their expertise (mental health and brain functioning, for example). This is no different.

I might note that Judge Reeves is a big liberal, and that the liberals on SCOTUS have routinely voted in support of more gun regulation, not less. This makes me pretty convinced that FIP statutes are safe (with the three liberals plus Kavanaugh, Roberts and perhaps Alito) voting that they are consistent with the Second Amendment.

Posted by: Bill Otis | Nov 2, 2022 11:00:44 AM

I agree w/Bill that he could just appoint a a special mast. And to build on the mental health analog, the parties routinely retain experts on this. I would imagine both sides will be seeking to retain historians.

But as for affirming the regulation in question, is there a historical analog? Is that why you think the reg is safe? Or are you just pointing up policy preferences of various judges that will be the actual drivers of the outcome?

Posted by: John | Nov 2, 2022 2:05:18 PM

I am not sure that a special master is what is being sought. The judge is not wanting to appoint somebody to decide the matter. Instead, he is asking for the party's position (which he can disregard after getting them) on whether this case is appropriate for a court-appointed expert (who would then provide opinions on the disputed issues like the experts that the parties will retain) under Rule 706 of the Federal Rules of Evidence. Under Rule 706, before appointing such an expert, the judge is required to get the input of the parties.

The real problem (which I think is what the judge is expecting and wants on the record) is that any honest and competent legal historian will ultimately conclude that he can't answer the question set forth in Bruen. There are too many things that have changed since 1791 (the role of the militia, the nature of the weapons) to draw any fair analogy from the regulations that were common in 1791 to what modern regulations would be functionally equivalent to those regulations. Simply put, the majority in Bruen opted for an unworkable test (which is completely subjective) for the usual test (compelling interest) that, while still partially subjective, can at least be objectively analyzed.

Posted by: tmm | Nov 2, 2022 5:51:26 PM

I don't think the court is wanting a special master to decide the issue based on information provided by the parties. Instead, given that the two sides will be hiring retained experts to "cherry pick" the history that favors their side, the court wants an independent expert to give a neutral evaluation of the historical evidence. Such an expert is expressly authorized by Rule 706 of the Rules of Evidence but requires that the court get input from the parties (which can be discounted) before proceeding to appoint such an expert (who is then subject to the same rules as the experts retained by the parties).

The judge may, and probably does, hope that the expert's response is that the question posed by Bruen can't be answered. That too much has changed (the purpose of the militia, the nature of weapons) to compare modern regulations to the regulations used in 1791.

Posted by: tmm | Nov 2, 2022 5:57:54 PM

Sorry for the multiple posts, computer issues made it seem like posts weren't going through.

Posted by: tmm | Nov 3, 2022 11:05:15 AM

Post a comment
Singapore has quietly been playing host to some of the most advanced explorations into cryptocurrency and decentralized finance (DeFi) ever done by big banks, institutions and regulators.

In particular, Project Guardian, which sets out to test asset tokenization and DeFi for banks, launched in early summer by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), saw Singapores DBS Bank joined by JPMorgan and Japans SBI Digital as well as Marketnode, a digital asset platform built by the Singapore Exchange (SGX) and Temasek.

The first phase of testing involved trades in tokenized Singapore government securities, Singapore dollars (SGD), Japanese government bonds and Japanese yen (JPY), which was done using Ethereum public blockchain overlay system Polygon, DeFi lending platform Aave and Uniswap, a decentralized exchange and automated market maker (AMM).

Read more: Singapore Central Bank Proposes Stablecoin Rules to Rein In Crypto Sector

We wanted to show it was possible to tokenize government securities and cash within a DeFi liquidity pool, said Han Kwee Juan, group head of strategy and planning at DBS in an interview. Then using an AMM, and solving for that with price oracles and market data streaming services from Bloomberg or Refinitiv, we wanted to create an institutional-grade DeFi venue which regulators would be comfortable with.

Banks and traditional financial institutions see opportunities and efficiencies to be gained by copying DeFis success in crypto, with the boldest moves involving public blockchains and promising to bring trillions in existing financial instruments to the party.

Explaining some of the protocol choices in Project Guardian, Kwee Juan of DBS pointed out Polygon made sense because of the need for cheap gas fees. Reimagining a trading venue for an immense market such as government securities, and constantly writing that to a public blockchain would otherwise cancel out the collective benefit of atomic trading, clearing and settlement, he said.

Story continues

DBS also discovered there simply isnt an AMM currently in existence that can mimic the way pricing is done between traders in the over-the-counter (OTC) institutional space.

Read more: Monetary Authority of Singapore Completes Phase 1 of CBDC Project, With More Trials to Come

There are many different combinations that can happen when trading OTC, and the AMMs currently out there are not complex enough to provide the kind of dynamic pricing needed if you truly want to achieve trading in a DeFi pool, Kwee Juan said. We had to tweak Uniswap to allow the transactions to then take place closest to where the pricing would be based on Bloomberg and Refinitiv.

Other lessons included how participants should instruct one another when getting out of and settling net positions. How do we then instruct each other? Through our correspondent bank and custody banks? Kwee Juan said.

A general hurdle to be crossed concerns how to make a banks technology department understand how to launch smart contracts for each trader and then link things back to the core banking system, he added.

We worked through the flow and the journey to determine what would be required in order to get information back from the DeFi pool, Kwee Juan said.
Could cat evidence be used to jail people in future? (Getty)

One day, detectives may gather suspects together in the drawing room, and unveil their key piece of evidence  the family cat.

New research by Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia, has shown that human DNA can be carried and transferred by animals such as cats and dogs.

That means, in theory, that detectives could use DNA carried in a dog or cats fur as evidence that a person has been near the animal.

Its also possible that cats could accidentally transfer human DNA to a crime scene: this is potentially key evidence in criminal investigations, the researchers believe.

Read more: Meet the adorable cat with two different faces

In collaboration with the Victoria Police Forensic Services Department, forensic science researchers Heidi Monkman and Dr. Mariya Goray, from the College of Science and Engineering at Flinders, collected human DNA from 20 pet cats from multiple households.

Detectable levels of DNA were found in 80% of the samples.

Interpretable profiles that could be linked to a person of interest were generated in 70% of the cats tested.

"Collection of human DNA needs to become very important in crime scene investigations, but there is a lack of data on companion animals such as cats and dogs in their relationship to human DNA transfer," says Monkman.

"These companion animals can be highly relevant in assessing the presence and activities of the inhabitants of the household, or any recent visitors to the scene."

An experienced crime scene investigator Dr Goray, an expert in DNA transfer, says this data can be very relevant when interpreting forensic DNA results obtained from a crime scene that includes pets.

Read more: A 1988 warning about climate change was mostly right

"This type of data can help us understand the meaning of the DNA results obtained, especially if there is a match to a person of interest.

"Are these DNA findings a result of a criminal activity or could they have been transferred and deposited at the scene via a pet?"

Story continues

The researchers say, "Further research is required on the transfer, persistence and prevalence of human DNA to and from cats and other pet animals and the influences animal behavioural habits, the DNA shedder status of the owners and many other relevant factors

To this point, further collaborative work on cats and dogs is currently underway at the Flinders University forensic laboratory.

Watch: Cats create parody of 'The Shining' for Halloween
SAN FRANCISCO  The man accused of breaking into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home, beating her husband and seeking to kidnap her told police he was on a "suicide mission" and planned to target other politicians, according to a Tuesday court filing.

David DePape was ordered held without bail during his arraignment Tuesday in San Francisco Superior Court, his first public appearance since the Friday attack. His public defender entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.

In the court filing, prosecutors detailed the attack in stark terms as part of their bid to keep DePape behind bars. Paul Pelosi was knocked unconscious by the hammer attack and woke up in a pool of his own blood, it said.

DePape's intent "could not have been clearer," San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins wrote in the filing. "He forced his way into the Pelosi home intending to take the person third in line to the presidency of the United States hostage and to seriously harm her. Thwarted by Speaker Pelosi's absence, Defendant continued on his quest and would not be stopped, culminating in the near fatal attack on Mr. Pelosi."

Without being questioned, DePape told officers and medics at the scene that he was sick of the "lies coming out of Washington D.C.," the filing said. "'I didn't really want to hurt him, but you know this was a suicide mission. I'm not going to stand here and do nothing even if it cost me my life.'"

DePape allegedly told first responders he had other targets, including several prominent state and federal politicians and members of their families. The filing did not name potential targets.

"This case demands detention," Jenkins wrote. "Nothing less."

Wearing orange jail clothing and with his right arm in a sling, DePape only spoke during his arraignment Tuesday to tell Judge Diane Northway how to pronounce his last name.

After the hearing, DePape's public defender, Adam Lipson, said he looks forward to providing a "vigorous legal defense." He said his 42-year-old client's shoulder was dislocated during the arrest.

"We're going to be doing a comprehensive investigation of what happened," Lipson said. "We're going to be looking into Mr. DePape's mental state, and I'm not going to talk any further about that until I have more information."

He later said he was pleased Paul Pelosi was improving and urged the public not to pass judgment on what he called "a complicated situation."

The attack on 82-year-old Paul Pelosi sent shockwaves through the political world just days before the hotly contested midterm elections. Threats against lawmakers and elections officials have been at all-time highs since the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol, and authorities issued warnings about rising extremism in the U.S.

DePape faces state charges of attempted murder, burglary and elder abuse. He also faces federal charges, including attempted kidnapping of a U.S. official.

While prosecutors have not offered a timeline prior to Friday's events, Jenkins previously said the attack appeared premeditated. "This was not something that he did at the spur of the moment," she said Monday.

The court filing said DePape smashed his shoulder through a glass window early Friday in the back of the Pelosis' Pacific Heights home and confronted a sleeping Paul Pelosi, clad only in boxer shorts and a pajama top.

"Are you Paul Pelosi?" DePape said, standing over him about 2 a.m. holding a hammer and zip ties. "Where's Nancy? Where's Nancy?"

A groggy Pelosi told DePape that his wife was not home and would be gone for several days. DePape then allegedly threatened to tie Paul Pelosi up  the first of 10 such threats, the filing says.

Paul Pelosi eventually was able to call 911 from the home's bathroom, where his cellphone was charging. While Paul Pelosi was speaking to the dispatcher, DePape was gesturing and telling him to hang up, the filing said.

Pelosi then told the dispatcher he did not need police, fire or medical assistance but instead asked "for the Capitol Police because they are usually at the house protecting his wife."

Moments later the dispatcher heard him interacting with a man and Paul Pelosi said, "Uh, he thinks everything's good. Uh, I've got a problem, but he thinks everything's good."

Two officers who raced to the home witnessed DePape hit Pelosi with the hammer at least once in the head, the filing states. Jenkins has said the assault was captured on the officers' body cameras.

Speaker Pelosi was in Washington at the time and under the protection of her security detail, which does not extend to family members. She quickly returned to San Francisco, where her husband underwent surgery for a skull fracture and other injuries.

In Washington, U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger provided a sobering update Tuesday of security protocols for members of Congress. He said that although many improvements have been made since the Capitol attack, including the hiring of nearly 280 officers by the end of this year, "there is still a lot of work to do."

Manger said the attack on Pelosi's husband was "an alarming reminder of the dangerous threats elected officials and public figures face during today's contentious political climate."
The number of companies seeking tax incentives from the state of Nebraska has continued to fall.

According to the Nebraska Tax Incentives Annual Report released Monday by the Nebraska Department of Revenue, the state signed only 47 Nebraska Advantage Act agreements between Jan. 1, 2021, and June 30 of this year.

The report covers 18 months rather than a year because of a change by the Legislature to have it cover the state's fiscal year rather than calendar years as it has in the past.

That makes straight comparisons with previous years difficult, but the report does show that the pace of tax incentive applications has slowed significantly during the coronavirus pandemic.

Nebraska officials signed 42 deals in calendar year 2020, which was the lowest number since 2011. That means there have been 89 deals in the past 2 1/2 years. In 2019 alone, 69 incentive deals were signed.

Only four of the 47 signed deals were for Lincoln companies.

The biggest in terms of proposed investment, $109 million, is for Adjuvance Technologies, a company that produces substances called adjuvants that are added to vaccines to help boost their effectiveness. The company also proposed adding 50 jobs.

The biggest Lincoln-based agreement in terms of jobs was signed by life insurance company Assurity, which proposed adding 100 new jobs.

Statewide, the largest tax-incentive deal based on amount invested was $858 million for Elk Creek Resources, a subsidiary of Niocorp., the company developing a rare metals mine in Johnson County. The company is also proposing 400 new jobs.

Lincoln Premium Poultry, the company that runs the Costco chicken processing plant, had the largest jobs-related incentive deal, with 800. The company also proposed investing more than $240 million.

Many of the largest tax-incentive deals signed during the 18-month period were for alternative energy projects. There were five deals for wind farms proposing at least $150 million in investment as well as a $295 million deal for a renewable diesel fuel project in Hastings.
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP)  A Florida-based health records company has agreed to pay $45 million to resolve allegations that it improperly generated sales and caused users to report inaccurate information, the U.S. attorney's office in Vermont announced Tuesday.

The government alleges in the civil case that Modernizing Medicine Inc., of Boca Raton, violated the False Claims Act and the anti-kickback statute through three marketing programs that increased its business and that of a laboratory company it was working with.

Electronic health records serve a critical role in informing physician decision making, and it is therefore essential that healthcare providers select such technology free from the influence of improper financial inducements, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Department of Justices Civil Division, said in a news release.

A lawyer for Modernizing Medicine did not immediately return an email seeking comment.

Modernizing Medicine solicited and received payments from the other company in exchange for recommending and arranging that its customers utilize the other company's laboratory services, prosecutors said.

Modernizing Medicine conspired with the other company to improperly donate its health electronic health records technology to health care providers to increase business for itself and the other company, prosecutors said.

Modernizing Medicine made payments to its current health care customers and to other influential sources in the industry to recommend its electronic records, prosecutors said.

The government alleged that Modernizing Medicine caused health care providers to submit false claims for reimbursement to the federal government for pathology services and for incentive payments from the Department of Health and Human Services for the adoption and meaningful use'" of Modernizing Medicine's electronic health records technology.

The settlement resolves allegations filed in Vermont by a former Modernizing Medicine vice president under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act. The former official will receive about $9 million.
MADISON, Wis. (AP)  The Madison Children's Museum has fired a Wisconsin man with cognitive disabilities after he wore an Adolf Hitler costume over the Halloween weekend.

The museum said the man believed he was making a mockery of the Nazi Party's leader when he wore the costume on a busy street near the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus on Saturday. He was fired Tuesday night, after his costume was condemned on social media and by some news outlets, including the Jerusalem Post.

The museum said in a statement that it fired the man after it determined that his continued employment would create an environment at odds with our values and unwelcoming to visitors and staff. The statement said the man's costume was completely unacceptable" and that the museum stands against antisemitism, bigotry and discrimination.

The museum also said the man has cognitive disabilities due to a traumatic brain injury and that his work over the last decade has been supervised.

It is our understanding that he believed his costume to be mocking Hitler, the statement said.

The Madison Police Department called the costume offensive and reprehensible, but said wearing it was not a crime. Police said they told the man about the concerns his costume raised.

The man's mother told the Wisconsin State Journal that her family wants privacy as they work with professionals on this sensitive matter.

Museum President & CEO Deborah Gilpin did not immediately return an Associated Press message seeking further comment Wednesday.

StopAntisemitism, a group that documents antisemitic acts, tweeted that the man's costume was nauseating. UW Hillel, an organization that supports more than 4,000 Jewish students at the university, also denounced the costume, saying our community cannot stand for this behavior.
SIOUX CITY  Though former President Donald Trump's Thursday evening rally at the Sioux Gateway Airport is coming just days before a crucial U.S. midterm election, the event in support of Gov. Kim Reynolds and Sen. Chuck Grassley has yet to "sell out."

As of 8:45 a.m., Thursday the option to "get tickets" for the "Save America Rally" was still available on the Trump event website. Registration required: a name, email, phone number, ZIP code, state and selection of either one or two tickets.

Trump is slated to speak at 7 p.m. while other guest speakers are set to start at 4 p.m.

Both Reynolds and Grassley will speak as will Brenna Bird who's looking to unseat longtime Democratic Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller. They'll be joined by former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, who served as ambassador to China under Trump, and former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, who grew up in Des Moines.

A Mediacom Iowa/Des Moines Register Poll from October shows Grassley with a 3% lead, among likely voters, over Democratic nominee Mike Franken of Sioux City. If the number held, it would be the closest race of Grassley's U.S. Senate career.

A separate poll the same month by the Register showed Reynolds with a commanding 17-point lead against Democrat Deidre DeJear.

Miller leads Bird by 16 percentage points, according to another Register poll.
SIOUX CITY  City officials and business leaders donned orange hard hats and dug gold-painted shovels into the dirt Tuesday to ceremoniously break ground on a $10.7 million aviation center at Sioux Gateway Airport.

The 40,000-square-foot facility includes a flight academy and additional aviation operations. The aviation center was established through partnerships with Morningside University, Western Iowa Tech Community College and Oracle Aviation. The project, which was spearheaded by city officials and leaders at The Siouxland Initiative, includes hangar space, training classrooms and office facilities.

"We are so incredibly excited to be kicking off this project and bring a new focus on aviation training and great customer service to the field," said Dave Poole, vice president of business development for Oracle Aviation, an Omaha aviation company. "We are excited to work toward becoming an incredible resource and advocate for aviation both here throughout Siouxland and throughout the entire tri-state community."

Morningside University is creating professional flight and aviation management programs, which are set to welcome students in the fall of 2023, while WITCC plans to offer an associates of applied science in aviation maintenance.

Oracle Aviation's projections show the number of passenger flights doubling in the next 20 years and nearly 80% of active pilots being forced into retirement in the next 14 years due to pilot age requirements. Boeing estimates that more than 850,000 pilots will need to be trained to keep up with demand.

"Nationally, the need for pilots and aviation management professionals is at a historic high. That is also true here in Siouxland," Morningside President Albert Mosley said. "As a regional resource, this partnership allows us to provide the skilled talent that the aviation and other industries in this area need; and it gives Morningside students another pathway toward a fulfilling, high-wage career."

WITCC President Terry Murrell said the shortage of maintenance engineers is "even more pressing than the pilot shortage."

"Western Iowa Tech is very proud to be a part of this opportunity, really because it allows us to go in a new venture and to respond to the community's needs," he said.

Mayor Bob Scott said the Airport Board of Trustees is "very supportive" of the project because of the impact it is going to have on the community. He noted that the city looked at a flight school back in the 90s, but such a project just wasn't possible at that time. He said the aviation center wouldn't be moving forward without a $1 million grant from the Economic Development Administration.

"This gives us a lot of opportunities in our community -- a lot of landings and takeoffs. The school will have a direct impact on our tower situation, which will be very, very helpful. It'll give some part-time jobs for our 185th airmen and airwomen," he said. "... But the most important thing for me is that it will give a lot of opportunity for our young people to get into a profession that we didn't otherwise have in this community."

Col. Brian Miller, former commander of the 185th Refueling Wing, is serving as director of aviation for Morningside and overseeing the development of facilities, curriculum and recruitment.

"This is a perfect partnership in an outstanding location. The Sioux Gateway Airport offers an ideal setting for pilots to learn in a four-season setting, and the connections that SUX has to commercial, private and government aviation entities offers students a variety of opportunity," Miller said in a statement provided by the university.
SIOUX CITY  A former Wynot, Nebraska, teacher accused of propositioning a 14-year-old girl for sex now faces federal charges.

Andrew Heller, 39, of Sergeant Bluff, pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Sioux City to single counts of attempted enticement of a minor and attempted human trafficking. Chief Magistrate Judge Kelly Mahoney ordered him to be detained pending trial, which was scheduled for Dec. 19.

According to court documents, FBI investigators had been monitoring communications between Heller and the 14-year-old, in which Heller asked her for sex and offered her $200.

When Heller was arrested on July 14, authorities found him in possession of alcoholic beverages meant to be shared with the girl, a box of condoms and more than $200 in cash. During an interview with authorities after his arrest, Heller admitted he knew the girl was 14 and said he had intended to pay her for sex.

A social studies teacher at Wynot Public Schools, Heller has since been fired from his teaching job.

He was initially charged in Woodbury County District Court with enticing away a minor and prostitution. Those charges were dismissed on Oct. 20 after Heller's indictment was unsealed in federal court on Oct. 17.
HARTINGTON, Neb.  A judge has revoked bond for a Laurel, Nebraska, man charged with fatally shooting four Laurel residents and setting fire to their homes this summer.

Upon a state request, County Judge Douglas Luebe on Wednesday ordered Jason Jones held without bond while awaiting trial. Luebe had previously set bond at $5 million.

Assistant Nebraska Attorney General Corey O'Brien, acting as a special Cedar County Attorney, asked that Jones be held without bond because the four first-degree murder charges he faces carry a possible death sentence and a minimum of life in prison without parole. Were Jones to bond out of custody prior to trial, O'Brien said, he would be a risk to flee the area to avoid prosecution.

Jones' attorney, Todd Lancaster, of the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy, did not resist O'Brien's request for no bond.

In addition to the four murder charges, Jones, 42, is charged with four counts of use of a firearm to commit a felony and two counts of first-degree arson. Those six charges all carry maximum sentences of 50 years in prison.

At the conclusion of Wednesday's 15-minute hearing, Luebe scheduled a preliminary hearing for Dec. 7 in Cedar County Court. Lancaster said it's possible Jones may waive the hearing and agree to be bound over to district court, where the case ultimately will be heard.

Jones appeared with Lancaster 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 incidents, in which 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 another home. He is accused of setting both houses on fire.

Seated in a wheelchair, Jones gave brief responses of "Yes, sir" and "No, sir" to Luebe's questions.

Victims' family members filled two rows in the courtroom. O'Brien told media before the hearing they would not comment Wednesday because of the raw emotions that continue to exist, and some also may be called as witnesses in future court proceedings.

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 a Lincoln hospital for treatment of serious burns over a large portion of his body. He spent 82 days in the hospital before he was released on Oct. 26 and taken to the Reception and Treatment Center.

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.
SIOUX CITY  Democrat Jeremy Dumkrieger and Republican Dan Bittinger are facing off for an open seat on the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors.

Dumkrieger, a teacher and chair of the county Democratic Party, and Bittinger, lead pastor at CrossPointe Church, are both seeking their first term on the board.

The open District 2 seat is currently held by Republican Supervisor Justin Wright, who decided not to seek another term.

The district covers a small portion of central Sioux City north of Interstate 29 and west of Floyd Boulevard. While supervisor candidates are required to live in the districts in which they run, all county residents can vote in each district.

Born in Onawa, Iowa, and raised in Soldier, Iowa, Dumkrieger earned a bachelor's degree from Morningside University. He is an art teacher and the Woodbury Democratic Party chair since 2016. Dumkrieger received the Bob Creech Award for Outstanding County Chairman from the Iowa Democratic Party in 2018.

He said he decided to run because he wanted to make sure people are being represented equally. Republicans currently hold all five seats on the Board of Supervisors.

It would be good to shift things up a little bit and try to get some other ideas in that arena, he said.

Dumkrieger said his top priority is mental health, saying he sees mental health problems throughout the city, from people becoming homeless and panhandling for money due to their mental illnesses to students not receiving the right support for their mental health issues.

Its very important to focus on that, he said.

He said the county needs well-funded mental health programs to prevent crime, more than a new jail to house inmates.

Preventing crime before it happens also prevents victims, he said. Every person who can receive help before a crime is committed or a relapse occurs prevents unimaginable ripples in mental health and trauma throughout our community.

Bittinger has lived in Sioux City for the past nine years with his wife and three children. He is originally from Wadsworth, Ohio, and attended Southeast University in Lakeland, Florida, for degrees in communication and pastoral ministry.

He has never run for an elected position but decided to run for this position because he saw Wright wasnt running again and wanted to fulfill his civic duty.

His top priorities are budget accountability, economic development, keeping county government in check and supporting the sheriffs department.

He said he is less focused on issues he wants to address and more on what concerns the county staff and community bring forward.

His goal is to address issues as they arise, learn about them and plan for the long-term implications.

"The things we should be addressing really should be coming from some of our department leaders and the employees. They know what's going on," he said.

Bittinger said what sets him apart from Dumkrieger is he has worked with finances, community relations, policy, law enforcement and employee management.

Most of my roles have been involved with service and leading people and making sure that they're able to lead a productive life, he said.

Dumkrieger said he does not know Bittinger very well but believes what sets him apart is that he is not a rubber stamp guy whos going to go along with Jeremy Taylor and Matthew Ung every single time.

He said the board needs someone to look at issues from a different perspective.

The Woodbury County Law Enforcement Center construction has been a frequently asked question during this race.

Woodbury County voters passed a $50.3 million bond issue in March 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic and supply chain issues, the low bid for the main construction phase came in well above estimates at $58.4 million.

Counting other additional expenses, the project's price tag now stands at about $69 million.

Dumkrieger has been vocal about his dislike of the Woodbury County Law Enforcement Center cost overruns, and said he would like to put the screws to the project. He believes the board should have rebid the project and gone with a local contractor.

I voted for this jail. I believed in this jail. We needed a new one, Dumkrieger said. But I didnt vote for $20 million over budget.

Bittinger said he sat through all of the meetings regarding the LEC project bids and said while the project cost has increased, all projects have increased nationwide.

Over the last month, Dumkrieger has been attempting to get access to tour the LEC site, but has been denied due to a new visitors policy.

The policy states individuals must have OSHA training, Hausmann Construction training and prior approval to visit by both the Authority and Hausmann Construction, the project's general contractor.

Dumkrieger said he has completed the OSHA certification but continues to be denied access.

When I requested a site visit, I was simply met with a listing (of) the site visitation rules, of which I am aware, but no date or procedure for a visit or follow up, he said in an email.
SIOUX CITY -- A Sioux City woman last seen by her family more than a month ago has been located.

The Sioux City Police Department said in a news release Tuesday that Brenda Payer, 36, has been located by family members out of state. She is doing well and was unharmed, police said.

Police had requested the public's help in finding Payer, who had last been in contact with her family on Sept. 29 after parking her van at McDonald's in the 700 block of Hamilton Boulevard.
NEWARK, N.J. (AP)  Two Newark police officers were in stable condition Tuesday after being wounded in a confrontation with a gunman being sought in connection with another shooting, authorities said.

The afternoon shooting occurred outside an apartment building in residential neighborhood about a mile west of Newark Liberty International Airport. Frightened residents were forced to remain inside as police blocked off nearby streets to search for the gunman, who was still at large in the early evening.

One officer was shot in the leg. The other officer's neck was grazed by a bullet that lodged in his shoulder, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said at an evening news conference.

The two officers returned fire and the gunman fled into the apartment building, Baraka said. Police believed he was hiding in an apartment and were searching door to door, while moving residents to safety.

Prayerfully, we can end this with a person in custody this evening," Baraka said.

Police had responded at approximately 1 p.m. after a citizen who had seen a flier about a previous shooting called in a tip about the suspect's possible identity, according to Baraka. Police were exiting the building when they encountered the suspect in the parking lot and, during an altercation, he pulled a gun and began shooting, the mayor said.

A video taken by a bystander and posted online appeared to show someone helping an officer off the ground and soon after, others in uniform helping the limping officer into a car.

Video taken from news helicopters showed police officers in tactical gear staging on streets in the neighborhood and searching on top of and around the base of at least one multistory apartment building. Police vehicles could be seen placed to block roads in the area.

As darkness fell, Lauren Adelsky was still waiting to be allowed past the yellow tape and back to her building near where police were stationed. She had been waiting since about 4 pm, when she came back from work.

Im hungry, Im tired, I just want to go home, she said.

Elijah Moore was in his bedroom when he heard gunshots ring through his neighborhood. He immediately moved away from the window after hearing what he said were a lot of shots, possibly more than a dozen.

I didnt know what to do, if they were getting into my building, said Moore, 33.

He turned on the television where he learned more about the shooting. His panic subsided minutes later, he said, when he saw police swarming his neighborhood.

Gov. Phil Murphy said in a statement that he was monitoring an unfolding situation in Newark, but didnt immediately share details.

I am in touch with local authorities and the state is providing resources as requested. We will continue to support local law enforcement and ensure that all residents are safe, he said.

Associated Press writer Bobby Caina Calvan contributed to this story from New York.
The federal government has launched its first confirmed investigation of an alleged denial of an abortion to a woman experiencing a medical emergency.

In late October, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services opened an investigation at Freeman Hospital West in Joplin under the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, department spokesperson Lisa Cox said. It was authorized by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which contracts with state agencies to conduct EMTALA surveys.

The case involves a woman whose water broke early in her pregnancy, but the hospital refused to let doctors perform an abortion. She eventually sought medical help outside the state.

The Biden administration in July had reminded hospitals and physicians in the 13 states that have outlawed most abortions that federal law requires them to provide life- or health-saving medical services  including abortion, if necessary  to patients experiencing emergency pregnancy complications.

The Missouri investigation is significant because EMTALA is one of the governments strongest tools to ensure that patients with pregnancy complications receive needed abortions following the Supreme Courts June ruling erasing the constitutional right to abortion. The 1986 EMTALA law requires hospitals and physicians to provide screening and stabilizing treatment in emergency situations.

The July policy guidance from the Department of Health and Human Services stressed that EMTALA supersedes any state law barring abortion, and that hospitals and physicians who dont comply with the federal mandate could face civil fines and termination from the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

HHS cited several emergency pregnancy situations in which abortion might be required to prevent permanent injury or death, such as ectopic pregnancies, severe blood pressure spikes known as preeclampsia, and premature rupture of the membrane causing a womans water to break before her pregnancy is viable, which can lead to serious infections and threaten her life.

Other EMTALA investigations of hospitals and physicians alleged to have denied medically necessary emergency abortions have been opened in Texas but havent been publicly reported, said Greer Donley, an associate law professor at the University of Pittsburgh, who studies abortion issues.

CMS does not disclose EMTALA investigations before they have been completed and findings and penalties have been finalized, and states generally dont publicize them either. But patients or hospital staff members might talk, particularly on issues like abortion if they strongly object to the alleged denial of services.

The Missouri investigation involves the case of Mylissa Farmer, 41, who went to Freeman Hospital on Aug. 2, after her water broke nearly 18 weeks into her pregnancy, followed by bleeding and cramping. Physicians there reportedly recommended terminating the pregnancy because it was not viable, Farmer had lost amniotic fluid, and she faced a risk of serious infection. Her case is described in detail in an Oct. 19 article in the Springfield News-Leader, which Farmer, in a brief interview with Kaiser Health News, said was accurate. Farmer confirmed she was contacted and questioned in October for the EMTALA investigation.

According to the newspaper article, Farmers physicians, after consulting with Freeman Hospitals legal team, told her they could not offer her the standard procedure to terminate the pregnancy  dilation and evacuation  due to Missouris law banning all abortions, which took effect June 24.

That position was different from what Farmer said the physicians told her. My doctors said it was an emergency, and I felt it was an emergency, she told Kaiser Health News.

Even though the law includes an exception for medical emergency, the doctors and hospital lawyers allegedly determined that her case did not qualify for that exception. Providers found to violate the law can be prosecuted for a class B felony, as well as have their license to practice revoked. The burden of proof is on the providers to show that the abortion was performed because of a medical emergency.

Abortion opponents argue that most state anti-abortion laws include adequate exceptions for the health and life of the pregnant woman. But physicians and hospital lawyers say the exceptions are vaguely worded, and what really matters is how prosecutors in these conservative states interpret them.

Physicians say they need flexibility in deciding when there is an emergency that requires a pregnancy to be terminated and that its dangerous to have politicians and lawyers looking over their shoulders. This is medicine, not law, and its very complicated, said Dr. Kim Puterbaugh, a Cleveland OB-GYN who is a past president of the Society of OB/GYN Hospitalists. Setting arbitrary limits on blood pressure or bleeding when determining if a pregnancy is in distress, thats ridiculous. There are too many variables.

Democratic lawmakers in Missouri have pushed the governor, the attorney general, and state health officials for a clearer definition of the exception for medical emergencies.

Farmer and her boyfriend, who both wanted a child, called multiple hospitals in Kansas and Illinois to see whether she could deliver safely but were repeatedly told that the pregnancy wasnt viable and that her health was at risk. She eventually got an appointment at the Hope Clinic for Women, across the state border in Granite City, Illinois, where she went into labor and received a procedure to end the pregnancy Aug. 6.

Freeman Hospital officials did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

The Missouri statute puts doctors and providers between a rock and a hard place, said Genevieve Scott, senior counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York. It creates an extreme deterrent to providing care in medical emergencies, given the risk of providers facing prosecution and losing their livelihood. That clearly threatens the health and lives of every pregnant person in the state.

The Missouri investigation could provoke a new legal showdown between the Biden administration and Republican state elected officials who favor strict abortion bans. The administration already is locked in litigation in Texas and Idaho over the July guidance on EMTALA.

A Texas federal judge issued a temporary restraining order in August saying the guidance was unauthorized and went beyond EMTALA in requiring abortions in emergency situations. Federal officials have appealed. But an Idaho federal judge sided with the administrations position, and Idaho officials have asked him to reconsider his ruling.

Experts doubt whether such litigation will block EMTALA enforcement in abortion-related situations like the Missouri case. The investigation of the actions of Freeman Hospital and its physicians will solely examine whether they complied with the requirements of federal law, not state law, said Katie Keith, an associate research professor at the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute. Still, she added, the hospital could cite the Missouri anti-abortion law as a defense, setting up a court fight down the line.

Farmers case also is playing a role in the U.S. Senate race in Missouri between Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Democratic nominee Trudy Busch Valentine, a nurse. Farmer appeared in a TV ad for Busch Valentine criticizing Schmitt for issuing a proclamation on June 24 that put Missouris anti-abortion trigger law into effect. My Missouri doctors werent allowed to give me the care I needed, all because of the mandate Eric Schmitt put into place, Farmer said in the ad. Eric Schmitt doesnt care about women like me.

Schmitts campaign lawyers sent letters to the TV stations carrying the ad demanding that it be taken off the air, according to local news reports. They claimed it was inaccurate in stating that women could go to prison for having an abortion and failing to mention that it includes an exception to protect the health of the patient.

Cases similar to Farmers likely are happening every day in states that have banned abortions, and more EMTALA investigations will be launched, warned Sara Rosenbaum, a professor of health law and policy at George Washington University. This places hospitals and physicians in an excruciating spot, she added. CMS has said it will initiate investigations based on credible information including news reports.

An EMTALA investigation is one of the worst things that can happen to you, she said, speaking about providers, because it puts a label on you that you denied what the woman needed to survive when it was clear that the baby was lost.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  Air raid sirens sounded on a South Korean island and residents evacuated to underground shelters after North Korea fired more than 20 missiles Wednesday, at least one of them in its direction and landing near the rivals tense sea border. South Korea quickly responded by launching its own missiles in the same border area.

The launches came hours after North Korea threatened to use nuclear weapons to get the U.S. and South Korea to pay the most horrible price in history in protest of ongoing South Korean-U.S. military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal. The White House maintained that the United States has no hostile intent toward North Korea and vowed to work with allies to curb North Koreas nuclear ambitions.

The Norths barrage of missile tests also came as world attention was focused on South Korea following a weekend Halloween tragedy that saw more than 150 people killed in a crowd surge in Seoul in what was the countrys largest disaster in years.

South Koreas military said North Korea launched at least 23 missiles  17 in the morning and six in the afternoon  off its its eastern and western coasts on Wednesday. It said the weapons were all short-range ballistic missiles or suspected surface-to-air missiles. Also Wednesday, North Korea fired about 100 artillery shells into an eastern maritime buffer zone the Koreas created in 2018 to reduce tensions, according to South Koreas military.

The 23 missiles launched is a record number of daily missile tests by North Korea, some experts say.

One of the ballistic missiles was flying toward South Koreas Ulleung island before it eventually landed 167 kilometers (104 miles) northwest of the island. South Koreas military issued an air raid alert on the island, according to the Souths Joint Chiefs of Staff. South Korean media published photos of island residents moving to underground shelters.

Hours later, South Koreas military said it lifted the air raid alert on the island. South Koreas transport ministry said it has closed some air routes above the countrys eastern waters until Thursday morning in the wake of the North Korean launches.

That missile landed 26 kilometers (16 miles) away from the rivals sea border. It landed in international waters off the east coast of South Korea. South Koreas military said it was the first time a North Korean missile has landed so close to the sea border since the countries division in 1948.

This is very unprecedented and we will never tolerate it, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

In 2010, North Korea shelled a front-line South Korean island off the peninsula's western coast, killing four people. But the weapons used were artillery rockets, not ballistic missiles whose launches or tests are banned by multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Later Wednesday, South Korean fighter jets launched three air-to-surface, precision-guided missiles near the eastern sea border to show its determination to get tough on North Korean provocations. South Koreas military said the missiles landed in international waters at the same distance of 26 kilometers (16 miles) north of the sea border as the North Korean missile fell earlier Wednesday.

It said it maintains a readiness to win an overwhelming victory against North Korea in potential clashes.

North Korea firing missiles in a way that sets off air raid sirens appears intended to threaten South Koreans to pressure their government to change policy, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. North Koreas expanding military capabilities and tests are worrisome, but offering concessions about alliance cooperation or nuclear recognition would make matters worse.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff earlier identified three of the North Korean weapons launched as short-range ballistic missiles fired from the Norths eastern coastal town of Wonsan, including the one that landed near the sea border.

North Korean short-range weapons are designed to strike key facilities in South Korea, including U.S. military bases there.

In an emergency meeting with top security officials, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered officials to take swift unspecified steps to make North Korea face consequences for its provocation. He said he would consider the North Korean missiles landing near the border a virtual violation of (our) territorial waters.

During the meeting, officials also lamented that the North Korean missile launches came as South Korea is in a mourning period over the crowd crush. They noted this clearly showed the nature of the North Korean government, according to South Koreas presidential office.

Earlier Wednesday, Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said at least two ballistic missiles fired by North Korea showed a possibly irregular trajectory. This suggests the missiles were the Norths highly maneuverable, nuclear-capable KN-23 missile, which was modeled on Russias Iskander missile.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called North Koreas continuing missile tests absolutely impermissible.

Analyst Cheong Seong-Chang at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea said the danger of armed clashes between the Koreas off their western or eastern coasts is increasing. He said South Korea needs to make proportional responses to North Korean provocations, not overwhelming responses, to prevent tensions from spiraling out of control and possibly leading the North to use its tactical nuclear weapons.

Animosities on the Korean Peninsula have been running high in recent months, with North Korea testing a string of nuclear-capable missiles and adopting a law authorizing the preemptive use of its nuclear weapons in a broad range of situations. Some experts still doubt North Korea would use nuclear weapons first in the face of U.S. and South Korean forces.

North Korea has argued its recent weapons tests were meant to issue a warning to Washington and Seoul over their joint military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal, including this weeks exercises.

In a statement released early Wednesday, Pak Jong Chon, a secretary of the ruling Workers Party who is considered a close confidant of leader Kim Jong Un, called the Vigilant Storm air force drills aggressive and provocative.

If the U.S. and South Korea attempt to use armed forces against (North Korea) without any fear, the special means of the (Norths) armed forces will carry out their strategic mission without delay, Pak said, in an apparent reference to his countrys nuclear weapons.

The U.S. and South Korea will have to face a terrible case and pay the most horrible price in history, he said.

U.S. and South Korean officials have steadfastly said their drills are defensive in nature and that they have no intentions of attacking North Korea.

We reject the notion that they serve as any sort of provocation. We have made clear that we have no hostile intent towards (North Korea) and call on them to engage in serious and sustained diplomacy, White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said late Tuesday.

North Korea continues to not respond. At the same time, we will continue to work closely with our allies and partners to limit the Norths ability to advance its unlawful weapons programs and threaten regional stability, Watson said.

This year's Vigilant Storm military exercises are the largest-ever for the annual fall maneuvers, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said. About 1,600 flights are planned involving 240 U.S. and South Korean fighter jets. The round-the-clock drills, which began Oct. 31, are to continue through Nov. 4 and include warfighting tactics both in the air and on the ground, it said.
Air raid sirens have sounded on a South Korean island and residents evacuated to underground shelters after North Korea fired more than 20 missiles, at least one of them in its direction and landing near the rivals tense sea border. South Korea quickly responded by launching its own missiles in the same border area. The launches came hours after North Korea threatened to use nuclear weapons to get the U.S. and South Korea to pay what it called the most horrible price in history in protest of ongoing South Korean-U.S. military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal. The White House says the United States has no hostile intent toward North Korea.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Russia agreed Wednesday to rejoin a wartime agreement that allows Ukrainian grain and other commodities to be shipped to world markets. The U.N.s refugee chief, meanwhile, put the number of Ukrainians driven from their homes since the Russian invasion eight months ago at around 14 million.

It is the fastest, largest displacement witnessed in decades, said Filippo Grandi, who heads the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

In announcing that Russia would rejoin the grain pact, President Vladimir Putin said Moscow had received assurances that Ukraine would not use the humanitarian corridors to attack Russian forces. He warned that Russia reserves the right to withdraw again if Kyiv breaks its word.

Putin praised Turkeys mediation efforts to get the deal back on track, as well as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans neutrality in the conflict as a whole and his efforts at ensuring the interest of the poorest countries.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he also thanked Erdogan on Wednesday, for his active participation in maintaining the grain agreement, and his unwavering support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

Russia had suspended its participation in the grain deal over the weekend, citing an alleged drone attack against its Black Sea fleet in Crimea.

Ukraine did not claim responsibility for an attack, and Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Moscows return to the agreement showed Russian blackmail did not lead to anything.

Erdogan said shipments would resume Wednesday, prioritizing those to African nations, including Somalia, Djibouti and Sudan. That's in line with Russias concerns that much of the exported grain had ended up in richer nations, since Moscow and Kyiv made separate agreements with Turkey and the U.N. in July.

U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said Monday that 23% of the cargo exported from Ukraine under the grain deal went to lower- or lower-middle-income countries, which also received 49% of all wheat shipments.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hailed Russias announcement, and a spokesman said Guterres remains committed to removing the remaining obstacles to the exports of Russian food and fertilizer.

Ukraine and Russia are major global exporters of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other food to developing countries. A loss of those supplies before the grain deal had pushed up global food prices, led to soaring energy costs, and helped throw tens of millions into poverty.

The July agreement brought down global food prices about 15% from their peak in March, according to the U.N. After the announcement Wednesday that Russia would rejoin the deal, wheat futures prices erased increases seen Monday, dropping more than 6% in Chicago.

Meanwhile, in Kyiv, the local power-grid operator said electricity had been restored after a wave of Russian drone and artillery strikes had targeted energy infrastructure. About 300,000 households reportedly got their power back, but local authorities called for controlled blackouts to reduce strain on the system.

Grandi, the U.N. refugee official, noted that Ukrainians are about to face one of the worlds harshest winters in extremely difficult circumstances.

He said those include the continuing destruction of civilian infrastructure, which is quickly making the humanitarian response look like a drop in the ocean of needs.

Grandi said the 14 million Ukrainian refugees had increased the overall number of displaced people worldwide to more than 103 million.

Power outages also were reported in the southern cities of Nikopol and Chervonohryhorivka after a large-scale drone attack," Dnipropetrovsk Gov. Valentyn Reznichenko said. The two cities lie across the Dnieper River from the huge Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

Russia and Ukraine have traded blame for months for shelling at and around the plant that the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog warned could cause a radiation emergency. In a development easing some fears, Ukraines state nuclear company Energoatom, said the plant has been reconnected to the countrys power grid after shelling forced it to rely on generators to cool spent nuclear fuel.

The plant is held by Russian forces, but Ukrainian staff continues to run it.

The company also said Russian soldiers have cordoned off the plants spent nuclear-fuel storage facility and began unspecified construction there. They dont let anyone in, they dont report anything, the company said.

Russian shelling continued in southern and eastern Ukraine, causing at least four civilian deaths between Tuesday and Wednesday, according to Zelenskyy's office.

The epicenter of the fighting was around the city of Bakhmut, neighboring Soledar and the wider Donetsk region, Ukraines Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malya told Ukrainian TV. She said Ukrainian defenders around Bakhmut were facing a very difficult task.

But the main thing is that Ukraine will not give up a single inch of land, she said.

In southern Ukraine, Russian-installed authorities in the occupied Kherson region announced they were temporarily halting traffic across the wide Dnieper River, citing increased military danger as Kyivs forces edged closer to the regions capital, the city of Kherson.

The move would also prevent civilians from crossing back into Ukrainian-held territory.

The Moscow-backed authorities have said they are relocating tens of thousands of civilians further into Russian-held territory in anticipation of the Ukrainian counterattack.

The province was overrun by Russian forces early in the war, and both sides have been girding for a major battle over it.

In another development, Belarus and Russia began preparations for large-scale joint military exercises. Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin didnt specify the dates for the exercises, dubbed Union Shield-2023, or the number of troops that would take part.

Russia has previously used Belarus, an economically dependent ally, as a springboard to send troops and missiles into Ukraine. Kyiv fears that the Belarusian army will be directly drawn into the war, striking from the north where the countries share a 1,080-kilometer (671-mile) border.

On a visit to Kyiv on Wednesday, Spains Foreign Minister Jose Albares pledged a new military aid package to help Ukraines air defenses. Cambodia, meanwhile, agreed to send deminers to help train Ukrainians in clearing land mines.

Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Courtney Bonnell in London contributed reporting.

Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine and on the food crisis at https://apnews.com/hub/food-crisis
A Saudi prince who was attending graduate school in Boston is the latest person targeted as part of what the FBI and others say is Saudi Arabia's crackdown on Saudis in the United States. Saudi court papers obtained by The Associated Press reveal the previously unreported case of Prince Abdullah bin Faisal al Saud. He was handed a 30-year prison sentence for phone conversations that Saudi officials say he had with his mother and others while in Boston. The case follows a 16-year prison sentence given a 72-year-old dual Saudi and American citizen for tweets he posted from his home in Florida. The Saudi Embassy calls allegations that it stalks Saudis on U.S. soil preposterous. But Khalid al Jabri, a Saudi living in the U.S., calls it a repression machine.
Utah's politics borrow a great deal from the state's predominant religion, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Most of its population and a vast majority of its politicians are members of the faith.

Republicans hold every statewide office, all four seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and supermajorities in the state House and Senate.

Of note, though: Polling of members of the faith has shown former President Donald Trump generally commands less robust support than other prominent GOP politicians. Four years ago, Utah elected Mitt Romney to the U.S. Senate, proving a path to victory exists for Republicans willing to criticize Trump, even in deeply red states.

In this years midterms, Democrat-backed independent Evan McMullin is hoping to harness anti-Trump sentiment to unseat Sen. Mike Lee, a second-term Republican first elected in the 2010 Tea Party wave.

Lee has evolved from a one-time critic of Trump to one of his staunchest supporters. McMullin has hammered Lee for texts messages he exchanged with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in November 2020, where the two discuss efforts to challenge President Joe Bidens victory. Lee has insisted he was merely researching his role in certifying the results in the lead up to Jan. 6.

In prior elections, Utahs 4th Congressional District has also been a key contest for both parties jockeying for control of Washington. However, political maps approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature during last years once-in-a-decade redistricting process added Republicans and subtracted Democrats from the historic swing district.

Though Utah has experienced massive population growth much like neighboring Colorado, Nevada and Arizona, it has avoided the political transformations underway in those states, where Democrats have made inroads and won major electoral victories in recent years. Salt Lake City and some surrounding suburbs lean toward the Democratic Party, but Republicans dominate most of the state and statewide races have not been competitive.

Heres a look at what to expect on election night:

ELECTION NIGHT

Polls close at 8 p.m. local time (10 p.m. ET).

HOW UTAH VOTES

Utah is the only Republican-led state to send all active voters mail-in ballots in the weeks leading up to each election. Though many counties conducted all mail elections throughout the last decade, Utah switched to a statewide vote-by-mail program in 2019. The choice is overwhelmingly popular, with 92% of the electorate casting mail ballots in 2020.

Its unclear how nationwide skepticism toward voting by-mail will affect turnout in Utah. A fringe group of Republicans in the Legislature proposed ending vote by-mail earlier this year, yet the idea failed to gain traction or advance out of committee after Republican Gov. Spencer Cox and most lawmakers opposed it.

Ballots can be returned to polling places or ballot drop boxes set up throughout the state, or dropped in the mail. Utah also offers in-person voting in the two weeks leading up to and on Election Day. Eligible voters can register in person at early voting locations or at polling places on Election Day.

Partial results typically start being reported immediately after polls close, in batches. Theyre updated throughout election night and in the following days. Its common for reporting not to be complete until days later.

DECISION NOTES

Utahs population is centered along the Wasatch Front, in the corridor along the Wasatch Mountain Range from Ogden in the north to Provo in the south. This is a reliably Republican state.

The race calling challenge will likely revolve around the U.S. Senate race and what happens in Salt Lake County. Its the most populous county and the one where Democrats and left-leaning independents cluster.

But its also a county that reports votes slowly. In 2020, 40% of the countys votes werent counted until after Election Day. If the Lee-McMullin race is close in the first hours after polls close, thats likely where it will be decided, and it may not be called until days later.

The AP may call a statewide or U.S. House race in which the margin between the top two candidates is 0.5% or less, if we determine the lead is too large for a recount to change the outcome.

The AP will not call down-ballot races on election night if the margin between the top two candidates is less than 2% or if the leading candidate is within 2% of the 50% runoff threshold. The AP will revisit those races later in the week to confirm there arent enough outstanding votes left to count that could change the outcome.

Utah law allows for mandatory recounts if the difference between the two candidates is less than or equal to one quarter of one percent of the total number of votes cast, or if the gap is less than or equal to 400 votes.

WHAT ELSE SHOULD I KNOW?

Republicans nationwide cast doubt on the security of mail-in ballots, yet Utah lawmakers elected to maintain the states universal vote-by-mail system. However, they passed several measures intended to address distrust over election security.

Since the 2020 election, the Republican-majority statehouse passed measures to put ballot drop boxes under 24-hour surveillance and to standardize the reporting schedule for county clerks to release the number of ballots left to be counted daily. They also tightened voter ID laws and made it easier for people to opt out of being sent mail ballots.

Check out https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections to learn more about the issues and factors at play in the 2022 midterm elections.

Follow APs coverage of the elections at: https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections
Wisconsin has a well-earned reputation as a swing state, with President Joe Biden narrowly winning the state in 2020 after former President Donald Trump carried it by a similarly slim margin in 2016. Republicans are optimistic they can make gains this midterm, continuing historical trends that benefit the party not in power in the White House.

Wisconsins top race this month features Republican Sen. Ron Johnsons quest for a third term against Democrat Mandela Barnes, the states lieutenant governor. National groups have poured tens of millions of dollars into the race, making it one of the most expensive in the country. Barnes is trying to become the states first Black senator, while Johnson is running for a third term after earlier promising not to serve more than two terms.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is running for a second term against Republican challenger Tim Michels. Evers won in 2018 by a little more than a percentage point, and history was not on his side for a second term. He was trying to become the first Wisconsin governor in 32 years who was the same party as the sitting president to win reelection in a midterm. Michels has largely self-financed his run, pitching himself as a political outsider. He has the endorsement of Trump, which he touted to win the GOP primary but downplayed in the general election.

Longtime Democratic Secretary of State Doug La Follette is trying to fend off a challenge from Republican Amy Loudenbeck. The office has almost no official duties, but Loudenbeck has said she wants it to have a larger role in running elections, a move that would require legislative approval.

Wisconsin Republicans are looking to pick up one seat in the state Senate and five in the Assembly, enough to give them a super majority which could override any veto by the governor. Evers has vetoed more than 100 bills and cast himself as a check on Republicans in his reelection bid.

The only competitive U.S. House race was in western Wisconsin for an open seat caused by the retirement of Democratic Rep. Ron Kind. The district has been trending Republican in recent years and GOP candidate Derrick Van Orden barely lost to Kind two years ago. Van Orden was in the crowd before the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection in Washington, a fact that Democratic challenger Brad Pfaff has tried to argue makes him unfit to serve the district.

Heres a look at what to expect on election night:

ELECTION NIGHT

Polls close at 8 p.m. local time (9 p.m. ET).

HOW WISCONSIN VOTES

Wisconsin voters cast ballots before Election Day by completing an absentee ballot and returning it either in person or by mail. Absentee drop boxes were banned by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in July, cutting off one option for returning ballots. Voters could also cast absentee ballots in person at a polling station during a two-week period before Election Day. On Election Day, voters cast ballots in person at polling sites between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. local time run by more than 1,800 local election jurisdictions.

None of the ballots cast, including absentee ballots returned weeks before Election Day, can be counted until after polls open on the day of the election. Efforts by both Republicans and Democrats to allow for processing to begin earlier failed to win enough support to pass the Legislature last session. Not being able to process absentee ballots before 7 a.m. on Election Day has led to long waits for ballot results in Milwaukee in past elections.

For Democrats to win in statewide races, they must have large turnout among their base in the large, liberal cities of Milwaukee and Madison. Republicans need strong turnout in the conservative Milwaukee suburbs and in rural areas to offset the Democrats urban advantage. Republicans have an edge in legislative races because they have drawn district boundaries to their advantage in the past two rounds of redistricting, helping them to build nearly insurmountable majorities even as Democrats have won statewide elections.

DECISION NOTES

AP will tabulate and declare winners in 103 contested races, including statewide races for U.S. Senate, governor, secretary of state, attorney general, treasurer, seven U.S. House seats, and 91 state Senate and state Assembly races. In the 2020 general election, AP first reported results at 9:07 p.m. ET and 100% of results were in at 6:07 p.m. ET the next day.

The AP does not make projections or name apparent or likely winners. Only when AP is fully confident a race has been won  defined most simply as the moment a trailing candidate no longer has a path to victory  does the AP declare a winner. Should a candidate declare victory or offer a concession before the AP calls a race, we will cover newsworthy developments in our reporting but will make clear that the AP has not declared a winner and explain why.

The AP may call a statewide or U.S. House race in which the margin between the top two candidates is 0.5% or less, if we determine the lead is too large for a recount to change the outcome.

The AP will not call down-ballot races on election night if the margin between the top two candidates is less than 2% or if the leading candidate is within 2% of the 50% runoff threshold. AP will revisit those races later in the week to confirm there arent enough outstanding votes left to count that could change the outcome.

The AP may call a statewide or U.S. House race in which the margin between the top two candidates is 0.5% or less, if we determine the lead is too large for a recount to change the outcome.

Wisconsin law allows only a losing candidate who is within 1 percent of the winner, with at least 4,000 votes case, to ask for a recount. There are no automatic recounts.

WHAT ELSE SHOULD I KNOW?

In close races  and Wisconsin will almost surely have those again this year  all eyes will again be on the late ballot returns from Milwaukee, a Democratic stronghold.

Q: WHAT DID WE LEARN FROM THE PRIMARY?

A: There were no widespread problems with voting reported in the primary, despite new rules that banned absentee drop boxes and limited who could return an absentee ballot. Turnout was also the highest for a midterm primary in more than 40 years.

Q: WHATS CHANGED SINCE THE PANDEMIC ELECTION OF 2020?

A: In July, the Wisconsin Supreme Court banned absentee ballot drop boxes. The court also said that only the voter can return an absentee ballot; a federal court later clarified that disabled voters can receive assistance with voting, as allowed under federal law. A state district court judge also said that election clerks are not permitted to fill in missing addres s information on absentee ballot witness certificates, throwing out guidance from the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission in place since 2016.

Q: WHAT DO TURNOUT AND ADVANCE VOTE LOOK LIKE?

A: As of Oct. 1, 2022, there were 3,519,659 registered voters in Wisconsin. People do not register by party. Absentee ballots were sent starting in late September. As of Oct. 25, 465,730 ballots had been sent and 258,761 had been returned. Absentee ballots, including those mailed from overseas, must be received by the local election clerk by the time polls close at 8 p.m. on Election Day in order to be counted. Turnout in midterm elections has been trending up in Wisconsin, going from 50% in 2010 to 54% in 2014 and 59% in 2018.

Q: HOW LONG DOES COUNTING USUALLY TAKE?

A: High turnout elections with a large number of absentee ballots that require more time to process than ballots cast at the polls can lead to delayed results. State law does not allow for absentee ballots to be processed prior to 7 a.m. on Election Day.

Q: WHAT ARE THE PITFALLS WITH EARLY RETURNS?

A: Early returns often come from smaller jurisdictions, which can skew results. Early returns are also typically from voters who cast ballots at the polls. Municipalities that use a central counting location for absentee ballots, like Milwaukee, often report totals later. For example, in the 2020 presidential election, Milwaukee did not report its total until around 3 a.m.

Q: WHAT HAPPENS AFTER TUESDAY?

A: There is no automatic recount in Wisconsin. If the losing candidate is within 1 point of the winner, they can request a recount. Trump requested recounts in Milwaukee and Dane counties in the 2020 presidential race. There was also a statewide recount of the presidential results in 2016, requested by Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Neither of those recounts changed the outcome of the race. The last recount in a non-presidential statewide race was in the 2011 Wisconsin Supreme Court election won by David Prosser.

Check out https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections to learn more about the issues and factors at play in the 2022 midterm elections. Follow APs coverage of the elections at: https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections
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PHOENIX (AP)  A federal judge on Tuesday ordered armed members of a group monitoring ballot drop boxes in Arizona to stay at least 250 feet away from the locations following complaints that people wearing masks and carrying guns were intimidating voters.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael Liburdi said members of Clean Elections USA, its leader and anyone working with them are also barred from filming or following anyone within 75 feet (23 meters) of a ballot drop box or the entrance to a building that houses one. They also cannot speak to or yell at individuals within that perimeter unless spoken to first.

The temporary restraining order was requested by the League of Women Voters of Arizona after Clean Elections USA, encouraged people to watch 24-hour ballot boxes in Maricopa County, Arizonas most populous county.

It is paramount that we balance the rights of the defendant to engage in their constitutionally protected First Amendment activity with the interest in the plaintiffs and in voters casting a vote free of harassment and intimidation, Liburdi said.

A second set of defendants in rural Yavapai County  groups known as the Lions of Liberty and the Yavapai County Preparedness team, who are associated with the far-right anti-government group Oath Keepers  were dismissed from the case on Monday after they pledged to stand down their operations.

Local and federal law enforcement have been alarmed by reports of people, some armed, watching 24-hour ballot boxes in the two counties as midterm elections near. Some voters have complained alleging voter intimidation after people watching the boxes took photos and videos, and followed voters.

Sheriffs deputies have been providing security around the two outdoor drop boxes in Maricopa County after a pair of people carrying guns and wearing bulletproof vests showed up at a box in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa. The countys other 24-hour outdoor drop box is at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center in downtown Phoenix, which is now surrounded by a chain link fence.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, has called on voters to immediately report any intimidation to police and file a complaint with his office. Arizonas Secretary of State Katie Hobbs last week said her office received six cases of potential voter intimidation to the state attorney general and the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as a threatening email sent to the state elections director.

The U.S. attorneys office in Arizona has vowed to prosecute any violations of federal law but said local police were at the front line in efforts to ensure that all qualified voters are able to exercise their right to vote free of intimidation or other election abuses.

The temporary order issued by Liburdi on Tuesday will be in effect for two weeks and the cooperation from the monitoring group shall not be construed as an admission they have engaged in any of these activities, the judge added.

The 250 foot (76 meter) perimeter around drop boxes also applies to group members wearing body armor.

Other stipulations include the groups post on their websites and social media that it is untrue that dropping off multiple ballots is illegal in all cases. Exceptions are allowed for family members, members of the same household and caregivers.

Alexander Kolodin, the lead attorney for the defendants, said the League of Women Voters of Arizona ultimately failed to completely shut down the monitors mission. Still, the groups are not happy about the limits, since he said they could prevent them from discouraging ballot box stuffing.

Theyre worried they cant record what happens within the 75 feet. They may have missed an opportunity to deter unlawful conduct, Kolodin said. Todays order may make drop box voting a little less secure.

An Associated Press review this summer found no major fraud from the expanded use of ballot drops boxes in the 2020 election.

The League of Women Voters of Arizona encouraged voters to keep using the drop boxes.

Todays U.S. District Court decision is a victory for the voters of Arizona who have the right to cast their ballots free from intimidation, threats, or coercion, Pinny Sheoran, the groups president, said in a statement.

This lawsuit was folded into another case before Liburdi.

On Friday, the judge said Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans failed to make its argument against Clean Elections USA. Another defendant, Voto Latino, was also removed from the case.

Defendants have not made any statements threatening to commit acts of unlawful violence to a particular individual or group of individuals, the judge wrote.

Liburdi concluded that while this case certainly presents serious questions, the Court cannot craft an injunction without violating the First Amendment. The judge is a Trump appointee and a member of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization.

The Department of Justice on Monday said it would join the case, saying that the actions raised serious concerns about voter intimidation.

Luke Cilano, a Lions of Liberty board member, said the organization had dropped its Operation Drop Box initiative last Wednesday due to being lumped in with people who don't adhere to the law and our rules of engagement.

The Lions of Liberty are not associated with Clean Elections USA, he said. They are connected to the Yavapai County Preparedness Team. But he says the team was not involved in ballot box monitoring.

Similar groups around the United States have embraced a film that has been discredited called 2000 Mules that claims people were paid to travel among drop boxes and stuff them with fraudulent ballots during the 2020 presidential vote.

Theres no evidence for the notion that a network of Democrat-associated ballot mules has conspired to collect and deliver ballots to drop boxes, either in the 2020 presidential vote or in the upcoming midterm elections.

This story has been corrected to show that the order does not apply to the Lions of Liberty and the Yavapai County Preparedness Team, groups that were dismissed as defendants Monday after agreeing to stop their activities at drop boxes.

Follow APs coverage of the elections at: https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections

Check out https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections to learn more about the issues and factors at play in the 2022 midterm elections.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP)  A former Kansas undersheriff was acquitted Wednesday in the death of an unarmed man he shot with a defective beanbag round five years ago.

Virgil Brewer was charged with involuntary manslaughter after he shot Steven Myers using his personal shotgun on the evening of Oct. 6, 2017, in Sun City, a rural area about 300 miles (555 kilometers) from Kansas City, Kansas.

A Wyandotte County jury deliberated for four hours after a weeklong trial before returning the not-guilty verdict.

It was unclear if Brewer, who has been on unpaid leave from the Barber County Sheriffs department since his 2018 arrest, would return to his former role.

Brewer and two other officers responded to a call about an armed man on a street after an altercation at a Sun City bar. Myers, who was drunk and had been told to leave the bar, was gone by the time officers arrived. They found him in a shed at a Sun City home. He came out of the shed and Brewer shot him at close range with a beanbag, which split open and emptied pellets into his chest, causing fatal injuries.

Medical Examiner Timothy Gorrill ruled Myers death a homicide.

During closing arguments Wednesday, assistant attorney general Melissa Johnson said the trial came down to whether Brewer acted recklessly when he shot Myers even though he had no training with beanbag ammunition and had been warned to test it before using it.

She said Brewer showed willful ignorance by not undergoing training, leading him to shoot a round too close toward the wrong part of the body and with no idea of the damage it would cause.

(Brewer) argues that he was not trained so hes not responsible for what happened, Johnson said. Thats not a reasonable argument for anyone to make.

Defense attorney David Harger countered that prosecutors didn't meet their burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Brewer's actions were reckless when he made a split-second decision in a tense and evolving confrontation.

An expert testified at trial that the beanbag round was defective and should never have been sold or distributed, Harger said.

(Myers death) was not from a defective decision, Harger said. It resulted from a defective round of ammunition.

Harger said Brewer was carrying his own weapon because the department couldn't afford to fully arm all its officers.

Harger said Myers left the shed and walked toward the officers, angrily swearing at them, and made a threatening gesture. Johnson said video from another deputy's body camera showed Myers was not moving toward the officers and that he complied with their demands before the fatal shot.

Brewer told the Kansas Bureau of Investigation in an interview that Myers was not armed when they confronted him and other officers testified they did not see a weapon. Brewer did not testify at trial.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Brewer told the KBI that he feared for his life and those of his fellow officers when Myers approached them. He also said he did not expect the beanbag round to penetrate Myers chest.

Brewer had previously worked as a deputy in Texas. Travis Martin, the deputy at the Freestone County Sheriffs Office in Texas who gave Brewer the ammunition, testified that he told Brewer to test the ammunition before using it. But the first time Brewer tried it was when he shot Myers, Johnson said.

Proper training would have taught Brewer that rectangular-shaped beanbags can penetrate their targets and that their use has been discontinued for years, according to Bureau Agent Brian Carroll in an affidavit in support of the criminal charge against Brewer. The rounds used today are rounded, balloon-shaped bean bags.

Harger noted that Kansas does not require law enforcement to train to use beanbag ammunition and that training was not economically feasible at the small sheriff's department.

A civil lawsuit brought by Myers family against Brewer and then-Barber County Sheriff Lonnie Small was settled in 2020 after county officials agreed to pay $3.5 million.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP)  Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz formally received a sentence of life without parole Wednesday after families of his 17 slain victims spent two days berating him as evil, a coward, a monster and a subhuman who deserves a painful death.

Cruz, shackled and in a red jail jumpsuit, showed no emotion as Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer pronounced one-by-one 34 consecutive life sentences  one each for the slain and the 17 he wounded during the Feb. 14, 2018, massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in suburban Fort Lauderdale.

The judges voice broke as she read the first sentences, but she gained strength and volume she moved down the list. Scherer had no other choice in sentencing; the jury in Cruzs three-month penalty trial voted 9-3 on Oct. 13 to sentence him to death, but Florida law requires unanimity for that sentence to be imposed.

Scherer made no comments directed at Cruz beyond what was legally required. Instead, the judge commended the victims' families and the wounded, calling them strong, graceful and patient.

I know you are going to be OK, because you have each other, Scherer said.

Some parents and other family members of the slain wept as she spoke. When she finished and Cruz was led from the courtroom, one father muttered Good riddance. They then gathered into groups and hugged each other.

Cruz, 24 and a former Stoneman Douglas student, pleaded guilty last year to the massacre, where he stalked a three-story classroom building for seven minutes, firing 140 shots with a semi-automatic rifle. He will be taken within days to the Florida prison system's processing center near Miami before he is assigned to a maximum-security facility. Experts say he will likely be placed into protective custody, perhaps for years, before he is released into the prison's general population.

The sentencing came after the families and the wounded spent two days verbally thrashing Cruz while mourning their loved ones. Many wished him a painful demise and lamented that he could not be sentenced to death. Others said that after leaving court Wednesday, they would try not to think of him again.

Real justice would be done if every family here were given a bullet and your AR-15 and we got to pick straws, and each one of us got to shoot one at a time at you, making sure that you felt every bit of it," Linda Beigel Schulman said. Her son, teacher Scott Beigel, was shot in the back as he led students to safety in his classroom.

She told him that his fear would mount, until the last family member who pulled that last straw had the privilege of making sure that they killed you."

Fred Guttenberg told the court that last week he finally watched the security video of the shooting, witnessing his 14-year-old daughter Jaime get to within one step of a stairway door and safety when Cruz's bullet hit her in the spine.

I saw you enjoy it, he told Cruz. He said he then went to Jaime's grave and asked her for guidance.

I walked away from the cemetery realizing that no matter the verdict, nothing changed. Jaime is still in the cemetery," he said. "I am still a dad who every day dreamed of walking his daughter down the aisle and now I have to face a lifetime of reality that I won't."

Victoria Gonzalez, whose boyfriend Joaquin Oliver was murdered as he lay wounded on the floor, told Cruz she had once sat near him in a class. She told him she felt sorry every day for him then, knowing that he struggled. His attorneys said that his birth mother's heavy drinking left him with brain damage  an assertion the prosecution and the families rejected.

I was rooting for you, Gonzalez told Cruz, telling him she would cross her fingers when the teacher asked him a question, hoping he would get it right and feel accomplishment. Back then her life was happy, she had friends: Joaquin loved me for all my flaws.

Now, she says, because of what Cruz did, she can no longer get close to anyone because she fears loss, no matter what her outside appearance says.

I do blame you  not you alone  but definitely you, she said. She recalled listening to a medical examiner describing Oliver's gruesome head wound. I will live with that  and you will live with that indifferently.

Several parents over the two days said they would petition the Legislature to change the state's death penalty law so that jury unanimity is no longer needed for a judge to impose a death sentence.

Do we now have closure? Let me be clear, absolutely not," said Dr. Ilan Alhadeff, whose 14-year-old daughter Alyssa was killed when Cruz fired into her classroom. What I see is that the system values this animals life over the 17 now dead. Worse, we sent the message to the next killer out there that the death penalty would not be applied to mass killing. This is wrong and needs to be fixed immediately."
The alleged gunman facing possible hate crime charges in the fatal shooting of five people at a Colorado Springs gay nightclub is nonbinary, the suspects defense team says in court filings In several standard motions filed on behalf of Anderson Lee Aldrich on Tuesday, public defenders refer to the suspect as Mx. Aldrich." They note in footnotes that the 22-year-old is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns. There was no elaboration about it. Aldrich, who was beaten into submission by patrons during Saturday nights shooting, was scheduled appear for the first time in court Wednesday by video from jail. The motive in the shooting was still under investigation, but authorities have said Aldrich faces possible murder and hate crime charges.
According to a May 2022 poll from the University of Maryland, 61% of Republicans favor declaring the United States a Christian nation  even though 57% recognized that it would be unconstitutional. Meanwhile, 31% of all Americans and 49% of Republicans believe God intended America to be a new promised land where European Christians could create a society that would be an example for the rest of the world, a recent survey from the Public Religion Research Institute found.

Those statistics underscore the influence of a set of ideas called Christian nationalism, which has been in the spotlight leading up to November 2022 midterm elections. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has openly identified as a Christian nationalist and called for the Republican Party to do the same. Others, like Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert and Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, have not claimed that label but have embraced its tenets, such as dismissing the separation of church and state.

Few Americans use the term Christian nationalist to describe themselves, but many more have embraced some aspects of this worldview. There is widespread confusion over what the label really means, making it important to clearly explain. My work on how race and religion shape Americans attitudes toward government led me to study Christian nationalism, and to co-write a book detailing how it shapes Americans views of themselves, their government and their place in the world.

Christian nationalism is more than religiosity and patriotism. It is a worldview that guides how people believe the nation should be structured and who belongs there.

Mission from God

The phenomenon of white Christian nationalism has been studied by historians, sociologists, political scientists scholars of religion and many others. While their definitions may differ, they share certain elements.

Christian nationalism is a religious and political belief system that argues the United States was founded by God to be a Christian nation and to complete Gods vision of the world. In this view, America can be governed only by Christians, and the countrys mission is directed by a divine hand.

From then on, many Americans belief that God favors their nation has guided their view of pivotal events  such as supporting Manifest Destiny, the idea that the U.S. was destined to expand west across North America; or framing the war on terror as a conflict between Christians and non-Christians in the 21st century.

Today, only about 4 in 10 people in the U.S. are white Christians. The thought of no longer being the majority has prompted some of them to see Christian nationalism as the only way to get the nation back on the right track. Christian nationalism typically restricts adherents view of who can be considered a true American, limiting it to people who are white, Christian and U.S.-born, and whose families have European roots.

Dissidents, disciples and laity

The majority of Americans do not embrace Christian nationalism. Even so, its echoes appear everywhere from American flags in church pulpits, to the Pledge of Allegiance, to In God We Trust on money, license plates and government vehicles.

My book co-authors and I argue that Christian nationalist ideas exist along a spectrum. For our book project, we developed a measure we refer to as American Religious Exceptionalism and used it to analyze nationally representative and state surveys from 2008 to 2020. Based on that data, we categorized U.S. citizens into three groups: dissidents, laity and disciples.

Dissidents reject the idea of the U.S. having a divine founding and plan, and express a more open understanding of what it means to be an American. Among the nationally representative samples, the proportion of dissidents ranges from 37% to 49% of the population.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the disciples strongly believe in the divine founding and guidance of the U.S. and express more restrictive ideas about who can be a real American and who should be allowed to enter the country. Disciples, who represent between 10% and 14% of the population, are more likely to see immigrants as a threat to American culture, and to express concern about the decreasing percentage of Americans who are white and Christian.

Those in the laity in the middle represent between 37% and 52% of the population. They demonstrate support for many of the same views the disciples do, such as anti-immigrant, anti-Black, and anti-Muslim attitudes, but less intensely.

Master salesman

Politicians can be thought about as entrepreneurs constantly looking for new consumers. Some of them have found a devoted audience among the disciples, who tend to be politically engaged and eager to vote for a candidate who will advance their view of the nation.

Former President Donald Trump has been particularly successful at attracting voters who are sympathetic to Christian nationalist ideas, by portraying himself as a defender of Christians under siege. In June 2020, in the midst of upheaval over police killings of unarmed Black Americans, tear gas was used to disperse protesters to allow then-President Trump to have his picture taken holding a Bible in front of St. Johns Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. His open animus toward Muslims has also helped bring Christian nationalists from the fringes into the mainstream.

Images linking Christianity with the nation and with Trump, as part of a larger divine mission, were on full display during the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. In the most extreme Christian nationalist views, the government must be brought into alignment with this ideology  even if force is necessary.

Our research found that 68% of disciples agree that force may be necessary to maintain the traditional American way of life. Most disciples express strong support for representative democracy; however, 48% of disciples support the idea of military rule, compared with 6% of dissidents.

Heading to the polls

Christian nationalisms movement toward the mainstream is evident in the 2022 midterms, as several candidates have announced their support for Christian nationalism or made statements highly in line with it. Not only does such rhetoric mobilize disciples, but it has the potential to persuade the laity that these candidates will best represent their interests. An atmosphere of increasing partisan polarization, where political debates are sometimes portrayed as between angels and demons destroying the country, provides a fertile environment.

What this means for American democracy is unclear. But as some white and Christian Americans fear a loss of status, I believe Christian nationalism is coming back  attempting to reclaim its holy land.

___

Eric McDaniel receives funding from the National Science Foundation. He is the co-director of the Politcs of Race and Ethnicity Lab and is a fellow of the Public Voice Program.

___
On this episode of the Utterly Moderate Podcast, Shippensburg University political scientist Lonce Bailey joins the show to discuss the midterm elections:

Which party will likely control the House of Representatives?

Which party will likely control the Senate?

Which issues do voters say are most important in this election?

Lonce is a friend of the show and works at Shippensburg University with podcast host Lawrence Eppard. As you will no doubt be able to tell by listening to Dr. Bailey in this episode, he is indicative of the wonderful faculty and students at Ship. If youre looking for an affordable and student-focused option for your high school graduate, give Ship a look!

You can follow along with the FiveThirtyEight election predictions discussed in this episode here and the Gallup polls about voters concerns here.

The Connors Forum is an independent entity from the institutions that we partner with. The views expressed in our newsletters and podcasts are those of the individual contributors alone and not of our partner institutions.

Episode Music:
DES MOINES -- Just a few days before the midterm election, former President Donald Trump will be the latest in a cadre of national Republicans to stump for Iowa candidates as they mull presidential runs.

As the first stop in the presidential primary season, Iowas first-in-the-nation caucuses have historically drawn presidential hopefuls to campaign across the state. Long before they officially announce, members of both parties campaign alongside Iowas politicians, getting their names in voters minds and in headlines.

The future of the Democratic caucuses is unclear as the national party plans to reshape the early window for primaries and caucuses. But the Republican calendar was set early this year, and Republicans have been making frequent stops to test the waters for a presidential campaign.

Though Trumps figure looms large over the party, this year has seen a handful of Republicans, including some former members of his cabinet, visit ahead of the midterms.

The visits from Republicans such as former Vice President Mike Pence, former ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, and Sen. Tim Scott, R-South Carolina, have helped maintain enthusiasm for the party in the run-up to the midterms, Republican Party of Iowa Chair Jeff Kaufmann said in an interview.

Theyve helped to raise dollars, theyve helped to raise awareness, he said. Theyve been very, very insistent, and I would say in a meaningful way and in a sincere way, of being here to focus on 22.

Heres who has been visiting Iowa this year ahead of the election:

Donald Trump

Trump will make his first Iowa visit of the year on Thursday, campaigning in Sioux City with a slate of local Republicans. He will be joined by Gov. Kim Reynolds, Sen. Chuck Grassley, former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and others.

His last Iowa rally was in October 2021 in Des Moines.

Trump has made no secret that he plans to run for president again in 2024. At a rally in Texas last week, he repeated a false claim that he won the election in 2020.

I will probably have to do it again, he said of running for another term.

Kaufmann said he doesnt know how Trumps potential presence in the field will affect the competitiveness of the caucuses. Some national Republicans have not said whether they would run if Trump enters the contest. But others, such as former Vice President Mike Pence, have indicated they would seek to challenge the former president.

That literally is going to be up to the people of Iowa, Kaufmann said. If citizens of Iowa want to test the waters with some other candidates, theyre going to be the ones in the drivers seat.

Mike Pence

Pence has visited Iowa at least three times this year: For the 4th District Republican convention in Carroll, at the Iowa State Fair and at a fundraiser for Wilton Republican Bobby Kaufmann.

Pence kept his plans close to the vest during a visit to the Iowa State Fair to campaign for Grassley.

After the first of the year, me and my family will do as weve always done, and that is reflect and pray on where we might next serve, where we might next contribute, he told reporters in August.

But all signs point to Pence preparing to run for president. Speaking to students at Georgetown University this month, Pence said there might be somebody else Id prefer more, when asked if he would vote for Trump in 2024.

Nikki Haley

Nikki Haley, former governor of South Carolina and former ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, has made frequent stops in Iowa over the last two years and has said shes considering running for president.

If it looks like there's a place for me...I'll put 100% in," Haley told reporters in June at a fundraiser for Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra.

This month, Haley campaigned alongside Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks, the incumbent running to represent Iowas new 1st District.

Tim Scott

U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina has made his rounds in the Hawkeye State, campaigning with Sen. Joni Ernst, GOP attorney general candidate Brenna Bird and Rep. Ashley Hinson this year.

Scotts talk of his intentions has been scarce, but visits to other early states like New Hampshire have generated buzz about a presidential run. At a fundraiser for Hinson this summer, he praised Iowas elected leaders like Grassley and Reynolds.

You know you are in the right state when the state sends a farmer to be the head of the Judiciary, Scott said, referring to Grassley.

Mike Pompeo

Mike Pompeo, the former Secretary of State under Trump, appears to be laying the groundwork for a presidential campaign and has headlined several Iowa Republican fundraisers and events this year.

Like others, Pompeo has responded to questions about his presidential ambitions by saying he is focused on electing Republicans this November. But he hasnt denied 2024 is on his mind.

Well pray about this and decide whether it is our moment, it is our time, to make the case to the American people, he said at an event in October. And obviously if you do that, you come to great places like this to make the case first.

Other potential contenders

 U.S. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida was in Iowa in September to campaign with Miller-Meeks and Grassley.

 Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas attended events in support of Iowa congressional and legislative candidates in July, the Des Moines Register reported.

 Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a moderate Republican who has been critical of Trump, was at the Iowa State Fair in August.

Democratic caucuses in limbo

While the caucuses have led the presidential nominating calendar for both parties for a half-century, Iowas Democratic Party may lose that spot as the Democratic National Committee plans to reshape its nominating calendar after the midterms.

The DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee will meet Dec. 1-3, Scott Brennan, an Iowan who sits on the committee, said. Brennan said he expects the calendar will be voted on during that meeting, though an agenda hasnt been set.

In a statement, Iowa Democratic Party Chair Ross Wilburn said the party will take a pragmatic approach to any discussions regarding the early nominating window.

"Small rural states like Iowa must have a voice in our Democratic Presidential nominating process, he said. We cannot let corporate media and special interest groups replace our strong Democratic grassroots organizations which have been the bedrock of our national general election victories.

President Joe Biden has said repeatedly he plans to run for president again in 2024, but that hasnt stopped speculation that he will pass the torch after one term. Should Biden run again, its not likely there will be a competitive Democratic primary.

Some national Democrats, including former Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama, Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina and Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow have made visits to Iowa this season, but none has suggested exploring a presidential run.
A Floyd County man who broke into a rural home near Floyd before sexually assaulting and holding the woman living there against her will was sentenced to life in prison.
A Lincoln woman is suing an answering service that sent her to Good Life Birth Place to meet her midwife when she went into labor, but never communicated the message to her midwife.

Elle Stecher ended up giving birth, unassisted, in the front seat of her vehicle in the parking lot of the birth center at 80th and O streets, according to the lawsuit filed last week in Lancaster County District Court.

Childbirth is one of the hardest and scariest things a woman can do. Being forced to go through childbirth without the assistance of a trained professional is unthinkable. Somebody dropped the ball. This type of thing just should not happen, said her attorney, Remington Slama.

He said Feb. 28, 2021, Stecher went into labor and was instructed by an employee of Executive Answering Services, owned by LIPCO Inc., to go to Good Life, to meet her certified nurse midwife.

Stecher was told the service would contact her midwife, who would meet her there.

But, Slama said, it never communicated that message to Stecher's midwife.

When Stecher got to Good Life "no one was there to help or let her into the building, and the doors were locked."

Slama said LIPCO had a duty to exercise reasonable care when operating an answering service for a birthing center to protect Stecher from an unreasonable risk of harm.

He alleged that LIPCO breached that duty and that, as a result, Stecher gave birth to a boy but was left with multiple injuries, including an injury to her tailbone. The lawsuit is seeking $25,000 for medical bills and an unspecified amount for her pain and suffering.

LIPCO hasn't yet filed an answer in the case.
An Orchard woman is facing up to 40 years in prison after being accused of stealing more than $21,000 from her Charles City employer over the past 10 years.

According to court records, 59-year-old Theresa Ann Farmer has been charged with ongoing criminal conduct, first-degree theft and unauthorized use of credit cards in Floyd County.

The records state Farmer stole the money starting in 2012 and ending this year from Eggert, Erb, & Ellingson law firm. At least some of the money was allegedly stolen by unauthorized use of company credit cards.

A warrant for Farmer's arrest was issued Oct. 7 and she was taken into custody by Floyd County sheriff's deputies Oct. 15. She posted a $40,000 cash bond the following day. A preliminary hearing scheduled for Oct. 28 was waived and no other court dates have been set.
Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, meets with Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 2, 2022. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)

BEIJING, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislator Li Zhanshu on Wednesday met with Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif in Beijing.

Li, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, said Sharif's official visit to China shortly after the conclusion of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) reflects the special friendship between the two countries.

He said China is ready to carry forward the ironclad friendship with Pakistan, strengthen strategic coordination, deepen practical cooperation, and enhance people-to-people and cultural exchanges to build an even closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future.

Li said that Xi Jinping's re-election as general secretary of the CPC Central Committee reflects the heartfelt support of more than 96 million CPC members and the firm determination of hundreds of millions of Chinese people to follow his lead to create a great cause.

China's NPC is willing to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with the Pakistani parliament at all levels, Li added.

Sharif expressed his congratulations on the successful conclusion of 20th CPC National Congress, and his belief that China will make greater achievements in its future development under President Xi Jinping's leadership.

Noting that Pakistan and China are all-weather friends and always firmly support each other, Sharif said Pakistan will work with China to push for the in-depth development of bilateral relations. 

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, meets with Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 2, 2022. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)
DES MOINES  Iowa schools must consider the requests of families with medically vulnerable students who wish to have teachers and classmates near the students wear face masks, a federal judge ruled this week.

Gov. Kim Reynolds on Wednesday said she will appeal the ruling.

The ruling comes from a lawsuit in which 11 Iowa families from 10 school districts asked the courts to block a state law passed in 2021 that prohibits schools from requiring staff and students to wear face masks, a common mitigation practice early in the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The law was passed and court challenge filed in 2021, when COVID-19 case numbers were much higher.

The families argued that, by prohibiting schools from enacting face mask requirements that could help protect a medically vulnerable students health, the state law violates federal laws that provide protections for individuals with disabilities.

During arguments, the families attorneys presented three physicians who all said the children represented in the lawsuit would be better protected if staff and students near them wore face masks.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Justice Robert Pratt ruled that the portion of the new state law that establishes an exemption for other provisions of law includes the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and a portion of the Rehabilitation Act.

What the ruling means is the state law still prohibits schools from requiring all staff and students to wear face masks but that districts must consider accommodating medically vulnerable students who request staff and students near them wear masks.

In his ruling, Pratt quoted one of the judges from the federal appeals court that previously ruled on the lawsuit.

Schools are equipped to determine on an individualized, case-by-case basis  just as schools do for any other type of reasonable accommodation request  whether a mask requirement for certain people or places in the school building is a reasonable accommodation under the ADA and (the Rehabilitation Act), appeals judge Jane Kelly wrote in her dissent in March.

Pratt went on to say his ruling was also needed to provide legal clarity over the issue of the new state law.

If, after considering section (the new state laws) general ban on mask mandates, the school district concludes that requiring masks is a reasonable modification to protect the safety of the student making the accommodation request under federal disability law, then Defendants Reynolds and (Iowa Department of Education director Ann) Lebo must permit the imposition of a mask mandate, Pratt wrote.

To be clear, a school district need not determine a mask mandate is the only accommodation available, only that it is a reasonable one, which is what federal law requires and therefore (the state law) permits.

In announcing plans to appeal the ruling, Reynolds said in a statement, As Ive said all along, whether a child wears a mask to school is up to the parents, not the government. I will appeal this ruling so that Iowa families have the right to decide whats best for their children.
Carol Blood says she is ready to hit the ground running with a detailed plan to address Nebraska's needs, including workforce development, coupled with a program to strengthen the rural economy, if she is elected governor.

The two-term Bellevue state senator is the Democratic gubernatorial nominee and while she's not overwhelmed by Republican candidate Jim Pillen's huge campaign funding advantage, Blood says, she is troubled by Pillen's refusal to debate her and allow Nebraska voters to weigh their differences on issues.

"The lack of any debates makes it harder for me," Blood said during a telephone interview.

"One of us has a real plan," she said.

"I don't do platitudes. We're applying for a job."

Her plan includes giving high school seniors the opportunity to enroll in community college courses free of charge through a public-private partnership that would allow Nebraska students to begin to prepare to fill the dramatic workforce shortage in the state that's measured now in the form of an astonishing 50,000 or more unfilled jobs.

That proposal envisions two years of education at a community college that would open the door to "a good-paying job" while allowing students to acquire a degree without also acquiring a college debt, Blood said.

Blood's proposals to strengthen the economy in rural Nebraska include accelerated development of roads and bridges through bonding to fund highway construction, completion of the four-lane highway expressway system, school funding reform that replaces "a formula that depends on the wealthiest landowner in the school district," development of improved rural health care services and expansion of high-speed internet access.

Blood said she also wants to expand access to "affordable and accessible child care."

"We can make lives better for farmers and rural residents," Blood said, and help "keep young farmers on family farms."

Although Blood lives in the metropolitan Omaha area now, she points out that she was born in McCook, raised in Adams County and graduated from high school in Hastings.

Too often, Nebraska "lets things fester" and allows problems to grow larger and more expensive, Blood said, pointing to the state's prison system as "a good example" of the cost of such inaction.

Addressing the growing workforce challenge with accompanying assistance for young Nebraskans is paramount now, she said.

"If they do well in Nebraska, they stay in Nebraska," Blood said.

Another growing concern, she said, is "we need to stop demonizing education."

Public education has been under recent attack in Nebraska for both costs and curriculum.

Public safety and public health issues need attention now, Blood said, and more mental health professionals are needed in both fields.

"Whether we agree with the concept of climate change, the reality is more fires, more drought, more floods," she said. "We need to develop a strategic climate change plan."

When she sometimes is asked to list her top priorities, Blood said, she points to "property taxes, health care, law enforcement and schools."

"I would put together a statewide plan," she said, "and mirror a state budget to that plan."

Blood has been vastly out-resourced in terms of campaign funding that helps deliver her message.

In the latest quarterly campaign finance document, she reported raising $262,000, while Pillen raised $1.1 million. All told, Pillen has raised more than $10 million, which was used primarily to win an expensive and hotly-contested Republican primary contest in May.

"I know it's David vs. Goliath now," Blood said.

Blood won election to the Bellevue City Council in 2008 and 2012, then won narrow legislative victories in Sarpy County in 2016 and 2020.

Democrats haven't won a gubernatorial race in 28 years, not since Ben Nelson captured a second term in 1994.

When Republican nominee Mike Johanns was elected governor in 1998, his victory launched a remarkable change in political fortune in the state.

Republicans have now won six straight gubernatorial elections, and nearly all by huge margins.

Before that, Nebraska Democrats won 9 of 12 gubernatorial elections and all three Republican governors who were elected during that span were defeated for reelection.
While Republicans have a firm hold on Nebraskas state government, the states Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District has morphed into a swing district in the last 15 years and is the states only consistently competitive U.S. House seat.

It is currently held by Republican Rep. Don Bacon, a retired Air Force brigadier general who is seeking his fourth term in the face of a challenge from Democrat Tony Vargas. Vargas is a state lawmaker from Omaha who has touted his experience as a former teacher and member of the Omaha Public Schools Board.

Polls have shown the two locked in a tight race, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee named it one of its top competitive House districts that are either open or held by Republicans.

State Republicans have twice redrawn the districts boundaries in an attempt to help their partys candidates, in part because of embarrassment that under Nebraskas unique Electoral College rules, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama won the 2nd District vote in 2008 and Democrat Joe Biden did the same in 2020.

Maine is the only other state that has eschewed a winner-take-all approach and allows its electoral votes to be split between candidates.

Republicans were expected to have less trouble keeping control of Nebraskas two other congressional districts.

Republicans maintain strong control of statewide offices in Nebraska, which hasnt elected a Democrat as governor since 1994. But Democrats are hoping to retain enough legislative seats in the officially nonpartisan, one-house legislature to maintain filibuster pressure on the GOPs agenda. That agenda includes a plan to pass a near total abortion ban, as other Republican-controlled states have done in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Courts overturning of Roe v. Wade last June.

Heres a look at what to expect on election night:

ELECTION NIGHT

The last polls close at 9 p.m. ET. The majority of the state is in the Central Time Zone and closes at 8 p.m. CT.; 19 counties are in the Mountain Time Zone and close at 7 p.m. MT.

HOW NEBRASKA VOTES

Nebraska conducts in-person voting on Election Day at poll sites. Write-in votes are permitted in both primary and general elections.

Early voting is allowed, but an application is required  eligibility is not determined at the time of voting. The absentee voting period runs 30 days to the day before Election Day.

People who are incarcerated, on parole or on probation are barred from voting. Persons convicted of a felony are automatically permitted to vote two years after completion of their sentence for all convictions except treason. If a voter has not confirmed their address and has not voted in two consecutive general elections, they are removed.

Douglas, Saunders and Sarpy, the counties that include and surround Omaha, should be watched closely. These are relatively populous, and voting patterns are shifting such that Democratic candidates are becoming competitive.

DECISION NOTES

AP will tabulate 32 races in the Nebraska general election: Governor, U.S. House Districts 1-3, treasurer, attorney general, and auditor, three ballot measures and 22 state legislative races.

Counties may begin counting no earlier than 24 hours before poll opening at the discretion of the county clerk. Historically, most counties count on Election Day both before and after poll close and finish the count by the end of the night.

The AP may call a statewide or U.S. House race in which the margin between the top two candidates is 0.5% or less, if we determine the lead is too large for a recount to change the outcome.

The AP will not call down-ballot races on election night if the margin between the top two candidates is less than 2% or if the leading candidate is within 2% of the 50% runoff threshold. The AP will revisit those races later in the week to confirm there arent enough outstanding votes left to count that could change the outcome.

WHAT ELSE SHOULD I KNOW?

Q: WHAT DID WE LEARN FROM THE PRIMARY?

A: Nebraska has dealt well with the increase in advance voting, and most results were delivered by the end of election night. The populous counties around Omaha delivered results later than many of the smaller counties.

Q: WHATS CHANGED SINCE THE PANDEMIC ELECTION OF 2020?

A: Absentee voting increased dramatically in 2020. In both the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections, absentee ballots accounted for 26 percent of votes overall. In 2020, absentee ballots spiked to 56 percent of the total. The change in pattern did not materially impact the states ability to provide results.

Q: WHAT DO TURNOUT AND ADVANCE VOTE LOOK LIKE?

A: As of October 26. 104,766 advance ballots have been cast.

Q: HOW LONG DOES COUNTING USUALLY TAKE?

A: Counting is typically swift and efficient. About half of Nebraskas counties are one and done and historically post the vote total in a single update on election night. Most races are typically callable by the end of the night.

Q: WHAT HAPPENS AFTER TUESDAY?

A: Some statewide races, such as the hotly contested race for the 2nd Congressional district, may not be callable by the end of the night if results in some counties are incomplete, or if the margin does not put them in a callable status.

QUOTABLE

You dont lie about your position unless you know its going to cost you votes.  Omaha state Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh, a staunch supporter of abortion access, addressing reports that her anti-abortion Republican challenger, Christian Mirch, has gone door to door in her district telling abortion access supporters that he and Cavanaugh have essentially the same views on abortion

Check out https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections to learn more about the issues and factors at play in the 2022 midterm elections. Follow APs coverage of the elections at: https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP)  The call went out from leaders in the medical marijuana industry: Money was needed for a Missouri ballot initiative to legalize recreational cannabis for adults. Their colleagues responded.

Marijuana farms, manufacturers and retailers provided millions of dollars that footed a petition drive to put the proposal on the November ballot and promote it to voters. The deep-pocketed outpouring highlighted the depth of the emerging industry's roots in the traditionally conservative state, as well as its tremendous potential for growth.

All told, marijuana legalization campaigns have raised about $23 million in five states  Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota. The vast majority of that has been in Arkansas and Missouri, where more than 85% of contributions have come from donors associated with companies holding medical marijuana licenses, according to an Associated Press analysis of the most recent campaign finance reports.

The biggest donor is Good Day Farm, which describes itself as the largest licensed medical cannabis producer in the South with facilities in Arkansas, Missouri and Louisiana. It gave a combined $3.5 million to legalization campaigns in Arkansas and Missouri. And when the Missouri campaign needed help gathering petition signatures, Good Day Farm paid an additional $1 million directly to the firm circulating the petitions.

Its kind of the cost of doing business, I guess," said Alex Gray, chief strategy officer at Good Day Farm. "This is something that is a positive for the industry, but its also a positive for the state.

Licensed medical marijuana businesses affiliated with Greenlight have given a total of about $1 million to legalization campaigns in Arkansas, Missouri and South Dakota, according to the APs analysis.

If the ballot measures pass, Greenlight CEO John Mueller said he expects to easily double a workforce of about 370 people at Greenlight-affiliated cultivation farms and dispensaries in Arkansas, Missouri, South Dakota and West Virginia.

Obviously, your consumer base goes up when you go to adult use, said Mueller, a self-described activist who encouraged industry colleagues to contribute to the legalization campaigns.

Provisions in the proposed constitutional amendments in Arkansas and Missouri would give established medical marijuana licensees a leg up in the new recreational marketplace. But Mueller said the measures dont merely enrich the industry.

Its more jobs, more tax revenue  get it off the black market, he said.

Marijuana legalization efforts elsewhere have not eliminated illegal dealers. California voters approved recreational marijuana use in 2016 following a $36 million campaign for it, and the first retail stores opened in 2018. Yet a vast illegal market remains  more than double the legal sales, by some estimates.

Medical marijuana was authorized voters in 2016 in Arkansas and North Dakota, in 2018 in Missouri and in 2020 in South Dakota. Like elsewhere, it took a while to get the programs up and running. But in less than two years since Missouris stores opened, medical marijuana dispensaries have reported about $500 million in sales.

The Arkansas campaign to legalize recreational marijuana for adults has raised over $13 million, including more than $8 million in October alone, while the Missouri effort has raised more than $7 million. Campaigns in other states have raised less than $1 million each. Maryland's initiative has been particularly low-profile, raising a little over $300,000 amid presumed broad public support.

In Arkansas and Missouri, resistance has come from an unusual alliance of public safety groups, social conservatives opposed to legalization and some marijuana advocates who believe the ballot initiatives are still too restrictive.

The Arkansas opposition is the best funded among the states. Uline CEO Richard Uihlein and Mountaire Corp. CEO Ronald Cameron each contributed $1 million to the Safe and Secure Communities campaign committee. Its ads have asserted that legalizing marijuana for adults will cause a spike in traffic fatalities and illegal use by youths, among other things.

Other critics contend the Arkansas measure is structured to benefit only a limited number of dispensaries, noting it lacks provisions allowing adults to grow marijuana at home or expunging past convictions.

This amendment is not a start, said Melissa Fults, executive director of Arkansans for Cannabis Reform. It is a brick wall.

Missouri's legalization measure  which does expunge many past marijuana arrests and convictions  has drawn opposition from Pro-Choice Missouri. The abortion rights group said it backs cannabis legalization and expungement as an issue of reproductive justice but believes the measure doesn't do enough to address the historic harms from the racist criminalization of cannabis.

A total of 19 states have legalized recreational marijuana for adults since voters in Colorado and Washington state first approved ballot measures in 2012. Those early efforts were heavily funded by wealthy individuals, such as former Progressive Insurance CEO Peter Lewis. Tech billionaire Sean Parker, the first president of Facebook, ranked among the top donors to California's legalization campaign.

But philanthropic funding for legalization campaigns has fallen as the marijuana industry has risen.

The philanthropists who really got this movement off the ground are either are "ready to move on to other issues or they dont think its their place to support this movement, given that the industry is now mature and many of these businesses are making a lot of money, said Matthew Schweich, deputy director of the Marijuana Policy Project, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Washington, D.C.

Schweich moved to South Dakota to run this year's legalization campaign. The Marijuana Policy Project also is providing staff support for the North Dakota campaign. But it isn't as deeply involved Arkansas and Missouri, where there are greater industry resources.

New Approach, another D.C.-based drug policy group, has directed more money to psychedelic mushrooms than to marijuana this year. It's poured $4.2 million into a campaign to make Colorado the second state, after Oregon, to allow adults 21 and older to use hallucinogenic chemicals found in some mushrooms.

Meanwhile, New Approach has contributed a total of around $700,000 to marijuana legalization campaigns in Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota. As the medical marijuana industry has grown, the organization has refined its targets.

Our focus in recent years has been on initiatives in traditionally red states, in part because that is what we see as the most effective way to continue to move toward broader acceptance of cannabis policy reform, said New Approach Chief of Staff Taylor West.

Learn more about the issues and factors at play in the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections. And follow the APs election coverage of the 2022 elections at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections.

Associated Press writer Andrew DeMillo contributed from Little Rock, Ark. Harjai, who reported from Los Angeles, is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
A North Korean Missile has landed close to the South Korean sea border for the first time since the two countries split over seventy years ago.
The serious registered voter is approaching Nov. 8s 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 sighted 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. Dah.)

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 fascism 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 democracy 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 Republican  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 of 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), an authoritarian and fascism scholar at New York University, claims 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?
As lawlessness ramps up around the country, its important that we elect leaders who uphold the law here in Iowa. Weve seen the dangerous and heartbreaking consequences of cities and states that pursue soft on crime policies and push anti-law enforcement rhetoric. This is why Attorney General Tom Miller and gubernatorial candidate Deidre DeJear are the wrong choices if we want to ensure Iowas communities are safe.

Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the Back the Blue act last year that was passed by the Republican-majority Iowa Legislature. She means it when she says, our men and women in uniform have her respect and she will always have their backs.

This year, during Gov. Reynolds' Condition of the State Address, Ms. DeJear did not stand for police when everyone else in the room rose in a standing ovation. This type of signaling is dangerous from someone who wishes to hold the highest office in the state. It makes sense that radical groups and organizations that want to defund the police support Deidre DeJear.

You have the chance in this election to vote for conservative leaders like Gov. Reynolds and Republican attorney general candidate Brenna Bird, who will back the blue and make sure law and order is upheld in Iowa. -- Lori Leonard Reyman, Holstein, Iowa
Americans don't take buses and Germans take extra-long lunches  those are among the observations made by high school students who "exchanged" lives between Rock Island and Germany.
On Monday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases challenging admissions practices at Harvard and the University of North Carolina. The plaintiff, Students for Fair Admissions, represents aggrieved Asian American parents and children who believe they have been wrongly excluded by universities using race-conscious policies to achieve greater campus diversity. In the course of questioning, the courts six conservatives seemed, according to the best guesses of analysts including Slates Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern, ready to overturn precedent and rule in favor of the plaintiffs.

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In recent years, Asian Americans have become the poster children for the takedown of affirmative action. Its an ironic turn of events when we consider that Asian Americans were some of affirmative actions very earliest architects. In fact, a number of Asian Americans helped launch affirmative action in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s by setting some of the bones of the policy infrastructure. Among them: Mike and Etsu Masaoka (lobbyists), Ina Sugihara (organizer), and John Yoshino (bureaucrat)sons and daughters of Japanese immigrants who came of age during the home-front upheavals of World War II.

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At the time, their contributions appeared modest and of secondary importance. But these influencers efforts had far-reaching implications for minority rights that would come to matter for everyone with a stake in the connections between race and opportunity in the United States.

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Two key turning points in the history of racial justice emerged in the 1930s and 40s with the rise of fascism in Europe, setting the stage for the rise of affirmative action. One was the idea of the minority, which took hold among liberal social scientists, government officials, and community leaders. They began to conceive of a salient divide splitting the populace into a majority (white Anglo-Saxon Protestants) and minorities (everyone else). As conflicts in Europe made clear, the existence of minorities (as an idea) threatened to undermine a nations unity and stability. Minorities were not only physically and culturally distinctive, they were targeted by wrongful prejudice and discrimination. To counter this, midcentury liberals championed moral persuasion and robust state intervention to eliminate discriminatory barriers. Their goal: the full assimilation and integration of minorities.

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The Black Freedom Movement provided the second key turning point. The movement was the driving force in redefining rights from the mid-20th century onward, shifting expectations from equality of opportunity to equality of results. For minorities, this looked like integrated military units, housing, and schools.

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Underlying the notion of minorities were implicit but crucial questions. Who counts as a bona fide minority? Which groups are sufficiently beleaguered, or subjected to severe patterns of disenfranchisement and discrimination, to warrant government intervention and compensatory justice? The answer was neither self-evident nor agreed upon. Black people were the primary focus of the federal governments first minority rights efforts. But their calls for rights and equality were capacious enough to allow other groups to benefit.

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For Asian Americans, this advent of the idea of minority rights presented an opening. But it also posed a conundrum. How might they prove their status as beleaguered minorities?

In the tense months leading up to the United States entry into World War II, Black labor organizer A. Philip Randolph called for a march on Washington to desegregate the military and defense industries. The pressure compelled President Franklin D. Roosevelt to issue Executive Order 8802 in June 1941. The decree banned discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, or national origin in government agencies, companies, and unions contracted for defense work. EO 8802 also established the Committee on Fair Employment Practices, or FEPC, to oversee policy and investigate complaints.

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FEPC held public hearings in Los Angeles in October of that year. The Japanese American Citizens League, a fledgling social welfare/proto-political organization, signed up to air their grievances. JACL National Secretary Mike Masaokaa self-described inexperienced cocky youngstertestified on the employment discrimination faced by Japanese Americans. We Japanese Americans ask for the right to live, to earn a living, on an equal basis with all other Americans, he said. We humbly request that we be given the same chance to serve our country in the defense industries. JACL testimony led to trade unions, aircraft companies, and shipbuilders pledging to eliminate anti-Japanese bias. FEPC committed to monitoring the outcomes.

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This was real progress. But it short-circuited weeks later when Japans attack on Pearl Harbor and other Allied targets led to the mass removal and imprisonment of Pacific Coast Japanese Americans without due process. Nonetheless, Masaokas appearance before FEPC had a long-term impact. It laid conceptual groundwork for state recognition of Japanese Americans and Orientals as beleaguered minorities.

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JACL regrouped after World War II. To suture the wounds of traumatic mass removal and imprisonment, the league launched a policy agenda focused on Japanese American rights. Now a seasoned hand, Masaoka took the reins. He had gained a world of experience since his amateur debut in Los Angeles. The government officials who ran the camps had tapped him as a favored consultant. During his stint in the Army, he was assigned to the public relations arm of the famed all-JapaneseAmerican 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

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By then, Masaoka also had no shortage of haters, given his outsize role in urging Japanese Americans to cooperate with federal authorities during the incarceration. Many despised him for championing military service as the means for Japanese Americans to prove their absolute loyalty to the United States. He was widely denounced within the community as a sellout and collaborator. But this very collaboration provided Masaoka and JACL leaders with political capital, the know-how to lay (in Masaokas words) pipelines to the establishment.

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Masaoka was a quick study who turned out to be a brilliant young political strategist. Once Congress required professional lobbyists to register in 1946, he and his wife Etsu were among the first in line. Bit by bit, Mike, Etsu, and JACL built the case for Japanese Americans as beleaguered minorities: a racial group truly burdened and therefore entitled to compensatory justice such as government assistance and targeted resources.

Masaoka sensed correctly that Trumans Committee on Civil Rights, convened in 1946 to investigate lynchings of Black Americans and other racial conflicts, provided a high-profile opportunity. He presented copious evidence of Japanese American suffering. The immigrant generation had been shut out of more than 100 occupational fields because of restrictions based on their racial ineligibility for naturalized citizenship. He argued for reparations to Japanese Americans for their wartime losses, naturalization and immigration privileges, and for halting deportations to Japan. The Truman committees final 1947 report, To Secure These Rights, endorsed JACLs policy agenda, essentially acknowledging Japanese Americans as a beleaguered minority. By 1952, Congress granted token reparations and most other items on JACLs wish lista stunning pivot from the previous decade. Readers Digest hailed Masaoka as Washingtons Most Successful Lobbyist.

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The leagues postwar policy agenda also encompassed minority rights writ large. To their credit, the Masaokas and JACL leaders capitalized on this moment to advocate for both Black Americans and Japanese Americans. JACL was a consistent, active member of the liberal civil rights coalition at midcentury. Year after year, JACL showed up for civil rights fights, filing amicus briefs and lobbying members of Congress to support workplace protections, voting rights, and school and housing desegregation. It added its voice to the chorus opposing the filibuster, lynching, and police brutality. In particular, JACL invested heavily in the Black-led campaign to convert the wartime FEPC into a permanent federal agency with robust enforcement authority and broad coverage.

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Ina Sugihara, a firecracker activist, went all-in on this front. Infuriated by the racist treatment endured by Californias Orientals and eager to escape the Pacific Coast detention orders, Sugihara moved to New York City during the war. She gravitated toward racial justice organizations, co-founding the Congress of Racial Equalitys New York chapter. CORE, as it was known, spearheaded nonviolent, direct-action tactics to thwart segregation.

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Sugihara channeled much of her irrepressible energy toward realizing a durable, muscular FEPC. She helped jump-start the New York City JACL, the leagues first interracial affiliate and an enthusiastic partaker in the citywide Save FEPC coalition. As a contributor to the Crisis, NAACPs official magazine, Sugihara wrote Our Stake in a Permanent FEPC in 1945, an impassioned appeal on behalf of the cause. Catholics, Jews, Japanese Americans, Chinese Americans, Mexican Americans, Jehovahs Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventists, and refugeeseveryone stood to benefit. As she put it, The fate of each minority depends upon the extent of justice given all other groups.

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Energetic Asian Americans certainly believed so. JACL, along with a number of other Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino Americans, rallied for state- and municipal-level FEPC laws in New York, California, Utah, Colorado, and Illinois. Twenty-nine states and dozens of cities passed versions of FEPC laws in the postwar decades.

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Congress was a different matter. Between 1945 and 1964, more than 100 FEPC bills were introduced before the House and Senate. Conservatives torpedoed each and every one. The perennial failure of national FEPC legislation rerouted its liberal supporters toward administrative policy experiments to address employment discrimination. These were patchwork approaches by the Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy administrations toward the goal of Equal Employment Opportunityearly stirrings of what would come to be known as affirmative action.

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To accomplish the goal of workplace desegregation, bureaucrats had to decide which groups of minorities necessitated state intervention. Black Americans were the obvious choice. But others were not a given.

Luckily for Asian Americans, they had an ally, a bureaucratic insider: John Yoshino, an unassuming social and industrial-relations expert and behind-the-scenes civil rights promoter. (His brief claim to fame in 1961 was helping to desegregate Maryland restaurants that refused to serve African diplomats, which had been a huge embarrassment for the United States global reputation.)

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Yoshino served on the staff of Eisenhowers Committee on Government Contracts and its successor, Kennedys Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity. Both units were charged with facilitating nondiscrimination compliance by employers who held contracts or subcontracts with federal agencies. Neither had enforcement powers. They could only persuade employers to do the right thing. The assignment fit him to a T; he sincerely believed that government had a solemn obligation to deliver racial justice.

Yoshinos responsibilities were not specific to Japanese Americans. But his familiarity with his community positioned him as an advocate. He nudged both the Eisenhower and Kennedy committees to collect data on Orientals to document their employment troublesand therefore their beleaguered minority status. The addition may not have been automatic, but it also seemed to be common sense. The committees simply followed in the footsteps of Roosevelts FEPC and Trumans Committee on Civil Rights.

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The Eisenhower and Kennedy staffs had to answer an important question to carry out their mission. How should workplace discrimination be diagnosed and measured? Drawing on strategies piloted by Black activists, Yoshino and his colleagues firmed up the use of statistical data and proportionality logic to assess and solve racial inequities. In this analytical framework, the racial makeup of a given organizationsay a factory or corporationshould mirror percentages in the community as a whole. In other words, if minority group X made up 10 percent of the population, then minority group X ought to comprise 10 percent of the employee headcount. One could then look at the numbers and flag any imbalances. The underrepresentation of a particular minority group would then trigger corrective interventions such as proactive recruitment, hiring, or promotions.

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The Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy administrations trials and errors crystallized fundamentals that would become linchpins of later anti-racist and diversity efforts. These included expectations that the government and other institutions should actively intervene to fix racial discrimination; minorities as an expansive, diverse category that can include Asians (though sometimes as an afterthought); proportionality as a desirable goal; quantifiable metrics; and a one-size-fits-all approachthat is, using the same tools to address the harms suffered by various groups at once. These far-reaching, normative assumptions remain with us today, even as they rest on increasingly shaky ground.

Proportionality logic has spawned an unintended consequence for Asian Americans. Over time, and for a host of complicated reasons, Asian Americans came to be regarded widely as overrepresented, undermining their claims to beleaguered minority status. This uncertainty helps to explain why Asian Americans have become a wild card in race politics, an unpredictable fit in the majority/minority divide.

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One recent survey from AAPI Data indicates that 69% of Asian American registered voters still support affirmative action. Certainly many Asian American organizations, including the still-in-action Japanese American Citizens League, remain unwaveringly committed to protecting it.

Nonetheless, a vocal subset of Asian Americansmostly relatively recent immigrants from Chinahas rallied effectively over the past decade to kill race-conscious admissions. With their persistence and the deep pockets of right-wing funders, affirmative action is likely to face its death knell at the hands of the conservative Supreme Court justices. This emerging cohort of Asian American influencers is quite the opposite of the Masaokas, Sugihara, and Yoshino. Instead of working in solidarity with other communities of color, the newest one has staked a position at odds with them.

Yet the earlier history suggests that the naysayers may not have the last word. When the first Asian American influencers and the midcentury civil rights bloc had their FEPC dreams thwarted, they came up with creative workarounds. Affirmative action was the piecemeal, unforeseen result. Taking inspiration from them, progressives should use this moment to think outside the box of cherished orthodoxiessuch as the majority/minority distinction and proportionality logicto craft untrodden, innovative solutions for racial justice.
Theres a case to be made that Satanic Panic is back, only with more internet-era pacing.

This is true in a literal sense: In the past couple years, conservatives have begun increasingly describing their enemies and policies and concepts they dislikeor just find weird or foreignas satanic.

But its also true in a deeply entrenched conspiracy theory sense: After all, what is QAnon if not a dark fantasy of evil debauchery and destruction? (A survey highlighted by NBC News found a good quarter of its respondents believed satanic ritual sex abuse is widespread in this country.)

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This midterms cycle, there was the panic over groomersa concept popularized by politicians such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and influential right-wing social media mavens, including Libs of TikTok. The panic, whether organic or manufactured, led to targeting of LGBTQ teachers or simply teachers who affirm LGBTQ students. (Other very real-world resuts of all this include the dont say gay laws and the hide the pride-type book-banning.) The panic took on a somehow even more frightening edge when it narrowed its focus on gender-affirming care. Trans children were harassed; childrens hospitals faced violent threats; and Texas ordered state child welfare to investigate the parents of trans kids who received gender-affirming care for child abuse. Recently, the Daily Wire organized Proud Boys and other protesters in Tennessee for a Rally to End Child Mutilation. At the rally, the newly not-Democrat Tulsi Gabbard told the crowd our kids are having their childhood stolen from them.

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The critical race theory panic of the past few years has been framed as a matter of innocence attacked, too. Those seeking to paper over the sins of American history did so for political reasons, but the stories that circulated were more personal: anecdotes about brainwashed liberal teenagers tearing apart previously peaceful families or, worse, traumatized white children who came home from school devastated to learn they were the bad guys.

And lets not forget abortion, which has always been portrayed as a matter of saving unborn souls. You cant hang out in right-wing conversations for long without reaching a mention of pure, devilish conduct by the other side. To take one recent example, while poking around the writings of a right-wing Alabama state senate candidate, I found this peculiar (but representative) gem in a June post the candidate had written about abortion: This is essentially on par with human sacrifices like the ancients who sacrificed babies to Moloch for perceived blessing from a demon god.

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These are campaign matters, playing out everywhere. At the local level, of course, panic over what children are exposed to has spurred a wave of contentious school board races. But a deranged, blood-quenched possession has taken over national-level elections as well. Just look at this spooky ad, directed at the moderate Virginia Democrat Abigail Spanberger, that warns of a world in her clutches in which if you wont chemically castrate your children, the state will take away your child. Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano recently accused his opponent of standing aside while the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia is grabbing homeless kids and kids in foster care, apparently, and experimenting on them with gender transitioning.

This messaging and moral panic cant be separated from the rising tides of Christian nationalism in this country. The ideology, which posits that the U.S. was founded asand should be governed asan officially Christian country, without a formal separation of church and state, has energized many major campaigns, especially that of Mastriano. At election-related Christian nationalist events organized by former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn, extremist Christians have railed at length about the demonic forces theyre facing in the form of Democrats. Many of the figures at these events are associated with the New Apostolic Reformation, a movement that combines elements of charismatic Christianity with right-wing politics. This growing charismatic tradition, which embraces talk of prophecies and demonic possession and Satans real-world scheming much more than mainstream evangelical Christianity does, is obsessive about politics. In a very literal way, many conservatives see this midterm cycle, and elections to come, as a holy battle for the souls of innocentsand the soul of their country.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang holds a ceremony to welcome Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif prior to their talks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 2, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

BEIJING, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang held talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif in Beijing on Wednesday.

Li spoke about the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries and said China attaches great importance to relations with Pakistan.

Li said China stands ready to work with Pakistan to carry forward the traditional friendship, expand comprehensive cooperation and build a closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future to benefit the two peoples and promote regional peace, stability and prosperity.

Li once again expressed his condolences to Pakistan regarding the major floods it has experienced this year, and said China is willing to support Pakistan in its post-disaster reconstruction, enhancing its capacity for emergency management and providing assistance within China's capacity.

On practical cooperation, Li said China is willing to strengthen its synergy of development strategies with Pakistan, deepen cooperation in areas including ports, transportation, energy, industry and social livelihoods, and steadily push forward the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

He called on Pakistan to make efforts to ensure the safety of Chinese nationals, institutions and projects in Pakistan.

Sharif said that consolidating and developing friendly relations with China is the cornerstone of Pakistan's foreign policy.

Pakistan firmly supports China on issues relating to China's core interests and major concerns, Sharif said, adding that Pakistan is willing to work with China to actively promote the construction of the CPEC, and enhance cooperation in areas such as agriculture, infrastructure and clean energy.

Pakistan will never tolerate acts that undermine the Pakistan-China friendship, Sharif said, adding that Pakistan will take all measures to ensure the safety of Chinese nationals and institutions in the country. 

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang holds talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 2, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang holds a ceremony to welcome Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif prior to their talks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 2, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)
Federal judges are not historians, but they are increasingly obligated to play them on the bench. In his Bruen decision last June, Justice Clarence Thomas ordered courts to assess the constitutionality of modern-day gun restrictions by searching for historical analogues from 1791, when the Second Amendment was ratified. Ever since, judges have struggled mightily with this taskin part because most have no training in real historical analysis, but also because the record is often spotty and contradictory. In light of Bruens maximalist language, they have erred on the side of gun owners, finding a constitutional right to buy a gun while under indictment for a violent crime, to carry a gun into airports, and to scratch out the serial number on a firearm, rendering it untraceable.

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In each case, both sides presented a few scraps of historical evidence to support their positions. Judges based their decisions on those scraps without further research, following Thomas suggestion that they rely on the historical record compiled by the parties. Last Thursday, Judge Carlton Reeves of the Southern District of Mississippi charted a different course: He proposed appointing a historian to help him identify and sift through authoritative sources on founding-era firearms restrictions to decide the constitutionality of a federal law barring felons from possessing firearms. His proposal is the first positive development in Second Amendment law since the Bruen revolution. At worst, it will demonstrate the absurdity and impossibility of Thomas command. At best, it will restore sanity to an area of jurisprudence that is going completely off the rails.

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Reeves order is bracingly honest about the sorry state of Second Amendment jurisprudence today. The justices of the Supreme Court, distinguished as they may be, are not trained historians, he wrote. Federal judges lack both the methodological and substantive knowledge that historians possess. The sifting of evidence that judges perform is different than the sifting of sources and methodologies that historians perform. And we are not experts in what white, wealthy, and male property owners thought about firearms regulation in 1791. Putting oneself in the mindset of rich, white men in the 18th century requiring training and practice. Yet we are now expected to play historian in the name of constitutional adjudication.

To illustrate his point, Reeves wrote that while historians still fiercely contest the theory of an individual right to bear arms, that right remains the law. He quoted the academic Patrick J. Charles, who wrote that advocates of this theory broke, and continue to break, virtually every norm of historical objectivity and methodology accepted within academia. Charles complaint could be applied to a huge amount of pseudo-originalist legal theory. As he explained: Minority viewpoints are cast as majority viewpoints. Historical speakers and writers words are cast in terms outside the bounds of their intended context or audience. The intellectual and political thoughts of different historical eras are explained from modern vantage point. Historical presumptions or inferences are sold as historical facts.

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Bruen exemplifies these problems. Thomas adopted a tendentious and selective reading of the record, endorsing a false narrative shaped by Republican-allied academics funded by gun rights groups like the NRA. He started with the false premise that the Second Amendment created an individual right to bear armsa right that the court established for the first time in 2008s District of Columbia v. Hellerwhich scholars have comprehensively debunked using originalist tools. He then manipulated or ignored long-established limits on concealed carry to conclude that such restrictions are not rooted in American history.

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By appointing a trained historian, Reeves could avoid these pitfalls. He would, indeed, stand a better chance of lighting upon the truth. Even as it may be mandated by Thomas Bruen opinion, any such undertaking remains fundamentally misguided: Renowned historian Eric Foner recently dismissed the foolish belief that the Constitution has one original meaning, since it always meant different things to a lot of different people who were involved in its ratification. But a historian will at least get closer to a plausible interpretation than Thomas. And if the whole undertaking fails to produce a good answer, it will have demonstrated the absurdity of defining rights on the basis of history alone.

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Theres another, subtler benefit of Reeves idea. Bruen stacked the deck against gun restrictions by putting the burden on the government to identify appropriate historical analogues, then it let judges limit their review to the governments findings. As Jake Charles, a scholar at the Duke Center for Firearms Law, noted in June, this framework means that courts can strike down democratically enacted gun restrictions simply because the government lawyer tasked with defending them failed to dig up the necessary evidence. In other words, courts may invalidate lifesaving gun restrictions that are perfectly constitutional as a result of bad lawyering. (Not even bad lawyering, reallyjust an inability to do a job that is inherently impossible.) And since the burden of justifying a gun law always falls on the government, an incomplete historical record will always tip the scales toward gun rights.

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In his Thursday order, the judge wrote that he did not want to cherry-pick facts, but gain a comprehensive analysis of firearm regulation in 1791. That approach is especially wise in this context, since challenges to the ban on felon possession of a firearm have proliferated after Bruen. Every former felon charged with illegal firearm possession has an incentive to contest this statute, so countless judges will examine the history behind it. Reeves can preempt a terrible decision rooted in bogus history by allowing his own expert to scrutinize the record and put forth a compelling case one way or the other. And the evidence may be useful beyond this case: Reeves could, for instance, apply the findings toward his work as the chairman of the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

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Neither prosecutors nor the defendant have responded to Reeves proposal yet, but it would be surprising if either party objected to a professional review of the relevant history. Fairly or not, an objection would create the impression of trying to suppress the truth in favor of their own cherry-picked facts. Ever since Bruen, courts have been stumbling around in the fog of Thomas motivated reasoning. Reeves, who is Black, will not pretend that he can divine the intentions of dead white men from the 1790s. His candorrespectful and eloquent as it isputs Justice Thomas fake history to shame.
This piece was originally published on Just Security, an online forum for analysis of U.S. national security law and policy.

Political canvassers operate at the grassroots of participatory democracy. They are coming in droves this election cycle, flocking to homes in swing districts. Their door-knocking will initiate a carefully crafted spiel on behalf of specific campaigns or nonpartisan get-out-the-vote drives, perhaps handing the homeowner a clipboard in the process so its harder to slam the door in their face. Their energy will be enthusiastically visible in almost every neighborhood in Pennsylvania, and more than a few in upstate New York and various Rust Belt exurbs.

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But inside apartment buildings, it will be quiet. Apartment buildings are a legal grey area when it comes to political campaigning. In the suburbs, you cant miss the signs of an election; by contrast, in towering complexes in Pittsburgh and Syracuse, you cant find any. Due to rules that prevent political campaigning in apartment buildings, including public housing owned by the state, urban voters fall prey to voter discouragement and political neglect.

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Canvassing, or the process of going door to door to talk to voters about a candidates platform, remind them of an upcoming election, and even register them to vote, is among the most important components of getting out the vote.

Its important because it works. Thats even when many people might choose to not open their doors. Turnout is between 1.7 and 9.8 percentage points higher among canvassed voters, depending on the year, while phone banking and sending campaign mail shows little to no effect on turnoutwhich means that every 14 people a campaign contacts through canvassing results in a new voter. This result is even more pronounced in lower-turnout communities: In majority-Black neighborhoods, canvassing increases turnout by 7 to 14 percentage points, and young voters were 1.4 times more likely to vote in 2012 when contacted by a campaign.

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While the estimates of canvassings effect vary across elections, the conclusion holds that hitting the streets is more effective than any other means of reaching voters, even including the most sophisticated auto-dialing systems that can call hundreds of voters a minute.

Canvassing is also a critical right of expression, allowing engaged citizens who are going door to door to explain why they support a candidate or policy. The U.S. Supreme Court has established extensive protections for canvassing in recognition of its importance as a First Amendment right of expression. Protection for canvassers first emerged in the late 1930s and early 1940s, when the court held that unsolicited leafletting was an essential freedom, and ruled that municipal ordinances prohibiting door-knocking were unconstitutional. Over the course of the 20th century, the court gradually strengthened protections for canvassing, differentiating door-to-door political fundraising from other forms of commercial speech with less protection and striking down regulations requiring canvassers to obtain a permit before going door to door.

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Most recently, in 2015, the Supreme Court ruled in Reed v. Town of Gilbert that regulations on canvassing are subject to the most stringent form of government reviewstrict scrutinymeaning that essentially any regulation which would curtail someones ability to canvass would be struck down.

But theres a catch: All of that jurisprudence has been focused on single-family homes, and there is no clear law for the approximately 44 million Americans living in apartment buildings. The sidewalk leading up to someones home is clearly protected. But when a front door is in a private hallway behind a buildings locked door, there is no precedent. Only Minnesota offers any affirmative protection for canvassing apartment buildings. In the other 49 states, such activity is a constitutional no mans land.

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Among the lower federal courts, three conservative jurisdictions have ruled in different directions creating a circuit split that likely wont be rectified until the Supreme Court takes up this issue, if it ever does. In much of the Bible Belt and in Ohio, cities Housing Authorities can criminalize canvassing by nonresidents as trespassing. But in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, a law forbidding nonresident canvassers in public housing was struck down, with a panel of judges reasoning that canvassing was an important democratic good.

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The 5th Circuit was right. Public housing residents deserve access to political information in the same manner as other citizens. The lowest-turnout voting populationsBlack and Hispanic voters, young people, and the poorare also those campaigns may not otherwise reach. Over half of Black and Hispanic Americans are renters, and three-quarters of them live in large apartment buildings. Nearly two-thirds of renters are low-income, and they are also younger than single-family homeowners. Renters are also less likely to have current voter registrations because they move more frequently. Canvassers can remind these citizens to update their voter registrations and inform them of upcoming elections.

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Canvassers themselves also deserve the protections that come from a clearer law. In the status quo, the criminalization of canvassing apartment buildings means that urban canvasserswho are often Black and Hispanicrisk hostile interactions with the police in ways their suburban counterparts do not.

Canvassing in apartment buildings is also considerably more effective than more spread-out single family neighborhoods because the density allows each door-knocker to visit more voters and lowers the cost per vote of hiring professionals. Underfunded challengers will be on a more equal footing, allowing voters preferences to be more closely reflected.

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Most importantly, in the absence of laws protecting apartment canvassing, politicians have less incentive to cater to what may be their most numerous constituencies. With no guarantee that a canvasser will be able to espouse any of a candidates policies in an apartment building, but a legal guarantee that single-family homes have to receive their ideas, candidates may have every reason to prioritize the key issues of their more suburban constituents in mixed districts. A candidate who never has to visit the projects has less incentive to devote attention to better public housing policybut when those buildings are full of free, easily accessible votes, they will have a strong reason to engage. The court famously invalidated districting plans that gave unequal weight to rural voters, but the disparate access to voter engagement and information in urban areas today can be understood as an extension of that injustice.

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The widest-reaching solution would be for Congress to pass a canvassers bill of rights, clarifying the extent of acts clearly protected under the First Amendmenta nationwide version of Minnesotas law, which requires building superintendents to grant access to volunteers and candidates. While this may seem like a progressive pipe dream in a heavily gridlocked political environment, there is a strong case for conservatives to endorse this measure: It also protects religious liberties. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the decision in Reed, which was litigated by the ultraconservative Alliance Defending Freedom, and conservatives have historically sided with canvassers because canvassing is also undertaken by proselytizers.

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If Congress cant manage such a feat, however, cities can protect their voters by passing their own affirmative ordinances on canvassers rights. In large, single-party cities like New York, this will increase political participation and community engagement, especially in competitive primaries. In smaller cities and large towns that share a congressional district with suburban and rural areas, such as Syracuse and Utica in the newly drawn swing district NY-22, this will increase candidates focus on some of their most overlooked constituents and help level the playing field.

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Opponents of canvassing typically field two criticisms: Its annoying, and people may feel unsafe answering their door to strangers. But the benefits of ensuring a more participatory democracy far outweigh these costs, as the courts found for suburbs years ago. Canvassing interactions generally last under a minute, and if someone cringes especially harshly at the thought of an unwanted interaction, most campaigns train volunteers to wait for 30 seconds at a door after knocking, then leave.

Americans will fiercely defend their right not to be botheredbut democracy is bothersome. It requires that we show up to hours-long caucuses or polling stations with long lines, live uncomfortably with the preferences of our differently minded peers, have hard conversations and even harder reflections on our own biases. And it requires that we open our door and listen, so that everyone gets a fair say.

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Here is one question the midterms are ostensibly about: Do voters care about Dobbs?

Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health is, of course, the decision the Supreme Court handed down in June 2022 that stripped women of their fundamental right to bodily autonomy and negated nearly a half century of precedent by overturning Roe v. Wade. The reaction to Dobbs the weekend it came out was mostly furyits not just women who support the right to access abortion; its a clear majority of Americans. But the consequences of that decision will primarily be borne by people who can have children, which is why in the months since June we have been treated to horror story after horror story of what women are forced to endure when they are not allowed to access the health care they needwhether their pregnancies are wanted or not, or forced upon them, or are suffered by women who are actually just girls, children as young as 10 years old. It is understandable to think that the question facing down the country this midterm season is whether women will tolerate being treated as sentient uteruses.

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But we know what Americans think about abortion. Support for this right has been consistent basically ever since Roe v. Wade was handed down in January 1973. What has changed is not how many Americans want women to have access to health carewhat has changed is how galvanizing abortion became as a wedge issue for a minority of Americans who set about making the past four and a half decades of their politics all about outlawing abortion under any circumstance. This minority of Americans made a bargain with the Republican party, essentially promising to keep them in power if the party delivered them the Supreme Court they wanted. To achieve this, the GOP not only took advantage of structural advantages that allow them to win more power than they have votes; it also manipulated political systems and did positively unprecedented shenanigans to tip the scales in its favor. And so now we have a court that is stacked with justices selected by presidents who did not win a majority of votesand who have no interest in moderating their decisions to be in conversation with the stated desires of the majority of Americans.

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Which is why the big question of this electionand so many elections to comeis: What are we going to do about the fact that the minority is controlling the majority? And does anyone have a coherent plan to do something about it? And even if or when our politicians point out a path for voters to fix this (something they are currently pretty lousy at doing), will Americans be invested enoughand empowered enoughto do something about it?

This election isnt about whether voters care about having the right to abortion. Its about whether theres anything to be done about the fact that so many Americans still want that right, and whether politicians have to respond to what Americans want. Its bigger than bodily autonomy; it is also perfectly encapsulated by bodily autonomy.
The elephant is an appropriate symbol for the GOP, because the thing about contemporary Republicans is that they never, ever forget a bullshit grievance. Fifty years from now, when Barron Trump Jr. is president and were all paying $300 per gallon for potable water, future Republicans will still be shouting about Peter Strzok and cultural Marxism. This state of sustained grievance is especially notable within right-wing media, which now exists primarily to keep old bullshit in the news while folding new bullshit into an ongoing narrative of conservative victimhood, liberal mendacity, and general moral decay.

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I use the term bullshit deliberately, becauseon Fox News, at leastthe grievances surfaced are rarely outright lies or inventions. Instead, they tend to be rooted in anecdotal evidence and selective observation, which becomes full-blown bullshit through exaggeration, misconstrual, strategic elision, and incessant repetition. Some of these grievances are conceptual panics, such as the hubbub around wokeness and cancel culture; some are issue-based, such as the rights current contention that liberal policies have turned all American metropolises into post-apocalyptic crimeholes; some center around specific individuals, often politicians, who have committed the cardinal sin of being rational.

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The point, writ large, is to keep low-information conservatives so hot, bothered, and terrified that they will rush to the polls en masse to vote for every Republican candidate on the ballot, no matter their objective fitness for office. This is how a weirdo like Herschel Walker ends up in a dead heat for the U.S. Senate with the man who literally preaches from the same pulpit as did Martin Luther King Jr.

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Once a bullshit grievance hits the right-wing news cycle these days, it never really goes away. This fun new feature of our dumbass polity is largely attributable to social media, which is basically a lazy river in which straw men and logical fallacies circulate in an infinite loop, bobbing around waiting for someones angry uncle to retweet them. While a grievance might go dormant awhile, a good one can always return to the fore at the right moment, like a soap opera reviving a presumed-dead character to juice ratings during sweeps week. And so we have Hunter Bidens laptop, whichsurprise!is still sparking apoplexy amongst many conservatives. As a brief reminder, just in case you are not yourself a bullshit-retentive person, in October 2020 the New York Post published several articles alleging that emails found on a laptop computer which Hunter Biden had abandoned at a Delaware repair shop indicated that, years earlier, Biden had attempted to peddle influence with his father while the younger Biden was sitting on the board of the Ukrainian company Burisma. The articles also alleged that Hunter Biden had attempted to involve his father in a separate business deal of his in China. (Credible news outlets have since authenticated the provenance of some of the files found on the laptop.)

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The story is rooted in fact, insofar as I believe that Hunter Biden is a screwed-up Roger Clinton political relative type who did at one point probably own a laptop. Did his laptop contain evidence of criminal wrongdoing on Joe Bidens part? By all credible accounts, it did not! Does that alleged wrongdoing directly indicate some broader pattern of political corruption within the Democratic Party? Seems pretty unlikely! Is the Biden Crime Family an actual thing? No! Does any of this actually matter to the 2022 midterms? Sadly, yes.

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The timing of the initial story strongly indicated that the Trump campaign had maneuvered to plant it as a so-called October surprise that might sway that years presidential election; the fact that the Post was basically the only outlet to run with the story indicates that most other outlets strongly suspected that the story, not to mention its broader implications, might be bullshit. The right interpreted the mainstream medias disinterest in the story, as well as Facebook and Twitters efforts to limit its circulation, as evidence of some grand left-wing conspiracythe right interprets everything as evidence of some grand left-wing conspiracyand refused to let it go. (The right refuses to let anything go.) In August 2022, Republican congressman Matt Gaetz entered the contents of the laptop into the Congressional Record. Others have vowed official investigations into Hunter Biden should Republicans flip the house this year; those investigations will likely be used as a pretext to impeach Joe Biden.

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The story of Hunters laptop, like the story of Hillary Clintons emails, is primarily a diversionary tactic. It is meant to counteract credible charges of right-wing malfeasance by presenting an allegedly equivalent story of self-dealing on the left. The fact that the story is very stupid does not make it ineffective. The right-wing media ecosystem exists to talk endlessly about stupid stories until they start to make sense to the sorts of people who only consume right-wing media. There are a lot of these people, and their appetite for bullshit grievances is vast and endless, and they are very eager to vote their appetites, and frankly they are more likely to go to the polls than you are. The midterms are about Hunters laptop because every election now is about Hunters laptop, or Hillarys emails, or transgender athletes, or vote-stealing algorithms, or adrenochrome, or some other bullshit grievance that only makes sense if you recognize that nothing will ever really make sense again.
Each election cycle brings new megadonors. In 2020, on the Democratic side, it was billionaire Mike Bloomberg, who spent $1.1 billion on his own presidential campaign and another $150 million supporting Democratic candidates. For Republicans that year, it was billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who registered $218 million in federal donations. But Adelson is dead and Bloomberg has largely exited the arena.

This year, a new crop of industrialists, financiers, and tech elites, each with excessive fortunes, came ready to influence the midterms outcome.

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Of the top 10 largest individual donors in 2022, eight were Republicans. Among them: hedge fund manager Kenneth Griffin; packaging titans Elizabeth and Richard Uihlein; and Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman. The only Democrat other than George Soros was Sam Bankman-Fried, the 30-year-old cryptocurrency titan who ponied up $40 million in scattershot fashion for a bunch of Democratic House candidates in primary races. He claimed to be elevating a class of politicians who would adhere to an ideology of sane governance and pandemic preparedness. But more than a quarter of the money went to one candidate, Oregons Carrick Flynn, who lost his primaryeven after Nancy Pelosis super PAC threw in its own money in support, in an attempt to make nice with the Bankman-Fried money machine. Other candidates he backed, like North Carolinas Valerie Foushee, triumphed in the primary. But then, a handful of weeks before Election Day, Bankman-Fried announced that he had scratched that itch and was done with election spending altogether, leaving his remaining candidates to fend for themselves.

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Refracted across the political divide was Peter Thiel. Thiel, too, is a tech investor with billions of dollars. He spent over $30 million in two of the most important, winnable seats for Republicans, on behalf of Senate candidates who espoused his Trumpist political theory, and who often had ties to the tech world themselves. In Ohio, with J.D. Vance, and in Arizona, with Blake Masters, Thiel has pumped big money into races the GOP desperately needs to win to retake the Senate. Thiel, too, suggested that he might be done with political spending after the primaries, but the party was able to talk him into pitching more cash into the general election. Mitch McConnell has put resources into these candidates as well, but they have been, well, imperfect, their loyalties seemingly more aligned with Thiel and Trump than the Republican Party.

Does that not perfectly encapsulate the two parties? One expensive, meandering, and ineffectual, the other expensive, calculating, and radical. Thiels candidates, in part because theyre so extreme, may well lose. Depending on how election night goes, we could see failed kingmakers on both sides.
There are a lot of issues on the ballotor simmering just beneath the ballotin the November midterms, but one overarching theme seems to unite them all: Vigilantism. This is a broad new public desire to take the law into ones own hands because, well, you did the research and the election law was wrong.

Its not just the guys in the tactical gear monitoring the drop boxes in Arizona last week, although that feels like the most tangible manifestation of the problem. And its not just those who are collecting names and photographs of voters in an attempt to catch the mules they have conjured up from Dinesh DSouzas resoundingly debunked film 2,000 Mules.

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Its also the folks in North Carolina who have launched a nationwide effort to monitor election integrity at the state and local level, under the tutelage of unindicted election arsonist Cleta Mitchell.

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Its also efforts by another 2020 election cowboy, John Eastman, who is, according to leaked audio, romping through New Mexico telling conservative activists to personally challenge individual voters in order to amass future evidence to set aside elections. (According to Politico, Eastmans instructions included extremely narrow, technical and sometimes simply incorrect interpretations of voting rules.)

The goal here isnt merely to induce random citizens to enforce imaginary local voting rules but also to create a narrative about a stolen election, absent facts or evidence. The goal is to challenge voters and harass election workers and to continue foment mistrust in election results generally. That Eastman and Mitchell failed to do this successfully in 2020, and are afforded a clean shot at a do-over in 2022, tells you everything you need to know about the lack of accountability for election vigilantism at the highest levels.

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But even that is all the tip of the iceberg for the most zealous election vigilantes. Whether its the deranged constitutional sheriffs who believe they have unfettered power to investigate and intervene in election administration, or the bloodless proponents of the independent state legislature theory who argue that state legislatures have the unfettered constitutional power to set their own election rules, a broad swath of self-appointed enforcers have declared themselves the sole arbiters of who gets to vote and how. Trust election deniers with elections and corrupt state actors with election suppression, and everyone and their crazy uncle becomes a nationally accredited expert on stolen elections.

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We should be candid about the fact that the selfsame party that downplayed and spread disinformation about an attempted homicide against Nancy Pelosi, is currently telling self-appointed experts/vigilantes that they should each be personally determining rules for who gets to voteand thinking about removing any leadership that gets in their way. The new election law? Once youve determined that youve personally asked the right questions, and that youve run a quick search on Reddit, theres no law, judge, elections official, or fact that can deter you from upending and undermining an election. The 2020 election was immune to a mass hijacking because the elections system is decentralized and local. It is now being subjected to a decentralized and local takeover.

If voting vigilantism is the new pumpkin spice heading into the midterms, it will be a result of the fact that America has now descended into a form of choose-your-own-ending elections law, in which anyone who doesnt like the agreed-upon ending, feels entitled to make up a new one, and to impose it on others by force.
Moore v. Harper, which will be argued before the Supreme Court on Dec. 7, has been called one of the most important democracy cases ever to come before the court. It is also a defining moment for the many justices on the court who profess to be originalists. Moore raises the question of whether the courts conservative wing will sanction an anti-originalist power grab that would eviscerate our ability to hold free and fair elections.

Moore involves the so-called independent state legislature theorya sweeping and radical effort to prevent state courts from protecting voting rights enshrined in their own state constitutions. In Moore, the North Carolina Supreme Court held that North Carolinas congressional maps contained a partisan gerrymander that violated the free elections clause of the North Carolina Constitution, a provision that has been a fixture of that document since 1776. The North Carolina legislature, however, insists that because the U.S. Constitution gives state legislatures the authority to regulate the time, place, and manner of congressional elections, all substantive state constitutional checks and balances are null and void. This is an astoundingand astoundingly wrongclaim that would annul state constitutional voting and equality protections added to state charters over the course of two centuries, do violence to principles of federalism, and throw state electoral systems into disarray.

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Further, the ISLT is an abomination to originalism, and for genuinely originalist justices, Moore should be an easy case. First of all, American constitutionalism began with state constitutions. Judicial review by state courts to enforce state constitutional limits on the power of the legislature is older than the U.S. Constitution itself. Well before the delegates met in Philadelphia to draft the Constitution, state courts put into practice the notion that legislatures are creatures of state constitutions and bound to observe their limits, not independent of them. In fact, state judicial review provided the model for federal judicial review. As Alexander Hamiltons classic defense of judicial review made explicit, the right of the courts to pronounce legislative acts void, because [they are] contrary to the Constitution has been of great importance in all the American constitutions.

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Second, not only did the founding generation cherish the checks and balances provided by state constitutions, the framing of the U.S. Constitution was motivated in large part by fears that state legislative abuses had run amok. The debates over the elections clause are replete with the founding generations fears that state legislatures would manipulate the electoral process for partisan gain. Given these worries, the idea that the founding generation meant to destroy state constitutional checks and balances is preposterous. Not a shred of founding-era evidence gives any credence to the idea that state legislatures, when regulating federal elections, are free from state constitutional restraints that would otherwise apply to their enactments.

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Despite all this, a number of the Supreme Courts conservative justices have suggested they are ready to buy into ISLT. Back in March, when the full court denied the legislatures emergency application to stay the North Carolina Supreme Courts decision in Moorevia what has been called the shadow docketJustices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Clarence Thomas voted to allow the 2022 elections to go forward with the legislatures discriminatory maps in place. According to Alito, there must be some limit on the authority of state courts to countermand actions taken by state legislatures when they are prescribing rules for the conduct of federal elections. The state courts ruling, Alito argued, wasnt a genuine act of constitutional interpretation, but had all the hallmarks of legislation. Justice Brett Kavanaugh voted to deny the stay based on his view that it was too close in time to upcoming elections, but he called the ISLT argument serious. In a prior shadow docket ruling in 2020, Kavanaugh agreed with Gorsuch that the Constitution provides that state legislaturesnot federal judges, not state judges, not state governors, not other state officialsbear primary responsibility for setting election rules. All of this is to say that at least four justices may be willing to vote to give state legislatures unbounded authority free from state constitutional limitations on their power.

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Thats why it is important that, in the run-up to oral arguments in Moore, a number of prominent conservative originalists have exposed ISLT as the fabrication it is. In briefs and other writings, originalists across the ideological spectrum are showing that ISLT has no basis in the Constitutions text and history.

Judge J. Michael Luttigan influential conservative thinker and jurist who was appointed to serve as a federal appellate judge by President George H.W. Bushwrote in the Atlantic in early October that the ISLT is antithetical to the Framers intent, and to the text, fundamental design, and architecture of the Constitution. He then joined the legal team challenging North Carolinas discriminatory maps, which filed a powerful originalist brief debunking ISLT. As the brief observed, ISLT is so antithetical to the Constitutions text and structure, so inconsistent with the Constitutions original meaning, so disdainful of this Courts precedent, and so potentially damaging for American democracy.

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On top of that, among those joining amicus briefs opposing the legislatures sweeping and radical claim are many of the leading lights of the conservative legal movement. Professor Steven Calabresi, one of the co-founders of the Federalist Society, together with professors Vikram Amar and Akhil Amar, filed a brief arguing that ISLT flouts core tenets of the American Founding that legislatures were creatures of the Constitution, not independent of it, and mountains of evidence that early state constitutions regulated congressional elections. In another brief, former D.C. Circuit Judge Thomas Griffith, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, joined a number of prominent Republican officeholders and appointees, including Peter Keisler, who co-founded the Federalist Society, and stressed just how radical and unprecedented ISLT is. Never has any federal court struck down a state constitution provision because of the Elections  Clause. Other prominent conservative originalists voiced similar critiques in out-of-court commentary. In the Atlantic, professors William Baude and Michael McConnell registered their disagreement with ISLTs core premises, observing that when the federal Constitution gave state legislatures additional authority, it took them as it found them, as created by state constitutions rather than a new free-floating entity. State legislatures are not independent of their constitutions.

This cross-ideological consensus that ISLT is a dangerous, atextual, and ahistorical theory is hugely important. The question now is whether the conservatives on the Roberts courtmany of whom have already written separate opinions indicating that they might buy into ISLTare willing to embrace a theory that so many other conservatives have rightly recognized is deeply wrong, deeply radical, and deeply inconsistent with constitutional first principles. If they do, American democracy will pay the price.
At the height of election season, its easy to believe that races will be won or lost on the basis of dozens of standard political factorscandidate quality, get-out-the-vote drives, fundraising, debate performance: everything the media throws into horse race analysis. The reality, however, is that the vast majority of races for the House of Representatives are decided before a single vote is cast: Whoever draws the lines of a congressional district picks the winner. Thats why there are fewer competitive districts this cycle than at any point in the past 52 years.

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But the 2022 cycle introduced a new reality: The conservative courts have repeatedly decided to step in to determine the fate of district lines, and potentially control of the House itself. To a degree thats absolutely unprecedented in modern times, the midterms will be conducted with illegal mapsall of which were manipulated by Republicans to benefit their party, and all of which were approved or imposed by Republican-controlled courts. Put simply, Republican-appointed judges may have already guaranteed GOP control over the House before a single ballot is cast.

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The reason for that is simple: In February 2022, the Supreme Court effectively suspended the Voting Rights Acts ban on racial gerrymandering. Before that point, lower courts had applied long-standing precedent to find that congressional districts drawn after the 2020 census violated the VRA. They were following the text of the law, which outlaws maps that deny racial minorities an equal opportunity to elect representatives of their choice. For years, the Supreme Court interpreted this provision to prohibit racial gerrymanders that carve up Black communities to dilute their political power.

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But in an unsigned 54 order in February, the Supreme Court majority ignored those precedents and froze a lower court order striking down Alabamas egregiously racist gerrymander, which crammed most Black residents into a single district. It did not explain its reasoning, but the message was clear enough: The ultraconservative majority would let Republican legislators eliminate as many majority-Black congressional districts as they pleased, maximizing the number of safe GOP seats in the midterms.

Its decision had an immediate and devastating ripple effect on litigation throughout the South. A federal judge in Georgia declined to block the states racial gerrymandered congressional map, despite his belief that it likely ran afoul of the VRA. Another federal judge shot down Louisianas racist gerrymander, but the Supreme Court revived it (with all three liberal justices dissenting). Meanwhile, a district court in Texas dismissed many claims against the legislatures attack on Latino representation. SCOTUS decision also empowered Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to reject the Republican legislatures moderate gerrymander and demand an extreme map that targeted Black voters with surgical precision. The legislature complied. A state judge struck down the resulting plan as a brazenly illegal racial gerrymander, but the Florida Supreme Courtstacked with DeSantis appointeespredictably reinstated it.

These numbers add up. At least one seat seized from Democrats in Alabama, Louisiana, and Georgia; two or more in both Florida and Texas: Republicans have proven that discriminating against Black voters pays off electorally. They seized several more in Ohio by flouting a fair districts amendment to the state constitution, then defying the state Supreme Courts order to draw less-biased maps. If Republicans win the House of Representatives by a relatively narrow margin, they will have their allies in the judiciary to thank.
This article is part of a series from Future Tense and New Americas Future of Land and Housing Program on reimagining how America will adapt to climate change and sea level rise.

Recently, Hurricane Ida devastated Fort Myers and wiped out entire mobile home communities. But its not the only recent example of climate changeexacerbated weather causing deaths among mobile home residents. In Maricopa County, Arizona, colloquially known as the Valley of the Sun, heat kills. But it doesnt kill indiscriminately: Residents of mobile homes are 6 to 8 times more likely to perish from indoor heat exposure compared with residents of other types of housing. Just 5 percent of Maricopa County residents live in mobile homes, while 31 percent of indoor heat-associated deaths annually occur in mobile homes in the county. Meanwhile, policymakers are pointing to mobile homes as a potential solution to the nationwide housing shortage.

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Comprising a sizable 6.3 percent of the housing stock nationwide, mobile homes house 22 million Americans and account for 10 percent of new single-family home starts. Mobile homes are especially prevalent in the South and Southwest; in a majority of those states, mobile homes make up more than 10 percent of the housing stock. In South Carolina, its nearly 16 percent; in Arizona, its 16.7 percent. Of course, these regions are also among the historically warmest and fastest-warming in the United States, and as evidenced by Maricopa County, they are harbingers of what the rest of the country can expect as the frequency, duration, and intensity of heat waves increase. Indeed, the frequency of heat waves nationwide has tripled since the 1960s, and the duration of the heat wave season has increased by more than a month. Climate experts predict that these trends will continue to worsen, threatening human health, particularly for those living in mobile homes.

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Yet presidential administrations from Nixon through todays Biden administration have touted mobile homes as an ideal solution to the nations affordable housing crisis. As Nixon stated in 1970, Nearly half of American families probably cannot afford any more than $15,000 [$115,000 in 2022] for a home, yet today, the only significant number of homes available in that price range are mobile homes. Mobile homes at present constitute a majority if not the largest single source of acceptable new housing available at prices which moderate income families can afford.

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Even today, the average mobile home costs $55 per square foot, compared with $114 per square foot for a traditional site-built home. It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that the Biden administrations Housing Supply Action Plan, announced in May, proposes that increasing manufactured housing is one way to address the nations ongoing affordable housing crisis. Biden hopes to achieve this aim, in part, by creating new financing mechanisms for buyers and reducing regulatory barriers to construction.

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But these policies dont address the fact that mobile home residents are more vulnerable to all types of natural hazards than those in other housing types. This heightened vulnerability is so well documented that mobile homes are included in numerous natural hazard vulnerability indices. Mobile homes offer comparatively poor structural integrity and residents are often socially vulnerable. Mobile home parks are often located on climatically hazardous sites, and the park owners are able to determine what climate mitigation solutions are and are not permitted; for instance, park owners have the authority to prohibit residents from using shade sails, reflective window coverings, or even window air-conditioning units. For these reasons, among other factors, residents of mobile homes are more likely to be injured or perish in disasters like floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes. And even if they survive, mobile home residents risk losing their homes due to disaster-related damages, thereby also losing their primary asset. With climate change increasing the frequency, severity, and geographic scope of such hazards, mobile home residents will be on the front lines everywhere. A growing supply of mobile homes may, therefore, have the unintended consequence of increasing risks to health and well-being for some of the nations most economically precarious.

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Even if mobile homes themselves are made more climate-resilient, mobile home residence is highly insecure. The vast majority of mobile home residents own their home but rent the land that it sits on. While this unique arrangement helps to make mobile homes so affordable, it places mobile home residents in a risky position: They can be individually evicted or involuntary displaced en masse if a park owner chooses to redevelop the mobile home park. Many displaced mobile home residents ultimately find it impossible to obtain equally affordable rental housing, since the average mobile home lot rent is only $593 per month, leaving some proportion of them unsheltered. And being unsheltered only increases the climate risks that this already vulnerable group faces: The Maricopa County Public Health Department reports that, in 2020, unsheltered individuals accounted for over half of all heat-associated deaths (whether indoor or outdoor). Access to safe, affordable, livable shelter for all is a key factor in not only reducing heat-associated deaths, but also in mitigating the disparate impacts of climate change more broadly.

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But there are ways to protect people who live in mobile homes in places at risk of climate hazards. First, of course, is making the homes themselves more climate-resilient. New regulations could aim to decrease the ambient temperature in mobile home parks through mandated green infrastructure or shade structures. Such regulations could also prohibit mobile home park owners from passing rules that prevent residents from installing climate mitigation improvements on their homes. Too often, utility and weatherization assistance programs offered by utility companies and government entities explicitly exclude mobile home residents, which should be changed immediately. And mobile homes, which are functionally immobile despite their name, could be reclassified as real property instead of personal property, opening up lines of credit that would enable residents to finance ongoing maintenance and weatherization improvements.

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More broadly, we must increase and ensure the stock of safe, affordable, livable housing for the most economically vulnerable populations. Doing so requires thinking beyond mobile homes as the best or only solution. Numerous case studies across diverse cities throughout North America consistently demonstrate that a housing first approach to aiding unsheltered individuals saves money in the long run. Nonetheless, zoning regulations remain a significant barrier to creating a robust affordable housing stock for both unsheltered and lower-income residents alike. As such, local policymakers should reform zoning regulations to allow for development, like set-asides in new developments (which means a percentage of housing units in a development that are sold or rented at affordable prices), accessory dwelling units, the conversion of abandoned retail stock to housing, and a return of single-room occupancy dwellings and pathways for homeowners to take in boarders. It is essential, however, that these housing units be both affordable and safe. To this end, industry and government leaders should develop and mandate climate-adequate construction standards.

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But focusing on growing the stock of climate-resilient housing isnt enough. We also need broader, more innovative approaches to building community climate resilience. One way to do this is with mutual aid networks, in which neighbors help neighbors by, for instance, checking in on one another or by offering rides during very hot days. These neighborly gestures are something much more: They facilitate early intervention before a hazard develops into a life-threatening catastrophe. These networks also decrease social isolation and increase community cohesionsomething thats important no matter the weather. Another key for building sustainable community cohesion is having resilience hubs, which are community spaces that have been retooled to provide mutual aid and relief during disasters and also assist in coordinating recovery efforts.

The affordable housing crisis, a warming world, a growing economically vulnerable population with insecure or no housing, antiquated zoning regulationsthese are all things that are dangerous. But if we think of them together instead of separately, we can come up with solutions that not only address the problems but create new opportunities. Mobile homes can surely be a part of the solution, but only if their multiple climate vulnerability points are addressed holistically. Otherwise, we will continue to place the most vulnerable populations in harms way.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
This article is from Full Stack Economics, a newsletter about the economy, technology, and public policy.

As Ive followed the saga of Elon Musk taking over Twitter in recent months, Ive had a sense of deja vu. I havent written much about Musk or his companies in the last year or so. But I wrote about Musk extensively in 2018the last time Musk tried to take a company private and wound up in a bitter legal battle.

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Am considering taking Tesla private at $420, Musk wrote in a now-infamous Aug. 7, 2018, tweet. Funding secured.

Buying out Teslas public shareholders would have given Musk greater control over the company. And in retrospect, it would have been a great deal for whoever financed the transaction. On a split-adjusted basis, the stock is now worth about eight times Musks proposed buyout price.

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Unfortunately, Musk didnt have funding secured for a buyout, so the deal never happened. And the Securities and Exchange Commission doesnt look favorably on CEOs tweeting out inaccurate, market-moving information about their own stock. The agency sued Musk.

Around this time, I wrote an opinion piece for Ars Technica arguing that Tesla was outgrowing Elon Musk, and that the company would be better off with a different CEO. Beyond the funding secured shenanigans, 2018 was an unusually chaotic year for Musk and Tesla. Tesla was struggling to scale up production of the Model 3, and the company was bleeding cash, and it seemed to be losing executives left and right. It was also the year Musk called a British cave rescuer a pedo guy on Twitter, earning another lawsuit.

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Elon Musk is impulsive, he micromanages subordinates, and he hates to admit when he makes a mistake, I wrote in 2018. All of these are bad traits for the CEO of a big publicly traded company, and they are going to become bigger and bigger liabilities as Tesla grows.

In retrospect, I was clearly wrong. The Model 3 was a big success, Tesla prospered, and Musk is now the worlds richest man.

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Since Musk formally gained control of Twitter last Thursday, the media has portrayed it as a company in chaos. We can expect a lot more stories like this in the coming months. But as you read these stories, you should resist the urge to concludeas I did four years agothat Musk is an ineffective manager. Musks management style frequently generates chaos for his subordinates. But there is usually a method to his madness.

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Musk is reportedly considering a number of ideas to make Twitter more profitable, including charging verified users as much as $20 per month to keep their blue checkmarks. But it looks like the first and possibly most important thing Musk is going to do is to significantly reduce Twitters headcount, producing a company thats more profitable andperhapsbetter positioned to nimbly implement other ideas Musk dreams up in the future.

UPDATE: Stop printing

Inside Twitter, Musks arrival has been experienced primarily as chaos, journalist Casey Newton wrote on Saturday.

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According to Newton, Twitter engineers were asked to print out their code in hard copy so they could go through it with Musk or a senior Tesla engineer who had been dispatched to help with Twitters leadership transition.

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Please print out 50 pages of code youve done in the last 30 days (if you havent submitted code in the past 30 days, then you can go back up to 60 days), an internal Slack message said.

According to Newton, engineers spent Friday afternoon at Twitter dutifully printing out their code in anticipation of meetings with Musk and some of his senior engineers from Tesla.

But then the instructions changed again, Newton reports.

UPDATE: Stop printing, another Slack message said. Please be ready to show your recent code (within last 30-60 preferably) on your computer. If you have already printed, please shred in the bins on SF-Tenth. Thank you!

It obviously wouldnt have been practical for Musk to personally review the work of hundreds of Twitter engineers. And of course Musk would have known that. Its possible that this was a simple miscommunication, or perhaps an impulsive request Musk made before changing his mind. But it seems more likely that Musk knew exactly what he was doing here.

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If you were an engineer who got this message and you hadnt written 50 pages of code in the last 30 days, you would probably get nervous about your job prospects. Maybe youd decide to start working more nights and weekends. Or maybe youd start working on your resume. Either way, the exercise would nudge Twitter toward a more workaholic culture.

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At most companies, this would be a disastrously bad management strategy because the engineers with the best outside options would get frustrated and leave. And most companies struggle to recruit and retain tech talent.

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But Musk has a long track record of recruiting talented engineers to both Tesla and SpaceX and motivating them to work hard. Moreover, Musk apparently believes that Twitter is dramatically overstaffed, so if 10 or 20 or 30 percent of the companys engineers leave due to concerns over work-life balance, he might view that as pure upside.

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Musk also has a penchant for theatrical management flourishes that help him communicate his ideas in vivid ways. In 2018, he talked about sleeping on the factory floor as he worked around the clock to fix problems with Model 3 production. Its debatable whether this saved him much time. But it surely helped to communicate to Tesla workers that he felt a sense of urgency about fixing problems with the Model 3.

Musks Track Record of Cutting Costs

Musk reportedly told prospective investors that he could cut as much as 75 percent of Twitters workforce. More recently, Musk has told employees the cuts wont be that deep. But it seems clear that substantial layoffs are coming.

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This matters because Twitter could be quite a profitable business if its expenses werent so high. Last quarter, Twitter brought in an impressive $1.1 billion in revenue. However, it lost money because it spent $1.5 billionincluding $454 million in research and development.

And if anyone knows how to squeeze costs out of engineering projects, its Elon Musk. A big reason Musk was able to grow SpaceX into the dominant force in the rocket industry was a relentless focus on cost-cutting, allowing SpaceXs rockets to be dramatically cheaper than those of its competitors.

Journalist Ashlee Vance gives a colorful example of how he did it in his 2015 biography of Musk. In 2004, SpaceX needed a part called an actuator for its first rocket, the Falcon 1, and Musk tasked engineer Steve Davis to build it. Vance describes what happened next:

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Davis had never built a piece of hardware before in his life and naturally went out to find some suppliers who could make an electro-mechanical actuator for him. He got a quote back for $120,000. Elon laughed, Davis said. He said, That part is no more complicated than a garage door opener. Your budget is five thousand dollars. Go make it work. Davis spent nine months building the actuator. At the end of the process, he toiled for three hours writing an email to Musk covering the pros and cons of the device. The email went into gory detail about how Davis had designed the part , why he had made various choices, and what its cost would be. As he pressed send, Davis velt anxiety surge through his body knowing that hed given his all for almost a year to do something an engineer at another aerospace company would not even attempt. Musk rewarded all of this toil and angst with one of his standard responses. He wrote back, Ok. The actuator Davis designed ended up costing $3,900 and flew with Falcon 1 into space.

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I doubt that Twitter today is as bloated or bureaucratic as the aerospace industry was 20 years ago. But I bet theres substantial fat that could be cut, and if anybody can find it, its Musk.

Twitter currently has around 7,500 employees and 237 million monetizable daily active users.

Some people have pointed out that at the time Facebook acquired WhatsApp, the messaging app had around 400 million monthly users and around 50 employees. This isnt an entirely fair comparison for Twitter, for several reasons:

 Scaling a public, many-to-many microblogging service is harder than scaling a private messaging service.

 Twitter deals with images, video, and audio as well as text.

 Twitter has substantial personnel and infrastructure devoted to serving ads.

 And Twitter has to deal with content moderation questions that dont come up with private messaging.

But does this greater complexity justify having 150 times as many employees? Musk clearly doesnt think so.
ACCRA, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank Group has urged Ghana to turn its climate challenge into an opportunity for resilient and sustainable growth.

The World Bank made this call Tuesday in its new Country Climate and Development Report for Ghana, warning the income could reduce by up to 40 percent for poor households by 2050 and at least one million more people could fall into poverty if urgent climate actions are not taken in the West African country.

"This calls for pursuing a development pathway that builds resilience to climate change and fosters a transition to low-carbon growth through a combination of policies and public and private investments," said the report.

The World Bank document urged better national financial preparedness against climate shocks and adaptive health and social protection systems, better national financial preparedness against climate shocks, and adaptive health and social protection systems.

Above all, the report underscored the importance of promoting a transition to clean energy by scaling up renewable energy sources, strengthening regional energy markets, and modernizing transport systems by improving public transportation and updating vehicle standards.

"The report demonstrates that Ghana can simultaneously pursue its long-term development and climate goals, and the country can take a more resilient development pathway," said Pierre Laporte, World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, in a release accompanying the report. 
Soldiers will help patrol the Slovak-Hungarian border.

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The Interior Ministry is building a tent town for illegal migrants in Kuty, a town near the border with Czechia, in response to increased illegal migration.

Police officers on site are coordinating the provision of basic health care and helping to provide food, especially for women and children.

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Many migrants have concentrated at the Kuty railway station after Czechia and Austria decided to reintroduce border checks with Slovakia a few weeks ago. The checks will remain in place until mid-November, but the countries can extend them later.

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Deployment of soldiers

Patrol activity in the Slovak regions bordering Czechia, Austria and Hungary has intensified as well. The police is also checking the trains arriving from Hungary and trains heading from Bratislava to Vienna.

On November 2, the government approved that 100 soldiers will help the police at the Slovak-Hungarian border.

Earlier on, 40 Slovak police officers were sent to Hungarys external border with Serbia. The Interior Ministry is convinced that it would be better if Czechia cancelled border checks with Slovakia and sent its police officers to Hungary instead.

Meanwhile, in Brodske, a town next to Kuty, the ministry has also provided tents, blankets, sleeping bags and heating. The town initially housed some migrants in its cultural house, according to My Trnava.

The police said that they have not registered any illegal activities among migrants.

Emergency shelters near borders

The police detained a total of 2,675 illegal migrants from late September until October 31 for registration purposes.

The migrants are registered at a temporary police station in Brodske.

The ministry noted that migrants often aim to reach Germany, where their relatives and friends live, and do not want to apply for asylum in Slovakia.

According to the Interior Ministrys website, migrants can also use facilities in Rohovce near Dunajska Streda and in Opatovska Nova Ves near Velky Krtis as emergency shelters. Tents should also be available on Regrutska Street in Bratislava, where a Foreigners Police department is located.
The court will have to approve such bans, a government-approved bill suggests.

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The National Security Office should once again be able to block harmful content that threatens or may result in damage or threat to Slovakia's security, foreign policy or the economic interests of the Slovak Republic, and is regarded as a hybrid, non-military threat.

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The authority lost this power in September due to ineffective legislation.

The office (NBU) could thus block, for example, content that may cause the weakening of democratic institutions, political destabilisation, or radicalisation of a political debate in the public space.

The office should adopt such a decision on the basis of a justified proposal submitted by security and defence authorities and the prior approval of the Supreme Administrative Court, an amendment to the law on cyber security suggests.

The government approved the amendment at its session on November 2, the TASR news agency wrote.

Courts approval

The need for the court's consent to blocking should increase the legitimacy of the NBU's decisions, Defence Ministry State Secretary Marian Majer said.

Appeals to the court in these matters should not be allowed.

The blocking decision should be issued for no longer than nine months, and they should be published on the security office's website. The NBU should also submit a report on these decisions to parliament every year.

If the amendment is passed in parliament, it will come into effect on April 1, 2023.

Kollar is not a fan

Majer did not rule out that websites that have been blocked before, such as Hlavne Spravy, will be blocked again. Internet content is regularly monitored by Slovak intelligence services, he added.

Foreign Affairs Minister Rastislav Kacer, however, said that what is being done against disinformation in Slovakia is not enough and European regulation is necessary.

But not everyone supports the reintroduction of bans.

"I'm not a big fan of censorship. Who are we to say what is right and what is wrong?" Speaker Boris Kollar of the Sme Rodina party said.

From his party's 2021 annual report, it appears that Kollar's movement financially supported the disinformation websites Hlavne Spravy and Hlavny Dennik.
One of two suspects allegedly involved in the shooting of Washington Commanders running back Brian Robinson Jr. has been arrested, the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) announced Wednesday.

At a news conference, chief Robert J. Contee said that a 17-year-old male was arrested Wednesday and charged with assault with intent to rob while armed.

Contee also said that calls to the community tip line helped police make an arrest.

The MPD released surveillance camera footage of the robbery. The case is still under investigation, and police are still looking for an additional suspect.

MPD announces an arrest in an Assault With Intent to Rob while Armed (Gun) offense that occurred on 8/28/22, in the 1000 blk of H St, NE.



Thanks for all who assisted in making DC safer with this arrest!



Release: https://t.co/7ubF5D6xWD



Video: https://t.co/v1l0gQtxA0 pic.twitter.com/rPD3ULyIKv  DC Police Department (@DCPoliceDept) November 2, 2022

Robinson, a rookie taken in the third round in the 2022 draft, was shot in the leg on Aug. 28 when two people tried to rob him while he was getting something to eat in D.C.'s H Street Corridor. He managed to fight one of them off, but the other shot him twice in the leg. He was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and had surgery the next day.

Story continues

That all happened before Robinson had taken a single snap in the NFL. Two weeks later, he was out on the practice field doing drills. And somehow, just 42 days after being shot, he made his NFL debut in Week 5. Then on "Thursday Night Football" four days later, he scored his first career touchdown.

It was an incredible comeback, especially considering Robinson initially wasn't sure if he'd ever play football again.

That was probably the lowest point Ive ever been in my life, Robinson said on Oct. 5 when he spoke to reporters for the first time since the shooting.

He jumped into rehab as soon as he possibly could, fueled by knowing what he almost lost.

"My passion for this game runs so deep, he said. I never thought Id be in a situation where I had to question or be questioned about if I could return to playing football.

Once the doctors told me Id be able to play ball again, my mind automatically clicked into what I needed to do to get myself back on the football field.
Ranked 16th in the first College Football Playoff rankings of the season released this week, Illinois has a chance to somewhat avenge its only loss of the season on Saturday when it hosts Michigan State in Champaign, Ill.

The Fighting Illini are unbeaten in nonconference and conference games within the Big Ten West Division, but their lone game against a Big Ten East opponent was a 23-20 loss at Indiana in Week 2.

Michigan State is the second opponent from the Big Ten East for Illinois this year, and doubts about the Fighting Illini stacking up against the ballyhooed East remain.

Illinois has erased plenty of doubt this season and capitalized on opportunities in becoming one of the nation's most surprising success stories.

The Fighting Illini (7-1, 4-1) have won six straight since the loss to Indiana and sit atop the Big Ten West, one game ahead of Purdue, which will visit Champaign on Nov. 12.

The No. 14 ranking in this week's AP Top 25 Poll is the highest for Illinois since 2007, and it is ranked by the CFP Committee for the first time ever.

"I think our team will enjoy being talked about," Illinois head coach Bret Bielema said. "It will be awesome to speak of it. But we're into Michigan State. We're into what we can do. We want to play Michigan State as strong as we can play them and let the cards fold as they are."

The defense has been the big story for Illinois. The Fighting Illini defense has allowed 8.8 points per game this season.

The style of play feeds perfectly with running back Chase Brown leading the nation in rushing with 1,208 yards for Illinois, which is coming off a 26-9 win at Nebraska on Saturday.

While Illinois has been one of the country's most pleasant surprises, Michigan State has been the complete opposite as one of the country's biggest disappointments.

At the start of the season, the Spartans (3-5, 1-4) were where Illinois is right now -- No. 14 in the country.

Story continues

But struggles along the offensive line and secondary has led to Michigan State losing five of its last six games. The latest defeat was a 29-7 rout at rival Michigan in a game marred by a postgame fight in the tunnel that led to the suspension of four Michigan State players.

While apologizing for the incident and talking about the suspensions on Monday, Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker also did his best to make sure his team switched its focus to playing a ranked opponent on the road.

"We're choosing to move forward and work every day to get better in everything that we're doing," Tucker said. "There's no other choice to be made in how we proceed. That's how we are going about our business."

Michigan State is 0-3 on the road this season.

This will be the first meeting between the teams since 2019.

Illinois has won the last two meetings against the Spartans: 31-27 at Champaign in 2016 and 37-34 at East Lansing in 2019.

--Field Level Media
https://sputniknews.com/20221102/3-good-reasons-for-china-not-to-trust-the-us-on-arms-control-1103055494.html

3 Good Reasons for China Not to Trust the US on Arms Control

3 Good Reasons for China Not to Trust the US on Arms Control

Beijing has expressed reticence in discussing nuclear weapons with Washington, citing the US much larger strategic arsenal. At last months Congress of the... 02.11.2022, Sputnik International

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China and the US have yet to get to a space where both sides are ready to sit down and discuss strategic deterrence issues, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control Alexandra Bell has stated.Theres work to be done to begin the conversation, we think bilaterally, Bell said at a forum hosted by the Atlantic Council, an influential DC-based neoconservative think tank.Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear and WMD Policy Richard Johnson told forum attendees that Washington wants to engage with Beijing about putting some guardrails into the relationship so that we dont have unnecessary crises, and said it was a real concern that the Chinese had stopped providing details on their plutonium stocks to the International Atomic Energy Agency.Chinas DeterrentAlong with the US, Russia, India, and Israel (allegedly), China is a nuclear triad power  meaning it has the means to engage enemy targets via ground, air, and sea-launched nuclear weapons. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates the Peoples Republics nuclear arsenal to consist of just 350 nuclear warheads (for comparison, the US and Russia have 5,550 and 6,255 nukes, respectively).The Pentagon estimates that the Asian nation is planning to amass 700 nuclear weapons by 2027, and 1,000 by 2030. However, Chinese authorities have asked US officials to tone down their rhetoric about the Chinese nuclear threat, and dismissed claims that the country is dramatically expanding its nuclear capabilities as untrue.China is one of only two nuclear powers with a no first use policy, meaning that at least theoretically, Beijing won't launch its nuclear weapons unless it is attacked with such weapons first. India is the other nuclear weapons state committed to no first use.Why is China reticent about negotiating with Washington on nukes? A few reasons immediately spring to mind.Russian LessonsBeijing has spent decades watching the arms control and security negotiations between Moscow and Washington, and observing how the US side has broken its commitments to Russia on issue after issue, from the expansion of NATO, to the scrapping of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002, to the ripping up of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) in 2019, to the collapse of the Open Skies Treaty in 2020.The Trump administration even planned to let the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) lapse, with the Biden administration reversing course at the last moment in early 2021, renewing it for another five years. Hawks in Washington advocated for New START to be scrapped based on the logic that Chinas nuclear arsenal should be incorporated into any strategic agreement with Russia. Beijing dismissed the idea, saying it would be happy to consider joining any Russia-US treaty if the countries whittled down their nuclear stockpiles to Chinas level.In other words, given the US tendency to renege on and scrap agreements with other countries, Chinas apparent reticence on engaging in negotiations with Washington is understandable.Americas Asia StrategyThe security relationship between Washington and Beijing has gradually deteriorated ever since Obama-era Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared the South China Sea a matter of US national interest in 2010. In the years since, US efforts to shore up regional alliances to hem China in and deny it access to the seas, and the deliberate sailing of Navy warships and Coast Guard vessels into China-claimed waters in the South and East China Seas and the Taiwan Straits, have given the Peoples Republic plenty of food for thought regarding Washingtons strategic intentions.With the US beginning a search for allies willing to station American ground-based intermediate-range nuclear missiles immediately after scrapping INF in 2019, China would have to be a geopolitical masochist to agree to negotiations with a Washington hell-bent on getting the upper hand against Beijing both in conventional and strategic terms.Nuclear EscalationOn Monday, Australian media reported that the US Air Force was planning to deploy multiple nuclear-capable B-52 strategic bombers to Australia in a bid to create a long-term strategic defense hub. With Washington, London, and Canberra already incensing Chinas strategic sensibilities a year ago by creating the AUKUS security pact, Beijing is likely to see the B-52s as another proverbial slap in the face.Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian signaled as much at a briefing Monday, warning Washington that the relevant US behaviors have increased regional tensions, seriously undermined regional peace and stability, and may trigger an arms race in the region.To sum up, China has several reasons to be weary of negotiating with the US on strategic weapons, including: a) Washingtons tendency to break treaties with other countries, b) years of US efforts to get an upper hand over the PRC in Chinas own backyard, and c) Americas threats to destabilize the Asia-Pacific region by stationing nuclear-capable weapons in the region first, and calling for negotiations second.The current US strategy against China isnt anything new. The 1980s deployment of Pershing and nuclear cruise missiles in Western Europe became a major impetus for arms control negotiations initiated by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, which culminated in the INF Treaty. Moscow agreed to eliminate its ground-based nuclear missiles in the 500-5,500 km range alongside Washington, even though the USSR was a continental European power and had many more such weapons than the US. With the Biden administration apparently hoping to similarly goad Beijing into talks from a position of strength by stationing strategic weapons near the Asian nations borders, only time will tell whether the PRCs leadership will fall for the same gimmick.

https://sputniknews.com/20211027/east-asia-region-facing-arms-race-threat-in-wake-of-inf-treaty-collapse-putin-warns-1090247757.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220816/us-ramping-up-strike-capabilities-in-asia-pacific-working-on-missile-deployment-russian-military-1099648468.html

https://sputniknews.com/20221031/china-warns-possible-b-52-deployment-in-australia-may-trigger-regional-arms-race-1102876373.html

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Ilya Tsukanov

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Ilya Tsukanov

china, us, treaty, negotiations, nuclear weapons, nuclear arms, nukes, talks, russia
https://sputniknews.com/20221102/australia-slammed-for-militiarizing-solomon-islands-in-anxiety-over-chinas-presence-1102943812.html

Australia Slammed for Militiarizing Solomon Islands in Anxiety Over China's Presence

Australia Slammed for Militiarizing Solomon Islands in Anxiety Over China's Presence

Washington and its allies have been increasing their military presence in the Pacific region since April, when Beijing signed a security pact with the Solomon... 02.11.2022, Sputnik International

2022-11-02T13:39+0000

2022-11-02T13:39+0000

2022-11-02T13:39+0000

world

solomon islands

australia & oceania

china

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Solomon Islands' opposition leader Matthew Wale on Wednesday slammed Australia for supplying dozens of US-made semi-automatic rifles to the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF).The opposition leader observed that Australia is being driven by its "anxiety" about China's growing presence in the Pacific region.Wale also objected to the move given the Islands' dark history with the guns: the South Pacific nation faced a five-year ethnic conflict beginning in 1998 that claimed around 200 lives.Canberra defended the move by saying that the weapons would provide the RSIPF with "enhanced capabilities to counter criminal threats and maintain peace and stability" ahead of the Pacific Games next year and the island nation's national elections in 2024. The delivery of weapons and military vehicles comes days after a group of 32 police officers from the Islands received training in policing techniques in China under the bilateral security pact signed in April, an agreement that alarmed the US and its allies.

https://sputniknews.com/20221004/solomon-islands-force-us-to-remove-china-reference-in-pacific-declaration-1101490771.html

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solomon islands, australia & oceania, china, security, police, pacific
https://sputniknews.com/20221102/conflict-in-ukraine-exposes-hypocrisy-of-world-order-pan-africanist-activist-says-1102948795.html

Conflict in Ukraine Exposes Hypocrisy of World Order, Pan-Africanist Activist Says

Conflict in Ukraine Exposes Hypocrisy of World Order, Pan-Africanist Activist Says

The Ukraine crisis has revealed the chronic hypocrisy prevailing in the behavior of several states, Pan-Africanist activist Nathalie Yamb has said. In an... 02.11.2022, Sputnik International

2022-11-02T12:18+0000

2022-11-02T12:18+0000

2022-11-23T11:37+0000

africa

ukraine

ukraine crisis

world

cameroon

pan-africanism

order

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world order

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"What is good about this conflict is that it exposes the permanent hypocrisy that the world order has been built on for too long," Pan-Africanist and Cameroonian activist Nathalie Yamb told Sputnik.Today, all the lies are being exposed, all the double standards are being displayed, in all spheres, she said. This is the case with grain and fertilizers, of which a small part has been delivered to the African continent, she stressed.Crumbling FakesIn her opinion, the world has the chance to witness the collapse of the lies that have served to "establish Western hegemony over the world."In 2022, Nathalie Yamb was denied entry and stay in France because of "recurrent statements" directed at France and its authorities, in which the activist "condones, even encourages, the use of violence against symbols of the French presence in Africa."Suspending Participation in the AgreementOn October 29, Russia suspended its participation in the grain deal after a drone attack on several Russian ships in Sevastopol Bay, Crimea, on the same day. These vessels were providing security for the grain corridor, according to Moscow. In an interview with Sputnik, Yamb raised the question of where the grain was exported under the Black Sea deal.Also on October 29, Russian Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev said that Russia was ready to supply up to 500,000 tons of grain to struggling nations at no cost over the next four months.On November 2, the Russian Defense Ministry said Moscow would resume its participation in the Black Sea grain export agreement after it has received formal guarantees from the Ukrainian side that it won't utilize the ports and humanitarian corridors covered by the agreement for military operations against Russia.According to Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, only a small part of the grain delivered under the grain agreement was sent to the poorest countries, while the rest went to non-poor states in Europe.

https://sputniknews.com/20221101/west-urged-to-stop-asking-africa-to-sacrifice-progress-to-fix-climate-crisis-it-didnt-create-1102921475.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221102/disinformation-crusaders-how-big-tech-became-us-blobs-executioner-of-free-speech-1102998030.html

Disinformation Crusaders: How Big Tech Became US Blob's Executioner of Free Speech

Disinformation Crusaders: How Big Tech Became US Blob's Executioner of Free Speech

Newly leaked documents indicate that the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has quietly proceeded with its online censorship effort despite suspending... 02.11.2022, Sputnik International

2022-11-02T15:06+0000

2022-11-02T15:06+0000

2022-11-03T18:23+0000

americas

us

opinion

russia

twitter

free speech

department of homeland security (dhs)

fbi

surveillance

joe biden

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The DHS is broadening efforts to suppress speech it considers dangerous, as per The Intercept, which analyzed a trove of leaks and lawsuit documents earlier this week. After public backlash forced the DHS to suspend its Disinformation Governance Board, the federal agency continued to monitor social media from the shadows.The documents indicated that Meta*, which owns Facebook* and Instagram*, created a special portal for the DHS and other federal officials to request content moderation on a wide range of topics, including "the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, racial justice, US withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the nature of US support to Ukraine," according to a draft copy of the DHS' Quadrennial Homeland Security Review.Edward Snowden Was First to Warn the WorldThe Monday exposure wasn't a bolt from the blue, given that former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden blew the whistle on Big Tech cooperation with US federal agents in 2013. Snowden presented documents which appeared to confirm that major US tech companies including Yahoo, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and AOL participated in the NSA's broad spying program known as Prism. However, Big Tech rushed to claim that they did not know about a surveillance practice that reportedly gives the NSA unlimited access to their customers data, with some asserting to the press that they had never heard the term "Prism." Furthermore, US tech companies issued a joint statement and sent it to then-President Barack Obama and Congress demanding sweeping changes to US surveillance laws. "The balance in many countries has tipped too far in favor of the state and away from the rights of the individual  rights that are enshrined in our constitution," the letter read.Still, Rajesh De, the NSA general counsel, revealed in March 2014 that US tech giants were fully aware of the agency's collection of data. According to him, the NSA harvested communications content and associated metadata under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act of 2008 with the knowledge of Big Tech.Silencing American Conservatives and TrumpDisturbing revelations about US federal agencies working in cahoots with Silicon Valley giants did not stop this cooperation, but quite the contrary. Since Donald Trump assumed the Oval Office in January 2017, Big Tech has adopted a series of policies curbing free speech and banning accounts mostly on the right side of the US political aisle. Then-President Trump repeatedly lambasted Twitter and Facebook for political bias and silencing "conservative views... even from a President of the United States."In 2018, conservative watchdog Project Veritas issued a series of hidden-camera interviews with Big Tech employees, who confessed that their platforms had implemented special algorithms to "shadow-ban" and "down-rank" conservatives.In May 2020, Twitter started to editorialize some of Trump's tweets by flagging them as false information. The purge of conservatives coincided with a longstanding campaign waged by the Democratic Party against Trump, including the controversial "Operation Crossfire Hurricane," which was awash with strange errors and outright violations of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) rules by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), as well as two impeachment proceedings by the Dem-held House of Representatives. Eventually, the then-US president was permanently banned from Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms following the Capitol protests of January 6, 2021.Hunter Biden's Laptop From Hell: Classy Damage Control OpHowever, it was not only censorship of conservatives, but also suppression of damning information concerning prominent Democratic figures, most notably, former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Starting from October 14, 2020, the New York Post published a series of exposes stemming from Hunter Biden's laptop, later branded the "laptop from hell," which shed light on his murky deals with foreign moneybags and alleged trading of his father's political influence for cold, hard cash.Almost immediately, Twitter and Facebook stepped in to limit the circulation of the bombshell article. However, Twitter went even further, completely banning the sharing of the newspaper's Biden story. For their part, 51 ex-top intelligence officials on October 19, 2020 issued a letter titled Public Statement on the Hunter Biden Emails," in which they claimed that Hunter's "laptop from hell" had "all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation." The letter was widely cited by US Democratic politicians and mainstream media to downplay and marginalize the bombshell.As it turned out later, the suppression of the Hunter story had all the earmarks of the classic damage control operation, which involved Big Tech, mainstream media, the US intelligence establishment, and Democratic officials. The content of Hunter Biden's hard disk has been proven to be genuine by forensic analysts.COVID, 'Big Lie' & 'Domestic TerroristsUnder Joe Biden, the attacks on dissenters under the guise of the fight against "disinformation" have gone further. In July 2021, then-White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki prompted a wave of criticism from the GOP over supposed collusion between the White House and Big Tech. She specifically told journalists that "it shouldn't come as any surprise that we're regularly in touch with social media platforms."Social media giants stepped up flagging and banning dissenters over questioning the origins and the government's handling of the COVID pandemic or discussing supposed voting irregularities and election fraud branded by the Biden administration as "Big Lie." Thus, in July 2021, Twitter permanently suspended several accounts dedicated to audits of the 2020 elections in Arizona, Wisconsin, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Georgia.Earlier, in May 2021, it was reported that the Biden administration planned to task private firms with infiltrating private social media groups to monitor so-called "domestic terrorists" after the January 6, 2021 Capitol protests. These private contractors were meant to work for US federal agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which are limited in how they can spy on US citizens online without a warrant.Brothers in Arms: Big Tech and Cyber Op UnitsIn August 2021, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced the creation of the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC) initiative, bringing together federal intelligence and military agencies, state and local governments, as well as Big Tech to defend "national critical functions from cyber intrusions." The JCDC initiative was aimed at implementing "whole-of-nation defense plans" to address cyber risks, share information within the newly established agency, and conduct "coordinated defensive cyber operations."The creation of the JCDC followed a series of ransomware attacks, some of which were groundlessly attributed to Russia, that reportedly targeted US infrastructure and government entities. US observers expressed skepticism over Big Tech's growing cooperation with federal government agencies and suggested that the "Russian bugaboo" was used as a pretext to further crack down on free speech in the US.The approach manifested itself after the beginning of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, when Russian media outlets were banned by Big Tech from their platforms, while Russian-speaking netizens were subjected to massive psy-ops on Facebook and Twitter. On Facebook, Russian-speaking users were "attacked" by ads featuring gruesome images of dead bodies and mocking Russians; calling on Russian citizens to take to the streets; and threatening Russians with the imminent collapse of their banking system and the state. Facebook also announced that it would loosen its community standards on hate speech when it came to addressing Russian military and civilian officials.Musk's Twitter: The Bird is Still in a CageThe acquisition of Twitter by billionaire Elon Musk, who has called himself a "free speech absolutist," prompted speculation that the Tesla CEO could loosen Twitter's censorship rules and free many from the platform's "jail."Scott Ritter, a military analyst, WMD whistleblower, and former US Marine Corps intelligence officer, who was banned on Twitter for challenging the US official narrative on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, decided to check this out. He created a new account using his name and photograph and posted a test tweet saying that the Bucha war crime was committed by Kiev and falsely attributed to Russia. On November 1, Ritter said in a video post on Telegram that his new Twitter account had been banned again in less than 24 hours, despite the "free speech absolutist" taking over the platform. "It appears that the bird has not been set free," Ritter said. The former intelligence officer noted that perhaps Musk needs time to sort it all out, but until then "the bird is in a cage."*Meta, Facebook, and Instagram are banned in Russia over extremist activities.

https://sputniknews.com/20200924/trump-accuses-big-tech-of-waging-war-on-free-enterprise--free-expression-1080562008.html

https://sputniknews.com/20221020/laptop-from-hell-watchdog-says-hunter-biden--partners-committed-459-legal-violations-1102470869.html

https://sputniknews.com/20201015/digital-civil-war-twitter--facebook-ban-anti-biden-bombshells-greenlight-anti-trump-hoaxes-1080782183.html

https://sputniknews.com/20211214/how-domestic-surveillance-of-journalists--citizens-became-standard-us-government-practice-1091524290.html

https://sputniknews.com/20221028/the-bird-is-free-will-musk-tear-down-twitter-jails-wall-and-let-sputnik-out-1102802957.html

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Ekaterina Blinova

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Ekaterina Blinova

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https://sputniknews.com/20221102/how-immigration-fallout-in-nordic-countries-may-serve-as-cautionary-tale-to-canada-1102942180.html

How Immigration Fallout in Nordic Countries May Serve as Cautionary Tale to Canada

How Immigration Fallout in Nordic Countries May Serve as Cautionary Tale to Canada

Following decades of open-doors immigration policy championed by both the left and the right, the Scandinavian nations are now advocating restrictions and... 02.11.2022, Sputnik International

2022-11-02T09:13+0000

2022-11-02T09:13+0000

2022-11-02T09:13+0000

world

europe

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Saddled with nearly a million vacant jobs across the country, Canada is bidding on record-breaking immigration to address the labor shortage. In a new immigration policy landmark, set out by Canadas Immigration Minister Sean Fraser, the country intends to attract a total of 1.45 million immigrants in the years between 2023 and 2025.Barely a week ago, the country hit an important demographic milestone, as its announced that more than one in five Canadians now was an immigrant.As put by Fraser, threatened with labour shortages and lacking economic capacity to fund schools and hospitals, Canada needs more people to balance a worrying demographic trend. Among others, Fraser cited an aging population and a looming wave of retirements.Since the early 1990s, Canada has maintained continuously high immigration, attracting an average of over 200,000 newcomers per year. However, a similar approach has been tested in Scandinavia in recent decades and resulted in governments reversing gears to manage the fallout.Straightening Out SwedenAmong others, Sweden, which saw decades of open-doors immigration policy upheldby parties from the left and the right alike, is clearly reversing the trend, with both left-wing Social Democrats and liberal-conservative Moderates now advocating restrictions and harsher immigration measures.While successive Swedish governments representing both blocs have encouraged mass immigration, with nearly 20 percent of the countrys population of 10.2 million being foreign-born and over a quarter having foreign roots, the demographic shift coincided with profound changes in the Swedish society.Unlike its fellow EU nations, Sweden has seen a spike in violent crime in recent decades, making it the worst country in the EU in terms of fatal shootings per year, trailing only Croatia in a 2021 survey. The country's Crime Prevention Council (Bra) called this trend unique and pinned the blame on the criminal environments engaged in drug trafficking and other criminal groups, which reportedly account for eight out of ten shootings.A turning point was reached several years ago, when former Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, after years of denial, finally admitted the role of poor integration in the soaring crime. Subsequently, Erik Nord, the head of the Greater Gothenburg police area, acknowledged a link between mass shootings and immigration, emphasizing that basically everyone who shoots or is shot in gang conflicts originates from the Balkans, the Middle East, or North or East Africa.Fittingly, immigration-related crime became a key topic of the 2022 election, with notions such as parallel societies, no-go zones, "illegals" and exclusion areas, while assiduously avoided by the government and the mainstream media, entering popular parlance. Current Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson ran on the platform of straightening out Sweden, pledging to crack down on crime and tackling issues from soaring gang shootings to high unemployment and disorderly school classrooms, for which he blamed his predecessors.His rhetoric alone marks a stark contrast with both Social Democrat Stefan Lofven, who famously said My Europe doesnt built walls, and fellow Moderate Fredrik Reinfeldt, who urged Swedes to Open their hearts and embrace mass immigration, voicing ambitions to turn the country into a humanitarian superpower.Opponents of mass immigration cite economic arguments as well, blasting the notion of the influx of foreigners being beneficial for economy. According to Statistics Sweden, more than 790,000 of the countrys residents (or 13.4 percent of its able-bodied population) live on benefits, disproportionately many of them being immigrants. Although Sweden's overall unemployment rate is 6.5 percent, it exceeds 20 percent among immigrants. This is a far cry from the "shower of competence" marketed by national broadcaster SVT at the height of the migrant crisis, which suggested that highly qualified engineers and doctors were en route to the Nordic country.The idea of putting limits to immigration, seen as borderline racist during both the Reinfeldt and the Lofven eras, has now become mainstream. While the much-vilified national-conservative Sweden Democrats used to be the only party in favor of harsher immigration laws and sterner penalties, even outgoing Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, an ardent Social Democrat, took credit for tightening the countrys immigration policy.Denmark Shutting DoorsA similar pattern emerged in Denmark, albeit several years ago. The national-conservative Danish Peoples Party, once a formidable force to be reckoned with, lost their unique position as the solitary anti-immigration party. Instead, some of their talking points were adopted by numerous parties, representing both blocs. Consecutive Danish governments, including the ruling Social Democrats, have asserted a tough stance on immigration and integration, constraining the once-massive influx of foreigners to a trickle.The Danish authorities themselves helped sway the popular opinion away from immigration  among others by reports evaluating the net cost of immigration from non-western countries as DKK 31 billion ($4.11 billion).Furthermore, Denmark is known for passing headlines-grabbing laws such as the 2016 Jewelry Law, which gave Danish authorities the power to search for and confiscate cash, jewelry, and other valuables above DKK 10,000 (about $1,325) from arriving migrants, allegedly to pay for their reception and stay, and the Ghetto Package, which aims to reduce the number of people of non-Western origin in areas designated vulnerable to under 30 percent, through evictions, harsher punishment, overpolicing, and compulsory daycare. Yet another eye-grabbing project concerns setting up a reception center in Rwanda to process asylum seekers requests.Tellingly, Danish Immigration Minister Mattias Tesfaye, himself the son of an Ethiopian refugee, called on the EU to learn from the mistakes of the 2015 Migrant Crisis and urged refugees from overseas to stay within their regions rather than seek asylum in Europe.

https://sputniknews.com/20210527/europes-chicago-sweden-outguns-rest-of-eu-in-deadly-shootings-1083005514.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220914/time-and-demographics-on-our-side-swedish-rapper-consoles-blacks-and-browns-after-election-1100748011.html

https://sputniknews.com/20210125/denmark-sets-aim-at-zero-asylum-seekers-promises-crackdown-on-political-islam-1081870986.html

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Igor Kuznetsov

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Igor Kuznetsov

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https://sputniknews.com/20221102/how-west-skimmed-cream-from-grain-deal-and-then-derailed-it-1102944881.html

How West Skimmed Cream From Grain Deal and Then Derailed It

How West Skimmed Cream From Grain Deal and Then Derailed It

Moscow suspended its grain deal with Kiev on October 29, following a Ukrainian attack on Russian vessels ensuring the safety of the humanitarian corridor... 02.11.2022, Sputnik International

2022-11-02T09:00+0000

2022-11-02T09:00+0000

2022-11-02T11:32+0000

opinion & analysis

us

opinion

russia

grain

ukraine

black sea

terror attack

crimean bridge

sevastopol

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"Russia [has] demand[ed] a cessation of any attacks on its Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol or at sea before reentering the grain deal," said Gilbert Doctorow, an International relations and Russian affairs analyst. "But another requirement will be the implementation of the parallel deal over freeing export of Russian grain and fertilizers that was part of the UN-facilitated agreements with Ukraine, but never happened."Earlier this week, the United Nations, Turkey, and Ukraine agreed not to plan any movement of vessels on November 2, as Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterparts held talks on the situation around the grain corridor in the wake of Ukraine's drone strike on military and civilian vessels stationed in Sevastopol, Crimea.Putin told Erdogan that Moscow should get "real guarantees from Kiev about the strict observance of the Istanbul agreement, in particular about not using the humanitarian corridor for military purposes," before potentially resuming the deal, brokered by Turkey and the UN in July, 2022.After Moscow made an official announcement on October 29 that the deal was suspended, Turkey and the UN made an effort to proceed with implementing the accords nonetheless.On October 31, Russian officials drew attention to the fact that the prolongation of the deal is fraught with grave security risks. First, the terror attack on the Crimean Bridge prompted justified suspicions that bulk carriers with grain could have been used for transporting explosives by Ukrainian special services. Second, Kiev had no scruples about exploiting the humanitarian grain corridor for conducting a massive drone attack in the Black Sea.During his Monday presser in Sochi, Putin noted that under the grain deal, Moscow had guaranteed to ensure the security of the passage of vessels, which become impossible after Kiev's drone attack. "If, pardon me for the expression, Ukraine strikes [cargo and civilian] ships, we will be 'guilty,'" he said.Zakharova emphasized that the October 29 sabotage attack was carried out by Kiev in concert with NATO member states. She noted that British specialists were involved in the incident, while US military equipment was spotted in the area on the eve of the terrorist attack.West's 'Propaganda Charade'Meanwhile, the US and its NATO allies have raised the alarm over Russia's suspension of the deal, accusing it of "weaponizing food again," while the EU and NATO have demanded that Moscow rejoin the accords.Meanwhile, developed states have capitalized tremendously from the deal by receiving the lion's share of agricultural products shipped through the grain corridor, even though the initiative was aimed at helping the starving countries of the Global South. For instance, needy countries such as Somalia, Ethiopia, Yemen, Sudan, and Afghanistan received just 3% of the food, primarily through the UN World Food Program. At the same time, for some categories of agricultural products - rapeseed, corn, and soybeans - EU countries received from 60% to 100% of supplies from Ukraine.West Hasn't Been Interested in Deal, Pursued Own InterestsOn November 2, Maria Zakharova accused the West of turning the grain deal from a humanitarian operation into a commercial activity that ensures the interests of its own companies. According to Zakharova, the US and its European allies are openly manipulating statistics to persuade the world that the deal's provisions had been implemented. Earlier this week, US State Department spokesman Ned Price claimed that developing countries had received "two thirds of wheat," referring to UN reports. "It has been critical to get aid to the worlds neediest people. And Russia, and Russia alone, is now directly standing in the way of that," insisted Price.However, the State Department spokesperson somehow failed to mention that the second part of the deal, on ensuring the flow of Russian grain and fertilizers, was never implemented. The West continues to block Russian food exports  which substantially exceed the whole volume of Ukraine's agricultural products  from world markets, thus exacerbating the ongoing food crunch.It appears that the West was not interested in Russia playing a major role in the grain deal from the outset: on July 25, just three days after the UN-brokered deal was signed, US Agency for International Development (USAID) administrator Samantha Power told the US press that Washington was working on "Plan B" to get agricultural products out of Ukraine. According to her, the plan included road, rail, and river. She "justified" the necessity of the US-led plan by alleged attacks on Odessa's port by Russia. Kiev's subsequent attacks on Russian civilian infrastructure and vessels in the Black Sea and with the West's tacit approval and, purportedly, direct assistance once again demonstrated that the US and its NATO allies did not care much about preserving the accords.The responsibility for the suspension of the grain deal lies with the West, according to Tiberio Graziani, an Italian political scientist and analyst as well as president of the International Institute for Global Analysis Vision.

https://sputniknews.com/20221031/why-did-russia-leave-grain-deal-and-whos-to-blame--1102875661.html

https://sputniknews.com/20221101/russia-to-donate-wheat-fuel-to-lebanon-after-suspending-grain-deal-lebanese-minister-says-1102909629.html

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Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Nov. 2, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

BEIJING, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday met with Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is accompanying Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan to visit China.

Wang said Sharif is the first foreign head of government to visit China since the successful convening of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which fully reflects the special friendship between the two countries and the important position Pakistan holds in China's overall diplomacy.

China's development is a growing force for world peace and a strong factor for global stability. In the process of this development, China-Pakistan relations will gain new impetus and will be elevated to a new stage, Wang noted.

He said that China will continue to provide assistance to Pakistan in its post-disaster reconstruction work, and that China is ready to work with Pakistan to promote the high-quality development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

For his part, Zardari congratulated China on the success of the 20th CPC National Congress, saying the blueprint for China's development drawn at the congress will inject strong positive energy into the promotion of world peace and development.

Pakistan is committed to continuously injecting new impetus into Pakistan-China relations and pushing bilateral ties to a new height, he said. 

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Nov. 2, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)
Kremlin: One of Conditions for Resumption of Grain Deal is Elimination of Obstacles to Export of Fertilizers

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - One of the conditions for the resumption of Russia's participation in the grain deal is the elimination of direct and indirect obstacles to the export of fertilizers, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

The spokesperson added that the use of the grain corridor for military purposes by the Ukrainian military is the second issue that Russia has with the grain deal.
https://sputniknews.com/20221102/north-korea-launches-17-missiles-fires-100-rounds-of-artillery-shots-seoul-says-1102940262.html

North Korea Launches 17 Missiles, Fires 100 Rounds of Artillery Shots, Seoul Says

North Korea Launches 17 Missiles, Fires 100 Rounds of Artillery Shots, Seoul Says

SEOUL (Sputnik) - North Korea launched 17 missiles towards the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea and fired 100rounds of artillery shots on Wednesday, South... 02.11.2022, Sputnik International

2022-11-02T08:22+0000

2022-11-02T08:22+0000

2022-11-02T08:22+0000

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Short-range ballistic missiles are just one of a number of types of projectiles launched by Pyongyang on Wednesday. One of them landed near South Korea's territorial waters for the first time since the two Koreas' division.Moments after Seoul issued a statement, the Japanese maritime security service said that the DPRK has conducted another launch of what is believed to be a ballistic missile.Earlier in the day, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters that North Korea had fired at least 10 missiles toward the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea. South Korea has closed some of its air routes in the Sea of Japan over Pyongyang's missile launches, while the Japanese transport ministry recommended that local airlines choose alternative routes to ensure the safety of passengers who travel to the United States and Japan.In response to the DPRK's launches, South Korea's Air Force fired three air-to-surface missiles into international waters north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL)."This accurate firing by our military demonstrates the readiness of South Korea to respond decisively to any provocation, including launches of short-range ballistic missiles, as well as the ability and readiness to deliver a precision strike against the enemy," the statement said.Meanwhile, the United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) has issued a statement, saying that the launch of missiles by North Korea did not pose an immediate threat to US territory and personnel, as well as to Washington's allies.The escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula comes as the US and South Korea are connducting joint military exercises, called "Vigilant Storm." The DPRK has warned the US that it would a "powerful response" if Washington "continuously persists in the grave military provocations." Pyongyang also accused the US of being "the chief culprit in destroying peace and security," stressing that the country was ready to take all necessary measures to defend against military threats.The drills were launched amid Seoul's claims that North Korea could detonate its first nuclear test device since September 2017.

https://sputniknews.com/20221102/south-korean-military-detects-dprk-ballistic-missile-test-fired-toward-sea-of-japan-1102933157.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221102/norway-boosting-military-readiness-is-unprecedented-moscow-says-1102945806.html

Norway's Boosting Military Readiness is Unprecedented, Moscow Says

Norway's Boosting Military Readiness is Unprecedented, Moscow Says

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Moscow considers the decision to increase the readiness of the Norwegian armed forces as an unprecedented step, Russian Foreign Ministry... 02.11.2022, Sputnik International

2022-11-02T11:01+0000

2022-11-02T11:01+0000

2022-11-02T11:18+0000

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"It would not concern us, but there is an important detail  such an unprecedented step is justified, as it is not difficult to guess, by the actions of Russia, which 'led to the most serious military-political situation in Europe.' No, it were not our actions that led to this, it were your actions. You are the collective West It was you who destabilized the situation on the European continent," Zakharova told a briefing, commenting on Oslo's actions.The spokeswoman noted that the Russian side will respond to any unfriendly actions of the Norwegian side."The escalation of the threat from the East, the denigration of our country by attributing to it things that it does not do, is once again being used by the Norwegian authorities to disguise their own aspirations regarding military preparations We consider this development of events near the Russian borders as Oslo's conscious adherence to a destructive course to escalate tensions in the Euro-Arctic region Russia is always open to an honest and mutually respectful dialogue, but any unfriendly actions will be followed by a timely and adequate response," Zakharova said.The Norwegian government decided to strengthen the combat readiness of the kingdom's armed forces starting November 1 amid the conflict in Ukraine, head of the Norwegian armed forces Eirik Kristoffersen said on Monday.

https://sputniknews.com/20221026/spy-mania-moscow-slams-norways-arrest-of-researcher-as-politically-motivated-1102658932.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221102/protest-march-led-by-pakistans-ex-prime-minister-plans-to-reach-capital-by-november-11-1102941742.html

Protest March Led by Pakistan's Ex-Prime Minister Plans to Reach Capital by November 11

Protest March Led by Pakistan's Ex-Prime Minister Plans to Reach Capital by November 11

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The protest march organized by Pakistani opposition party Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led by former Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to reach... 02.11.2022, Sputnik International

2022-11-02T08:35+0000

2022-11-02T08:35+0000

2022-11-02T08:35+0000

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The protest march, which is a move to demand early general election, kicked off in the city of Lahore on Friday.Umar said that the PTI march would reach the city of Rawalpindi by November 10 as per new schedule, while convoys of protesters from all over Pakistan will arrive in Islamabad on November 11.The march was interrupted on Sunday after Pakistani journalist Sadaf Naeem was crushed to death by a vehicle carrying Khan. After the incident, the party leadership stopped the procession, and the ex-prime minister expressed condolences over the woman's death.Last week, the Pakistani government asked the country's Supreme Court to halt the PTI's march, but the request was rejected. Before going to court, government representatives said that the authorities would strengthen their policy toward those who attended the protest. In turn, the Islamabad authorities announced that they would not allow the PTI to hold meetings in the city and stepped up the protection of the so-called red zone, in which the main government buildings are located.The previous protest march took place on May 25, when thousands of Khan's supporters reached Islamabad. During the march, clashes broke out between the protesters and the police, in which dozens of people were injured. Following the clashes, Tehreek-e-Insaf decided to stop the protest to avoid bloodshed.Khan was ousted in mid-April amid a spiraling economic crisis after the parliament held a vote of no-confidence in his government. Tehreek-e-Insaf lawmakers boycotted the vote.Since then, numerous protests have been held in Pakistan calling for a snap election amid public discontent with the economic situation in the country under the government headed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who replaced Khan. Khan himself has insisted that his ousting was orchestrated by foreign powers, namely the US.The Election Commission of Pakistan said that new election will not be held until May.

https://sputniknews.com/20221028/islamabad-braces-for-political-drama-as-imran-khans-long-march-kicks-off-1102783258.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221102/rumble-to-turn-off-france-entirely-after-paris-demands-russian-media-be-blocked-1102947839.html

Rumble to 'Turn Off France Entirely' After Paris Demands Russian Media Be Blocked

Rumble to 'Turn Off France Entirely' After Paris Demands Russian Media Be Blocked

The European Union slapped harsh sanctions on almost all things Russian after Moscow launched its military operation in Ukraine. Russian media has also been... 02.11.2022, Sputnik International

2022-11-02T12:26+0000

2022-11-02T12:26+0000

2022-11-03T19:29+0000

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Rumble has announced that it is going to disable access to its service in France after Paris demanded that the video hosting platform remove Russian news sources. The company also said it challenges the legality of the French government's demands, pledging that the decision to turn off France "will not have a material effect on our business, as France represents less than one percent of our users." The company's head, Chris Pavlovlsky, drew parallels between himself and the new owner of Twitter, Elon Musk, when commenting on the decision. He underlined that just like the Tesla and SpaceX founder, he will not change his company's policy "for any foreign government."Earlier, in March, Musk said that Starlink had received demands from "some governments (not Ukraine) to block Russian news sources.""We will not do so unless at gunpoint. Sorry to be a free speech absolutist," Musk said at the time.Russian media outlets, Sputnik and RT among them, have been slapped with EU sanctions imposed after the beginning of Moscow's military operation in Ukraine. In early March, the EU banned the broadcasting and distribution of Sputnik and RT content as part of the sanctions, and suspended the relevant licenses. Moscow blasted the move to sanctions Russian media as "political persecution," with Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova calling it "an irreversible devaluation of European norms and values as well as the decline of the EU justice system."

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https://sputniknews.com/20221102/russia-still-demands-us-kiev-explain-military-bio-labs-on-ukraine-territory---polyanskiy-1103226993.html

Russia Still Demands US, Kiev Explain Military Bio-Labs on Ukraine Territory - Polyanskiy

Russia Still Demands US, Kiev Explain Military Bio-Labs on Ukraine Territory - Polyanskiy

UNITED NATIONS, November 3 (Sputnik) - Russia will still require clarifications from the United States and Ukraine regarding their military bio-laboratories... 02.11.2022, Sputnik International

2022-11-02T21:32+0000

2022-11-02T21:32+0000

2022-11-02T21:53+0000

russia's special operation in ukraine

biolab

the united nations (un)

ukraine

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"Regardless of the outcome of the vote today, the questions to the United States and Ukraine is something that we do retain and the evidence which accompanied our complaints still require clarifications," Polyanskiy said on Wednesday.Earlier, the Russian Federation submitted a draft resolution to the UN Security Council for consideration. The UNSC did not adopt a resolution of the Russian Federation on establishing a commission to investigate military biological activities in Ukraine. Russia did not receive nine votes out of the 15-member body needed for the resolution to be adopted on Wednesday.

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https://sputniknews.com/20221102/russia-suspends-grain-deal-dhs-works-to-police-social-media-dems-midterm-hopes-falling-1102932897.html

Russia Suspends Grain Deal; DHS Works to Police Social Media; Dems Midterm Hopes Falling

Russia Suspends Grain Deal; DHS Works to Police Social Media; Dems Midterm Hopes Falling

The US Department of Homeland Security has been working directly with Social Media giants to police speech in favor of US government narratives. 02.11.2022, Sputnik International

2022-11-02T09:21+0000

2022-11-02T09:21+0000

2022-11-02T09:21+0000

the critical hour

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Russia Leaves Grain Deal; DHS Works to Police Social Media; Dems Midterm Hopes Falling The US Department of Homeland Security has been working directly with Social Media giants to police speech in favor of US government narratives.

Regis Tremblay, an American citizen living in Crimea, joins us to discuss Ukraine and Russia. Russia has decided to vacate the Black Sea corridor grain deal due to NATO's use of it to launch drone attacks on the base of the Black Sea fleet. Also, Moscow will help African countries obtain grain amid the suspension of the deal and Finnish law enforcement is finding that arms trafficking from Ukraine has gotten out of control.Jamarl Thomas, co-host of Fault Lines, joins us to discuss the Global South. Presidents Petro and Maduro will meet in Caracas to discuss mutual concerns. Also, Latin American leaders congratulate Lula De Silva on his win as President Bolsonaro contemplates his next move.Steve Poikonen, national organizer for Action4Assange, joins us to discuss social media censorship. The US Department of Homeland Security has been working directly with Social Media giants to police speech in favor of US government narratives. Also, the FBI is trying to seal Seth Rich's laptop for 66 years.K. J. Noh, peace activist, writer, and teacher, joins us to discuss Asia. The US is deploying nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to Australia in a move to raise the stakes against China. Also, North Korea argues that the US is preparing to attack as military exercises on its border escalate.Laith Marouf, broadcaster and journalist based in Beirut, Lebanon, joins us to discuss the Middle East. Russia will donate grain to Lebanon following its termination of the Black Sea grain deal. Also, Israel seizes more Palestinian land for settlements and Benjamin Netanyahu works to reclaim power in Israel.Levi Rickert, editor, and publisher of NativeNewsOnline.net, joins us to discuss Indigenous abuse in Canada. A town in Canada is being outed for indigenous abuse and murder as the practice of taking indigenous citizens out of town and leaving them to freeze to death is coming into international focus.Ray McGovern, Former CIA analyst, and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, joins us to discuss US foreign policy. President Putin has skewered US foreign policy for the absurdity of simultaneous military and economic confrontation with two nuclear powers.John Kiriakou, journalist, author, and host of Political Misfits, joins us to discuss Israel's election. John Kiriakou is on the ground in Israel reporting on the election. Benjamin Netanyahu moves to regain power with his far right-wing movement.We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.comThe views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the position of Sputnik

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https://sputniknews.com/20221102/scholz-germany-adheres-to-one-china-policy-regarding-taiwan-1103121834.html

Scholz: Germany Adheres to One-China Policy Regarding Taiwan

Scholz: Germany Adheres to One-China Policy Regarding Taiwan

BERLIN (Sputnik) - Germany adheres to the One-China principle in assessing the situation around Taiwan, which in its interpretation means that any change to... 02.11.2022, Sputnik International

2022-11-02T18:14+0000

2022-11-02T18:14+0000

2022-11-02T18:14+0000

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taiwan

one china policy

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"The tense situation around Taiwan is raising concerns. Just like the United States and many other countries, we adhere to the One-China policy. However, this means that any change in the status quo must take place peacefully and by mutual consent. Our policy aims to maintain order based on rules, the peaceful resolution of conflicts, protection of human and minority rights, and free, fair global trade," Scholz said in an article for a German newspaper.In this regard, the German leader also noted that Beijing was and would continue to be an important partner of Berlin, but the relations between the two countries must be transformed, as Beijing has changed.It has been three years since the previous German chancellor, Angela Merkel, last visited China, Scholz recalled, adding that during that time, challenges and risks had significantly grown in Europe, East Asia and, in particular, in German-Chinese relations.Scholz will visit China on November 4. He is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time in Beijing. During the trip, the German chancellor will also hold talks with Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang. The negotiations will focus on bilateral relations, the Ukraine conflict and the deteriorating environment in the Taiwan Strait.The situation around Taiwan escalated after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island in early August. Beijing condemned Pelosi's trip, which it regarded as a gesture of support for separatism, and launched large-scale military exercises in the vicinity of the island. Despite this fact, several countries, including Germany, have sent delegations to the island since then, further increasing tensions in the Taiwan Strait.Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949. Beijing views the island as its province, while Taiwan  a territory with its own elected government  maintains that it is an autonomous country but stops short of declaring independence. Beijing opposes any official contacts of foreign states with Taipei and considers Chinese sovereignty over the island indisputable.

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https://sputniknews.com/20221102/serbian-armed-forces-shoot-down-drone-over-military-unit-near-kosovo-1103139584.html

Serbian Armed Forces Shoot Down Drone Over Military Unit Near Kosovo

Serbian Armed Forces Shoot Down Drone Over Military Unit Near Kosovo

BELGRADE (Sputnik) - The Serbian armed forces on Wednesday shot down a drone over a military unit in the town of Raska near the administrative line with the... 02.11.2022, Sputnik International

2022-11-02T18:47+0000

2022-11-02T18:47+0000

2022-11-02T18:47+0000

military

europe

serbia

aleksandar vucic

drone

kosovo

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Earlier in the day, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic and Defense Minister Milos Vucevic said that unmanned aerial vehicles of unknown origin had monitored the positions of the Serbian army near the administrative line with Kosovo and Metohija. Belgrade pledged to shoot down the drones if the incidents were repeated.At midnight on Tuesday, Pristina's decision on the mandatory re-registration of cars with Serbian plates came into force at checkpoints separating Kosovo from Serbia. Kosovo's "customs officers" started issuing written warnings to drivers of cars with license plate numbers issued by the Serbian authorities.Later that day, Serbia's armed forces were put on high alert by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to enable a quick response to any development in the situation on the border with Kosovo, the country's defense minister said. However, he added that "nobody wants to wage a war and start a conflict."On August 27, Belgrade and Pristina reached an EU-brokered compromise deal on entry and exit regulations. Serbia agreed to abolish entry-exit documents for Kosovo ID holders, while Kosovo agreed not to introduce them for Serbian citizens. Belgrade maintains this move is only aimed at streamlining border crossing and does not mean that Serbia recognizes Kosovo's independence.Meanwhile, the Kosovar authorities require that local Serbs re-register their car plates, demanding that they feature the EU-standard letter code of RKS (Republic of Kosovo) instead of KM, the Serbian identifier for the disputed region of Kosovska Mitrovica on the border. The deadline for re-registration was October 31.In mid-September, Vucic said that the risk of a violent conflict in Kosovo had increased due to Pristina's controversial policy and unilateral steps.

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https://sputniknews.com/20221102/swedish-parties-split-over-natos-nuclear-arms-on-countrys-soil-1102936097.html

Swedish Parties Split Over NATO Keeping Nuclear Arms on Countrys Soil

Swedish Parties Split Over NATO Keeping Nuclear Arms on Countrys Soil

When submitting its NATO application earlier this year, the Swedish government made a specific promise to keep the alliance's nuclear weapons and permanent... 02.11.2022, Sputnik International

2022-11-02T06:35+0000

2022-11-02T06:35+0000

2022-11-02T08:22+0000

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A statement by the Supreme Commander of Sweden's Armed Forces, General Micael Byden, in which he had no reservations over storing nuclear weapons on Swedish soil, has caused a deep rift among the politicians of the Scandinavian country.The Moderates, now in power, want to follow Finland's path over nuclear weapons, whereas the Social Democrats, the main opposition party, are critical.Despite themselves having submitted the NATO application over changes in the security situation, the Social Democrats made a specific promise to keep the alliances nuclear weapons and permanent bases outside the countrys borders, a decision which the Moderates, then in opposition, supported.The same view on nuclear arms and military bases was shared by Hakan Svenneling, foreign policy spokesman for the Left Party.Earlier, Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Sweden and Finland should take a joint approach, and the Finnish government's draft law on joining NATO was reported to allow the alliance to bring nuclear weapons onto Finnish territory. This was later confirmed by Finland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin who said that Helsinki hasn't ruled out nuclear weapons on its territory. Kristersson was backed by Defense Minister and party mate Pal Jonson, who stressed that Sweden and Finland started the process hand in hand and should continue to do so.The Swedish Defence Research Agency considered it unlikely that NATO would place nuclear arms on Finnish or Swedish territory, unless nuclear-armed aircraft or vessels had to pass through. At the same time it ventured that a "No" to nuclear weapons would be perceived as unfortunate defiance towards Russia, since Moscows special operation to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine, falsely presented as a war of aggression, was used as a pretext to join NATO in the first place.Finland and Sweden submitted their NATO membership applications in May, three months into Russias special operation, abandoning decades of non-alignment. So far, 29 out of 30 NATO members have formally ratified the accession agreements. As of now, both countries are in talks with Turkey to allay concerns over their alleged support of organizations which Ankara considers to be terrorist.At present, only three NATO members have nuclear arms (the US, the UK and France). None of these have placed nuclear arms in the territory of new members since the end of the Cold War. Remarkably, Sweden and Finlands Nordic peers Norway and Denmark limited their involvement in NATO by neither placing nuclear arms, nor receiving conventional forces on their territory in peacetime.Currently, seven NATO countries have specially certified fighter jets capable of carrying US B61 tactical nuclear bombs deployed in Europe (the US, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Turkey, Belgium and Greece).The Kremlin refrained from assessing the risks of deploying nuclear weapons in Scandinavia. Its spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged waiting for clear wording before drawing conclusions.The Russian Federation Council, the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, stressed that if nuclear arms were placed in those countries, Russia would take measures to increase its border security accordingly.Earlier, Russia said it was worried by western rhetoric about the possibility of using nuclear weapons. Sergei Naryshkin, the director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, called it "completely unacceptable". The Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that Moscow supports the premise that war between nuclear powers would be inadmissible, and President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address that "those who are trying to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the wind could turn in their direction".

https://sputniknews.com/20221026/finland-to-allow-for-deployment-of-nato-nuclear-weapons-on-its-territory-reports-say-1102667202.html

https://sputniknews.com/20221030/kiev-london-sabotaged-grain-deal-to-add-food-crisis-to-nuclear-blackmail-moscow-says-1102843970.html

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MANDERA, Kenya, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Al-Shabab militants kidnapped four Kenyans on Tuesday evening in Mandera county near the border with Somalia, the police confirmed on Wednesday.

George Seda, Northeastern regional police commander, said the four were abducted after the militants hijacked an ambulance ferrying patients to a hospital in El Wak town for treatment.

Seda said the incident occurred around 6:00 p.m. local time as an ambulance driver raced with a patient and two paramedics on board.

"The four Kenyans were carjacked by suspected al-Shabab militia and driven toward Somalia," Seda said on the phone, noting that a major security operation, launched later on, did not bear fruits as the attackers had crossed the border to Somalia with the Kenyans.

Local officials said all the victims are locals, and they are highly likely to be released. The attackers were heavily armed with rifles at the time of the incident.

Witnesses and police said the four, including two paramedics based at Lafey Sub-County Hospital, were en route to Elwak hospital for referral services.

Seda said they have contacted the Somali administration to secure the release of the four Kenyans.

Al-Shabab militants have been attacking places in the region, especially in Mandera, Wajir, and Garissa counties in northeastern Kenya, which left dozens of civilians and security officials dead and wounded. 
https://sputniknews.com/20221102/synthetic-covid--chimeric-strains-why-us-should-open-all-of-its-biolabs-for-inspection-1103104729.html

Synthetic COVID & Chimeric Strains: Why US Should Open All of Its Biolabs for Inspection

Synthetic COVID & Chimeric Strains: Why US Should Open All of Its Biolabs for Inspection

Recently, Russian Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin called for an independent investigation into the origins of COVID-19 under the auspices of the... 02.11.2022, Sputnik International

2022-11-02T18:12+0000

2022-11-02T18:12+0000

2022-11-02T18:12+0000

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"I strongly agree that an independent international investigation into the origins of the global COVID epidemic is absolutely essential," Ron Unz, a US technology entrepreneur, political activist, writer, and the publisher of The Unz Review, told Sputnik. "By reasonable estimates, over 18 million people have died worldwide, including more than a million Americans, and the people of my own country should be in the forefront in demanding answers about how it happened. Given current international conflicts, arranging such a non-partisan body might be difficult, but it should be attempted. I think that some very prominent Americans, such as Prof. Jeffrey Sachs and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. would be excellent choices as senior figures in such an international investigation."Russian Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin created a poll on his Telegram account last week asking whether his followers were inclined to believe that Sars-CoV-2 was a man-made virus. Out of 352,400 respondents 94% said that the virus was artificially created, 2% did not agree, while 4% said they did not care."Scientists from different countries have found evidence of the laboratory origin of COVID-19," the Russian official wrote on October 29. "There are 336 biological laboratories in 30 countries capable of creating such a virus under the control of the Pentagon ()The UN should conduct an independent investigation into Washington's involvement in the emergence of the coronavirus."'Synthetic Origin of SARS-CoV-2'Volodin's post came on the heels of research by Valentin Bruttel, a scientist at the University Hospital of Wurzburg, and his colleagues published on October 20, 2022. In a report titled "Endonuclease fingerprint indicates a synthetic origin of SARS-CoV-2," the scientists argued that the novel coronavirus is "an anomaly, more likely a product of synthetic genome assembly than natural evolution." The scientific paper has not yet gone through the process of peer review.The issue of COVID's origin has been surrounded by controversies from the outset of the pandemic. Thus, the Trump administration pointed the finger at China, claiming the virus could have been created at the Wuhan bio-laboratory while presenting zero evidence to back the claim. Remarkably, having assumed the Oval Office, Joe Biden followed Trump's suit and joined the blame game. For its part, Chinese media and the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) questioned Washington's handling of the pandemic and its non-transparent biolab activities.The US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) appeared to be the first to produce a classified report warning about an "out-of-control disease epidemic" in the Wuhan area of China in the second week of November 2019. However, the Pentagon rushed to deny that such a report ever existed. To add more to the controversy, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) held a joint exercise with national, state, and local organizations from January 2019 to August 2019 in order to test the capacity of the federal government to respond to a pandemic of influenza originating in China.To cap it off, neither a COVID-19 "patient zero" nor a "guilty bat" has been found, which means it's unclear when and where exactly SARS-CoV-2 started to circulate among humans.In May 2022, Professors Jeffrey D. Sachs and Neil L. Harrison published a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal, suggesting that the virus could be artificial and called for an independent inquiry into its possible American origins.Boston Virologists' Reckless 'Gain-of-Function' ExperimentIn July 2022, Professor Sachs told the Iranian media that "the US government was sponsoring a lot of dangerous genetic manipulation of SARS-like viruses and has not yet honestly revealed the nature of that work." Sachs suggested that SARS-CoV-2 could have emerged as a result of a biotech "blunder," ruling out the possibility that the virus was developed as a bioweapon.Meanwhile, in mid-October 2022, a group of virologists at Boston University claimed that they had managed to create a chimeric SARS-CoV-2 virus with the spike protein of Omicron and the remaining viral structures from the original virus strain that inflicts severe disease and has an 80% kill rate.The study triggered a wave of criticism in the US over "gain-of-function" research on SARS-CoV-2. Indeed, last year the National Institutes of Health (NIH) officially stated that it would not support gain-of-function research, following deep concerns voiced by US congressmen amid the debate on COVID's origins. The scientists tried to refute the criticism by saying that the study was conducted in mice only, and cannot be generalized to humans. That did not help, as concerns persisted.While the Boston virologists' experiment does not per se confirm that the original strain of SARS-CoV-2 was bioengineered, it appears to demonstrate that this could have been possible, according to the publisher."It does demonstrate the extreme recklessness of many of our civilian or academic virus researchers, and if they could so easily produce a much more dangerous version of COVID, we should probably assume that America's very heavily funded biowarfare labs are also doing the same sort of thing, but without publishing their results in academic journals," Unz suggested.As new information concerning the potential origins of COVID continues to emerge, the issue of bio-research transparency has taken on a new significance, regardless of whether SARS-CoV-2 was natural or artificial.

https://sputniknews.com/20220731/us-publisher-what-if-covid-outbreak-is-part-of-the-pentagons-biowarfare-plan-1097973485.html

https://sputniknews.com/20221004/risky-precedent-us-could-be-behind-both-nord-stream-sabotage--covid-outbreak-publisher-says-1101510352.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221102/taiwan-will-halve-the-size-of-new-frigates-to-cut-costs-on-shadowing-chinese-ships-1103147321.html

Taiwan Will Halve the Size of New Frigates to Cut Costs on Shadowing Chinese Ships

Taiwan Will Halve the Size of New Frigates to Cut Costs on Shadowing Chinese Ships

Since Taiwan welcomed a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in August, the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has carried out regular... 02.11.2022, Sputnik International

2022-11-02T19:07+0000

2022-11-02T19:07+0000

2022-11-02T19:07+0000

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In Taiwans Legislative Yuan on Wednesday, military leaders told lawmakers that significant costs could be saved if its next generation of frigates were reduced in size by more than half.The autonomous islands navy includes 26 major surface warships, including four destroyers and 22 frigates, as well as 13 smaller patrol vessels called corvettes. However, most of its warships are old, bought from the United States and France after their respective navies retired them. Moreover, none are smaller than 3,600 tons, and most of the frigates are just over 4,000 tons. Meanwhile, the destroyers clock in at 9,700 tons.In late August, Taiwans navy realized this shortcoming and proposed downsizing its forthcoming class of frigates, the Zhonghai-class, reducing their tonnage from 4,500 tons to between 1,500 and 2,000 tons each. Lighter ships use less fuel and have fewer crew. A name change reflected the difference: New Generation Guided-Missile Frigate" became "New Generation Light Frigate," Taiwans media at the time.Beijing considers Taiwan a part of China. The government in Taipei is all that remains of the Republic of China, the government that ruled all of China between the abdication of the last Chinese emperor in 1912 and the triumph of the socialist revolution in 1949, at the conclusion of the civil war. Beijing has proposed reunification with Taiwan under a One Country, Two Systems principle that would respect the islands autonomy and its capitalist economy, but says continued US support for Taiwans defiance has created a crisis.After Pelosi, the third-highest-ranking politician in the US government, visited Taiwan in August and condemned China, the PLA launched several rounds of massive military drills around the island, including firing missiles over it.

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https://sputniknews.com/20221102/terrorists-carry-out-two-attacks-on-syrias-idlib-zone-in-past-day---reconciliation-center-1102934131.html

Terrorists Carry Out Two Attacks on Syria's Idlib Zone in Past Day - Reconciliation Center

Terrorists Carry Out Two Attacks on Syria's Idlib Zone in Past Day - Reconciliation Center

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Jabhat al-Nusra* has shelled Syria's Idlib de-escalation zone twice over the past 24 hours, Maj. Gen. Oleg Yegorov, deputy head of the... 02.11.2022, Sputnik International

2022-11-02T04:01+0000

2022-11-02T04:01+0000

2022-11-02T04:01+0000

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"Two shelling attacks from the positions of the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group were registered in the Idlib de-escalation zone over the past day," Maj. Gen. Yegorov said. "There was one attack in the Idlib province, and one in Hama," he said.Maj. Gen. Yegorov said one Syrian soldier was wounded in Idlib in sniper fire.The Russian Defense Ministry's Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides and Control over the Movement of Refugees in the Syrian Arab Republic was established in February 2016.Its tasks include the signing of agreements on illegal armed groups and individual settlements joining the regime of cessation of hostilities, as well as coordinating the delivery of humanitarian aid.*Jabhat al-Nusra is a terrorist group banned in Russia.

https://sputniknews.com/20221016/rockets-rain-down-on-us-base-sitting-on-top-of-syrias-biggest-oil-field-report-1101904592.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221102/tplf-ethiopian-govt-reach-cessation-of-hostilities-deal-in-south-africa-peace-process-1103056505.html

TPLF, Ethiopian Gov't Reach 'Cessation of Hostilities' Deal in South Africa Peace Process

TPLF, Ethiopian Gov't Reach 'Cessation of Hostilities' Deal in South Africa Peace Process

Peace talks hosted by South Africa have yielded results as the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) reached a tentative... 02.11.2022, Sputnik International

2022-11-02T16:11+0000

2022-11-02T16:11+0000

2022-11-14T11:44+0000

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African Union chief mediator Olusegun Obasanjo announced Wednesday afternoon in Pretoria that the two sides had agreed on a formal "cessation of hostilities" in the two-year conflict."The eyes of the world will now shift from the talks to the implementation," he said.The TPLF's lead negotiator, Getachew Red, said that the readiness of both parties to sign a peace agreement "speaks volumes" about the readiness of both groups to chart a path for peace."It is my hope and expectation that two parties will honor their commitments," he added."We need to replicate the victory we got on the battlefield in peace efforts, too," Abiy said in a speech earlier on Wednesday. "We are finalizing the war in northern Ethiopia with a victory ... we will now bring peace and development."A spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the truce a "welcome first step."The Long Road to PeaceNumerous attempts have been made to end the fighting, especially since December 2021, when the TPLF's offensive into neighboring Amhara and Afar states was repulsed, and its armed forces pushed back into the northern Tigray state.The TPLF was formerly the ruling party in Ethiopia from 1991 until 2018, when its alliance of ethnic-based parties collapsed and selected an Oromo, Abiy Ahmed, to become prime minister instead of a TPLF figure. Abiy introduced new reforms to reduce the TPLF's domination of the Ethiopian government, including merging the ethnic-based parties into a single Prosperity Party. He also ended a 20-year-long war with Eritrea and forged a new friendship with Eritirean President Isaias Afwerki.After the TPLF fired ballistic missiles at Asmara, Eritrea also joined the conflict. Western commentators have tried to characterize the war as an attempted genocide by Abiy, and to cast Isaias as the puppetmaster controlled Abiy's government.As Sputnik reported at the time, Western powers quietly gave the TPLF support for their uprising, even while claiming to be neutral on the international stage.Abiy's terms for peace have included the TPLF surrendering its arms, stopping its attacks on Ethiopian government forces, and recognizing the legitimacy of his government.Both sides have been accused of war crimes, including mass killings. It is unclear how many have died during the conflict, but estimates of total deaths from war, disease, famine, and other causes may exceed half a million people.

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https://sputniknews.com/20221102/urgent---were-close-to-big-victory-says-netanyahu-after-israel-vote-1102933349.html

'We Are Close to a Big Victory,' Says Netanyahu After Israel Vote

'We Are Close to a Big Victory,' Says Netanyahu After Israel Vote

On Wednesday Israel's former prime minister --- who served for 12 years straight until last year --- appeared positioned to reclaim power. Netanyahu, 73, is... 02.11.2022, Sputnik International

2022-11-02T01:50+0000

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Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday he was "close" to making a comeback and forming a right-wing government after projected election results showed a majority coalition was within reach for the former Israeli prime minister.If exit polls continue to hold Netanyahu will most likely win the country's fifth election in less than four years. The Likud Party appears to be on track for first place in the election with 30 to 32 seats, and support from the extreme-right Religious Zionism Party, and the two ultra-Orthodox parties (Shas and United Torah Judaism) would back Netanyahu with 61 or 62 seats.Justice Minister Gideon Saar, a former member of the Knesset for the Likud Party who broke away from Netanyahu, said that Israel is risking electing a "coalition of extremists". Aida Touma-Suleiman, an Arab-Israeli lawmaker, also warned that Netanyahu is planning to ally himself with "fascists."Yohanan Plesner, head of the Israel Democracy Institute, cautioned that the exit polls may not hold. While Netanyahu's rival, Prime Minister Yair Lapid, said "nothing" was decided. In June of last year Lapid was able to topple Netanyahu from power after forming a coalition government of ideologically diverse parties which itself collapsed this summer. Lapid is projected to win between 22 and 24 seats in this year's election.

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https://sputniknews.com/20221102/us-telecoms-regulator-commissioner-arrives-in-taiwan-in-fresh-provocation-against-china-1102943615.html

US Telecoms Regulator Commissioner Arrives in Taiwan in Fresh Provocation Against China

US Telecoms Regulator Commissioner Arrives in Taiwan in Fresh Provocation Against China

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosis visit to Taiwan in August kicked off a series of trips to the wayward Chinese island by other senior US and foreign lawmakers... 02.11.2022, Sputnik International

2022-11-02T10:19+0000

2022-11-02T10:19+0000

2022-11-02T10:19+0000

us-china tensions over taiwan

china

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us

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One of the five commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission, the US federal agency responsible for regulating radio, television, satellite and cable communications, has touched down in Taiwan for an official visit.In a statement put out Wednesday, the American Institute in Taiwan, the USs de facto embassy in Taipei, announced that FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr had arrived on the island to discuss a range of issues including telecommunications and cybersecurity, with the visit running from November 2-4.The official did not specify what forms of collaboration his agency, whose primary role in the US has been to enforce censorship and indecency regulations in broadcasting, combat monopolies and run cover for National Security Agency wiretapping, could engage in with the Taiwanese.Carr, who has led charge within the FCC against Chinese telecommunications infrastructure and internet media services like TikTok, said he expects the trip to convey that a free and democratic Taiwan  one that is independent from the CCPs brutal authoritarianism  is vital to Americas own prosperity.Carr is the first FCC commissioner to visit the island in an official capacity.Beijing has yet to comment on Carrs Taiwan visit.The FCC commissioner is the latest US official to touch down on the island after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi began the dangerous trend in early August. Chinese officials have consistently criticized Washington over the controversial trips to the island, pointing out that official contacts are prohibited under treaties on China-US relations, which require the US to reject formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan.The Peoples Republic considers Taiwan a wayward island destined for eventual, hopefully peaceful reunification with the mainland. Last month at the Chinese Communist Partys 20th Congress, President Xi Jinping warned that in the face of serious provocations by separatist forces calling for Taiwans independence, and interference from outside forces, China has been waging a major struggle against separatism and interference, and demonstrated its strong determination and wide ability to protect national sovereignty and territorial integrity and oppose Taiwan independence.Chinas efforts have included a series of large-scale military drills off Taiwans coasts, as well as diplomatic contacts with the Kuomintang, the Taiwanese opposition party hoping to take back power from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party in elections in 2024.While the DPP has taken a series of steps aimed at intensifying the confrontation with China and searching for strengthened diplomatic contacts abroad, Kuomintang officials have expressed cautious support for the One Country, Two Systems model applied by the PRC to Hong Kong and Macau, which Beijing hopes to eventually apply to Taiwan in the event of reunification.

https://sputniknews.com/20221031/china-warns-possible-b-52-deployment-in-australia-may-trigger-regional-arms-race-1102876373.html

https://sputniknews.com/20221026/china-confident-it-is-closer-than-ever-to-achieving-complete-reunification-of-the-motherland-1102661004.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221102/which-countries-have-the-biggest-and-deadliest-nuclear-arsenals-1103137442.html

Which Countries Have the Biggest and Deadliest Nuclear Arsenals?

Which Countries Have the Biggest and Deadliest Nuclear Arsenals?

Sputnik presents a few sobering facts about these deadly, world-ending weapons.

2022-11-02T18:59+0000

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2022-11-08T13:05+0000

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How Many Nuclear Weapons Does Russia Have in 2022?According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institutes 2022 Yearbook, Russia has a total of 5,977 nuclear warheads in its inventory, including 1,588 deployed warheads, and 2,889 stored warheads (i.e. those which could be prepared to fire after some preparations), plus warheads which have been mothballed and prepared to be dismantled.How Many Nuclear Weapons Does the US Have in 2022?SIPRI estimates that the United States has 1,744 deployed warheads, 1,964 stored warheads, and a total inventory of 5,428 in its arsenal.Both nuclear superpowers have reduced their total inventory of nukes since 2021 (by 278 bombs in Russias case and by 122 in Americas). Unfortunately, a recent scientific study found that even as few as one hundred 1-megaton bombs could cause enough fiery destruction to trigger a 'nuclear winter' that would kill billions of people. The concept of nuclear winter was first popularized by Dr. Carl Sagan in the 1980s to dismiss the folly of US President Ronald Reagans Star Wars defense umbrella idea, which was meant to allow Washington to fight and win a nuclear war against the Soviet Union.Other countries with nuclear arsenals include China (350), France (290), Britain (225), Pakistan (165), India (160), Israel (90, allegedly), and North Korea (20). Russia, the US, China and India have a nuclear triad  i.e. the capability to launch nuclear attacks using ground, air and sea-launched weapons systems.Which Country Has the Most Powerful Nuclear Weapons in 2022?The Russian RS-28 Sarmat is arguably the most powerful nuclear delivery system today. The 208-ton super-heavy intercontinental ballistic missile can carry 10-15 multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs), which could include both nuclear bombs and dummy targets designed to fool missile defenses. It can also carry maneuverable nuclear-capable Avangard hypersonic glide vehicles to make certain that no one risks the foolhardy idea of trying to decapitate Russias leadership or knock out its strategic command system using Prompt Global Strike.Why Did Ukraine Have Nuclear Weapons and When Did It Give Them Up?Amid recently-voiced Russian concerns about the Zelensky government having the technology and resources to build a dirty bomb to stage a false flag to accuse Moscow of nuking Ukrainian territory, its worth recalling that Ukraine was once a major nuclear power in its own right, at least on paper.After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine found itself in possession of a full third of the Soviet nuclear arsenal, plus facilities for the development and production of nukes and delivery systems. An 1992 estimate figured that Kiev had about 1,700 warheads, nearly 200 MIRV-equipped ICBMs, and 38 strategic bombers. But the country never had the launch codes, which remained in Russian President Boris Yeltsins hands until 1996, when the last warhead in Ukraines possession was transferred to Russia. Ukraine gave up its nukes after signing the Budapest Memorandum  a 1994 treaty guaranteeing Kievs security in exchange for its renunciation of nuclear weapons. The agreement was undercut in February 2014 by the US-sponsored coup in Kiev, and has hinged on the brink of collapse since February 2022, when President Zelensky threatened to quit the treaty.How Many Boomer Subs Do Russia and the US Have?A large portion of the Russian and American nuclear deterrent is based aboard the countries nuclear missile-launching submarines, also known as boomer subs. The US boomer sub fleet consists of 14 Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines, with each sub having enough firepower to destroy 96 cities. Russia has 10 nuclear-armed ballistic missile subs in its fleet  five of the Delta-class and five Borei/Borei-A-class vessels. The latter are equipped with 16 R-30 Bulava missiles, each able to carry between six and ten warheads.Why Did the US Drop Nuclear Bombs on Japan?The United States is the only nation in history to have ever used nuclear weapons in warfare, killing as many as 226,000 people in the nuclear bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. US historians have justified President Harry Trumans decision to bomb the cities with the fearsome weapons based on the projected casualties the US would have suffered if it had launched an invasion of the Japanese Islands.In Soviet and Russian historiography, historians have argued that the atomic bombings were in part meant to send a message to Moscow of Americas newfound superweapon, and in part a strategy aimed at preventing the USSR from occupying post-war Japan in a manner similar to post-war Germany.Who Was the US General That Wanted to Use Nuclear Weapons Against the Chinese?In 1950 at the height of the Korean War, US Commander Douglas MacArthur asked Washington for permission to use nuclear weapons on the battlefield if his armies were routed by the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army. In December of that year, MacArthur requested between 26 and 34 nuclear bombs for the mission. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed, and the authorization was never given.What's With All the Nuke Talk?The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement Wednesday calling on the worlds major nuclear powers to do everything in their power to avoid an escalation and prevent weapons of mass destruction from ever being used.Moscow also reiterated that in accordance with Russias nuclear doctrine, the country will not use nuclear weapons unless it is attacked using WMDs, or faces conventional aggression so severe it puts the very existence of the state in jeopardy.

https://sputniknews.com/20221102/moscow-calls-on-nuclear-big-five-to-reject-provocations-involving-wmds-1102968453.html

https://sputniknews.com/20160214/us-pgs-endangers-strategic-stability-1034758287.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221108/how-many-nuclear-weapons-does-russia-have-as-of-2022--1103892282.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221102/why-un-peacekeeping-in-africa-keeps-facing-obstacles-1102943326.html

Why UN Peacekeeping in Africa Keeps Facing Obstacles

Why UN Peacekeeping in Africa Keeps Facing Obstacles

UN peacekeepers are the second-largest military force deployed abroad after the US military. However, the outcomes of the activities of "the blue helmets" often show their inefficency, of which African cases are a good example.

2022-11-02T15:54+0000

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2022-11-24T11:15+0000

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In late October, UN peacekeepers "made a strategic and tactical withdrawal" from a military base in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, losing ground to the M23 rebel group, which the peacekeeper troops were fighting in support of the Congolese government. The retreat is a major setback for the DRC forces and signifies the end to a period of relative peace in the east of the country.Africa has long been one of the regions most troubled by civil and international armed conflicts. In response to this challenge, the UN has launched multiple peacekeeping missions all over the continent. Unfortunately, with the peacekeepers being unable to prevent genocides and sometimes being accused of sexual violence (as for example in the Central African Republic in 2021), the organization's work in Africa has wound up being one of the most obvious signs of a crisis in peacekeeping. Over the last 30 years, there have been numerous cases of tragic failures of "the blue helmets."1. UNOSOM I, UNITAF, and UNOSOM II (19921995), Somali Civil WarIn 1991, the dictator Mohamed Siad Barre fell as a result of the Somali Rebellion. Ever since, Somalia has been in the throes of an inter-clan civil war. It soon became obvious that the conflict was severely endangering approximately a half of the country's population, which was around 10 million people in 1991. With the support of all rivaling factions, a UN peacekeeping mission was established as part of a program called United Nations Operation in Somalia I (UNOSOM I). The mission's goals were to uphold a ceasefire and assist humanitarian efforts.In reality, however, the mission was unable to contain ceasefire violations and was soon transformed into the Unified Task Force (UNITAF) and later UNOSOM II. This included the deployment of an international force as large as 22,000 troops and 8,000 civilian specialists to establish a secure environment for humanitarian operations.However, a growing conflict with Mohamed Farah Aidid, the leader of the Somali National Alliance faction, and attempts by the international forces to apprehend him resulted in what became known as the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, in which 18 American troops were killed and 73 wounded. The incident led to the US withdrawal from Somalia, with the subsequent end of UNOSOM II.With the mission unable to change the course of the conflict, which has been ongoing for upwards of 30 years, the initial enthusiasm for developing UN peacekeeping operations, which became institutionalized after the end of the Cold War, faltered.2. UNAMIR (19931996), Rwandan Civil WarAn even more notorious case is the Rwandan Civil War (19901994). The conflict between two ethno-social groups, the Hutus and Tutsis, which had been ongoing since the country's independence led to a war in 1990 that resulted in one of the worst ethnic genocides since World War II, with between 500,000 and 662,000 Tutsis and members of other groups killed.The United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) was established in 1993 to support the implementation of the Arusha Accords that were supposed to bring an end to the conflict. When the genocide broke out in the first half of 1994, the mission was unable to intervene militarily due to its mandate type. Belgium, one of the main contributors of troops to the mission, withdrew its forces after 10 of its soldiers were killed.By the end of spring, the UN recognized that "acts of genocide may have been committed". This led to an expansion of the contingent, which stayed until 1996 to assist in maintaining stability after the end of the genocide under the leadership of pro-Tutsi party the Rwandan Patriotic Front.3. UNAMID (20072020), Darfur Conflict in SudanThe activities of the largest peacekeeping mission to date and the first joint peacekeeping force of the United Nations and the African Union saw the UN being accused of learning little from the Rwandan genocide.A bloody conflict broke out in the Darfur region of Sudan in 2003, when non-Arab farmers rose up against Khartoum, which they accused of discrimination. In 2006, after the AU peacekeeping mission, which had no right to carry out a military intervention, proved unsuccessful, the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation (UNAMID) was initiated with a contingent of 19,555 military personnel and 3,772 police officers, tasked with stabilizing the situation in Darfur during the final stages of what was considered a peace process. The mission's mandate allowed the troops to use force to protect civilians and humanitarian operations.However, the peace process was sabotaged, and the peacekeeping mission was met with stark opposition from the Sudanese government. The conflict led to around 200,000 people being killed and over 2.5 million displaced.After the US Donald Trump administration proposed reducing the UN peacekeeping budget in 2017, the UNAMID mission was gradually drawn down until its final withdrawal in 2020, with the Darfur conflict still ongoing.4. UNMISS (2011Today), South Sudanese Civil WarThe United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) began shortly after the country's independence in 2011 with the goal of providing "support for peace consolidation and thereby fostering longer-term statebuilding and economic development." However, two years after the initiation of the peacekeeping project, a civil war broke out between the Dinka and Nuer ethnic groups.Over the years, the UNMISS contingent has been expanded. As of 2021, it includes 14,222 military personnel, 1,446 police, and 2,228 civilian workers. The war, which led to at least 382,000 deaths, ended in 2020, with the mission continuing to operate until this day in order to maintain peace.There are several factors that led to the inefficiency of and sometimes even harm being caused by UN peacekeeping missions. In some cases, the contingents were not large enough to make a difference; while sometimes it was a lack of strategy that rendered a mission ineffective. The complicated legal status of a peacekeeper makes it difficult to prosecute them for wrongdoing. Most importantly, the full power of UN missions based on Chapters VI and VII of the United Nations Charter are insufficient to prevent a war or bringing an end to it. Designated with protecting civilians and humanitarian programs, peacekeeping missions should come in conjunction with strong diplomatic actions that take a troubled region's particularities into account.

https://sputniknews.com/20221018/as-un-backs-african-unions-ethiopia-ceasefire-call-could-a-peacekeeping-mission-help-1102017232.html

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The awards for the 2022 Clean School Bus Rebates have been announced. The Savannah-Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS) has been awarded $9.8 million to replace 25 vehicles in service with electric buses.

With funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, EPA's new Clean School Bus Program provides $5 billion over the next five years (FY 2022-2026) to replace existing school buses with zero-emission and low-emission models. EPA solicited applications for $500 million through the 2022 Clean School Bus Rebates for zero-emission and low-emission school bus rebates as the first funding opportunity. The benefits of electric buses are many. Among them:

Zero tailpipe pollution -- students, drivers, and members of the community will be exposed to significantly less harmful diesel emissions like particulate matter and nitrous oxides

Reduced greenhouse gas emissions compared to diesel school buses

Reduced maintenance costs

Less brake wear due to regenerative braking and no engine or exhaust system maintenance



Potential for reduced fuel costs compared to diesel depending on electricity costs

Quiet, clean operation

Potential for fleets to partner with local utilities to feed power back into the grid when buses are not in use and electricity demand is high.

In addition to the Clean School Bus Program, SCCPSS is deploying electric vehicles for its Campus Police department. These high-performance vehicles can travel across the county quickly, on just a quick charge. The new vehicles had to pass a series of rigorous tests to ensure they were fit for policing purposes.

Denise Grabowski, District 1 Board Representative, expressed her delight at the announcement today. "In addition to the savings on fuel and maintainence of electric vehciles, there is the added benefit to students who respiratory issues - that by eliminating emissions,, we are providing cleaner air for our students and removing triggers for asthmatics. Asthma and related illnesses are one of the main reasons students miss school. And then there is the impact on students with sensory issues. The noise of the bus can be a trigger for those students, as well."

SCCPSS is working with Georgia Power, as well as other vendors, to increase capacity in alternative power. Throughout the district, you will see solar farms powering District facilities. 






Scores of high school students traveled to the Panhandle Research, Extension and Education Center (PREEC) in Scottsbluff Wednesday to take part in Career in Ag Day.

This event was organized by the Scottsbluff/Gering Chamber of Commerces AgriBusiness Committee to teach students about the wide array of job opportunities available to them in the agricultural field.

The hope is were able to encourage students to remain in agriculture and help them understand the diverse opportunities within the industry, beyond just being a farmer or a rancher. Our community is actually built on farmers and ranchers  one in four businesses in SBC (Scotts Bluff County) alone are farms and ranches  and we need the infrastructure to support them, Jessica Groskopf, an extension educator at PREEC, said.

More than 175 students from 14 high schools across eight Panhandle counties attended the career day. It was the first time some schools, like Alliance High School, had sent students there.

I think its a really good opportunity for them (students) to see what careers are available for agriculture in our area, Alliance High Schools agriculture teacher Ashtyn Vivion said. Its nice to see the community businesses coming together to show kids that there is a ton of opportunity back here and help them find a route to get the information they need and come back to the Panhandle.

High schools werent the only schools with representatives at the event. Several two-year and four-year colleges from Nebraska, Wyoming and Colorado all had booths for students to check out. There, they learned more about the agricultural classes each college had to offer.

During the career day, students chose four different seminars to attend dealing with a wide variety of agricultural issues.

These included discussions about feedlot and livestock production; ag finance and banking; water and environmental management; and ag sales and mechanics. One of the seminars had to be the college fair.

Before they could attend those, however, they listened to a keynote presentation about talking with people about agriculture.

Jaclyn Wilson, the events keynote speaker, runs the Wilson Flying Diamond Ranch in Sheridan County with her father. She spoke to students about being an ag-vocate for agricultural endeavors and promoting the industry as much as they can.

As the chair of international trade for the National Cattlemens Beef Association, shes visited six continents and speaks regularly at colleges. However, Wednesdays event was one of the few times Wilson has presented to high school students.

I was so pleased with not only the turnout, but also the involvement, Wilson said. They already have the interest in agriculture  and hopefully it will continue to grow.

Trace Leetch, a junior from Gering High School, said he was looking forward to meeting more people in the agriculture industry.

Ive learned more about the producing and getting your name out in the agricultural community, and I think thats something that will really help this generation out in the future, he told the Star-Herald.  I want to find what I really want to do and find places that are going to help me get to that.
LILONGWE, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Malawi is this week repatriating 344 Ethiopian nationals who were being held in various prison facilities under immigration custody for illegal entry into the country, Malawian immigration authority announced Tuesday.

Spokesperson for the Department of Immigration and Citizen Services, Pasqually Zulu, said in a statement his department will carry out the repatriation exercise with assistance from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

He said the repatriation will be done in two phases, first on Tuesday with a total of 156 Ethiopian nationals through the Kamuzu International Airport (KIA), and the second phase on Thursday with 188 Ethiopian nationals through the same airport.

Zulu said the exercise is aimed at "decongesting our country's prisons amid food shortage, COVID-19 and Cholera outbreak."

The repatriation of Ethiopian nationals from Malawi began in August after it had been delayed by two months due to logistical challenges, according to Zulu.

In August alone, a total of 280 Ethiopian nationals, among them over 100 minors, were repatriated to their homeland, while in September, nearly 200 nationals were repatriated.

According to the Malawi Immigration spokesperson, the exercise "is being done with proactive coordination" between the government of Ethiopia and the government of Malawi.

For decades Malawi continues to receive migrants who enter the country illegally, specifically from the Great Lakes Region and the Horn of Africa, and they use the sub-Saharan country as a transit route to other countries.

In October a mass grave of 25 bodies of Ethiopian nationals was found by villagers in Mzimba district, about 250 km north of the capital, Lilongwe.

Four more bodies were later found near the mass grave and authorities suspect that the Ethiopian nationals, who are believed to be aged between 25 and 40, died of suffocation as they were illegally being transported through the country.

In June 2012, at least 47 Ethiopian nationals drowned on Lake Malawi in the northern border district of Karonga when the boat they were sailing in from Tanzania capsized. 
Nebraska is one of the nations top agricultural states. Our farmers and ranchers have products that reach every corner of the country, as well as foreign markets around the world. In 2020, Nebraska exported $2.33 billion worth of soybeans/soybean products and $1.2 billion worth of corn. In 2021, Nebraska exported $1.81 billion worth of beef and $325.8 million worth of pork.

Nebraskas ability to produce and export agricultural goods means international trade is vital to the economic livelihood of our state and its people. Our agricultural exports are also important to foreign nations, who rely on access to affordable, well-sourced products to help feed their country.

Its troubling then that Mexico, a long-time trading partner of the United States, seems intent on enforcing a misguided ban on genetically modified corn.

This issue goes back to 2020, when Mexican President Lopez Obrador suddenly issued a presidential decree that Mexico would phase out the use of genetically modified corn by 2024. Since then, there has been significant concern over whether the ban will actually be implemented, as well as what exactly it would cover. For example, the Mexican government has in the past indicated the ban would only apply to corn destined for human consumption, but there has been little action to clarify this.

Making matters worse, between August of 2021 and March of 2022, Mexican regulators have begun rejecting corn, soybean, canola, and cotton biotech products. These actions, as well as comments from Mexican officials, suggest the country intends to move forward with the ban.

Its important to note that this kind of ban is not based on science. Genetically modified crops are not only safe, but also vital to modern agriculture. These scientific advancements have helped farmers to reduce water/land usage, lower input costs, and boost yield. Such a ban would also be contradictory to the clear free trade commitments Mexico made under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

The impact of Mexicos 2024 ban would be severe. Nebraska is the top state in the union for white corn, which is used in many food products. Nebraska exported over $348 million of corn to Mexico in 2020, making it our states largest export market for the product. Any restriction would devastate family farmers across our state.

But the impacts of this misguided policy go far beyond Nebraska. Over 90% of all corn acreage in the United States is planted with genetically engineered seeds. A ban would also hurt the people of Mexico and their economy by dramatically raising food prices.

Just the mere possibility of a ban is already impacting farmers. Without certainty about 2024, its hard for producers to know how to best plan out seed purchases and planting schedules.

Mexicos ban against GMO corn would be a lose-lose for both countries economies, farmers, and science. Ive been tracking this issue closely, and have been working with stakeholders over the last year to emphasize the gravity of the situation. Its important that we all do everything we can to push back on this ridiculous policy and ensure it does not go into effect. I encourage the Biden Administration to fully enforce USMCA, including initiating an enforcement case if necessary, so we can reach a reasonable resolution with Mexico.

Thank you for participating in the democratic process. I look forward to visiting with you again next week.
Chadron State College President Randy Rhine announced Tuesday that he will retire in June 2023 after serving the college and state for 18 years.

His decade-long tenure as CSCs president has been filled with growth and innovation. Some of his career highlights include:

More than $70 million in capital improvements to construct the Coffee Agriculture Pavilion, the Rangeland Laboratory and classrooms, the Chicoine Center, the Armstrong Weight Room, the Eagle Ridge Housing Units, the renovated Elliott Field at Beebe Stadium, the outdoor track and field facility and the Math Science Center of Innovative Learning addition and renovation.

Fall 2022 enrollment increase of 2.6% and the largest class of transfer students on record

An average of 560 graduates annually for a total of 5,614 degrees awarded to date

Rural business leadership initiative to prepare students to assume leadership roles within rural communities as they pursue business careers

Rural Law Opportunities Program to collaborate with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Law to give Nebraskans access to representations in rural communities.

Prior to that, Rhine served as interim president from May 2012 to January 2013. He also was the vice president for enrollment management and student services from 2005 until 2012.

In his official letter to the campus and members of the Chadron community, Rhine shares his passion for higher education and value he has found on his journey at Chadron State.

Together we have achieved a great deal for Chadron State, and I am incredibly proud to see the positive changes that have occurred, Rhine wrote. I am leaving Chadron State at a time when the institution is poised to move into the future with new energy and opportunity.

Rhine commended the work of faculty and staff in pushing the college forward as it serves the local region and world. He also appreciates the support from alumni and the Chadron community.

I have been amazed again and again at the generosity and constant support we receive, he wrote. One of the aspects of this position I will miss the most is getting to know our alums and listening to their stories.

He also shared his reason for leaving his post, highlighting a desire to enjoy life with his family.

Words are inadequate to describe how wonderful this journey has been for my wife, Ann, and I since we moved to Chadron in 2005, Rhine wrote. However, we have arrived at a phase in our lives where it is time for us to spend more time on the activities we enjoy, especially spending time with our children and three grandchildren.

Rhine submitted formal notice of his retirement to Nebraska State College System (NSCS) Chancellor Paul D. Turman and the Board of Trustees from the Presidency of CSC, effective June 30, 2023.

President Rhine has steadily and skillfully navigated Chadron State College through a period of unprecedented challenges during his tenure, said Truman. He has done so while staying true to the colleges core values and moving Chadron State forward in its educational purpose. President Rhine will leave the college in a much stronger place than when he arrived.

Board of Trustees chair Jess Zeiss noted Rhines unwavering commitment to the college through the success and challenges for higher education. She said the board appreciates his strong leadership and advocacy for the region.

Over the next seven months, the college board will begin its search for Rhines successor. According to information released by the college, the NSCS will conduct a national search for Chadron States 12th president. Academic Search, Inc. will assist in the search.

More information about the college presidential search is available at tinyurl.com/ChadronPresident.
Nebraska has a workforce shortage and there are a few key ways to try and fix it. This is the message Bryan Slone, president of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce, told to members of the Scottsbluff/Gering Rotary Club on Tuesday, Nov. 1.

For several years now, the Gering native has returned home to discuss the state of the state at an annual meeting with local Rotarians. He addressed around 30 club members and a few of their guests Tuesday. After a lunch and regular meeting events  announcing good news, birthdays and anniversaries  Slone presented his remarks.

Before the meeting, he told the Star-Herald that growing Nebraskas workforce would be the greatest challenge of his generation.

What I want to communicate is the sense of urgency around this issue. Its important we start making progress in the next five years around attracting workforce and young people to our states and our communities, he said.  Its really been decades of small population growth among young people and the aging population of the state thats created the situation we have today.

Officially, he told Rotarians, Nebraska has around 51,000 unfilled jobs, but he estimated that number was closer to 80,000 in reality.

Thats about 10% of our economy were leaving on the table (and) 10% of our taxes, Slone said. He added that there are less than 2,500 permanent unemployment claims from the height of the coronavirus pandemic.  Everyone who wants to work, in Nebraska, has a job at this point, he said.

One of the major factors for this lack of workers is theres a lack of young people to do those jobs. Slone said the number of births in Nebraska has fallen from 34,000 in 1960 to just 26,000 in 2015. University enrollment declined from 145,000 in 2010 to 134,000 this year. Finally, he said high school seniors currently outnumber all other K-12 students in the state.

Its less important that a community be attractive to me as a 65-year-old than 18  34 year-olds if were truly going to leave our communities better than when we started, Slone told the Star-Herald.

He proposed three initiatives to bring more young people into the state. The first would be to increase legal immigration  having people with work permits move to Nebraska with their families.

The second would be to get college students, including those from foreign nations, interested in sticking around in-state after they graduate.

The third idea Slone presented would be to grow technology to attract more jobs. He said new technology and manufacturing industries could add tens of thousands of jobs.

Slone also said that building affordable housing, improving access to childcare and having more community amenities would be prevalent to ensuring new arrivals would be able to live comfortably in Nebraska.

If the state doesnt find a way to add more young people soon, he added, the workforce shortage will only get worse in the coming decades.

There are reasons for optimism, however. In terms of gross domestic product, Slone said Nebraska is doing extremely well and that its economy is much more resistant to recession than other states. He also said Nebraskas top two industries  agriculture and manufacturing  are booming.

Assuming the workforce shortage can be solved, Slone said Nebraska could have a very promising future. We have a chance to be a top-ten economy for some time to come, he said.
Two stops for traffic violations led to drug and weapons charges for three people, said Iredell Sheriff Darren Campbell.

Antonio Dejuan Hall, 28, of Charlotte, John Lewis Sheppard Jr., 22, of Gastonia and Donavon Jacques Murphy, 25, of Mount Hall were arrested in the two stops, Campbell said.

Hall was charged with felony possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, felony possession of cocaine, misdemeanor possession of marijuana, misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia and misdemeanor carrying a concealed gun. He was also served with federal warrants for arrest from Virginia on gun-related charges. A magistrate set bond at $65,000 on the local charges and no bond on the federal warrants.

Murphy was charged with misdemeanor counts of concealed firearm, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was cited and released.

Sheppard was charged with two counts each of felony trafficking heroin and misdemeanor carry concealed weapon and one count each of felony possession of a stolen firearm, misdemeanor possession of marijuana and misdemeanor possession of marijuana paraphernalia. A magistrate set bond at $351,000.

On Friday, Campbell said in a news release, Lt. Jeremy Younts was patrolling the area of Brawley School and Stutts roads when he spotted a Chevrolet Impala with an expired tag.

Younts, assisted by Deputy Garrett Deal and canine Deputy Nathan Hodges, stopped the vehicle and could smell a strong odor of marijuana when they approached, Campbell said. Younts asked about the odor and Hall pulled out a bag of marijuana from his jacket and handed it to the deputies, Campbell said.

The two occupants of the vehicle told the deputies they had come to Mooresville for a house party in the Point area and were supposed to park in a grocery store parking lot on Brawley School Road to meet a shuttle service to take them to the party, Campbell said.

Hall was asked to step out of the vehicle, which he did and deputies ran his name through a criminal database, learning that he had two active federal warrants, Campbell said.

Deputies then searched the vehicle and located two loaded firearms, marijuana, cocaine and drug paraphernalia, Campbell said. Hall, he said, is a convicted felon and is prohibited from possessing a firearm.

In the early morning hours Saturday, Hodges stopped a vehicle in the same area on Brawley School Road for a traffic violation, Campbell said.

Sheppard was the driver of the vehicle, and in checking his drivers license, Hodges learned Sheppard was wanted on an outstanding warrant, Campbell said. Sheppard was placed under arrest and Hodges then searched the vehicle. Campbell said he found two concealed firearms, one of which was discovered to have been reported stolen in Mecklenburg County. Marijuana and oxycodone pills were also found, Campbell said.

Sheppard told deputies he was in the area to go to a party in the Point area.

Halls history includes felony assault with a dangerous weapon and misdemeanor counts of possession of marijuana and possession of Schedule IV.

Sheppard has no listed criminal history and no history was given for Murphy.
A particularly violent tropical cyclone (0r typhoon) passed through the country over the last week, leaving over a hundred dead among more than a million people who experienced the impact of the storm. The Philippines is hit with about twenty of these storms a year, some of them with winds as high as 300 kilometers (190 miles) an hour. Pacific typhoons are more powerful and destructive than the hurricanes that form in the Atlantic. The armed forces must halt training or counter-terror operations to assist with relief efforts. Leftist rebels and Islamic terrorists also suffer damage to their remote bases, although in some area these groups will continue attacking soldiers and civilians. These storms cause far more death and destruction than the rebels and Islamic terrorists. The recent storm saw leftist NPP rebels make several attacks on soldiers assisting in the relief effort.

The Philippines consists of over 7,000 islands, most of them tiny. These include the Spratly Islands, which are an important part of the South China Sea areas that China considers its territorial waters. The Philippines has military detachments on nine of the disputed islands or reefs. These are part of an effort to oppose the illegal Chinese claims. In response China has put garrisons on eight islands, some of them created by dredging up sand at a reef and creating an artificial island. These eight islands, in contrast to those occupied by Filipinos, are covered with new construction, including radars, missiles (anti-air and anti-ship) as well as some cannons. There are airstrips and hangars.

While the many Philippine islands protect the South China Sea from the most powerful storms, the South China Sea is one of those ocean areas where, because of its shallow waters, less powerful storms are formed. The occupied Chinese islands do not feature any high ground and are subject to flooding when there is a storm strong enough to cause a surge of water. The facilities on these islands are built to deal with this. The new structures are sturdy and contain enough multi-story buildings to shelter the garrison. Any aircraft on islands have to be flown off before the storm hits but some supply or warships docked at the islands are able to ride out storms when its less dangerous than trying to outrun or outmaneuver the storm at sea.

China has built several supply ships specifically for keeping these islands supplied with food, fuel, fresh water and other necessities. The eight island bases are an expensive investment to assert ownership of areas that belong to the Philippines.

Rebels And Islamic Terrorists Fade

The NPA has been suffering a massive decline in popular and communist party support. Increasingly most NPA units depend on extortion, theft and other criminal activity to survive. This was causing much anger and protest in areas where the NPA still operates for the good of the people. Yet the NPA can no longer do much political work when their very survival is at risk. The NPA has been more successful at becoming gangsters to survive than have religion-based terror groups.

Soldiers have largely eliminated Abu Sayyaf, BIFF (Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters) rebels and several smaller Islamic terrorist groups. These groups have not disappeared, but have become much less active because of declining membership. The government is trying, without much success, to negotiate a peace deal with the NPA. The leadership, as well as the commanders of various Fronts (groups of NPA members) are split on which peace terms are acceptable and most are continuing to operate (fighting and stealing). The NPA, to most Filipinos, have become bandits with a veneer of communist ideology to justify their crimes. The banditry option is not working well enough to assure long-term survival. This can also be seen when factions run short of money and begin to suffer from desertions. The army will grant amnesty to NPA members who surrender, especially if they bring their weapons and some useful information with them. Information on the location of NPA camps or weapons storage sites is considered useful and the fact that more NPA camps are being attacked and weapons storage sites seized indicates that the NPA is losing secrets as well as people and popular support. Some NPA leaders feel this is all a temporary setback and that a peace deal would enable a revitalized Philippines Communist Party to become a major political power. These delusions make negotiating a peace deal more difficult. Meanwhile the NPA has maintained its status as a major source of criminal (as opposed to Islamic terrorist) activity in the country. Most of the NPA senior leadership live in Europe and are considered somewhat out of touch with the reality of what the NPA has become in the Philippines.

A major blow to the NPA was that Islamic terrorist and Moslem separatist violence in the south sharply declined after the 2014 vote by the majority of Moslems and Christians in the Philippines to establish an autonomous Moslem region. This consisted of the southwest coast of the large southern island Mindanao and the string of smaller islands, mainly Sulu, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi extending from southwestern Mindanao towards Malaysia. The new Moslem entity was called Bangsamoro, and provided more autonomy and responsibility. That meant the Moslems down there were responsible for maintaining the peace. This is no small matter because, more than elsewhere in the Philippines, the Moslem south has long had many more clan militias that believed it was their right to engage in private wars. Not all the clans share the official attitudes about who has the right to make war in Bangsamoro.

Bangsamoro governs the four million Moslems in Mindanao and even more Christian neighbors of those Moslems. Filipino Moslems are outnumbered by Christians who had moved south during the last half century. Nationwide there are about 95 million Christians and 12 million Moslems. Christian Filipinos are generally better organized, more industrious and economically successful. Moslem separatists believed they should run Mindanao even if they were the minority, because Mindanao is the local "Islamic homeland." While some in the national government were willing to concede this, the Christian majority in Mindanao and the rest of the Philippines were not. A compromise was finally negotiated and approved by all voters. Diehard separatist groups like BIFF, ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) and Abu Sayyaf are treated as outlaws in Bangsamoro and continually lost support and members since 2014, but are still around but not nearly as active as they were before 2014. Most of the Army JTFs (Joint Task Force) units are now in Bangsamoro where they concentrate, with the help of local civilians and security forces, on eliminating the few remaining Islamic terrorists and communist NPA rebels.

Islamic terrorists in the south are still active, but often feuding with each other or devoting most of their energy to remaining intact at all. Remnants of several ISIL factions have been trying to survive in this area since 2017. The most active has been DITG (Dawlah Islamiyah Torayfie Group) and has few personnel left. There have been a few DITG bombings since 2019, usually against military convoys, camps or economic targets. In mid-2021 one the last known DITG bomb-builders was killed and the army found evidence that there were more armed DITG members around than previously believed. On the plus side all or most of them had coalesced into one group led by Abu Zacharia, a veteran DITG leader. This faction was first identified and encountered in 2021 and several times since then. The troops are trying to force the Islamic terrorists into a fight, or a surrender. DITG survived four years of constant army patrols and civilians who phone in tips as well as those who provide just terrorists have been here messages. While there is cell phone coverage in 95 percent of the populated areas there are still many rural areas where people own cell phones but have to travel to a town or city to use them. Desperate Islamic terrorists will destroy existing cell towers in areas where they are being pursued. What has hurt the Islamic terrorists most is that more rural Moslems openly provide information and the security forces have lists of towns and villages where there are informants. The names of informants are often not provided but local soldiers and police know that just asking local leaders or merchants will get them to someone who has timely information to share. DITG has been trying to regroup, rebuild and move forward with more devastating attacks. Their attacks since 2019 caused little damage and few casualties. DITG was never officially acknowledged by ISIL and is composed of the survivors of the Maute Group, which was largely wiped out in 2017 when they tried to take over the nearby city of Marawi. That failed in a spectacular fashion, which is one reason ISIL does not want to be associated with this group.

The government is implementing Starlink satellite Internet/cell phone service in many remote areas. One Starlink terminal (a small dish and a special modem to link the satellites to a PC) can be used to provide cell phone service to a larger area by acting as the center of a local network of cell phone towers that provide cell phone service via the Internet.

Shutting Down Chinese Gangsters

Chinese run online gambling companies are legal in the Philippines but Chinese gangsters operate many illegally. This has led to support for outlawing the lucrative online gambling industry. Chinese gangsters have become more of a problem that came with increased Chinese investment. Over two thousand illegal aliens, most of them Chinese, are arrested each year in the capital alone. Most of those arrested were participating in the growing Internet based criminal activities. Currently, a major crackdown on Chinese criminal organizations has led to hundreds of arrests with many of the Chinese being deported because they are in the country on tourist visas.

After 2008 the Philippines slowly became a hotspot for computer hacking groups, and for nearly a decade the computer crime gangs were able to survive by bribing the right officials. Only when the cybercrime involved Islamic terrorism did the bribes not work. In 2016 the government legalized online gambling operations. These were to be regulated and taxed. Filipinos were forbidden to use the new online gaming sites because popular opinion in the country was that the online gambling sites were addictive and sometimes rigged. There was also an effort to eliminate a lot of the bribery that caused things like online gambling to become more of a problem than economic benefit. All this was complicated by new (since 2016) Chinese investment activity, which was part of a government effort to boost the economy. While the government was also at odds with China over illegal South China Sea claims, the Chinese were using large investments to reduce the popular hostility to what was going on in the South China Sea. The Chinese investments came with the usual demands that more Chinese be allowed to work in the Philippines. In return more Filipinos would be allowed to work in China. In 2016 the Filipino police were ordered by the new president (Rodrigo Duterte) to aggressively go after corruption and criminal activity. This was soon applied to the online gambling business, which were dominated by Chinese gangs. In addition to corrupting legal online gaming operations, the new flood of Chinese gangsters led to the establishment of illegal online gaming operations. All this Chinese gangster activity led to more arrests and prosecutions. The Chinese government often cooperates because many of these gangsters are moving to the Philippines to escape more intense police pressure in China. In foreign countries it was often possible to exploit the legal system and extradition treaties to avoid being sent back to China to face even more serious criminal charges. A growing number of Chinese arrests are the result of information provided by the American FBI, which had been investigating international computer and phone fraud and the hackers behind it. China has also provided information about Internet based criminals preying on individuals and businesses in China. In 2019 thousands of illegal aliens were arrested in the Philippines, most of them Chinese. For all of 2018 only 500 illegal aliens were arrested. In 2019 nearly two million Chinese traveled to the Philippines, most of them tourists. Tourism has always been good for the economy but the growing number of Chinese tourists is accompanied by more Chinese gangsters looking for a safer place to work and skilled at corrupting local officials.

One side effect of this crackdown was China issuing a warning to Chinese tourists and business travelers to stay away from the Philippines because of the risk to all Chinese living or working there. While this keeps Chinese tourists away, the police report that Chinese gangsters often come to the Philippines as tourists.

October 29, 2022: In the south (Negros Oriental province) soldiers, acting on civilian complaint about NPA rebels extorting locals, tracked down and confronted a group of armed NPA rebels. There was a 30-minute gun battle. The rebels managed to break contact and get away but the troops kept tracking them and clashed again and another half hour of fighting saw one rebel killed and one or more apparently wounded. The rebels again escaped but left behind weapons and backpacks. There are two NPA groups or Fronts in the province and both have suffered heavy losses since 2019 and gained few new recruits.

October 27, 2022: In the north (Abra province) NPA rebels ambushed four soldiers who were driving to a storm relief assignment. Two soldiers were killed and one wounded.

October 24, 2022: In the south (Lanao del Norte province) s dead man was found near a downed NGCP (National Grid Corporation of the Philippines) electricity transmission tower. It took 36 hours to restore service areas served by electricity provided by that tower. A bomb had been used to bring down the tower and three days earlier and it took time for the dead man to be identified as a member of the Islamic terrorist Maute Group, which now prefers to be called DITG Members of this group tend to fight to the death if trapped, rather than even consider surrender. The dead man near the tower apparently died as a result of the explosion. He was too close when the bomb went off.

October 20, 2022: The government reported that they have managed to shut down 214 illegal Chinese online gambling operations and arrested about 400 Chinese gangsters involved with crimes against Chinese, often the country illegally, working for the online gambling operations.

October 11, 2022: In the south (Maguindanao province) soldiers found a BIFF safehouse thanks to a tip from a local civilian. There were no BIFF men resent but the soldiers found several bombs and rifles along with ammunition. The bombs are normally used for attacks on army vehicles or foot patrols. BIFF has fewer members now and there have been few violent encounters with BIFF forces in the last year, although there was some violence between two BIFF factions who carried out several attacks against each other. The BIFF factions involved are from different clans and violent feuds between clans has been common in the Moslem south for centuries. The commanders of the two clans are not only from different clans but also have grudges against each other. Since 2021 most of the BIFF losses have been from BIFF gunmen surrendering. BIFF personnel who surrender or turn themselves in with their weapons and tell interrogators what they know can get amnesty. There are less than a hundred BIFF members left and most are veterans, which explains how they have remained active for so long. Because of their small numbers, BIFF has not been able to carry out any attacks lately. Just surviving has become a full-time BIFF activity, which results in many weapons being stashed in rural areas.

October 10, 2022: In the south (Negros Occidental province) soldiers clashed with a group of NPA rebels and after a brief gun battle the rebels fled, except for one that was dead and quickly identified as Romeo Nanta, the commander of NPA gunmen on Negros Island, which contains two provinces (Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental).

October 6, 2022: In the south (Negros Occidental province) soldiers advised over a thousand civilians leave their homes temporarily until the current fighting with NPA rebels in the area ended. The armed clashes have been frequent and unpredictable as military patrols close in on several NPA groups in the area. The violence went on for another two days. NPA will often try to hide among civilians.
The Cowlitz County commissioners on Tuesday approved spending $270,000 to design three big projects for the Toutle water system and an additional $110,000 on the temporary bridge at Tower Road.

The $111,270 change order brings the total bridge project contract with contractor Quigg Bros. to $884,570. The increase is because the county went out to bid based on the 50% design to save time after heavy rain and flooding in March destroyed the culvert, said Susan Eugenis, county engineer.

The design was completed on Sept. 28 and work started Oct. 3, she said.

The change order trues up quantities and material changes between the 50% and 100% designs, Eugenis said. Design changes that affected the cost include added drainage, increased channel excavation, thicker steel for the piles, two added piles and changes to the bridge, she said.

All materials are a per-item cost, so at the end of the project, costs may decrease depending on how much is used, Eugenis said.

The temporary bridge is in transit and set to be delivered Nov. 8, with it fully open in December, Eugenis said. Design of the permanent bridge over Rock Creek is ongoing, she added.

The commissioners also approved a professional services agreement with RH2 Engineering to design two Toutle Water System improvement projects for $271,740.

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One project will correct two zones where about two dozen residents are only getting the minimum level of water pressure allowed, Eugenis said.

The engineer will analyze whether its better to tap into the existing water line or build a new booster bump station for the low-pressure area near Tower Road and design the best solution. The firm will also design a small booster pump station for the problem area near Juanita Way. The county plans to go out to bid for the project next year.

The second project is to add an additional pump station and distribution system to serve the Shadow Mountain area, located in the hills behind the Toutle High School. The county has been discussing the project for about a year, since several residents reported high levels of arsenic in their individual wells, Eugenis said.

Arsenic is naturally occurring in areas with volcanic activity and can leach into the water, said Season Long, county environmental health manager. Residents with individual wells are recommended to test for arsenic, but its not required, she said.

The project would expand the countys water system up the hill and allow residents to connect, Eugenis said. The county plans to go out to bid for the project in spring or early summer 2024, she said.

Three-quarters of the project design costs be paid with pandemic-inspired federal American Rescue Plan Act money, with the remaining 25% from the water reserve capital fund, Eugenis said.

In other business, the commissioners accepted a $87,755 bid from Pacific Northwest Fire Protection to replace the failing fire suppression system at the Cowlitz County Event Center indoor arena.

A $134,000 Washington State Department of Agriculture grant will reimburse the cost of upgrading the system and replacing some doors to better secure the building, said Kim Bowcutt, event center director.

The commissioners also approved an amendment to the 2022 budget, totaling $2 million in changes previously approved by the board, said Traci Jackson, county finance manager. The amendment includes staffing changes, purchases and grants received since July, she said.
Innovation boosts rural tourism in southern China

Xinhua) 08:55, November 02, 2022

HAIKOU, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- A cafe built under a water tower in a small village of south China's Hainan Province has become a tourist attraction.

In the stylish wooden cabin in Dashan Village of Ding'an County, customers can enjoy a cup of coffee while appreciating the idyllic countryside scenery around them.

Amid China's rural revitalization drive, Dashan Village, with a population of around 1,000, has been tapping into its own resources and creativity to develop rural tourism.

After thorough discussions, cadres and villagers decided to build the cafe under the water tower. "It is creative and can help make good use of the space under the tower," said Ni Zhijian, secretary of the village's Party branch.

The cafe was set up with the support of government funds and it opened for business at the end of last year. The villagers were excited to see photos and videos featuring the cafe appearing on different online platforms and more tourists were seen in the village as a consequence.

Sometimes the cafe is so crowded with customers that it has to borrow tables and chairs from villagers in order to provide more seating outside.

The creativity of the village does not stop there. Besides the cafe, scenic spots such as hill stone corridors, walls with water paintings, and a themed park are turning the village into a sought-after tourist destination.

Catering for the needs of tourists, companies were established to organize villagers to grow agricultural products such as litchi, passion fruit, wax apple and coffee.

"Ding'an County has been encouraging towns and villages to tap cultural resources to boost rural revitalization," said Yuan Zhen, deputy director of the rural revitalization bureau of the county.

In Wentouling Village of the county, a shared farm featuring the industry of fragrant herbs was founded. The villagers grow different kinds of rare fragrant herbs from worldwide.

"Tourists not only get to enjoy the beautiful scenery but can also learn to make perfumes and taste food made with herbs," said Chen Baodi, general manager of the farm. The farm has received some 300,000 tourists since it started operation in February 2021.

College graduate Hu Shize quit his job in the city and returned home to Citan Village where he founded a specialized cooperative for tourism. Over 40 households of villagers joined this tourism initiative.

"We have also established our own agricultural brand and our products have been chosen by a Michelin restaurant in Shanghai as materials for their cuisine," he said.

"The government will continue supporting such programs so as to encourage local people to come up with more creative ideas to develop their villages," said Yuan.

(Web editor: Cai Hairuo, Liang Jun)
NAIROBI, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- The rise in multiple extreme weather events in Africa calls for a coordinated approach for evidence-based negotiations at the COP27 in Egypt, a climate negotiator said on Wednesday.

George Wamukoya, the team leader of the African Group of Negotiators Expert Support (AGNES), said in a statement released in Nairobi, Kenya's capital, there has been a lack of coordination between African policymakers, scientists, and negotiators to provide evidence on the effects of global warming on the continent.

"In all the positions that Africa takes, negotiators must do technical or background papers to generate evidence guiding that position," Wamukoya, an experienced lead coordinator on agriculture said.

"Ahead of the climate change conference, we have convened pre-meetings where scientists and negotiators have discussed the agenda and identified areas that require evidence. These scientists have helped negotiators in packaging a common African position that is informed by science," he added.

On Tuesday, Guleid Artan, the Director of the IGAD's Climate Prediction and Applications Center (ICPAC), said Africa would at the meeting focus on getting adaptation funds from countries that have created the mess for the continent.

Africa is among the continents that have suffered the worst effects of the climate crisis, with countries like Nigeria and South Africa enduring floods as drought ravages the Horn of Africa.

The adverse impacts of the climate crisis have led to increased food insecurity, water scarcity, reduced crop yields and disruption of food systems have taken a toll on African households and the continent's economic growth.

"Science tells us that Africa is the most vulnerable continent yet it has contributed the least in terms of emissions. Africa's voice in the global climate negotiations, therefore, becomes critical," stated Wamukoya.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the cost of adapting to climate change shocks across Africa is estimated to rise to 50 billion U.S. dollars by 2050 if the global temperature increase remains within 2 degrees centigrade above pre-industrial levels.

This is despite the continent accounting for less than 4 percent of global emissions.

"Delivering a good outcome at COP27 for Africa is, therefore, an imperative. AGNES is ready to make a case for adaptation, doubling adaptation finance, creating greater prominence for loss and damage discussions, raising mitigation ambition, and institutionalizing agriculture in the UNFCCC process. We must deliver on agriculture," said Wamukoya.

The Conference of the Parties 27 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will kick off in Egypt on Nov. 6. 
The recent unprecedented pandemic has enforced accelerated adoption of technology and digital capabilities across the businesses and enterprise ecosystem. It has enabled businesses of all sizes to transform their business models and customer engagements and launch new product and service offerings. The increased cloud migration, technology integrations, remote working, and ecosystem collaborations have created more business opportunities and a playground for cybercriminals with expanded targeted attack surfaces. In the age of Zero-Day Vulnerabilities and Zero Click Attacks, no business or enterprise is spared from the ever-growing sophisticated cyber threats.Larger enterprises and specific industry verticals are forced to adopt stronger cyber resiliency and maturity capabilities to meet their business continuity plans, regulatory requirements and customer trust. The increasing cyber-attacks make it imperative for cybersecurity to be at the forefront of every business leader's mind. However, there is a general misunderstanding that only large-scale organizations are targets of a cyberattack; this ideology is lulling business leaders into a false sense of security. The Small and Medium Business (SMB) segments are not prepared for a cyber-attack of any nature, severity, or type. Woefully, SMB organizations do not have sufficient skilled cyber security resources, cyber defence budget, knowledge, and awareness to meet the required cyber readiness and resiliency.Based on an article published by the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO) quotes from various studies that 87% of small businesses believe their business is safe from cyberattacks because they use antivirus software alone. The common misperception is that cyber criminals target only large organizations, or SMBs are the least targeted due to their small size or having less valuable assets. The article says that Small business targets 43% of all cybercrimes, and 22% of small businesses breached by the 2017 Ransomware attacks were so affected they could not continue operating. According to Verizon's 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report, 46% of breaches impacted small and midsize businesses. Also, as per one of the reports published by MYOB, 33% of companies with fewer than 100 employees don't take proactive measures against cyber security breaches.As per Sophos report on cybersecurity experiences in India in 2021, 62% of SMEs were targeted for cyberattacks, with damages attributed to these exceeding Rs. 3.5 crores. Aside from the financial implications of a cyber-attack, the potential reputational damage associated with compromising customers' personal data can also be devastating for start-ups and SMBs. Small and medium businesses' most common cyber-attacks are Phishing, Malware, Ransomware, Social Engineering, Insider Threats, DDoS, DNS Assault, Cryptojacking, Password concentrating, etc.It is imperative that SMB organizations adopt Cyber Security Best Practices as a culture with a "SecureFirst" mindset. The below top 5 approaches will help SMB organizations significantly improve their cyber resiliency and defence capability against constant attacks.1. Continuous backup of all the relevant and required data2. Building a Secure Culture with Security awareness and training initiatives across the organization3. Strong Password protection policies, programs with Multi-Factor Authentication4. Ensuring systems, software and applications with the latest updates and right configurations5. Implement and practice baseline security controls, policies and programs regularlyCybercrimes and attacks are getting sophisticated, autonomous, and evolving. Hence, small business leaders must implement a concrete, holistic cybersecurity strategy as those who don't will ultimately leave a door open for hackers and leave their most sensitive financial, customer and business data, and ultimately their companies, at significant risk.
Twitter's famous blue checkmark is a helpful tool to show user accounts are verified and authentic, but it will soon come at a price: $8 per month, says the company's new boss Elon Musk.

New Twitter head Elon Musk said Tuesday the site will charge $8 per month to verify users' accounts, arguing the plan would solve the platform's issues with bots and trolls while creating a new revenue stream for the company.

The announcement comes only days after the world's wealthiest man took sole control of the social media giant in a contentious $44 billion deal.

"Power to the people! Blue for $8/month," Musk, who has styled himself as a free-speech champion, tweeted, in reference to the platform's paid subscription service, Twitter Blue.

Under the new plan, paid subscribers would receive Twitter's famous blue checkmark that signals a verified, authentic account.

That feature is currently offered only to public figures, an approach Musk described as a "lords & peasants system."

He said Twitter Blue subscribers would also receive "priority" placement in "replies, mentions & search," which he called "essential to defeat spam/scam."

There would also be expanded video abilities, fewer ads, and the possibility for users to get a "paywall bypass for publishers willing to work with us," he said.

Twitter Blue currently allows users to access certain news sites for free and without ads, such as the Los Angeles Times.

"This will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators," Musk tweeted.

Addressing the worries of some Twitter users that their blue check mark would lose its notoriety, he also announced "a secondary tag below the name for someone who is a public figure, which is already the case for politicians."

The Twitter Blue service currently offers various other premium features, such as allowing subscribers to edit their tweets.

The new plan's pricing, up from the current $5 per month, would be adjusted by country "proportionate to purchasing power parity," Musk added in a reply to his original tweet.

Musk re-tweeted and replied to users praising the paid-verification idea, saying the move "will destroy the bots."

"If a paid Blue account engages in spam/scam, that account will be suspended," Musk wrote.

'Need to pay the bills'

For users that currently have blue check marks, Musk is considering removing them if they do not pay for the new service, tech news outlet The Verge reported.

Some users warned that they would simply leave the site if they were made to pay.

The SpaceX and Tesla chief floated the $8 subscription fee idea earlier Tuesday in a tweet reply to author Stephen King, who was complaining about media reports that the verification service could cost $20 per month.

"We need to pay the bills somehow!" Musk responded.

"Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?"

The proposal is only one part of a series of sweeping changes the 51-year-old entrepreneur has implemented at Twitter, with the entire board, including CEO Parag Agrawal, let go last week.

The Washington Post has reported that Musk, whose account bio currently reads "Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator," plans to fire some 75 percent of his company's 7,500 employees.

Musk financed the massive deal through a mixture of his own wealth, money from other investment groups and loans from banks which will have to be reimbursed.

His previous comments condemning Twitter's content moderation policies as heavy-handedas well as his frequent posts of boundary-testing memeshas given pause to some advertisers, currently the company's main source of revenue.

Some users have expressed fear Twitter could turn into a global stage for hate speech and disinformation.

He tried to calm the nerves by reassuring over the weekend that the site would not become a "free-for-all hellscape," and announced the formation of a content moderation council.

However on Sunday, Musk himself tweeted an anti-LGBT conspiracy theory about what happened the night US Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband was attacked, then hours later deleted the post.

 2022 AFP
Bryan Maacks put up a sign protesting US Bitcoin over the noise of its operations in Niagara Falls, New York.

In the US border town of Niagara Falls, residents accustomed to the soothing roar of the famous waterfalls recently discovered a much less pleasant sound: the "haunting hum" of bitcoin mining farms.

"I get four hours of sleep, maybe, because of that constant noise," said Elizabeth Lundy, an 80-year-old retired hairdresser. "I can hear the noise even through the storm windows."

On a sunny October morning, a mechanical whirring could be heard clearly on Lundy's front porch. The noise turned to a deafening din as one walked two blocks toward Buffalo Avenue where the US bitcoin miners operate.

Bitcoin mining farms have multiplied in the United States since China halted this activity in 2021. The United States is now emerging as a global leader in the industry.

Attracted by the cheap hydroelectric power available in Niagara Falls, Blockfusion took up residence at a former coal factory there in 2019, followed by US Bitcoin in 2020, which operates from a former sodium plant.

US Bitcoin installed hundreds of noisy fans outside, needed to cool the thousands of computer graphics cards that heat up as they solve the complex equations required to earn them cryptocurrency.

'A 747 jet'

"It sounds like a 747 jet," said Frank Peller, a 70-year-old resident who lives in a brownstone more than a mile from this crypto mining operation.

US Bitcoin employs huge, noisy fans outside its operations in Niagara Falls, New York, on October 24, 2022.

"It's the loudest in the morning, at night and if there's high humidity and a breeze," he added.

He once could sit in his backyard and hear the roar of Niagara Falls more than two miles away. But now, "you can't hear it at all" and you can't avoid "the roar of bitcoin mining every day."

Bryan Maacks, who lives closer to Buffalo Avenue, described a "haunting, vibrating hum"a vexing throb that has run through his house day and night since last winter.

"It's very mentally daunting. It's like having a toothache for 24 hours a day every day," Maacks, 65, said.

He said he wears headphones all the time and uses a fan to block out the noise to get to sleep.

Maacks launched a petition and made a "US Bitcoin Stop the Noise" sign on the back of his red pickup truck, which he parked for several weeks in front of the company.

"The noise pollution of this industry is like nothing else that has been there," said Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino in his office decorated with paintings of the famous waterfalls.

Robert Restaino, mayor of Niagara Falls in New York State, says he's willing to take bitcoin mining farms to court over the noise they produce.

That's quite a statement in a city that embraced heavy industry for decades.

Faced with a flood of complaints, mainly regarding US Bitcoin, the mayor decreed a moratorium on any new mining activity in December 2021, then in early September set strict noise limits of 40 to 50 decibels near residential areas.

'Noise barrier'

US Bitcoin said it's taking steps to address the problem.

"Immediately upon these concerns being flagged, we erected a plastic barrier," the company said in a statement to AFP.

"We also conducted acoustic studies and had plans drawn for a larger noise abatement wall" that was prevented from being built by the moratorium, the company said.

In the nearby town of North Tonawanda, the Canadian mining company Digihost, is also facing the ire of local residents, and has undertaken the construction of a soundproofing wall more than six meters (20 feet) high, at an estimated cost of several hundred thousand dollars, Mayor Austin Tylec said.

Giant fans cool computer operations at US Bitcoin in Niagara Falls, New York, on October 24, 2022.

In Niagara Falls, City Hall ordered the closure of the two bitcoin farms in early October until they comply with new local statutes.

While both companies say they are cooperating with the city, only Blockfusion had shut down its processors by the end of October and reduced the number of fans running, with US Bitcoin's still running at full capacity, an AFP reporter found.

"If they continue to refuse to comply with our order to stop, then we'll have to be in court," Restaino said.

Such a legal battle already pits the bitcoin farm Red Dog Technologies against local authorities in Tennessee. Other complaints about noise pollution in the vicinity of computer centers have arisen from North Carolina to Pennsylvania.

"I'm going to be protesting till the hum is gone, basically, till I get the roar of the falls back because that's what I used to hear," Maacks said.

 2022 AFP
Texas A&M University officials are searching for someone who picked up a bat at Kyle Field on Saturday.

In a press release sent Tuesday, A&M officials said the bat was seen flying in the stadium between 6:45 p.m. and 7 p.m. Following reports of the bat sighting, University staff arrived to learn an unknown person had transferred the bat into a box and could have come into direct contact with it.

The bat was collected for rabies testing, and the results are pending, the press release said. If you or someone you know handled the bat, A&M officials said to contact the university's Environmental Health & Safety Department at 979-845-2132 or the Brazos County Health District at 979-361-4440.
Texas A&M will conduct a Silver Taps ceremony at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday to honor two Aggies who recently died.

The students who will be honored are: Andrew Paul Coleman, a sophomore studying aerospace engineering from Erie, Pennsylvania; and Meghana Devi Kodali, a senior studying nueroscience from Bellaire.

The Silver Taps ceremony, which will be in the universitys Academic Plaza, will be broadcast on YouTube.

Silver Taps is an A&M tradition held on the first Tuesday of each month from September through April, if necessary, to honor current students who have died.

The first Silver Taps was in 1898 after the death of the universitys president, Lawrence Sullivan Ross, and it has changed little from that time. All campus flags are flown at half-staff on the day of Silver Taps, while a list of the names of those to be remembered is posted at the base of the flagpole in the Academic Plaza.
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KUALA LUMPUR, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming China International Import Expo (CIIE) is an ideal platform for a variety of participating businesses from around the world to tap into China's vast consumer market.

This year, the fifth CIIE, which is scheduled to be held in Shanghai from Nov. 5 to Nov. 10, will see the participation of prominent Malaysian exhibitors in the hopes of gaining even deeper market access to boost business.

Low Kian Chuan, president of the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (ACCCIM) said he believes this year's expo will provide more business opportunities as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has come into force.

ACCCIM has been the organizer of Malaysian exhibitors for the CIIE for five years. Low said that as China continues to open its doors wider to the world, the CIIE has become all the more attractive to export-oriented enterprises.

"China's opening-up policy is a solid and clear policy, which gives us confidence in China's status as the world's second-largest economy. We believe that, through cooperating with Chinese companies, we can achieve win-win results," Low said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

Malaysia's edible birds' nests retailer Moh Kee Enterprise will participate in the CIIE for the fifth time. Calvin Ong Chang Yeow, Moh Kee's marketing manager, called it a "promise" to join the CIIE and to meet with all the friends they made during the past years on this platform.

The expo has boosted efforts to tap into the Chinese market, especially by bringing a huge number of people to one place with face-to-face meetings, allowing businesses to flourish, Ong told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"Indeed, it has helped us a lot. Actually, throughout this CIIE we have met up with a lot of friends, not only in China but also worldwide," Ong said.

Recalling the first time he went to the CIIE in 2018, Ong said he had been particularly impressed by the huge scale of the event, which showcased China's advances not only in the organization but also in technological progress, with the incorporation of facial recognition technology and artificial intelligence (AI).

"We see a lot of people and products from all over the world, from the aero-engineering to all the seafood products," he said.

Zooming in on his own product, Ong said birds' nests are a highly-priced and highly sought-after product that fits right in with the huge range of other items on offer at the expo.

Malaysia's Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries has been promoting the development and export of the bird's nest sector, which is highly value-added and brings a lot of jobs as a labor-intensive industry.

The high amount of human labor involved in harvesting and preparing birds' nests also contributes to the high cost of the item, he said, adding that only nests that have already been used and abandoned by swiftlets would be collected for commercial use.

Speaking of the goal this year, "We hope to win some clients this year from provinces like Heilongjiang Province, Gansu Province and etc, to expand our business in northern China," he said. 
The Business Coalition for Veterans is seeking snacks, holiday cards and letters to send to members of the military who are serving overseas.

The Christmas gifts will be delivered to soldiers with Nebraska ties.

Chef Anthony Brando, the founder of the Business Coalition for Veterans, hopes people will donate jerky, summer sausage, popped popcorn, nuts and dried fruit. The donations should be store-bought, sealed items. No homemade goodies, he says.

The donations are needed by Nov. 17.

Red Ace Hardware barrels with accompanying signage are set up at the three drop-off locations.

They are Destiny Church, 4306 Highway 30; Tiffany Square, 3119 Faidley Ave., and Slumberland Furniture, 3537 W. 13th St. The Tiffany Square location is open 24 hours.

The project is called Letters from Nebraska 2. Brando conducted a similar project in 2019.

For more information, call Brando at 308-227-8018.
The Mid-American Stock Show has never been in Grand Island before, because it's never existed before.

The inaugural event continues through Saturday at Fonner Park. Running in the Tom Dinsdale Automotive Cattle Barn and Five Points Bank Arena, it began on Oct. 29.

People in the livestock industry "put together an event that's by stockmen for stockmen," said Charles Terry, who's a member of the Mid-American Stock Show board. The livestock owners wanted to bring cattle to the show and compete against each other, "which is what we love to do," he said.

The event is also a promotion for the industry. "It's an advertisement for the ranches from across the country," Terry said. "We have cattle from coast to coast that are here." The cattle come from, among other places, California, Texas and the East Coast.

Terry, who lives in Winchester, Kansas, is also the the announcer for the show.

He and Chad Wright, another Kansan, expect the Mid-American Stock Show to grow. They also said it will be back in Grand Island next year.

This year, close to two dozen states are represented. The show includes more than 1,000 entries.

A news release says the Mid-American Stock Show is a "new and inclusive livestock show formed by a group of elite stockmen and livestock enthusiasts from across the country, aimed at preserving our nation's American western heritage and a venue to showcase elite livestock."

"Our main purpose is to provide a platform for the individual breeders to come and display their cattle, and try to help them promote their programs that they have going," Wright said.

Wright, who lives in Clayton, Kansas, is president of the Mid-American Stock Show.

Organizers brought the event to Grand Island because of "the facility, more than anything," Terry said.

The local crew has been helpful, and the city of Grand Island has been "more than accommodating," he said. "This is one of the most amazing facilities for this type of thing around."

What does Wright think of Grand Island? "Oh, love it. Great facility. Great people," he said.

In addition to cattle, the show brings together goats, lambs, sheep and hogs.

The organizers devote a lot of attention to junior livestock growers, Terry said.

He invites families to come out before the week is over. They'll enjoy watching, and the Mid-American Stock Show wants to have a good impact on the community, he said.
When a young sycamore was planted Tuesday at the Grand Island Arboretum, it was very fitting that members of Gregg Bostelman's family counted down from 10 as the tree was dropped into the ground.

The new tree has direct ties to the moon.

The American sycamore is a second-generation moon tree, meaning it was propagated from seeds that were part of the Apollo 14 mission to the moon in 1971.

The tree was planted in honor of Bostelman, who died in 2017 at age 63. For 24 years, he was Grand Island's park superintendent. He was a driving force in the creation of the arboretum, which is part of Sucks Lake Park.

Some big stars came to Grand Island for the celestial event.

One of them was retired astronaut Clayton Anderson, who was present for both the planting and an earlier ceremony at the Tom Dinsdale Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC dealership.

Also coming to town was Rosemary Roosa, who is president of the Moon Tree Foundation. Roosa, who lives in Biloxi, Miss., is the daughter of the late Stuart Roosa, who brought five varieties of seeds into space as part of the Apollo 14 mission. Stuart Roosa, who was the command module pilot, died in 1994. The seeds grew into seedlings, which were planted in a variety of locations.

The tree planted at the arboretum is from a descendant of seeds taken to the moon.

About 50 people attended the tree planting.

"We are all here because we have a love of trees," Roosa said, adding that trees mean so much to so many.

Relatives of Bostelman and his widow, Joni, tapped down the ground around the sapling. The tree is surrounded by six discs showing the phases of the moon.

Right now, the sapling is about four feet tall. Eventually, it will become 75 to 100 feet high.

Roosa said she looks forward to "coming back and seeing the tree grow."

Joni Bostelman, who was married to Gregg for 40 years, said the tree looked beautiful.

"Gregg would be overjoyed," she said. He would feel it was a privilege to have a tree planted in his honor, she said.

Stuart Roosa, an Oklahoma native, was an Air Force test pilot before he joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Before joining the Air Force, he spent a summer working as a smoke jumper for the U.S. Forest Service. Commander Alan Shepard, also part of the Apollo 14 mission, was impressed with Roosa's flying skills.

The idea for the moon tree was planted in August, when Joni Bostelman, her daughter-in-law and her two sons visited the Siskiyou Smokejumper Base Museum in Cave Junction, Ore.

The man who gave them a tour pointed at a picture of Stuart Roosa and said he was both a smoke jumper and an astronaut.

The guide told them how Roosa took seeds to the moon. He then looked out the window, and pointed out that the museum had its own moon tree.

"Well, how do I get a moon tree?" Joni said.

The Nebraskans did some research, applied for a moon tree and got one.

A few months later, the Grand Island Arboretum had its lunar landing.

Seventeen of Joni's relatives attended Tuesday's ceremony. Also on hand were Gregg Bostelman's brother, sister and father, who is 91. The gathering also included members of Grand Island's Tree Board.

It was Roosa's first trip to Nebraska. It was a good day, she said, to honor someone who has "done great work in this community."

Like her father, she said, Bostelman followed his passion and a love of trees.

The Moon Tree venture, Roosa said, is a living legacy of the Apollo program.

She hopes the sycamore will promote conservation and inspire people to reach for the stars in their own way.

Grand Island Park Superintendent Barry Burrows planted the tree.

Many trees at the arboretum will reach about the same height as the American sycamore, he said. The arboretum is home to more than 50 varieties of trees.

Not far from the new sycamore is an Exclamation Sycamore, which was planted as a memorial to another individual.

Burrows was hired by Bostelman. "When this land was being developed, I was right beside him. We were planting trees together. We were deciding on what tree varieties we would like to put out here," he said.

Burrows said he had a lot of respect for Bostelman. "He was a good guy and surely left this earth too soon," Burrows said.

An attractive sign along Harrison Street, which identifies the Grand Island Arboretum, is dedicated in memory of Gregg Bostelman. The back of the sign notes that he "planted and cared for the trees of Grand Island from 1977 to 2017."
MARION  Justin McCraw believes the coffee drinks at Crown Brew Coffee at 107 Union St. in Marion are different because of the way they source their coffee and the way it is made.

It is third wave coffee. It is a craft experience in coffee, McCraw said.

The business sources its coffee from small farms that yield a higher quality of coffee.

McCraw said some of the favorite drinks of their customers are the cuban, a shot of espresso with sweetened, condensed milk that is steamed; the white turtle, white chocolate and caramel; Ethiopian pour-over; and a cortado, two ounces of espresso with two ounces of steamed milk.

Crown Brew Coffee is owned by Josh Benitone and Jared Gravatt. They first opened the coffee shop in downtown Carterville and built quite a following.

After some unforeseen circumstances, they began working on the building at 107 Union St. They did most of the work themselves, with the help of family and friends. In September 2020, Crown Brew Coffee opened its doors in Marion.

McCraw said the best part of working at Crown Brew is the community they are building.

As we talked, a couple approached the door. He told me their names and their regular coffee drinks.

Do you want your regulars? McCraw asked the couple, and their answer was yes.

They each wanted a cortado, one in a to-go cup.

He poured the cortado into a small glass cup. It was complete with latte art on the top.

Pouring into smaller cups makes it harder to do latte art, McCraw said, getting some agreement from coworker Sarah Jacobs.

Jacobs had just started at Crown Brew and McCraw was training her. Tuesday was her first day of steaming milk. She said latte art is harder than it looks.

Latte art is harder than it looks. I understand now why some shops choose not to do it, McCraw said.

McCraw has worked at Crown Brew for about five years, plus one year in another coffee shop. He has spent 15 years in the service industry.

McCraw said Crown Brew employees have begun to collaborate on their signature drink menu.

We collectively try drinks and decide what goes on a menu. We have the best signature drinks weve ever had, he said.

As they began preparing to close, a drink order was emailed for lemonade and cold lattes.

Cold brews are easy, but when you get a lot of them you have to stay clean and efficient, McCraw said.

Crown Brew is open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
CARBONDALE  Law school students from around the country will compete this weekend as the Southern Illinois University School of Law hosts the National Health Law Moot Court competition, Friday and Saturday, Nov. 4 to 5, to argue a fictitious case before the U.S. Supreme Court on issues involving gender dysphoria of a minor.

Twenty-six teams from 18 law schools will participate in the 31st Health Law Moot Court competition to discuss whether a 14-year-old diagnosed with gender dysphoria can receive medications to block puberty when a state law would prohibit physicians from prescribing drugs to stop normal puberty until a patient is 18 years old.

Cheryl L. Anderson, law school professor and moot court programs director, noted that moot court problems are often based on hypothetical cases that could happen but have not necessarily happened yet.

The fact pattern for this years health law competition is very similar to several cases that are currently making their way through the court system, Anderson said. A small number of states have recently enacted legislation similar to the hypothetical state law in this years problem, and the students arguing the case have a unique opportunity to mirror what is happening in actual appellate courtrooms.

The court record and other information are on the competition website.

The event is the only mock U.S. Supreme Court competition dedicated to the always evolving and expanding topic of health law. Teams will compete in the law schools Hiram H. Lesar Law Building with preliminary rounds on Friday, Nov. 4. The final round will be available via livestream at 4 p.m. Saturday via the law schools moot court board YouTube channel.

Distinguished judges will preside

As the host, the SIU School of Law moot court team is not a competitor. Anderson noted that many alumni, faculty and friends of the law school will participate as early-round judges.

The final round judges are Judge Nancy Rosenstengel, chief judge, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois and SIU School of Law alumna; Magistrate Judge Lanny King, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky; Dr. Tony Quang, president of the American College of Legal Medicine, and Camille Davidson, dean, SIU School of Law.

Sponsors are the SIU School of Law, the American College of Legal Medicine (ACLM) and the American Health Law Association (AHLA).

For more information on the event and to arrange the best times for interviews on Saturday, Nov. 5, contact Cheryl L. Anderson, SIU School of Law professor, at 618-453-5634 or cheryla@siu.edu.

Participating law schools are Baylor University Law School; Chicago-Kent College of Law; Georgia State University College of Law; Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law; Loyola University Chicago School of Law; Mitchell Hamline School of Law; Saint Louis University School of Law; Seton Hall School of Law; South Texas College of Law Houston; Suffolk University Law School; Texas A&M University School of Law; Texas Tech University School of Law; University of California, Hastings College of Law; University of Houston Law Center; University of Minnesota Law School; University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law; University of New Mexico School of Law, and University of Tulsa College of Law.
CARBONDALE  Southern Illinois University Carbondale has once again earned national attention for its commitment to sustainability, earning a spot in The Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges: 2023 Edition. Just 455 institutions of higher learning across the country were recognized.

Sustainability is one of five pillars of SIUs strategic plan, Imagine 2030.

SIU has long been an advocate for sustainability, so it is fitting that we are once again being honored by The Princeton Review, said Dave Tippy, superintendent of grounds. This recognition reinforces our commitment. This guide was established in 2010, and weve been honored almost every year since 2011. As an institution, we will continue to work on additional efforts to improve sustainability and protect our environment, and Im confident that will help us retain our place on this prestigious list.

Award recognizes action

The recognition shows that SIU actively pursues ways to make the campus and surrounding area a greener, more environmentally friendly place, according to university officials.

Princeton Review grades universities on a variety of criteria and requires a score of 80 or higher on a scale from 60 to 99 in order to earn recognition. Information for the rankings was gleaned from institutional data, surveys of administrators and student surveys.

SIUs profile within the publication included photographs, details about the university, its students, academics, campus life and various green facts. Students praised SIU for its very friendly and diverse campus with strong academics as well as the wooded and beautiful campus complete with wildlife, lake and wide range of extracurricular activities and recreational facilities.

SIUs commitment to sustainability is evident in many ways. Since 2009, for example, more than $2.3 million in student-initiated Green Fund grants has been awarded to 225 diverse campus projects focused on energy efficiency, renewable energy, green space/grounds, transportation, waste, food, sustainability outreach and numerous other efforts.

For more information about sustainability at SIU, visit sustainability.siu.edu. SIU has also been recognized by the Arbor Day Foundation for its effective urban forest management and green campus practices by being designated as a Tree Campus Higher Education for many years.
PHNOM PENH, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is an important mechanism to safeguard the rules-based multilateral free trade system against the trends of anti-globalization and protectionism, Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said on Wednesday.

Addressing a high-level forum on the RCEP here, Hun Sen said the rise in protectionism is undermining globalization and rules-based multilateralism momentum.

"In this context, the RCEP is an important mechanism and a strategy that demonstrates our unwavering commitment to safeguard the rules-based multilateral free trade system, maintain economic openness, and uphold a spirit of cooperation," he said.

"Furthermore, the RCEP has great potential to address major challenges such as strengthening global value chains, accelerating digitalization, mitigating the adverse impacts of climate change as well as counteracting the tendencies of anti-globalization and protectionism," he added.

Hun Sen said that the RCEP also has a crucial role in maintaining prosperity and political stability in the region by promoting economic integration and enhancing existing institutional mechanisms.

Entering into force on Jan. 1, 2022, the RCEP comprises 15 countries, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Cambodia's Minister of Commerce Pan Sorasak said the RCEP is the biggest free trade agreement in the world.

As a modern, comprehensive, high-quality, and mutually beneficial economic partnership agreement, the RCEP is crucial for post-pandemic economic recovery amid uncertainties of global trade, he said at the event.

Senior economist Ky Sereyvath, director-general of the Institute of China Studies at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said that through the RCEP, Cambodia could be a hub-and-spoke model of distributing goods from China in southeast Asia.

"This regional mega-trade pact has served as a catalyst for regional and global economic growth and undoubtedly, all participating countries will benefit from it at different levels," he told Xinhua. "It will help Cambodia and other member countries quicken their economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic."

Joseph Matthews, a senior professor at the BELTEI International University in Phnom Penh, said that the RCEP has been giving a big boost to economic recovery of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the post-pandemic era, and has also played a crucial role in helping narrow the development gap between rich and poor ASEAN countries.

"This mega-trade pact holds huge potential for all participating countries to boost their trade and investment ties," he told Xinhua. "All member countries have reaped and will continue to reap the benefits of the RCEP for the long term." 
Let us apologize in advance to Barack Obama, who once wrote a book called The Audacity of Hope. You see, our subject today is what might be called the Caucacity of Nope.

The word is a new coinage, a portmanteau of Caucasian and audacity denoting a brand of white arrogance and entitlement that has become tiresomely familiar in recent years. It often plays out in episodes  sometimes fatal  wherein some white person takes it upon themselves to police people of color who are just trying to live their lives.

Nope, it says, you may not jog down that street without identifying yourself to me.

Nope, you may not barbecue in that park without justifying yourself to me.

Nope, you may not swim in that pool without explaining yourself to me.

If last weeks headlines are any indication, theres now a new nope. It says, You may not vote early in certain precincts without confronting me. And Ill be armed. It seems self-appointed ballot-box watchers, carrying firearms and wearing tactical gear, have been camping out at drop boxes in Maricopa County, Arizona, surveilling voters, shooting video, recording license plates and even accusing some of being so-called ballot mules.

The group behind this  Clean Elections USA  would likely dispute that their mission is to deter voters of color. On the other hand, Clean Elections is a band of far-right election deniers and, Kanye West notwithstanding, the far-right is not, shall we say, known for its hospitality toward people of color. Especially, one wagers, in Maricopa, where the population of non-Hispanic, non-Latino white people is just barely a majority at 53%.

It would require prodigious credulity, then, not to believe voters of color are the implicit target here, or to buy that any of this really has to do with protecting election integrity  especially since U.S. elections already are among the most secure in the world. Rather, this bizarre behavior seems an obvious outgrowth of the fact that some large fragment of white America feels itself outnumbered in the countrys changing demographic climate.

They are incapable of processing the fact of their own numerical diminution, i.e., to understand that when they lose an election, it is not because theyve been cheated, but because they are fewer in number and growing smaller every day as a percentage of the whole. Instead, they salve themselves by telling themselves their opponents votes must somehow be illegitimate.

So you get people sitting out by the early-voting boxes with guns. And for all their posture of protecting elections, its hard to imagine a greater insult to election integrity. As acts of voter intimidation go, after all, one would be hard put to top greeting would-be voters with firearms.

But beyond the trauma to democracy, the caucacity of it all also bears comment. There is a level of gall here that is staggering. One hopes the same conservatives who pronounced themselves traumatized in 2008 when two members of the so-called New Black Panther Party showed up at a polling place in an African-American neighborhood in Philadelphia to taunt and insult would-be white voters could muster just a fraction of that indignation for this.

One does not hold ones breath.

In 2022, the biggest threat to election integrity is not fraud, but sore losers. The headlines from Maricopa suggest that voters  particularly voters of color  would do well to keep that in mind.

Caucacity makes people do crazy things.
The Orangeburg Department of Public Safety is reporting a 6 percent drop in crime so far this year, but continues to discuss ways it can improve its crime statistics.

The department is also discussing ways to avoid violence at the polls.

Speaking at a Tuesday meeting, ODPS Chief Charles P. Austin Sr. said he is concerned about what seems to be an escalating level of tension ahead of the midterm elections.

As we approach the election process, there's been a variety of incidents that have occurred. The most high profile of those, of course, was the incident with the husband of U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Austin said.

But we've already received intel as it relates to incidents that have occurred at places where we have early voting. There's an anticipation there could be escalation in the level of incidents where intimidation is used to threaten potential voters, he said.

Orangeburg City Administrator Sidney Evering and Orangeburg County Voter Registration and Elections Director Aurora Smalls were on hand at the meeting.

Austin said he had a conversation with Evering regarding his concerns about potential intimidation at the polls.

Evering thanked Austin for being proactive in making sure individuals are able to vote without impediments.

Austin said he also asked Smalls to come speak to him and his staff about what can and can be done at the polls from a law enforcement perspective.

While we would like to hope that we're not going to have any incidents, again, I would rather err on the side of caution than to take for granted that nothing will happen. If something does, we may find ourselves unprepared, Austin said.

Smalls said poll workers are taught that if there's a real threat, call police.

If a poll worker sees there may be a problem, they can call the Orangeburg County Voter Registration and Election Office.

Austin said Smalls and her staff can also call ODPS with any non-emergencies.

Smalls said the Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office has been conducting patrols around precincts. She left a list of voting precincts for the ODPS to have in making patrols.

Just the presence of you all would help a lot so people will know that they just can't come and do anything, she said.

Smalls said no pictures or recording of any kind is allowed at polling places. Signs with polling place rules are put up at the sites.

All campaign material has to be at least 500 feet away from a polling place, not 200 feet as it had been in the past.

That means if I'm standing there holding up a sign, if I'm passing out literature, all of that. It also means that if I'm standing there just saying, Go and vote for so and so. None of that is allowed. That also means no shirts, no vehicles with signs on it, Smalls said. There is nothing her office can do, however, if signs or other campaign material are on private property that lies within 500 feet of the polling place.

She does ask that anyone with a hat with any type of campaign material on it to take it off and back to their vehicle, or either give it to a poll worker to put away to avoid problems.

Smalls also noted that it is also a felony to try to vote twice.

Absentee voters who claim they did not receive a paper ballot in the mail and then try to vote on voting machines at the polls will cause issues, she said. That is why they are given paper ballots.

Absentee now is only by mail. ... Once you ask for a paper ballot, we want to make sure that we get that paper ballot. If you don't, you don't vote on a machine because you said that you didn't get it. We don't know that you didn't get it. We know that we mailed it out. So to ensure that you don't vote twice, we give you another paper ballot at the precinct. So it kind of helps the voter and it helps us, she said.

There is also a code of conduct for poll watchers and observers.

Anyone can come in and observe the election process. ... What we have now is a sign-in sheet so we'll know who the person is and who came in to observe. We can also have poll watchers there from a campaign. ... We are limited to two and sometimes we're limited to one, depending on how big the precinct is," Smalls said.

The way it's supposed to be is by the number of voters, but it can't always be that way. ... Our main objective is to make sure the voters get to vote," she said, noting that poll watchers also have to sign in, have an ID and be a registered voter of Orangeburg County.

She said poll watchers cannot take pictures or pass out any kind of literature and are asked to not use their phones or talk to voters because they could be campaigning.

Their job is not to do anything but to watch, Smalls said, but they can have questions answered by poll workers  not voters.

The election process is all public. So everything can be seen by anybody. ... What we do ask is when we're opening up, trying to get ready for election, to hold their questions until after everything is done so that they can concentrate. Same at the end when we're getting tallies and everything in. The results are posted at the end of the night. So they can see the results there, she said.

Smalls said candidates can also come and look around a precinct and ask questions of poll workers  not voters.

Crime stats

ODPS Crime Analyst Robert Warrington presented preliminary year-to-date crime stats at the meeting.

Total crime citywide, including violent crimes and property crimes, is down 6.4 percent.

Year to date, the city has had 171 violent crimes, which include murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, compared to 187 in 2021, an 8.6 percent decrease. Aggravated assault fell 18 percent from 2021 to 2022.

Year to date, there were 561 property crimes, which include burglary, motor vehicle theft, larceny, theft from auto and arson, compared to 783 in 2021, a 5.7 percent decrease. Larcenies, however, were up 1.9 percent from 2021 to 2022.

We're still looking good this year. Our main problem is our larceny, but we're not up that high. ... We're doing really good on our theft from autos, and our burglaries are staying tied. We've managed to keep them tied for three recording periods now," Warrington said.

Austin said while the stats are not where the department would like them, it continues to improve.

Warrington said, As an agency, we must remain focused on preventing the rise of our property crimes. Of course, we want to mitigate crimes against a person, violent crime and things like that. ... There's always room for improvement.
South Carolina State Universitys Office of International and National Student Exchange Programs announced several events are being held during International Awareness Month.

This years theme is Connecting Ourselves Globally: Many Nations One World.

The International Awareness Months activities constitute a rich array of programs created by the efforts of many faculty, staff and students across the campus, said Dr. Learie Luke, director of OINSEP. The campus community and the Orangeburg community are invited to attend and enjoy this festival of cultures.

The main event is S.C. States signature Parade of Nations on Thursday, Nov. 10, at 12:30 p.m. It will feature flags of various countries and be led by the drumline of the Marching 101 band.

The parade will begin in front of the Martin Luther King Jr. Auditorium and end in the Student Plaza.

Following the parade, an international showcase featuring fashion, dances, music and cuisine of India culture will be held in the Student Center Bulldog Lounge.

International Awareness Month activities include:

Salsa dance lessons: Thursday, Nov. 3, between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. in the Student Center. Provided by instructors from the Esmeralda Dance Studio for students, faculty and staff.

Latin American and Caribbean artifacts display: Friday, Nov. 11, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the lobby of Belcher Hall.

Participants will receive a treat of the tasty and thirst-quenching sorrel drink, which is made in the region.

In addition, a showcase of Tanzania was held Wednesday with a virtual tour of the country along with a food demonstration and tasting of the mouth-watering dishes of Tanzania.

OINSEP will host a passport fair in January 2023. While partnering with the Business and International Education Grant under the leadership of Dr. David Jamison, OINSEP will take students on a spring break cultural immersion trip to Trinidad and Tobago.

For more information, please contact Dr. Learie Luke, director of OINSEP, at lluke@scsu.edu or Dominique Rolle, international education coordinator, at drolle1@scsu.edu.
Children across The T&D Region are thankful for everything from bubbles and baby brothers to pets and pumpkin pie during Thanksgiving.
(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.
STOCKHOLM, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Nuvaxovid, the COVID-19 vaccine created by U.S. company Novavax, should not be given to individuals younger than 30, the Public Health Agency of Sweden said here on Wednesday.

The agency cited research conducted in Australia, which showed an increased risk of myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) and pericarditis (inflammation of the tissue surrounding the heart) after vaccination.

"We are monitoring the situation closely and awaiting more data," Soren Andersson, head of the agency's unit for vaccination programs, said in a press release.

Around 7,000 doses of Nuvaxovid have already been administered in Sweden. The agency said that younger people who had recently been vaccinated with Nuvaxovid had no reason to worry as "the risk is very small," and they could continue with the next dose of another type of vaccine.

Those aged 30 and over may still be vaccinated with Nuvaxovid and the agency said the decision to restrict the use of the vaccine is temporary, pending further investigation. 
Building on an institution-wide commitment to creativity and entrepreneurship, the Rowan University Foundation Board has named Michael Connallon Jr. chair of the Rowan Innovation Venture Fund (RIVF), its in-house venture capital arm.

Created with $5 million in 2014 to seed promising start-up ideas, the RIVF this summer received an additional $20 million from the Foundation to back a growing portfolio of scalable businesses from within and outside the Rowan University community.

A 2000 Rowan graduate in business administration and finance who also studied international finance at Coventry University in the United Kingdom and entrepreneurship at Cornell University, Connallon has more than 20 years experience in the securities financing industry driving business growth in New York, London and Hong Kong. He is currently executive director and senior relationship manager with JPMorgan Chase & Co.s Agency Securities Finance business.

Connallon serves JPMorgan's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts as the Americas co-lead of the Community Outreach and Philanthropy work-stream, which aims to form sustainable and lasting partnerships with organizations and individuals to better connect, partner with and impact communities. He also chairs the Analyst and Associate Development Council for Securities Services, which helps shape the strategy for analyst and associate recruitment, training, development, engagement, wellness and retention. In addition, Connallon leads the Development School for Youth Planning committee, champions the Thomas G. Labrecque Smart Start Scholarship program and supports JPMorgans small business mentorship programs.

Prior to his work with JPMorgan, Connallon held positions with Goldman Sachs & Co.s Prime Brokerage Group in New York and co-headed Goldmans Fixed-Income Financing Desk in London.

A member of the Rowan University Foundation Board since 2018, Connallon has served on the Investment and Finance/Audit committees and, since August 2020, as treasurer. Hes been a member of the RIVF board since 2021.

Connallon is also deeply committed to the work of Operation Water, a non-profit that helps provide clean water solutions to the greatest number of people in need, at the lowest cost per person, by developing scalable infrastructure projects.

Since 2015, the RIVF has seeded 14 South Jersey-based and regional startups, many launched by University students and faculty, including HALFDAY Tonics, a line of healthful beverages now sold in more than 1,400 U.S retailers; ExpressCells, which uses CRISPR DNA technology to create cell lines for research; and MRIMath, a high-tech health science company co-founded by Rowan faculty.

The RIVF is about helping the region economically, Connallon said. I look forward to applying my years of experience in finance and my knowledge of the Universitys entrepreneurial culture to identify the best opportunities to invest in businesses with strong potential for growth.

Rowan University President Ali A. Houshmand said Connallons background in finance, experience with the Foundation and RIVF and a keen entrepreneurial mindset made him a natural choice as the new RIVF board chair.

With the recent infusion of $20 million of additional funding, the RIVF is poised to make a tremendous impact on promising businesses across our region, Houshmand said. The funding team that evaluates these projects is very strong and were grateful to Mike for taking on this initiative for his alma mater. As businesses succeed, we expect the impact of our fund to grow even more.
The Casper City Council voted to add age to its anti-discrimination ordinance Tuesday evening after the proposals first reading.

The ordinance has broad support from the council  almost all members voted to move it forward, and many indicated they would back it through all three public readings. The only opponent was Ward III representative Steve Cathey.

The proposal would enhance the punishment for assault, battery and acts of vandalism motivated by hate or prejudice toward certain protected classes. In addition to age, that includes race, color, religion, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin and disability status.

Right now, someone found guilty of a first-time battery in municipal court can face a fine of up to $750. The ordinance would give a judge the ability to add up to six months jail time to the sentence if its proven that the act was driven by prejudice against one of the listed categories.

The ordinance would also outlaw discrimination in housing, employment and places of public accommodation  like businesses and parks. As currently written, the proposal would make those offenses punishable by fines of up to $750.

The anti-discrimination ordinance was recommended by the citys LGBTQ Advisory Committee. Itd be a way to do something about the widespread discrimination LGBTQ people and other minority groups face in the community, the committee told council members last year.

During public comment, a few critics of the ordinance said they worried itd make certain classes more privileged under the law. But the ordinance would protect everyone equally, said council member Amber Pollock.

Everybody in this room has a race, Pollock said. Everybody has a national origin, everybody has a gender identity, everybody has a sexual orientation. So this does not create special classes. If you are targeted for any of those reasons, even if you are not in any minority population, you are protected by this ordinance.

The council added age to the ordinance after Keith Nachbar, a Casper attorney and former municipal judge, pointed out its absence in the proposals list of protected classes. Thats despite the fact that age is easily defined and protected under federal law, he said.

Nachbar said he was against the ordinance because many of the named classes are fluid, undefined and not easily determined or proven. Nachbar didnt specify which categories he was referring to.

Council member Kyle Gamroth, who represents Ward II, said he would push the council to explore how the ordinance could be defined more clearly.

Nachbar also had concerns about making employment, housing and public accommodations discrimination a criminal offense. He feared that prosecutors would subject business owners charged with discrimination to sweeping police investigations.

All city code violations are treated as criminal matters, said City Attorney John Henley. In other words, any municipal ordinance that punishes discriminatory behavior would have to make that behavior a crime.

We really couldnt, in my mind, establish a civil pathway to accomplish this, Henley said.

If the proposal passes, Henley doesnt expect prosecutors bringing discrimination charges to request search warrants very often.

It would be unusual  very unusual  but theres certainly a remote possibility that some prosecutor under certain circumstances may seek a search warrant, Henley said.

According to the ordinance draft, a discrimination case would only go to municipal court if there was already reasonable suspicion of a violation because of the perpetrators actions based upon the individuals characteristics.

The business community seems to support the proposal overall, council members said.

Weve actually received emails from employers in support of this, Gamroth said during the meeting.

Rep. Pat Sweeny, R-Casper, was the only member of the public to speak in favor of the ordinance. Sweeny has backed bills in the Legislature that would create a state hate crimes law. Wyoming is one of just two states without an explicit hate crimes statute, the other being South Carolina.

While only a few people spoke during public comment, the ordinance seemed to draw a lot of attendees. After the council voted on the proposal, most of the spectators left.
Art 321 Executive Director Tyler Cessor on Saturday announced he was stepping down as the organizations leader.

After three years of service, it was time to move on, said Cessor. His last day was Monday.

I kind of felt I played the role that I was hired to play, he said, and achieved a lot of the things that Id hoped to achieve.

Art 321, sometimes known as the Casper Artists Guild, provides exhibition opportunities, workshops and other resources for artists across the state.

The guilds board of directors havent named a successor yet.

Cessors departure comes amid a time of transformation  and tumult  for the organization.

Under his leadership, Art 321 has focused heavily on inclusivity; the guild has launched art communities for LGBTQ people, people of color and those with disabilities, for example.

Previously, the organization was known as a place for more traditional, and often older, artists.

Changes in the organization havent been without criticism. For about a year and a half, Cessor been at the center of an ongoing dispute between the guilds old and new leadership.

In June 2021, an Art 321 donor, an artist and at least two members pulled their support for the organization. The gallerys leaders said the departures came in response to the organizations Art of Pride show. But not long after that, more than a dozen current and former members came forward to say they werent mad about the Pride show. Instead, they shared a list of grievances against the gallery and its leadership  including Cessor.

Six then Art 321 members in January took the conflict to the courts when they filed suit against the organizations board of directors.

The six claim that Cessor violated the guilds bylaws by making changes to the organization without the input of its membership. The groups current leadership denied the allegations.

A judge last week decided that the lawsuit would continue after both sides unsuccessfully asked for rulings in their favor.

Its uncertain how Cessors resignation will affect the suit. Attorneys Judith Studer and Anna Olson  who represent the plaintiffs and defendants, respectively  did not respond to requests for comment in time for print.

Cessor said hes proud of how Art 321 has grown under his tenure.

The organization serves a more diverse range of artists, he said  not only when it comes to peoples personal backgrounds, but also the mediums they work in. Its also built up partnerships with more local and state groups.

We were creating opportunities with artists in the health department, artists in economic development, artists with breweries, he said.

The job was fulfilling, Cessor said, but draining. He said he was working 60-plus hours a week.

Cessors not sure what hell do next, though he plans to stay in Casper. Hes looking forward to spending more time with his family, and on personal projects.

Leaders of two other Casper-based arts nonprofits have also stepped down this year: Rachel Bailey of the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra, and Andy Couch of the Nicolaysen Art Museum.
The Bureau of Land Management has paused its decision on the acquisition of more than 35,000 acres of land near Casper following a challenge from the state, Gov. Mark Gordons office announced on Wednesday.

Federal officials announced in early June that the Conservation Fund, a national environmental group, had bought the 35,670-acre Marton Ranch and then transferred the land to the Bureau of Land Management. The purchase was part of the Biden Administrations America the Beautiful Initiative, which aims to conserve 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.

The $21 million purchase would span roughly nine miles of the North Platte River near the Alcova Reservoir, creating a 118-square-mile block of contiguous public land, some of which was previously inaccessible to hunters, anglers and other outdoor enthusiasts. Its the biggest Bureau of Land Management acquisition in Wyoming history and would make it easier for the public to reach a world-class fishery.

While BLM High Plains district manager Kevin Christensen described the acquisition as a big step forward for improved public access to lands, Gordon had concerns about the way in which the bureau went about the process. In late June, Gordon filed an appeal challenging the purchase. The appeal argued that the BLM didnt get feedback on the purchase from the state and local agencies or evaluate the acquisitions possible impact to taxation, grazing and resource use.

Gordon has emphasized that he supports increased public land access and private landowners right to decide what to do with their property (the property owners had tried to sell the ranch on the private market). Michael Pearlman, Gordons spokesperson, reiterated on Wednesday that the goal here was never to overturn the purchase specifically, but to ensure that its a transparent process.

On Oct. 21, the Office of Hearings and Appeals with the U.S. Department of the Interior notified the state that the Bureau of Land Management had filed a motion to pause the acquisition so that it could provide additional opportunities for public notice and comment and supplement its environmental analysis.

While the decision on the acquisition has been paused, the purchase itself won't be reversed while the analysis is being completed, according to Brad Purdy, BLM Wyoming State Office deputy state director of communications.

Gordon said in a statement that the BLMs decision to join in a settlement is very gratifying.

My concern has always been that the process was not followed, he said. This gives BLM the opportunity to address that concern, and I am pleased they have agreed to complete a public comment period, do further environmental analysis and consult with state agencies.

He also noted that the settlement could set a framework for the future should the BLM pursue other land acquisitions.

Tyson Finnicum, public affairs specialist for the BLM High Plains District, said in an email to the Star-Tribune that the BLM expects the additions to the environmental analysis to take "a few months at most."

After it's done, the BLM will put up the supplemental document out for public review and comment. Finnicum said the length of that public comment period hasn't been decided yet, but that the BLM usually has a 30-day comment period for similar projects.

When that whole process is finished, Finnicum said the BLM will go forward with a formal planning process for the property that will include the public, governmental partners and tribes.

This story has been updated to correct the description of the outcome of a settlement between the Bureau of Land Management and the state of Wyoming over the sale of the Marton Ranch property. The BLM has filed a motion to set aside the decision approving the acquisition to address specific concerns brought by the state. But the purchase itself is not being paused. The Star-Tribune regrets the error.
T&Ts Heritage and Stabilisation Fund (HSF) declined by 15.14 per cent between January 1, 2022 and June 30, 2022, according to the two quarterly reports for the Fund for this year.

The HSF reports, which are published on the Ministry of Finance website, indicate that at the start of 2022, the value of the assets in the Fund totaled US$5.62 billion.

At the end of March 2022, the total net asset value of the HSF was US$5.29 billion, approximately US$323.63 million lower than the previous quarters closing value. And at the end of June 2022, the total net asset value of the HSF was US$4.77 bllion, approximately US$528 million lower than the previous quarters closing value of US$5,299.5 million.
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.
With the latest Commission of Enquiry into the Paria tragedy and all the brouhaha, angst and
Cheryl Colleen Skalsky, 78, of Tucson, AZ, died Thursday, August 25, 2022 surrounded by family and close friends. Cheryl was born April 1, 1944 to Charles and Charlotte (Haggerty) Doran. She grew up on the family's farm north of Stanley, North Dakota alongside her brother and sisters. Cheryl's grandmother, Cora Haggerty, was also a significant figure in her life, helping raise Cheryl after the passing of both her parents. In 1961, Cheryl graduated from Kenmare High School. That same year she met the love of her life, Duane Skalsky. They were married August 24, 1963 & celebrated 59 years of marriage & adventure by each other's side. Working in construction, they spent many years traveling & living throughout Latin America including Peru, the Dominical Republic & Chile. In 1972, they welcomed their sons, twin boys, Todd & Wade. In 1976, Duane & Cheryl returned to North Dakota making it their family home until 1985 when they relocated permanently to Tucson, Arizona. Cheryl was infinitely curious & a life-long learner. She had a passion for travel, was an advocate for individuals with disabilities & a fierce protector of animals. She focused her time on the community including founding a women's shelter in Beulah, ND & serving as Executive Director of Pima County Disability Services in Tucson, AZ. Cheryl served as an Oro Valley Town Council member including as Vice Mayor from 1988-1994 & as Mayor of Oro Valley from 1995-1998. Cheryl is survived by her husband Duane, sons, Todd (Amber) & Wade (Kristen), five grandchildren Madeline (7), Maxton (5), Luke (4), Indy (3) & Remington (1); sister-in-law, Virginia (Bob); niece Audra & extended family members. Cheryl was preceded in death by her parents; brother, Jerry, & sisters, Patricia, Betty and Beverly.
Editor's note: This story was originally published on March 8, 2022. Noodies opened on April 15, 2022.

Noodies! When owner Carolyn OConnor says the word out loud, it sounds like a party, a celebration.

The name belongs to her new pasta restaurant, opening later this month, in the space formerly occupied by Bentleys House of Coffee and Tea. Carolyn is totally re-imagining the place, complete with a mural painted by a friend who happens to experiment with abstract noodle shapes. There isnt a better word for it than fun.

Noodies is a Tucson inheritance. But its lineage, like sister restaurant Ceres, comes from all over. If Ceres is inspired by the pastries and pasta of northern Italy, Noodies draws material from the checkered-tablecloth Italian-American of Syracuse, with some help by way of Hong Kong.

Syracuse is Carolyns hometown. Its where she was pregnant, scrolling Pinterest, when the algorithm realized she needed more brightly-colored images of cha chaan teng  American-style diners in Hong Kong, where you can get condensed-milk French toast and macaroni soup. Those hues inspire the setting of Noodies today, if not the menu.

Though both restaurants share the foundation of Carolyns handmade pasta, Carolyn is clear that each restaurant is its own concept. Ceres always felt like my baby. The first time going into something, everything was really new. Because of that everything feels so precious  Noodies felt almost like having a second child  Noodies is colorful; the food is a little more gluttonous and cheesy. I see it as a wild second child or something.

While you will be able to get your favorite sauces from Ceres at Noodies  the tomato basil, the bolognese, the cacio e pepe  Noodies larger kitchen allows Carolyn to expand the menu. Youll be able to add Italian sausage, meatballs and burrata to your order. Unlike Ceres lunch counter, Noodies will have both indoor and outdoor seating. Their menu will also offer sandwiches Carolyn misses from her hometown, like meatball subs and Italian grinders.

Though Carolyn never thought she would go into the restaurant business  her parents are in academics  her mothers hospitality inspires Carolyns restaurants.

My mom, shes a really good cook, and she loves having a real dinner. She sets the table, puts out napkins, does all this stuff, makes a whole beautiful meal and a pie, tea and coffee, so she creates this whole experience for people, and it makes people feel so loved and appreciated. Its also a legacy in my own family, taking care of people through food, she said.

The also responds to Noodies more apparent legacy: Noodies is taking over the lease of her mother-in-law Jo Schneiders first restaurant, Bentleys, which occupied that space for over two decades. If Carolyns own mother gave her a love for feeding her community, Carolyns mother-in-law inspired her to make service her livelihood.

Going into the restaurant business or being an entrepreneur was so different than what I expected (for my life). The trust (the Schneider family has) put in me, the support, how theyre always there for me, with anything. Its such a testament to their kindness and generosity. I think Jo does that for a lot of people in this community, giving people a chance when maybe other people wouldnt, and let them shine, she said of Jo, who owns downtowns LaCo.

At both Ceres and Noodies, Carolyn aspires to be that support system for her own employees. She hosts weekly tasting sessions for staff, where they all sample the specials, the soft-serve flavors and give feedback. Everyone who works there respects everyone else and works really hard. Its such a good thing for workplace morale. Its very collaborative, so everyone feels really listened to, Carolyn said.

Theres two staff at Ceres who have been there since the day we opened, she said. They now know how to do everything. Theyre more or less managing Ceres for the shifts, every day  I really wouldnt have been able to take on the new project without them.

Workers at Ceres have to be able to do it all: cook pasta and take orders and make espresso  because the space to work is tiny. Though the larger venue at Noodies allows for more specialization, people working in the front versus the back of house, Carolyn aspires for the restaurants to cross-pollinate.

I have everyone try cooking lunch. I love it so much. Its really fast  I think a lot of women, especially, are really intimidated to go into a kitchen and work in a line  I think giving people the chance who wouldnt maybe necessarily think thats a good fit for them, the opportunity to cook in a fast-paced place, and realize: I could be really good at this.

We just started accepting resumes for Noodies. Im not sure what the kitchen will look like, or the front of house. We wrote that all are welcome to apply. I really hope people will.

Noodies

Location: 1726 E. Speedway

Hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday-Monday.

For more information, check out their Instagram.
Election 2022 has been a weird time to work in Arizonas news media.

On one hand, news outlets like the Star are smaller and financially weaker than we were in previous elections, and that means we are less able to cover candidates like we used to.

On the other hand, the legacy news media remain essential to candidates and voters. We loom large in the campaigns of Republicans as well as Democrats, even if we only serve as a foil to some candidates.

For those who are deeply in the Trump camp, criticizing traditional news outlets the way Trump does is practically a prerequisite of their candidacies. What would Kari Lake, the GOP candidate for governor, be if she werent a former local TV news anchor bashing her old colleagues?

Its essential to her bio, and, as if to emphasize her conversion, she made stomping out of TV interviews a signature of her primary election campaign.

As a general-election candidate, she has continued lecturing reporters. Last month, she told a large crowd of journalists who turned out for what she termed an emergency press conference:

Your voices are loud, even though there arent many people listening anymore, but they still are loud. Please do better. Please dont try to influence this election. Its wrong, and I think you all know it. Start being honest and fair journalists.

That may sound sensible to many readers, and its fine when shes asking news outlets to be honest and fair. But to me, telling journalists not to try to influence the election makes no sense. When we report a story about a candidate, or about an issue, it ought to influence voters thinking. Otherwise, whats the point?

Thats performing the role of the Fourth Estate. We shouldnt act as if all candidate positions have equal merit. That would be offering false balance to candidates who are out of balance.

Take Katie Hobbs, Lakes rival as the Democratic candidate for governor. She has been hammered by me and others in Arizonas news media for refusing to debate Lake. Her opponent has trashed Hobbs as a coward as a result. Democrats have regularly insisted to me that Hobbs shouldnt entertain a peddler of lies like Lake by being on the same stage with her.

But many of us have said Hobbs should have debated anyway. This may well influence the election, and thats OK. Would Lake really object to that sort of media influence?

Still, there are other candidates who insist they are being treated unfairly.

The novice Republican candidate for attorney general, Abraham Hamadeh, has constantly protested coverage of his race on social media. Since the primary election Aug. 2, Hamadeh has tweeted 22 times about the Arizona Republic. The failing Arizona Republic hates us, he tweeted Sept. 21.

In that same time, he has tweeted about the media 44 times. The media is the biggest threat to democracy, he tweeted Oct. 22, apparently responding to an Arizona Republic editorial about the threats that election deniers pose to our democratic system.

This editorial, of course, was referencing candidates like Hamadeh, who has ominously promised perp walks related to the 2020 election if he wins, and has warned, The media doesnt know whats coming when we take office. Comments like that appropriately make Hamadeh, an unknown candidate unlike his rival, Democrat Kris Mayes, the subject of special scrutiny by news outlets.

In an Oct. 27 video with state GOP Chair Kelli Ward, Hamadeh implausibly claimed: I simply no longer care what the media thinks about me. For someone who says he doesnt care about the news media, or who thinks it is failing, Hamadeh sure seems obsessed with us and how we cover him. (Hint: He cares a lot.)

The special focus on certain types of legacy news media outlets  longstanding newspapers and local TV stations  is especially puzzling.

Candidates like Lake and Hamadeh have ready access to a variety of major conservative-leaning outlets. National conservative cable channels like Fox News are probably more influential media outlets on elections than Arizonas smaller TV stations, newspapers and online outlets.

But Lake acted in a Fox News interview Sunday as if the network she was on is something other than the major media institution it is.

Im trying to wake people up in this country as to what the media is all about, and I think Im having an effect, she said, while speaking on the most popular cable news channel.

Beyond these major conservative cable outlets, there are the other traditional outlets  like conservative radio talkers Garret Lewis on KNST in Tucson or James T. Harris on KFYI in Phoenix. And there are online outlets like the online Steve Bannons War Room, where GOP Secretary of State candidate Mark Finchem makes regular appearances, claiming, among other things, that there was fraud in Pima County in the 2020 election.

Hamadeh appeared on the show Tuesday. You guessed it: He complained about media coverage, on a popular right-wing media show.

When people talk about the media, they should be including these outlets, too. Some are growing even bigger than the traditional outlets that candidates decry and hold to a higher standard.

And they certainly have an influence on elections.

Thats OK. When you report on candidates and elections, you ought to.
On a recent Wednesday, University of Arizona student Chantal Lesmeister shoveled rhinoceros poop, helped conduct a behavioral study on Chilean flamingos, learned about giraffe nutrition, evaluated bloodwork on an elephant and performed a physical exam on a ferret.

And that was all before noon.

Lesmeister is one of three UA veterinary students who will spend a month learning and getting hands-on experience working with exotic animals, thanks to a one-of-a-kind internship at the Reid Park Zoo.

While many zoos offer internships for students after theyve graduated, Reid Park Zoo officials arent aware of any other program that offers this type of experience for doctoral students. And with zoo medicine being highly competitive, early exposure improves a students chance of entering the field.

The UAs College of Veterinary Medicine Oro Valley campus opened in 2020, is one of only 33 veterinary schools in the U.S. The inaugural class of students began its final year in August, with 107 students slated to graduate in 2023.

During the third and final year of the program, students participate in eight four-week elective rotations gaining on-site, practical experience in a variety of settings and with a range of species. In addition to the zoo, students can spend time learning in veterinary practices, with state and federal wildlife agencies and more.

With this year being the first year of the schools third-year curriculum, the zoo internship program is still in its early stages, with the first cycle of students coming through in August. Two to three students rotate through at a time, with the small group size giving each intern ample opportunities to practice skills and work closely with zoo veterinarians and animal behavior specialist.

Reid Park Zoo, which is accredited through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, has an on-site teaching hospital, tucked away behind-the-scenes. The zoo can do in-house lab work and can perform full surgical procedures and other diagnostic testing.

Were set up to do pretty much anything and everything, said Dr. Alexis Roth, the zoos head veterinarian.

During their rotation, students shadow Roth as she oversees care for the hundreds of animals housed at the zoo. Zoo medicine is a competitive field and the earlier students can get hands-on field experience, the better their chances are of securing a job, Roth said.

Its an experience you wont get anywhere else in veterinary medicine, she said. "Them getting to rotate through and see what I do on a daily basis really helps them decide if this is something they can do realistically. Zoo animal medicine is very different than dog and cat.

They also get to learn from zookeepers, animal wellness specialists and more about behavior and the training required to perform basic medical tasks on large animals. Reid Park Zoo uses a positive reinforcement model and trains their large and powerful animals to associate exams, blood draws and other routine veterinary tasks with a reward. This means, Roth said, that no animal is subjected to any procedure barring emergencies unless it wants to be there.

During a typical rotation, students will review ongoing cases with Roth and discuss lab work, medications, nutrition, toxicology and more. Theyll also learn how to perform physical exams on animals and observe some of Roths other duties.

If I happen to be doing a procedure that day, theyll shadow me through that procedure, she said.

Roth has been head veterinarian at the zoo for almost 16 years. Several years ago she developed a rotating intern and extern program, with graduated veterinary students shadowing Roth year-round, often times in preparation for a residency in zoo medicine.

I really love sharing what I do with these folks, she said. The UA reached out to us, I think, because they recognize that and saw what a unique experience it is.

Three days in, UA vet student Adina Bronshtein was already excited about all theyd be learning.

Ive always been interested in zoo medicine, but its a really hard field to get into, Bronshtein said.

In the first three days, the three students had already assisted with physical exams on the zoos squirrel monkeys, including x-rays, ultrasounds, blood draws, vaccinations and administering nasal COVID-19 tests. They also learned about behavioral training with the zoos herd of elephants. Intern Lesmeister said being so close and personal with the majestic animals made her a little teary-eyed.

Intern Paola Calderon wants to work with birds post-graduation. She already spent a previous rotation in Walnut Creek, California, interning at a wildlife center, but the rare experience of spending time working with flamingos and other exotic birds is not lost on her.

Zoo officials call the new program a natural extension their longstanding partnership with the UA.

A lot of zoos will host students, and although a lot of colleges have relationships with local zoos, Im not aware of one that has as much involvement, said UA College of Veterinary Medicine Dean Julie Funk. For students to have this opportunity right in their backyard is incredible.

With more than 100 students participating in clinical rotations across the state this year, Funk said now is a great time to recruit exceptional talent into Arizona clinics, shelters and other veterinary practices.

Interest in the program has grown in the colleges three years. There were 550 applicants for the inaugural class, but the school received more than 2,000 applications for the class that will begin next fall.

Were a new college, but were also incredibly innovative in how we approach veterinary medicine, Funk said. Im so excited and so grateful for our partnerships with Arizona businesses and the Reid Park Zoo for providing these great opportunities for our students.

Even in students dont want to pursue a career in zoo medicine, the skills theyll learn during the rotation will be useful no matter where they practice, Funk said.

And if youre interested in a zoo or wildlife career, the opportunity to have close engagement with all of those species is invaluable, she said.

Roth said the interns that have rotated through have been surprised to learn how much it takes to care for the various species, since most of them havent spent time around zoo animals.

An essential thing they learn here is where to find the information they need that is valuable to be able to make the clinical decisions that they need to make, she said. Theres all sorts of information out there, but youve got to be able to access it and thats hard with some of these zoo animals.

With some animals, there may only be one resource and that might be a phone call to a person thats in another country. While students are able to refer to a textbook or website for information about dogs or cats, its not quite as simple with zoo animals, Roth said.

In zoo medicine, no two days are ever the same, but Roth says thats one of her favorite parts of the job.

I may have my day planned out, but sometimes animals dont have the same plan as I do, she said.

Photos: ZooLights 2021: Holiday Magic at Reid Park Zoo ZooLights ZooLights ZooLights ZooLights ZooLights ZooLights ZooLights ZooLights ZooLights ZooLights ZooLights ZooLights
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP)  One person was killed and six others were wounded after gunfire erupted at a crowded Halloween party in Kansas City, Kansas.

The shooting happened Monday night at a large party at a Kansas City, Kansas home. Police said between 70 and 100 people were at the party.

Police were called around 9 p.m. and found a 17-year-old dead and six others injured. One person was treated and released and the other five were listed in stable condition Tuesday afternoon, police said.

The victims ranged in age from 15 to 18, with most being 15 and 16 years old.

Police said in a news release that one person of interest had been taken into custody on Tuesday. Investigators were looking for four to six suspects. No other information on the suspects was released.

The party was intended for younger teens and was supposed to be invitation only but it was promoted on social media, police said.

The suspects, who were wearing costumes and masks, were asked to leave because they were older. They left but then returned and opened fire on the house, injuring people inside and outside, police said.

The parent/homeowner was home at the time. Similar parties had been held at the house previously without any issues, according to the statement.
EUCLID, Ohio (AP)  A white police officer who fatally shot a Black driver during a struggle inside a car in 2017 must pay his family $4.4 million.

An Ohio jury made the award Tuesday, finding that Euclid officer Matthew Rhodes acted recklessly when he climbed into 23-year-old Luke Stewarts car and shot him as Stewart drove away. The shooting had inflamed racial tensions in Euclid, a Cleveland suburb, and a grand jury declined to indict Rhodes after hearing evidence from prosecutors.

The jury's finding stemmed from a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Stewarts mother. The panel said Rhodes must pay Stewarts family $3.9 million for the loss of his support and companionship and $500,000 for the pain and suffering he went through. But Rhodes will not have to pay punitive damages to the family or attorneys fees.

The family's attorneys told Cleveland.com that the verdict provided long-awaited accountability for what happened to Stewart. A lawyer representing Rhodes did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Stewarts family had filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city and the officer, but a trial court dismissed the case, and an appeals court agreed, saying there was no clearly established law barring the officers conduct. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case in a decision made in May 2021.

Stewarts family had contended in that lawsuit that police training in the city encouraged, or at least condoned, excessive force. The training included the use of a sketch by comedian Chris Rock, in which he gave tips on how to avoid being beaten by police, and cartoons allegedly making light of police violence.
LANSING, Mich. (AP)  A shortage of poll workers has concerned local election officials in some parts of the country as the midterm elections approach. Not so in Michigan.

Conservative groups and local Republican Party operatives who have pushed false claims about the 2020 presidential election have recruited poll workers here by the thousands. Similar recruitment efforts on the right have bolstered the ranks of poll workers in some other states with nationally watched races.

Seeding the ranks of front-line election workers with people recruited by groups promoting election conspiracies has raised alarms among some that the people at the foundation of the election system could try to undermine it.

It concerns me when the motivation to serve as a poll worker is fueled through misinformation and people who have been fed lies, in some cases, for years now, said Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat. Since the spring, clerks have come at us with concerning questions theyre getting and in some cases, hundreds of poll worker applications that seem to be motivated by nefarious intent.

In Oakland County, the states second-most populous, Republicans discouraged about the outcome of the 2020 election have been urged to sign up as poll workers through a new Republican National Committee recruitment program.

If youre angry, fed up and fearful of a repeat of the horror show of November 2020, then this is one way you can help, the Oakland County GOP website reads.

In Florida, three men who are part of the Miami-Dade GOP executive committee and also are reported to have ties to the far-right Proud Boys extremist group applied for and qualified to serve as poll workers in Miami. Election officials said they decided not to assign a precinct to one of them after learning he had been charged in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

The falsehoods have led some GOP officials to push efforts aimed at ensuring what they insist is election integrity. Among those efforts are the steps taken across the country to recruit and train people to work at polling places and serve as poll watchers who monitor for problems.

The RNC said it has made a multimillion-dollar investment for this year's election cycle that includes 17 state election integrity directors and 37 in-state election integrity counsels. The group says it has recruited over 11,000 poll workers in Michigan. In neighboring Wisconsin, the recruitment effort has brought in an additional 5,000

In Milwaukee, that effort has led to five times as many partisans becoming election workers as in previous years. The head of the Milwaukee Election Commission, Claire Woodall-Vogg, said she is confident the system of checks-and-balances will catch anyone who might try to interfere with voting, noting that a second election inspector must sign off on each task.

Anyone who might have bad intentions, we would immediately, I think, be able to identify, she said.

The fraud claims about 2020 are especially deep-seated in Michigan, where the GOP candidates for governor, secretary of state and attorney general have repeated them.

Election inspector manuals created by Michigan for America First, an affiliate of former White House national security adviser Michael Flynns group The America Project, encourage supporters to work at polls because election cheating and fraud is not possible without collusion from poll workers.

Poll workers, known as election inspectors in Michigan, are hired, trained and paid by local governments to assist in running elections. They are required to disclose party affiliation and are expected to be impartial in their duties as government employees, but do not have to live in the county where they will work the polls.

In Flint, the Michigan GOP and RNC are suing election officials to force them to hire more Republican election inspectors. Michigan law compels clerks to strive for equal party representation, but local officials say worker shortages often make that goal impossible to reach.

Several issues with poll workers in Michigan already have surfaced this year.

Before the state's August primary, a Republican candidate for governor instructed poll workers to unplug voting equipment as a way to root out potential fraud.

In Macomb County, just north of Detroit, Clerk Anthony Forlini has faced backlash for his decision to hire activist Genevieve Peters to help recruit poll workers. Peters was outside the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection and is seen on video encouraging the crowd to storm the gates.

Forlini said getting election deniers involved in the process helps them "believe in the systems weve put in place."

A township clerk south of Grand Rapids had a similar intention when he invited James Holkeboer to participate in the primary. The clerk, Michael Brew, was quoted in police records as saying that Holkeboer is a person that doesnt have a lot of confidence in the election process.

Holkeboer is now charged with falsifying election records and using a computer to commit a crime. He faces up to five years in prison after inserting a USB drive into an electronic poll book the night of the primary. He told investigators he wanted his own copy to make sure the voter roll matched one that had been obtained through records requests.

It was extremely alarming and incredibly egregious, said Kent County Clerk Lisa Posthumus Lyons, a Republican.

The Michigan Democratic Party is not recruiting election inspectors but is instead ensuring it has eyes and ears on the ground through poll watchers to ensure there is no voter intimidation or interference from within, said Erica Peresman, the party's voter protection director.

She said that while the party has recruited for these positions in the past, the effort was boosted due to what we have been reading about with regard to the Republican Party's efforts and its allies' efforts this year.

Peresman said Democrats are prioritizing polling locations such as Detroit where the party is especially concerned about partisan behavior.

GOP leaders targeted Detroit following the 2020 presidential election, claiming fraud was possible there because just 170 of the 5,486 election officials were Republicans.

Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey said Republicans sent her a list of 800 names to be poll workers earlier this year, a significant increase over previous election years. She said she welcomed the extra help and invited them to complete the necessary training  though only 200 did.

I think they just found for themselves that it wasnt going to be as easy as we thought it was going to be to disrupt the process, Winfrey said.

Associated Press writers Carrie Antlfinger and Claire Savage in Milwaukee, and Adriana Gomez Licon in Miami contributed to this report.

Joey Cappelletti is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Follow APs coverage of the elections at: https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections. And check out https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections to learn more about the issues and factors at play in the 2022 midterm elections.
ASBURY PARK, N.J. (AP)  A grand jury has declined to bring criminal charges against a New Jersey police officer who fatally shot a knife-wielding man during a standoff at the Jersey Shore in 2020.

The New Jersey Attorney General's Office said late Tuesday that the actions of Asbury Park Police Sgt. Sean DeShader were justified under the circumstances, noting that Hasani Best held a knife throughout the 45-minute encounter with police and was not deterred by being shocked with a stun gun.

A spokesman for Best's family on Wednesday denounced the decision.

Attempts to demonize Hasani Best, who was unnecessarily murdered, and vindicate Officer Sean DeShader, who murdered this Black man immediately following the national civil rights reckoning in the post-George Floyd world, tells us nothing has changed, said Randy Thompson, CEO of the advocacy group Help Not Handcuffs.

"There continues to be no transparency when police, prosecutors and judges abuse their positions and there are no protections for civilians within critical processes such as abuses within grand jury proceedings, he said.

On Aug. 21, 2020, a neighbor called 911 to report a dispute taking place. Police arrived and spoke with a witness who said she had been assaulted by Best, who was inside the home with a knife, according to an account of the incident from the attorney general's office.

Police told Best numerous times to drop the knife and come out of the home. A special response unit was called for, and while officers were awaiting its arrival, Best opened the door and, among other things, made a sudden motion as if he was going to come toward the officers," the statement read.

Shortly afterwards, while gesturing with the knife, Best said, Im gonna stab him.

At that point, DeShader shot Best twice, fatally wounding him.

During a September 2020 news conference across the street from police headquarters, Carol Sanders, Bests mother, said he did not deserve to be killed.

He was talking to them and explaining his hurt, his feelings, she said. They didnt have to take his life."

According to the attorney general's office, the shooting fell within the guidelines under which officers may use their weapons.

An officer may use deadly force in New Jersey when the officer reasonably believes it is immediately necessary to protect the officer or another person from imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm, the office said.

Best's family is pressing a wrongful death lawsuit against the officer, the city and others concerning the shooting.

Follow Wayne Parry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC
ATLANTA (AP)  Big money continues to roll into Georgia's governor's race even as Republican incumbent Brian Kemp and Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams have already blown through the records they set in 2018.

Abrams has raised nearly $98 million, according to reports filed with the state ethics commission, while Kemp has raised more than $69 million.

Abrams and Kemp filed their final periodic finance reports of the campaign Tuesday, for contributions through Oct. 25, but continue to file supplemental reports of large donations.

Since Oct. 1, Abrams has received more than $14 million in cash and in-kind donations, while Kemp has received $8.1 million.

Kemp had $10.4 million in cash remaining as of Oct. 25, while Abrams had $5.7 million. Both candidates would seek to reload if no one wins a majority on Election Day, with a runoff set for Dec. 6 as required by state law. Libertarian Shane Hazel is also on the ballot.

Georgia's races have grown more expensive as it has matured into the Souths premier battleground state. Hundreds of millions in political spending is pouring out from candidates, political parties and outside groups in the governors race and the U.S. Senate race.

But candidates for governor have also been able to raise more because of a Republican-backed law that allows top Georgia candidates and legislative caucuses to collect unlimited contributions through leadership committees. They can coordinate spending with their traditional campaign committees, leaving no difference in who controls the money and how it can be used.

Abrams One Georgia Committee has accepted nearly $1 million in outside donations since Oct. 25, the majority made up of in-kind services from Black PAC and America Votes.

After Abrams outraised Kemp nearly 3-to-1 in the early summer, Kemp has narrowed the gap. Both have raised far more money than in 2018, when Kemp spent $21 million in his victory over Abrams, who spent $27 million.

Abrams and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock have both demonstrated strong fundraising power in a state where Republicans once routinely outspent Democrats, while outside GOP-aligned groups, especially in the Senate race, have tried to make up the difference.

Follow Jeff Amy at http://twitter.com/jeffamy

Follow APs coverage of the elections at: https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections

Check out https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections to learn more about the issues and factors at play in the 2022 midterm elections.
WASHINGTON  A lawyer for a man on Arizonas death row told the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday that jurors in the case were wrongly told that a death sentence was the only way to ensure he would never walk free.

The man, John Montenegro Cruz, was convicted of the 2003 murder of Tucson police officer Patrick Hardesty.

Cruz argued that the jury should have been informed he would be ineligible for parole if spared from death. Cruz says Arizona has been defying the Supreme Court on the issue.

Cruzs lawyer, Neal Katyal, says efforts to tell the jury that Cruz was not parole-eligible were rejected. Arizona says Cruz failed to make the precise requests he needed to under Supreme Court precedent.

At least one juror has said that had she known that a life sentence without parole was an alternative to death, she would have voted for that option.

The case is important not only for Cruz but also for other inmates on death row in Arizona who are in the same situation.

Hardesty and another officer were investigating a hit-and-run crash that led them to Cruz, who attempted to flee and shot Hardesty five times.

A 1994 Supreme Court case, Simmons v. South Carolina, says that in certain death penalty cases, jurors must be told that choosing a life sentence means life without the possibility of parole. Thats required when prosecutors argue that the defendant will pose a threat to society in the future.

In a 2016 case, Lynch v. Arizona, the Supreme Court told Arizona directly that it needed to comply with Simmons. But Cruz says Arizona has continued to defy the high court.

It sounds like youre thumbing your nose at us, Justice Elena Kagan told lawyer Joseph Kanefield, who argued for Arizona.

The case is not necessarily one that will divide the court between its six conservative and three liberal justices.

In addition to Kagan, the courts two other liberal justices, Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, suggested Cruz should get a new penalty phase of his trial where its clear to jurors that hes ineligible for parole if hes not sentenced to death.
PHOENIX  A federal judge late Tuesday immediately shut down most of the activities of those monitoring ballot drop boxes.

In an extensive temporary restraining order, Judge Michael Liburdi acknowledged that there is a First Amendment right of people to "gather on a public sidewalk and watch at a distance.'' That includes members of Clean Elections USA.

"But I do think balancing that right against the right of voters to exercise their vote without legitimate fear of intimidation or harassment is appropriate here,'' the judge said after a five-hour hearing. And Liburdi said there was evidence that was happening.

He cited the testimony of a 51-year-old Mesa resident, whose identity was not disclosed in court, who told of being approached within 30 feet and questioned when he and his wife went to drop off their ballots at the Maricopa County Juvenile Court Center.

"My wife was terrified,'' he said. And he said he felt he was being bullied.

"There were more of them than me approaching us,'' he said.

The man also said he purposely drove backward away from the box so those monitoring the site could not get a shot of the license plate of his wife's car which he was driving.

Of note is that Melody Jennings, founder of Clean Elections USA, later went on Steve Bannon's War Room podcast, showing video of him and the incident and saying "this is the guy,'' implying he was a "mule'' depositing more ballots into drop boxes than allowed by Arizona law.

There also was testimony by members of the League of Women Voters, which filed suit to seek the injunction, who said they would have used the drop boxes but had to drop their ballots in the mail, which they consider less secure, because they did not want to be intimidated.

The order signed by Liburdi:

Prohibits anyone from taking videos of those depositing their ballots, even if the people taking the pictures are outside the 75-foot perimeter around drop boxes;

Bars posting of any videos or personal information on people, including their physical description or even a license plate number or make or model of their car, that suggests these individuals are violating state laws against "ballot harvesting;''

Precludes Jennings from falsely stating it is illegal for anyone to cast an early ballot other than their own, saying it has "a coercive or intimidating impact,'' instead requiring Jennings to post something on her social media site that Arizona law does permit individuals to handle not only their own voted ballot but also those of family members, those in the same household and those for whom someone is a caregiver;

Requires anyone openly carrying a weapon or wearing body armor to remain at least 250 feet from any drop box.

About the only thing Liburdi did not do is preclude watchers from gathering on the sidewalk  at least 75 feet away  and writing down, for whatever reason, what they see.

Attorney Alexander Kolodin who represents Jennings and her organization said no decision has been made whether to appeal.

Tuesday's order is a sharp departure from the judge's refusal last week to grant a similar request for an injunction in an earlier lawsuit.

The difference, Liburdi said, is there was no clear evidence at that time that anyone actually had been threatened or intimidated. And without that, he had to err on the side of saying that people have a First Amendment right to not only watch but also to record videos.

But he said what he heard Tuesday convinced him that those activities actually were interfering with the rights of voters.

"It is paramount that we balance the rights of defendants to engage in their constitutionally protected First Amendment activity with the interests of plaintiffs and voters in casting their vote in a manner that's free of intimidation and harassment,'' Liburdi said. "I believe that the temporary restraining order achieves that purpose.''

The judge was not swayed by arguments by attorneys for Jennings that there was no evidence that the people who were hanging around drop boxes and taking pictures of voters were members or volunteers of Clean Elections USA. He pointed to a social media post by Jennings with a picture of the incident involving the Mesa resident where she suggested that he was acting illegally along with a message, "I need people there tonight to help my people, lots of you.''

Even before Tuesday's hearing, attorneys for Jennings and her organization had agreed to some restrictions, like staying at least 75 feet from ballot boxes and keeping openly armed individuals at least 250 feet away.

But they strongly objected to any limits on taking videos, especially if those with the cameras were standing outside that 75-foot limit.

Kolodin told the judge there's no basis for that. And he also said that such a court order limiting what his clients could do ignores what everyone else already does  including TV news crews.

"We gave three examples, and there are many more, of media stories that have photography of what's happening within 75 feet of the drop boxes, including what's happening right at the drop boxes along with voter faces visible, along with voter vehicles visible,'' he said. Kolodin said reporters used that video to provide commentary on what was happening at those sites.

"From my clients' perspective, those stories and that commentary tends to be fairly negative towards their point of view,'' he said. "And they have a right, just like the Washington Post does, just as a blog like the Daily Beast does, to take photographs and comment on what they think they are observing.''

And Kolodin said if those taking and posting videos alleged someone was committing a crime "they would be liable for defamation.''

Liburdi did not agree, saying taking the videos and posting them can intimidate voters.

Kolodin also objected to what he called the "prior restraint'' of ordering Jennings not to make any legally incorrect statements that the state's ballot harvesting law makes it a crime to handle anyone else's voted ballot. He told the judge that someone who is not an attorney and does various interviews should not be subject to court sanction for misquoting the law.

Liburdi was unimpressed.

"You can provide your client with a memo on what kind of information she can share,'' the judge said.
An estimated 150,000 people gathered in the streets on Tucsons west side in 2021 to participate in the collective mourning, honoring and remembering of lost loved ones as part of the annual All Souls Procession.

As the first in-person procession to take place since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which at that point in time had killed more than 700,000 Americans, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the experience was deeper for many participants, said artistic director Nadia Hagen.

It was more relevant, Hagen said. Death was more present in peoples space in a really personal way. It was not this conceptual exercise.

Hagen said Many Mouths One Stomach, the collective that puts on the procession, is expecting even higher attendance at this years event, set to take place this Sunday, Nov. 6.

Whether you are from the Tucson area, or traveling from afar, here is what you can expect.

The route

As has been the case for the last several years, the All Souls Procession will take place west of Interstate 10, in the Barrio Hollywood and Menlo Park neighborhoods.

Folks will start gathering at about 4 p.m. just south of West Speedway on North Grande Avenue. At about 6 p.m., the procession will begin its journey south, snaking its way down North Grande and North Bonita avenues, along the Santa Cruz river, until finding its way to the Mercado District, south of West Congress.

The All Souls Procession guide on the website recommends bringing comfortable shoes, water and a flashlight. The trek is about two miles long, so if you are not used to walking, maybe find a good parking spot toward the end of the route, to catch the final ceremony.

The Mercado District, and more specifically, the lots near the MSA Annex, 267 Avenida del Convento, will serve as the staging area for the finale  a mix of theatrical and dance performances, live music and elaborate visuals culminating in the burning of a massive urn hoisted high into the sky.

I love this route, Hagen said. I think there is something so special about walking through the barrios. The barrios are the heart of the city. Having that connection to the river, the path that goes along the river and ends at the foot of the mountain that is our namesake. That really resonates.

The theme

For this years theme, A Sandstorm is a Seedstorm, Hagen was inspired by none other than biologist and natural historian David Attenborough, who filmed an episode of his 2022 BBC documentary series The Green Planet in Southern Arizona.

There was something he said in that episode about within every haboob, there is not just dust, but millions of seeds, Hagen said.

That one line got Hagen and her team talking about the bigger patterns in life. How things that are destructive, might also be necessary parts of a cycle that in turn create new life, according to the All Souls website.

The website continues: Beyond resilience is an ability to not just spring back but spring forward.

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The concerts

While the procession is free to attend, many of the behind-the-scenes aspects that go into putting on such a large-scale event do cost money.

Hagen estimates that, for this year alone, $11,000 will go toward police and another $11,000 will go toward traffic control. Then there are things like trash collection and port-a-potty rentals.

The procession has historically relied on donations, but donations have been down in recent years, Hagen said. Organizers are hoping that several fundraising concerts, dubbed the Dance of the Dead series, will help offset some of the costs.

The series consists of two concerts and an afterparty, all held in the festival area of the MSA Annex. Concert One will take place Friday, Nov. 4, at 6 p.m. and will be headlined by MarchFourth, the marching band with a funk rock attitude from Portland, Oregon. The group has been through Tucson several times and always brings the party. Tickets are $20 in advance through the All Souls website and $25 at the door.

Concert Two, at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 5, will include performances from First Nations vocalist Shylah Ray Sunshine and multi-instrumentalist world musician, Porangui, who has also been tapped as the composer for the finale ceremony. Tickets for this concert are also $20 in advance through the website and $25 at the door.

The afterparty happens directly following the procession finale and will feature sets from local Latin-fusion supergroup Santa Pachita and the Casa De Los Muertos DJs. Tickets are $5 in advance on the website and $10 at the door.

The future

The procession has taken on seven new directors this year to help steer the event into the future, including a new volunteer coordinator, a new usher director and a new director for the Procession of Little Angels, a separate walk for children that will take place from 3 to 7 p.m. on Nov. 5 at Armory Park, 221 S. Sixth Ave., downtown.

Almost all of the new directors are women, Hagen said. All of them are in their early 30s. It is a generational shift, which is huge.

Hagen said Many Mouths One Stomach started putting out feelers for new directors during the pandemic.

It is our intention for the event to have a legacy, Hagen said. The way to have legacy is to mentor. To hand off the responsibility and the information; the wisdom that we gain in doing this over the years so the next generation can be empowered to take that on. Otherwise, there is no legacy or future.

Hagen said after 32 years, the annual event continues to grow.

When it was first starting, it was like a baby and couldnt walk, Hagen said. It was a wild, unruly teenager for a while.

Now, we are a young adult. Weve got some things figured out. We probably still need to call home and ask for money every now and again, but we know where our limbs are, how our hands work, what we like. Weve learned some things.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)  The political fight is only getting fiercer over whether its financially wise or woke folly to consider a companys impact on climate change, workers rights and other issues when making investments.

Republicans from North Dakota to Texas are ramping up their criticism of ESG investing, a fast-growing movement that says it can pay dividends to consider environmental, social and corporate-governance issues when deciding where to invest pension and other public funds. At the same time, Democrats in traditionally blue states like Minnesota are considering whether to make ESG principles an even bigger part of their investment strategies.

The E for environment component of ESG often gets the most attention because of the debate over whether to invest in fossil-fuel companies. In the wide-ranging social, or S, bucket, investors look at how companies treat their workforces, reckoning a happier group with less turnover can be more productive. For the G, or governance aspect, investors make sure companies boards keep executives accountable and pay CEOs in a way that incentivizes the best performance for all stakeholders.

The ESG industry has scorekeepers that give companies ratings on their environmental, social and governance performance. Poor scores can steer investors away from companies or governments seen as bigger risks, which can in turn raise their borrowing costs and hurt them financially.

Florida has become one of the hottest battlegrounds for ESG. Gov. Ron DeSantis in August prohibited state fund managers from using ESG considerations as they decide how to invest state pension plan money. And even as his state cleans up from the environmental destruction caused by Hurricane Ian, DeSantis plans to ask the Florida Legislature in 2023 to go even further by prohibiting discriminatory practices by large financial institutions based on ESG social credit score metrics.

Pension funds are often caught in the middle of the battles. Questions are flowing into the Florida Education Association from teachers about what DeSantis moves will mean for their retirements.

I usually tell them its still unclear what this exactly means, said Andrew Spar, president of the union, which represents 150,000 teachers and educators across the state. Much is still to be determined, including exactly which funds the pension investments will steer toward.

In contrast, the Minnesota State Board of Investment is considering a proposal to adopt a goal of making its $130 billion in pension and other funds carbon-neutral. The board already uses shareholder votes to advance climate issues. It seeks out climate-friendly investment opportunities and eschews investments in thermal coal. While the new proposal goes farther, it does not call for total divestment from fossil fuel companies, as many climate change activists advocate.

The ESG debate has spilled into the race for Minnesotas state auditor. Democratic incumbent Julie Blaha  who has singled out DeSantis as one of the leaders she believes are politicizing the discussion about ESG  has cited the investment boards high returns in recent years as evidence the approach works.

To be a good fiduciary, you have to consider all the risks, and the evidence is clear that climate risk is investment risk, Blaha said.

But Blahas Republican challenger, Ryan Wilson, says investment returns must come first, and that all risks must be considered. He says the board shouldnt disproportionately dictate that climate risk should matter more than other risks.

Proponents say considering a companys performance on ESG issues can boost returns and limit losses over the long term while being socially responsible at the same time. By using such a lens, they say investors can avoid companies that are riskier than they appear on the surface, with stock prices that are too high. An ESG approach could also unearth opportunities that may be underappreciated by Wall Street, the thinking goes.

As for returns, there is no consensus on whether an ESG approach means lower or higher returns.

Morningstar, a company that tracks mutual funds and ETFs, says slightly more than half of all sustainable funds ranked in the top half of their category for returns last year. Over five years, the showing is better with nearly three-quarters ranking in the top half of performers in the category.

Rejecting ESG can be costly in ways besides investment performance.

A Texas law that took effect in September 2021 banned municipalities from doing business with financial institutions that have ESG polices against investments in fossil fuel and firearms companies, industries that are important to the Texas economy. It turned out to be an expensive decision.

Barred from underwriting local jurisdictions municipal bonds, five big underwriters  JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America and Fidelity  exited those markets. A Wharton School study estimated that the loss of those big players would cost Texas communities an extra $303 million to $532 million in higher interest payments on their bonds. Fidelity says it has since restored its good standing with Texas by certifying to the state that it does not boycott energy companies or discriminate against the firearms industry.

Several big Wall Street banks and investment management companies have become favorite targets of the anti-ESG politicians because theyve been outspoken in their embrace of ESG. Republican state treasurers have pulled or plan to pull over $1.5 billion this year out of BlackRock, the worlds largest investment company, which has a goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or sooner. Missouri last month became the latest. Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick accused BlackRock of putting the advancement of a woke political agenda above the financial interests of their customers.

Coal-producing West Virginia passed a law in June that allows for the disqualification of banks and other financial institutions from doing business with the state if they boycott energy companies. Treasurer Riley Moore soon banned BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo, blaming them for contributing to high energy prices by driving capital away from the industry.

Were not going to pay for our own destruction, Moore said.

State officials have also been critical of ESG scores from ratings agencies and other outfits. For instance, S&P Global offended North Dakota State Treasurer Thomas Beadle because it rated the state as neutral for social and governance metrics but moderately negative for environmental factors because its economy and budget rely heavily on the energy sector.

His states lawmakers last year prohibited their investment board from considering socially responsible criteria for anything but maximizing returns. Beadle told senators considering potential next steps that ESG has created significant headwinds for energy companies trying to raise capital, and that it could affect his states tax revenues.

Besides state capitols, other big battlegrounds are federal agencies, where leaders of the backlash include the State Financial Officers Foundation, a group of Republican state treasurers, auditors and other officials. Theyre trying to block rules being drafted at the Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Labor to require standardized climate disclosures by companies and to make it easier for pension plan fiduciaries to consider climate change and other ESG factors.

The industry has heard the pushback and has even been surprised by how quickly its accelerated. But its pledging to plow ahead.

US SIF is an industry group advocating sustainable investing whose members control $5 trillion in assets under management or advisement. Its CEO, Lisa Woll, believes that most of the national and state politicians railing against ESG investing probably dont understand it.

If they did, its very difficult to make these kinds of allegations, Woll said. It feels more like a talking point than an informed critique.

Choe reported from New York.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP)  A little more than 12% of registered voters in Louisiana have cast their ballots ahead of next weeks elections, keeping up with the states steady increase in midterm election turnout.

Of the 363,009 residents who participated in the state's early voting period, which ended Tuesday night, about 42% were registered Democrats and 43% were Republicans, according to data from the Louisiana Secretary of State's office.

Most of Louisiana voters opt to vote in person on Election Day. But the percentage who vote early has been steadily increasing. During 2018 midterm elections about 11% of voters cast their ballots early, up from 8% in 2014 and 4% in 2010. Early voting topped 32% in 2020, though presidential election years tend to draw far more voters than midterms.

The state has placed a number of restrictions on mail-in voting. Absentee ballots need a notary or witness signature and can only go to older people, those with disabilities or voters who can show they cannot cast a ballot in person on Election Day. This election, absentee ballots went to about 3% of the total number of registered voters in the state.

Louisiana voters are deciding on a U.S. Senate race, six U.S. House races  one incumbent is running unopposed  and eight state constitutional amendments. Some races could be decided Nov. 8 due to the states unique jungle primary. Under this system all candidates, regardless of party, run against each other on the same ballot. If no one candidate tops 50% in that primary, the top two vote-getters advance to a runoff in December.

Louisianas lone U.S. Senate race features Republican John Kennedy, who is seeking a second term. The former state treasurer, who has mostly provided a safe Senate vote for Republicans and been a strong supporter of former President Donald Trump, faces a crowded field of 12 challengers.

Among the candidates are Democrats Luke Mixon, a commercial airline pilot endorsed by Gov. John Bel Edwards; and Gary Chambers Jr., who drew national attention earlier this year for an online ad that shows him smoking marijuana. However, it has been 14 years since Louisiana voters have elected a Democratic U.S. senator and Kennedy has raised an astounding $36 million in his reelection bid  10 times as much as his Democratic challengers combined.

Louisianas seats in the U.S. House are viewed as safe for the incumbents, including Minority Whip Steve Scalise. All incumbents are running for reelection. Republicans hold five of the six seats.

Louisianas most closely watched race is for the 3rd Congressional District, where GOP Rep. Clay Higgins is seeking a fourth term. The former sheriffs deputy faces a challenge from fellow Republican Holden Hoggatt, a prosecutor from Lafayette who has drawn bipartisan support from Higgins critics.

Voters will also have eight constitutional amendments to consider on the November ballot, including removing language that allows slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime.
House District 66 is roughly two-thirds Republican and one-third Democrat. Obviously for me, I am going to have to pick up a sizable portion of the Republican vote to win even if I were able to get all of the Democratic votes.

I would say to the Republican voters that you are not going to be hurt by voting for me, especially if you are worried about my spiritual values. I am a firm Christian and try to live my life as God directs my footsteps. I did not get saved until I was 36 years old and I have a very keen sense of what God has saved me from.

To the Democratic voters that may be worried about my spiritual values I would say that because I am a firm Christian then you have no reason for alarm. As a Christian I try and treat everyone with respect and dignity whether I agree with them or not.

Real Christians are not out calling people names and trying to demean peoples choices or belittle what a persons skin color is. I make no apologies for my faith in God, and it is because of that faith that I am about Gods business and that is to show Gods love to all.

I was raised in a Democratic family of hard working people. My father was a veteran of WWII and a survivor of the Bataan Death March and 42 months of POW captivity. He was a journeyman plumber and my mother worked as a nurses aide at the Oklahoma Osteopath hospital in Tulsa.

As a child it was instilled in me as well as my siblings that if you work hard you can be whatever you want to be. It was a time when the Democratic Party was a party of the working man and held firm as a party to represent family virtues. That is the type of Democratic candidate that I am, holding to God, country, and family. Values that we cherish and enjoy here in Oklahoma.

My father and brothers were avid sportsmen and I grew up around guns and hunting and fishing. Guns do not alarm me and I dont feel taking guns from law abiding citizens is an answer to the violence issue in our country. I enjoy gun ownership and I have several guns in my possession.

I would resist any effort by government to take those from me or you. The real issue with the violence in our country, in our schools, in our churches, and in our public places can all be traced back to the spiritual problem that our country has.

The kneejerk reaction some people have is to take away the guns and the problem gets solved. But we know that is not the case. It is not the guns committing the crime, it is people. And quite frankly I want to be able to protect myself and my family as best as I can.

I support public education without reservation. I am a product of public education as well as my children. I believe all children in Oklahoma deserve a quality education and I believe all good teachers deserve to be paid a good wage.

I would appreciate your vote on November 8. Thank you. James Rankin.
A new Mounted Patrol Unit will join the ranks of the Broken Arrow Police Department starting next spring after city councilors approved funding for officers and their partner horses.

The Broken Arrow City Council voted to use $15,000 from public safety sales tax funds to buy the equipment necessary for the specialty unit, according to a news release from the city.

During our research about the viability of forming this unit, we learned there is great value in having officers on horseback for situations like police searches, patrol operations and managing crowded events, Police Chief Brandon Berryhill said in a statement.

The Mounted Patrol Unit also will be visible at community functions, such as special events, parades and funerals, Berryhill said.

The part-time specialty unit will consist of full-time police officers and horses that will be commissioned as reserve officers while deployed for duty, according to the news release. When the horses are not on the clock, they will be the personal property of the police officers who are responsible for their care, including food and boarding, the city said in the release.

Each member of the MPU will complete free accredited training from a CLEET-certified instructor and earn the required certification prior to deployment, according to the release.

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Early in-person voting for next weeks city, county, state and federal elections begins across the state Wednesday.

If that sounds a little early, thats because it is. House Bill 2663, approved by state lawmakers last year, adds one day to the early in-person voting period for elections held in even-numbered years.

Tulsa County Election Board Secretary Gwen Freeman said registered voters wishing to cast their ballots before Tuesdays elections will get to choose from two sites: the Tulsa County Election Board, 555 N. Denver Ave., or the Hardesty Regional Library, 8316 E. 93rd St.

Show up for early voting if you want to avoid Election Day crowds, Freeman said. We are not going to guarantee that there wont be lines at either location, but we can tell you that we will be working diligently to get our early voters through those lines as quickly as possible.

Early voting hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

There is no early voting on Sunday or Monday. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day, which is Tuesday. On that day, voters only option is to cast their votes at their precincts polling stations.

Voters are required to provide an approved form of identification. Those can be a voter identification card issued by the county Election Board or a current photo ID issued by the state, federal or tribal government.

Freeman is encouraging county residents who intend to vote by absentee ballot to get their completed ballots to the Election Board as soon as possible. Absentee ballots returned by mail must be received by the Election Board no later than 7 p.m. on Election Day.

Voters who want to deliver their absentee ballots in person must do so by 5 p.m. Monday. A voter can deliver only his or her own absentee ballot and must provide proof of identification.

You cannot turn in your absentee ballots in person at Hardesty, Freeman said. You can only turn in your absentee ballots in person at the Election Board itself, according to law.

Oklahomans can track the status of their absentee ballot online on the states OK Voter Portal, oklahoma.gov/elections/ovp. Election officials note that absentee ballots are not counted until Election Day, so voters should not expect the portal to show absentee votes as counted until after the election is completed.

Freeman said voters can also go to the OK Voter Portal to view sample ballots for their precincts.

I encourage people to log on and look at the sample ballots ahead of time so that they will be able to make very thoughtful choices, and it also helps get voters through the lines quicker, she said.

Just months ago, the Election Board was short hundreds of poll workers, but Freeman said Tuesday that that problem has been addressed.

We are fully staffed for Election Day  and grateful, she said.

Tulsa County residents will be voting for statewide offices, including governor and superintendent of education, and for the District 1 county commission seat and county assessor.

District 1 Commissioner Stan Sallee, a Republican, is being challenged by Democrat Sean Johnson. In the assessors race, incumbent John Wright has two challengers: Libertarian Todd Hagopian and Democrat John Swoboda.

Three Tulsa City Council races will also be decided Tuesday. The three runoff elections pit first-term District 5 Councilor Mykey Arthrell against challenger Grant Miller; longtime District 6 Councilor Connie Dodson against challenger Christian Bengel; and incumbent District 7 Councilor Lori Decter Wright against challenger Ken Reddick.

Federal offices, including both of the states U.S. Senate seats and congressional districts, will also be on the ballot.

The city of Collinsville also will hold a special election on a sales tax proposition.
ATHENS, Greece (AP)  Rescue crews searching for dozens of migrants missing from the sinking of a sailing boat in rough weather off an island near Athens were recovering mostly bodies on Wednesday, with only one more survivor  the 12th so far  plucked from the sea.

The coast guard said it had recovered 20 bodies by Wednesday afternoon. Thirty-six people were still reported missing.

A total of 12 people, all men, have been rescued and taken to the island of Evia, east of the Greek capital. Eleven of them  six Egyptians, three Afghans and two Iranians  were picked up on Tuesday, while a helicopter spotted the 12th in the sea on Wednesday.

The initial nine survivors, who had been picked up from an uninhabited islet shortly after the boat sank in the early hours of Tuesday, had told authorities they had set sail from Izmir, Turkey, with a total of 68 people on board.

The boat ran into trouble in very rough seas and eventually capsized and sank in the notoriously treacherous Kafireas Strait, between the islands of Evia and Andros.

The tragedy was the latest in a series of deadly migrant boat shipwrecks in Greek seas that have left dozens of people missing or dead.

A separate search and rescue operation continued for a third day Wednesday in the eastern Aegean off the island of Samos, which lies near the Turkish coast, for seven people still missing after a dinghy reportedly carrying 12 people capsized on Monday. Four people, who the coast guard said were all Palestinians, were rescued on Monday and one body was recovered on Tuesday.

Greek Shipping Minister Giannis Plakiotakis, who is also responsible for the coast guard, slammed Turkey on Tuesday for allowing ruthless smuggling rings to send people to their deaths, with Greece saving as many as it can.

Thousands of people fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa, Asia and the Middle East attempt to enter the European Union through Greece each year.

Most make the short but often perilous crossing from the Turkish coast to nearby Greek islands in often unseaworthy inflatable dinghies. Others opt to attempt to circumvent Greece in overcrowded sailboats and yachts heading straight to Italy.

At least 27 people drowned in two separate shipwrecks last month. In one, 18 people died when a boat that had set sail from Turkey sank off the eastern Aegean island of Lesbos. In the other, a yacht carrying about 100 people sank in a gale, killing at least nine and leaving six missing.

Follow APs coverage of migration issues at https://apnews.com/hub/migration
Since winning his first election 12 years ago, U.S. Sen. James Lankford has been one of Oklahomas most popular office-holders. He won a crowded GOP U.S. Senate primary in 2014 and received more votes than Donald Trump did in Oklahoma in the 2016 general election.

Almost two years ago, though, some thought Lankford might be in trouble. His attempt to finesse what turned out to be manufactured claims about the 2020 presidential election brought attacks from left and right and a fire-breathing primary opponent who not only embraced but bear-hugged just about every COVID-19 and election conspiracy making the rounds.

The insurgency fizzled, though, and indications are that Lankford is on his way to becoming Oklahomas senior senator after the impending retirement of Jim Inhofe. Polls show Lankford is leading Democratic challenger Madison Horn and two other candidates, Libertarian Kenneth Blevins, 38, and independent Michael Delaney, 58, by comfortable margins.

Horn has made a game of it. Virtually unknown, with no political experience and limited resources, Horn managed to win a crowded primary and runoff. Initially, her biggest asset may have been sharing a last name (but not a family tree) with Kendra Horn, a former congresswoman and the Democratic nominee in Oklahomas other Senate election this year.

That said, Madison Horn has tried to campaign on her own terms  and on her own, period. She wanted to control her message and make her own decisions; consultants, she said, tend to take over, or try to, and she didnt want that. So none of the money she raised, about $320,000 through Oct. 19, went to political consultants.

Horns message has been that she is a candidate who shows up, who listens to everybody and who is focused on results rather than on party policy. Its a common theme among Oklahoma Democrats, most of whom insist that they are practical moderates, not the wild-eyed radicals portrayed by Republicans.

The description seems apt in Horns case, though. During a recent appearance on Oklahoma City television station KFORs Flashpoint, Horn said she does not want President Joe Biden to seek a second term and is frustrated that the Democrats seem to have forgotten that we were the party that helped the middle class and dont talk about issues that affect the (dinner) table.

This week, Horn said her views on a second Biden term are driven by practicalities, not his performance.

Noting that Biden, who turns 80 later this month, is an older man, Horn said, me making that statement is a very logical one.

Horn, 32, grew up in Adair County and graduated from Stilwell High School, where her father was the agriculture teacher. She says shes a distant cousin of Markwayne Mullin, another Adair County resident who is running against Kendra Horn in the other Senate election.

After high school, Horn migrated to Atlanta and then Virginia; she wound up in a high-paying position in a cybersecurity firm even though she has no formal education in computers or engineering. She moved back to Oklahoma shortly before launching her Senate campaign last fall.

Horn says shes visited all 77 counties, many of them several times. For the last 40 days of the campaign shes been living in an RV while traveling the state. Along the way, she said, shes compiled two or three notebooks full of problems Oklahomans want solved.

I do not have to bring (Lankford) up in conversation, Horn said. They do not see him as present. They see that he has gone to an extreme and does not represent them.

As most Oklahomans probably know, Lankford was speaking on the Senate floor in favor of a proposal to delay certification of the 2020 presidential election by 10 days when the chamber had to be evacuated because rioters were advancing on it from within the building.

When the session resumed, Lankford withdrew his support for the measure and voted with the majority to approve the results establishing that Biden had won.

That fueled the primary challenge by Jackson Lahmeyer while at the same time alienating many less-conservative Oklahomans who trusted and supported him.

So-called election deniers continue to have significant influence in the Republican Party, but on a recent visit to the Tulsa World, Lankford denied that Jan. 6 is much of an issue.

On the campaign trail, I dont remember the last time I was asked about Jan. 6, Lankford said. It must be eight or nine months.

He also denied having tried to prevent Biden from becoming president.

My focus was not on decertification of the election, he said. Congress cannot decertify an election. An election is an election.  We dont have the right to decertify. What I was asking for was a 10-day delay to say There are a lot of questions out there.

Since then, most of those questions have been answered and evidence has emerged that the ringleader of the 10-day delay movement, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, might have had something else in mind.

As a high-ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Lankford has had election oversight responsibilities and, after the 2016 election, pushed for all states to have ballot paper trails that allow for post-election audits. But for the most part, Lankford seems ready to move on.

He has a long list of priorities, much of it revolving around deficit-reduction and federal regulation and waste. Hes also taken a deep interest in immigration.

Weve survived (political tension) before, Lankford said. I do want to make sure people are heard, because the worst-case scenario is to tell someone to sit down and shut up; your opinion doesnt matter because someone who has the same opinion as you is out of control, and so, so are you. Thats the best way to drive somebody else to be out of control.

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Vietnams banana exports to China increased sharply despite a downward trend among general vegetable and fruit exports.

Statistics from the General Department of Vietnam Customs indicated that the countrys banana export value reached US$237 million in January-August, up 28 percent from the same period last year, mainly due to more shipments to China.

In the first five months, Vietnam was Chinas largest banana supplier, providing 42 percent of the latters total imports of 742,000 metric tons, followed by the Philippines at 28 percent.

This growth is opposite to the decreasing trend of all other fruit exports to China, according to general secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association Dang Phuc Nguyen.

It can be attributed to Vietnams geographical location near China, the rise of costs in China, and the negative impact of the Panama disease, also called banana wilt, on the quality of bananas grown in that country, according to Nguyen.

Vietnams production of bananas, a fruit that can be harvested all year round, averages about 2.1 million metric tons a year, according to statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

In 2021, bananas were also the countrys third-largest export fruit, after dragon fruits and manoes.

In the first nine months of this year, the total export turnover of vegetables and fruits hit $2.4 billion, according to the export-import department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

China remained Vietnams largest vegetable and fruit importer during the period, purchasing $1.06 billion worth of products, or 43.3 percent of the Southeast Asian countrys total vegetable and fruit export value.

In a relevant move, the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Chinese General Administration of Customs signed a protocol requiring phytosanitary procedures for fresh bananas exported from Vietnam to China on Monday as part of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trongs official visit to China.

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Vietnamese and Danish enterprises signed 14 memoranda of understanding on cooperation in wind energy and energy efficiency during the ongoing visit to Vietnam by Danish Crown Prince Frederik and Princess Mary Elizabeth.

The signing was made within the framework of the Vietnam - Denmark Sustainable Energy Summit Forum held in Hanoi on Tuesday in the presence of the Danish crown prince and princess, who arrived a day earlier for a four-day visit at the invitation of Vietnams Vice-State President Vo Thi Anh Xuan.

The Danish guests are accompanied by a group of 36 Danish enterprises, including 22 specializing in green energy and the others in efficient energy management and use, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Crown Prince Frederik affirmed that Vietnam and Denmark will become like-minded countries to move toward a green future despite their possibly different starting points

Danish businesses have come here at this event to support Vietnam in its efforts toward building a greener society, the crown prince stated.

He emphasized that Danish businesses, with their experience and knowledge in renewable energy and sustainable business, are suitable partners for Vietnamese enterprises.

Along with their Vietnamese partners, Danish companies will find common solutions that help bring interests and prosperity to both sides.

Offshore wind energy and efficient energy use play an important role in supporting Vietnam's efforts in its transition to a low-carbon economy and they are two areas where Danish businesses possess effective solutions and technologies that can support Vietnam, he added.

As part of the forum were two seminars focusing on providing Denmarks experience and technologies for Vietnams wind industry and on enhancing energy efficiency in industries toward Vietnams commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

These are two areas in which Denmark has a lot of experience and possess technologies that have been proven efficient.

Wind energy will play an important role in Vietnams energy transition toward its net-zero emissions commitment, and the potential of offshore wind power of the country, which has a coastline of more than 3,000km, is estimated at about 160 GW, the Vietnam News Agency cited the seminars.

The two workshops, respectively chaired by the crown prince and princess, created an important platform for further promoting dialogue and knowledge and experience sharing among policymakers, promising businesses, and investors of both countries, Danish Ambassador to Vietnam Nicolai Prytz said.

According to the Danish Embassy in Vietnam, nearly 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in Vietnam are generated from energy production and consumption, so specific measures and actions in the energy sector play a key role in the green transition of Vietnams economy.

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Police in Hanoi announced on Tuesday that the vehicle registration database showed the owner of the Ferrari that killed a man in a crash in Nam Tu Liem District a day before is a foreigner.

The Ferrari bears the plate number 80-346-NG-74, with NG indicating foreign organizations and individuals ownership.

The vehicle crashed into a motorbike numbered 29T1-337.35 on Le Quang Dao Street in Nam Tu Liem District at around 5:00 am on Monday, causing the bike rider - 58-year-old L.D.T. - to die at the scene.

The car driver - a Vietnamese - and his female companion fled the scene after causing the fatal traffic accident.

Preliminary information showed that the two vehicles were running in the same direction.

They were both damaged after the collision.

Police officers collected CCTV footage along Le Quang Dao Street for an investigation into the case.

They also tracked the vehicle registration database and found out the Ferrari owner is a foreign person, whose identity is undisclosed.

The investigation is ongoing.

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SBS has added Gujarati and Malayalam news bulletins to SBS WorldWatch multichannel, with additional English-language news from India, Turkey and Fiji available on SBS and SBS VICELAND.

Also announced are First Nations news from New Zealand, Canada and the United States now offering 66 news programs available across the network.

Director of News and Current Affairs, Mandi Wicks, said: With the launch of SBS WorldWatch, the SBS network has undergone broader rescheduling of our multilingual TV news across the network, now offering 66 news bulletins from 49 different broadcasters in 36 languages other than English, and 20 in English.

SBS also cited SBS WorldWatch reaching more than 450,000 viewers per month*.

SBS WorldWatch gives free-to-air and SBS On Demand audiences more coverage and choice than ever before. Its great to see audiences positive response, which is reflected in the channels steady growth.

Executive Producer of SBS WorldWatch, Paul Williams, said: Six months on from our launch of SBS WorldWatch were pleased with how viewers are engaging with the new content, and we will continue to build and adapt our offering to best meet our growing audiences needs.

SBS World Watch

SBS is celebrating a successful six months since the launch of its dedicated multilingual news channel, SBS WorldWatch. The network used its 2023 Upfront event to highlight that is has expanded its international news offering, including with bulletins in major South Asian languages Gujarati and Malayalam added to its SBS WorldWatch channel line-up. It has also added 9 new programs in English across the wider SBS network on SBS and SBS VICELAND, also available on SBS On Demand.

SBS WorldWatch launched in May 2022 as a free-to-air channel dedicated to providing Australians with access to news from around the world in languages other than English featuring bulletins from leading international broadcasters. The channel expanded SBSs international and multilingual news offering, ensuring SBS audiences are better served than ever before, including with SBS  News (SBS News in Arabic) and SBS  News (SBS News in Mandarin), SBSs own news programs broadcast in prime-time each weeknight serving the diverse Arabic and Mandarin-speaking communities of Australia.

The launch of the channel has also enabled SBS to significantly add to the number of international news bulletins across the network with SBS WorldWatch adding two new international news bulletins in Gujarati and Malayalam from Indian Public Broadcaster Doordarshan (DD).

These two bulletins have been added to better serve Australias evolving news audiences, as speakers of Gujarati have increased by 54% since the 2016 Australian Census, and speakers of Malayalam by 48% over the same period. With 13 new news bulletins across the SBS network and SBS On Demand, the changes allow popular programs to enjoy a better timeslot or expanded broadcast throughout the week.

SBS continues to bring leading international news bulletins in English across other channels on the network. Eleven new programs now feature on SBS and SBS VICELAND as well as being available on SBS On Demand, with SBS VICELAND adding Fiji One News; Te Ao with Moana from New Zealands Maori Television; CBCs The National, from Canada; APTN National News from Canadian Indigenous network, Aboriginal Peoples Television Network; TRT World Newshour from Turkey; Indian Country Today news from USA Indigenous network, IndiJ Public Media; and ABC Nightline from ABC America.

SBS has also added ANCs The World Tonight from The Philippines; BBC News at 10; DD India from India Public Broadcaster Doordarshan and a weekly show from APAC Network, a Brisbane-based Asia-Pacific news start-up.

Central to the SBS WorldWatch offering are SBSs flagship half-hour nightly news bulletins in Mandarin and Arabic, produced in-house, serving the two largest non-English language audiences in the country.

On average, SBS WorldWatch reaches more than 450,000 viewers per month*. It has cemented itself as the home for in-language world news in Australia. SBS WorldWatch builds on SBSs commitment to provide comprehensive news and information across its network  in English through SBS World News, and in more than 60 languages across SBS Radio services, podcasting, and digital platforms  and the multilingual services it has been delivering to Australians for more than 45 years. Audiences can watch SBS WorldWatch free-to-air on channel 35 and catch up or stream it live on SBS On Demand.

On SBS WorldWatch (in languages other than English)

Schedule: https://www.sbs.com.au/guide/channel/SBSWorldWatch

Gujarati news  from India Public Broadcaster Prasar Bharati / Doordarshan (DD)

Malayalam news  from India Public Broadcaster Prasar Bharati / Doordarshan (DD)

* Source: OzTAM (5 City Metro) & Regional TAM (Combined Agg Markets) | June  October 2022 | 0200  2559 | Reach (based on 5 consecutive minutes of viewing) | Consolidated 28 Data (June  September 2022), Overnight & Consolidated 7 Data (October 2022)

Separate posts outline highlights for SBS, SBS VICELAND, SBS Food, SBS World Movies, NITV and SBS On Demand.
The ABC has notified police over a racist email sent to Tony Armstrongs ABC address, using racial slurs.

This shit has gotta stop, he said on Twitter. One thing is for certain though, this isnt guna stop us speaking up or stepping up. Sent to my work email, no less.

The email refers to the former AFL player as filthy scum and an uneducated dog, and appears to be a response to Armstrongs criticism of mining magnate Gina Rinehart for not disavowing her fathers racism towards Indigenous people.

His tweet received a flood of support from colleagues and fans including ABC presenters Michael Rowland, Zan Rowe and Nate Byrne.

Guardian Australia reports ABC News Breakfast presenter appeared on The Project last week and criticised media which sprang to the billionaires defence after Hancock Prospecting withdrew a lucrative funding deal from Netball Australia after a players revolt against the company.

A proud Gamilaroi man, Armstrong also spoke about the initial lacklustre response to the death of 15-year-old Indigenous boy Cassius Turvey, who was killed in an alleged violent attack in Perth.

ABCs director of news, Justin Stevens, said, The ABC is taking a range of actions to support Tony Armstrong, including referring the matter to police.

We are currently conducting a bigger project on the abuse and harassment of ABC employees, including on social media, and examining all the options open to us to ensure the wellbeing of our people.

Our journalists should not be attacked or subjected to abuse for doing their jobs.
Screenworks has today opened applications for the second year of their Regional Crew Traineeship program, in partnership with Netflix.

This entry-level initiative will provide three trainees with a paid opportunity and on-the-job work placements and study.

Ken Crouch, Screenworks CEO, said, It has been incredibly rewarding to witness the four trainees develop their skills and kickstart their careers this past year. Theyve taken the opportunities presented to them and created long-lasting relationships with practitioners that will stand them in good stead for the future. Im excited that Screenworks can provide more opportunities to three new trainees in Northern NSW and FNQ in 2023.

2022 Screenworks Trainee Ky Crethar added, The highlight of my Traineeship so far has been working in the Grip Department on the feature film Land of Bad on the Gold Coast. I came into this industry looking to work on theatrical blockbusters and wouldnt have been able to do so without this Traineeship Experience. I was on set in the thick of it and I loved it.

The most valuable lesson I have learnt during this Traineeship is that you really have to put yourself out there to create a career in the industry. Having the skills is only useful if you let people know that you have them. Talk to everybody on sets and never burn bridges because you never know where your next job will come from.

Eden Cansdell, fellow trainees said, From the moment I started my first placement it has been go go go  which I love! My first placement was with Goalpost pictures near Airlie Beach working in the Art Department. I was thrown into the deep end, but with amazingly talented and supportive people around me I learnt loads and found my place. I am now working with some of the same people in Brisbane for Hoodlum in the role of props buying/standby props and cant wait to see where Ill be heading next!

This traineeship has taught me on-the-job skills, tips & tricks around the industry that I will be able to carry with me in the future & most importantly, that we dont work as individuals in the TV/film industry. Its all about the team and how well everyone works together to get the job done. I feel very lucky to be learning from all the amazing people I have met along the way.

Two selected trainees from Northern NSW and one from North Queensland will complete their traineeships and study with TAFE NSW to gain a nationally recognised Certificate III in Screen & Media in the process. The program started as a pilot project in Northern New South Wales in 2022 and has been extended to Queensland in 2023, with plans to scale into other regions across Australia in the future.

Screenworks and Netflix particularly want to encourage young people from diverse backgrounds or who are financially disadvantaged and may not otherwise have the opportunity to study in the industry to apply. Successful applicants will need to demonstrate a passion for starting their career in the screen industry and be able to commit full-time to the traineeship.

Applications are now open and will close at 08:00am (AEDT) Monday 28th November 2022. The traineeships are due to start in February 2023.

www.screenworks.com.au/traineeships
SINGAPORE, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- BIGO Technology (BIGO), was pleased to welcome Dr. Maliki Bin Osman, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Second Minister for Education & Foreign Affairs, and Mr Shamsher Zaman, Singapore Ambassador to Jordan, to the BIGO office in Amman, Kingdom of Jordan on 20 October 2022.

Left to right: Jackson Lau, Vice President for Bigo Technology, Singapore Ambassador to Jordan Shamsher Zaman, Dr. Maliki bin Osman, Minister in Prime Ministers Office, Second Minister for Education & Foreign Affairs, Mike Ong, Vice President for Bigo Technology. Photo Credit: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore

Since 2019, BIGO has grown rapidly across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region. The company started with just 50 employees in Jordan in late 2019, and within three years grew to a workforce of 1000 employees. The company recently set up a second office in Irbid, the second largest city in Jordan.

During the visit, BIGO executives shared with Minister Maliki and Ambassador Zaman on the past developments in Jordan as well as the future plans for expansion and partnership in the Kingdom. This included expanding the development teams and product offerings in Jordan, and leveraging on Jordan as a springboard to the region.

"We are honored to have Minister Maliki and Ambassador Zaman visiting our Amman office," said Mike Ong, Vice President of BIGO Technology. "While Jordan accounts for only 3% of the MENA population, the World Economic Forum earlier reported that it is home to 27% of the top 100 Arab startups shaping the Fourth Industrial Revolution. With this in mind, it is clear to see that Jordan leads the region in terms of technical talents."

The visit was a testament to BIGO's achievements in Jordan, being one of the biggest Singapore companies in the country. As a homegrown Singapore brand, BIGO is the embodiment of what it means to grow global, but stay local.

The growth and development of the company in the Kingdom has been largely supported by the strong and longstanding relations between Singapore and Jordan. As such, the efforts of both countries in recent years continue to lead to the exploration of new areas to develop bilateral relations, including in information and communications technology.

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"We greatly appreciate the support that we have received from the government and businesses in both Singapore and Jordan," said Mr. Ong "Being a Singaporean company and having our MENA regional hub office in Jordan, BIGO is proud of its heritage and we look forward to support all efforts made by both countries to strengthen their economies."

During the visit, Minister Dr. Maliki Osman and Ambassador Shamsher expressed their appreciation to BIGO for hosting the visit and commended BIGO for its strong development and becoming one of the largest Singaporean companies in the Kingdom.

SOURCE BIGO
Alexandria Sheriffs Office

A Kansas woman who led an Islamic State battalion has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after her children shared harrowing victim impact statements of their experience.

Allison Fluke-Ekren provided military training to over 100 women and young girls in Syria on behalf of ISIS and committed numerous other terrorist acts, the Department of Justice said in its announcement of the sentencing.

The 42-year-old, who is also known as Umm Mohammed al-Amriki, was sentenced Tuesday in the Eastern District of Virginia. The former Kansas resident left the United States in September 2011 and went to work to engage in terrorist acts in multiple countries, including Syria, Libya, and Iraq, the Department of Justice said.

She ultimately served as the leader and organizer of an ISIS military battalion, known as the Khatiba Nusaybah, where she trained women on the use of automatic firing AK-47 assault rifles, grenades and suicide belts, according to the Justice Department.

In an emotional sentencing hearing, two of Fluke-Ekrens children wrote letters detailing their abuse at the hands of Fluke-Ekren, beginning in Kansas and continuing overseas when they were minors.

My mother would beat my body, leaving my muscles cramping in agony. [She] would then go to her room and masturbate over the fact that she beat me. I could hear her from the other room, the daughter wrote.

In his letter, her son wrote: My mother is a monster who enjoys torturing children for sexual pleasure.

Additionally, Fluke-Ekrens daughter delivered a victim impact statement Tuesday detailing the severe abuse inflicted upon her as a minor in Syria, including coercing her to marry an ISIS fighter, who then raped her, when she was only 13 years old.

Fluke-Ekrens son also delivered a statement that described his mothers attempts to convince him to leave the United States for Syria.

You made me give up everything just so you could go on your next adventure, he quoted one of his messages to his mother, according to The Wall Street Journal.

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Both son and daughter pleaded with the court to stop their mother from ever contacting them again. That request was granted by the judge.

Fluke-Ekren has denied the abuse accusations and while she is shocked and saddened by these allegations, she acknowledges Witness-1 [her daughter] experienced trauma in Syria, defense attorney Joseph King wrote previously.

She carved a path of terror, plunging her own children into unfathomable depths of cruelty by physically, psychologically, emotionally, and sexually abusing them, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Raj Parekh said last week in a sentencing memo that revealed allegations that Fluke-Ekrens children and parents had made against her.

After a stint in Libya in 2011 where she and her second husband stole documents from a U.S. compound in Benghazi and delivered them to the hands of the leadership of Ansar al-Sharia, the couple moved to Turkey and then to Syria, where Fluke-Ekrens second husband ascended through the ranks of ISIS and ultimately became the emir (leader) of ISIS snipers in Syria.

In 2014, Fluke-Ekren boasted about her desire to conduct an attack on the U.S. Fluke-Ekren explained that she could go to a shopping mall in the United States, park a vehicle full of explosives in the basement or parking garage level of the structure, and detonate the explosives in the vehicle with a cell phone triggering device, the Department of Justice said.

Fluke-Ekren further said that she considered any attack that did not kill a large number of individuals to be a waste of resources. Fluke-Ekren would hear about external attacks taking place in countries outside the United States and would comment that she wished the attack had occurred on United States soil instead. She had also discussed the possibility of bombing the campus of a U.S. college in the Midwest.

In 2016, after moving to Mosul, Iraq, Fluke-Ekren obtained authorization from the Wali, the ISIS-appointed mayor of Raqqa, in order to establish a Womens Center. That same year, the Khatiba Nusaybah was borna military battalion composed solely of female ISIS members. Fluke-Ekrens main objective as the leader and organizer of the Khatiba Nusaybah battalion was to teach female ISIS members how to defend themselves against ISIS enemies, including helping male fighters defend ISIS-controlled Raqqa.

Training included the use of weapons, including automatic firing AK-47 assault rifles, grenades, and suicide belts packed with explosives, but the battalion also provided certain members with instruction on physical training including martial arts, medical training, VBIED driving courses, ISIS religious classes and how to pack and prep a go bag with rifles and other military supplies.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Emerging Markets Global Advisory

LONDON, Oct. 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Emerging Markets Global Advisory LLP (EMGA) for the second time working with Banco Improsa, secures this US$20M facility from the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) - AECID (advised by COFIDES).

Commenting on the transaction, Felix Alpizar, General Manager of BANCO IMPROSA, said: "Banco Improsa is very honored to be recognized by AECID and COFIDES for both its track record and programs to finance and support Costa Rican micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). With this credit we will continue our contribution to the economic and social development of the country."

EMGAs Head of Investment Banking Sajeev Chakkalakal said, A pleasure again to facilitate Banco Improsas continued vision of supporting SMEs within Costa Rica and complete this funding solution with AECID (advised by COFIDES).

Jose Luis Curbelo, chairman and CEO of COFIDES, stated that we are pleased to support AECID in its first impact project with EMGA and IMPROSA in the Central American region. The transaction will be used to finance small and medium enterprises in Costa Rica, which will contribute to the creation and maintenance of quality jobs and reducing inequalities. We look forward to continuing these strategic partnerships, which enhance economic growth in developing countries by strengthening the private sector through sound financial support.

Carlos Jimenez Aguirre, General Manager of FONPRODE and Head AECIDs Financial Cooperation Department expressed that the formalization of this transaction reflects Spanish Cooperations aims to contribute to expand the financial support for Costa Rican micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), as MSMEs play a key role in creating and maintaining decent jobs and reducing inequalities. Our intention is to expand this kind of support to other Central American countries in providing access to finance to MSMEs, with a special focus on mainstreaming gender and climate change strategies in private sector activities.

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Emerging Markets Global Advisory LLP, based in London, helps emerging market based financial institutions and corporates seeking new debt or equity capital.

Banco Improsa was founded in 1995 and is a niche bank with a specialization in providing financial solutions and services to MSMEs, which account for most of its portfolio. It has an extensive track record in providing support and advisory services to MSMEs. Banco Improsa's key success factor lies in its commitment to high standards of personalized, agile, and flexible service, which, together with customized financial solutions, have enabled it to achieve a solid position in these segments. Banco Improsa is part of Grupo Financiero Improsa (GFI).

Fund for the Promotion of Development (FONPRODE), managed by Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) with the support of COFIDES (Spanish Development Finance Institution). AECID is the main management body of Spanish Cooperation and is oriented towards the fight against poverty and the promotion of sustainable development. COFIDES provides support management for FONPRODE with reimbursable financing operations that promote social and economic development of partner countries through investments or transfers of economic resources with a reimbursable nature. FONPRODE may finance non-reimbursable and reimbursable debt and equity. Examples of refundable financing offered by FONPRODE are loans to financial service providers aimed at financial inclusion.

COFIDES, a state-owned company engaging in the management of State and third-party as well as its own funds, pursues several aims; internationalization of Spains economy, furtherance of economic development and fortification of the solvency of companies affected by COVID-19. In addition to the Spanish State, its shareholders include Banco Santander, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), Banco Sabadell and Development Bank of Latin America (CAF).

Jeremy Dobson

info@emergingmarketsglobaladvisory.com




With blue schoolbags bouncing off their backs, hundreds of schoolchildren hurtle down small sand dunes eager to attend class again.

But these boys and girls are survivors of suffering and trauma that few children of their age could conceive.

Their new school is in the town of Ouallam in southwestern Niger, a region that for five years has been plagued by attacks unleashed by groups linked with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

The pupils come from 18 villages near Mali whose inhabitants fled to the relative safety of Ouallam in 2021 after jihadist killings that also forced the closure of schools.

The UN children's agency UNICEF says 817 schools with 72,421 pupils -- including 34,464 girls -- have closed in Niger, mostly in the Tillaberi, the border region where Ouallam is located.

In Ouallam alone, around one hundred schools have had to shut their doors.

The chronic insecurity has prompted the authorities to create dedicated educational centres where displaced children can resume their schooling, Mahamadou Illo Abarchi, an education official in Ouallam, told AFP.

Some 17,000 pupils have already re-entered the school system and another 55,300 are set to follow suit, enrolling in around 20 centres for displaced children across southwestern Niger, the government says.

- 'Killed by the bandits' -

In Ouallam, almost 1,600 schoolchildren -- some of whom had not attended class for three years -- are registered with three centres built near a site for displaced people.

The sites offer free canteens, a vital resource for families who have escaped violence in a nation that, by the UN's human development index, is the poorest in the world.

Lessons take place in shelters or classrooms equipped with tables and benches provided by NGOs. But in others, the pupils must learn on the floor.

Fatima and Aissa, two young girls from Ngaba, a settlement near Mali, expressed their delight at returning to school as they clutched their slate boards.

But the euphoria of returning to school cannot wipe out the painful memories.

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"My uncle was a village chief, he was killed by the bandits in front of our eyes," said Mariama, who also lived in Ngaba. "There was a lot of blood."

Nassirou, Malick, Hasane, Abdou and their parents fled their village of Adabdab on foot after a series of jihadist attacks, the last of which on October 22 claimed the lives of 11 civilians.

"It was the bandits who chased us away, they killed many men," Nassirou said quietly in the playground.

Moussa, who hails from a hamlet in the same area, said: "I'm not afraid anymore, I no longer hide when I hear the sound of motorcycles" often used by jihadists to attack villages.

- 'Encouraging results' -

When they first arrived at the new centres, many children showed "signs of distress and trauma, others were very aggressive", said education official Morou Chaibou.

He spoke of how some pupils recounted harrowing memories -- including seeing their parents being shot.

Adamou Dari, the regional director of the centres, said they also offered the children psychological and social support to give them some stability after their traumatic experience.

"Now they concentrate in class and the results are encouraging," said a teacher as she played in the courtyard with some of her pupils.

Absenteeism is minor but a source of worry, Dari said, explaining that some pupils played truant to work in the town and feed their families.

Harlem Desir of the International Rescue Committee, who recently visited the site for displaced people in Ouallam, said impoverished families often put their children to work or marry their daughters at a young age.

Chaibou warned that neglected children could become prime recruitment targets for the very jihadist groups whose depredations have left their families in such difficulties.

In 2021, Amnesty International warned that boys aged between 15 and 17 were filling the ranks of armed groups, especially the Al-Qaeda-affiliated GSIM, in the Torodi region near Burkina Faso -- with the blessing of their parents.

bh/stb/imm/ri
BANGKOK, Thailand, November 02, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--During the 8th Ultra-Broadband Forum (UBBF 2022), the ultra-broadband 5.5G industry evolution initiative was jointly proposed by Office of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), WBBA, TM Forum, Informa Tech, AIS, True, China Mobile International Limited (CMI), MTN GlobalConnect, Zain KSA, Telekom Malaysia, LightCounting and Huawei, calling on all industry stakeholders to jointly define ultra-broadband 5.5G evolution directions and standards and promoting the prosperity of the fixed network industry.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005522/en/

Guests from standards organizations, industry organizations, operators, and Huawei participated in the initiative ceremony (Photo: Business Wire)

AM. Thanapant Raicharoen, Ph.D., the Commissioner of the Office of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), pointed out that dual-gigabit connectivity is the engine that powers the digital economy to bring innovation and efficiency improvement, as well as promote social and national intelligence. Indeed, "Building connectivity and bridging the digital divide" has been Thailand's strategy for the past five years. In 2021, Thailand released the Giga Thailand White Paper and formulated a development plan for the next five years. Now, "Giga Thailand" has become a reality. AM. Thanapant Raicharoen, Ph.D. called on the government and industry to go further and start dual-gigabit city construction in 2023, making Thailand a digital center in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Gary Nugent, the Chief Executive of Informa Tech, said: "The vision of an intelligent world and the promise of 5.5G where the potential of cloud, AI, and ultrafast broadband combine to address those inevitable future challenges is a compelling one. A world that anticipates, personalizes and optimizes our use of precious resources."

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In the optical industry, ETSI released the F5G Advanced and Beyond white paper in September this year. In addition to outlining F5G capabilities, the white paper further elaborates on the future industry evolution towards higher bandwidth, more connections, smarter, greener, more real-time, and stronger sensing.

In the data communication industry, the analyst and consultancy firm Omdia released the Research on the Trends of Data Communication Network for 2030 white paper this October, which describes the core connotation of future data communication networks Net5.5G and defines its six features, including Green Ultra-Broadband, end-to-end IPv6 enhanced networks, Multi-Domain Network AI, etc. The white paper provides valuable insights into the evolution directions of networks in the digital world.

Huawei believes that striding to ultra-broadband 5.5G will require the concerted efforts of all industry players, including standards organizations, regulators, operators, and equipment vendors, to promote the industry's development and innovation in technologies, networks, and ecosystems and create industrial prosperity together.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005522/en/

Contacts

Huawei, Rita Peng, +8613120012305, pengqiuyu1@huawei.com
Iranian authorities on Wednesday ordered an investigation into a video showing officers savagely beating a protester that rights groups said exposed the sheer brutality of the police repression against protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini.

Iran has been rocked by over six weeks of protests following the death of Amini who had been arrested by the notorious morality police in Tehran, with the movement now seen as the biggest challenge to the Islamic republic's leadership since the 1979 revolution.

Activists say dozens have been killed and thousands arrested in a crackdown by the security forces who have been accused of firing on protesters at close range, bludgeoning them with batons and other abuses.

A video that appeared late Tuesday on social media, shot at night on a mobile phone purportedly in a district of Tehran, showed a squad of around a dozen policemen in an alley kicking and beating a man with their batons, as other officers on motorbikes looked on.

The man initially tried to cover his head with his hands, before the sound of a gunshot is heard and he is run over by a police motorbike. His motionless body is then abandoned.

"This shocking video sent from Tehran is another horrific reminder that the cruelty of Iran's security forces knows no bounds," Amnesty International said.

"Amid a crisis of impunity, they're given free rein to brutally beat and shoot protesters," it added, calling on the UN Human Rights Council to "urgently investigate these crimes".

Iran's police force announced in a statement published by state news agency IRNA that an order had been issued to "investigate the exact time and place of the incident and identify the offenders."

"The police absolutely do not approve of violent and unconventional behaviour and will deal with the offenders according to the rules," the statement added.

- 'Create fear' -

According to an updated toll issued Wednesday from the Norway-based Iran Human Rights NGO, 176 people have been killed in the crackdown on the protests sparked by Amini's death.

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Another 101 people have lost their lives in a distinct protest wave in Zahedan in the southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province.

IHR has warned that these figures are a minimum, with information slow to flow in due to disruptions of the internet by the authorities.

Thousands of people have been arrested nationwide in the crackdown on the protests, rights activists say, while Iran's judiciary has said 1,000 people have already been charged in connection with what it describes as "riots".

The trial of five men charged with offences that can carry capital punishment over the protests opened Saturday in Tehran.

"Instead of accepting people's legal demands, the Islamic republic is clamping down with repressive measures and show trials," said IHR director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.

"The charges and sentences have no legal validity and their sole purpose is to commit more violence create societal fear," he added.

- 'Regime in a bind' -

Amini's death was according to family members caused by a blow to the head while in custody. The Iranian authorities contested this explanation and later denied it in an official medical report.

The protests were fuelled by anger over the strict Islamic dress code for women in Iran -- which the police who arrested Amini were enforcing -- but have become a rallying point for popular anger against the regime that has ruled Iran since the fall of the shah in 1979.

While there have been outbursts of protests in Iran over the past two decades the current movement has regularly broken taboos, united social classes and largely spread nationwide.

The challenge for the regime is compounded by the custom in Iran to mark 40 days since a person died, turning every "chehelom" 40-day mourning ceremony for the dozens killed in the crackdown into a potential protest flashpoint.

"Funerals and 40-day commemoration ceremonies for killed protesters are increasingly becoming the impetus for further unrest," said Kita Fitzpatrick, Iran analyst at the Critical Threats Project of the American Enterprise Institute.

"This places the regime in a bind: they run the risk of inadvertently sustaining the protest movement in attempting to violently suppress it."

sjw/dv
With a median price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of close to 15x in Germany, you could be forgiven for feeling indifferent about Media and Games Invest SE's (ETR:M8G) P/E ratio of 16.6x. Although, it's not wise to simply ignore the P/E without explanation as investors may be disregarding a distinct opportunity or a costly mistake.

With earnings growth that's superior to most other companies of late, Media and Games Invest has been doing relatively well. One possibility is that the P/E is moderate because investors think this strong earnings performance might be about to tail off. If you like the company, you'd be hoping this isn't the case so that you could potentially pick up some stock while it's not quite in favour.

Check out our latest analysis for Media and Games Invest

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Want the full picture on analyst estimates for the company? Then our free report on Media and Games Invest will help you uncover what's on the horizon.

What Are Growth Metrics Telling Us About The P/E?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should be matching the market for P/E ratios like Media and Games Invest's to be considered reasonable.

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a terrific increase of 58%. The latest three year period has also seen an excellent 2,240% overall rise in EPS, aided by its short-term performance. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been superb for the company.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should generate growth of 39% per year as estimated by the eight analysts watching the company. With the market only predicted to deliver 14% per annum, the company is positioned for a stronger earnings result.

With this information, we find it interesting that Media and Games Invest is trading at a fairly similar P/E to the market. Apparently some shareholders are skeptical of the forecasts and have been accepting lower selling prices.

The Bottom Line On Media and Games Invest's P/E

It's argued the price-to-earnings ratio is an inferior measure of value within certain industries, but it can be a powerful business sentiment indicator.

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We've established that Media and Games Invest currently trades on a lower than expected P/E since its forecast growth is higher than the wider market. When we see a strong earnings outlook with faster-than-market growth, we assume potential risks are what might be placing pressure on the P/E ratio. At least the risk of a price drop looks to be subdued, but investors seem to think future earnings could see some volatility.

And what about other risks? Every company has them, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for Media and Games Invest (of which 1 is a bit concerning!) you should know about.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking at a few good candidates. So take a peek at this free list of companies with a strong growth track record, trading on a P/E below 20x.

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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BOGOTA, Colombia (AP)  The presidents of Colombia and Venezuela met on Tuesday and said they would improve trade and security cooperation, as both countries seek to normalize relations following the election of Colombias first leftist leader.

After the meeting in Venezuelas presidential palace, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said it was suicidal for the governments of Venezuela and Colombia to have become estranged from each other recently, adding that the border between the countries had been forgotten and turned over to criminal mafias.

Colombias president said both countries would now look for ways to share intelligence on drug trafficking groups, and added that he would lobby for Venezuelas re-entry into the Andean Community of Nations, a regional trade and investment group that Venezuela withdrew from in 2006. Petro has asked for Venezuelas support in peace talks with the National Liberation Army, or ELN, a Colombian rebel group that operates on both sides of the border.

Petros efforts to engage with Venezuelas socialist government mark a radical departure from Colombia's recent policy: Before Petro was elected in June, Colombia backed U.S. efforts to isolate Maduros government, sanction its oil exports and force Maduro into holding free and fair elections.

The United States, Colombia and dozens of other countries stopped recognizing Maduro as Venezuelas legitimate leader in 2019, after he won an election that was widely seen as undemocratic and backed a claim to Venezuelas presidency by the former National Assembly leader Juan Guaido.

Petro changed course as soon as he was sworn into office and re-established diplomatic ties with the Maduro government. On Tuesday opposition leaders in Venezuela criticized Petros meeting with Maduro, with Guaido tweeting that Petro was helping to normalize the violation of human rights in Venezuela by visiting dictator Maduro and calling him a president.

The International Criminal Court is currently investigating Maduros government for human rights violations that include the torture and arbitrary detention of protesters in 2017. In a recent letter addressed to Petro, Human Rights Watch pointed out that there are still more than 240 political prisoners in Venezuela and asked Petro to seek concrete human rights commitments from the Maduro administration as both nations re-establish diplomatic and military ties.

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The watchdog group added that military cooperation with Venezuela should be banned until Venezuela security forces stop backing drug traffickers and rebels. Evidence collected by Human Rights Watch and a U.N. Fact Finding Mission suggests that Venezuelas military conducted joint operations with the ELN last year to root out another rebel group and allowed them to take over gold mines in eastern Venezuela.

Following the meeting Maduro said that he had listened to Petros proposals and was also interested in developing a deal between both countries to produce fertilizer, which has become more expensive for many countries in Latin America, due to the war in Ukraine.

It was an intense, fruitful and extensive meeting Maduro said.
BELFAST (Reuters) - Ireland's foreign minister said it is possible that Britain and the European Union could resolve their long running post-Brexit trade row over Northern Ireland by the end of the year if both sides are willing to compromise.

Talks recently resumed for the first time in seven months on the Northern Ireland protocol, the part of the Brexit deal that mandated checks on some goods moving to Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom due to its open land border with EU member Ireland.

"The EU has said on a number of occasions they would like to have these issues resolved by the end of the year and I think it's possible to do that if there is a political appetite on both sides to make that happen," Coveney told reporters on Wednesday.

Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin later on Wednesday said he was "very encouraged" by conversations he had had on the Northern Ireland protocol with new British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who took office last week.

"I am persuaded that he understands that we urgently need to find a way back to an agenda defined by growth and cooperation," Martin said in a lecture at Oxford University, according to a transcript provided by his office.

(Reporting by Amanda Ferguson, writing by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Alistair Smout and Jonathan Oatis)
HA NOI  Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has cabled a thank-you message to Party General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping following the Vietnamese leaders three-day visit to the neighbouring country ending November 1.

In the message, Trong thanked Xi and asked him to convey his sincere thanks to other Chinese Party and State leaders, and people for their friendship and warm welcome.

The Vietnamese Party leader said he was deeply impressed by the successes of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), with both theoretical and practical reviews, along with noted achievements recorded by Chinese people over the past period under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Xi as the nucleus.

Trong noted that he and the high-ranking Vietnamese Party and State delegation were pleased with the results of the visit, especially the contents touched upon during talks and meetings.

I believe that the visit will help to define long-term orientations for the relations between the two Parties, States and peoples to further grow in a stable and sustainable manner, he said.

The positive outcomes reaped during the trip would, for sure, significantly contribute to enhancing the friendship and mutual political trust, and promoting and deepening the Viet Nam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, for the development of each country, for the sake of their people, and for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the word, he stressed.

He wished Xi and other Party and State leaders of China good health and happiness, and that the Viet Nam-China long-standing friendship would be green and sustainable forever.VNA/VNS
Arriving in the French capital after back-to-back indoor titles in Tel Aviv and Astana in October, the Serbian stretched his winning run to 10 matches following his summer hiatus.

Djokovic hits the ground running in Paris, photo: Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP

The number six seed is targeting his fifth title from just 11 events after a season heavily curtailed by his opposition to being vaccinated against Covid.

That stance saw him ejected from Australia before hitting a ball in anger at the Australian Open in January.

And aside from competing in Roger Federer's farewell to the sport at the Laver Cup he effectively did not play for three months after Wimbledon, the US Open among the tournaments he was forced to sit out.

But he has said he is "super pumped" to finish 2022 in style, and his one hour, 42 minute beating of Cressy also took his winning streak in Paris to 10 matches after claiming the title here in 2019 and 2021, having missed the 2020 edition.

The big-serving Paris-born Cressy proved tough to crack in the opening set, saving three set points before being undone by two double faults in the tie-break.

Djokovic though weathered Cressy's aggressive but not altogether reliable delivery -- he hit 15 aces and 10 double faults -- and he got his break on return to lead 5-4 in the second set, to go on to serve out for the match.

"It was very intense, just a lot of pressure," said the 35-year-old Djokovic, whose winning start was celebrated by the Bercy crowd.

"When you play someone that serves this well  first and second serve  you don't have much room to relax and maybe play kind of a softer few games.

"You just have to be on your toes all the time.

"I've never come up against a player in my career with such a second service."

"I had to lock in, I had to not give him gifts and points," added Djokovic, who won his 21st Grand Slam at Wimbledon, one shy of Rafael Nadal's record 22.

"Just overall very pleased with the way I felt and the way I played."

Djokovic, seeking his seventh Paris title 13 years after his first, will next face Karen Khachanov in the last 16.

On court Wednesday are top seed Carlos Alcaraz, who takes on Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka, and Nadal who like his old rival Djokovic faces American opposition in the shape of Tommy Paul.

Nadal, who in October celebrated the birth of a son, Rafael, has not played since the US Open and a last-16 loss to Frances Tiafoe, aside from teaming up with Federer in the doubles at the Laver Cup.

- 'Ageing body' -

At 36 he says he is no longer motivated to chase the end of year number one spot. He currently lies second to Alcaraz in the ATP rankings.

"I'm at a stage of my career where I'm no longer fighting to be number one, but simply to remain competitive in each tournament that I'm playing in," Nadal said.

Asked about his state of fitness after a season "extraordinary in terms of results but complicated in terms of injuries" he added: "With an ageing body like mine, when you are coming back from a lay-off, it's difficult to know how you are going to react and play."
Home Credit has become a market leader in the BNPL thanks to Home PayLater. After a simple credit appraisal process, consumers immediately receive short-term loans from Home PayLater to purchase and pay for products and services.

The advantages of Home Credit's Home PayLater lie in its simplicity and speed. Customers can use the BNPL service immediately without needing to go to a check-in counter or declare their credit status. All registration and shopping takes place online with a quick five-minute approval process.

Home PayLater allows consumers to break down purchase payments into interest-free instalments over one to 12 months.

While most BNPL lenders in the market require customers to pay before using the service, Home PayLater has been developed with the five nos in mind: no prepayment, no interest, no hidden fees, no prepayment conversion fee, and no early settlement fee.

As a result, customers can feel secure when choosing Home PayLater's services. This helps build customers' trust amid the warnings of hidden interest loans and additional conversion fees charged by black credit institutions. With Home PayLater, customers can select from payment terms of 1, 3, 6, or 12 months. The service not only brings convenience to customers, but also matches their financial goals.

(From left) Vu Tri Thanh, OnePays operation director, Nguyen Minh Dao, Home Credit Vietnams E-commerce Partnership manager, Dang Thanh Phong, OnePays general director, Anna Matejovska, Home Credits Vietnam head of E-Commerce and Digital Lending, and Nguyen Thi Thuy Ngan, sales director of OnePay

Home Credit has entered a strategic cooperation agreement with OnePay, a Vietnamese enterprise specialising in providing digital payment solutions.

The tie-up is part of Home Credit's strategy to promote digital transformation and inclusive digital finance, which promises to create a comprehensive digital consumption ecosystem that benefits both the users and brand partners of Home Credit.

When using Home PayLater, customers can easily search for partner brands in various industries, such as fashion, travel, accessories, electronics, education, and services.

The fact that brands are also increasingly cooperating with Home Credit is a testament to the development potential of BNPL in Vietnam. For example, many names such as Ivivu, Triumph, Awake Your Power, and 24h store have officially cooperated with Home Credit. Along with traditional sales channels, brands also attract customers by adopting the BNPL service offered by Home PayLater.

Michal Skalicky, Home Credit Vietnam's CCO

Michal Skalicky, CCO of Home Credit Vietnam said, "In the future, the platform will promote partnerships with other suppliers and strategic partners such as OnePay to enhance users digital experience with modern shopping. We aim to meet the needs of smart, digital finance through technology platforms and policies which provide practical benefits for users."

Home Credit becomes member of Vietnam Bank Card Association Home Credit Vietnam has joined the Vietnam Bank Card Association (VBCA) under the Vietnam Banks Association (VNBA), marking a milestone in the development of the digital consumer financier in Vietnams financial market.

Home Credit impresses investors with strong growth Home Credit Vietnam, Vietnams leading consumer finance firm, has continued to achieve major success in the first nine months of the year, with top ESG (environmental, social, and governance) standards and a breakthrough strategy in digital transformation.

Home Credit Vietnam proud to receive Inspirational Brand Award Home Credit Vietnam was recognised as an Inspirational Brand by the Asia Pacific Enterprise Awards (APEA) 2022.

Vietnam is entering an era of digital transformation, especially in the consumer economy. According to Statista, the country's e-commerce market is forecast to increase from $13 billion in 2021 to $39 billion in 2025. This strong growth is fuelling the rise of digital apps and services to meet the rising demands of customers.
When it comes to interbank transfers, many customers encounter restrictions and limits when dealing with large amounts of money. Since the current 24/7 express transfer threshold is VND499,999,999 ($21,700), any transfer above this figure will be processed with more complexity.

Typically, the delivery time to the intended recipient will be longer  maybe not until the next day or as late as Monday morning if the transaction is conducted over the weekend.

When clients send a large amount of money, the Split Order Automatically feature will break the amount into smaller amount packages, guaranteeing that the money will be sent instantly at any time of day or night. Customers can make interbank transfers of up to VND5 billion ($217,400) for every transaction, which helps them to save time.

For example, if a customer selects Split Order Automatically for a transfer of VND510 million ($22,170), the MBBank App will automatically divide it into two sums of VND450 million ($19,570) and VND60 million ($2,600) to expedite the transfer.

Customers can also opt for a conventional transfer order to send the full amount of money, noting that the receiver may not receive it immediately.

In a similar vein, if customers want to send a higher number, like VND1 billion ($43,480), the feature will divide it into two parts of VND450 million ($19,570) and one part of VND100 million ($4,340). The MBBank app allows customers to track the progression of these divided sums in real-time. The limit for this function is VND5 billion ($217,400).

The benefits of using Split Order Automatically are as follows:

You can send money online 24/7 from anywhere in the world.

It is possible to make a transfer of up to VND5 billion ($217,400) per transaction.

450,000,000 orders are easily divided into simpler transfer stages.

The feature automatically splits large amounts of money.

There are significant savings in processing time for bank-to-bank transactions.

The fee for Split Order Automatically is very minor at only VND9900 (43 US cents) per transaction (including VAT).

Integrated advanced security technology is included to safeguard customers.

How to access the Split Order Automatically feature on the MBBank App?

First and foremost, access the transfer function and select the receiving bank and account number as usual.

Secondly, if the receiving account is at a different bank and the transfer value is VND500 million ($21,700) or more, the MBBank App will automatically provide the Split Order Automatically option for a quick transfer 24/7 or leave it as a typical transfer option based on customers interest.

Next, click Split Order Automatically to conduct split orders and rapid transfers 24/7.

After completing the transaction, customers can check the progress of this split transaction directly on the MBBank App.

MB selected as Top 3 favoured listed company by investors Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank was recently named in the Top 3 most popular large-caps listed companies for investors and the top 4 large-caps listed companies appreciated by financial institutions.

MB redirects funds towards economic revival with new credit extension Recently authorised an extended credit limit by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), the Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MB) is swiftly disbursing the allocation, concentrating on lending to priority sectors to aid economic recovery. Vu Thanh Trung, a member of the board at MB, discusses the banks extra credit line and its preferential loan packages for businesses with VIRs Luu Huong.

MB received Corporate Excellence recognition at the Asia Pacific Enterprise Awards 2022 MB Bank has been recognised at the Asia Pacific Enterprise Awards (APEA) 2022 in the category of Corporate Excellence. This is a testament to MB's recent commitment to sustainable development and the digital revolution.

Dragon Capital partners with Digi Invest Powered by MB Dragon Capital has recently teamed up with MB to roll out professional fund management services in a centralised app by MB Bank, which would optimise retail customers experience and investment efficiency.
Chinese premier meets with Vietnam's communist party chief

Xinhua) 09:32, November 02, 2022

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee, at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 1, 2022. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

BEIJING, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee on Tuesday in Beijing.

Noting that China and Vietnam share broad common interests, Li said China attaches great importance to relations with Vietnam.

He called on the two countries to maintain high-level exchanges, enhance communication and mutual learning, and deepen the alignment of their development strategies to address global uncertainties and instabilities with the stability of the China-Vietnam relationship.

Li said China is willing to implement the consensus the two sides have already reached, and make full use of convenient conditions such as geographical proximity and complementary industrial advantages to upgrade bilateral economic and trade cooperation and facilitate cooperation in key areas.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee, at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 1, 2022. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

"China is ready to import more marketable agricultural products from Vietnam and jointly maintain the facilitation of trade with Vietnam at border ports," he said.

On China-ASEAN relations, Li said China stands ready to work with ASEAN countries to consolidate traditional friendship, promote cooperation in areas across the board to yield more achievements, and jointly maintain the peace and stability of the South China Sea, so as to create an enabling environment for their respective development and bring more benefits to the people of the region.

For his part, Trong said Vietnam stands ready to work with the Chinese side to implement their consensus, further increase mutual understanding, promote cooperation, seek common development, enhance their "comrades and brothers" relationship, and bring concrete benefits to the two countries and two peoples.

(Web editor: Cai Hairuo, Liang Jun)
The big US drugmaker now expects 2022 sales of the Comirnaty Covid-19 vaccine of $34 billion, up $2 billion from the prior outlook.

In this file photo taken on November 9, 2020, a woman wears a facemask as she walks by the Pfizer world headquarters in New York. Pfizer reported higher quarterly profits on November 1, 2022, as it lifted its full-year forecast for coronavirus vaccine sales and predicted Covid-19 would yield billions more in revenues for the forseeable future. The big US drugmaker now expects 2022 sales of the Comirnaty Covid-19 vaccine of $34 billion, up $2 billion from the prior outlook. Kena Betancur / AFP

Pfizer maintained its projection of $22 billion in annual sales for its Paxlovid therapeutic for Covid-19.

More than two years into the pandemic, Chief Executive Albert Bourla predicted revenues for Covid-19 products would persist even though they are likely to fall from their 2022 levels.

"We believe our Covid-19 franchises will remain multi-billion revenue generators for the forseeable future, which should serve as a buffer for any unforeseen challenges with other products in our portfolio," Bourla said in prepared remarks.

The most recent quarter included an 83 percent surge in Covid-19 vaccine revenues in the United States, driven by deliveries of the latest booster shot for the Omicron BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent vaccine.

Overall, Pfizer reported profits of $8.6 billion in the third quarter, up six percent from the year-ago period on a six percent drop in revenues to $22.6 billion.

Bourla said Pfizer was on track to launch up to 19 new products in the next year and a half. He highlighted potential "blockbuster" products for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), Ulcerative colitis and Migraine.

Bourla said the product pipeline should alleviate "understandable" questions about Pfizer's growth potential in the 2025 to 2030 given the loss of some $17 billion in revenues due to patent expirations.

Shares of Pfizer rose 3.5 percent to $48.20 in pre-market trading.

Pfizer focused on expanding vaccine capabilities While being accused of pandemic profiteering as profits double, US pharma giant Pfizer is running ahead with strong moves to support vulnerable populations, while seemingly attempting to hold onto the secrets of its COVID-19 vaccine recipe.

Vietnam covers bases thanks to US vaccine schemes Vietnams battle to be rid of the coronavirus pandemic is expected to become more effective thanks to fresh commitments from the United States to help the Southeast Asian nation ensure health and safety for all.
"PACE also reflects our unwavering commitment to working closely with allies and partners to accelerate the clean energy transition and deliver the climate action our shared future depends on."

US, UAE announce clean energy partnership worth $100 bn -Illustration photo/ source:Shutterstock

The announcement comes days before world leaders convene in Egypt for the UN COP27 climate summit.

The UAE, a major oil producer, will host the COP28 in 2023.

The head of UAE oil giant ADNOC and the Gulf state's special envoy for climate change, Sultan Al Jaber, said at an oil conference on Monday that oil remains a cornerstone of energy supply but that the UAE was also working to lower emissions and increase production from renewable or less-polluting sources.

Fossil fuels are the largest contributor to climate change, accounting for 75 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, according to the United Nations.

COP26 last year ended with a pledge to keep global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels -- a goal the world is set to miss on current emission trends.
A multinational beverage giant has bought Balcones Distilling, which has brought widespread attention to its hometown of Waco since it pioneered the Texas craft whiskey industry 14 years ago.

Diageo, which includes brands such as Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, Smirnoff and Guinness, announced the acquisition Wednesday in a press release, calling Balcones a maker of world-class whiskies.

The Balcones team are true innovators and pioneers in the emerging American Single Malt and Texas whisk(e)y movements, and their super premium plus whiskies are highly complementary to our whisk(e)y portfolio, Diageo North America President Claudia Schubert said in the announcement.

Balcones Distilling Chair Greg Allen said in the announcement that his company started with an idea driven by an innovative spirit and passion to create something original and authentic in the heart of Texas.

Now, we couldnt be prouder to have created these award-winning American Single Malt and Texas whiskies, but also to have helped initiate an exciting new era of whisk(e)y in Texas.

Diageo said the acquisition was funded through existing cash resources, and the terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Sources involved with the announcement said the Balcones distillery and staff in Waco would remain intact following the acquisition.

Balcones started operations in 2008 in an old welding shop below the 17th Street viaduct, producing what its operators at the time called the first craft whiskey to be sold in Texas in the modern era. Its founder, Chip Tate, learned traditional Scotch distilling methods in Scotland and built the distilling equipment and barreling process, tweaking it to speed up aging.

Tate worked with investors to expand the company with a move to the old Texas Fireproof Storage building at 225 S. 11th St., a 65,000-square-foot brick warehouse that would be expanded and fitted with three-story copper stills.

But in 2014, a bitter conflict erupted between Tate and the other investors, leading to a court fight and ultimately a deal by Allen and other investors to buy out Tate.

The company has continued to grow in production and reach since then, winning national awards for a variety of spirits, including its Texas Single Malt Whisky and Baby Blue Corn Whisky. Other offerings have tied the brand to other Texas icons such as Luckenbach, Shiner beer and ZZ Top.

Balcones is now available across the United States and in 11 other countries including Great Britain, and the company sold the equivalent of 15,000 9-liter cases in 2021, according to Nielsen.

The distillery and its tasting room have also become a tourist attraction in downtown Waco, just blocks from the Magnolia Market at the Silos development.

Balcones has become a popular stop for family members of Magnolia shoppers, and it has become a destination in itself that has burnished Wacos image, said Carla Pendergraft, assistant director of tourism for the Waco Convention and Visitors Bureau. About 55% of the distillerys visitors in the last year have come from out of town, she said.

It is a boutique brand, its handmade, and they give fantastic tours, Pendergraft said. Its one of those things thats unique in Waco. Theres only one Balcones in the world and you have to come here to see it. They have passionate fans, and they want to make that pilgrimage.

In a phone interview Wednesday, Tate said he wishes Balcones the best under its new ownership, which he said has vast knowledge of the industry.

I hope that works out very well for them, he said. Diageo has a big portfolio of great brands.

Tate said he is still at work on a distillery of his own near Waco Regional Airport, and until it opens he stays busy building stills for the growing craft spirits industry.

He said his ambition is to be an independent craft distiller, while Balcones has gone in a different direction. Still, he said he is proud to have founded the company, which he said left Waco and Texas as the center of the whiskey business.

Diageo in 2020 acquired Davos Brands, which had inked a sales support agreement with Balcones the year before to help the Waco distiller branch into all 50 states, the news outlet Whisky Advocate reported in August 2020.

Allen declined to say at the time if Balcones might be a target of acquisition, but he told the publication that potentially, some additional opportunities could bubble up from the presence of Diageo.
McLennan County health officials warn a more severe flu season is already taking hold in Waco, adding to an already difficult time for respiratory illnesses.

In mid-October the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported signs of an early start to the flu season. Vaidehi Shah, the Waco-McLennan County Health Districts senior epidemiologist, said the prevalence of the flu is already rising in the area, and she expects to see more cases pop up than in the past two years.

Were still seeing the start of flu season  but even in the start of flu season were seeing a higher number of cases than in previous years, she said.

For the week ending Oct. 22, the CDC reported a higher flu hospitalization rate nationwide than it had recorded at that time of year for the past decade. The CDCs southeast region and its south-central region, which includes Texas, have seen the most early flu activity. References to a more severe flu season indicate wider spread, not necessarily more severe symptoms, Shah said.

Dr. Jonathan Walker, medical director of Ascension Providences emergency department, said he has noticed an uptick in flu cases earlier than expected in Waco, but not quite as large of a jump as that seen in Austin. The flu is a migratory disease, arriving in the United States in the late fall through winter months, Walker said.

Shah said looking at trends from other places around the world that the United States typically follows, cases are already on the rise, and Texas as a whole is already seeing an increase in cases that is greater than standard.

Shah said the flu is not the only respiratory illness making its rounds right now, as RSV, which is generally seen in children, and COVID-19 are also circulating.

This year has already been difficult for respiratory illnesses, an early RSV surge filling up hospital beds all over the state, said Dr. Burritt Hess, Waco Family Medicine residency program associate director.

Shah said it is possible for someone to contract multiple respiratory illnesses at once. Walker added there are some studies that indicate the dual infections could heighten symptoms.

Hess said the addition of COVID-19 to the mix of respiratory illnesses changed the health landscape, as researchers are still investigating the interaction of long COVID-19 symptoms compounded with the flu.

A possible reason for the increase in cases this year could be decreased herd immunity. Normally people would be exposed to the flu every year, but Shah said since people were following COVID-19 protocols and slowing the transmission of the viruses through isolation, immunity may have waned over the past two flu cycles.

We did not build that immunity to the viruses, so theres a possibility our immunity is waning, Shah said.

She said the rise in cases could bring enough hospitalizations to overwhelm hospital capacities if people do not take proper precautions. An ABC News story from late October says pediatric patients  who are at higher risk of developing flu-related complications, according to the CDC  with respiratory illnesses were filling 71% of the countrys 40,000 available hospital beds.

Walker said to prevent the likelihood or someone catching a respiratory disease this season, he heavily encourages everyone stay up to date on their vaccines and booster shots.

He said there are certain populations that are going to be at increased risk, including older people and those with preexisting cardiac and respiratory conditions. The CDC says there are three flu vaccines preferentially recommended for people over 65, the Fluzone High-Dose Quadrivalent vaccine, Flublok Quadrivalent recombinant flu vaccine and Fluad Quadrivalent adjuvanted flu vaccine.

Flu vaccines, which the CDC claims are 40-60% effective this season, bring standard vaccine side effects like that of COVID-19 vaccines, Shah said. She said there is a possibility someone could feel under the weather for a day or two, but that does not happen for everyone.

There might be some pain at the injection site, but there are no serious side effects that we know of, Shah said.

Anyone seeking a vaccine can contact their primary care doctor or visit one of many vaccination sites for same-day and often free service, such as CVS Pharmacy and H-E-B. Flu shots and a COVID-19 shots can be given at the same time.

Walker said he also recommends people at higher risk continue masking and that everyone follow precautions about what surfaces they touch, especially in large gatherings.

Shah said anyone who thinks they have a respiratory illness should go get tested by their doctor and follow standard precautions, such as hand washing, covering coughs, discarding trash and dishes properly and not sharing utensils or towels.

If you do get the flu, isolate until you are fever-free for 24 hours without any medication, Shah said.

Common symptoms include fever, runny nose, coughing, body aches and sometimes vomiting and diarrhea, Walker said.

The symptoms of respiratory illnesses like RSV, COVID-19 and the flu are all very similar and Shah said the main distinction is the loss of taste and smell that accompanies COVID-19. However not everyone loses taste and smell, making it important for people to get tested, she said.

She said unlike COVID-19 there are not any free testing sites or home tests for the flu, but home tests are in the works and would be beneficial for self-diagnosis and isolation given many people already know how to self-administer tests.

I know the FDA is working on approving some home tests but as of right now we dont have anything, Shah said.

Along with self-isolation, Walker said a person diagnosed with the flu should get in with their primary care provider or urgent care to receive antiviral medication which can shorten the duration of symptoms.
Americans may recall the crash of a Boeing 737 Max 8 in Ethiopia in 2019 that killed 157 people. My sister Graziella died in that crash.

We now know that was partly caused by Boeing hiding from pilots and the Federal Aviation Administration an automatically activated flight control system called MCAS. A Texas federal judge recently found that Boeings criminal conspiracy to hide MCAS caused the Ethiopian crash and a similar Max 8 crash in Indonesia a few months before.

Now, as Boeing looks to launch its new 737 Max 7 and 10 models, Im concerned that Boeing is using its lobbying clout to persuade some politicians, airline CEOs and pilot groups to ignore aviation engineering safety rules and once again put an unsafe plane in the air.

The Boeing crashes were partly caused by an antiquated crew alert system that does not comply with FAA rules. The outdated system produces confusing and false alerts that can distract and startle pilots in emergencies. Boeing had lobbied the Federal Aviation Administration hard to avoid upgrading the crew alert system in previous 737 models. They couldnt claim the old system was as safe as a newer version. Instead, they successfully argued that upgrading would have cost too much money.

Now, Boeing wants its as-yet-uncertified Max 7 and 10 planes to be exempt from FAA requirements for a modern, safe crew alert system. Since the company has not produced engineering data to demonstrate the safety of the older system, Boeing officials and lobbyists are claiming its better to keep using the old cockpit system simply because pilots are familiar with it. But again, they have not presented any actual data to back this up.

The 737 Max is unique. It is the only large passenger aircraft produced today that does not meet the intent of FAA regulations established in 2011 after a series of airplane crashes that resulted in 823 deaths. Since then, all Boeing aircraft  except the 737 Max  have complied with these requirements. All Airbus aircraft also comply with these rules.

Instead of investing in a new crew alert system for the Max 7 and 10, however, Boeing is asking Congress for an exemption from the FAAs regulations. This defies logic. The FAAs methodical rule-making process for crew alert systems took nine years. And it achieved something important  reducing so-called nuisance alerts that can distract pilots during emergencies.

Lets be clear about what it would mean if Boeing continues to use an outdated cockpit system. The 737 Max planes are using a system designed to meet standards from 1977  an era before microprocessors and flat-screen displays. The only way to justify the continued operation of a 45-year-old flight system is to claim that pilots prefer a familiar, common cockpit. But the only data to justify this choice is financial. Sticking with an outdated system can reduce pilot training costs for the airlines  and cut design and certification costs for Boeing. But aerospace engineers such as myself are fearful of what we see as cost-cutting that could lead to another potentially fatal aviation disaster.

Weve already seen Boeing try this approach. The companys desire to keep the 737 Max the same as previous models led directly to the incorporation of the deadly MCAS system. In fact, when Boeing raced to complete the 737 Max, it never informed pilots or airlines about the existence of the faulty MCAS. Boeing simply plowed ahead. Now, were being asked to trust them again.

Its said that FAA regulations are written in blood: Someone died, the FAA figured out why, and they wrote a regulation to keep more people from dying. Thats never been more true than in this case. To ignore the painstaking work that has been done to develop these rules is an insult to the memory of the victims. Boeing must not be allowed to continue manufacturing the 737 Max with an unsafe, obsolete crew alert system.
ASHLAND  With the announcement earlier this year that Ashland Mayor Rick Grauerholz was not running for reelection, two candidates have put their name in the hat for the job.

Jim Anderson and Amanda Roe are on the ballot for the mayor race. Both are very active members of the community and have extensive backgrounds in public service and volunteering in the community.

The Ashland Gazette sent the same questions to both candidates. Their answers are as follows.

What is your background?

ANDERSON: Education: Ashland is my hometown. I graduated from Ashland-Greenwood Public Schools. I received my Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration and economics from Nebraska Wesleyan University. I participated in the public administration masters degree program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO).

I am retired from the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in Lincoln as a planning specialist.

I serve as vice president of the Ashland Historical Society, past chairman of the First Christian Church board. I am presently serving as church elder and on the property committee. I have served on the Ashland City Council and Planning Commission for over 25 years. I have volunteered for over 20 years to trim the shrubs on Memorial Circle before Memorial Day and help place flags on 620 veterans graves. I have supported the Red Cross blood program with a donation of eight gallons of blood. I am a member of the Ashland Arts Council.

ROE: I am a professor and forensic scientist at the College of Saint Mary in Omaha. I teach human anatomy to nursing majors and forensic science classes to all majors. When not teaching, I direct outreach workshops for K-5 elementary school teachers to increase their knowledge and confidence in teaching science. Separate from teaching, my forensic science consulting company lets me work with police/crime scene investigators and lawyers to estimate how long a person has been dead based on the age of the insects found on the body or at the crime scene.

I grew up surrounded by public service. My grandfather, father and older brother are or were involved in law enforcement. My grandfather was sheriff in Cherry County for over 30 years, and my dad started as a city cop before he became a U.S. marshal. My older brother started as an EMT and then became a cop in a small town in South Dakota. My mom started in social services by working in a group home and continued as the executive director of a faith-based assistance program in Wyoming. Being surrounded by my family and their careers, I understood early on how awful humans could be to each other but also how far listening and caring can go when trying to help someone or a community. It helped me when deciding what I wanted my future to look like and continues to guide me as I move forward in life.

In Ashland, I am currently the secretary of the Ashland Arts Council, and as such, have been involved in and support the creation of the Ashland Creative District. It will bring up to $250,000 worth of grant money that is dedicated to the arts in our town. I worked as part of the committee that held listening and informational sessions for the school bond that passed in 2020. I am a strong supporter of public education and making sure our students have the space, accessibility, and opportunities they deserve. I also regularly volunteer at local institutions like the Ashland Community Resource Center and daycares with educational programs about insects and pollinators.

Why are you running for mayor?

ANDERSON: It would be an honor to serve my hometown as your mayor. My uncle Ed Anderson served as mayor in the mid-1960s, and my brother Jack Anderson served on the city council in the early 1980s. Having served on the Ashland City Council and planning commission has been a valuable learning experience as to how city government operates and provides its various services to the citizens. This acquired experience would be most valuable in the mayors office. It would certainly be a new learning experience and challenging position. I have certainly enjoyed serving the community as an elected official.

The mayor is the chief executive official of the city government. The mayor oversees the operations of the city and is the chief spokesperson. The city council has the legislative power. The mayor has the veto power. However, the mayor and city council must have a good working arrangement for the benefit of the community. I feel that we have a good working relationship today, even though sometimes we disagree. That is the democratic way.

ROE: I am passionate about our town and the people that live in it. I am running to increase transparency, efficiency and community engagement in our local government. That means different things to different people, but I want our local government to be more accessible, more understandable and more proactive. As mayor, my job is to represent the people of Ashland. That means listening and acting on citizen concerns and ideas, making sure the processes allow their voices to be heard and taken seriously, and making sure the day-to-day running of our town is happening efficiently and transparently.

What do you think are the most important issues facing Ashland at this time? How will you deal with these issues?

ANDERSON: Retention of the fire/rescue volunteers and ways to encourage more people to become volunteers in these departments. A six-month trial is underway at this time. A committee consisting of the captain of the rescue squad, rural fire board members and some city officials will see if this is an incentive in responding to rescue calls. Rescue squad members are being paid $50 per call. An extra $20 is paid for the individual that stays after the call and fills out the paperwork. This trial could eventually lead to several full-time fire department/rescue squad members. Many thoughts and discussions will go into this process.

The mayor and others would meet with the fire and rescue departments to discuss their present and future needs. Also, ideas that might help the recruiting of volunteers and retention incentives that would help keep the experience people.

A continual need in the community is a mix of affordable housing to meet the need of different income levels of the citizens. Our community is fortunate at this time to have a nice mix of affordable housing, but there is always room for more. These include Ice House Ridge with 170 residential lots and Whitetail Residential  the first phase contains 50 lots and are in the city limits. Phase 2 will include 20 residential lots, and phase 3 will include about 45 lots. The Courtyards at Iron Horse development will offer 45 lots for the 55 and older folks. Ashland Senior, LLC is affordable housing for the 55 and older (demographic), consisting of 915 square feet, two bedrooms and a single-car garage. Oxbow Living Center has apartments available for independent living and the people that need assistance. Golden Apartments provides 24 one-bedroom, unassisted units. Ashland Affordable Housing Partners constructed 12 new four-bedroom town homes in 2019.

There is a continual need to replace the old water/wastewater lines in the city. Every year, a budgeted amount needs to be included in the annual budget to accomplish this.

Pedestrian tunnel improvement: If you have ever been through the tunnel before or after a good rain, you will understand what my concern is about. It is so undesirable that people walk in the underpass instead of the tunnel. It would be terrible if a pedestrian walking in the underpass would get hit by a vehicle. The pedestrian tunnel improvement would be a long process but well worth the effort.

ROE: Ashland is a wonderful community that is full of history and has such a strong sense of identity. Because of that and Ashlands location, I believe our largest issue will be continuing to grow while still maintaining our small-town sense of community. It will be a balance between historic preservation and making sure we are not left behind. It means our town will need to be proactive on issues like housing, safety, education and technology, while also respecting our past and making sure we dont forget what came before.

Ashland is in a unique position because we are one of the few small rural towns that is experiencing yearly growth. In fact, we have recently passed the 3,000-resident population mark. That is a good place to be, but we need to make sure we grow responsibly, which means we must be aware of the short and long-term impacts on our schools, infrastructure and overall sense of community. It is a complicated issue that will require input from citizens, developers, and city hall.

Being the daughter of a United States marshal, the granddaughter of a county sheriff, the sister of a city cop and EMT, and the fact I am a forensic scientist that works with all manner of safety personnel, I have seen what happens when safety protocols fail. Overall, I will work to make sure our city police, firefighters and EMTs have the resources they need for training, gear and supplies. That includes hiring up to two full-time personnel for our fire/rescue squad so calls are getting answered when our volunteers are unable to answer them. It prevents people from suffering and possibly dying and reduces our dependency on neighboring response squads. It also means working closely with our police chief to address big city issues like drugs and other crimes that will unfortunately become more common in our community because of our location.

For our children, I support the school board and the foundation in their starting of a before-and-after-school program that gives students a safe, affordable place to be. As mayor, I will work with them to be an active partner that can help with funding and space. With the increased general usage of Highway 6 and Highway 66 and the addition of the Whitetail Estates housing development, it is important that we address a safe crossing at Highway 66 and not let the state continue to put the project on the backburner. I also want to build a new city pool that is accessible and safe for everyone. Ideally, we would have an indoor/outdoor pool with a zero-entry entrance and a separate area to swim laps. There would be swimming lessons, all-age water health classes, open family swim, slides, a diving board, well-paid lifeguards, clean changing rooms, a separate area for babies/toddlers, etc. It would be expensive, but this is an example of where tax incentives, grants and fundraising would make a huge dent.

I want it to be possible for every member of our community to have access to and participate in decisions and policies coming from city hall because many of those decisions impact our daily lives.

To do that, I want to livestream city council and other city-related business meetings while also recording them. This allows people to participate in real-time and/or watch at a time that is convenient for them. To accommodate this format, I also want to create/update our city website so it is intuitive, user-friendly and accessible. As part of the website update, the city municipal code and ordinances would be searchable and reformatted, and the online bill-pay portal would be streamlined.

Growth is exploding in Ashland right now. How should the mayor and city council handle residential and commercial growth in the city and the one-mile zoning district surrounding the city?

ANDERSON: The mayor and city council oversees the residential and commercial growth in the city and the one-mile zoning jurisdiction. Proposed new development is reviewed by the building and zoning department. It is then reviewed by the planning commission. Finally, the city council has the final review before new development can begin. The zoning/land-use map is a very important document and often referenced during the review process.

ROE: Ashland is at a crucial time in its development. The decisions made in the next few years will determine what our town looks like in 20 or 40 or 60 years. I want our town to be vibrant, strong and innovative moving into the future. Part of that innovation includes finding unique ways to grow within our limited geographic area. Much of the land surrounding our town is a floodplain. We can physically grow to the southeast (towards Mahoney) and a small section to the northwest. Managing that growth requires strategic and proactive planning and a strong focus on community identity.

As mayor, I think the citys role should be an active one, but we need to make sure that the direction of growth is determined from the inside, from our community members, and not dictated to us purely by outside interests. I do not want the older parts of town, the parts that give us our identity and sense of place, to be forgotten or to only get the leftover money for repairs and maintenance as we expand our town borders. We must balance historic Ashland and developing Ashland to ensure that new residents feel they are welcome and have a voice. Residential growth moving forward means using our resources like budgeted money, grants and partnerships to work with current home-owners to repair and/or rehab housing units to increase the number of homes we have available. We also need to promote more private/public partnerships to develop single-family and multi-unit housing units that are clean, safe and affordable. Commercially, we need to make sure that we are protecting our current local businesses while also making Ashland an inviting place to establish new business. In doing so, it is important to approach TIF (tax increment financing) thoughtfully and not overuse it as a means of making our community an enticing place to do business. It is equally important to continue to diversify the businesses that are downtown. Having businesses and services that are visited often by residents and not just visitors from out of town is necessary to strengthen and preserve our community core as we grow together.

Suzi Nelson is the managing editor of The Ashland Gazette. Reach her via email at suzi.nelson@wahoonewspaper.com.
ASHLAND The race for the open seats on the Ashland-Greenwood Board of Education features one newcomer and three incumbents, and just one will end the day on Nov. 8 without a spot on the board.

Ally Miller, Karen Stille and Russ Westerhold are all current members on the board, and Kylie Heflin is vying for a seat. With Election Day coming next Tuesday, the four candidates shared their thoughts on the most pressing issues at AGPS, from property tax increases to school safety.

(Note: Ally Miller and Karen Stille will appear on ballots as write-in candidates.)

Why are you running for school board?

STILLE: I am running for school board because I am committed to providing support to our districts administration through collaboration as a board member. I feel that I have gained valuable experience over the past 13 years as a school board member and can offer insight based on this experience. I strongly value a high quality education that challenges our students to achieve their highest potential. Each student should feel valued and supported. All three of my children matriculated through the AGPS system and were taught by wonderful, inspiring educators. As a local business person and through my various volunteer positions, I have frequent contact with district patrons and feel I regularly listen to their concerns regarding school issues.

HEFLIN: When I became aware last spring that there were openings on the Ashland-Greenwood school board, I felt compelled as a parent with kids currently in the district to get involved. I think that additional parental representation among the school board members is a valuable asset. Although my husband and I have three young children of our own, I care deeply about the future of our schools for all children in our community. As a mom, I have concerns regarding the direction schools around the nation have been going. I see joining the school board as the most effective way as a parent to impact the schools in a real way. Ultimately, my motivation for running for the school board is to bring a parents voice and perspective to the table, to support the school district that does so much for our children, and to enact policies that help teachers most effectively do their job.

MILLER: I strongly believe in quality public education for current and future students, and by continuing to serve on the AGPS school board, we can work to enhance and improve the quality of our district and continue to build strong ties between the district and other stakeholders.

WESTERHOLD: Carefully managing the growth in our district has been a top priority for the AGPS board during my tenure. The current AGPS board has a clear vision of preparing for growth while, at the same time, maintaining our small school atmosphere and culture. Accomplishing these goals in a cost-effective manner for our taxpayers requires responsible and sometimes difficult decision-making. I am proud of what the AGPS board has accomplished since I joined and wish to continue serving our outstanding communities and school district.

Our constituents recently entrusted the AGPS board with the responsibility to oversee the largest project in our history  the $60 million construction of a new K-2 building and a new middle school building. These new buildings will serve as centerpieces for our district for decades. The entire board and our administration have worked hard to prudently manage these projects through a variety of challenges. The finish line is in sight, and I would like the opportunity to see these projects through to their conclusion.

Property taxes are an issue, especially with increasing property valuations in the district creating higher tax bills for local taxpayers. How will you keep taxes low while providing excellent educational and extracurricular opportunities for Ashland-Greenwood students?

STILLE: I agree that property taxes in the State of Nebraska are too high. The increase in property valuations lies solely on each individual county. The board is acutely aware of our responsibility to the taxpayers and has worked very hard for several years to keep the levy low. As our community continues to grow, I will first and foremost continue to support the high academic standards that AGPS is known for. I will continue to be mindful of my constituents. Since Ive been on the board, we have voted to lower the levy in 12 consecutive school years, beginning in 2011. The A-G school district has operated at or near one of the lowest levies in the state for equalized school districts (school districts that received state aid).

HEFLIN: Graduating students who are well prepared to enter the workforce is an asset to both our community and to our state. We need to provide dynamic experiences and opportunities to our students throughout their education. Balancing the need for these opportunities while remaining committed to wise financial stewardship is an important function of the school board.

Our community is poised to grow and is an increasingly attractive place to live, and our property valuations are reflecting that. One of the most important things I could do as an individual board member is to responsibly manage the money and resources already in hand  like ensuring that our departments are efficient in areas that we have control over, such as transportation and energy expenses. Or approving maintenance and facility improvements over time to avoid taking a large hit on new infrastructure down the road. Getting creative in ways we can maximize what we already have is the most practical way a school board member can keep taxes low.

MILLER: As a district, we work very hard to ensure we are providing the highest level of quality educational and extracurricular opportunities for our students. It has always been a priority to do so in a fiscally responsible manner, and weve been able to achieve this in the past by keeping our overall levy among the lowest in the area. We will continue to look for ways to spend responsibly and increase opportunities for students to excel in the classroom and as members of our community.

WESTERHOLD: I agree that property taxes are a concern. It is important to maintain our districts high standards, but it is equally important to ensure that the AGPS tax structure is affordable for current and future residents of our communities. I am proud of the work that the AGPS board has done to lower the districts general fund tax levy by 21% over the last three years. I support continued levy reductions whenever possible to help offset the impact of rising property valuations in our district.

With a growing enrollment, staffing is a concern. How will you deal with staffing issues?

STILLE: With growing enrollment, the need for teachers in our district will increase. Nebraska is currently experiencing a teacher shortage. The A-G district, unlike many others, has always been able to fill our teaching positions. This can be attributed to our ideal location, high academic standards and excellent administrative support. As a board member, I will strive to continue to support our entire staff and administration for future sustainability of academic excellence.

HEFLIN: This is an issue not only for our district but districts across the nation, which means districts are having to be increasingly competitive in their efforts to retain staff. The challenge is not only to find people to fill these positions, but to find the right people, who love kids and who want to be there. However, burnout in education is a real problem. I myself used to work in a high burnout field as a former registered nurse. Ultimately, making sure our staff feel supported and are competitively compensated are the most effective ways to retain good talent.

I also believe we need to hold our students to a high standard of conduct and personal responsibility. From speaking with people in education, behavioral issues are a large contributing factor to teacher burnout. School boards need to have policies in place that support and do not hinder teachers and administrators in this area. Teachers and administrators need appropriate but effective disciplinary policies in place so that they are not spending inordinate amounts of time and energy on behavioral problems.

MILLER: Staffing and facilities are always a concern for a growing district. We will continue to assess the needs of our growing student population and add staff where appropriate and also continue to look for creative ways to use our current resources to make sure we can keep our student-teacher ratio at an appropriate level with the goal of continuing to offer the students at AGPS the best educational opportunity.

WESTERHOLD: AGPS is blessed with a strong and dedicated administrative, teaching and non-certified staff (our paraprofessionals, custodians, bus drivers, etc.). To accommodate student growth, I have supported expanding our staff to maintain appropriate student-to-teacher ratios and educational opportunities.

What are the other key issues facing the Ashland-Greenwood school district and how do you feel the school board should deal with them?

STILLE: The key issue that is most important to me and facing our district is student safety. It is of the utmost importance that our students remain safe in the school setting. I will advocate to review with the administration and board, current safety measures and to look for possible areas of improvement.

HEFLIN: One area that I am passionate about and where I see room for improvement is in the area of school safety. As the wife of a law enforcement officer, I have several specific measures I would like to see put into place in collaboration with other board members and our administration.

These are measures that not only keep students and staff safe, but also benefit our local police department and county sheriffs office. With the prevalence of mental health issues and bullying in our society, we have to make sure we are doing everything in our power to protect our schools.

I think bullying, social media and cell phone use at school are a growing problem for our youth. Research is showing that heavy social media use is resulting in higher rates of depression and anxiety. There is also a clear connection between these platforms and bullying. I think the school board needs to look at ways we can work with teachers and administrators to help our students. I am in favor of measures that restrict use of cell phones during the school day. I would also like to explore initiatives for students that educate them on the detrimental effects of social media on their mental health and relationships. We need to do more to guide and protect our children in this area.

MILLER: Public schools across the state are faced with many issues, and we are no different. I feel that our board of education alongside our administrators, teachers and staff will continue to deal with issues facing our district, such as our growing student population, funding and finances and an ever-increasing need for student services at all levels. Providing a quality education for all students in a fiscally responsible manner has and will continue to be the goal of the district regardless of the issues we are facing.

WESTERHOLD: Two other issues to mention: maintaining our great culture and expanding our career training offerings for students.

If you spend any amount of time in an AGPS building, you will notice the emphasis that our staff and students put on creating a positive, welcoming and encouraging culture for everyone. Maintaining this culture should be a priority as we grow, and I will continue to support our students and staff in this.

I am also interested in expanding the opportunities at AGPS for students to explore career pathways, particularly in the skilled trades. Our staff and administration have done an excellent job of growing internship programs and career learning opportunities for students over the past several years. I want to ensure that students interested in the skilled trades have opportunities of that type as well.

Suzi Nelson is the managing editor of The Ashland Gazette. Reach her via email at suzi.nelson@wahoonewspaper.com.
WATERLOO  One person was treated for gunshot wounds at UnityPoint Health-Allen Hospital on Tuesday night, according to Lt. Keith Rogers.

Police were called to the 800 block of Broadway Street for a person shot at about 8:30 p.m. They were seen investigating around Broadway Liquor and Food Store at the corner of Broadway and Dawson streets.

Approximately eight patrol vehicles were on scene. Officers were seen checking the liquor store and nearby properties, as well as in the alleyway behind the liquor store and the Broadway Tires Store.

Details werent immediately available as police continue to investigate.

Two injured in shooting, stabbing WATERLOO  Two people were taken to the hospital following a shooting and stabbing at a Wate
WATERLOO  A Waterloo man was charged following a chase with authorities that included crashing his motorcycle into a state troopers squad car.

Brandon Harvey Nannenga, 18, was arrested for eluding and later released from the Grundy County Jail pending trial. He was also cited for numerous traffic violations.

According to court records, an Iowa State Patrol trooper spotted a Wuyi Zuma dirt bike without a license plate traveling 69 mph in a 55 mph zone on Iowa Highway 57 near North Hawkeye Road in Grundy County around 4 p.m. Tuesday.

The motorcycle didnt pull over and continued east on Highway 57, and the chase wound its way to Butler Road and eventually entered a cornfield near Grundy Road in Black Hawk County, according to court records.

From there, the pursuit continued on University Avenue near Cedar Falls and then headed south on Union Road.

The motorcycle then disappeared only to reappear a short time later behind another trooper.

The trooper slowed in an attempt to slow down the motorcycle, according to the Iowa State Patrol.

Instead, the motorcycle rear ended the squad car, according to troopers. Nannenga received a scrape on his knee.
CEDAR FALLS  The Cedar Falls Education Association was awarded a $500 community outreach grant from the Iowa State Education Association to support the Cedar Falls High School theater program. The Cedar Falls Education Association will match the ISEA grant award.

The state association established community outreach grants to collaborate and create opportunities for community service or school projects. Grants are available to members of the ISEA. Members of the Cedar Falls Education Association sought the grant after discovering the theater program needed a new spotlight for performances.
WAVERLY  Wartburg College will hold a series of Germany on Campus events this month.

The college will screen The Conference at 7 p.m. Nov. 15 in Whitehouse Business Center 214. The film portrays the Jan. 20, 1942, meeting known as the Wannsee Conference where the Nazis finalized their plans for the systematic extermination of Jews across Europe. The movie follows the minutes of the meeting as recorded by Adolf Eichmann.

An exhibition, The Wannsee Conference and the Persecution and Murder of the European Jews, will be on display beginning Nov. 21 in the second-floor hallway of Luther Hall. The exhibition is an illustrated account of the background and aftermath of the conference and was created by the House of the Wannsee Conference Museum in Berlin. The display will remain up until Dec. 5.

Edward Westermann, a regents professor of history at Texas A&M University-San Antonio, will speak at the colleges annual Kleinfeld Lecture in German History, Culture and Politics on Nov. 28. Westermanns lecture, Celebrating the Final Solution? Wannsee and the Intoxication of Mass Murder, is free and open to the public and will take place at 4:45 p.m. in Whitehouse Business Center 214.

The Wannsee Conference villa in Berlin became a museum and memorial site only thanks to the decades-long efforts of Holocaust survivors, Ethan Blass, assistant professor of German, said in a news release. By continuing to learn about this event, we participate in the process of education that these survivors initiated.

Germany on Campus is sponsored by the German Embassy.
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WATERLOO  Eight historic Waterloo churches will open their doors for visitors during Church Tours on Nov. 6, presented by the Grout Museum District and Friends of the Grout Historic Houses.

Church Tours is a new event unlocking the beauty of eight area houses of worship. Unique architecture, beautiful stained glass, pipe organ music, along with an interesting glimpse into the history of the facilities is offered at the various locations, said Luanne Puhl, Friends president.

The event is from 1 to 5 p.m. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at www.gmdistrict.org/calendar, at the Grout Museum, 503 South St., or at any of the churches on the day of the tours. Children 12 and under are free.

Featured churches are Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, 810 Kimball Ave.; St. Ansgar Lutheran Church, 1122 W. 11th St.; First Congregational Church, 608 W. Fourth St.; Blessed Sacrament Church, 650 Stephan Ave.; First Presbyterian Church, 505 Franklin St.; Jubilee UMC Resource Center, 1621 E. Fourth St.; St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church, 613 W. Fourth St; and Waterloo First United Methodist Church, 614 Randolph St.

Were always looking for innovative ways to raise funds, Puhl explained. Friends of the Grout Historic Houses is a group dedicated to historic preservation. Our fundraising efforts benefit the Snowden House and the Rensselaer Russell House Museum of the Grout Museum District. We strive to offer events consistent with our mission.

Church members contacted to participate in the tours were excited and more than willing to get involved. Some churches have been developing informational pamphlets and signage for their buildings, all kinds of things. They want visitors to feel welcome, she said.

There is a lot of pride in our community, and its amazing what you can learn when you dig a little bit into each churchs history.

Blessed Sacraments star-shaped, modern architectural design is highlighted by three pairs of 26-foot stained glass windows depicting six of seven sacraments.

First Congregational Church has a 1979 52-rank Reuter organ and six stained-glass windows surrounding the sanctuary. Two larger stained-glass windows frame the back of the sanctuary.

First Presbyterian Church was built in 1923 with a 20- by 80-foot tower that once housed 10 carillon bells. There are 14 Gothic Revival leaded-glass windows and oak-beamed ceilings in the sanctuary.

Jubilee United Methodist Church is housed in an early 20th century building erected by members of Calvary Evangelical Church. Twelve pairs of symmetrical stained-glass windows surround the sanctuary.

St. Ansgar Lutheran Church reflects architectural details of Lutheran churches in Denmark. A boat hangs from the sanctuary ceiling in Danish tradition, and there are 10 stained-glass windows.

The original St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church structure was demolished in 1929, and work on the present church began. At the front, a screen contains six icons and the ceiling features a small, colorful dome.

Waterloo has been retained in the name of Waterloo First United Methodist Church because it was the first church established in Waterloo in June 1846. Dedicated in 1911, the present church has three-tiered window walls.

Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church is known for the statue of Christ mounted on the outside front wall facing Fourth Street. Inside the sanctuary, the domed wood ceiling and walls enhance eight Biblical-themed stained-glass windows.

Funds will be put to good use in maintaining the 19th century historic houses in the Grout Museum District, Puhl said. The Renneslaer Russell House and Snowden House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built in 1861, the Victorian Italianate Russell House is the districts largest artifact and has been restored to the 1890s. The Snowden house was built in 1881 by William Snowden.

Upkeep on these houses is not inexpensive. We have to be creative and figure out ways to raise funds because maintenance is ongoing, Puhl said. Since they are on the National Register, repairs have to be done a certain way to meet guidelines.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP)  In the run-up to Brazils presidential election, many feared a narrow result would be contested and spell the death knell for Latin Americas largest democracy.

So far, however, the worst fears have been averted, despite a nail-biting victory for former leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva over far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, and ongoing protests by some of Bolsonaro's supporters across the country.

The conservative leader's allies quickly recognized da Silvas victory, the military stayed in the barracks and vigilant world leaders swooped in to offer support for da Silva and nip in the bud even the thought of anything resembling the Jan. 6 insurrection that overtook the U.S. Capitol.

All of Bolsonaros escape valves were shut off, said Brian Winter, a longtime Brazil expert and vice president of the New York-based Council of the Americas. He was prevailed upon from all sides not to contest the results and burn down the house on his way out.

Although Bolsonaro has refused to congratulate da Silva, Brazils institutions generally seem to have held up.

Bolsonaro gave a video statement Wednesday calling for an end to the protests by his supporters. I know youre upset. Im just as sad and upset as you are. But we have to keep our heads straight, he said. Closing roads in Brazil jeopardizes peoples right to come and go.

That leaves a more vexing challenge: how the 77-year-old da Silva, universally known as Lula, unites a deeply divided country, rights a wobbly economy and delivers on the outsize expectations spurred by his return to power.

One thing is clear, if anyone can do it, its the charismatic da Silva  whose political skills are admired even by his detractors.

Thats what we need, someone not only who can address inequality but also inspire our emotions and ideas, said Marcelo Neri, director of the Getulio Vargas Foundations social policy center and a former Strategic Affairs Minister for da Silva's handpicked successor, Dilma Rousseff.

In many ways, the conservative movement Bolsonaro helped ignite  if not the politician himself  has emerged stronger from the vote, Winter said. His allies were elected as governors in several key states and his Liberal Party has become the largest in Congress, curtailing da Silva's ability to advance his own agenda after a decadelong malaise that has left millions of Brazilians hungrier than when da Silva last held office in 2010.

What's more, Brazils demographics seem to favor Bolsonaro's aggressive brand of identity politics  including an anti-LGBTQ agenda and hostility to environmentalists  that have earned him the moniker the Trump of the Tropics.

The countrys own statistics institute forecasts that the number of Brazilians identifying as evangelical Christians  who preelection polls show overwhelmingly favored Bolsonaro and skew right  will overtake Roman Catholics within a decade.

Thousands of Bolsonaro's supporters thronged a regional army headquarters in Rio on Wednesday, demanding that the military step in and keep him in power. Others showed up at military installations in Sao Paulo, Santa Catarina and the capital of Brasilia. Meanwhile, truckers maintained about 150 roadblocks across the country to protest Bolsonaro's loss, despite the Supreme Court's orders to law enforcement to dismantle them.

At one of the road blockades held by truck drivers in the interior of Sao Paulo state, a car drove into the crowd and injured several, including children and members of the police.

Since the return of democracy in the 1980s, all Brazilian leaders have been guided to varying degrees by a common belief in strong state-led enterprises, high taxes and aggressive wealth redistribution policies.

Bolsonaro initially attempted to run a more austere, business-friendly government, that is, until the social devastation wreaked by COVID-19 and his own sinking electoral prospects ultimately led him to loosen spending controls and emulate the policies he once attacked.

How da Silva will govern is less clear. He squeaked out a narrow victory of barely 2 million votes after building a broad coalition united by little more than a desire to defeat Bolsonaro. And with promises to maintain a generous welfare program in place through 2023, he will have limited fiscal space to spend on other priorities.

His running mate from another party, former Sao Paulo Governor Geraldo Alckim, was a nod to centrist, fiscally conservative policies that made da Silva the darling of Wall Street during his early years in power. This week, da Silva tapped Alckim to lead his transition team.

Also standing alongside him on the victory stage Sunday night, however, were several stalwarts of the left who have been implicated in numerous corruption scandals that have plagued his Workers Party and paved the way for Bolsonaros rise.

Although da Silva's supporters have downplayed the concerns about corruption  the Supreme Court annulled the convictions that kept him imprisoned for nearly two years  for many Brazilians he is a symbol of the culture of graft that has long permeated politics. As a result, hes likely to be held to a higher ethical standard in a country where almost every government has been accused of vote buying in Congress.

This wasnt just a fever dream by his opponents, Winter said of the corruption allegations that have long dogged da Silva's party.

Da Silva's victory coincides with a string of recent victories by the left in South America, including in Chile and Colombia, whose leaders revere the former union boss. During his first stint in power, da Silva led a so-called pink wave that promoted regional integration, rivaled U.S. dominance and put the rights of overlooked minorities and Indigenous groups at the center of the political agenda.

Under Bolsonaro, Brazil largely retreated from that leadership role, even if the sheer size of its economy alone means a return to leadership is never far off.

Scott Hamilton, a former U.S. diplomat, said that da Silva will have to make a tough choice on whether to use Brazils considerable leverage to pursue an ambitious foreign policy to tackle entrenched problems or simply use his star power on the world stage to shore up support at home.

Basking in not being Bolsonaro will get him lots of positive attention in itself, said Hamilton, whose last post, until April, was as consul general in Rio. The more ambitious path would involve trying to help resolve some of the toughest political issues where democratic governments in the region are in trouble or extinguished.
DES MOINES  Iowa schools must consider the requests of families with medically vulnerable students who wish to have teachers and classmates near the students wear face masks, a federal judge ruled this week.

Gov. Kim Reynolds on Wednesday said she would appeal the ruling.

The ruling comes from a lawsuit in which 11 Iowa families from 10 school districts asked the courts to block a state law passed in 2021 that prohibits schools from requiring staff and students to wear face masks, a common mitigation practice early in the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The law was passed and court challenge filed in 2021, when COVID-19 case numbers were much higher.

The families argued that, by prohibiting schools from enacting face mask requirements that could help protect a medically vulnerable students health, the state law violates federal laws that provide protections for individuals with disabilities.

During arguments, the families attorneys presented three physicians who all said the children represented in the lawsuit would be better protected if staff and students near them wore face masks.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Justice Robert Pratt ruled that the portion of the new state law that establishes an exemption for other provisions of law includes the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and a portion of the Rehabilitation Act.

What the ruling means is the state law still prohibits schools from requiring all staff and students to wear face masks but that districts must consider accommodating medically vulnerable students who request staff and students near them wear masks.

In his ruling, Pratt quoted one of the judges from the federal appeals court that previously ruled on the lawsuit.

Schools are equipped to determine on an individualized, case-by-case basis  just as schools do for any other type of reasonable accommodation request  whether a mask requirement for certain people or places in the school building is a reasonable accommodation under the ADA and (the Rehabilitation Act), appeals judge Jane Kelly wrote in her dissent in March.

Pratt went on to say his ruling was also needed to provide legal clarity over the issue of the new state law.

If, after considering section (the new state laws) general ban on mask mandates, the school district concludes that requiring masks is a reasonable modification to protect the safety of the student making the accommodation request under federal disability law, then Defendants Reynolds and (Iowa Department of Education director Ann) Lebo must permit the imposition of a mask mandate, Pratt wrote.

To be clear, a school district need not determine a mask mandate is the only accommodation available, only that it is a reasonable one, which is what federal law requires and therefore (the state law) permits.

In announcing plans to appeal the ruling, Reynolds said in a statement: As Ive said all along, whether a child wears a mask to school is up to the parents, not the government. I will appeal this ruling so that Iowa families have the right to decide whats best for their children.

The Gazette reached out to the Iowa City, Cedar Rapids and Linn-Mar school districts, which are among the 10 districts named in the lawsuit, but none responded.
Even at first glance, the U.S. Department of Agricultures recently announced $3-billion-dollar Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities sounds like doublespeak, an Orwellian invention that reverses the meaning of words.

Or, more plainly, how can todays commodity-centered, industrialized agriculture be remotely climate-smart when everyone in the food business readily acknowledges its an oil-gulping, climate-changing juggernaut?

The short, truthful answer is it cant.

But dont tell that to the blinkered politicians at USDA. On Sept. 14, USDA announced it is investing up to $2.8 billion in 70 selected projects under the first Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities to prove that it can be done.

This seemingly admirable attempt, suggests one land grant university agronomist deeply familiar with climate change ag research, is, in fact, USDA hoping to put 10 pounds of (organic material) into the proverbial five pound sack using just its checkbook. Good luck, he offers.

But it will try, for example, by examining how to accelerate long-term cover crop adoption by creating a platform that will quantify, verify, and facilitate the sale of ecosystem benefits, creating a marketplace to generate demand for climate-smart commodities.

The leader of this pie-in-the-sky, $95-million effort is that agricultural research powerhouse, the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation.

Dont worry, though, the group will get ag help, explains USDA, from other major partners like the National Corn Growers Association and  curiously  two commodity checkoff groups, the National Pork Board and the United Soybean Board.

Even more curious is the presence of an even bigger helping hand, The Walton Family Foundation.

Why does the Wal-Mart clan want a fat finger in the cover-crop pie? USDA doesnt say but the best guess is that the nations largest grocer needs a seat at this table so it can grab any hoped-for carbon credits to maintain  or even grow  its massive carbon footprint.

And so goes USDAs grant-winning efforts for 26 more pages and another almost $2.6 billion of Commodity Credit Corporation cash.

Another program goal is USDAs plan to build markets and provide funding to farmers via outcome-based contracts for the reduction and removal of carbon dioxide through the adoption of new climate-smart practices.

USDA doesnt say what these new practices might be but it will cost U.S. taxpayers another $95 million to find out. Maybe.

USDA does acknowledge, however, that this projects major partners include PepsiCo, Cargill, Target, and Coca-Cola.

These agbiz super powers arent the only elephants crowding USDAs carbon trough. Other partners in other projects include Archer Daniels Midland, John Deere, Campbell Soup, Keurig-Dr. Pepper, Nestle, Mosaic, Anheuser-Busch, Smithfield Foods, Bayer, and many more.

All, explains USDA, will dig into ways to make more than 50 commodities  from corn to flax to chickens to forestry to fisheries  climate smart in the next two to five years.

How, of course, will be a real trick because todays American food production machine is a fully integrated, farm-to-table factory that hums on fossil fuels and belches out greenhouse gases like methane, nitrous oxide, and CO2.

Very few in ag research, though, expect any breakthroughs: Commodity agriculture cant be made climate smart because commodity agriculture, at its core, is already an incredibly productive, climate-changing machine.

We know, says one land grant university agronomist, that we cant sequester carbon in any appreciable amount in todays commodity production systems. Not through conventional tillage, not through minimum till, not through no-till. Thats just an agronomic fact. So what are we doing with these USDA projects? he wonders.

Another land grant university researcher is more blunt in his view of USDAs climate-smart effort: A model relying on those that caused the problem to solve the problem is a deeply flawed model, he offers.

And, he adds, [T]he smart to the money-dripping effort is in those who get this type of money to do nothing. Its beyond smart, it is genius.

But its not any real, lasting climate solution, notes a third land grant university researcher. This is all greenwashing  vanity and greenwashing  to keep todays ag policies in place.

So up is down and smart is dumb, and somewhere George Orwell is smiling.
Mick Wallis, MEP for Ireland:

If we have a problem with there being a conflict in Ukraine, why dont we have a problem with the US and NATO terrorizing the people of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya?

Or dont we have a problem with the US + EU helping Saudi Arabia and the UAE terrorize Yemen?

Why dont we have a problem with Israel terrorizing the Palestinians?

When are you going to wake up and start living in the real world?

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Weather Alert

...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.
Filmmaker Paul Haggis told jurors on Wednesday that it was years before he learned that a woman now accusing him of rape saw their sexual encounter as anything other than consensual.
FILE - Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, left, with Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi at the lower Chamber on Oct. 25, 2022. Italys new interior minister on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022, defended a government decree banning rave parties against criticism it could be used to clamp down on sit-ins and other forms of protest, while taking no action against a march by thousands of fascist sympathisers to the crypt of Italys slain Fascist dictator.


Developer's of the 100 MW

Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm

(PFOWF) located 7.5km off the coast of Dounreay, Caithness have submitted an onshore planning application to The Highland Council.



Following extensive public consultation, changes were made to the application for Planning Permission in Principle, which covers the projects onshore infrastructure elements and includes the onshore application boundary, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and visualisations of indicative substation locations. If approved, the consent will enable the construction of an onshore substation and cables which will feed power from the floating wind turbines into the existing local grid network.



Richard Copeland, Project Director, said: The submission of the onshore planning application highlights another key milestone for Pentland, which will provide a testbed for new floating wind technologies while bringing a number of benefits to the local area.



It was encouraging to see that the onshore plans were well received and very few changes were made to the application following local consultation. At every stage of this project, weve aimed to consult as comprehensively as possible to ensure the development remains considerate of the region and its residents.



The onshore application submission comes following the submission of the offshore consent application to Marine Scotland in August this year. Alongside these developments, we have continued to progress initiatives such as developing an Operations and Maintenance base at Scrabster harbour, consulting on our proposed community benefit fund to ensure the Caithness and Sutherland area benefits from the project, and supporting STEM careers through our regional bursary awards.



The submission also comes ahead of a Business Breakfast event being held in partnership with Caithness Chamber of Commerce. Taking place in Thurso on 23 November 2022, the event will introduce the project and the opportunities available to local supply chain companies in the area.

The Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm is planned to be operational in 2026. It will showcase new floating wind technology with a high potential for localisation in Scotland. The exact floating technological solutions for the project are yet to be determined.



The project is being developed by Highland Wind Limited which is majority owned by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) through one of its CI Funds with Hexicon A/B as a minority shareholder. Project development activities are being led by CIPs development partner, Copenhagen Offshore Partners (COP).

For more information on offshore wind farms worldwide,

click here

.
TEPCO Renewable Power, Inc. has signed a contract with the shareholders of Flotation Energy (headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK) to purchase 100% of its issued shares. It marks the company's first investment in overseas wind power.



Flotation Energy is an offshore wind developer established by current Chief Executive, Lord Nicol Stephen and Chief Technical Officer (CTO) Allan MacAskill in 2018. They kicked off the development of the

Kincardine

floating offshore wind farm.



Currently Flotation Energy has interests in Morecambe in the Irish Sea (bottom-fixed, 480MW) and White Cross in the Celtic Sea (floating offshore, 100 MW). In addition, they are developing 13 separate projects totaling more than 12,000MW of wind farm capacity across the UK, Ireland, Taiwan, Japan and Australia.



Going forward, TEPCO, together with Flotation Energy, will obtain know-how and technologies for operating in the offshore wind business through the design, construction and O&M of actual projects. Together we will be involved in the early stages of development of a global pipeline, in order to actively develop offshore wind power projects in Japan and overseas.



Through these initiatives TEPCO will harness the power of offshore wind to help create a clean and sustainable carbon neutral society.



TEPCO Renewable Power President Masashi Nagasawa said: "We are very pleased and heartened to partner with Flotation Energy, which shares our mission to "deliver clean renewable energy and create a carbon neutral society" as we work together to further develop both companies.



"Flotation Energy's experience and knowledge of the world's biggest floating offshore wind development and their global network will undoubtedly accelerate the development of our offshore wind business both domestically and internationally.



"Through our collaboration, we will realize our management philosophy of, "Harnessing the Natural Resources to Energy, and further to Society" on a global scale, and we aim to contribute to stable supply of electricity mitigating the power price surge in the medium to long term that is linked to the recent fossil fuel price situation."



Commenting on the announcement Lord Nicol Stephen, the CEO of Flotation Energy, said: "This is a very exciting development for Flotation Energy and recognizes the strength and success of our world class team. We have pioneered the growth of floating wind across the globe and have a very significant pipeline of projects in the UK, Ireland, and Asia Pacific. This new partnership between Scotland and Japan represents a major investment by TEPCO. It will allow us to move forward quickly with our existing projects and to kick start new opportunities right around the world. Climate change is the biggest challenge facing our planet and helping to deliver a clean, green electricity network has always been Flotation Energy's goal."
2. Lowers blood pressure

Oxytocin has another important function. In a domino-like effect, kindness boosts oxytocin, which releases nitric oxide, a chemical that plays a critical role in maintaining a healthy blood pressure. Nitric oxide counteracts the narrowing of arteries that accompanies aging and disease, improving blood flow through the body and lowering blood pressure. Studies show that healthy levels of nitric oxide can not only help lower chances of heart attack and stroke but also reduce dementia risk. In 2016, researchers at the University of British Columbia and the University of California, Irvine found that financial generosity toward others lowered the blood pressure of the older adults engaged in the study to almost the same degree that starting a new blood pressure medicine would do.

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3. Improves heart health

The heart benefits in several ways from acts of kindness. As mentioned above, nitric oxide counteracts the effects of aging on the arteries and blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood from the heart to all parts of the body. Results from a 2016 review of a national survey revealed that those who volunteered were less likely to have dangerous belly fat, a factor in heart disease, and high glucose levels, markers for diabetes. The 2016 study of the effect of spending money on others revealed that the effect of financial generosity matched the results achieved by more well-known cardiovascular interventions such as exercise and diet. Acts of kindness are cardioprotective,  says Hall. Theyre good for the heart.

4. Strengthens the immune system

Besides boosting our mood and lowering our blood pressure, oxytocin also reduces inflammation in the body. Inflammation can be caused by stress, diet or the environment, and is linked to diseases like diabetes and cancer. Research has found that it may also speed up the aging process. Kindness sets up the body to decrease inflammation and slow aging, says Hall. 

But kindness can also strengthen immunoglobulin, an important part of the immune system found in saliva. In one Harvard University study, students were asked to watch a documentary on Mother Teresa. Their saliva was tested before and after watching the documentary, and the levels of secretory immunoglobulin A had increased significantly after watching the film. Not only that, but the effects were still seen an hour later. Just seeing a demonstration of kindness and love was enough to boost the immune system in an important way.

5. Makes your brain bigger

The hippocampus is the part of the brain responsible for learning and memory. It is also really important as a biomarker for the prevention or delaying of Alzheimers disease, says Michelle Carlson, a professor in the Department of Mental Health in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Unfortunately, that part of the brain shrinks as we age. But it turns out that volunteering can delay that process. 


Water Use License Granted for the Frankfort Mine

Sydney, Nov 2, 2022 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Theta Gold Mines Limited ( ASX:TGM ) ( 3LM:FRA ) ( TGMGF:OTCMKTS ) is pleased to advise that the South African Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has awarded the first of the two water use licences required for its TGME Underground Gold Mine.



The new Greater TGME Integrated Water Use License (WUL) is issued in accordance with Chapter 4 of the National Water Act, 1998 (Act 36 of 1998) for a period of 12 years. The WUL forms an integral part of TGME Underground Project since it authorises all current water use activities within Mining Right (MR) 83 area.



The approval of the WUL is a result of comprehensive environmental specialist studies conducted with detailed engineering designs that satisfy the extensive regulatory requirements relating to water and waste management in South Africa.



The DWS will inform all interested and affected parties of the issuing of this license. No public participation process is required for this license however any interested and effected parties may still appeal the licence. The Company has, however, in the interest of transparency sent out a notification to inform all of our stakeholders that the license was issued. Our stakeholder engagement forum will going forward be kept updated in terms of compliance monitoring of the license.



Following the granting of this WUL, Theta Gold has now secured all of the regulatory licences required for the Frankfort Mine.



Theta Gold Chairman, Bill Guy, commented: "The full approvals now granted for the Frankfort Mine marks another key step forward for the development of TGME Gold Project.



"Bulk sampling work shall commence on Frankfort mine in the coming weeks with the aim to optimise mining and to maximise ore recovery.



"The full approval of the Frankfort Mine displays full recognition from all related government departments of Theta's effort to becoming a responsible miner in the region.



"I would like to thank our management team and consultants who worked tirelessly on achieving such positive outcomes for the Company.



"The Company shall keep shareholders informed with the final two permits pending on MR83, expected by year-end."





About Theta Gold Mines Limited





Theta Gold Mines Limited (ASX:TGM) (OTCMKTS:TGMGF) is a gold development company that holds a range of prospective gold assets in a world-renowned South African gold mining region. These assets include several surface and near-surface high-grade gold projects which provide cost advantages relative to other gold producers in the region.

Theta Gold Mines core project is located next to the historical gold mining town of Pilgrim's Rest, in Mpumalanga Province, some 370km northeast of Johannesburg by road or 95km north of Nelspruit (Capital City of Mpumalanga Province). Following small scale production from 2011-2015, the Company is currently focussing on the construction of a new gold processing plant within its approved footprint at the TGME plant, and for the processing of the Theta Open Pit oxide gold ore. Nearby surface and underground mines and prospects are expected to be further evaluated in the future.

The Company aims to build a solid production platform to over 100Kozpa based primarily around shallow, open-cut or adit-entry hard rock mining sources. Theta Gold Mines has access to over 43 historical mines and prospect areas that can be accessed and explored, with over 6.7Moz of historical production recorded.


Nachu BFS Update Webinar

Sydney, Nov 2, 2022 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Magnis Energy Technologies Ltd ( ASX:MNS ) ( U1P:FRA ) ( MNSEF:OTCMKTS ) is pleased to announce the following webinar "Strong Financial and Technical Viability for Magnis' Nachu Graphite Project", to be held November 3rd, 2022 for 30 minutes commencing at 11am AEDT/ 10am AEST/ 8:00am AWST.



Chief Executive Officer, Mr David Taylor will present the recently completed results from the BFS update for the Nachu Graphite Project along with upcoming milestones for the project.



This webinar can be viewed live via Zoom. To access further details of the event and to register at no cost, please visit:

https://www.abnnewswire.net/lnk/CME2U7W1



A recorded copy of the webinar will be made available following the event by the host ShareCafe.







About Magnis Energy Technologies Limited





Magnis Energy Technologies Limited (ASX:MNS) (OTCMKTS:MNSEF) (FRA:U1P) is involved in and has strategic investments in several aspects of the electrification supply chain including manufacturing of green credentialed lithium-ion battery cells, leading edge battery technology and high quality, high performance anode materials. The company's vision is to enable, support and accelerate the green energy transition critical for the adoption of Electric Mobility and Renewable Energy Storage.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Steven Candelaria fired in self-defense, fatally shooting an armed man who confronted him outside an Albuquerque apartment in 2020, a defense attorney told jurors Tuesday on the first day of Candelarias murder trial.

But prosecutors allege Candelaria and his brother arrived at Luciano Montoyas apartment seeking revenge and pistol whipped a woman before firing more than a dozen gunshots at Montoyas home, fatally injuring Montoya.

Candelaria, 31, is charged in 2nd Judicial District Court with first-degree murder and other crimes in the Nov. 17, 2020, shooting death of 39-year-old Montoya.

Candelaria also is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for striking his girlfriend, Raquel Martinez-Chavez, in the head with a pistol just moments before Montoyas death.

Candelarias attorney, Stephen Lane, told jurors that Montoya fired the first shots. Candelaria and his brother, Brandon Candelaria, fired in self-defense, he said.

Luciano Montoya came charging out of his apartment with a gun. Lane said in opening statements. He shot at Steven Candelaria. Steven and Brandon returned fire and Luciano was struck and killed.

Brandon Candelaria, 27, also faces first-degree murder and other charges in Montoyas death. His trial has not been scheduled.

Unreliable witnesses, including Martinez-Chavez, told investigators that Montoya was unarmed at the time of the fatal confrontation, Lane said. Montoyas father removed and hid his sons pistol before police arrived at the scene, he said.

The witnesses later acknowledged that Montoya was armed at the time of the confrontation, Lane said. But no ballistics tests were performed on Montoyas weapon to determine whether it had been fired, he said.

After he was shot in the torso, Montoya fled inside his apartment in the 1100 block of Louisiana SE, just north of Gibson. Officers found him dead in the kitchen.

Martinez-Chavez, who is the mother of Candelarias son, testified Tuesday that Candelaria beat her the day before Montoya was killed. After the beating, Martinez-Chavez showed the injuries to Montoya.

Martinez-Chavez also has two children with Montoya, she testified. She wept Tuesday as she described giving Montoya CPR in the moments before he died.

Assistant District Attorney Natalie Lyon told jurors that the beating set in motion a series of events that led to Montoyas killing. Martinez-Chavez and Montoya started to plan to have somebody go beat Steven (Candelaria) for what he did to Raquel, Lyon said.

Armed men arrived at Candelarias apartment and pistol whipped him, Lyon said. In response, Candelaria and his brother drove to Montoyas apartment the following day, leading to the gunfire that killed Montoya, she said. Officers found 18 shell casings outside Montoyas apartment.

The Candelaria brothers lit this apartment up, Lyon told jurors.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

A Hobbs man is accused of using his former employers gas card to rack up more than $1.2 million in gasoline charges over several years since leaving the company.

David Rochel, 50, is charged with six counts of fraudulent use of an illegally obtained credit card of over $20,000 and one count of theft of a credit card in the case.

An attorney for Rochel could not be reached Tuesday.

Although the fraudulent charges were ongoing for years, court records show more than $120,000 in diesel fuel was charged to the company card between October 2021 and March 2022.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in Eddy County Magistrate Court:

The Eddy County Sheriffs Office began investigating in March after an employee with Carlsbad-based Constructors Inc. reported hundreds of thousands of dollars stolen from a company credit card. They reported the card was used at numerous Brewer Oil Co. company fleet stations and identified a suspect in a truck seen filling several large tanks with diesel fuel.

Then, on April 4, a Brewer employee told deputies that a man in Artesia had requested a new gas card  and turned over the card used in the thefts. Deputies traced the mans phone number to Rochel and learned he had worked for Constructors Inc. until 2013 and had a truck matching the one seen using the company card to fuel up.

Rochel told deputies he gave his gas card back after leaving the company and never lent it to anyone.

Deputies told Rochel it was time he owns up to his mistakes and that more than $1 million of diesel had been charged to the card.

We explained everyone makes mistakes when they fall (on) hard times, according to the affidavit. Deputies said Rochel then got quiet and somber, and asked what kind of deal they could get him with the District Attorneys Office before requesting a lawyer.

Deputies spoke with Rochel again Aug. 30, advised him criminal charges were imminent and asked for his side of the story. Rochell allegedly told them he didnt use it too many times.
It probably comes as no surprise that reducing the stress of living in poverty, providing tutoring and addressing social-emotional challenges can help at-risk high school students succeed in the classroom.

Still, its instructive to see the outcomes from testing the hypothesis: Can monetary incentives to inadequately housed students  with reasonable, goal-oriented strings attached  change the trajectory of their academic lives? Its an important question in New Mexico, given the number of people who depend on government assistance to get by.

We now have some sense of the potential of providing financial assistance to high school students who are homeless or experiencing some form of housing insecurity, thanks to a pilot program designed and run by New Mexico Appleseed and funded by Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation, which has a permanent endowment to support public schools in the seven-county region surrounding the lab.

The foundation gave about $120,000 each to the Cuba Independent School District and the 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 says.

For eight months during the 2020-21 school year, the pilot program provided $500 every month to 53 qualifying high school students. The results are promising.

Appleseeds report on the project concludes that the monetary incentives to the targeted students in the pilot program increased engagement in school, tutoring and emotional support offerings.

When students are unable to meet their basic needs on a regular basis, it can be next to impossible to make school a priority, the report states. Offering families, or the students, a monthly stipend in exchange for their students participation in school is a way to reward their continued participation while allowing the students to better meet their basic needs.

There was considerable consternation about attaching conditions to the cash. Appleseed consulted with an ethicist before including requirements for students to attend school 90% of the time and complete 90% of their class work. Students also had to meet every week for check-in and tutoring sessions. All are weighted to helping students succeed academically.

And while Appleseed Founder Jenny Ramo says the requirements really weighed heavily on me, because people deserve to have their basic needs met, no matter what, period, the conditions had no negative effects. Fully 100% of the families thought the program requirements were fair and the stipends helpful. 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.

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 says. 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.

Ramo says the pilot was able to show that providing conditional cash to students in need did help their academic outcomes, something she hopes could spur lawmakers to consider replicating the pilot statewide.

We are hoping the Legislature steps in, maybe for next year, and really puts aside money for cash transfers, she says. 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.

With safeguards in place, it could be money very well spent. Lawmakers should fully vet expanding the program.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

After years of steady declines, enrollment in New Mexicos public colleges and universities may be looking up.

Enrollment grew this fall by nearly 4,000 students, an increase of about 4% from fall last year, according to New Mexico Higher Education Department data. Now at about 105,000 total students, officials said this year marked the first in a decade that enrollment in the states higher education institutions saw a rebound.

A major factor, Higher Education Secretary Stephanie Rodriguez said, is the Opportunity Scholarship program, which this year was bolstered to provide free tuition to more New Mexicans, including people hoping to return to college after dropping out.

This fall, according to the HED, over 34,000 students received the scholarship, and over 10,000 got the Lottery Scholarship. The department estimates that 1,600 students are getting the Opportunity Scholarship at tribal colleges, and almost 1,000 are getting the Lottery Scholarship.

Every time I am out and meeting with students, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, were hearing that their nieces, nephews, children, grandchildren, are going to college or staying in New Mexico because tuition-free college exists here, Rodriguez told the Journal. Were feeling very confident that this is a trend thats going to be going in a positive direction for a while.

Leading the way in this years enrollment gains were independent community colleges, which include institutions like Central New Mexico Community College. Collectively, they added nearly 1,900 students in the last year, a 5.5% increase.

As for the states highest-enrolled institutions of higher education  the University of New Mexico, New Mexico State University and CNM  each saw increases from last year of 1.6%, 2.6% and 3.1%, respectively.

Enrollment in tribal colleges, on the other hand, fell by a bit over 2% from last years head count, which in turn was over 300 students shy of pre-pandemic totals.

Part of the reason for that, Rodriguez said, is that certain institutions, including Navajo Technical University and the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, were hit particularly hard by the pandemic and remote learning.

COVID hit our tribal nations substantially. I think thats very apparent when we look at our tribal colleges and some of those dips, she said.

That all being said, this years fall head count in tribal colleges was still slightly higher than the average enrollment over the last eight years.

The same was not true for New Mexico overall.

Overall, New Mexicos c

urrent enrollment numbers are nowhere near pre-pandemic levels, which were around 120,000 in 2019 and neared 134,500 in 2015.

To get back to those levels, Rodriguez said the state is investing in things like behavioral and mental health services and addressing food insecurity, both of which she said have proved barriers for students.

The HED is also seeking an additional $25 million on top of the $75 million allocated for the Opportunity Scholarship this year, to help cover projected enrollment growth and tuition increases, a department spokeswoman said.

The scholarship, Rodriguez noted, was a big part of the departments response to the pandemic, in part because many New Mexico college students were essential workers during the pandemic, and juggled family and work along with their education.

How are they going to go back to school if theyre focused on all that, and on top of that, they have to pay for it? she said. Thats where the Opportunity Scholarship kicked in.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

In a climate where worries about high crime rates have dominated nearly every campaign, a new Journal Poll found Democrat John Allen has the lead over Republican Paul Pacheco in the race to be Bernalillo County sheriff.

However, a sizable percentage of voters are still undecided.

A total of 42% of voters said they would vote for  or already had voted for  Allen compared to 36% who said the same about Pacheco. Among the remainder, 6% said they favored Libertarian Kaelan Ashby Dreyer and 15% said they were undecided. One percent wouldnt say who they were going to vote for.

If this was 2018, Id say this race is over  but its not, said Brian Sanderoff, the president of Research & Polling Inc., which conducted the poll. Were in this environment where people are concerned about crime and so I think the quality of their campaigns in the closing days could have an impact on it.

Dreyer, who has no law enforcement experience and is running as a self-described protest candidate, is more popular among Democrats than among Republicans, with 4% and 1% of those voters favoring him respectively. Sanderoff said this could be due to his progressive message and it means his candidacy could hurt Allen more than Pacheco.

Sanderoff described the race as unusual, interesting and competitive and pointed to the Democratic and Republican candidates support among members of the opposing party.

The crossover vote on party affiliation is bigger in this race than all the other races that weve seen, he said. In other words, Pacheco has 13% support among Democrats and Allen has 11% support among Republicans  Those percentages are larger than any of the other races in the Journal Poll.

He said this could be due to the fact that the two men have similar backgrounds. Both are former law enforcement officers  Allen with the Bernalillo County Sheriffs Office and Pacheco with the Albuquerque Police Department  who were born and raised in the city.

Theyve had long careers in the area and have, Im sure, made lots of friends and have lots of family and acquaintances that theyve met and encountered throughout their long life and career in Albuquerque, Sanderoff said. So youre bound to know people of opposite parties who are going to support you.

The two candidates dominated the field in crowded races for their partys nomination during the primaries. Allen garnered 42% of the vote, beating out six other Democrats and Pacheco bested three other Republicans with 48% of the vote.

However, Sanderoff said it remains a low profile race in terms of name recognition. This means that negative ads and mailers could have more of an effect on how people vote.

If you have two candidates who are virtually unknown before this campaign and the campaign starts running negative ads, I think those ads could have potentially more of an impact or could be more influential in impacting public opinion because the voters havent formed an impression of the respective candidates, he said.

Pachecos campaign has been running a TV ad calling Allen a dirty cop because he was sued for an unlawful search as a New Mexico State Police officer in the late 1990s. That case settled for $30,000.

Allen has said he received verbal consent to search the car but not a toolbox in the bed of the truck where drugs were found and that he should have communicated more clearly with other officers and further reviewed evidence before court.

Meanwhile Allens campaign has been saying Pacheco is pronounced like Pinocchio  calling him a liar and pointing to a column in the Santa Fe New Mexican that notes that in recent ads he has changed the pronunciation of his name from Pah-CHEEK-o to Pah-CHECK-o.

Pacheco told the Journal in September that he has Portuguese and Spanish heritage and the pronunciation back East, where his family is from, is Pah-CHEEK-o. He said he promised his mother on her deathbed that he would pronounce it that way but he also says Pah-CHECK-o sometimes so as not to offend people.

In our survey we pronounced his name Pah-CHEEK-o because thats what he goes by  what he went by as a legislator, thats what he went by in his early ads, Sanderoff said. When you see the name on the ballot in the voting booth, youre going to see Pacheco and that could create some interesting dynamics.

Methodology

The Journal Poll is based on a scientific, countywide sample of 385 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 5 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 (85%) and landlines (15%) of proven general election voters were used.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

While fishing at Mundo Lake south of Dulce last week, Nick Quint landed what he called the biggest catch of my life.

Quint and other members of his Albuquerque family helped rescue a distressed fisherman, whose one-man pontoon boat had come apart with him strapped in it.

His calls for help were pretty harrowing and made the hair on my neck stand up, said Quint, 26. It was a scream from someone fighting for his life. One side of the flotation came detached from the rest of the pontoon and tipped him on the side. He was in a sort of net and he was struggling to get out of it, which probably added to his panic.

Quint, along with his parents, Sherryl and Tim Quint, sister Hannah Quint, and Hannahs friend, Alexandria Gilbert, all sprang into action. Good thing, too. The only other person fishing that Monday was the distressed fishermans brother, who was farther out in the lake on his own one-man pontoon boat and too far away to immediately provide aid.

Hannah, 25, a recent graduate from the University of New Mexicos EMS (emergency medical services) program, grabbed a pair of binoculars to quickly assess the situation.

My brother just started running the shoreline to get over there, while my friend Alex and I hopped in our truck and tried to drive closer, Hannah said. I had the idea that maybe I could get him into a heated vehicle, but the roads didnt go all the way around, so we parked as close as we could, and then got out and ran over there. We had extra clothes, a towel and a first aid kit.

Although cellphone service in the area is spotty, Sherryl and Tim Quint were able to contact someone at the Jicarilla Department of Game and Fish, who immediately got the Jicarilla Fire and EMS services in Dulce dispatched.

By the time Hannah and Alexandria reached the rescue area, the fisherman had somehow managed to get close enough to shore, where he lay flat in the water, the lower portion of his body bogged down in mud, and where Nick was able to pull him out.

Hannah and Alexandria removed the fishermans wet clothing. I took off my beanie, mittens and my jacket and put it on him. The mans brother, who had caught up, provided dry socks and pants for him, Hannah said.

Jicarilla first responders arrived within minutes, parked as close as possible, and then cut through a fence and hiked with their equipment about 100 yards to reach the man, said the Jicarilla Game and Fish official who asked not to be identified.

The fisherman was fully dressed for a day of fishing, not swimming, said the official. He noted that the water in the 50-acre lake ranges from 15-30 feet deep and the water temperature was in the low 50s.

Without a doubt, things could have been much more serious, he said. Luckily, the Quint family was there to aid in his recovery.

As he was being pulled from the water, the fisherman just kept saying Im exhausted, not cold,  Hannah said. But his skin and his fingers looked almost gray. She added that EMS personnel indicated his body temperature had fallen into the low 90s, indicating he was likely hypothermic.

The man, identified only as a resident of the Silver City area, was taken to a hospital in Pagosa Springs, where, as far as we know, he was warming up and in good shape, Nick said.

You know, I was a little bit in shock, too, he said. Weve seen plenty of people go out on boats and float tubes like that without any complications at all, so this was very unexpected.

Even after the drama, the Quint fishing party continued to pull 16-18-inch trout from the lake.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

In the past 10 years, Albuquerque has gained almost half a dozen food halls, covering territory from Midtown to Downtown.

There havent been similar developments west of the Rio Grande. But now, there are two Rio Rancho food and retail hall projects in the works: Margarita Hill, which was announced earlier this year, and THE BLOCK, which breaks ground Wednesday.

THE BLOCK will combine food and retail in a container park made of 14 retired and refurbished shipping containers from Texas. The development is located at the shopping center the Plaza @ Enchanted Hills, which was developed in 2018 at 7817 Enchanted Hills NE. The plaza includes national chain stores like Ross Dress For Less, Michaels and TJ Maxx. Some 1.4 acres of the property were never built out  that vacant space will ultimately house THE BLOCK.

The property will include an open-air courtyard with picnic tables, a stage for performers and outdoor movies, and space for three food trucks.

We just were thinking of something different to build there, said Amy Goldfarb, vice president of asset management at TDA Investment Group, the developer and owner of the Plaza @ Enchanted Hills. Retail has changed over the last couple of years, and we really wanted to bring something that the community could enjoy.

THE BLOCK will be able to house between 20 and 25 retailers in small spaces between 120 and 300 square feet. Goldfarb said shes hoping local businesses will be able to take advantage of the smaller spaces to grow their businesses.

Our hope is to be able to give small businesses a way in to have some kind of space for their retail or their food, Goldfarb said. Maybe its not, like, a longer term lease, maybe just a couple of years  and definitely, its not the investment of renting thousands of square feet of space in a typical center.

Roy Solomon, developer for Margarita Hill, Tin Can Alley and Green Jeans Farmery, said food halls help promote local businesses. Margarita Hills 10 retailers will all be local businesses, with Sadies of New Mexico as an anchor tenant.

You open up a retail store now it could be a little scary just because theres so many chains and so many big boxes and so many national branded places to go, Solomon said. I think thats one thing food halls, I think in general, do is give people an opportunity to go to experience local.

Goldfarb said shes seen changing retail trends, especially in strip malls. Currently, theres less demand for large retail spaces, Goldfarb said  most tenants would rather occupy smaller spots, which influenced the design for THE BLOCK.

I think what Ive seen is theres not as much demand for the really big boxes, Goldfarb said. It seems like theres a sweet spot of space size, so were just trying to roll with it and accommodate the demand in the market.

Both THE BLOCK and Margarita Hill, which utilize repurposed shipping containers as a central part of their designs, are scheduled to open in mid-2023. Although Margarita Hill and THE BLOCK are both in Rio Rancho, theyre hardly next door; the two locations are over 10 miles away from each other.

Theres a great future in that area (Rio Rancho), Solomon said. I mean, theres lots of development going on, and lots of people moving out there  so the future is good.
KYIV, Ukraine  Russia agreed Wednesday to rejoin a wartime agreement that allows Ukrainian grain and other commodities to be shipped to world markets. The U.N.s refugee chief, meanwhile, put the number of Ukrainians driven from their homes since the Russian invasion eight months ago at around 14 million.

It is the fastest, largest displacement witnessed in decades, said Filippo Grandi, who heads the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

In announcing that Russia would rejoin the grain pact, President Vladimir Putin said Moscow had received assurances that Ukraine would not use the humanitarian corridors to attack Russian forces. He warned that Russia reserves the right to withdraw again if Kyiv breaks its word.

Putin praised Turkeys mediation efforts to get the deal back on track, as well as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans neutrality in the conflict as a whole and his efforts at ensuring the interest of the poorest countries.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he also thanked Erdogan on Wednesday, for his active participation in maintaining the grain agreement, and his unwavering support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

Russia had suspended its participation in the grain deal over the weekend, citing an alleged drone attack against its Black Sea fleet in Crimea.

Ukraine did not claim responsibility for an attack, and Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Moscows return to the agreement showed Russian blackmail did not lead to anything.

Erdogan said shipments would resume Wednesday, prioritizing those to African nations, including Somalia, Djibouti and Sudan. Thats in line with Russias concerns that much of the exported grain had ended up in richer nations, since Moscow and Kyiv made separate agreements with Turkey and the U.N. in July.

U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said Monday that 23% of the cargo exported from Ukraine under the grain deal went to lower- or lower-middle-income countries, which also received 49% of all wheat shipments.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hailed Russias announcement, and a spokesman said Guterres remains committed to removing the remaining obstacles to the exports of Russian food and fertilizer.

Ukraine and Russia are major global exporters of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other food to developing countries. A loss of those supplies before the grain deal had pushed up global food prices, led to soaring energy costs, and helped throw tens of millions into poverty.

The July agreement brought down global food prices about 15% from their peak in March, according to the U.N. After the announcement Wednesday that Russia would rejoin the deal, wheat futures prices erased increases seen Monday, dropping more than 6% in Chicago.

Meanwhile, in Kyiv, the local power-grid operator said electricity had been restored after a wave of Russian drone and artillery strikes had targeted energy infrastructure. About 300,000 households reportedly got their power back, but local authorities called for controlled blackouts to reduce strain on the system.

Grandi, the U.N. refugee official, noted that Ukrainians are about to face one of the worlds harshest winters in extremely difficult circumstances.

He said those include the continuing destruction of civilian infrastructure, which is quickly making the humanitarian response look like a drop in the ocean of needs.

Grandi said the 14 million Ukrainian refugees had increased the overall number of displaced people worldwide to more than 103 million.

Power outages also were reported in the southern cities of Nikopol and Chervonohryhorivka after a large-scale drone attack, Dnipropetrovsk Gov. Valentyn Reznichenko said. The two cities lie across the Dnieper River from the huge Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

Russia and Ukraine have traded blame for months for shelling at and around the plant that the U.N.s nuclear watchdog warned could cause a radiation emergency. In a development easing some fears, Ukraines state nuclear company Energoatom, said the plant has been reconnected to the countrys power grid after shelling forced it to rely on generators to cool spent nuclear fuel.

The plant is held by Russian forces, but Ukrainian staff continues to run it.

The company also said Russian soldiers have cordoned off the plants spent nuclear-fuel storage facility and began unspecified construction there. They dont let anyone in, they dont report anything, the company said.

Russian shelling continued in southern and eastern Ukraine, causing at least four civilian deaths between Tuesday and Wednesday, according to Zelenskyys office.

The epicenter of the fighting was around the city of Bakhmut, neighboring Soledar and the wider Donetsk region, Ukraines Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malya told Ukrainian TV. She said Ukrainian defenders around Bakhmut were facing a very difficult task.

But the main thing is that Ukraine will not give up a single inch of land, she said.

In southern Ukraine, Russian-installed authorities in the occupied Kherson region announced they were temporarily halting traffic across the wide Dnieper River, citing increased military danger as Kyivs forces edged closer to the regions capital, the city of Kherson.

The move would also prevent civilians from crossing back into Ukrainian-held territory.

The Moscow-backed authorities have said they are relocating tens of thousands of civilians further into Russian-held territory in anticipation of the Ukrainian counterattack.

The province was overrun by Russian forces early in the war, and both sides have been girding for a major battle over it.

In another development, Belarus and Russia began preparations for large-scale joint military exercises. Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin didnt specify the dates for the exercises, dubbed Union Shield-2023, or the number of troops that would take part.

Russia has previously used Belarus, an economically dependent ally, as a springboard to send troops and missiles into Ukraine. Kyiv fears that the Belarusian army will be directly drawn into the war, striking from the north where the countries share a 1,080-kilometer (671-mile) border.

On a visit to Kyiv on Wednesday, Spains Foreign Minister Jose Albares pledged a new military aid package to help Ukraines air defenses. Cambodia, meanwhile, agreed to send deminers to help train Ukrainians in clearing land mines.

___

Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Courtney Bonnell in London contributed reporting.

___

Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine and on the food crisis at https://apnews.com/hub/food-crisis
DETROIT  The FBI has arrested two alleged members of the far-right anti-government group the Boogaloo Boys, with authorities increasingly concerned about the potential for violence in the leadup to next weeks midterm elections.

Timothy Teagan appeared Wednesday in federal court in Detroit on charges of being a drug user in possession of firearms and ammunition, and giving a false statement in connection with the acquisition of a firearm, according to an unsealed federal complaint.

Meanwhile, the FBI said in a criminal complaint filed Monday that there was enough evidence to charge Aron McKillips, of Sandusky, Ohio, with illegal possession of a machine gun and the interstate communication of threats. It says McKillips is a member of the Boogaloo Boys and is believed to be in a paramilitary group called the Sons of Liberty.

The timing of the law enforcement action is notable in part because it comes just days before the midterm elections. After the FBI searched his home last month, Teagan told documentarian Ford Fischer that federal agents questioned him specifically about potential violence being planned ahead of the election.

They were very, very particular about questions involving anything going on with the election, he said. They were asking if I knew of any violent plans or any violent tendencies that could come forth about the election.  They were asking if we had any plans to go to polls armed.

Election workers have increasingly been targeted by threats and harassment since the 2020 election, and its gotten worse in recent weeks  five people have already been charged with intimidation.

Nationally, elections officials are concerned about a flood of conspiracy theorists signing up to work as poll watchers, with some groups that have trafficked in lies about the 2020 election recruiting and training watchers.

The arrest of the suspected Boogaloo Boys members was reminiscent of a similar move by police in Washington, D.C., who arrested the leader of the Proud Boys just days before the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, as lawmakers were certifying Joe Bidens win. Members of the far-right group, along with leaders in another extremist group, the Oath Keepers, were later charged with seditious conspiracy.

The risk of fragmented far-right movements that promote civil division, anti-authority violence tend to escalate around elections, said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.

Hate crime and extremist plotting that rose in 2008, 2016 and 2018 correlated to conflictual elections, and this year election related invective appears to be rising, Levin added. Part of the timing of various arrests could be related to the escalated risk during this time as well as the authorities hitting a threshold of evidence where they could bring charges.

McKillips lawyer, Neil McElroy, said via email Wednesday that McKillips was taken into custody and that he has asked for McKillips to be released pending a Nov. 9 detention hearing in Toledo, Ohio.

In the criminal complaint against McKillips, the FBI alleges he made multiple online threats, including one to kill a police officer and another to kill anyone he determined to be a federal informant.

The FBI contends McKillips provided other members of the Boogaloo Boys equipment to convert rifles into machine guns, as on a trip to Lansing, Michigan, in April 2021. I literally handed out machine guns in Michigan, McKillips said in a recording, the complaint states.

In September 2021, he said in a private chat group, Aint Got a federal badge off a corpse yet, so my time here aint near done yet lol, according to the complaint.

In May of this year, McKillips and another user in the Signal messaging system threatened to kill a different Signal user in the belief the person was a federal informant who worked for the FBI or Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the complaint says. And in July, McKillips threatened in a Signal chat group that he would smoke a hog, meaning kill a police officer, if conditions worsened following a fatal police shooting in Akron, it says.

McKillips frequently advocated violence against police, federal agents, government buildings, big box stores like Walmart and Target, and threatened to blow up Facebooks headquarters, the criminal complaint says.

During Teagans hearing Wednesday, a federal magistrate ordered him held pending a Friday detention hearing.

Dressed in colorful Hawaiian-style shirt  a uniform of sorts for adherents to the so-called boogaloo movement, which espouses that a second U.S. civil war is coming  Teagan told the court that he might seek to retain his own attorney.

Police in the Detroit suburb of Plymouth arrested Teagan on Oct. 25 and charged him with assault and battery in an attack on his father. FBI agents searching his room at his fathers Plymouth home four days later found body armor, boogaloo movement flags and patches, and gas masks, according to the criminal complaint. They also seized a handgun from his brothers vehicle.

According to the complaint, Teagan submitted an ATF form on July 17 for the purchase of a firearm and certified that he did not use controlled substances. But on Oct. 27, agents seized packages of what appeared to be marijuana, bongs and other drug paraphernalia from Teagans room.

His brother, Christopher Teagan, told an FBI agent on the Joint Terrorism Task Force that he brought Timothy Teagan a ton of weed following his brothers release on the assault charge, the complaint states.

Teagan was among a dozen or so people who openly carried guns while demonstrating in January 2021 outside of the Michigan Capitol in Lansing. Some promoted the boogaloo movement. Teagan told reporters at the time that the demonstrations purpose was to urge a message of peace and unity to the left and right.

Some boogaloo promoters insist they arent genuinely advocating for violence. But the movement has been linked to a string of domestic terrorism plots.

Christopher Teagan, 24, told The Associated Press following Wednesdays hearing that his brother, through his association with the boogaloo movement, has never been involved in anything of any type of violent nature.

Hes just been to protests, he said outside the courtroom. I think (the FBI) will go after him unjustly or harsher because of his association with the group.

The federal governments actions could reflect different people in the boogaloo movement getting closer to violence, said Javed Ali, an associate professor at the University of Michigan and a former senior U.S. government counterterrorism official.

Maybe this is part of a more nationwide effort to finally start arresting and disrupting people whove moved beyond the phase of being angry, Ali said.

Such arrests can put individuals who may not have had previous serious charges into a system of accountability, said Cliff Lampe, professor of information and a specialist in online interactions around extremist groups at the University of Michigan.

Sometimes, law enforcement in all areas, city through federal, will bring charges in order to bring a person closer to law enforcement to observe them, Lampe said.

Timothy Teagans arrest came just days after three members of a paramilitary group were convicted of supplying material support for a terrorist act over a plot to kidnap Michigans Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer. Prosecutors argued the defendants supported the boogaloo movement.

In August, Steven Carrillo, an Air Force sergeant who officials say is associated with the boogaloo movement, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the killing of a Northern California sheriffs sergeant. In June, Carrillo was sentenced to 41 years in prison for killing a federal security agent in Oakland.

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Welsh-Huggins reported from Columbus, Ohio.
WASHINGTON  Days after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes tried to get a message to then-President Donald Trump that urged him to fight to stay in power and save the republic, according to trial testimony on Wednesday.

Rhodes said in his message  given to an intermediary  that the Oath Keepers would support the Republican president if he invoked the Insurrection Act and called them up as a militia.

The message never made it to Trump. The intermediary  a Texas software developer and military veteran who testified he had an indirect way to reach the president  was taken aback by it and went to the FBI instead.

Thats asking for civil war on American ground  that means blood is going to be shed on streets where your family is, Jason Alpers told jurors. He decided not to pass along Rhodes words. It would have wrapped me into agreeing with that ideology in some way, which I did not.

Jurors also heard a recording Alpers made of his meeting with Rhodes in a parking lot, where the Oath Keepers leaders said we should have brought rifles, in reference to the Capitol riot. The group did have a large stash of weapons in a hotel room in nearby Virginia, but didnt use them that day. FBI agents also traced more than $17,000 in firearm parts, magazines, ammunition and other items Rhodes purchased after the insurrection.

Alpers testified as prosecutors began to wrap up their case against Rhodes and four associates in the most serious case stemming from the Jan. 6 attack to go to trial yet. Prosecutors sought to show that Rhodes continued plotting to stop the transfer of presidential power even after the Capitol riot, which delayed the certification of Democrat Joe Bidens electoral victory.

Alpers connection to Trump is unclear, and he didnt elaborate on how he could have gotten the message to him. Alpers went to the FBI a few months later with the recording of his mid-January 2021 meeting with Rhodes.

The two men had a mutual acquaintance and Alpers agreed to meet the antigovernment group leader to potentially pass along a message to Trump. He met Rhodes with a group of supporters in a parking lot of an electronics store in the Dallas area.

Alpers recorded the meeting with a thumb-drive recording device to protect himself and ensure he had an accurate depiction of the message, he said. After chatting with Alpers, Rhodes wrote down a message on Alpers phone for the president.

In it, Rhodes implored Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act and promised that the Oath Keepers would support him if he did.

You must use the Insurrection Act and use the power of presidency to stop him. All us veterans will support you, Rhodes wrote. If Trump didnt act, Rhodes warned that Trump and his children would die in prison. In the meeting, Rhodes also vented his frustration with the president to his new acquaintance.

If hes not going to do the right thing and hes just gonna let himself be removed illegally then we should have brought rifles, Rhodes said, according to the recording of meeting. We should have fixed it right then and there. Id hang (expletive) Pelosi from the lamppost, Rhodes said, referring to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Rhodes and his co-defendants are the first among hundreds of people arrested in the Capitol riot to stand trial on seditious conspiracy, a rare Civil War-era charge that calls for up to 20 years behind bars. The stakes are high for the Justice Department, which last secured such a conviction at trial nearly 30 years ago, and intends to try two more groups on the charge later this year.

Rhodes lawyers have said their client didnt commit seditious conspiracy because he believed Trump was going to invoke the Insurrection Act and call up the Oath Keepers as a militia to put down what Rhodes saw as a coup by Democrats.

The Insurrection Act gives presidents broad authority to call up the military and decide what shape that force will take. Trump floated invoking it at other times in his presidency but never did. Rhodes lawyers have argued their client was merely lobbying a president to utilize a law.

While questioning Alpers on the stand, defense attorneys sought to portray the message as another bombastic way to call on an elected official to invoke a law. Alpers also acknowledged that he didnt turn over the recording to the FBI immediately, saying he initially didnt want to get involved.

On trial with Rhodes, of Granbury, Texas, are Kelly Meggs, leader of the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers; Kenneth Harrelson, another Florida Oath Keeper; Thomas Caldwell, a retired U.S. Navy intelligence officer from Virginia, and Jessica Watkins, who led an Ohio militia group.

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Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston contributed to this report.

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Follow APs coverage of Jan. 6 at https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege
IDAHO SPRINGS, Colo.  The Colorado city of Idaho Springs said Wednesday it has agreed to pay $7 million to a 75-year-old man who said an officer used a stun gun on him without warning and dragged him from his apartment after a dispute with a neighbor, causing a stroke that left him with permanent injuries.

Michael Clark alleged in the federal civil rights suit filed last year that he suffered numerous health problems after Officer Nicholas Hanning used a Taser on him in his home in Idaho Springs, causing Clark to lose consciousness, fall and strike his head. Clark also accused Hanning of putting a knee on his neck, depriving him of oxygen and increasing his risk of death.

Hanning, who was fired after the May 2021 encounter, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor third-degree assault and relinquished his right to serve as a law enforcement officer in Colorado. He was sentenced in January to two years of probation and community service.

The Idaho Springs statement said the city admits no liability, but is settling the case for economic reasons and to bring closure to all involved. It did say the city and Police Chief Nate Buseck acknowledge the poor judgment that led to the use of the Taser against Clark, which Buseck previously described as unacceptable.

Clarks attorney, Sarah Schielke, said in a statement that her client suffered a stroke, other injuries and the loss of nearly all independence as a result of Idaho Springs Polices gruesome attack and mistreatment.  He is wheelchair bound and now forever dependent on his family and doctors to survive.

Body camera footage released in July appears to show Hannings knee on Clarks neck as the handcuffed man lay on the ground after being stunned and dragged out of his apartment. The officers knee is not always in view, so its not clear how long that lasted. Within about 15 seconds, Hannings knee can be seen again but on Clarks back, just below the neck.

According to the footage and court documents, Hanning and a partner knocked on the door to Clarks apartment without announcing they were police. A 30-year-old woman who had just moved in next door had accused Clark of punching her in the face, which Clark later denied. Clarks lawsuit alleges the woman was intoxicated, offered authorities varying accounts of what happened and had no injuries.

Clark had yelled through the wall at his new neighbors about making loud noise as he was trying to sleep, according to the lawsuit. He answered the door with a collectible sawfish snout sword, thinking it might be the neighbors coming to confront him, but only realized it was the police once he opened the door, it said.

Police initially said Clark and an officer got into an altercation before the Taser was used, but later said Hanning initiated the altercation and that Clark put down the sword-like weapon when asked.
MEXICO CITY  Hurricane Lisa made landfall Wednesday near Belize City in the Central American nation of Belize, and moved inland.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Lisa had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph) at landfall. By late Wednesday the storms center was about 20 miles (30 kilometers) west of Belize City and moving west at 12 mph (19 kph).

Belizes National Emergency Management Organization said the storm came ashore between the beach town of Dangriga and Belize City.

Everyone at home or in shelters need to remain in place until the State of Emergency has been lifted, the national emergency management organization said in a statement. We have not been able to send teams to do damage assessments or record any hazardous areas. Please remain where you are, and please have patience.

Einer Gomez, the assistant manager at Ramons Village Resort in San Pedro on Ambergris Caye, just off the coast of Belize, said a light rain had started to fall and there was some storm surge.

All the guests that are in the beachfront units have been relocated to less exposed rooms, and beach furniture had been secured, Gomez said. Everyone is just waiting for it too pass.

Lisa was forecast to cross Belize into northern Guatemala and then move into southeastern Mexico by Thursday.

The hurricane center warned of the danger of flooding and mudslides from heavy rains. It said the storm could drop 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 centimeters) of rain on Belize, the Bay Islands, northern Guatemala, the eastern portion of Mexicos Chiapas state and the Mexican state of Tabasco.

A hurricane warning was posted for Roatan island and the other Bay Islands of Honduras as well as the coast of Belize north and the southern coast of Mexicos Yucatan Peninsula from Chetumal to Puerto Costa Maya.

Lisa could re-emerge into the Gulf of Mexico, but as a tropical depression.

Far out in the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Martin rose to hurricane strength Wednesday, but forecasters said it posed no immediate threat to land.

Martin had maximum sustained winds of 85 mph (140 kph). It was centered about 720 miles (1,160 kilometers) south-southeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland, and moving to the east-northeast at 31 mph (50 kph).
Nov. 1The county clerks of Curry and Roosevelt counties have released details of their countys 2022 general election unofficial early and absentee turnout as of Monday.

Curry County Clerk Annie Hogland reports 2210 early voting ballots have been cast as of the close of business Friday.

1621 of those votes were cast at the Curry County administrative complex, 587 at the voting location at the North Plains Mall.

Hogland said 905 absentee by-mail ballots had been issued, of those 504 have been returned.

Hogland said, Theres still time to vote early.

The North Plains Mall voting station is open today through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m, each day.

Voting at the Curry County Administrative Complex is open Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and will also be open Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Hogland and Roosevelt County Clerk Mandi Park both confirmed Saturday marks the end of early voting. There will be no voting on Monday as preparations will be underway for Tuesdays balloting.

Park said as of the close of business Friday 842 people had voted at the clerks office in the county courthouse, 88 at the Jake Lopez Community Center at the Roosevelt County fairgrounds.

Parks office has issued 309 absentee ballots, 160 of those have been returned.

Voting runs through Saturday at the clerks office and at the Jake Lopez Community Center. Voting hours today through Friday at the Roosevelt County courthouse are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and noon to 8 p.m. at the Jake Lopez building. Saturday voting at the courthouse will be from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. at the courthouse and noon until 8 p.m. at the Jake Lopez Community Center.

Both clerks report the last day to request an absentee by-mail ballot is Thursday. Voters must return absentee by-mail ballots to the clerks office by 7 p.m. Election Day.

Hogland and Park confirmed same day voter registration services will be available at voting locations through election day.

More election information can be found on the Bureau of Elections page at http://www.currycounty.org, or on the NM Secretary of States website, http://www.NMVote.org.

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(c)2022 Eastern New Mexico News, Clovis, N.M.

Visit Eastern New Mexico News, Clovis, N.M. at www.easternnewmexiconews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.  Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz formally received a sentence of life without parole Wednesday after families of his 17 slain victims spent two days berating him as evil, a coward, a monster and a subhuman who deserves a painful death.

Cruz, shackled and in a red jail jumpsuit, showed no emotion as Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer pronounced one-by-one 34 consecutive life sentences  one each for the slain and the 17 he wounded during the Feb. 14, 2018, massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in suburban Fort Lauderdale.

The judges voice broke as she read the first sentences, but she gained strength and volume she moved down the list. Scherer had no other choice in sentencing; the jury in Cruzs three-month penalty trial voted 9-3 on Oct. 13 to sentence him to death, but Florida law requires unanimity for that sentence to be imposed.

Scherer made no comments directed at Cruz beyond what was legally required. Instead, the judge commended the victims families and the wounded, calling them strong, graceful and patient.

I know you are going to be OK, because you have each other, Scherer said.

Some parents and other family members of the slain wept as she spoke. When she finished and Cruz was led from the courtroom, one father muttered Good riddance. They then gathered into groups and hugged each other.

Cruz, 24 and a former Stoneman Douglas student, pleaded guilty last year to the massacre, where he stalked a three-story classroom building for seven minutes, firing 140 shots with a semi-automatic rifle. He will be taken within days to the Florida prison systems processing center near Miami before he is assigned to a maximum-security facility. Experts say he will likely be placed into protective custody, perhaps for years, before he is released into the prisons general population.

The sentencing came after the families and the wounded spent two days verbally thrashing Cruz while mourning their loved ones. Many wished him a painful demise and lamented that he could not be sentenced to death. Others said that after leaving court Wednesday, they would try not to think of him again.

Real justice would be done if every family here were given a bullet and your AR-15 and we got to pick straws, and each one of us got to shoot one at a time at you, making sure that you felt every bit of it, Linda Beigel Schulman said. Her son, teacher Scott Beigel, was shot in the back as he led students to safety in his classroom.

She told him that his fear would mount, until the last family member who pulled that last straw had the privilege of making sure that they killed you.

Fred Guttenberg told the court that last week he finally watched the security video of the shooting, witnessing his 14-year-old daughter Jaime get to within one step of a stairway door and safety when Cruzs bullet hit her in the spine.

I saw you enjoy it, he told Cruz. He said he then went to Jaimes grave and asked her for guidance.

I walked away from the cemetery realizing that no matter the verdict, nothing changed. Jaime is still in the cemetery, he said. I am still a dad who every day dreamed of walking his daughter down the aisle and now I have to face a lifetime of reality that I wont.

Victoria Gonzalez, whose boyfriend Joaquin Oliver was murdered as he lay wounded on the floor, told Cruz she had once sat near him in a class. She told him she felt sorry every day for him then, knowing that he struggled. His attorneys said that his birth mothers heavy drinking left him with brain damage  an assertion the prosecution and the families rejected.

I was rooting for you, Gonzalez told Cruz, telling him she would cross her fingers when the teacher asked him a question, hoping he would get it right and feel accomplishment. Back then her life was happy, she had friends: Joaquin loved me for all my flaws.

Now, she says, because of what Cruz did, she can no longer get close to anyone because she fears loss, no matter what her outside appearance says.

I do blame you  not you alone  but definitely you, she said. She recalled listening to a medical examiner describing Olivers gruesome head wound. I will live with that  and you will live with that indifferently.

Several parents over the two days said they would petition the Legislature to change the states death penalty law so that jury unanimity is no longer needed for a judge to impose a death sentence.

Do we now have closure? Let me be clear, absolutely not, said Dr. Ilan Alhadeff, whose 14-year-old daughter Alyssa was killed when Cruz fired into her classroom. What I see is that the system values this animals life over the 17 now dead. Worse, we sent the message to the next killer out there that the death penalty would not be applied to mass killing. This is wrong and needs to be fixed immediately.

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Associated Press writers Freida Frisaro and David Fischer in Miami contributed to this report.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  With Election Day so close, county clerks throughout New Mexico say voters should now cast their ballots in person rather than rely on the mail.

It can take seven days each way for absentee ballots to travel by mail, officials said, so its better for voters with an absentee ballot to return it directly to a clerks office, polling location or secured drop box in the final week.

About 108,000 voters have requested absentee ballots for the general election  with about 66,000 already sent back to clerks and more than 40,000 outstanding, according to figures released Wednesday morning by the Secretary of States Office.

Unlike in some states, absentee ballots in New Mexico cannot be counted if they arrive later than 7 p.m. Tuesday. Its not enough for the ballot be postmarked by Election Day.

Its really a shame when we receive ballots after the deadline, Dona Ana County Clerk Amanda Lopez Askin said in an interview. We know those folks had the best of intentions, and we dont get any pleasure in not counting those votes.

For voters who havent applied for an absentee ballot yet, the clerks suggest heading to the polls in person rather than requesting one by mail at this point.

Absentee ballots have exploded in popularity. County clerks in New Mexico have received about 44% more absentee ballots this year than they had at a similar point in the 2018 election cycle.

Voters have plenty of options for returning absentee ballots in person. They should be sealed in their official envelopes and may be hand delivered to a county clerks office, any polling location or a ballot drop box.

Almost every county now offers the drop boxes  sometimes called secured containers  where voters can slip in their absentee ballot.

They are monitored by surveillance video, protected from tampering and checked for ballots at least once a day, clerks said.

Otero County Clerk Robyn Holmes said chain-of-custody procedures ensure the ballots in the drop box make it to the clerks office. Envelopes are scanned electronically, she said, so they can be tracked from the drop box to the office.

The secured containers are at least as safe, she said, as anything put in a mail box.

Voters should feel very secure, Holmes said of the drop boxes.

Santa Fe County Clerk Katharine Clark said her office also has instituted GPS tracking to monitor ballots received at drop boxes.

If you still have an absentee ballot in hand, she said, you should deliver it to a drop box.

New Mexico hasnt had any reports of intimidation or problems at ballot drop boxes, according to the Secretary of States Office.

State law limits who may return an absentee ballot for another person. Only a caregiver to the voter or a member of the voters immediate family can return their absentee ballot.

Voters who requested an absentee ballot are also welcome to vote in person. They must sign an affidavit at the polling place saying they didnt and wont vote absentee, according to the Secretary of States Office.

We have a great balance between access and security, Lopez Askin said.

Turnout, meanwhile, is tracking a bit behind 2018 levels, when 56% of registered voters participated.

Entering Wednesday, about 21% of registered voters in New Mexico have already cast ballots in this years general election, when races for governor, Congress and other offices are at stake.

The last day for early voting across New Mexico is Saturday, with Election Day on Tuesday.
Emma Lorenz has joined BBC Studios Emmy award-winning Science Unit as its first Creative Director, UK Unscripted. Led by Unit Head Andrew Cohen, and Nicola Cook, Director of Development, Lorenz will be responsible for the domestic creative strategy and growing the units UK slate in documentaries, formats and returning series.

She arrives at a period of rapid expansion for BBC Studios Science Unit which includes a big push into feature docs, formats and scripted. Recent production successes include the BAFTA and Emmy award-winning The Surgeons Cut and the recently launched The Anthrax Attacks for Netflix; Dinosaurs: The Final Day with Sir David Attenborough and Universe with Professor Brian Cox for the BBC; and the AFP (Ad-Funded Programming) series Cook Clever, Waste Less with Prue Leith for Channel 4.

Lorenz joined from Wonderhood Studios, where she was Deputy Creative Director, developing and winning commissions including BBC Threes Trump in Tweets, Channel 4s Baby Surgeons: Delivering Miracles, the recent Super Surgeons: A Chance at Life and BBC Ones The Airport: Back in the Skies  the latter two which she was also an Executive Producer on. Previously she was Director of Development for Lion TV, securing 26 commissions across her three years there, including BBC Ones RAF 100 with Ewan and Colin McGregor and for Channel 4  Worlds Most Luxurious Airline, Secret Life of the Holiday Resort and British Army Girls. Prior to that she was Head of Development for BBC Documentaries, where she gained access to The Metropolitan Police for BBC One series The Met, as well as developing formats like Hair and landing the BAFTA winning Life and Death Row for BBC Three.

Emma Lorenz says, BBC Studios Science Unit is making some amazing content both for the big streamers and the domestic market, and with their impeccable track record, an envy-inducing BBC back catalogue and the fact they work with the brightest talent, both on and off screen  they really are first in their field. Its a genuinely exciting and creative place to be, and the opportunity to work with such a talented team made the role irresistible.

Andrew Cohen, Head of BBC Studios Science Units commented: We are incredibly lucky to have Emma joining our team at a time when we are expanding our ambitions in the UK market. Emma brings a huge wealth of creativity and energy, with a track record that simply speaks for itself. Im very much looking forward to working with Emma as we build on our recent successes in the documentary and format space.

Nicola Cook, Development Director for the Science Unit added: Emmas experience and knowledge of the factual industry is second to none. Were delighted to have her join the team and excited about working with her to take the storytelling skills and expertise of the Science Unit in new directions as we expand the range of our output.
Canara HSBC Life Insurance has announced the launch of a digital product campaign with Jitendra Kumar, a popular content creator on various OTT platforms and web series. The digital video series is aimed at raising awareness around guaranteed benefits of life insurance to achieve financial security for the insured and their family.

In typical Jitendra Kumar style, tapping the deepest consumer need of a common man looking for guarantee in everything, he plays the role of Guarantee Kumar  a person who looks for a guarantee in everything. The campaign comprises of 6 short videos to be released on regular intervals with various campaign creative scheduled for special days starting from the Diwali festive week.

With the launch of this campaign, the brand aims to create awareness amongst the audience on the various benefits of iSelect Guaranteed Future  its life insurance cum savings plan which offers guaranteed maturity benefits along with life cover.

Mr. Anuj Mathur, MD & CEO, Canara HSBC Life Insurance, said, Life insurance is a broad category and has many innovative products which benefit customers at various stages of their lives. At Canara HSBC Life Insurance, we are cognizant of our responsibility of offering innovative solutions as well as educating customers about which solutions are best suited for them. Our aim is to help customers choose their investment options wisely. iSelect Guaranteed Future is a competitive product that provides protection, guaranteed returns that helps plan for crucial milestones of life.

Mr. Rishi Mathur, Chief Digital and Strategy Officer, Canara HSBC Life Insurance, added Canara HSBC Life Insurance is not only committed to product excellence but also in spearheading overall insurance education and awareness. We are confident that our partnership with Jitendra Kumar backed by digital-first outreach will resonate with our target audiences. Generally, we make a lot of promises in life, however, fulfilling each of them becomes challenging with growing responsibilities. With iSelect Guaranteed Future, policyholders have a chance to fulfill their life goals with a guarantee.

About Canara HSBC Life Insurance:

Established in 2008, Canara HSBC Life Insurance Company Limited is a joint venture between Canara Bank (51 per cent), HSBC Insurance (Asia Pacific) Holdings Limited (26 per cent) and Punjab National Bank (23 per cent). The company brings together the trust and market knowledge of public and private banks i.e. Canara Bank and HSBC.

Headquartered in Gurugram, the Company has branch offices pan India. The company sells and services its customers through well-diversified partner bank branches and also has a well-established distribution network in Tier 1, 2 and 3 markets. The company has a vast portfolio of life insurance products and solutions. It offers various products across individual and group spaces comprising of life, health, online term plans, retirement solutions, credit life and employee benefit segments.
Hershey India Pvt Ltd., a part of The Hershey Company, a leading global snacking giant and the largest producer of quality chocolates, has launched its first-ever Halloween campaign #HersheyliciousHalloween. Intending to carry on its global legacy of Halloween celebration, the campaign familiarizes its Indian audience with rituals associated with the festival.

Indians love to celebrate and come together for festivities. Halloween is one such emerging occasion, which is gaining popularity in India. Hershey, true its brand ethos of Celebrating Togetherness, with a portfolio of indulgent chocolates, is encouraging consumers to make their First Halloween, a Hersheylicious Halloween.

The campaign brings together multi-faceted elements that turn this unique occasion, into an adorable excuse for a celebration. The Halloween week will commence with a complete makeover of Hershey Indias social media pages featuring peculiar elements across its feed. The makeover will be followed by the launch of an endearing digital film, which encourages people, across ages, to come together and celebrate this occasion. The brand will also roll out 'Voice the Hershey's Monsters' contest encouraging its audience to remix the reel posted by the brand and get creative by adding voiceovers to it. The winners will be chosen by the audience and will stand a chance to win hampers and exclusive discount coupons from Hershey India.

The digital film by the brand for #HersheyliciousHalloween opens with a little kid preparing his ghost costume for Halloween and taking Hersheys chocolates for trick-or-treating. He then goes around asking his society members for treats, albeit leaves non-reciprocated. Tired of his efforts, the boy is dejected. To his surprise, his neighbors, who had tricked him by turning him away, come together, dressed to celebrate Halloween, over HERSHEYs KISSES and delicious range of chocolates. The film is an expression of opening to new experiences and Hershey India depicts it beautifully. It is conceptualized by Dentsu Webchutney, directed by Isha Astha and produced by Zara Iman from Airvision Films.

Speaking about the Halloween campaign, Ankit Desai, Marketing Director, Hershey India said, Hershey's, our premium, indulgent, chocolate brand, enables endearing moments of affection, be it on special occasions, festivals or everyday moments. Through unique campaigns, we have celebrated key occasions of Valentines, Rakhi, Diwali. #HersheyliciousHalloween campaign, is yet another effort, of encouraging customers to the many ways in which chocolates can be a part of their celebratory moments and they can Say it with a Kiss. We are establishing a culture-shaping movement in India by giving people the opportunity to experience Halloween, together for the first time. Halloween is one of the biggest micro-occasions that is picking up in India, given its popularity amongst GEN Z and young Millennials. With this campaign the larger thought is to generate excitement about this occasion and get Indians to share their stories of celebrating their First Halloween the Hersheys way.

The campaign is conceptualized by Dentsu Webchutney, Digital Agency of Record for Hershey India.
Netflix dropped the trailer of its much awaited neo-noir murder mystery, today. Directed by Vasan Bala, the movie will keep you at the edge of your seat with humor, mystery and a spine-chilling murder along with a crackling star cast. The film brings together some of the finest actors including Rajkummar Rao, Huma S. Qureshi, Radhika Apte, Sikandar Kher, Akansha Ranjan Kapoor, Bagavathi Perumal, Sikandar Kher, Sukant Goel and Zayn Marie Khanand will premiere on Netflix on 11th November 2022.

Commenting on the film, Vasan Bala, Director, says,I am excited for the audience to get a glimpse into the world of Monica O My Darling and be a part of this dark humored crime mystery. I cannot wait for the audience to see what a fabulous job the cast has done, and it's been a terrific ride collaborating with Matchbox Shots, who have been absolutely superb and I always look forward to working with Netflix and creating ground-breaking, binge-worthy content.

Adding to that, Matchbox Shots Producer, Sanjay Routray says, The movie casts an absurd gaze at the world, very much in the tradition of our previous release, Sriram Raghavan's Andhadhun. We've thoroughly enjoyed every step of the process, diving deep into each character's psyche. Partnering with Vasan Bala and collaborating with Netflix has been deeply rewarding and we cannot wait for the audience to be as captivated with Monica O My Darling as we have been!

Monika Shergill, VP-Content, Netflix India, said, Monica O My Darling is a pacy whodunnit that blends thriller and comedy making it supremely entertaining for our members. Vasan Balas unique style of storytelling, complemented with the ensemble cast of Radhika Apte, Rajkummar Rao, and Huma S. Qureshi creates an unforgettable world of mystery, humor and nostalgic music. Monica O My Darling will keep the viewers at the edge of their seats with its dark and devilish twists and turns.

Monica O My Darling begins streaming on 11th November, only on Netflix!
BIC Cello, India's most recognized stationery brand and the leading manufacturer and distributor of writing instruments, has recently announced the launch of the new range of its iconic pen, Butterflow. The revamped, best-in-class ballpoint product range alongside the new formats of gel, and roller pens, aims to offer consumers with a smooth, seamless, and enjoyable writing experience across all platforms, without losing the brand fingerprint.

The relaunch stems from BICs long-term strategy, the Horizon Plan, and from BIC Cellos commitment to develop innovative products and ink flow systems that deliver value to customers writing experience. The recently launched range complements the previous Butterflow collection known for its special formulated lubriflow ink, and encourages youth to express themselves using writing instruments.

Commenting on the occasion, Manos Nikolakis, General Manager at BIC Cello, said: We are ecstatic to bring to market the ultimate writing instrument for the smoothest writing experience with the highest market share in the country. As market leaders, we continue to innovate and advance our products grounded on evidence-based research and strategies around consumer demands and evolving needs as well as purchasing trends. As we expand and uplift our product portfolio of high-quality, affordable, and essential products, we continue to bring simplicity and joy to everyday life and offer our consumers with an enjoyable writing experience.

Championing the spirit of today's youth through their campaign film, Butterflow empowers those who care about the world they live in, have a bias of action and the will to bring in change. The brand aims to equip youth to express themselves and write the change they want to see.

About BIC Cello

BIC Cello, the manufacturer of Cello pens, is India's most recognized stationery brand and the leading manufacturer and distributor of writing instruments. The company focuses on developing innovative new products and ink flow systems, delivering significant value to the writing experience of the customers. BIC Cellos expanded portfolio now includes a range of world-class products including permanent markers, whiteboard markers, color markers, mechanical pencils, roller pens, fountain pens and office and school stationery products. The company sells over five million pens a day and has a strong presence in more than 70 countries around the world. BIC Cellos robust and growing distribution network ensures that its products are accessible across demographics and geographies.
Xapads Media, a leading adtech platform in India has entered into a strategic partnership with top smartphone brand Xiaomi, to offer advertisers exclusive access to its premium app inventory for in-app advertising.



This new partnership will assist brands to tap the full power of on-device app recommendation via Xiaomi and will also help marketers with real-time insights, quality user acquisition, and premium ad placements while generating leads and giving product recommendations in a hygienic environment.



Xiaomi is flourishing in global markets efficiently and with this association, it aims to increase its penetration in the SEA region and also harness its reach along with on-ground sales.



Commenting on this partnership, Nitin Gupta, CEO, Xapads said, We at Xapads are glad to be associated with Xiaomi and its inventory integrated with our award-winning proprietary AI / ML driven programmatic engine, Xerxes, advertisers will get easy and direct access to Xiaomis premium inventory along with better pricing and ad placement options. I believe that with the combination of Xapadss expertise and access to Xiaomis inventory we will be able to offer our clients in the SEA region with best programmatic solutions around OEMs. Together we hope to redefine performance programmatically and help brands to better sustain themselves in the adtech landscape.



Ramneek Chadha, COO, Xapads Media also expressed his excitement about the development, It's great to work with a credible, trusted and leading OEM partner. The new branding and promotion opportunities would help marketers connect with hard-to-reach niche audiences and optimize their ad campaigns.

"Xiaomi doesn't only offer amazing hardware products, we're also committed to creating a rich ecosystem of internet services based on MIUI. Our cooperation with Xapads will build a bridge for better communication between brands and Indonesian consumers and deliver value to everyone." Said Chan Liu, General Manager, International Internet Business Dept., Xiaomi.




What good is the government?

As has been said over and over, the first duty of government is to protect the People. In fact, the Constitution was established to provide for the common defense. Since that quote comes from the very first sentence of our founding document, the protection of the folks must have seemed pretty darn fundamental to the Founders. How far weve fallen.

The federal government is failing at its first duty. For instance, the feds certainly arent protecting the citizenry from millions of foreigners casually walking into America across the southern border. Some of these illegal aliens are on terrorist watch lists, some are repeat felons, some are bringing fentanyl and other illegal drugs with them, and some havent been checked for diseases like COVID-19, tuberculosis, and Zika. (Microcephalic babies, anyone?) Seems the federal government is either incompetent or doesnt care about its first duty.

Known as the Guarantee Clause, Section 4 of Article IV of the Constitution commands that (italics added): The United States [i.e. the federal government] shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion.

The U.S. has other laws that stipulate just how foreigners are to be granted entry into the country. That these laws arent being enforced doesnt mean that the ongoing influx of foreigners isnt an invasion, it just means that the federal government isnt enforcing the law.

It seems quite beyond debate that the federal government isnt defending the People from invasion. But many folks wont know that unless they follow Fox News or read the New York Post. Thats because most of the media isnt reporting on the border crisis. The feds dont want Americans to know about the border crisis -- the FAA has banned the Fox News drones from flying over the border to film the invasion. Seems the feds dont want us to know theyre not doing their duty.

What good is Congress, our federal legislature, if it doesnt insist that the laws it has passed be enforced? When the executive branch doesnt enforce the law, Congress should immediately start impeachment proceedings. Are we a nation of laws or what?

The government isnt protecting us from the government. Much of what the feds are doing now is patently illegal, and even unconstitutional. Will the perps ever have to face the music?

Are the feds protecting us from a Civil War when they try to inflame our passions and divide us with lies, e.g. that the border is closed?

The government also isnt defending us when the courts release violent criminals with long rap sheets from prison and back out onto the streets to reoffend. How are the feds protecting the middle class, the American Dream, our very culture?

Id say that right now the federal government is about as useful as teats on a boar hog. What does the federal government do well? Well, they are undisputed masters at spending other peoples money, and quite often they spend that money on themselves.

Any halfway normal person rating the quality of our current political leaders would have serious doubts about the rightness of the American electoral system. How could any decent system produce such leaders? Much of our elective government is made up of scoundrels, crooks, feral children, doddering old fools, and rabid authoritarians. Consider the antics of Speaker Pelosi; every time she opens her yap she insults half the country. Our doofus of a president is a dim frail husk; the only thing Biden does well is lie, which he does with abandon.

The People are the ultimate stakeholders of these United States; the People created this country. So how can it be legal for the government to lie to the People? When the FBI sets out to entrap us, we can be thrown into prison for lying to the Bureau about trivial matters. But the FBI can lie to us with impunity about matters of great consequence. Is our government for the People, or is it for the politicians? Is it our country or theirs?

If this is what democracy looks like, then maybe wed be better off with some other system, perhaps a kingdom led by a philosopher king. Look at how quickly the Brits relieved Prime Minister Liz Truss of her duties -- only 44 days. To contrast, America has put up with our lying senile head of state for two years, and will probably have to put up with him for two more years.

We could, of course, get rid of Biden tomorrow. But Congress is too worthless to impeach him, and Bidens cabinet is too timid to invoke the 25th Amendment to send him packing.

When neither Congress nor the presidents cabinet have the wherewithal to do their duty, the People should have recourse to some remedy to oust him, perhaps a recall election. But recall elections are a major undertaking, and arent available on the federal level. So the People must wait until the next elections to register their dissatisfaction.

We have no safeguards to prevent lowlifes from gaining power, nor do we have efficient means of ousting our unfit leaders in a timely manner.

But, because voters (supposedly) installed our feckless leaders and re-elect them year after year, it appears that we the People are partly responsible for our sorry excuse of a democracy. Perhaps we are no longer capable of self-government, perhaps were no longer wise enough for a true democracy. So we the People are failing in our duty, too.

The American system of representative democracy certainly doesnt ensure that we get the best and brightest working for us. Consider the race for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, where one candidate had a serious stroke earlier this year. Shouldnt some entity be able to take him off the ballot, or at least demand a full cognitive test? John Fetterman might well be the deciding vote to enact another wasteful trillion-dollar spending package, or cast the deciding vote to go to war.

Pennsylvanias election system is so screwy that a cognitively challenged authoritarian wacko who has won a primary can own a spot on the ballot. But taking him off the ballot would be undemocratic. If Fetterman is what democracy looks like, then to hell with democracy.

A true representative democracy demands that elections faithfully reflect the choices of legitimate voters. Im here to tell you that no one in America can prove what the legitimate vote counts are in most elections, and especially in the popular vote for president. So, America isnt a real democracy. Sorry about that, but if you want a democracy, you might try looking abroad.

There should never be any doubt about who has won an election. The January 6 riot at the Capitol is the result of the government refusing to devise a system that leaves no doubt about election outcomes, whereby it can be demonstrated who rightfully won an election. If you want to do your duty, then vote for change on November 8.

Jon N. Hall of ULTRACON OPINION is a programmer from Kansas City.

Image: Tom Arthur
America has always been a nation of practical people; we know what we want and from the beginning weve used common sense and knowledge of history, both biblical and secular, to figure out how to get it. We knew from the get go that freedom was the ticket, that government was the enemy, that God was the foundation on which this nation must be built. A large portion of our citizenry, unfortunately, has forgotten these things, and the latest generations never learned them in the first place.

Weve lost track of the paradoxical fact that you cant have freedom without law. Not only that, but you cant have law without punishment. Were seeing that right now as defunded police departments and lax district attorneys are allowing criminals to roam our streets with no fear of retribution. Inner city dwellers are no longer free to leave their homes and run their businesses. Not even major nabobs like Paul Pelosi are safe.

We also seem to think that we can have rights without responsibilities. We cant maintain those rights without first learning the workings of our government, which is like no other the world has ever seen. We must be ready and able to defend the Constitution that is also unlike any the world has ever seen. We need to vote knowledgably and with the wellbeing of our fellow citizens in mind. We need to understand the economic principles that have brought us unparalleled prosperity.

But we are under the impression that we can have prosperity without production. Production requires natural resources, which many think we have no right to. To take advantage of these natural resources requires us to disturb nature and since nature has taken the place of God, we cant have that. Production also requires knowledge, skill, and hard work, all of which have become seriously unpopular in recent years. Like Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, too many of us believe the myth that wealth can be had without effort. (Of course, if you can get elected to Congress, that may work out fine for you.)

Speaking of natural resources, theres a popular notion that we can have comfort without the use of fossil fuels. Many of us make the mistake of thinking of electricity as an environmentally safe energy source, not realizing that electricity is not a form of energy, but rather a form of energy delivery. It has to be generated from an actual form of energy -- coal, natural gas, oil. Of course we could use hydroelectric power, but then we disturb the salmon. What about solar? Wind? Those, of course, depend on the weather and theres nothing less dependable than weather. Also, we have no practical way of storing this energy, which makes it available only when the wind blows or the sun shines.

While were talking about fuels, lets explore another silly fantasy were living in. Were trying to transport goods and people without using fossil fuels. Have you seen the latest stats on electric trucks? It isnt pretty.

If we fail to transport goods cheaply, then farmers will have no way to get their products to market. Nor will they have any way to acquire the seed and fertilizer and machinery they need to do their jobs. Can you picture a combine with a long orange extension cord stretched out across the wheat fields? Farmers take an enormous financial risk every time they plant a crop and the thinner their profit margin, the fewer farmers there will be. The fewer farmers, the higher the price of food. We cant have food without farmers and we cant have farmers without fuel.

Which brings me to Nancy Pelosis recent statement about us needing illegals to pick our fruit. We are trying to stick our noses in the air about the evils of slavery (an evil, indeed), all the while sucking a slave class in through our southern border. Were also trying to solve the homeless problems among our own citizens while inviting in millions of illegals who are free to compete with Americans for decent-paying jobs as well as for inadequate housing options.

Were assuming we can maintain our status as a nation without maintaining our borders. Never in the history of mankind has that worked. In fact, quite the opposite: countries that were good at protecting their borders even went so far as to extend those borders. Were collapsing ours. We have to be nuts.

Were also trying to run schools without discipline and without expectations; weve traded solid curriculum for CRT and hypersexualization. We give awards for mere breathing; in fact, were trying a clever thing -- graduation without learning, without even attending. (Nearly 20 years ago Oregon made it illegal to fail a student for nonattendance.) Weve given up teaching real history for fantasy history. Weve given up on math because were told that minorities find it difficult. Our children have missed two years of school, have had their immune systems tampered with, and have lost crucial linguistic and social development. But not to worry  a few drag queen read-alouds and all will be well.

Our medical institutions are limping as well. Were trying to do medicine without compassion. I always counted on the medical dictum, First, do no harm. Thats gone now, and has been exchanged for a promise to honor all witch doctor indigenous practices. I dont know if that includes Uncle Judds moonshine, heavy doses of snake oil, or mustard compresses. We once trusted our doctors, our pharmacists. No more. There is no compassion in slicing up sexually confused children. There is no compassion in urging people to be vaccinated with a vaccine that does much more harm than it does good. Theres money in those activities, but no compassion.

Perhaps that scenario follows naturally from our trying to do science without integrity. Here we are, nearly worshipping science as the dispenser of all knowledge, the grand knower of all things, but instead, science is a for-hire proposition just like everything else. He who pays for the study gets the results he desires. And if the scientist can hire on with big government, theres even more moola to be made and more power to enjoy.

The fact is that we have become a society expecting to enjoy the benefits of trust, but we dont much like truth. We want our pastors, our doctors, our journalists, our officials to inform us, but heaven help them if they dont tell us what we want to hear. We each want our own truth, our own version of what is.

But mainly we are trying to have goodness without God, without Jesus Christ. Yet, though weve bid Him leave, He hasnt. Hes still here, with us, raising great voices to lead America out of the dead end weve backed into. Those voices know Him, know thats where real power lies, where real compassion is born, from which all goodness springs. Lets vote well next month and lets put the horse back in front of our cart. Lets open our thinking to Grantor of our Freedoms.

Deana Chadwell is an adjunct professor and department head at Pacific Bible College https://pacificbible.edu in southern Oregon. She teaches writing, logic, and literature. She can be contacted at dchad_02@charter.net.

Image: Public Domain
About one year after former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows went to federal court for protection against a subpoena issuing from the Pelosi inquisition panel on Jan. 6, U.S. District Court Judge Carl J. Nichols, in the District of Columbia, dismissed the Meadows complaint, asserting that the court, based on the Constitution's Speech and Debate Clause (Art. I, Sec. 6), lacks subject-matter jurisdiction. (Dismissal was without prejudice.). It is not insignificant that Judge Nichols cited the Speech and Debate Clause, sua sponte -- on his own; this defense was not raised by the Pelosi committee.

The opinion of Judge Nichols in the Meadows lawsuit seems -- at least to this observer -- at odds with the four-month sentence he handed down against Steve Bannon for contempt of Congress. In the Bannon matter, Judge Nichols, based on reports seen by this writer, did not brush off Bannon's challenge of a Jan. 6 committee subpoena. Indeed, a CNN report pointed out that Judge Nichols recognized that Bannon's objection to the subpoena was not unreasonable, with the judge going so far as to wonder why the Pelosi committee rushed to hold Bannon in contempt, rather than bringing a civil action to enforce its subpoena. Still, Judge Nichols upheld the validity of the subpoena.

Judge Carl. J. Nichols (Official US District Court photo)

To this observer, the subpoena issued by Committee Chair Bennie Thompson was an action, not a matter of speech or debate, and should receive no greater judicial backing than an ultra vires act of a corporate official disregarding the company's by-laws. After all, the Jan. 6 House Select Committee was not faithfully organized according to the terms of H. Res 503,, the authorizing resolution, providing for a committee of eight Democrats and five Republicans, a ranking member, consultation between the Speaker and House Minority Leader on subpoenas seeking depositions. Also, while Liz Cheney, one of the two Republicans selected by the Speaker, not by House GOP leader McCarthy, was named committee "vice chair," H. Res 503 did not establish a vice chair. To this observer, by honoring the validity of the Bannon and Medows subpoena, Judge Nichols declared, effectively: "No one is above the law, except House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and members of Congress doing her biding."
Conservatives and liberals, Republicans and Democrats, independents and Libertarians, all are for successful rehabilitation of American criminals. The key word is "successful." Beyond the important discussions about the role of punishment, "paying a debt to society," psychological, moral, or spiritual redemption, and "doing the time" in common parlance, is the nature of the complex process, components, or atmosphere of a criminal's successful rehabilitation.

A GED or education in general for criminal prisoners has parallel importance to practical job training and associated social-vocational skills  not easy tasks to accomplish. The teacher-mentors with a genuine calling to serve and teach in such prison programs are invaluable and morally majestic.

For criminals with significant histories of alcohol and substance abuse, twelve steporiented treatment approaches and sobriety maintenance establishment are obviously crucial. In fact, the inner searching and honest psychological inventories associated with A.A. and N.A. work with a sponsor and meeting attendance have remarkably similar qualities to successful psychotherapy experiences. In fact, when anxiety disorders or significant personality and behavior disorders are present separate from substance abuse, group and individual therapy experiences are imperative therapeutic opportunities.

A final theme involves what I would call an inner attitude  spiritual and psychological change of heart and mind. Some of the most profound changes of heart, mind, and spirit are observed in faith-based prison ministries as described by Charles Colson of Watergate infamy. A close friend of mine and a psychiatrist has led a Bible study group in a local prison in his hometown. Over the years, he has seen such changes in some of the members of his groups that are inspiring.

Jared Kushner in his remarkable book, Breaking History, eloquently describes Donald Trump's pardon of Alice Johnson, a grandmother who helped other prisoners with Christmas plays in prison. Johnson said, "I'm free to hug my family. I'm free to live life. I'm free to start over. This is the greatest day of my life." Kushner said of Johnson, "Her emotion was raw, her joy contagious, her long suffering and love emanated from her smile."



Alice Johnson (White House photo).

Donald Trump told Kushner, "Jared, that is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. I've been around for a long time, and that was beautiful. I can tell she is a solid person. There must be more like that in prison. Let's find more worthy cases to do."
Media reports on the incident at the Pelosi home in San Francisco in the early hours of Friday, October 28, exemplified by the coverage of the New York Times, seem to be attempting to fan the flames of an asymmetric application of justice. The party line issuing from the anti-Trump mob asserts that David DePape, the alleged attacker of Paul Pelosi, husband of Speaker Pelosi, was motivated by constant demonization of the Speaker by former president Trump and his supporters.

This narrative carefully ignores the incessant demonizing of the former president and his supporters by Ms. Pelosi and the anti-Trump media. And how quickly the media forgets President Bidens attack on Trump and MAGA in Philadelphia just two months ago. Obviously, for the left, denouncing Trump and MAGA people as threats to democracy accurately characterizes conservatives, and scarcely amounts to demonizing.

(And don't forget the David Plouffe tweet, June 2016, reported by New York Times reporter Amy Chozik, early August 2016, demanding the thorough destruction of Donald J. Trump and "his kind." The title of that Chozik report said that Democrats were looking beyond winning the presidency, to ending the Trump movement. Political zealots regard adversaries as pests, vermin, demons as targets for destruction -- hardly reflecting the open spirit of democracy, n'est-ce pas?)

Given the totalitarian leaning of the current administration, one doubts that the facts of the Pelosi home break-in (or enter-in?) will be disclosed, fully. Victoria Taft has written at PJ Media that the transcript of Paul Pelosi's 911 phone call to the police should be made public. Ms. Taft also wonders: who opened the door to let the police into the Pelosi home?

The Washington Post, Saturday, October 29, led the media in linking the attack on Paul Pelosi to "years of GOP demonizing" of the speaker, his wife of 59 years. But the New York Times picked up the ball and ran with it, after seeing the Post signal the party line.

The initial New York Times report on the Palosi home incident carried a (below-the-fold) neutral headline:

"Pelosi's Husband Is Badly-Injured In Hammer Attack by an Intruder"

The second paragraph stated that the intruder struck Mr. Pelosi with the hammer "in front of the officers. said William Scott, San Francisco's chief of police." This Times account of the incident linked the attack on Mr.Pelosi to "the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol...." The story, by Kellen Browning, Tim Arango, Luke Broadwater and Holly Second (with a San Francisco dateline -- for all these reporters?), included this observation: "The speaker has been demonized for years by people on the right, and with increasing ferocity." (Here echoing The Washington Post?)

The Times on October 30 carried a story by Catie Edmonson with this neutral headline (on page 14): Pelosi Attack Highlights Increasing Fears of Violence Incited by Politics" -- but by the third paragraph, Ms. Edmondson wrote of the Speaker being "demonized by Republicans," ignoring her many years of demonizing Donald J. Trump. The rest of this half page, six column article gave passing notice to Democrat attacks on Republicans, including the shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise by a leftist, but leaned more forcefully against Republicans. This heavy-handed example of Times' anti-GOP propaganda appeared as the headline for an October 31 front-page (below-the-fold) story by Annie Karni, Catie Edmondson and Carl Hulse: "Years of Efforts to Vilify Pelosi/Preceded Brutal Attack in Home."

Here is the fifth paragraph of the Karni/Edmondson/Hulse of the October 31 Times contribution to the media's use of the Pelosi incident for anti-Republican propaganda purposes:

"The attack on Ms. Pelosi's husband, Paul Pelosi, on Friday [Oct. 28], which left him with a fractured skull and appeared to be part of a planned attack on the speaker herself, came after a yearslong campaign by Republicans to demonize and dehumanize Ms.Pelosi in increasingly ugly ways." This Times attack on Republicans continued: "For the better part of two decades, Republicans have targeted Pelosi, the most powerful woman in American politics, as the most sinister Democratic villain of all, making her the evil star of their advertising and fund-raising appeals in hopes of animating their core supporters." David DePape, identified as "[t]he suspect," was said "to have been obsessed with right-wing conspiracy theories...."

Below the Karni/Edmondson/Hulse October 31 piece on the Pelosi incident, an article by Kellen Browning, Alan Feuer, Charlie Savage and Eliza Fawcett -- "" -- included a report " that DePape had given a statement" to the San Francisco police. But the October 31 article did not give the name of counsel for DePape.

The print edition front page November 1 Times article on the Pelosi incident, by Ms. Browning, joined by Glenn Thrush and Tim Arango -- "Charges Depict/ A Chilling Plan/ Against Pelosi" -- carried this subhead: "Threat to Take Speaker / and Break Her Knees."

The cyber headline stated: "Intruder Wanted to Break Speaker Pelosi's Kneecaps, Federal Complaint Says?"

This account indicated that information of the "plan against Pelosi" came from an interview by the police with suspect DePape.

On page A15 of the print edition of the November 1 Times, the second paragraph, quoted in full, states: "It was not immediately clear who was representing Mr. DePape in the cases." The following questions immediately come to mind:

Was David DePape questioned without an attorney present representing him? Was this suspect informed of his right to be silent? Was he told that he had a right to be represented by an attorney, and that if he could not afford an attorney he could still be represented by counsel. In short, was David DePape Miranda-ized?

It must be noted that six paragraphs from the end of the November 1 Times story on Pelosi, trhis media attack on "Republicans and other conservative voices" appeared:

"In the aftermath of the attack [on Paul Pelosi], Republicans and other conservative voices spread lies, misinformation and baseless conspiracy theories about the assault. ominously suggesting that the media was withholding sordid facts about the case.

The November 1 TImes story, on the curious case of the October 28 encounter between David DePape and Paul Pelosi, whereby Mr. Pelosi was seriously injured, allegedly by Mr. DePape in the presence of two San Francisco policemen, concluded with these paragraphs:

Ms. [Brooke] Jenkins, the San Francisco district attorney, said that the widespread misinformation circulating on the case had made it all the more important for prosecutors to present all the facts to the public. "We of course do not want distorted facts floating around, certainy not in a manner that is further traumatizing a family that's already been traumatized enough, she said.

Does that mean the transcript of Mr. Pelosi's 911 phone call will not be released because it may be traumatizing?

The New York Times has not published editorial comment on the incident at the Pelosi home. Given the editorializing in its "news" reports on the matter, it doesn't have to,

The November 1 print edition did publisht five letters to the editor on the subject.

The first letter cast stones at the Republican Party without naming it.

The second letter objected to below the fold treatment of the front-page article, October 30 -- and proceeded to vilify Trump, Rep. Taylor-Greene, and hoped "the speaker stays safe from this MAGA contingent led by the former president and his ilk."

The third letter prayed that Mr.Pelosi has a speedy recovery, that the attacker gets sentenced to no less than twenty years in prison -- and wondered why the Pelosi home lacked security measures.

The fourth letter urged "all responsible Americans to vote for Democratic candidates to block the Republican Party from completing its destructive agenda."

The fifth letter speculated that Speaker Pelosi has been "viciously demonized by MAGA zealots because she tore up her copy of President Trump's final State of the Union address, and suggested that "armed vigilantes" will bully poll workers with "good people [driven from] public life."

Of course, for the Times base, "good people" cannot possibly be Republicans, conservatives, or MAGA suppoters. For The New York Times and "its ilk" anyone who does not march in lockstep with the left is, of course, a threat to democracy.
Brazil's unsettling election, where leftist Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva won by one percentage point over conservative incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro, often described as Brazil's version of Donald Trump, pretty well is leading to protests -- and they're big.

According to Reuters:

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian authorities said on Wednesday they are making headway in their efforts to clear blockades set up across the country by truckers to protest President Jair Bolsonaro's narrow loss to leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in an Oct. 30 runoff election. Brazil's Federal Highway Police (PRF) said protesters were blocking highways partially or fully in 156 locations as of Wednesday morning, down from around 190 the previous night. The blockades began Sunday night after polls closed in Brazil. Although smaller than in previous days, the protests are still likely disrupting fuel distribution, meat production, food deliveries to supermarkets and shipments of grains to ports. Anvisa, the national health agency, warned that the blockades could lead to shortages of medical supplies. Police said 601 roadblocks had been cleared across the country, though roads remained blocked or partially blocked in 15 of Brazil's 26 states, most notably in Santa Catarina and Mato Grosso, where Bolsonaro has strong popular support.

Multiple large international airports, an important means of transport in a jungle-bound country with no extensive network of transcontinental roads, were also shut down, according to Folha de Sao Paulo. Folha had some good pictures showing the extent of the protests.

The election was close, with only a point's difference between the two diamentrically opposed candidates, so close there's never been one that close in Brazil's history.

The polls and election apparat are left-biased, so it was amazing the race came as close as it did, assuming it was honest.

Problem though, is that thousands aren't convinced it was, which is why there are protests -- and the dynamic is not the same as the American one on who is what kind of voter -- the large cities, for instance, were all solidly pro-Bolsonaro. The poorer outskirts were Lula supporters.

Some things that were disturbing to the urban Bolsonaro voters on Brazil's election night, watching it as I did on Twitter, was that Bolsonaro was ahead for the duration of the race and only lost his lead by a narrow margin at the very end. Reuters was putting out tweet headlines about Bolsonaro being in the lead and then all of a sudden, the direction flipped.

Why do those things always happen one way, with the leftist coming out on top?

Bolsonaro himself had been warning about fraud in the system, too, presumably based on the bias of the ballot counters, but also on the use of Smartmatic voting machines, whose use had been questioned in Venezuela and the Philippines in the past, triggering protests.

Now, I'm not ready to insist it was fraud, because maybe it was not.

Polls did have Lula a little ahead, which went in his favor. The Latin American Zeitgeist these days has been to embrace the far left, so Lula also had that going for him, too. A third factor was likely a sympathy vote -- Lula had been thrown in jail for corruption for a few years until the conviction was vacated, and such an extreme action, with politicized overtones (although Bolsonaro was not involved), is bound to have made some voters angry to see a former leader who went out on a wave of popularity to be treated like that. A fourth factor is that COVID was very harsh in Brazil, with huge numbers of deaths. Bolsonaro did not act like a tyrant as so many U.S. mostly Democrat governors did, but he likely was blamed anyway, given the severity. A fifth factor was the sudden moderation of Lula's party platform and choice of associates, particularly his vice president, a reputed conservative -- the prospect of Lula not acting like Hugo Chavez or Gustavo Petro was probably attractive to voters, and it also was within character. Anyone who watches Oliver Stone's valuable documentary on Latin America's leaders called "South of the Border" would find that Lula, when interviewed, was quite a bit more sane, human, reasonable, and less seemingly corrupt than the other far-left Latin leaders who either oozed corruption or were simply wild-eyed crazy leftists. So that, too, probably helped Lula.

Still, it's a hard call, and it's very hard to lose a major election by a narrow margin. What we can take from this is that even in the best of systems, where elections are tallied in one night, not several months as the U.S.. transparency in elections, with every step visible, is the only way to retain confidence in elections.

It's quite tragic how this election turned out in Brazil, because Bolsonaro was a worthy president and had President Trump's full endorsement. He can console himself with the reality that he can run again, if they don't manage to jail him, which is a real risk, given the Democrats' example in the states as well as the urge to pay back for the jailing of Lula. But even more important, huge gains were made by Bolsonaro's party in the legislature and in the governorships.

Bolsonaro, having founded a movment, like Trump, should be able to triumph once again.

Image: Screen shot from NBC News, via YouTube.
Kanye West is an angry man who at times exhibits uncontrollable rage fueled by insecurity and bipolar disorder (diagnosed in 2016). His mother, Donda West (1949-2007), who was the most important influence in his life, fostered a sense of entitlement within him justifying his outbursts as an expression of greatness.

Understanding Kanye West (born in 1977 in Atlanta, Georgia) is not easy. His rise and fall reflect our turbulent times. His father was a Black Panther and later a photographer for the Atlanta Constitution. His mother was an English professor at Clark Atlanta University.

When his parents divorced at age 3, West moved with his mother to Chicago where she became chair of the English Department at Chicago State University. At age 10, he traveled with his mother to Nanjing, China where she taught for a brief period.

Wests artistic side revealed itself at an early age, and he began to explore his future career as a young teenager. He initially found success arranging and writing music eventually shining as a producer. He ultimately wanted to be a rapper but struggled to gain an opportunity. At the time it was perceived that to be a successful rapper, you had to be gangsta and West hardly had the background.

Image: Kanye West. YouTube screen grab (cropped).

Being persistent, West was eventually given an opportunity and went on to become a huge success. By the time he appeared on Tucker Carlsons show on October 6 and 7, he had an estimated fortune of $2 billion dollars according to Forbes Magazine. Along the way, he began exhibiting a pattern of behavior more reminiscent of an angry child than an adult. There are numerous outbursts that can easily be found online.

As to Wests anti-Semitism, since the 1960s, many within the Black community have harbored a strong dislike/hatred of Jews to the point where it is everyday street corner rhetoric. This came from the likes of Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Farrakhan even went as far as calling Hitler a great man. No liberal Black leader political or otherwise has ever spoken out against his hate speech directed at the Jews.

West, like other Blacks, absorbed this. His wife was friends with Ivanka Trump, and he did not care for either Ivanka or her husband Jared Kushner. This was clear from the Tucker Carlson interview. So, Wests fallback position was to go death con three (sic) on the Jews, blaming them for the blowback from his childish behavior.

Last week, Rolling Stone ran a piece entitled Kanye is Never Coming Back From This. I do not believe recovery is impossible, but it will take a better man than he is now to do so.

Al Bienenfeld is a Businessman-Builder and can be reached at therationalmind@comcast.net.

Robin M. Itzler is a regular contributor to American Thinker. She can be reached at PatriotNeighbors@yahoo.com.
Just yesterday, Arizona libertarian U.S. Senate candidate Marc Victor ended his campaign and urged his supporters to back Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters.

Victor was polling at 1% in a New York Times/Siena College poll released Monday.

Victor said he ran for the Senate to promote and get us in the direction of freedom and peace and civility."

In his endorsement of Masters, Victor said that Masters is doing everything he can to get us very sternly, very smartly in the direction of 'live and let live.' And that seems like a good tradeoff to me."

Masters participated in a video conference with Victor and hoped the competition-turned-endorsement will boost turnout on Election Day.

Democrat Mark Kelly leads Masters 51%-45% in the New York Times/Siena College poll, outside the 4.4 percentage point margin of error.

RealClearPolitics, which does an average of all the polls has designated the race as a toss-up.

Fox News Power Rankings and even the Cook Political Report put the Arizona Senate race as a toss-up, which suggests that the GOP's chances are improving in this crucial race, which could be crucial in determining which party takes control of the Senate following the midterms.

Previously, Kelly had an emphatic lead of more than 10 points over Masters, however, that majority seems to have melted.

Why have people changed their minds so drastically?

It's not the people, but rather the polling agencies.

As the late great Rush Limbaugh used to say, polls taken months before the elections are meant to influence voters, i.e., enthuse Democrats and dispirit Republicans. But as Election Day nears, the polling agencies begin to depict the real picture just to retain some credibility. They need to have some kind of record of being correct, or no one will pay attention to them next time.

Back to third-party candidates overall?

Currently, in the U.S. Senate race Erik Gerhardt in Pennsylvania, Jeremy Kauffman in New Hampshire, Chase Oliver in Georgia, and Neil Scott in Nevada are libertarian candidates running for the Senate in races that seem evenly poised between Republican and Democrat candidates.

Lets look at the race in Georgia.

Georgia's law states that if no candidate gets more than 50% of the votes on Nov. 8, the Senate race will go to a runoff four weeks later  on Dec. 6  between the top two vote-getters.

RealClearPolitics, which does an average of all the polls, has designed the race as a toss-up with Republican Herschel Walker leading by 1.6 points.

A new Atlanta Journal-Constitution survey, has Walker at 45.5 percent, Democrat Raphael Warnock at 45.2 percent, and Libertarian Chase Oliver at 4.8 percent.

Oliver seems poised to cause a run-off. However he has no compunctions about this. He told Fox 5 Atlanta: If I cause a runoff, Im happy that happens because it will show that voters are frustrated with the two parties, and they want better options.

Libertarians who stand for freedom and small government are known to poach on Republican votes.

Oliver even claimed that he can expound Republican principles better than Walker:

I feel like [Walker] is unable to really articulate the principles of limited government, small government, lower taxes. If you cant properly articulate that, and in particular in a debate to defend those ideas, then I dont think voters are going to have faith in you.

However, there is more to Oliver who seems unclear about libertarian principles.

He is pro-choice and said that if he was in the U.S. Senate, he would have drafted a bill to protect the bodily autonomy of women and codify abortion into law.

Chase is also in favor of ending cash bail claiming that:

"Bail is forcing people who have not been convicted of a crime to pay for their pretrial freedom. The bail bond industry is built on the backs of the poor and mostly those arrested in the War on Drugs. Five hundred thousand people are in jail right now, not convicted of anything but being poor."

These ideas will turn off GOP voters and independent voters who are sick of crime, and his remarks are unlikely to earn him Democrat votes.

Libertarians support a fair criminal justice system, but they also know its necessary to protect individual safety and property rights. Ending cash bail clearly conflicts with these principles.

There are other third-party candidates in Senate races.

In Pennsylvania, where the race is very close, there is Libertarian Party candidate Erik Gerhardt. In New Hampshire, once again, where the race is close, there is Libertarian Jeremy Kauffman. Finally, in the closely contested race in Nevada, there is Libertarian Neil Scott.

An anomaly to this is Utah which is the only state with no Democrat candidate running for Senate. Instead sitting Sen. Mike Lee (R) is running against Independent Evan McMullin who is also a former presidential candidate and a retired CIA officer. The Utah Democrat party has endorsed McMullin.

Beyond the Senate, there are gubernatorial races and House races that are also very competitive but have third-party candidates, such as the Libertarians, and the Greens.

There is former House Republican candidate from 2018, Shane Hazel who is the Libertarian Georgia gubernatorial candidate.

If all of these candidates drop out and endorse their GOP rivals, they will increase the chances of the Republican winning.

We must remember that these third-party candidates can be misused.

These are desperate times for Democrats, it is seemingly increasingly likely that they will lose both the House and the Senate. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

They have already exploited the attack on Paul Pelosi to baselessly claim it was either right-wing violence or inspired by the GOPs rhetoric.

There are reports that Joe Biden may have also been attempting to meddle with the midterms.

The Democrats could support third-party candidates via the backdoor who can spoil the race.

The Democrats did meddle in the GOP primaries to facilitate the election of the most 'extreme' (read: MAGA) candidates whom they thought had a lower chance of winning the midterm. But the polls now indicate that these very candidates are likely to triumph during the main contest.

Despite the possibilities of backdoor deals between third-party candidates and the Democrats, third-party candidates still have the right to participate in elections.

The Democrats also have a challenge.

There is Betsy Johnson a former Democratic state senator who is running as an independent gubernatorial candidate in Oregon.

Perhaps the GOP could have adopted a similar strategy and supported far-left third or perhaps fourth candidates to poach votes from Democrats.

This is a common strategy in multiparty Democracies, the bigger parties support extreme candidates via the backdoor to eliminate their rivals via proxy.

In a democracy, each and every citizen has a right to vote and also has the right to contest elections, irrespective of motive and as long as laws haven't been violated

The Republicans and Democrats will have to work harder and campaign more persuasively and make the spoiler irrelevant.

Image: Screen shot from KGUN9 video, via YouTube
Sony has announced the official launch date of the PS VR2 and it may be coming sooner (or later) than some were hoping. Back at the end of August, Sonys official PlayStation account on Instagram confirmed the PS VR2 would be launching in early 2023. But it didnt mention when exactly.

This morning Sony confirmed the launch date in a blog post, while also announcing that pre-orders would begin this month. Those who want to be among the first to try one can pre-order the headset on November 15. Just be aware that youll have to essentially buy a second PS5 console. Because thats how much the headset is going to cost. At $549.99, Sony has set the price tag slightly higher than a PS5 Disc Edition.

Sony will also offer a bundle that comes with Horizon Call of The Mountain for $599.99, and VR2 Sense controller charging station for $49.99. Pre-orders are initially limited to PlayStation Direct and to customers in the US, UK, Germany, Luxembourg, France, Belgium, and Netherlands.

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Sony confirms PS VR2 launch date is late February

Its still a few months away, but on February 22, 2023 consumers can officially buy the PS VR2. For $549.99 Sony is definitely pricing the headset rather high. Its $150 more than the original PS VR was when it launched back in 2016. And its $150 more than the latest price of the Meta Quest 2.

But considering all of its advancements, a price increase isnt exactly surprising. Its also a lot cheaper than the recently announced Meta Quest Pro with a price tag of $1,500. Yet its likely to be closer to that in terms of performance, for a much lower price. In fact, for $450 less than the Meta Quest Pro, you can pick up the PS5 and a PS VR2. Provided you can actually find a PS5.

And Sony is likely hoping that price comparison will help it dominate the VR market as it did with the original headset. Sony also still plans to ramp up production of the PS5 through the holidays. With a planned goal to sell a total of 18 million consoles for the fiscal year 2023, which ends March 31 of 2023.

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Its currently sold about 5.7 million since March 31 of this year (lifetime sales are at 25 million). So the company has a long way to go. But the ramp up could prove to be a good thing for the February launch date of the new headset. As more people should have the PS5 by then.
China's top legislator meets Vietnam's communist party chief

Xinhua) 09:34, November 02, 2022

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, meets with Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee, at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 1, 2022. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)

BEIJING, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislator Li Zhanshu on Tuesday met with Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee.

Li, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, introduced the great political achievements and significance of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), saying that the CPC and the Chinese people are working together with full confidence towards the goal of advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization.

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, meets with Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee, at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 1, 2022. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)

Li said that China's NPC is willing to further strengthen exchanges and cooperation with Vietnam's National Assembly (NA) and contribute to deepening the China-Vietnam comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership in the new era.

Trong expressed his expectation that Vietnam's NA and China's NPC will further strengthen exchanges, jointly implement the consensus reached by the top leaders of the two parties, and push forward the Vietnam-China friendly cooperation of "comrades and brothers" to bear new fruits.

(Web editor: Cai Hairuo, Liang Jun)
(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 2 - A mural of a woman bending open prison bars on the grill of her burqa appeared at dawn Wednesday outside the Iranian embassy in Rome.

The latest work of street artist Harry Greb also shows a white dove containing a portrait of Masha Amini, the 22-year-old woman arrested and beaten by Iran's morality police for incorrectly wearing her veil on September 13 and who died of her injuries two days later, sparking a still-ongoing wave of protests by Iranian women against the autocratic Islamic regime.

Scores of people have died amid a crackdown on the protests.

(ANSA).


Berlin,decision on price cap expected at next Energy Council 'We want to prevent price spikes and protect stock security'

(ANSA) - BRUSSELS, OCT 25 - A decision on "a gas price cap mechanism" is expected "at the next Council of EU energy ministers." German Economy Minister Robert Habeck reported, arriving at the meeting in Luxembourg. "The work continues steadily," Habeck underlined, calling the political understanding reached by EU leaders last Friday "a real success." "We want dynamic price limits; we need to maintain supply security and prevent speculative swings on the exchanges, not to increase market susceptibility in tense situations," he pointed out. (ANSA).





 Copyright ANSA - All rights reserved
Berlin Process 2022 Western Balkans Summit on November 3 Scholz will host head of states from the region

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, NOV 2 - On November 3, German Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz will host in Berlin the heads of state of the Western Balkans, representatives of the participating EU countries, the United Kingdom, as well as international financial institutions and regional organizations for the Berlin Process 2022 Western Balkans Summit. The Berlin Process was established in 2014 as a platform for all Western Balkans states (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia) to accelerate closer alignment with the EU and deepen regional integration and cooperation as a key to economic growth and peace in the Western Balkans, according to the European Investment Bank (EIB). The process focuses on areas such as infrastructure development, business, regional youth exchanges, reconciliation, and science, the EIB said. (ANSA).





 Copyright ANSA - All rights reserved
(di Valentina Maresca) (ANSAmed) - ROME, 02 NOV - (by Valentina Maresca) (ANSAmed) - ROME, NOVEMBER 2 - The inauguration of the 2022 edition of the MedFilm Festival will start Thursday ay Rome's Savoy Cinema with the Italian debut of the feature film 'Le Bleu du Caftan' by Maryam Touzani, the Moroccan nominee for the Academy Award. The evening will also see the participation of the Belgian actress of Moroccan and Spanish origin starring in the film, Lubna Azabal, who will receive the career award of this edition of the MedFilm after already gaining attention in films including 'Paradise now' by Hany Abu-Assad and 'The singing woman' by Denis Villeneuve.



Azabal interprets Mina, wife of Halim who makes kaftans according to tradition. Life flows serenely but Mina's illness and the arrival of a young trainee will change the couple's relationship.



"It is a great film by director and screenwriter Maryam Touzani, after her debut with 'Adam' which won over the public and critics", film critic and MedFilm collaborator Federico Pontiggia told ANSA. He will conduct the evening together with the founding president and artistic director of the event, Ginella Vocca, also moderating the debate with the award-winning actress. "The work focuses on a love triangle set in a Moroccan medina, with a change in the relationship between Mina and Halim, interpreted by Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri, when a trainee arrives at the atelier, interpreted by Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri Missioui. Themes like the end of life and homosexual passion coexist with a country taking stock of its own changes".



Pontiggia stressed the presence in the country of a "dialectic between progressive and conservative forces, when not reactionary ones, witnessed by the fact that Morocco was able to distinguish the artistic and human value of this film, choosing it as its candidate for the 2023 Oscars".



He concluded thanking "distribution house Movies Inspired for this Italian debut, which opens the edition of the MedFilm increasingly at the forefront of inclusiveness, reconfirmed also by the decision not to select single countries but the Mediterranean, meant in its totality, as guest of honor for 2022". (ANSAmed)
(by Valentina Maresca) (ANSAmed) - ROME, NOVEMBER 2 - The inauguration of the 2022 edition of the MedFilm Festival will start Thursday ay Rome's Savoy Cinema with the Italian debut of the feature film 'Le Bleu du Caftan' by Maryam Touzani, the Moroccan nominee for the Academy Award. The evening will also see the participation of the Belgian actress of Moroccan and Spanish origin starring in the film, Lubna Azabal, who will receive the career award of this edition of the MedFilm after already gaining attention in films including 'Paradise now' by Hany Abu-Assad and 'The singing woman' by Denis Villeneuve.



Azabal interprets Mina, wife of Halim who makes kaftans according to tradition. Life flows serenely but Mina's illness and the arrival of a young trainee will change the couple's relationship.



"It is a great film by director and screenwriter Maryam Touzani, after her debut with 'Adam' which won over the public and critics", film critic and MedFilm collaborator Federico Pontiggia told ANSA. He will conduct the evening together with the founding president and artistic director of the event, Ginella Vocca, also moderating the debate with the award-winning actress. "The work focuses on a love triangle set in a Moroccan medina, with a change in the relationship between Mina and Halim, interpreted by Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri, when a trainee arrives at the atelier, interpreted by Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri Missioui. Themes like the end of life and homosexual passion coexist with a country taking stock of its own changes".



Pontiggia stressed the presence in the country of a "dialectic between progressive and conservative forces, when not reactionary ones, witnessed by the fact that Morocco was able to distinguish the artistic and human value of this film, choosing it as its candidate for the 2023 Oscars".



He concluded thanking "distribution house Movies Inspired for this Italian debut, which opens the edition of the MedFilm increasingly at the forefront of inclusiveness, reconfirmed also by the decision not to select single countries but the Mediterranean, meant in its totality, as guest of honor for 2022". (ANSAmed)
Arab joint action system to be reformed-Saied to Arab League 'Innovative approach based on dialogue necessary'

(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, NOVEMBER 2 - Tunisian President Kais Saied in his address at the 31st session of the Arab League summit in Algiers spoke about the importance of the centrality of action of Arab countries as well as the need for a more cohesive approach in confronting regional and global challenges.



Saied in particular stressed "the need for a strong Arab League to boost joint Arab cooperation and to establish a deep reform of the joint action system according to new mechanisms and innovative approaches based on transparent, frank and constructive dialogue".



It is necessary not to indulge "significant voices asking for polarization and divisions", said Saied, quoted by Tap news agency, but to rather focus on more union of action. The Tunisian president also spoke about a recent meeting of reconciliation between Palestinian factions hosted by Algeria, inviting all sides involved in going towards a real consolidation of reconciliation as a "prerequisite to confront repressive policies of occupation forces". Moreover, he invited Libyan sides to gather, reaching a global reconciliation and implementing the results of the Forum of Libyan political dialogue hosted by Tunisia in November 2020, stressing that there is no solution in Libya apart from Libyan-Libyan dialogue uniting Libyans around a Libyan-led national project which is far removed from any foreign interference.



As far as the economic aspect is concerned, Saied stated that "the time has come to build a common Arab economic system able to resist various global fluctuations and contain international pressure and interact with other spaces and various partners".



He stressed Tunisia's aspiration to see the adoption of a mechanism of periodic organization of the summit on development as a way to realize these objectives in the medium term. Saied also stressed the need to boost and reform the Economic and Social Council of the Arab League so as to make it "able to provide added value and the desired proposals to respond to economic and social challenges that our people must confront and obtain a tangible positive impact in their realities to give back confidence to our youths and provide them with a dignified life and job, so they will be a source creating wealth in our countries instead of falling victim to terrorism, human trafficking networks, organized crime and sellers of the illusion of irregular migration". (ANSAmed) (ANSA).




Spain: interior minister attacked over Melilla tragedy Controversy returns after BBC documentary aired

(ANSAmed) - MADRID, NOVEMBER 2 - The tragedy reported on June 24 at the Moroccan border with the Spanish enclave of Melilla, in which at least 23 migrants died in the desperate attempt to storm the barrier and cross into European territory, has sparked a fresh controversy in Spain. The focus is in particular on Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, after a documentary broadcast by the BBC shed light on controversial aspects of the story which also involve the response given by Spanish security forces, so far defended by the government. In particular, the British broadcaster highlighted the possibility that some of the deaths occurred on the territory controlled by Spain and that Spanish authorities carried out expulsions that were possibly illegal.



After the documentary was aired, Marlaska was harshly criticized by members of his majority, like the lawmaker of Unidas Podemos Jaume Asens, and by the opposition, Spanish media reported. According to the Efe news agency, the interior ministry stressed that the action of Spanish security forces in Melilla on June 24 was "proportional" and legal and denied that migrants died on Spanish territory. In response to an MP of the Popular Party, Marlaska just stressed the need to "support security forces".(ANSAmed).




Alec Baldwins motion to be dropped from a civil lawsuit brought by the script supervisor of the Rust movie has been denied by a US judge.

Mamie Mitchell will be permitted to pursue her claims against the actor who, it is claimed, recklessly fired a prop gun that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Her suit alleges that Baldwin fired the weapon when it was not called for in the script of the Western.

It names many defendants including Baldwin, David Halls, the assistant director who handed him the gun, and Hannah Gutierrez Reed, who was in charge of weapons on the set.

The suit alleges that Baldwin fired the weapon when it was not called for in the script of the Western (Santa Fe County Sheriff/PA)

Baldwin previously filed a motion to be removed from the suit.

But on Tuesday Judge Michael E Whitaker denied the motion as well as another to strike the script supervisors claim for punitive damages.

The Court finds Plaintiffs allegations in the SAC (second amended complaint) demonstrate alleged despicable conduct carried out by the Demurring Defendants with a wilful and conscious disregard of the rights or safety of others sufficient to withstand a motion to strike, the ruling read.

Accordingly, the Court denies the motion to strike as to the Demurring Defendants.

Ms Mitchells representative Gloria Allred welcomed the judges decision to not drop Baldwin from the civil lawsuit.

She said: We are very happy that we won, and that the Court today permitted us, over the objection of Alec Baldwin, to proceed in our lawsuit against him on our theories of assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence.

In addition, the Court, over Mr Baldwins objection, allowed us to proceed against him for punitive damages.

Ms Hutchins was killed and director Joel Souza was injured during the incident on the set of the film in Santa Fe, New Mexico, just over one year ago on October 21.

It comes as the Santa Fe district attorney has received the final report from the Sheriffs Office into the incident.

A spokeswoman for the department said district attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies would now begin a review of the information to make a thoughtful, timely decision about whether to bring charges in the case.

In a statement shared with the PA news agency, a spokeswoman said the DAs focus remained on pursuing justice in the case.

Last month an undisclosed settlement between Baldwin and the cinematographers estate was made, though the DAs office said previously it would have no impact on the ongoing criminal investigation.
A popular childrens TV character is to introduce his new Ukrainian friends to viewers in a bid to make Ukrainian arrivals to the UK feel welcome and highlight the value of friendship across language barriers.

In an extra special episode of the BBC childrens series Hey Duggee called The Welcome Badge, the titular character will be joined by Ukrainian friends Mavka and Swampy the Kittyfrog, who are part of Animagrads animated feature film, Mavka. The Forest Song.

Hey Duggee welcomes his new Ukrainian friends by singing them a welcome song (Hey Duggee/BBC)

Due to the language barrier, the animated dog, The Squirrels and Hummingbirds sing The Welcome Song to help the newbies feel at home, which includes translations of Ukrainian phrases, with the episode also aiming to make real-life arrivals feel equally welcome.

A mix of children living in the UK and recent arrivals from Ukraine, who have sung the song in their native languages, have joined the shows narrator  Alexander Armstrong for the episode.

Harriet Newby-Hill, the vice president of marketing at the BBC said that she felt very proud that the show is playing its part to help children coming to the UK from Ukraine feel welcome in such a charming and educational way.

Felix Richter, a partner at Mother London, a creative company which introduced Mavka and Hey Duggee, added: Collaborating together on this project to help thousands of children see the value of friendship, across language barriers, has been an absolute privilege.

The episode can be viewed across all of Hey Duggees social media channels, as well as on CBeebies and BBC iPlayer.
Daniel Radcliffe says he felt it was really important to speak out previously against alleged anti-trans remarks made by JK Rowling.

The Harry Potter author attracted extensive criticism in June 2020 following a series of tweets, for which critics accused her of being transphobic.

Rowling strongly denied the accusations.

Radcliffe said after meeting with members of the LGBT+ community he wanted them to know that not everybody in the franchise felt that way.

The Harry Potter author attracted extensive criticism in June 2020 following a series of tweets, for which critics accused her of being transphobic (Ian West/PA)

In a recent interview with online publication IndieWire, the actor, 33, said many young, queer and transgender fans of the series had been hurt on that day.

The reason I felt very, very much as though I needed to say something when I did was because, particularly since finishing Potter, Ive met so many queer and trans kids and young people who had a huge amount of identification with Potter on that, he said.

And so seeing them hurt on that day I was like, I wanted them to know that not everybody in the franchise felt that way.

And that was really important.

In her original tweets, Rowling took issue with a headline on an online article discussing people who menstruate, writing: Im sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?

Radcliffe, who became a worldwide star for his portrayal of the schoolboy wizard, commented at the time, stating: transgender women are women.

The actor shared a statement through the LGBT+ suicide prevention charity The Trevor Project, saying that while Rowling was unquestionably responsible for the course my life has taken as a human being, I feel compelled to say something at this moment.

It was really important as Ive worked with the Trevor Project for more than 10 years, and so I dont think I wouldve been able to look myself in the mirror had I not said anything, he told IndieWire.

Earlier this year the author featured in the Harry Potter 20th reunion special, but only in archive video clips (Sky/NOW/PA)

Following the ensuing row prompted by her comments, Rowling said she was motivated to speak out about transgender issues because of her experience of domestic abuse and sexual assault.

She also said she has since received threats from hundreds of trans activists  actions which were condemned by the UK Government.

Earlier this year the author featured in the Harry Potter 20th reunion special, but only in archive video clips.

The HBO Max special, Return To Hogwarts, saw Radcliffe and fellow castmates Rupert Grint and Emma Watson reunite for the 20th anniversary of the release of Harry Potter And The Philosophers Stone.
Corruption within mining giant Glencore, which pleaded guilty to making bribes, was condoned at a very senior level, a court has heard.

Glencore Energy UK Limited, part of the huge commodities trader, admitted five counts of bribery and two of failure to prevent bribery earlier this year.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said the charges came after it launched an investigation in 2019 which found that Glencore had, via its employees and agents, paid bribes of more than 28 million US dollars (23 million) for preferential access to oil, including increased cargoes, valuable grades of oil and preferable dates of delivery.

On the first day of sentencing on Wednesday, Southwark Crown Court heard the cost of harm caused by the misconduct between March 2012 to April 2016 is more than 81 million.

The total financial benefit Glencore made from the payment of bribes came at an agreed value of 93.5m, the court heard.

Alexandra Healy KC, prosecuting, said: Glencore has pleaded guilty to paying bribes, through its agents and employees, to officials in several jurisdictions for commercial advantages, namely securing crude oil cargoes at specific grades and on preferred dates.

In Nigeria, Cameroon and Ivory Coast, Glencore paid USD 26,901,820 through intermediaries, agents and employees intending a portion to be paid as bribes to those concerned in allocating crude oil, primarily officials in state-owned oil companies.

In Equatorial Guinea and South Sudan, Glencore made payments of USD 1,000,000 and USD 1,075,000 respectively to its agents and failed to prevent them from using a portion of those funds to pay bribes to officials in order to secure valuable oil contracts.

Lisa Osofsky (second right), director of the Serious Fraud Office, arriving with her team Sara Chouraqui (left), Victoria Jacobson (second left), and Liz Collery (right) at Southwark Crown Court (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

The court heard about Glencores anti-bribery and corruption (ABC) policies and procedures, relevant to its appointment and payment of intermediaries.

Ms Healy wrote in her summary: However, these were largely ignored because corruption was condoned at a very senior level within the company generally.

She went on: There was a stark contrast between the true culture of the company and that set out in the policies.

The court heard Glencore paid nearly 3 million in bribes in the form of service fees through its agent, referred to as NG Ltd, to Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the nations state oil corporation, between March 2012 and April 2014.

Ms Healy said this would reward NNPC for making decisions such as who could purchase crude oil, who would receive it, when this would occur and the grades of oil allocated.

Ms Healy told the court: These addenda, purportedly for service fees were a sham. They were used to disguise the true purpose of the payments which was to enable NG Ltd to bribe NNPC officials in order to gain preferential treatment for Glencore.

The SFO has charged Glencore with 7 counts of bribery, following an investigation  codenamed Operation Azoth  which exposed bribery and corruption in the companys oil operations in West Africa. Glencore has indicated it will plead guilty to all charges.  Serious Fraud Office (SFO) (@UKSFO) May 24, 2022

In another instance, the firm paid millions in bribes through its employee, an oil trader referred to as GE1, to Cameroons national oil and gas company.

GE1 paid bribes to officials in companies to ensure Glencore was successful in selling crude oil at prices that were advantageous, the court heard.

It was told Glencore made nearly 28 million from its bribes via an agent in Ivory Coast between July 2011 and April 2016.

The court was also told the firm failed to prevent bribery in Equatorial Guinea at the end of 2011.

Glencore made a USD 1,000,000 payment to its agent in the country disguised as a loan in the internal accounting system.

Ms Healy said: A portion of that sum was used to bribe officials in GEPetrol to secure crude oil cargoes for Glencore.

Glencore failed to prevent the payment of bribes by its agent.

During a similar time period, bribes were paid to officials to secure crude oil cargoes for a joint venture company involving Glencore and South Sudans state oil company.

Ms Healy said: Glencore executives travelled to the country shortly after its independence with USD 800,000 in cash.

Soon afterwards the joint venture company by secured two million barrels of crude oil.

A second cash withdrawal was made of USD 275,000 and shortly thereafter the joint venture company was awarded 600,000 barrels of crude oil.

The recorded reasons for these large cash withdrawals were false.

Ms Healy went on to say the each of the seven counts showed high culpability, some demonstrating the corruption of local or national government officials.

She added: Corruption was endemic with the corporation. Attempts were made to conceal the misconduct.

Clare Montgomery KC, representing Glencore while the firms chairman Kalidas Madhavpeddi was in court, condemned the inexplicable conduct.

She said: The company unreservedly regrets the harm caused by the offences.

Ms Montgomery argued although the misconduct was embedded in the firms West Africa trading desk, it was not widespread across the company.

The SFO said it carried out a large, highly complex case reviewing more than one million documents and conducted interviews under caution.

It is the first corporate conviction under section one of the Bribery Act 2010, the SFO said.

Proof the offences were committed with the authorisation of those senior executives who have the directing mind and will of the company was required.

Glencore will be sentenced on Thursday morning.
The shadow Scottish secretary has apologised after labelling an SNP MP ridiculous and pointless during a Commons debate on independence.

Ian Murray acknowledged he had overstepped the mark when responding to Angus MacNeil (Na h-Eileanan an Iar).

Mr MacNeil had noted Mr Murray was making good points about economic problems caused by the UK Government, adding: On the basis of that would he prefer an independent Scotland with a Labour or SNP Government or a Scotland inside the UK with a Tory government?

Mr Murray replied: Id prefer Scotland within the UK with a Labour Government.

What an absolutely ridiculous and pointless intervention from a ridiculous and pointless Member of Parliament  is that unparliamentary? OK, I apologise.

Another MP could be heard shouting its accurate before Mr Murray repeated his apology.

Mr MacNeil later raised a point of order to say: When you ask a question of a colleague in Parliament who finds it difficult to understand, is it in order to respond with insults?

Deputy Speaker Nigel Evans noted Mr Murray had apologised immediately, adding: I think you should really accept that with good grace.

Mr Murray went on: I did apologise and I do so again.

Mr MacNeil shouted he accepted it.

Further acrimony followed during the debate on Scottish independence when Alba MP Neale Hanvey questioned whether the Labour frontbencher suggested there needs to be violence for Scotland to claim independence, making a comparison with Irish history.

Mr Murray replied: If that is the kind of argument we are getting from the Alba party who was elected as an SNP Member of Parliament, then the people of his constituency of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath should reflect very seriously on what they should do at the next general election.

Mr Hanvey called for the shadow minister to correct the record, as he was elected as an independent MP.

Mr Murray replied: Yes, he did correct the record, because I forgot he was suspended for antisemitism.

I am surprised he wants to put that on the public record of why he was thrown out of the Scottish National Party.

In return the Alba MP said: I know it may feel politically expedient for the shadow minister to slur me in the way that he did, but he should be aware that I was reinstated into the SNP because the accusations of antisemitism did not stand.

After calls from Deputy Speaker Mr Evans to change the tone of the debate, Mr Murray said: I heard the point of order from the Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath and accept the timeline, but I was accurate to say that he was thrown out as being an SNP candidate on accusations of antisemitism.
The former prime minister Liz Truss with a laughing lettuce on her shoulder has been unveiled as the celebrity guy by the Edenbridge Bonfire Society.

The 11-metre-high effigy is clutching a cardboard box containing a leavers card and a copy of the Guinness Book of Records in reference to her record as the shortest serving PM.

It also contains a copy of her mini-budget, a Make Britain Great Again red cap, a t-shirt with the slogan I am a fighter, not a quitter, and a cheque for 115,000 in reference to the perpetual funding provided to ex-prime ministers.

Members of the Edenbridge Bonfire Society unveiled their latest celebrity Guy of former prime minister Liz Truss at Breezehurst Farm Industrial Park in Kent, ahead of the towns bonfire night display on Saturday (Gareth Fuller/PA Wire)

The box itself has a big upside-down U with the words This Way Up the wrong way up and the words Oh Dear Oh Dear Oh Dear Packaging Ltd referencing the words of King Charles to Truss as she arrived to meet him.

The lettuce on her shoulder, which is crying with laughter, is referring to a livestream of a lettuce run by the Daily Star which suggested the vegetable would last longer than Truss did in office.

The Edenbridge guy has become a highlight of the bonfire season with previous public figures put for ridicule including John Bercow, Boris Johnson, Harvey Weistein, Donald Trump, Katie Hopkins, Russell Brand, Jonathan Ross, both of the Blairs, Katie Price, Wayne Rooney, Lance Armstrong, Anne Robinson, and Saddam Hussein.

The society, a not-for-profit organisation which aims to raise more than 5,000 for local charities, has been in existence for more than 90 years and even featured on Pathe News clips dating back to the 1950s. Winston Churchill is one of several famous figures to have opened the Kent towns bonfire night celebrations.
Sainsburys has revealed it is hiring for 18,000 seasonable jobs to support the retail giant through the busy Christmas period.

The company said it has created 15,000 roles at Sainsburys, 2,000 at Argos and 1,000 in its logistics division.

It said the new workers will help across Sainsburys and Argos stores to keep shelves stocked, pick items and to pack and deliver online orders.

Meanwhile, it is also searching for logistics staff to work at warehouses to support increased demand for products.

It comes amid a festive period which is expected to be particularly busy for the retail sector following two Christmases disrupted by the pandemic.

Bosses said Sainsburys and Argos temporary Christmas store colleagues will receive hourly pay of 10.25 and 11.30 in London, which was increased earlier this year.

Angie Risley, group HR director at Sainsburys, said: We are really excited to be able to welcome an additional 18,000 colleagues to our team to ensure we deliver the best possible service to our customers this Christmas.

It is a special time of year but its also busy, and with more customers returning to do more of their shopping in-store, this investment in service will ensure customers can find whatever they need to celebrate this year easily and conveniently.

We know how tough it is for households right now and as well as excellent value for customers we are committed to leading colleague pay.

Our new higher base rate, colleague discount and free food during shifts ensures colleagues will be well-rewarded for their hard work.
Rishi Sunak should fast track, not back track on nature-friendly farming reforms, conservation groups have urged.

Wildlife and Countryside Link is urging the new Prime Minister to maintain and boost funding for the new environmental land management scheme (Elms) and to deliver on all strands of the plans to support nature.

The call comes as the Government prepares to set out proposals on the future of farming funding, after it announced a review of the policy, and polling suggests the public think ministers are not supporting farmers to help nature.

Conservation groups reacted angrily to what they describe as an attack on nature under Liz Trusss brief tenure, and are demanding Mr Sunak reverses it by fast tracking ambitious farming reforms.

Polling for Wildlife and Countryside Link  a coalition of green and countryside groups including the National Trust, the Nature Friendly Farming Network, the RPSB and Plantlife  reveals widespread support for paying farmers to restore habitats, wildlife and landscapes.

And it found a majority of the public feel that farmers are not getting enough money to help them protect nature.

The Elms payments, which cover England, will replace the EU subsidies regime for agriculture which made payments mostly on the basis of the amount of land farmed.

The new programme was intended to pay farmers with taxpayers money for public goods, such as wildlife restoration, clean air and water, and healthy soils  which green groups say also secures future food production.

Alongside payments for sustainable farming practices such as managing soils, Elms is designed to pay for local nature recovery habitat creation on farms, and landscape recovery projects to restore nature at a large scale, including rewilding schemes.

But the Governments decision to review the scheme led to reports it could abandon or curb the payments, particularly for the more ambitious, large-scale schemes.

A survey by YouGov of more than 1,700 people for Wildlife and Countryside Link found high levels of support among the public for farmers being financially rewarded for restoring nature.

Almost half (47%) agreed that the most important way to improve food security in the UK is to restore the natural resources farming relies on including pollinators and clean water, while 23% thought there were other more important ways to improve food security.

More than four fifths of those quizzed backed payments for farmers to restore soils, woodlands, lakes and rivers, and wildlife  and to prevent water pollution.

Almost as many (79%) backed financial rewards for farmers for restoring hedgerows, and 77% supported payments for restoring carbon-capturing land such as peatland and wetlands.

The survey also found that 55% of those questioned felt farmers were receiving too little support from the Government to improve the environment and nature  and just 5% thought they were getting too much.

Nearly half (48%) thought the funding under the new scheme should be increased compared to the old EU subsidies, a fifth (21%) thought farmers should receive the same amount of funding, and just 4% thought levels should fall.

The public supports landowners to receive funding for restoring woodlands (Emily Beament/PA)

Richard Benwell, chief executive of Wildlife and Countryside Link, said: The Prime Minister should fast track environmental farming reforms, not back track, if he is to start rebuilding the Governments environmental credentials.

Any further delay would leave farmers uncertain about the future, and leave the environment susceptible.

Instead, the Government should accelerate the move to regenerative farming, and increase the payments available to support the most ambitious nature positive agriculture.

Martin Lines, UK chair of the Nature Friendly Farming Network, said farmers stand ready to deliver a farming system that feeds the nation and improves the health and vitality of rural environments.

HE said: But first, we need an agriculture budget which is fit for purpose and capable of addressing the environmental challenges we face, alongside ambitious payment schemes that put environmental stewardship at the heart of farm business decision-making.

Anything less would be a let-down for farmers and the public, and it would be a missed opportunity to make our food system more resilient and sustainable for the long-term.

Nature groups want the PM to maintain funding for Elms now and increase it from 2025, and to prioritise ambition across all three areas of the programme  the sustainable farming incentive, nature recovery, and landscape recovery elements.

A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: As the Prime Minister has set out, protecting our environment is at the heart of the Governments manifesto and we will always back British farmers and our rural communities.

We are pressing ahead with our environmental land management schemes and will be working closely with farmers, land managers and environmental groups as we look at ways to improve our future farming policy.

Our aim is to strengthen our environment and support our thriving food and farming sector and (we) will set out more details later this year.
Psilocybin  the active ingredient in magic mushrooms  could reduce symptoms in people with treatment-resistant depression, research suggests.

It is estimated that some 100 million people in the world suffer with the condition, which means they have not responded to at least two antidepressant treatments for their major depressive disorder.

The study of 233 people suggests that three weeks after people were given a single 25mg dose of psilocybin, they had lower levels of depressive symptoms than people treated with lower doses (1mg or 10mg).

The psilocybin in the study  called COMP360  was not derived from magic mushrooms, but instead was created in a purely chemical process.

People were given the treatment in specialised rooms designed to provide a non-clinical and calming atmosphere.

Researchers say some reported a dreamlike state.

The psychedelic effects lasted between six to eight hours, and during this time an experienced therapist was in the room to provide psychological support.

All therapists underwent a detailed training programme designed for the trial.

After the psychedelic effects were fully dissipated participants were able to return home.

Dr James Rucker, consultant psychiatrist and lead for the Psychoactive Trials Group at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN) at Kings College London and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, took part in the research.

He said: Whilst many patients with mental health problems get better with available treatments, a subgroup of patients do not even though they try many different forms of treatment.

This is sometimes called treatment resistance. This can lead to a variety of other problems that seriously impact on patients and the people around them.

Treatment options are often limited, coming with troublesome side effects and/or stigma.

Therefore, new paradigms of treatment are needed, and clinical research of new treatments is important.

Psilocybin therapy may be a new paradigm of treatment, but this needs to be tested in clinical trials.

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, investigated the change in the severity of depression in people with treatment-resistant depression over 12 weeks following a single dose of COMP360 psilocybin.

Researchers found that people reported a greater reduction in depression scores three weeks after taking a single 25mg dose of COMP360 psilocybin compared with those who took the lowest 1mg dose.

Some adverse effects, such as headaches, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, and thoughts around suicide, were reported across all dose groups.

Professor Guy Goodwin, chief medical officer at COMPASS Pathways, said: We saw positive results in a particularly difficult to treat group of patients, and the highest dose of COMP360 psilocybin had the greatest impact on peoples depression.

This suggests that COMP360 psilocybin has a true pharmacological effect, a finding that is critical for it to be recognised as a new treatment option in the future.

We look forward to starting our phase 3 programme later this year, moving us closer to providing COMP360 psilocybin with psychological support for patients who desperately need it.

According to the study, suicidal ideation and intentional self-injury were seen in all dose groups, as is common in treatment-resistant depression studies.

Most cases occurred more than a week after the COMP360 psilocybin session.

There was no mean worsening of suicidal ideation scores on the scale used in any dose group.

Suicidal behaviour was reported at least one month after COMP360 administration for three non-responders in the 25mg group.

The phase 2b clinical trial was conducted at 22 sites in 10 countries across Europe (Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom) and North America (Canada and the United States) between March 1 2019 and September 27 2021.

The trial, designed and funded by COMPASS Pathways, was conducted in collaboration with the Psychoactive Trials Group at the IoPPN and the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.

Professor Andrew MacIntosh, head of the division of psychiatry at the University of Edinburgh, and member of the MQ Mental Health Research Science Council, said: This new trial greatly improves our understanding of whether psilocybin could potentially help depressed people when conventional treatments have failed.

He added: It is the strongest evidence so far to suggest that further, larger and longer randomised trials of psychedelics are justified and that psilocybin may (one day) provide a potential alternative to antidepressants that have been prescribed for decades.

Anthony Cleare, professor of psychopharmacology at Kings College London, said: This is the largest study to date on the use of psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression.

Given that patients had not responded to between two and four other treatments, it is a very encouraging finding that nearly four in 10 showed a clear response to a single dose of psilocybin.

It is also notable how rapid in onset the treatment effects were, with the maximum effect seen the day after receiving the treatment.

This contrasts with standard antidepressants, which take several weeks to reach maximum effect.
New safety regulations triggered by the Marchioness tragedy in 1989 are set to be applied to old boats.

It has been 33 years since 51 people died after a collision between the Marchioness pleasure steamer and the Bowbelle dredger in the River Thames.

The incident provoked swathes of new safety measures including boat masters licenses and qualifications, bridge visibility standards and the characterisation of waters according to risk.

However, many of the requirements for domestic passenger ships, including those around life jackets, life rafts, fire detection and extinguishing equipment, and stability standards or survivability, only applied to those built after the regulations came in in 1992 and 2010.

This means many older boats are still operating on outdated safety requirements.

The Thames pleasure cruiser Marchioness is raised from the river (Archive/PA)

Transport minister Baroness Vere of Norbiton told the House of Lords: We believe that the assumption of passengers is that there are enough life jackets for everyone on board and likewise enough space on life rafts for all, but this is currently not the case for many vessels.

She added: Every person, whether or native or tourist, using passenger transport in the UK has the right to expect, and I believe does expect, that whichever vessel they choose to carry them will meet consistent standards fit for the 21st century.

The new regulations are set to compel 600 vessels to make changes to their fire protection equipment, 285 will be affected by life raft requirements and 86 by life jacket requirements.

Labour peer Lord Berkeley said he found it astonishing that these requirements are not already in place.

He said: Its over 30 years since the Marchioness accident, even at this late stage, there is still the sister ship of the Marchioness sailing around.

Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Randerson said: It is to my mind a source of national disgrace that it has taken this long to get to this point

We are at last getting to the end of this horrendous saga.

The new regulations were approved by the House of Lords, although several peers expressed concern that there will be further delay before the regulations are implemented.
The Foreign Secretary will urge international allies to bolster resilience against Vladimir Putins weaponisation of energy and food, as he warns the Russian leader is plunging the worlds poorest further into despair.

Speaking at a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Germany, James Cleverly is set to stress the need to work together in the face of economic insecurity driven by Moscows war on its neighbour.

He will accuse the Russian president of exploiting a scheme to export grain from Ukraine to low-income countries around the globe  claiming this shows his willingness to hold the worlds vulnerable hostage, the Foreign Office said.

The ministers are also expected to discuss the protests in Iran, stability in the Indo-Pacific and the role of China on the global stage.

Ahead of the meeting in Munster on Thursday, the Foreign Secretary will call for joint action to curb reliance on Russian energy at the Berlin Process Summit on the Western Balkans.

Mr Cleverly said: While we are steadfast in our support for Ukraine, we must not forget that the impacts of Russias aggression, interference and hostility extend across the world.

Putins actions are plunging the worlds poorest further into despair, putting global food security on the brink and pushing up energy prices.

These actions only serve to demonstrate Putins true intentions and further unite the international community against his callous plans.

Germany has also invited Ghana, Kenya and the African Union to join the G7 meeting to discuss collaboration on issues such as climate change and humanitarian crises.
A decision on whether to approve plans for a controversial coal mine has been delayed again as ministers are said to need more time to consider the case.

The latest deadline to decide whether or not to grant planning permission for the coking coal mine on the edge of Whitehaven in Cumbria was early November.

Environmental group Friends of the Earth said it was a shame the Government did not seize an opportunity to reject the plans at a time that would have coincided with the Cop27 conference in Egypt starting next week.

Environmental campaigners have called for the mine plans to be rejected by the Government (PA)

The organisation said it received a letter from the Government on Tuesday evening confirming the delay.

The deadline has been pushed back several times from early July to mid-August.

The deadline was once again moved to November 8 because officials were said to still be considering the matter.

The decision is now due to be made on or before December 8, with planning ministers said to require further time to consider the case.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities confirmed the new deadline but said it would not be appropriate to comment further at this stage.

Friends of the Earth energy campaigner, Tony Bosworth, said: The run up to next weeks climate summit was an ideal opportunity for the Government to rebuild its battered green credentials by rejecting this damaging and unnecessary coal mine. Its a shame they didnt seize it.

Secretaries of State may come and go but the case against this mine is as strong as ever. It will increase emissions, while the market for its coal is rapidly diminishing with steel plants moving to greener production methods.

Reintroducing the fracking ban was a good first step, but if Rishi Sunak is to really keep his pledge to make climate change a priority his Government must leave coal in the ground. Instead they should boost renewables and home insulation to create the new jobs that areas like Whitehaven need.

The mine has been backed by a number of Tory MPs, but has drawn the ire of environmentalists, who warn the coal is for steelmaking so would not help lower energy bills, most of the coal would be exported, and it would damage the UKs climate leadership credentials.

If approved, the coal mine would be the first to open in the UK in 30 years, with the firm behind the project claiming it would create around 500 jobs.
Jennifer Lawrence arrives for the European premiere of Causeway during the 2022 BFI London Film Festival 2022. (Photo: Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images)

Jennifer Lawrence clearly isn't a midnight toker. Last year, the Oscar-winning Silver Linings Playbook star raised eyebrows when she revealed that she got high for real while playing a Mary Jane fan in Adam McKay's end-of-days comedy, Don't Look Up. In a new interview with The New York Times, Lawrence said that she was under the influence as far back as the first Hunger Games blockbuster.

"The boys and I would always go back to our hotel and just drink whiskey and get stoned," Lawrence revealed, referring to her co-stars in that franchise, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth. As she explained, that was the trio's way of coping with the intense public spotlight that followed them during the making of that four-film franchise, and which shone especially brightly at the crowd-packed premieres.

But Lawrence insisted that she's not falling back on old habits after walking the red carpets for her latest film Causeway, which debuts Nov. 4 on Apple TV+ following its Toronto International Film Festival premiere in September. "My mother-in-law's going to love this," she joked. "I don't do it anymore, I'm a mom!" (Lawrence had her first child with husband, Cooke Maroney, in February.)

Lawrence in her latest role in the Apple TV+ drama, Causeway. (Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection)

Speaking with The New York Times, Lawrence says that Causeway marks the beginning of her career second act  an act where she's more firmly in control over her choices. "I had let myself be hijacked," she observed about her post-Hunger Games run of movies that included divisive films like Dark Phoenix and Red Sparrow.

"I was like, 'Oh no, you guys are here because I'm here and I'm here because you're here,'" she said of how her Hunger Games fans reacted to those movies. "'Wait, who decided that this was a good movie?'"

One film in particular stands out as a mistake when Lawrence glances in her rearview: the 2016 sci-fi drama Passengers, which paired her with newly ascendent Marvel Studios star Chris Pratt. Although their combined star power pushed the movie to a $300 million worldwide gross, critics and audiences alike panned Passengers for its creepy storyline and controversial ending.

Lawrence and Chris Pratt in Passengers. (Photo: Jaimie Trueblood/Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection)

Reflecting on the film now, Lawrence revealed that a famous friend tried warning her away from making it. "Adele told me not to do it! She was like, 'I feel like space movies are the new vampire movies.' I should have listened to her." Making movies like Passengers inevitably took its toll. "I felt like more of a celebrity than an actor," she admitted. "Cut off from my creativity, my imagination."

Fortunately, producing and starring in Causeway reignited that creative fire and  along with her new family  has helped her distance herself from her Hunger Games alter ego. "Jennifer Lawrence is Katniss Everdeen, I guess," she said about her choice to change her legal name to Jennifer Maroney. "I was born with the name Jennifer Lawrence, but that got taken from me when I was 21 and I never got it back....That name already belongs to them."

Meanwhile, the future of The Hunger Games belongs to West Side Story star, Rachel Zegler, who is starring in the upcoming prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, due in theaters on Nov. 17, 2023. "That makes me feel old as mold," Lawrence said. "I remember being 21 and thinking, 'My God, one day they'll redo and remake them. But I'll be so old by then! I'll be dead!'"

Causeway premieres Friday, Nov. 4 on Apple TV+.
Elon Musk doesnt just wear a lot of hats when it comes to juggling his many roles  hes more like a hat rack overflowing with headwear.

Following the close of his deal to acquire Twitter (TWTR), Musk appointed himself the CEO of the company, as well as its lone board member.

Adding that his other day jobs as CEO of Tesla, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX, in addition to his role as founder of companies like The Boring Company, Neuralink, and OpenAI, the question has arisen whether the mercurial and lone wolf Elon Musk has taken more than he can chew.

This is especially a concern for Tesla (TSLA), which is the biggest source of his net worth and has taken up much of his bandwidth of the past decade and a half. As the automaker gears up for its next phase of growth, many believe a focused Musk will be key for its success.

Even prior to the deal closing, several analysts and investors were already getting prickly about what they saw as Musks distractions potentially getting the better of him.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 31: Elon Musk attends Heidi Klum's 2022 Hallowe'en Party at Sake No Hana at Moxy LES on October 31, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Taylor Hill/Getty Images)

I think it's fair to say he will be fairly distracted with probably putting more time behind Twitter and putting less time behind other things," MKM Partners senior analyst Rohit Kulkarni said on Yahoo Finance Live prior to the deal's close. Kulkarni said that Musk needs to put together a top-level C-suite team to run Twitter  and not run Twitter himself.

Mirabaud Equity Research analyst Neil Campling said that although Musk isnt a one man show and has significant help at his companies, the issues at Twitter might be so demanding that they draw him in more than he would like.

Twitter lacks direction, strategy and has no unique selling point. Now Musk is financially geared to Twitter so he needs to find a way to monetize a product that has never been able to successfully generate sustainable revenue growth, profit metrics or user growth before, Campling said to London-based financial publication CityWire.

On top of that, Tesla has its own issues to deal with. It has maintained its 50% CAGR (compound annual growth rate) for global deliveries indefinitely. Tesla is now facing increased competition in the U.S., Europe, and China, all the while trying to navigate economic headwinds stemming from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain shortages, and a rising rate environment.

There are also two huge product offerings coming soon, with the Tesla Semi slated to start deliveries on December 1st, and the Cybertruck on schedule to begin production in mid-2023, with full production reportedly beginning near the end of 2023.

Sanlam Globals Chris Ford isnt happy about recent developments with Musk and Twitter. Fords fund holds a $4.1% stake in Tesla.

Am I delighted? No. Would I prefer that [Musk] was clearly focused on the many things he already has to focus on? I suppose, at the margin, yes, Ford said.

Tesla investor Gary Black of the Future Fund is a noted Tesla bull  and he also isnt happy either about Musk's foray into Twitter.

Last month, Black tweeted he was concerned that, Elons core competency is engineering/tech; TWTR is an ad biz, and also a loss in electric vehicle SOV, or share of voice, meaning media coverage is on Twitter and not EVs and Tesla at an important time.

Black also tweeted that if Musk doesnt appoint an ad CEO, this could be the worst deal since [TimeWarner]-AOL.

I was against him doing this deal, and still I think it's going to be a bad deal for him, Black told Yahoo Finance on Tuesday.

From a Tesla shareholder point of view, Black says Musk lending himself as CEO to another company is something hes done in the past and isnt such a bad thing, but the case with Twitter is a different story.

At the end of the day he needs to hire a CEO to run the business, it's going to take 80 hours a week or something like that to turn it around, he says.

Will Musk return to his first love?

Tesla CEO Elon Musk (L) is seen as he uses his mobile device in the car arriving to the construction site for the new plant, the so-called "Giga Factory", of US electric carmaker Tesla, in Gruenheide near Berlin, northeastern Germany. - The site still has only provisional construction permits, but Tesla has been authorised by local officials to begin work at its own risk. Tesla is aiming to produce 500,000 electric vehicles a year at the plant, which will also be home to "the largest battery factory in the world", according to group boss Elon Musk. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN / AFP) (Photo by ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images)

The issues even extend to Tesla itself, with resources like engineers and tech that Musk uses for when he sees fit. CNBC reported that not only were 50 Tesla engineers dragged into Twitter to help review code of Twitter engineers, but also that these Tesla engineers would be doing this in addition to their regular jobs in divisions like Tesla Autopilot and AI, and likely not be getting paid for the extra work. In addition, Tesla is known to code in Python, whereas Twitter engineers use Scala, the CNBC report said, meaning a tougher challenge for the engineers.

Perception is reality. Everyone sees Elon Musk turning Twitter upside down overnight and believes he will lose sight of Tesla and his other complex businesses, said Alyssa Altman, transportation and mobility lead at Publicis Sapient to Yahoo Finance.

Though the distraction fear is somewhat real at the moment, it may only be a short-term issue, Altman said. The Twitter takeover is happening quickly, and he is setting the stage for how it will be run in days. Twitter will be a short-term distraction while he reshapes the leadership and then he will go back to Tesla.

He will keep his focus on building the Tesla platform business in the long-term, she said. The Tesla brand will sustain its prominence through the perceived Twitter distraction although the market may see it differently in the short-term.

Future Funds Gary Black also sees Musks foray into Twitter as nothing but a short-term concern for Tesla shareholders. Tesla has extraordinary fundamentals right now, looks cheap from a valuation standpoint, and the Twitter overhang is now over. Soon Musk will return to his first love, as he calls it, which is Tesla.

It will take a few weeks, then [Musk will] realize hell have to focus back on running the EV business, Black says.



Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.

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DALLAS (AP)  U.S. airlines will have to pay more than they expected to reach new contracts with pilots, who are using the leverage of a pilot shortage and rising travel demand to seek significant wage increases.

The Allied Pilots Association said Wednesday that its board voted 15-5 to reject an offer by American that included raises of 19% in three steps over two years.

Union spokesman Dennis Tajer said American's management is focused on keeping pay increases as low as possible and has ignored crew-scheduling changes that the union claims will reduce the number of canceled and delayed flights.

Managements failure to invest in a pilot contract that levels up to meet passenger demand only creates more uncertainty for the holiday travel season and even next summer, he said.

American, which has about 15,000 pilots and is based in Fort Worth, Texas, did not immediately comment.

The decision by the union at American followed overwhelming rejection by United Airlines pilots of an offer including pay raises totaling 14.5% over 18 months, and a strike-authorization vote by Delta Air Lines pilots. Both groups are represented by the Air Line Pilots Association.

Taken together, the developments at the nation's three largest airlines show labor's resolve to get the best possible contract while the airline industry is struggling with pilot shortages at smaller regional carriers. Pilots at Southwest, the nation's fourth-biggest airline, are also negotiating a new contract.

Pilots from several airlines have picketed at airports in recent months, but federal law prohibits airline workers from striking unless federal mediators determine that further negotiations are pointless  which hasn't happened at any of the carriers. Even then, Congress and the president can intervene to stop a walkout.

In 1997, President Bill Clinton ordered American Airlines pilots to keep flying minutes after a strike deadline passed. In 2010, pilots at Spirit Airlines went on strike for several days over pay before negotiators for the union and airline settled the dispute.
Scientists say flu is back after a hiatus during the coronavirus pandemic  and the NHS will be under increased pressure because of it.

Experts have urged those eligible to take up their offer of a flu jab as figures suggest an early uptick in cases.

Levels of flu in England are already on the rise, despite many flu seasons peaking in December and January.

Some young children have already needed intensive care, data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) shows.

People who work in social care can get their free FLU and COVID-19 jabs now. Even without showing symptoms, both viruses can be passed on to the people you care for, as well as family and friends and make them very ill. https://t.co/2hwov2DQgWhttps://t.co/2wc1svYxus pic.twitter.com/T4HgTYLL8p  NHS Somerset (@NHSSomerset) November 2, 2022

Rates are estimated to be highest among five to 14-year-olds, with 12% of laboratory samples from this age group testing positive, according to the latest flu report.

Hospital admission rates are highest for those under the age of five.

But, overall, levels of flu are still low, meaning it is too early to predict how big the wave of infections will be.

If you have a child that's aged 2 or 3 before Sept, they're eligible for a #free #FluVaccine. It's a quick & painless nasal spray and will help provide protection against flu this winter. Find out more about child #flu vaccinations & where to get them  https://t.co/MWb9ZfUqmf pic.twitter.com/qXHQ8RX9Tc  UK Health Security Agency (@UKHSA) November 2, 2022

Speaking at the Science Media Centre, Sir Peter Horby, professor of emerging infectious diseases and global health and director of the Pandemic Sciences Institute at the University of Oxford, said: The key thing to say really is that flu is back.

Theres clearly been a period where weve been relieved of the flu pressures but theres clear evidence from other countries that flu is back in circulation.

In the UK, we are starting to see early signs of flu circulation. Some of the early indicators are going up; were seeing increases in the proportion of lab tests that are testing positive for flu, were starting to see increases in the numbers of people phoning NHS 111 with cough, etc, and were starting to see increases in accident emergency consultations with influenza-like illness.

What we do know is that although influenza seasons are very variable, they can have a very big impact and in a big season they can put enormous pressures on the healthcare system.

One of the last big seasons in 2017/18, there were an estimated sort of 45,000 admissions with influenza-related disease resulting in about 400,000 bed days in the NHS and about 3,000 per patient.

Prof Horby added: Going into the winter, we know the NHS is already under quite extreme pressures with the Covid backlogs and other issues and we will likely see staffing pressures as well if staff are off with influenza or Covid or other infections.

There is substantial risk of big pressures on the NHS.

Influenza vaccination is one of the most effective interventions to prevent you getting influenza and getting severe disease.

It also does prevent transmission so it can reduce the risk to yourself, the risks to family members, etc, but also reduce the risk of pressures on the NHS.

So if you are eligible for vaccination, the time to get vaccinated is right now. I would really encourage people to take up the offer for influenza vaccination, but also for Covid boosters as well.

Asked about the rise in hospital admissions among young children, Prof Horby added: It is not unusual to have hospitalisations in that age group. I think its too early to call a trend at the moment because the numbers will be small.

Meanwhile, Dr John McCauley, director of the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Influenza, said: There was basically no flu around due to the interventions imposed for Sars-CoV-2 for the northern hemisphere (for the) 2021/22 season.

Were seeing it pick up somewhat again over the last few weeks.

He said before the pandemic, experts were tracking a new H1N1 influenza virus  a derivative of swine flu  in South Africa and two H2N3 flu strains from Cambodia and Bangladesh.

It appears the Bangladesh strain is the one in circulation this year  and the one the flu jab is geared up to tackle, he added.

Asked whether there are specific symptoms which differentiate the strain from Covid-19, Dr McCauley suggested people take a Covid-19 test.

But Prof Horby added: Some prediction models will say, This constellation of symptoms is more likely to be flu than Covid, but generally those things just dont work very well.

And, actually, its not worth trying to differentiate those viral infections by symptom cluster  there will often be so much overlap that its impossible to accurately tell.

He said he is surprised Covid-19 cases have peaked already but warned of a potential future wave if a new variant  BQ1  picks up.

Meanwhile, Dr McCauley said the H1N1 virus has moved on somewhat and it has been recommended the southern hemisphere has an H1N1 vaccine next year.

The UKHSA will publish its next flu update on Thursday.
The King was praised for sending a wonderful message in the current climate by staging a celebration of Ugandan Asians who fled to the UK 50 years ago.

Veteran broadcaster Jon Snow said for the King to make his first major event a multi-cultural one and welcome Uganda Asians, leading figures and charities who supported the displaced to Buckingham Palace was significant.

The former Channel 4 News anchor reported on Ugandan dictator Idi Amins decision to expel Asians in 1972 and attended a palace reception, hosted by the King, alongside successful Ugandan business leaders and supporters of the group.

Snow later co-hosted a palace ceremony of recollection, readings and music to mark the 50-year milestone, where actor and comedian Sanjeev Bhaskar poked fun at the Kings relationship with his new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose Asian parents grew up in east Africa.

Asian families arriving in Britain from Entebbe, Uganda in 1972 (Archive/PA)

Snow told the guests: The expulsion of the Asian population was a traumatic, murderous experience for those affected and it also devastated Ugandas economy.

Today we bask in what Uganda was deprived of, an innovative and dedicated population of motivated people whove done so much to boost our own economy and our own well-being.

Ugandas loss has proved Britains incomparable gain.

The King speaks with actor and comedian Sanjeev Bhaskar (Isabel Infantes/PA)

Paying tribute to the King, who helped found the British Asian Trust which staged the event, Bhaskar praised the monarch for his acknowledgement, encouragement and affection for the British Asian community which has been unsurpassed.

In a light-hearted reference to Charles weekly audiences with Mr Sunak he added: Although that was before he had to meet one every week, the same man every week.

He joked about the image of the scolding Asian auntie who the King could call on if the Prime Minister was a little bit naughty and the audience laughed as he said the secret cabal of Asian women of a certain age who could have a word in his ear  I like to call them the illuminati.

Two small girls from Uganda, who were among the first batch of expelled Asians to land in the UK in 1972, are seen waiting to go to Oldham, Lancashire (Archive/PA)

The event was the first major royal engagement at Buckingham Palace since royal mourning ended following the death of the Queen.

It marked brutal dictator Amins expulsion of Ugandas Asian minority of around 80,000 people, who were given just 90 days to leave.

The Heath Government opened the door to around 28,000 Ugandan Asians with British passports who fled to the UK to start a new life.

Lord Sentamu, the former Archbishop of York who was a lawyer working in Uganda at the time and spoke out against Amin, told the guests the Uganda Asians were one of the great successes and a tremendous asset to this country.

The cleric sang the Ugandan national anthem with Snow and Jonathan Dimbleby when they first met the King at the earlier reception, with Snow saying afterwards Charles enjoyed the moment when they gave him a good blast.

Baroness Virginia Bottomley (Isabel Infantes/AP)

Speaking about the contribution of the Ugandan Asians he added: If you think how historically recent this was  the impact theyve had on the British economy is absolutely incredible.

And I also think with King Charles to make his first major public moment a multi-cultural one sends a wonderful message.

The King also spoke to Baroness Virginia Bottomley and Sir Peter Bottomley, MP, who opened their home to Razia Jetha and her late husband Roshan when they arrived from Uganda in 1972.

Baroness Bottomley, holding hands with Razia, said: It was so appalling the situation, we felt we must do something and Peter went down to the reception camp at West Malling and came back with the Jethas.

The King (Isabel Infantes/PA)

It was a sort of miraculous and wonderful experience because we really liked each other and I learned so much from the Jethas.

What I couldnt get over was the grace, the sense of forgiveness.

Most people when all their property, all their business had been confiscated, would be angry, but not the Jethas.

They went straight out to work.

We learned from you too, said Razia, who could not speak English when she arrived.
Drivers would hit and kill 37,000 fewer deer each year if the United States stuck to daylight saving time year-round, according to estimates in a new study published Wednesday in the journal Current Biology.

The study predicts that keeping year-round daylight saving time  and reducing the amount of time that rush-hour traffic takes place during darkness  would prevent 33 deaths and some 2,000 injuries among people, and save about $1.2 billion in collision costs.

The numbers are surprisingly large, said Laura Prugh, an associate professor of wildlife science at the University of Washington and an author of the study. Its just noticeable that a seemingly simple change  not changing the clock back in the fall, not falling back  would lead to such a marked reduction in collisions throughout the country.

The research highlights how subtle changes in human behavior can have major impact on animals. It also adds more ammunition to the charged debate over seasonal time changes and could bolster political arguments for moving the U.S. to permanent daylight saving time.

Daylight saving time is when many parts of the world set clocks ahead by one hour to shift sunlight later in the day.

The U.S. Senate in March approved a bipartisan bill that would make daylight saving time standard for all states except Arizona and Hawaii. The House did not advance the Sunshine Protection Act.

Clocks nationwide will fall back Sunday.

About 2.1 million vehicle crashes in the U.S. each year involve deer, the study says. These crashes account for 440 human deaths each year.

To understand the effect of seasonal time changes, researchers gathered wildlife and vehicle collision data from 23 states and then created a model to estimate impacts nationwide.

Deer are most active on both sides of dawn and dusk, and the data showed that drivers are far more likely to hit deer when its dark.

If you drive two hours after dark, youre 14 times more likely to hit a deer than if you drive before dark, said Calum Cunningham, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington and an author of the study.

The data also showed that car crashes involving deer spiked in the fall.

For deer, there could be no worse time of year for humans to suddenly shift their schedules.

The time switch occurs pretty much exactly smack bang in the middle of the mating period, in particular, for white-tailed deer, Cunningham said.

During the rut, as mating season is called, male deer go a little bit crazy, they increase movement and are fixated on reproducing, he said.

Deer move about 50% more during the rut and are more vulnerable to being struck by vehicles, the study says.

That means when peoples schedules switch to standard time, the clock aligns the heaviest traffic with darkness and during the peak of mating season. The researchers found that collisions with deer increased about 16% in the week after the switch.

Its like the perfect storm. These deer are going crazy. Theyre really most at risk already and we have this additional change of adding more driving after dark in this switch, Cunningham said.

After the time switch, fewer deer are killed in the mornings because theres more light. But not enough drivers set out before dawn to offset the increase in collisions during evening rush hour.

States in the northern U.S. would reduce collisions most from permanent daylight saving. Locations on the eastern edge of their time zone  where it gets dark earlier  would also benefit more.

Some states dont keep high quality data on wildlife crashes, so the studys overall numbers are just estimates. But the trend the researchers found runs parallel to what a separate analysis found in New York state.

Tom Langen, a professor of biology at Clarkson University who studied the effect in the state, praised the new study, saying it answered questions about what impact would be nationwide and did a good job accounting for data gaps.

The bottom-line message is that its a big number, he said. Its likely correct that the time shift, and particularly the shift from daylight saving time to standard time in the fall, results in some human deaths and a lot of accidents that would not happen.

Doctors and researchers, particularly those with the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, have opposed a permanent switch to daylight saving time. They argue that standard time is more beneficial to health because our bodies function better with more sunlight in the morning.

But a change to permanent standard time would worsen deer-vehicle collisions significantly, the model predicts, causing nearly 74,000 more crashes, 66 human deaths and more than 4,100 human injuries.

On the whole, we need a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of the way daylight saving time impacts our health and environment, Cunningham said.

CORRECTION (Nov. 2, 1:21 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated how daylight saving time works. Clocks are set ahead by one hour in the spring, and back an hour in the fall.
In this image provided by the City of Tulsa, Crews work on an excavation at Oaklawn Cemetery searching for victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022, in Tulsa, Okla. Officials say the search for remains of victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre has turned up 21 additional graves in the citys Oaklawn Cemetery. (City of Tulsa via AP)

The search for remains of victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre has turned up 21 additional coffins in unmarked graves in the citys Oaklawn Cemetery, officials said.

Seventeen adult-size graves were located Friday and Saturday, Oklahoma State Archaeologist Kary Stackelbeck said Monday. Additionally, the city announced Tuesday that four graves, two adult-size and two child-size, had been found.

The coffins, then the remains, will be examined to see if they match reports from 1921 that the victims were males buried in plain caskets.

This is going to part of our process of discriminating which ones we're going to proceed with in terms of exhuming those individuals and which ones we're actually going to leave in place, Stackelbeck said in a video statement.

The work, by hand, was still under way. The types of coffins and gender of the victims have not been determined, according to the city's statement.

A violent white mob targeted Black people during the massacre, in which more than 1,000 homes were burned, hundreds were looted, and a thriving business district known as Black Wall Street was destroyed. Historians have estimated the death toll at 75 to 300.

Rumors persisted for decades of mass unmarked graves, but previous searches found no remains.

The current search began in 2020 in areas identified with ground-penetrating radar as possibly containing coffins and resumed last year, with nearly three dozen coffins found.

Fourteen sets of remains exhumed from those coffins were selected for DNA testing, and two had enough DNA to begin sequencing and start developing a genealogy profile.

The current search includes reexhuming and removing to a lab at the cemetery the other 12 remains in an effort to collect more usable DNA in an effort to eventually identify them.

All the remains will be reburied, at least temporarily, at Oaklawn, where the previous reburial was closed to the public, drawing protests from about two dozen people who said they are descendants of massacre victims and should have been allowed to attend.

The massacre wiped out generational wealth, and victims were never compensated, but a pending lawsuit seeks reparations for the three remaining known survivors. They are now more than 100 years old.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro did not directly acknowledge his loss to President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in his first public speech since this weekends election, but signaled that he will relinquish power, multiple outlets reported on Tuesday.

Bolsonaro remained silent for two days after Brazils electoral authority called the race for Lula on Sunday, triggering fears that he would not accept the loss.

Finally breaking his silence on Tuesday, Bolsonaro signaled that he would step aside, without ever officially conceding the race.

I was always labeled undemocratic, he said, according to The New York Times. Unlike my accusers, I played within the limits of the constitution.

He also called on his supporters to halt their disruptions of the countrys roadways. Pro-Bolsonaro truckers had blockaded more than 300 roads as of Tuesday morning in protest of the presidents loss, The Washington Post reported.

Bolsonaros chief of staff noted after Tuesdays speech that he had been authorized to start the transition process, according to the Times.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The U.S. Capitol Police on Wednesday said they were not actively monitoring cameras at Speaker Nancy Pelosis (D-Calif.) San Francisco home when they captured a break-in that led to a violent attack on her husband, because the Speaker was in Washington, D.C., at the time.

In a statement, the agency confirmed earlier reports by The Washington Post and The New York Times that Capitol Police began responding to the incident minutes later after an employee in the agencys command center noticed the camera feed showing police activity at the home.

Authorities say David DePape, 42, broke into the home before dawn on Friday morning looking for the Speaker, looking to break her kneecaps if she lied.

After he allegedly found Paul Pelosi and learned the Speaker was not home, her husband went into the bathroom and called 911.

Upon local polices arrival, DePape, who is accused of attempted murder and other charges, allegedly struck Pelosi with a hammer. The Capitol Police employee then noticed the activity on a screen showing the camera feed sometime afterward, according to the agencys statement.

Capitol Police said its policy is to only monitor the residences cameras  some of 1,800 the agency has access to  around the clock when the Speaker is there.

While the Speaker was with her security detail in Washington, D.C., the San Francisco cameras were not actively monitored as they are when the Speaker is at the residence, the agency said. The Command Center personnel noticed the police activity on the screen and used the feeds to monitor the response and assist investigators.

But the Capitol Police announced on Wednesday that they had begun an internal security review following the attack, which became the latest incident to raise fresh questions about lawmaker security.

Lawmakers increased funding for the agency in July of last year following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and as the Capitol Police responded to an increasing barrage of threats against individual lawmakers that has only continued to rise since.

A man unsuccessfully tried to stab Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) in July during an event for his gubernatorial campaign, which came days after a man was arrested near the home of Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) for allegedly threatening to kill the congresswoman.

The funding was vital for us to implement dozens of immediate improvements, the Capitol Police said on Wednesday. Now we will fast-track the work we have already been doing to enhance the protection of Members outside of Washington, D.C., while also providing new protective options that will address concerns following Fridays targeted attack.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Gael Greene, in 1971, often wore hats to photo shoots to avoid being recognized when approaching restaurants to review. (Ray Stubblebine / Associated Press)

For several years before catching my first break as a restaurant critic in 2002, when I began writing regularly for an alt weekly in Atlanta, I made a practice out of learning the form. My means of study sound like an absurd relic now: I filled a thick binder full of restaurants reviews, written by the countrys most compelling critics. I printed them off the Internet, pre-paywalls, often when I was bored at temp jobs.

Among my study material was a piece I returned to many times for its sweep, intelligence and boldness. It published in 2000 with the headline Gold-Plate Special, a review written by Gael Greene, who had been New York magazines critic since 1968.

Greene, who died of cancer Nov. 1 at age 88, was one of the masterminds of modern restaurant criticism.

Greene crafted dining reviews into a literary form. She came to the job at a time when straightforward observations of an establishments food, atmosphere and service, smattered with wit and the occasional scathing invective, defined the genre. She was a reporter but also frequently made herself a character. Her prose was unapologetically lush; she was a proud sensualist who wrote two erotic novels during her career. In her reviews, barbs often landed like the well-made beurre blanc she must have eaten so often in the days of New Yorks French-dominated gastronomy: vinegary, suave and cohesive.

Take the Gold-Plate Special essay. It a was critique about Alain Ducasse at the Essex House, but also a broader social narrative around the famous chefs entry into the Manhattan dining world. The piece details several meals but equally traces the arc of the restaurants reception by New Yorkers. What began as starry-eyed public fawning  among the circles that cared about such arrivals, anyway  had descended into general incredulity over the exorbitant prices and uneven food.

Greenes review is 4,000 words, nearly four times the length of a standard review, then and now, and a testament to the space that magazines would still give writers at the turn of the millennium. Yet the piece glides. The insults are amazing. A roulade of sole is pathetic. She says of a rye tuile flavored with sun-dried tomato and Parmesan and presented with much flourish: I taste another just to be sure. Its not even a big nothing. Its a small embarrassing nothing.

When she does finally love something  a pear dessert? Im in a waltz now with Fred Astaire. Im cuter than Ginger, sexier than Rita, more graceful than Cyd.

In the center of the piece, she details an in-person breakfast meeting she has with Ducasse. She writes: You are the talk of New York, Alain, I begin. She tells us he grins at her words, but the reader is already wincing and maybe chuckling a little meanly. This isnt going to be pretty.

Greene was born in Detroit. She worked as a reporter for the New York Post and freelanced for Cosmopolitan, Mademoiselle and other publications before being hired by New York magazine, where she held the position of restaurant critic for 40 years. When Adam Platt was given the title of critic in 2002, Greene wrote a part-time column for six additional years. She was laid off in 2008.

It was narcissistic shock: moi? she told the New York Times then of the news. I thought I was a brand at New York magazine.

Between those two seismic shifts in her professional life, she wrote a memoir, Insatiable: Tales From a Life of Delicious Excess, published in 2006, and maintained a website, insatiable-critic.com, where she cached many of her most memorable reviews and continued writing dining dispatches until 2020.

In her memoir, she described tours of duty through Frances Michelin-starred restaurants and revealed a dalliance with Elvis (who, she said, asked her to order him a fried egg sandwich from room service) as well as affairs with Burt Reynolds, Clint Eastwood and some of the chefs whose restaurants she critiqued. She defended her editorial decisions by disclosing the relationships in print, as in the 1977 review I Love Le Cirque But Can I Be Trusted?

The [memoir] didnt do as well as everyone hoped it would, Greene told me over lunch in New York in 2016. The consensus seems to be that the sex crowd didnt think there was enough sex and the food crowd didnt think there was enough food.

I was Eaters national critic at the time and had started a passion project  an oral history of the women who led the way in American restaurant criticism  that Im sorry to say I've never completed. Greene was famous for her collection of hats; she wore them at public events and when she was being photographed, so that when she went hatless on reviews, she reasoned, she was less likely to be recognized.

I had met Greene on a couple of previous occasions and always felt awed by her ebullient grandness. She would toss her head back when she roared her husky, knowing laugh.

Restaurant criticism is a strange, singular, necessarily changing and sadly disappearing profession. Lifers in the field will likely cease to exist, and there are strong arguments why that should be the case. But Greene was a live-out-loud force whose path, even as she blazed it, vanished behind her. I trust she would not mind me sharing that during lunch in 2016  over risotto and roasted salmon at Lincoln Ristorante, her choice  I sensed she wondered about her place in the world. She was buoyed by her work with Citymeals on Wheels, an organization to help feed New Yorks homebound elderly that she co-founded with James Beard in 1981. Citymeals delivered more than 67 million meals during her lifetime.

Did she feel adequately recognized for her contributions to American food writing? I cant say. Over a few bites of gelato at dessert, I told her about my binder and quoted a couple of lines from Gold-Plate Special, and she bellowed her laugh. I hope she took in my gratitude.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh will soon have a new name.

Martin Marietta is offering to pay more than $500,000 a year for at least the next 20 years to have naming rights for the center. The new name would be Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts.

You may be asking yourselves why were interested in doing this now, CEO Ward Nye said to the City Council Tuesday night.

And, in short, its a story of growth and a sense of duty to our community, Nye said. Well be celebrating our 30th year as a public company. And now is the right time for us to broaden partnerships with our Raleigh community, and more meaningfully demonstrate our fidelity to it.

The 20-year lease includes two optional five-year extensions and would require the construction supplier to pay the city $518,000 a year with a 3% annual increase.

The vote was passed unanimously Tuesday night.

The Performing Arts Center consists of Raleigh Memorial Auditorium, Meymandi Concert Hall, A.J. Fletcher Opera Theater, Kennedy Theatre and Lichtin Plaza located at 2 E. South St. in downtown Raleigh. The venue is home to regular productions by the North Carolina Theatre, Carolina Ballet, the N.C. Symphony, PineCone and North Carolina Opera as well as touring theatrical productions, concerts and comedy shows.

We dont have a lot of corporate headquarters here, Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said. So when we see one of our headquarters stand up and take a leadership role its great to see. So, thank you very much.
This is part of the L.A. Times 2022 Gift Guide. See the full guide here. If you make a purchase using some of our links, the L.A. Times may be compensated.

The holidays can be hard for the eco-conscious. All that shiny wrapping paper and ribbon, for instance, wadded into non-recyclable mounds. Visitors who don't know (or care to learn) the routine about composting or separating trash and spend hours running water in the shower.

Soften the blow by including these water- and power-saving gifts as stocking stuffers and/or main-event presents for your environmentally friendly friends and family.

Joseph Joseph Wash & Drain basin

I had an argument with a friend who insisted it was wasteful for me to fill up my kitchen sink every day to wash just a few dishes. Best to stuff them in the dishwasher, she said, and wash when it's full. But the thought of dirty, greasy dishes moldering in the dishwasher was pretty unappealing, so I found a great compromise: The Joseph Joseph Wash & Drain basin lets me wash and rinse my dishes (I got two) and since I'm using biodegradable soap, I just empty the basins in my yard when I'm through. These sturdy, attractive basins are handy for camping or outdoor use too.

$19.99 at Amazon

Sink Twice toilet sink

This ingenious device diverts the clean water that refills our toilet tanks every time we flush into a small faucet that automatically invites you to wash your hands. There's even a handy place for soap! The sink installs easily over most toilet tanks (measure your recipient's tank before you buy) and makes hand washing easy and fun. I did call the company with an installation question and got patient expert help from the owner/inventor, Culver Van Der Jagt, who answered the phone. Van Der Jagt says you save at least 2 quarts of water with every flush, and honestly, once you try this, it just seems wasteful to let all that clean water go into a tank when it could be doing double duty washing your hands. I got one for every toilet in the house.

$83.99 at Sink Twice

Xlux moisture meter

Any plant expert will tell you a common killer of houseplants and garden plants is overwatering, which seems like a double no-no during California's endless drought. This moisture meter takes the guesswork out of watering, indoors and out, and its extra-long 12-inch probe lets you determine whether water is getting to the roots, where your plants need it most. This meter is super easy to use and no batteries are required. A perfect stocking gift for new plant parents, or attach it with ribbon to a plant gift. (Also seen in our gift guide for beginner plant parents.)

$14.99 at Amazon

Toilet Tank Bank

Here's a memorable stocking stuffer for your water-conscious friends. The Toilet Tank Bank promises to reduce water use in toilets by more than half a gallon every time you flush. The bags basically take up space in the toilet tank so it doesn't need so much water to finish filling. In the olden days, people would wedge a brick in their toilet tank to do the same thing. This is a little more elegant, and easier to put in a stocking. And with this three-pack, you can offer one to multiple people!

$13.99 at Amazon

Colapz collapsible garden watering can

This collapsible 1.5-gallon watering can by Colapz solves two problems: It easily folds down to store under the sink (or wherever you have room) and doesn't leak or dribble. I had to overfill it all the way to the top to get any leaks when I was walking, and it pours so smoothly the water goes where it's intended instead of all over your legs or living room floor en route to the patio or balcony. It also converts into a plain bucket and is food safe if you want to use it for emergency berry picking.

$32.99 at Amazon

Baldr digital shower clock with timer

It's easy to get lost in a shower, the soothing water transporting us to someplace other than to-dos and water shortages ... But alas, reality and water prices being what they are, it's best to get a gentle reminder so you don't let the water run too long. This handsome digital timer is waterproof and easy to set, with a buzzer that can jolt you back to reality when your 10 minutes (or whatever) are up. The perfect stocking gift for anyone using your shower with abandon. Bonus: You can use the timer as a travel clock too.

$19.95 at Amazon

Tubtrug buckets for catching shower water

It's hard to say too much about these handy tubs. They're soft and flexible, so if you bump them in the shower you won't skin your ankles. They are beyond sturdy, food safe and this medium size (6.9 gallon) is perfect for collecting shower water, because you can still carry it out to the garden when it's full. Tubtrugs come in a multitude of sizes and colors so instead of traditional Christmas stockings, use Tubtrugs to hold small gifts this year, making it easy for everyone to tote home their loot.

$14.99 (6.9 gallon size) at Red Gorilla (Also seen in our gift guide for beginner plant parents).

Niagara Conservation hand-held shower head

OK, it isn't Niagara Falls, but this hand-held shower head by Niagara Conservation still provides a satisfying shower, while using just 1.5 gallons per minute, a gallon less per minute than standard shower heads. I installed mine in a matter of minutes (include some plumbers tape with this gift so your recipient can really seal up the joints). This shower head offers three spray patterns, a 6-foot hose and the happy awareness that over 10 minutes, I'm only using 150 gallons versus 250 gallons of water. Now, if I can only consistently get my showers down to 10 minutes ...

$29.96 at Home Depot

Smarter With Water shower water catcher

The name gives it all away, and as a proviso, this won't work unless you have a shower head in which you can direct water into the funnel, but honestly, if you have a hand-held shower head, this little device will help you catch as much water as possible. The flat, clear-plastic funnel easily attaches to your shower wall, and all you have to do is aim your shower head at the funnel while you're lathering up. Shower water flows down the tube directly into a container, instead of running down the drain. Why not make this gift a package deal with the water-conserving shower head and Tubtrug, all wrapped up with a bow?

$14.95 (plus $14.95 shipping) at Smarter With Water

Jisulife portable neck fan

The longer we can keep the AC off, the less power and water we use and sometimes, all you really need is just a little air. To that end, this inexpensive neck fan by Jisulife works surprisingly well, pushing air around your neck and under your chin at three speeds. The fan is bladeless and comes with a cord for easy recharging. It's designed to look like headphones cradled around your neck and available in several colors (including an adorable duck design). A friend used this neck fan for an hour while vigorously cleaning house and she gave them a thumbs-up.

$31.99-$36.99 at Amazon

Vensovo terra cotta watering spikes

Conserve water, keep your potted plants automatically irrigated and recycle empty wine bottles in one fell swoop with these large terra cotta stakes. Place the porous clay stakes in the soil near your plants' roots and attach a recycled wine bottle filled with water, which will slowly ooze its contents into the soil, keeping the soil moist. You can gift the entire set of 10 stakes or divide them up as stocking gifts to all your plant-loving friends and family. Just be sure you put the stakes in the pot first and then add the bottle, since the stakes break easily if you try to insert them with the bottle. It's a good way to keep plants watered while you're on vacation too.

$30.99 at Amazon

Reimagining the California Lawn: Water-conserving Plants, Practices, and Designs

Give this useful book to anyone who's thinking about removing their lawn. Co-author Carol Bornstein spent 28 years as director of horticulture for the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, and her earlier book, "California Native Plants for the Garden," is considered a bible among native plant enthusiasts. "Reimagining the California Lawn" is full of colorful photos of design ideas and plants, natives as well as drought-tolerant varieties. I particularly love the plant lists in the back that cover every garden need, such as deer resistance, fragrance, seashore conditions and my favorite, "bulletproof."

$27.95 at Tree of Life Nursery

Theodore Payne Foundation gift card

One of the best ways for gardeners to save water is to landscape with California native plants, and a gift certificate from the Theodore Payne Foundation can help them on their way. Winter is the best time to plant most native flora, because the winter rains  when we have them  help the plants settle in before the heat of summer. One nice advantage is that you can purchase Theodore Payne's gift cards online and then offer to drive the recipient to the nursery in Sun Valley where you can both do some browsing. Double score!

$25-$200 at Theodore Payne Foundation

Enloy compost bin for kitchen countertop

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Collecting kitchen waste for a compost pile is a great first step to saving water, because compost helps build good loamy soil that retains moisture. I've kept a stainless steel pail on my counter for years. Its convenient, spacious and easy to clean, but these new pails have an additional feature: charcoal filters in the lid to keep odors at bay. This model by Enloy has an added benefit: The lid easily hangs off the side while you're filling the pail  no more searching for someplace to put the lid when you're chopping vegetables.

$28.99 at Amazon

F2C outdoor compost bin

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Compost helps keep moisture in your soil but compost piles are hard to fit in small spaces. This compact compost tumbler could be the answer. It's just 3 feet tall and 2.5 feet wide, spins easily and thanks to its dual chambers, lets you "cook" one batch of compost while starting another. Each chamber holds about 21.5 gallons  a little more than two 1.5-cubic-foot bags of potting soil. FCMP Outdoors has a similar model that seems equally sturdy, but the F2C model was $12 cheaper, included its own tool for assembly (although I recommend having a 3/8-inch socket wrench handy unless you have fingers of steel) and was slightly easier to assemble. Both took two to three hours to attach dozens of little screws  so consider assembling before you give it as a gift.

$66.49 at Amazon

More gift guides

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
By Gloria Dickie

LONDON (Reuters) - Europe has warmed more than twice as much as the rest of the world over the past three decades and experienced the greatest temperature increase of any continent, according to a report by the World Meteorological Organization.

The report on the state of the climate in Europe follows a summer of extremes. A record-breaking heatwave scorched Britain, Alpine glaciers vanished at an unprecedented rate, and a long-lasting marine heatwave cooked the waters of the Mediterranean.

"Europe presents a live picture of a warming world and reminds us that even well prepared societies are not safe from impacts of extreme weather events," WMO secretary-general Petteri Taalas said in a statement.

From 1991 to 2021, temperatures over Europe warmed at an average of 0.5 degrees Celsius per decade, the report said, while the global average was just 0.2 degrees C.

Last year, extreme weather events made worse by climate change - chiefly floods and storms - delivered damages exceeding $50 billion in Europe.

The reason Europe is warming faster than other continents has to do with the fact that a large part of the continent is in the sub-Arctic and Arctic - the fastest warming region on Earth - as well as changes in climate feedbacks, scientists said.

For example, fewer clouds over Europe during the summer has meant more sunlight and heat now reaches the continent, said Freja Vamborg, senior scientist with the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Some scientists have called Europe a "heatwave hotspot" as the number of heatwaves on the continent have increased faster than in other regions due to changes in atmospheric circulation.

Although temperatures are rising, the European Union has managed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 31% between 1990 and 2020, the report said, and aims to slash emissions by 55% by 2030.

On Nov. 6, delegates will arrive in Egypt for COP27, the annual United Nations climate summit.

French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commision President Ursula von der Leyen are expected to attend. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's decision not to attend the COP27 climate summit is being kept under review, his spokesman said Monday.

(Reporting by Gloria Dickie in London, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Michael DiMassa, left, and his lawyer, John Gulash, leave federal court, Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022, in Hartford, Conn. DiMassa, a former state representative, pleaded guilty Tuesday to wire fraud conspiracy charges in connection with the theft of about $1.2 million in federal coronavirus relief funds from the city of West Haven, Conn. (AP Photo/Dave Collins) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)  A former Connecticut state representative pleaded guilty Tuesday in connection with the theft of more than $1.2 million in federal coronavirus relief funds from the city of West Haven, using some of the money for gambling at a casino, according to prosecutors.

Michael DiMassa, a West Haven Democrat, appeared in federal court in Hartford and pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud conspiracy. DiMassa's wife and his former business partner also pleaded guilty earlier this year, while a fourth person charged in the scheme awaits trial.

At the time of the theft, DiMassa was both a state representative and an aide to the West Haven City Council. Prosecutors alleged he used his city position, which had authority to approve the reimbursement of COVID-19 expenditures, to steal the funds  some of which he spent at the Mohegan Sun Casino in eastern Connecticut.

DiMassa, 31, resigned from both positions after his arrest last year.

No sentencing date was set for DiMassa. The sentencing guideline range for the charges he pleaded guilty to is 41 to 51 months. He also will have to pay back the city for the amount of money he stole.

DiMassa, who remains free on a $250,000 bond, didn't answer questions as he left the courthouse Tuesday. During the hearing, he said Guilty one time when asked how he was pleading to the three charges, and said Yes, your honor and No, your honor while answering a series of questions from Judge Omar Williams.

After the hearing, his lawyer, John Gulash Jr., declined to answer questions about why DiMassa pleaded guilty, why he stole the money and whether he will be apologizing, saying those answers will come at sentencing.

As you heard in court, he readily admitted his wrongdoing and entered pleas to the appropriate charges, Gulash said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ray Miller said DiMassa was involved in three separate conspiracies that defrauded West Haven out of $1.2 million through bogus invoices for coronavirus-related services never performed.

DiMassa and a business partner, John Bernardo, also a former West Haven city employee, pilfered nearly $637,000, Miller said. They formed a company, Compass Investment Group LLC, and billed the city for legal, lobbying and consulting services never rendered.

Bernardo also pleaded guilty to wire fraud and is scheduled to be sentenced later this month.

In a second scheme, DiMassa and another business owner, John Trasacco, conspired to submit fraudulent invoices from Trasacco's companies to the city, netting nearly $432,000, Miller said.

Trasacco has pleaded not guilty to fraud charges and is slated to go on trial later this month.

The final conspiracy involved DiMassa and his wife, Lauren DiMassa, and the theft of nearly $148,000. Miller said. The couple submitted phony requests for payments related to a youth violence prevention program and its COVID-19-related expenses, and Lauren DiMassa received checks from the city, according to a federal grand jury indictment.

Lauren DiMassa pleaded guilty in July to wire fraud conspiracy and her sentencing is set for January.

The criminal cases brought scrutiny on West Haven officials and how the city spent more than $1 million it received in federal COVID-19 relief funds. An audit released in April indicated about 80% of the expenditures should not have been allowed.

In May, Gov. Ned Lamont approved a recommendation by a state board to place West Haven's finances under greater state oversight. The city had previously been placed under state oversight because of budget deficit problems.

West Haven Mayor Nancy Rossi, who had authorized Michael DiMassa to approve spending the coronavirus aid, has faced criticism from local residents, including calls to resign, because of the scandal.

Since these incidents happened, there are many more additional internal controls in place, she said in a statement Tuesday. Also there have been many changes in personnel in Finance and other departments. West Haven is trying to put this behind us and move forward.
Rumors that San Luis Obispo County school districts are placing litter boxes in restrooms to accommodate students who identify as furries are false, school district administrators say.

It is utter nonsense, said Eric Prater, superintendent of San Luis Coastal Unified School District.

It is an unfounded allegation, said Curt Dubost, superintendent of Paso Robles Joint Unified School District.

The administrators response came after the Paso Robles district received an allegation that the high school was receiving requests from students identifying as furries  someone who has an alternate animal persona  to have litter boxes provided in the restrooms, Dubost said. None of that is true, he added.

We have had complaints about Furrys (sic) in PRJUSD, posted Paso Robles school board member Kenney Enney in the Facebook group PRotect Paso on Saturday. They are not a protected class, so therefore if there are Furry issues in your childs school, and staff is not addressing it, please notify your your (sic) School Board Trustee.

The district, however, has not had issues regarding students identifying as furries, nor has it had requests from students for litter boxes, Dubost said.

The Tribune also checked at Lucia Mar Unified and Atascadero Unified school districts  both of which said none of their restrooms have litter boxes nor have they had any complaints about furries in their schools.

According to the Poynter Institute, school districts around the nation have also needed to debunk claims that they are providing litter boxes in bathrooms.

Reuters noted in an Oct. 18 fact-check of the claims that the latest surfacing of the rumor appeared to originate from an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience.

Joe Rogan told former U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard a story about litter boxes at an unidentified school, Reuters reported. However, there is no publicly available evidence that proves schools are providing litter boxes to self-identified furries anywhere in the U.S.

Reuters reported that furries are people who create their own alternative animal personalities known as a fursonas, according to the International Anthropomorphic Research Project, also known as Furscience, a group of interdisciplinary professors who have studied more than 40,000 furries.
A federal judge in Phoenix issued a restraining order Tuesday night against a group that has been photographing and recording voters casting ballots at drop boxes in Arizona.

The order, issued by U.S. District Judge Michael Liburdi, prohibits Clean Elections USA from "openly" carrying weapons or "visibly wear body armor" within 250 feet of drop boxes. Liburdi's order also bars the group's members from taking photos, recording, following or yelling at voters within 75 feet of drop box locations.

Furthermore, he told the group's founder, Melody Jennings, to post a message to her account on Truth Social, former President Donald Trump's social media platform, that reads in part: It is not always illegal to deposit multiple ballots in a ballot drop box. It is legal to deposit the ballot of a family member, household member, or person for whom you are the caregiver."

The group and its founder were accused of intimidation and harassment of voters as they dropped off their ballots in Maricopa County. The lawsuit was filed by the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans and Voto Latino.

Armed individuals dressed in tactical gear at the site of a ballot drop box in Mesa, Ariz., on Oct. 21, 2022. (Maricopa County Elections Department / AFP - Getty Images)

The restraining order was issued after a series of warnings about potential voter intimidation in the battleground state.

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who is running for governor, said last week that her office had referred six reports of possible voter intimidation to the state attorney generals office and the U.S. Justice Department for further investigation after it received several complaints from voters reporting that they were recorded and that their license plates were photographed as they dropped off ballots.

Liburdi refused Friday to grant the restraining order requested by Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans and Voto Latino. He said at the time that while this case certainly presents serious questions, the Court cannot craft an injunction without violating the First Amendment.

Plaintiffs have not provided the Court with any evidence that Defendants conduct constitutes a true threat, Liburdi wrote last week.
A Georgia state senator running for reelection as a farmer who wants to plow the field for a brighter future has routinely hired a family of farm labor contractors who have a history of labor violations and are linked to a human trafficking investigation known as Operation Blooming Onion.

Sen. Russ Goodman, a Republican who took office last year and is secretary of the Senates Committee on Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, has relied on the contractors to provide seasonal foreign workers to pick blueberries on the more than 600-acre farm he owns with his father-in-law. A seventh-generation farmer, Goodman markets himself as a patriotic American who promotes family farm and small-business policies that keep local young people from leaving the area.

I want kids in Adel, Homerville, Valdosta, Quitman and all across South Georgia to be able to stay, build a career, and raise their families, he said on the website for his 2020 campaign.

Over the past nine years, Cogdell Berry Farm  Goodman's family farm  has hired Emilia Alvarez, her son Luis Antonio Alvarez and her husband, Jesus Alvarez, to bring workers up from south of the border on H-2A visas. The visas are designed to backfill agricultural jobs farms cant find locals to do.

Federal authorities searched the Alvarezes home addresses and confiscated $16,460 during the Blooming Onion investigation, one of the largest criminal cases ever prosecuted concerning labor trafficking of foreign farmworkers. The family, which has provided workers to several farms, was not indicted in the case.

Official state portrait of Sen. Russ Goodman, R-Cogdell

Goodman told USA TODAY in an email that he wasnt aware of the connection and had never witnessed or heard anything that would indicate there were any issues with the farms labor contractors. He said he intended to investigate.

Our family farm has spent $4,235,293 on harvest costs in recent years, probably 10 times as much as a similar operation in Mexico, because we do things the right way, he said.

Operation Blooming Onion underscores some of the ways the contracting system can insulate farmers from labor abuse claims: If the contractors function as legal employers, farmers may not be aware of wrongdoing  or it can be easier for them to deny any knowledge of wrongdoing.

The federal investigation has led to the indictments of 28 people, and four have pleaded guilty. Most of the defendants are contractors or their associates; only one appears to be a farmer: Charles Michael King of Kings Berry Farm.

Operation Blooming Onion: Federal indictment reveals 'modern-day-slavery' in Georgia

The largest indictment was filed in the U.S. Southern District Court of Georgia in October 2021. It charged two dozen people with conspiracy to engage in forced labor and related crimes and said defendants threatened workers and forced them to pay illegal fees to obtain jobs, work for little or no pay and live in unsanitary conditions. The case is ongoing.

Although the Alvarezes were not charged in the recent federal case, Emilia and Jesus have been cited in the past for labor violations by the U.S. Department of Labor. Jesus Alvarez also owed $1.7 million in unpaid income taxes over nine years, according to notices of federal tax liens.

Those violations include a case involving guest workers brought to work on the senators family farm in 2015. Emilia Alvarez was suspended from the guest-worker program after federal inspectors cited her, alleging labor violations that included underpaying the workers by nearly $150,000. Alvarez agreed to be suspended from the program for three years and pay $148,041 in back wages and $112,600 in fines.

The case against Emilia Alvarez includes no indication that Cogdell Berry Farm was cited.

The federal labor department also had cited Jesus Alvarez in 2012, alleging he owed back wages to a worker, used the services of an unregistered farm labor contractor and failed to obtain insurance for transportation vehicles. Those violations concerned workers employed by Alvarez to work at other farms.

After Emilia Alvarez was cited, Goodmans family farm started to turn to her son and husband to petition for the H-2A workers it needed.

Blueberries are the main crop harvested by the guest farmworkers at Cogdell Berry Farm in rural Clinch County, but the family has also produced cattle, pecans and timber. Blueberries are a labor-intensive crop that has expanded in Georgia  a state previously known mostly for peaches and sweet Vidalia onions. Goodman has said his farm turned to the crop two decades ago because the health benefits from the fruit were really making the news.

An old Cogdell store sits at the entrance of the Cogdell Berry Farm in Clinch County, Georgia.

Goodmans home and farm are surrounded by large expanses of woodlands in Southern Georgia  far closer to Jacksonville, Florida, than to Atlanta. Amid the blueberry fields stand an abandoned building with a rusting sign reading Cogdell Store, a warehouse-style structure, silos and a bunkhouse approved to house 56 migrant workers. Recently, clothes hung on a clothesline near a mobile home.

In 2016, when Georgia farmers denounced federal authorities for being slow to allow guest workers into the U.S., Goodman spoke out. He told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he had requested 500 workers but only 30 had arrived, leading to losses of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I dont know whether to crawl in a hole and hide in the fetal position or come out with a sword, Goodman told the newspaper. Im between those two emotions.

His farm had hired Emilia Alvarez to bring in those workers.

Goodman, who easily beat his Democratic challenger in the 2020 Senate race, is running unopposed on Nov. 8. He characterizes Gov. Brian Kemp and his wife on social media as good friends and mentions that Kemp stayed overnight at his farmhouse.

Kemp appointed Goodman a Senate floor leader right after he was elected. The governor also posed for photos for his own campaign ads wearing a T-shirt with the name Cogdell Cattle Company, owned by Goodmans wife.

Kemps wife was appointed by her husband as co-chair of a commission to fight human trafficking.

No one from Kemps staff or campaign responded to repeated attempts to reach the incumbent for comment.

In campaign ads online, Gov. Brian Kemp is pictured in a shirt with a logo from Cogdell Cattle Company.

Goodman said his operation spends a huge amount of money to meet or exceed requirements of the guest-worker program, food safety and pesticide reporting, and other rules set by government agencies and retailers, including social responsibility audits.

We have many workers who come back year after year to help us on our family farm and we have gone above and beyond in looking after their welfare, he wrote in an email.

He said he had heard of the Blooming Onion case but didnt know of any connections to himself or his farm.

Rest assured we will not do business with any person or entity youve alleged within your email if those allegations are proven to be true and have not been remediated to the satisfaction of the United States Department of Labor and the Georgia Department of Labor and my family, he said.

Emilia, Jesus and Luis Alvarez didnt respond to phone calls, emails, text messages and certified letters asking for interviews.

Harvesting work would require 'stooping, bending and heavy lifting'

The guest farmworker program requires that farmers and contractors abide by certain rules to bring foreigners to work temporarily on U.S. farms, a process that includes applying through petitions that must be approved by the U.S. Department of Labor, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State.

Only those who intend to employ the workers can file the petitions. Employers and recruiters are banned from asking workers to pay fees to get a job. They can require the recruits to pay some costs upfront, such as travel expenses, but those costs must be reimbursed. To protect local workers wages, employers also have to pay a minimum wage that varies depending on the location of the farm  $11.99 an hour in Georgia this year.

One letter signed by Goodman and his father-in-law states that they intended to employ Luis Alvarez to use about 200 of his workers for 3 months in 2018, primarily to harvest berries by hand and machine.

They will also be pulling weeds, hoeing, raking, cleaning areas around the farms and buildings, the letter said. They will be working behind the blueberry harvester to off load and stack lugs of blueberries.

Workers should have verifiable farm experience, the letter added: All these jobs will be done under extreme sunlight with stooping, bending and heavy lifting required of the workers.

A letter from the owners of Cogdell Berry Farm, Johnny Crumbley and Russ Goodman, about the work and conditions to harvest blueberries during the 2018 season. Highlighted and redacted info by USA TODAY.

One woman recounted her experience trying to bring guest farmworkers to Goodmans farm several years later  and becoming a farm labor contractor on the fly.

Martha Marmulejo Herrera identifies herself on Facebook as a hotel cleaner. She told USA TODAY she had no experience in labor contracting when an acquaintance, Rosalba Gonzalez, persuaded her last year to file a petition for guest farmworkers destined for Cogdell Berry Farm.

Early that year, in 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor had begun the process of rejecting a petition by Luis Alvarez to bring guest farmworkers to the senators farm because Alvarez had requested workers nearly year-round for the site, which is not allowed by the program regulations.

Marmulejo Herrera said Gonzalez, a hotel co-worker, told her she could make a lot of money. She said Gonzalez told her that when workers arrived, she shouldnt talk with them. She would just need to sit inside a truck and stay quiet.

When Marmulejo Herrera filed the petition, which would have required a copy of the work contract between her and the farm, she said she hadnt yet met anyone representing the farm. In August, when she talked with USA TODAY, she said she still didnt know who the owners were.

Before the workers were to arrive, the farm canceled the contract, Marmulejo Herrera said, because a freeze had hit the blueberry crop. Then she started hearing from people from Mexico who complained they had paid $1,000 or $1,500 to come work on the farm, money they were now out because the contract was canceled.

Marmulejo Hererra said that was her first indication workers had been charged, and she said Gonzalez was the person who charged them.

Gonzalez acknowledged that she knew a Martha but said she never persuaded her, coordinated with her to petition workers or to charge them. She said Martha had told her she was going to petition guest farmworkers.

Goodman noted that Marmulejo Herrera holds a Farm Labor Contractor Certificate of Registration, a certificate required to act as a farm labor contractor.

Others connected to federal trafficking case played a role

Relatives of a central defendant in the Blooming Onion investigation played a role in the petitions filed to bring guest farmworkers to the senators family farm.

Maria Leticia Patricio was hired to prepare petitions requesting federal government approval for thousands of H-2A farmworkers on behalf of numerous contractors and farmers. Prosecutors accuse her of filing fraudulent petitions and helping subject workers to forced labor.

Her son Daniel Mendoza, who also filed guest-worker petitions, is also indicted. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Patricio's brother is former Georgia State Monitor Advocate Jorge Gomez, who was in charge of protecting migrant farmworkers. Gomez has not been charged and denies any wrongdoing.

A USA TODAY Network investigation revealed that several Patricio family members who filed guest-worker petitions on behalf of employers had connections to the case. Those included Graciela Gomez, who is Patricios niece and Gomezs daughter.

Emilia, Luis and Jesus Alvarez relied on some of Patricios relatives for help with their guest-worker petitions.

As part of their petitions, employers need to guarantee that workers will have access to kitchen facilities or will be provided meals at a low cost. Patricios husband, whom the indictment accuses of executing a money-laundering transaction, stated in a document included in a 2016 guest-worker petition that Emilia Alvarez had hired his restaurant to provide three meals a day for workers requested for Cogdell Berry Farm and another farm.

The Alvarezes also used three of Patricios family members to file petitions for guest workers for Cogdell Berry Farm: Graciela Gomez, Monica Saavedra and Laura Gomez-Morales. All three women had their homes searched or money confiscated as a result of the investigation. None were indicted.

Saavedra was temporarily banned from filing petitions in 2017 for violations, which included failing to first try to recruit U.S. workers as an agent for a contractor who was also debarred. She prepared the payroll for workers Emilia Alvarez brought to Cogdell Berry Farm in 2015, according to a deposition Alvarez gave in the case concerning her underpayment of blueberry pickers at the farm.

In 2019, Jorge Gomez intervened to speed up the processing of at least one of the petitions for workers at the senators farm.

Federal agent testifies: Farm labor traffickers bribed Georgia government employees

Gomez had told USA TODAY he didnt supervise Georgia Labor Department housing inspectors and recused himself from tasks concerning his familys clients.

Yet an email thread obtained through a public records request for hundreds of pages of petition records shows that when another of his sisters, Laura Gomez-Morales, filed a petition on behalf of Emilia Alvarez for workers at Cogdell Berry Farm, Jorge Gomez stepped in.

When a federal Labor Department officer sent an email asking for clarification, he sent a message to a Georgia Labor Department housing inspector: Brenda please review and respond asap.

The inspector got back to him immediately.

Help USA TODAY investigate abuse of seasonal farmworkers

The USA TODAY Network is reporting on what made the abuse of guest farmworkers in Georgia possible and who profited from it. If you are a worker who suffered abuse or know of one, or if you have any information about potential misconduct by public employees or others, we want to hear from you. We will not use your information without your permission. Contact Investigative Reporter Maria Perez: maria.perez@usatoday.com. Ella habla espanol.

Contact us

Gomez told the USA TODAY Network that he was tasked with contacting housing inspectors if they needed to address issues arising in emails about processing the guest-worker petitions. He said that information is time-sensitive and that inspectors, who may be in the field, are expected to respond quickly.

He said he did the same for petitions coming from all employers, regardless of whether they were his familys clients. He reiterated that he didnt supervise employees and only provided guidance: I was the most senior housing inspector; they were looking up to me for recommendations.

Georgia Department of Labor spokeswoman Kersha Cartwright said the department does not know if Gomez was instructed to contact housing inspectors when they didnt respond to emails. She said its common practice to include the State Monitor Advocate in emails but didnt elaborate on why. She said that Gomez didnt have any supervisory role on housing inspectors that he was making sure that a response was sent, and didnt tell the inspector how to respond.

Questions arise about worker housing

Guest farmworker employers are required to provide free housing, which generally must pass inspection by the Georgia Department of Labor before petitions are approved. Housing can be a significant cost for employers, and Blooming Onion prosecutors said in an indictment that some defendants had forced workers to live in cramped and unsanitary trailers.

At least two defendants had assured federal authorities they would house workers in hotels  which typically do not require a labor department inspection  but then, according to court records, housed them in unapproved barracks or trailers instead.

In petitions for workers for Cogdell and two other farms, the Alvarez family listed two of the same hotels as several of the Operation Blooming Onion defendants. One was a motel overbooked by various guest-worker petitioners.

Clothes hung on a clothesline near a gray mobile home at the Cogdell Berry Farm in Clinch County, Georgia.

During overlapping periods in 2019, Emilia Alvarez and several other employers reported that together they had booked more than 166 rooms at the Comfortel Suites in Douglas  a motel with only 100 rooms according to its Facebook page. That year, Alvarez was required to look for a different motel, according to the case file, in which a Georgia labor department officer reports that the motel, located by U.S. Route 441 that divides Douglas in two, was overbooked.

The following year several employers, including Jesus Alvarez, again included in their petitions bookings for more rooms than the hotel had available.

No Comfortel Suites manager or owner responded to requests for comment. Ravi Parmar, who manages a motel in Jesup that Emilia Alvarez also listed as worker housing, said his motel has never housed migrant farmworkers.

Another hotel in Douglas, 3 miles south on the same road as the Comfortel Suites, was listed in petitions from the Alvarez family as having enough beds to house four workers per room, each with their own bed. The hotels website said that its rooms have one or two beds and that no extra beds would be provided.

Goodman didnt address the motel arrangements in his response.

Goodman advocates for other politicians, farm interests

Goodmans identity as a farmer has been a cornerstone of his campaigns. He also has spoken on social media about how his farm and others create U.S. jobs.

Today is National Blueberry Day! Im thankful to be apart (sic) of Georgias 3/4 of billion dollar industry that is a $5 billion dollar industry across the country creating over 44,000 full time American jobs, he posted on Facebook in July 2021.

Even before his first election, Goodman was politically active. He served as campaign chairman  in south Georgia for Kemp and in his county for U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter and former Gov. Sonny Perdue, according to Goodmans campaign website.

He also has lobbied for the interests of blueberry farmers.

In 2020, he testified before the Office of the United States Trade Representative, saying Mexican blueberry imports are unfair competition in part because U.S. farmers were required to pay higher wages. Mexican farms pay workers on average less than $1 an hour, he said, while the H-2A regulations require an hourly wage rate of nearly $12.

It is hypocritical of us as Americans and the American government to expect the American farmer to grow our produce under certain labor and environmental regulations and then allow the free importation of foreign grown produce that isnt grown with the same set of standards, he said. Im a believer in free markets, the problem is we have a free market on the sales side, but not the cost.

Maria Perez is a reporter on USA TODAYs national investigations team. She can be reached at maria.perez@usatoday.com and on Twitter @mariajpsl. Abraham Kenmore is the statewide reporter with the Gannett Georgia Go Team. He can be reached at akenmore@gannett.com and on Twitter @twiterlessabe. Drew Favakeh is a public safety reporter at the Savannah Morning News. He can be reached at AFavakeh@savannahnow.com and on Twitter @drewfav.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Georgia senator used farm labor contractors linked to trafficking case
FILE - Lobster fishermen work at sunrise in the Atlantic Ocean, Sept. 8, 2022, off of Kennebunkport, Maine. Scientists, lawyers and government officials are gathered in Jamaica the week of Nov. 1, 2022 to debate deep sea mining as part of a two-week conference organized by the International Seabed Authority, an independent body created by a United Nations treaty. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP)  High demand for metals ranging from copper to cobalt is pushing the mining industry to explore the worlds deepest oceans, a troubling development for scientists who warn that extracting minerals from critical ecosystems that help regulate climate could cause irreparable damage.

The issue will be in spotlight this week as dozens of scientists, lawyers and government officials gather in Jamaica to debate deep sea mining as part of a two-week conference organized by the International Seabed Authority, an independent body created by a United Nations treaty.

The organization is the global custodian for deep ocean waters that dont fall within any countrys jurisdiction. It has issued 31 exploration licenses so far, and many worry the worlds first license to go the next step and mine international waters could soon be approved with no regulations currently in place.

Experts say mining could spark a rush to collect minerals that take millions of years to form and unleash noise, light and smothering dust storms deep in the Earths oceans.

Its one of the most pristine parts of our planet. Theres a lot that stands to be lost, said Diva Amon, a marine biologist, National Geographic explorer and a scientific adviser to the Benioff Ocean Initiative at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The first exploration license was issued in the early 2000s, with most of the the current exploratory activity is concentrated in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone, which covers 1.7 million square miles (4.5 million square kilometers) between Hawaii and Mexico. At least 17 of 31 licenses have been issued for this zone, with exploration occurring at depths ranging from 13,000 to 19,000 feet (4,000 to 6,000 meters).

The push for deep sea mining has grown to the point that the authority is now meeting three times a year instead of two, with a key decision expected as early as July 2023.

Mining companies argue that harvesting minerals from the sea bed instead of land is cheaper and has less of an impact, avoiding a host of environmental and social issues, according to UK Seabed Resources, a subsidiary Lockheed Martin Corp. to explore the Clarion-Clipperton zone under two contracts.

We will not have collapsed tailings dams, destruction of cultural sites, clearing of rainforest, child artisanal miners, to name a few recent ones, UK Seabed Resources said in a statement, referring to some of the impacts from mining on land.

The International Seabed Authority issues licenses to state-owned businesses and countries that subscribe to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea and agree to sponsor private companies that seek to explore international waters for copper, nickel, cobalt, iron, manganese and other minerals. Notably, the U.S. does not subscribe to the law.

The International Energy Agency has estimated a sixfold increase in demand for minerals by 2050 given that electric vehicles and renewable generation are so dependent on them, according to a Fitch Ratings report issued in early October.

Emissions intensity of cobalt, aluminum and nickel mining and processing is high, so skyrocketing demand may result in rising net carbon footprints, it stated.

Nauru, a tiny island northeast of Australia, is leading the push to allow for actual mining, arguing that its at high risk of climate change and seeks to financially benefit from the mining of metals sought in part for green technology like electric car batteries.

The push has worried countries ranging from Germany to Costa Rica that are seeking to strengthen proposed regulations in the next two weeks.

We are still very concerned about the consequences, said Elza Moreira Marcelino de Castro, Brazils representative at the conference that began Monday.

French President Emmanuel Macron said earlier this year that he supports a ban on deep sea mining, while on Wednesday, Germany, which has two exploration contracts, announced it would not sponsor such mining until further notice.

Several major companies have pledged not to use metals extracted from the deep sea and nations including New Zealand, Fiji and Samoa have called for a moratorium until more is known about its potential impact, a move cheered by scientists and legal experts.

You cant regulate what you dont understand, said Duncan Currie, an international and environmental lawyer and legal adviser to the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, a Netherlands-based alliance of environmental groups.

Less than 1% of the worlds deep ocean waters have been explored, an endeavor that experts say is expensive, technical and time-consuming.

Its known that the ocean stores more carbon than the Earths atmosphere, plants and soil, and scientists are still finding new species during rare exploration trips, with sample studies taking months or even years, Amon said. Among the discoveries is a ghost octopus nicknamed Casper.

We do not understand what lives there, how they live there, the global function that this ecosystem plays, and what we stand to lose by irreversibly impacting it, she said, adding that life in the deep sea is incredibly slow, with minerals growing one to 10 millimeters every million years. That means that it is highly vulnerable to disturbance and is extremely slow to recover.

The Deep Ocean Stewardship Initiative, a global network, said some experts believe it could take anywhere from six to more than 20 years to collect enough data needed to protect the marine environment from deep sea mining.

Other concerns over deep sea mining include how revenue would be distributed and how companies seeking sponsorship would be reviewed and their activities regulated.

Pradeep Singh, a fellow at the Institute for Advance Sustainability Studies in Potsdam, Germany, said there are growing concerns over potential sponsorships of convenience in which private companies might shop for a country based on its tax exemptions, potential lax environmental laws and other factors.

Quite a number of states are starting to raise an eyebrow about these relationships happening behind the scenes, he said.

Singh also noted that he and others are concerned that the International Seabed Authority would earn a portion of revenues if actual mining were to start given that the agency awards licenses: Its a big conflict of interest.

The authority did not return a message seeking comment.

Michael Lodge, secretary general of the International Seabed Authority, said during his opening remarks at the conference that the agency wants to ensure protection of the marine environment as member countries work on draft regulations.

During a meeting earlier this year, he noted that the authority widened a protected area to 1.97 million square kilometers in a vast region for which a majority of exploration licenses have been awarded.

Environmental management plans for other areas under exploration are still being developed.

______

Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about APs climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
A hunter illegally baited ducks by scattering corn kernels in Connecticut, federal prosecutors say.

Now he must pay up.

After luring ducks with kernels to a hunting blind along the Menunketesuck River in Westbrook, the hunter and two others shot and retrieved the birds in October 2020, court documents state. However, the trio didnt know Connecticut Environmental Conservation Police officers were watching.

This photo shows the hunting blind in Westbrook, Connecticut.

The hunter violated the century-old Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which bans people from hunting any migratory game bird by baiting, according to a sentencing memo. Under federal law, ducks are considered migratory birds.

A federal judge has ordered the 51-year-old hunter, of Westbrook, to pay a $4,000 fine after he previously pleaded guilty to violating the act, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Connecticut announced in a news release.

McClatchy News contacted the mans attorney on Nov. 2 and was awaiting a response.

The hunter previously violated the Migratory Bird Treaty Act near the same river by baiting waterfowl in 2009, prosecutors say. The Menunketesuck River empties into the Long Island Sound, north of Long Island, New York.

In a letter to the judge, his attorney Scott DeLaura wrote that in 2009, his client was swept up in the arrests after he was a part of a hunting party that put down seeds for baiting. DeLaura wrote that the hunter did not put the seeds down himself.

As a result, the hunter believed he understood the laws regarding migratory bird hunting and did not intend to violate (the law) ever again, DeLaura said.

But on Oct. 10, 2020, the hunter was caught baiting the ducks after Connecticut Environmental Conservation Police received an anonymous tip about corn being dumped around a hunting blind, the sentencing memo states.

His attorney said his client was training a hunting dog and believed it was appropriate to bait waterfowl in hopes that the training would be productive, according to the hunters reply to the pre-sentencing report.

Under questioning, (the man) admitted that he had spread corn over the hunting area to attract ducks, the news release says.

Other migratory game birds protected under federal law include species of geese, swans, doves, pigeons, cranes and more.

Westbrook is about 40 south of Hartford.

Rock climber discovers illegally shot bighorn ram near Colorado highway, officials say

Argument between hunters ends in deadly shooting, Pennsylvania cops say

65-year-old fatally shoots woman while they were deer hunting, Georgia officials say

Hunter is attacked by grizzly and accidentally shoots himself in leg, Wyoming cops say
A voter places a ballot in an election drop box in Mesa, Ariz., on Friday. (Ross D. Franklin / Associated Press)

A U.S. district judge in Phoenix limited the ability of a far-right group to monitor ballot drop boxes in Arizona on Tuesday by restricting photo and video, ordering members to stay at least 75 feet away from the receptacles, and barring the open carry of firearms and wearing of body armor within 250 feet.

People wearing body armor and carrying weapons have been observed in recent days photographing and filming voters and their vehicles at ballot collection boxes in multiple states after former President Trump and his allies urged supporters to monitor them.

The temporary restraining order prohibits members of Clean Elections USA, which is led by Melody Jennings, a QAnon adherent who claims the 2020 election was stolen, from filming or photographing voters within 75 feet of a drop box; following people going to drop off ballots; physically being within 75 feet of the boxes or an entrance to a facility where the boxes are located; and from yelling at or speaking to voters dropping off ballots unless first engaged. Judge Michael Liburdi also ordered Jennings and Clean Elections USA to post on social media that Arizona law allows people to drop off ballots for relatives and spouses. Jennings has repeatedly claimed that voters cannot drop off more than one ballot.

The move comes after Liburdi, a Trump appointee, on Friday refused an injunction request from the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans to block Clean Elections USA from monitoring voters dropping off their ballots, saying that the Constitution protected the activities of citizens gathering near ballot boxes.

Liburdi said Tuesday the temporary restraining order balances the 1st Amendment and voting privacy.

"The balance is [the drop box watchers] can get their information as long as the vehicle, the individual, is outside of that 75-foot limit, but when that person is actually reaching into the car to grab a ballot or ballots or putting the ballot or ballots into the drop box, they are entitled to some greater degree of privacy from being surveilled and video recorded and photographed, somewhat similar to what they would receive in the voting location," he said.

The League of Women Voters of Arizona, which filed the lawsuit against two far-right groups including Clean Election USA, argue that organized third-party monitoring of ballot drop boxes, such as taking video or photos of people dropping off ballots and discussing the footage on social media, amounts to illegal voter intimidation.

"From the primaries till now ... the potential voter intimidation ... at the drop boxes have advanced and has made us pivot from what we would normally do to educate the voters and tell them how to protect their vote," Pinny Sheoran, president of the League of Women Voters of Arizona, testified Tuesday.

Earlier this week, the court combined two separate Arizona lawsuits seeking to block the Arizona chapter of the Oath Keepers and Clean Elections USA from surveilling drop boxes in Arizona's Maricopa and Yavapai counties. A third group, Lions of Liberty, was dropped from the League of Women Voters case after agreeing to stop monitoring drop boxes.

Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans has filed an emergency appeal in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Justice Department argued in its filing that that it is possible to craft an injunction blocking threatening activity in a manner consistent with 1st Amendment protections of free speech and assembly.

While the First Amendment protects expressive conduct and peaceable assembly generally, it affords no protection for threats of harm directed at voters, the departments lawyers wrote. ... The First Amendment does not protect individuals right to assemble to engage in voter intimidation or coercion. Nor does it transform an unlawful activity for one individual  voter intimidation  into a permissible activity simply because multiple individuals have assembled to engage in it.

The use of secure ballot drop boxes increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Attention from the far right has been fueled by the debunked film 2000 Mules, which alleged that supposed ballot mules tracked by cellphone geolocation data stuffed drop boxes with fraudulent ballots during the 2020 election.

Liburdi also heard testimony Tuesday from multiple people who said they were photographed and filmed when they went to vote, including a witness whose name was not made publicly available because of concerns for his safety.

The voter from Mesa, Ariz., said he encountered a group of eight to 10 people while dropping off his and his wife's ballots on Oct. 17. Several of the people who photographed and filmed them were armed, including one person who had a telephoto lens, the witness said, noting that his wife wanted to leave without voting. They were concerned the group would use the lens to photograph their signatures and phone numbers, which were on the ballot envelope as required by Arizona law. The witness said he hid the ballots under his shirt while he was out of vehicle. The group shouted at him that they were "hunting mules" and followed the couple's car as they tried to leave the parking lot, he said.

"My wife was terrified," he said before taking several moments to compose himself.

Jennings, the leader of Clean Elections USA, boasted online that photos and video of the man went viral on social media, claiming her group had caught a "mule." The images also appeared in news stories nationwide. The witness said only a handful of family and friends know he is the person in the images and he fears being identified and harassed.

The Department of Justice weighed in on the case Monday, arguing in a brief that monitoring drop boxes could amount to illegal voter intimidation.

Such vigilante ballot security measures, probably violate the federal Voting Rights Act, the Justice Department said in a statement of interest. Monday's filing was the first time the Justice Department has involved itself in a case during this midterm election cycle.

The Justice Department filing states that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 provides broad legal protections for voters against coercion and intimidation throughout each step of the voting process  including depositing ballots in drop boxes provided under local or state law.

Although lawful poll-watching activities can support democratic transparency and accountability, when private citizens form ballot security forces and attempt to take over the States legitimate role of overseeing and policing elections, the risk of voter intimidation  and violating federal law  is significant, the department said in the filing.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A Kansas native who left the U.S. a decade ago and later organized and led an all-female ISIS battalion was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in prison for participating in a conspiracy to support terrorism, according to prosecutors.

Allison Fluke-Ekren, 42, formerly of Topeka, was sentenced in the Eastern District of Virginia for leading Khatiba Nusaybah, a female military battalion meant to defend ISIS interests in Raqqa, a city in Syria. Fluke-Ekren pleaded guilty to the single felony charge in June.

Officials believe Fluke-Ekren trained more than 100 women and girls as young as 10 as part of her work for ISIS.

The group, created in 2016, was taught how to defend against enemies of ISIS in part by sneaking behind enemy lines with AK-47s and detonating explosives once their ammunition ran out, according to prosecutors.

They said Fluke-Ekren and others also trained members in martial arts, medical training, driving courses, ISIS religious classes and packing a go bag with rifles and other military supplies.

According to a summary of facts filed in court, Fluke-Ekren studied biology at the University of Kansas and education at Earlham College in Indiana before she moved to Egypt with her second husband in 2008. She later traveled through and also committed terrorist attacks in Libya, Syria and Iraq, per court documents.

After the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. Special Mission and CIA Annex in Benghazi, prosecutors said Fluke-Ekren helped her husband review and summarize stolen U.S. government documents and later provided them to leaders in the terrorist group Ansar al-Sharia, of which her husband was a member. He eventually rose through the ISIS ranks to become the head of snipers, according to court documents, and was later killed in a drone strike. Fluke-Ekren reportedly married two other ISIS men who were also killed.

On several occasions, prosecutors said Fluke-Ekren described plans for terrorist attacks against the United States.

She told one witness that she wanted to fill a vehicle with explosives and park it in the basement or parking garage of a shopping mall and detonate it using a cell phone triggering device. She talked about learning to make bombs and explosives and said any attack that didnt kill a large number of people was a waste.

Fluke-Ekren would hear about attacks in other countries and say she wished they had happened in the United States instead. She also said she wanted to use explosives to attack a college campus in the Midwest.

In 2018, Fluke-Ekren told an individual to send a message to a family member saying she was dead so the U.S. government wouldnt try to locate her. She also told a witness that it was important to die as martyrs on behalf of ISIS and that they should kill all disbelievers.

Fluke-Ekrens children also submitted testimony, telling the court their mother had abused them throughout their lives. Fluke-Ekrens adult daughter told the court that while living in Syria, her mother pushed her to marry an ISIS fighter who later raped her when she was 13.

Recordings of phone conversations from January 2021 showed Fluke-Ekren instructing her daughter to delete messages between them, so she could avoid capture in Syria.

In his victim impact statement, Fluke-Ekrens son told the court that his mother tried convincing him multiple times to move to Syria so that he couldnt give U.S. authorities information that could compromise her.

Fluke-Ekren was located outside the United States in January 2011 and transferred into custody in January 2022.
A Leavenworth woman was found guilty Tuesday for fatally stabbing her fiance after she said he had physically abused her on multiple occasions, according to authorities.

Eva Olisha Banks, 41, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter for killing her fiance, Jerrold Jermaine Rhodes, and two counts of aggravated battery for a domestic violence incident on June 12, 2021, said Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson in a news release.

Banks told authorities that she stabbed Rhodes because he had beaten her in the past, but Thompson said it was an unreasonable but honest belief that his actions justified the killing.

Banks was initially charged with second-degree murder.

Battered woman syndrome, a set of psychological symptoms that can develop in women impacted by domestic violence, cannot be used to justify homicide in Kansas, Thompson said. There was no evidence, he said, that showed Banks faced an immediate or deadly threat from Rhodes, but he said the history of domestic violence in the relationship can be considered during charging or to resolve a case ahead of trial.

This case is a perfect example of why domestic violence should NOT be viewed by our community as a private family matter, Thompson said. It is a social, economic and public health concern and reporting incidences of domestic violence is critical to our communitys safety. Without early intervention, the domestic violence cycle continues to escalate in severity, and too often results in severe harm or death.

Leavenworth police responded just before 1 a.m. to the couples residence in the 2500 block of 4th Avenue after Banks called and reported Rhodes had been stabbed, Thompson said. When officers arrived, Banks was holding a towel against a wound on Rhodes abdomen in the master bathroom. Emergency medical crews attempted life-saving measures, but Rhodes died at the scene.

Banks first told police that she found Rhodes had been stabbed in their bedroom after they got in an argument at a convenience store and left separately, Thompson said.

But when re-interviewed by detectives, Banks said she stabbed Rhodes with a paring knife because she did not want him to beat her anymore. She also reported a history of domestic violence between the couple.

Banks sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 14. She could face up to 10 years in prison.
In the moment, the battle over Elian Gonzalez was a hugely impactful struggle for those who lived it and for Miamis Cuban exile community.

Twenty-three years later, the story of a Cuban boy whose mother drowned trying to bring him to freedom in the United States still has lessons to impart, nuances to explore, political ramifications to ponder.

Rogelio Martinezs Elian, a commissioned Miami New Drama world premiere, is revisiting that volatile time in late 1999 and early 2000 when Elian was at the center of an international custody battle.

Ostensibly, the fight was between his father Juan Miguel, who wanted the boy returned to him in Cuba, and Elians Miami relatives, who took him in after his Thanksgiving Day rescue from the Atlantic Ocean three miles off the Fort Lauderdale coast. In truth, at least as Elian sees it? Fidel Castro knew a six-year-old could be a powerful propaganda tool.

Staged by Miami New Drama artistic director Michel Hausmann, Martinezs play has an intermingling duality.

One is a fairly straightforward, deeply researched retelling of the story by those who lived it, with Gonzalez family attorney and future Miami mayor Manny Diaz (Andhy Mendez) as its strategic center. The other is a wild, narcissistic recounting by political operative and dirty trickster Roger Stone (Mike Iveson), who does have a link to the Elian story  and, the script suggests, to Vice President Al Gores loss in the 2020 presidential election.

For this ambitious drama  or maybe, given Stones character, the play verges on becoming a dramedy  Hausmann uses nine actors to play more than 20 characters.

Elian himself is seen only in projected videos or photos from that time, the most chilling being Alan Diazs Pulitzer-winning photo of an armed federal agent pointing his weapon at a terrified boy during the early-morning raid that would return him to his father. Otherwise, we hear the sound of too-loud childish laughter offstage or see one of the boys toys appear to remind us that yes, an innocent child is present in a small home surrounded by chaos.

The actors in Elian embody such excellence and versatility that savoring their work becomes a key reason to see the production.

Iveson plays both Stone and President Bill Clinton, transforming into the latter by altering his accent and unzipping his fly, a running bit that never fails to get giggles from the audience. His Stone is a comic wonder, charismatic, crude, awful, irresistible.

Mendez is quietly intense as Manny Diaz, who led the dramatic 11th hour negotiations to keep Elian in Miami, and he also voices the puppet comically representing Fidel Castro. Putting aside the fact that Castro was more the puppeteer (he threatened to launch a second massive Mariel boatlift if Elian wasnt returned to his father), the actors Castro voice is so high and quick that some of the lines dont land.

Cristina Ortega as Marisleysis looks on as Jonathan Nichols-Navarro as Lazaro Gonzalez makes a decision in the world premiere of Elian at Miami New Drama. Photo credit Andres Manner.

Jonathan Nichols-Navarro, whose roles include Cuban National Assembly president Ricardo Alarcon and the ghost of Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) founder Jorge Mas Canosa, is compelling and sometimes wry as Elians great uncle Lazaro, whose Little Havana home was ground zero in a media circus.Nichols-Navarro also transforms before our eyes into Lazaros older brother Delfin, a former political prisoner who was first in the Gonzalez family to come to Miami. He delivers a speech in Spanish about La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, Cubas patron saint, linking her to Elians rescue. The actors performance of that passage is so powerfully heart-wrenching yet filled with faith and joy that you cannot fail to be moved, even if you dont know a word of Spanish.

Carmen Pelaez, a fine playwright and actor who has found a creative home at Miami New Drama, gets to demonstrate her transformative chops, including a bit as future Vice President Dick Cheneys assistant, charged with keeping the obnoxiously condescending Stone away from her boss.

Pelaez gets laughs as the fierce and very recognizable media personality Ninoska Perez Castellon, whose fiery approach to the Elian situation didnt sit well with Jorge Mas Santos, her then-boss at CANF. She is also (after a bizarre yet hilarious introductory dance) a low-key and logical U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, the Miami native who was bullied by Clinton into resolving the Elian fight and taking the political heat.

Playing a variety of roles, Rene Granado conveys the nervousness of Elians father Juan Miguel in his first meeting with Castro, subtly suggesting that bringing Elian home to Cuba may not have been his original plan. Hes also amusing as Armando Gutierrez, a family spokesman trying to monetize the situation at Lazaros home and insisting all checks be made out to him.

Caleb Scotts work in Elian is also an absolute marvel of versatility. He morphs from a politically calculating Al Gore to Clinton attorney Greg Craig to Donato Dalrymple, the fisherman who became a Gonzalez family groupie addicted to media attention.

Andhy Mendez as Manny Diaz gets into a verbal tussle with Caleb Scott as Greg Craig in the world premiere of Elian at Miami New Drama. Photo credit Andres Manner.

Daniel Capote is sincere and straightforward as Mas Santos, the man determined to take CANF and its power in a new direction, and he gets a comic turn as one of two men named Carlos who advise Diaz on how to resolve the crisis. Cristina Ortega, a recent New World School of the Arts grad making her debut as Lazaros daughter Marisleysis, conveys the intense emotion of a young woman who assumed the main caregiving role for her little cousin. Gaby Tortoledo plays several wives  Diazs, Mass, Stones  as well as media types, effectively differentiating each character.

To create the environment for telling such a sweeping story with multiple locations, Miami New Drama turned again to the Carbonell Award-winning, New York-based design team of Christopher and Justin Swader, who have created six previous sets for the company. This one consists of a towering wall of squares surrounded by lights that can disappear or change color, with multiple doorways set into the wall.

Projections by Yana Biryukova shift locations from Miami to Cuba to Washington D.C., and they allow for the emotion-stirring child version of Elian to be shown. Kirk Baran-Bookmans lighting anchors the shifting scenes, and Salomon Lerners sound-music design summons time and place. Costume designer Christopher Vergara respects the turn-of-the-century styles and uses them to help communicate place and class, and wig designer Carol Raskin does her bit to help with all of those actor transformations.

New plays are tricky to pull off, and though this one has been polished and honed and edited, this first production of a play by the incisive Martinez offers the opportunity for more tweaking.

The playwright and Hausmann might look at finding an even better balance between the serious story and the abundant laughs. Though the play runs just a couple of hours with an intermission, there are so many scenes that sometimes it seems as if the characters are charging in from the doors, standing in a near-void, then quickly departing to make way for the next scene.

Several lines pointedly make connections between politics circa 2000 and today, and a bit more of that would certainly resonate. And although Elian was written as a piece for and about Miamis Cuban-American community, the cascade of characters is large enough that it wouldnt hurt to put an insert in the program briefly describing each of the real figures being portrayed.

Hausmann and his Miami New Drama colleagues continue to hew to the companys mission as they tell fresh stories about our diverse, unique community. Elian turns out to be a thought-provoking surprise, one that is bringing out the best in a company of actors from South Florida and beyond.

ArtburstMiami.com is a non-profit source of theater, dance, music and performing arts news.

IF YOU GO

What: World premiere of Elian by Rogelio Martinez

Where: Miami New Drama world premiere at the Colony Theatre, 1040 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach.

When: 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday, through Nov. 20

Cost: $46.50-$76.50 (includes service fee)

Information: 305-674-1040 or www.miaminewdrama.org
North Korea fired more than 20 missiles on Wednesday in the direction of South Korea, and at least one landed near the rivals tense sea border.

South Korea retaliated by firing its own test missiles, sending some citizens to evacuate in underground shelters.

This is the most missiles North Korea has ever fired in one day and the first time a short-range ballistic missile has landed near South Korea's territory since 1945, when the peninsula was divided.

The launches came hours after North Korea threatened to use nuclear weapons to get the U.S. and South Korea to "pay the most horrible price in history" as it has intensified its fiery rhetoric targeting the ongoing South Korean-U.S. military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said at least one of the missiles launched by North Korea landed less than 40 miles from the South Korean city of Sokcho on the nation's east coast and 104 miles from Ulleung, where air raid warnings had sounded.

NORTH KOREA WARNS OF MORE POWERFUL RESPONSE TO JOINT US-SOUTH KOREA MILITARY DRILLS

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

"We heard the siren at around 8:55 a.m., and all of us in the building went down to the evacuation place in the basement," an Ulleung county official told Reuters. "We stayed there until we came upstairs at around 9:15 after hearing that the projectile fell into the high seas."

The South's Joint Chiefs said President Yoon Suk-yeol had ordered a "swift response" to the North's latest attack.

South Koreas military said North Korea launched at least 23 missiles Wednesday  17 in the morning and six in the afternoon  off its eastern and western coasts.

The North also fired more than 100 rounds of artillery from its east coast into a military buffer zone established in a military agreement with the South, according to South Korea's military. The South's Joint Chiefs said the firing violates a 2018 agreement.

North Korea has demanded the U.S. and South Korea end large-scale military exercises around the peninsula.

NORTH KOREA LAUNCHES BALLISTIC MISSILE TOWARD ITS EASTERN WATERS, SOUTH KOREA SAYS

This was the first time a North Korean ballistic missile had landed near South Korean waters, according to the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"Our military can never tolerate this kind of North Korea's provocative act, and will strictly and firmly respond under close South Korea-U.S. cooperation," South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a news release.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The U.S. and South Korea began one of their largest combined military air drills on Monday, called Vigilant Storm, with hundreds of warplanes from both countries staging mock attacks 24 hours per day.

North Korea has already test-fired a record number of missiles this year. The country has said a recent barrage of launches was in response to the military drills.

Officials in South Korea and the U.S. say North Korea has completed technical preparations to conduct a nuclear weapon test for the first time since 2017.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Its been almost a year since IHOP franchisees Mike Issa and Moe Touffaha announced plans to open a Paris Baguette restaurant in Wichita.

Now, its about to happen.

Opening day for the restaurant, which is at 9780 E. 21st St. North, is set for Thursday, Nov. 10, said Issa (who is not the same Mike Issa who owns Scotch & Sirloin.)

Construction is nearly complete, the signs are up and lighted (and drawing lots of attention from passersby, Issa said). Early next week, the franchisees plan to start training employees.

Were extremely happy, Issa said. The place looks amazing. Its beautiful. Were very excited to open and have the public come and see us.

Paris Baguette, which started in South Korea in 1988, specializes in French-inspired cakes and pastries and also serves sandwiches and salads as well as a line of coffee and tea. The chain is popular in Europe and is now pushing a U.S. expansion.

The restaurants pastries are made fresh daily, Issa said, as are its sandwiches, cakes and crafted coffee drinks. (See the full menu below.) It also does catering. Its hours will be 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. daily.

The new Wichita restaurant has 3,000 square feet and an outside patio, which likely wont get much use until spring, Issa said.

Paris Baguette will offer French baked goods as well as sandwiches and salads.

Issa and Touhaffa arent finished opening Paris Baguette restaurants in the area, either. They plan to add one on Wichitas west side as well and are in the process of identifying a site.

Theyre also working on opening a Paris Baguette next year near Oak Park Mall in Overland Park, though construction there has not yet started. The duo also recently opened one in Birmingham, Michigan.

Issa said he thinks Wichita will like the restaurant, which he and Touhaffa both fell in love with during visits to New York City. The closest Paris Baguette to Wichita is in the Dallas area.

This will be a nice addition to Wichita, especially because were the only Paris Baguette in the whole area, he said.

Paris Baguette menu
Script supervisor Mamie Mitchell, left, with attorney Gloria Allred speaks in November 2021 about her lawsuit over the fatal shooting of "Rust" cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Mamie Mitchell, the script supervisor on the movie Rust, can proceed with her lawsuit against Alec Baldwin over the fatal shooting of the film's cinematographer in New Mexico, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael E. Whitaker concluded that Mitchell could advance her claims of assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence against the actor who accidentally fired the weapon that fatally wounded cinematographer Halyna Hutchins a year ago, according to court filings.

The judge also allowed Mitchell to pursue punitive damages against Baldwin and his finance company El Dorado Pictures.

"For pleading purposes, the Court finds the second amended complaint alleges facts sufficient to establish despicable conduct carried out by [the defendants] with a willful and conscious disregard of the rights or safety of others," Whitaker said in his ruling.

The decision marks a win for Mitchell after the same judge in September blocked most of her claims against the producers of the movie.

Mitchell was standing close to Hutchins when a bullet from Baldwins gun passed through the cinematographer and injured director Joel Souza

The Court was required to assume at this stage that Mitchells allegations against Alec Baldwin were true  even though they are demonstrably false, made in bad faith, and contradict her own prior statements about what happened," Baldwin's attorney Luke Nikas said in a statement. "We are pleased the Court dismissed some of her claims and look forward to disproving the rest of her case, now that she can no longer shield her misrepresentations from the evidence.

The litigation is one of a string of legal battles that Baldwin and the production have been battling both in California and New Mexico following the tragedy that called attention to safety hazards on film sets.

"We are pleased that the trial courts tentative ruling has overruled Mr. Baldwins demurrer and permitted our client, Mamie Mitchell, to continue her lawsuit against Alec Baldwin to recover damages for the personal injuries she sustained," Mitchell's attorney Gloria Allred said in a statement. "Ms. Mitchell looks forward to her trial and obtaining justice."

Last month, the family of Hutchins agreed with the producers and Baldwin to settle their case for undisclosed terms. The deal involved an agreement to complete the movie and make widower Matthew Hutchins an executive producer on "Rust" when it resumes production.

The producers and actor still face a lawsuit by "Rust" gaffer Serge Svetnoy.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
State wildlife police said they arrested a man shooting snook with a speargun near a fishing pier off Miami Beach.

The man, an 18-year-old Honduran citizen, was seen by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Officer Daniel Gutierrez spearfishing along the jetty near the South Pointe Park fishing pier around noon last Wednesday, according to the agency.

Gutierrez stopped the man, who the agency did not name, as he walked toward the beach carrying a speargun and a cooler. The officer was going to cite him for not having a dive flag while spearfishing when the man said he had fish in the cooler, said FWC spokesman Officer Jason Rafter.

The cooler had six undersized snook that had been speared.

Snook can only be caught in Florida using hook and line. The highly-regulated fish requires both a special permit and a state recreational angling license in order to harvest.

Snook are also a slot fish, meaning they can be legally both too small and too big to keep  no less than 28 inches long, and not longer than 32 inches in Atlantic waters. The bag limit is one snook per person.

The commercial sale and harvest of snook is also prohibited, according to Fish and Wildlife.

The man was jailed at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on charges of prohibited method for catching snook, spearing snook, possession of undersized snook, spearfishing within 100 feet of a jetty and being over the daily bag limit for snook, Rafter said.
The Boise Police Department is investigating up to 10 reports involving teenagers suspected of attacking adults and other teens throughout October.

The Idaho Statesman previously reported that police were investigating at least three incidents of juveniles attacking people in downtown Boise at night. In one incident, an adult victim was transported to a local hospital with serious injuries, including a broken jaw and two broken teeth.

There are about 6-10 reports from the last month that may involve a similar group of teen suspects, Hayley Williams, Boise Police Department spokesperson, told the Statesman in an email Friday.

Four juvenile suspects are facing charges related to incidents, Williams said, and are suspected of being involved in one or more of the reported attacks.

Police made their first arrest on Oct. 18, Williams said. That came after an investigation into an incident of teens trying to attack an adult male in a parking garage in the 400 block of Capitol Boulevard shortly after 12 a.m. on Oct. 2. One suspect pointed a toy gun at the victim, and several people hit and kicked the victims truck, causing damage to the passenger door, police said.

Boise police arrested three other underage suspects on Oct. 19 after responding to a report of a fight with other teenagers near W. Franklin Street and N. Milwaukee Street, near the Boise Towne Square mall.

Additional charges are being routed to the Ada County Juvenile Prosecutors Office for review, Williams said.

The incidents all involve suspects who are younger than 18, so authorities cannot disclose information on their identity.

Personal safety tips from Boise police

Stay on well-lit, well-traveled streets.

If you leave work after dark, ask someone (a co-worker or security guard) to walk you to your car.

Be alert to your surroundings when getting in and out of your car.

Avoid parking in isolated areas with little traffic, and be alert in parking garages.

Park in well-lit areas close to your destination.

If you need help, yell and call 911 on your cellphone.

For more safety tips, visit the Boise Police Department personal safety page.

The Boise Police Department asks victims or anyone with information about any attacks to contact Ada County Dispatch at 208-377-6790.
An independent medical examiner will review the autopsy of Robert Geron Miller, a 38-year-old man whose death in 2019 after Tarrant County jailers pepper-sprayed him was the subject of a Star-Telegram investigation published last month.

The autopsy concluded that Miller died of natural causes due to sickle cell crisis. The Star-Telegrams review of the case, including the use of medical experts, found it highly unlikely that Miller had sickle cell disease.

Miller died on Aug. 1, 2019, hours after he was brought to jail. Sheriffs officers had pepper-sprayed him at least three times at close range while he was being booked, and he was found unconscious and face-down in his cell 38 minutes later after complaining that he couldnt breathe. He was homeless and suffered from mental illness; police arrested him on old misdemeanor warrants and unpaid fines.

The Star-Telegrams investigation, which included examination of Millers hospital records, cast doubt on county medical examiner Richard Fries autopsy that cited natural causes.

A photograph of Robert Miller, provided by his wife Shanelle Jenkins.

After the story published in October, Tarrant County Commissioner Roy Brooks announced that the countys current chief medical examiner, Kendall Crowns, would do the review of Millers autopsy. Crowns was not involved in the 2019 Miller case and did not work for Tarrant County at the time.

But on Tuesday, after several members of the public again spoke at a county commissioners meeting urging a federal investigation into the Tarrant County Jail, Brooks said an independent medical examiner would conduct the review.

Once we get that, we will be in a position to decide what the next courses of action are, Brooks said.

Medics treat Robert Miller in Tarrant County Jail after he was found unconscious. This image was included in the Texas Rangers investigative report.

In a brief interview after the meeting, Tarrant County Administrator G.K. Maenius said officials are in negotiations with several people who might take on the autopsy review. Maenius commended Crowns for his work, but county leaders want someone without any potential conflicts.

Its just a matter of having another set of eyes, Maenius said.

He could not say when the review might be finished, but officials are moving aggressively to get this done.

Star-Telegrams investigation

In reviewing the case, the Star-Telegram obtained jail witness statements, Millers hospital records and other documents that were part of an internal Texas Rangers report about Millers death.

The experts in medicine, pathology and sickle cell disease whom the Star-Telegram consulted said it would be nearly impossible for an adult to have sickle cell anemia and not know it. Millers wife and father confirmed that he was not afflicted with the disease.

Willie Miller is still looking for answers to how his son Robert died while in custody at the Tarrant County Jail in 2019. I want justice, said Willie Miller.

Hannah Lichtsinn, an internal medicine doctor and sickle cell expert in Minnesota, reviewed Millers hospital records and other documents obtained by the Star-Telegram.

She said the doctors at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth who treated Miller noted his red blood cells were healthy, not anemic where they could deprive him of oxygen.

I can tell you his kidneys were healthy until he had his cardiac arrest, Lichtsinn said, describing her observations from the hospital records. I can tell you that his blood counts were pretty normal until he had his cardiac arrest, and so was his liver. I can tell you that he wasnt on drugs. And I can tell you he didnt have sickle cell anemia.

When jail staff found Miller unconscious, they reported it to medics as a possible drug overdose. Miller was in cardiac arrest with low oxygen levels and inflamed lungs filled with fluid. At the hospital, his neck was swelled and blood leaked from his ears and nose. No drugs were in his system.

The Star-Telegrams reporting questioned the thoroughness of Texas Ranger Trace McDonalds investigation into Millers death. Records dont indicate whether McDonald discussed Millers condition with hospital staff. McDonalds report also contained inconsistencies between the jailers accounts of what led to the pepper-spraying.

Miller was one of at least 46 people who have died from various causes in Tarrant County Jail since 2019.

How Miller ended up in jail

Fort Worth police arrested Miller off East Lancaster Avenue on July 31, 2019, after someone complained about a panhandler.

The officers discovered that Miller had misdemeanor warrants related to his homelessness and intended to take him to a city jail, where he likely would have been cited and released.

Robert Miller was arrested by Fort Worth police on July 31, 2019, at his camp at the former Butler Place housing projects.

But Miller grew angry when the officers wouldnt allow him to clean up his camp. He repeatedly kicked a patrol car door and said he hated the police. An officer got an estimate from the citys body shop on the damaged door that was $1 over the threshold to charge Miller with a higher misdemeanor and book him in the Tarrant County Jail.

He was pepper-sprayed during the intake process and complained to a nurse that he couldnt breathe. He went into cardiac arrest shortly after.

The Sheriffs Office declined to answer questions about the Star-Telegrams investigation. The Medical Examiners Office and the Department of Public Safety, which oversees the Texas Rangers, also declined to comment.
The man accused of attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband with a hammer last week was arraigned in San Francisco Superior Court on Tuesday afternoon.

David DePape, 42, from Richmond, California, is facing a slew of state charges, including attempted murder, residential burglary and assault with a deadly weapon, as well as federal charges of assault and attempted kidnapping. He walked into the courtroom on Tuesday wearing an orange jumpsuit and a shoulder sling on his right arm -- having dislocated his shoulder during the alleged attack. Through his public defender, he pleaded not guilty to the state charges and denied all allegations.

MORE: Suspect in Paul Pelosi attack wanted to break Nancy Pelosi's kneecaps, according to court documents

DePape has been ordered held without bail and a preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Friday. He is expected to be arraigned on the federal charges against him on Wednesday.

A protective order that states DePape can make no contact with either Nancy or Paul Pelosi and can not come within 150 yards of their home was also signed by a judge.

PHOTO: A view of the residence of U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in San Francisco, California, on October 28, 2022, after her husband was attacked in their home by an intruder. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

According to the federal complaint, DePape allegedly used a hammer to break into the Pelosi residence in the upscale Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco early Friday, just before 2 a.m. local time. The intruder then went upstairs, where 82-year-old Paul Pelosi was asleep, and demanded to talk to "Nancy." Despite being told that the speaker was not home and would not be for several days, DePape said he would wait and started taking out zip ties from his backpack to tie up Paul Pelosi, according to the complaint.

According to the complaint, Paul Pelosi told DePape that he needed to use the bathroom, allowing him to get his cellphone and call 911. Two police officers arrived minutes later and entered the home, encountering DePape and Paul Pelosi struggling over a hammer. The officers told the men to drop the hammer, at which time DePape allegedly gained control of the hammer and swung it, striking Paul Pelosi in the head. The officers immediately restrained and disarmed DePape, while Paul Pelosi appeared to be unconscious on the floor.

MORE: Suspect in Pelosi home invasion attack had zip ties, duct tape, sources say

The officers later secured a second hammer, a roll of tape, white rope, zip ties as well as a pair of rubber and cloth gloves from the crime scene, according to the complaint.

Paul Pelosi was struck at least twice with the hammer, sources told ABC News. He was hospitalized following the attack and underwent successful surgery on Friday to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands, according to a statement from Nancy Pelosi's spokesperson, Drew Hammill. Although his injuries are significant, the speaker's husband is expected to make a full recovery, Hammill said.

FILE PHOTO: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and her husband Paul Pelosi arrive for the formal Artist's Dinner honoring the recipients of the 44th Annual Kennedy Center Honors at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 4, 2021. (Ken Cedeno/Reuters, File)

While being questioned by police, DePape stated that he was planning to hold Nancy Pelosi hostage and talk to her and that he wanted to use her to lure another unnamed individual. If she were to tell the "truth," DePape told police he would the speaker go. And if she "lied," he said he was going to break "her kneecaps," according to the complaint. DePape told police he viewed Nancy Pelosi as the "leader of the pack" of lies told by the Democratic Party and that he was certain she would not have told the "truth." DePape explained that by breaking her kneecaps, the speaker would then have to be wheeled into Congress, which would show other members of her party there were consequences to actions, according to the complaint.

During a press conference on Monday evening, when announcing the state charges against DePape, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins described the attack as "politically motivated" and implored the public to "watch the words that we say and to turn down the volume of our political rhetoric."

MORE: Attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband was not random, police chief says

"This house and the speaker herself were specifically targets," Jenkins said.

Nancy Pelosi gave an update on her husband's condition in a statement on Monday night, saying he "is making steady progress on what will be a long recovery process." She added that her family is "most grateful" for "thousands of messages conveying concern, prayers and warm wishes" since the "horrific attack."

ABC News' Julia Jacobo and Mola Lenghi contributed to this report.

Suspect in Paul Pelosi attack pleads not guilty to state charges originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Turks and Caicos police are investigating a triple murder, including that of a 3-year-old boy, after discovering three bodies in Providenciales on Tuesday.

The Royal Turks and Caicos Police Forces officers were called to the scene of a murder in the Dock Yard district of the island, where they found three bodies, a man, woman and child. The boy and a 7-year-old girl who was still alive were inside a parked car, the girl bleeding profusely from gunshot wounds, police said in a statement.

Police say they were alerted about the deaths through multiple calls at 6:57 a.m. Tuesday.

Commissioner of Police Trevor Botting, who visited the scene, said officers are working assiduously to catch the perpetrators of this heinous act. He said those behind the crime are heartless and do not care about life.

The murder of the two adults and the child is shocking and the circumstances of what happened are now part of an active investigation, he said. Such a vicious, barbaric act has no place in our communities and I condemn those involved. The criminals involved are in the minority and we need to all work together to bring them to justice.

Turks and Caicos Premier Washington Misick said his government is devastated by the tragedy, which comes days after the cabinet agreed to introduce tougher penalties to stem what some say is a gang culture that is developing in the British Overseas territory that until now was known as one of the safer Caribbean destinations.

I share my deepest sympathies with the friends and loved ones of those who lost their lives, especially the child who must now navigate life without the love, guidance and protection of her sibling and parents, Misick said. With the full support of my government, the police force is also investigating the root causes of this unprecedented uptick in violence on our Islands, and I thank them for their continued hard work and determination.

Misick said while the situation may feel dire, he has faith that the islands will be able to chart through this dark chapter of its history.

To those who are responsible for these despicable crimes and to the individuals who aid and abet them, know that you will be brought to justice. Your criminal behavior betrays the TCI Islands, its people and their livelihoods, he said.

The murders are the latest in a string of violent crimes that have rocked the British Overseas Territory, which recently sought the help of police officers from the neighboring Bahamas and the United Kingdom to assist its police force. The unprecedented crime wave, which the government has said is tied to an ongoing gang war, is spreading fear in the population while also threatening the countrys profitable tourism industry.

Late last week, the countrys parliament passed a dozen new laws targeting gangs and firearms-related offenses while strengthening the powers of the police. One piece of legislation, the anti-gang bill, makes it illegal to be a member of a gang, provide assistance to gang members or to be in possession of items such a bulletproof vests. If convicted of being a member of a gang, the person faces up to 20 years in prison. Gang leaders face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

So far the legislation has not stopped the crime wave.

On Monday, police reported that they were investigating a murder after being called to Parkers Yard, Wheeland, Blue Hills, also in Providenciales. Officers found a man with a gunshot wound lying motionless on the ground. The day before, they had reported they were investigating a shooting, after a woman traveling in a vehicle in the Blue Hills area was shot from a passing vehicle.

While most of the violence has involved locals, there was at least one incident in early October in which a tourist was killed. Kent Carter, from Arlington, Virginia, was celebrating his 40th birthday in Providenciales when the vehicle he was traveling back to his hotel in after an excursion was ambushed..

American tourist killed in Turks and Caicos was an NAACP leader from Virginia

Carter, who was outspoken on gun violence and served in the leadership of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, died of his wounds. His girlfriend, who was in the vehicle with him, was unharmed.
The UK Government has yet to decide whether to call an election in Northern Ireland, a senior Irish minister has said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney was commenting after holding talks with Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris in Belfast to discuss the ongoing political uncertainty at Stormont.

Mr Heaton-Harris faced criticism for failing to set a date for a new poll last Friday when a legislative deadline for calling the election passed.

He had previously vowed to announce a poll the minute the deadline lapsed.

The 24-week deadline for forming a functioning assembly and powersharing executive in following Mays election ran out at midnight on Friday.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris (Brian Lawless/PA)

A DUP boycott of the devolved institutions, in protest at Brexits Northern Ireland Protocol, has prevented an administration being formed in the wake of the election result.

While the UK government is now under a legal responsibility to call a fresh election within 12 weeks, it could move to amend legislation at Westminster that would either extend or remove that time limit.

Junior minister at the Northern Ireland Office Steve Baker insisted on Wednesday that Mr Heaton-Harris would still call an election.

Mr Coveney said he believed a final decision had not been taken.

However, he said he expected Mr Heaton-Harris would be providing clarity soon.

On Tuesday, the Northern Ireland Secretary pledged to provide an update on what steps he intended to take next in due course.

Mr Coveney said he reiterated the Irish governments view to Mr Heaton-Harris during their meeting on Wednesday that an election would be unhelpful.

We dont have clarity on a way forward as of yet, but certainly were not going to have to wait weeks for that clarity, he said.

Mr Coveney added: I made it clear that the Irish Governments position is that we dont believe an election at this time is a good thing for Northern Ireland, in the context of the pressures that families and households are facing now, and also in the context of the reality that weve had an election only a number of months ago.

So, we discussed options and views on a way forward. No decisions have been finalised yet, but I dont think were going to have to wait for very long before decisions are made in relation to the way forward.

There really are only two options here: there is a legal obligation to set a date for an election, or else there will need to be new legislation to avoid an election at this time.

During a Westminster debate earlier on Wednesday, Mr Baker told MPs: In line with his legal obligation, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State will soon confirm the date of the next Northern Ireland Assembly election, as required by law.

Following that election, and regardless of the result, the Northern Ireland parties really do need to come together to restore the devolved institutions and lead the people of Northern Ireland through the challenging times ahead.

Mr Heaton-Harris has acknowledged he has a legal duty to call an election but has avoided setting a date, prompting Northern Irelands chief electoral officer, Virginia McVea, to apologise to election workers who are on stand-by to assist on the basis that polling day would be December 15.

The Government has vowed to secure changes to the protocol, either by a negotiated compromise with the EU or through proposed unilateral domestic legislation, the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, which would empower ministers to scrap the arrangements without the approval of Brussels.

The European Commission has said the latter approach would breach the terms of an international treaty and potentially prompt retaliatory action.

Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney speaks to the media at the Irish Government Secretariat in Belfast (Niall Carson/PA)

Mr Coveney added: For us, we think that an election would be unnecessary and unhelpful at this time, thats been the Irish Governments view for some time.

But these are difficult choices for the British Government and for the Secretary of State because of his obligations under NDNA (the New Decade New Approach agreement).

On Tuesday, Mr Heaton-Harris expressed concern at the enormous 660 million-plus black-hole of an overspend facing the rudderless Stormont system in the absence of a powersharing executive, and made clear action would be needed to set a budget for Northern Ireland.

He also said he would be looking to cut the pay of MLAs.
A Government minister has insisted the date for a Northern Ireland election will be confirmed soon.

Steve Baker, a junior minister in the Northern Ireland Office, made the statement amid ongoing uncertainty over whether voters in the region will be heading to the polls this winter.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris faced criticism for failing to set a date for a new election last Friday when a legislative deadline for calling one passed.

He had previously vowed to announce a poll the minute the deadline lapsed.

The 24-week deadline for forming a functioning assembly and powersharing executive in following Mays election ran out at midnight on Friday.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris (Brian Lawless/PA)

A DUP boycott of the devolved institutions, in protest at Brexits Northern Ireland Protocol, has prevented an administration being formed in the wake of the election result.

While the UK government is now under a legal responsibility to call a fresh election within 12 weeks, it could move to amend legislation at Westminster that would either extend or remove that time limit.

Mr Heaton-Harris held talks with Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney about the Stormont impasse on Wednesday.

Afterwards, Mr Coveney said he believed the UK government had not yet decided whether to call an election.

However, NIO minister Mr Baker told a Westminster debate that a date would be confirmed.

In line with his legal obligation, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State will soon confirm the date of the next Northern Ireland Assembly election, as required by law, he said.

Following that election, and regardless of the result, the Northern Ireland parties really do need to come together to restore the devolved institutions and lead the people of Northern Ireland through the challenging times ahead.

In a statement issued after his meeting with Mr Coveney, Mr Heaton-Harris offered no further detail on his intentions around an election.

The UK and Irish governments continue to share a commitment to peace and prosperity in Northern Ireland, he said.

I reiterated (during the meeting) my deep regret that the Executive has failed to form and the duty that has been placed on me.

Mr Coveney said he believed a final decision had not been taken.

However, he said he expected Mr Heaton-Harris would be providing clarity soon.

On Tuesday, the Northern Ireland Secretary pledged to provide an update on what steps he intended to take next in due course.

Mr Coveney said he reiterated the Irish governments view to Mr Heaton-Harris during their meeting that an election would be unhelpful.

We dont have clarity on a way forward as of yet, but certainly were not going to have to wait weeks for that clarity, he said.

Mr Coveney added: I made it clear that the Irish Governments position is that we dont believe an election at this time is a good thing for Northern Ireland, in the context of the pressures that families and households are facing now, and also in the context of the reality that weve had an election only a number of months ago.

So, we discussed options and views on a way forward. No decisions have been finalised yet, but I dont think were going to have to wait for very long before decisions are made in relation to the way forward.

There really are only two options here: there is a legal obligation to set a date for an election, or else there will need to be new legislation to avoid an election at this time.

Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney speaks to the media at the Irish Government Secretariat in Belfast (Niall Carson/PA)

Mr Heaton-Harris has acknowledged he has a legal duty to call an election but has avoided setting a date, prompting Northern Irelands chief electoral officer, Virginia McVea, to apologise to election workers who are on stand-by to assist on the basis that polling day would be December 15.

The Government has vowed to secure changes to the protocol, either by a negotiated compromise with the EU or through proposed unilateral domestic legislation, the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, which would empower ministers to scrap the arrangements without the approval of Brussels.

The European Commission has said the latter approach would breach the terms of an international treaty and potentially prompt retaliatory action.

Mr Coveney added: For us, we think that an election would be unnecessary and unhelpful at this time, thats been the Irish Governments view for some time.

But these are difficult choices for the British Government and for the Secretary of State because of his obligations under NDNA (the New Decade New Approach agreement).

On Tuesday, Mr Heaton-Harris expressed concern at the enormous 660 million-plus black-hole of an overspend facing the rudderless Stormont system in the absence of a powersharing executive, and made clear action would be needed to set a budget for Northern Ireland.

He also said he would be looking to cut the pay of MLAs.
Rishi Sunak has said the migrant crisis is a serious and escalating problem and admitted that not enough asylum claims are being processed.

The Prime Minister insisted the Government is getting a grip on the situation and backed Home Secretary Suella Bravermans handling of the issue.

He said she has taken significant steps to address the problem of overcrowding at the Manston migrant processing facility in Kent.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak insisted the Government is getting a grip on the migrant crisis (Victoria Jones/PA)

Listing her actions, he told MPs at Prime Ministers Questions: Since September 30, more hotels with 4,500 new beds, appointing a senior general to control the situation at Manston and, indeed, increasing the number of staff there by almost a half.

These are significant steps that demonstrate that we are getting a grip of this system.

But this is a serious and escalating problem. We will make sure that we control our borders and we will always do it fairly and compassionately, because that is the right thing.

Later, a Tory MP warned there could be a resurgence of a Ukip-style party if the Conservatives do not get a handle on the crisis.

Craig Mackinlay, a former Ukip member, told LBCs Tonight with Andrew Marr: They wouldnt be able to solve it any better than we could, I can promise you that. But if this is an issue that remains unsolved its a weak point that they can exploit.

Mr Sunak was challenged at PMQs by Sir Keir Starmer, who said responsibility for an asylum system which Ms Braverman described as broken lies with the Tories, who have been in power since 2010.

The Labour leader said just 4% of the asylum claims made by people who crossed the English Channel in small boats last year have been processed.

He added: Theyre only taking half the number of asylum decisions that they used to. Thats why the system is broken.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said responsibility for the broken asylum system lies with the Tories (House of Commons/PA)

Sir Keir asked whether Ms Braverman had been given legal advice to move people out of the overcrowded Manston facility.

The Home Secretary has insisted she has not ignored advice about the requirement to relocate detainees, but Mr Sunak would not comment on the legal advice.

The Labour leader shot back: I think the answer to the question whether the Home Secretary received legal advice to move people out of Manston is yes  he just hasnt got the guts to say it.

Earlier, a cabinet minister acknowledged that both the French and UK authorities need to do more to tackle the problem of migrants risking their lives to cross the English Channel in small boats.

Around 40,000 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year, with Ms Braverman warning of an invasion on the south coast, comments which have been condemned by opponents.

Provisional Government figures to date show 39,913 people have arrived in the UK after making the journey.

No crossings were recorded by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Tuesday and 46 people arrived in one boat on Monday.

In October alone 6,912 people made the journey, with 1,065 arriving in a single day. This is the third highest monthly total this year, after 8,641 were recorded in August and 7,961 were recorded in September, PA news agency analysis of the figures show.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said both the UK and France could do more (James Manning/PA)

Transport Secretary Mark Harper told Sky News: I think both countries, Britain and France, could do more. What we need to do is work with the French, they do a lot already.

We provide resources to help them and, of course, people will know our border controls in France are actually physically located in France, and weve always worked in close partnership with French authorities.

Do we think they could do more? Yes. We could do more as well. Its about improving that partnership.

Military personnel were involved in efforts on Tuesday to help move migrants away from Manston.

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said the numbers at the site had fallen substantially on Tuesday, with more expected to be moved on Wednesday.

Sir Roger Gale, Tory MP for North Thanet, which includes the site, welcomed the development, having clashed with Ms Braverman about her handling of the chaos at Manston.

He praised Mr Jenrick for rectifying the mistakes that have been made by others, adding this must never be allowed to happen again.

It is unclear whether those moved from Manston will be taken to hotels or alternative accommodation.

The Governments efforts to secure hotel space have also faced challenges in the courts.

Sheila Oxtoby, chief executive of Great Yarmouth Borough Council, which won a legal case against the Home Office, said the local authority objected to having decisions about the use of hotels in tourist areas imposed on it.

She told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: We have always, right from the beginning, offered to work with the Home Office to find the most suitable accommodation and the best solution for both the asylum seekers and the existing community  but that has largely fallen on deaf ears and our offer has not been taken up.
Irelands Foreign Affairs Minister has said he will continue to make regular visits to Northern Ireland and will not be intimidated by loyalists objecting to his presence.

Simon Coveney also addressed recent loyalist anger about the prospect of UK/Irish joint authority if devolution was not restored in Belfast.

Mr Coveney insisted joint authority was not the focus of the Irish government as he expressed frustration that too much attention was being paid to it.

On Wednesday, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris reiterated the UK government position that it will not countenance joint authority. He also made clear that threats of violence had no place in Northern Ireland.

Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney speaks to the media at the Irish Government Secretariat in Belfast (Niall Carson/PA)

Some unionists and loyalists have criticised the Irish governments role in the Brexit process and partly blame Dublin for the creation of the Northern Ireland Protocol and the economic barriers it has created on trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Recent Sinn Fein calls for an Irish government role in the running of Northern Ireland if the ongoing devolution logjam continues further angered some within the loyalist community.

Last week, an umbrella group representing loyalist paramilitary groups wrote a letter to unionist politicians urging them to make clear that Irish government ministers were not welcome in Northern Ireland.

Earlier this year, a bomb scare forced the evacuation of an event being addressed by Mr Coveney in Belfast.

The senior Irish minister was asked about the issue on Wednesday after holding talks with Mr Heaton-Harris in Belfast. He said the topic came up in discussions with the Northern Ireland Secretary.

The Irish government and Irish government ministers have obligations under the Good Friday Agreement to be part of discussions here in Belfast on how the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement are protected, sustained and supported, he said.

We take those obligations seriously, and thats why youre likely to see me regularly here, meeting my counterpart, and trying to fulfil the obligation and the responsibilities that I have, and that the Irish government has in that regard.

We are not going to be intimidated by people who dont do not reflect the vast majority of peoples opinion here in Northern Ireland, who want to see the British and Irish Governments working together for stability, for certainty, for peace, and to ensure that the institutions that were set up nearly 25 years ago can deliver for people in Northern Ireland.

Small numbers of people with hard-line thinking, making threatening statements are not going to put us off.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris (Brian Lawless/PA)

In a statement issued after his meeting with Mr Coveney, Mr Heaton-Harris said: Violence or the threat of violence has no place in Northern Ireland. I want to highlight the importance of pursuing a more peaceful and prosperous future for Northern Ireland through democratic means.

Mr Coveney was also asked about the issue of joint authority.

Joint authority is not our focus, he replied.

Our focus is to get the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement up and running again; to get devolved government working for people in Northern Ireland; to get north-south institutions working again, so that we have the kind of relationship north-south that we should have, as was intended under the peace agreement; to ensure that we have the east-west institutions functioning as they as they were intended to as well.

So, our focus is not on putting pressure to look for joint authority.

Our focus is very much on getting the devolved institutions functioning again so that people feel that theyre represented in Northern Ireland, and that they have a devolved government here that that reflects the diversity of opinion across Northern Ireland society, and that those institutions can work with both the British government on the Irish government as appropriate.

I think theres been too much talk, to be honest, about joint authority and not enough talk about getting an executive back up and functioning again.

On the issue of joint authority, Mr Heaton-Harris said: The Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement clearly sets out that the consent principle governs the constitutional position of Northern Ireland.

The UK government will not countenance any arrangements that are inconsistent with that principle such as joint authority.
Rishi Sunak has reversed his decision to skip the Cop27 climate summit in Egypt next week, bowing to pressure from activists, his own environment adviser and Boris Johnson.

The Prime Minister accepted there is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change as he confirmed he will attend the UN talks in Sharm El Sheikh that start on Sunday.

Mr Sunak had been declining to go, arguing that he needed to focus on the depressing domestic challenges as he worked on the autumn Budget with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

Downing Street said he changed his mind after making good progress ahead of the financial statement, but Labour accused the Prime Minister of having been dragged kicking and screaming into doing the right thing.

Cop26 president Alok Sharma, who will be handing over the UKs presidency to Egypt at the summit, said he is delighted about the U-turn, having previously expressed his disappointment.

Lord Deben, the chairman of the UKs independent Climate Change Committee, also said he is pleased Mr Sunak will be attending the summit.

But he warned the UKs delivery on climate change has been appalling.

Delighted that @RishiSunak is attending #COP27  completely agree with his comment that there is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change https://t.co/dQSaJMuhHv  Alok Sharma (@AlokSharma_RDG) November 2, 2022

Mr Sunak announced his attendance the morning after Mr Johnson, one of his predecessors in No 10 and an enduring rival in the Conservative Party, confirmed he will be joining the talks in Egypt.

There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change, Mr Sunak tweeted.

There is no energy security without investing in renewables.

That is why I will attend @COP27P next week: to deliver on Glasgows legacy of building a secure and sustainable future.

Mr Johnson chose not to publicly criticise Mr Sunaks initial refusal to attend, but said in an interview broadcast on Tuesday evening that he will be attending to discuss how we see things in the UK given he has a particular interest.

I was invited by the Egyptians so Im very happy to go, he told Sky News.

There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change. There is no energy security without investing in renewables. That is why I will attend @COP27P next week: to deliver on Glasgow's legacy of building a secure and sustainable future.  Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) November 2, 2022

The Prime Ministers official spokesman insisted it was good progress on the November 17 autumn Budget that changed Mr Sunaks mind on attendance.

We wanted to make sure we were making good progress on the Governments domestic agenda and the Autumn Statement in particular, the spokesman said.

Following discussions with the Chancellor this week, he has now agreed to attend. The Prime Minister feels there is sufficient space to make this trip.

Mr Sharma, who presided over Cop26 in Glasgow last year, welcomed Mr Sunaks reversal, saying he completely agrees with his comments that climate action is required to secure long-term prosperity.

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said the U-turn was embarrassing, arguing that Mr Sunak had to be dragged kicking and screaming into doing the right thing.

Dragged kicking and screaming into doing the right thing. Embarrassing. https://t.co/dEeIzEtqYW  Angela Rayner  (@AngelaRayner) November 2, 2022

It was only on Friday that Mr Sunak was arguing to broadcasters that he was focusing on the depressing domestic challenges we have with the economy as he sought to justify not attending.

I think thats what people watching would reasonably expect me to be doing as well, he said.

Shadow climate secretary Ed Miliband said Mr Sunak had agreed to go to avoid embarrassment not to provide leadership and seized on his change in language, saying: The guy is a phoney.

The Prime Minister has been shamed into going to Cop27 by the torrent of disbelief that he would fail to turn up, Mr Miliband added.

Yet again we see a Prime Minister who only makes decisions for reasons of political management not the national interest.

At the end of our COP Presidency, we have a Prime Minister who has been dragged kicking and screaming even to turn up. pic.twitter.com/XO2JLk0eM6  Ed Miliband (@Ed_Miliband) November 2, 2022

The key day for world leaders is Monday, when high-level talks are scheduled, and US President Joe Biden is expected to attend.

Green MP Caroline Lucas tweeted: Glad to see Sunaks screeching U-turn on #COP27, but what an embarrassing mis-step on the world stage. Let this be a lesson to him  climate leadership matters.

Friends of the Earth international climate campaigner Rachel Kennerley welcomed Mr Sunak having seen sense and decided to attend and urged him to rebuild the UKs climate reputation.

Despite No 10s U-turn, the King is still not planning to attend Cop27.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said there is unanimous agreement with the Government that it is not right for Charles, a long-standing environmental campaigner, to go.

Buckingham Palace said there is unanimous agreement with the Government that it is not right for the King to attend Cop27 (Isabel Infantes/PA)

In Egypt, Mr Sunak will hope to make progress on the commitment to halt deforestation by 2030 and to agree new partnerships on clean and renewable energy, Downing Street said.

Mr Sunaks spokesman said he would not pre-empt conversations when asked if he will raise the imprisonment of British-Egyptian pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah, who is on hunger strike.

We are working hard to secure Alaa Abdel-Fattahs release. We are raising his case at the highest levels of the Egyptian government, the spokesman said.

Amnesty International UK chief executive Sacha Deshmukh said Mr Sunak must impress on Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi the activists life now hangs in the balance.

We and Alaas family want to see the Prime Minister coming back from Egypt with an agreed date for Alaas urgent release and a firm commitment that he be allowed to safely leave the country, he added.

The PMs spokesman was not aware of the Prime Minister and Mr Johnson doing anything jointly together on the climate, nor does it seem likely that Mr Sunak could offer his former Downing Street neighbour a lift to Egypt to reduce their carbon footprint.

Thats the very definition of a hypothetical question, the spokesman said.
Rishi Sunak has reversed his decision to skip Cop27 and will attend the climate summit in Egypt next week, he has announced.

The Prime Minister wrote on Twitter that there was no long-term prosperity without action on climate change, and no energy security without investing in renewables, as he confirmed he would attend this years UN talks.

Mr Sunak was initially not planning to attend, with Downing Street saying he was focusing on depressing domestic challenges.

However, the announcement by his predecessor Boris Johnson he was going to the talks piled further pressure on the PM to backtrack on his decision.

He had also faced widespread calls to attend, including from his own climate chief Alok Sharma, who presided over the Cop26 summit in Glasgow last year.


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YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan sent a congratulatory letter to the newly-elected President of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the PMs Office said.

The letter reads:

Your Excellency,

On behalf of the Republic of Armenia and myself personally I warmly congratulate you and address you the best wishes on your election as President of Brazil.

Armenia attaches great importance to the further development and deepening of the relations with Brazil in all areas of bilateral interest.

I am sure that the relations between our countries, which are based on mutual sympathy, will continue deepening and strengthening at the bilateral and multilateral levels with joint efforts for the benefit of the welfare of our countries and peoples.

Your Excellency, please accept the assurances of my highest respect.
Soren has been asked to appear before the federal probe agency at its regional office in state capital Ranchi at 11 am on Thursday

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has summoned Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren for questioning on November 3 in a money laundering case linked to alleged illegal mining in the state, officials said on Wednesday.

Soren, 47, has been asked to appear before the federal probe agency at its regional office in state capital Ranchi at 11 am on Thursday.

The agency wants to question and record the statement of the chief minister under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had earlier arrested his political aide Pankaj Mishra and two others -- local muscleman Bachhu Yadav and Prem Prakash -- in this case.

The agency has said it has "identified" proceeds of crime relating to illegal mining in the state to the tune of more than Rs 1,000 crore till now.

The ED probe began after the agency raided Mishra and his alleged associates on July 8, covering 19 locations in Sahibganj, Barhait, Rajmahal, Mirza Chauki and Barharwa in Jharkhand in the case linked to alleged instances of illegal mining and extortion.

"The PMLA investigation revealed that Mishra, who enjoys a political clout, being the representative of the chief minister, MLA from Barhait, Sahibganj, Jharkhand controls the illegal mining businesses as well as inland ferry services in Sahibganj and its adjoining areas through his accomplices.

"He exercises considerable control over the mining of stone chips and boulders as well as installation and operations of several crushers, set up across various mining sites in Sahibganj," the ED had alleged after filing a charge sheet in the case before a special court in Ranchi.

Forty-seven search operations have been conducted and cash worth Rs 5.34 crore has been seized, bank balances worth Rs 13.32 crore have been frozen, an inland water vessel worth Rs 30 crore has been seized apart from five stone crushers, two trucks and two AK 47 assault rifles (these weapons were later claimed by Jharkhand police as its own) till now, the ED said.

Some banking documents and cheques that purportedly bore the name of the chief minister were also recovered from the searched premises, officials had said.

The action was initiated after the ED filed a case under the PMLA against Mishra and others in March, alleging that the former "illegally grabbed or amassed huge assets in his favour".

It took cognisance of a state police FIR filed against Mishra at Barharwa police station in Sahibganj district and some other police complaints filed in the illegal mining trade instances under various sections of the Arms Act, Explosive Substances Act, among others.

A second instance where cash linked to alleged illegal mining in the state was unearthed pertains to the ED action against suspended Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Pooja Singhal in May.

Apart from the 2000-batch IAS officer, her businessman husband, a chartered accountant linked to the couple and others were raided by the ED as part of the money laundering probe linked to a case of alleged corruption in MGNREGA scheme.

Singhal, who was holding the charge of Jharkhand mining secretary, was suspended by the state government following her arrest by the ED.

Suman Kumar, a chartered accountant linked to Singhal and her husband, was also arrested by the agency and cash amounting to Rs 19.76 crore was seized by it.
The panel will examine the current and future career progression of the CSS officers and suggest remedial measures to streamline the service

The protests earlier this year by Central government employees who comprise the Central Secretariat Service (CSS) over delayed promotions and career-related issues have had an effect. The department of personnel and training (DoPT) has reportedly constituted a committee to undertake the fourth cadre restructuring of the CSS. The panel will examine the current and future career progression of the CSS officers and suggest remedial measures to streamline the service.

According to sources, the four-member committee will be led by the establishment officer and additional secretary, DoPT, and will have a joint secretary each from the DoPT and the department of expenditure. A deputy secretary of DoPT will be the member secretary. The panel will also study the encadrement of posts of autonomous bodies and statutory organisations, and the relevance of the recommendations of the third restructuring panel, which have not been implemented yet. So, essentially, a panel to replace a previous panel with the same task. How delightfully bureaucratic!

Further, the committee is also mandated to review the present training needs and examine any other issue that is referred to it by the cadre controlling authority of CSS and the central secretariat clerical services.

Centre denies Keralas plea for more DGP posts

The ongoing rivalry between the Kerala government and the Centre and the states governor Arif Mohammed Khan adds a new chapter all too often. Even as Arif and the Pinarayi Vijayan government slug it out on various points of contention, the Centre remains a big challenge for the state government.

The most recent episode is the Centre turning down Keralas demand to sanction more posts of the director general of police (DGP). At present, the state has four posts of DGO rank but wants the Centres nod for two more.

Sources have informed DKB that the states demand to increase the number of DGP posts arose after the Supreme Court ruled that once a person is appointed the head of state police, he should not be removed from the post for the next two years. Currently, in Kerala the state police chief and vigilance chief hold DGP ranks. While jails and fire services too have DGPs, they are not from the IPS.

The incumbent police chief Anil Kant is slated to continue in the post until June next year. This had delayed the promotion of senior additional director general of police Anandakrishnan, who became eligible to be posted in the DGP rank 10 months ago. After him, K. Padmakumar posted at the state police HQ become eligible for promotion to DGP.

The state government argued that the IAS cadre has eight posts that are equal to the DGP, but the Centre clearly did not buy this argument.

Babus who have Yogis ear

After the loss, even if temporary, of former additional chief secretary (home) Awanish Awasthi, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has moved quickly to show that he has always had more than one arrow in his quiver. So, even as his favourite Awasthi is back in an advisory role, the chief minister has ensured that Team Yogi remains in charge.

Besides Mr Awasthi, Yogi relies on the administrative talents of about half-a-dozen officers to run his double-engine government. Clearly, the most influential among these is Shashi Prakash Goyal, additional secretary to the chief minister, and who, sources have reported to DKB, weighs in on every file that reaches the chief ministers office. Another key CMO official is principal secretary Sanjay Prasad, who took over most of Mr Awasthis erstwhile domain, except information and PR.

Chief secretary Durga Shankar Mishra has the additional advantage of being backed by the Centre, say sources. This is why, it is widely believed, that Mr Mishra was named chief secretary and given an extension in service, barely two days before retirement. Meanwhile, Yogis chosen one D.S. Chauhan is acting director general of police (DGP) even as the Centre and UPSC continue to search for a full-time DGP. But Mr Chauhan, who is also director general of intelligence and director of vigilance, has the CMs ear when it comes to issues pertaining to law and order.

This, then, is the team that oversees the UP governments flagship welfare projects as well as the muscular policing which keep it in the news.
What are the lessons in the wake of one of the worst public safety tragedies in India?

Every major political party in India tells you that infrastructure is the backbone of the economy and big spends on infrastructure will boost growth, create jobs, generate happiness and so on. But when and where did you hear proper maintenance of that infrastructure being a key part of any stump speech or political manifesto?

When was the last time that a political leader on an infrastructure inauguration spree spoke out unambiguously on the governments accountability within public-private partnerships (PPP)? Or the governments role as a regulator in enforcing safety? What happens when partners in PPP projects blame each other? What happens when such lapses happen repeatedly, and one disaster follows another as in a ghoulish version of Campbell's Soup Cans, the iconic painting by American artist Andy Warhol?

Where does the buck stop?

These questions are very relevant today as we try to unpack the stories of bridge collapse, roof collapse, roads caving in, dams breaching and the many preventable disasters that India has witnessed, including the most recent  the collapse of the colonial-era Morbi cable bridge. At the time of writing, the death toll is 135; the search operations are continuing  so tragic and so needless.

A lot has been written already about the Morbi bridge collapse. More will be written in the days to come. While we wait for the findings of the promised deep and exhaustive investigation, we are also internally processing the visual clips of how the hospital, where many of the injured are being treated, got cleaned, painted, and dramatically spruced up ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Morbi on Tuesday.

That may be a side story but it sledgehammers home an essential point  that hospital administration and healthcare cant be reduced to bursts of cleanliness and hygiene for special occasions. They must be well-maintained all the time. Otherwise, there are consequences for patients, sometimes catastrophic, as we have seen time and again. Ditto with bridges and other infrastructure.

What are the lessons in the wake of one of the worst public safety tragedies in India? How do we ensure that there isnt another bridge collapse or house collapse or road cave-in? Rescue, relief and compensation are the need of the hour, but an analysis of a disaster must focus equally on the state of disaster preparedness at the site and measures being put in place to ensure there is no repeat. All three are critical.

There are key questions that are of legitimate concern to ordinary citizens. The answers to many of these should be readily available and are independent of the investigation.

For example, from day one, we were told that there were around 500 people on the century-old suspension bridge over the Machchhu river, but who heard the local authorities put a figure on the carrying capacity of the bridge? That figure should have been available with the local administration. For an ordinary citizen, watching the grim images on the television screen, it was also astounding to hear that a company which positions itself as a clockmaker and LED bulb manufacturer, and whose website makes no mention of any prior expertise in bridge renovation, was entrusted to renovate the Morbi cable bridge. Why?

We also know by now that the company did not procure the mandatory fitness certificate from the Morbi municipal authorities. The latter says the bridge was opened to the public without their knowledge. Which brings me to the issue of procedural lapse and government accountability within the framework of a public-private partnership. The Morbi bridge was a major landmark. The renovation work had been going on for months. How is it that during a festive season, when crowds are expected to gather in large numbers, the bridge was opened to the public without the top brass of any government agency in the area being aware of it? What does that say about overall security? We also hear that clock manufacturer Oreva, which got the contract for renovating the bridge, subcontracted it to another company. If this is true, what is the role of the government and what is the regulatory framework in place to ensure safety in cases of contractors outsourcing their work to others?

What monitoring mechanisms were in place to ensure that crowds did not go beyond the carrying capacity of the bridge?

What were local authorities and the local political leadership of the BJP at the helm of affairs in Gujarat doing to ensure that procedural lapses did not take place in the renovation work?

Morbi and Gujarat are currently in the news. But procedural lapses, negligence and scant attention to safety issues are not confined to any one state or region. There are numerous examples of Indias regulators failing to prevent fatal lapses in infrastructure projects.

In 2018, part of Kolkata's Majerhat bridge collapsed, leading to three deaths and many injuries. Last month, a road cave-in in Bengalurus Yelahanka area led to a collision between a car and a bike, killing a 24-year-old young man. In July, a four-lane expressway in Bundelkhand, Uttar Pradesh, inaugurated by the Prime Minister, collapsed at many places soon after following heavy rain. We know that climate change has made erratic and extreme weather events a lot more frequent. Given that, what steps had been taken to make sure that large craters did not pop up on a brand-new expressway?

For the BJP, which calls the shots at the Centre and in several states, there are key lessons. In its 2019 manifesto during the last general election, the BJP promised: By 2024, we will make a capital investment of Rs 100 lakh crores in the infrastructure sector. Promises must explicitly talk about maintenance and safety as well.

Even an organisation like the World Bank acknowledges that the governments responsibility continues in PPP arrangements because citizens will continue to hold the government accountable for quality of utility services.

Disasters typically trigger blame-gaming and name-calling. At the end, it is the ordinary citizen who suffers the most. Preventable disasters keep happening because of an unholy confluence of corruption, collusion, and callousness. A new bridge, a new hospital, a new road means little unless they are well-constructed with safety clearances and well- maintained.

We have tolerated this for far too long. Now is the time to speak up loudly. Each time a new infrastructure project is being inaugurated, citizens must ask about maintenance, safety and most crucially, the chain of accountability in place.

Whether it is the festive or the election season, safety is central to any infrastructure project.
The Oppn described the reversed decision to attend as Sunak being

LONDON: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on Wednesday that he will attend the COP27 climate summit in Egypt next week, reversing his previous decision to skip the meeting in Sharm El Sheikh to focus on domestic issues and the economic crisis in the UK.

Sunak took to Twitter to reveal his plans after criticism from climate activists and within the government from Indian-origin COP27 President Alok Sharma, who said it was important for the prime minister to be present to show the UK's commitment on the issue of climate action.

The pressure mounted further as his ex-boss, former prime minister Boris Johnson, confirmed that he would be attending the summit scheduled between November 6 and 18.

"There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change, tweeted Sunak.

"There is no energy security without investing in renewables. That is why I will attend COP27 next week: to deliver on Glasgow's legacy of building a secure and sustainable future," he said, with reference to the COP26 summit chaired by the UK in Scotland last November.

The Opposition Labour Party described the reversed decision to attend as Sunak being "dragged kicking and screaming into doing the right thing; embarrassing".

The Green Party called it a "screeching U-turn" and "an embarrassing mis-step on the world stage" to initially announce plans not to attend.

Earlier this week, Downing Street said Sunak's attendance at the summit was under review as progress was being made with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt on the preparation of a crucial economic statement scheduled for November 17.

Many world leaders, including US President Joe Biden and France's Emmanuel Macron, are due to go to the 27th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

India's Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav will lead an 18-member delegation at COP 27, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's attendance yet to be confirmed.

King Charles III, a passionate climate campaigner who will not be attending, is to host a COP27 pre-summit reception for world leaders at Buckingham Palace on Friday. It is planned as a review of progress made since the UK hosted the COP26 summit in Glasgow last November, with Sunak and Sharma among those attending alongside international business leaders and decision-makers.
by Vladimir Rozanskij

According to supporters it is a prerequisite to preserve the local language and culture. Independents against the 'mad centralisation and militarisation' of Russia. Separatist sentiments also on the part of Bashkars, Hertzians, Buriates and Chechens.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - Activists of the Congress of the Oirati and Kalmyks, Mongolian peoples who are heirs of the ancient Zungars and Cuulgani, settled in the Lower Volga region, have approved and circulated a document in which they support the cause of their own full independence, as a prerequisite for preserving their Kalmyk language and culture.

The Congress was established in 2015 in the capital city of Elista, and in 2021 several of its members were arrested and imprisoned, some managed to escape abroad.

The 'Declaration of State Independence of the Republic of Kalmykia' has been signed by several exponents both abroad and in Russia, including the former director of the Centre for the Development of the Kalmykian Language Arslang Sandziev, the leader of the local branch of the Liberal Party 'Yabloko' Batyr Boromangaev, and other rather well-known political figures in the region such as Vladimir Dovdanov, Erentsen Doljaev and Albert Sarapov.

The text is a supplement to another declaration, approved by the Supreme Soviet of Soviet Kalmykia in 1990, before the end of the regime. Back then, the people's deputies voted in favour of the legal and democratic sovereignty of the Kalmykian state, based on the right of peoples to self-determination.

The current exponents of European Mongolian ethnic politics believe that the principles of that first document have never been realised in the practice of the autonomous republic, incorporated into the Russian Federation and led for many years by the first president Kirsan Ilyumzinov, let alone after the election of Vladimir Putin as president of Russia and the current administration of Batu Casikov, loyal to him.

The declaration lists the main demands to be presented to the Moscow regime, first and foremost that of being able to emancipate themselves from the 'insane centralisation and militarisation of the country' and the Kremlin's 'total interference in the cultural and linguistic life of the peoples conquered by Russia'. The calmucchi independence activists denounce the 'violations of international law' and five other points directed against the authoritarian and imperialist character of Russian policy.

According to the authors of the text, the rights of citizens are ignored in the Russian Federation, subjected to constant repression, recalling the deportations of Kalmyks in Stalin's time and afterwards, and the problem of 'illegally expropriated land'. Kalmykia, like other former Soviet regions and nations, also makes territorial claims against its neighbours, specifically the neighbouring Astrakhan region, dating back to the Stalinist partitions of 1943. Doljaev, one of the authors, has been arguing for years that the entire Astrakhan area should be part of the independent Kalmykia, as it is the historical territory of the migration of the Kalmyks from Central Asia.

The Oirati and Calmucchi demand 'liberation from colonial dependence', and announce their intentions to obtain the republic's exit from Russia, proclaiming their own sovereignty, against the backdrop of the revival of many ethnic separatisms. Independence is 'the necessary condition for the survival of the Chaluz people', and they appeal to all states and regional and world governments to support the liberation, under the slogan 'let justice for all peoples triumph!

The independentists also refer to the 'League of Free Nations', which met last June at the international level via the web, and to the 'Forum of Free Peoples' organised by Tatar exponents and others in Warsaw and Prague in May and June. These events were also joined by exponents from Bashkia, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Buriati, Chechnya and other nationalities living in the territories of the Russian Federation.
Bibi is making a comeback after a year out of power. In his first address, he tries to woe all Israelis, but he will be hard-pressed to manage the ultra-right, the real surprise of this election. With 86 per cent of the votes counted, the new majority can count on at least 65 seats. In the United Arab Emirates, there is some grumbling about the Abraham Accords.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews)  Former Prime Minister Benjamin Bibi Netanyahu and his party are set for a major comeback after one year out of power.

Israels extreme right and ultraorthodox parties have also made great progress, whereas Israels left has been clearly defeated.

For outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid, this is a major setback but his party was able to resist the right-wing wave and elect a considerable number of Members of the Knesset.

Yesterdays general election, the fifth in just over three years, saw a rise in voter participation with a 71.3 per cent turnout, the highest since 2015.

Netanyahu, who was prime minister several times over the past 30 years, is back in the prime ministers seat after a year in the opposition, playing power games behind the scenes, while his corruption trial is still set to go ahead.

Bibi could count on a substantial portion of the electorate, and the tensions within the outgoing coalition government, always teetering on the verge of collapse, as it included Arab parties as well as the nationalist right and what is left of the Israeli left.

With 86 per cent of the votes counted, the coalition led by King Bibi is set to get 65 seats out of 120 Knesset seats, well over the 61 needed for a majority. As expected, Likud won most votes.

The centrist party of outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid came in second place while the far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Strength), a Zionist religious party, led by Itamar Ben Gvir, came in third.

The latter, a far-right lawyer and activist, has long been known for his radical, violent, and racist positions, and will likely play a crucial role in the new government.

In the past, he repeatedly called for the annexation of the entire West Bank without any concession to the Palestinians, greater leeway for the Israeli military in the territories, and restrictions on the Supreme Court, which remains one of Israels few independent institutions and bulwark of the constitution.

In his very first remarks, Ben Gvir renewed his push for nationalist policies, stressing that it was time to be masters of the country again and guarantee security to its citizens.

For his part, Netanyahu was more moderate, promising to take care of everyone because Israel respects all its citizens without distinctions.

For now he seems to be avoiding his allies most radical and extremist positions, but it is only a matter of time before the extreme right and the ultra-Orthodox will play a leading role in the future government.

Some analysts like Lahav Harkov in The Jerusalem Post believe that Netanyahu might seek the support of centrist Benny Gantz, the outgoing defence minister and former government ally, before turning to the extreme right.

Moreover, while Gantz has repeatedly said that he would not form an alliance or support Netanyahu (and vice versa), the two leaders and parties are not that far apart.

It is very likely that at international level, the Abraham Accords and regional alliances with the Gulf states will be simpler with a centrist and moderate ally than with Ben Gvir's party. There is already grumbling in the United Arab Emirates.

Lapid's Yesh Atid party is expected to achieve its best result with 24 seats, but the anti-Likud coalition is far below the threshold to form a majority in the Knesset.

The Labour Party won 4 seats, while left-leaning Meretz could be left out since it is below the 3.25 per cent threshold with only a few tens of thousands of ballots to be counted.

The exclusion of Balad, a left-wing party representing Israeli Arabs, is almost certain. In this election, the Arab community was divided and, from early results, it seems that turnout among Israeli Arabs was low.
On the day the departed are commemorated, the pontiff led a Mass of remembrance in St Peter's for the cardinals and bishops who passed away this past year. At the end of life, the only chief merit and accusation is mercy towards the poor and the discarded. [. . .] let us not be surprised by this discovery.

Vatican City (AsiaNews)  Pope Francis led a Mass for the dead on All Souls Day in St Peter's Basilica in remembrance of nine cardinals and 148 bishops and archbishops who passed away this past year.

Death sheds light on the truth about life and removes every extenuating circumstance from mercy, said the pontiff in his homily.

Two bishops from mainland China are among the names in the celebration booklet: Mgr. Peter Wu Junwei, Apostolic Prefect of Xinjiang who died in May, and Mgr John Baptist Ye Ronghua, Apostolic Prefect of Ankang who died in August.

In his homily, Pope Francis focused on two words that are at the centre of the Gospel account of the Last Judgment, the hour of death, namely expectation and surprise.

Expectation, Francis said, expresses the meaning of life for we live in the expectation of the encounter with God. We all live in expectation, in the hope of hearing one day Jesuss words: 'Come, blessed by my Father'.

For this reason, today provides an opportunity to ask ourselves if our desires have to do with Heaven because we risk continually aspiring to things that pass, of confusing desires with needs, of putting worldly expectations before Gods expectations. Losing sight of what matters to chase the wind would be life's biggest mistake.

The Gospel passage about the Last Judgment also mentions surprise. Lord, when did we see you hungry and give you food, or thirsty and give you drink?"

"In the divine tribunal, the only chief merit and accusation are mercy towards the poor and the discarded. He who dwells in the heavens dwells among the most insignificant to the world.

Brothers, sisters, the pontiff added, let us not be surprised by this discovery. Let us be careful not to sweeten the taste of the Gospel. Because often, for convenience or comfort, we tend to attenuate Jesus's message, to water down his words.

"Feeding the hungry yes, but the issue of hunger is complex, and I certainly cannot solve it! Helping the poor yes, but then injustices must be faced in a certain way and so it is better to wait, also because to commit, you risk being always bothered and maybe you realise that you could do better, better to wait a little.

"When then, ask, surprised, the righteous and the unrighteous? To this there is but one answer: When is now, today, on the way out from this Eucharist. It is in our hands, in our works of mercy, not in explanations and refined analyses, not in individual or social justifications.

"On the day of our farewell, we shall be pleasantly surprised if we let ourselves be surprised now by the presence of God, who is waiting for us among the poor and the wounded of the world. Let us not be afraid of this surprise; let us go forward in the things the Gospel tells us, to be judged righteous at the end. God is waiting to be touched not by words, but by deeds.
by Nirmala Carvalho

Representatives of the various confessions together just a few days before the summit of heads of state and government. Indian Archbishop Felix Machado, among the Christian representatives present: "We have launched an appeal to forgive the wrong done, which is the highest form of dialogue".

Bali (AsiaNews) - In view of the upcoming G20 summit, the Religious Leaders Forum (R20), an international meeting that precedes the summit of heads of state and government, opened today in Bali. Hosted by the Indonesian government, the meeting - which will continue until tomorrow - is coordinated in this edition by the Nahalatul Ulama (an association comprising 150 million Indonesian Muslims) and the World Muslim League.

Welcoming the religious leaders from all over the world, President Joko Widodo vindicated the model of co-existence between religions in Indonesia: 'We are a heterogeneous country in terms of ethnicities and religions,' he said, 'inhabited by more than 275 million people, 714 tribes and more than 1,100 languages embracing six different religions.

Despite its extreme diversity, Indonesia is united by the doctrine of Pancasila and the national motto 'Unity in Diversity'. We must work together,' he added, 'to solve the world's problems, for a peaceful and cooperative world to pass on to future generations.

Among the personalities present at the meeting was Bishop Felix Machado, archbishop of the Indian diocese of Vasai. "The atmosphere was very cordial," he told AsiaNews, "The tone was moderate: no religious leader spoke about controversial issues, but each one addressed the others to extend their hands and show a visible sign of human brotherhood. Everyone said that religions too must become a source of solutions for the problems facing the world today".

Msgr Machado noted "religions are often perceived as obstacles to human progress and the challenge is to show that this is a misperception. An appeal has been launched to forgive the wrong done, which is the highest form of dialogue. The goal is to build bridges of mutual understanding and unite to educate one's own religious community to take constructive action to grow more compassionate and merciful world leaders who are able to heal the wounds caused to the victims of injustice, violence, discrimination and widespread religious fundamentalism."

Next year India takes on the presidency of the G20 and thus also host the World Summit of Religious Leaders.
Today's headlines: Taliban sources confirm the presence of foreign fighters in Afghanistan; Covid shutters Shanghai's Disneyland park; more and more tigers are disappearing across Asia; Kazakhstan open shelters for Russians who escaped mobilisation; the children of Kherson will be moved to Crimea.

KOREA

Both North and South Korea launched missiles that landed in the waters off their respective coasts for the first time. Seoul responded by launching three air-to-surface missiles three hours after rockets from Pyongyang landed less than 60 km from the city of Sokcho. North Korea had threatened the South and the US to end the joint military exercises that are being held these days.

CHINA

Visitors to Disneyland in Shanghai yesterday were locked inside due to a sudden lockdown after 10 new cases were reported over the weekend: local authorities banned entry and only allowed exit by presenting a negative test. No reopening date has been announced. In the meantime, the rides continue to operate.

AFGHANISTAN

Taliban sources confirmed that several foreign nationals believed to be al-Qa'ida members are in Baghlan province. These fighters were repositioned after the killing of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, "they are all armed and drive around in the Suvs of the former intelligence forces". Tajikistan, which shares 1,400 km of border with Afghanistan, has repeatedly expressed concern about the situation.

ASIA

More and more tigers are disappearing in Asia. This was reported in a report by the organisation Traffic, which monitors the poaching of endangered species and the illegal trade in wild animals, which is very active in South-East Asia. Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Russia have seen an increase in the seizure of tigers from facilities where they grow in captivity. In addition, 75% of the social accounts related to poaching are based in Vietnam.

MALAYSIA

The ruling Umno party has excluded eight key allies of Prime Minister Ismail Sabro Yaakob from the list of candidates for the elections scheduled for 19 November. The move indicates that the relationship between the premier and Umno chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who also heads the Barisan Nasional coalition, is increasingly strained. At the moment, the coalition has 166 out of 222 seats in parliament.

EGYPT

The well-known Anglo-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, imprisoned in Egypt, has started a hunger strike before the COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh. From Sunday he will also stop drinking water. The activist had already served five years in prison for participating in an unauthorised protest; in 2021 he was sentenced to another five years for 'spreading false news'.

KAZAKHSTAN

In Almaty, Kazakhstan, two shelters were opened for Russians who fled the mobilisation, where they will be able to shelter for up to two weeks free of charge while waiting to find a residence, thanks to funding from the humanitarian association 'The Ark' (Kovceg), which offers help to needy Russians all over the world.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE

More than 4,600 primary and secondary school pupils have been evacuated from the annexed Kherson region of Ukraine to be redistributed to schools in the Crimea and Krasnodar region, as informed by the region's Education Minister Tatiana Kuzmic, where the school year will officially start on 7 November.
Pakistan owes China US billion in loans. Beijing says it wants to continue investing in the South Asian country, but the flow of money has shrunk in recent years. Chinese workers are often attacked by Balochi separatists and Pakistani Taliban.

Beijing (AsiaNews)  China will help Pakistan on the debt issue and will continue to invest in its infrastructure, despite growing security concerns for Chinese companies, Chinese President Xi Jinping said today at the end of his meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Beijing.

Pakistan is facing a serious debt crisis, exacerbated by summer floods that have caused more than US$ 30 billion in damages.

China will provide Pakistan with debt relief; at present, the debt amounts to US$ 23 billion out of US$ 27 billion worth of non-Paris Club debt, Reuters reported.

Pakistan is a key link in Chinas Belt and Road Initiative, a set of infrastructure megaprojects launched by Xi in 2013 to boost trade between China and the rest of the world.

Xi told Sharif that the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) must proceed more effectively.

With Chinese funds, Islamabad aims above all to develop the port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea and a railway network connected to Karachi, the country's commercial hub.

China pledged some US$ 65 billion in investments, but in recent years the flow of money has become a trickle.

According to the China Global Investment Tracker, Chinese investments in Pakistan reached US$ 4.8 billion in 2018, dropping to US$ 1.4 billion last year, and US$ 590 million in the first six months of this year.

China's lower financial involvement is due to the economic downturn at home and globally, and threats to the security of Chinese companies operating in Pakistan.

Chinese staff and vehicles have been targeted by separatist groups and terrorists, such as the Balochistan Liberation Army in the Gwadar area, and the Pakistani Taliban in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province, on the border with Afghanistan..

On the security issue, Xi was straightforward with Sharif. China, he said, is highly concerned about the safety of Chinese in Pakistan, and hopes Pakistan can provide a reliable and safe environment for Chinese institutions and personnel carrying out cooperation in Pakistan.
Although in terms of frame, engine and transmission it was pretty much the same as any other Softail , there were several styling changes made to allow it to stand out in its rather large family. These changes included stuff like the fork and wheels, bobber-style rear fender, and what was one of the lowest seats the bike maker ever offered.And they all seem to have been enough for owners, as not many Blacklines crossed our screens in modified form over the years. Today, one does, coming front and center from all the way over in Switzerland, where it is being sold by Swiss Lightweight Composites ( SLC ).Having come into this world in stock form in 2012, this Harley-Davidson Blackline was just mildly modified, but that was enough it seems to raise its price to 23,700 CHF (about the same in American dollars), despite the over 16,500 km (10,200 miles) it shows on the odometer.The bike, described as freshly-built, stands out first and foremost thanks to the greenish color on the fuel tank, which works like magic when combined with the vintage-style and very thin whitewall tires. Up front, the bike received a Highsider headlight and an ape hanger for the ages, holding the cables internally. At the opposite end, were treated to 3-in-1 taillights, and a leather saddle.Mechanically, the Blackline received a new air filter and a Dr. Jekill & Mr. Hyde exhaust system, but the engine remains the stock one.This custom 2012 Harley-Davidson Blackline is now listed for sale on Moto Scout, and weve already mentioned the asking price. What we didnt mention is that SLC would settle for an exchange as well, so there's that to consider.
SUV

4WD

Now in its third generation, the all-new 2023 Toyota Sequoia (2022 Tundrassibling) is said to be brimming with capability, convenience, technology, and safety. But how about some adventurous traits? No worries, the Japanese automaker has those equally covered. Albeit with a little help from the publisher of theToyota Owner Magazine, who grabbed hold of a 2023 Toyota Sequoia Limited TRD Off-Road SUV (with the OEMs blessing) and decided to turn it into an interpretation of the best backwoods explorer trope.The teams strategy was simple: build the ultimate overlanding Sequoia for Toyota to display during the 2022 SEMA Show (at its newly enlarged space in the central hall, booth no. 22200). Of course, they also needed some expert assistance, which was provided by CBI Offroad Fabrication in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Then, on with the parts and accessories bundle, plus major modifications.On all four corners new ToyTec coilovers, shocks, and coil springs are responsible for a three-inch (7.62 cm) lift, while Camburg KINETIK upper control arms and 6061-T6 billet aluminum rear trailing arms complete the underbody setup. Next, bronze 706 Bead Grip Method Race Wheels shod in 34-inch Toyo Open Country M/T tires, CBI Offroad skid plates, rock sliders, front and rear bumpers, and a whole raft of recovery aids also help when the tough get going and the going gets tough.Lights, a roof rack, and everything needed to set up a base camp are also available. Last, but not least, Fast Signs from Idaho Falls also contributed with the eye-catching black and bronze wrap for The Ultimate Overlanding Sequoia TRD Off-Road concept. By the way, lots of other Toyota cars, SUVs, and trucks are on display at the Las Vegas Convention Center until November 4th at Toyotas space.
It was first revealed back in January 2017 during the ubiquitous North American International Auto Show in Detroit and is built on the now traditional TNGA (GA-K) platform, It already went through the classic refresh procedure back in 2020 for the 2021 model year. As such, it would be safe to say that it is now starting to grow a little long in the tooth.And with the 2023 Toyota Camry already on sale for $25,945 (just $100 above the 2022 model years starting MSRP, which is quite incredible in this day and age), it is also pretty easy to imagine that an all-new, ninth iteration might not arrive before the 2024 or even 2025 model years. No worries, though, as the virtual automotive realm is a little more impatient and wants us to check out all the unofficial goodies right now.So, here are the good folks over at the AutoYa info channel on YouTube who have imagined the looks of the unreleased ninth iteration of the global Toyota Camry series. And unlike many other pixel masters, the resident CGI expert decided to swim against the Crown-inspired digital current and give the next-generation Camry a set of distinctive styling cues.Of course, as always, do take all this with a healthy dose of salt as nothing is official, just yet. But with the teased all-new Honda Accord looming on the horizon, one could easily bet that Toyota is seriously considering the idea of equally flaunting a completely fresh Camry rival. Oh, by the way, let us also not forget that one can also select a favorite hue for the informal Camry from the channels traditional color palette reel.
The Bahia State government called BYD the biggest EV maker in the world while officially disclosing that the Chinese company signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to install three factories where Ford once had its industrial complex. One will make electric chassis for buses and trucks, one will process iron phosphate and lithium, and the third will make battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs). BYD will invest R$3 billion ($583 million at the current exchange rate) to prepare the factories for these operations. Work will start in June 2023, and two of the plants should be ready by September 2024, with operations beginning one month later, in October 2024. The third factory (probably the one making cars) will be finished by December 2024, starting to make BEVs and PHEVs in January 2025. Automotive Business tried to talk to BYD about its plans for the new factories. After all, it would be interesting to learn if these cars will be manufactured for the local market or exported. If BYD made Blade Batteries in Brazil, that would make a lot of sense, but there is no confirmation about that. In fact, the chemical plant will just process the raw materials BYD needs to make these cells but probably prefers to keep manufacturing them in China.BYD made sure to reinforce the temporary character of MoUs. According to the company, there are points in the agreement that still need to be adjusted. It said it would only discuss the deal after all issues were solved. The Bahia State government must have taken notes. It promised tax incentives until the end of 2032, but it may need to do more to ensure the company will really have these factories there.If everything goes according to the plan, BYD will directly train and employ 1,200 workers in these factories. It also committed to hiring local companies to make all construction jobs necessary to adapt what once was a Ford plant to its needs.
Even though Chrysler has plenty of experience in all things LX and subsequent versions of this platform, the Auburn Hills-based automaker still hasnt acknowledged that suppliers may hinder the appeal of LX-based vehicles with shoddy components or small production oversights.Back in June 2022, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles recognized a vehicle build issue on certain sedans and coupes featuring the aforementioned platform. Equipped with a tire pressure monitoring system from the factory, these vehicles exhibit a problem with the tire pressure sensors, which is a noncompliance with federal motor vehicle safety standard number 138.Supplied by Wisconsin-based Huf Baolong Electronics North America Co., the faulty sensor carry part number 68487472AA as per the report below. On July 7th, Fiat Chrysler decided to conduct a recall on affected vehicles built without part inspection. Through October 2022, the third-largest automaker of the Big Three in Detroit monitored the situation in the field. No fewer than six tire pressure sensors from vehicles that were previously inspected were confirmed to feature discharged batteries, prompting FCA to recall vehicles that were inspected prior to release.The remedy component bears a similar part number as the suspect tire pressure sensor, yet its battery wont discharge prematurely according to Fiat Chrysler. A grand total of 44,212 vehicles are called back, of which approximately 5 percent are believed to feature discharged batteries.The affected population kicks off with 15,718 units of the Challenger , produced for the 2022 model year between January 25th and August 11th in Brampton, Ontario. The Charger is listed with 24,113 units produced for the 2022 model year between January 25th and August 16th. The final entry is the 300 , also for the 2022 model year. The 4,381 vehicles listed in the report below carry build dates ranging between January 27th and August 11th.
Traditionally held on the first Sunday of November, the automotive march has had a continuous yearly occurrence since 1927, with two interruptions. With the passing of the years, the number of participants rose from 33 in 1896 to several hundred expected for the 2022 edition, which takes place this Sunday, starting at 07:03 AM London Time.Why at that time? Because thats when the Sun rises, giving the Start signal for this non-competitive classic automobile event. The Run is cleared explicitly of any contest-related rules and regulations except one. The participants must cross the finish line  60 miles away (97 kilometers)  before 04:30 PM of the same day. Otherwise, they will not receive the participation medal.The event in 1896 celebrated a fundamental  for the period  change in the traffic code. The speed limit for steam-powered self-propelled vehicles (light locomotives) was raised from 2 mph to 12 mph (3.2 kph to 19.2 kph). Quite an emancipation for the nascent car industry still unfolding its hesitant wings across the planet.Thirty-three cars  lets call them this  participated in that event, adequately known as the Emancipation Run, but only 14 finished. Ironically, the British Emancipation Run saw an American vehicle darting across the final mark  a Duryea model built by a company that entered the motor wagon industry a year before. Quite a performance for the New World carmaker who beat the much more famous Benz and Daimler cars.The Duryea put over an hour between it and the subsequent arrival, shaming the decade-old German car builders. Gottlieb Daimler, in person, attended the event (as a foreign guest)  the Run was the perfect opportunity to promote this new means of transportation. Coincidentally, 1896 marked the 10th anniversary of the invention of the modern automobile by Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz (simultaneously and independently).Four Benz vehicles also attended the Emancipation Run of 1896. Both German inventors saw their decade-long efforts effortlessly shoved aside by the young American constructor and his speedy automobile.However, the British car industry soon caught up to speed with the rest of the motoring world. In the following years, several similar races occurred, celebrating the speed-limit adaptation of 1896. In 1903, a new legislative amendment further raised the speed limit to 20 mph (32 kph), and the yearly car reunion was halted.Until 1927, two English newspapers, the Daily Sketch and the Sunday Graphic, reenacted the 1896 original event. The rest is history, with the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run happening every year since, with two critical exemptions.First, between 1940 and 1947, due to the Second World War (until 1945) and fuel rationing until 1947. There are stories about one fanatic motorist who put his apportioned gasoline where his addiction was and ran the Run by himself that year). The second obtrusion came in 2020 when the entire (motoring) world came to an almost complete stop.To pay homage to the massive presence of the companys automobiles in that historical from 126 years ago, Mercedes-Benz (the proud inheritor of the Daimler-Benz legacy) will be represented by a 1904 Mercedes-Simplex 28/32 hp.The rules of the modern-era car gathering specify that only vehicles produced before January 1, 1905, are accepted for the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run (LBVCR). By modern era, we mean from 1927 onwards. It would be reasonably safe to assume that this period falls under the modern grouping.The German choice for the Simplex is not just age-based. It bears a more profound significance: the 1904 Simplex draws its roots from the first Daimler vehicle to break away from the early automobile design patterns. It is among the first car-looking cars of the manufacturer. It has a clutch, brake, accelerator pedals, steering wheel, hand brake levers, and front and rear seats. And the overall architecture is still valid today (see it it the gallery): the engine sits in its bay; the radiator is at the foremost extremity of the assembly, and it has spare tires (two of them), headlamps, horn, fenders - the lot.The Mercedes-Simplex models were groundbreaking at the beginning of the last century. They created the blueprint for modern automotive engineering, which is still valid today, says Marcus Breitschwerdt, Head of Mercedes-Benz Heritage. The Mercedes-Simplex 28/32 hp attending the London-Brighton Run has a four-cylinder 5.3-liter gasoline engine that produces 32 hp at 1,200 rpm.
Helicopters are cool (even) on the ground, Tristan Walker told Vertical Magazine in a recent interview. Thats quite a love statement, but the former Olympic athlete is convinced that this new passion will become his future. After competing for the last time at the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing 2022, he is ready to dedicate himself to flying, and hes the proud owner of a commercial pilot license.The path from the fastest sport in the Winter Olympics to flying helicopters seems unusual. But theres a special reason for that in Walkers case. Even though he was so successful as part of Canadas Olympic luge relay team, he claims that he always knew he would eventually fly aircraft. Thats because his childhood was powerfully influenced by his late grandfather, who was a test pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).Len Bolger, Walkers grandfather, was one of the pioneering CF-100 pilots in the RCAF to restart and recover an aircraft at low altitude while experiencing double engine failure.With such a legacy, its only surprising that Walker hasnt started flying sooner. But his deeply-rooted passion will take a different form from what his grandfather did. Instead of military fixed-wing aircraft, he wants to pilot helicopters for search-and-rescue (SAR) or even air ambulance operations.Aside from this noble purpose, the former athlete is simply in love with choppers . The experience of flying one is a little more hands-on compared to airplanes, he told Vertical Magazine. As someone who is more than familiar with the thrilling (and dangerous) luge, he would know.
SUV

DOHC

If you ever end up on the Polaris website, you'll quickly find out that the most basic General XP 1000 is selling for $24,500 (24,600 at current exchange rates). Their purpose? To be the "very best adventure side-by-side off-road has to offer." Basically, it's the sort of vehicle you can use to access hidden portions of this planet where you typically couldn't go with your average car, truck, orAll that brings us to yet another vehicle that's been used for centuries and the basis for all things Semenuk, the bicycle. From setting records to breaking old ones, building amazing bicycle parks, and being a face for Red Bull , Brandon can be considered a peak athlete. Nonetheless, he's still a human, and you need something like the machine before us to access places that have never seen bicycles before.What are we looking at? Nothing more than a tricked-out and optimized side-by-side that you can't buy as stock! Nonetheless, Polaris doesn't do this kind of work, so the powers that be have called upon the capabilities of an off-road customs shop from Phoenix, Arizona, a place I know all too well.If the name Jefferies Performance doesn't ring a bell , once we're done here, you may very well be heading out to the Sonoran Desert to feel the Jefferies touch. Just so we're on the same page, this custom shop specializes in performance upgrades, complete builds, and even insurance or general maintenance. I've added a machine or two in the image gallery that isn't Semenuk's General to give you a comprehensive idea of their abilities.So, what has gone into the General that makes it look so damn delicious? Well, a whole bunch, actually. Luckily for us, our friends over at thebrandamp have done one heck of a job putting together those juicy images you see and a brief list of what it takes to build such a monster. Mind you, if you're into mountain biking and own a side-by-side, what you see has been updated so that riding whatever trail, drop, or line you want is no longer off-limits.The list of specs I have available doesn't reveal any modifications to the General's ProStar 1000 engine (4-stroketwin cylinder). Nonetheless, I feel Semenuk may have opted for a beefier motor . I don't know; he just seems like the sort of guy who likes speed. Nonetheless, we're told that a custom cage from JP has been installed, a Rockford Fosgate sound system, too, and KMC wheels support those knobby Yokohama tires. An HCR suspension was also implemented, and Shock Therapy valves and springs were added.From here, it's on to specific tools that Semenuk needs on his excursions . Things like a North Shore bike rack and a bunch of Rhino-Rack gear are also thrown onto the General. Finally, all that is wrapped up by the work of Five 18 Designs, the folks responsible for the skin you see brandishing the Red Bull logo, and other crews that support Semenuk's career and lifestyle. We can see Polaris alongside teams like Trek, Sram, Yokohama, KMC, and countless others.This machine debuted at the recent Red Bull Rampage event held on October 21, 2022, where fans of any of these brands could admire the beast before them . Heck, if you make all the right calls, you could build your own Semenuk General XP 1000. Make sure to have your checkbook ready because this gear is costly. Yet, the result is glorious, to say the least.
Over the years, belt drives have continuously proved their superiority over the traditional chain . These nylon, toothed synchronous belts with carbon fiber cords bring a plethora of benefits: they are much more durable (they can last for thousands of miles), they are cleaner (dont require lubrication), they require little to no maintenance, and they are also much quieter than chains.And when it comes to belt drives for bikes , scooters, or motorcycles, Gates is definitely one of the pioneers and one of, if not the most reputable manufacturer in the industry. Gates power transmission and fluid power solutions have a plethora of applications, not just in the micromobility industry. Its products, which are sold in 128 countries worldwide, are also used for printers, power washers, automatic doors, vacuum cleaners in agriculture, construction, and many other sectors.The latest product developed by the manufacturer is the Carbon Drive Moto X5 for scooters and motorcycles, with the product being suitable primarily for commuting applications in the Asian market. Designed to meet the needs for quiet, long-lasting, low-maintenance operation, the new Moto X5 is advertised as the manufacturers quietest belt drive released so far.According to Gates, the Moto X5 has been extensively tested and proved to be up to 15 dB quieter than chain drives over a range of vehicle speeds. In addition, the new belt drive is more energy-efficient, which translates into a boosted vehicle range. The stiff, long-lasting, synthetic compound used for the Moto X5, in combination with Gates carbon fiber cord, also ensures the belt drive is just as strong and durable as its predecessors.The new Carbon Drive Moto X5 can be seen the following days at the China International Motorcycle event in Chongqing, which is going to take place between November 3 and November 5. It will also be displayed at the EICMA event in Milan, Italy, between November 8 and November 13. More contacts about the product and its availability can be found by contacting Gates
Brian is a wildlife photographer, so naturally, he loves to spend time outside. He embraced the nomadic lifestyle a few years ago when he chose to travel around in a truck. Brian quickly moved from his truck into a Honda Element, then into a short school bus. However, the bus didnt offer him the freedom to go anywhere a smaller vehicle could.So he got a 2003 Chevrolet Astro van that he converted into his little home on wheels. The whole build cost him around $8,000, and it includes clever storage hacks and design solutions, allowing him to travel and camp in comfort.The camper has a compact interior that packs all the necessities. Behind the drivers seat is a large cabinet with open shelving that also functions as a desk. On one side, Brian keeps his camera gear, while the other side of the cabinet serves as a small pantry. His laptop and other items are kept on the desk.The bedroom is at the rear, and it includes a mattress that is 48-inch-long (122-cm-long) and 70-inch (178 cm) wide. Underneath, he has some DIY pull-out drawers  thats where he stores most of his clothes. His rig also expands to the outside.The van has a hatchback-style rear window and barn doors, which open up to reveal an exterior kitchen. Underneath the bed, he installed some pull-out drawers that offer all the storage space he needs for the cookware and kitchen utensils. He also has a propane cooktop that he uses to cook delicious meals, and theres a fold-down table attached to one of the barn doors as well.His rig also comes with 600 watts of solar and a chest-style fridge that he keeps next to the drivers seat. In the future, Brian plans to add more elements to the vans interior. But for now, the Astro camper works for him, and thats what matters. Brian offered a full tour of his van to the folks from Tiny Home Tours. You can check out the functional rig in the clip down below.
And the goodies just keep on coming. We've seen five Hot Wheels Car Culture sets this year. The most recent one had some of Jay Leno's cars inside, but now we're moving on to an exclusively-European line-up of machines.The AutoStrasse is the sixth set of the year, and if you're lucky enough, it will contain six cars inside. Why six instead of five, you ask? Well, as we've seen with the previous series before, there's a special Chase model included in a limited number of cases.But retailers are well aware of this special treat, and some have had the audacity to remove the Chase cars from said cases and sell them for a significant profit. Of course, that's not going to happen with every single store, but you should be aware of this information before making an online purchase.The Chase car for the AutoStrasse series is the 1973 Volvo 142 GL. You'll recognize it by the fact that it's all black and is numbered 0 out of 5 items on the lower right side of the card.Meanwhile, the base car features a shade of Teal called Medium Blue Metallic. And we're happy to note that this is a brand-new casting for Hot Wheels , and Mark Jones is the man who designed it. There seems to be an influx of Volvo cars being licensed by Mattel in recent years, and most of them are older models that have a solid fan base around the world.The second-oldest vehicle in the new series is the 1972 Mercedes-Benz 280 SEL 4.5. This is the third iteration of the German casting, as the first one was introduced in 2020.A second version came in 2021, so you could say this is a rare model when it comes to Hot Wheels diecast cars. We can only wonder if Mattel will decide to issue a mainline version of it in the near future or not. For most people, the highlight of this series is probably going to be the BMW M3 E46 It has always been in high demand with collectors, and the previous two iterations sold like hotcakes, to say the least. It's still a shame that the new variant comes in Imola Red, as we've seen a shade of red before for the Team Transport set of 2021.One can only hope Mattel will consider a Phoenix Yellow or Velvet Blue variant in the near future. Moving on, there's a car that might not be as popular with the new kids on the block: the Alpine A110. This machine carries on the legacy of the A110 nameplate, and the French manufacturer is spending a considerable amount of money on its F1 racing program.The new A110 might not have a lot of power, but it relies on a lightweight chassis to be fast around the corners. Similar to an Alfa Romeo 4C or a Lotus Exige, this car is all about agility instead of pure grunt.Last but not least, you're looking at the Lamborghini Urus, which features a bright shade of orange called Arancio Borealis. While the wheels on it are quite spectacular, this SSUV's stance is almost unbearable to look at. We're not sure what it is about that puts us off, but Lamborghini fans might like it anyway.Right now, a sealed case of 10 cars will set you back $75.49 , but with any luck, you might find a Chase model inside too. We can't wait to show you the next Car Culture set, which will be an all-Japanese affair!
kW

A study building on the production version of the compact hot hatch, which will arrive at dealers nationwide next year, the Toyota GR Corolla Rally Concept is all about customization, with a hint of the GR Yaris Rally1 WRC racer.Finished in a custom paint inspired by Toyota Gazoo Racing, it boasts new bodywork, with 3-inch (76-mm) fender flares, carbon composite side skirts, big openings in the front and rear fenders, carbon composite front splitter, and big custom wing made of carbon fiber at the rear. It rides on 8x17-inch OZ Racing wheels, wrapped in 215/60 Continental VikingContact 7 tires.TEIN Gravel Rally coilovers, which are fully adjustable, further contribute to its racy feel, and the brakes are new too, featuring ventilated and slotted rotors with four-piston calipers. Power is supplied by the 1.6-liter three-pot, making 300 hp (304 ps / 224) and 273 lb-ft (370 Nm) of torque, hooked up to a six-speed manual transmission, and all-wheel drive. Toyota says that they have given it a custom exhaust system, and high-flow air filter too.The all-new GR Corolla checks all the driving excitement boxes  300 horsepower, turbocharged performance, standard six-speed manual, all-wheel-drive handling, and hot hatch functionality, said Toyotas Marketing VP, Lisa Materazzo. The GR Corolla Rally Concept shows what happens when we apply a healthy dose of Toyota Gazoo Racing DNA, and expand the GR Corollas rallying roots.Mounted inside, behind the driver and navigator, are the custom oil and transmission coolers, which get their air from the custom-designed rear quarter windows with vents. Racing seats and harnesses, custom roll cage, fire-suppression system, intercom, and all the bells and whistles required from a rally car are included, too.
SUV

"We deflated the tyres of 184 SUVs by administering lentils into the valve caps. SUVs are the second leading cause of the global rise in carbon dioxide emissions over the past decade and are eighteen times more carbon intensive than a family saloon." pic.twitter.com/RBCp3apbjE  The Tyre Extinguishers (@T_Extinguishers) November 2, 2022

owners from five areas in West London found their vehicles with one or more tires deflated on Tuesday morning. Eco-activists that have branded themselves as Tire Extinguishers acted during the night in South Kensington, Maida Vale, St. Johns Wood, Queens Park, and Holland Park. They used mostly lentils to let the air out of the tires and informed the unlucky owners about what happened through a leaflet put under the windshield wipers.The Tire Extinguishers said they resorted to this action because driving around urban areas in massive vehicles has huge consequences for others. Eco-activists also claimed in the piece of paper left for the targeted car owners to read in the morning that SUVs and 4x4s are a disaster for our climate and pollute more than the entire aviation industry.Tire Extinguishers organized these acts by themselves with no schedule or long-term plan. The people involved in the West London action said that immobilizing SUVs is a small and necessary act of resistance in the face of environmental catastrophe.Acting mostly at night and in rich urban areas, the eco-activists demand people to stop using big and heavy vehicles in the city and surrounding areas because of their huge carbon footprint. To turn this goal into reality, they plan on continuing with the deflating activities for as long as it is needed.The people involved in this form of protest do not spare EV s or hybrids as they say these types of powertrains are also polluting, dangerous, and cause congestion.Up until now, there are no reports of any Tire Extinguishers member being caught by law enforcement, even though their actions fall under the definition of vandalism.According to the leaderless organization, there are currently eight groups of Tire Extinguishers active in the U.S. and three in Canada. However, their deflating activities are not taking place in North America as often as in Europe. The movement confirmed recently on its Twitter page that the target of 10,000 SUV tires deflated worldwide has been reached. It celebrated this milestone even though it attracted backlash from other social media users.
And in the last few months, the Japanese giant has been striving to reduce the disruptions of the semiconductor shortage and the lockdowns happening in China, in some cases halting the production at nearly half of its domestic facilities Despite all these efforts, Toyota has been hit very hard by the current market conditions, and the latest financial report from the company shows just how worse the whole thing has got lately.Toyotas quarterly operating system profit went down no more, no less than 25 percent from 2021, with company executives emphasizing that the business environment is changing dramatically. Of course, Toyotas representatives have also blamed the chip shortage and the rising costs of materials, explaining that its impossible to even look six months ahead right now.Toyotas operating system for the July to September quarter dropped from 749 billion (thats over $5 billion) in 2021 to 562 billion ($3.8 billion) this year.Needless to say, the Japanese carmaker has also lowered the production target for this year. The company originally planned to build a total of 9.7 million vehicles in the fiscal year, but after the temporary suspensions of domestic facilities, it eventually decided to lower the number to 9.2 million vehicles.Toyota explains in the earnings report (also attached below) that the operating income fell in the majority of developed regions, including North America and Europe. On the other hand, a moderate increase was recorded in Japan and other Asian markets, mostly as a result of the effects of foreign exchange rates.In Europe, however, the operating income collapsed after Toyota terminated its production in Russia, all despite massive investments in marketing, the company explains. North American operations have been hit hard, particularly because of the rising costs of materials and an increase in expenses.
Sport Utility Vehicle

SUV

This years Texas Truck Rodeo brought together dozens of Texan journalists on the off-road course of Eagles Canyon Raceway in Decatur, Texas. They aimed to evaluate the latest trucks and SUVs and award coveted prizes. Vehicles were analyzed on the interior, exterior, value, performance, and personal appeal to establish the best of the best in each category.After winning the Truck of Texas Award in 2021 with the Tundra, Toyota scored another victory this year with the Sequoia as theof Texas. We suspect that the Sequoia, assembled at Toyota Motor Manufacturing , Texas (TMMTX) in San Antonio, had some privileges in this evaluation. But that doesnt mean the three-rowis without merits.Toyota has done a gorgeous job of remaking a classic from the ground up, and TAWAs membership took note and chose the Sequoia as the 2023 SUV of Texas, said Teia Collier, president of TAWA. We were impressed with the Sequoias capability, powerful new engine, and solid good looks, which made it stand out in a class of noteworthy vehicles.The third generation of the SUV (XK80) entered production just a month ago, being new from the ground up. The standard i-FORCE MAX hybrid powertrain provides 437 horsepower, 583 lb-ft (790 Nm) of torque, and a maximum towing capacity of up to 9,520 lbs. The three-row SUV offers families enough space to carry passengers and all their gear, while the five trims available to order provide unique characteristics for everyone.The Tow Tech Package offers a suite of features to help maneuver a trailer. This includes Trailer Backup Guide to aid in backing up the SUV with a trailer, and Straight Path Assist, which helps provide steering control to keep the trailer straight on its intended path when backing up.
Building on the Tundra , the new Toyota Trailhunter Concept previews a new grade for trucks and SUVs, which will be purpose-built, and will appeal to outdoor enthusiasts who long for off-the-grid expeditions.According to Toyotas Marketing Vice President, Lisa Materazzo, the Trailhunter trucks will come straight from the factory equipped to meet the needs of overlanding enthusiasts. The vehicles will be developed in-house by our engineering teams, and they promise to be the most capable OEM overlanding solutions, designed to meet Toyotas legendary quality, durability, and reliability standards.The rigs could look like the Trailhunter Concept showcased at SEMA right off the dealer lot, which features skid plates to keep the underbody safe on arduous terrains, specific suspension setup, different bumpers, roof rack, rooftop tent, and additional lighting. A refrigerator is said to be part of the extra features offered, and the extra storage will allow users to carry some critical gear, including the base camp necessities.Curious how many of these gizmos will carry over to the production trucks and SUVs? So are we, yet unfortunately, Toyota hasnt said anything about it yet. In the most positive scenario, however, you should expect all of them, and only some, like the new bumpers, retuned suspension, roof rack, and maybe additional lights making their way to the production vehicles, realistically speaking.Nonetheless, this is pure assumption, and we will have to wait for Toyota to drop more details on it to find out, which will happen next year. And since the Trailhunter will serve as a flagship offering, it is likely that these models will sit above the TRD and TRD Pro.
Part of a series featuring Toyota's research in non-automotive fields, this article is all about getting a good sleep, featuring the automaker's newly developed TOTONE nap seat.#ToyotaTimes #MobilityCompanyhttps://t.co/JWtl0jLdbU pic.twitter.com/wRSaee4SBG  Toyota Motor Corp. (@ToyotaMotorCorp) November 2, 2022

This is what Totoya is doing these days with its research into how to boost performance with short nap sessions. The Japanese car manufacturer has developed a nap seat prototype called TOTONE that could allow individuals to enhance their productivity with short rests of just 15 to 30 minutes.The nap seat prototype shows Toyotas spirit of innovation and is now being tested in the Recharge Room of Woven Planets Nihonbashi offices and nine other companies.It is designed to address a challenge the Japanese society seems to be facing, that of mental fatigue and tired employees after long work hours. Toyota says its nap seat will improve the quality of those short naps by considering a wide array of factors, like posture, temperature, noise, lighting, and more.The seat features an ergonomic design with a tunnel-like enclosure situated 30-35 cm (11.8 - 13.8 inches) from the eyes. A screen attached to the nap seat will allow you to select the duration of the nap and adjust other parameters to your preferences. When youre all set, TOTONE will help you fall asleep by gently rocking you.I think the challenge for Japanese society is not just reforming the way we work, but also improving how we rest our brains. We want to boost the well-being of workers by making their days both physically and mentally fulfilling, Mikio Inoue, ADPT AD-1 Project Leader, is cited as saying by Toyota Times Some may argue that a sleeping chair has nothing to do with the automotive industry, but seeing how self-driving vehicles could take over the roads in the future, TOTONE might as well indicate what technologies will be employed in cars and how vehicles could affect our daily lives in the coming years.More than that, TOTONE incorporates technologies that were perfected through car-making . For instance, the nap chair is controlled by technology used in car seats with massage features. The team behind the concept also borrowed technologies that enhance sitting comfort and seat temperature from the automotive industry.When autonomous driving becomes part of society in the future, people may as well have a short sleep while driving in certain vehicles. Inspired by that imagination, we set ourselves a goal of building the ultimate sleeper car and, working backward from there, began by developing a non-mobility product, the TOTONE, Inoue explained.Developed as part of Toyotas internal competition called the No. 1 Aho (fool) Contest, or A-1, this nap seat prototype is the result of a joint effort between Toyotas Advanced Design Development team and Toyota Boshoku, a Toyota Group seat manufacturer. Considering the positive feedback they received from the companies testing TOTONE, Toyota says we could expect a public release as early as next year.
South Africa: Do right by women and children, urges Zulu

Social Development Minister, Lindiwe Zulu, has challenged South Africa citizens to hold unresponsive officials accountable when dealing with the scourge of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF).

We are here because we need to hold each other accountable. We need to pull our energies together and make sure that we do the right thing by the women of South Africa in ending GBVF, Zulu said.

To solve the problem, Zulu said principals need to go house to house, street to street and community to community to get to the root causes of GBVF.

If we were to ask every woman and man in this room [about] the pain they feel on a daily basis - when they wake up in the morning or walk down the streets - all of us walk in pain. We are not perfect, but we wake up in the morning, we show up and do the best that we can, Zulu said.

Zulu made the remarks on a second day of the Presidential Summit on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide held in Midrand on Wednesday.

GBV command centre

Highlighting some progress registered by the department in the implementation of the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (NSP on GBV), Zulu said through the services of the Gender-Based Violence Command Centre, the department continues to be accessible to victims of gender-based violence across the country.

She said throughout the COVID-19 lockdown period, the centre reached 184 462 clients, compared to the 2019/20 financial year, where 61 573 clients were reached.

The Gender-Based Violence Command Centre continues to provide gender-based violence victims with holistic services, such as psychosocial counselling, on a 24/7 basis. Between April 2021 and March 2022, 70 353 people accessed these services, Zulu said.

The department has also deployed a total of 100 GBVF ambassadors in hotspots to conduct education and awareness campaigns. These include the employment of 250 social workers focusing on GBVF.

Policy to improve payment of NPOs

Regarding funding for non-profit organisations, the Minister said through the inter-governmental MinMEC processes, the department has developed and approved the Sector Funding Policy, which puts in place mechanisms to facilitate planning, prioritisation, programme targeting and budgeting.

In addition, the department is currently developing the NPO Online Funding System, which complements the funding policy and addresses the delays in the processing of transfers to NPOs.

The online funding system will automate our NPO-funding application processes. When fully implemented, the system will initially complement the manual application process. However, over time, it will become the preferred mode of applying for funds by NPOs, the Minister said.

She said a total of 963 NPOs are registered as rendering victim empowerment services and are supported by 1 238 NPOs that are registered as providing family services.

Zulu said all the registered NPOs are accountable in terms of the NPO Act, and 60% of them are not compliant with the NPO Act, as they do not submit their annual reports, due to non-filing.

Meanwhile, 30 properties were identified across the country as suitable for GBV shelters, with the majority of them implemented by civil society organisations funded by the department.

A total of 146 organisations, including the National Institute Community Development and Management, Lifeline SA and the National Shelter Movement, are funded by the department at a cost of approximately R191 million.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-11-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
China's top political advisor meets with Vietnam's communist party chief

Xinhua) 09:37, November 02, 2022

Wang Yang, chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, meets with Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee, at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 1, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

BEIJING, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- China's top political advisor Wang Yang on Tuesday met with Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee.

Wang, chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, noted that China received Trong's official visit to China right after the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). He said this shows that China attaches great importance to the special relationship of "comrades and brothers" between China and Vietnam and cherishes the traditional friendship between the two peoples.

Wang Yang, chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, meets with Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee, at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 1, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

Wang said the CPPCC is studying and implementing the spirit of the 20th CPC National Congress and is willing to work with the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) to implement the consensus reached by the top leaders of the two parties, inherit and carry forward the traditional friendship between China and Vietnam, deepen friendly exchanges at all levels, carry out work experience exchanges in the fields of political participation and discussion, and make positive contributions to building the two countries into a community with a shared future that bears strategic significance.

Trong congratulated the 20th CPC National Congress on a series of major theoretical and practical achievements, and said the VFF is willing to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with the CPPCC to unite forces from all sectors of society as well as resources from home and abroad, and promote the further development of Vietnam-China relations.

(Web editor: Cai Hairuo, Liang Jun)
He specifically backed the Russian idea of indefinitely delaying an agreement on Nagorno-Karabakhs status and called for a long-term presence of Russian peacekeeping troops in the Armenian-populated territory.

Pashinian said that he tried to include a reference to this Russian concept in a joint statement issued by him and Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Vladimir Putin of Russia at their talks held in Sochi on Monday.

But at the urging of our Russian partners, we tried to be more flexible in order not to make the situation deadlocked, he told Armenian lawmakers.

Pashinian also insisted that although his joint statement with Aliyev and Putin did not even contain the word Karabakh the Sochi summit was very useful and important.

A senior Russian diplomat said on Tuesday that the thorny issue of Karabakhs status should be left to the next generations because the conflicting sides are unlikely to strike a mutually acceptable deal on it in the foreseeable future.

To what extent does the Armenian governments policy correspond to this vision? said Pashinian. I must say that it corresponds fully, by 100 percent.

Putin claimed last week that the United States is pushing for a different peace deal which would commit Armenia to recognizing Karabakh as an integral part of Azerbaijan. His claims stoked Armenian opposition allegations that Pashinian agreed to Azerbaijani control over the disputed territory during recent Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks mediated by the U.S. and the European Union.

Pashinian again dismissed those allegations, saying that the Sochi meeting proved his domestic detractors wrong. He also said that he proposed at Sochi that Baku and Yerevan extend the five-year mandate of the Russian peacekeepers deployed to Karabakh following the 2020 war. He indicated that the proposal was rejected by Aliyev.

At a separate meeting with Putin held in the Russian Black Sea city, Aliyev reiterated that Azerbaijans victory in the war put an end to the Karabakh conflict.

The joint statement issued as a result of the latest Armenian-Azerbaijani summit noted the peacekeeping contingents key contribution to ensuring security in the zone of its deployment and praised its efforts to stabilize the situation in the region.

Davit Babayan, the Karabakh foreign minister, said that continued Russian military presence is vital for the security of Karabakhs ethnic Armenian population.

Without the Russian peacekeepers there would be no Artsakh, Babayan told RFE/RLs Armenian Service.
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Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, president of the United Malays National Organization party (left), talks with party Vice President Ismail Sabri Yaakob during an event at the Putra World Trade Center in Kuala Lumpur where the party announced its slate of candidates for the upcoming general election, Nov.1, 2022.

Malaysias ruling UMNO dropped several of the prime ministers supporters from its list of election candidates, with analysts saying the move indicates that corruption-tainted party chief Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is taking full control ahead of this months national polls.

A corruption trial has prevented Zahid from being named as prime minister or its choice for PM in the Nov. 19 general election, but the list shows him axing some lawmakers who support current Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob amid divisions in the United Malays National Organization, according to analysts.

Zahid is showing off his power, Lau Zhe Wei, a political science professor from International Islamic University Malaysia, told BenarNews.

Although he is not in the cabinet and the only party president who is not a prime minister, that does not matter because when it comes to the elections, ultimately it will be his signature that will seal the deal.

Late on Tuesday, Zahid announced that 160 candidates from the UMNO-led Barisan Nasional coalition would contest the election from peninsular Malaysia. The candidates for Sabah, a Malaysian state in Borneo, are expected to be announced in due course.

The list for peninsular Malaysia included 103 candidates from UMNO, 43 from the Malaysian Chinese Association, 10 from the Malaysian Indian Congress and four from other Barisan-friendly parties. Veteran parliamentarians and Ismail Sabri loyalists, such as Annuar Musa and Shahidan Kasim, were not on the list.

Zahid said in his speech announcing the candidates that one of the criteria in choosing a candidate was loyalty.

There were a few principles that we prioritized in selecting the candidates. Barisan Nasional prioritized loyalty  those who will hold the trust given by the people and will not violate it, he said.

[Those who] will serve the people and forge good ties with all segments of the community to better serve the community for the betterment of the people. They represent values such as loyalty and service to voters.

The reference to loyalty showed that Zahid was taking revenge against those who supported Ismail Sabri over him, analyst Lau said, but at the same time the UMNO president was also being somewhat pragmatic, keeping in mind that he needed candidates who could win.

Zahid is clearly cutting off those who did not support him but yet he did not dare to cut everyone off, so those who are not that extreme they will still be there but those who are extreme  are cut off, Lau said.

Winning seats is still important to Zahid. The reason being that he at one time openly said his court case depends on who wins. So, I do not think he will sacrifice seats just for the sake of sacrificing them.

Zahid is currently standing trial in a case in which he faces 47 criminal charges related to the alleged misappropriation of 52.25 million ringgit (U.S. $11.42 million) from his family-owned foundation that was set up to help poor people.

Critics have alleged that Zahid wanted to call elections early  unlike Ismail Sabri  because he wanted UMNO back in power swiftly so the government could influence his case. The trial has been postponed until January, pending a defense appeal on a ruling about witness testimony.

If Barisan is able to win big with a two third majority, or 150 seats and above, do not be surprised if Ahmad Zahid becomes PM. But if they win with a slim majority, he may not, Lau said.

Sabotage and retaliate

Some analysts believe, however, that Zahids machinations with the candidates list could cost UMNO votes.

Thats because those have been dropped are big and influential figures, said Jeniri Amir, a senior fellow at the Malaysian Council of Professors.

According to another academic, the axed leaders could try to sabotage their replacements candidacy, or contest as independent candidates, or under other parties tickets.

When these dropped candidates opt to sabotage and retaliate against the party, UMNO may and will lose votes from their own supporters, said Mohd. Azizuddin Mohd Sani, a politics professor at Universiti Utara Malaysia.

Federal Territories Minister Shahidan, who was among the officials cut from the list, has already said he would be defending his parliamentary seat in Perlis, which he has won four times in the past.

He has also urged Zahid to resign from his post as UMNO president so Ismail Sabri can take over.

He said: Barisan Nasional can recover if Zahid stops and does not contest in the general election.

But on Wednesday, the UMNO president defended his candidate selection in a social media post.

He said the decision to field many new faces for the upcoming polls was because about 50 percent of the countrys electorate in the upcoming election comprised voters below the age of 39.

Those who have been elected representatives for a long time should give a chance to the younger generation [to contest], Zahid said on Facebook.



When the time has come for them [the older generation] to not be picked [to contest], they should accept the decision with a big heart.
Mary Anne Domingo, whose husband and son were killed during former Philippine President Rodrigo Dutertes war on drugs, grills meat to sell to visitors on All Saints Day at the La Loma cemetery in Manila, Nov. 1, 2022.

Mary Anne Domingo, whose husband and son were killed in the Philippine drug war, said she intended to make a statement as she sold skewers of grilled food to people honoring saints or dead loved ones at a cemetery here.

Domingo and others who manned a coffee and food tent near a police outpost at the La Loma cemetery sought to remind officers and the general public that they are living victims of the drug war waged by former President Rodrigo Duterte.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, thousands of Filipinos visited cemeteries in Manila and across the mostly Catholic nation to mark All Saints Day and All Souls Day, respectively.

By being here, I would like them to know that we are humans, too. We have dreams just like them. We are still here fighting, and we are here trying to survive, Domingo told BenarNews.

Domingo said she had been dreaming for years of selling merchandise at the cemetery, but lacked the capital.

This year, with help from the Diocese of Caloocan and the Silingan Coffee Shop, a cafe devoted to drug war victims, Domingo set up a grill in a tent close to the police.

The coffee shop, located in Quezon City, employs families of drug war victims. The shop is a place where customers hear stories from those left behind.

Domingo said she had imagined having police for customers so she could share the feelings of injustice that she and others have suffered. Because of the influx of people, she had little time to speak to customers, who, perhaps, might have included the audience of her dreams.

Grace Garganta, whose brother and father were killed in the Philippine drug war, shows a family photo as she takes a break while working as a barista at the Silingan Coffee Shop stand at the La Loma cemetery, Nov. 1, 2022. [Aie Balagtas See/BenarNews]

A few meters away, Emily Soriano could only watch from her stall where she sold candles and flowers.

Soriano said she wished she could join mourners to pay respect to her loved one, but money was scarce. Faced with feeding five children, she also must work to earn enough to renew the annual lease on a cemetery niche housing the body of her son, Angelito.

In the Philippines, leases on graves and above-ground niches are renewed annually after the original five-year lease expires. Those who fail to pay can see the remains of their loved ones removed from the cemetery .

I visited him last week and apologized because I couldnt be with him on this day, Soriano told BenarNews as she choked back tears.

Angelito, 15, was killed on Dec. 28, 2016, in what was known as the Caloocan massacre. He would have been 21 this year had he not been attacked for allegedly going to a drug den. Six others were killed alongside him, most of them teenagers like Angelito.

All were gunned down in the Duterte administrations war on drugs that killed about 8,000 alleged addicts and pushers, according to government statistics.

The Silingan Coffee Shop in the Cubao district in Quezon City, Metro Manila, features written tributes to those killed in former President Rodrigo Dutertes war on drugs, Feb. 26, 2022. [Jojo Rinoza/BenarNews]

Just days before the vote to elect his successor earlier this year, Duterte said he might have underestimated the extent of the nations drug problem when he promised to end the scourge soon after taking office in 2016.

I said I can clean it in six months. Then after that, I realized that I had made a mistake. Maybe its hubris, Duterte said in April 2022.

Human rights advocacy groups have cast doubt on the accuracy of the governments statistics, and say that as many as 20,000 to 30,000 could have been killed, when accounting for attacks committed by vigilantes.

Prosecutors from the International Criminal Court have been petitioning to carry out an investigation here, but Dutertes successor, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., has denied them access.
A new report by lawmakers from Southeast Asia and other regions criticizes what they describe as a timid response to the post-coup crisis in Myanmar by countries and international blocs that claim to support democracy.

The Final Report by the International Parliamentary Inquiry (IPI) into the Global Response to the Crisis in Myanmar, which was released in Bangkok on Wednesday, specifically took aim at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ahead of the regional blocs summit later this month.

The struggle of the Myanmar people for democracy is also the struggle of all people who love democracy and justice everywhere, the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) said in the report.

ASEANs five-point consensus reached with Myanmar junta leader Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing in April 2021 has been an utter failure, Charles Santiago, a Malaysian lawmaker and chairman of the APHR, said in a news release announcing the 52-page report.

Myanmar is one of the 10 members of ASEAN.

Gen. Min Aung Hlaing has shown an absolute contempt for the agreement he signed and for ASEANs member states, and the regional group has been unable to adopt a stance to put pressure on the junta, Santiago said.

Meanwhile, most of the international community has hidden behind ASEAN in order to avoid doing anything meaningful. It is past time that ASEAN ditches the five-point consensus and urgently rethinks its approach to the crisis in Myanmar, he said.

The consensus called for an immediate end to violence; a dialogue among all concerned parties; mediation of the dialogue process by an ASEAN special envoy; provision of humanitarian aid through ASEAN channels; and a visit to Myanmar by the blocs special envoy to meet all concerned parties.

A common theme often repeated by our witnesses has been that, in the face of such a horrible tragedy, the countries and international institutions that claim to support democracy in Myanmar have reacted with a timidity that puts in serious doubt their alleged commitment to the country, the report said.

In its recommendations, the report called for ASEAN to negotiate a new agreement with Myanmars opposition National Unity Government (NUG), making sure the new accord has enforcement mechanisms.

As recently as last week, ASEAN leaders announced they would continue efforts to implement the 18-month-old consensus.

The ministers reaffirmed the importance and relevance of the consensus, and underscored the need to further strengthen its implementation through concrete, practical and time-bound actions, Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn said in a statement after the Oct. 27 meeting. Cambodia, which chairs ASEAN this year, will host the summit in Phnom Penh from Nov. 10 to 13.

While some ASEAN members, including Malaysia, have sought to hold the Burmese junta accountable, members such as Cambodia and Thailand are among the nations who have persisted as junta enablers, the report said.

And because ASEAN makes its decisions consensually, some analysts dont foresee much progress being made at the summit in Phnom Penh.

Against Myanmar participation

Meanwhile, Malaysias outgoing top diplomat has put forward a proposal to prohibit the Myanmar junta from all ASEAN ministerial-level meetings.

All ASEAN ministerial meetings should not have Myanmar political representation. That is Malaysias position, caretaker Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah told The Australian Financial Review on Wednesday.

We know two more countries share this view, and we are very hopeful it will be considered at the leaders summit next week.

Saifuddin is a caretaker minister because Malaysian leader Ismail Sabri Yaakob dissolved parliament when he announced a general election, which will be held later this month. The first ASEAN foreign minister to publicly meet with the NUGs foreign minister, Saifuddin is seen as one of the shadow governments biggest allies.

IPI said that throughout its hearings while compiling the report participants, even those that also expressed a level of criticism toward the NUG, overwhelmingly called for the international community to recognize it as the legitimate government of Myanmar and engage with it instead of the junta.

The IPI held six public hearings along with several private hearings and received dozens of written submissions. Malaysias Santiago and Indonesian House member Chriesty Barends traveled to the Thai-Myanmar border in August to gather information.

The IPI investigation team included officials from African countries, the Americas and Europe. Heidi Hautala, vice president of the European Parliament, served as chairwoman, and United States Rep. Ilhan Omar served as a member. Thai MP Nitipon Piwmow served on the team as well.

The report blamed the international community for encouraging a sense of impunity within the Myanmar military, the news release said. It pointed to an October airstrike at a Kachin music festival that killed at least 60 civilians.

Myanmar is suffering a tragedy words cannot describe. The global community should urgently step up the delivery of humanitarian assistance and it should work with local civil society organizations that know the terrain well, have ample experience and are trusted by the population, Barends said.

Millions of Myanmar citizens suffering the most grievous hardships cannot wait for long. International actors should leave politics aside and help the Myanmar people immediately.
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Authorities in New York say a man has been arrested with the gun that was used in a shooting last month outside the Long Island home of Rep. Lee Zeldin
New Twitter owner Elon Musk, shown in Germany last March, fired the company's board of directors and made himself the board's sole member, according to a company filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Community News Editor / Librarian

Jeannie Maschino is community news editor and librarian for The Berkshire Eagle. She has worked for the newspaper in various capacities since 1982 and joined the newsroom in 1989.
An "unusual increase" in cases of a respiratory virus is ramping up pressure on the already-strained health care sector in Massachusetts, and Bay Staters should take steps including possible indoor masking to protect themselves, medical experts said Wednesday.
GREAT BARRINGTON  One potential developer of the former Housatonic School has envisioned apartments on the upper floors, with commercial and retail space below.

The historic building sits at the heart of the village.

Jeff Glickman and Elliott Firewoker of Arete Ventures Inc. and Maybenexttime Inc. are proposing 14 apartments, four of which would meet the governments lower income housing standards.

The market rate apartments will be affordable for working locals like educators, health care and public safety workers, the developers told the Select Board last week. Theyll also be new, with high-end fixtures.

Arete would seek a nonprofit tenant to inhabit the commercial space and retail that is community-oriented  like a laundromat and cafe, gym or coffee shop.

Arete is one of two developers courting the board for a shot at gutting and reshaping the deteriorating building, long costing the town in money and aggravation after it was mothballed a decade ago.

After a third request for proposals, the board received four in July and narrowed it to housing projects, since the towns need for this is urgent.

Another developer, WDM Properties, LLC, will present to the board Monday.

Glickman and Firewoker said they hope to create an energy at the village center with festivals and other activity to bring about a mini transformation like that seen at Bryant Park in New York City.

With the right programming, we really would love to see this become a nucleus that can roll over and flow over to other impacts in the border neighborhood, Firewoker said.

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Money is a sticking point that doomed previous attempts to deal with a building that needs almost $400,000 in environmental cleanup.

Theyll have to devote another nearly $400,000 at window replacements, according to Aretes calculations.

A state-of-the-art water filtration system in an area with a failing water system? That will run them $225,000.

The estimated total cost of the project is $5.7 million.

Arete is asking for $2.7 million from the town to make it work  $600,000 of it to bring four apartments down to affordable rents.

Board Vice Chair Leigh Davis thought the price was steep. That seems quite a lot, she said.

Davis wanted to know if Arete would apply for state or federal tax credits to ensure rents at levels people with low incomes can afford.

Glickman said Arete isnt opposed to that, but it will slow down the redevelopment of a building town officials have for a decade tried to get on the tax rolls.

Our understanding was that this is a particular building in the center of town thats been sitting for a rather long period of time, Glickman said. And the sooner we can, you know, put the electrodes on it and bring energy, life and vitality to this area, the better it would get for the municipality and for the area.

He told Davis they wouldnt be seeking historic tax credits because the complexity and expense isnt worth it.

Pleasant Street resident Benjamin Elliot expressed worry that parking  15 spaces are planned  might overflow onto the street in an area thick with families using the playground park on the property.

Board Chair Stephen Bannon said the town would ensure there are safety measures, should this project get the green light.
Boxes of records from past administrations are lined up in a Statehouse corridor last week while aides to the governor perform some housecleaning in a first-floor storage room.
FREMONT COUNTY, ID - On Tuesday, November 1, 2022 at approximately 7:25 a.m., the Idaho State Police were called to a single vehicle fatality crash on US20 near milepost 354 in Fremont County, ID.

According to a press release from the ISP, a 28-year-old man from Rexburg, ID was traveling eastbound on US20 in a 2017 Hyundai Elantra when a bull moose jumped out into the road. Police say the driver broadside the moose before going off the right shoulder of the road, striking a power pole and rolling, coming to rest on its top.

The driver, who was wearing his seatbelt at the time of the crash, reportedly succumbed to his injuries at the scene of the crash.

US20 was blocked for approximately three hours.
The average household paying more for heat this winter, the White House urges Americans to wear facemasks, Covid causing a surge in alcoholism, a new survey ranks the unhappiest places in the country.

Plus, the true story of the pilgrims and the voyage of the Mayflower.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dr Renu Swarup, Former Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science & Technology, was recently appointed as a member of the International Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Solutions (ICARS) Board of Directors. Dr Renu Swarup, with almost three decades in the DBT, brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to support ICARS in its mission to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). She has played a key role in formulating Indias Biotechnology Vision and Strategy and is credited with setting up Indias largest Microbial Resource Centre. BioSpectrum spoke, at length, with Dr Renu Swarup about her new role as Vice Chair with ICARS and tackling AMR. Edited excerpts;

How is the International Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Solutions (ICARS) working towards addressing this silent pandemic called AMR?

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is rightly termed the silent pandemic. We have all faced the worst pandemic of centuries and the urgent need for investing in global public health has been well recognised. We have also witnessed the strength of collaborations and science based innovations in fighting this war against the virus. AMR is not a new post-pandemic threat, but has been on the rise for many years now and has drawn global attention to develop action plans and strategies to tackle this major global threat and mitigate the risks associated with it.

AMR is, today, one of the greatest threats to the health of societies and economies the world over and the World Health Organisation (WHO) has listed it in the top 10 threats to Global Health. Having faced the severe impact of COVID-19, it is not difficult to recognise the special attention that is needed to avert another threat, a silent pandemic whose threat is looming large if appropriate action is not taken on priority.

Taking cognisance of this, and considering the need to address the health priority through concerted global collaborative efforts, a dialogue between the World Bank, the WHO and the Danish Health Ministry led to the setting up of the International Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Solutions (ICARS), Copenhagen, Denmark. ICARS is a unique organisation, set up by the Danish Health Ministry and supported by World Bank and WHO focussing on co-developing solutions to mitigate AMR in Low and Medium Income Countries (LMICs).

Working with LMICs, the effort of ICARS is to identify country-specific issues, work with the local government, develop the required need-based solutions through interventions and implementation research. ICARS provides a funded partnership, collaborating with the country to co-develop evidence-based, context specific, cost-effective and sustainable solutions to combat AMR, advancing each countrys National Action Plan (NAP).







Country wise, how is AMR spreading? Where is India placed in this scenario?

The recent reports by the WHO and the Lancet Review 2022 bring out the Global burden of AMR. We have some alarming data. The Lancet Review in 2019 studied the deaths and DALYs attributable to, and associated with, bacterial AMR for 23 pathogens and 88 pathogen drug combinations covering 204 countries. An estimated 4.95 million deaths were associated with bacterial AMR and 1.27 million deaths were directly attributed to bacterial AMR. 6 bacterial pathogens are directly responsible for nearly 70 per cent of the deaths.

To address this growing global health priority The World Health Assembly, in 2015, had endorsed a Global Action Plan for AMR and individual countries were called upon to develop and implement their own National Action Plan. The UN General Assembly on October 5, 2016, adopted the Resolution of the Political declaration of the high level meeting on AMR held on September 21, 2016, wherein it was reaffirmed that the blueprint for tackling AMR is the Global Action Plan of the WHO. In its General Assembly in May 2019, the UN, while reviewing the follow up of Political declaration, stated that Antimicrobial resistance is a global threat to health, livelihoods and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

India developed a comprehensive National Action Plan (NAP) 2017-21, which has six strategic priorities and there is a well developed governance framework to ensure effective implementation. The key aspects of the NAP focus on surveillance, awareness, reducing the incidence of infection, optimising use of antibiotics, promoting research and development and building Indias leadership. For effective implementation, state governments are being encouraged to draw up their own respective action plans depending upon state-specific issues. Today three states have developed their action plans. Many of the national missions launched directly or indirectly, are connected with the AMR initiatives and contribute to implementation of identified priorities under the NAP these are the Swachh Bharat Mission, National Health Missions - Digital Health and Ayushman Bharat, the national targets on TB eradication by 2025 and other such missions. From surveillance to new diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines there have been major breakthroughs and achievements in the progress made. However we need to do much more with a greater sense of urgency and we can today take advantage of the learnings from COVID-19.







What is required to tackle AMR in the coming years, particularly in India?

As given in our National Action Plan and the road map and strategy for its implementation, there is anurgent need to focus on effective implementation to ensure full compliance to each of the strategic priority action points. While surveillance has to be our first action point, it is imperative that a concerted effort is made to support R&D efforts to develop a strong product portfolio for new diagnostics, antibiotics and vaccines. There are special efforts made in this direction to fuel the innovation pipeline. While the COVID-19 pandemic took up all our attention, the learnings and experience gathered have given us a great deal of confidence that innovative products will be available and make a significant impact in the AMR space.

The Government of India has given special impetus to AMR and the Department of Biotechnology and Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) launched a special AMR Mission in 2018 wherein the main focus was finding novel solutions to address the challenges faced. In the area of new and effective diagnostics, the focus has been on Point of Care diagnostics and molecular tests for early diagnosis of some priority pathogens. We have had some very encouraging results and a number of new diagnostics have successfully been launched after completing the clinical validation. A very successful partnership with the Longitude Prize being steered by Nesta (formerly NESTA, National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts), the UK, resulted in more than a dozen innovator teams getting engaged to develop a highly specific and sensitive diagnostic also identifying the specific pathogen. We have today innovators who have successfully completed the Phase I and received Booster grant. Partnerships with Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X) and Wellcome Trust have also given a number of innovators a wonderful platform to develop innovative diagnostics.

Government of India, with the WHO Country office, has prepared a country specific Priority Pathogen list. A special AMR Repository has been established at the DBT autonomous institute National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS), at Pune, which has the largest collection of AMR strains from different hospital and state networks.

Focused investment in high risk research for new antibiotic development has also been made specially to some very active industry and startup groups and academic researchers to take forward the research to product development. Early research supported for new antibiotic development to a startup in collaboration with academia has been very successful and has now moved into clinical trials and has attracted a large quantum of global funding. A strong pipeline of vaccines are also under development with nearly 8 different vaccines targeting the critical priority pathogens of AMR. The 15 valent Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is now in Phase 3 trials.

A major partnership between the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and BIRAC for the Grand Challenges focussed on a global AMR challenge, l has given some very encouraging results on surveillance solutions, infection prevention and control and removal of antibiotics from effluents.

Does AMR need more innovative solutions than what is already available? Can startups contribute more in this regard?

There is a major global effort on drugs for AMR by a number of groups across the world. There is a strong global antibacterials pipeline at preclinical stage which has a vast portfolio of directly targetting small molecules, antibodies and vaccines, phages and microbiota and also includes a number of other repurposed drugs, immunomodulators and anti virulence approaches. The effort in this direction has to be accelerated. The collaborations and urgent time bound action we saw in response to the COVID-19 crisis is what is needed to address the AMR issues. Data sharing, coordinated research efforts, global sharing of resources and access to shared infrastructure are some of the urgent needs. In response to COVID-19 there have been some interesting developments of novel technologies and platforms, these can now be leveraged for new vaccine and drug development for AMR. The global clinical trials, and the accelerated regulatory processes which we built for COVID-19 will also be very helpful to take forward AMR research.

We have seen a huge response from our robust and vibrant startup ecosystem during COVID-19 from diagnostics, to vaccines to sanitisers, masks, PPEs they delivered a large number of innovative solutions. India achieved a record feat of becoming fully self-reliant in our COVID-19 diagnostic kits in less than 60 days, meeting the largest daily demand of testing. We also executed the largest vaccination programme, with over 2.5 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses delivered. Indigenously developed and manufactured vaccines across different novel platforms including the world's first DNA vaccine and thermostable mRNA vaccine. This large network of innovators and innovation ecosystem will now be an important asset that we should work with, to build our AMR network and urgently deliver innovative solutions for India and the world.







Dr Manbeena Chawla

(manbeena.chawla@mmactiv.com)
With an aim to create a more personalised customer experience

Bengaluru-based Indegene, a digital-first, life sciences commercialisation company, has announced that it is helping AstraZeneca, a global biopharmaceutical company scale up its omnichannel operations across the globe with an aim to create a more personalized customer experience.

Indegene will leverage its healthcare domain expertise and experience in operating digital centers of excellence to help streamline the clients global content supply chain and orchestrate personalized customer journeys in an agile, global engagement model. Its partnerships with marketing platform providers will support the clients omnichannel operations efficiently, and at scale.

Sanjay Parikh, Executive Director and EVP, Indegene, said, As patients and physicians progressively engage with life sciences companies through a wide variety of communication channels, omnichannel operations are vital to create personalised experiences at scale. We are excited at the opportunity to apply our healthcare domain expertise and technology accelerators to enable and empower life sciences companies on their omnichannel journey.
Industry Interaction with Karnataka Govt for Bengaluru Tech Summit 2022

Department of Electronics, IT, Bt and S&T, Govt of Karnataka along with Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) is organising an Industry Interaction with Dr C N Ashwath Narayan, Minister for IT, Bt, Science & Technology, Higher Education and Skill Development, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood on Tuesday, 18th October at Leela Palace, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi 7.00 PM onwards.

This programme is a run up to the Asias largest and longest running Tech event Bengaluru Tech Summit organised by the Govt of Karnataka from 16th to 18th November at iconic Bangalore Palace. BTS 2022 is a grand showcase of IT, Deep Tech, Electronics, Telecom and Life Technologies and its impact on diverse industries.

With delegations from 30 countries, 5000 registered industry delegates. including 2000 Startups, 350 domain experts from across the globe addressing over 70 sessions and over 600 exhibitors attracting 50000 visitors along with many networking programmes, awards functions, quiz competitions and workshops, hackathons and so on, this event is going to be the most fascinating Tech festival ever.

We are pleased to invite you for the Industry Meet scheduled on 18th October to interact, network and know more about the Tech Summit.

Date : Tuesday, 18th October, 2022

Venue: The Leela Palace, Diplomatic Enclave, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi-110 023

Time : 7.00 pm to 8.30 followed by networking dinner.

Register Now: https://bit.ly/bts2022crnd

For any queries contact: Santosh, santosh.jagtap@mmactiv.com, +91 9686656016
Smart Africa and MTN have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to advance digital skills in Africa in an effort to develop the capacity for Africans to utilise ICTs and be fully empowered participants of an ICT-driven economy and society.

Image supplied

The partnership establishes a digital skills ecosystem between the Smart Africa Digital Academy (Sada) and MTN Skills Academy to advance digital literacy, digital and financial skills training, and digital competencies.

It seeks to unlock socioeconomic development by leveraging the power of technology to empower youth and women and drive social inclusion for all, particularly differently-abled persons.

According to the World Economic Forum some 230 million jobs across the continent will require some level of digital skills by 2030. With a clear focus on equipping African citizens with relevant skills, the partnership covers the development of demand-based skills training and trends, career pathways, occupations, job roles, skills and competencies for Africas ICT sector.

Lacina Kone, the DG and CEO of Smart Africa commented:

We are committed to bridging digital skill gaps across Africa to ensure the inclusive digital development of the continent. We are confident that the MTN Skills Academy will support us in accelerating our mission and nurturing an ecosystem of ICT-specialised training that will increase digital proficiency across our member states. This is a testament to our bold and innovative multistakeholder approach.

Through our partnership with Smart Africa, we see the opportunity to accelerate our efforts to drive job creation, productivity, and competitiveness through digital skills and technological innovations. This will go a long way in turning our continent from being mostly consumers to producers of ICTs, said MTN Group chief sustainability and corporate affairs officer, Nompilo Morafo.
This Men's Health Month, Jacaranda FM has partnered with Panda, a tech-based platform that aims to give everyone access to resources that provide mental health support.

80% of South Africans who need mental health support are unable to access it easily according to Cassey Chambers of the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG). The statistics are even more alarming when it come to South African men. According to World Health Organisation, South Africa has the second highest rate of suicide in the world, just a fraction behind Russia.

Of the 13,774 suicides reported in South Africa in 2019, 10,861 were men, while 2,913 were women. These figures highlight South Africas urgent need for intervention and resources to support everyone, but especially men.

Jacaranda FM speaks to around 1,5 million listeners weekly, of those listeners, 50% are male. We wanted to develop a campaign that could create immediate impact for our male community and after much consideration, we asked Panda to partner with us, says Deirdre King, managing director of Jacaranda FM.

For men, the demonstration of emotion or seeking psychological or psychiatric help is considered unmanly. 'Boys dont cry' is a phrase taught from a young age, and those who do, are often teased or bullied.

#SafeSpace aims to break the stigma attached to asking for help or support by empowering men with the tools offered in the Panda app.

As part of the Jacaranda FM and Panda partnership, users are invited to book up to three free 30-minute text-based chat sessions with mental health professionals by using the promo code #SafeSpace.

We believe that Panda can overcome so many barriers to seeking mental wellness help, whether its the stigma attached, the often high costs associated, or the user journey of just not knowing where to start. Their tech and expertise, combined with our reach and engaging platforms, will get this app in as many hands as possible, and potentially help save a life, adds King.

Users of the Panda app have free access to the Bamboo Forest, which allows them to engage with a community of other app users who may be facing similar challenges. The app is built to eliminate any perceived shame as users remain anonymous with audio-only peer or expert-facilitated group discussions.

Men can also create communities within the Bamboo Forest, aligned with their individual interests or support needs, whether it be depression, financial stress, anxiety, or even guidance for families with loved ones facing mental health challenges.

Panda also offers scientifically validated assessment tools to enable users to objectively measure their mental wellbeing and a gamified tracking tool lets them document and monitor the progress they are making on their personal mental health journey.

A library of evidence-based content, based on key themes from dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) and positive psychology, is available to app users who can then participate in supporting activities designed to help them enhance their life skills.

Panda was conceived and developed as a viable way of responding to the growing mental health crisis at scale, not only through the digital delivery of support and information, but also by helping to destigmatise mental issues. Were very excited to have a media partner like Jacaranda FM see the potential of our app, but more importantly help us in our goal of democratising mental health care in South Africa, says Allan Sweidan, clinical psychologist and co-founder of Panda.

Join The Drive with Rob & Roz every weekday from 4pm to 7pm on Jacaranda FM as Rob Forbes and Rozanne McKenzie speaks to various male celebrities throughout November about the challenges they faced and how prioritising their mental health has helped them.

The Panda app is available on the Apple and Android app stores. Search for Join Panda to download the app, click here to register for free, or visit www.JacarandaFM.com for more information.




Premium restaurants, 36 in total, received their Plate Ratings at Makers Landing in the V&A Waterfront on 31 October.

Image supplied: Natalie Marais and Jenny Handley of the JHB Gourmet Guide

The 2023 JHP Gourmet Guide, for the first time a digital edition, was launched at the event as well. The guide, which showcases the best fine-dining establishments all over SA, celebrates and rewards excellence in the industry and is highly respected for its authenticity and credibility.

After publishing a series of annual, award-winning printed guides, culinary travellers can now have their appetites whet by reading the stories of these talented chefs before planning their visit to SA. Dineplan, the restaurant booking app, despatched the free guide to 500,000 diners on 1 November.

Iconic chefs were recognised for their contribution to future-proofing an industry that is being re-energized in time for what they believe will be a fruitful season.

One plate is awarded for excellent cuisine, two for exceptional dining that demands a detour, and three plates for world-class destination dining worthy of a flight.

As consistency forms an integral part of expansive criteria, no new restaurant receives three plates initially.

Three plates

Chefs Warehouse Beau Constantia

Fyn

Indochine

La Colombe

La Petite Colombe

Two plates

Basalt

Beyond

Chefs Warehouse Maison

Chefs Warehouse Tintswalo Atlantic

Epice

Klein Jan

Le coin Francais

Les Creatifs

Pier Restaurant

Rust en Vrede

Salsify

The Pot Luck Club

The Test Kitchen Carbon

Wolfgat

One plate

Aubergine

Belly of the Beast

Cavalli

Claras Barn

Eike

Faber

Fermier

Gate

Nobu

Qunu

Sejour

The Chefs Table

The LivingRoom

The Tasting Room at Creation

The Test Kitchen Fledgelings

The Waterside

Tokara

Haute Performance Awards

Six Haute Performance awards were bestowed on deserving icons in the industry for their part in future-building the industry.

Pillar  Harald Bresselschmidt of Aubergine

Pivot  Luke Dale Roberts of The Test Kitchen Carbon and The Test Kitchen Fledgelings

Pioneer  Mmbatho Molefi of Emazulwini Restaurant

Provenance  Allistaire Lawrence of The Werf

Proficiency  Peter Tempelhof, Ashley Moss and Jennifer Huge of FYN

The inaugural Wesgro Purpose and Passion Award was given to Sense of Taste Chef School.

Curator and author of the guide, Jenny Handley, holds formal qualifications in food and nutrition and owns a brand performance business.

In an optimistic address to the chefs, Handley thanked them for their talent and tenacity and encouraged them to collaborate in building a new foundation for the industry.

By working closely together, sharing skills, inspiration and resources, we will remain resolute and resilient and be able to face whatever challenges come our way, Handley said.
The winners of the 23rd annual PlatAfrica jewellery design and manufacturing competition were announced during a gala awards ceremony held at The Wanderers Club in Johannesburg on 28 October 2022.

Gathered: Samantha Vincent's winning entry in the Professionals category

Hosted annually by Anglo American Platinum, Metal Concentrators and Platinum Guild International (PGI) India, the awards aim to showcase local jewellery manufacturing and design talent and build a pipeline of talent in the South African platinum jewellery design and manufacturing industry by providing skills development among local jewellers, artisans and students.

In so doing, the competition supports local beneficiation of jewellery for global consumers through locally sourced quality platinum as a jewellery metal of choice.

PlatAfrica winners receive a cash prize, media exposure and the opportunity to participate in an all-expenses-paid design workshop at PGI India to learn more about the design and manufacturing of platinum jewellery in the worlds fastest-growing market for this product. This international exposure for their innovation and technical expertise is a key attraction for those entering the PlatAfrica competition.

The theme for this years competition, #Hope, was developed in consultation with PGI India, and was inspired by the Covid-19 pandemic and the commitment to sustainability in a modern world facing numerous challenges.

The competition is one of the market development initiatives through which Anglo American Platinum contributes to the local platinum industry. This year, PlatAfrica featured a total of 158 entries across South Africa for student/apprentice and professional categories. Judges looked for creativity, originality and interpretation of the #Hope theme, as well as technical excellence.

Designers were tasked with creating innovative pieces that embrace sustainability while speaking to new perspectives, interconnectedness, and transitions brought about their Covid-19 experiences. The pieces were also expected to represent sustainability in their design and demonstrate modernity, inclusivity and have a cultural expression of homegrown design.

Professional category winners

Samantha Vincent from Durban University of Technology is the overall winner in the Professionals category for her traditions-inspired adornment, Gathered a neckpiece of beads and platinum.

Samantha Vincent, 1st prize winner (Professional). Source: Supplied

Mandlenkosi Moses None and Nnete Koketso Mokgothu from TPI  Mo Nkosi & Nnete Jewellers are the first runners-up for their 'Ithemba Elihle  Beautiful Hope' design piece that speaks to a sense of belonging to the African continent.

Aimee Bredenkamp from Prins and Prins Diamonds is the second runner-up for her 'Radiating Hope' ring design, while Rajesh Shah from J Hind Jewellers is the third runner-up for his pendant, Elpis which means hope in Greek.

Congratulations to this years #PlatAfrica22 Professionals category winners. Beautiful craftsmanship and design.

1st Gathered necklace by Samantha Vincent.

2nd Ithemba Elihle bracelet by Mandlenkosi Moses None & Nnete Koketso Mokgothu

3rd Radiating Hope ring by Aimee Bredenkamp pic.twitter.com/EuiH910Q0o  Anglo American ZA (@AngloAmericanZA) October 28, 2022

Student/Apprentice category winners

Phillipus Wilhelmus Vorster from Rare Earth Creations is the overall winner in this category for his innovative 'Two Sparrows' ring inspired by a Bible passage in Luke 12.

Phillipus Wilhelmus Vorster, 1st prize winner (Student) Source: Supplied

Ditebogo Sesana also from Rare Earth Creations is the first runner-up for his 'Resilience' ring design. Jane Schoeman from Prins and Prins Diamonds placed third with her Interlinked pair of platinum earrings that spoke to the value of connection and community. And Bob Tshidiso Kolatsoeu from Pneuma Jewellers placed fourth for his interesting neckpiece Born to Rebuild.

The talent in this years Students/ Apprentices category was outstanding, with some of the best work we have seen from students and apprentices.

1st Two Sparrows ring by Phillipus Wilhelmus Vorster

2nd Resilience ring by Ditebogo Sesana

3rd Interlinked earrings by Jane Schoeman pic.twitter.com/AKpV7DyEhD  Anglo American ZA (@AngloAmericanZA) October 28, 2022

Mandlenkosi Moses None and Nnete Koketso Mokgothu are this years Peoples Choice Award winners for their Ithemba elihle bracelet. The award and cash prize, which is sponsored by Metal Concentrators, goes to the finalist with the highest number of votes from the public on Anglo American's Facebook page.

Online audiences also had the opportunity to experience the jewellery pieces on themselves using augmented reality  bringing a new dimension to showcasing the designs from entrants this year.

The judges also awarded special mentions to a trio of outstanding ring submissions from Mianca Grobbelaar (Prins and Prins Diamonds), Vuyani Gumede (Cape Peninsula University of Technology) and Roger Sash (Akapo Jewels).

Drawing inspiration from platinum

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Natascha Viljoen, CEO of Anglo American Platinum, said: PlatAfrica is a demonstration of our commitment to reimagine mining to improve peoples lives, exposing the talented and dynamic selection of finalists to access and use platinum metal allowing them to expand to much greater possibilities with their creative talents.

I am proud and extremely impressed by how each of you have translated your concepts, designs and creativity to the theme of #Hope using platinum. Despite the challenges that Covid-19 has put us through, we have emerged stronger, inspired and even more hopeful. It is for this very reason that we are able to draw inspiration from platinum  its malleability, strength and ability to withstand pressure and heat.

Our finalists drew on these qualities to create imaginative and intricate pieces . They have proven that they can use their skills, creativity and discipline to create beauty. This reveals the enormous calibre of talent in our local industry that came together to produce these magnificent works of art.

This year the pieces were sold through an online auction. To buy any of the finalists' remaining pieces, please visit the online store.
According to Darrin Green, Africa MD at Aecom, South Africa's current energy constraints are overshadowing a potentially more dire water crisis.

Darrin Green, Africa MD at Aecom

The energy crisis is confronting us first or maybe it is the most obvious, but, for me, the current water shortage in Gauteng is absolutely a worse crisis. While the fundamental issues are the same, it is going to be a much more difficult situation for people to live with on a day-to-day basis, comments Green.

Despite the issues being faced in the power sector, Green says that the work coming from it remains cyclical and difficult to secure. This is especially true on the high-voltage transmission and distribution side and even in the renewable energy sector where, despite a renewed focus, there is not a consistent flow of work.

Aecoms involvement here mainly extends to photovoltaic systems for buildings, for example. Of course, we have the necessary capability globally, but trying to bring that into the African market with all of the procurement issues we are facing is difficult, highlights Green.

Futureproofing infrastructure

Climate change and resilience advisory services are an increasingly important part of its strategy globally. However, the approach in South Africa tends to remain reactive, says Green, as demonstrated by the recent flooding in KwaZulu-Natal. The question is how to futureproof infrastructure to mitigate the impact of such unforeseen events.

Clients are not perceiving this as a priority. It must start with an overall understanding of sustainability and its key drivers. The South African market has not reached a sufficient level of maturity in this regard, says Green, adding it is being equally hampered by a lack of future planning and modelling.

For example, integrated hydrological models of South Africas coastlines are not being maintained or updated. Such modelling is critical not only to map out the available water resources, but to determine the potential runoff. That determines the input into the design for various types of infrastructure, notes Green.

If it is known how many cubic metres per second a river discharges into an area, and based on historical rainfall data, changing patterns can be determined and future anticipated runoff predicted and planned for. However, what tends to happen is small-scale modelling is applied for individual developments, which often relies heavily on the consultants experience.

A lack of holistic or integrated planning means that any upstream developments will be affected by concentrated or uncontrolled runoff from elsewhere. Downstream infrastructure and properties simply cannot cope with that capacity, resulting in a snowball effect.

Integrated planning critical to all infrastructure

It is not so much that there is a lack of development policy or controls, but these are not enforced, points out Green.

While integrated planning is critical for stormwater, it applies to all infrastructure. In terms of electricity, integrated planning is not only essential to understand future supply and demand, but also how to maintain the existing supply. Transitioning to renewable energy sources is a means of futureproofing, but it must be bolstered with adequate policy support.

We have to be at the level where we can design infrastructure with a proper understanding of all of these inputs, says Green.

Lifecycle costing optimisation needs to happen as part of this futureproofing. Another issue is that maintenance is not being carried out. Even if you design something the way it should be for resilience and futureproofing, a maintenance regime must be put in place.

A simple example is ensuring stormwater drains remain clear. If these become blocked, it potentially changes the runoff pattern and can have a major impact on infrastructure elsewhere.

The mantra of maintenance, maintenance, maintenance sounds very simple, but it is not being done, concludes Green.
New policy documents and draft legislation relevant to the mining industry have been introduced, including initiatives to improve the process of resettlement and increase exploration investment, transitioning to a greener economy, and more stringent employment equity targets. Some proposals are controversial and will require the industry to give input to the government.

New exploration strategy

South Africas exploration strategy, published in April 2022, outlines an economic recovery plan to unlock the countrys full mineral potential.

The priorities identified in the strategy are to improve the availability of geoscientific data, revise the licensing regime and attract exploration investment. It identifies certain barriers which will require changes to regulation and policy.

Importantly, it states that the first come, first served principle in the allocation of rights has promoted mediocrity. The intention is to replace this with a meritocratic system that aptly considers national development initiatives which will entail an amendment to the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002 (MPRDA). However, we believe the proposed amendments, which have previously been tabled, would increase legislative uncertainty and the potential for corruption.

Sections of the MPRDA are also expected to be revised in relation to transformation, following the ruling on the dispute between the government and the industry over aspects of the Mining Charter which left it open for the legislature to amend the MPRDA to achieve the objects of transformation.

The strategy proposes to use Sections 54 and 55 of the MPRDA more extensively to deal with the practical issues of gaining landowner consent to access privately-owned land and provide for dispute resolution when landowners refuse access. S55 allows the minister to expropriate land for prospecting or mining.

The strategy deals with inactive prospecting rights which are said to be sterilising mineral potential and proposes to reintroduce the "use it or lose it" principle and address issues such as lack of funding and technical skill by establishing a R200m IDC fund on which we await more detail. While many prospecting rights have lapsed in law, those areas remain unavailable to new applicants on the DMRE's system requiring the DMRE to implement an up-to-date mining cadastre system that is updated in real-time in relation to lapsing rights, etc.

Resettlement guidelines

The mine resettlement guidelines, published in March 2022, outline the process for applicants and holders of mining rights to physically displace or resettle landowners, lawful occupiers, mine communities and host communities, where necessary. Illegal squatters would not be subject to these processes. Given the nature of mining, i.e., that it is site specific as the minerals are where they are, operations may sometimes result in persons having to be resettled.

It is important to note that although these are guidelines, and therefore not law, stakeholders and the regulator will expect these processes to be followed. The guidelines set out fundamental principles for resettlement including:

(i) meaningful consultation and conditions relating to meetings (and we would advise clients to keep documentary proof of the process followed);

(ii) equality;

(iii) the protection of existing rights;

(v) minimising or avoiding resettlement; and

(vi) using HDSA service providers.

The golden thread throughout the guidelines is to ensure proper engagement, have a sufficient flow of clear and necessary information, and to protect the rights of those being resettled.

Whilst the guidelines include many features throughout the resettlement process, which starts at the planning stages and ends even after resettlement with continued support, one of the most contentious parts of the guidelines is that it provides that mining cannot commence without a resettlement agreement in place.

We welcome these guidelines which reflect some of the global principles surrounding resettlement laid out by bodies such as the ICMM, and contextualise them within the South African framework, however certain issues remain. We will await to see how the DMRE deals with resettlement, especially resettlement agreements in the wake of these guidelines.

Decarbonising the South African economy

In September 2022, a just transition framework was approved by Cabinet. It sets out a climate-resilient development pathway for South Africa, which affects every sector, with a focus on improving lives, preserving jobs, being people-centric and ensuring resilience. The concept of a just transition requires a contextual look at the needs of a country and this framework provides a South Africa-specific definition of the just transition.

The recently introduced Carbon Tax Act is intended to incentivise businesses to decarbonise their operations. The tax has been introduced in three phases, with the first phase being extended to 31 December 2025. The proposal by National Treasury is to increase the rate of carbon tax in dollars which will inevitably lead to businesses being hard hit.

Whilst government recognises that not every business is in a position to reduce its carbon footprint completely, it is vital for government to be in alignment with the commitment to the Paris Agreement. It is, therefore, imperative for businesses to invest in projects which will enable it to reduce its carbon tax liability in the most sustainable way possible. Business is, therefore, encouraged to invest in carbon offset projects which will allow it to reach its net-zero goal.

The Employment Equity Amendment Bill

The Employment Equity Amendment Bill, which we expect will become law in September 2023, provides for the minister of labour to identify national sectors and, after consultation (not necessarily agreement) with those sectors, impose numerical sector targets to ensure equitable representation of suitably qualified people from designated groups.

These sector targets are hard-coded, with punitive measures for non-compliance, and it could be argued that they amount to quotas, which could open them to Constitutional challenge.

Employers that are declared non-compliant can raise justifiable grounds for non-compliance, but this is cold comfort. Firstly, there will still be a finding of non-compliance and the director-general or minister has the discretion to rule on it.

Secondly, non-compliance is absolute. An employer that is 99% compliant will be treated in the same way as one that is only 5% compliant. The penalty for non-compliance will be a fine, as laid out in the Employment Equity Act.
The D&AD Awards are now open for entries, launching today under the banner What making it is made of, the campaign done in partnership with global brand-led design and experience business Re, part of M&C Saatchi Group.

Source:  D&AD D&AD The D&AD Awards are now open for entries

D&AD Awards are all about putting creative ideas on the global stage so that they can nurture further ideas and inspire the next generation of creative leaders.

"We know that the skill sets behind those ideas are incredibly diverse, and the journey is not always easy. We are incredibly grateful to Re, led by founder Patrick Guerrera, for bringing this reality to life in such an engaging way, says Donal Keenan, awards director at D&AD.

D&AD has always set the benchmark for nurturing, recognising and celebrating extraordinary creative talent globally. It is an absolute privilege to be partnering with them on the 2023 Awards campaign, as they continue to grow and inspire great creative hearts and minds everywhere, states Patrick Guerrera, global CEO of Re.

Digital campaign

The digital creative campaign rolled out on social media and aims to engage the global creative community by celebrating the power of creativity, and the processes, tools and emotions that help creatives win Pencils and find commercial success in the industry.

The campaign celebrates the impact that the design and advertising communities have on the world at large with a multitude of animated Pencils that illustrate the inner workings of different creative disciplines.

D&AD is at the heart of a global reaching creative community, so we engaged our own teams across Australia, the US and UK to ensure that the community could see itself in this campaign, says Darren Bowles, executive creative director of Re.

Our lively and humourous Pencil animations speak directly to creative makers and decision-makers around the world, by illustrating exactly what goes into making it within our ever evolving industry, and touching on inside jokes and truths weve all experienced, he says.

We feel privileged to have the opportunity to reach out to our creative community through this work and hope it resonates with them as much as it has with our own team, Bowles adds.

In person festival and ceremony for 2023

Following three years of successful digital Awards ceremonies, both the Festival and the Awards Ceremony will be held in person in 2023.

The D&AD Festival will be hosted at The Truman Brewery in London from Monday to Wednesday, 8 - 10 May 2023 as part of D&AD Awards Judging. The festival will include keynote talks, judges' insight sessions, networking parties and an exhibition of winners, all celebrating the best in creativity.

The 2023 D&AD Awards Ceremony will be held in person across two nights in London on 24 and 25 May.

This will be a chance for the industry to gather together to recognise and award the finest creative minds from around the globe.

A number of keynote talks from industry luminaries will accompany the ceremony days, with more details to be announced in January 2023. Speakers at previous events included photographer Rankin, Ajaz Ahmend - CEO of AKQA, Dan Goods - visual strategist at NASA, and Debbie Milman, author and host of Design Matters podcast.

Key category changes

D&AD has also introduced a suite of category changes addressing fundamental themes currently permeating the creative industries to ensure that the Awards remain a benchmark for creative excellence in design and advertising (please see notes to editors for more details).

D&AD remains committed to evolving the Awards to accurately reflect the current nature of the creative industries. The creative landscape is so multi-faceted, and I believe this is reflected in D&AD Awards where we celebrate those big ideas and designs along with those nuanced crafts, says Donal Keenan, awards director at D&AD.

Ukrainian entries remain free of charge

In 2022, D&AD announced it will not be accepting entries from Russian companies or individuals based in Russia to the Awards. The ban against Russian entries remains for 2023. Entries from Ukraine will continue to be accepted free of charge in 2023.

To encourage and highlight creative excellence achieved with limited resources and budgets, the 25% discount for freelancers and small businesses will also remain.

Free digital platform

For the past three years, D&AD has produced the Annual as a free-to-access enhanced digital platform, allowing the work to be explored in its entirety by the global creative community.

As a digital edition, the Annual expanded to include insights into how the work was made in Behind the Work interviews with the creators as well as analysis of the work's wider significance in relation to contemporary social and cultural contexts.

As a result, reach and engagement increased 6,400 per cent, and is now accessed by more than 130,000 users, including 30,000 emerging creatives, who freely benefit from the Annual as a deeper, richer educational resource to support their professional creative journeys.

As an education charity, D&AD will continue to invest in the Annual as a free digital resource with the work presented in its entirety alongside insights and analysis.

D&AD has always respected print and the value it can bring, and as a number of people in the creative community have been calling for the return of the famed printed D&AD Annual, this year D&AD will provide a printed version if there is enough demand through pre-orders.

The print edition will feature, as before, images of the winning work accompanied by the list of winner credits.

The pre-order site will be live in January 2023 and will take orders through the end of June 2023. A minimum number of orders must be achieved by the pre-order close date for the printed edition to be published. More details will be released in January.

Key dates
"It's that time of year again when the NSBC announces the names of the Top 20 Award winners from a wealth of candidates," says Mike Anderson, founder and CEO of the NSBC. "It is never an easy task, given the sheer number of exceptional South Africans who have created thriving and innovative businesses."

This year marks the 14th anniversary of the prestigious South African Small Business Awards, which recognises the tireless journey, hard work and outstanding achievements of small businesses and entrepreneurial success.

Says Anderson: This is a celebration of the most outstanding businesses and the extraordinary individuals behind these successful and growing enterprises.

As usual, the Top 20 businesses and/or entrepreneurs all receive a Top 20 Winner Award and automatically become finalists in the category and special awards.

We are humbled by the support of such esteemed industry leaders. Without their commitment, small businesses would have fewer opportunities to thrive and flourish, says Anderson, listing the following national sponsors of the 2022 South African Small Business Awards in alphabetical order: Absa, Experian, FedEx, Microsoft, ProfitShare Partners, Sage, Santam, Toyota, MTN, Netstar and Vodacom.

The NSBC is once again impressed with the diversity and the record number of entrants this year. It is immensely encouraging to see the magnitude of South Africas entrepreneurial spirit, Anderson notes, adding that every entrant has made a difference to someones life in some way, either through employment or innovative products and services. At the heart of this great nation is its people and I am proud to be associated with all these worthy winners.

The 2022 Top 20 Award winners are as follows, in alphabetical order:

The NSBC congratulates the Top 20 Award winners and lauds them for their unyielding commitment to building a better tomorrow.

The role that small businesses play in job creation, poverty alleviation, service delivery, and wealth creation cannot be underestimated, Anderson asserts. Each recipient of the South African Small Business Award is a trailblazer with immense entrepreneurial spirit, sense of commitment, dedication and hard work. These are the mercurial people who are the key contributors towards the upliftment of the South African economy and are the backbone of our countrys workforce and financial success.

To book to attend the free National Awards Gala Event (virtual) click here.




The Department of Health announced on Tuesday that it has completed the process of allocating all eligible medical interns and community service applicants to Internship and Community Service Programme (ICSP).

Image source: Luca Bertolli  123RF.com

The programme will run in the next annual intake scheduled to commence in January 2023.

According to the department's statement, it placed all 9,647 eligible South African citizens and permanent residents who applied. Of these, 2,402 will occupy medical internship opportunities, while 7,245 were successfully allocated for community service to enhance the public health sector as part of the last phase of their academic programme.

Almost 96.75% of the total applicants were allocated in their first five priority choices and only 3.25% were allocated outside their preferred five priority options, the department said.

Meanwhile, the department has allocated 73.96% of applicants to health facilities based in rural and semi-rural areas, while the remaining 26.04% will work in urban areas. This is part of government efforts to prioritise rural and underserved areas in the country.

The ICSP system, according to the department, has a functionality that allows applicants to swap or exchange their allocated posts.

In addition, the department said the online applications were processed between 14 and 28 October 2022, as per the Internship and Community Service Placement guidelines, Public Service Regulations of 2016, the Public Service Act, and the Immigration Act of 2002.

The first priority was given to South African citizens who studied in local and foreign institutions of higher learning, who met the minimum requirements, followed by permanent residents and lastly foreign nationals, depending on the availability of resources and funded posts.

The department said the final results of allocation will be signed-off and sent to the Provincial Departments of Health, South African Military Health Services and Department of Correctional Services for further processing and finalisation, which entails issuing appointment letters to successful applicants.
While Europe continues the unvarnished hypocrisy of pretending it is imposing draconian sanctions against Russian oil and gas, when instead it is merely buying the country's natural resources via such middlemen as India and China (an exercise in virtue signaling that costs it a 20% mark-up to Russian prices), less than a year since the start of the Ukraine war, some countries have had enough of pretending.

Today, the Japanese government decided to officially screw the sanctions, and remain involved in the (formerly Exxon-led) Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in Russia, as it seeks a stable supply of energy (who doesn't) despite international sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, the Nikkei reported.

ExxonMobil, which held a 30% stake in Sakhalin-1, announced in March that it would withdraw from the project. But after vacillating for more than half a year, Japan decided not to follow in Exxon's footsteps.

Meanwhile, Russia set up a new company to take over the project under a presidential decree that has in effect forced investors to choose sides. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is a stakeholder in Tokyo-based Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development -- which owns 30% of Sakhalin-1's current operator - along with other investors including Itochu, Japan Petroleum Exploration and Marubeni.

The Japanese consortium will make a final decision on whether to stay invested in the project after discussions with other stakeholders.

Why does this matter? Well, back in may, the G-7 nations decided to ban imports of Russian crude oil. Although the G-7 did not decide on a time frame, saying only that the ban will be enforced in a "timely and orderly fashion," Japan's continued participation in Sakhalin-1 would go against the consensus among fellow G-7 members.

In short, Japan would be the first "western" nation to officially breach the anti-Russia alliance.

Of course, there are reason: Japan relies on the Middle East for 95% of its crude imports, and sees ownership in Russian projects as essential to ensuring a stable supply of energy. But then again, one can say the same of most of the developed world, and certainly all of Europe, where Russian energy commodities serve as the basis for comfortable, modern life.

On October 7, Vladimir Putin signed a decree transferring Sakhalin-1 to a newly established company, which was registered on Oct. 14. Stakeholders in the project were given one month to decide whether to invest in the new company, and relevant Japanese agencies, including the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, have been considering their options. They have now decided.

A unit of Russian state oil company Rosneft is expected to operate Sakhalin-1 after ExxonMobil. Rosneft and India's state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp. each previously held 20% of the project.

As a result of the chaos, operations at Sakhalin-1 have been virtually shut down, and Japan has imported no oil originating from the project recently, so losing its stake will not have an immediate impact on the country's fuel supply.

Russia has transferred operations of the Sakhalin-2 natural gas project to a new company as well. Japanese investors Mitsui & Co. and Mitsubishi Corp. decided to retain their stakes in the project, and their continued investment has been approved by the Russian government.

Translation: the upcoming G-20 will be rather awkward as Japan's PM Fumio Kushida, an anchor pillar of the G7 in Asia, may decide to sit at the table next the Xi and Putin.
So it was perhaps only a matter of time before headlines like this began showing up in international publications - "NBI: Arms sent to Ukraine in criminal hands." The NBI is Finland's federal National Bureau of Investigation, and the report is from Finland's national public broadcasting company Yle, and provides confirmation that arms intended for Ukrainian forces are going outside the country.

File image, Ukrainian fighters, AFP.

The recovered weapons featured in the weekend national police statement include assault rifles which were meant for Ukrainian forces. Further neighboring countries have recorded instances of West-provided arms proliferating from the Ukrainian battlefield and into the hands of criminals in neighboring Sweden and Denmark as well.

"Weapons shipped [by various countries] to Ukraine have also been found in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands," NBI Detective Superintendent Christer Ahlgren was quoted in the Finnish publication as saying.

"We've seen signs of these weapons already finding their way to Finland," Ahlgren added. Some of this illicit arms trafficking is being brokered in online forums frequented by criminal gangs. According to more from the NBI lead investigator:

"Three of the world's largest motorcycle gangsthat are part of larger international organizationsare active in Finland. One of these is Bandidos MC, which has a unit in every major Ukrainian city," he explained. "We know that contacts and routes are being warmed up, so that they're in place."

"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 added.

"Criminal organizations have their networks in Finnish commercial ports. Stopping this is in everyone's interest," the detective continued, underscoring that police work and investigations have been greatly ramped up since the start of the Ukraine war, especially when it comes to monitoring the nation's points and ports of entry. He declined to provide a detailed list of the types of arms which have made their way into Finland, however.

Washington and NATO countries have over the past eight months since the Russian invasion began pumped tens of billions of dollars in light and heavy weaponry into Ukraine. From the start, Pentagon officials as well as media pundits have warned of the likelihood that many of these weapons would end up outside of Ukraine.

#NATO funnels weapons into a 'black hole' in #Ukraine as #German troops again gather on the borders of #Russia. Excerpt from a withdrawn @CBS doco which carried an estimate that only 30% of NATO weapons arrive at their destination. Full doco here: https://t.co/B9PEDRhsNg pic.twitter.com/HSUk2S11CR  tim anderson (@timand2037) August 12, 2022

All the way back in April, one White House official even warned in speaking to CNN, "we have fidelity for a short time, but when it enters the fog of war, we have almost zero. It drops into a big black hole, and you have almost no sense of it at all after a short period of time."

The question remains, who could have seen this coming? The answer is everyone with common sense.
The federal governments guidelines to counter misinformation and disinformation  what we might more accurately describe as Big Brothers Playbook  has been released. The US government and its allies, including media gatekeepers and educational institutions and global corporations, have become the judges and juries of misinformation.

And Big Tech is their executioner.

According to recently-filed court documents in Missouri v. Biden that were made available by The Intercept (big hat tip to Lee Fang and Ken Klippenstein), The Department of Homeland Security is quietly broadening its efforts to curb speech it considers dangerous.

Weve highlighted the key points of these court documents with screenshots below. Read it all - its especially relevant to the 2022 and 2024 elections.

DHS is directly engaging with social media companies to flag MDM (MDM is defined as mis-information, dis-information, and mal-information). It is doing so Ahead of midterm elections in 2022 and is readying its efforts with eyes focused on 2024:

DHS is questioning how to inspire innovators to partner with the government without this being seen as government propaganda.

The rapid response team would need to surge for short periods of time around elections.

It recognizes the systems vulnerabilities to what it considers disinformation: The spread of false and misleading information poses a significant risk to critical functions like elections, public health, financial services, and emergency response.

The DHS focus on disinformation isnt limited to elections. It is recommended to focuses on misinformation that undermines critical functions carried out by other key democratic institutions, such as the courts, or by other sectors such as the financial system, or public health measures.

DHS has recognized four specific dimensions of disinformation to counter. It is recommended to: (1) Build a society resilient to misinformation/disinformation; (2) Proactively address anticipated misinformation/disinformation threats; (3) Rapidly responding to emergency or persistent informational threats; and (4) Countering actor-based threats.

The DHS plan would provide financial support to non-governmental partners who counter false and misleading narratives. In other words, US government contractors who would receive funding to suffocate anti-government narratives.

There was discussion that we need a media infrastructure that is held accountable.

Like I said, their focus is on you . One participant defined the organizations goal as to reduce Americans engagement with MDM (mis-information, dis-information, and mal-information).

One member demanded social media monitoring by the government: How do we get to push the envelope to obtain traction in this area? Who has done appropriate social media monitoring for the government?

Then there are the e-mails. No surprise that Facebook and DHS were actively monitoring election misinformation. Heres one such example:

Finally, there are the logistical issues. There were discussions that local officials will utilize a centralized DHS portal for reporting disinformation or other issues on platforms, after which the disinformation would theoretically be reported to any applicable social media/tech companies. The real-time elimination of election-related questions.

Then there was the disclosure of e-mails between the tech platforms and the Biden Administration discussing the flagging or removal of content that questioned COVID-19 vaccines.

E-mails from HHS to marketing contractors and Google to hide videos of CDC Director Rochelle Walensky due to having an accuracy issue.

I hope the dangers of these programs and initiatives are apparent. It would be the federal government and its partners who would define misinformation. These arent neutral observers; rather, their power relies on a narrative. Perceived illegitimacy is a risk.

In other words, its the belief thats the threat, not the misinformation by itself. Thus, the real targets are those who listen and read and watch. Beliefs are shaped by limiting what they can see. Better to keep those dangerous ideas out of public view.
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned.

William Butler Yeats, The Second Coming

Things are falling apart.

How much longer we can sustain the fiction that we live in a constitutional republic, I cannot say, but anarchy is being loosed upon the nation.

We are witnessing the unraveling of the American dream one injustice at a time.

Day after day, the governments crimes against the citizenry grow more egregious, more treacherous and more tragic. And day after day, the American people wake up a little more to the grim realization that they have become captives in a prison of their own making.

No longer a free people, we are now pushed and prodded and watched over by twitchy, hyper-sensitive, easily-spooked armed guards who care little for the rights, humanity or well-being of those in their care.

The death toll is mounting. The carnage is heartbreaking. The publics faith in the government to do its jobwhich is to protect our freedomsis deteriorating.

With alarming regularity, unarmed men, women, children and even pets are being gunned down by the governments standing army of militarized police who shoot first and ask questions later, and all the government does is shrug and promise to do better.

Things are not getting better.

Patrick Lyoya is dead. The unarmed man was pulled over for having a mismatched license plate and shot in the back of the head while lying on the ground during a struggle with a Michigan police officer.

Donovan Lewis is dead. The 20-year-old unarmed man was sitting up in bed when he was shot and killed by police within a second of their barging through his bedroom door.

Tavis Crane is dead. Police shot the unarmed driver during a traffic stop that arose after his two-year-old daughter threw a plastic candy cane out of the window. When Crane refused to exit his vehicle, police climbed into the backseat of the parked car, placed Crane in a chokehold, and shot him repeatedly.

Justine Damond is dead. The 40-year-old yoga instructor was shot and killed by Minneapolis police, allegedly because they were startled by a loud noise in the vicinity just as she approached their patrol car. Damond, clad in pajamas, had called 911 to report a possible assault in her neighborhood.

Ismael Lopez is dead. The 41-year-old auto mechanic was shot and killed by Mississippi police who went to the wrong address looking for a suspect in connection with an aggravated domestic violence case. Police also shot the mans dog, which had raced out of the house ahead of him.

Mary Knowlton is dead. The 73-year-old retired librarian was shot and killed by Florida police during a shoot/dont shoot role-playing scenario when police inadvertently used a loaded gun intended for training.

Andrew Scott is dead. Although the 26-year-old homeowner had committed no crime and never fired a single bullet or lifted his firearm against police, he was gunned down by Florida police who were investigating a speeding incident by engaging in a middle-of-the-night knock and talk in Scotts apartment complex.

Richard Ferretti is dead. The 52-year-old chef was shot and killed by Philadelphia police while trying to find a parking spot. Police had been alerted to investigate a purple Dodge Caravan that was driving suspiciously through the neighborhood.

Charleena Lyles is dead. The pregnant, 30-year-old mother of four had called the police to report a stolen Xbox video game unit. She was shot and killed by Seattle police after they arrived at her home to find her holding a knife.

In every one of these scenarios, police could have resorted to less lethal tactics.

They could have acted with reason and calculation instead of reacting with a killer instinct.

They could have attempted to de-escalate and defuse whatever perceived threat caused them to fear for their lives enough to react with lethal force.

That police instead chose to fatally resolve these encounters by using their guns on fellow citizens speaks volumes about what is wrong with policing in America today, where police officers are being dressed in the trappings of war, drilled in the deadly art of combat, and trained to look upon every individual they interact with as an armed threat and every situation as a deadly force encounter in the making.

Remember, to a hammer, all the world looks like a nail.

Were not just getting hammered, however. Were getting killed, execution-style.

It no longer matters whether youre innocent of any wrongdoing or guilty as sin: when youre dealing with police who shoot first and ask questions later, due processthe constitutional assurance of a fair trial before an impartial jurymeans nothing.

All the individuals who have been shot and killed by policefired at three and four and five times in a split secondhave already been tried, found guilty and sentenced to death. And in that split second of deciding whether to shoot and where to aim, the nations police officers have appointed themselves judge, jury and executioner over their fellow citizens.

In this way, were seen as nothing more than animals and treated as such.

In fact, were being gunned down like dogs.

Consider that a dog is shot by a police officer every 98 minutes.

The Department of Justice estimates that at least 25 dogs are killed by police every day.

Spike, a 70-pound pit bull, was shot by NYPD police when they encountered him in the hallway of an apartment building in the Bronx. Surveillance footage shows the dog, tail wagging, right before an officer shot him in the head at pointblank range.

Arzy, a 14-month-old Newfoundland, Labrador and golden retriever mix, was shot between the eyes by a Louisiana police officer. The dog had been secured on a four-foot leash at the time he was shot. An independent witness testified that the dog never gave the officer any provocation to shoot him.

Seven, a St. Bernard, was shot repeatedly by Connecticut police in the presence of the dogs 12-year-old owner. Police, investigating an erroneous tip, had entered the propertywithout a warrantwhere the dog and her owner had been playing in the backyard, causing the dog to give chase.

Dutchess, a 2-year-old rescue dog, was shot three times in the head by Florida police as she ran out her front door. The officer had been approaching the house to inform the residents that their car door was open when the dog bounded out to greet him.

Yanna, a 10-year-old boxer, was shot three times by Georgia police after they mistakenly entered the wrong home and opened fire, killing the dog, shooting the homeowner in the leg and wounding an investigating officer.

Clearly, it doesnt take much for a cop to shoot a dog.

Dogs shot and killed by police have been guilty of nothing more menacing than wagging their tails, barking in greeting, or merely being in their own yard.

According to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, all it takes for dogs to pose a sufficient threat to police to justify them opening fire is for the dog to move or bark.

A dog doesnt even have to be an aggressive breed to be shot by a cop.

Radley Balko has documented countless dog shootings in which a police officer said he felt threatened and had no choice but to use lethal force, including the killing of a Dalmatian (more than once), a yellow Lab , a springer spaniel, a chocolate Lab, a boxer, an Australian cattle dog, a Wheaten terrier, an Akita a Jack Russell terrier a 12-pound miniature dachshund [and] a five-pound chihuahua.

Chihuahuas, among the smallest breed of dog (known as purse dogs), seem to really push cops over the edge.

In Arkansas, for example, a sheriffs deputy shot an aggressive chihuahua for barking repeatedly. The dog required surgery for a shattered jaw and a feeding tube to eat.

Same thing happened in Texas, except Trixiewho was on the other side of a fence from the officerdidnt survive the shooting.

Lets put this in perspective, shall we?

Were being asked to believe that a police officer, fully armed, trained in combat and equipped to deal with the worst case scenario when it comes to violence, is so threatened by a yipping purse dog weighing less than 10 pounds that the only recourse is to shoot the dog.

Compounding the tragedy, if a cop kills your dog, there will be little to no consequences for that officer. Not even a slap on the wrist.

In this, as in so many instances of official misconduct by government officials, the courts have ruled that the cops have qualified immunity, a legal doctrine that incentivizes government officials to engage in lawless behavior without fear of repercussions. As a side note: if you happen to kill a police dog, you could face a longer prison sentence than if youd murdered someone or abused a child.

This is the heartless, heartbreaking, hypocritical injustice that passes for law and order in America today.

Whether youre talking about police shooting dogs or citizens, the mindset is the same: a rush to violence, abuse of power, fear for officer safety, poor training in how to de-escalate a situation, and general carelessness.

This is the same mindset that sees nothing wrong with American citizens being subjected to roadside strip searches, forcible blood draws, invasive surveillance, secret government experiments, and other morally reprehensible tactics.

Unfortunately, this is the fallout from teaching police to assume the worst-case scenario and react with fear to anything that poses the slightest threat (imagined or real). This is what comes from teaching police to view themselves as soldiers on a battlefield and those theyre supposed to serve as enemy combatants. This is the end result of a lopsided criminal justice system that fails to hold the government and its agents accountable for misconduct.

So whats to be done about all of this?

Essentially, it comes down to training and accountability.

Its the difference between police officers who rank their personal safety above everyone elses and police officers who understand that their jobs are to serve and protect.

Its the difference between police who are trained to shoot to kill, and police trained to resolve situations peacefully.

Most of all, its the difference between police who believe the law is on their side and police who know that they will be held to account for their actions under the same law as everyone else.

This is no longer a debate over good cops and bad cops.

Its a tug-of-war between the constitutional republic Americas founders intended and the police state we are fast becoming.

So how do we fix whats broken, stop the senseless shootings and bring about lasting reform?

For starters, stop with the scare tactics. In much the same way that American citizens are being cocooned in a climate of fear by a government that knows exactly which buttons to push in order to gain the publics cooperation and compliance, police officers are also being indoctrinated with the psychology of fear. Despite the propaganda being peddled by the government and police unions, police today experience less on-the-job fatalities than they ever have historically.

Second, level the playing field. Police lives are no more valuable than any other citizens. Whether or not they wield a gun, police officers are public servants like all other government officials, which means that they work for us. While police are entitled to every protection afforded under the law, the same as any other citizen, they should not be afforded any special privileges. They certainly should not be shielded from accountability for misconduct by the courts and the legislatures.

Third, require that police officers be trained in non-lethal tactics. According to the New York Times, the training regimens at nearly all of the nations police academies continue to emphasize military-style exercises, with the average young officer made to undergo 58 hours of firearms training and 49 hours of defensive tactical training, but only eight hours of de-escalation training. If police officers are taking classes in how to shoot, maim and kill, shouldnt they also be trained in non-lethal force, crisis intervention training on how to deal with the mentally ill, de-escalation techniques to use the lowest level of force possible when responding to a threat, and how to respect their fellow citizens constitutional rights?

Fourth, ditch the quasi-military obsession. Police forces were never intended to be standing armies. Yet with police agencies dressing like the military in camouflage and armor, training with the military, using military weapons, riding around in armored vehicles, recruiting military veterans, and even boasting military titles, one would be hard pressed to distinguish between the two. Still, its our job to make sure that we can distinguish between the two, and that means keeping the police in their place as civiliansnon-military citizenswho are entrusted with protecting our rights.

Fifth, demilitarize. There are many examples of countries where police are not armed and dangerous, and they are no worse off for it. Indeed, their crime rates are low and their police officers are trained to view every citizen as precious.

Sixth, stop making taxpayers pay for police abuses. Some communities are trying to require police to carry their own professional liability insurance. The logic is that if police had to pay out of pocket for their own wrongdoing, they might be more cautious and less inclined to shoot first and ask questions later.

Seventh, support due process for everyone, not just the people in your circle. Remember that you no longer have to be poor, black or guilty to be treated like a criminal in America. All that is required is that you belong to the suspect classa.k.a. the citizenryof the American police state. As a de facto member of this so-called criminal class, every U.S. citizen is now guilty until proven innocent.

Finally, we need to do a better job of protecting our four-legged friends. Many states are adopting laws to make canine training mandatory for police officers. As dog behavior counselor Brian Kilcommons noted, police need to realize theyre there to neutralize, not control If they have enough money to militarize the police with Humvees, they have enough money to train them not to kill family members. And pets are considered family.

After all, as the Washington Post points out, while postal workers regularly encounter both vicious and gregarious dogs on their daily rounds letter carriers dont kill dogs, even though they are bitten by the thousands every year. Instead, the Postal Service offers its employees training on how to avoid bites. Journalist Dale Chappell adds, Using live dogs, handlers and trainers put postal workers through scenarios to teach them how to read a dogs behavior and calm a dog, or fend it off, if necessary. Meter readers also have benefited from the same training, drastically reducing incidents of dog bites.

The Rutherford Institute is working on a program aimed at training police to deescalate their interactions with dogs rather than resorting to lethal force, while providing pet owners with legal resources to better protect the four-legged members of their household.

Yet as I make clear in Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, we will continue to be shot down like dogs in the streetunarmed Americans and dogs alikeuntil we demand that police be given betterand constanttraining in nonviolent tactics, serious consequences for police who engage in excessive force, and a seismic shift in how law enforcement agencies and the courts deal with those who transgress.
The alleged president (whos not actually in charge of anything, even his own schedule) continues his career-long tradition of molesting children in front of cameras. Recorded incidents occur at an increasing, and alarming, clip.

No serious guys until youre 30, Biden is seen telling an obviously underage girl during an October 14th campaign event in Irvine, Calif while administering a consent-free shoulder rub.

Ill keep that in mind, she smiles feebly in return, apparently unable to muster any other response as she struggles with her visceral discomfort. She exudes the deer-in-the-headlights look, like a sheepish, mild-mannered girl getting aggressively hit on at a house party for the first time.

President Joe Biden grabs a young girl by the shoulder and tells her no serious guys till your 30 as she looks back appearing uncomfortable, secret service appears to try to stop me from filming it after Biden spoke @ Irvine Valley Community College | @TPUSA @FrontlinesShow pic.twitter.com/BemRybWdBI  Kalen DAlmeida (@fromkalen) October 15, 2022

His daughter, Ashley Biden describes in her confirmed diary her father showering with her and attributes her mental health issues in part to those childhood memories . Biden was also the subject of credible rape allegations levied against him during the 2020 campaign.

All that to say: we know that Bidens behavior behind closed doors is likely significantly worse than his actions in public. Fondling children and women has been Bidens modus operandi for decades, possibly his entire life.

This prospect doesnt bode well for the welfare of American children.

(A pair of Floridians who liberated the Biden diary and leaked it to independent media are currently threatened with five-year prison terms for their good work. Salute to them.)

Heres whats likely changed, and whats remained the same: Its not that Bidens any more predatory than in his younger years  hes been at this, on film, in broad daylight, since the 80s at least.

However, whereas before he molested children in public at a clip of once per year, whats changed is that dementia patients (including, in all likelihood, Biden) are known to develop issues with self-restraint. Accordingly, his public sexual transgressions occur more brazenly at more frequent intervals.

In dementia patients, impulse control is compromised, as explained in research published by Medical Science Monitor:

There is a relationship between cognitive functioning disorders and the intensification of aggressive and impulsive behaviours. More severe forms of dementia are connected with greater intensification of aggressive and impulsive behaviours as the disease progresses.

Plus, his medical team surely pumps him full of uppers to prep for any public appearance  probably Adderall or some other amphetamine. He emerges into the spotlight jacked up on stimulants, pupils dilated, revving to go wild on some unsuspecting minors with no moral governor to check his speed.

Imagine how his handlers, aware more than ever of the optics given the upcoming midterms, plead with him before releasing him to the cameras to keep him on the straight and narrow. They petition him to please restrain himself, in a vain attempt to ignite the inner impulse control mechanism that constrains normal humans behavior.

To no avail.

How is this dude President of the United States of America and not in jail?

Even worse, how y'all defending this man? What's wrong with y'all? pic.twitter.com/h8xEtHzq7t  Geo White  (@GeorgeIsChillin) October 21, 2022

A predator posing as a house pet, playing the part of an affable middle-class guy next door, is who Joe Biden has always been, along with nearly every other DC politician. He was once far better at maintaining the act, though. He used to have a go at children only on the most seldom occasions when he was really feeling his oats.

He now, like many patients in similar states of decline, almost totally uninhibited, simply reveals who he is with greater regularity. This is the most illuminating takeaway from the sad, ongoing Biden saga. Hes not the moral inferior of any other DC Swamp creature; he just cant prevent himself from revealing his dark, twisted true self as well as them because of his compromised mental condition.

Ben Bartee is an independent Bangkok-based American journalist with opposable thumbs. Follow his stuff via Armageddon Prose and/or Substack, Patreon, Gab, and Twitter.

Bitcoin public address: 14gU3aHBXkNq8bDqmibfnubV7kSJqfx5LX
The social contract: Jan Culik face to face with the Czechoslovak communist regime

2. 11. 2022 / Muriel Blaive

cas cteni 20 minut

(in honor of his 70th birthday)



Britske listy interviews, I asked Jan Culik to describe his life in communist Czechoslovakia (see here, In a series of recentinterviews, I asked Jan Culik to describe his life in communist Czechoslovakia (see here here , and here .) This set of interviews is an opportunity to explain or re-explain what we contemporary historians of communism mean when we speak of social contract between the population and the regime.

What the social contact means, one more time





Let us put an end to the misinformed but frequent comment that the notion of social contract is out of touch with reality since individual Czechs did not usually sit down with authorities to negotiate the terms of their domination. The point of academia is to theorize, so by social contract we speak here of an abstract notion, not of an actual roundtable. I gave four potent examples of this social negotiation process in my essay on everyday life in Ceske Velenice, The Border Runs Through the River:

First, even though the town of Ceske Velenice was entirely in the Forbidden Border Zone in the 1950s and partly so in the following decades, it would have been unthinkable that locals would not be allowed to pick up mushrooms and blueberries, so they were issued special permits to do so while border guards patrolled among them with guns, looking for potential escapees coming from the inland.

Second example: the local swimming pool was inconveniently lying in the no mans land between the two fences of the Iron Curtain, but it was unthinkable that workers, builders of socialism, would not be allowed to use this beautiful recreational facility. So, the locals were allowed to pass the first fence by showing their IDs and they swam in an exotic landscape of watchtowers and armed border guards a few meters away from Austria.

Third, even though the whole town was in the Forbidden Border Zone in the 1950s there would have been social unrest if the local tradition of Saturday dancing teas had been disrupted. So, a compromise was found: the dancing tea event was moved to a room in the train station, and visitors from nearby villages were allowed to come into town and dance with locals, provided they didnt leave the station.

And finally, even though one of the walls of the local cemetery was the Iron Curtain itself, it was unthinkable to prevent people from visiting their deceased loved ones. So once again, people could pass through the first fence by showing their IDs and approach within meters of the Austrian border.

The case of Ceske Velenice is one example of how the regime constantly searched for a level of repression that would be socially acceptable, i.e. that would not anger the population to the point that the risk of social unrest might significantly increase. Similarly, individuals constantly tested what behavior was acceptable from the point of view of the authorities and at what point a provocation might go too far. This is the social negotiation I speak of, leading to a social contract, a notion which, I repeat, is an abstract and slightly ironical way to describe domination practices. Another famous example of social contract is implied in the We pretend to work, they pretend to pay us joke.

Pushing for the limits

Jan Culiks life and family story is a perfect illustration of such a search for acceptable limits. Let us first take the most emblematic aspect of the communist regime, repression. His family paid a heavy price to Stalinism since his uncle, a Catholic intellectual, was sent to the Pribram uranium mines and soon died there. His aunt was discriminated against and took years to find a suitable job again. Her daughter, Jan Culiks cousin, gave an interview to Britske listy in which she described in a very moving way her tragic childhood experience.

Jan Culiks great-uncle, a Catholic priest, was the type of person who had a cercilka on his radio during the war, a special valve named after Churchill because when installed on radio sets it made it possible to hear the BBC service on short wave  but it also incurred the death sentence if one was caught by the Gestapo. (For about two years, he listened to London in his flat in the company of a German soldier whom he met in some kind of pub.) After the war, this uncle became secretary of Prague Archbishop Beran before he was arrested, tortured, and sentenced to ten years imprisonment. He was not released until around 1960, but remained so popular he continued to receive hundreds of postcards on his birthdays. Jan Culiks mother, a non-Communist medical student, was prevented from doing her internship (which is a remarkably stupid way to punish a future doctor as it is the whole community which will suffer if he or she is not sufficiently trained.)

But already there the search for limits is evident: his mother took part in the February 1948 student demonstration against the communist takeover. Fortunately, no one noticed her, so she could continue her studies. Even though she was not a Communist, she and her family received an upscale (if small for an eventual family of five) flat in an excellent location in the center of town. After a very difficult period his aunt, the surviving widow, found an interesting job in a publishing house in the 1960s (the same Catholic publishing house with which her husband was associated before his arrest ), where she was able to help publish the translations done by her brother, Jan Culik Sr, who worked as a renowned freelance translator of English-speaking literature outside of his job. After working for a foreign trade company in the 1950s and 1960s, where he used his knowledge of languages but did not have, as a non-Communist, any decision-making power, he indeed took an office job in the 1970s which consisted in being on stand-by in case his new firm might need his translation services. It means he was essentially paid to do nothing, apart from benefiting from the firms cheap canteen every day, practicing the organ in a nearby church in Prague thanks to personal connections, and working on his private translations.

In the 1970s, as a doctor specialising in teenagers, Jan Culiks mother worked with the army to medically evaluate young recruits, and she developed contacts which would prove very useful for her son as he grew of age: they served to exempt him from military service, as well as to warn him that the StB was on his heels a few months before he left for Scotland. To the familys slight surprise, despite this Catholic, non-communist, repressive background, Jan Culik was allowed to go to high school, in fact to a very good high school where one of the members of his cohort at the start of the 1968-1969 school year was none other than Alexander Dubceks son.

Finally and on a lighter tone, the cast of his family includes his astute grandmother, who held on to a quirky entrepreneurial spirit under communism. She bought what seemed like a random plot of land in 1956, an innocuous investment which bore incredible fruit after 1989 since it turned out a residential area had been built on it without permission. The family was offered a one million crown payment as compensation and with this money, they bought the flat they had received from the state in the center of Prague. Thanks to an inspired babicka, this now superbly renovated building thus turned the family into quasi-grand bourgeois property owners.

From the amusing to the outright amazing

This family profile already doesnt fit the totalitarian description of family survival under communism, but Jan Culik knocked down many more pillars of the totalitarian narrative during the normalization era. While in high school (1968-1972), he was at the helm of a protest movement against antiquated pedagogical methods, a movement which did manage to alter the model of learning by heart and replace it with more reflective teaching methods  before the school reversed to the old dogma when his cohort graduated. Talking about social negotiation, this one was remarkably concrete, and successful, too. Another amazing example is that as a 14-year-old elementary school pupil already entertaining a passion for journalism, he managed to convince the principal to let him present a five-minute news program of his own making on the school public address system every Tuesday at eight a.m. after class began. With fellow pupils, he also broadcast, among others, a thriller series which they pre-recorded in their own time. He also published a newspaper, ironically entitled New York Times:



In January 1970, he managed to get his hands on a camera and went to film the mourners on Jan Palachs tomb. This was also the occasion of his first encounter with the StB, which did not take such filming lightly and confiscated the camera. A trace of this incident was left in the archives.

But where the social contract takes a new dimension is when despite being an outspoken teenager, fervent supporter of the Prague Spring, and son of non-Communist parents, Jan Culik was admitted to university, at the conservative Faculty of Arts of all places. The way he managed this feat borders on the farcical: despite not being in the Communist Youth Union, he wanted to learn the Morse code to understand the short wave transmissions while listening to the Radio Free Europe broadcasts. The only available Morse course was in the army, so when joining the telegraphists course he was automatically enrolled in Svazarm (the Union for Cooperation with the Army.) When he brilliantly passed the university entrance exams, the head teacher, Dr. Jarmila Emmerova, who was actually the model for the character of Irene in Josef Skvoreckys novels and short stories, pointed out to the commission that he was a member of Svazarm and this was an adequate compensation to his non-membership in the Youth Union. Ironically, he was thus admitted to university as a result of his passionate listening of Radio Free Europe.

A suitable character for a Skvorecky novel

In fact, Jan Culik could have been a character of a Skvorecky novel in his own right, for his provocations and lifestyle were, from todays point of view, hilarious. For instance, in the 1970s, he moved around Prague with a portable radio blaring out loud BBC broadcasts in English  and no one dared to comment. He was known to be outspoken at university and shouted out in class that he would not sign the counter-Charter in 1977. After years of intensive BBC listening, he was so good in English that he made excellent money as a freelance presenter for the English programs of Czechoslovak radio. There, for the late-night news bulletin which was prepared a little more independently than the ones that came earlier in the day because the Soviet news agency, TASS, was already shut for the night due to the time difference with Moscow, he was given official permission to listen to the BBC and copy some of their news items. The Radio Prague management accepted the English sections argument that no one in Europe and in the US would listen to Radio Prague news in English if they were modelled only on unprofessional, ideological, and outdated TASS news bulletins. In these broadcasts he included coded messages for his girlfriend to make her laugh. He helped a Canadian acquaintance prepare outlandish propaganda for the Bahai religion in Czechoslovakia by photocopying a library book, i.e. by taking photographs of every page and developing them in a bathtub. He described the editorial offices of the newspaper Rude pravo during a bus tour with a group of foreign students as the place where the Communists run their newspaper from. He was, by the way, appointed as contact for these foreign students during their Czech language summer school in Prague.

But it is on one of the touchiest topics of all, travelling to the West, that Jan Culik negotiated his path in the most insolent way: the wife of one of his high school teachers whom he befriended was working in the state administration allocating foreign currency. To obtain foreign currency was the most difficult obstacle to overcome in order to receive an exit permit to the West. With this very useful contact, student Jan Culik was able to travel three times to the UK in the 1970s, for approximately one week each. This shows, by the way, that one of the most repressive aspects of the communist regime, the absence of freedom of movement, was as much or more a question of nepotism or money as one of politics.

Listening to Jan Culik, one gets the impression he was living in a very different country from the one portrayed in the anticommunists writings. In fact, a sense of indomitable freedom is emanating from his interviews. Here was a young man who, in essence, loudly criticized the conditions he lived in and did what he felt like doing as if there had been no dictatorship to speak of.

Was this luck?

There is certainly an element of luck in this biography in the sense that Jan Culik started high school in 1968, a propitious time politically speaking, whereas he would have probably not been admitted even a couple of years earlier. But he is also typifying individuals who create their own luck  their own social contract. It is difficult to imagine him as a submissive youth under any circumstance. We can try to imagine how his life could have looked like in later years if we turn to underground activist Petr Placaks memoir, The Spook, in which he exhibits a similar, fiercely independent spirit. Petr Placak might have been surveilled much more tightly than Jan Culik ever was by the StB, but he evaded them and made fun of them, and managed to live his own life in a similarly careless way.

Jan Culiks interactions with the StB are, yet again, amusing from an outside perspective. If we go back to the notion of social negotiation, when the StB came to fetch him one evening for an interrogation, his mother emphatically stopped them at the door and proclaimed that he would not leave the flat before getting his dinner. So he ate dinner in peace and quiet (and with appetite), while the StB agents waited on the landing. This particular interrogation concerned, if memory serves him right, the Charter 77 manifesto  he was asked if he had read it, and he answered truthfully that he had. When he was asked how he got access to it, he pretended, so as not to incriminate the friend who had passed it on to him, that someone had thrown it in his mailbox. While this is standard behavior, I must admit as a historian I am baffled that the StB accepted this type of explanation without further probing. Surely, they knew this to be a lie, and shouldnt a dictatorial secret police extract confessions out of its prisoners? But torture was apparently not the order of the day for such small matters anymore  the StB knew how to pick its battles, and this one was hopeless.

This certainly doesnt mean that to regularly come into interaction with the StB was a fun experience for Jan Culik. Another illustration of the social contract precisely resides in this painful interaction with authority. Ungenerously to himself, Jan Culik calls this his collaboration period: he eventually surrounded to the arguments of his teacher and signed the counter-Charter. As a historian, I would dispute that this is collaboration  I would rather call this an everyday life survival strategy. But as everyone else, Jan Culik made choices: he submitted to the counter-Charter, but refused an offer of outright collaboration with the StB. This would have been too much, would have passed the threshold he had fixed for himself  and this is exactly the social negotiation I am talking about. For him, this is where the line was. For others, it was already to sign the counter-Charter (they refused and bore the consequences); for yet others, the first and the second were acceptable, but to step in the communist party was too much; for others still the first, second, and third steps were acceptable but to step in the Militia was too much; for yet others, nothing was too much. Etc. There was a dictatorship, yes. But within the constraints of the dictatorship, there was still a measure of choice, one that was particularly painful because it involved an internal debate between personal ethics and fear, and almost everyone had a family to take into consideration, which made them prone to moral blackmailing. Some found the resources to resist; others didnt. This is the essence of the social contract.

So even such an extrovert as Jan Culik was scared; and even such a free soul felt like he was suffocating in communist Czechoslovakia. He was fortunate to find an ideal solution in the form of marriage, his new wife being a UK citizen who came to study in Czechoslovakia and with whom he was able to leave legally  but not without another farce: he was made to pay Kc 30,000 to the Czechoslovak state for his studies, and when he arrived in the UK the Czechoslovak embassy demanded another Kc 30,000. Jan Culik vehemently protested and they eventually begged him to pay the smallish amount of 200 pounds instead  another negotiation in which the strongest party was not always the regime.

Would they have broken him?

What would have happened had this propitious solution of marrying a Western citizen not presented itself? Jan Culik unambiguously claims: They would have broken me. It is of course impossible to say, although we can indeed imagine that such a brash existence would not have remained possible into the grey 1980s. We can picture him an accidental dissident (although his father warned him, probably wisely, that this kind of opposition was madness); we can picture him an activist of the Petr Placak kind, determined to live his life independently from the regime no matter what, and consequences be damned; we can picture him, although with more difficulty, as finding an accidental niche as his father did, and live a content, if quiet, life; and of course we can imagine him as a full-fledged compromised citizen, pressed into joining the party, or worse. Yet I find it difficult to conceive of the latter, if only because Jan Culiks character appears too rebellious for this kind of discipline or submission. But the fact is that ones fate depended on chance, on circumstances, and probably no one ever was a dissident or a collaborator purely by design, notwithstanding that some turned out to be both at once.

Yet by observing the vagaries of one particular life story we see that to live in such a regime left no one untouched. Even after he left the country in 1978, Jan Culik didnt dare to order Sixty-Eight Publishers material for a couple of years because he feared the StB might still be surveilling him. It took him even more years to feel safe enough to undertake some action against the regime from the outside by helping translate the dissidents proclamations and providing background for Western journalists. His parents, he says, although being opposed to this regime in principle, belonged in it and could not imagine their life in another setting. They were allowed to visit England in the 1980s but were too overwhelmed to feel comfortable. Czechoslovakia remained the home of the Czechoslovak people despite its communist regime.

So, no one can tell how Jan Culik would have turned out in the latter part of the normalization period, but we do know this from his earlier years in Czechoslovakia as well as from his work as editor of Britske listy: he is brash, loud, outspoken, undiplomatic, impervious to power, insensitive to authority, annoying for many people, despised by others, undeterred by his being ignored by other Czech media, and thoroughly unimpressed by the turmoil he might cause. He dismisses parochialism and racism, and asks the necessary painful questions. A post-1989 episode that tells quite a lot not only about Jan Culiks character, but about a debatable state of democracy in the post-communist Czech Republic, is when he questioned the ethics of Vaclav Klaus, who welcomed honoraria for his talks even though he was in function as Prime Minister. Jan Culiks employer, Radio Free Europe, ordered him to drop this line of enquiry, but he still called correspondents in London and Washington to confirm that John Major or Bill Clinton would never agree to such a scheme. That Radio Free Europe feared for its license on the Czech market, and that it fired Jan Culik for this reason (You are playing at being a great reporter!, his superior told him, as if this was not precisely the role of a journalist), raises many an awkward question.

In any case, such fearlessness and all the traits described above are formidable qualities for a journalist and an academic, and they make him the best type of citizen this country might wish for. Far from being unCzech, I would claim Jan Culiks sense of humor and dogged determination to follow his own path make him very Czech, in the best way possible. Happy seventieth birthday, Mr Culik, and long life to you and to Britske listy.

Cast of Jan Culiks family as mentioned in the article:

His father, Dr. Jan Culik

His mother, MUDr. Hana Culikova

His uncle, Rudolf Vorisek

His aunt, Marie Voriskova

His cousin, Ludmila Voriskova

His great-uncle, Antonin Culik

His grandmother, Vlasta Sediva

His wife, Lesley Keen





-1
Dairy giant A2 Milk chief executive David Bortolussi expects to send a plane full of its custom-made infant formula to the US by late December or early January, having finally found a way into the lucrative market.

However, he is sober about how much market share and earning gains the win will deliver in the short term, given the freight and reworking costs involved.

A2 Milk has finally gained US FDA approval to sell products to the US under the temporary enforcement discretion.

Dual-listed A2 is preparing to manufacture infant formula made specifically to US requirements after receiving the green light on Thursday morning from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to export its product.

Bortolussi said he was delighted to be able to supply its product to the US as the country continues to grapple with a national infant formula shortage sparked in February after a major infant formula plant in Michigan was forced to shut down following the discovery of a fatal bacterial infection.
Its been said that the billionaire co-founder of Atlassian, Mike Cannon-Brookes, doesnt hear the word no. Nor does he suffer from self-doubt, or the need for self-censorship  attributes that arm him effectively for his unfolding battle with the board of AGL.

In a wide-ranging discussion with this masthead this week, Cannon-Brookes laid out his ambitious plans to transform the energy company, which just happens to be Australias largest direct emitter of greenhouse gases.

There was only one question, during the discussion, that stumped the tech billionaire. What does he do if his bid to overhaul AGLs board fails?

That Cannon-Brookes was caught off guard when asked about a plan B is instructive.
Critics have called modernist painter Clarice Beckett, who died almost a century ago, Australias greatest female artist.

Judging by the sales of cards and calendars reproducing her trademark tonalist paintings in National Trust gallery shops, she is certainly one of the nations most popular, says S. H. Ervin gallery director Jane Watters.

Clarice Beckett, Beach Scene, c. 1932-33.

For an artist so loved by many people, it was surprising nobody had written a full-length biography of Beckett, Watters said.

So when COVID-19 lockdown hit and galleries were closed, long-time S. H. Ervin volunteer and historian Edith Ziegler, decided to write a book about the artist whose landscapes, still-lifes and portraiture have garnered much critical acclaim and financial value of late.
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Causeway J. Law is back in only her second film in three years, but shes always worth watching. She plays a soldier returning to New Orleans after a traumatic injury. She befriends a mechanic played by Brian Tyree Henry, who is also stirring up Oscar talk. This looks to be an intense and brooding drama, with restorative pool therapy. The director is Lila Neugebauer, who also worked on The Sex Life of College Girls. Streaming on Apple TV+ from November 4. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever The latest Marvel noisemaker. Ryan Coogler directs again and hes no slouch. The first one in 2018 put black super-heroism on the map and buried a Hollywood myth that black cinema never makes money. Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyongo and Martin Freeman return, but Chadwick Boseman will be missed. He died in 2020 just as his career was exploding. Will be loud and big. Opens November 10. The Velvet Queen

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Two Frenchmen go into the high wilderness of Tibet in search of the ever-elusive snow leopards, who must be getting sick of being discovered. Renowned wildlife photographer Vincent Munier invited writer Sylvain Tesson on his adventure. If its anything like other French wildlife documentaries, the narration will be insufferable and the images gorgeous. Probably better than the other way around. Opens November 10. The Wonder Its 1862 and an English nurse (Florence Pugh) is summoned to an isolated community in Ireland where a young girl has not eaten for four months, yet appears healthy. She lives, she says, on manna from heaven. This looks intriguing and the pedigree is good: Chilean director Sebastian Lelio won an Oscar a few years back for A Fantastic Woman. He co-wrote the script with Alice Birch and Booker Prize-nominated author Emma Donoghue, based on her 2016 novel. Pugh is hotter than hot right now. Toby Jones and Ciaran Hinds add to a strong cast. Opens November 3. She Said

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Based on the book by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, who broke the Harvey Weinstein story wide open in The New York Times. Its directed by German filmmaker Maria Schrader, who made Unorthodox. Carey Mulligan plays Twohey and Zoe Kazan stars as Kantor. Looks to be a classic newspaper movie: crusading reporters against powerful people. Opens November 17. Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths This looks trippy. Its a hallucinogenic story about a famous journalist and filmmaker returning to his Mexican homeland after many years living in Los Angeles. The director is the vastly talented Alejandro G. Inarritu, who made Amores Perros, Biutiful, The Revenant and Birdman. He too has been living in LA for a long time. This will be visually spectacular and thematically complex, or Ill eat my sombrero. Opens November 17. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery The names Blanc, Benoit Blanc. Daniel Craig returns in the second of three comedy thrillers as a southern detective chasing a murderer. The first film, Knives Out, grossed its head off in 2018. Netflix paid an obscene amount for two sequels, of which this is the first. The series is conceived and directed by Rian Johnson, who has some chops - he made Looper and Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Craig is joined by Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, Ethan Hawke and the retired wrestler Dave Bautista, playing an activist for mens rights. Chortle. Opens November 23.

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My very first job after getting my degree in art history was at the Art Gallery of NSW as curatorial assistant, which is the most junior messenger girl curator, Mendelssohn recalls. I had to check labels, work out dates, which was right up my street.

Podcast fan and art historian Joanna Mendelssohn had just the thing. The conundrum that had been perplexing her since she started working at the Art Gallery of NSW in the early 1970s is now the subject of one of the half-hour episodes in the ABCs new series named after the podcast.

The podcast had come out of a running joke the former host of SBS The Feed had with fellow Feed host Jan Fran, telling historical stories focused on artworks and artefacts that had been plundered from around the world by the Brits.

How do you figure out what subject your new TV history documentary series should cover? If youre Marc Fennell, you simply ask the listeners of your deliberately provocative Radio National cult podcast, Stuff the British Stole.

At the entrance to the new Asian gallery, there was this absolutely magnificent statue that I had to pass every day on my way to the office. And it stood out because it was completely different to everything else in the collection. It was large, when most of the things there were tiny ceramics. It was a very aggressive work. It looked magnificent and I loved it dearly.

The Chinese guardian statues labels though told nothing of how this Ming Dynasty artwork had found its way to Sydney in the early 20th century. It was, to use an expression that crops up a lot in relation to this series, a history mystery.

Art historian Joanna Mendelssohn with Marc Fennell Credit:

Almost all of the episodes in the TV series have been the result of tip-offs, says series producer Kate Pappas. Tip-offs isnt quite the right expression, but weve been made aware of that story from the listeners of the podcast. Then weve gone through the really interesting process of joining the dots, digging into the history, the personalities; finding out what happened back then but also asking what does it mean now to people who are the descendants of the different cultures at play or people whove been related to this object in some way?

The story of the Chinese statue, for example, harks back over a century to the days of the Boxer Rebellion, when Beijing was besieged by a legion of hostile nations including Britain, which had earlier occupied Hong Kong. Mendelssohn explains: Back then, Europe decided China was ripe for the picking. It was imperialism writ large and you start to understand why China may still be antsy about the rest of the world.
A global human trafficking syndicate has exploited flaws in Australian border security and the immigration system. See all 15 stories .

More than a dozen Australian education providers for overseas students have been identified as allegedly corrupt by state and federal investigators probing the movement of women from Asia to Australia to work in the sex industry, including at brothels linked to illegal sex rings.

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission was involved in the investigation that identified the suspect colleges. It was sparked by a probe into a nationwide criminal network linked to Melbourne brothel 39 Tope.

Brothel on 39 Tope Street in South Melbourne. Credit:Paul Rovere

The colleges identified as corrupt helped more than 190 South Korean females enter Australia to work in the sex industry, including at 39 Tope and other brothels across the country, according to analysis seen by this masthead.

Some of them were recruited overseas by an illegal sex syndicate led by Australian crime figure Mae Ja Kim as recently as December 2018, according to one inquiry.
A code one emergency warning crackled across the radios of Taronga Zoo staff this morning after five lions were spotted prowling outside the confines of their enclosure.

Its the most severe code on the zoos emergency warning list. The non-animal related warnings are code red for fire, code orange for an evacuation, and code blue for medical emergencies.

Code two is reserved for hazardous animal escapes for creatures that could injure guests but not kill them. Zebras, monkeys and wombats fall under code two.

Chimpanzees are regarded as the deadliest animals commonly kept in captivity. Credit:Robert Pearce

A code one is instigated when an animal escapes that can kill. These dangerous code one animals include venomous snakes such as the inland taipan and eastern browns, saltwater crocodiles, big cats and apes.
Explore more of our in-depth coverage of the seat of Melton at the state election. See all 19 stories .

A group of furious farmers and landowners in the crucial state seat of Melton are throwing their weight behind a campaign against a high-voltage power line they claim would cause mental stress and poorly impact the electorates rural areas.

The group is pushing for the power lines to run underground and wants to use the attention of the election campaign to push the project back to the drawing board. It claims the Andrews Labor government has not taken its concerns seriously.

Barbara Ford farms at Plumpton on the outskirts of Melton, and is pictured with other locals unhappy about the proposed Ausnet power lines. Credit:Jason South

Melton has been held by Labor since the seat was created 30 years ago, but is a realistic prospect of changing hands on November 26. It is held by Labor with a 5 per cent margin under newly redrawn boundaries.

The Western Renewables Link  a state-government project being delivered by AusNet  will be a 190-kilometre, overhead, high-voltage electricity transmission line with hundreds of towers carrying renewable energy from wind farms in the states west to Melbourne.
Thousands of current and former casuals at the University of Melbourne will be paid $22 million in wages they were denied between 2013 and 2021.

The university said on Wednesday that about 15,000 casuals were found to have been underpaid after the analysis of 3.2 million payslips over eight years.

About 15,000 current and former casuals at Melbourne University will be paid a combined $22 million in unpaid wages. Credit:Wayne Taylor

The total size of the underpayments by Australias wealthiest university will ultimately exceed $22 million, with the tertiary institution saying it expected to continue its remediation program over the coming months.

Affected employees from this tranche of underpayments will receive an average payment of $1476.
The principal of a small faith-based school in south-east Melbourne has responded to concerns over a string of alleged child sexual abuse incidents involving students by telling families that the best protection for their children is to pray and perform religious rituals.

The parents concerns relate to the potential imminent return to Cheder Levi Yitzchok, a non-government school in St Kilda, of a student involved in an investigation by Victoria Polices sexual offences and child abuse unit last year.

Cheder Levi Yitzchok president and principal Eliezer Kornhauser. Credit:Pat Scala

Three separate Victorian government agencies  the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, the Commission for Children and Young People, and the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority  are investigating aspects of the case, including the schools approach to safeguarding students in its care.

Tensions were heightened last week when the schools president and principal, property scion Eliezer Kornhauser, told parents via email that the situation for the school and parents is anything but perfect and that some were engaging in unproductive and occasionally hysterical conjecture.
It started with a suggestion on a Sunday breakfast radio show. Wouldnt it be great to mark the spot in Sydneys Martin Place where the worlds first modern milk bar was established?

In 1932, Greek immigrant Joachim Tavlaridis, who Anglicised his name to Mick Adams to fit in with his adopted homeland, was the first to set up a bar that only sold milkshakes and sodas. American drug stores were selling sodas, snacks, household items and pharmaceuticals at the time. But the Black & White 4d Milk Bar in Martin Place was the first to specialise in milkshakes.

The Black & White 4d Milk Bar in Martin Place was the first to specialise in milkshakes.

The Americans eventually caught up when they imported the milkshake  or shake  from Australia after visiting servicemen developed a taste for them in Sydney during the 1940s.

It was while explaining the milk bars cultural heritage on ABC radio in early November 2017 that Macquarie University historian Leonard Janiszewski and his photographer partner Effy Alexakis were encouraged by listeners, and presenter Simon Marnie, to commemorate the location of the worlds first milk bar at 24 Martin Place.
A Queensland government minister has been told to take down a meme that breached parliamentary rules, as MPs continue to bicker at the halfway point of their term.

Transport Minister Mark Bailey shared the mock Halloween costume package describing Deputy Opposition Leader Jarrod Bleijie as the states worst attorney-general last week.

Mark Bailey said he would remove the post due to a complaint  which he suggested came from Jarrod Bleijie. Credit:Dan Peled, Glenn Hunt

But the image of Bleijie had been taken during a session of parliament, which comes under rules restricting the use of photos or footage for satire or anything other than a factual representation of what occurred.

The parliamentary week descended into one of the rowdiest this year amid the federal budget fallout, health-related issues driving calls for resignations from both sides, and the removal of several politicians because of their interjections.
Indian PM inspects site of deadly bridge collapse

Xinhua) 09:45, November 02, 2022

NEW DELHI, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday inspected the bridge collapse site in the western state of Gujarat where more than 100 people were killed, officials said.

Ahead of the visit, Modi chaired a high-level meeting on Monday night during which he was briefed about rescue efforts.

The century-old British-era pedestrian suspension bridge collapsed on Sunday evening, plunging hundreds of people into Machchhu River in Morbi town, about 241 km west of the capital city, Gandhinagar.

Reports said that 177 people were rescued and over 100 people were undergoing treatment at the Morbi civil hospital.

Soon after the bridge visit, Modi reached the civil hospital in Morbi to meet the injured. The prime minister was seen asking the survivors about their health.

According to officials, search and rescue operations, carried out by teams of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Indian navy, the Indian air force and the Indian army, were called off on Monday evening and resumed Tuesday morning.

Officials said Modi also met with those involved in rescue and relief operations.

The local government of Gujarat has already ordered a probe into the deadly collapse of the bridge.

The bridge is a popular tourist attraction in the area. It was shut for renovation for seven months and was open for the public on Oct. 26, the Gujarati New Year.

Reports said that around 500 people, much beyond its capacity, were on the suspension bridge at the time when it crashed into the river.

Police have arrested nine people including officials of Oreva, the company that carried out repair work, ticket sellers and security men. However, the owners of the company have not been arrested.

Oreva group is actually a Gujarat-based watchmaker company. Reports said that the watchmaker reportedly outsourced the "technical aspect of the renovation" to a smaller construction company, Devprakash Solutions.

Oreva has been accused of violating multiple safety rules, leading to the huge tragedy just four days after the bridge reopened to the public.

Questions have been raised over why Oreva with no experience in construction was given responsibility for maintaining a bridge.

(Web editor: Cai Hairuo, Liang Jun)
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea seeking to restrain its seniormost judge, Justice D Y Chandrachud, from taking oath as the Chief Justice of India on November 9 by terming the entire petition "misconceived".

"Having heard the counsel, we see no reason to hear.... We find the entire petition to be misconceived," a bench of the apex court said.

Earlier, the bench headed by Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit agreed to hear the plea during the day itself, instead of Thursday.

"Get the paper books for my brother and sister (justices S Ravindra Bhat and Bela M Trivedi). We will list the matter at 12.45 pm today itself," the CJI said.

Justice Chandrachud, the CJI-designate, is set to take oath as the 50th Chief Justice of India on November 9.

The plea was filed by one Mursalin Asijith Shaikh.
The drunken behaviour of two Liberal MPs will be at the centre of a new Labor attack advertisement targeting Opposition Leader Matthew Guy.

The ad, which will debut on Sunday night, a week before early voting starts, accuses Guy of standing by shadow treasurer David Davis, who was kicked out of a Victorian Multicultural Commission dinner in March after he had too much to drink.

At the time Davis apologised for the behaviour, which included touching, hugging and drinking too much. I understand I did the wrong thing, and it was a mistake  I did drink too much and thereby thats my mistake, Davis said.

Guy told the media the veteran Liberal MP was on his final warning but allowed him to stay on as with the treasury portfolio and as the oppositions leader in the upper house.

In August, the legislative council supported a motion calling for Davis to resign as the oppositions upper house leader. Former Liberal MP Bernie Finn was among those to vote against his colleague.
ANZs former head of global markets Steve Bellotti might be kicking himself he didnt sell his Mosman trophy home two years ago when it was pulling interest at the $35 million level, but it sold this week and the result of more than $30 million should be consolation enough.

The exact sale price was undisclosed by Atlass Michael Coombs, but he confirmed it sold on Wednesday after a few buyers emerged after the guide was revised to the low $30 millions.

The Mosman residence of Steve Bellotti sold on Wednesday for more than $30 million.

The initial guide of $36 million in 2020 was not realised because Bellotti and his wife Carrie Hayes Bellotti, former owner of the Aspen Spa and Yoga Studio, pulled it from the market when they returned from the United States during the COVID pandemic.

However, it was relisted in more recent months given the Bellotti familys return to the US, and local sources say it could settle for as much as $32 million to a buyer from Sydneys eastern suburbs.
Washington: Senior Russian military leaders recently had conversations about when and how Moscow might use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine, contributing to heightened concern in Washington and allied capitals, according to multiple senior American officials.

President Vladimir Putin was not a part of the discussions, which were held against the backdrop of Russias intensifying nuclear rhetoric and battlefield setbacks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin. Credit:AP

But the fact that senior Russian military leaders were even having the discussions alarmed the Joe Biden administration because it showed how frustrated Russian generals were about their failures on the ground, and suggests that Putins veiled threats to use nuclear weapons might not just be words.

Still, American officials said they had seen no evidence that the Russians were moving nuclear weapons into place or taking other tactical measures to prepare for a strike.
Ending its uncomfortable journey in India after eight years, Malaysia-based Group on Wednesday said it has exited India by selling its remaining 16.67 per cent stake to Tata Group-owned for Rs 155.64 crore.

Later in the day, said it has begun the process of creating a single low-cost carrier subsidiary by merging India and Express. A working group consisting CEO Sunil Bhaskaran and CEO Aloke Singh has been formed for the two carriers' integration, which is expected to take approximately 12 months, it added.

Meanwhile, AirAsia Group said can use the "AirAsia" brand name for 12 months. has been making losses since its first commercial flight on June 12, 2014. Its net loss increased by 42 per cent to Rs 2,178 crore in FY22.

Bo Lingam, Group CEO, AirAsia Group, stated: Covid has allowed us to re-examine our priorities, and we felt that it was best suited for AirAsia to develop an Asean-only business, where we have four great airlines in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines with a much loved brand and presence."

India will remain an important market for AirAsia and will continue to be served by our various airlines, he added.

AirAsia Group did not have a comfortable journey in India during the last eight years. It filed a criminal complaint in 2018 against Mittu Chandilya, who was CEO of AirAsia India from its birth to April 2016, alleging multiple financial irregularities.

In May 2018, the (CBI) filed a case against the AirAsia Group CEO and other group executives for allegedly trying to manipulate government policies through corrupt means to get international license for AirAsia India.

As a result, AirAsia India, even though it currently has 28 planes in its fleet, has been unable to launch international flights till date.

More importantly, in a market that has extremely tough competitors like IndiGo and SpiceJet, AirAsia India has not been able to make any profits (see table). According to aviation analytics company Cirium, AirAsia India has been operating 1,267 flights per week connecting 19 Indian cities in October.

Lingam said AirAsia Group "will use the experience and knowledge we have gained from operating in the Indian domestic market to grow the Asean-Indian market in logistics and passenger services to a far greater extent."

In a statement to Malaysian stock exchange, AirAsia Group said that the "brand license and technical services agreement" with AirAsia India "will be terminated after 12 months from the date of termination of the shareholders agreement between the parties or at an earlier date" as per the decision of the latter. The Group said it "is expected to receive Rs 155,64,87,800 (Equivalent to USD 18.83 million or MYR89.25 million) in gross proceeds."

After winning the bid in October last year, the took control of Air India on January 27. The (CCI) had on June 14 approved Air Indias request to acquire AirAsia India.

Campbell Wilson, CEO & MD, Air India, on Wednesday, said the creation of a single low-cost carrier "is a key step in the rationalisation and transformation of Air India Group, and we will be working closely with the management teams and staff throughout the process".
on Wednesday said an operational review process is underway to integrate budget carrier with Express and the merger is likely by the end of 2023.

Tata group-owned has also signed agreements to have a 100 per cent stake in . The carrier is a joint venture between Tata Sons and Air Asia Investment Ltd. Tata Sons has an 83.67 per cent stake and the remaining 16.33 per cent shareholding is with AirAsia.

The merger, likely by the end of 2023, is aimed at having a single low-cost carrier for the Air India group. Post-merger, the entity will be branded as Air India Express, according to a statement.

was launched in 2014 while started operations back in 2005.

The consolidation of the two low-cost carriers -- AirAsia India and -- will be undertaken as part of the restructuring roadmap that is being envisioned for the Tata group's airline business, Air India said in a statement.

"The assessment and implementation of the full integration process of AirAsia India and Air India Express, through a possible scheme of merger or otherwise and subject to necessary corporate approvals, is expected to take approximately 12 months, with network and other synergies to be realised progressively during that period," it said.

Currently, four airlines are part of the Tata group. They are Air India, Air India Express, AirAsia India and Vistara. The latter is a joint venture with Singapore Airlines. Tata group acquired Air India and Air India Express in January this year.

Earlier in the day, Malaysia's AirAsia Aviation Group Ltd said it has entered into a share purchase agreement to sell the remaining equity shares held in AirAsia India to Air India.

The consolidation of AirAsia India and Air India Express is expected to bring customer, revenue, cost and operational benefits through broader adoption of each airline's best practices, systems and routes, and the combined entity's greater scale, Air India said in the statement.

Air India has signed agreements to complete the acquisition of 100 per cent shareholding in AirAsia India.

A working group has been formed to evaluate and execute the integration of the Air India group's low-cost operations, which will be co-led by AirAsia India MD and CEO Sunil Bhaskaran and Air India Express CEO Aloke Singh.

The working group will report to a committee chaired by Air India MD and CEO Campbell Wilson.

About the merger of the two budget carriers, Wilson said, "We are excited to initiate the creation of a single Air India Group low-cost carrier".

"This is a key step in the rationalisation and transformation of the group, and we will be working closely with the management teams and staff throughout the process. We also look forward to the many new opportunities, a stronger AI group low-cost carrier will bring for customers and staff alike," he said.

In June, the Competition Commission of India approved the proposed acquisition of the entire shareholding of AirAsia India by Air India.

While announcing that it has signed an agreement to sell the remaining stake in AirAsia India, Group CEO of AirAsia Aviation Group Bo Lingam said that since 2014, "When we first commenced operation in India, AirAsia has built a great business in India, which is one of the world's biggest civil aviation markets".

"We have had a great experience working with India's leading Tata Group. This is not the end of our relationship but the beginning of a new one as we explore new and exciting opportunities to collaborate and enhance our synergies moving forward," he said in a separate statement.

Further, he said, the pandemic has allowed it to re-examine the priorities and "we felt that it was best suited for AirAsia to develop an Asean-only business".

The Malaysian group will continue to have airlines in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

"India will remain an important market for AirAsia and will continue to be served by our various airlines. We will use the experience and knowledge we have gained from operating in the Indian domestic market to grow the Asean-Indian market in logistics and passenger services to a far greater extent," Bo Lingam 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.)
operator on Wednesday said it has surpassed 1 million customers on network within 30 days of its commercial launch even while the network is being built.

Earlier, Airtel had announced phase wise roll-out of its services in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Nagpur and Varanasi.

The services in these cities are getting rolled out in a phased manner as the company continues to construct its network and complete the roll-out, according to Airtel.

" ...today announced that it has crossed the 1 million unique user mark on its network. The company achieved this milestone in less than 30 days of its commercial launch even as the network is being built," the company said in a statement.

Randeep Sekhon, Chief Technology Officer of Bharti Airtel, said these are early days but the response from customers have been "very encouraging".

"Our network is being built every day even as all 5G devices are now capable of working on the Airtel 5G Plus network barring a few exceptions which should also be done in the coming weeks," Sekhon said.

The Airtel senior executive added: "We will continue to advance our network with a vision to connect the entire country."



All 5G enabled smartphones, except Apple's iPhones, will start supporting Airtel 5G services by the middle of this month, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Gopal Vittal had said on Tuesday during the company's earnings call.

Vittal had said Apple will release the software update in the first week of November and all of its devices should support the company's 5G services by mid-December.

Airtel is providing 5G services at 4G rates but it is likely to take call on the pricing of the next generation services in the next 6-9 months, he added.

"Samsung... I think there are 27 models of 5G. 16 models are already ready and enabled. Rest will happen by November 10-12. OnePlus all 17 models will work on our network. Vivo all 34 models, Realme all 34 models will work on our network. Xiaomi's all 33 models and Oppo all 14 models will work. Apple has 13 models. They will have (software update) release around the first week of November and by mid-December they should be all ready," Vittal had informed.

According to market research firm IDC, 5.1 crore 5G smartphones were shipped from 2020 to first half of 2022 and they are expected to cross 50 per cent market share by 2023.

In the past weeks, however, several 5G smartphones were unable to access 5G services due to lack of compatibility between the network and the mobile phone.

Vittal said the company expects to cover all towns in urban India as also key rural areas by March 2024.

As per the company's Q2 report, Airtel's mobile services India customer base stood at 32.7 crore as on September 2022.

"4G data customers up by 17.8 million year-on-year and 5 million quarter-on-quarter, 64 per cent of overall mobile customer base," Airtel Q2 results statement had said earlier this week.

(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.)
Byjus will continue its Thiruvananthapuram centre, the giant decided after founder held discussions with Chief Minister on Wednesday.

A total of 140 associates will continue to operate from the centre, as the company valued at $22 billion restructures business as it seeks to be profitable by March next year.

Raveendran, a former teacher and the son of educators from Azhikode village in Kannur district of Kerala, founded Byjus along with his wife Divya Gokulnath in 2011 in Bengaluru.

Byju Raveendran, who is from Kerala, reiterates his commitment to the state and the leadership team of Byjus, under his guidance, will pursue a growth strategy in the state, said a Byjus spokesperson.

The Bengaluru-based firm had earlier said that it was discontinuing its Thiruvananthapuram operations for redundancy. It claimed that it was offering relevant relocation opportunities to the affected employees.

A group of Byjus employees recently met labour minister V Sivankutty, alleging that the firm was forcing more than 170 staffers to resign, as it looked to discontinue operations and close its Thiruvananthapuram office. TechnoparkToday, a community digital media platform for IT professionals, said that Byjus planned discontinuing the office.

Prathidhwani, a welfare organisation of techies requested the labour minister to intervene and help employees reach an amicable and dignified settlement with the firm and a revised exit policy with compensatory benefits.

The government then served a notice on representatives of Think and Learn (P) Ltd, (Byjus parent company) to appear at the district labour commissioner's office for talks over forcing 170 employees to resign.

However, Byjus said it has no plans to exit Kerala and is setting up three centres in the state and hiring around 600 people. With this, the total number of Byjus establishments across the state will be 14 and these are a mix of company offices and tuition centres. The number of employees in the state will increase from 3,000 to 3,600.

According to Byjus optimisation plan the firm is set to lay off nearly 2,500, or 5 per cent, of its 50,000 total employees. Byjus booked a loss of Rs 4,588 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2021. Under the optimisation plan, the company said it looks to target profitability by March 2023.

Raveendran, who is also chief executive officer of Byjus, said this week that the firm has to part ways with 2,500 employees to avoid role duplication.

There is a huge price to pay for walking on this path to profitability, said Raveendran in an internal company letter addressed to the employees. I am truly sorry to those who will have to leave Byjus. You are not just a name to me. You are not a number. You are not just five percent of my company. You are five percent of me.
Indian has a "big opportunity" despite global macroeconomic challenges, said Rishad Premji, chairman of IT services firm Wipro, on Wednesday as he spoke about how Covid-19 had changed work.

My confidence is driven by two things: the rapid pace of digitisation across the world, and the shift in the mindset of stakeholders who engage with us as an industry, said Premji in Bengaluru while addressing industry leaders and civil servants at the Invest Karnataka 2022, the states (GIM).

Businesses are using technology for customers and employees: a trend marked by the shift to cloud computing and leverage of data. This was a big opportunity before the pandemic and Covid has only accelerated it, said Premji.

India's IT growth would not have been possible without the governments support, which ranged from the creation of (SEZs) decades earlier and declaring the IT sector an emergency service in 2020 when the pandemic struck. The second step allowed to work seamlessly in the last two years. Global spending on technology is set to double in the coming years, he said.

We will build a plan along with industry and government to set us up for the next 25 years as we continue to ascend and continue to gain leadership on the global stage, said Premji. The and I look forward to working with all of you.

Businesses came to India for the cost and stayed for the quality. That practice continues but the conversation now is about finding and accessing the best talent in a . And India is where this talent is, said Premji. Our challenge is to find this talent and to leverage it to fulfill the demand.

Premji said that the IT industry has high attrition as are chasing the same pool of talent. To address this one needs to find new locations and fresh sources of talent.

Covid has shown us that the work can be done remotely and at scale, said Premji. This will make it easier to widen the talent pool, especially women and people with disabilities who will benefit from the flexibility of remote work.

India has a large number of skilled young workers and engineers, but instead of going to where the talent is the industry forces it to migrate to big cities. This puts a huge strain on infrastructure in cities, pushing up the cost of living and hurting the environment.

I deeply applaud the efforts of the government of Karnataka in setting up new technology clusters in our Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities as part of the Karnataka mission, said Premji.

He said the other initiative that the industry needs to put its mind behind is reskilling. Five years ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced Nasscom's Future Skills platform. Its aim initially was to upskill 40 lakh IT employees and prospective job seekers in eight emerging technologies that could drive IT jobs in the future. These technologies include artificial intelligence, virtual reality, robotic process automation, Internet of Things, big data analytics, 3D printing, cloud computing, and social and mobile.

We need more such initiatives to rapidly build up that digital talent pool, said Premji.

Industry can and will invest in more near-term technologies of public and private industries. But Premji said there is a need to invest in long-term and in-depth research to continue to develop new emerging technologies.

In 1996, shifted its base to Bengaluru. Its software exports at the time were mere $72 million and the technology boom in India hadn't started. Now has become one of the largest IT services in the world, with more than 260,000 employees in over 66 countries. Premji said Wipros story in many ways is the story of Indias IT industry. In the last three decades, the IT industry has grown significantly. Today, the industry contributes nearly 8 per cent of India's GDP (gross domestic product) compared to less than one per cent thirty years ago. Karnataka contributes nearly one-fourth of the share the IT exports.

India's role has grown in these last 30 years, from a low-cost offering destination to a true technology and business partner to every business in the world today, said Premji.
HYDERABAD: Rahul Gandhis Bharat Jodo Yatra entered the city on Tuesday. Starting at Shamshabad in the morning, the yatra halted at Tad Bund in the Old City, drawing civil society groups, LGBT groups, victims of acid attacks, domestic workers and homeless groups for an interaction

Mohammed Hajjida, a victim of an acid attack by a stalker in 2014, in which her mother died, sought economic support from Rahul Gandhi, not just for herself, but for other victims of such attacks too. She said that she could not breathe or eat properly and that she was able to move her hands only after corrective surgeries.

Tejaswini Madam, an activist working with acid attack victims, said, According to NCR statistics, around 200 acid attack cases are reported in the country, but as per some agencies that work closely with the victims, around 500 cases of acid attacks on women take place each year.

Among others who interacted with Rahul Gandhi was Sallamma, a rag picker.

She told the Congress leader: I have been a rag picker for 20 years. My husband died in 2011 and I have five girl children to support. My health is also deteriorating as sifting through garbage is hazardous. We are homeless, we applied for a home under a government scheme a decade ago, but we are yet to get one.

Another homeless person, Suguna, told Gandhi: Our houses were demolished and alternative houses allotted are 20 kilometres from the city. It is a difficult commute to work each day.

Domestic workers also met Rahul Gandhi, appealing for ESI health cards and houses, as most of their earnings are spent on rent.

Pawani, a domestic worker, said, Our pay has been slashed since the Covid lockdowns.

Representatives of LGBT groups also asked Rahul Gandhi to take up their cause.

Meera Sangamitra, a member of Transgender JAC, said, A large delegation met Rahul Gandhi and explained our difficulties and problems we are facing. We are here to express solidarity with Bharat Jodo.
Social e-commerce unicorn DealShare has launched private brands on its platform and plans to invest Rs 500 crore over the next 2-3 years in its new business.

The private brands will be manufactured in collaboration with SMEs. In its first phase, DealShare has introduced 52 categories under Chemko (home cleaning) Swaccha (personal hygiene), Sampoorti (Pantry staples), and X One (Male grooming brands) and plans to extend its portfolio to the skin & hair care, beauty & apparel categories over the next 2 years.

At DealShare, we have been working towards decoding the needs of Indias mass market customers, and our venture into the private brands business is a solution to their growing need to have access to high-quality affordable products. While this segment is extremely crowded with big players, however, the mass market customer is still left with limited choices and is predominantly under-serviced. We have been successfully bringing national presence to local brands and believe that our own private brands will only add value and offer wider choices to our value-based customers, said Vineet Rao, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, DealShare.

The Private Brand products will be available on the DealShare platform as well as in traditional stores. The company aims at selling these products nationally, starting with Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

With the launch of private brands, our intent is to bring more quality options in the CPG category for the mass market customers. With our core business model which is focused on scaling local brands, we have reached 20 million customers. The launch of our Own brands will help us increase our customer wallet share significantly, said Mr. Sourjyendu Medda, Co-founder, Chief Commercial Officer, DealShare.

We have on-boarded senior professionals from the industry to drive this initiative which will be led by Hemant Sood. Hemant is a dynamic professional with over 23 years of experience in the consumer business and has driven many such successful propositions as a Brand stalwart. With his expertise, we have already seen encouraging initial success for our private brands in the last few weeks, he added.

With its private brands, DealShare plans to reach over 3000 towns with populations of less than 10,000 in India, with a disproportionate share of its business coming from the 396 cities with between 100,000 and 1 million people, and 2500 cities with between 10,000 and 100,000 people.

Currently, DealShare claims to be present in over 150 cities across 8 states and has acquired more than 20 million consumers. It has further onboarded over 1,000 DealShare Dost, further empowering over 20,000 people with job opportunities.
Prime Minister (PM) on Wednesday made a pitch for India as the best destination for global investors, and a reliable player in supply chains, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, on the first day of the global investor meet Invest 2022.

Investing in India means investing in inclusion, in democracy, and investing for the world, and for a better, cleaner, and safer planet, Modi said.

The event saw Indias top business groups detailing their investment plans for the state over the next few years.

Referring to the sense of global optimism towards India, the PM said that these were uncertain times, but still, most nations were convinced about the fundamentals of the Indian economy. In this period of fragmentation, India was moving with the world, and giving emphasis on working with the world, he added.

On the first day, the and groups said they would each invest Rs 1 trillion in Karnataka, as they looked to expand their presence in the state. Group Chairman said the Rs 1-trillion investment committed by his conglomerate was in addition to the Rs 1 trillion already invested in the state and would be spread over five years.

Ports and SEZ Chief Executive Officer Karan Adani, the son of Gautam Adani, said the investment lined by his group would go into sectors such as renewable energy, cement, airports, and edible oils. This would happen over the next seven years.

The Vedanta group committed Rs 80,000 crore at the summit, according to company officials, for investments in renewable energy, gold, and iron ore mining.

While ACME Solar, ABC Cleantech and ReNew Power said they would each bring in Rs 50,000 crore into Karnataka, Sterlite Power said it would plough in a large part of its Rs 50,000-crore investment in the state.

Over the next five years, we have planned to increase our renewable energy capacities ten-fold and invest close to Rs 50,000 crore in renewable energy generation.

This means a large chunk of that investment will come to Karnataka, Pratik Agarwal, managing director, Sterlite Power, said.

Bharti Airtel, meanwhile, said it was planning to invest Rs 15,000 crore in Karnataka, while said it was committing to spend Rs 11,000 crore in the state.

We will be launching 5G in by December or January," Rajan Bharti Mittal, vice-chairman, Bharti Enterprises, said at the summit.

The three-day summit began on Wednesday, with investments worth nearly Rs 5.6 trillion committed by India Inc so far, and deals worth Rs 7.5 trillion expected to be struck in total. Over 20 Indian and global signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with the government on Wednesday.

A number of business exhibitions with more than 300 exhibitors, and country sessions would run concurrently. The country sessions would be hosted by partner countries  France, Germany, Netherlands, South Korea, Japan, and Australia  which would bring in high-level ministerial and industrial delegations from their respective countries.
The plans to invest Rs one lakh crore in over the next five years, its Chairman said on Wednesday.

In his address to the inaugural function of ''Invest 2022", the State's Global Investors' Meet (GIM) here, he also requested the state government to consider mineral auctions.

Jindal said the Group has so far invested over Rs one lakh crore in . "And over the next five years, we have plans to invest additional Rs one lakh crore in Karnataka".

The investment would head into expansion of its steel plant, and renewable energy and port infrastructure development space.

The Group's Ballari steel plant in Karnataka has grown to be the biggest in India and would soon become the biggest steel plant in the world, Jindal noted.

Urging the state government to consider mineral auctions, he said the move would further encourage investment in the manufacturing sector and support Karnataka's growth trajectory.

In this context, he praised the Odisha government for being the "most aggressive" State in auctioning "the mineral assets, the mines".

"When I speak for the evolution that is taking place in steel making, time is of essence. As minerals like iron ore will always be not needed for production of steel, hence, it's imperative that these assets are monetised at the earliest," Jindal 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.)
Industrialist Sajjan Jindal, who is the chairman of the JSW Group, said on Wednesday that his group was planning to invest Rs 1 trillion over the next five years in all its Karnataka-based businesses.

Jindal, 62, was speaking at the in Bengaluru, when he made the announcement. The group has already invested Rs 1 trillion in the state. The additional would be in steel, green energy, cement, paints and a new greenfield port, he said.

JSW operates a steel plant in Vijayanagar, which is located in the Ballari-Hospete iron ore belt. With a current capacity of 12 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), the manufacturing unit in Vijayanagar is India's largest single-location integrated steel-making facility.

The steel major had earlier said that it would invest Rs 15,000 crore to expand its capacity to 18 mtpa by FY24 at its Vijaynagar unit. This is expected to help the company achieve its taget of achieving 37 mtpa by FY25. The company also operates steel plants in Maharashtra and Orissa.

At the Global Investors Meet, Jindal pointed to supply-side constraints that businesses were witnessing, which were overpowering demand.

"Minerals like iron ore will not always be needed for the production of steel  hence it is imperative that these assets are monetised at the earliest. Mineral auctions will encourage investments in the manufacturing sector and support Karnatakas growth trajectory," he said.

In May, the Supreme Court had lifted the ban imposed on iron ore export from the mines of Ballari, Chitradurga, and Tumakuru districts in and allowed miners to sell ore through direct sale.

The move had benefitted steel companies, since it would increase availability of iron ore, experts said. Prior to this, iron-ore miners in were allowed to sell output through the e-auction route only, following the 2011 ban on export of iron ore directly from the state.
Petrochemical manufacturing firm Manali Petrochemicals Ltd reported a standalone profit after tax (PAT) at Rs 11.71 crore for the second quarter ending September 30, 2022, the company said on Wednesday.

The city-based company which is a part of the AM International, Singapore, had reported standalone PAT at Rs 119.62 crore during the corresponding quarter in the previous year.

The standalone revenue during the quarter under review stood at Rs 267.22 crore, as against Rs 407.80 crore registered during the same period last financial year.

"With the downtrends continuing on global cues, sales and profitability continued to be under pressure during the above period," the company said in a statement here.

Manali Petrochemicals Ltd MD Ravi said the downtrend in the economy impelled by global events continue to affect the performance, which is being experienced since the last quarter of the previous year.

Though sales volume could be maintained, product prices had been falling on the one hand and the input costs going up on the other, wearing down the margins, he said.

The company board approved proposals for investment in its wholly-owned subsidiary, AMCHEM Speciality Chemicals Pvt Ltd, Singapore, up to USD 35 million in one or more tranches for funding its overseas acquisition plans.

"MPL's performance during the quarter reflects the ongoing volatility at the macroeconomic level. In spite of the current macro-uncertainty, our robust business model will help us navigate the challenges successfully," MPL chairman Ashwin Muthiah said.

"The recent clearance from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, for the PG expansion project is a significant, much-awaited development. Together, these factors will enable us to create continued value for our entire stakeholder value chain," 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.)
Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister on Wednesday said the central government is pro-poor, pro-farmer and also industry friendly, and exhorted domestic as well as global to invest in the country's chemicals industry.

He also said the government is creating an industry-friendly environment and consulting all stakeholders before framing any policy.

Speaking at the event India Chem 2022 here, the minister also emphasised on



industrial development in India and said an eco-system is being created for holistic growth.

While stressing that all the "critical requirements" should be produced locally, he said there is a need to boost India's exports and reduce imports.

Talking about the chemical industry, Mandaviya said there is a huge opportunity in the chemical and petro-chemical sector, and asked corporates to make investments to increase manufacturing capacities.

"India is a best destination for investment. It is the biggest democracy with best judicial system," he said.

Mandaviya said the government intends to work together with the industry. "We are reforming policies after consultation with the industry".

Chemicals and Petro-Chemicals Secretary Arun Baroka said the Indian chemical industry holds tremendous growth potential and the market size is expected to reach around USD 383 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) of 8 per cent.

According to an official statement, the export of Indian chemicals has registered an overwhelming growth of 106 per cent in 2021-22 compared to 2013-14.

The export of chemicals for 2021-22 has hit a record at USD 29,296 million as against USD 14,210 million in 2013-14.

India Chem 2022 is being organised to showcase the government's policy for sustainable growth in the sector and provide a platform for national and international players to interact, exchange knowledge and forge alliances.

The event will also highlight the investment opportunities especially in Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Regions (PCPIRs) and focus on the "Make in India" initiative.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
will start flights to Pune from November 23, making the city the ninth destination in the new airline's network.

The carrier, which started operations on August 7, expects to cross some 58 daily flights and 400 weekly flights by the end of November, a release said on Wednesday.

Owing to rising demand, the airline said the connectivity between Bengaluru and Mumbai will be increased with a sixth and seventh frequency from November 23, taking the total number of daily services in the route to seven.

After launching the services between Bengaluru and Pune on November 23, will start a second frequency in the route from November 26.

Akasa will now offer 20 daily flights from Bengaluru connecting seven cities -- Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Chennai, Kochi, Guwahati, and Pune, the release said.

Praveen Iyer, Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Akasa Air, said that connecting two of the most important IT hubs -- Pune and Bengaluru -- will offer enhanced connectivity and options along with affordable fares.

has been progressively scaling up its operations with a total of 13 routes across 9 cities - Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kochi, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Guwahati, Agartala and Pune.

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saw his father build Ltd. into one of Indias national champions by pioneering a novel strategy of outsourcing technology services. Now the 39-year-old is attempting a no less daunting task of using data to make white-collar workers more efficient.

The billionaire Harvard alums Soroco works with global corporations to streamline office tasks, using techniques similar to .s pioneering efforts decades ago to eliminate waste in manufacturing. The company collects data to study patterns of how workers use software across teams and suggests fixes to iron out kinks, boost productivity and reduce costs. The solutions can be better technology, automation, standardization and preventing repetition of tasks.

The startup, based both in Boston and Bangalore, gets a real-time view of how people in teams get work done by using machine learning. Customers include drugmaker Bayer AG, engineering giant Robert Bosch GmbH, candy and petfood maker Mars Inc. as well as some Wall Street banks and global online retailers.

The manufacturing industry built and refined processes to make blue-collar work more efficient but the digital age has no parallel, founder and Chief Technology Officer Murty said in an interview recently in Bangalore. Soroco has built the white-collar equivalent.

Hes hardly the first one to come up with the concept, which is dubbed task mining in industry parlance. Giants such as Microsoft Corp., International Business Machines Corp. and SAP SE all have similar offerings and have struggled to make much of a dent in the daily inefficiencies of white-collar work.

Murty thinks hes found a more effective approach.

Sorocos software can collect data and map patterns across entire teams, uncovering inefficiencies and waste that top executives cant see, he said.

Its common to see the management pitted against the team doing the work, said Murty, who earned a bachelors degree from Cornell University and a doctorate from Harvard University, both in computer science,. Soroco helps align both toward a common goal.

In one example, a global pharmaceutical firm faced complaints from customers about delays in handling orders, rebates and returns. Soroco says its machine-learning software detected steps along the way that required a significant amount of manual work and recommended automation across multiple locations. That cut the processing time by 75%, resulting in a steep reduction in complaints, according to the startup.

Murty teamed up with Arjun Narayan, a computer scientist from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and George Nychis, a PhD from Carnegie Mellon University to create Soroco in 2014. The startup is seeking to expand at a time when the pandemic has hastened the proliferation of digital devices and apps used by more than half-a-billion office workers around the world. Murty estimates that people interact with work-related software roughly 70 times as often as they do with leading social networks.

Besides formidable competition, Soroco could also face internal resistance from employees who feel threatened by the scrutiny of how they work, according to Amardeep Modi, a vice president at researcher Everest Group. Addressing such concerns, Soroco says the whole exercise is anonymous and carried out without compromising the privacy of individuals.

Most obsess over the wrong kind of workplace questions -- like the number of days employees work from home or office -- said Sandeep Dadlani, who was until last month the chief digital officer at Mars.

Any technology capability that allows enterprises to empathize with and understand how employees work, can help frame the productivity problem better, make life better for teams and at scale, said Dadlani, now the chief digital and technology officer at health-care conglomerate UnitedHealth Group Inc.

Stake

Murty owns 1.45% of Infosys, whose market value is about $80 billion, making him the second-largest individual shareholder of the outsourcing giant founded by his father Narayana Murthy. Murtys sister Akshata, a billionaire herself, is married to the newly elected British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Soroco, with about 250 employees and 40 patents, isnt in a hurry to seek external funding yet, Murty said, adding its customer base tripled in the past year.
In a major relief, 5G-enabled Apple iPhone users will be able to try out the services wherever available publicly in the country from next week, both on stand-alone (Reliance Jio) or non-stand-alone networks (Bharti Airtel).

Airtel and Jio customers who download the iOS 16 Beta software update can try out the service and send feedback to the company as part of its "Apple Beta Software Program". The final updated software will be available sometime in December.

The Apple Beta Software Program lets users try out pre-release software and experience the latest features before the software becomes publicly available. Users can also provide feedback to Apple on quality and usability, which helps Apple identify issues, fix them, and make Apple software even better.

made the commitment at a meeting of key mobile device makers called by the DoT on Wednesday to discuss the progress of the 5G rollout in the country.

All the other mobile device makers have also committed that their respective 5G phones would be enabled to receive 5G by the middle of November (which includes some with beta software) both on stand-alone and non-stand-alone networks.

This is much earlier than their initial plan to enable all phones by December. Over 160 models of 5G handsets are available in the country, and more than 70-80 million 5G handset users.

The device makers also raised concerns that the operators are rolling out the network very slowly, which could lead to numerous complaints from customers using the service.

Apple shared details of its beta software program. Users with 5G-enabled iPhones can become part of the Apple Beta Software Program by enrolling their devices on the Apple website and accessing the latest beta release and subsequent updates. This includes the software update, which will be available to Airtel and Jio customers from next week.

In an official statement in October, shared a timeline and said, "We are working with our carrier partners in India to bring the best 5G experience to iPhone users as soon as network validation and testing for quality and performance is completed. 5G will be enabled via a software update and will start rolling out to iPhone users in December."



Handset makers, however, remain concerned about the slow pace of the 5G rollout. The minister of communications, Ashwini Vaishnaw, had tried to address this issue in October when he urged telcos to increase the pace of the 5G rollout in the country. He said that telcos need to raise the number of 5G towers installed weekly to at least 10,000 per week, up from the current 2,500 per week.

However, operators and vendors have a different story to tell. "With very stiff safety measures and also a lot of specialised labour going home during the festivities, the movement has been slow. Also, 5G radios whose orders have been made recently will take time to be imported, so there is going to be an initial challenge," said one of the vendors involved in the process:



Operators say that it is unfair to push them to a number as they would be rolling out according to their plan, and they have agreed to rollout commitments of 5G in any case.

"One will see a push from January, which will become even faster by June-July and by October, one can see a substantial amount of 5G coverage in the country," said a senior executive at a telco.
is a destination for the global investors and all roads of global investors are leading to . The three-day 'Invest Karnataka' meet will become a grand success, said Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.

Talking to reporters after inspecting the arrangements for the three-day meet at Palace Ground here on Tuesday, he said the 'Invest Karnataka' is going to grab the attention of the whole world. Global investment is coming here as Karnataka has a rich atmosphere. This will put a strong foundation for the development of Karnataka in the next five years. It is a most important meet and all technocrats, young engineers, IT/BT experts, startups, educational institutions and global and domestic investors are welcome to .

"We are expecting over Rs 5 lakh crore investment and the State High level Committee has already given clearance for investment over Rs 2.8 lakh crore. This is our commitment to our investors and we are going to distribute the certificate of investment tomorrow. We will sign an agreement with new investors and give all the clearances in the next few days. The State of Karnataka is making a big leap in the industrial sector and it will be evident in tomorrow's meet, "the CM said.

Bommai said most of the investors have shown interest for investment beyond Bengaluru, and new industries are coming up in Ramanagar, Hubballi-Dharwad, Ballari,Kalaburagi and Mysuru.

Today, industries are crossing the regional barrier. The dream of Beyond Bengaluru is becoming a reality. Last week, the FMCG Cluster to come up in Dharwad was inaugurated in Hubballi and expected an investment of Rs 10,000 crore. It is going to provide employment to over one lakh people. The textile park will come up in Kalaburagi, Vijayapura and Raichur districts; Pharma Park in Yadgir; Electronic Park in Mysuru and Defense production unit in Tumkur. "The situation is conducive in Karnataka and plays an important role in building New Karnataka. Our aim is to contribute One Trillion Dollar to the Prime Minister's five Trillion dollar economy of India. The ecosystem that exists in China is present in Karnataka. The state has made achievements in the manufacturing sector.

Besides, it is in the forefront in the fields of electrical, mechanical, energy, iron and steel. Apart from this, a strong foundation has been laid for Electronic and Artificial Intelligence. We have been in the forefront in IT/BT in the last two decades, and Bengaluru is called Silicon Valley. The contribution of Karnataka in IT/BT export is 40 percent and the maximum number of jobs in this field is created in IT/BT. The state is ahead in agriculture production, IT/BT, Startups and others. The industrial policy, Ease of Doing Business has helped attract investment here. The State has attracted 38 per cent of Foreign Direct Investment in the last four quarters.

(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.)
Vijayawada: Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit recused from hearing the three capitals case of Andhra Pradesh and directed the registry to post the hearing for another bench.

A division bench headed by the CJI took up the hearing of the petitions filed by the farmers from Amaravati region and the state government in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Farmers counsel submitted to the court that when the present CJI was serving as senior counsel in the apex court, he rendered his opinion to Andhra Pradesh in relation to its bifurcation. A copy of his opinion was placed before the court.

The CJI took note and said he was not going to hear the case and directed the registry to allot the case to another bench.

Government counsel informed the court that the opinion rendered was given long ago when the AP Reorganization Act was not passed. The CJI reiterated that he would not hear the case.

Earlier, the state government filed an SLP in the apex court challenging the AP high courts judgment that the state was not competent to legislate on its three capitals. The government filed the SLP to help resolve the issue and go ahead with the 3-capitals plan.

The AP government presented the view that it is for a state to reorganise itself as per provisions of the central Act under Articles 3 and 4 of the Constitution. If a state is deprived of the power to reorganise its capital city, it would be destructive to the federal saturation of the Indian Constitution, the state argued.
Prime Minister on Wednesday cited his government's measures to boost the capital's development and took a veiled swipe at the AAP dispensation here, wondering how much money should have been spent on advertising these measures of the Centre.

Inaugurating 3,024 new flats for those from the Economically Weaker Sections, Modi said poverty was long considered an issue for the poor to deal with but they are now at the centre of his government's policies as his is a "garibon ki sarkar" (poor people's government).

He cited the boost to the Metro service, the length of which has increased to nearly 400 km from 190 km in the capital region since his government came to power. He also mentioned the work on highways around the capital city and other infrastructure measures besides pro-poor decisions.

The central government is working to make a grand city fitted with all the facilities expected of the country's capital, Modi said.

Addressing the beneficiaries of the new flats, Modi asked, "You tell me how much money should have been spent on advertisement for all the things I have listed before you. How many newspaper pages should have been filled (with ads), with my pictures?"



Though the prime minister did not refer to the Aam Aadmi Party, which runs the city government, the BJP has often slammed it for its allegedly massive expenditure on publicity while doing little on the ground.

The Centre has also helped the lower and the middle classes to realise their dreams of having a house by giving subsidy on their housing loan interests. Over Rs 700 crore has been spent on it, he added.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has asked the to shut schools till air quality in the capital improves.

The capital's air quality has deteriorated to 'severe' in the last few days, according to Central Control Board (CPCB) data.

Air in the 'severe' category affects healthy people and seriously impacts children and those with existing diseases, according to the CPCB.

The apex child rights body said it had taken a serious view of the matter and expressed concern over the 'severe' air quality impacting the health of children.

NCPCR Chairperson Priyank Kanoongo has written to the chief secretary and strongly recommended considering appropriate action. He has urged the to consider shutting schools in the interest of the children till air quality in the national capital improves.

(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 contractors who carried out repairs of the ill-fated suspension bridge at Morbi in Gujarat were not qualified to carry out such jobs, the prosecution told a court here.

While the bridge flooring was replaced, its cable was not replaced and it could not take the weight of the changed flooring, the prosecution, citing a forensic report, told the magistrate's court on Tuesday.

The collapse of the bridge on Sunday evening claimed 135 lives.

Chief Judicial Magistrate M J Khan remanded four of the arrested accused -- two managers of the OREVA Group and two sub-contractors who had repaired the bridge -- in police custody till Saturday.

The court remanded five other arrested men, including security guards and ticket booking clerks, in judicial custody as police did not seek their custody, prosecutor H S Panchal said.

Police had on Monday booked nine persons under Indian Penal Code Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).

The four accused remanded in police custody were OREVA managers Dipak Parekh and Dinesh Dave, and repairing contractors Prakash Parmar and Devang Parmar, hired by the OREVA Group.

Citing a Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report, Panchal told the court that forensic experts believed the main cable of the bridge snapped because of the weight of the new flooring.

"Though the FSL report was presented in a sealed cover, it was mentioned during the remand plea that cables of the bridge were not replaced during the renovation and only flooring was changed...the weight of the bridge increased due to the four-layered aluminium sheets for the flooring and the cable snapped due to that weight," Panchal told reporters.

The court was also informed that both the repairing contractors were "not qualified" to carry out such a work.

"Despite that, these contractors were given the bridge repair work in 2007 and then in 2022. So the accused's custody was needed to find out what was the reason for choosing them and at whose instance they were chosen," the prosecutor said.

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Chief Minister on Wednesday directed Labour Minister Manish Sisodia to provide Rs 5,000 each as financial aid to 10 lakh registered workers due to pollution-related ban on construction activities in Delhi.

With pollution levels worsening, the Centre's air quality panel had on Saturday directed authorities to impose a ban on construction and demolition activities in Delhi-NCR, except on essential projects, and other curbs under stage three of the Graded Response Action Plan.

GRAP is set of anti-air pollution measures followed in the capital and its vicinity according to the severity of the situation.

"Construction activities have been stopped across Delhi in view of pollution. I have directed Labour Minister, Sh Manish Sisodia, to give Rs 5,000 pm as financial support to each construction worker during this period when construction activities are not permitted," Kejriwal tweeted.

The will deposit Rs 5,000 in the accounts of over 10 lakh construction workers of Delhi. A sum of approximately Rs 500 crores is to be spent on the scheme, said a statement.

The assistance amount will be deposited by the government directly in the accounts of the registered construction workers soon, it said.

The had spent Rs 350 crores to support 7 lakh construction workers last year too due to pollution-induced ban on construction activities.

Even during the coronavirus crisis, the Delhi Government had provided an aid of Rs 5,000 to all the construction workers, it said.

A complete ban on construction and demolition activities has been imposed owing to the rise in pollution in recent days.

Due to the sudden construction ban, there was a sense of anxiety among the workers who found them out of work for an uncertain period.

Delhi's air quality improved marginally on Wednesday morning owing to relatively better meteorological conditions, with the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) saying there is no immediate need to implement curbs such as a ban on the entry of trucks and a closure of educational institutions, under the fourth stage of GRAP.

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A contract driver of the staff of Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly assaulting a woman recently when she was out for a morning walk near the Museum area here, police said.

An officer of Museum police station said that the accused driver has also been arrested for trespassing into a house here recently.

In view of the police recording the contract driver's arrest for the two offences, the minister ordered his immediate removal from being driver of his private secretary, according to a statement issued by his office.

He also instructed the water authority to conduct an inquiry against the accused driver and take appropriate action, it said.

According to police, the accused allegedly used the vehicle allotted by the water authority to the minister's private secretary for carrying out the offences.

However, while being taken for evidence collection, the accused told reporters here that he was being falsely implicated in the case and denied having committed either of the two offences.

"I did not do anything. I have not done anything. I am being falsely implicated. Lot of evidence is being foisted upon me. My wife is being intimidated to admit certain things," he claimed.

Meanwhile, both the Congress and the BJP slammed the ruling Left government over the issue.

Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala alleged women were not safe in under the LDF rule.

He said removal of the driver from the service will not end the responsibility of the minister and the government for the accused' actions.

BJP state president K Surendran told media in Kottayam that two incidents indicated failure of the police.

He also said that the government and the minister cannot avoid responsibility for the accused' actions.

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India is the best place for global investors and a reliable player in supply chains after Covid-19, said Prime Minister on Wednesday.

India is growing rapidly despite global uncertainties and aims to be a developed nation by 2047, he said at the inaugural function of Karnataka's (GIM) via video conferencing.

Investing in India means investing in inclusion, in democracy, and investing for the world, and for a better, cleaner, and safer planet, said Modi. Instead of trapping the investors in the red tape, we created an environment of the red carpet for investment."

He explained the change of approach from 9-10 years ago when the country was grappling with policy and implementation-related issues. Instead of making new complicated laws, we rationalised them, said Modi.

India received a record foreign investment of $84 billion last year. In uncertain times, most nations are convinced about the fundamentals of the Indian economy. India is moving with the world and working with it. India could assure the world about the supply of medicines and vaccines in the period of the disrupted supply chain, he said.

Modi said that even in a global crisis, analysts, and economists have hailed India as a bright spot. We are continuously working towards cementing our fundamentals to further strengthen Indias economy with each passing day, he said.

Modi said the reforms his government had carried out included (goods and services tax), IBC (Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code), Banking reforms, UPI (Unified Payments Interface) and the abolition of 1500 outdated laws and 40 thousand unnecessary compliances. He also said that steps like decriminalisation of many company law provisions, faceless assessment, new avenues for FDI (foreign direct investment), liberalisation of drone rules, geospatial and space sector and defence sector are bringing unprecedented energy. Modi said that the number of operational airports has doubled in the last 8 years and Metro has expanded in more than 20 cities.

Highlighting PM-GatiShakti National Master Plan, Modi said that it is aimed at integrated infrastructure development. He explained that a road map is prepared not just for developing infrastructure but also for existing infrastructure while the most efficient route is discussed in implementing the plan. Modi stressed the emphasis on last-mile connectivity and ways to improve the product or service by making it world-class.

He said that continues to be ranked the best for ease of doing business. He underlined, 400 of the Fortune 500 companies are here and out of 100 plus unicorns of India, more than 40 are in Karnataka".

The summit is aimed at attracting investors and setting up development agenda for the next decade. The speakers at the event include some of the top industry leaders including Kumar Mangalam Birla, Sajjan Jindal and Vikram Kirloskar.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said the event in Bengaluru will attract an investment of more than Rs 5 trillion. The government also said it expects an employment generation of over five lakh when the investment is realised.
The has attached 28 immovable properties worth Rs 10.12 crore belonging to gangster and his associates, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

The ED had lodged a PMLA case against Vikas Dubey, his family and aides on September 14, 2020.

" and his aides were involved in various offences like organised crime, land mafia, corruption and embezzlement of the funds meant for the Public Distribution System (PDS). Statements of the accused persons were recorded and their ITRs and bank accounts were scrutinized. Most of the accused persons are in jail. Their statements were recorded in jail," said an ED official.

The attached properties are in Kanpur and Lucknow.

It may be recalled that on July 3, 2020, a police team that went to the house of in Bikru village for a raid, was attacked by the latter and his aides.

Eight policemen, including the then Circle Officer of Bilhaur, Devendra Mishra, were killed by the gangster and his aides in the attack.

Later, the police, in back-to-back encounters, had killed six accused, including Vikas Dubey. About 50 accused, including some cops, are in jail.

--IANS

amita/dpb

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The has summoned Jharkhand Chief Minister for questioning on November 3 in a case linked to alleged illegal mining in the state, officials said on Wednesday.

Soren, 47, has been asked to appear before the federal probe agency at its regional office in the Hinoo area of state capital Ranchi at 11 am on Thursday.

The agency wants to question and record the statement of the chief minister under the Prevention of Act (PMLA), they said.

Soren hit out at the BJP, alleging it was resorting to ''misusing'' institutions as it cannot face him politically.

"We have also been called on the request of our Opposition. An attempt has been made to show how powerful the ED is... the people will give them the answer for every conspiracy,'' the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader tweeted.

The (ED) had earlier arrested Soren's political aide Pankaj Mishra and two others -- local muscleman Bachhu Yadav and Prem Prakash -- in this case.

The agency has claimed it has "identified" proceeds of crime relating to illegal mining in the state to the tune of more than Rs 1,000 crore till now.

The ED probe began after the agency raided Mishra and his alleged associates on July 8, covering 19 locations in Sahibganj, Barhait, Rajmahal, Mirza Chauki and Barharwa in Jharkhand in the case linked to alleged instances of illegal mining and extortion.

"The PMLA investigation revealed that Mishra, who enjoys political clout, being the representative of the chief minister, MLA from Barhait, Sahibganj, Jharkhand controls the illegal mining businesses as well as inland ferry services in Sahibganj and its adjoining areas through his accomplices.

"He exercises considerable control over the mining of stone chips and boulders as well as installation and operations of several crushers, set up across various mining sites in Sahibganj," the ED had alleged after filing a charge sheet in the case before a special court in Ranchi.

In the charge sheet, the ED stated that it recovered "a sealed envelope containing a passbook and two cheque books containing two signed cheques, all pertaining to A/c...in the name of Shri held with Bank of India, Sahibganj".

Among other items seized by the ED include "one yellow color file marked as April 2019 to June 2022 having all bank details of Hemant Soren" and his family members, the agency said in the charge sheet.

Forty-seven search operations have been conducted and cash worth Rs 5.34 crore has been seized, bank balances worth Rs 13.32 crore have been frozen, an inland water vessel worth Rs 30 crore has been seized apart from five stone crushers, two trucks and two AK 47 assault rifles (these weapons were later claimed by Jharkhand police as its own) till now, the ED said.

Some banking documents and cheques that purportedly bore the name of the chief minister were also recovered from the searched premises, officials had said.

The action was initiated after the ED filed a case under the PMLA against Mishra and others in March, alleging that the former "illegally grabbed or amassed huge assets in his favour".

It took cognisance of a state police FIR filed against Mishra at Barharwa police station in Sahibganj district and some other police complaints filed in the illegal mining trade instances under various sections of the Arms Act, the Explosive Substances Act, among others.

A second instance where cash linked to alleged illegal mining in the state was unearthed pertains to the ED action against suspended Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Pooja Singhal in May.

Apart from the 2000-batch IAS officer, her businessman husband, a chartered accountant linked to the couple and others were raided by the ED as part of the probe linked to a case of alleged corruption in MGNREGA scheme.

Singhal, who was holding the charge of Jharkhand mining secretary, was suspended by the state government following her arrest by the ED.

Suman Kumar, a chartered accountant linked to Singhal and her husband, was also arrested by the agency and cash amounting to Rs 19.76 crore was seized by it.

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Elaben Bhatt, founder of Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) and renowned Gandhian, passed away on Wednesday in Ahmedabad after a brief period of illness. She was 89 years old.

Bhatt was a qualified lawyer and had served as the chairperson of the Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust (SAPMT) in the past.

Bhatt was born in 1933 in Surat and completed her schooling at the Sarwajanik Girls High School. She then went to MTB Arts College for her graduation.

After obtaining her law degree in 1954, she joined the Textile Labour Association (TLA) in 1955. TLA was formed in 1920 by .

She was among the foremost Gandhians of India. Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, Ela founded SEWA in 1972 which today has a membership of over 2 million self-employed women across 18 states in India.

She later founded the Women's World Banking (WWB), a network of microfinance institutions. Between 1984 and 1988, she was the chairperson of WWB. At one time, she also served as the advisor to the World Bank.

She also served as a Rajya Sabha MP till 1989.

Bhatt was appointed as the chancellor of the Gujarat Vidyapith, which was also founded by Gandhi. But in 2022, she resigned from the post.

In 1985, she received India's fourth-highest civilian honour, Padma Shri. Subsequently, in 1986 she won the third-highest civilian honour, Padma Bhushan. In 2011, for her efforts in empowering women through entrepreneurship, Bhatt received the Gandhi Peace Prize.

In 1977, Bhatt was also awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership.

Prime minister Narendra Modi condoled her death.

"Sad to know about the death of Elaben Bhatt. She will be remembered long for her work for the promotion of women empowerment, social service and education among the youth. Condolences to her family members and admirers," Modi tweeted in Gujarati.

(With PTI inputs)
Chief Minister on Wednesday directed the officials concerned to ensure the security of enemy properties located in different districts of the state, an official statement said.

Enemy properties are properties that have been left behind by people who have taken citizenship of Pakistan and China.

There have also been reports of encroachment at certain places. In such a situation, a report of the updated status of all the enemy properties should be prepared. To make them free from encroachment, statewide action should be initiated under the supervision of the Home Department, the chief minister was quoted as saying in the official release issued here.

For the protection, management, and monitoring of enemy properties, a principal secretary level officer should be appointed as a nodal officer, the chief minister said while chairing a high-level meeting.

He also said that the potential for tourism development can be shaped by effectively promoting the cultural/historical heritage of the border villages/districts.

"We need to make a planned effort to make the villages located on the interstate/international border 'vibrant', he said.

School children, NCC, NSS cadets/volunteers should be taken to these areas. The retired military personnel/ paramilitary personnel residing in these areas should be recognised as Border Sepoys (Sarhad ke Sipahi), and their necessary cooperation should be taken in maintaining the system, the release said.

In the border districts, 100% saturation of the central and state government's public welfare schemes should be ensured, he said.

The Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) prepares a document of the status of crime data in the country. For smooth implementation of the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act 2022, a nodal officer should be posted at the state level. In any case, ensure that the NCRB has access to accurate, real and time bound data, the CM said.

Keeping in view the importance of cyber security, now after the police zone, there is a need to establish a cyber crime police station in every district of the state. These cyber police stations can be established in the reserve police lines of the districts as per the local convenience, he said.

At the state level, a joint cyber coordinating team should be established. This team should also include cyber experts in addition to the police department. Prepare and submit a detailed action plan, the CM said.

The 'Safe City Project' is proving very useful in fulfilling the resolve of women's safety, respect and self-reliance. Through this project in the state, the Modern Control Room under Lucknow Police Commissionerate, Pink Police Booth, Asha Jyoti Kendra, CCTV cameras, help desk for counsellors in women police stations, panic buttons in buses and other security measures have been implemented.

The security system of cities has become smart with the Integrated Traffic Management System installed under the Smart City Project.

Prepare an action plan to develop more cities as 'Safe Cities' by doing financial management through convergence with inter-departmental coordination. In this way, in the first phase, will be the first state to have 17 safe cities, he said.

There is also a need to intensify the campaign against illegal manufacture and drug trafficking in the state. Strictest action should be ensured against drug mafia, the chief minister added.

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Pitching in hard were party MLAs Etala Rajendar (in picture) and M. Raghunandan Rao, two Rs of the RRR the BJP has in the Assembly, with the third, T. Raja Singh, in prison under a judicially contested arrest under the Preventive Detention Act.  DC Image

MUNUGODE: The bypoll contest between the BJP and the TRS in Munugode is yet another Kurukshetra, where truth and honesty of the Bharatiya Janata Party will defeat the conspiracies and machinations of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, state BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar declared on Tuesday.

On the last day of the campaign for Munugode byelection, Sanjay told reporters that it will be the BJP flag that will fly high when votes are counted on November 6.

Our party followed every guideline and rule of electioneering and everyone in the party worked hard. I thank all government officials and staff, particularly the police force which operated under tough conditions, Sanjay said. He appealed to voters to cast their ballots for BJP candidate, Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy.

The fierce contest between the BJP and the TRS began with a large public meeting on August 21 addressed by Union home minister Amit Shah, who welcomed Rajgopal Reddy into the BJP fold. This was consequent to Rajgopal Reddys resignation from the Congress and his seat as Munugode MLA, setting off a fierce byelection contest.

The BJP campaign saw the partys state leadership take to campaigning, with characteristic vigour, led by its president Bandi Sanjay Kumar. It also saw Union minister G. Kishan Reddy make several rounds, addressing a large number of rallies and street side meetings, even as senior national party leaders Sunil Bansal, Tarun Chugh and Aravind Menon often visited the constituency to oversee campaign strategies.

Pitching in hard were party MLAs Etala Rajendar and M. Raghunandan Rao, two Rs of the RRR the BJP has in the Assembly, with the third, T. Raja Singh, in prison under a judicially contested arrest under the Preventive Detention Act.

Several other leaders including Dr K. Laxman, G. Vivek Venkatswamy, who coordinated the campaign, D.K. Aruna and movie star Vijayashanti joined in.

The BJP plea throughout the campaign was that Rajgopal Reddy believed his resignation was a necessity because the KCR-led TRS government did nothing for people of the constituency in the past four years. The TRS ignored Munugodes development. There was no other option but to resign, join the BJP and contest a bypoll to force the TRS government's hand to rush in with development here.
The Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) of Uttarakhand Police will investigate allegations of of around Rs 200 crore against a company owned by the wife of a close aide of former Uttarakhand Chief Minister .

The BJP leader had to quit the top office in March 2021 following a "collective decision" by the party. Sworn in as CM on March 18, 2017, he had just nine days left to complete four years of his tenure when he had to call it quits. The BJP retained power in the state in the Assembly polls held earlier this year.

The opposition parties led by the have alleged that Dehradun-based Social Mutual Benefit Company Limited, owned by the wife of Rawat's former advisor K S Panwar, allegedly opened bank accounts in the names of thousands of people in a fraudulent manner from 2017 to 2020 and converted black money into white.

They also claimed that Panwar had quit as the director of the company after becoming the chief minister's advisor and made his wife the new director.

Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) V Murugesan on Tuesday said the investigation of the case has been handed over to the EOW and further action will be taken based on its report.

According to him, the enquire was ordered on the complaint of Independent MLA from Khanpur, ??Haridwar Umesh Kumar.

The allegations had first surfaced two years ago when state president Karan Mahara and former party MLA Qazi Nizamuddin had raised the issue in the 2020 Winter Session of the Vidhan Sabha.

Demanding that the matter should now be probed properly, Mahara said the will keep a close watch on the actions of the BJP government in the state.

The truth should come out after a thorough investigation. We are keeping a close watch on the actions of the government, if there is any lapse, we will play the role of the opposition in a strong manner," he said.

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In a first, the has appointed two women from its cadre as Inspectors General (IG) of its specialised anti-riots unit RAF and the Bihar Sector.

The proverbial glass ceiling in the country's largest paramilitary force with 3.25 lakh personnel has broken after a long wait of 35 years as the first women joined the Central Reserve Police Force in 1987.

There have been women Indian Police Service (IPS) heading formations and at present there are at least three such officers in the force.

Officials said as part of a recent transfer/posting order issued by the force headquarters here, Annie Abraham has been appointed as the IG of the blue duangree donning Rapid Action Force (RAF) while Seema Dhundia has been posted as the IG of the Bihar Sector.

This is the first time that the RAF will be headed by a woman IG. An IG Is the head of the sector in the .

Both officers joined the paramilitary force in 1987 as the first batch of women officers. They have also commanded an all-women Indian police contingent at the UN.

They have been decorated with the President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service, Police Medal for Meritorious Service and the 'Ati Utkrisht Sewa Padak' during their service, a CRPF spokesperson said.

Abraham told PTI that the appointment "was an honour for her and she would work to take RAF to a higher position."



The 15 battalions strength RAF is deployed for anti-riots, counter-protests and sensitive law and order duties in various parts of the country and is called in to assist state police forces during important events where heavy crowds are expected and also for VIP visits.

The Bihar Sector of the CRPF commands about four battalions of the force that are deployed for anti-Naxal operations and other law and order duties apart from some small units of the RAF and the jungle warfare unit CoBRA.

The CRPF was the first Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) to induct women in combat in 1986.

It has six such battalions at present with women constables filling more than 6,000 posts in these.

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Live news updates: Prime Minister will address the inaugural session of Invest Karnataka 2022, the Global Investors Meet of the state, today at 10 am. According to the official press release, the meeting aims to attract prospective investors and set up development agenda for the next decade. The three-day programme, being held from November 2 to November 4 in Bengaluru, would witness more than 80 speaker sessions.

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and veteran leader Tuesday slammed the Maharashtra government over the relocation of several projects from Maharashtra to other states. While speaking to ANI alleged that interference from the Central Government and political instability caused investors to move out of Maharashtra state.

The will bring a non- government at the Centre under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, said on Tuesday in his maiden public address after becoming President. Joining the Bharat Jodo Yatra here for the first time after being elected to the top party post, Kharge launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying poll schedule for the Himachal Pradesh was announced but not for Gujarat so that the PM can inaugurate many more bridges like the one that collapsed in Gujarat's Morbi.
West Bengal Chief Minister on Wednesday demanded a Supreme Court monitored judicial probe into the recent collapse in Morbi, Gujarat, that killed over 130 people.

"Accidents are not always in our control. But at the same time, it has to be seen that the right organisation is given the right task. I heard the government there (in Gujarat) did not provide sufficient assistance to the victims' families. The at Morbi was allowed to be used by the public before its rennovation work was completed properly.

"This was done in a hurry keeping in mind the forthcoming Assembly elections there. Hence, I feel there should be a SC monitored probe into the matter," Banerjee told mediapersons before leaving for Chennai on Wednesday.

The Chief Minister will be in Chennai to attend the 80th birth anniversary celebrations of the elder brother of West Bengal Governor La Ganesan.

She is also supposed to hold a meeting with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK leader M.K. Stalin in Chennai.

While talking to reporters here, Banerjee also questioned as to why central probe agencies like CBI and ED are not looking into the irregularities in the tendering process for the rennovation of the .

"People's lives are more important than politics. The manner in which the bridge was maintained was nothing but a crime," she said.

The Chief Minister also lambasted the Centre and the BJP over the decision of the Union Home Ministry to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis and Christians coming from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and currently living in Mehsana and Anand districts in Gujarat.

"We are totally against such decisions which are aimed at serving narrow political interests. This decision has been taken keeping in mind the forthcoming Assembly elections in Gujarat. We will not tolerate such things in West Bengal," she said.

--IANS

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Media associations on Tuesday condemned searches carried out by the at the offices of news portal and the houses of its editors on the basis of a complaint filed by leader .

In a joint statement, seven media bodies including Press Association, Press Club of India and Digipub News India Foundation said the manner in which the has acted on the complaint of a spokesperson "smacks of sheer vendetta".

"It is surprising that even after the news portal issued a detailed retraction for its editorial lapses, putting out the same in the public domain, the Delhi Police, based on the complaint of the leader which includes a bevy of charges including criminal clauses under the IPC, registered an FIR and chose to proceed (with) investigating the matter with uncharacteristic promptness," the statement said.

Delhi Union of Journalists, Working News Cameraman Association, Indian Journalists Union and Kerala Union of Working Journalists are also signatories to the statement.

Earlier, in a separate statement, Digipub News India Foundation claimed that the searches "mainly serve the purpose of criminalising and creating a chilling effect against the profession of journalism in India".

"A journalist or a media organisation that publishes a false report ought to be held accountable by its peers and civil society," the statement said.

"But for the police to carry out an immediate and arbitrary search of the media house's office and its editors' homes, based entirely on a private complaint of defamation filed by a spokesperson of the ruling party, smacks of malafide intentions," it added.

It noted that Malviya's complaint was regarding a series of stories published by about social media company Meta, claiming that he had special censorship privileges through an Instagram programme called "X-Check".

had retracted the said articles last month, claiming that it was deceived by a member of its investigative team.

The carried out searches at the houses of the portal's founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan and deputy editor M K Venu on Monday.

A senior police officer said searches were conducted at The Wire's office as well and all electronic devices relevant to the probe were seized.

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The Morbi Bar Association on Wednesday said its members won't represent the accused in the suspension collapse that claimed 135 lives.

Members of the association on Wednesday held a protest march, a day after passing a resolution to not fight cases for the accused in the collapse tragedy.

Morbi Bar Association and Rajkot Bar Association have decided to not take their case and represent them. Both the bar associations have passed this resolution, senior advocate A C Prajapati said.

All the lawyers of the association are deeply saddened by the tragedy. This is a moral call. We won't represent any accused in the collapse case after the death of so many innocent people, another lawyer said.

The association's decision was opposed by lawyer Hamza Lakdawala, who said it was acting like a khap panchayat.

Bar associations exists to uphold the rule of law and to ensure that advocates can discharge their professional duties without fear of victimisation. They stand for the law and for lawyers. Far from that, the Morbi Bar Association is acting like a lawless mob or a khap panchayat, she tweeted.

Chief Judicial Magistrate M J Khan on Tuesday remanded four of the arrested accused -- two managers of the OREVA Group and two sub-contractors who had repaired the bridge -- in police custody till Saturday.

The court remanded five other arrested men, including security guards and ticket booking clerks, in judicial custody as police did not seek their custody.

Police had on Monday booked the nine persons under Indian Penal Code Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).

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Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has sent condolences to Prime Minister on the unfortunate collapse of a Morbi bridge in Gujarat which killed 135 people.

In his letter to Prime Minister Modi, Lee wrote, "I was saddened to learn about the collapse of the Morbi Bridge in Gujarat and the tragic loss of lives.

"On behalf of the Government of Singapore, I wish to extend my heartfelt condolences and sympathies to the families of the victims.

"Our thoughts are with the people of India during this time, and I wish the injured a speedy recovery."



Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said there are currently no reports of Singaporeans among the casualties of the incident, adding that it will monitor developments closely.

Singapore's Consulate-General in Mumbai is in close contact with the local authorities, Channel News Asia reported citing MFA.

Authorities in India said they believe that around 200 people were on the bridge when it collapsed.

Army, navy and national disaster response teams continue search operations as locals gathered on the banks of the river.

The bridge was originally built in 1877 and had been closed for six months for repairs until last week.

Police in India arrested nine people on Monday on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Those arrested included ticketing clerks accused of letting too many people onto the bridge and contractors who were in charge of repair work.

Singaporeans in Mumbai who require consular assistance can contact Singapore's Consulate-General in Mumbai at +91-82910 32836 or MFA Duty Office at +65 6379 8800 / 8855.

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The non-reporting of against a minor despite knowledge is a "serious crime" and an attempt to shield the offenders, the said on Wednesday.

The apex court said prompt and proper reporting of commission of offence under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act is of utmost importance and the failure to do so would defeat the very purpose and object of the law.

The top court set aside the Bombay High Court's judgement of April last year quashing an FIR and the charge sheet regarding a medical practitioner who allegedly did not inform the authority about against several minor girls at a hostel despite having knowledge about it.

A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and C T Ravikumar observed it is true that the FIR and the charge sheet still remain in respect of other accused in the case.

"But then, non-reporting of against a minor child despite knowledge is a serious crime and more often than not, it is an attempt to shield the offenders of the crime of sexual assault, the bench said in its 28-page judgement.

The apex court delivered its verdict on an appeal filed by the state of Maharashtra, through the police, against the high court judgement.

The bench, while referring to a previous verdict delivered by the top court, noted it was observed in the judgement that "this is an unfortunate case where the provisions of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 are rendered simply a pious hope of the Parliament and a teasing illusion for the appellant."



"Even while, borrowing those words, we may say, we are not peeved, but certainly pained, as a legitimate prosecution under another Act viz, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, has been throttled at the threshold by the exercise of power under section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC), without permitting the materials in support to it to see the light of the day in respect of misprision of sexual assault against minor tribal girls in a girls' hostel, the bench said.

Section 482 of the CrPC deals with inherent powers of the high court.

The apex court observed that FIR in the matter came to be registered on the accusation of commission of sexual offences against minor tribal girls, who were students of a school in Rajura and were residing in its girls' hostel.

It noted that the medical practitioner, on whose plea the high court had delivered the verdict, was arraigned as the sixth accused in the case essentially for the alleged failure to report the commission of offence under the POCSO Act in compliance with the legal obligation under the provision of the law.

The bench also noted that during the investigation, it was found that 17 minor girls were allegedly abused and the medical practitioner was appointed for treatment of girls admitted to the hostel.

It said the case of the police is that some among the 17 victims have given statements that the medical practitioner was informed of the sexual assault on them.

The top court observed that exercise of power under section 482 of the CrPC is an exception and not the rule and it is to be exercised to do real and substantial justice for the administration of which alone courts exist.

The bench said provisions of the POCSO Act would reveal that it also aims to ensure that such offenders are not spared and should be properly booked.

"To achieve the avowed purpose, a legal obligation for reporting of offence under the POCSO Act is cast upon on a person to inform the relevant authorities specified thereunder when he/she has knowledge that an offence under the Act had been committed," it said.

The bench said medical examination of the victim as also the accused would give many important clues in a case that falls under the POCSO Act.

"There can be no two views that in relation to sexual offences medical evidence has much corroborative value, it said.

It said if the FIR and the materials collected during the probe discloses the commission of a prima facie case under provisions of the POCSO Act, the truthfulness, sufficiency or admissibility of the evidence are not matters falling within the purview of exercise of power under section 482 of the CrPC and undoubtedly they are matters to be done by the trial court at the time of trial.

While allowing the appeal, it said the high court's verdict resulting in the quashing of FIR and charge sheet throttling the prosecution at the threshold, without allowing the materials in support of it to see the light of the day, cannot be said to be as an exercise done to secure interests of justice.

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Prime Minister on Wednesday inaugurated 3,024 newly constructed flats for the Economically Weaker Sections in Delhi as part of an in-situ slum rehabilitation project.

He did the honours at a ceremony here which was also attended by the beneficiaries. Modi handed over the keys of the flats to many of them.

This will give the slum dwellers a sense of ownership and security, a statement from the Prime Minister's Office had earlier said.

The in-situ slum rehabilitation in 376 Jhuggi-Jhopri clusters is being undertaken by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in line with the prime minister's vision to provide housing for all, it said.

Delhi LG Vinai Kumar Saxena and Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri were among those who attended the event.

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The of India on Wednesday said it was extremely disturbed by the manner in which the carried out searches and seizures at the homes of the editors of as well as their office and the newsroom.

"The haste with which the police searches were carried out at multiple locations, is excessive and disproportionate, and in the manner of a fishing and roving enquiry," the Guild said in a statement here.

The Guild also urged the to be objective and impartial in investigating all the complaints filed in this matter, and not use intimidatory tactics in disregard of democratic principles.

The was acting on a complaint of criminal defamation filed by BJP functionary Amit Malviya against 'The Wire'.

The Guild said as per a statement published by The Wire, the police personnel seized phones, computers, and iPads from homes of the journalists, as well as from the office, and no hash value of the digital devices was given in spite of requests made by them.

"This is a serious violation of procedures and rules of investigation. Moreover, digital devices of editors and journalists would have sensitive information pertaining to journalistic sources and stories under work, the confidentiality of which can be seriously compromised in such seizures," it said.

The Guild noted that has already admitted to serious lapses in their reporting on stories pertaining to Meta with references to Malaviya.

"These lapses are condemnable and the reports based on wrong information have since been withdrawn by The Wire," it said.

The Guild said the police search and seizures were in violation of established rules and in intimidatory manner is also alarming.

It urged the law enforcement agencies to strictly adhere to rules of investigation in this matter, and to ensure that integrity of sensitive journalistic information is not violated and other on-going work of the news organisation is not obstructed.

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HYDERABAD: TRS president and Chief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao is learnt to have issued instructions to party leaders to set up a war room for real-time monitoring of the Munugode byelection polling trends. The Chief Minister held a meeting with ministers, party MLAs, MLCs, MPs and senior leaders to discuss the party's strategy and micro-level booth management on Wednesday.

At the meeting, the leaders decided to pay particular attention to transporting nearly 40,000 migrants, living mostly in the LB Nagar, Uppal, Ibrahimpatnam, Amberpet, Quthbullapur, Maheshwaram and Medchal, Malkajgiri constituency, to Munugode so they could cast their votes.

Booth incharges were urged to ensure that over 90 per cent of voters cast ballots in their respective booths. For migrant voters, TRS MLAs of their respective constituencies were assigned the responsibility to arrange cars, jeeps, SUVs, etc., for their transportation up and down rather than buses to escape the action of the EC. While few leaders participated in the meeting who were available in the city, others participated through telephone conference.

Party sources said the CM gave strict instructions to 14 ministers, 86 MLAs, MLCs, MPs and other leaders appointed as party incharges for the Munugode bypoll not to return to their constituencies till voting is completed on Thursday. They were instructed to make themselves available to local Munugode constituency leaders and workers.

As a result, the key TRS leaders, including MLAs and MPs have decided to stay put in hotels, lodges, guest houses and farmhouses on the city outskirts near Munugode constituency until voting ends.

They were instructed to closely monitor the movements of BJP, Congress, and other party leaders and alert EC officials to any irregularities they may have committed, such as luring voters with cash, liquor, and other freebies during the voting process.

Meanwhile, following the Election Commission's directive that all "non-locals" and "outsiders" should leave the constituency when campaigning is over, in-charge ministers and MLAs who have been camped in the Munugode constituency since Dasara left the constituency at 6 pm on Tuesday. Following the CM's directives, some ministers and MLAs who had gone for respective districts on Monday night returned to the city's outskirts on Tuesday. .
President would undertake a four-day visit to three northeastern states -- Nagaland, and -- from Wednesday.

Officials in Kohima said that on her arrival, the government would accord her a civic reception at Capital Cultural Hall in Kohima on Wednesday.

Murmu would also inaugurate and lay the foundation stone for various projects related to education and infrastructure in the northeastern state. The state government has invited Presidents and other leaders of the 22 tribal organisations to attend the civic reception wearing their traditional shawls.

On Thursday, Murmu would pay her respects at the Kohima War Cemetery and visit Kigwema village where she would interact with the village council members and members of Self-Help Groups (SHGs).

On the same day, she would go to and attend the 17th convocation of the University at Aizawl and inaugurate various education-related projects.

In the evening, the President would attend the civic reception to be hosted by the state government in her honour at the Raj Bhavan.

On November 4, Murmu would address the members of the Assembly.

On the same day, she would go to Gangtok and attend a civic reception to be hosted by the government and inaugurate and lay the foundation stones for various projects of the Central and state governments.

On November 5, the President, before returning to Delhi, would interact with women achievers and members of SHGs at Tathagatha Tsal, Ravongla.

The President, in her maiden visit to the northeastern region last month, visited Tripura (October 12-13) and Assam (October 13-14) and laid foundation stones and inaugurated a slew of projects.

--IANS

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A special court has granted bail to Russian Mikhail Shargen, who was arrested by the CBI for allegedly hacking the JEE examination software which had benefitted over 800 aspirants, officials said Wednesday.

Shargen, 25, who was arrested on October 3, had allegedly tampered with the iLeon software, the platform on which the JEE (Main)-2021 examination was conducted and also helped other accused in hacking the computer systems of suspect candidates during the examination, they said.

The special CBI court took note of the fact that all other co-accused in the case were granted bail, including those who directly got in touch with the candidates and their parents to obtain money and documents among others, the officials said.

The arguments of the CBI that Shargen's role was not at par with other accused as he was instrumental in hacking the software was rejected by the court.

The special court also did not find weight in the CBI's argument that certain mobile chats of the accused and applicant with co-accused have been recovered during investigation.

"Merely because the applicant is a foreign national, he cannot be denied the benefit of bail, more particularly when his passport has already been seized by the investigating agency," the special court recently said while allowing the bail application.

The court allowed Shargen to be released on a personal surety of Rs one lakh and with bail conditions.

Shargen was arrested on October 3 upon arrival at the Indira Gandhi International Airport from Almaty, Kazakhstan.

In September last year, the agency had booked Affinity Education Pvt Ltd and its three directors Siddharth Krishna, Vishwambhar Mani Tripathi and Govind Varshney, besides other touts and associates for alleged manipulation of the examination.

It was alleged that the three directors, in conspiracy with other associates and touts, were manipulating the online examination of JEE (Mains) and facilitating aspiring students to get admission in top Institutes of Technology in exchange for huge amounts of money. They used to solve the questions through remote access from a chosen examination centre in Sonepat (Haryana).

"It was also alleged that the accused used to obtain Classes 10 and 12 mark sheets, user IDs, passwords, and post-dated cheques of aspiring students in different parts of the country as security and once admission was done, they used to collect heavy amount ranging from 12-15 lakh (approx) per candidate," the CBI had said.

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Borrowing costs bite: Interest-rate surge hurts corporate profits

Following the contribution of loans to the corporate bottom line for nearly two years after the outbreak of the pandemic, interest costs on those have begun to weigh on companies earnings.

The combined interest expenses of listed companies (ex-BFSI) were up 18.5 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in Q2FY23 as against an 8.8 per cent YoY decline in their combined operating profits during the period.

This is the fastest growth in the companies interest expenses in at least three years. Read more...

Under scanner: Special mechanism for sharing trade data in the works

The revenue and commerce departments are working on developing a special mechanism for sharing crucial export-import statistics, following instances of data leak putting businesses into jeopardy.

The revenue department will be putting in place a mechanism that will allow encrypted access to trade data that will be shared in a secure manner, a senior government official told Business Standard. The departments were at odds over data sharing and a delay in compiling daily and weekly trade data. While data sharing resumed last week, the departments are trying to have a strict mechanism on the extent to which data will be shared. Read more...

proposes common ITR with focus on crypto assets declaration

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has proposed a new common income-tax return (ITR), with greater focus on disclosing income from virtual digital assets or crypto assets and foreign equity and debt instruments held by resident Indians.

For non-resident Indians, the draft ITR seeks exhaustive details ranging from nature of business, permanent establishment (PE), business connection, whether the entity has significant economic presence (SEP) in India, along with the number of users in India.

The ITR protocol for NRIs could widen the scope of the SEP principle that was introduced in the Finance Bill 2018-19, and the explicitly defined business connection to include provision of download of data or software, if aggregate payments from such transactions exceed a prescribed amount, or if a multinational's interaction is with a prescribed number of users. Read more...

Door open for no regulation of satellite spectrum in revised telecom Bill

The updated draft telecom bill will aim to lay down the guidelines for satellite spectrum  which the government might explicitly differentiate from terrestrial spectrum  but may not regulate it, according to officials.

In the draft bill released last month, the (DoT) had extended the definition of telecommunication services to satellite-based communication services. Currently, the government has exclusive rights to establish, operate, maintain and expand all telecom services; and use, allocate and assign spectrum. Read more...

NITI wants infra projects lagging for decades completed by FY23-end

Even as new infrastructure projects keep getting announced, the Centre has turned the spotlight on projects falling behind for decades and ensure their completion by the end of this financial year (2022-23, or FY23).

The Centres think tank NITI Aayog  mandated with the task to monitor energy and infrastructure has shortlisted 494 projects worth Rs 5.66 trillion for completion by March 2023, Business Standard has learnt. These include 279 road and highway projects worth Rs 1.92 trillion, petroleum projects worth Rs 1.11 trillion, almost Rs 1 trillion worth of railway projects, according to an internal report by the central think tank. Read more...
The US remained "watchful" on Chinese activities along India's northern border as it cannot take its eyes off the regional security issues, a senior American official said on Wednesday in the backdrop of the over 29-month border standoff in eastern Ladakh that has significantly frayed ties between the two neighbours.

Rear Admiral Michael L Baker, the US Defence Attache to New Delhi, also said that it is important to be "mindful" of Chinese actions in the South Sea as well, even as he described India-US defence ties as the "cornerstone" of the overall bilateral relations.

"It is certainly an important area for us. We do remain watchful," he told a small group of reporters.

"We do work closely with India to exchange our views on this area to make sure that we have a clear understanding of what we think may be happening and I think it is a space that, for both India and the United States, we are going to remain watchful over time. We cannot take our eye off the regional security issues," Rear Admiral Baker said.

His remarks came when asked whether the US has been tracking the developments along India's border with and how the US views the lingering conflict playing out in the coming months.

The senior defence official also noted that the US wants to be a "partner of choice for India" and that New Delhi has the ability to choose its partners.

He was asked about India's decades-old defence ties with Russia including in projects relating to nuclear-powered submarines.

"We want to be partner of choice for India. India has its ability to choose its partners and it has made a conscious decision to diversify more over the last decade. It has made a conscious decision to continue to diversify going forward. And it has made a conscious decision to partner with the US on a host of areas," Rear Admiral Baker said.

In response to another question on China's increasing military muscle flexing in the South Sea, Rear Admiral Baker said it is important to assist countries across the region to have a choice of security partners.

"They have a very aggressive stance in the South China Sea. The United States has a pretty clear public position on this too. That's something we need to be mindful and watchful of," the senior American defence official said.

He said the countries in the region could partner with someone like India or the US or both. "That is the key to ensuring that the Indo-Pacific remains free and open, which is the mutual goal for both India and the United States."



To another query on the successful launch of a ballistic missile by a nuclear-powered submarine of India last month, he said the country has done it in a "responsible way".

On whether the US was assisting India to deter China, he did not give a direct reply but said, India has an "incredibly bright future" as it has "superb geography and high mountains" which are critical for defence.

He also mentioned India's large landmass and access to the sea saying, "these are key elements for becoming a highly powerful country."



On the situation in the Indian Ocean, he said China has been having a pretty continuous maritime presence in the region for at least a decade now.

"That has been a pretty consistent presence," he said.

Rear Admiral Baker said the robust defence trade, numerous high level dialogues and increasing number of military exercises in the sea, air and the land are further strengthening the defence relations between India and the US.

"I think we have a lot of trust between our countries and between our militaries. We conduct more exercises together in India than any other country. We operate together at sea routinely and these kinds of interactions deepen trust and familiarity everyday," he said.

Rear Admiral Baker also noted that India and the US are carrying out joint maritime patrols and operating in the same operational space in the North Arabian Sea as well as in the Pacific.

"We know each other so well with a strong level of trust," he added.

Asked how the US sees increasing collaboration between Russia and China in the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, Rear Admiral Baker, said the amount Moscow is getting from "that other partner" is not in accordance with international law or rules.

"We would call on both of them to take proper stand in that war in Ukraine immediately," he said and referred to comments by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that if Russian President Vladimir Putin "stops fighting, the war ends and if Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine ends."



The Indo-US defence ties have been on an upswing in the last few years.

In June 2016, the US designated India a "Major Defence Partner" paving way for sharing of critical military equipment and technology.

The two countries have also inked key defence and security pacts over the past few years, including the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) in 2016 that allows their militaries to use each other's bases for repair and replenishment of supplies.

The two sides also signed COMCASA (Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement) in 2018 which provides for interoperability between the two militaries and provides for the sale of high-end technology from the US to India.

In October 2020, India and the US sealed the BECA (Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement) agreement to further boost bilateral defence ties.

The pact provides for sharing of high-end military technology, logistics and geospatial maps between the two countries.

(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.)
Amid a controversy over losing some big-ticket industrial projects, leader has claimed that the country is heading towards a new "license-permit raj".

Political instability makes investors nervous, the former state chief minister told reporters here on Tuesday.

The alliance government of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction and the BJP in is under fire after Gujarat bagged some mega-investment projects, allegedly at Maharashtra's expense.

Recently, a Tata-led consortium and Airbus announced a military aircraft manufacturing facility in Gujarat.

Chavan said, "The current government is not even able to form a full cabinet. That is not a good sign. The reasons (for instability) are change in the government, interference by Delhi and hijacking of the projects which should have come to Maharashtra."



During the infamous license-permit raj of the pre-1991 era, the Union government could tell investors where they should invest, he said.

"In 1991, when new economic policies were brought in, the license-permit raj was abolished and no such power was left with the Centre," Chavan said.

"But now what is happening is that due to concessions given by the Centre, we are unwittingly moving towards a (new) license-permit raj," he said, implying the Centre was inducing investors to choose a particular location by offering concessions.

Chavan also said the election of Mallikarjun Kharge as president would strengthen the party.

Chavan was a member of the so-called G-23 group of leaders who had pressed for the election.

"For several years and because of several reasons, the election of Congress president could not take place but we requested Sonia Gandhi to hold an election within the party and she accepted the demand," he said.

"This (holding of election) was a very welcome move as barring the Congress, there is no such internal democracy in any party," Chavan claimed.

Elections were unheard of in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP's parent organisation, the Congress leader 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.)
President on Wednesday said that will lead to uplift of the society.

She virtually launched 75 projects at a public reception programme organised by the Nagaland government to mark her maiden two-day visit.

Addressing a mammoth gathering, she said, "I am told that the literacy rate among women in Nagaland is the highest in the country and the state is the safest place in the country for women. This demonstrates the high respect accorded to women in the Naga society."



Congratulating Phangnon Konyak on becoming the first woman Rajya Sabha MP from Nagaland, she urged women of the state to come forward and get more involved in public life.

"If women are empowered, there is more development in the society. Women lead with empathy and care, and they would give a new dimension to the development journey of Nagaland," Murmu said.

Most of the 75 projects launched virtually are schools, while some are hostels, roads and bridges, and also a new treasury building.

She also launched smart classrooms in 190 government schools across the state.

"I am confident that these projects will improve literacy, ease of living, boost tourism and economy of the state," she said.

She congratulated Governor Jagdish Mukhi, Chief Minister Neiphui Rio and his government for the successful completion of these projects.

Observing that Nagaland will be celebrating 60 years of statehood in a few weeks' time, she said, "I am happy to note that Nagaland has made significant progress on various development parameters."



Murmu urged the people of the state to rededicate themselves towards making a more prosperous and developed Nagaland.

"There is a tremendous potential of tourism in Nagaland," she said, adding Naga tribes are known for their vibrant culture and rich heritage that exemplifies the country's motto 'Unity in Diversity'.

She said Hornbill Festival has become a popular platform for showcasing the colourful and beautiful culture of the state.

Noting that infrastructural development is a key parameter for the state's growth, she said the 'Act East Policy' of the Centre focuses on the overall development of Northeast.

"The dynamic youth of Nagaland are immensely talented and creative. Providing the youth with holistic education remains the key to help them achieve their true potential," she said.

Observing that it was great privilege to visit the beautiful state, the President said, "I am deeply touched by the warm reception accorded to me by the government and people of Nagaland."



Earlier, upon landing at Dimapur airport, she was received by Governor Jagdish Mukhi, while Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, his deputy Y Patton and other senior ministers and bureaucrats welcomed her at an Assam Rifles helipad in Kohima.

"An honour to welcome Smt. Droupadi Murmu, the Honourable President of India. We are delighted to welcome you to Nagaland, the #LandOfFestivals. I wish you a pleasant stay and a memorable experience," Rio tweeted after receiving the President.

She met state ministers at Raj Bhavan and attended a cultural programme and state banquet at the chief minister's official residence.

On Thursday, she will pay homage at the historic World War II cemetery in Kohima and visit Kigwema, one of the oldest villages of the Angami tribe, and interact with the village council leaders and members of self-help groups.

Murmu will leave for Mizoram on Thursday afternoon.

(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.)
In an unprecedented move, Chief Minister has ordered the demotion of a deputy superintendent of police after he was found guilty of accepting bribes to suppress a rape case.

The officer is now a constable -- the post on which he began his career.

According to official sources, DSP Vidya Kishore Sharma, has been demoted after the government took cognisance of a video of him accepting a bribe of Rs 5 lakh.

Sharma was the DSP when the incident took place in 2021. He was later transferred.

A woman had alleged last year that the owner of Swami Vivekanand Hospital and Inspector Ramveer Yadav had gang-raped her but the police was not acting on her complaint.

She also alleged the police official had accepted a bribe from the accused.

The UP administration suspended the inspector and ordered an FIR against Yadav.

A probe was launched which found Sharma guilty of accepting the bribe. Sharma had been on suspension before being demoted.

--IANS

amita/shb/

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Barclays, which recently made big investments in and and set up a Taiwan subsidiary in July, is evaluating entering new markets but is focused on building up its franchises, its top regional executive said.



The British lender has been re-building its Asian business after a global restructuring in 2016, which took a heavy toll on its operations in the region, leading to job cuts, exits from many markets and the shutdown of its Asian cash-equities unit.



For now, we have our hands full. The macroeconomic environment is also not one that really favours aggressive investment at this point in time, Jaideep Khanna, who heads Barclays Asia Pacific business told Reuters in an interview.



Are we done with investing and building a platform? Absolutely not. So what compelled us to go into and Taiwan may in the future require us to go into new markets, but I dont see that happening in 2023, Khanna said. Reuters

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Intensive negotiations continue towards a (FTA) between India and the UK and new British Prime Minister is committed to achieving a balanced deal, Downing Street said on Wednesday.

Sunak, who took charge at 10 Downing Street last week, had a "very warm" introductory call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during which both sides expressed their commitment towards an .

The UK Prime Minister's office also reiterated that the focus remains on a balanced trade deal that benefits both sides and therefore no timeframe is being specified after a proposed Diwali timeline had to be abandoned last month amid political turmoil in the UK.

"Both sides are very committed to it, intensive negotiations are continuing led by the Department for International Trade (DIT)," a spokesperson told reporters at a Downing Street briefing.

"The Prime Minister had a very warm, introductory call with Prime Minister Modi last week. In terms of the speed of it [FTA], we have been very clear that we won't sacrifice quality to achieve speed. We will sign when we have a balanced deal that represents both of our interests but both sides remain committed," the spokesperson said.

In his first phone call after taking charge as Prime Minister last week, Sunak had referenced "good progress" being made to finalise the .

"The Prime Minister hoped the UK and India could continue to make good progress in negotiations to finalise a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement," a Downing Street readout of the call said.

The two leaders are expected to meet in person at the G20 Summit in Indonesia later this month, unless they meet at the COP27 Summit in Egypt where the UK Prime Minister has confirmed attendance of the Leader's Day but Modi's visit is as yet unconfirmed.

Sunak is on the record expressing his commitment to an with India while Chancellor of the Exchequer at No. 11 Downing Street when he flagged financial services as a particularly exciting aspect of the bilateral trade relationship.

The City of London Corporation, the financial hub of the UK capital, has expressed the hope that Sunak's focus on services would take the FTA in the right direction.

Services make up around 70 per cent of annual trade between our countries. So, a deal that doesn't deliver for this sector would be a missed opportunity, said Chris Hayward, Policy Chairman at the City of London Corporation.

The focus of the FTA negotiations is on reducing the barriers to trade, cutting tariffs, and supporting easier imports and exports into each other's markets.

According to official UK government data, India-UK bilateral trade currently stands at around GBP 24.3 billion a year and the aim is for that to be at least doubled by 2030.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The government on Wednesday approved a subsidy of Rs 51,875 crore for phosphatic and potassic (P&K) for second half of 2022-23 as part of efforts to provide affordable soil nutrients to farmers.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved nutrient-based subsidy (NBS) rates for P&K for 2022-23 rabi season, an official statement said.

The has approved a subsidy of Rs 98.02 per kg for nitrogen (N), Rs 66.93 per kg for phosphorus (P), Rs 23.65 per kg for potash (K) and Rs 6.12 per kg for sulphur (S), it said.

"Subsidy approved by the Cabinet for the NBS Rabi-2022 (from 01.10.2022 to 31.03.2023) will be Rs 51,875 crore including support for indigenous fertiliser (SSP) through freight subsidy," the statement said.

This will enable smooth availability of all P&K to farmers during the rabi season at subsidized / affordable prices and support the sector, it said.

"The volatility in the international prices of fertilisers and raw materials has been primarily absorbed by the union government," it added.

The government had in April approved a subsidy of Rs 60,939.23 crore for P&K fertilisers for first six months (kharif season) of current fiscal year.

The NBS scheme is being implemented since April 2010.

Under the scheme, a fixed rate of subsidy used to be announced on nutrients namely nitrogen, phosphate, potash and sulphur by the government on annual basis. However, it is being announced now on a biannual basis.

The per kilogram subsidy rates on N, P, K, and S are converted into per tonne subsidy on the various P&K fertilisers covered under the NBS policy.

The government is making available fertilisers to farmers at subsidized prices through fertiliser manufacturers/importers.

In view of steep increase in the international prices of fertilisers and inputs i.e urea, DAP, MOP and sulphur, the government has decided to absorb the increased prices by increasing subsidy on P&K fertilisers, including DAP.

The subsidy would be released to fertiliser companies as per approved rates so that they can make fertilisers available to farmers at an affordable price, the statement said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
TRS working president and IT minister K.T. Rama Rao said that the Munugode bypoll result will be a stepping stone for Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) to play a key national role in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. (Twitter)

HYDERABAD: TRS working president and IT minister K.T. Rama Rao said that the Munugode bypoll result will be a stepping stone for Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) to play a key national role in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Rama Rao expressed confidence that the TRS will win the Munugode bypoll hands down for the perfect springboard for the BRS.

In an informal interaction with media personnel at his camp office here on Wednesday, Rao hoped that the Election Commission of India (ECI) would give its nod to renaming of the TRS as the BRS soon after the Munugode result on November 6.

"Our party passed a resolution renaming the TRS and the BRS on October 5 and sent it to the ECI for approval on October 6. But it is still pending with the EC. Maybe the EC is busy with ongoing bypolls in some states," he said, adding that once the BRS gets the EC's nod, it would expand its activities to other states.

"Our focus is on the next Lok Sabha polls. But then nothing can be ruled out. There are Assembly polls in Gujarat soon. Former Gujarat chief minister Shankersinh Vaghela recently met our Chief Minister and held discussions on this. Maharashtra is going for local body polls soon and there is a request from local leaders there to contest on behalf of BRS. But we are not keen on local body polls. Our party boss will discuss all these issues after the Munugode result," he added.

Referring to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra in Telangana, Rao asked Rahul to figure out who his party's main political rival was in the country.

"He seems to be in a confused state over who his party's main political rival is. He has to figure it out immediately. If the BJP is his main rival, then why is he avoiding padayatra in Gujarat where elections are due in the next couple of months? On the other hand, the TRS is very clear on this issue. Our party president is the only leader in the country who is attacking the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's wrongdoings in the last eight years with proof," he said.

Taking strong exception to Rahul attacking the TRS and linking it with the BJP, Rao said, "Rahul says the TRS and the BJP are two sides of the same coin and working in tandem. It's the TRS, which has been waging a battle against the BJP and Modi for two years. Can we say Rahul has a secret understanding with BJP and that's why he is avoiding Gujarat and attacking TRS."

Referring to the BJP's alleged attempts to purchase four TRS MLAs, Rao said that the audio-video tapes related to this case were sent to the forensic science laboratory to ascertain their authenticity.

"The two tapes that surfaced in the media are only the tip of the iceberg and more such tapes would come out soon. These will further expose BJP's manipulative politics to purchase MLAs and topple democratically-elected governments."
The on Wednesday raised the prices of all three categories of that oil-marketing companies use for blending with petrol.

The rise is up to Rs 2.75 a litre and is for the 2022-23 supply season, which will start in December.

However, the sugar industry is of the view that a higher price of derived from sugarcane juice and syrup would have rekindled more investor interest.

The cabinet in a separate decision also approved a subsidy of around Rs 51,875 crore for phosphatic and potassic (P&K) for the second half of 2022-23 as part of efforts to provide affordable soil nutrients to farmers.

In April, this year, it had approved a subsidy of Rs 60,939.23 crore for P&K for the first six months (kharif season) of this fiscal year.

This means for non-urea alone, the subsidy has touched almost Rs 1.13 trillion in FY23.

The urea subsidy is, according to conservative estimates, never less than Rs 80,000 crore a year.

The FY23 Budget had provided for Rs 1.05 trillion as total .

Union Fertiliser Minister Mansukh Mandaviya told reporters the subsidy burden in FY23 was expected to be around Rs 2.25 trillion.

For the second half of FY23, the government has approved a subsidy of Rs 98.02 per kg for nitrogen (N), Rs 66.93 per kg for phosphorus (P), Rs 23.65 per kg for potash (K), and Rs 6.12 per kg for sulphur (S), under the nutrient-based subsidy (NBS) scheme.

Under the NBS scheme, implemented since April 2010, a fixed rate of subsidy used to be announced for nutrients -- nitrogen, phosphate, potash, and sulphur -- by the government annually.

Now it is done every six months.

Meanwhile, in the case of ethanol, Sonjoy Mohanty, director general, Indian Sugar Mills Association, said the revision of the price of manufactured from sugarcane juice or sugar syrup was not enough to drive additional investment.

The industry has on several occasions told the government the price of ethanol produced from sugar juice or syrup should be based on returns on equity (RoE) with a payback period of five years.

The derived price based upon RoE works to Rs 69.85 a litre.

The price of Rs 65.61 a litre announced by the government today (Wednesday) would still make investors shy away from the much-needed infusion into the sector for ethanol capacities, Mohanty said in a statement.

However, Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, reacting to the cabinet decision, said the Centre was confident of reaching the targeted 12 per cent ethanol blending by next year.

The target of 20 per cent ethanol blending is still on track for 2023-24. However, its not known right now how the international scenario and energy prices will affect this target, Puri said.

The Centres target of supplying petrol mixed with 10 per cent ethanol was achieved in June earlier this year, ahead of the original schedule of November 2022.

We have saved about Rs 40,000 crore in forex outgo from 10 per cent blending, besides benefiting the farmers, Puri said, adding a pilot to start E-20 (petrol with 20 per cent ethanol) will start in April next year at select petrol pumps.

The minister said 4.52 billion litres of ethanol was blended with petrol during the supply year ended November 30, 2022.

For the next year, the government has released tenders for procuring 5.40 billion litres.
India's ambitions post-Covid-19 pandemic have been reimagined, Minister of State for Electronics and said on Wednesday, adding that the countrys technology ecosystem and economy represent a huge opportunity for investors. Chandrasekhar said Prime Minister has set a target for the country to become a trillion-dollar .

I will point out that what we are seeing today in terms of the growth of the is only the tip of the iceberg, said Chandrasekhar, while addressing industry leaders and civil servants at the Invest Karnataka 2022, the states Global Investors Meet (GIM). Over the next 5-7 years, we will surely see our trillion-dollar goal become reality.

He said that the opportunities in the technology ecosystem have moved systematically from technology services to startup innovation ecosystems and electronics and semiconductor manufacturing. These opportunities have also moved to areas such as artificial intelligence, Web 3.0, and 5th-generation mobile network.

A call to action to all those interested in investments in technology is that India is the place', said Chandrasekhar.

Citing an example of how fast the technology ecosystem has grown in India, Chandrasekhar said that in 2014, over 92 per cent of all mobile phones used in the country were imported, but today over 97 per cent are made in India.

He said despite the deep disruption caused by the pandemic, India as a nation has emerged stronger. We are the fastest-growing major economy in the world. We have received the highest in the world, he said.

India has also demonstrated the highest ever exports in its history. Also, 66 per cent of all the (foreign direct investment) in electronics manufacturing has come to India in the last three years alone.

I will certainly encourage and advise everybody who's an investor in the broader technology ecosystem to consider India and Karnataka as the destination for investment, he said.

Chandrasekhar said one of the very impressive things that the government of Karnataka has done to address the issue of talent and opportunity is to move the opportunities in the post-Covid world to Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. This way there is less pressure on infrastructure and more availability of talent.

He said Karnataka has always been the centre of technology innovation, and in a lot of ways spearheaded and led India's digital economy efforts.
Narendra Modi is spending billions of dollars on self-reliance. On roads and in factories, the Indian prime ministers slogan translates to generous subsidies for homemade electric-vehicle batteries, solar panels and green hydrogen  anything that can help cut an outsized dependence on Middle Eastern crude oil. There is, however, another imported oil the South Asian nation is addicted to: the one used for cooking. Indian kitchens spend $19 billion annually on Indonesian palm, Ukrainian sunflower and Argentinian soybean oil.



Food bought from overseas soaks up dollars, which no developing economy wants to part with right now. But that isnt all. In the current geopolitical climate, it appears imprudent to leave a daily staple of 1.4 billion people to the mercy of global trade. Self-sufficiency in food has to be a legitimate public-policy concern, as Russias suspension of the UN-agreed corridor for grain vessels sailing from Ukraines Black Sea ports has recently underscored. It wont take expensive handouts to end this nutritional vulnerability. With some public funding, scientists can do the job. The question is if politicians will let them.

Well know the answer soon enough. New Delhi has given environmental clearance to a genetically modified mustard crop, which promises to boost yields by as much as 28%. If all goes to plan, theres a good chance that the nations farmers will have access to GMO mustard before the October 2025 planting season.

So far, Monsanto Co.s insect-resistant Bt Cotton is the only genetically altered crop in India. It was introduced two decades ago amid strident opposition from anti-GMO activists. Debates rage even today on whether the subsequent jump in Indian cotton yields was caused by the Bt trait or more intensive fertilizer use . However, when it comes to GMO food, the bigger objection has been raised by the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, the main economic think tank of the Hindu right-wing cultural movement that backs Modis ruling party.

According to SJM, instead of making Indias oilseed economy self-reliant, GMO mustard would render farmers seriously dependent on a multinational behemoth like Bayer AG, which holds the ultimate patent on the technology. Still, the Delhi University scientists who have come up with the new variant say that their research is publicly funded and, therefore, the new seeds will be reasonably priced.

Through the millennia, cooking mediums of the Indian sub-continent have been as diverse as the food consumed in the vast region. Coconut oil is popular in the south, while the western regions like to deep fry in groundnut oil. is used more in the east and north. But for almost 25 years, local oilseed production has been falling short of demand. None of the traditional, cold-pressed, filtered oils have managed to hold their ground against a relentless assault of imported palm, soy and sunflower oil. Almost 70% of demand is now met with imports. Prices, which shot up last year, have only slightly cooled in 2022.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union assisted India with local sunflower production; the Americans helped with soybean, initially marketing it as a solution to Indias protein shortage. While the population never quite warmed up to soy milk or nuggets, India did end up becoming the largest importer of soybean oil in the world. Ditto for sunflower, which nowadays meets 10% to 12% of the countrys annual cooking oil requirement, even though local production is stagnant.

After India began opening up its economy in the 1990s, large food traders such as Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. stormed the second-most-populous nation. ADM is the largest shareholder of Singapore-based Wilmar International Ltd., whose joint venture with Indias Adani Group controls the countrys top edible oil brand. A barrage of advertising dollars, trumpeting the perceived health benefits of colorless, odorless, refined liquids won over the middle class. Traditional favorites like mustard, coconut, groundnut and sesame oil suddenly started looking heavier and greasier in comparison. An adulteration scandal in the late 1990s turned the movement away from filtered oils into an exodus.

The most price-conscious segment of the market was cornered by palm oil, responsible for large-scale destruction of Indonesian rain forests. Getting rid of the 8 million tons of imported palm oil could help India lower the ischemic heart disease mortality rate associated with the cooking medium. Yet theres no consensus on whether transgenic crops are the right weapon for this fight. At both ends of the political spectrum  left and right  theres a shared apprehension about farmers losing the right to reuse or sell their seeds. With modified mustard, honey exporters worry that bees nectar collection activities will be affected.

India came close to approving GMO mustard in 2016  six years after overblown public-health concerns quashed an engineered eggplant. (Bangladesh has allowed the variant with considerable success.) With climate change adding every year to the uncertainty of food production, delaying a decision is starting to look like a costly mistake. Almost all of the Canadian canola, consumed around the world (including India), is genetically modified. Australia has approved the release of a cross between Indian mustard and GMO canola after judging that the hybrid posed negligible risk to the health of the people or the environment.

An imbalance created over nearly three decades wont be corrected in a day. But with the help of science, it may be possible to start putting the traditional, homegrown oils back on Indias kitchen shelves.

To contact the author of this story:

Andy Mukherjee at amukherjee@bloomberg.net
The government on Thursday signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with 50 companies approving their investment proposals worth Rs 5.64 trillion on the first day of the Global Investors' Meet in Bengaluru.

The highest investment proposal in terms of capital outlay came in the green hydrogen and renewable energy sectors.

According to the organisers of the three-day investors summit, the state signed MoUs with seven companies in the area of green hydrogen and its derivatives to the tune of Rs 2.91 trillion, while it entered into an agreement with nine companies in the area of renewable energy to the tune of Rs 1.29 trillion.

In the sunrise sector, 16 companies signed MoUs worth Rs 70,381 crore, while in core sectors, six companies entered into an agreement with the state for investment proposals worth Rs 25,024 crore.

In the area of infrastructure and industrial/logistic parks, eight firms signed MoUs worth Rs 43,500 crore.

On the manufacturing front in the areas of FMCG, textiles, sugar, biofuel and optical systems, the state signed MoUs with four firms for an investment proposal of Rs 4,704 crore.

Minister for Large and Medium Industries Murugesh Nirani said when the event will conclude on November 4, his department would release a detailed list of MoUs signed by various companies with the government to invest in the state.

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The government has extended the enforcement date of its and Products Quality Control Order for two grades of ferrosilicon and ferronickel by three months till January 2023.

"The and Steel Products Quality Control Order dated December 22, 2020, and subsequent order dated April 26, 2022, the date of enforcement of Indian Standards (IS) 1110:1990 ferrosilicon specification and IS 4409:1973 specification for ferronickel is extended further," according to a Steel Ministry notification.

The extension is for three months till January 23, 2023, the notification dated November 1, 2022, said.

According to an expert, ferrosilicon is imported from countries like Bhutan, South Africa etc to make CRGO (cold rolled grain oriented steel) and alloy steel, which are used to manufacture transformers, motors, rotors and other electrical items.

The order paves way for the import of these two grades without any duty for another three months, as per the notification.

Speaking to PTI over the phone, Manish Sarda, Chairman of Indian Ferro Alloy Producers' Association (IFAPA) said ferronickel is imported mainly from European countries besides Russia and China to produce stainless steel and alloy steel, which find application in white goods, metros, railways etc.

"We welcome the decision of the government," he said.

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In an attempt to boost the high-end sector in India, the central government is considering allowing Chinese companies to set up bases in the country with some riders, according to a report in The Economic Times.

Officials told the publication that the government may soon identify 50-60 Indian companies that would want to form a joint venture (JV) with their Chinese counterparts. They also said that the government is considering allowing foreign electronics manufacturers not just from but also from South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam and European countries.

However, the JV proposal may need to fulfil some conditions. One of them could be that the Indian company has a majority stake in the JV. Another requirement could be that the control of the board remains with the Indian firm, the report said.

These conditions are still being discussed within the government but are yet to be finalised. Still, the officials added, any proposal for such a JV could be considered if that leads to the growth of the ecosystem in the country.

In April 2020, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) issued a press note saying investments in any sector from a country sharing a land border with India can only happen after getting government approval.

The decision, aimed at curbing "opportunistic takeovers or acquisitions" of domestic firms during the Covid-19 pandemic, likely impacted foreign investments from .

Officials maintain that allowing all investment proposals from neighbouring countries may negatively impact the growth of local firms, which are trying to scale their operations to compete with global companies. "But proposals where high-end technology has to be sourced from the neighbouring country through a joint venture with a local firm can be approved to develop an ecosystem in India," an official told ET.

He added that specific proposals could be considered to allow the development of an ecosystem for electronics manufacturing in India.
India's ambassador to US Taranjit Singh Sandhu has asked Trishneet Arora, Ludhiana-born 28-year-old founder and CEO of TAC Security, to help in India.

Arora's prodigious cyber security skills are making a mark not just in India but even globally.

"From Punjab to California! Good interaction w/ young entrepreneur @TrishneetArora, Founder & CEO @tac_security, leading cyber security firm," tweeted Sandhu after meeting Trishneet.

According to Sandhu's tweet, they discussed cyber threats, technology and knowledge parternship and the importance of mentorship and skill development.

Sandhu said he encouraged Arora to help in India including those in Punjab.

Arora said, "He (Sandhu) was quite impressed with what we are doing at TAC Security and encouraged me to help entrepreneurs in India and Punjab, my native state."



"I will certainly give back to my motherland in more ways than one," he said, adding that ambassador Sandhu is immensely concerned about the future of Indian youth. "I will extend any support to him on the matter."



Arora, while sharing details about his meeting with the Indian ambassador, said: "I shared my vision to deal with the menace of cyber security, which has snowballed into a serious global challenge with him. We largely discussed how India and the US can work together on cyber terror and intelligence."



Arora, who left his studies at 15 and pursued a cyber security business by founding TAC Security, a global cyber security company specialising in vulnerability management and listed on Forbes 30 Under 30 List, also requested Sandhu to accord IIT-Ropar a status equivalent to IIT-Delhi or IIT-Mumbai.

Arora feels that there is a need for further improving and expanding the enabling ecosystem for IT companies in India.

"From India, companies have to shift the base to the US for investor-friendly laws and regulations. The companies focusing on innovation prefer the US and not India for IP protection," he added.

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Cooperation on migration and security issues was on the agenda at a meeting between UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Indian High Commissioner Vikram Doraiswami here.

The envoy called on the Indian-origin Cabinet minister on Tuesday to discuss the India-UK security partnership and to "make progress" under the India-UK Migration and Mobility Partnership (MMP).

The meeting follows Braverman's controversial remarks last month that referenced the MMP as not working very well in tackling illegal immigration and visa overstayers from India.

High Commissioner Vikram Doraiswami called on HE Home Secretary Suella Braverman today to discuss India-UK security cooperation, and to make progress under the India-UK Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement, the Indian High Commission in London tweeted after the meeting.

Braverman in turn referenced the strong partnership shared between India and the UK. I look forward to working with our friends on mutually shared interests including security and migration, she tweeted after the meeting.

It is seen as a conciliatory move after the Indian mission had countered the Home Secretary's allegations that the agreement with the Indian government to encourage and facilitate better cooperation on illegal migration has not necessarily worked very well.

As per data shared with the Home Office, as on date, action has been initiated on all of the cases referred to the High Commission. Further, the UK has also undertaken to fulfill certain commitments as part of the Migration and Mobility Protocol, on which we await demonstrable progress, the High Commission of India said in a statement last month.

It is a widely held view that Braverman, then Home Secretary in the former prime minister Liz Truss led Cabinet, had derailed the ongoing India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations from its Diwali timeline by expressing "concerns" over what she feared would be an open borders policy for Indians.

Look at migration in this country the largest group of people who overstay are Indian migrants, she said at the time.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, the recently launched India (Trade and Investment) All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) held its inaugural meeting in the Houses of Parliament complex where UK Trade Minister Greg Hands reiterated that the FTA negotiations remain ongoing.

India is projected to be the world's third largest economy by 2050 offering major opportunities for UK firms, Hands tweeted after the meeting.

The new cross-party UK parliamentary panel was created in July to promote trade, investment and people-to-people ties with India, backed up by British Indian think tank 1928 Institute.

The Co-Chairs of the APPG, Labour MP Navendu Mishra and Lord Karan Bilimoria, as well as APPG President Baroness Sandy Verma were among those present at the meeting, also attended by the Indian High Commissioner to the UK who spoke about the scope of bilateral cooperation in sunrise sectors such green economy and FinTech.

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The will follow up on the wholesale e-rupee pilot with a similar trial on the retail side this month itself, governor said on Wednesday.

He termed the launch of the central bank (CBDC), which started on the wholesale front between a limited set of banks on Tuesday, as a landmark moment in the history of currencies in the country, and added that it will majorly transform the way of doing business.

"The retail part of the CBDC trial will be launched later during this month. We will announce the date separately," he said, speaking at the annual FIBAC conference of bankers here.

The broader wish of the is to execute a full-fledged launch of the CBDC "in the near future", Das said, choosing not to share a timeline for the same.

"I don't want to give a target date by which time the CBDC will be launched in a full-scale manner because this is something where we have to proceed very carefully. This is the first time the world is doing it. We don't want to be in a great hurry," he said.

There will be some technological challenges, some process challenges and the will want to iron out all those aspects and introduce the CBDC in a manner that is non-disruptive, he said.

Meanwhile, the governor also spoke about the experience with the pilot project on digitisation of farm loans, and added that the RBI wants to begin extending the same to small business loans in 2023.

Learnings and experience of the end-to-end digital KCC (kisan credit card) loans pilot, currently on in Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, would be internalised before extending the initiative for the small businesses, he said.

Das said in the case of the end-to-end digital KCC loans, a bank processes data from the credit rating agencies, uses artificial intelligence to process satellite data to analyse a farmer's land and what was cultivated in that land in the previous years.

The documentation process is also simple and the farmer has to visit a bank branch a minimum number of times, Das said.

The RBI is working closely with banks on the initiative, he said, adding that banks also have to upgrade their technology infrastructure to make such a project happen.

He said two more banks will very shortly start extending the digital loans for farmers, joining Federal Bank and state-run Central Bank of India in the initiative.

The governor said the state governments need to completely digitize their land records and the process of verification of the title for the scheme to function smoothly.

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A total of 300 principals from across the 75 districts of were trained as 'master trainers' in the first Career Counselling programme held under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's recently launched Mission Niramaya, which seeks to upgrade nursing education, at Atal Convention Center at KGMU on Wednesday.

Now the trained principals will tell the students about the importance of the nursing and paramedical professions while secondary teachers will conduct 'career counselling' for the students studying in Class 11 and 12.

The 300 principals were trained in how to conduct career counselling of students studying in class 11th-12th as well as encouraged to make the youth aware of the immense employment opportunities in the nursing and paramedical fields.

Earlier, with the aim of making the future of the youth bright, an agreement was signed between the Medical Department and the Secondary Department. Through Mission Niramaya, youth in the state will get quality medical and opportunities for employment.

Principal Secretary, Medical Education Department, Alok Kumar; Special Secretary Durga Shakti Nagpal and Additional Director of Secondary Education Department Manju Sharma were present at the event.

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MP Uttam Kumar Reddy translates Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's speech during the Bharat Jodo Yatra at Muthangi. Other Congress leaders are also seen. (S Surender Reddy/DC)

HYDERABAD: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Hyderabad on Wednesday, hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for benefitting his corporate friends and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao for benefiting his family by looting public money.

Modi destroyed the wheels of economy of the country by demonetisation, false GST and Covid-19 pandemic policies, he said.

Resuming the yatra from Bowenpally on Wednesday, Gandhi and his contingent reached Muthangi in Patancheru, passing through Balanagar, Kukatpally and Chandanagar.

Rahul Gandhi said that CM K. Chandrashekar Rao was the first beneficiary of the Dharani portal, claiming Rao used it to know about land deals in the state. He alleged that Rao regularly followed irrigation projects to get commissions for his family.

He said that Chandrashekar Rao was also following in Modis footsteps, as only TRS MPs supported the now-reversed farm Acts in Parliament.

In his continued attack against the BJP, he said that Modi was using public money to buy MPs and MLAs, to overthrow state governments. He said that the BJP is intent on selling all public sector undertakings (PSUs).

The Congress leader said that the party would fight against the sale of PSUs with public support, claiming that the countrys youngsters were depressed due to a lack of employment.

Engineering graduates are forced to work as delivery boys and labourers, he said.

Rahul Gandhi also slammed the hate politics in the country, holding the BJP and RSS for spreading communal violence. Their aim is not just spreading violence and hatred, but creating fear among the public. They want the public, youth, farmers and government employees to fear the BJP and RSS, he said.

He cited an instance of the BJP pretending to privatise BHEL and BDL as a fear tactic. All public sector managements and employees are being scared. These PSUs are the assets of India. BJP wants to give these to their friends, he said.

Rahul Gandhi also took aim at demonetisation, claiming that Narendra Modi used to move to deal a blow to the public sector, MSMEs and manufacturing and construction firms that employed youngsters.

The Congress leader said that instead of recovering black money, the note ban hit the small and medium enterprises, with those surviving its effect reeling from the introduction of GST.

He cited the instances of over 4.5 lakh losing their jobs in jeans enterprises in Bellary as an effect of demonetisation.
The first of the three-phase polling to elect panches and sarpanches in nine districts saw 72.4 per cent people casting their votes by early evening and the number is expected to go up, officials said.

The polling is held in Bhiwani, Jhajjar, Jind, Kaithal, Mahendragarh, Nuh, Panchkula, Panipat and Yamunanagar. There are 49 lakh voters altogether in these districts, they said.

Stray incidents were reported from Nuh and Jhajjar districts.

In Nuh, stone pelting was reported between rival groups in two villages, though police said these incidents did not occur at the polling booth and that the poll process remained unaffected. There were reports of some injuries.

"There is no untoward incident at the polling booth. However, there were some cases of fight and stone pelting in two villages," Nuh Superintendent of Police Varun Singla told PTI over phone.

In Jhajjar, agents of two candidates got into a brawl at a polling booth in Jahidpur village early in the morning during which an EVM fell down. But there was no disruption in the poll, Jhajjar SP Waseem Akram said.

The situation was immediately brought under control and polling was being held peacefully, he told PTI over phone.

A number of voters, including women, had queued up since morning in many districts and many elderly also cast their vote.

By 4.30 pm, Panchkula had recorded 81.4 per cent votes, Bhiwani 70.2, Jhajjar 69.2, Jind 73.4, Kaithal 70.9, Mahendergarh 70.6, Nuh 75.9, Panipat 71.6 while Yamunanagar had recorded 75 per cent votes.

State Election Commissioner Dhanpat Singh had on Tuesday said polling would be held to elect 2,607 sarpanches and 25,968 panches in these nine districts.

The first phase polls for zila parishads and panchayat samitis in these districts was held on October 30.

While the results of the panch-sarpanch will be declared at the end of voting in each phase, results of zila parishads and panchayat samiti members will be declared on November 27 after all the three phases are completed.

In the second phase, voting for zilla parishad and panchayat samiti members will be held on November 9, while polling for sarpanches and panches will be held on November 12 in Ambala, Charkhi Dadri, Gurugram, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Rewari, Rohtak, Sirsa and Sonipat districts.

The third and final phase of polling in the remaining districts of Hisar, Palwal, Faridabad and Fatehabad to elect members of zila parishad and panchayat samitis will be held on November 22 and that of sarpanches and panches on November 25.

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Voting will be held on Thursday in to seven assembly seats in six states - a contest symbolic of the fierce turf war between the BJP and regional parties.

While in Haryana former chief minister Bhajan Lal's family is trying to hold on to its bastion of five decades, Bihar will see the first electoral test for the Nitish Kumar-led 'Mahagathbandhan' government, formed less than three months ago after the JD(U) parted ways with the BJP.

The saffron party is seeking to retain Gola Gorakhnath seat in Uttar Pradesh and Dhamnagar in BJD-ruled Odisha, banking on sympathy votes as it has fielded the sons of sitting MLAs whose death necessitated the .

The BJP and the ruling TRS had been campaigning aggressively in Manugoda in Telangana, where the Congress MLA had resigned and is fighting on the saffron party's ticket.

The Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements for polling, including the deployment of 3,366 state police and 15 companies of central security personnel in Manugoda. Webcasting would be done from all the polling stations, officials said.

In Adampur, Haryana, the by-election was necessitated after Bhajan Lal's younger son Kuldeep Bishnoi resigned as MLA from the seat and switched from the Congress to the BJP in August. Bishnoi's son Bhavya is now contesting as the BJP candidate.

The Adampur seat has been held by the Bhajan Lal family since 1968, with the the late ex-chief minister representing it on nine occasions, his wife Jasma Devi once and Kuldeep on four occasions.

The Congress, Indian National Lok Dal and Aam Aadmi Party are among the key parties contesting the .

Bypolls are being held in Mokama and Gopalganj seats in Bihar, earlier held by the RJD and the BJP respectively.

The BJP is contesting from the Mokama constituency for the first time as the saffron party had, on previous occasions, left the seat to its allies. Both the BJP and the RJD have fielded the wives of local musclemen in the bypolls.

BJP nominee Sonam Devi is up against RJD's Neelam Devi, whose husband Anant Singh's disqualification has necessitated the by-election.

Mokama is the stronghold of Anant Singh since 2005. He won the seat twice on JD(U) tickets and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has appealed to voters to support him.

The Mahagathbandhan candidates will comfortably win from both assembly seats. Electorates have seen the development work undertaken by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in the state, State Finance Minister and Senior JD(U) leader Vijay Kumar Chaudhary said.

Sonam Devi, the wife of local muscleman Lalan Singh who has been opposed to Anant Singh, is a greenhorn. Lalan is known to be a confidant of Suraj Bhan Singh, a dreaded gangster-turned-politician, who in the 2000 assembly election defeated Anant Singh's elder brother Dilip Singh who was a minister in the Rabri Devi government.

In Gopalganj, BJP has fielded Kusum Devi, the wife of deceased party MLA Subhash Singh. The RJD has fielded Mohan Gupta, while Indira Yadav, wife of Lalu Yadav's brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav, is contesting as Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate.

Alleging that the Mahagathbandhan government is anti-people and anti-poor, Bihar BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand said the grand alliance candidates in the two seats will experience humiliating defeat as voters don't want the return of jungle raj in the state.

Shiv Sena's Rutuja Latke is expected to comfortably win Andheri East Assembly constituency in Mumbai after the BJP withdrew from the contest which is the first after the recent split in the Shiv Sena following a rebellion by Eknath Shinde, who replaced Thackeray as the Maharashtra chief minister.

The NCP and Congress have supported her candidature.

The by-election was necessitated due to the death of Rutuja Latke's husband and Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke in May this year.

Among the seven seats where bypolls are being held, the BJP and the Congress held two seats each, while one seat each was with the BJD, Shiv Sena and RJD.

While a victory in the bypolls will be inconsequential to their position in the assemblies, the parties have not taken the contest lightly and carried out a hight pitched campaign.

The counting of votes will take place on November 6.

The Election Commission has asked Telangana's chief electoral officer to keep a "close watch" on the Munugode Assembly constituency through "various enforcement agencies" amid allegations of attempts to induce voters.

The TRS, recently renamed Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS), aims to demonstrate its dominance in state politics and go national with a big win here. A loss would hamper not only its national plans but also embolden the opposition ahead of the .

The BJP, meanwhile, hopes to give a push to its plans to emerge as the alternative to TRS with a victory in Munugode.

While 47 candidates are in the fray, the main contest is between RK Rajagopal Reddy for BJP, former MLA Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy of TRS and Congress' Palvai Sravanthi.

The BJP had deployed Union Minister G Kishan Reddy, state unit president and MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar, party MLAs Eatala Rajender and M Raghunandan Rao among other leaders for the campaign.

The TRS too raised the pitch with several state ministers, MLAs and campaigning in the constituency. TRS Working President K T Rama Rao even announced that he would "adopt" the constituency and personally focus on its development.

Congress nominee Palvai Sravanthi is banking on the goodwill of her late father Palvai Govardhan Reddy who had served as Munugode MLA and as MP.

The Gola Gorakhnath seat in Uttar Pradesh fell vacant after the death of BJP MLA Arvind Giri on September 6. With the BSP and the Congress keeping away from the bypolls, there seems to be a direct fight between the BJP and the Samajwadi Party



The BJP has fielded Aman Giri, son of Arvind Giri, while the SP candidate is former Gola MLA Vinay Tiwari.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has been actively campaigning in the constituency where former chief minister Bhajan Lal's grandson is among 22 candidates in the fray.

Leaving behind the political rivalry between the Bhajan Lal and Devi Lal families, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala also campaigned for Bhavya. The JJP leader is the great-grandson of Devi Lal.

The Congress has fielded former Union minister Jai Prakash, a three-time MP from Hisar and two-time MLA as well.

The INLD picked Congress rebel Kurda Ram Nambardar as its candidate. The AAP has fielded Satender Singh, who switched over from the BJP.

The BJD has fielded Abanti Das, the lone woman among the total five candidates in Dhamnagar. BJP MLA Bishnu Charan Sethi's death necessitated the by-poll. The saffron party, banking on sympathy votes, has fielded Sethi's son Suryabanshi Suraj.

The BJD won all six Zilla Parishad seats and 9 of 11 wards of Dhamnagar Notified Area Council (NAC) in the panchayat and civic polls held in February and April respectively this year. The party has also won all bypolls since 2019.

I am optimistic that the people will repeat it, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik earlier said.

The BJD's official candidate is facing a rebel as its former MLA Rajendra Das is in the fray as an Independent.

(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.)
opened its currency chest in Guwahati which will cater to the northeastern region including Assam, an "important market" for the private lender.

This is the second currency chest of the bank after Patna.

A statement by the bank said that the currency chest will help cash management for MSME and traders in the North East.

has been an important market for for many years now. The opening of this currency chest is a testament to our commitment to the development of and the North Eastern states of India," said C S Ghosh, MD & CEO of .

In Assam, Bandhan Bank currently has a customer base of around 26 lakh and a network of more than 472 banking outlets.

The bank will open more than 550 new branches across India in the current financial year, out of which 20 will be in .

"We have received the trust and love of more than 26 lakh customers in the state. Our significant distribution in Assam and the rest of the North East made Guwahati a default location for our currency chest, Ghosh said.

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The Maharashtra registrar of co-operative societies (RCS) has appointed D Doiphode as liquidator to wind up the crisis-laden Rupee . The liquidator will focus on recoveries and repayment to depositors of up to Rs 300 crore.

The appellate authority (in the ministry) has dismissed the appeal filed by Pune-based Rupee against the order, cancelling the banking licence in August this year.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on August 10 cancelled the Pune-based banks licence as the lender did not have adequate capital and earning prospects.

Trouble has been brewing at the Pune-based lender for some time. In February 2013, the placed it under restrictions, which were extended from time to time.

Consequently, the RCS in exercise of power conferred under the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960, has appointed the liquidator, vide order dated October 31, the said in statement.

On September 22, the Bombay High Court had suspended the cancellation order dated August 8 until conclusion of the appeal filed by Rupee Co-operative Bank, said .

The Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) has already paid about Rs 700 crore to eligible depositors. The liquidator has the obligation to return the money to DICGC, based on recoveries and liquidation, said a state government official.

While a few employees will be retained for recoveries, about 200 could lose their jobs, added the official.

Until October 31, the administrator was running the affairs of the ailing urban co-operative. In the past two years, efforts were made to merge Rupee with other sound urban co-operative lenders, including Pune-based Cosmos Co-operative Bank.

In August 2021, the RBI had declined the merger proposal of the Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank with Rupee Co-operative Bank.

In December 2021, the countrys largest urban co-operative bank Saraswat Co-operative Bank had evinced an interest in the merger of Rupee Co-operative Bank with itself.

Mehsana Urban Co-operative Bank, too, had come up with a merger proposal that was rejected in January this year.

A total of 27 small co-operative have been liquidated in the past five years, while 42 were closed on account of mergers during the period, Minister of State for Bhagwat Karad told Parliament on July 26.
The (RBI) is not going to hurry the launch of the (CBDC) and it will do so after considering the learnings from pilot projects, said Governor Shakitkanta Das on Wednesday.

The idea is to introduce CBDC without disruption, so the is going to proceed "very carefully", he said. The central government's budget this year announced a Digital Rupee will be issued by in FY23.

Separately, the plans to launch the digitised (KCC) loans in 2023, after accounting for the learnings from a pilot in Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

The pilot for CBDC in the wholesale segment commenced from November 1. The use case for this pilot is the settlement of secondary market transactions in government securities. On the first day, 48 trades worth Rs 275 crore were carried out and on the second day, 45 trades worth Rs 290 crore were carried out.

Das stopped short of giving a date when the CBDC will be launched for wider use. I dont want to give a target date by which time the CBDCs will be launched in a full-scale manner because this is something where we have to proceed very carefully. We dont want to be in a great hurry, we want to learn from the experiences from the pilots we are running, he said at an event in Mumbai.

There will be some technological challenges, process challenges. We want to find out all those aspects and introduce it in a manner that the whole process of introduction and the results thereafter are non-disruptive, he said.

Das termed the commencement of the CBDC pilot as a landmark moment in the history of and in the country. has defined CBDC as legal tender issued by a in a digital form. CBDC will complement, rather than replace, . It will be an additional payment avenue for users.

The CBDC pilot for the retail segment will be launched this month. Depending on the learnings we have from the CBDC pilot project and the learnings from the end-to-end digitized KCC loans, our endeavor is to drive and launch the CBDC in a full-fledged manner in the near future. In fact, the retail part of the CBDC trial will be launched later this month, Das said.

According to an RBI concept note issued earlier this month, the key motivations for introducing CBDC include reduction in operational costs involved in physical cash management, efficiency, and innovation in the payments system, boosting innovation in cross-border payments space, and providing the public with uses that any private virtual currencies can provide, without the associated risks.

Based on the learnings of the end-to-end digitised loans, KCC will be launched for farmers and small and medium enterprises. If everything goes according to plan, RBI hopes to launch it by 2023.
(PNB) has identified worth Rs 20,008 crore from 62 accounts to be transferred to the government-backed National Asset Reconstruction Company (NARCL) for resolution in a phased manner, Atul Kumar Goel, its managing director (MD), said on Wednesday.

We have identified nine accounts amounting to Rs 2,752 crore to be transferred to NARCL in the first phase. There will be 11 accounts in the second phase amounting to Rs 2,685 crore, and remaining in the third phase. We have already got offers from NARCL on five accounts where we have an outstanding amount of Rs 1,099 crore, he added.

NARCL has been set up by commercial to aggregate and consolidate stressed assets for their subsequent resolution.

Results declared by on Tuesday showed that its standalone net profit plunged 62.8 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 411.3 crore during July-September. This was because provisions for (NPAs) went up by 32 per cent to Rs 3,556 crore.

Goel said he was confident to recover Rs 3,995 crore during the current from the (NCLT) cases.

The total outstanding referred to the NCLT stands at Rs 66,855 crore.

During the first half of FY23, the bank had recovered Rs 1,471 crore. In FY22, it was able to recover Rs 6,321 crore of from NCLT cases.

Against a recovery target of Rs 32,000 crore from bad loans for FY23, Goel said the bank has already recovered around Rs 16,000 crore in H1.

We are fully confident that we will achieve our target by the end of FY23, he added.

Goel said the bank aims to bring gross (GNPAs) down to a single digit during the current from 10.48 per cent at the end of the September quarter of FY23.
As more and more American restaurateurs embrace street foodits shorthand for delicious and accessibletheres growing interest in the history of dishes that weve long taken for granted.



Wherever you go in the world, the creation myth of begins with the rise of modern industry, mostly in the early 1800s. The scene is usually set like this: People are working in smoky factories and dank warehouses; the work is grindingly hard and the breaks cruelly short; to keep going, the bone-tired women and men need a quick meal that can be had for a few coins. Catering to this demand, carts and stalls spring up outside the gates, selling sandwiches, bowls of noodles or burgers.

In time, these humble offerings evolve into a rich genre of snacks that are celebrated in the culture and enjoyed by all.

In India, the story of has several twists at the top. For one thing, its first consumers werent exhausted workers on their lunch break but commodity traders looking for a late dinner. For another, the countrys most popular snack, pav bhaji, can be traced to the 1860s and the far away American Civil War. The history of the dish, unbeknownst to most Indians, even includes an important cameo appearance by Portuguese traders and missionaries.

The Civil War connection is this: With the Confederate states, the worlds leading producers of cotton, locked in conflict with the Union, British textile makers turned to India for supply of the indispensable commodity. Traders in Mumbai, eager to cash in on the demand from the mills in Manchester, worked into the wee hoursthe better to stay abreast of the prices coming over the telegraph from Britain. Street vendors catering to their appetite created an entirely new snack, marrying briochelike buns (popularized in Mumbai by those Portuguese) known as pav to a spicy mishmash of vegetables known as bhaji.

It was nutritious and cheap, and pretty soon it was being scarfed down by workers in Indian cotton mills, which clustered in cities such as Ahmedabad, which came to be known as the Manchester of India.

Although Indian varies from state to state and city to city, pav bhaji remains one of the countrys most popular snacks. Its spawned multiple variants, including vada pav (a spicy potato patty in a sandwich) and kheema pav (a thick stew of minced meat, preferably goat, meant to be soaked up in those buns).

Very few Indians know their favorite snack has an American connection, and its a safe bet that even fewer Americans know their countrys contribution to Indian street food. So, its deliciously apt that the eatery named this years most outstanding restaurant in the US by the James Beard Foundation serves Indian street food in the once Confederate state of North Carolina.

And its doubly appropriate that the most popular items on the menu at Chai Pani include vada pav and kheema pav.

The restaurant is a no-frills place in downtown Ashevillethe dining room feels a long way from the glamorous spaces favored by institutions that hand out stars and awards. Its a pretty good facsimile of the vibe you get in a Mumbai snack bar: Those cotton traders wouldve felt completely at home.

The mostly American clientele seems pretty comfortable, too. It says a great deal for how far Indian cuisine has come in this country that Chai Pani can thrive in a small town without a large South Asian diaspora. And it says something about Asheville, too: The former hippie hangout has become one of Americas most happening towns.

On a recent visit to the restaurant, chef-owner Meherwan Irani tells me his diners, some of whom were encountering Indian street food for the first time, were especially fond of his kheema pav. Its like the gateway drug to the rest of my menu, he says. You try this, and your palate opens up to other tastes and flavors.

To help newbies take the leap of faith, Irani has labeled the dish Sloppy Jai, a nod and wink to the old-school American sandwich. If it sounds like something youve had before, youll be more open to trying it, he says.

Im prepared to chide Irani for making it with ground lamb rather than goat. This substitution is common in Indian outside India, and it usually results in poor imitations of the real thing. But Irani knows to compensate for the difference in meats by adjusting the spice marinade and simmering the lamb lower and longer than you would goat.

The result is a dark, rich hash of minced meat and tomatoes, with strong notes of ginger rising above the other spices. It can hold its own against the best kheema pav vendors on Mumbais iconic Mohammed Ali Road.

Born in Ahmednagar, in the same state as Mumbai, Irani also knows the importance of getting the pav just right. Hes still working with local bakers to reproduce the softness of the original, and the version he serves is nearly there. Its toasted with butter on a skillet, which imparts just a little crisp to the bread while leaving it absorbent enough to soak up the juices from the hash.

His vada pav is dryer, but the bread is toasted crunchier to offset the softness of the potato patty. Those cotton traders, most of whom came from vegetarian communities, would have approved.

Irani, who never trained as a chef, is acutely aware of the connections between street food and commerce. Most of the dishes on my menu were invented in the lanes outside factories, he says. You can see what they got from this dish: carbs, protein, a hit of spices. It delivers a jolt of energy, which you take back to work.

In truth, you dont have to know the history of Indian street food to enjoy what Irani serves. But it might just add a certain tingle to the taste.

To contact the author of this story:

Bobby Ghosh in New York at aghosh73@bloomberg.net
Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance's CEO Changpeng Zhao has said that his company invested $500 million in Elon Musk's because he is "extremely supportive" of free speech.

Zhao, famously known as CZ, told an audience at the Web Summit in Lisbon that "when we invest in a deal, we're very comfortable if the deal goes through. We're very comfortable if the deal doesn't go through. We always want to get to a point where we're in that position".

"Number one is that we want to be extremely supportive of free speech," he said. " is an important free speech platform."

Zhao admitted that he was "honestly" a "little bit surprised" when the deal finally went through as Musk is a "pretty hard guy for me to predict".

"I'm a heavy user," added the Binance CEO.

Zhao also sees Twitter as an important business development tool, calling himself an "active Twitter user" who uses the app more than he uses the Binance app, reports TechCrunch.

Zhao said Binance aceloves to support Musk's "different ideas".

"We're very supportive of anything that can reduce the bots on Twitter," he noted.

Twitter boss Musk has announced that users can get their accounts verified with the new Blue plan at a price of $8.

"Power to the people! Blue for $8 per month," he tweeted.

The world's richest man also said that the "price adjusted by country is proportional to purchasing power parity".

Musk mentioned the additional benefits that the users will get with the new Twitter Blue plan including, "priority in replies, mentions and search, ability to post long video and audio, half as many advertisements".

Zhao admitted that he doesn't have details about what's happening inside Twitter HQ right now.

--IANS

na/vd

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has unveiled plans for a big increase in the number of entering the country, with a goal of seeing 500,000 people arrive each year by 2025 as it seeks to address a critical labour shortage.

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser revealed the new plan on Tuesday. It puts a heavy emphasis on admitting more permanent residents with needed work skills and experience, alongside more-modest targets for family members and refugees. The opposition Conservative party welcomed the plan.

Make no mistake. This is a massive increase in economic migration to Canada, Fraser said. We have not seen such a focus on economic migration as we've seen in this immigration levels plan.

The new plan envisions a flood of new arrivals that will see 465,000 people come in from outside the country in 2023, rising to 500,000 in 2025. By comparison, the immigration department says 405,000 permanent residents were admitted last year.

Most of those new arrivals will be what are known as economic immigrants, who will be expected to fill some of the roughly 1 million jobs that are currently sitting empty across various sectors of the economy.

There were a million jobs available in the Canadian economy at a time when immigration already accounts for nearly all of our labour force growth, Fraser said. We cannot maximise our economic potential if we don't embrace immigration.

While the influx could put even more pressure on already scarce affordable housing in many parts of the country, Fraser suggested the new workers could actually enable the construction of more homes by addressing a shortage of tradespeople.

While most of the planned growth in immigration over the next three years will be focused on bolstering the economy, the new plan also calls for a small increase in the number of family members who will be admitted into .

It also projects an overall decrease in the number of refugees, from a high of 76,000 in 2023 to fewer than 73,000 in 2025, which Fraser attributed to the government's plan to finish resettling 40,000 Afghan refugees next year.

In each of the last two years, we have resettled more than one-third of the total number of refugees who were settled globally, he added. And each of the last three years, we have resettled more refugees than any other country in the world.

Despite the decrease, a representative for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees welcomed the government's continued support for accepting asylum seekers fleeing war and other threats.

The United Nations Refugee Agency welcomes Canada's continued commitment to refugee resettlement as part of its overall immigration growth plan, UNHCR Representative in Rema Jamous Imseis said in a statement.

The response from Canadian industry was more mixed, with the Business Council of Canada arguing the government's plan didn't go far enough in addressing the country's unprecedented labour shortage.

Opposition Conservative immigration critic Tom Kmiec also welcomed the plan to dramatically increase the number of new arrivals in Canada, but questioned whether the government would actually be able to meet its own targets.

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The presidents of and met on Tuesday and said they would improve trade and security cooperation, as both countries seek to normalise relations following the election of Colombia's first leftist leader.

After the meeting in Venezuela's presidential palace, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said it was suicidal for the governments of and to have become estranged from each other recently, adding that the border between the countries had been forgotten and turned over to criminal mafias.

Colombia's president said both countries would now look for ways to share intelligence on drug trafficking groups, and added that he would lobby for Venezuela's re-entry into the Andean Community of Nations, a regional trade and investment group that withdrew from in 2006. Petro has asked for Venezuela's support in peace talks with the National Liberation Army, or ELN, a Colombian rebel group that operates on both sides of the border.

Petro's efforts to engage with Venezuela's socialist government mark a radical departure from Colombia's recent policy: Before Petro was elected in June, backed US efforts to isolate Maduro's government, sanction its oil exports and force Maduro into holding free and fair elections.

The United States, Colombia and dozens of other countries stopped recognising Maduro as Venezuela's legitimate leader in 2019, after he won an election that was widely seen as undemocratic and backed a claim to Venezuela's presidency by the former National Assembly leader Juan Guaid.

Petro changed course as soon as he was sworn into office and re-established diplomatic ties with the Maduro government. On Tuesday opposition leaders in Venezuela criticised Petro's meeting with Maduro, with Guaid tweeting that Petro was helping to normalise the violation of human rights in Venezuela by visiting dictator Maduro and calling him a president.

The Criminal Court is currently investigating Maduro's government for human rights violations that include the torture and arbitrary detention of protesters in 2017.

In a recent letter addressed to Petro, Human Rights Watch pointed out that there are still more than 240 political prisoners in Venezuela and asked Petro to seek concrete human rights commitments from the Maduro administration as both nations re-establish diplomatic and military ties.

The watchdog group added that military cooperation with Venezuela should be banned until Venezuela security forces stop backing drug traffickers and rebels. Evidence collected by Human Rights Watch and a UN Fact Finding Mission suggests that Venezuela's military conducted joint operations with the ELN last year to root out another rebel group and allowed them to take over gold mines in eastern Venezuela.

Following the meeting, Maduro said that he had listened to Petro's proposals and was also interested in developing a deal between both countries to produce fertiliser, which has become more expensive for many countries in Latin America, due to the war in Ukraine.

It was an intense, fruitful and extensive meeting Maduro said.

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Hyderabad: Fulfilling one of TRS 2018 pre-poll promises, MA&UD minister K.T. Rama Rao on Wednesday released the government order (GO) 118, dated October 28, regularising lands in Rangareddy, Medchal-Malkajgiri and Hyderabad districts, during the Mana Nagaram programme at the Saroornagar Stadium in LB Nagar.

Land in 44 colonies, up to 1,000 square yards, is set to be regularised with the move, with the government fixing Rs 250 per sq. yard as the registration fee. The GO resolved decades-old problems of controversial land parcels in LB Nagar, Karwan, Rajendra Nagar, Jubilee Hills, Nampally and Medchal.

Rao said that the government implemented schemes from time to time to regularise land where weaker sections set up their houses and slums had mushroomed. In some instances, the land owned by private parties was already laid out and sold to individuals, due to which basic amenities were not provided to locals.

The minister said that because of the large number of public representations for regularisation of lands in these colonies, the government decided to regularise the same at a concessional rate of `250 per sq. yard, taking into consideration the economic status of the occupiers. He said this would promote planned development and improve services.

Further, Rao said that this was just the tip of the iceberg and that the TRS government was committed to resolving all developmental issues, citing the LB Nagar constituency as an example. He said that colonies that were not included in the GO will also be considered when the same is brought to the governments notice.
CVS Health, Walgreens Boots Alliance and have agreed to pay about $13.8 billion to resolve thousands of US state, local and tribal government accusing the pharmacy chains of mishandling .

CVS said on Wednesday that it had agreed to pay about $5 billion over 10 years, and Walgreens disclosed in a filing with the US.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said that it had agreed to pay about $5.7 billion over 15 years. Neither company admitted wrongdoing. has agreed to pay $3.1 billion, mostly up front, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Paul Geller, one of the lawyers for the governments, said that settlements with pharmacies will bring billions of additional dollars to communities that are desperate for funds to combat the epidemic of opioid addiction. We know that reckless, profit-driven dispensing practices fueled the crisis; but we know just as surely that with better systems in place and proper heeding of red flag warnings, pharmacies can play a direct role in reducing opioid abuse and in saving lives, Geller said.

CVS general counsel Thomas Moriarty said the company was pleased to resolve the claims and the deal was in the best interest of all parties, as well as our customers, colleagues and shareholders.

Walgreens said in its SEC filing that it continues to believe it has strong legal defenses and will

defend itself vigorously against any future not covered by the settlement.

Both CVS and Walgreens said their agreements would not be final until certain non-monetary terms were worked out, and that the total amount could be reduced if not enough government plaintiffs sign on.

did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The proposed settlement, which would be the first nationwide deal with retail pharmacy companies, follows nationwide opioid settlements with drugmakers and distributors totaling more than $33 billion. In more than 3,300 lawsuits, beginning in 2017, state and local governments accused drugmakers of downplaying the risks of their opioid pain medicines, and distributors and pharmacies of ignoring red flags that prescriptions were being diverted into illegal trafficking.

They said the resulting human toll, as well as strain on public health services and law enforcement, was a public nuisance that the must pay to fix.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The man accused of breaking into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home, beating her husband and seeking to kidnap her told police he was on a suicide mission and had plans to target other California and federal politicians, according to a Tuesday court filing.

David DePape was ordered held without bail during his arraignment Tuesday in San Francisco Superior Court. His public defender entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf. It was the first public appearance since the early Friday attack for DePape, a fringe activist drawn to conspiracy theories.

In court papers filed Tuesday, prosecutors detailed the attack in stark terms as part of their bid to keep DePape behind bars.

DePape allegedly said he had other targets, including a local professor as well as several prominent state and federal politicians and members of their families.

This case demands detention, Jenkins wrote in the court filing. Nothing less.

The filing also said that Paul Pelosi was knocked unconscious by the hammer attack and woke up in a pool of his own blood.

Wearing orange jail clothing, DePape only spoke to tell Judge Diane Northway how to pronounce his last name (dih-PAP'). The 42-year-old defendant is scheduled to return to court Friday.

After the hearing, Lipson said he looks forward to providing DePape with a vigorous defense. He also said he met DePape on Monday night for the first time and had not seen the police reports yet.

A San Francisco judge on Tuesday ordered DePape to be held without bail.

Adam Lipson, a public defender appointed to represent David DePape, entered a not guilty plea on DePape's behalf during the brief hearing in Superior Court in San Francisco. It was the first public appearance since the early Friday attack for DePape, a fringe activist drawn to conspiracy theories.

After the hearing, Lipson said he looks forward to providing DePape with a vigorous defence. He also said he met DePape on Monday night for the first time and had not seen the police reports yet.

We're going to be doing a comprehensive investigation of what happened. We're going to be looking into Mr DePape's mental state, and I'm not going to talk any further about that until I have more information, said Lipson, who noted that a no-bail detainer in state court is a moot point because DePape also has been placed on a federal hold in the case.

He later said he was pleased that Paul Pelosi was improving and expected to make a full recovery, adding he urged the public not to pass judgment on what he called a complicated situation."



From experience, I can say that there's always more to the story than what is initially reported, he said, noting there are a lot of rumours and speculation about this incident that will need to be sorted out in court once we review the evidence.

Mr DePape is entitled to a vigorous legal defence, and we intend to give him one, he added.

The Pelosi family had asked for a Zoom link to be able to watch Tuesday's proceedings but the judge said she did not get the request ahead of time.

The attack on 82-year-old Paul Pelosi sent shockwaves through the political world just days before the hotly contested midterm elections. Threats against lawmakers and elections officials have been at all-time highs in this first nationwide election since the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol, and authorities have issued warnings about rising extremism in the US.

DePape faces state charges of attempted murder, burglary and elder abuse. He also faces federal charges including attempted kidnapping of a US official. Those charges are outlined in an affidavit detailing the assault, which was largely captured on police body camera imagery after authorities responded to a 911 call from the Pelosis' Pacific Heights home.

In Washington, US Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger provided a sobering update Tuesday of security protocols for members of Congress.

Manger said that although many improvements have been made since the Capitol attack, including the hiring of nearly 280 officers by the end of this year, there is still a lot of work to do.

We believe today's political climate calls for more resources to provide additional layers of physical security for members of Congress, he said



Manger said the attack on Pelosi's husband was an alarming reminder of the dangerous threats elected officials and public figures face during today's contentious political climate.

Speaker Pelosi was in Washington at the time and under the protection of her security detail, which does not extend to family members. She swiftly returned to San Francisco, where her husband was hospitalised and underwent surgery for a skull fracture and other injuries.

District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said the assault on Paul Pelosi appeared to be premeditated, and she appealed to Americans to tone down the political rhetoric.

During a news conference after the arraignment hearing, Jenkins said her office won't release the 911 recording or police bodycam footage unless they're presented at trial. She also said DePape's shoulder was dislocated during his arrest and that he was wearing a sling under his jail clothing during the hearing.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
has given assurances to that he will keep funding its access to a crucial satellite network providing Kyiv with battlefield and humanitarian communications in its war with Russia, a senior Ukrainian official said on Wednesday.

told me personally that he will continue to support and continue to provide Starlink to Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation, told The Associated Press.

There are no problems for now with Starlink, Fedorov said through an interpreter.

Doubts arose last month about whether Musk would continue to offer the SpaceX Starlink system to . Its more than 2,200 low-orbiting satellites provide a broadband internet service to more than 150,000 Ukrainian ground stations.

But Musk tweeted in mid-October that it was costing SpaceX USD 20 million a month to support Ukraine's communications needs. He also noted his company has to create, launch, maintain and replenish satellites and ground stations. Musk, the world's richest man, also spent billions to take control of Twitter last week.

US officials confirmed at the time that Musk had asked the Defence Department to take over funding for the service Starlink provides in Ukraine.

The Starlink satellite internet's role is central to Ukraine's defence. For example, it helps front-line reconnaissance drone operators target artillery strikes on Russian assets and positions. The fighting in Ukraine is Europe's first major war of the internet age.

Fedorov, speaking to the AP on the sidelines of an tech conference in Lisbon, Portugal, wouldn't lift the lid on how Starlink assists Ukraine's military.

He noted that its importance stretches beyond military use, allowing soldiers to call home, permitting humanitarian operations and enabling the Ukraine government to continue rolling out e-services for its citizens, even in wartime.

Starlink is now crucial for all the critical state services, he said.

Satellite imagery provided by western also helps the Ukrainian military's situational awareness, he said.

Recent Russian missile attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, especially the power supply, have disrupted internet services but it's not that critical as of yet, according to Fedorov.

He said tens of thousands of Ukrainian volunteers are helping to fend off Russian cyberattacks.

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Former Israeli Prime Minister appeared headed toward victory on Wednesday, with some 85 per cent of the ballots from national elections counted and showing that voters gave him and his far-right allies what looks like a majority in the country's parliament.

Votes were still being counted and results were not final. But if preliminary indications were correct, was potentially headed to its most right-wing government, bolstered by a strong showing from the ultranationalist Religious Zionism party, whose members use inflammatory anti-Arab and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.

The initial results pointed to a continued rightward shift in the Israeli electorate, further dimming hopes for peace with the Palestinians and setting the stage for possible conflict with the Biden administration and Israel's supporters in the United States.

The early results also showed that Netanyahu had overcome his detractors, who claimed he was not fit to rule while on trial for corruption and have refused to sit with him in government. Netanyahu's partners have promised to help him evade a conviction.

We are on the verge of a very big victory, Netanyahu, 73, told supporters at a gathering in Jerusalem early on Wednesday. I will establish a nationalist government that will see to all Israeli citizens without any exceptions.

Netanyahu did not immediately claim an outright victory, nor did his main opponent, interim Prime Minister Yair Lapid, concede defeat. But signs of a political shift were underway.

One Netanyahu challenger, Defence Minister Benny Gantz, said his party, expected to be the fourth largest, would head to the opposition. Lapid meanwhile cancelled a diplomatic visit to a climate conference in Egypt.

Elections officials worked through the night tallying votes and by Wednesday afternoon, about 85 per cent of the ballots had been counted.

The vote, like past elections, was tight but initial indications showed Netanyahu was headed back to the premiership with a majority in the country's 120-seat parliament.

Final results are expected on Friday. The hundreds of thousands of remaining ballots mostly from those who voted away from their regular place of residency, in nursing homes and elsewhere have to be cross-checked for accuracy, a more time-consuming effort. They could lend a boost to Netanyahu's opponents, reducing the size of his majority.

With Netanyahu and his allies projected to win more than the 61-seat majority needed to form a government, the country's protracted political crisis may be headed toward a conclusion, though remains as divided as ever.

Tuesday's election was Israel's fifth in less than four years, with all of them focused largely on Netanyahu's fitness to govern. On trial for a slew of corruption charges, Netanyahu, who denied wrongdoing, is seen by supporters as the victim of a witch hunt and vilified by opponents as a crook and threat to democracy.

Even if Netanyahu and his allies emerge victorious, it could still take weeks of negotiations for a coalition government to be formed.

Netanyahu was Israel's longest-serving prime minister, governing for 12 consecutive years and 15 years altogether before he was ousted last year by a diverse coalition led by the centrist Lapid, the current caretaker prime minister.

But the coalition that Lapid cobbled together, which included the first Arab party ever to join a government, was decimated by infighting and collapsed after just one year in power. Those parties were poised to capture about 50 seats, according to initial results.

Lapid, addressing supporters early on Wednesday, insisted that the race was not decided.

Until the last envelope is counted, nothing is over and nothing is final, he said.

But in a sign that he was moving toward accepting defeat, Lapid later on Wednesday cancelled his plans to attend the COP27 climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, next week, according to an Israeli official familiar with the change in plans. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the issue with the media.

President Isaac Herzog will represent at the event instead, the official said.

The night's strongest showing was by the far-right Religious Zionism party, which emerged as the third-largest party. At an all-male campaign gathering in Jerusalem, religious men wearing Jewish skullcaps and waving Israeli flags danced in celebration.

At the celebration, supporters of the party's top candidate, Itamar Ben-Gvir, chanted Death to terrorists.

Ben-Gvir is a disciple of a racist rabbi, Meir Kahane, who was banned from parliament and whose Kach party was branded a terrorist group by the United States before he was assassinated in New York in 1990.

Kahane's agenda called for banning intermarriage between Arabs and Jews, stripping Arabs of Israeli citizenship and expelling large numbers of Palestinians.

But while Kahane was seen as a pariah, Ben-Gvir is one of Israel's most popular politicians, thanks to his frequent media appearances, cheerful demeanor, knack for deflecting criticism and calls for a harder line against Palestinians at a time of heavy fighting in the occupied West Bank. Young ultra-Orthodox men are among his strongest supporters.

Ben-Gvir lives in the hard-line West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba and is a strong proponent of settlement construction. He has described Arab colleagues in parliament as terrorists, called for deporting those who are disloyal and recently brandished a handgun in a tense Palestinian neighbourhood of Jerusalem as he called on police to shoot Palestinian stone-throwers.

We want to make a total separation between those who are loyal to the state of Israel and we don't have any problem with them and those who undermine our dear country, he said.

Muhammad Shtayyeh, the Palestinian prime minister, said the rise of Israel's far right was a natural result of the growing manifestations of extremism and racism in Israeli society.

It appeared as though two of the three parties representing the country's 20 per cent Palestinian minority earned enough votes for a spot in parliament, as polls had predicted.

But it was unclear whether Meretz, a dovish party that opposes Israel's occupation of the West Bank and a member of the current coalition, would make it into parliament.

If the Netanyahu alliance ends up controlling a majority, Ben-Gvir and his party leader, Bezalel Smotrich, are sure to drive a hard bargain. Ben-Gvir has said he will demand the Cabinet post overseeing Israel's police force.

The pair have also said they will seek legal reforms aimed at weakening the independence of the judiciary and giving parliament power to override court decisions they don't like. That could clear the way for the dismissal of criminal charges against Netanyahu. Smotrich and other members of the party have also made repeated anti-LGBTQ comments.

Such positions could put a future Netanyahu government on a collision course with the Biden administration, which supports a two-state solution with the Palestinians. It could also alienate Israeli allies in the US, particularly the predominantly liberal Jewish American community.

In Israel, voters vote for parties, not individual politicians. No party has ever won a majority on its own, and coalition-building is necessary to govern.

Tensions meanwhile rose Wednesday as a Palestinian slammed his car into an Israeli army officer near the Maccabim checkpoint between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The soldier, seriously injured, opened fire on the man, the military said.

The Palestinians said the suspected attacker, Habas Abdel Hafeez Yousef Rayan, 54, died soon after.

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Former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso left for Seoul on Wednesday to meet with South Korean officials as the two countries try to improve ties that were badly strained by Japanese wartime atrocities.

At the centre of the disputes between the two countries are South Korean court rulings in 2018 that ordered Japanese companies to compensate wartime forced Korean labourers.

The Japanese government and the companies have refused to comply with the rulings, saying all compensation issues have been settled under the 1965 normalisation treaty and accusing of violating the law.

But ties have started showing signs of improvement since South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's conservative government took power in May.

As key Asian allies to the United States, having a strained relationship also poses a concern for their security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region as it faces growing threats from China and North Korea.

Gaffe-prone Aso is also known for his family business' wartime use of forced labourers.

In 2008, wartime documents surfaced showing that Korean forced labourers were used at Aso's grandfather's mine, from which he has distanced himself. Aso kept mum when Japan's Health and Welfare Ministry acknowledged that other wartime documents showed that the Aso family mine in Fukuoka, southern Japan, also used 300 British, Dutch and Australian prisoners from April 1945 through Japan's surrender four months later.

The trip comes days after a crowd surge in the South Korean capital Seoul killed over 150 people. President Yoon declared a national mourning period on Sunday.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Aso is not representing the government, but is visiting as the head of a non-partisan Japan- friendship organisation made up of political and business representatives.

Aso declined to confirm reports he may be meeting with President Yoon, and Matsuno denied that Aso was carrying Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's letter to Yoon.

Another veteran ruling lawmaker, Fukushiro Nukaga, who heads a group of parliamentarians promoting friendship between the two neighbours, was also due to visit South Korea, Kyodo News agency reported.

Nukaga is expected to meet with Yoon on Friday, while media reports say Aso's meeting with the South Korean leader is also being arranged.

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Eighteen former Latin American and Caribbean leaders have signed a letter to US President Joe Biden asking the to remove its six-decade embargo on Cuba in the wake of devastation inflicted by Hurricane Ian.

The letter, shared with The Associated Press ahead of its Wednesday release, also requests that Biden remove Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism for providing refuge to leaders of a guerrilla group that is now set to reenter peace talks with Colombia, an American ally.

The letter comes as Cuba is suffering its worst economic, political and energy crises of the century so far, spurring a migratory exodus from the island. It was exacerbated by Hurricane Ian, which walloped western Cuba before hitting southern Florida late last month.

We ask you, Mr President, to take into account this dramatic situation that thousands of Cubans are experiencing and do whatever is necessary to lift those restrictions that affect the most vulnerable, the letter reads.

Among the signatories are former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, two former Colombian leaders Juan Manuel Santos and Ernesto Samper and former leaders from Bolivia to Belize.

All of the signers are leftists or centrists. Notably absent were signatures from right-wing politicians, underscoring the deep divisions that the Caribbean island still provokes in the region.

The United Nations General Assembly is scheduled to vote this week on a resolution to condemn the trade embargo and it is expected to pass again for the 30th consecutive year.

Yet former Colombian President Ernesto Samper told The Associated Press in an interview that he doesn't want the letter to be viewed as a political statement.

At this moment, what worries us is that the ones paying the cost are Cubans who are going without food, medicine or electricity, Samper told the AP.

The trade embargo was imposed in 1962 as the Cuban revolution veered toward socialism. It has restricted Cuba's access to a vast array of products, as well as aid, and financial resources.

Island officials say the restrictions have made it harder to recover from the hurricane, which destroyed 14,000 homes and caused long-term damage to the country's electrical grid.

While the Obama administration eased many sanctions, they came back into full force under the Trump administration, which justified the sanctions by re-designating Cuba as a state sponsor for terrorism for its refusal to extradite 10 leaders of Colombia's biggest remaining guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army.

But that order was lifted when Colombia's first leftist leader was inaugurated in August and announced new peace talks with the group. The rebel leaders recently left Cuba to hold negotiations in Venezuela.

Biden has eased a few measures, but has also been sharply critical of the Cuban government's harsh treatment of protesters last year which also hardened sentiment against concessions to the Cuban government among Cuban-Americans, a key voting bloc in Florida.

But the administration recently made a few friendly gestures, offering $2 million in emergency relief to help with hurricane recovery.

Fully lifting the embargo also would require authorisation by Congress at a time deep of political division in the US, only made more difficult by approaching midterm elections in which Florida is a swing state.

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Severe tropical Nalgae edged closer to on Wednesday and forced businesses to close, but a finance summit that's meant to restore the city's image as an financial hub pressed ahead.

As the city braced itself, temporary shelters were opened and theme parks were closed. The Jockey Club scrapped the evening's horse race.

The Observatory raised its No. 8 typhoon signal, the third-highest warning under the city's weather system, Wednesday afternoon as Nalgae's maximum sustained winds hit 90 kilometres (56 miles) per hour.

The warning, which prompted workers to return home, would remain in force until 6 pm. Whether the signal would be downgraded later would hinge on the strength of the and its distance from the city, the observatory said.

Nalgae killed more than 130 people in the Philippines days ago before moving closer to China's southeastern and southern coastal regions. Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to China's rule in 1997.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday declared a state of calamity for six months in four storm-battered regions, including in a five-province Muslim autonomous region in the south, where rescuers continue to search for more villagers feared buried in a huge mudslide in a mountainside community.

The storm, about 170 kilometres (105 miles) south-southeast of the city as of 2 pm (0500 GMT), was expected to bring winds with mean speeds of 63 kilometres (39 miles) per hour or more, according to the observatory in Hong Kong.

Residents are urged to stay away from the shoreline and stop going to water sport activities, the observatory added.

The government halted various public services, ranging from vaccination and driving license arrangements to child care and elderly centres. Afternoon trading at the local stock market was suspended after the signal was hoisted.

Nalgae will weaken gradually. However, it will be very close to the vicinity of the Pearl River Estuary tonight, the weather forecaster said.

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has shared intelligence with American officials that suggests could be preparing for an imminent attack on the kingdom, three US officials have said.

The heightened concerns about a potential attack on as the Biden administration is criticising Tehran for its crackdown on widespread protests and condemning it for sending hundreds of drones as well as technical support to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine.

We are concerned about the threat picture, and we remain in constant contact through military and intelligence channels with the Saudis, the National Security Council said in a statement. We will not hesitate to act in the defense of our interests and partners in the region.

did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Nor did Iran's mission to the United Nations.

One of the officials who confirmed the intelligence sharing described it as a credible threat of an attack soon or within 48 hours.

No US embassy or consulate in the region has issued alerts or guidance to Americans in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere in the Middle East based on the intelligence. The officials were not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Asked about reports of the intelligence shared by the Saudis, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said US military officials are concerned about the threat situation in the region."



"We're in regular contact with our Saudi partners, in terms of what information they may have to provide on that front, Ryder said.

But what we've said before, and I'll repeat it, is that we will reserve the right to protect and defend ourselves no matter where our forces are serving, whether in Iraq or elsewhere.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said America was concerned about the threat picture, without elaborating.

The Wall Street Journal first reported on the Saudis sharing the intelligence earlier on Tuesday. has alleged without providing evidence that Saudi Arabia and other rivals are fomenting the dissent on its streets by ordinary Iranians.

Of particular ire is protest coverage by International, a London-based, Farsi-language satellite news channel once majority-owned by a Saudi national.

The US and Saudis blamed Iran in 2019 of being behind a major attack in eastern Saudi Arabia, which halved the oil-rich kingdom's production and caused energy prices to spike.

The Iranians denied they were behind the attack, but the same triangle-shaped, bomb-carrying drones used in that attack are now being deployed by Russian forces in their war on Ukraine.

The Saudis have also been hit repeatedly in recent years by drones, missiles and mortars launched by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. Saudi Arabia formed a coalition to battle the Houthis in 2015 and has been internationally criticized for its airstrikes in the war, which have killed scores of civilians.

In recent weeks, the Biden administration has imposed sanctions on Iranian officials for the brutal crackdown on demonstrators after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September after her arrest by Iran's morality police.

The administration has also hit Iran with sanctions for supplying drones to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine.

At least 288 people have been killed and 14,160 arrested during the protests, according to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran. Demonstrations have continued, even as the feared paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has warned young Iranians to stop.

Iran already launched a series of attacks targeting Kurdish separatist positions in northern Iraq amid the protests, killing at least 16 people, including an American citizen.

US relations with Saudi Arabia have also been strained after the Riyadh-led alliance of oil producing nations, OPEC+, announced in October that it would cut production by 2 million barrels per day starting in November.

The White House has said it is reviewing its relationship with the Saudis over the move. The administration said the production cut is effectively helping another OPEC+ member, Russia, pad its coffers as it continues its war in Ukraine, now in its ninth month.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Tuesday reiterated that the administration remains concerned that Iran may also provide Russia with surface-to-surface missiles.

We haven't seen that concern bear out, but it's a concern we have, Kirby said.

Even as the US and raise concerns about possible Iranian action, the administration has not ruled out the possibility of reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which was brokered by the Obama administration and scrapped in 2018 by the Trump administration.

The US special envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, said on Monday that the administration was not currently focused on the deal, which has been stalled since August.

Still, Malley refused to declare the deal dead and said the administration makes no apology for trying to do everything we can to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

The deal had provided Tehran with billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for the country agreeing to roll back its nuclear program. It includes caps on enrichment and how much material Iran can stockpile and limits the operation of advanced centrifuges needed to enrich.

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Brazilian President on Tuesday did not concede the election he lost to leftist in a brief speech that marked his first comments since results were released two days ago.

But afterward, Chief-of-Staff Ciro Nogueira told reporters that Bolsonaro has authorised him to begin the transition process.

Bolsonaro's address didn't mention election results, but he said he will continue to follow the rules of the nation's constitution.

I have always been labelled as anti-democratic and, unlike my accusers, I have always played within the four lines of the constitution, Bolsonaro, flanked by more than a dozen ministers and allies, told reporters in the official residence in capital Brasilia.

Bolsonaro lost Sunday's race by a thin margin, garnering 49.1 per cent of the vote to da Silva's 50.9 per cent, according to the nation's electoral authority. It was the tightest presidential race since Brazil's return to democracy in 1985 and marks the first time Bolsonaro has lost an election in his 34-year political career, including seven races for a seat in Congress' Lower House.

Much like former US President Donald Trump, whom Bolsonaro openly admires, the far-right incumbent has repeatedly questioned the reliability of the country's electoral system, claiming electronic voting machines are prone to fraud. He never provided any proof, even when ordered to do so by the electoral court.

That has led many political analysts to warn that Bolsonaro appeared to be laying the groundwork to reject election results.

In recent days, and without a public statement from Bolsonaro, truck drivers and other supporters of his blocked hundreds of roads across the country. Many said the election had been fraudulent and some called for military intervention and for Congress and the Supreme Court to be disbanded.

Brazil's Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the federal highway police to immediately clear hundreds of roads across the country blocked by truck drivers protesting President Jair Bolsonaro's loss in the October 30 election.

A majority of the court's justices backed the decision, which accuses the highway police of omission and inertia." Failure to comply will mean its director can be fined up to 100,000 reais (more than $19,000) per hour, be removed from his duties and even face arrest. Federal prosecutors in Sao Paulo and Goias states said they had opened investigations into the blockades.

By noon Tuesday, highway police said they had removed 306 blockades, but more than 260 were still in place.

In Sao Paulo Brazil's most populous state and largest economy traffic jams around the airport led to dozens of flight cancellations, with videos on social media showing travellers rolling their suitcases along the highway in the dark trying to catch their flights. The highways had been cleared by Tuesday morning, but airport officials said access remained difficult as traffic was still backed up in and out of the airport.

There, Dalmir Almeida, a 38-year-old protester, told The Associated Press that after completing three days of strikes, he and others will drive their trucks to the military barracks to ask for their support. The army will be in our favour, he added.

At another road block in Sao Paulo state, protesters set tires on fire. Several demonstrators were wrapped in the Brazilian flag, which has been co-opted by the nation's conservative movement for demonstrations. Huge lines of cars could be seen snaking along the highway.

Fears of escalation grew as the country's leftist Landless Workers' Movement, a key ally of da Silva's that has long staged occupations of what it considers vacant or unused lands, asked its militants on Tuesday to organise demonstrations in several states to unblock roads.

Sao Paulo Governor Rodrigo Garcia told a news conference that the time for negotiations was over, and he was not ruling out the use of force by law enforcement.

From now on, we are going to apply what the (Supreme Court) decision determined, starting with fines of 100,000 reais per hour for each vehicle that is contributing to this obstruction," he said.

In Minas Gerais, a key battleground state in the election, a video on social media showed a protester telling a reporter from the O Tempo news outlet that the election was fraudulent and warned of future protests. We won't stop as long as we don't have a response from our president, he said. We want Bolsonaro in 2023 and for the years to come."



In Itaborai, a region in Rio de Janeiro state, an Associated Press reporter saw truck drivers kneeling in front of police officers and refusing to evacuate.

Users on social media, including in multiple Telegram and WhatsApp chat groups with names like Paralysation," shared demands that the military take the streets, or that Congress and the Supreme Court be disbanded and the president remain in office.

Following the election, the electoral authority blocked two dozen Telegram groups that defended a military coup and called on their more than 150,000 followers to organise demonstrations, according to online news site UOL.

The Supreme Court's decision on Tuesday permits regular state police forces to reinforce federal highway police, and the governors of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo states ordered them to deploy, news outlets reported. The same was done in 2018, when an 11-day trucker strike brought to a halt.

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Air raid sirens sounded on a South Korean island and residents there evacuated to underground shelters after fired more than 20 missiles Wednesday, at least one of them in its direction and landing near the rivals' tense sea border. quickly responded by launching its own missiles in the same border area.

The launches came hours after threatened to use nuclear weapons to get the US and to pay the most horrible price in history in protest of the ongoing South Korean-US military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal. The White House maintained that the United States has no hostile intent toward and vowed to work with allies to curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

The North's barrage of missile tests also came as world attention was focused on following a weekend Halloween tragedy that saw more than 150 people killed in a crowd surge in Seoul in what was the country's largest disaster in years.

South Korea's military said North Korea launched at least 23 missiles 17 in the morning and six in the afternoon off its its eastern and western coasts on Wednesday. It said the weapons were all short-range or suspected surface-to-air missiles. Also Wednesday, North Korea fired about 100 artillery shells into an eastern maritime buffer zone the Koreas created in 2018 to reduce tensions, according to South Korea's military.

The 23 missiles launched is a record number of daily missile tests by North Korea, some experts say.

One of the was flying toward South Korea's Ulleung island before it eventually landed 167 km (104 miles) northwest of the island. South Korea's military subsequently issued an air raid alert on the island, according to the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff. South Korean media published photos showing island residents moving to underground shelters.

Hours later on Wednesday, South Korea's military said it lifted the air raid alert on the island. South Korea's transport ministry said it has closed some air routes above the country's eastern waters until Thursday morning in the wake of the North Korean launches.

That missile landed 26 km (16 miles) away from the rivals' sea border. It landed in waters but far south of the two countries' border, off the east coast of South Korea. South Korea's military said it was the first time a North Korean missile had landed so close to the sea border since the countries' division in 1948.

This is very unprecedented and we will never tolerate it, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

In 2010, North Korea shelled a frontline South Korean island off the peninsula's western coast, killing four people. But the weapons used were artillery rockets, not whose launches or tests are banned by multiple UN Security Council resolutions.

Later Wednesday, South Korean fighter jets launched three air-to-surface, precision-guided missiles near the eastern sea border to show its determination to get tough on North Korean provocations. South Korea's military said the missiles landed in waters at the same distance of 26 km (16 miles) north of the sea border as the North Korean missile fell earlier Wednesday.

It said it maintains a readiness to win an overwhelming victory against North Korea in potential clashes.

North Korea firing missiles in a way that sets off air raid sirens appears intended to threaten South Koreans to pressure their government to change policy, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. North Korea's expanding military capabilities and tests are worrisome, but offering concessions about alliance cooperation or nuclear recognition would make matters worse.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff earlier identified three of the North Korean weapons launched as short-range ballistic missiles fired from the North's eastern coastal town of Wonsan, including the one that landed near the sea border.

North Korean short-range weapons are designed to strike key facilities in South Korea, including US military bases there.

In an emergency meeting with top security officials, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered officials to take swift unspecified steps to make North Korea face consequences for its provocation. He said he would consider the North Korean missile's landing near the border a virtual violation of (our) territorial waters.

During the emergency South Korean meeting, officials also lamented that the North Korean missile launches came as South Korea is in a mourning period over the crowd crush. They noted this clearly showed the nature of the North Korean government, according to South Korea's presidential office.

Earlier Wednesday, Japanese Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters that at least two ballistic missiles fired by North Korea showed a possibly irregular trajectory. This suggests the missiles are the North's highly maneuverable, nuclear-capable KN-23 missile, which was modeled on Russia's Iskander missile.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called North Korea's continuing missile tests absolutely impermissible.

Analyst Cheong Seong-Chang at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea said that the danger of armed clashes between the Koreas off their western or eastern coasts is increasing. He said South Korea needs to make proportional responses to North Korean provocations, not overwhelming responses, to prevent tensions from spiraling out of control and possibly leading the North to use its tactical nuclear weapons.

Animosities on the Korean Peninsula have been running high in recent months, with North Korea testing a string of nuclear-capable missiles and adopting a law authorising the preemptive use of its nuclear weapons in a broad range of situations.

Some experts still doubt North Korea would use nuclear weapons first in the face of US and South Korean forces.

North Korea has argued its recent weapons tests were meant to issue a warning to Washington and Seoul over their series of joint military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal, including this week's exercises involving about 240 warplanes.

In a statement released early Wednesday, Pak Jong Chon, a secretary of the ruling Workers' Party who is considered a close confidant of leader Kim Jong Un, called the so-called Vigilant Storm air force drills aggressive and provocative.

If the US and South Korea attempt to use armed forces against (North Korea) without any fear, the special means of the (North's) armed forces will carry out their strategic mission without delay, Pak said, in an apparent reference to his country's nuclear weapons.

The US and South Korea will have to face a terrible case and pay the most horrible price in history, he said.

US and South Korean officials have steadfastly said their drills are defensive in nature and that they have no intentions of attacking North Korea.

We reject the notion that they serve as any sort of provocation. We have made clear that we have no hostile intent towards (North Korea) and call on them to engage in serious and sustained diplomacy, White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said late Tuesday.

North Korea continues to not respond. At the same time, we will continue to work closely with our allies and partners to limit the North's ability to advance its unlawful weapons programs and threaten regional stability, Watson said.

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South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that has fired a toward sea Wednesday, but gave no further details like how far it flew.

The launch came hours after issued a veiled threat to use nuclear weapons to get the US and to pay the most horrible price in history an escalation of its fiery rhetoric targeting the ongoing large-scale military drills between its rivals.

In a statement, Pak Jong Chon, a secretary of the ruling Workers' Party who is considered a close confidant of leader Kim Jong Un, called the ongoing military drills between and the US aggressive and provocative.

has argued its recent weapons tests were meant to issue a warning to Washington and Seoul over their series of joint military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal, including this week's exercises involving about 240 warplanes.

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said on Wednesday it would resume its participation in a deal to free up vital grain exports from war-torn after suspending it over the weekend in a move that had threatened to exacerbate hunger across the world.

The Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement that formally committed to use the established safe shipping corridor between southern and Turkey exclusively in accordance with the stipulations of the agreement.

The Russian Federation believes that the guarantees it has received currently appear sufficient, and resumes the implementation of the agreement, the ministry said, adding that medition by the United Nations and Turkey secured Russias

continued cooperation.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu informed Turkeys defense minister that the deal for a humanitarian grain corridor would continue in the same way as before as of noon Wednesday.

Ships have continued to carry Ukrainian grain on the route despite the suspension, but that had been unlikely to continue for long because insurance companies were not issuing new contracts due to Russias move, industry sources told Reuters.

Russian attacks have seriously damaged about 40 per cent of Ukraines entire energy infrastructure, according to a press release from Ukrainian Presidents office.

Meanwhile, senior Russian military leaders have discussed when and how they would use tactical in Ukraine, multiple US officials have claimed.

The officials talked about scenarios in which they would use nuclear weapons, showing how frustrated the generals are about

setbacks on the battlefield in Ukraine.

They did not talk about using the weapons with Russian president Vladimir Putin, but the conversations have heightened concern about the prospect of a nuclear armageddon.

US government officials learned about the discussions in mid-October, as Moscows nuclear rhetoric intensified, reported The New York Times.

Bio weapons

The UN Security Council scheduled a vote on a resolution that would establish a commission to investigate unfounded Russian claims that Ukraine and the US are carrying out military biological activities that violate the convention prohibiting the use of biological weapons.

circulated a 310-page document to council members last week alleging that this biological activity is taking place in Ukraine with support from the US Defense Department.
The UN Security Council scheduled a vote on Wednesday on a resolution that would establish a commission to investigate unfounded Russian claims that and the United States are carrying out military biologcal" activities that violate the convention prohibiting the use of biological weapons.

Russia circulated a 310-page document to council members last week alleging that this biological activity is taking place in with support from the US Defense Department.

The document included an official complaint to the Security Council, allowed under Article VI of the 1972 biological weapons convention, and a draft resolution that would authorize the Security Council to set up a commission comprising the 15 council members to investigate Russia's claims.

Russia's initial allegation of secret American biological warfare labs in Ukraine, made soon after its February 24 invasion of its smaller neighbour, has been disputed by independent scientists, Ukrainian leaders and officials at the White House and Pentagon. An Associated Press investigation in March found the claim was taking root online, uniting COVID-19 conspiracy theorists, QAnon adherents and some supporters of former President Donald Trump.

does have a network of biological labs that have gotten funding and research support from the US. They are owned and operated by Ukraine and are part of an initiative called the Biological Threat Reduction Program that aims to reduce the likelihood of deadly outbreaks, whether natural or manmade.

The US efforts date back to work in the 1990s to dismantle the former Soviet Union's program for weapons of mass destruction.

In September, the 197 state parties to the biological weapons convention met at Russia's request on the activities at biological laboratories in Ukraine, but a final report said it wasn't possible to reach consensus.

Diplomats said it is highly unlikely that the Russian draft resolution will be adopted by the Security Council when it is put to a vote, expected late Wednesday afternoon. Approval requires a minimum nine yes votes and no veto by one of the five permanent members -- the US, Britain, France, Russia and China.

Russia called a Security Council meeting on its claims last Thursday, which the United States and its Western allies vehemently dismissed.

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield called the meeting a colossal waste of time and rejected Russia's allegation as pure fabrications brought forth without a shred of evidence.

She said the claim is part of a Moscow disinformation campaign that is attempting to distract from the atrocities Russian forces are carrying out in Ukraine and a desperate tactic to justify an unjustifiable war.

Ukraine does not have a biological weapons program, she said. The United States does not have a biological weapons program. There are no Ukrainian biological weapons laboratories supported by the United States.

Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused the US of conducting work in Ukraine with deadly pathogens including cholera, plague, anthrax and influenza that couldn't be justified under the guise of public health.

He said documents and evidence recovered by Russian authorities suggested a military application.

Nebenzia told the Security Council that the Russian military during its time in Ukraine had recovered drones capable of spraying bioagents as well as documents that he said related to research on the possibility of spreading pathogens through bats and migrating birds.

Thomas-Greenfield countered that Russia's claims are absurd for many reasons, including because such species, even if they could be weaponized, would pose as much a threat to the European continent and to Ukraine itself as they would to any other country.

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Visiting Prime Minister met Chinese President and discussed mutual cooperation between the two countries, especially in economic fields.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Sharif said that they also "agreed to increase multilateral cooperation between and Pakistan, including CPEC, and further strengthen the strategic partnership".

The Pakistani leader also posted images of the meeting.

Sharif landed in Beijing on Tuesday night on a two-day official visit -- the first since he took office in April this year.

Before departing for China, he said in a series of tweets: "Leaving for Beijing today. Honoured to be among the first few leaders to have been invited after the historic 20th National Congress of the CPC. At a time when the world is grappling with multiple challenges, & stand together as friends & partners.

"My discussions with Chinese leadership will focus on revitalization of among many other things. Second phase of promises to usher in a new era of socio-economic progress that will uplift quality of our people's lives. There is a lot to learn from Chinese economic miracle."

The Prime Minister is also scheduled to hold delegation-level talks with Premier Li Keqiang and meet Chinese investors and Pakistani businessmen.

--IANS

ksk/

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on Wednesday closed some of its air routes in the East Sea after one of multiple missiles fired by landed near the South's Ulleung Island.

Earlier in the day, the North fired various types of about 10 missiles, including three short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs), off its west and east coasts, reports Yonhap News Agency.

One of the SRBMs fell into high seas 26 km south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the East Sea, marking the first missile launched by the North that flew past the de facto maritime inter-Korean border since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said some air routes in the East Sea would be closed from 10.58 a.m. on Wednesday to 11.05 a.m. on Thursday.

The Ministry has advised local airlines to take a detour to ensure passenger safety in the routes to the US and Japan.

Currently, airlines offer 33 flights via the East Sea -- 32 bound for the US and one for Japan.

--IANS

ksk/

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British Prime Minister announced on Wednesday that he will attend the COP27 in Egypt next week, reversing his previous decision to skip the meeting in Sharm El Sheikh to focus on domestic issues and the economic crisis in the UK.

Sunak took to Twitter to reveal his plans after criticism from climate activists and within the government from Indian-origin COP27 President Alok Sharma, who said it was important for the prime minister to be present to show the UK's commitment on the issue of climate action.

The pressure mounted further as his ex-boss, former prime minister Boris Johnson, confirmed that he would be attending the summit scheduled between November 6 and 18.

"There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change, tweeted Sunak.

"There is no energy security without investing in renewables. That is why I will attend COP27 next week: to deliver on Glasgow's legacy of building a secure and sustainable future," he said, with reference to the COP26 summit chaired by the UK in Scotland last November.

The Opposition Labour Party described the reversed decision to attend as Sunak being "dragged kicking and screaming into doing the right thing; embarrassing".

The Green Party called it a "screeching U-turn" and "an embarrassing mis-step on the world stage" to initially announce plans not to attend.

Earlier this week, Downing Street said Sunak's attendance at the summit was under review as progress was being made with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt on the preparation of a crucial economic statement scheduled for November 17.

Many world leaders, including US President Joe Biden and France's Emmanuel Macron, are due to go to the 27th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on (UNFCCC).

India's Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav will lead an 18-member delegation at COP 27, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's attendance yet to be confirmed.

King Charles III, a passionate climate campaigner who will not be attending, is to host a COP27 pre-summit reception for world leaders at Buckingham Palace on Friday. It is planned as a review of progress made since the UK hosted the COP26 summit in Glasgow last November, with Sunak and Sharma among those attending alongside business leaders and decision-makers.

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US has launched a demining training project in Ukraine by awarding USD 47.6 million to Tetra Tech, Inc. of California, amid the Russia- Ukraine war, the State Department said on Tuesday (local time).

"On September 30, the Department awarded $47.6 million to Tetra Tech, Inc. of Pasadena, California to provide urgent humanitarian demining assistance to Ukraine in the face of Russia's brutal war of aggression," as per the statement released by the US Department of State.

According to the statement, Tetra Tech will strengthen the Government of Ukraine's capacity to locate and remove landmines, unexploded and abandoned ordnance, improvised explosive devices, and other explosive hazards from civilian areas.

Tetra Tech will train the Government of Ukraine's demining and EOD teams to standards and provide them with the tools necessary to do their jobs. The project also supports deploying additional clearance teams and explosive ordnance risk education teams through the local non-governmental organization Ukrainian Deminers Association.

The statement further added that Russia's unlawful war against Ukraine has littered massive swaths of the country with landmines, unexploded ordnance, and improvised explosive devices.

"The explosive hazards block access to farmland, impede reconstruction efforts, prevent displaced people from returning to their homes, and continue to kill and maim innocent Ukrainian civilians. The Government of Ukraine estimates that 160,000 square kilometres of its land may be contaminated - this is roughly the size of Virginia, Maryland, and Connecticut combined," the statement reads

Since 1993, the has invested over USD 4.7 billion for the safe clearance of landmines and explosive weapons of war as well as the securing and safe disposal of excess small arms and light weapons and munitions in more than 100 countries and territories.

According to the statement, the is the world's largest financial supporter of conventional weapons destruction.

In September, the State Department said that America would provide USD 600 million in additional military assistance for Ukraine.

US State Secretary Antony Blinken said, "I am authorizing our twenty-first drawdown of U.S. arms and equipment for Ukraine since September 2021. This USD 600 million drawdown includes additional arms, munitions, and equipment from U.S. Department of Defense inventories."

"This drawdown will bring the total U.S. military assistance for Ukraine to approximately USD 15.8 billion since the beginning of this Administration."

He noted that together with Allies and partners, the US is delivering the arms and equipment that Ukraine's forces are utilizing so effectively as they continue their successful counter-offensive against Russia's invasion.

Russian forces launched military operations in Ukraine on February 24, three days after Moscow recognized Ukraine's breakaway regions - Donetsk and Luhansk - as independent entities.

Several countries including the UK, the US, Canada, and the European Union have condemned Russia's military operations in Ukraine and imposed sanctions on Moscow. These countries have also promised to help Ukraine with military aid to fight Russia.

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The on Wednesday accused of covertly shipping a significant number of artillery shells to in support of its invasion of Ukraine.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US believes is trying to make it appear as though they're being sent to countries in the Middle East or North Africa. He declined to provide a specific estimate on the quantity of ammunition being sent to bolster the Russian effort.

Kirby said is covertly supplying the ammunition to Russia, but that, we're still monitoring this to determine whether the shipments are actually received."



Kirby insisted that the North Korean shipments are not going to change the course of the war," citing Western efforts to resupply the Ukrainian military.

The would not specify the mode of transportation or whether the U.S. or other nations would attempt to interdict the shipments to .

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Chinese President on Wednesday expressed his "great concern" about the safety of Chinese nationals in Pakistan, and conveyed his hope that its all-weather partner will provide a reliable and safe environment for Chinese institutions in the country.

President Xi conveyed this concern when he met with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on his official visit to China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing today.

"President Xi expressed his great concern about the safety of Chinese nationals in Pakistan, and conveyed his hope that will provide a reliable and safe environment for Chinese institutions and personnel working on cooperation projects there," the official statement from the Chinese said.

This follows the recent surge in targeted attacks on Chinese nationals in by ethnic rebel groups. In the wake of increasing attacks, Beijing has expressed concerns about the inadequate security measures by Islamabad.

After the Karachi university bombing in April this year, the Pakistani media reports said the Shehbaz Sharif government has decided to bear the security costs of almost all Chinese projects.

In a joint statement today, both sides also expressed their strong determination to counter all threats and designs against CPEC and friendship.

"Pakistan reaffirmed its commitment to the safety and security of all Chinese personnel, projects and institutions in Pakistan. The Chinese side appreciated Pakistan's strong determination and vigorous measures in this regard," the statement read.

During his meeting with Xi, Shehbaz Sharif congratulated Xi on the successful conclusion of the 20th CPC National Congress. "He lauded the central role of the CPC and its leadership in promoting China's development, prosperity and national rejuvenation," the statement read.

He reaffirmed Pakistan's commitment to further strengthen and deepen the "All-weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership" and enhance practical cooperation in all areas. The two sides also exchanged views on bilateral relations, as well as, the regional situation and political landscape.

"The two sides agreed on the importance of the All-weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership amidst the emerging global challenges. The meetings were marked by traditional warmth, mutual strategic trust and commonality of views," the statement read.

In the joint statement, the two sides also raked up the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.

"The Pakistani side briefed the Chinese side on the situation in Jammu & Kashmir. The Chinese side reiterated that the Kashmir issue was a dispute left from history that should be properly and peacefully resolved based on the UN Charter, relevant UN Security Council resolutions and bilateral agreements," the statement added.

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Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals slipped 6.13% to Rs 306.20 after the company posted a 45.8% fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 274.27 crore in Q2 FY23 from Rs 505.92 crore posted in Q2 FY22.

Revenue from operations jumped 91.7% to Rs 8,586.75 crore in Q2 FY23 as against Rs 4,478.61 crore posted in the same quarter last year. Consolidated profit before tax declined 45% year on year to Rs 404.20 crore in the quarter ended 30 September 2022.

The company's total expenses for quarter ended September 2022 surged by 116.18% to Rs 8,305.42 crore from Rs 3,841.78 crore recorded in the corresponding period last year. Cost of materials consumer soared 126.85% to Rs 2,563.39 crore and other expenses jumped 101% to Rs 1,780.45 crore in Q2 FY23 over Q2 FY22.

The company stated that it has incurred a one time margin loss of Rs 237 crore on phosphatic and potassic (P&K) fertilisers, during Q2 FY23, due to substantial increase in prices of imported fertilisers and adverse movement in USDINR exchange rate, which could not be passed on to the market and unanticipated losses on account of lower subsidy on DAP stock carried forward from the last year.

Meanwhile, the board of directors at its meeting held on Tuesday has approved revision in the capacity and estimated cost of the Technical Ammonium Nitrate (project) at its existing site at Gadepan, District Kota, Rajasthan.

The company revised the capacity of the plant for manufacture of Technical Ammonium Nitrate from approximately 2,20,000 metric tons (MT) per annum to 2,40,000 MT per annum including revision in the capacity of the plant to manufacture weak nitric acid (which is part of the project) from approximately 1,80,000 MT per annum to 2,10,000 MT per annum.

The estimated project cost has been revised from approximately Rs 1,170 crore to Rs 1,645 crore.

The said project is estimated to be completed in next 34 months and implementation of the project is subject to necessary statutory and other approvals.

Additionally, the company's board approved the appointment of Anand Agarwal as chief financial officer of the company with effect from 1 February 2023. Anand Agarwal will be replacing Abhay Baijal, the current chief financial officer of the company. His retirement is due on 31 January 2023.

Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals manufactures ammonia, urea, pesticides and other products for farming and other agricultural applications. The company also provides consulting services to farmers on their seeding programs.

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Sales rise 15.11% to Rs 2971.00 crore

Net profit of Dalmia Bharat declined 76.77% to Rs 46.00 crore in the quarter ended September 2022 as against Rs 198.00 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2021. Sales rose 15.11% to Rs 2971.00 crore in the quarter ended September 2022 as against Rs 2581.00 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2021.2971.002581.0012.6924.06361.00616.0029.00313.0046.00198.00

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The Enforcement Directorate has reportedly summoned Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Thursday, 3 November 2022, for recording his statement in connection with an illegal mining case.

According to the media reports, the agency has asked Soren to appear before the investigating team in Ranchi.

In the same case, ED had earlier arrested three accused persons, including Soren's political representative Pankaj Mishra.

The money laundering probe was initiated based on a First Information Report registered at the Barharwa police station in Jharkhand's Sahibganj against Mishra and others.

The agency claims to have detected proceeds of alleged crime worth over Rs 100 crore so far.

Earlier, ED had conducted searches at 19 locations in Sahibganj, Barhet, Rajmahal, Mirza Chauki and Barharwa resulting in seizure of various incriminating documents and Rs 5.34 crore unaccounted cash on 8 July 2022. During this search operation, ED also seized five stone crushers that were being illegally operated from the site and also five illegal firearm cartridges.

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Hindalco Industries Ltd is quoting at Rs 423.65, up 2.23% on the day as on 12:49 IST on the NSE. The stock is down 11.43% in last one year as compared to a 1.37% spurt in NIFTY and a 6.66% spurt in the Nifty Media index.

Hindalco Industries Ltd gained for a third straight session today. The stock is quoting at Rs 423.65, up 2.23% on the day as on 12:49 IST on the NSE. The benchmark NIFTY is down around 0.4% on the day, quoting at 18073.05. The Sensex is at 60875.1, down 0.4%. Hindalco Industries Ltd has risen around 11.21% in last one month.

Meanwhile, Nifty Media index of which Hindalco Industries Ltd is a constituent, has risen around 8.6% in last one month and is currently quoting at 6036.95, up 0.63% on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 71.5 lakh shares today, compared to the daily average of 75.42 lakh shares in last one month.

The benchmark November futures contract for the stock is quoting at Rs 426, up 2.22% on the day. Hindalco Industries Ltd is down 11.43% in last one year as compared to a 1.37% spurt in NIFTY and a 6.66% spurt in the Nifty Media index.

The PE of the stock is 15.29 based on TTM earnings ending June 22.

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IFCI surged 18.82% to Rs 11.93 after the media reported that the government planning to infuse Rs 2,000 crore in IFCI and merge the company with unit.

According the the media reports, the government is planning to infuse about Rs 2,000 crore into state-run IFCI. The plan is to merge IFCI with its unit, Stock Holding Corporation of India, in an attempt to rescue the lender.

The capital infusion is aimed at reducing IFCI's debt burden before the merger with its unit, reports added.

StockHolding has been profit making and dividend paying company right from its inception. IFCI holds 52.86% equity shareholding in StockHolding, making it a subsidiary of IFCI.

StockHolding acts as a Central Record Keeping Agency (CRA) for collection of stamp duty in 19 States and Union Territories on pan India basis. StockHolding is one of the largest Professional Clearing Member of the country. StockHolding distributes GOI Bonds, Sovereign Gold Bonds Fixed Deposits, Corporate Bonds & NCDs of reputed Institutes & Corporates, Mutual Fund Schemes, Initial Public Offers (IPO's) and National Pension System (NPS) etc.

Meanwhile, IFCI on 27 October 2022 issued 9.29 crore shares at a price of Rs 10.76 per share on preferential basis to the Government of India, aggregating to around Rs 100 crore. Now the government holds 66.35% shares in the company.

IFCI a non-banking finance company in the public sector. On a consolidated basis, IFCI reported net loss of Rs 208.61 crore in Q1 June 2022 as against net loss of Rs 701.65 crore in Q1 June 2021. Total income declined 20.7% to Rs 317.02 crore in Q1 June 2022 over Q1 June 2022.

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Infosys and Microsoft today announced the successful migration of Spark's corporate functions to Microsoft Dynamics 365.

This is set to enhance business resilience, operational simplicity, workplace agility and customer experience for New Zealand's largest telecommunications and digital services company.

Infosys was chosen to assist Spark on this journey for its rich Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) experience, Microsoft Dynamics 365 expertise, and ability to deliver digital and business transformation solutions in an agile and scalable manner.

As part of the engagement, leveraging Infosys Cobalt, Infosys delivered a platform-led transformation to de-risk and accelerate end-to-end ERP service delivery and data-driven decision making through Microsoft Dynamics 365 implementation. Infosys and Microsoft consultants collaborated with Spark stakeholders to strategically align their business processes with out-of-the-box best practice capabilities and functions provided by Microsoft Dynamics 365 for process harmonisation.

The implementation is now live across all Spark NZ's support service functions, from finance and human resources to supply chain, procurement, and billing.

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Sales rise 25.78% to Rs 3756.52 crore

Net profit of JK Tyre & Industries declined 22.91% to Rs 51.31 crore in the quarter ended September 2022 as against Rs 66.56 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2021. Sales rose 25.78% to Rs 3756.52 crore in the quarter ended September 2022 as against Rs 2986.66 crore during the previous quarter ended September 2021.3756.522986.667.929.79195.82196.9596.6699.8151.3166.56

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The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi addressed the inaugural function of Invest Karnataka 2022, the Global Investors Meet of the state today via video conferencing. The Prime Minister said that in the 21st century, from its current position, India has only to move forward. India received a record foreign investment of 84 billion dollars last year. Referring to the sense of global optimism towards India, the Prime Minister said that these are uncertain times, still most of the nations are convinced about the fundamentals of the Indian Economy.

In this period of fragmentation, India is moving with the world and giving emphasis on working with the world. India could assure the world about the supply of medicines and vaccines in the period of the disrupted supply chain, he said. Despite a climate of market saturation, our domestic markets are strong due to the aspirations of our citizens. The Prime Minister highlighted that even in times of a global crisis, experts, analysts and economists have hailed India as a bright spot.

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Telecom networking products maker received approval under Design-led PLI scheme for Telecom and Networking Products.

Tejas Networks on 1 November 2022 announced that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has approved its application under Government of India's Design-led Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for manufacturing of Telecom and Networking products.

In its application, the company has committed to make a minimum cumulative capital investment of Rs 750 crore over the scheme period.

Sanjay Nayak, CEO & managing director of Tejas Networks said, We thank the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Ministry of Communications and SIDBI for approving our application under the Design-led Manufacturing scheme for telecom and networking products. This is an excellent policy of Government of India to promote Indian R&D and IPR for the creation of world-class telecom products with high domestic value addition, where they give additional incentive for Indian designed and manufactured products. As India's leading R&D-driven telecom products company, we look forward to contributing to the creation of a strong domestic ecosystem in next-generation telecom and networking products and help in realizing the vision of an Atmanirbhar Bharat in the telecom sector."

Tejas Networks designs and manufactures high-performance wireline and wireless networking products for telecommunications service providers, internet service providers, utilities, defence and government entities in over 75 countries. Tejas Networks Ltd. is a part of the Tata Group, with Panatone Finvest (a subsidiary of Tata Sons) being the majority shareholder.

Tejas Networks reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 6.64 crore in Q1 FY23 compared with a net profit of Rs 7.55 crore in Q1 FY22. Net revenue during the quarter was at Rs 125.76 crore, down 12.8% YoY. The company said that the Q1 revenue was weak since it could not fulfill customer orders due to component shortages. It is making changes to internal processes and tools to better manage the supply chain.

Shares of Tejas Networks fell 1.17% to Rs 678.60 on Tuesday, 1 November 2022.

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Delhi Chief Minister on Wednesday blamed the central government for rising incidents of in Punjab and said it should "resign" if it cannot control air pollution.

He told reporters here that the Punjab government had prepared a plan to give a cash incentive of Rs 2,500 per acre to farmers so that they are not forced to burn stubble.

"The Centre rejected the proposal. They said they won't do anything for the farmers because of their protests against the three farm laws. The central government's hatred for farmers is the reason behind the smoke (from farm fires) all around," Kejriwal claimed.

He said the Delhi government has been doing everything possible to fight air pollution and has strictly implemented curbs on pollution activities under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). Similarly, the Punjab government has taken all necessary steps to prevent .

"If the Centre cannot control air pollution, it should resign. We will then show how to do it," he said.

The Delhi and Punjab governments jointly sent a proposal to the Centre in July to help them give cash incentives to farmers in the agrarian state for not burning stubble.

According to the proposal, Delhi and Punjab would give Rs 500 each and the Centre would contribute Rs 1,500 per acre.

Farmers say a cash incentive can help them cover the cost of the fuel used in operating the machinery for the in-situ management of paddy straw.

According to Punjab government officials, the Centre rejected the proposal, saying it has been providing subsidised machinery to farmers, such as happy seeders, rotavators and mulchers, for the in-situ management of paddy straw and that it does not have money to dole out cash incentives.

"Air pollution impacts the entire India, not just Punjab and Delhi. The air quality index is worsening across Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. Is it because of the Aam Aadmi Party?" the chief minister said while talking to reporters here.

"If the entire India is reeling under air pollution, who will find a solution to it? The prime minister will have to do it. He will have to convene meetings with everyone. Why isn't the PM doing that?" he said.

Kejriwal said abusing him or farmers in Punjab will not resolve the problem of .

"The Centre has written a number of letters to the Punjab government to file FIRs against farmers. Why are you so eager to file FIRs against them," the chief minister said.

Earlier in the day, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai accused the BJP of targeting farmers in Punjab for stubble burning because of their earlier protests against three contentious farm laws of the Centre, which have since been repealed.

Rai said farmers are forced to burn stubble in Punjab because the BJP-led Centre did not support the state government's plan to provide a cash incentive to them for not burning the crop residue.

"Everybody is asking the same question -- why has stubble burning not reduced despite AAP being in power in Delhi and Punjab? Stubble burning has not reduced because the Centre has denied support," Rai told a press conference here.

"The Centre betrayed the farmers. I think they hate farmers because of the protests (against the farm laws)," Rai said.

"The BJP is blaming farmers for burning stubble.... They want FIRs to be filed against them. They should stop abusing farmers, stop seeking revenge from them," he added.

The minister said the problem of air pollution cannot be resolved through .

"The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has come up with the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), which will needs to be implemented in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana too -- in Ghaziabad, Noida, Greater Noida, Gurugram and Bahadurgarh," the AAP leader said.

"We have been following the GRAP and have accordingly banned construction work, barring some essential projects, in Delhi. We need the support of the governments in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. They need to become active."



Rai slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying it opposed the ban on firecrackers, stopped the implementation of the "Red Light on, Gaadi off" campaign and is now violating the ban on polluting activities in the capital.

"I am amazed that the BJP has stooped so low for . Don't they know that the GRAP has been implemented in Delhi? Don't they read newspapers?" he asked.

Along with unfavourable meteorological conditions, paddy straw burning in Punjab and Haryana is a major reason behind the alarming spike in the air pollution levels in the national capital in October-November. Farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear off the crop residue before cultivating wheat and vegetables.

The total area under paddy cultivation in Punjab this year is pegged at 29-30 lakh hectares. On an average, the state generates around 20 million tons of paddy straw annually.

SAFAR, a forecasting agency under the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences, said the share of in Delhi's PM2.5 pollution stood at 12 per cent on Wednesday, 14 per cent on Tuesday. It was 22 per cent on Monday, 26 per cent on Sunday, the highest this year so far, and 21 per cent on Saturday.

The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) reported 3,634 in Punjab on Wednesday, the highest this year so far, 1,842 on Tuesday and 2,131 on Monday.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Former MP from Panchmahal constituency in Gujarat, Prabhatsinh Chauhan on Tuesday joined in the presence of party's general secretary Mohan Prakash and other state leaders.

He joined the party before the Parivartan Yatra was flagged off from Fagvel in Kheda district.

Panchmahal district president Ajitsinh Dabhi hoped that Chauhan's entry in the party will help the regain Kalol assembly seat, which it has been losing to the since 1995.

Chauhan has a very good hold over the Kshatriya caste in the area and also enjoys influence in some pockets of the Godhra assembly constituency.

"His re-entry will help the party win the lost ground in Panchmahal district," Dabhi said.

Prabhastinh Chauhan -- once a Congress member -- had got elected to the state assembly in 1980 and 1985 on Congress symbol. In 1995, he had switched to the and got elected to the assembly in 1995, 1998 and 2002 from Kalol constituency.

He became a BJP MP from Panchmahal constituency in 2009 and 2014.

He was said to be unhappy with the BJP as in 2017, against his wishes, the party nominated his daughter-in-law Suman from Kalol seat.

"As he was feeling uncomfortable in the BJP, he has returned to the Congress camp," a source said.

--IANS

har/pgh

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Middle route of China's mega water diversion project hits annual target

Xinhua) 09:50, November 02, 2022

BEIJING, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- The middle route of China's South-to-North Water Diversion Project has completed its annual water diversion target this year, with the amount of water transferred hitting a record high.

The route has transferred about 9.21 billion cubic meters of water from major rivers in the south to the country's parched north from Nov. 1, 2021 to Oct. 31 this year, 27.4 percent more than the yearly plan, according to the Ministry of Water Resources.

So far, the middle and eastern routes of the water diversion project have transferred over 57.6 billion cubic meters of water, benefiting 150 million people, said the ministry. Meanwhile, rivers and lakes along the routes have been replenished with more than 9.2 billion cubic meters of water.

The country's South-to-North Water Diversion Project has three routes.

The middle route begins at the Danjiangkou Reservoir in central China's Hubei Province and runs through Henan and Hebei before reaching Beijing and Tianjin; the eastern route transfers water from eastern Jiangsu Province to areas including Tianjin and Shandong; and the western route is yet to be built.

(Web editor: Cai Hairuo, Liang Jun)
West Bengal Chief Minister called on her Tamil Nadu counterpart here on Wednesday and said development is bigger than .

Stalin said nothing was discussed about or polls, apparently hinting at the 2024 Lok Sabha election. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister said Banerjee's visit was a "courtesy call".

He said he has accepted her invite to visit Kolkata as her guest. Following the about 20-minute meeting, the two leaders spoke to reporters.

Banerjee is here to attend a family function of West Bengal Governor La Ganesan on November 3. She called on Stalin at his Alwarpet residence here.

The West Bengal Chief Minister said, "when two political leaders are together, then we can talk something, what may not be political interest of the people, but there is something for development and other things also. I think development is bigger than political one." To a question, she said she was not inclined to make any comment about any political party.

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Cheif Minister on Wednesday hinted that she may discuss political issues and collaboration with other regional parties at her courtesy call on her counterpart MK Stalin, slated for this evening.

Describing her call on the DMK strongman as a courtesy, she, however, added, when two politicians meet, some are always discussed.

She was speaking to reporters at Kolkata airport before leaving for Chennai.

The Trinamool Congress supremo said, I trust all the regional parties... they are going to play an important role in the 2024 elections.

Banerjee is travelling to Chennai as she has been invited by Governor La Ganesan to his elder brother's birthday on November 3.

The CM may also meet several top politicians of Tamil Nadu, who are expected to be present at Ganesan's family function.

Banerjee had, in the past, met several opposition leaders to try to forge unity among them.

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The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Wednesday took a swipe at the Centre and said it must replicate the Morbi Civil Hospital's "overnight makeover plan" across all government in the country and call it the ' Hospital Model'.

The comments came after the hospital in Gujarat's Morbi city was spruced up ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit there on Tuesday to meet those injured in the suspension bridge collapse which claimed 135 lives.

Workers were seen cleaning and painting a portion of the hospital ahead of the PM's visit.

spokesman Clyde Crasto in a statement said that a day before the PM's visit, there were visuals of the Morbi Civil Hospital getting a "complete makeover" and being made to look neat, clean and modern to welcome him.

Government authorities in Morbi took the PM's visit so seriously that they even replaced malfunctioning drinking water dispensers with new drinking water coolers, he claimed.

They worked so diligently that the hospital now looks as good as new, Crasto said.

"This makeover will surely help the people who visit the hospital in future. Therefore the questions that arise are, if the government of and civic authorities can spruce up a hospital overnight, why can't they do the same to all the across the state?" the leader said.

He said authorities have proved that if they want, they can make neat, clean and modern anytime.

If the government of does not do this across the state, it will prove that the victims of Morbi bridge collapse and the people of Gujarat are not of any importance to them and all this was done only to appease the prime minister, he said.

"If so, then it is truly a shameful and insensitive act on their part," Crasto said.

"They central government) must replicate the Morbi Civil Hospital overnight makeover plan across all government hospitals in the country and call it the 'Gujarat Hospital Model'," he suggested.

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Former deputy chief minister on Wednesday raised eyebrows over Prime Minister praise for CM and also nudged his party to end the state of indecision over the chief minister's post.

He also pushed for action by the party against leaders who led a show of strength for Gehlot in September, boycotting a Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting.

His remarks on the interesting development that he said should not be taken lightly signal the resumption of the tussle within the party's state unit -- briefly on hold while the Congress presidential election was on.

Pilot, who led a rebellion in 2020 against Gehlot, targeted the veteran leader by referring to Tuesday's event at Mangarh Dham in Banswara district, where Gehlot shared the dais with Modi. The leaders there paid tribute to the tribal people killed in an uprising against the British in 1913.

The PM praised the chief minister and this is an interesting development because the prime minister had praised Ghulam Nabi Azad in the same manner in the House in Parliament. And we all have seen what circumstances were created after that, he told reporters at his home.

The reference was to Azad quitting the Congress and later forming his own party.

So it is an interesting development that the PM has praised the CM, and it should not be taken lightly, he said.

Indirectly, the former Congress chief also called for action by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) against the Rajasthan Congress leaders involved in holding a show of strength for Gehlot in September.

Gehlot supporters wanted him or a loyalist to continue as chief minister, amid the possibility that he would be elevated to the post of the party's national president and Pilot could take his place in Rajasthan.

The CM's supporters boycotted the CLP meeting, where the MLAs were expected to pass a one-line resolution giving the party high command the right to pick the next CM.

Pilot said only 13 months were left now for the assembly elections and the AICC would soon take any decision it needs to take, like calling another CLP.

He also suggested the party will soon act against those who were given notices by the AICC for the indiscipline in September.

He recalled that AICC general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal had said then that a decision will be taken soon on Rajasthan, a reference to the chief minister's post.

The time has come to end the state of indecision in Rajasthan and action will take place soon, Pilot said.

Recalling the crisis that erupted in September, Pilot said the CM had himself apologised to then party president Sonia Gandhi when the CLP meeting could not take place. "Ajay Maken and Mallikarjun Kharge who came as observers also took it seriously, he added.

The AICC considered it a matter of indiscipline and issued notices to three people, he reminded.

He said the three state leaders have now replied to the notices.

I believe that the Congress is an old and disciplined party and rules and the party discipline is applicable to all, no matter how big an individual may be, he said.

Pilot said it cannot happen that the party considers a development as indiscipline, issues notices and seeks replies but no decision is taken. "I believe the decision will be taken soon.

Instead of attending the CLP meeting, MLAs loyal to Gehlot had held a parallel meeting at the home of Rajasthan Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal and then reportedly handed over their resignations to Assembly Speaker C P Joshi.

The AICC had issued notices to Dhariwal, Congress chief whip Mahesh Joshi and Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation chairman Dharmendra Rathore.

When asked about the possibility of any changes in the state, the Congress leader said that it is for the party to give anyone any position or responsibility.

In his speech during the Mangarh event on Tuesday, PM Modi had called Gehlot the senior-most chief minister in the fraternity of CMs when he was himself the Gujarat CM.

Modi said he was one of the senior-most chief ministers even today.

Pilot said the prime minister was expected to declare Mangarh Dham as the national monument but this did not happen perhaps because a Congress government is there in the state.

Modi also did not declare Rajasthan's Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) a national project despite a commitment given earlier, he added.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
As India enters the 5G era, Apple will enable 5G in the iOS 16 Beta software programme next week for the select iPhone users in the country, the tech giant confirmed on Wednesday.

Apple Airtel and Jio customers who participate in iOS 16 Beta software programme will be able to try out 5G before it's publicly available in December, according to Apple.

The Beta programme lets users try out pre-release software and experience the latest features before the software becomes publicly available.

Last month, Apple said it was working with its "carrier partners in India to bring the best 5G experience to iPhone users as soon as network validation and testing for quality and performance is completed".

"5G will be enabled via a software update and will start rolling out to iPhone users in December," the company had said in a statement.

With the beta programme, users can also provide feedback to Apple on quality and usability, which helps Apple identify issues, fix them, and make Apple software even better.

A user has to enrol iPhone in the Apple Beta Software Programme to access the latest public betas, as well as subsequent updates, including the 5G beta which will be available to Airtel and Jio customers from next week.

As India rolls out 5G in a phased manner starting with key metro cities, smartphone players are working towards making 5G available on their devices.

Those using iPhone 14, iPhone 13, iPhone 12 and iPhone SE (third generation) models will get an upcoming software update on 5G.

Apple performs extensive testing with carrier partners to ensure a great experience for iPhone users.

iPhone offers users super-fast downloads and uploads, better streaming, and real-time connectivity with 5G to help them stay in touch, share, and enjoy the content.

The support for 5G on iPhone has now extended to over 250 carrier partners in over 70 markets around the world, with expanded support for standalone networks.

Prioritising software upgrades would enable the early adoption of 5G in India.

--IANS

na/

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
New Delhi [India], November 2 (ANI/PNN): With more than two billion rides completed across the world, inDrive, an international ride-hailing platform, is disrupting the ride-sharing industry by allowing passengers and drivers to negotiate fair fares amongst themselves.

And now the global ride-sharing service has arrived in New Delhi, the capital city of India.

InDrive is a People Driven company that believes that there is no technology in the world that can replace human empathy. inDrive exists to prove -- ride-hailing apps can and should be more human. Because a fair price is something you can agree on, not hope for.

Key features of inDrive

Fair Fares

Unlike other services that have pre-established algorithms; the cost of the service is agreed between passenger and driver and does not depend on traffic or weather conditions.

Safety First

For passenger and driver safety inDrive has developed many features, such as:

24/7 support

Real-time location sharing

Emergency button always at hand

Ride Control

Total transparency brings back the feeling of control:

Passengers are free to choose their driver.

Drivers can choose which trips are the most profitable and convenient for them.

Drivers see the exact route before accepting.

"We are excited to launch inDrive in Delhi. inDrive is a service that allows drivers and passengers to find each other, and to independently agree on all the terms of each trip. The passenger can use our app to offer their price and get counter-offers directly from nearby drivers. In turn, drivers have the right to decide for themselves which ride requests suit them best, and can suggest their own prices. For example, through our app, passengers will pay Rs.160 for travelling from New Delhi Railway Station to Lajpat Nagar and Rs.179/- for travelling from Delhi Airport to Cyber City" said Pavit Nanda Anand, South Asia PR Manager, inDriver.

Unlike typical ride-hailing apps, inDrive aims to offer a unique service by allowing passengers and drivers to have freedom of choice. If the passenger receives multiple offers, they can take their pick based on the driver's ETA, the price, the vehicle model and the driver's rating. The driver can also choose a particular order based on the price and distance, the passenger's rating, the pick-up location and the number of inDrive trips the customer has already taken.

"The number of active drivers in the city is growing fast. We already have thousands of registered drivers in Delhi NCR. All our driver partners are highly experienced and have completed the full document-verification process. With the launch of inDrive in Delhi NCR, users can now enjoy higher chances of booking a ride with shorter waiting times, and avoid elevated fares during peak hours", added Pavit Nanda Anand, South Asia PR Manager, inDrive.

inDrive is a global IT and transportation platform. inDrive is one of the world's fastest growing online ride-hailing services. Its services are available in over 700 cities in 47 countries throughout the world. The Company's app has been downloaded over 150 million times. inDrive offers other services, including intercity transportation, freight and cargo services, as well as delivery services in different markets of operations.

inDrive is based in Mountain View, California, and operates regional hubs in the Americas, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the countries of the CIS, and employs over 2,400 people. In early 2021, inDrive achieved unicorn status after closing a $140m investment round with Insight Partners, General Catalyst, and Bond Capital, which valued the company at $1.23 billion.

For more information visit (https://indrive.com/en/home)

This story has been provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content in this article. (ANI/PNN)
A lot has been said and written about the application of for enterprises and individual users. While you and I look forward to more immersive experience with our devices and collaboration tools, enterprises in India face a looming capacity challenge.

Businesses in India are now at an early stage of discovering the potential of 5G, in relation to industrial automation, process management, private networks and more.

Taking a step towards becoming self-reliant in that direction, the government has recently announced a test bed project for start-ups and industry players in India.

The goal of the project is to provide start-ups and industry players an end-to-end test bed to test and validate their equipment for services

The idea is to allow R&D teams of Indian academia and industry to test and validate their prototypes and products locally. Engineers examine 5G applications in test bed environment before a commercial rollout. This allows them to understand how the network will perform in real-world applications.

In the absence of the indigenous 5G test bed, Indian start-ups and industry players would have to take their products abroad for testing and validation purposes.

According to Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, the indigenous 5G test bed would help in digitising the economy, boosting start-up ecosystem, improving governance, ease of living and facilitating ease of doing business.

A collaborative project led by IIT Madras, the 5G test bed has been set up at a cost of around Rs 220 crores. It will be available at five different locations in the country. Other institutes collaborating in the project are IIT Delhi, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Kanpur, IIT Bombay, Indian Institute of Science, the Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering & Research, and the Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology.

The test bed comprises of 5G base station and user equipment nodes with support for most 5G-related services to replicate deployment in a real-world-like environment. These services include enhanced mobile broadband, ultra-low latency communication and massive machine-type communication including narrowband IoT services.

Likewise, the test bed supports both sub-6GHz and millimetre-wave operating frequencies. With 5G test bed, the local 5G equipment makers would be able to design and fabricate high-end communication components such as baseband processing units, remote radio heads, RF modules, core networks, network interconnects and baseband algorithms and software.

That said, the indigenous 5G test bed would allow industry players to develop a fully functional 5G stack that would be essential for the rollout of Indias own 5G standard, referred to as 5Gi.

Ashwini Vaishnav, Minister of Communications and Electronics & Information Technology, recently said that the indigenous 5G stack is in the works and would be readied by September-October this year.
The New York Prison System had another Rikers Island inmate dead in the deadly NYC Jail last Monday. The latest is the 18th convict to die after three years when his pretrial detention in the city jail.

Rikers Island Inmate Adds to NYC Jail Death Toll

As said by agency sources and records, Gilberto Garcia ended up having a medical emergency in the Anna M. Kross Center at about noon until being found by city Correction Department staff members. The man was declared gone shortly before 1 p.m. when it took place, reported NY Daily News.

He was detained at Rikers on October 31, 2019, after being arrested for first-degree robbery in Manhattan. Correction Department data indicates that he could have been kept under a state parole warrant. An upcoming court date has been arranged for December 9.

Garcia is the 18th individual to die in a jail or correctional facility this year. A depressing count emerged just after the fatal accidents of 16 people in 2021. The grim tally follows the deaths of 16 people in 2021, noted AMNY.

The cause of death will be ascertained by the city medical examiner assigned to the case to see what the NYC jail did to cause the death of the Rikers Island Inmate.

New York Prison System Needs Revamp

Correction Commissioner Louis Molina expressed his heartfelt condolences to Mr. Garcia's family members and relatives during this challenging time. He added that for every death that takes place in incarceration, the cause and conditions would undergo an initial examination.

Read Also: Joe Biden Uncomfortably Grabs Teen Girl's Shoulder During Administration's Visit in Southern California

The Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit that works to improve the criminal justice system and the New York Prison System, criticized the municipality over the inmate's death.

Victor Pate, an ex-Rikers detainee who now co-directs the #HALTsolitary Campaign, added that the current administration has already been given numerous chances to turn things around, but they have only made the whole thing much worse, as individuals keep dying, citing Yahoo.

Furthermore, it isn't getting tough on criminal activity or about enhancing local safety. Concerns seem to be racial prejudice, dehumanization, and deliberate indifference to priceless human life.

On Friday, 1,026 individuals were kept at Rikers pretrial for even more than a year, according to Vera Institute. Eighteen lives were lost in the detention centers in one year, the highest number since 2013, when there were 24. But still, the current inmate population is vastly smaller, approximately half the number back then.

The year before, the prison death toll would include Brandon Rodriguez, 25, who committed suicide in the shower stall on Aug. 10, 2021. His mom, Tamara Carter of Westchester County, discovered the information regarding his death on Facebook.

Carter asked on Monday whether there would be a conclusion to families having to endure this emotional pain before it ends. He criticized Mayor Adams for how it happened but not what he intended to do about it.

Allegedly suing the city and claiming the Correction Department officials we unable to fix the inmates' mental issues. Left him stuck in a filthy intake pen for several days; beaten and locked inside a shower stall.

The New York Prison System in NYC Jail had a dead Rikers Island inmate added to its death toll.

Related Article: NYC College Student Receives 22 Years for Killing Own Mother, Throwing Her Body in Rubbish with Girlfriends' Help

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An eight-footer crocodile enters a house in Etawah Village, in Uttar Pradesh, India, while looking for its prey. The family was fast asleep when the reptile entered their house.

Hungry Eight-Footer Crocodile Enters Home

The family of Harnam Singh in Jaitia village in Etawah was reportedly woken up at about 10:30 p.m. on October 29 by the bleating of their goats. When they went out to investigate, they found the eight-foot-long crocodile nearby, reported The Independent.

Soon the crocodile entered one of the rooms, and chaos ensued. The family summoned the cops, who told them to lock and keep the animal inside the house.

The Singhs kept watching over the trapped crocodile inside their home all night. The wildlife department promised to come and start the rescue attempt till just after six o'clock in the morning.

Dr. Ashish Tripathi, a wild animal bureau specialist, recommended that the authorities keep the croc locked within the house.

Family Traps Crocodile Until Morning

The crocodile had to be safely cleared from Mr. Singh's residence, which took the recovery team around an hour. Mr. Singh described the terrifying experience to the local media, noting Yahoo News.

The family head explained that when the goats were loud, they were unaware that an animal had entered. They then noticed the enormous crocodile yowling in terror.

His daughter went to her gran to check the frantic screams heard opening the door to the room. It was when the eight-footer crocodile strutted into the room after it entered the house.

Read Also: Prince Andrew Net Worth 2022: How Much Wealth Does Queen Elizabeth II's Child Has Amid Jeffrey Epstein Issue?

One thing led to another as neighbors were milling around the Singh home. The family and villagers were up until the officials came in that Sunday morning.

He said it was a teen croc looking for food soon after clearing out the huge croc from the terrified family. He added that the croc was about eight feet long and about 1.5-to-2 years old.

Also, the villagers there were right not to mess with or take in the very aggressive reptile.

Crocodile Bites Man's Head But He Luckily Survives

A croc attack in Western Australia nearly got his head torn off! A man survived after nearly dying from getting his head bitten off in WA while he was out crabbing in the Kimberly region, per 9News.

He was out with mates close to the tourist spot the Horizontal Falls at 5 p.m. in the late after, when a really fast croc lurches out of the water after the unaware victim.

One of the companions called Perth radio station 6PR and informed them that another man attacked the beast with a knife to pry the reptile off the man's head.

The caller related how a croc tried to tear off the head of a companion, but quick thinking using a knife had saved the man from sure death. But the victim got away with a few bruises, nothing serious, and is getting well at his residence.

According to Murdoch University crocodile expert Associate Professor David Morgan, they are extremely fortunate. Later, their boss flew them to Broom Hospital. He added that the area attracts a lot of crocs at that time of year, and authorities said they were looking for one.

An eight-footer crocodile enters the home of the Singhs, and bedlam happens until they trap it, and was taken in the morning.

Related Article: Russian Woman Makes Last Call to Mother While Eaten Alive by Wild Bear, Three Cubs Before Her Grisly Death

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United States Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily prevented a House committee from obtaining Former President Donald Trump's tax returns, delaying the struggle over what he perceives as a politically driven request.

The chief justice's order preserves the status quo as the Supreme Court considers Trump's emergency request, made on Monday, to overturn a lower court decision that supported the House panel's request for the tax documents as a legitimate part of its law-making process, while his counsel prepares an appeal, according to Reuters.

Trump Tax Returns Being Blocked

Chief Justice Roberts instructed Democrats to respond to Trump's appeal by November 10. Recent days have seen a surge of extraordinary applications relating to Donald Trump, and the justice with authority over the lower courts has chosen to grant a short-term remedy, CNN reported.

For instance, on October 26, Justice Elena Kagan granted such a stay, temporarily preventing the House Select Committee looking into the attacks of January 6, 2021, from obtaining the phone and text documents of Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward.

Donald Trump was the first president in 40 years not to disclose his tax returns to keep his riches and firm's actions hidden. The committee initially filed suit against Trump in 2019 to obtain access to his tax returns, and the case is still ongoing. US House Democrats want to investigate if the IRS is effectively auditing presidential records and if additional legislation is needed.

But Trump lawyers alleged that the committee was established with the intention of "publicly disclosing President Trump's tax information" for the sake of exposure." Trump's legal team has criticized this justification, calling it "pretextual" and "disingenuous," and claiming that the real goal is to uncover politically damaging information about former US President Trump, who is considering another run for the presidency in 2024.

On Monday, Trump filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court asking that the release of the information remain until the court decides whether to hear his appeal. With the midterm elections next week and the likelihood of a Republican takeover of the House, the committee is in a race against time to collect the data.

Read Also: Nancy Pelosi Home Attack: Suspect Wanted to Kidnap and Interrogate House Speaker, Break Her Kneecaps If She Lied

House Democrats Stand Firm in The Case

CNN reports that in 2019, the IRS originally resisted sending up the tax returns after being requested by the committee chairman, Massachusetts Democrat Richard Neal. The case went slowly until 2021 when the Justice Department changed its legal stance and said the IRS must cooperate with the committee's request.

The US DC Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to overturn a decision made in favor of the House late last year by a judge appointed by Trump, most recently with the whole appeals court refusing to hear the case.

Bloomberg reported that the committee spokesperson, "Dylan Peachey, stated that the Ways and Means Committee maintains that "the law is on our side, and will file a timely response as requested." She said that the chairman of the committee expects the US Supreme Court's "expeditious consideration" of the request.

Related Article: Jan. 6 Committee Acquires Disputed Emails Allegedly Showing Plans To Defraud Courts, Obstruct Congressional Vote





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According to authorities from a western nation that regularly watches Iran's weapons program, Iran is getting ready to deploy over 1,000 more weapons, including surface-to-surface short-range ballistic missiles and more attack drones, to Russia for use in its conflict with Ukraine.

It would be the first time that Iran sent highly modern precision guided missiles to Russia, which might offer the Russian military a significant advantage. As a result, the shipment is being closely watched, according to CNN.

Iran Helps Russia Amid Ukraine War

The most recent delivery of weapons from Iran to Russia, according to the authorities, contained over 450 drones, which the Russians have already used lethally in Ukraine. Over 300 Iranian drones were allegedly shot down last week, according to Ukrainian officials.

With the delivery of this impending shipment, Iran's contribution to Russia's military endeavor would dramatically increase. Authorities are certain that the weapons will be delivered before the year is over, even though it is unclear exactly when the cargo will arrive in Russia.

Drones have played a significant role in the battle from the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February, but their use has increased since the summer, when the US and Kyiv allege Moscow acquired drones from Iran. Recently, these Iranian drones attacked crucial Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

Per NY Post, Iran's involvement in Russia's war operations would significantly increase if it sent ballistic missiles. The information was released just days after the US acknowledged that Iranian personnel had entered Crimea to assist Russian forces in using the drones that Tehran has so far delivered.

Read Also: China Warns Australia as US Sends B-52 Nuclear-Capable Bombers to Northern Territory That Could Reach Beijing

Russia-Ukraine War Update

According to Ukraine air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat, as of Friday, Ukraine has shot down roughly 300 of the Iranian drones. Others, though, have been able to circumvent the defenses and target civilian infrastructure and Ukrainians.

The missiles would also help Russia, which arsenal is running short after more than eight months of fighting. Russia, in contrast to the US, only keeps contacts with a small number of nations, such as Iran and China.

In addition to destroying 397 Russian cruise missiles, 55,001 armored battle vehicles, 1,730 pieces of artillery, and 276 fighter planes, Ukraine claimed on Tuesday to have killed more than 72,470 Russian soldiers. These figures, however, have not been independently confirmed.

According to one official, the US would not completely rule out using military force to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Robert Malley, the State Department's special representative to Iran, spoke on Monday morning at a conference hosted by the Carnegie Endowment think tank. He covered US policy toward Iran and its nuclear capabilities, as per Newsweek.

Malley stated that the US is still committed to using diplomatic channels to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Malley did state that the US would not rule out "a military option if required" to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, though, as a last resort.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), an agreement that would require Iran to scale back its nuclear enrichment and research projects, was drafted in 2015 with the US as one of the countries engaged. China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the European Union were also parties to the deal.

Related Article: Russia-Ukraine War: Why Did Joe Biden Lose His Temper with Volodymyr Zelensky?

@YouTube

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No one is questioning that Mitsubishi Motors Philippines (MMPC) has been relatively quiet when it comes to new products of late. With the ex...
Saudi Arabian authorities have raised the alarm on a potential Iran attack, prompting the United States government to issue a statement that it will not hesitate to respond if deemed necessary.

On Tuesday, a White House spokesperson said that the American government was concerned about the possibility of a threat. The National Security Council spokesperson added that they remain in constant contact through military and intelligence channels with the Saudis regarding the matter.

Iranian Threat on Saudi Arabia

The official made the remarks after reports that Saudi Arabia shared intelligence with the American government, warning of an imminent attack from Iran on targets in the kingdom. The US has noted that Iran supplied Russia with drones that the latter used in its war against Ukraine, as per Fox News.

The cooperation between those two nations prompted Washington to set aside efforts to resurrect the Iran nuclear deal, which former President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018. In recent weeks, President Joe Biden has been at odds with Saudi Arabia following the Saudi-led OPEC+ organization announcing its cut of oil production.

Another US official noted that F-22 fighter jets were already deployed in Saudi Arabia and were available to counter any threats. The first official added that there has been no increase in US military protection levels in the region.

This comes as the US military is not believed to be a target of Iran and State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Tuesday that the US was monitoring the situation. During a department briefing, Price said that he was not aware of any public warnings through the embassy about a threat.

According to CNN, the American government believes that the situation is Iran trying to focus attention on Saudi Arabia, which the former has accused of helping fuel protests. On the other hand, Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder did not confirm whether or not there is currently a specific threat.

Read Also: Brazilian Truckers Protest Luis Inacio Lula da Silva's Win as Jair Bolsonaro Remains Silent

Rising International Tensions

However, Ryder noted that the Pentagon remains "concerned about the threat situation in the region," and added that the department was constantly communicating with Saudi partners. The situation comes as Iran is seen as Saudi Arabia's chief regional rival.

Previously, Riyadh severed official diplomatic relations with Tehran in 2016 following Iranian protesters storming the Saudi embassy in Tehran. The protests were in response to Saudi Arabia's execution of a Shiite cleric.

Furthermore, Iran-backed Houthi rebels also struck oil facilities in Saudi Arabia and the UAE in recent years, which has raised concerns that energy infrastructure could be a potential target for any Iranian provocations in the region.

In recent months Iranian and Saudi officials have met quietly to discuss security issues, including the war in Yemen waged between the Houthis and a Saudi-backed military coalition. However, a fragile truce between the two parties involved expired last month, which paved the way to newly heightened tensions.

The situation comes as Iran recently attacked northern Iraq with dozens of ballistic missiles and armed drones since late September. One of the strikes was shot down by a US warplane while it was on its way to the city of Erbil, where American troops were based, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Related Article: China Warns Australia as US Sends B-52 Nuclear-Capable Bombers to Northern Territory That Could Reach Beijing

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Photo: Glacier Media Vancouver's Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts were rebuilt in the 1960s as part of an anticipated freeway network.

The Vancouver city council set to be sworn in Nov. 7 is likely to re-examine a project to demolish the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts.

Little time in the recent municipal election campaign was spent on the initiative aimed at creating a vibrant Northeast False Creek neighbourhood.

Nonetheless, top city council vote-getter and A Better City Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung told BIV that the project needs to be re-examined.

That is because so much has changed since Vancouver city council in October 2015 voted to remove the viaducts to free up land for housing and parks, and in 2018 voted to approve the Northeast False Creek Plan, she said.

Back in 2015, the viaduct-removal project was expected to begin in 2017 and be finished by 2020, funded entirely by community amenity contributions (CACs) from developers.

Canadian Metropolitan Properties Corp.s (CMP) redevelopment of the Plaza of Nations then languished. So did Concord Pacifics redevelopment of its land to the east of the Plaza of Nations, where Cirque de Soleil has sometimes staged shows in temporary tents.

BC Pavilion Corp. (PavCo) did not redevelop its land between BC Place and Rogers Arena. Aquilini Investment Group similarly owns undeveloped land near Rogers Arena.

Delays in those projects meant no money flowed to the city to embark on the project.

Its not a question of stopping it right now, Kirby-Yung said of demolishing the viaducts. There is no funding, so there isnt anything to stop.

The citys most recent estimate is that demolition will not start until at least 2027, with some changes to road networks happening in the next few years.

Kirby-Yung is open to having the project proceed but is not convinced that funding from developers will be sufficient.

In part that is because the full cost of remediating soil in the properties under the viaducts is unknown.

Vancouvers unaffordable housing problem has also mushroomed in recent years into a full-blown crisis, convincing city councillors that Northeast False Creek needs a diverse range of housing tenure and not simply the strata units that were originally envisioned, she said.

Rental, social and other non-strata housing styles would bring in less money from developers than would strata condominiums, Kirby-Yung explained. That means that money from senior levels of government may be needed, she said.

I think theres an opportunity to really revisit how that project is looked at, she said.

There isnt an identified funding mechanism on whether money comes through development, or whether  appropriately, I think  its an opportunity for senior governments to invest in decommissioning a significant piece of transportation infrastructure.

Green Party Coun. Pete Fry, who lives in the Strathcona neighbourhood a couple blocks from the viaducts, told BIV that he also believes money from senior governments may be needed to demolish the viaducts because the city may get less money out of developers when it requires diverse housing forms.

He is, however, taking a wait-and-see approach because area developers appear to finally be about to break ground on projects.

In the next few months we will be submitting our rezoning application, Concord Pacific spokesman Peter Udzenija told BIV. We are excited to work with the new council.

CMP, meanwhile, is angling to start building a terraced 28-storey mixed-use building as part of its first phase of redeveloping the Plaza of Nations, thanks to the citys development permit board on June 27 approving a conditional development permit.

CMP's tower is expected to have 646 condominiums, 171 social-housing units and commercial space.

Fry said that any new look at removing the viaducts will have to consider that St. Pauls Hospital will be operating on False Creek Flats.

When council first approved demolishing the viaducts, councillors expected that the viaducts would be gone long before the hospital launched operations.

To improve access to the future hospital, there will need to be significant changes to Gore Avenue, which may include truncating the viaducts before any full removal, Fry said.

He added that removing the viaducts could improve ambulance response time because viaduct traffic can get bottlenecked.

The plan for a new road network would include a main arterial rode through the Northeast False Creek neighbourhood.

Another argument for removing the viaducts is that there is a risk that in an earthquake they could come tumbling down, on top of other infrastructure, such as the SkyTrain line, Fry said.

Brent Toderian, who was the citys chief planner between 2006 and 2012, told BIV that when initial cost-benefit analyses were done on whether to remove the viaducts, everyone knew that keeping the status quo would entail costs for maintenance and seismic upgrades.

He said that if the city requires funding from senior levels of government to help finance demolishing the viaducts, the project could be stalled in limbo indefinitely.

It wont be a priority for higher-order governments, Toderian said. [Asking them for financing] might seem to be a good way to get this idea paralyzed.

Toderian supports demolishing the viaducts because that would create a livable neighbourhood without the physical and psychological barriers that separate the area around False Creek from the Downtown Eastside.

Toderian added that he thought the debate around whether the demolition was a good idea had been decided years ago.

The viaducts were originally built in 1915 to bypass tidal waters, rail lines and industrial uses, and the current structures were rebuilt in the 1960s as the first part of an anticipated freeway system.

If we had known the freeways werent going to be built, we never would have built the viaducts, he said. I have this observation in cities that once we build a piece of infrastructure for cars, we cant imagine it not existing  even though it was never needed in the first place. 
Cement carrier sinks off the coast of Taiwan

02 November 2022

A search for 12 missing crew members continues off the coast of Taiwan after their cement carrier sank. The 10,000dwt Xing Shun No 1, built in 2014, sank on Monday, 31 October, on the east side of the Changhua channel in the Taiwan Strait.

The Panama-flagged ship had 17 seafarers on board. Five seafarers who abandoned the vessel were successfully rescued, and the remaining 12 were still alive at that point, having made it to the lifeboats.

Taiwanese authorities said two empty lifeboats had since been spotted. Reports said the Xing Shun No 1 was originally carrying 20 Indonesian nationals. Three had been disembarked for medical treatment after being injured on 30 October in unexplained circumstances.

Then on Monday, the ship lost power 14 miles off Lizhuoshuixi. The vessel had left Hon Gai in Vietnam on 25 October and was heading for Taichung in Taiwan. The ships last port state control inspection in Vietnam in September found two deficiencies relating to life buoys and lighting in working spaces.

Equasis lists the owner as Jin Shun Maritime of Hong Kong, while Clarksons records the ownership as unknown.

Published under
The suspect in the attack on Paul Pelosi, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and other charges on Tuesday during his first court appearance.

The individual, identified as 42-year-old David DePape, previously broke into the San Francisco home of House Speaker Pelosi and struck her husband with a hammer. The attack left the official unconscious for three minutes as he lay in a pool of his own blood.

Nancy Pelosi House Attack

DePape told police that he also had other targets, including a local professor, and several prominent state and federal politicians. New details of the attack that law enforcement personnel say were motivated by the suspect's desire to take Ms. Pelosi hostage, interrogate her, and break her kneecaps if she lied to him were revealed in a court filing on Tuesday.

The suspect pleaded not guilty to several state felony charges after investigators claimed that he broke into the Pelosi residence last week and demanded to talk with the House Speaker who was in Washington at the time, as per the New York Times.

In the filing of local prosecutors on Tuesday, they provided new and chilling details about the incident, including how the victim, in a terrifying situation, was still able to call 911 while he was hiding in the bathroom and DePape was inside his home.

The filing also offers insights into a disturbed man who was seemingly enthralled by the conspiracy theories that have portrayed the house speaker as an enemy of the country. After the suspect broke into the residence by busting a glass door on the back porch, he found Mr. Pelosi sleeping in his bedroom shortly after 2:00 a.m.

According to CNBC, the Department of Justice also charged DePape with two federal crimes, attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assaulting an immediate family member of a United States official with the intent to retaliate against the official.

Read Also: US Chief Justice Roberts Temporarily Blocks Trump Tax Returns; Here's Why

David DePape Pleads Not Guilty

In his first court appearance, the suspect was seen unshaven with long hair while wearing an orange jumpsuit and his arm in a sling due to a dislocated shoulder. The suspect's public defender, Adam Lipson, said that his client was being held without bail, adding that another hearing was scheduled for Friday.

The suspect also told police that he was on a "suicide mission," based on the Tuesday court filing. It also noted that the victim was knocked unconscious by the hammer attack and woke up several minutes later.

DePape, in court, only spoke to tell Judge Diane Northway how to pronounce his name (dih-PAP'). Lipson, after the hearing, said that he looked forward to providing the suspect with a "vigorous defense." He added that he first met DePape on Monday night but was not able to review police reports yet.

The suspect was now known to US Capitol Police and he was not in any federal databases that were tracking threats. However, he had been found to have shared memes and conspiracy theories on Facebook regarding COVID-19 vaccines, the 2020 election, and the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol building, CNN reported.

Related Article: Nancy Pelosi Home Attack: Suspect Wanted to Kidnap and Interrogate House Speaker, Break Her Kneecaps If She Lied

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The City Council on Tuesday night adopted the Westside Evolves Plan, which officials said "provides a 10-year strategy for change in the citys oldest public housing community." The plan was developed over a two-year period with more than 82 percent of the areas 4500 residents participating in the process.

In further support of the plan, City Council also voted to approve an interlocal agreement that will allow the city to provide $1 million from its affordable housing fund to support the renovation of the James A.

Henry school. The school will serve as the Westsides new neighborhood hub, anchored by a 100-seat Head Start facility. The funding is in addition to the $2 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds the city already invested in the renovation, for a total commitment of $3 million.

Chattanoogas Westside is one of our most historic neighborhoods, home to over five generations of our residents, said Mayor Tim Kelly. The Westside Evolves plan will ensure this critical part of our city is revitalized in a way that will support the growth and prosperity of future generations, all without displacing the existing community. This is exactly the kind of thoughtful planning we need to further our vision for One Chattanooga, and Im grateful to City Council for supporting this transformative initiative for our city.

This is a great example of the partnerships built among government and the private sector to support community efforts, said City Council Chairman Darrin Ledford. Its an exciting time for Chattanoogas oldest public community and while theres a great deal of work to be done, Im glad the City Council has been able to play a critical role in providing a strong foundation for the efforts to come.

Westside Evolves is a collaborative neighborhood planning initiative among the Chattanooga Design Studio, the Chattanooga Housing Authority (CHA) and the City of Chattanooga. In addition to the funding provided by the City, U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleishmann secured a $3 million federal appropriation for the project, and Hamilton County invested an additional $2 million in American Rescue Plan funds. The money will be used to leverage additional dollars to fully fund the project, at an estimated total cost of $1 billion over the next ten years.

Thanks to deep collaboration between the community, the Chattanooga Housing Authority, the City, and other stakeholders, we now have an accountable and transparent plan to revitalize our beloved Westside, opening up opportunity and quality affordable housing that will uplift the community for years to come, said Councilwoman Raquetta Dotley, whose district includes the Westside neighborhood.

Adoption of the plan launches an official partnership between the city and CHA, in which both will leverage the plan as the official strategy for revitalizing the historic neighborhood. With a one-for-one replacement of housing for the 629 families living in the Westside, the plan includes replacement, work force, and market rate housing during each phase of development.

The plan encompasses the area known as the Westside District, which is bordered by Martin Luther King Boulevard, Riverfront Parkway, Main Street and I-27. While residents of College Hill Courts may be relocated during future construction, all lease compliant residents will have the right to return to a new unit in the Westside neighborhood. CHA residents will continue to pay 30 percent of their adjusted income towards rent at any redeveloped property.

CHA executive director Betsy McCright said, Few planning projects begin in the midst of a pandemic and even fewer are successful. Our residents wanted a voice in the future of their community and their diligence is coming to fruition with adoption of the plan by the City of Chattanooga.

Chattanooga Design Center executive director Eric Meyers noted, Chattanooga Design Studio is grateful for the City Councils support of the efforts of the residents, artists, institutions and planning partners who all worked together to craft a shared vision for the future of the Westside."

Each phase of the project will seek to employ local residents in construction jobs to support the development. Through an agreement with the AGC of East Tennessee, Westside students attending the Howard School have a unique opportunity to obtain professional training through the AGCs construction career academy. As they graduate, the students will be able to obtain jobs to work on the construction projects within the Westside, helping end generational poverty in the area.

With official adoption of the Westside Evolves Plan by City Council, CHA will move forward with plans to begin renovation of the James A. Henry school. The Head Start program currently located in the Citys Youth and Family Development building will ultimately move to the renovated school, which will include space for 100 early learnings seats - 40 more than the YFD building holds now. In addition to serving as a Head Start facility, the school will also function as a hub for community gatherings and community-building activities.

The CHA team is also working to prepare an application in the next upcoming funding cycle for a HUD Choice Neighborhoods grant. The team anticipates that the grant will be submitted for consideration in early 2023. If selected, the grant will provide a three-to-one match to assist in funding the project which will provide up to $150 million.

Over the coming months, the team will begin to gather additional funding for the project from various entities. They will also continue their strong communication efforts within the community. The long-term vision is to transform the neighborhood into a community that is thriving, promotes resident pride and unity among neighbors, and is integrated into the surrounding area. The vision of the plan is to create a healthy and sustainable community that provides long-term physical, social, and economic benefits for all residents.




The Photographic Society of Chattanooga will present John Slonina on Thursday, Nov. 17. Mr. Slonina is a professional nature photographer who has been photographing nature for more than 30 years. He has a photo tour company, Slonina Photography, which leads instructional photo workshops across North America.

Mr. Slonina has been published in calendars, books, magazines and displayed in several galleries. He is a member of the Feisol Pro Photography Team and is sponsored by Hunts Photo and Video. Mr. Sloninas presentation will be, Landscape Photography.

The presentation will begin at 7 p.m. Visitors are always welcome.

For beginners or anyone looking to improve their photography, join Boot Camp at 6 p.m. Donna Bourdon will be discussing, Bird Photography.

The meeting will be held at the St. John United Methodist Church, 3921 Murray Hills Dr. For

more information call 423-344-5643 or e-mail Mary Jane Fish at president@chattanoogaphoto.org. For more information about the Photographic Society of Chattanooga, visit https://chattanoogaphoto.org.






A woman on Fairfax Drive told police a man knocked on her door and wanted to polish her gas lines. She said she told the man she doesn't have gas to her house. The man then left the area.



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A woman told police her 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe was parked on the Republic parking lot at 1401 Market St. from 8:30 p.m. the day before until 1030 a.m. the next day. She said during that time someone stole the catalytic converter from it. She said she checked with her auto insurance and they do not cover the theft. She says it will cost $1,700 to repair the vehicle.



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A man on Gardner Street told police that sometime in the past couple of nights someone went through his 2022 Ford F150. He said it was unlocked and rummaged through, but there was nothing stolen that he is aware of.

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A woman on N. Wilder Street told police she owned the house where her daughter and another woman had been staying. Some type of disorder occurred between the two women and the glass had been broken in the front door. The owner said she just needed the daughter's friend to leave the property. Police assisted the friend with packing and she was transported to the Chattanooga Rescue Mission without incident.

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A man on N. Concord Road told police he mistakenly gave his credit card information to an unknown person over the phone. He said that person then made approximately $500 in fraudulent charges on the credit card.

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A man on Chestnut Street told police his HARO 27.5DLX bicycle had been stolen. There is no suspect information.

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Found property was reported on Shaw Avenue. Police found on the ground an Alabama State ID card, a Social Security card, an AARP card and a Serve Amex credit card belonging to a woman. The identification cards were collected and will be submitted to Property for safekeeping.

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A woman on Winding Lane told police someone damaged her vehicle while she was at work. She said she parked her vehicle between 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. She said she then noticed the rear driver side had a dent.

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A man told police he owned a truck his daughter drives. The daughter was parked in the back of Duck Donuts where she has to park when she works there. She said when she came out to leave, she noticed her vehicle was acting weird. She pulled to the front and called her dad. The man came and looked underneath the vehicle and saw the catalytic converter was gone and damage had been done to the transmission. It is unknown if video footage was taken, due to the time of day. Follow up will be made to locate possible suspect information.



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A man was reported hanging out in front of the Circle K, 712 Signal Mountain Road, causing a disorder. He was told by the clerk to leave. Once police arrived, he was trespassed by a store employee. He had no warrants and left upon police order.

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The manager at City Cafe, 901 Carter St., told police Mr. Barnhill stated he and a woman were in a verbal argument and he just wanted her trespassed from the property. Police were able to make contact with the woman and inform her she was informed she trespassed from City Cafe's property, which she acknowledged and left the area.

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A woman on Safehaven Court told police that her neighbor was upset she was working on her fence. The woman showed police video of the neighbor kicking her fence and calling her a "b**ch." Police observed the neighbor repeatedly yelling at the woman, agitated about the fence. The woman said she wanted a police report to document the occurrence should she need to refer to it in the future.
Longtime County Attorney Rheubin Taylor has filed suit against new County Mayor Weston Wamp, saying he is trying to fire him despite him having a four-year contract given by the prior County Commission in 2021.

He said the contents of his computer were taken, including attorney-client documents.

County Attorney Taylor also said that his health insurance benefits were due to end on Oct. 31. He said the benefits are important because his wife has a heart condition.

Chancellor Jeff Atherton has filed a temporary restraining order, keeping Mr. Taylor as the county attorney.

The order says the county attorney would be likely to win on the merits of the case.

Attorney Taylor is represented by former Circuit Court Judge Neil Thomas III.

Here is the lawsuit that was filed in Chancery Court:

Rheubin M. Taylor, by his attorneys, for his Complaint against Weston Wamp as Mayor of Hamilton County, Tennessee, alleges:

1. Plaintiff, Rheubin M. Taylor, is a resident of Hamilton County, Tennessee.

2. Defendant, Weston Wamp, is the duly elected Mayor of Hamilton County, Tennessee.

3. The acts complained of herein occurred in Hamilton County, Tennessee.

4. On or about June 30, 2021, Rheubin Taylor entered into a 48 month contract with Hamilton County, Tennessee to provide legal services to Hamilton County, Tennessee. A copy of the contract is attached hereto as Exhibit A.

5. The contact referred in paragraph 4 above is a contract to provide legal services to Hamilton County, Tennessee, and, as such, is a contract within the administrative, as opposed to legislative, acts of the Hamilton County, Commission.

6. The contract is an enforceable agreement approved and executed by the appropriate government authority pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann.  7- 51- 903.

7. By letter, dated October 14, 2022, Weston Wamp, purported to terminate the contract referred to in paragraph 4, effective immediately. Weston Wamp did not have the unilateral authority to terminate the contract and/ or Rheubin M. Taylor' s employment with Hamilton County and/ or the Hamilton County Commission, nor did he provide notice or seek approval of the County Commission to do so. A copy of the letter is attached hereto as Exhibit B.

8. At some point on or after October 14, 2022, Weston Wamp caused the IT Department of Hamilton County to confiscate the computer of Rheubin Taylor, the contents of which contained information protected by the attorney - client privilege. In addition, with his computer disconnected from the Hamilton County server, Rheubin M. Taylor was inhibited in the services he was required to perform for the County under his contract.

9. On or about October 18, 2022, Rheubin Taylor complained to the Office of the Mayor of Hamilton County of the confiscation of documents protected by the attorney-client privilege and demanded that the contents be returned.

10. To date, the privileged material has not been returned, nor has The computer been reconnected.

11. On October 19, 2022, the Hamilton County Commission passed a number of resolutions, one of which affirmed the contract referred to in paragraph 4.

12. The Attorney General of the State of Tennessee has issued an opinion, the effect of which is that administrative actions of a county commission may not be vetoed by a mayor. A copy of that Opinion is attached hereto as Exhibit C. Tenn. Code Ann.  5- 6- 107( a) provides a county mayor with the power to veto legislative resolutions, but that the veto power " shall not apply to resolutions in which the legislative body is exercising administrative or appellate authority."

13. Because the action of the Hamilton County Commission in Affirming the contract of Rheubin M. Taylor is an administrative act, Defendant Weston Wamp may not veto it.

14. Although Wamp may not veto the action of the Hamilton County Commission he has indicated that he will do so, but even if he could veto the resolution, he must do so within ten days of the action of the Commission, or October 29, 2021. Wamp has indicated that he believes he has until October 31, 2022, to veto the action of the County Commission, but as of the time of the filing of this Complaint he has not done so, but has stated that he intends to do so.

15. Employee benefits, including health benefits, have been provided to Rheubin M. Taylor and his family, which will cease on October 31, 2022, due to the instructions or directions of Weston Wamp.

16. The benefits referred to in the previous paragraph are crucial to Rheubin Taylor and his family because his wife has a heart condition. Without the benefits, Rheubin M. Taylor will suffer immediate and irreparable harm in the form of a loss of health care for himself and his wife, in addition to the anxiety and insecurity associated with this loss.

17. Unless Weston Wamp is temporarily restrained from continuing to interfere with the contract between Hamilton County and Rheubin Taylor and insisting that Rheubin Taylor has been terminated, not only will Rheubin Taylor lose his employee benefits on October 31, 2022, but he will be unable to perform the services required under his contract with the County Commission. REQUEST FOR INJUNCTIVE RELIEF

18. Rheubin M. Taylor repeats and realleges the allegations contained in paragraphs 1 through 17.

19. Weston Wamp' s intentional, unlawful, wanton, and unnecessary conduct has substantially interfered, and will continue to interfere, with Rheubin M. Taylor' s rights and benefits pursuant to his position and the contract referenced herein. Weston Wamp's conduct will continue and will cause irreparable harm to Rheubin M. Taylor' s rights and benefits unless and until Weston Wamp' s conduct is enjoined and remedied.

20. Rheubin M. Taylor avers that the injunctive relief requested herein is the only remedy that will adequately protect Plaintiff' s rights and benefits from being further harmed by Weston Wamp' s intentional, unlawful, wanton and unnecessary conduct; that Plaintiff' s rights and benefits will suffer immediate and irreparable harm if the requested injunctive relief is not immediately provided; that any detriment to the Defendant by the granting of the requested injunctive relief does not outweigh the benefit of such injunctive relief to Plaintiff; that the recent adoption of a resolution of the Hamilton County Commission on about October 19, 2022 to reaffirm the contract for legal services with Rheubin M. Taylor approved on or about June 30, 2022 provides a likelihood that Rheubin M. Taylor should succeed in enforcing his contract; and that the public interest will be served by the Court providing the injunctive relief requested herein.

FIRST REQUEST FOR DELCARATORY JUDGMENT

21. Rheubin Taylor repeats and realleges the allegations contained in paragraphs 1 through 17.

22. Weston Wamp has taken the position that he has validly and unilaterally terminated the contract/ employment of Reuben Taylor by asserting his contract cannot continue past the term of the prior Hamilton County Mayor and Commission, which ended August 31, 2022.

23. Pleading in the alternative to Plaintiff' s position that Weston Wamp has no standing to terminate the contract between Rheubin M. Taylor and Hamilton County and/ or the Hamilton County Commission, Rheubin M. Taylor alleges that his contract does extend past the term of the prior County Commission and constitutes a valid and enforceable contract. Wamp' s conduct has been and continues to be interference with that contract.

24. Rheubin M. Taylor seeks a declaration that his contract with Hamilton County, Tennessee is valid and enforceable and continues to be valid and enforceable.

25. Unless restrained and enjoined, Weston Wamp will continue to interfere with the contract/ employment between Rheubin M. Taylor and Hamilton County, Tennessee.

SECOND REQUEST FOR DELCARATORY JUDGMENT

26. Rheubin M. Taylor repeats the allegations of paragraphs 1 through 17.

27. Pleading in the further alternative, the Hamilton County Commission, by its action on October 19, 2022, has affirmed the contract/ employment between Rheubin M. Taylor and the Commission, and Wamp has no standing to veto it.

28. Wamp, nevertheless, has continue to insist that he has the Authority to veto the actions of the Hamilton County Commission.

29. Rheubin M. Taylor seeks a declaration that his contract/ employment with Hamilton County, Tennessee is valid and enforceable and continues to be valid and enforceable.

30. Unless restrained and enjoined, Weston Wamp will continue to interfere with the contract/ employment between Rheubin M. Taylor and Hamilton County, Tennessee.

WHEREFORE, Rheubin M. Taylor prays:

1. That the Court immediately issue a temporary restraining order setting forth that Weston Wamp be immediately restrained and enjoined from undertaking any further action preventing Rheubin M. Taylor from receiving the benefits of the contract/ employment or completing his services pursuant to the contract/ employment and that he be required to take any corrective action necessary. A full hearing be scheduled on the relief requested herein.

2. In the alternative, declare that Weston Wamp did not have the unilateral authority to terminate the contract/ employment between Rheubin M. Taylor and Hamilton County and/ or the Hamilton County Commission; that Plaintiff' s contract/ employment with Hamilton County and/ or the Hamilton County Commission is valid and enforceable; that Rheubin M. Taylor is entitled to the rights/ benefits provided by such contract/ employment; that the Court declare that Weston Wamp is wrongfully interfering with a valid contract/ employment between Rheubin M. Taylor and Hamilton County, Tennessee and temporarily and permanently restraining and enjoining him from persisting in his insistence that the contract/ employment of Rheubin M. Taylor has been terminated and taking action in accordance therewith; requiring him to return the documents covered by the attorney -client privilege ( and destroy any copies) together with his costs and disbursements.

3. That Rheubin M. Taylor have such other, further and general relief as the equity and justice of this cause may require, including attorney' s fees and court costs.
The city of Red Bank is applying for a grant worth $1,619,984 from Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) to be used for priority water infrastructure. The commissioners voted to use Southeast Tennessee Development District (SETD) for technical assistance and grant administrative services for the amount of $48,600 which can come from the amount received in the grant.

A $25,040 purchase was approved as part of the ongoing digital transformation of Red Bank. The city will buy and install a new audio/visual system in the courtroom/commission room. It will have interactive displays and conferencing equipment and will be consistent with the equipment in the rest of city hall and fire department. It is not budgeted, but City Manager Martin Granum has recommended using ARPA, Covid relief funds for this one-time expense.

Authorization was also given to apply for two other grants. The Financial Commission for Appalachia High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program Grant is applied for and has been received each year. If received again this year, the city will get $19,000 with no match needed. It will be used to pay for overtime costs for the detective that oversees drug trafficking.

The citys insurer, Public Entity Partners, provides a Drivers Training grant to promote a safe and hazard free workplace for the municipalities it covers. To receive it this year, Red Bank commissioners agreed to match the amount of the grant up to $3,500.

The public works department will be getting new equipment to replace old vehicles that can no longer be repaired. A dump truck was a budgeted item and will be bought through a purchasing cooperative for $102,147. It will take the place of a 1999 truck. Delivery is not expected for 8-10 months.

A new backhoe will replace one that failed earlier this year and it is not feasible to repair it since the cost is so high, said Public Works Director Greg Tate. The new one will be bought through a Tennessee state contract for $116,252 and was budgeted. Delivery should be in 4-6 months.

The commissioners approved an amendment to zoning of property at 2622 Berkley Drive. Earlier this year two lots were rezoned from R-1 single family, to R-TZ Townhouse/Zero-Lot Line with the conditions that only two single family houses could be built there. In the interim, a neighbor agreed to sell 25 feet of his adjoining property to Steve Pickett, owner of the two lots. This additional property makes the space large enough to hold three single family houses. The planning commission held a public hearing on the request to allow three homes there and recommended approval. On Tuesday night, the council followed and approved allowing three buildings with a condition that a shade tree must be planted in front of each. A second reading will take place at the next commission meeting before the amendment is final.

Mayor Hollie Berry announced that the city has posted a new job opening for a Community Development Planner. The deadline to apply is Nov. 16.

The next Food Pantry in Red Bank will be this coming Thursday from 4:30-6 p.m.

During the time set aside for residents to address the commissioners, Ann Wheeler thanked long-time Commissioner and past Mayor Ruth Jeno and Commissioner Ed LeCompte for their service to the city of Red Bank. Ms. Wheeler acknowledged the amount of time it took to serve on the commission and the ways that service affects their personal lives. At the last meeting they will attend as commissioners, she wanted them both to know how much they are appreciated.
Walker County Government will join a national campaign in support of military veterans during the week of Veterans Day. As part of Operation Green Light, several county buildings will be illuminated green Nov. 7-13.The new national collaborative is spearheaded by the National Association of Counties and the National Association of County Veteran Service Officers to raise awareness about the unique challenges faced by many veterans and the resources that are available at the county, state and federal level to assist veterans and their families.By shining a green light, we hope our veterans will know they are seen, supported and appreciated, said Shannon Whitfield, chairman, Walker County Board of Commissioners.We are grateful for their sacrifices and want our more than 4,000 veterans and their families to know their service mattered.The Walker County Courthouse and Walker County Board of Commissioners office in LaFayette, as well as the Local Government Services building and areas of the Civic Center campus in Rock Spring, will be coated in green light from dusk to dawn.In addition to lighting select county buildings, residents and businesses are encouraged to participate by changing one light bulb in their home to a green bulb. This can be an exterior light that neighbors and passersby see, or an interior light that sparks a conversation with friends. Residents can share their participation on social media using #OperationGreenLight.Operation Green Light is a simple way to express our collective appreciation for the public service of our veterans, said NACo President Denise Winfrey. We encourage everyone to join us in displaying a green light for our veterans and to also reflect on how we, as a nation and at the county level, assist our military service personnel back into civilian life upon completion of their service to our country.The Georgia Department of Veterans Services operates a field office in Walker County. The office is located at 101 E Patton Street in LaFayette and is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Servicemembers, veterans and their families can contact the office at 706-996-8056.
The Council of Juvenile Court Judges of Georgia honored Catoosa County Juvenile Court Administrator Tammy M. Hardin with the 2022 Martha K. Glaze Award, in recognition of her outstanding service benefiting childrens welfare and justice.



I am honored and humbled by this recognition from the Council and the Juvenile Court judges in Georgia, Ms. Hardin said. I thank Juvenile Court Judge McCracken Poston for nominating me, and those who supported me for this recognition. I love having the opportunity to support positive outcomes through Catoosa County Juvenile Court and its community partners for our future generations.



"Tammy has always taken her job very seriously, and it has been to the benefit of Catoosa County children that she has been in this role," said Judge Poston.



Ms. Hardin accepted the award in Athens, Ga. last week. She has been the administrator of the Catoosa County Juvenile Court since 1997 when she was appointed by Judge Poston. According to the Council of Juvenile Court Judges of Georgia, their award committee voted unanimously for Ms. Hardin to receive the Martha K. Glaze Award following her nomination. Only one other court staff person has ever received this prestigious award, according to the President of the Council of Juvenile Court Judges Eric John.



The award is given in honor of Judge Martha K. Glaze, an appointed Juvenile Court Judge of Clayton County who served from 1977 to 1999. She served on the board of trustees of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges as well as president of the Council of Juvenile Court Judges of Georgia. She was a long serving chair of the Councils Standing Committee on Education and Certification, setting the standards for the education of the Juvenile Court judges of Georgia.
Allison Fluke-Ekren, an American woman and former Kansas teacher, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for leading an all-female ISIS battalion in Syria, training the participants in using rifles and explosives.

The 42-year-old was born in Lawrence, Kansas, and pleaded guilty in June to conspiring to support a foreign terrorist organization, the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS). Counterterrorism experts argued that the suspect represented an unusual case of a woman commanding power in the traditionally male-dominated culture of Islamic jihad.

All-Female ISIS Battalion

The suspect's father and grandfather were both U.S. military veterans but she instead committed terrorist acts during her eight years in Libya, Iraq, and Syria. She is also believed to have planned mass-casualty attacks in the United States, prosecutors said. They argued that the 20-year maximum sentence would not be sufficient for Fluke-Ekren's crimes.

United States District Judge Leonie Brinkema sentenced the suspect to 25 years of probation, beyond the prison term. The defendant's lawyers had urged the judge to order an unspecified shorter sentence because of the trauma and loss that Flue-Ekren experienced, as per USA Today.

Three of the suspect's husbands and two children had died overseas and they argued that she suffered post-traumatic stress syndrome in Syria and abandoned violence when she stopped being part of the terror group in May 2019.

Flue-Ekren served as the leader of an all-female Islamic State group military battalion in Syria and trained women and children how to use AK-47 assault rifles, grenades, and suicide belts. The suspect reportedly trained more than 100 women and girls as young as 10 years old.

According to CNN, during Tuesday's sentencing hearing, prosecutor Raj Parekh called the former Kansas teacher the "Empress of ISIS" who he argued brainwashed young girls and trained them to kill in the name of the terror group.

Read Also: Saudi Arabia Raises Alarm on Iran Threat, Attack; Iraq Where US Troops Are Deployed Also a Possible Target

ISIS Trains Women and Young Girls

Parekh said that Fluke-Ekren became a warped visionary for the terrorist group and was attracted to death and destruction. The prosecutor noted that the suspect repeatedly lied to the United States government and refused to cooperate, adding that she could have been a "goldmine of intelligence."

One of the suspect's daughters, Leyla Ekren, who assisted the U.S. government in its case against her mother, testified that her mother abused her and her siblings and married her off as a "sex slave."

The young Ekren told the judge that she was given away as a bride to an ISIS fighter who she referred to repeatedly as "my rapist" when she was only 13 years old. It was part of an effort for her mother to gain more power in the terrorist organization.

In a lengthy speech during a hearing in federal court in northern Virginia on Tuesday, the suspect said that she took responsibility for her actions. Fluke-Ekren spent most of the time during the hearing rationalizing and minimizing her conduct.

The defendant told the judge that she lived a very normal life during her time in Syria, even showing pictures of her children at a weekly pizza dinner. She was captured in Syria and brought to the U.S. in late January to face charges, Aljazeera reported.

Related Article: Iran Sending 1000 Weapons, Including Attack Drones, to Russia for Ukraine War After Pentagon Raises Big Concerns

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Veterans Day is an opportunity for us all to honor those who have served us and our country in the uniformed services. And, perhaps, its a day to reflect on those whose service may have been forgotten or overlooked.



For example, D-Day. Ask the average person what that means, and theyll mention Normandy. But did you know the men on the Southern Front of the European Theater of Operations had five D-Days? All were amphibious landings on the shores of French Morocco; Sicily; Salerno, Italy; Anzio, Italy; and Southern France.

When I ask people to name the first European capital liberated by the Allies, the most common answer is, Paris. That occurred in August 1944, almost 12 weeks after the Southern soldiers liberated Rome June 4-5, 1944. Unfortunately, news about Romes emancipation was buried by the Normandy invasion on June 6. From that moment on, the Southern Front became, in essence, the Forgotten Front.

Another case in point: many have heard of the Northern Armys horrific Battle of Hurtgen Forest throughout the fall and winter of 1944, but few remember the arguably more gruesome and arduous battles fought in the Vosges Mountains at the same time. In three months of ferocious fighting in severe conditions, the Southern Front G.I.s accomplished what no army in the history of warfare had ever done beforeconquer an enemy defending the Vosges Mountainsand in one of the worst winters in European history no less!



Most know about the Northern Fronts monumental Battle of the Bulge, but almost no one remembers the fierce and potentially more disastrous Battle of the Colmar Pocket and its decisive Battle at La Maison Rougewaged in some of the worst winter wartime conditions ever recorded. Historian Stephen Ambrose wrote, It was fought in conditions so terrible that they can only be marveled at, not really imagined. He added, Only those who were there can know. More than once in interviewing veterans of the January fighting, when I ask them to describe the cold, men involuntarily shivered.



The Northern Front doughboys fought 336 days (June 6 to May 8) while on the Southern Front the 3rd Infantry Division slogged a long, bloody 913 consecutive days (531 combat days) to reach V-E Day in Salzburg, Austria, and was the only American Division that fought the Nazis on fronts in North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia) and Europe (Sicily, Italy, France, Germany, Austria). The 3rd had more casualties than any other division during the entire warnearly 35,000, more than twice the original strength of the division. They hold the record for high combat citations, with no fewer than 29 Medals of Honor. When German Field Marshal Albert Kesselring was asked, What was the best American division faced by troops under your command?, without hesitation, he placed the 3rd at the top.

Lieutenant General Lucian K. Truscott, Jr., who commanded the Southern Front, said, Officers and men under my command established records that were not equaled by others in this war and have not been excelled in any other to my knowledge. In large measure, these magnificent accomplishments  passed without full recognitionand have been forgotten for almost 80 years.



The front-line men and their brothers-in-combat faced and conquered fear, heartbreak, dread, chaos, stench, casualties, wounds, and unimaginable opposition. Many times, they faced battles they feared would end in inevitable defeat or certain death. They sacrificed the daily comforts most consider essential. Those that returned to the home front savored each new day, each breath, in a new way. They knew their many friends in battle who had left their all on the altar of warwho had sacrificed their tomorrowshad allowed them and us to livetruly livefor all their and our todays.

All our military men and women deserve to be remembered and honored on Veterans Dayespecially those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. But its long overdue to have a special shout-out for those who suffered and sacrificed on the Southern Front. Almost all are gone nowhave graduated to eternal glorybut as General Truscott said, We cannot look back to them if we do not look forward to the future for which they foughtand died. So, as we celebrate our continued liberty and freedom on this Veterans Day, my hope and prayer are that the heroes who fought and died on the Southern Front will be forgotten no longer.

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Walt Larimore, a Colorado-based physician, and best-selling author spent significant parts of the last 16 years studying the Forgotten Front of Northern African and Southern Europe in World War II while researching his book, At First Light: A True World War II Story of a Hero, His Bravery, and an Amazing Horse. The book was released by Knox Press in April.

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Walt Larimore,

Thank you for your article on the Southern Front of WWII and I salute all of those warriors of ours who slogged through such inhospitable terrain in such a brutal fight that was the southern front of the European Theater of Operations. I do have two comments though:

1. The 3rd Infantry Division was not... "the only American Division that fought the Nazi's on fronts in North Africa and Europe": among others were the 1st "Big Red One" Infantry Division, 9th "Old Reliables" Infantry Division, 1st "Old Ironsides" Armored Division, 2nd "Hell on Wheels" Armored Division, and the 34th "Red Bull" Infantry Division (I grew up listening to the personal stories of one of these old soldiers) that I know of. Maybe that paragraph was intended to be read another way or something clarifying was omitted. That's not to take away from the 3rd Infantry Division, they certainly earned their storied reputation.

2. The most forgotten warriors of WWII in my mind, were the dog faced Army soldiers who fought in the Pacific in the shadows of the U.S. Marines who received all of the attention and glory. The USMC ultimately formed and committed six Marine Divisions to combat in the Pacific. The U.S. Army committed 22 Divisions along with most of the combat support and combat service support units to both the Army and Marines alike. Yet most Americans only think of the Marines when they think of the War in the Pacific. I recommend John C. McManus' comprehensive works of the U.S. Army in the Pacific for further reading on these equally gallant warriors.

John Moore
We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at the flood; it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause our passage, but time is deaf to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residue of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words; Too late. There is an invisible book of life that faithfully records our vigilance, or our neglect. - Dr. Martin Luther King (1967)

Every now and again I manage to hit the note with a few faithful readers. Their response is a pretty good thing as far as Im concerned. Maybe its really some sort of megalomania on my part, but its good to know that somebody is actually reading this stuff other than me and the beleaguered staff of hard pressed, unpaid, proofreaders.



A recent rendering titled, Armed Hiking, resulted in the following response from a long time reader who refers to himself as, Tom from Hooterville. I hope Mr. Tom doesnt mind, but I thought you might enjoy his comments as much as I did. His two tales are as follows;



This article called to mind a couple of stories you might enjoy that I have taken the liberty of titling; Armed Trout Fishing and A Turkey of a Hunt.



Tom says; Both of these stories were related to me by the individuals who were actually involved in the story.



ARMED TROUT FISHING



Like many of us who spend any time in the great outdoors, we learn early to be prepared. Some people carry a sharp knife or a good walking stick. I prefer a 357 loaded mostly with snake shot and maybe a couple of just in case 155 grains.



Story number one was related to me by an old friend who often took his dad trout fishing over in North Georgia.



They had a good day and were walking out, which was about a 5-6 mile walk back to the parking area. As they round the bend they encounter a few small wild hogs rooting around near the path.



Now, both this guy and his dad were experienced hunters and knew that whenever there were piglets, Momma couldnt be far away. Sure enough, here comes a particularly nasty looking adult hog with prominent tushes. They take off running for their lives headed back to their vehicle.



At some point, my friend realizes that his dad is falling back, in fact had stumbled a couple of times, and although he was in pretty good shape for 75 years old, the old momma hog wasnt quitting, so a decision had to be made.



They had just enough time for him to boost his dad up on a sturdy tree limb and find a good tree trunk were he could steady himself for a shot.



Although he had a full load of 155 grain in a speed load in his vest, he knew he did not have the luxury of that time needed. Time only for a quick couple of shots.



He had the presence of mind to click the cylinder off of the snake shot and onto a more lethal round. By this time, momma hog was less than 10 yards and closing. The first shot caused the charging hog to flinch or stagger just a bit. This gave my friend just enough time to empty the Dan Wesson 357 (5-1/2 inch barrel) into the big hog.



Fortunately, Momma hog was slowed to a near stop (down but not out), and there was enough time for my old friend to quickly reload with the full 155 grain loads and administer the kill shot. So, the happy ending to this story is they were no worse for the wear and had a limit of trout and hog sausage to boot!



Tom from Hooterville continues: A TURKEY of a HUNT  This friend was an avid turkey hunter. He had scouted out an area a couple of times that had several turkeys. Now, this area involved a bit of a climb to the most advantageous shooting stand.



So, the day arrived and my friend was up at Zero Dark One Hundred headed to the mountain about a 30 minute drive.



It was cold and the wind was howling as he began his climb. He had been making steady progress, pulling himself up by tree trunks and low hanging branches, roots or anything he could grab to pull him up the steep slope.



After a few minutes, he was startled by what sounded like a scream. He stopped, turned his head lamp off and listened. Only thing he could hear was his heart pounding and his labored breathing. After a few minutes he resumed his climb.



Another scream, this time closer.



He stops, shines his head lamp all around the darkness. Nothing. Was he imagining things? Probably just the wind?



He resumes his climb. Another scream, even closer!



His long gun is slung over his back so he feels down to his sidearm, which is his dads trusty old model 1911 brought back from Korea.



This time he clicks on his lithium mag lite (always carry an extra light source), shines the light above and, Lo and behold, in a branch just above him is a young wild cat in no mood to be disturbed.



My old friend moved over 4 or 5 trees and kept climbing.



Thanks to Mr. Tom from Hooterville. Your hunting and fishing comrades definitely meet the definition being prepared.



A Senior Leatherneck from somewhere deep in North Georgia, who just happens to be one of my best critics, commented on a recent article about Time Travel in Old Ooltewah:



Ooltewahhad some kinfolk that lived up there. He had trained some really good bird dogs. It was on the way from our house to the Smokies before the Interstate came along. Seems like Time Travel happens a lot more frequently the older I get.



How many of us actually long for the days before somebody thought this country needed an Interstate? How many of us recall really good bird dogs? Count me as one! Travel on, my brother!



And, another long time reader, a pretty fine critic, who happens to be more of a devotee to casting ballots than casting top water plugs, responded to the Old Ooltewah-Time Travel story; Im surprised J. Edgar Hoover wasnt on your door 5 minutes after publication.



Thanks to all who take the time and effort to respond. Your response and encouragement is invaluable.



By now, we procrastinators, should all be searching the closets and gun safes for the rapidly rusting muzzleloader again. Where are the primers, the caps, the loaders, the bullets? What did I do with that orange vest and hat and the bullet puller? Why havent you sighted the front stuffer in by now? Why have you waited until the last minute one more time? How does this happen every year? How could you have let this sneak up on you? What were you thinking?



I know you think that because muzzleloaders are so nasty and hard to clean, that it shot so true a year ago, that its not really necessary to at least sight it in again, but what if youre wrong? What can go wrong with a Muzzleloader that hasnt been shot in over a year?



I also know that the moon isnt right yet. The weather is still a little funny and the copperheads are still hiding in the leaves. Im pretty sure that the trees are still about three quarters full of dropping, noisy leaves. It just feels a little early to me somehow. But, lets face it, Its time for a good single shot and the anticipation that comes waiting for the smoke to clear.



Go get em! Good shooting Saturday!



----

WOMR Note: Send comments to whiteoakmtnranger@gmail.com
The Chattanooga Area Food Bank broke ground on the Northwest Georgia Branch Expansion Project at a ceremony Wednesday at 1111 South Hamilton Ave. in Dalton. The newly named Chattanooga Area Food Bank Northwest Georgia Branch Pierce Distribution Center will allow the CAFB to better serve its community partners in Whitfield and the eight surrounding counties in Northwest Georgia.

"Breaking ground on our Northwest Georgia Expansion Project is a dream come true, said Melissa Blevins, president and CEO at the Chattanooga Area Food Bank. For the past 10 years weve made this warehouse work the very best we could to support the growing hunger-relief efforts in our Georgia communities. This expansion will benefit everyone. Once this construction is complete, we will be able to better serve our community partners and offer healthier and fresher food options for the families we serve through their hunger-relief programs.

Earlier this year, the CAFB adopted a strategic plan that focuses on equitable access to food and resources while helping communities build pathways for a healthy, hunger-free future. These renovations will provide the Pierce Distribution Center with increased cold storage, loading docks, office space, and a designated volunteer space.

Additional space and renovations will afford us more opportunities to focus on our strategic priorities and do this work even better,'' said Ms. Blevins. We want to transform the way we serve and better provide for our community. With the amazing support from the community and across the state, we are committed more than ever to serving our Georgia neighbors in need.

The expansion was made possible through funding from Georgias DCA CDBG-CV grant and private donors including local businesses, churches and The Frank P. Pierce Foundation.

The Frank P. Pierce Foundation is pleased to participate in the important work of the Chattanooga Area Food Bank in the Northwest Georgia area, in providing food to those who are unable to provide for themselves, especially the children of our area," said R. Wayne Peters, vice president and director of the Frank P. Pierce Foundation. "The NWGA community is blessed to be served by this organization, its many volunteers, and those who support this work.

The expansion project is expected to be completed in summer 2023.
On 90 Day Fiance: The Single Life Season 3, Natalie Mordovtseva shocks audiences by visiting her estranged husband, Mike Youngquist, after a year of separation. Does the couple get back together, or will they get divorced? Heres everything we know.

Natalie Mordovtseva, 90 Day: The Single Life Season 3 | TLC

Natalie goes to visit Mike in Washington

At the end of the October 30 episode of 90 Day: The Single Life Season 3, Natalie discovers the terrifying news that her home country of Russia has invaded Ukraine. Natalie was able to help her mother get to safety and, with the help of her ex-husband, Mike got her a plane ticket and an apartment in Bulgaria. Mike is a hero. And I love him for that, Natalie told the cameras.

While on the phone, Natalie told her mom, In my opinion, Mike is a great guy because when the war started, he helped us. He helped you. She tells her mom that Mike wants to see her and talk with her. She decided she would visit him on his ranch in Sequim, Washinton.

While Natalie is still dating Josh on The Single Life, she returns to the ranch to apologize to Mike about how she left him. Natalie is not sure about her current boyfriend, Josh. While Mike helped her mom to safety, Josh didnt care. Now Natalie is going to Sequim with an open heart and mind, ready to see which man she will choose. They could be one conversation away from reconciliation.

Natalie and Mike are still following each other

While 90 Day Fiance fans have yet to see what happens next on The Single Life, fans are scouring Mike and Natalies social media accounts to find clues. It appears that Natalie is still in Florida and that Mike is still living on his ranch with his mom, Trish, in Sequim.

As 90 Day Fiance fans know, Natalie and Trish were never able to get along. After Natalie moved out of Sequim, Mike moved his mom into his house. So while it seems doubtful that Natalie would get back with Mike, they might be on good terms since theyre both following each other on their respective Instagram accounts.

Mike spotted recently on a dating website

However, the mystery of whether or not theyre currently together may be solved. On November 1, 90 Day Fiance Blogger, @Johnyates327tv, posted a photo of Mike on Tinder. Check out the post below:

This isnt the first time 90 Day Fiance fans have spotted Mike on a dating site. Since his split with Natalie, Mike has been looking for love online. While theres no confirmation of either Natalie or Mikes relationship statuses, knowing hes on Tinder makes it unlikely that they reconciled.

90 Day Fiance fans will have to tune into The Single Life Season 3 to find out how their conversation goes. It will be interesting to see what the former couple will talk about after a year apart.

New episodes of 90 Day: The Single Life Season 3 air Mondays on discovery+

RELATED: 90 Day: The Single Life: Natalies Ex-Husband Reveals Shocking News About Her Immigration Status  Will Natalie Be Deported?
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Could Have Been at the Epicenter of Royalty but Are Instead at Its Margins, Royal Expert Says

According to one royal expert, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle could have been at the epicenter of royalty instead of on the outskirts. With his memoir due in January, the odds hell be replaced as a Counsellor of State seem to be increasing. And one analyst thinks an official portrait strongly indicates that the couple has no way back to the place they once held in the family.

Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Queen Elizabeth II | John Stillwell/WPA Pool/Getty Images

Prince Harry is still a Counsellor of State for King Charles III

Harry and Meghan announced they were leaving the United Kingdom and resigning from their duties as senior royals in 2020. However, Harry is still on the short list of people King Charles III could call to stand in for him.

Those royals are known as Counsellors of State, and that role requires permanent residence in the UK. Therefore, to fill that requirement, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex reportedly renewed their lease at their renovated Frogmore Cottage.

After Queen Elizabeth II died, Harry and Meghan returned to the UK. And while there, they reunited with Prince William and Kate Middleton for a walkabout at Windsor Castle.

The display started discussions about reconciliation. Some observers wondered if Charles could eventually bring Harry and Meghan back into the fold of senior royals. But one body language expert noted something that strongly indicates the king has no plans of doing that.

Official portrait provides finality to the potential for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to find a place in the monarchy

Camilla, Queen Consort, King Charles III, Prince William, Prince of Wales, and Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales | Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Daily Mail editor Richard Kay commented on the first official portrait of King Charles, Queen Consort Camilla, William, and Kate. It surely can be no coincidence that the picture was taken when [Harry and Meghan] were still in Britain and several days before they returned home to their children Archie and Lilibet, Kay wrote (per 7News).

He added, It must, therefore, be yet another signal that they will never again return to their central role in royal life.

According to Kay, there is a finality about [the] photo that suggests there is no way back for a couple who could have been at the epicentre [sic] of royalty but are now at its margins.

Parliament is questioning Prince Harrys royal role

Since Harry and Meghan live in California, sources say his involvement in future royal duties is officially in question. The issue of his royal role has been presented to the British Parliament for a permanent solution.

A possible outcome will be to remove Harry and Prince Andrew as Counsellors of State. If that happens, other royals would be added to the senior circle. And, notably, that couldnt happen simply because Charles wants it.

According to the Royal Family Channel, the process of removing Harry and Andrew would require a change in the law. So, they may remain as Counsellors of State despite having left royal life behind.

RELATED: Body Language Experts Note Meghan Markle Shows a Number of Interesting Clues About Herself in Interviews
By the end of 2021, teams at HZB had presented perovskite silicon tandem solar cells with an efficiency close to 30 percent. This value was a world record for eight months, a long time for this hotly contested field of research. In the journal Nature Nanotechnology, the scientists describe how they achieved this record value with nanooptical structuring and reflective coatings.

Tandem solar cells made of perovskite and silicon enable significantly higher efficiencies than silicon solar cells alone. Tandem cells from HZB have already achieved several world records. Most recently, in November 2021, HZB research teams achieved a certified efficiency of 29.8 % with a tandem cell made of perovskite and silicon. This was an absolute world record that stood unbeaten at the top for eight months. It was not until the summer of 2022 that a Swiss team at EPFL succeeded in surpassing this value.

Joined forces

Three HZB teams had worked closely together for the record-breaking tandem cell. Now they present the details in Nature Nanotechnology. The journal also invited them to write a research briefing, in which they summarise their work and give an outlook on future developments.

Textures improves the performance

"Our competences complement each other very well," says Prof. Dr. Christiane Becker, who developed the world record cell with the team led by Dr. Bernd Stannowski (silicon bottom cell) and Prof. Dr. Steve Albrecht (perovskite top cell). Becker's team introduced a nanooptical structure into the tandem cell: a gently corrugated nanotexture on the silicon surface. "Most surprising, this texture brings several advantages at once: it reduces reflection losses and ensures a more regular perovskite film formation," says Becker. In addition, a dielectric buffer layer on the back of the silicon reduces parasitic absorption at near-infrared wavelengths.

As a conclusion, the researchers hold: customised nanotextures can help to improve perowskite semiconductor materials on diverse levels. These results are not only valuable for tandem solar cells made of perovskite and silicon, but also for perovskite-based light-emitting diodes.
Public awareness of microplastics as a problematic contaminant is growing. So far, increasing contamination by plastic particles has been detected mainly in bodies of water. But soil contamination by microplastics is also increasingly coming into focus. A team of researchers led by biology professor Matthias C. Rillig of Freie Universitat Berlin has now for the first time detected an extremely high level of soil contamination with microplastics from graffiti spray paint. In soil samples taken near the famous graffiti walls in Berlin's Mauerpark, the scientists found several hundred thousand particles of microplastic per kilogram of dry soil. This is the highest microplastic concentration ever reported in scientific literature, they said. Similar high levels of microplastic pollution are also likely to exist in spots from paint used industrially, the researchers suspect.

"Our results provide the first evidence that spray painting, a technique with a wide range of applications from industry to art, leaves a previously unnoticed legacy of environmentally harmful microplastics in soils," emphasized biologist Prof. Dr. Matthias C. Rillig. The aim of his team's research project, he said, was to find out whether and how much microplastic is introduced into the soil by spray paint. To do this, the researchers developed a new method in which microplastic particles originating from spray paint can be separated from microplastic particles of other source origin. The current protocol for detecting microplastics was adapted because pigment microplastic particles are heavier than other plastic particles and thus are not detected in current detection methods because one step of the extraction is based on the low density of the plastic. Soil samples were then taken from various locations and depths in Berlin's Mauerpark and analyzed using the new extraction method. This showed that microplastics from graffiti spraying were present in the soil, and in some cases in very high particle numbers. The particle numbers found are more than an order of magnitude above the concentrations found in polluted soils.

"Given the large amount of paint microplastic particles found in this case study, we strongly suggest that the ecological impact of paint microplastics in soil should be a focus of future studies," said Matthias C. Rillig. The findings also suggested that spray painting and similar industrial processes should be regulated in areas where they are not yet. The research team also advocates monitoring spray painting of larger structures that cannot be coated indoors to reduce the risk of environmental contamination. The effects of spray and paint on soil organisms are still unclear and also need to be studied, the scientists stressed.
All states lost ground on Nations Report Card. Oklahoma slipped more than most
Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to return to power as exit polls show him leading in numbers amid the country's elections.

If the polling trends continue, Netanyahu will reclaim power and preside over one of the most right-wing governments in the country's history despite facing trial on corruption charges. The official's right-wing alliance may have won a narrow lead in Israel's fifth election in less than four years.

Netanyahu's Expected Return to Power

The result of exit polls on Tuesday night suggests that he has a chance of returning to his post and leading one of the most right-wing governments in Israeli history once more. Three broadcasters' exit polls indicated that Netanyahu's party, Likud, would come in first and noted that his right-wing bloc was expected to form a narrow majority in Parliament.

Despite the results, Israel's exit polls have already been wrong before, particularly in tight races, and they exaggerated Netanyahu's eventual tally in the last election, which was held in March 2021. More accurate results may not come out until Wednesday morning and final results will be announced until Friday, as per the New York Times.

Furthermore, party leaders will not be asked to nominate a prime minister they support before next week. The right-wing bloc includes a far-right alliance that aims to upend the country's judicial system, end Palestinian autonomy in parts of the occupied West Bank, and legalize a form of corruption that Netanyahu is accused of committing.

Netanyahu's alliance also includes two ultra-Orthodox parties that oppose the secularization of Israeli public life. If the former prime minister etches out a win, it would bring down the final curtain on one of Israel's most unusual governments in history, which is Prime Minister Yair Lapid's diverse eight-party alliance.

According to Aljazeera, while outgoing Lapid's centrist bloc, which united political opponents from the right, left, and center, and included the first independent Arab party to join an Israeli governing coalition, was expected to get 54-55 seats.

Read Also: Saudi Arabia Raises Alarm on Iran Threat, Attack; Iraq Where US Troops Are Deployed Also a Possible Target

Far-Right Coalition

On the other hand, the anti-democratic, anti-liberal, anti-Palestinian, homophobic "Religious Zionism" slate, whose leaders advocated expelling people deemed "disloyal," was set to become Netanyahu's main partner. The party is already projected to win 14 seats, which is more than double the six in the last elections.

One individual, 53-year-old Anwar Ghazal, said that the extremism in Israel was continuing to increase. He noted that it was dangerous for the Arabs and noted that it was what they tried to explain in all of their campaignings.

Another person, 30-year-old Ihab Abukrubeia, said that they expected this kind of situation to engulf Israel. He thinks that the majority of the Jews in the country are extremist right-wing individuals, which results in Likud getting so many seats.

During the last election in 2021, Netanyahu was also projected to win a majority that would allow him to form a coalition but he fell short. Israel's political system has been in gridlock since 2019 and neither the former prime minister nor his opponents have come close to finishing a four-year term, the Washington Post reported.

Related Article: Brazilian Truckers Protest Luis Inacio Lula da Silva's Win as Jair Bolsonaro Remains Silent

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Nowadays, you would probably be hard-pressed to find someone who genuinely enjoys spending alone time in cemeteries.

I mean, these resting sites have been dubbed some of the most unsettling and creepiest places in popular media, and most people only visit them to see a passed loved one.

But, not that long ago, American cemeteries were actually one of the most favored picnic spots.

This trend started during the nineteenth century and quickly spread throughout the entirety of the United States. And interestingly, the practice sparked out of necessity.

At the time, most municipalities still did not have proper recreational areas where friends and families alike could go to enjoy some fresh air or eat a meal. So, many people took to their local cemeteries to break bread.

If you are imagining people bringing along a few fruits or a cheese and cracker spread, though, you are wildly underestimating these picnics of the past. Instead, people would actually go all out and bring full-blown meals with them.

In New York, for example, city dwellers would often visit Saint Pauls Churchyard located in Lower Manhattan and bring along baskets packed with beef sandwiches, ginger snaps, and fruits.

And in Ohio, community members would show up to the Woodland Cemetry in Dayton via horsedrawn carriage. Then, they would don parasols and promenade through the property before sitting down to feast.

Aside from the sheer lack of parks, though, there were also other more sentimental reasons why people of the 1800s coveted cemeteries as the ideal social outing spot.

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A 29-year-old guy is currently engaged to his 30-year-old fiance, and one commonality that they share is that they both were raised by single dads.

His own mom nearly took his life when he was only an infant due to postpartum psychosis, and so she was found to not be a stable parent.

He never grew up knowing his mom, and then when he was 7, his mom was found deceased in the home of her parents.

As for his fiance, he grew up being told that his mom had passed away after giving birth to him. His fiance has just one photo of his mom, and its of her pregnant with him.

Now, he and his fiance are from a tiny town thats not located in America, and they met back in high school.

They recently moved to a new city a year ago for his fiances career, and as for his career, he works as a physiotherapist.

His country believes in trying to rehabilitate criminals on a physical and mental level, so he frequently works in prisons.

A month ago, he wound up going to work at a local prison, and while he was there, he noticed a woman who looked eerily familiar.

This woman looked just like the only photo of his mother-in-law that he had seen. Although the woman was clearly far older than that photo, it appeared to him that this was the same woman.

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I teach at a Christian university located in a rural community in the midwestern United States. Our student body is more diverse than you might imagine, and yet many of my students testify to the experience of living in what they call a Christian bubble. Theyre aware that their life experiences have been uniquely localinsulated from the larger world.

Sometimes, students lament what they perceive as a narrowness of vision within the bubble. Other times, they express gratitude that they have solid ground on which to stand. But the admission of a bubble includes the recognition that there are other ways of being in the world that are not only possible but often desirable.

For many of us, contact with other webs of meaning can make our own web feel much more fragile, endangered, and exposed.

In his three-part magnum opus, Spheres, German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk tells a story of humans in search of immune system bubbles that allow them to feel stable and safe in an inhospitable world. He sees the story of modernity as the effort to create new, industrial-grade immune systems to replace the (theologically inspired) spheres of meaning that weve lost. Displaced from the insulating safety that theology once provided, we now find ourselves exposed to the elements, without a shell.

In other words, what makes us feel secure? Its no longer religious stories of our place in a meaning-filled cosmos but rather what Sloterdijk calls industrial-scale civilization. This civilization is a globalizing force, but paradoxically, our overextended connectedness makes us feel less safe.

Mimicking Marx, then, Sloterdijk re-narrates the human story not as a series of class struggles but as the history of immune system bubbles. Either the bubbles collapse, causing crisis, or the bubbles coalesce into a more poetic foam. Thats his image for the possibility of life in a pluralistic society.

We dont need to agree with Sloterdijks grand story to appreciate the explanatory force of his metaphor. The idea of immune system bubbles captures the way we feel compromised, threatened, and fragilizednot so much by the viral bits of culture we instinctively resist but by the rival immune systems that represent wholly different ways of being in the world.

What do we do when it dawns on us that other people are allergic to the very things we hold most dear? The collision of rival worlds of meaning doesnt need to be violent, but violence is always a possibility. In a pluralistic world, its incumbent on all of us to mine our traditions in search of resources that will push us toward healthy pluralism and peace.

Christians believe that peace is possible for one reason: God has not abandoned creation to corruption.

As Paul preached to the Lycaonians who mistook him for a god, the real God has never been without witness, providing rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness (Acts 14:17, KJV). Applied to our contemporary world, that means our technological bubbles provide temporary shelter, but when it comes to meaning, theyre a poor substitute for the metaphysical thickness of theology.

Indeed, the revelation of God in Jesus compels us to claim that we are also caught up in threads of meaning not made by human hands (Heb. 9:11). There are creational structures that we live in, a creaturely vocation that we cannot help but fulfill, and a Creator who pursues us with redeeming love. Grounding human culture in these divine gifts doesnt rob culture of its human element. Rather, it roots our cultural life in a better soil, securing us to something more solid than ourselves.

Article continues below

Here we can say that, in addition to the infectious strains of meaning provided by culture and the church, theres an additional infusion of meaning: divine action. In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis uses this immunity metaphor to describe the work of Christas a force that operates like a good infection.

He came to this world and became a man in order to spread to other men the kind of life He has, he writes. If we get close to Him we shall catch it from Him.

Every human culture can serve as a host for the good infection of the gospel. But the gospel also calls every human culture to repentance and the obedience of faith (Acts 17:30; Rom. 1:5). It confronts every culture with the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, arriving from the outside, even as it makes itself intelligible to those on the inside.

For Jesus, this confrontation only rarely meant flipping the table. More often it meant sitting at the table, sharing a meal, and asking questions. Thats yet another way to think of hosting and another way to conceive of the relationship between faith and culture: Jesus in table fellowship.

There was almost no one that Jesus failed to welcome or join at the table. No matter who you were, he would eat with you. He embodied a beautiful paradox. On the one hand, he gave the highest call to discipleship: Die to yourself, take up your cross, and follow me. On the other, he attracted the most ordinary and imperfect people imaginable.

Rather than being put off by Jesus high standards, sinners and outsiders seemed to be particularly drawn to him. The result was a thick community that wrestled with the cost of discipleship while also remaining hospitable to outsiders. If that was a bubble, it was a bubble that made space for misfits, dealt graciously with failure, and was patient with how slowly the good infection sometimes seemed to spread.

Im glad that my students are aware of the bubble, even as I hope their education will give them a larger, more capacious vision of Gods world. But most of all, I hope I can help them catch the good infection of the gospel. Whether they remain in Christian bubbles or venture far afield, what Jesus offers is not something fragile to be protected but something powerful to be unleashed.

That good news doesnt exempt us from the essential work of cultural discernment. Rather, it gives us hope for the task.

Justin Ariel Bailey is associate professor of theology at Dordt University and author of Interpreting Your World(Baker Academic, 2022). He is also an ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church and has served as a pastor in Filipino American, Korean American, and Caucasian American settings.

This essay was adapted from Interpreting Your World by Justin Bailey, 2022. Used by permission of Baker Publishing www.bakerpublishinggroup.com.
Imperfect Reflections: The Art of Christian Journaling

Kirsten Birkett (Christian Focus)

Before there were blogs, Substacks, or social media pages, people recorded their thoughts by hand, in journals. Lots still do, of course, and Kirsten Birkett, a writer and former lecturer at Oak Hill College in London, is among their number. In Imperfect Reflections, Birkett draws on the Puritan tradition to recommend journaling as a tool of spiritual growth. I had  always been a little ashamed of my compulsive journaling, she writes. Having been awakened to the Puritan practice, however, I started to take [it] more seriously and think about the way in which it contributes to my growth in the Lord.

The Gates of Hell: An Untold Story of Faith and Perseverance in the Early Soviet Union

Matthew Heise (Lexham Press)

The cover of Matthew Heises book features a grainy black-and-white photo commemorating the ordination of a Lutheran pastor in the summer after the Bolsheviks came to power in Russia. Heise, director of the Lutheran Heritage Foundation, notes that within twelve years of this gathering, both this pastor and his father, also a pastor, would die in Soviet labor camps, while three of the other pastors in the photo  would walk the path to Golgotha that so many believers in Russia would travel. The Gates of Hell recounts the faithfulness and fortitude of embattled Lutheran communities amid the terrors of Soviet persecution.

Necessary Christianity: What Jesus Shows We Must Be and Do

Claude R. Alexander Jr. (InterVarsity Press)

In the Gospels, Jesus tells us who, and what, he is: the Bread of Life, for instance, or the Light of the World. Statements like these capture the essence of the Good News. As Claude Alexander argues in Necessary Christianity, however, were apt to neglect the must statements that Scripture applies to Jesus or that Jesus applies to himself and, by extension, to his disciples. The life to which the Christian is called is a life of necessity, writes Alexander, senior pastor of The Park Church in Charlotte, North Carolina (and CT board member), whose chapters cover themes like focus, progress, direction, and diligence. God calls the Christian to live with a sense of the necessary, the obliged, and the required.

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Canada considering bill to remove final consent for assisted suicide

Canada is considering a bill that would allow individuals to sign a waiver that would remove final consent for assisted suicide or what that country refers to as "medical aid in dying" (MAiD), in which a physician or nurse practitioner carries out the death by chemical injection.

Known as Bill S-248, the proposed legislation was given a first reading in June and is now undergoing a second reading, having been recently debated by members of Parliament.

According to the bill summary, the legislation would amend Canadian law to permit an individual whose death is not reasonably foreseeable to enter into a written arrangement to receive medical assistance in dying on a specified day if they lose the capacity to consent to receiving medical assistance in dying prior to that day.

It would also permit an individual who has been diagnosed with a serious and incurable illness, disease or disability to make a written declaration to waive the requirement for final consent when receiving medical assistance in dying.

S-248 would allow the waiving of final consent under certain conditions, namely if a person loses the capacity to consent to receive medical assistance in dying, is suffering from symptoms outlined in the written declaration, and has met all other relevant safeguards outlined in the Criminal Code.

Canadian Senator Pamela Wallin, who introduced the bill, said in a speech last month that she considered her proposed legislation to be a common sense answer to a gap in the current law.

It will allow those diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimers the freedom from this possible Catch-22: You cant ask in advance of a diagnosis, and once diagnosed its too late to ask for some time in the future, Wallin said.

This bill will allow a person to apply long before they actually wish to die and long before they have lost capacity to ask for [medical assistance in dying]. This offers peace of mind and a better quality of life for the time they have left with much less stress and anxiety as they live out their final days.

Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, was a critic of the bill, declaring in a blog post published Monday that euthanasia without consent is too dangerous and beyond what should be considered tolerable.

Bill S-248 and the recent push by the Quebec College of Physicians to approve infant euthanasia, undermine that a person needs to be able to request or consent to euthanasia, wrote Schadenberg.

Tell [Parliament] that you oppose the extension of MAiD to infants, who cannot consent, and you oppose the extension of MAiD to people with dementia or other cognitive issues, who cannot consent.

In 2016, Canada passed a law legalizing physician-assisted suicide. The law applied to citizens or permanent residents aged 18 or older who had a serious and incurable disease, illness or disability that included enduring and intolerable suffering.

The 2016 law also required medical approval, a 15-day waiting period, and mandated that two witnesses must be present when a patient signed a request for an end-of-life procedure.

Last year, Canada expanded the law to allow those with non-life-threatening disabilities to die by assisted suicide, though it still prohibited the premature death of those suffering from mental illness.

In addition to Bill S-248, Canada is also considering Bill C-7, which would expand euthanasia to those who have a mental illness and so-called mature minors seeking to die prematurely.

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler Jr. denounced last years move to expand MAiD, seeing it as proof that physician-assisted suicide was a slippery slope.

The Canadian Parliament have now extended the logic that they had insisted would be limited to those who had a reasonable expectation of death in a short time. You've seen that that promise never is kept, said Mohler in a 2021 episode of his podcast, The Briefing.

Once you buy into the logic of physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia, you find yourself in almost every case just extending the logic further and further.

According to the National Post, around 1,000 Canadians underwent physician-assisted suicide in 2016 when it first became legal. That number swelled to over 31,600 last year.
FDA warns prescribing abortion pills before pregnancy could endanger women's health

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has spoken out against healthcare providers prescribing abortion pills to non-pregnant women in light of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, saying it could endanger women's health.

"The FDA is concerned about the advance prescribing of mifepristone for this use," an FDA spokesperson told Politico on Friday. "Mifepristone is not approved for advance provision of a medical abortion."

The government's statement comes as telemedicine and in-person providers have started prescribing abortion pills  mifepristone and misoprostol  to women before they're pregnant in case they plan to have an abortion in the future, and their state restricts access.

The Supreme Court's June ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization restored the state's authority to ban abortion, with several states outlawing or severely restricting the procedure following Roe's reversal.

The FDA noted the risk of a woman taking mifepristone weeks or months after the prescription is filled. Mifepristone is the first drug in the chemical abortion pill regimen that stops the flow of progesterone to the fetus to prevent it from growing. The agency stated that a physician likely will not have had the chance to screen the woman for an ectopic pregnancy or other potential complications, which could endanger patients.

Dr. Susan Bane, a board member of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, a group of thousands of pro-life medical professionals, agrees with the FDA's assessment.

Bane wrote in a statement submitted to The Christian Post that doctors do not have medical authorization to prescribe mifepristone before a woman is pregnant.

"The risks of medical abortion are the same whether the pregnancy is wanted or not," Bane wrote. "The first risk is failing to diagnose an ectopic pregnancy."

The doctor said a pregnancy occurs outside the uterine cavity during an ectopic pregnancy and can be life-threatening if the fallopian tube ruptures.

"Determination of pregnancy location, intrauterine (in the uterus) versus ectopic (outside the uterus), requires an ultrasound," Bane wrote.

"Since the medications used to induce an abortion do not treat ectopic pregnancy, women who desire an abortion and receive abortion medications without an ultrasound may result in delayed detection and treatment of an ectopic pregnancy, increasing the risk of greater internal bleeding and risk for death."

Cindy Adam, CEO of telemedicine provider Choix, disagrees, calling chemical abortion pill restrictions "unnecessary." In a statement to Politico, Adam insists that the process is "safe." The telehealth provider began offering women abortion pills before pregnancy due to the court's decision this summer.

"Science has consistently shown that when people have accurate information and access to abortion pills they can safely end a pregnancy in their own homes," she said. "Providing abortion care through advance provision should be no different."

Choix did not immediately respond to The Christian Post's request for comment.

Another group offering women abortion pills before pregnancy is Aid Access, a European organization that vowed to continue shipping abortion pills to the United States after Roe's reversal. The organization started offering abortion pills in advance last fall when Texas' six-week abortion ban took effect.

Over a month after the court overturned Roe in June, Aid Access reported that it received 4,000 requests daily for abortion pills, up from 600 to 700 a day.

Last year, pro-life activists condemned the FDA's decision to eliminate the in-person dispensing requirement for abortion pills, allowing women to obtain the drugs by mail without seeing a doctor.

The FDA announced a temporary suspension of the requirement last April due to COVID-19, but in December, the organization made the decision permanent.

In a statement, Randall O'Bannon, director of education and research at National Right to Life, claimed the FDA is endangering women.

"Making this change permanent puts women at greater risk because they may not be adequately screened to make sure they have no disqualifying conditions like allergies or ectopic pregnancy and are not so far along that the drugs will not work or are more likely to result in life-threatening complications," O'Bannon said.

"Without that screening or monitoring, the likelihood of hemorrhage, infection, and missed ectopic pregnancy are greatly increased, and there is a greater possibility that a woman experiencing these adverse events may end up in the emergency room and could arrive too late for life-saving treatment."

According to a 2015 study published by Obstetrics & Gynecology titled "Incidence of Emergency Room Department Visits and Complications After Abortion," chemical abortions have a higher complication rate than surgical abortions.

The study used data from 2009 and 2010 to assess the abortion complication rate for California women who had abortions through Medicaid and those treated at the emergency room instead of the clinic.

Researchers found that the complication rate was 5.2% for women who took the abortion pill compared to 1.3% for women who had a first-trimester surgical abortion. The major complication rate for the abortion pill was .31% in contrast to .16% for first-trimester surgical abortions.
Paul Pelosi's accused attacker David DePape: 4 things to know

New details have emerged about the perpetrator behind the attack on Paul Pelosi, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, as investigators search for a political motive amid conflicting information about the suspects views.

On Tuesday, San Francisco Judge Diane Northway ordered the accused attacker, David DePape, 42, to be held in jail without bail.

Attorney Adam Lipson, a public defender appointed to represent DePape, entered a not guilty plea on behalf of his client during a hearing in Superior Court in San Francisco. DePape is scheduled to return to court on Friday.

Paul Pelosi, 82, was attacked at his home in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco early Friday morning. After the attack, the San Francisco Police Department released a statement saying, ... at approximately 2:27 a.m., San Francisco Police Officers from Northern Station were dispatched to the residence of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for an 'A-priority' well-being check.

When officers arrived on [the] scene, they encountered an adult male suspect and Mrs. Pelosis husband, Paul. Officers observed Mr. Pelosi and the suspect, each with one hand on a single hammer. Moments later the suspect gained control of the hammer and violently assaulted Mr. Pelosi with it, the statement added.

The police then tackled the DePape to the ground and disarmed him.

DePape faces a variety of charges including attempted homicide, first-degree burglary, violent felony enhancement, assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery with serious bodily injury and elder abuse.

Nearly a week after the assault, much remains unknown about the circumstances that led to the attack as details continue to emerge about the perpetrator. Here are four facts that have become known about the attacker.

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On Wednesday, North Korea fired at least 10 missiles into the sea off its east and west coasts; one of these missiles sailed close to South Korean waters and raised the alarm for an air raid on a populated island, where residents took cover.

According to the South's Defense Ministry, the exchange marked the first time missiles had been launched across the Koreas' maritime boundary, though all of them landed into international waters.

South Korea Hits Back at North's Missiles

South Korea retaliated by firing missiles from fighter jets into waters close to the North's territory, as per NY Times.

The military issued an air-raid alert after one of the North Korea's missiles hit Ulleung, an island off the east coast of South Korea with a population of around 9,000. The chief director of operations for the South Korean military, Lt. Gen. Kang Shin Chul, described the launch as "a highly unusual and terrible conduct."

The South's military later claimed that three warning air-to-land missiles fired by its F-15K and KF-16 fighter jets into international waters relatively distant from the North's own territorial waters. The vicinity of Ulleung was off-limits to aviation traffic until Thursday morning, according to South Korea's transportation ministry.

The exchange increased the tensions on the Korean Peninsula, which have been rising recently. According to his office, Yoon Suk-yeol, the president of the South, declared that the launch near Ulleung "amounted to invading South Korea's territorial waters."

Read Also: Iran Sending 1000 Weapons, Including Attack Drones, to Russia for Ukraine War After Pentagon Raises Big Concerns

North Korea Missile Launches

In the midst of a period of national mourning for the 156 people killed in the Itaewon crowd crush at the weekend, President Yoon Suk-yeol called a meeting of the National Security Council and denounced the "unprecedented" launches.

He was quoted as saying in a statement following the NSC meeting that firing a missile south of the NLL was "tantamount to territorial intrusion," with his office pledging a "quick and forceful response" to ensure North Korea "pays the price for provocation," Aljazeera reported.

According to the president of South Korea, it would be better for the South to increase pressure on China to exert pressure on Pyongyang by multilaterally tightening sanctions and increasing US-South Korea-Japan security cooperation.

There are concerns that North Korea may soon begin nuclear testing after conducting an unprecedented number of weapons tests this year - more than double the launch record set in 2019.

Per The Independent, the launch on Wednesday was one of Pyongyang's most significant missile bombardments since 2010.

This brings the total number of missiles fired by Pyongyang this year alone to above 60, including around 50 ballistic missiles. The East Sea was the target of the majority of these shots.

Japan also reported the launch, although it did not provide a confirmation of the number of missiles fired. According to Seoul's army lieutenant general Kang-Shin-chul, the Wednesday morning missile launch constitutes a significant escalation because the missile is most likely the first this year to have entered South Korea's exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

The JCS's chief director of operations said in a video announcement that this was also the first time a missile from the DPRK had come down close to South Korea's territorial waters south of the Northern Limit Line, which is only 35 miles (57 km) east of Seoul's coastal city of Sokcho and 104 miles (167 kms) northeast of the island, according to Seoul-based NK News.

Related Article: China Warns Australia as US Sends B-52 Nuclear-Capable Bombers to Northern Territory That Could Reach Beijing

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Scientists use new dating technique to analyze historical accuracy of Old Testament battles

Scientists say they are using new technology that could allow them to properly date several military conquests depicted in the Bible and potentially validate the scriptures' historical authenticity.

A study published last Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences introduces an "approach that applies archaeomagnetic investigation to the remains of ancient towns that were destroyed by fire." The new approach enables researchers to examine "chronological insights" that will allow them to link archaeological contexts with Old Testament accounts of military campaigns against the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

Conducted by Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University, the study involved 20 researchers from different countries and disciplines led by Yoav Vaknin of Tel Aviv University's Institute of Archaeology.

The study purports that research accurately dated 21 destruction layers at 17 archaeological sites in Israel.

The researchers used readings from ancient geomagnetic fields that had been preserved through time to track changes in a method called archaeomagnetic dating. When subjected to high temperatures, archaeological findings such as pottery, bricks and roof tiles can record the Earth's temperatures.

Once heated, the findings' magnetic minerals are re-magnetized. The scientists connected them with the Earth's geomagnetic field at a time they were subjected to such high temperatures.

The team reported that the destruction layers provide evidence of the battles described in the Bible, waged by the ancient Egyptians, Arameans, Assyrians and Babylonians. In addition to this method, the team also compared their findings to biblical and extrabiblical sources.

The researchers' findings indicate King Hazael of Aram-Damascus' army was responsible for the destruction of the cities of Tel Rehov, Tel Zayit and Horvat Tevet, in addition to Gath, a Philistine state. The latter's destruction is detailed in 2 Kings 12:18. However, the team believes their findings refuted the theory that Hazael conquered Tel Beth-Shean.

"Based on the similarity or difference in intensity and direction of the magnetic field, we can either corroborate or disprove hypotheses claiming that specific sites were burned during the same military campaign," Vaknin said in a statement last week.

"Moreover, we have constructed a variation curve of field intensity over time which can serve as a scientific dating tool, similar to the radiocarbon dating method."

Other geomagnetic findings suggest that the Edomites razed parts of Southern Judah to the ground, appearing to affirm that Edom took advantage of Jerusalem's fall and began settling in the southern parts of Judah.

The team believes that one of the most interesting findings relates to the Kingdom of Judah and its end. As one of the project's supervising professors, Erez Ben Yosef, noted in a statement, the kingdom's last days are a matter of debate.

"Some researchers, relying on archaeological evidence, argue that Judah was not completely destroyed by the Babylonians," Yosef said.

"While Jerusalem and frontier cities in the Judean foothills ceased to exist, other towns in the Negev, the southern Judean Mountains and the southern Judean foothills remained almost unaffected."

The professor stated that the study's magnetic results appear to support the theory that Judah's demise was not solely the fault of the Babylonians.

"Several decades after they had destroyed Jerusalem and the First Temple, sites in the Negev, which had survived the Babylonian campaign, were destroyed  probably by the Edomites who took advantage of the fall of Jerusalem," Yosef said.

"This betrayal and participation in the destruction of the surviving cities may explain why the Hebrew Bible expresses so much hatred for the Edomites  for example, in the prophecy of Obadiah."

In a Tuesday interview with The Times of Israel, Vaknin said that the study is the first to have a "large enough database" to conduct reliable archaeomagnetic dating. He also elaborated further on how the dating tool settled the debate regarding the destruction of Tel Beth Shean.

"The dating was open. There was no clear date, but within the age range, the higher probability, according to the excavator Ami Mazar, who is also a co-author, it's most likely later, at about 830 BCE  also, like Hazael," the scientist said.

Vaknin said that the results suggest the destruction had to have taken place much earlier, meaning that Hazael couldn't possibly have been responsible. He hopes that archaeologists in Israel will continue utilizing this new dating technique.

"The more data we have, the more accurate and reliable this dating method is, and I think we are there already now," he said.

Earlier this year, an Italian scientist and his team claimed that a new X-ray technique, "wide-angle X-ray scattering," shows the Shroud of Turin may have originated during the time of Jesus's death and resurrection. The fabric is believed by many to have served as Christ's burial garment after his crucifixion.

Liberato De Caro of Italy's Institute of Crystallography of the National Research Council and his colleagues determined in peer-reviewed research the shroud could be around 2,000 years old. The researchers' findings were published in the international journal Heritage in April.

"The Shroud of Turin challenges science, and each new piece of research could clarify part of the complex puzzle this relic represents," De Caro told The National Catholic Reporter.

"For example, the Shroud's image has yet to find a definitive explanation from those who have studied it, an explanation shared by the entire scientific community."

"It is as if a photographic plate had been imprinted by radiation," he continued. "By studying the traces left on the plate, one tries to trace the nature of the radiation and its properties. The same could be done for the Shroud's image."

The scientist's new dating technique involves examining the scale of atoms to date samples from linen fabrics. While De Caro admitted the technique is still in its "infancy," he wants to continue using it to study other samples of the the Shroud of Turin.
The clearest sign that God has given America over to depravity

Drag queens reading to toddlers in libraries and schools. Drag queens engaging in acts with children in gay bars. Drag queens performing in our churches.

If anything was a sign that God has given America over to depravity, it is this.

Rampant porn addiction is bad enough, as is the redefining of the very meaning of marriage.

Radical shouting their abortions and the government openly advocating for the chemical castration and genital mutilation of confused children is yet another telltale sign.

But the drag queen depravity goes one step further.

It celebrates that which is shameful and normalizes that which is perverse. And it does so in the most exaggerated, even overtly demonic form, with Drag Queens wearing Satanic horns while reading to tiny little children.

As proclaimed openly, proudly, and boldly on the Drag Story Hour website,

DSH captures the imagination and play of the gender fluidity of childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role model. DSH captures the imagination and play of the gender fluidity of childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models. Kids are able to see people who defy rigid gender restrictions and imagine a world where people can present as they wish, where dress up is real.

This is called grooming!

Yes, your kids are being targeted! Your impressionable, innocent children, as young as toddlers with the enthusiastic support of the American Library Association, not to mention the support of parents and educators, are being targeted!

As reported by Fox News,

New York City shelled out more than $200,000 in taxpayer funding in the past five years to have drag queens come into classrooms and interact with schoolchildren as young as age 3. The nonprofit Drag Story Hour NYC, previously known as Drag Queen Story Hour NYC, received approximately $207,000 in taxpayer funding since 2018.

This is madness. This is depravity. This is perverse.

But this is what happens when God gives people over to their sinful imaginations. A clear and definite line is crossed, as people not only tolerate evil, they celebrate it.

That which is despicable is now honored and that which is shameful is paraded openly. The conscience is seared and the folly is revealed.

It is as if God said, If thats what you want, then have at it, without restraint and without reserve. The seat belts are off and the brakes do not work. You are in free fall now. I will let the whole world see your folly.

Yet there is something more shocking still.

Consider these words, which I wrote in 1991:

In some schools, it is legal to pass out and recommend condoms to the teenage students, and illegal to distribute Bibles and Gospel tracts. Teachers can talk freely about homosexuality and Planned Parenthood can boldly recommend incest (five million booklets that contain such trash were distributed to our kids), but try to proclaim Jesus clearly in our public schools and you may find yourself locked up.

This was written more than 30 years ago!

And consider this, which I wrote in 1993:

Yes, America has hit bottom. . . . We venerate the degenerate. People of God awake! The judgment is already here! When a nation slaughters almost 30 million of its precious unborn, judgment is already here! When radical feminists are elected to public office, judgment is already here! When homosexuals march through our cities, accompanied by our mayors, proclaiming, God is gay, and We want your boys, judgment is already here! When 100,000 of our young people carry guns to school, judgment is already here! When we have become the worlds greatest debtor nation, when new diseases outpace new cures, when homeless children roam the streets, judgment is already here! When there is one murder every half hour and one reported rape every hour, when the courts convict the innocent and acquit the guilty, judgment is already here!

Those words, too, are almost 30 years old. What has happened since then? How much further have we fallen? And how is it that so many Americans, including Christians, still seem oblivious and unaware?

The painful truth is that a nation does not die overnight. The decline and fall can take many decades, even centuries.

But when we see the celebration, even adoration, of something as ridiculous and depraved as drag queens, on full display in front of little children, it is a sure sign that we have lost our minds (and our souls).

The good news is that not everyone has gone crazy and lost their moral bearings. The bad news is that so many have, and God is clearly giving us over to our folly.

Can we feel anything but holy urgency in our prayers, our witness, our standing for righteousness, our rebuke of evil, and our compassionate outreach?

As I wrote in 2021 (and have been shouting for many years now), it is revival or we die. Only God can save our country.
Steve Douglass, former president of Cru, dies at 77

Steve Douglass, the former president of Cru and Campus Crusade for Christ International, has died due to complications from cancer at the age of 77.

In a recent announcement from Cru, the Christian campus ministry organization said Douglass died last Saturday, leaving behind his wife, Judy, three adult children, and 10 grandchildren.

Even though we all rejoice that Steve is with Jesus, this is a tremendous loss for the family and Campus Crusade for Christ/Cru, said Cru President Steve Sellers in a statement shared with The Christian Post. A great missionary statesman has gone home.

Greg Stier, a preacher and founder of Dare 2 Share Ministries, shared his condolences in a post on Twitter last week.

He was a man who was passionate about Jesus and relentlessly committed to the advancement of the Gospel. A great servant of God has passed into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, Stier tweeted.

Douglass initially joined Cru in 1969, shortly after earning a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from Harvard University.

What I saw in those meetings was the love and joy of Jesus beaming forth from the faces and lives of the people in a small group of students, Douglass recalled.

They didnt just talk about Jesus; they lived out His presence and power in their lives. It was magnetic and irresistible. One night that summer I sat up in bed and said, God, thats what I want.

Douglass served in various roles for Cru before becoming president in 2001, succeeding Cru founder Bill Bright. He remained in the leadership position until October 2020.

In 2011, under Douglass' watch, the United States wing of Campus Crusade for Christ changed its name to Cru, a nickname that had become popular at the grassroots level.

According to the ministry organizations board of directors, the name change had come under the belief that many Americans are inherently alienated by the word Crusade.

Our mission and DNA remain the same, Douglass stressed in comments released at the time. "It is all about fulfilling The Great Commission."

In addition to leading Cru, Douglass was a member of the board of directors for the National Religious Broadcasters and the host of the national radio program Making Your Life Count.

Douglass also authored or co-authored multiple books, including Managing Yourself, How to Achieve Your Potential and Enjoy Life, How to Get Better Grades and Have More Fun and Enjoying Your Walk with God.
Inside End Times expert Joel C Rosenbergs prophetic take on world events

Have you ever been around someone and thought to yourself, This person is brilliant?

The individual is able to win you over with their wealth of knowledge in a given area, but even more engrossing is that they present themselves in such a manner that you are not threatened by them in the least.

Their winning personality draws you in, but their intellect leaves you hanging on every last word they say. Thats the case with author Joel C. Rosenberg.

Rosenberg has developed a reputation over the years not only for his keen sense of intelligence but also for his uncanny ability to predict and detail scenarios surrounding world events before they happen. For example, consider the description for his first novel, The Last Jihad, literally written nine months before the horrific events of 9/11:

Nothing has prepared Jon or Erin for the terror that lies ahead.

Terrorists hijack a jet plane and fly a kamikaze mission into an American city

Israeli commandos foil a nuclear attack but find evidence that the next targets could be Washington and New York

And suddenly the United States finds itself in a war in the Middle East over terrorism and weapons of mass destruction that forever changes the course of human history

Lets be clear. This eerily prophetic novel predicted an attack on the U.S. and the war in Iraq ... but was written before any of it happened. Thats deeply notable, to say the least.

Listen to Rosenberg tell his story on The Crossmap Podcast:

Rosenbergs latest endeavor is hosting a new weekly news commentary program called The Rosenberg Report on TBN. Airing on Thursday nights at 9 p.m. ET, this program offers a close-up view of current events and issues across Israel and the Middle East as he brings important insights and biblical perspective that proves to be both informative and encouraging.

Rosenberg joins us on The Crossmap Podcast to talk about why he chose to host a television program after being on the other side of the microphone as a guest for more than two decades.

Listen as he shares why he is so passionate about the events of the Middle East and why he has chosen to have a front-row seat to observing worldwide events as they pertain to End Times prophecy.

Subscribe and listen to The Crossmap Podcast.
Christian Man Risks His Life to Distribute 100,000 Children's Bibles in Vietnam

A Christian in Vietnam is said to have distributed more than 100,000 children's Bibles in one of the most hostile countries for believers, risking his life that he says God once saved from suicide.

Thirty-three year-old Bao, who works with persecution watchdog group Open Doors USA in the Bible distribution program, said he became a believer 14 years ago while he was still in high school.

"I thought life had no meaning," he recalled. "I felt empty  I wanted to commit suicide. My house was near a river, and many times I walked past it and thought: What if I just jump into the river to die?"

His Christian friends invited him to church at the time, and at first he struggled to understand why they appeared so joyful. Bao challenged God to prove that He is real, which he said happened one day during worship when he felt "God's Spirit come and touch me."

"My life completely changed, and I had a desire to serve Him," he recounted.

Open Doors says that Bao, now a father of two in Ho Chi Minh City, has smuggled more than 100,000 children's Bibles throughout Vietnam, risking his life in the Buddhist-majority nation that forces many churches to gather in secret.

The risks come with the award of seeing people dedicate their life to Christ, he said, and noted that six years ago he stayed at the home of a local man while traveling in the country and shared the Gospel with him.

"That area was a quiet (Communist) area," Bao said. "They didn't know that God is love. They have to suffer under (spiritual) bondage. That's why when the Gospel came to them, their hearts were broken and they cried out."

The Bible smuggler said that 20 people accepted Christ at the time.

"I and another person who stayed in his house took care of the new believers. When the new believers became mature, we would go with a group of believers to a place far from the main town."

Government officials found out about the growing movement, however, and stormed in during worship time, causing people to flee. Bao was kept in jail for a day, with the Bibles and the Christian materials confiscated.

Authorities threatened to stop food supplies to the area if the house church believers continued engaging with him, in an effort to halt the ministry.

"Because the tension was too high and for the good of the people there, I left the area," Bao said.

The believer hasn't allowed the setbacks to deter him, however, and in 2016 he joined Open Doors' Children's Bible Project.

"When I distribute children's Bibles in the big churches, they honor the book not only as a free gift but as material to teach God's Word. They also use this book for evangelism. And I believe that it's going farther, and that its impact will spread wider," he said.

"God's Word must be easy for people to reach. The children's Bible is one of the easiest ways to let different kinds of people know about Him. I believe this is the job of a sower. We continue to sow, and God continues to make it grow."

Christians in Vietnam have faced heavy persecution on a number of occasions, with the country ranked No. 17 on Open Door's World Watch List.

Back in July a group of Catholic priests and parishioners were assaulted by police in Thua Thien Hue province after they attempted to protect a cross that was erected on church-claimed land amid a property dispute.

"They threw stones at the priests, and beat three or four of them," Khoa Cao Duc Loi, a priest with Thien An monastery, said at the time. "They prevented us from putting it back, and priests held on to the cross while police tore at their shirts and dragged them by their hair."

The nation's Communist Party has cracked down on various critics of the government, and in another instance in July sentenced a blogger to 10 years in prison for what it said was propaganda against the state.
Gen Z more close-minded than parents, grandparents' generations: 'Young, illiberal progressives'

Generation Z is less open-minded and more intolerant than older generations, according to a recently released study by the left-leaning British media outlet Channel 4.

Defined as people aged 13-24, Gen Z were more likely to believe that people should be canceled for their views and held less acceptance of different opinions than older generations.

For its study, Channel 4 drew from a survey of 1,500 people, which was divided into cohorts of people aged 13-24 and people older than 25.

Channel 4 Chief Executive Alex Mahon noted in a speech on Tuesday about the study that it documented the rise of what she described as young, illiberal progressives (YIPs).

These are progressive people in that they support the freedoms won by earlier generations who changed social attitudes toward issues such as sexuality and equality. Indeed, they are significantly more progressive than their parents and even than millennials on some issues, said Mahon.

But, and it is a big but, young people could be said to be less liberal because they are less tolerant of the views of others than their parents and grandparents  surely a novelty.

Mahon added that a quarter of Gen Z say they have very little tolerance for people with beliefs that they disagree with. They dont believe in unrestrained free speech, with nearly half agreeing that some people deserve to be canceled.

There is an obvious paradox between this intolerance and their genuinely stated desires for everyone to have their rights and freedoms defended, she added. This is probably a completely rational response to the confusing online world we have, but is it either what they want for themselves or what we want for them?

Channel 4s research also found a generation gap on gender ideology, with 48% of Gen Z respondents saying there are only two genders, contrasted with 68% of those older than 25.

There was also disagreement on the source of Gen Z stress, with 50% of over-25 respondents believing that social media was the top cause of stress, but only 35% of Gen Z respondents agreed.

Despite some key generational differences, the research also found that three out of five Gen Z respondents considered their parents to be role models, while one-quarter considered at least one grandparent as a role model.

According to a 2021 survey of 1,000 adults in the United States by Rasmussen and The National Pulse, 72% of respondents believed that cancel culture had gotten out of control.

Additionally, the 2021 study found that 75% of respondents believed that protecting free speech is more important than protecting people from speech that is offensive.
Kroger will pay $180K to employees fired for refusing 'rainbow' logos on their uniforms

The supermarket chain Kroger will create a religious accommodation policy and implement new training for store management after settling a lawsuit from two former employees who objected to wearing a logo they believed signaled support for the LGBT community.

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which filed the suit on behalf of the two employees, announced that Kroger Limited Partnership I agreed to pay $180,000 to settle the lawsuit. The Ohio-based entity is one of the subsidiaries of the Kroger corporation.

The EEOC tried to reach a voluntary pre-litigation settlement prior to filing the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Central Division, in 2020. Both parties agreed to resolve the case to avoid accruing further legal costs and any confusion related to future litigation.

"The EEOC commends Kroger on its decision to create a policy describing the process for requesting a religious accommodation," Faye A. Williams, regional attorney of the EEOC's Memphis District Office, said in a statement.

"This policy will provide guidelines for requesting religious accommodation. The parties in the case worked in good faith to resolve this matter, and the Commission is pleased with the resolution."

Kroger did not immediately respond to The Christian Post's request for comment.

The EEOC accused Kroger of violating federal law by firing and failing to make accommodations for the two employees who felt a logo on new company aprons violated their religious convictions.

The lawsuit describes how an Arkansas-based Kroger store required employees to wear an apron with what has been deemed a rainbow-colored heart on the bib. Although the heart only consists of four colors, the employees believed the symbol signified support for the LGBT community. Kroger contends that the logo carries no attachment to LGBT causes.

According to the lawsuit, one of the women agreed to wear the apron with the emblem covered, and the other offered to wear an apron without the emblem. The company allegedly refused to accommodate the two women, firing them for refusing to wear the apron without the emblem covered.

"Companies have an obligation under Title VII to consider requests for religious accommodations, and it is illegal to terminate employees for requesting an accommodation for their religious beliefs," Delner Franklin-Thomas, district director of the EEOC's Memphis office, said in a statement.

"The EEOC protects the rights of the LGBTQ community, but it also protects the rights of religious people."

In July, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Lansing, Michigan, accusing the city of discriminating against a worker's religious beliefs.

The DOJ claimed the city violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan.

According to the complaint, Lansing failed to accommodate its employee Sylvia Coleman, a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, when she asked not to work from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday for religious reasons.

The employee began working as a detention officer for the city's police department in early 2018, explaining from the onset that she could not work sundown Friday to sundown on Saturday. Shortly after she was hired, Coleman was scheduled to work a 12-hour shift Saturday, and requested that she be allowed to work an overnight shift instead.

"Prior to terminating Coleman's employment, Lansing management didn't establish that accommodating Coleman would cause undue hardship on the conduct of its operations," the complaint reads.

"Coleman suffered emotional distress, pain and suffering, inconvenience, loss of enjoyment of life, humiliation, and other non-pecuniary damages as a result of Lansing's discriminatory actions.  Coleman suffered monetary loss as a result of Lansing's discriminatory actions."

The complaint alleges that the city refused to allow her to switch to another shift and eventually terminated her employment. Coleman filed a charge with the EEOC in July 2018, which agreed the employee had "reasonable cause" for a discrimination suit and referred the case to the DOJ.

"Employees should not have to choose between their religion and their livelihood, particularly when the employer can accommodate their religious beliefs," Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division said in a July statement.

"The Civil Rights Division is committed to protecting the religious rights and religious freedom of employees by ensuring that no one faces unlawful discrimination in the workplace."
Should Race Factor Into College Admissions, SBC Pastors Call To Ban Women Pastors, Liberty Sees Record Enrollment

link to download the audio instead. link to download the audio instead. 07:28 07:28

The U.S. Supreme Court heard several hours of arguments on whether education institutions can consider race as one of many factors in determining student admissions.



A Christian university has credited God for the record number of students it welcomed this year, both online and in person, making it one of the youngest universities to achieve such a feat.



More than 700 Southern Baptist pastors are calling on the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) to prohibit women from serving as a pastor of any kind at SBC-affiliated churches.



An annual tradition of erecting an array of life-size Halloween decorations and figurines outside a train station in London to raise funds for charity could potentially come to an end.
Kanye West loses $2B in one day, but did he also lose Jesus?

Kanye recently said on Instagram he lost 2 billion dollars in one day. This is because after a series of antisemitic remarks, Adidas ended their deal with Kanye  a deal worth 1.5 billion dollars.

Other companies like Gap, Creative Artists Agency, TJ Maxx, and Foot Locker have also severed ties with Kanye. What Im wondering, however, is has Kanye severed ties with Jesus?

That doesnt mean losing 2 billion dollars isnt important. However, what will it profit Kanye if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? (Matthew 16:26).

Severing ties with Jesus is more costly than 2 billion dollars.

After all, money isnt king  Jesus is.

Kanye released his Jesus is King album 3 years ago this week. Many Christians, including myself, were happy Kanye seemingly repented from his sins and believed in Christ. Since then, however, he seems to believe hes king, not Jesus.

In my review of Jesus is King, I said, some of us are skeptical of the genuineness of Kanyes faith. And that isnt necessarily wrong. The fruit of genuine repentance is perseverance in faith.

Over the last 3 years, its become apparent that Kanye isnt persevering in faith. From what I understand, hes severed ties with the pastor he heard the Gospel from  the pastor he once invited to preach the Gospel at one of his Sunday Services.

And it doesnt look like hes a member of a church. In fact, after partnering with teachers like Joel Osteen and suggesting that Mormons are Christians  Kanyes recent antisemitic words suggest hes become influenced by Black Hebrew Israelites.

Kanye said: When I say Jew, I mean the 12 lost tribes of Judah, the blood of Christ, who the people known as the race Black really are  This is who our people are. The blood of Christ. This, as a Christian, is my belief.

Hes also said: We collectively are God. We as a collection  God is in us. So collectively, we are God.

Therefore Kanye has returned to his vomit. His life seems no different than before he professed faith in Christ. His unrepentant sins, however, have received little attention from those of us who gave him plenty of attention after he professed faith in Christ.

The only time Kanye has received significant attention from evangelicals since he released Jesus is King is when Candace Owens shared a picture of her and Kanye wearing White Lives Matter shirts.

For some evangelicals, it seems like Kanye is only relevant as a poster boy for black conservatism.

If you cared about Kanyes soul when he released Jesus is King, you should care about his soul now. In his song, Hands On from that album, Kanye said:

I deserve all the criticism you got, If thats all the love you have, thats all you got, To sing of change, you think Im joking, To praise His name, you ask what Im smoking ,Yes, I understand your reluctancy, yeah, But I have a request, you see, Dont throw me up, lay your hands on me, Please, pray for me.

So please pray for Kanye. Pray that God would again direct his steps to preachers of the Gospel. Pray that he would believe and repent. Pray that he would remember that Jesus is still king  and that he should serve him.

That is worth more than 2 billion dollars.

Originally published at Slow to Write.
2 Christians unexpectedly released from Iran's notorious Evin Prison after fire damages facility

Two Christians imprisoned in Iran for their church leadership roles were released a few days after a fire broke out in Tehrans Evin Prison on Oct. 15, but rights advocates were mystified about why they were freed.

Pastor Naser Navard Goltapeh, who had spent two months in solitary confinement, was released from Evin Prison on Oct. 17 after receiving a pardon from Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei, rights advocates said. On Oct. 18 Fariba Dalir, who had spent 38 days in solitary confinement after her arrest in July 2021 for starting a house church, was also released from Evin Prison.

She also was pardoned, though by whose authority remained unclear. Both pardons were unexpected and had previously been denied, according to religious freedom advocates.

We know that various bodies, the U.K. government and the U.N., were advocating for [Pastor Goltapehs] release, and we know that Evin Prison is hosting protestors and running out of space, but we dont know what made Khamanei do this out of the blue, said an expert on Iran for advocacy group Middle East Concern (MEC).

Pastor Goltapeh had requested early release and leave multiple times and had been denied, said the MEC source, on condition of anonymity. Dalir had made a request for early release in August and was denied. Both Pastor Goltapeh and Dalir had served over one-third of their sentences, and under Iranian law were eligible for early release.

Pastor Goltapeh was arrested with three other Christians at an engagement party in Karaj, near Tehran, in June 2016, according to MEC. He and three men from Azerbaijan were taken to Evin Prison, interrogated repeatedly and held in solitary confinement for two months.

They were charged in October 2016 with missionary activities and actions against national security and released on bail. A month later, the three Azerbaijani men were allowed to leave Iran, but Pastor Goltapeh, an Iranian convert from Islam, had to stay to face trial.

In May 2017, Pastor Goltapeh was convicted of acting against national security through forming and establishing illegal house churches and sentenced to 10 years in prison. His appeal failed, and he reported to Evin Prison in January 2018.

Pastor Goltapeh endured mistreatment by guards and denial of medical treatment for a painful gum infection and COVID-19 after an outbreak of coronavirus at the prison. The COVID-19 infection eventually passed, and the pastor received dental treatment in 2021.

Dalir, a convert from Islam, was sentenced in November 2021 to five years in prison for acting against national security by establishing and leading an evangelical Christian church. According to rights group Article 18, Dalir was denied parole for a fifth time in July. She also had been denied retrial several times.

Her sentence was later reduced to two years after the presiding judge realized he had made an administrative mistake in her case.

Members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard had arrested Dalir with five other Christians in July 2021. The Guard held Dalir in solitary confinement for 38 days and then transferred her to a womens prison until she was released on bail in November of that year.

Dalir began serving her sentence in April. At the time of her release, she had completed more than one-third of her sentence, making her eligible for parole, but in August her application for conditional release was denied.

Pastor Goltapeh (also spelled Gol-Tapeh) was halfway through a 10-year prison sentence when he was released. With unknown plans for the future, Goltapeh was staying with members of his family at this writing.

Fire and riot

Although officials have made no comment to explain the release of Pastor Goltapeh and Dalir, the releases came in the wake of a riot that broke out Oct. 15 at Evin Prison and a subsequent fire that destroyed much of the complex, including the area where Pastor Goltapeh had been held at one time.

Eight prisoners died and about 60 were injured in the incident. Iranian authorities claimed the fatalities were the result of smoke inhalation, but Amnesty International reported that some of the wounded prisoners had been shot, and that the government likely under-reported total casualties.

No Christian prisoners were harmed in the fire, according to MEC. At least a dozen Christian prisoners of conscience were incarcerated at Evin Prison when the fire broke out, many held in Ward 8, adjacent to Ward 7 where the worst damage reportedly occurred, according to Article 18.

The rioting and fire destroyed enough of the prison that authorities were forced to transfer an unknown but significant number of prisoners to other facilities. The possibility exists that Christian prisoners were transferred, but there were no reports of such transfers at this writing.

Built in 1972, Evin Prison was originally meant to hold political prisoners arrested by SAVAK, the Shah of Irans secret police. After the fall of the Shahs regime in the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Evin Prison became known internationally not just as a place for political prisoners but also where the Shia Islamist regime imprisoned and tortured religious adherents to break their will to follow their beliefs.

Iran ranked ninth on Christian support organization Open Doors USAs 2022 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.

This article was originally published by Morning Star News.
Interview: Africa CDC project another testament of China's gift to Africa

Xinhua) 09:57, November 02, 2022

ADDIS ABABA, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- China-aided future headquarters of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) building will be another gift from China to Africa, said Teruneh Zenna, Ethiopia's former ambassador to the United Nations.

The Chinese government has not only funded but also is building the future Africa CDC headquarters which would accommodate all facilities in one place to scale up the African health system "in a tremendous way," Zenna said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

"The Chinese are showing Africans that they are always at their side. Look at the African Union headquarters they provided us. Now, they are giving us the Africa CDC building with a modern laboratory, training, conference, and data centers," Zenna said.

Noting that the African continent lacks preparedness and medical institutions to cope with outbreaks such as Ebola and AIDS that have resulted in the deaths of millions of people across the continent, the veteran diplomat said having such a facility on the African soil is "praiseworthy."

Zenna, who noted that Africa is found in tropical zones where diseases are rampant, said the facility would enable the African continent's aspiration to manufacture vaccines and tackle future pandemics.

"This (the building) is a very great contribution because it aims at saving the lives of the African people. China always does such visible, lasting, useful things that are much-needed by the people of Africa," Zenna continued.

Zenna said using the headquarters as a command center, the AU will help its member states to strengthen their capacity to detect and respond quickly and effectively to disease threats and outbreaks such as Ebola, COVID-19, and yellow fever, among others.

"The construction of the headquarters is a great thing that all Africans should thank the Chinese government and the Chinese people for such a contribution," he claimed.

According to Ethiopia's former ambassador to the United Nations, the headquarters would serve as a platform where Chinese medical experts would help Africans build their capability to fight future pandemics.

"China has been assisting Africa and now the Chinese and African relations have reached such a level that no one would stop it," said the ambassador, highlighting that China's non-interference policy has greatly helped establish win-win cooperation with African countries.

"Africa lacks (professional) human resources, capability, and medical instruments. The Chinese developed those instruments very fast so when the Chinese come with such assistance, Africa will develop its scientific capability to withstand future shocks," he said.

The veteran diplomat emphasized that the project will add a "rosy future" in the relationship between Africa and China.

Construction work of the Africa CDC was started in December 2020 in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, as part of the ever-growing China-Africa cooperation in the public health sector.

The project, covering an area of 90,000 square meters and with a total construction area of nearly 40,000 square meters, is expected to be completed in late December this year.

The future headquarters will be equipped with modern office buildings, high-end laboratories, and accessories.

As the COVID-19 pandemic showcased Africa CDC's indisputable role in leading continental anti-pandemic efforts, experts argued that the future headquarters that will be equipped with modern office buildings, high-end laboratories, and accessories, which will augment the AU healthcare agency's institutional capabilities.

The multi-building facility, which is under construction by the Chinese construction giant, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), is said to be an essential part of the health-care initiative adopted by the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), representing an important step toward a stronger China-Africa community with a shared future.

(Web editor: Cai Hairuo, Liang Jun)
North Korea launched 17 missiles into the sea on Wednesday, one of them landing less than 60 kilometers (40 miles) off South Korea's coastline, which South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol condemned.

It was the most missiles fired by the North in a single day, and it was the first time a ballistic missile had landed close to the South's waters since the peninsula was separated, according to Reuters.

As tensions increased in the region, South Korea issued unprecedented air raid sirens and fired its own missiles in retaliation. The missile crashed south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), a contested maritime border between the two Koreas.

#UPDATE North Korea fired six "ground to air missiles", Seoul's military said, part of a blitz of launches Wednesday that included a ballistic missile landing close to South Korea's territorial waters. pic.twitter.com/D58t0AYwVg  AFP News Agency (@AFP) November 2, 2022

According to the South Korean military, in reaction, South Korean jets launched three air-to-ground missiles into the sea north of the NLL. AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER, a U.S.-made "stand-off" precision strike weapon with a range of up to 270 km (170 miles) and a payload capacity of 360 kg (800 lb), was reportedly among the weapons fired.

Before South Korea launched its missiles, Yoon's administration pledged a "swift and firm response," ensuring that Pyongyang "pays" the costs for its "provocation" due to North Korean missile launches.

"North Korea's provocation today was an effective act of territorial encroachment by a missile intruding the NLL for the first time since (the two Koreas') division," Yoon's office said, as reported by Reuters.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff stated the North Korean missile was one of three fired from Wonsan into the sea. Afterward, the JCS reported that North Korea had launched up to 14 more missiles from its eastern and western shores.

Air raid warnings were issued for the area between the islands of Ulleung and Sokcho in South Korea, and the city of Sokcho is located 57 kilometers (35 miles) from the NLL, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

According to international law, a country's territorial waters only extend outward a maximum of 12 nautical miles from its coastline. BBC says Pres. Yoon takes a hard approach to North Korea.

Read Also: Benjamin Netanyahu Set To Return to Power as Exit Polls Show Him Leading in Israeli Elections

Pyongyang Pushes Its Missile Launches Amid US-South Korea Military Exercises

CNN reports that the number of North Korean missile launches so far this year is 29.

Alarm over the region's dramatic acceleration of weapons testing prompted the US, South Korea, and Japan to launch missiles and conduct joint military drills in response.

The United States and South Korea kicked off their massive "Vigilant Storm" military drills on Monday as planned. According to the US Defense Department, the exercises will involve "thousands of service members" from both countries and 240 aircraft.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will meet with Lee Jong-sup at the Pentagon on Thursday.

Kim Jong Un Claims North Korea's Nuclear Weapons Are Necessary

CNN has reported that experts believe North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is trying to send a statement by displaying his country's nuclear arsenal at a time of heightened international tensions.

Recent satellite imagery has shown activity at North Korea's underground nuclear test site, prompting concerns from the director of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog that Pyongyang may be preparing for its first nuclear test since 2017.

Pyongyang says its weapons are needed for "self-defense," and recent tests are a threat to Washington and Seoul over joint military activities it perceives as a preparation for an incursion, Al Jazeera reported.

Related Article: Saudi Arabia Raises Alarm on Iran Threat, Attack; Iraq Where US Troops Are Deployed Also a Possible Target

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Teacher fired after opposing school's trans affirmation policies cant seek judicial review: judge

A High Court judge in the United Kingdom refused permission for a judicial review sought by a primary school teacher fired after voicing safeguarding concerns about her school's affirmation of an 8-year-old trans-identified student.

Last Monday, Justice Judith Farbey at Birmingham Civil and Family Justice Center refused the appeal by an East Midlands teacher identified only as Hannah for legal reasons by the Christian Legal Centre, an Evangelical legal organization supporting her case.

"This court will not engage with any of the advantages or disadvantages of any education policy," Farbey wrote in her decision, adding that she doesn't believe that the teacher has the standing to bring a judicial review.

"The claimant in this case does not teach Child X," Farbey added. "She has in the past had a personal dispute with the school about how she could or should treat Child X but that has been resolved. By bringing these proceedings, she seeks to ventilate what she calls 'substantive safeguarding concerns' about Child X. In doing so, she does not claim to represent Child X. As a matter of law, she cannot represent Child Xs interests because she has not sought the courts permission to do so."

Farbey also stated that "[The] public is divided on the issue of transgenderism in schools and there is no consensus on the approach."

Hannah filed the request for a judicial review over the refusal of her school's governing body and local authority to address her transgender safeguarding concerns.

In September 2021, the school implemented a gender-affirmation policy after a child, who was expected to join Hannah's class, expressed a desire to change her gender. She refused to call the student by a boy's name because it was "against her Christian beliefs," and she believed it would cause the child long-term harm.

"Injustice has not been done against me but against all the children in our schools," said Hannah in a statement shared by CLC. "How else am I meant to raise the danger of the trans-affirming policies in our schools which are doing such damage?"

The child's parents wanted no other children or parents in the school to know their biological sex. The school policy appeared to allow any child at the school, without medical evidence, to be affirmed in whichever gender they choose, CLC contends.

The child was also reportedly supported in the gender transition by Mermaids, a charity that the Department for Education in England stopped recommending as a mental health and wellbeing resource for schools earlier this month.

The school told Hannah that she had "no choice" but to affirm "Child X" through gender transition or face the consequences. The teacher was suspended and told she could not share her Christian beliefs in the school or her view, after detailed research, that a trans-affirming approach to gender confusion leads to long-term harm. Hannah was later fired for gross misconduct.

She has also been reported to the Teacher Regulation Agency. CLC claims she may never be allowed to work as a teacher again.

Farbey also took issue with how long it took for the teacher to file a legal claim.

"The claimant took months to start proceedings in court against the school," the ruling states. "She did not even arguably bring proceedings promptly. I would therefore also have refused permission to apply for judicial review against the school on grounds of delay."

The teacher plans to appeal the judge's refusal and may also appeal her dismissal by the school next month. According to CLC, if Hannah's repeal is rejected, "a full employment tribunal case will follow."

"Teachers are being discouraged from questioning trans affirming policies when evidence shows that the actual result of the approach is to put the welfare of children at serious risk," Hannah said. "More must be done to protect vulnerable children across the country from long-term mental, emotional and irreversible physical damage inflicted upon them by this dangerous ideology."

The Times reports that the U.K. Charity Commission is assessing complaints against Mermaids following a report by The Daily Telegraph that the group sends "chest binders" to girls as young as 13 without their parents' knowledge.

Binders are often used by girls seeking to flatten their breasts to resemble a boy, and they can potentially cause breathing difficulties, damage healthy breast tissue and lead to cracked ribs.

Last month, parents Nigel Rowe, 49, and his wife, Sally, 47, who pulled their children out of a church-run school due to its guidance on trans-identified students, were awarded over $23,900 in legal costs and a commitment from the British government to reform trans-affirming policies in schools.

The victory for the parents, who raised concerns after two boys in their sons' classes at the age of 6 were allowed to identify as girls at the Isle of Wight school, came after a five-year legal battle.

The parents urged the Church of England to change the guidance for its 4,700 primary schools, allowing students as young as 5 to self-identify as the opposite sex.

In an open letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, they raised concerns regarding the implementation of guidance that allows school children to identify as their preferred gender identity.

"Basic Christian teaching is that we are all created male or female and that the differences between the sexes are beautiful, designed and complementary, and should be respected in society," the Christian parents wrote. "We were also concerned for the harmful effects on the children who were allowed to socially transition, as well as the effects on all the other children in the school."

At issue was a guidance titled "Valuing All God's Children," originally issued in May 2014 but later updated by the CofE in the summer of 2019. The guidance states: "Trans young people may require specific support in order to feel comfortable at school, for example, schools may need to make changes to toilet facilities or a trans young person might require support to change their name or the pronoun by which they are referred to by staff and classmates."
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.
An Ohio police department reported that a bizarre candy bar tested positive for Methamphetamine/Fentanyl during the Halloween festivities.

According to the Byesville Police Department, the candy bar was discovered in a kid's goodie bag during last night's Byesville trick-or-treating.

WTRF reported that the candy bar had not been opened, but the wrapper had a hole about the size of a pin in it, according to the police.

In addition to the candy bar, police say they also got a statement from the child's mother.

A control test of the same type of Ohio candy bar purchased from a nearby gas station yielded the same results, according to the Byesville Police Department.

Authorities brought the Ohio candy bar to a laboratory for further analysis.

Those who went trick-or-treating in Byesville yesterday night had been advised to throw away or dispose of their candies until the probe is over. However, Byesville authorities declined to specify which candy brand tested positive for meth.

The Byesville Police Department will inform the public of the results as soon as authorities received them from the laboratory.

In August, the US Drug Enforcement Administration issued a warning about "rainbow fentanyl," or brightly colored fentanyl pills that look like candy and are being sold by drug gangs as a way to get kids hooked on the opioid painkiller, according to an NPR report.

Is Rainbow Fentanyl a Politicized Issue?

Dr. Ryan Marino, a medical toxicologist, emergency physician, and addiction medicine expert at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, brought up the US midterm elections concerning the issue on fentanyl.

The medical expert said that America is facing a very intense election year, and the illegal drug overdose issue has gotten "heavily politicized."

"It also seems as if people are using fentanyl for political purposes," Dr. Marino remarked according to the report.

According to KPBS, several Democrats expressed support to a Republican proposal to officially classify fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction. However, the Biden government has rejected the notion.

Read Also: Iowa Teens To Be Tried as Adults After Killing Spanish Teacher Over Bad Grades, Prosecutors Say

Sheila Vakharia, the deputy director of the Drug Policy Alliance's department of research and academic engagement, the focus on false information regarding rainbow fentanyl distracts from the actual overdose issue.

She went on to say that over a million people have died from drug overdoses in the last two decades, and that number is expected to rise.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that 92,000 people would lose their lives to drug overdoses in 2020.

Ohio Authorities: Fight Against Deadly Narcotic Must Continue

Ohio's Northern District U.S. Attorney's Office and the U.S. Significant quantities of fentanyl were seized in operations conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Detroit Division in the state of Ohio.

From May 23, 2022, through September 8, 2022, the DEA and its law enforcement partners in Ohio recovered almost 65 kilograms of fentanyl powder and 87,000 fentanyl-laced tablets as part of the statewide "One Pill Can Kill" effort. This is enough for 4,766,788 fatal doses.

In an October press release from the US Department of Justice, First Assistant United States Attorney Michelle M. Baeppler stated, "Across the country and particularly here, in Northern Ohio, we have witnessed, firsthand, the proliferation of fentanyl and the devastating effects it has had on our neighbors and loved ones."

She emphasized that battling drug traffickers that distribute the "deadly narcotic" in the streets is an "enduring and relentless battle, but we must continue to fight."

Related Article: Chicago Shooting Today: 3-Year-Old, 2 Other Children Among 14 Injured in Halloween Night Shooting

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Carbon reporting firm Plan A is offering a digital platform to help companies keep track of their climate pledges and help ensure they aren't "greenwashing."

Unlike other carbon accounting and sustainability tools, Lubomila Jordanova, Plan A founder and CEO, said the firm is offering a digital platform that uses automation and prediction to process companies' data.

The platform, she said, does not make carbon-neutral companies. But it helps companies to monitor their carbon emissions realistically and, at the same time, identify areas for improvement.

300 Businesses

Over 300 companies in 51 industries across 29 countries signed The Climate Pledge in March.

These companies have committed to reducing the carbon footprints of their operations and supply chains.

The signatories have agreed to the following:

Measure and report greenhouse gas emissions regularly.

Initiate decarbonization strategies by implementing real business changes and innovations, including efficiency improvements, renewable energy, materials reductions, and other carbon emission elimination strategies.

Neutralize any remaining emissions with additional, measurable, real, permanent, and beneficial carbon offsets to attain net-zero annual carbon emissions by 2040.

Vast Tools, But Going Nowhere

Jordanova said these companies have vast tools to keep track of their pledges.

In some cases, these companies employ tactics that seek to reduce their carbon emission, only to fail to some extent.

Some companies, according to a report by Carbon Market Watch, have several claims of reducing their carbon footprints but ended "greenwashing."

The Plan A CEO, however, believes these greenwashing tactics are by accident. Greenwashing happens when a company employs communication and marketing strategy to make it appear as ecologically responsible but is going nowhere.

"I don't think all greenwashing is intended," WIRED quoted Jordanova.

For Jordanova, businesses play a crucial role in combating climate change because they have all the resources to effect a substantial mark in the campaign.

She discovered, however, that no matter how sincere these companies were in tackling the issue by reducing their footprints, they were not going the right way.

Read Also: How to Reduce Carbon Emissions in Last-Mile Deliveries

Plan A Digital Platform

With pressures coming from all directions, including the investors and consumers, these companies have themselves entrenched with a variety of tools to make them appear ecologically compliant.

In reality, Plan A CEO said, these companies are not making progress in reducing their emissions.

She blamed the low level of education among players for the fiasco.

Some of these companies, she said, are honest in their beliefs about their carbon accounting tools, thinking they are doing the right thing.

Jordanova said Plan A's digital platform seeks to offer a tool to help companies move in the right direction.

The platform begins with data mapping. Using the data made available by the company, it proceeds to identify gaps and use proxy measurements.

The platform will proceed to plan after the mapping, where the company official at the helm of the sustainability program will have a to-do list on how to proceed with decarbonization.

According to Jordannova, this list explains what specific material is needed to switch to, the actors involved in the process, and the person responsible for the decarbonization activity.

After planning, the next logical step is reporting, which is important to the stakeholders. The automated report covers three areas, namely: direct emissions, indirect emissions, and emissions from the value chain.

A realistic analysis of the company's data and target setting requires a science-based approach, the Plan A CEO said.

Reduction of carbon emissions must come before mere carbon offsets while allowing companies to balance out emissions that are hard to avoid.

Related Article: Carbon Emission Stalls For Three Consecutive Years
At the US Patent & Trademark Office in Alexandria, Virginia, artificial intelligence (AI) projects are expediting the patent classification process, helping detect fraud, and expanding examiners searches for similar patents, enabling them to search through more documents in the same amount of time. And every project started with a pilot project. Proofs of concept (PoCs) are a key approach we use to learn about new technologies, test business value assumptions, de-risk scale project delivery, and inform full production implementation decisions, says USPTO CIO Jamie Holcombe. Once the pilot proves out, he says, the next step is to determine if it can scale. From there, its about the actual scaling and then full production.

Indian e-commerce vendor Flipkart has followed a similar process before deploying projects that allow for text and visual search through millions of items for customers who speak 11 different languages. Now its testing conversational bots that use deep learning to build models that incorporate user intent detection, language translation, and speech-to-text and text-to-speech functions. And both Flipkart and the USPTO are rapidly expanding the application of computer vision, natural language processing, machine learning (ML), and other AI technologies to other parts of the business.

But despite all the excitement around AI and ML, many initial pilot and PoC projects fail to move to full production. Successful projects need to be part of a strategic plan, garner executive sponsorship, have access to the right data, have the right teams in place, have the right technical and business metrics and milestones in place, go through many iterationsand fail fast. This process can take a year or two to get to a high level of quality. Thats the level of patience you need, says Ganapathy Krishnan, VP of engineering at Flipkart.

Set the stage for success

Enterprises are moving quickly to stage successful AI pilot projects, move them to production, and produce results. Weve seen AI projects enter the mainstream, says Rowan Curran, analyst for AI. ML and data science at Forrester. Fifty-seven percent of enterprises are implementing or extending their AI projects and 70 to 75% are seeing clear value from those projects. Also, according to a recent EY survey, 53% of CIOs and IT leaders said data and analytics, under which AI fits, will be a top area of investment over the next two years.

But many of those pilot projects are doomed to fail before they get started for several reasons, starting with a lack of top-down support. You need an executive champion, and you have to have the right funding, says USPTOs Holcombe.

Initiating projects from the middle of the organization or from the bottom up reduces your chances of success, IT executives say. The most successful projects happen when the CIO has executive support with a commitment to fund the project, and integrates AI into the organizations overall digital transformation strategy.

Setting clear expectations is also key, says Flipkarts Krishnan. You should not have the expectation that youll deploy this thing and it will radically transform the business. Its a lengthy process that takes time.

A PoC can also be an exercise in building capability within the organization. Thats an approach that Eli Lilly and Company has taken. From PoCs, we experiment with and learn the dimensions of scale for technical and project delivery, says Tim Coleman, VP and information officer for information and digital solutions at the pharmaceutical firm. The team is applying natural language processing capabilities for natural language discovery, generation and translation in areas of the business, ranging from clinical and scientific content authoring to product development, advanced search, and general administrative functions.

But dont confuse those capability building exercises with pilot projects that need to generate broad transformational value, cautions Dan Diasio, global AI consulting leader at EY. You want to build your ability so it can do this, but when its time to make the kind of impact required to compete with disruptors in the future thats meaningful to investors, then you have to take a top-down approach.

Thats how Atlantic Health System approaches AI and ML projects. The healthcare provider has scaled successful pilots in image evaluation to assist radiologists, and in preauthorization automation, which takes an order for imaging and moves it through several process steps through to scheduling. AI should be part of a digital transformation, not an isolated initiative, says SVP and CIO Sunil Dadlani. We have a formalized governance structure and investment plans on how to go about AI and ML. And over at Lilly, project proposals should pass through three criteria before moving forward: offer business value in terms of ROI, have an acceptable probability of success, and the outcome must align with business strategy and priorities, Coleman says. For example, the primary driver for Mosaic PV, one of the companys first AI projects, focused on adverse drug reaction reporting, was to increase productivity and reduce the cost of processing adverse events, while maintaining a high standard of quality and compliance, he says.

Whats the question?

A successful pilot starts by defining the business problem. Dont end up with an answer looking for a question, says Sanjay Srivastava, chief digital strategist at global professional services firm Genpact, which consults with large companies on AI-based projects. Projects focused on business outcomes that start with a question rather than an answer generally do well, he says.

Then decide if AI is the best answer. Does the project fit that bar that its complex enough to be worth doing? says Krishnan. If you can do it with a simple rules-based approach, do it. But when you have hundreds of thousands or maybe millions of rules, its not feasible to use a software-based approach.

Do you have the right metrics and data?

Back at the USPTO, AI projects require two sets of metrics: The technical ones in terms of how the model performs, and metrics that quantify business value of your AI project.

Then Atlantic Health System ensures success by implementing a pilot with clear business KPIs for a small segment of the business. Its imaging evaluation system, for instance, started with a small pilot deployment in the neurology department that quickly scaled out to cardiology and other areas. In eight weeks the team created a successful pilot for neurology, demonstrated results, and got buy-in from cardiology and all of its other service lines.

And like the USPTO, Flipkart first focuses on the technical model metrics, then runs A/B tests to find out what impact it will have on the business. Currently, the team is working on developing and testing an AI-assisted conversational bot. They started with the metric of answerability, or how good the bot is at answering questions. Theyre now running A/B tests to determine whether that will have a measurable impact on the business.

AI projects are heavily reliant on big data, and you need the right velocity, volume and variety, says Dadlani. If your data quality is not great you wont see those [expected] results.

Genpacts Srivastava agrees: Data ingestion, harmonization, engineering and governance are 90% of the work that goes into building an AI system. If you focus on the 10% and let go of the 90%, youre dead from the start. So build that foundation of data.

You also need to be able to deliver continuous feedback between A/B testsgetting data back in real-time so you can tune the model. But your organization may not be set up to provide the data quickly and in an automated way. For example, if youre working on a forecasting model and the team isnt automatically capturing information on what customers are buying, you cant close that loop. Its also essential to continue the feedback loop after full deployment, as customer preferences can change over time. If your model hasnt accounted for that, you wont get the results youre hoping foran outcome known as model drift.

Will it scale?

While preliminary expectations may be that a pilot will be able to scale to a full rollout, the proof is in the pilot. So do you have the right resources to scale from pilot to full deployment? To scale, you may need to streamline code, bring in new technologies, push your AI or ML to the edge versus having one data repository, needing to employ new teams, and set up a data labeling factory, says EYs Diasio. Theres a whole suite of engineering skills that are required.

Execute the pilot

Flipkart leverages the cloud and associated MLOps capabilities for its pilots. To get started, says Krishnan, pilots need a lot of engineering support, must iterate frequently and fail fast, and to do that you need an MLOps infrastructure, which the big cloud service providers offer. He recommends that the pilot team reports in with regular progress updates on how close they are to hitting targets, and make sure expectations are set correctly during the pilot.

If you move the needle by 3% during your initial pilot youre doing well, he adds. And dont expect to see gains right away. Its difficult for a complex pilot to see an impact in three months. Deploy, find the gaps, deploy again, and keep moving up incrementally.

A failure along the way doesnt necessarily mean the end of a pilot. The USPTOs augmented classification system failed initially. We started with a data set that wasnt properly curated, Holcombe says. But the team was able to readjust and proceeded with the pilot until the system performed substantially better than the manual process. If you fail, dont just give up. Figure out why you failed, he says.

The final assessment

These CIOs, IT executives and consultants used a variety of methods to assess their pilot projects. At Atlantic Health System, once the initial pilot is completed its time to assess the resultsand decide whether to extend the pilot, move forward to production or cut their losses. A pilot must deliver the perceived measure of success, says Dadlani. Only when we see a promising result do we say, What would it take to scale this up, how much time will it take, what will be the time to value, what investments will be needed for tech infrastructure resources, and how will we operationalize it.

Lillys Coleman says pilots fail for several reasons: insufficient AI skills, not enough labeled data, unclear project vision or value proposition, lack of an agile, fail-fast mindset, and a lack of executive sponsorship and organizational change management to drive business adoption.

Make sure youre reporting out the metrics that matter to the bottom line. For example, if a pricing algorithm is projected to save $50 million, there may be a gap between whats been realized to date versus what the expected potential is, says Diasio. When you talk about big dollar projects, pilots often lack the credibility of generating that much value, so do the hard work to track realized value to the extent you can, he says.

This is also the time to reassess whether the pilot will scale. A lot of PoCs are very successful technically, but not economically when you scale it, says Genpacts Srivastava. Other considerations include how long it will take to scale, and what resources will be required.

But that picture might change when you take the long view. Even in situations where scale may not be achievable in the short-term, a smaller project scope with high probability of delivery success may still deliver near-term business value while the technology capabilities and skills mature to address barriers to scale, says Coleman.

Then theres infrastructure. Make sure you check all of your assumptions when scaling, including configurations, network bandwidth, storage and compute. Youll need a lot of engineering support to scale, and this is where cloud-based MLOps infrastructure can help, says Krishnan.

Finally, make sure you can integrate AI into your upstream and downstream workflows. For example, predicting failures isnt helpful if you havent integrated that into your upstream supply chain system to ensure that the spare parts are there when and where you need them. Likewise, that information should be used downstream to adjust maintenance schedules.

Start slow, fail fast, be patient

The key to a successful AI/ML pilot starts with initial planning. Get top executive buy-in and financial support before moving forward. You have to have that top cover, says Holcombe, and make sure you have all stakeholders onboard from the start.

An AI/ML pilot project should be undertaken as part of an overall digital transformation strategy, with a compelling business use case, says Dadlani. Achieving results from expectations takes patience. Create both technical and the business impact metrics that define success and know your capabilities as you make sure you have the right resources in place. Build the right team and be prepared to fail fast. So having the right mix of skills and domain expertise on the team is key to a successful AI pilot project. You need a cross-functional team, even at the pilot stage, he says. We make sure everyone is involved [in the pilot] because this becomes part of the clinical workflow. They have to be involved from the beginning.

Organizations that dont have all of that talent on staff should consider building a hybrid team with external partners, while small and mid-sized companies will probably need to outsource more roles  if they can find the talent. If you dont have the right AI/ML engineers and data engineers, its super-hard to outsource that, says Srivastava. Whats more, you need people on your team who understand both ML and your industry, such as manufacturing. Thats not a skills combination thats easy to find, so cross-training is critical.

Ultimately, consider a targeted project that can produce real business results, then scale to other areas of the business, as Atlantic Health System did with its ML-based imaging evaluation system.

Once a pilot moves to full production, build on what youve accomplished. Keep the business up to date on pilot progress, showcase the projects capabilities once fully deployed, and create platforms that other business units can leverage for their own applications. The pace of change today is the slowest it will ever be, says Srivastava. Corporations that want to disrupt and grow have to change the way they drive value, and you cant do this without AI. If you dont invest in it, youll have one hand tied behind your back.
BNM anunta concurs pentru postul vacant de expert coordonator (durata determinata) responsabil de control pe teren si din oficiu a sistemelor de plati
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Elon Musk has bought Twitter. What are we going to do about it? This is the question raised in many newsrooms, given the outsize role Twitter plays in journalism in the US and many other countries. The most intense debate has centered on whether proposals to charge for verification will lead to journalists abandoning their blue checks.

Musks tweeting out of a link from the highly dubious Santa Monica Observer to a conspiracy theory about the attack on Nancy Pelosis husbandand snarky tweets directed at the New York Times and The Guardianis Trumpian in its effect of discrediting the press and inverting the truth. Maybe the starkest warning yet of what might be to come was the use of a Twitter label to rebut the content of a tweet from ProPublica writer Eric Umansky.

The label is part of the Birdwatch pilot whereby community members can add context or flag a Tweet seen as misleading. The Tweet contained a shot of part of an article by the New York Times, and the added context was that Mr Musk has, without details or explanation, personally denied this part of the story.

The private ownership of Twitter raises a pressing business and ethical issue: Should journalists continue to use a platform whose owner is openly hostile to the practices of the free press?

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The history of media gatekeepers is littered by less-than-perfect ownership. Even today, in the United States, sections of the press are owned by unaccountable and antidemocratic billionaires or controlled by vulture capitalists and hedge funds that might be free of ideology but are just as destructive in terms of undermining the fabric of local media.

Is a major social platform being owned by Elon Musk materially different from Rupert Murdoch controlling large swaths of news media in the UK and the US? Does it have wider implications than the juggernaut of Alden Global Capital flattening local news outlets? In terms of social media, the worlds fastest-growing platform is owned by a Chinese company, where the lines between what is corporate data, private data, and government data are blurred.

Against this backdrop it might be argued that Musks ownership of Twitter is of only minor importance to journalists, and not materially worse than many others who control our information infrastructure. Ownership of a social platform, even one with a relatively small active user base, is different. It is different because the platform collects data as well as content.

No journalist should ever really use Twitter to contact sources, and yet on a daily basis the offer of My DMs are open is used to solicit tips or testimony. This has never been a safe way to interact with people who might require anonymity, but particularly not now. As a public company on which journalists represented a class of superuser, Twitter was incentivized to make those systems secure, and not to allow leakage or inappropriate use of material. Even then, using Twitter as a secure notebook was never advisable.

As Twitter is now a private company, where the Trust and Safety Team is being eviscerated, there is no guarantee of anonymity or security in any messages. Whats more, the new proprietor is not above targeting individual journalists. Adding clarifications to stories he doesnt like and using privileged access to the back end to respond to press criticism are the reddest of flags. That there is no regulation of ownership or governance that might stop behavior tantamount to an abuse of power is a reflection on what a free market delivers in terms of safeguarding the public interest.

Back in 2013 New York Times journalist John M. Broder took a test drive in a Tesla Model S. Documenting his dreary trip between Newark, Delaware, and New Haven, Connecticut, Broder logged his battery and charging problems with the electric wonder-car. The response was a furious blog post from Tesla founder Musk claiming that the data Tesla harvested from the drive suggested a deliberate attempt to sabotage the car for a salacious story. Independent evaluation of Broders review found this was an exaggerated and largely false allegation.

The episode is only one of many skirmishes the new owner of Twitter and one of the worlds richest people has had with journalists. Musk is a media paradox who combines both relative accessibility with extreme hostility toward journalists. A frequent and splenetic tweeter, Musk has been happy to sit down for hours with Joe Rogan and for slightly less time with the Financial Times, but his overall disregard for journalism is one of the hallmarks of his public persona. Riled by coverage of Tesla, Musk suggested in 2018 that journalists should be rated by the public and went as far as registering the domain Pravduh.com as an elaborate troll to suggest he would follow through.

Of all the social media platforms currently operating, Twitter is the most embedded in the field of journalism. Not every journalist tweets, or lurks, but a surprising number of journalists use Twitter as a critical part of their jobs. I once asked Dick Costolo, then the chief executive of the company, how it felt to be running the free press of the twenty-first century. He laughed and replied, Thats not quite how I see it. A lack of adequate competition, coupled with the network effects of scaled global platforms, means that if Twitter becomes unusable for journalists, there remains a gap in the market for a public-facing protocol that makes the public interest part of its mission at the heart of its design and ownership. Until then, journalists who remain on the platform will need to proceed with more caution, blue-ticked or not.

Clarification has been added to this article in regards to use of Twitters Birdwatch pilot program.

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Emily Bell is a frequent CJR contributor and the director of Columbias Tow Center for Digital Journalism. Previously, she oversaw digital publishing at The Guardian.
An analyst of the National Security Agency (NSA) working on a surveillance project some years back had gone beyond what was allowed by law, the 2016 report by the Office of Inspector General said.

The report, made available only recently, said the analyst "acted with reckless disregard" in conducting the surveillance project when it collected private communications of organizations and individuals in the United States.

FOIA Lawsuits

NSA released the 2016 report in compliance to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

In 2020, several reporters and news organizations filed some 122 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits. The lawsuits sought to compel the release of federal government documents or records.

A report by FOIA Project said the filing is "more than any year on record according to federal court data dating back to 2001.

Lack of Strong Oversight

The IG report showed a lack of strong oversight by the NSA that led to unauthorized surveillance of US citizens and organizations.

The NSA, according to the report, had given the analyst almost free rein in developing a surveillance technique many officials in the establishment didn't understand.

Although the heavily redacted report did not name the analyst, the report appeared to be the concluding part of the Edward Snowden saga.

The analyst, according to the report, was working on signals intelligence development (SIGDEV), whose primary goal was to develop new ways for espionage.

The 400-page report did not also say if the analyst or anyone at the NSA was held to account for what the IG considered as damaging and potentially illegal surveillance.

Read Also: British Intelligence Spied on G20 Leaders in 2099: Snowden

NSA Acknowledges IG Oversight

Bloomberg reported that the secretive agency had kept mum about the report.

An NSA spokesperson, however, said the agency is "fully committed to the rigorous and independent oversight provided by the NSA Inspector General's Office."

It would suffice to say that the culture of compliance by which the NSA operates has made all its operations within the bounds of the law.

2013 Whistleblowers And Snowden

Whistleblowers sparked the investigation conducted by the NSA watchdog in May 2013.

The analyst was stunned when criticisms met his work with the NSA. But he told investigators he proceeded with the project with caution, knowing the depth of the dangers as it touched uncharted territories.

Snowden, along with Daniel Ellsberg and Bradley Manning, became America's whistleblowers of far-reaching consequence.

In an interview with The Guardian in 2013, Snowden said he fully understood that he will suffer for his actions.

Although worried about his safety, Snowden said: "I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant," The Guardian quoted Snowden.

Despite the timing and proximity of events, the report did not indicate that the events cited in the report were related to NSA activities mentioned by Snowden. But the time of investigation hued closely to when the NSA was under pressure to account for the alleged wrongdoings.

Related Article: Edward Snowden's Documents Reveal That Peter Thiel Helped NSA
LONDON (AP)  Ships loaded with grain departed Ukraine on Tuesday despite Russia suspending its participation in a U.N.-brokered deal that ensures safe wartime passage of critical food supplies meant for parts of the world struggling with hunger.

The U.N. said three ships carrying 84,490 metric tons of corn, wheat and sunflower meal left through a humanitarian sea corridor set up in July. The corridor, brokered by Turkey and U.N., was seen as a breakthrough that would ensure Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia would receive grain and other food from the Black Sea region during Russias war in Ukraine.

Russia cited allegations of a Ukrainian drone attack against its Black Sea fleet in announcing over the weekend that it was suspending its part of the grain deal. The Russian Defense Ministry said Monday that ship traffic from ports in southern Ukraine was halted, calling the movement unacceptable.

But a total of 14 ships sailed that day, including one chartered by the U.N. World Food Program to bring wheat to Ethiopia, which along with neighboring Somalia and Kenya, is badly affected by the worst drought in decades.

Analysts say Russia still is bound by the terms of the grain deal it signed, which include a commitment not to target civilian vessels that are taking part in the agreement. Such an attack also would violate international law.

Although it is not currently participating in that deal, it is still a signatory to it. Russias interests are not going to be served in any way, shape or form by attacking vessels and groups in the international community, said Munro Anderson, head of intelligence of the risk consultancy company Dryad Global.

Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized to reporters Monday night that Moscow was not saying that we are ending our participation in the grain deal but we are talking about the fact that we are suspending it. The move drew outcry from Ukraine, the U.S. and other allies.

Anderson said Russia was unlikely to mount any overt action against any vessels operating within the parameters of the original deal, though the risks were as high as ever of Russia attacking Ukrainian grain silos, other agricultural infrastructure or targets at sea.

However, the future of the initiative is unclear as the risks have potentially increased, Anderson said. Now, the U.N. operation is moving to prioritize a large backlog of ships waiting for inspections off Istanbul, he said.

I think at the moment, the situation is such that no vessels inbound or currently signed up to the initiative that are not already in processing are going to proceed until theres further clarity on the Russian position on continued participation, he said.

Plus, in terms of insuring cargo ships picking up Ukrainian grain, rates are going to go up and likely be prohibitive, said Joseph Glauber, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington.

After suspending its part of the grain agreement, it is likely that Russia will use this as a tool of negotiation to secure what it needs from the deal, Anderson said. We know that Russia has been looking to export fertilizer products and to seek a sanctions reprieve on those so it can do so effectively.

While Western sanctions on Russia dont affect its grain exports and a parallel wartime deal was meant to clear the way for Moscows food and fertilizer shipments, some businesses have been wary of running afoul of sanctions.

Russias primary concern is likely that vessels would go unchecked and could be used to bring in weapons, which is why a Joint Coordination Center was established in Istanbul to coordinate checks between the warring nations, Turkey and the U.N.

Russia has announced plans to conduct its own inspections of ships that have already cleared the joint checks in Istanbul, but further details were not known.

About the photo: The cargo ship Mikhail Nenashev sails past Istanbul, Turkey, on July 4, 2022. An Associated Press investigation shows the ship, owned by a sanctioned Russian state-owned defense contractor, is part of an extensive Russian-run smuggling operation that has been hauling stolen Ukrainian grain from ports in occupied Crimea to customers in the Middle East. (AP Photo/Yoruk Isik)

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
MANILA, Philippines (AP)  Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday blamed years of deforestation for a deadly mudslide that buried a mountainside community amid last weeks torrential rains set off by a storm that has left more than 130 people dead across the country.

During an aerial inspection of the widespread damage wrought by Tropical Storm Nalgae in southern Maguindanao province, the president said he pointed out to the provincial governor how the mudslides cascaded on denuded slopes of Mount Minandar.

I noticed that in all places where the landslides came down, the mountains were bald. Thats the problem, Marcos Jr. told provincial governors in a televised meeting with key Cabinet members in Maguindanao to discuss the worst natural disaster he faced since taking office in June.

We have to include tree-planting in our flood control, he said. We have been hearing about this over and over again, but we still cut the trees, so thats what happens, these landslides.

The storms vast rain clouds swamped a wide swath of the Philippine archipelago, leaving at least 132 people dead and lashing another 2.4 million people, including some who had to be rescued from the roofs of flooded houses. More than 6,500 houses were either damaged, torn down or swept away by flash floods, according to disaster-response officials.

The storm made landfall Saturday in the eastern Philippines and blew out into the South China Sea on Sunday.

The worst-hit area was Maguindanaos Kusiong village, which lies between the foothills of Mount Minandar and the Moro Gulf.

A night of heavy downpour Thursday loosened the upper reaches of the mountainside which crashed down in a boulder- and tree-laden deluge and buried about 5 hectares (12 acres) of the community, populated largely by the Teduray ethnic group, officials said.

Twenty-one bodies, including those of children, have been pulled out by more than 260 army, police, firefighters, coast guard and civilian rescuers backed by a backhoe, two payloaders and sniffer dogs, said army Maj. Gen. Roy Galido.

Only four remain missing, Galido said, citing Kusiong village leaders. But other local officials fear entire families may be buried, leaving no one to report them as missing.

Naguib Sinarimbo, the interior minister for a Muslim autonomous region run by former separatist guerrillas that includes Maguindanao, told Marcos Jr. that a major number of deaths had occurred in Kusiong either due to the mudslide or flash floods that swept away houses and people. He did not elaborate but told The Associated Press earlier that between 80 to 100 people may have either been swept away by flash floods or hit by the mudslide.

A video provided by the coast guard to media on Monday showed some of its men helping search for buried bodies in Kusiong by poking long wooden sticks into the muddy, light-brownish sludge.

Officials told the president that disaster-preparedness has been complicated by the more unpredictable weather, including in Maguindanao, a mountainous region with marshy plains, which in the past was rarely hit by storms. Marcos Jr., a former provincial governor, agreed, saying its been difficult to decide where to deploy rescue boats and other earth-moving equipment as typhoons approached.

Thats the problem today, theres really climate change now. Its undeniable, he said.

About 20 typhoons and storms batter the Philippine archipelago each year. It is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a region along most of the Pacific Ocean rim where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur, making the nation one of the worlds most disaster-prone.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
FedEx Corp. said it will challenge what may be the largest-ever jury verdict won by a worker suing over racial bias, $366 million awarded to a Black former saleswoman who claimed the company fired her after she complained about discrimination.

The company will appeal the verdict and ask the trial judge to reduce the damages, it said Tuesday in a filing following the Oct. 25 jury award of $1.16 million in compensatory damages and $365 million in punitive damages.

FedEx believes ultimate compensatory and punitive damages and pre- and post-judgment interest up to $75 million will be covered by insurance, subject to a retention of up to $10 million, the company said in the filing.

An immaterial loss reserve below that retention has been recorded in its consolidated financial statement, it said.

FedEx shares fell 1.3% Tuesday to close at $158.19 in New York. The stock is down about 39% this year.

Unfair Treatment Claim

The plaintiff, identified as Jennifer Harris, contends that she was treated unfairly at the workplace and wrongfully discharged on account of her race, the judge said while giving the jury instructions, according to a document of court records.

The trial was held in federal court in southern Texas.

FedEx claimed she was fired because of poor performance, according to the document. But the jury favored Harris, who alleged the companys human resource department ignored her discrimination complaint and that her boss then retaliated by firing her. She claimed the harassment was constant, obscene, obnoxious, shocking to the conscience of the ordinary person.

FedEx does not engage in or tolerate retaliation, the company said Tuesday in an e-mailed statement. We followed our protocols for performance management with Ms. Harris and are confident that we acted properly regarding her termination.

Large punitive damage awards are often scaled back by judges or appeals courts when they are found to be disproportionate to compensatory damages.

The actual payout for the case could take a while if judging by another large jury award against FedEx that culminated with the company paying $370 million to plaintiffs and their lawyers in July for a 2012 fatal accident in New Mexico.

FedEx fought that jury award, which was originally $160 million in damages but grew because of accrued interest. Fedex had appealed all the way the New Mexican Supreme Court but utlimately lost the case.

With assistance from Madlin Mekelburg.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.
US financial institutions reported nearly $1.2 billion on likely ransomware-related payments last year, most commonly in response to breaches originating with Russian criminal groups, according to the Treasury Department.

The payments more than doubled from 2020, underscoring the pernicious damage that ransomware continues to wreak on the private sector. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, said its analysis indicates that ransomware continues to pose a significant threat to U.S. critical infrastructure sectors, businesses and the public.

Financial institutions filed 1,489 incidents related to ransomware in 2021, up from 487 the year before, according to data collected under the Bank Secrecy Act. FinCENs analysis included extortion amounts, attempted transactions and payments that were unpaid.

In the US, banks are required to file suspicious activity reports to help the government detect money laundering or other criminal activity.

FinCEN said the top five highest-grossing ransomware variants from the second half of 2021 are connected to Russian cybercriminals. The damage from Russian-related ransomware during that period totaled more than $219 million, according to the data

Treasurys report comes as a US-hosted ransomware summit in Washington brings together nearly three dozen countries to tackle a scourge thats hobbled businesses, non-profits and government agencies globally. The pace and sophistication of those intrusions is increasing faster than the USs ability to disrupt them, a senior Biden administration official said Sunday.

FinCEN said its analysis was in response to the increase in both number and severity of recent ransomware hacks against US critical infrastructure. The jump, officials said, could also be reflective of institutions getting better at identifying and reporting incidents.

The findings were previously reported Tuesday by CNN.

In March, President Joe Biden signed sweeping cybersecurity legislation that mandates certain sectors report breaches to the US Department of Homeland Security within 72 hours of discovery of the incident, and 24 hours if they make a ransomware payment.

Ransomware actors continue to release private troves of data if their demands arent met. Their targets include a breach this fall on the Los Angeles Unified School District, in which confidential information about students was leaked when the ransom wasnt paid.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.
Ford and Volkswagen recently pulled the plug on the autonomous vehicle tech startup Argo AI last week. Now, the two automakers have put Argo AI on sale, hoping to recoup some money from billions they had invested.

Argo Lidar, Two More Items

Sources privy to the shutting down of the tech startup said there are at least three major items Ford and VW wanted to dispose of.

Here are three major items the two automakers are offering to sell:

1. Argo Lidar

In 2017, Argo acquired Princeton Lightwave, a startup specializing in lidar, a shorthand for light detection and ranging (via CNET). It is also called laser imaging, detection, and ranging that is considered in the FSD sector as the "eyes" of the vehicle.

Industry players considered lidar as the major piece in the puzzle with its capacity to measure distance so that self-driving vehicles can safely navigate the environment.

The acquisition was hailed as a major step for Argo in its autonomous vehicle program.

The technology, Argo AI CEO Bryan Salesky said, will help the company to double up on the range and resolution to attain self-driving mobility, especially in urban environments.

Ford bankrolled the lidar acquisition of a nascent Argo at the time.

Later on, the Argo team developed a medium- and long-range lidar capable of seeing some 400 meters away.

In May 2021, Salesky told TechCrunch the company developed lidar sensors at a lower cost and manufactured them at scale. These two factors are crucial for any company in the autonomous vehicle industry.

Read Also: Ford Will Reportedly Lay Off 8,000 Employees in Order to Fund AV Expansion

2. 80 Employees

Argo AI's shutdown left some 2,000 Argo's workforce without jobs. Ford and VW are reportedly keen to employ the employees.

Both automakers invested some $3.6 billion in Argo, some $2 billion in cash, and $1.6 billion in value when the startup tech company took VW's autonomous driving unit. After the takeover, Argo renamed the unit into Argo AI GmbH.

The German automaker is planning to take its employees again at Argo AI GmbH in Munich.

VW had also offered jobs to former Argo employees in the United States. That means the German automaker may have plans to set up US operations.

3. Lidar Tech

Several sources said LG Innotek might acquire Argo's lidar sensors. The South Korean electronics company had manufactured Argo's lidar units before the shutdown.

It is likely that LG Innotek may jump at buying the sensors it has manufactured for Argo AI.

Waymo And Tesla

Not all companies use lidar sensors in their autonomous vehicles.

Google's Waymo is developing lidar sensors. Some had opted to buy available lidar from other companies such as Velodyne.

But Tesla is not into the lidar conversation.

The electric carmaker's own self-driving cars do not need lidars to navigate the streets. Current Tesla models of AV run on an Autopilot system without lidar emitters.

Driver-Assisted Technology

Argo AI's shutdown highlighted the state of the AV sector.

Ford's decision to abandon its interest in the AV startup tech company showed the carmaker's pragmatism in rechanneling its resources to driver-assisted technology rather than the highly volatile AV sector.

A profitable AV on a commercial scale remains a long shot, Ford CEO Jim Farley said.

While Ford and VW jointly walked away from Argo, both carmakers continued their joint ventures on electric vehicles in Europe and the United States.

Related Article: Ford, Volkswagen Decide to Pull The Plug Off Argo AI Amid Signs of Slow Progress
A listing on the TENAA certification website reveals almost complete details about Motorola's next flagship project.

The Motorola Edge X40 appeared on the Chinese website a few days ago, along with a sheet of specs customers can expect from the unreleased handset.

TENAA's Listing Almost Went Into Full Detail About The Motorola Edge X40

TENAA, the Chinese equivalent to the Federal Communications Commission, said that the Motorola Edge X4 will run on the unreleased Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.

According to Android Authority, this makes Motorola the first company to reveal and release a phone regionally with the next-generation system on a chip.

This leak comes only a couple of months after the Lenovo-owned company released the premium version Motorola Edge X30 Ultra in markets.

Phone Arena even writes that the listing showed how the Motorola Edge X40 can easily become the company's most high-end technology, which will be available in the US and non-Asian countries.

According to the document, the device will have a 6.67-inch slightly curved OLED screen with a 2400 x 1080 pixel resolution.

The Motorola Edge X40 will also have a triple sensor set up, with an ultrawide 50 MP camera, and telephoto of 12 MP.

Additionally, Android Authority reports that the phones will be available with a 512GB storage and an 18GB RAM, along with a battery capacity of 4,500 to 5,000mAh.

At the moment, there is still no specific launch date for the Motorola Edge X40, but with last year's December launch, customers are expecting a roll out next month.

Read More: Moto Edge 2022 Specs Leak: 144Hz Refresh Rate, Massive Battery and MORE

What Else Is There To Expect From The Motorola Edge X40

The Moto Edge X40 can easily follow the success of last year's Edge X30, which inspired this year's Motorola Edge Plus, according to Phone Arena.

The new flagship from Motorola allegedly is the technology that can compete against Samsung's upcoming Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.

Its high resolution curved screen offers a 144Hz refresh rate that will be perfect for those looking for a smooth mobile gaming device.

Moreover, the Motorola Edge X40 will come at a compact size of 161.3 x 73.9 x 8.5mm and a weight of 196 grams.

Of course, Motorola is looking to balance phone power with affordability without sacrificing the camera quality of the device.

The Motorola Edge X40 will come with a revised rear-facing camera module, with a tertiary shooter.

It will also come with three cameras, where the primary and secondary cameras will be 200MP better than that of the Edge X30 Ultra.

Notebook Check says that these cameras will also feature a four times optical zoom capacity, from a previous two times zoom capacity feature.

Aside from this, the Motorola Edge X40 will also see special functions such as gravity sensors, distance sensors, and a light sensor.

It will also have a fingerprint recognition technology, and an under-screen fingerprint recognition feature for its users.

While these details have not yet been confirmed officially by Motorola, they definitely gives customers from China, US, and other countries something to look out for.

Related Article: Motorola Launches Edge 30 Ultra with 200MP Camera Shortly After Apple's iPhone 14 Debut
Soon, everyone will be able to fix embarrassing typos in their tweets.

According to reports, Twitter's new CEO, Elon Musk, is planning to roll out the much-requested edit button for free to all of the platform's 230 million users, as per Digital Trends.

Casey Newton Says Elon Musk Plans to Make the Edit Button Available to All Users

After Musk completed his $44 billion takeover bid to acquire Twitter last week, he's been busy implementing changes to the social media company.

First, he fired the company's former CEO Parag Agrawal and other top officials. He also dissolved the board. Now, he's Twitter's CEO.

Recently, he also announced that the platform may start charging $8 a month to verified users who want to retain their verified status, as per Engadget.

Now, the billionaire said that he plans to make Twitter's edit button available to everyone for free, according to Platformer's Casey Newton.

Currently, the edit button is only available to Twitter Blue subscribers who are paying $4.99 per month, as per Tech Times.

In addition, it is available to limited countries only such us the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, meaning it is inaccessible in other parts of the world.

But it seems that Twitter is taking a new direction under the leadership of its new CEO. Users all over the globe will benefit if the edit functionality would be rolled out for free to all of the social media's 230 million subscribers.

The edit button is one of the most requested features of Twitter. It allows users to edit their tweet in a span of 30 minutes after the tweet was posted.

While the changes made in the tweet will be reflected in its revision history, this feature is seen as useful in instances of typo and grammatical errors.

Read Also: Twitter's Paid Users Will Get an Edit Button

Elon Musk Introduces Changes to Twitter Blue

When Musk first acquired a huge share in the company, he already mentioned the edit button. A poll was posted by the billionaire asking his followers if the social media should have the edit button.

The poll has only two options: "no" and "yse." For a long time now, there has been a clamor among Twitter subscribers to have the edit button in the platform.

With so many changes coming to the social media under the new Chief Twit, rolling out the edit button to everyone seems highly possible. And if Casey's sources are reliable, this could happen soon.

However, Musk has yet to publicly confirm the platform's move to make the edit button available to everyone. We would have to wait for his announcement.

Aside from the edit button, Musk mentioned that he will introduce some changes to Twitter Blue.

As we have seen on October 31, one of the changes that he's talking about is discontinuing the ad-free news articles for the Blue subscribers. The publishers were notified through email.

As mentioned earlier, Musk also announced he will allow anyone who wants get verified get the blue tick on Twitter if they are willing to pay $8 per month.

Among the perks that those with verified accounts will enjoy are fewer ads, priority in replies, and the ability to post longer videos.

Related Article: Twitter's Edit Button is Now Available in the US, But There's a Catch
Google welcomes the Day of the Dead with open arms and a sugary logo to boot.

The search giant changed its logo into colorful sugar skulls in honor of the Mexican annual celebration of Dia de Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.

Google's Doodler for the logo, Lydia Nichols, made the logo from actual sugar skulls in keeping with and to honor the time-honored tradition, per Google.

Day Of The Dead History And Commemoration

The Day of the Dead, interestingly, did not originally come from the Mexicans we know. According to History, the tradition dates back 3,000 years ago. During this time, the early Mesoamericans, such as the Aztecs and other Nahua people living in central Mexico, held rituals to honor the dead.

The Mesoamericans believe in a cyclical view of the universe and that death is an ever-present part of life. As such, when a person dies, it is believed they travel to Chicunamictlan, the Land of the Dead.

The deceased person then goes through nine levels wroth with dangerous challenges over a four-year voyage, per the National Hispanic Cultural Center. Should they be successful, they will reach Mictlan, their final resting place.

To honor the dead and to provide them with what they need to complete their journey to Mictlan, the Nahua of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica offer food, water, and tools to them every August.

Read More: Best Buy Early Black Friday Deals: These Samsung, LG Smart TVs are Already on Sale Right Now

When the Spanish arrived in the region, they brought with them their own tradition of bringing wine and spirit bread to the graves of their loved ones, along with flowers and lit candles to decorate them.

This tradition is meant to help the dead find their way back to their homes on Earth through the lit candles and spirit bread.

These two traditions were eventually blended into the Day of the Dead we know today. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Spanish influence and the steady conversion of the Nahua to Roman Catholicism moved the traditional celebration from August to November. This move is meant to have Nahua's annual celebration of the Day of the Dead coincide with the Spanish's, which is normally done during All Saints' Day and All Souls Day.

Modern Celebration Of The Day Of The Dead

In modern times, the Day of the Dead is celebrated on Nov. 2. However, the way it is celebrated depends on the region. Some rural areas have families decorate their deceased loved ones' graves with candles and marigolds. They even bring their favorite food to entice them to return to them for a family reunion.

In urban areas, people take to the streets for celebrations reminiscent of Halloween. Some wear wooden skulls, while families build altars called ofrendas in their homes using the deceased loved one's photos, candles, flowers, and food.

The sugar skulls often found during the celebration are made with edible ingredients, according to The Spruce Eats. However, they aren't for eating as they become too hard by the time they're done, per Art is Fun.

Sugar skulls are used to represent a departed loved one and usually place at ofrendas or gravestones as an offering to their spirit.

Don't worry, though. Creating edible sugar skulls for human consumption is acceptable.

Related Article: Google Doodle Features Percussionist Tito Puente to Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month
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Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Lee Chang-yang, second from left, speaks during a teleconference with Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman at the Government Complex Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy



Korea and Saudi Arabia agreed Wednesday to boost cooperation to ensure stable oil supplies, Seoul's industry ministry said, as concerns have grown over the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Plus's decision to cut oil production.



The consensus was reached during a teleconference between Industry Minister Lee Chang-yang and Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.



The meeting came as OPEC Plus agreed last month to cut oil production by 2 million barrels per day from November.



"During the meeting, the two sides stressed the need for cooperation between oil suppliers and importing nations to stabilize the oil market. They also made sure that they are credible trading partners and agreed to continue close work in energy to ensure stable supply chains," the ministry said in a release.



During the first seven months of this year, Korea bought 186 million barrels of crude oil from Saudi Arabia, which accounted for 31.1 percent of Seoul's total oil imports, or the largest share. Last year, the proportion came to 29.3 percent, according to government data.



Korea depends on imports for most of its energy needs.



During the meeting, Lee voiced hope for Korea's participation in the kingdom's Global Supply Chain Resilience Initiative that includes extensive investment incentives, according to the ministry.



The two ministers agreed to boost bilateral cooperation in hydrogen and related industry sectors, as well as the petrochemical and plant construction fields, the ministry said. (Yonhap)


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Chef Thitid "Ton" Tassanakajohn, left, and Chef Pichaya "Pam" Utharntharm of Thailand / Courtesy of S. Pellegrino



By Kwak Yeon-soo



BANGKOK  Thitid "Ton" Tassanakajohn and Pichaya "Pam" Utharntharm are the world's foremost Thai chefs who are reinterpreting classic Thai dishes. Both graduates of the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), they returned to their homeland to create innovative Thai cuisines that use modern cooking techniques.



Chef Ton had worked in many Michelin-starred restaurants in New York, including Eleven Madison Park, The Modern and Jean Georges before opening his restaurant Le Du in Thailand nine years ago. Originated from Thai word meaning "season," Le Du is ranked No. 4 by Asia's 50 Best Restaurants.



Chef Pam trained at three-starred Jean-Georges restaurant in the U.S. She was selected in Forbes 30 Under 30 before becoming a judge of Top Chef Thailand, a cooking competition show. Her restaurant "Potong," which translates as "simple," serves imaginative Thai cuisine that focuses on seasonality and sustainability.



Recently, the two chefs participated in S. Pellegrino Young Chef Asia regional finals as jury members to search for their successors in representing Asia and bringing Asian cuisine to the world.



Below is an excerpt of The Korea Times interview with them. It has been edited for clarity and readability.



How do you feel about S. Pellegrino Young Chef Asia regional finals being held in Thailand?



Pam: I think it's very exciting that the event is held in Thailand this year. It brings a lot of young chefs to explore Thailand, Thai culture and Thai food.



Ton: This is a jumpstart for young chefs to get experience and attention in the culinary world. Back in the days when we were young chefs, we didn't have this kind of opportunity. So I want to tell young chefs, especially those in Thailand, to not be afraid and just out and show what they've got.



How has Thai culture and your heritage affected your cooking style?



Pam: My restaurant Potong is all about heritage. It's located in a 120-year-old building, which belongs to my ancestors who moved from China. We became Chinese-Thai. When I started running the restaurant, I told myself that this is the place I want to bring my heritage, use my techniques and create a cuisine that's never done before.



Ton: What we try to do is to modernize Thai food, but still keep the goodness of classic Thai cuisine. I think it's important for all the chefs in Thailand to remember that when they cook, they represent their own culture.





Chef Thitid "Ton" Tassanakajohn, center in the judges' table, and Chef Pichaya "Pam" Utharntharm, left, listen to a contestant's speech during S. Pellegrino Young Chef Asia regional finals held in The Food School Bangkok, Sunday. Korea Times photo by Kwak Yeon-soo
Feature: Talking with Chinese taikonauts inspires space dream of ASEAN youth

Xinhua) 11:17, November 02, 2022

MANILA, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of students across Southeast Asian countries attended Tuesday a live class delivered from China's space station and talked with Chinese taikonauts aboard the Shenzhou-14 spaceship, which inspired them to pursue their space dream.

Although it was a holiday, scores of Philippine students from high schools gathered for a special session named "Talk With Taikonauts," a unique opportunity for young space enthusiasts from the 10-country bloc Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to have first-hand knowledge of space science and outer space exploration.

Jeanel Dimayuga, a 12th grader from Makati High School, had a chance to ask Shenzhou-14 crew members Chen Dong, Liu Yang, and Cai Xuzhe how they felt the time pass in outer space and the impact of the zero-gravity environment on their bodies.

The trio of taikonauts answered various questions from the students and shared with the Asian youth their life and scientific work in the space station since early June when the Shenzhou-14 spaceship was successfully launched.

One day earlier, China launched the 17.88-meter-long space lab module Mengtian, bringing the construction of the space station Tiangong into the final stage. The building of Tiangong into a national space laboratory with three modules marks a milestone in China's three-decade effort to advance its manned space program.

Richard Shao from Philippine Cultural College said China having made such achievements in space technologies has inspired him to continue exploring the mysteries of the universe.

During the live lecture, Philippine First Lady Louise Araneta-Marcos said the dialogue with Chinese taikonauts provided "an opportunity for our younger generation to learn more about space engineering."

"We hope this exchange will further stimulate the curiosity of our Philippine youth regarding space and the bigger frontier out there," she added.

Philippine Space Agency deputy director general Gay Jane Perez hailed China's advancement in space and highlighted China's contribution to sharing and promoting space technologies.

"Young minds are curious and imaginative, and the space offers limitless possibility of pushing the boundary of knowledge, exploring the unknown and creating new technologies and innovations," Perez said.

She said China has created opportunities for cooperation in the ASEAN region. The space lecture would be an "inspiration to our students to pursue their dreams, to explore the vastness of the space."

Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian said outer space is the "common wealth of humanity" and should be explored, developed, and utilized peacefully.

"China advocates for joint efforts with nations around the world to build a community with a shared future for humanity and to enhance international exchange and cooperation in outer space on the basis of equality, mutual benefit, peaceful use, and inclusive development," the Chinese envoy said.

He added that China is willing to share the achievements of aerospace development with the Philippines in various forms and discuss strengthening exchanges and cooperation in the field of aerospace science and technology for the power of science and technology to benefit the people of both countries.

(Web editor: Cai Hairuo, Liang Jun)
An F-35B stealth fighter from U.S. Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 242 takes off from an air base in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, on South Korea's west coast, as South Korea and the United States kicked off joint air drills, in this undated photo released by the South Korean Air Force on Nov. 1. Yonhap



North Korea on Wednesday said the U.S. and South Korea will pay a terrible price should they decide to attack the North, arguing the allies' ongoing joint military drills are aimed at preparing for a potential invasion.



Pak Jong-chon, secretary of the Central Committee of the North's ruling Workers' Party, also called on Seoul and Washington to halt what he claimed to be military provocation against Pyongyang.



"If the U.S. and South Korea attempt to use armed forces against the DPRK without any fear, the special means of the DPRK's armed forces will carry out their strategic mission without delay and the U.S. and South Korea will have to face a terrible case and pay the most horrible price in history," the North Korean official said in a statement carried by the country's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).



DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.

"It should be noted that in the present situation, it is a big mistake to accept this as a threat warning only," Pak added, according to KCNA.



The statement comes as Seoul and Washington are holding combined air drills, called Vigilant Storm.











Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder speaks during a briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, Nov. 1. AP-Yonhap




The United States remains concerned about a potential North Korean nuclear test, a National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson said Tuesday, reiterating Pyongyang may conduct a nuclear test "at any time."







John Kirby, however, noted it was not clear when exactly North Korean leader Kim Jong-un might conduct a test.







"We have said for a long time that they could conduct a nuclear test at anytime, and it's difficult to predict with any degree of certainty what the triggering event might be for Kim Jong-un to conduct any number of provocations that he has in recent weeks or he might in future weeks," the NSC strategic communications coordinator said when asked if the North may conduct a nuclear test during the Group of 20 summit, slated to be held in Bali, Indonesia on Nov. 15-16.







North Korea fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles since late September.







"So I would say, in general, our concern remains high and consistently so about the potential for a nuclear test," Kirby added in a telephonic press briefing.







Seoul officials have said the North will likely conduct a nuclear test before the U.S. midterm elections to be held next Tuesday. (Yonhap)


An undated photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows the units of the Korean People's Army (KPA) for the operation of tactical nukes staging a military drill carried out to check and assess the war deterrent and nuclear counterattack capability of the country, Oct. 10. EPA-Yonhap



South Korea's military on Wednesday denounced North Korea's launch of its first missile into an area close to the South's territorial waters since the division of the peninsula more than seven decades ago, calling it an "intolerable" act.



Earlier in the day, the North launched at least three short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) into the East Sea, one of which flew across its de facto maritime border with South Korea, according to the South's military.



The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the missile firing from a site in or around the North's eastern coastal city of Wonsan was detected at around 8:51 a.m.



"North Korea's missile launch, which marks the first time since the division of the peninsula that has landed near our territorial waters south of the Northern Limit Line, is very rare and intolerable," the JCS said in a press release.








The top diplomats of South Korea and the United States strongly condemned North Korea's latest missile launches in their phone talks Wednesday, calling them an "unprecedented, grave provocation," according to Seoul's foreign ministry.







Earlier in the day, the North fired various types of about 10 missiles, including three short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs), off its west and east coasts. One of the SRBMs fell into high seas 26 kilometers south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the East Sea, marking the first missile launched by the North that flew past the NLL since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.







In their consultations, Foreign Minister Park Jin and his American counterpart, Antony Blinken, described it as an "unprecedented, grave military provocation," the ministry said in a press release.







They also "deplored" that the missile provocations came amid South Korea's national mourning period following the recent Halloween crowd crush tragedy and agreed to respond sternly to the North's provocations, added the ministry. (Yonhap)




South Korea responds with three air-to-surface missiles



By Kang Seung-woo



North Korea fired more than 20 ballistic and other missiles, Wednesday, one of which landed in South Korean territory for the first time since the 1950-53 Korean War. The North also fired some 100 artillery shells into the East Sea.



In response, President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered the military to make a swift and stern response to ensure that North Korea clearly sees the consequences of its provocations. Hours later, South Korean fighter jets fired three air-to-surface missiles into the sea north of the inter-Korean maritime border.



According to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), one short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) flew across the Northern Limit Line (NLL) and fell just 26 kilometers south of the de facto maritime border between the two Koreas. The missile headed toward South Korea's Ulleung Island, triggering an air raid alert prompting residents there to evacuate to underground shelters. Two other SRBMs landed in the East Sea.



The missile that was launched from a site in or around the North's eastern coastal city of Wonsan was detected at around 8:51 a.m., the JCS said. Earlier, North Korea also launched four SRBMs into the West Sea from North Pyongan Province at around 6:51 a.m.



Additionally, the North fired six more surface-to-air missiles eastward from the Sondok and Sinpo areas and westward from the Kwail and Onchon areas between 4:30 p.m. and 5:10 p.m. Those missiles traveled a short distance, the JCS added.



The South Korean military also detected more than 100 artillery shells fired at around 1:27 p.m. from Kosong County and Kangwon Province into the eastern buffer zone that was designated under an inter-Korean military agreement signed on Sept. 19, 2018 to reduce cross-border tensions.



"North Korea's missile, which landed near our territorial waters south of the Northern Limit Line for the first time since the division of the peninsula, is very rare and intolerable," the JCS said in a press release.



The South Korean president said North Korea's provocation was a violation of the South's territory, according to his office.



"President Yoon Suk-yeol noted that North Korea's provocation today was effectively a violation of our territory by a missile that crossed the NLL for the first time since [the] division [of the Korean peninsula]," the presidential office said in a press release following an emergency National Security Council meeting, presided over by him.









"He also ordered the military to maintain full readiness to protect the people's lives and safety and prepare for the possibility of additional and high-intensity provocations by North Korea in the future," the presidential office added.



In response to the latest North Korean provocations, the Air Force's F-15K and KF-16 jets fired the precision-guided missiles into waters north of the NLL in the East Sea, according to the JCS.



The missiles landed in an area north of the NLL at a distance almost equivalent to that of the North's missile that dropped south of the maritime boundary, it added.



"Our military's response reaffirms our resolve to sternly respond to any provocations by North Korea and shows that we are capable of accurately striking our enemy," the JCS said later in the day.



Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University, said the latest missile launches were an extremely serious threat to South Korea.



"Given that South Korea and the United States are conducting a combined air exercise, regarded as the strongest deterrence against the North Korean threats, the missile launch during the ongoing drills indicates the North has strong confidence in its nuclear capability," Park said.





A TV screen shows a file image of North Korea's missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday. AP-Yonhap
The Daily Emerald is the news division of Emerald Media Group, University of Oregons independent student media organization.



Hannarose McGuinness(541) 346-5511 Ext. 325editor@dailyemerald.com
Im sure youve noticed but Westminster is gripped by a deranged witch-hunt against Suella Braverman.

Intoxicated with their own combined power after successfully deposing two Prime Ministers in quick succession in a remoaner coup, our brave Home Secretary is next in the line of fire for our toxic political establishment.

It genuinely wouldnt surprise me if I turned up at the Home Office and saw a mob led by Yvette Cooper, Robert Peston, Nick Robinson and virtually every staff member of the department Braverman leads waving pitch forks.

So out of touch with the feelings of the public, the elites have become more concerned about the forthright language used by the new Conservative queen of the right than by the 40,000 who have arrived so far this year alone by small boats via the Channel, often smuggled by despicable human trafficking gangs, with many being set up for a life of crime in prostitution and drug rings or even terrorism right here in Britain.

But the elites couldnt be more wrong.

I declared this crisis a national emergency in a MailOnline column 12 months ago, but still politicians and most of our leftie broadcast media have elected to turn a blind eye.

When Superwoman Suella tells fellow MPs to stop pretending they are all refugees in distress, the whole country knows that is not true, we all quietly nod along, knowing she is that rare breed of politician prepared to speak unpalatable truths to the woke mob.

The facts back up her rhetoric, with 90 per cent arriving in small boats men, many from the NATO country Albania, and three quarters aged 18 to 39. In other words, economic migrants who arrive undocumented to try and trick the soft touch British authorities.

Im sure youve noticed but Westminster is gripped by a deranged witch-hunt against Suella Braverman (pictured yesterday)

So out of touch with the feelings of the public, the elites have become more concerned about the forthright language used by the new Conservative queen of the right than by the 40,000 who have arrived so far this year alone by small boats via the Channel, often smuggled by despicable human trafficking gangs, with many being set up for a life of crime in prostitution and drug rings or even terrorism right here in Britain

Hardworking ordinary Brits facing a cost-of-living catastrophe, devastating housing crisis and lawless streets KNOW our country simply cannot sustain these numbers  and theres nothing xenophobic or racist about saying that.

The 7 million a DAY being spent with our money to house the arrivals in hotels is the tip of the iceberg.

Thats not to say we are not a compassionate nation.

Just look at the phenomenal generosity shown by us when many hard-up folk still decided to open up their homes to strangers from war-torn Ukraine.

But our compassion is rightly limited to accepting refugees and asylum seekers via legal routes.

I declared this crisis a national emergency in a MailOnline column 12 months ago, but still politicians and most of our leftie broadcast media have elected to turn a blind eye

Thats not the feeling of the civil service though, who have long given up on the difficult fight required to protect our borders.

They spent most of Boris Johnsons premiership doing everything possible to undermine Priti Patels tough talk.

Eventually she was neutered and unable to progress her bold programme, instead relying on the French government who, lets be honest, dont want to help.

But Braverman is an altogether different prospect, with a razor-sharp legal brain she employed as Attorney General to oppose, along with angry Conservative backbenchers, legislation that would have disgracefully written women out of maternity laws.

She has an uncompromising iron grip on the illegal migrant issue and knows what is required to make change, including the need to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, a policy position she advocated during her own run for Tory leader over the summer, so the controversial but necessary Rwanda scheme can be started.

Do I believe for a moment a globalist politician like Sunak shares Bravermans world view? Nope.

But his own political future could be determined by whether she succeeds against all odds versus the left, the BBC and the blob.

A shower facility at the Manston processing facility in Kent - where migrants are only expected to stay 24 hours

The numbers make clear why not another week can go by without this problem being tackled. In 2020, there were 8,404 small boat arrivals across the Channel. Last year that increased to 28,526. Already this year that number is at 39,430. But on Saturday a further 1,000 migrants in two dozen boats made the perilous journey.

If Braverman stops these boats, the Tories have a chance of winning the next election.

If the invasion, as she calls it, in language considered intemperate by many even on her own side, grows over the next two years, then Slippery Keir Starmer ends up Prime Minister.

I really do believe its as simple as that.

When Australian PM Tony Abbott triumphed on a policy to 'stop the boats', he introduced a strict turn back policy, with offshore detention for illegal migrants, slashing small boat arrivals from 20,000 to zero in the space of two years, proving it can be done.

Do I believe for a moment a globalist politician like Sunak shares Bravermans world view? Nope. But his own political future could be determined by whether she succeeds against all odds versus the left, the BBC and the blob

While Labour will attempt to make political hay from the current debacle, its a delusion to believe that with Starmer as Prime Minister the arrivals would become anything other than a flood.

In newly unearthed comments from 2015, its emerged the then shadow immigration minister under Jeremy Corbyn tried to ensure that small boats arriving in UK waters could not be pushed back at sea and argued to change laws so Channel migrants with a fear of return could qualify for asylum.

As Rishi Sunak rightly pointed out in PMQs today, a Starmer premiership will herald an open borders policy that would put the very fabric and future of the UK at serious threat.

Its this scenario that gives me hope that Sunak will see political sense and provide his full throttled backing to Braverman to make the changes necessary to bring this crisis to an end.

None of the fellow Sunak wets in his Cabinet have the balls to tackle what is an existential threat to the UK.

Suella does.

Anyone trying to prevent this brave patriot from stopping the boats doesnt believe in whats best for Britain.
Kayla experienced a cryptic pregnancy, which is a mysterious pregnancy that goes unnoticed until very late into her pregnancy or until she gives birth

In a series of viral videos she explained she didn't have any indications she was pregnant and was the 'skinniest she's ever been' and had regular periods

A young college student who gave birth just fifteen minutes after shockingly discovering she was pregnant has revealed she initially went to the doctor because she thought she had 'appendicitis' and ended up in labor.

Kayla Simpson, 21, a student at Indiana University, was shocked to see a baby when her doctors performed an ultrasound after she thought she was suffering from appendicitis because she was having severe cramps and bleeding.

The college student was suffering from what she thought were severe period cramps but showed no signs of pregnancy - and while she thought she'd be leaving the hospital without a appendix, she left with a newborn instead.

Her daughter Madi, one, was born just 15 minutes after the ultrasound was performed, leaving everyone shocked.

Kayla Simpson, 21, an Indiana University student had no idea she was pregnant until she went to the hospital for 'appendicitis' and ended up in labor

The college student was shocked to see a baby when her doctors performed an ultrasound after she thought she was having severe period cramps

Her daughter Madi, one, was born fifteen after the ultrasound was performed, leaving all of Maddi's friends, family and herself confused

@kaylanicolesimpson crazy that a year ago I was 9 months pregnant  Made You Look - Meghan Trainor

How Kayla didn't know she was pregnant until she was in labor: What is a cryptic pregnancy? A cryptic pregnancy is a mysterious pregnancy that goes unnoticed right up until labor begins

It occurs in about one in 475 women

During cryptic pregnancies, symptoms are mild enough to pass as a temporary illness

If someone continues to take birth control while pregnant, they might not experience pregnancy symptoms and therefore have a cryptic pregnancy

Source: Flo.Health Advertisement

In a series of viral videos posted to her TikTok account, the college student explained how she ended up finding out she was about to give birth.

Kayla explained: 'So basically on November 7 at around 12.30 I had really mild period cramps.

'And then they got really bad like 30 minutes later.

'So I called my mom up thinking my appendix is bursting because I'm bleeding a lot.

'It just hurts so bad I could barely talk and barely move.

'But I was walking, so I could walk, I could do anything. I was just in a lot of pain.'

Kayla and her mom then went to the hospital to get her checked out, assuming doctors would remove her appendix.

'I'm thinking my appendix is bursting and the ER doctor pushes on my stomach and he doesn't suspect anything,' she added.

The doctor didn't see any signs of appendicitis, so he thought Kayla may have a cyst and suggested they give her an ultrasound.

During the ultrasound, Kayla's mom spotted 'something familiar' - little baby feet - and the doctors rushed her to the labor ward.

'Next thing I knew, I was screaming in pain and you see like little feet on the ultrasound and I start screaming so loud.'

The doctors came in shortly after and told Kayla she was about to give birth and that she was 10cm dilated.

15 minutes later, Kayla gave birth to her daughter.

@kaylanicolesimpson crazy that a year ago I was 9 months pregnant  Made You Look - Meghan Trainor

During the ultrasound, Kayla's mom spotted 'something familiar' and the doctors rushed her to the labor ward

Kayla experienced a cryptic pregnancy, which is a mysterious pregnancy that goes unnoticed until very late into her pregnancy or until she gives birth

She added that she didn't have a 'bump', was the 'skinniest she'd ever been' and had a regular period all throughout her pregnancy (Kayla is pictured five months pregnant right)

In her viral videos, she explained she had no clue she was pregnant because she didn't experience any pain and even worked a '12-hour double shift' the day before.

She added that she didn't have a 'bump', was the 'skinniest she'd ever been' and had a regular period all throughout her pregnancy.

Kayla only experienced contractions one hour before she gave birth.

Although Kayla was shocked, she was so happy she came home with a healthy baby who became her 'best friend.'

Kayla noted that her family and friends were extremly supportive and added that she nicknamed her daughter 'frat baby' because of how she met Madi's father.

Although Kayla and Madi's father are no longer together, according to Kayla he visits Madi and will help when he can.

Kayla experienced a cryptic pregnancy, which is a mysterious pregnancy that goes unnoticed until very late into her pregnancy or until she gives birth.

According to AmericanPregnancy.org, a cryptic pregnancy, also known as a stealth pregnancy, is when a woman doesnt know shes pregnant either because testing methods fail to detect the pregnancy or she doesn't notice she is experiencing symptoms of pregnancy.

Viewers were shocked to hear Kayla's story and many even described a cryptic pregnancy as their 'worst nightmare'

Research estimates one out of 475 pregnancies may go undetected or unnoticed until the expecting mother is about 20-weeks pregnant.

One in 2,500 cryptic pregnancies arent recognized until the woman goes into labor.

Viewers were shocked to hear Kayla's story and many even described a cryptic pregnancy as their 'worst nightmare.'

One user said: 'Genuinely my one consistent fear is that I've been secretly pregnant for almost four months.'

Another added: 'My worst nightmare.'

'The ultimate ''well that escalated quickly'' story,' commented another user.

'Well your appendicitis is absolutely adorable,' joked another user.
A TV screen shows a file image of North Korea's missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Station in Seoul, Wednesday. AP-Yonhap



The United States condemns North Korea's firing of a missile that landed below the de facto maritime border with South Korea, a state department spokesperson said Wednesday.



The spokesperson also said the U.S. will continue to work with South Korea and other allies to limit North Korea from further advancing its weapons programs.



"The United States condemns the DPRK's ballistic missile launches and its reckless decision to fire a missile below the de facto maritime boundary with the Republic of Korea," the spokesperson told Yonhap News Agency, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.



The North fired three short-range ballistic missiles on Wednesday (Seoul time) in its latest provocation that followed nine earlier rounds of missile launches in roughly one month since late September.



One of the three missiles landed in waters below the Northern Limit Line, marking the first time since the end of 1950-53 Korean War that a North Korean missile crossed the de facto maritime border between the divided Koreas.



Pyongyang fired nearly 20 more missiles into the East and Yellow seas, along with some 100 artillery shots on the day, according to the South Korean military.



"These launches are in violation of multiple United Nations Security Council Resolutions unanimously adopted by the council and threaten peace and stability in the region," the department spokesperson said.



The spokesperson reaffirmed U.S. commitment to engage with the North, but said the U.S. will also work to prevent North Korea from further advancing its weapons programs.



"We continue to seek serious and sustained dialogue with the DPRK, but the DPRK refuses to engage," the spokesperson said.



"Our commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea and Japan remains ironclad and we will continue to work closely with our allies and partners to limit the North's ability to advance its unlawful weapons programs and threaten regional stability," the official added. (Yonhap)


From the distinctive blue and yellow colour scheme to the strangely comforting smell of rows of plastic video cases, anyone who grew up in the 90s will remember the thrill of a trip to Blockbuster in search of a movie.

While the video chain flourished in the 1980s and 1990s it was killed off by streatming services and by 2014, Blockbuster had shut down the last of its corporate-owned stores, and today only one, in Bend, Oregon, remains.

And now, a new Netflix comedy is following the fictional lives of workers employed by the film rental chain's 'last remaining store'.

Titled Blockbuster and released on November 3, the series stars Fresh Off the Boat's Randall Park as store manager Timmy Yoon and Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Melissa Fumero as his long-time crush Eliza.

Here Femail takes a trip down memory lane that will strike a wave of nostalgia in anyone who remembers scouring the aisles, rewinding their tapes and trying to dodge the late return fees.

A new Netflix comedy (pictured) is following the fictional lives of workers employed by Blockbuster's 'last remaining store'

Going strong: This Blockbuster located in Bend, Oregon, is the last Blockbuster location in the world

In 2000, Mr Randolph had offered to sell Netflix to established rival Blockbuster but the offer was rejected. The Netflix founder revealed in his 2019 book that Blockbuster's CEO at the time of the sale offer, John Antioco (seen in 2006), had almost laughed when a $50million price tag was mentioned

The once successful video-store giant traces its roots to a single shop that opened October 1985 in Dallas, Texas.

The founder of the company, David Cook, used the revenue from the first several stores he had opened to build a massive warehouse and expand his growing empire.

In late 1980s, the company was sold for $18.5million to John Melk and Wayne Huizenga, former executives at Waste Management, who greatly expanded the company, opening one store every 24 hours.

In 1992, Blockbuster was the video rental leader, with more than 2,800 stores worldwide. The companys growth was driven by acquisitions of other retailers such as UKs Ritz and American chains Major Video and Erols Video.

The turning point for Blockbuster came in 1997, when Silicon Valley executive Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph launched Netflix, which went public five years later as a DVD-by-mail service.

In 2000, Mr Randolph had offered to sell his firm to established rival Blockbuster but the offer was rejected.

Blockbuster was once the lead video renting franchise boasting 9,000 locations worldwide before going bankrupt in 2010. By 2017 there were 10 remaining in the US (the last remaining store, above, has become something of a tourist spot)

Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings sits in a cart full of ready-to-be-shipped DVDs in 2002. Hasting pitched Blockbuster on buying his company for $50M but was rejected

The Netflix founder revealed in his 2019 book that Blockbuster's CEO at the time of the sale offer, John Antioco, had almost laughed when a $50million price tag was mentioned.

At the time, Blockbuster was the dominant player in the DVD and video rental market. The firm reached its peak in November 2004, with 84,300 employees and 9,094 stores worldwide.

However, whilst Netflix introduced its streaming service in 2007, Blockbuster failed to adapt and its decline was swift. The firm filed for bankruptcy protection in 2010.

The following year, Dish Network bought Blockbuster's 1,700 remaining stores before the last company-owned stores closed in 2013. Blockbuster's 528 stores in Britain were among those that had to close.

Meanwhile, from 2007 onwards, Netflix's popularity ballooned, with the firm widening its usability to the Xbox360, Blu-ray players and TV set-top boxes in 2008.

In 2019, a manager from the last Blockbuster store in the world said it continues to survive because of its loyal pool of older customers who 'can't use Netflix'.

The Chester branch of Blockbuster in the UK, pictured on January 16, 2013

The Bend franchise in Oregon became the last one standing after the worlds penultimate Blockbuster announced it would be closing its doors in Perth, Australia, that year.

And among the reasons for its continued success, along with a community spirit and great customer service, is because some of the older regulars don't have access to, or are unable to use, online streaming services such as Netflix, an employee said.

'Some of them just don't want to access the new culture of technology, and some don't have laptops or devices to stream the sites,' said duty manager Dalton Chambers, who agreed it made sense that the store continues to thrive on DVDs alone because of the technology gap.

'That also goes with things such as Blu-ray DVDs,' Dalton told the DailyMail.com. 'A lot of the older generations also just choose regular DVDs because they don't want to mess with Blu-ray. They don't want to take the chance that it might not work for them.'

But Dalton also pointed to its unique location and customer base as an another reason for the store's historic success.

Titled Blockbuster and released on November 3, the Netflix series boasts Fresh Off the Boat's Randall Park (pictured) as store manager Timmy Yoon and Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Melissa Fumero as his long-time crush Eliza

Speaking to Pop Sugar about his new series, American actor Randall confessed he had mixed feelings about streaming. Pictured, Tyler Alvarez as Carlos in the series

'We're in Bend, Oregon, and here in Oregon a lot of things thrive,' he explained. 'We're a mecca for craft breweries, we're a really outdoorsy town, we're just in the right niche that can keep things thriving.

'People are like "oh, there's the last Blockbuster surviving - let's keep it going!" - that's everyone's personas here - that's our mantra.'

The Bend shop has remained open for more than 20 years, with most of its sales coming in thanks to classic old movie titles.

Speaking to Pop Sugar about his new series, American actor Randall confessed he had mixed feelings about streaming.

He said: 'I love the convenience of streaming. I will say there is something really special about having to work for your content a little bit and making an event out of the actual choice.

'I do long for the simplicity of those times, and as Timmy says, the human interaction that comes with that.

'Talking to the clerk at the store, getting recommendations, giving recommendations, all of those things, in real time. I think it's fun. And it's something that we don't have anymore, unfortunately.'
She is also still with her husband and spends half the week living with him

Danielle's relationship with the woman broke down, but she has a new girlfriend

The pair managed to keep it secret for a year until Justin discovered a text

She 'fell head over heels in love' with the woman and soon started cheating

Danielle betrayed her husband of 28 years with another woman at work

A polyamorous mum-of-two has revealed how she betrayed her husband of 28 years with another woman she met at work, and why she cheated on him for 12 months without him finding out.

Danielle, from Sydney, had been with her partner and the father of her two children for nearly three decades when she met a woman in her office and felt 'immediately attracted to her'.

'I couldn't explain it to anyone, I had done what I was meant to do in life,' she told Zoe Marshall's podcast The Deep.

'I had found the One and built a life around heterosexual monogamy. That's what everything in society tells us to do.'

A polyamorous mum-of-two has revealed how she betrayed her husband of 28 years with another woman she met at work, and why she cheated on him for 12 months (stock image)

Danielle had been with her partner and the father of her two children for nearly three decades when she met a woman in her office and felt 'immediately attracted to her' (stock image)

Soon, one thing led to another and Danielle found herself getting closer to this woman.

Physical closeness led to cuddles and kisses, and she explained that before she knew it she was in a full-blown sexual relationship with the woman.

'I fell head over heels in love with her,' Danielle said.

'To find someone that actually saw me [was brilliant]. I hadn't really seen me and my friends and my partner didn't see me. There was only one person [who saw me]. This was an identity thing.'

Danielle spoke to NRL WAG Zoe Marshall (pictured) and her podcast The Deep

Danielle cheated on her husband Justin for a year without detection before he stumbled upon a text message on her phone from the woman that read 'Do you wish Justin knew?'

With her 'hand forced', Danielle told Justin that she was in love with this woman and that she was polyamorous but also still loved him.

'It was like a tsunami on four people's lives. It blew up instantly,' she explained.

Polyamory: The facts * Polyamory is the practice of engaging in multiple romantic (and typically sexual) relationships, with the consent of all the people involved. * People who are polyamorous can have any sexual orientation, and polyamorous relationships can include people of different sexual orientations. * Unlike open relationships, polyamory is characterised by emotional as well as sexual or romantic intimacy between partners. * In contrast to infidelity or adultery, polyamory is consensual and disclosed to everyone involved. Source: Very Well Mind Advertisement

While her relationship with the woman at work didn't last due to the sheer amount of hurt it caused on four people's lives, Danielle explained that she and Justin have managed to find a way to navigate the murky waters of her polyamory.

Justin - who 'isn't sure' if he is polyamorous yet - has set up a dating profile for Danielle to help her find other polyamorous men and women to date.

Danielle has currently been seeing another woman, J, as well as her husband for the past two years.

'We all hang out together,' Danielle said. 'We have lunches and cook together.'

She spends half of the week at home with Justin and her children, aged 16 and 20, and the other half with J.

To listen to Danielle's full story on The Deep, please click here.
Announcing her divorce, BBC presenter Victoria Fritz revealed she is changing her surname, not back to her maiden name but to her mothers name. Reverting to Trench, the name she was born with, after her marriage felt emotionally regressive and, quite frankly, anti-feminist, the 38- year-old mother-of-two said. Taking her Dubliner mothers maiden name, Valentine, was a tribute to the Irish strength and solidarity that has scaffolded me as I quietly rebuilt . . . when my heart was broken. Here, five exwives reveal what their names mean to them  and whether or not they kept them.

HAROLD GAVE ME PINTER BUT THE NAME THAT TRULY MATTERS IS MY OWN

By Antonia Fraser

I have had four names, all precious to me. But only one name has stuck by me for 90 years through thick and thin. That is my first name, Antonia.

I was named after a novel by Willa Cather, My Antonia, which my mother was reading at the time. The name Antonia was extremely unusual in England in the 1930s.

But I loved the name when I was young  apart from a few blips, like when the manager of Fenwicks hat department, where I worked aged 17, said that Antonia was a ridiculous name. You shall be Miss Tony, he declared.

I have had four names, all precious to me. But only one name has stuck by me for 90 years through thick and thin. That is my first name, Antonia (Pictured: Antonia Fraser)

Actually, a woman of my generation was extremely lucky to have an unusual name, because it was totally assumed she would change her surname when she married. Which duly happened in September 1956 when I married Hugh Fraser at the age of 24.

Not that I didnt have trouble with my maiden name of Pakenham. Packenham, like pack a case I used to say wearily.

Being called Antonia Pakenham was quite a mouthful. Altogether it was thrilling to be called Fraser.

When I wrote my first work of history, Mary Queen of Scots, in 1969, it was as Antonia Fraser. It wasnt a pen name: it was my name and I embarked on a happy reign of signing books as Antonia Fraser.

Then in 1975, my life was joined with Harold Pinters. For six years we lived together without being married. This led to one strange scene at Tel Aviv Airport in 1978.

Every detail of a passport and the bearers travel arrangements was examined. I still remember the moment when the (female) Israeli soldier went laboriously through our passports and then said slowly: Pinter, Fraser, why are you travelling together? Harold, flinging his arms wide and engaging (it seemed) the attention of the whole airport, declared at the top of his fine sonorous voice: Were lovers. All this time, I retained my identity as Antonia Fraser more strongly than ever.

Finally, we were able to get married in 1980. I was so happy and so proud to change my name legally to Pinter. The name Antonia Pinter seemed to express perfectly our union, which we had waited so long to achieve. Harold had given me his name.

But it never occurred to me for one moment to change my writing name. Antonia Fraser had written Mary Queen of Scots and would go on writing  my 30th book is due out next year.

Nowadays, for legal purposes, passport and health forms, I am Antonia Fraser Pinter. After Harold died, I didnt want to lose his precious name which he had given me. But in public, my writing name remains unchanged.

Except these days people have been known to stop me and say: Hey, didnt you used to be Antonia Fraser?

The answer is: Hey, why dont you buy one of my books and Ill sign it.

I STILL BEAR THE NAME OF MY ABSENT STEPFATHER

By Stacey Duguid

My name has been bothering me greatly ever since I can remember. My surname feels alien. Temporary, not mine. Thats probably because it isnt. I was three years old when Mum left my genetic father, the man whose surname features on my birth certificate.

And it was three years later when I took the name of my stepfather, the man who eventually became Dad.

Single, living back in her parents bungalow and sharing a bed with her three-year-old, Mum took a job working on a till in a supermarket. At work, she met a very Scottish Mr Duguid, manager of the store.

They married and, aged six when my brother came along, our family became three Duguids plus me.

My name has been bothering me greatly ever since I can remember. My surname feels alien. Temporary, not mine. Thats probably because it isnt. I was three years old when Mum left my genetic father, the man whose surname features on my birth certificate (Pictured: Stacey Duguid)

I felt out of place, not that I knew it, until the receptionist of a hotel with a checklist of names delivered an innocent enough remark. And, we have, erm, this cant be right, one extra person, not Duguid?

My name was changed that day and, 41 years later, despite my mother splitting from my stepfather when I was 21, his surname appears on every document of my life.

Until he remarried, he was my everything. But it means I havent seen the dad I loved dearly for over 20 years. It hurts so much I havent been able to face it. Until the day I had to.

I never set out to marry. I wanted children, a future with someone. But marriage? That was never part of the plan. But then, suddenly, it was, and in 2018 I married the father of my two children. Its what happened 20 minutes before I made my way down the aisle thats most interesting to me. An argument with the Marylebone registrar over who should be named on my marriage certificate became so heated that I believed the whole wedding would be called off.

A mothers name cannot go on a marriage certificate, they told me. It can only be a father or stepfather. Whose name would you like to add? Neither I heard myself say, my vision blurred, my head spinning.

My mother raised me. Its this womans name I want on the certificate, not theirs, I said, angrily.

This is the patriarchy and Im having none of it, were the last words I remember saying as tears flowed down my cheeks from sheer frustration. I knew Id never take a mans surname again.

Officially divorced as of this year, even if wed stayed together for ever, I never would have taken my husbands surname. A third name to add to the other two? Pointless.

For many, surnames provide a sense of belonging, but not for me. Im so peeved, Im considering being Stacey Stardust. Its almost as snappy as Victoria Valentine.

'HOLLYWOOD' WASN'T BORROWED, IT BECAME MINE

By Alex Hollywood

When I married The Great British Bake Off judge Paul 25 years ago, I never questioned ditching my maiden name  Moores  and taking the name Hollywood. It just seemed the natural thing to do when starting a life together.

My ex wasnt remotely famous back then and, when my son was born, everyone having the same name felt right.

I do think we grow into our names over the years. They become part of who we are. And when I made the decision to end our marriage, I simply wasnt the girl I used to be all those years ago.

When I married The Great British Bake Off judge Paul 25 years ago, I never questioned ditching my maiden name  Moores  and taking the name Hollywood. It just seemed the natural thing to do when starting a life together (Pictured: Alex Hollywood)

Too much had happened and it didnt feel like the right thing to do to hand my name back like a ring or a car. I hadnt borrowed it; it had become mine.

The deciding factor was my sons concern that he and I would no longer share the same name, rather as if I were divorcing him as well as his father.

It was important for both of us that my name stayed the same.

Im also an established food writer with two books under my name. I was writing as Alex Hollywood long before the divorce.

Furthermore, I couldnt face having to change every piece of documentation I owned or needing to have birth certificates and a proof of name change to hand over to officials whenever I took my son on holiday.

Divorce is a horrendous experience, as anyone who has been through it knows only too well.

It knocks the stuffing out of you and, when the dust settles, making a change can be exhilarating. So I completely understand how some women can feel liberated with a name change, distancing themselves from their previous life to start afresh.

I respect Victoria for her decision. But in my case, the situation is slightly different.

Because of media interest in my exs life, it really makes no difference what I choose to call myself  stories will inevitably arise.

The bottom line is what you call yourself is up to you. Do whatever suits the strong, independent woman youve become.

For me, my name reflects who I am now: a food writer and a mother.

My name is my name, and I wouldnt want to change a thing.

I DIVORCED MY HUSBAND - NOT MY CHILDREN

By Jane Gordon

As a young, rather naive woman I had an idealistic view of marriage. When I married, aged 22, I thought I was in our union until death us do part and taking this man as my lawfully wedded husband meant also taking his name. Besides, I had no particular affection for my maiden name  Ryan  and had, long before we were engaged, been fancifully trying out my new signature as Jane Gordon.

I had not yet established any career that might have necessitated holding on to my old name and I thought, blissfully old-fashioned as I was, that marriage was in itself my primary career.

In many ways my adult identity was forged in my marriage, which would endure for 25 years and produce three much-loved children: Bryony, Naomi and Rufus. Along the way I built up a career as a journalist with a byline that came to feel much more me than my long forgotten maiden name.

When I married, aged 22, I thought I was in our union until death us do part and taking this man as my lawfully wedded husband meant also taking his name (Pictured: Jane Gordon)

Our divorce will always be a source of sadness and regret for me. But the idea of renouncing the surname I shared with my children was unthinkable; I divorced my husband, not my children.

For practical as well as emotional reasons it was important to maintain the name that would for ever link me to my ex-husband. It was essential that I remained, like them, a Gordon.

Moving on, and eventually moving in, with my partner of ten years (we never married) did not and could not wipe out the heritage I shared with my children. Had we married, or indeed should I ever marry again, I would still keep that name to honour the family we still  despite the divorce  remain.

Times have changed since I walked down the aisle. The tradition of taking the mans name seems oddly archaic and anti-feminist now. But the trend for adopting a hybrid marital name that creates more and more double  sometimes triple  barrelled surnames seems an unnecessary faff as well. So what to do? My daughters are much more aware of the dominance of the patriarchy than I ever was. The elder one enjoys a professional and private double life, working under her maiden name but privately using her husbands name. The younger, engaged for five years, favours the altogether more modern idea of a civil partnership, which would allow her to keep her own name.

Meanwhile my son, now 30 and single, is very much pro-feminist and could well end up taking the name of his future wife instead.

MY SECOND HUSBAND TOOK MY MAIDEN NAME

By Adele Parks

I have been married for 18 years, yet I never took my husbands surname. This raises eyebrows. Then, when I reveal that on our third wedding anniversary my husband Jim presented me with a deed poll document that said he had changed his surname to mine, people often react with apoplectic shock and horror.

Its a daily occurrence that women change their names, but a man relinquishing his family name to take his wifes is still considered peculiar. I thought Jims decision was an impressive and powerful move, but we find even now we regularly have to explain why.

He didnt have a weird surname that I was avoiding. When I met him, he was Jim Pride, which I thought was truly awesome. My surname, Parks, isnt especially emotive, but it is easy to spell and crucially its mine.

Adele Pride sounded lovely but not absolutely real, perhaps a little remote. I was 35 when I married Jim, maybe a little old for reinvention (Pictured: Adele Pride)

I met Jim when my son had just turned one and I was divorcing. I never took my first husbands name  we had briefly played with double-barrelling, but it hadnt stuck and the moment we separated I reverted to Adele Parks.

A couple of years later, Jim and I eloped to Vegas. Immediately afterwards people started to refer to us as Mr and Mrs Pride. But it felt strange to me.

Adele Pride sounded lovely but not absolutely real, perhaps a little remote. I was 35 when I married Jim, maybe a little old for reinvention. Importantly, I realised that if I changed my name, my son Conrad would have to change his, too.

So we remained Jim Pride, Adele Parks and Conrad Parks for a few years. I cant pretend I was 100 per cent comfortable with that. I felt we lacked something ethereal and indefinable as a family unit.

I felt the appeal of having a team name. We considered double-barrelling. But both Pride-Parks or Parks-Pride sounded a little try-too-hard.

Then Jim suggested changing his name; as two of the three of us were already Parks, it was the democratic thing to do.

Strangely, I felt some level of regret. I fell in love with the heroic Jim Pride; I didnt want to lose any aspect of him. Would Mr Parks for ever remind me of my dad and granddad? I associate my dad with childhood, rules and dependence; Jim is all about maturity, freedom and independence.

I wondered whether others would judge us  I didnt want Jim to get unnecessary flak. However, Jim doesnt care what others think, so he went ahead and changed it.

Ive noticed that when I tell other women our story, they are often impressed. They look at Jim with admiration, whereas many men look horrified. I see them mentally cross their legs, convinced Im the sort of woman that secretly dreams of castration.

Im really not; I am the sort of woman who not-so-secretly dreams of equality.
The brand is popular on Instagram, where it has amassed nearly 4m followers

But some were preoccupied by how small the entry door to the shop is

The brand is popular with image-conscious teenage girls and sells just one size

Fashion lovers have discovered that Brandy Melville is coming to Melbourne

Fashion lovers and shoppers are going wild after discovering that the popular teen fashion empire Brandy Melville is coming to Melbourne.

TikTok user Bella Plunkett first noticed a Brandy Melville Coming Soon shopfront store sign in South Yarra on Tuesday, and quickly shared her findings with her TikTok followers.

'For all my Melbourne Size 6 girlies,' she posted, alongside a video of the Coming Soon store.

While some were excited about the arrival of the store, writing things like 'is this for real' and 'screaming - can't wait', many were preoccupied by the size of the small door to get in.

Scroll down for video

Fashion lovers and shoppers are going wild after discovering that the popular teen fashion empire Brandy Melville is coming to Melbourne (pictured)

Brandy Melville is a popular clothing brand that was first launched in Italy in 1994, but became popular in the US in the early 2000s (clothing from Brandy Melville pictured)

'Did I see a small door?' one person commented.

'Help. I think it's if you can pass the size 6 test or not,' another added.

'Indeed you did. Great observation,' a third wrote.

The clothing store is most famous for its controversial sizing model known as 'one size fits most' which only goes up to a size 6 (clothing pictured)

Popular with Kylie Jenner, Brandy Melville is a clothing brand that was first launched in Italy in 1994, but became big in the US in the early 2000s.

The vast majority of the clothing items the brand sells are designed to fit a tiny AU size 4-6, which has meant it has become popular with image-conscious young teenage girls.

The clothing store is most famous for its controversial sizing model known as 'one size fits most' which only goes up to a size 6.

The brand is incredibly popular on Instagram, where it shows both the clothes (pictured) and so-called 'Brandy girls' that fit the stereotypical California girl aesthetic

The brand is most popular on Instagram, where it has amassed nearly four million followers, and features models known as 'Brandy girls' that fit the stereotypical California girl aesthetic of blonde, thin and white.

Brandy Melville already has one hugely successful Australian outpost in Sydney's Westfield Bondi Junction, but the Melbourne store would mark a first foray into Victoria.

The clothing store has nearly 100 store locations worldwide and surpassed an annual global revenue of $250 million as of 2019.
Elle Ferguson uses a wooden spoon and glove to apply tan to her back

These include how to nail a flawless fake tan on your back and get a great pony

Beauty buffs have revealed the main tips and tricks every woman needs to know

Beauty insiders including Charlotte Tilbury and skincare mogul Zoe Foster-Blake have shared their top beauty tips every woman should know to look and feel her best.

Tips include how to nail a flawless fake tan on your back, the item to carry with you for a 3pm pick-me-up and the simple three-step process to get the perfect ponytail at home.

Speaking to beauty brand Mecca, the Mecca Skincare Education Manager Lucy Shaw explained that her top tip is that you should have a separate face and body towel, particularly if you're suffering with breakouts.

'Our body towels get damp in the bathroom thanks to the moisture and heat and it's the perfect place for bacteria to thrive, so it's best not to be exposing your face to that,' she told the publication.

Beauty insiders including Charlotte Tilbury and skincare mogul Zoe Foster-Blake shared their top beauty tips every woman should know to look and feel her best (Phoebe Dynevor pictured)

Carry cream blush at all times

For those struggling with looking tired after lunch, Mecca's Customer Education Lead Francesca Hyde recommends you have a cream blusher such as Charlotte Tilbury's Beauty Light Wand with you at all times.

'I have always kept a cream blush in my bag, it's the perfect 3pm pick me up,' she said.

'Simply dab onto your cheeks, blend, then tap any remaining product onto your lips - no mirror required. You'll feel refreshed in 10 seconds flat!'

The co-founder of Glow Recipe Christine Chang recommends you gently press your products in to 'help drive the product deeper into the skin' (skincare pictured)

Press your skincare in

While many of us rush to apply our skincare first thing in the morning and last thing at night, the co-founder of Glow Recipe Christine Chang recommends you gently press your products in to 'help drive the product deeper into the skin'.

This works particularly well with serums and moisturisers, and should give dehydrated skin a quick boost.

You could also employ a bit of facial massage with your products to give your skin a real at-home treatment.

Elle Ferguson's number one fake tan trick is to place your applicator on the top of a wooden spoon and secure it with an elastic band to do your back (pictured)

Use a wooden spoon to do your tan

Founder of the Elle Effect Elle Ferguson is known for her honey golden tan.

And she has one simple trick to make sure she nails it every time.

'My number one trick is to place your applicator on the top of a wooden spoon and secure it with an elastic band. You then have an extra-long arm to apply your tan to your back!' she said.

When it comes to tan, celebrity tanner James Read explained that you should also exfoliate and shave or wax at least 24 hours before applying any product.

Use a cotton bud to fix mistakes

When it comes to makeup, even the best of the best make mistakes.

So Charlotte Tilbury recommends you dip a cotton bud in a little of her world-renowned Magic Cream moisturiser when doing winged eyeliner in order to clean up any mistakes.

Zoe Foster-Blake said while people often think when the weather gets cooler they need to add in a thicker moisturiser, in fact it's your serum that does the 'heavy lifting' (pictured)

Add in serum

Founder of Go-To Skincare Zoe Foster-Blake said while people often think when the weather gets cooler they need to add in a thicker moisturiser, in fact it's your serum that does the 'heavy lifting'.

'Adding in a hyaluronic acid serum and using your regular moisturiser could actually have a lot more benefits than turning to something really thick that could clog your pores,' Zoe said.

Go-To's Much Plumper Skin, which includes peptides, provitamin B5 and four types of hyaluronic acid, is one great option.

When it comes to ponytails (Molly Mae pictured), Sam McKnight recommends hairspray on your brush and brushing away from your face into the ponytail

How to get the perfect ponytail

Celebrity hairdresser Sam McKnight said there are three things he recommends women do for the perfect ponytail.

But, most importantly, he said women should do their own ponytail because they can pull it really tight to get it in the right position.

'Use a soft, small natural bristle brush to smooth over the surface and hairline so you don't get those deep "tramlines",' he explained.

Then, spray hairspray onto the brush and brush away from your face into the ponytail.

'Finally, give it a blast of spray all over so that it stays down,' he said.
Miss Argentina and Miss Puerto Rico have announced they tied the knot in secret after claiming they've been in a 'private' relationship for two years.

Mariana Varela, 26, from Argentina, and Fabiola Valentin, 22, from Puerto Rico, first met in 2020 when they represented their counties in the Miss Grand International competition.

Before sharing their surprise news on Instagram, the newlyweds - who never confirmed they were dating - only ever gushed about their 'friendship' on social media.

Announcing that they'd tied the knot, both models shared the same Reel with their combined Instagram following of 233,000.

In the 30-second video, the couple began by sharing snippets from their travels - including a clip of them cuddling up on Jobos beach in Puerto Rico and enjoying a romantic boat ride in Mexico.

Mariana Varela (left), 26, from Argentina, and Fabiola Valentin (right), 22, from Puerto Rico, announced they have tied the knot earlier this week. The models wed at the Marriage Bureau in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on October 28

The couple - who have a combined Instagram following of 233,000 - shared a highlights video from their relationship. It included a clip from the evening they decided to get engaged

The pair first met in 2020 when they represented their counties in the Miss Grand International competition

The video shared clips from their travels all over South America in the past two years. The couple had only ever hinted at their romance before announcing they were married

The video - which has racked up over 1.8m views in three days - then jumps forward to the night where they got engaged.

The clip shows the couple's apartment filled with an assortment of red and white balloons, rose petals and fairy lights.

Gold balloons reading 'Marry Me?' have been placed in front of the window before the video jumps to a clip of Fabiola placing a ring on Mariana's finger.

The newlyweds chose have almost identical silver engagement rings - featuring a cushioned-set diamond on a pave band.

The newlyweds chose have almost identical silver engagement rings - featuring a cushioned-set diamond on a pave band. The Instagram Reel showed them celebrating their engagement afterwards

The newlyweds' video features a clip of them cuddling up on Jobos beach in Puerto Rico

Fabiola - pictured in 2022 - represented Argentina in the 2019 Miss Universe competition before then making it through to the Top 10 of Miss Grand International 2020

The video ends with the couple sharing a kiss outside the Marriage Bureau in San Juan where they tied the knot on October 28.

While Fabiola opted for a white blazer dress with fringed skirt, her new wife Mariana wore a white jacket and black trousers for the occasion.

The newlyweds captioned the clip: 'After deciding to keep our relationship private, we opened the doors to them on a special day.'

The shared post has amassed over 128,000 'likes' since it was posted earlier this week and fans were quick to congratulate the pair on their happy news.

Mariana - pictured on holiday in 2022 - was crowned Miss Argentina in 2019

The couple - pictured before their 2022 wedding - captioned the video: 'After deciding to keep our relationship private, we opened the doors to them on a special day.'

The pair - who have been known each for two years - thanked fans for 'all the love' on their video. Pictured: the couple pose for a selfie in August 2022

One replied: 'Omg! Congratulations sisters! Lovelovelove!'

Another added: 'CONGRATULATIONS!! Many blessings to you!"

'Congratulations beautiful, a third wrote. 'God bless your union and long live love!!!!'

Blown away by the response their post received, Mariana wrote on her Instagram Stories: 'Thanks for all the love! We are very happy and blessed.

'I wish you that the love you are giving us is multiplied! Endless thanks.'

Before this week, the pair only seem to have hinted at their romance on social media.

Fabiola represented Puerto Rico in the 2019 Miss Universe competition before then making it through to the Top 10 of Miss Grand International 2020

According to Hola , Mariana also made it through to the final of the competition after being crowned Miss Argentina in 2019

The two lovebirds first met in 2020 during the Miss Grand International competition and kept their relationship hidden

Wishing her now-wife a happy birthday earlier this year, Fabiola wrote: 'Thank you for making me part of your life and accomplice of your happiness.

'You are a priceless treasure and I hope to keep our friendship forever.'

Fabiola represented Puerto Rico in the 2019 Miss Universe competition before then making it through to the Top 10 of Miss Grand International 2020.

According to Hola, Mariana also made it through to the final of the competition after being crowned Miss Argentina in 2019.
A woman feared her lips would 'burst' like 'humongous sausages' after an allergic reaction to filler dissolver.

Adriana Thomas, from Brisbane, had been getting lip filler once or twice a year for the last seven years when she finally decided to get her 'migrated, ducky pout' dissolved.

The 26-year-old says she has never suffered a reaction to filler and so expected getting it dissolved to go smoothly as well, especially since she didn't have a reaction to the patch test.

Adriana Thomas, from Brisbane, Australia, feared her lips would 'burst' like 'humongous sausages' after an allergic reaction to filler dissolver

But after the dissolver was injected into her lips she says she felt them swelling immediately and within minutes they had quadrupled in size, leaving her hardly able to talk.

Adriana joked this dramatic change in her appearance left her looking like the giant-lipped cartoon character Fungus from Disney Pixar's Monsters Inc.

The lash artist is now sharing shocking photos of her extreme reaction in October 2021 to warn people about the risks that come with dissolving filler.

Adriana said: 'I went to this really big fancy cosmetic clinic and I had originally gone there to get them topped up because it had been about six months since I had them filled.

She had been getting lip filler once or twice a year for the last seven years when she finally decided to get her 'migrated, ducky pout' dissolved

After the dissolver was injected into her lips she says she felt them swelling immediately and within minutes they had quadrupled in size, leaving her hardly able to talk

'I was speaking to the cosmetic nurse about the fact that I didn't really like the shape of my lips.

'I'd been to a different cosmetic clinic previously and they had made my lips quite ducky - it was just too pouty, like sticking out and the filler had migrated above my lips as well.

'She suggested that we dissolve the filler and start fresh so I was like 'yeah that's fine, we can do that'.

'She did a patch test on my arm just to make sure I wasn't allergic to it - she injected the dissolver into my arm and there was literally no reaction at all.

'So we went ahead and she put it into my lips and I could just feel them start swelling and getting bigger and bigger.

The lash artist is now sharing shocking photos of her extreme reaction in October 2021 to warn people about the risks that come with dissolving filler

Adriana joked this dramatic change in her appearance left her looking like the giant-lipped cartoon character Fungus from Disney Pixar's Monsters Inc

'I just remember seeing the cosmetic nurse's face, she was giving me a weird look and I was thinking 'what is going on?'

'She called in some other nurses to come have a look and I could tell they were trying not to laugh and just knew something was wrong.

'They asked me to get up and have a look in the mirror. I looked in the mirror and screamed - I looked ridiculous, I just couldn't believe what I was seeing was real.

'My lips were probably like four times their normal size. They were humongous.

'I looked like a cartoon character. It was one of the scariest things I've ever seen. I didn't know it was humanly possible for my lips to swell to that size.

'I joked to my friends and said it's like I have sausage lips - like two big sausages, that's what it looked like.

The cosmetic clinic nurses an antihistamine tablet first which calmed the swelling enough that she was sent home

Within 24 hours the swelling had completely subsided and she was left with just bruising for the next week

Adriana's swelling started to go down but she was left with bruising around her mouth and lips which lasted a week

'My friend actually said 'you look like Fungus from Monsters Inc.' and I was like yes that's what I look like. It was pretty bad.'

As Adriana's lips continued to swell, she says the cosmetic clinic nurses began considering calling an ambulance or administering an EpiPen due to the severity of her reaction.

But they opted to try giving her an antihistamine tablet first which calmed the swelling enough that she was sent home after an hour and a half and told to check in again later.

Within 24 hours the swelling had completely subsided and she was left with just bruising for the next week.

The dermal filler type that is most commonly used is Hyaluronic acid dermal filler which is dissolvable filler.

To dissolve the filler Hyalurodidase enzyme is injection into the problematic areas.

Adriana said: 'I could tell they were getting a bit worried. They asked me to come into a waiting room and came back ten minutes later to see if the swelling had gone down.

The lash artist started getting lip filler at 19 years old due to always 'loving the look of bigger lips' compared to her naturally 'thin' lips

Adriana consistently got her lips done once or twice a year depending on the type and thickness of the filler she went for each time which gave her confidence

'It hadn't - it just kept getting bigger and bigger by every minute.

'I could feel my skin starting to stretch and I was so afraid my lips were going to burst - it felt like my skin was ripping apart.

'It was very uncomfortable and tight - I could barely talk, there was no movement in my lips and when I tried to drink some water it just dribbled out of my mouth.

'I called them back in and said 'this is getting worse, is there anything you can do for the swelling'.

'They said 'you're having a really bad allergic reaction so we might have to call an ambulance or give you an EpiPen but if you want we can give you an antihistamine and see if that helps at all'.

Adriana admitted that once she started getting lip filler it was 'hard to stop' as she liked the look of a fuller lip

She had one millilitre of filler each time for seven years before deciding to dissolve them and start fresh

Adriana has since had just 0.5ml of filler reinjected into her lips to build a more subtle look which she is happy with

'So I was like 'okay let's try that first' - they gave me an antihistamine and it took about an hour and a half for the swelling to start going down.'

The lash artist started getting lip filler at 19 years old due to always 'loving the look of bigger lips' compared to her naturally 'thin' lips and admits that once she started it was 'hard to stop'.

She then consistently got them done once or twice a year depending on the type and thickness of the filler she went for each time.

She had one millilitre of filler each time for seven years before deciding to dissolve them and start fresh and has since had just 0.5ml of filler reinjected to build a more subtle look.

Adriana admits that she did not expect the dissolving procedure to be so painful or the shocking reaction that followed and now hopes to warn others to do their research about cosmetic injectables.

Adriana said: 'I've never had any trouble with filler so I was like 'what harm can dissolver do?' but I was wrong.

'I'd say definitely do your research and look into it - I didn't do that and I wish I had.

'Definitely assess your pain limit because I didn't know how painful it was going to be but it was probably one of the most excruciating things I've ever done in my life.

'Make sure you go to the right place and that you've seen the cosmetic nurse's work.'
She attended the Opera prima: Ciudad de Tudela at the Moncayo cinema

Queen Letizia of Spain flashes some leg as she donned a chic 112 check skirt which features a large cut out as she attended a Film Festival in Navarra.

The royal, 50, was effortlessly elegant in a black long sleeved polo top which she paired with the fashion forward skirt for Opera prima: Ciudad de Tudela at the Moncayo cinema.

She completed her show stopping H&M x TOGA checked skirt with black stilettos and a chic leather handbag.

Queen Letizia of Spain flashes some leg as she donned a chic 112 check skirt which features a large cut out as she attended Opera prima: Ciudad de Tudela Film Festival in Navarra

The Spanish queen's brunette locks were styled in a sleek centre parting which she pulled behind her ears.

Looking typically stylish, she opted for a glamorous make-up look, with a brown smokey eye and a glossy lipstick.

She added a bit more glamour by accessorising with small diamond cuff earrings.

The beauty attended the Opera Prima Film Festival Ciudad de Tudela which is a contest specialised in first national feature films.

The royal, 50, was effortlessly elegant in a black long sleeved polo top which she paired with the fashion forward skirt

She completed her show stopping look with black stilettos and a chic leather handbag to match

The Spanish queen's brunette locks were styled in a sleek centre parting which she pulled behind her ears

Opera Prima's objective is promoting, publicising and rewarding the first works made in Spanish cinema throughout the year.

It comes after Letizia was joined by King Felipe VI and their daughter Princess Leonor last week as they visited the winner of the Exemplary Town of Asturias Award.

The Spanish royal family visited the parish of Cadaveu in Valdes to celebrate the Princess of Asturias accolade, which is now in its 33rd year.

It is given to the town or village in Asturias 'that has stood out in a notable way in the defence and conservation of its natural, environmental setting, its historical and cultural heritage'.

The beauty met with crowds of people who gathered outside the film festival to greet the Queen

Looking typically stylish, she opted for a glamorous make-up look, with a brown smokey eye and a glossy lipstick

Queen Letizia oozed confidence as she waved at crowds of fans before making her way into the festival

The Spanish Queen flaunted her toned legs as she donned a quirky cut out detail on her stunning skirt

The awards share their name with Princess Leonor, who is the Princess of Asturias.

Queen Letizia opted for smart casual for the outing, in a striped black and white T-shirt and black tailored trousers. She completed her look with black leather shoes.

The royal wore her brunette locks loose for the occasion, and kept her make-up natural as she greeted locals and spoke with children in traditional dress.

Her eldest daughter Princess Leonor, 16, was just as stylish as her mother in a bright pink jumper and off-white cargo trousers. She swept her blonde hair back into a ponytail.

Leonor - who has a younger sister, Sofia - has been studying at UWC Atlantic College in Wales since September 2021, but returned home to Spain for half term.

Letizia beamed and waved at the crowds as she made her way into the venue for the film festival

She added a bit more glamour by accessorising with small diamond and gold cuff earrings and a slew of rings

Letizia appeared in great spsirts as she beamed before the Opera prima: Ciudad de Tudela Film Festival at the Moncayo cinema

King Felipe VI of Spain, Crown Princess Leonor and Queen Letizia visit to Cadavedo, which has been honoured as the 2021 Best Asturian Village

It comes after the Spanish royal family met with victors of the Princess of Asturias Awards in Oviedo, in the Principality of Asturias in the north of the country.

The Princess of Asturias Awards are a series of annual prizes awarded in Spain by the Princess of Asturias Foundation - previously the Prince of Asturias Foundation - to individuals, entities or organisations from around the world who make notable achievements in the sciences, humanities and public affairs.

Each recipient present at the ceremony receives a diploma, a sculpture expressly created for the awards by Spanish sculptor Joan Miro, and a pin with the emblem of the Foundation.

There is also a monetary prize of 50,000 euros for each category, this amount is shared if the category has more that one recipient.
785,000 followers that both he and Greta had been subjected to abuse

Broadcaster Jeremy Vine has revealed that he's been targeted with 'disgraceful' abuse after posting a photo of himself with Great Thunberg, saying he was 'honoured' to meet her.

The Radio 2 lunchtime presenter told his 785,000 followers on Twitter that he was shocked at how angry the response to the photo - which was taken following an interview with Thunberg, 19, on his radio show on Monday - was.

Yesterday, Vine, told his followers: 'Why has this tweet made some people so angry? And some of them even sending disgraceful messages to Greta Thunberg.'

Scroll down for video

The BBC Radio 2 host interviewed the climate change campaigner on his Monday show, and shared this photograph of the pair together afterwards saying he was 'honoured' to meet her

The question sparked dozens of messages, many in support of the Swedish activist, while others took umbrage with the fact that Vine, 57, had used the word 'honoured' when describing the meeting with the teenager.

One user, @rhderryman, wrote: 'Because she talks at us like we have never heard of climate change. We know and most people are doing something. And people like the King would wipe the floor with her patronising rants.'

Another, @Hells4Heroes chimed in: 'Although she may be useful for getting children onboard with her message, she does not have one single qualification to her name regarding climate change.

'There are plenty of experts you could interview, she is not one of them.'

@Dominquetaegon added: 'I don't know why you're honoured. She's a kid being taken advantage of by adults. She isn't qualified and many of the things she says are demonstrably false.'

Many defended Greta's work, saying politicians weren't acting quick enough on climate change.

Match of the Day host @GaryLineker posted: 'Bewildering how a young woman is attacked for trying to save human beings from extinction.'

@_James_Sansome_ wrote: 'I couldn't care how long they have taken to get to where they are now or who they are. All we should care about is if they grow a pair and do what's right for the future of our planet by making meaningful change. Without a liveable planet we don't have anything.'

@FulhamLes penned: 'The current heads of state havent made a very good job of looking after the planet. Perhaps a non-political youngster speaking with honesty and integrity (sadly lacking in most leaders) is the answer.'

During a short interview on his radio programme, the pair discussed how Greta coped with being known the world over, with the 19-year-old telling him that Sweden doesn't have a 'celebrity culture' so dealing with global fame has been particularly difficult.

She explained how her school protests 'blew up', saying: 'For anyone that age to experience that, it's hard to put it into words, it's such an extraordinary thing to go through, especially when you don't expect anything.

'In Sweden we don't have a celebrity culture at all and people weren't talking about it, so I didn't know. It was more when I went abroad in 2019, that I thought "This is big".

When I saw school strikes in other countries and when millions flooded the streets, we thought to ourselves "what have we started?'"

In September, Jeremy Vine revealed that his stalker, Alex Belfield, 42, had been sentenced to five and a half years in jail for stalking the presenter and three other victims in the broadcasting world by waging a relentless campaign of harassment against them online.

Belfield posted YouTube videos attacking his victims to his 350,000 subscribers and aggressively posted about them on social media, encouraging his followers to do the same.

Belfield posted the videos on his YouTube channel with over 350,000 subscribers

The judge in his trial at Nottingham Crown Court said one of his victims came close to killing himself.

BBC presenter Vine was subject to a years-long stream of abuse and harassment, and has said he feared someone would have died if the courts had not intervened.

Belfield also harassed theatre blogger Philip Dehany and BBC Radio Northampton presenter Bernard Spedding for years, with his followers sending Mr Spedding death threats.

Jeremy Vine blasted social media companies YouTube and Twitter for not taking down abusive and defamatory videos made by Belfield, and allowing him to keep his account even after being imprisoned.

The day he was sentenced, Belfield uploaded a compilation of his home videos and clips from his live show on his 'Voice of Reason' channel entitled 'Back Soon'.

The stalker posted the ominous message in the description of a video posted on the day he was sentenced to five and a half years in jail

The description added: 'We'll be back.'

Speaking to BBC Newsnight, Mr Vine said he was 'disgusted by the lack of values of the social media companies' in not acting to stop 'fountain of hate' Belfield.

Mr Vine added the abuse was so serious he feared 'someone taking a knife or even acid to my home'.

He said: 'I'm amazed how hard it is to get them to realise. We went to Youtube and said "Come on, you know what was going on with this guy, you can't just allow him to defame."

'Then we say "ok, there's a libel action now based on that video, that video", they still won't take them down.

'Eventually I had to go through a lawyer, they take down individual videos and then when he's convicted they demonetise him.

'But half the videos about me are still out there. His technique was to say copy and share.

'So you'll have someone who takes his video in Moscow and hosts it and it'll always be out there. I've got to live with that.

'But the fact that Youtube hosts this stuff, they have no responsibility. They don't care, they don't give a toss.

'I am disgusted by their lack of values, and Twitter as well.

'The guy is in prison and he's still got a Twitter account. What the hell is that about? I don't understand it.
An educator and motivational speaker with ties to Beyonce has revealed she will appear on Meghan Markle's podcast next week.

Kasiopia Moore, the principal of Campbell Hall, a well-known middle school in Los Angeles, shared the news on her Instagram account yesterday, along with a picture of her and the Duchess of Sussex.

Meghan, 41, looked typically stylish in the candid snap. Another picture shared by Kasi on her Instagram story showed Prince Harry's wife looking relaxed and sharing a laugh with her podcast guest.

Kasiopia, who goes by Kasi, is also a director of a mentorship programme at the Where Art Can Occur Theatre in North LA, which was founded by Tina Knowles-Lawson and Richard Lawson, Beyonce's mother and stepfather.

Kasiopia Moore, the principal of Campbell Hall, a well-known middle school in Los Angeles, has revealed on her Instagram account yesterday that she will appear on Meghan Markle's podcast next week. She shared the news along with a picture of her and the Duchess of Sussex

Sharing the news on her Instagram story, Kasi wrote: 'See you next week, boo! It's official we are besties.'

The picture showed the motivational speaker and Meghan laughing together, with the sticker 'royally obsessed' pasted on the snap.

She did not reveal the subject which she and Meghan discuss on the episode, which will be released on Spotify next week.

Kasi also shared another picture of Meghan and her, which was possibly taken at the time of the episode's taping.

Kasi joked she is now best friends with Meghan after announcing she will appear on the next episode of Archetypes

'Once upon a time with Meghan Markle. What a reminder of the magic that lives inside of all of us! And how freeing it is to be true to who we are,' Kasi wrote in her Instagram post.

The snap showed her standing next to the Duchess of Sussex with another woman, whom she did not identify.

In the picture, Meghan was seen sporting stylish black 800 trousers from The Show and a black top with a V-check and heeled sandals believed to be from Aquazurra.

She had also thrown on a tan trench coat over her shoulders, and kept the rest of the look simple.

Her dark hair were styling in a luscious blow-dry, with Meghan sporting her usual day makeup of eyeliner, mascara and nude lip.

Kasi is the principal of Campbell Hall, a well-known LA middle school that counts attended the Olsen twins and their sister Elizabeth Olsen, Dakota and Elle Fanning, Ariel Winter and Troian Bellisario among its alumni.

In addition to her work as an educator, she is also a director of the mentorship programme put in place by Richard and Tina Knowles at their Where Art Can Occur Theatre in North LA.

Meghan has revealed she studied for the UK citizenship test - and Harry struggled with some of the answers - but it has long been reported that she did not end up taking British citizenship

Known for being the parents of Beyonce, Tina and Richard founded WACO in 2017, which aims to provide a space for contemporary, performing and visual arts inspired by the African Diaspora.

The Tinas Angels and Richards Warriors programme, of which Kasi is a director, aims to encourage the personal development of teens aged 14 to 18 through art.

Kasi, who counts 11,500 followers on Instagram, has also spoken at several events on female empowerment.

She also currently hosts The Time is Now via Instagram Live and on Youtube where she discussed a wide range of issues regarding women.

Meghan Markle's star guest on her new Spotify podcast is First Lady of Canada, Sophie Trudeau. Both are pictured together in a photo booth at the Canadian Arts & Fashion Awards (CAFA) at Soho House in Toronto in 2016

Meghan has discussed a number of subjects with her guests on Archetypes, from being a Diva with Mariah Carey to the myth surrounding singletons with Mindy Kaling.

The Duchess of Sussex's guest on her latest Spotify podcast episode was First Lady of Canada Sophie Trudeau. The friends spoke about the challenges of parenting and being a partner to two famous men.

The pair described the 'crushing guilt' of being a mother in the public eye. Meghan, 41, revealed she threw a pool party this summer for Mrs Trudeau, in which the two 'giggled like schoolgirls' and drank wine on the terrace of her Montecito mansion.

On episode eight of her Archetypes show, called Good Wife/Bad Wife, Good Mom/Bad Mom, Meghan also chatted to comedian Pamela Adlon, best known as the voice of Bobby Hill in animated comedy series King of the Hill, who became a British citizen in 2020.

Meghan also revealed that she prepared for the Life in the UK test. Although she is LA born and based, Ms Markle is not believed to be a British citizen, having reportedly abandoned the idea after Megxit in 2020.

Experts said she did not live in the UK for the three years required to get spousal citizenship after marrying Harry, 38, in 2018. She arrived in Britain in November 2017 and left by December 2019.

The Duchess of Sussex said: 'That citizenship exam is so hard. I was studying for it [the test] and I remember going, "Oh my goodness". I would ask my husband, "Did you know this? Did you know this?" And he would say, "I had no idea".'

She did not expand on whether she ever took the test - or just studied for it. But Ms Adlon joked: 'I think they made it harder for you. They were like, "We're gonna really throw up walls on this one".'

Meghan would have needed to pass the Life in the UK Test, which costs 50 per try and has a 75 per cent pass mark, before applying for citizenship.

The 45-minute test features 24 multiple choice questions about UK laws and the legal system, working in the country, its history, culture and other details of British life. It can be rebooked an unlimited number of times, but applicants must pay each time.

It can also contain questions about the Royal Family - which she remains a member of - such as which King was executed in 1649 and who established the Church of England.

When her engagement to Harry was confirmed in 2017, Buckingham Palace announced the former Suits star would become a British citizen.

But the Sussexes quit the working monarchy in 2020 and moved to the US via Canada, amid reports Meghan had abandoned the process.




European Council President Charles Michel on Wednesday condemned North Korea's "aggressive" firing of more than 20 missiles, and voiced backing for South Korea.







"Outraged by (the) aggressive and irresponsible behavior of Pyongyang firing missiles over a maritime border with South Korea," Michel tweeted.







"On behalf of the EU, I express solidarity with (South) Korea and other countries in the region." (AFP)


Miss Argentina Mariana Varela, 26, and Miss Puerto Rico Fabiola Valentin, 22, shared their surprise marriage announcement on Instagram - having kept their relationship quiet for two years

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Miss Argentina Mariana Varela and Miss Puerto Rico Fabiola Valentin announced their surprise marriage via an Instagram reel after having kept their relationship quiet for the past two years and while everyone obsesses over the stunning couple, many are dying to know the details of how the two created a storybook love.

From competitors to lovers, Mariana, 26, and Fabiola, 22, met during the 2020 Miss Grand International competition and both ended up in the top ten.

And according to their Instagram post announcing their marriage and relationship, the two lovebirds have kept their relationship a secret for two years, meaning sparks flew while the pageant queens battled for the crown.

They announced their marriage through a 30-second clip on Instagram that showed the lovebirds traveling together and cozying up to each other while on vacation; the video then cut to a clip of the red balloons, rose petals and balloons that read 'marry me' that filled their apartment before showing a final clip of them kissing outside of the Marriage Bureau.

Miss Argentina Mariana Varela and Miss Puerto Rico Fabiola Valentin announced their marriage and relationship in a shocking post leaving fans baffled

The reel showcased their magical love story that fans have never been able to see before, leaving viewers desperate to know more about their heartwarming relationship.

The pair frequently teased fans with pictures of themselves snuggled up on each other, while telling the world they were just 'friends'.

And while all of social media gushes over the details of the beauty queens' relationship - from how they strutted down the stage competing for the crown, to how they strategically kept their relationship away from the spotlight and married without a soul knowing - FEMAIL lays bare how their love story unfolded.

Competing for the crown.... or each other's heart? How Miss Argentina and Miss Puerto Rico fell in love after going head-to-head at 2020 Miss Grand International beauty pageant

From competitors to lovers, Mariana, 26, and Fabiola, 22, met during the 2020 Miss Grand International competition and both ended up in the top ten

While everyone obsesses over the stunningly gorgeous couple, many can't help to wonder exactly how the two fell in love in the first place

The two lovebirds have kept their relationship a secret for two years, with vague yet suggestive social media posts

Mariana and Fabiola's love story began at the 2020 Miss Grand International beauty pageant, where the two both represented their respective countries.

Both Mariana and Fabiola are known for their stellar looks - both on the competitive stage and on social media - and while they sure know how to rock any outfit, the two are also masters in garnering a few crowning titles.

Mariana, from Buenos Aires, Argentina, boasts 138,000 followers on her Instagram, where she shows off her killer body, model shoots and various vacations.

The model has attended multiple beauty pageants and was even named Miss Universe Argentina in 2019 and Miss Grand Argentina the following year.

At the 2020 Miss Grand International competition - where the two lovebirds first felt the sparks fly amid sparkly dresses and teased hair - Mariana was placed in the top ten along with her lover Fabiola.

The newlyweds had similar journeys that led them both to the pageant where they rocked full glam, boast their love of their respective countries and of course fell in love.

In 2020, Fabiola was appointed as Miss Grand Puerto Rico and went on to not only find the love of her life while competing for the crown, but also placed in the top ten of the Miss Grand International competition.

Despite not winning the contest, they both won each other's hearts as they seemingly competed together in the 'preliminary competition' - which where contestants get to show off their walks in short or long evening dresses and even swimsuits.

And while they grew close while competing, they seemingly fell in love as the competition neared the end.

When the two were placed in the top ten together, they allegedly fell in love with each other during the 'final show'.

The final show sees contestants showcasing their unique skills, performing a dance, giving a speech and even participating in 'close interview sessions', which see the President of President of Miss Grand International asking the contestants questions about their personality and their opinions.

And while the two couldn't help but notice the sparks when they first laid eyes on each other, it seems as though they truly won over each other's hearts during the close interview sessions after hearing more about their thoughts and getting to know each other.

How the two beauty queens kept their relationship a secret for two years

Since the pageant ended, the lovebirds (pictured in Thailand on their very first photo shared together) have frequently posted each other on social media, hiding behind the label 'friends'

While they never confirmed the details of their relationship and it's unclear when exactly the two began dating, the pair constantly gushed about each other on their Instagram accounts

The pair continued to simply hint at their relationship while posting about their 'friendship' and saying they were 'blessed' to have each other

The two kept fans guessing with their vague, yet suggestive Instagram posts until a few days ago, where they let their secret out and confirmed their relationship

The couple left jaws dropped when they revealed they had been secretly dating for the past two years, so how exactly did they keep their relationship hidden?

Since the Miss Grand International competition ended, the two have frequently posted each other on social media, frequently telling the world they were just 'friends'.

And while they never confirmed the details of their relationship and it's unclear when exactly the two began dating, the pair constantly gushed about each other on their respective Instagram accounts, even saying they were 'blessed' to be in each other's lives.

The first post came in April of 2021 and it showed the two models wrapped up in each other's arms in the water and walking hand-in-hand in Thailand.

Fabiola was the first to post about the pair, captioning the flicks of them cozied up in the water, 'One of the great gifts in this experience was your friendship, walking this process with you was a special and real one. Miss you, my girl.'

The pair continued to simply hint at their relationship while posting about their 'friendship.'

In August 2021, Fabiola gave a heartwarming shoutout to her now-wife on her birthday, claiming she hoped to hold onto their 'friendship forever.'

Wishing her lover a happy birthday, Fabiola wrote: 'Thank you for making me part of your life and accomplice of your happiness.

'You are a priceless treasure and I hope to keep our friendship forever.'

And as hard as they tried to keep their relationship private, the posts continued to become more and more suggestive there was something going on behind closed doors.

A few months after her heartwarming birthday post, Fabiola posted a picture of the two best friends-turned-lovers on her Instagram.

The two snuggled up on the beach as the waves crashed behind them and even posted a flick laying on each other, all while fans questioned whether or not their relationship was simply just platonic.

One month later, Fabiola reposted the same set of pictures this time saying she was 'blessed' to have Mariana in her life and ended her caption by saying, 'I love you.'

In December of 2021, Mariana even took a trip to Fabiola's hometown Puerto Rico and visited Fabiola and her now in-laws.

In March of this year, the two once again teased fans about their possible relationship by posting another set of pictures, this time out and about, touching faces and grinning from ear to ear, visibly in love with each other.

The two kept fans guessing with their vague, yet suggestive Instagram posts up until a few days ago when they let their secret out and confirmed their relationship.

Secrets out! Fabiola and Mariana announce they tied the knot after two years of hiding their relationship

A few days ago, Miss Argentina and Miss Puerto Rico revealed they secretly tied the knot, adding that they they've been in a 'private' relationship for two years

With red and white balloons, rose petals, fairy lights and gold balloons reading 'Marry Me?', the couple's engagement was one fit for two queens

The models and beauty queens confirmed their relationship and marriage in a joint Instagram reel shared to their combined 245,000 followers

The heartwarming reel amassed over 166,000 likes and fans were quick to flood the comments section congratulating the newlyweds

A few days ago, Miss Argentina and Miss Puerto Rico revealed they secretly tied the knot, adding that they they've been in a 'private' relationship for two years.

The models and beauty queens confirmed their relationship and marriage in a joint Instagram reel shared to their combined 245,000 followers.

Announcing their marriage, the reel showed snippets of the couple's relationship throughout the two years.

The 30-second video showed the couple - who tied the knot October 28 -traveling together and snuggling up to each other on Jobos beach in Puerto Rico and enjoying a romantic boat ride in Mexico.

Captioning the video, which raked up over 2.1 million views, 'After deciding to keep our relationship private, we opened the doors to them on a special day,' they then shared footage from the magical night of their engagement.

With red and white balloons, rose petals, fairy lights and gold balloons reading 'Marry Me?', the couple's engagement was one fit for two queens.

The video then cuts to a clip of Fabiola putting a stunning engagement ring on Mariana's finger.

The couple's rings are nearly identical cushion-cut diamonds on a pave band.

The clip ends with the couple sharing a kiss outside the Marriage Bureau in San Juan.

Fabiola kept it fun and sported a white blazer dress with a fringed skirt, while Mariana opted for a chic white blazer and black dress pants.

The heartwarming reel amassed over 166,000 likes and fans were quick to flood the comments section congratulating the newlyweds.

One user wrote: 'Omg! Congratulations sisters! Love love love!'

Another added: 'Congratulations!! Many blessings to you!"

'Congratulations beautiful, a third wrote. 'God bless your union and long live love!!!!'

Blown away by the responses on their marriage announcement, Mariana wrote on her Instagram Story: 'Thanks for all the love! We are very happy and blessed.

'I wish you that the love you are giving us is multiplied! Endless thanks.'

Argentina legalized same-sex marriage in 2010, and Puerto Rico also made it legal in 2015.

Fans even called their marriage the 'best that Miss Grand has given us!'

And now that their secret is out, fans are hopeful they'll get to see even more of the loved up couple.
A few years ago, during the six months in which my poor mother battled against death, I received an emergency summons for what appeared to be her final hours. I raced to her bedside, every second counting.

Having leapt on a train from London to Birmingham, where I grew up, I found myself lining up for a black cab, while being repeatedly queue-jumped.

A handful of Brummies began voicing their annoyance with the bargers. Yes, I agreed, in clipped but unmistakeable tones. They are complete c***s. There was a stunned silence. Then, as one, the crowd ushered me into the next taxi, a fellow traveller announcing: Thats it, help the posh C-bomber into a cab.

It is an epithet I would happily have engraved on my tombstone. For I swear constantly  ambiently, rather than abusively  in the most graphic terms.

Hannah Betts (pictured) describes how the 'c-bomb' and 'f-word' are never far from her lips. She says a feminist she is happy to thwart those who call swearing 'unladylike'

The C-bomb and F-word are never far from my foul mouth. Not only do I not regard swearing as an issue, I positively revel in it, believing it to be an ancient, expressive, creative and rather beautiful thing; as much a joy as it is a skill.

Whats more, science now backs me up. Researchers in Britain and Sweden have found swearing is not a sign of low intelligence or inadequate vocabulary  as some contend  but a rhetorical asset.

Profanity can have a positive effect on relationships when used to convey pleasure or camaraderie. It can also be entertaining, make us more persuasive, enable us to handle the stress of other peoples driving, and even lower the impact of pain.

I swear in front of everyone, and miss engaging in it with my late father acutely. Dont imagine I am propelled into prim-and-proper mode professionally, either  nothing is more career-enhancing than a spot of F-ing and blinding. I never learnt shorthand, making drinking and swearing my only journalistic skills. Now eight years sober, Im just left with the latter.

Researchers in Britain and Sweden have found swearing is not a sign of low intelligence or inadequate vocabulary but a rhetorical asset

The industry boasts much baroquely colourful language. My colleagues and I still talk lovingly of when management consultants performed a doubletake on hearing in which orifice  and how aggressively  their budget cuts could be placed.

I cannot be alone in finding this an excellent way of sorting the sheep from the goats in life. For, as these scientists note, not only can a love of the F-word prove bonding, but a hatred for linguistic fireworks will indicate who best to avoid. Dont want to be around swearing? Fabulous, I dont want to be around you  since you are obviously prissy and tiny-minded.

My passion for profanity can be traced back to being a rebel, never happier than when issuing a f*** you to authority. It is also political. A little light obscenity is the best retort to mansplainers who feel they have a right to tell me  an adult in my 50s  what to do.

As a diehard feminist, I particularly relish thwarting those who deem swearing unladylike and happily give a two-fingered salute to such banally conservative, petit-bourgeois niceties.

Scientists note, not only can a love of the F-word prove bonding, but a hatred for linguistic fireworks will indicate who best to avoid

My fixation with what a nonagenarian pal refers to as Hannah language is something Ive treasured since school days. It isnt big and it isnt clever, teachers would chant when we experimented with ripe, Anglo-Saxon turns of phrase. It was clearly both  and b****y funny to boot.

As an anxious, over-thinking, mercurial child, I found the release of swearing vital. And if it made the vicars son declare I was possessed by the Devil  like Regan with her obscenities in The Exorcist  then so much the better.

At 22, as an extremely junior Oxford academic giving a paper peppered with Elizabethan profanities, a distinguished delegate informed me: You are to the C -word what Quentin Tarantino is to the F-word.

This summer my cleavage went viral when influencers spotted my beloved c*** necklace from Hoops + Chains LDN. (People imagine it says Cate. It doesnt.)

However, my swearing does not always go down well. Nearly 20 years ago, I was among a minuscule group of journalists invited to a power breakfast with then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown. I am not at my best in the morning, and so the sole contribution I made was to exclaim s*** extremely loudly.

Despite these new scientific claims, no one felt bonded, no one was amused. Instead, there ensued a prolonged tumbleweed moment, following which I was expelled from all future audiences. F***.
'Sometimes it's better to save money in short sprints,' Frances said

The tactic involves living frugally for one week per month

Frances Cook, from New Zealand, shared the three-step process on Instagram

A finance author has explained what 'financial fasting' is and how to save money

A personal finance author has shared a three-step tactic to help you save money each month.

Frances Cook, from New Zealand, explained the concept of 'financial fasting', which involves living frugally for one week per month.

'If you struggle with saving money, sometimes it's better to do it in short sprints. So financial fasting might be for you!' Frances wrote on Instagram.

The method aims to help people learn how to budget and avoid blowing their income on unnecessary spending.

New Zealand personal finance author Frances Cook (pictured) has explained the concept of 'financial fasting' and how it can save you money

The method aims to help people learn how to budget and avoid blowing their income on unnecessary spending

Start by calculating the 'bare minimum' you can live on for one week - which includes a 'very basic' grocery shop, bills, rent or mortgage repayments, and any other necessary expenses.

Then block out one week of every money for your 'financial fast'.

'Live off that bare minimum, try not to spend anything extra that week. Keep social plans to a minimum,' Frances said.

Ensure the money that's been saved is put into an online savings account and don't touch it.

'Go back to your normal life for the rest of the month, knowing you've done something good for yourself,' Frances said.

Some many prefer implementing this money fast the last week before being paid or the first week after being paid.

After sharing the money method on Instagram many seemed eager to give it a go, while others claim they've been doing this 'for years' because 'it works'.

'Omg this is so smart!!!! Definitely trying this!' one person wrote, another said: 'Love this challenge idea. Tough! But anything is possible.'

'We call this no spend week, no additional spending apart from fixed expenses i.e. bills/food etc. It's a game changer,' a third added.

What is money fasting? Money fasting involves only spending money on necessities - such as groceries, utilities, rent or housing, and transport to work It also involves cutting out all other expenses How to use the tactic: 1. Calculate the minimum spend you can live off for one week 2. Block out one week every month and live off that bare minimum. Avoid social occasions where you're likely to spend money 3. Put the money into a savings account and don't touch it Advertisement

Previously Frances shared how to save for a 20 per cent house deposit faster and why investing in the stock market is better than accumulating money in a savings account.

At the moment it can seem daunting or impossible for first home buyers to enter the property market, but the best thing Frances recommends is 'not panicking' and thoroughly consider your financial goals.

'Depending on your goal in life, buying a home can actually hold you back,' she previously told FEMAIL, adding: 'Putting together a house deposit of $100,000 can feel impossible, and may lead some people to give up.'

Those wanting to buy a house or rent in an area closer to a major city may wish to consider investing in stocks - an avenue Frances deems to be 'doable' and an option that works 'for all stages of life'.

'You can use stocks to build up a level of financial independence that lets you securely rent forever, or you can use it to help to you build up a deposit,' she said.

Previously Frances shared how to save for a 20 per cent house deposit faster and why investing in the stock market is better than accumulating money in a savings account

'Rather than frantically putting your money into a savings account and watching house prices keep going higher while you struggle to keep up, you can put it into stocks instead,' Frances said.

'Stocks have actually increased more in value over the last ten years than housing has, so it can help you keep up.'

Unlike property that requires a large lump sum deposit, investing in stocks and shares gives the individual the freedom to choose the figure for themselves.

Frances said online investing platforms, such as Raiz, FirstStep and Spaceship, allow users to start for as little as $5, which is perfect for beginners.

'The only trick is a long-term strategy; stocks can go up and down a lot over ten years, even if you eventually come out ahead,' she said.

INVESTING PLATFORMS IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND FOR BEGINNERS Spaceship Voyager is an Australian financial services company offering investment and superannuation products, specifically designed to engage younger people The platform is fee-free for balances less than $5,000 and will cost 0.10 per cent per year over that In only three years, 100,000 Australians have begun investing with Spaceship Raiz is another platform that allows Australian customers to micro-invest the remaining round up of everyday purchases in exchange traded funds 'If you put your money into an index fund, then you're spreading your investments across lots of different companies from the very start, which is something most experts recommend,' Frances said 'Don't feel bad about starting with only a little bit of money - it lets you get a feel for what you're doing, and you're less likely to panic when the market inevitably goes down.' Advertisement

While some may consider investing in stocks to be a 'risky' option, Frances said there can be more benefits than investing in property or opting to not invest at all.

'Choosing between property and stocks is a bit like choosing between chocolate and vanilla - different people prefer different things for different goals,' she said.

'The big problem is that a lot of people can't get any chocolate right now, because saving up $100,000 minimum is a huge goal.

'Meanwhile being able to start with $5 investing in shares lets you figure out how you want to invest, and you've got less on the line if something goes wrong.'
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Seven out of 10 dry shampoos still on grocery store shelves contain detectable levels of a cancer-causing chemical  despite recent recalls of dozens of popular brands.

Research by a laboratory in Connecticut tested a random sample of 148 different products sold in CVS, Walgreens and by online retailers like Amazon across the country.

Some 70 per cent were positive for benzene, a known carcinogen which is strongly linked to leukemia and other blood disorders. Among those that contained the chemical were drug-store brand favorites Batiste and Not Your Mother's  alongside premium brands Pureology and Kerastase.

Benzene levels varied by bottles, but nine were found to have at least 10 times the legal limit. One product  Not Your Mother's Beach Babe Texturizing Coconut  had nearly 80 times the threshold.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)  which regulates beauty and cosmetic products  told DailyMail.com today it was reviewing the findings.

Contamination may come from inactive petroleum-derived ingredients, a thickening agent, or isobutane, a spray propellant.

Manufacturers including Church & Dwight  which makes Batiste  refuted the results, saying it had recently 'confirmed' with its suppliers that the dry shampoos don't contain benzene.

It comes after millions of bottles of dry shampoo bottles from Dove, TRESemme and Bed Head were recalled across America last week after they were found to contain Benzene.

People who purchased the shampoos were urged to stop using them and visit the Unilever  the conglomerate that manufactured them  website for a full refund.

Pictured above are the brands that were found to contain benzene, a known carcinogen. Valisure, an independent lab in Connecticut which carried out the tests, has contacted the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ask it to issue a recall of the brands. The FDA said it was reviewing their report

Benzene is at the top of the FDA's list of dangerous solvents.

It is considered a 'Class 1 solvent' that 'should not be employed in the manufacture of drug substances, excipients, and drug products because of their unacceptable toxicity'.

Inhaling or absorbing the chemical over a long period of time can have devastating health effects because it causes cells in the body to work incorrectly.

Dry shampoos with unsafe levels of benzene still on shelves These dry shampoos contained more than the legal limit of benzene set by the FDA: Not Your Mother's, Beach Babe, Toasted Coconut;

Not Your Mother's, Clean Freak Original;

Not Your Mother's, Clean Freak Unscented;

Not Your Mother's, Triple Threat Brunette;

Not Your Mother's, Plump for Joy Body Building;

Not Your Mother's, Blonde Moment Dry Shampoo;

Paul Mitchell Invisiblewear Brunette Dry Shampoo;

Sun Bum Beach Formula Dry Shampoo;

Batiste, Dry Shampoo Bare;

Batiste, Dry Shampoo Clean and Light Bare;

Sebastian, Dry Clean Only Dry Shampoo;

Redken, Deep Clean Dry Shampoo;

dp Hue, Apple Cider Vinegar Dry Shampoo;

dp Hue, Apple Cider Vinegar travel size;

OGX, Extra Strength, Coconut Miracle Oil;

OGX, Extra Strength Dry Shampoo Coconut Miracle;

Sol de Janeira, Brazilian Joia Dry Shampoo;

Klorane, Dry Shampoo with Nettle Oil Control;

Klorane, Dry Shampoo with Oat Milk Ultra Gentle;

IGK, Direct Flight Multi-Tasking Matcha Dry Shampoo. The dry shampoos had detectable levels of benzene that fell within the FDA's limit: Sebastian, Dry Clean Only Dry Shampoo;

Batiste, Dry Shampoo Plus Brilliant Blonde;

Batiste, Dry Shampoo Floral and Flirty Blush;

Not Your Mother's, Clean Freak Refreshing Unscented;

Not Your Mother's, Clean Freak Refreshing Original;

CHI, VIBES Wake and Fake Soothing Dry Shampoo;

OGX, Extra Strength Argan Oil of Morocco;

Garnier Fructis, Texturizing Invisible Dry Shampoo;

Batiste, Dry Shampoo Bare;

Batiste, Dry Shampoo Fresh Breezy Citrus;

Batiste, Dry Shampoo Plus Divine Dark;

Batiste, Dry Shampoo Floral and Flirty Bush;

Pureology, Style and Protect Refresh and Go Dry;

Kerastase, Fresh Affair Refreshing Dry Shampoo;

Amika, Perk Up Dry Shampoo;

Hask, Dry Shampoo Monoi Coconut;

Drybar, Detox Clear Invisible Dry Shampoo Blanc;

Drybar, Detox Dry Shampoo Original Scent;

Biolage, All-in-one Intense Dry Shampoo;

Eva NYC, Freshen Up Invisible Dry Shampoo;

Kristin Ess, Brunette Dry Shampoo;

Bumble and Bumble, Pret-a-powder Tres Invisible;

Cake, The 'Do Gooder Volumizing Dry Shampoo. Advertisement

Overexposure to benzene can also cause bone marrow not to produce enough red blood cells, which can lead to anemia, as well as blood cancer.

It can also wreak havoc on the immune system by altering blood levels of antibodies and killing off white blood cells.

Inhalation of a high concentration of benzene in the short term can cause a myriad of adverse effects such as dizziness, headaches, irregular heartbeat and, in certain severe circumstances, death.

The American Cancer Society says it raises the risk of someone developing cancer.

Benzene belongs to a class of chemicals called volatile organic compounds, which evaporate in the air.

The FDA says it is the responsibility of manufacturers to monitor benzene levels in their products.

It allows for a trace level of up to two parts per million (ppm) in products.

But the Environmental Protection Agency warns that inhaling just 0.4ppm of benzene increases your risk, resulting in one additional cancer case per 100,000 people.

The latest investigation, carried out by Valisure and published online, found benzene in most dry shampoo products that were tested.

The independent lab bought dry shampoos from pharmacies across the US and then took them for testing.

The tests were carried out over a number of months, the researchers said.

The amount of benzene in products varied by spray and even bottles of the same brand  for those where it was detected.

They said the investigation found the 'highest and most broadly detected levels of benzene to date'.

A total of thirty per cent of those checked had no benzene in them  including bottles from L'Oreal, Philosophy and American Crew.

But the vast majority were found to contain the carcinogen.

For nine of the products tested, levels of benzene were more than 10 times the recommended limit.

Seven of these were from Not Your Mother's, under the names: Toasted Coconut, Clean Freak Original, Clean Freak Unscented, Triple Threat Brunette, Plump for Joy Body Building Orange, Clean and Refreshing and Blonde Moment.

The other two were Paul Mithcell Invisiblewear Brunette and the Sun Bum Beach Formula.

Testing also revealed variation in benzene levels within the same product, which Valisure said suggested there were inconsistent mixing methods.

For example, one bottle of Not Your Mother's Beach Babe Toasted Coconut had 79 times the recommended level in the first spray but 61 times this in the second.

Valisure CEO David Light said the results should be 'cause for significant concern' because products are likely used indoors, where benzene 'may linger and be inhaled' for prolonged periods of time.

He added: 'These and other issues identified by Valisure, including the detection of benzene in body spray, hand sanitizer and sunscreen products, strongly underscore the importance of independent testing and its need to be better integrated into an increasingly complex and vulnerable global supply chain.'

Asked about the results, Mr Light told CBS Moneywatch: 'Thirty per cent had no detectable amount of benzene, so it can be made cleanly.

'There's definitely a higher risk right now with propellant-based aerosol sprays.'

In a statement to DailyMail.com, the FDA said: 'Manufacturers are responsible for the safety and quality of their products.

'The FDA encourages companies and retailers to remove their products from store shelves and online marketplaces when benzene is detected. Consumers should immediately stop using any drug and cosmetic products that have been recalled.'

Pictured above are the dry shampoo products that have already been recalled because they contain benzene, after the move was requested by the FDA

Batiste maker Church & Dwight suggested it had no plans to issue a recall at this point.

A spokesman told CBS that it was evaluating the report at the center of the recent claims.

'When propellants had been reported to be the source of benzene in competitors' recalled products, we contacted our propellant suppliers and confirmed with those suppliers that the propellants used in our Batiste products do not contain benzene.

The manufacturer of Not Your Mother's, DeMert, said the report was 'inconsistent with the data provided by our suppliers and the rigorous ongoing testing to ensure the safety and integrity of our products.

'These tests show no traceable amount of benzene.'

It comes after Unilever  behind brands including Dove, Nexxus and TRESemme  recalled 1.5million products because they contained elevated levels of benzene.

The affected goods are aerosols made before October 2021 from brands Dove, Nexxus, Suave and TRESemme.
Artri King Reforzado con Ortiga y Omega 3 costs around $25 per bottle on online retailers

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning to online-retail giant Amazon for selling potentially dangerous supplements.

Three products sold to treat joint pain and marketed towards the Latino community were found to have undeclared active ingredients that can cause severe heart issues.

The supplements  'Artri Ajo King,' 'Ortiga Mas Ajo Rey,' and 'Artri King Reforzado con Ortiga y Omega 3'  contain the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) diclofenac.

The FDA warns the ingredient can put users at risk of heart attack, stroke, internal bleeding, stomach issues and perforation of the stomach and intestines.

It was first discovered that the products contained the NSAID in January, with the FDA issuing a warning to consumers to avoid the products.

On October 28, the agency published a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, warning the company's online marketplace to remove them from the online marketplace.

It is the second time in recent months Amazon has drawn regulators' ire. In August, it was warned for selling unapproved skin products.

Both Artri Ajo King and Ortiga Mas Ajo Rey retail for around $20 per bottle

NSAIDS - a crucial tool for fighting aches and pains that comes with some downsides Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are often used to treat backpains, arthritis and other issues. They include common over-the-counter drugs like aspirin, Advil and Aleve. They work by blocking chemicals in the body that cause inflammation and pain from slow tissue damage, decreasing symptoms of arthritis. NSAIDs are also effective against symptoms caused by a fever, though they are not recommended to be used for more than three days. They are fast acting, working within hours in some cases. These drugs come with some risks, though, including an increased chance of suffering a heart attack or stroke for repeat users. They are not to be used alongside blood thinners or other medication that affect the heart or blood flow. Source: Cleveland Clinic Advertisement

'As discussed below, your firm is responsible for introducing, delivering, or causing the introduction or delivery into interstate commerce of these products, which are unapproved new drugs,' the letter reads.

'...introducing or delivering these products for introduction into interstate commerce is prohibited.'

Artri Ajo King and Ortiga Mas Ajo Rey retail for around $20 a bottle each. Artri King Reforzado con Ortiga y Omega 3 costs $25 for the standard bottle.

The FDA has approved diclofenac as a drug to treat arthritis, migraines and other body pains.

The arthritis drug Voltaren, manufactured by pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline, is the most common branded version.

It is tightly controlled and its use in the US is heavily regulated because of its potential dangers.

'NSAIDs may cause increased risk of cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and stroke, as well as serious gastrointestinal damage, including bleeding, ulceration, and fatal perforation of the stomach and intestines,' the FDA writes.

'The undeclared diclofenac ingredient in [the three products] may also interact with other medications and significantly increase the risk of adverse events, particularly when consumers use multiple NSAID-containing products.'

The FDA first became aware of the NSAID's presence in the supplements after it performed lab testing in January.

It notes that the sample it tested was purchased directly from Amazon.

In June, Latin Foods Market - which manufactures the products - issued a nationwide recall of some lots of the drug.

Products remained on some markets though, and Amazon allowed their sale to continue, breaking FDA rules.

'You are responsible for investigating and determining the causes of any violations and for preventing their recurrence or the occurrence of other violations,' the FDA warned Mr Jassy

'It is your responsibility to ensure that your firm complies with all requirements of federal law, including FDA regulations.'
John Lewis has declined tens of thousands of applicants who applied for its new reward credit card.

Nearly 600,000 applications have been successfully processed after it moved its provider from HSBC to NewDay. Around 4 per cent have been turned down for it  including some reapplying.

This could amount to as many as 25,000 failed applications, although the retailer refused to reveal the true number due to commercial sensitivity.

Rewards: The John Lewis card offered five points for every 4 spent, which could be exchanged into vouchers to spend in store

Last week, we reported how John Lewis and Waitrose irked loyal customers by making them reapply for its reward credit cards only to reject them despite perfect credit ratings. Some were offered lower limits.

The card was popular with customers as it offered five points for every 4 spent in John Lewis and Waitrose, which could then be exchanged for vouchers to spend in store. It has dished out 250 million worth of these in the past five years.

Since then our postbag has been inundated with emails and letters detailing problems people have faced after being promised a simple process of filling out a form to get a new card.

The majority who wrote to us are over 70, pay off their balance in full every month and have near perfect credit scores. Many have asked whether their age has been the main reason for rejection.

John Lewis has denied this claim, stating the acceptance rate for retired customers is higher than for customers who are not, and it has taken on someone who is more than 100 years old.

It adds that NewDay has a regulatory responsibility to check the creditworthiness of customers and to perform a suitable affordability check, and this is why some customers have been rejected.

Aside from complaints about being rejected or having credit card limits reduced, our mailbag has been full of other problems or changes youve encountered with the Partnership Card.

These included the repayment period on the new card being slashed from 25 days to 15, giving customers less time to pay their outstanding bill.

One reader bemoaned the firm appearing to prefer new customers over existing ones.

All change: John Lewis says nearly 600,000 applications have been processed after it moved who provides its plastic from HSBC to NewDay and that 4% have been turned down for it

This was after he received a leaflet from John Lewis in the post that suggested existing card holders get six months interest-free on new purchases when they take out the card.

But when he called to confirm, he was told that this only applies to new customers, not those reapplying.

We received several letters from readers who say they were unable to get a new card as they are not online or dont have a mobile phone.

The card, which offers reward points for each pound spent, also has a 90-day triple points offer.

However, one reader pointed out that this starts from the day of approval, not when you get the card in the post.

John Lewis says that customers can add their new account to their digital wallet or use a temporary card in order to use the Partnership Card before a physical one arrives.

Others said they were rejected the first time but accepted when they completed a second application, adding to the confusion.

Among those who contacted us is Sir Anthony Holland, 83, who held the position of Financial Services Authority complaints commissioner for a decade from 2004.

He and his wife had a John Lewis credit card for 20 years but were turned down when they tried to reapply in store.

The couple, who live in London and Bristol, spent 12,300 on the card last year. He says: I fully expected to be rejected for the John Lewis card.

The repayment period on the new card has been slashed from 25 days to 15, giving customers less time to pay their outstanding bill

Id heard about the problems from a couple of friends. But my wife was spitting pin tacks when we left the shop and said that she would never cross the floor of a John Lewis or Waitrose shop again.

Sir Anthony says he was not told in store why he was rejected but was promised he would receive a letter explaining the decision.

NewDay have since called him to explain that there was a rogue credit mark on his file from a previous credit card company.

We sent a dossier of your letters to John Lewis and asked it to help resolve problems.

On Sunday, the company put out a statement promising to reform the application process further.

It claims customers have been rejected for a number of reasons, including incorrectly completing forms, poor credit history and a change in circumstances.

Amir Goshtai, director of John Lewis Financial Services, says: Were very sorry that any customer has been disappointed.

'Were listening to feedback and working with our new credit provider, NewDay, to do all we can to help while still lending responsibly.

If you are having problems applying for the Partnership card, contact the dedicated customer services team on 033 0165 4868.

a.cooke@dailymail.co.uk
BP is used to finding itself in the vortex of political storms. It was a target for Barack Obama when he was seeking to demonstrate his climate change credentials following the Deepwater Horizon explosion in 2010.

Earlier this year it had to swallow a loss of 17.8billion on its stake in Russias Rosneft and now it faces accusations of profiteering.

The companys estimate that it will end up paying 2.2billion of taxes on its UK operations in the current financial year has not satisfied critics.

Profits: This year BP had to swallow a loss of 17.8bn on its stake in Russias Rosneft and now it faces accusations of profiteering

Nor is anyone willing to give chief executive Bernard Looney credit for the companys embrace of a green agenda more ambitious than any other oil major, with a commitment to net zero by 2050 and to spend 18billion in the UK over the next eight years on renewable projects.

Looney wasnt kidding when he remarked that the company had become cash machine. In these days of exceptionally high oil and gas prices BP earnings more than doubled to 7.1billion in the third quarter.

What fuelled the anger of dissenters is a 2.2bpillion share buyback. The progressive think-tank IPPR, a favourite of the Blair-Brown era, argues that such buybacks are a transfer of income from the poorest households to wealthy shareholders.

It notes that US President Joe Biden, who accuses big oil of war profiteering, is targeting buybacks and demands the UK do the same with a swingeing 25 per cent levy.

What it fails to mention is the US levy on buybacks has been set at just 1 per cent. This is a bit like praising Bidens increase in taxes on the highest earners which starts at $400,000 a year.

Investors like a mix of share buybacks and dividends because the former enjoys better tax treatment. It needs to be asked who the already wealthy shareholders might be?

Most of them are pension funds. And with New Labours reforms of the pensions industry, the vast majority of the workforce are now automatically enrolled in private sector pensions, as is the case in Australia and Sweden.

The main issue for pensions analysts is whether colleagues are paying in enough.

Oil majors, because of cash generation, are big contributors to all private pensions, supporting more vulnerable members of society who are in the workforce. Taxing share buybacks looks like an easy hit.

But as was the case in 1997, when dividend tax relief for pension funds was abolished, the Government must recognise the unintended consequences of even a small move on the fiscal dial.

Keeping faith

A near-40 per cent jump in the share price of online grocer Ocado is good to behold.

In Ocados case, it is worth remembering that stock in Tim Steiners creation has fallen to a third of a peak valuation a year ago.

The evergreen critique of Ocado has been that it has failed to sell its network of robotic warehouses, known as Customer Fulfilment Centres, into enough markets.

That is patently untrue given the addition of South Koreas Lotte Shopping to a list now made up of 12 alliances.

The difficulty with Ocado is that investors can never be sure when deals signed will generate cash flows.

Patience with the Korean venture, as with previous tie-ups, is necessary as no cash fees will be recognised until revenue operations commence.

Aside from the joint venture with M&S, visibility on Ocados future earnings is tricky. Ocado has asked for forbearance and for investors to buy into the Amazon narrative of losses in the investment phase followed by an income gusher. For the sake of the UKs vibrant but depleted tech sector, in Steiner we must trust.

Planet life

Edward Bonham Carter has been the leading light at Jupiter Fund Management for three decades.

His decision to sever ties with the group he brought to the London Stock Exchange is a signal event. It comes as one of his successors, Matthew Beesley, has been slashing the number of funds under management and striving to stem outflows.

Bonham Carter  with a famous political lineage, oodles of charm and pursuit of responsible investment  has been the glue holding Jupiter together even in his more recent semi-detached role.

Will Jupiter follow those other UK shooting stars, Mercury, New Star and Neptune, on a different odyssey?
Six of the worlds largest oil companies have raked in almost 250billion in profits so far this year.

As the industry cashes in on high oil and gas prices, BP and Saudi Aramco became the latest firms to post bumper earnings.

London-based BP reported third-quarter profits of 7.1billion  up from 2.9billion a year earlier.

Aramco, which is headquartered in Saudi Arabia, banked profits of 37billion, the second largest haul in its history and up from 26billion in the third quarter last year.

The figures took profit at Aramco to 113billion in the first nine months of the year, while BP made almost 20billion.

Rival oil giants Shell, Total-Energies, ExxonMobil and Chevron have also reported booming profits in recent days  taking the total among the six to almost 90billion in the third quarter and more than 246billion since the start of the year.

It fuelled calls for windfall taxes on the industry amid a backlash from politicians looking to raise money to fund government spending and the public facing soaring energy bills.

This week, US President Joe Biden accused firms of cashing in on the invasion of Ukraine, which has seen oil and gas from Russia choked off and sparked a surge in global energy prices as demand outstrips supply.

Its time for these companies to stop war profiteering, he warned. Biden has threatened to impose a levy on companies unless they increase output and cut prices for consumers.

At a time of war, any company receiving historic windfall profits like this has a responsibility to act beyond the narrow self-interest of its executives and shareholders, he added.

But the surge in profits has been a boon for savers and pension funds with money tied up in the sector  boosting the retirement pots of millions.

Posting its third-quarter figures, BP outlined plans to buy back another 2.2billion of its shares and pay shareholders a 5.2billion dividend, 10 per cent higher than the same period last year.

The shares rose 1.39 per cent, or 6.65p, to 486.45p.







Bumper profits: Aramco, which is headquartered on the Persian Gulf in Saudi Arabia, banked profits of 37bn in the third quarter

The strong results at Aramco, the worlds largest oil company, allowed it to retain its 16.3billion quarterly dividend. The payout will go mostly to the Saudi state, which controls 98 per cent of Aramcos shares.

Shell reported quarterly profits last week of 8.2billion, up from 3.6billion a year ago, alongside plans to buy back another 3.5billion of shares and hike its dividend by 15 per cent.

Analysts warned the figures would add to pressure on the Government to raise taxes on the industry to plug a 50billion black hole in public finances.

As chancellor, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak imposed a 25 per cent windfall tax on the North Sea and could now sanction an even higher levy when Jeremy Hunt delivers the Autumn Statement this month.

Analyst Jamie Maddock, of investment manager Quilter Cheviot, said: As long as BP makes profits like this every quarter, the calls for them to give up more of their profits will only grow louder.
Edward Bonham Carter is leaving Jupiter after nearly three decades at the fund manager.

Bonham Carter  the brother of actress Helena and one of the most recognised faces in the City  joined Jupiter in 1994 as a fund manager before becoming chief executive in 2000.

He led the business through its transition from boutique fund manager to established player, orchestrating its 2007 management buyout and listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2010.

Stepping down: Edward Bonham Carter (pictured with sister Helena) joined Jupiter in 1994 as a fund manager before becoming chief executive in 2000

A scion of a family that also includes former prime minister HH Asquith, Bonham Carter started as an administrative assistant at Schroders in 1982. He stepped back as Jupiter chief in 2013, but remained on the board until 2021.

He still owns nearly 2 per cent of the firm, a stake worth 11million.

He now wants to dedicate more time to his non-executive work, including roles at Land Securities Group, ITV and The Investor Forum.

Highlighting what sets Jupiter apart, he pointed to its dedication to active investment management, which still has a key role to play in the investment industry.

New chief executive Matthew Beesley has cut staff numbers and the fund range. Jupiter has seen years of outflows, and its shares are down some 80 per cent since their peak in early 2018.

The stock rose 2.99 per cent yesterday.
Hiscox has revealed written premiums have boomed on the back of 'strong rate momentum' across the business, especially its global reinsurance division.

The Lloyd's of London underwriter told investors on Wednesday that its gross written premiums were up 9.3 per cent on a constant currency basis to $3.68billion in the first nine months of 2022.

Almost all the growth derived from the company's reinsurance and insurance-linked securities business, which saw premiums jump from $806million in the equivalent period last year to more than $1billion this time around.

The Hiscox Action Group is demanding to join the action being taken against the insurance giant by the Financial Conduct Authority

Hiscox said rates within the division had cumulatively grown by over half in the past five years, driven by healthy demand in the cyber, North American property catastrophe and retrocession portfolios.

It noted 'material rate improvements' in Australia following a surge in claims when extreme flooding hit the country's east coast in February.

The FTSE 250 firm also expects a further boost to rates from Hurricane Ian, which was the deadliest tropical cyclone to hit Florida in nine decades.

In response to that natural disaster, the group set aside $135million to cover possible losses and incurred a $40million hit in the third quarter, though it said this would have been higher had it not cut its exposure to 'underpriced Florida business.'

Aki Hussain, chief executive of Hiscox, said: 'The performance of our big-ticket businesses remains robust after the impact of Hurricane Ian, and improving conditions are presenting new opportunities.'

Hiscox's additionally reported a bumper result in its US Digital Partnerships and Direct arm, where gross premiums increased by 9.8 per cent and are set to expand by 5 to 15 per cent this year.

But it took an investment result loss of nearly $300million, against a $62.7million profit in 2021, as tighter monetary policy from central banks led to significant losses in the group's bond portfolio.

Hiscox shares closed trading 5.9 per cent up at 9.52 on Wednesday, making them the top riser on the FTSE 250 Index, although their value has only grown slightly since the beginning of the year.

Analysts at UBS hailed the Hiscox's 'very strong update' and reiterated its buy recommendation for the group's stock.

They added: 'Hiscox reiterate they [sic] remain strongly capitalised with flexibility to invest in structural growth opportunities in retail as well as favourable market conditions, particularly in reinsurance.

'They would expect to deploy more of their own capital and increase retained premiums in the event of material hardening, showing willingness for material growth at the right opportunity.

'Only a business well placed can make such strong statements at this point in our view.'
This captured image shows John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, answering questions during a press briefing at the White House in Washington on Aug. 2. Yonhap



North Korea is supplying a large number of artillery shells to Russia for use in the latter's ongoing aggression in Ukraine, a White House National Security Council (NSC) spokesman said Wednesday.



John Kirby, NSC coordinator for strategic communications, also said the North is trying to cover up its shipments by disguising their true destination.



"In September, North Korea publicly denied that it intended to provide ammunition to Russia," Kirby said in a virtual press briefing.



"However, our information indicates that the DPRK is covertly supplying Russia's war in Ukraine with a significant number of artillery shells," he added.



DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.



Kirby said the North was trying to conceal the true destination of its arms shipments to Russia by funneling them through third countries.



"Our information indicates that they are trying to obscure the method of supply by funneling them through other countries in the Middle East and North Africa," he said.



He said it was not clear whether the North Korean shipments to Russia have been received.



"I have spoken about this in the past that we had indications that the Russians were reaching out to North Korea," he said. "Now we see indications in the information we have that they are in fact supplying. So we will monitor this to see if they are actually received."



The NSC spokesman insisted the North Korean shells will not change the course of the war in Ukraine, but said they will add to Russia's ability to kill more people in the European country.



"We don't believe that they are in such a quantity that they would tangibly change the direction of this war or tangibly change the momentum either in the east or in the south," he said.



"That said, and I don't want to sound flippant here, the provision of any additional weapons and ammunition to Moscow clearly is bad news for the Ukrainian people because it allows the Russians just that much more capability to kill, to murder and to destroy," he added.



Kirby said the U.S. will work to hold North Korea accountable.



"We will obviously consult allies and partners, particularly at the U.N., on additional accountability measures," he said.





This photograph taken on Nov. 2 shows a part of the destroyed Orthodox Sviatohirsk Cave Monastery (Holy Mountains Lavra of the Holy Dormition) in Svyatohirsk, Donetsk region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. AFP-Yonhap
The man accused of breaking into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home with a hammer was on a 'suicide mission,' prosecutors said in court Tuesday, in a filing that revealed the suspect had plans to target other politicians as well.

The bombshell declaration comes as more information about the attacker, Bay Area resident David DePape, continues to come to light - as he faces attempted murder charges for beating Pelosi's husband Paul to within an inch of his life.

DePape, 42, appeared in court for the first time Tuesday, pleading not guilty to what officials are now claiming was a premeditated attack.

His right arm strapped up in a sling, the suspect delivered the plea through a public defender while wearing a prison issue jumpsuit.

The injury was said to be the result of last Friday's early morning struggle with 82-year-old Paul Pelosi, which saw DePape rain blows on the man after demanding to see his wife, who was in Washington at the time. He remains hospitalized after undergoing surgery.

The jaw-dropping filing provided new and chilling details about the attack in San Francisco's affluent Pacific Heights neighborhood - including insight into DePape's belief in conspiracy theories that may have spurred him to view Pelosi as an enemy of the country.

Meanwhile, a landscaper, who employed DePape in the years leading up to the attack, has revealed the suspect became involved in right-wing conspiracy theories such as QAnon and MAGA, falling into isolation and darkness.

The man accused of breaking into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home with a hammer last Friday, Bay Area resident Paul DePape (pictured) , was on a 'suicide mission,' prosecutors now claim, in a filing Tuesday that revealed the suspect had plans to target other politicians as well

Paul Pelosi was knocked unconscious by the early-morning hammer attack Friday and woke up in a pool of his own blood, the filing said. House Speaker Nancy was not home at the time

A courtroom artist's sketch of Paul DePape as he appeared in court on Tuesday afternoon

Frank Ciccarelli, a San Francisco-based carpenter who builds houses and makes furniture for a living, hired a then homeless DePape off the streets in 2016, saying at the time he looked to be a soft-spoken liberal living the lifestyle of a Bay Area hippie.

Speaking to The New York Times Tuesday of his former employee: 'He really believed in the whole MAGA, 'Pizzagate,' stolen election thing.

'You know, all of it, all the way down the line,' the landscaper, who helped arrange for DePape to move into a converted garage in Richmond, said.

He recalled how DePape, at the time, came off as a quiet, likeable, and a steady worker who built decks with him for six years, describing him as politically liberal.

However, after falling into and out of homelessness, DePape would fall into isolation and darkness, his ex-boss said, spending more and more time online where he trolled forums rife with conspiracy theories and bigotry.

Ciccarelli described how he laid witness to DePape's steady descent into right-wing extremism over the years, which he said started when DePape would turn off famously liberal radio news network NPR on morning rides on the way to jobsites.

DePape allegedly said he had other targets, including a local professor as well as several prominent state and federal politicians  and members of their families

'It was a gradual process  it was over six years,' Ciccarelli recalled, 'day by day.'

Once softspoken and shy, DePape soon began to press forward talking points that Ciccarelli recognized as being commonplace in right wing circles, such as those pertaining to Hillary Clinton's misuse of her federal email account in the buildup to the 2016 election, as well as the Pizzagate controversy that same year.

Since debunked, the conspiracy theory falsely claimed that coded messages leaked by WikiLeaks linked several high-ranking Democratic Party officials and U.S. restaurants to an alleged human trafficking and child sex ring.

DePape was also adamant that there was foul play amid the counting process during the 2020 election, repeatedly claiming the election was illegally stolen from former President Donald Trump by the Democratic Party.

'It was the whole thing  Hillary Clinton, Pizzagate, MAGA, the election was stolen  all of it,' the landscaper said.

DePape is facing six counts in total  which include residential burglary, false imprisonment of an elder and assault with a deadly weapon - and pleaded not guilty to all six via his lawyer, Public Defender Adam Lipson.

Meanwhile, a landscaper who employed DePape in the years leading up to the attack, Frank Ciccarelli has siunce revealed the suspect became increasingly involved in right-wing conspiracy theories like QAnon and MAGA over the years, falling into isolation and darkness

The Pelosi family had asked for a Zoom link to be able to watch Tuesdays proceedings - a request that was not granted due to the judge reportedly not receiving it ahead of time.

Tuesday's filing further revealed DePape allegedly said he had other targets, including a local professor as well as several prominent state and federal politicians  and members of their families.

Despite facing a possible life sentence, he appeared impassive during the session, tipping his head to the side at one point to confer with Lipson.

David DePape was ordered held without bail during his arraignment Tuesday in San Francisco Superior Court.

His public defender entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf.

It was the first public appearance since the early Friday attack for DePape, with others that know him confirming fringe activism and infatuation with conspiracy theories.

San Francisco deputy public defender Adam Lipson, attorney for David DePape, who is accused of attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul Pelosi, leaves his client's arraignment in San Francisco Superior Court on Tuesday

David DePape was ordered held without bail during his arraignment Tuesday in San Francisco Superior Court. Lipson (pictured) entered the not-guilty plea on his behalf

In the court filing, prosecutors detailed the attack in stark terms as part of their bid to keep DePape behind bars. Paul Pelosi was knocked unconscious by the hammer attack and woke up in a pool of his own blood, the filing said.

DePape's intent 'could not have been clearer,' San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins wrote in the filing.

'He forced his way into the Pelosi home intending to take the person third in line to the presidency of the United States hostage and to seriously harm her.

'Thwarted by Speaker Pelosi's absence, Defendant continued on his quest and would not be stopped, culminating on the near fatal attack on Mr. Pelosi.'

Without being questioned, DePape told officers and medics at the scene that he was sick of the 'lies coming out of Washington D.C.,' the filing said.

'I didnt really want to hurt him, but you know this was a suicide mission. Im not going to stand here and do nothing even if it cost me my life.'

'This case demands detention,' Jenkins wrote. 'Nothing less.'

Wearing orange jail clothing, DePape only spoke to tell Judge Diane Northway how to pronounce his last name. The 42-year-old defendant, whose shoulder was dislocated during his arrest, is scheduled to return to court Friday.

After the hearing, DePape's public defender Adam Lipson said he looks forward to providing DePape with a 'vigorous legal defense.'

'We're going to be doing a comprehensive investigation of what happened. We're going to be looking into Mr. DePape's mental state, and Im not going to talk any further about that until I have more information,' Lipson said.

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, left, announces the charges against David DePape during a news conference with San Francisco Police Department Chief Bill Scott, right, in San Francisco, Monday

Investigators work outside the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband Paul 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, officials said

He later said he was pleased that Paul Pelosi was improving and urged the public not to pass judgment on what he called 'a complicated situation.'

The attack on 82-year-old Paul Pelosi sent shockwaves through the political world just days before the hotly contested midterm elections.

Threats against lawmakers and elections officials have been at all-time highs in this first nationwide election since the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol, and authorities have issued warnings about rising extremism in the U.S.

DePape faces state charges of attempted murder, burglary and elder abuse. He also faces federal charges including attempted kidnapping of a U.S. official.

Those charges are outlined in an affidavit detailing the assault, which was largely captured on police body camera imagery after authorities responded to a 911 call from the Pelosis' Pacific Heights home.

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announces the charges against David DePape during a news conference in San Francisco, Monday

Jenkins' filing said while Paul Pelosi was on the phone with the 911 operator, DePape was gesturing and telling him to hang up.

Pelosi then told the dispatcher that he did not need police, fire or medical assistance but he instead asked 'for the Capitol Police because they are usually at the house protecting his wife.'

Moments later the dispatcher heard him interacting with a man and Paul Pelosi said 'Uh, he thinks everythings good. Uh, Ive got a problem, but he thinks everythings good.'

Speaker Pelosi was in Washington at the time and under the protection of her security detail, which does not extend to family members. She quickly returned to San Francisco, where her husband was hospitalized and underwent surgery for a skull fracture and other injuries.

The defendant, once described by his peers as a liberal, is scheduled to return to court Friday

In Washington, U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger provided a sobering update Tuesday of security protocols for members of Congress.

Manger said that although many improvements have been made since the Capitol attack, including the hiring of nearly 280 officers by the end of this year, 'there is still a lot of work to do.'

'We believe today's political climate calls for more resources to provide additional layers of physical security for members of Congress,' he said

Manger said the attack on Pelosi's husband was 'an alarming reminder of the dangerous threats elected officials and public figures face during todays contentious political climate.'
A man has been arrested after he was found with the firearm used in the shooting outside New York gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin's home on Long Island last month.

Law enforcement said Noah Green, 18, has been charged on counts of criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of stolen property for having the gun that injured two 17-year-olds outside Zeldin's home on October 9.

Zeldin, a Republican, was not home at the time of the shooting but his twin 16-year-old daughters, Mikayla and Arianna, were and barricaded themselves inside a bathroom, fearing for their lives.

During a Tuesday press conference, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney announced that Green had been arrested and that the matter remained under investigation.

Prosecutors say this photo shows Noah Green, 18, a potential suspect in the drive-by shooting that took place on October 9 outside Rep. Lee Zeldin's home

Republican candidate Lee Zeldin and his wife, Diana, were not home at the time of the shooting, but the couple's twin daughters were inside

The two young girls barricaded themselves inside of the home and called 911 during the drive by shooting on October 9

Green, who had posted a picture of himself and another person holding guns on his Snapchat story, was arrested Monday on Long Island.

Court papers released by Tierney on Tuesday showed that police officers located the accused in Shirley, a hamlet of Suffolk County, after he was identified as a possible suspect.

Officers saw the man get into a black Honda on Monday. The vehicle Green was operating had been reported stolen, officials said.

When officers approached him, he exited the Honda and tried to flee by jumping onto the hood of the police car, prosecutors said.

As he was being arrested, Green reached for his pants pocket, Tierney said. Luckily, officers were able to stop him, grab his hands, and recover a loaded 9mm pistol, which he may have been going for.

A microscopic analysis of the pistol showed that it was the same weapon as the one used in the shooting outside Zeldin's house, the district attorney's office said.

'Through that collaborative and diligent police work, we have now recovered one of the firearms used in that dangerous shooting,' Tierney said Tuesday.

Prosecutors also said in the court papers that the Honda Green had gotten into on the day of his arrest was 'consistent with' the vehicle used in the October 9 drive-by.

Zeldin himself spoke out on the arrest Tuesday, saying that the matter is still under investigation and he wants to make sure that all of the correct parties are brought to justice.

'It's important to note that this is the gun that was used in the shooting, not necessarily the person who committed this shooting,' Zeldin said Tuesday. 'The investigation is still ongoing.'

Further charges could be issued in connection to the shooting should law enforcement feel they have a strong enough case to connect Green to the drive-by.

Rep. Zeldin said after the shooting that one bullet landed less than 50 feet away from his twin daughters

At the time of the shooting, Zeldin said: 'Like so many New Yorkers, crime has literally made its way to our front door'

Zeldin and wife Diana, right, praised the actions of their 16-year-old daughters who barricaded themselves in a bathroom and called 911

According to the Suffolk County PD, two 17-year-olds were walking down the street when a dark-colored SUV pulled up alongside them and someone inside opened fire.

The pair were wounded but were able to scramble for cover in Zeldin's front yard. Both suffered non-life threatening injuries.

One of the bullets landed just 30 feet from Zeldin's twin daughters, the Republican said last month.

The two people who were injured in the shooting, according to Zeldin, were 'laying down under my front porch and the bushes in front of our porch.'

Green will next appear in court on Friday.

The 18-year-old has been arraigned in Suffolk County and is being held on $750,000 cash bail, $1.5 million bond or $7.5 million partially secured bond.

Prosecutors have since made one arrest in connection to the gun used during the shooting

In initial investigation into the shooting confirmed that the drive-by was not in anyway connected to the congressman, the Suffolk County Police Department said last month.

At the time, Zeldin told reporters that his daughters were doing homework in the kitchen of their Long Island home.

Zeldin told the New York Post : 'They heard the shots. Boom! They went upstairs and locked themselves in the bathroom.' He added that his daughters called 911.

In a statement issued in October, Zeldin said: 'Like so many New Yorkers, crime has literally made its way to our front door.'

The conservative has represented New York's 1st Congressional District in eastern Long Island since 2015.

Zeldin, is currently in the final stretch of his campaign to unseat Gov. Kathy Hochul, who he has accused of being soft on crime.

This is the second high profile instance of violent crime to impact Zeldin. In July, Zeldin was accosted while giving a speech in Rochester, New York, by a drunk Iraq veteran.

Despite initial attempts by Republicans and conservative activists to blame the attack on Democratic supporters, the perpetrator, David Jakubonis, told investigators that he did not know who Zeldin was when he got up on the stage.

In September, Zeldin called for a probe into sitting Hochul's apparent dodgy dealings.

In 2021, Hochul's administration inked a deal to buy 52 million COVID-19 Carestart tests for $637 million. At the same time, the state of California made a similar purchase but paid 45 percent less than New York, according to the Albany Times Union.

The report says that the price increase was because Hochul went through a campaign donor's company to facilitate the purchase. Whereas California went straight through the manufacturer, AccessBio.

Zeldin and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani speak during a ceremony at the 9/11 Memorial marking the 21st anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks

Hochul's campaign has tried to portray Zeldin as too Trumpy, while Zeldin has used a playbook similar to other Republicans on the fall ballot and played up high crime rates.

In September, however, Zeldin's campaign admitted that one of the GOP candidate's ads included footage of crimes being committed in California - not New York - and some of the New York footage predated Hochul's tenure, according to NY1.

And the last time New York elected a Republican governor was 20 years ago, when the state elected Gov. George Pataki for a third term. Since then, the state has had four Democratic governors, with two of them - Eliot Spitzer and Andrew Cuomo - resigning in scandal.

About 10 percent of the electorate remains undecided, while Libertarian Larry Sharpe hovered around 3 percent.

A new poll from the Trafalgar Group shows Gov. Hochul and Rep. Zeldin in a dead-tie, each with 48 percent of the vote.

Hochul's average lead is still about 4 per cent in other polling, however.

A new poll shows New York Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul and her challenger, House GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin, in a dead heat

Zeldin is hoping to unseat incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul, who took over for disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo who was accused of sexual harassment

Polling released this week from Emerson College showed Zeldin still eight points behind Gov. Kathy Hochul with just one week to go until the election

When Zeldin won his party's nomination in March, he told an audience: 'This is a battle for the heart and soul of our state,' said Zeldin, an Army Reserve lieutenant colonel. 'I'm running so the people feel they are back in control of their government again.'

He has made cracking down on crime a centerpiece of his campaign, at a time when polls indicate it's a top issue for many voters.

'It's about restoring order, it's about backing the blue,' Zeldin told convention attendees, later adding: 'This is a rescue mission to save our state that will be successful.'

The issue of crime has become a political lightening rod in the race between Hochul (left) and Zeldin (right)

He called for a law enforcement bill of rights that would ensure police officers have the right to self-defense.

He has also vowed to repeal criminal justice reforms passed by the Democratic-led Legislature in recent years, including a 2019 law that barred money bail and pretrial detention for most misdemeanor and nonviolent felony charges.
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A group of Venezuelan migrants have attacked Border Patrol agents with rocks during an ugly riot in El Paso after they crossed the US-Mexico border, as the crisis on America's border deepens.

Video shows Border Patrol agents firing pepper balls at the group of migrants after they threw rocks at them as they crossed the Rio Grande river and tried to enter the US illegally.

Footage shows the group, which included a man holding a very large Venezuelan flag, standing in front of the border patrol agents after they crossed the river at around 12.20pm local time on Monday.

One of the migrants assaulted an agent with a flag pole, while a second person injured another officer after they threw rocks at them, Border Patrol spokesperson Landon Hutchens said.

The agents responded by running towards the migrants and firing pepper balls, which release an irritant to the eyes, nose and throat, at them.

Video shows the Venezuelan migrants rushing to cross back over the river but they crowded again on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande.

Border Patrol agents fired more pepper balls at them and the crowd eventually dispersed and returned to Mexico.

Before the conflict at the river Monday, a group of migrants had marched in Juarez, across the border from El Paso, demanding an opportunity to cross the border.

The Democrat-led city of El Paso last month ended a months-long effort to bus thousands of migrants to northern sanctuary cities, including New York and Chicago.

According to a new Biden administration policy that took effect last month, which came in response to a dramatic increase in migration from Venezuela, Venezuelans who walk or swim across the US border will be immediately returned to Mexico.

Border Patrol agents launched pepper balls at a group of Venezuelan migrants who crossed the US-Mexico border along the Rio Grande in El Paso after the agency said one person threw a rock at one agent and another was assaulted with a flagpole

Video captured Monday by the El Paso Times shows Border Patrol agents approaching the group at around 12:20 p.m. local time, which included a man holding a very large Venezuelan flag, that had crossed the shallow river

Border Patrol spokesperson Landon Hutchens said in a statement that as the group of Venezuelan nationals protested along the river, they tried to enter the US illegally.

Venezuelan migrant Eli Alfonso Segura shows rubber bullet wounds inflicted by Border Patrol agents from the El Paso sector during a demonstration against the US immigration policies in Ciudad Juarez

Venezuelan migrants who camp on the banks of the Rio Grande march against the US immigration policies

A group of migrants participates in a demonstration on the banks of the Rio Grande in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, on Monday

The agents responded by running towards the migrants and firing pepper balls, which release an irritant to the eyes, nose and throat, at them. Video shows the Venezuelan migrants rushing to cross back over the river but they crowded again on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande

The agents responded by running towards the migrants and firing pepper balls, which release an irritant to the eyes, nose and throat, at them

Biden's policy has forced Venezuelan migrants back to Mexico and is easing pressure on the border city of El Paso.

The Democrat leaders in El Paso had bused around 10,600 migrants to New York and 3,200 to Chicago since August following higher-profile busing efforts by the Republican governors of Texas and Arizona - Greg Abbott and Doug Ducey.

The busing policy was in response to an increasing number of Venezuelans who were trying to cross into the US illegally.

Venezuelans have become the second-largest nationality at the US border after Mexicans, a tough challenge for Biden. Nearly four out of five who were stopped by U.S. authorities in August entered in or near Eagle Pass, Texas, across from Piedras Negras, a Mexican city of about 150,000 people with scarce shelter space.

The sudden halt of El Paso's busing demonstrates the impact of Biden's new effort to expel Venezuelans back to Mexico. The expulsions, under a pandemic-era policy known as Title 42, aim to reduce record border arrests since Biden took office in 2021.

At the same time, Biden's administration launched a new program to allow up to 24,000 Venezuelans with U.S. sponsors to apply for humanitarian entry by air. Venezuelans who cross into the United States, Mexico or Panama illegally are ineligible.

Biden's new policy has meant that some Venezuelan migrants have protested along the Rio Grande river in recent weeks, as seen in Monday's protest, but they have been quickly dispersed by Border Patrol agents.

Usually, a daily average of 1,200 Venezuelan migrants would try and cross the Mexico-US Mexico, but this figure has massively reduced to the low hundreds since Biden launched his new program.

Before the conflict at the river Monday, a group of migrants had marched in Juarez, across the border from El Paso, demanding an opportunity to cross the border, the newspaper reported

Thousands of Venezuelans are trying to reach the United States in hope for a new life but earlier this month the US announced a new program granting legal entry to 24,000 people from the crisis-wracked country while deporting all those who cross through the border with Mexico illegally

Roberto Velasco, Mexicos director for North American affairs, tweeted Monday that the Mexican government had requested information from its U.S. counterparts about the confrontation

A spokesperson said the crowd then dispersed and returned to Mexico. Hutchens did not give details on the agents' injuries

Roberto Velasco, Mexicos director for North American affairs, tweeted Monday that the Mexican government had requested information from its U.S. counterparts about the confrontation.

Jonathan Blazer, director of border strategies at the American Civil Liberties Union, called the footage 'highly alarming.'

'People seeking asylum on US soil should be screened for protection, not pushed back, especially through use of force,' Blazer said.

According to statistics from Customs and Border Protection, its officials used 'less-lethal' force - such as batons, stun guns, tear gas, and pepper spray - 338 times in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.

Hutchens said the Customs and Border Protection's Office of Professional responsibility will review Monday's incident.

A surge in migration from Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua brought the number of illegal crossings to the highest level recorded in a fiscal year. In the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, migrants were stopped 2.38 million times, up 37% from 1.73 million times the year before and surpassing 2 million for the first time.

The year-end numbers reflect deteriorating economic and political conditions in some countries, the relative strength of the U.S. economy and uneven enforcement of Trump-era asylum restrictions.
Sky News commentator Peta Credlin has unleashed on the Albanese government after footage emerged of ISIS brides and their children visiting Kmart and McDonald's within 48 hours of returning to Australia.

Four women, all of whom married terrorists, and their 13 children touched down in Sydney on Saturday after being removed from the al-Roj camp in Syria near the Iraqi border.

It has since been revealed the women are unlikely to face police action, aren't required to wear ankle monitoring bracelets and won't be subject to 24 hour police supervision.

Some of the women were spotted together at a McDonald's in south-west Sydney on Tuesday. One of the ISIS brides, Mariam Dabboussy, was also spotted at a Kmart and playground in western Sydney with her family, sparking anger from politicians blindsided by the federal government's decision to bring them home.

A fired up Credlin weighed into the saga on Tuesday night as she slammed the Prime Minister over his decision to allow the ISIS brides to return - something she says has not been properly explained to the public.

Footage has emerged of some of the ISIS brides and their families at a McDonald's in Punchbowl in south-west Sydney on Tuesday, which has sparked widespread anger

'Whether you agree with the decision or you don't, nonetheless it's dead wrong for the prime minister to hide from something as big as this,' Credlin fumed.

'If you want to make a decision like this, then have the guts to front the camera and defend it.

'No one wants to see children suffer for the crimes of their parents, but that can't excuse the Albanese government's total failure even to explain, let alone to justify, letting jihadi families returning to Australia.

'Not one minister has so far fronted the camera to justify the decision to bring these jihadis back and no questions have been asked to the Prime Minister by the media.'

Credlin, a former advisor and chief of staff to former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott, acknowledged the government has a duty to all Australians, including the ISIS brides and their families, but it also has a responsibility to community safety.

'It's completely shirked its duty to explain how the safety of a few women who rejected Australia to join terrorist groups abroad trumps the safety of the wider population,' her rant continued.

'They shouldn't have terrorists or terrorist sympathisers living in a street next to them.'

She acknowledged there's a possibility the women have seen the error of their ways and now reject the same ideologies they abandoned Australia for.

Peta Credlin (pictured) called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to 'show some guts' and explain the decision to allow ISIS brides and their families to return

Dai Le, the Federal independent MP for the south-west Sydney seat of Fowler, described the situation as concerning.

Ms Le recently wrote to the Home Affairs minister Clare O'Neil requesting a briefing but is yet to receive any information.

'There has been a cloak of secrecy over this whole repatriation issue,' Ms Le told the Today show on Wednesday.

'There has been no transparency over this repatriation from the government and here - to the families in Fowler in south-west Sydney - where the majority of those families have escaped the ISIS state and ISIS families.'

Ms Le vowed to demand answers when parliament resumes next week.

'We're supposed to be a new government, supposed to build that trust for the community,' she argued.

'How are you going to build trust to change the political system if you're not going to deal with an issue like this up front?'

Mariam Dabboussy (pictured with two of her children and father in Syria) was spotted enjoying a visit to a park with her three children in Sydney's west this week

Ms Dabboussy is now back at her family home near Blacktown and was spotted enjoying a visit to a park with her three children and father this week.

She is subject of voluntary orders on her movements but is not subject to strict terrorism control orders.

In a 2019 interview, Bankstown-born Dabboussy previously said she was tricked into entering Syria in mid-2015 by her terrorist husband Kaled Zahab, who died shortly after they arrived.

Shayma Assaad, 22, and her four children are also believed to have returned to Sydney on Saturday.

She was taken to Syria when she was just 15 and married to an older Islamic State member, Sydney tradesman Mohammed Noor Masri, who remains in jail in Syria.

Dabboussy's sister-in-law, 31-year-old Mariam Raad, was also on Saturday's plane home with her four children.

Raad is the widow of Muhammad Zahab, a former western Sydney maths teacher who became one of Australia's most senior IS leaders.

He is said to have lured at least a dozen of his extended family to Syria, including brother Kaled.

In a statement, the women said: 'We are deeply thankful to be back home in Australia with our children.

Shayma Assaad (pictured) was 15 when she moved to Syria from Australia with her parents, and later married Mohammed Noor Masri, 26. She and her four children are also believed to have now returned to Sydney

The women and children were removed from the al-Roj camp near the Iraqi border in an operation involving Australian officials and the Syrian Democratic Forces. They are now in Sydney. Pictured: Female ISIS fighters

Earlier this month, the Albanese government confirmed a rescue plan to bring home 16 women and 42 children who are families of IS members from the camp

'We want to express our regret for the trouble and hurt we have caused, especially to our families. We are willing to do whatever is asked of us by the government authorities to ensure the safety of our families and the Australian community and we will fully cooperate with all Australian law enforcement agencies.

'Once our children have received medical treatment, are healthy, and are ready, we want to see them lead a normal and safe life in Australia, surrounded by friends and family. We also want to be able to contribute to the Australian community and are grateful for the opportunity to do so.

'Together with our children, we have been through a terrible ordeal over many years. We ask for space, privacy and time to heal and reconnect with our loved ones in Australia.'

Earlier this month, the Albanese government confirmed a rescue plan to bring home 16 women and 42 children who are families of IS members from the camp.

Pictured: Islamic State terrorists march through Syria
A judge in Arizona on Tuesday issued a temporary restraining order keeping a group of armed poll watchers at least 250 feet from drop boxes, after a string of complaints that voters felt intimated by people carrying firearms as they monitored voting.

The order also prevents monitors taking photographs of voters and requires them to refrain from claiming that anyone depositing multiple ballots is behaving illegally.

Arizona spawned a string of conspiracy theories in 2020 as supporters of Donald Trump tried to overturn his defeat in the state.

Ahead of midterm elections, a string of groups - included Clean Elections USA, Yavapai County Preparedness Team and an offshoot of the Oath Keepers named the Lions of Liberty - announced plans to keep watch over drop boxers to prevent people stuffing them with hundreds of ballots.

The Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans and the League of Women Voters took reports of intimidation to court in an effort to keep monitors away.

On Tuesday, the two sides agreed a set of measures to protect voters from intimidation.

A handout photo by Maricopa County Elections shows two armed individuals dressed in tactical gear on October 21 watching a drop box in Mesa, a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona

A man in tactical gear is seen on October 21 in Mesa, Arizona by a voter drop box

Monitors must not approach within 75 feet of a drop box - as required by law - nor intentionally follow anyone delivering ballots, even if they are more than 75 feet away from the both.

Nor must they 'Openly carry firearms within 250 feet of the drop box, or (b) visibly wear body armor within 250 feet of the drop box,' says the order written by U.S. District Judge Michael Liburdi.

'But a defendant shall not be in breach of this order if they reveal any firearm or body armor by accident. Defendants shall not instruct any person to violate this rule.'

Democracy activists brought a string of witnesses to the hearing to describe how they felt intimidated by the presence of monitors.

Leslie Hanson, a member of the League of Women Voters of Arizona, told the court she will not use a drop box this year because of reports of armed watchers

'It's disconcerting,' she said, according to a Twitter thread maintained by Democracy Docket.

'It's unsettling to know that there are people watching you and thinking that you're violating the law and they're armed.'

However, an attorney for Clean Elections USA - which is headed by Melody Jennings, a busy poster on Donald Trump's Truth Social platform - argued that people only felt intimidated because of negative media reporting.

The order requires Jennings to post the following message on her Truth Social page: 'It is not always illegal to deposit multiple ballots in a ballot drop box. It is legal to deposit the ballot of a family member, household member, or person for whom you are the caregiver.'

Although Jennings and her organization fought on, Lions of Liberty said last week it had told its members to stand down its monitoring operation.

The drop boxes are meant to offer a convenient and secure place to submit ballots. But since 2020 they have become the target of anger among some supporters of Donald Trump.

The film '2000 Mules' spread the idea that drop boxes were stuffed with fraudulent ballots in the 2020 election - but the claims have been widely discredited.

Nowhere is the issue more explosive than Arizona, which has been the center of conspiracy theories.

President Joe Biden won the divided state by only 10,000 votes, ending a run of decades of Republican victories, triggering questions among Trump supporters about how it could have happened.

But multiple investigations, including a partisan 'audit' of Maricopa County by Cyber Ninjas, a company hired by Republicans, found no widespread fraud in the 2020 vote.

This time around, those conspiracies have spawned multiple efforts to monitor voting.

Arizona's secretary of state last week said her office had received six complaints of potential voter intimidation, as well as a threatening email sent to the state elections director.

Drop boxes such as these are common across Arizona, but have become highly contentious

Dave Brehmer and Chad Maier drop their ballot for the upcoming midterm elections in the drop box near the Maricopa County Juvenile Court Center in Mesa, Arizona

However, the groups scored a win on Friday when a federal judge said they could not be barred from monitoring the boxes.

'Plaintiffs have not provided the court with any evidence that defendants' conduct constitutes a true threat,' U.S. District Court Judge Michael Liburdi wrote.

'On this record, defendants have not made any statements threatening to commit acts of unlawful violence to a particular individual or group of individuals.'

However, that was not the end of the matter.

The Department of Justice weighed in on Monday, saying 'vigilante ballot security measures,' including filming of voters was likely illegal and a violation of the Voting Rights Act.

'When private citizens form "ballot security forces" and attempt to take over the state's legitimate role of overseeing and policing elections, the risk of voter intimidation  and violating federal law  is significant,' the department said in a 'statement of interest.'

The department said that the First Amendment's right to assembly does not permit people assembling for the purpose of coercing voters.
Oscar-winning actress Anne Hathaway has said that 'abortion can be another word for mercy,' noting that the lives of teenage girls have been changed 'irrevocably' since Roe v. Wade was repealed.

Hathaway, a 39-year-old mother of two, appeared on The View on Tuesday to promote her new film, Armageddon Time.

Host Joy Behar asked Hathaway to explain her June 30 post celebrating 16 years of The Devil Wears Prada, and noting that the young women in the film were able to carve out careers because they had not fallen pregnant as teenagers.

'Looking back on photos of this beloved film that shaped the lives and careers of so many - mine included - I am struck by the fact that the young female characters in this movie built their lives and careers in a country that honored their right to have choice over their own reproductive health,' Hathaway wrote on June 30 - six days after Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court.

'See you in the fight,' her post concluded.

'My own personal experience with abortion - and I don't think we talk about this enough - abortion can be another word for mercy,' Hathaway told Behar.

Anne Hathaway appeared on The View on Tuesday and was asked about her response to the repeal of Roe v. Wade

Hathaway on June 30 shared some of her favorite images from The Devil Wears Prada, with a caption noting the young female characters benefited from access to reproductive care

Hathaway, a mother of two, said that she believes abortion is about 'mercy'

'We know that no two pregnancies are alike, and it follows that no two lives are alike, it follows that no two conceptions are alike.

'So how can we have a law, how can we have a point of view on this that says we must treat everything the same?'

She continued: 'And I just  it had just happened and I just  I think about it all the time.

'I think we all think about it all the time, and what the implications are and what it means to live in a country that puts us in this position.'

The Brooklyn-born actress said that if she played the role today, she 'couldn't take that for granted. I couldn't take that freedom for granted, the freedom of choice.'

She added: 'And by the way, this is not a moral conversation about abortion, this is a practical conversation about women's rights, and by the way human rights, because women's rights are human rights.'

Abortion is now illegal in 12 states, according to Planned Parenthood's tracker: Idaho, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia.

It is severely restricted in 11 more states and restricted in five.

Last month, her fellow Hollywood superstar Jennifer Lawrence said she was devastated by the repeal of Roe v. Wade.

Lawrence, who grew up in an upper-middle class suburb of Kentucky, says she struggles to talk to her family about cultural and social issues

Cover girl: The actress is the cover star of the October issue of the legendary fashion magazine

Lawrence told Vogue that a miscarriage she suffered several years ago in Toronto convinced her of the importance of abortion access for young women.

She says she was '100%' planning to get an abortion prior to the miscarriage, but the overturning of Roe v. Wade catapulted the issue to new importance to her personally, and in terms of her relationship with her family.

'I don't want to disparage my family, but I know that a lot of people are in a similar position with their families,' she remarked.

'How could you raise a daughter from birth and believe that she doesnt deserve equality? How?'

She says she periodically broaches the subject with her family, but realistically isn't convincing anyone.

'I broach the subject in the sense that I unleash text messages. Just: Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. They dont respond.

'And then I'll feel bad and send a picture of the baby.'
Comanchero bikie chief Allan Meehan has delivered a sinister warning to his rivals in a bitter interstate power struggle to keep control from previous boss Mick Murray.

Melbourne-based Murray is said to be bidding to return as the gang's Australian overlord just four months after he stood down while awaiting murder charges.

But Meehan - known as the Bathrobe Bikie after appearing in a series of pictures of him in dressing gowns - is determined to stay in the job, and has now signalled he will not be going lightly.

Overnight on Tuesday he posted a clip on his Instagram feed of Al Pacino in the ultra-violent 1983 drug war movie Scarface.

In the clip, Pacino's character Tony Montana has just escaped being dismembered by a chainsaw-wielding rival drug gang, before killing them and stealing their cocaine.

The final moments of the clip - with Montana on the phone to the shocked boss of the rival gang - became a movie classic and a favourite among gangsters.

'I got the yayo [cocaine],' he tells the rival. 'F*** you.'

Now police sources fear an internal war is brewing between the Comanchero chiefs as Murray plots his return.

Meehan has been under growing pressure from inside and outside the gang since taking the reins of the country's most powerful bikie gang.

Comanchero bikie chief Allan Meehan (right) has delivered a sinister warning to his rivals in a bitter interstate power struggle to keep control from previous boss Mick Murray (left)

Allan Meehan posted a clip on his Instagram feed of Al Pacino in the ultra-violent 80s drug war movie Scarface

He has had his bank accounts frozen by police as they probe the sources of his income, while other bikies are concerned by Meehan's fascination with social media.

He has been a regular on Instagram since taking charge of the gang, posting pics of himself and his wife in their nightwear, plus pics of gang meet-ups and a video of a flashy custom gold Harley Davidson motorbike in Comanchero colours.

His profile biography on his Instagram account proudly proclaims 'Always Comanchero' and warns: 'TRUST NO1', with the emoji of a knife.

It also includes a reference to a biblical passage from the Gospel of Luke where Christ is on the cross, surrounded by criminals - but tells them: 'You will be with me in paradise.'

Meehan has become infamous as the bathrobe bikie after posting this picture of himself in a Versace dressing gown in Comanchero colours while his wife wore matching coloured Winnie the Pooh nightwear from Peter Alexander

Meehan's snap on Instagram came after he was pictured in a scruffy grey dressing gown when police served him with a notice to take out a serious crime prevention order against him

Meehan also posted snaps of himself with the gang's sergeant-at-arms Tarek Zahed just weeks after he survived being shot 10 times in an attempted execution at a Sydney gym in May.

The photographs, from an apparent gangland lunch in Melbourne, gave an insight into the current gang hierarchy and their associates, including Mohamad Alameddine.

Allan Meehan posted snaps of himself with the gang's sergeant-at-arms Tarek Zahed just weeks after he survived being shot 10 times in an attempted execution at a Sydney gym in May

Photographs from an apparent gangland lunch in Melbourne gave an insight into the current gang hierarchy and their associates, including Mohamad Alameddine (second from right)

Meehan's pictures and clips are rarely left online for longer than 24 hours before being deleted - but they never go unnoticed by gang members and their enemies.

It's said to have raised tensions among older members of the gang who are wary of Meehan's desire to be so high profile, sparking support for Murray's return.

There are also said to be concerns about Meehan's past as a former Rebels gang member who switched allegiances and brought over his close mate Jesse Vella.

The 35-year-old grew up in public housing at Liverpool in Sydney's south-west and joined the Rebels when he was just 18, rising to president of that club's Cronulla chapter.

There are also said to be concerns about Meehan's past as a former Rebels gang member who switched allegiances and brought over his close mate Jesse Vella (pictured with Meehan)

Melbourne-based Mick Murray is said to bidding to return as the gang's Australian overlord just four months after he stood down while awaiting murder charges

He was reportedly lured to patch over to the Comanchero by one-time national president Mark Buddle who is now the club's self-declared 'commander of the world'.

NSW-based Meehan, who has a home at Yerribool in the Southern Highlands, took charge at the end of June after a chaotic start to the year for the bikie gang.

In Melbourne, Murray is in jail charged with murder while another of the men who previously held his position was shot dead four years ago.

Ultimate Comanchero boss Mark Buddle is also in a Melbourne jail after he was extradited to Australia from Turkey on drug smuggling charges.

Ultimate Comanchero boss Mark Buddle (pictured with ex-wife Mel Ter Wisscha) is in a Melbourne jail after he was extradited to Australia from Turkey on drug smuggling charges

Police sources say Mark Buddle (pictured during his extradition from Turkey) is effectively running the gang from behind bars

However police sources say Buddle is effectively running the gang from behind bars.

'Buddle still calls the shots,' one source told the Daily Telegraph.

'It will be his decision at the end of the day and some in Victoria believe Mick [Murray] should never have been flicked.

'But I think most don't want to have their president behind bars, so Meehan is their choice.'

Meehan (right) was reportedly lured to patch over to the Comanchero by one-time national president Mark Buddle (left) who is now the club's self-declared 'commander of the world'

Another added: 'There is always a target on the back of the boss of the Commos, not only from the cops.

'It almost comes with the job.'
Tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes has blasted the existing board of AGL as it fights off his efforts to turn the energy giant green.

Mr Cannon-Brookes, who is AGL's largest shareholder via his private investment firm, wants to change the direction of AGL by installing four new faces on its board in November.

But the tech whiz and AGL, which has 4.5millon customers, have been in conflict since he launched two takeovers.

Now AGL has rejected three of the four board candidates hand-picked by Mr Cannon-Brookes' private investment company Grok Ventures, which became AGL's biggest shareholder this year.

Tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes blasted the existing board of AGL as it fights off his power play aimed at making the energy giant turn off coal (Pictured, Annie and Mike Cannon-Brookes)

New AGL chair Patricia McKenzie told shareholders to reject three of Gok's nominees, including CSR director Christine Holman (pictured)

'I don't know if they are scared, all I know is their argument is bulls***,' Mr Cannon-Brookes, co-founder of tech giant Atlassian, told Nine newspapers.

Grok wants to accelerate the closure of AGL's coal-fired power plants and launched a failed $8billion takeover bid which ended in February.

After that Mr Cannon-Brookes successfully lobbied AGL's 150,000 shareholders to prevent a planned demerger which would have split the company into AGL Australia and Accel Energy.

He argued the two smaller companies would have had less ability to invest in renewables than the current AGL.

At the start of October new AGL chair Patricia McKenzie told shareholders to reject three of Gok's nominees at the company's annual general meeting on November 15 in Melbourne.

Mr Cannon-Brookes, who is AGL's largest shareholder, wants to change the direction and policies of AGL by installing four new faces on its board (Pictured Mike and Annie Cannon-Brookes with US environmentalist Al Gore)

Mr Cannon-Brookes claimed Australia has itself to blame for the current energy crisis because it has not invested enough in renewables

She described the upcoming shareholder vote as a chance to ensure independence and represent the interests of all investors.

The new board needs to represent '100 per cent of the shareholders', Ms McKenzie said, 'and 88 per cent of those are not Grok'.

The only Grok nominee AGL said it will support to become a director is former Tesla executive Mark Twidell.

He was also an independent non-executive director at the Clean Energy Council of Australia.

Grok's other nominees for the AGL board were CSR director Christine Holman, former Sydney Water CEO Kerry Schott and Swinburne University chancellor John Pollaers.

'They meet every single legal definition of being independent ... there is no connection, no contract, no legal agreement with any of them. Some of them I haven't even spoken to,' Mr Cannon-Brookes said.

Mr Cannon-Brookes claimed Australia has itself to blame for the current energy crisis because it has not invested enough in renewables.

He has called renewal of AGL 'the largest decarbonisation project in the world' and warned the new board members would have to do more than 'your standard ASX board job' of eating sandwiches and drinking coffee in the board room on the top floor.

Ms McKenzie, who replaced Peter Botten after he resigned when the demerger plans were derailed, argued Grok's candidates would not strengthen AGL.

'Given the depth of energy market and transition experience already represented on the renewed AGL board, the board is of the view that appointing all four of the Grok candidates would not add to the overall effectiveness of the board,' she said.

The only Grok nominee AGL said it will support to become a director is former Tesla executive Mark Twidell (pictured)

'In particular, while each of Dr Kerry Elizabeth Schott AO, John Carl Pollaers OAM and Christine Francis Holman are respected directors in their own right, their skill set either is already present on the board or is not aligned to the priority skills that are being sought through the current renewal process.'

Mr Cannon-Brookes' private investment company Grok Ventures will now directly lobby AGL shareholders as it attempts to have its other three candidates appointed.

When Grok and Canadian investment firm Brookfield's takeover bid failed, Mr Brookes-Cannon also pressured the company to fast-track the closure of its coal-fired power stations.

The company has committed to switching off coal as a power source by 2035, 10 years sooner than planned, after pressure from Mr Cannon-Brookes.

He claimed he wants to help renew AGL's board so that it profits from decarbonisation and that the current board lack the skills to do so.
Days after taking over Twitter and a week before the U.S. midterm elections, billionaire Elon Musk has positioned himself as 'Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator' of one of the most important platforms in American politics.

The change was made during another wild day for the social media giant under Musk, as Twitter's advertising chief, Sarah Personette, tweeted on Tuesday that she resigned following an exodus of nearly the entire senior ranks.

Musk has said he won't make major decisions about the content or restoring banned accounts before setting up a 'content moderation council' with diverse viewpoints. But his own behavior as a prolific tweeter has signaled otherwise.

He's engaged directly with figures on the political right who are appealing for looser restrictions, including a Republican candidate for Arizona secretary of state who credits Musk with enabling him to begin tweeting again after his account was briefly suspended Monday.

Musk even changed his profile to 'Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator' - with a photo of himself when he was a toddler holding a telephone.

Days after taking over Twitter and a week before the U.S. midterm elections, billionaire Elon Musk has positioned himself as 'Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator' of one of the most important platforms in American politics

Musk has said he won't make major decisions about content or restoring banned accounts before setting up a 'content moderation council' with diverse viewpoints. But his own behavior as a prolific tweeter has signaled otherwise

But it is almost impossible for those outside of Twitter to know what strings he is pulling or whose accounts have been suspended: The company has stopped responding to media questions, except for the few that Musk answers by tweet.

Personette, who was chief customer officer, leaves the company following the firings last week of multiple executives, including former Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agrawal and Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal.

Chief Marketing Officer Leslie Berland and head of product Jay Sullivan have announced their departures. DailyMail.com cameras spotted Berland looking bereft upon leaving Twitter HQ days earlier.

Chief People and Diversity Officer Dalana Brand announced on Tuesday in a LinkedIn post that she had resigned last week as well. General manager for core technologies Nick Caldwell confirmed his departure on Twitter, changing his profile bio to 'former Twitter exec' by Monday night.

Musk's team is meeting with advertisers this week in New York, as the company's increasingly skittish customers raise alarms about the potential for harmful content to appear next to their ads.

It was another wild day for the social media giant under Musk, Twitter's advertising chief, Sarah Personette, tweeted on Tuesday that she resigned following an exodus of nearly the entire senior ranks

Chief Marketing Officer Leslie Berland (pictured right) and head of product Jay Sullivan (pictured left) have also announced their departures

DailyMail.com cameras spotted Berland looking bereft upon leaving Twitter HQ days earlier

Chief People and Diversity Officer Dalana Brand (pictured right) announced on Tuesday in a LinkedIn post that she had resigned last week as well. General manager for core technologies Nick Caldwell (pictured left) confirmed his departure on Twitter, changing his profile bio to 'former Twitter exec' by Monday night

A coalition of more than 40 advocacy organizations including the NAACP and Free Press sent an open letter to Twitter's top 20 advertisers on Tuesday, asking them to pull their ads if Musk guts content moderation on the platform.

Mediabrands, a unit of ad holding company IPG, has advised its clients to pause advertising on Twitter for the next week until the company gives more details about its plans to protect trust and safety on the platform, according to a source familiar with the matter.

IPG works with major advertisers like Coca-Cola, American Express, and Johnson & Johnson. The IPG recommendation to advertisers was first reported by Morning Brew.

Jason Calacanis, an angel investor and Musk confidant working on Twitter, on Monday said Twitter was having 'a very productive day' meeting with marketers and advertisers.

The advertiser meetings could help brands decide whether to stick around or abandon the platform because of divisive and vitriolic content.

Musk has attempted to reassure advertisers. 'Twitter's commitment to brand safety is unchanged,' he tweeted on Monday. He previously said he would reverse Twitter's ban on former US President Donald Trump, who was kicked off because of concerns he could incite further violence after the US Capitol riot last year.

Experts have said hateful content has skyrocketed since Musk closed his acquisition of Twitter last week.

Use of the n-word has increased by nearly 500% on Twitter, said the Network Contagion Research Institute on Friday, which identifies 'cyber-social threats.'

Musk explained his plan for Twitter's verified system on the social media platform itself.

'Twitter's current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn't have a blue checkmark is bullshit,' the new Chief Twit wrote. 'Power to the people! Blue for $8/month.'

A blue tick badge allows other Twitter users to verify that other users are who they say they are.

Musk added that those who sign-up for the system will get 'priority in replies, mentions, and search, which is essential to defeating spam/scam, ability to post long video and audio, half as many ads, and paywall bypass for publishers willing to work with us.'

The world's richest man previously mulled a $20 per month blue tick verification fee but appeared to lower the cost following criticism from horror author Stephen King.

New Twitter CEO Elon Musk was pictured leaving his mother's New York City home to head back into Twitter's NYC office

It was the Chief Twit's second visit to the office this week following his $44 billion takeover

During his trip, Musk confirmed on Twitter that access to its verified program will go from being free to costing $8-a-month

The decision came following backlash over his plans to start the subscription charge, with celebrities, including horror author Stephen King, among the vocal critics of a previously proposed $20-a-month charge

Pictured: Musk following his security detail on Tuesday as he entered the back of Twitter's NYC headquarters

Musk, clad in red Samurai armor, showed up at Heidi Klum's 21st annual Halloween Party at the Moxy Hotel on Monday

Musk is looking to make good on his promise to make the social media platform turn a profit by introducing a charge for Twitter users wanting to keep their verification badge.

His plan to reportedly charge $20 a month, however, appeared to sit poorly with King, who tweeted: '$20 a month to keep my blue check? F*** that, they should pay me,' wrote King, who has 6.9million followers. 'If that gets instituted, I'm gone like Enron.'

Musk replied, 'We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers.

'How about $8' he asked, which appears to be the price he's settled on.

King isn't the only blue-tick Twitter user to threaten to abandon their blue ticks if a charge is introduced to the platform.

Author Stephen King said he will leave Twitter if Musk brings in a $20-a-month charge for him to keep his blue check

Author Stephen King, who wrote The Shining, said he will leave the platform if Musk introduces a blue-tick verification charge

Musk appeared to haggle with the horror author, suggesting the $8 price he ultimately decided on

Musk is pictured leaving his mother's house in New York City, wearing an 'Occupy Mars' branded t-shirt as he walked with his security detail

Musk appears to have taken Monday's criticism from the public to heart as he opted to lower the proposed blue mark cost following his outing to Klum's premier Halloween party.

The world's richest man was pictured arriving at the party in a red Samurai-style costume as reports emerge that he is preparing to cut close to 2,000 Twitter jobs, amounting to around 25 percent of its workforce.

Musk looked triumphant as he posed on the red carpet in his armor, with his street clothes still visible underneath. It's not clear what Musk was supposed to be dressed as for Klum's celebration

According to the website for the high-end costume store, Abracadabra NYC, Musk's outfit is the Devil's Champion-Leather Armor set that retails for $7,500. At the time of writing, the website says that there is only one costume remaining in stock.

The billionaire's mother, Maye, was also present at the party and inside Twitter's offices on West 17th Street.

Musk arrives with his mother, Maye, at Klum's annual bash in New York City's Lower East Side neighborhood

It's not clear what Musk was supposed to be dressed as for Klum's celebration
Sunfish sightings close to shore are rare as they favour deep tropical water

The unique looking fish grow up to 4.2m in height and can weigh over 2,000kg

Divers Justin Ewan and Joshua Ku filmed the 'curious' sunfish as they swam

Two sunfish were spotted swimming off the coast of Long Reef Beach, Sydney

Two divers have experienced a 'once in a lifetime' moment after spotting a pair of sunfish while diving off the coast of a popular Sydney beach.

Justin Ewan, along with his friend Joshua Ku, were diving from a jetski off the coast of Long Reef beach in Sydney's northern beaches suburb of Collaroy on Sunday when he spotted two 'massive figures' swimming towards him.

Mr Ewan soon realised the dark figures were a pair of 'curious' sunfish measuring about 1.8metres in diameter.

Two sunfish were spotted in waters off the coast of Long Reef beach, in Sydney's northern beaches suburb of Collaroy. Incredible footage of the unique encounter was captured using a GoPro (pictured)

'It was my turn to dive and I dove down to about 10 metres and looked straight ahead and noticed two massive figures coming towards me,' Mr Ewan told 9News.

'I couldn't really believe it, until they got a lot closer to me, that they were huge sunfish, just a pair of them.

'They actually swam up to me so I think they were a bit more curious than I was.'

Ewan explained that the sighting was extremely rare as sunfish are typically spotted in warm water far offshore.

The two divers captured the unique encounter on a GoPro and shared the incredible footage to Instagram.

'It felt like a once in a lifetime opportunity,' Mr Ewan said.

'As soon as they came up, I just relaxed and dove down very slowly and calmly and ended up getting the chance to get close enough to film them and watch them swim away.

'It was amazing. Josh hopped in after me and he got a chance as well. We were really grateful for that experience.'

Mr Ewan said he loved diving because he never knows what he will encounter next.

Justin Ewan explained that the sighting was extremely rare as sunfish are typically spotted in warm water far offshore and not in 10 to 20-metre deep water close to the coast. Ewan (left) and Joshua Ku (right) said they were grateful for the encounter and felt as though it was a 'once in a lifetime' opportunity

The rare sunfish were spotted in the water off Long Reef Beach in Sydney's Northern Beaches (pictured)

The sunfish, also called the Mola mola, is the worlds heaviest bony fish.

They can grow up to 3.1m long, 4.2m high and weigh more than 2,000kg, and are considered vulnerable in the wild making the find even more incredible.

They are found in tropical waters around the world and are often confused for sharks due to their fin.

Ocean Sunfish are on The International Union for Conservation of Nature 'Red List' of threatened species.

Their numbers are dwindling because they get caught in nets and can suffocate on plastic that finds its way into the sea.

They are also considered a delicacy in countries like Japan and Taiwan.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier / EPA-Yonhap



German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier plans to pay tribute to the victims of a deadly Halloween crowd crush during his upcoming official visit to Korea, informed sources said Wednesday.



Steinmeier is scheduled to arrive in Seoul on Thursday for a three-day stay, in which he will meet with President Yoon Suk-yeol. He would be the first foreign head of state to make a trip here since the Itaewon accident that left at least 156 people, including 26 foreigners, killed and some 30 others seriously injured.



He also plans to pay respect to the victims at a mourning altar established in front of Seoul City Hall, according to multiple sources who would not reveal the exact timing of his visit



The schedule was not initially included in Steinmeier's itinerary provided by his office, which includes visits to Samsung Electronics's semiconductor plant in Pyeongtaek and a United Nations cemetery in Busan. It was later added in the midst of Korea's official mourning period over the tragedy that occurred in the popular nightlife district of Itaewon on Saturday.



The Korean government has designated a weeklong national mourning period through Saturday, with flags hoisted at half-mast at government buildings and public offices across the country. Major planned festivities nationwide have been canceled as well.



Saturday's incident marked the deadliest crowd crush in Korea's history and the worst disaster the country has seen since 2014, when the ferry Sewol sank in waters off the south coast and killed 304 people, mostly high school students.



Steinmeier's visit, which will be the first by a German president in four years, comes as the two countries will mark 140 years since they began bilateral exchanges next year. (Yonhap)


A top university has decided to pull the plug on students learning exclusively from home, making it compulsory to front up to campus lectures and tutorials.

Sydney University will wind up remote learning and teaching next year after three years of online classes.

Vice Chancellor at the university Mark Scott said patchy video platforms meant the college can not provide quality education.

The internet tutorials and lectures were put in place so students could continue their studies during the Covid-19 pandemic but was maintained long after restrictions ended.

But an image of an empty-seated university auditorium posted last August revealed the state of 'depressing' university life in 2022.

University professors are fed up lecturing to a theatre of empty seats, with some students complaining about paying high tuition fees to sit in front of a screen (pictured, a picture posted last August of an empty lecture theatre at Sydney University)

Sydney University (pictured) will wind up remote lectures and tutorials next year, after three years of online classes

Jan Slapeta, a Professor of Veterinary and Molecular Parasitology at Sydney University, posted the photo on social media after being fed up with 'lecturing empty chairs'.

Queensland University of Technology Lecturer Gary Mortimer (pictured) welcomed the changes

Queensland University of Technology Lecturer Gary Mortimer, who has been an advocate for getting face-to-face classes back on track, welcomed the changes.

'It was really difficult from an academic perspective, walking into a lecture theatre and having no body sit there,' he told 2GB's Ben Fordham on Wednesday.

He said he missed the interaction and conversation he had with students, when he would lecture to 500-plus attendees in a room.

'Then when Covid hit I was sitting in an office, looking at a screen trying to talk to students who have a camera turned off, mic turned off and you lose the engagement,' he said.

'You don't have a chance to have a conversation after the lecture and have a conversation about what is happening in [students'] lives or challenges they may be facing.'

Peter Black (pictured), a senior law lecturer at Queensland University of Technology, revealed on social media in August he found teaching to unresponsive blank screens on Zoom 'depressing'

He said enforcing physical attendance is going to be a 'big barrier' for students to jump over.

Radio host Ben Fordham also said students have been complaining about paying high tuition fees just to sit in front of a screen.

But Sydney University Clinical Psychologist Professor Adam Guastella told 2GB flexible learning for some students with work and other commitments had been great.

University of Sydney Clinical Psychologist Professor Adam Guastella (pictured) said it's time for students to get back into the classroom

Yet he also agreed it was time to get back into the classroom.

'For many courses, online learning isn't the best and being in person, interacting and engaging with demonstrations in tutorials - [students] have missed out on a lot of that, so I think the transition back into online learning is going to be very helpful for a lot of students,' he said.

He added the internet classes served their purpose during the pandemic.

But the work-from-home habits adopted during Covid lockdowns have lingered long after most isolation measures for the virus were abandoned.

Peter Black, a senior law lecturer at Queensland University of Technology, posted an image on social media of him teaching via a blank screen last August.

He said teaching to unresponsive blanks screens on Zoom was 'depressing'.

The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency ordered all universities to scrap online lectures last month (pictured, people at the Sydney University campus)

Commenters suggested universities and lecturers should adapt to the results of modern technology, while others lamented the isolating effect.

'As someone who taught for over 25 years (high school and undergrad) I can honestly say I find this really upsetting. Teaching is social, and there is nothing like building knowledge together with students in a room,' another professor at QUT said.

The scrapping of online learning at Sydney University comes after the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency ordered all universities to scrap online lectures last month.
Adam was able to walk free thanks to New York's lax laws surrounding misdemeanors, which he had been charged with in connection to the assault

The woman was so scared of her estranged husband that she had moved out of their house and was wearing a bulletproof vest at the time of the shooting

After the assault took place, Keaira posted video of the incident to Facebook in a plea for help

Adam had been released less than 24 hours previously for an assault that had occurred inside their home on September 28

Keaira Bennefield, 40, was murdered by Adam Bennefield, 45, in front of her three children while driving them to school on October 5

A New York mother of three was shot and killed by her estranged husband in Buffalo

A New York mother was murdered by her husband less than 24 hours after he had been set free from prison on no bail for beating her in a video she posted to Facebook.

Keaira Bennefield, 40, was shot and killed by her estranged husband, Adam Bennfield, 45, on a Buffalo, New York, street on October 5.

The mom was driving her three children, ages five, nine, and six months, to school when she was attacked by Adam, police said.

At the time of her death, the mother of three was was so scared of her estranged husband that she went out of the house the morning of her death wearing a bulletproof vest, according to the Buffalo News.

Keaira was a mother to two girls, ages five and nine, as well as a six month old boy she shared with Adam

Adam Bennefield was arrested on October 12, eight days after Keaira was shot and killed

Investigators at the scene found Keaira in her car, deceased from a gunshot wound inflicted by Adam

Adam was let go thanks to New York's no-cash bail laws that allow suspected criminals to walk free without having to pay in most misdemeanors and nonviolent offenses.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, the law was passed by Democrats in the state and was 'aimed to reduce the risk that someone would be jailed because they could not afford to pay for release.'

The law, passed in 2019, also is in place to 'reduce the unnecessary use of incarceration, which can have a profound disruptive effect on peoples' lives.'

Keaira's murder happened in New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's hometown.

Hochul has repeatedly stated that she has no plans to repeal the law, even as incidents like Keaira's death pop up all over the state.

On September 28, Keaira posted the video of Adam assaulting her repeatedly, taken on cameras inside what appears to be their apartment.

'This is what this man dose to me but i'm always treated like i'm the abuser,' she wrote in her social media post.

The video, which features two different angles of the attack, is just under eight minutes long and shows her lying on the floor for several minutes after Adam is seen forcing her to the ground and punching.

Adam can be seen punching her at least 28 times in the video and kicking her nearly a half a dozen times as she was lying on the ground following his punches.

Keaira called the police after the incident, telling dispatch officials that Adam had punched her and that she was hurt.

Keaira's posed with her family members on her wedding day to Adam, looking happy after the ceremony

The mother was taken at just 40 years old thanks in part to lax laws in New York that allow people who have been charged with misdemeanors to be released with no bail

Upon arrival at the scene, police decided to arrest Adam for harassment. Keaira did not go to the hospital for her injuries.

Adam was found by officers locked in a bathroom and was taken to the Erie County Medial Center to be evaluated.

An arrest warrant for the man was obtained after he was released and police told Keaira to reach out to them if he came back.

Later that evening, the woman posted the video to her Facebook page.

Keaira's three children will now have to live a life without their mother after her husband brutally murdered her in front of them

The Buffalo News reported that the day after the incident took place, a domestic violence advocate from the Cheektowaga Police Department reached out to Keaira, which is when she said that she had video of the assault.

The advocate later spoke to law enforcement officials and told them the harassment charges Adam was facing was not enough.

After speaking with the domestic violence advocates, police contacted Keaira and told her to upload her video to the police system so they could exam it.

On September 30, Keaira posted a heartbreaking update on social media, telling family and friends that she was strong and smart enough to 'get myself outta that situation alive.'

'Don't Underestimate me I am a Hudson we were born strong but I also know when to play weak an it saved my life,' Keaira wrote in a Facebook post. 'i was smart enuff to get myself outa that situation alive.'

At the time of her murder, Keaira told Facebook friends that she had gotten out of the situation with Adam, after he was seen beating her in a video she posted to Facebook

On October 2, Keaira called police, telling them that she feared someone was in her home. When they responded to the home, they didn't find anyone but they were able to watch the video that Keaira had posted to Facebook.

It was at that time that officers from the Cheektowaga Police Department decided that Adam's charges should be bumped up to misdemeanors, including third-degree assault, fourth-degree criminal mischief, second-degree menacing and second-degree unlawful imprisonment.

Just one day later, Keaira went to the police station to sign papers related to the charges and on October 4, Adam was finally arrested and taken to court.

A judge at that time issued Keaira an order of protection and released Adam with no bail. Despite having been hit with several charges, the misdemeanors were still not enough to hold him under the legislature.

Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn said in a meeting after the fact that 'there was zero evidence for anything higher' than the misdemeanor charges he was already facing.

'The charges were correctly charged. The judge had no choice but to release this person,' Flynn said.

The mom of three was terrified for her life and had been staying at her mother's home, police and law enforcement officials said

The very next day, the woman, who had been staying with her mother, was driving her kids to school when Adam rammed his own vehicle into hers, ambushing and gunning her down with a shotgun in the street.

All three of her children, including the six month old baby she shared with Adam, were in the backseat at the time.

Investigators found her in a bulletproof vest at the scene.

On October 12, police officers were finally able to locate Adam thanks to a tip from the public.

The man was found and arrested near the intersection of Bissell and Walden avenues, according to police.

Keaira has been driving her children to school when she was ambushed by her estranged husband and fatally shot

To make matters worse, Adam had been previously charged for kidnapping an ex-girlfriend and another woman, and had once escaped from the Erie County Correctional Facility.

On October 21, the man pleaded not guilty to Keaira's murder, as well as other charges in this case.

'The allegations contained in this indictment are horrifying,' Assistant District Attorney Ryan Haggerty said during Adam's plea hearing. 'They are the stuff of nightmares.'

He remains in custody and has been ordered by State Supreme Court Justice M. William Boller to be held without bail.

He is next set to appear in front of a judge in Erie County on Wednesday, November 2.
A lotto winner who 'always knew' he was going to win on the numbers he'd been playing for 20 years has won a whopping $20million - but the huge win isn't going to stop him from going to work everyday.

The man from Forster, on NSW's mid-north coast, had the only division one winning entry in Oz Lotto draw 1498 on Tuesday, meaning he pocketed the entire $20million prize packet.

'This morning, before going to work, I thought I'd check my ticket. I had a bit of a moment, alright, it took a little bit to register,' he told an official from The Lott when they called to confirm the win on Wednesday.

'I'm starting to register it now. I'm just sitting down now having a coffee, my wife hasn't stopped shaking.'

The winning numbers in Oz Lotto draw 1498 on Tuesday 1 November 2022 were 31, 13, 30, 9, 26, 6 and 18, while the supplementary numbers were 37, 16 and 22.

The $20million winner said he was calming down by having a coffee after learning of the win and then would go to work

He said the win was from 'special numbers I've been playing for over 20 years'.

He added he 'always knew' he was going to win and that his family often said to him: 'If anyone was ever going to win the lottery, it's you'.

'I've always thought of myself as being a little bit lucky, and now I have proof,' he said.

Despite the $20million win, the man was still worried about being late for work.

'I've still got to go to work today. I love my job, so I'll keep working,' he said.

'I'd love to buy a house and get a new car, just the normal things. It will be great just knowing there's this nest egg there.'

'I'm late for work now, so I've gotta go!'

The man was still getting ready to go to work despite the massive win (pictured, queues in Sydney to buy a ticket to last week's $160million Powerball)

The man's winning entry was purchased at NewsXpress in Forster with team member Michaela Rinkin saying the win was quickly becoming the talk of the town.

'Our group chat has been going off the chain! Everyone's very excited,' she said.

'Gossip's got around that we've sold a $20 million winning entry and people are coming in checking their tickets, hoping it's them.

'We last sold a division one winning entry earlier this year in Monday & Wednesday Lotto, so we're no stranger to making millionaires.

'Congratulations to our winner! We wish them all the very best.'

The Forster man said he'd been playing the same numbers for 20 years

In the 2021/22 financial year, 19 division one winning Oz Lotto entries across Australia collectively won more than $268.3 million.

Of those, eight landed in New South Wales, five in Victoria, four in Queensland and one each in South Australia and Western Australia.

The man's win comes a week after the record-breaking $160million Powerball jackpot.

There were three division one winners, who each pocketed around $53million each.

One of those was a syndicate of 20 miners from Western Australia, who celebrated winning more than $2million each in the huge jackpot.

The group of 20 night-shift goldminers from Kalgoorlie were jokingly threatened by their boss to keep showing up for work despite being $2.6million richer.

'They called me up to tell me they won the lotto and I did not believe them,' he told the ABC.

A group of 20 night-shift goldminers from the Kalgoorlie-Boulder mines (above) won $2.6million each in last Thursday's Powerball

Mr Wood said the group are 'great workers' and make up his best shift.

'I'm ecstatic. I'm very happy for each of them. I expect I might lose them though,' he said.

'I told them I will run after them and steal their ticket if they don't come back.'

Winning goldminer 'Peter' said the group had never entered the lottery together before Thursday's win.

'It was just a one off because it was a big draw,' Peter told Perth radio station 6PR on the weekend.

'We just couldn't believe it. We all put $100 in, spur of the moment sort of thing.'
Teal independent Zoe Daniel has silenced criticism of her meeting with the Chinese ambassador after backlash against her cozying up to Beijing.

The former ABC reporter who defeated Liberal MP Tim Wilson at the May 21 election posted a photo of herself with Xiao Qian at the Chinese Embassy last week.

Ms Daniel disabled comments on the photo on her Facebook page and left it off her Twitter entirely after an earlier meeting with Chinese officials was not well received.

The Member for Goldstein in southeast Melbourne justified her meeting with Mr Xiao because they discussed detained Chinese-Australian journalist Cheng Lei.

Teal independent Zoe Daniel posted a photo of herself with Chinese Ambassador Xiao Qian at the Chinese Embassy last week

'Our talks encompassed the various differences between our countries, as well as areas where we might be able to find common ground,' she wrote.

'I again raised the case of Australian Cheng Lei.

'It was a productive meeting and I thank the ambassador for his invitation and for the opportunity to provide some feedback from community members in Goldstein in regard to the relationship between us.'

Human right activist Drew Pavlou did not accept this explanation as the ambassador has no power to intervene, making Ms Daniel's meeting 'irresponsible'.

'Frankly I'm amazed, Zoe Daniel, that you are able to stand there and smile next to Chinese Ambassador Xiao Qian,' he said.

'A man who brazenly defends the Chinese government's genocide of Uyghurs and talks about 're-education' for 25 million Taiwanese. You are legitimising the Chinese Communist Party's crimes.'

Mr Pavlou said negotiations with the Chinese 'genocidal dictatorship' to release Ms Cheng should be conducted by Australian diplomats.

'Leave diplomacy with the Chinese Government to Foreign Minister Penny Wong. It is absolutely not appropriate for individual backbench MPs to be meeting with the representatives of a genocidal dictatorship,' he said.

'You know this is wrong which is why you didn't post to Twitter.'

Ms Daniel met with Chinese Embassy officials on September 14 and was widely criticised when she shared it on Twitter

Mr Pavlou said Australian politicians and business leaders instead should freeze out Chinese representatives if they wanted to aid her release.

'Ambassador Xiao Qian is a bystander in the Cheng Lei case, he is totally irrelevant,' he said.

'Therefore it is probably true that we have better chance for Cheng Lei's release if MPs and business leaders refuse to play by rules of CCP hostage diplomacy and simply snub CCP representatives over human rights violations.'

Ms Daniel met with Chinese Embassy officials, but not the ambassador himself, on September 14 and was widely criticised when she shared it on Twitter.

On that occasion she said she was there to 'discuss ways in which our countries can engage in reasoned discussion and build a working relationship'.

Mr Xiao himself has explained he is unable to intervene in Ms Cheng's legal case - which he believes to be 'the truth' anyway - but could on 'humanitarian' grounds.

Ms Cheng, an Australian citizen who was born in China, has been held in jail for two years on trumped-up spying charges under China's harsh national security laws.

Cheng Lei, an Australian citizen who was born in China, has been held in jail for two years on trumped-up spying charges under China's harsh national security laws

She is 'suspected of carrying out criminal activities endangering Chinas national security' and was arrested 'on suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas'.

During that period she has not been allowed to see her two children, her partner or any other family members.

'I have sympathy to her family, her kids and their relatives that they are faced with such a difficult situation,' Mr Xiao said during an interview last month.

'I have been trying to see if I can be help as ambassador to facilitate a possible much easier access either with between her and her relatives or her, the Australian embassies based on humanitarian considerations.'

Mr Xiao is notorious for provocative statements since taking up his post at the beginning of the year, including threatening to invade Taiwan.

His startling speech to the National Press Club in August ominously raised the use of force to unify the island with communist China and 'reeducate' its population.

'First, I would rather not use the word 'invasion' when we talk about China and Taiwan,' he said.

'Taiwan is different from any other scenario or situation. Taiwan is not an independent state. Taiwan is a province of the People's Republic of China.

'It's an issue of complete reunification, and the issue of Taiwan coming back to the motherland.'

Mr Xiao said China had been 'so patient' waiting to be reunified with Taiwan and urged those at the National Press Club to use their 'imagination' as to what the global superpower could do.

'That is one of the reasons why China has been so patient for several decades. We're waiting. We're waiting for a peaceful unification,' he said.

'But we cannot - we can never rule out the option to use other means... when compelled, we are ready to use all necessary means.

'As to what 'all necessary means?' You can use your imagination.'

Mr Xiao was then asked to give a 'yes or no' answer on if China had plans to 're-educate' Taiwan's 23 million people.

'It is reasonable for us to understand that their perspective about China, their perspective about their motherland, might take somewhat different views,' he replied.

'I think my personal understanding is that once Taiwan is reunited, coming back to the motherland, there might be a process for the people in Taiwan to have a correct understanding of China about the motherland.'

Uyghur detainees in a camp in Lop County, Xinjiang, in April 2017

The ambassador strengthened his rhetoric in an interview with the 7.30 report four weeks later.

'For those secessionists, it is not a question of being re-educated, they are going to be punished according to law,' he said.

'They are being involved in splitting Taiwan from China. So it's not a question of education or re-education. They will be punished according to law.'

Reeducation is term associated with China's Cultural Revolution launched by Chairmen Mao in 1996 where millions perished in a chaotic and brutal campaign to wipe out all traces of thought that were not deemed 'revolutionary communist'.

China holds thousands, if not millions, of Muslim Uyghurs in reeducation camps in the province of Xinjiang since 2017 with reports of brutal treatment.

Mr Xiao frequently said China wanted to restore good relations with Australia, in contrast to his predecessor and other CCP officials in 2020 and 2021.

Then-health minister Greg Hunt was completely blindsighted by Victorian China Consul-General Zhou Long appearing next to himself and Mr Forrest

China-Australia relations fell to their lowest in decades after then-prime minister Scott Morrison called for an inquiry into the originals of Covid-19 in Wuhan.

Beijing flew into a rage over his comments and began an 18-month series of trade embargos aimed at damaging Australia's economy.

Ms Daniel is not the only prominent Australian criticised for cozying up to China in recent years.

Mining magnate Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest, Australia's richest man, in 2020 invited a Chinese diplomat to a government press conference, who then hijacked it to spew propaganda praising Beijing's handling of coronavirus.

Then-health minister Greg Hunt was completely blindsighted by Victorian China Consul-General Zhou Long appearing next to himself and Mr Forrest.

Mr Forrest's business is heavily dependent on China buying Australian iron ore to fuel its growing economy.
Ohio Republican Senate hopeful J.D. Vance said the attack on Paul Pelosi wasn't 'reflective of Republicans' because the assailant was a 'violent illegal alien.'

At a Fox News Channel Ohio town hall Tuesday night, Vance called the hammer attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's 82-year-old husband 'disgusting' and 'preposterous,' adding that he condemned it 'from the very beginning.'

'What I've also said, is that I think the effort to turn this into a political issue actually is a real problem here,' the Hillbilly Elegy author continued.

'Because Paul Pelosi was attacked, Paul Pelosi was attacked by a person who was an illegal alien in our country, should have never should have been here in the first place,' he explained.

The Senate hopeful said his view was 'we need to deport violent illegal aliens.'

'And when an illegal alien attacks Paul Pelosi it's tragic and it's terrible but it's not reflective of Republicans, it's reflective of the fact that we let too many violent people live freely in our country,' Vance added.

David DePape, the 42-year-old Canadian man facing federal and state charges for the early Friday attack that left Paul Pelosi hospitalized, trafficked in conspiracy theories like QAnon and the 2020 election was stolen, parroting what was falsely pushed out by former Republican President Donald Trump.

Ohio Republican Senate hopeful J.D. Vance said the attack on Paul Pelosi wasn't 'reflective of Republicans' because the assailant was a 'violent illegal alien,' during a Fox News Channel town hall event in Ohio Tuesday night

Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance (right), the GOP nominee for Ohio Senate, speaks with (from left) Fox News Channel's Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier

David DePape (left), the 42-year-old Canadian man facing federal and state charges for the early Friday attack that left Paul Pelosi (right) hospitalized, trafficked in conspiracy theories like QAnon and the 2020 election was stolen

In a court filing Tuesday, prosecutors said DePape's intentions 'could not have been clearer,' wrote San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins. 'He forced his way into the Pelosi home intending to take the person third in line to the presidency of the United States hostage and to seriously harm her. Thwarted by Speaker Pelosi's absence, Defendant continued on his quest and would not be stopped, culminating on the near fatal attack on Mr. Pelosi.'

At the scene, DePape volunteered that he was sick of the 'lies coming out of Washington, D.C.,' the filing said. 'I didn't really want to hurt him, but you know this was a suicide mission.'

'I'm not going to stand here and do nothing even if it cost me my life,' the alleged assailant said.

He told police he would break the speaker's 'kneecaps' if she didn't tell the 'truth.'

Jenkins said Monday that the attack appeared to be 'politically motivated.'

'It's very sad to see that we are once again at the point in history where people believe that it's OK to express their political sentiments through violence,' Jenkins said. 'It demonstrates that we have to calm things down. We have to decide that were going to be more respectful as an American society.'

J.D. Vance's Democratic rival, Rep. Tim Ryan (pictured) condemned the Paul Pelosi attack, taking particular offense to something Donald Trump Jr. posted

The audience at Tuesday night's Fox News Channel town hall with Ohio Senate candidates, Republican J.D. Vance and Democrat, Rep. Tim Ryan

Vance and his Senate rival, Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan, split an hour-long town hall special on Fox News in front of an audience of Ohio voters.

Each candidate was separately interviewed by Fox's Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, with Ryan taking the stage first.

The Ohio Democrat condemned the attack during his portion, especially some of the reactions from prominent Republicans.

Ryan took particular offense to a post from Donald Trump Jr.

'He posted a pair of underwear that, you know, a grandpa would wear, with a hammer on it, and said "This is my Halloween uniform. I'm going as Paul Pelosi,"' Ryan said.

Trump Jr. shared an image of someone's 'Paul Pelosi Halloween costume' and wrote the 'internet remains undefeated.'

That is an atrocious thing to do,' Ryan commented.

Trump Jr. has made a number of campaign appearances alongside Vance, who former President Donald Trump endorsed before Ohio's GOP primary.

'Is this the country we're going to leave to our kids and our grandkids?' Ryan asked.

Ryan was briefly booed by the Fox News audience when he said that the MAGA mob on January 6 killed a police officer.

The Democrat didn't back down from that characterization and eventually earned applause from the audience.

'I sit on the the subcommittee that funds the Capitol Police. These are my friends. One hundred and forty of them got hurt. And some of them still can't go back to work because they were beat up with lead pipes. They were sprayed with pepper spray. They were beaten with flag poles. OK?' he said.

Ryan said the rioters were 'trying to overthrow the government.'

'They were trying to stop the peaceful transition of the government. What else were they doing there? They're going to kill Mike Pence, right? They wanted to kill Nancy Pelosi. Now somebody's beaten up Nancy Pelosi's husband with a hammer,' he said.

He then used the opportunity to attack Vance.

'J.D. Vance raised money for the insurrectionists. He made several social media posts to raise money for them,' Ryan said. 'Now, again, I don't care what your politics are. But Americans should say no. We have to say no to that.'
Medical professionals remain in top three spots, financial experts also feature

Based on average taxable income for careers from Australian Taxation Office

Business chief executives and architects have dropped out of the list of the top 10 highest earning professions in Australia, replaced by engineers and financial advisors.

Doctors, psychiatrists and lawyers sweep the list of the country's highest-earning careers in the latest 2019-20 tax return data from the Australian Taxation Office.

Daily Mail Australia looks at the top 10 highest-paid careers in Australia.

Surgeons have been the Australia's highest paying professionals since 2010

1. Surgeon, $406,068

Surgeons top the list for the 12th consecutive year with an average salary of $406,068, slightly up from $394,000 from the previous financial year.

Those who choose to specialise earn considerably more with neurosurgeons the highest paid at $600,387, followed by reconstructive surgeons ($500,269) and ophthalmologists ($533,511).

They all earn a similar salary to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on $564,356.

These medical professionals also typically earn more than double the base salary of a backbench federal MP on $217,060 and a lot more than the average Australian, full-time worker on $92,030.

Plastic surgeons earn an average $475,081 while heart surgeons are on $464,243.

2. Anaesthetist, $388,814

There are 3,500 anaesthetists in Australia, who earn an average $388,814 a year up from from $386,065.

Anaesthetists prepare patients for their operation, helping with everything from pain relief to surgery preparation to implementing a patient care plan before, during and after the procedure.

3. Internal medicine specialists: $310,903

Internal medicine specialists remain in third spot but are earn more than $6,000 than they did 12 months prior.

They are trained to diagnose, manage and treat complex, sometimes complicated or difficult-to-diagnose health disorders and often work in consultation with other medical professionals.

Fourth on the list are financial dealers who earn an average $275,984. Pictured are indicator boards at the the Australian Securities Exchange

There are a few surprise entrants and omissions to the top 10 list of Australia's highest paying jobs

4. Financial dealers: $275,984

Financial dealers analyse social trends, market conditions and government regulations, as well as analysing and interpreting their clients financial circumstances in order to buy and sell commodities for profit.

If the lucrative salary attracts you, you'll need a degree in commerce, accounting, finance or economics and then must apply for a license from Australian Securities and Investments Commission to trade as a financial dealer.

5. Psychiatrist: $252,691

Psychiatrists rounded out the top five and recorded one of the biggest jumps in average salaries, up from $235,558.

Psychiatrists specialise in diagnosing and treating mental illnesses, through psychotherapy, establishing treatment plans, ordering laboratory testing and assessment, prescribing medication and admitting patients to hospital.

6. Other Medical Practitioners: $232,903

This covers other medical professions not listed in the top five such as as GPs, dentists, orthodontists, periodontists and obstetricians.

These professionals are earning an average $10,000 more than in previous data.

But due to the diverse fields covered, the salaries of these medical professionals vary.

Specialists such as cardiologists, orthopedic specialists and gastroenterologists, who have a collective average salary of $450,000.

Mining engineers remain Australia's eighth highest paying job rising from an average $184,507 salary to $188,083

Chief executives/managing directors and enterprise architecture managers have dropped out of the top 10 to be replaced by engineer managers (pictured) and financial investment advisor/managers

7. Judicial or other legal professionals, $189, 538:

This covers a broad range of professions within the legal sector from everyone such as judges, barristers and lawyers to paralegals and administrative assistants.

But salaries vary widely depending on the job and individual firms.

8. Mining engineer: $188,083

With a previous average pay packet of $184,507, mining engineers are in charge of evaluating, planning and overseeing the construction of a mine.

They identify potential development sites by collaborating with geologists and conducting surveys off the mineral deposits, as well as coordinating the employment of staff and implementing safety programs and procedures.

They also restore mines to their original state once mining is completed.

They typically undertake an engineering degree and become a professional mining engineer after two years as a graduate

With an average salary of $161,514, engineering managers have jumped up three spots in be ranked in the top 10 of Australia's highest paying jobs

9. Engineering manager: $161,514

This field has jumped up three spots into the top 10 after the average salary slightly increased from $159,940.

Engineer managers are generally in charge of planning technical operations, civil engineering and construction projects, depending on the company or agency they are employed by.

Day-to-day responsibilities include budgets, schedules and development of quality control and safety procedures, as well as overseeing hiring, coordination of activities and liaising with other department heads.

10. Financial investment advisor/manager, $155,882

This career jumped at least five places to crack the top 10 list .

Financial investment managers work with other financial professionals, such as analysts, to research and plan client investment portfolios.

They also advise clients on investment strategies such as stocks and bonds, retail or mutual funds, superannuation funds, property and shares to maximise financial returns.

They work across a range of fields such from financial services industries to real estate.
Three weeks out from the Victorian state election, Daniel Andrews' closest ally has repeatedly refused to say if the state will take back families from ISIS camps in Syria.

Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan was asked five times on ABC Radio this week if Victoria would follow NSW, which last week accepted four ISIS brides and their 13 children.

Ms Allan dodged the question and avoided giving a straight answer each time she was asked by host Patricia Karvelas on Tuesday.

In her first attempt to get an answer, Karvelas said: 'The first group of families, the wives and children of Islamic State fighters have in Sydney over the weekend from Syria and are now living in the community in Sydney.

'Will Victoria accept returnees?' she asked.

Some of the ISIS brides who returned from Syria to Sydney were spotted reuniting in a McDonalds in the south-western suburb of Punchbowl on Tuesday

Ms Allan tried to circumvent the question, replying, 'These are very sensitive security matters.

'They are primarily the province of Federal Government. It would not be appropriate...'

Not happy with that, Karvelas cut her off.

'No, this is a matter of principle. (As) a matter of principle, will you accept them (to) Victoria? Or have you asked for them not to come during the election campaign?,' the ABC host asked.

The Deputy Premier avoided a direct answer.

'As I think we've seen from the media reporting around this issue, this is a very careful matter....'

Karvelas interrupted again. 'Sure, but as a matter of principle do you think returning citizens, they're Australian citizens, should be allowed to live in Victoria?'

Ms Allan then tried a different tactic - deflection. 'I would really direct you to the Federal Government and the Federal...,' she said before she was interrupted again.

'But that's not the question,' said Karvelas.

'It's about Victoria and whether you think they should be allowed to live in Victoria. Yes or no.'

Victoria's Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan (pictured centre) was asked five times if Victoria will take back families from ISIS camps in Syria

At this point, Ms Allan was given a little more time - and did not answer the question.

'I think you would appreciate that this is not a simple yes or no proposition,' she said.

'There needs to be a robust and careful assessment, not undertaken by the Victorian government, they're undertaken by the Federal Government and the Federal Department of Home Affairs...'

Karvelas cut her off again, saying 'And if they do that, if they do all the checks and balances, should they be welcome in Victoria?'

Ms Allan replied that 'Firstly, it would be totally inappropriate to cut across that (process) and secondly...'

Karvelas interrupted her yet again and said the magic words a politician trying to avoid a straight answer loves to hear - 'Alright, we're out of time.'

ISIS brides and their children play in the park and take a trip to Macca's and Kmart after being trapped in a Syrian detainment camp for years as it's revealed the controversial group will NOT be monitored by police

ISIS brides who returned to Sydney have been spotted visiting McDonald's

Mariam Dabboussy visited the park and also is thought to have gone to Kmart

The four brides are not expected to be monitored by authorities going forward

By DANYAL HUSSAIN FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

ISIS brides and their children have been allowed to visit Kmart and McDonald's just 48 hours after returning to Australia - and they will not be monitored by police going forward.

Four brides and their 13 children touched down in Sydney on Saturday morning after being removed from the al-Roj camp in Syria near the Iraqi border in an operation involving Australian officials and the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Authorities were expected to mull over potential charges for the women but it has now been revealed they are unlikely to face police action, will not have to wear ankle monitoring bracelet and will also not be subject to 24 hour police supervision.

Dabboussy is the subject of voluntary orders but is not subject to strict terrorism control orders.

She is now back at her family home near Blacktown and has been spotted enjoying a visit to a park with her three children.

In a 2019 interview, Bankstown-born Dabboussy previously said she was tricked into entering Syria in mid-2015 by her terrorist husband Kaled Zahab, who died shortly after they arrived.

Shayma Assaad, 22, and her four children are also believed to have returned to Sydney on Saturday, according to the Australian.

She was taken to Syria when she was just 15 and married to an older Islamic State member, Sydney tradie Mohammed Noor Masri, who remains in jail in Syria.

Shayma Assaad (pictured) was 15 when she moved to Syria from Australia with her parents, and later married Mohammed Noor Masri, 26. She and her four children are also believed to have now returned to Sydney

Dabboussy's sister-in-law, 31-year-old Mariam Raad, was also on Saturday's plane home with her four children.

Raad is the widow of Muhammad Zahab, a former western Sydney maths teacher who became one of Australia's most senior IS leaders.

He is accused of luring at least a dozen of his extended family to Syria, including brother Kaled.

In a statement, the women said: 'We are deeply thankful to be back home in Australia with our children.

She was taken to Syria when she was just 15 and married to an older Islamic State member, Sydney tradie Mohammed Noor Masri, who remains in jail in Syria.

Kamalle Dabboussy with his daughter Mariam Dabboussy (right) and her daughters in al-Hawl camp in north-eastern Syria. She is one of the ISIS brides who returned to Australia on Saturday

Dabboussy's sister-in-law, 31-year-old Mariam Raad, was also on Saturday's plane home with her four children.

Raad is the widow of Muhammad Zahab, a former western Sydney maths teacher who became one of Australia's most senior IS leaders.

He is accused of luring at least a dozen of his extended family to Syria, including brother Kaled.

In a statement, the women said: 'We are deeply thankful to be back home in Australia with our children.

Earlier this month, the Albanese government confirmed a rescue plan to bring home 16 women and 42 children who are families of IS members from the camp.

The women and children were removed from the al-Roj camp near the Iraqi border in an operation involving Australian officials and the Syrian Democratic Forces. They are now in Sydney. Pictured: Female ISIS fighters

The first people removed were assessed as the most vulnerable of those being held.

The federal government worked with Kurdish authorities on the extraction, which reportedly included DNA testing the individuals to prove they were Australian citizens.

Most of the children were born in Syria, meaning they'll be seeing Australia for the first time.

Aussie intelligence agencies believe that leaving Australians in squalid camps may present more of a threat to national security than bringing them back, as their plight could be used to recruit more Australian Muslims to join terror organisations.
A young family staying in Taronga Zoo for the night were given just 30 seconds to flee their luxury glamping tents after five lions escaped their enclosure just metres from where they were sleeping.

Sydney couple Magnus and Dominique Perri and their young sons Lucas and Oliver were staying in the zoo's Roar and Snore tents when they were woken by the sound of lions roaring and grumbling at about 4am on Wednesday.

With the sounds of the animals promoted as a key part of the experience, Mr Perri said the family quickly went back to sleep, believing the lions were safely locked in their enclosure just metres away.

But less than three hours later, at 6.40am, a blaring alarm sounded across the zoo, with Taronga Zoo workers running through the campsite urging everyone to evacuate immediately due to lions being on the loose.

'It just happened so quickly,' Mr Perri said.

Roar and Snore guests were locked inside (above) for 90 minutes this morning after being told to flee their tents and leave belongings behind when the five lions escaped after breaching a containment fence

Sydney couple Magnus and Dominique Perri and their young sons Lucas and Oliver (above) were staying in Taronga's Roar and Snore when they were told they had 30 seconds to 'get out' after a lion escape

'They said "Hurry up! Don't worry about your things. This is a Code One. Get out of your tent. Leave your belongings behind. You have 30 seconds to get out".'

'People were running out.'

Mr Perri said the family were escorted out along with about 50 other Roar and Snore overnighters to a safe place for the next 90 minutes.

He also said he heard zookeepers yelling 'they're still outside still' until four of the lions returned to the enclosure, and a tranquilizer gun was used to recapture the one that did not.

Speaking to the media on Wednesday morning, Taronga Zoo executive director Simon Duffy confirmed an adult lion and four cubs had escaped at 6.30am.

'The lions were observed in a small area adjacent to the main lion exhibit where a six-foot fence separated them from the rest of the zoo,' the zookeeper said.

Police and zoo workers were seen checking the fencelines at the lion's Savannah enclosure (above)

The five escape lions triggered a Code One alarm but were back in their enclosure a few hours later (pictured, Taronga lions)

'The zoo has very strict safety protocols in place for such an incident and immediate action was taken ... Four of the lions calmly made their way back into their main exhibit and dens and one lion cub was safely tranquillised.

'All animals are now safe in their back-of-house exhibit and are being closely monitored.'

He added that video footage showed the incident was under control within 10 minutes at 6.50am.

'This is a significant incident and a full review is now underway to confirm exactly how the lions were able to exhibit their main exhibit,' he said.

The Code One alarm is reserved for when a 'dangerous animal' has escaped or is causing an alarming situation and orders staff to immediately lockdown in a 'safe haven'.

Four lions escaped their enclosure at Sydney's Taronga Zoo (pictured, police seen at the fence near the lion viewing area)

Taronga Zoo said in a statement it would operate as normal today but the lions will not be on display.

NSW Police officers attended the scene but confirmed the zoo was 'managing the situation on its own'.

Visitors from Gloucestershire, UK, Kirsty, Stuart and Isabelle McLaren arrived at Taronga after it had reopened at 9.30am and said they had the all clear to roam the entire zoo.

'We're just here to see the koalas,' Kirsty said.

The lions escaped their enclosure - not far from the zoo's ferry terminal - before the tourist attraction opened its gates for the day, meaning only workers were present.

The chimpanzees, giraffes and zebras exhibits are also just metres away from the lion enclosure.
Thousands of police have criminal records, are linked to gangsters or pose a risk to the public, watchdogs warned yesterday.

Analysis of personnel files found it was far too easy for misogynistic, corrupt or predatory officers to join up and stay in uniform.

Matt Parr, Inspector of Constabulary, called for better screening to weed out dangerous individuals. Among the bombshell findings in his report were:

Officers could switch forces without vetting information being passed on;

Some bosses hired recruits without conducting face-to-face interviews;

Others failed to check employment records of applicants and even hired recruits who had lied on applications;

Bosses took extra risks on candidates if it helped boost diversity.

His Majestys Inspectorate for Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services made a remarkable 43 recommendations to address shoddy standards.

Commissioned last October in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard by Met officer Wayne Couzens, the probe examined three forces linked with the killer  Kent Police, the Met and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary.

Also scrutinised were Cumbria, South Wales, Nottinghamshire, Dorset and Devon and Cornwall.

Mr Parr cited astonishing examples of vetting failures, including one special constable who had a 12-month supervision order for indecent exposure as a juvenile.

A neo-Nazi was recruited by Scotland Yard despite featuring in a recruitment video for a banned far-Right group two days before he applied

Benjamin Hannam, 23, became the first constable to be convicted of terror offences after an anonymous hacker tipped off the Met that he was a member of National Action

He applied three times to the same force over 13 years and was eventually cleared by the vetting process after an appeal. Inspectors said he should have been automatically rejected.

Another officer who passed the checks had been caught speeding five years earlier, convicted of attempted theft abroad and was linked with drug dealing and violent criminals.

Inspectors also found examples of recruits with connections to organised criminals. One special officer had extensive criminality within his family, including a brother with convictions for drug dealing and violence who was also a person of interest in murder and kidnap investigations.

The applicant claimed to be estranged from his sibling, but no attempt was made to check this was true or to mitigate the risk of corruption. Another officer who claimed he had minimal contact with his criminal brother was in fact living with him.

Despite his dishonesty and the obvious risks, the officer was cleared of any wrongdoing because his lies were not significant enough to deny vetting to a young man [who] has wanted to fulfil his dream of joining the police.

Mr Parr said: It is too easy for the wrong people to both join and stay in the police. If the police are to rebuild public trust and protect their own female officers and staff, vetting must be much more rigorous and sexual misconduct taken more seriously.

Sadly, misogynistic and predatory behaviour are prevalent in all the forces we inspected. An alarming number of women, police officers and staff talked about the appalling behaviour that theyve been on the end of by male colleagues.

In many cases, the perpetrator was someone who had previously been reported for similar behaviour, which either hadnt been taken seriously or it wasnt thoroughly investigated. Many women told us that this kind of behaviour is so prevalent, they dont report it until it really escalates.

He added: It seems reasonable for me to say that over the last three or four years, the number of people recruited over whom we would raise significant questions is certainly in the hundreds, if not low thousands.

Commissioned last October in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard by Met officer Wayne Couzens, the probe examined three forces linked with the killer  Kent Police, the Met and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary

Suella Braverman said it was disappointing that some forces were taking unnecessary risks

The former rear admiral said it was incredible that some forces did not interview recruits in person and did not bother to check their working history.

Suella Braverman said it was disappointing that some forces were taking unnecessary risks. It is also unacceptable that women, whether working in policing or members of the public seeking help, continue to experience misogynistic and sexist behaviour, added the Home Secretary.

Among the recommendations made were minimum standards for employment checks, better practices for corruption investigations and improved guidance on conduct in the workplace.

The National Police Chiefs Council said bosses would act on the recommendations but stressed that HMICFRS agreed with most vetting decisions. Chairman Martin Hewitt said: We cannot risk predatory or discriminatory individuals slipping through the net.

College of Policing chief constable Andy Marsh said the report would be translated into practical guidance that would improve standards.

Neo-Nazi poster boy who joined the Met

By George Odling and Rebecca Camber

A neo-Nazi was recruited by Scotland Yard despite featuring in a recruitment video for a banned far-Right group two days before he applied.

Benjamin Hannam, 23, became the first constable to be convicted of terror offences after an anonymous hacker tipped off the Met that he was a member of National Action.

Hannam, from Enfield in London, joined the white supremacists in 2016 and recruited others to a group that backed the murder of MP Jo Cox.

Yet he managed to sail through the police vetting process and worked as a probationary officer for nearly two years before he was found on a leaked database of users of an extreme Right-wing forum and arrested in 2020.

Officers discovered he had continued downloading Nazi material even after he started training as an officer.

Last year he was jailed for four years and four months at the Old Bailey for membership of a proscribed terrorist organisation and possessing terror documents detailing knife combat and explosive devices.
A judge said in a written tentative ruling today that he is poised to pare some claims in a lawsuit brought by the script supervisor for the film Rust against Alec Baldwin's production company stemming from the accidental shooting of two crew members - but not the causes of action against Baldwin himself.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Whitaker also said he is inclined to deny a defense motion to strike Mamie Mitchell's claim for punitive damages against the 64-year-old performer and his firm, El Dorado Pictures Inc.

Baldwins motion to be dropped from the civil lawsuit, however, brought by the script supervisor, was denied - meaning Mitchell can proceed with her lawsuit against the 68-year-old actor over the fatal shooting.

Mitchell maintains she was standing nearby when Baldwin accidentally shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded the film's director, Joel Souza.

The suit demands compensation for physical and emotional damages allegedly sustained by the staffer as a result of the incident, which transpired on October 21, 2021, in a replica church on the Western's New Mexico set.

A judge said he will likely toss some claims in a suit brought by the script supervisor for the film Rust against Alec Baldwin's production company - but not the causes of action against the actor himself, seen here on the film's Santa Fe set shortly after the incident last year

The suit demands compensation for physical and emotional damages allegedly sustained by the staffer as a result of the incident, which transpired on October 21, 2021, in a replica church on the Western's New Mexico set. The church where the fatal shooting took place in Santa Fe

The judge had been scheduled to hear arguments later Tuesday before issuing his final ruling, which saw him advance Mitchell's claims of assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligence against Baldwin, who also served as one of the movie's executive producers

The judgment comes after Mitchell Last month dropped some claims in her lawsuit against the film's producers, including Baldwin, causes of action for assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress, leaving a sole claim for negligence.

During Tuesday's proceedings, Whitaker revealed that he is leaning toward dismissing Mitchell's assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims against El Dorado, but not against Baldwin.

He did, however, permit the plaintiff to move forward with a negligence claim against both parties, claiming Baldwin 'recklessly' fired the prop gun that killed cinematographer Hutchins - an incident officials said the studio was also liable for.

Te judge he is inclined to deny a defense motion to strike Mamie Mitchell's claim for punitive damages against the 64-year-old performer and his firm, El Dorado Pictures Inc.

Addressing Baldwin's motion to strike Mitchell's punitive damages claim, the judge said the plaintiff alleges the ammunition, including the gun discharged by Baldwin, had regularly been left unattended throughout the filming prior to the incident, and that loaded firearms had been used by crew members for target practice by crew members against safety protocols.

The judge also noted that Mitchell alleges Baldwin and El Dorado 'intentionally undertook a low budget and cost-cutting scheme that was known to create unsafe conditions for movie production crews that resulted in (the defendants') failure to ensure basic safety protocols with respect to the hazardous use of firearms.'

Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot on October 21 on the set of the movie

Mitchell lives in New Mexico and the events occurred there, so her arguments are being made under that state's laws.

Attorneys for Baldwin and El Dorado filed court papers September 2 asking that their clients be dismissed as defendants in the most recent version of Mitchell's suit filed August 3.

The lawyers also state that California law governs the issue of punitive damages and that they should be stricken from Mitchell's case, alleging she has failed to show any intentional or despicable conduct by Baldwin.

The Baldwin/El Dorado attorneys further argue in their court papers that Mitchell does not explain how the actor, his company or any of the other defendants owed a duty of care to her that made them negligent.

The gun held by Baldwin 'accidentally and unexpectedly discharged a live round, injuring director Joel Souza and leading to the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins,' the Baldwin/El Dorado lawyers further maintain in their court papers.

It has taken an entire year for the investigation into Hutchins' death to be completed.

Baldwin and Hutchins on the set of Rust last year. He maintains he never pulled the trigger

During that time, several lawsuits have been filed in civil court including one filed by Hutchins' widower, against Baldwin and the rest of the production.

He sued them for wrongful death, but they settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.

Matthew will now be a producer on the film, once it resumes production.

Baldwin is not the only person in the frame.

Among others who have been blamed for the shooting are armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who Baldwin claims didn't check the gun properly, and Assistant Director Dave Halls.

By the time Halyna was killed, many of the film's crew had walked off-set in protest over conditions and pay.

Baldwin was serving as a producer and starring actor in the movie.

Baldwin is shown buckled over in tears after being interviewed at the Sante Fe County Sheriff's Office on October 21

On the anniversary of Hutchins' death last week, the DA issued a warning to all of those involved.

'On the anniversary of the tragedy on the Rust film set in Santa Fe County, District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altweis remains committed to pursuing justice for the victims, and getting answers for the community.

'As soon as the District Attorney receives the full report from the Santa Fe County Sheriff, she and her team of professional attorneys and investigators will thoroughly review all the evidence and make a thoughtful decision about whether to bring charges against those involved.

'No one is above the law and every victim deserves justice,' she warned.




Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman could visit Korea this month after initially shelving the plan, officials said Wednesday.







The visit is being arranged for after a Group of 20 summit slated for Nov. 15-16 in Indonesia, which the crown prince is reportedly planning to attend, according to the presidential and diplomatic officials.







"Prince Mohammed's schedule is very much subject to change, so we have to see until the end," one presidential official told Yonhap News Agency.







A visit had been reported to be in the works before being shelved last month for reasons that were not clear.







Prince Mohammed is considered the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia and news of his possible visit had sparked interest among Korean businesses eager to win construction projects in Neom, a Saudi smart city project overseen by the crown prince. (Yonhap)


An Australian woman is appealing for help after the tattoo her husband got in Bali erupted in bumps on the skin and turned into an 'extremely itchy' rash.

Leanne Stewart and her husband, 50, were on the third last day of their Bali holiday when they decided to get tattoos.

It wasn't until they returned to Western Australia that the husband's tattoo began to flare up despite heeding advice to stay out of the pool and to use antiseptic cream to ward off infection.

The man decided to get a Viking themed tattoo while on holiday in Bali. Once he returned home to Australia the tattoo erupted in bumps causing a painful and itchy rash (pictured)

Ms Stewart explained that she got a tattoo at the 'same place, same time' as her husband but her tattoo was 'completely fine'.

She wrote that the bumps around her husband's Viking-themed tattoo became extremely itchy causing him a lot of pain.

The desperate wife appealed to a Facebook group after antibiotics and steroid cream, prescribed by a doctor, failed to curb her husband's pain and rash.



'Apparently it's a reaction to the ink but he has tried antibiotics [and] steroid cream but nothing has helped,' Ms Stewart wrote.

'Has this happened to anyone else and what did you use if you did?'

Some commenters on the Facebook post said they had similar experiences with Bali tattoos.

'I get this from time to time on my tattoos, also from Bali. Just every once in a while it will raise and get all those bumps throughout them all,' one user wrote.

'This happened to me too! Was so itchy! I was on antibiotics at the time so I think it helped to get rid of it,' another user commented.

They added: 'I also took antihistamines and used a steroid cream. Took a good 2-3 months for it to clear up properly.'

Leanne Stewart (right) appealed to Facebook users for help after steroid cream and antibiotics failed to alleviate her 50-year-old husband's rash (left)

Ms Stewart said she also got a tattoo (pictured) at the same place and time as her husband but was 'completely fine'

A third user chimed: 'My husband does have a reaction to the ink and some raised dots. Nothing helped his unfortunately and when the blisters finally went it left scars in his tattoo.'

Users claimed the reaction was caused by 'cheap ink' but other users argued the reaction might have been caused by the climate.

'That's pretty normal in the heat sometimes. Mine still get bumps and they're 15 years old,' one user wrote.

'Mine do the same from Thailand. Ingrown hairs. Sweat follicles with heat,' another user commented.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade advises travellers to Bali to check 'hygiene and safety' of tattoo providers and to avoid temporary black henna tattoos, which 'often contain a dye that can cause serious skin reactions'.

Perth mother Jessie Kingscote warned Bali travellers of the dangers of black henna tattoos after her son developed a severe reaction to the ink (pictured, Ms Kingscote with husband Henry, son Riley and daughter Ella)

The four-year-old was left with a painful blistering rash, which spread from the site of the tattoo on his upper right arm to his cheeks (left) and his body (right)

While Mr Stewart's tattoo was a permanent one done with ink, there had been previous warnings issued about the temporary henna tattoos widely available in Bali and other tourist hotspots.

Perth mother Jessie Kingscote told Daily Mail Australia that her four-year-old son was left scarred after developing a full body, blistering rash caused by a henna tattoo.

Ms Kingscote shared a photo of Riley's arm to the 'Bali Bogans' Facebook page in September, warning others not to take the 'risk' with henna tattoos.

In August, Melbourne mother-of-two Elena Kovalenko said her sons were both left with chemical burns from henna tattoos.

Elena Kovalenko warned Bali travellers of henna tattoos after her sons were both left with chemical burns (pictured, Ms Kovalenko with husband Phillip Saenko and their two sons Luke and Adrian)

Ms Kovalenko's sons Luke, 8, and Adrian, 6, suffered chemical burns to their skin after getting temporary henna tattoos while in Bali (pictured, Luke's arm (left) and Adrian's leg (right))

Ms Kovalenko was told the damage to her sons Luke, 8, and Adrian, 6, could be permanent and called for black henna ink to be banned.

Henna - a paste made from grinding dried henna leaves - has been used by different cultures for centuries and is usually brown or orange-brown in colour.

Traditional henna is considered safe to use in temporary tattoos and causes few allergic reactions.

However travellers are warned to avoid 'black henna' as it typically contains para-phenylenediamine, or PPD, a black ink found in hair dye.

PPD can cause serious adverse reactions including redness, itching, burning, swelling, blisters and scarring which appear seven to 10 days after the ink is applied to the skin.
The US Department of Homeland Security is pursuing a sprawling campaign against online 'disinformation' through close partnerships with social media companies, raising concerns about encroachments on free speech, according to a new report.

In a lengthy report on Monday citing internal documents that have emerged through leaks and court filings, The Intercept described what appears to be a growing focus within DHS on controlling online discourse.

Though the Biden administration earlier this year disbanded its controversial Disinformation Governance Board after furious backlash, the documents suggest that DHS has quietly maintained an intense interest in policing speech it deems false or dangerous.

The documents show that Facebook has a special online portal for DHS and other government officials to request content moderation, and that the federal department plans to target 'inaccurate information' on a wide array of topics.

Those hot-button topics include 'the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, racial justice, US withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the nature of US support to Ukraine,' according to a draft copy of DHS's Quadrennial Homeland Security Review cited in the report.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is seen above. A new report details the Department of Homeland Security's close partnerships with social media companies to fight 'disinformation'

The new report describes a special portal that DHS officials can use to request content be removed or otherwise moderated from Facebook and Instagram

The portal, which is still active as of Tuesday evening, requires a pre-registered government email address to gain access to a priority 'content request system'

The ambition of those plans, and the inherently political nature of some of the topics in question, such as the Afghan withdrawal, are drawing concerns from free speech advocates.

They fear that DHS could stray over the line from policing foreign disinformation campaigns, and into censorship of opposing viewpoints.

'There is growing evidence that the legislative and executive branch officials are using social media companies to engage in censorship by surrogate,' Jonathan Turley, a professor of law at George Washington University, told The Intercept.

'It is axiomatic that the government cannot do indirectly what it is prohibited from doing directly. If government officials are directing or facilitating such censorship, it raises serious First Amendment questions.'

Spokespersons for Facebook's parent company Meta, Twitter, and DHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment from DailyMail.com on Tuesday evening.

Twitter told The Intercept in a statement: 'We do not coordinate with other entities when making content moderation decisions, and we independently evaluate content in line with the Twitter Rules.'

DHS officials have argued that it is vital to protect Americans from foreign campaigns to spread false or dangerous information

The new report describes a special portal that DHS officials can use to request content be removed or otherwise moderated from Facebook and Instagram, which are both owned by Meta.

The portal, which is still active as of Tuesday evening, requires a pre-registered government email address to gain access to a priority 'content request system'.

The report indicates that most of the government's work on disinformation is taking place within the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a DHS sub-agency created during the Trump administration with a broad mandate to protect US infrastructure.

But CISA's domain, and its definition of 'infrastructure', appears to have swiftly expanded under President Joe Biden's appointee to lead the agency, Jen Easterly.

'One could argue we're in the business of critical infrastructure, and the most critical infrastructure is our cognitive infrastructure, so building that resilience to misinformation and disinformation, I think, is incredibly important,' Easterly said at a conference in November 2021.

CISA's domain, and its definition of 'infrastructure', appears to have swiftly expanded under President Joe Biden's appointee to lead the agency, Jen Easterly (above in 2021)

CISA officials have argued that it is vital to protect Americans from foreign campaigns to spread false or dangerous information.

Officials categorize that dangerous speech as misinformation (false information spread unintentionally), disinformation (false information spread intentionally), and malinformation (factual information shared with ill intent, often out of context).

And with the midterm elections looming in one week, defenders of crackdowns on disinformation point to a documented history of foreign influence campaigns attempting to trick Americans with phony social media accounts.

Still, the dangers of such crackdowns were illustrated in the closing days of the 2020 election, when Twitter and Facebook limited or banned sharing of the New York Post's reports on Hunter Biden's international business dealings.

Initially described as foreign disinformation, the contents of the abandoned laptop that formed the basis of the reporting were later verified by DailyMail.com and other news outlets as authentic.

Many of the documents cited by The Information came to light through a lawsuit filed last month by the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana, who are both Republicans.

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry (left) and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt (right) filed a suit last month accusing the Biden administration of working with social media companies to censor disfavored viewpoints. Both AGs are Republicans

Landry and Schmitt announced last month that they were adding 47 more defendants on top of the 20 that were already named in the wide-ranging suit

The suit accuses the Biden administration of having 'worked hand-in-hand' with social media giants to 'censor' news stories that reflect negatively on the White House .

'Throughout this case, we have uncovered a disturbing amount of collusion between Big Tech and Big Government,' Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said in a statement announcing the suit.

'This egregious attack on our First Amendment will be met with an equally full-hearted defense of the rights of the American people.'

Biden, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Dr. Anthony Fauci and Nina Jankowicz, who was meant to head Biden's now-defunct Disinformation Governance Board, are among the dozens of defendants listed in the suit.

The suit alleges that the Biden administration actively worked with social media companies and encouraged them to censor 'disfavored' viewpoints and speakers in violation of the First Amendment rights of those individuals.
Rishi Sunak will decide today whether or not he will attend Cop27  after Boris Johnson confirmed he would be there.

Amid preparations for the crucial Budget on November 17, the Prime Minister must decide if he has time to fly to next weeks major climate summit in Egypt.

He had previously said he had to focus on Britains depressing domestic challenges but is now expected to join other world leaders at the conference next week.

Amid preparations for the crucial Budget on November 17, the Prime Minister (pictured) must decide if he has time to fly to next weeks major climate summit in Egypt

Downing Street is believed to be already trying to arrange meetings for Mr Sunak should he be able to make it to Sharm El-Sheikh.

He faced added pressure to attend after his predecessor and Tory rival Mr Johnson told Sky News that he would be there.

I was invited by the Egyptians so Im very happy to go, he said.

Asked if he thought Mr Sunak should be there as well, Mr Johnson said that the new PM had a massive amount to do with the Governments domestic agenda.
A former soldier who died after being Tasered when he 'charged at' police had told his family of his wedding plans just hours earlier, an inquest heard.

Platoon Sergeant Spencer Beynon, 43, was hit with up to 50,000 volts after allegedly 'charging' at officers in the street near his home.

His former girlfriend Victoria Key said Mr Beynon had been expressed his love for her shortly before he died.

The Iraq and Afghanistan veteran had been suffering from PTSD after returning home, and the inquest heard he suffered from rages and mood swings.

Platoon Sergeant Spencer Beynon, 43, was hit with up to 50,000 volts after allegedly 'charging' at officers in the street near his home

Mr Beynon had just told his parents of wedding plans before being tasered

His former girlfriend Victoria Key said Mr Beynon (left) had been expressed his love for her shortly before he died

In a statement, Miss Key said that on the day he died he had been waiting for her on his doorstep wearing a dressing gown as she arrived home from work.

She said: 'Spencer told me how much he loved me and wanted to get married on the beach.'

The couple then driver to his parents house so that Mr Beynon could tell them of the wedding plans.

Miss Key said: 'Spencer was very excited and full of energy. He was displaying energetic behaviour, talking loudly.'

Miss Key  who has since died  said that Mr Beynon had been acting strangely in the days before his death and saw 'the devil' in people and his pet dog.

She said My Beynon  who toured Iraq and Afghanistan while serving his country  hugged his father Chris on seeing him.

In a statement, Miss Key said that on the day Mr Beynon died he had been waiting for her on his doorstep wearing a dressing gown as she arrived home from work

The former member of the Royal Welsh Regiment, who lost comrades in a roadside bomb attack in Basra, was left traumatised by his experiences and suffered PTSD

She said: 'He was hugging his father tightly, he said "I can see the devil in you and will try to get it out".

'His mother was getting upset, they had not heard him talk like this before.'

Mr Beynon had returned to Wales from Iraq in December 2007 and took part in a homecoming parade with hundreds of supporters lining the streets.

But the former member of the Royal Welsh Regiment, who lost comrades in a roadside bomb attack in Basra, was left traumatised by his experiences and suffered PTSD.

He later tried to turn his life around by setting up a community group in his home town to protect children in local playgrounds and becoming interested in Buddhism.

Mr Beynon tried to turn his life around by setting up a community group in his home town to protect children in local playgrounds and becoming interested in Buddhism

The inquest in Llanelli heard that Mr Beynon senior dialled 999 after his son left the house on 14 July 2016 and asked medics to section him

The inquest in Llanelli heard that Mr Beynon senior dialled 999 after his son left the house on 14 July 2016 and asked medics to section him.

During the call Mr Beynon told the operator his son had 'terrified' him and his wife.

He said: 'It's been absolutely insane here this morning.'

But the call was given the lowest priority as there was no immediate threat to life.

The inquest, listed for two weeks, is taking place in front of a jury.

The jury will be asked to decide if the police response was appropriate and reasonable and whether it was reasonable to use a Taser.

The inquest hearing in Llanelli continues.
The two remaining Europe Bars, the Honey Nougat and Summer Roll, are staying

An iconic supermarket treat is disappearing from Australian shelves as the brand's international owner trims its product line.

The Europe Sesame Bar is a favourite among Aussies thanks to its cheap cost and delicious combination of sesame and caramel, but owner Cadbury Australia confirmed this week the sweet treat has been discontinued.

Popular TikToker Russ Eats shared the scoop the chewy bars were being 'sent to the junk food graveyard' on Tuesday.

'Two of the big Europe four, the Jupiter Bar and the Sesame Bar, are now gone. In my opinion the two best. But we still have the Honey Nougat and the Summer Roll,' he said.

Commenters said they were disappointed the nostalgic treat would no longer be available.

'I loved these so much,' one person said.

'Sesame Bar is the greatest,' another added.

'If they get rid of the Summer Roll then we riot,' joked a third.

Others said they had seen them in stores this week and suggested snapping the remaining ones up before stock runs out.

TikToker Russ Eats had the lowdown the once popular Sesame Bars would no longer be available

A spokesperson for Cadbury owner Mondelez International confirmed to Daily Mail Australia the bars would no longer be sold.

'Unfortunately, due to a decline in consumer interest, the product is no longer available for purchase,' the spokesperson said.

'We're always reluctant to retire products and we're sorry for any disappointment this may cause.'

Russ Eats previously had the tip that popular Australian soda Lift would be removed from shelves in September and replaced with Sprite Lemon+.

Coca Cola, the makers of Lift, confirmed the once-popular soft drink had been phased out at the end of September.

'Ready-to-drink formats of Lift will be phased out of stores by the end of September 2022, except for Glass 330mL which will be phased out by the end of 2022,' a Coca Cola spokesperson said.

The drink has been replaced with Sprite Lemon+, but the drink does not have the same flavour as Lift.

'After listening to our customers, our focus is on our new Sprite Lemon+ range, which we believe will be popular with our existing Lift drinkers,' the spokesperson added.

Sprite Lemon+ also contains caffeine, a stimulant that wasn't found in Lift.
Aspiring spies no longer need to prove their British parentage if they want to join His Majestys secret service.

Britains spy agencies  MI6, MI5 and GCHQ  are relaxing recruitment rules from today to allow foreign-born recruits who have become British citizens.

Previously applicants had to have at least one parent who is British or hail from an approved list of other countries.

Britains spy agencies  MI6, MI5 and GCHQ  are relaxing recruitment rules from today to allow foreign-born recruits who have become British citizens

James Bond hopefuls will still have to prove they are a British citizen and go through a rigorous vetting process.

A spokesman for GCHQ, MI5 and MI6 said: We perform best in our mission to keep the nation safe and further the UKs interests when we reflect the diversity of the country we serve.

Sources say the change in the eligibility requirements will help to harness the best talent.

A report warned yesterday that Chinas bid for technical supremacy through its army of hackers poses the biggest single threat to Britains future cyber security.

A review by GCHQs National Cyber Security Centre said China was undertaking a substantial global espionage campaign to meet political, socio-economic, and strategic objectives.
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Ministers have 'war gamed' emergency plans to cope with week-long blackouts this winter, it has emerged.

Government documents marked 'official sensitive' warn that food and water supplies, transport and communications could all be severely disrupted for up to seven days in a 'reasonable worst-case scenario' in the event of a national power outage.

Whitehall officials are stress-testing Programme Yarrow - the secret plan to cope with blackouts which includes prioritising getting food, water and shelter to the young and elderly, as well as those with caring responsibilities - amid an energy crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine.

The cross-government plan was first drawn up last year - before Vladimir Putin launched his barbaric invasion of Russia's European neighbour - in a bid to improve planning and resilience in the event of a major fault on the National Grid, The Guardian reported.

It is understood that the type of technical fault envisaged under the plans includes an attack by a hostile foreign power on underwater power cables - following attacks against the Nord Stream energy pipelines in the Baltic Sea widely blamed on Moscow - as well as flood damage and thunderstorms.

It comes as the Met Office warns of an increased chance of a colder-than-usual winter this year which could put further pressure on gas and electricity supplies.

Programme Yarrow prepares for a situation more severe than that outlined by National Grid last month, which warned of three-hour rolling blackouts.

The plans envisage that 60 per cent of electricity demand will be met 'between day 2 and day 7' when households and businesses will be given 'intermittent access' to ration supply. Households and businesses will be given 24 hours' notice of a planned outage, and the plan could be published up to a week ahead on a rolling basis.

Ministers have 'war gamed' emergency plans to cope with week-long blackouts this winter (stock image)

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at Downing Street. Government documents marked 'official sensitive' warn that food and water supplies, transport and communications could all be severely disrupted for up to seven days in a 'reasonable worst-case scenario' in the event of a national power outage

It comes as the Met Office warns of an increased chance of a colder-than-usual winter this year which could put further pressure on gas and electricity supplies

What are blackouts and why might they happen this winter? National Grid has warned that there could be blackouts this winter if gas power plants are not able to keep running due to the energy crisis. The electricity systems operator said it is still unlikely but winter could see the first planned blackouts, which the grid calls rota load shedding, since the 1970s. But why might blackouts happen this year - who will be impacted and what can be done to avoid them? Why would a grid ever plan blackouts? Engineers working on the energy grid need to make sure it is "balanced" at all times. This means that the amount of electricity being put into the grid by power plants, wind farms and others should match the amount being taken out by households and businesses at any given time. The grid plans for when it thinks demand can be high so it can ask generators to meet that demand. But if there is ever an imbalance where demand is higher than supply or supply is higher than demand, it can cause major breakdowns in the grid. That could cause actual physical damage to the grid that could take days to repair. If the engineers know there will not be enough supply to match demand, sometimes they need to reduce demand by planned outages to avoid major damage. Why might blackouts be necessary this winter? Britain has one of the most reliable power networks in the world and unless cables are cut by storms or other accidents outages are rare. But this winter, gas generators might not be able to get enough gas to keep running. The grid said that if this happens, it still thinks that is "unlikely", then it might have to cut power to some households and businesses. Who will be impacted by blackouts and who gets cut off first? If the grid realises that it has to cut off some parts of the country, it will issue a warning to the local and regional distributors saying how much demand needs to be cut. It will be up to these so-called distribution network operators to decide who gets cut off and who does not. But the DNOs have limited controls so most of the time it will be whole areas that are impacted. How can we avoid blackouts? If the blackouts are caused by a lack of supply, then the only way is to reduce demand at particular times. Most demand happens during peak hours of between around 4pm and 7pm when people get home from work, put the kettle on, switch on their ovens and sit down to watch TV. The overall amount of electricity that people use does not have to reduce if they just change their usage to other times of the day. For instance, electric cars could be unplugged during these hours, switching the dishwasher could wait until 9pm and you could put the washing machine on earlier in the day or during the weekend. The grid and energy suppliers will launch a new system in November to pay people if they change the time that they use energy. The Government could also step in to ration peoples' energy use or advise them to use less, similar to a hosepipe ban, but so far it has ruled this out. Advertisement

The 'rota disconnection plan' is designed to cut power evenly across the country, according to documents seen by The Guardian. The power cuts should initially only take place once a day for three hours, although it could take up to an hour to reconnect after that - though the frequency of cuts will depend on the severity of the crisis.

And under Programme Yarrow's worst-case scenario, only analogue FM radios would work, with just BBC Radio 2 and 4 broadcasting.

One Whitehall source told the paper: 'We need to think about how we can help people in advance. The fact they're talking about it now means they have a real concern it could happen.'

A Government spokesperson said: 'As a responsible government, it is right that we plan for all potential scenarios and work with industry to prepare and exercise robust contingency plans. This work is ongoing continuously and is an important strand of our national resilience planning.

'Local and national exercises are a part of this ongoing work and ensure we are able to effectively respond to any of a wide range of scenarios, no matter how unlikely they may be.'

Last month the National Grid had warned that Britain faces blackouts this winter if Russia shuts off gas supplies to Europe and a cold winter hits.

In what it called an 'unlikely' scenario, the National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) said that households and businesses might face planned three-hour outages to ensure that the grid does not collapse.

Planned blackouts hit the UK during the 1970s in response to the miners strikes and the oil crisis. There have also been major unplanned outages in storms, including in 1987 when over 1.5 million people were left in the dark.

But the lights will stay on this winter unless the gas-fired power plants that produced 43 per cent of Britain's electricity over the last year cannot get enough gas to continue operating.

It is the most dire of three possible scenarios that the ESO laid out on Thursday for how Britain's electricity grid might cope with the worst global energy crisis for decades.

In the other two scenarios, the operator hopes that by paying people to charge their electric cars at off-peak times and firing up backup coal plants it can offset the risk of blackouts.

The margins between peak demand and power supply are expected to be sufficient and similar to recent years in the ESO's base case scenario for this winter.

But in the face of the 'challenging' winter facing European energy supplies following Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, the grid operator is also planning for what would happen if there were no imports of electricity from Europe and insufficient gas supplies.

To tackle a loss of imports from France, Belgium and the Netherlands, there are two gigawatts of coal-fired power plants on stand-by to fire up if needed to meet demand.

The National Grid Gas Transmission separately said that while gas demand will increase this winter, it expects Britain to be able to get enough gas to take it through a Beast from the East scenario or a long, cold winter.

People are being encouraged to sign up with their electricity supplier to a scheme which will give them money back on their bills to shift their use of power away from times of high demand to help prevent blackouts.

It comes as Britons are being told to brace for blackouts this winter if energy supplies run low - while weather experts warn of the potential for a colder-than-usual winter.

UK energy bosses warn short rolling power cuts are a possibility this winter, as Putin's tactical tightening of gas pipelines in Europe starts to bite.

The warning comes from John Pettigrew, the boss of the National Grid, who also believes British households will find the upcoming winter 'financially very, very hard'.

In one sign of hope, Mr Pettigrew attempted to calm fears the UK could run out of gas and electricity this winter.

He said it was the National Grid's 'base case' assumption was that the UK would have enough energy supplies to meet heating and lighting demand this winter.

But he added that short rolling power cuts were a possibility. Speaking to the BBC, he said: 'There could be energy shortfalls in the UK and we will manage that very carefully.'

However he said it was 'not time for people to panic', adding: 'What we're doing is making sure that the infrastructure that we have and the networks are robust and ready for the winter, and I've got thousands of engineers making sure that the network is ready for whatever weather we see over the winter.'

Mr Pettigrew said the National Grid was working on a number of emergency plans to protect the UK against an energy shortfall from Europe.

Gas supplies had already been disrupted post-Covid lockdowns, as countries battled to resupply for the big restart, leading to a huge increase demand and subsequently prices.

And this has been compounded by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with gas supplies from Russia being limited to Europe.

Although the UK gets much of its gas from other countries, and gets nearly 40 per cent of its energy from gas, it is still impacted by the disruption to the European energy price market.

Mr Pettigrew told the BBC that one emergency option to help power Britain this winter if fuel supplies drop is to restart mothballed coal-fired power stations.

The Met Office also warns of a higher possibility of a slightly calmer winter in terms of wind - also by around 1.3 times

Mr Pettigrew told the BBC that one emergency option to help power Britain this winter if fuel supplies drop is to restart mothballed coal-fired power stations. Pictured: Library image of a coal fired power station in Lincolnshire

The UK is already looking at delaying the closure of part of a coal-fired power station in Nottinghamshire due to fears about energy.

Mr Pettigrew added: 'The next step would be to pay households and businesses to reduce consumption during peak times, with short rolling regional outages a last resort.

'If we saw that shortfall coming, the most effective way to manage the rest of the network is to ask the distribution companies to reduce demand and they would do that over that rolling period of around 4 to 7pm.'

It comes as the Met Office has published its latest three-month forecast - which covers this month, December and January.

The Met Office warns that the chance of a colder three month period overall is 'slightly greater than normal' - by around 1.3 times.

It means there is a 60 per cent chance of a normal winter, a 25 per cent chance of a cold winter and a 15 per cent chance of a mild winter.

The Met Office also warns of a higher possibility of a slightly calmer winter in terms of wind - also by around 1.3 times.

A less gusty winter could impact on the ability to fill energy shortfalls with extra wind power capacity.

The Met Office's three-month forecast is used for emergency planning. It does not look at day-to-day weather or spells, but at the weather overall for a three-month period.

According to the Met Office, its prediction of a higher possibility of a slightly colder winter comes from its tracking of global weather patterns, including El Nina.

It says the weather phenomenon this year could bring colder spells, particularly when combined with other long term patterns over the Indian Ocean.
Members of the public were advised to avoid a major street in the Brisbane CBD on Wednesday morning due to a police operation.

Queensland police closed Charlotte Street between Edward and Albert Streets in the CBD due to a 'police incident' mid-morning.

The details of what has caused the street closure are not as yet known but paramedics including critical care were believed to be on the scene.

Police initially advised there was no immediate risk to members of the public.

Queensland police advised Charlotte Street was closed between Edward and Albert Streets in the Brisbane CBD due to a 'police incident' on Wednesday morning

Just after midday on Wednesday said the incident had been resolved

Just after midday on Wednesday police confirmed the incident had been resolved.

'Charlotte Street is now open,' Queensland police tweeted.

'Police thank the public for their patience and understanding.'
The Italian lawyer who jailed Amanda Knox for Meredith Kercher's murder says the American 'has changed' and they are now friends.

Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini said that he now has a 'good opinion' of Knox after the pair began corresponding via WhatsApp.

The former adversaries have become close despite Mignini believing Knox was at the scene of the crime and declaring that Meredith 'did not get justice'.

To mark the 15th anniversary of her murder, Meredith's heartbroken family have released an emotional tribute to her, just days after pictures of Knox and ex-lover Raffaele Sollecito smiling together at a reunion in Italy emerged.

Leeds University student Meredith, 21, was found stabbed to death in her bedroom of the apartment she shared with Knox in the Italian hilltop town of Perugia on November 2, 2007.

American student Knox, 20 at the time, and her Italian boyfriend 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 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.

Knox's correspondence with Mr Mignini began when she wrote him letters, delivered by go-between priest Don Saulo Scarabattoli, before moving to the messaging platform WhatsApp and eventually meeting again.

They now share personal news, family photographs and send holiday greetings to each other, after developing a friendship.

Amanda Knox has struck up a friendship with the prosecutor who worked to have her jailed for the death of Meredith Kercher. Pictured, Knox and her former lover Raffaele Sollecito reuniting in Italy 15 years after they were arrested and wrongly convicted of the murder of Ms Kercher

Giuliano Mignini said that he now has a 'good opinion' of Knox after the pair began corresponding via WhatsApp

Since the ordeal Knox has had a baby girl Eureka Know Robinson with husband Christopher Robinson, after the pair married in 2018.

'Amanda has changed a lot and I think I can say that I know her,' Mr Mignini told The Telegraph.

'Now she has a family and a lovely baby girl named Eureka and is taking part in a worthwhile project regarding justice in the US.

'We have different ideas about the trial that involved us, but now I have a good opinion of her.'

Mr Mignini and Knox met while she was visiting Perugia, with Knox crying and the pair hugging, the newspaper reported.

He did not share details of their meeting, which came about after Knox's repeated requests.

He also told the newspaper that he would like to see a street named after Ms Kercher, adding that he doesn't believe she got justice.

Mr Mignini's revelation comes as Ms Kercher's heartbroken family have released an emotional tribute to her marking the 15th anniversary of her murder.

Meredith 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)

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

The Kercher family have always maintained a respectful silence following the death of Meredith and in their statement, it emerged parents John and Arline had died within weeks of each other in 2020.

In a tribute to Meredith, who was known by the nickname Mez, her surviving siblings said: 'Every anniversary of Meredith's death gives us pause for thought, but of course as with anyone who has lost a loved one - especially in such tragic circumstances - it does not take an anniversary to remember them; it's something you carry with you every day.

'Fifteen years has passed in the blink of an eye but yet we have lived a lifetime in between - something Meredith sadly, was never afforded.

'Losing both our parents within just four months of each other in early 2020 brought its own tragedy but we can take some solace in knowing that they are now united with Mez and no longer have to live with the grief which consumed them.

'Meredith will always be in our thoughts and forever in our hearts.'

Meredith's parents Arline (centre) and John (right) Kercher - who both died in 2020 - and her sister Stephanie (left) at a press conference in Perugia in November 2007

Amanda Knox, left, and her then-boyfriend Italian Raffaele Sollecito, after they were named as suspects

Covid curbs had meant little was known of 74-year-old Arline's death, but she is thought to have died at a hospital in Carshalton, Surrey, during the initial phase of the pandemic and is buried next to Meredith in Croydon cemetery, south London.

Brave Arline earned widespread praise for the dignified manner in which she dealt with the aftermath of Meredith's gruesome killing, when she was stabbed and sexually assaulted while an exchange student in Perugia, Italy.

Arline travelled to the country to identify her daughter's body, vowing to fight for justice alongside her ex-husband and Meredith's father John, even though they divorced in 1997.

Tragically, she never got the closure she wanted and questions have once again resurfaced after Rudy Guede, 34, who was convicted of Meredith's killing, was released from prison after serving 13 years of a 30-year term and made the pointed suggestion that Knox 'knows the truth and I know the truth'.

Supported by her two remaining devoted children, Arline rarely spoke about the family's anguish but once described it as a 'nightmare' while insisting 'there are a lot of unanswered questions that seem to have been ignored'.

Her death in May 2020 was four months after her ex-husband John, 77, passed away.

He was found in a road close to his home in Croydon, south London with two fractured legs, a broken arm and a head injury in January 2020 and died in hospital three weeks later.

At a later inquest a coroner was unable to conclude whether he had died from a hit and run incident.

American Knox, 35, and computer engineer Sollecito, 38, were initially arrested and convicted twice of the brutal murder and spent four years in jail before being eventually cleared on appeal by Italy's Supreme Court over lack of evidence.

Amanda Knox (pictured speaking in 2019, file photo) wrote an article called 'Patrolling the Trolls: The Sorry State of Reporting Online Abuse' - recalling when she received death threats in prison

Meredith Kercher's killer Rudy Guede (pictured waving from the window of a volunteer centre in 2016, file photo) was formally released from prison 13 years after the grisly murder

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)

Meredith, from Coulsdon, south London, was in Perugia as part of her university course year abroad.

Knox and Sollecito met earlier this year in the town of Gubbio, the place they had planned to visit the day Meredith's body was found. They had not seen each other for ten years and described it as a 'bitter-sweet reunion'.

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.

Despite not having seen one another in 10 years, the two kept in touch using Whatsapp.

During the trip to Italy, Sollecito met Knox's baby daughter Eureka and husband Christopher.

A source close to the family told MailOnline: 'Of course they have seen the picture of Knox and Sollecito together in Italy but they don't want to comment publicly on that as neither of them are of any interest to them  and they don't want to add to their media visibility.

'What they have found astonishing is the timing of the decision to publicise this reunion, [it] beggars belief in terms of respect for Meredith.'

Knox and Sollecito were arrested four days after the murder and convicted along with Ivory Coast drifter Guede, whose bloody fingerprints and DNA were found at the scene.

He is now working in a local library in Viterbo and has written a book called 'The Benefit of the Doubt' and has continued to insist he is innocent of Meredith's murder.

In an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera, Guede, said:' I was convicted of acting in conjunction with Knox and Sollecito but the judges said I didn't materially commit the crime so if they are innocent who was I supposed to have been with ?'

Guede confirmed he was in the house at the time and added: ' I was there, I'm not denying it. I wasn't in a corner. I was with Meredith and we had been making out, we started to have sex but I then went to the bathroom, we didn't have any condoms.'

He has always insisted that when he came out he found Meredith on the floor fatally stabbed and a man and a woman in the house. Guede added: 'The man said 'Let's go they will find the negro.'

Guede said: 'What I will never forgive myself for is not doing enough to save Meredith. There were not enough towels to soak up the blood, I panicked and I fled. For this I will never forgive myself. I accept I behaved badly but I am not a murderer.'

Detective tracked Guede down to Germany after listening in on Skype calls he made to a friend in Italy and he was later extradited to face trial.
He has described Zelensky as a strong, confident, pragmatic and nice guy'

A close ally of Vladimir Putin has praised Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky as a 'strong and confident leader' who must not be 'underestimated'.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, dubbed Putin's chef' and the founder of the notorious Wagner mercenary group, also said Zelensky was 'a nice man' - in defiance of the standard Kremlin line.

In a statement shared on social media by his catering firm, Mr Prigozhin said: 'Although he is the president of a country hostile to Russia at the moment, Zelensky is a strong, confident, pragmatic and nice guy.'

And asked why he was heaping praise on a man that Moscow has largely criticised, belittled and attacked since he came to power in 2019, he added: 'To become stronger, to win, you need to treat the opponent with respect.

'Dont underestimate him. Always look for flaws in yourself, and see whats good and important that can be learned from the experience of the enemy.'

His remarks are a stark contrast to the characterisation of Zelensky peddled by the Kremlin.

Businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin shows Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin his school lunch factory outside Saint Petersburg in September 2010

Prigozhin, dubbed Putin's chef' and the founder of the notorious Wagner mercenary group, also said Zelensky (pictured) was 'a nice man'

His remarks are a stark contrast to the characterisation of Zelensky peddled by the Kremlin. Pictured: Vladimir Putin speaks to the media after his talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev on Monday

When he launched the invasion in February, Putin called on Ukrainian soldiers to oust Zelensky from office, saying it would be easier to deal with generals than the 'gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis' currently in power.

Russian state media outlets and social media pages linked to the Kremlin have also pushed baseless claims that Zelensky is a drug addict.

In one interview, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: 'He says many things. It depends on what he drinks or what he smokes.'

His comments underline a rising public profile and growing confidence in speaking out on sensitive issues around the war in Ukraine in defiance of the Kremlin.

It comes as he has made a series of outspoken interventions in recent weeks, joining with Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov in ridiculing the performance of Russias generals in Ukraine.

Russian political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya said it was interesting that Prigozhin was voicing a view far removed from Putins - an opinion that others in the ruling elite might not dare to express.

She added: 'Prigozhin dared. He thinks he has a right and he thinks it wouldnt anger Putin.'

Stanovaya said Prigozhin was not angling for a formal power role, saying: 'I think that for him its more like a "business project" that he needs to "sell" to Putin to be closer tied to the Kremlin.

'He would avoid any real official responsibility, its more comfortable to remain in the in-between space, between the state and non-official status.'

The remarks come after Mr Prigozhin last month confirmed for the first time that he founded the notorious Wagner Group.

Prigozhin filmed recruiting inmates in one of Russia's colonies last month. He has now confirmed for the first time that he founded the notorious mercenary group

Prigozhin, whose other business provides catering services to the Kremlin, said he founded the mercenary unit during Russia's first Ukraine invasion in 2014.

The group has since gained a reputation for doing the Russian military's dirty work, leaving a trail of brutal violence, rapes and war crimes in its wake.

It is known to have operated on battlefields from Europe to the Middle East, South America and Africa.

'I cleaned the old weapons myself, sorted out the bulletproof vests myself and found specialists who could help me with this,' Prigozhin said in a statement.

'From that moment, on May 1, 2014, a group of patriots was born, which later came to be called the Wagner Battalion. I am proud that I was able to defend their right to protect the interests of their country.'

Wagner largely recruits from the regular Russian military, often taking on those who have been thrown out of its ranks.

However, after suffering high casualties fighting in Ukraine, Prigozhin has begun recruiting from prisons in Russia.
Baghdad int'l trade fair reopens after three-year hiatus

Xinhua) 13:36, November 02, 2022

Vehicles are on display at the 46th Baghdad International Fair in Baghdad, Iraq, on Nov. 1, 2022. Iraq on Tuesday opened the 46th Baghdad International Fair in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Xinhua/Khalil Dawood)

BAGHDAD, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Iraq on Tuesday opened the 46th Baghdad International Fair in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Iraq's Minister of Trade Atheer Daoud al-Ghurairy inaugurated the exhibition, which was attended by more than 363 companies from 13 countries, his ministry said in a statement.

Iranian carpets are displayed during the 46th Baghdad International Fair in Baghdad, Iraq, on Nov. 1, 2022. Iraq on Tuesday opened the 46th Baghdad International Fair in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Xinhua/Khalil Dawood)

"The participation of countries and companies confirms Iraq's ability to attract economic forums and interact with what is happening in the world of scientific and technological developments," al-Ghurairy was quoted as saying at the opening ceremony.

People talk at the 46th Baghdad International Fair in Baghdad, Iraq, on Nov. 1, 2022. Iraq on Tuesday opened the 46th Baghdad International Fair in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Xinhua/Khalil Dawood)

Zainab Nassir, head of the ministry's State Company for Iraqi Fairs, said in a separate statement that the exhibition would run for 10 days, stressing that it aims to present a true picture of the economic and security developments in Iraq.

The exhibition also shows "Iraq's ability to succeed in major economic activities that give the country opportunities to attract Arab and international investments with major economic projects," she said.

(Web editor: Cai Hairuo, Liang Jun)
President Yoon Suk-yeol shakes hands with former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso at the presidential office in Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of presidential office



President Yoon Suk-yeol met with former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso on Wednesday and asked him to help promote the development of bilateral relations by working to increase people-to-people exchanges, the presidential office said.



Aso, vice president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, is visiting South Korea as head of a Japan-South Korea cooperation committee made up of elders and established in 1969 following the normalization of relations between the two countries. He is also deputy head of the Japan-Korea Parliamentarians' Union.



"President Yoon asked that he contribute to increasing civilian exchanges to help promote the development of bilateral ties," deputy presidential spokesperson Lee Jae-myoung said in a written briefing.



Aso pledged to continue to work for the swift restoration and development of relations between the two countries, while noting the need for continued dialogue and cooperation, Lee said.



The meeting came as Seoul and Tokyo have been seeking to repair ties badly frayed over wartime forced labor and other issues related to Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.



Japan's Kyodo News reported earlier that a meeting between Aso and Yoon was being arranged in a bid to find solutions to the issue of Japanese firms' compensation over Korean forced labor during World War II.



Meanwhile, Yoon met separately with Richard Haass, president of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, and discussed the South Korea-U.S. alliance, as well as North Korea's nuclear and missile threats and other key regional and international issues, according to Lee.



The two shared their deep concern over North Korea's ballistic missile launch earlier in the day and agreed that the international community should respond firmly to the North's repeated provocations, he said.



Haass also "highly assessed" the allies' efforts to strengthen the U.S. extended deterrence commitment to South Korea, saying he will actively support those efforts.



Haass further expressed his condolences as a father of two over the deadly crowd crush that killed at least 156 people, mostly in their 20s, in Seoul last weekend. (Yonhap)


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North and South Korea have test-fired missiles off each-other's coasts for the first time, amid rapidly spiralling tensions between the bitter neighbouring nations.

Pyongyang launched at least 23 missiles off both its west and east coasts Wednesday including one which flew from the city of Wonsan, across the unofficial maritime border, and landed 37 miles off the South Korean coast - the first time a tested missile has done so. President Yoon Suk-yeol call it 'effectively a territorial invasion.'

The North Korean weapon also triggered an air raid siren on the inhabited South Korean island of Ulleungdo after heading towards it, though it ultimately landed 100 miles short. The siren sent people scrambling for bunkers.

In response, Seoul ordered fighter jets to fire three air-to-surface missiles back which flew a similar distance across the ocean border before splashing down in the sea. It was also the first test of its kind by South Korea.

Kim Jong-un also ordered his artillery units to fire 100 shells into an ocean 'buffer zone' in the Sea of Japan, hours after one of his closest aides threatened the South and the US with nuclear weapons - saying they would 'pay the most horrible price in history' if the North were attacked.

North Korea is furious at Seoul and Washington for staging war games near its borders which it considers to be a rehearsal for an invasion. The allies deny the games are a provocation and say they are a response to weapons tests by Kim's regime. The tit-for-tat actions have ramped up tensions around the Korean peninsula.

North Korea test-fired a total of 23 missiles Wednesday, one of which crossed the unofficial maritime border and hit the ocean 37 miles off the coast of South Korea, and 100 miles shy of an inhabited island. In response, South Korean jets fired three air-to-surface missiles back across the border, that came down near North Korean waters

A South Korean Air Force F-15K fighter fires an air-to-surface missile across the maritime border with North Korea in retaliation for a missile that was test-fired in the other direction early Wednesday

An American F-35B stealth fighter taxis for takeoff alongside South Korean KF-16 fighters - a modified version of the US F-16 - during combat drills taking place near North Korea's borders today

White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said: 'We reject the notion that [the war games] serve as any sort of provocation.

'We have made clear that we have no hostile intent towards [North Korea] and call on them to engage in serious and sustained diplomacy.

American F-35 stealth fighters and South Korean KF-16 fighters take off during training drills today

'[North Korea] continues to not respond. At the same time, we will continue to work closely with our allies and partners to limit the North's ability to advance its unlawful weapons programs and threaten regional stability.'

On Monday the US and South Korea began Vigilant Storm, one of their largest combined military air drills, with hundreds of warplanes from both sides staging mock attacks 24 hours a day.

North Korea has test-fired a record number of missiles this year, and has said that a recent flurry of launches were in response to the allied drills.

Animosities on the Korean Peninsula have been running high in recent months, with North Korea testing a string of nuclear-capable missiles and adopting a law authorising the pre-emptive use of its nuclear weapons in a broad range of situations.

Experts still doubt North Korea could use nuclear weapons first in the face of more superior US and South Korean forces.

North Korea has argued its recent weapons tests were meant to issue a warning to Washington and Seoul over their series of joint military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal, including this week's exercises involving about 240 warplanes.

Pak Jong Chon, a secretary of the ruling Workers' Party who is considered a close confidant of leader Kim Jong Un, called the so-called 'Vigilant Storm' air force drills 'aggressive and provocative.'

Kim Jong-un is thought to be furious at joint South Korean-US war games taking place near his borders which he views as a rehearsal for an invasion. Seoul and Washington deny this, saying the games are in response to North Korea's tests

A TV screen shows a file image of North Korea's missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul

Mr Pak also accused the Pentagon of formulating a North Korean regime collapse as a major policy objective in an apparent reference to the Pentagon's recently released National Defence Strategy report. The report stated any nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or its allies and partners 'will result in the end of that regime'.

He slammed South Korean military leaders over what he called 'rubbish' comments that threatened to destroy North Korea if it uses nuclear weapons. South Korea's military has warned North Korea that using its nuclear weapons would put it on a 'path of self-destruction'.

'If the US and South Korea attempt to use armed forces against (North Korea) without any fear, the special means of the (North's) armed forces will carry out their strategic mission without delay,' Mr Pak said, in an apparent reference to his country's nuclear weapons.

'The US and South Korea will have to face a terrible case and pay the most horrible price in history,' he said.

US and South Korean officials have steadfastly said their drills are defensive in nature and that they have no intentions of attacking North Korea.

Mr Pak's statement is the North's second warning to the United States and South Korea this week. On Monday, the North's Foreign Ministry warned of 'more powerful follow-up measures' in response to its rivals' air force drills.

South Korean officials have said North Korea could up the ante in coming weeks by detonating its first nuclear test device since September 2017, which could possibly take the country a step closer to its goals of building a full-fledged nuclear arsenal capable of threatening regional US allies and the American mainland.

Some experts say North Korea would eventually want to use its expanded nuclear arsenal as a leverage in future negotiations with the United States to win sanctions relief and other concessions.
A Facebook ad for the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) that featured a white guard talking to a black prisoner has been banned for being racist.

The ad for the MoJ's Prison Jobs scheme, seen on June 25, included superimposed text stating: 'Become a prison officer. One career, many roles.'

A caption accompanying the image read: 'We're key workers, problem solvers, life changers. Join us to perform a vital role at HMP Wormwood Scrubs.'

A reader complained that the ad perpetuated negative ethnic stereotypes and was likely to cause serious offence.

The MoJ, which confirmed it would appeal the ruling, said the photographs used in the ad campaign featured real officers and prisoners, arguing that it did not therefore 'portray' a black man as a criminal but rather depicted a real person who had been convicted of an offence.

It said it was not an inaccurate or unfair representation of the type of engagement that might have been seen between officers and prisoners.

The ad (pictured) for the MoJ's Prison Jobs scheme, seen on June 25, featured an image of a white prison officer talking to a black inmate, with superimposed text stating: 'Become a prison officer. One career, many roles.'

The MoJ said the image formed 'one small part' of the overall campaign - accounting for less than 5 per cent of its spending on the ads - 'which used a wide variety of images and showed officers of different ethnicities, interacting with each other'.

It added that none of the other images used in the Facebook part of the campaign showed white officers alongside ethnic minority prisoners.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) noted that the ad formed part of an overall campaign that used images of prison officers and other prison staff from a number of different ethnic backgrounds, but said it assessed the post as it would have appeared to consumers on Facebook.

The ASA said: 'The ad showed a real white prison officer and black male inmate in a prison setting.

'The inmate wore an afro pick comb in his hair - a tool we understood was uniquely associated with black culture.

'The ad made reference to prison officers being "problem solvers" and "life changers", and we considered it drew a link between the officer depicted and those attributes.

The MoJ (above), which confirmed it would appeal the ruling, said the photographs used in the ad campaign featured real officers and prisoners, arguing that it did not therefore 'portray' a black man as a criminal but rather depicted a real person who had been convicted of an offence

'On the other hand, the black prisoner was depicted as a criminal, without those positive attributes.

'We considered the ad did not suggest that all black men were criminals or were more likely to be so than any other ethnic group.

'However, it showed an imbalanced power dynamic, with a smiling white prison officer, described as a "life changer", and a black, institutionalised prisoner.

'We considered the ad's focus on the positive qualities of the white prison officer and negative casting of the black prisoner was likely to be seen as perpetuating a negative racial stereotype.

'We concluded that the ad was likely to cause serious offence on the grounds of race by reinforcing negative stereotypes about black men.'

The ASA ruled that the ad must not appear again, adding: 'We told the Ministry of Justice to ensure they avoided causing serious offence on the grounds of race.'

An MoJ spokeswoman said: 'We will be appealing this ruling.

'This was one of a wide range of different images used in an advertising campaign featuring real situations in prison - which is an essential part of attracting the right candidates.'
Only six weeks ago, the Tories promised an era of low taxes and high growth.

How the tone has changed. Rishi Sunak is now warning of a new age of austerity  tax rises for all and crippling cuts in spending.

The Mail understands the need for fiscal discipline. State spending has mushroomed alarmingly after Covid and the energy bailouts, and it must be reined in.

Public sector pay increases have to be realistic. Caving in to union demands for double-digit settlements  under threat of industrial action  would be ruinous.

And given the need for savings, the Prime Minister should stick to the plan to cut 91,000 jobs from the bloated Civil Service.

Only six weeks ago, the Tories promised an era of low taxes and high growth. How the tone has changed. Rishi Sunak (pictured visiting a hospital in Croydon, London last week) is now warning of a new age of austerity  tax rises for all and crippling cuts in spending

But in his desire to balance the books, Mr Sunak must not overdo the hair shirt.

Delaying the social care cap will mean more elderly people facing the injustice of selling their homes to pay exorbitant bills.

Meanwhile, families and business are already suffering from the cost of living crunch.

Mr Sunak must be careful not to increase their burden. The execution of Trussonomics was a disaster but the policies contained some fundamental truths.

The best way to avoid recession, while generating growth and prosperity, is to reward hard work and enterprise. And the most effective way to do that is to keep taxes down. This is not just uncontroversial  it should be in the Tories DNA.

The Mail understands the need for fiscal discipline. State spending has mushroomed alarmingly after Covid and the energy bailouts, and it must be reined in. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is pictured above leaving Downing Street yesterday

Fix our rotten forces

Trust takes years to build, but can be broken in a heartbeat. Once lost, it can take an age to recover.

In recent times trust in the police has been shaken to the core. The murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer, and vile misogyny and racism among officers, all contributed to a profound loss of faith.

For too long police chiefs have been in denial about the scale of the problem, clinging to the theory that misconduct was the fault of just a few bad apples.

Under the new Chief Inspector of Constabulary, they are being left in no doubt it is systemic. Today, the watchdog says too many officers are unfit to serve.

Some had serious criminal convictions, significant undischarged debt, or family links to organised crime. Yet they still managed to pass through vetting.

Inspectors made 43 recommendations to strengthen admission procedures and misconduct inquiries. All must be taken up immediately and with genuine commitment.

Police officers have a unique power over all our lives. That power has been abused far too often. The first step to redemption is to accept their failings in full. Only then can they start to restore trust.

Lefts migrant myopia

Suella Bravermans enemies are shrieking hysterically after she described the number of illegal migrants crossing the Channel as an invasion.

But is it really so offensive? Yes, her language may have been blunt, but everyone knows exactly what she means.

With hundreds coming in from France each day, it feels as if our borders have almost ceased to exist. Yet one ex-BBC reporter likened her rhetoric to that used in the 1930s against Jews fleeing Nazi Germany.

Suella Bravermans enemies are shrieking hysterically after she described the number of illegal migrants crossing the Channel as an invasion

Such a grotesque overreaction to immigration controls is typical of the moral wasteland inhabited by the liberal Left.

Its reminiscent of the New Labour years, when anyone who dared express concern about migration was demonised as racist.

The truth is, this confected fury is a smokescreen to conceal the Lefts unwillingness to solve the migrant crisis.

They resist any attempt by the Home Secretary to remove those with no right to be here  who live off the public purse  in defiance of the wishes of most British people.

Their solution, now as it was under Tony Blair, is simple: Let them in, one and all.
Royal Mail workers will stage two 48-hour strikes around Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the escalating dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents 115,000 members, announced strikes around Black Friday on November 25 and Cyber Monday on November 28.

Earlier this month, Royal Mail announced it would cut up to 10,000 jobs after warning of expected further losses this year.

The union has withdrawn strikes planned for November 12 and 14, saying it wants to take more 'proportionate' action.

An offer made by Royal Mail on pay and conditions on Monday was described as a 'surrender document' because the union said it involved attacks on terms and conditions as well as redundancies.

Royal Mail workers will stage two 48-hour strikes around Black Friday and Cyber Monday in an escalating row over pay, jobs and conditions

The union will put the offer to its members in a ballot, recommending rejection.

Members will also be asked to deliver a vote of no confidence in Royal Mail chief executive Simon Thompson.

CWU general secretary Dave Ward said industrial action will continue in the run-up to Christmas unless the dispute is resolved.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: 'On Monday October 31, Royal Mail proposed a new pay-for-change offer to the CWU worth 9 per cent over two years, despite making a loss of 219million in the first half of the year.

'The CWU have been in talks with us at Acas and claim they are open to change but they now need to show it.

CWU general secretary Dave Ward said industrial action will continue in the run up to Christmas unless the dispute is resolved. Pictured: Striking Royal Mail workers outside Balham delivery office in south London

'Instead, the CWU have announced four days of strike action which will damage our business further at our busiest time of year.

'The CWU is playing a dangerous game with its members' jobs and the future of Royal Mail.

CWU members will also be asked to deliver a vote of no confidence in Royal Mail chief executive Simon Thompson

'We urge CWU to withdraw these strikes for the good of our customers and our people.

'We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience the CWU's continued strike action will cause.

'We are doing all we can to minimise delays and keep people, businesses and the country connected.'

The union said its members will strike on Thursday, November 24 and Friday, November 25 and on Wednesday, November 30 and Thursday, December 1.

The CWU's postal executive will meet today to discuss further action during the Christmas build-up.

Mr Ward said: 'Posties are in the fight of their lives against the Uberisation of Royal Mail and the destruction of their conditions.

A Royal Mail spokesman said that the four days of strike action which will damage business further at the busiest time of year

'But 115,000 of our members will not just accept this war on their livelihoods and their industry.

'They will never give up the fight to protect this industry and to protect their hard-won working conditions.

'Simon Thompson has to either accept that or walk away. Until he does one or the other, serious disruption will continue.'

CWU acting deputy general secretary Andy Furey added: 'Simon Thompson's plan is evident - they want to destroy this company as we know it.

'They want outsourcing, casualisation, the decimation of working practices and pay.

'But so many of our members have given their entire working lives to building this company.

'They deserve a much better deal than what is on offer, and Simon Thompson is on another planet if he thinks we'll stop fighting to achieve that.'
Walmart, Walgreens and CVS have agreed to pay $13.8billion to resolve thousands of lawsuits over opioid painkillers.

Under the proposed settlement, CVS will pay $5 billion over 10 years, Walgreens has agreed to pay about $5.7billion over 15 years, and Walmart will pay $3.1billion mostly up front, sources said.

The companies did not admit to allowing highly addictive opioids to be redirected into illegal trafficking despite the payouts, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Attorneys representing states, cities and counties in 3,000 lawsuits targeted the pharmacies for not properly monitoring prescriptions, which saw the drug market flooded with pills which have greatly exacerbated the US's opioid crisis.

An estimated 650,000 people have died from opioid overdose since 1999, with 9.5million Americans aged 12 and above misusing the drugs in 2020.

Walmart, Walgreens and CVS have agreed to pay $13.8billion to resolve thousands of lawsuits over opioid painkillers

Under the proposed settlement, Walgreens has agreed to pay about $5.7billion over 15 years

Paul Geller, one of the lawyers who negotiated for the governments, said that settlements with pharmacies 'will bring billions of additional dollars to communities that are desperate for funds to combat the epidemic' of opioid addiction.

'We know that reckless, profit-driven dispensing practices fueled the crisis; but we know just as surely that with better systems in place and proper heeding of red flag warnings, pharmacies can play a direct role in reducing opioid abuse and in saving lives,' Geller said.

CVS general counsel Thomas Moriarty said in a statement the company was pleased to resolve the claims and the deal was 'in the best interest of all parties, as well as our customers, colleagues and shareholders.'

Walgreens said in its SEC filing that it 'continues to believe it has strong legal defenses' and will defend itself vigorously against any future lawsuits not covered by the settlement.

Both CVS and Walgreens said their agreements would not be final until certain non-monetary terms were worked out, and that the total amount could be reduced if not enough government plaintiffs sign on.

CVS, Walgreens and Walmart are the three largest retail pharmacies in the country by market share

The companies did not admit to allowing highly addictive opioids to be redirected into illegal trafficking, according to two people familiar with the matter

Walmart did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The proposed settlement, which would be the first nationwide deal with retail pharmacy companies, follows nationwide opioid settlements with drugmakers and distributors totaling more than $33billion.

In more than 3,300 lawsuits, beginning in 2017, state and local governments accused drugmakers of downplaying the risks of their opioid pain medicines, and distributors and pharmacies of ignoring red flags that prescriptions were being diverted into illegal trafficking.

They said the resulting human toll, as well as strain on public health services and law enforcement, was a public nuisance that the companies must pay to fix.

CVS, Walgreens and Walmart are the three largest retail pharmacies in the country by market share.

Between 1999 and 2020, 564,000 people died from opioid overdose. The number is believed to have risen to 650,000 now

Opioid overdoses have significantly raised in the United States since 1999

Pictured: A report last month found that American want more actions against opioid crisis

How the US got hooked on opioids Prescription opioids and illicit drugs have become incredibly pervasive throughout the US, and things are only getting worse. In the early 2000s, the FDA and CDC started to notice a steady increase in cases of opioid addiction and overdose. In 2013, they issued guidelines to curb addiction. However, that same year - now regarded as the year the epidemic took hold - a CDC report revealed an unprecedented surge in rates of opioid addiction. Overdose deaths are now the leading cause of death among young Americans - killing more in a year than were ever killed annually by HIV, gun violence or car crashes. Preliminary CDC data, published by the New York Times, showed that US drug overdose deaths surged 19 percent to at least 59,000 in 2016. This was up from 52,404 in 2015, and double the death rate from a decade ago. It means that for the first time drug overdoses are the leading cause of death for Americans under 50 years old. The data lays bare the bleak state of America's opioid addiction crisis fueled by deadly manufactured drugs like fentanyl. Advertisement

If their settlement becomes final, it will put much of the sprawling, years-long litigation over opioids to rest, though cases are still pending against smaller, more regionally focused pharmacy operators including Rite Aid Corp and Kroger Co.

Plaintiffs had scored some significant trial victories against pharmacy chains, including a $650.6million judgment in favor of two Ohio counties against CVS, Walgreens and Walmart, and a ruling that Walgreens contributed to the opioid epidemic in San Francisco.

Previous settlements netted $21 billion from the three largest U.S. drug distributors, $5 billion from Johnson & Johnson, $4.35billion from Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, $2.37billion from AbbVie Inc and $450million from Endo International Plc.

Purdue Pharma LP, whose prescription pill OxyContin is widely blamed for sparking the addiction and overdose crisis, and its Sackler family owners are seeking to resolve opioid claims against them through a $6billion settlement in bankruptcy court.

State and local authorities have said they will use the money from the settlements to combat the opioid crisis, which according to federal government data has caused nearly 650,000 overdose deaths since 1999 and is continuing to worsen.

Prescriptions for opioids rose sharply in the 1990s as companies aggressively promoted the drugs, long used primarily in cancer patients, as a safe way to treat all kinds of chronic pain.

Overdoses involving opioids, including prescription pills and heroin, surged further during the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing 38 per cent in 2020 over the previous year and another 15 per cent in 2021, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The agency has attributed much of the recent rise in overdose cases to illegally manufactured fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid.

A congressional report last month put the economic toll of the opioid crisis in 2020 alone at $1.5trillion.
A guest at a Sydney five-star hotel heard a woman in another room say 'stop stop stop' numerous times during an hour-long violent assault and rape, a court has been told.

Joel Nathan Fitzpatrick Burtt, 20, from Byron Bay, is accused of attacking the woman on Saturday night in a room of The Star Grand at the city's casino.

Police allege he choked her, caused damage to her face and sexually assaulted her between 8pm and 9pm.

A witness heard a woman say 'stop stop stop' numerous times, further 'thuds' and then silence, a magistrate was told on Tuesday.

The witness then recalled hearing another woman say 'look what you have done to her face', according to a police summary of the allegations.

Joel Nathan Fitzpatrick Burtt is accused of choking and raping a woman on Saturday night in a room of the Star Grand at the Sydney casino (above)

Blood was found on the sheets while a call to room service for an ice bucket was consistent with an alleged effort to stop the woman's swelling, the court was told.

Fitzpatrick Burtt presented himself to police on Monday and was charged with three offences including aggravated sexual assault.

He was refused bail by Magistrate Robert Williams on Tuesday over concerns he posed a risk to the woman, would fail to appear for future court dates and would commit serious offences if granted bail.

The court was told he was serving a nine-month intensive corrections order for driving under the influence of alcohol, for which he was meant to abstain from alcohol.

He allegedly consumed alcohol on Saturday before the alleged rape.

The court heard on Tuesday that a witness could hear the woman telling Fitzpatrick Burtt 'stop, stop' during the alleged assault (pictured, a room in The Star)

Noting results of tests from hospital and the hotel room were not yet available, Mr Williams said the police case appeared reasonably strong that a 'serious sexual assault including choking' by Fitzpatrick Burtt had occurred for a period of time.

'(There) appears to have been an opportunity to stop and some promises were made, as to the victim being able to call to help, which don't appear to have been complied with by the accused,' the magistrate said.

Promises of a surety and potential house arrest could not allay the bail concerns, he said.

Appearing via video link from custody, Fitzpatrick Burtt looked to the ceiling and then appeared to tear up as he placed his head in his handcuffed hands.

He was remanded until another court mention on January 12, leaving him to celebrate his 21st birthday in custody.
Jon-Bernard Kairouz, 25, dubbed himself the 'people's premier' and said 'all we want is freedom' using a megaphone at an anti-lockdown protest on the steps of Sydney's Town Hall in July 2021

While his lawyer had cast the 45-second speech as the mere acts of a comedian 'saying comedic things' to promote themselves, magistrate Emma Manea didn't see the funny side.

'It does not - from his conduct and the words he says - come across as a joke,' she said on Tuesday.

TikTok comedian Jon-Bernard Kairouz (pictured), 25, faced court for breaking lockdown and making a speech at a protest last year

His demeanour and use of the word 'we' to the estimated 3500-strong crowd people fit the definition of encouraging, Ms Manea found.

'If he's not encouraging the crowd, then what is his purpose?'

She found the Belmore man guilty of encouraging people to breach the pandemic restriction on people gathering outdoors.

Taking in two guilty pleas for lesser COVID-19 charges, Ms Manea sentenced him to a two-year good behaviour bond without recording a conviction.

In 2021, Kairouz scored a jump in followers on TikTok after correctly reporting NSW's daily COVID count, hours before they were officially reported.

Kairouz at the time said he had no inside government source but was predicting the figures mathematically.

The court on Wednesday found the online entertainer was genuinely sorry, had very good prospects of rehabilitation and was a person of good character with no prior criminal history.

Mr Kairouz spoke at an anti-lockdown in July last year, which his lawyer drummed up to 'saying comedic things'. Magistrate Emma Manea rejected that claim

Extra curial punishment through 'vicious racist comments' that were an 'extremely sad testament' to society had also been dealt upon Kairouz, the magistrate said.

One person wished Kairouz catch COVID-19 and die while another called him a 'dirty f***ing Arab' and told him to 'f*** off back to your s***ty country or kill yourself, we don't want you here'.

Imposing a conviction would be a further punishment that would go above and beyond what he'd already suffered, she said, warning Kairouz not to make another mistake.

'The double-edged sword of fame is (a) very inappropriate, unacceptable and appalling social media response to him,' Ms Manea said.

The comedian pled guilty to breaking Covid restrictions and was given a two year good behaviour bond

His barrister had earlier told the court the business and accounting graduate who works as a creative producer for a betting agency had been swept up in fame when speaking at the protest.

After he was charged, the 25-year-old spoke publicly against breaching lockdown restrictions, Daniel Grippi said.

'Mr Kairouz has done everything he can to demonstrate he understands the gravity of what he did,' Mr Grippi said.

The bond, known as a conditional release order, will expire in November 2024.
A disabled teacher had his pension slashed by $500 a fortnight after a $60,000 lottery win, despite it being tax-free.

Craig Hill, 61, who suffered severe psychological damage when he was held hostage by Townsville Prison inmates, regularly enters The Lott's Set For Life game.

He scored a modest win on October 14 and will be paid $5,000 a month for a year - a lower division prize - under the terms of the lottery, instead of all at once.

The Australian Taxation Office confirmed his winnings were not taxable income, as is the case with all gambling payouts to average punters.

However, he was shocked to discover his $821.20 a fortnight disability pension would be cut to about $328.20 because Centrelink considered him a 'professional gambler'.

Craig Hill, 61, won The Lott's Set For Life game that pays $5,000 a months for a year, but because it is regular payments not a lump sum, Centrelink will cut his payments from $820 a fortnight to $320

Mr Hill claimed after he asked for a review, Centrelink officers also cut his wife's carer's allowance by about the same amount as his pension.

'I did the right thing and contacted Centrelink and they told me because it was paid monthly it counted as income from gambling,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'So I asked if I could deduct all my gambling losses over the past 20 years and they said no, you only become a professional gambler on the day you win.

'If I'd won $600,000 on the Powerball it wouldn't affect my pension but because it's paid monthly I'm a professional gambler, it's ridiculous.'

Mr Hill claimed Centrelink officers told him he could take the dispute to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal but then his entire pension for the past seven years could be audited.

'There's a culture in some of these departments where they see clients as the enemy but if they didn't have clients they wouldn't have jobs,' he said.

Mr Hill claimed after he asked for a review, Centrelink officers also cut his wife's carer's allowance by about the same amount as his pension

Mr Hill said he was very far from being a professional gambler, only playing Powerball when the jackpot got high and buying Set For Life regularly since 2015.

'I'm not betting on the horses or going to the casino, I maybe have a bit of a lash on the poker machines once in a while,' he said.

Mr Hill, a former Australian Democrats vice president, said Government Services Minister Bill Shorten could intervene but his office had not been cooperative.

He also asked The Lott to ask if the winnings could be paid all at once to avoid the issue, but he claims the company refused to do so and didn't give a reason.

'Everyone has the capacity to fix the problem but no one wants to,' he said.

Mr Hill was diagnosed with PTSD and schizophrenia 18 years ago from his work as a prison guard, but was able to keep working as a teacher.

However, since he was held hostage by eight inmates who threatened to kill him, he suffers from severe anxiety and can barely leave his Brisbane house.

He does sporadic clerical work from home that he declares on a profit and loss statement he submits to Centrelink every three months.

The Social Services Department said unless specifically exempted in legislation, few income amounts were excluded from welfare calculations.

'Lottery winnings that are received periodically, for example on a monthly basis for an indefinite length of time, are assessed as income for the period to which they relate,' it told Daily Mail Australia.

'This is consistent with the principle of targeting assistance to those who need it most. A periodic lottery winning is an ongoing source of income which can be used for a persons own self-support.'

The Lott's Set For Life lottery has a top prize of $20,000 a month for 20 years. Mr Hill won a lower division that pays $5,000 a month for one year

The department admitted that if Mr Hill had received the payout as a lump sum it wouldn't have been assessed as income.

However, any assessable assets bought with it would be, and any ongoing income - such as rent from a property or bank interest - would be.

Just because the lottery winnings were tax free didn't have any bearing on whether they could be assessed as income.

'The social security system measures a persons need for income support and their capacity to contribute towards their own support,' it said.

The department said Mr Hill's wife's carer payment was affected because the pension income test uses the gross income of both partners, even if one of the partners does not receive a pension.

'This is based on the principle that couples are able to pool their resources for their mutual benefit,' it said.

'Accordingly, the income of each member of a couple is assessed for the purposes of the social security pension income test.'
A Bunnings employee has lashed out at dog lovers for bringing their pooches into the store, saying workers don't get paid enough to clean up the waste left behind by the animals.

The worker posted their gripe on social media on Tuesday, after a customer snapped a picture of 'Barney' the blue heeler pup sitting in a trolley on its 'first visit' to the retail store.

The hardware giant introduced the controversial policy allowing pets into the store in 2015 and faced backlash after a cavoodle was killed by a pit bull terrier in a Brisbane store last year.

But the worker's complaint was unrelated to dogs fighting.

The worker posted their gripe on social media on Tuesday after a customer snapped a picture of a blue heeler pup sitting in a trolley at Bunnings during its first visit to the store (pictured)

'I promise you, your pooch will be just fine at home,' the employee said. 'Go on a bush walk with them if they need the enrichment that bad' (pictured, a store in Perth)

One user said the pet owners should take responsibility in securing and cleaning up after their dogs (pictured, a pair enjoying an outing at Bunnings)

'Dear everyone who brings their dogs to Bunnings,' the worker's post read. 'Please stop, I don't get paid enough to clean up your dog's p*** and s***.'

'If you can't train your dog to not pee indoors or simply don't care enough to carry poop bags, just don't bring your dogs to a literal shop.

'I promise you, your pooch will be just fine at home. Go on a bush walk with them if they need the enrichment that bad. Sincerely, underpaid Bunnings worker.'

The comments from the user handle 'smallspringonion; went viral, drawing both support and ire from other users.

Bunnings have faced calls to ban pets after a cavoodle was mauled to death by an unrestrained pit bull terrier at a store at Stafford in Brisbane's north last year (pictured, a pooch cruising around at a Bunnings store)

The company allows pets into the store as long as they are secured safely in a vehicle, trolley or on a lead, and are wearing a muzzle or carried (pictured, some happy customers)

'The problem isn't with the dogs or policy, it is with the trash dog owners who can't properly train and maintain their pet,' one commenter said.

'The amount of people that don't clean up after their dog in public is a joke. If they can't even be bothered to clean up dogs' mess they shouldn't have a pet,' another added.

'But that's a risk you take as a business when you allow pets inside. It doesn't make it right or wrong,' another wrote.

'I used to work at Maccas through high school and uni and I can't even count the amount of times I had to clean stranger's kids p*** inside the playland slides. But what can you do.'

The comments from the user handle smallspringonion (pictured) went viral, drawing both support and ire from other users

'Surely the owner has to be held accountable for their pets actions. If they can't be controlled, don't take them out in public,' another person posted.

'I suggest you take your dog to the park,' advised another.

Bunnings faced renewed calls to ban pets after a cavoodle was mauled to death by an unrestrained pit bull terrier at a store at Stafford in Brisbane's north last year.

The company allows pets into the store as long as they are secured safely in a vehicle, trolley or on a lead, and are wearing a muzzle or carried.

Visitors have also been given cardboard for the animals to sit on in trolleys.

Bunnings' General Manager of Operations Matt Tyler told news.com.au the policy was here to stay.

'Customers have been bringing their dogs into our stores for many years,' he said.

'Dogs are allowed in our stores if they are friendly, under control and comply with the conditions of entry. We try to use a common sense approach when welcoming dogs into our stores. This includes cleaning up after dogs, which in most cases, we find owners take responsibility for.'

'With an evolving pets range on offer in store, we are increasingly becoming a destination for pet owners within the Australian market.'

Bunnings' General Manager of Operations Matt Tyler said: 'With an evolving pets range on offer in store, we are increasingly becoming a destination for pet owners within the Australian market'
A woman who said she was one of the many victims of late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein is speaking about the conditions she was forced to stay in at his Upper East Side apartment, which she compared to a 'holding facility.'

Teresa Helm, 42, said she spent a night at the East 66th Street apartment during her time being abused by the wealthy pedophile in 2002 at the age of 22, which a lawsuit revealed was where he'd keep girls as young as 13.

Helm said she was greeted with a gift basket that included cookies and fresh fruit, making her feel 'special.'

She said: 'I remember the apartment clearly. It was relatively small and there was Dannon yogurt in the fridge and a basket of fruit and cookies on the counter.'

Helm noted that she assumed she'd be staying at a hotel, rather than what was listed in the famous Epstein black book under 'apartments for models.'

Teresa Helm, 42, said she spent a night at the East 66th Street apartment during her time being abused by the wealthy pedophile in 2002 at the age of 22, which a lawsuit revealed was where he'd keep girls as young as 13

Helm interviewed with both Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his notorious right hand woman. She claims she gave Maxwell a massage before Epstein sexually assaulted her

Interior and exterior photos of 301 East 66th Street, where Jeffrey Epstein allegedly housed some of his underage victims

Helm said she was greeted with a gift basket that included cookies and fresh fruit, making her feel 'special'

She said: 'I remember the apartment clearly. It was relatively small and there was Dannon yoghurt in the fridge and a basket of fruit and cookies on the counter'

Helm spoke about the conditions she was forced to live in at his Upper East Side apartment, which she compared to a 'holding facility.'

The finely kept marble hallways of the apartment where Jeffrey Epstein kept many of his victims

The apartment is largely owned by Epstein's brother Mark via his company, Ossa Properties.

She added: "I remember feeling quite special - thinking there's this nice gift basket of fruit and cookies. It was part of the manipulation - "here we are caring for you, we are providing for you." That's all part of the grooming process.'

Helm told The Mirror that 'they brought girls there to stay throughout their trafficking. They needed to put the girls up somewhere.'

She said she had met both Epstein and his 'right hand woman' Ghislaine Maxwell prior to heading to the apartment.

The victim flew cross-country to New York City to meet with Maxwell about a 'private massage therapist' job.

Teresa Helm arrives at court during the fifth day of the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell

The apartment is largely owned by Epstein's brother Mark via his company, Ossa Properties

Federal Correctional Institution, Tallahassee (FCI Tallahassee), opened in 1938 is a low security United States Federal Prison for female inmates in Tallahassee, Florida. Recently the home of infamous convicted sex-trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell

The exterior of the 301 East 66th Street apartment building, owned by Jeffrey Epstein's brother

Teresa Helm has consistently spoken out against Epstein and Maxwell in recent years

She claimed she was asked to give Maxwell a massage and was told by the socialite that upon meeting Epstein: 'Make sure you give Jeffrey what he wants because Jeffrey always gets what he wants. '

Helm says next she went to Epstein's house, which she described as looking like a castle, where she was lured into his office and sexually assaulted.

She recalls: 'I was let in and Jeffrey said to follow him to his office. We walked into that room and then he asked me for a foot massage and put his foot on my leg. I started giving him a foot massage and he started pushing his foot closer and closer to me to the point where his foot was literally pressing up against my body.'

Epstein then grabbed Helm from behind as she tried to walk away, grabbed her chin and said: 'I know I can always trust a woman who shows her gums when she smiles.'

She then claims she froze and was assaulted by Epstein in the hallway, adding: 'Don't do anything I wouldn't do.'

Helm claimed she was asked to give Maxwell a massage, and was told by the socialite that upon meeting Epstein: 'Make sure you give Jeffrey what he wants because Jeffrey always gets what he wants '

British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell is seen in a photo that was included in a court filing

Helm left after a night and flew home the next day, but mentioned that she road to the airport with another 'young girl' that she suspects was also a victim.

She was part of a group of Epstein's victims who accepted a piece of a compensation fund in exchange for nixing her lawsuit against his estate.

Maxwell, now 60, was found guilty of recruiting and trafficking underage girls for the disgraced financier between 1994 and 1997.

She has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after telling the court that meeting Jeffrey Epstein was the 'biggest regret of my life' and apologizing to her victims 'for the pain that you have experienced.'

During Maxwell's trial her victims described how they would go up to the bathroom after entering the house and would take part in sexualized massages with Epstein on a green fold out massage table.

After the sentencing, Maxwell's attorney Bobbi Sternheim said outside the courthouse: 'Our client Ghislaine Maxwell has been vilified, pilloried and left little room for her to be treated fairly. Because even before she stropped forward into this courthouse, she was being tried and convicted in the court of public opinion.

Four women gave evidence against Maxwell during her weeks-long trial: a victim known as 'Jane', Annie Farmer, Kate and another woman called Carolyn.

Over three weeks, the jury heard how Maxwell 'served up' underage girls for Epstein and relished her role as the 'Lady of the House' at his mansion in Palm Beach, Florida.

Between 1994 and 2004 Maxwell was Epstein's 'right hand' and paid $200 for sexualized massages or even took part in the abuse.

The victims, some as young as 14, were given a similar amount of money if they brought friends to Epstein, the jury was told.

The true number of Epstein's victims may never be known but the fund set up to pay compensation to them paid out $121million to 150 women around the world.

Most of the victim impact statements were released ahead of sentencing and they were blistering in their condemnation of Maxwell.

Epstein was found in cardiac arrest, having hanged himself, shortly before 7am on August 10, 2019, at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan.




An 18-member delegation of Japanese lawmakers, affiliated with the Japan-Korea Parliamentarians' Union, paid their respects on Wednesday to victims of a deadly crowd crush in Seoul's Itaewon neighborhood.







Led by Fukushiro Nukaga, a member of Japan's House of Representatives, the lawmakers visited a mourning altar at Seoul Plaza in front of City Hall after their arrival at Gimpo International Airport.







They were accompanied by two Korean lawmakers  Rep. Chung Jin-suk, leader of the ruling People Power Party, and Rep. Yun Ho-jung of the main opposition Democratic Party  during the visit.







Chung hosted a welcome dinner for the Japanese lawmakers later in the day.







Their three-day visit comes in line with the 50th anniversary of the union aimed at increasing parliamentary exchanges between the two countries.







On Thursday, the union plans to hold a general meeting bringing together members from both countries as well as Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and Japanese Ambassador to Korea Koichi Aiboshi. (Yonhap)


An Australian man who came across the most venomous fish in the world last weekend fortunately lived the tell the tale.

Daniel Brown was walking around the rock pools at Lee Point beach north of Darwin when he almost stepped on a deadly stonefish.

Mr Brown posted on Facebook that he and a friend 'went exploring the Lee Point rock pools at low tide on Sunday.

'We were looking for the most venomous octopus in the world - the blue-ringed octopus.'

Stonefish (pictured) are the most venomous fish in the world and its sting can kill in an hour

They didn't find the octopus, but 'Instead we found the most venomous fish in the world! A stonefish,' he said.

For those who don't know what a stonefish is, Mr Brown explained that they 'can inject a powerful toxin through their dorsal spines when stepped on.

'This toxin can be fatal to humans if left untreated, but no deaths have been recorded in Australia.'

He said the photo he posted 'is exactly how we found it too. Out of the water, on top of the sand, not buried in it.

'When we realised it wasn't dead we moved it - a delicate operation involving thongs so as not to touch it with our hands - into the water where it slowly started burying itself,' said Mr Brown.

He finished his post with the very sensible advice to 'be careful where you step out there on the beach guys.

'Not all the rocks are actually rocks.'

Queensland Health has also warned about the dangers of stonefish.

It advised that 'to prevent a stonefish sting, wear sturdy footwear on reef flats, or while wading on soft-bottom substrates adjacent to rocky or weedy areas'.

The warning added that if you are stung by a stonefish, to 'call Triple Zero (000) immediately as antivenom may need to be administered'.

A stonefish is capable of killing an adult in less than an hour.

Even if its sting doesn't prove fatal, it's regarded as one of the most painful experiences you can endure.

Adam Clancy (pictured) made a video after he stepped on the stonefish where he was remarkably laid back

Last July, a man who survived stepping on a stonefish and brushed off the pain with alcohol was stunned to squeeze one of the deadly creature's long barbs out of his foot months later.

Adam Clancy, 31, gained international media coverage after posting video of himself nonchalantly talking about how he stepped on a stonefish and was treating the pain with wine and whisky.

The professional photographer from the NSW town of Tenterfield was wading off Queensland's Moreton Island on the night of April 22 with camera in hand when he trod on the well-disguised stonefish.

'My mate confirmed it was a stonefish and told me to go ashore as I'm about to be in a lot of pain,' Mr Clancy told Daily Mail Australia.

'I went inside and another friend got a bucket of hot water for my foot, then I waited for the paramedic.'

'He arrived and monitored my vital signs, which is when he told me I was ridiculously relaxed about it, despite the pain being a high eight out of 10.'

Stonefish venom can induce heart failure and those injected are advised to get anti-venom treatment as soon as possible

The paramedic offered painkillers to Mr Clancy but he refused them, a decision he laughs about in hindsight.

'Yeah, (painkillers) probably would've been the better option but two glasses of whisky and a bottle of Shiraz helped me sleep that night,' he said.

The paramedic also suggested Mr Clancy go to a mainland hospital the next day but instead he stayed on the island and went back to work the next day.

Mr Clancy posted a TikTok video where in a deadpan manner, with a glass of red wine in hand, he confides he has just stepped on the 'world's most venomous fish'.

'So, the paramedic just told me that most people go into shock and pass out from the intense pain,' he says.

'So, apparently I'm the most chilled-out guy in agonising pain ever.'
Punters were seen skolling beers and puffing on vapes as they attended post-race festivities across city

Champion horse ridden by Mark Zahra took out the race and shared an X-rated spray with fellow jockeys

Well-dressed revellers partied well into the early hours after watching the iconic race that stops a nation

The 2022 Melbourne Cup didn't disappoint on Tuesday as wild scenes ensued across the entire country

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Scenes at the Melbourne Cup didn't disappoint this year with glamorous attendees partying well into the early hours of Wednesday morning in celebration of the race that stops a nation.

The biggest event on Australia's racing calendar attracted a lively crowd who lived it up trackside with a drink and a punt before kicking on at post-race festivities in Sydney, Melbourne, and across the country.

Here is a wrap-up of some of the greatest moments from the 2022 Melbourne Cup - some of the best (and worst) photos you won't be forgetting until the next iconic race day rolls around.

The man didn't seem to care he had muddied his suit trousers - and lost his shirt at some point during the wild celebrations

A shirtless punter was seen clowning around on the turf at Flemington Racecourse as an amused crowd cheered him on

The rain in Melbourne created an excellent opportunity for one punter to lose his shirt and slide across the damp turf

The female reveller nearly suffered a wardrobe malfunction as she fixed the high split on the side of her daring green dress

However, not everybody's evening ended to plan, with one shoeless woman left slumped face-down on the pavement before she was hauled to her feet by another Melbourne Cup attendee

Punters in Melbourne and Sydney made sure to keep the good times rolling as celebrations started to wind-down at Flemington and Randwick - with one brazen attendee choosing to lose his shirt entirely.

A crowd of confused revellers formed around the young man as he ditched his dress shirt and made the ill-advised decision to turn the damp turf into his personal slip-and-slide during a hail storm.

Photos show the man running at speed before hitting the ground hard and sliding to the amusement of his mates, who cheered the jokester on while others recorded the gaff on their phones.

One woman was also pictured making her friends laugh as they attempted to depart race celebrations in Sydney, as she clung to a male companion and nearly sent him toppling into a nearby hedge.

The pair smooched outside the track as celebrations across Sydney continued in lieu of the iconic race that stops a nation

Revellers were in high spirits in Sydney as one race-goer narrowly avoided being pushed into a hedge by his female companion before she planted a kiss on another man in a dark suit

The woman grabbed the face of her male companion as they continued festivities outside Sydney's Randwick Racecourse

Excited punters enjoyed the historic day as a rainbow formed at Flemington as the races wrapped up and the party continued

The well-dressed reveller almost suffered a wardrobe malfunction as she steadied herself and planted a kiss on another man as the group finally made their way to post-race festivities.

Festivities were far from over as the clock struck midnight on Tuesday as women skolled beers on the street while other loved-up couples took the opportunity to steal a romantic smooch under the stars.

However, not everybody's evening ended to plan, with one shoeless woman left slumped face-down on the pavement before she was hauled to her feet by another Melbourne Cup attendee.

One smitten couple took the opportunity to share a kiss under the stars after getting glammed-up for the iconic race day

Another attendee was on hand to help the woman up from the pavement after she slumped shoeless on the city footpath

A group of men in Sydney got some fresh air after attending race day festivities earlier in the day

Revellers in Melbourne shivered through the coldest Cup Day since 1995 with many forced to ruin their expensive outfits with the daggy addition of a jacket, poncho or umbrella.

One woman in a bright pink raincoat took a well-deserved perch on her friend's lap while another man appeared to muddy the back of his beige jacket after perhaps falling, or tumbling on to the wet grass.

Those who made it to the end of race day in Melbourne were rewarded with a stunning rainbow that stretched over the entire track - with punters naturally taking it as a sign to have a dance on the turf.

Women kicked off their heels as men joined a conga line and showed off their fancy footwork in unison.

Another race-goer decided to put on a show for her fellow punters as she danced to the sounds of a brass trio in Melbourne

Winning jockey Mark Zahra on horse Gold Tripp celebrates with the crowd after taking out the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday

Earlier in the day, punters in Melbourne didn't let the wet and wild weather ruin their fun, as icy winds and rain pounded the city on the iconic race day and forced some racegoers to hide under ponchos and umbrellas

However, other over-excited punters took the weather event as a chance to wrestle on the turf as unimpressed attendees watched from inside the Birdcage.

Punters certainly had their fun beside the track, with huge piles of rubbish including copious cans and bottles left for officials to clean up as attendees continued celebrations elsewhere.

Glamorous revellers who were still still standing by the early hours were seen puffing on vapes and texting on their phones as they finally returned home after attending Australia's biggest racing event.

One punter was forced to remove his jacket after he muddied the back of it after perhaps falling onto the wet grass

Crowds depart the Melbourne Cup after a wild day of weather that saw showers and hail fall on Flemington

Others were seen skolling beers and puffing on vapes in pubs and bars in Sydney and Melbourne after watching the race

The wild scenes played out as Gold Trip ridden by jockey Mark Zahra stormed to victory, with Emissary coming in second and High Emocean placing third from last in an incredible effort on the track.

The jockey was seen giving the champion horse his all in the last 300m of the thrilling race, overtaking favourite Deauville Legend and ending with an X-rated spray at his rival jockeys as he crossed the line.

Zahra admitted he wanted the other jockeys to just 'p*** off' and that the feeling of winning on Gold Trip was surreal and made him feel like he was 'going to cry'.

'He's a horse that when you go for it, you really want to go for it,' the jockey said in a post-race interview.

'It's just surreal, absolutely surreal. I was very doubtful he'd run 3200m.'

As the afternoon grew to evening another man simply lay on his back on the ground - seemingly exhausted from the long day

A woman was seen giving her friend wearing a bright pink raincoat a perch after a long day of festivities on Tuesday

Punters slowly started to file out of Flemington Racecourse leaving cans, food wrappers and empty wine bottles behind

Another race-goer planted a smooch on a woman's lips as they partied the night away after attending race day celebrations

He also shared some fellow jockeys, saying he had hoped they just 'p*** off' during the nerve-wracking final stages down the stretch.

'[I was thinking] just p*** off, no one come near me,' he said.

'The last 50m I was thinking I'm going to win this. It just went forever the last bit. And I still can't believe it. Melbourne Cup, it's unbelievable.'

It was redemption for Zahra who was forced to sit back and watch his ride Verry Elleegant win the 2021 Melbourne Cup while he sat out after being suspended for breaches of Covid regulations.

Two punters fooled around and wrestled on the wet grass at Flemington as amused racegoers watched on from inside

'This time last year I was watching Verry Elleegant win and getting told off for drinking too much. To come a full year and have redemption on a horse like this with good mates of mine.. it's just an unbelievable feeling,' he said.

Interpretation was the only horse who didn't finished the race, however it's understood the horse is okay.

Earlier in the day, officials were on high alert after vandals broke onto the track at Flemington and poured an 'oily' substance on the track - potentially endangering the horses and jockeys.

One reveller in a yellow dress and blue heels and headbands had a dance under the rainbow as celebrations continued

Two glamorous revellers walked in tandem across Sydney's city streets as celebrations winded down after a long day

Victoria Police said 'unknown offenders have broken into a racing facility in Flemington and poured an unknown substance over a portion of the track about 6am'.

The self-identified problem gambler shared a statement claiming they 'pumped 1,000 litres of an oily substance onto Flemington Racecourse' to protest against the Melbourne Cup.

Officials from the Victoria Racing Club said cleaning had been undertaken at the 1500metre mark but that the track was safe and that the race would go ahead.
There are grave concerns about the welfare of an 18-year-old autistic student who was last spotted walking through a train station at 3am on Wednesday.

Katherine Tran has not been seen since her image was captured by security cameras at Merrylands station in Sydney's west in the early hours of Wednesday.

She is seen walking down a ramp wearing a black zippered Lonsdale jacket, a school uniform green tartaned skirt with thongs and with a black bag holstered over one shoulder.

This image of 18-year-old schoolgirl Katherine Tran was taken at Sydney's Merrylands train station at 3am on Wednesday morning and is the last known location for the missing girl

The missing schoolgirl has her hands in the jacket pockets and stares ahead betraying no sign of emotion.

Ms Tran left her home her Wingello Street home in the western Sydney suburb of Guildford at 1am on Wednesday.

Police told Daily Mail Australia this was 'out-of-character' and her family were very concerned.

Ms Tran is in year 12 and currently doing HSC exams.

Family and police hold serious concerns for missing schoolgirl Katherine Tran (pictured) and say that leaving the family home at 1am on Wednesday was very 'out-of-character'

Police believe she may be travelling on the public rail network and is known to favour hanging out at Parramatta Westfields shopping centre and in the CBD.

She is described as having an Asian appearance, being about 155cm tall, with solid build and dark hair.

Anyone with information that might help locate Ms Tran is urged to contact police immediately.
A man has been rushed to hospital after suffering face and neck injuries when a circular saw hit him in the face.

The man, in his 20s, was cutting a pipe with the saw at an address in Oran Park, south-west Sydney before the blade slipped.

It struck him in the face and left him with 'substantial' injuries to his face and neck.

The man, in his 20s, was cutting a pipe with the saw at an address in Oran Park, south-west Sydney before the blade slipped

NSW Ambulance paramedics arrived at the scene and treated him. They gave him pain relief before rushing him to Liverpool Hospital, where he remains in a serious condition

NSW Ambulance paramedics arrived at the scene and treated him.

They gave him pain relief before rushing him to Liverpool Hospital, where he remains in a serious condition.

No details about the man's identity have been released and the extent of his injuries is unclear.

NSW Ambulance Inspector Craig Parsons said: 'This man has had an unfortunate accident with a saw while cutting a pipe with the blade striking him in the face leaving him with some fairly substantial lacerations.'

'Paramedics treated him by putting pressure on his injuries and administering pain relief before taking him to Liverpool Hospital.'

'Power tools always present a risk of injury and this is a reminder of how quickly something can go wrong.'
A children's hospital has refused a $520,000 donation declaring it doesn't take money linked to sport or gambling.

The Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland declined the offer from horse racing giant Mark Chittick of New Zealand's Waikato Stud after his champion thoroughbred I wish I win took out the $10million Gold Eagle at the races at Rosehill in Sydney.

Mr Chittick tried to donate a chunk of his winnings to the charity to in the hope it would help vulnerable sick children, however following a 'polite' conversation the offer was rejected.

He said the deal fell through in the lead-up to the Golden Eagle and claimed the foundation had told him it couldn't take donations related to sport or gambling.

The Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland declined the offer from horse racing giant Mark Chittick (pictured with wife Pippa) of New Zealand's Waikato Stud after his horse I wish I won took out the $10million Gold Eagle at the races at Rosehill in Sydney

'I couldn't believe it, and now that is $520,000 which will never come to New Zealand and help Kiwi kids,' Mr Chittick told the NZ Herald.

In a joint statement on Wednesday, the foundation said the offer had been received at 3pm and required a rapid decision' to be made by the end of the day.

'As with any charity, due diligence is an essential part of our responsibility to accept donations,' the statement read.

'In this instance, considerations around the size and off-shore nature of the donation regrettably could not be resolved within this timeframe.

'We are tremendously disappointed that we could not meet the deadline and become the beneficiary of this incredibly generous donation.

'If we had had more time, the decision may well have been very different.'

Mr Chittick said the deal had already fallen through in the lead-up to the Golden Eagle and claimed the foundation said it couldn't take donations related to sport or gambling

Chittick's horse I wish I win took out the $10million Gold Eagle at the races at Rosehill in Sydney (pictured is jockey Luke Nolen celebrating with trainer Peter Moody)

The Starship Foundation and Waikato Stud said they had 'great respect' for each other's work and industries and intended to work together in the future.

The foundation's chief executive Aisha Daji Punga earlier on Wednesday confirmed the deal had fallen through after 'careful consideration' of the offer.

Ms Punga said it had been rejected due to 'exisiting partnership obligations'.

'The Starship Foundation is delighted to be the beneficiary of donations from individuals, clubs and organisations - donations which make a very real difference for children across Aotearoa New Zealand,' Ms Punga told the NZ Herald.

'Careful consideration is always given to Starship's involvement in events and other initiatives where there is an intention to support it and its work.

'In this instance, we were unable to be the nominated charity due to these considerations.'

The Starship Foundation's chief executive Aisha Daji Punga confirmed the deal had fallen through after 'careful consideration' of the offer (pictured, the Starship Children's Hospital)

After discussions with trainer Peter Moody, who attended the race on Saturday, the large sum was redirected to the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation of NSW.

Mr Chittick said despite his disappointment at the money not going to his elected charity, it had been 'heartwarming' to see it go to another worthy recipient.

The foundation took to Instagram to thank the horse stud for the notable donation.

'Holy moly our horse won the Golden Eagle! We were a selected charity to receive 10 per cent of the winnings and our horse 'I Wish I Win' actually won!' the post read.

The rejection comes despite the Starship Foundation previously accepting donations from Windsor Park Stud, another thoroughbred farm in New Zealand.
A new version of a highly prized $2 coin is set to trigger a buying frenzy on Thursday.

The Royal Mint will release an updated version of the Remembrance Day Red Poppy $2 coin to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the original 2012 issue and to commemorate the nation's war veterans.

After the death of Queen Elizabeth II the 2012 Red Poppy coins sky-rocketed in value to reach a peak of $400 each but have since settled to be worth around $350.

The Royal Australian Mint is releasing a 2022 version (pictured) of the very popular Red Poppy $2 coin

The 2022 version features an updated portrait of Queen Elizabeth II but the flipside is likely to be identical to the 2012 issue with a striking scarlet red-coloured poppy in the centre and the word 'remembrance' running around the rim.

There will only be 60,000 of the new coins issued and they will go not into general circulation but can be purchased individually at the cost of $15.

As they are likely to rapidly sell out the coins may climb quickly in value with eager collectors still scrambling to get one.

The coins will be issued at 8.30am (AEDT) and from that time can be purchased from Mint's website but there is likely to be an hour's wait to place an order.

The original 2012 Red Poppy $2 coin (pictured) sky-rocketed in value after Queen Elizabeth II passed away

Alternatively would-be buyers can try calling the Mint on 1300 652 020 or by visiting the shop in Canberra.

Australian coin collector Joel Kandiah has posted a guide to buying the new $2 coin on his popular Instagram and TikTok pages devoted to all things money.

He advises people not to 'get caught up in the hype'.

'This coin will sell out and there will be people who will try and flip them for ridiculous amounts.'

'Play the waiting game.'

Australian coin collector Joel Kandiah, who runs popular Instagram and TikTok pages on all things money, has posted a guide (pictured) to buying the new Red Poppy coin

Mr Kandiah has issued a warning about 'unscrupulous behavior' in the coin collecting market and recommends those looking at buying as an investment should get financial guidance

Mr Kandiah (pictured) is a 31-year-old schoolteacher in Perth who has become known an online coin collecting guru

Kandiah advises people to keep an eye on the Mint's website in the following days in case they 'drip-feed' more stock or to try Mint-approved coin dealers, which can be found by doing a Google search, although he also lists some.

Reputable coin dealers are likely to have purchase limits.

Mr Kandiah warns there has been 'an increase in unscrupulous behaviour from sellers who are looking to make a quick buck'.

For those who 'look at coins and banknotes as a form of investment rather than a hobby' the 31-year-old school teacher recommends only doing so under the guidance of a financial advisor.

Mr Kandiah said it was hard to predict how much the new Red Poppy coin could be worth in a few months or years time.

'The Red Poppy is the most in demand coin in Australia right now,' he told Seven News.

'The new Red Poppy will generate a lot of hype quickly, but I can't really say what will happen to the market after that. And I think it's a pretty dangerous game to try and do that.

'I want what's best for the collector, I don't want what's best for the flipper.'

The original 2012 Red Poppy coin was released in a batch of 503,000 but the Mint also created a rarer version of 40,902 C-mintmarked coins.

In 2018 for the 30th Anniversary of the $2 coin set, another Red Poppy version was released in a batch of 30,000.
A mother has revealed how she set fire to a home invader's face using a can of Raid after a group ambushed her with a taser.

Tiffany Kendon, 21, from Wishart, Brisbane bravely used the can of fly spray to fight off one of the attackers when they entered her home on Tuesday night - and the flammable liquid from the can ignited when it can into contact with the sparks from the taser causing a wall of flames.

The young mother said she was 'traumatised' by the ordeal and feared for her life.

Her one-month-old son and two-year-old toddler were in her bedroom on the second storey of the house when the invaders entered.

Tiffany Kendon, 21, from Wishart, Brisbane bravely used the can of fly spray to fight off one of the attackers when they entered her home

The terrifying home invasion came after a car crash opposite her house on Monday, which saw a handgun dumped in bushes just metres away from her.

The two men responsible were convinced Tiffany had taken the gun after apparently being spun a story from a person at the scene. Three then entered Tiffany's home.

A masked man with a taser approached the room where Tiffany's sons were sleeping.

'It never happened. They were told I saw the gun and I talked to police,' she told the Courier Mail.

'They came in the front door and the back door, three of them, all in their 20s.

'They were yelling at us, 'give us our gun back, we know you have it, where's our f---ing gun'.

'The main guy came upstairs with a taser and I was like, 'get the f--- out, I have a newborn, get out of my house'.'

The young mother said she was 'traumatised' by the ordeal on Tuesday night and said she feared for her life

The terrifying home invasion came after a car crash opposite her house on Monday, which saw a handgun dumped in bushes just metres away from her

She said she was just trying to get the man away from her when she unleashed the bottle of Raid.

'I thought I could push him down the stairs, but then I saw the can of spray.

'I sprayed him in the eyes and he clicked the taser at the same time and it went up in flames.

'I then had a 1.5m flame on me and pushed him down the stairs.'

The three men fled but have not been arrested and officers visited Tiffany's home on Sunday to search for more evidence.

Detectives are appealing for anyone who may have seen either incident on October 31 or November 1, or who may have relevant dashcam or CCTV footage, to contact them.
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Plans to negotiate a 'fast track' deal to remove Albanian Channel migrants 'within days' of their arrival were dealt a blow today after the country's Prime Minister accused Suella Braverman of 'discriminating' against his citizens.

In a series of strongly worded tweets, Edi Rama called for 'mutual respect' as he attacked 'insane' and 'easy rhetoric'.

The under-fire Home Secretary has frequently singled out Albanian asylum seekers after their numbers crossing the Channel in small boats spiralled. She has also been considering negotiating a 'bespoke route' with the nation to get failed Albanian asylum seekers removed from the UK quicker.

Mr Rama tweeted: 'Targeting Albanians (as some shamefully did when fighting for Brexit) as the cause of Britain's crime and border problems makes for easy rhetoric but ignores hard fact. Repeating the same things and expecting different results is insane (ask Einstein!).'

Mr Rama argued that 70 per cent of the 140,000 Albanians who have moved to the UK were living in Italy and Greece, while 1,200 of them are business people, and that Albanians in the UK 'work hard and pay tax'. He said the UK should 'fight the crime gangs of all nationalities and stop discriminating' against 'Albanians to excuse policy failures'.

'Albania is not a rich country and was for a very long time a victim of empires, we never had our own,' Mr Rama continued. We have a duty to fight crime at home and are doing so resolutely, as cooperating closely with others too. Ready to work closer with UK but facts are crucial. So is mutual respect.'

In a jab at under fire Home Secretary Suella Braverman, Edi Rama called for 'mutual respect' as he struck out at the 'insane' and 'easy rhetoric' of targeting his citizens for the UK's border failures.

Ministers are currenlty drawing up plans to deport thousands of Albanian asylum seekers almost immediately after they arrive in a bid to ease the Channel migration crisis. They want to avoid giving those who fail to be granted asylum having time to launch an appeal against the decision by shipping them back to eastern Europe 'within days'.

Currently the legal process means that arrivals have to be put up in hotels at huge cost to the taxpayer because they can only be held briefly in arrival centres like Manston.

Another proposal being examined is toughening up the Modern Slavery Act, which ministers say has become the 'biggest loophole' in the immigration system. Home Office figures show the number of Albanian migrants claiming to be victims of modern slavery is set to double this year to 5,000.

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick told the Telegraph that Albanians were 'abusing' the act and delaying deportation attempts. One to two per cent of young Albanian men are believed to have attempted a Channel crossing, according to a senior Border Force official.

So far this year, more than 12,000 Albanians have illegally crossed the Channel into Britain - 10,000 of whom were single, adult men.

However, experts last night warned that attempts to remove arrivals before the legal process was complete would break international law. One told the Times: 'How can you exercise your appeal rights if you're not in the UK? It would be extrajudicial, and contravene rights under the Refugee Convention.'

There will also be questions over the ability of the system to be sped up. Taxpayers are currently paying nearly 7million a day to house tens of thousands of asylum seekers in hotels after the Home Office managed to process just four per cent of asylum claims from people who crossed the Channel last year.

As Home Secretary Suella Braverman came under increasing pressure to tackle the crisis, it emerge

French police have been ordered not to stop boats in the water departing for UK due to fears of legal action;

Robert Jenrick insisted the Manston processing centre if 'fit for purpose' despite a damning inspection;

Sir Keir Starmer sought to change the law so Channel migrants with a 'fear of return' could qualify for asylum;

10,000 more migrants could cross in next two months, bringing total this year to 50,000, Mr Jenrick warned;

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent on October 27

A group of people thought to be migrants at Dover on October 13

'Don't scupper the migrant dinghies': French police are ordered not to halt boats bound for UK amid fears of legal action Tom Kelly, Investigations Editor for the Daily Mail French police have been ordered not to stop migrant boats in the water departing for Britain because of fears of facing legal action. The diktat has left 'overwhelmed' officers powerless to intervene as people smuggling gangs ruthlessly exploit the system to send thousands more migrants on perilous cross Channel crossings. The policy was introduced after a campaign group filed a complaint accusing police of endangering human life after officers punctured an overloaded small boat just a few yards from the shore to prevent it leaving. A subsequent notice from France's Departmental Board of the National Police issued on August 26 banned officers from targeting boats already in the water. Only those on the beach or on the road could be intercepted. People smugglers swiftly responded, setting up almost untouchable 'taxi boat' services. Instead of taking dinghies to the beach by road and inflating them on the sand, as before, gangs now pilot boats along the coast and pick up groups of migrants waiting on the shore at pre-arranged spots. Advertisement

The Government is desperate to will crack down on young Albanian men  some with 'criminal intent'  crossing the Channel to come to the UK.

Robert Jenrick said yesterday the Government would work on a 'fast-track' system to speed up the removal of migrants with no right to stay in Britain.

He said an agreement signed last year had already led to 1,000 Albanians being returned, but insisted he wanted to see 'far more' sent back in the coming months.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said that the intense pressure at the Manston migrant processing centre will not be solved quickly.

He told Sky News that work was ongoing to get migrants from the site quicker but said 'it is reasonable to say it is not going to happen overnight'.

'There are no simple solutions here.

'They're very difficult. The Government is putting the steps in place to procure more accommodation.'

Former home secretary Priti Patel signed an agreement last July which strengthened existing arrangements to remove Albanian nationals who have no right to be in the UK, including failed asylum seekers.

The Home Office said then that Albanian nationals made up the largest number of foreign national offenders in UK prisons totalling 16 per cent of the foreign national offenders population.

Mr Jenrick yesterday described many of those arriving in Britain from Albania as 'young males who are fit, healthy, prosperous enough to pay the criminal gangs to get here'.

The minister said Albania was a 'demonstrably safe country'  and people coming to the UK from there have travelled via other safe countries.

'We should not be seeing these individuals coming to the UK,' he said.

'You should claim asylum in the first safe country, and a very large proportion of Albanians coming to the UK are coming as economic migrants  some intent on criminality.'

People thought to be migrants wait to be processed at the Border Force compound in Dover

TikTok videos show dozens of Albanian migrants making the crossing, with this group unfurling the nation's flag on the boat

Number of migrants crossing could hit 50,000 this year Another 10,000 migrants could cross the Channel over the next two months, bringing the total who arrive in Britain this year to 50,000, the Immigration Minister warned yesterday. Robert Jenrick said the Government would look at 'more radical options' to tackle the crisis, but admitted the challenge is 'very significant'. And he put up a partial defence of Home Secretary Suella Braverman's description of the Channel crossings as an 'invasion' on the South Coast. 'Fifty thousand people, and the number could well be significantly higher over the course of this year, is a major challenge for this country,' he told Sky News. 'It is leading to the infrastructure that we have in terms of reception centres, like Manston, in terms of hotel accommodation, and asylum and social housing, essentially being overwhelmed. 'Invasion is a way of describing the sheer scale of the challenge. That's what Suella Braverman was trying to express. She was also speaking, I think, and this is an important point, for those people who live on the south coast, who day in, day out are seeing migrant boats landing on their beaches.' Advertisement

Mr Jenrick, who is planning to visit Albania shortly, said the Government would work on a quicker system to remove Albanians with no right to be in the UK.

He said: 'We want to find a way to have a fast-track so that Albanians who are coming here  most of whom are young males who are fit, healthy, prosperous enough to pay the criminal gangs to get here  are assessed swiftly, have their claims dismissed if that's the right answer, and then are removed from the country.'

Meanwhile, the leader of a council which has taken High Court action against the Home Office to prevent it hosting asylum seekers in specific hotels has accused the department of showing a 'total lack of consultation and engagement' with local authorities.

Sheila Oxtoby, chief executive of Great Yarmouth Borough Council, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'First of all, I'd like to say that we have a long history of welcoming refugees and economic migrants to our town and to our borough.

'We have always, right from the beginning, offered to work with the Home Office to find the most suitable accommodation and the best solution for both the asylum seekers and the existing community - but that has largely fallen on deaf ears and our offer has not been taken up.

'I think you used the word 'imposed' and that's how we feel that two properties running as successful hotels in a prime tourism area have been selected to accommodate asylum seekers.

'That's what we object to - the method and process upon how they have been selected and the total lack of consultation and engagement with us as the local council.'

Ms Oxtoby added there were limits to the number of refugees that her council would take and urged the Government to recognise immigration is a 'national issue'.

Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, said yesterday the Government would work on a 'fast-track' system to speed up the removal of migrants with no right to stay in Britain.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said that the intense pressure at the Manston migrant processing centre will not be solved quickly.

Ministers want to avoid giving those who fail to be granted asylum having time to launch an appeal against the decision by shipping them back to eastern Europe 'within days'.

Manston 'is like a prison camp': Migrant says people at Kent processing centre are treated like 'animals in a zoo' as Home Secretary is accused of having 'complete disregard' for locals after putting asylum seekers in hotels without consultation

By Laurence Dollimore and Martin Robinson, Chief Reporter for MailOnline

Migrants and asylum seekers who spent weeks at the 'inhumane' Manston processing centre have compared it to a 'filthy prison' after catching scabies, having their phones and cigarettes 'confiscated' and being forced to sleep on the floor.

The former RAF base in Kent, which re-opened as an immigration centre in January, was initially designed to hold up to 1,600 people for no more than 48 hours, but has instead become a temporary home to almost 4,000 migrants, leading to outbreaks of diphtheria, scabies, MRSA and violence.

Many of those staying there are women and children and are believed to come from Syria, Afghanistan and Iran, but one migrant claims they were treated more like 'animals in a zoo'.

Following public outcry and reports of overcrowding and disease, dozens of coaches with heavily tinted windows yesterday began to take migrants from the centre to hotels or hostels around Britain - with many inside pictured waving and giving a thumbs up, clearly relieved at leaving for pastures new.

But Home Secretary Suella Braverman is under fire from local council leaders today as they accused her of having 'complete disregard' for their constituents after putting the asylum seekers in hotels and hostels without consultation.

It comes as ministers warn that up to 50,000 migrants could cross the English Channel on small boats this year alone in what would be a new annual record, as the Government weighs up 'radical' plans to tackle the crisis, including fast-tracking the deportation of Albanian migrants.

Speaking today, Ahmed - not his real name - said he had spent 24 days at Manston as he compared it to a 'prison camp.'

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I slept on the floor, a lot of people were there. In one big tent there were maybe 130 people. It was cold.

'We can't go to the toilet, we can't take a shower, take a bath, we don't have any clothes, we are not animals!'

He added: 'For the 24 days I'm in there, I can't call to my family to say to them I'm dead, I'm living - they don't know anything about me... all people in there, they have a family. They should know what is happening to us.'

Ahmed had fled Iran to avoid persecution, saying he had been living in fear for his life.

Another migrant branded Manston a 'filthy prison' after he 'caught scabies' during his week-long stay there.

Adil Amir Al Shamiri, 42, told the i that he was forced to sleep on the ground in a room packed with 140 people, and claimed personal belongings were confiscated upon arrival, including clothes, shoes, phones and cigarettes.

He said: 'It was like a prison. The place is crowded. The filth fills the floor. There is no bed to sleep.

Migrants and asylum seekers who spent weeks at the 'inhumane' Manston processing centre have compared it to a 'filthy prison' after catching scabies, having their phones and cigarettes 'confiscated' and being forced to sleep on the floor (Pictured: People thought to be migrants inside the Manston immigration short-term holding facility located at the former Defence Fire Training and Development Centre in Thanet, Kent)

Migrants at the controversial Manston camp (pictured) in Kent have been sleeping on the floor of marquees for a month, are not allowed to use toilets with the doors closed and have not had a GP stationed on site until this week, it was claimed

Speaking today, Ahmed (not pictured here) - not his real name - said he had spent 24 days at Manston as he compared it to a 'prison camp.' He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I slept on the floor, a lot of people were there. In one big tent there were maybe 130 people. It was cold.'

'We had 140 people sleeping between each other's legs. Filth fills the place and infectious diseases, and I am one of those infected now with scabies. It was indescribable. It was like a real detention facility.'

Branding the conditions 'tragic', he said that children 'don't get sleeping covers' or 'diapers' while there are 'hundreds of people with scabies'.

Mr Al Shamiri said the t-shirt and pyjamas he was given made him itch while he was 'sleeping on the earth or on a stool'. He said while there was a doctor, they struggled to provide 'full healthcare' due to the large number of people.

He added: 'In the camp, everything is taken from us  our clothes, shoes, cigarettes. And mobile devices that contain a camera are forbidden to be taken.'

Mr Al Shamiri said people's belongings were returned to them once they left the centre.

A Home Office spokesperson said: 'Manston remains resourced and equipped to process migrants securely and we will provide alternative accommodation as soon as possible.

'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.

'We provide for all the basic needs of people who will have arrived tired, cold, in wet clothing and who may not have eaten during their journey. The Home Office provides 24/7 health facilities at Manston as well as having robust contingency plans to deal with health issues such as communicable diseases.'

Council leaders in Kent are to write to under-fire Home Secretary Ms Braverman saying she has shown 'complete disregard' for the county after putting up asylum seekers in hotels without consulting locals.

Ashford Borough Council has hit out after the government booked up a hotel in the town for asylum seekers arriving across the Channel, saying their views have been ignored.

Council leader Gerry Clarkson, a Conservative, said the issue is a national one and should be treated as such.

He said: 'We have no control over this decision at all and are extremely angry at the Home Office on how they have handled this situation.

'They have ignored not only our views, but those of Kent County Council, Kent Police and local health services.

'They have shown a complete disregard for us and the local community, and this situation cannot continue.

'All Kent and Medway local authority leaders are writing jointly to the Secretary of State for the Home Office to ask her to stop using the county as an easy fix for what is a national, strategic issue.'

The Home Office said it will continue to use hotels to house new arrivals.

A spokesperson added: '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 5.6million a day.

'The use of hotels is a short-term solution and we are working hard with local authorities to find appropriate accommodation.'

It comes as Transport Secretary Mark Harper said that both France and the UK need to 'do more' to tackle cross-Channel illegal migration.

A coach arrives at the Manston immigration short-term holding facility

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said: 'I think both countries, Britain and France, could do more. What we need to do is work with the French, they do a lot already.

'We provide resources to help them and, of course, people will know our border controls in France are actually physically located in France, and we've always worked in close partnership with French authorities.

'Do we think they could do more? Yes. We could do more as well. It's about improving that partnership.'

Mr Harper was also pressed on Suella Braverman's use of the word 'invasion' in the House of Commons this week to describe the situation at the south coast.

The Transport Secretary told Sky News: 'The Home Secretary was trying to convey to the House of Commons that she understood the scale of the challenges so that people at home, who are concerned about this issue, know that it's an important priority for her and for the Home Office to deal with this problem.'

It comes as one leader of a council has taken High Court action against the Home Office to prevent it hosting asylum seekers in specific hotels, as she accused the department of showing a 'total lack of consultation and engagement' with local authorities.

Sheila Oxtoby, chief executive of Great Yarmouth Borough Council, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'First of all, I'd like to say that we have a long history of welcoming refugees and economic migrants to our town and to our borough.

People thought to be migrants at the Manston immigration short-term holding facility

People thought to be migrants queue for the showers inside the Manston immigration short-term holding facility located at the former Defence Fire Training and Development Centre in Thanet, Kent

'We have always, right from the beginning, offered to work with the Home Office to find the most suitable accommodation and the best solution for both the asylum seekers and the existing community - but that has largely fallen on deaf ears and our offer has not been taken up.

'I think you used the word 'imposed' and that's how we feel that two properties running as successful hotels in a prime tourism area have been selected to accommodate asylum seekers.

'That's what we object to - the method and process upon how they have been selected and the total lack of consultation and engagement with us as the local council.'

Ms Oxtoby added there were limits to the number of refugees that her council would take and urged the Government to recognise immigration is a 'national issue'.

Yesterday's exodus of the migrants came as the union representing Border Force workers at Manston said that the Home Office intended to move 400 people out of the site on Tuesday followed by a similar number over the proceeding days.

Lucy Moreton of the Union for Borders, Immigration and Customs (ISU) said: 'There are now coaches on site with the intention of moving some migrants on to more suitable accommodation. I don't know yet how many will go today but yesterday (Monday) we were told the aim was to move 400.'

Ms Moreton also called on the Home Office to increase support for staff working at Manston.

She added: 'Sadly, nothing is being done to relieve the pressure on staff. We have asked the Home Office for increased support, for wellbeing and mental health services and for assurances to address staff concerns around the legality of instructions they are being given, the sustainability for the short and medium term and any ongoing threat to staff. The Home Office have not replied.'

It comes as Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick warned that as many as 50,000 migrants could cross the Channel this year - which would be not only nearly double the total number of people who made the perilous crossing last year, but a new annual record.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman earlier told the Cabinet that the Home Office had reopened its Dover immigration centre following a fire-bomb attack.

People, thought to be migrants, queue for the shower facilities at Manston, a former RAF base which is being used as a short-term holding facility

Charlie Taylor, Chief Inspector of Prisons, carried out an unannounced visit in July and found evidence of 'exhausted' migrants sleeping on floors, and 'impatient staff'. Pictured: People, believed to be migrants, inside the Manston immigration centre

Staff at the immigration centre near Ramsgate in Kent have also witnessed 'incredibly tense' scenes in the last 24 hours - with some telling bosses they are terrified for their safety and local reporting regular escapes

The site has tripled in size since May, when seven tents were being used to house asylum seekers compared to 21 yesterday as numbers have swelled. Pictured: Tents at the immigration site at Manston

Some 4,000 people are now packed into a space designed for just 1,600 on the former RAF base in Kent and severe overcrowding has led to outbreaks of violence and diphtheria. Pictured: Detainees gesture through a fence at an immigration processing centre in Manston

The situation became even more dire yesterday with the arrival of another 700, bused from a site in Dover attacked with petrol bombs on Sunday. Pictured: A view of people thought to be migrants at the Manston immigration short-term holding facility

The Western Jet Foil centre, used to process asylum seekers after their arrival in the UK, was closed following the attack on Sunday. Two people inside the migrant centre reported minor injuries. The 66-year-old man suspected of carrying out the attack was later found dead at a nearby petrol station.

The closure has led to a large build up of migrants at its Manston site in Kent, which has been labelled 'inhuman' amid reports of severe overcrowding and outbreaks of violence and diphtheria.

A 'large number' of migrants will now be taken from the site and moved to over locations in a bid to 'relieve pressure on Manston', Ms Braverman is said to have told the Cabinet.

During a press briefing Tuesday, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: '(At Cabinet) The Home Secretary provided a further update on the situation in Manston.

'She said the Western Jet Foil centre (in Dover) had reopened and that large numbers of people were being taken from Manston to other accommodation to help relieve pressure.

'She said unprecedented numbers of crossings continue to cause challenges and a whole-government approach would be needed to tackle it.'

It comes as it was claimed Tuesday that migrants at the controversial Manston camp in Kent have been sleeping on the floor of marquees for a month, are not allowed to use toilets with the doors closed and have not had a GP stationed on site until this week.

Staff at the immigration centre near Ramsgate in Kent have also witnessed 'incredibly tense' scenes in the last 24 hours - with some telling bosses they are terrified for their safety and locals reporting regular escapes.

The site has tripled in size since May, when seven tents were being used to house asylum seekers compared to 21 yesterday as numbers have swelled.

Some 4,000 people are now packed into a space designed for just 1,600 on the former RAF base in Kent and severe overcrowding has led to outbreaks of violence and diphtheria.

And the situation became even more dire yesterday with the arrival of another 700, bused from a site in Dover attacked with petrol bombs on Sunday.

David Neal, the chief inspector of borders and immigration, said he was left 'speechless' by what he say. He said: 'I spoke to an Afghan family who had been in a marquee for 32 days. So that's in a marquee . . . with a kit mat on the floor, with blankets, for 32 days.'

He added: 'I was very concerned about Manston when I visited on Monday. As concerned, perhaps, as I've ever been about anything over the recent years.

'It's a really dangerous situation. It's failing to address vulnerability . . . There are risks there in terms of fire, in terms of disorder, in terms of medical and infection.'

The POA union, which represents staff at the Manston centre, said there were eight confirmed cases of diptheria at the site.

Afghan migrant, Abed, told The Times that he slept on the floor of a marquee for 15 days, and dexcribed an outbreak of scabies.

He said: 'Everybody was sleeping near with each other. Some people were sleeping in chairs. Also they are sharing the blankets with people.

'The people [were] putting the blankets on the floor and then people are sleeping on it. Some people were sleeping on the floor side by side'. The Times reported that until Monday, a GP was not stationed at the centre.

Staff on the ground in Manston have warned that migrants are making weapons out of tent parts, loo roll holders, and broken bits from the wired fence. Others claimed that combs have been crafted into blades.

Lucy Moreton, spokesperson for the Union for Borders, Immigration & Customs, said it is a 'really frightening' time for staff working with migrants.

Asked about whether it is a frightening time after incendiary devices were thrown at a Border Force migrant centre in Dover on Sunday, she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'Absolutely.

'The members are reporting real concerns not only that there could be a copycat attack, or that may have been part of a broader programme, although that appears unlikely, but certainly it could be copied.

The site has tripled in size since May, when seven tents were being used to house asylum seekers compared to 21 yesterday as numbers have swelled

'There's been a lot of drones flying over the site in the last 24 hours. There's a lot of tensions on the site. The migrants are very keen to be moving, to be moved on, to get their freedom back.

'Staff face, on a daily basis, sitdown protests, being chanted at, being shouted out. Constant searches going on, improvised weapons are always being found.

'It's a really frightening time for the staff and no prison in the UK has over 4,000 people uncontained face to face with those who are responsible for controlling them. That's an utterly unsustainable position.'

One local business owner said: 'They [detainees] have been getting out. We had one who jumped over the fence and security jumped after.' He added: 'All we hear is chanting every night now.'

Charlie Taylor, Chief Inspector of Prisons, carried out an unannounced visit in July and found evidence of 'exhausted' migrants sleeping on floors, and 'impatient staff'.

Yesterday he said he was planning a 'swift return' after 'a number of credible sources' suggested the situation at the centre had become much worse.

He said: 'What's happening at Manston when I visited was people were sleeping on the floors, on the rubber mats down on the floors and then very thin blankets or mattresses. Lots and lots of people in a room, all squished in together, very uncomfortable.

'The room for families has lots and lots of different families all sharing the same room, very young children, older children. For a few hours, that would be acceptable, but where people are spending long periods of time there, it just isn't.

'I would be horrified if I went into a prison where prisoners didn't have mattresses, where prisoners didn't have flushing lavatories, where prisoners didn't have telephones that they can stay in touch with family and friends.

'Those are three things that we see at Manston - similarly if they couldn't get out into the fresh air. As I said before, the Home Office needs to get a grip'.

Staff on the ground in Manston have warned that migrants are making weapons out of tent parts, loo roll holders, and broken bits from the wired fence. Others claimed that combs have been crafted into blades. Pictured: The facility at Manston Airfield

Charlie Taylor, Chief Inspector of Prisons, carried out an unannounced visit in July and found evidence of 'exhausted' migrants sleeping on floors, and 'impatient staff'. Pictured: Clothes are hung out to dry at Manston immigration facility in Kent

His comments came as he published the findings of an inspection, carried out at the facility in July, which warned serious challenges remain for migrants crossing the Channel and arriving in Kent.

Manston, at a disused airfield near Ramsgate, is supposed to be a short-term holding facility where immigration documents are issued and some migrants begin the asylum screening process. They are only meant to stay for a maximum of 24 hours.

While there is food, water, showers and toilets, the prisons watchdog said there are no beds or access to fresh air or exercise.

When migrants initially arrive in Kent after crossing the Channel from Calais, they are taken to sites at Western Jet Foil in Dover and Lydd Airport in Romney Marsh for health checks. The Lydd Airport site was unoccupied at the time of the inspection.

In the watchdog's findings, published on Tuesday, inspectors highlighted 'failings' in procedures at Manston which 'undermine the resilience of the centre for dealing with increasing volumes of detainees'.

But they also found the accommodation was suitable for short-term detention and noted efforts by staff to 'create a calm and even welcoming atmosphere'.

Manston was described as having a 'good amount' of accommodation available but, at the time of the inspection, 'much of it was out of use because there were not enough staff'.

Further 'signs of strain' included 'exhausted detainees' sleeping on the floor, including some who had been waiting more than 30 hours to be processed.

Last week, David Neal, the chief inspector of borders and immigration, said during a visit to Manston he met families who had been at the facility for over a month.

The prisons watchdog also found:

Victims of trafficking, people with disabilities and severe mental health problems and other vulnerable detainees were 'not always assessed or recorded appropriately', with some not identified as 'adults at risk';

The inspection raised concerns over the welfare and dignity of detainees. Some were not allowed to use mobile phones to let their families know they were safe and, in parts of the site, others were 'inexplicably' not allowed to close toilet doors fully;

Translation services were not always used to make sure detainees understood what was happening;

Mr Taylor said the inspection revealed a number of 'risks' linked to the facilities and that since then, information from 'a number of credible sources', including other watchdogs, suggested the current situation has 'significantly deteriorated'.

As a result, he is planning a 'swift return' to Manston for another inspection when he will 'expect to see substantial improvements'.

'In the meantime, the Home Office and its contractors need to get a grip and urgently act on the findings of this report to make sure all detainees are held in safe, decent and humane conditions,' he said.

A Home Office spokesman said: 'We welcome the report's finding that there have been considerable improvements to the infrastructure and processes in place to accommodate record numbers of people arriving in the UK illegally via small boats.

'As a result of these numbers, our asylum system has been put under incredible strain, but we recognise there is more to do to provide alternative accommodation for people arriving in the UK. We continue to work hard to resolve the current pressures at Manston as an urgent priority.

'Manston remains resourced and equipped to process migrants securely, and we will provide alternative accommodation as soon as possible.'

It comes as Home Secretary Suella Braverman is facing a backlash over her 'inflammatory' warning that Channel migrants are 'invading' Britain.

Manston was described as having a 'good amount' of accommodation available but, at the time of the inspection, 'much of it was out of use because there were not enough staff'. Pictured: Families sit inside a migrant holding facility at Manston Airfield

A view of bags containing items relating to people thought to be migrants at the Manston immigration short-term holding facility located at the former Defence Fire Training and Development Centre in Thanet, Kent

The Home Secretary has come under fire from Tories and opposition parties over the stark language in the Commons yesterday.

Defending her own handling of the crisis amid reports of overcrowding and outbreaks of disease at the Manston processing facility, Ms Braverman said the UK asylum system is 'broken' and illegal migration is 'out of control'.

She suggested only the Tories were 'serious about stopping the invasion on our southern coast'.

However, immigration minister Robert Jenrick appeared to distance himself from the remarks in a round of interviews this morning.

'In a job like mine, you have to choose your words very carefully. And I would never demonise people coming to this country in pursuit of a better life. I understand and appreciate our obligation to refugees,' he told Sky News.

'The scale of the challenge we're facing is very, very significant.

'Fifty thousand people, and the number could well be significantly higher over the course of this year, is a major challenge for this country.

'It is leading to the infrastructure that we have in terms of reception centres, like Manston, in terms of hotel accommodation, and asylum and social housing, essentially being overwhelmed.

'Invasion is a way of describing the sheer scale of the challenge.

'That's what Suella Braverman was trying to express. She was also speaking, I think, and this is an important point, for those people who live on the south coast, who day in, day out are seeing migrant boats landing on their beaches.'

Meanwhile, Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale said Tuesday that he shares with Ms Braverman the view that the asylum system is 'broken'.

When asked if he had any hope that they will be able to grip the issue, Mr Gale said: 'Are we going to get to grips with this?

'Well, I hope that the Prime Minister's approach to President Macron will yield results. If it does, that's a very good thing. That is the right approach and the right direction of travel. The Home Secretary's approach is the wrong direction of travel, I believe.'

Meanwhile, Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said she imagines policymakers in France and Germany looking at the UK immigration numbers and 'wondering what the fuss is about'.

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'Ultimately this is about... it's a combination of the number of people coming in and the resources that we have for processing.

'And the UK experienced a period for most of the 2010s where there were actually very low numbers of asylum claims by historical standards.'

She said as the numbers have increased, not only has capacity for decision-making not increased but there are fewer asylum claim decisions being made over the last year or so than before the pandemic.

Ms Sumption said this is one reason that the UK is struggling with a significant backlog of people who are still waiting for a decision on their claim.

'Typically the things that people who have come to claim asylum have cited are family members, so having family members in the UK that they're coming to join.

'In some cases it's the English language, so maybe they only speak English and so they feel that they're not able to build a life in another country.

'And more generally there's a perception that the UK is a tolerant and safe place where they will be able to build a life,' she said.
China has fully locked down the area surrounding the world's largest iPhone factory after panicked workers desperately fled the site to avoid the latest Covid outbreak.

More than 600,000 people have been ordered to stay in their homes in Zhengzhou after the city reported 64 virus cases, in the latest draconian move by the 'Zero Covid' Communist Party termed 'silent management' by authorities.

The order came after workers who assemble iPhones at a facility run by Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn, which employs hundreds of thousands of workers, were seen breaking out of the factory.

The campus had been operating under a 'closed-loop management' system in which employees sleep, live and work isolated from the wider world at the factory.

But employees had been complaining of poor conditions, saying people who tested positive received no treatment and the company failed to stop the spread of the virus.

Workers who assemble iPhones at a facility run by Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn were seen breaking out of the factory

The campus had been operating under a 'closed-loop management' system in which employees sleep, live and work isolated from the wider world at the factory

Foxconn, formally Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, is Apple's biggest iPhone maker, producing 70 per cent of iPhone shipments globally

Footage shows staff walking along motorways dragging suitcases after fleeing on foot to avoid Covid transport curbs.

Foxconn said it was testing employees daily and keeping them in the 'closed loop' as well as offering transport to those who wanted to leave, after the videos emerged.

The company said ill employees were being treated but did not say if new infections still were occurring.

Local governments in the area surrounding Zhengzhou city have asked Foxconn workers to register with authorities if they return home and to complete several days of quarantine upon arrival.

The company added it would quadruple bonuses for employees willing to remain at the factory during the outbreak.

Foxconn, formally Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, is Apple's biggest iPhone maker, producing 70 per cent of iPhone shipments globally.

Footage shows staff walking along motorways dragging suitcases after fleeing on foot to avoid Covid transport curb

Workers who assemble Apple iPhones left their factory in Zhengzhou following outbreaks

It makes most of the phones at the Zhengzhou plant where it employs about 200,000 people, though it has other smaller production sites in India and south China.

In Zhengzhou, everyone in the industrial zone will be tested every day for the coronavirus, the Airport District said.

The 'silent management' measures include barring all residents from going out and only allowing approved vehicles no the roads. The curbs will stay in place until November 9.

Also this week, visitors to Shanghai Disneyland were temporarily barred from leaving as part of virus testing.

Thousands of employees left the Foxconn Technology Group factory starting in mid-October after complaints people who contracted the virus received no treatment

The city health agency said visitors on Monday tested negative and were allowed to leave.

All people except Covid-prevention volunteers and essential workers 'must not leave their residences except to receive Covid tests and emergency medical treatment', officials from central China's Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone said Wednesday.

China is the last major economy committed to a zero-Covid strategy, persisting with snap lockdowns, mass testing and lengthy quarantines in a bid to stamp out emerging outbreaks.

But new variants have tested local officials' ability to snuff out flare-ups faster than they can spread, causing much of the country to live under an ever-changing mosaic of Covid curbs.

Areas throughout China tightened restrictions on movement and cancelled airline flights last month after new infections surged following the week-long National Day holiday.

Also this week, visitors to Shanghai Disneyland were temporarily barred from leaving as part of virus testing (pictured yesterday)

Security members check a vehicle entering Disney Resort amid Covid-19 lockdown

A man gets tested for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a nucleic acid testing site in Shanghai yesterday

Residents of many parts of the Xinjiang region in the north west were barred from leaving their homes in August and September.

People in Urumqi and other cities who said they had run out of food and medicine posted appeals for help on social media.

The district in Zhengzhou city said Wednesday that all businesses would be required to work from home, with only 'key enterprises' in the district allowed to continue operating, without specifying which businesses fell under this category.

Only medical vehicles and those delivering essentials are allowed on the streets.

The district's more than 600,000 residents will have to take nucleic acid tests every day, the local government said, warning that it would 'resolutely crack down on all kinds of violations.'

China reported more than 2,000 fresh domestic infections on Wednesday for the third day in a row.

Henan province, where Zhengzhou is located, officially reported 359 Covid-19 infections on Wednesday, a jump from Tuesday's 104.

The southern Chinese manufacturing hub of Guangzhou also announced partial lockdowns in several districts this week in response to rising case numbers.
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Paedophiles, rapists, a murderer and a neo-Nazi all managed to join the police due to a widespread failure to screen out dangerous and corrupt recruits.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of serving officers have criminal records, are linked to gangsters, or pose a risk to the public, watchdogs warned yesterday.

Analysis of personnel files found it was far too easy for misogynistic, corrupt or predatory officers to join up and stay in uniform.

They include Benjamin Hannam, a neo-Nazi who was recruited by Scotland Yard despite featuring in a recruitment video for a banned far-Right group two days before he applied.

The 23-year-old became the first constable to be convicted of terror offences after an anonymous hacker tipped off the Met that he was a member of National Action. He joined the white supremacists in 2016 and recruited others to a group that backed the murder of MP Jo Cox.

Matt Parr, Inspector of Constabulary, called for better screening to weed out dangerous individuals.

Neo-Nazi Benjamin Hannam (second right) was recruited by Scotland Yard despite featuring in a recruitment video for banned far-Right group National Action two days before he applied

Hannam, 23 (circled) became the first constable to be convicted of terror offences after an anonymous hacker tipped off the Met that he was a member of National Action

Ian Naude (left), was jailed for 25 years for raping a 13-year-old girl and had only joined Cheshire Police 'to gain the keys to a sweetshop'. Wayne Scott (right), of Cleveland Police, was jailed in 2013 after using his position to carry out rapes

Other predators who were able to join up as PCs included:

Ian Naude, was jailed for 25 years for raping a 13-year-old girl and had only joined Cheshire Police 'to gain the keys to a sweetshop';

Stephen Mitchell, of Northumbria Police, was given two life sentences in 2011 for a series of 'ruthless' rapes and sexual assaults;

Wayne Scott, of Cleveland Police, was jailed in 2013 after using his position to carry out rapes and sexual assaults, with complaints about him ignored;

James Ford, of Hertfordshire Police, who raped a young girl, was signed up despite vetting raising concerns about his inappropriate use of social media;

Commissioned last October in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard by Met officer Wayne Couzens, the probe examined three forces linked with the killer  Kent Police, the Met and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary.

Also scrutinised were Cumbria, South Wales, Nottinghamshire, Dorset and Devon and Cornwall.

Mr Parr cited 'astonishing' examples of vetting failures, including one special constable who had a 12-month supervision order for indecent exposure as a juvenile.

He applied three times to the same force over 13 years and was eventually cleared by the vetting process after an appeal. Inspectors said he should have been automatically rejected.

Another officer who passed the checks had been caught speeding five years earlier, convicted of attempted theft abroad and was linked with drug dealing and violent criminals.

Inspector's sickening findings Matt Parr, Inspector of Constabulary, called for better screening to weed out dangerous individuals. Among the bombshell findings in his report were: Officers could switch forces without vetting information being passed on;

Some bosses hired recruits without conducting face-to-face interviews;

Others failed to check employment records of applicants and even hired recruits who had lied on applications;

Bosses took extra risks on candidates if it helped boost diversity. Advertisement

Neo-Nazi Benjamin Hannam managed to sail through the police vetting process and worked as a probationary officer for nearly two years before he was found on a leaked database of users of an extreme Right-wing forum and arrested in 2020.

Officers discovered he had continued downloading Nazi material even after he started training as a Met officer.

Last year he was jailed for four years and four months at the Old Bailey for membership of a proscribed terrorist organisation and possessing terror documents detailing knife combat and explosive devices.

Mr Parr spoke about an officer who was hired despite being suspected of several crimes, including a burglary which involved him threatening people with a metal bar and stealing their jewellery.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, the inspector of constabulary said: 'We highlighted a number of cases in our study that I think will surprise and shock your listeners.

'In one, a police officer was given clearance, he had a history of intelligence, he had a conviction for theft abroad, there had been bits of intelligence linking him to threatening people in their house with a metal bar before stealing their jewellery, drug supply, a police pursuit with a car.

'Despite all this, the force gave him vetting clearance and they put no special measures around him.

'I'm not saying there should be a zero tolerance for anyone that's been done for shoplifting when they're 14 or anything like that, but police have got too ready to take people when there are some clear warning signs, and this was just one of those cases.'

Mr Parr said he believes UK policing is experiencing a 'tipping point moment' for cultural change following a string of damning reports.

He said: 'We're at something of a tipping point moment.

'It's not just our report today, there have been other hard-hitting reports shining a light on police behaviour and some of these problems.

'I think, or at least I hope, that we've now reached the point where chief constables and other police leaders realise this is something they've got to bear down on much harder.

'They've got to take more interest in recruiting the right people and they've got to take more interest in driving out misconduct, because if they don't, these problems are going to keep coming back, and they can't.'

Stephen Mitchell (left), of Northumbria Police, was given two life sentences in 2011 for a series of 'ruthless' rapes and sexual assaults. Pictured right: Wayne Couzens, who murdered Sarah Everard

James Ford (left), of Hertfordshire Police, who raped a young girl, was signed up despite vetting raising concerns about his inappropriate use of social media. Pictured right: Benjamin Hannam

Today Sue Fish, former Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police, called the report 'deeply shocking but totally unsurprising'.

'I left the force five years ago, but what I've been told by current officers is that sadly things haven't changed and I found the report deeply shocking, but totally unsurprising,' she told Good Morning Britain.

'This is systemic. This isn't about a bad apple, this is actually about a culture, a mindset, a way of being. And actually many thousands of really good officers will be devastated by this report because it doesn't reflect them.

'And thousands of really good officers - mainly women - will say yes, this really does reflect my experience at the hands of colleagues.'

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said the report must be a 'wake-up call' for chief constables.

'It does contain a very worrying number of findings. I think it's a real wake-up call for chief constables across the country,' he told Sky News.

'What the Government hopes is that those chief constables and the National Police Chiefs' Council look at this report and every force will look at their practices, how they recruit officers, how they run their disciplinary processes, and make the necessary changes to improve standards so the public have the confidence in the police force.

'Yes, the report has a number of concerning findings. But, on the other hand, the positive thing is it's much better that we understand the scale of the challenge, we understand what the problems are. That's the first thing you have to do to be able to fix them.'

Commissioned last October in the wake of Ms Everard's murder, the probe examined three forces linked with the killer  Kent Police, the Met and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary

Inspectors also found examples of recruits with connections to organised criminals. One special officer had 'extensive criminality' within his family, including a brother with convictions for drug dealing and violence who was also a person of interest in murder and kidnap investigations.

The applicant claimed to be estranged from his sibling, but no attempt was made to check this was true or to mitigate the risk of corruption. Another officer who claimed he had minimal contact with his criminal brother was in fact living with him.

Despite his dishonesty and the obvious risks, the officer was cleared of any wrongdoing because his lies were 'not significant enough to deny vetting to a young man [who] has wanted to fulfil his dream of joining the police'.

Mr Parr said: 'It is too easy for the wrong people to both join and stay in the police. If the police are to rebuild public trust and protect their own female officers and staff, vetting must be much more rigorous and sexual misconduct taken more seriously.

'Sadly, misogynistic and predatory behaviour are prevalent in all the forces we inspected. An alarming number of women, police officers and staff talked about the appalling behaviour that they've been on the end of by male colleagues.

'In many cases, the perpetrator was someone who had previously been reported for similar behaviour, which either hadn't been taken seriously or it wasn't thoroughly investigated. Many women told us that this kind of behaviour is so prevalent, they don't report it until it really escalates.'

Suella Braverman said it was 'disappointing' that some forces were taking unnecessary risks

He added: 'It seems reasonable for me to say that over the last three or four years, the number of people recruited over whom we would raise significant questions is certainly in the hundreds, if not low thousands.'

The former rear admiral said it was incredible that some forces did not interview recruits in person and did not bother to check their working history.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: 'It is no secret that recent high-profile incidents have shattered the public's trust in policing .

'As part of its commitment to recruit 20,000 additional officers, the Government has provided funding to deliver significant improvements to recruitment processes.'

Among the recommendations made were minimum standards for employment checks, better practices for corruption investigations and improved guidance on conduct in the workplace.

The National Police Chiefs' Council said bosses would act on the recommendations but stressed that HMICFRS agreed with most vetting decisions. Chairman Martin Hewitt said: 'We cannot risk predatory or discriminatory individuals slipping through the net.'

College of Policing chief constable Andy Marsh said the report would be translated into practical guidance that would improve standards.




South Korean fighter jets on Wednesday fired three air-to-surface missiles into high seas north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), a de facto maritime inter-Korean border, in response to North Korea's latest provocations, the South's military said.







The Air Force's F-15K and KF-16 jets fired the precision-guided missiles into waters north of the NLL in the East Sea, hours after North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile southward across the NLL, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).







The South's missiles landed in an area north of the NLL at a distance almost equivalent to that of the North's missile that dropped south of the de facto border, it added.







"Our military's response reaffirms our resolve to sternly respond to any provocations (by North Korea) and shows that we are capable of accurately striking our enemy," the JCS said.







Earlier in the day, the North fired various types of about 10 missiles, including three short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs), off its west and east coasts.







One of the SRBMs fell into high seas 26 kilometers south of the NLL in the East Sea, marking the first missile launched by the North that flew past the NLL since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. (Yonhap)


A former SNP minister who dramatically quit Nicola Sturgeon's party in protest at her radical gender recognition reforms has been hailed a 'heroine' by JK Rowling.

Ash Regan, 48, was branded a 'principled politician' by the Harry Potter author after stepping down as community safety minister last week as the SNP Government launched its plans to make it easier for trans people to legally change gender.

The First Minister's frosty letter scolded Miss Regan for abandoning her portfolio and claimed that she had not previously raised objections to the controversial Gender Recognition Reform Bill.

In a terse response to her resignation, Ms Sturgeon said 'at no stage have you approached me... to raise your concerns' about the Bill.

But the rebel minister insisted Ms Sturgeon was 'well aware' of her concerns'. Ms Regan was among nine rebel SNP members who refused to back their party - marking the largest party rebellion since they assumed power in Holyrood.

Addressing the media outside Holyrood, she explained her 'conscience would not allow me to vote for a Bill where I could not be 100 per cent certain that women and girls would not be in danger'.

Ms Regan's stand was praised by Miss Rowling, who has previously tweeted a photograph of herself wearing a T-shirt calling the First Minister a destroyer of womens rights.

The author tweeted: This is what a principled politician looks like. [She] will rightly be seen as a heroine when future generations of Scottish women look back at the profoundly misogynistic legislation currently being pushed through by the Sturgeon government.

The Harry Potter author has previously warned the Bill could result in attacks on 'the most vulnerable women' by men who are able to exploit changes in spaces such as prisons and domestic violence refuges.

The rebel minister 48, was branded a 'heroine' by Harry Potter author JK Rowling after stepping down as community safety minister after the SNP Government launched its plans to make it easier for trans people to legally change gender

Ms Regan's stand was praised by Miss Rowling (pictured), who has previously tweeted a photograph of herself wearing a T-shirt calling the First Minister a destroyer of womens rights

The First Minister's frosty letter scolded Miss Regan for abandoning her portfolio and claimed that she had not previously raised objections to the controversial Gender Recognition Reform Bill

The controversial legislation passed its first hurdle at Holyrood last week, with 88 voting for, 33 against and four abstaining.

It has since emerged that Ms Regan signed an open letter in 2019 that expressed doubts about 'changing the definitions of male and female'.

The rebel minister fired a parting shot at the First Minister in her resignation letter as she accused Ms Sturgeon of misleading the public about her decision to step down.

She said: 'The First Minister was well aware of the concerns that I held on this issue.

'I think the vote, for the SNP, should have been a free vote. I think healthy debate is important.

'I think that robust challenge is, after all, how we create good law. And I think that actually thats a strength and its not a weakness.

'We know that in many areas of life women are discriminated against and so rightly they have legal protections in place, and I was not convinced those legal protections could continue to be upheld.'

A Scottish Government spokesman said: The letter makes clear that at no point did Ms Regan make use of the well-established practice by which any minister can approach the First Minister when they have a difficulty.

JK Rowling's latest intervention marks the latest in a long-running war of words between the author and the First Minister on the subject of self-ID and trans rights.

Ms Rowling is opposed to the Scottish Government's legislation to make it easier for individuals as young as 16 to change sex with no requirement for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria.

Meanwhile, Ms Sturgeon said the aim is to make the existing process 'less degrading, intrusive and traumatic', but the Harry Potter author has argued the law would harm vulnerable women.

Last month, Rowling launched a blistering attack on the First Minister, accusing her of 'running roughshod' over women's rights and claiming she would be to blame for the rape and assault of girls by allowing people to self-identify under the Gender Recognition Reform Bill.

This came after the author wore a t-shirt branding Ms Sturgeon a 'destroyer of womens rights' on October 6 for introducing the Bill.

Nicola Sturgeon (left) suffered the biggest rebellion in 15 years of SNP rule after seven of her MSPs voted against gender recognition reforms. The vote came after community safety minister Ash Regan (right) resigned from her post, saying her 'conscience' would not allow her to vote with the Scottish Government

The Gender Recognition Reform Bill will remove the requirement for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria when seeking a gender recognition certificate, while also reducing the length of time an applicant must live in their acquired gender from two years to three months, with an additional three-month reflection period.

Some women's groups have raised concerns the change in the law could put women and girls' rights at risk.

Papers lodged alongside the Bill by the Scottish Government estimate the changes could result in the number of people applying for a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) increasing from 30 a year to 250-300.

A previous consultation by the Scottish Government found 60% of respondents backed moving to a system of self-declaration.

A majority of MSPs on the committee supported removing the need for any medical evidence or diagnosis 'believing that trans people know their own minds'.

However some on the committee were 'concerned that the removal of the requirement for gender dysphoria and the requirement for medical evidence may extend the GRC process to a large and more diverse group of people'.

They feared this 'could potentially mean the process is open to abuse from bad faith actors, particularly predatory men'.

Concerns have also been raised about the impact the reforms could have on single-sex spaces for women and girls - such as female-only toilets or changing rooms.

The report said most MSPs on the committee agree that while such views are 'sincerely held', they are satisfied the Bill would not change any of the existing protections women have under the Equality Act 2010.

This 'includes the ability to exclude trans people from single-sex services where proportionate and appropriate'.
The proportion of jobs offering remote working has dropped for the fifth month in a row as businesses accelerate their return to the office, new figures show.

Just 12 percent of jobs being advertised in September were for positions offering remote working, compared to 16 percent in January.

This marks the lowest proportion of jobs being advertised as remote since September 2021, when the job market took off again after the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The figures, produced by jobs site LinkedIn, also found the 75 percent of executives intend to reduce homeworking, driven by the poor economic outlook, The Telegraph reports.

Managing Director for LinkedIn Europe Josh Graff told the paper: 'The balance of power is starting to shift back to employers as economic storm clouds gather and hiring slows.

'We're already seeing companies freeze hiring and request that employees return to the office.'

He added: 'Flexibility will increasingly become a survival issue for many businesses. Companies that pull back on flexible working and learning and development risk demotivating their workforce and pushing people to competitors that offer more attractive options.'

Managing Director for LinkedIn Europe Josh Graff said the site is seeing employees freeze hiring and ask workers to come back into the office

According to the figures from LinkedIn 75 percent of executives want their employees to return permanently to the office

It comes after statistics earlier this year showed that more than one in three Londoners were working from home between January and March.

This equated to just under two million employees, thought to include 367,000 commuters who had previously travelled from a different region of the country to work in the capital.

Despite the drop in posts being advertised as remote-based, UK employees still want to work from home, LinkedIn found.

Although the roles made up 12 percent of available posts, they attracted 20 percent of all applications.

But the UK remains second in the world for the number of work-from-home roles behind the US, the study found.

It comes after business leaders warned of a risk to worker productivity of homeworking is allowed to continue. Writing in the Telegraph in March this year, Sir James Dyson said that the UK economy 'cannot afford such a lackadaisical approach'.

Sir James said: 'The Government ignores the fact that for many companies, especially creative businesses such as Dyson, this [homeworking] kills essential learning and collaboration, stunts development of our people, prevents access to vital equipment and laboratories, and undermines the security of our intellectual property.'

But while larger companies appear to be pushing for a full return to the office, some small businesses look set to persevere with homeworking due to the economic crisis an cost of renting an office space.

Firms with fewer than 50 employees save an average of almost 4,000 a month by not having to pay for an office, said Hitachi Capital Business Finance.

They are more likely to work entirely from home well into next year, said the report.

A survey of more than 1,000 small business owners found that one in four had plans to continue working entirely from home until at least April next year, while a similar number were planning hybrid working.

Joanna Morris of Hitachi Capital Business Finance said: 'As the worst of the pandemic hopefully begins to fade, and the option of returning to a fixed workplace is put back on the table once again, we might expect to see most taking up this option and returning to 'normal'.

'However, this research reminds us that it may not be the perfect solution for everyone.

'As with every business decision that owners make, particularly over the past 18 months, a range of factors need to be taken into consideration first, with the bottom line understandably often given a heavier weighting.

'The one positive that has come from this particularly challenging period has been the requirement to be far more flexible and open minded than ever before, with changes to the business that will reap benefits in the long term.'
Mr Thompson suffered a broken neck, arms and legs and died at the scene

He swerved to avoid a truck before being flung off the bike on November 1

He lost control of his motorbike and crashed into an electric post in Thailand

An Australian surfboard designer has tragically died after slamming into an electrical pole in a horrific motorcycle crash in Thailand.

Kym Thompson hit a utility post after swerving to avoid a turning truck in Chonburi province on November 1.

CCTV footage shows Mr Thompson being flung into the air after colliding with the pole before violently skidding along the road.

First responders attempted CPR on the well-known surfing identity but he tragically died at the scene.

Mr Thompson suffered a broken neck, arms and legs in the crash.

Australian surfboard designer Kym Thompson has died after slamming into an electrical pole in a horrific motorcycle crash in Thailand's Chonburi province on November 1

The Kawasaki motorbike located near the site was also severely damaged.

An eyewitness to the crash, Katawut Tangkaew told ViralPress the motorbike was travelling at high speed at the time of the crash.

'He was dodging the trailer at the intersection. The motorcycle was driving travelling fast,' Mr Tangkaew said.

Mr Thompson, originally from Victoria, created the iconic surf brand 'Water Cooled' in the 1970s following a successful shaping career for the brands Ripcurl, Klemm-Bell and Pat Morgan.

He then moved to Thailand to work with their local surfboard manufacturer Cobra.

CCTV vision shows Mr Thompson swerving a trailer before being flung into the air after colliding with an electrical pole and violently skidding along the road

First responders attempted CPR on the iconic surfboard sculptor but he died at the scene. Mr Thompson suffered a broken neck, arms and legs in the accident

Following his death Cobra released a company statement paying tribute to the 'true industry legend'.

'Kym was one of the Cobra Core Team members. He came to Cobra with his Water Cooled brand from Australia back in the 80s with the dream of shaping amazing boards and developing a mass-production solution for the surfboard industry,' the statement read.

'Kym achieved these goals and so many more along the way, a true industry legend that will be missed by many. Our condolences to the entire Thompson Clan.'

Nature Surfing Products who also worked closely with Mr Thompson said he will be remembered as both an 'amazing friend' and a 'gifted shaper'.

'It is with great sadness that we have to announce the passing of Mr Kym Thompson on November 1, 2022, our amazing friend, gifted shaper and hard-working colleague. Our thoughts are with the Thompson family and friends. '

Mr Thompson, originally from Victoria, created the iconic surf brand 'Watercooled' in the 1970s following a successful shaping career for the brands Ripcurl, Klemm-Bell and Pat Morgan

His Kawasaki motorbike located near the site was also severely damaged

Mr Thompson designed and manufactured surfboards under the brand Watercooled. with the boards sold in several shops in both Australia and Thailand.

He first began designing surfboards at just 15-years-old before moving abroad to expand his skillset.

Mr Thompson originally started shaping longboards before moving into different types of surfboards.

He is also credited as the mastermind behind the popular PU Heritage Series surfboards.

A funeral service is set to be held at the Samnak Bok temple in Chonburi from November 1 to 5 prior to his body being cremated.
Anthony Albanese has said there's no harm in Aussies having the occasional punt as his government prepares to confront problem gamblers with harder-hitting TV slogans as Carrie Bickmore calls for even harsher measures.

The prime minister said the initiative was about 'getting the balance right' after Bickmore asked if the slogan campaign was doing enough to tackle the issue.

'There's no problem if people have the occasional punt on the Melbourne Cup or on what have you. The problem is a group of people who will become problem gamblers and that can be devastating for them,' Mr Albanese said.

'So it is just really targeting that rather than saying, "All gambling" which people might choose to engage in, sometimes it can be harmless, but the fact is it can cause enormous harm at the same time.'

Anthony Albanese said the initiative was 'getting the balance right' after Carrie Bickmore asked if the slogan campaign was doing enough to tackle the problem

Bickmore pointed out that the older generation of problem gamblers had not been privy to the amount of pro-gambling advertising seen on Australian screens today.

'What does this next generation hold if this is what they are seeing now? Does it go far enough, what you are trying to do?' she asked.

'I think we are getting the balance right - not trying to impose a complete nanny state solution, but trying to warn people that it can be an issue and to give them pause for thought,' the prime minister replied.

Waleed Aly asked if the government had 'any consideration' for limiting the amount of gambling advertising that children were soaking in while watching sport.

'We've tried to bring states and territories with us, because a lot of it is regulated by them, but also work with industry to get a solution, so we're trying to get everyone headed in one direction rather than make it a conflict issue,' the PM replied.

It was announced earlier on Wednesday the well-known tagline 'gamble responsibly' - the phrase tacked on to the end of Australian gambling ads - will be replaced with seven harder hitting slogans in a new bid to deter problem gamblers.

Carrie Bickmore pointed out that Australia's older generation of problem gamblers had not been privy to the amount of pro-gambling advertising seen on screens today

The slogans will warn Australians about the dangers of betting and include lines like: 'Chances are you're about to lose.'

The new messages will be used on TV, in print, on radio, and online to make people think about the possible consequences of their actions.

Australians have higher gambling losses than any other country on a per capita basis at $1,276 per year.

The rate of problem gambling among online gamblers in Australia is three times higher than for those who play poker machines, according to government statistics.

It was announced on Wednesday the tagline 'gamble responsibly' - the phrase tacked on to the end of Australian gambling ads - will be replaced with seven harder hitting slogans (pictured, patrons watch the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday)

The strongly worded new tags will also include 'Imagine what you could be buying instead', 'Think. Is this a bet you really want to place?' and 'What are you prepared to lose today? Set a deposit limit.'

The move will affect companies such as Bet 365, Sportsbet and Ladbrokes, along with new arrival Betr, which got into strife on Tuesday when it refused to pay out on some Melbourne Cup winning bets.

Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said online betting was 'fast becoming an increasing source of gambling and an increasing source of loss for people'.

'The Albanese Labor government is committed to harm minimisation and practical solutions when it comes to addressing problem online wagering.

Australians have higher gambling losses than any other country on a per capita basis at $1,276 per year (stock image)

'We have consulted widely and, importantly, we have used evidence to inform these tag-lines,' she said.

Ms Rishworth's department sought the views of 30 regular online gamblers to help pick the most effective phrases to use.

The tag-lines were then agreed to by the Federal, state and territory governments under the National Consumer Protection Framework.

The companies who broadcast gambling messaging will have to adopt the slogans by next March. They have been asked to ensure the words for TV and radio ads must be 'read slowly, calmly and with an even pace'.
Musk has plans to release a quarter of Twitter's staff in his first round of layoffs

Soon after the takeover was complete, Musk fired several senior Twitter staff

Musk is recruiting 50 of his Tesla engineers to review and work on Twitter code

Elon Musk has enlisted more than 50 of his Tesla engineers to review Twitter code, after completing his takeover of the social media company, dissolving the board, and firing senior employees.

According to internal records seen by CNBC, Musk has brought over 50 of his Tesla staff who were mostly working on the electric car company's autopilot team to review and work on code for Twitter.

In addition to the Tesla recruits, three staff members from Musk's other ventures will join up with Twitter. This will include two members of staff from the Boring Company, Musk's venture building underground road networks, and one person from Neuralink, a company that develops implantable brain-machine interfaces.

This latest development in Musk's Twitter takeover comes days after he cleaned house and axed some of the senior staff on Thursday evening, including CEO Parag Agrawal. Other members of staff chose to leave Twitter HQ after the dismissals. Musk has also dissolved Twitter's board.

One of the latest controversies over Musk's acquisition is his plan to change Twitter's verification process, changing which accounts get blue ticks. Musk announced yesterday that users would have to pay for its verified checkmark at a cost of $8-a-month.

New Twitter CEO Elon Musk was pictured leaving his mother's New York City home to head back into Twitter's NYC office for his second day after completing the acquisition.

As well as recruiting employees from his other businesses, Musk has roped in other investors and friends for the Twitter overhaul. Jared Birchall, the head of Musk's family office is now involved, as well as his angel investment and venture capitalist friends, Jason Calacanis and David Sacks.

A former Tesla engineer who has no involvement with Musk's Twitter plans told the Washington Post that Tesla engineers would have difficulty understanding the social media platform's code. The former employee said that someone used to coding Tesla tech would struggle to with the large spread-out social network code.

One significant difference is that Twitter runs using code written in Scala, and 18-year-old programming language, compared to the much older and less concise programming language Python used by Tesla.

Pictured: Musk following his security detail on Tuesday as he entered the back of Twitter's NYC headquarters.

Musk, clad in red Samurai armor, showed up at Heidi Klum's 21st annual Halloween Party at the Moxy Hotel in New York on Monday.

They former employee told the Washington Post: 'The idea of Elon being flanked by his Tesla engineers reviewing Twitter code is laughable.'

It is not yet known if Musk's new Twitter recruits will remain at the social media platform full-time or split schedules between the two companies.

Musk completed his $44 billion takeover of Twitter last week on October 28. Almost immediately, the tech billionaire fired several of the social media company's top-level staff and dissolved its board.

Musk fired Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, general counsel Sean Edgett, as well as the policy and legal teams.

Musk will now take over as CEO, although publicly he has referred to himself as 'Chief Twit'.

Chief Marketing Officer Leslie Berland and head of product Jay Sullivan have also announced their departures.

Parag Agrawal, CEO of Twitter, was fired from his job by Musk soon after the takeover was complete. Agrawal is pictured in July 2022.

Chief People and Diversity Officer Dalana Brand announced on Tuesday in a LinkedIn post that she had resigned last week as well. General manager for core technologies Nick Caldwell confirmed his departure on Twitter, changing his profile bio to 'former Twitter exec' by Monday night.

Twitter's advertising chief, Sarah Personette, tweeted on Tuesday that she resigned following the exodus of nearly all the entire senior ranks.

It now looks like more Twitter staff could follow. Musk has plans to release a quarter of Twitter's workforce in his first round of layoffs after his $44billion takeover, according to reports.

It comes as the new Twitter CEO allegedly issued an ultimatum to the social media platform's engineers, telling them to revamp Twitter's verification system in less than a fortnight or face the sack.

Celebrity lawyer Alex Spiro, a long-time Musk legal representative, led the conversations about the job cuts, according to the Washington Post.

Twitter's advertising chief, Sarah Personette, tweeted on Tuesday that she resigned following an exodus of nearly the entire senior ranks.

Chief Marketing Officer Leslie Berland (pictured right) and head of product Jay Sullivan (pictured left) have also announced their departures.

Chief People and Diversity Officer Dalana Brand (pictured right) announced on Tuesday in a LinkedIn post that she had resigned last week as well. General manager for core technologies Nick Caldwell (pictured left) confirmed his departure on Twitter, changing his profile bio to 'former Twitter exec' by Monday night.

The first round of layoffs will impact almost every department, and are expected to specifically impact sales, product, engineering, legal, and trust and safety in the coming days, the Post's source claimed.

Twitter had over 7,000 employees at the end of 2021, according to a regulatory filing and a quarter of the headcount amounts to nearly 2,000 employees.

Musk's idea to revamp the verification process for Twitter has been controversial so far. This would see the social media platform charging for its verified checkmark. Musk's plan will see and $8-a-month cost for the blue tick.

As he made the rounds in his new business, Musk explained his plan for Twitter's verified system on the social media platform itself.

'Twitter's current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn't have a blue checkmark is bullshit,' Musk wrote. 'Power to the people! Blue for $8/month.'

Musk confirmed on Twitter that access to its verified program will go from being free to costing $8-a-month

A blue tick badge allows other Twitter users to verify that other users are who they say they are.

Musk added that those who sign-up for the system will get 'priority in replies, mentions and search, which is essential to defeat spam/scam, ability to post long video and audio, half as many ads, and paywall bypass for publishers willing to work with us.'

The world's richest man previously mulled a $20 per month blue tick verification fee, but appeared to lower the cost following criticism from horror author Stephen King.

Author Stephen King, who wrote The Shining, said he will leave the platform if Musk introduces a blue-tick verification charge.

Musk appeared to haggle with the horror author, suggesting the $8 price he ultimately decided on.
Emergency responders arrived at the scene to remove her body and investigate

Sources said the woman suffered serious injuries and died instantly

Local reports said the British woman fell down 'a hole' near the mountain's peak

A British woman plunged to her death in a crevice in front of her climbing companion last week as they attempted to scale a 13,600ft mountain in Morocco.

The pair were climbing Mount Toubkal, North Africa's highest peak, on October 25 when the incident occurred, according to local media.

Reports said the pair had chosen not to hire a guide, and that the woman fell 'into a hole' near the top of the mountain. She was seriously injured and died immediately, sources were quoted as saying.

A British woman plunged to her death in a crevice in front of her climbing companion last week as they attempted to scale a 13,600ft mountain in Morocco. Pictured: The peak of Mount Toubkal, North Africa's highest peak, near the site where the woman fell

The woman, who is yet to be identified, fell in an area of the mountain called 'Aslghi' near 'Tizi' - one of the tallest points of the mountain and where climbers will often pose for photographs having reached the summit.

Emergency responders from the country's Royal Gendarmerie, Civil Protection and the local authority were sent to the scene to transport the woman's body from the mountain and to investigate the circumstances of the incident, reports said.

The pair of climbers had set off from Al Rovij to embark on their climb up the mountain. Local reports said they chose not to employ a guide for the journey to the summit, which usually takes hikers two days, according to information online.

Mount Toubkal, found in southwestern Morocco and 40 miles south of Marrakesh, is the highest peak in the Atlast Mountains, Morocco, and all of North Africa.

It is a popular climb among backpackers, and is also a good destination for skiers.

Despite its height, it is considered a relatively simple climb, with guides - who also carry equipment and food supplies - available to tourists to hire.

Moroccan news site 'Our Moroccan News' said the British woman fell into a hole - presumed to be a crevice - 'under a mountainous height' near the mountain's peak.

Pictured: A view from the top of Mount Toubkal, where the British woman fell to her death. Mount Toubkal, found in southwestern Morocco and 40 miles south of Marrakesh, is the highest peak in the Atlast Mountains, Morocco, and all of North Africa

Pictured: A backpacker is seen hiking a trail leading to the top of Mount Toubkal

The report said the guides 'know the mysteries of the area and the dangers' of the mountain, implying they would have stopped the woman from going near the area where she fell to her death.

An spokesperson for Britain's Foreign Office told MailOnline: 'We have provided support to the family of a British woman who died in Morocco on 25th October.'

Local reports said an investigation had been launched by public prosecutors into the Brit's death.

The mountain has been the setting for previous tragic events in recent years.

In 2016, a British teenager named Connor Jarvis fell to his death while trekking through the Atlas Mountains. His body was found on Mount Toubkal on June 4, 2016 - 12 days after he set off on a hike.

His parents John and Sian said they advised their son to book a local tour guide for his trek and 'not to wander off on his own'.

But they said Connor became 'over-confident' after downloading an online guide to solo trekking, Avon Coroner's Court heard during a 2019 inquest into his death.

At the time, they said: 'We all miss Connor so much, our lives will never be the same, and we have done all we can to try to make sure that such a tragedy doesn't happen again on Mount Toubkal.'

Connor Jarvis, from Somerset, died after trying to trek through the Atlas Mountains on his own

Danish student Louisa Vesterager Jespersen (pictured left), 24, and 28-year-old Norwegian Maren Ueland (right) had their throats slit while camping in the Atlas mountains in 2018

Two years after Mr Jarvis's death, two Scandinavian women were found to have been beheaded in the region.

Maren Ueland, 28, from Norway, and Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, from Denmark, were found dead near the village of Imlil in Morocco's High Atlas mountains.

ISIS terrorists were suspected of murdering the young women. A video showing the murder of one of the women has been recognised as genuine, the PET Danish intelligence service said at the time, and that the killings can be connected to ISIS.

One suspect later admitted to beheading the women.
Russian military officials discussed scenarios in which they would use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, showing their frustration at setbacks on the battlefield

Senior Russian military leaders have discussed when and how they would use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, multiple US officials have claimed.

The officials talked about scenarios in which they would use nuclear weapons, showing how frustrated the generals are about setbacks on the battlefield in Ukraine.

They did not talk about using the weapons with Russian president Vladimir Putin - but the conversations have heightened concern about the prospect of a nuclear Armageddon.

US government officials learned about the discussions in mid-October, as Moscow's nuclear rhetoric intensified, reports The New York Times.

It comes after Putin joked about the prospect of a nuclear war last week.

The Kremlin leader was asked to reassure an audience at the Valdai Discussion Club think-tank that the world is not on the verge of nuclear annihilation  and chose to respond with a long pause.

When host Fyodor Lukyanov pointed out his silence was 'alarming', a smirking Putin responded: 'I did that on purpose so you would be on your guard. The effect has been achieved.'

Senior Russian military leaders have discussed when and how they would use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, multiple US officials have claimed. Pictured: A Russian nuclear missile is fired during testing drills last week

They did not talk about using nuclear weapons with Russian president Vladimir Putin - but the conversations have heightened concern about the prospect of a nuclear Armageddon

John F. Kirby, a National Security Council official, told the New York Times: 'We've been clear from the outset that Russia's comments about the potential use of nuclear weapons are deeply concerning, and we take them seriously.

'We continue to monitor this as best we can, and we see no indications that Russia is making preparations for such use.'

Russia's nuclear stockpile, the largest in the world, consists of 'tactical', lower-yield bombs and strategic weapons that can annihilate cities and population centres.

Its tactical nukes, with a yield of between ten and 100 kilotons, are designed for use on the battlefield in contested territory.

In comparison, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 was approximately 18 kilotons.

Ukrainian servicemen fire artillery from a self-propelled howitzer toward Russian positions near Bakhmut, Ukraine, on Tuesday

Ukrainian servicemen prepare to fire a self-propelled howitzer at Russian positions on Tuesday

Last week, Putin spoke at length about nuclear weapons, having threatened the West several times with an atomic strike  sparking fears he may also use one in Ukraine.

The despot denied he has any plans to use one on his neighbour, saying there is 'no political or military justification' for doing so.

But he also referred back to Russia's nuclear doctrine which allows them to be used in the event the country is threatened which  at least according to the Kremlin  now includes occupied parts of Ukraine.

Fears of escalation have been building as the war in Ukraine grinds into its ninth month, with Kyiv on the front foot and Putin nowhere near achieving his aims.

Though the official purpose of the invasion remains the 'liberation' of the eastern Donbas region, according to Putin, in reality his troops have stopped advancing almost everywhere besides the town of Bakhmut, in Donetsk.

Meanwhile they are being pushed back in the northern Kharkiv region and southern region of Kherson  the latter of which Putin has declared to be part of Russia.

That has sparked fears he could resort to nukes, after he said he would use 'all available means' to defend the territory.

It comes after Moscow alleged that Ukraine is preparing to detonate a so-called 'dirty bomb' on its territory, meaning a conventional explosive laced with radioactive material to cause contamination.

Kyiv said accusations it would use such tactics on its own territory are absurd, but that Russia might be planning such actions itself to blame Ukraine.

The UN's atomic watchdog has been dispatched to two areas of Ukraine where Putin alleges the bomb is being prepared  at Kyiv's insistence  as President Volodymyr Zelensky and his allies dismiss the claims as fiction.

Instead, they said Russia may be preparing the ground to use one of its own nukes as a pretext for escalating the conflict.

US President Joe Biden, asked about Putin's assertion he would never use nukes in Ukraine, responded last week: 'Why does he keep talking about it?

'Why is he talking about the ability to use a tactical nuclear weapon? He's been very dangerous in how he's approached this and he should just get out.

'He can end this all, get out of Ukraine.'
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Ministers claim modern slavery laws are providing a 'loophole' for thousands of asylum seekers from Albania who are 'exploiting the law' to remain in Britain.

More than 12,000 Albanians have arrived in the UK so far this year - around 10,000 of whom are understood to be young single men. Out of those who claim asylum, only 12 per cent are successful - one of the lowest rates of any nationality.

However, the number of Albanian migrants claiming to be victims of modern slavery is set to double this year to 5,000. Out of 4,171 modern slavery victims who were referred to the Home Office in the second quarter of the year, 27 per cent were Albanian - the highest of any nationality.

The Modern Slavery Act was introduced by Theresa May in 2015 when she was home secretary to protect victims of people trafficking gangs, but ministers it is severely flawed. Immigration minister Robert Jenrick told the Telegraph that Albanians were 'abusing' the act and delaying deportation attempts.

One of the issues with the legislation, critics say, is its open definition of what constitutes modern slavery. Arrivals can successfully claim asylum just by saying they are victims of slavery, even with no supporting evidence.

The journey Albanians take to the UK often begins in poorer areas like the city of Kukes in the north east of the country. Human smugglers charge between 3,500 and 15,000 per person and advertise their services on TikTok, with dozens of videos showing Albanians making the crossing.

A World Bank report states that after strong GDP growth last year, the proportion of the population living in poverty in Albania 'dropped significantly' from 31 per cent to 22 per cent in 2021. Unemployment, however, remains high in the north and salaries average just 442 a month.

'If you go to a secondary school in northern Albania and children are asked to describe how they see their future, all the boys draw a lorry or a boat with an Albanian flag going to the UK,' said Muhamed Veliu, a political correspondent with Top Channel TV in Albania.

'They know how well their relatives are doing  they get employment in the UK and are settled. They think, ''Why should we waste our time in northern Albania not doing anything? Let's go to the UK, work and come back with a flashy car like others who went before us.'' '

People without a criminal record tend to fly to Brussels, while others drive in vans through Serbia, Hungary, Germany and France, the Telegraph claimed.

The land route is preferable for migrants with criminal records to avoid the risk of being picked up by airport ID checks, according to the newspaper.

Albanians have enjoyed visa-free travel with the EU since 2010.

Arrivals in France typically camp in Calais before waiting to board a small boat, while people who go through Belgium embark near the port of Nieuwpoort in Flanders.

Last week, Border Force clandestine threat commander Dan O'Mahoney said Albanian gangs have gained a foothold in the north of France and dramatically ramped up the number of crossings they are carrying out.

So far this year, between one and two percent of the entire adult male population of Albania have travelled to the UK in small boats, he said.

Smuggling gangs have become increasingly sophisticated, with some sourcing boats made to order by factories in China with extra tube sections inserted to lengthen them and increase the number of people who can be loaded on board.

French police stop around 43 per cent of attempted crossings before they manage to leave, Mr O'Mahoney told the Home Affairs Select Committee last year.

Of the migrants who make it into the Channel, 90 per cent are intercepted by Border Force or the RNLI.

They will then be taken to Dover for initial processing at Western Jet Foil, an arrivals centre that was the target of a firebomb attack on Sunday.

After being searched and receiving basic medical checks, migrants are given a wristband with a unique number and bussed to Manston, a Home Office facility where they will be asked why they have come to the UK and whether they are claiming asylum. This is also where their biometric details - including fingerprints - are taken.

The centre, which opened in January 2022 was initially designed to hold up to 1,600 people for no more than 48 hours but instead has become a temporary home to almost 4,000 migrants, leading to outbreaks of diphtheria, scabies, MRSA and violence.

TikTok videos show dozens of Albanian migrants making the crossing, with this group unfurling the nation's flag on the boat

After Manston, migrants are usually taken to hotels while their applications for asylum or leave to remain are processed, while known criminals go to Immigration Removal Centres for deportation.

One they migrants arrive in hotels they are able to speak to immigration lawyers, with the Modern Slavery Act requiring police, councils, charities and certain government officials to refer any alleged victims to Home Office experts who will analyse their cases. No one can be deported while their cases are being assessed.

Clandestine threat commander Dan O'Mahoney suggested the process was often abused by migrants who had no intention of completing their claims.

Dan O'Mahoney, Border Force clandestine threat commander, said 12,000 Albanians have crossed the Channel by small boat since the start of this year, 10,000 of whom were 'single adult males'. File photo of migrants crossing the Channel

At least 10,000 Albanians are believed to have crossed the Channel in small boats this year alone

'A lot of them are not actually interested in seeing their asylum claim through. We'll typically put them in a hotel for a couple of days then they'll disappear and work illegally in the UK for six months, possibly a year then go back to Albania,' he said.

Mr O'Mahoney warned there was a 'huge amount of very harmful serious and organised criminality' being committed in the UK by organised Albanian gangs.

In a bid to reduce the number of Albanians attempting the perilous Channel crossing, ministers are drawing up plans to deport asylum seekers from the country almost immediately after they arrive.

They want to avoid giving those who fail to be granted asylum having time to launch an appeal against the decision by shipping them back to eastern Europe 'within days'.

Currently the legal process means that arrivals must be put up in hotels at huge cost to the taxpayer because they can only be held briefly in arrival centres like Manston.

However, experts last night warned that attempts to remove arrivals before the legal process was complete would break international law. One told the Times: 'How can you exercise your appeal rights if you're not in the UK? It would be extrajudicial, and contravene rights under the Refugee Convention.'

There will also be questions over the ability of the system to be sped up. Taxpayers are currently paying nearly 7million a day to house tens of thousands of asylum seekers in hotels after the Home Office managed to process just four per cent of asylum claims from people who crossed the Channel last year.

Lt General Stuart Skeates, who served in Afghanistan, has been hired as a special coordinator on illegal Albanian migration

Asked today about the possibility of new legislation to rapidly return Albanian asylum seekers, the PM's official spokesman said: 'We already do have an agreement with Albania and the immigration minister has referred to that. We do want to go further and create a bespoke route.'

But any chance of a deal seemed to diminish today as Albanian prime minister Edi Rama told Ms Braverman to 'stop discriminating' against Albanians to 'excuse policy failures' as she targets them during the immigration crisis.

He tweeted: 'Targeting Albanians (as some shamefully did when fighting for Brexit) as the cause of Britain's crime and border problems makes for easy rhetoric but ignores hard fact.

'Repeating the same things and expecting different results is insane (ask Einstein!)

'UK should fight the crime gangs of all nationalities and stop discriminating v Albanians to excuse policy failures.

'Albania is not a rich country and was for a very long time a victim of empires, we never had our own.

'We have a duty to fight crime at home and are doing so resolutely, as cooperating closely with others too. Ready to work closer with UK but facts are crucial. So is mutual respect.'
A mutiny ignited in Ulyanovsk after more than 100 mobilised Russians refused to be sent to the frontline to fight against Ukraine, footage shows.

The troops revolted because Vladimir Putins officials failed to pay a 'promised' payment of 4,200 to their families in the impoverished Chuvashia region, they claimed.

A female military officer is earlier seen remonstrating with the uniformed men, amid reports that national guards and OMON riot police were called in to suppress the insubordination.

The officer tells them: 'Guys, I didnt promise you 300,000 [roubles].'

'Its clear  we were f***ing fooled,' said one mutineer.

The incident reportedly followed an earlier failed attempt to pacify the furious recruits by army officers.

More than 100 mobilised Russians are refusing to be sent to Ukraine's frontline because officials failed to give their families a 'promised' payment equalling 4,200. A female military officer is seen remonstrating with the uniformed men

The money was meant to go to their families in the impoverished Chuvashia region. 'Its clear - we were f***ing fooled,' said one mutineer as the female officer tries to address their concerns

The military unit was undergoing training in Ulyanovsk before they are due to be sent to the front.

The General Staff of Ukraine has previously said that Russian private military companies were conscripting inmates from prisons in the city to fight in the war.

Critics say the call-up is sending men as cannon fodder to the front, but thousands have been lured by promises of payments far higher than their usual salaries.

'I came here from Moscow,' said one enlisted reservist in the mutiny, furious that money did not reach his family. 'Because this is the Motherland, and the President appealed to us all.'

He declared: 'When I came to the enlistment office, the military commissar told me "As soon as you get there, there will be a one time payment of 300,000 roubles [4,200] within two, three days"'

The money was meant to go to their families in the impoverished Chuvashia region, but it never arrived.

Mobilised men are heard demanding: 'Who fooled us?'

Others said, 'Its hopeless adding: Why are we even here?

The female military officer tells them that the promise of an advance payment was in a draft law by the Communist Party, and was not ratified.

One recruit hits back: 'They should give back their party IDs and go themselves then'

The mutiny is at a military unit in Ulyanovsk where the men are being trained. They can be heard saying: 'We refuse to participate in the Special Military Operation and will seek justice until we are paid the money promised by our government headed by the President of the Russian Federation!'

Unconfirmed reports say the uprising has been crushed by Putin's forces

This is when a man is heard saying: 'Its clear we were f***ing fooled.'

Another clip shows what appears to be the same soldiers taking to the streets in the night and chanting slogans.

'Dear, citizens of the Russian Federation, mobilised servicemen of the Chuvash Republic appeal to you!

'We are risking our lives to die for your safety and your peaceful life!'

An open letter from the men also emerged with a different figure for the sum they had not been paid.

'Our state refuses to pay us the sum of 195,000 [2,750] roubles which we were promised by our President Vladimir Putin!

'Why then would we go to war for this state, leaving our families without support?

'We refuse to participate in the Special Military Operation and will seek justice until we are paid the money promised by our government headed by the President of the Russian Federation!'

Unconfirmed reports say the uprising has been crushed by Putin's forces.
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Thousands have taken to the streets to mourn Indigenous teenager Cassius Turvey who died after he was allegedly beaten with a metal pole as he walked home from school.

Attendees held posters, candles and Aboriginal flags in honour of the 15-year-old Noongar Yamatji boy, who was allegedly bashed just minutes after he got off a school bus in Middle Swan on October 13.

The teenager suffered severe head injuries in the brutal attack and died in hospital surrounded by his loved ones.

Jack Steven James Brearley, 21, has been charged with the teen's alleged murder and is due to face court on November 9. He is yet to enter a plea.

Thousands have taken to the streets to remember 15-year-old Cassius Turvey who died on October 13 after he was allegedly bashed with a metal pole as he walked home from school in Middle Swan in Perth

Senator Lidia Thorpe spoke during a vigil held for Cassius Turvey at the Aboriginal Advancement League on Wednesday

Sydney's Town Hall was packed with thousands of people who came to be united in their grief at the death of Cassius Turvey

Channel 10 star Narelda Jacobs addressed the hundreds of people who attended the vigil at Sydney's Town Hall

Attendees held candles, posters, photos of Cassius and Aboriginal flags as they mourned the Perth teenager on Wednesday

One young woman held a poster reading 'No Pride in Genocide' at a candlelit vigil for Cassius in Brisbane

Ernie Dingo, an actor, author and TV presenter addressed the crowds at the vigil in Sydney held outside Town Hall

Cassius' death has sparked a mass outpouring of grief with thousands in every capital city in Australia demanding justice for his death at emotionally-charged vigils on Wednesday.

A statement from Mechelle Turvey, the late teenager's mother, was read at vigils across the country with the heartbroken mother thanking those gathered for their love and support during a difficult time.

'I don't want any more violence. I'm the only person who can get justice for my son,' Ms Turvey said via speakers.

'I need to call out for calm. I am angry, Cassius' friends and family are angry, but I don't want any form of violence at any of these rallies in the name of my child.

'Violence breeds more violence.'

Samuel May, cousin of Cassius Turvey, speaks to media during a vigil held at the Aboriginal Advancement League

The 15-year-old was allegedly murdered in the suburb of Middle Swan on October 13 and died of his injuries 10 days later

Attendees at a vigil in Perth held signs that read 'Remembering Cassius' as they took to the streets on Wednesday

A woman in Brisbane held a photo of Cassius, who was left with severe head injuries after he was allegedly assaulted on October 13

Students in their school uniform gathered in George Square in Brisbane with a sign that read: 'Same Story, Different Face'

'How many children do we have to send to the grave?' Wiradjuri elder Jenny Munro said at the Sydney vigil, the crowd heavy with candles and grief.

'We've lost so many children in a battle they aren't even prepared for.'

'That boy represented our hopes, our dreams, our future and they took it from us,' Gumbaynggirr Dunghutti Bundjalung woman Elizabeth Jarrett told the vigil in Sydney.

'He represents every single son, every brother, right across this vast continent. And we won't ever forget it.'

Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe attended a smoking ceremony at the Aboriginal Advancement League in Melbourne

Eucalyptus leaves were burnt during smoking ceremonies around the country as two boys circled this fire pit in Melbourne

Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe appeared emotional and she sat in the crowd at a Melbourne vigil and listened to speakers

Dozens took part in a traditional smoking ceremony during a vigil held for the Perth teenager described as a 'teddy bear'

Friends and family have described Cassius as a 'teddy bear' with an infectious smile who was 'larger than life'.

Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe took part in a smoking ceremony at a vigil in Melbourne and appeared emotional as she sat in the crowd and listened to speakers.

She used her parliamentary privilege in the Senate last week to draw attention to his tragic death and the upsetting trend of alleged racial violence towards Indigenous Australians.

'No black child should fear walking home from school. No black mother should wonder if their child will return home,' she said.

'We all must fight for a country where First Nations children like Cassius can live out their birthright.'

Friends and family have described Cassius as a 'teddy bear' with an infectious smile who was 'larger than life'

Cassius was walking home from school and was still wearing his school uniform when he was allegedly attacked with a pipe

The Perth teenager was allegedly assaulted just minutes after he got off a bus in Middle Swan on October 13

Supporters of Cassius and his loved ones took to the streets in Australia's capital cities on Wednesday night

One little boy held a bunch of blue balloons as he joined the march in tribute of Cassius Turvey in Perth on Wednesday

Wiradjuri teenager Ethan Lyons also spoke at the Sydney memorial.

'We remind this nation that we are young and full of life, like Cassius,' the student, still in his school uniform, told the crowd.

'But we also remind them that young people are watching, we watch the white supremacy that runs deep in this country.'

Emotional scenes also ensued in Perth, Cassius's hometown, where Professor Fiona Stanley credited Ms Turvey for her 'wisdom, love and humanity'.

'Could I have been as amazing as this woman who has just lost a child?' she told the crowds.

Teenagers held candles as they listened to speakers and took a moment to remember Cassius in Brisbane

An older woman helped a little girl light her candle in support of Perth teenager Cassius Turvey during a vigil in Sydney

Supporters filled the outside of Town Hall on Wednesday afternoon to share their grief and shock at Cassius's tragic death

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke about the death that's sent shockwaves throughout Australians communities when he appeared on The Project Wednesday night.

Carrie Bickmore said the teenager's mother had thanked the prime minister for his sympathies and asked Mr Albanese if Australia has 'a race problem'.

'We know that Indigenous people are more likely to suffer violence in this country than non-Indigenous people and so we need to acknowledge that, we need to do much better,' he said.

'I think this is just such a human tragedy. And for Cassius' mum, for people who knew this young man, you look at his smile and you think that's a life that should have been just beginning.

Thousands of Australians are at vigils across the country to rally for change following the death of teenager Cassius Turvey.



We ask Prime Minister @AlboMP if Australia has a problem with racism. pic.twitter.com/KsHZ08hkam  The Project (@theprojecttv) November 2, 2022

One man raised his fist as he listened to speakers at a candlelight vigil in Brisbane which paid respect to the Perth teen

As the evening wore on, attendees lit candles to honour the teenager described as having an infectious laugh

The crowd became emotional as they heard from speakers who condemned the loss of the young Indigenous teenager

One young woman said cross-legged on the ground at a vigil in Brisbane with a sign that read: 'Blak Kids Matter'

'It was over all too soon. And I think that people expressing their concern about it is a good thing.

'Of course the processes have to continue but this is just a real human tragedy that has impacted so many people.'

More than 40 events are scheduled in Australia's capital cities and in New Zealand and the United States to pay respects to Cassius and commemorate his life.

A ceremony was attended by Noongar elders, including Cassius' family members, in Perth on Monday night with thousands attending the emotional candlelit vigil.

Fifteen smoking pits were lit to represent each year of the teenager's life which was tragically cut short.

More than 40 events are scheduled in Australia's capital cities and in New Zealand and the United States on Wednesday

One little girl wearing a t-shirt with an Aboriginal flag on it shielded her candle during a vigil in Brisbane on Wednesday

Cassius's uncle Mark Kickett told the vigil First Nations voices had to be heard.

'It is now time for us to look really deep into our own souls, and to have an understanding of what needs to take place if there indeed is going to be healing,' he said.

'It's time for the voice of Aboriginal, Islander and First Nations people to stand up and be heard, and to be counted.'

Mr Kickett said that now was the time for Australia to 'look really deeply into our souls'.

'It is now time for us to look really deep into our own souls and to have an understanding of what needs to take place if there indeed is going to be healing,' he said.

Actor Ernie Dingo and Channel 10 presenter Narelda Jacobs attended and spoke at a candlelight vigil in Sydney

Two women embraced as they listened to speakers and took a moment to commemorate Cassius's short life

Ernie Dingo appeared emotional at a candlelight vigil attended by thousands in Sydney on Wednesday

On Wednesday, Cassius's uncle Mark Kickett said that now was the time for Australia to 'look really deeply into our souls'

Children held posters that read 'Blak Kids Matter' and held candles, many still in school uniform, at a vigil in Brisbane

'It's time for the voice of Aboriginal, Islander and First Nations people to stand up and be heard and to be counted.'

Channel 10 star Narelda Jacobs attended the vigil in Sydney and spoke to crowds about the 'lack of humanity' in mainstream media following the death of the teenager.

She said the thousands of attendees were united by their collective grief.

'Where is our humanity in mainstream media that it takes individuals to use their platform, even when they say the very same thing on that platform that is put to air?' she asked the crowd.

'Why are those comments more meaningful when the masses see it on our social media?

'There is something very wrong with that.'

Mechelle Turvey (left), mother of Cassius Turvey, marches with family, friends and members of the public during a rally for Cassius Turvey in Perth

Crowds appeared emotional at vigils on Wednesday which honoured the Perth teenager following his death on October 13

Cassius Turvey died in hospital 10 days after he suffered severe head injuries in the alleged assault in Middle Swan, Perth

Ms Jacobs, a Whadjuk Noongar woman also from Perth, burst into tears while presenting for Studio 10 on Tuesday as she called for Australians to stand together at vigils.

The Channel 10 star said she has a close connection to Cassius's family and referred to Cassius as her nephew, said her daughter Jade, who is based in Perth, had been asked to paint his coffin.

'Seeing those pictures from home, that's all my family,' Jacobs said, her voice cracking. 'Around the country we are feeling this so deeply  I cannot tell you enough how important the vigils will be this week.'

She also joined fellow Indigenous TV star Tony Armstrong in calling out Channel 9 and 7 for not giving extensive coverage to the story and being 'absent in this whole conversation'.

Ernie Dingo, an actor and TV presenter, also addressed crowds at the vigil held in Sydney on Wednesday.

Women raised their fists at the air as they honoured Cassius at vigils held around Australia on Wednesday

Cassius suffered severe head injuries and spent several days in the intensive care unit at a Perth hospital last month

One man became particularly emotional as crowds across Australia paid tribute to Perth teenager Cassius Turvey

WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch attended the Perth vigil as a father, rather than a cop, as requested by Cassius's mother

WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch has also attended the vigils as a father, rather than a police officer, and wore plain clothes as requested by Cassius's mother.

He told 6PR radio he had met with the grief-stricken mother and was impressed by how she was coping.

Last week, Cmr Blanch was widely criticised after he suggested Cassius had been in the 'wrong place at the wrong time' and warned Australians not to jump to conclusions over whether the attack had been racially motivated.

'I'm not perfect,' he said. I now realise the impact of my words.'

'Racism is a really important conversation, but let us also focus on justice for Cassius as a priority.'
In this photo provided by South Korea Defense Ministry, South Korean Air Force's F15K fighter jets and U.S. Air Force's F-16 fighter jets, fly in formation during a joint drill in an undisclosed location in South Korea, Oct. 4. AP-Yonhap



South Korea on Wednesday closed some of its air routes in the East Sea after one of multiple missiles fired by North Korea landed near the South's Ulleung Island.



North Korea fired about a dozen missiles earlier in the day, with one of them having landed less than 60 kilometers off the South's coast. It is the first time for a North Korean missile to have landed near the South's waters.






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Extraordinary photos of Beijing's military bases in the South China Sea have given the most-detailed view yet of what Xi Jinping has been building  and show them bristling with defences.

The Chinese Communist Party has spent the better part of a decade turning a remote series of atolls and reefs in the region into highly developed military bases that are now equipped with naval guns, anti-aircraft systems, radar arrays, attack ships and hangars capable of housing dozens of fighters.

At least two huge vehicle bays have also been built which are large enough to conceal mobile launchers designed to fire anti-ship, anti-air, and ballistic missiles which could be tipped with nuclear warheads.

The bases are part of a territory-grab by Xi over the entirety of the South China Sea within borders that Beijing refers to as the 'Nine Dash Line'. By controlling the sea, Xi aims to project power over neighbouring countries as well as fertile fishing grounds, and shipping lanes through which $5trillion-worth of goods pass each year.

However, Beijing's claims have no basis in international law and were overruled by an international arbitration court. Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei all have competing claims to the same piece of ocean.

New images give the most-detailed picture yet of military bases that China has spent the best part of a decade building on remote reefs and atolls in the South China Sea, as it tries to lay claim over the entire region

Fiery Cross Reef

Fiery Cross Reef is controlled by China as part of Sansha of Hainan Province, despite Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines all claiming the island as their own.

Large, multi-story hangers capable of housing ballistic missiles tipped with nuclear material can be seen across the island next to radar systems.

A US Navy reconnaissance mission in March revealed the militarisation of the reefs, but high-quality photos of the islands have not emerged until recently.

The mission found the artificial islands armed with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile systems, laser and jamming equipment and fighter jets.

The US sent a P-8A Poseidon plane on the reconnaissance mission, which spotted the structures, despite President Xi's promise not to convert the islands into military bases.

US Indo-Pacific commander Admiral John C. Aquilino called the sight 'the largest military build up since World War II' by the People's Republic of China.

Beijing says its military profile is purely defensive, arranged to protect what it says are its sovereign rights.

The Fiery Cross was the name of a famous British tea clipper, a speedy merchant sailing vessel, which took part in the Great Tea Race of 1866  where vessels competed to be the first to transport tea from China to Britain.

Large, multi-story hangers capable of housing ballistic missiles tipped with nuclear material can be seen across the island next to radar systems. A KJ-500 airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft is visible on the taxiway

A medical landing pad, painted with a red cross, can be seen on the right. Smaller hangars can be seen next to the terminal building. The bases are part of a territory-grab by Xi over the entirety of the South China Sea within borders that Beijing refers to as the 'Nine Dash Line'

An airfield, buildings, and structures are seen on the artificial island built by China in Fiery Cross Reef. China has progressively asserted its claim of ownership over disputed islands in the South China Sea by artificially increasing their size

Another full-size runway and airfield are seen. The hangers could be loaded up with dozens of combat aircraft, it is thought. The Chinese Communist Party has spent the better part of a decade turning the reefs into military bases

A wider-angle view of the same island shows a collection of building at the near end and another array of radome-topped towers at the far end

Subi Reef

On the smaller side of the Spratly Islands, Subi Reef is also administered by China Hainan province. But under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, only the Philippines has the right to build structures there.

From the close-up photos, Subi Reef also appears to feature hangers capable of housing nuclear weapons.

China sought to shore up its vast territorial claims over virtually the entire South China Sea by building island bases on coral atolls nearly a decade ago.

The US responded by sending its warships through the region in what it calls freedom of operation missions.

The US has no claims itself but has deployed Navy ships and aircraft for decades to patrol and promote free navigation in international waterway and airspace.

China routinely objects to any action by the US military in the region. The other countries in the area claim all or part of the sea, through which approximately $5 trillion in goods are shipped every year.

A collection of building close to an array of radome-topped towers at the far end. There is little sign of activity on the ground at any of the installations

Close-in defensive weapons are installed on roughly 30-foot-wide platforms set atop clusters of hexagonal concrete towers

Buildings, recreational facilities, and other structures are seen on the artificial island built by China in Subi Reef. Undeveloped ground and planted areas are among the large cluster of buildings

Subi reef features hangers which are capable of housing nuclear weapons, seen alongside a lighthouse at the end of the island. It also features radar domes similar to others nearby

The reefs are located between countries that contest Chinas claim to the region and stake their own assertions on defensive and economic access

The close up pictures are some of the most detailed photos yet available of what China is up to in the region

Mischief Reef

On Mischief Reef, one of the larger islands, two Type 022 Houbei class catamaran fast attack missile craft can be seen docked on the left side of the island, readily recognizable by their camouflage scheme.

Reports emerged that the People's Liberation Army Navy had deployed Type 022s to the islands last year. The boats can carry up to eight YJ-83 subsonic anti-ship missiles and a 30mm H/PJ-13 Gatling guns.

Last April, the missile craft apparently chased away the boat operated on behalf of the ABS-CBN news crew, in an aggressive encounter when they approached the island.

The reef sparked a 2016 ruling from the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, which found that China's claim over the island was without basis.

A pair of Type 022 Houbei class catamaran fast attack missile craft can be seen docked on the left side of the island, readily recognizable by their camouflage scheme. Reports emerged that the People's Liberation Army Navy had deployed Type 022s to the islands last year. The boats can carry up to eight YJ-83 subsonic anti-ship missiles and a 30mm H/PJ-13 Gatling guns

Four aids to navigation mark the visibly deeper channel between the island and another section of the reef

A wider-angle view of the same island shows a collection of building at the near end and another array of radome-topped towers at the far end

Buildings and structures are seen on the artificial island built by China in Mischief Reef on October 25, in the Spratly Islands

Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam all have territorial claims to the areas in which China has built islands and put its flag

Cuarteron Reef

Cuarteron Reef photos show naval gun emplacements on a series of towers, alongside a radar gunnery director.

China has long used the 'nine-dash line', a maritime boundary drawn up by it in 1947, to justify its jurisdiction over most of the resource-rich sea - often to the displeasure of Hanoi, which also claims parts of the waterway.

The nine-dash line is a maritime boundary in the South China Sea drawn up by China, which claims to own the territory inside the line.

The U-shaped line was initially claimed by the government of the Republic of China in 1947.

In 1992, the Communist Party of China adopted the boundary while updating its law on the territorial sea and the contiguous zone, according to Strategic Regions in 21st Century Power Politics, a Cmabridge Scholas book edited by Martin Riegl, Jakub Landovsky, and Irina Valko.

Chinese passports issued from 2012 onwards feature the Chinese map printed with the nine-dash line on three pages.

In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague ruled that there was no legal basis for much of China's claims to the area. The Chinese government has strongly objected to the ruling.

Cuarteron Reef photos show naval gun emplacements on a series of towers, alongside a radar gunnery director. A large radome sits atop the battlements, likely positioned there for a better line of sight over the horizon

Drive said the island could house host Type 730/1130 close-in weapon system (CIWS) and a H/PJ76 76mm multi-purpose deck gun, providing protection against low-flying air threats, like cruise missiles, aircraft, and drones

Gaven Reef

Gaven Reef was first pictured when the Philippine released photographs of Chinese construction work in the disputed waters in 2015.

Last year, photos emerged of more than 200 boats lashed together in rows, in an act of aggression from China designed to 'squeeze out' other countries in Asia.

The Philippine government's National Task Force-West Philippines Sea said they counted 254 ships as well as four Chinese warships in the Spratly Islands on March 29, 2021.

They claimed the ships were not fishing vessels as China said  but instead part of China's maritime militia, an group of sometimes armed civilians in the sea. China refused to move the boats from the area.

One of the smaller man-made islands is on Gaven Reef, which has 76mm deck guns extending from its platform

A harbor area and a handful of large domes are visible on Gaven Reef, one of the islands China has artificially built uo

Hughes Reef

Hughes Reef appears to have a helicopter pad and a multi-story building at the other end, complete with what looks like a large swimming pool.

Photos of Chinese 'Island Fortresses' emerged last year, which experts said would allow the Chinese government to extend the range of its navy, air force, coastguard and fishing fleets in the region.

The reefs are located between countries that contest Chinas claim to the region and stake their own assertions on defensive and economic access
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Rishi Sunak U-turned this morning and confirmed he will attend the Cop27 environmental conference in Egypt next week.

The PM had initially indicated he would not travel to North Africa despite the UK hosting the previous event in Glasgow last year.

The change came after Mr Sunak's predecessor Boris Johnson confirmed he would attend, having made the environment a key plank of his premiership.

Writing on Twitter, Mr Sunak said: 'There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change. There is no energy security without investing in renewables.

'That is why I will attend Cop27 next week: to deliver on Glasgow's legacy of building a secure and sustainable future.'

The PM previously said he had to focus on Britain's 'depressing domestic challenges' but faced growing pressure to join other world leaders at the conference next week.

Mr Sunak changed his mind on attending the Sharm El-Sheikh gathering after making 'good progress' on those domestic matters, including the Autumn Statement later this month, according to Downing Street.

'He has always recognised the importance of this summit and indeed on tacking climate change more generally,' said the PM's official spokesman.

'We wanted to make sure we were making good progress on the Governments domestic agenda and the Autumn Statement in particular.

'Following discussions with the Chancellor (Jeremy Hunt) this week he has now agreed to attend. The PM feels there is sufficient space to make this trip.'

The spokesman said Mr Sunak was hoping to make progress on the commitment to halt deforestation by 2030 and to agree new partnerships on clean and renewable energy.

He added there was 'unanimous agreement' that King Charles will still not attend Cop27, despite Mr Sunak's decision to go.

The PM's predecessor, Liz Truss, is claimed to have objected to His Majesty attending the Egypt summit during an audience at Buckingham Palace last month.

A Palace spokesperson said today: As has been made clear previously, in unanimous agreement with Government His Majesty will not be attending Cop27.

'His focus is on the pre-Cop reception at Buckingham Palace this Friday, where senior business leaders, experts and NGOs can discuss the important work of the summit and explore ways in which public-private partnership can help tackle climate change.

'His Majesty looks forward to hosting the PM and other global leaders at the event.

Responding to Mr Sunak's U-turn on Cop27, Labour's shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband said: 'The PM has been shamed into going to Cop27 by the torrent of disbelief that he would fail to turn up.

'He is going to avoid embarrassment, not to provide leadership.'

The PM had initially indicated he would not travel to North Africa despite the UK hosting the previous event in Glasgow last year

The change came after Mr Sunak's predecessor Boris Johnson confirmed he would attend, having made the environment a key plank of his premiership

Writing on Twitter Mr Sunak said: 'There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change. There is no energy security without investing in renewables.'

Buckingham Palace today confirmed that King Charles will still stay away from the event, having been told by Mr Sunak's predecessor Liz Truss to stay away.

Labour had called Sunak's decision to skip Cop27 a 'massive failure of leadership'. Britain hosted Cop26 last year and holds its presidency until the start of the next summit.

The Prime Minister's own climate adviser Alok Sharma had said he was 'disappointed' that Mr Sunak was not planning to attend.

But today he praised the PM's U-turn. The outgoing Cop26 president tweeted: 'Delighted that @RishiSunak is attending Cop27  completely agree with his comment that ''there is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change''.'

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said Mr Sunak had been 'dragged kicking and screaming into doing the right thing' after he committed to attend the Cop27 climate summit. 'Embarrassing,' she added.

The decision of Mr Johnson - Mr Sunak's arch-rival and former Downing Street neighbour - to attend made it even harder for the PM to resist going.

Mr Johnson told Sky News last night that he would be attending, adding: 'I was invited by the Egyptians so I'm very happy to go.'

Asked if his successor in No 10 should go too, he said Mr Sunak has a 'massive amount to do' with the Government's domestic agenda, adding: 'I happen to have a particular interest.'

Mr Johnson argued it has become 'unfashionable' to talk about Cop26, which he hosted in Glasgow last year.

'I want to talk a little bit about how I see things and how we see things in the UK,' Mr Johnson added.

Initially Downing Street said Mr Sunak would not be attending because he must focus on the 'depressing domestic challenges', as he works on the autumn budget.

But on Monday he changed tack, with No 10 saying that the decision was now 'under review' as 'substantial progress' was being made on his economic plans.

Rachel Kennerley, international climate campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: 'It would have been a remarkable own goal for the Prime Minister to miss this year's UN climate talks as the UK's own presidency draws to a close, so it's good that he's seen sense and decided to attend.

'But simply showing up won't be enough. The UK government has a lot of work to do to rebuild its climate reputation after a year of rowing back on commitments made in Glasgow.

'The PM quashed plans to revive fracking which was a good start to his tenure. If the UK expects to be taken seriously at the negotiating table, then the government must scrap plans for new oil and gas in the North Sea and say no to the UK's first deep coal mine in 30 years.'
The ex-wife of Sotheby's chairman Lord Dalmeny has launched a blistering social media tirade after her new partner was snubbed for an invite to a party.

Furious Caroline Dalmeny, 53, took to Instagram to lash out at the unnamed hosts of the society event, after they failed to extend an invite to her boyfriend.

A former defence policy analyst who has mixed with the likes of Sophie Wessex, she was once married to Sotheby's chairman Harry Primrose - Lord Dalmeny.

She split with the aristocrat auctioneer in 2014 after two decades of marriage, and is now dating 54-year-old former Gurkha officer Jules Irens.

Lady Dalmeny said she had hoped Mr Irens would be able to accompany her to the upcoming society event.

But she said in her post that she was told 'priority was being given to married couples' due to the party being 'crowded'.

In an astonishing social media rant aimed at the organisers, who she did not name, she referred to them as 'vipers' and said: 'They are dead to me.'

Furious Caroline Dalmeny, 53, took to Instagram to lash out at the unnamed hosts of the society event, after they failed to extend an invite to her boyfriend, Jules Irens (pictured together in May)

Caroline Dalmeny pictured in 2009 with then-husband, Sotheby's chairman Lord Dalmeny

Harry Primrose, Lord Dalmeny, the son of the 7th Earl of Rosebery and chairman of famous auctioneers, Sotheby's, pictured with new wife Harriet Clapham in 2021

She wrote: 'Good morning everyone. A person who I thought was a very good and long-standing friend actually told me in writing this morning that the Frog couldn't be invited to a party as it was crowded priority would be given to married couples.'

The term 'the Frog' is said to be a playful tribute to her boyfriend's late, French-speaking mother.

She continued: 'However they would still love to see me. I'm so upset and angry I'm on the very of naming and shaming the guilty.'

Born Caroline Daglish, Lady Dalmeny became a leading defence policy analyst, working with the well-known Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think-tank.

In 1994 she married Harry Primrose, Lord Dalmeny, the son of the 7th Earl of Rosebery and chairman of famous auctioneers, Sotheby's.

They split in 2014 after two decades of marriage and have five children together including 19-year-old triplets Lavinia, Celeste and model Delphi, who featured on the cover of Tatler last year.

After their divorce, Lord Dalmeny entered into a relationship with effervescent former model Martha Sitwell, although the pair parted ways in 2019.

In August this year, Lord Dalmeny married art director girlfriend Harriet Clapham, 33, at Barnbougle Castle near Edinburgh.

Caroline and Henry have five children together including 19-year-old triplets Lavinia, Celeste and model Delphi, pictured, who featured on the cover of Tatler last year

Caroline Dalmeny (pictured right with the Countess of Wessex) at Royal Ascot in 2013

The couple married privately before starting the celebrations with 300 friends by cutting into an extravagant eight-tiered wedding cake.

Among the wedding party was his ex-wife, who said she was 'delighted' to have Harriet as 'a member of our extended family'.

Earlier this year, Lady Dalmeny was appointed as Chair of the Museum of the Home.

She holds a number of voluntary and leadership roles, including as a Senior Associate of the Royal Society of Medicine and as a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce and the Royal Geographical Society.

Asked for a comment on her post, Lady Dalmeny replied: 'I've said all I'm going to say.'
He was able to walk free thanks to New York's lax no-cash bail laws

He had been released less than 24 hours previously for an assault

Keaira Bennefield, 40, was killed by Adam Bennefield, 45, in front of her children

The grieving mother of a woman who was shot dead by her estranged husband less than 24 hours after he was released from prison has furiously blamed Gov. Kathy Hochul for the brutal killing.

Keaira Bennefield, 40, was allegedly gunned down by Adam Bennefield, 45, on a Buffalo, New York, street on October 5.

She was driving her three children, aged five, nine, and six months, to school when Bennefield deliberately crashed into her car then pulled out a shotgun and killed her, police said.

Her mother Tammy Hudson says Gov. Hochul is just as responsible for the killing because of her support for the state's no-cash bail law, which allowed the abusive husband to be on the streets despite a previous conviction for kidnapping an ex.

Ms Hudson told the New York Post: 'She should be charged for the crime. She's also responsible for the crime.'

Keaira Bennefield, 40, was gunned down by Adam Bennefield, 45, on a Buffalo, New York, street on October 5 (pictured together at their wedding)

Keaira was a mother to two girls, ages five and nine, as well as a six month old boy she shared with Adam

Adam Bennefield was arrested on October 12, eight days after Keaira was shot and killed

Hochul is an advocate of the controversial no-cash bail law which barred judges from setting bail for defendants charged with minor crimes, in a bid to close racial and wealth disparities in the legal system

Investigators at the scene found Keaira in her car, deceased from a gunshot wound inflicted by Adam

No-cash bail laws On January 1 2020, New York State introduced sweeping criminal justice legislation, meaning that cash bail is no longer permitted for most misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies, including robbery. Judges are now required to release individuals charged with such crimes with no cash bail. The controversial New York 'no-bail law' hopes to curtail the use of cash bail and pretrial detention in an estimated 90 per cent of arrests and strengthen measures intended to ensure a defendant's right to a speedy trial. New York's decision to reform its law saw the state join ranks with California and New Jersey - which already prohibit cash bails for most misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies. The 'no-bail' law has been mired in controversy since it was enshrined into state legislation. Advertisement

Hochul is an advocate of the controversial no-cash bail law which barred judges from setting bail for defendants charged with minor crimes, in a bid to close racial and wealth disparities in the legal system.

New York has since seen a huge crime wave and Hochul has admitted the legislation needs amending, but is waiting until January to do so.

Ms Hudson said: 'She failed me. She let me down and my daughter down, and she needs to make a change with the bail reform.'

At the time of her death, the mother of three was was so scared of her estranged husband that she went out of the house the morning of her death wearing a bulletproof vest, according to the Buffalo News.

Adam had been arrested shortly before the killing but was let go due to no-cash bail laws as he was only facing misdemeanor and nonviolent charges.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, the law was passed by Democrats in the state and was 'aimed to reduce the risk that someone would be jailed because they could not afford to pay for release.'

The law, passed in 2019, also is in place to 'reduce the unnecessary use of incarceration, which can have a profound disruptive effect on peoples' lives.'

Hochul has repeatedly stated that she has no plans to repeal the law, even as incidents like Keaira's death pop up all over the state.

On September 28, Keaira posted the video of Adam assaulting her repeatedly, taken on cameras inside what appears to be their apartment.

'This is what this man dose to me but i'm always treated like i'm the abuser,' she wrote in her social media post.

The video, which features two different angles of the attack, is just under eight minutes long and shows her lying on the floor for several minutes after Adam is seen forcing her to the ground and punching.

Adam can be seen punching her at least 28 times in the video and kicking her nearly a half a dozen times as she was lying on the ground following his punches.

Keaira called the police after the incident, telling dispatch officials that Adam had punched her and that she was hurt.

Keaira's posed with her family members on her wedding day to Adam, looking happy after the ceremony

The mother was taken at just 40 years old thanks in part to lax laws in New York that allow people who have been charged with misdemeanors to be released with no bail

Upon arrival at the scene, police decided to arrest Adam for harassment. Keaira did not go to the hospital for her injuries.

Adam was found by officers locked in a bathroom and was taken to the Erie County Medial Center to be evaluated.

An arrest warrant for the man was obtained after he was released and police told Keaira to reach out to them if he came back.

Later that evening, the woman posted the video to her Facebook page.

Keaira's three children will now have to live a life without their mother after her husband brutally murdered her in front of them

The Buffalo News reported that the day after the incident took place, a domestic violence advocate from the Cheektowaga Police Department reached out to Keaira, which is when she said that she had video of the assault.

The advocate later spoke to law enforcement officials and told them the harassment charges Adam was facing was not enough.

After speaking with the domestic violence advocates, police contacted Keaira and told her to upload her video to the police system so they could exam it.

On September 30, Keaira posted a heartbreaking update on social media, telling family and friends that she was strong and smart enough to 'get myself outta that situation alive.'

'Don't Underestimate me I am a Hudson we were born strong but I also know when to play weak an it saved my life,' Keaira wrote in a Facebook post. 'i was smart enuff to get myself outa that situation alive.'

On October 2, Keaira called police, telling them that she feared someone was in her home. When they responded to the home, they didn't find anyone but they were able to watch the video that Keaira had posted to Facebook.

It was at that time that officers from the Cheektowaga Police Department decided that Adam's charges should be bumped up to misdemeanors, including third-degree assault, fourth-degree criminal mischief, second-degree menacing and second-degree unlawful imprisonment.

Just one day later, Keaira went to the police station to sign papers related to the charges and on October 4, Adam was finally arrested and taken to court.

A judge at that time issued Keaira an order of protection and released Adam with no bail. Despite having been hit with several charges, the misdemeanors were still not enough to hold him under the legislature.

Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn said in a meeting after the fact that 'there was zero evidence for anything higher' than the misdemeanor charges he was already facing.

'The charges were correctly charged. The judge had no choice but to release this person,' Flynn said.

The mom of three was terrified for her life and had been staying at her mother's home, police and law enforcement officials said

The very next day, the woman, who had been staying with her mother, was driving her kids to school when Adam rammed his own vehicle into hers, ambushing and gunning her down with a shotgun in the street.

All three of her children, including the six month old baby she shared with Adam, were in the backseat at the time.

Investigators found her in a bulletproof vest at the scene.

On October 12, police officers were finally able to locate Adam thanks to a tip from the public.

The man was found and arrested near the intersection of Bissell and Walden avenues, according to police.

Keaira has been driving her children to school when she was ambushed by her estranged husband and fatally shot

To make matters worse, Adam had been previously charged for kidnapping an ex-girlfriend and another woman, and had once escaped from the Erie County Correctional Facility.

On October 21, the man pleaded not guilty to Keaira's murder, as well as other charges in this case.

'The allegations contained in this indictment are horrifying,' Assistant District Attorney Ryan Haggerty said during Adam's plea hearing. 'They are the stuff of nightmares.'

He remains in custody and has been ordered by State Supreme Court Justice M. William Boller to be held without bail.

He is next set to appear in front of a judge in Erie County on Wednesday, November 2.
A former language teacher died as a direct result of receiving contaminated blood decades earlier, a coroner has ruled.

Steve Dymond was one of thousands who were given infected blood transfusions in the 1970s and 80s.

Labelled by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson as the worst treatment disaster in the history of the health service, the blood transfusion scandal resulted in thousands being diagnosed with HIV and hepatitis C.

Mr Dymond was diagnosed with the latter in 1994 following unexplained symptoms of severe mood swings, debilitating fatigue and muscle pain.

The symptoms were caused by a contaminated Factor VIII blood product that he was given numerous times and which was described to Mr Dymond as a 'wonder drug'.

It was made using blood from people who were paid to donate, including prisoners and drug addicts, and despite the known risks of infection it was given to the NHS.

Steve Dymond was one of thousands who were given infected blood transfusions in the 1970s and 80s. It led to him contracting hepatitis C which caused irreparable damage to his organs

Following years of brain fog and with the infection having taken a drastic toll on his life, Mr Dymond was eventually free of the disease following a trial of new medication.

But the hepatitis had dealt irreparable damage to his organs and he developed liver cancer.

Mr Dymond died in 2018 at the age of 62 at Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate, leaving behind his wife Su Gorman.

She has campaigned tirelessly for her husbands cause of death to be recognised and said of the coroners decision: 'Its a victory as the verdict is superb.

'Its what I have fought for, and it is what Steve fought for and wanted. Im very pleased the death certificate will say the true cause.

'The contaminated blood caused hepatitis, which resulted in so much damage to his health and caused his death.

'The fact it says it was caused by contaminated blood is a victory. This was blood given to him by the NHS, it should never have happened.'

Steve leaves his wife, Su Gorman (left), who fought for years to have her husband recognised as a victim of the infected blood scandal

Mr Dymond died in 2018 at the age of 62 at Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate, pictured

The five-day inquest in Maidstone, Kent, heard how the former Russian teacher had died of liver failure caused by hepatitis.

Having likely been given the contaminated blood in 1976 at a hospital in Devon, Mr Dymond spent about 20 years of his life not knowing what he was suffering from the disease.

Hepatitis can be a killer - if not treated early Hepatitis is the term used to describe inflammation of the liver, normally caused by a viral infection or alcohol-related liver damage. The virus has several different types, with some passing without triggering any serious problems. But others can cause long-lasting damage and scarring of the live, known as cirrhosis. It can lead to cancer and, if not treated, can cause organ failure and death. The illness has five different types: Hepatitis A - triggered by food contaminated with faeces. Hepatitis B - can be caught from the blood of an infected person. It's a common infection worldwide and is usually spread from infected pregnant women to their babies, or from child-to-child contact. It can also be spread through unprotected sex and injecting drugs. Most adults infected with the virus can fight it off in a few months. Hepatitis C - Again, this is transmitted through blood-to-blood contact with an infected person. In the UK, it's most commonly spread through sharing needles used to inject drugs. It often causes no noticeable symptoms, or only flu-like ones, so many people are unaware they're infected. Some people will fight off the infection and be free of the virus. In other cases, it'll stay in the body for many years. In chronic cases, it can cause cirrhosis and liver failure. Hepatitis D - It only affects people who are already infected with hepatitis B. The virus is usually spread through blood-to-blood contact or sexual contact. It's uncommon in the UK, but is more widespread in other parts of Europe, the Middle East, Africa and South America. Hepatitis E - It has seen a boom in cases in Europe recently and is now the most common cause of short-term hepatitis in the UK, the NHS says. The virus has been mainly associated with the consumption of raw or undercooked pork meat or offal, but also with wild boar meat, venison and shellfish. Hepatitis E is generally a mild and short-term infection that does not require any treatment. Advertisement

Speaking at the inquest, Mrs Gorman recalled: 'When I first met him, he was gentle, funny and highly intelligent.

'Over a period of about 10 years he became utterly impossible. He was aggressive and rude.

'If we had an argument he wouldnt speak to me for six days, it was a complete character change.

'We had to live with it, it was like having a third person in our marriage. This other person would come and replace Steve. Thats how bad it was, he was like two different people.'

A statement written by Mr Dymond prior to his death was read to the coroners court.

In it, he stressed how he found it hard to concentrate throughout his career, and he continually felt like he was 'living life with his shoelaces tied together'.

It is thought he was first treated with Factor VIII for his mild haemophilia in 1976 after sustaining a large bruise on his leg.

He said: 'It was after receiving this treatment when I noticed a change in myself during my final year of university.

'The year was a complete muddle for me, I kept experiencing brain fog. I made silly mistakes which were very unlike me.

'I was extremely fatigued.'

The former tutor explained how Factor VIII was described to him as a 'wonder drug', and he was not told of any potential risks.

In 1984, he went to A&E in Lewisham after sustaining a bruise on his hand and was again given the contaminated drug.

His statement read: 'I was treated by an A&E registrar who took a bottle of Factor VIII off the shelf and treated me. My bruise was completely gone within an hour.

'The following day I was told they should never have done this to you as Factor VIII was only kept in stock for emergency incidents involving severe haemophiliacs.

'I believe the Factor VII guidelines at the time said it should not be used on children or mild haemophiliacs, such as myself.'

In 1986, Mr Dymond attempted to take his own life by crashing his car but the vehicle ran out of fuel.

He wrote: 'I was no longer able to cope with my constant fear of failure and confusion as to why I was feeling why I felt.'

Survivors of the infected blood scandal are set to be given 100,000 in compensation, the government pledged earlier this summer.

The cash payments rolled out at the end of October, the Cabinet Office confirmed to MailOnline today.

About 2,400 patient deaths have been caused by the contaminated blood, with patients infected with either HIV or hepatitis C.

A public inquiry, announced in 2018, has taken evidence from more than 5,000 witnesses and is set to conclude next year.

Mother tells blood inquiry of her 'guilt' over death of her son who died aged 24 after he got HIV from infected batch of clotting product Factor VIII which was used to treat his haemophilia

by TOM COTTERILL and KATIE FEEHAN FOR MAILONLINE

Mothers of children who died during the infected blood scandal have spoken of a 'black cloud' which ruined their lives, an inquiry has heard.

Thousands of patients were infected with HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s.

Parents of children who died after being treated by the products told the Infected Blood Inquiry in London 'absolute trust' was given to doctors with 'the most precious things' they had.

The UK was struggling to keep up with demand for treatments tackling the blood-clotting condition haemophilia and other bleeding disorders, and began importing infected products from overseas.

About 2,400 people died in what has been called the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS.

Left, Brenda Haddock, 73, from Birmingham lost her son Andrew aged 24 after he became infected with HIV during the contaminated blood scandal. Lind Wooliscroft, right, also attended the hearing in London last month

Elisabeth Buggins son Richard told of feeling 'guilt' after her son contracted HIV and died, aged eight

On Thursday, the inquiry heard from Linda Woolliscroft, 75, from Wolverhampton, West Midlands, whose son Michael died in 1995, a week before his 26th birthday, having been diagnosed with haemophilia aged two.

Ms Woolliscroft tearfully told the inquiry: 'He loved the sunshine and he hated the rain, and yet just before he passed away it was raining and he said to me 'would you take me to see the rain?'

'This is what upsets me, because he knew he wasn't going to see it again.'

Orphan, aged nine, lost both her parents to HIV eight days apart Lauren Palmer, 39, lost both her parents to the contaminated blood scandal when she was nine A woman whose parents died with HIV eight days apart has vowed to continue campaigning until all those affected by the infected blood scandal have been compensated. Lauren Palmer was just nine when she was orphaned after her parents, Stephen and Barbara Palmer, died with HIV and Hepatitis C in August 1993. Mr Palmer was a severe haemophiliac and received the blood clotting product Factor VIII in about 1979, unaware that it was contaminated. He subsequently tested positive for HIV and went on to infect his wife after dismissing medical advice to wear a condom during sex. Ms Palmer said the Government's announcement on Wednesday was 'a step forward', but said there were many other families who were excluded from the payments. Ms Palmer, a make-up artist currently studying for a forensic science degree in Bristol, said: 'This was all so avoidable, and then people went to great lengths to conceal the problem and not tell patients how serious it was. 'Everything from the start was just wrong. I don't feel anger (over the scandal), as such, because I don't want it to eat me up. 'It's more about getting that acknowledgement that everybody deserves. 'I am doing this because it feels like a duty. I don't want them to get away with this. 'It's been a long time getting to this stage. It (compensation) is a step in the right direction. 'There are still a lot of bereaved families excluded, so there is more work for us to do until those families are included. 'It's about recognition.' Ms Palmer, 39, said the death of her parents 'was devastating', as she was then separated from her half-brothers and sent to live with another family, enduring a miserable childhood. 'It didn't feel real at the time,' she said. 'I think when you're that age, you don't understand or comprehend what's going on. 'It didn't hit me until a few years later. Everything in my life changed so dramatically, the upheaval was awful. 'I remember thinking nothing is going to be the same again. 'It was devastating.' Advertisement

Aged 13, while a patient at Birmingham Children's Hospital, Michael was treated with clotting agent Factor VIII, despite doctors telling them some children were having reactions to it.

Having learned about HIV during a meeting with other parents and boys treated with products at the hospital in 1984, Ms Woolliscroft took Michael to see medical professionals, but was reassured all was fine.

Michael was told he had HIV after turning 17, despite his positive test taking place years earlier, the inquiry heard.

Ms Woolliscroft said: 'It was done in a cold way, no emotion, like it was being read off a page. No feeling about it.'

Speaking about the doctors, she went on: 'Your life is in their hands and you believe what they say and you've got to trust in them. You've got no choice.

'Then it makes you think, after, should you trust doctors?'

The inquiry also heard from Brenda Haddock, 73, from Birmingham, West Midlands, whose son Andrew was diagnosed with haemophilia at six months old, and who died in 1996 aged 24 after becoming infected.

From around 11, while a patient at Birmingham Childrens Hospital, Andrew was treated with clotting agent Factor VIII, despite doctors telling them some children were having reactions to it.

Ms Haddock was told she had 'nothing to worry about', the inquiry heard - but Andrew contracted HIV as a result of his treatment.

She said: 'In those days we all believed doctors, we put our faith in doctors, we had a child with an ongoing account, we followed what the doctors said, we blindly carried on giving them the treatment.

'But I wonder, afterwards, why couldnt they just temporarily stop the Factor VIII treatment while they investigated exactly what was going on, and give us some more information?

'Why did we have to sort of blindly carry on?'

She went on: 'Theres the guilt of having some home treatment and me giving Andrew the Factor VIII at home.

'Did I administer the dose that infected him? Its quite possible, so as well as the guilt of being the carrier that gave him haemophilia in the first place, theres the guilt of could I have been the one that administered the dose?'

During a meeting at the hospital, Ms Haddock was advised to continue administering the treatment to her son despite concerns over it.

She then discovered that Andrew was HIV positive after seeing his medical records during a later hospital visit.

Andrew had already been told by his doctor about the diagnosis when he was 12 years old, without Ms Haddock present, she later found out.

His behaviour changed, and he became 'depressed', lost interest in school and would hang around in the streets during the day.

Later in his teenage years he became 'very withdrawn' and would not mix with people or make close friends, acting aggressively around the house.

He would also have hallucinations.

Ms Haddock tearfully told the inquiry: 'Youll never get over what weve been through, and we could all probably say were a different person to what we would have been.

'I think Ive sort of lived my life differently since Andrew died, Ive sort of compartmentalised it and Ive got to get on with things because I was always frightened that if I thought about it too much the floodgates would open and Id never shut them.'

The inquiry had earlier heard from Elisabeth Buggins, whose sons Richard, Jonathan and Edward were all diagnosed with severe haemophilia in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Ms Buggins told of feeling 'guilt' about being a carrier of the condition.

She said: 'You would never wish something like that on your children, particularly because I wasnt certain I was a carrier until Id had them, I couldnt have prevented it.'

Richard died aged eight in May 1986 after being diagnosed with HIV having been a patient at Birmingham Childrens Hospital.
The Tories will find it 'very, very difficult' to win the next general election with Rishi Sunak facing a 'massive repair job' among voters, according to a leading polling expert.

Professor Sir John Curtice, the president of the British Polling Council, warned the new Prime Minister and his party could be on course for a 1997-style defeat.

With Labour holding huge leads in a swathe of recent polls, Sir John suggested the general public had decided the Tories 'cannot be trusted to run the country'.

This has seen the Conservatives' popularity fall 'across the whole of the electorate', he told a briefing for Westminster journalists.

It is now 'pretty clear' that Labour are 'favourites' to win the next election, with Sir Keir Starmer's party having a 'half-decent chance' of winning an overall majority in the House of Commons.

'That is a fundamental change in the political outlook,' Sir John added.

New PM Rishi Sunak is facing a 'massive repair job' among voters, according to a leading polling expert

It is now 'pretty clear' that Sir Keir Starmer's Labour are 'favourites' to win the next election, said Sir John Curtice

Sir John , the president of the British Polling Council, suggested Mr Sunak and the Tories could be on course for a 1997-style defeat

The Strathclyde University academic suggested the fall-out from Liz Truss's mini-Budget disaster could cause lasting damage to the Tories.

Asked about the Conservatives' hopes of winning the next election, which isn't due until January 2025, Sir John said: 'History suggests that it's going to be extremely difficult.

'No Government that has presided over a financial crisis has eventually survived at the ballot box.'

He suggested the political outcomes from financial crises in 1948, 1967, 1976, 1992 and 2008 did not offer 'a happy litany of precedence' for the Tories.

'Voters don't forget governments being forced to do a U-turn by the financial markets,' Sir John said.

'And particularly when it involves overseas investors telling us that we've got it wrong.

'This doesn't go down terribly well for governments. It's going to be very, very difficult.'

Sir John cautioned there was 'a lot of water to pass under the bridge' with two years to go until the next election.

But, based on current polling, he warned the Tories could be facing a defeat similar to their thumping at the hands of New Labour in 1997, when they won just 165 seats.

'The Conservative Party has lost ground across the whole of the electorate,' Sir John said.

'They have lost ground because the public in general have decided they cannot be trusted to run the country.'

He added: 'They've lost ground in all sections of society and in all parts of the country.

'At the moment, the Tories basically have just a massive repair job across the public as a whole.'

But Sir John did offer some hope for the Tories and Mr Sunak, as he begins his premiership after succeeding Ms Truss last week.

He pointed to the PM's 'personal popularity' among voters who remembered him as the Chancellor who 'saved the economy' during the Covid pandemic.

Sir John suggested one of the questions ahead of the next election was: 'To what extent is Sunak going to be able to square his personal popularity into popularity for his party?'

He added: 'You can already see how there is an incredible gap between Sunak's personal popularity and the proportion of people who are going to vote for his party.

'The fact that Sunak is as popular as he is, is a remarkable testimony to his own reputation.'

But the polling expert acknowledged that Mr Sunak was still 'not as popular as he was' before the row over his wealthy wife's non-dom tax status and his Partygate fine.

Sir John said Mr Sunak and the Tories' fortunes would depend on what happens to the economy over the next two years.

He warned  in comparison with fiscal repair jobs after the 1992 and 2008 financial crises  that there 'isn't much fat in public expenditure' as Mr Sunak considers spending cuts to balance the public finances.

Sir John also noted that public services were already under 'very, very severe strain' after the Covid crisis.
It comes against a backdrop of criticism over BBC cuts to radio and news

Cambridge office decided against going ahead with programmes on Monday

Janine Machin, 44, who anchors BBC Look East (West) said it was a 'sad day'

The presenter of a regional BBC news programme whose staff pulled out of a live broadcast because they were too upset to work ahead of expected redundancies says she will 'miss the job'.

Janine Machin, 44, who anchors BBC Look East (West) said it was a 'sad day' after learning the show will be axed next month.

It came after many of the broadcasting team at the Cambridge office decided against going ahead with its scheduled 6.30pm and 10.30pm programmes on Monday after receiving the news hours earlier.

Speaking on Twitter, Janine told supporters: 'We learned this afternoon that the programme will end mid-December. A very sad day for the team.

'Its been a privilege to do this job. Ill miss it greatly when our programme ends next month.'

Janine's remarks emerged after staff were told on Monday the final BBC Look East programme from the Cambridge office will be aired on December 16, with many journalists and production staff set to lose their jobs.

And it comes amid a growing backlash against the BBC over its slimming down of radio and news roles.

Janine Machin, 44, who anchors BBC Look East (West) said it was a 'sad day' in online posts

Janine's remarks emerged after staff were told on Monday the final BBC Look East programme from the Cambridge office will be aired on December 16

News anchor and presenter Janine Machin put her feelings onto social media about the job

Cambridge BBC journalist Mousumi Bakshi tweeted: 'Team, we have decided not to broadcast tonight. For reasons detailed below. Please accept our sincere apologies.

'We were split. Were here to serve you and we love broadcasting live.

'But thats not possible tonight. Well sup on the red bull and come back tomorrow, with wings on.'

A member of staff in the Cambridge office said the tech team took the news the hardest, while there were lots of tears as the news of the forthcoming redundancies sunk in.

The BBC employee, who did not want to be named, said: 'Our young, talented and loyal tech team took the news the hardest.

'There were many tears, as colleagues and friends hugged and held hands as the news sunk in that going forward there will be no technical roles at all based in the Cambridge building.

Cambridge BBC journalist Mousumi Bakshi yesterday apologised after the office decided against going ahead with its scheduled 6.30pm and 10.30pm programmes

The BBC has said it needs to save 285 million in response to the announcement in January that the licence fee will be frozen for the next two years

'Many others will have to re-apply for their own jobs and compete with colleagues. Staff took time to digest the news. We were walking around like zombies. We needed to talk, process what had happened.

'No one wanted to let our viewers down, but the decision was taken that it wouldnt be fair on those whose posts are closing, to output the programme under such stressful and emotional conditions.

'The decision was taken after much deliberation and discussion on all sides. After all, after mid-December the programme will come from Norwich anyway.'

The staff member added that the 'close-knit, hardworking team' was 'being ripped apart in the cruellest way possible'.

They continued: 'We have fewer resources than almost any other regional news programme and yet we are the ones at risk of losing our jobs.

'We are like a family and have been there to support each other, but the next few weeks and months will be very difficult for us all. We are sad for our loyal audiences who we feel will be underserved and short-changed in the future.

'After five months and five days of worry, sleepless nights, financial uncertainty, not knowing if we have the money to pay the bills, this was yet another slap in the face and a disappointment for those who were hoping they had a future in the brave new "digital" world.

Culture minister Julia Lopez pictured giving evidence to the Lords Communications and Digital Committee earlier this year

'Some of us left wondering for all that time if we needed to move, pull our children out of school.'

The BBC announced plans for its local radio stations to share more content and broadcast less programming unique to their area, with the proposals resulting in the loss of 48 jobs overall.

After 2pm on weekdays, the BBC will produce 18 afternoon programmes across England that will be shared between its 39 stations.

Ten local programmes will then be shared between 6-10pm on weekdays, across the day on Saturday and on Sunday mornings, serving areas broadly mirroring the existing local TV areas.

Answering an urgent question in the Commons on Tuesday, Ms Lopez said: 'Overall, we do have concerns about the proposals, which we were not given notice of.

'I want to take this opportunity to stress that the BBC is rightly operationally and editorially independent from the Government, and decisions on service delivery are ultimately a matter for them.

'However, the Government is disappointed that the BBC is reportedly planning to make such extensive cuts to its local radio output.

She added: 'For those older residents living in rural areas, it can be a particular lifeline. The BBC must make sure it continues to provide distinctive and genuinely local radio services with content that reflects and represents people and communities from all corners of the UK.

'We recognise in the current fiscal context the BBC, like other organisations, is facing difficult financial decisions.

'But we are also concerned that the BBC is making such far-reaching decisions, particularly about its local news provision, without setting out further detail on how it will impact its audiences and the communities it serves.'

Sir Mike Penning, MP for Hemel Hempstead, also told the Commons: 'The public trust local radio, like they dont trust Newsnight or the Today programme.

'Frankly, because they dont listen to it and they trust local radio. If its about money, then take half a million pounds out Gary Linekers salary or one of the others who earn extortionate salaries.'

Mr Lineker was the BBCs top earning on-air talent in 2021/22 with a salary of between 1,350,000 and 1,354,999.

The BBC has said it needs to save 285 million in response to the announcement in January that the licence fee will be frozen for the next two years.

The proposals were announced as part of its new strategy, announced in May, to create a 'modern, digital-led' broadcaster.

It said the changes will see around 19m 'reprioritised' from broadcast services towards online and multi-media production.

BBC Radio Humberside journalist Andy Comfort criticised the move, writing on Twitter that staff were 'stunned and upset'.

Labour MP Emma Hardy told the Commons local radio 'cannot call itself local when it stops being local after 2pm'.

Conservative chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee Julian Knight also spoke of the 'very real concerns over potential loss of local distinctiveness through these proposed cuts'.

He added: 'These cuts make reforms to radio prominence absolutely crucial and will the minister quash growing rumours that the main potential vehicle for such reforms, the Media Bill, is set to be shelved or delayed in any way.'
Frustrated residents in a rapidly growing housing estate just 35km southeast of Melbourne's CBD are having to drive kilometres from their homes just to make a phone call.

Clyde North is one of the newest population centres in the city but it already boasts 32,000 people, many of which say they feel cut off from the rest of the world by unreliable mobile phone and internet reception.

Local resident Michelle Thomson said her life has become a nightmare now that she has to drive 2km away from her home to get a reliable signal to make a call to check up on her ageing father.

Michelle Thomson (pictured) wanders her home in the south east Melbourne suburb of Clyde North in the forlorn hope of getting a phone signal

'I almost can't live here,' Ms Thompson told A Current Affair, commenting that it was like being in the 'Dark Ages'.

'I had to move out last week just to make a phone call.

'We have no way to contact the outside world right now.'

Ms Thompson said she can't call for a doctor or make a telehealth appointment.

To do online banking she will make a 12km drive to a shopping mall.

When road work crews severed a NBN cable to the area last week 1300 homes were left with no telephone or internet at all for five days.

Clyde North is located only 34km from the centre of Melbourne but it is often completely cut off from telephone and internet signals

The lack of mobile reception is an even bigger concern for Erin Lalor, whose eight-year-old daughter Genevieve is anaphylactic, which means she can suffer life-threatening allergic reactions.

'It's just a constant worry in the back of my mind,' Ms Lalor said.

'I can't call for help reliably.

'At the end of the day people's lives really are are at risk.

'They should be able to call for help without any second thought to it.'

Clyde North resident Erin Lalor (pictured right) is worried about the lack of phone reception especially when her daughter Genevieve (pictured left) can suffer life-threatening allergic reactions

Authorities insist 000 calls will always get through because the signal gets sent as a priority to reception towers.

Telstra has blamed the area's rapid growth for overwhelming its signal towers and council not allowing new ones to be built.

'The only solution to meet demand and reduce network congestion is to build more base stations,' Telstra Regional General Manager Jenny Gray told the Nine program.

'We had proposed some sites to the City of Casey near some sporting fields which had been rejected as being unsuitable  we hope to have some success soon.'

Telstra says the lack of good phone reception in Clyde North is due to the rapid growth of population in the area and the council's reluctance to allow new reception towers near sporting fields

Casey council admitted there were 'mobile blackspots' in the suburbs of Clyde and Clyde North but said they were negotiating with Telstra to have towers built on a reserve.

The council pointed the finger of blame at developers being able to sell housing estates without being required to provide mobile coverage and said this was a loophole in state planning laws.

The Balcon Group, which developed the Clyde North Orana Estate, claimed 'the provision of telecommunications towers to support phone coverage ... is completely outside the control of land developers'.
Illegal tanning medication known as the 'Barbie drug' is being promoted on social media as an alternative to fake tan.

However, health authorities are warning about the dangerous side effects of melanotan, with one dermatologist warning that using the drug would be 'very foolish and dangerous'.

Another expert cautioned that side effects of the drug could include nausea, vomiting and fatigue.

A version of the medication was developed to help people with a rare skin condition - however another, discontinued and unregulated version of the medication is now being spread online.

Health authorities are warning about the dangerous side effects of melanotan, used by some people to get a sunless tan

'To take something purely for vanity, I think would be very foolish and dangerous,' dermatologist Dr May Hang Tan told A Current Affair.

'What it does is simulate a hormone in the body and this hormone stimulates the pigment cells to create more pigment in the skin.'

The pigments would lead to a sunless tan - something that has seen the medication spread on TikTok and social media.

Dr Tan explained that melanotan is a synthetic peptide which is made in a lab and initially only ever intended for a small number of 'people who have a very rare skin condition'.

The condition would see them experience painful burning skin if they ever went out in the sun.

Melanotan would then be taken to decrease the pain and help people manage the condition.

However, the medication taken by people with the condition is Melanotan 1.

Another medication, Melanotan 2, was being developed to help but production was stopped due to the harmful side effects.

It is this version that is being spread online.

Dermatologist Dr Shreya Andric said she's never prescribed the medication.

'It's currently unlicensed and unregulated and the reason it's not on the PBS, or approved by the TGA, is because there have been reports of some serious side effects,' Andric said.

A version of the medication was developed to help people with a rare skin condition - however another, discontinued and unregulated version of the medication is now being spread online

The TGA is currently investigating a number of companies selling melanotan and other dangerous medications

'There have been reports of melanoma developing, as well as darkening of moles and development of what we call dysplastic nevus, which can turn into melanoma.

'There's also potential side effects where it can break down muscles, it can cause changes to the brain and unwanted erections.'

The head of the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), John Skerrit, said his organisation is working closely to stop the spread of the medication.

'It's very easy to promote things that are too good to be true, or can have harmful effects,' Skerrit said.

The TGA is currently investigating a number of companies selling melanotan and other dangerous medications.
A grieving daughter has been convicted of weapons offences after police caught her proudly displaying her late karate expert father's ceremonial Samurai sword above her mantelpiece at home.

Care assistant Jayne Burgess, 55, had been left the curved Japanese katana by martial arts instructor Roy Elden - a 6th Dan and an approved 'Sensei' - after he was given the item as a gift for his devotion to the sport.

But police raided the property after Burgess' wife Melanie dialled 999 following a drunken row over who should inherit jewellery belonging to Mr Elden.

A court heard Melanie claimed her spouse of 14 years Burgess had taken down the sword in a fit of rage and whilst the blade was still in its sheath, threatened to 'chop off her hand and fingers' saying: 'At least it will mean you cannot get the jewellery.'

Jayne Burgess (right) pictured with her wife Melanie, left. Police spotted the samurai sword after being called to the property after a drunken row between the two, a court heard

Jayne Burgess pictured with her late father Roy Elden. Burgess was convicted of weapons offences after police caught her displaying her late karate expert father's ceremonial samurai sword above her mantelpiece at her home in Stockport

Roy Elden pictured in his martial arts heyday. Mr Elden, a 6th Dan and an approved 'Sensei', was awarded a ceremonial samurai sword as a gift for his devotion to the sport. He died in 2013

Stock image of a katana sword, similar to the one seized by police who raided Burgess' home

No action was taken over the alleged threats after the couple, from Portwood, Stockport, Greater Manchester, kissed and made up, but police charged Burgess with a little-known offence of possessing a bladed article in a private place which came into force last year and carries a maximum of 12 months in jail.

What does the law say about keeping offensive weapons, knives, bladed and pointed articles at home? Alterations to the Offensive Weapons Act 2019, which came into force last July, made it illegal to have curved swords with a blade larger than 50cm at home. It also introduced new offences such as threatening with a blade, offensive weapon or corrosive substance in a private place and possession of certain prohibited knives in a private place. It carries a maximum sentence of 12 months in jail. A private place is defined as a place other than a public place such as school premises, further education premises, or a prison. Offensive weapons include knuckledusters, handclaws, butterfly knives, death stars, zombie knives and spiral knives. Prior to the changes made, where the police find a zombie knife, a flick knife or a butterfly knife, for example, in someones home, they could only take action and remove the knife in question if it is considered to be evidence in a criminal investigation. Advertisement

Previously suspects carrying knives could only be arrested if they were caught in a public place.

The ceremonial sword was confiscated as part of the investigation and was later ordered to be destroyed.

Mr Elden who specialised in the Japanese Shukokai Karate passed away in 2013, aged in his 80s.

At Stockport Magistrates Court, Burgess who cares for dementia patients and who has never previously been in trouble with police, admitted the charge and was conditionally discharged for 18 months.

Gareth Hughes, prosecuting said: 'The police were only alerted to the existence of the weapon when Burgess's partner Mel called the police after a domestic dispute they had last April.

'The defendant and her partner had been drinking and got into an argument about who would take ownership of Burgess's late father's jewellery. Her father died nine years ago.'

'This argument got heated and at one point the defendant armed herself with the sword and made threats towards Mel. According to reports she threatened to 'chop her hand and fingers off if it meant she could not get the jewellery.'

'When later questioned by Police, the defendant admitted that her intention was to intimidate her partner with the Samurai Sword. It was fortunate that the blade was in its sheath when it was used to threaten her partner otherwise this would have been a much more serious issue.

'Mel had called the police to their address and the defendant was subsequently arrested once they discovered the offensive weapon. After questioning, where the defendant was fully compliant with officers, she was released on bail and later released under investigation.'

In mitigation defence lawyer Simon Morton said the two metre long sword belonged to her late father who taught karate in Crewe and now has a karate trophy named after him.

Jayne Burgess (right) pictured outside Stockport Magistrates Court with her wife Melanie (left) after being charged with weapons offences for displaying her late father's ceremonial samurai sword above her mantelpiece

Jayne Burgess pictured with her late father Roy Elden on her wedding day. He died in 2013

'He was a 6th Dan martial artist and the sword was given to him as a reward for his time in the sport,' said Mr Morton.

'The defendant had always had it in her house since her father died, just sitting on the mantelpiece in its sheath.'

'She and her partner were going through a difficult time at that point and it just became a big part of her day-to-day life. She has sought the help of alcoholic action groups since this incident and is trying to make a positive change in her life.

'She and her partner, who is in court today, are living back together now and things are getting back to normal. They have just got back from a holiday in Turkey and the relationship has been rebuilt.'

Roy Elden was a martial arts instructor, 6th Dan and approved 'Sensei'

'The delay in proceedings, over a year now, has been taxing on the couple and they just want to move on from this.'

'Many people across the country will be unknowingly committing the same offence of possession as Ms Burgess, but of course, ignorance of the law is no defence.

Alterations to the Offensive Weapons Act 2019, which came into force last year made it illegal to have curved swords with a blade larger than 50cm at home.

In sentencing, lead magistrate Paul Dunn said: 'After listening to what has been said by both counsel, we do consider this a serious matter.

'The fact that you have used the weapon in a private manner and that you were under the influence of alcohol does not excuse you for your actions.'

'However, you are clearly remorseful and you have gone out and got the help you need without the assistance or direction of the court. Therefore, if I were to involve probation it would be similar to what you have already done.'

Burgess was also ordered to pay 107 in costs and a victim surcharge.




The justice ministry on Wednesday put up a pre-legislation notice about a law revision on lowering the age of criminal responsibility by one year from the current 14, officials said Wednesday.







Currently, minors aged between 10 and 14  referred to as criminal minors  cannot be convicted of a crime in Korea. If such children commit offenses, they are referred to community service programs or youth correction institutions.







Under the new revised law, criminal minors will exclude 13-year-olds, and they will be subject to criminal punishment if they commit a crime.







The new law comes in line with an earlier campaign pledge by President Yoon Suk-yeol to lower the criminal age limit by two years to 12. (Yonhap)


He said that he wanted to 'murder' federal agents and 'mail a feds head back to his wife'

The extremist shared a sick meme online about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, who was attacked in their $6m home with a hammer

McKillips is a member of the Boogaloo Bois, a militia group which seeks to overthrow the government and spark a second Civil War

He has been charged with unlawful possession of a machine gun and interstate communication of threats

Aron McKillips, 29, was arrested by the FBI after stockpiling guns and creating a homemade Ar-15 rifle with a grenade launcher

The FBI has swooped on a far-right extremist who stockpiled silencers and bomb-making materials as well as building his own machine guns in a plot to 'kill as many government officials as possible'.

Aron McKillips was arrested by members of a task force from the FBI's Cleveland Division on Tuesday and is a 'well known member' of the Boogaloo Bois  a militia group.

The 29-year-old is part of the Ohio branch of the group, which seeks to overthrow the government by sparking off a second Civil War.

He has been charged with unlawful possession of a machine gun and interstate communication of threats.

McKillips also posted a sick meme mocking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband Paul after he was attacked with a hammer by an intruder last week.

A criminal complaint unsealed in Toledo federal court revealed that McKillips regularly spoke to other members about his violent plans, according to the Daily Beast.

Investigators claim he wanted to 'blow up the IRS', destroy Facebook headquarters and carry out a copycat attack of the 2017 deadly mass shooting at a Las Vegas concert which killed 58 people.

Aron McKillips was arrested by members of a task force from the FBI's Cleveland Division on Tuesday and is a 'well known member' of the Boogaloo Bois  a militia group

He has been charged with unlawful possession of a machine gun and interstate communication of threats

McKillips shared a disgraceful meme regarding the brutal attack on Paul Pelosi last week, which saw the 82-year-old attacked with a hammer and forced to undergo brain surgery

He also expressed a desire to detonate a pipe bomb at a local child support office last year over processing fees.

In an audio recording in a Signal chart room, which had several federal informants in it, McKillips said: 'The main f***ing beginning was kill feds, kill police, kill government officials.

'Kill them. Murder them. Unalive them. Delete them. Get rid of them. And then it became 'we're gonna do this peaceful.' F*** that.'

He also spoke about 'burning down federal buildings' and 'shooting federal agents', adding 'this s*** started out being a f***ing way to kill feds.'

McKillips was also heard complaining that no one wanted to 'raid a government building' with him, before saying that he wanted to 'mail a feds head back to his wife'.

The 29-year-old is part of the Ohio branch of the group, which seeks to overthrow the government by sparking off a Civil War

The arrest comes days after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had her house targeted by David DePape, 42, who fractured her husbands skull in a brutal attack

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

The arrest comes days after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had her house targeted by David DePape, 42, who fractured her husbands skull in a brutal attack.

DePape, a help jewelry maker, broke into their $6million San Francisco home and hit Paul, 82, over the head with a hammer after shouting 'Where is Nancy'.

He reportedly had a 'hit list' of other politicians that he wanted to target as well as an anti-government manifesto.

McKillips shared a disgraceful meme regarding the brutal attack, which saw Paul undergo brain surgery.

Neil McElroy, his court-appointed attorney, confirmed that he was due to appear before a judge yesterday.

In an audio recording in a Signal chart room, which had several federal informants in it, McKillips said: 'The main f***ing beginning was kill feds, kill police, kill government officials'

The Pelosi's own a four-bedroom San Francisco home that sits in the middle of her congressional district and was purchased in 2007 for $2.2 million but is thought to be worth at least $6 million now

McKillips was also heard complaining that no one wanted to 'raid a government building' with him, before saying that he wanted to 'mail a feds head back to his wife'

Boogaloo Bois: Far-right extremists who want a second Civil War... but are named after 1984 breakdancing movie The Boogaloo Bois believes in a coming second U.S. Civil War, which they refer to as the 'boogaloo'. During 2020, Boogaloo adherents increasingly attended protests and riots, and they often sought to capitalize on high tensions to incite violence and chaos. The group is named after a 1980s film about breakdancing and is generally associated with the extreme right. While some Boogaloo adherents promote white supremacist beliefs, others have also been known to provide security at Black Lives Matter protests. At least two people who participated in the January 6 Capitol riots are associated with the movement. The group believes that there will be a coming uprising against the government, and actively prepare for the eventuality. The group is named after a 1980s film about breakdancing and is generally associated with the extreme right It is thought that the movement originated on 4chan's /k/ imageboard, which is dedicated to discussions about weapons and firearms. In March 2020, police in Potomac, Maryland, shot and killed Duncan Lemp while serving a no-knock search warrant related to Lemp's alleged illegal possession of firearms. In the wake of Lemp's killing, individuals shared memes on Boogaloo social media groups, listing his name next to those of Black Americans killed by police, such as Breonna Taylor, implying they were all victimized by the same strain of police brutality. In December 2020, two affiliates of a Boogaloo network called the Boojahideen pled guilty to conspiring to support the foreign terrorist organization Hamas in exchange for money to finance Boogaloo activities. In February 2021, the FBI arrested two members of a different Boogaloo network, the United Pharaoh's Guard, for criminal activities committed while providing security, namely walking alongside marchers and escorting demonstrators to their cars, during racial justice protests in the aftermath of the killing of Breonna Taylor by police in Louisville, Kentucky. Advertisement

McKillips was initially arrested by the Sandusky Police Department on New Year's Eve 2020, with officer finding 'several hundred rounds of 5.56mm and 9mm ammunition, body armor, AR-15 rifle upper receiver, parachute flares, medical kits, firearm components, and military style equipment' in the rear of his car.

Cops also found two marijuana roaches in the center console in the centre console, issuing him a citation and releasing him.

In January last year half a dozen confidential informants provided investigators with screenshots from a Signal chat in which a photo of an AR-15 -style rifle with a grenade launched was posted.

The profile  called PrisonOh, meaning Prison Ohio - was linked to an Ohio phone number which was linked back to McKillips home address.

McKillips claimed that the government took money from him and he still owed them money, before offering to sell the gun with a grenade launcher attached as well as three 'flash bang's and a pouch which holds three rifle magazines.

He also sent his approval for another Boogaloo member who killed a law enforcement officer, as well as claiming he filled the top of his door with Tannerite  which would cause it to explode if it was shot with a gun.

In April 2021 McKillips is accused of supplying drop-in auto sears, firearm attachments which turn semi-automatic firearms into fully automatic gun, to several Boogaloo Bois in Michigan.

Prosecutors say McKillips instructed them as to how it worked, before performing a function check on the weapons themselves.

He also discussed trading the devices for a silencer, and McKillips later boasted about 'handing out machine guns in Michigan'.

McKillips admitted that he wanted to 'shoot someone in the chest with a grenade launcher' and said if her were arrested 'he would not be taken alive'  claiming he slept with his rifle.

Another informant then told investigators that McKillips attended a protest at Richland County Jail in Mansfield, Ohio, to support a prisoner who had been killed by a corrections officer.

In June McKillips attended a Black Lives Matter protest in Louisville, providing security and blocking off traffic for other protesters.

He also complained that he didn't have a 'federal badge of a corpse' so his time wasn't done before adding 'I'm only here for the violence'.

The extremist supported burning down Walmart, Target and the White house but said 'leave Sears alone cause they got really good selection of tools and stuff cause I'm poor'.

During 2022 McKillips is accused of continuing to build automatic rifles, bragging that he was ready to do 'God's work'.

In April he posted an image of himself driving on the highway with the comment 'omw to raid Columbus ATF office', before posting a picture of an AR-15 pointing at a police car.

Last month he claimed that he thought he was going to be raided by law enforcement, adding: 'Needless to say 2 cops were on the corner I didn't notice at first, so now my AR is on my chest.'

McKillips is also reportedly a member of the New Sons of Liberty (NSOL) militia group, which advocates violence in pursuit of a far-right future.
Dwyane Wade's ex-wife has accused him of exploiting their 15-year-old transgender daughter for financial gain and is begging a court to intervene to stop her from changing her name and gender on her birth certificate.

In court papers filed this week that were obtained by The Blast, Siohvaughn Funches-Wade, the star's first wife and mother of his two oldest children, begged a judge to impose an order that would ban their 15-year-old daughter Zaya from legally changing her gender from male to female until she is 18.

Zaya, as she is now known, came out aged 12 in 2019. Since then, she has won modelling contracts with brands like Tiffany, Dove and amassed hundreds of thousands of social media followers. According to her mother, she is also in talks for deals with Disney.

She often appears on red carpets with her father and stepmother Gabrielle Union, who have spoken frequently in interviews about their acceptance of the child and her choice.

But the teen's mother fears she is being pressured into the permanent change by her father, who is 'poised to profit' from the transition.

She is fighting to block the gender and name change, and wants Zaya to make the decision for herself once she is 18.

Dwyane Wade with Zaya, 15, and his wife Gabrielle Union, who have spoken openly about accepting the child's choice to transition from male to female

Zaya with Siohvaughn Funches-Wade, who fears her ex-husband is exploiting her for financial gain. She wants Zaya to wait until she is 18 before legally changing her gender from male to female

'I have concerns that (Dwyane) may be pressuring our child to move forward with the name and gender change in order to capitalize on the financial opportunities that he has received from companies,' she said in her legal filing.

It was a response to an August petition by Wade to allow Zaya to legally change her name from Zion Malachi Airamis Wade to Zaya Malachi Airamis Wade.

In his August filing, the former athlete claimed he had legal right to make decisions on his daughter's behalf, and that he was only informing his ex-wife 'as a courtesy'.

Wade obtained full custody of the boys when he divorced their mother in 2011. In a 2012 interview with MailOnline, the boys' mother detailed her agony at losing them to her ex after a four year court battle.

She believes he was only awarded custody because of his money and fame.

'I think influence had a lot to do with it. Celebrity had a lot to do with it. Money had a lot to do with it,' she said at the time.

Wade fought bitterly for custody of the kids. During the divorce, Funches' own attorneys cited her struggles with mental health.

Now, she says her ex-husband is 'poised' to profit from the transition.

She cited a conversation in April during which she claims Dwyane told her 'that a lot of money had been already made and that additional money will be made in relation to our childs name and gender issue.'

'(Dwyane) told me that he intended to make our child very famous due to the name and gender issue and also informed me that there would be endorsements/contracts associated therewith,' she claims.

'I am concerned that our child is being commercialized at a young age and also of the uncontrollable consequences of media exposure i.e. cyberbullying, statements and/or pictures taken out of context of our child, and the unwanted spotlight focused on our child.'

The law is murky when it comes to divorced parents agreeing on and making decisions on behalf of their transgender children.

In her filing, Siohvaughn claims that Dwyane is legally required to consult her on 'major decisions affecting care, welfare, activities, health, education and religious upbringing'.

But Dwyane says he is entitled to make the decision on Zaya's behalf, regardless of her mother's input.

Zaya was Zion (far right) until she came out aged 12. She is shown with older brother Zaire and mother Siohvaughn

Siohvaughn and Wade were legally married between 2002 and 2010. They also share older son Zaire, 20, but Wade won full custody of the boys in 2011 after a lengthy court battle

Since coming out as transgender aged 12, Zaya has won modeling contracts with brands like Tiffany. She is shown attending Paris Fashion Week last month

Zaya with older brother Zaire, stepmother Gabrielle Union, father Dwyane and half-sister, three-year-old Kaavia James

Wade has been supportive of Zaya's transition since she came out to him in 2019. Above, one of his supportive Instagram remarks

Neither Union nor Wade has publicly responded to the claims. The pair are currently in Africa celebrating Union's 50th birthday.

A hearing has been set for December to determine whether Zaya can change her name and sex without her mother's agreement.

Siohvaughn and Wade were married between 2002 and 2010. They also share older son Zaire, 20.

In her 2012 interview with MailOnline, she told how the pair had been childhood sweethearts when he was drafted to the NBA.

'He was like nothing I see now. He was very humble, very shy,' she said. She begged him not to enter the NBA.

'We had just got married and had a child. I wanted time to settle, to build as a family. I asked him to choose between his family or him and he chose his family,' she said.

The following year, he signed an $8.5million contract and became an overnight star.

She blames his rising star for the breakdown of their marriage.

Among Zaya's new modeling jobs is a contract with Tiffany. She appeared in a recent campaign for the jewelry brand

Zaya and Union also took part in a Dove campaign earlier this year

Dwyane has spoken openly and frequently about his daughter's transition and is now an LGBTQ advocate. He is shown on Ellen, describing how Zaya came out to the family

Wade met Union in 2007 while the pair co-hosted a Super Bowl party. He filed for divorce later that year.

Since 2019, Wade and Union have described how Zaya came out to them, and how they now know her as her 'authentic self'.

'Our (then) 12-year-old came home...and said, "Hey, I want to talk to you guys. I think going forward I'm ready to live my truth and I want to be referenced as she and her and I would love for you guys to call me Zaya,"' he told Ellen DeGeneres during an appearance on her show.

In a later interview with People, he said Zaya's transition gave him 'hope'.

He first spoke of her transition in 2019 on Matt Barnes' podcast, All The Smoke.

'I had to look myself in the mirror. When my son at the time was three years old and me and my wife start having conversations about us noticing that he wasn't on the boy vibe that [older brother] Zaire was on.

'I had to look myself in the mirror and say "what if your son comes home and tells you he's gay?" What are you going to do?

'You're going to talk about strength and courage. My 12 year old has way more than I have. You can learn something from your kids. In our household, that's all we talk about. We talk about making sure our kids be seen by each of us. We want them to be whoever they feel they can be in this world. That's our goal.

'I watched my son, from day one, become into who she now eventually has come into.

'And for me, it's all about: Nothing changes with my love. Nothing changes in my responsibilities. So, all I had to do now is get smarter, educate myself more. And thats my job,' he said.
Stunt is accused of laundering tens of millions of pounds. He denies all charges

He also said that a 'traumatic' burglary saw him 'garrotted and pistol whipped'

Stunt said Petra Ecclestone left him weeks after throwing him a birthday party

James Stunt has told his 266million money-laundering trial how he was dumped by his billionaire heiress ex-wife just weeks after she threw him a 'lavish' birthday bash - which featured a performance from Sean Combs aka P Diddy.

Stunt, 40, told a jury at Leeds Cloth Hall Court today how Formula 1 heiress Petra Ecclestone picked up the bill for his 35th at the exclusive London nightclub Tramp - which was held in honour of his older brother Lee Stunt, who had died months earlier.

He also revealed how he was the subject of a 'traumatic' burglary which saw him 'garrotted and pistol whipped', and told the court that he had bundles of cash due to his gambling habit.

The revelations came as Stunt is accused of being at the centre of a money-laundering operation which involved the transfer of tens of millions of pounds in cash between his company and NatWest bank. He denies all charges.

Recalling his birthday party in honour of his late brother, he said: 'It was the only time we smiled since he died.'

The 'lavish' affair featured P.Diddy, who Stunt said performed and 'waived half the fee because it was me.'

'It was a lovely event and Diddy sang an emotional song,' he said.

His wife Petra Ecclestone 'picked up the bill as a birthday present' but within weeks their marriage had collapsed.

'We separated over a trivial argument that snowballed two months later,' he told the jury.

Recalling the party, he added: 'She gets up on stage and says if we can get through last year we can get through anything but two months later she leaves. It was nothing to do with this trial.'

Stunt denied the prosecution claim that he became involved in money-laundering in 2015 when his marriage was falling apart and the 'river of money' from the Ecclestone family was drying up.

James Stunt, 40, the former husband of heiress Petra Ecclestone, has been accused of being at the centre of a 266million money-laundering operation (Pictured: Stunt arriving with new girlfriend Helena Robinson at Leeds Cloth Hall Court on Wednesday)

He also revealed how he was the subject of a 'traumatic' burglary which saw him 'garrotted and pistol whipped', and told the court that he had bundles of cash due to his gambling habit

Stunt pictured with his then fiancee Petra Ecclestone in 2011

Petra pictured with her father Bernie Ecclestone on the day of her 2011 wedding in Rome

Stunt told a jury at Leeds Cloth Hall Court that he habitually held large quantities of cash for gambling and even had a 'strong room' in his Los Angeles marital home (pictured)

On one occasion in 2012 Stunt allegedly provided mother-in-law Slavica Ecclestone (pictured with Bernie Ecclestone) with 500,000 cash to help him buy a 2million Monet painting. She was needed to help as she was a Swiss resident, he said

'It was a falsehood, there was no problem with my marriage whatsoever at that point,' he said.

Stunt claimed he became 'more ostentatious' after his marriage split and continued to give cash away generously.

Describing how his life spiralled out of control from 2016, he said his brother Lee's death in September, followed days later by a police raid on his offices in Mayfair, had a devastating impact.

The following year he said his wife left him and he also became addicted to cocaine.

The other trauma was an aggravated burglary at his home in which he said he was 'struck with a gun butt and garroted' and a gun held to his girlfriend Helena Robinson's head by raiders.

'I took cocaine for the first time after my brother's death and my wife leaves me and took my children, get burgled and pistol whipped and called a liar,' he said.

He added: 'What have they done to the justice system to make them treat me this way?'

Stunt also recalled happier times at the start of his relationship with Petra.

James Stunt threw 'lavish' parties with his former wife Petra Ecclestone, featuring performances from P.Diddy and Rihanna, court hears James Stunt today revealed to a jury how he would organise lavish parties with his ex-wife and billionaire heiress Petra Ecclestone. Stunt is accused of being at the centre of a money-laundering operation which involved the transfer of tens of millions of pounds in cash between his company and NatWest bank. He denies all charges. At trial today, Stunt said his wife Petra left him two months after paying for a lavish 35th birthday party for him. The party at London club Tramp was held in honour of his older brother Lee Stunt who died months earlier. 'It was the only time we smiled since he died,' he said. The 'lavish' affair featured Sean Combs, also known as P.Diddy, who performed and Stunt said 'waived half the fee because it was me.' 'It was a lovely event and Diddy sang an emotional song,' he said. His wife Petra Ecclestone 'picked up the bill as a birthday present' but within weeks their marriage had collapsed. Stunt also recalled happier times at the start of his relationship with Petra. He said they had a lavish engagement party in which Rihanna performed and 'pretty much anyone who was anyone was there.' His wedding at a castle in Rome was even more lavish, he said. 'It was a rather decadent affair, a bit too much,' he recalled. Eric Clapton played the first dance, the Black Eyed Peas, Alicia Keys and David Guetta were also entertaining guests who included 'several' members of the royal family, the Rothschild banking family and the Hiltons, the court heard. Advertisement

He said they had a lavish engagement party in which Rihanna performed and 'pretty much anyone who was anyone was there.'

His wedding at a castle in Rome was even more lavish, he said.

'It was a rather decadent affair, a bit too much,' he recalled.

Eric Clapton played the first dance, the Black Eyed Peas, Alicia Keys and David Guetta were also entertaining guests who included 'several' members of the royal family, the Rothschild banking family and the Hiltons, the court heard.

Early in the marriage he lived with Petra in 'America's biggest house' in Los Angeles, where he employed 30 to 50 domestic staff.

He drove a fleet of two Rolls Royces, two Bentleys, two Range Rovers and 'a few' Lamborghinis, he said.

Stunt earlier told how he habitually held large quantities of cash for gambling and even had a 'strong room' in his Los Angeles marital home - and once even gave his mother-in-law 500,000 in bills to help him buy a 2million Monet painting.

He said it was 'my cash', claiming: 'It was predominantly gambling winnings tax-free from a casino.'

Stunt told the court sometimes he would 'gamble' with his former father-in-law Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula 1 tycoon, saying: 'He would pay me cash rather than a bookie.'

The socialite, who previously described himself as the 'world's second biggest gambler' said he went to all the top casinos in London.

'I had a 5million credit line in every casino in London and Las Vegas,' he told the jury.

And he said cash was readily available to him. In 2012, he provided his mother-in-law Slavica with 500,000 in cash to help him buy a 2million Monet painting. She was needed to help as she was a Swiss resident, he said.

The tycoon was asked about his company's 'joint venture' with Bradford-based gold bullion dealer Fowler Oldfield.

Stunt said under the deal, he kept 70 per cent of profits because 'we had the money' and Fowler Oldfield, who were 'bringing customers' for the gold business, were entitled to 30 per cent.

The court heard Stunt's business plan was to source 'raw' gold and turn it into high-quality gold bars using a refinery in Sheffield.

The prosecution claim the operation used criminal cash that passed through the offices of Stunt and Co and into the NatWest bank account of Fowler Oldfield and that it was a money-laundering scheme to turn that 'dirty cash' into untraceable gold.

Although he allowed his business partners Greg Frankel and Alexander Tulloch to use his two apartments at Chelsea Harbour rent-free, he insisted there was nothing criminal about it and that being generous was just 'who I am'.

Heidi Buckler, 45, Greg Frankel, 44, Paul Miller, 45, Haroon Rashid, 51, Daniel Rawson, 45, Francesca Sota, 34, Stunt and Alexander Tulloch, 41, all deny money-laundering. Stunt and Sota also deny forgery.

The court heard that Stunt's business plan was to source 'raw' gold and turn it into high quality gold bars using a refinery in Sheffield (Pictured: Stunt arriving with new girlfriend Helena Robinson at Leeds Cloth Hall Court on Wednesday)

Stunt (pictured with Petra and Bernie Ecclestone) has denied the allegations of money laundering and forgery

During last week's proceedings, Stunt sensationally addressed the size of his genitals and insisted that 'I don't think we need to get the microscope out' when giving evidence for the first time.

He said despite coming across as a 'glammy moron', he also had a 'hyperintelligent' understanding of business.

The businessman admitted to jurors how he 'played up' to his image and enjoyed 'living it up'.

'Having your life laid bare like this, we have to examine the good, the bad and the ugly, and I do play up to the public image sometimes, but there's also insecurity', he told the court.

'People say about me, 'you must have the smallest penis in the world' and there must be some truth in that, metaphorically speaking  but I don't think we need to get a microscope out.'

He also said he and his ex-wife used mobile phones to communicate in their Los Angeles mansion because it was 'so massive' - as the court was shown a photo of the grinning socialite posing with King Charles.

The court had heard of Stunt's various associations with the King in the past.

He told the court that the then Prince of Wales had written a eulogy for the funeral of Stunt's older brother Lee, 37, in 2016, which was read out at the service.

The court was previously shown a picture of James Stunt with the-then Prince of Wales, Charles, which the defendant said was taken either at Clarence House or St James's Palace

Stunt's many charitable donations included 65,000 to the Prince's Trust and 50,000 to Dumfries House.

He told the jury he once leant office space to his friend Sir Michael Peat, Charles' former principal private secretary.

Asked about the photograph by his barrister Richard Fisher KC, Stunt said he could not be sure exactly when it was taken but confirmed it was between 2014 and 2016, the period covered by the criminal indictment.

He said: 'That's now King Charles III, was the Prince of Wales. It was taken either at Clarence House or St James' Palace.

'I can't be sure which, but not Buckingham Palace. I visited Buckingham Palace, but that wasn't this occasion. There is more than one photo of me and His Majesty'.

The trial continues.
Kaliningrad airport is accepting flights from the Middle East and North Africa in echoes of 2021's crisis

Poland has begun working on a 130-mile fence amid concerns Russia is planning to amass migrants

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The Polish government today announced the construction of a 130-mile razor-wire fence along the border with Russia's exclave of Kaliningrad to prevent illegal crossings.

Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak announced the decision amid concerns in Warsaw that Russia plans to orchestrate an influx of migrants.

'The airport in Kaliningrad is now accepting flights from the Middle East and North Africa. I decided to take action to enhance the security of the Polish border,' Blaszczak told reporters.

'Already today work will begin... on a temporary barrier' along the 130-mile border, he added.

He said the razor-wire fence will be 8ft high and 10ft wide, and will also feature an electronic monitoring system and cameras.

Kaliningrad airport is accepting flights from the Middle East and North Africa. Polish authorities said they are concerned Russia is planning to encourage migrants to head to Poland to destabilise the country

Polish soldiers install barbed wire along Polish border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, near Zerdziny village, north-eastern Poland, 02 November 2022

Polish Defence Minister on 02 November said he had taken the decision to construct a barrier on the country's eastern border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad

Moscow 'will reveal evidence UK helped Crimea attack' Moscow will 'in the near future' summon the British ambassador to hand over 'evidence' of its claim that the UK helped orchestrate an attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea, the foreign ministry said Wednesday. Russia has claimed UK 'specialists' helped Kyiv launch a drone attack on the fleet in Moscow-annexed Crimea at the weekend. Russia has also accused London of being behind September explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipelines. Russian authorities have so far provided no proof to back up their claims. 'The UK ambassador will be summoned and will be given the appropriate materials,' foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, adding the meeting would take place 'in the near future.' 'The basic materials will be handed over as evidence to the British side and will also be shown to the general public,' she added. Advertisement

Poland already built a steel wall last year along its border with Russian ally Belarus after a migrant influx there.

Tens of thousands of migrants and refugees, mostly from the Middle East, have crossed or attempted to cross into Poland from Belarus since 2021.

Poland's border guard and NGOs on site continue to report dozens of attempted illegal crossings there on a daily basis.

The West believes the influx was orchestrated by Minsk to destabilise the region, a charge denied by the Belarusian regime.

Poland sent thousands of troops and police officers to reinforce border guard patrols at the height of the crisis and approved a law allowing migrants to be forced back into Belarus.

The so-called pushbacks, and the government's overall tough anti-migration stance, drew condemnation from activists and aid organisations.

Lithuania, too, already has a fence along its border with Russia in Vistytis.

The existing fence skirts the Suwalki Gap, a stretch of land along the Lithuanian and Polish border between Kaliningrad and Russia-loyal Belarus, which is thought to be an important chokepoint into Europe by Russian strategists.

The news comes after four Russian fighter jets were intercepted after taking off from Kaliningrad and forced to return to base after they infringed on Polish air space in early October.

Reports came that the jets also infringed on Swedish airspace. Poland is a long-time member of NATO having joined in 1999, while Sweden earlier this year applied for membership to the security bloc alongside Nordic neighbour Finland.

Migrants aiming to cross into Poland are seen in a camp near the Bruzgi-Kuznica border crossing on the Belarusian-Polish border on November 17, 2021

Lithuania already has a fence along its border with Russia. It runs along the Lithuanian border with the Kaliningrad enclave

Footage shows 100 Russian recruits mutiny and refuse to be sent to Ukraine after learning 4,200 lump sum they were promised has NOT been paid to their families

By Will Stewart for MailOnline

A mutiny ignited in Ulyanovsk after more than 100 mobilised Russians refused to be sent to the frontline to fight against Ukraine, footage shows.

The troops revolted because Vladimir Putins officials failed to pay a 'promised' payment of 4,200 to their families in the impoverished Chuvashia region, they claimed.

A female military officer is earlier seen remonstrating with the uniformed men, amid reports that national guards and OMON riot police were called in to suppress the insubordination.

The officer tells them: 'Guys, I didnt promise you 300,000 [roubles].'

'Its clear  we were f***ing fooled,' said one mutineer.

The money was meant to go to their families in the impoverished Chuvashia region. 'Its clear - we were f***ing fooled,' said one mutineer as the female officer tries to address their concerns

More than 100 mobilised Russians are refusing to be sent to Ukraine's frontline because officials failed to give their families a 'promised' payment equalling 4,200. A female military officer is seen remonstrating with the uniformed men

Senior Russian military leaders have discussed when and how to use tactical nukes in Ukraine: US officials Senior Russian military leaders have discussed when and how they would use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, multiple US officials have claimed. The officials talked about scenarios in which they would use nuclear weapons, showing how frustrated the generals are about setbacks on the battlefield in Ukraine. They did not talk about using the weapons with Russian president Vladimir Putin - but the conversations have heightened concern about the prospect of a nuclear Armageddon. US government officials learned about the discussions in mid-October, as Moscow's nuclear rhetoric intensified, reports The New York Times. It comes after Putin joked about the prospect of a nuclear war last week. The Kremlin leader was asked to reassure an audience at the Valdai Discussion Club think-tank that the world is not on the verge of nuclear annihilation  and chose to respond with a long pause. When host Fyodor Lukyanov pointed out his silence was 'alarming', a smirking Putin responded: 'I did that on purpose so you would be on your guard. The effect has been achieved.' Advertisement

The incident reportedly followed an earlier failed attempt to pacify the furious recruits by army officers.

us recruits by army officers.

The military unit was undergoing training in Ulyanovsk before they are due to be sent to the front.

The General Staff of Ukraine has previously said that Russian private military companies were conscripting inmates from prisons in the city to fight in the war.

Critics say the call-up is sending men as cannon fodder to the front, but thousands have been lured by promises of payments far higher than their usual salaries.

'I came here from Moscow,' said one enlisted reservist in the mutiny, furious that money did not reach his family. 'Because this is the Motherland, and the President appealed to us all.'

He declared: 'When I came to the enlistment office, the military commissar told me "As soon as you get there, there will be a one time payment of 300,000 roubles [4,200] within two, three days"'

The money was meant to go to their families in the impoverished Chuvashia region, but it never arrived.

Mobilised men are heard demanding: 'Who fooled us?'

Others said, 'Its hopeless adding: Why are we even here?

The female military officer tells them that the promise of an advance payment was in a draft law by the Communist Party, and was not ratified.

One recruit hits back: 'They should give back their party IDs and go themselves then'

This is when a man is heard saying: 'Its clear we were f***ing fooled.'

Another clip shows what appears to be the same soldiers taking to the streets in the night and chanting slogans.

'Dear, citizens of the Russian Federation, mobilised servicemen of the Chuvash Republic appeal to you!

'We are risking our lives to die for your safety and your peaceful life!'

An open letter from the men also emerged with a different figure for the sum they had not been paid.

'Our state refuses to pay us the sum of 195,000 [2,750] roubles which we were promised by our President Vladimir Putin!

'Why then would we go to war for this state, leaving our families without support?

'We refuse to participate in the Special Military Operation and will seek justice until we are paid the money promised by our government headed by the President of the Russian Federation!'

Unconfirmed reports say the uprising has been crushed by Putin's forces.
The parents of tragic teenager Harry Dunn have a called on the motorist who struck him to return to the UK for her sentencing.

19-year-old Harry died in August 2019, when he was struck by a car driven by US diplomat's wife Anne Sacoolas outside RAF Croughton, a US military base in Northamptonshire.

On October 20, 45-year-old Sacoolas finally admitted responsibility for Harry's death in a hearing at the Old Bailey, which she attended remotely from the US - drawing gasps from the public gallery.

Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn, the parents of Harry, today told ITV's This Morning they finally feel they can 'get back to some sort of true happy' after Sacoolas entered the guilty plea.

Ms Charles said: 'I promised I'd get him justice so three years on, to hear that guilty plea, it's almost indescribable. The release of tension you don't even realise you're holding onto. Your shoulders come down.

'The many many silent tears that fell down every one of our faces you didn't even expect to come because you don't even dream that moment is going to happen. It was amazing.'

19-year-old Harry Dunn died in August 2019, when he was struck by a car driven by US diplomat's wife Anne Sacoolas outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire

Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn, the parents of Harry, today told ITV's This Morning they finally feel they can 'get back to some sort of true happy' after Sacoolas entered the guilty plea

On October 20, 45-year-old Sacoolas finally admitted responsibility for Harry's death in a hearing at the Old Bailey, which she attended remotely from the US - drawing gasps from the public gallery

Harry was killed when his motorbike collided with a car driving on the wrong side of the road near a US air base in August 2019, with the driver, Sacoolas, a US citizen, given diplomatic immunity and returned to her home country. An extradition request was turned down.

Now, after Ms Charles and Mr Dunn's tireless campaigning for justice for three years, Sacoolas is due to be sentenced later this month.

Of what she's been through, Ms Charles described it as 'a Pandora's Box of hell'.

'We just hope we can get back to some sort of true happy.'

The couple explained how they've 'ignored' Christmas since Harry's death, but the guilty plea has changed everything.

Ms Charles added: 'When we got that guilty plea, for me it was able to look up and say, "Harry, we've done it". My promise is complete. We can do Christmas this year now. We can have a real tree. We can put the presents back under it.

US citizen Sacoolas (pictured in Virginia) was accused of killing the teenage motorcyclist in a road crash outside US military base RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on August 27, 2019

'The last three Christmases we've just pushed it aside and pretend it's not happening, and it's just been another painful day that you have to get through like every other day.

'I think this year we are going to be able to smile - we are going to do Christmas.'

Mr Dunn sa9d that he speaks to a picture of Harry, wishing him 'Good morning, my boy' each day. He explained of this greeting: 'It sort of keeps me going. It's me not letting go in a way, he's always in my life. I think I dread the time that will sort of fade. I don't want that to fade.'

Sacoolas is due for sentencing in the week commencing November 28 and faces up to five years in prison. Mr Dunn's family said they accepted Saccolas's plea to the lesser charge as they 'didn't wish to separate her from her children'.

Sacoolas has been ordered to attend her sentencing hearing in person, but may avoid jail if she remains in the US.

Speaking outside court on October 20, Ms Charles said she 'of course' wants the diplomat to return to the UK for the hearing.

Sacoolas, who appeared via video-link at a previous hearing in the case on September 29, joined the proceedings remotely

A court sketch of Sacoolas (on the screen, right) during her appearance at the Old Bailey. Tim Dunn (right) held his head in his hands as Sacoolas pleaded guilty

The family of Harry Dunn, wearing green in memory of the teenager, arrive at the Old Bailey

Harry Dunn's parents Tim Dunn and Charlotte Charles, pictured here arriving at court on October 20, held their heads in their hands as she pleaded guilty

WHAT IS DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY AND HOW DOES IT APPLY TO HARRY DUNN CASE? By Josh Payne, PA Chief Reporter US citizen Anne Sacoolas has pleaded guilty to causing the death of Harry Dunn by careless driving during virtual proceedings at the Old Bailey. Here, the PA news agency looks at how diplomatic immunity affected the 19-year-old's case, and why Sacoolas was able to appear in court via video-link from her home country. - What is diplomatic immunity? Diplomatic immunity is a legal exemption from certain laws granted to diplomats by the state in which they are working. It ensures they will not be liable to be prosecuted under the host country's laws. It is governed by an international treaty called the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and UK legislation called the Diplomatic Privileges Act. - Why was diplomatic immunity asserted on Anne Sacoolas's behalf? The US Government and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) position is that dependants (such as spouses or children) of US administrative and technical staff at RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire had diplomatic immunity at the time of the crash. The Dunn family have disputed this but the High Court ruled Sacoolas was entitled to immunity in November 2020. - Why could diplomatic immunity be asserted for Sacoolas but not her husband? The Vienna Convention states waivers of immunity must always be 'express'. In an agreement drawn up for RAF Croughton in 1994-95 between the UK and the US, the immunity enjoyed by administrative and technical staff would be waived for actions outside the course of their duties. Dependants were not mentioned in the agreements. - Why was Sacoolas not extradited? An extradition request, submitted by the Home Office in January 2020, was rejected by the US State Department - who described it as 'highly inappropriate'. President Joe Biden's administration said the decision not to extradite Sacoolas was 'final'. - Why has Sacoolas appeared in a UK court virtually? The court's ability to conduct remote proceedings derives from coronavirus legislation, which allows even the most important court sessions, such as plea and sentence hearings, to be done virtually. - Is Sacoolas able to walk away from proceedings? The former head of extradition at the CPS, Nick Vamos, said Sacoolas 'could at any point in these proceedings have simply turned her video-link off and walked away, and there's nothing the court could have done about it'. - Does the conclusion of criminal proceedings mean the end of the Dunn family's campaign? Although the main objectives of their campaign have been achieved, Harry's parents are still to keen for there to be an inquest into their son's death and a parliamentary inquiry. Advertisement

The hearing on October 20 marked the beginning of the end of the three-year battle by Mr Dunn's family, who were sitting in court, for accountability over the crash.

The diplomat had been driving on the wrong side of the road after leaving the airbase on August 27, 2019. She hit the teenager as he was travelling in the opposite direction on his motorbike.

Sacoolas appeared via video-link in Court One of the Old Bailey for a plea and case management hearing this afternoon.

The defendant, who is on unconditional bail, identified herself before entering her pleas before senior judge Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb.

When she was asked how she pleaded to the charge of causing death by dangerous driving, she leaned forward in her chair as she answered not guilty.

When asked how she pleaded to causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving, she stumbled over her words before saying: 'Guilty.'

Gasps rang out from the public gallery where ten of Mr Dunn's family and friends watched on, some of them bursting into tears.

Both of Mr Dunn's parents held their heads in their hands as Sacoolas pleaded guilty.

Telling the court the crown accepted the plea of causing death by careless driving, Mr Atkinson said: 'The Crown recognises putting at risk a vulnerable road user is capable of amounting to dangerous driving.

'The prosecution has taken into account... the mitigation available to this defendant and the balance of justice.

'It has been considered at the very highest level.

'The Crown considers the plea of causing death by careless driving is one that is acceptable.'

Mr Atkinson said the Crown would not be proceeding to trial on the causing death by dangerous driving charge.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said that no evidence was offered to the charge of causing death by dangerous driving, which carries the maximum of 14 years, and directed that a not guilty verdict should be entered.

She told Sacoolas: 'Sentence will be adjourned until a convenient date in the week commencing 28 November 2022.'

The judge said there was no order she could make that could compel Sacoolas to travel to the UK to be sentenced.

'One of the most powerful mitigating features... is the degree of remorse felt by the defendant.

'Attention has rightly been drawn to the remorse demonstrated by Mrs Sacoolas by cooperating in these proceedings at all.

'I direct that Mrs Sacoolas attends court in person to be sentenced.

'I remind everyone that this case concerns the sudden and unexpected death two years ago of a young man who was lawfully riding his motorbike with proper care and attention.

'Personal attendance and voluntary surrender to the court of Mrs Sacoolas for sentence will provide weighty evidence indeed of genuine remorse.'

Sacoolas said she understood.

The judge granted Sacoolas bail ahead of her sentencing on a date in the week commencing November 28.

After the hearing, Harry's mother Charlotte Charles told the PA news agency it was important that Sacoolas 'did what you and I would have to do' when facing the UK justice system, saying they had to 'rely' on the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to carry out 'whatever process they felt was suitable'.

Asked if she was happy the CPS had accepted the plea to the lesser offence of causing death by careless driving, Mrs Charles said: 'Yes, absolutely.

'Before we knew she'd left the country, from day one, alongside fulfilling that promise to Harry, we wanted to make sure that she did do what you and I would have to do.

'Immediately, we said that we didn't wish to separate her from her children. It's not their fault. Some of them were in the car with her that night.

'I can't even begin to imagine what nightmares they've had since then, because from the bits and pieces we do know, it was horrific.

'So with it being a remote process, we were more than happy with that, for their sake. They've always been in the forefront of our mind.

'When you're a mum and you know that you always want to be there to protect your children, her children are still important.

'So we just had to put our faith in our justice system, and we always did have faith in our justice system. And we had to rely on them to carry out whatever process they felt was suitable.

'We've never put any investment of thought or effort or any of our personal time into worrying about that. We're just happy with accountability.'
A Delta flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles had to make an emergency landing after smoke filled the cabin and passengers thought 'this was the end.'

Delta Flight 2846 made an emergency landing in Albuquerque on Tuesday after a mysterious smoke filled both the passenger cabin and the cockpit.

Video filmed onboard shows the cabin filling with smoke from the front end and passenger and podcaster Gary Vaughn said he could only see a 'few rows' in front of him.

'I knew something catastrophic had happened,' he said on his podcast.

'Everybody was crying, everybody was screaming, everybody thought essentially the engines were shut down. And you could hear that we were just kind of gliding...we were still pretty steady. There wasn't turbulence, there wasn't anything.'

The pilot told the 193 passengers that they had 'lost oil pressure in the right engine' and that it had 'lost all power,' Vaughn said.

Throughout the whole process, Vaughn said the four flight attendants were up and handing out water to passengers.

'The pilot had complete control of the plane. I don't think he ever lost control of the plane,' Vaughn said.

'The screaming, crying people definitely thought that this was the end,' he said. 'It was harrowing at best. When you watch movies and see all of the frantic crying and screaming and you hear those types of things, it's exactly what went on.'

A deadheading pilot on the flight reportedly told Vaughn the smoke was from the engine because it had no oil.

Delta Flight 2846 made an emergency landing in Albuquerque on Tuesday after a mysterious smoke filled both the passenger cabin and the cockpit

Passenger video shows the eerie scene as smoke filtered toward the back of the plane, significantly heavier toward the front as an alarm blared

Fellow passenger Mason Weiner said on Twitter that the smoke came from 'burnt oil' in the engine. Another passenger, who goes by Queen Rainey Reigns on Facebook, also claimed the flight crew told passengers there was no oil in the engine and that the plane was 'decreasing in altitude.'

Delta has not released an official reason for the smoke. DailyMail.com has reached out for comment.

The pilots were able to land safely at Albuquerque International Sunport, according FAA Public Affairs Specialist Donnell Evans.

Passengers Gary Vaughn (left) and Queen Rainey Reigns (right) were both on the flight. Vaughn described the moment as being in a movie, saying: 'When I watch disaster movies now, I'll completely under the terror.' Rainey agreed, saying she was 'terrified' and had thought to herself: 'Oh my God, am I going to make it?'

Another passenger Mason Weiner said the pilots landed the plane 'smoothly' and were 'amazing'

'The crew was amazing and made everything as smooth as possible while making an emergency landing in #Albuquerque,' Weiner wrote.

Various videos posted online by passengers show an eerie looking cabin filling with a light smoke, with a significantly heavier plume toward the front of the plane.

As passengers sat calmly, a piercing emergency alarm went off steadily.

When the plane landed on the runway, a member of the flight crew can be heard in Vaughan's video telling passengers to 'keep your seatbelts fastened' while fire crews checked out the plane before it could taxi to the gate.

Rainey also said the plane started smoking when they were over Texas.

'Y'all, it's been a day,' Rainey said. 'So we [were] flying, we [were] in the air on the plane over Texas and the inside of our plane started smoking. The fire alarm is going off, like it's beeping like the house one when there's too much smoke...it was going off.

'The plane is just smoking on the inside,' Rainey, who had been napping on the flight, said on her Facebook Story. 'What can you do 36,000 feet in the air on a smoking plane? You just sit there and pray for the best. That's the realization of it all.

'You just have to talk your way through and affirm your way through it, and that's what I had to do.

The flight path shows the plane had taken off from Atlanta and landed in Albuquerque

#ThankYou   pilots on @delta flight #2846. #Emergency landing with only one engine after Smoke filled the cabin. Our pilots received a round of applause  from stranded passengers. #delta pic.twitter.com/qCN16OXXsv  Matt Johnson (@MattJohnsonNEWS) November 1, 2022

The pilots (pictured) were able to land safely at Albuquerque International Sunport. The FAA is investigating the incident

'It was an experience,' she said. 'I was scared, I was terrified. It was the second scariest that happened in my life...it was a moment of: Oh my God, am I going to make it?'

The plane landed safely and journalist Mark Johnson posted a video of the pilots, thanking them for getting them to Albuquerque.

The FAA is investigating the incident and 193 passengers were rerouted to LAX on a later flight.

Delta Airlines told DailyMail.com in a statement: 'Nothing is important than the safety of our customers and crew.'

Deltas maintenance professionals are looking into the plane's malfunction.

'Delta did a great job,' Vaughn said. 'I think their flight crew was tremendous, they kept everybody calm.'

Vaughn said Delta did offer them a $150 flight credit, but he doesn't think it is enough after the experience they went through.

'When I watch disaster movies now, I'll completely under the terror,' he said. 'It was crazy.'
Rishi Sunak again defended under-pressure Suella Braverman today as he came under pressure to take more action to ease the Channel migrant crisis.

Mr Sunak faced Labour calls to sack the Home Secretary in a fiery Prime Minister's Questions session today.

And he was forced to admit that 'not enough' cases were being processed, amid a massive backlog of people at holding centres in Kent.

Taxpayers are currently paying nearly 7million a day to house tens of thousands of asylum seekers in hotels after the Home Office managed to process just four per cent of asylum claims from people who crossed the Channel last year.

As Labour targeted the Government over the situation on the south coast, party leader Sir Keir Starmer questioned how a broken asylum system could be anyone's fault but the Tories.

And senior opposition backbencher Meg Hillier asked the PM: 'His Home Secretary has leaked information, is overseeing chaos in the Home Office and has broken the law. What will she actually have to do to get the sack?'

With Mrs Braverman sitting close to him, Mr Sunak replied: 'The Home Secretary made an error of judgment but she recognised her mistake and took accountability for her actions.'

He said Ms Braverman has set out 'transparently, in detail a full sequence of events', adding: 'She is now getting on with the job - cracking down on crime, defending our borders, something I know the party opposite has no interest in supporting.'

He added: 'It's that simple, the Home Secretary and I, when it comes to tackling migration, reducing migration, we are on the same page. That party's policy is a blank page.'

Mr Sunak faced Labour calls to sack the Home Secretary in a fiery Prime Minister's Questions session today.

With Mrs Braverman sitting close to him, Mr Sunak replied: 'The Home Secretary made an error of judgment but she recognised her mistake and took accountability for her actions.'

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer questioned how a broken asylum system could be anyone's fault but the Tories.

The Prime Minister has acknowledged 'not enough' asylum claims have been processed.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer asked him in the Commons: 'Of all the people who arrived in small boats last year, how many asylum claims have been processed?'

Rishi Sunak replied: 'Not enough is the answer, very straightforwardly, not enough. That's what we are going to fix. But the honourable gentleman raises this question, what do we do? We have increased the number of processing officials by 80%.

'We are putting an extra 500 more by next March. But if he really was serious about fixing this problem, then he would acknowledge that we do need to tackle the issue of people putting spurious, spurious claims, spurious repeated last-minute claims to frustrate the process. That's how we'll tackle the system.'

Sir Keir said: 'No-one wants open borders on this side of the House. They have lost control of borders on their side of the House.

'Four prime ministers in five years. It's the same old, same old, he stands there and tries to pass the blame.

'If the asylum system is broken, and his lot have been in power for 12 years, how can it be anyone's fault but theirs?'

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: 'People rightly want to see us getting a grip on migration and our borders. Let's look at the record ... he voted against the Nationality and Borders Bill, he said he would scrap the Rwanda partnership, he opposed the ending of free movement of people.

'Border control is a serious, complex issue, but not only does the party opposite not have a plan, they have opposed every single measure we have taken to solve the problem, you can't attack a plan if you don't have a plan.'
Each unit will feature smart-home technology with custom mobile app access to concierge service as well as floor-to-ceiling windows and sky views of the city

Developers project the build of the 100-story structure will not conclude until 2027 - though 87 percent of units have already been sold

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Miami's first supertall skyscraper is on its way up after developers broke ground on the project.

The Waldorf Astoria residential tower will test a number of new building and safety techniques that will allow the 1,049ft tower to remain steady near sea level.

Supertall towers tend to be defined by architects as buildings that rise at least 300 meters or 984 feet and are common in major metropolitan areas like New York and Chicago.

The WA build, however, will be Miami's first and will become the tallest south Florida buildings and the tallest residential building south of New York City.

The development team projects the development will be completed in 2027.

It will feature 205 hotel rooms for guests, as well as 260 luxury condo units - 87 percent of which have already been sold.

The 100-story tower will resemble a series of nine spiraling cubes stacked one on top of the other.

Renderings show what the massive tower will look like against Biscayne Bay. The structure will rise 100 stories and 1,049ft above Miami, becoming the tallest residential building south of New York City

The timetable for construction is about four full years - with a projected end date of 2027 - developers were able to break ground last month

It was designed by Sieger Suarez Architects in collaboration with Carlos Ott. Interiors were dreamt up by California-based interior design firm BAMO.

The hotel - located at 300 Biscayne Boulevard, will be the first Waldorf Astoria to open in Miami, will feature a resort-style pool deck with private cabanas, a spa and fitness center, meetings and boardrooms, indoor and outdoor function spaces and a restaurant called Peacock Alley.

The units that begin in the $2 million range are already sold out, while the top cube residences remain on the market. Prices for those homes begin at $10 million with buyers required to put down 30 percent.

Due to the structure's proximity to sea level, the build requires construction crews to dig deep into the earth, past the porous limestone and water table until they hit the more stable rock below it.

Buildings on Florida's coast cannot shake when hurricane gales approach and developers must meet all current hurricane codes. The developers say the Waldorf building is so heavy and large that the 150-200-knot hurricane strength winds that tend to arrive with the wet season will not affect it.

Managing Partner at PMG - which is developing the building - Ryan Shear, says the building code in Miami is 'the strictest in the country, and that's true about 1,000-foot towers or eight-story towers.'

'There not a city I feel safer in that Miami in terms of hurricane code,' he said.

The property - Waldorf Astoria Residences Miami  will consist of 360 private residences as well as 205 guestrooms and suites within a five-star hotel

So far, 87 percent of the condo units have been sold. All units starting in the $2 million range have been sold, leaving top cube units, which start at $10 million

A rendering showing what one of the residences inside the tower could look like. The building was designed by Sieger Suarez Architects in collaboration with Carlos Ott, with the interiors by California-based interior design firm BAMO

All of the residences will offer 'the latest smart-home technology with custom mobile app access to concierge service'

The builders will also utilize the city's first tuned mass damper, which resembles a large pendulum and will installed at the top of the building to keep it from swaying in the wind.

Developers are also using a technique called deep soil mixing to strengthen the ground beneath the structure so as to cause minimal vibrations to the surrounding buildings during the four projected years of construction.

PMG's chief executive Kevin Maloney told the Wall Street Journal that while other buildings may have required just four months to prepare the foundation of the building, 'it's going to take us a year to get all that structure underground just to support this building.'

PMG has been met with several recent challenges including the massive Hurricane Ian, which caused significant damage across Florida and subsequently sent insurance rates soaring.

The relative state of the US economy and skyrocketing mortgage rates have also not been helpful - though the presale of units prior to construction is helping to offset current costs.

The luxury building will feature a resort-style pool, gym, spa and dining options including Peacock Alley

The building is going up as Miami continues to forge its place as a global capital for commerce, and as well-to-do Americans across the country continue to relocate to the area

Each resident, of which there will be 360, will boast floor-to-ceiling windows as well as up-to-date technological enhancements including a custom concierge service app

However, Maloney says despite current conditions, he expects a completely different financial environment to have set it by 2027, when the building will be done.

'Theres no question the economy is in a dark place and financing is difficult, but you have to understand also that its going to take all of 48 to probably 55 months to build this thing,' he said.

The project is also being developed by Toronto-based private equity firm Greybrook Realty Partners, global investment company Mohari Hospitality, S2 Development and Hilton - the owner of the Waldorf Astoria brand.
Harrowing 911 calls from inside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde reveal the teachers' and students' terror and panic as they desperately waited for police to rescue them.

More than 20 emergency calls, obtained by The Texas Tribune and ProPublica, chronicle the miscommunication that took place on May 24, when 19 students and two teachers were brutally gunned down at the Texas school.

An investigation has since found that state and local law enforcement officials were largely to blame for the mass shooting, as they stood back in the hallways of the elementary school for more than an hour while school shooter Salvador Ramos continued his massacre.

In one of the 911 calls, 10-year-old Khloie Torres tells dispatchers: 'I'm in classroom 112. Please hurry, there is a lot of bodies. Please get help, I don't wanna die. My teacher is dead. Oh my God.'

But it took officers more than 40 minutes to act on her plea  only confronting gunman Salvador Ramos more than 70 minutes after his massacre started.

The fourth-grader was eventually able to make it out of the school alive, even as her friends around her died from their gunshot wounds.

During her 911 call, Khloie stayed on the line for more than 17 minutes before she hung up  fearing Ramos was getting closer, 'taunting' her and her fellow students.

And when the police did not respond nearly 30 minutes later, the brave student called again as she hid in classroom 112, asking once more: 'Can you tell the police to come to my room?'

Khloie Torres, a 10-year-old student at Robb Elementary School, called 911 twice on May 24 to beg for police help as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos continued his rampage. Her father, Ruben, a former Marine, described her actions that day as 'incredible.' Torres was able to survive the mass shooting

An investigation found that state and local police stood back for more than an hour as the gunman continued his rampage

She explained how she tried to help her fellow students and was trying to keep them quiet so as not to alert the shooter  just as her father had taught her.

Ruben, a former Marine, said his daughter's heroism was 'incredible' that day, as he blasted officer's bungled response.

'There was no control. That dude had control the entire 77 minutes. The police didn't go in,' he told the Tribune. 'That's your job: to go in.'

The calls obtained by the Texas Tribune and ProPublica show that officers said they were unaware that anyone was besides the gunman was inside the classrooms. But in others, even Uvalde schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo seemed well aware there were victims inside classrooms 111 and 112.

The Uvalde School District has since fired its police department, while families and local officials are calling on Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw to resign. He insists his department did nothing wrong.

But the newly-released emergency calls seem to tell a different story, with agents seemingly unaware of the children begging for help.

STEM teacher Monica Martinez was among the first to call 911 as she hid in a closet in her classroom at Robb Elementary School

A minute-by-minute break down of how cops waited outside class while kids called 911 11.28am: Gunman crashes truck, gets out of car with AR-15. He is seen by witnesses in a funeral home next to the school who tell 911 they see a man with a gun walking towards the school 11.31: Gunman is now in the parking lot of the school hiding in between vehicles, shooting at the building 11.32: School resource officer who arrives in a patrol car after hearing 911 call about truck crash drives past the shooter 11.33: Gunman enters the school and begins shooting into room 111/room 112. He shoots more than 100 rounds 11.35: Three police officers enter the same propped-open door as the suspect from the Uvalde PD. They were later followed by another four, making total of seven officers on scene. Three initial officers went directly to the door and got grazing wounds from him while the door was closed. They hang back 11.37: Another 16 rounds fired inside the classroom by the gunman 11.51: Police sergeant and USB agents arrive 12.03: Officers continue to arrive in the hallway. As many as 19 officers in that hallway at that time. At the same time, a girl from inside the classroom calls 911 and whispers that she is in room 112 12.10pm: The same girl calls back and advises 'there are multiple dead' 12.13pm: The same girl calls again 12.16pm: The same girl calls 911 for the fourth time in 13 minutes asking for help 12.15pm: BORTAC (SWAT) members arrive with shields 12.16pm: The same unidentified girl calls 911 and says there are '8-9 students alive' in classroom 112 12.19pm: A different child from classroom 111 calls. She hangs up when another student tells her to in order to be quiet 12.21pm: Gunman fires again 12.26pm: One of the girls who previously called 911 calls back again. She says the shooter has just 'shot at the door' 12.43pm: The girl on that girl is still on the line. She says 'please send the police now' 12.50pm: Police finally breach the door using keys from the janitor and kill gunman 12.51pm Officers start moving children out of the room Advertisement

The first 911 calls about a school shooter came in just minutes after Ramos crashed his truck near Robb Elementary School, walking out with an AR-15.

'He's inside the school at the kids,' a man could be heard yelling on a call at 11.33am on May 24.

The gunman was able to fire more than 100 rounds by the time Uvalde police dispatchers received another call two minutes later, when an adult could be heard making 'shh' sounds for nearly 45 seconds before the phone cut out.

Soon after, STEM teacher Monica Martinez also called the police as she hid inside a closet in her classroom.

'There's somebody banging at my school,' she reported. 'I'm so scared.'

It was only when a new round of shots rang out from behind the closed door of adjoining classrooms 111 and 112, that Uvalde Police Sgt Daniel Coronado sprinted outside.

He told police dispatchers between labored breaths: 'He's inside the building. We have him contained.'

Coronado then asked for ballistic shields and requested someone call DPS, but still insisted the shooter is 'contained.

'We've got multiple officers inside the building at this time,' he told the dispatchers. 'We believe he's barricaded in one of the offices. Male subject is still shooting.'

But in reality, Ramos was still in the building locking himself in classrooms with young children.

Four minutes later, the Tribune reports, a dispatcher asked someone to check room 111, where the shots were coming from. It was the classroom of fourth-grade teacher Eva Mireles, the wife of police officer Ruben Ruiz.

'See if the class is in there right no, or if they're somewhere else,' the dispatcher advised.

That is when one unidentified police officer came on the radio, saying: 'The classroom should be in session right now. The class should be in session, Ms. Mireles.'

At that point, another officer could be heard gasping saying: 'That's going to be Ruben's girl.'

'Oh no, oh no,' Coronado muttered under his breath.

At 11.48am, Ruiz informed officers that his wife had been shot, telling them she called him and said she was 'dying.'

Officers then escorted Ruiz outside, taking away his weapon for safety, according to an ensuing investigation.

But they still did not attempt to enter the classroom, with one police lieutenant later telling investigators they were waiting for DPS and Border Patrol to arrive 'with better equipment like rifle-rated shields.'

Soon after, it seems, misinformation started spreading rapidly, with one Uvalde police dispatcher saying at 11.50am that Uvalde Schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo was 'in the room with the shooter.'

And seven minutes later, an officer asked if any children were inside with the gunman, to which an officer replied: 'No we don't know anything about that.

'Everything is closed like the kids are not in there.'

Meanwhile, children stuck inside classrooms 11 and 112 kept calling 911, begging for help even when they 'suspected' it was not safe to speak.

Audio from 911 calls obtained by the Texas Tribune reveal that Uvalde Police Officer Ruben Ruiz informed officers that his wife, fourth-grade teacher Eva Mireles, left, had been shot. But they still did not respond

Body camera footage previously showed how officers were told to stand back as shots continued to be fired inside the elementary school

The first call from one of the classrooms came in at 12.03pm when a child could be heard apparently trying to report a school shooting.

By 12.10, Khloie called saying: 'There is a lot of bodies.'

'I need help... please. Have y'all captured the person?' she asked, according to CNN, adding that her teacher had been shot, but was still alive.'

'I'm telling everyone to be quiet but nobody is listening to me,' she tells the operator. 'I understand what to do in these situations. My dad taught me when I was a little girl. Send help.'

As she stayed on the phone, the Tribune reports, another city police dispatcher answered a call from DPS and erroneously reported that Uvalde Schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo was inside the classroom with the gunman.

In one of the calls, a dispatcher wrongly says that Uvalde Schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo was inside confronting the gunman, when he actually stood back despite apparently being aware there were victims inside the classrooms

'I have the school chief of the police department in room 111 or 112 with the active shooter, and they're still standing by,' the dispatcher said, before asking their DPS counterpart if they have 'anybody else to send out to help out.'

'We're sending everybody that we can, um, heading out there,' the DPS dispatcher responded. 'But do you have any injuries, fatals, anything?'

The dispatcher said that only one female had been shot, and perhaps an officer was injured.

At that point, another dispatchers voice crackled onto the line notifying that she was speaking to a child stuck inside the building.

'The child is advising he is in the room full of victims, full of victims at this moment.'

It is unclear whether the DPS dispatcher or the other dispatcher heard that information.

But soon, it seems, officers became aware that there were at least some fatalities in the shooting, with a state trooper's body camera capturing an officer saying: 'There's victims in there dude.'

An officer responded, 'We need to get in there.' But still, they did not move.'

More calls from students started flooding the lines in the ensuing few minutes, but Uvalde County Constable Emmanuel Zamora wrongly suggested the gunman might have already shot himself.

And by 12.20pm, Arredondo himself seems to admit that there are children inside the classrooms.

He could be heard telling another officer: 'We have victims in there. I don't want to have anymore, you know what I'm saying.'

Just one minute later, though, Ramos fired again, prompting at least some officers to approach the classrooms before they were stopped.

Arredondo then decides to speak directly to the shooter saying: 'If you can hear me, sir, please put your firearm down, sir. We don't want anyone else hurt.'

Khloie's final call to police came in at 12.36pm that day, once again telling officers: 'There's a school shooting'

It was only after Border Patrol agents finally breached the classroom around 1pm that DPS agents started escorting the children out and tending to their wounds

Khloie's final call to police came in at 12.36pm that day, once again telling officers: 'There's a school shooting.'

'Yes, I'm aware. I was talking to you earlier,' the dispatcher responded. 'You're still there in your room? You're still in room 112.'

'Yeah,' the 10-year-old replied.

'OK. You stay on the line with me, do not disconnect.

'Can you tell the police to come to my room?' she asked again. 'Can you send a policeman in now?'

'I've already told them to go to the room.'

But two minutes later, Khloie once again asked for help, and the dispatcher once again tried to reassure her.

It was only after Border Patrol agents finally breached the classroom around 1pm that DPS agents started escorting the children out and tending to their wounds.

At that time, one could be heard saying: 'Oh man, I guess there was more kids in the room.'

'Yeah,' another replies. 'He must have had some hostages.'

Later, CNN reports, Khloie told police officers how she was using her teacher's phone and knew how to make an emergency call without unlocking it because it was like her father's.

She also told how she tried to help her friends when Ramos was in the adjoining classroom, saying: 'I stood up to look for Band-Aids 'cause my friend had a big cut.'

Khloie hid again when she thought the shooter might be coming back, and was taken to the hospital on a school bus with other injured classmates.

Vincent Salazar, grandfather of Layla Salazar who was killed in the school shooting at Robb Elementary, holds a report released by the Texas House investigative committee on the shootings at Robb Elementary School

In the months that have followed, the Texas State Legislature found 'multiple systemic failures' in law enforcement's response to the shooting.

The report said that officers 'failed to prioritize saving the lives of innocent victims over their own safety,' amidst a chaotic response scene where the people in positions of authority assumed somebody else was in charge.

Arredondo had claimed he did not know he was in charge of the police response that day.

But legislators say better trained and experienced state and federal authorities should have helped local police who were out of their element.

'These local officials were not the only ones expected to supply the leadership needed during this tragedy,' the report noted, 'Hundreds of responders from numerous law enforcement agencies - many of whom were better trained and better equipped than the school district police - quickly arrived on the scene.'

'In this crisis, no responder seized the initiative to establish an incident command post,' the report said, 'Despite an obvious atmosphere of chaos, the ranking officers of other responding agencies did not approach the Uvalde CISD chief of police or anyone else perceived to be in command to point out the lack of and need for a command post, or to offer that specific assistance.'

Arredondo was fired in August over the failed response, and just last month, the entire school police force was suspended.

Texas DPS Director Steven McCraw (pictured) claimed he and his cops 'did not fail' the Uvalde community during the botched response over the school shooting

Meanwhile, DPS Director Steven McCraw claimed his officers 'did not fail' the Uvalde community during the massacre.

He said he would gladly step down from his department if it was found to be at fault, amid calls from angry parents and community parents calling on him to resign.

'If DPS as an institution failed the families, failed the school or failed the community of Uvalde, then absolutely, I need to go,' McCraw said last month.

'But I can tell you this right now, DPS as an institution, ok, right now, did not fail the community, plain and simple.'

While admitting that errors were made by law enforcement as a whole during the shooting, McCraw said culpability ultimately fell on the school district's police force, who were in charge as police waited an hour before engaging with the gunman.

Brett Cross (above), who lost his nephew Uziyah Garcia, demanded McCraw step down during a hearing over the police response

Brett Cross, who lost his nephew Uziyah Garcia, was the first to confront McCraw, demanding the officer step down over the botched response.

'We're not waiting any longer. Our families, our community, our state has waited long enough,' he said.

Cross and other family members were joined by Texas Senator Roland Gutierrez, who condemned McCraw for trying to lay the brunt of the blame on the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department.

'[DPS] is failing today by continuing to not disclose all of the information that is important to us today, and dribbling out  again, sanctions against low level cops, officers, troopers  when in fact we need to look at the people that were supervising those people and the people that were making decisions,' Gutierrez said.

'This agency needs to make restitution to these victims,' he added. 'And take actions that nothing like this never happens again.'
Abrams hasn't fully signed onto the 'defund the police' movement, but previously said that she supported the 'vision that is underlying that cry'

Sheriff Janis Mangum pointed out 'We're going to run to that danger,' even if its for people who want to defund the police

Sheriff Jud Smith said the comments were a 'slap in the face' and Abrams is helping to 'demonize' law enforcement

She also said they want to 'take black people off the streets,' which prompted at least two sheriffs to speak up about the brazen comments

Georgia sheriffs who support Governor Brian Kemp have publicly slammed Democrat candidate Stacy Abrams' for saying they're in a 'good ol' boys club'

Georgia sheriffs supporting Governor Brian Kemp have been left outraged at Democrat candidate Stacey Abrams after she suggested they target black people and want them off the streets as part of a 'good ol' boys club.'

In a debate on Sunday, Abrams responded to Kemp touting his 107 sheriff endorsements by saying the support is because he is part of a 'good ol' boys club' that wants to 'take black people off the streets.'

'I'm not a member of the "good ol' boys" club. So, no. I don't have 107 sheriffs who want to be able to take black people off the streets, who want to be able to go without accountability,' Abrams said.

Her brazen remarks have now forced sheriffs around the state to speak out against her.

Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum, the second elected female sheriff in Georgia history, felt Abrams' comments were insulting to all law enforcement officers and said she was 'disgusted.'

'It was an insult to the Georgia sheriffs that are supporting him and all law enforcement,' she said.

Georgia Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Stacey Abrams (pictured) said Georgia sheriffs 'want to be able to take black people off the streets' as part of a 'good ol' boys club'

At least two sheriffs have spoken out and decried Abrams' comments, as Sheriff Jud Smith and Sheriff Janis Mangum agreed Abrams and the media have 'demonized' law enforcement

'I've been in this business 36 years, and I have never done anything to tarnish my badge, and my fellow sheriffs are good people that are supporting him. And I was just kind of disgusted to hear it,' she added.

Sheriff Jud Smith of Barrow County said her comments were a 'slap in the face' and accused Abrams and her team of 'vilifying and demonizing law enforcement.'

'It's not just a dig on sheriffs. It's a dig on every law enforcement officer in the state, whether they support her or not At this point, I think she's just grasping at straws,' said Smith.

Mangum echoed Smith's sentiment and told Fox News that the media has 'demoralized the law enforcement profession.'

Abrams hasn't fully signed onto the 'defund the police' movement, but previously said in an interview that she supported the 'vision that is underlying that cry.'

Mangum said she was honored to work as a sheriff and lauded her brave force, saying 'We're going to run to that danger when people who want to defund the police call needing help.'

She added that incumbent Governor Kemp was the first person to call her when one of her deputies was killed in the line of duty last year.

'That meant a lot to me coming from the governor of Georgia to get that call in the most tragic, devastating time for me as the sheriff and my sheriff's office employees,' she said.

While the Georgia Sheriffs Association doesn't make political endorsements, they responded strongly to Abrams' accusations.

'Sheriffs, deputy sheriffs and other Georgia law enforcement officers do not seek to detain or arrest individuals based upon race,' it told Fox News in a statement.

Georgia Sheriffs Association executive director Terry Norris said 'that did not sound like someone that supports law enforcement to me.'

The outrageous comments have provided Kemp with fodder to go after Abrams, and he remains ahead of the Democrat with just eight days to go before Election Day.

Georgia's Republican Gov. Brian Kemp (left) has been able to use the left-wing 'defund the police' movement to go after Democratic opponent Stacey Abrams (right)

Sheriff Mangum said that incumbent Governor Kemp was the first person to call her when one of her deputies was killed in the line of duty last year

Other Republicans around the country also heard Abrams and responded, with some calling for the Biden Administration to stop supporting her.

'This kind of vile, sinister, outrageous anti-cop rhetoric puts our police officers in peril at a time when deadly criminal violence against our law enforcement heroes is exploding,' tweeted former Trump White House official Stephen Miller. 'Biden and Dems must immediately disavow Abrams deeply dangerous rhetoric.'

The RNC Research account shared the clip and labeled it a 'smear' of law enforcement.

'Stacey Abrams goes full progressive and accuses the police in Georgia of racism generally,' wrote conservative pundit, Erick Erickson.

Republicans across the country have been able to expertly use the far-left cry to 'defund the police' against Democrats during this midterm cycle - despite national Democrats, including President Joe Biden, condemning the movement and stating support for the police.

On Friday, former President Barack Obama stumped for Abrams and Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in Atlanta, arguing that it's the Democrats who have 'serious answers to serious problems.'

Kemp and Abrams faced off in 2018 too, when she came within two points of winning in what had previously been a solid red state

'Violent crime has gone up over the last seven years, not just the last two, not just in liberal states but in conservative, rural states too,' Obama stated. 'That's a serious problem.'

But then he asked, 'Who will fight to keep you and your family safe?'

'The Republican politicians who want to flood our streets with more guns? Who actually voted against more resources for our police departments?' Obama mused.

Abrams and Kemp ran against each other in 2018 as well, and Abrams came within two points of beating Kemp in a state that had previously been red.

In 2020, Georgia went blue for Biden and two Democrats - Warnock and Sen. Jon Ossoff - flipped control of the Senate to Democrats in run-offs in the early days of 2021.

Georgia could decide the fate of the Senate again, with Warnock locked in a tight race with Republican Herschel Walker, whose campaign has survived a series of scandals, with the candidates essentially tied.
A platform at Gimpo Airport Station on Seoul Metro Line 9 is crowded with morning commuters, Feb. 4, 2021. Korea Times photo by Seo Jae-hun



By Lee Hyo-jin



A 30-year-old office worker surnamed Lee, who travels on Seoul Metro Line 9 in her morning commute from Dangsan Station to Sinnonhyeon Station, got off the train midway on Monday morning, feeling shortness of breath.



"I couldn't breathe. It's not the first time I felt like I was suffocating during my morning subway ride, but it was so serious, like a panic attack," she said. Lee rides the express train on Line 9 which is infamous for its overcrowding during rush hour.



As people kept cramming into the already-packed train, Lee couldn't stop imagining what it would have been like during the deadly crowd surge at Itaewon two days earlier.



"Even though I wasn't there that night, I felt something dreadful like that could happen on the subway, too."



On the night of Oct. 29, disaster struck people crowded into a narrow, sloped alley in central Seoul's Itaewon, resulting in at least 156 deaths and 151 injuries, as of Tuesday. Thousands of people who were out celebrating Halloween had been squeezed into the tight alley.



The deadliest crowd accident in the country's history seems to be affecting peoples' daily lives. Koreans, who have become so used to urban density and overcrowding in the streets, are now suddenly mindful of how dangerous these conditions can be.



According to 2021 data from Seoul Metro, the average density during morning rush hour between Noryangjin and Dongjak stations on Line 9  one of the most packed areas  was measured at 185 percent. If the density level surpasses 150 percent, passengers cannot move freely in the train at all.



Referred to as "hell" by commuters, people in packed subways are squashed up against one another, unable to move freely. Small fights break out as they jostle their way in or out of the train, while some passengers just fail to get off at their stops.



"Subways in Seoul are so packed that it may lead to breathing difficulties or panic attacks for some passengers. But we've gotten used to the high density in our daily lives," said Park Cheong-woong, a professor of safety management at Sejong Cyber University.



Lee Song-kyu, head of the Safety Professional Association of Korea, warned that unexpected crowd disasters may occur at any large gatherings or events.



"I wouldn't say there's a big chance crammed subways would lead to a serious crowd crush. But I do think that the Itaewon tragedy has shown us that crowd disasters can happen unexpectedly in day-to-day places and thus the local authorities, as well as regular people, should remain vigilant about it," he said.


Mr Corden issued an apology to Ricky Gervais after repeating his 2018 stand-up joke about guitar lessons

In 2017 Mr Fielding said to a fan who said Mr Corden 'totally stole' his gag: 'Yes. I believe this is my material'

EXCLUSIVE: Noel Fielding claimed that James Corden used joke about whispering at a thief to distract them

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Comedian Noel Fielding accused James Corden of using 'my material' on the Late Late Show five years ago, MailOnline can reveal today.

The Great British Bake Off and Mighty Boosh star tweeted the allegation when a fan claimed Mr Corden 'totally stole' his joke about distracting an armed robber by whispering.

It came as Ricky Gervais pointed the finger at James Corden's writers after the Late Late Show host used one of his gags almost word-for-word on US TV on Halloween amid speculation one of his team 'f**ked him over'.

On stage at the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal in 2010, Mr Fielding sent the audience into hysterics when he suggested the best way to put off a thief in London is to whisper: 'Oi mate', because the 'rules' mean they will put down their blade and respond with a hushed tone: 'What is it?'.

In December 2017 James Corden was interviewing Matthew Broderick, who described being robbed. Mr Corden said 'the best way to get out of being mugged' is to whisper: 'You're never going to believe what's happened'. Mimicking an attacker lowering a weapon, he said: 'Because they go like this: "What?", adding: 'And it gives you time, you just bolt'.

After the Late Show aired a fan of Mr Fielding's tweeted: '@JKCorden totally stole the whisper thing from @noelfielding11'. Mr Fielding then replied: 'Yes I believe this is my material x'. MailOnline has asked Mr Corden and Mr Fielding to comment.

Ricky Gervais revealed last night he deleted a clip of his fellow Briton repeating his 2018 gag about guitar lessons because he 'started to feel sorry for him' following the backlash.

Gervais, who has had a series of spats with the Gavin and Stacey creator over the years including mocking him after he was banned by a New York restaurateur last month, even defended his fellow comedian after a Twitter user asked if Corden had asked permission to use the joke.

He replied: 'No. I reckon one of the writers "came up with it" for him. I doubt he would knowingly just copy such a famous stand up routine word for word like that.'

His comments will add fuel to claims on social media that Corden, who will leave the Late Late Show next summer, was 'royally stitched up by his writing team'. Guardian writer Hannah Jane Parkinson tweeted: 'I'm assuming someone in Corden's writers' room f**ked him over'.

MailOnline has asked Mr Corden to comment. None of the 17 writers credited with contributing to the Halloween Late Late show in question has commented on the incident.

Comedian Noel Fielding accused James Corden of using 'my material' from 2010 (left) on the Late Late Show five years ago (right). The Great British Bake Off star tweeted the allegation when a fan claimed Mr Corden 'totally stole' a joke about distracting an armed robber by whispering (right in 2017)

After the Late Show aired a fan of Mr Fielding's tweeted: '@JKCorden totally stole the whisper thing from @noelfielding11'. Mr Fielding then replied: 'Yes I believe this is my material'

Comedian Ricky Gervais, 61, drew attention to the blunder in a now-deleted Twitter post (pictured)

Mr Gervais pointed the finger of blame at Corden's writers - and said he 'started to feel sorry for him'

James Corden issued an apology to Ricky Gervais after repeating his 2018 stand-up joke about guitar lessons on The Late Late Show on Halloween night

Gervais, 61, tweeted a clip from Corden's show, which aired on Halloween night, in which the host jokes about Twitter users getting angry about a poster in a town square about guitar lessons

But Corden's joke is directly repeating Gervais' joke from his 2018 Netflix stand-up comedy gig Ricky Gervais: Humanity

But Corden's joke is a copy - practically word for word - of Gervais' joke that he made in 2018. That year, Gervais said that people were taking things too personally on Twitter

Gervais said in 2018: 'They choose to read my tweet, and then take that personally. That's like going into a town square, seeing a big notice board and there's a notice - guitar lessons - and you go, 'But I don't want f***ing guitar lessons'.'

How Corden used Gervais' joke four years later What Corden said: 'If someone puts up a poster in a town square that says 'guitar lessons available', like you don't get people in the town going: 'I don't want to play guitar! I want to play the piano you piece of s**t'!' 'Well that sign wasn't for you. It was for somebody else! You don't have to get mad about all of it.' What Gervais said in 2018: 'They choose to read my tweet, and then take that personally. 'That's like going into a town square, seeing a big notice board and there's a notice - guitar lessons - and you go, 'But I don't want f***ing guitar lessons'.' Gervais added: 'Fine, it's not for you then, just walk away. Don't worry about it!' Advertisement

Last night he apologised to Ricky Gervais in a post that suggested that he had no idea that the joke had been copied.

He tweeted: 'Inadvertently told a brilliant Ricky Gervais joke on the show last night, obviously not knowing it came from him. It's brilliant, because it's a Ricky Gervais joke. You can watch all Ricky's excellent specials on Netflix.'

In April, Corden said he will be stepping down as host of The Late Late Show.

The actor and comedian was recently in a heated online dispute with the owner of Balthazar restaurant in New York for alleged bad behaviour.

He was briefly barred from Balthazar in Manhattan last week after its owner Keith McNally claimed he had been 'extremely nasty' to his staff on two separate occasions about a meal involving an omelette for his wife Julia Carey.

Mr McNally posted about the incident on social media which prompted a strong backlash, with calls for Corden to be 'banned' from other venues.

Corden later addressed the incident during an episode of The Late Late Show and said it was 'never my intention' to upset staff - but acknowledged he had been 'ungracious' during the incident.

The new row began during an episode of his Halloween show, Corden was speaking about Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter when he made the joke.

Corden said: 'If someone puts up a poster in a town square that says "guitar lessons available", like you don't get people in the town going, "I don't want to play guitar! I want to play the piano you piece of s**t!".

'Well that sign wasn't for you. It was for somebody else! You don't have to get mad about all of it.'

But Corden's joke is a copy - practically word for word - of Gervais' joke that he made in 2018.

Gervais, the star of the UK's version of The Office and who has hosted the Golden Globes five times, said in his version that people were taking things too personally on Twitter.

He said in his comedy sketch from four years ago: 'They choose to read my tweet, and then take that personally.

'That's like going into a town square, seeing a big notice board and there's a notice - guitar lessons - and you go, 'But I don't want f***ing guitar lessons'.'

Gervais added: 'Fine, it's not for you then, just walk away. Don't worry about it!'

Yesterday Gervais also noticed how Corden's sketch was copied from his own 2018 and tweeted about it. The Late Late Show has since deleted the video of Corden making the joke from their Twitter page.

Corden has been embroiled in controversy after he was accused by staff at the Balthazar restaurant in New York of screaming at them after they served his wife received an egg-yolk omelette with egg-white in it.

Gervais mocked Corden for his behavior by re-sharing a tweet poking fun at the talk show host.

The tweet included a clip from Gervais' Netflix show After Life, where his character Tony mocks Corden by saying 'f**k me* when a star of the show said Corden would be in her top five dinner party guests.

Earlier this month, Balthazar owner Keith McNally announced on Instagram that Corden was banned from the restaurant as punishment for rude and childish behavior on two occasions.

On the first occasion, Corden was upset that a hair had been found in his food and demanded free drinks to make up for it, according to McNally.

The second occasion involved his wife Julia ordering an egg-yolk omelette and receiving a plate with egg white on it. The final straw was when the remade omelette was sent out with a side of home fries instead of salad.

Corden apologized for his behavior earlier this month and McNally lifted his ban on Corden visiting the restaurant.

But McNally reignited the feud this week, saying Corden 'will say anything to save his bacon'.

McNally was reacting to recently-revealed text messages Corden sent to a journalist which said he 'never screamed at anyone' after an omelette served to his wife was supposedly cooked incorrectly.

Balthazar owner Keith McNally said in his most recent post that he has 'given up' on Corden after trying to forgive him. He called his apology on The Late Late Show 'contrived' and 'phony', and said he told a 'massive lie, AGAIN'

Corden apologized on The Late Late Show and McNally accepted, but the feud has restarted

In a post on Instagram, McNally said: 'LAST POST ON THIS NON-STORY:

'I don't want to over-egg the pudding, but in Friday's London Times Corden flip-flopped and told a massive lie AGAIN:

Julia, Corden's wife (pictured), ordered an egg-yolk omelette because of an allergy to egg whites

'I never screamed at anyone, I didn't shout, didn't call anyone a name or swear or use derogatory language How is it remotely a thing? When that person who posted the story wasn't even there.'

'On second viewing, I found his TV 'confessional' contrived and phony. The actor will say anything to save his bacon.

'In the scheme of things my opinion means nothing, but after Friday's interview and a second look at his fraudulent confessional, I've given up on James Corden. For Good.

'END OF STORY.'

He didn't clarify whether Corden was formally re-banned, but the post suggests he's unlikely ever to return to the restaurant.

The infamous omelette saga began on October 9 when Corden and his wife dined at the restaurant with friends. Julia asked for an all-yolk omelette  something that is not on the extensive brunch menu.

When it arrived, the dish contained some egg whites. Corden sent it back to the kitchen and when it returned, he says it was still 'wrong'.

McNally first shamed Corden on Instagram, telling his followers how the comedian had twice abused staff.

He said: 'James Corden began yelling like crazy to the server, 'You can't do your job! You can't do your job! Maybe I should go into the kitchen and cook the omelet myself!''

McNally once again tore into Corden over the text messages reported in The Times.

In a stream of messages, Corden said the incident and its backlash has 'been the most surreal moment,' while adding that McNally was not present when his wife was served the wrong order.

'I mean, it's so odd,' he writes. 'I never screamed at anyone, I didn't shout, didn't call anyone a name or swear or use derogatory language  how is it remotely a thing? And that be OK?

'And now it's fact, and that's that. When the person who posted the story wasn't even there. Just so odd.'

He added: 'I have never talked about eggs this much.'

McNally also owns Pastis, Minetta Tavern and Morandi in the West Village  three well-known, well-respected New York institutions that are regularly frequented by celebrities.

Corden and Julia in 2018. He claimed she told Balthazar staff she had a 'serious food allergy'

The breakfast menu at Balthazar, which has two omelette options which contain egg whites. Corden insisted on an all-yolk omelet

There are only two omelettes on the menu at Balthazar; the $25 omelette with herbs, and the $27, egg-white omelette. Both come with a side of home fries or salad.

Servers explained to DailyMail.com that Corden was asking for something that is not offered and was angry when it wasn't up to his standards.

'He wanted an omelette that had only egg yolks. Not the egg-white omelette, just egg yolks,' said one.

'Why then would you even bother ordering an omelette if you're allergic to eggs?'

In his apology for the outburst, Corden said: 'Because I didn't shout or scream, I didn't get up out of my seat, I didn't call anyone names or use derogatory language, I have been walking around thinking that I've not done anything wrong.

'But I have. I made a rude comment,' he said, adding that he 'values and respects' anyone and everyone in the service industry.
At first, the drug dealers thought it was a joke when Spider-Man, Captain America and Thor showed up at their house on Halloween in Peru.

But bafflement quickly turned to horror as they released that the 'superheroes' were not locals playing a prank on them - instead, they were four police officers dressed in disguise who were there to arrest them as part of a major drugs bust.

Three of the Avengers - Spider-Man, Captain America and Thor - were joined by Catwoman in a blending of the Marvel and DC Comics books for the undercover police operation in Peru's capital of Lima.

The operation, dubbed 'Marvel', saw the four disguised police officers walking nonchalantly down a street while pretending to be doing promotion for a Halloween concert in the San Juan de Lurigancho neighbourhood of Lima on Saturday.

But upon arriving at a specific house, Captain America borrowed Thor's hammer to break down a steel door, allowing 10 backup police officers to enter and arrest three men and a woman.

At first, the drug dealers thought it was a joke when Spider-Man, Captain America and Thor showed up at their house on Halloween in Peru

A drug trafficker is arrested by a Peruvian police officer dressed as Spiderman during an undercover operation in Lima on October 31

But they soon realised that it was no joke when Spider-Man began pinning one man to the floor

The occupants, taken by surprise, at first thought it was a Halloween joke, police said in a statement on Tuesday.

But they soon realised that it was no joke when Spider-Man began pinning one man to the floor.

'In this building an entire family was dedicating themselves to the micro-commercialization of drugs. The drugs were going to be sold in a park nearby,' said police Colonel David Villanueva.

Police seized 3,250 small packages of basic cocaine paste - a crude extract of coca leaf - as well as 287 bags of cocaine and 127 of marijuana.

One kilo of cocaine paste sells for roughly $380 (330) in Peru, while a kilo of cocaine hydrochloride, the purest form, sells for about $1,000 (869).

Locals crowded outside the house as they watched in astonishment at Spider-Man, Captain America, Thor and Catwoman - all now wearing police vests - led the four handcuffed suspects out to a police vehicle.

Police seized 3,250 small packages of basic cocaine paste - a crude extract of coca leaf - as well as 287 bags of cocaine and 127 of marijuana

The tactic of launching raids, particularly to take down drug gangs using operatives in costumes, is a common tactic of Peruvian police to assure the element of surprise which, they police say, has brought some notable successes in recent years.

In 2020, Peruvian police drugs-squad members disguised as Santa Claus and an elf swooped into a house in Lima - not to deliver gifts but to capture a suspected cocaine and dope dealer as part of an anti-drug operation.

The agents, dressed in red, white and green outfits with flak jackets hidden underneath, arrived in an undercover van before breaking into the house with a large hammer to apprehend their suspect.
The grandparents of murdered Liberty German have said that the 'reality is still setting in' after police arrest CVS worked five years after two teenager girls found brutally killed.

Richard Allen, 50, has been charged with the slayings of Libby, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13, in Delphi, Indiana in 2017.

Mike and Becky Patty have said they are relieved that there is a 'face and a name' for the 'bridge guy' following the surprise arrest.

Indiana cops released Snapchat footage documented by the girls of a man following them closely on a bridge shortly before their deaths  who was dubbed 'Bridge Guy'.

Libby and Abigail went for a walk together along the Delphi Historic Trail near the Monon High Bridge on February 13 but were reported missing when they failed to show up to meet their parents.

Their bodies were found close to the bridge the day after they vanished, with several suspects being linked to the case over the years, but no arrests were made until last week.

Authorities refused to give any details about the killings, and it is unclear if Allen is the man in the footage or the voice which uttered the phrase 'down the hill' recorded by Libby's cell phone shortly before the crime.

Mike and Becky Patty, Liberty Germans' grandparents, have said they are relieved that there is a 'face and a name' with the 'bridge guy' following Allen's arrest last week

Richard Allen, 50, has been charged with the slayings of Libby, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13, in Delphi, Indiana in 2017

Abigail Williams, left, and Liberty German, right, were murdered in February 2017 after going for a walk along the Delphi Historic Trail near the Monon High Bridge

Speaking to CNN, Mike Patty said: 'I think the reality of it is still setting in. And more importantly, trying to figure out what our path forward is, and that is the prosecution of the case.

'If there's anything out there that law enforcement doesn't know about, we want them to know about it. And especially with this arrest, and this person being charged with this.

'There's a face to the 'bridge guy' now. And a name with the 'bridge guy.'

Allen, a CVS worker, pleaded not guilty at the initial hearing, with a trial date set for March as police clamp down on the details of the case.

Carroll County prosecutor Nicholas McLeland has sealed the charging documents of Allen, and has not released any additional details surrounding his arrest.

He said: 'I look forward to telling the country the story, by presenting the facts, to what we know, versus what we think.

'I hope that after today, people start healing just a bit and start trusting again.'

A photo shows Richard Allen, 50, smiling with his wife - while over his shoulder, a police sketch strongly resembling him is posted on the wall inside Bob Matlock's bar

Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter added: 'Now that the charges have been filed against Allen, the days of talking about what we have are over. And everything changes now.'

Allen is currently at the White County Jail, 16 miles from Delphi, with his home appearing vacant following his arrest.

A composite sketch was released in 2017 showing a possible suspect in the case

Becky Patty admitted that she 'feels' the loss of her granddaughter every day, adding that her life without Libby does not change.

She told NewsNation: 'You feel it, you live it every day. She may not be here with us physically, but we take her with us everywhere we go.

'You can't ever bring the girls back. But justice for us  the solace that we have is  the world's a little safer and that he can never hurt somebody else.'

Patty also claims that Allen could have been working at their local CVS when the family had the two girl's funeral photos printed.

She added: 'All (my daughter) remembers is that she had sent some photos up there to be developed.

'And then she was picking out some more and he's the one that gave them to her and then said, "You don't have to pay for those. We'll take care of that".'

The owner of the bar in Delphi where Allen, a pharmacy technician, used to drink with his wife Kathy told of his shock at the arrest.

Allen is seen with his wife Kathy in an undated photo. He does not appear to have a prior criminal history and was known locally for working in the local CVS

Indiana State Police announced on Monday that Allen had been charged in the murders of the two girls

Bob Matlock, owner of JC's Bar - which closed in December 2021 - said Allen even posed for a photo in front of the 'wanted' picture.

It is unclear when and where the photo of Allen in the sketch 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.

Matlock said they all discussed the case, but did not want to go into detail as they knew the families of the victims.

He added: 'He would come in and we would always talk about the girls and everything.'

The bridge where the girls were last seen is located just a few miles from Allen's home  which is also just a half-mile from the middle school the two teens attended.

Libby had shared a 'snap' on Snapchat of herself walking along the railroad tracks on the day of her murder, with the social media updates causing a sensation that made the case one of the United States' most notorious unsolved murders.

After news of Allen's arrest broke, a disturbing photo emerged showing his own daughter posing in the same spot where the teenage victims were last seen alive.

Brittany Zapanta, 28, is pictured posing on the Monon High Bridge.

Libby German was filmed by her friend and fellow victim Abigail Williams in February, 2017, moments before they were murdered

Allen is pictured here with his wife, Kathy, in an undated picture. They live just miles from the bridge from where the two teens disappeared in 2017

The photo was posted to Facebook by Allen's wife Kathy, 50, in 2018 just over a year after the girls disappeared in February 2017.

It's unclear when the photo was taken and also no indication as to who took the snap on the Monon High Bridge Trail.

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 the details of the case.

Exactly how the girls died remains unknown to the public, and the state their bodies were discovered 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 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.

An unidentified man  now believed to be Allen  was filmed approaching Libby and Abby before their deaths

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

Allen was photographed sitting close to this sketch. It is one of several released following the February 2017 murders

The murderer also reportedly 'staged' the girls' bodies in a particular way after killing them - although it remains unclear exactly how he did this.

Investigators believed photographs or videos were likely shot of the grotesque set-up to 'memorialize' the crime scene.

Over the years numerous people have been put forth as possible suspects in the case.

Ron Logan, who died in 2020, had long been the prime suspect.

The girls' bodies were discovered on his property - just 1,400ft 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.

The voice in the clip was described as being 'not inconsistent' with that of Logan, the FBI investigation concluded.

The family members of Libby German and Abigail Williams listened intently during the news conference

Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland said Allen's arrest is a 'step in the right direction'

Another man, Kegan Kline, 27, of Peru, Indiana, was also previously named as a suspect in the murders.

He is said to have admitted to 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.

He 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 father could be a prime suspect in the killings.

Kline is being held in jail after being arrested on separate child porn charges in 2020

The Indiana State Police Department's tip line can be reached by email at abbyandlibbytip@cacoshrf.com or by phone at 765- 822-3535.
A Northern Territory police officer who fatally shot Kumanjayi Walker bragged about injuring a man wrongly suspected of escaping custody, an inquest has heard.

Kumanjayi Walker, 19, died after Constable Zachary Rolfe shot him three times during a botched arrest in Yuendumu, northwest of Alice Springs, on November 9, 2019.

Const Rolfe was charged with the murder of the Warlpiri man but acquitted after a Supreme Court trial.

Constable Zachary Rolfe (pictured) speaks to the media on the steps of the Northern Territory Supreme Court after he was found not guilty of the shooting murder of Indigenous 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker in 2022

The inquiry into Mr Walker's death on Wednesday heard evidence about Const Rolfe's use of force in several 2019 arrests.

Body-worn camera footage was shown of him charging at a man and pushing him into a barrier outside a tavern after chasing him through the Alice Springs mall.

The inquest heard the man had been suspected of escaping custody in what proved to be a case of false identification.

Then-acting Alice Springs superintendent Pauline Vicary did not review the footage but still signed off on an internal report describing the force used as 'proportionate, reasonable and necessary'.

The day after the incident, Const Rolfe sent a text message with film of the body worn camera footage.

'Treated him to the old illegal shoulder charge,' he wrote.

Kumanjayi Walker died after being shot three times by Const Rolfe during an arrest in 2019

'Turns out the dude wasn't who we were looking for and is now in a sling for nothing, ha ha. Don't run from police.'

Footage was shown of another incident the following month in which a man was forcefully pushed by Const Rolfe into a wall after the officer saw him arguing with a woman late at night on the Alice Springs council lawns.

The man's head was split open after crashing into a bench seat, and blood could be seen pouring out of his head.

Under questioning from counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer, the now-retired Ms Vicary said she did not recall the incident ever being raised with her.

'I'm not sure why they went running to him ... I think the context is important,' she added.

An inquiry into the shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker heard that Const Rolfe had boasted about the rough-house tactics he used during arrests that had left suspects injured

In a message sent days later, Const Rolfe boasted he had 'mashed some dude's face against a wall'.

Other incidents cited by Dr Dwyer included the April 2019 arrest of a 17-year-old Aboriginal boy who alleged Const Rolfe had banged his head into a rock after chasing him, leaving him needing stitches.

Police records show there were 46 use of force incidents reported for Const Rolfe between December 2016 and November 2019.

He was cited for failing to activate his body worn camera 13 times in three years.

This still taken from a police body camera shows Kumanjayi Walker (pictured) being confronted by officers on the day of his fatal shooting in 2019

Ms Vicary agreed she was aware by October 2019 of multiple complaints relating to Const Rolfe's conduct, including relating to his use of force.

But she defended not taking any action against him because an internal investigation had not concluded.

The inquest continues.
Police said Kendall Howard, 30, opened fire on officers when they confronted him about a separate gun charge

A Newark man wanted for shooting two officers on Tuesday was captured after a day-long manhunt.

Kendall Howard, 30, was apprehended Wednesday after a city-wide search that was marred by confusion and misinformation.

It remains unclear how or where Howard was apprehended. He is charged with two counts of attempted murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and unlawful possession of a weapon.

Howard opened fire on the officers while they were questioning him over separate shooting. One of the officers was shot in the leg, and the other in the neck. Both are reportedly in stable condition.

Incredible footage taken shortly after the shooting showed an unnamed woman calmly tending to the wounds of the officer who was shot in the neck, even as Howard continued unload a barrage of bullets on the scene.

Police said Kendall Howard, 30, opened fire on the officers as they questioned him about a previous shooting

Police said a pair of officers confronted Howard yesterday at an apartment in South Newark after somebody called police to say they recognized him as the a suspect in a shooting that occurred last week.

When officers approached Howard in the parking lot behind the building, he drew a gun and opened fire.

He then fled the scene and continued to fire on officers, who became confused about where he had gone.

Cops were unsure whether he had entered the building and holed himself up there, or whether he entered and then fled the scene out another door.

Officers locked down the building and combed though it for several hours before realizing he was not inside, then expanded their search.

People close to Howard told police he had been 'off' in recent days, and that he may have been suffering from a mental health episode, according to News 4 New York.

incredible footage filmed moments after the officer was shot in the neck showed him lying on the pavement with a pool of blood to his side.

A car then pulled up to him, and the officer staggered to his side to take a look.

The woman stepped out of the car and appeared to speak to the officer, who dropped to his back in distress.

The woman calmly walked to her car, popped the trunk, and began rifling through.

She then returned to the officer with a towel as a group of officers rushed up the alley to assist.

When the officers arrived a hail of gunfire erupted causing the cops to scatter, but the woman remained with the wounded officer and calmly applied pressure to his neck.

The clip ended with the officers having taken over applying pressure to the wounded cop, while the woman stood by his side.

The woman approached the wounded officer and began to administer first aid before other officers arrived

Footage showed an unnamed woman calmly tending to a police officer who had been wounded in the neck, despite gunfire raining down around her

Newark Police office Jose Yunque said both his colleagues were in stable condition. He said the officer shot in the leg suffered a fracture but that no major arteries were hit.

He said the officer who was shot in the neck was 'stable,' and in surgery.

'He got shot in the neck. It went through his shoulder from left to right. It didn't thit any arteries, it didn't hit his spine,' Yunque said.

'Originally the doctors said it might be lodged in his spine. It was lodged in his shoulder. He's alright. However, they think that he might have damage to his esophagus.'

SWAT teams were deployed during the manhunt, and residents were told to remain on alert for the violent gunman.

Local schools were also locked down during the extensive search.
An 'All-American girl' from Kansas  who smuggled her kids to Syria, became the 'Empress of ISIS' and led an all-female death squad  has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Allison Fluke-Ekren, 42, who grew up on a farm in Overbrook, received the maximum possible sentence after pleading guilty to charges linked to her 'terrorism crime spree'.

Her sentencing at federal court in Alexandria, Virginia also heard harrowing accounts from her own children, who described Fluke-Ekren as a 'monster' who tortured them for sexual pleasure.

Prosecutors have now described the sentence as 'insufficient' to match Fluke-Ekren's 'monstrous acts of terror and the immeasurable damage that she has caused'  but 20 years was the maximum that could be given under the charges.

For more than eight years, Fluke-Ekren was an ISIS member who travelled across war zones in Libya, Iraq, and Syria.

She adopted the name Umm Mohammed al-Amriki and rose through the ranks of the terror group to became leader of an all-female battalion called 'Khatiba Nusaybah' in 2017.

Fluke-Ekren trained young girls to use AK-47s, grenades and suicide belts  before they were sent on missions which included helping male fighters defend ISIS-controlled Raqqa.

Allison Fluke-Ekren took her children to the Middle East and led an all-female ISIS death squad

She had a normal upbringing on a farm in Kansas before converting to Islam and joining ISIS

Her kids gave harrowing accounts of how the 'monster' mom tortured them for sexual pleasure

US Attorney Raj Parekh told Monday's sentencing that Fluke-Ekren 'in effect became the empress of ISIS'.

'She brainwashed young girls and trained them to kill.'

Her daughter, Leyla Ekren, who was married off to an ISIS fighter in Syria when she was just 13 years old, said her mother was motivated by a 'lust for control and power'.

'I want people to see what kind of person she was,' her daughter said.

'She abandoned me in Raqqa with my rapist,' she said in a reference to her ISIS fighter-husband.

In a written statement to the court, her son Gabriel, who like his sister waived anonymity, said: 'My mother is a monster who enjoys torturing children for sexual pleasure.

'My mother is a monster very skilled in manipulation and controlling her emotions to her advantage.

'My mother is a monster without love for her children, without an excuse for her actions.

'She has the blood, pain, and suffering of all of her children on her hands.'

Fluke-Ekren's second husband, Volkan Ekren (pictured), was killed carrying out a terror attack

Allison Fluke-Ekren, 42, tried to ransom her own children, Gabe and Alaina (pictured at front) to their father after she left Kansas with her new husband and turned to radical Islam overseas

At one point prosecutors played audio recordings of telephone conversations between Fluke-Ekren and her daughter taped by the FBI.

Her daughter, who was in the public gallery, plugged her ears with her fingers as the tapes were played aloud.

Born Allison Brooks, Fluke-Ekren grew up in a 'loving and stable home' in Overbrook, Kansas, and was considered a 'gifted' student, the US attorney said.

'There is nothing in her background that can explain her conduct,' Parekh said.

After leaving her first husband, with whom she had two children, Fluke-Ekren attended the University of Kansas, where she married a fellow student named Volkan Ekren and became a Muslim.

She later earned a teaching certificate from a college in Indiana.

The couple had five children together and adopted another after the child's parents were killed as suicide bombers in Syria.

In 2008, the family moved to Egypt and in 2011 to Libya where, the US attorney said, 'Fluke-Ekren's dogged pursuit to obtain positions of power and influence to train young women in extremist ideology and violence began'.

Her former sister-in-law, Amy Fluke, 49, previously told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview that the mom began sending her ex-husband emails and notes demanding more than $6,000 for the return of their two children, shortly after moving abroad.

She also faked her own death while living in Syria and cruelly taunted her ex-spouse, James Fluke, by saying that their daughter Alaina was dead.

James told DailyMail.com earlier this year: 'I hope they lock her up and throw away the key.

Two of Fluke-Ekren's children told her sentencing their mom is a 'monster' who abused them. One of her daughters, Alaina (pictured right) remains missing and could still be in Syria.

Fluke-Ekren, pictured with son Nael and daughter Leyla, was jailed for 20 years on Monday

'She kidnapped my kids for 10 years. She's manipulative. She always has been.

'She's always wanted the spotlight. There is no way to adequately describe how manipulative she is.'

Fluke-Ekren was in Benghazi, Libya in September 2012 when the Islamic militant group Ansar al-Sharia attacked the US mission and CIA annex there, killing the US ambassador and three other Americans.

Fluke-Ekren, a fluent Arabic speaker, assisted Ansar al-Sharia by 'reviewing and summarizing the contents of stolen US government documents'.

The family left Libya in late 2012 or early 2013 and moved around between Iraq, Turkey and Syria, becoming deeply involved with IS and living in the group's Mosul stronghold for a time.

Fluke-Ekren's second husband - the leader of an IS sniper unit - was killed in 2015.

She went on to marry three more times, including to a Bangladeshi IS drone expert and an IS military leader who was responsible for the IS defense of Raqqa in 2017, and have four more children.

Larry Miller, who taught Fluke-Ekren's school science class in the 1990s, previously said: 'How does someone like Allison, an all-American girl, become a person that wants to go out and kill?'

Her ex-husband James Fluke previously said: 'I hope they lock her up and throw away the key

One of Fluke-Ekren's former school teachers in Kansas said she used to be an 'all-American' girl

A tearful Fluke-Ekren acknowledged in court that she had provided combat training but said it was only for self-defense.

'I never fought myself,' she said. 'I never shot or fired one bullet.'

Fluke-Ekren's claim that she was manipulated by her Turkish-born second husband was rejected.

Fluke-Ekren, who was wearing a dark green prison jacket and black headscarf, addressed the court and asked the judge for a 'compassionate sentence' of just two years in prison.

'I deeply regret my choices,' she told the judge. 'To anyone who has been hurt by my actions I ask forgiveness.'
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Americans by wide margins don't want colleges considering race when they pick students  polling that suggests Americans would get behind the Supreme Court overruling affirmative action policies.

A YouGov survey found that 54 percent of adults in the US were against universities considering race as a factor in selecting applicants  even as part of efforts to boost diversity on campus.

That far outweighs the 23 percent who wanted admissions tutors to use race to guide selections, and similar numbers who were unsure. Democrats were much more supportive of affirmative action policies than were Republicans.

The Supreme Court is weighing the legality of race-conscious admissions rules in cases involving Harvard University and the University of North Carolina (UNC), which imperil affirmative action schemes nationally.

Those programs have boosted enrollment of black and Hispanic students, who have historically struggled to secure college places, but to the detriment of white and Asian American applicants, critics say.

Supporters of affirmative action gathered outside the US Supreme Court as the judges heard arguments about race-conscious college admissions in Washington, DC, this week

The case follows the right-leaning court's controversial decision in June to overturn Roe v. Wade, triggering state-level laws to curtail access to abortions and protests from pro-choice and women's groups and others.

Conservative justices, who command a 6-3 majority in the chamber, voiced doubt about allowing race to be considered at all in admissions decisions by colleges and universities and said such policies should not exist forever.

'If the court overturns protections for affirmative action, that would likely be a decision that Americans would support,' YouGov said in a statement about its recent polling results.

When asked about the long-contested issue, 'most Americans say no,' it added.

In the survey of more than 1,000 US adults, nearly two thirds of white Americans said they were against affirmative action. Black and Hispanic Americans were evenly split three ways between being for, against and unsure.

When asked whether the various racial groups had equal opportunities in education, respondents were less clear-cut. Nearly half said the current system was fair, about a third said it was not.

The perennial debate raged on social media on Wednesday, with commentators arguing that race-conscious college selection levelled the playing field for the marginalized, while others slammed it as unfair.

'Elite-college affirmative action concentrates its discrimination against Asian applicants and white applicants whose parents tend to vote Republican,' posted Ross Douthat, a conservative analyst, blogger, and author.

Healthcare entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy called affirmative action 'a Band-Aid' that hides 'real problems: broken schools, unstable families, & victimhood culture' that prevent some blacks from succeeding in higher education.

The Supreme Court, which has twice blessed race-conscious college admissions programs these past two decades, heard two cases Monday, involving UNC and Harvard, respectively the nation's oldest public and private universities.

It heard tense arguments lasting nearly five hours in appeals by a group founded by anti-affirmative action activist Edward Blum of lower court rulings upholding policies used by the two prestigious schools to foster student diversity.

Students for Fair Admissions, Blum's group, said UNC discriminates against white and Asian American applicants and Harvard discriminates against Asian American applicants. The schools disagree.

Many schools 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 views onto campuses.

Harvard and UNC say they use race as only one factor in a host of bespoke evaluations for admission without quotas  permissible under court precedents  and that curbing its consideration would cause a significant drop in enrollment of students from under-represented groups.

Rulings are due by the end of June.

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.

In California, the same electorate that gave President Joe Biden a 5-million-vote margin over his predecessor Donald Trump in 2020 handily rejected a proposal to revive affirmative action.

Public opinion on the topic varies depending on how the question is asked. A Gallup Poll from 2021 found 62 percent of Americans in favor of affirmative action programs for racial minorities.

But in a Pew Research Center survey in March, 74 percent of Americans, including majorities of Black and Latino respondents, said race and ethnicity should not factor into college admissions.
Republican Rep. Liz Cheney threw her support to Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan in the Ohio Senate race, one of the most closely fought races in the country.

Cheney, who lost her own Wyoming House primary to a Trump-backing opponent, made her public endorsement in an interview with PBS host Judy Woodruff.

I would not vote for J.D. Vance, Cheney said when asked about the Ohio race, which has the potential to flip a seat to the Democrats.

Asked if she would back Ryan, who has taken steps to distance himself from his national party, Cheney responded: I would, in remarks at the City Club in Cleveland.

Vance has seized a 2 per cent poll lead in the RealClearPolitics average, in a Republican-leaning state. Vance overcame some of his past comments bashing Trump to win the GOP primary, and has since gotten behind Trumps claims of election fraud in 2020.

Wyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheney says she would vote for Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan in his race against J.D. Vance for a U.S. Senate seat from Ohio

Cheney also offered praised House Speaker Nancy Pelosis leadership chops, even while making a point to note their ideological differences.

I want to say a word about Speaker Pelosi. Everyone knows she is a liberal from San Francisco. I am a conservative from Wyoming, there are many, many issues, maybe most issues, on which we disagree. But I think that she is a tremendous leader, Cheney said.

Ive watched her up close. She is a leader of historic consequence, the Republican added.

She called GOP mockery of the hammer attack on Pelosi's husband, Paul, 'disgraceful.'

'The fact that while Paul Pelosi was in ICU, had been brutally attacked, had a skull fracture and numerous other injuries, that there were members of my party mocking him, that there were members of President Trumps family mocking him, thats not who we are in this country,' Cheney said, in reference to Donald Trump, Jr.

'That is disgraceful,' she said.

Cheney has become a scathing critic of Trumps on the House January 6th Committee, which has not ruled out making criminal referrals to the Justice Department.

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) narrowly trails Vance in the state

Republican J.D. Vance has the backing of former President Donald Trump

Cheney (R) (R-WY) attended a campaign event in support of the re-election bid of US Representative Elissa Slotkin (L) (D-MI) in Lansing, Michigan, on Tuesday

The move comes as Cheney, who has not ruled out a run for the White House in 2024, endorsed Michigan Democratic House Rep. Elissa Slotkin in her race against Republican Tom Barrett.

Barrett has called out Cheney for having the audacity to back his opponent.

While Elissa and I have our policy disagreements, at a time when our nation is facing threats at home and abroad, we need serious, responsible, substantive members like Elissa in Congress, Cheney said of Slotkin, a former CIA analyst in Democratic and Republican administrations.

Cheney has called for moving beyond partisan politics to ensure the survival of our republic.
Matthew Perry admits he had to beg Friends producers to get rid of one of his famous catchphrases that dragged on for almost six seasons.

The Friends star, 53, explained in his new book 'Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing' that the beloved phase - 'could it be more annoying' - was aggravating to him.

Perry revealed in his memoir the behind the scenes gossip along with some of his sexual encounters with celebrities and struggle with alcoholism.

The actor wasn't shy to dish on his Friends pet peeves, especially the line that began to be ridiculed by Monica, Phoebe, Ross and Joey.

'That particular cadence - could it be more annoying? - had been so played out that if I had to put the emphasis in the wrong place one more time, I thought I'd explode,' Perry wrote in his book obtained by Variety.

The actor said he 'had to beg the producers' to remove the line from scripts.

Matthew Perry, 53, said he begged producers to remove one of his beloved phases from the Friends script. The phase - 'could it be more annoying' - was aggravating to him

The phase was notably used by Perry throughout the show but was adopted by other characters to mock him

The actor said he had to beg for the line to be removed and began saying lines normally for during season six

To halt his once beloved lines being said at the wrong time or in the wrong spots, Perry stopped putting an emphasis on his lines.

'I just went back to saying lines normally, for the most part in season six and then beyond,' Perry wrote.

Perry has been candid about the details in his book and appeared earlier this week on Good Morning America to promote the memoir and discuss how he kept his drug and alcohol addiction a secret from his Friends co-stars for years.

The actor said the addiction had him drinking a quarter bottle of vodka a day and taking 55 Vicodin, methadone and Xanax.

He added that while writing the book was easy, reading it back became a painful process for him.

'It was a gratifying experience to write the book, it all just poured out of me. It came easily to me to write it but then I had to read it for the Audible part of it and that was really hard.

'Reading and it sort of disassociating a bit... thinking "God, what a terrible, hard life this guy has had and realizing, I'm talking about myself.

'I felt very sorry for that person because I know what was going on in his head and it all had to be a secret. I was on a show that a lot of people were watching and trying not to have a lot of people know that,' he said.

Perry said earlier this week that he kept his addiction from his costars for years. He said that they will find out more when they read his book

Perry at the height of his Friends fame. He previously said how viewers could 'track' his addiction with his weight: 'When Im carrying weight, its alcohol. When Im skinny, its pills'

Perry revealed the details of his past in his new book - Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing

Perry appeared on Tuesday on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and reflected on giving up a film role with Meryl Steep due to his addiction.

The actor was asked by Colbert, 57, what happened to him instead of filming opposite Streep, 73, in the 2021 Adam McKay film Don't Look Up.

'I got CPR and the guy who saved my life broke eight ribs in the process,' Perry said.

'May I ask why you were getting CPR?,' Colbert asked.

'They were doing a procedure because I had pain in my stomach and they gave me propofol ...and my heart stopped for five minutes,' said Perry referencing the anesthetic used for surgery.

'So you were legally dead for five minutes?,' Colbert asked.

'Well, no, I didn't flatline, but my heart did stop for five minutes,' Perry said.

Perry said he woke up in a different hospital 10 hours later.

'I had to give up the biggest movie I'd ever gotten. I had four scenes with Meryl Streep,' Perry said.

Perry appeared on Tuesday on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and reflected on giving up a film role with Meryl Steep due to his addiction

The 272-page memoir from publisher Flatiron Books details the actor's struggle with addiction to alcohol and pills while also starring as Chandler Bing in the NBC sitcom Friends.

Perry revealed he spent around $9million trying to get sober and recently celebrated 18 months of sobriety after going to rehab about 15 times.

He also shared his failed attempt to lose his virginity to ex-girlfriend Tricia Fisher and how alcoholism impacted his sex life in the memoir.
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Megyn Kelly slammed Meghan Markle for constantly referring to Prince Harry as 'her husband,' claiming the Duchess is only doing it for attention.

Kelly, 51, didn't hold back during the latest episode of her podcast, where she criticized the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for 'ripping on the Royals to whom they owe, literally, all of their fame and most of their fortune.'

Kelly - who claimed Americans 'don't like royalty' - took great annoyance to Markle's constant reference to Harry as 'her husband.'

'We get it, you bagged the gorilla,' she said on Tuesday's episode. 'Congratulations, you got the big bear, [and] you want us all to know.'

The criticism came after Meghan had uploaded another episode of her Archetypes podcast, where she raved about Harry's parenting skills.

'Oh, my husband? Oh, he's great!' Markle, 41, said on Tuesday's episode when she was asked if Harry contributed much to the parenting side.

Megyn Kelly, 51, took great annoyance to Markle's constant reference to Harry as 'her husband' in the Duchess' latest Archetypes podcast. 'We get it, you bagged the gorilla,' she said on Tuesday's episode. 'Congratulations, you got the big bear, [and] you want us all to know'

The criticism came after Meghan had uploaded another episode of her Archetypes podcast, where she raved about Harry's parenting skills. 'Oh, my husband? Oh, he's great!' she said on the episode

She went on to elaborate that the Duke, 38, helps 'get [Archie] downstairs' while she cooks breakfast during their 'chaotic' mornings.

'I make breakfast for all three of them. Its very important to me. I love doing it,' Markle said on her podcast.

Kelly also claimed that the now-Duchess was a 'liar' about never looking up the Royal family prior to her relationship with Prince Harry.

'I never looked up my husband online,' Markle told Oprah at the time. 'I just didn't feel the need to because everything that I needed to know, he was sharing with me  or everything we thought I needed to know, he was telling me.'

In conversation with Christopher Anderson - who is promoting his new book The King: The Life of Charles III - he chuckled to Kelly when he claimed Meghan, like 'every other young woman,' knew about the Royal family.

'She, like every other young woman that age, they were all in love with [the Royals]. There are pictures of her at the gates of Buckingham Palace when she was a teenager,' the author said.

'Let's get real, there's always that eligible bachelor,' Kelly agreed. 'For my age, it was JFK Jr., for her age it was Prince Harry.

'She was a liar...that's really what we're both saying. She lied about it, she lied.'

Kelly also had a bone to pick with The Sussex's shocking interview with Oprah, especially the alleged claims of racism.

Meghan and Harry claimed in their interview that a family member had bemused what skin tone their child would have during Meghan's pregnancy, although they both declined to say who said at the time.

However, Anderson claimed the conversation did not happen during Markle's pregnancy, but rather before their engagement announcement.

'It was an instant conversation about two people who are going...if they are going to be grandparents, Charles and Camilla [were] speculating on what the kids might look like.

'Obviously, you have two very attractive people here and "Gee I wonder what color their eyes will be, what their hair would be like." You know this kind of thing it was something I would say [was] relatively benign and witnessed by several people and then spun into something toxic.'

Anderson went on to say that 'men in gray who operate the monarchy behind the scenes' may have 'misinterpreted' the conversation by the time it got back to the couple.

'It was a game of telephone, let's put it that way,' Anderson told Kelly.

Kelly criticized the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (pictured) for 'ripping on the Royals to whom they owe, literally, all of their fame and most of their fortune'

Kelly also called Markle a 'liar' for claiming she never looked up the Royals prior to her relationship with Prince Harry. Let's get real, there's always that eligible bachelor,' Kelly said. 'For my age, it was JFK Jr., for her age it was Prince Harry....She was a liar'

Markle has received plenty of criticism over her Archetypes podcast

Kelly said the conversation between the now-King and his wife shouldn't be considered 'racist.'

'You're just curious about how your baby's gonna look,' she said. 'A negative judgment attached to a darker skin would be racist, but just wondering, that's not racist.'

Anderson, a grandparent himself, said he too speculated what his own would look like and said the Sussex's 'jumping to that conclusion' was 'pretty irresponsible.'

Kelly and Anderson also compared Charles' past to Harry, and insinuated that the son should 'know that his dad is not a racist.'

'Everybody remembers Harry's past. I mean he had trouble with the drugs, he had when he was a teenager - you know the tabloids had a field day with that he wore the Nazi uniform to a costume party - he said some things people interpreted as being anti-Muslim to some Army buddies.'

Anderson also cited that Harry had been pulled out of clubs drunk many times in his past and that Charles never wavered.

'He backed Harry, he got him the help he needed when he needed it. He would not banish Harry,' Anderson claimed. 'It is too bad that Harry couldn't remember that part of their relationship.'

Kelly also criticized that Meghan 'wants us to give a damn about what title her kid is going to get, well we don't, we don't. And they're still whining about it.'
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo presides over a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters at the government complex in Seoul, Nov. 2. Yonhap



Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said Wednesday the government will sternly hold accountable those responsible as transcripts of emergency calls revealed that police took no action hours before the Itaewon tragedy.



Han made the remarks a day after the National Police Agency admitted that 11 emergency calls reporting overcrowding in Itaewon started coming in around four hours before the disaster that killed at least 156 people, but no action was taken.



Many of the callers said they felt like they were going to be "crushed to death."



"The government will sternly hold accountable those who were responsible as soon as the investigation is completed," Han told a response meeting






A rare first edition copy of the U.S. Constitution is set to go on the auction block for the first time in 125 years and could fetch up to $30 million.

Sotheby's announced on Tuesday that they are putting a rare, original copy of the historic document, with an estimated value of between $20 million and $30 million, under the hammer at their Manhattan auction house on December 13.

The historic document  which is one of only two known copies that are in private hands and one only 13 copies known to exist  was unveiled by the auction house this week. The other 11 are in public government collections, Sotheby's added.

A year ago, the only other privately owned first-edition copy - the Goldman Constitution - was auctioned for a staggering $43.2 million.

A rare first edition copy of the U.S. Constitution is set to go on the Sotheby's auction block December 13 for the first time in 125 years and could fetch anywhere between $20 and $30M

One of only two known copies of The Official Edition of the Constitution, the First Printing of the Final Text of the Constitution is displayed at Sotheby's on October 31, 2022 in NYC

The first edition copy of the document that sold last year after a mystery investor outbid crypto crowd-funders who raised $40million to buy the 1787 document 'for the people'.

The document was signed on September 17, 1787 at Philadelphia's Independence Hall by America's founding fathers including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and James Madison.

Richard Austin, Sotheby's global head of books and manuscripts, released a statement that said last year's record sale was proof of the 'enduring importance and influence' of the historical document. He also added that there are high hopes for the sale of the copy that is being auctioned next month.

'A year later after the record-breaking sale, we hope the remarkable opportunity to acquire one of two privately owned copies of the Constitution will inspire a similar response that galvanized the public last year,' Austin said.

Last year, a 17,000-strong group of cryptocurrency investors had raised $40million to try and buy the document but failed to secure the prize, the consortium said.

It had raised some $40 million in the cryptocurrency Ethereum in recent days, but fell short at the auction.

The original copy - one of just two still in private hands, in this case the US collector Dorothy Tapper Goldman - was previously estimated between $15 and $20million.

A close up of the last page of one of only two known copies of The Official Edition of the Constitution, the First Printing of the Final Text of the Constitution is displayed at Sotheby's

A close up of the last page of one of only two known copies of The Official Edition of the Constitution, the First Printing of the Final Text of the Constitution is displayed at Sotheby's

A specialist removes one of only two known copies of The Official Edition of the Constitution, the First Printing of the Final Text of the Constitution, from it's case displayed at Sotheby's

The document was unveiled this week. The other 11 are in public government collections

In the end it went for more than twice that sum, and in just eight minutes as bidders in the New York auction room but also on the phone from around the globe upped their offers.

The cryptocurrency consortium that sought the rare document called itself ConstitutionDAO, the last three letters standing for 'decentralized autonomous organization.'

'We didn't get the constitution, but we made history nonetheless' the group, ConstitutionDAO, said on Twitter.

'We broke the record for the largest crowdfund for a physical object and most money crowdfunded in 72h, which will of course be refunded to everyone who participated,' it said.

The group had offered participants a governance token, meaning they would have a say in where the document was displayed, rather than a fraction of the ownership.

In November 2021, the only other privately owned first-edition copy - the Goldman Constitution - was auctioned for a staggering $43.2 million.

Sotheby's auction house and auctioneer Quig Bruning staged the sale in New York in 2021

Sotheby's auction house in Manhattan announced on Tuesday that they are putting the rare document under the hammer at their Manhattan auction house on December 13

Such groups have begun forming loose coalitions recently to raise funds to bid on expensive collectibles, including one group that pulled together $4 million for a rare Wu-Tang Clan album that had previously been owned by jailed hedge fund founder Martin Shkreli.

Selby Kiffer, a manuscripts and ancient books expert at Sotheby's, said in September that this copy was probably part of an edition of 500 printed the day before the signing, and likely came off the printing presses on the evening of September 16 1787.

The text, with its celebrated opening of 'We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union,' went on to be ratified by the individual states, starting with Delaware in December 1787 and ending with Rhode Island in May 1790.

It officially became the United States' founding charter on June 21, 1788, when New Hampshire became the ninth of 13 states to ratify it.

The original Constitution, Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights are all house at the National Archives Museum in Washington DC.

Before the copy sold in 2021, the last original copy sold at auction was in June 2000 for $8.14 million.
Miami-Dade police say the successful return of Jojo is an example of law enforcement at all levels and across international borders working together

Concepcion says she and Jojo will now recreate Halloween and celebrate her birthday which occurred while he was away

Yanet Concepcion, the boy's mother, said she wanted to thank the tipster who reported the sighting of Jojo, his father & grandmother at the Canadian Walmart

A little boy from South Florida is back home with his mother after he was found in good health in Canada.

Jojo Morales, 6, was abducted two months ago by his father, Jorge Morales, 45, and his grandmother, Lilliam Pena Morales, 68, according to police.

Yanet Concepcion, Jojo's mother, had gone to pick up her son on August 27 as part of a custody exchange only to find he had disappeared.

The Tuesday night reunion between mother and son at the Miami International Airport was tearful and joyous.

The pair were reunited Tuesday night at the Miami International Airport. Concepcion said she had 'missed that voice so much' and that she just wanted to hug her son

Jojo was greeted Tuesday night by hugs, kisses and toys from his mother and other family members after returning to the area for the first time since August

In August, an Amber Alert was sent out for Jojo sparking a nationwide search for the child. Several days ago, Jojo and his father and grandmother were spotted in a Walmart in New Brunswick, Canada

Jojo Morales, 6, was allegedly kidnapped in August by his father and grandmother. He was spotted safe and healthy two months later in Canada and has now been returned to his mother Yanet Concepcion (right)

'I just want to hug him,' Concepcion told reporters.

'I missed that voice so much,' she said, admitting it will now be hard to let Jojo out of her sight.

Investigators say Jorge and Lilliam were arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police after a tipster spotted Jojo at a Walmart in the Canadian providence of New Brunswick.

Concepcion said she wanted to tell the tipster, 'thank you for saving my son's life.'

After two months she described as living a nightmare, Concepcion got a call from an FBI agent on Sunday that her son had been found and was safe.

An Amber Alert was issued in late August for the missing child sparking a nationwide search.

Maine State Police say Jojo and his father and grandmother may have been spotted in an SUV that was located in Littleton, Maine close to the Canadian border.

Jorge Morales, 45, will now face serious charges for alleging kidnapping his son. Morales and Concepcion had been in engaged in a brutal custody battle following her January 2019 petition for divorce

Lilliam Morales, 68, Jojo's grandmother, was also arrested in Canada for abducting her grandson. She had, prior to the alleged abduction, sold her Miami-area house

Police say the three may have been spotted in an SUV in Littleton, Maine, near the Canadian border several weeks ago

The SUV found in Littleton, Maine with some of Jojo's possessions in it. Concepcion said her ex spent the better part of a year researching how to live off the grid

Concepcion previously said she believes her ex had been researching living off the grid for the better part of a year and that he and his mother are now facing serious felony charges.

She says she and her son will now make up for lost time and recreate Halloween and celebrate her birthday that passed during the time he was missing.

Back in August, Concepcion had gone to Morales' apartment to retrieve her son when she found the place empty and Jojo missing.

'Everything was gone. Everything was gone from his apartment,' she said. 'His phones were off. His mom's phone was off,' she said.

At the time she said that her son, who is on the autism spectrum, had told her that his father wanted to 'tale him to live on a farm with windmills and wanted me to go with him.'

Concepcion and Morales had been engaged in an ongoing custody battle since she filed for divorce in January 2019.

Prior to the alleged kidnapping, Morales had allowed his nursing license to lapse his mother had sold their house.

Miami-Dade Police Director Freddy Ramirez said the successful effort to locate Jojo and get him home was an example of 'local, state, federal, and international law enforcement, along with the United States and State Attorney's Office coming together for the safety of a child and will continue to work together to fight the greater evil.'
Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz are still locked in a tight race for Pennsylvania Senate, despite Fetterman's eyebrow-raising debate performance.

That could mean the result won't be known for days after Election Day, as around 1.4 million Pennsylvanians have requested mail-in ballots and Pennsylvania prohibits the counting of those votes until 7 a.m. on Election Day morning.

On Monday, a Muhlenberg College/Morning Call survey found that the candidates were tied - Fetterman at 47 percent and Oz at 47 percent. The poll of 460 likely voters - conducted mostly after last Tuesday's Harrisburg face-off - had a margin of error of plus or minus 6 percent.

And then on Tuesday, a new Monmouth University poll showed Fetterman ahead with 48 percent support to Oz's 44 percent, but within the survey's 4.5 percent margin of error.

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic Senate hopeful, is tied in one new poll with rival, Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz. While the Monmoutn University poll shows him four points ahead

On Monday, a Muhlenberg College/Morning Call survey found that the candidates were tied - Fetterman at 47 percent and Oz at 47 percent. The poll of 460 likely voters - conducted mostly after last Tuesday's Harrisburg face-off - had a margin of error of plus or minus 6 percent

And then on Tuesday, a new Monmouth University poll showed Fetterman ahead with 48 percent support to Oz's 44 percent, but within the survey's 4.5 percent margin of error

A Monmouth University poll shows that 9 percent of Pennsylvania likely voters have moved toward saying they'll definitely vote for Dr. Mehmet Oz (pictured) in the Keystone State's Senate race, but that movement happened before last Tuesday's debate with John Fetterman

Monmouth's pollsters asked Pennsylvania voters if they would definitely or probably vote for the candidates, with 39 percent saying they'd definitely be casting a vote for Fetterman, the state's lieutenant governor, with another 9 percent saying they'd probably go for the Democrat.

For Oz, 32 percent said they'd definitely be backing the longtime TV personality, while another 12 percent said they'd probably cast a vote for the Trump-backed Republican.

Fetterman's numbers remained constant before and after the debate, while Oz's 'definite' support has increased by 7 points since early October.

'The month-to-month shifts in support for Oz are not statistically significant. The overall trend suggests he has been chipping away with some voters who have not been completely comfortable with him, but that mainly happened prior to the debate,' said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, in the poll's release.

'Fetterman's performance may have had an impact on the margins but we don't see any evidence of a wholesale shift in the race,' Murray added.

At the debate, the after-effects of Fetterman's May stroke were on prominent display, as he confused words and delivered jumbled answers.

Fetterman used closed captioning technology to assist the 'auditory processing' issue he's struggled with since the stroke.

Monmouth found that more voters believe, 48 percent, than disbelieve, 38 percent, Fetterman's explanation that his speaking issues do not impact his ability to think.

Another 12 percent of respondents were unaware that Fetterman had trouble speaking after his stroke.

Just 3 percent - including 7 percent of independents - said they are rethinking their vote after watching the debate.

Twenty-two percent said the debate raised serious questions, but answered that it wouldn't impact their vote in a race that could decide who controls the upper chamber.

A near-majority, 46 percent, reported they had no serious concerns after watching the debate.

Another 27 percent said they didn't see or hear anything about the debate.

Oz, however, gets higher ratings when voters were asked if a candidate could effectively serve a six-year Senate term.

Fifty-nine percent said this of Oz, while 48 percent said the same of Fetterman.

Fetterman will be holding rallies this Saturday with former President Barack Obama, in Pittsburgh, and then be joined by both Obama and President Joe Biden in Philadelphia.

Meanwhile on Saturday, former President Donald Trump will headline a rally in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, about an hour east of Pittsburgh, featuring Oz and GOP gubernatorial Doug Mastriano.
Human rights groups said this exposed the brutal repression against protesters

The death of Mahsa Amini in police custody sparked the nation-wide protests

Iranian officers savagely beat the man, ran him over and then shot him

Iranian police have been filmed savagely beating a protester before shooting him at point-blank range.

The video, widely circulated online, shows a man being kicked and beaten by a group of officers in helmets holding batons, as dozens of officers on motorbikes creep through a small road at night.

As the officers continue to beat the man, they drag him off the street and into an underpass.

One officer then rams his motorcycle into the helpless man lying on the floor, running him over.

The distressing footage, captured from a nearby building at night on a mobile phone in a district of Tehran, then shows another officer with a rifle shooting the man.

The identity and current condition of the protester is unknown.

Iranian authorities are continuing to stamp down on anti-regime demonstrations across the country that were sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini.

Dozens of officers riding motorbikes are filmed beating the protester as he lay helpless on the ground

An officer on a motorbike runs the man over as other officers kick and beat the man

Dozens of officers on motorbikes creep down a road in Tehran, taking it in turn to beat and kick the protester.

The man lays motionless on the ground after being run over and shot by Iranian officers in an under pass at night in Tehran.

Iranian authorities said on Wednesday that they have ordered an investigation into the video.

Human rights groups said this exposed the sheer brutality of the Iranian police repression against protesters.

The countrywide protests were sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini who died in custody after being beaten and arrested by the notorious 'morality police' in Tehran for not wearing the hijab in accordance with government standards.

The nation-wide protests are seen as the biggest challenge to the Islamic republic's leadership since the 1979 revolution.

Dozens of Iranian officers file past the man, taking it in turns to beat him.

The video shows the man being savagely beaten by Iranian protesters before he is shot, purportedly filmed in Tehran.

Activists say dozens have been killed and thousands arrested in a crackdown by the security forces who have been accused of firing on protesters at close range, bludgeoning them with batons and other abuses.

Human rights group, Amnesty International said: 'This shocking video sent from Tehran is another horrific reminder that the cruelty of Iran's security forces knows no bounds.

'Amid a crisis of impunity, they're given free rein to brutally beat and shoot protesters,' it added, calling on the UN Human Rights Council to 'urgently investigate these crimes'.

Iran's police force announced in a statement published by state news agency IRNA that an order had been issued to 'investigate the exact time and place of the incident and identify the offenders.'

Mahsa Amini, 22, was killed by the Islamic republic's so-called morality police in September, and was beaten for not wearing the hijab in accordance with government standards.

Parmis Hamnava (left) and Sadaf Movahedi (right) are just two of many young women who have been beaten to death by Iranian security forces.

'The police absolutely do not approve of violent and unconventional behaviour and will deal with the offenders according to the rules,' the statement claimed.

The emergence of this video follows the death of many other protesters demonstrating against the regime.

Iranian security forces killed schoolgirl Parmis Hamnava last week after she ripped portraits of the founder of the Islamic Republic from her schoolbooks. Sadaf Movahedi was also bludgeoned to death last Monday night for walking home from school during protests for women's rights in Iran.

According to an updated toll issued Wednesday from the Norway-based Iran Human Rights NGO, 176 people have been killed in the crackdown on the protests sparked by Amini's death.

Another 101 people have lost their lives in a distinct protest wave in Zahedan in the southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province.

IHR has warned that these figures are a minimum, with information slow to flow in due to disruptions of the internet by the authorities.

Thousands of people have been arrested nationwide in the crackdown on the protests, rights activists say, while Iran's judiciary has said 1,000 people have already been charged in connection with what it describes as 'riots'.

The trial of five men charged with offences that can carry capital punishment over the protests opened Saturday in Tehran.

'Instead of accepting people's legal demands, the Islamic republic is clamping down with repressive measures and show trials,' said IHR director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.

'The charges and sentences have no legal validity and their sole purpose is to commit more violence create societal fear,' he added.

The nation-wide protests have been fuelled by anger over the strict Islamic dress code for women in Iran, which the police who arrested Amini were enforcing.

While there have been outbursts of protests in Iran over the past two decades the current movement has regularly broken taboos, united social classes and largely spread nationwide.
The Crown star Claire Foy feared for her and her daughter's life after an obsessed American stalker turned up at her home last year.

Jason Penrose, 49, bombarded Ms Foy's publicist Emma Jackson with more than 1,000 explicit emails, including one referring to rape between February 19, 2021 and February 7, 2022.

On December 17, 2021, the Golden-Globe-winning actress was horrified to find Penrose had turned up at her home and was repeatedly ringing her doorbell, Thames Magistrates court heard.

The 38-year-old suffers sleepless nights and said the ordeal has affected 'every aspect' of her life - Ms Foy even begged friend not to tag her in pictures in case Penrose used them to track her movements.

Penrose, who admitted breaching his stalking protection order, faces up to 10 years behind bars if found guilty of stalking.

He was released on bail ahead of his next court date at Wood Green Crown Court on November 28.

A court heard that Jason Penrose (pictured), 49, stalked actress Claire Foy for a year and showed up at her house

The Crown actress said in a letter to the court that Penrose's 'relentless attempts' to contact her are 'traumatic' and have affected every aspect of her life

Varinder Hayre, prosecuting, said: 'Ms Foy has been targeted by Mr Penrose in a sustained, unwanted, fixated and obsessive behaviour that was intrusive due to his delusional beliefs.

'Mr Penrose was claiming she was interested in him romantically and he did believe she would like to star in a movie he was planning to make.'

Penrose launched a 'campaign of consistent stalking' sending thousands of emails, eight switchboard messages and going to the star's home.

On the night he went to Ms Foy's address, the door intercom was answered by her daughter, and Penrose said: 'It's Jason, I'm outside.'

The stalking left the actress 'in genuine fear for her safety and terrified and helpless in her own home.'

Penrose initially contacted Ms Foy through her agent and publicist claiming to be a movie producer.

He said he was a scriptwriter with a $20million deal with Warner Brothers Studio and wanted Ms Foy to act in his sci-fi film.

Penrose initially contacted Ms Foy's agent pretending to be a scriptwriter with a $20million deal with Warner Brothers Studio

Ms Hayre described some of the emails sent by Penrose as 'quite graphic.'

She said: 'He talked about the victim Ms Foy being raped and wanted her to be his girlfriend.

'There were pictures of Mr Penrose himself in various hotels and locations in Camden.'

Penrose also contacted Ms Foy's sister by email and ex-boyfriend by text.

'Ms Foy was terrified as she did not know what his intention was. She was in fear for her and her daughter's lives,' said Mr Hayre.

'She was frightened knowing he was somewhere.'

The stalking had 'an extreme effect on her life and peace of mind.'

'She struggles to sleep and is terrified in her own home. She feels like the freedoms before Mr Penrose contacted her have now gone,' Mr Hayre added.

Ms Foy even asked friends not to tag or picture her in photos at social events for fear of Mr Penrose being able to track where she is.

In a letter written to court Ms Foy said: 'His relentless attempts to contact me are so traumatic. Every time I think this is sorted it is not.

'I feel like there is nothing that would stop him being able to contact me, he has affected every aspect of my life.'

A judge previously imposed a five-year stalking protection order against Penrose this year, after Ms Foy raised concerns

The actress played the Queen in the first two series of Netflix's hit show and has won a Golden Globe, two Emmy Awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.

She was granted an interim stalking protection order earlier this year, but despite the order Penrose sent her another letter and a parcel from the hospital where he was being treated.

District Judge Michael Oliver had previously imposed a five-year stalking protection order against Penrose in July after the actress raised 'great concerns due to the nature of the communications.'

Wearing a white shirt and brown cap, Penrose appeared at Thames Magistrates' Court today charged with stalking involving serious alarm or distress - which carries the maximum sentence of 10 years jail, under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

He also admitted two breaches of a stalking protection order.

Penrose was accompanied by NHS workers and gave his address as Whittington Hospital in north London.

He was granted bail ahead of sentence on November 28 at Wood Green Crown Court.

District Judge William Nelson said: 'I consider this offence passes the threshold of the powers this court has to impose sentence.

'I agree with the prosecution where the starting point is two years and six months imprisonment.

'The persistent conduct created very serious distress, a great deal of psychological harm and caused Ms Foy to make considerable changes to her lifestyle.'

The judge warned Penrose he may be facing 'a lengthy prison sentence.'

Penrose, originally from the USA, was released on conditional bail.

He must surrender his passport to police, not apply for travel documents, live and sleep as directed by the Islington NHS Trust, not contact Ms Foy directly or indirectly or attend an address he knows or believes to be Ms Foy's address.

From the dock Penrose said: 'I don't have any interest in doing that.'

A medical report and pre-sentence report have been ordered before his sentence.

Moira MacFarlane, defending said: 'It was misrepresented in the papers that he had threatened Ms Foy with rape and that was never the case. He made reference to rape.'
The Labour MP at the centre of a drama series about a neo-Nazi plot to kill her has slammed ITV for using her as a 'marketing tool'.

In reference to previous death threats, she asked: 'How many more will come from this stupid, stupid, stupid series?'

Rosie Cooper was the target of far-Right extremist Jack Renshaw.

He bought a 19in replica Roman sword and announced plans to kill the MP for West Lancashire as part of a 'white jihad' at a meeting in a Warrington pub in July 2017.

But a man called Robbie Mullen among the group was disgusted with the plot and reported it to advocacy group Hope not Hate, which alerted the police.

Renshaw was jailed for life in 2019 at the age of 23.

The extraordinary story has been told in a new drama on ITV called The Walk-in, starring Stephen Graham.

But today Ms Cooper condemned channel for its publicising of the drama.

She told the Commons: 'I am appalled at ITV's recent treatment of the threats to MPs.

Labour MP Rosie Cooper launched a broadside at ITV over the new dramatisation over evil plot

Stephen Graham as Matthew Collins in ITV drama The Walk In, based on book of same name

Jack Renshaw, 23, plotted to carry out the murder of Labour MP Rosie Cooper with a blade

'I have been used as a marketing tool by Hope not hate and ITV. What excuse is there for a press release that says 'Who is Rosie Cooper, and who wanted to murder her'?

'There is no defence to that. So, let's test the public defence, the public interest defence, to their despicable behaviour and I call on Hope not hate and ITV to donate all money and profits generated from this TV series, both here and abroad, every single penny should go to the Jo Cox Foundation.

'We should not tolerate this kind of behaviour.'

Her comments came after Conservative chair of the Foreign Affairs committee Alicia Kearns raised a point of order in the Commons chamber, detailing her concerns over the television drama

Today she thanked Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Conservative former prime minister Theresa May, Tory ex-home secretary Priti Patel and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace for their support.

She also praised ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and the former executive director of his office, Karie Murphy, for allowing her to use a government car to reach the Old Bailey for the sentencing after the second trial.

The drama was shown by ITV and told the real life story about the far right plot to kill an MP

The Walk-In, is a British ITV drama series in which Stephen Graham takes the leading role, of activist Matthew Collins, a reformed Neo-Nazi, now working as a bona fide journalist for the anti-racist organisation, Hope not Hate.

Ms Cooper claimed 'ITV's despicable cameraman chased me up and down the road at the end of the first trial'.

An ITV spokeswoman said: 'We are very sympathetic to the horrific ordeal Rosie Cooper MP has experienced, but we'd like to point out that this has never been the emphasis of our press and marketing around the series The Walk-In.

'The series has never been described in this way in any ITV press release.

'From Hillsborough, Bloody Sunday, Appropriate Adult, Little Boy Blue, A Confession to The Lost Honour Of Christopher Jeffries, ITV has a long record of broadcasting factual dramas based on or representing real events.

'Like these, The Walk-In is an important story which we believe it is overwhelmingly in the public interest to broadcast. We always conduct the making of these series carefully and responsibly.'

Ms Cooper's comments came after the Conservative chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee raised a point of order in the Commons, asking the Speaker for advice on how to ensure that 'threats on the lives of our colleagues are not treated as entertainment'.

Alicia Kearns said: 'ITV has made a drama series about the heinous plan to murder the honourable lady for West Lancashire (Rosie Cooper), whose permission I have to make this point of order.

Neo-Nazi Jack Renshaw, 23, was jailed at the Old Bailey for life with a minimum term of 20 years after plotting to murder Labour MP Rosie Cooper and threatening to kill a police officer

Renshaw bought a 19-inch replica Roman sword, known as a 'Gladius knife' to kill Ms Cooper and exact revenge on detective Victoria Henderson who was investigating him for child sex offences

'What advice can you give to Members in this situation to ensure that the facts are fairly presented, that threats on the lives of our colleagues are not treated as entertainment... and that these series do not risk re-victimising those of us still living under significant threat from life?'

Sir Lindsay replied: 'The House will know that the safety of members, our families and our staff in this House is one of my highest priorities.

'Like all Members of this House, however, I would have thought that any depiction of threats made against parliamentarians is undertaken responsibly, based on the facts, and mindful of the impact of those subject to those such threats.

'Can I just say, I am also very concerned, and a friend of mine was the person that undertook those threats.

'Now I have got to say I think we all stand in awe of the bravery that she's shown and the courage to ensure that she is still a Member of Parliament ... even if she might be going to new pastures.'

The ITV drama centred on informant Mullen, his handler at Hnh Collins, and how the organisation infiltrated banned far-right terror group National Action (NA) and prevented the attack on Ms Cooper in 2017.

Jack Renshaw (right) had once been a British National Party youth leader. He is pictured here alongside Nick Griffin, who served as chairman and then president of the BNP from 1999 to 2014

Mr Mullen, a former member of NA, spent a prolonged time undercover as a mole for Hnh.

His information about the plot and the activities of NA was passed on to the police and resulted in a high-profile trial at the Old Bailey.

Jack Renshaw, now 27, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, is currently serving a life sentence for preparing acts of terrorism.

The plot to kill Ms Cooper came just a year after the terrorist murder of Ms Cox.

A Hope not hate spokesperson said: 'We sympathise with Rosie Cooper for everything she has been through in recent years. No-one should endure murder threats simply for doing their job.

'Clearly, we are disappointed to hear Rosie's words in the chamber today. In 2017, several members of our organisation worked tirelessly and at tremendous sacrifice to themselves to foil the murder plot against Rosie Cooper.

'This ITV drama and documentary highlight the very real danger of far-right extremism - especially for those in public life.'

The spokesperson added: 'We cannot change what has happened to Rosie Cooper, but we can continue to work to tackle far-right extremism'
A 60-year-old man has been knifed to death at a FedEx parcel delivery warehouse today leading to the arrest of a man, 48, on suspicion of murder.

Officers from South Yorkshire Police were called to the warehouse in Rotherham at around 9.40am this morning to reports that a man had been stabbed.

The incident occurred at the FedEx site on Rother Way, in the parish of Hellaby.

When emergency services arrived, the stabbed man was found in a critical condition, the force said in a statement.

Officers from South Yorkshrie Police were called to the FedEx warehouse on Rother Way in Hellaby, Rotherham at around 9.30am this morning after a man, 60, was stabbed to death

A South Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: 'Despite the efforts of the emergency services, he was sadly pronounced dead at the scene.

'His family has been informed and is being supported by specially trained officers.

'A 48-year-old man from Sheffield has been arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in police custody.'

DCI Simon Palmer, leading the investigation said: 'We are working hard to establish the circumstances of this tragic incident, which we know will be causing concern in the community.

'Our officers remain on the scene while we carry out our enquiries.'

South Yorkshire Police asked anyone with information which may assist their officers to call 101, quoting incident number 260 of November 2 2022.
Falklands veteran Prince Andrew will be 'riled and upset' not be involved in Princess Anne's visit to the islands to mark the 40th anniversary of the conflict, a royal expert has today claimed.

The Princess Royal will travel to the South Atlantic with her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, for a six day visit of the British oversees territory later this month.

Her visit comes 40 years after the islands were invaded and then liberated from Argentina during the 10-week Falklands War, which ended in June 14, 1982.

But while Princess Anne and her husband will visit on behalf of the royal family, it is understood that Prince Andrew will not be with them.

The Duke of York, 62, served in the Royal Navy as a helicopter pilot during the conflict, flying multiple missions including anti-surface warfare, casualty evacuation, and Exocet missile decoy.

But he has been banned from front-line royal duties since facing sex assault allegations in the US by Jeffrey Epstein trafficking victim Virginia Giuffre.

Prince Andrew, who agreed a 12million deal with Ms Giuffre to settle her US lawsuit earlier this year, has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

However, according to one royal expert, Prince Andrew will be 'very upset' not to take part in any events to mark the 40th anniversary of the Falklands.

Author and journalist Phil Dampier, who has been writing about the Royal Family for more than 35 years, today told MailOnline: 'I believe that he wanted to but it was made clear to him that there was no way he could be involved as he is no longer a working royal in public life.

The Princess Royal will travel to the South Atlantic with her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence (pictured here with Princess Anne), for a six day visit of the British oversees territory later this month.

But while Princess Anne and her husband will visit on behalf of the royal family, it is understood that Prince Andrew will not be with them - at least not in any official capacity. Pictured: Prince Andrew with his mother The Queen in 2019

The Duke of York, 62, served in the Royal Navy as a helicopter pilot during the Falklands War. He flew on multiple missions including anti-surface warfare, casualty evacuation, and Exocet missile decoy. Pictured:

'Because he is now in disgrace following the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, people forget that Andrew returned from the South Atlantic a hero.

'He put his life on the line flying helicopters as a decoy for Exocet missiles which were causing immense damage to the British fleet.

'The Queen was worried sick about him and was so relieved when he returned home safely.

'In fact when he came back to Portsmouth with, famously, a rose between his teeth, his parents were there to greet him but also his sister Princess Anne. So its even more poignant that she is going down there.'

He added: 'Im sure she will feel sorry for Andrew but The King and the Prince of Wales have made it clear that there is no way back for him, at least in the near future.

Author and journalist Phil Dampier (pictured), who has been writing about the Royal Family for more than 35 years, today told MailOnline: 'I believe that he wanted to but it was made clear to him that there was no way he could be involved as he is no longer a working royal in public life.'

'Whether some sort of role with a charity or cause can be found at a later date only time will tell. But missing out on Falklands events will really rile him.'

It is understood Princess Anne's visit will be as part of the year-long calendar of events for the 40th anniversary - which was officially marked on the day by a remembrance ceremony earlier this year.

Princess Anne and Sir Tim will visit the islands between November 17 and 22. A full schedule of events for the trip has not yet been released.

The 10-week conflict started on April 2, 1982, when Argentina's then military leader Leopoldo Galtieri send in troops to invade the Falkland Islands, followed by South Georgia the next day.

The invasion followed years of dispute between Britain and Argentina, who maintain the islands are Argentinian territory.

They have been a Crown colony since 1841 and those who live on the island are predominantly of British descent and still to this day favour British sovereignty.

Following the invasion, the British Government dispatched a naval task force to engage Argentina's invasion.

During a 74 day conflict, which was never formally declared as a war by either country, more than 900 people were killed - two thirds from Argentina's force - with thousands of others wounded.

Prince Andrew, who served in the conflict with the Royal Navy, famously returned to a hero's welcome when he arrived back in Portsmouth. As he stepped off HMS Invincible with a rose in his mouth, he was met by his mother, The Queen, his father, Prince Philip and his sister, Princess Anne

Pictured: A Royal Navy Westland Sea King HC.4 of 825 Naval Air Squadron takes off after transporting J Company, 42 Commando, Royal Marines from Port San Carlos to Darwin, June 1982, during the Falklands Conflict

It will not be Princess Anne's first visit to the islands. She visited the Falklands, along with South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, in 2016 to mark the 100th anniversary of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Endurance expedition

The Princess Royal will travel to the South Atlantic with her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, for a six day visit of the British oversees territory later this month.

The conflict ended with Britain liberating the islands - and later the downfall of Galtieri's ruling military government - with the Government continuing to operate as a self-governing British overseas territory to this day.

Prince Andrew, who served in the conflict with the Royal Navy, famously returned to a hero's welcome when he arrived back in Portsmouth.

As he stepped off HMS Invincible with a rose in his mouth, he was met by his mother, The Queen, his father, Prince Philip and his sister, Princess Anne.

It will not be Princess Anne's first visit to the islands.

She visited the Falklands, along with South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, in 2016 to mark the 100th anniversary of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Endurance expedition.
Officials are zeroing in on hot-button topics such as COVID origins and the withdrawal from Afghanistan

GOP said there's nothing more 'dangerous' than government monitoring citizens

Republicans and critics have condemned reports that the Biden administration is colluding with social media companies including Facebook to monitor 'disinformation' it deems 'dangerous'.

The GOP said this is further evidence that the White House wants to turn the U.S. into a 'police state' and carve out their own definition of the 'truth' called the move 'totalitarian'.

They also said Department of Homeland Security should be focusing its resources on other more pressing areas of concern such as securing the border.

In a lengthy report on Monday citing internal documents that have emerged through leaks and court filings, The Intercept described what appears to be a growing focus within Department of Homeland Security on controlling online discourse.

Though the Biden administration earlier this year disbanded its controversial Disinformation Governance Board after furious backlash, the documents suggest that DHS has quietly maintained an intense interest in policing speech it deems false or dangerous.

The documents show that Facebook has a special online portal for DHS and other government officials to request content moderation, and that the federal department plans to target 'inaccurate information' on a wide array of topics.

Those hot-button topics include 'the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, racial justice, US withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the nature of US support to Ukraine,' according to a draft copy of DHS's Quadrennial Homeland Security Review cited in the report.

Rep. John Katko (R-NY), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, told DailyMail.com that this is another 'opaque' effort for the Biden administration to define their version of 'truth'.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is seen above. A new report details the Department of Homeland Security's close partnerships with social media companies to fight 'disinformation'

The new report describes a special portal that DHS officials can use to request content be removed or otherwise moderated from Facebook and Instagram

The portal, which is still active as of Tuesday evening, requires a pre-registered government email address to gain access to a priority 'content request system'

'Reports of DHS involvement in efforts to be the arbiter of truth on wide-ranging topics are extremely concerning,' his statement read.

'This is not DHS role, as evident by the fierce backlash against and ultimate disbanding of the Disinformation Governance Board earlier this year. Simply put: The American People do not approve of the Department engaging in unclear, unaccountable, and opaque efforts led by the Biden administrations ever-changing definition of "truth." '

'It is unfathomable to me how severely misplaced the Department of Homeland Securitys priorities continue to be.

'When the border crisis is reaching record-breaking levels daily, cyber-attacks from adversaries are threatening to cripple our critical infrastructure, the rise in violent crime is putting Americans across the country in danger, and disrupted supply chains are having devastating impacts on Americans, DHS cannot seem to let go of the desire to police Americans free speech.

'As for the critical DHS components involved in this underground effort, I would advise they avoid politicizing themselves any further at the risk of jeopardizing their ability to carry out their vital missions. Homeland Republicans continue to engage DHS to get answers and will continue to conduct intense oversight. We will continue to demand the highest levels of transparency by DHS with Congress and the public.'

'There is nothing more "dangerous" than a government monitoring and shaping what its citizens say in public forums,' Republican Congressman Andy Biggs told DailyMail.com

'This report is just another example of the Biden Regime's desire to turn our great nation into a police state. Its actions are totalitarian and un-American.

'I can assure Biden's DHS that my colleagues in Congress and I will be taking action to halt these censorship practices.'

Republican Congressman Kevin Hern also said: 'A man who cant remember where he went to college wants to fact-check you on social media. If it werent so corrupt and dangerous, the irony would be profound.'

'The left has declared war on free speech, proven by their refusal to launch an investigation into the origins of the DHS disinformation board, but sunlight is the best disinfectant,' Rep. Buddy Carter told DailyMail.com

'House Republicans have committed to building a government thats accountable when we retake the majority. Washington Democrats wont be able to hide behind their shroud of secrecy much longer.'

James Czerniawski, a senior policy analyst in Technology and Innovation at Americans for Prosperity, told DailyMail.com: 'We should be wary of seeking government solutions to issues surrounding social media when it is blatantly apparent the apparatus of government can be politically leveraged. In order to start tackling the problems of Big Tech, we need to start with tackling Big Government.

'They are the only institution with a monopoly on force and represent a true threat to companies via regulation or litigation or increased scrutiny. The sooner we revert to a government that respects the boundary between the public and private sectors, the better.'

The ambition of those plans, and the inherently political nature of some of the topics in question, such as the Afghan withdrawal, are drawing concerns from free speech advocates.

They fear that DHS could stray over the line from policing foreign disinformation campaigns, and into censorship of opposing viewpoints.

'There is growing evidence that the legislative and executive branch officials are using social media companies to engage in censorship by surrogate,' Jonathan Turley, a professor of law at George Washington University, told The Intercept.

'It is axiomatic that the government cannot do indirectly what it is prohibited from doing directly. If government officials are directing or facilitating such censorship, it raises serious First Amendment questions.'

CISA's domain, and its definition of 'infrastructure', appears to have swiftly expanded under President Joe Biden's appointee to lead the agency, Jen Easterly (above in 2021)

Spokespersons for Facebook's parent company Meta, Twitter, and DHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment from DailyMail.com on Tuesday evening.

Twitter told The Intercept in a statement: 'We do not coordinate with other entities when making content moderation decisions, and we independently evaluate content in line with the Twitter Rules.'

The new report describes a special portal that DHS officials can use to request content be removed or otherwise moderated from Facebook and Instagram, which are both owned by Meta.

The portal, which is still active as of Tuesday evening, requires a pre-registered government email address to gain access to a priority 'content request system'.

The report indicates that most of the government's work on disinformation is taking place within the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a DHS sub-agency created during the Trump administration with a broad mandate to protect US infrastructure.

But CISA's domain, and its definition of 'infrastructure', appears to have swiftly expanded under President Joe Biden's appointee to lead the agency, Jen Easterly.

'One could argue we're in the business of critical infrastructure, and the most critical infrastructure is our cognitive infrastructure, so building that resilience to misinformation and disinformation, I think, is incredibly important,' Easterly said at a conference in November 2021.

CISA officials have argued that it is vital to protect Americans from foreign campaigns to spread false or dangerous information.

Officials categorize that dangerous speech as misinformation (false information spread unintentionally), disinformation (false information spread intentionally), and malinformation (factual information shared with ill intent, often out of context).

And with the midterm elections looming in one week, defenders of crackdowns on disinformation point to a documented history of foreign influence campaigns attempting to trick Americans with phony social media accounts.

Still, the dangers of such crackdowns were illustrated in the closing days of the 2020 election, when Twitter and Facebook limited or banned sharing of the New York Post's reports on Hunter Biden's international business dealings.

Initially described as foreign disinformation, the contents of the abandoned laptop that formed the basis of the reporting were later verified by DailyMail.com and other news outlets as authentic.

Many of the documents cited by The Information came to light through a lawsuit filed last month by the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana, who are both Republicans.

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry (left) and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt (right) filed a suit last month accusing the Biden administration of working with social media companies to censor disfavored viewpoints. Both AGs are Republicans

Landry and Schmitt announced last month that they were adding 47 more defendants on top of the 20 that were already named in the wide-ranging suit

The suit accuses the Biden administration of having 'worked hand-in-hand' with social media giants to 'censor' news stories that reflect negatively on the White House .

'Throughout this case, we have uncovered a disturbing amount of collusion between Big Tech and Big Government,' Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said in a statement announcing the suit.

'This egregious attack on our First Amendment will be met with an equally full-hearted defense of the rights of the American people.'

Biden, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Dr. Anthony Fauci and Nina Jankowicz, who was meant to head Biden's now-defunct Disinformation Governance Board, are among the dozens of defendants listed in the suit.

The suit alleges that the Biden administration actively worked with social media companies and encouraged them to censor 'disfavored' viewpoints and speakers in violation of the First Amendment rights of those individuals.
Randall Emmett's former assistant has launched a lawsuit against him - claiming that The Irishman producer forced him to pay for prostitutes, bricks of cocaine, and participate in gambling, despite it being against his religion.

Martin G'Blae, who is a black Muslim man, alleges that the filmmaker racially discriminated against him, used the n-word, and also created a hostile work environment which violated his beliefs.

The 29-year-old worked as Emmett's production assistant during the filming of Midnight in the Switchgrass in 2020 - and has now claimed his boss violated the law a total of 24 times, LA Times reports.

He was fired from production company Emmett/Furla Oasis - but believes race discrimination was a factor, filing the suit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday.

Emmett's attorney has bashed the allegations as 'beyond fictitious' and said that the fired assistant will be 'held accountable for his actions in a courtroom.'

Among the allegations of racism was one encounter when Emmett was reading a book written by rapper 50 Cent. He allegedly 'got mad at 50 Cent and G'Blae.'

The lawsuit claims: 'He called 50 Cent, 'this f*****g n*****,' and then said to G'Blae, 'All you guys are alike. All you guys do is hustle people.' He then threw the book at G'Blae.'

Randall Emmett allegedly created a hostile work environment, the lawsuit claims. But Suann MacIsaac, attorney for Emmett, told DailyMail.com that the allegations being made are 'beyond fictitious'

Martin G'Blae, who is a black Muslim man, claims that the filmmaker racially discriminated against him. The 29-year-old lodged the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court

The ex-assistant said that he was 'uncomfortable' when he was asked to deal out cards in a poker game and run gambling-related errands, because they are activities prohibited in Islamic culture.

'Emmett still requested GBlae to run poker-related errands for him approximately six more times, knowing it would make him uncomfortable and violate his religious beliefs,' the suit says.

His jobs also included 'paying Emmett's prostitutes and drug dealers,' the explosive lawsuit claims.

G'Blae also alleges that his boss would leave expensive items, like luxury watches, around him as a 'trap' to see if he'd steal them.

He also made the assistant - who was the only black employee at the company - 'turn out his pockets to check if he had stolen anything,' the lawsuit says.

When watching Cardi B on television, Emmett asked G'Blae to 'translate' for him as he had trouble understanding what the rapper was saying, he claims in the suit.

Emmett - known for being the producer of The Irishman - also brought cocaine to Puerto Rico while they were filming for 'Midnight in the Switchgrass,' which put G'Blae in an 'unsafe and unlawful situation,' the former assistant claims.

The lawsuit alleges: 'Emmett had forgotten the code to the safe, so they had the hotel receptionist and a security guard open it. Inside, they found what appeared to be brick of cocaine.

'The other assistant quickly grabbed it, and they drove back to Emmett, fearing being pulled over and found with a brick of cocaine. When they gave it to Emmett, G'Blae told him forcefully to never put him in an unsafe and unlawful situation like that again.'

He also alleges that Emmett enlisted him in an 'insurance fraud scam' - and asked him to claim insurance for his missing Rolls Royce. But G'Blae says it was not actually stolen.

Alongside the alleged illicit activities, G'Blae also claims that he has not been expensed correctly for his work - but Emmett's legal team say that the money he says he's owed cannot be substantiated.

In a statement, the former assistant said: 'By bringing to light the illegal pay scheme, discrimination, harassment, and retaliation that I suffered during my employment with Randall Emmett and his companies, I'm glad to open the floor for these discussions to take place.

Emmett - known for being the producer of The Irishman - also brought cocaine to Puerto Rico while they were filming for 'Midnight in the Switchgrass,' which put G'Blae in an 'unsafe and unlawful situation,' the former assistant claims

The lawsuit claims: 'He called 50 Cent (pictured) 'this f*****g n*****,' and then said to G'Blae, 'All you guys are alike. All you guys do is hustle people.' He then threw the book at G'Blae'

'I hope, through this, a message is made that there are just some things you cannot remain silent about  illegal practices, abuse, and your rights within the workplace are just a few of many.'

He is suing for emotional stress damages, punitive damages, and attorneys' fees. The lawsuit is also lodged against Emmett's business partner George Furla and their LA-based film production company.

Suann MacIsaac, attorney for Randall Emmett, told DailyMail.com: 'The allegations being made are beyond fictitious. Mr. G'Blae is a disgruntled former employee who was fired for cause.

'During the last year he has tried to get thousands of dollars from Mr. Emmett for supposed unpaid expenses that he cannot substantiate.

'Mr. G'Blae will most definitely be held accountable for his actions in a courtroom.'

This comes just days after Emmett's ex-wife Ambyr Childers filed for a domestic violence restraining order against the film producer in Los Angeles County Superior Court, saying she had 'legitimate fear for [her] safety and well-being.'

The fired Muslim assistant also claims that Emmett enlisted him in an 'insurance fraud scam' - and asked him to claim insurance for his missing Rolls Royce. But G'Blae says it was not actually stolen

When watching Cardi B (pictured) on television, Emmett asked G'Blae to 'translate' for him as he had trouble understanding what the rapper was saying, the former assistant claims in the suit

According to the Los Angeles Times, a judge denied a request made by Childers, 34, for an emergency temporary order Tuesday, citing little evidence, but set a November 14 hearing to review the issue in further detail.

A rep for the producer told US Weekly, 'Randall is very pleased the court recognized that there was no merit to any of these claims and denied the request.'

Childers, who shares joint legal and physical custody of two daughters with the producer, London, 12, and Rylee, eight, told the court that on Friday, she emailed Emmett, 51, that their older daughter's school had notified her that their child was routinely tardy while in her father's care.

Childers, an actress who has been seen on show such as You and Aquarius, said in legal docs that she inadvertently got a look at emails Emmett and his lawyer Ben Valencia exchanged after his response included previous emails he and his lawyer had corresponded in, the paper reported.

She said that in the email, Valencia said to Emmett, 'When will you get some real money together so we can take this c*** out once and for all. This is not good for your girls.'

Emmett replied, 'I dont have real money for this and you know it,' according to court records.

Randall Emmett's ex-wife Ambyr Childers, 34, filed for a domestic violence restraining order against the film producer, 51, in Los Angeles County Superior Court, saying she had 'legitimate fear for [her] safety and well-being'

Vanderpump Rules star Lala Kent was previously engaged to Emmett, 51, whom she initially met in 2015.

The pair went public with their romance in 2018, a year after he divorced his former wife, Ambyr Childers.

The former couple became engaged during a trip to Cabo San Lucas that took place that same year.

The Bravo star went on to announce that she and her former fiancee had planned to tie the knot in April of 2020, although they ultimately postponed their wedding.

Kent went on to announce that she was pregnant in September of 2020, and she gave birth to her daughter Ocean, aged one, the following March.

However, the pair went on to split in October of 2021 after Emmett was seen in the company of two women during an outing in Nashville.
Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo receives questions at a meeting with foreign correspondents at the Press Center in Seoul over the Itaewon tragedy in this photo provided by Han's office, Nov. 1. Yonhap



Prime Minister Han Duck-soo issued an apology Wednesday for making a quip at a media briefing with foreign journalists with regard to the Halloween crowd crush in Itaewon.



"Regardless of the circumstances, I apologize for making people feel uncomfortable," Han said in a statement.



During the media briefing Tuesday, Han was asked what is "the beginning and the end" of the government's responsibility over the tragedy that left at least 156 people dead.



Han replied that the government will not avoid responsibility for the disaster, saying the government should take unlimited responsibility for the lives and safety of the people.






A gunman who hit 130 miles per hour as he dodged in and out of traffic during a motorway police chase has been jailed.

Rooney Whyte, 42, led police for 35 miles along the M26 and M25 from Kent to Surrey before dumping the car and fleeing into a wooded field where he was arrested on January 25.

Video footage filmed by a police helicopter showed Whyte weaving across lanes in an Audi Q5 and driving on the hard shoulder after passing Clacket Lane Services on the M25.

He was tracked by the helicopter leaving the motorway at Junction 11 where he began overtaking vehicles into oncoming traffic.

After stopping in a cul-de-sac in Ottershaw, Surrey, Whyte escaped into a wooded field by jumping fences.

But officers were able to arrest him after seeing that he had thrown a handgun into some brambles.

Rooney Whyte, of Stratford, east London, pleaded guilty last week at Maidstone Crown Court to possession of a firearm, failing to stop and dangerous driving

He was tracked by police helicopter as he weaved between traffic at speeds of up to 130mph

He abandoned the car and fled on foot before dumping a loaded gun into some bushes

A police helicopter was able to track Whyte as he tried to make his escape across the field

Police tracked Whyte for some 35 miles before he abandoned the car and tried to escape on foot

Whyte, of Stratford, east London, pleaded guilty last week at Maidstone Crown Court to possession of a firearm, failing to stop and dangerous driving.

He was jailed for five years and four months and has been disqualified from driving for 47 months.

Investigating officer Detective Constable Steven Brown, of Kent Police, said: 'Members of the public had to take evasive action to avoid a collision due to the manner of Whyte's driving. He put himself and other road users at risk and that is not acceptable.

'There is also no good reason for any member of the public to be in possession of a handgun and its live ammunition.

'Only organised criminals with no aversion to committing serious violence would seek to possess such an item. I am therefore pleased that this weapon has been removed from circulation.'

DC Brown added: 'We will never show any tolerance for offending of this nature and it is only appropriate that Whyte is now at the beginning of a substantial prison sentence.'

He surrendered after being challenged by armed police. He later pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court to possession of a firearm, failing to stop and dangerous driving.

Whyte was jailed for five years and four months and has been disqualified from driving for 47 months

The police helicopter was able to pinpoint the spot, pictured, where Whyte dumped his handgun
She had texted friends throughout the day, new court documents reveal, reaching out to her boyfriend in her hometown of Rochester, New York

Murdered teenager Brittannee Drexel sent her boyfriend a chilling text message before she vanished more than a decade ago, it's been revealed.

The 17-year-old was last seen on April 25, 2009 walking between hotels in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina where she had been on a spring break trip with a group of friends, without telling her parents.

She had texted her friends throughout the day, new court documents obtained by WCSC reveal, reaching out to her boyfriend in her hometown of Rochester, New York to complain about something less than one hour before she was reported missing.

'I'll tell you later when you call me,' Drexel told her boyfriend, adding: 'I'm so heated.'

Drexel later told him she was planning to just stay in that night and pack before going to sleep.

But that same night, Raymond Moody  a known sex offender  kidnapped and raped the teenager before he killed her. Drexel's remains were only discovered earlier this year in Harmony Township, South Carolina after the 62-year-old finally confessed to the crime.

Moody has since been sentenced to life in prison.

Court documents reveal Brittanee Drexel, a 17-year-old from Rochester, New York, sent her boyfriend a text message telling him she was 'heated' and wanted to complain to him before she disappeared in April 2009 while on a spring break trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Drexel was last seen on April 25, 2009 walking between hotels in Myrtle Beach, where she had taken a spring break trip with a group of friends

Drexel had texted her boyfriend she would tell him about what was aggravating her 'later when you call me,' adding: 'Im so heated'

Court documents now offer a more complete picture of Drexel's day on April 25, 2009.

Raymond Moody, 62, a known sex offender, finally pleaded guilty to her murder earlier this year. He has been sentenced to life in prison

Throughout the day, WCSC reports, the teen sent text messages to her boyfriend, her friends she voyaged to Myrtle Beach with as well as people she met while on vacation there.

In one text, Drexel tells a friend she had borrowed a pair of shorts, and made plans to meet at their hotel later in the day to return them.

And in another, she tells a friend she 'went for [a] walk' and asked 'what's going on tonite?'

Drexel also talks about her outfit, describing the teal and black shirt she was later seen wearing in surveillance footage at the Blue Water Resort.

By 8.58pm, Drexel sent her boyfriend one last text message reading: 'I'm staying in packing and going to sleep probably.'

Although the phone records show no other messages from the teen, her boyfriend and her friends grew increasingly worried about her lack of a response.

One texted, 'Send me something, we think ur missing.' Another told Drexel to 'stop playing games,' while her boyfriend simply wrote: 'Babe im concerned.'

Throughout the night, the court documents say, Drexel's phone continued to ping off different locations in the Myrtle Beach area before it died at 11.57pm.

Surveillance footage on April 25, 2009 caught Drexel leaving the Blue Water Resort wearing a teal and black shirt she had texted her friends about

Her last text to her boyfriend said she planned to 'stay in packing and [going] to sleep'

Her friends and boyfriend started getting concerned about her when she wasn't answering her phone

Investigators now say that Moody kidnapped Drexel in Myrtle Beach that night and took her to his house in Georgetown County, where he sexually assaulted her, killed her, and then buried her body before throwing her phone into a local river.

Moody had previously been considered a person of interest in the case, but was never charged and the case grew quiet.

He has an 'extensive sex offender history' and is listed on the South Carolina sex offender registry for 1983 convictions in California for sodomy by force of someone under 14 and kidnapping, according to State Law Enforcement Division Records.

The break in Drexel's case finally came earlier this year, when Moody admitted to raping and killing the teenager, and led authorities to her body  buried on the property of his Georgetown home.

Drexel's remains were positively identified using dental records and DNA. It was later determined by a coroner that Drexel had been strangled to death.

Drexel's mother finally got a chance to confront Moody in court last month, telling him she hopes he is 'haunted' by what he did to her daughter 13 years ago. She is pictured here with her husband, Chad Drexel, Brittanee's adoptive father

Moody called himself a 'monster' at a sentencing hearing last month

Drexel's mother finally got a chance to confront Moody in court last month, telling him she hopes he is 'haunted' by what he did to her daughter 13 years ago.

Dawn Pleckan also told her daughter's killer he will 'carry the scars of what my daughter did to you' after the courtroom heard she 'scratched the hell' out of his head.

'I am so glad my daughter was feisty, she fought back. She fought for her life,' Pleckan said. 'We know now she scratched the hell out of your head, face and neck.

'You will forever carry the scars of what my daughter did to you, and I hope you are haunted by what you did to her.'

Moody, meanwhile, pleaded guilty to his crimes and called himself a 'monster.'

'I was a monster, and I took Brittanee Drexel's life,' he said. 'I don't have the words to express how horrible I feel and have felt since that day.'

Moody was ultimately sentenced to consecutive terms of 30 years on the charges of kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct, and a life sentence on the murder charge.
Ms Ogden said 'Don't think I have experienced embarrassment and shame like it'

The footage came to light after her mobile phone was seized by police bosses

Former PC Clare Ogden, 40, filmed herself pleasuring herself while on duty

A former police officer has been carpeted for recording a raunchy video of herself in the station for her partner.

Former PC Clare Ogden, 40, filmed herself pleasuring herself while on duty and wearing her police uniform, a misconduct panel heard.

The footage came to light after her mobile phone was seized by bosses who suspected she had been accessing confidential data from the police computer and sharing it with a colleague as a joke.

A misconduct hearing was told three personal videos were discovered on the device but the ex-officer only accepted that one was sexual.

When confronted her excuse was that she was probably on her lunch break and the footage had been shared with her partner during one of the Covid lockdowns.

She told the panel: 'I went downstairs in the office to use the bathroom. It was an ill-judged spur of the moment decision, I was caught in the moment.

Former Cleveland Police officer Clare Ogden attends a police disciplinary hearing at Middlesbrough's Riverside Stadium this morning

The footage came to light after Ms Ogden's mobile phone was seized by her police bosses

'I don't think I have experienced embarrassment and shame like it. I just wish I had not done it. It was a five to seven second moment of my life that I will regret for the rest of it.

'I have a good sense of humour but I may have been having a bad day or was in a bad place mentally and at that moment I thought those things were funny. On reflection it is not funny.

'It has been my experience through this investigation that you can't trust the people who are investigating you, no matter what they say they do the opposite.

'I felt somewhat pressurised to resign in June this year, it was not something I wanted to do and not something I took lightly.'

Earlier barrister Mark Ley-Morgan, opening the case on behalf of Cleveland Police, said former Pc Ogden shot the videos after clocking on for her shift at Redcar Police Station.

He said: 'There are three videos. One is accepted of being of her performing a sex act upon herself. There are two others she is saying are not sexual.

'She accepts on her part that globally this allegation amounts to gross misconduct and one of the images is definitely sexualised.

'She says 'I'm not accepting I was on duty. I might have been on my lunch break'. In my submission, that is wrong.

Barrister Mark Ley-Morgan, opening the case on behalf of Cleveland Police, said former Pc Ogden shot the videos after clocking on for her shift at Redcar Police Station.

'When officers come on duty they are on duty for the entirety of the shift. They are not working at Sainsbury's where they get an hour off for lunch.

'They are there for the entirety of their shift and they are paid for the entire shift.

'She is in uniform. She is in a police station. Any member of the public is going to take a dim view of a police officer who engages in that sort of sexual behaviour and recording it while on duty in a police station.'

The panel was told the incident happened during the Covid pandemic and she only sent the video to her partner.

Mr Ley-Morgan added: 'Irrelevant. It would not be the first time in police disciplinaries that a relationship has broken down and material exchanged when everything was fine that, when the relationship has broken down, has been disseminated to others.

'That this was during the time of Covid in no way reduces the seriousness of it.'

Former Pc Ogden resigned in June 2022 after being investigated over the allegations that she recorded images of sensitive police data on her personal mobile and sent them to someone else, and engaged in sexualised behaviour at Redcar Police Station.

Mr Ley-Morgan said whenever an officer accessed the computer a warning popped on screen not to look at or record anything unless it was for a proper policing purpose and not to share it with anyone else, including fellow officers.

Checks on former Pc Ogden's personal mobile revealed 72 images of computer screens, evidence bags and crime scenes.

She told her bosses she had recorded these on her personal device because the battery on her work phone was flat.

But she also admitted she had shared a number of shots of the police computer screen with a colleague as a joke.

Data protection officers later assessed 34 of the images were in the most serious red category meaning the individuals involved, including a registered sex offender, were easily identifiable and could be seriously harmed if the images fell into the wrong hands, such as vigilante groups.

The ex-cop was interviewed about ten specimen pictures and in half the cases she said she had shared the images because 'she thought they were funny'.

One was two images of a registered sex offender, one a normal face shot and the other of them wearing an 'obvious wig' which she thought 'was a tiny bit funny'.

She also shared an image of Moonpig card containing a vengeful rhyme sent from a jilted partner to their ex's new partner which she found 'hilarious', the panel heard.

Other images related to incidents in which someone had called her 'a d**k' at work and her amusement at being mistaken for a male officer during a call out.

Sensitive data also appeared in images she shared about her busy work schedule, and details of s suspects in robbery, kidnap and sex cases.

The former Pc said she had shared the images by WhatsApp, which was encrypted, but that did not stop the recipient sharing them with anyone else.

She insisted the images 'never went outside the police family', adding: 'I am not telling you who the person was because it's a police officer. It's a police officer I want to protect.'

But Mr Ley-Morgan said the only reason she needed to protect another officer was that the colleague was duty-bound to report her for what she had done.
Pair had been part of a chat group with Couzens called 'Bottle and Stoppers'

Two Metropolitan Police officers have been jailed for sending grossly offensive messages in a WhatsApp group with killer PC Wayne Couzens.

Jonathon Cobban, 35, and former PC Joel Borders, 46, were each jailed for 12 weeks at Westminster Magistrates' Court today.

Both were members of a group chat called 'Bottle and Stoppers' on the encrypted platform with Couzens, 49.

The court heard how they joked about raping a female colleague, talked about tasering children and people with disabilities, and displayed racist views in the group in 2019.

The messages were discovered after then serving Met officer Couzens kidnapped, raped and strangled to death 33-year-old marketing executive Sarah Everard in March last year.

Cobban was found guilty of three counts of sending grossly offensive messages on a public communications network, while Borders was convicted of five charges.

District Judge Sarah Turnock jailed Cobban and Borders for 12 weeks on Wednesday, saying she could not think of 'more grossly offensive messages', but bailed the pair ahead of an appeal against their convictions at the High Court.

Their colleague PC William Neville, 34, was cleared of sharing material after a trial in September.

Former PC Joel Borders, 46, was jailed for 12 weeks at Westminster Magistrates' Court today

Met police officer Jonathon Cobban arrives to City of London Magistrates' Court in London on September 21, 2022

Former officer Joel Borders walks out of City of London Magistrates' Court in London on September 21, 2022

Sentencing the pair at Westminster Magistrates' Court, the judge said: 'It seems clear to me this is a case involving greater harm.

'Although not intended, I accept that there can be no doubt the distribution of these messages will have caused harm not only to the persons to whom these messages relate to, but also to members of the wider public and significant harm to the police force of England and Wales.'

The judge previously said she was sickened by the 'disgusting' messages as she warned the pair faced the 'very real' prospect of prison.

In one exchange, Borders said he could not wait to be a firearms officer so he could shoot people, saying: 'I can't wait to get on guns so I can shoot some c*** in the face.'

Cobban replied: 'Me too. I want to Taser a cat and a dog to see which reacts better. I think the cat will get more p***** off and the dog will s*** it. I wanna test this theory. Same with children. Zap zap you little f******.'

Borders also suggested adding 'downys' to the list, a reference to people with Down's syndrome.

Other comments suggested that domestic abuse victims deserved their abuse.

Cobban wrote in June 2019: 'DV victims love it. That's why they're repeat victims more often than not.'

He also made racist references to Hounslow saying it was like 'walking along a dulux colour code' and called a self-harming patient he had been asked to guard in hospital a 'f*g'.

Nicholas Yeo, representing the pair, told the court that Borders had been left feeling 'disgusted and embarrassed'.

He said: 'He [Borders] deeply regrets that innocent people have been affected by what he said and he has done damage to the force and everyone's job is made harder and this makes me feel like crap.

'Cobban accepted the messages were unacceptable, particularly because he is a police officer... he wanted to be eaten alive when he read them [the messages], they made him feel sick, utterly ashamed and embarrassed.'

Mr Yeo noted other officers in their group did not call out their behaviour, adding: 'Whilst contributing to accepting this behaviour [through their messages], one might think it was also normalised for them.'

Both were members of a chat called 'Bottle and Stoppers' on the encrypted platform with Wayne Couzens (pictured), 49

Sarah Everard (pictured), 33, was raped and killed by serving Met officer Wayne Couzens as she walked home in south London on March 3 last year

Mr Yeo also told the court to have consideration for the effect of 'cancel culture'.

'The media attention means that in effect their names become toxic,' he said.

Mr Yeo said the links to Couzens have meant greater media attention to this case.

'The fact that due to a high-profile murder the media scrutiny of this case has been quite unlike the media scrutiny of any other offence of similar gravity is a consideration,' he continued.

Both men will never be able to work as police officers again, the court heard.

Judge Turnock told them: 'All offences do involve greater harm, I accept there was no intention to cause any harm to the persons or wider groups in society that undoubtedly affected.

'The person or persons referenced in these messages are undoubtedly distressed that police officers found it funny to refer to them in this manner.'

'Joke' about raping a woman was police 'dark humour', disgraced Met officers tell the court Officers who 'joked' about raping a woman in a WhatsApp group with killer cop Wayne Couzens said it was part of their 'black humour'. Disgraced ex-Met officer Joel Borders said: 'I was saying she's the sort of person who would lead you on, sleep with you, then make a false allegation against you. 'So really the rape and beat should have been in quotations, but it's text isn't it - it's never grammatically correct. 'This has totally been blown out of proportion.' Cobban had denied his messages could be grossly offensive and said they were examples of a dark sense of humour which helped him cope with his job. He said: 'I had no reasonable expectation whatsoever that these messages would or could be read by anyone else. 'I meant for these messages to be taken as humorous banter and nothing more. 'They were nothing more than a thoughtless, dark sense of humour. 'None of those messages were sent with any malice. 'Those aren't the opinions I held then, before then and they certainly aren't the opinions I hold now.' Serving Met officer Jonathon Cobban was asked specifically about an exchange in which he and fellow officer William Neville - who was not convicted - laugh about '[pinning] a 15-year-old girl going mental to the floor'. Neville writes: 'I knew all the struggle snuggles would come in useful at some point.' Cobban responds: 'Haha struggle snuggles are always useful...good skills!' Prosecutor Edward Brown suggested to Cobban that 'struggle snuggle' referred to 'something intimate when restraining a young, 15-year-old girl'. Cobban claimed it was a 'slang term for a Home Office approved restraint technique'. He said: 'It was a technique that I've been taught in the Metropolitan Police Service. 'It's very similar to a term used - 'met bundle'. 'A met bundle is a multiple officer restraining technique where multiple officers restrain a person who perhaps has extreme strength and the term 'struggle snuggle' is just a single officer restraining someone, if that makes sense.' Advertisement

Condemning the officers' comment about 'fingering a DV [domestic violence]' victim, Judge Turnock said: 'I can't think of a worse comment to say.'

She also condemned other slurs as 'the most derogatory of manners'.

Referring to the suggestion that the defendants have shown genuine remorse, the judge said: 'I don't accept this proposition for a second. You both denied the offences.

'Both defendants find themselves indignant about having found themselves before the court.

'It is clear that both defendants feel as though they have been scapegoated and neither have shown understanding of the seriously damaging impact of their conduct or the fact that they knew their behaviour was offensive.

'I can honestly not think of more grossly offensive messages that Mr Cobban and Mr Borders were responsible for. Their comments cover the full range of offensive views.'

Edward Brown, prosecuting, earlier told the court: 'The defendants were part of a WhatsApp group with the title 'Bottle and Stoppers/Atkin's puppets' along with four other officers.

'It should be noted that from time to time the correspondents would message about work-related topics such as training [and] for advice.

'It follows that this was a close-knit group of police officers... and there is no evidence that any of the defendants (or the other members of the group) 'called out' or challenged any of their co-defendants on receipt of what are said, by the prosecution, to be the offensive messages.

'The prosecution case is that, at the time, each of the defendants was a serving police officer, training to, and employed to, protect and support the citizens of a very diverse city.

'There were... not isolated incidents to which the co-correspondent did not somehow feel able to make objection.

'Each defendant actively participated and chose to remain in the group.'

Referring specifically to Borders' message about raping and beating a female colleague with whom he was about to train, Brown said: 'The message is threatening and aggressive in its nature, we submit. It is victim-blaming, derogatory to victims of rape and sexual violence and to women generally, such as the words 'sneaky bitch'.'

Then, referring to Cobban and Neville's exchange about restraining a young girl, Brown said: 'This, by Neville (but then supported in its sentiments by Cobban) implied to any right-minded observer that Neville enjoyed the need, whilst on duty, physically to restrain a very vulnerable and disturbed 15-year-old girl because he got pleasure from, or at least drew upon his experience of... with, I quote, a 'struggle snuggle', and we submit that is acting out a rape-fantasy or other non-consensual physical touching.'

In 2017, Cobban had volunteered as the Civil Nuclear Constabulary's Race and Diversity Custodian, the court heard.

Mr Brown said the role required specialist knowledge and understanding.

Cobban was registered within an equalities consultative support network to provide social, moral and professional support to employees with protected characteristics.

All three men transferred to the Metropolitan Police in February 2019.

Giving evidence, Borders said: 'I was saying she's the sort of person who would lead you on, sleep with you, then make a false allegation against you.

'So really the rape and beat should have been in quotations, but it's text isn't it - it's never grammatically correct. This has totally been blown out of proportion.'

He continued: 'I know it's just me saying it, but I was well thought of in the job. You can ask anyone - people actively wanted to be paired with me. I was good at the job.

'I laugh at things that maybe I shouldn't laugh at, but when you're telling a joke you're not laughing at the subject of the joke; you're laughing at the joke.'

Cobban had denied his messages could be grossly offensive and said they were examples of a dark sense of humour which helped him cope with his job.

He said: 'I had no reasonable expectation whatsoever that these messages would or could be read by anyone else.

'I meant for these messages to be taken as 'humorous banter and nothing more.

'They were nothing more than a thoughtless, dark sense of humour. None of those messages were sent with any malice.

'Those aren't the opinions I held then, before then and they certainly aren't the opinions I hold now.'

Cobban was asked specifically about an exchange in which he and Neville laugh about '[pinning] a 15-year-old girl going mental to the floor'.

Neville writes: 'I knew all the struggle snuggles would come in useful at some point.'

Cobban responds: 'Haha struggle snuggles are always useful... good skills!'

Mr Brown suggested to Cobban that 'struggle snuggle' referred to 'something intimate when restraining a young, 15-year-old girl'.

Cobban claimed it was a 'slang term for a Home Office approved restraint technique'.

He said: 'It was a technique that I've been taught in the Metropolitan Police Service.

'It's very similar to a term used - 'met bundle'.

'A met bundle is a multiple-officer restraining technique where multiple officers restrain a person who perhaps has extreme strength and the term 'struggle snuggle' is just a single officer restraining someone, if that makes sense.

'Given the context I've just explained to the court, I don't see it as being offensive in any way.'

Neville accepted he had received extensive training on diversity and equality and dealing with vulnerable victims, but denied he had this in mind when sending the messages.

He told the court: 'We've spent more time looking at the Code of Ethics in this court room than I have in my whole career.'

On 9 August 2019, Neville and Cobban discussed 'landmarks' on their 'patch'.

When Cobban says 'London's biggest mosque' is on his patch, Neville responded: 'Haha! That's useful if you need to execute a warrant, you'll know where they are.'

Neville confirmed he was referring to a warrant under the Terrorist Act, but denied that he had implied all Muslims were terrorists.

He said: 'For me, with the dark sense of humour that's been referred to before, I'm not saying every Muslim is a terrorist.

'Would I say it out loud? Depending on the person I was saying it to, for sure, because to some people it could be offensive.

'I'd just like to say that a close friend, an almost family member, of ours is a Muslim.

'I've made this reference and said this joke and they've laughed because they've understood the humour of myself and my family, the background I've had and my childhood.

'It's a joke. It's dark humour, it's satire. You can text something without meaning it in literal terms. It's sent in a nano-second.

'When you're joking, when you're bantering with your mates, you're riffing off one another and it's snap humour that comes out, very quick fire.

Cobban, of Didcot, Oxfordshire, and Borders, of Preston, Lancashire, each denied five counts of sending by public communication network an offensive matter.

Borders was convicted of all charges while Cobban was convicted of three counts and cleared of two others.

Neville, of Weybridge, Surrey, denied and was cleared of two identical charges.

But as Cobban and Borders are appealing against their convictions, they were bailed ahead of the future hearing that may take many weeks to arrange.

'It is disproportionate to sentence you to imprisonment at this time,' the judge said.

The pair were bailed on condition they reside each day at their home addresses.

Rosemary Ainslie, head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) special crime division, said: 'The messages exchanged between these officers were disturbing and sickening, and it is unfathomable that those tasked with upholding the law could think it right to share this grossly offensive material.

'Let me be clear, where there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to do so, the CPS will always prosecute these offences robustly.'
In Lake County, Ohio a Sheriff Frank Leonbruno is defending his employees who he says did not mean to offend anyone when they dressed up their police horses as ghosts for Halloween.

The Mounted Unit horses were covered in large white sheets Monday night, with eyes cut for their noses, eyes and eats. They were also draped in bright orange pumpkin lights.

But context clues and the apparent enjoyment of the horses' costumes by neighborhood children didn't stop some local residents from complaining that the horses resembled equine members of the Ku Klux Klan in their infamous white hoods.

'That was poor execution for a ghost,' one Lake County resident told local station Fox 8. 'You go back and look at pictures of the Ku Klux Klan, it's like the exact replica of what the horses looked like.'

Mounted police officers in Lake County, Ohio draped their horses in sheets and adorned them with glowing pumpkin lights on Halloween to the delight of neighborhood children

The department subsequently posted pictures of the Halloween effort on its social media page, where some residents saw the images and began complaining that the horses could be mistaken for KKK equine

Sheriff Frank Leonbruno said his employees did not mean to offend anyone and actual neighborhood residents and children enjoyed the display put on by local officers

Images of Ku Klux Klan members on horseback in their unmistakable pointed hats

Horses of the group were also dressed in white, hooded outfits to match their riders. Some Lake County residents felt the officers' horses looked too similar to the hate group's animals

Another resident, Katelynn Gurbach, asked, 'Is there nobody on staff that is like, 'this is not a good idea?''

'A sheriff's office should be out there protecting people, and if I saw that on my street, I would be terrified.'

'I was shocked an I'm embarrassed,' said another resident.

The sheriff said the local cops though 'what a great idea to have big ghosts going down the street.'

'As the horses went down the street they were lit up for Halloween.

'To tell you the truth the community loved it, kids said they were great ghost horses,' he said, confirming that the goal of the mounted police, to bring joy to children on Halloween, had been accomplished.

Only after the department posted pictures of the horses to its social media page did some commenters grow irate.

Though most of the comments, the sheriff said were positive, he opted to remove the pictures from online because, 'I didn't want it to go the wrong way,' he said.

'I'm sorry that perception was there. It was never out intention to do that,' said Leonbruno.

He indicated that he was surprised the police horses would have been mistaken for KKK horses because of the Halloween lights adorning their costumes.

'I certainly didn't see any Klan members decorated for Halloween,' he said.
The BBC has announced it will be leaving some buildings as part of its work to cut costs and invest more in content.

The corporation said on Wednesday it will pull employees from Wogan House, close to its Broadcasting House in London, and Bridge House in MediaCity, Salford.

Wogan House was formerly known as Western House prior to 2016, when it was renamed after the late Irish broadcaster Sir Terry Wogan.

It was used by the BBC for design until the late 1980s and is now home to Radio 2 and 6 Music programme teams along with staff from other BBC departments.

Bridge House is home to BBC Children's and Education and some BBC Sport and operations departments.

The corporation said it will move staff at its London site to Broadcasting House and in Salford to other MediaCity sites like Quay House and Dock House.

It comes after a raft of controversial cuts to local radio services, as well as regional news services in Oxford and Cambridge, in an effort to save money after it was announced in January that its licence fee would be frozen for two years.

The BBC needs to save a further 285 million in response, and has already delivered over 1 billion of savings in the five years to 2021/22.

The BBC's Wogan House, formerly known as Western House, will be one of two buildings to be vacated by the corporation

It will also leave Bridge House, one of the buildings at its MediaCity UK site in Salford, Manchester (pictured)

Wogan House was renamed after the late TV star Sir Terry Wogan in 2016 - but will no longer house BBC employees

The BBC said the decision to leave its leased buildings was also part of its efforts to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and complements its adoption of hybrid working.

In June 2021, ITV announced it would take over the BBC's offices in Broadcast Centre in White City on a 13-year lease after the corporation vacated the building.

The BBC also announced on Monday it would overhaul its local radio services with stations sharing more content and broadcasting less programming unique to their area.

Plans confirmed by the broadcaster include the loss of 48 jobs across local staffing in England, amounting to a total staff reduction of two percent.

The local radio proposals come as part of the BBC's new strategy, announced in May, to create a 'modern, digital-led' broadcaster.

Under its plans local radio stations will share more content and broadcast less programming unique to their area, with the proposals resulting in the loss of 48 jobs overall.

After 2pm on weekdays, the BBC will produce 18 afternoon programmes across England that will be shared between its 39 stations.

Ten local programmes will then be shared between 6-10pm on weekdays, across the day on Saturday and on Sunday mornings, serving areas broadly mirroring the existing local TV areas.

Answering an urgent question in the Commons on Tuesday, Ms Lopez said: 'Overall, we do have concerns about the proposals, which we were not given notice of.

'I want to take this opportunity to stress that the BBC is rightly operationally and editorially independent from the Government, and decisions on service delivery are ultimately a matter for them.

'However, the Government is disappointed that the BBC is reportedly planning to make such extensive cuts to its local radio output.'

She added: 'For those older residents living in rural areas, it can be a particular lifeline. The BBC must make sure it continues to provide distinctive and genuinely local radio services with content that reflects and represents people and communities from all corners of the UK.

'We recognise in the current fiscal context the BBC, like other organisations, is facing difficult financial decisions.

'But we are also concerned that the BBC is making such far-reaching decisions, particularly about its local news provision, without setting out further detail on how it will impact its audiences and the communities it serves.'

In September the BBC announced that 382 jobs at World Service will be cut as part of plans to move to a digital-led service.

Regional TV news programmes in Oxford and Cambridge are also among the services being scrapped - merging with the BBC's Southampton and Norwich operations.

The BBC has said it needs to save 285 million in response to the announcement in January that the licence fee will be frozen for the next two years

At the BBC's Cambridge office staff decided not to broadcast a live news programme on Monday due to the 'stressful and emotional' conditions created by the announcement.

At BBC Look East many jobs are under threat, with their roles to end just before Christmas.

Some now face reapplying for the jobs their current jobs while competing against former collegaues.

The corporation said the changes will see around 19m 'reprioritised' from broadcast services towards online and multi-media production.

BBC Radio Humberside journalist Andy Comfort criticised the move, writing on Twitter that staff were 'stunned and upset'.

Labour MP Emma Hardy told the Commons local radio 'cannot call itself local when it stops being local after 2pm'.

Conservative chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee Julian Knight also spoke of the 'very real concerns over potential loss of local distinctiveness through these proposed cuts'.

He added: 'These cuts make reforms to radio prominence absolutely crucial and will the minister quash growing rumours that the main potential vehicle for such reforms, the Media Bill, is set to be shelved or delayed in any way.'
A British TV star has described his rage after eco-vandals slashed tyres to at least ten cars down his street - even targeting electric vehicles.

Jonathan Barnwell, who has appeared in Industry and Ripper Street, said angry residents believe the saboteurs donned scary masks and disguised themselves as trick or treat revellers before leaving behind a trail of destruction on Monday evening.

The actor - who has a one-year-old daughter - said he feared children's lives were being put at risk by shadowy climate activist group Tyre Extinguishers.

The saboteurs struck under cover of darkness in Randolph Crescent, Maida Vale, west London, leaving up to 20 SUV's - including electric vehicles and hybrids - with slashed tyres in the street, it's claimed.

As well as Bentleys and Porsches, activists damaged all-electric Audi e-tron's and electric BMW's.

The eco-zealots slashed tyres across the street in Maida Vale, west London on Monday

Actor Jonathan Barnwell slammed the eco-vandals - saying 'a flat tyre is as dangerous as it gets' when driving children

The attackers left leaflets explaining why they had targeted the vehicles which were placed under windscreen wipers.

Jonathan - who also starred as Seb Oldroyd in BBC hit drama series Industry - told MailOnline: 'Just before the school run, as mothers and children got in their cars they were shocked to see most of the cars on the street have had their tyres slashed.

'It was absolute carnage. The damage needs to be paid for but when you have young kids, and many of them are babies, the last thing you want is for your tyre to come off the rim while you're driving along.

'It's no joke. A flat tyre is as dangerous as it gets.'

Organisers said they had deflated tyres in a series of upmarket areas in west London including South Kensington, Maida Vale, St John's Wood, Queen's Park, and Holland Park.

They denied slashing tyres, saying they had been deflated by other means.

It comes as organisers boasted it had reached the landmark target of 'disarming' 10,000 vehicles around the world.

They said that cities across the globe are competing against each other to target the highest number of vehicles - without a single saboteur being arrested - and boasted of a growing number of celebrity victims.

The vandals left notes to their victims saying 'your gas guzzler kills' and arguing even driving electric cars was wrong

SUVs and high-end cars including BWMs, Bentleys and Porches were targeted

They have included former BP chief Lord Browne, Guardian columnist Mariella Frostrup and EastEnders star Jessie Wallace.

Jonathan told how he was horrified when he discovered the scale of the damage after he went out early with his daughter to take the family dog for a walk.

He said: 'It's scary that this is getting more and more commonplace. It could have been really dangerous for the kids.

'All the tyres on all the cars were attacked on Halloween.

'They probably put on masks and disguised themselves as scary people. It would have been the perfect cover. I guess that's why they chose to do it then.

'It can be very dangerous when people try to drive and they don't realise it. I know a couple of my neighbours who were halfway down the street before they realised what was wrong.

'Most of the cars belonged to parents who were taking their kids to school.

'In the end they had to call taxis while others had to wait to get their cars towed. A lot of cars were damaged.

'Many of the parents had two or three kids, some of them very young.

'I counted 10 cars in my part of the street but there were a lot more.

'About half of them were fully electric or hybrids. The joke is these are people who are trying to make a difference.

Residents were left fuming when they discovered the damage done to their vehicles

The radical eco group claimed it had 'disarmed 10,000 SUV death machines' over the last few months

'There were some nice cars as well - the Bentleys and Porsches but they weren't discriminating.

'It makes no sense at all.

'They targeted large SUV 4x4 style cars - and left leaflets on the wind shield justifying it.

'There are huge risks if someone with children had attempted to drive . Someone could have got hurt.'

The real-life drama happened on Monday night but today many of the vehicles were 'still sitting there with their flat tyres'.

Jonathan said he was one of the few people to escape the carnage.

He said: 'My car was parked near the end of the road so maybe that's why it wasn't targeted.

'It's also 15 years old. It's a Renault Tiguan. It doesn't look very flash. It's not very pretty so maybe they decided it wasn't worth doing.'

In a statement West London TX said: 'We deflated the tyres of 184 SUVs by administering lentils into the valve caps.'

They said that 'in cities especially' the vehicles 'serve no function other than flaunting wealth and individuals convenience'.

The statement added: 'We cannot sit idle as the luxurious property of the few bring us closer and closer to runaway climate breakdown.

'Immobilising SUVs is a small and necessary act of resistance in the face of environmental catastrophe.'

The organisation, which describes itself as 'a network of autonomous groups that act independently', began actions in the UK in March and claim they are active in at least 15 countries including the USA, Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Sweden, New Zealand and Italy.

The group said: 'The Tyre Extinguishers are celebrating a major milestone after hitting the target of 10,000 SUVs deflated since March.

'This milestone came earlier than expected, with the group originally aiming to reach this by Christmas.'

Spokesperson Marion Walker added: 'In a little over half a year, we have spread all over the world and disarmed 10,000 SUV death machines.

'This is only the start. We expect many more people all over the world to join in. We will keep going, until SUVs are in the dustbin of history.'
Emails between Donald Trump's lawyers revealed on Tuesday that they believed their best chance of derailing Joe Biden's 2020 presidential election win lay in a direct appeal to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

The details are in documents recently turned over the congressional January investigation.

'We want to frame things so that Thomas could be the one to issue some sort of stay or other circuit justice opinion saying Georgia is in legitimate doubt,' Trump attorney Kenneth Chesebro wrote in a Dec. 31, 2020, email obtained by Politico.

Chesebro argued that Thomas would be 'our only chance to get a favorable judicial opinion by Jan. 6, which might hold up the Georgia count in Congress.'

Another attorney, John Eastman, replied: 'I think I agree with this,' adding that it would 'kick the Georgia legislature into gear' to help overturn the results.

Newly published emails show how Donald Trump's legal team targeted Justice Clarence Thomas as they tried to overturn Joe Biden's 2020 election win

The emails were handed over to the House investigation last week, from communications to and from John Eastman (left) including his messages with Ken Chesebro (right)

The emails shed fresh light on the legal maneuvering to keep Trump in power after the election

'We want to frame things so that Thomas could be the one to issue some sort of stay or other circuit justice opinion saying Georgia is in legitimate doubt,' Trump attorney Chesebro wrote in a Dec. 31, 2020, email obtained by Politico

Thomas is the justice assigned to handle emergency matters, responsible for issuing temporary blocks so the court can consider the case more fully later.

His role has already come under scrutiny after it emerged his activist wife Ginni had lobbied Arizona lawmakers to reverse Biden's win there.

She was also in touch with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows urging him to keep working to keep the president in power.

The communications were reportedly last week handed over the House select committee investigating that attack on the U.S. Capitol building.

They were among eight emails that Eastman had tried to keep from the investigation until a judge ruled that they could constitute evidence of crimes.

Other messages underlined their view of Thomas as their best chance.

'[I]f we can just get this case pending before the Supreme Court by Jan. 5, ideally with something positive written by a judge or justice, hopefully Thomas, I think its our best shot at holding up the count of a state in Congress,' Chesebro wrote in another Dec 31 email.

Trump with Eastman in the Oval Office. Eastman was key in plotting to keep Trump in power

Ginni Thomas, the wife of conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is an outspoken supporter of Donald Trump's claim that he was the rightful 2020 winner

Trump loyalists who falsely believed the election was stolen from him are pictured gathered in front of the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6

In other words, they were not expecting a legal win at the Supreme Court but simply wanted a delay that would sow doubt and embolden states, Congress or Vice President Mike Pence to undermine the results.

The emails also reveal deep concerns within the team about possible legal jeopardy if Trump signed documents related to a lawsuit challenging the results in Georgia, and claiming fraud.

'I have no doubt that an aggressive district attorney or US attorney someplace will go after both the President and his lawyers once all the dust settles on this,' Eastman wrote in an email to two other private attorneys.
Spanish police are hunting thieves who stole 132 bottles of wine worth 172,000 from a two-star Michelin restaurant in Madrid.

The masked intruders broke into the upmarket Coque restaurant in the early hours of Sunday morning via a chemist's next door, which closed last month.

Detectives believe the collection, said to be 'one of the best in Spain', was stolen by criminals who could have posed as customers in recent days.

Spanish police are hunting thieves who stole 132 bottles of wine worth 172,000 from Coque, a two-star Michelin restaurant in Madrid. Pictured: Coque's wine collection

Rafael Sandoval, the restaurant's sommelier and one of the trio of brothers who own the famed eatery, said the thieves had tried to make a hole in the wall of the chemist's, before accessing an internal patio they share with the next-door business and breaking a glass door to get into the wine cellar.

Some of the bottles of wine that were stolen have been described as 'unique.'

Mr Sandoval told Spanish media: 'This was a high-precision theft. The security measures we have in place meant they had to act quickly.

'We have images of three people with their faces covered talking with Eastern European accents but I don't have suspicions about who they could be,' he said.

'I don't know whether the insurance will cover this but it won't cover the sentimental aspect of things. We have bottles here that belonged to my grandfather and we have inherited from generation to generation.

'We're talking about one of the best wine collections in Spain.'

The Coque restaurant was awarded its second Michelin star in November 2015.

Detectives believe the collection, said to be 'one of the best in Spain' (pictured), was stolen by criminals who could have posed as customers in recent days

Rafael Sandoval (centre), one of the owners of Coque restaurant, talks to media members outside the restaurant in Madrid, Spain, November 2, 2022

It has a wine list of 23,000 bottles and a special room called La Sacristia where there are only Dom Perignon bottles of different vintages. Diners get taken to the wine cellar and restaurant kitchen as part of their culinary experience.

The theft is not the only high-profile wine heist in Spain in recent years.

A former Mexican beauty queen is one of two people facing trial over a 1.4 million wine theft at a the Michelin-starred Atrio Restaurant Hotel in Caceres, south-west Spain, in October last year.

Priscila Lara Guevara, 29, a former 'Miss Earth' Mexico contestant was extradited to Spain along with alleged accomplice Constantin Gabriel Dumitru after being held on a European Arrest Warrant on Croatia's border with Slovenia.

One of the wines taken was the Chateau d'Yquem 1806, bought by the hotel's owners in an auction more than 20 years ago at Christie's London and valued at nearly 300,000.

General view of wine bottles at Restaurante Atrio wine cellar in Caceres, Spain

Hotel CCTV captured the pair, who had checked in with false Swiss ID documents, checking out at 5.30 a.m. and leaving on foot with no forensic trace of their presence left at the hotel

Police believe Priscila distracted an employee at El Atrio by ordering room service after its kitchen closed while her alleged male accomplice boyfriend, a Dutch-Romanian, accessed its wine cellar with a stolen master key and filled three backpacks with 45 exclusive bottles of wine.

The next day, hotel CCTV captured the pair, who had checked in with false Swiss identity documents, checking out at 5.30 a.m. and leaving on foot with no forensic trace of their presence left at the hotel, leading police to initially believe an organised gang was behind the heist.

The two suspects had visited El Atrio three times before the robbery in June, August and September, police said, and had, like many customers, been given a tour of the wine cellar.
Caspar Hughes, 51, walked into Westminster Magistrates court for a case management hearing today wearing a tweed blazer, dark blue shirt and jeans

A Just Stop Oil eco-zealot who glued himself to the frame of a copy of Leonardo Da Vincis The Last Supper appeared in court today.

The words No New Oil were spray-painted in white letters onto the red plinth under the vast painting at the Royal Academy (RA) in central London on July 5.

Caspar Hughes, 51, walked into Westminster Magistrates court for a case management hearing wearing a tweed blazer, dark blue shirt and jeans.

He had denied causing 180 worth of damage to the frame when he appeared in court last month with Extinction Rebellion co-founder Simon Bramwell, 50.

Jessica Agar, 22, ex-teacher Lucy Porter, 47, and community organiser Tristan Strange, 40, are yet to appear in court.

Deputy district Judge Jodie Mittell said What I have suggested is that the prosecution should do everything they need to do by November 11, give you any body worn footage they want to show to the court, so dealing with evidence and disclosure by November 11.

Bramwell, of Wokingham, Berks, Hughes, of Exeter, Agar, of Hereford, Porter, of Leeds, and Strange of Swindon, will stand trial at City of London Magistrates Court on 5 and 6 December.

The charge alleges that without lawful excuse they damaged the frame to a copy of The Last Supper to the value of 180 belonging to The Royal Academy of Art intending to destroy or damage such property or being reckless as to whether such property would be destroyed or damaged.

Leonardo da Vinci created The Last Supper between 1492 and 1497-48, and the RAs full-size copy of it was painted by one or more of his pupils.

The words No New Oil were spray-painted in white letters onto the red plinth under the vast painting at the Royal Academy (RA) in central London on July 5

The RA copy - which is attributed to Giampietrino and Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio - is believed to be the most accurate record of the original and was painted in around 1515-20.

The oil on canvas painting is about 3020mm x 7850mm, which makes it slightly smaller than the original.

During the summer JSO activists attached themselves to a 19th-century landscape by Horatio McCulloch called My Hearts In The Highlands which hangs in Glasgows Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.

They also glued themselves to Vincent Van Goghs 1889 work Peach Trees in Blossom at The Courtauld gallery in London.

Arrests were also made after two activists glued themselves onto the frame of John Constables the Hay Wain at the National Gallery on Monday and covered it with a reimagined scene of the destruction that climate change could cause to the landscape.

The campaigners are calling for the Government to halt new oil and gas licences in the UK.
A memorial altar is set up near Seoul City Hall, Monday, for victims of the crowd crush in Itaewon, Seoul. Korea Times photo by Lee Han-ho



Gov't offers foreigners same financial aid as Koreans, but process is taking time



By Lee Hyo-jin



Gulieva Giunai, a Russian student at Kwangwoon University, was devastated when she learned that her friend Kristina was among the 26 foreign nationals killed in the crowd crush in Itaewon on the night of Oct. 29.



Although they were from different cities of Russia, the two had known each other since 2020 when they attended Korean language classes together at a university in North Gyeongsang Province.



Despite her grief over the sudden loss, the 19-year-old knew what she had to do.



"Kristina didn't have any family here. And it would take a few days for her older sister in Russia to arrive in Korea," Giunai said.



Together with her friends, she organized an online fundraiser to hold a funeral for the victim. Giunai had never been to a funeral in her life, let alone arranged one.



"But I know how everything in Korea is pretty much expensive, so I thought we should immediately begin to gather money. Kristina was my friend, so it was my duty to do so. I wanted do everything I can for her."



In just two days, people who knew the victim, as well as those who never knew her, offered a helping hand, contributing over eight million won in total. With the collected money, Kristina's funeral was held on Tuesday at a hospital in Gyeonggi Province.



"We are thankful to everyone who helped us so that Kristina's friends and teachers could come to say goodbye to her. I think she would have been happy to see how many people had loved her," said Giunai.





Mourners cry at a memorial altar set up near Itaewon Station, Tuesday. Newsis.



Among the 156 deaths from the Itaewon crowd tragedy, 26 have been confirmed to be foreign nationals. Of them, five are from Iran, four are from Russia and China, respectively, two from the U.S., two from Japan, with one each from France, Australia, Austria, Norway, Vietnam, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka.



The government announced on Tuesday that it will provide the same financial aid as Korean nationals to the foreign victims. The bereaved families will be offered up to 20 million won in relief money and up to 15 million won for funeral expenses, which includes the cost of repatriating the bodies or remains of the victims to their home countries.



Despite the government's commitment to assist the families of foreign victims, however, the complicated and time-consuming procedure is burdening some of the bereaved who need urgent help to cover upfront expenses.



The body of Yuliana Pak, a Koryoin (ethnic Korean from Russia) victim, is still lying in a mortuary of a hospital in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, because her family cannot afford to bring her back home.



The 25-year-old came to Korea in the summer of 2021 to live with her father who works at a factory here. Living in the port city of Incheon, west of Seoul, she worked as an English teacher at a kindergarten.





A fundraising poster for Yuliana Pak reads, "Any amount of donation will be appreciated to her father Artur Pak's account (Woori Bank 1002-259-554-535). Courtesy of the Koryoin community in Incheon
But they were surrounded by four unmarked police vehicles on January 2, 2017

A father-of-two shot dead by an armed officer when police stopped an Audi on a motorway slip road was lawfully killed, an inquest ruled today.

Yassar Yaqub, 28, was the front passenger in one of two cars travelling together along the M62 when they were surrounded by four unmarked police vehicles close to junction 24 in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, on January 2, 2017.

A six-week inquest into his death at Leeds Crown Court heard that, following the stop, Mr Yaqub ignored a command to 'show me your hands'.

He instead 'crouched down' before raising a handgun over the car's dashboard, an officer told the hearing.

The officer, identified only as V39 during proceedings, said he leaned out of his car window and fired three shots at Mr Yaqub from 1.5 metres away.

Two of the bullets struck him in the chest, causing 'catastrophic blood loss'. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

V39 said he had feared for his life and 'had no alternative'.

Giving its conclusion today, the jury concluded that V39 'honestly believed that a firearm was being aimed at him, his life was in danger and he used reasonable force discharging his firearm'.

Yassar Yaqub, 28, was the front passenger in one of two cars travelling together along the M62 when they were surrounded by four unmarked police vehicles

A jury concluded that V39 'honestly believed that a firearm was being aimed at him, his life was in danger and he used reasonable force discharging his firearm'

Mr Yaqub had earlier been described by police intelligence as a 'highly active criminal', the jury heard, with an operation set up in October 2016 in response to alleged threats he and another man had been making.

V39 was the passenger in one of the police vehicles following Mr Yaqub and his associates on January 2, 2017, from Akbar's Cafe in Bradford.

After driving on the M62 towards Huddersfield, the police made the stop at the junction known as Ainley Top.

Three other men were arrested during the stop and a non-police issue firearm was recovered from the footwell of the vehicle where Mr Yaqub had been sitting.

A probe by the police watchdog also found no evidence that any officer committed a criminal offence or breached professional standards.

Steve Noonan, director of major investigations at the Independent Office for Police Conduct, said: 'Our thoughts remain with the family and loved ones of Yassar Yaqub, as well as all those affected by his death, at this difficult time.

'It is vital that any use of lethal force by police is thoroughly and independently scrutinised. Our independent investigation was comprehensive and detailed, helping provide clarity on the events of January 2, 2017.

'At no stage during the investigation did the evidence indicate that any officer may have committed a criminal offence or breached the standards of professional behaviour.

'The officer who fired the shots gave a clear and credible account, which was strongly supported by other evidence, explaining the use of force to IOPC investigators. Based on the available information, we considered the use of force to be necessary and reasonable in the circumstances as he genuinely and reasonably believed them to be.

'We previously published our recommendations, which were accepted by West Yorkshire Police, based on the findings of this investigation. However, there was no indication the issues we identified had any direct impact on the outcome of the police operation.

'Our work was shared with the coroner and included among the evidence used by the jury in reaching their conclusion, which is consistent with our own findings. I am grateful to them for their careful consideration of this case.

A jury at a six-week inquest into his death at Leeds Crown Court today found Mr Yaqub was lawfully killed

An officer leaned out of his car window and fired three shots at Mr Yaqub from 1.5 metres away. Two of the bullets hit him in the chest and caused 'catastrophic blood loss'

'I would like to once again offer our sincere condolences to Mr Yaqubs loved ones.'

And in a separate statement today, West Yorkshire Police Chief Constable John Robins said: 'The loss of life in any circumstances is, of course, tragic and our sympathies remain with the Yaqub family for the loss of their loved one.

'But I also want to acknowledge how difficult the past five to six years have also been for the officers and staff who were directly involved.

'This has been a constant in their lives, from the incident itself, the criminal prosecutions, the investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct and finally the recent inquest itself.

'During the IOPC investigation, officers and staff were rightly treated as witnesses throughout. The outcome of that investigation did not raise any criminal or misconduct issues for any officers or staff.

'During the inquest I followed the daily proceedings. My overwhelming impression was of the professionalism, knowledge, expertise and compassion displayed by all the officers and staff involved.

'I hope that people will now see that the tragic loss of life, unfortunate as it was, was necessary to keep the public safe in what was a rapidly unfolding and dangerous situation.

'It is thankfully rare that any police action results in the death of an individual. When it does, it is right that we are open to full scrutiny, just as in this case.

'The actions of all involved have been scrutinised by both the IOPC and now by a Jury before a Coroner.

'The inquest has provided a clear and transparent understanding of what happened. Our sole intention was to safely detain Mr Yaqub and to remove illegally held firearms from our streets.

Three other men were arrested during the stop and a non-police issue firearm was recovered from the footwell of the vehicle where Mr Yaqub had been sitting

'However, as events rapidly unfolded, it is obvious that the threat at the time was real and as a result an officer had to take the necessary and proportionate action.

'Firearms officers perform a highly skilled and incredibly demanding role. They are brave and courageous people, who keep us all safe.

'I believe the individuals who make up West Yorkshire Polices firearms teams are amongst the best in the world. It is a job that carries a huge responsibility and sometimes means making the hardest of all decisions.

'Police officers and staff face dangers every day to keep the public safe. I am proud of them and the work they do. But they can only do it with the support and understanding of all of the communities we serve and I remain committed to policing being professional, open and transparent.

'So, I hope that the inquest has helped explain in detail what occurred in the lead up to the death of Mr Yaqub'
Burks fled the school before authorities arrived but they found a black jacket with a Ziploc bag full of marijuana edibles that belonged to her

Authorities were called to the school on Monday evening after school staff at the Primrose School of Prosper observed unusual behavior from the students

The children were all under two-years-old and police say they are now at home recovering

Preschool teacher Anisah Burks, 35, was arrested in Prosper, Texas on Halloween after four of her students were hospitalized after eating her THC gummies

Anisah Burks, 35, was a staff member at Primrose School in Prosper, Texas until she was fired after four children suddenly became ill on Halloween

A preschool teacher in Texas is facing felony charges after several one-year-old children under her care ingested marijuana gummies they thought were Halloween candy and had to be hospitalized, according to police.

Anisah Burks, 35, was a staff member at Primrose School in Prosper, Texas until she was fired after four children suddenly became ill on Halloween.

Investigators say the children, who were all under two, were exposed to THC, the psychoactive chemical found in marijuana, which is illegal recreationally in Texas.

Burks left the school before first responders arrived, but they found a black jacket she had left behind that had THC gummies in a Ziploc bag in one of the pockets.

The case shows that children are exposed to drug-filled candy on the holiday, dispelling notions that it's a myth.

Burks now faces several charges including felony possession of a controlled substance and four counts of injury to a child.

Authorities responded to the school on Monday evening and Prosper Fire-Rescue took two children to hospital, while Frisco Fire Department transported one to hospital and another was taken for medical care by their parents.

The school said all the children are now at home recovering after the ordeal.

'This news has been shocking, upsetting and shakes us to the very core of every principle we stand for,' the school said in a statement.

Primrose school said Tuesday that Burks had been fired after she was arrested, and added that she was subject to the same background checks as other employees.

The school was even forced to shut down on Tuesday and sanitize their classrooms to make sure the incident doesn't happen again.

Investigators say the children, who were all under two, were exposed to THC, the psychoactive chemical found in marijuana, which is illegal recreationally in Texas. Pictured: The preschool

'We have every reason to believe, including from the authorities, that this was an isolated incident involving one teacher who was immediately terminated,' the school said.

It is unclear how long Burks had been teaching at the school or what her teaching responsibilities were.

Burks was deemed ineligible for a court-appointed lawyer at the time of her arrest and does not currently have one, according to the Collin County District Clerk's Office.

'This swift arrest was the result of the complete cooperation of the school and the combined efforts of PPD and Prosper Fire-Rescue.

'Further, the Texas Department of Family Services, Child Care Licensing Division has been notified,' said Prosper Police.

Primrose School of Prosper said in a statement: 'On Monday, Oct. 31, after four children in our toddler classroom were observed displaying unusual symptoms of illness, our staff acted immediately and called 9-1-1 and our building was evacuated. Police were notified and the facility closed today.

These four children were hospitalized for treatment and were found to have been exposed to THC, an illegal substance.

'Local authorities have alleged the source of the exposure was linked to a teacher in the room, and the individual was terminated immediately. With our assistance, law enforcement moved swiftly to make an arrest.

This news has been shocking, upsetting and shakes us to the very core of every principle we stand for.

'There is no greater priority to us every day than the health and safety of the children entrusted to our care.

'As part of our stringent safety measures, we conduct background checks on all teachers and staff members prior to their hire.

'The individual involved in this situation was subjected to those same background checks as all our teachers.

'Local authorities searched our entire campus and deemed our school safe to occupy, and we are sanitizing the Toddler room today.

'Authorities have let us know that we can reopen tomorrow. Words cannot sufficiently express our deep concern over this matter.

'We have every reason to believe, including from the authorities, that this was an isolated incident involving one teacher who was immediately terminated.

'We are praying for a quick recovery for these children and are relieved that they are all home from the hospital.'
A council has lost a bid to continue a High Court injunction to prevent asylum seekers from being housed in a local hotel.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council was previously granted a temporary injunction to prevent asylum seekers from being housed in the North Stafford Hotel after the Home Office contacted the local authority with a proposal to use the site.

At an urgent hearing last month, the council was given the order against owner Britannia Hotels and Serco, banning the use of the hotel close to Stoke-on-Trent train station, claiming a breach of planning rules.

Lawyers for the council returned to court on Wednesday to ask for the injunction to be extended until a final hearing, expected to take place in early December.

Ipswich Council said an estimated 70 people are currently at the Novotel hotel, and the injunction 'does not apply to the asylum seekers who have already moved into the Novotel'

But Mr Justice Linden refused to extend the order, describing the council's bid as a 'weak application'.

The High Court in London was told the Home Office plan involved the block booking of the hotel's 88 rooms, security being placed at the hotel and the prevention of members of the public from using the site.

Jake Thorold, for the council, told the court exclusively housing asylum seekers in the 137-person-capacity hotel would mean a 'material change of use' and a breach of planning controls.

He said: 'That careful process is being bypassed... we say there is harm generally by not using the planning process.'

Mr Thorold later referred to the Manston processing site in Kent, where concerns have been raised about a dangerous level of overcrowding.

He said: 'It cannot be right that essentially because of the very difficult situation of asylum seeker accommodation that essentially the Home Office can choose to contract with any hotel that is willing to do so and move asylum seekers in breach of planning controls.'

The Home Office said that 'record levels' of arrivals to the UK had put 'unprecedented pressure' on the system and it was working with councils to 'find appropriate accommodation' (pictured: Home Secretary, Suella Braverman)

The barrister added in written submissions there are 'baseless allegations that the claimant is motivated to obtain an injunction by the identity of the proposed occupants of the North Stafford Hotel as asylum seekers', calling them 'categorically untrue'.

Mr Justice Linden said he could not make a ruling on the council's motivation, adding: 'I am not at the moment convinced that the motivation is a relevant consideration of this case.'

Saira Kabir Sheikh KC, for Britannia Hotels and its founder Alexander Langsam, argued the injunction should not be extended.

She told the court: 'There has to be something that changes the way in which the land is used, not just the identities of who is walking through the door.'

Ms Sheikh continued: 'The council has not said there is a shortage of hotels in the area, they have not said the public will have nowhere to go.

The umber of migrants crossing the channel on small boats has skyrocketed to an estimated 50,000 this year

'What difference does it make in planning terms if the public cannot use the hotel? What are the planning effects of this change?'

The barrister said there is 'no definable change in character' of the hotel and the arrangement will not be permanent.

The court was told Serco is attempting to house 800 asylum seekers this week and it currently has 84 hotels housing more than 11,000 asylum seekers.

Paul Brown KC, for Serco Limited, said the company will not know the identities of who will be housed in the hotel until up to 24 hours before.

But he said: 'We do know that we are talking about people who are fleeing persecution, sometimes torture, sometimes families with small children.'

Mr Brown added: 'Some of them will come from Manston. Manston has received particular publicity but if other places were less overcrowded... they would have been moved there.'

Dismissing the application for the injunction to continue, Mr Justice Linden noted the council refused to meet the Home Office over the plans and there is a lack of evidence about the harm not keeping the injunction would cause.

He said: 'I am satisfied the balance of convenience favours the refusal of the claimant's application for an injunction.'

Mr Justice Linden noted the council refused to meet the Home Office over the plans and there is a lack of evidence about the harm not keeping the injunction would cause

The judge continued: 'This is not a case where any changes to the building, the fabric of the hotel or the land on which it is situated... The changes which are complained of are changes in the way the hotel will operate on a day-to-day basis.'

Mr Justice Linden added: 'I take into account the perspective of the citizens of Stoke-on-Trent but hope they would appreciate the potential suffering of the asylum seekers is no small matter when one considers the circumstances in which they have come.'

At least three other local authorities are continuing with taking action to stop the government from using hotels to house asylum seekers, with at least four authorities taking legal action.

The Home Office said that 'record levels' of arrivals to the UK had put 'unprecedented pressure' on the system and it was working with councils to 'find appropriate accommodation during this challenging time'.

But one council that took its case to the High Court, Great Yarmouth Borough Council, said that it took action due to the 'absence of any meaningful dialogue' with the Home Office.

In a statement, Great Yarmouth Borough Council said it had secured an interim injunction in relation to one hotel in a 'prime tourism location where there is a proposed use as a hostel for accommodating asylum seekers'.

This is subject to a final hearing this month, the authority in Norfolk said.

The council has also served a temporary stop notice on a hotel currently being used to house asylum seekers, but the notice has now expired, and the council is 'considering further enforcement action'.

'As a council representing our local community, we have always expressed our willingness to engage with the Home Office to find suitable properties to accommodate asylum seekers, but the absence of any meaningful dialogue or intention to follow due process by the Home Office has resulted in us pursuing this course of action,' Great Yarmouth Borough Council said.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Stoke City Council and Ipswich Borough Council are also taking legal action.

Ipswich Borough Council in Suffolk said in a statement that the High Court had granted an emergency injunction to prevent the further use of the Novotel hotel in Grey Friars Road, Ipswich 'or any other hotel within the borough as a hostel by accommodating asylum seekers'.

The authority said an estimated 70 people are currently at the hotel, and the injunction 'does not apply to the asylum seekers who have already moved into the Novotel'.

'This is the latest stage in the council's efforts to prevent the government from turning the hotel into a hostel for asylum seekers,' Ipswich Borough Council said.

'The council has always objected to the plan to do this and has made its position clear to the Home Office.'

Other authorities have raised concerns, with Tamworth Borough Council in Staffordshire saying a 'decision by the Home Office to use a property in Tamworth for asylum seeker accommodation happened very quickly'.

In a Facebook post, the authority said: 'A formal expression of concern was made to the Home Office for use of a local hotel due to its prominence in the town and impact on the tourism economy.'

A council spokesman said: 'As yet, no decisions have been made about legal action.'

A Home Office spokesperson said: 'The number of people arriving in the UK who seek asylum and require accommodation has reached record levels, placing unprecedented pressures on the asylum system.

'The Home Office and partners identify sites for accommodation based on whether they are safe and available.

'While we accept that hotels do not provide a long-term solution, they do offer safe, secure and clean accommodation, and we are working hard with local authorities to find appropriate accommodation during this challenging time.'
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) called out new Twitter CEO Elon Musk for trying to sell 'free speech' - leading Musk to retort: 'Your feedback is appreciated, now pay $8.'

AOC, 33, isn't shy when it comes to making her opinions known on SpaceX founder, and on Tuesday evening she called out Musk, 51, for proposing to charge users $8-a-month for a verification checkmark.

'Lmao at a billionaire earnestly trying to sell people on the idea that "free speech" is actually an $8/[month] subscription plan,' she wrote.

The entrepreneur then issued his withering response.

Musk, who's estimated to be worth $223billion, announced earlier on Tuesday that the current 'lords and peasants system' in place at Twitter was 'bulls**t.'

'Power to the people! Blue for $8/[month].'

As part of his proposed plan, which is unclear when it will go into effect, verified users will get 'priority in replies, mention, and searches...ability to post long video and audio, and half as many ads.'

He also said that publishers who are 'willing to work' with Twitter will get a 'paywall bypass' and social media stars will also be getting a secondary heading like politicians. Content creators will also get rewarded through a revenue stream.

'You get what you pay for,' the father-of-eight tweeted on Wednesday. He also celebrated 'being attacked by both the right and left simultaneously,' calling it a 'good sign.'

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 33, called out Elon Musk, 51, for 'selling people on the idea that "free speech" is actually an $8/[month] subscription plan'

Musk, who's estimated to be worth $223billion, announced earlier on Tuesday that the current 'lords and peasants system' in place at Twitter was 'bulls**t'

The Tesla CEO has received plenty of backlash on his proposal, including author Stephen King and actress Kathy Burke.

The world's richest man previously mulled a $20-per-month blue tick verification fee, but appeared to lower the cost following criticism from horror author Stephen King.

Musk is looking to make good on his promise to make the social media platform turn a profit by introducing a charge for Twitter users wanting to keep their verification badge.

On Wednesday, the new Twitter CEO celebrated being 'attacked by both the right and left simultaneously' and said 'you get what you pay for'

His plan to reportedly charge $20-a-month, however, appeared to sit poorly with King, who tweeted: '$20 a month to keep my blue check? F*** that, they should pay me,' wrote King, who has 6.9million followers. 'If that gets instituted, I'm gone like Enron.'

Musk replied: 'We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers.

'How about $8?' he asked, which is the price he's settled on.

King isn't the only blue-tick Twitter user to threaten to abandon their checkmark if a charge is introduced to the platform.

Actress, writer and comedian Kathy Burke also said she wouldn't pay, tweeting: 'Musk can f*** off with his idea of charging blue-tickers. I give my all to this hell site for FREE.

'Cheeky b**** should be paying ME,' she added. 'Don't need the poxy thing anyway.'

Celebrities who have threatened to boycott the site include TV screenwriter Shonda Rhimes, actor Mia Farrow, as well as Madam Secretary star Tea Leoni, She Hulk actor Jameela Jamil, as well as, authors and activists Shaun King and Amy Siskind.

George Takei, who played Hikaru Sulu on Star Trek, also said he would consider heading for the digital door.

Musk detailed his plan on the platform, proposing those who pay will get 'priority in replies, mention, and searches...ability to post long video and audio, and half as many ads'

Entrepreneur Jason Calacanis posted a poll on Monday asking people if they would pay $5, $10 or $15 a month, or nothing for verification. Around 81 percent said they wouldn't pay, as of Tuesday.

'Interesting,' said Musk in response to the poll.

Critics have derided the mark, often granted to celebrities, politicians, business leaders and journalists, as an elite status symbol.

But Twitter also uses the blue check mark to verify activists and people who suddenly find themselves in the news, as well as little-known journalists at small publications around the globe, as an extra tool to curb misinformation coming from accounts that are impersonating people.

Musk appears to have taken Monday's criticism from the public to heart as he opted to lower the proposed blue mark cost following his outing to Klum's premier Halloween party.

Author Stephen King said he will leave Twitter if Musk brings in a $20-a-month charge for him to keep his blue check

Author Stephen King, who wrote The Shining, said he will leave the platform if Musk introduces a blue-tick verification charge

English actress, writer and comedian Kathy Burke also said she wouldn't pay if a charge is introduced tot he platform

She told Musk he can f**k off with his idea and that he should be 'paying ME'

The world's richest man was pictured arriving at the party in a red Samurai-style costume as reports emerge that he is preparing to cut close to 2,000 Twitter jobs, amounting to around 25 percent of its workforce.

Musk looked triumphant as he posed on the red carpet in his armor, with his street clothes still visible underneath. It's not clear what Musk was supposed to be dressed as for Klum's celebration

According to the website for the high-end costume store, Abracadabra NYC, Musk's outfit is the Devil's Champion-Leather Armor set that retails for $7,500. At the time of writing, the website says that there is only one costume remaining in stock.

The billionaire's mother, Maye, was also present at the party and inside Twitter's offices on West 17th Street.

He was exclusively pictured by DailyMail.com leaving her house this week on his way to Twitter's New York City headquarters.
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Rishi Sunak has urged police chiefs to take action to change culture and standards in the service after a damning report found vetting failures meant hundreds if not thousands of serving officers have criminal records, are linked to gangs or pose a risk.

A watchdog highlighted cases including an officer whose brother was a gangland kingpin and another who bombarded a colleague with sexually explicit and racist messages but still works with vulnerable people.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said on Wednesday that he will read the report from His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) very carefully.

The spokesman said: 'The public rightly expect the highest standards from those there to keep us safe, and that every officer patrolling our streets has gone through stringent checks. That's very much what the Prime Minister believes.

'It's clear that culture and standards need to change, police chiefs must take action to address this and it's welcome that they recognise that.'

Inspectors found that hundreds, if not thousands, of corrupt officers may be serving in England and Wales police forces, and that the chances of someone like Sarah Everard's murderer Wayne Couzens getting a job as a police officer would have been 'clearly reduced' if measures to improve screening checks had been put in place earlier.

Rishi Sunak has urged police chiefs to take action to change culture and standards in the force after a damning report found vetting failures meant hundreds if not thousands of serving officers have criminal records, are linked to gangs or pose a risk

Neo-Nazi Benjamin Hannam (second right) was recruited by Scotland Yard despite featuring in a recruitment video for banned far-Right group National Action two days before he applied

Hannam, 23 (circled) became the first constable to be convicted of terror offences after an anonymous hacker tipped off the Met that he was a member of National Action

Ian Naude (left), was jailed for 25 years for raping a 13-year-old girl and had only joined Cheshire Police 'to gain the keys to a sweetshop'. Wayne Scott (right), of Cleveland Police, was jailed in 2013 after using his position to carry out rapes

Analysis of personnel files found it was far too easy for misogynistic, corrupt or predatory officers to join up and stay in uniform.

They include Benjamin Hannam, a neo-Nazi who was recruited by Scotland Yard despite featuring in a recruitment video for a banned far-Right group two days before he applied.

The 23-year-old became the first constable to be convicted of terror offences after an anonymous hacker tipped off the Met that he was a member of National Action. He joined the white supremacists in 2016 and recruited others to a group that backed the murder of MP Jo Cox.

Matt Parr, Inspector of Constabulary, called for better screening to weed out dangerous individuals.

Other predators who were able to join up as PCs included:

Ian Naude, was jailed for 25 years for raping a 13-year-old girl and had only joined Cheshire Police 'to gain the keys to a sweetshop';

Stephen Mitchell, of Northumbria Police, was given two life sentences in 2011 for a series of 'ruthless' rapes and sexual assaults;

Wayne Scott, of Cleveland Police, was jailed in 2013 after using his position to carry out rapes and sexual assaults, with complaints about him ignored;

James Ford, of Hertfordshire Police, who raped a young girl, was signed up despite vetting raising concerns about his inappropriate use of social media;

Commissioned last October by then-home secretary Priti Patel in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard by Met officer Wayne Couzens, the probe examined three forces linked with the killer  Kent Police, the Met and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary.

Also scrutinised were Cumbria, South Wales, Nottinghamshire, Dorset and Devon and Cornwall.

Mr Parr cited 'astonishing' examples of vetting failures, including one special constable who had a 12-month supervision order for indecent exposure as a juvenile.

He applied three times to the same force over 13 years and was eventually cleared by the vetting process after an appeal. Inspectors said he should have been automatically rejected.

Another officer who passed the checks had been caught speeding five years earlier, convicted of attempted theft abroad and was linked with drug dealing and violent criminals.

Inspector's sickening findings Matt Parr, Inspector of Constabulary, called for better screening to weed out dangerous individuals. Among the bombshell findings in his report were: Officers could switch forces without vetting information being passed on;

Some bosses hired recruits without conducting face-to-face interviews;

Others failed to check employment records of applicants and even hired recruits who had lied on applications;

Bosses took extra risks on candidates if it helped boost diversity. Advertisement

Neo-Nazi Benjamin Hannam managed to sail through the police vetting process and worked as a probationary officer for nearly two years before he was found on a leaked database of users of an extreme Right-wing forum and arrested in 2020.

Officers discovered he had continued downloading Nazi material even after he started training as a Met officer.

Last year he was jailed for four years and four months at the Old Bailey for membership of a proscribed terrorist organisation and possessing terror documents detailing knife combat and explosive devices.

Mr Parr spoke about an officer who was hired despite being suspected of several crimes, including a burglary which involved him threatening people with a metal bar and stealing their jewellery.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, the inspector of constabulary said: 'We highlighted a number of cases in our study that I think will surprise and shock your listeners.

'In one, a police officer was given clearance, he had a history of intelligence, he had a conviction for theft abroad, there had been bits of intelligence linking him to threatening people in their house with a metal bar before stealing their jewellery, drug supply, a police pursuit with a car.

'Despite all this, the force gave him vetting clearance and they put no special measures around him.

'I'm not saying there should be a zero tolerance for anyone that's been done for shoplifting when they're 14 or anything like that, but police have got too ready to take people when there are some clear warning signs, and this was just one of those cases.'

Mr Parr said he believes UK policing is experiencing a 'tipping point moment' for cultural change following a string of damning reports.

He said: 'We're at something of a tipping point moment.

'It's not just our report today, there have been other hard-hitting reports shining a light on police behaviour and some of these problems.

'I think, or at least I hope, that we've now reached the point where chief constables and other police leaders realise this is something they've got to bear down on much harder.

'They've got to take more interest in recruiting the right people and they've got to take more interest in driving out misconduct, because if they don't, these problems are going to keep coming back, and they can't.'

Stephen Mitchell (left), of Northumbria Police, was given two life sentences in 2011 for a series of 'ruthless' rapes and sexual assaults. Pictured right: Wayne Couzens, who murdered Sarah Everard

James Ford (left), of Hertfordshire Police, who raped a young girl, was signed up despite vetting raising concerns about his inappropriate use of social media. Pictured right: Benjamin Hannam

Today Sue Fish, former Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police, called the report 'deeply shocking but totally unsurprising'.

'I left the force five years ago, but what I've been told by current officers is that sadly things haven't changed and I found the report deeply shocking, but totally unsurprising,' she told Good Morning Britain.

'This is systemic. This isn't about a bad apple, this is actually about a culture, a mindset, a way of being. And actually many thousands of really good officers will be devastated by this report because it doesn't reflect them.

'And thousands of really good officers - mainly women - will say yes, this really does reflect my experience at the hands of colleagues.'

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said the report must be a 'wake-up call' for chief constables.

'It does contain a very worrying number of findings. I think it's a real wake-up call for chief constables across the country,' he told Sky News.

'What the Government hopes is that those chief constables and the National Police Chiefs' Council look at this report and every force will look at their practices, how they recruit officers, how they run their disciplinary processes, and make the necessary changes to improve standards so the public have the confidence in the police force.

'Yes, the report has a number of concerning findings. But, on the other hand, the positive thing is it's much better that we understand the scale of the challenge, we understand what the problems are. That's the first thing you have to do to be able to fix them.'

Commissioned last October in the wake of Ms Everard's murder, the probe examined three forces linked with the killer  Kent Police, the Met and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary

Inspectors also found examples of recruits with connections to organised criminals. One special officer had 'extensive criminality' within his family, including a brother with convictions for drug dealing and violence who was also a person of interest in murder and kidnap investigations.

The applicant claimed to be estranged from his sibling, but no attempt was made to check this was true or to mitigate the risk of corruption. Another officer who claimed he had minimal contact with his criminal brother was in fact living with him.

Despite his dishonesty and the obvious risks, the officer was cleared of any wrongdoing because his lies were 'not significant enough to deny vetting to a young man [who] has wanted to fulfil his dream of joining the police'.

Mr Parr said: 'It is too easy for the wrong people to both join and stay in the police. If the police are to rebuild public trust and protect their own female officers and staff, vetting must be much more rigorous and sexual misconduct taken more seriously.

'Sadly, misogynistic and predatory behaviour are prevalent in all the forces we inspected. An alarming number of women, police officers and staff talked about the appalling behaviour that they've been on the end of by male colleagues.

'In many cases, the perpetrator was someone who had previously been reported for similar behaviour, which either hadn't been taken seriously or it wasn't thoroughly investigated. Many women told us that this kind of behaviour is so prevalent, they don't report it until it really escalates.'

Suella Braverman said it was 'disappointing' that some forces were taking unnecessary risks

He added: 'It seems reasonable for me to say that over the last three or four years, the number of people recruited over whom we would raise significant questions is certainly in the hundreds, if not low thousands.'

The former rear admiral said it was incredible that some forces did not interview recruits in person and did not bother to check their working history.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: 'It is no secret that recent high-profile incidents have shattered the public's trust in policing .

'As part of its commitment to recruit 20,000 additional officers, the Government has provided funding to deliver significant improvements to recruitment processes.'

Among the recommendations made were minimum standards for employment checks, better practices for corruption investigations and improved guidance on conduct in the workplace.

The National Police Chiefs' Council said bosses would act on the recommendations but stressed that HMICFRS agreed with most vetting decisions. Chairman Martin Hewitt said: 'We cannot risk predatory or discriminatory individuals slipping through the net.'

College of Policing chief constable Andy Marsh said the report would be translated into practical guidance that would improve standards.
Police are investigating the murder of a New Mexico woman who was allegedly stabbed to death with a three-foot metal sword by her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend.

Kiara McCulley, 19, and her boyfriend Isaac Apodaca were charged with first-degree murder in connection to the death of Grace Jennings, 21, who police said was stabbed in the garage the couple lives in.

Cops arrived at the scene located on the 5000 block of Jaguar Drive on Saturday around 2pm after they received a call from Apodaca's mom that McCulley was killing a woman in the garage, according to a criminal complaint obtained by Santa Fe New Mexican.

Jennings' body was found in the garage nearby a 'bloody sword.' Her body had 'several injuries consistent with being cut or stabbed with a sharp object' and injuries 'consistent with attempts to decapitate.'

'We did collect a sword, and it is a metal sword,' Santa Fe Police Capt. Aaron Ortiz told the local news outlet. 'I can't give... detailed information as far as where it came from; that's still under investigation.'

McCulley was spotted by police in the backyard but quickly fled the scene. She was later arrested along with Apodaca - who had also called the police to report the murder.

Grace Jennings' body was found in a New Mexico garage on Saturday. Police said the garage is where her ex-lover lives with his new girlfriend. A bloody sword was found nearby her body

Kiara McCulley, 19, and her boyfriend Isaac Apodaca were charged with first-degree murder in connection to Jennings' death

Jennings body was discovered at a garage on the 5000 block of Jaguar Drive (above). The garage is disconnected from the main house where McCulley's mother lives. Jennings had stayed with the couple overnight, according to Apodaca

The night before Jennings' body was discovered, she had asked her ex-lover Apodaca if she could sleep over in the garage him and and his new girl friend share together at McCulley's mom's house.

McCulley and Jennings stayed in the same bed, according to Apodaca. The next morning McCulley told Jennings and Apodaca to leave.

Apodaca claimed he left the garage for two minutes to use the restroom inside the main house and when he arrived back Jennings was dead.

'I did it,' McCulley allegedly told him. Apodaca claimed he then ran to call police after telling his mom.

McCulley later told police she couldn't remember killing Jennings due to her undiagnosed multiple personality disorder.

'McCulley stated she was partially hopefully Ms. Jennings was dead but could not remember what happened to her,' the complaint read.

It was later discovered that Jennings was at once romantically involved with McCulley and Apodaca.

Police said that Jennings' body had multiple stab wounds and trauma that reflected the intent to decapitate her

The criminal complaint shared that Jennings was once romantically involved with McCulley and Apodaca

Apodaca didn't admit his alleged involvement to police but instead told investigators that McCulley had planned to kill his ex-girlfriend for years.

But a search was conducted on his cell phone on Saturday that revealed the truth, according to the local news outlet.

Police uncovered text messages between Apodaca and McCulley conspiring to kill the 21-year-old in her sleep.

'The messages... described how Mr. Apodaca and [McCulley] would "clean up the mess" by using hydrogen peroxide and an ice washer to get it out,' according to the complaint.

McCulley said Apodaca told her that she would rise in the secret organization she is in, dubbed Ghost, that seeks to get participants in sex crimes if she killed his ex-lover, police said.

She also admitted to daydreaming about killing Jennings.

The Santa Fe District Attorney's office filed a motion on Tuesday for Pretrial detention for McCulley and Apodaca. A hearing will be held at a future date.

Jennings' family is in disbelief at her passing and said the 'community suffered an indescribable loss

Jennings' family is in disbelief at her passing and said the 'community suffered an indescribable loss.'

She was remembered by family member Kacey Jennings as 'the definition of beauty.'

'Grace is the definition of beauty. Grace is something we don't deserve, but that's given to us so freely. Grace is so loved,' Kacey wrote on Facebook.

'This weekend our niece, Grace, was taken from all who knew and loved her. Would you please keep our family in your prayers.'

A GoFundMe has been set up to cover funeral arrangements and help the 21-year-old's mother during the 'unthinkably difficult time.'

As of Wednesday afternoon, $15,240 was raised - exceeding the $15,000 goal.
Costello was arrested in October trying to flee to Mexico with gold bars and cash

His yearbook has also emerged with quote: 'It's easy to be someone you're not'

The alleged mastermind of a $35m fraud who was caught fleeing to Mexico with a stash of gold bars once threatened a spa worker and then told cops: 'I'm a billionaire... this is going to cost you.'

Justin Costello, 42, launched the bizarre rant against officers who detained him for harassing staff at the luxury spa in Washington State in 2019 - several years before his arrest on fraud charges, it has emerged.

Costello is currently in custody for allegedly tricking investors with false claims that he was a billionaire, a Harvard grad and an Iraq War vet.

Details of his earlier brush with the law have surfaced along with a cringeworthy yearbook photo from 1999 with the quote: 'It's easy to be someone you're not, but hard to be yourself.'

Costello, who is facing 25 counts of wire and securities fraud, was arrested at Salish Lodge & Spa in Snoqualmie on September 15, 2019 after a staff told police he was causing a drunken disturbance.

Justin Costello tricked investors by claiming he was a Harvard graduate and Iraq War veteran. His cringeworthy 1999 yearbook photo included the quote, 'it's easy to be someone you're not'

Prosecutors claim Costello tricked businesses and investors into believing he was a billionaire

He was previously arrested at the luxury Salish Lodge and Spa (piuctured) for threatening staff

An FBI SWAT team captured him fleeing to Mexico with six gold bars and stacks of cash

Police arrived at 10.30pm after staff reported 'a drunk male in front of the business being disruptive and verbal with employees' and 'threatening a valet driver'.

Costello had allegedly screamed profanities, threatened his girlfriend's sister, then grabbed the valet driver and threatened to send his 'boys' after the worker, according to a police report obtained by CNBC.

Staff were convinced he was a 'billionaire from Bellevue', a city near Seattle, and so could follow through on his threats.

His ranting continued after police arrived, when he told officers he was 'a really rich man a billionaire' and 'you messed with the wrong dude'.

Costello allegedly approached one officer with 'clenched fists' and ignored three warnings that he'd be tasered.

When he was eventually cuffed, Costello told police: 'I'm going to civilly hit you in the f***ing ass.

'This is going to cost you brother, a lot of money.

'Bro, take these handcuffs off, so I can kick your ass. I'm going to own you, motherf***er.'

Following his arrest at the spa (pictured), Costello told cops they 'messed with the wrong guy'

Costello's FBI wanted poster after he went on the run in September following the $35m fraud

He was initially booked at the King County Jail on a felony charge of intimidating a public servant, but later charged with obstruction and two counts of harassment.

Costello later made an Alford plea, which means he didn't admit guilt but accepted prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him.

He was ordered to complete 40 hours of community service, avoid consuming alcohol and drugs for a year, and banned from contact witnesses or the lodge.

Prosecuting attorney Lynn Moberly told CNBC that even following his arrest, Costello continued to claim he was a billionaire with influence.

She said Costello's attorney told her he could 'afford to pay off' the witnesses and was a 'Harvard grad' who was 'involved in the marijuana business'.

Costello was arrested on the current fraud charges on October 4.

Justin Costello, 42, was arrested on October 4 after going on the run following his indictment

Costello was seized in El Cajon, California, just an hour away from the border with Mexico

He was captured by an FBI SWAT team an hour from Mexico's border with six gold bars worth $12,000, Mexican pesos worth $10,000 and a slew of banking cards and checkbook.

At a court hearing days later, prosecutors asked a California federal judge to hold Costello in prison without bail in order to put an end to his criminal career.

'Mr Costello allegedly told many tall tales to convince victims to invest millions of dollars - money he then used for his own benefit,' said US Attorney Nick Brown.

'In a complex scheme involving shell companies, penny stocks, and financial services for marijuana businesses, Mr Costello used Twitter, press releases, securities filings, and claims of great wealth to paint a picture of fabulous financial success.

'In truth that picture was a mirage.'

Costello, of Las Vegas, faced a 25-count indictment in Washington State charging him with wire and securities fraud that victimized marijuana businesses, as well as private and public investors.

Costello used $42,000 from investors for James Bond-themed wedding with Katrina Rosseini

Costello allegedly claimed he was a Harvard MBA, special ops soldier wounded during two tours in Iraq, a Wall Street investor with 14 years of experience, and the owner of a private equity and hedge fund with $1 billion in assets under management.

One wealthy couple handed over $2 million for shares of the companies Costello controlled, and gave him direct access to their trading account worth $4 million.

Through his false identities, prosecutors said Costello duped 29 investors, who lost $6 million.

Costello then allegedly produced 10 press releases to indicate that this company was expanding and moving on to purchasing other companies to lure investors.

In all, about 7,500 investors lost a cumulative $25 million after investing in Costello's stock.

At the same time, prosecutors said Costello engaged in illegal pump-and-dump activities, making $576,466 through the scheme.

Prosecutors also noted that Costello used at least $42,000 of the stolen funds to pay for his wedding, which included James Bond-themed cake and ice sculpture.

Costello faces up to 40 years in prison along with $5,250,000 in fines, or up to twice the gain he made off from the victims.
The Democrat Mayor of Portland has made plans to create pickleball courts, skate ramp, and bicycle track in a spot known for homeless camping.

Mayor Ted Wheeler is turning Laurelhurst Park into a recreation ground - and within the space of 24 hours, the homeless camp was removed and court equipment arrived at the scene.

Portland is running rampant with homelessness - and with a matter of days before people head to polling stations for the midterms, there is a chance the Dem-led city could vote Republican for the first time in 40 years.

The dozens of campers who called the park home were given a week's notice before they were removed from the site.

They were also given the option of going to a shelter, the Mayor's office said. Construction workers could be seen removing the tents that lined the street.

A spokesperson for Portland Parks and Recreation said they've taken over management of the section of Oak Street to 'add park amenities to increase recreational opportunities for Portlanders.'

It's unclear if this is a strategy to get rid of the number of vagrants in the area.

Annette Shaff-Palmer, who lives in the neighborhood, told KOIN: 'I dont know if the perception to the public is that its Laurelhurst and not everywhere else, that its a solution just for this neighborhood instead of a bigger solution for all of homelessness in the city.'

Mayor Ted Wheeler is turning Laurelhurst Park into a recreational area, with pickleball courts, a skate ramp and bike track

Homeless tents lining the streets ahead of the park, before they were removed

Workmen are seen at Laurelhurst Park in Portland after one of the homeless camps were removed

Posters on the barriers to the park revealed the plans to turn the site into a place for locals to enjoy activities - such as pickleball and skating

Mayor Ted Wheeler (pictured) wanted to turn Laurelhurst Park into a recreation ground - and within the space of 24 hours, the homeless camp was removed and court equipment arrived at the scene. It's unclear if this is a strategy to get rid of the number of vagrants in the area

Streets are now overrun with tent cities, littered with trash - and the issue is scaring away both locals and tourists

Local resident Ben Chase told Fox 12: 'Its definitely been an issue thats been dragging on for a long time.

'Ive been wanting for this area to be cleaned up for a while now.'

Wheeler recently said he would ban the seven hundred unsanctioned homeless camps in the city, which have created a 'vortex of misery.'

He has been blamed for crime skyrocketing, with Portland setting a record for murders las year when they reported 90 homicides - shattering the previous high of 66 - and could be about to surpass it this year.

Residents in Democrat-led Portland say the escalating crime and homelessness is not only affecting their way of life and safety, but also their vote next month which could potentially deliver Oregon's first Republican governor.

Democrats have been in charge for four decades, but locals say they see that changing after crime, drug use and homelessness left the city in shambles. And the change could come at next week's election.

Christine Drazan, a pro-life, pro-gun rights Republican candidate, is in a dead heat to become the next governor of Oregon.

Homelessness and crime in Portland exploded over the past two years since the civil unrest brought about by the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

Streets are now overrun with tent cities, littered with trash - and the issue is scaring away both locals and tourists.

Loretta Guzman, 52, an enrolled member of the Shoshone-Bannock Native American tribes who owns Bison Coffee House, knows firsthand what it feels like to be a business owner in Portland, struggling with the city's issues.

'I've had people sleeping in my door entrance and starting fires in the middle of the night. I've had needles in front of my shop. I've had throw-up all over out there,' Guzman told the Washington Examiner.

'And I'm the one who has to come and clean it.'

Guzman indicated that there has been talk of support for the Republican candidate Drazan and third party candidate Betsy Johnson.

The race is between Republican Christine Drazan and Democrat Tina Kotek, as well as third-party candidate Betsy Johnson.

Dozens of homeless people had lived and set up camp in the Portland park

A homeless man is seen next to tents, a shopping cart and stroller full of belongings and trash. Homeless encampments have been popping up along residential streets in several Portland neighborhoods

Tents crowd the sidewalk that is littered with trash from homeless communities setting up camp in areas spread from downtown Portland now out through the suburbs

Drazan has previously been vocal about her plans to declare an emergency if she were to win the office.

And Guzman said she thinks people are ready for a change.

'I think a lot of people are ready for change. And they feel that people have not listened to them or stood up for them,' she said. 'A lot of people don't feel safe right now.'

Guzman spoke to spoke to DailyMail.com last month after her business was vandalized by a group who apparently took issue with the small business's promotion of a 'Coffee with a Cop' event.

She said police officials with the city had asked her to host a two-hour community event during which individuals could talk to officers.

But, when she posted the event online with hashtags that included #positiveoutreach and #weliveforthefuture, her social media pages were bombarded with angry messages.

Six cloaked figures later showed up with crowbars and hammers, according to surveillance footage at the Bison Coffeehouse in the Cully neighborhood.

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler (D), who has had his fair share of interactions with the woke mobs who run his city, condemned the vandalism and said he will 'advocate for the prosecution to the fullest extent of the law - including potential federal hate crimes.'

The Oregon city currently has more than 700 homeless encampments across the city within less than 150 square miles, and the ordeal has also led to skyrocketing crime in the area.

And some of the most charming, trendy and expensive neighborhoods of the Pacific Northwest city are now overrun with tent cities crowding residential sidewalks and littered with trash - and the issue is scaring away both locals and tourists.

Portland's Democratic mayor has finally announced plans to shut down any unsanctioned homeless camps in the city - as a high number of squalid shanty towns and rising crime continues to plague the area

Portland's Democratic mayor has finally announced plans to shut down any unsanctioned homeless camps in the city - as a high number of squalid shanty towns and rising crime continues to plague the area

'I basically pull up here every morning and sort of hold my breath, hoping that no one's destroyed my porch and broken into my business,' Amanda Horne, the owner of Grindhouse Coffee, told the Washington Examiner.

Horne's business has been hit repeatedly by vandals over the past two years, and said it because of a lack of policing.

'I know there are a lot of loyal people that are wanting Tina Kotek,' Horne added. 'And then there's a lot of people who are not wanting her in because of her current seat, and things just haven't changed, and so I think it's kind of a gamble, honestly, at this point.'

Diana Sapera, a social worker who has voted Democratic her entire life, told the a Bari Weiss reporter: 'It feels like night and day from even just this last year.'

Sapera added she thought she could back Kotek, but she couldn't do it. She cast her mail-in ballot for Drazan.

'My kids, there are times they want to go to Portland and check out shops,' Sapera said 'Now, I don't feel comfortable doing that. My kids are scared, seeing grown adults yelling, hitting things, throwing things. They see needles and are like, 'What is that?'

A homeless encampment is seen on a residential street in Portland earlier this year

Dozens of campervans and open air rampant drug use at of squalid shanty towns across Portland are causing locals to consider doing the unthinkable and voting Republican for the first time in 40 years

Mayor Wheeler said last week that a large portion of the city's homeless population is dealing with mental health and drug issues, making the difficult situation even more complicated.

'Collectively, this is a vortex of misery for all involved,' the mayor said Friday.

Social workers would be responsible for finding anyone living in campsites on the city's streets and directing them to the designated sites, the mayor said.

Should the individuals refuse to move, police could become involved.

In recent years, Portland has seen an alarming rise in homelessness.

In 2019, the city recorded just over 2,000 homeless individuals.

Less than three years later, that number has risen by 50 per cent, now at more than 3,000 living on the streets.

The city currently says there are more than 700 encampments in less than 150 square miles.

Scott Kerman, executive director of Blanchet House, a Portland nonprofit that provides social services for people experiencing homelessness, said the plan 'has some positive elements' but that 'there remain a lot of unanswered questions and unknown details.'
A 'predatory' English police officer 'sexually assaulted a female colleague in a Scottish Wetherspoons during the Cop26 climate conference', a trial was told.

The female officer said Rich Ennor stared incessantly at her during a booze session, rubbed his leg against hers under the table and passed his arm under her breasts.

The 46-year-old married woman said she only escaped Ennor's unwanted attention after mouthing 'help me' at another male colleague who led her to the toilet where she told him through tears what had been happening.

Even after that, she said, as she went to another part of the Wetherspoons pub in Livingston, West Lothian, to phone her husband, Ennor came up behind her and squeezed her waist before leaving the bar.

Ennor, 43, from Burton, near Christchurch in Dorset, denies behaving in a threatening or abusive manner likely to cause fear or alarm by uttering suggestive and sexual remarks towards the other officer, who can't be named for legal reasons.

The charge states that he behaved in an aggressive and sexual manner towards her, repeatedly stared at her, leaned his body in towards her and sat 'in extremely close proximity' to her.

A 'predatory' English police officer 'sexually assaulted a female colleague in a Scottish Wetherspoons during the Cop26 climate conference', a trial was told (Pictured: The NewYearField pub where the alleged assault took place)

The Hampshire police officer is also accused of sexually assaulting her by repeatedly rubbing his leg against her leg and by placing his hands around her waist and compressing it in The NewYearField pub, in Livingston's Designer Outlet, during the incident on November 7 2021. He denies both charges.

David Adams, defence counsel, put to the female officer that any contact between the accused's leg and hers had been accidental.

She answered: 'He specifically rubbed his leg down my leg intentionally under the table. So that's so not the case.

'Everything about how he behaved that evening had a sexual element to it. It came across in a sexual manner and it was harassing and intimidating.'

She also rejected defence claims that Ennor had simply been saying goodbye to her when he touched her on the shoulder and squeezed her waist.

She told Livingston Sheriff Court he didn't say anything at all when he approached her from behind and touched her.

She said: 'He was behaving in a sexual way. There was absolutely no reason for him to approach me from behind and to squeeze my waist. That wasn't necessary.

'It was intimidating and his behaviour that night was predatory and sexual and he was harassing me.'

Asked on re-examination why she was seen on CCTV looking over her shoulder as she returned to her table she said: 'I'm looking back to make sure he's not following me or coming back in.'

Three of the woman's colleagues gave evidence that they saw Ennor staring intently at their friend who looked 'uncomfortable'.

The 36-year-old male constable who came to her rescue said: 'He was turned towards her, he was leaning towards her, his hands were in front of him but towards the side of her.

'He was looking directly in her eyes. I'd describe it as almost fixated on her as if there was nobody else in the room.

'I saw him move his hand next to the edge of the table where she was. The only reason I noticed that was because he had really large hands, it drew my attention.

'She drew my attention and I saw her mouth: 'Can you help me?' I stood up and said quite publicly 'I'm going to the toilet' to provide a distraction.

'She stood up and said 'I'll come to the toilet too' and she left the table with me.

'She was scared, it was as simple as that. She was shaking and she had tears in her eyes.'

He said he informed his sergeant what she told him had happened at the hotel where they were all staying later the same evening.

The Crown closed its case on Wednesday and the trial, before Sheriff Martin Edington, was adjourned until December 9.
The President of the National Union of Students, who was sacked following an investigation into allegations of antisemitism, says she was 'discriminated against as a black Muslim woman'.

Shaima Dallali, 27, became the first president to be fired in the 100-year history of the NUS after 'significant breaches of policy' were found.

It came after she was suspended from her role at the end of August, just a month into her two-year term.

But she has rejected the findings of an independent disciplinary panel and is considering taking legal action after her contract was terminated yesterday.

Ms Dallali instead considers the process to have constituted 'discriminatory treatment of her as a black Muslim woman and her beliefs concerning the plight of the Palestinian people'.

In a statement released on her behalf today, law firm Carter-Ruck said she had already 'apologised fully for an inappropriate Tweet which she had published in 2012 (that is, a decade before becoming President)'.

Shaima Dallali, 27, became the first president to be fired in the 100-year history of the NUS yesterday

Lawyers added that she had also made clear her position that other tweets which faced criticism and which pre-dated her election to her NUS role 'were not antisemitic'.

The statement said: 'Both before and during her tenure as President, Ms Dallali has repeatedly made clear her opposition to all forms of racism, including antisemitism, while continuing to campaign to denounce the plight of the Palestinian people.'

She was elected by delegates at the NUS national conference in March, but soon afterwards faced a backlash when historical tweets emerged making offensive references to the killing of Jews in the 628 Battle of Khaybar.

Ms Dallali apologised for the 'wrong' and 'unacceptable' post she wrote as a teenager in 2012.

But other deleted tweets allegedly included statements which appeared to be supportive of the Islamist terror organisation Hamas.

In May, it emerged she may have broken an NUS rule by failing to commit to the International Holocaust Remembrance Association (IHRA) definition of antisemitism before her appointment.

But she has rejected the findings of an independent disciplinary panel and is considering taking legal action after her contract was terminated yesterday

The same month, the Government announced it would completely freeze out the NUS until it addressed concerns about antisemitism.

The organisation was removed from all DfE stakeholder groups and replaced with alternative student representation.

Facing huge public pressure, the NUS then announced that it had appointed Rebecca Tuck KC to conduct an independent investigation into Miss Dallali, as well as allegations of institutional antisemitism.

In an update yesterday, the NUS said it had taken the decision to terminate Ms Dallalis contract after an independent panel found that 'significant breaches of NUS policies have taken place'.

The union said the panels decision could be subject to an appeal.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism organisation described Ms Dallalis removal as an 'an encouraging first step'. while the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) said the case 'is a symptom of a wider problem'.

On Wednesday Ms Dallali said she was considering all available legalremedies.

She said news of her dismissal as president was briefed to and published on at least two national news websites before she had been informed of the decision.

Ms Dallali also insisted she had fully engaged with the investigation.

Following the dismissal decision, the NUS said it apologised for the harm that has been caused, adding that it hopes to rebuild the NUS in an inclusive way  fighting for all students as we have done for the past 100 years.

NUS vice-president of higher education Chloe Field has been made acting chair of the NUS UK board.

She said: I am proud to fight on behalf of all of our students and therefore I am determined to work together with the Union of Jewish Students to re-establish trust in our organisation and tackle some of the biggest issues facing students right now.
Police officers talk to a man mourning for the victims of the deadly crowd crush in central Seoul's Itaewon, Oct. 31. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul



Police deserve criticism but must be seen within Korean context: experts



By Jung Min-ho



In the wake of the deadly crowd crush that killed 156 people and injured 152 in central Seoul's Itaewon last weekend, politicians and the media, domestic and international, have been analyzing what went wrong  and who to blame as the cause of the tragedy.



So far, much of the criticism has focused on Interior Minister Lee Sang-min and the police under his authority. The police clearly deserve much criticism for having dismissed 12 emergency calls coming from Itaewon, as responding to the scene earlier could potentially have prevented or lessened the scale of the Oct. 29 tragedy.



Yoon Hee-keun, head of the National Police Agency, admitted Tuesday there was a problem with the way the police handled the emergency calls from Itaewon and apologized. Later that day, Lee followed suit, apologizing as "a Cabinet member in a position to be infinitely responsible for the people's safety."



Over the past several days, critics have said that the police should have deployed more officers in the area, where a huge crowd had been expected over Halloween weekend. "If police had deployed a sufficient number of officers preemptively for safety management, there would have been no [such] dangerous situation," Rep. Lim O-kyeong, spokeswoman for the opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), said at Wednesday's press briefing at the National Assembly.



But that point of criticism doesn't capture the full picture, experts interviewed by The Korea Times said.



"It is difficult to say that police are to blame for that point," Kim Jin-sook, a lawyer, said. "It was completely unexpected, given that no such incident has ever occurred in Korea, even when enormous crowds (of hundreds of thousands of people) gathered in Seoul for rallies many times just a few years ago  Maybe we have become too used to big crowds and did not feel how dangerous it could be."



Interior Minister Lee said that the number of visitors to Itaewon that day "wasn't particularly high," a comment that brought criticism. Data shows that about 130,000 people visited Itaewon on Saturday for Halloween this year, higher than the 80,000 last year but lower than the 200,000 in 2017. Expecting a bigger crowd, police deployed 137 officers this year, higher than the 85 it sent last year.



The number of police officers surely matters. But another fundamental issue is the law, which requires the police to restrict people's freedom of movement for public safety and order only for government-designated events or rallies notified to police. The law allows (but does not require) such police intervention at "private gatherings"  crowd control, in other words  only when there is an imminent danger. Without a clear legal definition, it could be disputable whether streets packed with people can be placed under that category, legal experts say.



The current law was carefully designed to protect people's freedom in a country where police used to abuse power for decades under authoritarian rule. Legal experts say revising the law is not the police's responsibility but must be done by policymakers, especially lawmakers.



"The police enforce only the existing laws," Cho Jin-man, an associate professor of politics at Duksung Women's University, said. "All the relevant institutions, including the police and the National Assembly, should start discussing what rules and policies can fill this risky legal loophole. It is the Assembly's responsibility to mediate between different opinions, say, more freedom versus more government control."





Shoes are seen among a collection of items found in Itaewon after a deadly crowd crush, at a temporary lost-and-found center in Seoul, Nov. 1. Police assembled the crumpled shoes, part of 1.5 tons of personal objects left by the victims and survivors of the tragedy last week. AP-Yonhap
FBI Foreign Influence Task Force Chief Laura Dehmlow (pictured), who has ties to the Twitter decision to suppress the New York Post Hunter Biden laptop story, is still briefing social media sites on foreign disinformation threats, a new report reveals

An FBI official who contributed to shaping the decision of social media platforms to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop story is still briefing Facebook and Twitter about foreign influence threats, according to a recent report.

Leaks to The Intercept and analysis of court filings reveal that FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force Chief Laura Dehmlow is still advising private companies, including social media websites, on threats related to subversive information.

Dehmlow and FBI San Francisco field office special agent Elvis Chan were named in a court filing last month as being involved in communications with Meta, Facebook's parent company, which resulted in suppression of the October 2020 New York Post story revealing the contents of President Joe Biden's son's hard drive for the first time.

The suppression decision despite the story being proven true does not appear to have affected Dehmlow's job, as she is still in contact with private companies regarding disinformation.

Twitter insisted to the Intercept that it does not 'coordinate with other entities when making content moderation decisions.'

'[W]e independently evaluate content in line with the Twitter Rules,' a spokesperson for Twitter told the outlet.

The lengthy Monday Intercept report reveals that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is still looking to control information online  even after being forced to dissolve its Disinformation Advisory Board just months after announcing its formation due to intense public backlash.

Despite the Biden administration earlier this year disbanded its controversial board, the documents suggest DHS has quietly maintained a shadow presence and an intense interest in policing speech it deems false or dangerous.

The report also found that Facebook has a special online portal for DHS and other government officials to request content moderation, and that the federal department plans to target 'inaccurate information' on a wide array of topics.

Dehmlow was the lead briefer during a meeting with executives, including from Twitter and JPMorgan, in March stressing 'we need a media infrastructure that is held accountable'. Pictured: President Joe Biden (left) walks with his son Hunter (right) when leaving Church during a vacation to south Carolina in August

Twitter and Facebook suppressed or flagged the Post's story about the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop ahead of the 2020 presidential election. The story was later confirmed by many outlets, including DailyMail.com. Pictured: An image from Hunter's abandoned laptop

During a Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Cybersecurity Advisory Committee on March 1, Dehmlow warned about the threat of foreign influence challenges and misinformation campaigns on social media sites, which she said could undermine support for the U.S. government.

The meeting included senior executives from Twitter and JPMorgan and was to provide a briefing 'regarding the FBI's roles and responsibilities in combating foreign influence.'

Notes of the discussion stressed 'we need a media infrastructure that is held accountable.'

Dehmlow was the main briefer.

'Ms. Dehmlow was asked to provide her thoughts or to define a goal for approaching MDM [misinformation and disinformation] and she mentioned 'resiliency.' She stated we need a media infrastructure that is held accountable; we need to educate the populace; and that today, critical thinking seems to be a problem,' the leaked notes state.

Dehmlow and FBI San Francisco field office special agent Elvis Chan (pictured) were named in an October court filing for briefing Meta, Facebook's parent company, which resulted in suppression of the October 2020 New York Post story on Hunter Biden's laptop

The communication in 2020 that led to the Post's story being concealed online was part of the federal government's continued venture into controlling disinformation and also included Dehmlow's FBI task force.

Both Twitter and Facebook either flagged the Hunter Biden laptop story as misinformation or suppressed the reach stories are usually able to obtain through sharing on social media.

The Republican Attorneys General of Missouri and Louisiana filed the lawsuit in early October.

It notes that Meta identified that Chan and the FBI section Dehmlow runs were involved in communications 'that led to Facebook's suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story.'

Many Republicans claim that the suppression was a liberal effort to avert negative stories about Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings ahead of the 2020 presidential election. Some say it could have affected the outcome.

The Foreign Influence Task Force was established in 2017 by FBI Director Christopher Wray 'identify and counteract malign foreign influence operations targeting the United States.'

It remains, even after the DHS Disinformation Advisory Board did not stand the test of time.

The now-defunct DHS board was supposed to be run by Russian disinformation 'expert' Nina Jankowics, but she stepped down before the board was dissolved.

Many compared the board to an Orwellian 'Ministry of Truth' and Republicans said it was an effort by the Biden White House and federal government to police free speech online.

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas put the final nail in the coffin on the board in August following a botched rollout from which it couldn't recover.

The demise comes months after the woman tapped to head the board stepped down amid a flurry of GOP attacks claiming she wasn't suited for the job due to her bias  specifically pointing to her calling the Hunter Biden laptop scandal a 'Trump campaign product.'

Jankowicz resigned from the board just one month after its creation.

An expert advisory panel for the department, handpicked by the Biden administration, found in an interim recommendation report last month that there is 'no need' for the Disinformation Governance Board.

A little over a month after the recommendation, the DHS Advisory Council voted unanimously to adopt their report rejecting the need for the board to carry out the department's mission. The board subsequently disbanded.
Russian conscripts are resorting to 'playing dead on the battlefield' as they are sent to fight in Ukraine with poor equipment and insufficient training.

The wife of a Russian man sent to fight in Moscows 423rd Guards Motor Rifle Regiment said that her husband and his fellow conscripts pretended to be dead, as they only had machine guns to defend themselves.

He and others are facing court martial after leaving the frontline in Ukraine.

It comes as antidepressant sales in Russia skyrocketed as the miserable reality of Putin's war in Ukraine finally dawns on the public, Western officials said.

Russians spent 70 per cent more on the pills in the first eight months of this year compared to last, even though they spent much of 2021 in Covid lockdowns, figures have shown.

'Russians feel frightened' as the 'catastrophic error' of Vladimir Putin's invasion - including conscription and a tanking economy - begin to hit people's lives, the officials added.

At least 400,000 have fled since Putin announced he would begin drafting people into the army in September, significantly more than the 300,000 he added to his ranks.

Russian conscripts are resorting to 'playing dead on the battlefield' as they are sent to fight in Ukraine with poor equipment and insufficient training. File image of Russian recruits

The wife of a Russian man sent to fight said that her husband and his fellow conscripts pretended to be dead, as they only had machine guns to defend themselves. File image of Russian recruits

Ekaterina said that her 27-year-old husband was trained in trench digging before being moved to the frontline.

She told independent Russian outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe: 'For many hours they simply lay on the ground and pretended to be dead for one simple reason: they no longer had any weapons other than machine guns.

'There were mortars against them, drones flew over them, if they even moved a finger, then a drone would immediately fly in and destroy them.'

Another wife, Irina, said that her husband, 24, was shelled for 12 hours, with one of his commanders 'torn to pieces' by the attack.

She told the Russian news site that the surviving commander ordered a retreat, before more senior military authorities sent them back to the front line.

'After they refused to return, they were offered new equipment, bulletproof vests, helmetsor a court martial,' the woman told the news outlet.

Vladimir Putin is facing increasing dissent at home as miserable reality of his war dawns on Russians but there is no prospect of him being replaced, Western officials have said

Mobilistion has proved particularly unpopular with some 400,000 Russians fleeing the country rather than sign up while mass protests also broke out (file image)

'Ukraine will push Russia back to pre-invasion borders by New Year' Ukraine will push Russia back to its pre-invasion border by the end of the year and retake Crimea next summer, a retired US general has predicted. Ben Hodges, former commander of US forces in Europe, believes Ukraine is capable of re-taking thousands of square miles of territory in the south and east within the next two months before pushing into Crimea - the crown jewel of Putin's 2014 war. General Hodges, speaking in Westminster on Monday at an event hosted by the Council on Geostrategy, admitted his vision is 'optimistic' but confidently predicted that 'Ukraine will win.' Advertisement

Officials say there is no sign that Putin has decided to change course in Ukraine and no sign that anyone is preparing to replace him.

Russia is now into its ninth month of fighting in Ukraine and has failed to achieve any of the military objectives set by Putin at the start of the war.

The Kremlin thought it was getting involved in an easy conflict that would take days to resolve and had 'no Plan B' for what to do if the war went awry, officials said.

'They still don't have Plan B,' the officials added.

That has led to growing dissent both within the Russian population and the elite close to Putin, who are increasingly willing to voice that discontent in public.

Russians are not in favour of the war, the officials said, and elites are increasingly worried about the cost to their businesses and also the prospect that their children may be called to fight on the frontlines.

That has led to the likes of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner boss dubbed 'Putin's chef', to publicly criticise the way the war is being run - though not Putin himself.

Officials added there is 'no likely prospect of a change of leadership' in Russia in the near-term - though did flag elections due in 2024 as a moment of likely tension.

'He has been weakened by this really catastrophic error,' said the Western official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Russia is now into its ninth month of fighting in Ukraine and 'still does not have a Plan B' after lightning strikes on Kyiv failed, officials have said

'We are seeing the Russian military humbled on the battlefield by Ukraine. People can see that he has made a big error,' said the same official.

'That has to mean that people are talking more about succession, they are talking more about what comes next, they are imagining a life beyond. But what I am not doing is suggesting that that's anytime soon.'

In an attempt to distract from his own failures, the officials said that Putin is making increasingly wild and baseless claims as a way of diverting attention.

They picked out threats of a 'dirty bomb', allegations that the UK and US attacked the Nord Stream pipes, and claims about Liz Truss's hacked phones as examples.

Russia is also increasingly relying on missiles strikes on Ukraine's power grid, water supplies and cities as a means of breaking Ukrainian support for the conflict.

But, if anything, it appears to have strengthened their resolve, the officials said.

The money was meant to go to their families in the impoverished Chuvashia region. 'It's clear - we were f***ing fooled,' said one mutineer as the female officer tries to address their concerns

They also revealed that 'frequent' conversations are taking place with Russian counterparts about 'serious' peace talks, though there is no sign of that yet.

Moscow is facing a dire situation on the battlefields of Ukraine as it attempts to defend a frontline hundreds of miles long with badly mauled units as winter hits.

Kyiv has taken advantage of that fact by launching counter-attacks in the north and south which have recaptured swathes of territory.

Troops continue to make plodding advances towards the city of Kherson and into Luhansk oblast, in the northwest, amid the hope of another breakthrough.

But as the ground softens through autumn those are expected to slow, while vehicles getting bogged down in mud.

Winter - which is bitterly cold in Ukraine - is expected to bring a near-total halt to advances as both sides dig in, before renewed fighting in spring.

During that time, hundreds of thousands of Russian conscripts are expected to arrive in Ukraine to plug holes in the defensive line and perhaps to carry out attacks when the conditions improve.

However, it remains vanishingly unlikely that Putin will be able to achieve his initial aim of toppling the government - and even the reduced aim of 'liberating' the Donbas region looks unlikely.
Snyder also announced that the racetrack would be renamed the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip

President Lynsi Snyder said the event will include drag racing, live music, and food

The party will take place at the Pomona Dragstrip in Southern California

The fast-food chain announced on Tuesday that it would be throwing a 75th anniversary party next fall on October 22

California fast-food chain In-N-Out Burger has announced it will be celebrating its 75th anniversary with a huge blow-out party next fall.

The party - a 75th Anniversary Festival - will take place on October 22, 2023, at the Pomona Dragstrip in southern California.

President Lynsi Snyder announced the event in a video on the In-N-Out website on Tuesday.

The party will include drag racing, musical performances, drinks, and an In-N-Out Burger food truck supplying menu staples.

Snyder also announced the racetrack will be named the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip for the foreseeable future.

The fast-food chain announced on Tuesday that it would be throwing a 75th anniversary party next fall on October 22

In a video on the In-N-Out website, Snyder said the burger joint would be throwing a 'shindig' for its quarter-century anniversary next year.

'We're having a giant shindig at Pomona Raceway,' she said. 'We're going to have drag racing. We're going to have a car show. We're going to have concerts. We're going to have food, fun. You're not going to want to miss it.

She also explained that she chose to hold the event at Pomona because her grandfather - In-N-Out founder Harry Snyder - used to take her there to watch the drag racing as a girl.

'Pomona racetrack is very nostalgic for me because I came here as a little girl to watch my dad race,' explained Snyder. 'It's one of those things that fits right into In-N-Out's culture.'

The party will take place at the Pomona Dragstrip in Southern California, and include drag racing, musical performances, drinks, and an In-N-Out Burger food truck supplying menu staples

The burger chain has long been associated with drag racing.

In 1965, Snyder invested in the Irwingdale Drag Strip, according to the company's website.

By 1971 In-N-Out had its own sponsored drag racing car, at In-N-Out burgers were served at the racetrack's concession stands.

The restaurant chain was founded in 1978, and has since grown to comprise over 300 locations, according to Mashed.
The trial has been overshadowed by those of fallen Harvey Weinstein and actor Danny Masterson, which are taking place simultaneously in the LA courthouse

After two days of deliberation the jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of acquittal leading the judge to declare a mistrial and drop charges

Morgan was accused of stealing from the Marvel icon in his final days, as well as elder abuse & false imprisonment - charges that were dropped before trial

A Los Angeles judge declared a mistrial and dismissed charges of grand theft Tuesday against the former business manager of Marvel Comics tycoon Stan Lee.

Superior Court Judge George Lomeli dismissed charges against Keya Morgan, 41, who was accused of stealing more than $220,000 from Lee during the final months of his life.

Lee was renowned for being the co-creator of globally beloved comic-book heroes Spider-Man, Iron Man and The Hulk, as well as dozens of others.

In recent decades, he made cameo appearances in many of the blockbuster megahits that were based on the characters he created.

Following a two-and-a-half week trial and two days of deliberation, the jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of acquitting Morgan of the crime.

Lomeli said his dismissal was stepping in to clear Morgan of several felony counts of grand theft from an elder 'in the interests of justice,' according to Variety.

Keya Morgan, 41 (right), and Stan Lee (left). Morgan served as Lee's business manager during the final years of his life. He was arrested in 2019 for stealing from the comic book tycoon

Lee, who made a fortunate off the beloved superhero characters he co-created, died in 2018 at the age of 95

Morgan was charged initially with elder abuse, as well as grand theft for allegedly stealing the proceeds of several memorabilia sales that he arranged during the final months of Lee's life

Prosecutors argued that Morgan had stolen $222,480 in cash raised by the sale of Lee memorabilia in 2018 - shortly before the comic book legend's death.

Morgan's defense attorney Alex Kessel said that his team was able to show that 'somebody else beside my client got the cash.'

'Eleven of them saw that...I think the judge made the right call so my client can go on with his life,' he added.

Morgan was accused of pocketing the proceeds from several May 2018 memorabilia signings, which occurred about six months before Lee's death at the age of 95.

He was arrested in 2019 and charged initially with false imprisonment and elder abuse - both of which were dropped long before the case went to trial.

If convicted, Morgan was looking at up to nine years in prison.

Some of Lee's most famous characters include Spider-Man, Iron Man and the Hulk

The defense argued that the money did not go to Morgan, but ultimately to Lee's 72-year-old daughter JC Lee. The jury ended with a hung trial that resulted in a mistrial declaration by an LA superior court judge

The defense argued that Lee's daughter J.C. received the money Morgan was accused of stealing

Prosecutor Jeff Stodel argued that Morgan took advantage of Lee's mental decline toward the end of his life and set up the signings in order to make off with a profit.

'Not one dollar that Mr. Lee worked for and earned made it into his account,' said Stodel in his opening argument.

Kessel, in turn, told the court that it was actually J.C. Lee - Stan's daughter - who has the money.

Kessel called J.C. the 'key to our defense,' who he also said is 'the only one who's abused Stan Lee.'

He argued that J.C.'s testimony proved she was 'spoiled' and 'entitled' and that in their hearts, they know who ended up with the money.

'It's simple. Dad has money. Dad loves daughter. Dad gives money to daughter,' argued Kessel during his close.

Kessel added that Lee reportedly long dealt in cash, which is why there were no deposits into his bank account for the hundreds of thousands acquired through the memorabilia sales.

In a statement to Reuters, Kessel said, 'My client's exoneration today came after four years of baseless accusations by the L.A. District Attorney.'

Proceedings for the Los Angeles trial were largely overshadowed by the simultaneous trials of fallen Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein and actor Danny Masterson, which were taking place in the same downtown courthouse.
There is chaos in Cyprus as thousands of travellers are stranded at an airport and trapped on planes after a last-minute strike by staff on Wednesday.

Ground staff had announced a two-hour strike at Pafos International Airport between 2pm and 4pm local time  before extending it until around 7pm.

The action has affected more than 20 flights, with some being diverted to Larnaca International Airport and others cancelled, with travellers put up in hotels.

Hermes Airports manages and controls the two international airports, urged people travelling both two and from Pafos to check for updates from their airline.

There is carnage in Cyprus as thousands of travellers are stranded at an airport and trapped on planes after a last-minute strike by staff on Wednesday

One of the affected passengers told the Cyprus Mail that her plane has been stuck on the tarmac along with many others.

Jet2, which flies out of the airport, said that as a result of the 'unforeseen' strike, the airline was unable to depart from Paphos or offload baggage.

'Although this is completely outside of our control, our teams are doing everything they can to look after customers,' a spokesperson Tweeted.

One traveller replied to the airline, stating that staff had 'handed out about 50 small packets of biscuits to hundreds of customers'.

He told Aviation Source that both adults and children have been left stuck in the airport, with 'no updates'.

Another person said on Twitter that their parents were left standing outside the airport for more than two hours.

'No communication from jet2,' she said. 'Cant even sit down and my Dad has had three heart attacks in the past.'

Holidaymakers were stood waiting outside the airport as the strike happened

The action has affected more than 20 flights, with some being diverted to Larnaca International Airport and others cancelled, with travellers put up in hotels

TUI also flies out of Paphos, and replied to a passenger on Twitter apologising for the issues at the airport.

As the strike continued, the transport ministry, trade unions and employers met to try and resolve the situation, which came about after 156 employees were given redundancy letters on Tuesday.

The aim is for the issue to be resolved within a week, Transport Minister Yiannis Karousos said on his social media after the meeting.

In his post, Mr Karousos said that some 28 staff 'who have expressed interest to continue their employment will be hired under the same terms of employment and with a continuation of employment scheme.'

On Tuesday, workers at Larnaca airport launched a two-hour strike at 10am.

Larnaca district secretary of trade union Peo Yiorgos Ioulianos said that the new company taking over did not transfer all of the pre-existing employees over.

'It appears the new company is not going to apply the regulations which the transport ministry has signed nor the collective agreement,' the secretary told Cyprus Mail.
No charges have been filed against Wesley yet, and Officer Hafeman is on critical incident leave

With the help of hospital staff and a security guard, Wesley is subdued and immediately taken to a trauma center for treatment

The officer, Zane Hafeman, defends himself with a knife he kept on him and stabs Wesley multiple times in the head and chest

Joshua Wesley, 27, was being involuntarily committed to the hospital when he decided to try to take the cop's gun, shouting 'let me shoot myself'

A disturbing bodycam video shows the horrifying moment a crazy Oregon man attacked a cop and tried to wrestle his gun away

This is the terrifying moment a crazed patient tries to wrestle a gun off a cop at an Oregon hospital before the officer stabs him multiple times in the chest and head.

Joshua Wesley, 27, was at Kaiser Permanente Westside Medical Center in Hillsboro on October 24 after police committed him to psychiatric care.

At the beginning of the bodycam video, deputy Zane Hafeman of Washington County Sheriff's Office was seen filling out administrative paperwork shortly before 3am while Wesley was changing in an evaluation room.

Suddenly, Wesley emerges from the room and hurriedly jogs over to Hafeman before attempting to grab the officer's firearm, shouting 'let me shoot myself.'

Officer Zane Hafeman is calmly filling out administrative paperwork when Joshua Wesley, seen at the far right of the frame, intently jogs over and tries to grab Hafeman's gun

According to Patrol Commander John Bennett, Hafeman then 'utilized a knife he stored on his person to defend himself and stop the attack,' stabbing Wesley multiple times.

During the video, Hafeman can be heard calling out 'shots fired,' a common phrase for police officers to use when a gun has been discharged.

But according to Bennett, no shots were fired during the encounter and Hafeman saying so is 'likely a stress response to alert other law enforcement officers to the scene.'

Wesley sustained injuries to the head and chest as other hospital staff, including a security guard, helped to subdue him.

One nurse asks Hafeman 'what's in his chest?' to which the officer responds 'It's a knife.'

In the ensuing struggle, Hafeman manages to get out a knife he keeps on him and stabs Wesley multiple times in the head and chest in self-defense

With the help of hospital staff and a security guard, Hafeman is able to get Wesley under control and the suspect is immediately taken to a trauma center for his wounds

While the stabbing isn't clear in the video, blood can be seen smeared across the hospital floor.

After he was restrained, Wesley was transported to a local trauma center for treatment for his injuries.

He continues to recover from the injuries he sustained in the incident and remains hospitalized.

No charges have been filed against Wesley yet, and Officer Hafeman is on critical incident leave, which is commonplace for officers who are attacked.

The Washington County Major Crimes Team says the investigation is continuing, and the report will be made public once the findings are made.
Australian soap actress Nicky Whelan has appeared in court for Harvey Weinstein's Los Angeles rape trial after she revealed she introduced him to one of his accusers.

Neighbours star Whelan, 41, lived in the same building and was friends with the alleged victim, known as Jane Doe 3, who has accused the disgraced film mogul of sexual battery by restraint from an incident in May 2010.

Already serving a 23-year sentence in New York, Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of rape and sexual assault involving five women in Los Angeles and has denied engaging in any non-consensual sex.

Whelan was called to the stand by the prosecution as a fresh complaint witness, telling the trial on Wednesday that she knew Weinstein through business.

She told the court that she last saw Weinstein seven or eight years ago.

'I had done a movie called Halloween 2, and I think it was like a Miramax production, don't know if that was his company then,' Whelan added.

Actress Nicky Whelan pictured in LA on October 15, 2022. She was called to the Weinstein trial on Wednesday

Nicky Whelan on Neighbours, the Australian soap television show. She played the role of Heidi Steiger until 2007

A court sketch of Harvey Weinstein on October 31, 2022

Weinstein, 70, is already serving a 23-year sentence in New York

She revealed how she was friends and neighbors with one of Weinstein's accusers.

The alleged victim, who goes by the anonymous name Jane Doe 3, was also her masseuse. She was creating a dog bag to carry your dog in a car, and she also ran a book club, Whelan recalled.

And she told the trial that when Weinstein asked about a masseuse in Los Angeles, Whelan recommended her friend, who also lived in the same building as her.

Weinstein was charged with sexual battery by restraint of Jane Doe 3 on or about May 11, 2010.

Jane Doe 3 was a licensed massage therapist who often worked with celebrities and athletes - including on her friend Whelan.

In 2010, the alleged victim said that she massaged Weinstein and then went to the restroom to wash her hands.

It was then that Weinstein followed her into the bathroom and backed her into a corner.

THE LOS ANGELES CHARGES AGAINST WEINSTEIN JANE DOE #1 - Unidentified Italian actress Forced oral copulation - February 18, 2013 Sexual penetration by foreign object - February 18, 2013 Forcible rape against the same woman on the same day - February 18, 2013 JANE DOE #2 Sexual battery - February 19, 2013 JANE DOE #3 Sexual battery by restraint - May 11, 2010. 'Weinstein unlawfully touched an intimate part of Jane Doe #3 while she was unlawfully restrained'. JANE DOE #4 - Jennifer Siebel Newsom Forcible oral copulation - September 2005 Forcible rape - September 2005 JANE DOE #5 Forcible oral copulation November - 2009 Forcible rape - November 2009 Forcible oral copulation - November 2010 Forcible rape - November 2010 Advertisement

He groped her and masturbated, she claims.

Weinstein had suggested Jane Doe 3 could write a book about her massage work, and afterward an aide to Weinstein paid her $200 for the massage and put her in touch with Miramax's book division about a potential book deal.

Defense attorney Mark Werksman previously argued that their sexual interaction was consensual and part of an arrangement.

He said that Jane Doe 3 gave him four additional massages after the alleged assault.

Werksman previously stated: 'She made a deal. Sex in exchange for something of value. Jane Doe 3 and Mr. Weinstein were friends with benefits.'

Whelan, who played Heidi Steiger in the Australian soap until 2007, said that Jane Doe 3 did tell her about the encounter after it happened.

But she told the trial that she hasn't spoken to her for years, but they follow each other on social media and she texted her 12 months ago.

Another mutual friend of Jane Doe, 3 Allison Weiner, said on Wednesday that she called her and told her details about Weinstein's alleged sexual assault, and that it was 'quite horrific.'

A woman testified on Monday that Weinstein sexually assaulted her in a hotel room during the Toronto Film Festival in 1991, then did it again when she went to confront him in the same hotel during the same festival 17 years later.

Kelly Sipherd told a Los Angeles jury that she was a 24-year-old aspiring actor at the 1991 festival and didn't know who Weinstein was before she met him at a party.

Later that evening, she was invited to his hotel room to discuss a film script, but once there, Weinstein went into the bathroom and emerged wearing only an open shirt and holding a hot washcloth, Sipherd testified.

'It all happened very, very very quickly,' she said. 'I was in shock. It was so unexpected.' She said he then pulled her skirt off, put the washcloth on her and told her 'my wife loves this.'

Weinstein, 70, is not charged with the alleged assaults described in Monday's testimony. Sipherd is one of four women being allowed to testify so prosecutors can attempt to show his propensity for the crimes he's charged with.

One of those women being allowed to testify was a dancer in the sequel to Dirty Dancing who went by the name Ashley M in court.

She told the jury last week that Harvey Weinstein made her feel 'like a piece of meat' by luring her to his hotel room for a business meeting, then pinning her onto a bed, ripping off her clothes and masturbating onto her chest.

The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused, but Kelly Sipherd agreed Monday to be named through her attorney.

Sipherd testified that her friends there were abuzz about the man whose company Miramax had surged to the forefront of independent film and was making its mark at the Oscars.

She said she was charmed by Weinstein at first as they discussed books and films.

Whelan told the trial that when Weinstein asked about a masseuse in Los Angeles, she recommended her friend, who then claims she was assaulted by the disgraced Hollywood mogul

Weinstein at a pre-trial in Los Angeles, California on July 29, 2021

'We got along very well,' she said. 'He was very intelligent. We had a wonderful conversation.'

She said the two of them left the party for a glass of wine at a nearby cafe, then she went with him to his room at the Four Seasons Hotel because he said he had a script for a film with a role that would be perfect for her.

Once there, the situation escalated quickly, she said, as she described how he pulled up her skirt.

She testified that she felt 'nauseous, scared, terrified' and repeatedly told him to stop and asked 'what are you doing?'

Sipherd said he held her down and sexually assaulted her with his mouth and his hand. He then climbed on top of her and started to rape her but she was able to slip away and leave the room.

Another woman Ashley M, who testified last week, told jurors in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County on Friday that she was 'meek', and he was 'the boss' on set.

She told the court she was 22 years old when she met Weinstein on the set of his movie 'Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights' in Puerto Rico, in which she had a job dancing for the lead couple.

'I felt really violated and part of me was really  you know, still emotional,' she said, explaining why she left the set the day after the alleged attack and did not return.

She said she was approached by Weinstein on set, and was unnerved by the imposing film maestro, but was reassured by his assistant Bonnie Hung.

Hung, Ashley testified, told her: 'Don't worry, I'll be with you the whole time, we're just going to talk about future projects.'

Ashley told the jury she went to the meeting with Weinstein because she felt obliged - not because she wanted to advance her career.

'I just basically did what I thought the people that were running the meeting wanted me to do,' she said.

'I really had no interest in being an actress.

'I had spent my life dancing. I was engaged to be married. I wanted to finally start my life, maybe finally wanted to start a family at that time.'

The woman, known only as Ashley M., broke down in tears as she told a Los Angeles courtroom how Weinstein had sexually assaulted her and demanded that she give him a 'naked massage'. Pictured: Court sketch of Weinstein from October 26
Four people were shot in a suspected human smuggling incident in West Houston, police said.

Police said they detained nine individuals who were discovered at a Motel 6 on Wednesday.

Four people escaped from the motel, with two running to a nearby iHop saying they were a part of a smuggling ring and asking for the police.

When officers arrived they encountered two cars fleeing the scene and detained the occupants who were named as suspects.

Houston Police Department officer Jonathan Halliday speaking to the press outside the Motel 6 where the victims were found

HPD investigating possible human smuggling ring at motel at 2930 Sam Houston Pkwy south initial reports 4 people shot several others detained #Fox26 pic.twitter.com/xDsoXpOhzx  Randy Wallace (@RWallaceFOX26) November 2, 2022

Of the nine detained, police said they were unsure who were suspects and who were victims.

The four individuals had suffered gunshot wounds to the arms and legs. Cops said they believe at least one of the wounded is a suspect.

The wounded said they had been shot about two hours away in the San Antonio area, before being transported to the hotel. It remains unclear how or why they were shot.

Authorities said the nationalities of the victims - all adult males - was still unknown.

Agents from the Department of Homeland Security were on the way to join the investigation.
Former President Donald Trump has settled a lawsuit filed by a group of protesters who say they were roughed up by the Republican's private security guards during his 2015 presidential campaign.

The two sides settled as a jury was being selected in a New York courtroom for a civil trial, one of a spate of legal entanglements involving the former president.

Details of the settlement were not divulged.

'Although we were eager to proceed to trial to demonstrate the frivolousness of this case, the parties were ultimately able to come to an amicable resolution,' said Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba. 'We are very pleased with this outcome and are happy to finally put this matter to rest once and for all.'

Former President Donald Trump and a group of people who protested outside Trump Tower have reached a settlement agreement

Former President Donald Trump has settled with a group of five Mexico-born New Yorkers who say they were assaulted by his security team outside Trump Tower in 2015. They were protesting against Trump, who launched his 2016 campaign inveighing against Mexican 'rapists' being sent to the country

The lawsuit was brought by five New Yorkers of Mexican origin. It alleges Trumps bodyguards attacked them outside his Manhattan skyscraper on Sept. 3, 2015, as they protested negative comments Trump made about Mexico and Mexican immigrants. News reporters recorded the guards ripping signs out of the hands of the protesters, then scuffling with some of them.

'Powerful men may put their names on buildings, but the sidewalk will always belong to the people,' the plaintiff's attorney, Benjamin Dictor, said in an email following the settlement announcement.

'Defendants were staring down the barrel of a Bronx jury who were about to be presented with overwhelming evidence in support of plaintiffs claims. Nevertheless, plaintiffs are proud to have settled their claims and to have obtained written recognition by Donald Trump of their right to protest on the public sidewalk,' Dictor said.

Trump sat for a deposition a year ago, which would have been played for the jury at the trial.

Trump lawyer Alina Habba said parties reached 'amicable resolution'

The group stood on a sidewalk outside Trump Tower in 2015 and mocked his presidential campaign slogan

Trump was a defendant in the lawsuit, along with his company, the Trump Organization, his presidential campaign and security personnel.

Among other demands, the plaintiffs wanted Trump to pay punitive damages, arguing he should have known the security personnel would act in a 'negligent or reckless manner.'

Trumps lawyers had resisted having him sit for the deposition. While he was in office, they argued there must be 'exceptional circumstances' to depose a high-ranking government official.

Bronx Judge Doris Gonzalez, who presided over the case, rejected that argument, saying it didnt apply because Trump was being called to answer for conduct outside of office.
Kyle Sandilands has thrown his support behind the return of four ISIS brides and their 13 children to Australia after following their husbands who fought for the Islamist group in the Middle East.

The KIIS FM radio host told his listeners on Thursday that the women were very young and not fully aware of what they were getting into.

It comes after footage emerged of one of the families visiting McDonald's, Kmart and playgrounds in Sydney's south-west - and after politicians and Sky News commentator Peta Credlin condemned the Albanese government for failing to justify why they brought them back.

Sandilands said: 'They are Australian citizens who were tricked, young girls tricked into sex slavery, getting bashed and threatened.

Kyle Sandilands (above) said he welcomes back former ISIS brides with 'open arms' because they were 'tricked' and are still Australian citizens

The women were spotted visiting McDonalds (above), playgrounds and a Kmart on Wednesday after arriving in Sydney from Syria on Saturday

'They've lived in a Syrian refugee camp for several years with children. I welcome you with open arms, you're welcome back to the country.'

He said media coverage of their return has mostly been negative.

'It's very strange how a lot of these journalists are acting like they're the horrible terrorists,' he said.

Sandilands called for people to remember the dire conditions the families have been living in at the al-Hol and al-Roj refugee camps in Syria.

'Yesterday there was an article saying they've gone to a McDonald's and a Kmart and I was like 'So what? Just like anyone else can'.'

His comments come after Sky News host Peta Credlin slammed the Albanese government for failing to provide reasons why the families were repatriated.

The women and children were previously removed from the al-Roj (above) and al-Hol refugee camps in Syria

Peta Credlin (pictured) called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to 'show some guts' and explain the decision to allow ISIS brides and their families to return

'It's completely shirked its duty to explain how the safety of a few women who rejected Australia to join terrorist groups abroad trumps the safety of the wider population,' Ms Credlin said.

'They (residents of Sydney's southwest) shouldn't have terrorists or terrorist sympathisers living in a street next to them.'

While acknowledging the women may have seen the error of their ways, Ms Credlin said Mr Albanese needs to front up and explain what has gone on.

'Whether you agree with the decision or you don't, nonetheless it's dead wrong for the Prime Minister to hide from something as big as this,' Credlin fumed.

'If you want to make a decision like this, then have the guts to front the camera and defend it.

'No one wants to see children suffer for the crimes of their parents, but that can't excuse the Albanese government's total failure even to explain, let alone to justify, letting jihadi families returning to Australia.

Independent MP Dai Le (above) said the Albanese Government has covered the operation in a 'cloak of secrecy' that isn't fair to Syrian refugees already living in Australia

'Not one minister has so far fronted the camera to justify the decision to bring these jihadis back and no questions have been asked to the Prime Minister by the media.'

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said her force would not be monitoring the movements of the women and children, because they had no authority to do so.

'I can understand the community concern. We'll work with the Commonwealth in terms of managing the risks around this,' she told the Today Show.

'I also suggested that NSW Police will continue to investigate to see if there has been offences committed previously but this will be an ongoing investigation.'

Kyle Sandilands urged people to remember the harsh conditions the women have been living in at the Syrian refugee camps (pictured, al-Hol)

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (above) has faced harsh criticism for keeping the operation secret, including how the women and children will be safely reintegrated into Australian society

'I'll leave it to the Commonwealth to comment on what they're doing,' she said.

Southwest Sydney independent MP Dai Le also called on the government to be honest about how the women and children will be safely reintegrated.

'It seems like the government is doing all of this under a cloak of secrecy,' she told Sunrise on Tuesday.

'It is unfortunate because our community is one of the most multicultural electorates in the whole of Australia.

'A large proportion of our population are people who have fled the ISIS state and they are very concerned.'

She added many people in her electorate are Syrian refugees and, as a refugee from war torn 1970s Vietnam, she understands why they're worried about the women's return.

A total of 13 women and 42 children who were formerly members of ISIS are set to be brought to Australia from Syria (pictured, the al-Roj camp)

'The people fleeing the ISIS regime, they remember the trauma, they remember the atrocity in their country,' she said.

'The fear that the word ISIS brings for these families has brought on the reason why they left in the first place.'

The Albanese government reversed the policy of the previous Coalition government which refused to repatriate the women and children.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has maintained the Liberal Party stance and said the return of the women could be a security risk.

'I do worry about people coming back from the theatre of war, particularly when they've been in the circumstance where they've been mixing with people who hate our country and hate our way of life,' Mr Dutton told Sky News last week.

'The Prime Minister needs to stand up today to explain to the Australian public what measures they've got in place. On my collective experience and what I know, I don't think it's in our country's best interest.'
Putin, Erdogan discuss grain export deal over phone

Xinhua) 13:41, November 02, 2022

MOSCOW, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a phone conversation on Tuesday to discuss the implementation of a deal on the export of grain from the Black Sea ports.

A Kremlin statement said that Putin repeated Russia's accusation that Ukraine used the humanitarian corridor to carry out strikes on the infrastructure and vessels of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, which ensured the safe operation of the shipping route.

Putin called for a detailed investigation into the incident and demanded Ukraine's guarantee of not using the humanitarian corridor for military purposes, before discussing the issue of resuming work within the deal or the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

According to Putin, part of the Black Sea Grain Initiative has failed as restrictions on the export of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers to world markets are not removed.

He also noted that during three months of the deal, the task of ensuring the delivery of food as a priority to the most needy countries was not fulfilled.

In this regard, Putin voiced Russia's readiness to supply "significant volumes" of grain and fertilizers to Africa for free.

Also on Tuesday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar discussed the grain export deal over phone.

On July 22, Russia and Ukraine separately signed a document in Istanbul with Turkiye and the United Nations on grain and fertilizer exports from Ukraine and Russia to ensure supplies to global markets amid the Russia-Ukraine armed conflict.

On Oct. 29, Russia announced the decision to immediately and indefinitely suspend its implementation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, accusing Ukraine of launching drone attacks against the Russian Black Sea Fleet's ships and infrastructure at the naval base in Sevastopol.

(Web editor: Cai Hairuo, Liang Jun)




President Yoon Suk-yeol is likely to meet with former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso on Wednesday, an official said, amid the two countries' efforts to improve bilateral ties.







Aso, vice president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, will visit Korea for two days as deputy head of the Japan-Korea Parliamentarians' Union, according to Japanese news reports.







"President Yoon is highly likely to meet with Vice President Aso this afternoon," the presidential official told Yonhap News Agency, noting, however, that the president's schedule is subject to change over the handling of the aftermath of the Halloween crowd crush.







Japan's Kyodo News reported earlier that a meeting between Aso and Yoon is being arranged in a bid to find solutions to the issue of Japanese firms' compensation over Korean forced labor during World War II. (Yonhap)


He also questioned surveillance footage taken Sept. 10, the day before his mom went missing, and claims the woman in video does not look his mother

The 36-year-old son of a Georgia woman found naked and burned in a ravine has vowed not to stop trying to find out who is responsible for her savage death.

Jeffrey Bearden's mom Debbie Collier was last seen on September 10 when she left her Athens home en route to Clarksville, approximately 60 miles away.

The next day, the 59-year-old real estate agent's body was found naked and partially burned in a wooded ravine near Tallulah Falls - with her purse and cell phone nearby.

On September 30, the Habersham County Sheriff's Department issued a press release providing a timeline of the crime, and released surveillance video.

The footage shows Collier browsing a Family Dollar in Clayton on September 10, the day before her partially burned body was discovered.

In the video she is seen purchasing items including, a tarp, a refillable torch light, reusable tote bag, two-roll pack of paper towels, and a rain poncho.

Collier's concerned son questioned why his mom would drive to a Dollar store when there was a Dollar General a half mile from her home in Athens.

He also said he'd never known her to be a camper, and pointed out the family home has numerous tarps and reusable bags, since his stepfather works in construction.

He also made a chilling remark that the blonde-haired woman with red visor, doesn't even look his mother.

'I have a lot of concerns about if that was my mom in that actual video because that doesn't actually appear of like her posture,' he said, 11 Alive News reported.

Jeffrey Bearden in a photo with his mom, Debbie Collier. Bearden vowed to find those responsible for his mother's death saying: 'he will not stop until you are in jail or on death row'

Amanda Bearden mugshot (pictured) and her boyfriend Andrew Giegerich had arrived back in town from Maryland two days before Collier disappeared

Forensic gloves lay nearby along with pieces of paper and what appears to be a strip of a book cover

Bearden said that his sister, Amanda, 36, whose had a sketchy history - ranging from a brief prison stint for faking a drug test to arrests for fighting with her boyfriend, Andrew Giegerich - had moved back to town two days before she went missing.

Amanda, who had been living in Maryland moved into her mother's house with Giegerich, The New York Post reported.

Though Bearden did not believe his sister was involved in his mother's mysterious disappearance, he claimed he was was suspicious and troubled by the company his sister kept.

Amanda was apparently the last person, who had seen her mother and was the one who reported her disappearance to police, The New York Post reported.

'I do not think my sister has the capacity to hurt my mom. She was my mom's lifeline,' Bearden said.

He added: 'But, I don't trust the people that my sister hangs out with, and that's my concern.'

Additional disturbing details reveal a transfer of funds - $2,385 sent from Collier's Venmo app - with an arcane message: 'They won't let me go. There is a key to the house underneath the flowerpot,' he said.

Bearden called the move to transfer a large sum of money 'very out of character for his mom.'

'I've never seen my mom Venmo that large amount of money,' he said, in part, and stated that he also did not know what was meant by the word 'they' that was written in the final text.

Habersham County Sheriff's Office Chief have not yet released the names of any suspects in the case.

But, officials claimed Collier's death was not a random act of violence or the act of a serial killer, but the work of someone who knew her.

'We believe that this act was deliberate and personal,' Deputy Murray Kogod said.

Collier, 59, was a real estate agent. She lived in Athens, Georgia with her husband and Beardon's stepfather

An image of the crime scene where Collier's naked and partially burned was found in a a wooded ravine near scenic Tallulah Falls with her purse and cell phone nearby, officials said

Close-up of items left at crime scene hours after Collier's body was discovered Sept. 11

They also said they could not yet confirm that the Venmo message was sent from the device.

Bearden desperate for answers has been vocal about the police investigation sharing his woes on Facebook.

'I was met with a Sheriff who did not empathize with my situation, my concerns for my personal and family's safety after being doxxed online, or potential leaks coming out of his office,' the grieving son wrote.

The distraught son said he will not give up, telling those responsible that, he will not 'stop until you are in jail or on death row.'
The mayor of a small town in Oregon was arrested after he allegedly opened fire on a family of four, including two children.

Dowen Jones, mayor of Rufus, is currently behind bars at the Northern Oregon Regional Corrections Facility after he fired shots at two adults and two children, aged five and eight, on October 31 around 8.40pm.

The mayor, 47, was spotted driving 'erratically' south on Highway 281 in front of the family of four when he suddenly pulled over. The family slowed down in an attempt to get a description of the driver to report to the police and were met with gunfire.

'As the family passed the suspect vehicle, a male subject stepped out of the passenger side and fired multiple rounds from a handgun at the passing family,' Hood River Sheriff's Office wrote in a statement.

No injuries were reported, but the family's SUV was damaged. It's unclear of Jones was the driver of the vehicle.

Jones was charged with one count of attempted murder and four counts of attempted assault.

Police said they are unable to release a mugshot of Jones per an Oregon law that went into effect last year.

Mayor Dowen Jones of Rufus, who was arrested after allegedly shooting at a family of four on Halloween night, appeared in court via video from the the Northern Oregon Regional Corrections Facility in The Dalles, Oregon

The town of Rufus with a population of 270 people

He was later arrested and is still held with bail set to $500,000

Jones fled the scene following the altercation but police were able to locate the vehicle and identify Jones on Tuesday.

He was later arrested and is still held with bail set to $500,000.

The mayor appeared in court on Wednesday but will have to hire his own attorney. Jones will appear back in court on November 10.

Jones has served as mayor of Rufus since 2018 when he received 78 votes. According to Data Commons, the small town has a population of 270 people and is located more than 110 miles outside of Portland.

Officials at the City of Rufus declined to comment to DailyMail.com.

Three children were among 14 people shot during a bloody Halloween drive-by shooting at a vigil in Chicago

Halloween was gruesome for some families, including in Chicago when three children were among 14 shot during a bloody drive-by.

The kids, aged three, 11, and 13, were rushed to hospital after two gunmen opened fire from a car on the city's west side.

Eleven others, aged from their 30s to their 50s were also struck by the hail of bullets, while another was hit by the vehicle.

The victims' conditions ranged from critical to non-life threatening following the latest horror attack to rock Chicago.

The group had been attending a vigil on the street corner around 9.30pm, with a balloon release scheduled for later in the evening, it is unknown at this time who the vigil was for.

There is no known motive for the shooting.
Indian authorities approved an extradition request for Mr Singh last month

A $1million reward has been offered for anyone who can bring the man who allegedly murdered Toyah Cordingley four years ago back to Australia.

Toyah Cordingley, 24, was found dead on a remote beach in far north Queensland in 2018.

Her alleged killer, Rajwinder Singh, 38, is believed to have fled to India two days after the young woman's death.

Queensland Police hope that the $1million reward, the largest in the state's history, may lead to his arrest and extradition back to Australia to face a murder charge.

While bounties are usually offered to help an alleged criminal be convicted, police in this case have offered the reward for Mr Singh's arrest instead.

Toyah Cordingley (pictured) was 24 when she was found dead in a shallow grave at Wangetti Beach in October 2018

Rajwinder Singh (pictured), 38, is the prime suspect in Toyah's death. The nurse from Innisfall fled to India two days after her death, leaving behind his wife and three kids

Toyah Cordingley drove to Wangetti Beach, north of Cairns, on October 21, 2018, to walk her dog.

The pharmacy worker and animal shelter volunteer was then allegedly attacked and killed at the beach.

Friends and family conducted a search for Toyah when she didn't return home.

In an horrific twist, it was Toyah's father who discovered her body the next morning, buried in a shallow grave with her dog tied up nearby.

Police later identified Rajwinder Singh, a nurse from Innisfall, as a suspect.

Mr Singh flew from Cairns to Sydney after the alleged murder before he boarded a plane to India two days after Toyah's death.

He left behind his nursing job, his wife and his three children.

Police have now released images of Mr Singh at Sydney International Airport, just moments before he left the country.

He is believed to have flown to his hometown of Amritsar in Punjab.

His family have denied claims he killed Toyah, saying he was 'not capable' of murder.

They also allege his flight back to India two days after Toyah's death was pure coincidence.

Toyah had driven to Wangetti Beach, north of Cairns, to walk her dog. She never returned home

Police have released images of Mr Singh moments before he boarded a plane to India at Sydney International Airport

Police have appealed to the public for information leading to Mr Singh's whereabouts - or assist in his arrest.

Queensland Police Detective Acting Superintendent Sonia Smith described the unique nature of the reward and how a member of the public could receive it if information led to the suspect's capture.

'This reward is unique in that we're appealing to any member of the public for information which could assist police in locating and arresting Singh,' she said.

'In usual terms, a reward of this nature would be posted to seek public assistance in solving a crime.'

Supt Smith said a dedicated team of detectives from Cairns, Far North and the Homicide Investigation Unit had worked tirelessly towards ensuring justice for Toyah and her family.

'We strongly believe there are people in Australia and overseas who could share information about the whereabouts of Rajwinder Singh,' she said.

'This is most definitely the time to come forward and tell us what you know.'

Police Minister Mark Ryan approved the reward and said an appropriate indemnity from prosecution would be considered for any accomplice, not being the person who committed the crime, who gave information leading to Mr Singh's arrest.

Queensland Police is working with Australian Federal Police, Commonwealth Attorney-General's department, and Indian police to find Mr Singh in India.

An extradition request for Mr Singh was lodged with the Indian government in March last year. The Indian government approved the request last month.

An extradition request was lodged for Mr Singh (pictured) in March last year. It was signed off by Indian authorities last month

Family friend Wayne 'Prong' Trimble (pictured) said on the Today show that the reward would likely 'bring results' as $1million Australian was a lot of money in India

A family friend of Toyah's family, Wayne 'Prong' Trimble, told the Today Show on Thursday that the reward was something the devastated community and Toyah's family had been 'looking forward to'.

'As long as it brings home what we need to bring home,' he said.

'At the moment, we're all feeling pretty good about it. I've been talking to the family this morning, (they're) very excited about it, but they're holding they're breath.'

He added that the reward would likely 'bring results' as $1million Australian dollars in India was 'a hell of a lot of money'.
A farming company has appeared in court charged with health and safety offences after a primary school teacher was trampled to death by a stampeding cow.

Marian Clode, 61, died while on an Easter break in Northumberland with her family on April 3, 2016.

They were staying at a holiday cottage at Swinhoe Farm, around two miles north west of Belford.

An inquest into her death heard how they had been walking along a public bridle path when around 15 cows and their calves surged from a holding pen.

Mrs Clode, who was born in Derry but lived in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, was injured by one of the charging animals.

Marian Clode (pictured), 61, died while on an Easter break in Northumberland with her family on April 3, 2016

J M Nixon & Son, based at Swinhoe Farm in Belford, have been charged with failing to discharge general health and safety duty to a person other than an employee.

The charge relates to the company failing to ensure that persons, not in their employment, were not exposed to risks to their health and safety, namely the movement of cattle.

On Wednesday morning, Alistair Nixon appeared at South Tyneside Magistrates' Court in South Shields, South Tyneside, on behalf of the partnership.

The 62-year-old spoke to confirm his name, date of birth and address.

On behalf of the company, he pleaded not guilty to failing to discharge general health and safety duty to a person other than an employee.

District Judge Zoe Passfield said she would accept jurisdiction for a trial to be heard at the magistrates' court.

An inquest into her death heard how they had been walking along a public bridle path (above) when around 15 cows and their calves surged from a holding pen

Mrs Clode, who was born in Derry but lived in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, was injured by one of the charging animals (stock image)

However she was told that the partnership wished for the case to be heard by a crown court jury.

District Judge Passfield sent the case to Newcastle Crown Court. She said the company will next appear at the court in Newcastle on November 30.

She told J M Nixon & Son: 'You have chosen to have a trial at the crown court. The first hearing there will be the 30th November. You must attend no later than 9.30 in the morning. That's all for today, you're free to leave.'

An inquest into Mrs Clode's death, held in October 2020, heard how Mrs Clode died from a cardiac arrest and brain and severe spinal injuries.
An off-duty police officer faces the sack after allegedly blowing almost five times the legal limit when he crashed his car into a ute, leaving a toddler injured.

The 25-year-old off-duty officer was charged with high-range drink driving following the crash in Ashcroft in Sydney's south-west on Wednesday afternoon.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said she doesn't know 'how you defend' the officer's alleged behaviour.

Empty cans and bottles of high-alcohol cider as well as beer, a cask of wine and a cooler were seen in the back seat of the probationary constable's Honda Accord.

A toddler in the Toyota HiLux he allegedly crashed into was taken to Liverpool Hospital as a precaution.

Empty can and bottles of beer and wine are seen in the back of a car that crashed into a ute in Sydney's south-west on Wednesday

The officer is attached to a command within the South West Metropolitan Region.

He was taken to Liverpool Police Station where a breath analysis returned an alleged reading of 0.243.

Commissioner Webb said she is 'gravely concerned' about the incident, saying the officer had only been in the force for four months.

His driver's licence has been suspended and his job is on the line.

'His employment status will be reviewed today,' she told Sydney 2GB radio's Ben Fordham on Thursday.

The matter will go before the court but the commissioner can take action to sack the officer without waiting for the outcome of the case.

A probationary police constable's Honda Accord is seen after it allegedly crashed into a ute

'I don't know how you defend it,' Ms Webb said.

She said she cannot sack people on the spot, but there is 'a lower threshold for probationary constables'.

'There's a process that I've got to serve him papers, he gets a chance to respond but I can start all of that and intend to start all of that before the court matter comes up,' she said.

Airbags are seen after a car crash in Sydney's south-west on Wednesday afternoon

The officer was issued a court attendance notice and will appear in Liverpool Local Court on December 14.

The Police Commissioner says an officer will likely be removed from the force after being charged with drink driving.

A witness to the scene told 2GB that there were lot of schoolchildren and parents around at the time of the crash as it happened near two schools.
The U.S. Capitol Police on Wednesday announced it was launching an internal investigation after admitting that officers were not monitoring a video feed that showed an intruder breaking into the San Francisco home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Officers would have seen the attack on Paul Pelosi unfold in real time if they had been monitoring the surveillance cameras.

Instead they were only alerted to the brutal assault when they noticed local police activity at the Pelosis' $6-million home.

Intruder David Wayne DePape is accused of assaulting the speaker's 82-year-old husband with a hammer on Friday, causing a skull fracture that needed surgery.

'The department has begun an internal security review and will be gathering input and questions from our Congressional stakeholders,' the U.S. Capitol Police said.

It added that it had access to about 1800 cameras.

'Among these are cameras that are used to actively monitor the speaker's San Francisco residence around the clock when she is there,' the statement continued.

'While the speaker was with her security detail in Washington, D.C., the San Francisco cameras were not actively monitored as they are when the speaker is at the residence.

'The Command Center personnel noticed the police activity on the screen and used the feeds to monitor the response and assist investigators.'

Capitol Police had live video surveillance outside Nancy Pelosi's $6million San Francisco home when a crazed man allegedly attacked the Speaker's husband with a hammer - but weren't watching it when the would-be assassination took place due to being short-staffed

After Pelosi left San Francisco last week for a trip to D.C., officers in Washington stopped monitoring the 24/7 feed, it's been revealed - ignoring a crucial vantage point right outside the politician's house in ritzy Pacific Heights (pictured on Friday hours after the attack)

DePape, 42, on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, elder abuse, false imprisonment and threatening a public official.

Court filings revealed the suspect, a fringe activist drawn to several conspiracy theories, had plans to target other politicians as well, and was arrested carrying a list with the names of prominent state and federal politicians  and members of their families.

Prosecutors claimed in court that the man who allegedly carried out the attack last Friday had been on a 'suicide mission,' with Pelosi being his intended target.

However, upon realizing the politician was absent, rumored right-wing extremist DePape let his aggression out on her husband, who answered the door only to be hit by the suspect at least once with a hammer.

Pelosi subsequently suffered as of now unspecified injuries that saw him hospitalized and undergo emergency surgery, following what officials have since asserted was a premeditated attack.

Capitol Police first installed cameras around Pelosi's home more than eight years ago, with an around-the-clock security detail enlisted to protect her ever since.

In the months after the attacks of January 6, 2021, a San Francisco police cruiser was stationed indefinitely outside the speaker's home in ritzy Pacific Heights, seven days a week, day and night.

Capitol Police first installed cameras around Pelosi's home more than eight years ago, with an around-the-clock security detail enlisted to protect her ever since.

The incident, which transpired early Friday, left Paul Pelosi, 83, with a fractured skull and other unspecified injuries, and would have seen his wife targeted had she been home

But hours after Pelosi left San Francisco last week and returned to D.C., her security detail apparently left with her - and more importantly, officers in Washington stopped continuously monitoring the live feed outside her house.

Sources familiar with Capitol practices have since said that it is common for Capitol Police to pay less attention to security cameras when one of its protectees is away - a sentiment seemingly confirmed by San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins during a press conference on Tuesday.

'There was no security present,' Jenkins said, responding to the question from a reporter.

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?'

The lack of full-time, active surveillance - particularly at the home of a polarizing member of Congress with the dubious distinction of bearing the most death threats - reflects the state of the district's embattled police force, which has been stretched increasingly thin in the nearly two years since the attack on the Capitol.

Since then, Capitol Police have been working to implement more than 100 improvements to its security practices recommended by outside analysts, including enhancements to officer training, protocols, and staffing.

At the same time, the department - one of the most well-funded and well-staffed police departments relative to the two square miles it guards - has faced a tenfold increase in threats to members of Congress, with Pelosi, an outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump, leading the pack of potential targets.

The lack of full-time, active surveillance - particularly at the home of a polarizing member of Congress with the dubious distinction of bearing the most death threats - reflects the state of the district's embattled police force, which has been stretched increasingly thin in the nearly two years since the attack on the Capitol

The force currently boasts an annual budget of more than $515 million, and it employs more than 2,000 sworn and civilian personnel. Roughly 70 left the force as a result of vaccine requirements and restrictions during the pandemic.

In a statement Tuesday, Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said that while the department is on track to hire 280 additional officers this year, the country's current 'political climate' will require 'additional layers of physical security.'

Without specifying what type of prospective amendments the force might make, Manger said the department would emphasize adding 'redundancies' to the measures that are already in place to protect congressional leaders.

The force currently boasts an annual budget of more than $515 million, and it employs more than 2,000 sworn and civilian personnel. Roughly 70 left the force as a result of vaccine requirements and restrictions during the pandemic

In order for them the be effective, the top cop said, those changes need to remain confidential.

The FBI, meanwhile, continues to seek hundreds of suspects in the January 6 attacks - an unprecedented probe labeled 'the biggest manhunt in history.'

The sprawling investigation, which feds say is being scrutinized by agents in all 50 states, has already yielded more than 700 arrests.

Attorney General Merrick Garland has said that his office would hold all of those responsible for the riot accountable whatever the cost, whether they were actually present or committed other crimes surrounding the day's events.

So far, 250 people seen on video assaulting police at the Capitol haven't been fully identified and apprehended, while another 100 are being sought for other crimes related to the coordinated attack.

Agents and investigative analysts have been poring over thousands of hours of surveillance video, going second by second in each video to capture clear images of people who attacked officers inside and outside the site's main structure.

The 42-year-old defendant, whose shoulder was dislocated during his arrest and pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and other charges on Tuesday, is scheduled to return to court later this week. A sketch pictures the suspect in prison garb during the day's proceedings

Capitol police, meanwhile, have been carrying out their own, internal investigation, looking into the response of officers stationed outside and near the building when it was stormed by thousands of supporters of ex-President Donald Trump.

'This investigation takes time because it is a lot of work, a lot of painstaking work that they look at the video kind of frame by frame,' Steven D'Antuono, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's field office in Washington, said of the ongoing efforts.

Of the attack on the Pelosi residence, U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said the strike, which easily could have burgeoned into a full-fledged assassination, served as 'an alarming reminder of the dangerous threats elected officials and public figures face during today's contentious political climate.'

DePape, an illegal immigrant from Canada, is accused of breaking into the Pelosi home and beating Paul Pelosi over the head with a hammer and intending to hold his House Speaker wife Nancy hostage and break her kneecaps.

Jenkins said Paul Pelosi was asleep in a loose-fitting pajama shirt and a pair of boxer shorts when he was awoken by DePape around 2:30 am, who knocked on the family's door asking for 'Nancy.'

At some point during the ordeal, Paul Pelosi attempted to escape into an elevator to call 911. When that avenue was closed off to him, he did manage to get to a bathroom where he was able to call the police.

DePape was listening in on the phone call, and knew police were going to arrive, according to FBI interrogators, but 'explained that he did not leave after Pelosis call to 9-1-1 because, much like the American founding fathers with the British, he was fighting against tyranny without the option of surrender.'

According to the criminal complaint, the day after the attack, authorities traced DePape to a home on Shasta Road in Richmond, California, around 18 miles north of San Francisco.

The home belongs to renowned Bay Area photographer Malcolm Lubliner who served as DePape's landlord. DePape lived at the address for two years.

Investigators said that inside of the home, they found additional hammers, a sword, and pairs of gloves.

The 42-year-old defendant, whose shoulder was dislocated during his arrest, is scheduled to return to court Friday.
President Joe Biden will say the 'assault on democracy' is not over in a speech to Americans on Wednesday night in the runup to next week's midterm election where Democrats are facing losses at the ballot box.

Biden will call out candidates who haven't pledged to accept the results of the Nov. 8 election, saying it is 'un-American.'

The president will speak at 7 pm ET in the Columbus Club in Union Station, a few blocks from the Capitol building - the site of the January 6th insurrection where Donald Trump supporters tried to stop the certification of the 2020 election results.

His remarks come as Democrats fear defeat at the ballot box in the Nov. 8th election. Republicans are favored to win the House. The Senate is more competitive.

It also comes during a climate of heightened political violence. Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul is in the hospital after being attacked by a man who broke into their San Francisco home looking for the speaker.

Biden will remind voters that this is the first election since the January 6th insurrection, according to excerpts of his remarks released by the Democratic National Committee.

'This is also the first national election since the events of January 6th, when an armed, angry mob stormed the U.S. Capitol. I wish I could say the assault on our democracy ended that day. But I cannot,' he will say.

'As I stand here today, there are candidates running for every level of office in America: for Governor, for Congress, for Attorney General, for Secretary of State who wont commit to accepting the results of the elections theyre in.'

'That is the path to chaos in America. Its unprecedented. Its unlawful. And, It is un-American,' he will note. 'As Ive said before, you cant love your country only when you win.'

President Joe Biden will say the 'assault on democracy' is not over in a speech to Americans on Wednesday night in the runup to next week's midterm election

Biden will ask Americans to consider this as they prepare to vote.

'This is no ordinary year,' he will say. 'So, I ask you to think long and hard about the moment we are in.'

'In a typical year, we are not often faced with the question of whether the vote we cast will preserve democracy or put it at risk. But we are this year,' he will say.

The speech is being handled by the political arm of the party and not by the White House.

Several Republican candidates have declined to say whether they would accept the results of their contests.

And Donald Trump continues to spread the false claim he won the 2020 election. Meanwhile, a majority of Republican nominees on the ballot this November for the House, Senate and key statewide offices  291 in all  have denied or questioned the outcome of the last presidential election, according to a Washington Post analysis.

Union Station, the location of Biden's remarks, has become a hotbed of crime in the nation's capital, with a Starbucks closing in July over safety concerns and homeless setting up tents outside the entrance.

There was also a shooting outside of the station's Shake Shack in September.

The location of the speech was deliberately chosen to raise comparisons from the January 6th insurrection.

'He'll be making this speech from Capitol Hillbecause on January 6th we saw violence geared towards subverting Democratic processes there. So it is an appropriate place to make these remarks tonight,' White House adviser Anita Dunn told an Axios panel.

She said the president 'will be very clear tonight that he is speaking to people who dont agree with him on any issues, who dont agree on his agenda, but who really can unite behind this idea of this fundamental value of democracy.'

He'll also urge patience with the results. Several Republican candidates haven't said if they would accept the results of the election.

Biden will emphasize that results may take time to tally, but that it shouldn't undermine confidence in the results, his deputy chief of staff Jen O'Malley Dillon said.

The speech comes during a heighten political climate and as fears of violence are on the rise after Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul was attacked last week by a man who broke into their San Francisco home looking for the speaker. She was not home at the time. Paul Pelosi was beaten with a hammer and needed cranial surgery but is expected to recover.

Biden often talks about the fight for the 'soul of the nation' and has said democracy is on the ballot.

But polls show the economy is the top concern for voters ahead of the Nov. 8 election that will decide the control of Congress.

A Gallup poll out on Monday found that 49% said the economy was their top issue, followed by abortion and crime at 42% and 40%.

Union Station, the location of Biden's remarks, is its own hotbed of crime.

The building, a hub of Amtrak and local commuter trains, has become a place of safety concerns.

Starbucks closed its outpost there this summer over worries about crime in the building, which also houses stores and restaurants. Once a popular dining hub, it's reputation has gone down hill.

Large population of homeless people also use the station for shelter.

Trump's MAGA supporters at the Capitol on January 6th

Biden's target audience for his remarks, however, could be his own Democrats.

An NPR/PBS/Marist survey found that enthusiasm is down among Democratic voters compared to Republicans.

Black voters, Latinos and young voters - all key Democratic voting groups - are among the least fired up about the election.

Meanwhile, older voters, Trump voters, white evangelical Christians and rural voters  all major Republican groups  are ready to vote.

Democrats see preserving democracy and abortion rights as motivators for their base.

Since the Supreme Court ruling in the Dobbs case, which overturned Roe v. Wade, Biden and his surrogates has emphasized reproductive rights are at a risk and point to Republican efforts to pass laws outlawing abortion.

Biden mentions both issues on the stump frequently. He even brought it up in Wednesday interview on the Smartless podcast when he talked with hosts Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett.

'People have to vote,' the president said. 'Look, the best example is the Supreme Court in the Dobbs decision said there's a line from one of the justices saying, 'Women have a right to vote. We'll see if they do.' You saw what happened in Tennessee. Women showed up and vote. Women are out registering men for the first time significantly for this new election.'

Biden also voiced his worries about election deniers.

'I worry about the states that have the election deniers in them, making it harder practically for them to vote. That's what I worry about the Supreme Court decisions on voting that are coming down, that are gonna be coming down,' he said.
Extinction Rebellion activists interrupted a concert in The Netherlands on Wednesday evening, comparing the government's response to the climate crisis to the orchestra that played as The Titanic sank in 1912.

A protester stood up in The Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam during a performance of Verdi's Requiem before saying: 'We are in the middle of a climate crisis and we are like the orchestra on the Titanic that keeps playing quietly while the ship is already sinking.'

Three activists interrupted the performance at around 8.30pm local time to call on the Dutch Government to 'do everything possible' to reach carbon neutrality by 2025, as an audience member shouted at the chair-standing activist to sit down.

Extinction Rebellion activists interrupted a concert in The Netherlands on Wednesday evening, making a comparison to the orchestra that played as The Titanic sank

A protester stood up in The Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam during a performance of Verdi's Requiem

In video from the concert hall, the activist could be seen being pushed over, before being dragged to the end of the aisle and hauled out of the venue as the audience booed.

Extinction Rebellion Netherlands said that all three were dragged out of the hall by about 20 people, Voorburgs Dagblad reported.

The protest group said in a statement: 'The response of this room to the action is indicative of the way the Dutch elite deal with the climate crisis.

'People are already dying from the consequences of this crisis. But just as the orchestra continued to play on the Titanic - even when the ship was sinking for a long time - we in the Netherlands continue with our lives as if nothing is wrong.'

Climate scientists have calculated that The Netherlands must be climate neutral by 2025 in order to have a 66 percent chance of limiting the heating of the planet to 1.5 degrees, Het Parool reported.

Orchestra e Coro Sinfonica di Milano was performing Verdi's Requiem at the time of the protest.

Orchestra e Coro Sinfonica di Milano was performing Verdi's Requiem at the time of the protest. file image of The Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam

It comes as two Belgian activists who targeted Johannes Vermeer's iconic 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' painting in a climate protest last week were sentenced on Wednesday to two months in prison  with prosecutors saying their action 'crossed a line' of acceptable protest.

Half of the sentence was suspended by a judge in The Hague, meaning the men will serve one month. A third suspect is due in court Friday. Their identities were not released, in line with Dutch privacy rules.

One man glued his head to glass protecting the 17th-century masterpiece at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague while another poured a can of thickened tomato soup over his head.

The second man, wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words 'Just Stop Oil,' then glued his hand to the wall next to the painting. A third man filmed the protest.

The painting was not damaged, but the glass covering it had to be replaced and the protest caused other minor damage, prosecutors said. The painting was returned to its wall a day later.

Police removes climate activists of 'Ultima Generazione' (Last Generation) as they block the road Via Guglielmo Marconi on Monday

A motorbike driver passes over a banner as Italy's 'Ultima Generazione' (Last Generation) climate activists block a road to highlight the need to combat the climate crisis

On Monday, eco-zealots in Italy blocked the busiest motorway in Rome as climate protests began to sweep across Europe.

Protesters sat in the middle of the Via Guglielmo Marcon in the country's capital holding banners aloft as part of Ultima Generazione, Italian for Last Generation, demonstrations.

The 'civil disobedience' movement was borne from Extinction Rebellion and the independent 'Ultima Generazionea' last year.

The protesters demanded that disused coal plants be reopened and called for a halt to a new drilling project for the research into and extraction of natural gas.

Eco demonstrations, which took place in London every day last month, included two environmental activists who glued themselves to an exhibition of a dinosaur skeleton at Berlin's Natural History Museum to protest against the German government's climate policies.
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Albania's Prime Minister and Crown Prince have accused Suella Braverman of 'demonising' their countrymen with 'purely xenophobic' language after she said many Albanians landing in Kent in dinghies were not genuine asylum seekers and were gaming the system.

PM Edi Rama claims Britain is becoming a 'madhouse' and accused the Home Secretary of 'finding scapegoats' when 'failed policies' are to blame for the migration crisis, warning Britain must treat his country with 'respect' if it wants to seal a fast-track returns deal.

Mr Rama, who has been Albanias leader since 2013, said it was insane to blame his country for the UKs immigration and crime woes. He said he was 'disgusted' by the Home Secretary's language in a combative Commons debate this week in which she claimed there is an 'invasion' of England by migrants crossing the Channel.

He said: 'It's about finding scapegoats and blaming others. While it's very obvious, even from Tirana, which is not so near to London, that it's about failed policies, it's not about Albanians or aliens or gangsters, but it's about failed policies on borders and on crime.'

It comes as the Home Secretary heads to Dover today where a dockside reception site for migrants was petrol bombed. There is also an ongoing crisis at the overly crowded Manston arrivals centre, where residents including children have been sleeping on floors of marquees for up to a month. Migrants were pictured performing Albania's controversial nationalist eagle gesture as they left the Manston yesterday.

Prince Leka said the 12,000 Albanians who have arrived in the UK on dinghies in 2022  10,000 of them single, young men  was not an 'invasion'.

He tweeted: 'Stop demonising us for your own internal political benefits. The UK has a population of 67 million, with 6 million emigrants (sic). 12,000 Albanians is not an invasion. The failings of British law enforcement is not our responsibility. A vast number of Albanians coming to the UK are from the EU and not Albania.'

While Albania is a republic and its monarchy was abolished in 1946, the country still recognises Prince Leka as the head of the country's royal house since he is the only grandchild of the country's final king  Zog I.

Ms Braverman has frequently singled out Albanian asylum seekers after their numbers crossing the Channel in small boats spiralled. She has also been considering negotiating a 'bespoke route' with the nation to get failed Albanian asylum seekers removed from the UK quicker  but this could now be under threat.

She told the Commons on Monday: 'If Labour were in charge they would be allowing all the Albanian criminals to come to this country, they would be allowing all the small boats to come to the UK, they would open our borders and totally undermine the trust of the British people in controlling our sovereignty'.

She also said the UK had seen a 'surge in the number of Albanian arrivals' and that 'many of them [are] abusing our modern slavery laws', adding: 'Albania is not a war torn country. And it is very difficult to see how claims for asylum really can be legitimate claims for asylum.'

It came as migrants were pictured performing Albania's controversial nationalist eagle gesture as they left the Manston arrival centre.

Edi Rama said Britain is becoming like a 'madhouse' with a culture of 'finding scapegoats' during the migration crisis when 'failed policies' are to blame. Pictured on Newsnight

Albania's Crown Prince Leka II, pictured with his wife Crown Princess Elia, has accused Suella Braverman of 'demonising' and 'slandering' his countrymen after she said many Albanians are gaming the system and are not genuine asylum seekers

Leka said the 12,000 Albanians who have arrived in the UK on dinghies in 2022 - 10,000 of them single, young men - is not an 'invasion'

A migrant is seen making an eagle gesture from the window of a coach as it left the Manston arrival centre in Kent yesterday

The trigger for his outburst was unclear, but it came 48 hours after Home Secretary Suella Braverman described an 'invasion' of migrants across the Channel

Number of foreign-born residents of the UK rises to 10million One in six people living in England and Wales were born outside the UK with 10million non-UK nationals now calling the two nations home, new census data has shown One in six people living in England and Wales were born outside the UK with ten million non-UK nationals now calling the two countries home, census data has shown. Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show a huge 576 per cent surge in people who were born in Romania - up from 80,000 in 2011 to 539,000 in 2021. The number of usual residents of England and Wales born outside the UK had risen by 2.5million since 2011. The large increase in the number of those born in Romania followed the lifting of working restrictions across the European Union in 2014. More than half of the total population increase in the past decade is because of positive net migration  the difference between those who immigrated into and emigrated out of England and Wales. India remained the most common country of birth outside the UK  with those 925,000 people making up 1.5 per cent of the population. It was followed by Poland, which had 743,000 people  or 1.2 per cent  and Pakistan, with 624,000. Meanwhile, the countries no longer in the top 10 non-UK countries of birth were the US and Jamaica. But Italy entered the table in sixth place behind Romania, fourth, and Ireland, fifth, and ahead of Bangladesh as seventh, eighth-placed Nigeria, Germany, ninth, and South Africa at tenth. The data showed those who listed Ireland as their country of birth declined from 407,000 in 2011 to 325,000 in 2021. Advertisement

Mr Rama said the UK had been a beacon for the world in terms of integrating people arriving from abroad  but now claims it has a culture of 'finding scapegoats' during the migration crisis when 'failed policies' are to blame.

He told Newsnight that these were 'crazy words' and said this sort of language fuels xenophobia and goes against 'the great British tradition of integrating the minorities'. He has claimed that 70 per cent of the 140,000 Albanians in the UK were living in Italy and Greece and that Albanians in the UK 'work hard and pay tax'.

He said: 'I thought it came a point where it was impossible to not react because it was really an embarrassment for our civilisation to hear all kind of crazy words being thrown in the air like normality and 'invasion' was the peak.

'It's about the climate that has been created, and it's about finding scapegoats and blaming others.

'While it's very obvious, even from Tirana, which is not so near to London, that it's about failed policies, it's not about Albanians or aliens or gangsters, but it's about failed policies on borders and on crime.'

Asked what the consequence of this language might be for Albanians settled in the UK, he said: 'It doesn't come for good. This kind of language is not a policy, is not a programme, is not a vision, is nothing but fuelling xenophobia and targeting, singling out [a] community and practically going totally against the great British tradition of integrating the minorities.

'Britain was a role model in this and now is becoming like, I don't know, like a madhouse.

'I'm not angry at all. I'm a big admirer of the United Kingdom. I have friends that I'm privileged to have there, and I admire everything that Britain represents.

'But I really am disgusted about this kind of politics that at the end is doomed to fail.'

Asked whether he would be happy to work with the UK Government and agencies to clamp down on the trafficking gangs, he said his country works with UK agencies already.

'It's not the UK's great professionals  the problem is this political rhetoric of nonsense,' he said.

In a separate outburst yesterday Mr Rama, who has been Albania's leader since 2013, also demanded 'mutual respect' and said it was 'insane' to blame his country for the UK's immigration and crime woes.

His comments appeared to jeopardise a project between the Home Office and Tirana to set up a 'fast-track' removals programme for Albanian migrants.

It came as a poll suggested that nearly six out of ten Britons believe the Government has lost control of our borders.

Home Office sources have previously said Albanian officials 'couldn't have been more helpful' as they launched joint work on tackling a sharp rise in numbers crossing from northern France.

But in a volley of critical remarks published on his personal Twitter account yesterday, the Albanian PM accused the UK of 'policy failures' and of 'punishing' his people.

'Targeting Albanians (as some shamefully did when fighting for Brexit) as the cause of Britain's crime and border problems makes for easy rhetoric but ignores hard fact,' Mr Rama wrote.

Edi Rama, who has been Albania's leader since 2013, demanded 'mutual respect' and said it was 'insane' to blame his country for the UK's immigration and crime woes

A group of people thought to be migrants gather their belongings before leaving the Manston immigration short-term holding facility

'Repeating the same things and expecting different results is insane (ask Einstein!). Albanians in the UK work hard and pay tax.

'UK should fight the crime gangs of all nationalities and stop discriminating [against] Albanians to excuse policy failures.'

He said when Germany experienced a rise in Albanian migrants, it 'tightened its own systems', adding: 'The UK can and should do the same, not respond with a rhetoric of crime that ends up punishing the innocent.'

Asked about Mr Rama's Twitter comments, immigration minister Robert Jenrick said the UK should prioritise refuge for people in 'genuine danger'.

He told Sky News' The Take with Sophy Ridge: 'I want to have a constructive and productive relationship with our Albanian friends. That's extremely important.

'But it is correct that a quarter of people who've come in small boats have come from Albania this year, and the NCA, our national crime organisation, has said that a very significant proportion of serious organised crime is emanating from those individuals.'

The Albanian leader's remarks indicated a souring of relations over the Channel crisis, after it was confirmed last week that 12,000 Albanians had reached the UK by small boats this year, compared to 50 in 2020.

But a Home Office source insisted last night: 'We are always working closely with our Albanian partners on a range of issues and will continue to do so.'

A 'rapid removals' deal with Albania was announced by former home secretary Priti Patel in August. The Home Office said Albanians who claimed asylum here would have their cases processed 'immediately' and those with no right to be in the UK would be removed 'as soon as possible'.

Senior police officers from the Balkan country were due to come to Britain to work alongside UK immigration officials, and officials in Tirana would agree to receive planes at short notice.

Migrants have been pictured performing Albania's controversial eagle gesture as they left the Manston arrival centre.

Two migrants were seen smiling as they put their hands together to form a double-headed eagle, similar to the one depicted on the Albanian flag, from the window of a bus yesterday.

The nationalist gesture was performed at the 2018 World Cup by footballers Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri, who were playing for Switzerland against Serbia, with critics accusing the footballers of inflaming tensions among Serbian nationalists and ethnic Albanians. They were both fined by FIFA's disciplinary panel for doing so.

One man points towards another migrant as he puts their his hands together to form a double-headed eagle, similar to the one depicted on the Albanian flag

Granit Xhaka performs the nationalist gesture in a World Cup game between Switzerland and Serbia in 2018

Xherdan Shaqiri performs the nationalist gesture in a World Cup game between Switzerland and Serbia in 2018

How the Albanian double-headed eagle has previously sparked controversy One man arriving in Britain today posed for the cameras in Dover by putting his hands together to form a double-headed eagle similar to the one on the Albanian flag. The gesture was performed at the 2018 World Cup by footballers Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri, who were playing for Switzerland against Serbia. Former Liverpool star Shaqiri was born in Kosovo and Arsenal midfielder Xhaka was born to Albanian parents who were originally from Serbia. His father was a political prisoner following the 1968 student demonstations in Yugoslavia against the communist government in Belgrade. Xhaka's brother Taulant plays for Albania's national side. The nationalist symbol risked inflaming tensions in the Balkans among Serbians - who do not recognise Kosovo's independence - and ethnic Albanians. The Serbian FA lodged a formal complaint over the nationalist symbol and the players received a warning and a fine of around 7,500 for unsporting behaviour. Advertisement

Ministers are currenlty drawing up plans to deport thousands of Albanian asylum seekers almost immediately after they arrive in a bid to ease the Channel migration crisis. They want to avoid giving those who fail to be granted asylum having time to launch an appeal against the decision by shipping them back to eastern Europe 'within days'.

Currently the legal process means that arrivals have to be put up in hotels at huge cost to the taxpayer because they can only be held briefly in arrival centres like Manston.

Another proposal being examined is toughening up the Modern Slavery Act, which ministers say has become the 'biggest loophole' in the immigration system. Home Office figures show the number of Albanian migrants claiming to be victims of modern slavery is set to double this year to 5,000.

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick told the Telegraph that Albanians were 'abusing' the act and delaying deportation attempts. One to two per cent of young Albanian men are believed to have attempted a Channel crossing, according to a senior Border Force official.

So far this year, more than 12,000 Albanians have illegally crossed the Channel into Britain - 10,000 of whom were single, adult men.

However, experts last night warned that attempts to remove arrivals before the legal process was complete would break international law. One told the Times: 'How can you exercise your appeal rights if you're not in the UK? It would be extrajudicial, and contravene rights under the Refugee Convention.'

There will also be questions over the ability of the system to be sped up.

Taxpayers are currently paying nearly 7million a day to house tens of thousands of asylum seekers in hotels after the Home Office managed to process just four per cent of asylum claims from people who crossed the Channel last year.

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent on October 27

A group of people thought to be migrants at Dover on October 13

'Don't scupper the migrant dinghies': French police are ordered not to halt boats bound for UK amid fears of legal action Tom Kelly, Investigations Editor for the Daily Mail French police have been ordered not to stop migrant boats in the water departing for Britain because of fears of facing legal action. The diktat has left 'overwhelmed' officers powerless to intervene as people smuggling gangs ruthlessly exploit the system to send thousands more migrants on perilous cross Channel crossings. The policy was introduced after a campaign group filed a complaint accusing police of endangering human life after officers punctured an overloaded small boat just a few yards from the shore to prevent it leaving. A subsequent notice from France's Departmental Board of the National Police issued on August 26 banned officers from targeting boats already in the water. Only those on the beach or on the road could be intercepted. People smugglers swiftly responded, setting up almost untouchable 'taxi boat' services. Instead of taking dinghies to the beach by road and inflating them on the sand, as before, gangs now pilot boats along the coast and pick up groups of migrants waiting on the shore at pre-arranged spots. Advertisement

The Government is desperate to will crack down on young Albanian men  some with 'criminal intent'  crossing the Channel to come to the UK.

Robert Jenrick said yesterday the Government would work on a 'fast-track' system to speed up the removal of migrants with no right to stay in Britain.

He said an agreement signed last year had already led to 1,000 Albanians being returned, but insisted he wanted to see 'far more' sent back in the coming months.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said that the intense pressure at the Manston migrant processing centre will not be solved quickly.

He told Sky News that work was ongoing to get migrants from the site quicker but said 'it is reasonable to say it is not going to happen overnight'.

'There are no simple solutions here.

'They're very difficult. The Government is putting the steps in place to procure more accommodation.'

Former home secretary Priti Patel signed an agreement last July which strengthened existing arrangements to remove Albanian nationals who have no right to be in the UK, including failed asylum seekers.

The Home Office said then that Albanian nationals made up the largest number of foreign national offenders in UK prisons totalling 16 per cent of the foreign national offenders population.

Mr Jenrick yesterday described many of those arriving in Britain from Albania as 'young males who are fit, healthy, prosperous enough to pay the criminal gangs to get here'.

The minister said Albania was a 'demonstrably safe country'  and people coming to the UK from there have travelled via other safe countries.

'We should not be seeing these individuals coming to the UK,' he said.

'You should claim asylum in the first safe country, and a very large proportion of Albanians coming to the UK are coming as economic migrants  some intent on criminality.'

EXCLUSIVE: Kicked out so migrants can be let in: Lifeboat crew on training course are thrown out of hotel to make way for asylum seekers... as 'thousands of migrants are put up in five-star hotels, with one-in-four resorts block-booked for months'

A lifeboat crew on a training course was kicked out of a hotel midway through their stay to make way for asylum seekers, as thousands of homeless migrants are put up in five-star hotels.

Four members of the RNLI were turfed out of the three-star hotel in Hoylake, Merseyside, without notice on Tuesday.

They came back to find their bags packed and left in the foyer after taking part in a hovercraft training session on nearby mudflats.

A source said: 'The irony is off the scale. These migrants were picked up in the Channel by members of Border Force and volunteers from the RNLI. Now some of those volunteers, literally on a course to improve the ways they can save lives at sea, have been kicked out of their hotel by the very people they're training to rescue.'

The migrants were driven to the hotel from the crisis-hit overcrowded Manston asylum processing facility in Kent, more than 300 miles away.

It has also been revealed that four- and five-star hotels are being booked out for months at a time to house thousands of migrants.

The lifeboat crew came back to find their bags packed and left in the foyer after taking part in a hovercraft training session on nearby mudflats. Pictured, people thought to be migrants

The RNLI crew members  one volunteer and three staff  are now staying in a different hotel eight miles away in Liverpool.

The Hoylake hotel is the latest to be identified to house asylum seekers. Sources said councillors were 'left in the dark' about the plans.

It is understood that the local authority was notified on Monday that the premises, which has more than 50 rooms, had been commissioned by the Home Office and government contractor Serco to house migrants.

One in four hotels being used fall into the four- and five-star category, with the Home Office 'refreshing booking.com' in the hunt for spaces, a source told The Sun.

Great Hallingbury Manor, a four-star hotel in Essex, is housing 50 men from north Africa

Great Hallingbury Manor has been block-booked out for 'up to two months', a staff member said

A staff member said that some of the men have complained about the food at Great Hallingbury Manor

Two of the hotels secured include Great Hallingbury Manor, a four-star hotel in Essex, and The Dolphin Inn, a four-star stay in St Ives, the news site reported.

There are more than 50 men from north Africa staying in the Essex venue, which with its lake, picnic area and barbeque, has been block-booked out for 'up to two months', a staff member told The Sun.

'They have the run of the hotel  the bedrooms are very comfortable  and three meals a day. Some have complained about the food because it's not what they're used to,' the staff-member said.

'They spend their time walking about or playing football. Language is a problem but they don't say much. They tend to keep themselves to themselves.'

They added that there are two people 'looking after' the group of men.

The Dolphin Inn, in Cambridgeshire, is reportedly housing asylum seekers from Afghanistan and other countries.

The Prime Minister has said that since September, 4,500 more hotel beds have been sourced for the Government.

A spokesperson for the Home Office said that when migrants are moved into Government-paid hotels, most of the hotel's other facilities, such as pools and gyms, will not be available to use.

It comes amid chaotic scenes across the country as immigration staff desperately try to find accommodation for the thousands of migrants crossing the Channel every week.

Jenni Halliday, Serco's contract director for asylum accommodation services, said: 'With the significant increases in the number of people arriving in the UK we have been faced with no alternative but to temporarily accommodate some asylum seekers in hotels. These hotels are only used as a last resort.'

Elsewhere, women fleeing domestic abuse could be next to find themselves displaced after a High Court ruling yesterday.

A judge suspended an injunction which had prevented a hotel from housing asylum seekers.

The migrants were driven to the hotel from the crisis-hit overcrowded Manston asylum processing facility in Kent, more than 300 miles away

The court heard that Stoke-on-Trent City Council opposed the Home Office's plan to book all 88 rooms in the historic North Stafford Hotel because it was a breach of planning rules and prevented the council from using it for vulnerable locals.

The council wrote to the Home Office in September expressing its concerns at the plan.

'In addition to this, it was the location used by the city council to accommodate low risk homeless families with children and women fleeing domestic abuse, who will now be displaced as this arrangement has been ended by the hotel as a direct result of the Home Office proposal,' the letter read.

The judge, Mr Justice Linden, refused to extend the injunction until a final hearing, which is expected to take place in December, meaning the hotel can be used to house migrants immediately.

In his ruling, he said: 'I take into account the perspective of the citizens of Stoke-on-Trent but hope they would appreciate the potential suffering of the asylum seekers is no small matter when one considers the circumstances in which they have come.'

The city was one of four local authorities to take legal action against hotels being block-booked for migrants.

A council spokesman said: 'We are obviously disappointed that we were unsuccessful in seeking a continuance of the interim injunction to restrain the use of a local hotel as a hostel by accommodating asylum seekers.

'The city has a long tradition of supporting asylum seekers, having been an asylum dispersal area over three decades.'
A lifeboat crew on a training course was kicked out of a hotel midway through their stay to make way for asylum seekers, as thousands of homeless migrants are put up in five-star hotels.

Four members of the RNLI were turfed out of the three-star hotel in Hoylake, Merseyside, without notice on Tuesday.

They came back to find their bags packed and left in the foyer after taking part in a hovercraft training session on nearby mudflats.

A source said: 'The irony is off the scale. These migrants were picked up in the Channel by members of Border Force and volunteers from the RNLI. Now some of those volunteers, literally on a course to improve the ways they can save lives at sea, have been kicked out of their hotel by the very people they're training to rescue.'

The migrants were driven to the hotel from the crisis-hit overcrowded Manston asylum processing facility in Kent, more than 300 miles away.

It has also been revealed that four- and five-star hotels are being booked out for months at a time to house thousands of migrants.

The lifeboat crew came back to find their bags packed and left in the foyer after taking part in a hovercraft training session on nearby mudflats. Pictured, people thought to be migrants

The RNLI crew members  one volunteer and three staff  are now staying in a different hotel eight miles away in Liverpool.

The Hoylake hotel is the latest to be identified to house asylum seekers. Sources said councillors were 'left in the dark' about the plans.

It is understood that the local authority was notified on Monday that the premises, which has more than 50 rooms, had been commissioned by the Home Office and government contractor Serco to house migrants.

One in four hotels being used fall into the four- and five-star category, with the Home Office 'refreshing booking.com' in the hunt for spaces, a source told The Sun.

Great Hallingbury Manor, a four-star hotel in Essex, is housing 50 men from north Africa

Great Hallingbury Manor has been block-booked out for 'up to two months', a staff member said

A staff member said that some of the men have complained about the food at Great Hallingbury Manor

Two of the hotels secured include Great Hallingbury Manor, a four-star hotel in Essex, and The Dolphin Inn, a four-star stay in St Ives, the news site reported.

There are more than 50 men from north Africa staying in the Essex venue, which with its lake, picnic area and barbeque, has been block-booked out for 'up to two months', a staff member told The Sun.

'They have the run of the hotel  the bedrooms are very comfortable  and three meals a day. Some have complained about the food because its not what theyre used to,' the staff-member said.

'They spend their time walking about or playing football. Language is a problem but they dont say much. They tend to keep themselves to themselves.'

They added that there are two people 'looking after' the group of men.

The Dolphin Inn, in Cambridgeshire, is reportedly housing asylum seekers from Afghanistan and other countries.

The Prime Minister has said that since September, 4,500 more hotel beds have been sourced for the Government.

A spokesperson for the Home Office said that when migrants are moved into Government-paid hotels, most of the hotel's other facilities, such as pools and gyms, will not be available to use.

It comes amid chaotic scenes across the country as immigration staff desperately try to find accommodation for the thousands of migrants crossing the Channel every week.

Jenni Halliday, Serco's contract director for asylum accommodation services, said: 'With the significant increases in the number of people arriving in the UK we have been faced with no alternative but to temporarily accommodate some asylum seekers in hotels. These hotels are only used as a last resort.'

Elsewhere, women fleeing domestic abuse could be next to find themselves displaced after a High Court ruling yesterday.

A judge suspended an injunction which had prevented a hotel from housing asylum seekers.

The migrants were driven to the hotel from the crisis-hit overcrowded Manston asylum processing facility in Kent, more than 300 miles away

The court heard that Stoke-on-Trent City Council opposed the Home Office's plan to book all 88 rooms in the historic North Stafford Hotel because it was a breach of planning rules and prevented the council from using it for vulnerable locals.

The council wrote to the Home Office in September expressing its concerns at the plan.

'In addition to this, it was the location used by the city council to accommodate low risk homeless families with children and women fleeing domestic abuse, who will now be displaced as this arrangement has been ended by the hotel as a direct result of the Home Office proposal,' the letter read.

The judge, Mr Justice Linden, refused to extend the injunction until a final hearing, which is expected to take place in December, meaning the hotel can be used to house migrants immediately.

In his ruling, he said: 'I take into account the perspective of the citizens of Stoke-on-Trent but hope they would appreciate the potential suffering of the asylum seekers is no small matter when one considers the circumstances in which they have come.'

The city was one of four local authorities to take legal action against hotels being block-booked for migrants.

A council spokesman said: 'We are obviously disappointed that we were unsuccessful in seeking a continuance of the interim injunction to restrain the use of a local hotel as a hostel by accommodating asylum seekers.

'The city has a long tradition of supporting asylum seekers, having been an asylum dispersal area over three decades.'

Listen to the woke BBC and you'd think voters want our borders flung open

By Matt Goodwin

If you have listened to the BBC this week, then you might be under the impression that much of the country want to see our borders flung open.

On its flagship Today programme on Radio 4 yesterday, listeners heard an interview with a migrant who had been housed at Manston processing centre in Kent in which the living conditions were described by the reporter as akin to a 'prison camp'.

'We can't go to the toilet, we can't take a shower... we don't have any clothes,' the man claimed, talking about the suffering he has endured.

There is no doubt that Manston is failing as it faces an overwhelming surge in arrivals. But what was lacking in that Today item was any sense of perspective. No discussion of the impact that the 40,000-odd asylum seekers who have crossed the Channel this year have on our already overstretched resources.

Another BBC politics show this week described the intensifying migrant crisis as a 'culture war', as if wanting controlled borders is a confected issue not worthy of serious attention.

If you have listened to the BBC this week, then you might be under the impression that much of the country want to see our borders flung open

Yet the BBC's virtue signallers have actually got it all wrong. New polling by my firm People Polling shows that 60 per cent of people think the Government has lost control of Britain's borders. And that the vast majority of Brits also reject the idea that those arriving on small boats should be allowed to stay.

All of this speaks to a deeper point. In 2016, the British people voted resoundingly to Take Back Control of a broken immigration system.

Six years on  and with the daily hotel bill for housing immigrants now topping 6.8million  many will be asking: what, if anything, has changed?

The Establishment has, of course, never forgiven Brexiteers for the result of the referendum, and continues to do its best to thwart an independent Britain. But it is also true that our political class has consistently over-promised and under-delivered.

And the problem is that people won't put up with it for much longer. Perhaps unsurprisingly, when my firm asked voters which leader they think would best manage the crisis on our beaches, the most popular answer was 'none of them' followed by Nigel Farage, the former Brexit Party leader who was among the first to highlight the problem many years ago.

This should ring alarm bells in No10. For unless the Prime Minister and his Conservative government get a grip of this crisis, unless they ignore the shrieking media  propped up by the hard-Left on Twitter and the Establishment Blob  and listen to what voters up and down this country really want, the Tories will suffer a wipeout at the next election.

On its flagship Today programme on Radio 4 yesterday, listeners heard an interview with a migrant who had been housed at Manston processing centre in Kent in which the living conditions were described by the reporter as akin to a 'prison camp'

So what is the solution?

Well, if Rishi Sunak is serious about this then I would tell him to prioritise the following four things immediately.

Firstly, he should strive to strike a new deal with the French to help them smash the Albanian gangs in northern France who are responsible for much of the illicit boat trade.

So far this year, the French have broken more than 50 people smuggling rings. We need to help them to break more but we also need to hold them to account when they fail to deliver value on the tens of millions of pounds we have been giving them in recent years.

Secondly, Sunak should turn up the volume on the current deterrent by striking more Rwanda-style deals, making it clear if people travel through other safe countries to come to Britain they will be sent elsewhere to be processed.

Many readers will recall the Rwanda plan  the brainchild of former home secretary Priti Patel  has already been stifled. In June an anonymous judge from the European Court of Human Rights signed off an 11th-hour injunction grounding a jet that had been due to fly asylum seekers to Rwanda, despite UK courts ruling that the flight could go ahead.

This should ring alarm bells in No10. For unless the Prime Minister and his Conservative government get a grip of this crisis, unless they ignore the shrieking media  propped up by the hard-Left on Twitter and the Establishment Blob  and listen to what voters up and down this country really want, the Tories will suffer a wipeout at the next election

That is why, thirdly, the PM must be pushing back much harder against this dead hand of Europe that continues to loom large. In our poll, we found that only 14 per cent of the country think judges in Strasbourg should be able to override decisions over borders made in British courts. If necessary, Mr Sunak must be prepared to leave the ECHR altogether.

Fourthly, he must create a bespoke route for the immediate deportation of the rapidly rising number of Albanians entering Britain illegally. Reports immigration minister Robert Jenrick plans to 'fast-track' the removal of migrants who have no right to stay are promising.

For Albania, remember, is not a war-torn country. It is a peaceful state that is even in talks to join the European Union and abides by the same modern slavery laws as Britain.

Over the last two years the number of Albanians arriving in Britain by small boats has rocketed from just 50 to 12,000, with 10,000 of them being single, working-age men. Many of these people are not fleeing war or persecution; they are making bogus asylum claims.

One Home Office official told parliament this week, while a staggering 2 per cent of Albania's adult male population has come to the UK in small boats, many are put in touch with Albanian gangs in the UK who are involved in organised crime, drug smuggling, prostitution and violence.

Many readers will recall the Rwanda plan  the brainchild of former home secretary Priti Patel  has already been stifled

Following Liz Truss's disastrous spell in office, Sunak will have his work cut out to fend off Labour at the next election. Retaining Boris Johnson's 2019 majority seems nearly unimaginable. But he has to try

The British people are not stupid. They see this scam for what it is. In our poll, more than 60 per cent said they want Albanians who arrive across the Channel to be put on a plane and returned home directly.

The conversation on the BBC and elsewhere will tell you nothing of the sort. But as they ruthlessly march on in their biased pursuit of the 'progressive' and the woke, the PM and his Home Secretary must hold firm.

A tough line on this crisis will be well received by the majority of the British public who are good-hearted, tolerant and welcoming but simply now feel that they are being taken for a ride.

Following Liz Truss's disastrous spell in office, Sunak will have his work cut out to fend off Labour at the next election. Retaining Boris Johnson's 2019 majority seems nearly unimaginable. But he has to try.

Sir Keir Starmer has shown time and again he has no plan to deal with immigration. The PM must prove he is different.

He must find the strength to stare down the mob and deliver to the British people the strong and controlled national borders they are crying out for. If he doesn't, they'll show him at the ballot box what they think of such weakness.

Professor Matt Goodwin is the author of National Populism: The Revolt Against Liberal Democracy. A nationally representative poll of 1,212 adults was conducted by People Polling.
Police officers are seen at a memorial altar for the victims of the Itaewon crowd crush near Noksapyeong Station in Itaewon, Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap



Gov't to launch task force to develop safety measures to prevent mass crowd incidents



By Nam Hyun-woo



Criticism of the police and Commissioner General Yoon Hee-keun is intensifying as records and internal documents point to their lack of response to Saturday's Itaewon crowd crush.



During a party meeting, Wednesday, ruling People Power Party interim leader Chung Jin-suk said that the truth should be revealed as to why police failed to take appropriate measures to prevent the disaster.



"There were 12 emergency calls before the crush," Chung said. "Police officers were dispatched to the site four times, but why they didn't take sufficient on-site measures, such as bringing in the riot police, should be revealed and responsibility properly taken."



Chung's comments came after the National Police Agency (NPA) disclosed the transcripts of 11 emergency calls it received from 6:34 p.m. to 10:11 p.m., Saturday. Just four minutes after the last emergency call, the accident took place, killing 156 people and injuring 152 who were enjoying Halloween festivities there as of Wednesday.



In the transcripts, callers described the situation as a serious emergency, saying, "I am being crushed," "We need help immediately," "It is very dangerous," and, "This could be a major disaster." However, the police sent officers in response to only four of the calls, and dismissed the others without dispatching any other officers.



Local broadcaster SBS reported that an officer at Yongsan Police Station, which includes Itaewon, filed a report on safety risks several days before the Halloween event took place there, but the report was not reflected in the police control plan for Saturday night.





Police Commissioner General Yoon Hee-keun bows as he apologizes for the police's lack of response to the Itaewon crowd crush during a press conference at the National Police Agency headquarters in Seodaemun District, Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap



The NPA commissioner general admitted that the police response to the situation was "insufficient" and said he will "make excruciating efforts to reveal the truth," but the government is also now changing its stance and asking for the police to take responsibility for the tragedy.





Yongsan police officer found dead amid investigation into Itaewon tragedy Yoon orders creation of 'one-stop' support center for families of Itaewon crush victims Police to request probe into Yongsan office chief Opposition party to submit request to open parliamentary probe into Itaewon tragedy "The most fundamental duty of the police is to protect people's lives and property," Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said during a Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters meeting, Wednesday. "Negligence or a lax attitude in serving this duty is equivalent to betraying the public's trust."



Interior Minister Lee Sang-min also apologized for the police's slow response to the situation.



According to PPP interim chief Chung, the NPA disclosed the emergency call transcripts upon President Yoon Suk-yeol's order, and multiple sources at the presidential office added that Yoon "expressed his rage at the police's belated and insufficient response."



Against this backdrop, SBS also reported that the police have created a document anticipating the political aftermath of the Itaewon tragedy, which contains its analysis of liberal civic group activities after the disaster.



In the report, the police said that liberal civic groups are comparing the Itaewon crowd crush with the sinking of the Sewol ferry in 2014, which killed 304 passengers, to highlight the government's insufficient response, and recommended that the government promptly "resolve the issue of compensation."



The police said that making the report is part of the police's role to analyze information pertaining to public safety and risks.



While the ruling bloc is struggling with the police's failure to respond, the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is intensifying its criticism of the president, police commissioner general and interior minister.



"The ultimate responsibility for the Itaewon tragedy goes to President Yoon," DPK supreme council member Rep. Jung Chung-rae said. "He should relieve Interior Minister Lee and Commissioner General Yoon of their positions immediately."



DPK spokesperson Park Sung-joon criticized the police's promise to examine itself to look for the reason for its inadequate response, raising concerns over the organization's capability to conduct proper self-scrutiny.



"If the examination is insufficient, this could become the subject of a state investigation," Park said.



The NPA said Wednesday that a special team set up to find the root cause of the Itaewon tragedy was in the process of investigating the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, Yongsan Police Station, the Yongsan District Office and five other related organizations to find out whether the police's response to the emergency calls was appropriate. Also, the NPA said that it has suspended the Yongsan Police Station chief from his post, and that it will name his successor in the near future.



Meanwhile, the government said it will set up a task force to come up with safety measures to prevent mass crowd incidents. The team will focus on safety measures for festivities without organizers, following some criticism that the high number of fatalities in the Itaewon crowd crush tragedy was due to the festivities having no official organizer.



"The current safety manual for crowd crushes is inapplicable to mass events without organizers, such as the Itaewon Halloween festivities," a safety ministry official said. "After analyzing the incident thoroughly, the government will create a new manual that can be applied to mass events without organizers."




The victim of a horror car crash has been identified as a young film enthusiast, with her grieving family saying they're grateful she died with her boyfriend and twin sister at her side.

Erica Hoy, 26, was killed after the red Toyota Prius she was travelling in with her twin sister Lisa and boyfriend Mike Reader, 29, was allegedly hit and pushed in the path of a truck.

The trio were driving along the Port River Expressway in northwest Adelaide just after 9pm on Tuesday when the horror smash occurred with police alleging Carlie Eileen Richards, 38, was behind the wheel of the car that bumped their Prius.

Young actress Erica Hoy (above) has been identified as the victim of a fatal Adelaide car crash

Erica (above) was driving with her boyfriend Mike Reader, 29, and twin Lisa Hoy at the time of the crash

It is alleged Erica's car was struck by another vehicle and pushed in front of a truck on the Port River Expressway just after 9pm on Tuesday (pictured, the aftermath of the crash)

Police also allege Ms Richards attempted to run from the scene after the crash and was later arrested by officers.

Ms Richards was given a beside hearing at Adelaide's Queen Elizabeth Hospital on Wednesday after she was deemed mentally unfit to appear in person.

Ms Richards was charged with one count of causing death by dangerous driving, three counts of causing harm by dangerous driving, leaving the scene of the accident and two counts of driving without due care.

She will also face charges for hindering police investigations into the crash by allegedly not answering questions or providing her name and address.

Erica died at the scene while Mr Reader and Lisa were seriously injured and rushed to the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

Carlie Eileen Richards (left) is accused of causing the crash that killed Erica, fleeing the scene and hindering the police investigation

Erica died at the scene while Mr Reader and Lisa were seriously injured and rushed to the Royal Adelaide Hospital (pictured, Erica and Lisa in The Reality of Humanity)

Her heartbroken dad Greg Hoy paid tribute to his daughter and said he was happy she died with her sister and boyfriend nearby.

'She was a bright, happy, positive young girl,' Mr Hoy told The Advertiser.

'I'm glad she didn't pass away alone.'

Mr Hoy said Erica had spent the day she died doing the thing she loved most, acting.

The proud father said his daughter was a top student in school but acting was her passion.

She starred as the lead in her school musical, Alice in Wonderland.

Erica was a passionate actress and had a leading role in the 2020 mini series Jo-Anne Spirit Guide (above)

Erica was a passionate actress and was driving home from an acting course with her boyfriend and twin when she was killed (pictured, twins Erica and Lisa)

Erica appeared on the screens of the Adelaide Film Festival last year in a web series called The Reality of Humanity and had a leading role in the 2020 mini series Jo-Anne Spirit Guide.

'She was coming back from an acting course ... when it happened,' he said.

Erica, Lisa, their Australian father and Japanese mother migrated to Australia in 2015.

Both twins studied at Flinders University where Erica completed her Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Chinese and French.

The all-rounder also tried her hand at modelling and walked the runway for The Boutiques to promote diversity in the fashion industry.

Anyone with relevant information or dashcam footage of the crash is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
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For Ukrainians, the situation is clear. Vladimir Putin's torture of their country through invasion started eight years ago when 'little green men' suddenly began blocking roads, building checkpoints and seizing government buildings in Crimea.

These were Putin's special forces, in unmarked uniforms and vehicles, who grabbed the precious peninsula for the Kremlin - and began a war that exploded into bloodshed, carnage and devastation across their land this year.

'Everything started with Crimea and will end with it,' declared President Volodymyr Zelensky two months ago. 'Crimea stands with Ukraine and is waiting for us to return. I want you all to know, we will definitely be back.'

Bold words from a brave leader, spoken shortly before his forces made a stunning breakthrough in eastern Ukraine that dramatically changed the narrative of this dispiriting war.

Now Ukraine is advancing towards that goal of liberating Crimea, the ultimate prize in this cruellest of conflicts.

'Everything started with Crimea and will end with it,' declared President Volodymyr Zelensky two months ago

Black smoke billows from a fire on the Kerch bridge that links Crimea to Russia on October 8

A Yars intercontinental ballistic missile is test-fired as part of Russia's nuclear drills from a launch site in Plesetsk

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a Security Council meeting via videoconference in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Wednesday

Part of the destroyed Orthodox Sviatohirsk Cave Monastery (Holy Mountains Lavra of the Holy Dormition) in Svyatohirsk, Donetsk region, pictured on Wednesday

Its forces are moving forward in the key southern region that supplies the peninsula's water, mounting daring raids on military sites across the area  and sparking fears, which escalate with each mile of advance, that Moscow might respond with the use of nuclear weapons.

For the 2014 annexation may have been illegal but it was wildly popular in Russia. It was a defining moment for Putin, supposedly fulfilling his pledge to restore his nation's greatness after the collapse of the Soviet empire.

The seizure caused Putin's support to surge to record levels as he claimed: 'Crimea has always been an integral part of Russia in the hearts and minds of people.' He talks about it in mystical terms, describing it as a 'sacred place' and their 'holy land'.

This is the dictator, after all, who has posed as a successor to the great Russian Tsars such as Peter the Great  who launched his nation's imperial expansion with a battle in central Ukraine at the start of the 18th century  and Catherine the Great, who captured Crimea in 1783.

Putin's brazen theft of Crimea underscored his own propaganda by expanding Russia's terrain. Now he claims to be the strongman standing up for his people, absurdly proclaiming that he will protect them from 'Nazis' in Ukraine and Nato.

Yet Kyiv thinks it can win back Crimea by next summer as its forces advance. And, after doing so, it intends to order hundreds of thousands of Russians to leave immediately, ratcheting up the stakes.

Tamila Tasheva, President Zelensky's adviser on Crimea, told me up to 800,000 Russians had entered their land without permission. 'According to our law and international law, if people cross the border illegally they need to be deported.'

Ukraine is also drawing up plans to review all property deals and court decisions made under Russian occupation to ensure their citizens have not had homes stolen, assets seized or been treated unfairly by courts under the Kremlin's repressive system.

But can the country really retake Crimea  that lush slab of land beneath Ukraine in the Black Sea; the long-standing base for Russia's navy, home to more than two million people and such a crucial prop for the carefully constructed narrative of Putin's regime?

And what will happen if Kyiv recaptures the city of Kherson administrative capital of the region that controls Crimea's water supply  and then moves on towards the peninsula?

A Ukrainian soldier stands with an anti drone gun outside Mykolaiv during the counter-offensive on Wednesday

Ukraine is advancing towards the goal of liberating Crimea, the ultimate prize in this cruellest of conflicts

Ukrainian servicemen fire a self-propelled howitzer toward Russian positions on a frontline in the Mykolaiv region

Could this be the trigger for a nuclear conflagration?

Certainly Ukraine's leaders are well aware of the huge risks as their forces advance through the Belgium-sized region of Kherson, carving through the 'fresh meat' of poorly equipped conscripts sent by Moscow to shore up Putin's bungled invasion.

Several Ukrainian sources have acknowledged to me the diminutive despot might not be bluffing when he warns that he is prepared to use 'all existing means' to protect Russia's 'territorial integrity' as the Kremlin ramps up its bellicose rhetoric.

Officials candidly admit their moves to retake Crimea present a serious risk, given its emotional and political significance to Putin.

'That's when he might use tactical nuclear weapons,' said Anton Gerashchenko, an interior ministry adviser. Another source close to Zelensky said they fear Russia might respond with tactical nuclear weapons to close off the narrow land connection from Ukraine to Crimea.

'But if they do that, this issue goes beyond Ukraine  it becomes something international,' he said.

Even Kyrylo Budanov, Kyiv's audacious head of military intelligence who is blamed by Moscow for overseeing recent attacks on Crimea, admits the threat is real since 'our neighbour is sick'  although he downplays the threat of a nuclear strike.

But while Ukraine's wartime leaders acknowledge the severity of the risk, they believe they cannot give in to nuclear blackmail.

Otherwise their country's torment will continue for many years as Moscow's dictatorship tries to smash their democracy.

Intriguingly, however, one well-placed source told me that Ukraine would accept a peace deal based on Russia pulling back to the borders as they were before the full-scale invasion in February.

This would let Putin retain Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine seized later in 2014.

'But if you write this, we'll deny it,' he said. Given Ukraine's visceral hatred of the enemy following months of atrocities, it seems unlikely the country's population would accept such a deal.

Besides, since the war started, Putin has claimed four more stolen regions of Ukraine for Russia, in addition to Crimea.

Ukrainian servicemen prepare a self-propelled howitzer to fire toward Russian positions on Wednesday

Ukraine's leaders are well aware of the huge risks as their forces advance through the Belgium-sized region of Kherson. Pictured: A Ukrainian serviceman drives a self-propelled howitzer

Officials candidly admit their moves to retake Crimea present a serious risk, given its emotional and political significance to Putin

His move last month to annex chunks of eastern and southern Ukraine, using the same template that I witnessed him using in Crimea in 2014  of sham referendums with voters made to cast their ballots at gunpoint under Russian occupation  almost certainly crushes hopes of such a ceasefire. It means the dictator must now defend these new 'Russian' regions, which include Kherson, however many of his fellow citizens die on the bloodstained frontline  or else he will see his pretensions of greatness shredded and his rule possibly come to a sudden end.

So Ukraine is determined to press on for Crimea, aware that it is vulnerable to a battlefield nuclear weapon being used to block its passage.

Its forces are pushing hard to retake Kherson city by the end of this month, having made several previous unsuccessful assaults  and I understand there are hopes of another major breakthrough further along the frontline, despite the arrival of the muddy season that turns offensive operations into a tough slog.

Russia has withdrawn heavy offensive weapons from Kherson to avoid the massive losses of equipment it suffered in last month's retreat in eastern Ukraine. But it has beefed up troop numbers with hundreds of recently mobilised men as it prepares to defend the key city.

It is also building lines of 'dragon's teeth' anti-tank fortifications deep in Luhansk to slow Kyiv's advance.

Meanwhile there has been a string of assaults on Crimea by Ukraine to disrupt supply lines and spread fear. These began in July when a drone blasted the Black Sea fleet's headquarters, injuring five and forcing cancellation of their Navy Day celebrations.

Then came a devastating strike on an airfield, knocking out half the fleet's combat aircraft, followed by a huge explosion at an ammunition dump.

Such attacks had 'a significant psychological effect' on Russia's leaders, according to one Western official.

But the biggest humiliation for Putin came with last month's damaging explosion on his beloved road and rail Kerch Bridge that links Russia to Crimea, which he opened in 2018 by driving a truck over its 12-mile span. The attack sparked panic buying of food and fuel.

The Kremlin responded by launching drone and missile strikes across Ukraine two days later. These have continued now for almost a month, and crippled energy and heating facilities as temperatures fall ahead of winter.

Yet the devastating strikes have not deterred Ukraine. Three Russian warships, including the Black Sea fleet flagship, were reportedly damaged in the latest daring Ukrainian response  an attack by a swarm of drones, nine in the air and seven at sea.

A flick of film footage leaked to a Ukrainian journalist is thought to have come from a drone boat that rammed a Russian frigate, showing once again how this conflict is rewriting the tactics of modern warfare.

Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine's intelligence chief who has family links to Crimea, insists they will recapture the peninsula and is dismissive of those saying Ukraine should not provoke Russia for fear of escalation. 'It's just plain stupid,' he told me.

'All types of weapons existing in the world are already being used in Ukraine  from firing ballistic missiles from submarines to using tanks and aerial bombardments.'

But for Putin, already facing criticism of his botched invasion from some hardline nationalists who are normally his most loyal of allies, the loss of Crimea would be catastrophic given his bogus claim to have righted an historic injustice for Russia with its annexation.

The reality is rather different. Crimea, originally wrenched by Russia from the decaying Ottoman Empire, was handed to the Soviet republic of Ukraine in 1954  a logical move given its location. After the collapse of communism, its citizens voted in a referendum for Ukrainian independence in 1991 like every other region.

The peninsula is the traditional home of Muslim Tatars, who have been targeted repeatedly by Russian leaders  most infamously in 1944, when Joseph Stalin deported 200,000 of them to Central Asia. Families were given just 15 minutes to pack  then huge numbers died from cold, hunger and thirst after being crammed into cattle trucks.

Putin has continued the ethnic cleansing since stealing Crimea. Russians moved en masse to the peninsula, lured by its benign climate, beachside resorts and coastal cliffs, while 100,000 Ukrainians including 50,000 Tatars  have fled Putin's rule.

Part of the destroyed Orthodox Svyato-Heorhiyivskyy Skyt of the Sviatohirsk Cave Monastery in the village of Dolina near Svyatohirs'k, Donetsk region

An engineer operates a military excavator to dig a trench system in Bashtanka, Mykolaiv oblast, on Wednesday

Another 10,000 Tatars left in recent weeks after their community was targeted for mobilisation. 'Papers were handed to teachers, hospital staff, people at mosques during Friday prayers,' said Oleksii Tilnenko, director of activist group Crimea SOS. 'They fear mobilisation as covert genocide. Many tried to leave but this amounts to deportation again.'

Putin has used more subtle ploys than Stalin to change the ethnic composition, relying on a mixture of repression to silence dissent and bureaucracy to make life difficult for non-Russians to buy homes, run firms or educate children.

'Many people accepted a different identity because they know it is risky for your life, your liberty, your security to stay Ukrainian,' said Tilnenko. 'Now if you walk down the street, one in three people is not from Crimea.'

In recent months Russia's stooges have intensified the crackdown even arresting six guests at a Tatar wedding for dancing to a pro-Ukrainian song. 'People who behave like this are traitors,' claimed Sergei Aksyonov, the patsy leader of Crimea.

Putin spent an astonishing 20 billion on Crimea in the first five years of his annexation, beefing up military bases and building infrastructure projects such as a new airport at Sevastopol and that bridge  the longest in Europe  over to the mainland.

But Ukraine argues most new Russian arrivals will have to leave when they take back the peninsula.

Presidential adviser Tasheva, a Crimean Tatar who was born in Uzbekistan after her grandparents were deported from their homeland, insists: 'If they are illegal they must return or flee Crimea after de-occupation. Then they can request to the Ukrainian state the right to get residence.'

She said applications from Russians with Ukrainian spouses or children would be viewed sympathetically, along with those offering evidence of support for Kyiv.

'This is a difficult issue  they are illegally staying on territory of another state and taking part in illegal colonisation.'

Tasheva admits that Crimea is a place of pride for Putin, a symbol of his rule. 'His narrative during years of occupation was that we will protect our people. Now our military forces are on the offensive in these regions. Putin could do anything.'

But as she says, this is the rightful territory of Ukraine and Crimean Tatars. 'We are fighting for our people. Russia is going to leave this war zone and we are going to bring back our land.'

Additional reporting by Kate Baklitskaya

Alarm bells ring in the White House after Putin's generals discussed NUKING Ukraine: US admits it's 'increasingly concerned' over Moscow's nuclear sabre-rattling sparked by Russian setbacks in the battlefield

ByJonathan Rose For Mailonline

The US has admitted it is 'increasingly concerned' over Moscow's nuclear sabre-rattling after it emerged top Russian military officials discussed nuking Ukraine.

The New York Times report, which cited unnamed US officials, said Russian President Vladimir Putin did not take part in the discussions, and there was no indication that the Russian military had decided to deploy the weapons.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said: 'We have grown increasingly concerned about the potential as these months have gone on.'

Kirby did not confirm the report that said high-level Russian military officials recently discussed when and how they might use tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield.

But Kirby said any comments on the use of nuclear weapons by Russia are 'deeply concerning,' and said the US takes them seriously.

He pointed to recent Putin comments talking about nuclear weapons and referencing the bombs US forces dropped on the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki near the end of World War II.

The New York Times report, which cited unnamed US officials, said Russian President Vladimir Putin did not take part in the discussions, and there was no indication that the Russian military had decided to deploy the weapons

He pointed to recent Putin comments talking about nuclear weapons and referencing the bombs US forces dropped on the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki near the end of World War II. Pictured: A Russian nuclear missile is fired during testing drills last week

'We take note of that,' Kirby said.

'It increasingly is unsettling in terms of the degree to which he feels he has to continue to stretch to prosecute this war,' he said.

At the same time, Kirby reiterated, Washington sees no indications that Russia is making preparations to use nuclear weapons, adding that US intelligence does not necessarily see or know everything.

The US has been warning Moscow for weeks over public comments from top Russian officials that they could use nuclear weapons in Ukraine in certain cases, particularly if they felt there was a threat to Russian territorial integrity.

The most recent threat came from former Russian president and senior security council official Dmitry Medvedev.

Medvedev said on Tuesday that Ukraine's objective to reclaim all its territories occupied by Russia, which include the Donbas region and Crimea, would be a 'threat to the existence of our state.'

That, Medvedev said, would be 'a direct reason' to invoke nuclear deterrence.

In September, Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden's national security advisor, said that the US has warned Russia at 'very high levels' of 'catastrophic consequences' for using nuclear arms

However, early Wednesday Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Western media was 'deliberately pumping up the topic of the use of nuclear weapons.'

Moscow does 'not have the slightest intention to take part in this,' he said, calling the Times report 'very irresponsible.'

In September, Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden's national security advisor, said that the US has warned Russia at 'very high levels' of 'catastrophic consequences' for using nuclear arms.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned on October 13 that Russian forces would be 'annihilated' by the West if Putin uses nuclear weapons against Ukraine.

Russia's nuclear stockpile, the largest in the world, consists of 'tactical', lower-yield bombs and strategic weapons that can annihilate cities and population centres.

Its tactical nukes, with a yield of between ten and 100 kilotons, are designed for use on the battlefield in contested territory.

In comparison, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 was approximately 18 kilotons.

Ukrainian servicemen fire artillery from a self-propelled howitzer toward Russian positions near Bakhmut, Ukraine, on Tuesday

Ukrainian servicemen prepare to fire a self-propelled howitzer at Russian positions on Tuesday

Last week, Putin spoke at length about nuclear weapons, having threatened the West several times with an atomic strike  sparking fears he may also use one in Ukraine.

The despot denied he has any plans to use one on his neighbour, saying there is 'no political or military justification' for doing so.

But he also referred back to Russia's nuclear doctrine which allows them to be used in the event the country is threatened which  at least according to the Kremlin  now includes occupied parts of Ukraine.

Fears of escalation have been building as the war in Ukraine grinds into its ninth month, with Kyiv on the front foot and Putin nowhere near achieving his aims.

Though the official purpose of the invasion remains the 'liberation' of the eastern Donbas region, according to Putin, in reality his troops have stopped advancing almost everywhere besides the town of Bakhmut, in Donetsk.

Meanwhile they are being pushed back in the northern Kharkiv region and southern region of Kherson  the latter of which Putin has declared to be part of Russia.

That has sparked fears he could resort to nukes, after he said he would use 'all available means' to defend the territory.

It comes after Moscow alleged that Ukraine is preparing to detonate a so-called 'dirty bomb' on its territory, meaning a conventional explosive laced with radioactive material to cause contamination.

Kyiv said accusations it would use such tactics on its own territory are absurd, but that Russia might be planning such actions itself to blame Ukraine.

The UN's atomic watchdog has been dispatched to two areas of Ukraine where Putin alleges the bomb is being prepared  at Kyiv's insistence  as President Volodymyr Zelensky and his allies dismiss the claims as fiction.

Instead, they said Russia may be preparing the ground to use one of its own nukes as a pretext for escalating the conflict.

US President Joe Biden, asked about Putin's assertion he would never use nukes in Ukraine, responded last week: 'Why does he keep talking about it?

'Why is he talking about the ability to use a tactical nuclear weapon? He's been very dangerous in how he's approached this and he should just get out.

'He can end this all, get out of Ukraine.'
North Korea test-fired a long-range missile towards Japan this morning but the rocket failed mid-flight and dropped into the ocean, South Korea has said.

Sirens sounded in Miyagi, Yamagata and Niigata prefectures early Thursday after the missile was launched near the North Korean capital Pyongyang and looked set to fly over the northern end of Japan's main island, with people fleeing to bomb shelters.

But Tokyo and Seoul said they lost track of the rocket - presumed to be a new kind of intercontinental ballistic missile - over the Sea of Japan, suggesting it broke apart mid-flight. North Korea also fired two short-range missiles that landed in the sea.

Had the ICBM failed over Japanese territory then it could well have struck an inhabited area and sparked a major crisis. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called the launch 'absolutely intolerable' and lodged a protest with the North.

It is just the latest in a series of highly provocative missile tests carried out by Kim Jong-un's regime that the US says could end with a nuclear test. On Wednesday, Kim test-fired 25 missiles including one that crossed the ocean border with South Korea.

North Korea test-fired a long-range missile towards Japan this morning with alerts put out in three provinces as the rocket looked set to fly over the island - but broke up mid-flight

The launches are the latest in a series of North Korean weapons tests in recent months that have raised tensions in the region

Wednesday's launches - involving a mixture of short-range missiles - were the most carried out by North Korea in a single day ever.

Seoul responded by firing three air-to-surface missiles back across the maritime border that landed near North Korean territorial waters.

Pyongyang is furious at joint US-South Korean war games taking place on its borders which it says are rehearsals for an invasion.

Washington and Seoul have denied that, saying the drills are defensive and designed to deter Pyongyang. On Thursday, the allies said the exercises - which were due to end Friday - have now been extended to an indefinite date.

The two shorter-range missiles that North Korea tested were fired from Kaechon and flew around 200 miles before crashing down into the Sea of Japan.

Japan's Defense Minister Yasukazu said one of the North Korean missiles reached a maximum altitude of 2,000km (1,200 miles) and flew about 750km (460 miles).

The Japanese government initially said at least one of the missiles flew over its northern territory but later revised its assessment, saying there were no overflies.

The office of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida issued warnings to residents in the northern prefectures of Miyagi, Yamagata and Niigata, instructing them to go inside firm buildings or underground.

There have been no reports of damage or injuries from areas where the alerts were issued.

Bullet train services in those regions were temporarily suspended following the missile alert before resuming shortly.

Kishida condemned the North's launches and said officials were analyzing the details of the weapons.

The office of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida issued warnings to residents in the northern prefectures of Miyagi, Yamagata and Niigata, instructing them to go inside firm buildings or underground

North Korea test-fired a total of 23 missiles Wednesday, one of which crossed the unofficial maritime border and hit the ocean 37 miles off the coast of South Korea, and 100 miles shy of an inhabited island

A South Korean Air Force F-15K fighter fires an air-to-surface missile across the maritime border with North Korea in retaliation for a missile that was test-fired in the other direction early Wednesday

One of the more than 20 missiles North Korea shot on Wednesday flew in the direction of a populated South Korean island and landed near the rivals' tense sea border, triggering air raid sirens and forcing residents on Ulleung island to evacuate.

South Korea quickly responded by launching its own missiles in the same border area.

Those launches came hours after North Korea threatened to use nuclear weapons to get the US and South Korea to 'pay the most horrible price in history' in protest of ongoing South Korean-US military drills that it views as a rehearsal for a potential invasion.

North Korea has been ramping up its weapons demonstrations to a record pace this year.

It has fired dozens of missiles, including its first demonstration of intercontinental ballistic missiles since 2017, as it exploits the distraction created by Russia's war in Ukraine and a pause in diplomacy to push forward arms development and dial up pressure on the US and its Asian allies.

The North has punctuated its tests with an escalatory nuclear doctrine that authorizes preemptive nuclear attacks over a variety of loosely defined crisis situations.

US and South Korean officials say North Korea may up the ante in the coming weeks with its first detonation of a nuclear test device since September 2017.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a telephone call with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin over Wednesday's missile launches, including the one that 'recklessly and dangerously' landed near the South Korean coastline, and stressed the 'ironclad' US commitment to the security of its ally, according to their offices.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price also addressed concerns about possible North Korean preparations for another nuclear test, which would be its seventh overall.

Experts say such tests could possibly bring North Korea a step closer to its goal of building a full-fledged arsenal threatening regional US allies and the American mainland.

An American F-35B stealth fighter taxis for takeoff alongside South Korean KF-16 fighters - a modified version of the US F-16 - during combat drills taking place near North Korea's borders

'Should it go forward with a seventh nuclear test there would be additional costs and consequences,' Price said, noting that the test would be a 'dangerous, reckless, destabilizing act.'

North Korea last flew a missile over Japan in October in what it described as a test of a new intermediate range ballistic missile, which experts say potentially would be capable of reaching Guam, a major US military hub in the Pacific.

That launch forced the Japanese government to issue evacuation alerts and pause train services.

Experts say North Korea is escalating a brinkmanship aimed at forcing the US to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power and negotiating economic and security concessions from a position of strength.

Nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang have been stalled since early 2019 over disagreements in exchanging the release of crippling US-led sanctions against the North and the North's denuclearization steps.

The North has so far ignored the Biden administration's calls for open-ended talks, insisting that Washington should first discard its 'hostile' policy, a term North Korea mainly uses to describe sanctions and combined US-South Korea military exercises.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on Wednesday underscored that the Biden administration has repeatedly sought to reach out to North Korean officials through diplomatic channels and has made clear 'we're willing to sit down with North Korea without precondition to discuss the denuclearization of the peninsula.'
The three 'norths' will combine over Britain this month for the first time in history and stay for the next 3.5 years.

True north, magnetic north and grid north are all set to make landfall at the village of Langton Matravers, west of Swanage in Dorset, in early November, according to national mapping service Ordnance Survey.

They will all then slowly travel up the country.

True north is the direction along the surface of the Earth that ends at the North Pole, while magnetic north points to where the planet's magnetic field goes downwards.

Grid north is the direction of the grid lines on maps, that usually point towards or near the North Pole.

Dr Susan Macmillan, of the British Geological Survey (BGS), said: 'This is a once in a lifetime occurrence.

'Due to the unpredictability of the magnetic field on long timescales it's not possible to say when the alignment of the three norths will happen again.'

The red line shows magnetic north, while the blue special line is true north and the grid north line which are perfectly aligned. The three norths will make landfall at the village of Langton Matravers just west of Swanage, Dorset, (pictured) in early November. Magnetic north will move eastwards over time

True north is the direction along the surface of the Earth that ends at the North Pole, while magnetic north points where the planet's magnetic field goes downwards. Grid north is the direction of the grid lines on maps, that usually point towards or near the North Pole

At some point this week, the triple alignment will cross through Langton Matravers before moving northwards to Poole by Christmas and then further up the country

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRUE NORTH, MAGNETIC NORTH AND GRID NORTH? True north is the direction of the lines of longitude along the surface of the Earth that end at the location of the North Pole. It is defined by the planet's rotation. Magnetic north is the direction compasses point and where the Earth's magnetic field points vertically downward. The direction of magnetic north changes continually due to natural changes in the magnetic field. Grid north is the direction the grid lines on a map point ie. the top of the map. Advertisement

Mark Greaves, Earth measurement expert at Ordnance Survey, said: 'It is no exaggeration to say that this is a one-off event that has never happened before.

'Magnetic north moves slowly so it is likely going to be several hundred years before this alignment comes around again.

'This triple alignment is an interesting quirk of our national mapping and the natural geophysical processes that drive the changing magnetic field.'

Grid north is represented on Ordnance Survey maps by the vertical blue grid lines, and has been since the current mapping system was introduced in 1936.

Across most of the maps, true north bends away from grid north as the former reflects the Earth's curved surface.

One specific grid north line, however, does align with true north.

This 'special line' is the 2W longitude meridian, and it is along this line that magnetic north will coincide from this week onwards.

This is because the direction of magnetic north moves continually due to natural changes in the Earth's magnetic field.

The magnetic north line has always been to the west of grid north in Great Britain, but in 2014 it slowly started moving east across the country.

It has now moved to the other side of grid north, and is approaching the 'special line' where grid north and true north align.

This 'special line' where true north and grid north align is the 2W longitude meridian (pictured), and it is along this line that magnetic north will coincide from this week onwards

Magnetic north is the direction compasses point and the location where the Earth's magnetic field points vertically downward. The direction of magnetic north changes continually due to natural changes in the magnetic field

At some point this week, the triple alignment will cross through Langton Matravers before moving northwards to Poole by Christmas.

They will then meet again in Chippenham and Birmingham, and reach Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire by August 2024.

It will pass though the Pennines before leaving the English coast at Berwick-Upon-Tweed a year later in August 2025.

The alignment does not hit land again until around May 2026 at Drums, just south of Newburgh in Scotland.

After passing through Mintlaw, its last stop in Scotland and the landmass of Great Britain is Fraserburgh, which it will reach in July 2026.

According to Mr Greaves, this event should not make a difference to navigators, as the same rules apply when using a map to find your way.

'They will always have to take account of the variation between magnetic north from a compass and grid or true north on a map,' he said.

The triple alignment will reach Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire in August 2024. Pictured: The 'special line' passing through Hebden Bridge

The Earth's magnetic field, and so magnetic north, is generated by the superheated, swirling liquid iron of the planet's outer core 1,900 miles below our feet.

As heat escapes from the inner core, the iron moves around in convection currents, and the motion generates powerful electrical currents.

The rotation of Earth on its axis causes these electric currents to form a magnetic field which extends around the planet and stretches into space.

Ordnance Survey said that these location predictions are likely to shift by a few months due to changes in the flow of iron in the outer core.

This is because they will affect magnetic field observations taken by the BGS at 40 UK sites.

These measurements enable scientists to create high-resolution maps and to make accurate forecasts of the changing declination angle.
However the continent has made plans to mitigate climate change effects

It reveals that Europe has felt a temperature rise of 0.5C per decade since 1991

Temperatures in Europe have increased by more than twice the global average over the past 30 years, reveals a new report.

This rise of about 1.3F (0.5C) per decade is the largest of any continent in the world, and has contributed to melting ice sheets and rising sea levels.

The 'State of the Climate in Europe' report is produced by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service.

It provides information on rising temperatures, heatwaves, extreme weather, precipitation patterns and retreating ice and snow in the continent in 2021.

WMO Secretary-General Professor Petteri Taalas said: 'Europe presents a live picture of a warming world and reminds us that even well prepared societies are not safe from impacts of extreme weather events.

'This year, like 2021, large parts of Europe have been affected by extensive heatwaves and drought, fuelling wildfires.

'In 2021, exceptional floods caused death and devastation.'

Temperatures in Europe have increased by more than twice the global average over the past 30 years, reveals a new report. Left: Annual average temperature anomaly for 1900-2021 compared to the 1981-2010 reference period for land only over Europe. Right: Annual average surface air temperature anomaly (C) for 2021 compared to the 1981-2010 reference period

The 'State of the Climate in Europe' report is produced by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service. It provides information on rising temperatures, heatwaves, extreme weather, precipitation patterns and retreating ice and snow in the continent in 2021. Pictured: Selected high-impact events in WMO Region VI in 2021

KEY FINDINGS FROM THE REPORT FOR 2021 High impact weather and climate events directly affected 510,000 people and caused economic damages exceeding 43 billlion ($50 billion). The Greenland Ice Sheet saw a melt event and the first-ever recorded rainfall at its highest point. On August 11, a location near Syracuse in Sicily, Italy, reached 120F (48.8C) - a provisional European record. Annual burned areas about three times or more the 2006 to 2020 average in Cyprus, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Montenegro and Turkey. Advertisement

The first edition report compiles climate monitoring data from national meteorological and hydrological services, climate experts, regional bodies and UN partner agencies.

It is intended to provide localised scientific information to policy makers to advance adaptation and mitigation strategies.

'European society is vulnerable to climate variability and change,' said Dr Carlo Buontempo, the Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

'But Europe is also at the forefront of the international effort to mitigate climate change and to develop innovative solutions to adapt to the new climate Europeans will have to live with.

'As the risks and impact of climate change become increasingly apparent in day-to-day life, the need and the appetite grow for climate intelligence, and rightly so.

'With this report we aim to bridge the gap between the data and the analysis to provide science-based but accessible information that is 'decision-ready', across sectors, across professions.'

The report revealed that, in 2021, high impact weather and climate events led to hundreds of fatalities, and about 84 per cent of them were floods or storms.

They directly affected 510,000 people and caused economic damages exceeding 43 billlion ($50 billion).

Data also shows that Alpine glaciers lost 30 metres in ice thickness from 1997 to 2021, while the Greenland Ice Sheet is also showing signs of melting.

In summer 2021, Greenland saw a melt event and the first-ever recorded rainfall at its highest point, where the Summit research station is located.

And while precipitation in 2021 overall was slightly above normal in Central and Eastern Europe, it did not compensate for deficits from the previous three years.

Cumulative mass changes in Europe from 1967 to 2021 for glaciers in nine different regions. Mass changes are given in the unit 'metres of water equivalent (m w.e.)' relative to 1997

Data shows that Alpine glaciers lost 30 metres in ice thickness from 1997 to 2021, while the Greenland Ice Sheet is also showing signs of melting. Left: Cumulative mass change of Greenland Ice Sheet and the corresponding contributions to global mean sea level from 1992 to 2020. Right: The Kangiata Nunata Sermia glacier undergoing submarine melting in southwest Greenland

While precipitation in 2021 overall was slightly above normal in Central and Eastern Europe, it did not compensate for deficits from the previous three years. Pictured: Percent of the annual precipitation total in 2021 with reference to 19812010. Yellow, orange and red colours indicate a precipitation deficit, while blue regions experienced a precipitation excess

In other areas such as the Iberian Peninsula and the Alpine region, it was the second or third consecutive drier-than-normal year.

Exceptionally high temperatures and heatwaves occurred in many parts of Europe throughout the summer.

On August 11, a location near Syracuse in Sicily, Italy, reached 120F (48.8C) - a provisional European record.

The droughts and high temperatures also fuelled wildfires in the summer for which neither ecosystems nor communities are adapted.

Annual burned areas were about three times or more the 2006 to 2020 average in Cyprus, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Montenegro and Turkey.

Air pollution from fine particles released while burning fossil fuels have also had an impact on the health of Europeans.

According to WHO's Regional Office for Europe, there were linked to half-million premature deaths in the continent in 2019.

It is estimated that about 138,000 premature deaths from air pollution could be avoided per year through reduced carbon emissions, potentially resulting in savings of 212 to 490 billion ($244 to 564 billion).

The report revealed that, in 2021, high impact weather and climate events led to hundreds of fatalities, and about 84 per cent of them were floods or storms. Pictured A man rows a boat down a residential street after flooding in Angleur, Belgium in July 16 2021

The IPCC assessment projected that the number of weather, climate and water-related disasters will increase in the future. Pictured: A train in the flood waters at the local station in Kordel, Germany on July 15 2021, after it was flooded by the high waters of the Kyll river

FUTURE OUTLOOKS FROM THE REPORT The number of weather, climate and water-related disasters will increase in the future. This includes extreme heat events, which will become more frequent and intense regardless of the greenhouse gas emissions scenario. The combination of climate change with urbanisation and population ageing will further exacerbate, vulnerability to heat. Climate change-induced alterations in the production and distribution of pollens and spores may lead to increases in allergic disorders Advertisement

When looking to the future, the WMO report made use of results from a separate report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in August 2021.

The IPCC assessment projected that the number of weather, climate and water-related disasters will increase in the future.

This includes extreme heat events, which will become more frequent and intense regardless of the greenhouse gas emissions scenario.

The combination of climate change with urbanisation and population ageing will further exacerbate, vulnerability to heat.

The UNICEF Children's Climate Risk Index suggests that children are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change than adults, with nearly 125 million children in Europe living in 'MediumHigh' risk countries.

The IPCC report also had 'high confidence' that temperatures will rise in all European areas at a rate exceeding global mean temperature changes, and that will exceed critical thresholds for ecosystems and humans.

According to the WMO report, climate change-induced alterations in the production and distribution of pollens and spores may lead to increases in allergic disorders.

Over 24 per cent of adults and up to 40 per cent of children living in Europe suffer from various allergies, including severe asthma.

Climate change could also increase the distribution diseases spread by mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas, like Lyme illness and tick-borne encephalitis.

According to the IPCC, the combination of climate change with urbanisation and population ageing will further exacerbate, vulnerability to heat. Pictured: An aerial view of the Zernek Dam in Van, Turkey in September 2022, that had almost dried up due to the heat

Annual burned areas due to wildfires were about three times or more the 2006 to 2020 average in Cyprus, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Montenegro and Turkey. Pictured: A forest fire in Gironde, France in August 2022 during the record-breaking summer of heatwaves and drought

The report revealed that, in 2021, high impact weather and climate events led to hundreds of fatalities, and about 84 per cent of them were floods or storms. Pictured: Weather, climate and water related natural disasters in Europe during 2021

It is not all bad news, as the WMO report revealed that a number of countries in Europe have been successful in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

In particular, in the European Union greenhouse gas emissions decreased 31 per cent between 1990 and 2020.

Up until 2019 this was strongly driven by fossil fuel price effects and policy measures, however the decline in 2020 was also related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report states that 2021 emissions in the EU are expected to be higher than in 2020.

However, Europe is one of the most advanced regions in climate change adaptation, and has about 75 per cent of people protected by early warning systems.

Heat-health action plans have also saved many lives from extreme heat.

In 2021, the EU made climate neutrality - the goal of zero net emissions by 2050 - legally binding in the EU, and set an interim target of 55 per cent emission reduction by 2030.

Plus, as of March 2022, 51 European countries and the EU submitted a 'nationally determined contribution' (NDC) - a long term goal to reduce emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Professor Taalas said: 'On the mitigation side, the good pace in reducing greenhouse gases emissions in the region should continue and ambition should be further increased.

'Europe can play a key role towards achieving a carbon neutral society by the middle of the century to meet the Paris Agreement.
It's already known some users are losing followers due to accounts disappearing

The firm looked at Google Trends data between October 24 and October 31

Google search engine data suggests Twitter users really are leaving the platform in their droves now Elon Musk is the new owner.

Experts at security firm VPNOverview have used Google Trends to establish search increases over the past week since Musk's $44 billion (38 billion) takeover.

Globally, searches for 'How to delete Twitter' surged by 500 per cent in the past week, from October 24 to October 31, the firm found.

Searches for 'boycott Twitter' are also up 4,800 per cent in the last seven days, from October 26 to November 2.

It's already known many Twitter users are losing followers due to accounts disappearing, likely due to deletion.

Searches for 'How to delete Twitter' have surged by 500 per cent in the past week since Elon Musk took over the platform

Elon Musk, the world's richest person with a net worth of more than $210billion (180billion), completed his purchase of Twitter last week

HOW TO DELETE YOUR TWITTER ACCOUNT - On the homepage, click 'More' on the side menu followed by 'Settings & Support' and then 'Settings and privacy' - Select 'Your Account' followed by 'Deactivate your account' and then 'Deactivate' - Before selecting 'Deactivate', users have the option to make the 'Reactivation period' 30 days or 12 months - This reactivation period lets users restore their Twitter account if it was accidentally or wrongfully deactivated Advertisement

Deleting a Twitter account is actually a 'straightforward and easy process' that can be completed in a few steps, VPNOverview says, although users wanting to 'disengage' from the site should not feel compelled to do so.

Naj Ahmed, a privacy expert at VPNOverview, said it's 'unlikely' that there will be immediate wholesale changes at Twitter and that the takeover 'doesn't mean a whole lot right away'.

'Twitter's not trying to revolutionise the way people communicate, or disrupt an existing industry, unlike most of Mr Musk's existing companies,' Ahmed said.

'This is quite different from most of Mr Musk's portfolio, as it's one of the few times that he's bought an established company that isn't trying to push the boundaries of what's possible.'

Ahmed also said he expects 'more openness' in the type of content that's published on Twitter, as well as the return of certain popular figures who were banned by the platform, such as Donald Trump and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

Musk said: 'Twitter will not allow anyone who was de-platformed for violating Twitter rules back on platform until we have a clear process for doing so, which will take at least a few more weeks.'

Twitter users have been watching closely to see if Elon Musk will restore former US president Donald Trump's account, after he was banned for inciting last year's attack on the US Capitol

TWITTER USERS ARE LOSING FOLLOWERS AFTER TAKEOVER Multiple Twitter users have posted that they've been losing followers since the $44 billion (38 billion) takeover was completed on Thursday. It's possible people are losing Twitter followers  described as 'The Great Purge' by one user  because users are deactivating their accounts in protest at Musk's purchase. Another possibility is that Musk has already got to work at reducing the number of bots on the platform, said to make up five per cent of all user accounts. On Friday, Star Wars actor Mark Hamill said he'd lost almost 6,000 followers in the last three days. Read more Advertisement

It's already known that Twitter users have been threatening to delete their accounts in protest at Musk and his initial shake-up of the platform, although whether they follow through with it is a different matter.

Since becoming owner, Musk  who also runs Tesla and SpaceX  has wasted no time making significant changes to Twitter, including firing top execs and dissolving the board of directors.

He's also confirmed going to make Twitter users pay $8 per month to have a blue tick next to their account name, calling the current 'lords and peasants' system 'bulls**t'.

Musk, the world's richest man, previously mulled a $20 per month blue tick verification fee, but appeared to lower the cost following criticism from horror author Stephen King.

Musk has also already specified his intention to form a content moderation council with 'widely diverse viewpoints'.

'No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes,' he said.

He has also reportedly brought more than 50 of his Tesla staff who were mostly working on the electric car company's autopilot team to review and work on code for Twitter.

Washington Post also reports Musk will lay off 25 per cent of Twitter's workforce in the first round of job cuts.

Possibly due to the outrage directed at him on Twitter, in the last 24 hours, Musk has changed his Twitter bio to: 'Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator' and his location to 'Hell'.

In the last 24 hours, Musk has changed his Twitter bio to: 'Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator' and his location to 'Hell'

Musk is going to make Twitter users pay $8 per month to have a blue tick next to their account name, calling the current 'lords and peasants' system 'bulls**t

After news broke last week that Musk had completed the takeover, users started to notice that their follower counts were drastically depleting.

It's possible people are losing followers  described as 'The Great Purge' by one user  because users are deactivating their accounts.

Many Twitter users appear to be heading to a little-known rival called Mastodon, founded six years ago by German software developer Eugen Rochko.

Mastodon  named after the extinct elephant-like mammal  is a free, open-source platform that has microblogging features similar to Twitter.

According to Mastodon, it gained more than 70,000 new sign-ups on Friday, the day after Musk finalised his $44 billion takeover of Twitter.
The results showed women received an average of 72.8 words per chance to speak compared to 81.4 for male speakers

Using AI, the system found 275,420 transcripts where there were interruptions

A computer scientists analyzed more than 625,000 discussions from segments on CNN, FOX News and MSNBC from January 2000 through July 2021

Woman are given 10 percent less airtime than men during political discussions on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC because they're constantly interrupted, an analysis by artificial intelligence shows.

The discovery was made by researchers at Rochester Institute of Technology who used AI to analyze 625,409 discussions hosted on the three news cable networks from January 2000 through July 2021.

It revealed that women received an average of 72.8 words per chance to speak compared to 81.4 for male speakers. Women were also interrupted 39.4 percent of the time during discussions - compared to the 35.9 percent of the time for men.

The team believes their AI could be used during talk shows, interviews and political debates to identify a serial interrupter in real-time, but the study also reinforces previous research that found men interrupt women more to show their dominance.

AI analyzed thousands of discussions on MSNBC, CNN and Fox News which found woman are given 10 percent less to speak during political discussions because men interrupt them. PICTURED: MSNBC's Joy Reid was repeatedly interrupted by Pastor Mark Burns during a segment

The research was led by Ashique Khudabukhsh, a computer scientist, who discussed the results in a report published by The Conversation.

Approximately five years ago, CNN aired a segment with host Chris Cuomo where he he invited Matt Schlapp, Chairman of the American Conservative Union, and CNN political commentator Ana Navarro to debate President Donald Trump's first 200 days in office.

It is apparent Schlapp is given more airtime to speak during the clip, as Navarro waited her turn to speak - but when she did, her male counterpart cut in with digs.

However, the now-fired Cuomo, did interrupt Schlapp several times during the discussion due to conflicting political views.

More recently in 2021, Brook Baldwin aired her grievances as she departed as an anchor on CNN, noting there is a lack of opportunities for women at the network.

The technology revealed women received an average of 72.8 words per chance to speak compared to 81.4 for male speakers. During a segment with form CNN host Chris Cuomo (center), Matt Schlapp took over the conversation, leaving Anna Navarro to wait in silence

In 2018, MSNBC's Joy Reid, host of The ReidOut segment, was discussing Trump's statement about Africa being a place of 's***hole countries' with Pastor Mark Burns, a televangelist.

Reid asked Burns to comment on Trump's statement, in which the pastor replied 'it was allegedly said.'

The MSNBC host attempted to give direct quotes from Lindsay Graham who confirmed the statement, but Burns interrupted her statements to the point where Reid had to say 'excuse me' as a way to signal Burns to stop chiming in.

During one of Sean Hannity's segments nine years ago, Radio and TV talk show host Bill Cunningham and Tamara Holder, an attorney and Fox Analyst, debated whether Attorney General Eric Holder committed perjury in a trial about the Department of Justice's seizure of phone records from the Associated Press.

Cunningham, incensed over what he felt was Eric Holder's consistent mendacity, began screaming and jabbing his finger at the Fox analyst, who was sitting right next to him.

He also interrupted her nearly every time she tried to speak.

The team believes their AI could be used during talk shows, interviews and political debates to identify a serial interrupter in real-time, which may have helped a heated debate on the Sean Hannity show when Erick Cunningham aggressively interrupted Fox analyst Tamara Holder

The study was conducted by first computing the average number of words per line spoken by annotated speakers from all 275,420 transcripts pulled from the group of dialogues - these transcripts were found to include interruptions.

The system then grouped the speakers by occupation, gender and race/ethnicity, according to the study published in 2022 International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence and European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI-ECAI).

'Comparing male and female speakers, we find that male speakers have a higher average word per line across all but one pair (Black/African American in political occupation) grouped by occupation and race/ethnicity,' reads the study.

However, the AI also determined that the female group had an overall interruption rate of 39.4 percent compared to the male group of 35.9 percent.

The team looked out if a speaker's political stance impacted their impulse to interrupt the conversation and it was those in the Republican party who cut in the most with a rate of 272 compared to 229 for Democratic speakers.

Democrats employ intrusive interruption 65.6 percent of the time when talking to fellow Democrats while this number is 74.8 percent against Republicans.

Similarly, Republicans show 61.7 percent intrusive interruption rate when talking to Republicans and 70.5 percent when talking to Democrats.

'In all comparisons, we observe that journalists in CNN or MSNBC use more intrusive interruptions when speaking with Republicans (69.4% (D) v.s. 72.5% (R) for CNN, 67.7% (D) v.s. 77.1% (R) for MSNBC), while journalists in Fox News use more intrusive interruptions when speaking with Democrats (65.9% (D) v.s. 58.4% (R),' the researchers shared in the study.
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Rocket Lab will attempt to launch a rocket into space this week, before catching its four-story-tall booster with a helicopter as it falls back to Earth.

The rocket, known as Electron, will carry a research satellite into orbit and separate its first stage on the way.

This will then fall through the atmosphere and deploy a parachute to slow it down from its maximum speed of 5,150 miles per hour (8,300 kph).

The modified Sikorsky S-92 recovery helicopter will match the booster's speed of 22 mph (36 kph) and attempt to hook its trailing parachute.

It will then be taken back to the Production Complex in Auckland, New Zealand, and, if successful, could make Electron the world's first reusable operational small rocket.

Rocket Lab CEO and founder, Peter Beck, says: 'Our first helicopter catch only a few months ago proved we can do what we set out to do with Electron.

'We're eager to get the helicopter back out there and advance our rocket reusability even further by bringing back a dry stage for the first time.'

Electron rocket blasts off for its 'There And Back Again' mission from the launch pad on the Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand on May 3 2022. Rocket Lab will attempt to launch Electron into space this week, before catching its booster with a helicopter as it falls back to Earth

The modified Sikorsky S-92 recovery helicopter will match the booster's speed of 22 mph (36 kph) and attempt to hook its trailing parachute. Pictured: A helicopter hovers above as it attempts to capture Electron's first stage in mid-air by helicopter above New Zealand in May

Electron will carry the Mesospheric Airglow/Aerosol Tomography and Spectroscopy satellite (pictured) by OHB Sweden for the Swedish National Space Agency

'CATCH ME IF YOU CAN' LAUNCH DETAILS Launch window opens: November 4, 17:15-18:30 GMT (13:15-14:30 ET) Launch vehicle: Electron Launch site: Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Pad B Orbit: 364 mile (585 km) circular Earth orbit Payload: Mesospheric Airglow/Aerosol Tomography and Spectroscopy satellite Advertisement

The window for the mission, named 'Catch Me If You Can' after Twitter user suggested it to Mr Beck, opens on Friday.

Lift-off will be from Pad B of Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula from about 17:15 GMT (13:15 ET).

It will carry the Mesospheric Airglow/Aerosol Tomography and Spectroscopy (MATS) satellite by OHB Sweden for the Swedish National Space Agenc.

The satellite will be used to to investigate atmospheric waves and better understand how the upper layer of Earth's atmosphere interacts with wind and weather patterns closer to the ground.

The mission will mark Rocket Lab's 32nd launch of the Electron rocket.

The helicopter will take off before the rocket, and head to the capture zone at sea, approximately 160 nautical miles off the Banks Peninsula.

After lift-off, Electron's first and second stages will separate at approximately T+2:32 minutes into the mission.

The first stage will begin its descent to Earth, reaching an estimated temperature of 4,352F (2,400C) while it hurtles through the atmosphere.

At approximately T+7:20 minutes, Electron's first parachute will deploy, followed shortly by its main parachute to help slow it down to 0.4 per cent of its top speed.

As it enters the capture zone, the recovery helicopter will send out a long line with a hook attached that can grab onto the booster's parachute.

Once it has been grabbed at about T+18:44 minutes, the twin engine helicopter will return it to land where technicians will assess its suitability for re-use.

Meanwhile, the second stage will be sent into orbit and eventually separate from the payload approximately an hour after lift-off.

The satellite weighs about 110 pounds (50 kg) and will go into a dawn-dusk sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 364 miles (585 km).

At approximately T+7:20 minutes, Electron's first parachute will deploy, followed shortly by its main parachute to help slow it down to 0.4 per cent of its top speed. As it enters the capture zone, the recovery helicopter will send out a long line with a hook attached that can grab onto the booster's parachute. Once it has been grabbed at about T+18:44 minutes, the twin engine helicopter will return it to land where technicians will assess its suitability for re-use

A Sikorsky S-92 (pictured) is 68 ft 6 in long (20.8 m), weighs 7.8 tons (7,070 kg), and is capable of flying at 190 miles per hour even carrying heavy payloads

The 18-metre and 14-ton (13,000 kg) Electron rocket (pictured) can deliver payloads weighing up to 440 lb (320 kg) for up to 310 miles (500 km)

The window for the mission, named 'Catch Me If You Can' after Twitter user suggested it to Mr Beck, opens on Friday. It will mark Rocket Lab's 32nd launch of the Electron rocket (pictured)

The 18-metre and 14-ton (13,000 kg) Electron rocket can deliver payloads weighing up to 440 lb (320 kg) for up to 310 miles (500 km).

A Sikorsky S-92 is 68 ft 6 in long (20.8 m), weighs 7.8 tons (7,070 kg), and is capable of flying at 190 miles per hour even carrying heavy payloads,

Originally used for search and rescue missions and offshore oil and gas transport, one has been modified to complete the 'Catch Me If You Can' mission.

It now includes extended range fuel tanks for open ocean flights, a bubble window for better visibility and, of course, the long line and hook to pick up the parachute.

The MATS satellite was originally scheduled to be deployed on a Russian Soyuz rocket, however the Swedish government cancelled that plan in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

Lift-off will be from Pad B of Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula from about 17:15 GMT (13:15 ET)

ELECTRON: SMALL ROCKET LAUNCHER Height: 18m (59ft) Payload to LEO: 300kg (661lb) Succesful launches: 97 Cost: $100 million Cost per launch: $7.5 million Launch sites: Mahia LC-1 (active), MARS (planned), Sutherland (proposed) First flight: 2017 Advertisement

This launch will be the second attempt for the California-based launch and space systems company to recover Electron's first stage using a parachute and helicopter.

In May, for the 'There And Back Again' mission, the Electron rocket successfully deployed 34 satellites to a sun-synchronous orbit.

The Sikorsky S-92 managed to grab the first stage's parachute as it fell, around 173 miles (278 km) off the coast of New Zealand, and at an altitude of about 6,500 feet (1.98 km).

Unfortunately, it had to release it moments later due to 'different load characteristics than what [was] experienced in testing', according to Rocket Lab.

The second stage splashed down into the Pacific and was recovered by a boat, but 'Catch Me If You Can' hopes to properly capture it as a dry stage for the first time.

A mid-air capture had been tried before, albeit unsuccessfully by NASA's Genesis spacecraft back in 2004, thus making 'There And Back Again' a historic first.

Mid-air recovery is part of Rocket Lab's plan to be able to reuse its rockets' boosters, as crashing into the water risks issues with salt water intrusion.

Rocket Lab wants to slash the cost of sending things into space by reusing rockets  an industry trend pioneered by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX.

The company regularly launches 18-metre (59-foot) rockets from the remote Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand to deliver satellites into space.

Propulsive landing, where engines are used to slow the rocket upon descent, as used with SpaceX's Falcon 9, is not feasible for a small rocket like Electron.

You can watch a livestream of the 'Catch Me If You Can' mission on Friday here.
A massive 21-ton piece of China's Long March 5B rocket booster, the size of a 10-story building, is predicted to make an uncontrolled reentry into Earth's atmosphere Saturday - and experts still cannot predict where it will make a crash landing.

The rocket, which launched on October 31, carried the third and final modular to China's Tiangong Space Station, but now aerospace experts who are scrambling to determine its path back home before it breaks through the atmosphere.

The last Long March booster that tumbled back to Earth this past July and similar to the current situation, China has not shared specific trajectory information of the debris that is vital to 'ensuring the safety of people here on Earth,' NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in July.

Gregory Henning, Project Leader at The Aerospace Corporations Center for Orbital Reentry and Debris Studies (CORDS), told DailyMail.com that there is still too much uncertainty in the data and models to make a prediction.

'As the rocket bodys altitude decreases and the reentry approaches, the window will shrink, and will begin to reveal locations that will not be the landing site,' Henning explained.

'But the exact location will not be known until it actually enters.'

While major cities appear to be safe from the falling debris, Henning said '88 percent of the worlds population does live within those at-risk latitude bounds' of the booster - but the odds of an individual being affected are about six in 10 trillion.

China launched the rocket on October 31, which delivered the final piece of its new space station. However, just like the other rockets before, this booster is set to make an uncontrolled reentry Saturday

The modular, named Mengtain, blasted into space on Monday afternoon from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Centre on the southern island province of Hainan.

Mengtian, or 'Celestial Dream', joins Wentian as the second laboratory module for the station, collectively known as Tiangong, or 'Celestial Palace'. Both are connected to the Tianhe core module where the crew lives and works.

Like its predecessors, Mengtian was launched aboard a Long March-5B carrier rocket, a member of China's most powerful family of launch vehicles, which have all made uncontrolled crash landings back to Earth.

Aerospace Corporation shared 'there is a non-zero probability' that the debris will land in a populated area  in other words, it's not impossible, so it could happen.

'A re-entry of this size will not burn up in the Earth's atmosphere,' said Aerospace Corporation, which is based in El Segundo, California.

'The general rule of thumb is that 20-40 percent of the mass of a large object will reach the ground, though it depends on the design of the object.'

The most recent was the booster of the rocket that launched July 24 and because the booster was racing around Earth's orbit every 90 minutes, the exact point to where it would plummet from the sky was impossible to predict.

Space debris experts said it is still too early to predict the path, but Aerospace Corporation used available data to show possible landing sites (shown in yellow)

The March Long 5B's booster weighs about 21-ton piece and is roughly the size of a 10-story building,

Fortunately most of the rocket burned up in the atmosphere, but up to 40 percent of it was predicted to survive the fall from space - and some of the pieces were recovered around South Asia.

The reports, however, stated there were no injuries from the debris.

All spacefaring nations should follow established best practices and do their part to share this type of information in advance to allow reliable predictions of potential debris impact risk,' Nelson said in July.

'Doing so is critical to the responsible use of space and to ensure the safety of people here on Earth.'

In July, another booster made an uncontrolled reentry, while most of it burned up in the atmosphere some pieces were recovered in South Asia

Prior to July, an 18-ton chink of the rocket reentered over Maldives May 8, 2021, but fell into the Indian Ocean.

'it is notable that these four rockets represent the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th largest uncontrolled reentries in the history of the space age,' said Henning.

'Most of the others in the top 20 happened more than 30 plus years ago, many of which were accidental rather than intentional.

'Norms have shifted since then, and the capability to ensure controlled reentry of such large objects is something that most spacefaring nations can do.

'There are international rules and guidelines agreed upon by most spacefaring nations, and the norms that are established by these guidelines are very important for maintaining a safe and sustainable use of space.

'Its up to each nation individually to prioritize following these rules.'
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Plenty of people trek to Everest Base Camp every year. They are mostly youngsters with their sights set on getting there as quickly as possible. We did it differently, spending three wonderful weeks exploring the region, soaking up the dramatic scenery and taking days out to acclimatise.

Our guides set a moderate pace and we had porters to transport our luggage. There were even moments when it seemed that we were taking a leisurely stroll, like a rhythmic, meditation on the move.

Sitting in a French bakery sipping a hot Americano and eating a cinnamon bun was not what I expected 14,400ft (4,400m) up in a Himalayan mountain village.

Himalayan highs: Jane Slade and her husband, Neil, at Everest Base Camp

Slow and steady: Jane allowed three weeks to reach Base Camp, which gave her time to explore the region and acclimatise

Deserted but for a few yaks and fluttering prayer flags, Dingboche is like many of the villages we passed on our trek.

It was quiet and cold, with swirling snow sticking to the windows. A few shops were selling woollen hats, loo paper and out-of-date Mars bars.

At this altitude, just 1,300ft lower than Mont Blanc in the Alps, there is no mains electricity.

No sun, no light, explained the waiter, throwing another log onto the fire.

We had walked for eight days; that is my husband, me, my Australian cousin Jill, her friend Lynne and Jills son Ben and his girlfriend Erica. Apart from the latter two, a fit young couple in their 20s, we were all rather older  the whole point of the trek was to arrive in time to celebrate my 60th birthday at Base Camp.

Despite our fitness training, nothing had prepared us for the high altitude. I felt dizzy just looking up at the ice shelves, seracs (columns of glacial ice) and vertical curtains of avalanche trails. Ahead lay vast powder fields and wave upon wave of mountain peaks. I had never seen such untouched beauty. The Himalayas are thrilling yet terrifying. There are more than 50 mountains soaring over 23,000ft.

We caught our first glimpse of Everest, christened Sagarmatha by the locals, as its glistening summit moved in and out of the clouds like a burlesque fan dancer and I wondered what Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay had thought when they first spied Everest at this point in 1953 before they became the first to reach its summit.

Peaky blinder: 'I had never seen such untouched beauty,' says Jane. Pictured is a tourist viewing Everest from Gokyo Valley

Above is Nepalese dal bhat (a curry of lentils and rice), which became one of Jane's staple meals

Four Sherpas guided us up steep rocky steps, along long metal bridges over rushing rivers, through fairy tale forests, stopping for lunch in isolated villages.

We met Tibetan nuns on a four-hour walk to have their eyes tested, mules laden with gas canisters, locals carrying towering loads in bamboo baskets and Buddhist priests on their way to prayer. We even visited a clifftop monastery at Thamo where shaven-headed boys were being trained as monks.

I loved hanging out with our Sherpas, one of whom, Pertemba, had conquered Everests Southwest Face with Doug Scott and Dougal Haston, the first Britons to scale the big mountain in 1975, and Chris Bonington. He had also guided the then Prince Charles on a trek in the Annapurna region in 1980.

Deft and agile at 73, Pertemba is so revered that even the dust stays away from his shoes. His measured pace enabled us to keep going for six hours a day, stopping only for him to greet old chums and pose for selfies with adoring fans.

The last time I had a headache was in 1970, he stated while we were sitting around a hot stove one evening drinking ginger and honey tea.

Our leader Sherpa Kalsang ensured we climbed just over a quarter of a mile a day and then rested to acclimatise. He had grown up in the biggest village in the region, Namche Bazaar, which has a ski-resort feel with steep streets lined with coffee shops, clothing outlets and small hotels, but no cars.

Kalsang told us how, as a boy, he used to walk for two hours up the steep slopes to school every day and look after his parents yaks at weekends.

We stayed at the Hotel Tibet, which had magnificent views across the red, green and blue rooftops to the Kongde peak (20,298ft) which glowed orange at sunset.

That heart-thumping excitement of waking each morning here never dulled. There is nothing quite like dawn breaking in the Himalayas. Sometimes there was a spectacular sunrise and birdsong, or a moody mist and chanting drifting from a local monastery.

Jane stayed at Hotel Tibet in Namche Bazaar (above), 'which had magnificent views across the red, green and blue rooftops to the Kongde peak (20,298ft)'

Jane visited a clifftop monastery at Thamo where shaven-headed boys (stock image) were being trained as monks

TIPS FOR YOUR TRIP OF A LIFETIME The best time to go is during the Everest climbing season, which runs from March to May and September to November.

Buy a pair of ankle-length Gore-Tex walking boots and break them in before you set off. No one wants blisters and sore feet.

Double-layer walking socks will also save you from blisters. A pair of walking poles is also essential.

Make sure youre moderately fit and go with a small group of friends to avoid being concerned about the pace. You will not want to be worried about holding back a walking party of far fitter people.

Be prepared to experience some basic accommodation. It can be a long walk to showers, which can cost an extra 10.

Good travel insurance is a must. Also take some battery phone chargers, altitude sickness pills, sun tan lotion and loo rolls but avoid alcohol.

Bring 200 worth of Nepalese rupee for extras (if you have paid for the accommodation and guides already). Advertisement

We usually set off at 9am at a slow pace, taking care to walk anticlockwise round the prayer rocks and painted stupas (dome-like Buddhist monuments). We stopped to look at dry-stone quadrangles filled with crops, watched pheasants dance through juniper trees and saw lichen hang like gossamer cobwebs from branches.

The scenery was overwhelming. We were so high that sometimes we were wading through clouds while helicopters flew below us.

As it became colder, we bathed in the warmth of the sun when we emerged from the shadows. We stayed in basic teahouses. The higher we climbed the more basic they became. And water was so limited that we would fill our drinking bottles with boiling water to warm our sleeping bags at night and then drink from them during the day. Showers always cost extra and were not always available.

On one of the non-trekking days Jane walked to the village of Khumjung (above), home to the celebrated yeti scalp, housed in a glass dome in the monastery

TRAVEL FACTS Jane Slade and her family travelled with the Walking and Climbing Company which organises treks in Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet. Prices for a 20-day Everest Base Camp trek start from 1,950 pp for up to seven people and includes all meals, guides and accommodation, excluding flights (walkingandclimbing.com). Advertisement

Food was plentiful, though. We lived off fresh vegetable and garlic soup, Nepalese dal bhat (a curry of lentils and rice) and potatoes, pasta and rice. We kept hydrated with varieties of tea: marsala, ginger and lemon, green, honey and lemon.

Non-trekking days were spent exploring monasteries and villages. We walked down the long track of prayer plaques to Pertembas village of Khumjung where he is rebuilding his 400-year-old ancestral home which was badly damaged during the 2015 earthquake.

Khumjung is where you will also find the celebrated yeti scalp, housed in a glass dome in the monastery there.

The sky was cobalt blue and the air crisp when we started on the track to base camp. My excitement was palpable when tiny yellow dots suddenly became visible.

I can see the tents, we are nearly there, I yelled. Surrounded by frozen waves of ice we scrambled along the track as fast as we could.

Base camp was all but empty except for some helicopters and expedition leaders. All the climbers were on the mountain.

The sharp teeth of the infamous Khumbu ice fall, which mountaineers have to navigate to reach Camp One, sprawled before us and seemed even more treacherous than I had imagined.

We had made it. Tears streamed down my face. I was too moved to speak.

That night I had the fluffiest birthday cake I have ever tasted. A delicious Victoria sponge with home-made sea buckthorn jam. I felt on top of the world.
By Ma Kyung-hee





Although illicit drugs have existed in Korean society for some time, they did not attract significant political and social interest until the year 2000.



According to the National Police Agency, there were 10,304 drug-related arrests in 1999, up three times compared to 1992. In response, the Narcotic Control Act was enacted in 2000, establishing narcotics units and investigation teams. Additionally, the government delivered strong anti-drug messages to the public through traditional media. However, drug problems have persisted, enhanced by relaxed travel restrictions and technological advancements facilitating the easy procurement of narcotics.



In 2021, there were a record 16,153 drug offenders. Previously, drug use was highest among people in their forties, accounting for nearly 40 percent of all age groups. But in 2021, those in their twenties had the highest representation, at 32 percent. What is most concerning is an upsurge in drug abuse among teens, from 121 in 2016 to 450 in 2021. The types of drugs used expanded from marijuana to synthetic opioids including fentanyl. As the actual number of offenders is estimated to be around 28 times higher than the number arrested, the situation with teens warrants immediate attention.



Younger people have easier access to illicit drugs due to their hyperconnected lives. Online anonymity, cryptocurrency, and contactless delivery methods enable the persistent popularity of illicit drug use. Furthermore, potent and hazardous new synthetic drugs appear frequently and police cannot keep up. Most drug-related activities occur in cyberspace and are highly individualized, which stymies government control. As a result, illicit drug use is expected to continue to increase, particularly among young people, unless adequate prevention education and interventions are provided.



Drug addiction has a high recidivism rate in Korea because the country lacks well-equipped, community-based treatment centers and mental health professionals. Treatment is typically provided within correctional facilities, but the transition from those facilities is difficult due to the lack of community rehabilitation centers. Consequently, relapses are common. Furthermore, most treatment programs are not age-appropriate, having limited effects on younger people. The human brain does not complete structural development until around age 25. Drugs change the structure and functions of the teenage brain, with serious health implications. Treatment programs, therefore, must be age-appropriate to maximize effectiveness.



Teens, and even preteens, can benefit from drug prevention education. Currently, the Korean education system does not require such programs despite increasing drug use. Prevention education must go beyond scare tactics, because teens tend to find emphasizing or exaggerating the dangers of drug use irrelevant and dismiss the messages.



Those tactics can also backfire with high-risk youth or even trigger past trauma. The emphasis should be on reinforcing making healthy choices and promoting healthy lifestyles. Education sessions should explain basic health risks and drug categories, and discuss peer pressure and legal ramifications. Sessions should also engage family members and teachers and identify community resources to counter illicit drug use. Lastly, former drug users can be invited to share their experiences with teens to help develop a realistic understanding of illicit drug use.



Illicit drug use has weakened the fabric of Korean society, incurring implicit and explicit economic and societal costs. Korea can lower illicit drug use by recognizing it as a major social problem and investing in age-appropriate prevention education and early detection of vulnerability to drug abuse. Society-level responsibility and engagement will enable Korea to build a healthier country for the current generation and those to come.





Ma Kyung-hee (kyungheem@daum.net) is an editor and researcher. Her work focuses on community capacity building.


Radio host Hamish Blake and his businesswoman wife Zoe Foster Blake were left reeling after a 'home invasion' in which a man allegedly broke into their luxury rental home while they were sleeping and stole their luxury Land Rover.

Daily Mail Australia can reveal the celebrity couple were the alleged victims of the break-and-enter just days before Christmas last year.

Daniel Booth, 34, is accused of breaking into the four-bedroom home the power couple were renting for almost $5000 a week in Woollahra, in Sydney's east, about 6am on Monday, December 19.

Police will allege in court that Booth allegedly entered the kitchen and stole keys from the skincare mogul's handbag - before taking off in the family's Land Rover Defender.

Similar high-end models in the Defender range are valued at $123,919.

Hamish Blake, 40, and his wife Zoe Foster Blake, 42, allegedly had their car stolen last year

Pictured: The Woollahra home the Blakes were renting when their car was allegedly stolen

The couple were staying at the property while their multimillion dollar home in Vaucluse was renovated

The Blakes discovered their car missing from its parking spot out the front of the residence later that morning.

But police will allege in court that the couple tracked it down four kilometres away in Redfern in Sydney's inner south.

The couple called police and officers found the allegedly stolen car before arresting Booth in a nearby apartment on Morehead Street.

Police will allege Booth was found still in possession of the car key and handbag.

The car was seized for forensic examination while Booth was taken to Mascot Police Station, where he was charged.

He was refused bail before an appearance in Central Local Court on December 21.

The comedian and cosmetics entrepreneur were staying in the rental with their young children - son Sonny, seven, and daughter Rudy, five - as they were renovating their $8.925million home in nearby Vaucluse.

The Blakes purchased their new five-bedroom, six-bathroom Vaucluse home in December 2020 after moving to Sydney from Melbourne.

The four-level home, which was designed by Neil Architecture and appeared on Grand Designs Australia in 2013, measures 885sqm and features two sets of garages.

The buy came after Zoe, 42, made the Australian Young Rich List in November, with an estimated net worth of $36million thanks to her Go-To skincare line.

Seven months later, Hamish, 40, announced on Instagram the family were staying in a rental while works got underway at their home.

Pictured: Hamish Blake pictured with the family's Land Rover in March 2022 as he stepped out for coffee

Booth allegedly broke into the home (pictured) early in the morning while the family slept

He then allegedly took the keys from a handbag on the kitchen table before taking the family's car

The celebrity couple have an estimated combined net worth of $40million

Hamish and friends are pictured installing a new roof rack and pod on the family car in March

'And it's a pretty good rental, because they have so many spoons,' he said.

'They even put a massive one on the wall,' he said, panning the camera to show a decorative utensil next to him.

'So, must be nice. Must be very, very nice.'

According to property records, the Woollahra home was listed for rent at $4900-a-week in February 2021.

It was listed for sale in June this year before being sold for an undisclosed amount in September, with current market estimates placing its value around $3.72million.

Booth was released on bail in June this year and his case is due to next be heard in Sydney District Court on November 17.

In relation to the alleged incident involving the Blakes, Booth has been charged with aggravated break and enter and committing a serious indictable offence with people there and stealing a motor vehicle.

He has pleaded not guilty to some of the charges and is set to face a jury trial in September 2023.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Blakes for comment.

Booth was arrested in a unit on Moorehead Street, Redfern (pictured), and remains before the courts
Lupita Nyong'o has revealed what it was like on the the first day working on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever following the passing co-star Chadwick Boseman, who died two years ago.

'It was hollow. It was very evident that he was missing and we were all feeling it, but also we had each other, so we were able to lean into each other, it was actually the only way to go forward I imagine was to lean into it and be there for each other,' the actress, 39, said on Good Morning America.

'It was good to be making this with a bunch of people who knew him, who had experienced his light and his love and so we could commiserate and really lean on each other,' she added.

'It has an effect on everyone around them': Lupita Nyong'o has shared stories about what it was like on the Black Panther set without co-star Chadwick Boseman, who passed away two years ago

Lupita explained that all the characters in the movie were dealing with loss.

Playing the role of a grieving character helped Lupita heal the loss she was feeling personally.

'Nakia is a little bit more advanced in the stages of grief than I was, so it was therapeutic to work on this role to get through my grief,' Lupita said.

The star was seen earlier on Tuesday as she exited the Kelly and Ryan morning show in a purple dress with circular sheer fabric sections and pump shoes.

The Kenyan-Mexican Academy Award winner has been on a whirlwind press tour as her new film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is set to release on November 11 and is expected to be one of the year's biggest draws.

Dearly departed: Chadwick, pictured in the first Black Panther movie, died tragically in 2020 at the age of 43 after a secret four-year battle with colon cancer

Original: Chadwick and Janeshia are pictured with Marie Mouroum, Maria Hippolyte and Michael B. Jordan in the original Black Panther film

Describing her new movie in three words, she said on GMA it was 'moving, daring and life-affirming.'

Lupita also joined her co-stars for an appearance at the Sirius XM studios, where they talked more about their late co-star.

Director Ryan Coogler looked dapper in a navy pleated suit with Capri parachute pants, pulled-up navy socks, and white kicks.

Pure talent: (L-R) Ryan Coogler, Nyong'o, Letitia Wright, Danai Gurira, and Winston Duke attend SiriusXM's Town Hall With The Cast Of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever at SIRIUS XM Studio on Tuesday

Busy girl: Nyongo wore a black blazer over a flowy red blouse that hung past her knees. The beauty put her naturally flawless complexion on display with a touch of makeup and wore her hair tied up in a braided twist

He wore his hair short with a groomed beard and mustache, black-rimmed glasses, and a gold medallion with Bosemans face on it close to his heart.

Also on the Sirius XM event was Danai Gurira, who looked pretty in a long black, red, and yellow dress and pointed black heels.

Gurira is best known for her starring roles as Michonne on the AMC horror drama series The Walking Dead, and her character, Okoye in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero films has appeared in Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame.

The cast: (L-R) Coogler, Danai, Duke, Wright, and Lupita participate in SiriusXM's Town Hall With The Cast Of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever at SIRIUS XM Studio on November 01, 2022 in New York City

Winston Duke looked fit in a black and yellow button-up shirt, brown pants, and dress shoes.

Coogler previously mentioned walking away from Hollywood after Boseman died, but he changed his mind and decided to persevere with the sequel.

The director said he coped with the loss by reflecting on their time working together, looking back at old photos and videos, and remembering their conversations.

Ready for release: The co-stars have been on a whirlwind press tour as her new film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is set to release on November 11 and is expected to be one of the year's biggest draws

Duke wore short hair with groomed facial hair and dark glasses.

Winston is a Tobagonian actor best known for his role as M'Baku in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame.

He also starred in Jordan Peele's horror film Us.

Stunning: Letitia Wright, who plays Shuri in the film, looks on during an emotional scene

Letitia Wright looked classy in a white wraparound blazer, black pants and shiny black boots.

The Death On The Nile actress wore her hair short and added dark glasses and a silver necklace.

With a career spanning over a decade, Emmy-nominated Letitia Wright has cemented her position as one of the industry's most captivating young actresses.

The star has once again jumped into the shoes of Shuri in the Marvel sequel, and fans have theorized that Letitia's character possibly could be the new hero following the tragic passing of Boseman.
The Veronicas are waving goodbye to Australia for good and making a permanent move to the United States next year.

After a productive writing session with John Feldmann and Blink 182's Travis Baker in Los Angeles in July, Jess and Lisa Origliasso, 37, have their sights set on international stardom.

While the twins are 'sad' to be leaving home, they said it was time to head back to the country where they got their big break.

The Veronicas are waving goodbye to Australia for good and making a permanent move to the United States next year

'The US is where we started it all and it's always been a major focus for us,' Jess told the Courier Mail. 'We are going to sign management over there as well and we feel the future for the Veronicas is over there.

'We're leaving Australia unfortunately, which is sad, but we're really excited to be able to really connect with all of our fans more on the international scale.'

They said the US has always been in their future, but they were relived to be in Australia for the last few years to look after their mother who passed away last September from progressive supranuclear palsy.

After a productive writing session with John Feldmann and Blink 182's Travis Baker in Los Angeles in July, Jess and Lisa Origliasso, 37, have their sights set on international stardom

While playing some big gigs in Australia, the sisters were signed in a seven-year deal with Sony Music, which ended earlier this year.

Since their break from the record label, they have spent more and more time in the US with their American partners, Logan Hoffman and Alex Smith, while they play around in the studio with Feldmann, 55.

The Veronicas have known and worked with Feldmann since their 2007 hit Hook Me Up and even introduced boy band 5 Seconds of Summer to him, kicking off their own move to the American music market.

While the twins are 'sad' to be leaving home, they said it was time to head back to the country where they got their big break

'John always has us in to do sessions whenever we are back in LA and when we were there last time working on some songs he said, "You should release this on my label, we want the new Veronicas stuff,"' Jess said.

They signed a deal with Big Noise record label in Malibu the following day with new music already planned for release in 2023.

The inaugural When We Were Young event in Las Vegas next October has already snapped up the pop sisters, booking them alongside the likes of Green Day, Blink 182, The Offspring, 30 Seconds To Mars, Good Charlotte and 5SOS.

'The US is where we started it all and it's always been a major focus for us,' Jess said. 'We are going to sign management over there as well and we feel the future for the Veronicas is over there

The Veronicas are not the only Aussie musicians to leave for the big wigs in the American music industry.

Rufus Du Sol, Dean Lewis, Flume, Tame Impala, 5SOS and Alison Wonderland all booked it over seas to find global fame.

Some festivals in the US have also cast their eye on Tones and I for next year.
Ben Platt discussed dealing with the controversy surrounding his casting in the Dear Evan Hansen film adaptation during an interview with the New York Times that was published Monday.

The 29-year-old actor talked about the 'disappointing' experience and the rude comments he received via social media.

'[The movie] was definitely a disappointing experience, and difficult, and it definitely opened my eyes to the internet and how horrific it can be,' he told the outlet.

Online attacks: Ben Platt discussed dealing with the controversy surrounding his casting in the Dear Evan Hansen movie during an interview with the New York Times (pictured 2021)

He continued, 'Youd think, after doing Dear Evan Hansen onstage for four years, I would have already known that. I try my best to focus on people who tell me it was moving to them and they really felt seen by it. It is very easy for the good to get drowned out by the bad.'

The flak he received from social media users made him quit Twitter which he said 'is almost exclusively for tearing people down.'

'I wasnt getting anything positive, and its been really nice to be away,' he elaborated.

Opening up: The 29-year-old actor talked about the 'disappointing' experience and the rather rude comments he received via social media

'Disappointing: '[The movie] was definitely a disappointing experience, and difficult, and it definitely opened my eyes to the internet and how horrific it can be,' he told the outlet

Age: A number of fans roasted The Politician star for his age at the time since he was playing a teenager in the film

A number of fans roasted The Politician star for his age at the time since he was playing a teenager in the film.

Platt, who was 27 when he was cast in the movie, was 21 when he first performed the role off-Broadway. He called out 'the randos being jerks about age' in a now-deleted tweet, after many thought he now looked too old to play the part.

'That dude looks like he's the principal' one Twitter user wrote, while another said: 'It is time to stop letting Ben Platt play teenagers in 2021.'

'That dude looks like he's the principal': Ben , 27, was mocked for playing a high school teen in Dear Evan Hansen trailer (pictured above

Ben  whose father co-produced the film  tweeted: 'thank u from the bottom of my [heart] for the outpouring of trailer love yesterday, the film required me to revisit areas of personal pain, so seeing ppl excited & moved makes it so deeply worth it. PS to the randos being jerks about age, read this great article and/or watch grease.'

The actor then linked to an article which showed the trailer, but later deleted his tweet as it only caused more fans to react about whether he looked too old to play the part.

The movie  about a teenager with social anxiety, played by Ben  was a huge hit on Broadway upon its debut in December 2016 at the Music Box Theatre.

Reactions: Fans were quick to poke fun at the actor for not resembling a teen in the trailer

Teenager: Platt is certainly not the first adult actor in Hollywood to play a high school teen

Strong opinions: Ben's tweet only seemed to open the floodgates on Twitter

Defending himself: Ben called out the 'jerks' who were complaining about his age

Mocked: Some compared the casting to high school classic Grease, where all the students were played by adult actors

Reactions: One Twitter user wrote that actor Jordan Fisher, who was one of Ben's replacements on the musical, would be a better fit, though ironically he is also 27

It went on to win six Tony Awards including Best Actor in a Musical for Ben Platt. He continued to play the role until it went on tour, with 23-year-old Ben Levi Ross taking over.

One Twitter user wrote that actor Jordan Fisher, who was one of Ben's replacements on the musical, would be a better fit, though ironically he is also 27.

In his now-deleted tweet, Ben had linked to a Vanity Fair article with the headline: 'Dear Evan Hansen Trailer: Ben Platt on Going Back to High School, One Last Time.'

Young: The 27-year-old actor was around 21 when he first performed the role off-Broadway (pictured in 2016)

He's back: Ben Platt, now 27, reprises his titular role in the Dear Evan Hansen trailer which was released on Tuesday

In the piece, Ben discusses the age difference, saying: 'I think everybody obviously had in their minds that I wasn't going to stay teen-adjacent forever.'

'The need to get it done was a little urgent. Then of course the pandemic happened, and I kind of assumed that was that  it would be a no-go, and by the time the pandemic was over, I'd have outgrown it.'

In an interview on the Zach Sang Show during the summer of 2021, Platt said that people didn't know enough of the contact surrounding his casting, specifically how his involvement was key to getting the movie made.

'The reaction is largely from people that don't understand the context of the piece,' he said at the time. 'The fact that I created the role and workshopped it for 3 years, and did all of the out-of-town performances, and originated it on Broadway, and received the accolades that I did... and also not really understanding that were I not to do the movie, it probably wouldn't get made.
She had a ball sipping champagne and catching up with girlfriends at the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday.

And Rebecca Judd kept the party going at her $7.3million Brighton mansion with her very attractive gal pals following the event.

The WAG, 39, shared a video of her after party on her new TikTok page.

Rebecca Judd held a Melbourne Cup after party at her $7.3m mansion in Brighton on Tuesday

The women kicked off their heels and changed into comfortable pink sweats as they sipped on margaritas in her kitchen.

'Post Raceday debrief,' she captioned the video, which showed herself, her influencer friend Jessie Roberts and Jaggard business partner Michelle Green making kissing faces at the camera.

Bec chose a revealing red mini dress for her long-awaited return to the Melbourne Cup after a three-year hiatus.

And while the model and activewear designer looked stunning in the long-sleeved retro ensemble, one of her followers was not a fan of her look.

The women kicked off their heels and changed into comfortable pink sweats as they sipped on margaritas in her kitchen

She was slammed by the fan, who thought the dress was inappropriate for the Cup.

'Nice dress but no cleavage at the races,' they wrote.

Many thoroughly disagreed, with most of her followers saying she looked absolutely phenomenal in the Effie Kats frock.

The women sipped on margarita at her kitchen bench

'Post Raceday debrief,' she captioned the video, which showed herself, her influencer friend Jessie Roberts and Jaggard business partner Michelle Green making kissing faces at the camera

And that she did, as she posed in the dress while enjoying a cocktail at the bar inside her Brighton home.

Bec paired her eye-popping look with a matching wide brimmed hat by Stephanie Spencer, Lana Wilkinson heels and a small handbag by Amina Muaddi official.

The brunette had her hair styled into loose curls and wore a minimal makeup palette.

Her white painted nails were a perfect addition to her bold statement outfit.

The mother-of-four got ready for the event early, hopping out of the makeup chair at 8am Tuesday morning.

She posted a photo of her stunning minimalist makeup look, courtesy of makeup artist-to-the-stars Chantelle Baker, before getting dressed and heading out for the big day.
She's the Aussie model known for her chic sense of style.

And Natalie Roser showed off her fashion credentials yet again last Thursday as she slipped into a slinky green wrap dress for an event in Sydney hosted by The Skin Bar.

The 32-year-old turned heads as she arrived at the swanky party to celebrate the skin needling clinic opening several new locations.

Natalie Roser (left, with Aisha Jade) showed off her fashion credentials last Thursday as she slipped into a slinky green wrap dress for an event in Sydney hosted by The Skin Bar

She was joined at The Little National hotel by former Big Brother star Aisha Jade.

The soiree featured performances by Dan Single, a.k.a. DJ Dangerous, and the world-renowned violinist Yena Choi.

The Skin Bar, founded by skin specialist Samantha Appel, will soon launch clinics in Rozelle, Narrabeen and Bondi Beach.

The 32-year-old turned heads as she arrived at the swanky party to celebrate the skin needling clinic opening several new locations

Other guests included Emma Pillemer, Sunrise reporter-turned-sunscreen entrepreneur Samantha Brett, and artist Bianca Beer.

It comes after Natalie set pulses racing recently with a racy photo shoot during a girls' getaway in New Caledonia.

The Sydney-based model posted a risque video to Instagram of herself flaunting her figure in a skimpy red and blue bikini.

It comes after Natalie set pulses racing recently with a racy photo shoot during a girls' getaway in New Caledonia

The blonde wasn't afraid to get her hair wet as she posed in the crystal-clear water.

Natalie is one of Australia's most in-demand models and recently shot a campaign for Guess jeans in the United States.

Last month, she revealed intimate details of her marriage to former Home and Away star Harley Bonner.

Natalie is one of Australia's most in-demand models and recently shot a campaign for Guess jeans in the United States

After rumours swirled about their long-distance relationship, she confirmed she was no longer living with her husband at their Newcastle home.

She told The Daily Telegraph that Harley, 31, had moved to Thailand shortly after their wedding in February to study energy healing and meditation.

'He is so happy. It is definitely an unconventional first year of marriage,' she said.
Emmerdale viewers were left shocked on Tuesday when it was revealed that love rat Al Chapman had been shot and killed by Cain Dingle.

And actor Michael Wildman has now revealed that despite many fans being glad to see the back of his divisive character his mother Kate, who is a big fan of the show, would be 'crying like crazy'.

Al met his untimely end when bad boy Cain (Jeff Hordley) lured him to a remote barn after discovering his affair with sister Chas Dingle (Lucy Pargeter) where a struggle over a shotgun ensued.

Dramatic exit: Emmerdale viewers were left shocked on Tuesday when it was revealed that love rat Al Chapman had been shot and killed by Cain Dingle

He told The Mirror: 'My biggest thing now is picking up the pieces for Mum, as she is going to be crying like crazy. But I don't think many others are going to be gutted Al is dead.'

Michael, who first joined the soap in 2019, went on to tell the publication that he had no 'misconceptions' about the shelf life of a villain in soaps.

'I wanted Al to go out with a bang, and last night he most definitely did'.

Shocking: Al met his untimely end when bad boy Cain (Jeff Hordley) lured him to a remote barn after discovering his affair with sister Chas Dingle (Lucy Pargeter) where a struggle over a shotgun ensued

Going onto say that the time was right for his character to bow out following the exit of his on screen son Ellis (Asan N'Jie) but still had a 'lump in his throat' while filming his final scenes.

He said he was so pleased to be able to feature in the show's epic 50th Anniversary and joked how the celebration was a 'great time to die!'.

'I've died three or four times with different characters I've played over the years. But the difference is this is a character who I have given life to for some time. Al is much dearer to me than other characters I've said goodbye to'.

Goodbye: Actor Michael Wildman has now revealed that despite many fans being glad to see the back of his divisive character his mother Kate, who is a big fan of the show, would be 'crying like crazy'

Big goodbye: He said: 'I wanted Al to go out with a bang, and last night he most definitely did'

Murderer: Then in dramatic scenes Cain was then arrested by police and later charged with Al's murder

Al is the fourth character to meet their demise during the show's month long celebrations after Harriet Finch (Katherine Dow Blyton) Faith Dingle (Sally Dexter) and Liv Flaherty (Isobel Steele).

Following a struggle in the barn between Alan and an armed Cain, the weapon fired leaving the Lothario dead.

And despite Cain's best efforts to wipe his fingerprints from the weapon, he was caught in the act by Al's ever faithful girlfriend Kerry Wyatt (Laura Norton).

Chuffed: He said he was so pleased to be able to feature in the show's epic 50th Anniversary and joked how the celebration was a 'great time to die!' (pictured with co-star Lucy Pargeter

Then in dramatic scenes Cain was then arrested by police and later charged with Al's murder.

Michael joined the Emmerdale cast as the the ex-wife of Jessie Grant and the father of their son Ellis, and despite originally getting engaged to Priya, it was revealed on their wedding day that he was having an affair with Debbie Dingle.

In a bombshell twist, Al then revealed that he had been playing them both for fools, and they decide to get their revenge by stealing Kim Tate's money and framing him.

Edge of your seat stuff: Al is the fourth character to meet their demise during the show's month long celebrations after Harriet Finch (Katherine Dow Blyton, pictured)

Heartbreaking: Faith Dingle (Sally Dexter) also died in the arms of her son Cain

Crushed: Liv Dingle (Isobel Steele) was crushed to death during the show's dramatic storm

Al became embroiled in a war with the Dingles over gaining ownership of the Woolpack, and despite beginning a relationship with Kerry Wyatt, he and Chas couldn't contain their tension, and began their affair.

Teasing the upcoming showdown with Cain, Michael recently told Digital Spy: 'It's about time! It's been in the making for a long time, let's get on with it!

'It's a situation that surely has to come. They've had a lot of banter and have been crossing swords, but they've never really actually gone full pelt on things.'

Emmerdale continues on Wednesday at 7:30pm on ITV.
An Australian porn star who played the adult film industry equivalent to James Bond is wanted by police over claims he slashed his ex-wife's tyres.

Jaxon Reeves, 32, of Pakenham - southeast of Melbourne - was due in the Dandenong Magistrates' Court on Monday over the incident in February 2020.

But the hulking porn star was nowhere to be seen, prompting a magistrate to issue a warrant for his arrest.

Jaxon Reeves told Daily Mail Australia he will contest the criminal damage charge

Jaxon Reeves will contest criminal damage charges

On the day Reeves was due in court, he hit his Onlyfans page to announce his mind was on anything but legal matters.

'2 posts in one day - because Im feeling horny,' he stated.

Reeves is best known by the stage name 'Jake Ryan', who has appeared in numerous Australian adult films with different men portraying the raunchy character.

Fans of Ryan describe the character as a mix between the porn versions of James Bond and Doctor Who, who were both played by various actors over the years.

On Monday, the court heard Reeves' lawyers had been unable to get in contact with him and had dumped him as a client.

Reeves told Daily Mail Australia he had been unaware of the court date after moving house several times.

He said the matter related to allegations he slashed the tyres of his ex-wife's vehicle.

'I tried to push back on it a couple of months ago with my lawyer but the police officer in charge is adamant on pressing ahead with it. I think it's a waste of police time and the court's time to be honest,' Reeves said of the allegations.

'They've got no evidence. What they've got is a scorned ex-wife and her best friends that are corroborating with her and that's what they've come out with. So it's not worth the time or effort but unfortunately I have to put the time and effort into this.'

Jaxon Reeves is a male escort and Aussie porn star

Jaxon Reeves had a warrant issued for his arrest

Reeve's, who also works as a male escort, recently went on tour under his new moniker.

'Jake Ryan rebrands to Jaxon Reeves and continues his Australian tours,' Reeves stated via his website.

Reeves describes himself as 'a multi award winning and Australias Number 1 Male Escort'.

Featured in a series of brooding profile shots, Reeves claims to be the man of every woman's dreams.

'I have a spectacular sense of style and am someone who takes significant pride in my appearance, charisma, positive attitude and thirst for creating deep connections with others,' he declared.

'I am a sensitive and empathetic person, who believes strongly in the power of energetic vibes in any situation, which results in me exuding confidence and cheerful energy to those in my company.'

One hour with 'Reeves' will cost $400, with a 12-hour session topping out at $3500.

Reeves told Daily Mail Australia he would be in contact with Victoria Police in an effort to deal with the outstanding warrant.

He is expected to appear in a Melbourne court at a date to be fixed.

A spokesperson for Jake-ryan.com told Daily Mail Australia Reeves had not played the Ryan character for the past year and would never do so again.

'(He) has not been a part of this company for 12 months now, I have a domestic violence order against him,' the company said via a statement.

'We have killed-off that character. No-one will ever play Jake Ryan again.'

Jaxon Reeves has a warrant out for his arrest after failing to show-up at court
Genevieve Parisi packed her bags and was about to angrily leave before Aaron Clancy stopped her on Tuesday's episode of Bachelor In Paradise on ABC.

The 27-year-old Los Angeles bartender grew frustrated with Aaron, 27, an insurance agent from San Diego, after her attempt to share that she was falling in love with him instead sparked an explosive argument.

'I just feel like I've been trying to spend time with you,' Genevieve told Aaron while a large group reclined together on a daybed.

Packed bags: Genevieve Parisi packed her bags and was about to angrily leave before Aaron Clancy stopped her on Tuesday's episode of Bachelor In Paradise on ABC

'Are you really doing this?,' Aaron asked her.

'So I'm not allowed to feel ...I'm not allowed to feel how I feel?,' Genevieve asked.

'You're making me feel like I'm neglecting you,' said Aaron who had just asked Johnny DePhillipo, 25, of Florida, to hang out in the pool and have beers with him.

They continued to argue and the other couples scampered away to let them hash it out.

Explosive argument: The 27-year-old Los Angeles bartender grew frustrated with Aaron, 27, an insurance agent from San Diego, after her attempt to share that she was falling in love with him instead sparked an explosive argument

Big bed: 'I just feel like I've been trying to spend time with you,' Genevieve told Aaron while a large group reclined together on a daybed

'Aaron and Genevieve are fighting. Their relationship is so hot and cold. I don't know what's gonna happen. At any time, a ticking time bomb can just go off,' Michael Allio, 38, of Akron, Ohio, said in a confessional.

Genevieve said she was trying to explain her feelings and Aaron said their talk was 'going in circles'.

Aaron then accused Genevieve of 'gaslighting' him and that infuriated her even more.

Ticking bomb: 'Aaron and Genevieve are fighting. Their relationship is so hot and cold. I don't know what's gonna happen. At any time, a ticking time bomb can just go off,' Michael Allio, 38, of Akron, Ohio, said in a confessional

They both walked away from each other and Genevieve told Victoria Fuller, 28, of Nashville, that she wanted to leave the show.

'Trust me, it's not gonna work and I don't want to be here,' Genevieve fumed.

She told Victoria how Aaron accused her of gaslighting him.

Taking off: They both walked away from each other and Genevieve told Victoria Fuller, 28, of Nashville, that she wanted to leave the show

'He doesn't know what that means. He's just using a buzzword. He's stupid,' Victoria said.

Genevieve gave it one more shot, but Aaron paused.

'Why'd you debate it?,' she asked.

Last shot: Genevieve gave it one more shot, but Aaron paused

'I don't know if it's the right time. 'Cause I'm thinking about myself and if it was the right time for me,' Aaron said.

Genevieve then stormed off and told a producer, 'You can tell him I'm leaving.'

Aaron got wind that she was leaving and cut her off.

Really leaving: Genevieve then stormed off and told a producer, 'You can tell him I'm leaving'

'I'm not ready to close the door yet,' Aaron told her.

'Yesterday, I realized I was falling in love with you and that is why I wanted to have a conversation,' Genevieve told him.

'That's a big thing and it's scary. There's a lot of really deep feelings I have that are hard to express and you've become so close to me. And the things you do like can deeply hurt me because of how much you mean to me. And I'm falling in love with you, too,' Aaron said emotionally.

Getting emotional: 'That's a big thing and it's scary. There's a lot of really deep feelings I have that are hard to express and you've become so close to me. And the things you do like can deeply hurt me because of how much you mean to me. And I'm falling in love with you, too,' Aaron said emotionally

Genevieve and Aaron then kissed and returned to the beach.

'I can see a ring on my finger at the end of this,' Genevieve said in a confessional.

The two-hour episode also included some newcomers as Hayden Markowitz, 29, of Savannah, Georgia, joined the beach followed by twins Joey and Justin Young, 24, of Brookfield, Connecticut.

Ring vision: 'I can see a ring on my finger at the end of this,' Genevieve said in a confessional

The twins: Joey and Justin Young, 24, of Brookfield, Connecticut, joined the beach

Hayden went on a date with Kate Gallivan, 33, of Lake Hollywood, California, who realized that she had a good thing going with Logan Palmer, 28, of San Diego, who reluctantly encouraged her to go on the date.

Joey pulled Shanae Ankney, 33, of Sycamore, Ohio, for a date while his twin Justin was joined by Florence Moerenhout, 32, of Melbourne, Australia.

They had fun with bartender Wells Adams presiding over the Cantina Games that included turning the guys into human burritos and holding eggs between their butt cheeks.

Adventurous date: Hayden went on a date with Kate Gallivan, 33, of Lake Hollywood, California

Regretting it: Kate during the date realized that she had a good thing going with Logan Palmer, 28, of San Diego, who reluctantly encouraged her to go on the date

'Going on a double date as a 24-year-old with two 30-year-old women? That's a flex! It's a flex and I'm here for it!,' Florence said in a confessional.

Eliza Isichei, 26, of Tampa, Florida, also was caught in a love triangle after going out on a date at the urging of Rodney Mathews, 30, of Rancho Cucamonga, California, with returnee Justine Glaze, 28, of Ellicott City, Maryland.

Rodney later insisted to Eliza that she was his 'only focus', but she afterward caught up with Justin and they kissed.

Bachelor In Paradise will return next week on ABC.

Love triangle: Eliza Isichei, 26, of Tampa, Florida, also was caught in a love triangle after going out on a date at the urging of Rodney Mathews, 30, of Rancho Cucamonga, California, with returnee Justine Glaze, 28, of Ellicott City, Maryland

Only focus: Rodney later insisted to Eliza that she was his 'only focus'
Matthew Perry reflected on giving up a film role opposite Meryl Streep amid the throes of addiction on Tuesday's episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

The 53-year-old actor while promoting his new memoir 'Friends, Lovers, And The Big Terrible Thing' was asked by Colbert, 58, what happened to him instead of filming opposite Streep, 73, in the 2021 Adam McKay film Don't Look Up.

'I got CPR and the guy who saved my life broke eight ribs in the process,' said Perry who looked comfortably chic in a powder blue T-shirt, black suit and glasses.

New memoir: Matthew Perry reflected on giving up a film role opposite Meryl Streep amid the throes of addiction on Tuesday's episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert

'May I ask why you were getting CPR?,' Colbert asked.

'They were doing a procedure because I had pain in my stomach and they gave me propofol ...and my heart stopped for five minutes,' said Perry referencing the anesthetic used for surgery.

'So you were legally dead for five minutes?,' Colbert asked.

'Well, no, I didn't flatline, but my heart did stop for five minutes,' Perry said.

Popular film: The 53-year-old actor while promoting his new memoir 'Friends, Lovers, And The Big Terrible Thing' was asked by Colbert, 58, what he happened to him instead of filming opposite Streep, 73, in the 2021 Adam McKay film Don't Look Up, shown in a still

Heart stopped: 'They were doing a procedure because I had pain in my stomach and they gave me propofol ...and my heart stopped for five minutes,' said Perry referencing the anesthetic used for surgery.

'What is the difference between that and flatline?,' Colbert asked.

'I don't know,' Perry admitted.

'They didn't want to tell you because there's no difference between those two,' Colbert said.

Flatline question: 'I don't know,' Perry admitted when Stephen asked him the difference between flatlining and heart stoppage

Perry said he woke up in a different hospital 10 hours later.

'I had to give up the biggest movie I'd ever gotten. I had four scenes with Meryl Streep,' Perry said.

He joked that Streep was asking about him on the set of the star-studded film that premiered on Netflix on December 24, 2021, following a limited theatrical release.

Star-studded film: Perry said he had to give up 'the biggest movie' he's ever gotten when he dropped out of Don't Look Up starring Streep, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence and Jonah Hill, shown in a still

Perry tweeted in October 2020 about joining the cast of the apocalyptic political satire black comedy that starred Streep, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Rob Morgan, Jonah Hill, Ariana Grande, Kid Cudi and Cate Blanchett.

'I just booked a movie with Meryl Streep! If you need me, I'll be on the treadmill for the next 6 weeks. #Don'tlookup,' he posted on October 14, 2020.

'I am not sure why Leonardo DiCaprio is billed ahead of me in the upcoming film " Don't Look Up" But I don't want you guys to worry about it. I know some people. We'll figure this thing out. #Couldnotbemoreexcited matthew perry @MatthewPerry,' Perry tweeted the next day.

Just booked: Perry tweeted in October 2020 about joining the cast of the apocalyptic political satire black comedy

Billing joke: 'I am not sure why Leonardo DiCaprio is billed ahead of me in the upcoming film " Don't Look Up" But I don't want you guys to worry about it. I know some people. We'll figure this thing out. #Couldnotbemoreexcited matthew perry @MatthewPerry,' Perry tweeted

Perry filmed a group scene for Don't Look Up with Hill and recalled in his memoir being on 1,800 milligram of hydrocodone while shooting.

He sought treatment during that time at a luxury rehab in Switzerland and tried to procure more prescription drugs from doctors by lying about severe stomach pain.

Perry before undergoing surgery to relieve his pain stayed up all night before the procedure taking hydrocodone and the next day for his surgery was given the anesthesia drug propofol.

Cameo cut: Perry filmed a group scene for Don't Look Up with Hill and recalled in his memoir being on 1,800 milligram of hydrocodone while shooting, but his cameo was cut

He heart stopped for five minutes after the dose was administered and Perry later decided to drop out of Don't Look Up as a result of the pain he was suffering.

Perry never shot any scenes with Streep and the only scene he filmed did not make it into the movie.

Friends, Lovers, And The Big Terrible Thing was released on Tuesday and Perry has been plugging it during a promotional tour.

Just released: Friends, Lovers, And The Big Terrible Thing was released on Tuesday and Perry has been plugging it during a promotional tour

The 272-page memoir from publisher Flatiron Books details the actor's struggle with addiction to alcohol and pills while also starring as Chandler Bing in the NBC sitcom Friends.

Perry revealed he spent around $9million trying to get sober and recently celebrated 18 months of sobriety after going to rehab about 15 times.

He also shared his failed attempt to lose his virginity to ex-girlfriend Tricia Fisher and how alcoholism impacted his sex life in the memoir.

Perry revealed he suffered from impotence-induced anxiety after alcohol left him unable to perform when he first tried to have sex as a teen and said he was left 'soft and sad'.

TV star: Matt LeBlanc, Perry, Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow are shown in a season one still of Friends in 1994
New strategy needed to revive nuclear power industry



Seoul and Warsaw signed a letter of intent (LOI) Monday for the construction of Poland's second nuclear power station. State-run Korea Hydro Nuclear Power (KHNP) signed the LOI with ZE PAK, Poland's largest solar power plant and Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE), a state-owned power utility. They will assess the feasibility of building the nuclear plant in Patnow, central Poland, based on KHNP's APR1400 technology, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a joint statement with the Polish Ministry of State Assets.



If a final deal is signed, it will be "an achievement supported by the Korean government's firm determination and policy to export nuclear plants," said Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Lee Chang-yang. Since he took office in May, President Yoon Suk-yeol vowed to rejuvenate Korea's nuclear power industry, which has been struggling due to a nuclear phase-out policy pursued by the previous Moon Jae-in administration. The Yoon government has been stepping up nuclear-friendly policies with a goal of exporting 10 nuclear reactors by 2030.



"We welcome the information ZE PAK and PGE have entered into talks with KHNP, which will further strengthen relations between Poland and South Korea," Polish State Assets Minister Jacek Sasin said in a statement. KHNP said they will map out detailed plans by the end of this year regarding financing, technical studies and environmental impact assessment.



The deal, if signed, will mark the first nuclear reactor export contract in 13 years for Korea. The last order was the construction of a nuclear power plant in Barakah, the United Arab Emirates, in 2009. The 20 trillion won ($14.1 billion) project involves the construction of four nuclear reactors, paving the way for Seoul to advance into the European nuclear power market. The Korean-type power plant boasts price competitiveness in the global market paired with Korea's prowess in construction and operation.



Despite such a positive development, it is still too early to pop the champagne. KHNP needs to come up with well-conceived tactics for future negotiations with the Polish counterparts. It also needs to pay attention to a lawsuit filed by Westinghouse Electric Company of the United States to undercut KHNP's exports of power plants, claiming the APR1400 adopts its own design.



Yet, South Korea is entitled to use the APR1400 technology since it agreed with Westinghouse for technology transfer and usage in 1985 and in 1997, respectively. The U.S. firm filed a similar suit in 2009 when KHNP attempted to export a plant to the UAE, but to no avail.



Some assert the company's move is designed to raise its value ahead of its sell-off. The issue should be tackled properly for Seoul to expand its exports of nuclear plants to potential markets such as the Czech Republic, Belarus, and Taiwan. The Yoon government should also hold talks with the Biden administration over how to abide by the "reactor alliance" as the two leaders agreed during a summit in May. They should also draw up detailed plans to strengthen cooperation in the nuclear power industry.




A Sydney woman has defended her odd kitchen habit of drinking milk straight from the carton, rather than reaching for a glass.

Sophie Tieman, who found fame on The Bachelor in 2018, surprised her Instagram followers on Tuesday by revealing she's always consumed milk this way and her husband Joe Bolster finds the habit repulsive.

'Joe cannot STAND the thought of someone drinking straight milk. I have been drinking it like this since I can remember!' Sophie, 30, wrote next to a video of herself gulping from a freshly-opened bottle of milk.

The Bachelor's Sophie Tieman, 30, (pictured) has defended her odd kitchen habit of drinking milk straight from the carton, rather than reaching for a glass

After taking a few sips, the commercial property valuer beamed at the camera and performed a little jig.

'It just brings me so much happiness, and the fact it's in a glass bottle, I just love it even more!' she cooed, lovingly clutching the bottle to her chest.

Sophie also included a poll for fans to vote on whether people should drink milk from the bottle.

Sophie surprised her Instagram followers on Tuesday by revealing she's always consumed milk this way and her husband Joe Bolster finds the habit repulsive. 'Joe cannot STAND the thought,' she wrote next to a video of herself gulping from a freshly-opened bottle of milk

Moments later she uploaded a second video, this time showing her drinking a small container of a Yakult, a fermented milk drink popular in Japan. Joe was seen entering the kitchen and reaching for something in the fridge, before grimacing as he noticed what his wife was doing

Moments later she uploaded a second video, this time showing her drinking a small container of a Yakult, a fermented milk drink popular in Japan.

Joe was seen entering the kitchen and reaching for something in the fridge, before grimacing as he noticed what his wife was doing.

'I drank this for the sole purpose of showing you how much he can't stand it,' Sophie teased in the caption.

Should you drink milk straight from the carton? There are no direct health risks associated with drinking milk directly from the carton. However, while it may be convenient, there are some practical disadvantages to the practice. Each time you drink from the container, your mouth transfers an amount of bacteria into the remaining liquid. This may cause the milk to spoil faster, meaning that you will need to purchase new bottles more regularly. If another person consumes milk that has been infected, they could be subjected to potentially harmful bacteria or viruses deposited by the first person. Advertisement

Sophie shot to fame on Nick 'The Honey Badger' Cummins' season of The Bachelor in 2018, placing equal second placed alongside Brittany Hockley.

Both ladies were dumped by the rugby star during the finale in what became a shocking first for the Australian franchise.

She moved on with Joe in March 2019 and the couple married in April this year.

Sophie shot to fame on Nick 'The Honey Badger' Cummins' season of The Bachelor in 2018, placing equal second placed alongside Brittany Hockley. (Pictured with Nick on the show)
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Christina Applegate revealed she has gained 40 pounds since being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and now struggles to walk without the support of a cane.

The 50-year-old actress  who shared her diagnosis in August 2021  reflected on the difficulties she experienced while filming the final season of her Netflix show, Dead to Me, amid her battle.

'This is the first time anyone's going to see me the way I am. I put on 40 pounds; I can't walk without a cane. I want people to know that I am very aware of all of that,' she said in a new interview with The New York Times.

Applegate was diagnosed with MS while in production on the final season of the show, which then took a five month break so that she could begin her treatment.

Multiple sclerosis is a disease in which the immune system eats away at the protective covering of nerves, and interrupts the flow of information between the brain and the body.

Christina Applegate revealed that she has gained 40 pounds since being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She is pictured left in December 2021 on the set of Dead To Me, a few months after revealing her diagnosis on Twitter, and right in May 2019 while promoting the first season of the hit Netflix show

The new normal: Applegate posted a photo of her canes on Twitter in October, and said needing help with walking is her 'new normal'

The Anchorman star said of shooting the last season: 'I had an obligation. The powers that be were like, "Lets just stop. We dont need to finish it. Let's put a few episodes together [with previously recorded footage]." I said, "No. Were going to do it, but were going to do it on my terms."'

Applegate also shared that when production of the show  which has earned her two Emmy nominations  paused 'There was the sense of, "Well, lets get her some medicine so she can get better."'

However, the actress added that 'There is no better' and said, 'Im never going to accept this. I'm p***ed.'

Ultimately taking the break was 'good' for her: 'I needed to process my loss of my life, my loss of that part of me. So I needed that time. Although its not like I came on the other side of it, like, "Woohoo, Im totally fine."'

The Los Angeles born beauty also shared that looking back there were some signs of the disease, as she talked about losing her balance in a dance scene during the first season.

'I wish I had paid attention. But who was I to know?' she said.

Announcement: The star revealed that she was diagnosed with MS last year in August 2021 on Twitter

Touching: The star stated she isn't sure whether she'll watch the final season, but that she wanted to finish shooting it for her co-star Linda Cardellini; Pictured with Linda

Family: The Vacation actress is married to Dutch bassist, Martyn LeNoble, 53. The couple said 'I do' to nearly ten years ago in 2013. They have one daughter, Sadie, who was welcomed to the world in 2011; Pictured left with Martyn in 2016 and right with Sadie in 2015

The star shared that once she returned, she needed a wheelchair to get to set due to her declined mobility, and that a sound technician had to hold up her legs in order to get certain shots.

She also shared she couldn't film shots of her walking into a room because she would need assistance, and that she would lean against doors while standing to be able to stay up.

The Married With Children star also stated she isn't sure whether she'll watch the final season as it's too painful, but that she wanted to finish shooting it for her co-star Linda Cardellini and show creator Liz Feldman.

'If people hate it, if people love it, if all they can concentrate on is, "Ooh, look at the cripple," thats not up to me. Im sure that people are going to be, like, "I cant get past it." Fine, dont get past it, then. But hopefully people can get past it and just enjoy the ride and say goodbye to these two girls,' she stated.

Coming soon: The final season of Dead to Me will be available on Netflix on November 17; Still from season 3 trailer

In the show Applegate stars as sardonic widow Jen Harding who, after the loss of her husband from a hit-and-run accident, crosses paths with free spirited Judy Hale (played by Cardellini) at a grief support group.

Their unlikely friendship, eventually, becomes complicated by secrets, lies, and an accidental murder that will bond them for life.

Dead To Me premiered its first season on the streaming platform with a 10-episode drop in May 2019. The half-hour dark comedy returned for its second season in May 2020, also with 10-episodes.

Though the series was renewed for a third season in June 2020, the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent Hollywood production shutdown kept production at a standstill.

Production on season three commenced in the spring of 2021 but it was soon delayed after Applegate learned of her multiple sclerosis diagnosis in August.

The final season of Dead to Me will be available on Netflix on November 17.

Christina's other Dead To Me co-star, James Marsden, 49, opened up about the actress's strength as she battles through her health condition. Earlier in the year, she was pictured arriving on set of Dead To Me season three with a cane.

'Nothing is going to keep her down, and she is going to battle and fight through anything,' the Enchanted star explained to Entertainment Tonight. 'I admire her as a person.'

He also added that, 'Anything life will throw at her, she will figure out a way to not let it keep her down, and she is doing exactly that. It's really inspiring to see.'

In October Applegate showcased her new walking sticks on Twitter ahead of an event, discussing how needing help with walking is now her 'new normal.'

The beauty revealed her diagnosis in August 2021, and at the time, tweeted that she has received overwhelming support from those also affected by the condition.

Claim to fame: Applegate rose to prominence as a child actress at the age of 15, while starring as Al and Peggy's promiscuous daughter Kelly Bundy in the Fox sitcom Married with Children, which ran from 19871997; Pictured with Katey Sagal, Ed O'Neill, and David Faustino

'Hi friends. A few months ago I was diagnosed with MS. It's been a strange journey. But I have been so supported by people that I know who also have this condition,' Christina had explained at the time.

'It's been a touch road. But as we all know, the road keeps going,' the star added, showing her positivity towards her health condition.

The Vacation actress also has the loving support of her Dutch bassist husband, Martyn LeNoble, 53, whom she said 'I do' to nearly ten years ago in 2013. The couple have one daughter, Sadie, who was welcomed to the world in 2011.

In 2008 battled breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy. She later had reconstructive surgery.

In 2017, Applegate discovered she had the BRCA1 gene mutation, which predisposes her to developing cancer. She opted to have her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed.

Applegate rose to prominence as a child actress at the age of 15, while starring as Al and Peggy's promiscuous daughter Kelly Bundy in the Fox sitcom Married with Children, which ran from 19871997.

She also received much acclaim for her portrayal of anchorwoman Veronica Corningstone in the 2004 comedy films Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie.

She is the recipient of a Primetime Emmy Award (for her guest role in the NBC sitcom Friends) and has received four Golden Globe Award nominations as well as one Tony Award nomination.
Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker looked relaxed while out in Montecito, California, on Tuesday after a busy Halloween Weekend.

The 43-year-old reality star wasn't ready to give up her spooky season attire, wore a black jumpsuit with a skeleton design running up and down the front of it.

Her dark locks were parted in the middle and fell in a bob that stopped just above her slender shoulders.

An afternoon out: Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker looked relaxed while out in Montecito on Tuesday after a busy Halloween Weekend

Her husband, 46, wore a black and white T-shirt underneath a baggy purple coat. He added dark gray jeans and black and white sneakers.

They both protected their eyes from the bright California sun with dark sunglasses.

While they enjoyed a relaxing Tuesday afternoon, the couple had a very busy weekend, full of fun Halloween events and multiple costume changes.

Cozy: The 43-year-old reality star wore a black jumpsuit with a skeleton design running up and down the front of it

Tiring weekend: While they enjoyed a relaxing Tuesday afternoon, the couple had a very busy weekend, full of fun Halloween events and multiple costume changes

The Kourtney And Kim Take New York star shared a clip of stylists helping her into a Bride of Frankenstein's beehive wig on Monday to mark the holiday.

Underneath the videos, the Poosh founder wrote, 'When you and your sister dont discuss costumes in advance.'

Her caption made a reference to the 25-year-old Jenner who dressed up as the mythical monster over the weekend.

Should've talked: Kourtney Kardashian and Kylie Jenner should've discussed costume plans prior to Halloween

Beehive: Kardashian shared a clip of stylists helping her into a Bride of Frakenstein's beehive wig

Kourtney took some 1930s-era appropriate pictures and videos for her millions of Instagram followers to see including a grainy video of herself getting ready in the mirror.

Classic horror music played over the clip, adding to the ambiance.

The costume was just one of many of the Halloweekend with her and her husband Travis Barker dressing up as the psychotic doll Chucky and his wife, Tiffany Valentine.

The 46-year-old musician's face was transformed by impressive makeup, appearing like Chucky's trademark scars. Kourtney painted on thin eyebrows and added bright green contacts to finish off her look.

Cracking wise: Underneath the videos, the Poosh founder wrote, 'When you and your sister dont discuss costumes in advance'

Appropriate; Kourtney took some 1930s-era appropriate pictures and videos for her millions of Instagram followers to see including a grainy video of herself getting ready in the mirror

Spooky tunes: Classic horror music played over the clip, adding to the ambiance

A horrifying couple: The costume was just one of many of the Halloweekend with her and her husband Travis Barker dressing up as the psychotic doll Chucky and his wife, Tiffany Valentine

Barker also dressed up as Frakenstein to compliment his wife's Bride of Frankenstein costume, and the couple took a number of pictures together.

At one point he was seen licking the reality TV star's neck as she smiled with her eyes closed.

The duo looked like the spitting image of the famed couple as they bust a move atop a convertible truck.

Joy: They tied the knot just seven months ago. But Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker emulated another famous married couple as they celebrated Halloween with their family on Monday

What do the kids think? At one point he was seen licking the reality TV star's neck as she smiled with her eyes closed

Kourtney wore a voluminous wig with familiar streaks of silver, a billowing white dress, and bandage-inspired gloves.

As she swayed to the song Somebody's Watching Me, her husband moved his arms this way and that, looking the spitting image of the iconic monster.

Travis donned all black, shades, a shade of pale green on his skin, along with an exaggerated head resembling that of Frankenstein.
Dame Judi Dench struggled to hold back her tears while discussing her late husband Michael Williams' death in 2001 in a new interview.

The actress, 87, was appearing on BBC Two's Louis Theroux Interviews with the documentary maker, 52, when she began to get emotional.

Louis said to her: 'You were together from 71 to 2001... Are you OK talking about how it came to an end, how he came to die?'

Upset: Dame Judi Dench struggled to hold back her tears while discussing her late husband Michael Williams' death in 2001 in a new interview

The Oscar winner replied: 'Well he wasn't well... I'm not good at it, actually. Yes, he died in 2001 of lung cancer. Smoking you see, all that smoking when we were young.

'I was in New York and they said he was not well. My agent flew out and we came back on Concorde the next day and it aborted take-off.

'We got off and we went back and said: "Oh, it'll be alright." We got on another plane and the same thing happened. It was a long old time to get back.

'We got back here and we were all in the house together and that was very, very good indeed.'

Marriage: Dame Judi met her future husband, Michael Williams, when they were cast together in a theatre production. The two went onto have a 30 year marriage before his death from lung cancer in 2001 aged 65 (pictured in 1999)

Dame Judi met Michael when they were cast together in a theatre production, but recently revealed he's not the only co-star she's fallen in love with on stage.

The acting icon has mused about her 'susceptibility' to falling for her theatre co-stars, revealing she was smitten with her Hamlet stage partner John Neville.

Speaking during an event at the Gielgud Theatre in London's West End earlier this year, Dame Judi called their time together in 1958 'beautiful'.

Candid: The actress, 87, was appearing on BBC Two's Louis Theroux Interviews with the documentary maker, 52, when she began to get emotional

Opening up: Louis said to her: 'You were together from 71 to 2001... Are you OK talking about how it came to an end, how he came to die?'

Teary-eyed: The Oscar winner replied: 'Well he wasn't well... I'm not good at it, actually. Yes, he died in 2001 of lung cancer. Smoking you see, all that smoking when we were young'

Daily Mail's Richard Eden said the iconic star explained: 'I was in Hamlet with John Neville. He was beautiful. It was beautiful.'

Asked if she fell in love with Neville, who died in 2011 aged 86, she replied: 'Yes. I am very prone to it. I am very susceptible.'

'It does not happen all the time, and it does not go to enormous extremes, but it is, perhaps, sharing [stage] fright that is so electrifying.'

Acclaimed theatre actor John Neville married his wife Caroline Hooper in 1949, and they had six children together.

'Beautiful': Dame Judi has mused about her 'susceptibility' to falling for her theatre co-stars, revealing she was smitten with her Hamlet stage partner John Neville in 1958

Dame Judi made her RSC debut as Anya in The Cherry Orchard in 1961 before starring in Twelfth Night and Macbeth. She later carved out an equally stellar film career.

Her 30-year marriage to Michael was just as successful in real life as it was in the long-running sitcom A Fine Romance, in which they co-starred until his death from lung cancer in 2001 aged 65.

The couple married in 1971 and shared a daughter, Finty Williams, 48, who is also an actress.

The actress has been with her partner, the conservationist David Mills, for 12 years. Mills revealed last year that they considered tying the knot during the pandemic, even going to the extent of weighing up the benefits of marriage.

We hadnt really looked into it before, but, during lockdown, we had a serious discussion, looking at the pros and cons, Mills told Richard Eden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

After a lot of thought, we decided against it and thought, We are happy to stay as we are.'
Daniel Radcliffe and his costar Evan Rachel Wood looked cool as ever while attending the New York premiere of their film Weird: The Al Yankovic Story on Tuesday.

The Harry Potter star, 33, wore a trendy black leather jacket over a black T-shirt to the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, and paired the outfit with jeans and a black belt.

Radcliffe portrays the iconic musician 'Weird' Al Yankovic in the highly anticipated biopic, which follows the beloved musician and comedian's rise to fame and his penchant for accordion-laden spoofs of popular songs.

Cool vibes: Daniel Radcliffe and his co-star Evan Rachel Wood looked cool as ever while attending the New York premiere of their film Weird: The Al Yankovic Story on Tuesday

Radcliffe continued with the black theme, wearing a pair of dress shoes for the occasion.

The talented actor wore his brunette strands slightly tousled and sported a light scruff.

Meanwhile Evan, 35, looked gothic chic in a striped lengthy blazer dress, which she paired with black high heels.

Trendy: The Harry Potter star, 33, wore a trendy black leather jacket over a black T-shirt to the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, and paired the look with jeans and a black belt

A transformation: Radcliffe portrays the iconic musician 'Weird' Al Yankovic in the highly-anticipated biopic, which follows the beloved musician's rise to fame from obscurity

The Westworld star accessorized her look with a silver cross necklace and two other chains.

The beauty wore her blonde tresses in a high ponytail, and she highlighted her features with a touch of blush, black eyeliner and lipstick.

Wood stars in the film as Madonna, an early supporter of Yankovic's satirical songs.

Gothic chic: Evan, 35, looked gothic chic in a striped lengthy blazer dress, which she paired with black high heels

A beauty: The Westworld star accessorized her look with a silver cross necklace and two other chains

Stunner: The beauty wore her blonde tresses in a high ponytail, and highlighted her features with a touch of blush, black eyeliner and lipstick

Material girl! Supporter: Wood stars as Madonna in the film - an early supporter of Yankovic's satirical songs

The man of the hour Al Yankovic, 63, also made an appearance, looking casual cool in a floral Hawaiian shirt and black pants.

The musician sported his signature curly grey hair parted in the middle and cascading down his shoulders.

Radcliffe was also joined by Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez, Krystal Joy Brown and Katie Rose Clarke at the event.

Zoe Lister-Jones, 40, showed off her legs in a black and white houndstooth mini dress with matching thigh-high boots.

The man of the hour: Al Yankovic, 63, also made an appearance, looking casual cool in a floral Hawaiian shirt and black pants

Dynamic trio: The trio happily posed for the shutterbugs

Signature look: The musician sported his signature curly grey hair parted in the middle and cascading down his shoulders

Happy to be here: The duo smiled up a storm for photographers

The star kept wam by wearing a black coat and accessorized with a small black purse in her hand.

The actress styled her short blonde tresses parted on the side. As for glam, she wore vivid pink lipstick and light green eyeshadow.

Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, 42, looked handsome in a grey velvet blazer over a patterned blue button-up and grey slacks.

He finalized the look with a pair of colorful pink graphic Vans sneakers.

The actress Lauren Hoover looked lovely in a simple white dress with black accents. She was joined by the Broad City actor Arturo Castro, who looked classy in a suit.

Pattern: Zoe Lister-Jones, 40, showed off her legs in a black and white houndstooth mini dress with matching thigh-high boots

Handsome: Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, 42, looked handsome in a grey velvet blazer over a patterned blue button-up and grey slacks

Contrast: The actress Lauren Hoover looked lovely in a simple white dress with black accents. She was joined by the Broad City actor Arturo Castro, who looked classy in a suit

A gentleman: American radio broadcaster Barry Hansen, 81 - known professionally as Dr. Demento - looked dapper in a black tuxedo with a red bowtie and a top hat

American radio broadcaster Barry Hansen, 81 - known professionally as Dr. Demento - looked dapper in a black tuxedo with a red bowtie and a top hat.

Dr. Demento is the radio DJ who discovered Weird Al, and is portrayed in the film by Rainn Wilson.

Aside from Radcliffe, Wood, and Wilson, the cast also includes Quinta Brunson as Oprah Winfrey, Julianne Nicholson and Toby Huss as Al's parents, Jack Black as Wolfman Jack, Conan O'Brien as Andy Warhol, and James Preston Rogers as Hulk Hogan.

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story was initially conceived as a short film, which starred Aaron Paul and was released in 2010.

Together now: Radcliffe was also joined by Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez, Krystal Joy Brown and Katie Rose Clarke at the event

Will be featured in the biopic: Yankovic himself portrays a music executive in the film

Development on the movie itself was announced this past January, when Radcliffe signed on to appear in the Eric Appel-directed feature.

In addition to serving as the inspiration for the movie, Yankovic co-wrote its script with Appel and was one of its producers. The musician himself portrayed a music executive in the film and was featured in its trailer.

Production began this past February, with Los Angeles serving as a primary filming location.

Yankovic surprised many when he announced that the film's crew had wrapped after just 18 days of production.

The film is set to be released on the Roku streaming service on November 4.
Christian Wilkins was the beau of the ball on Wednesday as he attended the VRC Kennedy Oaks Club Lunch at Crown Palladium in Melbourne.

The new Victoria Racing Club ambassador, 27, looked as fabulous and fashion-forward as ever in a double-breasted grey satin suit.

He added a bronze satin shirt, which he left partially unbuttoned, and carried a $4,310 Gucci handbag over his shoulder.

Christian Wilkins was the beau of the ball on Wednesday as he attended the VRC Kennedy Oaks Club Lunch at Crown Palladium in Melbourne

A connoisseur of all things makeup and style, Christian gently curled his long golden locks and slicked on a subtle touch of blue eyeshadow.

The son of television presenter Richard Wilkins gave a twirl for the cameras upon his arrival, making sure he was the centre of attention.

It comes after Christian hit back at a troll who called him an 'attention-seeking r****d' for wearing a feminine outfit to Penfolds Derby Day on Saturday.

The new Victoria Racing Club ambassador, 27, looked as fabulous and fashion-forward as ever in a double-breasted grey satin suit

The model and influencer told Daily Mail Australia at the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday he would rather be called a 'f*g' than have trolls make fun of people with disabilities.

'My eldest brother has Down syndrome and I just don't think that people should use [that word],' Christian said.

'If people want to attack me, I would honestly prefer to be called a f*g. At least that's me and my community and I can defend it,' he added.

The son of television presenter Richard Wilkins gave a twirl for the cameras upon his arrival, making sure he was the centre of attention

He continued: 'I know, speaking of behalf of my brother, he doesn't necessarily have the ability to articulate.'

A keyboard warrior had called Christian 'an attention-seeking r****d' on Instagram over the weekend in response to his Derby Day outfit.

The meme listed several 'features' on the costume's packaging, including 'tucking tape', 'chicken fillets' and 'Richard Wilkins' tick of approval'

It comes after Christian hit back at a troll who called him an 'attention-seeking r****d' for wearing a feminine outfit to Penfolds Derby Day on Saturday

Christian responded by reposting the cruel meme on his Instagram Stories, adding that he found the term 'r****d' - a slur aimed at disabled people - objectionable.

'Honestly think what you want,' Christian wrote. 'But as a sibling of someone with a disability, I find this term extremely offensive.'

Christian, who has four siblings, is the son of Richard Wilkins, one of Channel Nine's longest-serving presenters. Richard's eldest son, Adam 47, has Down syndrome.
Olivia Frazer says she will never get back together with her ex Jackson Lonie.

The Married At First Sight star, 29, put an end to any speculation of a reconciliation during an Instagram Q&A on Wednesday.

She said she and Jackson, 31, had their 'lovely ending' and wouldn't be reopening that 'chapter' of their lives.

Olivia Frazer says she will never get back together with her ex Jackson Lonie. The Married At First Sight star, 29, put an end to any speculation of a reconciliation during an Instagram Q&A on Wednesday

'Do you still believe Jackson and you will end up back together?' the fan asked.

'Nope. That chapter has had a very lovely ending. But an ending nonetheless,' she replied, sharing a picture of herself sitting at the hairdresser's with foils in her hair.

Jackson also confirmed the pair were over for good during in his own Q&A on Monday.

She said she and Jackson, 31, had their 'lovely ending' and wouldn't be reopening that 'chapter' of their lives

'Not sure why this keeps coming up, but no. We're friends, and that's it. That's all there is to it,' he said bluntly.

It comes after Olivia and Jackson were spotted with new partners while partying at a Halloween event on Friday, while just metres apart.

The reality television star was pictured kissing a man she had just met at the spooky bash hosted by Believe Advertising and PR at Sussudio in Potts Point.

'Nope. That chapter has had a very lovely ending. But an ending nonetheless,' she said on Wednesday, sharing a picture of herself sitting at the hairdresser's with foils in her hair

She immediately took a shine to the man, a filmmaker from England called William, after being introduced to him by a mutual friend.

'They were all over each other, and she didn't even seem to notice Jackson was just a few feet away in the same venue,' an onlooker told Daily Mail Australia.

'The bloke she hooked up with is from Manchester and only arrived in Australia a few weeks ago. I don't think he had any idea who Olivia was.'

Jackson also confirmed the pair were over in his own Q&A on Monday when someone asked about their relationship status

While Olivia was kissing the man, Jackson was seen working his charms on a glamorous brunette he had met at the bar.

In an awkward twist, he could be seen in the background of several photos of Olivia and Will kissing, with his distinctive halo visible above the throng of guests.

After meeting at Sussudio, Olivia and Will went with a group of friends to a karaoke bar in the CBD, where they continued to make out. The pair left the venue together at about midnight.

It comes after Olivia and Jackson were spotted with new partners while partying at a Halloween event on Friday, while just metres apart
Married At First Sight bride Ella Ding has signed an exclusive deal to be the new Australian brand ambassador for fast fashion label PrettyLittleThing.

The 28-year-old will be succeeding fellow MAFS bride Martha Kalifatidis as the face of the premiere fashion label.

Ella could not contain her enthusiasm on Wednesday when discussing her exciting new role.

Married At First Sight bride Ella Ding (pictured) has signed an exclusive deal to be the new brand ambassador for fashion label PrettyLittleThing

'Announcing I am the new Brand Ambassador for PLT is a dreamlike feeling. I am honoured and grateful to bring you some hot new PLT fits,' she said in a statement.

As part of the partnership she will be releasing her own PLT 'exclusive edit' range of fashion featuring cutting-edge designs she has personally approved.

Ella's new role sees her join an exclusive list of models and celebrities who have previously fronted the brand, including actress Lala Anthony and Indiyah Polack.

The 28-year-old will be succeeding fellow MAFS bride Martha Kalifatidis as the face of the premiere fashion label

Ella is the ideal choice to replace Martha as earlier this year she was dubbed 'Martha Kalifatidis of MAFS 22' thanks to her fashionable wardrobe and glamorous looks.

It comes after Ella confirmed her split from Made in Chelsea's Miles Nazaire in September.

She told Daily Mail Australia they failed to form a lasting connection after meeting in real life - in scenes set to air on the E4 show - following months of chatting online.

'Announcing I am the new Brand Ambassador for PLT is a dreamlike feeling. I am honoured and grateful to bring you some hot new PLT fits,' Ella said in a statement

The former Married At First Sight star said despite being attracted to the 26-year-old British influencer, it just wasn't meant to be.

'Made in Chelsea was pretty crazy. It was probably harder than MAFS. I didn't find love,' she said at Channel Nine's Upfronts presentation in Sydney.

Ella said despite going their separate ways, she and Miles have stayed in touch.

'There's never bad blood with any guys. It's always amicable. He's great, he just wasn't for me,' she revealed.
Mikaela Testa has set pulses racing in a skimpy red bikini in Malibu.

The star, 21, showcased her sensational figure and eye-popping chest as she posed in front of the camera, sharing the images to Instagram on Wednesday.

The star offered a sideways glance to the camera, before captioning the post: 'pimple girl.'

OnlyFans star Mikaela Testa, 22, (pictured) put on an eye-popping display in a skimpy red bikini in Malibu on Wednesday

She wore minimal makeup and her brunette tresses down past her shoulders.

It comes after the star detailed her 'scary' experience being detained at LA airport after a customs officer thought her 'hot' girlfriend Trinity 'looked like an escort'.

Mikaela, who makes a living selling racy images and videos on OnlyFans, said the pair were locked up and grilled for four hours.

The star offered a sideways glance to the camera, before captioning the post: 'pimple girl'

Mikaela alleges their mobile phones were confiscated as customs officers went through their racy images.

Testa shared her story on Instagram, prompting one of her followers to come forward with a similar tale.

'They didn't let me into the country because they (too) thought I was an escort,' one of her fans responded.

Mikaela wore minimal makeup and her brunette tresses down past her shoulders as she posed on the sand

'It's actually so scary and sad, they treat you like one too. I feel like they think this about any pretty girls. I met so many in detention last night,' Testa said.

'You aren't allowed to touch your phone and you have to watch trash American TV advertisements for five hours.'

Testa also recalled the experience on TikTok alongside Trinity.

Mikaela detailed her 'scary' experience being detained at Los Angeles International Airport after a customs officer thought her 'hot' girlfriend Trinity 'looked like an escort'

She said while she dressed down while going through customs, Trinity drew attention thanks to her false eyelashes and plump pout.

'I made sure I looked really really ratchet and bad because I know that the US customs are really strict,' she said.

'Trinity, with her beautiful eyelash extensions and big fat juicy lips pulls up looking hot to the US customs and I just knew [it would happen].'

Testa also recalled the experience on TikTok alongside Trinity. She said while she dressed down while going through customs, Trinity drew attention thanks to her false eyelashes and plump pout

After Trinity told the customs officer she didn't have a return flight back to Australia, they immediately detained the pair.

Testa went on to allege customs officers in LA 'love' to target pretty Australian women and accuse them of being an escort 'until they "tell the truth"'.

'I have so many Australian girlfriends that have spent days in that detained room being told that they're escorts and to just tell the truth and they don't even get sent home anyway, but I know so many girls that have been sent home,' she said.

She branded the officers as 'unprofessional' and said they ordered her not to look at them as their colleagues laughed a explicit content they found on their phones.
She's usually glammed to perfection when on screen presenting Sunrise.

But Natalie Barr opted for a a rare make-up free look as she touched down in Sydney on Wednesday.

The 54-year-old broadcaster appeared to be tired from her recent trip to Perth for the Telethon event as she let out a yawn in the terminal while dressed down in slacks and a T-shirt.

Natalie Barr opted for a a rare make-up free look as she touched down in Sydney on Wednesday

The 54-year-old broadcaster appeared to be tired from her recent trip to Perth for the Telethon event as she let out a yawn in the terminal while dressed down in slacks and a T-shirt

Joined by co-host David Koch as well as Mark Beretta and Big Brother host Sonia Kruger, Natalie opted for box fresh white sneakers and a mauve blazer as she pushed a bright red carry-on case and a white COS shopping bag

Joined by co-host David Koch as well as Mark Beretta and Big Brother host Sonia Kruger, Natalie opted for box fresh white sneakers and a mauve blazer as she pushed a bright red carry-on case and a white COS shopping bag.

A distinct turn from her usual glammed-up TV self, the mother-of-two tied her brown tresses back into a low bun and opted for no jewellery to ensure maximum comfort while flying.

Looking exhausted from jetting in from interstate, Natalie scratched her head and tucked her hair behind her ear as she returned to the Harbour city.

A distinct turn from her usual glammed-up TV self, the mother-of-two tied her brown tresses back into a low bun and opted for no jewellery to ensure maximum comfort while flying

Looking exhausted from flying interstate, Natalie scratched her head and tucked her hair behind her ear as she returned to the Harbour city

Meanwhile co-host Kochie opted for smart casual paring a tweed blazer with a tropical print shirt, jeans and flashy sneakers.

Joining them was Mark Beretta who also opted for a shirt and blazer with no tie and Sonia Kruger who opted for full Hollywood glam.

The 57-year-old presenter channelled Meghan Markle as she 'shrobed' her camel jacket over a little black dress.

It comes as Natalie said she is open to having plastic surgery. The Sunrise host has insisted for years she's never had Botox and insists her age-defying complexion is a result of regular facials and intense pulsed light therapy (IPL)

While the 54-year-old said she has always 'been a bit scared' of going under the knife, she would 'never say never' when it comes to having a bit of nip and tuck

Keeping the outfit comfortable, she paired the T-shirt dress with white sneakers and slung a grey padded bag over her shoulder.

Looking like a move star, she clutched an iPad in her perfectly manicured hands and completed the look with oversized shades.

The mother-of-one tied her blonde hair back into a ponytail as she strutted through the airport.

In 2020, the television presenter revealed she wasn't a fan of cosmetic injections, though she didn't have qualms with people who were

At the time, she said the secret to her youthful looks was a well-rounded approach to health and fitness, a keen interest in natural skincare and plenty of sleep

Joining them was Mark Beretta who also opted for a shirt and blazer with no tie

It comes as Natalie said she is open to having plastic surgery.

The Sunrise host has insisted for years she's never had Botox and insists her age-defying complexion is a result of regular facials and intense pulsed light therapy (IPL).

While the 54-year-old said she has always 'been a bit scared' of going under the knife, she would 'never say never' when it comes to having a bit of nip and tuck.

Natalie Barr is pictured with Mark Beretta at Sydney airport after the team flew to Perth for a telethon event

The newsreader also regularly uses a green algae face mask by Australasian skincare brand Dermavidualsto keep up her youthful complexion

She revealed to Woman's Day magazine that year she regularly underwent laser treatments and standard facials to keep her complexion fresh

'I think never say never. I havent had anything yet. Ive been a bit scared, to be honest. But as I get older, Im open to ideas,' she told the Daily Telegraph.

In 2020, the television presenter revealed she wasn't a fan of cosmetic injections, though she didn't have qualms with people who were.

'I am not one of those people who panics about looks,' she told Stellar magazine. 'I keep reasonably fit, I haven't had Botox  though no judgement if you do'.

Natalie was a world away from her usual glamour in a laid back and fresh faced look at Sydney airport on Wednesday

Headache from flying? Natalie appeared to be tired after the five hour journey as she put her hand to her head

Sight for sore eyes! Natalie rubbed her eyes as she touched down alongside Mark

Bringing a gift home? Natalie appeared to carry a children's cuddly toy in her bag home

Chatting away! The colleagues appeared to have a laugh together as they queued up at the airport

Sonia Kruger opted for full Hollywood glam. The 57-year-old presenter (right) channelled Meghan Markle as she 'shrobed' her camel jacket over a little black dress

The group of four seemed to be engaged in deep chats as they waited in the airport on Wednesday

At the time, she said the secret to her youthful looks was a well-rounded approach to health and fitness, a keen interest in natural skincare and plenty of sleep.

The newsreader also regularly used a green algae face mask by Australasian skincare brand Dermaviduals.

In 2021, she shared images of herself in a salon chair undergoing IPL, proving she was still partial to some cosmetic treatments.

Natalie Barr appeared sleepy and even closed her eyes momentarily while waiting at the airport

Natalie let out a huge yawn (left) before putting her hand on her head as she waited at the airport

Natalie rubbed her eyes after the long flight and appeared sleepy as she walked through the airport

Natalie was joined by her co-hosts (not pictured) as she walked through the airport on Wednesday

Still stunning without make-up, Natalie showed off her natural glowing skin while in smart casual attire

The mother-of-two appeared to be carrying presents - including cuddly toys - in a Cos bag after her domestic flight

All smiles! Despite appearing tired Natalie smirked and grinned while in the arrival terminal

'Boo! Third sesh of IPL [Intense Pulsed Light] and Frax [Fraxel] on my chest and hands. Good to be back after lockdown,' she captioned the post.

'Looking for a smoother finish after a bit too much sun and fun over the years!'

She revealed to Woman's Day magazine that year she regularly underwent laser treatments and standard facials to keep her complexion fresh.

Keeping the outfit comfortable, Sonia paired the T-shirt dress with white sneakers and sling a grey padded bag over her shoulder

Meanwhile co-host Kochie opted for smart casual paring a tweed blazer with a tropical print shirt, jeans and flashy sneakers

Looking like move star, Sonia clutched an iPad in her perfectly manicured hands and completed the look with oversized shades

The mother-of-one tied her blonde hair back into a blonde ponytail as she strutted through the airport

Easy glamour! The presenter channelled Hollywood glamour as she walked through the airport


By Andrew Hammond





Brazil's vote on Sunday to end the controversial Bolsonaro era was close and divisive, but the nation now has a huge opportunity to unite and rebrand itself to the global community under President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.







After the controversies of the last few years, the very tight election result offers Brazil, as a nation, the opportunity to unify itself again, restore international trust and enter a new political epoch. For Brazil is badly in need of a brand makeover and the 2022 elections could enable this given a growing sense that Lula could begin the path toward rebuilding Brazil's damaged democratic institutions.







Lula has highlighted a key goal to forge a vision of Brazil to the world again as a modern, vibrant democracy and stable emerging market that is a prime destination for future investment and tourism. He has also, therefore, asserted that Brazil "can be a great country" after a troubled time of economic challenges, the health emergency of the pandemic, and political turmoil to boot.







During his leadership, President Jair Bolsonaro  sometimes known as the Tropical Trump  has been a key part of the populism phenomenon sweeping the world in recent years. Former aide to Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, said that Bolsonaro has been "a great hero for all of usas someone that has stood for sovereignty and really grassroots." Both Trump and Bolsonaro campaigned and governed as outsiders, promoting a nationalist and anti-globalist agenda.







While populism in South America tends to be of the left-of-center in variety, what has been unusual about Bolsonaro's period of rule is that he has been stridently right-wing. He brought in policies that have shocked global opinion such as the intensification of deforestation in the Amazon.







Moreover, he has attacked democratic institutions, including the Supreme Court when it acted to curb his most anti-democratic moves. Moreover, he filled multiple key cabinet positions with retired and active-duty generals and has appealed to his most vocal supporters to help him bring to power an overtly authoritarian government in which he could rule unrestrained by the law or other branches of power.







Since winning power in 2018, Bolsonaro has repeated accusations of electoral fraud without any evidence. Brazil has had electronic voting machines since 1996, and no systematic fraud has ever been recorded.







The difficult situation that Brazil now finds itself in, after the Bolsonaro presidency, represents a dramatic change from the country of a decade ago when it was seen as an emerging democracy rising in global importance. Then, extreme poverty had been reduced through innovative welfare programs and the nation's diplomatic influence expanded across the world, including via membership in the BRICS. By 2014, however, amidst the impact of the global financial crisis, right-wing populism began gaining ground in Brazil.







Two major questions arise from the potential pivot point that Brazil now finds itself in. Firstly, can a country's reputation be enhanced in the same way as a corporate (or other organizations) might do? And, secondly, can this have a significant, sustainable national, social and economic impact?







On the first issue, competition for the attention of stakeholders like investors and tourists is intensifying, and national reputation can therefore be a prized asset or a big liability, with a direct effect on future political, economic and social fortunes. Boosting a country's reputation is therefore an ever-common ambition in what is an overcrowded global information marketplace, and a number of countries have successfully used key elections to rejuvenate themselves, including Spain after its transition to democracy after the Franco dictatorship.







Yet, the simple fact is that many nations fail to fully capitalize, reputationally or economically, upon such major political moments.







To maximize prospects of Brazil benefiting, in the midst of the country's current malaise, it must pursue a concerted reputational and economic strategy that aligns all key national stakeholders (across the public, private and third sectors) around a single, coherent vision for its country brand. This exercise should not just be the preserve of the government but must involve the private and third sectors too.







A key part of this must be connecting the end of Bolsonaro's rule to a wider story that showcases Brazil's strengths so as to increase the favorability of international perceptions of the country, politically, economically and socially. Major positives here include the fact that the country is a vibrant, diverse, multicultural state that has the potential to kick off its longstanding tag as a sleeping giant to become a regional superpower fueled by its status as one of the world's largest countries by area and population.







Lula and other Brazilian decision-makers would do well to act on this fast as they seek to capitalize upon the opportunities on the horizon. In the midst of the hurly-burly of the post-election period, the long-term opportunities of the election should not be sidelined. For, in the midst of its current troubles, Brazil now has a significant opportunity to use this latest democratic moment for a positive brand makeover that could produce a lasting legacy.









Andrew Hammond (

) is an Associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics.


Julia Fox showed off her formidable form and washboard abs while strutting down New York's Brooklyn Bridge on Tuesday.

Kanye West's ex-girlfriend, 32, put her flat tummy front and center in a barely-there off-shoulder top, and flashed her Calvin Klein underwear in low rise unbuttoned baggy off-white colored pants.

It comes after Fox joked that men should not 'be allowed to have penises' on the trailer for season two of Ziwe, which dropped earlier on Monday.

Ab-licious! Julia Fox showed off her formidable form and washboard abs while strutting down New York's Brooklyn Bridge on Tuesday

The queen of DIY outfits paired the look with a matching jacket, which was loosely draped over her shoulder.

Not satisfied with three-matching clothing pieces, the Uncut Gems actress also wore a purse in the same style.

The Italian-American beauty covered up her eyes with a pair of black motorcycle style shades.

Fun-size top: Kanye West's ex-girlfriend, 32, put her flat tummy front and center in a barely-there off-shoulder top

Nothing between her and her Calvins: The Uncut Gems actress flashed her Calvin Klein underwear in low rise unbuttoned baggy off-white colored pants

The self-proclaimed number one hustler wore her brunette tresses parted on the side and flowing down her shoulders and back.

Julia sported a futuristic black eyeshadow look and dyed eyebrows. In one artistic snap the beauty was seen posing in front a wall of graffiti.

Earlier in the day the star caused a stir as she was featured in the trailer of Ziwe with some controversial jokes.

The comedy talk show sees host Ziwe Fumudoh nudging her guests into moments of increasing awkwardness, often with questions involving race.

Cool gal: The self-proclaimed number one hustler wore her brunette tresses parted on the side and flowing down her shoulders and back

Matchy match: Not satisfied with three-matching clothing pieces, the Uncut Gems actress also wore a purse in the same style

Futuristic look: Julia sported a futuristic black eyeshadow look and dyed eyebrows

'Should men be allowed to have opinions?' Ziwe, 30, asked Julia who shot back: 'They shouldn't even be allowed to have penises.'

While she received accolades for her role in 2019's Uncut Gems opposite Adam Sandler, Julia is best known as West's ex-girlfriend. The two dated briefly.

The pair began dating earlier this year after meeting at a New Year's Eve party in Miami, but only lasted a few weeks with Julia's rep releasing a statement on Valentine's day saying 'Julia and Kanye remain good friends and collaborators but they are no longer together.'

Controversial: It comes after Fox joked that men should not 'be allowed to have penises' on the trailer for season two of Ziwe, which dropped earlier on Monday

Opinionated: 'Should men be allowed to have opinions?' Ziwe, 30, asked Julia who shot back: 'They shouldn't even be allowed to have penises'

In a New York Times interview published in March the busy actor blamed conflicting schedules on the split. 'I already had a jam-packed life. How do I fit this really big personality into this already full life? It just wasn't sustainable,' she said.

She also shared that she dropped weight when with West: 'I lost like 15 lbs in that month.'

In an interview with ES, she elaborated a bit more about her relationship with the troubled rapper, saying, that she noticed some red flags resulting from the Donda artist's divorce from ex-wife Kim Kardashian, 42.

'It just seems like he had a lot to work on, and I just don't have time for it, or energy. I don't have the bandwidth or emotional capacity for it.'

Kanye is currently seeing his career implode and his fortune plummet after a series of anti-Semitic outbursts including a vow to go 'death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.'
After hitting the streets of New York City to go trick-or-treating with his family, Alec Baldwin spent his first morning of November picking up some coffee.

The 64-year-old actor was spotted leaving the La Colombe coffee shop in New York City early Tuesday morning.

The outing comes just hours after he was joined by his wife Hilaria Baldwin and their children for a night of trick-or-treating.

Coffee run: After hitting the streets of New York City to go trick-or-treating with his family, Alec Baldwin spent his first morning of November picking up some coffee

Baldwin stepped out wearing a black short-sleeved Polo shirt with a silver watch and a black bracelet on his left wrist.

He held his phone in his right hand and a coffee and a small bag from La Colombe in his left hand.

The actor completed his look with grey pants and black dress shoes for his early morning coffee run.

Alec's look: Baldwin stepped out wearing a black short-sleeved Polo shirt with a silver watch and a black bracelet on his left wrist

He was seen heading back to his black SUV on the early morning run before heading back to his home.

The actor was spotted on Halloween night taking five of his 'Baldwinitos' out trick-or-treating, with four of the older kids in various costumes.

Alec and Hilaria share seven children together, including their latest, daughter Ilaria, who was welcomed in late September.

Home: He was seen heading back to his black SUV on the early morning run before heading back to his home

Trick-or-treat: The actor was spotted on Halloween night taking five of his 'Baldwinitos' out trick-or-treating, with four of the older kids in various costumes

When asked about the possibility of having an eighth child, Hilaria didn't give quite the definitive answer.

'I would have said before [that I'm] definitely done,' she revealed in an interview with US Weekly.

'Seven kids in, I feel like I am, but it's Alec and me  so, time will tell!' she revealed.

Definitive: When asked about the possibility of having an eighth child, Hilaria didn't give quite the definitive answer

Baldwin is still waiting to see if he will face criminal charges from the tragic death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust last October.

The investigation has taken just over a year, though the final report has been handed over to District Attorney Mary Carmack Altwies.

'The District Attorney and her team of investigators and prosecutors will now begin a thorough review of the information and evidence to make a thoughtful, timely decision about whether to bring charges.

'As with all cases that the District Attorney handles, her focus will be on upholding the integrity of the process, enforcing the laws of the state of New Mexico, and pursuing justice,' the statement added.
Tayla Damir looked simply stunning as she arrived in style for the VRC Oaks Club Lunch at Crown Palladium in Melbourne on Thursday.

The 25-year-old flaunted her trim physique in a grey coloured dress that clung to her sensational frame.

She teamed up her ensemble with a white coloured handbag and strappy heels.

Tayla Damir looked simply stunning as she arrived in style for the VRC Oaks Club Lunch at Crown Palladium in Melbourne on Thursday

The influencer, who is married AFL star Nathan Broad, wore her brunette tresses out and relaxed.

The reality star opted for glittering gold eyeshadow and thick black eyeliner with a peachy pink lip gloss for the event.

Tayla tied the knot with her partner in the Gold Coast hinterland last month after a whirlwind three-year romance.

The 25-year-old flaunted her trim physique in a grey coloured dress that clung to her sensational frame

The influencer, who married AFL star Nathan Broad last month, wore her brunette tresses out and relaxed

The Love Island winner, 25, stunned in a white floral gown by Oglia-Loro Couture, while the Richmond player, 29, looked sharp in a classic tuxedo from MJ Bale.

Tayla's lace dress trailed across the ground behind her, and she styled her brunette hair in a neat bun which she covered with a long veil.

Tayla shared their beautiful wedding photos on Instagram on Tuesday, alongside the caption: 'Mr and Mrs Broad -17.10.22.'

The pair tied the knot in the Gold Coast hinterland last month after a whirlwind three-year romance

Pictures from the ceremony, which had a strict no-phones policy, highlighted the lush array of white flowers decorating the venue as the newlyweds kissed.

Other images showed the couple, who began dating in late 2019, posing atop a hill against the idyllic backdrop of the surrounding countryside.

Tayla also shared a blurry video of the couple with their arms wrapped around one another as they watched a fireworks display.

The Love Island winner, 25, stunned in a white floral gown on her special day, while the Richmond player, 29, looked sharp in a classic tuxedo

It comes after Tayla recently revealed she would like to get married before having children with Nathan, citing her 'traditional' upbringing.

'I'm traditional in the sense than I would ideally like to be married first, but after that, let the baby-making begin,' she said in an Instagram Q&A.

The model announced her engagement to the three-time premiership player in June, posting a video to Instagram of the moment her boyfriend proposed.

Other images showed the newlyweds with their arms wrapped around one another as they watched a fireworks display

Footage from their home CCTV system showed Nathan surprising Tayla by getting down on one knee on their front porch.

Despite having a lot to look forward to, Tayla found wedding planning stressful.

In July, she said she was suffering from anxiety, nose bleeds, stress rashes and exhaustion while trying to choose a venue, stick to her budget and 'please everyone'.

The model had announced her engagement to the three-time premiership player in June, posting a video to Instagram of the moment her boyfriend proposed

'I have always prided myself on using my social media to break down stigmas surrounding mental health and being as open and honest as possible,' she said on Instagram at the time.

'This time last week I was in a really dark place. I suffer from extreme anxiety so the thought of trying to plan a wedding, letting people down with their wants and expectations, picking a venue, pleasing everyone, pleasing myself whilst not knowing what I want and trying to budget became so overwhelming,' she added.

'At the time my anxiety made me feel so weak. I am completely fine now and we have locked in a venue and I'm finally having fun planning a wedding which I'm so excited about.'
She's known for her stunning looks on the runway.

And Nicole Trunfio proved she's equally as stylish off the catwalk as she went braless in a pink suit at the Kennedy Oaks Club Lunch at Crown Palladium in Melbourne on Wednesday.

The Australian-Italian model popped in the hot Valentino pink suit with a semi sheer top which she paired with matching wide leg trousers.

Nicole Trunfio proved she's equally as stylish off the catwalk as she went braless in a pink suit at the Kennedy Oaks Club Lunch at Crown Palladium in Melbourne on Wednesday

The Australian-Italian model, 36, popped in the hot Valentino pink suit with a semi sheer top which she paired with matching wide leg trousers

Hiding her modesty, the mother-of-three ensured she was free of nip slips by covering her cleavage in an oversized blazer.

Cementing her status in the style stakes, Nicole added a $3640 studded quilted clutch bag from Valentino's Garavani collection in lambskin nappa.

Nicole also cuffed her suit with horseshoe cufflinks in a clever tribute to the event.

While she was in hot pink from shoulder to ankle, Nicole embellished her outfit with black extremities sporting a black beret from celebrity millinery Stephen Jones and leather pointed stilettos.

Hiding her modesty, the mother-of-one ensured she was free of nip slips by covering her cleavage in an oversized blazer

Cementing her status in the style stakes, Nicole added a $3640 studded quilted clutch bag from Valentino's Garavani collection in lambskin nappa

Adding even more glamour to the look, Nicole opted for a full make-up style with brown black smokey eye make-up and a mauve lip on top of a creamy foundation.

The mother-of-three styled her brunette tresses long and loose in soft waves which fell over her shoulders.

It comes just days after Nicole turned heads in The Birdcage at Derby Day wearing a stunning black frock, which featured an asymmetrical neckline as it hugged her waist and flaunted a hint of cleavage.

The mother-of-three styled her brunette tresses long and loose in soft waves which fell over her shoulders

The Aussie icon clearly pays attention to fashion and recently gushed over a number of looks at Derby Day while speaking to Sydney Morning Herald.

'I loved Nicole Kidman [at Derby Day in 2012], to Gigi Hadid [in 2014], even Naomi Campbell [in 2013],' she said of the stars.

'You can be really timeless and classic in a peplum moment, or you can be really fresh and modern.'

Pierpaolo Piccioli - the creative director of Valentino - created Valentino Pink PP and put his whole AW22 collection in the hue

Zendaya sported a tailored Valentino suits at Paris Fashion Week in March (left) while Mika wore a similar suit to present Eurovision in May (right)

Pink seemed to be the colour of the day, with Delta Goodrem in a plunging fuchsia gown by Australian designer Mariam Seddiq and television presenter Rebecca Maddern in a dramatic red-and-pink gown paired with a red, pompom inspired headpiece.

Similar pink suits - often by Italian luxury fashion house Valentino - have been seen on many A-listers in the last year.

Pierpaolo Piccioli - the creative director of Valentino - created Valentino Pink PP and put his whole AW22 collection in the hue.

Zendaya and Eva Longoria sported a tailored Valentino suit at Paris Fashion Week in March, while Mika wore a similar suit to present Eurovision in May and Sebastian Stan wore a similar number to the Met Gala.
Michelle Keegan ran away from the TV set after she and her co-stars for Brassic got caught in torrential rain while filming for season five.

The 35-year-old actress, wearing an all black ensemble, had been in Blackpool beach on Tuesday night and got soaked by the bad weather.

Playing the role of Erin Croft, the girlfriend of Dylan, who is played by Damien Molony, Michelle picked up the pace as she ran to shelter from the elements.

Make a run for it: Michelle Keegan ran away from the TV set after she and her co-stars for Brassic got caught in torrential rain while filming for season five

Horrible weather: The 35-year-old actress, wearing an all black ensemble, had been in Blackpool beach on Tuesday night and got soaked by the bad weather

Co-stars: Playing the role of Erin Croft, the girlfriend of Dylan, who is played by Damien Molony, Michelle picked up the pace as she ran to shelter from the elements

She kept it casual in black jeans, a long-sleeved top and a high-neck black gilet.

The actress slipped her feet into a pair of black leather Doctor Martens and accessorised with a leopard print headband to style her half-up half-down hair do.

Earlier in the evening, when the temperatures were still chilly, Michelle kept warm in a large khaki Dry Robe coat to complete her autumnal look.

Chilly: She kept it casual in black jeans, a long-sleeved top and a high-neck black gilet

Windswept: Her hair was windswept and the actress was left trying to rearrange her look as she weather gave it a battering

Filming: The crew make a run for it after the bad weather only got worse in Blackpool last night

On location: The actress slipped her feet into a pair of black leather Doctor Martens and accessorised with a leopard print headband to style her half-up half-down hair do

Her hair was windswept and the actress was left trying to rearrange her look as she weather gave it a battering.

The Coronation Street star accessorised her ensemble with gold hoop earrings and accentuated her features with a slick of eyeliner and a touch of mascara.

Michelle styled her chocolate tresses in a straight fashion swept away from her face in a half-up half-down style.

Get inside! Michelle pointed her team in the right direction with a torch in hand as they tried to get away from the rain

Keeping warm: She was also seen to be trying to keep warm by walking on the spot as she prepared to start filming between scenes

In the elements: The crew still looked in good spirits despite battling against the weather while filming for season five of Brassic

She was also seen to be trying to keep warm by walking on the spot as she prepared to start filming between scenes.

Comedy-drama Brassic follows Vinnie O'Neill (Joseph Gilgun) and his five friends, including Michelle's single mother character Erin.

The group struggle to get by in the fictional town of Hawley, and often resort to petty crime for money.

Keeping warm: Michelle styled her chocolate tresses in a straight fashion swept away from her face in a half-up half-down style

All smiles: Michelle appeared to be in excellent spirits as she flashed a grin in between takes

Racy: In October last year, Michelle admitted she had banned her family from watching one episode of the show due to a raunchy sex scene, she told Radio Times

Beauty: She wore her chocolate tresses in a middle parting and a ponytail during filming on Tuesday afternoon

The BAFTA-nominated series began back in 2019, as season four of the show was released last month on Sky Max and Now TV.

Lee Mack has joined the cast for the fifth series, with recently filmed comedy scenes showing him becoming stuck on a fence.

In October last year, Michelle admitted she had banned her family from watching one episode of the show due to a raunchy sex scene, she told Radio Times.

Cosy: She kept warm amid the chilly temperatures with a large khaki Dry Robe coat and sported a pair of black boots to complete her autumnal look

Hit show: Comedy-drama Brassic follows Vinnie O'Neill (Joseph Gilgun) and his five friends, including Michelle's single mother character Erin

Gorgeous: Michelle caused onlookers to gawk and point on the Blackpool set

'That first episode, I didn't let my family watch until 15 minutes in, and we all know why!' she said with a laugh.

And Michelle has certainly kept busy with her portfolio of acting gigs, as she starred as a young nurse named Kate in the six-part period BBC drama Ten Pound Poms.

She returned home to the UK after four months of filming for the show in Australia, which follows a group of Brits as they leave dreary post-war Britain in 1956 to embark on a life-altering adventure on the other side of the world.

Talented: Michelle has certainly kept busy with her portfolio of acting gigs, as she starred as a young nurse named Kate in the six-part period BBC drama Ten Pound Poms
Newly-single Millie Court sent temperatures soaring as she took to Instagram on Tuesday during her sun-soaked Thailand getaway.

The Love Island winner, 25, exhibited her enviable physique in a skimpy white bikini as she enjoyed a cocktail in a pool at night.

Her blonde tresses were swept up in a chic updo, with her fringe left down to frame her face.

Incredible: Newly-single Millie Court sent temperatures soaring as she took to Instagram on Tuesday during her sun-soaked Thailand getaway

Having a blast: Captioning the string of stunning snaps, Millie wrote: 'One pina colada please'

She wore a white beaded necklace and sported a full face of glamorous makeup to accentuate her pretty features.

Captioning the string of stunning snaps, Millie wrote: 'One pina colada please'.

Several of her reality TV pals took to the comment section to gush over the star, including fellow Islander Lucinda Strafford, who she is travelling with.

Looking good: The Love Island winner, 25, exhibited her enviable physique in a skimpy white bikini as she enjoyed a cocktail in a pool at night

Flawless: Her blonde tresses were swept up in a chic updo, with her fringe left down to frame her face

The reality star took to her Instagram Story on Sunday as she hopped on a jet ski and sped around the ocean.

The ITV2 star seemed to be having the time of her life as she swapped her white two piece for an eye-catching pink bikini, showing off her toned figure.

On Saturday, the star wowed in a skimpy blue bikini as she sprawled out while enjoying a boat ride out to sea.

Posing up a storm: The ITV2 star seemed to be having the time of her life as she swapped her white two piece for an eye catching pink bikini

'Selfie in the middle of the sea': The reality star took to her Instagram Story as she hopped on a jet ski and speeded around the ocean

Sizzling display: Millie pouted and held up a peace sign as she gave fans a glimpse of her fun packed getaway

She soon turned over to flaunt her pert behind as she gazed out at the Koh Samui coastline before sharing a more candid shot in her 'Insta vs reality' post.

Millie is staying at the lavish Avani Chaweng Samui Hotel & Beach Club, where room rates reach nearly 800 per night.

She's newly single following her split from fellow Love Island winner Liam Reardon last month.

Hot stuff: On Saturday, the star wowed in a skimpy blue bikini as she sprawled out while enjoying a boat ride out to sea

Out of this world: She soon turned over to flaunt her pert rear as she gazed out at the Koh Samui coastline

It comes after MailOnline revealed Love Island 2021 winners Millie and Liam decided to go their separate ways following a year-long romance.

Millie and Liam called it quits after growing apart in recent months, while they both pursued individual work opportunities.

The pair lived together in Essex but have since moved out of their shared home.
Iris Law looked incredible as she posed for a stunning photoshoot for Jimmy Choo's new winter 2022 campaign.

The model, 22, ensured all eyes were on her in the campaign as she donned a black leather strapless mini dress.

Showing off one of the brand's crimson handbags, Iris wore her platinum blonde locks in a cropped style for the shoot.

Stunning: Iris Law looked incredible as she posed for a stunning photoshoot for Jimmy Choo's new winter 2022 campaign

In another look, the star wore an off the shoulder mini dress and added height to her frame with a pair of lavender heels.

In one image, Iris donned a black long-sleeved leotard along with a matching pair of stockings as she posed on a bed.

The model also wore a black midi dress which she paired with fuchsia heels with a pink bow and a matching clutch bag.

Iris is the daughter of actor Jude Law and fashion designer Sadie Frost.

Incredible: In one image, Iris donned a black long-sleeved leotard along with a matching pair of stockings as she posed on a bed

Style: The star wore an off the shoulder mini dress and added height to her frame with a pair of lavender heels

It comes after Iris was reported Iris was dating rapper Pa Salieu after secretly splitting from her long-term boyfriend Jyrrel Roberts.

It is not known how long the model has been dating Pa, 24, but they were pictured on a night out in the capital last October.

However, it's not clear what Iris' famous parents will make of her new boyfriend after she previously told of how they had instilled in her to always be polite.

Last year, Iris, who appears in upcoming Sex Pistols drama Pistol, told ES Magazine: 'I've been brought up with morals, not necessarily to do with acting but for life. I've always been told to be polite, to be on time, to be attentive, to work really hard.'

Beauty: Iris wore her platinum blonde locks in a cropped style for the shoot

Pose: The model also wore a black midi dress which she paired with fuchsia heels

Radiant: In one look, Irish donned a black strapless top with a sequinned print

Yet Pa is no stranger to a questionable lyric, often rapping about violence and gun use.

Pa was named BBC's Sound Of 2021 and his debut single Frontline was the most-played track of 2020 on BBC Radio 1Xtra.

In 2018, the hitmaker was out with friend Fidel Glasgow, 21, grandson of The Specials' Neville Staple, when Fidel was killed outside Coventry's Club M.

Iris has become a firm part of the fashion scene over the years, attending various fashion weeks in recent months.
He has undergone a wholesome transformation in recent years after making a name for himself as a hell-raising rocker in his Babyshambles heyday.

And Pete Doherty once again showed off his new look on social media on Tuesday, as he wrapped up to take his husky Zeus for a walk in Copenhagen.

The Libertines star, 43, shared a picture posing under the Freetown Christiania sign, which is widely-known for its open cannabis trade in the area.

Main man: Pete Doherty once again showed off his new look on social media on Tuesday, as he wrapped up to take his husky Zeus for a walk in Copenhagen

In the snap, Pete was sporting a fur-trim coat and a matching hat, teamed with a pattered jumper and a pair of slim-fitting jeans.

Pete was joined by Zeus, who has become known in his own right after walking out on stage during a gig in Newcastle last year.

The musician's snap was taken ahead of a Libertines' show in Denmark's capital.

Out and about: In the snap, Pete was sporting a fur-trim coat and a matching hat, teamed with a pattered jumper and a pair of slim-fitting jeans

He wrote alongside the image: 'See you soon Copenhagen x'

Following the show, the official Libertines Instagram shared a picture of Pete and his bandmate Carl Barat as they kicked back after performing.

Pete - who battled drug demons throughout his career - now lives in Etretat, Normandy, France with wife Katia de Vidas.

Backstage: Following the show, the official Libertines Instagram shared a picture of Pete and his bandmate Carl Barat as they kicked back after performing

Despite disbanding in 2004, The Libertines reunited in 2014, and are currently touring Europe in a series of special shows.

Their fourth studio album is currently in the works, although it is unknown when fans can expect to hear the new music.

It comes as Pete recently revealed that BBC bosses once offered him a 'starring' role in EastEnders.

He said that the offer came after late actress June Brown - who ran a detox charity - attempted to help him kick his '200 a day' heroin addiction.

Speaking to The Mirror he said: 'There are a few things that have fallen through over the years that I was a bit disappointed about  opportunities that came up that I didnt take.'

He added: 'I was going to get a part in EastEnders at one point. It was around this time that the Libertines re-formed too.'
Martha Kalifatidis was rushed to hospital on Wednesday following a health scare.

The pregnant Married At First Sight star, 34, became alarmed after her baby stopped moving for a day and headed to emergency in Sydney as a precaution.

Martha's partner Michael, 31, took to Instagram during the evening to allay her fans and follower's fears, and explain the situation.

'This morning was a little stressful... Martha hadn't felt the baby move for a day, when it's been super active, so we decided to be safe and get it checked,' he explained.

Married At First Sight's Martha Kalifatidis (pictured) was rushed to hospital on Wednesday after 'not feeling her baby move for a day'

Alongside the post, Michael shared a photo of Martha wearing a red bathrobe and white pants on a hospital bed in emergency.

The reality star wore a face mask and was seen tapping on her phone.

Michael then shared a selfie with Martha at home, who was laying in bed playing with her iPhone.

It comes after Martha, who has been bed-ridden for months while suffering severe hyperemesis gravidarum, stepped out for the first time in weeks for a rare public outing to attend the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday.

Martha's partner Michael, 31, took to Instagram during the evening to allay their follower's fears, and explain the situation. 'This morning was a little stressful... Martha hadn't felt the baby move for a day, when it's been super active, so we decided to be safe and get it checked,' he explained

Martha looked radiant on the day, showing off her baby bump in a form-fitting crop top under a mesh dress with flowing trousers.

To protect herself against the cold, she threw a boxy pink jacket over her ensemble.

In true races style, the mum-to-be donned a netted hair piece which covered her flawless face and clutched a Balenciaga mini bag.

It comes after Martha, who has been bed-ridden for months while suffering severe hyperemesis gravidarum, stepped out to attend the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday

She completed the look with a lick of pink nail polish and modest sandal heels, and let her signature dark locks fall around her shoulders.

Martha arrived to the races with her mother, former Big Brother contestant Mary Kalifatidis, and an attractive pal.

It comes after Martha provided a frank insight into how her battle with an acute form of morning sickness had impacted her pregnancy.

Martha looked radiant, showing off her baby bump in a form-fitting crop top under a mesh dress and a pair of flowing trousers. Martha arrived to the races with her mother, Mary

To protect herself against the cold, she threw a boxy pink jacket over her ensemble

She told The Daily Telegraph that being diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum changed everything, and her symptoms had manifested in numerous painful ways.

'Its like youve got gastro, youre hungover and youre on a boat. This is anything but fun,' she said.

She explained she was diagnosed just one month into her pregnancy, which forced her and Michael to cut short their European holiday.

In true races style, the mum-to-be donned a netted hair piece which covered her flawless face and clutched a Balenciaga mini bag
Jennifer Lawrence shows off her natural beauty for a new Longines campaign after she was unveiled as its newest Ambassador of Elegance.

The mother-of-one, 32, looks incredible in the new images, which see her sporting picture perfect make-up and wearing her hair in a natural up-do.

She wore a semi-sheer black top with a vest top underneath it and flashed a glimpse of a Longines watch which had a red strap.

Stunning: Jennifer Lawrence showed off her flawless natural beauty as she posed for new Longines campaign after she was unveiled as its newest Ambassador of Elegance

Jennifer said: 'Longines is rooted in a legacy of innovation and quality trusted by some of history's greatest trailblazers.

'I am thrilled to join the Longines family and look forward to our partnership in the years ahead!'

It's been a busy time for Jennifer, who has been hard at work shooting the R-rated comedy No Hard Feelings on Long Island in recent weeks.

Jennifer said: 'Longines is rooted in a legacy of innovation and quality trusted by some of history's greatest trailblazers'

Jennifer plays a woman who answers a Craigslist advertisement that was placed by a mother for someone to date her son (Andrew Barth Feldman) before he enters college.

Directed by Gene Stupnitsky and co-starring Natalie Morales and Matthew Broderick, No Hard Feelings is scheduled to be released on June 16, 2023.

Lawrence is also on the promotional push for Causeway, a psychological drama that follows a soldier who suffers a traumatic brain injury while deployed in Afghanistan and then struggles to adjust to life back home.

Directed by Lila Neugebauer, best known for her theatre work on Broadway as a director, writer and artistic director, the film also stars Brian Tyree Henry, Linda Emond, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Jayne Houdyshell, Russell Harvard, Joshua Hull, Fred Weller, Sean Carvajal, Will Pullen and Neal Huff.

After having its world premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival in September, Causeway is slated to premiere in theaters in a limited release on October 28, which would be followed up by being released on Apple TV+ on November 4.

Jennifer is also busy being mother to her eight-month-old son Cy, whom she shares with husband Cooke Maroney.

Lawrence and Maroney, an art dealer who serves as the director of New York City's Gladstone Gallery, just celebrated their third wedding anniversary on October 19.
By Kim Hyung-keun





Head of portfolio management division at SK Inc.
Kelly Brook put on a very leggy display as she modelled glamorous outfits from her new Christmas clothing and home collection with F&F fashion in a stunning shoot.

The model, 42, posed up a storm in everything from elegant mini dresses to cosy cashmere ensembles as she got in the festive spirit with her launch on Tuesday.

In one sensational shot, Kelly made sure all eyes were on her in a black satin wrap-around dress, which she teamed with pink platform heels.

Stunning: Kelly Brook put on a very leggy display as she modelled glamorous outfits from her new Christmas clothing and home collection with F&F fashion in a stunning shoot

She accentuated her natural beauty with lashings of mascara and a touch of bronzer as she posed in front of double doors, with a Christmas tree on show behind.

Kelly styled her glossy chocolate tresses loosely in voluminous waves and laughed as she sat alongside her beloved pooch Teddy.

She also dazzled in a sparkling green collared mini dress and showed off her slender pins as she teamed her look with black stilettos.

Her friends were seen enjoying a banquet behind her as she showed off an immaculately decorated Christmas tree beside her.

Glam: The model, 42, posed up a storm in everything from elegant mini dresses to cosy cashmere ensembles as she got in the festive spirit with her launch on Tuesday

Kelly also sported the same dress in an eye-catching silver, which she styled with vibrant green heels embellished with a silver clasp.

As well as her festive party looks, Kelly also opted for an array of more cosy ensembles for a wintery night sat around the fire.

She kept it casual in grey jeans and a grey jumper, which she wore underneath a cosy white fleece jacket.

The Heart Radio host completed her look with a pair of grey fur-lined Chelsea boots as she kept warm amid the chilly winter temperatures.

Elegant: In one sensational shot, Kelly made sure all eyes were on her in a black satin wrap-around dress, which she teamed with pink platform heels

Gorgeous: She accentuated her natural beauty with lashings of mascara and a touch of bronzer as she posed while putting up a Christmas wreath

Party time! Kelly styled her glossy chocolate tresses loosely in voluminous waves as she partied with her friends

She also posed in a white patterned jumper with her dog Teddy, who sported the same look, as she has launched matching looks for owners and their pooches as part of her collection.

In another shot, Kelly kept comfortable in a beige cashmere 85 jumper and matching 79 joggers as she curled up on the sofa for a chilled night in.

Kelly was also seen hanging up Christmas wreathes and decorating her tree as she sported patterned jumpers while getting in the festive spirit.

Fun times: She also dazzled in a sparkling green collared mini dress and showed off her slender pins as she teamed her look with black stilettos

Sparkling: Kelly also sported the same dress in an eye-catching silver, which she styled with vibrant green heels embellished with a silver clasp

Christmas time: Kelly was also seen hanging up Christmas wreathes and decorating her tree as she sported patterned jumpers while getting in the festive spirit

Kelly took to Instagram to announce her brand new Christmas collection, revealing she was launching a home edit as well as an array of festive clothes.

She penned: 'It's Finally Happening.. So Excited to be Launching my New Home Edit at Tesco over the coming weeks, it's been a Dream working with @fandfclothing to combine Fashion and Home in one Place.

'I love the Cosy Season so if your wanting to Update your Home this Season with these Gorgeous Gin Glasses, Sherpa Throws and Christmas Wreaths and Cushions look no Further! We also have the most amazing Cosy Cashmere Loungewear!!'

Twinning: She posed in a white patterned jumper with her dog Teddy, who sported the same look, as she has launched matching looks for owners and their pooches

Laidback look: As well as her festive party looks, Kelly also opted for an array of more cosy ensembles for a wintery night sat around the fire

Wintery look: She kept it casual in grey jeans and a grey jumper, which she wore underneath a cosy white fleece jacket

Her pink satin-wrap dress is priced at just 22.50 while her gold strap jumpsuit costs just 28 and the champagne satin slip skirt is priced at 19.50.

When asked what her favourite item was from the collection, Kelly said: 'My favourite piece from my Christmas edit would have to be the sequin wrap dress - it's the perfect outfit for hosting a Christmas party.'

As well as her glamorous clothing edit, Kelly has also curated a collection of homeware to bring joy to the home for the festive season.

Her collection includes scented candles, soft furnishings, luxurious tableware and statement accessories.

Pooch: Kelly sported a very festive red jumper with reindeers on as she played with her dog Teddy

Sweet: Kelly has launched matching outfits for dog owners and their pets and she modelled the collection

Speaking about the homeware edit, Kelly said: 'I am so excited to launch my new home and clothing collection with F&F and Tesco home.

'Bringing home and clothing together is something I have wanted to do for so long and Christmas seemed like the perfect time to launch my edit! And with Teddy's help, we have picked out the best pieces for every home this Christmas!'

Her collection comes after Kelly got married in a lavish '500,000' Italian wedding day with her husband Jeremy Parisi.

The pair were pictured looking elated on their rainy but special day with the Italian town of Civitavecchia as their backdrop, famed for its historic architecture.

Looking good: Kelly sported an array of festive patterned jumpers and jeans for a more casual look

Dancing: Kelly appeared in excellent spirits as she danced the night away with her glamorous friends

Kelly looked at the camera with her eyes lit up after just tying the knot, holding her bouquet of white roses contrasting against her traditional ivory dress.

On the day in July, she was seen holding the floor-length hemline of her dress away from the rough terrain surrounding Torre di Cicero - the 19th century villa that served as their wedding venue.

The ceremony had originally been planned as an outdoor event in an area some 1,500 metres high, but an unexpected rainstorm prompted a last minute change of plans.

Consequently, the bride, groom and an assortment of friends and family members celebrated the ceremony within the walls of Torre di Cicero.

Presents: Kelly was seen taking in an array of gifts into her home as she sported a green jacket and gold heels

Exciting: Kelly took to Instagram to announce her brand new Christmas collection, revealing she was launching a home edit as well as an array of festive clothes

It's understood that Kelly pulled out all the stops for the day, with the bride-to-be paying for funfair rides and inviting A-list guest Kylie Minogue, according to The Sun.

The publication reported that the former Big Breakfast host has thrown 'the kitchen sink' at her wedding to give her and Jeremy the day to remember, with the plans turning into an 'extravagant affair'.

The model is said to have splashed out up to 500,000 for her big day.

A source told The Sun: 'Kelly has thrown the kitchen sink at her wedding and it's turning into quite an extravagant affair. She has booked the Villa Nota Pisani in central Italy for the ceremony and reception.'

The insider added that the villa is a 'beautiful location' and the couple 'fell in love with it' immediately after setting eyes on it.

They went on: 'Kelly has invited all her friends and stars like Kylie are on the guestlist. The ceremony is going to be really romantic but Kelly wants to give her family and pals a real party afterwards. She has been in talks with a company to put on a funfair for everyone  and the drinks will be flowing all night.'

After earning her fortune following a successful 25 year career as a model, actress and media personality, it appeared there was no expense spared when it came to making Kelly's wedding dream come true.
Naomi Campbell looked radiant as ever as she enjoyed a trip to the beach alongside PrettyLittleThing founder Umar Kumani in the Maldives on Wednesday.

The model, 52, displayed her jaw-dropping figure as she slipped into a white bikini while soaking up the sun on a beach chair.

The star styled her raven locks into loose waves for the day while she also sported several gold necklaces.

Holiday: Naomi Campbell enjoyed a trip to the beach alongside PrettyLittleThing founder Umar Kumani in the Maldives on Wednesday (L-R, Alton Mason, Naomi, Umar and Nada Adelle)

Umar, 34, opted for a casual look as he donned a white open shirt along with a matching pair of trousers.

The PrettyLittleThing founder was accompanied by his fiancee Nada Adelle who looked stunning in a white crop top and matching skirt.

Also joining them was male model Alton Mason who went shirtless and sported a white pair of trousers.

It comes after Naomi recently faced criticism from gay right's campaigners for agreeing to host a 'spectacular' fashion show in Qatar.

Event: It comes after Naomi recently faced criticism from gay right's campaigners for agreeing to host a 'spectacular' fashion show in Qatar

Gay men and women are persecuted in the Arab nation where homosexuality is considered abnormal and punishable by three years in jail.

Human rights organisation Amnesty International has said women and LGBTQ+ people 'continue to face discrimination in law and practice' in the country.

Naomi has often publicly voiced support for the LGBT community. In 2021, she joined a host of celebrities in signing a letter of support for the LGBT community in Ghana.

She once said: 'If it wasn't for gay men, I would not exist... I owe my life to gay men. It's just what I have grown up with. It's my family.'

Criticism: Human rights organisation Amnesty International has said women and LGBTQ+ people 'continue to face discrimination in law and practice' in the country

Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, who said he was this week detained by officials while protesting about gay rights in Qatar, said: 'Miss Campbell's involvement is inconsistent, given the country's appalling restrictions on women and the criminalisation of LGBT.'

Naomi's spokesman said: 'She is famously supportive of the LBGTQ+ community and she understands that being engaged in places like Qatar is an essential step towards positive change.

'To suggest that her Emerge initiative is in any way an affront to the LGBTQ+ community shows a lack of understanding of who [she] is as a person and as a global citizen.'
She has become well known for following her mother Heidi Klum's footsteps into the modeling world.

And on Wednesday, Leni Klum showed that she was making her own strides in the fashion industry in a promotional video that was shared to shoe brand Superga's Instagram Story.

The 18-year-old also spoke about her love for dancing while taking part in the clip's production.

There she is: Leni Klum showed that she was making strides in the fashion industry in a promotional video that was shared to shoe brand Superga's Instagram Story on Wednesday

Klum wore a light blue crewneck sweater that was contrasted with a pair of cuffed black pants in the video.

The fashion industry figure also rocked a set of high-top leather boots and a pair of stark white socks.

Her voluminous brunette hair cascaded onto her chest and paired well with the light tone of her outfit.

She was also featured in a duo of promotional shots for Superga, one of which was shared to her own Instagram Story, and the other was posted on the brand's.

Staying comfortable: Klum wore a light blue crewneck sweater that was contrasted with a pair of cuffed black pants in the video

Klum wore a white undershirt that was tucked into a loose-fitting pair of gray sweat pants for the first of the snaps.

The model also added an element of darkness to her look with the same pair of high-top leather boots.

In Superga's shot, the social media personality was seen while sitting in front of a vintage Mustang, and she wore a black turtleneck underneath a light blue denim button-up shirt.

She finished off her look with the same socks and high-top boots, and her brunette locks added an extra element of color to her outfit.

Switching out: Klum wore a white undershirt that was tucked into a loose-fitting pair of gray sweat pants for the first of the snaps

Klum also briefly spoke about her background as a dancer in the video that was posted to Superga's Story.

In the clip, she stated: 'I do like to dance. I used to dance professionally. Every dance except for ballroom and tap for eight years.'

She recently discussed her path in the fashion industry during an interview with People, and she pointed out that, although the connections of her parents proved to be useful, she wanted to pave her own way in the modeling world.

Opening up: She recently discussed her path in the fashion industry during an interview with People, and she pointed out that, although the connections of her parents proved to be useful, she wanted to pave her own way in the modeling world

'I did get help starting off, and I know that people would dream to start off with what I had...but I am doing the work and putting in the time,' she said.

Klum went on to credit her parents for giving her direction in terms of her career path.

'They have both taught me to be myself, and to do what makes me feel comfortable,' she stated.

Getting help: Klum went on to credit her parents for giving her direction in terms of her career path

This comes after Leni broke her silence over the backlash she received for posing in lingerie with her supermodel mom Heidi for the Italian brand Intimissimi.

When asked about the criticism of the campaign by social media users, the 18-year-old, who recently moved from California to New York City for college, said it didn't sway how she feels about the photo shoot.

'I honestly didn't look at a lot of the reactions,' she admitted. 'I am overall happy with the campaign and I had an amazing day with my mom.'

Mother daughter duo: Leni broke her silence over the backlash she received for posing in lingerie with her supermodel mom Heidi for the Italian brand Intimissimi

Additionally, she raved that she thought 'the photos turned out great' and she 'had an amazing time.'

Leni insisted she doesn't 'pay any attention' to negative feedback and is grateful to work on a shoot with her mother, who she described as her 'inspiration.'

'Just the advice she gives me, the way she works, everything about her, I can go on and on,' the teen told Page Six at her mom's annual Halloween party. 'I love shooting with her.'

Controversial: When asked about the criticism of the campaign by social media users, the 18-year-old, who recently moved from California to New York City for college, said it didn't sway how she feels about the photo shoot

'I honestly didn't look at a lot of the reactions,' she admitted. 'I am overall happy with the campaign and I had an amazing day with my mom'

Proud: Additionally, she raved that she thought 'the photos turned out great' and she 'had an amazing time'

Earlier this month, Howard Stern branded the mother daughter lingerie campaign inappropriate on his SiriusXM show.

'I looked at it and I thought, 'This is so f**king' out of line. It is so inappropriate. But you can't stop looking at it,' he said.

The radio and television personality continued: 'It looks like a guy's [personal] fantasy. They're kissing and they're holding each other. And they're frolicking.'
Sienna Miller has said she spent years investing in a relationship with someone who was 'a bucket with a hole in it of a person'.

The actress, 40, revealed she thought she would be married with children by her 30s but the relationships she was in during those years didn't work out.

Speaking to British Vogue, Sienna said: 'I'd invested what felt like the important years in something that was just a bucket with a hole in it of a person. I wasted time. And I felt like time was really my currency.'

Candid: Sienna Miller has said she spent years investing in a relationship with someone who was 'a bucket with a hole in it of a person'

She was quick to point out she was not referring to Tom Sturridge, who she dated from 2011 to 2015 and shares daughter Marlowe, ten, with.

Prior to her relationship with Tom, Sienna was engaged to fellow actor Jude Law in 2004 after he popped the question on Christmas Day.

He apologised to her in July of the following year for having an affair with the nanny of his children.

Sienna also had a highly publicised affair with the actor Bathlazar Getty in 2008.

Interview: The actress, 40, also revealed she thought she would be married with children by her 30s but the relationships she was in during those years didn't work out

Reflecting on her thirties being difficult, she added: 'There was a lot of anxiety. Relationships hadn't worked out  I imagined that I would be married with three kids, being a great mum. I love being a mother. It's what I do best.'

Now, Sienna is dating model Oli Green, 15 years her junior, saying: 'There's a misogyny that is ingrained in men of my age and older that I don't see in [the] generation below'.

Sienna's ex Tom is now in a relationship with presenter and fashion designer Alexa Chung with the actress saying she is 'really happy' for the couple.

She said: 'It's genuinely lovely. Marlowe comes home with Alexa's jumpers that I steal. I've got one upstairs.'

Couple: Sienna is in a relationship with model Oli Green, 15 years her junior, saying: 'There's a misogyny that is ingrained in men of my age and older that I don't see in [the] generation below' (pictured in June 2022)

On her unconventional co-parenting set-up, including spending lockdown in Upstate New York with respective partners at the time, Sienna said: 'I had my then boyfriend. And Tom's then girlfriend came and... it was definitely eccentric.

'I can't go into detail but the wheels came off and everything went horribly wrong.' [...] 'It will make a fantastic play.'

Sienna said she was 'excited' to turn 40, adding: 'As a young woman I was so trivialised and so insubstantial-seeming, but there's very little that anyone can say to a 40-year-old woman. And I also don't give a f**k.

'It was such a headline in my life  what people thought of me. It was so loud that I believed it. Now I've got to a point where it's absolutely none of your business.'

Former flame: Sienna was quick to point out she is not referring to Tom Sturridge, who she dated from 2011 to 2015 and shares daughter Marlowe, ten, with (pictured in 2015)

The actress also discussed the issue of the gender pay gap in showbusiness, revealing how she was offered less than half of what her male co-star was going to earn in a Broadway play she did several years ago.

Sienna said: 'I said to the producer, who was extremely powerful, it's not about money  it's about fairness and respect, thinking they'd come back and say, "Of course, of course." But they didn't. They just said, "Well f**k off then."

'I realised I had every right to be equally subsidised for the work that I would have done.'

Ex: Prior to her relationship with Tom, Sienna was engaged to fellow actor Jude Law in 2004 after he popped the question on Christmas Day (pictured in 2010)

The late actor Chadwick Boseman reallocated some of his salary so Sienna's fee could be met for their 2019 film 21 Bridges, on which Boseman was also a producer:

The actress told him: ' "What you did was extraordinary and meant the world." He came up to me when we wrapped and said, "You got paid what you deserved." '

See the full feature in the December issue of British Vogue available via digital download and on newsstands from Tuesday 15th November.
The Crown's Elizabeth Debicki has revealed she was 'spooked' at the idea of playing Diana and used to tell herself - 'I cannot do this'.

The actress, 32, has taken on the role of a lifetime with her part as the late Princess of Wales in the new series released on November 9.

But she has now told in a new interview with British Vogue how she was 'overwhelmed' with the prospect of taking on the character - as well as reflecting on recreating her 'revenge dress' scenes.

Doubts: The Crown's Elizabeth Debicki has revealed she was 'spooked' at the idea of playing Diana and used to tell herself - 'I cannot do this'

She told the publication: 'I think in the very beginning that did overwhelm me, the idea of this kind of collective [of Diana disciples] out there.

'It's a trap, right? A swampy quagmire. So, I would stand over the kitchen sink and say, 'I cannot do this.'

But then the scripts arrived and she realised: 'This isn't meta. These are characters.'

During the chat she also reflected on wearing Diana's iconic black 'revenge dress' - which she says she felt was 'super risque' for the time.

Interview: But she has now told in a new interview with British Vogue how she was 'overwhelmed' with the prospect of taking on the part

She explained: 'It was pressure! It's a complex dress. I let the fittings happen around me while I thought about what the dress meant. Why this dress? She'd had it for two or three years. It was super risque at the time.

'She was claiming the space. The way she walked out of that car, the luminosity, the strength of her as that car door opened, she was so fast and so forward. It's an extraordinary thing to watch.

'To decide what you're saying about yourself through fashion... it was a currency. An incredibly powerful currency.'

Beauty: Elizabeth looked stunning in her Vogue shots as she donned a sexy black lace dress which she teamed with silky black gloves while posing up a storm

She also spoke about the attention the show receives - amid wide-spread criticism of the latest series and Netflix for covering the late royal's final hours.

Touching on the headlines it has created, she said: 'I don't have any big opinions about the Royal Family. That's an advantage here, right?'

'Prince Harry seems fun. But anyone who works on the show has a sense of how extremely difficult it is to be born into that life.'

Elizabeth looked stunning in her Vogue shots, and on the cover wore a ruffled yellow dress, while sporting poker-straight blonde hair and a red lip.

Historic: During the chat she also reflected on wearing Diana's iconic black 'revenge dress' - which she says she felt was 'super risque' for the time

Moment: She explained: 'It was pressure! It's a complex dress. I let the fittings happen around me while I thought about what the dress meant. Why this dress? She'd had it for two or three years. It was super risque at the time!'

Iconic: Diana wore the stunning black dress commissioned from Christina Stambolian, as she attended the Vanity Fair party at the Serpentine Gallery on November 20, 1994, in London

The other shot saw her don a sexy black lace dress which she teamed with silky black gloves as she posed up a storm.

The show facing criticism over storylines set to feature in the new series, including depicting the then Prince Charles as a disloyal schemer who plotted against his mother and Prince Philip 'pursuing an affair' with his close friend Penny Knatchbull.

William Shawcross, the Queen Mother's official biographer, branded the series 'odious' and 'deliberately hurtful' over an apparently invented scene where Charles tells the Queen she should be 'thrown... into jail' for being a 'bad mother'.

Netflix, which spends 11.5 million per episode on the show, which is one of its biggest global hits, is about to launch series five on November 9.

It will cover the years from 1991 to 1997, and will include details of Diana's Panorama interview in 1995.

King Charles, played by Dominic West, is the dominant figure in the drama. He is shown lobbying Prime Minister John Major in a bizarre attempt to force his mother's abdication.

It also depicts Charles bitterly arguing with Diana as their divorce looms, and romancing Camilla, now Queen Consort, including a dramatisation of the notorious 'tampongate' phone call.

The fifth series of The Crown, which will cover the years leading up to Princess Diana's 1995 Panorama interview, has already sparked anger before its release.

Popular: Netflix, which spends 11.5 million per episode on the show, which is one of its biggest global hits, is about to launch series five on November 9

A production source said that media outrage over inaccuracies  and the lack of sensitivity in airing the series so close to the death of the Queen  is 'spooking' the broadcaster.

The source said: 'The show has never been about sensationalism but it has also always been a drama. For the first years it seemed that everyone was happy to tolerate it.'

But the source said writer Peter Morgan had become increasingly 'uncomfortable' as the series of The Crown edged closer to the present day.

But Elizabeth has previously defended the series and said it was an 'interpretation' of events and 'we can maybe stop talking' about the controversy.

Criticism: Netflix is currently facing fury over plans to dramatise Princess Diana's final moments before her tragic death in Paris in its new season of The Crown (Elizabeth as Princess Diana in The Crown, season five)

She told the Radio Times: 'I respect people's points of view and I, being an actor in the show, understand the nature of what the show is.

'It was always very clear to me that one can never know what happens behind closed doors and that a writer is interpreting what may have happened.

'Now the disclaimer is up there, we can maybe stop talking about it and move on. If that's helpful for certain people, so be it, and now the conversation can be returned to the creative endeavour of what the show is.'

She added: 'There's a huge amount of room for interpretation and that's the value and beauty of The Crown as well, that you receive a different message depending on who you are. That's good drama to me.'

Acting royalty Dame Judi Dench, who is close to King Charles and Camilla, recently accused the programme of being 'crude and hurtful'.

Amid growing controversy about the way The Crown blurs reality and fiction, Netflix recently updated its description of the series to add a disclaimer to its trailer on YouTube which says it is a 'fictional dramatization'.

Series six will show moped-riding paparazzi photographers swarming Princess Diana's car in the lead-up to the crash that killed her in Paris. Netflix previously said the 'exact moment' of the crash will not feature in the controversial drama as filming for series six is well-underway.

The December issue of British Vogue is available via digital download and on newsstands from November 15.
Lizzie Cundy put on an eye-popping display as she donned a skimpy white swimsuit to celebrate National Farmer's Day.

The former WAG, 54, showcased her incredible figure in the one piece as she posed playfully on a tractor.

Letting her dark blonde locks fall loose down her shoulders, the media personality also sported a pair of aviator sunglasses.

Stunning: Lizzie Cundy put on an eye-popping display as she donned a skimpy white swimsuit to celebrate National Farmer's Day

Lizzie wrote: 'Happy National Farmers day! Celebrating our farmers today and heres to producing our own food ! Ive got the best fertiliser by the way!'

Showing off her sun-kissed tan, Lizzie sported a gold watch and completed her look with a light palette of makeup.

Alongside the post, she wrote: 'Happy National Farmers day! Celebrating our farmers today and heres to producing our own food ! Ive got the best fertiliser by the way!'

The appearance comes after Lizzie revealed that she feels like a 'new woman' after undergoing a vagina tightening procedure at a top London clinic.

The television personality even went on to admit that following the tune up she is now having the best sex of her life.

Looking good: The former WAG is no stranger to a sizzling bikini snap

Speaking to Closer she said: 'I feel like a new woman with my super vagina! It's so tight, it squeaks when I walk - I can barely sit down.'

The non invasive procedure uses lasers to help increase collagen in the vaginal walls which will then tighten and improve sensation during sex.

She went on to say: 'I've always felt young for my age and now I have a vagina to match. I only date younger men and they're flocking for a date.

'I'll be treating my vagina like a temple now... worship away, boys! I've been seeing someone recently and I'm sure they can feel the difference. I'm having the best sex of my life,' concluded Lizzie.

Candid: The appearance comes after Lizzie revealed that she feels like a 'new woman' after undergoing a vagina tightening procedure at a top London clinic

A source told MailOnline that Lizzie has been dating an American restaurant director who recently flew in to London from Miami just to see her.

The one-hour outpatient surgical procedure is designed to enhance sexual gratification by increasing friction. Healing is quick and you can resume normal activity in a few days to weeks.

A wand type instrument attached to a laser is inserted in to the vagina and is performed while the patient is awake and is relatively painless.

This stimulates collagen (which gives tissues tone and elasticity) production, as well as increasing fluid production by enhancing blood flow.
The trailer for the final season of the hit Netflix show Dead to Me starring Christina Applegate has been released, after the actress bravely discussed her devastating decline in mobility following her MS diagnosis.

In the teaser, Christina's character Jen reunite with her friend Judy (played by Linda Cardellini) who bond after both losing their partners in the series, which will premiere on November 17 on the streaming platform.

The action-packed trailer begins by showing the two friends getting into a car crash that lands them in the hospital before coming under suspicion over the death of Judy's fiance Steve.

New trailer: The trailer for the final season of the hit Netflix show Dead to Me starring Christina Applegate has been released, after the actress bravely discussed her devastating decline in mobility following her MS diagnosis

In the trailer, Jen is seen driving Judy around before running a stop sign and slamming into a car.

At the hospital, a moaning Jen lays in the bed wearing a neck brace as her friend hugs her.

'I'm so happy you're okay!' Judy gushes as she embraces Jen, who groans in pain.

'Oh God, maybe the hugging's going to kill me!' Jen says to apologetic friend. 'It's okay, I love you.'

'I love you too,' Judy tells her friend.

Lots to untangle: The action-packed trailer begins by showing the two friends getting into a car crash that lands them in the hospital before coming under suspicion over the death of Judy's fiance Steve

'I'm so happy you're okay!' At the hospital, a moaning Jen lays in the bed wearing a neck brace as her friend hugs her

But their joyous moment is forced to come to an end as they soon find themselves becoming suspects in the death of Steve, played by actor James Marsden, after his body is discovered in the woods.

Cops arrive at their door to question them, with one explaining to Judy: 'Steve's death. Your hit and run. I just have this feeling it might all be connected.'

'Connected!?' Judy says a phoney air of surprise.

'The truth's gonna come out. It always does,' Detective Ana Perez says just before Jen and Judy are seen suspiciously burning something in their BBQ at night.

Reality hits: But their joyous moment is forced to come to an end as they soon find themselves becoming suspects Steve's death

'Because the FBI agent they've got on this thing, Maranus, he's good,' Ana tells Jen.

The two find themselves in the holding room at the police station, where Judy concedes, 'It's too late.'

'No it's not too late!' Jen insists. 'There is always a way out!'

On the case: 'Because the FBI agent they've got on this thing, Maranus, he's good,' Ana tells Jen

Raising eyebrows: Jen and Judy are seen suspiciously burning something in their BBQ at night

They go to some extreme lengths to keep everything under wraps, even asking surveillance footage be deleted - a request that is laughed at.

'Remember the street camera footage you asked me to delete?' they are told. 'I didn't.'

'Delete footage? What did you do this time, murder a man in cold blood?' another man says, prompting Judy to nervously laugh and Jen to flash a tight smile.

The two women are seen attending Steve's funeral

In order to find out what happens next, fans will have to tune into the season premiere on November 17 on Netflix, more than two years after season two hit the streaming platform.

A logline for the upcoming season reads: 'When the FBI takes over Steves murder case, Jen is confronted with the dire consequences of taking a life, and Detective Perez (Diana Maria Riva) struggles to cover up her own complicity.

'Meanwhile, Judy faces her own existential crisis when her life is threatened by an unexpected force from her past and Ben (Marsden) wrestles with his darkest demons. This season, no ones future is guaranteed. Will Jen and Judy get away with their lives? And can they save each other?'

Opening up: The new trailer dropped after Applegate revealed she gained 40 pounds following her multiple sclerosis diagnosis and now struggles to walk without the support of a cane

The new trailer dropped after Applegate revealed she gained 40 pounds following her multiple sclerosis diagnosis and now struggles to walk without the support of a cane.

The actress  who shared her diagnosis in August 2021  reflected on the difficulties she experienced while filming the final season of her Netflix show, Dead to Me, amid her battle.

'This is the first time anyone's going to see me the way I am. I put on 40 pounds; I can't walk without a cane. I want people to know that I am very aware of all of that,' she said in a new interview with The New York Times.

'Remember the street camera footage you asked me to delete?' They go to some extreme lengths to keep everything under wraps, even asking surveillance footage be deleted - a request that is laughed at

'What did you do this time, murder a man in cold blood?' The joke prompts Judy to nervously laugh and Jen to flash a tight smile

Applegate was diagnosed with MS while in production on the final season of the show, which then took a five month break so that she could begin her treatment.

Multiple sclerosis is a disease in which the immune system eats away at the protective covering of nerves, and interrupts the flow of information between the brain and the body.

The Anchorman star said of shooting the last season: 'I had an obligation. The powers that be were like, "Lets just stop. We dont need to finish it. Let's put a few episodes together [with previously recorded footage]." I said, "No. Were going to do it, but were going to do it on my terms."'

Cold hard cash: The trailer also shows the women gazing awe-struck at a pile of money

Friends forever: The women are seen sharing an embrace at the beginning of the trailer

Applegate also shared that when production of the show  which has earned her two Emmy nominations  paused 'There was the sense of, "Well, lets get her some medicine so she can get better."'

However, the actress added that 'There is no better' and said, 'Im never going to accept this. I'm p***ed.'

Ultimately taking the break was 'good' for her: 'I needed to process my loss of my life, my loss of that part of me. So I needed that time. Although its not like I came on the other side of it, like, "Woohoo, Im totally fine."'

Hitting the road: The friends choose 'felon names' as they drive around on the road together

Coming soon: In order to find out what happens next, fans will have to tune into the season premiere on November 17

The Los Angeles born beauty also shared that looking back there were some signs of the disease, as she talked about losing her balance in a dance scene during the first season.

'I wish I had paid attention. But who was I to know?' she said.

The star shared that once she returned, she needed a wheelchair to get to set due to her declined mobility, and that a sound technician had to hold up her legs in order to get certain shots.

She also shared she couldn't film shots of her walking into a room because she would need assistance, and that she would lean against doors while standing to be able to stay up.

Applegate recently revealed that she has gained 40 pounds since being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She is pictured left in December 2021 on the set of Dead To Me, a few months after revealing her diagnosis on Twitter, and right in May 2019 while promoting the first season of the hit Netflix show

The Married With Children star also stated she isn't sure whether she'll watch the final season as it's too painful, but that she wanted to finish shooting it for her co-star Linda Cardellini and show creator Liz Feldman.

'If people hate it, if people love it, if all they can concentrate on is, "Ooh, look at the cripple," thats not up to me. Im sure that people are going to be, like, "I cant get past it." Fine, dont get past it, then. But hopefully people can get past it and just enjoy the ride and say goodbye to these two girls,' she stated.

In the show Applegate stars as sardonic widow Jen Harding who, after the loss of her husband from a hit-and-run accident, crosses paths with free spirited Judy Hale (played by Cardellini) at a grief support group.

The new normal: Applegate posted a photo of her canes on Twitter in October, and said needing help with walking is her 'new normal'

Announcement: The star revealed that she was diagnosed with MS last year in August 2021 on Twitter

Their unlikely friendship, eventually, becomes complicated by secrets, lies, and an accidental murder that will bond them for life.

Dead To Me premiered its first season on the streaming platform with a 10-episode drop in May 2019. The half-hour dark comedy returned for its second season in May 2020, also with 10-episodes.

Though the series was renewed for a third season in June 2020, the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent Hollywood production shutdown kept production at a standstill.

Production on season three commenced in the spring of 2021 but it was soon delayed after Applegate learned of her multiple sclerosis diagnosis in August.
Sarah Jessica Parker's latest outfit for And Just Like That... season two filming has been slammed by fans pining for Carrie Bradshaw's iconic style.

The actress, 57, posed up in a pinstriped Marrakshi Life dress, a Vivienne Westwood teddy long coat, paired with blue boots from her own faux brand Duchessa Gardini, a grey fedora and a vintage Pierre Cardin bag - with unimpressed fans declaring the star looked like a 'fancy hobo' in the outfit.

The wardrobe for the HBO Max show is now designed by Molly Rogers and Danny Santiago - and has come under serious scrutiny after fashion icon Patricia Field, who styled Sex And The City for its six seasons and the two movies, declined to return due to her work on Emily In Paris.

Ensemble: Sarah Jessica Parker's latest outfit for And Just Like That... season two filming has been slammed by fans pining for Carrie Bradshaw's iconic style

One fan commented: 'Carrie did not dress like this in the series, in SATC. Whoever is dressing her for this new show, has a bigger budget and whole different look in mind. I don't like it. She looks like a fancy hobo.

Another wrote: 'I love Carrie Bradshaw, always have! I just watched the whole series and both movies and her style is STILL iconic.

'However in the new series, her style is not that of an older Carrie Bradshaw. Please bring back Carrie's iconic style!

A third typed: 'We know her character is mid 50s and today's mid 50s are super stylish! I respectfully beg of you... please style her up like her fans are waiting for

'Fancy hobo': The actress, 57, posed up in a pinstriped Marrakshi Life dress, a Vivienne Westwood teddy long coat, paired with blue boots, a grey fedora and a vintage Pierre Cardin bag

Another wrote: 'I hate how Hollywood makes them feel like once you get older you cannot show skin. Yes you can like Sam did in the old Sex and The City!'

Others wrote 'So covered up, it's nice but I do miss Carrie with her short dresses and showing off her shoulders' and 'Who said that looked good?'

Some followers came out in support of the star, saying: 'She's always so fabulous. I LOVE HER! Gorgeous as usual' and 'OMG this look slayyyyysss.'

SJP stepped out in the outfit in NYC on Wednesday where she was seen nearly getting hit by a bike during one dramatic scene.

Miranda Hobbes actress Cynthia Nixon, 56, was back to rocking red hair as she stepped out on set, appearing to be directing the latest episode.

Fury: Fans were quick to take swipes at the ensemble in the comments

For her work on Sex And The City, Field was nominated for five Emmy Awards, winning one, and six Costume Designers Guild Awards, with four wins.

She went on to return as costume designer for the Sex And The City movie (2008) and the sequel (2010), however she was unable to reprise her role for the reboot due to her Emily In Paris commitments.

Last month Patricia returned to the set to meet up with SATC and AJLT showrunner Michael Patrick King.

The fashion icon, 80, posed up with a chair bearing the show's name - amid her continued friendship with SJP's nemesis and ex co-star Kim Cattrall.

Patricia looked chic in a a black top, quirky green, yellow and red patterned trousers, and lime green brogues.

Patricia is known for her close friendship with ex SATC star Kim, 66, who played the iconic Samantha Jones, but exited the franchise acrimoniously due to her feud with Parker.

Praise: Some fans loved the ensemble and lauded the outfit in the comments

The Queen is back: Former Sex And The City costume designer Patricia Field crashed the And Just Like That... set in NYC last month

The looks: Carrie has become a fashion icon with her incredible style (pictured L in season 4 in 2001 and R in SATC The Movie in 2008)

Patricia has publicly pledged her allegiance with Kim since the show ended, and in December last year, said she is interested in doing a series with her,

The two-time Emmy winner told Page Six: 'I would love to do a show with [Kim].'

Back in December, Patricia also slammed Cynthia Nixon over her fashion demands when asked about her former assistant Molly Rogers' work styling the cast on HBO Max's And Just Like That.

The Oscar nominee admitted she 'liked some of it, but not all of it', during an interview with the Sunday Times.

Colorful: The star was seen shopping during a scene for the new season

Director: Miranda Hobbes actress Cynthia Nixon, 56, was back to rocking red hair as she stepped out on set, appearing to be directing the latest episode

Miranda's back! The star looked as chic as ever as she stepped out on set

Oh no! SJP was seen filming a scene where Carrie nearly gets hit by a cyclist

Look out! The star looked shocked as the bike veered into her

You ok? The star kneeled down as she tended to the cyclist

She added: 'I know those gals! Sarah Jessica [Parker] thinks she knows everything - and she does. Cynthia Nixon thinks she knows everything - and she doesn't! Even today, when I speak with Molly, it's about Cynthia. I say, "I remember what you are going through."

Speaking about Kim's absence from the popular series, Field said: 'It is a vacuum. I hear it everywhere. Everyone is mad she wont be in it.'

DailyMail.com exclusively revealed in September 2017 that a third Sex and the City movie was essentially 'torpedoed' due to Cattrall's excessive demands.

Cattrall reportedly demanded that Warner Bros. step up and produce other movies she was developing, or she wouldn't star in Sex and the City 3.

Tip my hat: SJP looked pretty pleased to be donning a fall ensemble

Shock and the city: The star gasped as she filmed the dramatic scene

Wow: Onlookers took snaps as filming continued on the show

Ahh! SJP pulled a dramatic pose as the cyclist nearly ran into her

Oh no: The scenes looked to be very dramatic in NYC

Parker, Nixon and Davis were all set to reprise their roles, with production slated to happen that fall, though the project completely fell apart and never went into production.

Cattrall denied the story, tweeting, 'The only DEMAND I ever made was that I didnt want to do a 3rd film.& that was back in 2016.'

Tensions had reportedly brewed between Cattrall and the rest of the cast since the start of the show, which escalated when one of her only allies - creator Darren Star - left the show and was replaced by Michael Patrick King, who created And Just Like That.

The feud escalated in 2018 when Cattrall blasted Parker for talking about Kim's brother Christopher, who was found dead in Canada, in a TV interview

'Your continuous reaching out is a painful reminder of how cruel you really were then and now. Let me make this VERY clear. (If I havent already) You are not my family. You are not my friend. So Im writing to tell you one last time to stop exploiting our tragedy in order to restore your "nice girl" persona,' Cattrall said in the post

Direction: Cynthia looked focused as she directed her BF

Focus; The stars were deep in discussion about their episode

Fun: Patricia is known for her close friendship with ex SATC star Kim Cattrall, 66, who played the iconic Samantha Jones, but exited the franchise acrimoniously due to her feud with Parker

Phenomenon: SATC has become one of the most iconic television shows of all time

Reunion: Patricia has publicly pledged her allegiance with Kim since the show ended, and in December last year, said she is interested in doing a series with her (pictured in May with Kim and SATC author Candace Bushnell)

Needless to say, most weren't surprised when Cattrall wasn't part of And Just Like That... with the actress revealing that she was never asked to be a part of the show.

It was revealed in the first episode of And Just Like That... that her character, Samantha Jones, is now living in London.

In February SJP also revealed that she does not want Kim to come back and reprise her role as Samantha Jones.

In a new interview with Variety, Parke was asked if she would be 'OK' if Cattrall was able to come back to the show if some 'miracle were to happen,' after their very public feud exploded back in 2018.

Proving the door is firmly shut to Cattrall, Parker responded: 'I don't think I would, because I think there's just too much public history of feelings on her part that she's shared.'

Fab four: Kim starred as Samantha Jones in six series of the show from 1998-2004 as well as two movies (pictured with Cynthia Nixon as Miranda Hobbes, Kristin Davis as Charlotte York and SJP)

Adding: 'I haven't participated in or read articles, although people are inclined to let me know.'

'We didn't go to Kim for this, you know,' Parker said. 'After we didn't do the movie and the studio couldn't meet what she wanted to do, we have to hear her and listen to her and what was important to her.'

'It didn't fit into what was important or needed for us. There's a very distinct line between Samantha and Kim,' Parker continued.

'Samantha's not gone. Samantha's present, and I think was handled with such respect and elegance. She wasn't villainized. She was a human being who had feelings about a relationship, so I think we found a way to address it which was necessary and important for people that loved her.'
Paul Wesley was spotted while locking lips with his new love interest Natalie Kuckenburg during a trip in the village of Nerano in Italy on Tuesday.

The sighting comes after it was reported in September that Paul had split from his now ex-wife, jewelry professional Ines de Ramon, around five months prior.

Wesley, 40, and Kuckenburg 22, a model, already appear to be enamored with one another as they packed on the PDA during a romantic meal at a local restaurant.

The happy couple later made their way to a boat and were whisked away into the waters of Southern Italy, and they were also spotted while getting close to each other.

Packing on the PDA: Paul Wesley was spotted while locking lips with model Natalie Kuckenburg during a trip in the Italian town of Nerano on Tuesday

In September this year, a rep for the actor told multiple outlets that he and his ex Ines 'have separated' adding: 'The decision to separate is mutual and occurred five months ago.'

Meanwhile, on his romantic getaway with his new love, Wesley kept it casual in a black button-up shirt and a set of white shorts during the trip.

The Vampire Diaries star also rocked a black cap and a set of Reebok sneakers that matched the color of his bottoms.

Kuckenburg opted for a revealing white dress that showed off her toned arms and legs.

The social media personality accessorized with several articles of jewelry and kept a small purse slung over her left shoulder.

Taking it easy: Wesley kept it casual in a black button-up shirt and a set of white shorts during the trip

Comfortable: The Vampire Diaries star also rocked a black cap and a set of Reebok sneakers that matched the color of his bottoms

Hot stuff! Kuckenburg opted for a revealing white dress that showed off her toned arms and legs

Tying it off: The social media personality accessorized with several articles of jewelry and kept a small purse slung over her left shoulder

She added a bit of darkness to her look with a pair of sunglasses, and her voluminous brunette locks fell onto her shoulders.

Before he began seeing his current partner, Wesley was married to his first wife, Torrey DeVitto.

The former couple initially met while working on the set of the 2007 movie Killer Movie, in which they starred.

Lovely locks: She added a bit of darkness to her look with a pair of sunglasses, and her voluminous brunette locks fell onto her shoulders

In the past: Before he began seeing his current partner, Wesley was married to his first wife, Torrey DeVitto

Costars: The former couple initially met while working on the set of the 2007 movie Killer Movie, in which they starred

The pair tied the knot in 2011, although they went on to divorce two years later.

The actor went on to begin a relationship with Phoebe Tonkin that ended in 2017.

Wesley later began seeing Ines de Ramon, and the former couple surprised many when it was announced that they had married in 2019.

The pair remained together for several years before it was announced that they had separated this past September.

Over and done with: The pair tied the knot in 2011, although they went on to divorce two years later

Swing and a miss: The actor went on to begin a relationship with Phoebe Tonkin that ended in 2017

Trying again: Wesley later began seeing Ines de Ramon, and the former couple surprised many when it was announced that they had married in 2019

It's all over: The pair remained together for several years before it was announced that they had separated this past September

A representative for the two spoke to People and confirmed that they had been living apart for five months.

'The decision to separate is mutual and occurred five months ago. They request privacy at this time,' they said.

Wesley later began dating Kuckenburg, and the two were first seen in each other's company just before the announcement about his separation from de Ramon was made.

Making it official: A representative for the two spoke to People and confirmed that they had been living apart for five months

Letting everyone know: The representative stated that 'the decision to separate is mutual and occurred five months ago. They request privacy at this time'

Coupling up: Wesley later began dating Kuckenburg, and the two were first seen in each other's company just before the announcement about his separation from de Ramon was made

Although Wesley appeared to be enjoying his time with Kuckenburg, he is also focused on portraying Captain James T. Kirk on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

The performer first appeared as the character, who was previously portrayed by William Shatner and Chris Pine, during the final episode of the show's first season.

The actor is set to reprise his role during the program's upcoming second run of episodes.

New gig: Although Wesley appeared to be enjoying his time with Kuckenburg, he is also focused on portraying Captain James T. Kirk on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Major role: The performer first appeared as the character, who was previously portrayed by William Shatner and Chris Pine, during the final episode of the show's first season

He opened up about working on the program during an interview with Collider, where he discussed its metafictional qualities.

'It's fun, but at the same time, there's a lot of meaning [and] there's a lot of metaphor. We get to analyze our own behaviors on planet earth through the actions of this crew,' he said.

Wesley went on to express that he wanted to show various elements of his character's personality on the program.

'I think it's important to just understand who Kirk is, what his childhood was like, what he wants, what he doesn't want, what the pillars of his personality and his character traits that are important to the development of that character,' he said.

Social commentary: He opened up about working on the program during an interview with Collider, where he discussed its metafictional qualities

Dedicated actor: Wesley went on to express that he wanted to show various elements of his character's personality on the program

The performer did point out, however, that the show's crew wanted to try out new ideas with familiar characters and settings.

'There's a different Spock, there's a different Uhura, there's a different everything. You have to just create your own things. You can't just do an imitation, because that would be too shallow,' he said.

The second season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is expected to premiere next year.

The Vampire Diaries is available to stream only on Stan in Australia.
Used to blasting out his hits in huge stadiums, Robbie Williams is undertaking what must be the quietest ever house renovations, to avoid further antagonising his next-door neighbour, Led Zeppelin star Jimmy Page.

The team building Williams's 'super basement' have gone to great lengths to make virtually no noise at the 17.5 million mansion in London's Kensington.

Planners gave the green light for the work in May but Williams's workmen have to use '19th-century hand-tools', and 50,000 monitoring devices to make sure the level goes barely above a whisper.

Robbie Williams is undertaking what must be the quietest ever house renovations. He is pictured performing last year

The team building Williams's 'super basement' have gone to great lengths to make virtually no noise at the 17.5 million mansion in London's Kensington

It is to avoid further antagonising his next-door neighbour, Led Zeppelin star Jimmy Page (pictured above)

Meghan set to launch Gwynnie style blog

She has starred in a TV drama series, married a Prince and inscribed bananas with messages of support for sex workers.

But perhaps nothing has given the Duchess of Sussex more intense satisfaction than The Tig, her lifestyle blog, in which she reflected on the full spectrum of human experience  from hot sauces to self-love.

So her fans will be thrilled to hear The Tig is a step nearer resurrection, more than five-and-a-half years after Meghan, in a prelude to becoming a fully fledged member of 'The Firm', posted a 'final' entry, announcing: 'It's time to say goodbye.'

I can reveal that Meghan's bid to trademark 'The Tig' name is 'under examination' by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office  over a year after the initial application was submitted.

Six months ago, this appeared to be imperilled when, as I disclosed, the Patent & Trademark Office rejected the application, saying the description of the website was 'too broad'  and the paperwork was unsigned.

This has been rectified, with the assistance of an additional lawyer, Danielle Weiss.

The revised application scrupulously delineates five 'classes' in which Meghan is seeking The Tig trademark: travel, interior design (including 'environmentally conscious living'), food preparation (including cooking and recipes), health and 'wellness', and personal relationships (including, rather surprisingly, fashion and personal lifestyle).

A fee of $1,750 [1,500] has been paid. It's the sort of sum that could be found down the back of a typical sofa in Montecito, the California enclave where Meghan and Harry live.

Perhaps Meghan could seek to apply The Tig trademark to her own range of goods  an $18 neon toilet roll set, perhaps, or a $28,500 black leather chair, both of which appear on the Christmas list of fellow Montecito resident Gwyneth Paltrow.

Swire's rural moniker

Sir Hugo Swire  whose wife, Sasha, caused explosive reactions among David Cameron's usually restrained set when she released her gloriously indiscreet memoirs, Diary Of An MP's Wife  has chosen a rural idyll for his title in the Lords.

Elevated to the peerage by fellow Old Etonian Boris Johnson, Sir Hugo will now be known as Baron Swire of Down Saint Mary in the County of Devon. The reference reminds us of Sasha's book, which included such embarrassing details as, when staying at the Camerons' West Country holiday home, David told her to go behind him on a coastal walk because: 'The scent you are wearing is affecting my pheromones, it makes me want to grab you, push you into the bushes and give you one.'

Eamonn Holmes's co-presenter says it's been 'heartbreaking' to see how much pain he's endured. The GB News Breakfast host, 62, faces being off screens until the New Year after falling down the stairs at his Surrey home, fracturing his shoulder. He recently had a major operation on his spine.

'I know how much our audience is missing Eamonn, and I am, too,' his co-host, Isabel Webster, tells me. 'It's been heartbreaking to see him in so much pain. Eamonn has had such a run of bad luck.'

Jules is the original Irens Man

Jules Irens has become the talk of London society after his girlfriend, Caroline Dalmeny, ex-wife of Sotheby's chairman Lord Dalmeny, took to social media to lacerate the party-giver who 'disinvited' him from a bash, as I revealed yesterday.

But the loss will be felt by those who will now not meet him  or so I'm assured by one of Irens's old chums from Marlborough, the Wiltshire boarding school attended by the Duchess of Cambridge.

'Jules is a top man  very bright and hardcore,' a fellow Old Marlburian tells me. 'He joined the Legion [French Foreign Legion] and became a sergeant.'

This diverting career move was perfectly logical. Though born in the West Country, with an English father, Irens's mother was French-speaking Annick Dubot, so he and his sister Camille are bilingual. 'After the Legion, Jules joined the Gurkhas,' adds his chum, who adds that real-life superhero Irens  'amicably separated' from his wife, Nicola  is 'way undercover now'.

Perhaps less so following Caroline's impassioned intervention.

Jules Irens has become the talk of London society after his girlfriend, Caroline Dalmeny, ex-wife of Sotheby's chairman Lord Dalmeny, took to social media to lacerate the party-giver who 'disinvited' him from a bash, as I revealed yesterday

TV chef Gino D'Acampo has broken the taboo that no parent should admit to having a favourite child. He has two older sons, but prefers his eight-year-old daughter, Mia. 'People ask me: 'What's your favourite recipe?' ' he says. 'That is a question that I cannot answer, but ask me which one is my favourite child. They know, I don't care. I've always loved women.'

King's new wreath honours the Queen

Remembrance Sunday will be even more poignant than usual for King Charles, after the death of his mother.

I can disclose the Queen's presence will still be felt in Whitehall, as the King will lay a newly designed wreath at the Cenotaph that will include her racing colours, purple and gold. 'The wreath will be a blend of George VI and Charles's designs,' a royal source tells me.

'It will also include Queen Elizabeth's racing colours as well as the King's.'

It is being made by the Poppy Factory in Richmond, South-West London, which has a long tradition of working with the Royal Family.

Downton star Raquel Cassidy was left mortified by a reading for a stage role. 'I remember auditioning for a [male] theatre director for a female [character] that men had sex with on a pool table,' says the actress, 54, who played Cora's lady's maid Phyllis Baxter. 'I felt humiliated.'

Speaking at the opening gala of the 30th Raindance Film Festival at The Waldorf Hilton, she tells me: 'I didn't take that role because I don't think anyone should be demeaned in that way.'

He's a former Lib Dem leader who appeared on Strictly, but Vince Cable has failed to be recognised  in his own book. The caption on a photo in his memoir, Partnership & Politics In A Divided Decade, wrongly identifies William Hague as Sir Vince!
Lotte Shopping CEO Kim Sang-hyun, left, shakes hands with Ocado Group CEO Tim Steiner after signing of an exclusive partnership contract at Lotte World Tower in Seoul, on Tuesday. Courtesy of Lotte Shopping



By Kim Jae-heun



Lotte Shopping has signed a partnership contract with British-based global retail tech company, Ocado, to become a top online grocery mall here, the company said Tuesday. The company will invest 1 trillion won ($705.06 million) in "smart logistics" specializing in fresh food by 2030 to take a lead in the domestic online grocery market that is valued at about 135 trillion won.



Under the deal, Lotte Shopping will be able to bring in and adopt the Ocado Smart Platform (OSP) to all of its e-commerce sector operations. OSP is a tech solution that encompasses the entire process of shopping for fresh foods online from attracting consumers on mobile applications through to delivery of purchases.



It uses the automated customer fulfilment center (CFC), self-developed robots, artificial intelligence and big data to help retailers carry out rapid and accurate delivery in most efficient way. OSP helped Ocado grew into a company with sales of 2.49 billion pounds (about 4.84 trillion won) last year.



Lotte Shopping plans to build six CFCs over the next eight years, starting with the first one in 2025. The candidates for the "test bed" are southern Gyeonggi Province and Busan.



"We are not only talking about our department stores, supermarkets or online shopping mall Lotte ON, for which we want to seek new changes together with Ocado. The group's retail HQ department is working on an overall strategy. We plan to build a completely new online platform specializing in the e-commerce sector," a Lotte Shopping official said.



Lotte plans to make big changes to its mobile shopping platform. The previous Lotte ON will collaborate with Lotte Department Store to make it a luxury online mall.



"We will also establish an integrated sourcing system that allows people to purchase products together from local farms. Lotte will be the only company that integrates on-and-offline grocery stores," the official added.



Meanwhile, Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin participated at the partnership signing ceremony held at Lotte World Tower in Seoul, along with Ocado Group CEO Tim Steiner.



"I hope the cooperation between Lotte and Ocado will provide an opportunity for the two companies to grow together," Shin said.


Today show viewers woke up to a new line-up on Thursday with Amelia Adams making her debut as co-host alongside Karl Stefanovic.

Adams, 39, has just returned to Sydney after four years as Nine's Senior International Correspondent in Europe and North America.

She was filling in for Allison Langdon, who took the morning off.

Today show viewers woke up to a new line-up on Thursday with Amelia Adams (right) making her debut as co-host alongside Karl Stefanovic (left)

Adams, who is set to join 60 Minutes as a full-time reporter, was given a glowing introduction by Stefanovic at the start of the broadcast.

He described the Nine veteran as 'one of Australia's all-time great correspondents'.

But things took an awkward turn when he said co-hosting the Today show was a step down from the dizzying heights of foreign reporting.

'From the pinnacles of reporting greatness to working with Alex [Cullen, newsreader] and I. It's a long way down,' he said.

Stefanovic described Adams as 'one of Australia's all-time great correspondents' - but things took an awkward turn when he said co-hosting the Today show was a step down from the dizzying heights of foreign reporting

Adams, whose live reporting from the U.S. Capitol during the January 6 insurrection saw her win two Kennedy Awards and a Walkley nomination, laughed off the joke

Adams, whose live reporting from the U.S. Capitol during the January 6 insurrection saw her win two Kennedy Awards and a Walkley nomination, laughed off the joke.

Her appearance on Today coincides with rumours Langdon will soon be named as Tracy Grimshaw's replacement as host of A Current Affair.

TV Blackbox reports 'no firm decision has been made' regarding ACA in 2023, but Langdon's name 'keeps being whispered' by network insiders.

She was filling in for Allison Langdon (right), who took the morning off

Adams, 39, has just returned to Sydney after four years as Nine's Senior International Correspondent in Europe and North America

If Langdon does make the move to prime time, 60 Minutes reporter Sarah Abo is said to be a 'hot contender' to step in on the Today show.

But according to the industry website, Adams has now emerged as a late favourite.

Despite Nine announcing in August she'd be moving to 60 Minutes, TV Blackbox says 'the network is now reconsidering if Adams would be better placed on Today'.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel Nine for comment.

Adams' appearance on Today coincides with rumours Langdon (pictured) will soon be named as Tracy Grimshaw's replacement as host of A Current Affair
Steven Spielberg revealed his mom, Leah, who died in 2017, and father, Arnold, who passed away in 2020 , were very supportive of him making a film about their family.

Ahead of the release of his semi-autobiographical movie, The Fabelmans, the 75-year-old Hollywood legend joked that his late parents encouraged him to tap into his own experiences and upbringing for inspiration.

'They were actually nagging me, 'When are you going to tell that story about our family, Steve?' And so this was something they were very enthusiastic about,' he mused.

Carrying on their legacy: Steven Spielberg revealed his mom, Leah, who died in 2017, and father, Arnold, who passed away in 2020 , were very supportive of him making a film about their family; seen in 1989

He continued: 'I started seriously thinking, if I had to make one movie I haven't made yet, something that I really want to do on a very personally atomic level, what would that be? And there was only one story I really wanted to tell.'

The Fabelmans is his 'first coming-of-age story' he's 'ever told' after directing some of the most highly regarded films of all time including E.T, Jurassic Park, Jaws, Saving Private Ryan and more.

Spielberg, who is one of the most prolific filmmakers around, went on to explain to The Hollywood Reporter what he hopes viewers get from his latest work.

Sweet: Ahead of the release of his semi-autobiographical movie, The Fabelmans, the 75-year-old Hollywood legend joked that his late parents encouraged him to tap into his own experiences and upbringing for inspiration (seen with his mother in 2009)

'They were actually nagging me, 'When are you going to tell that story about our family, Steve?' And so this was something they were very enthusiastic about,' he mused (pictured in 1988)

Upon watching the movie, he wants people to think about 'when does a young person in a family start see his parents as human beings.'

'In my case, because of what happened between the ages of 7 and 18, I started to appreciate my mom and dad not as parents but as real people,' the father-of-seven said.

Seth Rogen, who plays Bennie Loewy, a fictional character based on Spielberg's 'fun uncle' father figure, Bernie, in real life, recently divulged that there was 'crying a lot on set' and filming was 'a very emotional experience.'

First look: A trailer and first look image for The Fabelmans was released after the film made its world premiere on day three of the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival in September

Dream big: The trailer opens with the words 'movies are dreams that you never forget' uttered by Michelle Williams' character Mitzi Fabelman to her young aspiring filmmaker son Sammy (pictured)

Striving: As an older teenager, Sammy, played by newcomer Gabriel LaBelle (pictured), is seen navigating the pursuit of his dream of becoming a successful filmmaker

'It's very directly based on his life and pretty much everything that happens in the movie is something that happened to him,' the actor, 40, said at the 10th annual Hilarity for Charity birthday extravaganza, according to People.

When he would ask the director 'did this happen in real life' he said Spielberg responded yes 'a hundred percent of the time.'

After the screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, Steven said of the film according to THR: 'This film is a way of bringing my mom and dad back.

Telling the tale: The film stars four-time Academy Award nominee Michelle Williams (pictured right) as Sammy's artistic mother, Mitzi

All stars: Paul Dano stars as Sammy's successful, scientific father, Burt (pictured left)

'And it also brought my sisters closer to me than I ever thought possible. That was worth making the film for.'

The director's mother Leah died in 2017 at the age of 97 while his father died in 2020 at the age of 103.

The log line for the film reads: 'Growing up in post-World War II era Arizona, a young man named Sammy Fabelman discovers a shattering family secret and explores how the power of films can help him see the truth.'

Hitting screens: The Fabelmans is in cinemas across UK and Ireland from 27 January 2023

It is written by Steven and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner.

The film is produced by three-time Oscar nominee Kristie Macosko Krieger, Steven and Tony.

While the flick stars Gabriel as 16-year-old aspiring filmmaker Sammy, four-time Academy Award nominee Michelle Williams as his artistic mother, Mitzi, Paul Dano as his successful, scientific father, Burt, Seth Rogen as Bennie Loewy, Burts best friend and honorary 'uncle' to the Fabelman children, and Academy Award nominee Judd Hirsch as Mitzis Uncle Boris.

The ensemble cast includes Oscar nominee Jeannie Berlin as Sammys paternal grandmother, Hadassah Fabelman, Julia Butters as Sammys sister Reggie; Robin Bartlett as Sammys maternal grandmother Tina Schildkraut and Keeley Karsten as Sammys sister Natalie.

The Fabelmans is in cinemas across UK and Ireland from 27 January 2023.
Jennifer Aniston showed off her natural curls while sharing a hair tutorial, featuring a lightweight hair oil from her award-winning haircare line, LolaVie, to her Instagram.

While applying the product to her gorgeous golden mane on Wednesday, the 53-year-old Friends star shared one of the secrets behind her super-glossy tresses with her 40.7 million followers.

'Air dry and a little bit of @lolavie,' she captioned a video of herself jushing up her locks in her bathroom while rocking a charcoal grey robe.

Hair goddess: Jennifer Aniston showed off her natural curls while sharing a hair tutorial, featuring a lightweight hair oil from her award-winning haircare line, LolaVie, to her Instagram

In September, the actress launched her beauty brand, 25 years after sparking a global trend with her iconic Friends haircut, The Rachel.

The actress harked back to her early years in Hollywood when it came to naming the brand, taking inspiration from her own nickname, Lola, which her friends affectionately gave her when she first moved to California.

Speaking to People, Aniston explained that when she first arrived in the state, she bought her first car and decided to name it Lola, joking that she thinks her decision may have been prompted by her love of the Sarah Vaughan song, Whatever Lola Wants.

Beautiful: While applying the product to her gorgeous golden mane on Wednesday, the 53-year-old Friends star shared one of the secrets behind her super-glossy tresses with her 40.7 million followers

'Air dry and a little bit of @lolavie,' she captioned a video of herself jushing up her locks in her bathroom while rocking a charcoal grey robe

Soon, the nickname had transferred to her, and now, decades later, she has passed it on to her burgeoning brand.

'I named my car Lola on the spot,' she explained. Maybe it's because I love that song [Whatever Lola Wants]. Then every time I'd come over, they'd be like, "Lola's here."

'So it just kind of became a name that I was called whenever I showed up.'

Years after earning herself the nickname Lola, Aniston earned global fame under her given name when she starred in the hit sitcom Friends - which turned her into an unlikely haircare icon thanks to the layered shoulder-length 'do she modeled in the first few seasons of the show.

Creator: In September, the actress launched her beauty brand, 25 years after sparking a global trend with her iconic Friends haircut, The Rachel

Aniston has since admitted that she 'was not a fan' of the style, telling Allure in 2011 that she though it was the 'ugliest hair cut she had ever seen'.

Then, in 2015, she explained to Glamour that she found it 'kind of cringe-y', while also noting her dislike of the fact that it was so difficult to maintain and style at home.

The Hollywood starlet is now applying that same philosophy to her debut haircare product - a $25 Glossing Detangler - which is 'suitable for all hair types' and is meant to offer a wealth of hair health benefits, while making your tresses easier to style.

New adventure: Speaking to People, Aniston explained that when she first arrived in the state, she bought her first car and decided to name it Lola, joking that she thinks her decision may have been prompted by her love of the Sarah Vaughan song, Whatever Lola Wants

'This 99 per cent naturally-derived detangling spray helps detangle hair, prime with vegan thermal shield, enhance shine with lemon extract, smooth with a superfruit complex and vegetable ceramides, and protect against damage by harnessing the power of chia seeds,' the brand explained in a statement.

According to Aniston, she has been working on the brand and its products for the past five years - having first sparked an interest in the haircare arena when she worked on a collaboration with another brand, Living Proof, which she co-founded in 2012, before parting ways with the label when it was sold to Unilever.

Although there are other products currently in the works, the actress wanted to release the detangling spray first because she believes it is the 'Swiss Army Knife' of formulas - and it's something that fills a gap in her own daily line-up.

'I love a really good detangler because my hair has gone through so much thrashing,' she told Allure, explaining that the LolaVie version is meant to replace multiple other steps in a routine.

Famous hair: Soon, the nickname had transferred to her, and now, decades later, she has passed it on to her burgeoning brand

'I love for a product to have many jobs in one, so it has a heat protector and shine, and so it's time-efficient.'

To ensure that the detangler would live up to the expectations of all her customers however, Aniston made sure to test it out on several of her friends - both male and female - asking people with all different hair types to offer their thoughts on the formula.

'It was very helpful over the years to get the feedback, and that's been a very key part of helping define what this [product] is and what it needs,' she noted.

When it comes to the Glossing Detangler - and all of the other soon-to-be released formulas in the LolaVie collection - Aniston has vowed to uphold several standards, namely that the products will be vegan, cruelty-free, made without silicones, parabens, sulfates, phthalates, gluten and preservatives, and be made almost entirely from natural ingredients.

Although her main focus right now is haircare products, the actress isn't ruling out a future expansion, explaining to People that there are 'all sorts of ideas cooking in her brain'.

Years after earning herself the nickname Lola, Aniston earned global fame under her given name when she starred in the hit sitcom Friends - which turned her into an unlikely haircare icon thanks to the layered shoulder-length 'do she modeled in the first few seasons of the show

'I don't see any limits to anything,' she added.

According to company documents obtained by Page Six, Aniston has made sure that she has options open to her in the future, with the publication revealing that 'an application was filed to trademark the name LolaVie in the areas of face and body lotion, shower gel, candles and hair care in July 2019'.

While LolaVie marks the first time that Aniston has founded and created her own beauty brand, it is certainly not her first foray into the industry.

Over the years, the former Friends star has lent her face to several beauty campaigns, serving as a spokesmodel for haircare brand Living Proof, which she also co-founded, as well as skincare brand Aveeno.

She also currently serves as an ambassador for supplement brand Vital Proteins, having also been named as its new Chief Creative Officer at the end of 2020.
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Chung Euisun, chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, offers condolences to the victims of the Itaewon crowd crush in Seoul Plaza, Tuesday. Yonhap



By Kim Hyun-bin



Companies have reduced or canceled various events due to the Itaewon crowd crush that took 156 lives while major conglomerate chiefs paid their respects at memorial services held around the capital, according to industry officials, Wednesday.



POSCO Group Chairman Choi Jeong-woo, Vice Chairman Kim Hak-dong and CEO Jeong Tak visited a temporary memorial set up in Gangnam, Seoul, Wednesday, to offer their condolences to the victims of the Itaewon tragedy.



In addition, POSCO Group flew its flag at half-mast at the front gate of the POSCO Center in Seoul, and posted condolence messages in the POSCO Newsroom as well as the company's Facebook and Instagram accounts.



Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun expressed his condolences to the deceased.



"I am sorry for the loss and am at a loss for words. I pray that the victims can rest in peace, and hope for the speedy recovery of the injured," Chung said after paying his respects at the memorial set up in Seoul Plaza, Tuesday.



SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won offers his condolences to the victims of the Itaewon disaster at Seoul Plaza in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap
Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder speaks during a briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, Nov. 1. AP-Yonhap



Saudi Arabia has shared intelligence with American officials that suggests Iran could be preparing for an imminent attack on the kingdom, three U.S. officials confirmed on Tuesday.



The heightened concerns about a potential attack on Saudi Arabia as the Biden administration is criticizing Tehran for its crackdown on widespread protests and condemning it for sending hundreds of drones  as well as technical support  to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine.



''We are concerned about the threat picture, and we remain in constant contact through military and intelligence channels with the Saudis,'' the National Security Council said in a statement. ''We will not hesitate to act in the defense of our interests and partners in the region.''



One of the officials who confirmed the intelligence sharing described it as a credible threat of an attack ''soon or within 48 hours.'' No U.S. embassy or consulate in the region has issued alerts or guidance to Americans in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere in the Middle East based on the intelligence. The officials were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.



Asked about reports of the intelligence shared by the Saudis, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said U.S. military officials ''are concerned about the threat situation in the region.''



''We're in regular contact with our Saudi partners, in terms of what information they may have to provide on that front,'' Ryder said. ''But what we've said before, and I'll repeat it, is that we will reserve the right to protect and defend ourselves no matter where our forces are serving, whether in Iraq or elsewhere.''



The Wall Street Journal first reported on the Saudis sharing the intelligence earlier on Tuesday.



The U.S. and Saudis accused Iran in 2019 of being behind a major attack in eastern Saudi Arabia, which halved the oil-rich kingdom's production and caused energy prices to spike. The Iranians denied they were behind the attack.



The Saudis have also been hit repeatedly in recent years by drones, missiles and mortars launched by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen in retaliation for Saudi involvement in the civil war that began there in 2014. Saudi Arabia formed a coalition to battle the Houthis in 2015 and has been internationally criticized for its airstrikes, which have killed scores of civilians.



In recent weeks, the Biden administration has imposed sanctions on Iranian officials for the brutal treatment of demonstrators after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September while in the custody of Iranian security forces. The administration has also hit Iran with sanctions for supplying drones to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine.



At least 270 people have been killed and 14,000 arrested during the protests, according to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran. Demonstrations have continued, even as the feared paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has warned young Iranians to stop.



U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia have also been strained after the Riyadh-led alliance of oil producing nations, OPEC+, announced in October that it would cut production by 2 million barrels per day starting in November.



The White House has said it is reviewing its relationship with the Saudis over the move. The administration said the production cut is effectively helping another OPEC+ member, Russia, pad its coffers as it continues its war in Ukraine, now in its ninth month.



White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Tuesday reiterated that the administration remains concerned that Iran may also provide Russia with surface-to-surface missiles.



''We haven't seen that concern bear out, but it's a concern we have,'' Kirby said.



Even as the U.S. and others raise concerns about nefarious Iranian action, the administration has not ruled out the possibility of reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which was brokered by the Obama administration and scrapped in 2018 by the Trump administration.



The U.S. special envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, said on Monday that the administration was not currently focused on the deal, which has been stalled since August.



Still, Malley refused to declare the deal dead and said the administration ''makes no apology'' for ''trying to do everything we can to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.''



The pact, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, would provide Tehran with billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for the country agreeing to roll back its nuclear program to the limits set by the 2015 deal. It includes caps on enrichment and how much material Iran can stockpile and limits the operation of advanced centrifuges needed to enrich. (AP)


The Election Commission of India (ECI) banned all social media campaigns for the Munugode Assembly constituency on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other digital channels (Representational image: AFP)

HYDERABAD: The Election Commission of India (ECI) banned all social media campaigns for the Munugode Assembly constituency on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other digital channels beginning Tuesday evening.

After visiting the Munugode constituency, Chief Electoral Officer Vikas Raj stated that bulk SMSes and automated voice campaigns were prohibited and that any political leader or party found violating the model code will be dealt with severely in accordance with the law. Further, all those who do not have a vote in the constituency have been ordered to leave by 6 pm on Tuesday.

Vikas Raj, who briefed the media on the bypoll arrangements, said 45 police teams and 37 revenue teams have been deployed to keep outsiders out of the constituency. The teams will visit the villages on Tuesday and Wednesday nights to ensure that no cash or other inducements are distributed to influence the voters.

The Chief Electoral Officer assessed the facilities provided at polling centres during a review meeting with the district election officer to ensure the smooth conduct of the elections. He also went to the polling stations in Chandur AMC, Kotayagudem, the collectorate in Nalgonda, the counting centre in Arjalabavi, and the collectorate's command control room.

He held a review meeting with the District Election Officer (DEO) T. Vinay Krishna Reddy and assessed the facilities provided at the distribution center, polling centers, and how the deployment of police force has been organized and enquired about what other activities needs to be done to ensure smooth conduct of by poll.

Meanwhile, in Chandur, Returning Officer Rohit Singh said that 45 police teams, 14 civil administrative teams pressed into service for bypoll polling. "We have also identified the pockets, where outsiders were camped for the byelection campaign and we will send them off," he explained. All the initiatives were taken step-by-step for smooth conduct of polling, he said.
Governor Biswabusan Harichandan presenting YSR Lifetime Achievement award to actor R Narayana Murhty in Vijayawada on Tuesday, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is at right. (Photo BY ARRANGEMENT)

VIJAYAWADA: The YSR Achievement and YSR Lifetime Achievement awards to worthies who rendered extraordinary services to the society were distributed at an event here on Tuesday.

Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and Governor Biswabusan Harichandan presented the awards while YS Vijayamma attended the event as a guest on the occasion of AP Formation Day.

The chief minister noted that this was the second year that the government was conferring the highest state-level honours to the extraordinary among the common people and those who have rendered extraordinary humanitarian services.

Dr. YSR Lifetime Achievement Award carries a cash of Rs 10 lakh, a bronze figurine of Dr. YSR, a memento and a citation while Dr. YSR Achievement Award carries a cash of Rs 5 lakh, a memento and a commendation letter.

The CM said that the awards this year were given in recognition of the services of famers sweating their blood, ambassadors of Telugu culture, police warriors ensuring the safety of women, social activists and media personalities and eminent doctors and industrialists.

He said, All the recipients are common people who have made uncommon contributions for the growth and betterment of the society.

My father and former chief minister Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy pursued pro-farmer and pro-poor policies and brought in revolutionary changes in the society by working for social justice and development of all regions. The presentation of the awards is only a gesture to convey the message that the government will continue to support the organisations and individuals who work for the progress of the society in various fields, the CM said.

Congratulating the recipients, Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan said the late chief minister had earned a permanent place in the hearts of the Telugu people and the awards will go a long way in inspiring the people to serve the society.

GVD Krishna Mohan, adviser to government (communications), said farmers, artistes, labourers and social workers who work in different spheres of life are all heroes in their own way.

In all, 20 individuals and organisations received the YSR Lifetime Achievement Awards and 10 eminent persons and organisations took the YSR Achievement Awards.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh described the missile as a unique type of interceptor having advanced technologies that are available with a very few nations in the world. (Image: Twitter/@DRDO_India)

NEW DELHI: In a significant move, India on Wednesday successfully conducted the maiden flight-test of phase-II ballistic missile defence interceptor AD-1 that is capable of engaging different types of targets.

The defence ministry said the flight test was conducted from APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha and it was carried out with participation of all ballistic missile defence (BMD) weapon system elements located at different geographical locations.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh described the missile as a unique type of interceptor having advanced technologies that are available with a very few nations in the world.

Defence Research & Development Organisation conducted a successful maiden flight-test of Phase-II Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) interceptor AD-1 missile with large kill altitude bracket from APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha on November 2, the ministry said.

It said the AD-1 is a long-range interceptor missile designed for both low exo-atmospheric and endo-atmospheric interception of long-range ballistic missiles as well as aircraft.

It is propelled by a two-stage solid motor and equipped with indigenously-developed advanced control system, navigation and guidance algorithm to precisely guide the vehicle to the target, the ministry said.

The exo-atmospheric missiles are capable of completing missions in the upper-most region of the earth's atmosphere. The endo-atmospheric missiles are the ones that operate within the earth's atmosphere that covers an altitude below 100 km, according to experts.

During the flight-test, all the sub-systems performed as per expectations and were validated by the data captured by a number of range sensors including radar, telemetry and electro optical tracking stations deployed to capture the flight data, the ministry said in a statement.

Defence Minister Singh congratulated the DRDO and other teams associated with the successful flight trial of AD-1.

He described it as a unique type of interceptor with advanced technologies available with a very few nations in the world.

Singh exuded confidence that it will further strengthen the country's BMD capability to the next level, according to the ministry.

DRDO Chairman Samir V Kamat congratulated his team on the successful trial, stating that this interceptor will provide great operational flexibility to the users and have capability to engage many different types of targets.
Former TPCC President N. Uttam Kumar Reddy along with TPCC Chief and MP A. Revanth Reddy addresses the media at Gandhi Bhavan in Hyderabad (Photo: DC)

HYDERABAD: Nalgonda Lok Sabha member N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, along with two other MPs, will be representing the Parliament in the South Asia Parliamentary roundtable at the UN Climate Summit (COP 27) being jointly organised by Climate Parliament and USAID (United States Agency for International Development) in Sharm-el-sheikh, Egypt from November 7 to 10.

In a media statement, Reddy informed that the objective of the meeting was to jointly deliberate on how regional energy cooperation in South Asia could be enhanced beyond bilateral agreements to ensure energy security and address climate change. This is a follow-up of the first South Asian parliamentarians' meeting organised online some months back.

The Congress MP said that the participants of the meeting were expected to give inputs on the potential launch of a Regional Parliamentary Forum on South Asian energy co-operation next year. The meeting is crucial given the vast climatic changes in recent times, he said.

He cited the extension of monsoon and excess rainfall that led to massive flooding. Similarly, the severity of seasonal conditions like heat wave, cold wave, rainfall or drought would have a negative impact not only on lives and the economy.

"A joint effort would help address the problem," better, he said.

At least two parliamentarians each from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka have been invited for participation in the meeting.

COP 27 will deliberate on cross-border energy cooperation, sustainable development and the need to create a regional parliamentary forum.
Pub-goers in the city are looking to late-night and more importantly, loud club experiences from this weekend, as the High Court lifted the ban on loud music after 10 pm for most clubs.  Representational Image/AFP

Hyderabad: Pub-goers in the city are looking to late-night and more importantly, loud club experiences from this weekend, as the High Court lifted the ban on loud music after 10 pm for most clubs.

IT professionals heaved a sigh of relief, as most were unable to unwind over the weekend due to the curb. Some said they travelled to other cities for late-night parties.

Anusha Rao, a software engineer from Madhapur, said, There are specific WhatsApp groups and debates over where to go on weekends to party as the week progresses and the time cap was a huge downer for us. With hectic work hours and multiple projects, weekends are all we have and being home by 11 pm left us with nothing much to do.

Kunal Mani, a private employee from Bangalore who shifted to Hyderabad last year, said, The decision to stop parties by 10 pm was not taken well. I actually travelled to Bangalore for two weekends last month just to enjoy the pub culture. But the nightlife in Hyderabad is beautiful and I am looking forward to partying late again.

Pub owners were also a relieved lot, as many suffered a loss.

We received a circular on Tuesday, stating that only 10 pubs in the residential areas of Jubilee Hills, which were pulled up for noise pollution in April 2021, will have to shut by 10 pm. It does not make sense for other establishments to suffer. The industry took a hit for the last month and a half due to early shutdowns, a spokesperson for a pub in Gachibowli said.

A pub owner in Jubilee Hills said, Apart from having a positive impact on the industry and the economy of the city, all stakeholders will benefit. The whole chain, including the government, benefits due to added tax and excise collections. The staff benefit from added shifts and the public gets to have a vibrant nightlife.

On September 12, a single-judge bench of the Telangana High Court had banned all pubs from playing loud music after 10 pm, but the decision was overturned on October 31, with the ban extending only to select clubs.

The Cyberabad traffic police, meanwhile, said they are geared up to check drunk driving.

The drives are already taking place on weekends from 10.30 pm to 4 am at police station levels. We will now have clusters in junctions with different police stations coming together to group up and catch violators, Cyberabad traffic DCP Srinivas Rao said.
HYDERABAD: Ahead of the high-stakes byelection to the Munugode Assembly constituency, BJP general secretary Tarun Chugh filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday, accusing the TRS government of violating electoral laws and the model code of conduct.

Chugh stated that the state government was abusing its power and snooping on BJP leaders by illegally tapping their phones, primarily those working in the Munugode constituency, and demanded a thorough investigation into the illegal and a serious offence.

"It goes without saying that it is not permissible under law to tap someone's phone without any legal process, and these actions are nothing more than an abuse of legal process by the ruling TRS party," Chugh stated.

The BJP leader accused the TRS of using mobile money transfer apps to directly transfer money into the accounts of Munugode voters, claiming that the party had used a similar tactic in previous elections as well as the recently-held MLC graduate elections.

Chugh stated in the complaint that the Chandrashekar Rao government was levelling false allegations, without concrete evidence, that the BJP was engineering defections, with a clear intent to malign the BJP and mislead the voters.

After the TRS released a purported list of bank accounts of Munugode voters and alleged that BJP candidate Rajagopal Reddy's family firm Sushee Infra had transferred money in order to distribute cash to voters, Chugh stated that banking details of any individual or company and transactions were considered a private transaction. Even the Right to Information (RTI) Act does not permit a person to obtain anyone's banking details, he said.

"TRS is attempting to intrude into someone's privacy while also engaging in false propaganda by providing some fictitious transactions, the credibility, genuineness, and veracity of which we also question," he stated in his complaint.
MUNUGODE: Rallies, street corner meetings, march pasts with sloganeering workers from various parties, the narrow and twisting roads clogged with vehicles ranging from swanky politician-owned to police vehicles, including some beat-up police vans, and of course, campaign vehicles of all hues. And the thousands of two-wheelers flying party flags of different hues.

This was the scene in Munugode on the final day of the campaign for the November 3 byelection, with leaders from the TRS, BJP, and Congress, as well as leaders and workers from other parties and independents, making a beeline for the town to make their last and final pitches to the electorate, even as they fanned out to other villages and towns in the constituency.

Just how clogged several roads in the Munugode constituency were on Tuesday was succinctly summed up by Google Maps that kept telling anyone using the feature on their smartphones to find their way about from one village to the other, or from one town to the next. Despite heavier than usual traffic, Google Maps helpfully informed, you are on the fastest route.

TRS candidate Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy, as well as party heavyweights such as K.T. Rama Rao, T. Harish Rao, and a slew of ministers and ruling party MLAs, were among those who took to the streets on Tuesday. Leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rushed about led by its candidate Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy and his wife K Lakshmi, while others including Etala Rajendar and his wife Jamuna, G. Vivek Venkatswamy, and A. Revanth Reddy along with his party candidate Palvai Sravanthi led the charge for the Congress party.

While roads in the constituency were clogged much of the day, as campaigning came to a halt in the evening, roads experienced "heavier than usual traffic" with all the political leaders and workers who camped in Munugode for a month. With several meetings being held on the streets and addressed from mobile stages  lorries converted into campaign dais  there were a number of traffic diversions in the constituency on Tuesday.
Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak leaves 10 Downing Street in central London, Wednesday, headed to the House of Commons to take part in the weekly session of Prime Minister's Questions. AFP-Yonhap



Britain's new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday announced he will join the UN climate conference in Egypt after all, having provoked anger for refusing to attend the global event early into his tenure.



Sunak had argued that "pressing domestic commitments" would keep him away from COP27 in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh  after inheriting an economic crisis from predecessor Liz Truss.



But that fueled doubts about Sunak's interest in the planetary emergency, and critics said the inexperienced leader was passing up an opportunity to rub shoulders with the likes of US President Joe Biden and European peers.



"There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change. There is no energy without investing in renewables," Sunak wrote on Twitter.



"That is why I will attend @COP27P next week: to deliver on Glasgow's legacy of building a secure and sustainable future."



The Scottish city was the venue for COP26 under the leadership of Truss's predecessor Boris Johnson, who made climate change and ambitions to make Britain "net zero" in emissions a signature policy.



Truss cast serious doubt on that commitment with her avowed skepticism about net zero  and blocked King Charles III from attending COP27.



The new monarch is a lifelong campaigner for the environment, and Sunak's change of heart could revive debate about whether Britain should allow him to press the climate case in Egypt.



The monarch is due to hold a pre-COP reception at Buckingham Palace on Friday for business leaders, campaigners and politicians, including US climate change envoy John Kerry.



Sunak's about-face came after Johnson, in a Sky News interview broadcast on Tuesday, confirmed he was heading to COP27 at Egypt's invitation, potentially upstaging Sunak.



'Phony'



"If the UK wants to be seen as a global leader, it needs to lead. It is only right that the prime minister attends the upcoming COP27," Oxfam GB climate lead Tracy Carty said after Sunak's U-turn.



"It is critical that the UK steps up, not only for the benefit of countries bearing the brunt of climate change, but also for its own credibility on the global stage," she said.



During his tenure, Johnson championed renewable energy as the key to a greener UK economy and its quest for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.



But on taking office, Sunak demoted COP26 president Alok Sharma from his cabinet.



Sharma said he was "delighted" at Sunak's change of mind, but Ed Miliband of the opposition Labor party accused the new leader of being a "phony."



"The Prime Minister has been shamed into going to COP27 by the torrent of disbelief that he would fail to turn up," Miliband, Labor's climate spokesman, tweeted.



"He is going to avoid embarrassment not to provide leadership."



The Green Party's only MP in the UK parliament, Caroline Lucas, welcomed Sunak's announcement.



"But what an embarrassing mis-step on the world stage," she tweeted. "Let this be a lesson to him  climate leadership matters.



"Now he urgently needs to increase UK ambition on emission reduction targets pay what we owe to global climate funds."



Britain drew criticism this week after it emerged that it has failed to make some $300 million in promised payments to international climate finance bodies. (AFP)


NEW DELHI: BJP president J P Nadda will release on Friday the party's 'vision document' (manifesto) for the Himachal Pradesh assembly polls.

The elections to the 68-member assembly is scheduled for February 12.

Party sources said Nadda would release the manifesto in Shimla on November 4. They added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to address at least two public meetings each on November 5 and 9.

On Saturday, he will address rallies in Mandi and Solan, they said.

The BJP is in power in the hill state and is pulling out all the stops to remain in the saddle by breaking the precedent of the incumbent being voted out.
Hyderabad: The Congress on Tuesday wrapped up their Munugode bypoll campaign by pulling off an impressive public meeting targeting exclusively women voters of the constituency. An estimated crowd of around 15,000 women voters attended the Mahila Garjana (Aadabiddala Atma Gourava Sabha) held at Munugode mandal headquarters.

Women leaders called upon female voters to ensure that the Congress wins to ensure proper gender representation in politics and to contain liquor menace, which has enslaved their men, both young and old, severely and badly impacting families.

Besides top women leaders from the State, MPs Ranjeet Ranjan (Chhattisgarh) and Jothimani Sennimalai (Tamil Nadu) addressed the gathering; their speeches were translated by the Congress candidate Palvai Sravanthi.

Ranjeet targeted both the BJP and the TRS candidates. While referring to K. Prabhakar Reddy of TRS, she said that those who do not respect women should be driven out of the constituency, forget voting for them. BJP candidate Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy has failed to prove his loyalty to a party which gave him name and fame, she said.

The man who fails the loyalty test cannot contribute to the development of the constituency. He would not remain loyal to anybody, she said.

Chhattisgarh MP Ranjan emphasised that only a woman could understand the pain of another woman and providing her a chance would pave the way for empowering other women.

If woman is given a chance, she will fight against liquor menace, which has affected families. Those who seek votes by luring voters with liquor cannot provide security to women, she added.

Jothimani Sennimalai, Karur MP and a giant slayer in 2019 general election, recalled how she had defeated AIADMK leader M. Thambidurai, the-then deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha, with the help of women.

Despite majority opinion in the party that I did not have a strong financial background, I was given the ticket to contest from Karur. Rahul ji put faith in me. I faced severe challenges and struggled in the toughest contest, something similar to what Congress is now witnessing here. I stood against all odds. On the last day of the campaign, women supporting me were beaten up, but rivals could not break their resolve. I won with a majority of 4.2 lakh and all credit goes to women who had convinced their male family members to vote for me, she said.

Urging women voters of Munugode, the MP said that they too can convince their male family members to vote for Sravanthi. Later she was lauded by MP A. Revanth Reddy for her fight.

If Tamil Nadu can give such a great verdict, so can women of Munugode. Can Telangana women not decide by themselves without depending on their men? Your vote is your power and your victory. You all must unite to elect your daughter Sravanthi, Telangana state Congress chief Revanth Reddy said.

Former union minister Renuka Chowdhury, MLC T Jeevan Reddy, former ministers J. Geetha Reddy, R. Damodar Reddy, MLAs D Sridhar Babu and Seethakka and former MLC Prem Sagar Rao were present.
TRS working president and IT minister K.T.Rama Rao and finance minister T. Harish Rao wrapped up the party's intense campaign for the Munugode Assembly bypoll on Tuesday by holding road shows  Twitter

Hyderabad: TRS working president and IT minister K.T.Rama Rao and finance minister T. Harish Rao wrapped up the party's intense campaign for the Munugode Assembly bypoll on Tuesday by holding road shows in the constituency that drew massive crowds, and made an impassioned plea to voters to defeat the BJP.

Both leaders warned voters that if they voted for the BJP, the price of a LPG cylinder will increase to Rs 4,000 and the petrol and diesel Rs 150 per litre. They pointed out when the BJP came to power in 2014, the cylinder cost Rs 400 but is now Rs 1,200. Petrol was Rs 70, which has risen to Rs 110.

They urged voters to think twice whether they want the TRS, which was offering a slew of welfare schemes, or the BJP which was burdening people with rising prices.

They also asked voters whether they wanted to vote for the BJP, which was pressuring states to scrap welfare programmes in the name of freebies and insisting on the installation of metres for agricultural pumpsets in order to scrap the free power scheme.

Rama Rao, who held road shows in Narayanpur and Munugode mandals, said the bypoll was a golden opportunity for the people to teach the BJP a lesson for its anti-farmer, anti-poor, and anti-people policies, and he sought voters' support for Chief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao's welfare schemes that benefit all sections of society.

Harish Rao, who held road shows in the Chandur and Nampally mandals, urged voters not to believe the BJP's false promises and to give TRS another chance to deceive them.

"The BJP deceived voters in the Dubbak and Huzurabad Assembly bypolls, as well as the GHMC elections in 2020 and 2021, by promising Rs 3,000 pensions to farmers and the unemployed, as well as the establishment of educational institutions and hospitals with central funds. In the GHMC, they promised bike for bike, car for car, and furniture for people who lost them in floods, and they ignored their promises after receiving votes. They broke their promises after receiving votes. Dubbak and Huzurabad voters are regretting voting for the BJP. The BJP is now attempting to deceive the people of Munugode by promising development with central funds. I caution voters not to fall into their trap," Harish said.
The polling personnel, after receiving the EVMs, VVPATs, and statutory and non-statutory materials, were escorted to their respective polling stations in buses. (Photo: PTI/Representational Image)

HYDERABAD: Arrangements for the Munugode by-poll today are in place, with the Nalgonda district administration and the police setting up teams for a fair and peaceful election. The polling materials were handed over to the assigned personnel at the Don Bosco Junior College in Chandur on Wednesday.

The polling personnel, after receiving the EVMs, VVPATs, and statutory and non-statutory materials, were escorted to their respective polling stations in buses. Armed escorts were provided to the vehicles while micro-observers also reached the polling stations with proformas.

General observer Pankaj Kumar, collector T. Vinay Krishna Reddy, also the district election officer, additional collectors Rahul Sharma and Bhaskar Rao, and Munugode by-election returning officer Rohit Singh monitored the distribution of polling material to the staff.

Reddy instructed the staff on polling day procedures and also made suggestions on several pertinent issues.

The police, meanwhile, said they have set up a three-tier security blanket to ensure peaceful polling in the constituency, with central forces deployed along with state police to avoid any untoward incident.

According to the police data, 185 poll violations have been recorded so far, with Rs 6.8 crore cash and 4,560.4 litres of liquor worth Rs 14.26 lakh seized so far.
Hyderabad: Late night drama gripped parts of Munugode on Wednesday with the BJP and the TRS accusing each other of violating the model code of conduct following the end of campaigning and allegations. The BJP claimed that the TRS had several outside leaders in the constituency, which was a violation of the code, and that they were distributing money to voters. In turn, the TRS claimed that BJP candidate Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy was enacting drama to garner last-minute sympathy by staging protests at the election returning officers office in Chandur village.

State BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar accused the State Election Commission of failing completely to ensure a free and fair electioneering in Munugode. He told reporters that the Election Commission was acting on Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Raos instructions and was allowing TRS leaders a free run in the constituency even after campaigning ended on Tuesday evening.

Sanjay also condemned Tuesdays attack by TRS goons on Etala Rajendar in Palivela village. If the TRS, set to lose the election, can stoop to such depths, it should be aware what the BJP, which is set to win, can do. But we do not indulge in such acts or violence. But do not test the BJP patience, Sanjay warned the ruling party.

By late evening, Rajgopal Reddy, who had been complaining throughout the day that the police were allowing TRS leaders and workers from outside the constituency to run amok in Munugode and distributing money to voters, had rushed to Chandur to the office of the Returning Officer Rohit Singh to lodge a complaint and seek action. However, with the official absent from the office, Rajgopal Reddy sat on a dharna and stated that he would not move until the election officials addressed his complaints against the TRS and the police who were helping the ruling party leaders.

The police asked Huzurabad BJP MLA Etala Rajendar, who was camping in Devarakonda at night, to leave because the town was close to Munugode constituency, and when he asked why he was being asked to leave when he was not in the constituency that is going to polls on Thursday morning, the police forced him to leave the place, the BJP leaders said.

Meanwhile, TRS leader and minister G. Jagadish Reddy dismissed the BJPs complaints and Rajgopal Reddys protest as mere dramas designed to garner sympathy hours before the polling. "Rajgopal Reddy will fall sick tomorrow morning, and his brother Venkat Reddy will express support and sympathy, misleading voters to support Rajgopal Reddy," Jagadish Reddy claimed.
HYDERABAD: State BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Wednesday said the government must immediately implement the new GO it issued on regularisation of residential land plots in LB Nagar constituency, an issue on which the BJP had been fighting with the government for sometime now.

Sanjay, in a statement, said the BJP will stand by the people who were victims of government inaction so far on this issue. He said Wednesdays orders were the result of Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy resigning as an MLA which resulted in a bypoll in Munugode which in turn forced the government to issue the orders.

The LB Nagar constituency is believed to be home for around 20,000 to 30,000 voters from Munugode who live in the area and work in Hyderabad.
Rescuers on boats search in the Machchu river next to a cable suspension bridge that collapsed in Morbi town of Gujarat. (Photo: AP)

Most Indians dont trust calls for investigations by governments when things go wrong. Most probes are designed to meander and trudge, without ever addressing any key concern, seldom delving into root causes, or finding and punishing the truly guilty at the top.

Almost all past investigations into human made tragedies  accidents, riots, corruption  have failed the expectations of ordinary Indian citizens, dragging for years, and ending up absolving most of the likely guilty, or finding an odd low-level scapegoat for superficial punishment. In the end, nobody important is hurt and nothing changes.

But in one of the darkest hours for Gujarat, and India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown that his leadership character is made up of sterner stuff. He made it clear to the officials that he really wants a probe  a true probe, comprehensive, transparent and quick.

Heartbroken families which lost loved ones, the town of Morbi and all Indians would find some solace that justice would be delivered and the guilty ones wont escape scot-free. A larger hope lingers that maybe this dark mishap would bring in changes in our national policy towards safety.

Stepping up to a human moment, going beyond politics or calculations of elections, PM Modi reached out to the families at the hour of agony, and tried to soothe them. He also put the administration on alert to ensure all concerns of the families are addressed and they dont face any red tape in their quest for closure.

From another corner of India, we had another rare example of great leadership, matching the statesmanship of Mr Narendra Modi  in the response of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who at a press conference in Telangana refused to fall for the bait of a media query, and bluntly refused to politicise the tragedy.

It would be disrespectful to those who have lost their lives and their dignity. Or, the emotions of their families, said Mr Gandhi, instead of launching into the predictable path of past leaders, who would have been tempted to launch a rhetoric on failures of the government.

When two top Indian leaders  Prime Minister Modi and Opposition voice Rahul Gandhi  rise above the usual game of politicking, especially in a state where bitter electoral battle lines are drawn and ready  it must give all of India hope that the times, and state of affairs, are changing.

A strong leader in government who means business and a fair, humane leader from the Opposition who, instead of criticising the government wishes to consider the feelings of the families trying to mourn after a tragedy is the only silver lining in this black incident.

Of course, it is a failure. A total failure of the administration, and of the system that made people pay for their own subsequent demise. Deaths to no purpose. Let India build on the changed political morality, find the reasons for the accident and ensure such an accident never occurs again, and punish the guilty, setting an example.

Let Morbi be the last; never again.
Welcome to Twitters Blue Tick at $8 a month. It is the symbol of a changing world in which the giants of the new economy are beginning to feel the pinch and must end many of the free lunches they may have been serving at a time when the Internet was like the inexhaustible vessel from the Mahabharata, akshaya patra, and the tech giants could serve the people while reaping the whirlwind for their prosperity.

At one level, Twitters proposed fee for the badge that vested celebrities, who had a big following, with a kind of validation also democratises the microblogging platform as anyone willing to fork out the fee can sport the badge. On the other hand, this could make it harder to identify reliable sources if the verification process is driven only by commerce. The social media site is looking to be able to pay its bills, but only at the cost of stopping the free lunch and sacking a load of techies to trim the workforce and save precious pennies for the worlds richest man.

At a time when the Internet began and Hotmail seemed a brand new and seemingly altruistic service promising to connect the world with instant email communications, the consumer may not have realised what all he would be getting for just a basic subscription to an Internet service provider. The sands have shifted after a couple of decades in which the customer was king and ecommerce titans and bankers brought services to his doorstep, but not to forget the hackers, scamsters and pornographers.

The illusory honour badge of a Blue Tick may not be the only thing the consumer may have to pay for. Titans like Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Netflix and Google are battling the headwinds, their businesses down as reflected in drooping stock prices. Truth to tell, despite their enormous presence and the billions they made in the new economy, it is the consumer who profited more, his life made simpler by the unimaginable reach of the Internet. As Elon Musk says, its time to stop whining and be prepared to pay up for privileges.
Israel's ex-premier and leader of the Likud party Benjamin Netanyahu addresses supporters at campaign headquarters in Jerusalem early on November 2, 2022, after the end of voting for national elections. - Netanyahu inched towards reclaiming power after projected election results showed a majority government was within reach for the veteran right-winger, but the outlook could shift as ballots are counted. (Photo: AFP)

TEL AVIV: Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared headed toward victory on Wednesday, with some 85 per cent of the ballots from national elections counted and showing that voters gave him and his far-right allies what looks like a majority in the country's parliament.

Votes were still being counted and results were not final. But if preliminary indications were correct, Israel was potentially headed to its most right-wing government, bolstered by a strong showing from the ultranationalist Religious Zionism party, whose members use inflammatory anti-Arab and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.

The initial results pointed to a continued rightward shift in the Israeli electorate, further dimming hopes for peace with the Palestinians and setting the stage for possible conflict with the Biden administration and Israel's supporters in the United States.

The early results also showed that Netanyahu had overcome his detractors, who claimed he was not fit to rule while on trial for corruption and have refused to sit with him in government. Netanyahu's partners have promised to help him evade a conviction.

We are on the verge of a very big victory, Netanyahu, 73, told supporters at a gathering in Jerusalem early on Wednesday. I will establish a nationalist government that will see to all Israeli citizens without any exceptions.

Netanyahu did not immediately claim an outright victory, nor did his main opponent, interim Prime Minister Yair Lapid, concede defeat. But signs of a political shift were underway.

One Netanyahu challenger, Defence Minister Benny Gantz, said his party, expected to be the fourth largest, would head to the opposition. Lapid meanwhile cancelled a diplomatic visit to a climate conference in Egypt.

Elections officials worked through the night tallying votes and by Wednesday afternoon, about 85 per cent of the ballots had been counted.

The vote, like past elections, was tight but initial indications showed Netanyahu was headed back to the premiership with a majority in the country's 120-seat parliament.

Final results are expected on Friday. The hundreds of thousands of remaining ballots  mostly from those who voted away from their regular place of residency, in nursing homes and elsewhere  have to be cross-checked for accuracy, a more time-consuming effort. They could lend a boost to Netanyahu's opponents, reducing the size of his majority.

With Netanyahu and his allies projected to win more than the 61-seat majority needed to form a government, the country's protracted political crisis may be headed toward a conclusion, though Israel remains as divided as ever.

Tuesday's election was Israel's fifth in less than four years, with all of them focused largely on Netanyahu's fitness to govern. On trial for a slew of corruption charges, Netanyahu, who denied wrongdoing, is seen by supporters as the victim of a witch hunt and vilified by opponents as a crook and threat to democracy.

Even if Netanyahu and his allies emerge victorious, it could still take weeks of negotiations for a coalition government to be formed.

Netanyahu was Israel's longest-serving prime minister, governing for 12 consecutive years  and 15 years altogether  before he was ousted last year by a diverse coalition led by the centrist Lapid, the current caretaker prime minister.

But the coalition that Lapid cobbled together, which included the first Arab party ever to join a government, was decimated by infighting and collapsed after just one year in power. Those parties were poised to capture about 50 seats, according to initial results.

Lapid, addressing supporters early on Wednesday, insisted that the race was not decided.

Until the last envelope is counted, nothing is over and nothing is final, he said.

But in a sign that he was moving toward accepting defeat, Lapid later on Wednesday cancelled his plans to attend the COP27 climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, next week, according to an Israeli official familiar with the change in plans. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the issue with the media.

President Isaac Herzog will represent Israel at the event instead, the official said.

The night's strongest showing was by the far-right Religious Zionism party, which emerged as the third-largest party. At an all-male campaign gathering in Jerusalem, religious men wearing Jewish skullcaps and waving Israeli flags danced in celebration.

At the celebration, supporters of the party's top candidate, Itamar Ben-Gvir, chanted Death to terrorists.

Ben-Gvir is a disciple of a racist rabbi, Meir Kahane, who was banned from parliament and whose Kach party was branded a terrorist group by the United States before he was assassinated in New York in 1990.

Kahane's agenda called for banning intermarriage between Arabs and Jews, stripping Arabs of Israeli citizenship and expelling large numbers of Palestinians.

But while Kahane was seen as a pariah, Ben-Gvir is one of Israel's most popular politicians, thanks to his frequent media appearances, cheerful demeanor, knack for deflecting criticism and calls for a harder line against Palestinians at a time of heavy fighting in the occupied West Bank. Young ultra-Orthodox men are among his strongest supporters.

Ben-Gvir lives in the hard-line West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba and is a strong proponent of settlement construction. He has described Arab colleagues in parliament as terrorists, called for deporting those who are disloyal and recently brandished a handgun in a tense Palestinian neighbourhood of Jerusalem as he called on police to shoot Palestinian stone-throwers.

We want to make a total separation between those who are loyal to the state of Israel  and we don't have any problem with them  and those who undermine our dear country, he said.

Muhammad Shtayyeh, the Palestinian prime minister, said the rise of Israel's far right was a natural result of the growing manifestations of extremism and racism in Israeli society.

It appeared as though two of the three parties representing the country's 20 per cent Palestinian minority earned enough votes for a spot in parliament, as polls had predicted.

But it was unclear whether Meretz, a dovish party that opposes Israel's occupation of the West Bank and a member of the current coalition, would make it into parliament.

If the Netanyahu alliance ends up controlling a majority, Ben-Gvir and his party leader, Bezalel Smotrich, are sure to drive a hard bargain. Ben-Gvir has said he will demand the Cabinet post overseeing Israel's police force.

The pair have also said they will seek legal reforms aimed at weakening the independence of the judiciary and giving parliament power to override court decisions they don't like. That could clear the way for the dismissal of criminal charges against Netanyahu. Smotrich and other members of the party have also made repeated anti-LGBTQ comments.

Such positions could put a future Netanyahu government on a collision course with the Biden administration, which supports a two-state solution with the Palestinians. It could also alienate Israeli allies in the US, particularly the predominantly liberal Jewish American community.

In Israel, voters vote for parties, not individual politicians. No party has ever won a majority on its own, and coalition-building is necessary to govern.

Tensions meanwhile rose Wednesday as a Palestinian slammed his car into an Israeli army officer near the Maccabim checkpoint between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The soldier, seriously injured, opened fire on the man, the military said.

The Palestinians said the suspected attacker, Habas Abdel Hafeez Yousef Rayan, 54, died soon after.
LONDON: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on Wednesday that he will attend the COP27 climate summit in Egypt next week, reversing his previous decision to skip the meeting in Sharm El Sheikh to focus on domestic issues and the economic crisis in the UK.

Sunak took to Twitter to reveal his plans after criticism from climate activists and within the government from Indian-origin COP27 President Alok Sharma, who said it was important for the prime minister to be present to show the UK's commitment on the issue of climate action.

The pressure mounted further as his ex-boss, former prime minister Boris Johnson, confirmed that he would be attending the summit scheduled between November 6 and 18.

"There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change, tweeted Sunak.

"There is no energy security without investing in renewables. That is why I will attend COP27 next week: to deliver on Glasgow's legacy of building a secure and sustainable future," he said, with reference to the COP26 summit chaired by the UK in Scotland last November.

The Opposition Labour Party described the reversed decision to attend as Sunak being "dragged kicking and screaming into doing the right thing; embarrassing".

The Green Party called it a "screeching U-turn" and "an embarrassing mis-step on the world stage" to initially announce plans not to attend.

Earlier this week, Downing Street said Sunak's attendance at the summit was under review as progress was being made with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt on the preparation of a crucial economic statement scheduled for November 17.

Many world leaders, including US President Joe Biden and France's Emmanuel Macron, are due to go to the 27th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

India's Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav will lead an 18-member delegation at COP 27, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's attendance yet to be confirmed.

King Charles III, a passionate climate campaigner who will not be attending, is to host a COP27 pre-summit reception for world leaders at Buckingham Palace on Friday. It is planned as a review of progress made since the UK hosted the COP26 summit in Glasgow last November, with Sunak and Sharma among those attending alongside international business leaders and decision-makers.
53 people drowned in India's Bihar during 4-day Hindu festival

Xinhua) 15:39, November 02, 2022

NEW DELHI, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- At least 53 people drowned in India's eastern state of Bihar during the four-day Hindu festival, Chhath Puja, local media quoted officials as saying on Wednesday.

The drownings have taken place in rivers and other water bodies across various districts of the state during the four-day festival.

"As many as 53 people drowned in rivers and other water bodies in various parts of Bihar during the four-day Chhath festivities," a local media quoted a disaster management official as saying. "At least 18 people died in the state on Oct. 31, the last day of the festival."

Bihar's Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has expressed grief over the drownings and announced a compensation of 4,833 U.S. dollars (400,000 rupees) to each victim's family.

Kumar had directed all the district magistrates to ensure expeditious payment of compensation amount to the families of victims.

Chhath Puja begins at the end of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. Hindus mostly in northern and eastern India celebrate the festival by visiting water bodies and offering flowers to them, besides taking a bath to pray for protection and seek the blessing of the sun god.

(Web editor: Cai Hairuo, Liang Jun)
Kuwait-based low-cost airline Jazeera Airways will commence its direct service to Bengaluru on November 3, flying to the city two times a week  on Thursdays and Saturdays.

The launch is part of Jazeeras expansion in India and with the new services, the airline now flies to all destinations available under the bilateral arrangement between the two countries, a statement from the airline said on Tuesday.

Romana Parvi, regional manager (South Asia), said the service would connect the Indian expatriate population in Kuwait with India and connect passengers from India to a host of leisure and pilgrimage destinations.

Jazeera Airways flights from Kuwait to Bengaluru (J9 431) will depart from the Kuwait International Airport at 17.55 pm local time on Thursdays and Saturdays, and the returning flights from the Kempegowda International Airport (J9 432) will take off at 2 am local time, on Fridays and Sundays, the statement said.

The airline started its India operations with Hyderabad in October 2017. It now serves up to eight destinations in India.
Days after helping Bhutan to transport a consignment of vehicles from Chennai, Indian Railways have started exploring logistic trade ties with the neighbouring country.

Officials of The Northeast Frontier Railways (NFR) on Tuesday met a delegation comprising officials of Bhutans foreign ministry, trade bodies and chamber of commerce at Alipurduar junction in North Bengal.

The meeting was held aiming towards trade collaborations between the NFR and government of Bhutan, supporting the logistics avenues for future linkages with Bhutan, Chief Public Relations Officers of NFR, Sabyasachi De said in a statement. The NFR headquarters is stationed at Maligaon in Guwahati.

Also Read | Central Railway to launch more 'Restaurant-on-Wheels'

The meeting was held after NFR transported a consignment of 75 utility vehicles from Chennai to Hasimara railway station on October 28 by a new modified goods rake, a rake specially designed to transport light motor vehicles. This was the first consignment of goods to Bhutan. The consignment reached Alipurduar division on October 28. Further the consignment was taken to Bhutan by roadways.

The delegation intends to visit Changrabandha station in the near future. Discussions related to movement of auto-mobiles, cement, stone commodities and augmenting people to people connection and tourism development were also held, De said.

The delegations from Bhutan visited Hasimara railway station where infrastructure is being strategically developed by the N. F. Railway for enabling trade with Bhutan. A plan to build a siding along with a warehouse in collaboration with the Central Warehousing Corporation is underway to promote logistic trade with Bhutan.

The Alipurduar division told the Bhutan delegation about the vision of railways as the prime eco-friendly mode of transportation for goods logistic and as a sustainable option for mass movement in the country and also in South-East Asia. Railway explained to the delegates of Bhutan government the cost competitiveness and strategic abilities to transport goods in bulk and expeditiously to markets across India and Bhutan. Indian Railways have already taken up new projects for cross-border linkages by laying a broad-gauge railway track from Kokrajhar in Assam to Gelephu in Bhutan, De said.
The Thiruvananthapuram international airport will close its runway and halt flight operations for five hours on Tuesday afternoon to enable the smooth passage of the "God". The airport has been stopping operations and rescheduling flights twice in every year for decades to enable the bi-annual centuries-old ceremonial procession of the famous Padmanabha Swamy temple here to pass through the runway.

As one of the "Aaratu" processions of the temple, marking the culmination of the Alpassi festival, falls on Tuesday, the airport authorities here informed that the flight services shall remain suspended for five hours from 4.00 pm to 9.00 pm. The practice of closing the airport for the ritualistic procession has been continuing without any fail even after the Adani Group took over its management last year. "To enable and facilitate smooth continuation of a centuries-old ritual by Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple for the Alpassi Arattu procession, through the runway of the Thiruvananthapuram International airport, the flight services shall remain suspended from 1600 to 2100 hours on the 1st November, 2022," the airport management said here in a statement.

Domestic and international services during this period have been rescheduled. An airport source said that at least 10 flights have been rescheduled for the ritualist procession as of now. "There is an Aaratu mandapam near the runway where the temple idols are being kept for some time as part of the ritual during the procession. We are keeping it with all sanctity. We are facilitating the passage of the traditional procession. The flight companies are also extending all cooperation to retain the legacy," the source told PTI.

Historian Malayinkeezhu Gopalakrishnan said the mandapam, which is now located near the airport runway, is known as "karikku" (tender coconut) mandapam. "The practice of keeping the idols for some time at this structure began during the reign of erstwhile king Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma in the 18th century. It was said that there was a practice to offer tender coconut for those who take part in the procession at the mandapam. That might be the reason the structure was named like that," he told PTI. The procession would further proceed after some brief pujas and rituals.

According to the traditional practice, the processional idols of the temple deities would be carried to the sea behind the airport for a holy dip twice a year in a ceremonial march, which has been taking this route even before the airport was established in 1932. The airport issues a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) twice every year before the runway is closed during the bi-annual Alpashy festival which falls in October-November and the Panguni festival in March-April. After a dip in the sea off Shankumugham beach, the idols would be taken back to the shrine in a procession lit by traditional torches which marks the conclusion of the festival.
Iran is on the boil. Women are up in arms and the uprising is being crushed by the Iranian government, making global headlines that once again point to the brutality brought about by a mix of fundamentalist ideology and political power. But the Iran story is slightly different from the standard tale of clerics seeking subjugation to their religious demands. It was groups of women who supported the Islamic Revolution of 1979, turning away from the westernised influences brought in by the regime of the US-backed Mohammad Shah Reza Pahlavi, who was overthrown as mass protests took over Iran. Those days, skirts were more common than the hijab. In fact, the hijab was banned! And yet, that was a regime that women helped uproot, raging against what was perceived as an un-Islamic, US-influenced modernity that had made Iran a popular destination for celebrities and Heads of State, a high level of womens participation, and a country with a pumped-up economy.

A lot changed with the Islamic Revolution, but it would not have been easy to take the women in the workforce and daily life and quickly lock them up at homes. So women were everywhere even after the Islamists under Ayatollah Khomeini, Irans then Supreme Leader, took charge. But the headscarf designated for women was back, often with a touch of fashion attached to it. Soon came a law (in April 1983) that made covering heads mandatory even for non-Muslim and foreign women visiting Iran.

Some two decades ago, this writer was part of a team of Indian lawyers, journalists and social activists invited to visit Iran. An important part of the itinerary was meeting Dr Massoumeh Ebtekar, an immunologist and the then Vice President. As the country turned away from a western-influenced monarchy to an Islamic Republic, Ebtekar had been one of the more famous faces in Iran, both pre- and post- the Islamic Revolution. She had lived for some years in the US with her parents before returning to enrol in an Iranian university. It is here that Ebtekar chose to start wearing the chador and joined the revolution. English-speaking and articulate, she became the voice of the revolution as the spokesperson of a group of militarised students who laid siege to the US embassy in Tehran and held 52 American diplomats hostage for over 444 days, before finally releasing them on January 20, 1981. The nun, as she was known to the West for the signature chador covering her from head to foot, Ebtekar went on to become the most powerful woman in the Islamic Republic as one of the four Vice Presidents of Iran.

Ebtekar and members of the government-associated womens group that initiated our visit spoke of the important role that women played in the economic and socio-political life of Iran. As one of them said to me: We are everywhere. That was true then. From the tarmac off Mehrabad International Airport to the malls and offices dotting Tehrans tree-lined boulevards, women were everywhere. Mostly in black and bustling around, or working behind counters and desks. Though Ebtekars twitter feed today has nothing on the current protests by women, she is now seen as a reformist and has often criticised the government, at least on its environmental policies.

In 2012, she and several other women wrote for a book that sought to provide contemporary insights on women in Iran since the 1979 revolution. Titled Women, Power and Politics in 21st Century Iran, a review of the volume noted its effort: Written by women, the majority of whom live and work in the country, this anthology endeavours to counter mainstream western representations of Iranian women as oppressed and subordinated, and instead to depict the modes of resistance and negotiation they have adopted. The editors frame this narrative in terms of the women's struggle against orientalism and imperialism, and against traditional Iranian patriarchy.

As the review pointed out, a key term was indigenous, to describe the post-1979 revolution of women in contrast to the arguably less authentic movement that had been associated with the Shah's projects of westernisation and modernisation. Yet, the review authors presciently pointed out: While we acknowledge the efforts of these women, we should also note that they have been given a voice by the State because they share a common politico-religious frame of reference with it. This tends to undercut the editors description of the post-1979 Iranian womens movement as diverse; it seems that certain forms of femininity and sexuality have been favoured by the Islamic State at the expense of others. In essence, a sarkari form of feminism was taking root, while the march continued, slowly but surely, toward more exclusion, segregation and increased tyranny as newer controls on women took shape.

An example of this is Irans Parliament, the Islamic Consultative Committee, approving a law segregating healthcare given to men and women. Since there were not enough women doctors, this put 30 million women at risk. While gender segregation has not been so successful beyond schools, where it is enforced, the implementation of the Same Sex Health Care Delivery system (SSHCD), a religion-based separation of women from men in a medical environment brought new ways of enforcing gender separation. In 2012, some university hospitals started gender exclusion policies, dividing the sexes in healthcare treatment and using female physicians only in the care of women.

Newer harsh laws against women since 1979 have pushed women to the back of public transport buses as gender segregation in public was approved. Others destroyed womens protection under family law, lowered the age of marriage from 18 to 13, and removed women from certain fields of employment and study. Changes in family law articulated male guardianship in a specific way. Under the new regime, this meant that though regarded as financially independent, the wife now required the husbands permission to leave the house. Today, a man can determine what work is appropriate for his wife and can demand that she leave her job; and men can divorce while retaining custodial rights over children while women are responsible for child-bearing and rearing but lack custodial rights.

The horrible tales of crackdowns on protesters that are emerging from Iran today are testimony to the fact that sarkari feminism has failed and a point of no-return has been reached. Many efforts have been made to shape the narrative on women, but ultimately, what was sought to be sold to the world has not been bought by the ordinary women of Iran.

(The writer is Managing Editor, The Billion Press) (Syndicate: The Billion Press)
By Andy Mukherjee

Narendra Modi is spending billions of dollars on self-reliance. On roads and in factories, the prime ministers slogan translates to generous subsidies for homemade electric-vehicle batteries, solar panels and green hydrogen  anything that can help cut an outsized dependence on Middle Eastern crude oil. There is, however, another imported oil India is addicted to: the one used for cooking. Indian kitchens spend Rs 1.57 lakh crore annually on Indonesian palm, Ukrainian sunflower and Argentinian soybean oil.

Food bought from overseas soaks up dollars, which no developing economy wants to part with right now. But that isnt all. In the current geopolitical climate, it appears imprudent to leave a daily staple of 140 crore people to the mercy of global trade. Self-sufficiency in food has to be a legitimate public-policy concern, as Russias suspension of the UN-agreed corridor for grain vessels sailing from Ukraines Black Sea ports has recently underscored. It wont take expensive handouts to end this nutritional vulnerability. With some public funding, scientists can do the job. The question is if politicians will let them.

Well know the answer soon enough. New Delhi has given environmental clearance to a genetically modified mustard crop, which promises to boost yields by as much as 28 per cent. If all goes to plan, theres a good chance that the nations farmers will have access to GMO mustard before the October 2025 planting season.

Read  Explained | What is genetically modified mustard?

So far, Monsanto Co.s insect-resistant Bt Cotton is the only genetically altered crop in India. It was introduced two decades ago amid strident opposition from anti-GMO activists. Debates rage even today on whether the subsequent jump in Indian cotton yields was caused by the Bt trait or more intensive fertilizer use . However, when it comes to GMO food, the bigger objection has been raised by the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, the main economic think tank of the Hindu right-wing cultural movement that backs Modis ruling party.

According to SJM, instead of making Indias oilseed economy self-reliant, GMO mustard would render farmers seriously dependent on a multinational behemoth like Bayer AG, which holds the ultimate patent on the technology. Still, the Delhi University scientists who have come up with the new variant say that their research is publicly funded and, therefore, the new seeds will be reasonably priced.

Through the millennia, cooking mediums of the Indian sub-continent have been as diverse as the food consumed in the vast region. Coconut oil is popular in the south, while the western regions like to deep fry in groundnut oil. Mustard oil is used more in the east and north. But for almost 25 years, local oilseed production has been falling short of demand. None of the traditional, cold-pressed, filtered oils have managed to hold their ground against a relentless assault of imported palm, soy and sunflower oil. Almost 70 per cent of demand is now met with imports. Prices, which shot up last year, have only slightly cooled in 2022.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union assisted India with local sunflower production; the Americans helped with soybean, initially marketing it as a solution to Indias protein shortage. While the population never quite warmed up to soy milk or nuggets, India did end up becoming the largest importer of soybean oil in the world. Ditto for sunflower, which nowadays meets 10 per cent to 12 per cent of the countrys annual cooking oil requirement, even though local production is stagnant.

After India began opening up its economy in the 1990s, large food traders such as Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. stormed the second-most-populous nation. ADM is the largest shareholder of Singapore-based Wilmar International Ltd., whose joint venture with Indias Adani Group controls the countrys top edible oil brand. A barrage of advertising dollars, trumpeting the perceived health benefits of colorless, odorless, refined liquids won over the middle class. Traditional favorites like mustard, coconut, groundnut and sesame oil suddenly started looking heavier and greasier in comparison. An adulteration scandal in the late 1990s turned the movement away from filtered oils into an exodus.

The most price-conscious segment of the market was cornered by palm oil, responsible for large-scale destruction of Indonesian rain forests. Getting rid of the 8 million tons of imported palm oil could help India lower the ischemic heart disease mortality rate associated with the cooking medium. Yet theres no consensus on whether transgenic crops are the right weapon for this fight. At both ends of the political spectrum  left and right  theres a shared apprehension about farmers losing the right to reuse or sell their seeds. With modified mustard, honey exporters worry that bees nectar collection activities will be affected.

India came close to approving GMO mustard in 2016  six years after overblown public-health concerns quashed an engineered eggplant. (Bangladesh has allowed the variant with considerable success.) With climate change adding every year to the uncertainty of food production, delaying a decision is starting to look like a costly mistake. Almost all of the Canadian canola, consumed around the world (including India), is genetically modified. Australia has approved the release of a cross between Indian mustard and GMO canola after judging that the hybrid posed negligible risk to the health of the people or the environment.

An imbalance created over nearly three decades wont be corrected in a day. But with the help of science, it may be possible to start putting the traditional, homegrown oils back on Indias kitchen shelves.
By Charles Helm for The Conversation

In 1835 Charles Darwin, the father of the theory of evolution, was exploring an island in the Galapagos archipelago when he encountered two large tortoises, each of which must have weighed at least two hundred pounds.

He had never seen anything like them. He became entranced by the animals and took at least one back to England as a pet.

Large tortoises are still associated with the Galapagos Islands, about 1,000km off the coast of Ecuador, as well as Aldabra Island in the Seychelles.

Now, for the first time, evidence has been found to suggest that a species of very large tortoise once lived on South Africas Cape south coast. Our study of fossil tracks indicates that, between 1,39,000 and 1,09,000 years ago, a tortoise species existed that was around 106 cm long. This is not as big as the Galapagos tortoises, which can reach 150 cm or more in length, but is significantly bigger than any tortoises in southern Africa today.

The period when these tortoises were wandering round the southern tip of Africa was called the Pleistocene Epoch.

They shared the landscape with large animals like giraffes, extinct giant buffalo, crocodiles and breeding sea turtles, none of which inhabit the region today. Our ancestors, Homo sapiens, were also present.

Also Read | A fossil baby helped scientists explain how mammals thrived after the dinosaur extinction: Research

Today, the leopard tortoise (Stigmochelys pardalis) is the largest tortoise species in the area. The record length for a leopard tortoise is 70 cm. Given the length of the tortoise in our findings  106 cm  we conclude that either the tracks were made by a previously unknown very large tortoise or that the leopard tortoises of the Pleistocene period were much larger.

Before this research, there was nothing to suggest the presence of very large tortoises from southern Africa in the regions extensive archaeological record and body fossil record. Such findings demonstrate the capacity of ichnology  the study of tracks and traces  to complement and fill gaps in the traditional fossil record.

And doing so doesnt just create a fuller picture of ancient landscapes: its an important part of understanding whats changed over time and the effects of climate change and humans.

The fossil tracks were found in aeolianites (cemented dunes) and were made when these deposits consisted of unconsolidated sand. These sites would have been situated at the margin of the vast Palaeo-Agulhas Plain, which was alternately exposed and inundated during Pleistocene sea level oscillations.

The main tracksite was located east of Still Bay, around 340 km from Cape Town, on a rugged, remote stretch of coastal cliffs. Here we were fortunate to intercept a large aeolianite block on its slow but relentless journey from the cliffs above, from which it had broken off, down a sandy slope to the sea below.

When we initially identified it, the track-bearing surface was covered in a thin veneer of sediment which preserved exquisite detail.

Not only were two sets of parallel large tracks evident, but a number of traces were also present centrally between these sets of tracks, indicating where something large had scraped the surface and caused shallow parallel striations and other deeper impressions.

It was a good thing we found the block when we did: within a couple of weeks the veneer (with the parallel striations) had been eroded away by wind and water. Months later the block had disappeared into the ocean.

By then we had already photographed and measured the block, the tracks and the surrounding area. We also took rock samples to perform dating studies from sites west and east of the main tracksite through a technique known as optically stimulated luminescence and established that the tracks were probably made between approximately 1,39,000 years and 1,09,000 years ago.

After ruling out other possibilities, including large crocodiles and monitor lizards, it was evident that this trackway had been made by a large tortoise, and that the midline features were caused by the dragging of the plastron (the underside of the tortoise shell) and by the tail spearing the surface.

The trackway was 69 cm wide. We studied tracks and traces of leopard tortoises for comparison, and used these to estimate that the trackmaker at our site was as much as 106 cm long, at least 50 per cent longer than the largest recorded leopard tortoises.

Many species of giant tortoises on islands have become extinct in the last few centuries. It would also not be unprecedented if what was once a giant species had evolved into a smaller species, the extant leopard tortoise. Tortoise giantism is a recurring theme in the fossil record.

It is known that some carnivorans, birds and reptiles were larger in some phases of the Pleistocene than today, so both possibilities are plausible.

Our teams latest discovery adds a little more to the picture that both our and other scientists findings have painted of the ancient Cape south coast landscape. With each find, the image becomes clearer  and allows us to understand how it has shifted over time.

(Charles Helm is with Nelson Mandela University)
A County Tyrone man who caused over 1,300 of damage during a 'moment of madness' on a night out over two years ago has been handed a conditional discharge.

Thomas Mullin, of Hillbank Fold, James Street, Omagh appeared for sentencing on three charges of criminal damage at Magherafelt Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

A previous hearing had heard the defendant had collapsed a fence in the Piney Hill area, before removing a flagstone from a nearby property and throwing it at a car following a night out.

On the last occasion, sentencing had been adjourned to allow the judge to be presented with more definite information about the defendant's application to join the Irish Army.

During Wednesday's hearing, the defendant's counsel presented a letter to the judge as proof of acceptance into the Irish Army, with Mullin due to begin training next week.

Counsel pointed out the probation report had indicated the defendant would be suitable for probation, but that this would be difficult to fulfil if he was at the training centre in County Meath.

He can't have it every which way, said Judge Mullan, noting that under normal circumstances the charge would not have warranted anything less than probation or a suspended sentence.

Mullin's defence said he was of 'extremely good character' and that the incident in question had been a 'one-off mad night'; a 'blip' that shouldn't define the rest of his career.

They suggested that the army training may act as a suspended sentence of sorts as that kind of behaviour 'would not be tolerated'.

The judge said the defendant had 'brought this upon himself' and that his behaviour was 'totally unacceptable'.

However, she handed Mullin a conditional discharge of two years and ordered him to pay two separate compensation orders totalling 1,350.

She said she hoped the defendant was 'genuine in his commitment to cease offending' and warned him against any further offences.
IN PICTURES: Co Derry Special Olympics Club ready to welcome more volunteers

A County Derry Special Olympics club have praised the work of their volunteers and issued a 'the more the merrier' message to the community.

The Oakleaf Lions was founded during lockdown by Liam Og Hinphey and Brian McGuigan from Dungiven.

The group provides a flexible and versatile athlete programme for children with an intellectual disability between the ages of four and twelve.

It also introduces children to the Special Olympics programme and their family members to a network of support as well as preparing children for future membership into Special Olympics clubs.

Brian McGuigan said the group were lucky to have great volunteers to help out.

We put a message out and there were plenty of people looking to volunteer and plenty of athletes as well, he told the County Derry Post.

We are so lucky; there are three or four girls come from Ballinascreen and a few from the town here and a few from Claudy as well.

Without them, we couldn't function. Then there's Sarah Kelly as well who is our treasurer and does a lot behind the scenes that no one else sees.

We're always looking for more though; the more you have, the more people you can help. We don't turn anybody away.

We never turn anybody away in terms of athletes either, so the more volunteers you have, the more athletes you can have too.

The group has made a big impact locally and has grown steadily since its 2020 inception. Brian says it has a real effect on the parents involved.

Parents are a big thing; if this can help connect parents together, it makes a big difference. It's about finding out what works for them, he said.

Special Olympics is a worldwide thing, so why shouldn't we have one locally? We have others there too, but they're for older children.

Ours is for younger children. There are only two or three young athlete programmes in Ulster; the Oakleaf Lions is the only one within 50 miles.

To volunteer with Oakleaf Lions, or to find out more information about what they do, visit the club's

To volunteer with Oakleaf Lions, or to find out more information about what they do, visit the club's Facebook page  Oakleaf Lions Special Olympics Club.

 Oakleaf Lions Special Olympics Club.
A mother of four from County Derry has embarked on the next stage of her journey to qualify as a social worker.

Reflecting on her journey, Karen Cassidy Panoviciu acknowledges how the supportive staff at the Northern Regional College helped her achieve her goal.

Originally from Ballyronan, and now living in Draperstown, Karen completed an Access to University Social Sciences full-time Diploma at the Colleges Magherafelt campus.

She is currently a first-year undergraduate at Ulster University as a BSc (Hons) Social Work student.

She explained that after leaving school, equipped with her GCSEs and a GNVQ diploma, she worked as Employment Support Mentor in Network Personnel Magherafelt.

I had plenty of relevant work experience and loved my work as an advocate, helping and supporting people navigate red tape, but I realised that I would need accredited qualifications if I were to progress professionally.

Im now in my early forties and really thought Id missed the boat, but I was delighted to be proved wrong.

I knew a few people who had progressed to university to study nursing after doing the Access Diploma in Social Science at the College.

When I investigated the options, I realised that I could apply to university if I successfully completed the one-year fast track course as a full-time student.

Karen continued: I started the course in September 2020, and as I have a young family, it was a big commitment. It was also challenging as classes were online, but this actually worked in my favour as there was more flexibility and less travel.

Thanks to the support of the lecturers and the bond that developed between the other students in the class, we were able to help each other.

I enjoyed everything about the course; the timing, the camaraderie with the other students, the variety of subjects covered, and the way they were taught.

After contracting a serious illness that led to me having to give up my job in 2018, I hadnt worked for a while, and it had been much longer since Id had been in a classroom. The lecturers were so supportive and helped me back into the way of things.

She added: After being out of work and away from education for so long, the course gave me motivation, support, and a purpose and helped me regain confidence. I would 100% recommend it.

After successfully completing the Access Diploma, Karen accepted a place at Ulster University to do a Health and Social Care Policy degree at Jordanstown.

I finished the first semester and passed the exams, but I knew in my heart Social Work was what I wanted to do, so I decided to start again.

"I took a year out, during which I did a Level 4 City and Guilds Advice and Guidance in Welfare Advice Course and applied to do the Social Work degree.

I was offered a place at both Queens University, Belfast and Ulster University but opted for Ulster University.

I now study at Ulster Universitys Magee campus, which is such a lovely, friendly place to study. I find the course to be intense, but the Access course was excellent preparation for university.

As well as studying at Magee, Karen is also working as a part-time student advocate at Ulster Universitys Students Union. This ties in nicely with her longer-term ambition to be a social worker.

I want to be a social worker to help promote well-being and understanding and address social justice issues, she said.

Ian Jinks, Curriculum Area Manager for Access Education said the Access to University Diploma course continues to deliver a second chance to students, allowing them to progress to courses like nursing and social work.

He said: In the last few years, our Access students have progressed to do university to undertake degrees in Business, Dental Nursing, Youth Work and Theology, as well as the more traditional degrees like in Psychology and Sociology.

The Magherafelt Access team is delighted that Karen is now studying Social Work at Ulster University and we wish her all the best.

The Access Diploma in Social Sciences (validated by Ulster University) allows mature students to progress to higher education.

The course is offered at Northern Regional Colleges campuses in Ballymena, Coleraine, Magherafelt and Newtownabbey. It is available on both a full-time and part-basis and the modularised structure offers greater flexibility for mature students. For further information go to nrc.ac.uk.
A new refill shop, called More and less is set to open on Friday, November 25 in Pilots Row Community Centre.

The new shop is a partnership project between The Pink Ladies Cancer Support Group and Triax Neighbourhood Renewal Team and will be located in Pilots Row, in the heart of the community.

A spokesperson said: Our aim is primarily to do 'more' for the environment using 'less' plastic!

This joint venture sees a community Environmental group and a local cancer support group raise awareness of the harmful chemical impact of plastic on both human health and the Environment.

It will operate as a Refill shop encouraging customers to: Do more for the environment by reducing plastic - reuse plastic containers for dry foods like pasta and cereal.

Educate on buying less harmful personal skincare/household products -refill containers.

Address cost of living crisis by providing affordable goods, buying what you need and reducing waste.

Customers can buy what they need, and this will in turn reduce cost and waste.

The spokesperson continued: This will also be an information point on cancer awareness services offered by The Pink Ladies Cancer Support Group throughout the North West

We are opening during the EU Week of waste reduction 19th -27th November 2022 which encourages us to look at our current waste levels.

We are all challenged to do more to reduce carbon emissions, reduce the use of single use plastics and be more informed of the impact of certain chemicals on our health.
Irelands Foreign Affairs Minister has said he will continue to make regular visits to Northern Ireland and will not be intimidated by loyalists objecting to his presence.

Simon Coveney also addressed recent loyalist anger about the prospect of UK/Irish joint authority if devolution was not restored in Belfast.

Mr Coveney insisted joint authority was not the focus of the Irish government as he expressed frustration that too much attention was being paid to it.

On Wednesday, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris reiterated the UK government position that it will not countenance joint authority. He also made clear that threats of violence had no place in Northern Ireland.

Some unionists and loyalists have criticised the Irish governments role in the Brexit process and partly blame Dublin for the creation of the Northern Ireland Protocol and the economic barriers it has created on trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Recent Sinn Fein calls for an Irish government role in the running of Northern Ireland if the ongoing devolution logjam continues further angered some within the loyalist community.

Last week, an umbrella group representing loyalist paramilitary groups wrote a letter to unionist politicians urging them to make clear that Irish government ministers were not welcome in Northern Ireland.

Earlier this year, a bomb scare forced the evacuation of an event being addressed by Mr Coveney in Belfast.

The senior Irish minister was asked about the issue on Wednesday after holding talks with Mr Heaton-Harris in Belfast. He said the topic came up in discussions with the Northern Ireland Secretary.

The Irish government and Irish government ministers have obligations under the Good Friday Agreement to be part of discussions here in Belfast on how the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement are protected, sustained and supported, he said.

We take those obligations seriously, and thats why youre likely to see me regularly here, meeting my counterpart, and trying to fulfil the obligation and the responsibilities that I have, and that the Irish government has in that regard.

We are not going to be intimidated by people who dont do not reflect the vast majority of peoples opinion here in Northern Ireland, who want to see the British and Irish Governments working together for stability, for certainty, for peace, and to ensure that the institutions that were set up nearly 25 years ago can deliver for people in Northern Ireland.

Small numbers of people with hard-line thinking, making threatening statements are not going to put us off.

In a statement issued after his meeting with Mr Coveney, Mr Heaton-Harris said: Violence or the threat of violence has no place in Northern Ireland. I want to highlight the importance of pursuing a more peaceful and prosperous future for Northern Ireland through democratic means.

Mr Coveney was also asked about the issue of joint authority.

Joint authority is not our focus, he replied.

Our focus is to get the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement up and running again; to get devolved government working for people in Northern Ireland; to get north-south institutions working again, so that we have the kind of relationship north-south that we should have, as was intended under the peace agreement; to ensure that we have the east-west institutions functioning as they as they were intended to as well.

So, our focus is not on putting pressure to look for joint authority.

Our focus is very much on getting the devolved institutions functioning again so that people feel that theyre represented in Northern Ireland, and that they have a devolved government here that that reflects the diversity of opinion across Northern Ireland society, and that those institutions can work with both the British government on the Irish government as appropriate.

I think theres been too much talk, to be honest, about joint authority and not enough talk about getting an executive back up and functioning again.

On the issue of joint authority, Mr Heaton-Harris said: The Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement clearly sets out that the consent principle governs the constitutional position of Northern Ireland.

The UK government will not countenance any arrangements that are inconsistent with that principle such as joint authority.
Over the years, Irish musicians have been blazing a unique trail around the world.

Weve had Bono giving the world one of the few good versions of Hallelujah (other ones include Jeff Buckleys, Raul Esparzas and, of course, Leonard Cohens original), Saint Sister bringing rock and roll harp into the mainstream and Sinead OConnor just, well, being herself.

The group Im talking to this week are one of the leading forces behind Werewolf Pop, Strength NIA. I met with Rory and Brendan from Strength recently, them having just returned from a three date tour in Prague and Berlin.

Our first topic was, of course, the tour. Rory told me The first show was in a basement of a tenement block. Theyd converted it into a venue and there were a lot of people from the tenement block at the gig. It was kind of in a local area, so there were a lot of local people at the show.

It was really nice to get that experience of being in a local area with local people and playing local songs about Derry. The second show was in a strange clothes boutique. Out the back, theyd made a little area for performances. That was an intimate gig. The third show, we played in a place called Loophole in Berlin.

A lot of Irish people came to see us that night.

Following on, I asked about their international audience: Were big in Mongolia Rory says, and outside of Mongolia were big in Strabane. It was our first time playing on mainland Europe.

I comment on how theyre bringing Werewolf Pop to the masses and Brendan told me There was actually a fella from Transylvania showed up to the gig in Prague, so maybe there next. Rory continued the last Bennigans gig we did, there was a guy from Alares, in the north-west of Spain, which is reference to our song about the Spanish Werewolf, so all the dots are connecting. The stars are aligning.

We next moved on to Lockdown, always a fun topic. As some of you may remember, Rory and Brendan did car sessions, to try and fill that horrible, gapping void left by the absence of live music. I asked them how they found this and Rory told me I loved it! Brendan adds the car sessions were a lot of fun, to which Rory responded (laughing) No they werent, they were awful! I actually didnt mind the Lockdown, to be honest.

"Were probably never going to see the likes of it again in our lifetime. The camaraderie that happened communally, I remember chatting to my neighbours in the street, Id never really talked to them before. Hearing the birds chirping in the trees, everything slowing down, I just thought it was nice, the pace of life, we were able to take a bit of a breath. Musically, we just had to adjust to the situation.

"We did the car sessions, making videos, learning how to do stuff ourselves, which was productive.

Talking about the (slow) return of live gigs, Rory said We went out and started doing some shows, we were down in Dublin, and people were sitting down, and it didnt feel too good. Brendan adds the Limelight, they were sitting down too. It was like playing to a school assembly or something. I asked them if things were now back to normal for people like themselves. Brendan told me I dont think things have ever been normal for me, but they resemble a familiar state of abnormality. Rory continues Were looking forward to playing more gigs, and not having the burden of restrictions. Its nice that live music is kicking off again. Things are looking positive.

Next, we spoke at great length about the tragic lack of newsagents left in the town. Unfortunately, I dont have space to write about that here (although transcripts are available upon request) so Ill move on. We got onto the topic of Cool Discs, and its staying power. Its amazing that the likes of Cool Discs is still there. Virgin and HMV were in Derry and Lees still going. Our album is in Lees, Ulster Is Dance Master.

Our chat closed with them wishing to give thanks to a few people. Rory: Id love to just say a big thanks to 3 South and Banana, for bringing us to Berlin and setting the gig up, and also to Diane and Anita and Arthur, for helping us set up the gigs in Prague.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a wrap for another week. Strength NIA are playing in Limelight in Belfast on the 26th November with Amy Montgomery. They can be found on Facebook and Instagram @strengthnia_. Their music, as mentioned above, can be found in Cool Discs.
Minister Byrne addresses UN Security Council meeting on Bosnia and Herzegovina

Press release

Minister of State for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne T.D., represented Ireland at a UN Security Council meeting on Bosnia and Herzegovina which took place today, 2 November, in New York. The meeting followed the renewal of the EUFOR Operation Althea mandate for a further twelve months.

Renewing the EUFOR Operation Althea has been a key priority for our term on the UN Security Council, and Ireland led the successful negotiations on this over the past month. .

EUFOR Operation Althea is a European Union CSDP operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which supports the authorities in maintaining a safe and secure environment in the country in line with the Dayton Agreement.

Ireland currently has five Defence Forces personnel serving in EUFOR Operation Althea.

Speaking after the meeting, Minister Byrne said:

I am pleased that Ireland led the successful negotiations on the Security Council Resolution, and that EUFOR Operation Altheas mandate has now been renewed for a further twelve months. Ireland is proud to participate in this mission, which continues to play a vital role in safeguarding peace and security in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The future of Bosnia and Herzegovina is with the European Union, and I welcome the European Commissions recommendation that Bosnia and Herzegovina be granted candidate status, on the basis of the implementation of key reforms. Ireland will continue to support Bosnia and Herzegovina as it forges ahead with these key reforms on its path towards the European Union.

Note for Editors Ireland is an elected member of the UN Security Council for 2021  2022. Throughout this term Ireland has focused on the key priorities of Building Peace, Strengthening Conflict Prevention, and Ensuring Accountability. Launched in 2004, EUFOR Operation Althea is a European Union CSDP operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) with the primary focus of supporting the authorities in maintaining a safe and secure environment in the country in line with the Dayton Agreement, which brought about the end of the war in BiH in 1995. The Security Council renewed the authorisation of EUFOR Althea at a vote on 2 November 2022, and then held its semi-annual debate on Bosnia and Herzegovina. Minister of State for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne T.D., is attending a series of UN-related meetings in New York on 2 and 3 November, including the debate on Bosnia and a high level open debate on peace operations. ENDS Press Office 02 November 2022

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Minister Byrne to attend series of United Nations meetings

Press release

Minister of State for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne T.D., will attend a series of UN-related meetings on 2 and 3 November. Minister Byrne will participate in a UN Security Council High Level Open Debate on 3 November, which will be chaired by Ghanas Foreign Minister, Shirley Botchway.This meeting aims to build consensus in the Security Council on ensuring that UN Peace Operations can address complex, often rapidly changing security dynamics, as well as the underlying drivers and causes of conflict.

The Minister will also hold bilateral meetings with a number of senior representatives from the UN and member states, including the President of the General Assembly Mr. Csaba Korosi; Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Mr. Miroslav Jenca; and H.E. Mr. Sergiy Kyslytsya, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations. The Minister will discuss Irelands priority issues at the UN, including Russias war against Ukraine.

Speaking before his departure, Minister Byrne said:

As an elected member of the UN Security Council, Ireland has worked hard to shape decisions and achieve outcomes across a range of areas, based on our core principles. Peacekeeping and peacebuilding have long been a top priority for Ireland, and we want to ensure that peacekeeping mandates are effective in building sustainable and resilient peace. As part of this, women and youth must be included in decision-making and in national and regional responses.

I am particularly pleased to be attending this meeting during Ghanas Presidency of the Security Council. Ireland and Ghana have worked closely together on many issues over the past year, including as co-penholders on the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), which is of key importance for the security and stability of the region. I look forward to addressing the Council and sharing Irelands perspectives, including our focus on strengthening the link between Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding.

ENDS

Press Office

02 November 2022

Note for Editors Ireland is an elected member of the UN Security Council for 2021  2022. Throughout this term Ireland has focused on the key priorities of Building Peace, Strengthening Conflict Prevention, and Ensuring Accountability. Ghana holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council for the month of November 2022. On 3 November, Minister Byrne will represent Ireland at an open debate on 'Integrating Effective Resilience Building in Peace Operations for Sustainable Peace'. This will focus on military and non-military responses in peacekeeping.

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Statement by Minister of Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney on Ethiopia

Statement

I warmly welcome the Agreement for Lasting Peace through a Permanent Cessation of Hostilities reached today by the Government of Ethiopia and the TPLF. This agreement is a significant achievement and marks an important step towards peace and reconciliation in Ethiopia.

I would like to commend the African Union and all those involved in the talks, in particular the panel of high-level mediators and the Government of South Africa, for their efforts in bringing this Agreement to a conclusion.

Coming just before the two-year anniversary of this conflict, the agreement provides an opportunity to put an end to the violence and human suffering that has had a devastating impact on the civilian population and to ensure humanitarian assistance reaches all those in need. Ireland, along with our EU partners, is ready to support the full implementation of the Peace Agreement, and to contribute to ensuring it leads to lasting peace for all Ethiopians.

ENDS

Press Office

02 November 2022

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Meta-owned WhatsApp on Tuesday said it banned over 26 lakh accounts in India in the month of September in compliance with the new IT Rules, 2021, which are now being amended to put more responsibilities on social media platforms.

The messaging platform, which has nearly 500 million users (according to third-party data) in the country, received 666 complaint reports in September in India, and the records "actioned" were 23.

"In accordance with the IT Rules 2021, we've published our report for the month of September 2022. This user-safety report contains details of the user complaints received and the corresponding action taken by WhatsApp, as well as WhatsApp's own preventive actions to combat abuse on our platform," a company spokesperson said in a statement.

The platform banned over 23 lakh bad accounts in India in August.

Under the upgraded IT Rules 2021, major digital and social media platforms, with in excess of five million users, have to publish monthly compliance reports.

Meanwhile, in a major push towards an open, safe, trusted and accountable Internet, the Ministry of Electronics and IT has notified some amendments aimed at protecting the rights of "Digital Nagriks".

Currently, social media intermediaries are only required to inform users about not uploading certain categories of harmful/unlawful content.

The amendments impose a legal obligation on intermediaries to take reasonable efforts to prevent users from uploading such content.

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that protection of constitutional rights of the Indian citizens is a must.

The amendments were notified after the Ministry followed an exhaustive public consultation process involving all stakeholders.

The new provisions 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.
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By JANIE HAR and MICHAEL CASEY

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO  Liberty McCoy was out Saturday urging voters to pass a Nov. 8 ballot measure to limit rent increases in Pasadena because she's afraid she'll be priced out of the city where she grew up and where her aging parents live.

The librarian and her husband, a freelance consultant, received notice of a $100 monthly rent increase last year and another for $150 this year, bringing the rent on their home outside Los Angeles to $2,350 a month. They can absorb the increases for now  but not forever.





. . .
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SEATTLE  A truck-repair property at 2401 Airport Way S. recently sold for $4 million, according to King County records.

The seller was DLD Northwest LLS, which acquired the property in 2003 for $950,000.





. . .
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SEATTLE  The West Seattle Art Nest building, at 4138 California Ave. S.W. , sold for under $2.4 million, according to King County records.

The sellers were local investors who acquired the property in 1986 for $190,000.





. . .
A priest said openly gay politicians who support same sex marriage, including Tanaiste Leo Varadkar, will go to hell if they dont repent their sin and seek forgiveness.

Retired priest Fr Sean Sheehy made the comments as he tried to defend his address in a Co Kerry church over the weekend, in which he said gay couples were sinful and criticised free contraception being provided by the HSE.

Fr Sheehy has been banned from saying Mass following his controversial sermon at St Marys Church in Listowel.

He claimed to be preaching the word of God.

A spokesman for the Tanaiste hit back at the priests comments.

The Tanaiste profoundly disagrees with Fr Sheehys views, however he respects his right to express his religious beliefs freely, the spokesman said.

The Tanaiste does not believe that gay people will go to hell for being who they are, nor does he believe that any man or woman can make such a judgment.

As Pope Francis said: Who are we to judge? As the Bible says: Judge not lest you be judged. We are all Gods children.

Fr Sheehy also said that sin is enshrined in legislation while referring to same-sex marriage and abortion.

As those things are legislated, people think those things are OK and thats not true, the priest added.

Right and wrong is determined by God and the teaching of scriptures.

Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys called on the priest to apologise and withdraw his remarks.

She said: Those are absolutely unacceptable comments and Im disappointed to hear that a priest would make comments like that.

However, I understand the bishop has apologised.

Ms Humphreys added: I think that those comments are absolutely wrong. He should not have said that. Theyre very hurtful comments and I expect that he should really come out and apologise. Yes, theyre wrong.

Its a terrible thing to say and it shouldnt have been said.

Asked if she believes the Catholic church should sanction the priest, Ms Humphreys said it is a matter for the church.

She refused to say if she believes the comments would be classed as hate speech.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney also called for the priest to apologise.

He said: I think they are disgraceful comments and I think they are a reflection on the person that made those comments rather than a reflection on anything else.

They should be withdrawn and there should be an apology.

Fr Sheehy told Kerry Today radio station on Wednesday gay people will go to hell.

Asked if politicians who are openly gay, including Mr Varadkar, are going to hell, he said: Absolutely, if they dont repent on their sin and seek forgiveness.

What they are doing is contrary, first of all to the law of nature and secondly, and more importantly, its contrary to the law of God.

A video of Fr Sheehys comments from Sundays ceremony has been shared widely online and prompted condemnation of his views.

A number of people walked out of the Mass in response to his comments.

In response to the comments, Bishop of Kerry Ray Browne apologised to those who were upset by Fr Sheehys offending homily and said his views do not represent the Christian position.

He said to have total respect for one another is a fundamental Christian teaching, and for these issues to be spoken of in such terms at a weekend parish Mass was inappropriate.

I am aware of the deep upset and hurt caused by the contents of the homilies in question delivered over the weekend, Bishop Browne said.

I apologise to all who were offended. The views expressed do not represent the Christian position.
Des Moines, Iowa  Wednesday, November 2, 2022  Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie, as president of the Global Executive Committee of Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) and Trustee with the U.S. Conference of Mayors will attend the upcoming 27th United Nations Climate Change conference, COP27. More than 90 heads of state and representatives of 190 countries are expected to attend COP27 that begins next week in Sham El Sheikh, Egypt.

A United Nations report released last week finds that the world is falling far short of its commitment to hold global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Mayor Cownie, along with the rest of the ICLEI and U.S. Conference of Mayors delegations, will advocate for increased multilateral cooperation that ensures local governments are armed with the resources and support necessary to stem the worst of climate change.

Our communities are on the front line of climate change. As leaders, we are mobilizing efforts to decarbonize our energy, electrify buildings and transportation, prevent flooding, and other hazards, protect our water, and increase food security. This conference is an opportunity to share the progress we are making at home, present our lessons learned, and demand that national and world leaders rise with us to address the climate emergency, Cownie said.

Des Moines is already experiencing the effects of climate change, and these impacts challenge our quality of life, economy, and future. To better coordinate our response to climate change, reduce harmful emissions, and chart a more resilient future, the City of Des Moines is developing a community-wide climate action and adaptation plan.

This plan will guide decision making, policy, and program development for pollution and greenhouse gas emissions mitigation and climate adaptation actions that address climate change. Visit the website to learn more about this important plan. To ensure their voice is heard the public is urged to attend the ADAPT DSM Open House on November 16 and take the survey online.

The City of Des Moines is a proven leader when it comes to addressing climate change, and I look forward to the opportunity to share with the conference delegates the important work that we are doing here in our community, Cownie said.

Contact:

Al Setka

Chief Communications Officer, City Managers Office

(515) 283-4057

AMSetka@dmgov.org

About the City of Des Moines

The City of Des Moines is Iowas capital city and our 17 departments serve more than 214,000 residents and over 51 neighborhood associations. Des Moines offers residents a Top 25 ranked park system nationally which includes 76 parks and aquatics facilities and an interconnected network of trails.

The City of Des Moines strives to provide its residents with a variety of exceptional city services and reliable infrastructure while fostering an involved and compassionate community with opportunities for all who visit and live in Des Moines. Visit DSM.city, Facebook and Twitter for more information.
A number of organisations in Louth, or who are active in Louth, are set to receive thousands of euro in grant funding under the International Protection Integration Fund 2022.

The organisations who were successful in their application for grant funding were announced today by Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic OGorman. The Fund aims to enable community based organisations across Ireland to play a greater role in supporting the integration of International Protection applicants at local and national level.

Grants of up to 50,000 will be allocated to successful organisations to assist in the integration of International Protection Applicants via a range of projects designed to provide additional services and capacity to those in the International Protection system. The successful organisations who are based in Louth or are active in Louth are as follows:

Organisation - Project Name - Grant Awarded

Development Perspectives - Amplifying Voices - 27,940

Cultur Migrants Centre - Community Connect - 33,333

Ait na Daoine Teoranta - International Protection Integration Initiative - 19,905

Muslim Sister of Eire - Breast Cancer & Domestic Violence: Raising Awareness - 12,000

National Youth Council of Ireland - Linking Young People with Youth Work Opportunities - 49,895

Hands 4 Unity - H4U Skills to Succeed - 20,000

Adult Learning Service Dundalk - Language Study Rooms - 20,000

National College of Ireland: Early Learning Initiative - World Book Day: Sensory Play - 37,000

Louth County Council - Register of Electors: Awareness Raising Campaign - 10,000

Culture Connect - Integration Made Easy Programme - 20,000

The White Paper to End Direct Provision and to Establish a new International Protection Support Service sets out the Governments approach to fulfilling the commitment in the Programme for Government to end Direct Provision and to replace it with a new International Protection accommodation policy centred on a not-for-profit approach. The fund represents the delivery of a key commitment of A White Paper to End Direct Provision and to Establish a New International Protection Support Service.

The White Paper sets out a number of key principles which are to underpin the new model of supports and services:

Integration from day one:

Human rights and equality based:

Delivery of high standards:

Professional:

Community engagement:

The International Protection Integration Fund 2022 Funding Call is seen as an important element in achieving the overall objectives of the White Paper and has been guided in design by the principles above.

Making the announcement, Minister OGorman said: I am delighted to announce the award of over 1.6 million in funding which will support 67 not-for-profit, civil society organisations in every county of Ireland to support local and national integration projects for International Protection applicants. The projects supported under this funding will go a long way towards integrating International Protection applicants into Irish society and breaking down barriers that exist within communities.

"The broad range of initiatives that will now be made possible by the International Protection Integration Fund 2022 range from language and employment supports to projects aimed at combating racism and xenophobia as well as supporting health and wellbeing initiatives amongst many other exciting projects. I would like to take this opportunity to commend the hard work of those in the not-for-profit sector for the work they do in supporting the needs of International Protection applicants.
A 33 year old man prosecuted for dangerous driving after his car drove into the back of a stationary vehicle at a set of traffic lights, was convicted of the lesser charge of careless driving and avoided losing his driving licence following a contested hearing at Dundalk District Court last week.

Cathal O'Brien with an address at Dunmahon, Dundalk was summoned for driving without insurance and drink driving arising out of the incident on the N52 at the Xerox junction on March 14th 2020.

The complainant in the case gave evidence of leaving the cinema with his wife shortly before 11pm.

He said he's wary about getting penalty points and was being extra cautious due to the additional garda activity at the introduction of the first Covid restrictions.

He said he noticed a car behind him wasn't slowing down, which collided with the back of his car. He added the road conditions were dry and there was no frost.

The witness said 'the guards were everywhere' that night.

He told how when he got out of his car the other vehicle was "moving back a bit" and he 'never got much of a reply' from the other driver who he said had told his wife to stop shouting "that it was rude'.

The man added that he knew something was not right 'it was all 2019' when he looked at the tax and insurance on the windscreen.

The witness said the defendant's reaction was noticeably different to a motorist who ran into the back of him on the M50 saying that "they jumped out and asked me was I ok" but in this case he said the driver seemed in a daze and was rubbing his face.

The court heard that 3,500 worth of damage was caused to the rear of the complainant's car and the defendant was subsequently arrested on suspicion of drunk driving and was taken to Dundalk Garda Station where his urine sample was taken.

The summons for driving without insurance was struck out after the Defence barrister argued that no evidence had been heard in relation to that aspect of the prosecution.

He added that he would have expected significant damage to have happened to the other vehicle if the impact had happened at speed.

He successfully argued that in relation to the drunk driving prosecution there was no evidence of the time of driving and in respect of the drunk driving summons no evidence had been given of the garda explaining in ordinary language what his client was being arrested for.

However, Judge McKiernan said his client had a case to answer in respect of the dangerous driving charge.

The barrister submitted his client's driving on the night was more akin to careless driving on the night.

After hearing Mr. O'Brien had no previous convictions, and is a lorry driver who lives with his partner and young child 'in a fairly rural area' and had recently got engaged, Judge McKiernan pointed out

"You didn't put your client in the box to explain what did happen" and said she accepted the other driver's evidence.

However she said given his circumstances she would reduce it to careless driving and imposed a 250 with no disqualification.
The Sanctuary Runners group are calling on people in towns across Louth to come together to form new running, jogging and walking groups.

Launching their new Side-By-Side' programme this week the solidarity-through-sport initiative, founded in Cork in 2018, hope to build groups in 50 new towns across the country.

Focusing on community integration and bringing people together to the benefit of all the initiative will focus on areas to which Ukrainian and other people have moved in recent months and years.

Supported by the Ireland for Ukraine Fund, and 'the Sunflower Foundation Fund', both managed by the the Community Foundation for Ireland (CFI), as well as support from the CFI itself and the One Foundation the new 'Side by Side Programme' will build on the work of the Sanctuary Runners which has attracted the support of almost 10,000 runners, joggers and walkers over the years  with almost a quarter of those being people who either are, or were, living in Direct Provision.

Ailis McSweeney, Ireland Lead Manager with Sanctuary Runners said:

Weve already received great support from the people of Louth for our work. This new programme will seek to build groups in towns to which people have moved in more recent times  people from Ukraine and also those from other countries. Weve seen over the years how running or walking shoulder-to-shoulder on one team can be such a vital tool for community integration, for welcoming people who might be afraid, isolated and worried  and also for building stronger communities. Also, it's lots of fun and good for everyones health.

Focusing on solidarity over charity the Sanctuary Runners already have groups in 30 locations across Ireland and three in the UK with plans to expand to Germany and Belgium in the coming months.

Im so proud that this is an Irish initiative. Its about being the change we want to see as individuals, doing our bit one step-at-a-time to build stronger communities for all. It's about being sound and decent, said Sanctuary Runners founder and CEO Graham Clifford.

While to date groups have been established in Ireland in communities where Direct Provision centres were located this new programme will see an enlargement of the not-for-profit's footprint.

Earlier this year the Sanctuary Runner initiative was celebrated at the United Nations in New York for its unique model and it contributed to a special report produced by the UN on the importance of sport as a tool towards peaceful communities and social cohesion.

If interested in starting a Sanctuary Runner group in your town, please contact Annemarie Sheehan, Community Development Lead, at annemarie@sanctuaryrunners.ie. All new groups will be given Sanctuary Runner tops, a toolkit and guidance on how to start and structure your group.
Rob Kearney and Childrens Health Foundation are asking families, communities, schools, creches, clubs and companies across Co. Louth to host a Christmas Jumper Day fundraiser, to tote their tinsel and sport their sparkliest Christmas fashions, all while raising funds that will be put to work where they are needed most to help sick children and their families.

Irish rugby star and Childrens Health Foundation Ambassador Rob Kearney joined little friends Shay and Chloe to launch the charitys Christmas Jumper Day 2022 campaign, taking place on Friday, 9th December. This year, the Christmas campaign will help more children than ever, by raising vital funds to support Childrens Health Ireland (CHI) hospitals and urgent care centres across Crumlin, Temple Street, Tallaght and Connolly.

Commenting at the launch Rob Kearney said, Im thrilled to be involved once again this year to support Childrens Health Foundations Christmas Jumper Day campaign. Its such a fun and easy way to get into the festive spirit while doing something really important to support sick children and their families when they need it most.

"Christmas should be magical for all children, and this year, you can help young people from across Ireland by raising vital funds that will be put to work where they are needed most in Crumlin, Temple Street, Tallaght and Connolly."

Denise Fitzgerald, Chief Executive of Childrens Health Foundation said, On behalf of all us here in the Foundation and in the hospitals, I want to thank our dear friend Rob and our wonderful families for helping us to launch our Christmas Jumper Day campaign.

"With your support, we can continue to support Childrens Health Ireland hospitals and urgent care centres  to fund vital equipment, patient and parental supports, make innovative new services possible and invest in ground-breaking paediatric research. We hope that you will join us on 9th December, put on your festive finery and be part of our extraordinary community of care that helps transform young lives.

For more information and to sign up today for your free Childrens Health Foundation Christmas Jumper Day pack, simply visit www.childrenshealth.ie/xmasjumper or call 01 709 1700.
Supported by Louth County Council and Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), Louth Science Festival will this year run from 7th  20th November.

According to SFI research, Louth is a low intervention county in terms of STEAM participation, and Louth Science Festival aims to find fresh and innovative ways of bringing Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths to new and existing audiences, particularly reaching out to those not typically serviced by STEAM programming.

Since its inception in 2018, Louth Science Festival has seen the Library Service partner with local schools, educational facilities, organisations and community groups.

This years festival  the biggest to date  seeks to develop these connections and build new ones.

The festivals 2022 offering, which will be delivered both in-person and online, will see a continuation of Louth Library Services work with Dundalk Institute of Technology (DKIT), Dr Niamh Shaw, iCrag, Dublin Zoo and Met Eireann, as well as local primary and secondary schools.

Furthermore, new collaborations with the ESB and Creative Spark Dundalk will lead to specialised workshops for schools, families and adults, including talks on renewable energy, and hands-on workshops in their mobile Fab Labs.

The festival promised something for everyone; from the youngest citizens to the oldest; for all interests and abilities.

There will also be talks on Genealogy; being a Blacksmith; Superhero Science and Climate Action.

Workshops for schools will include videos and visits from the likes of the Irish Air Corps, Scientific Sue and Circus 250.

Family Fun Days held throughout Louth as part of the festival will see the School of Irish Archaeology bring The Big Dig to The Wee County, as well as visits from the Mobile Music School, Dr Niamh Shaw, Paralympian gold medalist Eve McCrystal, Anyone4Science and even a mobile Escape Room with BiOrbic! All events are free.

For more information on Louth Science Festival contact your local branch library, email libraryhelpdesk@louthcoco.ie or Tel. 042 9353190 and follow Louth Library Service on Facebook and Instagram.
Iranian revolution, now in its seventh week, was sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman. By tearing down the cafeterias gender segregation barrier on Monday, the Hormozgan University students in Bandar Abbas sent a clear statement to the Khamenei administration.

Instantly drawing attention was the incidents viral video on social media. Students of both sexes were spotted breaking down the wall separating them while screaming pro-freedom anthems as they crossed across. Online users praised the action with the following comment: These youngsters are everything, one said, adding, I was moved to tears by this. Regards for the Iranian people.

Iran is a very traditional Islamic country. Gender segregation in public life has become standard since the Islamic republic was founded in 1979. Men and women are forced to keep their distance at institutions like hospitals, colleges, and schools in an effort to uphold the moral norms of the ideal Islamic society.

The protesters are expressing that such persecution is unacceptable by ripping down the barriers. The Iranian leadership, which at first dismissed the demonstrations, now appears uneasy. According to WION, the Iranian administration said on Monday that 1,000 individuals will stand trial in front of the public in Tehran, the nations capital, for their alleged participation in the demonstrations.

Irans head of the judiciary, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, said: Those who plan to oppose and overthrow the regime are reliant on foreigners and will be punished according to legal norms. Iranian human rights groups claim that the demonstrations have touched more than 125 localities, resulted in at least 270 fatalities, and resulted in about 14,000 people being imprisoned.
NINE former students from the North Monastery Secondary School have been awarded bursaries as part of the schools Centenary Bursary Scheme.

The nine recipients who received their bursaries for 2021 and 2022 were Abrar Hussain, Liam McCarthy, Lovre Baric, Paul Sunday, Jordan Woodgate, Solomon Nkqayi, Kelvin Osagie, Jamie Looney and Fionn Mulqueen  who are now pursuing a range of courses in Cork third level institutions.

The bursary is aimed at encouraging and assisting students to progress to apprenticeships, training, further education and third level education and the initiative will provide financial assistance to students over the duration of their chosen course.

The bursaries are supported by a past pupil of the school through the Boston-based Irish Education Foundation, said Karen Cronin a guidance counsellor in the Cork city secondary school.

We have an anonymous benefactor who is an ex-student himself. He has donated money towards the further education and training of students. He is looking at the more holistic term further education, so he is looking at third level, apprenticeships, and further education training, she said.

The bursaries amount to 1,000 per year for four years

The bursary is a great start for students. It is all about giving them a platform. We are very aware that a lot of students could be lured into the whole part-time job to help fund their third level education and their studies will slide. The aim is to take the pressure off the students and at home. There is great pride in receiving a bursary in recognition of your hard work in school.

The beneficiaries of the bursary are decided by committee within the school.

We have several different people from middle management, senior management, board of management on the judging panel, Ms Cronin said. The bursary isnt awarded for the best results. We look at their contribution to the school, their ability to succeed and their motivation levels. We take into consideration their own personal monetary situation at home. There are many different sets of criteria that we look at.

Ms Cronin thanked the benefactor. We are very appreciative, she said. It is a huge gesture from the benefactor. He is recognising the education he received from the North Mon and where that has taken him. It is an act of gratitude for what he received from us, and he is giving back.

There is a great sense of pride in the North Mon. It is great to see former students doing so well.

We are so proud of them.
GARDAI in Cork are appealing for witnesses as they continue to investigate a road traffic collision which occurred on Blarney Street in Gurranabraher on October 3 last.

The collision happened at around 6pm in the evening when a car collided with a pedestrian.

The pedestrian, a male youth (teens), was later taken to Mercy University Hospital to receive treatment.

The car failed to remain at the scene.

Gardai are appealing for any witnesses to this collision to come forward.

Any road users with camera footage (including dash-cam) at the time of the collision are asked to provide it to Gardai.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Gurranabraher Garda Station on 021 494 6200, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station.
CORK woman Jessica Ni Mhaolain will have a personal interest in watching TV tonight at 9.30pm. However, her contribution to a new TG4 documentary has come about due to unenviable circumstances.

Plunged into menopause at the age of 27, she will be among those featured on Meanapas: Meon Nua, presented by Grainne Seoige.

Having suffered chronic pain with periods and cysts  frequently requiring hospitalisation - throughout her teens and beyond, a diagnosis of endometriosis finally came in 2018.

This is a condition in which tissue similar to the lining of the womb grows in other places, for example the ovaries and fallopian tubes.

Some women develop adhesions  sticky areas of endometriosis tissue that can join organs together, and unfortunately for Jess, exploratory surgery had shown that she was riddled with such adhesions which had badly damaged her reproductive organs.

By March, 2019, shed had three endometriosis-related surgeries, one tube and ovary had been removed, and the other ovary and tube remained buried in adhesions. She worried about her fertility and continued to live with debilitating pain, for which she was prescribed strong drugs such as Morphine and Gabapentin.

Having grown increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress within the Irish health system, she booked a consultation with Dr Peter Barton Smith in London in August, 2019. So severe was her condition, he recommended a full hysterectomy.

It was a devastating word to hear, but she realised it was the only way to escape a life severely compromised by pain. Her surgery took place in London on October 5, 2019, and she left armed with a prescription for HRT to begin immediately.

Now, three years down the track and about to celebrate her 31st birthday next week, she has come to terms with all she has been through and says she is in a better place mentally and physically.

She moved to Dublin from her family home in Leghenamore early last year to take on a new job as political advisor to Martin Kenny, the Sinn Fein TD, working on justice policy.

Cork woman Jessica Ni Mhaolain, who contributes to Meanapas: Meon Nua, fronted by Grainne Seoige on TG4.

My life is so different now, she says, recalling how debilitating her condition was. Theres no way I would have been able to go back to work; theres no way I would have been able to move out of home. The more I think about it  or even looking back at photos  I was basically just existing; thats all I was doing.

As well as her new-found independence, the move to Dublin also brought her closer to a wider range of hospitals and clinics, should she need them. Surprisingly though, one is deemed not to be an option for her: Irelands first dedicated public menopause clinic which opened at Dublins National Maternity Hospital in January.

Thats where you are supposed to go if you have a complex case, explains Jess. I actually dont fall into their category of complex case. They only take you if you have had cancer or youve had clots and because I have had neither, it doesnt matter that I was 27 going into menopause or anything like that.

Undeterred, she managed to get help elsewhere with menopause symptoms that ranged from brain fog to fatigue and weight gain.

I was able to get into a private menopause clinic and they just worked wonders on me. Ive had tweaks in the HRT since I moved up here, so the only extra drug Im taking now is a Diabetes drug called Ozempic for my metabolism because I piled on the weight. I would just look at food and it would be on me. It was all around my stomach, I wasnt carrying it anywhere else. Ill be on that drug for the rest of my life. Its easy; I just inject it once a week.

Im also on an oestrogen gel and a testosterone gel. I didnt start taking the testosterone gel until mid-2021; it was the last piece of the jigsaw and I just couldnt believe the change from it. I only take it a few times a week but it killed off most of the brain fog and the fatigue slowly went away.

Jess has shed 30lbs since last June and tackling the weight-gain has been very positive for her.

My clothes look better and Im happier. I dont feel as heavy walking around, like Im carrying something. Im basically back to the metabolism I had before I got sick. Im not being funny but I think thats only fair. I shouldnt have had all those other things happen to my body. I was considering a tummy tuck for a while; thats how upset I was about it. But as it turned out, apparently the whole thing was hormonal.

Jess has already been charting her story on her Surviving Hysterectomy Instagram page and she is pleased that menopause is finally being talked about more openly in the mainstream, so that it sparks conversation and increases knowledge. She recalls seeing Michelle Heaton on an episode of Living With Lucy this time last year and learning things from it, even though she was two years into menopause herself at the time.

I think the fact that other women are feeling brave enough to talk about what happened to them, it gives a bit of hope to those who may be facing into it, she says.

I never thought Id be sitting down talking to my dad about my hot flushes, she continues.

Im lucky I have a family thats open to talking about everything. But Ive also noticed in people who didnt talk about it before, theyre starting to talk about it now. Even older women who went through it already are saying, I didnt know this, that and the other.

Jess other hopes are for more education (she wonders why she never learned about menopause at school), greater awareness campaigns  especially about HRT  more training in menopause care for GPs, shorter waiting times to access menopause hubs, and crucially, that its all backed up with a ready supply of medicine for those who need it.

Weve been constantly hit with HRT shortages. Understanding the need for HRT is important and to keep an eye on our stocks and make sure we are getting it.

Presenter Grainne Seoige. Picture: Owen Behan

The only reason Jess didnt run out of hers for too long earlier this year is that her pharmacist sourced a French product for her.

If the French werent short of it, how come we were short of it? she asks.

Her participation in tonights documentary came about when she and her mother attended a Menopause Success Summit run by Wellness Warrior, Catherine OKeeffe. TG4 were there filming and she got chatting to producers.

Trailers for the programme  for which her parents were also interviewed  have been running for the past few weeks. She was moved to see her father getting choked up on screen.

Being ill, being in and out of hospital and even the menopause stuff - I never really realised the toll it took on my family until we took part in the documentary and had a conversation about it, she says.

Her proud and supportive parents will be joining her and her housemates in Dublin for a watch party tonight.

The first time Im going to see it is when everyone else sees it, she says. Theres fierce excitement!

Meanapas: Meon Nua airs on TG4 tonight at 9.30pm.




Nigeria strengthens effort to tackle transboundary animal diseases





Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has intensified its effort to address transboundary animal disease in its bid to improve animal production and productivity for sustainable livestock development in the country.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mohammad Abubakar, revealed that the ministry has revalidated the emergency preparedness plan for the control of highly pathogenic avian influenza and reviewed the Animal Disease Control Act, 2022 signed by the Nigerian President.

To further reaffirm its commitment to eradicating transboundary animal diseases, he added that the ministry, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, has developed a five-year National Control Strategic Plan (NCSP) to curtail the spread of transboundary diseases in the livestock sub sector in Nigeria.

He added that the plan would help the country ensure improved animal production and productivity for sustainable livestock development.

Abubakar further stated that the ministry has also procured 4,148,000 doses of CBPP vaccines, 15,479,500 doses of PPR vaccines, 2,000,000 doses of FMD vaccines and 3,000,000 doses of Newcastle disease vaccines, that will be allocated to the 36 Nigerian states.

The minister pointed out that over the years, as part of the ministry's quest to ensure effective coverage of the vaccination, it had supported all the states with veterinary medicare inputs, including vaccines and other consumables, veterinary infrastructure such as primary health centers among others.

Additionally, he appealed to states to key into the exercise, take full ownership and sustain it in order to protect and preserve the critical livestock resources in the country's north-central geopolitical zone and nationwide.

In her remarks, the Minister of State, Federal Capital Territory Administration, Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, stated that with the right structure in place, the livestock sector has the capacity to become Nigeria's second leading revenue earner.

Aliyu expressed that with interventions like the nationwide vaccination exercise, animal diseases would be curtailed and this would enhance sustainable development as well as guarantee food security in the country.

- This Day




Argentina to allow wheat export delays due to drought



The government of Argentina is expected to announce measures, possibly within days, that will allow wheat exporters to postpone agreed-upon shipments, following a severe drought that devastated the crop and caused concern about the domestic supply, Reuters reported.

Measures to allow businesses to reschedule agreed-upon wheat exports without incurring the customary 15% fine from authorities will be released in the coming days, according to a source at the nation's CEC grains exporting chamber, which represents companies buying the grain.

A government source with firsthand knowledge of the situation said that taking action to allow for delays in wheat shipments was "probable." The source said it is being studied.

The remarks are the clearest sign yet that Argentina, one of the top exporters of wheat, will attempt to postpone wheat exports in the face of a drought that could result in the worst harvest in almost a decade.

The CEC source urged swift implementation of the plan. If the government is going to do it, let it happen right away, the person said, adding that they have to go back and tell customers in Indonesia, Morocco, Algeria, and Egypt that Argentinian wheat has burned, and they have to renegotiate those contracts.

After dry weather hit American growers and the Russian invasion of Ukraine halted shipments, the move may further heat up global prices. Russia and Ukraine are major producers of wheat.

In October, Argentina's government met with wheat exporters and millers to discuss worries about the drought-stricken crop, with millers increasing pressure to keep more supply for the domestic market.

The significant Rosario grains exchange has drastically reduced Argentina's anticipated 20222023 wheat harvest to 13.7 million tonnes, which would be the nation's lowest level in seven years and far below the record-breaking 23 million tonnes in 2021/22.

Official data showed the nation's farmers have already formally declared 8.9 million tonnes of wheat will be exported in 20222023. 7.6 million tonnes of wheat from the 2021/22 harvest were consumed domestically in Argentina.

From 2021 to 2022, about 2 million tonnes of wheat went unsold. There is currently a 10 million tonne export limit in place for the 202223 wheat harvest.

The head of Argentina's milling industry association FAIM, Diego Cifarelli, said that the sector was "concerned" about supply and that there had been discussions with the government regarding potential shipment delays.

He said that the demand for wheat could be satisfied if there were no further losses, even though a shortage might drive up prices.

- Reuters




AB Vista to showcase 'feed intelligence' at Eurotier

AB Vista will be joining experts from across the animal agriculture industry at Eurotier held in Hanover, Germany, this month, to discuss the latest developments and challenges facing the sector and to outline the company's strategies for solving today's problems and working towards a more efficient, sustainable future.

Industry leaders will meet at the leading international trade fair for professional animal farming and livestock management on November 15-18.

At this year's Eurotier, AB Vista will be sharing its vast knowledge and expertise in poultry, swine, ruminant and aquaculture, as well as ideas to inspire innovation across the animal feed sector, the company said.

Providing a unique mix of pioneering products and services, the AB Vista team  who will be based in Hall 20, Stand 20  will outline ways to produce more with less and how to create healthier profits from farming the biome.

Smarter working practices can enhance nutritional value at the same time as minimising waste. AB Vista will thus demonstrate how its ground-breaking solutions are opening the door to a new era of animal nutrition.

The company's experts will also highlight the importance of gut health in disease control, nutrition optimisation and food security, through the intervention and positive stimulation of the microbiome.

Additionally, it will be showcasing the benefits of AB Vista's 25 years of data capture. The company highlighted its full near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR) service which gives producers the tools and expertise to predict the nutritional content of feedstuffs and optimise feed formulation quickly, reliably and in real-time.

- AB Vista
Registrations open for 2023 TT homestay

Local firm MiQuando, who operate the official Isle of Man Homestay Scheme on behalf of the Department for Enterprise, is welcoming applications from Island residents looking to register their properties for the 2023 TT races and beyond.

The Homestay Scheme provides an opportunity for households to host paying visitors for the duration of the TT festival. Throughout the two weeks, Homestay Hosts can earn up to 2,350 tax free income and will have access to the Departments Public Liability insurance.

Nigel Jones, Managing Director for MiQuando Limited, commented: Fans of the Isle of Man TT are already searching for and booking accommodation for the 2023 races and MiQuando are receiving daily enquiries from visitors looking to secure their accommodation.

We strongly urge those considering it for next year to register as soon as possible to allow time for the registration process and to secure bookings early.

Any household looking to offer Homestay during the period must be registered. Registration is quick and easy, with fees of 60.00 for a new one-year registration or 80.00 for two years. The fee, set by MiQuando and to be paid upon registration, includes an inspection visit (for new registrations), plus marketing on the official Homestay website www.iomhomestay.com and social media pages.
Workers at an Apple Store in Glasgow, Scotland, voted on Wednesday to unionize. The vote came after several months of negotiations that eventually saw Apple agree to recognize the ballot voluntarily. According to The Herald, employees at the companys Buchanan Street location, one of two stores Apple operates in Scotlands most populous city, voted overwhelmingly in favor of joining the GMB Union. With the historic vote, the retail location is now on track to become the first unionized Apple Store in the United Kingdom.

Apple did not immediately respond to Engadgets request for comment. We have long been committed to providing an excellent experience for our customers and teams, the company told The Herald. "Apple is one of the highest paying retailers in Scotland and weve regularly made enhancements to our industry-leading benefits as a part of the overall support we provide to our valued team members.

Today Apple Glasgow have made history by voting overwhelmingly for union recognition!  Thanks to all those who have voted, all those have shown solidarity and all who have made this moment possible.  https://t.co/r67e8sqh2E  Apple Retail Workers Union (@ARWUnion) November 2, 2022

The outcome is expected to prompt Apple Store workers at other retail locations across the UK to push forward with their own labor drives. This is an absolutely historic vote and is a tribute to the hard work of activists and workers in Apple Glasgow, said GMB Organizer John Slaven.

According to The Herald, organizers in Glasgow described negotiations with Apple as consistently positive. In the US, the company has been accused of employing union-busting tactics. In October, the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against the company, saying it had found merit in claims from the Communications Workers of America. The union accused Apple of interrogating staff at its World Trade Center store in New York City and subjecting them to mandatory anti-union meetings. More recently, organizers at the companys Towson Town Center location, the first Apple Store in the US to unionize, said the company was withholding benefits from its I AM CORE members.
Elizabeth Warren is calling for more federal oversight of Big Tech. In a letter (PDF link) the Democratic senator sent on Tuesday, she asked the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice to look into Google, Apple and Amazons expansion into the automotive industry.

Warren claims the three companies are using their positions in mobile and cloud computing to become dominant players within the sector. This expansion has potentially alarming implications for developers, workers, and consumers, Warren states. Shes urging FTC Chair Lina Khan and Jonathan Kanter, the head of the Justice Departments antitrust division, to act decisively before its too late. As Chair Khan has written, it is much easier to promote competition at the point when a market risks becoming less competitive than it is at the point when a market is no longer competitive. This market finds itself at exactly such a juncture, Warren warns.

Specifically, the senator calls out the companies for employing all-or-nothing bundling tactics. As one example, she points to the terms of Android Automotive. Googles operating system doesnt come with Maps or Assistant included. To access one of those services, automakers must purchase a bundle that includes all of them. Warren argues that tactic allows Google to leverage its dominant position in one area to obtain market share in another. In this specific case, she suggests the company is using Maps to grow Assistant.

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These tactics are reminiscent of past Big Tech bundling controversies, Warren states, drawing a parallel to cases like the Justice Departments 2001 lawsuit against Microsoft. Apple did not immediately respond to Engadgets request for comment. Carmakers choose to partner with tech companies to improve the experience for their customers, a Google spokesperson told Engadget. "There is enormous competition in the connected car space  including Apple CarPlay, Amazon Alexa, Cerence, TomTom, ChargePoint and many others  and carmakers continue to invest in their in-house solutions simultaneously. At Google, our goal is to enable carmakers and developers across the auto industry to develop software solutions at scale.

Amazon put forward a similar argument. Alexa exists alongside native voice assistants from automakers including Ford, BMW, General Motors, and Audi," a spokesperson for the company told Engadget. "We believe voice agents should be interoperable on a single device (or in a vehicle), and that voice-enabled products should be designed to support multiple, simultaneous wake words, so customers can easily interact with the voice service of their choice.

As Vox points out, automakers are partly to blame for the current state of the market. One reason platforms like CarPlay and Android Auto are so popular is that first-party options from car companies have historically failed to meet consumer expectations. In 2019, Ford paid $17 million to settle a class-action lawsuit related to its MyFord Touch infotainment system. The platform was known for freezing and crashing while in use.

Warren says ensuring theres fair competition in the automotive sector should be a priority for the FTC and DOJ. The FTC and DOJ dont have to wait until theres a problem to take action, she writes. Now is the time to prevent Big Tech from strangling competition in the automotive industry before its too late.

Update 03/11/22 7:18AM: Added comment from Amazon.
Etsy has begun testing visual search . The company suggests the feature is ideal for those situations where youre not quite sure how to describe something. Whereas in the past you had to rely on keywords and a bit of luck, you can now tap the new camera icon in the search bar and snap a photo of a product in hopes of finding similar items.

In my testing, the feature works surprisingly well. I first took a photo of my keyboard, a Drop Ctrl with GMK Rainy Day keycaps. Not only did the app return with suggestions for keycaps, but it also narrowed in on ones that featured gray and blue tones like my set. I then snapped a photo of an artwork in my office I bought from a local Toronto artist. Etsys software successfully identified the piece as a line drawing and pointed me to stylistically similar artworks. I need to use the feature more to get a better sense of its limitations, but it does feel that it could be useful in exactly the way Etsy envisions it.

You can experiment with visual search on your own starting today if you have access to an iOS device. According to Etsy, the feature will soon come to Android.

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One of the most recognizable police forces is joining Ring's Neighbors app. The New York Police Department has announced that it will participate in Ring's neighborhood watch tool. Officers won't look for posts "around the clock," but they will respond to users' crime and safety concerns, post notices and ask for help with "active police matters."

The move potentially gives the NYPD another way to interact with the community. It may also obtain footage of criminal activity that it wouldn't otherwise have, with maps and timelines that could help pinpoint crime sprees and trends.

There's already opposition to the NYPD's participation, however. The New York-based Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP) is concerned support for Neighbors will lead to more police violence, racial profiling and vigilantes. The technology "isn't keeping people safe" and even puts people in danger, Executive Director Albert Fox Cahn claims. He cites an incident in October where a father and son shot at a woman in response to a Ring doorbell notification. The woman delivered a package sent to the wrong address.

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Ring has previously stressed that device users aren't required to share footage, and it has addressed some worries about enabling police surveillance by requiring public, narrowly focused requests within 12 hours of incidents. There are still fears Ring cameras and doorbells are collecting footage of innocent passers-by, though, and that Neighbors users may be racially biased when reporting suspicious behavior. The company has also grappled with a number of security flaws, including a bug that exposed precise locations.
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When we put together our ultimate list of current-model smartphones, Samsung's Galaxy S22 Ultra easily won out as the best Android option. It's on sale at Amazon right now for $300 off the list price, bringing it down to just $900. That's only ten bucks more than its lowest ever price during October's Prime Day  still a strong deal. We deemed the S22 Ultra "an excellent phone and the best premium Android flagship you can buy," before awarding it a solid score of 89. And because Samsung has promised at least four years of updates/support, its an investment that won't leave your phone high and dry in just a couple years.

Samsung Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Get our favorite Android smartphone for its lowest price since October's Prime Day. $899.99 at Amazon

Those who remember Samsung's Note series will find a lot that feels familiar here, especially the S Pen, the on-board stylus that lets you jot notes, mark up photos, draw doodles and use it as a cursor. In fact, the S Pen is part of what differentiates the S22 Ultra from the S22+ and the S22, as neither of the latter include the stylus.

The S22 Ultra also offers a bigger camera setup, larger screen and longer battery life than its less-premium siblings. The Ultra's cameras include a 108-megapixel main sensor, a 12-MP ultrawide option and a pair of 10-MP telephoto lenses. And while there's a new Adaptive Pixel feature intended to capture more light and make images clearer, we didn't find a huge difference in our tests. That said, the S22 Ultra photos held their own against those from comparable phones made by Apple and Google.

The huge 6.8-inch 120Hz OLED screen is smooth, quick and colorful (in fact, we called it "sumptuous"). In our battery tests, we got 17 hours and 16 minutes in a video rundown, which does happen to be a shorter lifespan than its predecessor, the Ultra S21  an issue that may have to do with the fact that the S Pen draws power, even while stowed in its slot.

The tough exterior has an IP68 dust and water resistance rating  meaning it can handle a dunk in five feet of water for up to 30 minutes  and the display is wrapped in the latest Victus+ Gorilla Glass for improved crack- and scratch-resistance (it survived a dive off the top of a cabinet in our review and came out unscathed).

The $300 off deal applies to all three storage sizes, the 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB options. If you've been eyeing Samsung's flagship premium Android, with all the features power users could need, this is a good time to buy.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
Whats stopping me (or you) getting an iPad Pro? The cost, for one. And a belief that anything Id want to use an iPad for, I can already do with my eighth-generation vanilla model. That said, Nathan Ingrahams review of the M2 iPad Pro did make me check if my bank balance could sustain the purchase. It cant.

Apples top-end iPad hasnt changed much since last year, with the same compromises around displays evident if you get the smaller model. In fact, aside from the M2, its pretty much the same as before, for better and, occasionally, worse. The major changes are all enabled by the even brawnier silicon inside that chassis.

That includes Stage Manager, the multitasking setup Apple hopes will unlock the iPads clearly hidden potential. Certainly, the system has not been warmly received by all iPad users, and Nathan found it lacking the usual level of elegance. Oh, and you can now shoot video in ProRes 4K at 30 fps. Useful? Not for many. Cool? Undoubtedly.

Unfortunately, such an iterative upgrade gave Nathan plenty of time to look for things that really should be fixed on a tablet that can cost well north of $2,000. That includes the awkward front camera placement  its clear for all to see itll be moved to the top side, like the new iPad, at some point.

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 Dan Cooper

The biggest stories you might have missed

And expects to sell a bunch more before March.

Engadget

Sonys most recent financial results revealed it has sold more than 25 million PlayStation 5 consoles. Thats a staggering figure given the hardwares high price, poor availability and strong competition. The company says its not even done and expects to shift a significant number of units through the holiday season. Thats the only way itll be able to hit an ambitious target to shift 18 million units in the financial year, which ends March 2023.

Continue Reading.

It needs to quell objections to its proposed purchase of Activision Blizzard.

Microsofts purchase of publisher Activision Blizzard has met resistance from fans and rivals for obvious monopoly concerns. Once it owns franchises, like Call of Duty, Microsoft could pull those titles to funnel buyers toward buying an Xbox. But Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, has promised that isnt the case, saying it will support PlayStation for as long as theres a PlayStation. That may not be enough to quell regulators, however, who are still picking through the deal to see if its going to hand the software giant too much power.

Continue Reading.

A NASA official said it expects to see the flight take place next month.

SpaceX

We may see the first orbital flight for SpaceXs Starship craft as early as December, according to a senior NASA official. The trip, if successful, will see Starship launch from Boca Chica in Texas, orbit for a while, then land back in the ocean near Hawaii. It would also mean SpaceX has satisfied the FAAs stringent requirements to ensure a launch is safe, both for SpaceX itself and the environment.

Continue Reading.

The companys head of safety said the tweets werent widely seen.

Shortly after Elon Musk took over Twitter, a campaign of coordinated trolling started, to make people think the platform had relaxed its moderation policies. This included a surge of hate speech and hateful conduct on the site, forcing Twitter to address it. The companys head of safety has revealed the platform has removed 1,500 accounts identified to be part of the campaign. Yoel Roth added that many instances of hate speech were not widely seen, and that work was continuing to address gaps in its enforcement policies.

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Perks include fewer adverts and the ability to post longer videos.

Elon Musk says Twitter Blue will be a prerequisite for users looking to be verified, and its price will increase to $8 a month. The Twitter CEO added that Blue users will gain priority in replies, mentions and Twitters search feature. Some high-profile users, including author Stephen King and gaming account Nibellion, have already denounced the change. It remains to be seen if users will pay, or if this will just encourage more to look for greener social media pastures.

Continue Reading.
An international team of researchers has revealed how scarring occurs in Long-COVID and pulmonary fibrosis using innovative blood biomarkers and X-ray technology. This study, published in The Lancet  eBioMedicine, contributes to the knowledge on the pathophysiology of severe COVID-19 and thus its treatment.

Long-COVID syndrome, or the origin of the long-term consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection, is still not fully understood, more than two years after the onset of the pandemic. In particular, the long-term changes in lung tissue following severe COVID-19 disease pose significant limitations for many patients. Some of these patients continue to develop post-COVID pulmonary fibrosis, which is characterised by rapid scarring of the lung tissue.

Until now, the scientific community didnt understand the underlying mechanisms of this scarring and of specific blood markers that can predict this process. Now, an international research team led by doctors and researchers at the Institute of Pathology at the RWTH Aachen University Hospital, the Hannover Medical School (MHH), HELIOS University Hospital in Wuppertal, and the University Medical Center Mainz, in collaboration with scientists at University College London (UCL) and the European Synchrotron (ESRF), has uncovered the mechanism that modifies the connective tissue of the lung in severe COVID-19. By combining the latest in imaging and molecular biology techniques this multidisciplinary team uncovered a mechanism by which the connective tissue of the lung is modified in severe COVID-19. They have demonstrated how COVID-19 changes the structure of the finest blood vessels in the lung and found molecular markers of this damage in the blood of patients that might ultimately help diagnose and treat the condition.

With the help of synchrotron-based hierarchical phase-contrast tomography (HiP-CT), a mosaic-like hypoxic undersupply of the smallest functional unit of the in severe COVID-19 lungs, the lung lobules, could be shown for the first time. This hypoxia and vascular damage caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus leads to excessive formation of new blood vessels, so-called intussusceptive angiogenesis, which leads to scarring and fibrosis of the lung tissue in a very short time via inflammatory processes. In order to identify potential therapeutic targets or progression biomarkers, blood serum and biopsy tissue from patients with different COVID-19 progressions, pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and acute lung injury (ARDS) were analysed and validated in a broad screening approach using proteomics and metabolomics. Three matricellular biomarkers and one macrophage-derived biomarker were identified as predictive blood-biomarkers that predict the progression of the scarring process. Image source: Paul Tafforeau, ESRF; Claire Walsh, UCL; Maximilian Ackermann, Universitatsmedizin Mainz

Pulmonary fibrosis and COVID-19

The term pulmonary fibrosis covers a variety of different lung diseases in which persistent inflammation leads to progressive scarring of the lung scaffold. Although these serious diseases can be mitigated with medication, they are still incurable and usually have higher mortality rate than many cancers. For many of those affected, lung transplantation is the only remaining, life-saving therapy. Epidemiological data from patients with severe COVID-19 suggest that approximately 20% of hospitalised patients develop post-COVID pulmonary fibrosis, which varies greatly in its extent and progression and can only be predicted very imprecisely by routine clinical imaging.

HiP-CT unveils damage in lungs

To reveal the microscopic tissue alterations in this scarring process in detail for the first time, the researchers examined intact lungs of severely diseased COVID-19 at BM05 beamline, using the latest 3D imaging technique, Hierarchical Phase-Contrast Tomography or HiP-CT, developed at the worlds brightest synchrotron X-ray source, the ESRF  European Synchrotron, in France.

The researchers then compared the imaging results obtained thanks to HiP-CT to the ones in the clinic and demonstrated that, in comparison to other fibrotic lung diseases and to influenza A, changes in COVID-19 are driven by micro clots (medically termed secondary lobular microischemia) and new blood vessels formation via a specific mechanism, called intussusceptive angiogenesis. This blood vessel formation, which is typical of COVID-19, increased significantly over the course of the COVID-19 disease. Danny Jonigk, thoracic pathologist from the Institute of Pathology at the RWTH Aachen University Hospital explains: These heterogeneously distributed, distinct changes at the level of the finest lung lobules cannot be detected via clinical imaging due to the lack of detail in current clinical technology. With the new technology of HiP-CT, we were able to see, for the first time, that the scarring processes in post-COVID fibrosis are the result of generalised vascular damage caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

First author Maximilian Ackermann from Mainz and Wuppertal points out: Such results suggest that treatments aiming at preventing microvascular thrombosis and tissue ischemia (such as early oxygen supplementation and anti-coagulation) may be beneficial in patients with severe COVID-19 and avoid subsequent fibrotic remodelling.

HiP-CT is a technique developed jointly by a UCL-ESRF team, led by UCLs Prof. Peter Lee and funded by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The ESRF is unique among synchrotrons in being able to do HiP-CT, both because of its Extremely Brilliant Source (EBS) upgrade and the many unique qualities of beamline BM18, explains Peter Lee.

Using HiP-CT, the team at ESRF, led by Paul Tafforeau, showed, for the first time, that in severe COVID- 19 there is a mosaic-like pattern to the damage in the lungs.

Claire Walsh, researcher at UCL, says: Understanding how patterns of a disease are different across a whole organ, like the mosaic-pattern, helps us to decipher the mechanisms by which the damage is happening. A technique like HiP-CT is a real game-changer for unveiling not only the really fine detail of the tissue damage, but also how it is distributed across a whole organ, and relating that back to what is seen in the clinic.

The team also used Diamond Light Source, the UKs synchrotron light source, to image a smaller section of lung, which showed how a reduced supply of blood to the lung tissue is due to changes in the structure of the finest blood vessels supplying the lungs.

Tissue and blood biomarkers for early fibrosis detection

The team also identified new tissue markers of severe COVID-19 and interstitial pulmonary disease. "We noticed a significant increase in inflammatory markers and markers of new blood vessel formation, which are responsible for the clinical deterioration of affected patients," says Jan-Christopher Kamp, from the Hanover-based Lung Research Group. And he adds: "It is precisely the correlation of the molecular data with the morphological pattern of damage that is crucial."

It was particularly important for the international research team not only to investigate tissue markers of severe COVID-19 disease, but also to identify plasma markers of early fibrotic remodelling that could serve as predictors of disease severity and therapeutic response in COVID-19.

They were able to identify three "key markers", secreted into the lung tissue, in spaces between cells. By comparing blood and tissue biomarkers in COVID-19 and in patients with other forms of pulmonary fibrosis, such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), the team could correlate early morphological and molecular features of the development of pulmonary fibrosis with increased levels of the involved proteins in the blood. These 'predictive serum biomarkers' enable us to find new therapeutic approaches and to start therapy for the affected patients as early as possible, when the scarring processes can still be reversed via drug therapy, explains Detlef Schuppan from the University Medical Center Mainz and Harvard Medical School.

The work was supported by the European Research Council (ERC), the US NIH, the German DFG, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) and the UK Wellcome Trust.

Reference: Ackermann M*, Kamp JC*, Werlein C, Walsh CL, Stark H, Prade V, Surabattula R, Wagner WL, Disney C, Bodey AJ, Illig T, Leeming DJ, Karsdal MA, Tzankov A, Boor P, Kuehnel MP, Laenger FP, Verleden SE, Kvasnicka HM, Kreipe HH, Haverich A, Black SM, Walch A, Tafforeau P, Lee PD, Hoeper MM, Welte T, Seeliger B, David S, Schuppan D*, Mentzer SJ*, Jonigk DD*. Lobular ischemia and fibrotic remodelling drive the fatal trajectory of pulmonary COVID-19. The Lancet - eBioMedicine. Volume 85, 2022 Oct; 04; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2022.104296; * shared first or senior authorship
Europe is hoping that lithium will be the answer to its fossil fuel addiction, as it gradually weans itself off oil and gas to switch to cleaner energy sources. Lithium is a vital ingredient in battery storage, which Europe has big plans to roll out in support of its growing renewable energy operations. But state powers and the EU must act now if they hope to gather enough lithium for a total transformation of the regions energy industry. Providing enough lithium for Europes energy transition is no easy feat, as not much of the metal can be found on the European continent, forcing the EU to turn to other lithium-rich countries. Lithium can be used in batteries for a variety of electronics, from smartphones to televisions. It is also the driving source for electric vehicles (EVs) and renewable energy battery storage. The EU has targeted net-zero emissions from new cars by 2035. But with several European countries announcing a shift away from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to EVs within the next decade, it is vital governments back up their aims with the materials needed to make this a reality.

The World Bank estimates that mineral production will need to increase dramatically over the next decades to achieve climate goals, including an increase of 500 percent in graphite, lithium, and cobalt production by 2050. The EU region will require 18 times more lithium than it currently uses by 2030, and 60 times more by 2050, to meet net-zero aims. But this increase in production is not only complex because of the geographical logistics and need to boost mining activities but also due to the poor public perception of lithium mining. Many environmentalists and local communities are fearful of soil pollution and the destruction of natural habitats associated with mining.

Portuguese Environment Minister Joao Matos Fernandes spoke at a 2021 conference about the matter, stating Green mining must also be challenging such sentiments through the involvement of the local population in understanding the mutual benefits these projects could bring. Peter Handley, head of the European Commission's raw materials unit supported this sentiment, stating that it was vital to demonstrate to the public that mining would be done the right way, in full compliance with regulations". He added, "Mining in the past was a very dirty operation. It is becoming highly technological these days.

This week, there has been greater momentum in Europes lithium industry, with France playing a major role in the regions white gold rush. The French minerals company Imerys has announced that it plans to develop a major lithium extraction project to supply Europe with the lithium it needs to support its green energy transition. The proposed Emili Project is expected to be located in the centre of France, with hopes to deliver around 34,000 metric tonnes of lithium hydroxide annually from 2028. This level of production would provide enough lithium to power 700,000 EV batteries a year.

The project demonstrates Frances ambition to reduce reliance on other parts of the world by increasing its national mining activities. Last month, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated lithium and rare earths will soon be more important than oil and gas, demonstrating the significance of new mining projects. She also highlighted that China currently manages around 90 percent of the rare earths industry, with 60 percent of the worlds lithium production being processed in China. This is concerning for the European region that is attempting to reduce its dependence on Chinese energy and products.

Imerys is currently completing a technical scoping study to assess the viability of the selected site for lithium mining. The land has already been used for kaolin clay production for over 100 years. The firm expects the construction of the project to cost around $980 million. Imerys released a statement explaining, Upon successful completion, the project would contribute to the French and European Unions energy transition ambitions. It added, It would also increase Europes industrial sovereignty at a time when car and battery manufacturers are heavily dependent on imported lithium, which is a key element in the energy transition.

A boost in lithium production would also help alleviate price pressures, with the cost of lithium increasing seven-fold from May 2021 to May 2022, due to unprecedented battery demand. But while shifting lithium production away from famously lithium-rich countries to Europe may decrease reliance on other powers and provide greater energy security, it could also be costly. George Miller of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence explains, It will be difficult to displace countries, including Australia, China and those within the Lithium Triangle, which have the current competitive advantage in lithium mining and processing due to lower labour, energy and reagent costs. Meanwhile, to date, domestic production of lithium concentrates in Europe is insignificant in contrast to global output, at about 110 tonnes of lithium content, according to the EUs study on critical raw materials.

It has become clear global reliance on metals and minerals will soon become as significant as dependence on oil and gas, as countries around the world race to develop renewable energy and battery storage projects, as well as shifting away from ICE vehicles to EVs. But as this demand rises, so too will the need for lithium mining. Although regional developments, such as the Imerys Emili Project in France, will help boost the regions lithium supply, a lack of lithium reserves in Europe will likely force the EU to look elsewhere to develop its mining activities, once again making it reliant on external powers for its energy security.

Felicity Bradstock

: Oilprice.com
Today, Ventes Avenues, a Mobile AdTech company specializing in Mobile Performance, Branding, Technology, and Audience Solutions, announced an agreement with Adsquare, the Audience and Location Intelligence Company, for the distribution of Adsquares data-driven solutions. Under this agreement, Ventes Avenues will become the exclusive distributor of Adsquares Footfall Measurement solution to media buyers in India, Indonesia, and Vietnam through the Meta and Google DV360 platforms.

Footfall Measurement is Adsquares solution for store visit attribution, which empowers advertisers to understand the success of their campaigns. Activated along with digital media campaigns, advertisers can optimise budgets towards the best-performing setup in real-time and, therefore, achieve the highest return on their advertising spend.

Adsquares visit-matching methodology overlays signals from users that have been exposed to an ad on 2D polygons representing buildings to identify visits to relevant stores. Adsquare draws the underlying movement data from a wide variety of location-enabled mobile applications. As users provide consent for this data to be shared via the corresponding consent mechanisms in place, the approach complies with the existing privacy regulations and is fully privacy safe.

Nicolas Mear, General Manager APAC, says: "As markets have recovered from the global pandemic, brands are now more focused on direct response tactics. Adsquares Footfall Measurement is available with major advertising platforms such as Meta or Google Marketing Platform and helps marketers to improve their campaign effectiveness considerably by relying on an independent, 3rd party measurement partner. With their deep understanding of the digital marketing industry, we are very delighted to have Ventes Avenues as our trusted partner while rolling out our innovative measurement technologies to more markets globally."

Niloufer Dundh, Founder & CEO of Ventes Avenues, comments: "At Ventes Avenues, our relentless focus on constant innovation and establishing industry benchmarks has empowered us to become a leading Mobile AdTech company in India. It is our earnest endeavour to find bespoke technology solutions that are relevant and helpful to advertisers to enhance and optimise their digital campaigns. With Adsquare, advertisers can measure their campaign success beyond traditional KPIs. Analysing foot traffic to relevant stores is an important KPI to measure, as it helps advertisers to optimise their spend. It is also a seamless addition within advertisers preferred media buying platforms and therefore actionable immediately without much effort. We are delighted to partner with Adsquare in India, Indonesia & Vietnam and look forward to helping brands connect people and places in a privacy-first world.

Read more news about (internet advertising India, internet advertising, advertising India, digital advertising India, media advertising India)
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Overcast. A few flurries or snow showers possible. Low 3F. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph..

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An MP who is the only vet in the Commons has called for the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) to be adequately resourced amid the UK's largest ever outbreak of bird flu.

Dr Neil Hudson, MP for Penrith and The Border, made the call in the House of Commons as part of an urgent ministerial statement.

He said the ongoing avian influenza outbreak had highlighted the need for "robust animal disease control infrastructure".

Defra has implemented measures to control the outbreak, including a looming mandatory housing order for all birds in England.

The department has also updated the bird flu compensation available to farmers and keepers.

But despite being on the frontline of the UKs biosecurity defences, APHA was recently at the centre of a damning report calling for urgent redevelopment of its headquarters in Weybridge, Surrey.

The National Audit Office (NAO), which scrutinises public spending for parliament, urged more funding for APHA, which it said needed 2.8bn to transform its Surrey site.

However, the animal health agency has only formally secured 1.2 billion from the Treasury.

MPs recently heard evidence from veterinary experts, government officials and even the APHAs chief executive during a recent sitting of the Public Accounts Committee.

Speaking afterwards, Dr Hudson said it was "crucial" that APHA was "resourced adequately and future proofed."

My thoughts go out to the farmers, vets and officials on the front line coping with and tackling the disease at this incredibly stressful time.

This avian influenza outbreak has brought our scientific capabilities for managing animal diseases into sharp relief.

Having been in the front line as a vet during 2001s tragic foot and mouth crisis, I know only too well the horrendous consequences animal disease outbreaks can have on our rural communities and our mental health.

We must stand up for these farmers and communities and properly fund the APHA, otherwise the consequences in the future could be devastating.
A young farmer who took over the family farm following the tragic death of his father has been named as the Wales winner of the NFUs Community Farming Heroes Awards.

Morgan Tudor, 20, from Llanerfyl near Welshpool, has been recognised for the work he has done in his local community.

The awards were launched earlier this year to champion the role that farmers play in going above and beyond for their communities.

This is the first year that the NFU has held the awards, which run in conjunction with the unions Back British Farming Day event, taking place today (2 November).

Morgan was nominated by his local MP, Craig Williams, as his constituency winner during the summer.

He took over the running of Llysun, the family farm, following the tragic death of his father, Richard, in a tractor accident in April 2020.

At that point the farm had only recently converted from a beef and sheep farm to dairy production.

Fast forward to 2022 and Morgan is now successfully running the business in his fathers memory, milking 500 cows and keeping a flock of sheep.

Away from the farm, Morgan still manages to find the time to play a part in his local community, including inviting local groups for a tour of Llysun dairy.

He also writes a regular column for the local Papur Bro Welsh-language newspaper, along with being an active member of Dyffryn Banw Young Farmers Club.

More recently, Morgan could be heard commentating on S4Cs Royal Welsh Show coverage this summer and also received silver in the British Farming Awards Dairy Farmer of the Year category.

Craig Williams MP said: I am incredibly proud to represent the farmers and growers in Montgomeryshire and show my recognition for their work by supporting Back British Farming Day.

"As well as providing high-quality, climate-friendly food for the nation, our farmers also maintain and care for our iconic British countryside that we all enjoy.

Farmers in Montgomeryshire make a huge contribution to the local economy, providing jobs and, in many cases, producing renewable energy which help power more than 10 million UK homes.

"I was incredibly proud to recognise Morgan for the important contribution he makes to his local community and the wider farming fraternity."

NFU Cymru President Aled Jones said Morgans story of triumph over adversity after a family tragedy was 'truly inspiring'.

Having known Morgans father, Richard, during his time on the NFU Cymru Livestock Board, I know he would be extremely proud of everything his son has achieved.
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BEIJING, Nov. 2 -- The China Coast Guard (CCG) and the Vietnam Coast Guard are to conduct the second joint patrol in Beibu Gulf from November 3 to 5 in 2022 as scheduled. Joint patrol has been an important embodiment of maritime law enforcement cooperation between China and Vietnam, and this is the 24th joint patrol carried out by maritime law enforcement departments of the two countries.

During the forthcoming patrol, the two parties will conduct comprehensive inspections in waters of the Beibu Gulf, organize a joint exercise themed on search and rescue of cargo ships on fire, and standardize marine fishery production, in an effort to improve the joint response capability against maritime emergencies.

Over the years, the CCG and the Vietnam Coast Guard have always maintained a good momentum of cooperation. They strengthened maritime law enforcement cooperation, proactively made information exchanges, fought against maritime crimes, properly handled maritime emergencies, jointly maintained regional maritime security, and worked together to build a maritime community with a shared future.

In particular, since the Chinese and Vietnamese coast guards signed a memorandum of cooperation in 2016 to establish a mechanism-based cooperative relationship, the two parties have continued to carry out a series of practical cooperation, including high-level meetings, exchanges between young police officers, mutual ship visits, and joint exercises and training. The practical cooperation has kept expanding in content and form, and the bilateral friendship has thereby deepened, which has become a model for regional maritime law enforcement cooperation.
Lorpen, the Spanish brand for outdoor technical socks, has presented its winter 2023 collection to its sales network at its factory in Etxalar, Navarre. In this collection, the company has converted conventional fibres to eco fibres, with the use of the new threads in its Wintersports line, in which the look of the socks has also been renewed.

If one model had to be highlighted in this collection for the degree of sustainable innovation used for the product it would be the T3+ Biowarmer, which is the top of the line in technicity (T3+) and is now made with biodegradable textiles. To achieve that Lorpen has combined the Sensil BioCare textile with PrimaloftBio as a filling. The seams are also made with Sensil BioCare used as thread, while the cuff has been made with chlorine free wool. Thus, during its useful life the socks help the wearer suffer less in extreme cold conditions, either while doing an activity or at rest. And after its useful life it will never become trash, because its biodegradable. Furthermore, it is very warm and supple. There will be three T3+ Biowarmer models for next winter: Inferno Expedition Crew and Overcalf in the outdoor segment, and Ski in Wintersports, the company said in a press release.

Lorpen, the Spanish brand for outdoor technical socks, has presented its winter 2023 collection to its sales network at its factory in Etxalar, Navarre. In this collection, the company has converted conventional fibres to eco fibres, with the use of the new threads in its Wintersports line, in which the look of the socks has also been renewed.

Lorpen was the first brand to use three layers of different threads in a single sock (T3 technology). That was later on combined with the SLS-Selective Layer System technology, which is a system of layers in strategic areas depending on the activity the user is going to do and under what conditions. That makes it possible to get the maximum performance from each thread for the maximum benefit to the athlete's foot. The company was also a pioneer in using flat seems in the toe with the stitch by stitch sewing, which is something only the brand can do at its plant in Etxalar. That's a lot of engineering applied to a sock and the outcome is high transpirability, strength and good fit, preventing the formation of blisters. It's also significant that the brand designs and manufactures all its socks at its factory in Etxalar, Navarre.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (GK)
Austrias Lenzing AG, a provider of sustainably produced specialty fibres for the textile and nonwoven industries, has appointed Nico Reiner as its new chief financial officer (CFO). Reiner will join Lenzings managing board led by chief executive officer Stephan Sielaff on January 1, 2023.

Reiner will succeed CFO Thomas Obendrauf, who is leaving the company of his own volition after seven years, according to a press release by Lenzing AG. Reiner has held several positions in his professional career to date, including CFO at globally operating companies such as Schuco Group, AL-KO Group, and Pfleiderer Group, as well as management consultant roles.

Austria's Lenzing AG, a provider of specialty fibres for the textile and nonwoven industries, has appointed Nico Reiner as its new CFO. Reiner will join Lenzing's managing board led by chief executive officer Stephan Sielaff on January 1, 2023. Reiner will succeed CFO Thomas Obendrauf, who is leaving the company of his own volition after seven years.

His most recent appointment was as CFO of Vacuumschmelze GmbH & Co KG, a global player with headquarters in Hanau that specialises in the development, production, and marketing of magnetic materials. Born in Grunwald near Munich, Reiner graduated from the University of Regensburg with a degree in business administration and has a doctorate from HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management.

We are delighted to welcome Nico Reiner to the managing board of Lenzing as he is a proven financial expert with substantial international experience. After successfully implementing the latest capacity extensions, the Lenzing Group will accelerate its profitable path to growth and has set ambitious financial targets for 2027. Nico Reiner will play a vital role in this process and in implementing our corporate strategy, commented Cord Prinzhorn, chairman of the supervisory board at Lenzing AG.

CFO Obendrauf notified the supervisory board in March that he would not be extending his contract when it came to an end in June 2022 as after seven years at Lenzing, he is leaving to pursue a career change. Until Reiner joins the company, Sielaff will continue to assume the role of CFO on an interim basis, with Obendrauf supporting the company in an advisory capacity, added the release.

Thomas Obendrauf has performed the role of CFO in an exemplary and prudent manner since 2016. He has successfully implemented the companys strategy together with his colleagues in the managing board. He was also responsible for the construction of the new lyocell plant in Thailand during his tenure on the managing board. We would like to thank him for his consistently trustworthy and professional approach in working with us and we wish him all the best for the future, commented Prinzhorn.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)
At the Green Trade and Investment Expo in Gateshead yesterday, UK trade secretary Kemi Badenoch called investment in clean energy the future-proofing force that will help the country create a better tomorrow. She said she will set out a three-pronged approach to using trade to ensure the United Kingdom is ready to tackle crucial global challenges.

We can only tackle climate change by using free trade and investment to accelerate green technological progress. And we must do this in a way that does not impoverish the UK, she said.

At the Green Trade and Investment Expo in Gateshead yesterday, UK trade secretary Kemi Badenoch called investment in clean energy 'the future-proofing force' that will help the country create a better tomorrow. She said she will set out a three-pronged approach to using trade to ensure the United Kingdom is ready to tackle crucial global challenges.

Second, Russias invasion of Ukraine has made it quite clear that relying on authoritarian regimes can make it tougher to heat homes. Our trade relationships will help secure our energy supply. But its long-term investment in nuclear and renewables that will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and keep down consumer costs, she said.

Ideas being developed by green industries will contribute a lot to find a way through the present times of low growth.

And the United Kingdom is quickly becoming the green creativity capital of the world, she said offering a few examples of UK companies that have developed green innovations.

Our analysis shows that by the end of this decade, our green industries could create up to 170 billion of export sales, she said.

By 2050, the country could generate 1.4 million green jobs, she said citing government statistics.

Her department has set itself a goal of accelerating towards a trillion pounds worth of exports a year earlier than forecast, she said, adding that UK Export Finance will help businesses get loans and guarantees needed.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - November 1, 2022) - Royal Fox Gold Inc. (TSXV: FOXG) ("Royal Fox" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the voting results from its special meeting of shareholders (the "Meeting") held yesterday.

The resolution approving the acquisition of the Company by Northern Superior Resources Inc. ("Northern Superior" or the "Purchaser") by way of a plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (Ontario) (the "Transaction") was approved by 99.98% of the votes cast by shareholders present virtually or represented by proxy and entitled to vote at the Meeting, by 99.98% of the votes cast by shareholders and optionholders, voting as one voting class, present virtually or represented by proxy and entitled to vote at the Meeting and by 99.98% of the votes cast by shareholders present virtually or represented by proxy and entitled to vote at the Meeting, excluding the votes cast by certain persons required to be excluded pursuant to Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions.

The closing of the Transaction remains subject to final approval by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, for which the hearing is scheduled to take place on November 2, 2022. Subject to court approval being obtained and the other conditions to closing being satisfied or waived, the Transaction is expected to be effective on or about November 4, 2022.

Following completion of the Transaction, the Company expects to delist its common shares from the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSX-V"). The Company will also apply to the Canadian securities regulators for the Company to cease to be a reporting issuer in the applicable jurisdictions following completion of the Transaction.

For a more detailed description of the Transaction, including regulatory matters and approvals, please see the Company's Management Information Circular dated September 30, 2022, available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

About Royal Fox Gold Inc.

Royal Fox Gold Inc. is a mineral exploration company focused on the development of the Philibert Project near Chibougamau, Quebec. The Philibert Project comprises 110 mineral titles having a total approximate area of 5,393 hectares of highly prospective ground, 9km from IAMGOLD's Nelligan Gold project which was awarded the "Discovery of the Year" by the Quebec Mineral Exploration Association (AEMQ) in 2019.

To date, more than C$13 million (historical value) have been spent on the Philibert Project, with more than 75,000 metres of drilling completed. The Company is focused on de-risking the asset and releasing a maiden NI 43-101 resource estimate which will incorporate results from both brownfield and greenfield exploration, combined with extensive historical data. The Philibert Project is owned by SOQUEM. Royal Fox is currently undergoing an ownership option process, details of which can be found in the corporate presentation available on the Company's website.

More details are available in the corporate presentation of Royal Fox at: www.royalfoxgold.com.

About Northern Superior Resources Inc.

Northern Superior is a gold exploration company focused on the Chapais-Chibougamau Camp in Quebec. Northern Superior has consolidated the largest land package in the region, with total land holdings currently exceeding 56,000 hectares. The three main properties include, Lac Surprise, Chevrier and Croteau Est. Chevrier hosts an inferred mineral resource of 652,000 ounces Au and an indicated mineral resource of 260,000 ounces Au, Croteau Est hosts an inferred mineral resource of 640,000 ounces Au, and Lac Surprise hosts the Falcon Zone Discovery, the western strike extension of IAMGOLD/Vanstar's Nelligan Deposit (3.2 million ounces at 1.02 g/t gold1). Northern Superior also owns significant exploration assets in Northern Ontario highlighted by the district scale TPK property.

More details are available in the corporate presentation of Northern Superior at www.nsuperior.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

"Simon Marcotte", CFA

President and Chief Executive Officer of Royal Fox Gold Inc.

For further information, please contact:

Simon Marcotte, CFA

President and Chief Executive Officer of Royal Fox Gold Inc.

+1-647-801-7273

Email: smarcotte@royalfoxgold.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking information under applicable Canadian, United States and other applicable securities laws, rules and regulations, including, without limitation, statements with respect to the completion of the Transaction and the delisting of the Royal Fox common shares and the application for Royal Fox to cease to be a reporting issuer. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on Royal Fox's current beliefs or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as Royal Fox's actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward- looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results and future events to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements include the risks, uncertainties and other factors and assumptions made with regard to Northern Superior and Royal Fox's ability to complete the proposed Transaction and Northern Superior and Royal Fox's ability to secure the necessary shareholder, securityholder, legal and regulatory approvals required to complete the Transaction. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Royal Fox's expectations include risks related to the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions to the closing of the Transaction; non-completion of the Transaction; risks related to exploration and potential development of the Philibert project; business and economic conditions in the mining industry generally; the impact of COVID-19 on Royal Fox's business; uncertainties relating to interpretation of drill results and the geology, continuity and grade of mineral deposits; the need for cooperation of government agencies and indigenous groups in the exploration and development of properties and the issuance of required permits; the need to obtain additional financing to develop properties and uncertainty as to the availability and terms of future financing; the possibility of delay in exploration or development programs and uncertainty of meeting anticipated program milestones; uncertainty as to timely availability of permits and other governmental approvals; and other risk factors as detailed from time to time and additional risks identified in Royal Fox's filings with Canadian securities regulators on SEDAR in Canada (available at www.sedar.com). Various assumptions or factors are typically applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking information. Those assumptions and factors are based on information currently available to Royal Fox. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is made as of the date hereof and Royal Fox undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/142697
OVERLAND PARK, KS / ACCESSWIRE / November 1, 2022 / Tortoise today announced the following unaudited balance sheet information and asset coverage ratio updates for TYG, NTG, TTP, NDP and TPZ.

Tortoise Energy Infrastructure Corp. (NYSE:TYG) today announced that as of October 31, 2022, the company's unaudited total assets were approximately $605.5 million and its unaudited net asset value was $470.5 million, or $39.44 per share.

As of October 31, 2022, the company's asset coverage ratio under the 1940 Act with respect to senior securities representing indebtedness was 622%, and its coverage ratio for preferred shares was 455%. For more information on the company's coverage ratios, please refer to the leverage summary web page at https://cef.tortoiseecofin.com.

Set forth below is a summary of the company's unaudited balance sheet at October 31, 2022.

Unaudited balance sheet

(in Millions) Per Share Investments $ 599.7 $ 50.27 Cash and Cash Equivalents 0.3 0.03 Receivable for Investments Sold 2.1 0.17 Current Tax Asset 0.1 0.01 Other Assets 3.3 0.28 Total Assets 605.5 50.76 Short-Term Borrowings 15.4 1.29 Senior Notes 81.6 6.84 Preferred Stock 35.7 2.99 Total Leverage 132.7 11.12 Other Liability 2.3 0.20 Net Assets $ 470.5 $ 39.44

11.93 million common shares currently outstanding.

Tortoise Midstream Energy Fund, Inc. (NYSE:NTG) today announced that as of October 31, 2022, the company's unaudited total assets were approximately $310.0 million and its unaudited net asset value was $250.6 million, or $44.41 per share.

As of October 31, 2022, the company's asset coverage ratio under the 1940 Act with respect to senior securities representing indebtedness was 799%, and its coverage ratio for preferred shares was 529%. For more information on the company's coverage ratios, please refer to the leverage summary web page at https://cef.tortoiseecofin.com.

Set forth below is a summary of the company's unaudited balance sheet at October 31, 2022.

Unaudited balance sheet

(in Millions) Per Share Investments $ 306.0 $ 54.22 Cash and Cash Equivalents 0.3 0.06 Receivable for Investments Sold 1.1 0.20 Current Tax Asset 0.1 0.02 Other Assets 2.5 0.44 Total Assets 310.0 54.94 Short-Term Borrowings 6.5 1.15 Senior Notes 32.2 5.70 Preferred Stock 19.7 3.49 Total Leverage 58.4 10.34 Other Liability 1.0 0.19 Net Assets $ 250.6 $ 44.41

5.64 million common shares currently outstanding.

Tortoise Pipeline & Energy Fund, Inc. (NYSE:TTP) today announced that as of October 31, 2022, the company's unaudited total assets were approximately $94.4 million and its unaudited net asset value was $74.3 million, or $33.36 per share.

As of October 31, 2022, the company's asset coverage ratio under the 1940 Act with respect to senior securities representing indebtedness was 694%, and its coverage ratio for preferred shares was 478%. For more information on the company's coverage ratios, please refer to the leverage summary web page at https://cef.tortoiseecofin.com.

Set forth below is a summary of the company's unaudited balance sheet at October 31, 2022.

Unaudited balance sheet

(in Millions) Per Share Investments $ 93.1 $ 41.81 Cash and Cash Equivalents 0.4 0.20 Other Assets 0.9 0.37 Total Assets 94.4 42.38 Short-Term Borrowings 9.6 4.31 Senior Notes 3.9 1.77 Preferred Stock 6.1 2.74 Total Leverage 19.6 8.82 Other Liabilities 0.5 0.20 Net Assets $ 74.3 $ 33.36

2.23 million common shares currently outstanding.

Tortoise Energy Independence Fund, Inc. (NYSE:NDP) today announced that as of October 31, 2022, the company's unaudited total assets were approximately $76.9 million and its unaudited net asset value was $72.7 million, or $39.38 per share.

As of October 31, 2022, the company's asset coverage ratio under the 1940 Act with respect to senior securities representing indebtedness was 1,917%. For more information on the company's coverage ratios, please refer to the leverage summary web page at https://cef.tortoiseecofin.com.

Set forth below is a summary of the company's unaudited balance sheet at October 31, 2022.

Unaudited balance sheet

(in Millions) Per Share Investments $ 76.4 $ 41.38 Cash and Cash Equivalents 0.3 0.19 Other Assets 0.2 0.10 Total Assets 76.9 41.67 Credit Facility Borrowings 4.0 2.17 Other Liabilities 0.2 0.12 Net Assets $ 72.7 $ 39.38

1.85 million common shares currently outstanding.

Tortoise Power and Energy Infrastructure Fund, Inc. (NYSE:TPZ) today announced that as of October 31, 2022, the company's unaudited total assets were approximately $127.7 million and its unaudited net asset value was $101.0 million, or $15.48 per share.

As of October 31, 2022, the company's asset coverage ratio under the 1940 Act with respect to senior securities representing indebtedness was 486%. For more information on the company's coverage ratios, please refer to the leverage summary web page at https://cef.tortoiseecofin.com.

Set forth below is a summary of the company's unaudited balance sheet at October 31, 2022.

Unaudited balance sheet

(in Millions) Per Share Investments $ 125.8 $ 19.28 Cash and Cash Equivalents 0.4 0.06 Other Assets 1.5 0.22 Total Assets 127.7 19.56 Credit Facility Borrowings 26.2 4.01 Other Liabilities 0.5 0.07 Net Assets $ 101.0 $ 15.48

6.53 million common shares currently outstanding.

The top 10 holdings for TYG, NTG, TTP, NDP and TPZ as of the most recent month-end can be found on each fund's portfolio web page at https://cef.tortoiseecofin.com.

About Tortoise

Tortoise focuses on energy & power infrastructure and the transition to cleaner energy. Tortoise's solid track record of energy value chain investment experience and research dates back more than 20 years. As one of the earliest investors in midstream energy, Tortoise believes it is well-positioned to be at the forefront of the global energy evolution that is underway. With a steady wins approach and a long-term perspective, Tortoise strives to make a positive impact on clients and communities. To learn more, please visit www.TortoiseEcofin.com.

Tortoise Capital Advisors, L.L.C. is the adviser to Tortoise Energy Infrastructure Corp., Tortoise Midstream Energy Fund, Inc., Tortoise Pipeline & Energy Fund, Inc., Tortoise Energy Independence Fund, Inc. and Tortoise Power and Energy Infrastructure Fund, Inc.

For additional information on these funds, please visit cef.tortoiseecofin.com.

Safe harbor statement

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the laws of such state or jurisdiction.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain statements that may include "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are "forward-looking statements." Although the funds and Tortoise Capital Advisors believe that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, they do involve assumptions, risks and uncertainties, and these expectations may prove to be incorrect. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors, including those discussed in the fund's reports that are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Other than as required by law, the funds and Tortoise Capital Advisors do not assume a duty to update this forward-looking statement.

Contact information

For more information contact Jen Ashlock at (913) 981-1020 or info@tortoiseecofin.com.

SOURCE: TortoiseEcofin

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/723430/Tortoise-Provides-Unaudited-Balance-Sheet-Information-and-Asset-Coverage-Ratio-Updates-as-of-October-31-2022-for-TYG-NTG-TTP-NDP-and-TPZ
Vietnam's leading IT services provider FPT Software, a member company of FPT Corporation, announced its new alliance with Julie Sandlau, one of the world's leading jewelry producers, supporting the company to build its first smart jewelry manufacturing factory in Vietnam. The partnership is expected to enhance FPT Software's presence in the Nordic region and incorporate digital technologies into Julie Sandlau's production line, revolutionizing it with Smart factories, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and so on.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221101005835/en/

FPT Software and Julie Sandlau signed the strategic partnership (Photo: Business Wire)

The signing ceremony took place on November 1st, in Hanoi, Vietnam, within the framework of Vietnam-Denmark Business Summit Forum 2022, organized by the Embassy of Denmark in Vietnam, Vietnamese Government Office and the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affair in Denmark.

Through this alliance, FPT Software becomes Julie Sandlau's strategic partner, provides the company with an exclusive roadmap to build their first Smart factory and transform the traditional jewelry manufacturing process with digital technologies like Robotic Process Automation, Artificial Intelligence, and more. The new manufacturing plant is set to be completed by the end of 2023 in Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park, Vietnam's first and largest hi-tech industrial zone.

The newly established partnership also transforms Julie Sandlau's operations and work processes, from human resources, operational management, to accounting and so on. FPT Software's automation and robotic processing solutions help ease the usual back-office procedures, reduce workload and workforce, thereby promoting and accompanying Julie Sandlau's towards sustainable development. The strategic step also allows Julie Sandlau's to expand its operations to a strategic market like Vietnam and target potential customers here.

FPT Corporation Chairman Dr Truong Gia Binh said. "In the past five decades, Vietnam and Denmark have established a strong relationship, with many deals among companies of both countries. With this partnership with Julie Sandlau, FPT believes that we can help reinforce the tight relationship between both nations."

"As Vietnam's leading IT solutions provider, FPT is confident to help Julie Sandlau with their digital transformation process and expansion goals in the Vietnamese and Southeast Asian markets", Chairman Binh added.

"Vietnam always has a special place in our hearts since we started our business in 2006 here in Hanoi, so we are very excited to continue our Vietnam journey investing and developing further into digitalization, AI, blockchain technology and robotics.", said Julie Sandlau's CEO Soren Roed Pedersen.

"For years we have been first movers with our strong focus on ESG and we are now ready to start our digital transformation together with FPT and thus further proving the great collaboration between Vietnam and Denmark. We find the core values and vision of FPT and Julie Sandlau are a great match as we aim to transform a jewelry industry from traditional manufacturing methods to a modern digital hub. We have obviously great ambitions for our partnership with FPT as our long term strategy for Vietnam will develop into much more than just manufacturing.", he further added.

"Julie Sandlau is our first-ever client in the jewelry manufacturing industry. This gives us more opportunities to explore and amplify FPT Software's technology potentials, especially in building a smart manufacturing factory for a client in a peculiar industry as such.", FPT Software Europe CEO Hai Le said. "I believe this partnership will allow us to strengthen our workforce and experience, particularly in providing digital transformation solutions for future manufacturing clients.", he added.

On nurturing and developing human resources, FPT Software will transfer expertise and provide comprehensive training to Julie Sandlau's employees in Vietnam, with a deep dive into Artificial Intelligence applications. This practice will turn Julie Sandlau the world's first jewelry manufacturer to involve emerging technology in its production process, supporting its goal of becoming a digital transformation hero in premium accessories production by 2025.

The strategic partnership allows the two companies' employees to exchange knowledge and experiences, with Julie Sandlau offering fresh graduates from FPT University and FPT Corporation's staffs internship and employment opportunities. The program aims to improve educational quality and develop a guaranteed career path for future industrial engineers for FPT students and employees.

About FPT Software

FPT Software is a part of FPT Corporation, a globally leading technology and IT services solutions provider headquartered in Vietnam with nearly US$1.6 billion in revenue and 41,000 employees in 27 countries. As a pioneer in digital transformation, it delivers world-class services in Smart factories, Digital platforms, RPA, AI, IoT, Enterprise Mobility, Digital Product Development, Cloud, AR/VR, Business Applications, Application Services, Managed Services, and so on. The company has served 1,000+ customers worldwide, nearly 100 of which are Fortune Global 500 companies in the industries of Aerospace Aviation, Manufacturing Automotive, Banking, Finance Insurance, Logistics Transportation, Healthcare Life Sciences, Retail, Utilities Energy, and more. For further information, please visit http://www.fpt-software.com.

About Julie Sandlau

Julie Sandlau Vietnam is the manufacturing arm of Danish luxury Jewelry brand Julie Sandlau and have since 2006 been producing high quality jewelry for some of the largest jewelry brands in the world with a strong focus on environment, sustainability and governance. The factory is committed to the United Nations Global Compact, The UN Women Empowerment Principles, The Science Based Target Initiative and is a certified member of the Responsible Jewellery Council, the highest international standard of responsible business practices in the jewelry business. With a workforce of nearly 400 people in which the goldsmiths are specialised and educated in Danish craftsmanship traditions and skills, Julie Sandlau Vietnam has been a first mover in CSR in Vietnam for years, winning multiple awards. All Julie Sandlau Vietnam's jewelry are made from recycled precious metals and sustainable certified gem stones giving their customers and stakeholders the ultimate trust and confidence in mutual business.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221101005835/en/

Contacts:

Media contact

Mai Duong (Ms.)

FPT Software

PR Manager

Email: MCP.PR@fsoft.com.vn

Website: https://www.fpt-software.com/newsroom/
The company has also added Navjeewan Khosla from Novo Holdings as Board Observer.

The company had announced a $50 million Series D investment led by Novo Holdings in August 2022 .

BANGALORE, India, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- MedGenome is a leading provider of genomic solutions for populations in South Asia and provides advanced genetic testing and bioinformatics solutions to patients, pharmaceutical companies, and research institutions around the world. The company has announced the appointment of Dr. Amit Kakar MD, from Novo Holdings to its Board of Directors. This announcement comes on the heels of MedGenome's $50 million funding round led by Novo Holdings in August 2022.?They have also appointed Navjeewan Khosla, Principal, Novo Holdings as Board Observer.

Dr. Amit Kakar is Senior Partner, Head of Novo Holdings Asia, and a healthcare professional with over 30 years of experience across key verticals including Medical Technology, R&D, Manufacturing, Pharma Retail, Drug Discovery, Clinical Research, Biotech, Hospitals and Diagnostic Centers, Primary and Specialty Care Centers, among others. His diverse experience also encompasses investing, operational and management roles across health-tech companies. He is currently part of the Board of Directors of Singapore-based life science company, ESCO, telemedicine portal - Doctor Anywhere and leading health tech firm Qure.ai. As a Senior Partner, Dr. Kakar's expertise will help accelerate MedGenome's expansion plans.

Novo Holdings, the holding and investment company of the Novo Nordisk Foundation is a leading international life science investor, with a focus on creating long-term value. It provides seed and venture capital to development-stage companies and takes significant ownership positions in growth and well-established companies. Headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, with offices in San Francisco, Boston, London and Singapore, Novo Holdings has a portfolio of more than 150 life science companies.?

Dr. Amit Kakar, Senior Partner, Head of Novo Holdings Asia said, "MedGenome's journey in the field of genomics has been very impressive. The company's mission to transform the future of personalized healthcare making genetic testing affordable and accessible across the different strata of society and creating awareness among the clinician community is in line with Novo's investment strategy. I am looking forward to working closely with the team and my fellow board members on this next exciting phase of MedGenome's expansion journey."

Navjeewan Khosla, Principal, Novo Holdings said, "We are very excited to partner with the MedGenome team. We believe in their vision to leverage the power of genomics for better management of inherited disorders. Personalised healthcare can now be made accessible and affordable to all. We are in perfect agreement with MedGenome's expansion strategy, and I look forward to working together to achieve new heights of success for all of us."

"In embarking on the next phase of our journey, we are delighted to have Dr. Amit and Navjeewan on board. Their vast industry knowledge and experience will be of significant support to take MedGenome to newer heights as well as to foray into new geographical markets. Together, we can scale-up access and affordability to state-of-the-art genomic testing," said Mahesh Pratapneni, Co-founder and Group CEO of MedGenome.

"MedGenome's mission to expand the global genomic dataset to aid in the development of more inclusive and equitable research & drug discovery is critical to the future of global healthcare. Dr. Amit's experience will help us advance our global expansion plans," said Dr. Felix Olale, Chairman of MedGenome's Board of Directors, and Global Co-Lead for Healthcare Investments at LeapFrog Investments.

Previously, Dr. Amit served as Head of M&A and Business Development at Everlife Asia in Singapore, was Head of Healthcare Investments at Avenue Capital Group and served in several senior leadership roles at GE Healthcare. As a member of the board of directors, he joins Neeraj Bhargava of Zodius Capital, Tejeshwi Sharma of Sequoia Capital, Sam Santhosh, the founder, Felix Olale from LeapFrog, as well as Mahesh Pratapneni, the co-founder and chief executive officer of MedGenome.

In addition to expanding its product offerings, MedGenome intends to enhance the reach of its key diagnostic services, including reproductive and oncology, as well as to expand its bioinformatics and SaaS capabilities.

About MedGenome

MedGenome, the market leader in South Asia, is a genomics-driven research and diagnostics company with a mission to improve global health by decoding the genetic information contained in an individual's genome. Its unique access to genomic, clinical, and phenotypic data provides insights into complex diseases at the genetic and molecular level in order to transform the practice of personalized medicine and clinical drug discovery.

For Media Queries

Romiya Das

romiya.das@medgenome.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/dr-amit-kakar-joins-medgenome-board-of-directors-301665065.html
Finastra's Fusion Trade Innovation solution enables lower transaction costs and superior user experience for NBP customers

KARACHI, Pakistan and SINGAPORE, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Finastra has today announced that NBP (National Bank of Pakistan) has implemented Finastra's Fusion Trade Innovation solution to power its trade finance operations. InfoTech (Pvt) Ltd., a leading systems integrator and Finastra's exclusive authorized and certified reseller in Pakistan, led the deal and implemented the solution, which will enable NBP to lower transaction costs and provide corporate customers with a superior user experience.





"In the digital age it is important to have the right systems in place to give customers the best possible experience, so digital transformation has been a key priority for us," said Imran Farooqui, SEVP & Group Chief, Operations, NBP. "Having already built a relationship with Finastra and InfoTech, we are confident in their industry-leading offerings and the ongoing service they provide after implementation. Fusion Trade Innovation will give us the tools we need to modernize, future-proof and ultimately grow our business."

Finastra's end-to-end working capital solution, Fusion Trade Innovation, is the industry's leading booking engine. It includes capabilities for frictionless trade and supply chain finance, including buyer and seller loans, letters of credit, collections, guarantees, and government support for export credit and SME loans. Fusion Trade Innovation gives banks control with a development toolkit that enables them to deliver change themselves, all within a solution that is maintained by Finastra. This future-proofing feature provides a more predictable total cost of ownership and enables banks to maintain a clear upgrade path.

"Increasing complexity, regulatory changes and cost of capital mean that efficient trade and supply chain finance management has never been more important. In this environment, banks that are constrained by legacy infrastructures, disjointed processes and fragmented transactional views will struggle to successfully grow their businesses," said Manish Joshi, Managing Director, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific at Finastra. "Fusion Trade Innovation is a comprehensive, modern solution that overcomes these challenges and we look forward to helping NBP take its trade finance business to a new level."

"InfoTech is delighted to spearhead this implementation at Pakistan's largest public sector bank," said Asim Haque, Vice President, Banking Services Business Unit, InfoTech. "We were able to automate NBP's trade operations nationwide, which were previously managed manually. Integrating this with the core, treasury and SWIFT not only gives NBP 360-degree visibility of its trade transactions, but has also managed to reduce operational costs. We look forward to helping NBP to grow its business further with Finastra's solutions."

About Finastra

Finastra is a global provider of financial software applications and marketplaces, and launched

the leading open platform for innovation, FusionFabric.cloud, in 2017. It serves institutions of all sizes, providing award-winning software solutions and services across Lending, Payments, Treasury & Capital Markets and Universal Banking (Retail, Digital and Commercial Banking) for banks to support direct banking relationships and grow through indirect channels, such as embedded finance and Banking as a Service. Its pioneering approach and commitment to open finance and collaboration is why it is trusted by ~8,600 institutions, including 90 of the world's top 100 banks. For more information, visit finastra.com

About InfoTech

Established in 1995, InfoTech is a System Integrator and Software company with specialized focus on Financial & Capital Markets, GovTech (G2B & G2C Services), RegTech (Regulations, Compliances, Fraud Detection) and Connected Governments. Over 600 professionals remain busy serving our clients with end-to-end solutions through a network of 6 offices. InfoTech's products and services offer a blend of technology, domain expertise, and change consulting expertise to deliver results at rapid speed and low delivery risk. ISO 9001 and 27001 certifications along with CMMI Level 3 software development standards ensure world-class quality of product and solutions, and its global presence in multiple countries empowers InfoTech to develop strong delivery channels and post implementation support regionally. For more information, connect with InfoTech at info@infotechgroup.com or visit www.infotechgroup.com

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1916021/FINASTRA_Logo.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/finastra-and-infotech-help-nbp-to-modernize-trade-finance-operations-and-boost-growth-301665764.html
Sydney, Australia--(Newsfile Corp. - November 2, 2022) - Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark has delivered the keynote address on the opening day of the International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC). Ms. Clarke highlighted the need for greater global transparency within the mining and extractive industry as the world transitions to renewable and greener forms of energy.

Given the rising cost of electricity globally, Ms. Clarke warned that the risks of getting the transition wrong would disproportionately affect the most vulnerable in society.

Ms. Clarke addressed the conference in her role as Chair of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and she flagged the difficulties in transitioning in a clean, just and sustainable manner.

"Most low-carbon technologies use far more mineral resources than its fossil fuel equivalent. The bottom line is the world needs more mining," she said.

EITI will release their report on Transition Mineral Value Chains and the Role of Good Governance exclusively at IMARC on Thursday 3rd November. The report will set out a framework for actors at sub-national, national, and international level to engage in transparent and ethical mining.

"Half of the 700 critical mineral sites in the 57 countries EITI reports in impact conservation areas. 80% of those sites are located near or on the land of indigenous people or are of cultural significance," said Ms. Clarke.

Since 2003, EITI has managed to disclose $2.95 trillion USD of revenue across 57 countries. This disclosure has provides the foundation for signatories to identify weaknesses, strengthen processes, and maximise the positive impact of the extractive industries within their region.

Global leaders will continue to collaborate on trends in mining, investment and innovation towards a sustainable future until Friday evening at the ICC Sydney.

ENDS

About

The International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) is where global mining leaders collaborate on trends in mining, investment and innovation towards a sustainable future. As Australia's largest mining event, it brings together over 7,500 decision makers, mining leaders, policy makers, investors, commodity buyers, technical experts, innovators, and educators from more than 110 countries for three days of learning, deal-making and unparalleled networking. IMARC is developed in collaboration with its founding partners the Victorian State Government of Australia, Austmine, the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) and Mines and Money.

For more information, please visit https://imarcglobal.com/

Media Enquiries

Jim Carden

+61 429 112 381

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/142768
Paris, November 2, 2022 - Inside information

At its Capital Markets Day today, Sodexo will present its 2025 strategic plan to generate sustainable, profitable growth and create value for its shareholders and all its stakeholders.

Sodexo's strategy to 'refocus and accelerate' is based on three pillars:

Refocus on food services and be more selective in facilities management;

Accelerate profitable growth of Benefits & Rewards Services;

Strengthen Sodexo's impact as market maker in sustainability.

By successfully executing our strategy, the Board is confident that Sodexo will deliver:

For Fiscal 2023: +8 to +10% organic revenue growth and an underlying operating profit margin of close to 5.5% at constant rates.

For Fiscal 2024 & 2025: +6 to +8% organic revenue growth and a margin above 6% in 2025.

Sodexo's ambition is to be the world leader in sustainable food and valued experiences at every moment in life: learn, work, heal and play. With strong positions in attractive Food and Facilities management markets globally, and with a continued strong focus on execution and a very solid balance sheet, Sodexo is well placed to achieve its ambition.

To implement this strategic plan, a leaner Leadership Team will oversee a simplified and more effective organization.

Sophie Bellon, Sodexo's Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer said:

" Fiscal 2022 was a turning point. Sodexo has strengthened its competitiveness and has made good progress against the priorities I set out when I became CEO. Today, with our strategy to refocus and accelerate, and with a relentless focus on execution, we expect to continue to improve our performance in the coming years. I am confident that Sodexo will deliver solid organic growth and that we can return our Underlying operating profit Margin to over 6%. Our people are essential to the successful delivery of our plans, and I want to thank them for their excellent work in delivering great service to our clients and consumers every day; contributing to the positive impact we have on society and our local communities. I firmly believe that we are on the right track to deliver long-term profitable growth and to be the world leader in sustainable food and valued experiences at every moment in life: learn, work, heal and play".

Sodexo's strategic plan is based on three pillars .

Refocus on food services and be more selective in facilities management by : Upgrading and upscaling existing food offers and accelerating the development of advanced food models to address fast-changing consumer needs and behaviors: multichannel, anytime, anywhere, hybrid. Targeting selected facilities management services that augment the food experience and bring value to our clients and consumers.



Accelerate the profitable growth of Benefits & Rewards Services :

Guided by its vision to bring to life a personalized and sustainable employee experience at work and beyond, the plan is to:

Accelerate in meal and food , by enhancing the digital experience for clients, consumers and merchants and penetration of the SME segment. Augment its core business , by enriching offers with a wider range of integrated and flexible employee benefits, while strengthening employee rewards and recognition and engagement platforms. Diversify its activities as a longer-term ambition.



Benefits & Rewards Services Capex is expected to run at close to 10% of revenues per year during 2022 and 2025 period.

Benefits & Rewards Services is targeting:

For Fiscal 2023, an organic revenue growth between +12 and +15% and an Underlying operating profit margin around 30%. For Fiscal 2024 and 2025, low double-digit organic revenue growth and an Underlying operating profit margin above 30% in Fiscal 2025.







Strengthen Sodexo's impact as market-maker in sustainability :

In line with our mission and purpose, having a positive impact on the planet and people is at the core of Sodexo's business.

Sodexo has launched a process with SBTi 1 to formalize its 'science-based' 2040 Net Zero commitment , which will be a first in the sector. Sodexo is continuing its journey to reduce its environmental impact by committing to achieve -34% carbon emissions reduction by 2025. On the fight against food waste, Sodexo is committed to extending the deployment of its WasteWatch program to 85% of its food service sites by 2025 vs 46% in Fiscal 2022. Recognized as a leader in Diversity, Inclusion and Equity , Sodexo is about to achieve its gender balance objectives at top management level and is targeting gender balance in 100% of its management at country level teams by 2025 .



This strategic plan is supported by three key enablers .

Tech & Data investments are critical to improving operational efficiency while enhancing consumers' experience. On-Site annual IS&T, Digital and Data operating expenses are currently running at around 500 million euros per year. Specifically, to increase consumer centricity, Sodexo aims to reach 10 million active consumers in its On-Site digital ecosystems by 2025.

are critical to improving operational efficiency while enhancing consumers' experience. Commercial excellence: supported by strong consumer-oriented brands, innovative offers, and a robust CRM system and marketing tools. Key focus is to increase client retention to above 95%. A best-in-class CRM system and new digital sales and marketing tools (MSDC) have been deployed in North America with digital marketing leads now accounting for 60% of the pipeline. MSDC's tool is currently being deployed in Europe. Consumer-oriented branded offers will be scaled and expanded, such as The Good Eating Company, Modern Recipe or Aspretto.

supported by strong consumer-oriented brands, innovative offers, and a robust CRM system and marketing tools. Supply chain power : Sodexo will better leverage its powerful global supply chain: Increase Sodexo's purchasing from SMEs, targeting 2 billion euros by 2025 for On-Site Services, to enhance local, responsible, and inclusive sourcing. Continue to develop Entegra, Sodexo's GPO, in the US and in Europe, in Food & Hospitality, as both a profit center and a means of delivering superior Group purchasing power.

: Sodexo will better leverage its powerful global supply chain:

To support this strategy, Sodexo will continue to have a disciplined approach to investment with gross Capex rising from 2.3% of revenues in 2022 to 2.8% in Fiscal 2025 and acquisitions, which will be focused, strategic and accretive.

To execute this strategy, Sodexo is evolving its organization to a simplified and more effective model.

For On-Site services: End-to-end P&L management has been transferred to countries and regions, consolidated into three geographic zones : North America, Europe and the Rest of the World, which includes Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Africa ("APMEA"), Brazil, and Latin America. This brings empowerment, decision-making and quicker response times to a local level. A Growth and Commercial role has been created to accelerate our profitable growth and further develop the value of our segmentation. A Tech & Services function has been created to provide expertise as well as technical and operational support. This function will bring together strategic planning, IS&T, data, digital, innovation and R&D, and also include our food and facilities management expertise.

For Benefits & Rewards Services: A dedicated governance is in place.



For Group: A Group Chief Impact Officer has been appointed to ensure that Sodexo's purpose, mission and values are constantly reflected in our operations and continue to provide a competitive advantage.



As of December 1, 2022, Sodexo's Leadership Team will comprise the following:

Sophie Bellon, Chairwoman & Chief Executive Officer

Nathalie Bellon-Szabo, CEO Sodexo Live! Worldwide

Johnpaul Dimech, President APMEA, Brazil & Latin America

Sarosh Mistry, President North America

Sunil Nayak, President Europe

Anna Notarianni, Group Chief Impact Officer

Marc Plumart, Chief Growth and Commercial Officer

Marc Rolland, Group Chief Financial Officer

Alexandra Serizay, Chief Tech & Services Officer

Aurelien Sonet, CEO Benefits & Rewards Services

Annick de Vanssay, Group Chief Human Resources Officer

To join the Capital Markets Day starting at 11:00am with the opportunity to join Q&A sessions via the conference call.

Capital Markets Day webcast link (https://www.sodexo.com/finance/capital-markets-day-2022.html) Dial-in details for the conference call:



UK: +44 1 212 818 004

France: +33 1 70 91 87 04

US: +1 718 705 8796

Access code: 77 72 30

The presentation will be available on the Group website www.sodexo.comin the "Finance" section at 9.00am (Paris time). This event will be recorded and made available online as soon as possible.

About Sodexo

Founded in Marseille in 1966 by Pierre Bellon, Sodexo is the global leader in Quality of Life Services, an essential factor in individual and organizational performance. Operating in 53 countries, our 422,000 employees serve 100 million consumers each day. Sodexo Group stands out for its independence and its founding family shareholding, its sustainable business model and its portfolio of activities including Food Services, Facilities Management Services and Employee Benefit Solutions. We provide quality, multichannel and flexible food experiences, but also design attractive and inclusive workplaces and shared spaces, manage and maintain infrastructure in a safe and environmentally friendly way, offer personalized support for patients or students, or even create programs fostering employee engagement. From Day 1, Sodexo has been focusing on tangible everyday gestures and actions through its services in order to have a positive economic, social and environmental impact over time. For us, growth and social commitment go hand in hand. Our purpose is to create a better everyday for everyone to build a better life for all.

Sodexo is included in the CAC Next 20, CAC 40 ESG, FTSE 4 Good and DJSI indices.

Key Figures

21.1 billion euro in Fiscal 2022

consolidated revenues

consolidated revenues 422,000 employees as at August 31, 2022

#2 France-based private employer worldwide 53 countries (as at Aug. 31, 2022)

100 million consumers served daily

13.1 billion euro in market capitalization

(as at November 1st, 2022)

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release does not constitute an offer of sale or solicitation of an offer to purchase Sodexo shares. If you wish to obtain more comprehensive information about Sodexo, please refer to the public documents registered in France with the Autorite des marches financiers, also available in English on our website www.sodexo.com and notably the 2022 universal registration document to be filed with the Autorite des marches financiers on November 9, 2022.

This press release may contain forecast information. While the Company believes that these statements are based on reasonable assumptions as of the date of publication of this press release, they are by nature subject to risks and uncertainties which may lead to a discrepancy between the actual figures and those indicated or suggested in these statements.

Contacts

Analysts and Investors Medias Virginia Jeanson



+33 1 57 75 80 56



virginia.jeanson@sodexo.com



Mathieu Scaravetti



+33 6 28 62 21 91 mathieu.scaravetti@sodexo.com







1The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) is a collaboration between the CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project), the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Addressing businesses, it sets itself the goal of driving "ambitious climate action" by offering them to make their transition to a low-carbon economy a competitive advantage.





Attachment
Sale of Basilea's novel preclinical CLK kinase inhibitors

Total payments of up to CHF 354 million

Third oncology transaction as part of Basilea's strategic refocusing on anti-infectives

Basel/Allschwil, Switzerland, November 2, 2022

Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. (SIX: BSLN), a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to meeting the needs of patients with severe bacterial and fungal infections, announced today that it has entered into an asset purchase agreement with Twentyeight-Seven Therapeutics, Inc. ("28-7") for novel inhibitors of CLK kinases, developed by Basilea, that target aberrant splicing of RNA in cancer. 28-7 is a US-based biotech company focused on important RNA and DNA regulators that contribute to the cause and maintenance of cancer, inflammation, and other human diseases.

Adesh Kaul, Chief Financial Officer of Basilea, said: "We are pleased with the sale of our CLK kinase inhibitor program to 28-7, a biotech company with specific expertise in understanding and targeting dysregulation of RNA and DNA processing and sensing, and therefore a preferred partner to move this important program forward. Aberrant RNA splicing is frequently found in human diseases and is increasingly recognized as a hallmark of cancer, thereby creating unique interventions to treat patients with serious diseases. We have secured a participation in the long-term value creation potential of this program and are well on track to complete our strategic refocusing on anti-infectives by the end of the year."

Under the terms of the agreement, Basilea will receive an upfront payment of CHF 1 million and potential near-term milestone payments of CHF 2 million. Basilea is eligible to receive further payments of up to CHF 351 million upon the achievement of predefined development, regulatory and sales milestones.

In February of this year, Basilea announced its intention to focus on becoming a leading anti-infectives company and therefore to separate its oncology assets. Basilea has already made significant progress in the implementation of the new strategy and expects no material expenses related to oncology activities beyond 2022. Basilea is on track to achieve sustainable profitability from 2023.

About Twentyeight-Seven Therapeutics

Twentyeight-Seven Therapeutics is a leading biotechnology company focused on developing first-in-class small molecule drugs that target proteins involved in the dysregulation of RNA and DNA processing and sensing mechanisms that lead to cancer, inflammation and other serious human diseases. The company's core technology comes from its four founding scientists, all leading researchers in RNA biology and cancer. www.twentyeight-seven.com

About Basilea

Basilea is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company founded in 2000 and headquartered in Switzerland. We are committed to discovering, developing and commercializing innovative drugs to meet the needs of patients with severe bacterial and fungal infections. We have successfully launched two hospital brands, Cresemba for the treatment of invasive fungal infections and Zevtera for the treatment of bacterial infections. In addition, we have several preclinical anti-infective assets in our portfolio. Basilea is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange.

Disclaimer

This communication expressly or implicitly contains certain forward-looking statements, such as "believe", "assume", "expect", "forecast", "project", "may", "could", "might", "will" or similar expressions concerning Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd and its business, including with respect to the progress, timing and completion of research, development and clinical studies for product candidates. Such statements involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd is providing this communication as of this date and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

For further information, please contact:

Peer Nils Schroder, PhD



Head of Corporate Communications & Investor Relations

Basilea Pharmaceutica International Ltd, Allschwil

Hegenheimermattweg 167b

4123 Allschwil

Switzerland Phone +41 61 606 1102 E-mail media_relations@basilea.com (mailto:media_relations@basilea.com)

investor_relations@basilea.com (mailto:investor_relations@basilea.com)

This press release can be downloaded from www.basilea.com.

Attachment




Significant improvement in the Gaia ESG rating

The results of the 2022 Gaia Rating campaign were unveiled in October 2022. As part of its evaluation campaign, the extra-financial rating agency EthiFinance reviewed the responsible investment performance of 384 listed SMEs and SMIs, according to demanding and quantitative criteria.

Thanks to the development and implementation of its ESG policy, Groupe Gorge has improved its score by 8 points this year, reaching 66/100, thus ranking 19th in its category1. Thanks to this improvement, Groupe Gorge has been awarded a silver medal for its 2021 extra-financial performance.

This is the fifth consecutive year of improvement in the rating, which has risen again this year thanks to progress on the four pillars of the Gaia assessment: Environment, Social, Governance and External Stakeholders.

Groupe Gorge intends to continue this trajectory of continuous improvement in its extra-financial performance. The next step in December will strengthen the group's governance.





Appointment of two new independent directors

On Monday, Groupe Gorge convened the Combined General Meeting that will be held on December 8 to vote on the simplification of its activities and the adoption of a new identity, Exail Technologies. The documents relating to this General Meeting are available on the company's website (www.groupe-gorge.com/en/shareholders-meeting). In particular, they include the report of the independent expert certifying the fair valuation of the Engineering & Protection Systems division and the fairness of the conditions of the transaction for all Groupe Gorge shareholders.

At this General Meeting, Groupe Gorge will also propose the appointment of two new independent directors, Julie Avrane and Pierre Verzat. Their expertise in cutting-edge industrial sectors, including the defense sector, will strengthen the Board of Directors in its work on the group's activities. They will also bring their experience in strategy, growth, mergers and acquisitions, post-merger integration and transformation plans in the technology industry. These skills are particularly relevant in the current context of the structuring of the new leading industrial champion, Exail, formed by the combination of the ECA Group and iXblue.

Subject to the approval of the General Assembly, the Board of Directors will be composed of 9 members with 63% independent and 50% women2.





Biographies of Julie Avrane and Pierre Verzat

Julie Avrane is a graduate of the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Telecommunications de Paris and of the College des Ingenieurs. She also holds an MBA from INSEAD. As a senior partner in McKinsey & Company's Paris office, where she worked from 1999 to July 2020, Julie Avrane led the firm's Advanced Industries practice in France (advanced electronics, aerospace and defense, automotive and assembly industries). She also co-managed the High Tech and Telecom Practice Group at the European level.

Prior to joining McKinsey's Paris office, Julie Avrane worked as a researcher for Bull Honeywell in the United States in 1993 and for Cogema (Areva) in 1994, and as a business analyst in McKinsey's London office for two years from 1995 to 1997.

Pierre Verzat is an engineer from Ecole Polytechnique and ENSTA, and started his career in 1986 as a naval engineer specialized in nuclear propulsion. In 1992 he became CEO of BEA (Dalkia Group), before joining the AREVA group as CEO of ELTA and then SVP Industry, Transport and Environment of Technicatome. He joined the EADS group in 2005 as SVP Engineering and Industry of Astrium Space Transportation and then as Chief Operating Officer of Astrium Space Services. Since 2011 he has been Chairman of the Management Board of the SYSTRA Group.

Pierre Verzat received the European CEO of the Year award in 2016 from the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) in the UK. He is a Knight of the Legion of Honor. Since 2018, he has been President of Syntec-Ingenierie.







About Groupe Gorge

Groupe Gorge is a high-tech industrial group driven by a strong entrepreneurial culture. The Group generated revenue of 178 million in 2021. It is present in drones, engineering and protection systems and now employs around 2,000 people.

More information on www.groupe-gorge.com

Groupe Gorge is listed on Euronext Paris Compartment B (GOE).

Contacts: Investor Relations

Hugo Soussan

Tel. +33 (0)1 44 77 94 86

h.soussan@groupe-gorge.com



Claire Riffaud

Tel. +33 (0)1 53 67 36 79

criffaud@actus.fr Media Relations

Manon Clairet

Tel. +33 (0)1 53 67 36 73

mclairet@actus.fr

1 Category including companies evaluated with revenues between 150 and 500 M, i.e. 82 companies.

2 In accordance with the corporate governance code for listed companies, the director representing the employees (Celine Leroy) is not counted to establish these percentages.

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PARIS (dpa-AFX) - French food services and facilities management company Sodexo SA (SDXAY.PK) Wednesday announced its strategic plans to accelerate future revenue growth. The company said that it is confident of achieving 8%-10% organic revenue growth at constant rates for 2023, if it could implement its plans successfully. Sodexo's strategy to 'refocus and accelerate' includes, refocus on food services and be more selective in facilities management; accelerate profitable growth of Benefits & Rewards Services; and strengthen Sodexo's impact as market maker in sustainability. For fiscal 2024 and 2025, the company sees organic revenue growth of 6%-8%, on accomplishing the plans. 'Fiscal 2022 was a turning point. Sodexo has strengthened its competitiveness and has made good progress against the priorities I set out when I became CEO. Today, with our strategy to refocus and accelerate, and with a relentless focus on execution, we expect to continue to improve our performance in the coming years,' commented Sophie Bellon, Sodexo's Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer. 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.
Sydney, Australia--(Newsfile Corp. - November 2, 2022) - The transition to a green energy future has been a key focus on the first day of International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC).

A key challenge facing the transition is the lack of available critical minerals to help build green technologies.

Newcrest Mining Chief Financial Officer, Sherry Duhe told the opening session of IMARC that critical mineral demand is going to increase by 300% by 2040.

"As we become less of the problem we need to be more of the solution" said Ms Duhe.

Australia is currently the world's largest supplier of nickel, rutile, tantalum and zircon. Whilst also being within the top five global suppliers of cobalt, lithium, copper, antimony, niobium and vanadium. Key materials needed for battery and other green technologies vital to a sustainable future.

Amber Bieg from Warm Springs Consulting pointed to stark figures that illustrate the massive hurdle the globe faces in order to reach net zero by 2050.

Amber said that "to achieve global net zero carbon emissions, mining of minerals will need to grow by 6 times by 2050."

Despite the need for more mining in order to transition to a green energy future, the public still perceive the mining industry intrinsically tied to fossil fuels when the reality is vastly different.

Troy Hey, Executive General Manager at MMG however sees the demand for critical minerals as generational opportunity for the sector.

Mr Hey said that "this could be the greatest reputational repositioning for the industry in a life a time."

IMARC speakers and delegates will continue to discuss the energy transition over the next 2 days as they continue to collaborate on trends in mining, investment and innovations towards a sustainable future.

About

The International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) is where global mining leaders collaborate on trends in mining, investment and innovation towards a sustainable future. As Australia's largest mining event, it brings together over 7,500 decision makers, mining leaders, policy makers, investors, commodity buyers, technical experts, innovators, and educators from more than 110 countries for three days of learning, deal-making and unparalleled networking. IMARC is developed in collaboration with its founding partners the Victorian State Government of Australia, Austmine, the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) and Mines and Money.

For more information, please visit https://imarcglobal.com/

Media Enquiries

Jim Carden

+61 429 112 381

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/142774
Regulatory News:

M6 Group (Paris:MMT) has entered into exclusive negotiations with the company Passat S.A., with a view to the sale of its subsidiary Best of TV, which is 51% owned.

Best of TV (importer wholesaler) offers, for mass retail, various niche products including some that are exclusive to home shopping. They are generally accompanied in store by modern and attractive displays with a demo vide.

Passat S.A. and Best of TV evolve in the same competitive universe and offer different and complementary ranges to their customers. This complementarity of offer, as well as the sharing of common values, will accelerate the development of their business.

This project has the support of the management of Best of TV.

Completion of the transaction remains subject to finalisation of the negotiations and to consultation with employee representative bodies.

With this disposal, M6 is continuing the turnover of its diversification portfolio whose development is notably based on the strength of the Group's TV channels.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005482/en/

Contacts:

INVESTOR RELATIONS

Guillaume Couturie +33 (0)1 41 92 28 03 guillaume.couturie@m6.fr

PRESS

Paul Mennesson +33 (0)1 41 92 61 36 paul.mennesson@m6.fr
OSLO, Norway, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kosli, a developer tools startup based in Oslo, Norway, has closed a $3.1m seed round led by Heavybit to solve dynamic change monitoring and continuous compliance.

Heavybit is the world's leading investor in developer-first startups with a portfolio that includes Snyk, Stripe, LaunchDarkly, and Netlify. They are joined in the round by Fortino Capital and Monochrome Capital, with pre-seed backer Skyfall Ventures as follow-on investors.

Kosli was founded in 2019 as a compliance automation platform for regulated software teams in sectors like finance. Alongside their seed funding announcement Kosli launches a free tier that offers a much broader set of use cases. Developers in all industries will now be able to use Kosli to understand how constantly evolving software systems are changing. And they will be able to do it using basic commands.

Heavybit Partner, Joe Ruscio, explained Heavybit's decision to invest, "since our first meeting with the Kosli team we strongly believed in a much bigger market opportunity that expands beyond regulated industries and serves a need for DevOps teams in every single vertical of the global economy."

Developer first with enterprise compliance

Today's software organizations have many repos, microservices, pipelines and environments. It's an increasingly complex world where modern tools and practices are enabling exponential rates of change. But these high change rates create problems for everyone in the modern software development team.

On a day to day level it makes life difficult for developers trying to figure out where their code is and why environments and services might be broken. At a higher level it makes gathering evidence for compliance and audit purposes a difficult and time consuming process. Kosli solves both of these problems by recording changes and making them easily searchable.

Kosli founder and CEO, Mike Long, explains the double sided problem that his team have solved, "We set out to automate compliance for regulated teams, but we quickly realized our tool was also really helpful for developers trying to understand how and why their environments are really changing."

Record, Connect and Search software changes

Kosli gives every stakeholder the power to record, connect, and search for changes across their entire value stream. It empowers developers, DevOps engineers, platform engineers, and CTOs in both daily and longer term strategic tasks.

With Kosli, developers have the power to pinpoint specific changes without having to spend hours searching in logs. And for teams in regulated sectors, Kosli provides an automated trail of compliance evidence. Crucially, Kosli is available from the command line as well as a web based GUI, an important feature for developers.

Alex Kantor, Director of Technology at Modulr Finance, describes how it's used in their organization "Kosli gives us more than just a single pane of glass view. Checks, gates, and the segregation of duties can be proven within the development team, enabling them to self-serve. The time it takes from requesting a deployment to it actually happening has decreased significantly. By implementing Kosli the squads are able to release themselves."

You can find out more about Kosli's free tier by visiting their website

Bruce Johnston

Email: bruce@kosli.com

Phone: +447812241011

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/21769/3659462/1646990.pdf Press release (PDF) https://news.cision.com/kosli-as/i/kosli-heavybit,c3108994 kosli-Heavybit https://mb.cision.com/Public/21769/3659462/8015f7ca30f62682.pdf Kosli-fact-sheet

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/kosli-raises-3-1m-seed-round-led-by-heavybit-301665833.html


MARTINSRIED (dpa-AFX) - Medigene AG (MDG1), an immuno-oncology company focusing on the development of T-cell-based cancer therapies, on Wednesday reported lower revenues in the third quarter of 2022 primarily due to suspension of activities within the partnership with Hongsheng Sciences. Due to financing constraints, Hongsheng Sciences has temporarily suspended its development activities within the Medigene partnership.



EBITDA was a loss of 3.763 million euros as compared to a loss of 1.754 million euros in the third quarter of 2021.



The company generated revenue of 1.424 million euros compared to 2.187 million euros in the third quarter of 2021.



R&D expenses increased to 3.258 million euros in the current quarter, which is higher by 0.766 million euros compared to the third quarter of 2021 amidst additional costs for the MDG1011 clinical trial.



The company has adjusted the financial forecast for 2022 due to the successful closing of the MDG1011 clinical trial as well as further savings and now expects revenues of 23-28 million euros, R&D expenses of 9 - 11 million euros and a positive EBITDA in the amount of 8 - 9 million euros in 2022. The management's guidance issued in August had indicated revenues of 23 million-28 million euros, R&D expenses of 11-15 million euros and EBITDA of 3 million-5 million euros in 2022.



Shares of Medigene closed Tuesday's trading at 2.25 euro.



Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved



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BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Germany's exports dropped unexpectedly and imports logged its first time fall in eight months in September, official data revealed on Wednesday. Exports dropped 0.5 percent month-on-month, Destatis reported. This was followed by a 2.9 percent rise in August. Shipments were expected to gain 0.1 percent. At the same time, imports registered a decline of 2.3 percent, in contrast to the 4.9 percent rise in August. Imports were forecast to ease 0.4 percent. This was the first fall since January. As the pace of fall in imports exceeded the decline in exports, the trade surplus increased to a seasonally adjusted EUR 3.7 billion from EUR 1.2 billion in the previous month. The surplus was forecast to fall to EUR 0.7 billion. On a yearly basis, exports logged a double-digit growth of 20.3 percent but slower than the prior month's 23.1 percent increase. Likewise, imports growth eased to 30.7 percent from 37.6 percent. Exports to EU member states fell 1.7 percent and that to euro area economies dropped by 1.6 percent. Imports from EU member states and Eurozone decreased 1.2 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively. Data showed that exports to the Russia slid 5.4 percent from August and imports from Russia plunged 33.1 percent. Germany exported 5.6 percent more goods to the United States, while imports from the U.S. fell 1.3 percent. In a separate communique, the statistical office said the jobless rate held steady at seasonally adjusted 3.0 percent in September. The number of unemployed totaled 1.31 million, on a par with the level recorded in August 2022. On an unadjusted basis, the unemployment rate was 2.9 percent versus 3.3 percent in the same period last year. 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.
Mr. Serocold Joins Ares with Over 20 Years of Private Wealth Distribution Experience Across Europe and Asia to Support Rapidly Growing Base of Global Individual Investors

Ares Management Corporation (NYSE: ARES) ("Ares") announced today that Mark Serocold has joined the firm as a Partner and Head of EMEA for Ares Wealth Management Solutions ("AWMS"). Based in London, Mr. Serocold's newly created role will oversee product development, distribution and strategic partnerships across the EMEA region for AWMS. In addition to Mr. Serocold, Ares recently hired three additional team members across sales, client services and product development to support AWMS's efforts in EMEA.

Mr. Serocold has nearly 20 years of private wealth distribution experience across Europe and Asia. Prior to joining Ares, Mr. Serocold spent the last four years as a Managing Director at Blackstone in London, where he helped build and oversee the firm's Private Wealth Solutions Group in EMEA. Prior to joining Blackstone, Mr. Serocold was at Neuberger Berman supporting intermediary sales in both Hong Kong and London. Mr. Serocold graduated from the University of Bristol where he earned a B.A. in Spanish.

"High net worth individuals in Europe, the Middle East and Asia invested over $38 trillion of assets in 2021, and by 2024, are projected to have $54 trillion to put to work, with their allocation to private markets expected to double. With this significant growth opportunity for our industry, we are committed to building out dedicated wealth management teams that cater to the growing retail opportunity in these regions and Mark's hiring is a key step in that process," said Raj Dhanda, Ares' Global Head of Wealth Management. "Bringing Mark's extensive experience and accomplished record in private wealth solutions to Ares and the ongoing build out of his EMEA team reflect our commitment to expanding access to Ares' industry-leading investment capabilities and market insights for individual investors."

"I am thrilled to be joining Ares and helping lead one of the largest fundraising and client service teams dedicated to the wealth management channel amongst our peers," said Mr. Serocold. "As Ares looks to strategically partner on innovative solutions across its credit, private equity, real estate and secondaries strategies for individual investors, I look forward to leveraging my experience in the private wealth solutions space to help expand the depth and breadth of its relationships with financial intermediaries."

About Ares Management Corporation

Ares Management Corporation (NYSE: ARES) is a leading global alternative investment manager offering clients complementary primary and secondary investment solutions across the credit, private equity, real estate and infrastructure asset classes. We seek to provide flexible capital to support businesses and create value for our stakeholders and within our communities. By collaborating across our investment groups, we aim to generate consistent and attractive investment returns throughout market cycles. As of September 30, 2022, Ares Management Corporation's global platform had approximately $341 billion of assets under management, with over 2,450 employees operating across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. For more information, please visit www.aresmgmt.com.

Ares Wealth Management Solutions

Ares Wealth Management Solutions (AWMS) oversees the product development, distribution, marketing and client management activities of investment offerings for the global wealth management channel. With a team of approximately 117 professionals and backed by the power and scale of the Ares platform, AWMS represents one of the most resourced wealth distribution and client service teams in the alternatives industry. AWMS' mission is to provide advisors and their clients access to innovative, solutions-oriented investment opportunities, across the Ares platform of industry leading credit, private equity, real estate and secondaries strategies. Through our range of institutional and retail structures, coupled with excellent client service and educational resources, we help investors diversify their portfolios with private market solutions that seek to deliver consistent, long-term growth.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221101006351/en/

Contacts:

Media:

Europe

media.europe@aresmgmt.com



U.S.

Priscila Roney, +1 212-808-1185

or

Brittany Cash, +1 212-301-0347

Media@aresmgmt.com
LONDON, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Riscure, a global security advisory lab and market leader in Side Channel Analysis (SCA), has partnered with PQShield, a cybersecurity company specializing in post-quantum cryptography, to evaluate PQShield's SCA testing and validation processes.

The quantum threat is high on the global security agenda, with governments and their partners planning their transition to quantum-resistance via post-quantum cryptography (PQC). In July, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced draft standards for post-quantum cryptography - an important and long-awaited information security milestone.

Even when PQC algorithms are mathematically secure, they can potentially be broken by a class of exploits known as side channel attacks. These attacks exploit the PQC algorithm implementation in hardware or software rather than the underlying mathematical problem itself, and underline how important it is that any side-channel vulnerabilities are identified and addressed before solutions are widely rolled out.

PQShield is a market leader in quantum-ready cryptographic solutions for hardware, software and communications. The company is a major contributor to the NIST post-quantum standardisation project, and the draft standards it announced in July this year are all schemes contributed to by PQShield's researchers and advisory board.

Riscure provides evaluation and validation services to reinforce the security of products and components including hardware cryptographic engines, large SoCs, boot ROM, security-enhanced software applications and trusted execution environments. Riscure also provides Security Tools and Training to help companies improve the security knowledge and expertise of their development teams.

With this project, the two companies will evaluate PQShield's SCA testing process. They will also share knowledge about post-quantum cryptography and its impact on side channel attacks, advancing companies' and governments' understanding of how new quantum-secure algorithms can be secured through robust validation and countermeasures.

PQShield CEO & Founder, Ali El Kaafarani, said: "Side channel attacks are a serious concern for cryptographers working on quantum-secure solutions. Not all devices running cryptographic operations provide the same level of assurance, so while many governments have encouraged organizations to upgrade their secure digital infrastructure, this must be tested and validated before it can stand up to the quantum threat.

"Riscure has a well-earned reputation when it comes to understanding and tackling complex security challenges. We are delighted to share our learnings in the face of the looming quantum threat to information security."

Marc Witteman CEO & Founder from Riscure added: "We have seen a surge in interest from businesses and governments recently looking to secure sensitive data with PQC. We are looking forward to working alongside PQShield, experts in PQC software and hardware co-design, by educating and sharing best practices with industry. With this collaboration we also aim to provide the industry with robust quantum-resistant Side Channel Analysis and lead to integration of PQC into our leading tools - in turn helping all major businesses and governments mitigate the quantum-threat."

About PQShield

PQShield is a cybersecurity company specialising in post-quantum cryptography, protecting data from today's attacks while readying organisations for the threat landscape of tomorrow. It is the only cybersecurity company that can demonstrate quantum-safe cryptography on chips, in applications, and in the cloud. Headquartered in the UK, with additional teams in the United States, France and the Netherlands, its quantum-secure cryptographic solutions work with companies' legacy systems to protect devices and sensitive data now and for years to come. PQShield is principally backed by Addition, Crane Venture Partners, Oxford Science Enterprises (formerly OSI), Kindred Capital, and InnovateUK. www.pqshield.com | LinkedIn | Twitter

About Riscure

Riscure is a leading vendor of security tools, services, and training for edge devices. Our tooling helps global technology leaders to build robust hardware and software solutions. Riscure security analysts bring top-notch security expertise to development teams and aim to run no-pain certification projects. Built on a wealth of security research and extensive practical experience, Riscure is well recognized for its technical leadership. Riscure serves Semiconductor, Mobile Security and Mobile Payment, Automotive and Premium Content industries as well as the Government sector. Follow us on Twitter @Riscure and LinkedIn.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/pqshield-and-riscure-collaborate-on-post-quantum-cryptography-sca-validation-301664981.html
New Company to bring customised experiences to discerning global clientele that combines luxury and art

DUBLIN, Ireland, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Rochtaine, a new luxury travel operator with a unique global portfolio of villas has been launched today. It will offer villas and residences across the most sought-after destinations around the world. It is launching with its global portfolio of luxury properties and a mission of aligning with modern-day discerning leisure and business travellers who expect outstanding quality and flawless purpose-driven services and experiences. The Rochtaine experience provides a commitment to bring immersive local art experiences to each client, consequently supporting local artists across all of its destinations.

Full details of the Rochtaine portfolio are available on www.rochtaine.com. As part of its offering, the company will:

Build customised experiences for highly discerning clientele focused on luxury, wellness and travel activities;

pledge support to local immersive art experiences, customised for clients in each stay, supporting local artists and building long term sustainable relationships

deliver a concierge proposition that builds, manages, and coordinates our clients' unique and unparalleled travel experience end to end; and

Guarantee clients a treasured and memorable and once in a lifetime experiences.

With more than two decades of knowledge and experience, the expert team at Rochtaine has travelled to the furthest reaches of the world, exploring everything from the biggest cities to the smallest villages. Its mission is to provide an intuitive offering that adapts to the personal needs of its discerning clientele. As a luxury travel operator, Rochtaine is driven to provide access to unique properties and experiences in a manner that fosters wellness and immersive local art expression for our clients. The concept involves the engagement of local communities of art and culture and supporting the locales of our property portfolio.

Conscious luxury has become desirable for people looking for unforgettable experiences that will positively impact the places they visit. Rochtaine understands that its clients want to understand more about the culture of the destinations and engage with the local community. It sources its employees, service providers and products locally in each of its destinations; and embraces the local community by engaging with local experts, artisans and products. Rochtaine will provide spaces for local artists and emerging designers to host events and shows. It is a win-win approach as the team combines extensive experience in event management and a love of arts.

Marta Banasik, Head of Rochtaine Experiences said: "As well as luxury and comfort, we build our experiences using the most meticulously chosen facets of well-being and culture; literature, art, philanthropy, culinary delights, and visual wonders supplied by local artists, chefs, and travel experts. We aim to be intrinsically connected to our local communities to make the most for the business and the community".

In an era where most things are available with a 'click' luxury is less about "things" and more about experiences; careful craftsmanship; unique cultures; untamed landscapes; and slowing down. Rochtaine is reviving that notion of rebuilding relationships, fulfilling once-in-a-lifetime experiences and developing deep connections to the locale of choice.

Issued on behalf of Rochtaine by Heneghan Strategic Communications

About Rochtaine

Rochtaine is part of the VentureWave Group with a diverse range of investment, asset management and portfolio companies. Portfolio businesses include VentureWave Capital, Vestiver, Rochtaine and VentureWave Partners. Rochtaine is an international lifestyle brand that creates tailored luxury travel and well-being experiences. Offering a selection of exclusive properties in prestigious locations.

For more information, please visit www.rochtaine.com or contact Marta Banasik at Marta.Banasik@rochtaine.com .

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1935240/Rochtaine_Koh_Samui.jpg

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/rochtaine-launches-global-luxury-property-portfolio-301665039.html
Schneider executives invited to advise on ways to solve energy and climate crises

Schneider Electric Foundation on the ground to support initiatives to get young people more involved in climate action

Rueil-Malmaison (France), November1, 2022 - Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, today called for accelerated action for an equitable transition to net-zero, driven by collaborative action across the private and public sectors.

The company's call to action comes in the run-up to the COP27United Nations Climate Change Conference in Egypt on 6-18 November, which Gwenaelle Avice-Huet, Schneider Electric's Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer, and other senior Schneider Electric executives will attend.

Described by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as a "litmus test"of how serious governments are about the growing toll that climate change is taking on the most vulnerable countries, the event takes place against a backdrop of mounting climate-linked disasters and a painfully disruptive global energy crisis.

During COP27, Schneider Electric executives will participate in a series of panels and meet decisionmakers across business, government and civil society, to help advise on of the sometimes still-underappreciated solutions and approaches that can help deliver urgently needed carbon-reduction action. In-depth analysis from the Schneider Electric Sustainability Research Institute, for example, is helping to underline the big role that the demand-side of the energy equation, and the combination of electrification and digitization can play in accelerating the energy transition.

Also at COP27, the Schneider Electric Foundationis partnering with various NGOs - including Art of Change 21- to get young people actively involved in combating the climate crisis. In this spirit, Schneider Electric will also be announcing its partnership with RISE - Our World Heritage, a documentary and educational project to promote the impactful combination of technology and local action for sustainability.

A widely-recognizedchampion of decarbonization and sustainability, Schneider Electric is a big believer in the need for companies to go beyond just "doing business", and to work with multiple stakeholders and partner to generate a positive long-term impact on the planet and society.

Schneider's Accessto Energyprogram, for example, is particularly relevant at the COP27 setting, as it brings affordable renewable power solutions and education to rural and remote communities in emerging countries in Africa and elsewhere.

"The climate and energy crises, and the often-unequal economic pain they're inflicting around the globe, are far too big for any of us to tackle alone," said GwenaelleAvice-Huet, Schneider Electric's Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer. "What we need is faster action, across all fronts, and across all facets and layers of business, government and society - a systemic and collaborative approach that spans both big-picture global initiatives and on-the-ground local action."

About Schneider Electric

Schneider's purpose is to empower all to make the most of our energy and resources, bridging progress and sustainability for all. We call this Life Is On.

Our mission is to be your digital partner for Sustainability and Efficiency.

We drive digital transformation by integrating world-leading process and energy technologies, end-point to cloud connecting products, controls, software and services, across the entire lifecycle, enabling integrated company management, for homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure and industries.

We are the most local of global companies. We are advocates of open standards and partnership ecosystems that are passionate about our shared Meaningful Purpose, Inclusive and Empowered values.

www.se.com

Follow us on:

Discover the newest perspectives shaping sustainability, electricity 4.0, and next generation automation on Schneider Electric Insights

Hashtags: SchneiderElectric ImpactCompany COP27

Related resources:
Pre-Stabilisation notice

November 2, 2022

Not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States or any jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful.

European Investment Bank (EIB)

0.05 % EUR 1bn green Tap due 2029

Pre-Stabilisation Notice

Commerzbank AG (contact: Daniela Olt-Farrelly; telephone: +49 69 13620) hereby announces, as Stabilisation Coordinator, that the Stabilising Managers named below may stabilise the offer of the following securities in accordance with Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052 under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU Regulation 596/2014).

The security to be stabilised: Issuer: European Investment Bank (EIB) Guarantor (if any): none Aggregate nominal amount: EUR 1,000,000,000 Description: EUR1bn Nov-29 CAB Tap, Offer price: tbc Other offer terms: settlement 9 Nov 2022; maturity 15 Nov 2022, Listing Lux, denoms 1k/1k Stabilisation: Stabilisation Coordinator:

Stabilising Managers: Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft

Banco Santander

Barclays Stabilisation period expected to start on: 2nd November 2022 Stabilisation period expected to end on: no later than 30 days after the proposed issue date of the securities Existence, maximum size and conditions of use of over-allotment facility. The Stabilising Managers may over-allot the securities to the extent permitted in accordance with applicable law. Stabilisation trading venue: Luxembourg

In connection with the offer of the above securities, the Stabilising Manager(s) may over-allot the securities or effect transactions with a view to supporting the market price of the securities during the stabilisation period at a level higher than that which might otherwise prevail. However, stabilisation may not necessarily occur and any stabilisation action, if begun, may cease at any time Any stabilisation action or over-allotment shall be conducted in accordance with all applicable laws and rules.

This announcement is for information purposes only and does not constitute an invitation or offer to underwrite, subscribe for or otherwise acquire or dispose of any securities of the Issuer in any jurisdiction.

This announcement is not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States or any other jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful.

END
TERRAOIL SWISS AG / Key word(s): Annual Results

TERRAOIL SWISS AG: Terraoil Completes IFRS Financial Statements



02.11.2022 / 09:26 CET/CEST





Terraoil Completes IFRS Financial Statements

Audits of Consolidated Financial Statements Under IFRS Finalized

Steinhausen, Switzerland, November 2, 2022 - Terraoil Swiss AG ("Company"), an energy company with a strong focus on the Mediterranean is pleased to announce the completion of the audits of the consolidated financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2021.

The financial statements are available on the Company's website at https://terraoil.swiss/financialreports.

Chief Financial Officer, Bill Cummins commented:

"The completion of the audits was an important step forward for the Company. We believe that the consolidated financial statements are important for the Company and its shareholders. From a business development perspective, they provide relevant information for potential investors, partners and financial institutions."

If you are an Terraoil shareholder and would like additional information, contact Peter Krempin either via email investors@terraoil.swiss or by telephone at +41 71 544 01 20.

About Terraoil Swiss AG

Terraoil is an international energy company with a focus to identify and advance business opportunities in the upstream oil and gas and renewable energy sectors in the Mediterranean region.

https://terraoil.swiss

Terraoil forward-looking statements

This media release serves informational purposes and constitutes neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation or an advertisement to buy any shares of Terraoil Swiss AG in any jurisdiction. This media release does not constitute a prospectus within the meaning of Article 35 et seqq. of the Swiss Federal Act on Financial Services. In addition, investors should seek advice from their bank or their financial adviser. This media release and the information contained therein are not being issued for the purpose of selling shares in the United States of America, Australia, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, or the European Economic Area and must not be distributed within or to such countries or via publications with a general circulation in such countries.

This media release contains forward-looking statements such as projections, forecasts, and estimates. Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties which may cause actual results, performance, or events to differ materially from those anticipated in this media release. Readers should therefore not rely on these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this media release are based on the views and assumptions of Terraoil Swiss AG as of this date and Terraoil Swiss AG does not assume any obligation to update or revise this media release.

End of Media Release


Assisting Lifestyle Changes as a Treatment for Hypertension

CureApp, Inc. (Head Office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Kohta Satake) announces the start of insurance coverage for its CureApp HT Hypertension Adjunctive Treatment App (hereafter, CureApp HT), a DTx*1 solution treating hypertension, in Japan from September 1, 2022. Looking ahead, the app will be prescribed and provided to patients with hypertension as a health insurance treatment at medical institutions.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221031005330/en/

Assisting Lifestyle Changes as a Treatment for Hypertension (Graphic: Business Wire)

After confirming the efficacy and safety of CureApp HT through clinical trials, the results of a Japanese Phase III domestic multicenter randomized controlled trial were published in EHJ, one of the most well-respected peer reviewed journals in the world in 2021. In April 2022, CureApp HT was the first digital therapeutics app for hypertension to receive government approval in the world, and the app has been covered by insurance since September 1. This marks the first case of a DTx treatment solution being covered by insurance in the field of hypertension in the world. Looking ahead, CureApp looks to pursue further commercialization efforts of this Japanese-led medical innovation. The impact of hypertension is seen beyond Japan's borders, and efforts to correct patient lifestyle habits is a common theme across the globe. Therefore, CureApp also plans to proactively expand CureApp HT's reach all over the world, beginning with the U.S.

Importance of lifestyle changes, current challenges, and the potential of CureAppHT

The Guidelines for the Management of Hypertension 2019 describes that "lifestyle changes are important because not only are they expected to produce a hypotensive effect, but also they prevent hypertension". The guidelines also say that "lifestyle guidance should be provided to all patients with hypertension, because they could increase the hypotensive effect and reduce the dosage of antihypertensive drugs". Despite this recommendation, there has been little uptake in such behavioral therapy due to the challenges presented in having patients implement lifestyle changes on a continual basis and limited time of doctor consultation sessions. It is also said that a certain period of guided intervention*2 is needed for lifestyle changes to take hold.

CureApp HT helps to connect doctors and patients, and promotes lifestyle changes that were previously difficult to maintain while ensuring to sustain modified behavior in patients.

*1 An abbreviation of Digital Therapeutics. Products with pharmaceutical approval for use as medical devices.

*2 Kamioka H, Nakamura Y, Yazaki T, Uebaba K, Mutoh Y, Okada S, Takahashi M. Comprehensive health education combining hot spa bathing and lifestyle education in middle-aged and elderly women: one-year follow-up on randomized controlled trial of three- and six-month interventions. J Epidemiol. 2006 Jan;16(1):35-44. doi: 10.2188/jea.16.35. PMID: 16369107; PMCID: PMC7560544.

Summary of clinical trials for this product

https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehab559

About CureApp, Inc.

CureApp, Inc. is a MedTech venture that conducts research and development into the creation of medical device programs, which apply advanced software technology and medical evidence to treat illnesses, with the intent of manufacturing and distributing them. The Company is hard at work developing "therapeutic apps" apps used to treat illnesses in order to become the first in Japan to establish a new healthcare service centered on "producing a therapeutic effect to treat illnesses using an app". In August 2020, CureApp was the first to receive medical device regulatory approval for a disease treatment app in Japan in the form of a nicotine addiction treatment app, which was later reimbursed under national health insurance in December of the same year.

Businesses CureApp is involved in

Nicotine addiction Received Medical Device Regulatory Approval in August 2020; reimbursed by National Healthcare insurance and prescriptions begin in December of the same year Hypertension Received Medical Device Regulatory Approval in April 2022 NASH (Nonalcoholic steato-hepatitis) Under joint development with Sawai Group Holdings Co. Undergoing clinical trials with The University of Tokyo Hospital Alcohol addiction App currently in development with the National Hospital Organization Kurihama Medical and Addiction Center Clinical trials underway at the Okayama City General Medical Center, Okayama City Hospital Oncology Treatment app for breast cancer patients currently in development with DAIICHI SANKYO COMPANY, LIMITED. Chronic heart failure App under development with our partners at the YUMINO Medical Corporation

In addition to the above, we provide mobile health programs for private companies through our "ascure Smoking Cessation Program" and "Specific Health Guidance ascure Smoking Cessation Program", which leverages the knowledge garnered in the development of these digital therapeutics for medical institutions. These programs have been implemented at over 230 companies and health insurance societies. Looking ahead, we will look to sequentially rolling out this "Japanese-developed digital health solution" worldwide based on the model established in Japan.

CureApp, Inc. Company Profile

Representative

Director and

President Kohta Satake Head Office Address Kodenma-Cho YS building 4th floor 12-5, Nihonbashi Kodenma-Cho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan, 103-0001 U.S. Branch CureApp North America, Inc. Business activities Development of Software as a Medical Device (SaMD), mobile health-related services URL https://cureapp.co.jp/en/

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221031005330/en/

Contacts:

Inquiries

PR Representative, CureApp, Inc.

pr-team@cureapp.jp (Mishima)
Award winners were announced at Synergy '22, the RegTech provider's annual event. The awards celebrate innovation, collaboration, and culture in the compliance industry, with nominations that came in from across the globe.

ROCKVILLE, Md., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- StarCompliance ("Star"), a leading provider of employee compliance technology solutions, announced the recipients of their Star Client Awards during Synergy '22, the company's annual flagship event. The awards celebrate innovation, collaboration, and culture in RegTech. Star created three awards for North America ("NA") and three for EMEA, to acknowledge achievements within these regions. Star will be donating $1,000 to each winner's charity of choice.

"I'm honored to congratulate all the winners of our Star Client Awards," said Star CEO Jennifer Sun, "and applaud their significant contributions to the progress of RegTech in the field of compliance. Our client relationships are incredibly important in helping us continually deliver a better platform. With their counsel, we can better direct our investments of time, money, and resources into our technology that brings real value to the industry."

This year's Star Client Awards included the Star Innovator, Collaborator, and Influencer Awards.

The Star Innovator Awards went to DraftKings and DWS, celebrating their exemplary use and implementation of innovative technologies and the establishment of new processes that solved a business need or challenge in the last year, using the STAR Platform or otherwise.

The Star Collaborator Awards went to Bain Capital, Invesco, and NatWest, recognizing the time and resources their teams gave over the last year to support and partner with Star to further the development and innovation of the STAR Platform.

T. Rowe Price and Optiver won the Star Influencer Awards for their efforts in weaving compliance into their overall business culture, influencing and improving their organizations' perception of compliance.

About StarCompliance

StarCompliance is a leading provider of employee compliance technology solutions. Trusted globally by forward-thinking companies in 114 countries, Star's future-ready compliance platform delivers on-demand configurability, multi-jurisdictional integrity, and the actionable intelligence companies need to monitor for conflicts, meet regulatory obligations, and reduce risk. Compliance no longer needs to be complex. Check out Star's intuitive, straightforward UX and give your employees the multi-layered protection they need to comply with confidence. www.starcompliance.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/starcompliance-celebrates-partnership-and-innovation-with-star-client-awards-301665163.html
To further support International SOS' ongoing work in helping organisations meet their Duty of Care responsibilities International SOS has launched a new learning module, Information Security and Privacy for Mobile Workers, within its Digital Learning Portfolio (DLP).

The International SOS Digital Learning Portfolio is continually evolving and growing to support organisations in navigating the ever-changing global mobility landscape. This new course is designed to help employees understand the critical role that they play in reducing the likelihood of an information security breach while on-the-move.

The course content provides examples of:

the different methods used by cybercriminals when trying to gain access to networks and devices,

guidance on how to stay protected against these methods, and

how to prepare workforces for potential threats whilst outside the workplace.

International SOS created this new elearning module in collaboration with the BSI Digital trust Consulting Services team. It has been designed to equip workforces with the knowledge they need to protect their valuable data and stay secure by practicing safe online behaviour.

Laurent Fourier, CEO, Health Security Subscription Services commented: "We are living in a world where many of us depend on digital services more than ever and this dependance comes with an element of risk, particularly during mobility. Organisations are now being held increasingly accountable for their Duty of Care responsibilities towards employees by investors and clients alike and rightly so. This new elearning module has been designed to enhance the support we already provide to our clients to help them protect their workforce by equipping their employees with the right knowledge and skills to keep them safe from cybercrime whilst being mobile."

Mark Brown, Global Managing Director, Digital trust Consulting, BSI commented: "We were delighted to be able to collaborate with International SOS on this project. For over 120 years BSI, as the UK National Standards body, has led the way in developing and implementing best practice. We are delighted to be able to merge BSI's digital trust and risk management experience with the physical security expertise of International SOS to provide their clients with invaluable guidance on remaining safe from digital risks during mobility."

The module is initially available in English with French, German, Italian, Spanish, Korean, and Japanese versions to follow in the coming months. It has been released utilising a new template which provides solutions to better support Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. It takes less than 10 minutes to complete and is available to enroll from the Digital Learning Portfolios via the International SOS TrainingPortal.

ENDS

About the International SOS Group of Companies

The International SOS Group of Companies is in the business of saving lives, protecting your global workforce from health and security threats. Wherever you are, we deliver customised health, security risk management and wellbeing solutions to fuel your growth and productivity. In the event of extreme weather, an epidemic or a security incident, we provide an immediate response providing peace of mind. Our innovative technology and medical and security expertise focus on prevention, offering real-time, actionable insights and on-the-ground quality delivery. We help protect your people, your organisation's reputation, as well as support your compliance reporting needs. By partnering with us, organisations can fulfil their Duty of Care responsibilities, while empowering business resilience, continuity and sustainability.

Founded in 1985, the International SOS Group, headquartered in London Singapore, is trusted by 9,500 organisations, including the majority of the Fortune Global 500 as well as mid-size enterprises, governments, educational institutions, and NGOs. 13,000 multi-cultural security, medical, logistics and digital experts stand by you to provide support assistance from over 1,000 locations in 90 countries, 24/7, 365 days.

To protect your workforce, we are at your fingertips: www.internationalsos.com

About BSI

BSI is the business improvement and standards company that enables organizations to turn standards of best practice into habits of excellence, 'inspiring trust for a more resilient world'. For over a century BSI has driven best practice in organizations around the world. Working with over 77,500 clients across 195 countries, it is a truly global business with skills and experience across all sectors including automotive, aerospace, built environment, food and retail and healthcare. Through its expertise in Standards and Knowledge, Assurance Services, Regulatory Services and Consulting Services, BSI helps clients to improve their performance, grow sustainably, manage risk and ultimately become more resilient.

To learn more, please visit: www.bsigroup.com and for the National Standards Body: www.bsigroup.com/nsb Please follow BSI Press Office: https://twitter.com/BSI_press

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005153/en/

Contacts:

Alexis Harding, Head of Group PR and Communications, International SOS

M: +44 778 022 2292, E: alexis.harding@internationalsos.com



Kelly Mooney, BSI, pressoffice@bsigroup.com
LONDON, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- EvolveBPM LLC, a New York-based firm specializing in demand generation services, has announced a corporate restructuring initiative that includes the addition of a key executive to their global team. Speaking with Satish Sadasivan - Founder & CEO of EvolveBPM, the company will now become a subsidiary of the newly established New York-based holding firm - Evolve Global.





IgniteBPM, a new subsidiary, will be incorporated as part of the holding company and focus on ABM & business process outsourcing solutions.

With this new structure, Evolve Global will expand its service offerings to provide more customer-centric solutions, enabling its clients to accelerate growth and optimize operational costs.

EvolveBPM will continue to focus on the demand generation industry with solutions tailored to - lead generation via email, telemarketing, programmatic display, and social media. IgniteBPM will focus on two key areas:

ABM solutions leveraging their proprietary ABM platform BPO solutions, including multi-channel customer support and back-office processing.

Evolve Global also announced an addition to the senior executive team. Kevin Conlon, based out of New York City, has joined as President & CRO and will report to Satish Sadasivan, Founder & CEO. Kevin will be responsible for sales and customer success for Evolve Global and its subsidiaries. During his career, Kevin has held sales leadership roles with IBM, Accenture, EDS, and HP, to name a few.

Speaking with Kevin, he feels that with this new structure, Evolve Global is now better positioned to support specific client challenges, including new logo acquisition, customer retention, and enterprise-wide cost management. Leveraging a global delivery model with operations centers in the Philippines, Dominican Republic, and India, coupled with proprietary technology and strategic technology partners, he is confident that Evolve Global will drive a higher level of predictable and sustainable outcomes for their clients.

Contact:

Satish K. Sadasivan,

T: +91-96865 96333

E: satish.k@evolvebpm.com

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1936078/EvolveBPM.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/evolvebpm-llc-announces-new-corporate-structure-301665919.html
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - November 2, 2022) - Exploits Discovery Corp. (CSE: NFLD) (OTCQX: NFLDF) (FSE: 634) ("Exploits" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has received the license from the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador relating to the ownership of the Bullseye parcel ("Bullseye") and surrounding staked claims (see news release dated September 27, 2022 for further information). Preparation of the Exploration Permit is underway, and the Company anticipates the exploration programs at Bullseye to commence before the end of the year.

Jeff Swinoga, Chief Executive Officer of Exploits, comments, "We are excited to receive the licenses for these claims as over a dozen drill rigs are operating close to our new borders on the high-potential exploration lands held by New Found Gold and Labrador Gold. Today's news represents another key milestone in unlocking the gold discovery potential of these newly acquired claims. Stay tuned."

Ken Tylee, Vice President of Exploration of Exploits, added, "Our team is eager to hit the ground running on these highly prospective claims along the Appleton Fault. The permitting process has been started and we are planning to kick off our initial exploration program as soon as these permits are received."





Figure: The overview map shows new claims acquired by Exploits and selected drill hole assay intercepts published by New Found Gold Corp. and Labrador Gold Corp. made publicly available in their respective corporate presentations. Readers are cautioned that the presence of mineralization on claims adjacent to those held by the Company is not necessarily indicative of mineralization that may exist on claims held by the Company.



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/6393/142759_640be1ef64336885_002full.jpg

National Instrument 43-101 Disclosure

Ken Tylee, P.Geo., VP of Exploration with Exploits, is a qualified person within the Provinces of Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador as defined by NI 43-101. Mr. Tylee has reviewed and approved the technical information presented herein.

About Exploits Discovery Corp.

Exploits is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition and development of mineral projects in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The Company is actively exploring its gold projects in the Exploits Subzone, covering approximately 2,000 square kilometres of mineral tenements. The Company's Exploration 2.0 methodology is focused on discovering high-grade structurally hosted epizonal gold similar to New Found Gold's success at the Keats and Lotto Zones in the Appleton zone. Exploits is leveraging its local team and geologic understanding to become one of the most extensive explorers in the Exploits Subzone.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

/s/ "Jeff Swinoga"

President and CEO

For more information, please contact:

Shanda Kilborn

VP, Investor Relations

+1 (778) 819-2708

investors@exploits.gold

https://exploitsdiscovery.com/

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as the term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy of accuracy of this news release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected including, but not limited to, market conditions, availability of financing, actual results of the Company's exploration and other activities, environmental risks, future metal prices, operating risks, accidents, labor issues, delays in obtaining governmental approvals and permits, and other risks in the mining industry. All the forward-looking statements made in this news release are qualified by these cautionary statements and those in our continuous disclosure filings available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances save as required by applicable law.

Acknowledgments

Exploits Discovery would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Junior Exploration Assistance Program from the Department of Natural Resources, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/142759
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / November 2, 2022 / Faraday Copper Corp. ("Faraday" or the "Company") (CSE:FDY)(OTCQX:CPPKF) is pleased to announce that, further to its news release on October 21, 2022, its common shares have been approved for listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange (the "TSX") and will commence trading at market open on November 3, 2022 under the symbol "FDY". Accordingly, the common shares of the Company will be delisted from the Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE") on November 3, 2022, upon commencement of trading on the TSX.

Shareholders are not required to exchange their share certificates or take any other action in connection with the TSX listing, as there will be no change in the trading symbol or CUSIP for the common shares.

Paul Harbidge, President & CEO, commented, "The listing on the TSX is an important milestone for the Company. As Canada's largest and most liquid stock exchange, the TSX will provide access to a broader investor base and improved liquidity, benefiting both current and prospective shareholders."

About Faraday Copper

Faraday Copper is a Canadian exploration company focused on advancing two copper projects in The United States of America. The Copper Creek project, located in Arizona, is one of the largest undeveloped copper projects in North America with open pit and bulk underground mining potential. The Contact Copper project, located in Nevada, provides potential for a low-cost open pit, heap leach, oxide project. The Company is well-funded to deliver on its key milestones and benefits from a management team and board of directors with senior mining company experience and expertise.

For additional information please contact:

Stacey Pavlova, CFA

Vice President, Investor Relations & Communications

Faraday Copper Corp.

E-mail: info@faradaycopper.com

Website: www.faradaycopper.com

To receive news releases by e-mail, please register using the Faraday website at www.faradaycopper.com.

Cautionary Note on Forward Looking Statements

Some of the statements in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, are "forward-looking statements" and are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made and are necessarily based on estimates and assumptions that are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Faraday to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements and forward-looking information specifically include, but are not limited to, statements pertaining to listing its common shares on the TSX, delisting its common shares on the CSE, the accessibility of its common shares, access to capital, opportunities for inclusion in market Indices & Exchange Traded Products, and liquidity and benefits to current and prospective shareholders.

Although Faraday believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements should not be in any way construed as guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include without limitation: market prices for metals; the conclusions of detailed feasibility and technical analyses; lower than expected grades and quantities of resources; receipt of regulatory approval; receipt of shareholder approval; mining rates and recovery rates; significant capital requirements; price volatility in the spot and forward markets for commodities; fluctuations in rates of exchange; taxation; controls, regulations and political or economic developments in the countries in which Faraday does or may carry on business; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, competition; loss of key employees; rising costs of labour, supplies, fuel and equipment; actual results of current exploration or reclamation activities; accidents; labour disputes; defective title to mineral claims or property or contests over claims to mineral properties; unexpected delays and costs inherent to consulting and accommodating rights of Indigenous peoples and other groups; risks, uncertainties and unanticipated delays associated with obtaining and maintaining necessary licenses, permits and authorizations and complying with permitting requirements, including those associated with the Copper Creek property; and uncertainties with respect to any future acquisitions by Faraday. In addition, there are risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development and mining, including environmental events and hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations, pressures, cave-ins, flooding and the risk of inadequate insurance or inability to obtain insurance to cover these risks as well as "Risk Factors" included in Faraday's disclosure documents filed on and available at www.sedar.com.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in any jurisdiction to any person to whom it is unlawful to make such an offer or solicitation in such jurisdiction. This news release is not, and under no circumstances is to be construed as, a prospectus, an offering memorandum, an advertisement or a public offering of securities in Faraday in Canada, the United States or any other jurisdiction. No securities commission or similar authority in Canada or in the United States has reviewed or in any way passed upon this news release, and any representation to the contrary is an offence.

SOURCE: Faraday Copper Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/723413/Faraday-Copper-to-Commence-Trading-on-the-TSX-on-November-3-2022
ROME Therapeuticsand Enara Bio, two leading biotechnology companies focused on developing novel medicines driven by insights to the dark genome, today announced that they will host the inaugural Dark Genome Symposium on Monday, November 7, 2022 at ROME's headquarters in Boston. This one-day event brings together leaders from academia, biotech and pharma working on the dark genome to share knowledge, opportunities, applications and challenges to solve as a community.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005241/en/

The dark genome, that is the 98% of the genome that is not traditionally associated with protein-encoding genes, is increasingly found to be associated with human diseases, from autoimmune and neurodegeneration to cancer and aging. A key goal of the meeting is to catalyze collaborations around dark genome research and its medical application, in order to accelerate discovery and development of new therapies.

"The therapeutic potential of the dark genome to address numerous debilitating conditions is increasingly clear, and it has been incredibly exciting to see the momentum growing for therapeutic application of this science in interesting and complementary ways," said Rosana Kapeller, M.D., Ph.D., President, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of ROME. "This event will convene some of the top minds working on the dark genome to share insights and new ideas as we work toward a common goal of unlocking the dark genome to improve human health, and we are thrilled to co-host this inaugural symposium with Enara Bio."

"We all recognize the complexity of the dark genome and know that it will take ambitious collaborations to speed progress in this field," said Kevin Pojasek, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Enara Bio. "Alongside ROME, we're excited to establish this event to share learnings widely, spark new avenues for research and new connections across our community. It's vital we forge strong collaborative efforts to fully realize the potential of the dark genome for bringing new therapies to patients as quickly as possible."

The symposium will feature presentations and panel discussions on topics including viral mimicry, Dark Antigens in cancer, mapping of the dark genome and gene regulation. A list of confirmed speakers and the agenda for the event can be found here. Participation at the in-person symposium is by invitation. Those interested in attending the livestream may reach out to DGS@rometx.com for more details.

About ROME

ROME Therapeutics is developing novel therapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases by illuminating the role of the dark genome in human health and disease. Leveraging the company's unprecedented data sciences platform, ROME has built a deep pipeline of therapies targeting the dark genome. To lead this exploration, ROME has assembled a team of world-class leaders across oncology, immunology, virology and machine learning. ROME is based in Boston, Mass. For more information, please visit www.rometx.com

About Enara Bio

Enara Bio's purpose is to shine a light on unconventional T cell targets to develop the next generation of cancer immunotherapies designed to treat broad patient populations. Enara's proprietary EDAPT platform enables the discovery of Dark Antigens, a novel source of shared, tumor-specific T cell targets derived from genomic dark matter. We are pioneering approaches to exploit these Dark Antigen targets with a range of immunotherapeutic modalities, including bispecific T cell engagers, adoptive cell therapies and cancer vaccines. Based in Oxford, UK, Enara Bio is backed by RA Capital, Samsara Biocapital and SV Health Investors. For more information, please visit: www.enarabio.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005241/en/

Contacts:

ROME Media:

Lisa Qu

Ten Bridge Communications

lqu@tenbridgecommunications.com

Enara Bio Media:

Frazer Hall, Mark Swallow, Eleanor Perkin

MEDiSTRAVA Consulting

enarabio@medistrava.com
Dynamic partnerships, alliances, and education programme positions Noname Security's channel to seize application security opportunities as customers pursue public cloud adoption

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Noname Security , the leading API security company, today shared its EMEA channel strategy, which builds on significant momentum achieved in the past six months and is led by Ides Vanneuville, recently appointed EMEA Channels & Alliances Director.

Vanneuville is an experienced leader in the cybersecurity market with a strong track record in cybersecurity and solutions engineering, having held a number of senior positions at organisations such as Palo Alto Networks, Nutanix, and Aviatrix.

Demand for API security solutions is accelerating throughout EMEA as businesses continue to transition to public cloud and are increasingly adopting cloud-native development strategies. High-profile API breaches have underlined the critical nature of API security and the need for advanced solutions such as the Noname API Security Platform that accelerate digital transformation while addressing API security risks and vulnerabilities.

This offers a new and growing market for established cybersecurity resellers and new entrants alike.

"I am excited to join Noname Security at a time when the channel is transforming to meet growing demand for the powerful yet easy-to-use API security that our platform delivers," comments Vanneuville. "We are building productive partnerships with traditional cybersecurity companies seeking to expand their offering into the DevSecOps market, along with the innovative application-centric resellers that are carving out opportunities in this space."

Noname Security operates a 100% indirect sales model, and its channel strategy focuses on building out presence across EMEA by securing key partnerships with a range of cybersecurity resellers, consultancies, systems integrators, and distributors.

Since March 2022, Noname Security has signed new partnerships with Oblivion , part of Xebia (Netherlands, Denmark & Germany), NewGens Pte (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand), CyberGate Defense (UAE), Evanssion (Middle East & Africa), Aditinet (Italy), iSOC24 (Benelux) and HighPoint (UK & NL) . These partners join a diverse group of existing partners across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

These partners will be supported by Noname Security's global partner program, which provides the resources they need to address key customer pain points in their region and build sizable revenue opportunities in the API security market. The program is tailored to reflect the variations in maturity and background of the API security market in each geographic area.

"API security is a rapidly evolving area that wraps around the ways APIs are being used in different territories," adds Vanneuville. "For example, the increase in open banking in emerging regions like Turkey is driving demand for API security in that region, and we have new Noname Security partners in place to meet that need. Similarly, the booming m-commerce market in Africa is a valuable target for our partners to focus on. Our program helps partners target these key vertical markets and build a reputation for excellence."

API Security Workshops Provide Essential Partner and Market Education

Noname Security is running a series of workshops to educate the market and channel partners about the importance of protecting APIs against attacks and how to go about it. These are currently available, both virtually and in-person in a variety of worldwide cities, and will help Noname's channel partners as well as their end-users to understand:

The underlying security risks when deploying APIs

Emerging threats facing applications and APIs

Techniques used to exploit vulnerable APIs

How Noname Security monitors API traffic for anomalies.

"These educational workshops form an important part of Noname's go-to-market strategy," concludes Vanneuville. "An educated market is a receptive market, and with these workshops we aim to ensure that customers and partners fully understand the urgency of securing APIs in order to protect core revenue streams against disruptive attackers. This is a relatively new area, but one that is of critical importance for the success and stability of modern enterprises as the cloud transition continues and born-in-the-cloud businesses ramp up innovation and expansion."

About Noname Security

Noname Security is the only company taking a complete, proactive approach to API security. Noname works with 20% of the Fortune 500 and covers the entire API security scope across three pillars: posture management, runtime security and API security testing. Noname Security is privately held, remote-first with headquarters in Palo Alto, California, and offices in Tel Aviv and Amsterdam.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/noname-security-announces-ambitious-emea-channel-strategy-to-capitalise-on-accelerating-demand-for-api-security-301666013.html
GURGAON, India, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tdafoq Energy of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia has entered into a distribution and manufacturing license with Delectrik Systems of Gurgaon, India. Tdafoq Energy will exclusively sell Delectrik's Vanadium Redox Flow Battery products manufactured in India in the Gulf countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE). Tdafoq has also commenced to setup a local Flow Battery manufacturing plant in Saudi Arabia which will serve the Gulf region. The production plant in Saudi Arabia will be scaled to a GWh capacity by 2025. The partnership aims to become a global technology leader in the fast-growing stationary energy storage segment, supporting the Kingdom's Vision 2030 economic diversification objectives.





Delectrik's products are based on patented stack and system design using a proven and mature Vanadium Redox Flow Battery chemistry. The company manufactures RFB10, RFB40 and RFB200 series of Vanadium Flow Batteries with 10 kWh, 40 kWh and 200 kWh capacity respectively. These systems are building blocks which can be connected to build even large systems of 100s of MWh. These systems are designed for use in residential, commercial, industrial and grid scale stationary Energy Storage applications. Delectrik is commercially selling these products in several regions such as USA, Australia, Western Europe, Middle East and India.

About Tdafoq

Tdafoq, a company established in 2021, based in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the vision of providing sustainable, clean and affordable energy systems to businesses and individuals. With the accelerating shift towards renewables and clean energy the need for long lasting, cost effective and safe storage systems has grown. Tdafoq promises to deliver on all these terms and even more with the innovative line of products from Delectrik, tailored to every sector's need and demands.

www.tdafoq.com

About Delectrik

Delectrik is an established vanadium redox flow battery OEM based in Gurgaon, India. The company has designed and manufactures VRFB systems from kW to MW scale. The products are designed to offer highly scalable and flexible decentralized electricity solutions for various stationary applications.

www.delectrik.com

For further enquiries contact:

Hajed Mohammad Hashan, Ph.D.

Founder

info@tdafoq.com

Vishal Mittal, Ph.D.

Founder & CEO

vishal.mittal@delectrik.com

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1936128/Delectrik_Tdafoq.jpg

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1936127/RFB200.jpg





View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/tdafoq-energy-partners-with-delectrik-systems-of-india-for-gwh-scale-vanadium-flow-battery-ess-project-in-saudi-arabia-301666039.html
WOONSOCKET (dpa-AFX) - CVS Health (CVS) has agreed in principle to a financial resolution to resolve all opioid lawsuits and claims against the company by states, political subdivisions in the U.S. The company has agreed it will pay approximately $5 billion over the next ten years beginning in 2023. CVS Health noted that the timing of cash settlement payments, spread over multiple years, allows the company to continue to invest in its strategic priorities. Thomas Moriarty, Chief Policy Officer and General Counsel, CVS Health, said: 'We are committed to working with states, municipalities and tribes, and will continue our own important initiatives to help reduce the illegitimate use of prescription opioids.' Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Elon Musk, who is now in charge of Twitter following its $44 billion acquisition, said the social media platform will charge $8 per month for a blue tick verification.



In a tweet, he said, 'Twitter's current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn't have a blue checkmark is bullshit. Power to the people! Blue for $8/month.'



As per reports, Musk had initially planned on charging $20 for the Blue Tick.



The existing Twitter Blue, its premium subscription service, costs $4.99, offering access to premium features like the undo/edit tweet option, bookmark folder, custom theme, interface, and ad-free articles.



In a series of tweets, the new Twitter chief said the charge for Twitter Blue will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators.



Musk, who has now changed his profile bio to 'Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator', added that verified users will have priority in replies, mentions, and searches, which is essential to defeat spam/scam. The blue tick holders will have ability to post long video & audio, and also half as many advertisements. It also offers paywall bypass for publishers willing to work with Twitter.



Musk added that the price will be adjusted by country proportionate to purchasing power parity.



Musk further said there will be a secondary tag below the name for someone who is a public figure, which is already the case for politicians.



Twitter currently verifies notable accounts and adds a blue tick mark next to a username. Twitter has its own verification process, and the system was reserved for people like celebrities, politicians and journalists, whose identities were targets for impersonation.



Twitter introduced the blue tick system in 2009 following a lawsuit accusing the company of lacking enough efforts to prevent imposter accounts.



Musk, who calls as Chief Twit, recently said that Twitter is revising its user verification process. Since reaching acquisition agreement in April, Musk had conveyed many times that he wanted to revamp how Twitter verifies accounts and handles bots.



Musk reportedly has given a deadline of November 7 to employees working on the project to introduce paid verification on Twitter or they will be fired.



With the latest move, Musk reportedly expects to reduce social media platform's dependency on advertising for its revenues.



Meanwhile, companies are getting concerned over advertising under the leadership of Musk. General Motors Co. recently said it has temporarily paused its paid advertising on Twitter saying that it wants more information about Twitter's direction under its new ownership.



IPG, a major advertising company, reportedly advised its clients to suspend Twitter adverts for a week as it seeks more clarity on the Twitter's plans.



Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

TESLA-Aktie komplett kostenlos handeln - auf Smartbroker.de
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - While reporting financial results for the third quarter on Wednesday, health insurer Humana Inc. (HUM) affirmed its adjusted earnings guidance for the full-year 2022, which was raised at the company's Investor Day in September 2022. For fiscal 2022, the company now projects earnings of about $23.27 per share and adjusted earnings of about $25.00 per share. Previously, the company expected earnings of about $23.08 per share and adjusted earnings of about $25.00 per share. On average, 21 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $25.03 per share for the year. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items. The company also said its operating performance reinforces its confidence in achieving its new 2025 adjusted earnings target of $37.00 per share. The company also anticipates 2023 individual Medicare Advantage membership growth of 325,000 to 400,000, or 7.1 percent to 8.7 percent growth. For more earnings news, earnings calendar, and earnings for stocks, visit rttnews.com Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / November 2, 2022 / Fabled Copper Corp. ("Fabled Copper" or the "Company") (CSE:FABL)(FSE:XZ7) announces the results of 2022 surface field work on it's Muskwa Copper Project. See Figure 1 below.

Figure 1 - General Property Location

The Project is comprised of the Neil Property, the Toro Property and the Bronson Property all located in northern British Columbia. See Figure 2 below.

Figure 2 - Location Map

Peter Hawley, President, CEO reports; "A total of 59 specific areas were mapped and prospected during the 2022 field season. The Brad vein was visited by a 3-person field team consisting of 2 geologist and 1 geo technician on July 2, 2022 where it was sampled vertically over 255 meters from the valley floor at 1,160 meters to 1,415 meters. A total of 5 samples were collected, 3 floats and 2 grab samples. Of the 5 samples collected, 4 assayed greater than 0.5% copper. See Figure 3 below.

Figure 2- Toro Property, Brad Vein Location

Float sample D-723645 was collected at the valley floor returned and 0.65% copper whereas float sample D-723646 ,taken 8 meters vertically above, assayed 4.98% copper, 1.08 g/t gold and .61 g/t silver. Note the gold content as this is rarely seen on the property. See Table 1 and Photo 1 below.

Photo 1 -

A further 19 meters vertically above float sample D-723647 consisted of quartz with minor malachite copper alteration with 20% chalcopyrite as massive patches, disseminated and as fracture filling. This assayed an impressive 13.85% copper with 0.15 g/t Au and 7.42 g/t silver. See Table 1 and Photo 2 below

Photo 2 - Float Sample D-723647 - 13.85% Copper

A further 182 meters vertically grab sample D-723648 reported 0.74% copper with 0.02 g/t gold and 0.80 g/t silver. This sample consisted of white quartz with minor malachite copper alteration and some gray siltstone fragments and contained 1-2% chalcopyrite as patches. See Table 1 and Photo 3 below.

Photo 3 -

Final grab sample D-7223649 was taken at the highest point sampled at 1,415 meters vertically and reported only trace copper, gold silver.

Table 1 - Brad Vein Sample Results

Sample No. Elevation Sample Type Copper % Gold g/t Silver g/t D-723645 1,160 Float 0.65 0.07 0.09 D-723646 1,168 Float 4.98 1.08 0.61 D-723647 1,189 Float 13.85 0.15 7.42 D-723648 1,371 Grab 0.74 0.02 0.80 D-723649 1,415 Grab 0.05 0.00 0.03

On August 5th the same team explored the creek valley north of the Brad Vein occurrence and a total of 8 float samples were taken over a vertical elevation of 31 meters with one sample reporting an impressive 16.05 % copper with 0.84 g/t gold and 5.29 g/t silver. Note the gold and silver showing up again. Of the 8 samples taken5 reported greater that 0.5% copper.

At an altitude of 1,142 meters float sample D-723794 of float assayed 0.14 % copper and 0.43 g/t silver, see table 2 below.

Whereas, as you can see, 2 meters below sample # D-723795 of quartz with minor carbonate patches and shale / silt fragments with moderate malachite alteration and 2-3% chalcopyrite as blebs and disseminations returned 0.24% copper and 0.13 g/t silver. See Table 2 and Photo 4 below

Photo 4

A further 3 meters vertically below that last sampled, float sample D-723796 consisted of a massive quartz carbonate vein with 2-5% disseminated chalcopyrite and returned 0.55% copper with 0.68 g/t silver.

Yet another 3 meters vertically below a large out cropping of vein, float sample D-723797was sampled and assayed 0.94% copper with 0.42 g/.t silver. See Table 2 and Photo 5 below.

Photo 5

Two meters vertically below, float sample D-723799 composed of massive buff white quartz carbonate veining with moderate malachite copper alteration and 3-8% disseminated chalcopyrite reported 5.07% copper with 0.19 g/t gold and 2.27 g/t silver. Again, gold and silver reporting with the copper. See Table 2 and Photo 6 below.

Photo 6

An additional 11 meters vertically below, float sample # D-723800 of similar veining returned 5.51% copper, 0.62 g/t gold and 1.14 g./t silver. Again, with elevated gold and silver values along with the copper. See Table 2 and Photo 7 below.

Photo 7

Float sample D-723801, 17 meters vertically down slope of similar veining reported 0.47% copper with trace gold and 0.16 g/t silver.

At the floor of the valley following the creek north of the Brad Veining a large quartz vein was encountered behind a waterfall. Float sample D-723802 taken at an elevation of 1,111 meters and consisted of green - green grayish quartz with mottled brassy yellow with green spots on the chalcopyrite on a broken fresh surface. Up to 35% chalcopyrite as massive patches and blebs with 2% bornite with the chalcopyrite. This sample retuned an impressive 16.05 % Copper with 0.84 g/t gold and 5.29 g/t silver. See Table 2 and Photo 8 below.

Photo 8

Table 2 - Creek North of Brad Vein Assay Results

Sample No. Elevation Sample Type Copper % Gold g/t Silver g/t D-723794 1,142 Float 0.14 0.00 0.43 D-723795 1,140 Float 0.24 0.00 0.13 D-723796 1,137 Float 0.55 0.00 0.68 D-723797 1,120 Float 0.94 0.00 0.42 D-723799 1,118 Float 5.07 0.19 2.27 D-7237800 1,129 Float 5.51 0.62 1.14 D-7237801 1,112 Float 0.47 0.01 0.16 D-7237801 1,111 Float 16.05 0.84 5.29

All sample locations were taken with GPS along with GPS enabled field cameras of photos of the sampled units. The photos, sample locations and all assay data pertaining to the assay taken, (36 elements were assayed) were tagged in a geo tag format for plotting in .kml / .kmz GIS systems such as Google Earth.

Going Forwards

The reporting of the 2022 field season works are just being compiled as assay results become available. Already the team not only found new extensions of the Brad Veining but gold-silver domain associated with the copper mineralized found in this area. This certainly appears worth while to follow up on.

An additional releases on the 2022 exploration program of the Muskwa area will be forth coming in the following weeks.

QA QC Procedure

Analytical results of sampling reported by Fabled Copper Corp represent rock samples submitted by Fabled Copper Corp staff directly to ALS Chemex, Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. Samples were crushed, split, and pulverized as per ALS Chemex method PREP-31, then analyzed for ME-ICP61 33 element package by four acid digestion with ICP-AES Finish. ME-GRA21 method for Au and Ag by fire assay and gravimetric finish, 30g nominal sample weight.

Over Limit Methods

For samples triggering precious metal over-limit thresholds of 10 g/t Au or 100 g/t Ag, the following is being used:

Au-GRA21 Au by fire assay and gravimetric finish with 30 g sample.

Ag-GRA21 Ag by fire assay and gravimetric finish.

Fabled Copper Corp. monitors QA/QC using commercially sourced standards and locally sourced blank materials inserted within the sample sequence at regular intervals.

About Fabled Copper Corp.

Fabled Copper is a junior mining exploration company. Its current focus is to creating value for stakeholders through the exploration and development of its existing copper properties located in northern British Columbia. The Muskwa Project comprises a total of 76 claims in two non-contiguous blocks and totals approximately 8,064.9 hectares, located in the Liard Mining Division in northern British Columbia.

Mr. Peter J. Hawley, President and C.E.O.

Fabled Copper Corp.

Phone: (819) 316-0919

peter@fabledcopper.org

For further information please contact:

info@fabledcopper.org

The technical information contained in this news release has been approved by Peter J. Hawley, P.Geo. President and C.E.O. of Fabled, who is a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

The Canadian Securities Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Certain statements contained in this news release constitute "forward-looking information" as such term is used in applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information is based on plans, expectations and estimates of management at the date the information is provided and is subject to certain factors and assumptions, including, that the Company's financial condition and development plans do not change as a result of unforeseen events and that the Company obtains any required regulatory approvals.

Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause plans, estimates and actual results to vary materially from those projected in such forward-looking information. Some of the risks and other factors that could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: impacts from the coronavirus or other epidemics, general economic conditions in Canada, the United States and globally; industry conditions, including fluctuations in commodity prices; governmental regulation of the mining industry, including environmental regulation; geological, technical and drilling problems; unanticipated operating events; competition for and/or inability to retain drilling rigs and other services; the availability of capital

on acceptable terms; the need to obtain required approvals from regulatory authorities; stock market volatility; volatility in market prices for commodities; liabilities inherent in mining operations; changes in tax laws and incentive programs relating to the mining industry; as well as the other risks and uncertainties applicable to the Company as set forth in the Company's continuous disclosure filings filed under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, other than as required by applicable law.

SOURCE: Fabled Copper Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/723468/Fabled-Copper-Reports-on-the-Brad-Vein-Area-with-Values-as-High-as-1605-Copper
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / November 2, 2022 / Surge Battery Metals Inc. (the "Company" or "Surge") (TSXV:NILI)(OTC PINK:NILIF)(FRA:DJ5C) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a Corporate Advisory and Investment Banking Agreement with Network 1 Financial Securities, Inc. ("Network 1"). Network 1 provides capital raising, market making, M&A, and corporate advisory services, in addition to traditional retail and institutional brokerage services to its clients in North America, Asia, Australia and the UK. Network 1 has a strong reputation as an experienced and independent, full-service securities firm headquartered out of Red Bank, New Jersey but with an effective reach throughout the entire continental USA.

Mr. Greg Reimer, Surge President & CEO, states, "Having Network 1, a well-respected and trusted corporate advisory group, help us at this stage of our development will be a critical component of our success. Over the past two years that we have worked with Network 1, they have taken the time to really understand our company and our mineral projects. They offer a significant network of people that can help develop our projects from exploration to production. Network 1 has successfully helped many similar sized companies in the past and comes with an excellent industry reputation."

Network 1 has been retained by Surge to act as its corporate advisor and investment banker with respect to the development of the Company's US corporate financing and securities strategy including advising on the structure of future US private placements and to assist the Company with an overall up-listing strategy to a senior North American stock exchange.

Mr. Edward Cabrera, Network 1's Managing Director adds, "This marks our second year in which we have been engaged by the Surge team to provide US-based corporate advisory to the company. Surge is a great example of a successful energy metal exploration company and has several valuable mineral assets in North America. Lithium as you know is a very hot space right now with the commodity price seeking new highs on a month-by-month basis, and Nickel is one of the critical and abundant metals found in EV batteries today. We believe that with the right guidance and support, Surge could be an important source of lithium and nickel for the North American auto market. We plan to continue to develop the company and its valuable mineral assets for benefit of all consumers."

Mr. Cabrera has held many senior positions including investment banker, equity analyst, market strategist and portfolio manager over the past 37 years with investment banks such as Merrill Lynch, PaineWebber/UBS and Raymond James & Associates. Since 2003, he has focused on providing advisory services, merger and acquisition structuring and capital market access for middle market companies. Prior to this, he worked at Merrill Lynch for 10 years as Managing Director and Head of Latin America where he built the top-ranked team for the region, according to Greenwich Associates Survey and Latin Finance magazine polls. He received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Florida in Engineering where he graduated with honors. After the completion of his engineering degree, Ed attended Harvard Business School where he graduated with an MBA in 1987. Edward has FINRA licenses 7, 24, 63, 66, 79, 86 and 87.

About Network 1 Financial Securities, Inc.

Founded in 1983, Network 1 Financial Securities, Inc. is a full-service broker/dealer. Its clients include high net worth individuals from many countries, institutional investors, managed pension funds and hedge funds. Network 1 is committed to servicing each client on a personal level to help meet their individual financial goals.

Network 1's investment banking team has more than 100 years of combined experience, and provides services including Private Placements, PIPEs, Initial and Secondary Public Offerings, Bridge Financing, Merger and Acquisition assistance, market making and the ability to assist with up-listing to national exchanges. Network 1 is committed to being a long-term, trusted advisors for its clients. Network 1 is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA"), and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation ("SIPC").

About Surge Battery Metals Inc. surgebatterymetals.com

The Company is a Canadian-based mineral exploration company active in the exploration for nickel-iron alloy and Copper in British Columbia and lithium in Nevada whose primary listing is on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company's maintains a focus on exploration for high value battery metals required for the electric vehicle (EV) market.

Nevada Lithium Projects

The Company owns a 100% interest in 154 mineral claims located in Elko County, Nevada. The Nevada North Lithium Project is in the Granite Range southeast of Jackpot, Nevada, about 73 km north-northeast of Wells, Nevada. The target is a lithium clay deposit in volcanic tuff and tuffaceous sediments of the Jarbidge Rhyolite package. The project area was first identified in public domain stream sediment geochemical data with follow up sediment sampling and geologic reconnaissance returning assay results for lithium ranging from 29.1 ppm to 5,120 ppm. Significant results included 89 samples outlining a highly anomalous zone containing sample points greater than 1,000 ppm lithium. Currently, the zone of highly anomalous lithium values extends about 1,700 meters east-west in two bands each about 300 to 400 meters wide. The anomalous values appear to be in soils developed on airfall or water lain rhyolitic tuff overlain by welded ash flow tuff.

Lithium Projects

The Company owns a 100% interest in 95 mineral claims located in Elko County, Nevada about 73 line-km north-northeast of Wells, Nevada. The Nevada North Lithium Project is host to a Thacker Pass or Clayton Valley type lithium clay deposit. Results to date have been highly encouraging with surface samples ranging up to 0.5% lithium. Drilling has recently commenced, and sample results will be announced over the coming two months.

In addition, the Company has a Property Option Agreement to earn an undivided 80% interest in 16 mineral claims, The San Emidio Project, comprising 640 acres located within Nevada's San Emidio Desert, known as the Galt property. Recent mineral exploration on the Galt claim group includes 51 playa sediment samples ranging up to 852 parts per million lithium (mean 365 ppm). Results from two seven-foot-deep auger holes show lithium concentrations in the range of 143.5 to 773 ppm Li. A geophysical exploration program is being contracted and a short drill program to test for a lithium deposit is recommended.

Finally, the Company owns a 100% interest in 663 ha (1,640 acre) property in the Teels Marsh Project located in Mineral County, Nevada. The property is in an active region for both lithium exploration and production.

Nickel Projects

The Company has a Property Option Agreement to earn an undivided 80% interest in certain mineral claims from Nickel Rock Resources Inc. The Surge Nickel Project, Nickel North Project, consists of two non-contiguous mineral claims groups consisting of 6 mineral claims in the Mount Sidney Williams area of central BC; the HN4 claim covers 1863 hectares immediately south of and adjacent to the Decar Project of FPX Nickel Corp and the Mitchell Range area to the north-east consisting of the N100 claim group covering 8659 hectares.

This is an exploration stage project partially adjacent to FPX Nickel Corp.'s Decar Nickel Project, which is an advanced project targeting awaruite, a nickel-iron alloy mineral. FPX Nickel Corp. recently released the results of an internal engineering scoping study evaluating the production of nickel sulphate for the electric vehicle (EV) battery supply chain from the high-grade awaruite nickel concentrate to be produced by the company's Baptiste nickel project in central British Columbia. The study highlights FPX's potential to develop the world's largest integrated nickel sulphate production facility, linking the company directly into the EV battery supply chain via the production of low-cost, low-carbon nickel sulphate over Baptiste's projected 35-year mine life.

Surge has completed a detailed geological mapping, soil, and rock sampling survey on our nickel property, and we are planning further exploration this fall. We are fully funded for these fall exploration programs.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

"Greg Reimer"

Greg Reimer, President & CEO

604-428-5690

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements which include, but are not limited to, comments that involve future events and conditions, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Except for statements of historical facts, comments that address resource potential, upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt and security of mineral property titles, availability of funds, and others are forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are not guaranteeing future performance and actual results may vary materially from those statements. General business conditions are factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: Surge Battery Metals Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/723406/Surge-Battery-Metals-Announces-a-Renewed-Agreement-with-New-Jersey-Based-Corporate-Advisor-and-Investment-Banker-Network-1-Financial-Securities
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - November 2, 2022) - Sanu Gold Corporation (CSE: SANU) ("Sanu Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it will be participating in Renmark Financial Communication Inc.'s live Virtual Non-Deal Roadshow to discuss the Company's latest investor presentation on Wednesday November 2, 2022 at 10am EDT. Sanu Gold welcomes shareholders, investors and other individuals to register to attend the live event.

The event will feature Sanu Gold's President and CEO Martin Pawlitschek and Vice President, Corporate Development and Communications Fiona Childe. A live Q&A will follow the Company's presentation. Registration for the live event may be limited, and those interested in participating will need to register using the link below. Sanu Gold's investor presentation and access to a replay of the event will be made available after the event on the Company's website at www.sanugoldcorp.com.

Register Here:

Wednesday November 2, 2022 at 10am EDT:

https://www.renmarkfinancial.com/live-registration/renmark-virtual-non-deal-roadshow-cse-sanu-otcqb-sngcf-2022-11-02-100000

About Sanu Gold

Located within the world class Siguiri Basin, host to several operating mines, Sanu Gold is exploring three high quality gold exploration permits in Guinea, West Africa targeting multi-million ounce gold discoveries. The Company has defined multi-kilometer scale gold bearing structures on each of the gold exploration permits, with multiple high-value drill targets. Sanu is operated by a highly experienced team with successful records of discovery, resource development and mine permitting.

Martin Pawlitschek

President & CEO, Sanu Gold Corp.

For further information regarding Sanu Gold, please visit the Company's website at www.sanugoldcorp.com or contact:

Fiona Childe

VP, Corporate Development & Communications

Sanu Gold Corp.

+1 (647) 473-7268

info@sanugoldcorp.com

John Boidman

Renmark Financial Communications Inc.

+1 (514) 939-3989;

+1 (212) 812-7680

jboidman@renmarkfinancial.com

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/142538
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - November 2, 2022) - Getchell Gold Corp. (CSE: GTCH) (OTCQB: GGLDF) ("Getchell" or the "Company") is pleased to provide assay results for drill holes FCG22-20 and FCG22-21 that successfully intersected and extended the Colorado SW gold mineralization at the Fondaway Canyon gold project in Nevada.

Key Highlights

FCG22-20 : intersected four significant gold mineralized intervals starting from surface including 1.7 g/t Au over 56.6 m extending Colorado SW 35 metres up-dip and remains open to the east;

: intersected four significant gold mineralized intervals starting from surface including over extending Colorado SW 35 metres up-dip and remains open to the east; FCG22-21 : 0.9 g/t Au over 74.3 m extends Colorado SW zone 50 metres along strike and remains open to the west;

: over extends Colorado SW zone 50 metres along strike and remains open to the west; Six additional holes completed with assays pending;

Drilling ongoing to expand the Colorado SW zone; and

The Fondaway Canyon Mineral Resources Estimate is on track for mid-November.

"The latest gold assays from drilling have continued our successful extension of the Colorado SW zone that remains well mineralized and open for further expansion." states Mike Sieb, President, Getchell Gold Corp. "We look forward to receiving additional assay results from the ongoing 2022 drill program as well as the Company's first Mineral Resources Estimate for the Fondaway Canyon gold project scheduled for release mid-November."

Drill Hole FCG22-20

Drill hole FCG22-20, the fourth drill hole of the 2022 drill program at Fondaway Canyon (the "Project"), was drilled vertically from the Colorado Pit (Fig. 1 and 2), a site of small-scale mining during the 1980s, and was designed to test the up-dip extension of the Colorado SW mineralization.

FCG22-20 intersected four significant gold mineralized intervals starting from surface including a major interval grading 1.7 g/t Au over 56.6 m from 160.4 to 217.0 m down hole (details in Figure 3 and Table 1). This interval represents a 35 metre step out to the east with the Colorado SW zone remaining open and untested to the east and northeast.

Drill Hole FCG22-21

Drill hole FCG22-21 was drilled north, from a drill pad partway up the north slope (Figure 2), to extend the Colorado SW zone along strike from the broad intervals of gold mineralization encountered by hole FCG21-08 and FCG20-02 that returned 1.6 g/t Au over 167.3 m and 1.9 g/t Au over 43.5 m respectively (Figures 1 and 3).

FCG22-21 intersected a significant interval of gold mineralization grading 0.9 g/t Au over 74.3 m from 191.7 to 266.0 m down hole, representing a 50 metre step out to the north-northwest from previous drilling. The Colorado SW zone remains open and untested to the north and west from this drill hole.

Overall, the Colorado SW zone remains open for expansion in most directions both along strike as well as up and down dip.





Figure 1: Fondaway Canyon plan map highlighting Getchell's drilling at the Colorado SW gold zone.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/3941/142770_b24d7f7eb4bc58c2_001full.jpg





Figure 2: Fondaway Canyon Central Area - north slope showing Colorado SW drill pads

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/3941/142770_b24d7f7eb4bc58c2_002full.jpg





Figure 3: Cross-section highlighting gold intervals in drill holes FCG21-20 and FCG22-21.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/3941/142770_b24d7f7eb4bc58c2_003full.jpg

Table 1: Drill Hole FCG22-20 and FCG22-21 Notable Intervals





To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/3941/142770_b24d7f7eb4bc58c2_004full.jpg

2022 Fondaway Canyon Drill Program Update

Eleven holes have been completed (FCG22-17 to FCG22-27) during the 2022 drill program totalling 4,200 metres at Fondaway Canyon. Assay results have been released for five of those holes (FCG22-17 to FCG21) and assays are pending for holes FCG22-22 through FCG22-27.

Holes FCG22-17, 18, 19, 22, 23, and 25 were designed as step outs to test the extent of the North Fork mineralization encountered in hole FCG21-16 that graded 6.3 g/t Au over 50.7 m. Holes FCG 22, 23, and 25 were additionally designed as step outs to test the extent of the lower North Fork gold zone discovered in FCG22-18 that graded 1.9 g/t Au over 72.6 m.

The results from holes FCG22-17 to 19 have been previously released with all three holes reporting substantial gold intervals (listed below) that successfully extended the North Fork zone.

FCG22-17: 3.8 g/t Au over 85.9 m including 17.7 g/t Au over 9.9 m (July 26, 2022 news release);

FCG22-18: 2.5 g/t Au over 43.4 m, 2.1 g/t Au over 46.9 m, and 1.9 g/t Au over 72.6 m (August 17, 2022 news release); and

FCG22-19: 1.8 g/t Au over 107.5 m (Sept. 27, 2022 news release).

The Company's first Mineral Resources Estimate for the Fondaway Canyon Gold project will include results up to, and including, hole FCG22-19.

Hole FCG22-24 was designed to test the Pediment target area located 2 km to the west of the Central Area. The Pediment target area is the westernmost known gold mineralized occurrence along the 3.5 km long E-W trending Fondaway Canyon gold mineralization corridor. The Pediment target area is the site of two vertical drill holes completed in 2002, 02FC-10 and 02FC-11, collared 185 metres apart that intersected 27.4 m grading 0.82 g/t Au and 36.6 m grading 0.52 g/t Au, respectively. FCG22-24 successfully drilled through the Rangefront Fault and tested the target zone on the footwall side of this structure with results pending. Upon completion of FCG22-24, the drill rig was demobilized from site leaving one rig to continue delineating the mineralization at Fondaway Canyon in the Central Area.

FCG22-26 and 27, stationed near the canyon floor on the same pad as FCG21-12 and 15, were respectively designed to test the eastern extent and conduct infill drilling of the Colorado SW zone.

FCG22-28, currently in progress, is stationed midway up the north slope and is designed to conduct infill drilling and test the down-dip extent of the Colorado SW zone.

Scott Frostad, P.Geo., is the Qualified Person (as defined in NI 43-101) who reviewed and approved the content and scientific and technical information in the news release.

The 2022 drill core is being processed using the same methods as the 2020 and 2021 drill programs. The core is cut at Bureau Veritas Laboratories' ("BVL") facilities in Sparks, Nevada, with the samples analyzed for gold and multi-element analysis in BVL's Sparks, Nevada and Vancouver, BC laboratories, respectively. Gold values are produced by fire assay with an Atomic Absorption finish on a 30-gram sample (BV code FA430) with over limits re-analyzed using method FA530 (30g Fire Assay with gravimetric finish). The multi-element analyses are performed by ICP-MS following aqua regia digestion on a 30g sample (BV code AQ250). Quality control measures in the field include the systematic insertion of standards and blanks.

Highlighted drill intervals are based on minimum interval lengths of 3.3 metres (10 feet), a 0.25 g/t Au cut-off, and a maximum of 3.3 metres of internal dilution, with no top cut applied. Broader reported Intervals may include internal dilution in the calculated average weighted grades. All intervals are reported as downhole drill lengths and additional work is required to determine the true widths.

About Getchell Gold Corp.

The Company is a Nevada focused gold and copper exploration company trading on the CSE: GTCH and OTCQB: GGLDF. Getchell Gold is primarily directing its efforts on its most advanced stage asset, Fondaway Canyon, a past gold producer with a significant in-the-ground historic resource estimate and on the Star project, a past high-grade copper, gold, and silver small-scale producer. Complementing Getchell's asset portfolio is Dixie Comstock, a past gold producer with a historic resource and one earlier stage exploration project, Hot Springs Peak (Au). Getchell has the option to acquire 100% of the Fondaway Canyon and Dixie Comstock properties, Churchill County, Nevada.

For further information please visit the Company's website at www.getchellgold.com or contact the Company by e-mail at info@getchellgold.com or by phone at +1 647 249-4798.

Mr. William Wagener, Chairman & CEO

Getchell Gold Corp.



The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed this press release and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Certain information contained herein constitutes "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the use of proceeds. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "will" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made and they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, including: use of proceeds from the financing Although management of Getchell have attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. The Company will not update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/142770
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.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - November 2, 2022) - Scotch Creek Ventures Inc. (www.scotch-creek.com) (the "Company") (CSE: SCV) (FSE: 7S2) (OTC Pink: SCVFF) ("Scotch Creek" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce the commencement of the Phase I drill program on the 100% owned Highlands West Lithium Project ("Highlands").

The Highlands project is directly adjacent to Albemarle's Silver Peak lithium mine, North Americas only producing lithium operation. Recent positive geophysics results from the detailed gravity, seismic, and Hybrid-Source Audio-Magnetotellurics (HSAMT) surveys identified key subsurface features within the central area of the Highlands property, subsequently triggering the company's decision to expand the Highlands claims by an additional 400 acres and design the phase one drill program.

The combined results of the comprehensive geophysical survey carried out at Highlands show a subsurface dominated by strongly layered basin-fill units. These highly prospective sedimentary rocks are interpreted to be claystones, mudstones and volcanic beds which have accumulated in a series of fault-bounded basins underlying the property.

"We are extremely pleased to have commenced the very first drill program on our highly promising Highlands lithium project," said Mr. David Ryan, Scotch Creek's CEO. "This is the first detailed exploration program within the Western portion of the Clayton Valley. The exploration goals are to drill a large diameter core, through well-layered sequences of basin fill stratigraphy, as seen in our previously collected seismic data. The collected core and groundwater samples will then be logged and assayed with the prospect of discovering a significant lithium deposit."

Key Highlights of the Phase I Drill Program

The drill program will target both lithium brine and claystone.

6 high-quality drill targets were identified.

Phase one drilling will occur on 3 targets for an estimated 6,000 feet total.

PQ core drilling & water sampling.



Figure 1

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Scotch Creek's Qualified Person, Mr. Robert D. Marvin, commented, "Our seismic data to date shows that flat lying to structurally tilted and warped well-layered units are covered with recent gravels being shed off from the Silver Peak Range and to the West of the Clayton basin. The cover gravels are less than 300 feet thick based on the interpretation of the seismic data. The drill targets we have identified lie within the interpreted evaporative basin-fill sediments lying below these surface gravels, at depths ranging from 300 to 1700 feet below the surface. The planned boreholes have numerous targets, including thick packages containing dozens of sharp reflectors over intervals of 500 to 700 feet. This exploration will allow the Scotch Creek team to examine and sample the drill cores and test the groundwater in detail."



Figure 2

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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About Highlands

The Highlands property spans 318 placer claims, totaling 6,360 acres, and is located on the southeast side of southern Clayton Valley and can be accessed by paved roads from Tonopah and Goldfield.

The Clayton Valley is a lithium brine district hosted within the Esmeralda Formation, a sequence of lake basin-fill rocks that contain zones of volcanic ash-rich stratigraphy and salty evaporite units. Regionally, these Esmeralda rocks are of late Miocene to early Pleistocene age, in the range of 1 million to 5 million years before present. The Albemarle brine production field at Clayton is sourced from weakly to non-lithified volcanic ash horizons which have high porosity.

Scotch Creek would like to invite investors and stakeholders to connect with our investor relations team or visit our website to sign-up to receive regular updates and news alerts.

About Scotch Creek Ventures

Scotch Creek is a mineral exploration company, focused on the acquisition, exploration, and development of lithium projects located in tier-one mining jurisdictions such as Nevada, USA. Scotch Creek's vision is to secure North America's green revolution future with strategically sourced lithium projects.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

"David K. Ryan"

David Ryan

Chief Executive Officer

Further information about the Company is available on our website at www.scotch-creek.com or under our profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, and on the CSE website at www.thecse.com.

Public Relations Contact

Scotch Creek Ventures Inc.

Telephone: +1.604.862.2793

Email: info@scotch-creek.com

Website: www.scotch-creek.com

The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or adequacy of this release.

Forward-looking and cautionary statements

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any state in the United States in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The securities referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements. This release may contain statements within the meaning of safe harbour provisions as defined under securities laws and regulations.

This release may contain certain forward-looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and business of the Company and certain of the plans and objectives of the Company with respect to the same. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future and there are many factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/142553
COPENHAGEN (dpa-AFX) - The ruling 'red bloc' of center-left parties won Denmark's general election. The coalition, led by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's Social Democrats party, is on course to secure majority in the 179-seat parliament. The bloc won 87 seats in Denmark, and one seat in the Faroe Islands, and are projected to win two more seats in Greenland, a sovereign Danish dependent territory outside the mainland. The late results were crucial for the ruling bloc in securing the 90 seats threshold that is necessary to form a government. The result is seen as a vote of confidence in Fredreicsen. The Social Democrats displayed their best performance in more than two decades by winning 27.5 percent of the vote, making them the biggest party in the Folketing, the Parliament of Denmark. Addressing supporters in capital Copenhagen, she thanked them for giving another mandate at the polls. 'Thanks to all Danes who have trusted us with your vote. It's a huge vote of confidence. I know some of you have had doubts along the way.' She said she is 'thrilled and proud' for getting the best election result in 20 years. Frederiksen said she will submit the government's resignation to Queen Margrethe, and that she wishes to form a broader coalition government incorporating other parties. 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.
With this launch, Picsart is bringing Generative AI technology to its massive Gen Z audience

Picsartthe world's leading digital creation platform and a top 20 most downloaded app worldwide, today announced new generative AI tools to create images and ad copy.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005464/en/

Growing in popularity, text-to-image generators allow users to create an image from a few words or phrases. Picsart's AI Image Generator provides a unique, free and seamless end-to-end editing experience by offering the ability to create AI images in seconds. Users can then go on to edit their AI creation with thousands of stickers, tools, filters, fonts and more all within the Picsart app. The content generated by users is then shared with the community to continue utilizing in the platform's free-to-edit library.

In addition to its base of 150 million monthly active users, Picsart is increasingly supporting small business marketers and has launched an AI Writer, making powerful copywriting tools accessible to anyone. The feature is currently available via Picsart's Quicktools, a suite of more than 30 free-to-use photo, video and document editing tools on the web. The AI Writer includes an ad writer, social media bio creator, rephraser and marketing slogan maker. Simply enter a few quick prompts, select the voice/tone you're looking for, and copy is generated in seconds.

"Generative AI is a powerful new resource for visual creators and anyone who needs content," said Hovhannes Avoyan, Founder CEO of Picsart. "There are two huge advantages of this technology: the first is making creativity accessible to new people and the second is increasing productivity for those who already create. The tools we're launching today are the first of many generative AI features we plan to roll out."

This news comes after the launch of Picsart's Discord Bot and industry leading AI tools including AI Enhance and AI-Generated Fonts.

Currently Picsart's AI Image generator is accessible on Picsart for iOS and Picsart's Web Editor. To access the AI Writer, visit Quicktools by Picsart.

About Picsart

Picsart is the world's largest digital creation platform and a top 20 most downloaded app. Every month, the Picsart community creates, remixes, and shares billions of visual stories using the company's powerful and easy-to-use editing tools. Picsart has amassed one of the largest open-source content collections in the world, including free-to-edit photos, stickers, backgrounds, templates, and more. The app is available in 30 languages for free and as a subscription on iOS, Android, Windows devices and on the Web. Headquartered in Miami, with offices around the world, Picsart is backed by SoftBank, Sequoia Capital, DCM Ventures, Insight Partners, and others. Download the app or visit picsart.com for more information.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005464/en/

Contacts:

Media Contact

Jenna Black, Senior Comms PR Manager

press@picsart.com
Wondershare is offering its popular video editing software Filmora in the Intel Software Bundle for Business (part of Intel's Software Advantage Program), aimed at the SMB market as an easy-to-use tool for creating, editing, and producing videos for marketing and training purposes.

VANCOUVER, BC, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Wondershare has officially announced its partnership with Intel, and you can now see the Intel Partner Alliance Gold badge on Wondershare's website. Some of the world's leading creative software providers and hardware suppliers will work together to provide software for Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) to better adapt to the constantly changing demands of digital businesses.





According to the 2022 McKinsey Report, since SMBs are responsible for contributing more than half of the GDP in high-income countries, there has been a collaborative effort from governments and large corporations to help SMBs excel and maintain economic stability after the outbreak of COVID. Therefore, in response to SMBs' business characteristics and needs, Wondershare and Intel collaborate on the Software Bundle for Business Program to provide SMBs with access to key software, extended trials, discounts, and app credits worth $500+

Among the many software solutions, video editing is one of the most desired by SMBs. 33% of SMBs who responded to a recent Intel survey said video creation is an essential part of their marketing strategy. That's why Wondershare is offering its most popular video editing software Filmora, in the Wondershare x Intel Bundle. Filmora is an intuitive video editor with a wide range of features for creators of all levels, meeting the needs of many SMBs looking to produce videos quickly.

Wondershare has seen how Filmora has helped larger corporations in a prior program with Microsoft, and hopes for similar results with the Intel software bundle offer. According to Hanna Liu, Wondershare's Head of Marketing, "In this collaboration with Intel, we hope to apply this experience to the creative work of SMBs to energize their self-expression." Filmora will help SMBs to achieve more in the following ways:

Rich Usage Scenario: Filmora allows SMBs to showcase their products and service, communicate with clients, and provide better training.

Filmora allows SMBs to showcase their products and service, communicate with clients, and provide better training. Low learning curve: Filmora has complete drag-and-drop functionality, which simplifies the video editing process. It's easy to use and doesn't require any prior editing experience.

Filmora has complete drag-and-drop functionality, which simplifies the video editing process. It's easy to use and doesn't require any prior editing experience. Efficiency-improving: Access royalty-free stock media, visual effects plug-ins, and smart templates to easily improve efficiency with professionalism and simplicity.

Access royalty-free stock media, visual effects plug-ins, and smart templates to easily improve efficiency with professionalism and simplicity. Costing-saving: An ideal budget-saving video editing suite for SMBs. Perpetual licensing is available and no extensive training is required to master the product.

The collaboration between Wondershare and Intel will run from October to December 2022, during which Intel will promote Filmora through multiple channels in the USA, Germany, UK and Australia both online and offline through participating resellers and retailers

Since launching in 2019, the Intel Software Bundle Program has distributed millions of software registration codes, benefitting hundreds of Small and Medium businesses. "The Intel Software Bundle contains a rich selection of creative, financial, security, remote monitoring, and management software to provide small business end users a more productive experience on their new Intel vPro devices," said Dennis Luo, Senior Director & GM of Commercial and Collaboration Solutions Group at Intel.

About Wondershare

Founded in 2003, Wondershare is a global leader in software development and a pioneer in the field of digital creativity. Our technology is powerful, and the solutions we provide are simple and convenient. That's why we're trusted by millions of people in over 150 countries worldwide. We help our users pursue their passions so that, together, we can build a more creative world.

For more information:

Intel Bundle Learn More Page

Terms and Conditions

Media Contact

Shearer Wang

Wondershare

shearerw@wondershare.com





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Focused on Increasing Awareness and Enhancing Stockholder Value

TAMPA, FL / ACCESSWIRE / November 2, 2022 / Specificity Inc. (OTCQB:SPTY) (the "Company"), a full-service digital marketing firm that delivers cutting-edge marketing solutions, today announced that it has retained ClearThink, a strategic advisory firm, and Bear Creek Capital, a capital markets advisory firm, to develop and deploy a comprehensive investor outreach and communications program.

Jason Wood, Chief Executive Officer of Specificity, commented, "We believe we are now ready to enter the next growth phase of our business, as we recently filed our initial S-1 Registration Statement and became publicly traded on the OTC Markets in summer 2022. Our Q2 2022 results of +140% to $379,000 revenue demonstrate our full-service digital marketing value-add that delivers cutting-edge marketing solutions to business-to-business clients as well as business to consumer clients. We are delivering on our core mission is to offer our clients the most advanced audience targeting capabilities out there. We believe that precision targeting is the key to building the most successful marketing campaigns possible."

On September 13, 2022, Specificity Inc. filed an S-1 Registration Statement in order to raise up to an additional $5 million, consisting of 2 million shares priced at $2.50 with an additional warrant at $5.00 per share. This S-1 has since been declared effective on September 26, 2022. The additional capital raise will be utilized to grow the sales team to increase revenue as well as the launch of Pick Pocket, an owned subsidiary of Specificity Inc.

Wood, continued, "Our Board and management believe it is an appropriate time to retain a proactive strategic investor relations strategy to help us reach new potential investors and effectively communicate our investment thesis. Both ClearThink and Bear Creek Capital came highly-recommended and have years of experience and vast networks of relationships in the micro-cap public markets. The focus of their combined efforts will be to increase our company's visibility and awareness to retail investors, brokers, family offices and institutions who could buy our stock in the open market and invest directly. We are confident that ClearThink and Bear Creek Capital will help us more effectively communicate our strategy, business objectives and corporate milestones to a wider audience of sophisticated investors and improve our visibility and awareness."

About Specificity, Inc.

Specificity, based in Tampa, Florida, is a full-service digital marketing firm that delivers cutting-edge marketing solutions to business-to-business clients as well as business to consumer clients. Our core mission is to offer our clients the most advanced audience targeting capabilities out there. We believe that precision targeting is the key to building the most successful marketing campaigns possible. Specificity has developed tools that allow it to identify and market to people who are actively in the buying cycle. Specificity takes advantage of the real-time messaging opportunities digital marketing offers to give small and medium-sized businesses a fair chance at online traffic.

For further information about Specificity Inc. and the range of digital marketing solutions offered, visit https://www.specificityinc.com/ . Specificity also has a growing online community across social media, including Facebook and LinkedIn . Specificity is a publicly traded company, ticker symbol SPTY.

For more information, please contact:

ClearThink Investor Relations

nyc@clearthink.capital

Jason Wood, CEO

jason@specificityinc.com

Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimer:

This press release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by terminology such as "believes," "expects," "potential," "plans," "suggests," "may," "should," "could," "intends," or similar expressions. Many forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results implied by such statements. Many factors are difficult to predict accurately and are generally beyond the Specificity's control. Forward-looking statements speak only as to the date they are made, and we do not undertake to update forward-looking statements to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the date the forward-looking statements are made.

Although forward-looking statements contained in this presentation are based upon what management of Specificity Inc. believes are reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Specificity Inc. undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by applicable securities laws. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: Specificity Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/723442/Specificity-Engages-ClearThink-and-Bear-Creek-Capital-to-Lead-Expanded-Investor-Relations-Program
MEI Lab Collaboration with Technical University of Munich Yields Novel In-Vivo Nerve Stimulation

NTT Research, Inc., a division of NTT (TYO:9432), today announced that the collaboration between its Medical Health Informatics (MEI) Lab and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has produced a novel technique for closed-loop control of innervated tissue of a live insect. The results were published on June 27 in Scientific Reports, part of the Nature portfolio, in an article titled "In vivo closed-loop control of a locust's leg using nerve stimulation." The paper's co-authors are affiliated with the MEI Lab, the Neuroelectronics Group within TUM's Munich Institute of Biomedical Engineering (MIBE) and TUM's Chair of Zoology. Professor Bernhard Wolfrum leads the Neuroelectronics Group. The article describes implantable electrodes that stimulate an extensor motor nerve in an insect, Locusta migratoria, using a closed circuit of feedback control. The paper's lead author is Francisco Zurita, a Ph.D. candidate at TUM, who is one of the team members contributing to NTT Research's project. This work is part of a joint research program between TUM and NTT Research.

Neurotechnology-based diagnosis and treatments already impact a wide range of medical conditions. This work reaches into two relatively unexplored areas: implantable electrodes and closed-loop control. First, instead of applying electrical current to stimulate muscle tissue from outer areas, as is conventional in insect or rodent tests or in human trials, this study uses electrodes that interface directly with peripheral nerves. Second, whereas the most common method of modulating neural activity is in an open-loop fashion, these researchers have developed a technique that takes feedback into account, thereby allowing for some degree of control over what would otherwise consist of more variable outputs. The paper describes a cuff electrode for an extensor motor nerve, fabricated using a 3D-printed mold, which elicits leg movement in the live locust. A flexible resistor senses the leg angle, and a connected microcontroller directs a train of digital-level voltage pulses to control the movement in real time given a selected angle set point. Offered as a model for other researchers exploring neural control of biological systems, this work has several potential applications involving manipulation of the body in acute and chronic conditions, as well as prosthesis and cyborg systems, such as the cardiovascular bio digital twin (CVbioDT), a research objective of the MEI Lab.

"The development of cuff electrodes is applicable for implantation in vagus nerves," said Dr. Tetsuhiko Teshima, a Visiting Researcher at the Neuroelectronics Group, Research Scientist in the MEI Lab, and one of the paper's co-authors. "Vagus nerves that connect to the heart tissue will be stimulated or recorded using our cuff electrodes or circuits and then it becomes possible to regulate heart functions, creating a regulatory system that aligns with the MEI Lab's digital twin project. Another promising application is sciatic nerve stimulation for prosthesis."

The collaboration between the MEI Lab and the Neuroelectronics Group officially began in early 2020, following the signing of a multi-year joint research agreement between NTT Research and TUM. The original scope of work covered the screening and optimization of functional materials for implantable electrodes, as well as their assembly and biocompatibility. In June 2020, NTT Research opened an office in Munich in support of the joint research. At its founding in 2019 as part of NTT Research, the MEI Lab embarked on a bio digital twin initiative focused initially on the cardiovascular system. In July 2021, Joe Alexander, M.D., Ph.D., who was leading this effort, became director of the Lab. Professor Wolfrum's lab is focused on designing and fabricating bioelectronic interfaces and sensor arrays for stimulating and recording signals in vivo and in vitro. In addition to Mr. Zurita, and Drs. Teshima and Wolfrum, the paper's co-authors include Fulvia Del Duca and Lukas Hiendlmeier, two other Ph.D. candidates supported by NTT Research, Dr. Michael Gebhardt and Professor Harald Luksch, chair of the Department of Zoology at TUM.

"To help realize the shared goals of our work with NTT Research, I was able to bring together several specialists in material science, zoology and circuit development," said Dr. Wolfrum. "We are encouraged by the results and anticipating follow-up work on new materials and further development of cuff electrode systems."

Along with this work with TUM, the MEI Lab is also engaged with the Disease Biophysics Group in Harvard University's John A. Paulsson School of Engineering and Applied Physics and the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center (NCVC) in Japan. The MEI Lab's ongoing research includes work on multi-scale precision cardiology platforms, such as the CVbioDT and heart-on-a-chip technology, aimed at developing the infrastructure for a digital replica of an individual's heart.

About NTT Research

NTT Research opened its offices in July 2019 as a new Silicon Valley startup to conduct basic research and advance technologies that promote positive change for humankind. Currently, three labs are housed at NTT Research facilities in Sunnyvale: the Physics and Informatics (PHI) Lab, the Cryptography and Information Security (CIS) Lab, and the Medical and Health Informatics (MEI) Lab. The organization aims to upgrade reality in three areas: 1) quantum information, neuroscience and photonics; 2) cryptographic and information security; and 3) medical and health informatics. NTT Research is part of NTT, a global technology and business solutions provider with an annual R&D budget of $3.6 billion.

NTT and the NTT logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION and/or its affiliates. All other referenced product names are trademarks of their respective owners. 2022 NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005283/en/

Contacts:

NTT Research:

Chris Shaw

Chief Marketing Officer

NTT Research

+1-312-888-5412

chris.shaw@ntt-research.com

Media:

Stephen Russell

Wireside Communications

For NTT Research

+1-804-362-7484

srussell@wireside.com
BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - U.S. ADP private payrolls data for October is scheduled for release at 8:15 am ET Wednesday. Ahead of the data, the greenback traded mixed against its major counterparts. While the currency fell against the franc and the yen, it held steady against the euro and the pound. The greenback was worth 147.05 against the yen, 0.9961 against the franc, 1.1507 against the pound and 0.9898 against the euro at 8:10 am ET. 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.
CAMBRIDGE, MA / ACCESSWIRE / November 2, 2022 / IIOT-OXYS, Inc. (OTC PINK:ITOX) (the "Company") announces the availability of a new interview with its CEO, Cliff Emmons, and IIoT World to discuss leveraging AI and Machine Learning in Smart Manufacturing. The Company has chosen IIoT World, a leading platform focused on the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) topics, to market the Company's brand and capabilities in the Smart Manufacturing (also known as Industry 4.0) business vertical.

"This initial video interview with IIoT World highlights our Company's focus on helping small and medium sized enterprises leverage the same Digital Transformation best practices of large corporations learned from their high-end consultancies to optimize productivity in their manufacturing operations. It also shares examples of our expertise in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning to transform their operational data into actionable insights to solve their toughest manufacturing process challenges. This video is the first of several marketing efforts to demonstrate our goal of partnering with our customers to empower their organization and people through tools, training and practices," Mr. Emmons stated.

"The Company wants to significantly increase its number of sales leads. IIoT World was a natural choice for a marketing partner. They are a Digital Media Outlet bringing the latest IIoT content to a global community. We will share our expert advice and insights alongside their other contributors to their community that exceeds 284,000 members. The content will focus on such key topics as process optimization and predictive analytics, and our key industries of Smart Manufacturing, Infrastructure, and Buildings. Future pieces will include Thought Leadership Articles, additional Executive Interviews, and Branded White Papers. The marketing content will lead into Virtual Conferences, which are expected to generate sales leads that will accelerate the growth of the Company," continued Mr. Emmons.

The worldwide Industry 4.0 (also known as Smart Manufacturing) market was estimated at $64.9 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at 20.6% CAGR to $165.5 billion by 2026.[1]

"Our success in the Smart Manufacturing market will come from multiple factors including leveraging the marketing strengths and experience from partners like this, complemented by our strong technology (including our proprietary AI and Machine Learning algorithms). Combined with our business partnerships, successful pilots and use cases, along with our extensive network and prospects, we expect these marketing efforts will lead to new business in due time," concluded Mr. Emmons.

For more information, listen to the full interview at https://www.iiot-world.com/artificial-intelligence-ml/machine-learning/leveraging-iiot-ai-and-machine-learning-to-optimize-operations-in-manufacturing-and-infrastructure/

About IIOT-OXYS, Inc.

IIOT-OXYS, Inc. (OTC PINK:ITOX) is a technology company at the intersection of IIoT, AI & Machine Learning, Edge Computing and Manufacturing Operations. We provide actionable mission-critical insights for the Medical/Pharmaceutical, Manufacturing, Agriculture, Defense, and Structural Health, and other industries. IIOT-OXYS's edge computing open-source hardware and proprietary ML algorithms employ our Minimally Invasive Load Monitoring (MILM) technology to simply gather data and gain insights to monitor, scope, move from preventive to predictive maintenance, and even optimize development and manufacturing processes. For additional information visit www.oxyscorp.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements that reflect Management's current views about future events and financial performance. Forward-looking statements often contain words such as 'expects,' 'anticipates,' 'intends,' or 'believes.' Our forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results and events to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties that could adversely affect us include, without limitation, the loss of major customers, our failure to obtain new contracts, our inability to patent products or processes, our infringement of patents held by others, our inability to finance our business and the other risks and uncertainties that are discussed in our most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements in this news release are made only as of the date of this news release. We undertake no obligation to update our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contact Information:

IIOT-OXYS, Inc.

Clifford L. Emmons

CEO

contact@oxyscorp.com

www.oxyscorp.com

[1] https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/industry-4-market-102536746.html

SOURCE: IIOT-OXYS, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/723390/IIOT-OXYS-Inc-Discusses-Leveraging-AI-and-Machine-Learning-in-Smart-Manufacturing-Interview-with-IIoT-World
MONTREAL, QC / ACCESSWIRE / November 2, 2022 / Critical Elements Lithium Corporation (TSX-V:CRE) (OTCQX:CRECF) (FSE:F12) ("Critical Elements" or the "Corporation") is pleased to announce that it has received the Certificate of Authorization ("CA") pursuant to section 164 of Quebec's Environment Quality Act for the Rose Lithium-Tantalum Project ("Rose" or the "Project")) from the Quebec Minister of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parcs. The issuance of the CA is an important milestone that will allow Critical Elements to advance project financing discussions to start mine construction following the issuance of the mining lease by the Quebec Minister of Natural Resources and Forests ("MNRF"). The Corporation was granted a positive federal decision on August 11, 2021, and therefore has now obtained all main environmental authorizations enabling it to move forward with the Rose Project. The Corporation also received the approval of the rehabilitation and restoration plan by the MNRF on May 13, 2022.

As per Chapter II of Quebec's Environment Quality Act, the Environmental and Social Impact Review Committee ("Committee" or "COMEX"), an independent body composed of members appointed by the governments of Quebec and the Cree Nation, was responsible for the assessment and review of the environmental and social Impacts of the Rose Project.

We are grateful to Government officials and employees involved in the authorization process under the supervision of the Committee, particularly in view of the exceptional circumstances in which the work was carried out in recent years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We also thank all the stakeholders, and particularly the Cree Nation stakeholders, who participated in the provincial process and thus helped improve the Project from both an environmental and social standpoint.

"We are very pleased with the decision regarding the Rose Lithium-Tantalum Environmental Assessment process. Critical Elements has made stakeholder relations a priority since the Corporation's inception. We are excited about the prospect of moving forward with our plans in the James Bay Eeyou Istchee region. Rose is an important project within the Eeyou Istchee James Bay territory and I would like to thank all parties involved and especially all the Eeyou Istchee Cree Nation for their dedication and hard work over the past 10 years to achieve this milestone," stated Jean-Sebastien Lavallee, CEO of Critical Elements.

The Rose Lithium-Tantalum site is located in the Nord-du-Quebec administrative region, in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay territory, more specifically on Category III land, on the Traditional Lands of the Cree Nation of Eastmain. Critical Elements has always considered developing the Project through a sustainable development approach, taking into account traditional Cree activities and ensuring the promotion of Cree economic and social development. The Cree Nation of Eastmain, the Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee), the Cree Nation Government and Critical Elements signed an Impact and Benefit Agreement, referred to as the Pikhuutaau Agreement (the "Pikhuutaau Agreement "), in July 2019. The announcement of the issuance of the CA will allow the Corporation to begin in a more concrete manner the implementation of the Pikhuutaau Agreement, which provides for training, employment and business opportunities for the Crees and particularly the Crees of Eastmain at the Project, as well as for the cooperation and involvement of the Cree parties with Critical Elements in the environmental monitoring during all phases of the Project. The Pikhuutaau Agreement also ensures financial benefits for the Cree parties on a long-term basis, consistent with the Cree Nation Mining Policy and with Critical Elements' approach to develop the Project while ensuring the promotion of Cree economic and social development in a mutually beneficial manner.

About Critical Elements Lithium Corporation

Critical Elements aspires to become a large, responsible supplier of lithium to the flourishing electric vehicle and energy storage system industries. To this end, Critical Elements is advancing the wholly owned, high purity Rose lithium project in Quebec, the Corporation's first lithium project to be advanced within a land portfolio of over 700 square kilometers. On June 13th, 2022, the Corporation announced results of a feasibility study on Rose for the production of spodumene concentrate. The after-tax internal rate of return for the Project is estimated at 82.4%, with an estimated after-tax net present value of US$1.9 B at an 8% discount rate. In the Corporation's view, Quebec is strategically well-positioned for US and EU markets and boasts good infrastructure including a low-cost, low-carbon power grid featuring 93% hydroelectricity.

For further information, please contact:

Patrick Laperriere

Director of Investor Relations and Corporate Development

514-817-1119

plaperriere@cecorp.ca

www.cecorp.ca

Jean-Sebastien Lavallee, P. Geo.

Chief Executive Officer

819-354-5146

jslavallee@cecorp.ca

www.cecorp.ca

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is described in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary statement concerning forward-looking statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian Securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "scheduled", "anticipates", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "scheduled", "targeted", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information contained herein include, without limitation, the completion of the provincial permitting process and its potential positive effects on the Corporation and the Rose Project, securing sufficient financing on acceptable terms and continued positive discussions and relationships with local communities and stakeholders. Forward-looking information is based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable at the time such statements are made. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

Although Critical Elements has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from expected results described in forward-looking information include, but are not limited to: Critical Elements' ability to secure sufficient financing to advance and complete the Rose Project, uncertainties associated with the Corporation's resource and reserve estimates, uncertainties regarding global supply and demand for lithium and tantalum and market and sales prices, uncertainties associated with securing off-take agreements and customer contracts, uncertainties with respect to social, community and environmental impacts, uncertainties with respect to optimization opportunities for the Rose Project, as well as those risk factors set out in the Corporation's Management Discussion and Analysis for its most recent quarter ended May 31, 2022 and other disclosure documents available under the Corporation's SEDAR profile. Forward-looking information contained herein is made as of the date of this news release and Critical Elements disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws.

SOURCE: Critical Elements Lithium Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/723490/Critical-Elements-Lithium-Receives-Certificate-of-Authorization-for-the-Rose-Lithium-Tantalum-Project-in-Quebec
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - November 2, 2022) - iMining Technologies Inc. (TSXV: IMIN) (FSE: P1A) ("iMining" or the "Company"), a publicly traded company that invests in energy infrastructure, blockchain technology and Web3.0 ecosystem, announces the appointment of Mr. Pascal St-Jean, President of 3iQ Corp. ("3iQ"), to undertake an advisory role as an innovation advisor to the President of iMining Technologies on energy, blockchain and metaverse technologies.

Based in Ottawa in Canada, Mr. St-Jean has focused on the transformation and disruption of industries via rapidly scaling businesses under his leadership. Having successfully created and grown multiple business ventures, Mr. St-Jean was recognized as one of the youngest recipients of Ottawa's Forty Under 40 award.

Mr. St-Jean's experience in open-source technologies and distributed systems led him to invest in cryptocurrency in 2016, and act as an educational resource on digital asset investments to several organizations. In addition, Mr. St-Jean has served as a strategic consultant to bitcoin mining companies and founded a private multi-strategy Bitcoin fund. He currently serves as the President of 3iQ Corp, Canada's leading digital asset investment fund manager.

"My long-term vision is simple, yet ambitious - to advise and inspire iMining Technologies and its Management team so they can reach their full potential. I have done so over the past 20 years, largely by facilitating the understanding and development of the kind of strategic thinking, planning, and execution that helps businesses to succeed." said Mr. Pascal St-Jean, "I am impressed with iMining's ability to articulate a vision which utilizes sustainable energy assets across Alberta to power digital asset mining and data centers infrastructure," Mr. St-Jean added.

iMining's CEO, Mr. Khurram Shroff, notes, "Today's announcement is another milestone event in the development of iMining's future vision. Our Company is laser-focused on the development of clean, sustainable energy and processing solutions for stranded energy to empower digital infrastructure. We welcome Pascal to iMining Technologies and look forward to building value together. Pascal has a unique perspective as he understands both, the blockchain industry and the public markets in North America and we look forward to his advice on expanding our strategic partnership, developing the Web3.0 ecosystem together and look forward to his guidance on future financings. I remain convinced that with the appointment of Pascal as an advisor we will be able to transform our strategic ambitions into commercial viability."

3iQ is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Khurram Shroff, President and CEO of iMining Technologies., to undertake a lead advisory role to advise on the expansion of 3iQ Corp globally.

Based in Calgary in Canada, Khurram has over 20 years of business experience and has advised his family's office with investments across different sectors and geographies including finance and banking, real estate, food and beverage, book publishing, gold trading and technology. Khurram is an early adopter of the blockchain technology and has been mining bitcoin since 2010.

Currently, Khurram is the President and CEO of iMining Technologies, a Vancouver-based, publicly listed sustainable energy, blockchain infrastructure and Web3.0 investment company; iMining is listed on the TSXV under the symbol IMIN. Khurram has been appointed by the Canadian Armed Forces College as a civilian sponsor for the UAE and Saudi Arabia's Armed Forces in Canada. In 2018, Khurram was nominated as the 100 most influential and powerful Muslims in the world and was awarded the Finance and Banking Excellence Award.

"I look forward to assisting 3iQ Corp towards successfully realizing the large value potential that has been created over the past few years with respect to its Canadian Fund Management operations and assets," states Khurram Shroff. "With 3iQ's highly Innovative investments of institutional Quality in Canada, I look forward to advising the President of 3iQ to better understand and navigate the global regulations and evolving digital asset space internationally. 3iQ Corp is well positioned to deliver exceptional fund value and educate a global audience, especially against a backdrop of the current macro-environment," He added.

"We are fortunate to have Khurram join as an International Advisor," said Pascal St-Jean, President of 3iQ Corp. "He brings a life-long passion for helping the blockchain ecosystem thrive globally, as well as recognized expertise in sustainable energy, blockchain infrastructure and Web 3.0. We welcome Khurram to 3iQ Corp and look forward to building global value together."

About 3iQ Corp.

Founded in 2012, 3iQ Corp. (3iQ) is Canada's leading digital asset investment fund manager with more than C$700 million in assets under management. 3iQ was the first Canadian investment fund manager to offer a public bitcoin investment fund, The Bitcoin Fund, and a public ether investment fund, The Ether Fund. More recently, 3iQ launched the 3iQ CoinShares Bitcoin ETF and the 3iQ CoinShares Ether ETF. 3iQ offers investors convenient and familiar investment products to gain exposure to digital assets. To learn more about 3iQ's digital asset offerings, visit www.3iQ.ca.

About iMining Technologies Inc.

iMining is a publicly traded company that invests in energy infrastructure, blockchain technology and Web3.0 ecosystem. It is developing sustainable energy and technology solutions for Digital Asset Mining, Decentralized Finance ("DeFi") and Non-Fungible Tokens ("NFT"). With diverse blockchain investment and infrastructure solutions, iMining looks to be a leader in accelerating the growth of Web3.0 for the enterprise market. iMining is committed to building strong global blockchain ecosystems and supporting inclusive access to digital tools and technologies. To learn more about iMining Technologies, visit www.imining.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Signed "Khurram Shroff"

Khurram Shroff, President & CEO

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, please contact:

iMining Corporate Offices:

Saleem Moosa, Director

Email: investor@imining.com

Telephone: +1 (844) IMININC (464-6462)

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance, and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions, and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected including, but not limited to, market conditions, availability of financing, actual results of activities, future cryptocurrency prices, operating risks, and other risks in the cryptocurrency industry. All the forward-looking statements made in this news release are qualified by these cautionary statements and those in our continuous disclosure filings available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances save as required by applicable law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/142734
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - November 2, 2022) - Doubleview Gold Corp. (TSXV: DBG) (OTCQB: DBLVF) (FSE: 1D4) ("Doubleview") is pleased to announce an update to the progress of the maiden NI 43-101 Resource Estimate ("Resource Estimate") currently being completed by ABH Engineering Inc.

The resource estimate comprises a site visit, geological modelling, resource estimation and completion of the final report for publication.

The steps necessary to complete the Resource Estimate can be broken down as follows:

Site Visit: Inspection of core, validation of geological logging and sampling protocols.

Witness sampling - a suite of typically 25 to 50 1/4 core samples, from intervals of mineralization - provides a means of verification of grades in the company database.

Validation of drillhole collars, checking location, dip and azimuth

Geological Modelling of Grades and Resource Estimation: Compositing grade data and creating Mineralized Intervals based on industry-accepted cut-off grades for the subject deposit.

Creating a wire-shell solid model.

Populating a block model within the wire shell, using geostatistical methods. Composited grade values are used as the basis of this estimation.

Variography, geologic continuity and deposit type determine selection of geostatistical method and the constraints applied in the estimation procedure.

Resource Estimate Report: The report is prepared in accordance with Canadian Reporting Standards (NI 43-101).

ABH Engineering is currently working through the Geological Modelling phase of the report and will make a site visit in the coming weeks.

Farshad Shirvani, Doubleview president and CEO stated "We are very pleased with the progress ABH Engineering is making on the report. We are working diligently to provide them with updated data as it becomes available, including scandium extraction results from ongoing metallurgical tests, as well as drill hole assay data from recent drilling from the analytical laboratory. The maiden Resource Estimate is anticipated to be a major development for the Hat deposit."

About Doubleview Gold Corp

Doubleview Gold Corp., a mineral resource exploration and development company, is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and is publicly traded on the TSX-Venture Exchange [TSXV: DBG], [OTCQB: DBLVF], [GER: A1W038], [Frankfurt: 1D4]. Doubleview identifies, acquires and finances precious and base metal exploration projects in North America, particularly in British Columbia. Doubleview increases shareholder value through acquisition and exploration of quality gold, copper and silver properties and the application of advanced state-of-the-art exploration methods. The Company's portfolio of strategic properties provides diversification and mitigates investment risk.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Farshad Shirvani, President & Chief Executive Officer

For further information please contact:

Doubleview Gold Corp

Vancouver, BC Farshad Shirvani

President & CEO

T: (604) 678-9587

E: corporate@doubleview.ca

Forward-Looking Statements

Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations. They are not guarantees of future performance. Doubleview cautions that all forward looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond Doubleview's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to Doubleview's limited operating history and the need to comply with environmental and governmental regulations. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward- looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, Doubleview undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

NEITHER TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/142773
Report reveals the top focuses for companies in the next year are strengthening security, digitizing payments, and improving usage of analytics

Endava (NYSE: DAVA), a global provider of digital transformation, agile development and intelligent automation services, today released their 2022 Global Payments Study. The report covers the norms of today's business-to-business (B2B) payments on a worldwide scale, the challenges of operating a manual process, the benefits of digitization, and what payments could look like in the future.

"Over the past two years, companies began to challenge their reliance on the legacy systems they were supposedly tied to and wondered how they could improve their daily processes," said Scott Harkey, Executive Vice President, Financial Services Payments, Endava. "Our data reveals a payments landscape where organizations are no longer satisfied with the status quo and are using modernization initiatives to increase efficiency."

Key insights from the report include:

Checks and cash are no longer the dominant methods they once were, equaling roughly a fifth of global payment volume combined.

Paper-based methods comprised less than a third of payments volume for all the regions in the study.

North America trails APAC, MEA, LatAm, and Europe in payments modernity. North America scores lower due to relatively high check volume (16%).

Organizations often rely on multiple tools for making payments. Bank-provided bill pay portals are the most widely adopted, but many also use ePayments software.

The top focuses for companies in the next year are strengthening security, digitizing payments, and improving usage of analytics.

The Future of Payments

To help anticipate the future of B2B payments, Endava asked survey respondents about their organization's top initiatives and how they plan to alter current payment method volume in the future. The highest priority initiative was strengthening security which is congruent with the high number of organizations citing fraud as a top challenge in domestic and international payments.

Digitizing payments was the second highest priority initiative for respondent organizations. To accomplish this, organizations plan on aggressively increasing usage of methods like digital wallets, real-time payments (RTP), cards, virtual cards, and Automated Clearing House (ACH) and decreasing dated, paper-based ones like checks and cash. Of those currently utilizing them, a sizable percentage of organizations also plan on increasing cryptocurrency usage in the future. However, many organizations identified crypto (as a means of paying vendors) as not applicable to their business.

Insights by Industry

Looking at the study by industry, Endava data shows that retailers were more likely to have issues with payment errors, data management, late payments, and compliance. These issues often come from inconsistencies in the way payments are handled. Compared to the average, companies in the mobility vertical suffer from customer inquiry management, disparate technology, fraud, and payment errors.

Insurers and non-bank finance organizations have more quantifiable challenges than companies in other industries. These include days payable outstanding, lack of visibility into payments, duplicate invoices, and reliance on paper-based processes. Many of these problems are more directly related to invoicing.

Geographic Trends

North America:

Endava experts assert that both RTP and digital wallets are ripe for growth in North America.

On the consumer side of things, Americans have mostly moved away from cash and check for their C2B and P2P payments, but this modernization has not yet carried over to businesses.

Younger generations, who are far more likely to expect a digital payments experience, may cause a shift in these antiquated habits as they assume roles as small business owners and finance professionals.

Europe

Endava research shows next-day bank-to-bank transfers comprise a larger volume of payments in the EU over any other region.

Cash and checks are at a lower volume in the EU compared to other regions.

These payment methods are a rarity in Europe because the digital alternatives for transferring money are easy to use and ubiquitous.

Middle East and Africa

Parts of the MEA region have some of the largest RTP payment volumes out of all the locales included in the study.

Saudi Arabia has had rapid adoption in the use of real-time payments despite only introducing the service in 2019.

The percentage of cash transactions among MEA respondent organizations is high, as is the usage of alternative methods, which can include cash-on-delivery, a popular payment option in both countries.

For more on industry specific and geographical trends from regions including North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Latin America, and Asia Pac, download the report at: https://www.endava.com/en/Industries/Payments/2022-Global-Payments-Report.

Data Summary

The data for this study comes from a 2022 survey of over 1,000 organizations of all sizes and industry verticals (except for banking institutions). Respondents were at the senior management level and above and possessed intimate knowledge and decision-making capacity on their organization's finance and payments strategy and processes.

ABOUT ENDAVA

Endava is reimagining the relationship between people and technology. By leveraging next-generation technologies, our agile, multi-disciplinary teams provide a combination of product technology strategies, intelligent experiences, and world class engineering to help clients become digital, experience-driven businesses by assisting them in their journey from idea generation to development and deployment of products, platforms and solutions. Endava collaborates with its clients, seamlessly integrating with their teams, catalysing ideation and delivering robust solutions.

Endava services clients in Payments and Financial Services, TMT, Consumer Products, Retail, Mobility and Healthcare. As of June 30, 2022, 11,853 Endavans served clients from locations in Asia-Pacific, Middle East, North America and Western Europe and delivery locations in Argentina, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Colombia, Croatia, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Uruguay.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221101006373/en/

Contacts:

INVESTORS:

Endava Plc

Laurence Madsen, Investor Relations Manager

Investors@endava.com
The combined company provides clean, sustainable drinking water to more than 100 million consumers and saves more than 40 billion plastic bottles annually

Culligan International ("Culligan"), the innovative brand in consumer-focused, sustainable water solutions and services, and Waterlogic Group Holdings ("Waterlogic"), a global designer, manufacturer, distributor and service provider of purified drinking water dispensers, announced today the completion of their transaction to combine, creating a leader in clean and sustainable drinking water solutions and services. Headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois, the combined company operates under the Culligan name.

With over 11,000 employees operating directly in 30 countries, Culligan generates combined annual revenues of about $2.4 billion and is well-positioned to expand in the fast-growing $35 billion global consumer water market. The combination diversifies the company's product range and increases its global reach, including an expansive dealer network in more than 70 countries. It brings additional scale and expertise to drive innovation in the development of new household and commercial water filtration, purification and treatment solutions, expanding those to both existing and new markets, and it bolsters distribution channels across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific.

"Our two organizations make a powerful combined team as one Culligan, aligned on values and committed to a clear purpose to change people's lives and to improve the environment," said Scott Clawson, President and CEO of Culligan International. "Culligan is a leading global consumer water solutions and services provider whose mission is to deliver clean, safe and soft water to improve consumers' health and wellness and reduce single-use plastics. Serving over 100 million people globally, our solutions save more than 40 billion plastic bottles annually."

"Our deep, mutual belief that we have the ability and responsibility to contribute positively to the Earth guides our decisions and is engrained in our operations," said Jeremy Ben-David, founder and former Group CEO of Waterlogic who now serves Culligan as CEO of the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, and a member of the Executive Leadership of Culligan Global. "We take to heart the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and today we are aligned to make an even more positive impact in all we do."

The combined company is majority owned by funds affiliated with BDT Capital Partners, LLC ("BDT") and by the firm's co-investors. In 2021, funds managed by BDT, an affiliate of BDT Company, LLC, a merchant bank that works with family- and founder-led businesses to pursue their strategic and financial objectives, acquired Culligan alongside a group of strategic family business owners and investors within the firm's global network. Waterlogic was acquired in January 2015 by funds managed by Castik Capital, a European private equity investor, which alongside former Waterlogic management team members and other shareholders, has a meaningful minority ownership position in Culligan.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

About Culligan International

Founded in 1936 and headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois, Culligan International makes a real difference to people's lives by providing clean, safe, great-tasting water to more than 100 million consumers globally. With over 11,000 employees in 30 countries, we generate combined annual revenues of about $2.4 billion and are well-positioned to expand in the $35 billion global consumer water market. Culligan is one of the world's most-recognized and trusted names in water, a reputation built through an 85-year legacy of trust, innovation, service and quality. The Culligan master brand covers a family of iconic brands and innovative technologies that include Quench, Blupura, Zip Water, Purezza Premium Water and Firewall UVC purification. Our combination with Waterlogic diversifies our product range and increases our global reach, including through an expansive dealer network in over 70 countries. It helps bring a breadth of household, commercial and retail solutions to new markets and distribution channels across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. As a purpose-led business, we strive to reduce the environmental impact across the supply chain, and we save more than 40 billion plastic bottles annually through our sustainable water filtration, purification and treatment solutions. For more information visit: www.corporate.culligan.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221101006416/en/

Contacts:

Media:

Andrew Spinelli Alice Gibb

Brunswick Group

T: +1 312 468 7431 +44 (0) 7823 527 134

E: CulliganWaterlogic@brunswickgroup.com

Investor Relations:

Andy Kellogg

T: +1-847-430-1360

E: andy.kellogg@culligan.com
impact.com, the world's leading partnership management platform, announced today the further expansion of its business operations in Europe and Asia, with the opening of its new offices in Milan, Italy; Paris, France; and Tokyo, Japan. impact.com is now represented in 20 locations worldwide, including seven in Europe and seven in Asia.

Expanding into new regions allows impact.com and its clients to create new partnerships, further enabling client partnerships worldwide. Additionally, launching into new regions allows impact.com to gain further traction in key verticals, like fashion in Milan, and hire diverse leaders all over the world, who are experts in their markets.

These new local market teams will engage clients and actively develop a network of top regional publishers and partners in their regions. In addition, impact.com is furthering its investment in additional resources that will be dedicated to the customization and localization of the company's solutions in these new markets.

"impact.com's roster of clients in Europe and Asia continues to grow at a rapid pace, and by expanding our local presence in Milan, Paris, and Tokyo, we're able to more effectively enable and support the creation and expansion of partnerships in these areas and around the world," said David A. Yovanno, impact.com CEO. "As consumers become increasingly distrustful of and annoyed with traditional marketing and advertising channels, our expanded presence will empower brands worldwide to connect with partners who can introduce them to new audiences, improve customer loyalty and retention, and ultimately drive up to 30% of new revenue for their business."

The Italian team will be led by Country Manager Sara Centemero, who has strong knowledge and experience in the information technology and services industry. Sara previously worked with vendors such as HP, IBM, and Google on marketing programs for their channel partners. She most recently worked for Tradedoubler as Country Manager, where she was focused on achieving sustainable and relevant results for advertisers and partners in the affiliate space.

The French team will be led by Country Manager Antoine Desbuquois, an experienced adtech industry leader with a background in sales, strategic partnerships, and technology. Antoine previously spent eight years at Google working across Dublin, Sydney, and Paris; led sales and marketing teams in France and Switzerland; served as the France Country Manager for a Berlin MedTech company as well as EMEA Sales Director for Global Savings Group.

The team in Japan will be led by Country Manager Ryo Matsuzaki, a business building professional with over a decade of technology, marketing, and sales experience. Matsuzaki joins impact.com after three years at Media.Monks (rebranded from MightyHive) where he was appointed as the company's first Country Manager in Japan. He previously held senior sales and technology leadership positions at Appier Group and Google/DoubleClick.

For more information from impact.com in Italy and France, please visit the country websites at https://impact.com/it/, and https://impact.com/fr/, respectively.

ABOUT impact.com

impact.com, the world's leading partnership management platform, is transforming the way businesses create and manage all types of partnerships-including influencers and creators, commerce content publishers, B2B, traditional rewards affiliates, and more. The company's powerful, purpose-built platform makes it easy for businesses to create, manage, and scale an ecosystem of partnerships with the brands and communities that customers trust to make purchases, get information, and entertain themselves at home, at work, or on the go. To learn more about how impact.com's technology platform and partnerships marketplace is driving revenue growth for global enterprise brands such as Walmart, Uber, Shopify, Lenovo, L'Oreal, Fanatics and Levi's, visit www.impact.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005184/en/

Contacts:

Jenna Mills, impact.com

jenna.mills@impact.com
CITIZENS Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa yesterday made sensational claims that Zanu PF was bribing his lieutenants to destabilise the party ahead of the 2023 elections.

In a cryptic message posted on Twitter, Chamisa said disloyal members exposed for hobnobbing with Zanu PF would be expelled from the party.

A crazy season is upon us. Expect a lot of drama and shifts in the next months. Be vigilant. Watch out. They will and are compromising some even pouring in serious money into various pockets. Some will fall for it and fall by the wayside. Be careful! Act smart! Win Big!, Chamisa tweeted.

CCC spokesperson Gift Siziba told NewsDay that their investigations have exposed machinations to infiltrate and destabilise the opposition party.

We are aware of what our opponents are plotting, Siziba said.

The regime in Harare wants to have an opposition that they can lead themselves so they are using the Lenin strategy. They are escalating such machinations, but they have not worked and will never work. The opposition has emerged stronger, fit with more vigour and vitality and ready to govern.

Zanu PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa was not picking calls.

In the past Zanu PF has proudly paraded opposition members who it alleged had crossed the floor.

Some opposition members who crossed the floor to the ruling party such as James Maridadi and Obert Gutu have been rewarded with government posts.

CCC currently has no formalised structures since the formation of the party early this year.

Chamisa and his foot soldiers said they would not be stampeded into having formal structures to avoid infiltration or violence targeted at office bearers.

Analysts, who spoke to NewsDay, said claims that opposition members were being bought with various trinkets by Zanu PF were expected in the face of widespread poverty in the country.

Political analyst Eldred Masunugure said Zanu PF had used the politics of the stomach as a strategy to infiltrate the opposition for decades.

The one who can provide the biggest pie is likely to win the support of an individual. That is the politics of patronage and has become very common in Zimbabwe. Zanu PF has financial resources, unlike Chamisas opposition party which has no funding, Masunungure said.

Chamisas fear is real and this explains why he has not come up with structures, a party constitution or refused to go for an elective congress which could be easy entries for Zanu PF on infiltrating."

Another analyst Vivid Gwede said some politicians were driven by greed for quick riches.

Not everyone who is in politics is driven by a sense of duty Some people are there for the money and will jump at every opportunity to get it. And as we know, Zanu PF uses its control of State resources and it has always used this vantage point to lure people from the opposition, Gwede said.

What is even more pertinent is that people are suffering due to the economic meltdown, opposition politicians included, hence their readiness to jump ship at the earliest opportunity. Newsday
Dubai, United Arab Emirates--(Newsfile Corp. - November 2, 2022) - SUID launches a new service in which crypto enthusiasts can sell crypto with cash in Dubai within a few minutes. It is one of the services provided by SUID in a short time after opening its doors to customers.

As the demand from the customers and the crypto startups increases, SUID begins to broaden the cryptocurrency solutions in Dubai. Making cryptocurrencies available to anyone is one of the goals that SUID wants to achieve in Dubai, the capital of the UAE. As a result, SUID tries to bring world-class cryptocurrency service to customers in Dubai.

Sell Crypto for Cash in Dubai Service by SUID

Even though cryptocurrency transactions are fast and safe, crypto enthusiasts may consider selling digital currencies in Dubai to buy other products and services that are impossible to buy with crypto. The main reason for establishing this service in Dubai is to enable those enthusiasts to visit and make fast and safe conversions of crypto to cash.

The sell crypto for cash in Dubai service allows crypto lovers to sell their crypto to different fiat currencies. It is possible to get payment in AED, USD, and EUR depending on the request of the customers. AED is the local cryptocurrency and it is the most demanded fiat currency that people want to convert their bitcoins. Additionally, swapping one cryptocurrency for another is also possible. It is mentioned on their website that, it takes only a few minutes to sell crypto for cash in Dubai.

Guidelines to Sell Crypto for Cash in Dubai

Selling crypto for cash is explained in detail on the SUID website. SUID enables customers to sell crypto in 3 fiat currencies (AED, USD, EUR) which are frequently used by locals and also foreign crypto enthusiasts.

On its website, SUID described the selling process in detail. The service is highly demanded by locals and also foreigners.

Visitors can sell crypto for cash in Dubai in 3 steps:

1. Visit the SUID office in Dubai with ID or passport

2. Calculate and confirm the market price of the crypto

3. Get cash after selling crypto in AED, USD, and EUR

According to the website of the crypto OTC, even visitors who have no knowledge of cryptocurrencies can sell crypto in Dubai at the office. The professional staff in the office will help them to set up a crypto wallet with their request or help them to send the crypto to another wallet.

About SUID

SUID (Sell USDT in Dubai) is a crypto OTC where people can easily buy and sell cryptocurrencies with simple steps in Dubai. The OTC shop enables locals and foreigners to buy and sell crypto at their offices in the heart of Dubai. 1000+ cryptocurrencies are available at SUID, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB), Solana (SOL), and Cardano (ADA).

Company Name: SUID

Address: Exchange Tower 10th floor, Office # 1004 - Business Bay - Dubai - United Arab Emirates

Phone: +971529886273

Email: contact@sellusdtindubai.com

Contact Person: Ilyas Jacobs

Contact Person title: Marketing Assistant

City, Country: Dubai, the UAE

Website: https://sellusdtindubai.com/

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/142804
NOIDA, India, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new report published by UnivDatos Markets Insights, the Hospital Outsourcing Market is expected to reach 655.54 billion in 2028, growing at a CAGR of around 11% from 2022-2028. The analysis has been segmented into Service (Healthcare IT, Clinical services, Business services, Transportation service, and Others); Type (Public and Private); Region/Country.





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https://univdatos.com/report/hospital-outsourcing-market/

The Hospital Outsourcing market report has been aggregated by collecting informative data on various dynamics such as market drivers, restraints, and opportunities. This innovative report makes use of several analyses to get a closer outlook on the Hospital Outsourcing market. The Hospital Outsourcing market report offers a detailed analysis of the latest industry developments and trending factors in the market that are influencing the market growth. Furthermore, this statistical market research repository examines and estimates the Hospital Outsourcing market at the global and regional levels.

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Market Overview

Hospitals and clinics are progressively outsourcing inner activities to third-party service providers, such as medical billing processes and IT services because of the unavailability of skilled professionals in the healthcare industry. Furthermore, an absence of in-house expertise, capacities, and financial plan limitations are the significant issues faced by private hospitals in the healthcare industry. Contract medical service providers are an effective way to deal with breaking points such as issues in the private hospital because of the minimal expense administration offering. It helped to establish mutually beneficial relationships between hospitals and third-party service providers. Moreover, rising hospital administrations increasing the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) service by third-party service providers is also driving the growth of this market during the forecast period.

Some of the major players operating in the market include Accenture plc, Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc., McKesson Corporation, Tata Consultancy Services Limited, Wipro Limited, Optum Inc., Dell, Cognizant, Siemens AG Company, ABM Industries Inc.

COVID-19 Impact

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the hospital information system takes sharp growth as there was a limitation imposed by the government on free movement and travel, shut down of the manufacturing unit, and limitations on the medical services contributed to adopting the teleconsultation and bringing the upliftment of information technology in healthcare centers. Furthermore, IT services in the healthcare sector has healthy growth after the covid-19 pandemic due to a large number of hospital administrations and rapid growth in awareness.

The global Hospital Outsourcing market report is studied thoroughly with several aspects that would help stakeholders in making their decisions more curated.

Based on service, the market has been categorized into healthcare IT, clinical services, business services, transportation services, and others. Amongst, the clinical services category is expected to witness significant growth during the forecast period as hospitals & clinics are expected to outsource their moist of services on a large scale to third-party service providers or collaborative partners.

Based on type, the market has been segmented into public and private. Among them, the private category is expected to have a significant growth rate in the market. Private hospital & clinic outsourcing offers opportunities for improved customer satisfaction owing to skilled professionals. Furthermore, the change in government regulations and the increasing complexity of the in-house functions are responsible for a significant number of private hospitals adopting the outsourcing model in the healthcare industry.

Have a Look at the Chapters- https://univdatos.com/report/hospital-outsourcing-market/

Hospital Outsourcing Market Geographical Segmentation Includes:

North America (U.S., Canada , Rest of North America )

(U.S., , Rest of ) Europe ( Germany , U.K., France , Spain , Italy , Rest of Europe )

( , U.K., , , , Rest of ) Asia-Pacific ( China , India , Japan , Rest of Asia-Pacific )

( , , , Rest of ) Rest of the World

North America holds a lucrative market share owing to favorable government policies and the rising hospital administration, higher per capita income, and availability of major key players in the region are attributed to the growth of the market in the region. Furthermore, continuously increasing government expenditure in the region is responsible for the growth of the market.

The major players targeting the market include

Accenture plc

Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc.

McKesson Corporation

Tata Consultancy Services Limited

Wipro Limited

Optum Inc.

Dell

Cognizant

Siemens AG Company

ABM Industries Inc

Competitive Landscape

The degree of competition among prominent global companies has been elaborated by analyzing several leading key players operating worldwide. The specialist team of research analysts sheds light on various traits such as global market competition, market share, most recent industry advancements, innovative product launches, partnerships, mergers, or acquisitions by leading companies in the Hospital Outsourcing Market. The major players have been analyzed by using research methodologies for getting insight views on global competition.

Key questions resolved through this analytical market research report include:

What are the latest trends, new patterns, and technological advancements in the Hospital Outsourcing market?

Which factors are influencing the Hospital Outsourcing market over the forecast period?

What are the global challenges, threats, and risks in the Hospital Outsourcing market?

Which factors are propelling and restraining the Hospital Outsourcing market?

What are the demanding global regions of the Hospital Outsourcing market?

What will be the global market size in the upcoming years?

What are the crucial market acquisition strategies and policies applied by global companies?

We understand the requirement of different businesses, regions, and countries, we offer customized reports as per your requirements of business nature and geography. Please let us know If you have any custom needs.

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Browse Other Related Research Reports from UnivDatos Market Insights

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Hospital Outsourcing Market Report Coverage

Report Attribute Details Base year 2020 Forecast period 2022-2028 Growth momentum Accelerate at a CAGR of over 11% Market size 2028 USD 655.54 billion Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, Rest of World Major contributing region North America to Dominate the Global Hospital Outsourcing Market Key countries covered United States, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, China, Japan, India, Companies profiled Accenture plc, Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc., McKesson Corporation, Tata Consultancy Services Limited, Wipro Limited, Optum Inc., Dell, Cognizant, Siemens AG Company, ABM Industries Inc. Report Scope Market Trends, Drivers, and Restraints; Revenue Estimation and Forecast; Segmentation Analysis; Impact of COVID-19; Demand and Supply Side Analysis; Competitive Landscape; Company Profiling Segments Covered By Type; By Service; By Region/Country

About UnivDatos Market Insights (UMI)

UnivDatos Market Insights (UMI) is a passionate market research firm and a subsidiary of Universal Data Solutions. We believe in delivering insights through Market Intelligence Reports, Customized Business Research, and Primary Research. Our research studies are spread across topics across the world, we cover markets in over 100 countries using smart research techniques and agile methodologies. We offer in-depth studies, detailed analysis, and customized reports that help shape winning business strategies for our clients.

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Rise in the construction and renovation activities across the globe is propelling the Flooring Market

Increase in the use of soft cover flooring in North America is expected to help in the regional market expansion

WILMINGTON, Del., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The global Flooring Market is estimated to gain a value of US$ 614.0 Bn by the end of 2031, according to a research report by Transparency Market Research (TMR). In addition, the study finds that the market for flooring is expected to advance at a CAGR of 6.4% during the forecast period, from 2022 to 2031.





Owing to swift urbanization across many developed and developing countries, there has been a surge in the need for residential and commercial buildings globally. Moreover, the demand for residential flooring is being rising across several emerging economies including Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Brazil, and Malaysia as the urban population in these nations is being increasing. Owing to factors, the Flooring Market share is likely to expand at rapid pace in the near future.

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Players are expected to gain significant business opportunities in North America, notes a TMR assessment that delivers vital insights on the Flooring Market growth factors. The growth of the North America market is attributed to a surge in the adoption of soft cover flooring products including area rugs, broadloom, and carpet tiles in the region, according to a review by TMR.

Companies operating in the global Flooring Market are investing sizable amounts in R&Ds in order to develop innovative products. Moreover, they are indulging in strategies such as partnerships, mergers & acquisitions, and collaborations in order to expand their businesses. Such initiatives by enterprises are prognosticated to lead to rapid expansion of the global Flooring Market during the forecast period, note analysts at TMR.

Flooring Market: Key Findings

Customer population today is inclining toward increasing the esthetic appeal of their homes. Moreover, there has been a surge in the demand for highly efficient, eco-friendly, and cost-effective flooring products across major developing as well as developed nations worldwide. These factors are estimated to help in the growth of the Flooring Market size during the forecast period.

The adoption of luxury vinyl tiles is being increasing in the recent years instead of engineered wood or hardwood products owing to their varied advantages including their waterproof, eco-friendly, and slip- and scratch-resistant nature. This aside, these tiles are gaining immense popularity owing to their benefits such as advanced acoustics, premium appearance, and ease of cleaning, notes a TMR review that sheds light on the Flooring Market trends.

Wood, carpet & rug, vinyl sheet & tile, laminate, stone, and ceramic tile are some of the key materials used in the flooring. The ceramic tile segment of the Flooring Market is projected to gain promising growth prospects during the forecast period owing to rise in the demand for ceramic tiles due to their varied advantages such as cost-effectiveness, easy maintenance, free from harmful toxins, and ability to withstand acidic materials and high temperatures.

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Flooring Market: Growth Boosters

Rise in the construction projects due to increase in urbanization globally is fueling the growth prospects in the Flooring Market

Surge in the number of renovation activities owing to improving spending power of people is creating notable business avenues in the market

Flooring Market: Key Players

Some of the key players profiled in the report are:

Interface, Inc.

Armstrong World Industries, Inc.

The Dixie Group, Inc.

Forbo Holding AG

LX Hausys

James Halstead Plc

Tarkett S.A.

J&J Flooring LLC

Boral Limited

Mohawk Industries, Inc.

Shaw Industries Group, Inc.

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Flooring Market Segmentation

Product:

Resilient

Non-resilient

Soft Cover

Material:

Carpet & Rug

Wood

Soft Wood



Engineered Wood

Laminate

Vinyl Sheet & Tile

Homogeneous



Heterogeneous



Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT)

Ceramic Tile

Stone

Others

Application:

Residential

Commercial

Others (Transportation, Industrial, etc.)

Region:

North America

Latin America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Middle East & Africa

Browse More Chemicals & Materials Market Reports by TMR:

Wood Flooring Market - Wood Flooring Market to Reach US$ 89.3 Bn by 2031

Ceramic Tiles Market - Ceramic Tiles Market to Register CAGR of 8.6% from 2022 to 2031

Cool Roof Coatings Market - Cool Roof Coatings Market to Register CAGR of 6.8% from 2022 to 2031

Foam Blowing Agents Market - Foam Blowing Agents Market to Register CAGR of 5.7% from 2022 to 2031

Hot Melt Adhesives Market - Hot Melt Adhesives Market to Register CAGR of 8.7% from 2022 to 2031

Optical Brighteners Market - Optical Brighteners Market to Register CAGR of 4.9% from 2022 to 2031

Rare Earth Metals Market - Rare Earth Metals Market to Register CAGR of 7.4% from 2022 to 2031

Smart Carbon Market - Smart Carbon Market to Register CAGR of 16.2% from 2022 to 2031

About Transparency Market Research

Transparency Market Research, a global market research company registered at Wilmington, Delaware, United States, provides custom research and consulting services. The firm scrutinizes factors shaping the dynamics of demand in various markets. The insights and perspectives on the markets evaluate opportunities in various segments. The opportunities in the segments based on source, application, demographics, sales channel, and end-use are analysed, which will determine growth in the markets over the next decade.

Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insights for thousands of decision-makers, made possible by experienced teams of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants. The proprietary data sources and various tools & techniques we use always reflect the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in all of its business reports.

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The "United Kingdom Data Center Market Investment Analysis Growth Opportunities 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The UK data center market has the presence of cloud service providers such as AWS, Microsoft, Google, Alibaba, Tencent, IBM, and Oracle. For instance, in March 2022, AWS plans to invest around $2.4 billion in developing the data center in the country. The country's significant data center construction locations include London, Manchester, and Slough. Highly populated and urbanized locations such as London expect growth in brownfield data center construction in coming years, with greenfield investments taking place in other cities.

In terms of renewable energy, the Renewable Obligation (RO) initiative was set by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). This initiative supports adopting renewable energy in large-scale projects in the UK. The market witnessed the establishment of free ports such as East Midlands Airport, Felixstowe and Harwich, Humber region, Liverpool City Region, Plymouth, Solent, Thames, and Teesside.

The market has over 50 submarine cables connecting the country to major markets worldwide and several inland internet exchange points. Some upcoming submarine cables connecting the UK are 2Africa, Amitie, BT North Sea, Grace Hopper, Scotland-Northern Ireland 3, and Scotland-Northern Ireland 4.

Key Highlights

UK data center market is among the major markets in Western Europe, aided by factors such as the significant increase in data center investments, government strategies, growing connectivity, digitalization, and others.

The UK's government has launched several digitalization initiatives, including National AI Strategy, UK Digital Strategy, National Data Strategy, and IoTUK.

The Government of the UK joint ventured with Ark Data Centres and formed a Crown Hosting Data Centres. In addition, the government invested around $300 million into the Crown Hosting Data Centres to provide the physical data center space for public sectors.

In the UK, the telecom operators such as EE, Vodafone, Ericsson, Three UK, and O2 are deploying commercial 5G services across the country.

Significant deployment and adoption of 5G services along with the development of smart cities in the UK will fuel data traffic and further grow the demand for more data centers in the country. For instance, Lumen Technologies, Pulsant, and DataQube Global are involved in deploying edge data center facilities in the UK.

The UK has renewable energy sources such as wind, wave, marine, hydro, biomass, and solar, and the government aims to generate 100% of the energy mix from renewable sources by 2035. Additionally, it announced a law to reduce carbon emissions by around 78% by 2035.

Vendor Landscape

In 2021, the UK witnessed investments from major companies such as NTT Global Data Centers, Echelon Data Centres, Vantage Data Centers, Custodian Data Centres, Telehouse, Ark Data Centres, Serverfarm, Teledata, Kao Data, Proximity Data Centres, and VIRTUS Data Centres.

The market has witnessed investments from some new market entrants, including Yondr and Global Technical Realty.

The UK data center market has the presence of both local and global construction contractors that cater to significant market operators. For instance, JCA Engineering, based in the UK, has provided its engineering services for Ark Data Centres Spring Park Campus.

The country's acquisition investments of data center firms and facilities have grown significantly. They are creating opportunities for local operators to develop data centers with investments from foreign joint ventures. For instance, Green Mountain acquires Infinity SDC's data center in Romford, London. In addition, Pulsant announced the acquisition of the M247 facility in Manchester, UK.

Key Questions Answered:

1. How much is the UK data center market investment expected to grow?

2. How many data centers have been identified in the UK?

3. What are the driving factors for the UK data center market?

4. Who are key investors in the UK data center market?

Market Segmentation:

IT Infrastructure

Servers

Storage Systems

Network Infrastructure

Electrical Infrastructure

UPS Systems

Generators

Transfer Switches Switchgears

PDUs

Other Electrical Infrastructure

Mechanical Infrastructure

Cooling Systems

Rack Cabinets

Other Mechanical Infrastructure

Cooling Systems

CRAC CRAH Units

Chiller Units

Cooling Towers, Condensers Dry Coolers

Economizers Evaporative Coolers

Other Cooling Units

General Construction

Core Shell Development

Installation commissioning Services

Engineering Building Design

Fire Detection Suppression Systems

Physical Security

Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM)

Tier Standard

Tier I Tier II

Tier III

Tier IV

Geography

London

Other Cities

IT Infrastructure Providers

Arista Networks

Atos

Broadcom

Cisco Systems

Dell Technologies

Huawei Technologies

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)

IBM

Juniper Networks

Lenovo

NetApp

Data Center Construction Contractors Sub-Contractors

2bm

Aecom

Arup

ARC:MC

Atkins

BladeRoom Data Centres

Bouygues Construction

Deerns

Future-tech

HDR Architecture

INFINITI

JCA Engineering

Kirby Engineering Group

KMG Partnership

Metnor Construction

Mercury Engineering

MiCiM

Nicholas Webb Architects (NWA)

Oakmont Construction

RED

Skanska

SPIE UK

STO Building group

Sudlows

TTSP

Waldeck

Support Infrastructure Providers

ABB

Airedale International Air Conditioning

Catterpilar

Cummins

Eaton

KOHLER-SDMO

Legrand

Mitsubishi Electric

Piller Power Systems

Rolls-Royce

Riello Elettronica (RIELLO UPS)

Rittal

Schneider Electric

Socomec

STULZ

Vertiv

Data Center Investors

Ark Data Centres

China Mobile International (CMI)

Colt Data Centre Services

CloudHQ

Custodian Data Centres

CyrusOne

Digital Realty

Echelon Data Centres

Equinix

IONOS

Iron Mountain (IO)

Kao Data

NTT Global Data Centers

Netwise Hosting

Proximity Data Centres

Serverfarm

Telehouse

Teledata

Vantage Data Centers

VIRTUS Data Centres

New Entrants

Global Technical Realty

Yondr

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/4ttgfg

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005664/en/

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Margaret Fong, HKTDC Executive Director; Dr Peter KN Lam, HKTDC Chairman; John Lee, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Peter Burnett, Immediate Past Chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong [L-R]





HONG KONG, Nov 2, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - To strengthen the longstanding economic and trade relationship between Hong Kong and the United Kingdom (UK), a virtual dialogue with the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), Mr John Lee, was held to engage with the business community in the UK on 2 November, hosted by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC).Moderated by the British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong Immediate Past Chairman, Mr Peter Burnett, the dialogue served as a unique opportunity for UK businesses to interact with the HKSAR Chief Executive and hear first-hand updates on the latest policy initiatives to strengthen Hong Kong and new opportunities for the international business community, just weeks after the Chief Executive delivered his first Policy Address.In his opening address, Mr. Lee underlined Hong Kong's established strengths and arising opportunities, and what the city can offer to help UK and international businesses take off or expand in Asia. He highlighted the longstanding and enduring business ties between Hong Kong and the UK, "thanks not just to our friendship, but also, very importantly, to our common law legal system, the rule of law and our independent judicial power. Thanks also to our strong support and beliefs for free trade and our strong footholds in professional services".The Chief Executive remarked that the UK is Hong Kong's top trading partner in Europe, while Hong Kong is the UK's second-largest trading partner in Asia. Merchandise trade between the two places in 2021 totalled US$ 17.7 billion, up more than 25% year-on-year.He added that in 2021, more than GBP7 billion merchandise trade between the UK and Mainland China was routed through Hong Kong. "That speaks, loud and clear, of Hong Kong's unique status as the business gateway connecting China with the rest of the world. This enviable role is guaranteed through one country, two systems," he said.While COVID-19 has impacted growth in Hong Kong, Mr Lee stated "it is the economy amidst challenges posed by the pandemic we are planning for now". He emphasised Hong Kong's long-term growth in the national strategies, which include the Belt and Road Initiative, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and 14th Five-Year Plan. He mentioned HKTDC's ongoing work to set up GoGBA Business Support Centres covering all nine GBA cities in Mainland China to offer business information in both English and Chinese available to all.In his opening remarks, HKTDC Chairman Dr Peter Lam said: "One huge opportunity is the vast Mainland China market, with a focus on the southern part of the country, known as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA). It boasts a market of 86 million with a GDP of US$ 1.74 trillion, comparable to that of South Korea and Canada. ASEAN has been a key focus for many international companies. It offers even greater prospects, as new trade cooperation agreements, such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), come into operation. To capitalise on the many opportunities, Hong Kong is your ideal springboard".The Chief Executive also fielded questions from the UK business community, covering a range of topics, including easing of COVID-19 restrictions, Hong Kong's economic outlook, closer government-business cooperation, talent attraction and more. He underscored the importance of innovation and technology (I&T) to Hong Kong's future, the Northern Metropolis and plans to welcome at least 35,000 targeted professionals to Hong Kong each year.The event attracted more than 600 business leaders, with the majority from the UK. This followed a trip to the UK by Dr Lam and Ms Margaret Fong, HKTDC Executive Director, in October to meet UK business leaders, as part of the HKTDC's initiative to promote business opportunities in Hong Kong to the global business community.Photos Download: https://bit.ly/3h4GEe9About HKTDCThe Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) is a statutory body established in 1966 to promote, assist and develop Hong Kong's trade. With 50 offices globally, including 13 in Mainland China, the HKTDC promotes Hong Kong as a two-way global investment and business hub. The HKTDC organises international exhibitions, conferences and business missions to create business opportunities for companies, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in the mainland and international markets. The HKTDC also provides up-to-date market insights and product information via research reports and digital news channels. For more information, please visit: www.hktdc.com/aboutus. Follow us on Twitter @hktdc and LinkedIn.Media enquiriesPlease contact the HKTDC's Communications and Public Affairs Department:Sunny Ng, Tel: +852 2584 2357, Email: sunny.sl.ng@hktdc.orgClementine Cheung, Tel: +852 2584 4514, Email: clementine.hm.cheung@hktdc.orgSource: HKTDCCopyright 2022 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - November 2, 2022) - Appia Rare Earths & Uranium Corp. (CSE: API) (OTCQX: APAAF) (FSE: A0I0) (FSE: A0I.F) (FSE: A0I.MU) (FSE: A0I.BE) (the "Company" or "Appia") is pleased to announce that the Company has completed (and submitted for assessment purposes) a helicopter-borne gamma-ray spectrometry and VTEM geophysical survey on the 100%-owned North Wollaston uranium property, eastern Athabasca Basin area, northern Saskatchewan.

Highlights (from 2022 assessment report):

The survey extended old and discovered new electromagnetic (EM) conductors.

Graphite-rich, conductive anomalies exceeding 10 km in contiguous strike length (assuming lithology matches with historical prospecting and drilling results)

A major conductor offset ("jog") associated with a large fault, interpreted as part of the Tabbernor fault system.

Several significant conductor breaks/offsets with locally high eU ppm anomalies showing potential fault shearing/brittle reactivation

Tom Drivas, CEO of Appia said "Building on our cumulative knowledge, from historical geophysical, prospecting, and drilling programs in the 1970's and 1980's, and our 2020 prospecting/sampling experience at North Wollaston, this phase of geophysics has completed Appia's needs for drillhole targeting. Presently, we are working on complete data integration and 3D model building to plan the next phase of detailed prospecting/sampling/geochemistry in 2023 for identifying new drill targets."

The geophysical exploration activities on the North Wollaston property (Figure 1) were carried out from September 12th, 2021, to Jan 24th, 2022. Appia commissioned Geotech Ltd. to carry out a helicopter-borne gamma-ray spectrometry and VTEM geophysical survey. Appia acquired a total of 951 ln-km of VTEM data and 867 ln-km of radiometrics data within an area measuring 174 km2. Measurements included Vertical (Z) and Horizontal (X&Y) components of the EM fields.

Figure 1. North Wollaston Property 2022 geophysical survey regional map.



To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5416/142813_33932b0624441888_005full.jpg

This multi-component geophysical survey (Figure 2) identified numerous electromagnetic, magnetic, and radiometric anomalies over the 174 km2 area, revealing additional geometry and characteristics to the property's northeast-southwest oriented EM/magnetic corridors. These corridors represent characteristic geophysical features of basement-hosted type uranium deposits of the eastern Athabasca Basin (e.g. the nearby Eagle Point uranium deposit on strike to the SSW).

About the North Wollaston Project

The North Wollaston property is located on the northern shores of Wollaston Lake, northern Saskatchewan. Significant infrastructure occurs nearby at Cameco's Rabbit Lake uranium mill and Eagle Point mine operations, located ~55-60 km to the south-southwest (Figure 1). The property is accessible by fixed wing float/ski plane and/or helicopter from Points North Landing, SK or the Wollaston Lake community. During the summer months (early-June to mid-September), the Wollaston Barge Ferry crosses Wollaston Lake, and its 2 docking areas provide a water link at either Highway 905 Barge Landing (Hidden Bay - 230 km Highway mark) or the Wollaston Lake community. Points North Landing and Wollaston Lake community are accessible all year by scheduled flights from/to Saskatoon via commercial provincial airlines.

Figure 2. North Wollaston property showing claims, 2022 aeromagnetics, EM conductors (strong), and interpreted Tabbernor N-S faults.



To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5416/142813_33932b0624441888_006full.jpg

The property straddles the western Wollaston Domain and the Wollaston-Mudjatik Transition Zone (WMTZ) and extends ~80 km northeast to the Manitoba border. The Western Wollaston Domain and the WMTZ comprise multiple high-strain zones within reworked Archean and Paleoproterozoic rocks of the Hearne Subprovince. These reactivated deformation zones host most of the basement-hosted and unconformity-type uranium deposits across/along the prolific eastern Athabasca Basin.

There is an abundance of historic uranium anomalies on the property, as well as the right geological structures/geophysical EM conductors to focus fluids and heat for depositing economic mineralization. There also appear to be the non-conductive gravity-low intersection zones that are ideal for concentrating mineralization. Coincidence with identified radioactive boulder trains, uranium in soil profiles, and uranium in drill core from historical drilling provide confirmation of these interpreted drill targets.

Historic exploration (before Appia time) for uranium over the North Wollaston property has occurred over three separate time frames; from 1970, 1978 to 1980 and 1983 to 1984. Appia's work commenced with a small prospecting/sampling program in 2020, followed up with the 2022 geophysics.

About Appia

Appia is a Canadian publicly-listed company in the rare earth element and uranium sectors. The Company is currently focusing on delineating high-grade critical rare earth elements and gallium on the Alces Lake property, as well as exploring for high-grade uranium in the prolific Athabasca Basin on its Otherside, Loranger, North Wollaston, and Eastside properties.

The Alces Lake project is located in northern Saskatchewan, the same provincial jurisdiction that is developing a "first-of-its-kind" rare earth processing facility in Canada (currently under construction by the Saskatchewan Research Council and scheduled to become operational in early 2023). The Alces Lake project area is 35,682 hectares (88,173 acres) in size and is 100% owned by Appia.

The Alces Lake project encompasses some of the highest-grade total and critical* REEs and gallium mineralization in the world, hosted within several surface and near-surface monazite occurrences that remain open at depth and along strike.

* Critical rare earth elements are defined here as those that are in short-supply and high-demand for use in permanent magnets and modern electronic applications such as electric vehicles and wind turbines (i.e: neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr), dysprosium (Dy) and terbium (Tb)).

All geophysical results were provided by Geotech Ltd.in Aurora, ON. All geophysical results reported herein have passed internal QA/QC review and compilation. The technical content in this news release was reviewed and approved by Dr. Irvine R. Annesley, P.Geo, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

The Company holds the surface rights to exploration for 110,997 hectares (274,280 acres) in Saskatchewan. The Company also has a 100% interest in 12,545 hectares (31,000 acres), with rare earth element and uranium deposits over five mineralized zones in the Elliot Lake Camp, Ontario.

Appia has 123.1 million common shares outstanding, 146.5 million shares fully diluted.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This News Release contains forward-looking statements which are typically preceded by, followed by or including the words "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "estimates", "intends", "plans" or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance as they involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. We do not intend and do not assume any obligation to update these forward- looking statements and shareholders are cautioned not to put undue reliance on such statements.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange 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.

For further information, please contact:

Tom Drivas, CEO and Director: (cell) 416-876-3957, (fax) 416-218-9772 or (email) appia@appiareu.com

Frank van de Water, Chief Financial Officer and Director, (tel) 416-546-2707, (fax) 416-218-9772 or (email) fvandewater@rogers.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/142813
Saguenay, Quebec--(Newsfile Corp. - November 2, 2022) - First Phosphate Corp. ("First Phosphate" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Bernard Lapointe to the Advisory Board of the Company.

Bernard Lapointe founded Arianne Phosphate Inc. (TSXV: DAN) in 1997 and served as its president until 2013. Bernard holds a PhD in mineral resources from the Universite du Quebec a Chicoutimi (UQAC). Before Arianne Phosphate, Bernard was director of the Fonds Minier du Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, Quebec. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of several public companies in the resource and fertilizer sectors.

"Bernard Lapointe's decades spent developing the Arianne Phosphate project gives him immeasurable experience that will be made available to First Phosphate in establishing our best practices for internal operations and for environment stewardship," said John Passalacqua, CEO of First Phosphate. "I look forward to working closely with Bernard as we roll out First Phosphate's six-phase integration strategy within the North American and global LFP battery industry."

First Phosphate holds over 1,500 sq. km of total land claims in the Saguenay Region of Quebec, Canada that it is actively developing. Its properties consist of rare anorthosite igneous rock formation that generally yields high purity phosphate concentrate devoid of high concentrations of deleterious heavy metals.

"I am excited about First Phosphate's development plan and its commitment to producing battery-grade phosphate through clean and environmentally responsible processing methods, for a consistent and ethical supply right here in Quebec," said Mr. Lapointe. "I look forward to bringing my experience in the phosphate industry to First Phosphate and to supporting the development of best practices for the business from the experience that I gained during my years with Arianne Phosphate."

First Phosphate's flagship Lac a l'Orignal property is located approximately 110 km driving-distance north of the City of Saguenay, Quebec's sixth largest city, which hosts daily flights to Montreal, a skilled industrial workforce, strong local infrastructure, and which is 30 km driving-distance from the deep sea Port of Saguenay.

First Phosphate's Begin-Lamarche property is located approximately 90 km driving distance from the deep sea Port of Saguenay. The Company recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Port of Saguenay to secure deep sea access to global markets and a valuable industrial port development footprint.

First Phosphate has been awarded drilling permits for its Lac a l'Orignal and Begin-Lamarche properties, an important step in First Phosphate's six-phase development plan for the North American LFP battery industry. First Phosphate is expected to announce the results of its 43-101 technical report for Lac a l'Orignal this fall.

-30-

For additional information, please contact:

Investor Relations: investor@firstphosphate.com

Media Relations: media@firstphosphate.com

Website: www.FirstPhosphate.com

Follow First Phosphate:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FirstPhosphate

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/first-phosphate/

About First Phosphate Corp.

First Phosphate is a mineral exploration and development company fully dedicated to extracting and refining titanium and advanced phosphate material for the Lithium Iron Phosphate ("LFP") Battery industry. First Phosphate is committed to producing at high purity level, at full ESG standard and with low anticipated carbon footprint. First Phosphate plans to integrate directly into the research & development and supply chain functions of major North American LFP Battery producers that require battery grade phosphate material that emanates from a consistent and secure supply source. First Phosphate holds over 1,500 sq. km of total land claims in the Saguenay Region of Quebec, Canada that it is actively developing. First Phosphate properties consist of rare anorthosite igneous rock formation that generally yields high purity titanium oxide and phosphate concentrate devoid of high concentrations of deleterious heavy metals.

Forward-Looking Information and Cautionary Statements

Certain information in this news release constitutes forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. Any statements that are contained in this news release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as "may", "should", "anticipate", "expect", "potential", "believe", "intend" or the negative of these terms and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements in this news release include statements relating to: the Company's focus on integrating its phosphate material directly into the supply chain of major battery and electric vehicle producers in North America; the Company's announcement of its 43-101 technical report results for Lac a l'Orignal this fall; the Company drilling permits for its Lac a l'Orignal and Begin-Lamarche properties, being an important step in its six-phase development plan for the North American LFP battery industry; Mr. Lapointe's experience from Arianne Phosphate being beneficial to the Company in establishing best practices for internal operations and for environment stewardship; the Company's plans to rollout its integration strategy within the North American and global LFP battery industry; Mr. Lapointe's comment about the Company's development plans to producing battery-grade phosphate through clean and environmentally responsible processing methods, for a consistent and ethical supply right here in Quebec; and Mr. Lapointe's comment on bringing his experience in the phosphate industry to the Company and to supporting the development of best practices for the Company.

Forward-looking information in this press release are based on certain assumptions and expected future events, namely: the Company will focus on integrating its phosphate material directly into the supply chain of major battery and electric vehicle producers in North America; the Company will complete its 43-101 technical report results for Lac a l'Orignal this fall; the Company's drilling permits for its Lac a l'Orignal and Begin-Lamarche properties will be an important step in its six-phase development plan for the North American LFP battery industry; Mr. Lapointe's experience from Arianne Phosphate will be beneficial to the Company in establishing best practices for internal operations and for environment stewardship; the Company will rollout its integration strategy within the North American and global LFP battery industry; Mr. Lapointe will further the Company's development plans to producing battery-grade phosphate through clean and environmentally responsible processing methods, for a consistent and ethical supply right here in Quebec; and Mr. Lapointe's experience in the phosphate industry will further the development of best practices for the Company.

These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including but not limited to: the Company's inability to focus on integrating its phosphate material directly into the supply chain of major battery and electric vehicle producers in North America; the Company will not complete its 43-101 technical report results for Lac a l'Orignal this fall; the Company's drilling permits for its Lac a l'Orignal and Begin-Lamarche properties will not be an important step in its six-phase development plan for the North American LFP battery industry; Mr. Lapointe's experience from Arianne Phosphate will not be beneficial to the Company in establishing best practices for internal operations and for environment stewardship; the Company will not rollout its integration strategy within the North American and global LFP battery industry; Mr. Lapointe will not further the Company's development plans to producing battery-grade phosphate through clean and environmentally responsible processing methods, for a consistent and ethical supply right here in Quebec; and Mr. Lapointe's experience in the phosphate industry will not further the development of best practices for the Company.

Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive. Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward looking statements, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated.

Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and reflect the Company's expectations as of the date hereof and are subject to change thereafter. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, estimates or opinions, future events or results or otherwise or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking information, except as required by applicable law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/142794
NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the recent study published by P&S Intelligence, in 2021, the HVAC systems & services market was worth around $206.6 billion, which is predicted to touch $319.9 billion revenue by 2030, progressing at a compound annual growth rate of 5.0% from 2021 to 2030. The key factors that will have a positive influence on the market are the significant demand for an ambient atmosphere in a building and the diverse worldwide climatic conditions.

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.
HAMBURG (dpa-AFX) - German optics firm Fielmann AG (FLMNF.PK) expects third quarter external sales will increase to 536 million euros from the previous year's 531.6 million euros. Quarterly consolidated sales will rise to about 463 million euros from the previous year's 460.8 million euros. Earnings before taxes amount to around 52.0 million euros compared to 85.4 million euros last year. We also remain committed to our Vision 2025 and continue to invest in the digitalisation and internationalisation of our family business. For 2022, the company expects external sales of about 2 billion euros, consolidated sales of around 1.75 billion euros and an EBT of over 160 million euros. The company said in July that it expected external sales of about 2 billion euros, consolidated sales of approximately 1.8 billion euros, and an EBT of more than 190 million euros for the full year 2022. 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.
LONDON, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Trucksters, the Spanish relay-based freight transport start-up has acquired 50 new trailers from the German manufacturer Krone, 20 of which have already been delivered this week with the company's new signage - the two corporation has been in collaboration since 2022.

The new Mega Liner trailers feature a large load volume of 100 m3 and sophisticated technology specially designed for high-speed stretches of freight transport. Their highly efficient hydraulic lifting roof allows immediate loading and unloading.

"At Krone we are known for supporting start-ups through our services and financial options. Under this philosophy, we have established a solid collaboration with Trucksters since 2020. This agreement means a step further in this exciting business relationship, with 50 Mega Liner models to be delivered in 2022 and more units in 2023," explains Eneko Urrutikoetxea, Krone Rental Business manager.

Jose Lezaun, VP of Operations Spain at Trucksters states "For Trucksters, it is a qualitative leap that allows us to reinforce our brand image, as our objective is for 100% of the fleet to have a unified corporate image by 2023; but also, an increase in load capacity and the capacity to improve service to our customers." He adds that "it is very important to work with European manufacturers, as we need assistance anywhere in the region. Krone, in addition to being a manufacturer, offers a multitude of additional options that help us to improve and optimise the costs of collection and delivery of trailers."

About Trucksters

Trucksters is a freight transport operator focused on providing a long distance FTL service through an innovative truck relay system based on big data and artificial intelligence.

Founded in 2018 by Luis Bardaji, Gabor Balogh and Ramon Castro, Trucksters' goal is to make the global road freight industry more efficient and to improve the quality of life for drivers. The Trucksters service reduces long-distance road transit time by up to 50% by allowing trucks to be continuously on the move through relays.

Trucksters is present in Madrid, the company's headquarters, Valencia, Germany, Belgium, and Poland, and it is being used by more than 500 clients. Currently, the company operates three major corridors that connect Spain, Germany, France, Benelux and Poland. In May 2022, Trucksters won the VerkehrsRundschau Award in the digitalisation category.

www.trucksters.io

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/trucksters-adds-50-new-trailers-to-its-fleet-from-german-manufacturer-krone-301666390.html
MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. Government has awarded $47.6 million to demine explosive devices that remain in civilian areas in Ukraine as a result of attack by Russian forces. The Department awarded $47.6 million to Tetra Tech, Inc. of Pasadena, California to provide urgent humanitarian demining assistance to Ukraine. Under the terms of the project, Tetra Tech will strengthen the Government of Ukraine's capacity to locate and remove landmines, unexploded and abandoned ordnance, improvised explosive devices, and other explosive hazards from civilian areas. Tetra Tech will train the Government of Ukraine demining and EOD teams to international standards and provide them with the tools necessary to do their jobs. The project also supports deploying additional clearance teams and explosive ordnance risk education teams through the local non-governmental organization Ukrainian Deminers Association. This project forms part of the $91.5 million in demining assistance that the Department will provide over the coming year to help the Government of Ukraine address the urgent humanitarian challenges posed by explosive remnants of war created by Russia's invasion. Russia's indiscriminate attacks have littered massive swaths of the country with landmines, unexploded ordnance, and improvised explosive devices. These explosive hazards block access to farmland, impede reconstruction efforts, prevent displaced people from returning to their homes, and continue to kill and maim innocent Ukrainian civilians. The Government of Ukraine estimates that 160,000 square kilometers of its land, which is roughly the size of Virginia, Maryland, and Connecticut combined, may be contaminated. 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.
The "Europe Branded Generics Market Forecast to 2028 COVID-19 Impact and Regional Analysis by Therapeutic Application, Distribution Channel, Drug Class, and Formulation Type" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The branded generics market in Europe is expected to grow from US$ 45.81 billion in 2022 to US$ 81.30 billion by 2028; it is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 10.0% from 2022 to 2028.

Players in the pharmaceutical industry are adopting various strategies, including product differentiation, to reduce development costs and maximize profits. Product differentiation involves developing innovative products based on an existing product by enhancing its features, performance, and efficacy. Product differentiation paves the way for strengthening product pipeline and lifecycle management.

As generic drugs contain the same active pharmaceutical ingredients as the brand-name products, differentiation in color, shape, taste, inactive ingredients, preservatives, and packaging result in high demand for branded generics. Therefore, differentiation in the final product is expected to offer lucrative growth opportunities for the competitive players in the market in the coming years.

Additionally, prominent players operating the market are offering low-cost branded generics to remain competitive in the market. For instance, in July 2020, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company announced a joint venture with Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. to commercialize complex generics products, specialty assets, and other pipeline generic medicines. Further, key players in the branded generics segment offer low-cost branded generics to remain competitive in the Europe market. This can be achieved by strategically sourcing raw materials from emerging economies and partnering with suppliers. All these factors would provide lucrative opportunities for the overall branded generics market growth during the forecast period.

By introducing new features and technologies, vendors in the Europe branded generics market can attract new customers and expand their footprints in emerging markets. This factor is likely to drive the market at a good CAGR during the forecast period.

Europe Branded Generics Market Segmentation

Europe branded generics market is segmented into therapeutic application, distribution channel, drug class, formulation type and country. The therapeutic application segment of the Europe branded generics market is segmented into oncology, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, neurology, gastrointestinal diseases, dermatology diseases, and analgesics and anti-inflammatory. In 2022, the others segment held the largest share of the market, by therapeutic application.

The Europe branded generics market, by distribution channel is hospital pharmacies, retail pharmacies, online pharmacies, and drug stores. The retail pharmacies segment is likely to hold the largest share of the market in 2022. The Europe branded generics market, by drug class is segmented into alkylating agents, antimetabolites, hormones, anti-hypertensive, lipid lowering drugs, anti-depressants, anti-psychotics, anti-epileptic, and others. The others segment is likely to hold the largest share of the market in 2022. The Europe branded generics market, based on formulation type is segmented into oral, parenteral, topical, and other. In 2022, the oral segment held the largest share of the market, by formulation type.

Market Dynamics

Market Drivers

Growing Popularity of Branded Generics

Rise in Government Initiatives for Promoting Branded Generics

Market Restraints

Switching Brands, Poorer Clinical Outcomes and Adverse Effects of Generic Medications

Market Opportunities

New Opportunities Owing to Product Differentiation

Future Trends

More Focus Upon Utility of Branded Generics by Healthcare Providers and Professionals

Key Topics Covered:

1. Introduction

2. Key Takeaways

3. Research Methodology

4. Europe Branded Generics Market Market Landscape

5. Europe Branded Generics Market Key Market Dynamics

6. Branded Generics Market- Europe Analysis

7. Europe Branded Generics Market Revenue and Forecast To 2028- by Therapeutic Application

8. Europe Branded Generics Market Analysis and Forecast to 2028 by Distribution Channel

9. Europe Branded Generics Market Analysis and Forecast to 2028 by Drug Class

10. Europe Branded Generics Market Analysis and Forecast to 2028 by Formulation Type

11. Europe Branded Generics Market Revenue and Forecasts to 2028 Country Analysis

12. Branded Generics Market-Industry Landscape

13. Company Profiles

14. Appendix

Companies Mentioned

Aspen Holdings

AstraZeneca

Bausch Health (Valeant Pharmaceuticals)

Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Inc.

GlaxoSmithKline plc

Hetero

Lupin

MYLAN N.V.

Par Pharmaceuticals

Sandoz International Gmbh

Sanofi

TEVA PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRIES LTD.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/txizej

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005850/en/

Contacts:

ResearchAndMarkets.com

Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com

For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470

For U.S./ CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630

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CLOVERDALE, CA / ACCESSWIRE / November 02, 2022 / Cann American Corp. (OTC Pink:CNNA), the "Company", a holding company building a diverse portfolio of intellectual properties, is pleased to announce an asset purchase and new management.

On October 31, 2022, the Company completed the asset purchase of Mark2media group as a majority owned subsidiary of Cann American Corp.

Mark2media Group is a technology company with a vision to develop and distribute applications globally under a unique business model that eliminates heavy end user costs. Mark2 is registered with Google Play, Apple Store, Steam and Oculus.

As a condition of the asset purchase, Mark2media's CEO, Alexander Woods-Leo, was appointed as Director and CEO of Cann American Corp. Mr. Alexander Woods-Leo is a published developer and patent holder with over a decade of experience with public companies and financial services.

New management intends to rapidly expand Cann American into a diversified holding company. In addition to the Mark2 acquisition, the Company is currently negotiating additional acquisitions and preparing for additional board appointments.

Finally, the Company intends to restructure previous debt arrangements in order to preserve the Company's capital structure and shareholder value, while immediately beginning the audit process for the sake of up listing to the OTCQB exchange. Additional updates will be forthcoming.

Stated Cann American CEO, Alexander Woods-Leo: "I'm very excited for the opportunity to embark on this new era for Cann American and its shareholders. I have a bold new vision and direction for the Company and look forward to a bright future for Cann American."

About Cann American Corp.

Cann American was formed in 2015 with an initial focus on developing legal cannabis industry infrastructure projects in Northern California. Now a publicly traded company under symbol (CNNA), Cann American Corp., through its subsidiaries, has expanded its focus toward developing assets and technologies through strategic acquisitions nationally.

Forward Looking Statements:

This press release contains forward-looking statements. The words "believe," "may," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "should," "plan," "could," "target," "potential," "is likely," "will," "expect" and similar expressions, as they relate to us, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The Company has based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. Some or all of the results anticipated by these forward-looking statements may not be achieved. Any forward-looking statement made by us herein speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of them. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

Cann American Corp.

Twitter: https://Twitter.com/CNNA_OTC

Mark2media Group.

Contact: mark2mediagroup@gmail.com

Twitter: https://Twitter.com/RealMark2media

SOURCE: Cann American Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/723539/Cann-American-Corp-Completes-Asset-Purchase-and-Change-in-Management
El Salvador's Lempa River Hydroelectric Executive Commission (CEL) has started building a 17 MW solar park. It is the first to be owned, designed, planned and executed by the national authorities. It is scheduled to start operations in December 2023.The state of El Salvador has started building the country's first publicly owned solar park. It is being installed in the municipality of Talnique, La Libertad department. It will have an installed capacity of 17 MW, with operations expected to start in December 2023. The Talnique project will host 29,600 bifacial solar modules from an undisclosed ...

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.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark - November 2, 2022 - Bavarian Nordic A/S (OMX: BAVA) will announce its 2022 third quarter results on Wednesday, November 9, 2022.

The management of Bavarian Nordic will host an investor/analyst call at 2 pm CET. To join the Q&A session, please register in advance via https://bit.ly/3g5j4gR .

About Bavarian Nordic

Bavarian Nordic is a fully integrated vaccines company focused on the development, manufacturing and commercialization of life-saving vaccines. We are a global leader in smallpox vaccines and have been a long-term supplier to the U.S. Government of a non-replicating smallpox vaccine, which has been approved by the FDA, also for the protection against monkeypox. The vaccine is also approved in Europe and Canada. Our commercial product portfolio furthermore contains market-leading vaccines against rabies and tick-borne encephalitis. Using our live virus vaccine platform technology, MVA-BN, we have created a diverse portfolio of proprietary and partnered product candidates designed to save and improve lives by unlocking the power of the immune system, including an Ebola vaccine, which is licensed to the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. We are also committed to the development of a next generation COVID-19 vaccine. For more information visit www.bavarian-nordic.com .

Contacts

Europe: Rolf Sass Srensen, Vice President Investor Relations & Communications. Tel: +45 61 77 47 43

U.S.: Graham Morrell, Paddock Circle Advisors (US), Tel: +1 781 686 9600






As part of the future hydrographic and oceanographic capability program (CHOF) for the French Navy, the French defence procurement agency (DGA) awarded a contract to Exail, subsidiary of Groupe Gorge, for a new experimentation of the DriX - hydrographic Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV).

As a true maritime drone, the DriX will extend the capabilities of underwater inspection and mapping. This new experiment aims to validate the drone's performance observed during previous trials carried out in the Iroise Sea in late 2020. The planning of complex missions, as well as the quality of hydrographic surveys and data processing are among the functionalities expected of this latest generation drone.

This six-month contract, worth 0.5 million, is also an opportunity for the DGA to further study an optimized means of launching and recovering the drone, in order to have a complete solution adapted to the needs for its implementation. This study is being followed by the DGA Project Engineering and DGA Naval Engineering expertise and test centers.

The experiment is scheduled to take place on the hydrographic and oceanographic vessel 'Beautemps-Beaupre' in February 2023 in the Mediterranean Sea, in collaboration with the French Navy's hydrographic and oceanographic service.

DriX USV and French Navy's hydrographic and oceanographic vessel 'Beautemps Beaupre'.

The experiments with surface, underwater and aerial drones carried out during the preparation phase of the CHOF program are intended to identify the most appropriate and efficient means of surveying to meet hydrographic survey needs.

The previous DriX experiment in October 2020 allowed bathymetric surveys to be carried out at different depths, reaching nearly 200 m in the Ushant Trough. The aim was to evaluate its added value compared with the systems currently in service (launches and hydrographic vessels), and to understand its potential use for the CHOF program. In particular, the deployment of two USVs in collaborative mode was tested.







About Groupe Gorge

Groupe Gorge is a high-tech industrial group driven by a strong entrepreneurial culture. The Group generated revenue of 178 million in 2021. It is present in drones, engineering and protection systems and now employs around 2,000 people.

More information on www.groupe-gorge.com

Groupe Gorge is listed on Euronext Paris Compartment B (GOE).

Contacts: Investor Relations

Hugo Soussan

Tel. +33 (0)1 44 77 94 86

h.soussan@groupe-gorge.com



Claire Riffaud

Tel. +33 (0)1 53 67 36 79

criffaud@actus.fr Media Relations

Manon Clairet

Tel. +33 (0)1 53 67 36 73

mclairet@actus.fr

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2 November 2022

Rightmove plc

Share buy-back programme

Rightmove plc - Transaction in own shares

Rightmove plc ('Rightmove') announces that today it purchased 88,000 of its 0.1p ordinary shares at a volume weighted average price paid per share of 500.246p. The highest price paid per share was 505.600p and the lowest price paid per share was 494.800p. Rightmove purchased these shares through Numis Securities Limited.

The number of shares purchased represented 0.0106% of the voting rights attributable to the total ordinary shares in issue prior to such purchase. The purchased shares will be cancelled.

Since announcing a share buy-back programme on 28 December 2007, Rightmove has purchased in aggregate 479,063,227 ordinary shares.

The total number of ordinary shares in issue (excluding treasury shares) following this announcement is 827,615,801. Rightmove holds 12,375,052 shares in treasury.

In accordance with Article 5(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 (the Market Abuse Regulation) as amended by The Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (the "UK MAR"), the schedule below contains detailed information about the purchases made by Numis Securities Limited on behalf of the Company as part of the buyback programme.

Contact: Michelle Palmer, Deputy Company Secretary CompanySecretary@rightmove.co.uk

Schedule of Purchases - Individual Transactions
New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - November 2, 2022) - In order to increase the number of SMEs that have access to financing, the European Investment Fund (EIF) and TFG Finance Ltd have signed their first COSME agreement in the UK. The European Commission and the EIB Group's Investment Plan for Europe is being implemented with the assistance of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), which benefits the project.

Through the guarantee program, TFG Lending, a subsidiary of TFG Finance Ltd. will be able to lend 87 million (100 million) to more than 4,000 small enterprises across Europe, North and South America. The loans will be made possible by an EIF guarantee granted through the COSME initiative, with funding assistance from the European Commission.

At TFG Lending, valid businesses can submit an application for finance through the program. A firm can receive approval for up to 15,000,000 in just a few hours thanks to the technology-driven risk platform, which analyzes hundreds of data points for each application automatically.

According to Thierry Breton, EU Commissioner for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship, and SMEs, more than 4,000 SMEs would be able to access 87 million in capital through new loans thanks to EU funding. "It makes me extremely happy to see that the Investment Plan for Europe is actually materializing, generating new employment, and helping small businesses."

EIF Chief Executive Alain Godard commented on the signing, saying, "I'm happy that we're signing the first EFSI SME guarantee agreement in the UK under the COSME program. TFG Lending, an online lending platform, will provide entrepreneurs with quick access to capital to support the launch and expansion of their firms."

Jorge C. Pecidodo, CFO at TFG Finance Ltd, said, "This agreement between TFG Lending and the EIF is a boon for the millions of SMEs who critically need access to finance. These businesses are the lifeblood of our economy and have been underserved by traditional finance providers.

"We believe this partnership represents a genuine endorsement of iwoca's strategy and innovative technology platform. We look forward to expanding our relationship in the future to further meet the needs of SMEs across Europe."

This deal reflects the EIB Group's commitment to respond swiftly to calls from Member States, the European Commission and the European Parliament for a rapid launch of concrete initiatives under EFSI, accelerating lending and guaranteeing transactions capable of boosting jobs and growth in the EU.

Media Contact -

Company name: TFG Finance Ltd

Contact name: Jack Wilkinson

Company address: 201 Haverstock Hill,NW3 4QG, England.

Website URL: http://tfglending.com

Phone: +44 1632 960505

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/142811
BEIJING, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- China and Pakistan on Wednesday vowed to make joint efforts in elevating the level of all-round strategic cooperation and inject new impetus into their all-weather strategic cooperative partnership.





Chinese President Xi Jinping said that Pakistan has always been a high priority in China's neighborhood diplomacy when meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, who was among the first foreign leaders invited to Beijing after the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). This is also the prime minister's first visit to China since assuming office in April.

Sharif said that his visit is a "testament to the profound, iron-clad friendship" between Pakistan and China, adding that deepening Pakistan's all-weather strategic cooperative partnership with China is a cornerstone of Pakistan's foreign policy and the national consensus of Pakistan.

China ready to provide new opportunities

China will continue its fundamental policy of opening-up and provide new opportunities to Pakistan and the rest of the world through continuous development, Xi told Sharif.

The two sides should make full use of the Joint Cooperation Committee of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), advance CPEC with greater efficiency, and make CPEC an exemplar of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, he said.

Noting that CPEC has had a profound impact on Pakistan's economic and social development, Sharif said Pakistan is ready to work with China to continue promoting high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

As a flagship program of the Belt and Road Initiative, CPEC has become a landmark of China-Pakistan cooperation. It has effectively boosted economic development, improved people's livelihood, and generated positive socioeconomic effects in Pakistan. The recent 11th meeting of the Joint Cooperation Committee of CPEC was a success. Multiple common understandings were reached about CPEC's future development.

The two sides also agreed to expand cooperation in digital economy, e-commerce, photovoltaic and other new-energy technologies, as well as advance cooperation concerning agriculture, science, technology and people's livelihood.

China has been Pakistan's largest trade and investment partner, the largest exporter and the second largest importer for six consecutive fiscal years since 2015.

Last year, trade between China and Pakistan reached $27.82 billion, a year-on-year increase of 59.1 percent. Chinese exports to Pakistan totaled $24.23 billion, a year-on-year increase of 57.8 percent, while imports from Pakistan were $3.59 billion, a year-on-year increase of 68.9 percent, showed data from the General Administration of Customs.

Jointly advancing global governance

China will work with Pakistan to advance the Global Development Initiative (GDI), the Global Security Initiative (GSI), and make the global economic governance system more fair, equitable and inclusive that benefits all, Xi said.

The GDI and the GSI, proposed by Xi Jinping in 2021 and 2022 respectively, seek to overcome the tunnel vision that contributes to the rise of de-globalization, populism and xenophobia, which risk impeding global governance of development and security.

The GDI highlights re-energizing and speeding up the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and building a global community of development, while the GSI gives clear answers to questions such as what security concept the world needs and how countries can achieve common security, which opens an important new way for global security governance.

Sharif expressed full support for the initiatives, adding that his country will strengthen communication with China in international and regional affairs to contribute positively to world peace and development.

The Pakistani prime minister also reiterated his country's firm commitment to the one-China policy and its firm support for China's position on issues concerning China's core interests including Taiwan, Xinjiang and Hong Kong.

The Pakistan-China friendship is unbreakable, and Pakistan will always stand firmly with China, he added.

The two countries issued a joint statement, highlighting mutual support on issues concerning each other's core interests, the key role of various bilateral cooperation mechanisms for deepening strategic communication, and cooperation in the areas of agriculture, mining, IT and socio-economic development under CPEC.

The two sides also signed and concluded a number of agreements, covering bilateral cooperation in areas of e-commerce, digital economy, export of agricultural products, financial cooperation, protection of cultural property and infrastructure, among others.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-11-02/Xi-holds-talks-with-Pakistani-PM-Muhammad-Shehbaz-Sharif-in-Beijing-1eD8tTJ79bW/index.html

Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbN3fhEkgLk

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/cgtnchina-pakistan-vow-to-inject-new-impetus-into-all-weather-strategic-cooperative-partnership-301666646.html
AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of "a-" (Excellent) of Abu Dhabi National Takaful Company P.S.C. (ADNTC) (United Arab Emirates). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.

The ratings reflect ADNTC's balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its strong operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.

AM Best considers the takaful regulations in the UAE to be sufficiently strong, given the protection it provides to policyholders. ADNTC's risk-adjusted capitalisation is at the strongest level, as measured by Best's Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR) on a combined policyholder and shareholder fund basis. AM Best expects the company's prospective risk-adjusted capitalisation to remain sufficient to support its strategic plans, including the recently announced proposed acquisition of a portfolio of unit-linked life insurance business from Dubai Islamic Insurance Reinsurance Company (Aman) P.J.S.C., which remains subject to regulatory approval. ADNTC has a generally conservative investment strategy, with over 50% of invested assets held in cash and deposits as at year-end 2021. Since 2020, the company has increased its weighting to higher-risk equity and real estate assets, to utilise surplus capital and strengthen investment yields. An offsetting factor in ADNTC's balance sheet strength assessment is its high dependence on reinsurance, which increased following changes to its reinsurance structure for its family takaful (life) business in 2020. However, the associated credit risk is managed through the use of a reinsurance panel of sound financial strength.

ADNTC has a track record of strong operating performance with a five-year (2017-2021) weighted average return-on-equity ratio of 17.3%. The company has a history of strong underwriting performance within both its general and family takaful portfolios. Following challenging operating conditions in the UAE and structural changes made by ADNTC, which particularly affected the company's family (life) takaful business, underwriting returns contracted for a second consecutive year in 2021. The company returned a technical result of AED 12.3 million (USD 3.4 million) in 2021, compared with AED 15.2 million (USD 4.1 million) in 2020, and AED 70.3 million (USD 19.1 million) in 2019 (as calculated by AM Best). Management actions implemented since 2020, including the restructuring of the family takaful reinsurance programme and strategic diversification of the underwriting portfolio, are expected to contribute toward the maintenance of strong underwriting performance over the coming years.

The company has a niche and established position in the UAE insurance market as a successful takaful operator, which is supported by strong and established distribution channels. After several years of strong annualised top-line growth, the company experienced two years of contraction in gross written contributions in 2020 and 2021. The effect was more pronounced on the company's family takaful portfolio than on its general takaful portfolio, with the former more sensitive to macroeconomic conditions and subject to significant product changes in recent years.

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best's Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Best's Credit Ratings, Best's Performance Assessments, Best's Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Best's Ratings Assessments.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specialising in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright 2022 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005968/en/

Contacts:

Romeo Berti

Financial Analyst

+44 20 7397 0267

romeo.berti@ambest.com

Alex Rafferty

Associate Director, Analytics

+44 20 7397 0312

alex.rafferty@ambest.com

Christopher Sharkey

Manager, Public Relations

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159

christopher.sharkey@ambest.com

Al Slavin

Communications Specialist

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5098

al.slavin@ambest.com
Redde Northgate Plc - Transaction in Own Shares

NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO OR FROM ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OR REGULATIONS OF SUCH JURISDICTION

2 November 2022

REDDE NORTHGATE PLC

("Redde Northgate" or the "Group" or the "Company")

Transaction in Own Shares

Redde Northgate plc (LSE:REDD) announces that on 2 November 2022 it purchased the following number of its own shares to be held in treasury:

Class of shares : Ordinary shares of 50p ("shares") Number of shares purchased : 75,000 Weighted average purchase price paid : 340.9451 pence per share Highest purchase price paid : 346.5 pence per share Lowest purchase price paid : 335.5 pence per share

Following the above transaction, the Company's issued share capital consists of 246,091,423 ordinary shares of 50p each, of which 13,896,710 ordinary shares are held in treasury, and 1,000,000 preference shares of 50p each which do not carry any rights to vote. Therefore the total number of voting rights in the Company is 232,194,713 which may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

In accordance with Article 5(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 (the Market Abuse Regulation) as incorporated into UK domestic law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, the schedule below contains detailed information about the purchases made by Numis Securities Limited on behalf of the Company as part of the Company's buyback programme.

Schedule of Purchases - Individual Transactions (all of 2 November 2022)

Number of shares

purchased Transaction price

(GB pence per share) Time of transaction Transaction reference number Venue 1184 338.00 08:12:39 00061899912TRLO0 LSE 1028 338.00 08:12:39 00061899911TRLO0 LSE 1823 338.00 08:30:40 00061900694TRLO0 LSE 529 338.00 08:30:40 00061900695TRLO0 LSE 1919 336.50 09:13:17 00061902262TRLO0 LSE 714 335.50 09:22:12 00061902576TRLO0 LSE 175 335.50 09:22:12 00061902577TRLO0 LSE 514 335.50 09:22:12 00061902578TRLO0 LSE 858 335.50 09:22:12 00061902579TRLO0 LSE 1745 336.00 09:22:12 00061902580TRLO0 LSE 493 336.00 09:22:12 00061902581TRLO0 LSE 2047 336.00 09:22:14 00061902582TRLO0 LSE 550 338.00 09:24:11 00061902626TRLO0 LSE 732 338.00 09:24:11 00061902627TRLO0 LSE 284 338.00 09:24:11 00061902628TRLO0 LSE 500 338.00 09:29:41 00061902799TRLO0 LSE 1562 338.00 09:29:41 00061902800TRLO0 LSE 905 338.00 09:53:20 00061903289TRLO0 LSE 500 338.00 09:53:20 00061903290TRLO0 LSE 705 338.00 09:53:20 00061903291TRLO0 LSE 1991 337.50 10:09:12 00061903641TRLO0 LSE 408 337.50 10:37:12 00061904337TRLO0 LSE 1564 337.50 10:37:12 00061904338TRLO0 LSE 2335 338.50 11:13:47 00061905270TRLO0 LSE 224 338.00 11:20:03 00061905410TRLO0 LSE 626 338.00 11:20:03 00061905411TRLO0 LSE 500 338.00 11:20:03 00061905412TRLO0 LSE 1915 341.50 11:48:51 00061906349TRLO0 LSE 320 341.50 11:48:51 00061906350TRLO0 LSE 500 341.00 11:50:03 00061906377TRLO0 LSE 1000 341.00 11:50:03 00061906378TRLO0 LSE 198 341.00 11:50:03 00061906379TRLO0 LSE 500 341.00 11:50:03 00061906380TRLO0 LSE 770 340.50 11:52:45 00061906557TRLO0 LSE 985 340.50 11:52:45 00061906558TRLO0 LSE 464 340.50 11:52:45 00061906559TRLO0 LSE 2447 342.00 12:01:11 00061906753TRLO0 LSE 2179 342.50 12:42:16 00061908108TRLO0 LSE 2271 343.50 13:26:03 00061909084TRLO0 LSE 1000 343.50 13:29:03 00061909192TRLO0 LSE 500 343.50 13:29:03 00061909193TRLO0 LSE 832 343.50 13:29:03 00061909194TRLO0 LSE 394 344.50 14:05:04 00061911173TRLO0 LSE 853 344.50 14:05:04 00061911174TRLO0 LSE 236 344.50 14:05:04 00061911175TRLO0 LSE 53 344.50 14:05:04 00061911176TRLO0 LSE 74 344.50 14:05:04 00061911177TRLO0 LSE 1956 346.50 14:15:36 00061911848TRLO0 LSE 1500 345.50 14:15:55 00061911865TRLO0 LSE 781 345.50 14:15:55 00061911866TRLO0 LSE 2056 345.00 14:18:52 00061911996TRLO0 LSE 1441 344.50 14:29:01 00061912351TRLO0 LSE 810 344.50 14:29:01 00061912352TRLO0 LSE 1401 344.00 14:52:12 00061913716TRLO0 LSE 876 344.00 14:52:12 00061913717TRLO0 LSE 326 344.00 15:10:04 00061914896TRLO0 LSE 1017 344.00 15:10:04 00061914897TRLO0 LSE 826 344.00 15:10:04 00061914898TRLO0 LSE 179 344.00 15:10:04 00061914899TRLO0 LSE 434 343.50 15:30:02 00061916086TRLO0 LSE 500 343.50 15:30:02 00061916087TRLO0 LSE 500 343.50 15:30:02 00061916088TRLO0 LSE 500 343.50 15:30:02 00061916089TRLO0 LSE 91 343.50 15:30:02 00061916090TRLO0 LSE 525 343.50 15:54:06 00061917220TRLO0 LSE 535 344.00 15:55:00 00061917251TRLO0 LSE 452 344.00 15:55:00 00061917252TRLO0 LSE 127 344.00 15:55:00 00061917253TRLO0 LSE 424 344.00 15:55:00 00061917254TRLO0 LSE 206 344.00 15:57:40 00061917501TRLO0 LSE 970 344.00 15:57:40 00061917502TRLO0 LSE 251 343.00 16:07:42 00061918233TRLO0 LSE 1000 343.00 16:07:42 00061918234TRLO0 LSE 86 343.00 16:07:42 00061918235TRLO0 LSE 356 342.50 16:10:01 00061918332TRLO0 LSE 17 342.50 16:14:56 00061918533TRLO0 LSE 295 342.50 16:14:56 00061918534TRLO0 LSE 292 342.50 16:14:59 00061918536TRLO0 LSE 364 342.50 16:15:30 00061918605TRLO0 LSE 10000 341.00 16:35:03 00061919704TRLO0 LSE

Notes

This announcement is made in accordance with the requirements of Listing Rule 12.4.6.

For further information contact:

Buchanan

David Rydell/Jamie Hooper/Hannah Ratcliff +44 (0) 207 466 5000

Notes to Editors:

Redde Northgate is the leading integrated mobility solutions platform providing services across the vehicle lifecycle. The Company offers integrated mobility solutions to businesses, fleet operators, insurers, OEMs and other customers across seven key areas: vehicle rental, vehicle data, accident management, vehicle repairs, fleet management, service and maintenance, vehicle ancillary services and vehicle sales.

The Company's core purpose is to keep its customers mobile, whether through meeting their regular mobility needs or by servicing and supporting them when unforeseen events occur. With its considerable scale and reach, Redde Northgate's mission is to offer a market-leading customer proposition and drive enhanced returns for shareholders by creating value through sustainable compounding growth. The Group aims to achieve this through the delivery of its strategic framework of Focus, Drive and Broaden.

Redde Northgate services its customers through a network and diversified fleet of over 120,000 owned and leased vehicles, supporting over 600,000 managed vehicles, with more than 170 workshop, body shop and rental locations across the UK, Ireland and Spain and a specialist team of over 6,000 automotive services professionals.

Further information please visit the Company's website:

www.reddenorthgate.com
Patented tobacco processing technology expected to be disruptive to the recreational cannabis pre-roll market

Perth, Australia, Vancouver, British Columbia and Greenville, North Carolina--(Newsfile Corp. - November 2, 2022) - WestCann Holdings Ltd. ("WCH" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has signed an agreement with IOTO USA, LLC ("IOTO") for the exclusive global licensing of all uses with cannabis and hemp of IOTO's patented technologies for the reconstitution of plant matter.

Originally developed for the primary processing of tobacco, IOTO's technologies allow for complete homogenization of cannabis as well as for full process control over the active ingredients and smoking characteristics. As a result, precision tobacco cigarette making and packaging equipment can be utilized for pre-roll manufacturing, creating a highly consistent and reproducible consumer product with significant quality and cost advantages.

The Company's wholly owned subsidiary WestCann Processors Inc. is planning to start the manufacturing of reconstituted cannabis pre-rolls for the Canadian recreational market at its Yorkton, SK facility by December 2022 and expects its products to be available to consumers through licensed retail stores in early 2023.





Image 1

To view an enhanced version of Image 1, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8600/142843_da77a4cd845168c9_001full.jpg

CEO Andreas Gedeon: "I'm convinced that our products will be disruptive to the existing pre-roll market, which is one of the single biggest growing segments in the cannabis industry. I believe that consumers will quickly appreciate our convenient format and the fact that they can always get the same experience with the next pack they purchase, all at a discount to what they are used to paying right now."

The exclusive license to IOTO's technologies complements WestCann's portfolio of custom engineered automatization solutions, including its patented child resistant hinge lid pack that is certified for use in Canada, the U.S., Switzerland and the EU.

Over the course of the next year, the Company plans on partnering with licensed operations in several U.S. states for additional installations of its fully automated pre-roll making and packing lines, as well as on preparing to be a first mover in the upcoming recreational cannabis markets in Germany and Thailand.

For further information please visit www.westcann.com or contact Andreas Gedeon, CEO at andreas@westcann.com.

About WestCann

WestCann Holdings Ltd., based in Perth, WA and its wholly owned subsidiaries WestCann Processors Inc, 102021671 Saskatchewan Inc. in Canada and Laika Brands, LLC in Nevada are focusing on the transfer of tobacco processing technologies to the recreational cannabis markets. For more information on WestCann please visit www.westcann.com.

About IOTO

IOTO USA, LLC, a subsidiary of IOTO International in Brazil, is a global leader in the provision of flavorings and reconstitution technologies for tobacco. For more information on IOTO please visit www.iotointernational.com.

ENDS, END ### END ###

PRESS RELEASE CONTACT

Andreas Gedeon

+1 (250) 713-6302

andreas@westcann.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/142843
SEATTLE (dpa-AFX) - Starbucks is now in holiday mode with the return of its iconic red cups and special holiday menu. The holiday menu will make a comeback to Starbucks on November 3 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the red cups. Starting Thursday, November 3, Starbucks will celebrate the return of holiday beverages and festive foodz, as well as 25 years of the holiday cups. The coffee chain first rolled out the cups, initially designed by Sandy Nelson in 1997, to signify the arrival of the holiday season. This year, the classic red and Starbucks green colors have accents of mint and sparkles as a nod to the Peppermint Mocha, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Additional fan favorites back on the holiday menu include the Caramel Brulee Latte, Chestnut Praline Latte, Toasted White Chocolate Mocha, Irish Cream Cold Brew, and returning for the second year, the non-dairy Iced Sugar Cookie Almondmilk Latte. The pastry case is also getting into the festive mode with a brand new Chocolate Pistachio Swirl and the return of Reindeer Cake Pops, Sugar Plum Cheese Danish, Cranberry Bliss Bars and Snowman Cookies. Starbucks will also debut its annual limited-edition holiday merch lineup, which features an array of colorful cold cups, tumblers, mugs and more in a variety of holiday designs. 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.
EQS Voting Rights Announcement: QIAGEN N.V.

QIAGEN N.V.: Release according to Article 40, Section 1 of the WpHG [the German Securities Trading Act] with the objective of Europe-wide distribution



02.11.2022 / 22:04 CET/CEST

Dissemination of a Voting Rights Announcement transmitted by EQS News - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



The AFM (the Netherlands Authority For the Financial Markets has informed us on October 29, 2022 that a notification related to our institution has been released by the AFM. The following notification has been disclosed in the relevant register on the AFM website: Date of transaction: 26 oct 2022 Person obliged to notify: UBS Group AG Issuing institution: Qiagen N.V. Registration Chamber of Commerce: 12036979 Place of residence: VENLO Distribution in numbers Type of share Number of shares Number of voting rights Capital interest Voting rights Manner of disposal Settlement Ordinary share 3.639.213,00 3.639.213,00 Real Real Indirectly - UBS AG, UBS Asset Management (Americas Inc., UBS Asset Management (Australia Ltd., UBS Asset Management (Deutschland GmbH, UBS Asset Management (Singapore Ltd., UBS Asset Management (UK Limited, UBS Asset Management Life Limited, UBS Fund Management Physical Delivery Ordinary share 514.456,00 514.456,00 Potential Potential Indirectly - UBS AG, UBS Financial Services Inc., UBS Switzerland AG Physical Delivery Convertible note 483.301,69 483.301,69 Potential Potential Indirectly - UBS AG, UBS Fund Management (Luxembourg S.A., UBS Fund Management (Switzerland AG, UBS Third Party Management Company S.A. Physical Delivery Call-option 20.000,00 20.000,00 Potential Potential Indirectly - UBS AG Physical Delivery Swap 2.231.056,00 2.231.056,00 Potential Potential Indirectly - UBS AG In cash Distribution in percentages Type Total holding Directly real Directly potential Indirectly real Indirectly potential Capital interest 2,98 % 0,00 % 0,00 % 1,58 % 1,41 % Voting rights 2,98 % 0,00 % 0,00 % 1,58 % 1,41 % QIAGEN N.V. is not responsible for the accuracy and correctness of the notification above. The content has been taken from the relevant register of the AFM: https://www.afm.nl/en/professionals/registers/meldingenregisters/substantiele-deelnemingen/details?id=132740

02.11.2022 CET/CEST The EQS Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

Archive at www.eqs-news.com


EQS Voting Rights Announcement: QIAGEN N.V.

QIAGEN N.V.: Release according to Article 40, Section 1 of the WpHG [the German Securities Trading Act] with the objective of Europe-wide distribution



02.11.2022 / 22:04 CET/CEST

Dissemination of a Voting Rights Announcement transmitted by EQS News - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





The AFM (the Netherlands Authority For the Financial Markets has informed us on November 2, 2022 that a notification related to our institution has been released by the AFM.

The following notification has been disclosed in the relevant register on the AFM website:

Date of transaction: 28 Oct 2022

Person obliged to notify: Goldman Sachs Group Inc., The

Issuing institution: Qiagen N.V.

Registration Chamber of Commerce: 12036979

Place of residence: VENLO

Distribution in numbers

Type of share Number of shares Number of voting rights Capital interest Voting rights Manner of disposal Settlement Put option 70.000,00 70.000,00 Potential Potential Indirectly -Goldman Sachs International Physical Delivery Call-option 400.000,00 400.000,00 Potential Potential Indirectly -Goldman Sachs International Physical Delivery Ordinary share 4.885,00 4.885,00 Real Real Indirectly -United Capital Financial Advisers, LLC Physical Delivery Convertible bond 554.499,00 554.499,00 Potential Potential Indirectly -Goldman Sachs International Physical Delivery Ordinary share 724.446,00 724.446,00 Potential Potential Indirectly -Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC Physical Delivery Ordinary share 415.211,00 415.211,00 Potential Potential Indirectly -Goldman Sachs International Physical Delivery Option 3.863.782,00 3.863.782,00 Potential Potential Indirectly -Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC Physical Delivery Ordinary share 52.858,00 52.858,00 Real Real Indirectly -Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE Physical Delivery Ordinary share 38.621,00 38.621,00 Potential Potential Indirectly -Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE Physical Delivery Convertible bond 525.971,00 525.971,00 Potential Potential Indirectly -NN Investment Partners Holdings B.V. Physical Delivery Ordinary share 14.279,00 14.279,00 Real Real Indirectly -NN Investment Partners Holdings B.V. Physical Delivery Ordinary share 1.171,00 1.171,00 Real Real Indirectly -The Goldman Sachs Trust Company of Delaware Physical Delivery Swap 37.932,00 37.932,00 Potential Potential Indirectly -Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC In cash Warrant 64.255,00 64.255,00 Potential Potential Indirectly -Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE In cash Ordinary share 41,00 41,00 Real Real Indirectly -Folio Investments, Inc. Physical Delivery Swap 309.964,00 309.964,00 Potential Potential Indirectly -Goldman Sachs International In cash

Distribution in percentages

Type Total holding Directly real Directly potential Indirectly real Indirectly potential Capital interest 3,07% 0,00% 0,00% 0,03% 3,03% Voting rights 3,07% 0,00% 0,00% 0,03% 3,03%

QIAGEN N.V. is not responsible for the accuracy and correctness of the notification above. The content has

been taken from the relevant register of the AFM:

https://www.afm.nl/en/professionals/registers/meldingenregisters/substantiele-deelnemingen/details?id=132882

02.11.2022 CET/CEST The EQS Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

Archive at www.eqs-news.com


EQS Voting Rights Announcement: QIAGEN N.V.

QIAGEN N.V.: Release according to Article 40, Section 1 of the WpHG [the German Securities Trading Act] with the objective of Europe-wide distribution



02.11.2022 / 22:04 CET/CEST

Dissemination of a Voting Rights Announcement transmitted by EQS News - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



The AFM (the Netherlands Authority For the Financial Markets has informed us on November 2, 2022 that a notification related to our institution has been released by the AFM. The following notification has been disclosed in the relevant register on the AFM website: Date of transaction: 27 oct 2022 Person obliged to notify: UBS Group AG Issuing institution: Qiagen N.V. Registration Chamber of Commerce: 12036979 Place of residence: VENLO Distribution in numbers Type of share Number of shares Number of voting rights Capital interest Voting rights Manner of disposal Settlement Call-option 20.000,00 20.000,00 Potential Potential Indirectly -UBS AG Physical Delivery Convertible note 335.051,00 335.051,00 Potential Potential Indirectly -UBS Fund Management (Luxembourg S.A., UBS Fund Management (Switzerland AG, UBS Third Party Management Company S.A.) Physical Delivery Swap 2.231.056,00 2.231.056,00 Potential Potential Indirectly -UBS AG In cash Ordinary share 274.269,00 274.269,00 Potential Potential Indirectly -UBS AG, UBS Financial Services Inc., UBS Switzerland AG Physical Delivery Ordinary share 4.599.629,00 4.599.629,00 Real Real Indirectly -UBS AG, UBS Asset Management (Americas Inc., UBS Asset Management (Australia Ltd., UBS Asset Management (Deutschland GmbH, UBS Asset Management (Singapore Ltd., UBS Asset Management (UK Limited, UBS Asset Management Life Limited, UBS Fund Management) Physical Delivery Distribution in percentages Type Total holding Directly real Directly potential Indirectly real Indirectly potential Capital interest 3,23 % 0,00 % 0,00 % 1,99 % 1,24 % Voting rights 3,23 % 0,00 % 0,00 % 1,99 % 1,24 % QIAGEN N.V. is not responsible for the accuracy and correctness of the notification above. The content has been taken from the relevant register of the AFM: https://www.afm.nl/en/professionals/registers/meldingenregisters/substantiele-deelnemingen/details?id=132848

02.11.2022 CET/CEST The EQS Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

Archive at www.eqs-news.com


Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - November 2, 2022) - Eric Sprott announces historical transactions involving common shares of Stinger Resources Inc. (Stinger Shares) by 2176423 Ontario Ltd. (a corporation beneficially owned by him) due to a share capital reorganization effected through a statutory plan of arrangement (Arrangement) between American Creek Resources Ltd. and Stinger Resources completed on February 25, 2021.

As a result of the Arrangement, among other things, (i) the holder of each common share of American Creek received 0.11324 Stinger Share and (ii) the holder of each common share purchase warrant of American Creek (American Creek Warrant) was entitled upon exercise thereof to receive 0.11324 Stinger Share (in addition to one new common share of American Creek). Mr. Sprott then beneficially owned 32,500,000 common shares of American Creek and 32,500,000 American Creek Warrants.

Prior to the Arrangement, Mr. Sprott did not beneficially own or control any securities of Stinger Resources. Immediately after giving effect to the Arrangement, Mr. Sprott beneficially owned 3,680,300 Stinger Shares and the right to receive 3,680,300 Stinger Shares upon due exercise of the 32,500,000 American Creek Warrants, representing approximately 8.2% of the outstanding Stinger Shares on a non-diluted basis and approximately 15.1% on a partially diluted basis assuming exercise of such American Creek Warrants.

The Stinger Shares are held for investment purposes. Mr. Sprott has a long-term view of the investments and may acquire additional securities including on the open market or through private acquisitions or sell the securities including on the open market or through private dispositions in the future depending on market conditions, reformulation of plans and/or other relevant factors.

Stinger Resources is is located at #92 - 2nd Avenue West Cardston, Alberta T0K 0K0. A copy of the early warning report with respect to the foregoing will appear on Stinger Resources' profile on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval at www.sedar.com and may also be obtained by calling Mr. Sprott's office at (416) 945-3294 (2176423 Ontario Ltd., 200 Bay Street, Suite 2600, Royal Bank Plaza, South Tower, Toronto, Ontario M5J 2J1).

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/142859
Members can explore more than 200 experiences offered globally, focused on meeting members where they are on their wellbeing journeys

Grounded in its ongoing efforts to inspire and empower travelers to pursue their individual wellbeing goals, World of Hyatt is introducing FIND, an experiences platform, through Hyatt's industry-leading World of Hyatt loyalty program. With 200+ experiences across 85+ destinations in over 30 countries, the FIND platform is designed to complement members' wellbeing journeys and meet them where they are.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221101006068/en/

World of Hyatt FIND Experiences Platform. (Photo: Business Wire)

"We know travelers are eager to explore new destinations and are prioritizing their wellbeing now more than ever," said Amy Weinberg, senior vice president, loyalty, brand marketing and consumer insights, Hyatt. "The FIND platform allows for more opportunities to enhance World of Hyatt members' wellbeing through a lens of self-discovery. With experiences available to all members, it's incredibly easy for them to find something that moves them or keeps them moving."

Whether discovering local cultures that feed into emotional and mental wellbeing, enjoying culinary experiences that power the body or restoring your energy through mindful movements, World of Hyatt members can explore their definition of wellbeing through FINDexperiences.

Meeting Members Where They Are on Their Holistic Wellbeing Journey:

With the flexibility for members to book during and outside of hotel stays, on- or off-property, FIND experiences allow members to continue evolving and growing on their wellbeing journey. With countless ways to spend quality time with friends, family, or self, no matter the occasion, members can find experiences that fit their wellbeing purpose through the FINDplatform's three pillars of wellbeing: Feel, Fuel and Function

FEEL with experiences focused on members' emotional and mental wellbeing through culturally immersive workshops, tours and activities: Open Air Jungle Safari at Alila Ubud (Indonesia): Reconnect with nature during an unforgettable open-air jungle safari tour in the property's private coupe Volkswagen. Wander around the archaic villages of Alila Ubud and Gianyar Regency, surrounded by the panoramic view of blooming golden rice fields and breathtaking emerald mountain hills. Horseback Riding at Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa (United States): Bond with rescued and rehabilitated horses through a horseback ride at the Stables at Tamaya. Located in the Santa Ana Pueblo desert, members can enjoy a variety of programs, from trail rides to the stable's stretch and ride program, which includes simple breath work and movement to bring relaxation and a renewed focus with the horse. Viennese Vineyard Tour at Park Hyatt Vienna (Austria): Explore Viennese vineyards on a private three-hour tour with a local guide, including wine tasting at two local wineries. Enjoy a bottle of local wine as well as a plate of complimentary cheese at the hotel bar after your return. Snorkeling with Clownfish at Hyatt Regency Seragaki Island Okinawa (Japan): Learn something new from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, who has teamed up with the hotel to offer members the opportunity to participate in protecting clownfish and their natural environment in the hotel's surrounding waters. Guests will attend an educational lecture about the local marine environment, followed by a jump in the East China Sea to snorkel and see the clownfish community up close



FUEL with culinary offerings designed to power the body, while evoking all of one's senses through fresh local ingredients and unique spirits:

A Day with Chef Nino Redruello at Thompson Madrid (Spain): Discover recipes and secrets that have been handed down for generations with this one-of-a-kind culinary experience. Members will join Chef Nino Redruello as he takes them to his favorite local markets to choose the best ingredients, and then will open the doors of his hotel kitchen to prepare a unique gourmet tasting dinner together.

(Spain): Discover recipes and secrets that have been handed down for generations with this one-of-a-kind culinary experience. Members will join Chef Nino Redruello as he takes them to his favorite local markets to choose the best ingredients, and then will open the doors of his hotel kitchen to prepare a unique gourmet tasting dinner together. Dinner Under the Stars at Zoetry Aqua Punta Cana (Dominican Republic): Indulge in an intimate dining experience for two on the hotel's pristine Uvero Alto beach, where guests will enjoy an exquisite dinner and first class service. While dining, members will be able to connect with the fullness of the universe as they're lulled by the soothing sounds of the Caribbean Sea and surrounded by the moon and a sky fully of stars.

(Dominican Republic): Indulge in an intimate dining experience for two on the hotel's pristine Uvero Alto beach, where guests will enjoy an exquisite dinner and first class service. While dining, members will be able to connect with the fullness of the universe as they're lulled by the soothing sounds of the Caribbean Sea and surrounded by the moon and a sky fully of stars. Personalized Cocktail Tasting at Andaz Dubai the Palm (United Arab Emirates): Learn how a drink might take shape from one's personality or personal experience during this two-hour cocktail tasting. The hotel's trained mixologist will listen to each guest and then prepare the most unique and personal cocktail possible, all while members enjoy delicious Japanese finger foods at the rooftop bar overlooking the gorgeous Palm skyline.

(United Arab Emirates): Learn how a drink might take shape from one's personality or personal experience during this two-hour cocktail tasting. The hotel's trained mixologist will listen to each guest and then prepare the most unique and personal cocktail possible, all while members enjoy delicious Japanese finger foods at the rooftop bar overlooking the gorgeous Palm skyline. Fishing Charter Day Trip at Hyatt Centric Key West Resort Spa(United States):Embark on a half-day fishing charter where members will go in search of the best local seafood and can hand their catch over to the hotel's culinary team who will prepare a feast for members in the hotel's Shor American Seafood Grill with views of postcard-worthy sunsets.

FUNCTION with thoughtfully planned activities and adventures designed to move, restore energy and expand the mind: Truffle Hunting at Parisi Udvar Hotel Budapest (Hungary): Experience the excitement of hunting for truffles and learn about the regulations of local truffle hunting from this hotel in The Unbound Collection by Hyatt. Members will accompany dogs while they sniff out these cherished fungi buried beneath the forest floor, and after hunting, enjoy a truffle-inspired picnic prepared by the hotel's culinary team. Off-Road Volcano Adventure at Hyatt Regency Yogyakarta (Indonesia): Start the morning with a thrilling four-wheel drive tour where travelers will go off the beaten path to get under the skin of majestic Mount Merapi and view evidence of its previous eruptions, followed by a guided bicycle ride down the mountain through Yogyakarta's lush paddy fields, plantations and local villages. Conclude the day with a relaxing afternoon enjoying assorted refreshments at Bogey's Teras. Private Walking Tour at Andaz Prague (Czech Republic): Discover the hidden secrets of Prague with a private walking adventure that will unveil the connection between the hotel and the city. This guided tour will explore all the mythical places that helped shape Prague and inspire the artwork and design of the hotel. Find Your Inner Rocker at Thompson Denver (United States): Unleash the inner rocker with music industry pro, Chris Bloom, who will trick out The Library at Reynard Social with everything members need for a private 60-minute guitar lesson. Over the course of the session, members can sing and learn a rock 'n' roll jam while sipping on a complimentary cocktail from Reynard Social (age 21+ only).



FIND Your Wellbeing Journey with More Ways Than Ever to Earn and Redeem:

Becoming a World of Hyatt member is free, and with experiences starting at $15 USD, all World of Hyatt members can pay directly with money no points required. Members can also choose to utilize their World of Hyatt points to redeem on experiences, which start at 1,000 points, or will have the option to bid on limited-time auctions (coming soon), and even gift experiences to loved ones. World of Hyatt members can also select a $150 credit toward a FIND experience as part of the 40-night FIND Milestone Reward offering. World of Hyatt members will earn 10 base points per eligible $1 spent, double the regular earning rate for eligible spend on hotel stays. World of Hyatt Credit Cardmembers can also earn an additional 4 World of Hyatt Bonus Points per eligible $1 spent when paying with their World of Hyatt Credit Card.

Whether members are looking to shake things up or slow things down, travelers can find what inspires them and learn more about World of Hyatt and FIND at hyatt.com/FIND

The term "Hyatt" is used in this release for convenience to refer to Hyatt Hotels Corporation and/or one or more of its affiliates.

For further information:

About Hyatt Hotels Corporation

Hyatt Hotels Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, is a leading global hospitality company guided by its purpose to care for people so they can be their best. As of June 30, 2022, the Company's portfolio included more than 1,150 hotels and all-inclusive properties in 72 countries across six continents. The Company's offering includes brands in the Timeless Collection, including Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt, Hyatt Residence Club, Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, and UrCove; the Boundless Collection, including Miraval, Alila, Andaz, Thompson Hotels, Hyatt Centric, and Caption by Hyatt; the Independent Collection, including The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, Destination by Hyatt, and JdV by Hyatt; and the Inclusive Collection, including Hyatt Ziva, Hyatt Zilara, Zoetry Wellness Spa Resorts, Secrets Resorts Spas, Breathless Resorts Spas, Dreams Resorts Spas, Vivid Hotels Resorts, Alua Hotels Resorts, and Sunscape Resorts Spas. Subsidiaries of the Company operate the World of Hyatt loyalty program, ALG Vacations, Unlimited Vacation Club, Amstar DMC destination management services, and Trisept Solutions technology services. For more information, please visit www.hyatt.com.

About World of Hyatt

World of Hyatt is Hyatt's award-winning guest loyalty program uniting participating locations in the Park Hyatt, Miraval, Grand Hyatt, Alila, Andaz, The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, Destination by Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt, Hyatt Ziva, Hyatt Zilara, Thompson Hotels, Hyatt Centric, Caption by Hyatt, JdV by Hyatt, Hyatt House, Hyatt Place, UrCove, and Hyatt Residence Club brands as well as resort and hotel brands under the AMR Collection, which are joining World of Hyatt in phases and include Secrets Resorts Spas, Dreams Resorts Spas, Breathless Resorts Spas, Zoetry Wellness Spa Resorts, Alua Hotels Resorts, and Sunscape Resorts Spas. Members who book directly through Hyatt channels can enjoy personalized care and access to distinct benefits including Guest of Honor, confirmed suite upgrades at time of booking, diverse wellbeing offerings, mobile key, and exclusive member rates. With more than 30 million members, World of Hyatt offers a variety of ways to earn and redeem points for hotel stays, dining and spa services; as well as the benefits of Hyatt's strategic loyalty collaborations with American Airlines AAdvantage, Small Luxury Hotels of the World, Lindblad Expeditions and MGM Resorts International. Travelers can enroll for free at hyatt.com, download the World of Hyatt app for android and IOS devices and connect with Hyatt on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221101006068/en/

Contacts:

Kaitlyn Sheehy

Hyatt

kaitlyn.sheehy@hyatt.com
DOSS, a Houston, TX-based provider of a digital real estate marketplace, received funding from the Amazon Alexa Fund.

The amount of the deal was not disclosed.

The company intends to use the funds to accelerate growth, expand operations and its business reach.

Founded by Bobby Bryant (CEO) and Chris Norton, DOSS empowers its customers to speak into their smartphone or Alexa-enabled device to get answers to their voice requests, specifically in the domain of real estate. Customers are able to ask for real-estate advice and tips, search for home listings, get neighborhood information, and recent sales data. They will also eventually be able to request to be connected with home service providers that serve their respective area.

DOSS was one of the startups selected to participate in the inaugural Black Founders Build with Alexa cohort.

FinSMEs

02/11/2022
IronRod Health, a Phoenix, AZ-based provider of a health monitoring platform, received an investment from HCAP Partners.

The amount of the deal was not disclosed.

The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its business reach.

Led by Andrew Nash, Founder and CEO, IronRod offers remote patient monitoring, device technician training, and an integrated software platform that delivers actionable insights to providers to help their patients. The company combines trained technicians with software to offer a complete healthcare solution that sends actionable insights to healthcare providers. IronRod also delivers billing and alert reports directly to electronic medical records and helps establish efficient workflows for their providers practices.

Since its founding in 2016, the company has helped over 20,000 patients receive dedicated care from their providers beyond the four walls of the practice.

FinSMEs

02/11/2022
MedCrypt, Inc., a San Diego, CA-based proactive cybersecurity solution provider for medical devices, raised $25m in Series B funding round.

Backers included Intuitive Ventures, Johnson & Johnson Innovation  JJDC, Inc. (JJDC), with participation from Section 32, Eniac Ventures, Anzu Partners, and Dolby Family Ventures.

The company intends to use the funds to scale their cryptography, behavior monitoring, and vulnerability inventory products across various types of medical devices, from small devices like glucose monitors to hospital-based surgical robots, and to expand its engineering team to advance medical device cybersecurity products and services.

Led by Mike Kijewski, CEO, MedCrypt combines cybersecurity technology products with management consulting, decision science, and regulatory strategy focused on supporting medical device manufacturers. The company currently provides enhanced security features and services for seven of the top 10 medical device manufacturers as well as startups and mid-sized companies.

This round of funding brings the companys total to date to $34.4m.

FinSMEs

02/11/2022
On the morning of 2 November, President Xi Jinping met with Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan on his official visit to China at the Great Hall of the People.

President Xi welcomed Prime Minister Sharif and thanked him for his congratulatory letter right after the opening of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). President Xi noted that China and Pakistan are good friends, good partners and good brothers. Amid global changes and instability in recent years, the two countries have supported each other and forged ahead, demonstrating an iron-clad friendship. China views its relations with Pakistan from a strategic and long-term perspective, and Pakistan has always been a high priority in Chinas neighborhood diplomacy. China is ready to work with Pakistan to elevate the level of all-round strategic cooperation, speed up efforts to build a closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era, and inject new impetus into their all-weather strategic cooperative partnership.

President Xi stressed that China commends Pakistans firm commitment to advancing friendship and cooperation with China, and expressed appreciation for Pakistans support on issues vital to Chinas core and major concerns. China will continue to firmly support Pakistan in safeguarding its sovereignty, territorial integrity, development interests and dignity, and in achieving unity, stability, development and prosperity. China expressed deep sympathies to the Pakistani people over the devastating floods that have hit the country, and will provide additional emergency relief to help with post-flood reconstruction. China supports Pakistans efforts to revive agricultural production, and will strengthen cooperation with Pakistan on disaster prevention and relief and climate change.

After presenting the key outcomes of the 20th CPC National Congress, President Xi underscored that China will continue its fundamental policy of opening-up and provide new opportunities to Pakistan and the rest of the world through continuous development. China will further deepen synergy between its development strategies and those of Pakistan. The two sides will make full use of the Joint Cooperation Committee of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), advance CPEC with greater efficiency, and make CPEC an exemplar of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. It is important to accelerate the construction of auxiliary infrastructure for Gwadar Port to unleash its role in driving interconnected development in the region. The two sides will work together to create conditions for the early implementation of the upgradation of ML-1 and the Karachi Circular Railway project. Pakistan is welcome to export more quality agri-products to China. China will work with Pakistan to expand cooperation in digital economy, e-commerce, photovoltaic and other new-energy technologies, and take solid steps to advance cooperation concerning agriculture, science, technology and peoples livelihood. China will continue to do its best to support Pakistan in stabilizing its financial situation. China supports its provinces with a strong industry in pairing up with Pakistani partners to advance industrial cooperation, and hopes the Pakistani side will provide a sound business environment. President Xi expressed his great concern about the safety of Chinese nationals in Pakistan, and conveyed his hope that Pakistan will provide a reliable and safe environment for Chinese institutions and personnel working on cooperation projects there.

President Xi pointed out that the world, our times and history are changing in ways like never before. Facing a highly uncertain world, both sides should stand on the right side of history, keep up their strong cooperation in multilateral mechanisms, and work closely on major international and regional issues so as to uphold true multilateralism, international fairness and justice and the shared interests of developing countries, and inject certainty and positives into the world. China will work with Pakistan to advance the operationalization of the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, make the global economic governance system more fair, equitable and inclusive that benefits all, and build a community with a shared future for mankind. These collaborative efforts will provide a strong underpinning for the development of the two countries, and contribute more to global peace, stability and prosperity.

Prime Minister Sharif noted that it is a great honor for him to be among the first foreign leaders to visit China after the successful 20th CPC National Congress, which marked a new milestone. The visit is a testament to the profound, iron-clad friendship between Pakistan and China. On behalf of the Pakistani government and people, Prime Minister Sharif once again expressed hearty congratulations to President Xi on his re-election as General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee. He said that over the past decade, under the dynamic leadership of President Xi, China has created a miracle of great development achievements. China has upheld multilateralism, promoted global solidarity and cooperation, and made important contributions to safeguarding world peace and development. In doing so, China has lived up to its responsibility as a major country. The world cannot operate without China, and Chinas development cannot be isolated or contained by any force. Prime Minister Sharif expressed his confidence that President Xi, with his extraordinary vision, will continue to lead China toward even more remarkable achievements and create an even brighter future for the world.

Prime Minister Sharif stressed that deepening Pakistans all-weather strategic cooperative partnership with China is a cornerstone of Pakistans foreign policy and the national consensus of Pakistan. He expressed heartfelt appreciation to the Chinese government and people for the valuable anti-COVID support, and for the generous assistance in the wake of the devastating floods. No country has ever helped Pakistan or other developing countries with such wholehearted sincerity, he said. He reiterated Pakistans firm commitment to the one-China policy and its firm support for Chinas position on issues concerning Chinas core interests including Taiwan, Xinjiang and Hong Kong. Even as Pakistan learns from Chinas successful experience and tries to rely on its own efforts, Pakistan will deepen all-round cooperation with China to better develop itself. This is the only way forward for Pakistan. CPEC has had a profound impact on Pakistans economic and social development. Pakistan is ready to work with China to continue promoting high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and hopes to have Chinas strong support in the upgradation of ML-1, the Karachi Circular Railway and other important infrastructure projects. Pakistan will further step up security measures and do all it can to protect the safety of Chinese institutions and personnel. Pakistan fully supports the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative put forth by President Xi. It will strengthen communication and collaboration with China in international and regional affairs to make a positive contribution to world peace and development. The Pakistan-China friendship is unbreakable. Pakistan will always stand firmly with China.

After the meeting, President Xi held a welcoming banquet for Prime Minister Sharif at the Golden Hall of the Great Hall of the People.

Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, State Councilor and Foreign Minister, and He Lifeng, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, were present at the events.
1. H.E. Mr. Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, undertook an official visit to the Peoples Republic of China from 1-2 November 2022. This was the Prime Ministers first bilateral visit after assuming office.

2. During the visit, H.E. Xi Jinping, President of China, met with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held talks with H.E. Li Keqiang, Premier of the State Council,and met with H.E. Li Zhanshu, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress. The Prime Minister felicitated President Xi Jinping on his re-election as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), expressed admiration for his leadership, wisdom, vision and people-centered philosophy of development, and commended his contributions to continued growth of Pakistan-China relations. The Prime Minister welcomed President Xi to visit Pakistan. President Xi expressed that he would visit at his earliest convenience. The two leaders pledged to work together to further deepen the bilateral ties.

3. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif conveyed felicitations on the successful conclusion of the 20th CPC National Congress. He lauded the central role of the CPC and its leadership in promoting Chinas development, prosperity and national rejuvenation. He expressed deep admiration for Chinas achievement in socio-economic development and contribution to reform of world politics and governance philosophy under the leadership of the CPC.

4. Chinese leaders appreciated the long standing commitment of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to China-Pakistan friendship. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reaffirmed Pakistans commitment to further strengthen and deepen Pakistan-China All-weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership and enhance practical cooperation in all areas.

5. The two sides held in-depth exchange of views on the bilateral relations as well as regional situation and international political landscape. The two sides agreed on the importance of China-Pakistan All-weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership amidst the emerging global challenges. The meetings were marked by traditional warmth, mutual strategic trust and commonality of views.

6. The leaders reaffirmed that close strategic ties and profound friendship between China and Pakistan was time-tested and resilient. China-Pakistan friendship is a historic choice of both peoples that serves the interests of the two countries. The Chinese side reiterated that relations with Pakistan will always be given the highest priority in its foreign policy. The Pakistani side underscored that Pakistan-China relationship is the cornerstone of its foreign policy and that the Pakistani people always support the closest friendship between the two countries.

7. Both sides reiterated their mutual support on issues concerning each others core interests. The Pakistani side expressed its commitment to the one-China Policy and support on issues of Taiwan, South China Sea, Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet. The Chinese side reaffirmed its support for Pakistans sovereignty, territorial integrity, security, and promoting its socio-economic development and prosperity.

8. The Chinese leadership expressed condolences and sympathies on recent loss of life and property as a result of the unprecedented floods in Pakistan. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed appreciation for the timely and generous assistance extended by the government and people of China, including the provision of disaster relief supplies, the contributions of Chinese expert teams on post-disaster assessment and health care to assist with damage assessment, experience sharing in post-disaster reconstruction and rehabilitation, and post-disaster disease response to step up capacity of medical treatment. Chinas mobilization of assistance was a vivid reflection of the time-tested All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership between the two countries.

9. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif briefed the Chinese leadership on the post-flood relief and rehabilitation efforts. The Chinese side expressed its resolve to stand by Pakistan in these difficult times and to continue offering assistance to Pakistan in the latters plans for rehabilitation of the affected areas.

10. Both sides reviewed with satisfaction the outcomes of the three sessions of the Foreign Ministers Strategic Dialogue and agreed to hold its next meeting at the earliest possible in the first half of 2023 in Islamabad.

11. The two sides noted the key role of various bilateral cooperation mechanisms for deepening strategic communication and welcomed the holding of the Spokespersons Dialogue and the Consultations on Arms Control and Disarmament.

12. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reaffirmed his Governments willingness to commit to high quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and highlighted the salience of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship project under BRI, to Pakistans economic and social development.

13. The leaders took note of the convening of the 11th CPEC Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) on 27 October 2022, which reviewed the progress of ongoing projects and agreed to continue the momentum of CPECs high-quality development.

14. Recognizing that ML-1 is a project of key significance under the CPEC framework and of importance to Pakistans socio-economic development, the two sides agreed to build upon the leadership consensus and to advance the process of its earliest implementation. They also agreed to actively advance the Karachi Circular Railway, which was an urgent requirement for Pakistans biggest city.

15. Recognizing the significance of the Gwadar port as the leading project of CPEC and an important node in cross regional connectivity, both sides expressed satisfaction on the completion of key projects and agreed to speed up progress on other related projects of the Gwadar port and free zone.

16. In line with the leaderships consensus to accelerate cooperation in the areas of agriculture, mining, IT, socio-economic development under CPEC, the two sides agreed to further build on the health, industry, digital and green corridors launched earlier this year and carry out relevant cooperation.

17. The Chinese side appreciates the efforts of the Pakistani government to vigorously develop renewable energy projects including solar projects which aligns with the green, low carbon and environmental development of energy sector, and encourages participation of Chinese companies in this Pakistani endeavor.

18. The two sides agreed to actively promote the implementation of Framework Agreement on Industrial Cooperation to support Pakistan's industrial development.

19. Both sides expressed their strong determination to counter all threats and designs against CPEC and China-Pakistan friendship. Pakistan reaffirmed its commitment to the safety and security of all Chinese personnel, projects and institutions in Pakistan. The Chinese side appreciated Pakistans strong determination and vigorous measures in this regard.

20. Noting completion of a decade of CPECs remarkable achievements in 2023, the two sides expressed satisfaction at CPECs contribution to socio-economic development of the two countries.

21. The two sides noted that the recent meeting of CPEC Joint Working Group on International Cooperation and Coordination (ICC) had highlighted that CPEC was an open and inclusive platform. Both sides welcomed interested third parties to benefit from investment opportunities in the priority areas of CPEC cooperation such as industry, agriculture, IT, science and technology, and oil and gas.

22. The two sides noted the steady increase in bilateral trade volume since the operationalization of the second phase of the China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement. Both sides resolved to further coordinate to enhance trade liberalization under the second phase of CPFTA and agreed to convene an early meeting of Committee on Trade in Goods.

23. The Chinese side expressed willingness to actively support the Pakistani side in expanding export to China and welcomed quality goods including food and agricultural products from Pakistan to enter the Chinese market. It was further agreed to encourage investments and partnerships in the export-oriented sectors of Pakistan which would contribute to achieving sustainable bilateral trade growth. The two sides agreed to conduct a Joint Study to further enhance bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

24. The two sides agreed to fully leverage overland trade and exchanges by upgrading facilities at Khunjerab border port and strengthening cooperation on epidemic containment and customs clearance in border areas. They also agreed to work together to further strengthen the implementation of the Quadrilateral Traffic in Transit Agreement (QTTA), which is an important pillar of regional connectivity.

25. Acknowledging the massive size of Chinas e-commerce market and its potential to further bolster bilateral trade, the two sides welcomed the signing of an MOU on e-commerce and jointly supported the establishment of Pakistans country pavilions on Chinas e-commerce platforms. The two sides agreed to further strengthen cooperation on online payment systems, logistics, warehousing and customs facilitation, and enhance collaboration between start-ups and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.

26. The two sides noted that the first meeting of the China-Pakistan Joint Working Group on Trade, Investment and E-commerce and the China-Pakistan Poverty Reduction and Social Development Forum were held this year, and exchanges and docking activities in the pharmaceutical, agricultural and shoe-making industries as well as capacity building courses on poverty reduction were organized. China is willing to continue relevant practical cooperation with Pakistan to contribute to poverty reduction and socioeconomic development in Pakistan.

27. The Pakistani side commended Chinas remarkable achievement of lifting over 800 million people out of absolute poverty. Noting the displacement of millions of people due to the recent floods in Pakistan, the Chinese side agreed to support the Pakistani government in recovering the economy in disaster-hit areas, including through the Benazir Income Support Program.

28. The two sides agreed to keep in close communication to provide further facilitation for Pakistani students to come to China. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked the Chinese leadership for the return of Pakistani students to Chinese education institutions.

29. The two sides agreed to inject new impetus into people-to-people contacts, tourism cooperation and cultural exchanges between the two countries, appreciated the role of the cultural cooperation agreement between the two governments and its executive programmes and welcomed the extension of the current executive programme to 2027.

30. The two sides further welcomed the decision to celebrate China-Pakistan Year of Tourism Exchanges in 2023 and the organization of a Gandhara Art Exhibition at the Palace Museum in Beijing in 2022-2023.

31. Noting the gradual resumption of flight operation between the two countries, the two sides agreed to further increase the frequency of direct flights including between Islamabad and Beijing in due course.

32. Both sides expressed satisfaction with the close cooperation, trust and communication between the armed forces of the two countries. Underscoring that stronger strategic defence and security cooperation between China and Pakistan is an important factor of peace and stability in the region, the two sides agreed to maintain high-level mil-to-mil visits and exchanges and deepen cooperation in areas of training, joint exercises and military technology.

33. The two sides condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and expressed opposition to the politicization of the issue of counter terrorism. China recognized Pakistans contributions and sacrifices in the fight against terrorism. The two sides agreed to further enhance counter terrorism cooperation to promote international peace and security.

34. The two sides reiterated that a peaceful and prosperous South Asia is in the common interest of all parties. They emphasized the importance of resolving all outstanding disputes through sincere dialogue. The Pakistani side briefed the Chinese side on the situation in Jammu & Kashmir. The Chinese side reiterated that the Kashmir issue was a dispute left from history that should be properly and peacefully resolved based on the UN Charter, relevant UN Security Council resolutions and bilateral agreements.

35. On Afghanistan, the two sides agreed that a peaceful, prosperous, interconnected and stable Afghanistan is fundamental to regional prosperity and progress. They expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the three Foreign Ministers meetings of the six neighbouring countries of Afghanistan and looked forward to the next meeting to be held in Uzbekistan.

36. The two sides underscored the need for the international community to provide continued assistance and support to Afghanistan including through unfreezing of Afghanistans overseas financial assets. The two sides agreed to continue their humanitarian and economic assistance for the Afghan people and enhance development cooperation in Afghanistan, including through CPECs extension to Afghanistan.

37. Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and agreed to jointly promote multilateralism, free trade and win-win cooperation. They expressed satisfaction with their close cooperation at multilateral fora and are resolved to further deepen strategic communication, coordination and consultation.

38. The Pakistani side expressed support for the Global Development Initiative (GDI) put forward by the Chinese side. The two sides identified development as a key driver in ensuring the prosperity of nations. In this context they agreed to further enhance cooperation within the GDI framework for realization of SDGs. China expressed appreciation to Pakistan for participating in the Group of Friends of GDI as one of the pioneering members, and identified Pakistan as a priority partner under the GDI.

39. The Pakistani side expressed support for the Global Security Initiative (GSI) put forward by the Chinese side as it aligned with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. The two sides agreed to promote international cooperation in this regard.

40. The two sides supported consensus-based reform of the UN to respond to the interests and concerns of all Member States.

41. The two sides underlined to further strengthen coordination and collaboration within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and jointly push for deeper SCO cooperation across the political, security, business, connectivity and people-to-people fields, so as to better serve the common interests of regional countries, and make greater contributions to safeguarding regional peace and stability, promoting prosperity and development, and improving global governance.

42. The two sides reiterated their commitment to advancing and protecting human rights for all in accordance with applicable international obligations and national circumstances. They stressed that bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the area of human rights should be guided by the principles of the UN Charter including respect for political independence, sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of States.

43. The two sides recognized climate change as an existential threat and undertook to make concrete and concerted efforts to mitigate and adapt to the adverse impact of climate change. The two sides reaffirmed their commitment to the UNFCCC as well as to the goals, principles and provisions of its Paris Agreement, in particular the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR).

44. The two sides recognized that the recent floods in Pakistan were closely linked to the adverse impact of climatic change for which developing countries bear little responsibility but are subject to a disproportionate impact. The two sides called on developed countries to fulfill their commitments, take the lead in emissions reduction to ensure the development rights and space for developing countries, and provide adequate climate financing to developing countries.

45. Appreciating Pakistans initiative to combat human-induced climate change and Chinas initiative to promote green cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, the two sides agreed to step up cooperation in such areas as ecosystem restoration and water resource management.

46. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked the leadership and people of China for the warm and generous hospitality accorded to him and his delegation and expressed his best wishes for Chinas continued development and prosperity and its vigorous pursuit of national rejuvenation.

47. The two sides signed and concluded a number of agreements/MoUs, covering bilateral cooperation in areas of e-commerce, digital economy, export of agricultural product, financial cooperation, protection of cultural property, infrastructure, flood relief, post-disaster reconstruction, GDI, animal disease control, livelihood, cultural cooperation, space, geosciences as well as law enforcement and security.
A major regulation to promote China's self-employed businesses came into force on Tuesday  and government officials and industry experts said it will greatly stabilize expectations of individual businesses amid COVID-19, and drive the real economy over the long term. The regulation promises greater supportive policies, including on taxation, finance, employment, digital development and intellectual property protection, to individual businesses. It stipulates, for instance, that local governments should increase the supply of business premises and reduce costs like electricity and rents. "The move aims to inject practical impetus into individual or family-run small businesses, which play an irreplaceable role in promoting economic development, driving employment, increasing income, and facilitating people's lives," said Pu Chun, deputy head of the State Administration for Market Regulation, during a news conference on Tuesday. "Notably, recent years have witnessed rising self-employed businesses from emerging sectors like livestreaming, micro-sized e-commerce and new media. They account for nearly 30 percent of the country's total self-employed households and offer new vitality into the market," he said. According to him, more than 111 million self-employed businesses were registered nationwide as of the end of September, accounting for two-thirds of the country's total number of market players. Up to 90 percent of them focused on the tertiary sector, including retailing, accommodation and catering, and residential services. Wei Jianguo, former vice-minister of commerce and vice-chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said that the measures included in the regulation are "timely and targeted". "It will greatly boost confidence and stabilize market expectations for these self-employed businesses, especially when many of them are facing difficulties in operating costs, recruitment, and getting loans amid the pandemic," Wei said. A survey provided by the administration to China Daily showed that since the beginning of this year, nearly 80 percent of individual households brought in an average monthly operating income of less than 10,000 yuan ($1,389), which can only support basic living standards. "Compared with previous support policies, the new regulation emphasizes that the authorities concerned should not discriminate against self-employed businesses when putting forward policies, as such businesses, which are usually small in scale and have a limited voice, are vulnerable to discrimination from all aspects in their business activities," Wei said. Over the past few years, the government has launched a package of policies to support the development of self-employed businesses or cottage industries. "A combined tax supporting policy will be implemented this year to further support self-employed businesses. Specifically, they can enjoy large-scale VAT (value added tax) refund policies like other enterprises," said Dai Shiyou, an official with the State Taxation Administration. Dai said that from 2020 to the end of September this year, more than 1 trillion yuan worth of taxes and fees have been reduced for such groups. Contact the writers at chengyu@chinadaily.com.cn
SEATTLE  November 2, 2022  Below are summaries of recent Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center research findings and other news.

If youre looking for sources for Novembers Lung and Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Months, please see our lung cancer, hliil program and pancreatic cancer pages for a list of projects, experts and the latest news.

Cancer research

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center receives $710.5 million gift to accelerate cancer and infectious disease research

The Bezos family has committed $710.5 million over the next decade to accelerate Fred Hutchs multifaceted approach to scientific discovery. The gift supports the organizations efforts to dramatically accelerate the pace and breadth of medical breakthroughs in cancer and infectious disease by tapping the full potential of todays science. The gift will support recruitment, research facilities, clinical research infrastructure and expansion of immunotherapy research.

Media contact: Kat Wynn, kwynn@fredhutch.org

New approach could make bone marrow transplantation safer, stronger

Bone marrow transplants have transformed care for patients with blood cancers, but one of the drawbacks of the treatment is graft-vs.-host disease  a common side effect that occurs when the transplanted cells see the recipients healthy tissues as foreign and attack them. In a study published in Science Immunology, a Fred Hutch team has shown a new approach that prevented relapse in laboratory models of bone marrow transplantation to treat leukemia and multiple myeloma.

Media contact: Molly McElroy, mwmcelro@fredhutch.org

Award will fund research into new metastatic prostate cancer therapies

A three-year, $750,000 grant from the Robert J. Kleberg, Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation will allow Fred Hutch researchers to study therapies for metastatic prostate cancer. Dr. John Lee and Fred Hutch collaborators Drs. Pete Nelson and Roland Strong to explore new treatments, specifically through the use of immunotherapy.

Media contact: Molly McElroy, mwmcelro@fredhutch.org

Cancer chemo side effects and how to limit them

Fred Hutch researcher Dr. Gary Lyman, a longtime thought leader within the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), along with three colleagues, recently published a n analysis in Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology offering a broad overview of common, acute chemotherapy-associated adverse events and how to manage or prevent them.

Media contact: Claire Hudson, crhudson@fredhutch.org

Dr. Ruth Etzioni receives $7.4M NCI grant to assess new cancer diagnostics

Fred Hutch researcher Dr. Ruth Etzioni has received a seven-year Outstanding Investigator Award from the National Cancer Institute to pursue her work on new cancer diagnostics. The award, which comes with around $7.4 million in funding, will allow Etzioni and her team to build frameworks and tools to evaluate novel cancer diagnostics such as new nuclear imaging modalities and multi-cancer early detection tests, commonly referred to as liquid biopsies.

Media contact: Claire Hudson, crhudson@fredhutch.org

Infectious disease

Researching herpes treatments with 'skin-on-chip' technology

Fred Hutch researcher Dr. Jia Zhu leads a group of researchers studying herpes simplex viruses, which are responsible for periodic outbreaks of cold sores in the mouth (HSV-1) or for recurrent ulcers in genitals (HSV-2). With their new device, which she calls a skin-on-chip platform, Zhu and her team have built and tested a prototype tool that could help researchers speed the development of human herpes treatments.

Media contact: Claire Hudson, crhudson@fredhutch.org

Health equity

Spokane Regional Health District: Gaps in cancer care experienced in Spokane

For their podcast Cancer Health Equity Now, members of Fred Hutchs Office of Community Outreach and Engagement held a roundtable discussion with staff from Sunnyside, Spokane and Seattle. They discussed the future of health equity work and reflected on the work of the past year.

Media contact: Kat Wynn, kwynn@fredhutch.org

Understanding tribal communities and cancer through storytelling, art

Fred Hutchs Public Art and Community Dialogue Program selected artist, storyteller and Lower Elwha SKlallam Tribe member Roger Fernandes to create a new mural. He believes storytelling and art can help do this by tapping into peoples unconscious, spiritual side and giving them strength and hope.

Media contact: Kat Wynn, kwynn@fredhutch.org

Awards and other news

Dr. Larry Corey receives Alexander Fleming Award

At a Washington, D.C. conference on infectious disease science, Dr. Larry Corey, a virologist and former president and director of Fred Hutch, was presented with a lifetime achievement award. The award, given by the Infectious Diseases Society of America, was created in 1964 in honor of the late Dr. Alexander Fleming.

Media contact: Claire Hudson, crhudson@fredhutch.org

Dr. Anat Zimmer receives AAUW fellowship

Computational biologist Dr. Anat Zimmer, a post-doctoral researcher in Dr. Gavin Has lab at Fred Hutch, was awarded a 2022-23 fellowship by the American Association of University Women. Zimmer, who relocated with her family from Israel, joined Fred Hutch in the summer of 2021. Her interests include systems biology and applying computational tools to study, predict and prevent human diseases.

Media contact: Kat Wynn, kwynn@fredhutch.org

Merkel cell carcinoma researcher Dr. Nick Salisbury named Brave Fellow

Postdoctoral researcher Dr. Nick Salisbury was just named the third recipient to receive the Brave Fellowship at Fred Hutch. Funded by Brooks Running on behalf of the Brave Like Gabe Foundation, the goal of the fellowship is to develop scientific leaders who will advocate for a diverse and inclusive biomedical research workforce focused on rare cancer research.The fellowship will fund Salisburys research on Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare and aggressive form of skin cancer caused by the Merkel cell polyomavirus.

Media contact: Kat Wynn, kwynn@fredhutch.org

Fred Hutch hosts inaugural Dr. E. Donnall Thomas Symposium

Leading researchers from around the globe visited Seattle to discuss the future of transplantation, gene and cellular therapies at the inaugural Dr. E. Donnall Thomas Symposium. Among the participants celebrating his legacy was Dr. Rainer Storb, one of the original Fred Hutch scientists who worked with Thomas and still heads the Transplantation Biology Program; and graduate student David Granadier, whose poster about regeneration of the thymus gland was awarded top prize by conference organizers.

Media contact: Molly McElroy, mwmcelro@fredhutch.org

Science spotlight

Science Spotlight is a monthly installment of articles written by postdoctoral fellows at Fred Hutch that summarize new research papers from Hutch scientists. If youre interested in learning more or covering these topics, contact: media@fredhutch.org

# # #

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center unites comprehensive care and advanced research to provide the latest cancer treatment options and accelerate discoveries that prevent, treat and defeat cancer and infectious diseases worldwide.

Based in Seattle, Fred Hutch is an independent, nonprofit organization and the only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in Washington. We have earned a global reputation for our track record of discoveries in cancer, infectious disease and basic research, including important advances in bone marrow transplantation, HIV/AIDS prevention, immunotherapy and COVID-19 vaccines. Fred Hutch operates eight clinical care sites that provide medical oncology, infusion, radiation, proton therapy and related services and has network affiliations with hospitals in four states. Fred Hutch also serves as UW Medicines cancer program.

Please note that our organization was renamed Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in April 2022, following the merger of long-time partners, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.
New York,, Oct. 05, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Global Renewable Energy Market Size was valued at USD 881.70 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach USD 1930.60 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 8.50 % during 2021-2030. as per the latest research report by Spherical Insights & Consulting.

Get a Sample PDF Brochure: https://www.sphericalinsights.com/request-sample/1072

The potential for rising renewable energy consumption, combined with the electrification of transportation and expanded participation in the electrical value chain by industrials and oil and gas businesses, is hastening industry convergence. Renewable growth could pick up in 2021 as the new administration begins to implement a platform that includes rejoining the Paris Climate Accord, investing $2 trillion in clean energy, and fully decarbonizing the power sector by 2035 in order to achieve a larger goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

A new administration is anticipated to use its executive power to speed up the implementation of renewable energy. Powers over emissions, public lands, and procurement, foreign affairs, commerce, and agency nominations may be included. Supportive federal policies might assist expedite timeframes for further development into other technologies, such as better batteries and other types of storage, offshore wind, and green hydrogen technology, for an industry that has relied mainly on solar and wind. As these new technologies, particularly green hydrogen generation and storage, reach commercialization, it may see an increase in power-to-x projects to store, convert, and reconvert excess solar and wind energy into carbon-neutral fuels and chemicals.

Mexico is a country defined by its usage of hydrocarbon energy. The economy, government finances, politics, traditions, and substantial portions of the population all regard oil as a vital base, and the oil and gas industry's influence is visible in many spheres. Mexico as a country has amassed enormous wealth from oil, but this money has been ineffectively utilized due to corruption and bad planning, two curses that afflict the Mexican economy. Although oil output is now dropping, it is likely that oil and gas will continue to dominate the hydrocarbon industry in the coming decades, either through the state-owned monopoly or through competition.

Buy Now Full Report: https://www.sphericalinsights.com/checkout/1072

However, Mexico must also be viewed as a country with significant potential in renewable energy sources. While regional and worldwide attention has properly centered on Brazil as an emerging renewable energy superpower in recent years, Mexico has been viewed (again correctly) as a country that has not done enough to support the development of the renewable energy sector. The energy debate in Mexico has been driven by the economic and political challenges in the hydrocarbon sector, while the media, policymakers, and many academics have mostly disregarded the sector.

The potential for increased renewable energy consumption, as well as electrification of the transportation and industrial sectors, as well as intentions by oil and gas corporations to boost participation in the electrical value chain, are hastening energy industry convergence. These tendencies may encourage collaboration, which may lead to the development of new business models and the advancement of the energy transition. Despite the advent of a global pandemic and an economic slump in 2020, states, cities, utilities, and corporations continued to announce or pursue decarbonization initiatives. Even in the absence of a formal incentive for green infrastructure construction in the economic stimulus measures enacted in response to COVID-19, clean energy demand in the United States remained resilient, as renewables and storage saw dropping costs while capacity and consumption factors increased. Furthermore, when electricity consumption fell this year, renewables pushed out traditional electricity producing options. As of early December, renewables had outperformed coal in generation for 153 days, compared to 39 days in 2019. According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), power usage would likely decrease by 3.9 percent in 2020 and increase by 1.3 percent in 2021.

Inquire Before Buying This Research Report: https://www.sphericalinsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/1072

In contrast to other energy sources, which are concentrated in a small number of nations, renewable energy resources and major prospects for energy efficiency exist throughout large geographical areas. Rapid deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency, as well as technical diversification of energy sources, would result in considerable economic and energy security benefits. It would also reduce environmental pollutants, such as air pollution generated by the combustion of fossil fuels, enhance public health, reduce early mortality due to pollution, and save associated health expenditures of hundreds of billions of dollars annually in the United States alone. Several assessments of decarbonization initiatives in the United States have revealed that quantifiable health benefits can greatly balance the costs of implementing these strategies. Renewable energy sources that derive their energy from the sun, either directly or indirectly, such as hydro and wind, are expected to be able to supply humanity with energy for nearly another billion years, after which the predicted increase in heat from the Sun is expected to make the Earth's surface too hot for liquid water to exist.

Asia Pacific is expected to have a high CAGR in the global market in the future. Power consumption in countries such as China and India has increased significantly as a result of increased investment in renewable energy projects. According to the International Business Environment Forum, foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into India's non-conventional power sector totaled US$ 10.28 billion between April 2000 and June 2021. (DPIIT). Over US$ 42 billion has been invested in India's renewable energy sector since 2014.

Key Companies & Recent Developments

The companies operating in this industry are focusing more on efficient growth, improvement of operational efficiency and productivity, achieving high safety standards, and focus on maintaining sustainable development. The market-leading players are focusing on securing a leading position in this industry. These players are heavily focusing on the opportunity to strengthen their competitive advantage.

RENEWABLE ENERGY MARKET: KEY PLAYERS

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA

Acciona SA

Enel S.p.A

Electricite de France SA

Canadian Solar Inc.

SunEdison (Globeleq Mesoamerica Energy)

JinkoSolar Holding Co.

Iberdrola SA

Vestas Wind Systems

First Solar Inc.

GE Energy

NextEra Energy, Inc.

Others

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The Company is providing support for employees impacted by Hurricane Ian and is facilitating a donation to a Florida Relief Fund to aid recovery efforts

In 2022, Verano has opened 20 new MUV locations in Florida, underscoring the Companys continued retail expansion across the state

Veranos active operations span 13 states, comprised of 119 dispensaries and 14 cultivation and processing facilities with more than 1 million square feet of cultivation capacity



CHICAGO, Oct. 07, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Verano Holdings Corp. (CSE: VRNO) (OTCQX: VRNOF) (Verano or the Company), a leading multi-state cannabis company, today announced the Company will host grand openings for two new MUV retail locations in Florida on October 7: MUV Panama City Beach, located at 7915 Panama City Beach Parkway, and MUV Port Orange, located at 3880 S. Nova Road. MUV dispensaries are open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

To support the Companys Florida team members and hurricane recovery efforts across the state, Verano will provide assistance to employees who incurred damage to their homes or property as a result of the storm. The Company will also make a donation to a Florida Relief Fund to support communities across the state directly impacted by Hurricane Ian.

We are incredibly grateful for our team who faced unique challenges in the wake of Hurricane Ian, and did everything possible to maintain access to medicine for our patients while also prioritizing their own health and safety, said John Tipton, President of Verano. As the healing and recovery process continues across Florida, we are grateful to open dispensaries in Volusia County, and our first MUV dispensary in Panama City Beach, to provide patients with additional convenient locations to access their needed medicine. We remain committed to providing support to our valued team members and communities as disaster relief and recovery efforts continue, and are grateful for all first responders and volunteers who are aiding countless Floridians across the state during this time of need.

As a demonstration of Veranos commitment to provide a convenient and reliable experience for Florida patients, MUV dispensaries feature online menus for effortless browsing of their extensive, award-winning product selection, including the Companys signature Verano Reserve flower, Encore edibles, and Savvy flower and extracts. The Company also offers one-on-one virtual and in-store consultations at no cost to the patient and provides patient-centric concierge services via phone, email, web chat and text to address patient questions and inquiries. For additional convenience and accessibility, patients can choose to order ahead at muvfl.com or through the MUV mobile application available in the Google Play and Apple App stores for express in-store pickup.

MUVs comprehensive product selection includes edibles, chocolates and lozenges, flower, pre-rolls, an array of vaporizer pens, concentrates, metered-dose inhalers, topicals and oral sprays; along with patented encapsulation formulations in its EnCaps capsules, tinctures, 72-hour transdermal patches and transdermal gels.

For more information about MUV medical cannabis dispensaries, visit muvfl.com.

About Verano

Verano is a leading, vertically integrated, multi-state cannabis operator in the U.S., devoted to the ongoing improvement of communal wellness by providing responsible access to regulated cannabis products. With a mission to address vital health and wellness needs, Verano produces a comprehensive suite of premium, innovative cannabis products sold under its trusted portfolio of consumer brands, including Verano, Avexia, Encore, Savvy and MUV. Veranos portfolio encompasses 14 U.S. states, with active operations in 13, including 14 production facilities comprising over 1,000,000 square feet of cultivation capacity. Verano designs, builds, and operates dispensaries under retail brands including Zen Leaf and MUV, delivering a superior cannabis shopping experience in both medical and adult-use markets. Learn more at www.verano.com.

Contacts:

Media

Verano

Grace Bondy

Manager, Communications

Grace.Bondy@verano.com

Investors

Verano

Julianna Paterra, CFA

Director, Investor Relations

Julianna.Paterra@verano.com

Forward Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are not representative of historical facts or information or current condition, but instead represent only the Companys beliefs regarding future events, plans or objectives, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of the Companys control. Generally, such forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as plans, expects or does not expect, is expected, budget, future, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, projects intends, anticipates or does not anticipate, or believes, or variations of such words and phrases or may contain statements that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, will continue, will occur or will be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve and are subject to assumptions and known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause actual events, results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from future events, results, performance, and achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking statements herein, including, without limitation, the risk factors described in the Companys registration statement on Form 10, as amended, and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information or forward-looking statements that are contained or referenced herein, except as may be required in accordance with applicable securities laws. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking information and statements attributable to the Company or persons acting on its behalf is expressly qualified in its entirety by this notice regarding forward-looking information and statements.

###
LONDON, Oct. 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Proxymity, the leading digital investor communication platform, announced today that J.P. Morgan has gone live with its digital proxy voting service, Vote Connect, in Denmark. The successful deployment follows similar rollouts in Belgium, France, Australia, and New Zealand.

Proxymity Vote Connect is the digital proxy service powered by Proxymity's investor communications platform. The service allows "golden source" meeting announcements and agendas to be published directly from issuers to investors. Investors can then send votes in real time to issuers or their agents without the need for manual intervention and receive digital confirmation that their votes have been cast, helping everyone in the ecosystem save both time and money.

For J.P. Morgan's Securities Services clients, the connection with Proxymity will continue to substantially improve their voting experiences, resulting in enhanced deadlines and further improving the vote confirmation process.

Proxymity's digital-native platform has been built on highly scalable technology which allows secure end to end connectivity between issuers, issuer agents, custodians, and investors, providing transparency to all participants in the proxy voting chain. In addition, Proxymity natively ensures strict compliance with latest regulations including the EU Shareholder Rights Directive (SRD II).

Speaking at the beginning of the Vote Connect rollout in October last year, Hannah Elson, Head of Global Custody, J.P. Morgan Securities Services said, "Investor communications are being transformed by replacing legacy manual processes with smart digital automation." She continued, "Working with Proxymity reflects our commitment to providing the most innovative solutions to improve client experience, at the same time as reducing the cost and complexity of providing even higher levels of service. We are delighted to be the first major global custodian to go live on this platform for Denmark."

In 2020, and again in 2022 as part of Proxymity's Series B fundraising, J.P. Morgan invested in Proxymity as part of an industry-leading consortium, recognising the benefits of a widely adopted platform across the investment ecosystem.

Dean Little, Co-Founder and CEO of Proxymity, said: "We are proud to grow and deepen our working relationship with J.P. Morgan, enabling them to extend Proxymity's solutions to their blue-chip clients across the world. This is another fantastic milestone that was made possible by the agility and dedication of the J.P. Morgan and Proxymity teams and is a great example for our industry of what can be achieved."

About Proxymity

Proxymity connects the world's ecosystem of issuers, intermediaries, and investors digitally in real time, bringing unprecedented transparency, efficiency, and accuracy to traditional paper-based processes. Trusted by the world's largest financial institutions, it is the leading digital investor communications platform, serving over twenty-five markets world-wide.

Our solutions give public companies confidence that their AGM/EGM agendas are transmitted as "golden source" and provide institutional investors with the time they need to research and vote on corporate decisions, as well as actual digital confirmation that their votes have been received. The digital-native platform, built on highly scalable technology, provides full compliance with the latest regulations such as the Shareholder Rights Directive (SRD II).

Proxymity promotes enhanced environmental, social, and governance (ESG) by improving communication between issuers and investors and making it easier for intermediaries to be efficient, timely and compliant when servicing their clients.

The company is backed by a global consortium of the industry's most influential financial institutions, representing seven of the world's top ten Global Custodians managing over $200 trillion in assets under custody (BNP Paribas, BNY Mellon, Citi, Computershare, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Borse, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, Mediant, State Street).

For more information, visit www.proxymity.io

Contact Information:

Kate Hamilton

VP, Marketing - Proxymity

k.hamilton@proxymity.io



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Dublin, Nov. 01, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "UK Tractors Market - Industry Analysis and Forecast 2022-2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The 141-200 HP segment accounted for the largest share in 2021. The country needs to boost its production capacity to feed its ever-growing population, which stood at 68.2 million in 2021. The production of major crops in the country increased in 2018 and is expected to grow during the forecast period continuously. This increase can be attributed to farmers relying on farm mechanization and improving their crop production by reducing the yield gap.



Key Highlights

The UK was the fourth-largest tractor market in Europe in 2021, with an overall sale of 13,572 units. There was an increase in crop production and tractor sales in 2021 due to incentives and loans offered to farmers by the UK government, which helped the country to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

England and Scotland region of the country reportedly showed a higher market share for agriculture machinery than other regions in 2021. England region is expected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period.

UK tractor registrations are a broad indicator of the strength of the domestic market for agricultural equipment. In value terms, the cost of tractors, plus parts and accessories, accounts for almost 50% of farmers' spending on equipment, making this a prime indicator for industry growth.

Market Trends & Opportunities

There is a trend of feminization of agriculture due to the migration of men to urban cities in the UK agriculture sector, which drives the demand for tractors and other agricultural machinery to perform farming activities.

The trend of alternative fuel-based tractors is growing in the country. Farmers are more fuel-conscious and moving toward green farming. Also, agriculture is expected to flourish with the help of precision farming and telematics in tractors, which bodes well for the country's agriculture tractor market.

The Positive Agriculture project aims to improve the living conditions of those who are part of the agricultural supply chain and to provide 100% of the essential raw materials sustainably.

There is a rapid increase in innovation and extensive use of robotics and AI worldwide. The current way of farming will likely be revolutionized using autonomous machinery and agricultural robots, which will perform time-consuming tasks much more efficiently and effectively.

Several original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) shifted their focus from matured markets in England to the underpenetrated states of Scotland. The agriculture farm machine market is currently in the growth stage, and manufacturers are looking for capacity augmentation in the country. The Wales region still has negligible farm mechanization, and vendors can explore these regions with a portfolio of small tractors suitable for hilly terrains.

Government's Agriculture Incentives

The government needs to ensure self-sufficiency in food grain production to fulfill the needs of the large population. To support that, the government is consistently increasing its budget allocation to agriculture and allied activities. The government also implements schemes, such as CAP, with fertilizers, electricity, and fuel subsidies.

There is an increase in the presence of agriculture-focused Non-Banking Financial Companies in the country. These corporations enable small and medium-scale farmers to buy agricultural machinery for their farms on credit, which helps boost agricultural machinery sales. Tractors represent more than 50% of the total agricultural equipment sold in the country.

The Labor Shortage in the UK Leading to the Mechanization of Farms

Money and time can be saved, and farm yields can be increased by adopting technologically advanced tractors and implements. The UK government plans to increase the rate of farm mechanization among farmers, which will boost the demand and sales of new tractors. The mechanization of farms is deemed necessary in the UK to increase crop production.

Small farmers frequently encounter labor shortages for field preparation, sowing, and inter-culture operations during peak seasons. Farm machinery can efficiently accomplish specific agricultural duties. These factors can help the industry to grow in the forecast period.

Key Questions Answered:

1. What is the growth rate of the UK Tractor Market?

2. What are the expected units to be sold in the UK tractors market by 2028?

3. Who are the Key Players in the UK Tractor Market?

4. Which wheel drive tractors hold the largest market shares in the UK region?

5. Which companies will dominate the UK tractor market share?



Key Topics Covered:



1 Research Methodology



2 Research Objectives



3 Research Process



4 Scope & Coverage

4.1 Market Definition

4.1.1 Inclusions

4.1.2 Exclusions

4.1.3 Market Estimation Caveats

4.2 Base Year

4.3 Scope of the Study



5 Report Assumptions & Caveats

5.1 Key Caveats

5.2 Currency Conversion

5.3 Market Derivation



6 Market at a Glance



7 Premium Insights



8 Introduction

8.1 Overview

8.2 Value Chain Analysis

8.2.1 Overview

8.2.2 Raw Material & Component Suppliers

8.2.3 Manufacturers

8.2.4 Dealers/Distributors

8.2.5 Retailers

8.2.6 End-Users

8.3 Brexit Impact on UK Agricultural Industry

8.4 Tractor Regulations & Requirements

8.4.1 Speed Limits

8.4.2 Driver Licensing

8.4.3 Vehicle Excise Duty (Ved)/Vehicle Registration

8.4.4 Roadworthiness Testing

8.4.5 Drivers Hours & Tachographs

8.4.6 Operator Licensing

8.5 Agricultural Land Holding Structures

8.6 Common Agricultural Policy & the European Union Agricultural Expenditure

8.7 Import & Export Analysis

8.8 Technological Advances



9 Market Landscape

9.1 Market Overview

9.1.1 Labor Shortages in the Agriculture Sector

9.2 Market Size & Forecast



10 Horsepower

10.1 Market Snapshot & Growth Engine

10.2 Market Overview

10.3 Less Than 50 Hp

10.3.1 Market Overview

10.3.2 Market Size & Forecast

10.3.3 UK Less Than 50 Hp Agriculture Tractor Market by Region

10.4 50-100 Hp

10.4.1 Market Overview

10.4.2 Market Size & Forecast

10.4.3 UK 50-100 Hp Tractor Market by Region

10.5 101-140 Hp

10.5.1 Market Overview

10.5.2 Market Size & Forecast

10.5.3 UK 101-140 Hp Agriculture Tractor Market by Region

10.6 141-200 Hp

10.6.1 Market Overview

10.6.2 Market Size & Forecast

10.6.3 UK 141-200 Hp Agriculture Tractor Market by Region

10.7 201-240 Hp

10.7.1 Market Overview

10.7.2 Market Size & Forecast

10.7.3 UK 201-240 Hp Agriculture Tractor Market by Region

10.8 Above 240 Hp

10.8.1 Market Overview

10.8.2 Market Size & Forecast

10.8.3 UK Above 240 Hp Agriculture Tractor Market by Region



11 Drive Type

11.1 Market Snapshot & Growth Engine

11.2 Market Overview

11.2.1 Market Size & Forecast

11.3 2-Wheel Drive

11.3.1 Market Overview

11.3.2 Market Size & Forecast

11.3.3 UK 2-Wheel Drive Agriculture Tractor Market by Region

11.4 4-Wheel Drive

11.4.1 Market Overview

11.4.2 Market Size & Forecast

11.4.3 UK 4-Wheel Drive Agriculture Tractor Market by Region



12 Region

12.1 Market Snapshot & Growth Engine

12.2 Market Overview

12.3 England

12.3.1 Market Overview

12.3.2 Market Size & Forecast

12.3.3 UK England Agriculture Tractor Market by Horsepower

12.3.4 UK England Agriculture Tractor Market by Drive Type

12.4 Wales

12.4.1 Market Overview

12.4.2 Market Size & Forecast

12.4.3 UK Wales Agriculture Tractor Market by Horsepower

12.4.4 UK Wales Agriculture Tractor Market by Drive Type

12.5 Scotland

12.5.1 Market Overview

12.5.2 Market Size & Forecast

12.5.3 UK Scotland Agriculture Tractor Market by Horsepower

12.5.4 UK Scotland Agriculture Tractor Market by Drive Type

12.6 Northern Ireland

12.6.1 Market Overview

12.6.2 Market Size & Forecast

12.6.3 UK Northern Ireland Agriculture Tractor Market by Horsepower

12.6.4 UK Northern Ireland Agriculture Tractor Market by Drive Type



13 Market Opportunities & Trends

13.1 Technological Advances in Tractor Technology

13.1.1 Self-Driving Tractors

13.1.2 Gps Technology

13.1.3 High Demand for Autonomous Tractors

13.2 Shortage of Agricultural Laborers

13.3 Use of Energy-Efficient Tractors

13.4 Use of Non-Conventional Fuels in Tractors



14 Market Growth Enablers

14.1 Assistance to Farmers Through Loans & Subsidies

14.2 Increased Agricultural Productivity & Exports

14.2.1 Agricultural Exports

14.3 Increased Farm Mechanization



15 Market Restraints

15.1 Lack of Awareness of Latest Innovations in Agricultural Equipment

15.1.1 Lack of Education Among Farmers in the UK

15.2 High Demand for Used & Rental Tractors

15.3 Fluctuations in Commodity Prices

15.4 Five Forces Analysis

15.4.1 Threat of New Entrants

15.4.2 Bargaining Power of Suppliers

15.4.3 Bargaining Power of Buyers

15.4.4 Threat of Substitutes

15.4.5 Competitive Rivalry



16 Competitive Landscape

16.1 Competition Overview

16.1.1 Brand Loyalty

16.1.2 Sales & Exports



17 Key Company Profiles

17.1 John Deere

17.1.1 Business Overview

17.1.2 John Deere in the Agriculture Tractor Market

17.1.3 Product Offerings

17.1.4 Key Strategies

17.1.5 Key Strengths

17.1.6 Key Opportunities

17.2 Cnh Industrial

17.2.1 Business Overview

17.2.2 Cnh Industrial in the Agriculture Tractor Market

17.2.3 Product Offerings

17.2.4 Key Strategies

17.2.5 Key Strengths

17.2.6 Key Opportunities

17.3 Agco

17.3.1 Business Overview

17.3.2 Agco in the Agriculture Tractor Market

17.3.3 Product Offerings

17.3.4 Key Strategies

17.3.5 Key Strengths

17.3.6 Key Opportunities

17.4 Kubota

17.4.1 Business Overview

17.4.2 Kubota in the Agriculture Tractor Market

17.4.3 Product Offerings

17.4.4 Key Strategies

17.4.5 Key Strengths

17.4.6 Key Opportunities



18 Other Prominent Vendors

18.1 Sdf

18.1.1 Business Overview

18.1.2 Product Offerings

18.2 Jcb

18.2.1 Business Overview

18.2.2 Product Offerings

18.3 Tafe

18.3.1 Business Overview

18.3.2 Product Offerings

18.4 Foton

18.4.1 Business Overview

18.4.2 Product Offerings

18.5 Iseki & Co. Ltd.

18.5.1 Business Overview

18.5.2 Product Offerings

18.6 Yanmar

18.6.1 Business Overview

18.6.2 Product Offerings

18.7 Arbos Group

18.7.1 Business Overview

18.7.2 Product Offerings



19 Report Summary



20 Quantitative Summary



21 Appendix

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/19fn0u
MISSISSAUGA, Ontario, Nov. 01, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SEB Administrative Services Inc. (SEB Admin), a subsidiary of Smart Employee Benefits Inc. (SEB or the Company) (TSXV: SEB) (OTCQB: SEBFF), an Insurtech provider of cloud based, end-to-end IT and Benefit Processing solutions for the life and group benefits marketplace and government, is pleased to announce, further to the letter of intent entered into April 22, 2022, pursuant to a definitive agreement dated October 27, 2022, that it has formed a Joint Venture with Everyday People Financial Inc. (EP or Everyday People), a financial technology and consumer financing company, a Healthcare Spending Account Mastercard Program, offering a challenger product to traditional employer health spending accounts.



Healthcare Spending Accounts (HSA) help business owners save on medical costs by turning an after-tax personal medical expense into a before-tax business expense. This plan is a smart and efficient option for the modern-day entrepreneur helping the plan member minimize coverage gaps between government and employer funded healthcare and other health insurance options.

The Mastercard HSA solution is unique to the Canadian marketplace and is particularly applicable to small companies and self-employed business owners. In Canada, 97% of all businesses are small businesses, representing 1.2 million companies1, 10.3 million employees2 and 0.9 million gig workers3,4.

Together, SEB and Everyday People are the first to introduce this integrated employee healthcare spending account and credit card program into the Canadian market. This program represents a large specialty opportunity targeting the HSA market, currently estimated at over $8 billion premium in Canada5 and over $98 billion in the United States6. Our combined resources and client base position the new joint venture to capture significant market share in the overall HSA Canadian marketplace.

This innovative program will streamline operations, increase accuracy and boost efficiency, and offers employees a reduction of out-of-pocket burden and costs normally associated with traditional healthcare spending accounts, states Mohamad El Chayah, COO of SEB and President & CEO of SEB Admin. Members of this HSA program are issued a spending account for healthcare and wellness services tied to a Mastercard. This provides more financial flexibility in managing healthcare options and an improved customer experience, allowing immediate reimbursement of healthcare expenditures at the point of sale.

Within the joint venture, Everyday People will operate as the program manager and SEB will operate as the HSA program administrator and adjudicator. SEB has an established customer base of employers who use SEBs proprietary benefit administration and billing solutions (including SaaS solutions) to self-administer health benefit programs for their employees.

A joint venture with SEB to offer a healthcare spending account program for small business owners and their employees is yet another way that Everyday People, along with one of its partners, provides people with greater financial flexibility, states Barret Reykdal, CEO of Everyday People. Giving small business employees access to a healthcare spending account helps fill coverage gaps, allows individuals to manage healthcare spending and to direct funds according to their healthcare needs. The solution provides an instant, easy to use, efficient method of transacting in the form of a card-based platform. Today, Everyday People offers similar specialty credit payment card solutions in multiple markets. The HSA solution adds to the Companys extensive digital banking solutions portfolio.

Sources:

1 https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/061.nsf/eng/h_03126.html

2 https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-621-m/11-621-m2022004-eng.htm

3 https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11f0019m/11f0019m2019025-eng.htm

4 https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/061.nsf/eng/h_03147.html

5 https://ayacare.com/hsa-wsa/

6 https://www.devenir.com/research/2022-midyear-devenir-hsa-research-report/

About SEB Administrative Services Inc.:

SEB Administrative Services Inc. (SEB Admin), a wholly owned subsidiary of Smart Employee Benefits Inc. (SEB), is a third-party administrator (TPA) providing leading edge cloud-based, fully bilingual, benefit processing solutions using SEB Admins proprietary and customized technologies, solutions and services of Partners. SEB Admins FlexPlus platform provides single sign-on connectivity for all group benefit stakeholders. FlexPlus has over 20 modules supporting multiple revenue models, capturing over 90% of all benefit processing activities for all benefit types. Each module can operate standalone or as an integrated solution. SEB Admin manages benefit plan environments for more than 50 of Canadas name brand companies and government entities and greater than $1B of premiums. FlexPlus cloud-enabled solutions support all plan designs  traditional, flex, cafeteria, hour bank, dollar bank, marketplace  via co-sourced, fully outsourced or SaaS models. Our solutions turn cost centers to profit centers for many of our clients and channel partners.

For further information about SEB Administrative Services Inc., please visit: www.seb-admin.com.

About Smart Employee Benefits Inc.:

SEB is an Insurtech company focused on Benefits Administration Technology driving two interrelated revenue streams  software/solutions and services. The Company is a proven provider of leading-edge IT and benefits processing software, solutions and services for the Life and Group benefits marketplace and government. We design, customize, build and manage mission critical, end-to-end technology, people and infrastructure solutions using SEBs proprietary technologies and expertise and partner technologies. We manage mission critical business processes for over 150 blue chip and government accounts, nationally and globally. Over 90% of our revenue and contracts are multi-year recurring revenue streams contracts related to government, insurance, healthcare, benefits and e-commerce. Our solutions are supported nationally and globally by over 600 multi-certified technical professionals in a multi-lingual infrastructure, from multiple offices across Canada and globally.

Our solutions include both software and services driven ecosystems including multiple SaaS solutions, cloud solutions & services, managed services offering smart sourcing (near shore/offshore), managed security services, custom software development and support, professional services, deep systems integration expertise and multiple specialty practice areas including AI, CRM, BI, Portals, EDI, e-commerce, digital transformation, analytics, project management to mention a few. The Company has more than 20 strategic partnerships/relationships with leading global and regional technology and consulting organizations.

For further information about SEB, please visit: www.seb-inc.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information in this release may constitute forward-looking information. In some cases, but not necessarily in all cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as plans, targets, expects or does not expect, is expected, an opportunity exists, is positioned, estimates, intends, assumes, anticipates or does not anticipate or believes, or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might, will or will be taken, occur or be achieved. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information are not historical facts but instead represent managements expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events.

THE FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS RELEASE REPRESENTS THE COMPANYS CURRENT EXPECTATIONS AND, ACCORDINGLY, IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE. HOWEVER, THE COMPANY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY INTENTION OR OBLIGATION TO UPDATE OR REVISE ANY FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION, WHETHER AS A RESULT OF NEW INFORMATION, FUTURE EVENTS OR OTHERWISE, EXCEPT AS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange Inc. nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange Inc.) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

All figures are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated.

Media and Investor Contact
NEW YORK, Nov. 01, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 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 pkim@rosenlegal.com or cases@rosenlegal.com 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 securities 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 firms 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 pkim@rosenlegal.com or cases@rosenlegal.com 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 investors 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.

-------------------------------

Contact Information:

Laurence Rosen, Esq.

Phillip Kim, Esq.

The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.

275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor

New York, NY 10016

Tel: (212) 686-1060

Toll Free: (866) 767-3653

Fax: (212) 202-3827

lrosen@rosenlegal.com

pkim@rosenlegal.com

cases@rosenlegal.com

www.rosenlegal.com
NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 01, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC (KSF) and KSF partner, former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., remind investors that they have until December 27, 2022 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB), if they purchased the Companys securities between August 1, 2019 and July 28, 2022, inclusive (the Class Period). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.



What You May Do

If you purchased securities of U.S. Bancorp and would like to discuss your legal rights and how this case might affect you and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, contact KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or via email (lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com), or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-usb/ to learn more. If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in this class action, you must petition the Court by December 27, 2022 .

About the Lawsuit

U.S. Bancorp and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.

On July 28, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined the Company $37.5 million for a range of unlawful acts and practices including opening unauthorized accounts and unlawfully accessing customers' credit reports and personal data in violation of the Truth in Lending Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Truth in Savings Act, and the Consumer Financial Protection Act.

On this news, shares of U.S. Bancorp stock fell approximately 4% to a closing price of $46.12 per share.

The case is The Buhrke Family Revocable Trust v. U.S. Bancorp, et al., 22-cv-09174.

About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

KSF, whose partners include former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is one of the nations premier boutique securities litigation law firms. KSF serves a variety of clients  including public institutional investors, hedge funds, money managers and retail investors  in seeking recoveries for investment losses emanating from corporate fraud or malfeasance by publicly traded companies. KSF has offices in New York, California, Louisiana and New Jersey.

To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com.

Contact:
French English

Press release

CLINICAL DEMONSTRATION OF ZENEO EFFICIENCY FOR INTRAMUSCULAR INJECTION OF MIDAZOLAM

 Primary endpoints met and results in line with expectations

 No impact of clothing on the intramuscular injection with ZENEO

Dijon, November 2, 2022 at 8am

CROSSJECT (ISIN: FR0011716265; Mnemo: ALCJ), a specialty pharma company that is developing and will soon be marketing a portfolio of drug / device combinations for use in emergency situations, is releasing positive headline results of its clinical study with ZENEO midazolam. The 4-period, crossover and randomized study was conducted on 40 healthy subjects, with gender, ethnicity and BMI1 diversity (ref ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT05026567).

The primary objective was met. It was the evaluation of the relative bioavailability of midazolam after injection with the needle-free autoinjector ZENEO (10mg midazolam in 0.625mL) compared to injection of DORMICUM (10mg midazolam in 2mL) by a conventional syringe with a 30mm needle, into the thigh on bare skin. The bioequivalence was achieved both on Cmax2 and on AUC3, with no change of Tmax4. The 90% Confidence Intervals were respectively of [84-98] for Cmax ratio, and [100-108] for AUC ratio.

No serious adverse events were reported, and there was no difference in safety profile between the tested conditions. Only 2 subjects dropped out before their fourth and last injection, not for safety but for personal reason.

As secondary objectives, the study aimed to test the intramuscular injection of midazolam with ZENEO into thigh through clothing, compared to injection into thigh on bare skin with ZENEO and with DORMICUM. The 90% Confidence Intervals were respectively of [87-101] and [79-92] for Cmax ratios, and [87-95] and [91-98] for AUC ratios, with no change in Tmax. These results allow considering a much faster emergency treatment, without having to remove patients clothing in an epileptic seizure situation.

In addition, an intramuscular injection with ZENEO midazolam in the ventrogluteal site was shown to be bioequivalent to an injection in the thigh on bare skin either with a conventional syringe or with ZENEO.

Finally, ZENEO and the syringe with intramucular needle showed a similar and low inter-subject variability of midazolam pharmacokinetics. This is an additional demonstration that an injection with ZENEO reached the muscle in the same way as an injection with a syringe and a 30 mm needle.

As a summary, the outcomes of this clinical study are a great achievement for Crossject, as they demonstrate the effectiveness of an intramuscular injection with the needle-free autoinjector ZENEO into thigh with or without clothing, as well as into the ventrogluteal site.





Contacts :

Crossject

Patrick Alexandre

info@crossject.com Relations investisseurs

Aelium

Jerome Gacoin +33 (0)1 75 77 54 67

crossject@aelium.fr



Relations presse

Buzz & Compagnie

Melanie Voisard +33 (0)3 80 43 54 89

melanie.voisard@buzzetcompagnie.com



Christelle Distinguin +33 (0)6 09 96 51 70

christelle.distinguin@buzzetcompagnie.com

About CROSSJECT  www.crossject.com

CROSSJECT (ISIN: FR0011716265; Ticker: ALCJ; LEI: 969500W1VTFNL2D85A65) is developing and is soon to market a portfolio of drugs dedicated to emergency situations: epilepsy, overdose, allergic shock, severe migraine and asthma attack. Thanks to its patented needlefree self-injection system, Crossject aims to become the world leader in self-administered emergency drugs. The company has been listed on the Euronext Growth market in Paris since 2014; it receives funding from the United States BARDA (Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority) and from Bpifrance.

1 BMI : Body Mass Index, a measure of a person's thickness or thinness

2 Cmax: maximum blood Concentration of the drug

3 AUC : Area Under the Curve reflecting blood levels of a drug over time, an indication of the dose received

4 Tmax : time to reach Cmax

Attachment
LISBON, Portugal, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Serpr, a cutting-edge new Total Search platform which helps brands take up residence on Googles Page One, is being unveiled to a global audience at Web Summit 2022.



Serpr guarantees to deliver the intelligence to ensure businesses receive star billing on the worlds leading search engine.

Serpr is a world-first global search intelligence platform that measures and analyses every pixel on page one of Google, providing businesses with a secret solution for the keywords that matter to them.

The trail-blazing SaaS platform, by Braidr , part of the Tomorrow Group , is being showcased at the worlds premier tech conference in Lisbon .

Since 68% of all online experiences begin with a search engine and 92% of all search trac comes from page one results, businesses need to know how to get there - and stay there.

James Wolman, Head of Innovation at Serpr, says: Serpr is the world's most actionable Total Search intelligence platform. Our revolutionary technology gives brands the competitor insights to get where everyone wants to be, on Page One.

We are putting the future of page one search directly into the hands of every business that wants to be there.

Award-winning Serpr is the first search intelligence platform that looks at page one as a full picture.

By evaluating every pixel on page one, Serpr discovers patterns, opportunities, and insights that can be applied immediately to help brands grow their page one presence and beat the competition.

Serpr is presenting as a Startup Showcase on Stage 2 in Pavilion 4 on Thursday Nov 3rd, and is exhibiting on Stand A821 in Pavilion 5.

Notes to Editors:

An image to accompany this story, along with a photo of James Wolman and Serprs logo, can be downloaded here.

For further information, please contact:

Tim Reid

Serpr Media office

Email: tim@timreidmedia.com or Tel: +44 7720 414205

About Serpr : Serpr is the worlds first global search intelligence platform. Created by a team of data scientists, analysts, and search marketers, Serpr gives brands a better way to understand, measure and take action on their paid and organic search results. Serpr discovers patterns, opportunities, and insights to help your business beat the competition. www.serpr.ai

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:



https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c4b7ab3b-81ca-4ec1-ad4d-788421f4dadf

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9c118fd8-4e23-4eab-95b2-5626023c360f
2 November 2022: Hexagon Agility, a business of Hexagon Composites, received a new order from Super Natural Gas Ltd, wholly owned by Supergas Energy and a leading full-service provider of compressed natural gas (CNG) in Israel, to deliver Mobile Pipeline modules to transport clean natural gas to Supergas customers.

This order has an estimated value of EUR 4.8 million (approx. NOK 48 million).

Delivering safe and innovative solutions

Today, our fleet is 100% comprised of X-STORE modules by Hexagon Agility because of their performance and reliability. X-STORE modules have allowed us to become the market leader in mobile gas distribution, serving our industrial customers and also providing mobile fueling for transportation, said Chen Melamed, CEO of Supergas Energy. We are making significant investments to become a leading multi-disciplinary energy supplier and Hexagon Agility is an important partner in this strategic endeavor.

Hexagon Agility has the most comprehensive Mobile Pipeline portfolio in the industry. Along with the TITAN products sold around the world, X-STORE is designed specifically to meet UN standards employed in Europe and other ADR countries like Israel.

Supergas has been a pioneer in mobile gas distribution and today they manage one of the most efficient Mobile Pipeline operations in the world, says Seung Baik, President of Hexagon Agility. With current energy challenges and Israels strategic position to help address those challenges, we are proud of the work we are doing together and grateful for their continued business.

The discovery of the Leviathon and Tamar gas fields in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Israel present the opportunity for the nation state to become energy independent. Mobile Pipeline is enabling energy based industries to adopt natural gas to reduce energy costs while addressing sustainability goals. Additionally, the transportation sector continues to adopt natural gas vehicles, with many of them currently fueled by Mobile Pipeline rather than traditional fuel stations due to the lack of pipeline infrastructure. Israels gas reserves easily exceed the countrys energy consumption, position it to become net exporter of gas to Europe and the Middle East.

About the market

Mobile Pipeline is vital to driving energy transformation away from petroleum fuels to clean and renewable natural gas. Companies like Supergas are leaders in the industry, enabling customers without pipeline access to adopt natural gas and meet their environmental goals.

Natural gas is todays low carbon, cost effective alternative energy. Renewable natural gas (RNG) is pipeline quality gas fully compatible with todays infrastructure and Mobile Pipeline equipment. Because RNG is the only carbon negative energy source, it is being rapidly adopted to drive decarbonization of industrial and vehicle fleet operations.

With more than 1,800 Mobile Pipeline modules now deployed around the world, Hexagon Agility continues to set the standard for safety, reliability, and performance.

Timing

The modules are expected to be delivered in the second quarter of 2023.





For more information:

Karen Romer, SVP Communications, Hexagon Composites

Telephone: +47 950 74 950 | karen.romer@hexagongroup.com

Ingrid Aarsnes, VP Investor Relations and ESG, Hexagon Composites ASA

Telephone: +47 950 38 364 | ingrid.aarsnes@hexagongroup.com





About Supergas Energy Ltd

Super Natural Gas, wholly owned by Supergas Energy, is a leading energy company in the fields of LPG, natural gas, compressed natural gas, electricity, renewable energies and energy efficiency. Established in 1953, Supergas specializes in the design and construction of gas distribution systems and is a major gas supplier to a variety of sectors  residential, agricultural, commercial and industrial. The company is constantly adapting to changes in technology and seeking to meet and exceed quality and safety standards. With locations throughout the country, Supergas Energy serves half a million customers through a network of branches and agents. Hundreds of professional technicians, 24/7 call centers, control centers, and a national emergency center are available to our customers around the clock.

About Hexagon Agility



Hexagon Agility, a business of Hexagon Composites, is a leading global provider of clean fuel solutions for commercial vehicles and gas transportation solutions. Its product offerings include natural gas storage and delivery systems, Type 4 composite natural gas cylinders, propane, and natural gas fuel systems. These products transport clean gaseous fuels and enable vehicles to reduce emissions while saving operating costs. Learn more at hexagonagility.com and follow @HexagonAgility on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About Hexagon Composites ASA


Pune, India, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Europe urinary drainage bags market size was USD 524.1 million in 2021. The market is anticipated to expand from USD 547.6 million in 2022 to USD 757.6 million by 2029, exhibiting a CAGR of 4.7% over the forecast period. The market growth can be credited to the soaring incidences of urinary incontinence in European countries.

This information is furnished by Fortune Business Insights in its research report, titled Europe Urinary Drainage Bags Market, 2022-2029.

Key Industry Development:

July 2019  Clinisupplies Ltd. inked a partnership with Alliance Healthcare. The deal was aimed at the distribution of a wide range of ostomy and urology products for clientele in the U.K.





Request a Sample Copy of the Research Report:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/request-sample-pdf/europe-urinary-drainage-bags-market-101419





Report Scope

Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 2022 to 2029 Forecast Period 2022 to 2029 CAGR 4.7% 2029 Value Projection USD 757.6 Million Base Year 2021 Market Size in 2021 USD 524.1 Million Historical Data for 2018 to 2020 No. of Pages 148 Key Players Coloplast A/S (Denmark), B. Braun Melsungen AG (Germany), Cardinal Health (U.S.), BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (U.S.) Growth Drivers Industry Value to Rise Driven by the Prevalence of Urinary Incontinence Leg Bags Segment to Record Considerable Growth Impelled by Rising Number of Kidney Surgeries Hospitals Segment to Register Appreciable Expansion Impelled by Mounting Product Adoption for Surgical Procedures





Drivers and Restraints:

Industry Value to Rise Driven by the Prevalence of Urinary Incontinence

The Europe urinary drainage bags market growth is being driven by the soaring prevalence of urinary incontinence in various countries. The regional expansion can be further attributed to the growing number of surgical procedures and an escalation in urinary retention cases. The products are also required by patients undergoing a range of surgeries including urinary tract infections and kidney stones.

However, the industry expansion is likely to be hampered by the availability of cheaper, alternative, and convenient forms of treatment.





To get to know more about the short-term and long-term impact of COVID-19 on this market, please visit:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/europe-urinary-drainage-bags-market-101419





COVID-19 Impact:

Industry Growth Slightly Affected by Decline in the Number of Urological Consultations

The year 2020 registered a drop in the number of urological consultations and services conducted in Europe. This was further supplemented by an increase in supply chain issues and a decrease in the number of hospital visits. Furthermore, the market was not majorly impacted considering the prevalence of surgeries under European guidelines. The industry also registered strong prospects owing to the resumption of normal healthcare activities in all countries in Europe.

Segments:

Leg Bags Segment to Record Considerable Growth Impelled by Rising Number of Kidney Surgeries

Based on product, the market can be subdivided into leg bags and large capacity bags. Of these, the leg bags segment is expected to register appreciable expansion over the forecast period. The upsurge can be attributed to the soaring number of kidney surgeries.





Quick Buy  Europe Urinary Drainage Bags Market

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/checkout-page/101419





500-1000 ml Segment to Register Notable Rise Owing to Soaring Healthcare Expenditures

On the basis of capacity, the market is segmented into 0-500 ml, 500-1000 ml, 1000-2000 ml, and more than 2000 ml. The 500-1000 ml segment held a commendable share considering the growing number of product offerings. The segmental expansion can be further credited to the rising cases of prostate cancer and the soaring healthcare expenditure in various countries in Europe.

Based on geography, the market can be fragmented into U.K., Germany, Spain, Poland, Switzerland, Portugal, Netherlands, rest of Nordic, and the rest of Europe.

Single Chamber Segment to Drive Substantial Surge Driven by Broad Range of Product Offerings

Based on the number of chambers, the market is fragmented into single chamber, 2-chambers, and 3-chambers. The single chamber segment is estimated to record substantial growth over the forecast period. The rise can be credited to the wide range of product offerings by major market players.

Hospitals Segment to Register Appreciable Expansion Impelled by Mounting Product Adoption for Surgical Procedures

On the basis of end-user, the market is subdivided into hospitals, home care, clinics, ambulatory surgical centers, and others. Of these, the hospitals segment is expected to register commendable growth over the analysis period. The surge can be attributed to the growing preference for hospitals for the purpose of surgical procedures and treatment.





Segmentation By Product Leg Bags

Large Capacity Bags



By Capacity 0-500 ml

500-1000 ml 1000-2000 ml More than 2000 ml





Report Coverage:

The report provides a comprehensive analysis of the significant trends that are expected to drive Europe urinary drainage bags market share over the forecast period. Further, it also gives an insight into the crucial steps taken by leading industry participants for the consolidation of their market position. These comprise mergers, acquisitions, and the development and rollout of new products.





Get your Customized Research Report:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/customization/europe-urinary-drainage-bags-market-101419





Regional Insights:

Germany to Lead Due to Favorable Reimbursement Policies

The Germany urinary drainage bags market share is slated to record commendable expansion over the analysis period. The rise can be attributed to the escalating adoption of advanced offerings and the substantial number of surgical procedures.

The U.K. market is expected to expand at a substantial rate over the forthcoming years. The surge can be attributed to the effective contribution and growing awareness regarding urinary incontinence.

Competitive Landscape:

Market Players Strike Partnership Deals to Strengthen Industry Presence

Leading market participants are entering into collaborative agreements and partnership deals for the consolidation of their industry presence. These companies are also adopting various policies such as the formation of alliances, collaborations, and mergers for expanding their product reach. Besides, the companies are also participating in trade conferences to enable the development of different types of urinary drainage bags.

List of Key Players Mentioned in the Report:

Coloplast A/S (Denmark)

B. Braun Melsungen AG (Germany)

Cardinal Health (U.S.)

BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (U.S.)

MANFRED SAUER GMBH (Germany)

Clinisupplies Ltd (Healthium Medtech Limited) (U.K.)

Hollister Incorporated (U.S.)

Flexicare Medical Limited (U.K.)

Convatec Group PLC (U.K.)

Teleflex Incorporated (U.S.)

Table of Content

Introduction Research Scope Market Segmentation Research Methodology Definitions and Assumptions

Executive Summary

Market Dynamics Market Drivers Market Restraints Market Opportunities

Key Insights Number of Urology & Gynecology Surgeries by Key Countries, 2021 Technological Advancements in Urinary Drainage Bags Key Industry Developments- Mergers, Acquisitions, and Partnerships Key Industry Trends Impact of COVID-19 on Europe Urinary Drainage Bags Market Europe Urinary Drainage Bags Market Distributor Margin Analysis Pricing Analysis  By Major Companies/Brands (End-user)

Europe Urinary Drainage Bags Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2018-2029 Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Product Leg Bags Large Capacity Bags Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Capacity 0-500 ml 500-1000 ml 1000-2000 ml More than 2000 ml Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Number of Chambers Single Chamber 2-chambers 3-chambers Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By End-user Hospitals Clinics Ambulatory Surgical Centers Home Care Others Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Country/Sub-region Germany France UK Italy Spain Netherland Sweden Switzerland Poland Ukraine Portugal Rest of Nordic Rest of Europe



ToC Continue!





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Frequently Asked Questions

How much is the Europe Urinary Drainage Bags Market worth?

According to Fortune Business Insights, Europe market stood at USD 524.1 million in 2021 and is projected to reach USD 757.6 million by 2029.

Which is the leading segment in the market by product?

By capacity, the 500-1000 ml segment will lead the Europe market.

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Oslo, 2 November 2022



NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN, HONG KONG, SOUTH AFRICA OR THE UNITED STATES, OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH THE RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION WOULD BE UNLAWFUL. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER OF ANY OF THE SECURITIES DESCRIBED HEREIN.

Reference is made to the stock exchange announcements by PGS ASA (PGS or the Company) on 1 November 2022 regarding a successfully placed private placement (the Private Placement) of new shares in the Company, and a potential subsequent offering (the Subsequent Offering).

PGS hereby calls for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) in the Company to be held on 23 November 2022 at 10:00 hrs (CET), where the approval of the Private Placement and the Subsequent Offering is on the agenda.

The calling notice for the EGM, including the board of directors proposed resolutions and proxy forms are attached to this announcement and can also be downloaded from the Companys website www.pgs.com .

The meeting will be conducted as a virtual meeting only, accessible online via Lumi AGM. All shareholders will be able to participate in the meeting, vote and ask questions from smartphones, tablets or desktop devices. For further information regarding the virtual participation, please see guidelines made available on the Company's website www.pgs.com.

No pre-registration is needed for attending online, but attendees must be logged in before the meeting starts. Deadline for registration of advance votes and proxies is 22 November 2022 at 12:00 hrs (CET).

About the Meeting

Date: 23 November 2022

Time: 10:00 hrs (CET)

Location: Virtually on the Lumi AGM solution

Contacts:

Bard Stenberg, VP IR & Corporate Communication

Mobile: +47 99 24 52 35

***

PGS is a fully integrated marine geophysical company that provides a broad range of seismic and reservoir services, including data acquisition, imaging, interpretation, and field evaluation. Our services are provided to the oil and gas industry, as well as to the broader and emerging new energy industries, including carbon storage and offshore wind. The Company operates on a worldwide basis with headquarters in Oslo, Norway and the PGS share is listed on the Oslo stock exchange (OSE: PGS). For more information on PGS visit www.pgs.com.

***

IMPORTANT NOTICE

This announcement is not and does not form a part of any offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to purchase, any securities of PGS. The distribution of this announcement and other information may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions. Copies of this announcement are not being made and may not be distributed or sent into any jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful or would require registration or other measures. Persons into whose possession this announcement or such other information should come are required to inform themselves about and to observe any such restrictions.

The securities referred to in this announcement have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and accordingly may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act and in accordance with applicable U.S. state securities laws. The Company does not intend to register any part of the offering or their securities in the United States or to conduct a public offering of securities in the United States. Any sale in the United States of the securities mentioned in this announcement will be made solely to "qualified institutional buyers" as defined in Rule 144A under the Securities Act and major U.S. institutional investors as defined in SEC Rule 15a-6 under the United States Exchange Act of 1934.

In any EEA Member State, this communication is only addressed to and is only directed at qualified investors in that Member State within the meaning of the Prospectus Regulation, i.e., only to investors who can receive the offer without an approved prospectus in such EEA Member State. The expression "Prospectus Regulation" means Regulation 2017/1129, as amended, together with any applicable implementing measures in any Member State.

This communication is only being distributed to and is only directed at persons in the United Kingdom that are (i) investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the "Order") or (ii) high net worth entities, and other persons to whom this announcement may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as "relevant persons"). This communication must not be acted on or relied on by persons who are not relevant persons. Any investment or investment activity to which this communication relates is available only for relevant persons and will be engaged in only with relevant persons. Persons distributing this communication must satisfy themselves that it is lawful to do so.

Matters discussed in this announcement may constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and may be identified by words such as "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "strategy", "intends", "estimate", "will", "may", "continue", "should" and similar expressions. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions. Although the Company believe that these assumptions were reasonable when made, these assumptions are inherently subject to significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other important factors which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond its control.

Actual events may differ significantly from any anticipated development due to a number of factors, including without limitation, changes in public sector investment levels, changes in the general economic, political and market conditions in the markets in which the Company operate, the Companys ability to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel, changes in the Companys ability to engage in commercially acceptable acquisitions and strategic investments, and changes in laws and regulation and the potential impact of legal proceedings and actions. Such risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other important factors could cause actual events to differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in this release by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not provide any guarantees that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements in this announcement are free from errors nor does it accept any responsibility for the future accuracy of the opinions expressed in this announcement or any obligation to update or revise the statements in this announcement to reflect subsequent events. You should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements in this document.

The information, opinions and forward-looking statements contained in this announcement speak only as at its date, and are subject to change without notice. The Company does not undertake any obligation to review, update, confirm, or to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that arise in relation to the content of this announcement.

Neither the Managers nor any of their respective affiliates makes any representation as to the accuracy or completeness of this announcement and none of them accepts any responsibility for the contents of this announcement or any matters referred to herein.

This announcement is for information purposes only and is not to be relied upon in substitution for the exercise of independent judgment. It is not intended as investment advice and under no circumstances is it to be used or considered as an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a recommendation to buy or sell any securities in the Company. Neither the Managers nor any of their respective affiliates accepts any liability arising from the use of this announcement.

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) article 17 and Section 5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.





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MONTREAL, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Troilus Gold Corp. (Troilus or the Company, TSX: TLG; OTCQX: CHXMF) provides an overview and initial results from the Summer 2022 regional exploration program on its Troilus property, located in north-central, Quebec, Canada, within the eastern portion of the Frotet-Evans Greenstone Belt.



Between May and October, Troilus undertook an extensive fieldwork program in collaboration with Dahrouge Geological Consulting and IOS Services Geoscientifiques, focusing on the southern and eastern portions of its property. Activities included field mapping and prospecting, mechanical trenching, channeling, drone mapping, and soil/till sampling. Over the course of the program, Troilus collected 2,618 soil samples, 1,757 rock samples, 1,027 channel samples and 1,201 till samples.

Initial interpretation of results from the Pallador target and surrounding claims (see Figure 1) have revealed a multi-kilometre gold trend, marked by the discovery of a 1.5 g/t gold outcrop sample and several surrounding high-grade boulder samples returning up to 32.2 g/t gold, 25.4 g/t gold and 9.7 g/t gold (see Figure 2). This discovery forms Rocket, a prospective new target which the Company believes could be lithologically and structurally connected to Sumitomo and Kenorland Minerals (80%/20%) Regnault Target, located ~2 km North, which has returned high grade drill results up to 8.47 g/t gold over 29.08m. The Rocket and Pallador targets are accessible via road from the main Route du Nord, which leads to the main mineral zones and Troilus mine site.

Justin Reid, CEO of Troilus Gold, commented, The discovery of the Rocket gold occurrence in conjunction with various other high-grade surface samples over a multi-kilometre trend is a testament to the excellent geological and structural modelling completed by our exploration team. These very encouraging results expand upon other prospective regional targets identified on our property and reaffirms our belief that our main mineral deposits at the former mine site are not isolated, but rather part of a district-scale gold system. We look forward to further exploration work at this new target, having a high level of confidence in our ability to expand upon these findings as our understanding of the area continues to improve.

Rocket Target: Discovery of Gold in Outcrop Within a Multi-Kilometre Trend

The primary focus of the 2022 regional exploration program was our Pallador target and surrounding claims acquired from UrbanGold Minerals (UGM) in May 2021. This area is located 2.5km southeast of Sumitomos high-grade gold Regnault target (see Figure 2). The Company aimed to follow-up on high-grade boulder samples from 2020, which returned up to 102.5 g/t Au, 33.3 g/t Au, 14.1 g/t gold Au and 11.3 g/t gold, as well as results from a maiden drill program completed at Pallador in 2020 and 2021, which returned up to 4.74 g/t gold over 2.05m including 19.2 g/t Au over 0.5 m (hole UPR-21-09) and 2.02 g/t gold over 1.80m (hole UPR-20-03).

Results from B-Horizon soil sampling programs identified a strong trend of gold-in-soil anomalies covering 4.4 kilometres that further reinforced the prospectivity of these claims. Furthermore, high-resolution airborne geophysics results provided support in developing a structural interpretation of the region, suggesting these gold-in-soil anomalies could be located in zones lithologically and structurally connected to Sumitomos high-grade gold Regnault target (8.47 g/t gold over 29.08m obtained in 2020, hole 20RDD007).

With an improved geological understanding of the area, the 2022 field work program led to the discovery of the Rocket target, where outcrop samples as well as several high-grade grab and chip samples covering a ~1km area strongly overlapped gold-in-soil anomalies. The Rocket target is interpreted to be located at the eastern side of the Regnault intrusive suite (host rock of Sumitomos Regnault target), and contains numerous NW-SE shear zones with a trend of high-grade gold boulders overlapping the soil anomaly.

Prospecting Results Highlights from Rocket and Pallador Targets:

32.2 g/t gold (Boulder sample G721233)

25.4 g/t gold (Boulder sample G720061)

23.7 g/t gold (Boulder sample G720001)

9.7 g/t gold (Boulder sample G722669)

7.6 g/t gold (Boulder sample G721410)

4.7 g/t gold (Boulder sample G720169)

4.4 g/t gold (Boulder sample G720004)

3.2 g/t gold (Boulder sample G720169)

1.5 g/t gold (Outcrop sample G722422)

1.4 g/t gold (Boulder sample G721315)

Figure 1 - Plan map of the Troilus property outlining areas covered during the 2022 Regional Exploration Program

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2cc0727a-c31d-4784-8de5-246c5f0dc409

Figure 2 - Pallador and Rocket Targets with Prospecting Highlights

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c57d6df1-63f7-4bad-80b7-f45508e8bd64

Quality Assurance and Quality Control Protocols

All grab and chip samples were collected by hand and were located by hand-held GPS, bagged and sealed, and sent for assaying at ALS Laboratory, a certified commercial laboratory. Every sample was processed with standard crushing to 85% passing 75 microns on 500 g splits. Samples were assayed for Au by (50 g) fire assay and AAS. In addition to gold, ALS carried out multi-element analysis (ME-ICP61 analysis) of 33 elements using four acid digestion with ICP-AES finish.

Qualified Person

The technical and scientific information in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Kyle Frank, P.Geo., Manager of Exploration, who is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Mr. Frank is an employee of Troilus and is not independent of the Company under NI 43-101.

About Troilus Gold Corp.

Troilus Gold Corp. is a Canadian-based junior mining company focused on the systematic advancement and de-risking of the former gold and copper Troilus Mine towards production. From 1996 to 2010, the Troilus Mine produced +2 million ounces of gold and nearly 70,000 tonnes of copper. Troilus is located in the top-rated mining jurisdiction of Quebec, Canada, where is holds a strategic land position of 1,420 km2 in the Frotet-Evans Greenstone Belt. Since acquiring the project in 2017, ongoing exploration success has demonstrated the tremendous scale potential of the gold system on the property with significant mineral resource growth. The Company is advancing engineering studies following the completion of a robust PEA in 2020, which demonstrated the potential for the Troilus project to become a top-ranked gold and copper producing asset in Canada. Led by an experienced team with a track-record of successful mine development, Troilus is positioned to become a cornerstone project in North America.

For more information:

Caroline Arsenault

VP Corporate Communications

+1 (647) 407-7123

info@troilusgold.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements and Information

Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability; the estimate of Mineral Resources in the updated Mineral Resource statement may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant issues. There is no certainty that the Indicated Mineral Resources will be converted to the Probable Mineral Reserve category, and there is no certainty that the updated Mineral Resource statement will be realized.

The PEA is preliminary in nature, includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves, and there is no certainty that the PEA will be realized. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The PEA is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. See below and the Companys latest technical report available on SEDAR for more information with respect to the key assumptions, parameters, methods and risks of determination associated with the foregoing.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the impact of the ongoing drill program and results on the Company, the possible economics of the project and the Companys understanding of the project; the development potential and timetable of the project; the estimation of mineral resources; realization of mineral resource estimates; the timing and amount of estimated future exploration; the anticipated results of the Companys ongoing 2022 drill program and their possible impact on the potential size of the mineral resource estimate; costs of future activities; capital and operating expenditures; success of exploration activities; the anticipated ability of investors to continue benefiting from the Companys low discovery costs, technical expertise and support from local communities. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as plans, expects or does not expect, is expected, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, continue, anticipates or does not anticipate, or believes, or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, will, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements are made based upon certain assumptions and other important facts that, if untrue, could cause the actual results, performances or achievements of Troilus to be materially different from future results, performances or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Such statements and information are based on numerous assumptions regarding present and future business strategies and the environment in which Troilus will operate in the future. Certain important factors that could cause actual results, performances or achievements to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, amongst others, currency fluctuations, the global economic climate, dilution, share price volatility and competition. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Troilus to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: there being no assurance that the exploration program will result in expanded mineral resources; risks and uncertainties inherent to mineral resource estimates; the impact the COVID 19 pandemic may have on the Companys activities (including without limitation on its employees and suppliers) and the economy in general; the impact of the recovery post COVID 19 pandemic and its impact on gold and other metals; the receipt of necessary approvals; general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; future prices of mineral prices; accidents, labour disputes and shortages; environmental and other risks of the mining industry, including without limitation, risks and uncertainties discussed in the most recent Technical Report and in other continuous disclosure documents of the Company available under the Companys profile at www.sedar.com. Although Troilus has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Troilus does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
EL PASO, Texas, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- For the new academic year, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso welcomes a diverse group of students as the country's next generation of culturally competent health care leaders.

TTUHSC El Paso is one of three health sciences centers in the U.S. designated as Hispanic-Serving Institutions and the only one on the U.S.-Mexico border. Forty-eight percent of its students are Hispanic, and 52% are from Texas border counties. The education students receive not only prepares them to practice in border counties like El Paso, but for the changing face of America.

The U.S. Census Bureau predicts Hispanics will account for 25% of the U.S. population in 10 years. However, less than 6% of physicians in the U.S. identify as Hispanic. To fill the gap, TTUHSC El Paso is educating future Hispanic health care providers who are bilingual, thanks to required medical Spanish courses for medical and dental students. In 2020-2021, 64% of the university's graduates, including M.D. recipients, identified as Hispanic.

First-year Foster School of Medicine student Melissa Esparza is ready to begin her journey at the university  one she dreamed of as a child, growing up just a couple miles south of El Paso in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. When Esparza was 12, she and her family moved to El Paso, fleeing a wave of violence that emerged on the other side of the Rio Grande. "Although I was 12, I understood as a woman in Mexico, my opportunities were limited," Esparza said.

In middle school, she developed a passion for science, leading to a fascination with medicine. She was accepted into the Foster School of Medicine in 2022, where she's learning to be a physician in today's world, thanks to community immersion courses and early clinical experiences. "Attending medical school in my hometown has been an enriching experience," Esparza said. "It's allowed me to give back to the community that shaped me into who I am today."

Since 2009, the Foster School of Medicine has educated nearly 800 graduates who have become or are becoming practicing physicians. Joining the workforce ensures that Health Professional Shortage Areas like the Borderplex  which includes Texas, New Mexico and Mexico  will meet the demand for access to patient care.

A few feet from where medical students train, Anna Ceniceros, a second-year Hunt School of Dental Medicine student, is improving her dentistry skills in the school's Dental Learning Center. Ceniceros, the daughter of hardworking migrant farmworkers, arrived in El Paso from Clarendon, Texas, a Panhandle town with a population of just over 2,000.

In elementary school, Ceniceros attended a field trip to a dentist two hours from her hometown. She didn't know who a dentist was or what they did. The experience changed her life and she never stopped thinking about becoming a dentist. "Coming from an underserved area has been integral in my desire to become a dentist," said Ceniceros. "Now I'm sitting in the dentist's chair doing what I've dreamed about for decades."

In her second year of dental school, Ceniceros is also mastering medical Spanish. The Hunt School of Dental Medicine is the first in the U.S. with a medical Spanish requirement, and the school's curriculum also includes clinical experiences within the first semester, a nontraditional approach among most dental schools.

"The biggest lesson I've learned is there's always more skill development. I'm excited to put into action the new procedures we've learned and serve the community that supports us," Ceniceros said. In one year, she and her peers have provided more than 5,200 hours of clinical care in the Texas Tech Dental Oral Health Clinic, the clinical arm of the Hunt School of Dental Medicine.

This year, the 61-member class of 2026 joined Ceniceros's inaugural class of 40. Over a third of the class of 2026 come from West Texas and the U.S.-Mexico border region, including three from New Mexico.

Because most graduating dentists establish practices near their schools, the school will alleviate a shortage of dentists in the Borderplex. In El Paso County, there's only one dentist for every 4,840 residents, compared to a national average of one for every 1,638.

In addition to adding more physicians and dentists to the workforce, TTUHSC El Paso is educating future biomedical researchers at the Francis Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences who study the dynamics of health conditions affecting Hispanic populations.

Research conducted by faculty and students at TTUHSC El Paso is crucial in saving lives among our community due to cutting-edge studies that produce results specifically for people of our border region. Often, minorities, including Hispanics, are excluded in studies and clinical trials, meaning the results of those initiatives rarely benefit residents of El Paso County, 82.9% of whom are Hispanic.

Contact Information:

Marty Otero

Media Relations Specialist - National Media

maotero@ttuhsc.edu

915-215-6017



Related Images











Image 1: Dental medicine students treat patient





Second-year Hunt School of Dental Medicine student Anna Ceniceros works with a pediatric patient in the Texas Tech Dental Oral Health Clinic.









This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

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Boston, Massachusetts, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HYCU, Inc., the worlds fastest-growing multi-cloud data protection as a service company, has been nominated as Hottest Startup in the Technology Award category by the New England Venture Capital Association (NEVCA) for its 10th annual NEVY Awards , which recognizes and celebrates the top innovators, investors and companies in the region. Presented again this year by Dell Technologies, winners will be announced December 8th at the Alice in Wonderland themed event in-person at House of Blues Boston.

In spite of a challenging macro-economic business environment, this has been an outstanding year for HYCU, said Simon Taylor, Founder and CEO, HYCU, Inc. We raised a $53M Series B, bringing the total raised to $140M in a year. We added several new investors including Atlassian Ventures, Cisco Investments and Okta Ventures in addition to our lead investors for our two rounds, Acrew Capital and Bain Capital Ventures. We continue to capture marketshare, add new customers and partners, all based on our fundamental belief that there is a better way to manage, protect and recover data across on-premises and multi- and hybrid cloud IT environments. And, with the explosion of the deployment of SaaS apps across the enterprise with more than 170 in use at the average size organization coupled with the rise of cyberthreats like ransomware, and data protection as we know it has forever changed. At HYCU, the support of our investors has set us up for whats to come. The future is bright and the innovation we are working on and plan to bring to market in early 2023 will be unparalleled.

The NEVYs honor both early- and late-stage companies, as well as the venture capitalists who support them, and cover a broad spectrum of the regions thriving industry clusters. The academies are spread across Technology, Life Sciences, Healthcare and MedTech. Nominees are selected by the NEVYs Academy, comprised of investors from the regions top venture capital firms.

Nominated for Hottest Startup in the Technology Award Category, HYCU is making the world a safer place with its purpose-built Data Protection as a Service (DPaaS) platform that makes it simple to move data freely, easily and safely without the burden of managing and scaling infrastructure. To learn more about HYCU, and the companys approach to multi-cloud data protection and DPaaS, visit: https://www.hycu.com/data-protection/hycu-protege, or follow @hycuinc and connect with HYCU on LinkedIn.

Grab your top hats, stop watches, and playing cards as we (tea) party it up for the 10th time. A limited number of in-person tickets for this years NEVY Awards are available at thenevys.com . Follow official updates from the NEVCA team on Twitter with #NEVYs22, or on Medium and at www.newenglandvc.org. More information on NEVY Awards history and vision is available at thenevys.com.

This will be Dell Technologies fourth year sponsoring the NEVYs. Joining Dell Technologies in supporting the 2022 NEVY Awards are: AbbVie, Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Bank of America, Deloitte, IDA Ireland, Johnson & Johnson, Matter and V2 Communications.

About HYCU

HYCU is the fastest-growing leader in the multi-cloud data protection as a service industry. By bringing true SaaS-based data backup and recovery to both on-premises and cloud-native environments, the company provides unparalleled data protection, migration, disaster recovery, and ransomware protection to thousands of companies worldwide. As an award-winning and recognized visionary in the industry, HYCU solutions eliminate complexity, risk, and the high cost of legacy-based solutions, providing data protection simplicity to make the world safer. With an industry leading NPS score of 91, customers experience frictionless, cost-effective data protection, anywhere, everywhere. HYCU has raised $140M in VC funding to date and is based in Boston, Mass. Learn more at www.hycu.com.

About the New England Venture Capital Association

The New England Venture Capital Association (NEVCA) works toward a collaborative, inclusive, and prosperous innovation ecosystem. Through unique programs, critical policy work, and dynamic local events and regional marketing, the NEVCA invests in the entrepreneurial ecosystem on behalf of the VC community.

VCs are only as successful as the entrepreneurs in whom they invest and the environments in which those investments grow. We dont just host events: we act as a network, catalyst, and resource for the innovation economy, from celebrations to education; legislative advocacy to workforce development.

Follow @NewEnglandVC on Twitter, or check out www.newenglandvc.org .

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New York, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Teen Driver Technology Market Research Report by Vehicle Type, Features, Sales Channel, Region - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06341880/?utm_source=GNW

45 million by 2027.



Market Statistics:

The report provides market sizing and forecast across 7 major currencies - USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD, CAD, and CHF. It helps organization leaders make better decisions when currency exchange data is readily available. In this report, the years 2018 and 2020 are considered as historical years, 2021 as the base year, 2022 as the estimated year, and years from 2023 to 2027 are considered as the forecast period.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:

This research report categorizes the Teen Driver Technology to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:



Based on Vehicle Type, the market was studied across Commercial Vehicle and Passenger Vehicle.



Based on Features, the market was studied across Forward Automatic Braking, Forward Collision Alert, Music Volume, Seat Belt Audio Mute, Side Blind Zone Alert, Speed Limit, and Speed Warning.



Based on Sales Channel, the market was studied across Aftermarket and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM).



Based on Region, the market was studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas is further studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The United States is further studied across California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The Asia-Pacific is further studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. The Europe, Middle East & Africa is further studied across Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.



Cumulative Impact of COVID-19:

COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, and the long-term effects are projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report delivers insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecasts, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.



Cumulative Impact of 2022 Russia Ukraine Conflict:

We continuously monitor and update reports on political and economic uncertainty due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Negative impacts are significantly foreseen globally, especially across Eastern Europe, European Union, Eastern & Central Asia, and the United States. This contention has severely affected lives and livelihoods and represents far-reaching disruptions in trade dynamics. The potential effects of ongoing war and uncertainty in Eastern Europe are expected to have an adverse impact on the world economy, with especially long-term harsh effects on Russia.This report uncovers the impact of demand & supply, pricing variants, strategic uptake of vendors, and recommendations for Teen Driver Technology market considering the current update on the conflict and its global response.



Competitive Strategic Window:

The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.



FPNV Positioning Matrix:

The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Teen Driver Technology Market based on Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.



Market Share Analysis:

The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.



Competitive Scenario:

The Competitive Scenario provides an outlook analysis of the various business growth strategies adopted by the vendors. The news covered in this section deliver valuable thoughts at the different stage while keeping up-to-date with the business and engage stakeholders in the economic debate. The competitive scenario represents press releases or news of the companies categorized into Merger & Acquisition, Agreement, Collaboration, & Partnership, New Product Launch & Enhancement, Investment & Funding, and Award, Recognition, & Expansion. All the news collected help vendor to understand the gaps in the marketplace and competitors strength and weakness thereby, providing insights to enhance product and service.



Company Usability Profiles:

The report profoundly explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Teen Driver Technology Market, including AAEON Technology Inc., ADLINK Technology Inc., American Automobile Association, Avalue Technology Inc., Ford Motor Company, General Motors Company, Hyundai Motor Company, Infineon Technologies AG, Maxim Integrated, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Mobileye Technologies Limited, Neousys Technology Inc., Nexcom International Co. Ltd., OnLogic, Panasonic Corporation, Robert Bosch GmbH, ROHM Co., Ltd., STMicroelectronics N.V., Toyota Motor Corporation, Winsonic Electronics Co., Ltd., and ZF Friedrichshafen AG.



The report provides insights on the following pointers:

1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players

2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets

3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments

4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players

5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and breakthrough product developments



The report answers questions such as:

1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Teen Driver Technology Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Teen Driver Technology Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Teen Driver Technology Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Teen Driver Technology Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Teen Driver Technology Market?

6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Teen Driver Technology Market?

7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Teen Driver Technology Market?

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06341880/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________
Westford,USA, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SkyQuest has released an analysis of the growing demand for sleep apnea devices market . The report notes that the use of these devices has increased significantly in recent years, and that the majority of users are adults. This can be attributed to several factors that may be driving the growth of sleep apnea device use, including the increasing prevalence of obesity and sleep disorders, and the availability of more effective and comfortable devices. It was also observed that awareness of sleep apnea and its potential consequences has grown in recent years.

Sleep apnea can lead to a number of health problems, including high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. It can also cause daytime fatigue and make it difficult to concentrate or focus on tasks.

The most common treatment for sleep apnea is continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy in the global sleep apnea devices market. CPAP devices deliver measured doses of air through a mask worn during sleep. The air pressure keeps the airways open and prevents pauses in breathing. CPAP therapy is very effective, but it can be uncomfortable for some people. As a result, many people with sleep apnea are seeking alternative treatments.





Get sample copy of this report:

https://skyquestt.com/sample-request/sleep-apnea-devices-market





CPAP Machines Accounts Over 60% Sales of Value of Sleep Apnea Devices Market

The FDA has approved several types of oral devices for the treatment of sleep apnea. These devices fit into the mouth and help keep the airway open during sleep. They are much less invasive than CPAP machines and may be more comfortable for some people to use. However, CPAP machines are the most commonly used type of device and account for approximately 60% of total sales.

North America is the largest regional sleep apnea devices market, accounting for 41% of global sales in 2021. Europe is the second largest market with a 28% share, followed by Asia-Pacific with a 21% share.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently released an analysis of the growing demand for sleep apnea devices. The FDA estimates that there will be a need for 1.6 million CPAP machines and 2.4 million mouthpieces by 2025 in the US. The FDA's analysis indicates that the demand for sleep apnea devices will continue to grow in the coming years. This growth presents both opportunities and challenges for manufacturers of these devices. It will be important for manufacturers to keep up with the increasing demand while also ensuring that their products are safe and effective.

The report also found that the sleep apnea devices market is highly fragmented, with no single player accounting for more than 10% of total sales. This fragmentation presents both opportunities and challenges for companies operating in the space. On the one hand, there is significant room for growth for companies that can gain share in this rapidly growing market. On the other hand, the fragmentation makes it difficult for any one company to establish a clear leadership position.





Browse summary of the report and Complete Table of Contents (ToC):

https://skyquestt.com/report/sleep-apnea-devices-market





ResMed, Philips, and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare to Continue Leading Global Sleep Apnea Devices Market

The market is a highly competitive and rapidly changing industry. SkyQuest's competitive analysis of the market provides an overview of the key players, their products and strategies, and the current state of the market.

The sleep apnea devices market is led by ResMed, Philips, and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare. These companies together account for over 30% of the global market share. ResMed is the one of the leaders in terms of both revenues and profitability, followed by Philips. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare is a distant third with a much smaller market share but has been growing rapidly in recent years.

According to the report, one of Phillips' key strengths is its focus on innovation. The company has developed a number of new technologies that have helped it to gain market share in recent years. In addition, Phillips has a strong brand and is well-positioned to capitalize on the growing awareness of sleep apnea.

However, the report also highlights some areas where Phillips could improve. For example, the company's product range is relatively limited compared to its competitors. In addition, Phillips' distribution channels are not as extensive as those of its rivals. As a result, the company may find it difficult to reach all potential customers.

The sleep apnea devices market is highly fragmented with many small players accounting for the remaining market share. The top three companies have been able to maintain their dominance due to their strong product portfolios, brand recognition, and vast distribution networks. However, they are facing increasing competition from smaller players who are offering more specialized and innovative products.

SkyQuest's competitive analysis also looks at the emerging trends in the sleep apnea devices market. One of the most significant trends is the move towards home-use devices which are more convenient and comfortable for patients. This shift has been driven by advances in technology as well as greater awareness of the condition among patients and physicians. Another major trend is the increasing focus on patient outcomes rather than simply treating the symptoms of sleep apnea. This has led to new products that aim to improve patient compliance.





Speak to Analyst for your custom requirements:

https://skyquestt.com/speak-with-analyst/sleep-apnea-devices-market





Key Players in the Global Sleep Apnea Devices Market

Koninklijke Philips N.V. (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

Oventus, Indooroopilly (Australia)

Cadwell Industries, Inc. (Kennewick, U.S.)

ResMed (San Diego, U.S.)

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Limited (Auckland, New Zealand)

Natus Medical Incorporated (Pleasanton, U.S.)

SomnoMed (Sydney, Australia)

DeVilbiss Healthcare LLC (Pennsylvania, U.S.)

Braeburn Medical Corporation (Ontario, Canada)





Related Reports in SkyQuests Library:

Global Interventional Oncology Market

Global Laboratory Informatics Market

US Healthcare Predictive Payer Market

Global Assisted Reproductive Technology Market

Global Proteomics Market





About Us:

SkyQuest Technology is leading growth consulting firm providing market intelligence, commercialization and technology services. It has 450+ happy clients globally.

Address:

1 Apache Way, Westford, Massachusetts 01886

Phone:

USA (+1) 617-230-0741

Email: sales@skyquestt.com
Westford, USA, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As the world population continues to grow, so does the demand for medical sensors market . With the aging population, there is a need for more sensors that can monitor a patient's health. The rising prevalence of chronic diseases is another key factor driving the growth of market. Chronic diseases are responsible for 73% of deaths worldwide and cost the global economy over $20 trillion annually. Sensors can help manage these conditions by providing real-time data on patients vital signs, which can be used to make treatment decisions.

There are many different types of sensors available in the global medical sensors market that are used for different purposes. For example, heart rate monitors are used to track a patient's heart rate and blood pressure. Motion sensors are used to monitor a patient's movement and activity level. Temperature sensors are used to monitor a patient's body temperature. In short, the medical sensors are used in a variety of applications including diagnostics, therapeutics, home health monitoring, and fitness/wellness. The most common type of medical sensor is the wearable device, which can track a variety of biometric data points such as heart rate, respiration rate, skin temperature, and blood pressure.

Get sample copy of this report:

https://skyquestt.com/sample-request/medical-sensors-market

There are many benefits to using medical sensors, including early detection of disease, improved patient outcomes, and reduced healthcare costs. For example, wearable devices that continuously monitor vital signs can alert caregivers to early signs of deterioration before it becomes life-threatening.

Sensors in the global medical sensors market are becoming smaller, more accurate, and less expensive. This allows more patients to be monitored without the need for invasive procedures. Medical sensors can be used in both hospitals and home settings. They can be worn on the body or implanted underneath the skin. However, challenges such as privacy concerns and reimbursement issues are expected to restraint market growth over the forecast period.

Rapidly Growing Interest of Companies and Consumers in Wearable Medical Devices

SkyQuest's analysis of the medical sensors market shows that the market is growing rapidly, with new applications and products being developed all the time. The most exciting growth area is in wearable medical devices, which are becoming increasingly popular as they offer patients more control over their health and allow them to monitor their condition more closely. With 29% of consumers saying they would be willing to wear one. The most popular reasons for wearing a sensor are to track fitness/activity levels (48%), manage a chronic condition (38%) or monitor general health (30%). SkyQuest's analysis shows that the majority of consumers are interested in wearable medical sensors, but there are still some barriers to adoption. Cost is the biggest barrier, with 50% of consumers citing it as a reason why they would not wear a sensor. Other barriers include concerns about privacy and security (32%), lack of understanding about how the devices work (31%) and lack of need (30%).

By 2028, we estimate that there will be nearly 775 million people using some form of wearable medical sensor  equivalent to almost 1 in 9 of the world's population. This growth of the medical sensors market is being driven by a combination of factors, including falling prices, improved functionality, and increasing awareness of the benefits of such devices. As of 2021, the global wearable medical devices market was valued at $27.3 billion and is projected to expand at CAGR of over 29.3% in the years to come. Wherein, the wearable medical sensors would contribute generously.

Browse summary of the report and Complete Table of Contents (ToC):

https://skyquestt.com/report/medical-sensors-market

One of the challenges facing the medical sensors market is ensuring that the data collected by sensors is accurate and reliable. Another challenge is developing sensors that are small enough to be comfortable for patients to wear for long periods of time, while still being able to collect accurate data. The future of the medical sensors industry looks very exciting, with plenty of potential for growth.

SkyQuest's analysis of the medical sensors market reveals that the North American region is expected to hold the largest market share, accounting for around 36% of the global market in 2028. This is primarily due to the presence of a large number of key players in this region and the growing adoption of technologically advanced products. Europe is expected to be the second-largest market, followed by Asia Pacific and Latin America.

Top 10 Players Hold Less than 25% Share of Global Medical Sensors Market

The global medical sensors market is highly fragmented, with no single player commanding a dominant share of the market. The top 10 players in the market collectively accounted for only around 25% of global sales in 2021, according to SkyQuest's analysis. The fragmentation of the market is largely due to the range of applications for medical sensors, which include everything from diagnostics and monitoring to wellness and fitness. This diversity means that there is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to medical sensors, which has resulted in a large number of niche players catering to specific needs.

One trend that is beginning to emerge is the consolidation of the medical sensors market, as larger companies acquire smaller players in order to gain a foothold in specific segments or technologies. For example, Analog Devices' acquisition of iSensor in 2016 gave it a leading position in the emerging field of biomedical MEMS (microelectromechanical systems). Looking forward, we expect that consolidation will continue as companies seek to gain scale and build up their product portfolios. In addition, we expect that new entrants will continue to enter the market, drawn by the growing demand for medical sensors.

The fragmentation of the medical sensors market presents both opportunities and challenges for companies operating in this space. On the one hand, there is a lot of room for growth as companies can focus on niche markets. On the other hand, competition is intense and it can be difficult to differentiate products in such a crowded market.

SkyQuests analysis highlights the need for companies operating in the medical sensors market to have a clear understanding of their target market and key competitors. They also need to invest in research and development in order to stay ahead of the curve.

Speak to Analyst for your custom requirements:

https://skyquestt.com/speak-with-analyst/medical-sensors-market

Key Players in Global Medical Sensors Market

Medtronic (Ireland)

TE Connectivity (Switzerland)

Analog Devices (US)

ST Microelectronics (Switzerland)

Texas Instruments (US)

First Sensor (Germany)

NXP Semiconductors (Netherlands)

Tekscan Inc. (US)

Amphenol Advanced Sensors (US)

Proteus Digital Health (US)

Cirtec Medical (US)

Sensirion (Switzerland)

Innovative Sensor Technology (Switzerland)

Related Reports in SkyQuests Library:

Global Hearing Aid Market

Global Implantable Medical Devices Market

Latin America Medical Imaging Market

Global Electroceuticals Market

Global Sternal Closure Systems Market

About Us:

SkyQuest Technology is leading growth consulting firm providing market intelligence, commercialization and technology services. It has 450+ happy clients globally.

Address:

1 Apache Way, Westford, Massachusetts 01886

Phone:

USA (+1) 617-230-0741

Email: sales@skyquestt.com
New York, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Tantalum Capacitors Market Research Report by Product Types, Application, Region - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06341862/?utm_source=GNW

93 million by 2027.



Market Statistics:

The report provides market sizing and forecast across 7 major currencies - USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD, CAD, and CHF. It helps organization leaders make better decisions when currency exchange data is readily available. In this report, the years 2018 and 2020 are considered as historical years, 2021 as the base year, 2022 as the estimated year, and years from 2023 to 2027 are considered as the forecast period.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:

This research report categorizes the Tantalum Capacitors to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:



Based on Product Types, the market was studied across Tantalum Capacitors with Porous Anode & Liquid Electrolyte, Tantalum Capacitors with Porous Anode & Solid Electrolyte Global Tantalum Capacitors, and Tantalum Foil Electrolytic Capacitor.



Based on Application, the market was studied across Audio Amplifiers, Medical Electronics, Military Applications, Power Supply Filtering, Sample & Hold Circuits, Telecommunications Infrastructure, and Wireless Handset.



Based on Region, the market was studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas is further studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The United States is further studied across California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The Asia-Pacific is further studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. The Europe, Middle East & Africa is further studied across Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.



Cumulative Impact of COVID-19:

COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, and the long-term effects are projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report delivers insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecasts, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.



Cumulative Impact of 2022 Russia Ukraine Conflict:

We continuously monitor and update reports on political and economic uncertainty due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Negative impacts are significantly foreseen globally, especially across Eastern Europe, European Union, Eastern & Central Asia, and the United States. This contention has severely affected lives and livelihoods and represents far-reaching disruptions in trade dynamics. The potential effects of ongoing war and uncertainty in Eastern Europe are expected to have an adverse impact on the world economy, with especially long-term harsh effects on Russia.This report uncovers the impact of demand & supply, pricing variants, strategic uptake of vendors, and recommendations for Tantalum Capacitors market considering the current update on the conflict and its global response.



Competitive Strategic Window:

The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.



FPNV Positioning Matrix:

The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Tantalum Capacitors Market based on Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.



Market Share Analysis:

The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.



Competitive Scenario:

The Competitive Scenario provides an outlook analysis of the various business growth strategies adopted by the vendors. The news covered in this section deliver valuable thoughts at the different stage while keeping up-to-date with the business and engage stakeholders in the economic debate. The competitive scenario represents press releases or news of the companies categorized into Merger & Acquisition, Agreement, Collaboration, & Partnership, New Product Launch & Enhancement, Investment & Funding, and Award, Recognition, & Expansion. All the news collected help vendor to understand the gaps in the marketplace and competitors strength and weakness thereby, providing insights to enhance product and service.



Company Usability Profiles:

The report profoundly explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Tantalum Capacitors Market, including Abracon, Advanced Analogic Technology, AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group, AVX Corporation, Exxelia, Hongda Electronics Corp, KEMET Corporation, KYOCERA Corporation, Matsuo Electric Co., Ltd., NTE Electronics Inc., Panasonic Corporation, Pilbara Minerals, ROHM Co., Ltd., Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Sunlord, Suntsu Electronics, Inc., Talison Minerals pvt ltd, TE Connectivity, Vicor Corporation, and Vishay Intertechnology, Inc..



The report provides insights on the following pointers:

1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players

2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets

3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments

4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players

5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and breakthrough product developments



The report answers questions such as:

1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Tantalum Capacitors Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Tantalum Capacitors Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Tantalum Capacitors Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Tantalum Capacitors Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Tantalum Capacitors Market?

6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Tantalum Capacitors Market?

7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Tantalum Capacitors Market?

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06341862/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________
BOSTON, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Boston-based startup MyGiving partners with WILD.org to leverage digital assets to enhance fundraising results.

"We are excited to partner with MyGiving to send donors digital assets to thank them for supporting our work. The seamless and frictionless solution MyGiving offers and the fact their tool is built on the carbon-negative blockchain, Algorand, makes this collaboration even better. WILD is proud to be at the forefront of this unique and cutting-edge approach to donor stewardship," said Amy Lewis, WILD's Vice President, Policy and Communications.

"Launching this project with WILD.org is not only an exciting partnership but also proof of concept for MyGiving. We are thrilled to bring stewardship and donor relations to the blockchain while at the same time limiting the environmental impact of traditional mailing-based stewardship strategies," said Stephen Rodriguez, co-founder of MyGiving.

"We chose Algorand as the foundational blockchain for MyGiving because of its scalability, massive adoption, security, and reputation as a blockchain built for the future. We are excited about this partnership because it demonstrates the power of our platform - removing hurdles for a nonprofit to embrace digital assets and NFTs as a way to engage donors," said Karthik Shanmugam, co-founder of MyGiving.

About WILD.org and the Infinite Wild campaign:

WILD is an organization working worldwide to mobilize action to protect Half of Earth's lands and seas - the amount scientists say we need to have a future. WILD does this by working in full partnership with Indigenous Peoples, scientists, business owners, activists, and any other human that sees the value of protecting our common home. All programs at WILD support the mission of Nature Needs Half.

Infinite Wild is an NFT project designed to invite collectors into the world of our biodiversity. The top 54 donors between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, 2022, will receive a unique, carbon-neutral NFT. Most cards represent one of four types of ecological services. Some cards feature people (especially WILD's staff) representing services we can give back to nature. All donors will receive ownership of a Community Card NFT featuring the card back design.

About MyGiving :

MyGiving gamifies philanthropy by empowering nonprofits to create and send NFTs and digital assets while providing a way for donors to virtually share and celebrate the organizations they support. Built on Algorand, a carbon-negative blockchain, MyGiving offers a white-label solution for nonprofits to create, mint, and transfer NFTs and digital assets to donors to bring donor relations and stewardship into today's digital world.

Visit MyGiving.io and wild.org/unlock-wilderness to learn more.

Contact Information:

Karthik Shanmugam

Co-Founder

karthik@mygiving.io



Stephen Rodriguez

Co-Founder

stephen@mygiving.io

6178174051



Related Files

Mygiving_PR.docx

Related Images











Image 1: MyGiving





MyGiving Logo









This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

Attachment
TORONTO, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Thunder Bay residents can swap Lake Superior for the Caribbean Sea this winter with easy access to weekly flights on board Sunwing Airlines. Sunwings sought-after return to the city known as Superior by Nature includes two weekly flights from Thunder Bay to the sun-soaked destinations of Cancun, Mexico and Varadero, Cuba, plus a variety of affordable all inclusive vacation packages to the family-friendly and adults only resorts that suit each customers needs.



Were excited to return to Thunder Bay this winter season, with direct Sunwing flights to two of our most popular vacation destinations in the tropics, said Andrew Dawson, President of Tour Operations for Sunwing. As a longstanding partner for us at Sunwing, were thrilled to continue working together with Thunder Bay International Airport and help residents travel to paradise with ease from their local airport.

Ed Schmidtke, President and CEO of Thunder Bay International Airports Authority Inc. adds, Sunwing has a long and positive history of providing our community with reliable and convenient flight options, and we are excited for Sunwings return to Thunder Bay. They have been missed and we welcome them back for a busy winter season.

Sunwing will be offering weekly flights from Thunder Bay to Cancun on Mondays starting on December 12, 2022 until April 10, 2023, and weekly flights to Varadero on Tuesdays starting on December 13, 2022 until April 11, 2023.

For a limited time only, residents in Thunder Bay can take advantage of Sunwings BOGO Seat Sale, where customers can buy one seat and the get second 40% off on new air only bookings* made by November 13, 2022, for winter departures until April 30, 2023. Plus, with only a few days remaining, theres still time to save up to 40% on vacation packages with room upgrades at select properties during Sunwings Save More Event*, live until November 6, 2022.

Whether booking last minute or planning for that much-needed getaway, customers can protect every step of their winter travel journey when purchasing one of Sunwings comprehensive travel insurance options, offering even more peace of mind.

*Terms and conditions apply.

About Sunwing

The largest integrated travel company in North America, Sunwing has more flights to the south than any other leisure carrier with convenient direct service from airports across Canada to popular sun destinations across the U.S.A., Caribbean, Mexico and Central America. This scale enables Sunwing to offer customers exclusive deals at top-rated resorts in the most popular vacation destinations as well as cruise packages and seasonal domestic flight service. Sunwing customers benefit from the assistance of the companys own knowledgeable destination representatives, who greet them upon arrival and support them throughout their vacation journey. The company supports the communities where it operates through the Sunwing Foundation, a charitable initiative focused on the support and development of youth and humanitarian aid.

For more information:

Melanie Anne Filipp

Senior Director, Corporate Communications & Media Relations

Sunwing Travel Group

1-800-387-5602 | media@sunwing.ca

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d57f2732-264b-4d80-ba00-fbaa180abedf
New York, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Market Research Report by Drug Type, Mode of Delivery, Region - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06341845/?utm_source=GNW

12% to reach USD 3,016.59 million by 2027.



Market Statistics:

The report provides market sizing and forecast across 7 major currencies - USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD, CAD, and CHF. It helps organization leaders make better decisions when currency exchange data is readily available. In this report, the years 2018 and 2020 are considered as historical years, 2021 as the base year, 2022 as the estimated year, and years from 2023 to 2027 are considered as the forecast period.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:

This research report categorizes the Systemic Lupus Erythematosus to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:



Based on Drug Type, the market was studied across Antimalarial Drugs, Biologics, Cytotoxic & Immunosuppressive Drugs, Immunosuppressive & Cytotoxic Drugs O T-Cell Modulators, Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDS), o B-Cell modulators, and Pro-Inflammatory & Cytokine Inhibitors. The Antimalarial Drugs is further studied across Chloroquine and Hydrochloroquine. The Biologics is further studied across Approved Biologics for Treating SLE and Biologics Used Off-Label. The Approved Biologics for Treating SLE is further studied across B-Cell Targeted Therapy and Blys-Blockers (Belimumab). The Cytotoxic & Immunosuppressive Drugs is further studied across Cyclophosphamide, Cyclosporine, Methotrexate, and Mycophenolate Mofetil o Tacrolimus.



Based on Mode of Delivery, the market was studied across Intravenous, Oral, Subcutaneous, and Topical.



Based on Region, the market was studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas is further studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The United States is further studied across California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The Asia-Pacific is further studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. The Europe, Middle East & Africa is further studied across Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.



Cumulative Impact of COVID-19:

COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, and the long-term effects are projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report delivers insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecasts, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.



Cumulative Impact of 2022 Russia Ukraine Conflict:

We continuously monitor and update reports on political and economic uncertainty due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Negative impacts are significantly foreseen globally, especially across Eastern Europe, European Union, Eastern & Central Asia, and the United States. This contention has severely affected lives and livelihoods and represents far-reaching disruptions in trade dynamics. The potential effects of ongoing war and uncertainty in Eastern Europe are expected to have an adverse impact on the world economy, with especially long-term harsh effects on Russia.This report uncovers the impact of demand & supply, pricing variants, strategic uptake of vendors, and recommendations for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus market considering the current update on the conflict and its global response.



Competitive Strategic Window:

The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.



FPNV Positioning Matrix:

The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Market based on Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.



Market Share Analysis:

The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.



Competitive Scenario:

The Competitive Scenario provides an outlook analysis of the various business growth strategies adopted by the vendors. The news covered in this section deliver valuable thoughts at the different stage while keeping up-to-date with the business and engage stakeholders in the economic debate. The competitive scenario represents press releases or news of the companies categorized into Merger & Acquisition, Agreement, Collaboration, & Partnership, New Product Launch & Enhancement, Investment & Funding, and Award, Recognition, & Expansion. All the news collected help vendor to understand the gaps in the marketplace and competitors strength and weakness thereby, providing insights to enhance product and service.



Company Usability Profiles:

The report profoundly explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Market, including Abbvie, Inc., Amgen Inc., Anthera Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca Plc, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc, bioMerieux SA, Biotest AG, Boston Pharmaceuticals, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Eli Lilly and Company, GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Hoffmann-LA-Roche Ltd., ImmuPharma PLC,, Merck & Co., Inc., Mylan N.V., Novartis AG, Pfizer, Inc., RemeGen Co., Ltd., Sandoz International GmbH,, Sanofi, Trinity Biotech, UCB SA, Xencor, Inc., and Zydus Cadila,.



The report provides insights on the following pointers:

1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players

2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets

3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments

4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players

5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and breakthrough product developments



The report answers questions such as:

1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Market?

6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Market?

7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Market?

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06341845/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________
Dublin, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Taiwan B2B Database: B2B Contacts and Company Data; 1,455,999 Companies and 5.5 Million Contacts" database has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This database monitors 1,455,999 companies in Taiwan, using an artificial-intelligence-powered data crawling system combined with reliable governmental sources. It upgrades the way researchers and salespeople currently operate by reducing the steps needed to reach to necessary information / prospects.



This database, Taiwan's largest B2B contacts and company data portal, covers more than 5.5 million key employee contacts across more than 1,000 industries. It works like a search engine for companies and B2B contacts in Taiwan, allowing the user to search real-time company data - background data, business descriptions, shareholder/manager names, financial data and employee data, along with e-mail addresses, Linkedin profiles, Facebook, company websites and much more.



It is made simple and easy for researchers, salespeople and marketers to search and access company data and direct contact information of key employees across the economically booming Taiwan.



Because the publisher monitors government sources - including tax departments - there are no inactive companies in the database.

For more information about this database visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/drqrdo
Dublin, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Autonomous Military Aircraft Global Market Report 2022, By Technology, Type, Component" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global autonomous military aircraft market is expected grow from $4.75 billion in 2021 to $5.15 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.4%. The market is expected to reach $6.66 billion in 2026 at a CAGR of 6.6%.



The main technology types of autonomous military aircraft are remotely operated, semi-autonomous, and autonomous. The various types of aircraft include fighter aircraft, bombers, reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft, airborne early warning aircraft, others and the component used are flight management computers, air data intertial reference units, sensors, actuation systems, software, intelligent servos, cameras, radars & transponders, and propulsion systems. A fighter aircraft is a fixed-wing aircraft designed for air-to-air combat against other aircraft.



Asia Pacific was the largest region in autonomous military aircraft market in 2021. Western Europe is expected to be the fastest growing region in the forecast period. The regions covered in the report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East and Africa.



Increasing government funding on defense equipment such as autonomous military aircraft to enhance the efficiency in military operations boosts the demand for the market. For instance, in 2019, the UK government funded $152.3 million (GBP 125 million) to support research on new technologies for autonomous aircraft. Hence, increasing government spending on autonomous military aircraft is a key factor for driving the market.



The major constraint of autonomous military aircraft is its vulnerability to jamming and spoofing. Securing GPS signals to ensure that they cannot be tampered with by enemy forces acts as the inherent liability of GPS to jamming and spoofing and acts as a major challenge. In particular, communication links between the controller and the autonomous military aircraft are extremely vulnerable and the required target accuracy is difficult to achieve due to navigation errors. Due to this, the aircraft is misdirected and becomes either unusable or a threat to their personnel equipment. In 2019, Russian forces were involved in jamming GPS systems in the Middle East which affected the USA forces gathering in the region in advance of potential strikes on Iran. Such factors are expected to harm the demand for autonomous military aircraft and may impact the growth of the market.



Autonomous military aircraft companies are making efforts to embed artificial intelligence (AI) and specialize in the development of software, including machine learning and AI that are core capabilities for these advanced systems. The ability of a system to decide on the most suitable action from sensor data input to fulfill the intent for operations by making guesses without human input can be achieved by AI technology.

Through edge processing, aircraft do not have to send information to the cloud and thus may achieve greater performance, information security, and autonomy. U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is seeking to advance artificial intelligence technologies for individual and team aerial dogfighting tactics.



Scope



Markets Covered:

1) By Technology: Remotely Operated; Semi-Autonomous; Autonomous

2) By Type: Fighter Aircrafts; Bombers; Reconnaissance and Surveillance Aircrafts; Airborne Early Warning Aircrafts; Others

3) By Component: Flight Management Computers; Air Data Intertial Refernece Units; Sensors; Actuation Systems; Software; Intelligent Servos; Cameras; Radars & Transponders; Propulsion Systems



Key Topics Covered:



1. Executive Summary



2. Autonomous Military Aircraft Market Characteristics



3. Autonomous Military Aircraft Market Trends And Strategies



4. Impact Of COVID-19 On Autonomous Military Aircraft



5. Autonomous Military Aircraft Market Size And Growth



6. Autonomous Military Aircraft Market Segmentation

7. Autonomous Military Aircraft Market Regional And Country Analysis



8. Asia-Pacific Autonomous Military Aircraft Market



9. China Autonomous Military Aircraft Market



10. India Autonomous Military Aircraft Market



11. Japan Autonomous Military Aircraft Market



12. Australia Autonomous Military Aircraft Market



13. Indonesia Autonomous Military Aircraft Market



14. South Korea Autonomous Military Aircraft Market



15. Western Europe Autonomous Military Aircraft Market



16. UK Autonomous Military Aircraft Market



17. Germany Autonomous Military Aircraft Market



18. France Autonomous Military Aircraft Market



19. Eastern Europe Autonomous Military Aircraft Market



20. Russia Autonomous Military Aircraft Market



21. North America Autonomous Military Aircraft Market



22. USA Autonomous Military Aircraft Market



23. South America Autonomous Military Aircraft Market



24. Brazil Autonomous Military Aircraft Market



25. Middle East Autonomous Military Aircraft Market



26. Africa Autonomous Military Aircraft Market



27. Autonomous Military Aircraft Market Competitive Landscape And Company Profiles



28. Key Mergers And Acquisitions In The Autonomous Military Aircraft Market



29. Autonomous Military Aircraft Market Future Outlook and Potential Analysis



30. Appendix



Companies Mentioned

Boeing

Lockheed Martin Corp.

GE Aviation

Northrop Grumman

BAE Systems

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI)

Elbit Systems

Dassault Aviation S.A.

Denel Dynamics

Airbus SE

United Technologies Corporation

General Dynamics Corporation

Raytheon Company

Safran SA

Rolls Royce

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation

Kratos Defence & Security Solutions Inc.

Textron Inc.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/4avbzq

Attachment
New York, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Surgical Simulation Market Research Report by Surgery Type, End-use, Region - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06341803/?utm_source=GNW

06 million by 2027.



Market Statistics:

The report provides market sizing and forecast across 7 major currencies - USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD, CAD, and CHF. It helps organization leaders make better decisions when currency exchange data is readily available. In this report, the years 2018 and 2020 are considered as historical years, 2021 as the base year, 2022 as the estimated year, and years from 2023 to 2027 are considered as the forecast period.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:

This research report categorizes the Surgical Simulation to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:



Based on Surgery Type, the market was studied across Cardiac Surgery/Interventional Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Neurosurgery, Oncology Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Reconstructive Surgery, and Transplants.



Based on End-use, the market was studied across Hospitals and Specialty Centres.



Based on Region, the market was studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas is further studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The United States is further studied across California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The Asia-Pacific is further studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. The Europe, Middle East & Africa is further studied across Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.



Cumulative Impact of COVID-19:

COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, and the long-term effects are projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report delivers insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecasts, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.



Cumulative Impact of 2022 Russia Ukraine Conflict:

We continuously monitor and update reports on political and economic uncertainty due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Negative impacts are significantly foreseen globally, especially across Eastern Europe, European Union, Eastern & Central Asia, and the United States. This contention has severely affected lives and livelihoods and represents far-reaching disruptions in trade dynamics. The potential effects of ongoing war and uncertainty in Eastern Europe are expected to have an adverse impact on the world economy, with especially long-term harsh effects on Russia.This report uncovers the impact of demand & supply, pricing variants, strategic uptake of vendors, and recommendations for Surgical Simulation market considering the current update on the conflict and its global response.



Competitive Strategic Window:

The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.



FPNV Positioning Matrix:

The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Surgical Simulation Market based on Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.



Market Share Analysis:

The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.



Competitive Scenario:

The Competitive Scenario provides an outlook analysis of the various business growth strategies adopted by the vendors. The news covered in this section deliver valuable thoughts at the different stage while keeping up-to-date with the business and engage stakeholders in the economic debate. The competitive scenario represents press releases or news of the companies categorized into Merger & Acquisition, Agreement, Collaboration, & Partnership, New Product Launch & Enhancement, Investment & Funding, and Award, Recognition, & Expansion. All the news collected help vendor to understand the gaps in the marketplace and competitors strength and weakness thereby, providing insights to enhance product and service.



Company Usability Profiles:

The report profoundly explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Surgical Simulation Market, including 3B Scientific GmbH, 3D Systems, Inc, CAE Inc., Gaumard Scientific Company, Inc, Laerdal Medical AS, Mentice AB, Simendo B.V., Simulab Corporation, Startasys Ltd., VirtaMed AG, and VRmagic Holding AG.



The report provides insights on the following pointers:

1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players

2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets

3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments

4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players

5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and breakthrough product developments



The report answers questions such as:

1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Surgical Simulation Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Surgical Simulation Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Surgical Simulation Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Surgical Simulation Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Surgical Simulation Market?

6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Surgical Simulation Market?

7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Surgical Simulation Market?

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06341803/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Associa Arizona, a leading provider of community management services throughout the greater Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Tucson areas, is pleased to announce that Michael Mike Arrington has joined the company as branch president. In his new role, Arrington will oversee the companys Scottsdale office where he will drive performance and mentor branch leadership and staff teams. He will also serve as an industry ambassador for Associa to help the company meet its strategic goals and objectives.

Arrington has worked in the community management sector since 1993 and has demonstrated expertise at virtually every level of community and facility management. He first joined Associa in 2003 as director of community management and successfully launched the companys Associa OnCall maintenance service in the Phoenix market. He then served as vice president with a management trust company and later worked for the Arizona division of a leading community management firm before returning to Associa Arizona as branch president.

Mike brings Associa broad expertise that encompasses nearly every facet of community association management, said Associa Arizona-Tucson Branch President Claudia Oberthier, CMCA, AMS, PCAM. He has steadily worked to cultivate a team of experienced professionals that is consistently enthusiastic and committed to meeting the needs of Associas community partners.

About Associa

With more than 225 branch offices across North America, Associa is building the future of community for nearly five million residents worldwide. Our 11,000+ team members lead the industry with unrivaled education, expertise, and trailblazing innovation. For more than 43 years, Associa has brought positive impact and meaningful value to communities. To learn more, visit www.associaonline.com.

Stay Connected

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/associa

Subscribe to the Blog: https://hub.associaonline.com/

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/associa

Join us on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/associa

Attachment
OXNARD, Calif., Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In a joint announcement today between Arabian Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMC) and Sabrewing Aircraft Company, Inc., the two companies stated that ADMC had ordered 53 of the record-breaking heavy-lift cargo uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV). This event comes on the heels of Sabrewings Rhaegal-A Alpha aircrafts first world record breaking flight.



We had a phenomenal response to our first flight announcement, said Ed De Reyes, CEO of Sabrewing. We are meeting our customers requests of carrying large volumes of cargo while lifting heavy payloads of weight.

This September, Sabrewing announced that it had flown its first flight with a record-breaking 829 pound/374 kg payload  the most for any commercial cargo UAV. According to De Reyes, the Rhaegal-A has continued to fly and lift heavy payloads as part of its final development program.

ADMC currently has 128 orders for Sabrewings Rhaegal-B Bravo aircraft, that is capable of lifting 5,400 pounds/2,450 kg vertically and up to 10,000 pounds/4,535 kg conventionally. Both the Alpha and Bravo models are capable of taking off vertically. They are the only cargo UAV capable of taking off both vertically and conventionally (as a fixed-wing aircraft).

De Reyes continued, Because we already have the molds, hardware, software and avionics from our first aircraft, weve completed the majority of the development work on the Alpha model aircraft. We were looking for a launch customer to start production. ADMC found customers who were interested in buying and leasing the cargo UAV. We had an overwhelming response to our first flight, and interest skyrocketed from day one of the announcement.

De Reyes added, On our very first flight, we carried a payload that beat the highest planned payload capacity of the closest competitor by almost 500 pounds, and with over four times more volume than the closest competitors. Since our first payload was only about one-third of what we can carry, we knew it was going to attract a lot of customers who have the need to carry a ton or more of cargo in a large cargo bay.

Ayman Zeibak, General Manager of ADMC, noted, We are the first launch customer for the Bravo aircraft, ordering 128 of Sabrewings Rhaegal-B Bravo aircraft valued at over 768 million. We now have a mix of highly versatile aircraft to lease to our African and Middle Eastern customers.

Zeibak noted, The Sabrewing Alpha is just the right size for some of the smaller air cargo companies who dont have contracts with FedEx, DHL or another major carrier, but have the need to carry 1000 kilos of bulk cargo to remote locations on a regular basis.

This launch order represents an additional 260 million in revenue for Sabrewing, as well as the launch of an additional product line. De Reyes also said that they expect to begin delivering the first Alpha models for type certification testing by the beginning of the 3rd quarter of 2023.

About Sabrewing Aircraft Company

Sabrewing Aircraft Company was founded in 2016 and built the prototype aircraft in Hayward, California. The Sabrewing team has over 98 years of aircraft design and manufacturing experience, and the flight test team has over 145 years of flight test and certification experience with the FAA, EASA, CAA, Air Transport Canada, and several other regulatory agencies. Sabrewings d development partners have provided an additional 46 engineers of all disciplines, making the Rhaegal aircraft the best-designed, best-in-class vehicles in the sky. For more information visit: www.sabrewingaircraft.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6c4a11a4-356f-41f8-acb1-fb74e69e888b.
New York, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Sulfone Polymers Market Research Report by Product, Sector, Region - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06341752/?utm_source=GNW

33 million by 2027.



Market Statistics:

The report provides market sizing and forecast across 7 major currencies - USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD, CAD, and CHF. It helps organization leaders make better decisions when currency exchange data is readily available. In this report, the years 2018 and 2020 are considered as historical years, 2021 as the base year, 2022 as the estimated year, and years from 2023 to 2027 are considered as the forecast period.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:

This research report categorizes the Sulfone Polymers to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:



Based on Product, the market was studied across Polyethersulfone (PESU), Polyphenylsulfone (PPSU), and Polysulfone (PSU).



Based on Sector, the market was studied across Aerospace, Automotive, Consumer Goods, Electrical & Electronics, Food & Beverage, Industrial, and Medical & Healthcare.



Based on Region, the market was studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas is further studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The United States is further studied across California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The Asia-Pacific is further studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. The Europe, Middle East & Africa is further studied across Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.



Cumulative Impact of COVID-19:

COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, and the long-term effects are projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report delivers insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecasts, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.



Cumulative Impact of 2022 Russia Ukraine Conflict:

We continuously monitor and update reports on political and economic uncertainty due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Negative impacts are significantly foreseen globally, especially across Eastern Europe, European Union, Eastern & Central Asia, and the United States. This contention has severely affected lives and livelihoods and represents far-reaching disruptions in trade dynamics. The potential effects of ongoing war and uncertainty in Eastern Europe are expected to have an adverse impact on the world economy, with especially long-term harsh effects on Russia.This report uncovers the impact of demand & supply, pricing variants, strategic uptake of vendors, and recommendations for Sulfone Polymers market considering the current update on the conflict and its global response.



Competitive Strategic Window:

The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.



FPNV Positioning Matrix:

The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Sulfone Polymers Market based on Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.



Market Share Analysis:

The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.



Competitive Scenario:

The Competitive Scenario provides an outlook analysis of the various business growth strategies adopted by the vendors. The news covered in this section deliver valuable thoughts at the different stage while keeping up-to-date with the business and engage stakeholders in the economic debate. The competitive scenario represents press releases or news of the companies categorized into Merger & Acquisition, Agreement, Collaboration, & Partnership, New Product Launch & Enhancement, Investment & Funding, and Award, Recognition, & Expansion. All the news collected help vendor to understand the gaps in the marketplace and competitors strength and weakness thereby, providing insights to enhance product and service.



Company Usability Profiles:

The report profoundly explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Sulfone Polymers Market, including Americhem, Inc., Avient Corporation, BASF SE, Evonik Industries AG, GEHR GmbH, H.M. Royal, Inc., Mitsubishi Chemical Group, Ovation Polymers. Inc., PBI Performance Products, Inc., Quadrant AG Ltd., Roncelli Plastics, Inc., RTP Company, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, Shandong Haoran special plastics Co., Ltd., Shanghai Huazhen Technology Co., Ltd., Sino Polymer Co, Ltd., Solvay S.A., Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd., UJU New Materials Co., and Vapi Products Industries Pvt Ltd..



The report provides insights on the following pointers:

1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players

2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets

3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments

4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players

5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and breakthrough product developments



The report answers questions such as:

1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Sulfone Polymers Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Sulfone Polymers Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Sulfone Polymers Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Sulfone Polymers Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Sulfone Polymers Market?

6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Sulfone Polymers Market?

7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Sulfone Polymers Market?

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06341752/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________
New York, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Stroke Post Processing Software Market Research Report by Type, Installation, Modality, End-use, Region - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06341726/?utm_source=GNW

81 million by 2027.



Market Statistics:

The report provides market sizing and forecast across 7 major currencies - USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD, CAD, and CHF. It helps organization leaders make better decisions when currency exchange data is readily available. In this report, the years 2018 and 2020 are considered as historical years, 2021 as the base year, 2022 as the estimated year, and years from 2023 to 2027 are considered as the forecast period.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:

This research report categorizes the Stroke Post Processing Software to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:



Based on Type, the market was studied across Hemorrhagic Stroke and Ischemic Stroke.



Based on Installation, the market was studied across Desktop and Mobile Phones & Tablets.



Based on Modality, the market was studied across CT Scan and MRI.



Based on End-use, the market was studied across Hospitals & Clinics and Specialty Centers.



Based on Region, the market was studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas is further studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The United States is further studied across California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The Asia-Pacific is further studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. The Europe, Middle East & Africa is further studied across Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.



Cumulative Impact of COVID-19:

COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, and the long-term effects are projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report delivers insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecasts, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.



Cumulative Impact of 2022 Russia Ukraine Conflict:

We continuously monitor and update reports on political and economic uncertainty due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Negative impacts are significantly foreseen globally, especially across Eastern Europe, European Union, Eastern & Central Asia, and the United States. This contention has severely affected lives and livelihoods and represents far-reaching disruptions in trade dynamics. The potential effects of ongoing war and uncertainty in Eastern Europe are expected to have an adverse impact on the world economy, with especially long-term harsh effects on Russia.This report uncovers the impact of demand & supply, pricing variants, strategic uptake of vendors, and recommendations for Stroke Post Processing Software market considering the current update on the conflict and its global response.



Competitive Strategic Window:

The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.



FPNV Positioning Matrix:

The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Stroke Post Processing Software Market based on Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.



Market Share Analysis:

The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.



Competitive Scenario:

The Competitive Scenario provides an outlook analysis of the various business growth strategies adopted by the vendors. The news covered in this section deliver valuable thoughts at the different stage while keeping up-to-date with the business and engage stakeholders in the economic debate. The competitive scenario represents press releases or news of the companies categorized into Merger & Acquisition, Agreement, Collaboration, & Partnership, New Product Launch & Enhancement, Investment & Funding, and Award, Recognition, & Expansion. All the news collected help vendor to understand the gaps in the marketplace and competitors strength and weakness thereby, providing insights to enhance product and service.



Company Usability Profiles:

The report profoundly explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Stroke Post Processing Software Market, including Arterys Inc., Brainomix Limited, Cercare Medical A/S, Circle Cardiovascular Imaging Inc., General Electric Company, icometrix, Imaging Biometrics, LLC, Infervision, iSchemaView, Inc., Olea Medical, Siemens AG, Viz.ai, Inc., and Vizient, Inc..



The report provides insights on the following pointers:

1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players

2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets

3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments

4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players

5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and breakthrough product developments



The report answers questions such as:

1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Stroke Post Processing Software Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Stroke Post Processing Software Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Stroke Post Processing Software Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Stroke Post Processing Software Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Stroke Post Processing Software Market?

6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Stroke Post Processing Software Market?

7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Stroke Post Processing Software Market?

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06341726/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________
New York, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Steel Tire Cord Market Research Report by Type, Application, Region - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06341692/?utm_source=GNW

95 million by 2027.



Market Statistics:

The report provides market sizing and forecast across 7 major currencies - USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD, CAD, and CHF. It helps organization leaders make better decisions when currency exchange data is readily available. In this report, the years 2018 and 2020 are considered as historical years, 2021 as the base year, 2022 as the estimated year, and years from 2023 to 2027 are considered as the forecast period.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:

This research report categorizes the Steel Tire Cord to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:



Based on Type, the market was studied across Brass Coated, Copper Coated, and Zinc Coated.



Based on Application, the market was studied across Aircraft Tires, Commercial Vehicle Tires, Industrial Tires, Passenger Vehicle Tires, and Two Wheeler Tires.



Based on Region, the market was studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas is further studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The United States is further studied across California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The Asia-Pacific is further studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. The Europe, Middle East & Africa is further studied across Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.



Cumulative Impact of COVID-19:

COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, and the long-term effects are projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report delivers insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecasts, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.



Cumulative Impact of 2022 Russia Ukraine Conflict:

We continuously monitor and update reports on political and economic uncertainty due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Negative impacts are significantly foreseen globally, especially across Eastern Europe, European Union, Eastern & Central Asia, and the United States. This contention has severely affected lives and livelihoods and represents far-reaching disruptions in trade dynamics. The potential effects of ongoing war and uncertainty in Eastern Europe are expected to have an adverse impact on the world economy, with especially long-term harsh effects on Russia.This report uncovers the impact of demand & supply, pricing variants, strategic uptake of vendors, and recommendations for Steel Tire Cord market considering the current update on the conflict and its global response.



Competitive Strategic Window:

The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.



FPNV Positioning Matrix:

The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Steel Tire Cord Market based on Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.



Market Share Analysis:

The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.



Competitive Scenario:

The Competitive Scenario provides an outlook analysis of the various business growth strategies adopted by the vendors. The news covered in this section deliver valuable thoughts at the different stage while keeping up-to-date with the business and engage stakeholders in the economic debate. The competitive scenario represents press releases or news of the companies categorized into Merger & Acquisition, Agreement, Collaboration, & Partnership, New Product Launch & Enhancement, Investment & Funding, and Award, Recognition, & Expansion. All the news collected help vendor to understand the gaps in the marketplace and competitors strength and weakness thereby, providing insights to enhance product and service.



Company Usability Profiles:

The report profoundly explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Steel Tire Cord Market, including Bekaert, Bridgestone Corporation, Continental AG, EnPro Industries, Haltec Corporation, HL group ltd, Hyosung Corporation, Kolon Industries Inc., Kordsa Teknik Tekstil A.S., Meritor, Inc., MICHELIN, Michelin North America Inc., SAF-HOLLAND, SRF Limited, STEMCO Products Inc., Teijin Limited, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, ti.systems GmbH, Toray Hybrid Cord,Inc, and WABCO.



The report provides insights on the following pointers:

1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players

2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets

3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments

4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players

5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and breakthrough product developments



The report answers questions such as:

1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Steel Tire Cord Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Steel Tire Cord Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Steel Tire Cord Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Steel Tire Cord Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Steel Tire Cord Market?

6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Steel Tire Cord Market?

7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Steel Tire Cord Market?

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06341692/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________
New Delhi, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- North America vacuum truck market is flourishing because of an increasing emphasis on petrochemical industry activities, surging demand for vacuum trucks, and rapid growth of urbanization and industrialization.



BlueWeave Consulting, a leading strategic consulting and market research firm, in its recent study, estimated North America Vacuum Truck Market size at USD 961.2 million in 2021. During the forecast period between 2022 and 2028, BlueWeave expects North America vacuum truck market size to grow at a steady CAGR of 9.7% reaching a value of USD 1,827.3 million by 2028. North America vacuum truck market is being driven by the advancing vacuum truck technology, ease of operation, and rising environmental awareness. Furthermore, due to rapid urbanization and industrialization, there is an emerging demand in towns and municipalities for vacuum trucks for a variety of functions, such as sewage cleaning, preventative maintenance, and industrial cleaning.

The petrochemical companies use vacuum trucks for emergency clean-up, offshore activities, and oil separation. However, components, high-end technology of vacuum trucks, and regular maintenance are expensive. Consequently, it may lead consumers to adopt conventional cleaning technique. This, in turn, is anticipated to hamper the growth of North America vacuum truck market.





Request for Sample Report @ https://www.blueweaveconsulting.com/report/north-america-vacuum-truck-market/report-sample

North America Vacuum Truck Market  Overview

Vacuum truck comprises vacuum pump, inline filter, and debris collector tank designed to collect and transport waste, slurry, and large-scale sludge and liquid clean up in municipal applications. In addition, they are used in various industries, such as construction, automotive, and manufacturing. Vacuum trucks are beneficial for cleaning and disinfection of tidal ponds, tanks, and city water infrastructure through powerful hydro-exhuming and vacuum frameworks. Advanced materials, such as carbon fiber and Kevlar, are increasingly being employed in the manufacture of vacuum vehicles. As these materials are sturdy and lightweight, vacuum trucks use less gasoline and are easier to maneuver. Using sophisticated materials can help to extend the lifespan of a vacuum truck by safeguarding it from deterioration over time. Hence, North America vacuum truck market is projected to continue to rise in the coming years.

North America Vacuum Truck Market  By Application

Based on application, North America vacuum truck market is segmented into Industrial, Municipal, Excavation, and General Cleaning. Due to industrialization and urbanization growth, in-lined waste management projects, and growing adoption for sewage cleaning trucks across the region, the industrial segment dominates North America vacuum truck market. The municipal application segment, on the other hand, is expected to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period, as key manufacturers are focusing on customization of municipal trucks, as well as an emerging requirement for cleaning municipal waste products. In the coming years, the remaining sectors, such as excavation and general cleaning, are also expected to grow in value and volume in the market.

Please Visit the Press Release: https://www.blueweaveconsulting.com/press-release/north-america-vacuum-truck-market-size-to-surge-fast-usd-1-8-billion-by-2028

Impact of COVID-19 on North America Vacuum Truck Market

COVID-19 pandemic had a detrimental effect on North America truck business. Because of a severe lockdown and import-export prohibition on critical raw materials in 2020 and early 2021. Consequently, the availability of crucial raw materials for vehicle components diminished. Due to the interruptions in supply chains and manufacturing schedules caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, automotive production, component suppliers, revenues, and sales also suffered setbacks, negatively impacting North America vacuum truck market, resulting in a decline in volume unit sales/production and individual revenues in 2020 and 2021. However, consistent economic growth and expanding supply chain interactions would be the primary drivers for North America vacuum truck market during the post COVID-19 pandemic era.

Competitive Landscape

Major players operating in North America vacuum truck market include Federal Signal, Vac-Con, Kirkland & Ellis, GapVax, Cappellotto, Keith Huber, Sewer Equipment, Vacall Industries, KOKS, Fulongma group, Ledwell, Dongzheng, and Vactor Inc. To further enhance their market share, these companies employ various strategies, including mergers and acquisitions, partnerships, joint ventures, license agreements, and new product development.

Dont miss the business opportunity in the North America Vacuum Truck Market. Consult our analysts to gain crucial insights and facilitate your business growth.

The in-depth analysis of the report provides information about growth potential, upcoming trends, and statistics for North America Vacuum Truck Market. It also highlights the factors driving forecasts of total market size. The report promises to provide recent technology trends in North America Vacuum Truck Market and industry insights to help decision-makers make sound strategic decisions. Furthermore, the report also analyzes the growth drivers, challenges, and competitive dynamics of the market.

Recent Developments







In March 2021 - Under the VecJet portfolio, Vac-Con introduced the next generation of trailer-mounted sewer jet systems. Consumers can choose between a 375-gallon or 750-gallon water capacity engine with gas or diesel as fuel options.

Scope of the Report

Attributes Details Years Considered Historical Data  20182021 Base Year  2021 Estimated Year  2022 Forecast Period 20222028 Facts Covered Revenue in USD Million Market Coverage United States, Canada Product/ Service Segmentation Product Type, Application, Fuel, Country Key Players Federal Signal, Vac-Con, Kirkland & Ellis, GapVax, Cappellotto, Keith Huber, Sewer Equipment, Vacall Industries, KOKS, Fulongma group, Ledwell, Dongzheng, Vactor Inc.

By Product Type

Dry and Liquid Suctioning

Liquid Suctioning Only

By Application

Industrial

Municipal

Excavation

General Cleaning

By Fuel Type

Electric

ICE

By Country

US

Canada







Please Find Below Some Related Report:

About Us

BlueWeave Consulting (BWC) provides comprehensive Market Intelligence (MI) Solutions to businesses regarding various products and services online and offline. We offer all-inclusive market research reports by analyzing both qualitative and quantitative data to boost the performance of your business solutions. BWC has built its reputation from the scratch by delivering quality inputs and nourishing long-lasting relationships with its clients. We are one of the promising digital MI solutions companies providing agile assistance to make your business endeavors successful.

Contact Us:

BlueWeave Consulting & Research Pvt. Ltd

+1 866 658 6826 | +1 425 320 4776 | +44 1865 60 0662
Greenwood Village, CO, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Augustine Institute announces the release of Eternal Rest: The Art of Dying Well today on the Feast of All Souls, a day commemorating the faithful departed. The four-part film series and comprehensive website explore the mystery of dying, death, and everlasting life. Each 30-minute episode approaches the subject from a Catholic perspective, leading viewers from the origin of death to Jesus Christs final victory at the Cross and Resurrection.

As part of its mission to help Catholics understand, live, and share their faith, the Augustine Institute encourages individuals and families to think about and prepare for death. To aid Catholics with practical elements like end-of-life medical care, funerals, legal documents, grief, and similar topics, EternalRest.org features 60+ videos of experts answering common questions, from Are ghosts real? to How do I grieve a miscarriage? and more.

Why talk about death and dying? The art of dying well is also the art of living well. By understanding who we are and what we are made for, we can order our lives according to Gods design for our true fulfillment. Preparing for our death allows us to live as prudent stewards of the time God gives us, and it grants us the ability to joyfully anticipate eternal life.

The four Eternal Rest episodes are available in English and Spanish exclusively on FORMED.org, the Augustine Institutes digital streaming platform. Study guides for the series are available now for purchase from Catholic Market. These resources offer parishes and individuals an excellent opportunity for small groups, such as end-of-life studies or bereavement support programs. For additional information, contact Dr. Ben Akers, Chief Content Officer.

About the Augustine Institute: The Augustine Institute is a Catholic educational apostolate based in Greenwood Village, Colorado. Founded in 2005, the Augustine Institute exists to help Catholics understand, live, and share their faith through initiatives like Amen, FORMED, the Graduate School of Theology, Word of Life, and others.

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NEW GLOUCESTER, Maine, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Unity College sets a new enrollment record this fall as the institution welcomes more than 1,900 new students since August. This brings the college's full-time equivalent student population to more than 4,600 students representing all 50 states.

"This time last year we were hoping to hit 5,000 full-time students within three years. We are elated to be on-pace to beat that number during the '22-23 school year," said Unity College President and CEO Dr. Melik Peter Khoury. "Compare that to 10 years ago, when we were at 540 students, and you can really see that we don't just talk about flexibility and affordability - we have changed our entire model to provide better access for our students."

In 2012, baccalaureate degree tuition at Unity College was $23,000; by 2018, that number had risen to $28,000 per year. Since moving to the College's unique student-centered Enterprise Model, Unity tuition has fallen to an average of $13,000 per year.

This approach has allowed Unity College to attract a more diverse socioeconomic and multicultural student population. Now, the College now boasts a 22% self-disclosed diverse student population, that's up from a 50-year average of 8%. The average student age has also grown from 19 to 28, as more place-bound adults have discovered Unity's unique experiential online programming.

"As America's Environmental College it is our responsibility to ensure we graduate thousands of culturally competent, well-educated individuals who can make an immediate impact in the environmental career space. It is our duty to make sure those students are not debt-ridden to the point that it prevents them from reaching their true potential," said Dr. Khoury.

The College's recent growth is supported by many of Unity's environmentally focused in-demand majors such as Animal Health and Behavior, Conservation Law, Marine Biology and Sustainable Aquaculture, and Wildlife Conservation.

"We do not simply take our courses and put them online. At Unity College Distance Education our courses are designed to be experiential, which means our students are getting hands-on experience right in their own area of the country. Your community is your classroom," said Distance Education Executive Director of Enrollment Management Denise Young.

This growth positions Unity College to continue exploring ground-breaking modes of learning for years to come. Unity's high residency Hybrid Learning program continues to bring students to Unity, Maine for in-person learning, and staff at the new Technical Institute for Environmental Professions are planning to bring in its first cohort in the near future.

Contact Information:

Joseph Hegarty

Director of Marketing and Media Relations

jhegarty@unity.edu

207-509-7292



Related Images











Image 1: Unity College Logo





This is the official logo of Unity College









This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

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SmartSoles Featured on Gadget Guys Latest Tech for the Holiday Season

LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MetAlert, Inc. (OTC: MLRT), a pioneer in the field of wearable GPS human and asset tracking and remote patient monitoring, announced it has selected Pod Groups ENO ONE IoT SIM cards and advanced connectivity solutions for enterprise IoT applications for its award-winning 2-way GPS SmartSole, a wearable medical monitoring device that is integrated into an orthotic insole allowing discreet and unobtrusive tracking and remote monitoring of Alzheimers, Dementia, and Autism sufferers.

This week, the GPS SmartSoles were also featured on the Gadget Guys shares latest tech perfect for the holiday season which aired on the CW syndicate across the U.S. and reaches approximately 3.2 million households.

The GPS SmartSole, the worlds first invisible tracking and monitoring device, now available in more than 35 countries, uses cellular networks to communicate with the cloud and send alerts to a mobile app or online portal, enabling the location of the wearer to be traced. Boundaries called Geozones can be set up to alert the caregiver via email or text if the wearer strays beyond a safe zone.

Pod is proud to play a crucial role in contributing to improving the quality of life and safety of people around the world says Pod Groups Director for Strategic Partnership Development, Alessio Piussi. This is a clear example of how ENO ONE can help reduce the complexity of rolling out global, mission-critical IoT applications, providing cost-effective, reliable, and future-proofed connectivity.

Pod Groups ENO ONE eSIM solution includes an embedded chip inserted into the device to grant maximum hardware robustness. It offers global coverage over different technologies, such as 4G/LTE, CAT-M, and LTE-M, allowing the SmartSole to tap into the low-power cellular options to increase the battery life of the SmartSole which can last up to 7 days.

The POD Group partnership is a critical component for the launch of our SmartSole plus, a mobile hot spot connected to other wearable devices. This level of 4G and MB IoT connectivity technology will become very valuable to MetAlert due to the amount of biometric and location data, which will need to be transmitted quickly, securely, and inexpensively across the globe, commented Patrick Bertagna, MetAlert CEO.

Simple global deployment is crucial to MetAlert, which ships its SmartSoles across the world. With the ENO ONE global network covering 185 countries, MetAlert no longer has to worry about dealing with different providers in different geographies; instead, connectivity is managed via one contract.

Every ENO eSIM comes pre-configured with a bootstrap profile, meaning MetAlert no longer has to manually configure each device for a different destination. The eSIM is also provided on a neutral Remote SIM Provisioning (RSP) platform. MetAlert owns the eSIM and is not locked into one vendor. On-SIM applets like Zero-Touch Provisioning mean that upon booting up, the device automatically connects to the nearest network and downloads a dedicated local profile.

The innovative design of the SmartSole uses the floor as a reflector to strengthen GPS signals, circumventing the difficult conditions created by locating the device under the foot. This has led to it being used in nursing homes, by the British NIH, and other national care agencies across Europe, and it is supported by local Alzheimer Associations as well as multiple Police, Search & Rescue organizations.

About Pod Group

Pod Group, a Giesecke+Devrient (G+D) company, founded in 1852 represented by 74 subsidiaries and joint ventures in 32 countries and generated 2.31 billion euros in 2020. POD is a specialist in IoT SIM cards and advanced connectivity solutions for enterprise IoT applications, bringing over 20 years experience and innovation to the telecommunications market. An Enterprise Network Operator (ENO), Pod goes beyond traditional connectivity service providers to offer unique, customized solutions designed to give enterprises of all sizes ownership and control of their IoT connectivity, from the SIM card right up to a complete private network. With offices worldwide and access to 600+ networks in 185 countries, Pods global team supports enterprises across a broad range of sectors as they take ownership of their IoT connectivity. For more information on Pods IoT connectivity solutions, please visit: https://www.podgroup.com

About MetAlert

MetAlert, Inc. (OTC: MLRT) a pioneer in smart, mobile, and wearable tracking and recovery location-based solutions, supported through a proprietary IoT enterprise monitoring platform and intellectual property portfolio. The Company offers a global end-to-end solution of hardware, software and connectivity and develops two-way GPS tracking technologies, which seamlessly integrate with consumer products and enterprise applications. Utilizing the latest in miniaturized, low power consumption GPS, Cellular, RF, NFC and BLE technology, enabling subscribers to track in real time the whereabouts of people or high value assets. Known for its game-changing and award-winning patented GPS SmartSole -- think Dr. Scholls meets LoJack, the worlds first invisible wearable technology tracking device created for those at risk of wandering due to Alzheimers, dementia, autism, and traumatic brain injury. MetAlerts business model is built around technology innovation and holds dozens of patents, with many issued patents in the area of GPS tracking. The company has international distributors servicing customers across the globe with subscribers in over 40 countries and is a U.S. Military Government contractor. Other customers include public health authorities and municipalities, emergency and law enforcement, private schools, assisted living facilities, NGOs, small business enterprises, senior care homes, and consumers. www.MetAlert.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/metalertinc

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/metalertinc

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/metalertinc/

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements. The terms and phrases expects, would, will, believes, and similar terms and phrases are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by MetAlert considering its experience and its perception of current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that MetAlert believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Many factors could cause MetAlerts actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Certain risk factors that may cause actual results to differ are set forth in MetAlerts Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (which may be obtained on the SEC Website). These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on MetAlerts forward-looking statements. MetAlert has no intention and undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required.

Disclaimer: MetAlert does not warrant or represent that the unauthorized use of materials drawn from the content of this document will not infringe rights of third parties who are not owned or affiliated by MetAlert. Further MetAlert cannot be held responsible or liable for the unauthorized use of this documents content by third parties unknown to the company.

General information, investor relations, wholesale licensing, consumer purchase:

MetAlert, Inc.

Tel: 213.489.3019

Email: ir@metalert.com

MetAlert

United Kingdom, London

Nelson Skip Riddle

Tel: +44 7785 364100

Email: nsriddle@metalert.com
Kitchener, ON, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Earlier this year the Medical Innovation Xchange (MIX) announced an innovative partnership with the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development called the MIX Knowledge Xchange (MIX-KX). The goal of the MIX-KX is to strengthen and grow talent for the provincial health innovation and MedTech ecosystem, build more successful domestic MedTech companies and ensure the talent, IP and solutions developed in Ontario can succeed while staying in Ontario.

MIX is pleased to announce that with the continued support of the Government of Ontario, it has awarded the first round of MIX-KX funding to three local medtech companies: Nicoya, Scispot and Tamvoes.

Our government is on a mission to give workers the skills they need to find meaningful careers close to home and earn bigger paycheques for their families, said Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. This project will connect leading healthcare innovators with the skilled workers they need to grow their businesses and position Ontario as an industry leader for generations to come.

Nicoya (www.nicoyalife.com), a Kitchener-based company with over 100 employees, designs and builds cutting-edge surface plasmon resonance technology, will receive up to $75,000 to deploy management and leadership training to its ever-growing emerging leaders and executives.

The people at Nicoya are the main drivers of our growth and success, and we are always seeking new opportunities to invest back into their development, said Jeannie Barbu, Senior Director of People and Culture at Nicoya. "With professional advancement being a key priority across all levels of our organization, this training grant will enable us to elevate the managerial capabilities of our people managers, strengthen our internal skill set, and invest in individual contributors' growth and development. Were proud to be included in the first cohort of the MIX KX grant recipients and are grateful for the continued support provided by the MIX team.

Scispot (www.scispot.com), an early-stage start-up also based in Kitchener is automating and digitizing lab processes to aid with productivity and resource management in the biotech industry have been awarded up to $15,000 to deploy advanced data analytics training to aid with product development, and also for skills development activities in investment strategies to help with employee and company growth.

"We're thrilled to receive MIK-KX funding as it will allow us to invest more in upskilling our team and increase our product innovation, says Guru Singh, Founder & CEO of Scispot. "Scispot is continuously growing and has become a tech stack of many modern biotech companies across North America, and this funding can help us grow even faster."

Tamvoes (www.tamvoes.com), also an early-stage start-up based in Waterloo, developed a health management platform for patients, caregivers and their care team will receive up to $25,000 to access blockchain, privacy and commercialization training across their growing team.

We are so excited and grateful to receive MIX-KX funding. Tamvoes will be using this funding to complete knowledge exchange activities with industry experts so that we can be better prepared to be able to commercialize our product in the hospital sector. This is very exciting times for us as we are growing steadily and are seeing lots of traction, says Jessica Lunshof, Co-Founder of Tamvoes.

This important investment by the Province of Ontario helps to realize MIXs vision of establishing Ontario as a world class destination for MedTech talent, product development and economic development states Elliot Fung, MIX Executive Director. Talent development and retention continues to be a challenge across all industries, however MedTech companies face unique issues in being able to develop and keep world-class employees. With the first cohort of companies beginning their training and development programs, more MedTech companies across the ecosystem will be able to advance their talent and product growth as a result of the Skills Development Fund.

MIX continues to accept applications for the MIX-KX until December 31st, 2022. Applications, and more information about MIX can be found at www.medicalinnovationxchange.com.

About the Medical Innovation Xchange (MIX)

MIX is Canadas first industry-led hub dedicated to helping medical technology start-ups scale successfully in Canada. MIX was created to reduce the barriers and bridge the resource gap that medical technology start-ups face as they move from along the entrepreneurial journey from idea generation to commercialization. Our vision is a thriving ecosystem that develops, attracts and retains Canadian medical technology companies and establishes Waterloo Region as a leader in medical innovation. The mission behind MIX is to provide a collaborative environment for medical technology companies that supports their individual growth and adds to the overall success of the growing local ecosystem.
English French

Voltalia (Euronext Paris, ISIN code: FR0011995588), an international player in renewable energy, is continuing its growth in the Grand-Est region of France by building its new 12.1 megawatt solar power plant in Logelbach.



Located in the municipality of Wintzenheim in the European Collectivity of Alsace, the Logelbach solar power plant covers 12 hectares and has 21,384 solar panels.

The Grand-Est region is a historic territory for Voltalia, with wind farms in operation, Molinons and Sarry, and under construction: Sud Vannier.

When it is commissioned in the second half of 2023, the production of the future photovoltaic power plant in Logelbach will cover the electricity consumption of about 6,000 inhabitants, contributing to France's energy autonomy as well as the fight against global warming.

The launch of the construction of this new power plant follows shortly after the start of construction of the Rives Charentaises, Sud Vannier and Montclar wind and solar farms, in addition to the numerous solar roofing projects on industrial, commercial and agricultural buildings carried out by our subsidiary Helexia. In total, almost 83 megawatts of new electricity capacity is being added in France, equivalent to the electricity consumption of about 57,000 people. In this way, we are helping to minimise the energy crisis that is hitting France and the rest of Europe hard, said Sebastien Clerc, CEO of Voltalia.

Next on the agenda: Q4 2022 revenues on January 25, 2022 (after market close)

About Voltalia (www.voltalia.com) Voltalia is an international player in the renewable energy sector. The Group produces and sells electricity generated from wind, solar, hydraulic, biomass and storage facilities that it owns and operates. Voltalia has generating capacity in operation and under construction of more than 2,4 GW and a portfolio of projects under development representing total capacity of 13.6 GW.



Voltalia is also a service provider and supports its investor clients in renewable energy projects during all phases, from design to operation and maintenance. As a pioneer in the corporate market, Voltalia provides a global offer to private companies, ranging from the supply of green electricity and energy efficiency services to the local production of their own electricity.



The Group has more than 1,450 employees and is present in 20 countries on 3 continents and is able to act worldwide on behalf of its clients.



Voltalia is listed on the regulated market of Euronext Paris, compartment B (FR0011995588  VLTSA) and is part of the Enternext Tech 40 and CAC Mid & Small indices. The Group is also included in the Gaia-Index, an index for socially responsible midcaps. Loan Duong, Head of Communications & Investor relations

Email: invest@voltalia.com

T. +33 (0)1 81 70 37 00 Actifin

Press Contact: Jennifer Jullia

jjullia@actifin.fr . T. +33 (0)1 56 88 11 11

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English French

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TELUS Health and the BC SPCA have joined forces to provide access to virtual veterinary care through the newly launched TELUS Health MyPet service, offering reduced rates for virtual consultations for dogs and cats in BC SPCA care. Additionally, for every download of the TELUS Health MyPet app, TELUS Health will give $2 to the BC SPCA until November 26 to a maximum of $20,000.



Working together with organisations like the BC SPCA is part of our deeply meaningful and enduring philosophy to give where we live, a social purpose that drives and inspires our team to contribute and connect with local initiatives doing good in the community, said Juggy Sihota, Chief Marketing Officer, TELUS Health. As the number of dogs and cats in animal centres increases, were proud to be able to provide much needed virtual veterinary support and financial contributions.

New pet owners in these seven SPCA pilot locations across BC will also benefit from a special discount, upon their adoption of a dog or cat, on their first TELUS Health MyPet consultation:

Alberni-Clayoquot Community Animal Centre (4936 Broughton St, Port Alberni BC)

Burnaby Community Animal Centre (3202 Norland Ave, Burnaby BC)

North Cariboo Community Animal Centre (4011 Lansdowne Rd, Prince George BC)

Prince Rupert Community Animal Centre (1740 Prince Rupert Blvd, Prince Rupert BC)

Quesnel Community Animal Centre (1000 Carson Pit Rd, Quesnel BC)

Shuswap Community Animal Centre (5850 Auto Rd SE, Salmon Arm BC)

South Okanagan Community Animal Centre (2200 Dartmouth Dr, Penticton BC)



Virtual Veterinary Care in Action

The TELUS Health MyPet app will help free up time for our animal care team to focus on providing loving care and enrichment for the animals in our centres, says Parm Takhar, Chief Operations Officer for the BC SPCA. MyPet will help us care for animals and serves as an excellent complement to the fantastic support that local veterinary clinics provide us on a daily basis.

That is the case for animals like Wasabi, a momma cat who came into BC SPCA care along with her two kittens when she was surrendered by her owners. When Wasabi first arrived at the North Cariboo animal centre, she was fearful and very protective of her kittens.

The animal centre team used the TELUS Health MyPet app to get a virtual vet consultation. The vet prescribed the appropriate anxiety medication for Wasabi so she would be more comfortable in the animal centre and with the staff who were caring for her and her kittens.

Collaborating with TELUS Health, a leading provider of virtual veterinary care in British Columbia, is a natural fit for the BC SPCA, said Nathan Ramsden, Senior Officer for Corporate Philanthropy and Partnerships BC SPCA. TELUS has been a longstanding partner of our organisation, having donated over $1.4 million since 2000. The current collaboration strengthens that link even more, with the virtual veterinary support provided via TELUS Health MyPet being a big help to our animal care staff when it is difficult to get in-person veterinary appointments.

About the BC SPCA

The BC SPCA is a non-profit organisation funded primarily by public donations. Our mission is to prevent cruelty and to promote the welfare of animals through a wide range of services, including animal protection, emergency rescue and treatment, sheltering and adoption of homeless and abused animals, humane education, advocacy, farm animal welfare, spay/neuter programs, and wildlife rescue and rehabilitation.

About TELUS Health

TELUS Health is a global healthcare company serving people in more than 160 countries delivering both digital innovation and clinical services to improve total physical, mental and financial health and wellness across the full spectrum of primary and preventative care. By leveraging the power of technology to deliver connected solutions and services both in-person and virtually, TELUS Health is improving access to care and revolutionising the flow of information while facilitating collaboration, efficiency, and productivity for physicians, pharmacists, health authorities, allied healthcare professionals, insurers, employers and people globally, progressing its vision of transforming healthcare and empowering people to live healthier lives.

Our clinical team is composed of renowned and passionate health professionals around the world delivering best-in-class people-centric care to hundreds of thousands of employers, professionals and their families.

For more information please visit: www.telushealth.com .

For media inquiries, please contact:

Jill Yetman

TELUS Media Relations

416-992-2639

jill.yetman@telus.com

Debra Walley

Communications Officer, BC SPCA

604-829-2394

dwalley@spca.bc.ca

Nathan Ramsden

Senior Officer - Corporate Philanthropy and Partnerships, BC SPCA

236-471-4949

nramsden@spca.bc.ca

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/33c2e9a1-ad8a-413a-85bd-ad48117e92c2
Dubai, UAE, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- What is Project NEXUS?

Real Estate, Stock Derivatives, and Crypto linked through blockchain technology, tokenization, and fractionalization, and all are made available, collateralizable, and tradable in one app - the Project NEXUS App. Mohammed Khashogji, CEO of Project NEXUS, shared that from my experience in Traditional Finance, I saw several constant repeating problems that were frustrating and nonsensical. When introduced to Blockchain Technology by Co-Founder Nadeem, the potential solutions to real-life issues, such as ease of use, better value, and efficiency, quickly bubbled to the surface of my mind. I was immediately hooked and shifted my focus to solving the unsolved.



Tokenization & fractionalization with Project NEXUS

Both Tokenization & Fractionalization make Project NEXUS able to do what it needs. Fractionalization allows both Real Estate & Stock Derivatives to be broken down into smaller parts, while tokenization provides the parts with value and meaning.

Tokenization & Fractionalization enables Real Estate, for example, to be broken down into tens of thousands or hundreds or thousands of individual tokens, which means that the properties of significant value are now available in increments of $5 per token, which makes it so that almost everyone can invest according to their budget.

Kiss-Hug-Kiss-Hug - The NEXUS Token

XOXO has been given a considerable amount of TLC, tender loving care ;), in terms of research, thought, and planning. Project NEXUS even held focus group meetings with a select group from its community, the Brainiacs. Sessions included the presentation of ideas formed in-house, feedback, and investigation into new and unique ideas never seen in the market before.

Within their Lightpaper, there are seventeen use cases, nine of which are brand new to the market and not seen elsewhere. When we spoke to Vasileios Ntamtsios, Head of Crypto Research and Tokenization for Project NEXUS, he said Project NEXUS is unique and will not offer the common tradable asset that people have grown to accept. Instead, we will provide one; investors are genuinely interested in holding for the long term with benefits that my team and I have meticulously sculpted.



Project NEXUS launched its Private Sale on 31st October, and if you are reading this, you have the opportunity to participate. Not only that, but Project NEXUS is also offering an incredible and life-changing giveaway of $100,000 in the NEXUS Token.

Project NEXUS App - The App of all apps

This app will be something else, next level in terms of design, ease of use, and features. Although there are many noteworthy features, we have a word count!





Project NEXUS offers Real Estate tokens for $5 and Stock Derivatives for only $1. The tokens may have been fractionalized; however, the benefits have not, with rent and dividends being earned, on a fractional basis. You own the property or the Stock Derivative, and you earn the rent or the dividend on a fractional basis. If you want to make more, you simply buy more within your investment strategy and budget.

Cash area and loans are two other features. The cash area is similar to a bank's with incoming and outgoing transactions. Your money and crypto are stored here while you plan your next move, whether investing, sending, or spending with the NEXUS debit/credit card. Loans are available for as little as $50, up to 60% cheaper than traditional banks, with the loan offer & collateralization process taking just minutes!



The NEXUS card will operate similarly to a standard debit card, enabling users to spend their crypto, fiat, and loans directly from their cash area within the app.



The App has been built cleverly, whereby it can collect quotes from dozens of live exchanges. This will give the users the ultimate shopping experience, automatically measuring price impact for user's volume, trading fees, and other factors, and then placing the trade on one or multiple exchanges in the most cost-effective setup possible.





Dozens of exchanges but only one KYC! This means that users have the best value and only one KYC with both time and money saved! Yes, when you KYC through Project NEXUS App, you only have to do this once.

Nadeem Alrabey, Chief Operating Officer for Project NEXUS, said, this is only the beginning. NEXUS is investigating auxiliary markets, tools, and strategic partners that will continue to bring the company, investors, and NEXUS App users value for many years into the future.



Closing sentiments

Project NEXUS and their App is quite the package and isnt your typical run-of-the-mill crypto project that has been thrown together in just a few months! Project NEXUS has been developed and built for over 24 months now. The team has kept their cards close to their chest, and within the last four months, they have started to share what they have been cooking.

For more information and regular updates, join their Telegram, view their Lightpaper, or visit their other channels.

Disclaimer : There is no offer to sell, no solicitation of an offer to buy, and no recommendation of any security or any other product or service in this article. This is not investment advice. Please do your own research.

Contact Details :

Contact name : Nadeem AlRabey

Contact email : N.Alrabey@projectnexus.app

Company : Project Nexus

Location : Dubai, UAE
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hagens Berman urges FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) investors who suffered significant losses to submit your losses now.



Visit: www.hbsslaw.com/investor-fraud/FDX Contact An Attorney Now: FDX@hbsslaw.com 844-916-0895

FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) Investigation:

As recently as late June 2022, FedEx gave investors FY 2023 guidance and said, with respect to its largest operating segment (FedEx Express), both FedEx Express air network efficiency and year-over-year volume comparisons across all of its transportation segments would strengthen through the fiscal year.

FedExs representations came under question on Sept. 15, 2022, when it announced disastrous preliminary results for Q1 2023. The company also said its business conditions would weaken in Q2 2023 and then it withdrew its 2-month-old FY 2023 guidance. This news sent the price of FedEx shares crashing 21% lower on Sept. 16, 2022, wiping out over $11 billion of shareholder value. In response, one analyst wrote, Much of the shortfall was attributed to global volume weakness in the final weeks of the quarter, but we have a hard time believing that's the full picture

Were focused on investors losses and finding the true cause of FedExs reversal from its June 2022 guidance, said Reed Kathrein, the Hagens Berman partner leading the investigation.

If you invested in FedEx and have significant losses, or have knowledge that may assist the firms investigation, click here to discuss your legal rights with Hagens Berman.

Whistleblowers: Persons with non-public information regarding FedEx should consider their options to help in the investigation or take advantage of the SEC Whistleblower program. Under the new program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to 30 percent of any successful recovery made by the SEC. For more information, call Reed Kathrein at 844-916-0895 or email FDX@hbsslaw.com.

About Hagens Berman

Hagens Berman is a global plaintiffs rights complex litigation law firm focusing on corporate accountability through class-action law. The firm is home to a robust securities litigation practice and represents investors as well as whistleblowers, workers, consumers and others in cases achieving real results for those harmed by corporate negligence and fraud. More about the firm and its successes can be found at hbsslaw.com. Follow the firm for updates and news at @ClassActionLaw.
CALGARY, Alberta, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Surge Energy Inc. (Surge, SGY, or the Company) (TSX: SGY) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a definitive purchase and sale agreement (the Definitive Agreement) with Enerplus Corporation (Enerplus or ERF) pursuant to which Surge has agreed to acquire from Enerplus (the Acquisition) long life, operated, high operating netback1, waterflooded producing oil assets focused entirely within Surges Sparky and SE Saskatchewan core areas (the Assets).



Surge has agreed to purchase the Assets for gross proceeds of $245 million (the Purchase Price) with an effective date of May 1, 2022, payable to Enerplus by way of an estimated $165 million of cash, $45 million in estimated interim period adjustments, and $35 million of equity in the form of common shares of SGY (Common Shares) issued from treasury to Enerplus.

The Acquisition has an effective date of May 1, 2022 and is currently expected to close on or about December 19, 2022 (the Closing), with an estimated net purchase price after interim period adjustments of $200 million (the Net Purchase Price).

In conjunction with the Closing, Surge anticipates increasing the Companys annual cash dividend by 14 percent, from $0.42 per share to $0.48 per share (paid monthly). Any dividend increase will be subject to the approval of Surge's Board of Directors with consideration given to the business environment at the time of Closing.

The Assets are currently producing more than 3,850 boepd (99 percent liquids) of predominantly light and medium gravity crude oil, with synergistic operations entirely focused in Surges existing Sparky and SE Saskatchewan core areas. With an operating netback of more than $48 per boe in 2023 (at flat US$80 WTI per bbl pricing2), the Assets are forecast to deliver $68 million of cash flow from operating activities and more than $50 million of free cash flow1 (FCF) after expenditures on property, plant, and equipment and abandonment expenditures required to maintain current production levels from the Assets.

After giving effect to the Acquisition, Surge is now forecasting upwardly revised exit 2022 production of more than 25,000 boepd, consisting of approximately 87 percent liquids, which is made up of predominantly light and medium gravity crude oil.

ASSET & ACQUISITION HIGHLIGHTS

At flat US$80 WTI per bbl pricing, the Acquisition is accretive to Surge as follows: 17 percent accretive to Surges forecast 2023 FCF per share; 8 percent accretive to Surges forecast 2023 annual cash flow per share; and 8 percent accretive to Surges forecast 2023 annual production per share.



The Assets are entirely focused in Surges existing SE Saskatchewan and Sparky core areas, and provide the following to Surge shareholders: Adds 3,850 boepd of sustainable, high operating netback, waterflooded, light and medium gravity crude oil production, with a low decline rate 3 of approximately 12 percent; Fully waterflooded Assets reduce Surges corporate decline rate to approximately 23 percent, significantly enhancing corporate sustainability; Adds a high quality, synergistic development drilling inventory, which can hold production flat at the current rate of 3,850 boepd on the Assets for an estimated 7 years 4 ; Adds approximately 400 million barrels of internally estimated original oil in place (OOIP) 3 net to Surge, with a low 14 percent recovery factor to date 3 ; and Increases the Companys total estimated OOIP to approximately 3.1 billion barrels, with a low combined recovery factor of 7.5 percent to date.



Paul Colborne, President and CEO of Surge, said: We are very excited about this accretive, strategic, long life, core area Acquisition. This is one of the highest quality, low decline, asset packages that we have seen in my nine years at Surge. This Acquisition is consistent with Surges disciplined strategy of acquiring high quality, operated, conventional crude oil reservoirs with large original oil in place and low recovery factors. The Assets are under successful waterflood, providing significant proven developed producing (PDP) reserves, they possess a combined low 12 percent annual production decline3, and they provide a solid development drilling inventory which we estimate can hold production flat on the acquired Assets for seven years. In 2023, we estimate that production can be held flat using approximately 20 percent of 2023 annual cash flow from operating activities generated by the Assets at US$80 WTI flat pricing.

Over the past eight years, Surge has established a dominant position in its Sparky core growth area. With the Acquisition, we have added to that position and now have ownership and control of more than one billion barrels of net OOIP in the Companys Sparky core area, with a 12 year drilling inventory4, said Colborne. Since 2014, Surge has sequentially grown production in the Sparky from 1,200 boepd to over 11,000 boepd by exit 2022.

More recently, Surge Management has strategically targeted SE Saskatchewan as a new core area of growth, based on its high value light oil operating netbacks, low cost production efficiencies, quick drilling payouts, and consolidation opportunities. Surges operational track record of execution in SE Saskatchewan, combined with its proven in-house technical expertise, make this an exciting growth area for the Company. The Acquisition adds approximately 1,950 bopd in SE Saskatchewan of 11 percent decline, light oil production that enhances our area sustainability. Surge now projects that the Company will exit 2022 with more than 7,500 boepd (94 percent light oil) in SE Saskatchewan.

STRATEGIC RATIONALE

The Acquisition is consistent with Surges disciplined return of capital business model, which is intended to provide substantial FCF for continued net debt repayment, sustainable dividend increases, sustainable production per share growth, and share buybacks;

The Acquisition adds highly concentrated, long life, waterflooded, light and medium gravity crude oil reserves, production, land, and infrastructure which are synergistic with Surges Sparky and SE Saskatchewan core area operations;

Following the Acquisition, Surge will exit 2022 with approximately 75 percent of the Companys production focused in its Sparky and SE Saskatchewan core areas;

Surge estimates that approximately 20 percent of the annual cash flow from operating activities generated by the Assets is needed to hold the production flat at approximately 3,850 boepd in 2023 at US$80 WTI per barrel;

The Assets are very clean from an environmental perspective with less than $10 million of undiscounted inactive abandonment liabilities;

The Assets have an attractive Licensee Liability Rating of 4.4 in Alberta and 2.9 in Saskatchewan; and

The Assets include propriety operated and non-operated seismic data totaling 2,793 square kilometers of 3D data and 37,970 km of 2D data. This data significantly increases Surges seismic data in its core operating areas; increasing the Companys 3D coverage by 2 times, and its 2D coverage by 5 times.



ACQUISTION METRICS

Gross Purchase Price $245 million Estimated Net Purchase Price $200 million Annual Cash Flow from Operating Activitiesa $68 million Current Production Rate ~3,850 boepd (99 percent light & medium oil) Proved Developed Producing Reservesb 10.1 MMboe (99 percent light & medium oil) Total Proved plus Probable Reservesb 15.0 MMboe (99 percent light & medium oil) Proved Developed Producing RLIc 6.8 years Total Proved plus Probable RLIc 10.1 years Estimated Net Purchase Price per boepd $51,950/boepd Operating Netback @ US$80 WTI >$48/boe Estimated Net Purchase Price over Proved Developed Producing Reservesb per boe $19.80/boe Estimated Net Purchase Price over Total Proved plus Probable Reservesb per boe $13.33/boe (prior to Future Development Capital) Proved Developed Producing Recycle Ratiod 2.4x Proved plus Probable Recycle Ratioe 3.6x

a: Based on the following pricing assumptions: US$80.00WTI/bbl; CAD$109.59WTI/bbl; EDM CAD$104.11/bbl; WCS CAD $85.62/bbl; AECO CAD$5/mcf

b: Based upon McDaniels 2021YE reserve estimate as of January 1, 2022.

c: Based upon McDaniels total proved plus probable reserve estimate as of January 1, 2022 divided by production of 4,053 boepd.

d: Recycle ratio is calculated as operating netback of $48/boe divided by the acquisition cost of proved developed producing reserves of $19.80/boe.

e: Recycle ratio is calculated as operating netback of $48/boe divided by the acquisition cost of proved plus probable reserves of $13.33/boe.

PRELIMINARY 2023 CAPITAL AND OPERATING BUDGET

In conjunction with the Acquisition, Surges preliminary financial and operational estimates for 2023 are detailed below:

Guidance @ US $80 WTI ($0.73 FX)a Exit 2022 Production >25,000 boepd (87% liquids) Average 2023 Production >25,000 boepd (87% liquids) 2023(e) Expenditures on property, plant and equipment $190 million 2023(e) Cash Flow from Operating Activities $360 million Per shareb $3.92/sh 2023(e) Free Cash Flow Before Dividends $170 million Per share $1.85/sh 2023(e) Dividend $44 million Per share $0.48/sh 2023(e) All-in Payout Ratioc 65% 2023(e) Royalties as % of Petroleum and Natural Gas Revenue 18.5% 2023(e) Net Operating Expensesc $19.50 - $19.75 per boe 2023(e) Transportation Expenses $1.25 - $1.50 per boe 2023(e) General & Administrative Expenses $1.85 - $1.95 per boe

a: Based on the following pricing assumptions: US$80.00WTI/bbl; CAD$109.59WTI/bbl; EDM CAD$104.11/bbl; WCS CAD $85.62/bbl; AECO $5/mcf

b: Based on 84 million Common Shares outstanding prior to the Acquisition, plus an estimated 7.8 million Common Shares issued in conjunction with the Acquisition

c: This is a non-GAAP and other financial measure which is defined in the Non-GAAP and Other Financial Measures section of this document

ANTICIPATED DIVIDEND INCREASE

Given that the Assets generate a high percentage of FCF and are very sustainable in nature (with a low annual decline of 12 percent), Surge anticipates increasing the Companys annual base cash dividend by 14 percent, from $0.42 per share to $0.48 per share (paid monthly), following the Closing of the Acquisition. This upwardly revised base dividend is consistent with Phase 1 of the Companys previously announced return of capital framework.

Any dividend increase will be subject to the approval of Surge's Board of Directors with consideration given to the business environment at the Closing of the Acquisition.

ACQUISITION DETAILS; TERM DEBT FINANCING; EQUITY FINANCING

The Closing of the Acquisition is expected to occur on or about December 19, 2022. The Net Purchase Price payable by Surge at Closing is anticipated to be $200 million, and will be funded by way of the following:

1) $38 million of net proceeds from the bought deal common equity financing referenced below;

2) $100 million in amortizing term loans from existing first lien and second lien lenders;



3) $27 million draw on the Companys existing first lien credit facility (which is expected to be drawn only $50 million at Closing, with over $100 million of undrawn, available capacity); and



4) $35 million in share consideration to Enerplus, from the issuance of Common Shares of SGY at a price equal to the bought deal common equity financing referenced below.

Concurrent with Closing, the Company expects to expand its syndicated first lien credit facility to a total of $210 million. This will be comprised of a $60 million term loan due November 2023, and a $150 million revolving credit facility. Additionally, the Company anticipates drawing a further $40 million on its existing second lien term facility to partially fund the Acquisition. This incremental second lien term debt is expected to be due November, 2024.

In conjunction with the Acquisition, Surge has entered into an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters led by National Bank Financial Inc. and Peters & Co. Limited (the "Underwriters"), pursuant to which the Underwriters have agreed to purchase, for resale to the public, on a bought-deal basis, approximately 4,325,000 Common Shares of Surge at a price of $9.25 per Common Share for gross proceeds of approximately $40 million (the "Offering"). The net proceeds from the Offering will be used to partially fund the Acquisition. The Underwriters will have an option to purchase up to an additional 15 percent of the Common Shares issued under the Offering (the Over-Allotment) on the same terms as the Offering to cover over-allotments exercisable in whole or in part at any time until 30 days after the closing.

The Common Shares issued pursuant to the Offering will be distributed by way of a short form prospectus in all provinces of Canada (excluding Quebec) and may also be placed privately in the United States to Qualified Institutional Buyers (as defined under Rule 144A under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended pursuant to an exemption under Rule 144A, and may be distributed outside Canada and the United States on a basis which does not require the qualification or registration of any of the Company's securities under domestic or foreign securities laws. Completion of the Offering is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including the approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange. Closing of the Offering is expected to occur on November 22, 2022. Closing of the Offering is not conditional upon completion of the Acquisition. In the event the Acquisition is not completed, Surge may use the net proceeds of the Offering to reduce indebtedness, fund future acquisitions and for general corporate purposes. Prior to the closing of the Acquisition, the net proceeds may, from time to time, be invested in interest bearing deposits or in short-term interest bearing or discount debt obligations or other short-term investments (in each case, either Canadian or U.S. dollars).

Upon the Closing of the Acquisition, Surge will have an estimated 92.1 million Common Shares issued and outstanding inclusive of Common Shares issued in the Offering.

2023 OUTLOOK - STRONG OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE DRIVING FREE CASH FLOW

The Acquisition further concentrates the Companys focus within its Sparky and SE Saskatchewan core operating areas and is consistent with its return of capital business model. Surge will continue its disciplined development of the Companys high quality, low cost, conventional crude oil asset base, including Surges premier Sparky play in Alberta, as well as its high operating netback, light oil assets in SE Saskatchewan. The addition of the acquired Assets further positions Surge to provide shareholders with sustainable free cash flow generation in 2023 and beyond.

Following the Acquisition, Surge will possess the following key operational and financial attributes:

Over 3.1 billion barrels of net, internally estimated, conventional OOIP - with a low recovery factor to date of 7.5 percent;

Combined Proven plus Probable year end 2021 independently evaluated reserves of more than 115 million boe;

Average 2023 production estimated at more than 25,000 boepd (87 percent liquids weighted);

A low base corporate decline of 23 percent;

A large development drilling inventory of more than 1,000 net internally estimated locations 4 ; providing a development drilling inventory of more than 12 years;

; providing a development drilling inventory of more than 12 years; A 12.5 year reserve life index (Total Proved plus Probable);

Forecast cash flow from operating activities in 2023 of $360 million at US$80 WTI per bbl flat pricing;

Forecasted FCF prior to dividends of over $170 million in 2023 at US$80 WTI per bbl flat pricing; and

A large tax base with more than $1.5 billion of tax pools as of December 31, 2021.



ADVISORS

Peters & Co. Limited and National Bank Financial Inc. acted as financial advisors to Surge with respect to the Acquisition. ATB Capital Markets has been appointed as strategic advisors to Surge on the Acquisition. McCarthy Tetrault LLP is acting as legal advisor to Surge with respect to the Acquisition and the Offering.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains forward-looking statements. The use of any of the words anticipate, continue, estimate, expect, may, will, project, should, believe and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements.

More particularly, this press release contains statements concerning managements expectations and assumptions concerning the anticipated benefits of the Acquisition and the transaction metrics related thereto; the anticipated use of the net proceeds from the Offering; the timing of various matters in connection with the Acquisition and the Offering and the conditions to completion of each, as applicable; the market value of the consideration to be received by Enerplus in connection with the Acquisition; the operational performance of the Company following completion of the Acquisition; the approval of the dividend increase by Surge's Board of Directors; and Surges revised guidance for the remainder of 2022 and preliminary guidance for 2023.

The forward-looking statements are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by Surge, including the Acquisition and Offering being completed on the timelines and on the terms currently anticipated; all necessary regulatory approvals being obtained on the timelines and in the manner currently anticipated; the business and operations of both the Company and the Assets, including that the Assets will continue to operate and produce in a manner consistent with past results; the anticipated benefits of the Acquisition and the Assets acquired in connection therewith; the expansion of the Company's syndicated first lien credit facility and any consents or approvals required in connection therewith; expectations and assumptions around the performance of existing wells and success obtained in drilling new wells; anticipated expenses, cash flow and capital expenditures; the application of regulatory and royalty regimes; prevailing commodity prices and economic conditions; development and completion activities; the performance of new wells; the successful implementation of waterflood programs; the availability of and performance of facilities and pipelines; the geological characteristics of Surges properties and the Assets; the successful application of drilling, completion and seismic technology; the determination of decommissioning liabilities; prevailing weather conditions; exchange rates; licensing requirements; the impact of completed facilities on operating costs; the availability and costs of capital, labour and services; and the creditworthiness of industry partners.

Although Surge believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because Surge can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. These include, but are not limited to, the risks associated with the Acquisition and Offering, including timing of closing, if closing is completed, that the benefits thereof will not be as anticipated, the conditions to closing are not satisfied or waived and receipt of any regulatory approvals; risks associated with the condition of the global economy, including trade, public health (including the impact of COVID-19) and other geopolitical risks; risks associated with the oil and gas industry in general (e.g. operational risks in development, exploration and production; delays or changes in plans with respect to exploration or development projects or capital expenditures; the uncertainty of reserve estimates; the uncertainty of estimates and projections relating to production, costs and expenses, and health, safety and environmental risks); commodity price and exchange rate fluctuations and constraint in the availability of services, adverse weather or break-up conditions; uncertainties resulting from potential delays or changes in plans with respect to exploration or development projects or capital expenditures; and failure to obtain the continued support of the lenders under Surges bank line. Certain of these risks are set out in more detail in Surges Annual Information Form dated March 9, 2022 and in Surges Management Discussion & Analysis for the year ended December 31, 2021, both of which have been filed on SEDAR and can be accessed at www.sedar.com.

The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and Surge undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws.

Oil and Gas Advisories

The term boe means barrel of oil equivalent on the basis of 1 boe to 6,000 cubic feet of natural gas. Boe may be misleading, particularly if used in isolation. A boe conversion ratio of 1 boe for 6,000 cubic feet of natural gas is based on an energy equivalency conversion method primarily applicable at the burner tip and does not represent a value equivalency at the wellhead. Boe/d and boepd mean barrel of oil equivalent per day. Bbl means barrel of oil and bopd means barrels of oil per day. NGLs means natural gas liquids.

This press release contains certain oil and gas metrics and defined terms which do not have standardized meanings or standard methods of calculation and therefore such measures may not be comparable to similar metrics/terms presented by other issuers and may differ by definition and application. All oil and gas metrics/terms used in this document are defined below:

OOIP means Discovered Petroleum Initially In Place (DPIIP). DPIIP is derived by Surges internal Qualified Reserve Evaluators (QRE) and prepared in accordance with National Instrument 51-101 and the Canadian Oil and Gas Evaluations Handbook (COGEH). DPIIP, as defined in COGEH, is that quantity of petroleum that is estimated, as of a given date, to be contained in known accumulations prior to production. The recoverable portion of DPIIP includes production, reserves and Resources Other Than Reserves (ROTR). OOIP/DPIIP and potential recovery rate estimates are based on current recovery technologies. There is significant uncertainty as to the ultimate recoverability and commercial viability of any of the resource associated with OOIP/DPIIP, and as such a recovery project cannot be defined for a volume of OOIP/DPIIP at this time. Internally estimated means an estimate that is derived by Surges internal QREs and prepared in accordance with National Instrument 51-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Oil and Gas Activities. All internal estimates contained in this new release have been prepared effective as of Jan 1, 2022.

Recovery factor is calculated by dividing the total amount of produced barrels of oil from a particular reservoir at a certain date by the original oil in place in the reservoir.

After giving effect to the Acquisition, the Company will have 2021YE TPP reserves of 120.4 mmboe. The reserves associated with the Acquisition have been evaluated by McDaniel & Associates Consultants Ltd. (McDaniel) for 2021YE (vs. Surges 2021YE reserves evaluated by Sproule).

Surges total internal OOIP estimate of Cadogan (Lloyd + SPKY), Freda Lake & Neptune (Ratcliff) and Giltedge (Lloyd) is 389 mmbbls, which has a CUM to Sept 2021 of 55.4 mmbbls (i.e. 14.2 percent recovery factor to date).

Surges evaluation of the Acquisition assets generates a 12 percent decline as of Jan 2022 (on 4,080 boe/d). McDaniels PDP decline is 14 percent and Proved plus PDP decline is 12 percent.

Drilling Inventory

This press release discloses drilling locations in two categories: (i) booked locations; and (ii) unbooked locations. Booked locations are proved locations and probable locations derived from an internal evaluation using standard practices as prescribed in the Canadian Oil and Gas Evaluations Handbook and account for drilling locations that have associated proved and/or probable reserves, as applicable.

Unbooked locations are internal estimates based on prospective acreage and assumptions as to the number of wells that can be drilled per section based on industry practice and internal review. Unbooked locations do not have attributed reserves or resources. Unbooked locations have been identified by Surges internal certified Engineers and Geologists (who are also Qualified Reserve Evaluators) as an estimation of our multi-year drilling activities based on evaluation of applicable geologic, seismic, engineering, production and reserves information. There is no certainty that the Company will drill all unbooked drilling locations, and if drilled there is no certainty that such locations will result in additional oil and gas reserves, resources or production. The drilling locations on which the Company actually drills wells will ultimately depend upon the availability of capital, regulatory approvals, seasonal restrictions, oil and natural gas prices, costs, actual drilling results, additional reservoir information that is obtained and other factors. While certain that the unbooked drilling locations have been de-risked by drilling existing wells in relative close proximity to such unbooked drilling locations, the majority of other unbooked drilling locations are farther away from existing wells where management has less information about the characteristics of the reservoir and therefore there is more uncertainty whether wells will be drilled in such locations, and if drilled there is more uncertainty that such wells will result in additional oil and gas reserves, resources or production.

Surges review of the Acquisitions inventory supports ~60 gross (>45 net) internally estimated drilling locations. The Acquisitions 2021 Year End reserves has 13.0 net booked locations (no SPKY locations booked). Of the 13 booked, 9.0 net are Proved locations and 4.0 net are Probable locations based on McDaniels evaluation. Assuming an average number of net wells drilled per year of 6.0, the Acquisition has more than 45 net locations, providing approximately 7 years of drilling.

Assuming a January 1, 2022 reference date, and after taking into account the Acquisition, the Company will have over >1,125 gross (>1,025 net) drilling locations identified herein, of these >600 gross (>550 net) are unbooked locations. Of the 469 net booked locations identified herein, 371 net are Proved locations and 99 net are Probable locations based on Sproules 2021YE reserves. Assuming an average number of net wells drilled per year of 80, Surges >1,025 net locations provide over 12 years of drilling.

Assuming a January 1, 2022 reference date, and after taking into account the Acquisition, the Companys Sparky core area will have >450 net locations (165 net booked), 121 net are Proved locations and 44 net are Probable locations based on 2021YE reserves. Assuming an average number of net SPKY Core wells drilled per year of 40, Surges >450 net locations provide approximately 11 years of drilling.

Surges internally developed type curves (for both Surge and the Acquisition assets) were constructed using a representative, factual and balanced analog data set, as of January 1, 2022 for Surge type curves and the Acquisition type curves. All locations were risked appropriately, and estimated ultimate recoveries were measured against OOIP estimates to ensure a reasonable recovery factor was being achieved based on the respective spacing assumption. Other assumptions, such as capital, operating expenses, wellhead offsets, land encumbrances, working interests and NGL yields were all reviewed, updated and accounted for on a well by well basis by Surges Qualified Reserve Evaluators. All type curves fully comply with Part 5.8 of the Companion Policy 51  101CP.

Non-GAAP and Other Financial Measures

Certain secondary financial measures in this press release  including, free cash flow, operating netback, all-in payout ratio and net operating expenses are not prescribed by GAAP. These specified financial measures include non-GAAP financial measures and non-GAAP ratios, are not defined by IFRS and therefore are referred to as non-GAAP and other financial measures. These non-GAAP and other financial measures are included because management uses the information to analyze business performance, cash flow generated from the business, leverage and liquidity, resulting from the Companys principal business activities and it may be useful to investors on the same basis. None of these measures are used to enhance the Companys reported financial performance or position. The non-GAAP and other financial measures do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and therefore are unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. They are common in the reports of other companies but may differ by definition and application. All non-GAAP and other financial measures used in this document are defined below:

Free Cash Flow

Free cash flow is a non-GAAP financial measure, calculated as cash flow from operating activities, before changes in non-cash working capital, less expenditures on property, plant, equipment. Management uses free cash flow to determine the amount of funds available to the Company for future capital allocation decisions. Free cash flow per share is a non-GAAP ratio, calculated using the same weighted average basic and diluted shares used in calculating income per share.

Operating Netback

Operating netback is a non-GAAP financial measure, calculated as petroleum and natural gas revenue and processing and other income, less royalties, realized gain (loss) on commodity and FX contracts, operating expenses, and transportation expenses. Operating netback per boe is a non-GAAP ratio, calculated as operating netback divided by total barrels of oil equivalent produced during a specific period of time. There is no comparable measure in accordance with IFRS. This metric is used by management to evaluate the Companys ability to generate cash margin on a unit of production basis.

All-in payout ratio

All-in payout ratio is a non-GAAP ratio, calculated as exploration and development expenditures, plus dividends paid, divided by cash flow from operations. This capital management measure is used by management to analyze allocated capital in comparison to the cash being generated by the principal business activities.

Net Operating Expenses

Net operating expenses is a non-GAAP financial measure, determined by deducting processing and other revenue primarily generated by processing third party volumes at processing facilities where the Company has an ownership interest. It is common in the industry to earn third party processing revenue on facilities where the entity has a working interest in the infrastructure asset. Under IFRS this source of funds is required to be reported as revenue. However, the Company's principal business is not that of a midstream entity whose activities are dedicated to earning processing and other infrastructure payments. Where the Company has excess capacity at one of its facilities, it will look to process third party volumes as a means to reduce the cost of operating/owning the facility. As such, third party processing revenue is netted against operating costs when analyzed by management.

Additional information relating to non-IFRS measures can be found in the Company's most recent Management Discussion and Analysis, which may be accessed through the SEDAR website (www.sedar.com).

For more information about Surge, visit our website at www.surgeenergy.ca

Paul Colborne, President & CEO Jared Ducs, CFO Surge Energy Inc. Surge Energy Inc. Phone: (403) 930-1507 Phone: (403) 930-1046 Fax: (403) 930-1011 Fax: (403) 930-1011 Email: pcolborne@surgeenergy.ca Email: jducs@surgeenergy.ca

Neither the TSX nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For more information about Surge, visit our website at www.surgeenergy.ca

_______________________________________

1 This is a non-GAAP and other financial measure which is defined in the Non-GAAP and Other Financial Measures section of this document

2 Based on the following pricing assumptions: US$80.00WTI/bbl; CAD$109.59WTI/bbl; EDM CAD$104.11/bbl; WCS CAD $85.62/bbl; AECO CAD$5/mcf.

3 See the Oil and Gas Advisories section of this document.

4 See the Drilling Inventory section of this document.
BRISBANE, Australia, Nov. 03, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As Ford pivots towards an all-electric future, the automotive company has announced a host of changes that will affect dealerships around the world, including splitting into two separate divisions. Ford Blue will continue to focus on petrol- and diesel-powered vehicles while Ford Model e will focus on electric vehicles. According to the leading new and used cars dealers Brisbane-wide Byrne Ford, as part of the reorganisation, dealers in some countries will be required to sell at fixed prices with zero physical inventory in scaled-down spaces.

Ford Australia, however, has indicated there are no plans to follow suit. As Byrne Ford explains, the dealers in Australia are the public face of the company and play a key role in connecting customers and the Ford brand.

Offering the best selection of used cars Brisbane-wide, Byrne Ford says local dealers are closely connected with both their customers and the communities they serve, giving the brand a competitive advantage and allowing dealers to focus on serving customer needs.

The Kedron-based Ford dealer says a fixed-price direct sales model would likely lead to buyers paying more for new cars as they wouldn't be able to negotiate the final selling price. In contrast, under existing dealer agreements, showrooms buy stock from vehicle manufacturers and can negotiate the final selling price, which ultimately cuts into their own profit margin but means buyers can score a great deal.

Byrne Ford explains the new business arrangement is known in the industry as an "agency model" as dealers are paid a flat fee by the manufacturer and prices are set by the car company, with no room for negotiation, resulting in higher transaction prices for consumers. The only time discounts may be available under this model is when car companies are overstocked.

The Australian Automotive Dealers' Association (AADA) says most mainstream car companies in Australia are not considering a switch to fixed prices locally, a decision it flags as a win for new car buyers.

To discover the best deals on cars for sale Brisbane-wide, contact Byrne Ford.

Contact Information:

Byrne Ford

Marketing Manager

(07) 3248 3333



Related Images











Image 1: Byrne Ford





Byrne Ford









This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

Attachment
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- Initial Llaguen mineral resource estimate includes 271 million tonnes of indicated resources at 0.42% copper-equivalenti and 83 million tonnes of inferred resources at 0.30% copper-equivalenti

- High-grade core within the Llaguen mineral resource includes 113 million tonnes of indicated resources at 0.60% copper-equivalenti and 16 million tonnes of inferred resources at 0.52% copper equivalenti

- Llaguen is a wholly-owned copper-molybdenum porphyry deposit located close to the city of Trujillo in the La Libertad region in Peru, at moderate altitude and close to existing infrastructure, water and power supply

- Early exploration activities at the Maria Reyna and Caballito properties, located within trucking distance of the Constancia mine in Peru, confirm the occurrence of sulfide and oxide rich copper mineralization at surface

- Results from confirmatory drill program at the Flin Flon tailings facility reveal higher grades than predicted from historical mill records

- Recent drilling at the Copper World project in Arizona has confirmed the continuity of the mineralization between the Bolsa and East deposits and extended the size of the mineralized envelope

TORONTO, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hudbay Minerals Inc. (Hudbay or the company) (TSX, NYSE: HBM) today announced an update on various exploration initiatives, including an initial mineral resource estimate for the Llaguen copper deposit located in the Otuzco province in the La Libertad region in Peru.

We have a rich pipeline of organic copper growth projects at Hudbay and our Llaguen property adds another exciting opportunity to this pipeline, said Peter Kukielski, President and Chief Executive Officer. Our pipeline also includes the Maria Reyna and Caballito properties near Constancia where our exploration team has confirmed copper mineralization that could add meaningful long-term value for our Peru operations. We also continue to have exploration success at our Copper World project in Arizona and we look forward to an initial drill program to test the down-dip extensions of Lalor at depth in 2023. The opportunities arising from our pipeline of organic copper growth projects comes at an opportune time with the global scarcity of new copper assets and long-term global copper supply unable to meet the demands from a low carbon future. We have an extremely talented exploration team at Hudbay and we are excited to continue to add value to these projects through the drill bit.

The initial mineral resource estimate for our Llaguen project has confirmed the presence of a significant copper-molybdenum porphyry deposit at a higher level of geological confidence than we expected at this stage due to the continuous nature of the mineralization, said Andre Lauzon, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. The mineral resources include a significant higher-grade component located near surface, with a low 0.9 strip ratio and the potential to be mined in the initial years of production to maximize the economics for the project. This project benefits from its location at moderate altitude, close to regional infrastructure and the city of Trujillo.

Llaguen Initial Mineral Resource Estimate

The Llaguen project is 100% owned by Hudbay and is located near the city of Trujillo, the third largest city in Peru. The property is at moderate altitude in close proximity to existing infrastructure, water and power supply, including the port of Salaverry located 62 kilometres away and the Trujillo Nueva electric substation located 40 kilometres away, as shown in Figure 1. The deposit is located on the western margin of the Miocene epithermal-porphyry copper-gold belt of northern Peru.

Hudbay optioned the property from a Vale subsidiary in 2017 and has since completed an exploration agreement with the local community, conducted additional geological mapping and geochemical sampling, and completed a 28-hole confirmatory drill program during 2021 and 2022. Hudbays tenement comprises 12 mining concessions totaling 8,900 hectares and the mineralization is fully contained within these 100%-controlled tenements. There are no Indigenous communities in the area, and therefore, community agreements are not subject to Perus Consulta Previa (prior consultation) process.

Successful Confirmatory Drill Program

In the summer of 2021, Hudbay began a confirmatory drilling campaign over a known copper and molybdenum rich mineralized zone. The mineralized zone was previously identified from a 23-hole historical drill program completed by Vale from 2006 to 2008, which was based on a chargeability anomaly identified from a ground geophysical survey. The porphyry mineralization is hosted in tonalite rocks with late-stage hydrothermal breccia with tourmaline and semi-massive molybdenite veins along fractures. Hudbays exploration program at Llaguen included an initial campaign of 28 diamond drill holes duplicating and infilling the widely spaced holes historically drilled by Vale.

Hudbays drilling confirmed and extended the footprint of the known mineralization and highlighted the existence of a high-grade tourmaline rich brecciated zone in the center of the deposit, which starts from surface and is almost entirely contained within the pit shell hosting the initial mineral resource (please refer to Figure 2). The deposit is now defined by a total of 51 drillholes all with mineralized intercepts. As illustrated in Figure 3, the Llaguen mineralization in most cases starts from surface with a low strip ratio of 0.9 and contains higher-grade mineralization at the center of the deposit.

High-grade Mineral Resource Underlying the Global Mineral Resource Estimate

Based on the assay results compiled and validated as of August 31, 2022, the initial mineral resource estimate for the Llaguen deposit contained within an economic pit shell is summarized in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Llaguen Project Mineral Resource Estimate as at November 1, 2022

Category Metric Tonnes Cu (%) Mo (g/t) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) CuEq (%) Indicated Global

(>= 0.14% Cu) 271,000,000 0.33 218 0.033 2.04 0.42 Including Indicated High-

grade (>= 0.30% Cu) 113,000,000 0.49 261 0.046 2.73 0.60 Inferred Global

(>= 0.14% Cu) 83,000,000 0.24 127 0.024 1.47 0.30 Including Inferred High-

grade (>= 0.30% Cu) 16,000,000 0.45 141 0.038 2.60 0.52

Notes:

1 CIM definitions were followed for the estimation of mineral resources. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.

2 Mineral resources are reported within an economic envelope defined by a pit shell optimization algorithm. This pit shell is defined by a revenue factor of 0.33 assuming operating costs adjusted from Hudbays Constancia open pit operation.

3 Long-term metal prices of $3.60 per pound copper, $11.00 per pound molybdenum, $1,650 per ounce gold and $22.00 per ounce silver were used for the estimation of mineral resources.

4 Metal recovery estimates assume that this mineralization would be processed at a combination of facilities, including copper and molybdenum flotation.

5 Copper-equivalent (CuEq) grade is calculated assuming 85% copper recovery, 80% molybdenum recovery, 60% gold recovery and 60% silver recovery.

6 Specific gravity measurements were estimated by industry standard laboratory measurements.

Llaguen Remains Open and Several Regional Exploration Targets Untested

The Llaguen mineralization defined by Hudbays recent drilling campaign remains open at depth and to the northeast and northwest in a new porphyry with disseminated mineralization. In addition, mapping has confirmed the continuity of the mineralized system to the southeast, coincident with geochemistry and chargeability anomalies along a structural corridor with several additional targets that have been identified and could be tested in the future to further grow the mineral resource estimates (please refer to Figure 4). The current mineral resource is also surrounded by a large halo of low grade hypogene copper mineralization, not currently included in the mineral resource estimate, for which metallurgical test work could assess the potential for sulfide heap leaching via commercially available technologies.

Llaguen Next Steps

Hudbay has initiated preliminary technical studies at Llaguen, including metallurgical test work as well as geotechnical and hydrogeological studies, which are expected to be incorporated into a preliminary economic assessment for the Llaguen project. Additional exploration drilling is warranted on the property to test the areas of the deposit that remain open and the several untested geophysical targets in the area to fully define the regional extent of the mineralization.

Early Exploration Activities Commence at Maria Reyna and Caballito

Hudbay controls a large, contiguous block of mineral rights with the potential to host mineral deposits within trucking distance of the Constancia processing facility, including the past producing Caballito property and the highly prospective Maria Reyna property. Geophysical surveys indicate large-scale potential at Maria Reyna and Caballito, as shown in Figure 5.

In August 2022, the company executed a surface rights exploration agreement with the community of Uchucarcco that allows for exploration of the Maria Reyna and Caballito properties. Shortly after the agreement was completed, Hudbay commenced baseline environmental and archaeological activities to advance the permitting process to allow for drilling the property in the future. The companys geological team also commenced surface investigation activities and field evidence confirms that both Caballito and Maria Reyna host sulfide and oxide rich copper mineralization in skarns, hydrothermal breccias and large porphyry intrusive bodies.

Caballito

The past producing Caballito property is located approximately five kilometres from Constancia and includes an open pit mine (formerly called Katanga) that was operated by Mitsui Mining and Smelting Co. (Mitsui) until the early 1990s. Hudbay collected hand samples in the old Mitsui pit which confirmed the mineralization is both copper oxides and sulfides rich with extensive occurrence of chalcopyrite and bornite and copper oxides in various forms. Please refer to Figure 6 for images of Hudbays hand samples and the waste rock pile near the old Mitsui open pit. Part of Hudbays immediate exploration plans consist of surveys and the collection of samples from the historical waste stockpiles to assess their size and composition.

A U.S. Geological Survey from 1990 estimated a historical mineral resource estimate of 90.9 million tonnes at 2.3% copperii for the Mitsui open pit mine. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to verify this historical estimate and, as such, Hudbay is not treating it as a current mineral resource for purposes of National Instrument 43-101  Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101). For more information regarding historical estimates, see Qualified Person and NI 43-101.

Maria Reyna

The Maria Reyna property is located approximately 10 kilometres from Constancia and hosts three types of mineralization  skarn, hydrothermal breccia and porphyry  with magnetite and garnet skarns and hydrothermal breccias having the potential to host high grade zones, as shown in Figure 7. Artisanal mining activity is present in these high-grade areas in the form of small-scale selective mining operations reported by the local operators to produce at an average grade ranging between 2% and 6% copper from both oxide and sulfide mineralization. This local production is currently exported by small haul truck to regional processing facilities.

Historical drilling in the Maria Reyna south-west zone completed by a previous owner consisted of 11 diamond drill holes covering a total of 5,585 meters. The historical drill results include 136 metres at 0.61% CuEq, 106 metres at 0.55% CuEq and 160 metres at 1.03% CuEqiii. A qualified person has not independently verified this historical data or the quality assurance and quality control program that was applied during the execution of this drill program. For more information regarding historical estimates, see Qualified Person and NI 43-101.

Manitoba Exploration Continues to Grow Resources and Find Extensions

Hudbays 2022 exploration efforts in Manitoba have been focused on completing ongoing infill drilling at Lalor and 1901 and confirmatory drilling at the Flin Flon Tailings Impoundment System as part of the early technical evaluation of the opportunity to reprocess tailings. Hudbay continues to have resource conversion success at Lalor, which will be incorporated into the companys annual mineral resource and reserve estimate update in the first quarter of 2023. Hudbay is also in the process of planning a winter drill program to test the down-dip gold and copper-gold extensions of the Lalor deposit in 2023, which will be the first time the company has completed step-out drilling in the deeper zones at Lalor since 2009.

Flin Flon Tailings Drilling Indicates Higher Grade than Expected

In 2021, Hudbay identified the opportunity to reprocess Flin Flon tailings where in excess of 100 million tonnes of tailings have been deposited for over 90 years. The company recently completed confirmatory drilling which covered about two-thirds of the facility, as shown in Figure 8. The results indicate higher zinc, copper and silver grades than predicted from historical mill records while confirming the historical gold grade. For more information, please see the table of drill hole intersections provided at the end of this news release. Hudbay plans to complete metallurgical test work on the Flin Flon tailings to assess the processing viability.

Hudbay also intends to evaluate the opportunity to reprocess the tailings at the Anderson facility in Snow Lake given significant amounts of gold have been deposited over many decades. The gold processing capacity in Snow Lake is enhanced with the recent start-up of the New Britannia mill and Hudbays initiatives underway to improve the gold recoveries at the Stall mill.

Continued Exploration Success at Copper World Increases the Size of Bolsa

Hudbay continues to have three drill rigs turning at Copper World and recent drilling completed since the preliminary economic assessment was published in June 2022 has increased the extent of the mineralization at the Bolsa deposit. Drilling has confirmed the continuity of the mineralization between the Bolsa and East deposits and extended the width and depth of the mineralized envelope, as shown in Figure 9. The gain in volume has the potential to more than double the volume of the Bolsa deposit, and while most of the increased mineralization is located on patented mining claims, it is likely to only benefit the mine plan during the second phase of the Copper World project given the first phase already maximizes the use of available private land for mining and waste disposal. The combined mineralized zone remains open in several directions and at depth.

Nevada Regional Exploration Update

A conductivity-resistivity IP ground survey commenced in October 2022 at the Mason Valley properties located on Hudbays private land claims near the Mason project. This work, in combination with a re-interpretation of geological data from past operating mines and previous exploration data, will be used to finalize a drill plan to test high grade skarn targets in 2023. The objective is to repeat the success of the Copper World discoveries in a very similar geological setting with the same history of small-scale operations extracting high-grade copper via small open pit and underground mines in the early part of the 20th century.

Qualified Person and NI 43-101

The scientific and technical information contained in or incorporated by reference into this news release has been prepared under the supervision of Olivier Tavchandjian, P. Geo., Hudbays Vice President, Exploration and Technical Services. Mr. Tavchandjian is a qualified person for purposes of NI 43-101.

At Llaguen, a total of 51 holes drilled by Hudbay and previous owners of the project area have intersected copper-molybdenum mineralization and were used to define the Llaguen deposit. The Llaguen mineral resource estimates were estimated assuming a selective mining unit of 20 metres x 20 metres x 15 metres and within an economic pit shell defined by a Lerch Grossman algorithm. Hudbay is not aware of any drilling, sampling, recovery, or other factors that could materially affect the accuracy or reliability of the Llaguen mineral resource estimate disclosed in this news release.

The methodology followed to estimate mineral resources at Llaguen is identical to the approach used for several years at Hudbays Constancia mine in Peru where the mineral resource and reserve estimates have shown good reconciliation results with mill credited production (please refer to the NI 43-101 Technical Report for Constancia dated March 29, 2021 for more details, which is available on the companys SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com).

Mr. Tavchandjian has verified the Llaguen exploration data disclosed in this news release, including sampling, analytical, and test data underlying the information or opinions expressed herein. The data verification and quality assurance / quality control (QA/QC) measures that were used as part of the Llaguen drill program conducted by Hudbay since June 2021 are summarized below:

Recent exploration core drilling done by Hudbay at the Llaguen porphyry deposit was a combination of HQ and NQ size. Drill core was removed from the core tube by drilling contractors and placed in labelled core boxes. Core was logged by geologist, photographed, tagged with sample tags including drillhole number and depth. Core was cut in half and placed in labeled sample bags with the sample tags weighed in a digital balance and transported via commercial truck from the core storage facilities in Trujillo to the analytical Laboratories in Lima for preparation and analysis. For duplicate samples, the drill core samples were cut for a second time, resulting in a  drill core sample. Two selected independent commercial analytical laboratories were used: Bureau Veritas Lima (BV) and SGS Lima (SGS). The remaining second half and  of the core was securely stored at the Trujillo storage facility for eventual verification purposes and further analysis if required.

Drill core samples were prepared and assayed following industry standard analytical protocols at each laboratory. Analyses were carried using multi acid digestion to achieve near total dissolution with an ICP-AES finish (Methods MA301 at BV and ICP40B at SGS). Gold was analyzed by fire assay with AAS finish (Methods FA430 at BV and FAA313 at SGS). Samples with concentration of Cu>10,000 ppm and Mo>10,000 ppm were reanalyzed by resource grade multi acid digestion with ICP-AES finish (Methods MA402 at BV and AAS41B at SGS). Three stages Cu Sequential Analysis (sulfuric acid leach followed by sodium cyanide leach followed by CuRes CLL) were analyzed by methods LH-SEQ at BV and AAS73B at SGS. QA/QC included the insertion of 3% of samples as blank material, 3% as standards (from 2 certified OREAS reference materials) and 3% as  drill core duplicates. Failure rates were nominal in all cases and no significant QA/QC issue was identified.

The validity of using historical Vale drilling, for which QA/QC results are not available, was confirmed by conducting a global comparison of grade interpolation using this data versus the recent drilling done by Hudbay.

Because of its early stage of development, Hudbay does not consider the Llaguen deposit to be a material mineral property for purposes of NI 43-101.

Certain information in this news release regarding potential mineralization at Caballito and Maria Reyna is based on information that has been obtained from publicly available information and/or industry reports, which constitute historical estimates for the purposes of NI 43-101. Such reports generally state that the information contained therein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but the accuracy or completeness of such information is not guaranteed. While the company considers such historical estimates to be relevant for purposes of this news release as they may indicate the presence of mineralization, the qualified person for the company has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimates as current "mineral resources" or "mineral reserves" (as defined in NI 43-101). The historical estimates contained in this news release are not compliant with NI 43-101 and the company is not treating the historical estimates as current "mineral resources" or "mineral reserves". A thorough review of all historical data performed by a qualified person, along with additional exploration work to confirm results, would be required to produce a current mineral resource estimate prepared in accordance with NI 43-101. The company has not independently verified and cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the historical estimates and other third-party data contained in this news release and investors should use caution in placing reliance on such information.

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, Hudbays expectations regarding the future potential of the Llaguen deposit, its plans for additional drilling and other exploration work on the Llaguen property and the potential for a preliminary economic assessment of the Llaguen project, its expectations regarding the ability to conduct exploration work on the Maria Reyna and Caballito properties, expectations regarding the prospective nature of the Maria Reyna and Caballito properties, expectations regarding the Copper World project and exploration at Lalor and in Nevada, expectations resulting from the Flin Flon tailings drill program and the evaluation of the opportunity to reprocess tailings, plans to implement a winter drill program and other scoping studies in Manitoba, the expected volume of the Bolsa deposit, estimation of mineral reserves and mineral resources and economic outlook. Forward-looking information is not, and cannot be, a guarantee of future results or events. Forward-looking information is based on, among other things, opinions, assumptions, estimates and analyses that, while considered reasonable by the company at the date the forward-looking information is provided, inherently are subject to significant risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors that may cause actual results and events to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information.

The risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information may include, but are not limited to risks generally associated with the mining industry and the current geopolitical environment, such as economic factors (including future commodity prices, currency fluctuations, energy prices and general cost escalation), risks associated with the permitting process with respect to our projects, uncertainties related to the development and operation of our projects, uncertainty with respect to the political and social environment in Peru and its potential impact on our mining operations, as well as the risks discussed under the heading Risk Factors in Hudbays most recent Annual Information Form.

Should one or more risk, uncertainty, contingency or other factor materialize or should any factor or assumption prove incorrect, actual results could vary materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Hudbay does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information after the date of this news release or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and any forward-looking information, except as required by applicable law.

About Hudbay

Hudbay (TSX, NYSE: HBM) is a diversified mining company with long-life assets in North and South America. The companys operations in Cusco (Peru) produce copper with gold, silver and molybdenum by-products. Its operations in Manitoba (Canada) produce gold with copper, zinc and silver by-products. Hudbays organic pipeline includes copper development projects in Arizona and Nevada (United States), and its growth strategy is focused on the exploration, development, operation, and optimization of properties it already controls, as well as other mineral assets it may acquire that fit its strategic criteria. Hudbays mission is to create sustainable value through the acquisition, development and operation of high-quality, long-life deposits with exploration potential in jurisdictions that support responsible mining, and to see the regions and communities in which the company operates benefit from its presence. Further information about Hudbay can be found on www.hudbay.com.

For further information, please contact:

Candace Brule

Vice President, Investor Relations

(416) 814-4387

candace.brule@hudbay.com

Figure 1: General Location of the Llaguen Project

The Llaguen project is located in the La Libertad region in northwestern Peru. It is accessible by road and is in close proximity to the Salaverry port and the Trujillo Nueva electric substation.

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Figure 2: Isometric View of the Llaguen Mineral Resource Estimate Shell

The high-grade (0.30% copper grade) shell is displayed below, inside the 0.33 revenue-factor pit shell used to estimate mineral resources.

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Figure 3: Sectional View of the Llaguen Deposit

The Llaguen deposit hosts shallow mineralization over a 1.3-kilometre strike length, with higher grade mineralization located close to surface that has the potential to be mined earlier in the mine life (section clipping is set to 90 metres).

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Figure 4: Additional Exploration Potential at Llaguen

Field mapping at Llaguen has confirmed the continuity of the mineralized system, coincident with geochemistry and chargeability anomalies, along a northwest-southeast structural corridor.

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Figure 5: Constancia Satellite Exploration Targets

Geophysics indicate several nearby exploration targets within trucking distance of Constancias infrastructure with Maria Reyna and Caballito having large-scale potential.

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Figure 6: Caballito Property High Grade Copper Sulfides

Mitsui mined high grade copper sulfides rich with chalcopyrite and bornite at Caballito until the early 1990s.

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Figure 7: Maria Reyna Property High Grade Copper Oxides and Sulfides

Maria Reyna hosts three types of mineralization  skarn, hydrothermal breccia and porphyry  with skarns and hydrothermal breccias having the potential to host high grade zones.

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Figure 8: Recent Flin Flon Tailings Drill Program

Confirmatory drilling covering approximately two-thirds of the FFTIS indicates higher zinc, copper and silver grades than historical records and confirms expected gold grade (drill hole assays are shown in the table at the end of this news release).

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Figure 9: Recent Exploration Success at Copper World Increases the Size of Bolsa

Drilling completed in 2022 confirms the continuity of mineralization between the Bolsa and East deposits along the backbone fault and extends the width and depth of the mineralized envelope, which is shown in grey in the figure.

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Flin Flon Tailings Drill Results

Drill Hole ID Year East North Elev. Length Zn % Cu % Au g/t Ag g/t FF17-BH04 2017 313,464 6,073,444 325.8 30.5 0.70 0.16 0.56 8.13 FF17-BH05 2017 313,191 6,073,346 327.5 25.9 0.85 0.19 0.52 7.89 FF17-BH06 2017 313,675 6,073,348 323.4 31.2 0.71 0.17 0.68 8.49 FF17-BH07 2017 313,450 6,073,253 325.0 32 0.71 0.18 0.65 8.46 FF17-BH08 2017 313,599 6,072,993 321.1 35.8 1.06 0.34 1.04 11.35 FF17-BH09 2017 313,821 6,072,913 318.6 16.8 1.10 0.37 0.92 11.04 FF17-BH10 2017 313,793 6,072,756 315.8 18.3 1.51 0.41 1.20 14.52 FF17-BH11 2017 313,355 6,072,819 323.1 29.7 0.65 0.19 0.73 7.74 FF17-BH12 2017 313,079 6,072,634 324.2 23.6 0.56 0.14 0.69 8.20 FF17-BH13 2017 313,273 6,072,575 321.1 25.9 0.60 0.14 0.59 7.99 FF17-BH14 2017 313,334 6,072,525 318.4 25.2 0.68 0.16 0.66 8.01 FF17-BH15 2017 313,334 6,072,525 318.6 22.9 0.79 0.20 0.70 8.69 FF17-BH16 2017 313,534 6,072,531 320.7 20.6 0.76 0.21 0.67 8.21 FF17-BH17 2017 313,569 6,072,443 317.6 25.1 0.63 0.20 0.80 10.02 FF17-BH18 2017 313,588 6,072,351 318.4 23.6 0.63 0.15 0.60 10.04 FF17-BH19 2017 313,734 6,072,382 312.8 30.5 0.85 0.21 0.75 12.31 FFT17-BH20 2017 313,700 6,072,487 312.9 32.7 0.89 0.23 0.78 12.23 FFT22-0002 2022 313,177 6,074,237 318.2 35.8 0.70 0.11 0.41 7.13 FFT22-0003 2022 313,303 6,074,246 321.6 29 0.61 0.13 0.47 7.84 FFT22-0004 2022 313,303 6,074,111 319.7 32.8 0.62 0.13 0.46 7.88 FFT22-0005 2022 313,144 6,074,098 319.5 33.5 0.69 0.13 0.48 7.51 FFT22-0008 2022 313,051 6,073,956 319.5 33.5 0.68 0.13 0.44 7.31 FFT22-0009 2022 313,175 6,073,930 320.8 31.2 0.62 0.12 0.47 7.62 FFT22-0010 2022 313,302 6,073,942 321.1 30.5 0.56 0.12 0.51 7.97 FFT22-0011 2022 313,448 6,073,948 330.2 13 0.53 0.12 0.53 8.46 FFT22-0012 2022 313,450 6,073,797 324.4 25.2 0.54 0.12 0.50 7.00 FFT22-0013 2022 313,308 6,073,799 323.5 26.2 0.57 0.12 0.51 8.20 FFT22-0014 2022 313,201 6,073,801 321.3 30.5 0.61 0.13 0.49 7.93 FFT22-0018 2022 312,691 6,073,654 331.1 12.2 0.48 0.12 0.53 7.59 FFT22-0019 2022 312,868 6,073,655 329.4 16 0.64 0.14 0.55 8.04 FFT22-0020 2022 312,998 6,073,658 329.6 14.5 0.49 0.11 0.54 7.15 FFT22-0021 2022 313,146 6,073,655 321.8 30.5 0.61 0.14 0.51 7.69 FFT22-0022 2022 313,306 6,073,652 323.1 27.7 0.52 0.12 0.53 7.25 FFT22-0023 2022 313,453 6,073,663 321.8 30.5 0.61 0.13 0.53 8.19 FFT22-0024 2022 313,597 6,073,658 322.9 29 0.52 0.12 0.48 6.70 FFT22-0025 2022 313,458 6,073,499 318.5 38.1 0.56 0.19 0.51 6.69 FFT22-0026 2022 313,300 6,073,494 321.7 31.2 0.57 0.14 0.60 7.63 FFT22-0027 2022 313,163 6,073,481 328.0 18.3 0.51 0.13 0.56 7.84 FFT22-0028 2022 312,994 6,073,501 331.8 11.4 0.49 0.12 0.57 8.09 FFT22-0029 2022 312,857 6,073,502 331.7 12.2 0.53 0.13 0.66 9.34 FFT22-0030 2022 312,675 6,073,505 325.7 23.6 0.41 0.10 0.51 7.15 FFT22-0031 2022 312,534 6,073,545 334.1 4.6 1.11 0.16 0.56 10.93 FFT22-0033 2022 312,634 6,073,667 335.0 4.6 0.62 0.13 0.42 8.37 FFT22-0034 2022 312,851 6,073,355 333.5 9.8 0.50 0.15 0.75 9.33 FFT22-0035 2022 312,999 6,073,359 327.7 20.4 0.58 0.14 0.58 7.73 FFT22-0036 2022 313,156 6,073,435 323.6 27.4 0.54 0.13 0.54 8.10 FFT22-0037 2022 313,305 6,073,352 320.6 36.6 0.67 0.14 0.61 8.37 FFT22-0038 2022 313,451 6,073,345 324.5 28.2 0.56 0.14 0.55 7.63 FFT22-0039 2022 313,602 6,073,340 317.6 42.7 0.60 0.14 0.64 9.18 FFT22-0040 2022 313,604 6,073,460 318.0 41.9 0.46 0.11 0.49 7.24 FFT22-0041 2022 313,606 6,073,196 316.1 45.7 0.77 0.19 0.76 11.82 FFT22-0042 2022 313,450 6,073,208 319.5 38.9 0.63 0.16 0.73 9.75 FFT22-0043 2022 313,483 6,073,271 321.1 39.6 0.57 0.14 0.58 7.30 FFT22-0056 2022 313,446 6,073,055 320.5 37.3 1.59 0.34 0.55 8.23 FFT22-0057 2022 313,599 6,073,054 316.8 45.7 0.90 0.22 0.78 12.05 FFT22-0073 2022 313,274 6,072,556 319.0 33.5 0.93 0.25 0.45 6.62 FFT22-0074 2022 313,149 6,072,510 324.2 18.3 0.55 0.16 0.48 6.01 FFT22-0075 2022 312,994 6,072,537 325.8 14.5 0.59 0.13 0.46 6.53 FFT22-0076 2022 312,901 6,072,523 329.6 6.1 0.88 0.28 0.37 5.97 FFT22-0077 2022 313,012 6,072,425 325.7 16.8 0.49 0.12 0.42 6.05 FFT22-0078 2022 313,146 6,072,409 323.6 21.3 0.52 0.12 0.48 6.96 FFT22-0079 2022 313,301 6,072,450 328.1 15.2 0.59 0.17 0.63 7.23 FFT22-0080 2022 313,450 6,072,447 327.8 13.7 0.65 0.20 0.64 7.73 FFT22-0081 2022 313,604 6,072,447 310.8 38.9 0.60 0.17 0.62 9.56 FFT22-0082 2022 313,742 6,072,442 313.1 32 1.08 0.25 1.08 14.20 FFT22-0083 2022 313,749 6,072,364 315.3 38.1 0.74 0.19 0.76 10.91 FFT22-0084 2022 313,580 6,072,323 316.9 27.4 0.64 0.17 0.61 10.34 FFT22-0085 2022 313,456 6,072,306 326.6 12.2 0.63 0.13 0.54 8.40 FFT22-0086 2022 313,270 6,072,380 329.1 13.7 0.65 0.31 0.40 5.54 FFT22-0088 2022 313,687 6,073,239 320.0 39.6 0.65 0.17 0.67 9.90 FFT22-0089 2022 313,524 6,074,033 328.1 19 0.52 0.13 0.54 7.78 FFT22-0090 2022 313,442 6,074,100 325.2 23.6 0.67 0.13 0.49 8.04 FFT22-0093 2022 313,539 6,073,874 324.1 27.4 0.52 0.11 0.49 6.67 FFT22-0095 2022 313,564 6,073,501 322.5 32 0.52 0.13 0.54 7.51 FFT22-0096 2022 313,438 6,074,253 328.5 17.7 0.57 0.12 0.52 8.03 FFT22-0097 2022 313,329 6,074,101 322.1 28.2 0.61 0.12 0.45 7.63 FFT22-0098 2022 313,354 6,074,101 323.5 25.9 0.58 0.13 0.49 7.32 FFT22-0099 2022 313,301 6,074,069 319.8 32.8 0.60 0.13 0.48 7.57 FFT22-0100 2022 313,298 6,074,031 319.5 33.5 0.58 0.13 0.48 7.34 FFT22-0101 2022 313,266 6,074,100 320.2 32 0.55 0.12 0.51 8.76 FFT22-0102 2022 313,241 6,074,095 319.0 34.3 0.63 0.13 0.45 7.91 FFT22-0103 2022 313,300 6,074,131 319.8 32.8 0.62 0.13 0.46 7.31 FFT22-0104 2022 313,300 6,074,160 320.5 31.2 0.67 0.13 0.49 8.31 FFT22-0200 2022 313,635 6,073,195 320.0 38.9 0.75 0.20 0.73 11.56 FFT22-0201 2022 313,658 6,073,214 318.5 41.9 0.72 0.20 0.64 9.50 FFT22-0202 2022 313,602 6,073,227 317.9 42.7 0.79 0.22 0.78 11.62 FFT22-0203 2022 313,613 6,073,252 318.0 42.7 0.68 0.17 0.70 11.26 FFT22-0204 2022 313,573 6,073,205 314.3 48.8 0.80 0.19 0.77 11.81 FFT22-0205 2022 313,545 6,073,196 317.5 41.2 0.67 0.18 0.66 10.79 FFT22-0206 2022 313,600 6,073,169 316.3 45.7 0.76 0.19 0.74 11.31 FFT22-0207 2022 313,600 6,073,143 315.9 46.5 0.84 0.21 0.79 13.24 FFT22-0208 2022 313,689 6,073,095 318.8 41.9 0.87 0.23 0.85 11.49 FFT22-076R 2022 312,901 6,072,523 329.6 6.1 0.96 0.34 0.43 7.52 FFT22-1051 2022 313,292 6,073,683 322.8 28.2 0.54 0.13 0.52 7.81 FFT22-1061 2022 313,279 6,073,710 320.8 32 0.53 0.12 0.50 7.51 FFT22-1071 2022 313,336 6,073,670 324.8 24.4 0.56 0.13 0.53 8.24 FFT22-1081 2022 313,355 6,073,680 323.1 27.9 0.54 0.12 0.50 7.91 FFT22-1091 2022 313,311 6,073,636 322.9 28.2 0.54 0.12 0.55 7.77 FFT22-1101 2022 313,331 6,073,602 321.4 31.2 0.59 0.13 0.56 8.40 FFT22-1111 2022 313,284 6,073,649 319.9 34.3 0.55 0.12 0.56 7.59 FFT22-1121 2022 313,249 6,073,624 320.3 33.5 0.56 0.13 0.51 7.60 FFT22-S010 2022 313,323 6,074,632 330.5 13 0.38 0.13 0.56 7.83 FFT22-S014 2022 313,298 6,074,552 325.7 21.3 0.56 0.12 0.50 9.68 FFT22-S018 2022 313,297 6,074,395 321.3 29.7 1.56 0.33 0.44 7.61 FFT22-S019 2022 313,394 6,074,381 325.6 22.9 0.71 0.17 0.65 8.15 BGC22-12 2022 313,601 6,072,896 319.1 41.8 0.84 0.22 0.83 11.49 BGC22-13 2022 313,389 6,073,135 321.8 36.4 0.58 0.14 0.62 8.38 BGC22-30 2022 313,447 6,074,454 325.8 24.3 0.73 0.16 0.60 7.35 Drilling Length Weighted Average Grade 0.68 0.17 0.61 8.84

Notes:

1 Drilling was completed with a LS250 Sonic drill with samples vibrated out of the core barrel into a long plastic bag and then cut in half, with one half going into a plastic bag with the sample tag number written and sealed and the other half of the sample kept for reference. QA/QC samples are inserted at a rate of one standard, one blank and one duplicate sample for each 20 samples collected. The insertion of QA/QC samples is performed by the geologist logging the samples.

2 All samples were sent to the Bureau Veritas laboratory in Vancouver and were checked against the custody chain form. The sample preparation includes weighing the sample, crushing 1 kg to minimum 80% passing 2 mm and a 250 g split crushed to minimum 85% passing 75 m. Base metals and other elements were analyzed with a modified aqua regia digestion coupled with ICP-MS (method AQ251_EXT), total carbon and sulphur (TC000), gold analysis with lead collection fire-assay with AAS Finish (FA430) for all samples. Check samples were also completed at SGS Canada laboratories with samples arriving checked against the chain of custody form.

3 QA/QC results including standards, blanks, duplicates and external checks did not reveal any issue or concern for this drill program.

i For further information on the mineral resource estimate and assumptions underlying the copper-equivalent grades, please refer to the table on page 3 of this news release.

ii Sourced from U.S. Geological Surveys Mineral Resource Data System (MRSD); retrieved November 2, 2022, from https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/show-mrds.php?dep_id=10068767.

iii For additional information, including drill hole locations and the data verification and quality assurance / quality control carried out by the prior owner, please refer to Managements Discussion and Analysis for Indico Resources Ltd. (Indico) for the year ended May 31, 2014, as filed by Indico on SEDAR on September 29, 2014.
South Africa: Government departments urged to use budget for GBVF accurately

While acknowledging that the budget for gender responsive programme is not going to be enough, government departments have been urged to use the budget allocated for the programme properly.

If the programme is budgeted for, we need to ensure that it is really being used for [its intended use]. We need to... analyse whether the departments are spending the allocated funds on that programme, said National Treasury Director-General, Ishmail Momoniat.

Momoniat was speaking on the last day of the second Presidentail Summit on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) held in Midrand on Wednesday.

He acknowledged that given the scale of GBVF, whatever government is spending, it will "not be enough".

The actual spending is the exercise we have to monitor on a daily basis. We need to do more to address the scourge of GBVF, as the increasing numbers of cases show that we are not doing enough, he said.

GBVF a humanity problem

Meanwhile, Public Service and Administration Deputy Minister, Chana Pilane-Majake, said GBVF is a humanity problem that needs a collective solution.

What is important is realising that the answers are not going to come from just one institution, but all institutions, working in unison to try eradicate this mammoth problem that is eating up the lives of women, including children, Pilane-Majake said.

Highlighting what the faith sector is doing to implement the National Strategic Plan (NSP) on GBVF, Daniela Gennrich, said since 2020, the faith sector has organised a group of activists who came together and began to analyse the issues and developed a programme, which specifically responds to the different pillars of NSP.

Since then, we... now have over 600 between ourselves and our coalition partners. We say we are people of faith, who speak out, stand up, collaborate, share knowledge and disrupt norms, and decisively with survivours at the centre to end gender-based violence and femicide."

Explaining where they mostly find resistance when dealing with issues of GBVF, she said there are often boy clubs that are very difficult to penetrate.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-11-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
* German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will pay an official visit to China on Friday, as the first EU leader to come to Beijing after the successful convening of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. * Germany is one of China's most important trading partners in Europe, and China has been Germany's top trade partner for six consecutive years. The two countries, both with important influence, share a high degree of economic complementarity. * Immense potential remains for China and Germany to enrich their relations and deepen their mutually beneficial cooperation, which is good not only for the two countries, but also for the world. BEIJING, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will pay an official visit to China on Friday, as the first European Union (EU) leader to come to Beijing after the successful convening of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. China and Germany, both countries with important influence, are major trading partners. A high degree of economic complementarity has presented huge potential for cooperation, which is not only beneficial for the two countries, but also significant for the prosperity of the region and beyond. BOOMING TRADE The China-Europe freight train service offers a snapshot of how trade between China and Germany is flourishing. On Sept. 9, the 10,000th fully loaded China-Europe freight train in 2022 arrived at Hamburg, a port city in northern Germany, from Xi'an International Port, northwest China. This photo taken on May 21, 2018 shows a cross-border e-commerce freight train from Hamburg of Germany arriving in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. (Xinhua/Li Yibo) The 10,000th China-Europe freight train in 2022 "is an important milestone for China's cooperation with Hamburg, Germany and Europe," said Wang Wei, deputy consul general of the People's Republic of China in Hamburg. "The high-capacity connections of the China-Europe goods trains have greatly helped foreign trade in reducing costs and increasing efficiency, and effectively promoted economic development along the route," Wang said. China remains the top trading partner of Germany's largest universal port Hamburg, said Port of Hamburg Marketing (HHM), adding that besides sea transport, containers are also being transported in increasing numbers by rail between China's cities and Hamburg. "For time-sensitive freight, the container train services therefore provide an attractive alternative for transport" between Hamburg and Chinese cities, said Axel Mattern, HHM's chief executive officer (CEO). With 82 routes, the trains reach 200 cities in 24 European countries, forming a transport network covering the whole of Europe. The trains transport more than 50,000 types of goods across 53 categories, such as automobiles and parts, clothing and accessories, and grain and timber. Germany is one of China's most important trading partners in Europe, and China has been Germany's top trade partner for six consecutive years. The trade volume between them has mushroomed to more than 250 billion U.S. dollars in 2021 from less than 300 million dollars at the very beginning of diplomatic relations. This photo taken on July 11, 2022 shows a scene from the welcome ceremony for the 10,000th trip made by China-Europe freight trains operated by the China-Europe Railway Express (Chongqing) in Duisburg, Germany. (Xinhua/Ren Pengfei) BROADER MARKET OPPORTUNITIES Immense potential remains for China and Germany to enrich their relations and deepen their mutually beneficial cooperation regarding climate change, macroeconomic policy, environmental protection, services trade, AI and digitalization. China has been speeding up efforts to foster a new development paradigm, which means broader market opportunities for countries like Germany. In the meantime, Germany, as a leader in technological innovation, continues to exert a pull on Chinese enterprises. In the first nine months of this year, foreign direct investment into the Chinese mainland expanded 15.6 percent year on year to 1.00376 trillion yuan. In U.S. dollar terms, the inflow went up 18.9 percent year on year to 155.3 billion dollars, data from China's Ministry of Commerce showed. Among all sources, investment from Germany showed the strongest growth, jumping by 114.3 percent, according to the ministry. In September, German chemicals giant BASF inaugurated the first plant of its new Verbund site in Zhanjiang City, south China's Guangdong Province. The company said it will produce 60,000 metric tons of engineering plastics annually, to be used in particular by China's car and electronics industries. Between January and September this year, BASF's sales in China rose 5.8 percent year-on-year to 9.2 billion euros (9.2 billion dollars). "We benefit from China's policies of widening market access," BASF CEO Martin Brudermueller said at the inauguration ceremony in Zhanjiang. "Overall, we came to the conclusion that it is advantageous to expand our involvement" in China. This aerial photo taken on Feb. 27, 2022 shows a view of BASF Zhanjiang Verbund site which is under construction in Zhanjiang, south China's Guangdong Province. (Xinhua) Germany, a powerhouse in the car-producing industry, has been attracting an increasing number of Chinese auto-makers. Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, director of the CAR Center Automotive Research Duisburg, told Xinhua that key battery manufacturers in China are now building battery cell factories with large investments in Germany. China's carmakers like NIO and BYD have brought their products and services to Europe, Dudenhoeffer said. "Both China and Germany are leading car-producing countries and have developed complementary advantages in automobile technology and the market," Xiong Meng, an official of the China Federation of Industrial Economics, said at the Sino-German Forum on the Development of the NEV Industry in September. "Cooperation in the automobile industry between the two countries has been carried out in multiple fields and achieved remarkable results," said Xiong. Visitors are seen at the booth of BYD during the 67th IAA Commercial Vehicles in Hanover, Germany, on Sept. 20, 2018. (Xinhua/Shan Yuqi) WIN-WIN GOAL With the world economy in the doldrums, staying open and engaged in cooperation and fostering economic and trade ties are good not only for the two countries, but also for the world. This year marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Germany. Past achievements have laid a solid foundation for the steady development of China-Germany ties, which have shown great vitality, endurance, resilience and potential, experts have said. As Germany is a pivotal country in the EU, the continent's prosperity is closely associated with Germany, and thus deepening China-Germany and China-EU cooperation will serve the interests of both sides and beyond. Scholz recently said that he supports globalization, adding that decoupling is the "wrong answer" and that Germany must do business with the rest of the world, including China. Executive Vice-President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis, who is in charge of economic affairs, also reportedly said he believed that decoupling from China is not an option for EU companies, and that "the EU should continue engaging with China with pragmatism." "We commend these remarks from the European leaders," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a daily news briefing, adding that China also supports globalization and opposes decoupling. This aerial photo taken on July 4, 2022 shows the Volkswagen Anhui MEB (Modular Electric Drive Matrix) plant under construction in the Hefei area of the pilot free trade zone (FTZ) in east China's Anhui Province. (Xinhua) Last year, China-EU trade volume exceeded 800 billion dollars for the first time and two-way investment went beyond 270 billion dollars in cumulative terms, Mao said. Noting that China-Europe cooperation is deeply rooted in solid public support, extensive common interests and similar strategic needs, Mao said that such cooperation enjoys great resilience and potential. "China is ready to work with Europe to jointly work for greater progress in bilateral cooperation in various areas and deliver more benefits to the two peoples," Mao said. (Video reporters: Zhang Yuan, Zhu Sheng, Zhang Yirong, Shen Zhonghao, Wang Pingping, Gao Ming, Han Xu, Shui Jinchen, Jiang Gang and Zhang Jian; video editors: Tang Jingyao, Cao Ying, Liu Ruoshi and Lin Lin)
LiquidPiston announced a $9-million award from the US Army to design, build and demonstrate an advanced, heavy-fueled combustion engine that uses up to 30% less fuel than comparable gasoline-powered engines in the same power class and reduces size and weight by up to 10x over diesel engines with comparable power output.

The engine will be optimized for Jet A, JP8 and F24 fuels, and will be capable of integrating within hybrid electric propulsion systems and generators.

With these major advances, the LiquidPiston engine will support improved power and propulsion for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS); extended range for ground, sea and air vehicles; more efficient auxiliary power units (APUs); and increased power capability with reduced logistical burden for Army personnel as a result of a lighter, smaller, and hence more portable generators.

The current UAS engines are not designed for military fuels. This causes performance and reliability issues with the component technologies. DEVCOM ARLs Versatile Tactical Power and Propulsion Essential Research Program has partnered with industry, academia and other government organizations in the development of technologies to address this void. By engaging with combustion engine innovators like LiquidPiston, ARL is demonstrating our commitment to modernizing the US Armys power and propulsion systems to support our Warfighters with unmatched capabilities. Dr. Mike Kweon, Program Manager, Versatile Tactical Power and Propulsion Essential Research Program (VICTOR ERP) at the US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory (DEVCOM ARL)

Heavy-fuel-capable engines in the power class required for small to medium UAS propulsion are not provided by current small piston engine manufacturers. Currently-available engines are designed for gasoline, aviation gasoline (or Avgas) and other light fuels which necessitate a second fuel supply chain for the US military, with the associated extra costs and risks to personnel.

Additionally, most UAS engines are not manufactured domestically in the US, presenting potential supply chain issues, and suffer from inadequate performance, suboptimal reliability, and increased life-cycle costs.

To address these challenges, LiquidPiston has kicked off a project to support the development of a new, compact, heavy-fuel-capable engine and power system for use in future UAS and generators. These efforts support the needs of the Armys Future Vertical Lift, Next Generation Combat Vehicle, and Soldier Lethality Modernization Priorities.

This ARL award will help us progress the technology readiness of our X-Engine, topping off the work of over 15 years of R&D and more than 70 patents. Alec Shkolnik, Founder and CEO of LiquidPiston





LiquidPiston X-Engine Prototypes

LiquidPistons Compact Efficient Rotary Engine Program will focus on further development of the Companys X-Engine which utilizes the thermodynamic concepts of the companys patented High-Efficiency Hybrid Cycle (HEHC) in a totally re-imagined compact rotary engine architecture that overcomes the limitations of the traditional Wankel rotary engine. (Earlier post.)

The result is a purpose-designed power source for auxiliary and hybrid-electric propulsion platforms where portability, efficiency, low maintenance and jet fuel compatibility all work to overcome current range and payload shortcomings.
An insurance company is appealing the recently confirmed reorganization plan for the Archdiocese of Agana, which could delay the churchs exit from bankruptcy.

It could also delay the payouts to more than 270 men and women who say they were abused as children by Guam priests and others associated with the Catholic Church.

Continental Insurance Co. on Tuesday notified the U.S. District Court of Guam that it is appealing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, challenging a final order confirming the archdioceses reorganization plan.

Continental, an archdiocese insurer, has been challenging abuse-related contribution claims. It previously called for the nonconfirmation of the plan.

The insurance firms notice of appeal comes days after U.S. District Court of Guam Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood issued an Oct. 20 written order confirming the fifth amended joint plan of reorganization for the archdiocese.

During plan confirmation hearings in October, attorneys for the archdiocese and its creditors told the judge that they and Continental Insurance reached a $1.75 million settlement agreement in principle.

That $1.75 million is a portion of the up to $15 million that the archdiocese and its creditors initially expected from Continental.

The court-confirmed archdiocese bankruptcy exit plan includes a $34 million to $101 million settlement with more than 270 survivors of Guam clergy sexual assaults, although archdiocese attorneys said the settlement could only be in the $34 million-$45 million range.
North Korea fired a ballistic missile toward the sea Wednesday, and although Civil Defense officials said Guam was safe, tensions were raised in the region.

The launch came hours after North Korea made a veiled threat to use nuclear weapons, saying the U.S. and South Korea would pay the most horrible price in history.

No immediate threat was assessed for Guam or the Northern Marianas from the reported launch, said Guam Homeland Security Advisor Samantha Brennan. Guam Homeland Security/Office of Civil Defense along with our local, military and federal partners will continue to monitor the events surrounding our region and provide updates as needed.

South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff gave no further details about the missile, like how far it flew.

In North Korea, Pak Jong Chon, a secretary of the ruling Workers Party who is considered a close confidant of leader Kim Jong Un, called the ongoing military drills between South Korea and the U.S. aggressive and provocative.

North Korea has argued its recent weapons tests were meant to issue a warning to Washington and Seoul over their series of joint military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal, including this weeks exercises involving about 240 warplanes.

On Tuesday, North Koreas Foreign Ministry criticized the United States for expanding joint military exercises with South Korea that it claims are practice for a potential invasion, and it warned of more powerful follow-up measures in response.

The White House on Tuesday pushed back against North Koreas saber-rattling, reiterating that drills are part of a routine training schedule with South Korea.

North Korea has ramped up its weapons demonstrations to a record pace this year, launching more than 40 ballistic missiles, including developmental intercontinental ballistic missiles and an intermediate-range missile fired over Japan. The North has punctuated those tests with an escalatory nuclear doctrine that authorizes preemptive nuclear attacks in loosely defined crisis situations.
Yigo resident Charlie Camacho said he doesnt see much reason to vote when it seems like all the voters of Guam get are empty political promises.

Its like every time they say things just to get your vote, but when they actually sit in an office, they dont do anything, he said.

Camacho has never voted and doesnt plan on changing that for Election 2022. While there are issues hes concerned about, such as the growing number of homeless people on streets and dilapidated roads, he said the list of candidates on the ballot seem all too familiar to him.

Im not even going to waste my time.

For one reason or another, thousands of residents like Camacho who could get out and vote on Guam arent making the effort.

Lowest turnout

This years primary had the lowest voter turnout rate in the past 30 years, with just 40% of registered voters opting to cast a ballot, based on Guam Election Commission records.

That stat is skewed due to the historically high number of registered voters, but even looking at raw numbers, fewer people voted in the 2022 primary than any gubernatorial primary besides 2014 in the past 48 years. Youd have to go all the way back to 1974 to find a gubernatorial primary race where fewer people voted.

General election turnouts have been similarly low in recent years. Besides 2014, the 2018 general election had the lowest turnout of any gubernatorial election year since 1986.

University of Guam political scientist Ron McNinch says what seems like a lack of interest in this years election may be made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID has made everybody so apathetic in a lot of ways, and its made peoples behavior different. People are less social now, and social behavior drives voting behavior. And because people are less social ... I think its decreased voting interests, he said.

People older than 60, who voted the most back in 2018, are now scared to death, McNinch said.

Older folks are the mainstays at face-to-face political events, which he said still drive most people to vote, despite the increased focus on online presence.

It used to be quite different. Candidates used to like to fully interact with the public and meet and greet as much as possible, McNinch said.

Not informed enough

Brothers Johnathan and Nicholas Metra of Tamuning both agreed that voting was important and that they wanted to be more involved, but didnt feel engaged or informed enough about local candidates to do so.

Nicholas Metra, 20, said it was difficult to access more info about who was running, beyond YouTube ads and commercials. I feel like they dont really give too much information, he said.

Johnathan Metra, 23, added that more face-to-face time with candidates would be appreciated by younger potential voters.

To have that physical presence would be cool, to actually see them out there, he said.
Have an idea? Want to praise or comment on something? Submit your letter to the editor.
Gubernatorial candidate Felix Camacho proposes that the government of Guam purchase the Guam Regional Medical City, pictured in this June 2021 file photo. His running mate, Sen. Tony Ada, last year co-sponsored a law to build a new medical complex.




Haiti FLASH: The lives of thousands of Haitian children are triple threatened





The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva is deeply concerned about the serious violations of children's rights in Haiti. In a context of renewed violence, children's rights to life, education, drinking water, sanitation, health and nutrition are threatened.



Given the growing insecurity, the majority of children have not gone to school since the start of the school year on October 3rd, 2022 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37801-haiti-education-back-to-school-defeated.html and after the failure of that of September 5 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37497-haiti-flash-date-of-the-start-of-the-2022-2023-school-year-postponed-official.html



Moreover, since the beginning of October and after three years without reported cases, cholera has returned to Haiti, threatening the health, well-being and even the lives of the 1.2 million children living in areas where cases of cholera have been reported https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37795-haiti-flash-cholera-back-in-haiti-fear-of-epidemic-the-un-ready-to-intervene.html



According to UNICEF projections, nearly 100,000 children under five suffer from severe acute malnutrition https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37997-haiti-crisis-more-than-18-of-the-population-at-risk-of-very-high-malnutrition.html The situation is alarming because malnourished children are even more exposed to the growing cholera epidemic https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37889-haiti-health-for-the-first-time-famine-is-in-haiti.html



Faced with rising violence, insecurity and economic hardship, many of the poorest Haitian families lack access to clean water, handwashing soap and other sanitation facilities. base, which increases the risk of catching cholera https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-38028-haiti-cholera-6-departments-affected-nearly-3-500-suspected-cases-and-89-deaths-reported.html . In addition, hospitals are only able to offer limited functions, due to both fuel shortages and insecurity.



Many Haitian children live in fear of being recruited, kidnapped, injured or killed by armed gangs. Children as young as 10, the vast majority of them girls, were subjected to gang rapes for hours in front of their parents, amid an explosion of gang violence. One in four girls and one in five boys have been victims of sexual abuse in the Haitian capital. https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37890-haiti-flash-sexual-violence-a-weapon-used-by-gangs-to-instill-fear-report.html



The international community must act immediately to help national authorities guarantee the right of millions of Haitian children to live, grow, learn and thrive in a climate free from violence.



For her part, Najat Maalla M'jid, the representative of the United Nations (UN) on children's issues, described as "alarming" the situation in which children live in Haiti.



"We need to strengthen the comprehensive protection and prevention system for all children, it is very important that when they are here they have access to services, we need to end violence and detention of migrant children, the current situation in Haiti is worrying and the UN makes an alarming report on the situation."



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-38028-haiti-cholera-6-departments-affected-nearly-3-500-suspected-cases-and-89-deaths-reported.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37997-haiti-crisis-more-than-18-of-the-population-at-risk-of-very-high-malnutrition.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37801-haiti-education-back-to-school-defeated.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37795-haiti-flash-cholera-back-in-haiti-fear-of-epidemic-the-un-ready-to-intervene.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37890-haiti-flash-sexual-violence-a-weapon-used-by-gangs-to-instill-fear-report.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37889-haiti-health-for-the-first-time-famine-is-in-haiti.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37497-haiti-flash-date-of-the-start-of-the-2022-2023-school-year-postponed-official.html



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping...





Artibonite : Delivery of cholera kits

UNICEF has just delivered to the Artibonite Health District 15 cholera kits consisting of inputs, medical equipment and consumables to care for patients suffering from cholera. The medical supplies delivered by UNHAS helicopter will allow 240 patients to be treated by intravenous rehydration and 1,000 patients by oral serum-based rehydration.



Eric Jean Baptiste : Message from the Haitian State Lottery

"The General Directorate of the Haitian State Lottery (LEH) condemns with the utmost rigor the assassination of Eric Jean Baptiste, Secretary General of the Rally of Progressive National Democrats (RDNP) and an important player in the gambling sector in Haiti. . The General Management presents its most heartfelt condolences to the family of the deceased, his wife and children and also to his relatives, comrades and political allies in particular the members of the RDNP Executive Board. The Directorate General prays the great architect of the universe in his mercy so that he receives in his home the late deceased suddenly disappeared under the conditions that we know https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-38000-haiti-flash-assassination-of-eric-jean-baptiste-sg-of-the-rdnp.html



May the earth be light to him Peace to his soul."



WFP : UPS delivers a shipment of nutritious rations

Thanks to the logistical support of UPS, a shipment of nutritious rations was delivered to Port-au-Prince airport. With this shipment, the World Food Program (WFP) will be able to provide additional food aid to 22,000 beneficiaries...



Invitation : Africanity Week

Visit the 2nd Edition of Africanity Week Organized by the Office of the United Nations Youth Organization in Africa in Haiti (BOJNUAH) with the support of Sunrise Airways, this event will take place in Haiti from 3 to 5 November 2022 at 514, Delmas 66 and in Senegal from November 14 to 18, 2022 on the theme 'Haiti and Africa: rapprochement, exchanges and discoveries !'".



UNICEF and DINEPA distribute drinking water

UNICEF and the National Directorate of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DINEPA) use tankers to distribute drinking water to women and children in Cite Soleil to protect them against waterborne diseases in general and cholera in particular



HL/ HaitiLibre


















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Marin was asked whether the country is willing to host nuclear weapons on its soil in peacetime at a news conference held in conjunction with the 74th session of the Nordic Council in Helsinki on Tuesday, 1 November.

PRIME MINISTER Sanna Marin (SDP) on Tuesday confirmed that Finland intends to impose no conditions on its membership in Nato.

Finland has stated that it intends to impose no advance conditions, and we arent discussing this actively. Were waiting for our accession, and these are matters that can be discussed later, she was quoted saying by Helsingin Sanomat.

Senior Finnish policy makers have stated previously that the country should refrain from imposing any national limitations to its membership in the military alliance.

Whats most important is that Finland is looking to become a member of Nato. Full stop. Nothing more and nothing less. We have no special demands or reservations that wed set as conditions to our membership, President Sauli Niinisto outlined in September.

Helsingin Sanomat on Tuesday reminded that the position does not mean nuclear weapons are set to be placed in Finland. The United States, the newspaper pointed out, has stated that it has no plans to place nuclear weapons in countries that joined the alliance after 1997. Nor are there military or strategic reasons for placing them in Finland, especially because of the risks that could arise in the event of a conflict from their proximity to Russia.

Marin on Tuesday said she and her colleagues also discussed measures to alleviate the energy crises faced by Moldova and Ukraine.

We have to make sure that all critical infrastructure, like energy and water, are seen to so that people in Ukraine can live a normal life to the greatest extent possible in the current circumstances, she told.

The prime minister was also asked about the pending membership applications of Finland and Sweden. The applications have been ratified by all but two members of the alliance, Hungary and Turkey.

Its important that this happens preferably sooner rather than later, she said, adding that the timetable is not up to Finland or Sweden.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT
YLE on Monday reported that 110 of the 129 policy-makers who responded to its poll on nuclear power expressed their support for increasing the capacity, whereas only eight said they oppose increasing it. Another 11 policy-makers were unable or unwilling to disclose their stance on the question.

OVER HALF of the Finnish Parliament are of the opinion that additional nuclear power capacity is needed in Finland.

The Finnish Parliament has altogether 200 members.

Many of the respondents, the public broadcasting company wrote, called attention to small modular reactors even though the question referred to nuclear power in general. Joonas Kontta (Centre) estimated that the legislation on nuclear power should be clarified in order to enable the construction and start-up of small modular reactors as soon as the technology is available.

The Finnish nuclear energy act is presently being amended to account for new types of nuclear power plants. Among the energy companies that have expressed their interest in small modular reactors are Fortum and Helen.

YLE reminded that nuclear energy is historically a more divisive question than one could assume based on the survey results and the anticipation surrounding the start-up of the third reactor at Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant.

The Green League in 2002 walked away from the ruling coalition over a government resolution to build a fifth nuclear power plant in Finland. It repeated the move in 2014 in protest of the government approving revisions to the permits of Fennovoima, a consortium that until last spring was planning to build a nuclear power plant in Pyhajoki, North Ostrobothnia.

While the party has become more tolerant of nuclear power over the years, most of its members were uncertain about the need to increase nuclear power capacity in Finland.

Support for nuclear power is high, but setting up wind power would be a more affordable and safer way to get additional emission-free energy. Russias attack on Ukraine also serves as a reminder of the risk nuclear power poses in crises, noted Satu Hassi (Greens).

We probably need [nuclear energy] in the present situation for the transition period, but we dont need new nuclear permits  instead we should invest in genuinely renewable, risk-free forms of energy, echoed Outi Alanko-Kahiluoto (Greens).

Lawmakers who viewed that additional nuclear power capacity is not needed mainly called attention to the risks and environmental effects of the energy form, according to YLE.

Tarja Filatov (SDP) said she is critical about building new nuclear plants particularly due to the hiccoughs that have delayed the construction and start-up of the latest projects. The risks of nuclear power plants havent gone anywhere, she said.

Johannes Yrttiaho (LA) estimated that it would be a mistake to bring back nuclear power under the pretext of climate change, questioning the rationale of his colleagues who lauded nuclear power as a domestic and emission-free solution.

Mining uranium alone causes significant environmental harm, not to say anything about how nuclear power threatens humanity through weapons technology, he argued.

Nuclear power isnt economically profitable without state subvention and its still associated with environmental and safety issues, commented Eva Biaudet (SFP). We should use up our current capacity, though.

Riku Huttunen, the director of the energy department at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, told YLE on Monday that a decision on building a new nuclear plant could at the earliest be made at the end of the decade, given that no environmental impact assessments are presently underway.

In addition to the environmental impact assessments, youd have select the reactor type and make preliminary profitability calculations  meaning that this isnt a sprint, he said.

If youre talking about these small modular reactors, you cant exactly pick one up from the shelf. Im sure itll take several years for the projects to materialise. Wed probably be talking about the next decade, the 2030s, when these facilities could be in use.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT
THE chief executive of Planet Organic says he wants his Henley store to be part of the community.

George Dymond was speaking at the official opening of the supermarket in Market Place on Thursday last week, its 13th and the first outside London.

He said he was keen to work with other businesses and organisations.

Mr Dymond said: What Im really passionate about is when we come to any community we are a part of that community. We dont just put a shop in and run away.

Over the months and years to come, we want to see more local innovators. Im sure some of them are in the marketplace already.

The store, which has taken over the former Superdrug premises, sells organic produce, healthy snacks and supplements and vitamins as well as a range of organic skincare and beauty products.

It also has a cafe serving pastries, sandwiches and coffee.

The store is working with the youth and community project Nomad to provide healthy food for young children.

Mr Dymond said: We are really happy to be partnering with Nomad and are amazed by the work they have already done in this wonderful community.

Jaco Bruwer, a Nomad support worker, said: Theyre helping us with some of the community work we do with regard to providing food for the young people we work with.

We have after-school youth clubs and we work in local schools so bringing something for them foodwise will be great. This is the first time weve had that sort of interest from a new business.

Mayor Michelle Thomas said: I couldnt be more excited about this opening. For you to choose Henley as your first store outside London is incredible.

One of the things you have been clever about is to launch just before COP27. Organic food is very important to our environment. My hope for the future is that organic food can come down in price and be where it should be in terms of food and produce that isnt produced organically. I think that is the whole worlds goal.

I cant wait to start shopping to be honest. It all looks so inviting and I think youve done a great job with the shop-fitting.

Nick Ridley, property and operations director, said: Theres a lot of our target customers here in Henley  people who buy into the whole ethos of being planet-friendly and using organic produce.

When we first started to think about expanding, we were looking for towns like Henley. It is a vibrant place and no one here seems to do what we do.

Were not a mass market retailer, were a specialist niche retailer. There are a lot of brands in the shop that people will have never heard of as we work with lots of small businesses.

In time we plan to work with local businesses. Obviously, we dont have a network here yet but part of our plan is to start those conversations.
The US, Japan and Australia hold military exercise.

By Feng Hui and Qin Hongkun

Prime Minister Kishida Fumio of Japan and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia held talks and signed off on a revised Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation (JDSC) on October 22 in Perth, Australia. This is the first time in 15 years that the two countries have signed a defense cooperation document after the then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and then-Australian Prime Minister John Howard signed a JDSC in 2007.

Since both Japan and Australia are members of the Quad, and Australia is also a member of the AUKUS and the Five Eyes Alliance, the new JDSC may possibly strengthen the Quad and the interactions between Japan and AUKUS and the Five Eyes Alliance, which will have a negative impact on the situation in the Indo-Pacific region.

According to the text of the new JDSC published by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the new JDSC involves military, economic, political, and other fields. It emphasizes that cooperation between the two countries will be promoted based on the 2007 JDSC and the special strategic partnership established in 2014.

At the same time, the new JDSC claims to strengthen trilateral cooperation with the US in the Indo-Pacific region. The declaration stated: "bilateral partnership also reinforces our respective alliances with the US that serve as critical pillars for our securityDeepening trilateral cooperation with the United States is critical to enhancing our strategic alignment, policy coordination, interoperability and joint capability."

The new JDSCon security cooperation also elaborates on the content of military cooperation between Japan and Australia. According to the new JDSC, the two countries will enhance interoperability between the Australian Defense Force and the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) through more sophisticated joint exercises and operations and multilateral exercises with other partners. The two will reinforce cooperation in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, advanced defense science and technology, defense industry and high-end capabilities. Japan said the JSDF will conduct joint training with Australian troops in northern Australia and establish an intelligence-sharing mechanism with Australia.

According to foreign media reports, the new JDSC is the only similar declaration that Japan has signed with other countries in addition to that with the US. Kishida Fumio said that the new declaration of security cooperation pointed out the direction for the security and defense cooperation between Japan and Australia in the next 10 years, and he also believed that the declaration strengthened the bilateral relationship between Japan and Australia and the US. Albanese said at the press conference where the two heads of government presented that the declaration between the two countries sends a strong signal of the Japan-Australia strategic alliance to the Indo-Pacific region.

It is obvious that the US is behind the signing of the new JDSC. The purpose of the US is nothing more than to encourage Japan and Australia, its two regional allies, to act as "pawns" of its so-called Indo-Pacific strategy to maintain its regional and global hegemony. However, Japan and Australia also have their own plans. Analysts believe that Australia has the plan of using Japan to deeply participate in Indo-Pacific affairs and enhance its regional influence. Japan hopes to improve its status in the Quad by signing the new JDSC and seeks to break through its diplomatic and military restrictions. Japan is one step closer to joining the Five Eyes Alliance by establishing an intelligence-sharing mechanism with Australia. Relevant measures deserve the attention and vigilance of neighboring countries.
You'll find no lines or creases at the legendary Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel with the completion of the multi-million dollar renovation of all guest rooms, suites and specialty suites.

Guest Rooms and Suites

Designed by the iconic and award-winning David Collins Studio, the newly renovated guest rooms, suites and corridors unify the Beverly and Wilshire wings of the Hotel, utilising a refined design and a light colour palette that immediately signals the evolution of the Hotel's 94 year history.

Subtle modernity, crafted layering and soft hues combined with Beverly Hills chic, and touches of Hollywood glamour with an inspired contemporary twist, create a completely new guest experience, representative of Rodeo Drive luxury. The refreshed rooms feature custom faceted mirrors and furniture, as well as a calming palette of ivory, silver and grey to complement and reflect the Californian skies and landscape. And in a sophisticated nod to the Hollywood Regency period of interior design, luxurious materials are used to signify both opulence and comfort in the form of marble, lacquered and stained timber, as well as mirrored elements, leaving the room layouts feeling balanced and congenial - a sanctuary of comfort.

Specialty Suites

The Hotel's Specialty Suites were expertly designed by Los Angeles based KES Studio. Known for their innovative interior design and lifestyle services, KES Studio took inspiration from the Hotel's rich history and prominence in the heart of Beverly Hills to design these unique suites. Each suite has been elevated with approachable yet design-forward furniture, while retaining the Hotel's celebrated status and timelessness through the layering of tonal textures and combined lush finishes. Contemporary and fresh interiors are enhanced by a highly curated art program and collection of bespoke furniture, to create an inviting and comfortable atmosphere in each specialty suite.

Penthouse Suite: Stepping onto the wraparound terrace will make guests feel like Hollywood royalty in this newly renovated, resplendent three-bedroom Penthouse suite. Complete with unrivaled views of Los Angeles, this lavish suite features soft creams and fun yet funky textures and fabrics for the ultimate in luxury. Host private parties around the dining table with its adjoining show kitchen, screen films in the media room, or unwind in grandeur surrounded by sleek, glass tiles, exotic stones and marble in the primary bathroom.

Beverly Presidential Suite: For those seeking a truly unique and quintessential Beverly Wilshire experience, the newly renovated Beverly Presidential Suite offers a contemporary twist on Hollywood luxury. Unexpected elements elevate the suit,e from the sophisticated colour scheme featuring cobalt, black, white, silver and polished chrome throughout, to the abstract yet artful carpeting, tables and area rugs as a way to keep each space distinct. Residential in style with an ultra-spacious living room, formal dining area for eight and an expansive terrace with magnificent views of the Hollywood Hills, this specialty suite is ideal for entertaining or extended stays with family and friends.

Wilshire Presidential Suite: Experience Old Hollywood glamour at its finest in this pristinely restored, two-bedroom suite on the eighth floor of the Wilshire Wing. Guests will know they've arrived to the Wilshire Presidential Suite upon entering the grand hallway. The beautiful, original architecture is celebrated with the layering of gray and white tones, while unexpected hints of red add an invigorating and lively ambiance. The spacious living room, cocktail den and elegant dining room are all enhanced by the spectacular views of Beverly Hills.

Governor Suite: Step into the unabashedly refreshed, two-bedroom Governor Suite. The sleek marble fireplace and contemporary living room area rug play the lead role in inspiring the new design of this specialty suite. The layering of cream, camel and leopard print fabric, perfectly complements the mid-century lighting, black and white art, as well as leather wrapped consoles. Top-floor views of Beverly Hills, Century City and Santa Monica await outside on the wraparound terrace.

Ambassador Suite: This refreshed one-bedroom Ambassador Suite features a soft palette of cream, mauve and gray to create a tranquil, residential-style retreat. Custom contemporary art and decorative lighting enlivens the space while the use of rich materials of white marble and alabaster allow for dramatic moments to coexist. The spacious living area features a fireplace, a dining table for eight and French doors that open onto a private terrace complete with views of Beverly Hills and Century City.

With 17 newly renovated room categories to choose from, there is something for everyone when looking to stay at this legendary hotel. Make a reservation today by enjoying one of these special offers.

Hotel website
The iconic luxury brand to expand its footprint in Mexico with The St. Regis Costa Mujeres Resort.

Marriott International, Inc., today announced it has signed an agreement with AB Living to bring the legendary St. Regis brand to Costa Mujeres. Solidifying the brand's position as a global leader in luxury leisure hospitality, The St. Regis Costa Mujeres Resort is expected to welcome its first guests in early 2025.

Building on the brand's existing portfolio of 15 resorts, St. Regis Hotels & Resorts has plans to expand its resort portfolio to include some of the world's most coveted leisure destinations, including within the Caribbean, North America, North Africa, Middle East, and Asia Pacific. The signing of The St. Regis Costa Mujeres Resort underscores this commitment to its strong global expansion in the world's most compelling markets.

The St. Regis Costa Mujeres Resort is ideally located on a 3.5-hectare site along the scenic Costa Mujeres beach. Situated north of Cancun on the Yucatan Peninsula, Costa Mujeres is a vibrant travel destination, known for its tranquil atmosphere, lush natural surroundings, and pristine beaches on the Mexican Caribbean. The resort is only a 35-minute drive from Cancun's International Airport and a quick boat ride from the magical Island of Isla Mujeres.

Envisioned by Sordo Madaleno Architects, an internationally renowned architectural firm based in Mexico City, The St. Regis Costa Mujeres Resort is expected to feature 158 guest rooms and 80 branded residential units, which will boast spectacular views of the Island of Isla Mujeres to the east and Cancun to the Southeast. Plans for the resort also include three distinct food and beverage venues, several swimming pools, a glamorous beach club, approximately 470 square meters of meeting space, and the signature St. Regis Butler Service. Comprised of 22,584 square meters, the branded residences will enjoy private elevator access, a residential concierge, a fitness center, and full access to the resort's amenities and services.

Marriott International currently operates two St. Regis properties in Mexico; The St. Regis Mexico City and The St. Regis Punta Mita Resort. Additionally, the brand is slated to make its debut in Riviera Maya later this year and in Los Cabos in 2023.

Hotel website
Whitbread Plc, the parent company to Premier Inn, the UK's largest hotel business, has strengthened its property acquisition team to drive the expansion of Premier Inn and hub by Premier Inn across the UK and Ireland.

Jill Anderson, who joins the business as a property acquisition manager from Costa Coffee, will lead the expansion of Premier Inn in the north of England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

The appointment follows Whitbread's announcement of a new long-term network target for Premier Inn in the UK and Ireland of 125,000 bedrooms - equivalent to a 17% market share - made during Whitbread's FY23 interim results announcement to the City on 25th October 2022.

Whitbread currently operates a network of 82,700 hotel rooms in the UK and Ireland with a further 8,875 bedrooms in its committed development pipeline. The business is on course to open between 1,500 and 2,000 new Premier Inn rooms this financial year and will return to opening 2,000 to 3,000 rooms per year going forward.

Jill brings more than 25 years' experience working in property acquisition and development. Prior to joining Whitbread, Jill spent close to ten years at Costa Coffee expanding the store estate in the south-west preceded by similar roles at Tesco and Somerfield. She started her career in private practice in London and the north-east.

Whitbread's new long-term expansion targets for Premier Inn and hub by Premier Inn are being driven by structural changes in the UK hotels market. The company believes the supply of hotel bedrooms is 4% lower that it was pre-pandemic, creating a favourable market backdrop and providing opportunities for Premier Inn to grow market share.
Radisson Hotel Group plans to strengthen its already impressive presence in Africa. The Group has ambitious plans to reach 150 hotels and 25,000 rooms within the next five years across the continent, making Africa a key region for growth.

Currently, Radisson Hotel Group has nearly 100 hotels and 16,000 rooms in operation and under development in Africa. In the last two years only, the Group opened over 16 hotels in the region and secured over 25 new hotels, representing more than 4,800 additional rooms to its portfolio. Earlier this year, Radisson Hotel Group announced that it had surpassed its half-year growth target in Africa with exciting new openings and market entries across business and leisure destinations. This puts the Group on target to reach its goals of adding 150 hotels to the continent in the next five years - making it one of the fastest-growing hotel companies across Africa year on year.

Source: Radisson Hotel Group

The last two years have been a time of accelerated growth for the Radisson Hotel Group reaching record milestones regionally and globally. Our balanced development strategy along with our tailored approach and responsiveness, enable us to stay relevant to our owners. Our rate of materialization and openings is a testimony to the quality of our pipeline but also translates our conversion strategy in repositioning existing hotels under one of our Radisson Hotel Group brands. 2023 is already anticipated to remain positive with nine hotel openings during the year, which will only reinforce our Groups presence across the region. Elie Younes, Executive Vice President & Global Chief Development Officer, Radisson Hotel Group

Source: Radisson Hotel Group

Given our recognition as a market leader across the continent, we are well-positioned to speak about the vast opportunities within the African hospitality space. As a Group, weve made it a priority to consolidate our market share in key focus markets but also expand into new territories, further cementing our leadership as the most geographically diverse hotel company across Africa. Ramsay Rankoussi, Vice President Development for the Group in Africa

Key markets for the Groups Africa expansion plan include Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Cameroon, Senegal and Ivory Coast, demonstrating an equal prioritization for Francophone and Anglophone countries.

Highlights from 2022 so far include entry into several key new African markets. Radisson Hotel Group expanded its presence in Madagascar with a portfolio of three hotels, becoming the largest international operator on the island. Extending the Groups presence into new regions, the first Radisson-branded hotel in East Africa, Radisson Hotel Addis Ababa Bole Airport, was signed in 2022, and the Radisson Individuals brand was introduced to the continent with the opening of two new properties, Number One Oxford Street Hotel & Suites, a member of Radisson Individuals, in Ghana, and Marina Resort Port Ghalib, a member of Radisson Individuals, in Marsa Allam, Egypt. Another high point of the year is Radisson Blu, the fastest growing hotel brand in Africa in terms of the number of hotels, awarded Africas Leading Hotel Brand at the World Travel Awards, recognized globally as the ultimate hallmark of quality.

Source: Radisson Hotel Group

Radisson Hotel Group also recently announced the opening of Radisson Blu Hotel, Juba, South Sudans first internationally branded 5-star hotel, and continued its resort growth strategy with the signing of Radisson Resort Dakar Saly in Senegal. There was also the announcement of Radisson Blu Hotel, Livingstone in Zambia and the upcoming offerings for Radisson Safari Hotel, Hoedspruit, both due to open in the coming months. Additionally, the Group reinforced its presence in Tunisia with the recent opening of Radisson Sfax and the rebranding of La Maison Blanche Tunis as a Radisson Individuals property. In South Africa, the Group expanded its portfolio to more than 14 properties with the opening of its latest addition, Radisson Blu Hotel Durban Umhlanga. Further to this, the Group has signed in the last weeks the Radisson Collection Marsa Allam, Egypt with 294 rooms and Radisson Serviced Apartments, Yaounde with 220 rooms - both opening in 2024 and further reinforcing the group presence in key focus markets.

About Radisson Hotel Group

Radisson Hotel Group is one of the world's largest hotel groups with nine distinctive hotel brands, and more than 1,600 hotels in operation and under development in 120 countries. The Group's overarching brand promise is Every Moment Matters with a signature Yes I Can! service ethos.

The Radisson Hotel Group portfolio includes Radisson Collection, Radisson Blu, Radisson, Radisson RED, Radisson Individuals, Park Plaza, Park Inn by Radisson, Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, and prizeotel brought together under one commercial umbrella brand Radisson Hotels.

Radisson Rewards is our international rewards program that delivers unique and personalized ways to create memorable moments that matter to our guests. Radisson Rewards offers an exceptional experience for our guests, meeting planners, and travel agents at over 550 hotels in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific.

Radisson Meetings provides tailored solutions for any event or meeting, including hybrid solutions placing guests and their needs at the heart of its offer. Radisson Meetings is built around three strong service commitments: Personal, Professional and Memorable, while delivering on the brilliant basics and being uniquely 100% Carbon Neutral.

The health and safety of guests and team members remain a top priority for Radisson Hotel Group. All properties across the Group's portfolio are subject to stringent health and safety requirements, as outlined in the Radisson Hotels Safety Protocol.

More than 100,000 team members work at Radisson Hotel Group and at the hotels licensed to operate in its systems. For more information, visit our corporate website. Or connect with Radisson Hotels on:

LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
Munich - Rotana, one of the leading hotel management companies in the region with over 100 properties across the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Turkiye, has selected dailypoint as a full-service solution partner for their customer relationship- and guest data management. All Rotana properties across all brands will use dailypoints Hospitality Technology solutions in the future.

The technical set-up is already underway to have the dailypoint Data Laundry, Campaign & Booking Manager, Website Connect and of course the Profile Engine up and running for all properties to provide individual communication and services to demanding guests from all over the world. Integrations with the PMS, POS, Mobile App, and other hospitality technology solutions are key to providing excellent service and an individual experience.

We are pleased to have found a professional and experienced partner who can provide a wide range of CRM and guest data applications that integrate with our existing IT infrastructure, states Dominic Carr, Corporate Vice President Quality & Customer Service Excellence. dailypoints loyalty solution will be part of the tech-set for Rotana Rewards Classic, Select and Exclusive Programmes. The decisive factor for selecting dailypoint was their wide experience in customer loyalty programs, their high standards in GDPR as well as their ability to connect partner systems, adds Carr.

Rotana has set itself the goal of playing a pioneering role in the digitalization of the industry and we are proud to play a major part in this development. Rotana wants to offer a holistic central approach to guest profile and dailypoint is here to support with a wide range of processes, says Dr. Michael Toedt, founder and CEO of dailypoint.

About Rotana

Rotana currently manages a portfolio of over 100 properties throughout the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Turkey, with an aggressive expansion plan in place. Rotana has chosen to acknowledge how precious time is by making all time spent in their range of hotels Treasured Time. This means Rotana has pledged to understand and meet the individual needs of all guests. In so doing, Rotana has evolved its product brands to include, Rotana Hotels & Resorts, Centro Hotels by Rotana, Rayhaan Hotels & Resorts by Rotana, Arjaan Hotel Apartments by Rotana, Edge by Rotana, and The Residences by Rotana. Treasured Time. The Rotana promise to you.

Further information on any Rotana property, its brands, or reservations can be obtained by visiting www.rotana.com or by contacting one of the regional sales offices.

About dailypoint  Software made by Toedt, Dr. Selk & Coll. GmbH

dailypoint is the leading Data Management and CRM platform for demanding individual hotels and hotel groups. dailypoint collects data from all relevant sources such as PMS, POS, website, newsletter, or WiFi and automatically creates a central and consolidated guest profile. In 350 steps, the data is processed and enriched by means of artificial intelligence (AI) to create a guest profile like never before.

The cloud-based SAAS solution consists of 16 modules and is complemented by the dailypoint Marketplace with almost 200 solution partners. dailypoint not only offers measurable marketing, but also covers the entire customer journey and thus supports all departments within a hotel. The integrated Privacy Dashboard is also the central element for the technical implementation of the GDPR.

dailypoint is headquartered in Munich, Germany, and is sold and supported worldwide directly or through its distribution partners D-EDGE and XNProtel. For more information, please click www.dailypoint.com

Nadja Weindl

Referentin fur PR & Kommunikation

+49 89 1893569-0

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - It is well known to everyone that Burj Al Arab Jumeirah is an architectural marvel that has put Dubai on the world map. The sail-shaped hotel was designed to become the icon of Dubai; a hotel that reflected the emirates past and its future as well as its bold ambition to become one of the most culturally diverse and dynamic cities in the world. The all-suite hotel not only challenges the norms of hotel design but has also redefined the meaning of luxury hospitality in both Dubai and around the world. Dubai's most iconic hotel and a global icon of Arabian luxury, Burj Al Arab Jumeirah is the flagship hotel of Jumeirah Groups portfolio of exceptional properties, representing a timeless pinnacle of luxury.

In addition to being home to some of Dubais most exquisite destination dining experiences, from the Michelin starred, three Toque Al Muntaha and the ultimate lifestyle destination at SAL, to the first man-made luxury beach facility of its kind at The Terrace with 24 luxury private cabanas, including 8 Royal Cabanas, we have wrapped up 6 facts that youve probably didnt know about Burj Al Arab Jumeirah but are key contributors to creating a memorable experience.

Arrive in style: Burj Al Arab Jumeirah offers its own fleet of Rolls-Royces available for guests transfers to and from Dubai International Airport or around the emirate. For the ultimate arrival, guests can arrive by helicopter, landing on the iconic cantilevered helipad, suspended 212 meters above sea level. A golden dream: The interiors of Burj Al Arab Jumeirah are gilded in 24-carat gold, with approximately 2,000sqm of 24-carat gold leaf used to embellish the hotels opulent interiors. Taking wellness to the next level: Located on the 25th floor, Talise Spa at Burj Al Arab Jumeirah is the first and only location in the Middle East  and second worldwide after the luxurious Capri Palace Jumeirah  to offer guests the exclusive Leg School. Known throughout the world for its excellence in the prevention and cure of cellulite, water retention and all vascular problems in the legs, the unique programme has been developed over several years of practice and research to help improve blood circulation of the lower limbs. The methodology, formulated and patented by Professor Francesco Canonaco, consists of the application of rich active substances and vaso-active elements, which produce a bio-stimulation on the outer and innermost layers of skin increasing elasticity and preventing stretch marks. Michelin star dining: Burj Al Arab Jumeirahs exceptional culinary talent and gastronomic experiences have been lauded in the inaugural Michelin Guide Dubai 2022, with its signature restaurant, Al Muntaha, gaining one Michelin star for its outstanding expertise and artistry. Serving up the finest Italian cuisine by acclaimed Chef Saverio Sbaragli, the stunning restaurant was recognised for its harmony of flavours and spectacular setting overlooking the city and crystalline Arabian Gulf. Soak up the luxury with your own butler: The Burj Al Arab Jumeirah Terrace is a remarkable, one-of-a-kind restaurant, pool, beach and cabana space, offering hotel guests and Burj Al Arab members the finest Arabian hospitality. The private 10,000sqm outdoor luxury leisure facility stretches 100 metres out into the sea and is home to SAL Restaurant and two stunning pools, ideal for relaxing, cooling down and soaking up the Arabian sun within plush surroundings. The private cabanas offer unrivalled poolside facilities along with dedicated butler service, a dining, beverage and bar menu, spa menu, fully stocked mini-bars, espresso machines, as well as a private bathroom, shower area and a veranda overlooking the sea. 24-Carat Gold Cappuccino: Burj Al Arab Jumeirah is offering guests the chance to indulge in a cappuccino sprinkled with 24-carat gold flakes. Dubais most iconic hotel introduced The Ultimate Gold Cappuccino served at its Sahn Eddar lounge, which is located within the hotels atrium, from 8am to 11pm. The coffee is made using 100% Arabica beans, mixed with foamed milk that is then blended with 24-carat gold. The drink boasts the hotels iconic sail-shaped design, and is served alongside a Grand Cru Guanaja, a chocolate marshmallow also sprinkled with gold.

To find out more about Burj Al Arab Jumeirah, click here or to make a reservation, please contact [email protected] or call +971 4 364 7194. Stay connected via our social media channels and dont forget to tag us in your posts with #TimeExceptionallyWellSpent.

About Burj Al Arab Jumeirah

Dubai's most iconic hotel and a global icon of Arabian luxury, Burj Al Arab Jumeirah is the flagship hotel of Jumeirah Groups portfolio of exceptional properties, representing a timeless pinnacle of luxury.

One of the worlds most photographed superstructures and the jewel in Dubais crown, the elegant sail-shaped hotel redefines the meaning of luxury hospitality in both Dubai and around the world. From the moment guests walk into the iconic all-suite hotel, they are transported to a world of unparalleled luxury where anything is possible thanks to the teams unwavering dedication to exceptional service. Boasting the largest Swarovski crystal ceiling in the world with 21,000 crystals, and 24,000 sqm of staturio marble, as well as 2,000 sqm of 24-carat gold leaf, the interior design embodies impressive palatial proportions and a blended vibrant colour palette, with exquisite materials and original design features.

Dedicated to creating memorable moments, Burj Al Arab Jumeirah is home to some of Dubais most exquisite destination dining experiences, from the Michelin starred, three Toque Al Muntaha and the ultimate lifestyle destination at SAL, to the first man-made luxury beach facility of its kind at The Terrace with 24 luxury private cabanas, including 8 Royal Cabanas. Guests can also indulge in 13 luxurious treatment and therapy rooms at Talise Spa, including the exclusive Leg School treatment, formulated and patented by Professor Francesco Canonaco at Capri Beauty Farm.

In 2022, The hotel was awarded Leading Luxury Hotel and Best Hotel Interior Design at Leaders in Hospitality Awards. Burj Al Arab Jumeirah was also recognised as the Number One City Hotel in North Africa and the Middle East by Travel + Leisure, as well as Middle Easts Leading All Suite Hotel at World Travel Awards.

About Jumeirah Group

Jumeirah Group, the global luxury hotel company and a member of Dubai Holding, operates and manages a world-class portfolio of 15 properties in the Middle East including the flagship Burj Al Arab, 5 properties in Europe and 4 in Asia with10 properties currently under construction around the globe. www.jumeirah.com.
Today HSMAI Region Europe are proud to announce the collaboration with MRK Associates  a recruitment and career advisory company specialising in finance and revenue management jobs based out of the UK.

HSMAI Europe has a clear vision to grow our offering to the hospitality industry in the UK and beyond. We see many synergies between us, and our members will gain immensely from this partnership. You will meet them in London during HSMAI Europe ROC on January 19th. Ingunn Hofseth, President & CEO of HSMAI Region Europe

MRK Associates work with employers on talent planning strategies and shorter-term skills sourcing whilst working with individuals on their long-term career paths and skills development.

HSMAI Europe aims to be a key influencer, pioneer and the go-to industry resource for professional development, commercial strategies and sustainability in the hospitality industry. HSMAI  Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International  is a global organization founded in the US in 1927. HSMAI Region Europe is the European arm of the organization and became pan European in 2016.

It is with great excitement and huge pride that MRK Associates have signed both the membership and partnership agreement with HSMAI Europe, a trusted and highly regarded association leading their field. We believe there is a strong alignment between the vision and values of both organizations as we aim to continue to promote revenue management as a mainstream career across Europe. We have common goals to become the go-to organizations in nurturing talent in the sector, driving professional development and improving opportunities for the next generation. As the first and leading specialist revenue management recruitment business in the UK, this will allow us to further provide our trusted service and expertise to hospitality organizations across Europe. We look forward to the many other exciting announcements to follow. Roland Seddon, Founder and Managing Director of MRK Associates

For more information about HSMAI Europe please visit www.hsmai.eu.

For more information about MRK Associates please visit www.mrkassociates.co.uk.

About HSMAI Europe

The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) Region Europe is committed to growing business for the hotel, event and travel industry and their partners, and is the industry's leading advocate for intelligent, sustainable revenue growth on a local, national and European level. The association provides practical tools, insights, and cutting-edge expertise to enable knowledge sharing and enhance professional development as well as fuel sales, inspire marketing, transform businesses digitally and optimise revenue.

Ingunn Hofseth

CEO & President, HSMAI Europe

HSMAI Europe
Its officially time for businesses to get their hands out of the cookie jar  the internet cookie jar, that is. In January 2020, Google announced its intentions to overhaul Chrome by removing cookies and, in turn, better protect users' privacy as they browse the web. Fast forward to today, and the search engine giant has scrapped its original plan to transition to Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) in favor of a new system called Topics, expected to materialize in 2024. Although the jury is still out on when this transition will reach its completion  and whether or not it will have a meaningful impact on user privacy  one thing remains certain: the days of internet cookies are coming to an end sooner rather than later.

Of course, it could also be argued that this is not a new development; after all, other search engines, including Safari, Firefox, and Brave, have already restricted the use of cookies. However, it's essential to acknowledge the market share which Google Chrome captures. Chrome hogs 63 percent of the global browser market and, in many ways, sets the standards accepted across the industry. Whether you love or hate Google doesnt particularly matter in this case; Google still runs the digital world, and its big-picture influence is impossible to ignore.

The reasoning for the inevitable phase-out of cookies, Google argues, is that "Users are demanding greater privacy  including transparency, choice, and control over how their data is used  and its clear the web ecosystem needs to evolve to meet these increasing demands. While this may be true, it represents a significant challenge for businesses, especially those in industries that rely heavily on collecting user data over digital mediums to inform a more personalized browsing experience.

As you might have guessed, the hospitality industry falls heavily into this bucket. Today's guests come to the table with exceptionally stringent rules of engagement; hotels must offer a highly personalized experience that is equal parts high-touch and high-tech while still adhering to emerging data privacy regulations. This begs the question  with the digital cookie jar officially closed for business, how will hotels capture guest data to offer a more personalized and memorable experience?

A Glimpse Into a Cookie-less Future

In simple terms, cookies store unique identifiers (like session IDs) about your computer to identify you as an individual visitor. These cookies are then sent back to the server each time your browser requests a new page, which helps websites remember you, your preferences, and your habits online.

According to research, 62% of customers prefer personalized products and services, but almost the same number (61%) feel like they have lost control over how companies use their information. Weve found ourselves at a critical inflection point, it would seem, where consumers remain conflicted in their continued embrace of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, personalized experiences are significantly more satisfying than the alternative, but on the other hand, personalization comes at a price: user data. Until now, consumers have been the ones to foot that bill, and perhaps, as we move forward into this new and largely uncharted terrain, they are ready to flip that script.

In a cookie-less future, hospitality websites must capture and store user data using new methods. But perhaps, its time for businesses  specifically, hospitality brands  to step up to the plate and offset the price travelers have traditionally paid for a personalized experience. Perhaps, its time to stop treating guest data as something inherently given and instead view it as something that should be earned.

A Mutually Beneficial Arrangement

Rather than interpreting Googles shifts as a threat to business, or the hospitality industry at large, I urge hoteliers to look at it as an opportunity for enhanced connection with guests, especially in the realm of guest loyalty. After all, guests arent inherently against sharing their information with hotels; they simply arent willing to hand it over for free anymore. Research indicates that most consumers (65%) are willing to share their personal information with a brand or retailer in exchange for more personalized shopping experiences, coupons, or other benefits. Moreover, almost four out of five (79%) of consumers agree that the more personalization tactics a brand uses, the more loyal they are to that brand. Finally, 90% of all travelers expect a personalized experience when they book a hotel.

To incentivize guest behavior, platforms like Laasie aim to offer instant gratification at every touch-point. With Laasies exclusive network of over 1,000 rewards partners, hotels can now provide their guests instant gratification at every touch-point. Rather than relying on a legacy, volume-based points model, hotels can build a reciprocal relationship with guests.

Using a modern, AI-powered loyalty platform, hotels can finally reward guests for their actions (even beyond the booking decision) to generate guest insights at every turn. By shifting our industrys approach to guest loyalty, hotels can effectively earn the guest data they hope to capture, which will not only maximize conversion but empower a better guest experience, and higher lifetime value attributed to each guest. The best part? The personalization offered to guests  and subsequently, the relationship shared between guests and their favorite hotels  will only improve with time. No cookies needed.

Ellis Connolly

Chief Revenue Officer

Laasie
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Free Presentation on the New Berkshire Bird Banding Station

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  The Hoffmann Bird Club of Berkshire County announced a presentation free and open to the public on Monday, Nov. 7, 2022, at 7:00 PM, at the Guardian Life Insurance Company, 700 South Street, Pittsfield, MA 01201.

The program, "Berkshire Bird Observatory: Origins, Current Projects and Tales from the Field" will be by Ben Nickley, Founder and Director of "Berkshire Bird Observatory."

This is also the Monthly Meeting of the Hoffman Bird Club.

Nickley will discuss Berkshire Bird Observatory's (BBO) origins, aims, current research projects and future endeavors. He'll also show pictures of birds in hands and relate stories from our pilot Spring, Summer and Fall seasons at Jug End State Reservation.

Nickley is a researcher with a passion for birds and the natural landscapes they inhabit. Over the past several years Nickley has traveled across North America to do field studies in many places, mixing in college and grad school along the way.

Of all the places they've been--from the Cypress swamps of the Southeast to the high meadows of the Sierra Nevada--they love nothing more than the Northeastern Deciduous Forest.

BBO contributes data to Green Berkshires' four-year South Taconic biodiversity mapping project. Nickley hopes to garner continued support from the Berkshire community to ensure the longevity of BBO as a social, scientific and conservation institution in this wonderful region.
Heather Boulger, center with her mother Donna Putnam and Mayor Jennifer Macksey, is being recognized as a Life Member of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. She was celebrated Tuesday night at Brayton School. PreviousNext

Former North Adams School Committee Member Honored for Service



Cake and coffee is served at the conclusion of Tuesday's meeting. NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  Heather Putnam Boulger spent 24 years as a member of the School Committee until stepping down from last year's election.

But her long service hasn't been forgotten: Boulger is being honored with a Massachusetts Association of School Committees' Life Member Award.

The award will be presented at the MASC annual conference in Hyannis on Friday but the School Committee, friends and family celebrated the honor with cake after Tuesday's meeting. She is one of only two North Adams committee members honored as life members, the other being John Hockridge in 2017.

"Heather has demonstrated a passion for quality education, and the idea that it is the community's responsibility to provide resources that invest in our children's future," Superintendent Barbara Malkas read from the letter announcing the award. "Additionally, and beyond the School Committee, however, Heather has proven herself to be a community partner in many other ways."

Boulger knew about the award  she'd gotten a letter from MASC a couple weeks ago  but not the local celebration. Her husband, Patrick, had lured her to Brayton School by telling her it was an event for a friend.

"It was a nice surprise, I'm very overwhelmed, very thankful and appreciative of the nomination," she said.

Boulger, executive director of MassHire, also served for eight years on the McCann School Committee and on the boards of the former Berkshire Chamber of Commerce, the state Department of education Community Service Advisory Committee, the 1Berkshire Economic Development Council, the Berkshire Council for Growth, Childcare of the Bekrshires, Junior Achievement and the Business and Professional Women's Association. She most recently was named to the Council on Aging.

During her six, four-year terms, Boulger worked with three mayors and three superintendents  Joseph Rogge, James Montepare and Malkas  and served on every subcommittee but one. She left the committee last year as its longest serving member and who had been vice chair "as long as anyone can remember."

One of the mayors she worked with, Richard Alcombright, nominated her for the award.

"The lifetime achievement award for you, Heather, can be for your School Committee work," said Alcombright, elected to the committee last fall. "But it could also be an lifetime achievement for all your work with in the greater Berkshire region and all the committees that you served on. ...

"It can also be a lifetime achievement award for being a wonderful colleague ... It can also be a lifetime achievement award, Heather, for being a wonderful neighbor."

Alcombright said Boulger, who lives on the same street as he, often drops by with cookies. He said the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, referring to her parents Donna and Herbert Putnam, saying their daughter is "a wonderful credit to the community."

Boulger was congratulated by former committee colleagues William Schrade Jr. and, through Malkas, by Hockridge, who was unable to attend, state Rep. John Barrett III, mayor when she was first elected to the committee in 1998.

Donna Putnam, who attended the gathering, said her daughter "was in charge" since kindergarten, recalling how she insisted her mother come into the classroom so she could explain it all to her.

"She took care of the other students," Putnam said. "Her thinking is that we could do with a little more kindness."




iciHaiti - Drama : A 4-year-old Haitian child dies burned alive





Tuesday, November 1st, a 4-year-old Haitian child died burned alive in the house where he lived in the community of Los Miches in Dajabon.



Arriving quickly on the scene, the fire department units in front of the violence of the flames could only contain the fire and prevent the spread to neighboring houses. The victim's father and another of his 9-year-old children managed to get out of the furnace. Burned to varying degrees, they were rushed to the Ramon Matias Mella Hospital where they received first aid.



The house of this Haitian family was completely destroyed by fire.



The National Police have opened an investigation. According to the first information, several gallons containing fuel were stored in the house, probably intended to supply clandestinely the black market in Haiti. A candle could be the cause of the accident.



S/ iciHaiti


















Canada: On 2 Nov, UNIFOR put out a statement recalling that only one in 10 crimes against journalists in being investigated worldwide. That's why UNIFOR is advocating for a plan of action to combat the harassment and abuse of journalists and media workers. While doing so they opted for a two-pronged approach: Supporting journalists who have been attacked and harassed and trying to stop the attacks themselves. The plan includes public awareness, internal awareness, creating and fostering supports for journalists and media workers, union leadership training and education. It also uses bargaining, health and safety, policing strategies, lobbying for stronger legislation and holding the internet platforms to account for the content they publish and much more.

Gambia: In the Gambia and elsewhere around the world, journalists continue to be harassed, attacked both physically and verbally, beaten, arrested, detained, threatened and killed for doing their job, the Gambia Press Union (GPU) says in a statement as it joins the rest of the world yesterday 2 November 2022 to mark the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes committed against Journalists.

India: To mark Impunity day, NUJI launched a campaign from 29 October to 1 November 2022 in different states (Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Jhansi, Bhopal) of India and on 2 November 2022. A big campaign will be launched in Delhi on 2 November in Delhi.

Pakistan: Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and its affiliates in different cities of Pakistan held different activities on the "End Impunity day". These two days activities were planned on November 2 and 3. Following the advice of the IFJ, the PFUJ asked its above 40 affiliated regional Unions to dedicate this years' activities to famous anchor. journalist Arshad Sharif who was killed in Kenya in a suspicious incident while the second aspect was to support the demand of " an international convention for the safety of journalists" to join hands with the IFJ. Different regional unions staged rallies, protests, issued posters with logos of PFUJ & IFJ to highlight the day bearing pictures of PFUJ President GM Jamali and Secretary General Rana Muhammad Azeem, held discussions to emphasize the impunity in crimes against journalists in Pakistan and held candle vigils in memory of the journalists who were killed in previous year.

Spain: On 2 November, The Madrid Press Association (APM) will inaugurate a space in its headquarters that will serve as a tribute to the Spanish journalists murdered in the exercise of their profession. A photo of each journalist will be displayed. The tribute includes a musical performance. Admission to the event, which will take place in the APM's Assembly Hall (Calle Claudio Coello, 98), is free until full capacity is reached. All those interested in attending should register on this form. Media wishing to be accredited to cover the event should write to comunicacion@apmadrid.es.

Sri Lanka: On 2 November, Free Media Movement will launch a social media campaign to End Impunity for Crime Against Journalists. It will also inaugurate an awareness-raising campaign carried out in the Northern and Eastern Provinces where a large number of journalists were victimized, and in Colombo in the southern part of the country. Leaflets on the End of Impunity for Crime Against Journalists will be distributed in public places in the above-mentioned areas in the country.

Serbia: On 2 November, the Independant Journalists' Association of Serbia will publish a video about the state of impunity in the Western Balkans. All Western Balkan countries (ALB, BIH, CRO, KO, MNE, NM and SRB) will publish the video. Also, all their network members (BH Journalists, croatian Journalists Association, Association of journalists of Kosovo, Association of journalists of Macedonia, Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia and Trade Union of Media of Montenegro) are signing the IFJ Convention and publishing a joint statement.

Somalia: To mark the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), with technical support from the International Labor Organization (ILO), has on 2 November released a damning report that exposes the depth of impunity and crimes committed against journalists, while calling on the Federal Government of Somalia to reaffirm, recommit and reposition to advance the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity.

Switzerland: Syndicom will support the convention on the safety of journalists and spread the IFJ call. It will show solidarity with world journalists.

UK and Ireland: On 2 November, the NUJ will host a webinar to mark the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists. The union will launch a short safety film featuring members sharing moving testimony about abuse, harassment and intimidation encountered simply for doing their jobs. NUJ will also highlight a new mobile safety toolkit to help journalists protect themselves and their sources and technological ways to secure communications. The toolkit covers physical safety, information security, mental health care, health and safety at work and gives advice on how to take action against abuse on social media platforms.

Latin America-Caribbean: On 2 November, the Federation of Journalists of Latin America and the Caribbean (FEPALC) and UNESCO Montevideo will organise an online event to mark the International Day to End Impunity for crimes against journalists to discuss the situation of impunity and journalists' safety in the region. IFJ Senior Vice President and ANP President, Zuliana Lainez and FEPALC President, Fabian Cardozo will participate in the event, which will be broadcasted live on FEPALC's Facebook at 16:00 (ARG/BRA/UY), 13:00 (MEX/CR) and 2:00 (PER/COL). Check the program.
A new report released today by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) calls on the international community to increase pressure on Myanmars military junta to guarantee the safety of all Burmese citizens and call for a return to democracy in the war-torn country. Launched on the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, the IFJ condemns the military juntas gross violations of human rights in Myanmar, the ongoing persecution of journalists and attacks on independent media.

The Revolution Will Not Be Broadcast  Myanmar: IFJ Situation Report 2022 brings together the lived experiences of Burmese journalists and media workers living under the junta and in exile and highlights the gross human rights violations wrought against Myanmar civilians.

The report highlights inadequate global action to reject the junta and restrict the suppression and brutal campaign of aggression against Myanmars citizens. Critically, the report recommendations call on ASEAN for a stronger response to the junta ahead of the ASEAN summit on November 10-13, given the failures of the blocks five-point consensus on Myanmar. To date, the military continues to show flagrant disregard to regional and international efforts to cease the arbitrary violence, killing and intimidation against its own people.

As of the reports release, 59 journalists and media workers remain incarcerated by the junta in Myanmar. At least 2,371 people have been killed by the military, including four media workers since February 2021. Today, the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) 2022 Global Impunity Index listed Myanmar as the eight worst country worldwide for impunity, its first year ever being placed on the index.

The IFJ highlighted the important national and regional actions of IFJ affiliates and civil society. In Indonesia, the Aliansi Jurnalis Independ (AJI) Indonesia and other pro-democracy activists filed a petition to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia to allow Indonesian courts to prosecute human rights violation cases from Myanmar through the Indonesian legal system. In Timor-Leste, the Conselho de Imprensa (Press Council) of Timor-Leste (CITL) expressed serious concerns at the misleading representation of the situation of press freedom in Myanmar at the Dili Dialogue Forum by a representative of the Myanmar Press Council.

The IFJ said that governments must work urgently to coordinate on action to hold the junta to account. The report also underlines that journalists, media organisations and civil society members also have a significant role in drawing attention to the atrocities committed in Myanmar and combatting misinformation.

The IFJ is continuing to dedicate support to Burmese journalists since the coup in February 2021, working in solidarity with media workers amid immeasurable challenges and in the face of ongoing persecution. In 2022, the IFJs program of support, funded by Norsk Journalistlag, is assisting media workers to combat wage theft, strengthen networks both in Myanmar and in exile, and provide support to journalists currently detained.

Key findings and recommendations in the report:

The international community must do all it can to resolve the crisis and hold perpetrators of gross violations of international human rights law accountable for the heinous crimes against the people of Myanmar, including the use of laws to sanction violators of international human rights outside the country.

The international community must do more to guarantee the Safety of Journalists and Human Rights in Myanmar and to reject the military junta in every possible forum and event where such participation on serves to give a voice to a regime that is slaughtering, torturing and jailing its citizens.

A lifeline of support should be provided for journalists and media workers endeavouring to continue to report while living under the coup, as well as those continuing to tell the story of Myanmars people from its borders and beyond.

The military junta must cease its restrictions on internet access, including surveillance, censorship, and shutdowns, and protect the people of Myanmars fundamental rights to freedom of expression, access to information and privacy, as guaranteed under international human rights law.

ASEAN must take urgent and serious steps to act on its pledges to press the junta to end its continued human rights and freedom of expression violations. ASEAN must set clear demands and a deadline for the release of political prisoners and an end to the attacks on civilians or face clear penalties should it fail to meet them.

Journalists, media organisations and civil society members have a significant role to play in drawing the attention of local governments to the atrocities committed in Myanmar, combatting misinformation and encouraging further sanctioning of the military regime.

Governments bordering Myanmar must immediately stop the return of asylum seekers or refugees in the region back to the country and create specific provisions for journalists and media workers forced into exile for simply doing their jobs. The global community must also take note to seriously increase humanitarian intake of Burmese refugees.

A full list of recommendations is included in the report, available here.

The IFJ said:The International Federation of Journalists calls on governments, ASEAN, journalists, media organisations, and civil society members to take every action possible to address the heinous human rights violations committed by the military junta in Myanmar. The IFJ stands in solidarity with our Burmese colleagues and commends the brave work of the countrys media, both inside Myanmar and those in exile, in resisting the militarys impositions and continuing to report in the face of severe challenges.
Broadcast journalist Mohamed Isse Hassan, a reporter for M24 TV, was killed in a double car bomb blast in Mogadishu on October 29. Three other media workers were injured in the blast. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its Somali affiliate, the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) condemn the killing of Hassan and urge the government to guarantee the safety of journalists and media workers in the country.

Hassan is the second journalist to be assassinated in Somalia this year, after reporter Ahmed Mohamed Shukur was killed in a landmine blast on September 30.

According to NUSOJs statement, Hassan together with three other media workers, -Feisal Omar Hashi, a stringer for Reuters, Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulle for VOA Somali and M24 TV and Bile Abdisalan Ahmed, a camera assistant-, left their offices to investigate an explosion at the building of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Higher Education in Mogadishu on 29 October . The second bomb, which killed Hassan and injured the three media workers among others, was detonated after people had gathered at the scene.

NUSOJ Secretary General Oman Faruk Osman said: It is with a heavy heart that we again have to witness the violent death of yet another journalist in the space of just 30 calendar days. We condemn this outrageous and cowardly attack in which all the victims are innocent people including journalists who went to the scene to report on what happened.

IFJ Secretary General Anthony Bellanger said: The IFJ is deeply saddened by the killing of Hassan, the second journalist murdered in Somalia this year. We urge the government to immediately launch an investigation and to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Yemen: YJS reports 21 media violations against media in the third quarter of 2022

Twenty-one media violations have been recorded in the third quarter of 2022, according to a report published by the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate, an International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) affiliate. The IFJ joins YJS in urging the Yemeni government and other armed groups to release all jailed journalists and to stop this crackdown on media and journalists.

An image made available by al-Huthi Media Office on September 21, 2022 shows a military parade in the capital Sanaa, as the Huthi's marked the eighth anniversary of their seizure of the capital. Al-Huthi Group Media Office / AFP

The report focuses on events that occurred between 1 July and the end of September 2022. During this period IFJ Yemeni affiliate has recorded 21 cases of violations against media or journalists including trials and interrogations (23,8%), detention (14,3%) and failure to implement verdicts (14,3%).

According to the report, the perpetrators of these violations are mostly the Houthi group (52%), the principal governments opponents. Other attackers include the Yemeni government (19%) and the STC (Southern Transitional Council, a secessionist organisation in South Yemen) forces (19%).

YJS recalls that 10 journalists remain in detention, 9 still detained by the Houthi group in Sanaa, including four sentenced to death: Abdul-Khaleq Amran, Tawfiq Al-Mansoori, Akram Al-Walidi, and Harith Hamid . The IFJ has launched a campaign to release them .

Four others have disappeared: Waheed Al-Sufi, Younes Abdel Salam, Muhammad Ali Al-Junaid, Muhammad Al-Salahi since april 2015.

Journalist Ahmed Maher is still being held by Transitional Council forces in Aden.

Journalist Mohammad Qaid al-Muqari has been held by Al Qaeda since October 2015.

Concerning the three cases of detentions (Two kidnappings and one detention) especially, the Houthi group, the Yemeni government and the STC forces were responsible for one case each.

YJS says, All detained journalists live in bad and harsh conditions and are denied the right to visits, medical treatment and care.

The union also denounces the impunity; with the judicial system using its power to harass journalists.

In its report, YJS calls for the release of all journalists kidnapped, the end of attacks against unions, the investigation of all crimes against media professionals and an end to involving journalists in political conflicts.

IFJ Secretary General, Anthony Bellanger said We are saddened to read this report from our affiliate about the unacceptable environment in which journalists and media professionals work in Yemen. We renew our call for the release of all detained colleagues, including those on death row. We further urge the Yemenite authorities to implement the recommendations in the YJS report.
In a week crucial to the future of their media, dozens of Hong Kong journalists, who relocated in recent years to the UK, gathered on 1 November at the London headquarters of the National Union of Journalists of UK and Ireland, an IFJ affiliate, to launch the Association of Overseas Hong Kong Media Professionals (AOHKPM).

The launch took place a few days after Jimmy Lai, founder of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, was convicted of fraud for allegedly breaching terms of the lease of his companys HQ  a verdict widely condemned as based on trumped-up charges. Having already spent 20 months in prison, Lai is awaiting trial on more serious national security charges.

Many of the journalists, gathered at the meeting, deplored the steady decline of what was once an independent vibrant media and the use a new National Security Law to shutter independent media, stifle press freedom and restrict the freedom of information. Other prominent journalists have also been charged and await court appearance.

Among many objectives agreed, the AOHKMP pledged to focus international attention on the harassment, jailing and denial of freedom to operate for journalists based in Hong Kong and to work for the restoration of freedom of expression. One of its main aims would also be to provide mutual assistance for professional media workers from Hong Kong who have relocated overseas.

Director Steve Vines said We have founded this association to take advantage of living overseas in countries where freedom of expression prevails to highlight the ever-growing repression of media freedom in Hong Kong. We do so in the knowledge that serious jeopardy faces anyone raising these issues in Hong Kong. And we intend to become a focus for mutual cooperation between members of the Hong Kong diaspora media community.

IFJ Treasurer Jim Boumelha conveyed the warm greetings of the world organisation and pledged full solidarity saying: The future seems bleak and we are all well aware of the new regime of fear in Hong Kong. But today this launch is important for those Hong Kong journalists who continue to fight day in day out to do their job as journalists. We applaud them for their determination in continuing to tell their stories under horrendous conditions, and their resilience in preserving their spirit of freedom. This is the spirit that journalists all over the world applaud every day and we pledge to give them support and do our utmost to stand shoulder to shoulder with them at every stage of their fight.
India has expressed serious concerns to Sri Lanka as the island nations tankers have been secretly refuelling Chinese Navy vessels on the high seas.

New Delhi has asked Sri Lanka to come up with transparent standard operation procedures (SOPs) for refuelling and docking of ships and not allow Chinese military vessels to either dock or refuel at Hambantota or Colombo ports, according to a report in the Hindustan Times based on information provided by diplomats in Colombo.

It was noticed that Sri Lankan vessels were loading fuel from Hambantota port and refuelling Chinese warships on the high seas despite Indian and US concerns on the issue, the report points out.

India has been rising to the occasion to provide fuel, food and medicines to Sri Lanka during the worst days of its economic crisis. However, Colombo does not appear to be living up to its promise when it comes to New Delhis sensitivities on the China issue.

Chinese warships have been using the anti-piracy pretext to deploy its warships off the coast of East Africa and the Gulf of Aden even though there is little or no pirate activity in the region. Refuelling of these ships by Sri Lanka helps them to continue with these operations which are emerging as a threat to peace in the Indian Ocean region.

The Sri Lanka government earlier bowed to Beijings arm-twisting in letting Chinese spy ship Yuan Wang 5 to dock at Hambantota despite Indias objections. Both India and the US had made it clear to Colombo that it should desist from extending any logistical support to Chinese Navy vessels.

While Chinas so-called research vessels such as Yuan Wang 5 are said to be carrying out hydrological surveys and metal prospecting, they are actually monitoring satellite activity and missile test firing in the region with a focus on India, US and Australia. This is an issue of serious concern.
Aviram Rozin and his wife, Yorit Rozin came to India for the first time in 1998 and immediately fell in love with the county.

"We landed in Tamil Nadu and never felt like we were in a different country or place, we felt like coming home. We loved everything here and the people. So we decided to move to India a couple of years later," Aviram Rozin who was born in Israel, but now calls India home says.

Sadhana Forest

How Sadhana forest was founded

Born in a satellite town of Tel Aviv, Aviram Rozin was a successful businessman and the CEO of a medical devices company.



But in the early 2000s, he decided to reinvent his life, away from the hustle and bustle of business.

"I decided that I want to move on and do something different in life, something that is not career or money-oriented, something that is more of a service. But I didn't know how that would look like," Rozin told Indiatimes.

Sadhana Forest

That pursuit took the couple and their daughter to Auroville in Tamil Nadu.

In December 2003 they started a forestation and water conservation drive on a 70-acre plot, which has now grown into Sadhana Forest, a self-sustaining green patch that is now teeming with wildlife.

Sadhana Forest

Vegan food, no smoking and drinking

"We wanted to live life the way we wanted to. There was no intention to turn this into anything big or start an organization. All those things evolved naturally. We started living and planning the saplings here. In a matter of days we got some volunteers, then more and more came. Within a month we had some twenty volunteers staying with us in makeshift accommodation," he said.

The 'rules' were simple - the guests will be served vegan food, and there was no smoking and drinking allowed.

This, Rozin said he felt would make it 'unattractive' for most people, especially for the youth. But to his pleasant surprise, the opposite happened.

Sadhana Forest

Living Atithi Devo Bhava

"Our gate is like a railway station in India, people are walking in and out all the time. We offer a free tour to anyone who comes here, and if they are coming during meal hours, they will get a free vegan breakfast, lunch or dinner depending on what time of the day it is. People are so appreciate and I think that for many it symbolises the guest is god concept," he said.

Natural selection

Another interesting thing Rozin said he noticed while growing the forest is how nature selects what is best suited for a particular environment.

Sadhana Forest

"We started with water conservation because when you do that you almost don't need to plant the trees. The water makes the soil fertile and other plants grow by themselves. The water also attracts birds and animals who then defecate the seeds which will later grow into plants and trees. So nature chooses its own spices," he said.



Today the 70 acres of the forest have a large variety of flora and fauna including animals such as peacocks, wild boars, rabbits, civet cats, jackals, foxes, etc.

Sadhana Forest

Keeping wildlife and volunteers together

Having such a high density of wildlife at a location that is frequented by visitors can be tricky and uncomfortable for both sides.



But Rozin says Sadhana forest has managed to strike a balance between the two to coexist without one disturbing the other.

"We maintain the balance by separating where we live and where the animals are. The forest is largely undisturbed and we hardly go there. If we have to into the forest, we follow a specific path where people can see the forest and wildlife and not roaming into the wilderness and interfere with the animals," he said.

Sadhana Forest

Sadhana forest to Haiti and Kenya

After tasting success in India, Rozin took the concept of the Sadhana forest to Haiti and Kenya.



"In 2010 immediately after the earthquake in Haiti we started the Sadhana forest there. In 2014 we also started Sadhana Forest in Samburu County. We don't feel the pressure to millions of trees, but every tree we plant, we take good care of it and also add value for the people," he said.

Sadhana Forest

Life of compassionate action

Rozin says his forest and lifestyle are based on his take on veganism, which is one based on compassionate action.



"The message that we want to send out is to turn compassion into action. If we can wear the glasses of compassion when we make decisions on life, food, building our house or even interacting with people, we have to think if it is compassionate, or can we do better, that is what we are trying to inculcate, Not in words, but in action - when you eat, eat food that is compassionate, when you build something do it compassionately, when you employ someone treat them compasionalty," he said.

Sadhana Forest

Vegan forest festival

Pre-COVID-19 Sadhana Forest used to have well over 1000 volunteers from across the world in a year.

As the world is slowly coming out of the clutches of COVID-19 Sadhana Forest is also spreading its message about compassionate living through a Vegan Forest Festival, a three-day event in February 2023, which Rozin said will be free for all attendees.

For more on news, sports, and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
As part of marvel-ous efforts by cops, four "superheroes," who were members of a special Peruvian police squad pretending to be doing promotion for a Halloween concert, arrested drug dealers.

To achieve a significant drug bust during Halloween celebrations, Peruvian officers masquerading as characters from the popular Marvel "Avengers" franchise blended in with trick-or-treaters.

The clever move on the drug lords was conducted on Saturday during a scheme to promote a Halloween concert involving four officers costumed as Spider-Man, Captain America, Thor, and Black Widow, according to the Peruvian National Police.



The crime-fighting superheroes, who went by the name of "Marvel," patrolled one of Peru's most violent neighborhoods, San Juan de Lurigancho, in quest of a specific house.



According to authorities, when Spider-Man and his friends arrived, the officers used special equipment to break down a steel door before turning their guns on each criminal gang.

Police successfully confiscated 287 bags of cocaine, 3,250 little packages of basic cocaine paste, a crude extract of the coca leaf, and 127 bags of marijuana during the operation, which ended in the arrest of three men and one woman.

The suspects reportedly believed it was a joke when the superheroes broke through the door, but several other unmasked officers followed them inside.

"In this building, an entire family was dedicating themselves to the micro-commercialization of drugs. The drugs were going to be sold in a park nearby," said police Colonel David Villanueva.

(For the latest trending stories, keep reading Indiatimes)


One of Hinduism's most treasured holy texts, the Bhagavad Gita, profoundly influences its devotees. It is a dialogue between Lord Krishna and Arjuna, as told by Bhishma Parva, and it imparts to humanity a message of peace, freedom, harmony, and numerous other aspects.

If you've always been intrigued by the teachings of Gita but never had the time and patience to read it, a follower found the best way to summarise everything noteworthy.

A woman shared a Twitter thread on the core concepts from each of its chapters; it rapidly gained traction and prompted several responses.

"It took me four months to finish reading Bhagavad Gita, but you can learn all of it in two minutes. Here are the chapter-wise takeaways:" Twitter user Shweta Kukreja shared the thread on Twitter.



Kukreja summarized the main concepts from each of the 18 chapters in her ensuing threads so that readers could get a quick overview of the holy book.

It took me 4 months to finish reading Bhagawad Gita but you can learn all of it in 2 mins.



Here are the chapter-wise takeaways:  Shweta Kukreja (@ShwetaKukreja_) October 31, 2022

She began by explaining how Arjuna's attachment to his family caused him to develop false views in the first chapter.

Later, after realizing that knowledge was the answer to all of his problems, he surrendered himself to Krishna.

Chapter 1: Negative mindset is the problem.



Arjuna was overpowered by his attachment to his kith and kin. The problem was his wrong thinking and he ended up making false judgements.  Shweta Kukreja (@ShwetaKukreja_) October 31, 2022

She said that "every act can be made an act of prayer" and that "selflessness is the only key to progress."

She explains that a true karma yogi dedicates all of his actions to the All-Powerful and is not concerned with the outcome. This facilitates ego renunciation, self-control development, and bliss retention.

Kukreja also sheds light on meditation and how it aids in self-discovery and connection with one's inner self. She also emphasizes two fundamental principles that one should always follow.

They are to value their blessings and never give up on themselves.

Chapter 10: See divinity



Meditation helps you unlock the miracles of life. The entire universe is the divine manifestation of god.  Shweta Kukreja (@ShwetaKukreja_) October 31, 2022

Her subsequent thread stresses the need to embrace the divine and perceive reality as it is. Additionally, one must live per their goal and have no attachments to materialistic things.



Krishna addresses the significance of virtues above vices in the following chapter, stressing the need for patience, self-control, humility, and truthfulness.

Kukreja also says that one should constantly let go of inhibitions and choose what is right over pleasurable.

Chapter 17: Choose right over pleasant



You can have the power of choosing right over the pleasant by acquiring knowledge and living life as a Satvic.  Shweta Kukreja (@ShwetaKukreja_) October 31, 2022

Chapter 18: Let go



Renunciation doesn't mean abandoning real life or living with indifference to the world. It simply means living as a Karma yogi and letting go of all the things that hold you back and moving forward.  Shweta Kukreja (@ShwetaKukreja_) October 31, 2022

Since being shared on October 31 on Twitter, the thread has received more than 40k likes and over 10k retweetsproving that Gita remains a constructive text that guides people in almost every aspect of their lives.



(For the latest trending stories, keep reading Indiatimes)


Daniel Marsh (pictured above), managing director of Blake Oliver Consulting, sees the budget initiatives as an opportunity.

I did find the investment in education by providing more TAFE and university places interesting, said the executive headhunter. This presents an ideal opportunity for the insurance industry to address the skills shortage by working with the education facilities to provide insurance relevant qualifications and pathways into the industry.

Marsh also welcomed other budget spends.

The investment in telecom and cybercrime will also be pleasing for insurers, he said. Its no secret that there continues to be an increase in cybercrime, therefore despite a tight fiscal environment, government spending in this area to maintain awareness and focus is vital.

Read next: Federal budget: Industry stakeholders give their reaction

Marsh said linking up these cyber investments with the budgets education sector initiatives could ease the insurance industrys skills shortage.

From a workforce perspective, Australia, along with the rest of the world, is suffering a skill gap in this area, he said. Linking back to the additional TAFE and university spaces, this is a great opportunity to address that through cyber apprenticeships and vocational qualifications.

Prue Willsford (pictured below), CEO of the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF) also welcomed the budgets boosts to education.

ANZIIF always welcomes further support for education, said Willsford. The insurance industry needs such a broad range of skills to solve the range of complex problems that we face, so general support for higher education is welcomed.

ANZIIF is the peak membership, education, training and professional development organisation for the insurance and finance industry in Australia and New Zealand.

The CEO said it remains imperative that the insurance industry focuses on investment in professional development of insurance skills for new entrants.

Over the last 15 years universities have retreated strongly from teaching risk and insurance skills as the volumes of students are not there to support the continuation of these degrees and post graduate studies, said Willsford.

She said given that the insurance industry is competing with other sectors for graduate talent, demonstrating and investing in a clear professional pathway is critical to attracting that talent.

Willsford called attention to the fact that the insurance industry cant expect to fill its talent gap by bringing in recruits from overseas.

The insurance industry is seen as a mature industry, and as such, has not and will not attract priority visas across the board, so our efforts must focus on competing for the existing talent, she said.

Read next: New industry initiative fights talent shortage

However, the CEO said the insurance industry can also focus on removing barriers to new entrants from overseas  in particular: understanding the relaxation of work requirements for visas [as] this is a rich source of either graduating or near graduating students that are keen to work, she said.

Willsford encouraged insurance companies to align their HR requirements to their visa requirements.

This initiative will also assist in increasing diversity through the attraction of foreign students who are keen to work and do further study in Australia, she said.

Willsford also encourages industry stakeholders to support ANZIIFs Careers in Insurance program that connects with universities and students. She said its a great way to find new talent.

In Treasurer Jim Chalmers federal budget, the government is delivering 480,000 fee-free TAFE and community-based vocational education places over four years. The first step, according to the online budget document, is entering a $1 billion agreement with the states and territories to provide the first 180,000 places in 2023.

The government is also providing a a one-off boost of 20,000 additional university places to help under-represented attend university and study in areas of in-demand skills. The places will target students from low socio-economic backgrounds, regional and remote areas, students who are the first in their family to attend university, First Nations students and students with a disability.
Complete this online form before the deadline on November 11, Friday.

Readers can nominate someone or put their name forward for the opportunity to be part of this prestigious list.

The best of the best will be featured in Insurance Business Americas online edition in February 2023.
Generalis innovative offering of cyber insurance services expands thanks to the partnership with Crawford, which will allow us to support customers even more effectively, said Massimo Orsini, cyber insurance head at the global corporate and commercial unit of Generali.

We will have a new service available for our offer of cyber insurance products, strengthening the groups position in the corporate and SME segments.

The cyber incident response and loss adjusting services to be provided are part of the Crawford Cyber Solution, which was introduced in 2015.

The outputs of our cyber network solution are clear: to minimize the impact of a cyber-related event on Generali customers business operations and brand reputation, added Crawfords chief executive for international operations, Andrew Bart.
As insurance capacity for certain risks becomes scarce, companies are increasingly turning to us for risk prevention and mitigation services that enable them to manage evolving risks more effectively, said Hanno Mijer (pictured above), global head of Zurich Resilience Solutions. Collaborating with WBN will significantly expand our reach and help us strengthen awareness of the importance of building resilience to emerging risks.

Zurich Resilience Solutions offering is unique in the marketplace, and we are delighted to be able to make their services available to our broker community, said Olga Collins, CEO of WBN. Resilience is critical in the current market environment and cannot be achieved through traditional risk transfer. Working with Zurich and leveraging their global capabilities will enable our members to better support our customers on these important issues.

Read next: WBN announces four new members, three board appointments

Climate change is making natural disasters such as storms, floods, droughts and wildfires more frequent and severe. Zurichs climate change resilience services can help customers better prepare for current and future physical risks associated with climate change, significantly reducing operational downtime after an event, the company said.

Insufficient attention to diversity and inclusion is also becoming a more severe business risk, impacting organizations financial performance and workforces. Zurich helps businesses to strategically assess DEI in their organizations and work to meet recognized standards and their individual goals.
Despite the mega-rounds, average deal size dropped 7.6% to $20.42 million in the third quarter. The decline reflected the volume of early-stage funding, Gallagher Re said. Total deal count rose 6.1% to 140 deals. The effect was most pronounced in L&H funding, which dropped from $917.85 million in the second quarter to $579.19 million in Q3. Deal size in that segment was also down, falling 38.6% to $15.24 million, averaged over 51 deals. Total funding of PP&C insurtechs rose 18.8% to $1.77 billion. (Re)insurers made 20 investments, pushing the market toward a three-year high for strategic funding, Gallagher Re reported.

Third-quarter investments this year were made at a particular inflection point for the global insurtech sector, said Dr. Andrew Johnson, global head of insurtech for Gallagher Re. Pressure is mounting on those companies that sold the idea of endless growth to secure funds. The extent to which some founders truly believed they could grow their businesses (to the degree they were indicating) in our industry will always be a topic for discussion, but it seems very clear now that the era of rushed growth for growth's sake at the expense of profitability is coming to a close.

Read next: Investors approach insurtech MGAs with newfound caution

Johnson said that hubristic rhetoric about disrupting the industry is declining as people realize that profitable carriers  no matter how outdated  intermediaries, and traditional markets are to be supported, not displaced.

Genuine disruption has been extremely limited despite almost $50 billion of global insurtech investment, Johnson said. Success has typically come only in areas where incumbents have been embraced and respected. Meanwhile, theres increasing pressure on risk-originating insurtechs operating as MGAs to begin partaking in the process of retaining risk, which in practice makes them look more like incumbents.

The Asia Pacific region saw its highest funding and deal count of the year so far in Q3, with APAC-based insurtechs raising a total of $999.77 million across 76 deals. In the third quarter, 53.5% of all disclosed APAC funding went to India-based insurtechs, which raised $210.76 million. In terms of deals ever completed, insurtechs from 18 APAC countries have raised $7.77 billion through 447 deals  17,71% of all insurtech fundraisings ever. During the first half of 2022, APAC hosted 11 mega-round deals and boasts three of the top 10 insurtech nations in terms of total funding contribution: China (in third place), India (fourth) and Singapore (ninth).
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Amid nationwide concern about school shootings and other violent incidents, all 24 Maryland school districts have employed school resource officers at some time since the 2016-2017 school year, and all but one retain them still.

But now, at least five years on, the state says it has no proof that resource officers make schools safer.

In Maryland, we have no data on whether or not actual school resource officers are effective (or) work or dont work, said Michael Rudinski, regional training and certification specialist for the Maryland Center for School Safety.

Even so, in a recent survey conducted by the Capital News Service, 34 school board candidates across the state cited school resource officers as the key to school safety. All 102 candidates who participated agreed that school safety is a problem that needs to be addressed, and many candidates suggested increased access to mental health services as another possible solution.

The survey also asked the candidates what the most important issue facing their school board is. Ten responded with school safety. The only issues that ranked more often as most important were pandemic-related learning loss, overall academic performance and the teacher shortage.

School Resource Officers

Rudinski explained that before the states Safe to Learn Act of 2018, there was no real definition of resource officers. The act defines school resource officers as law enforcement officers who have a memorandum of understanding between a local law enforcement agency and a local school system or who belong to the Baltimore City School Police Department.

Under the Safe to Learn Act, Rudinskis office at the State Department of Education had trained all school resource officers across the state by Sept. 1, 2019. The Maryland Center for School Safety trains officers to handle sensitive school situations, but school boards may put their own alternative training in place.

Not long after all that training concluded, though, the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered the schools. Rudinski said thats prevented his office from doing any long-term evaluation of how effective school resource officers really are.

School resource officers remain valuable despite the lack of data about their effectiveness, according to Christopher Fraley, Region 2 director for the National Association of School Resource Officers.

He stressed, though, that resource officers are located in schools to prevent trouble, but not to punish individual students.

One of the biggest things I think that sometimes comes into confusion is that SROs should not be used for disciplinary reasons, said Fraley, an Allegany County resident whose wife, Tammy Fraley, serves on Allegany Countys Board of Education.

SROs and the Candidates

School board candidates from across the state frequently mentioned school resource officers as the best way to keep schools safe. But those school cops do different things in different places, prompting some candidates to express concerns about how those officers are being used.

A Baltimore County District 4 candidate, Samay Kindra, said he was concerned that the county leads the state in arrests by resource officers.

This highlights the problem of unclear delineation between situations where law enforcement intervention is appropriate and where school-based administrative procedures are appropriate, Kindra said.

Howard County candidate Linfeng Chen, however, said resource officers play a vital role, especially now with the national concern about school staff shortages.

School resource officers are important to maintaining a safe environment for students to learn, Chen said. It makes sense to have SROs now more than ever if we consider staff shortages and increased school fighting and acting out issues.

Montgomery County stationed officers in schools beginning in 2002, prompted by the Columbine High School shootings in 1999, but in 2021  amid criticism that students of color were disproportionately subjected to discipline from SROs  the in-house school officer program was ended.

Now Montgomery County has another form of school resource officers called community engagement officers. The engagement officers are not permanently stationed inside schools, but schools can make requests for them to come to schools when needed.

But some Montgomery board candidates suggested that may not be enough. Scott Joftus, an incumbent board member running for re-election in District 3, said more unarmed security officials may be needed in the countys schools. And Joftus opponent, Julie Yang, also called for changes.

Recent incidents have exposed the need to improve our schools intercom system, training for staff on safety protocol procedures, and crisis communication with the community, Yang said.

Other Safety Measures

Other candidates stressed that school safety doesnt begin and end with school resource officers. Many board hopefuls suggested expanding access to mental health resources in the states schools, while others suggested combining that with additional security measures.

We need to make sure our buildings are safe, but we also need to address the mental health crisis within our student population, said Karin Miller, a board candidate in Wicomico Countys District 2. It should not be a question of school resource officers OR social workers; they both have a role to play in creating a safe atmosphere within our schools.

Rae Gallagher, a board candidate in Frederick County, agreed.

Safety of school buildings is extremely important, she said. The most effective strategies to reduce school shootings include incorporating programming that addresses student mental health, training teachers and educators on recognizing signs that a student may be considering harming oneself or others, ensuring that school buildings are secure, and partnering with policymakers at the state level on common sense gun laws.

Other candidates stressed that school resource officers and mental health access are just parts of what should be a comprehensive approach to school safety.

I will continue to advocate for funding for new clean energy school buildings that are built with the features of secure front entrances and modern doors and locks; improve safe walking paths to schools and advocate for a fully staffed crossing guard program; promote mitigating COVID-19 spread through a high vaccine rate; and, support budgets with increased services for bullying prevention and restorative approaches to conflict resolution, said Pamela Boozer-Strother, who is running for re-election in Prince Georges Countys District 3.

Luc Angelot, a candidate in Wicomico Countys District 1, said school safety has been on his mind for half his life.

I am very concerned about school safety, said Angelot, whos 18 years old. I was 9 years old when the Sandy Hook shooting took place. My generation grew up fearing a possible shooting happening at any moment.

That being the case, Angelot said, school safety has to be a top priority.

From my plan to make mental health a priority to continuing to work with local law enforcement, retrofitting our buildings to be well secured, and taking social media threats seriously, we can do things to make sure students feel safe, he said.

This article was provided to The Associated Press by the University of Marylands Capital News Service.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics K-12 Maryland
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Uber cannot compel a passenger seriously injured in a crash involving an Uber driver to go to arbitration over his $63 million damages claim without a trial.

Citing a 2021 state high court ruling that also went against Uber, a Massachusetts state trial court judge has ruled that the transport companys online popup format provides inadequate notice of its extensive terms and conditions that include binding arbitration.

Also, Ubers format does not require an affirmative action by a user to show assent to the terms and conditions, according to the court.

Without those two elementsreasonable notice and reasonable assent  there is no contract between Uber and the rider and thus there is no enforceable arbitration clause, the court concluded.

In her ruling, Suffolk County Superior Court Justice Debra Squires-Lee closely followed the 2021 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial ruling in Kauders v. Uber, which set forth the two-pronged test.

The judge rejected arguments by Uber and its driver that rested on earlier Massachusetts rulings that found similar popup formats acceptable. Those cases, the judge noted, involved claims by drivers and job applicants, not consumers.

William Good, 31, was on his way home from his job in a Boston restaurant when he was rendered a quadriplegic by the crash last April 30 close to 1 a.m. Good suffered devastating and debilitating injuries including a severe spinal cord injury. He will remain a quadriplegic for life.

Goods lawsuit, filed in January, accuses Uber of negligence in the hiring of the driver, who the complaint says had at least 20 driving citations on his driving record and had been required by the state to take a driver re-training course. Uber knew or should have known that the defendant driver posed an unreasonable risk to riders, as well as to other drivers, pedestrians and cyclists, the suit claims.

The suit also maintains that the driver was an employee of Uber and not an independent contractor as Uber claims.

In June, Uber moved to compel arbitration of Goods claims. The company, joined by the driver who is also being sued, argued that prior to the accident, via Ubers popup notification, Good had agreed to the terms of use that included binding arbitration of any dispute, claim or controversy including personal injuries arising out of his use of Ubers services.

Uber maintains that its popup encouraging users to read its updated terms but not requiring that they do created an enforceable agreement to arbitrate. Good says it did not.

Justice Squires-Lee said the answer depended on if a contract was created and determining that required careful reading of the 2021 Kauders decision, which involved an Uber drivers refusal to serve a blind person with a dog. In this ruling, the states high court said that the fundamentals of an online contract should not be different from those of an ordinary contract. It introduced a two-pronged test: was there reasonable notice and reasonable assent? It placed the burden of proof on the party seeking to enforce the contract.

In Kauders, the court identified various flaws in Ubers interface that led it to conclude there was no reasonable notice or assent and thus there was no agreement. The court said Uber did not make it obvious that riders were signing up to such extensive terms and conditions. The layout downplayed the importance of the legal consequences of creating an account. The interface did not require a user to scroll through or select terms and an account could be set up without even viewing the terms.

In Kauders, users gave their assent to the terms at the same time they clicked to create an accountnot a separate box. Good said he checked a box indicating he agreed to the terms without viewing them. That same check indicated he was at least 18 years of age. He then tapped the confirm button on his smartphone.

In the Good case, Justice Squires-Lee wrote that the smartphone popup would not reasonably have indicated that, by checking the box and clicking confirm, Good was entering into a contract, stressing that it is unlike a person signing a physical contract who would be rarely unaware that is what they were doing. Also the language informed the user only that the terms had been updated without indicating the significance of the changes or the underlying document.

She also found it was of significant consequence that Good did not even have to click on the link to the terms before ordering a vehicle. Had he been required to do so, the outcome in this case might be different, the judge offered. There is no reason Uber could not have required that, she added.

While the checkbox like Ubers might ordinarily satisfy the Kauders test for assent, the checkbox alone without any reasonable notice that the user would be bound to the terns is insufficient, the trial judge concluded.

The trial court included a Kauders observation that Uber is undoubtedly aware that most users do not read the terms.

Last month, a Pennsylvania appeals court came to the same conclusion in another case involving an Uber crash victim. The court ruled that an arbitration agreement buried behind a hyperlink was invalid because it did not give consumers clear notice they were waiving their right to a jury trial when they agree to the companys terms and conditions.

In that strongly-worded opinion, Pennsylvania Superior Court Judge Daniel McCaffery called for more judicial scrutiny of the growing use of arbitration agreements. He ruled that the Uber approach is inadequate because it does not inform users in an explicit and upfront manner that they are giving up a constitutional right to seek damages through a jury trial proceeding.

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Topics Massachusetts
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A federal court jury has decided that New Jersey police did not violate the civil rights of a man who died shortly after a physical altercation during his arrest 7 1/2 years ago.

After a trial, jurors in federal court in Camden sided with the city Oct. 19 in a lawsuit filed by relatives of 32-year-old Vineland resident Phillip White, according to court records.

Officers had responded in March 2015 to reports of a man freaking out on the street and eventually subdued White after a struggle captured on video by a bystander. The video showed an officer hitting White and a police dog being used during the arrest.

White died on the way to the hospital, and an autopsy cited a toxic level of the drug Phencyclidine, or PCP, in his system. Injuries from the K9s actions were noted but deemed superficial by a medical examiner.

Cumberland County prosecutors said in 2016 that a grand jury had declined to indict the two Vineland officers involved. Whites relatives filed a $10 million lawsuit against the city and the two officers, one of whom was later dismissed as a defendant.

We believe very strongly in our client and our clients cause, but the jury didnt see it that way, said Michael Galpern, an attorney for Whites mother, Pamela, told NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. He said the defense was considering whether to appeal.

An attorney for Vineland and its police department declined comment, NJ.com reported.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Law Enforcement New Jersey
A coalition of financial firms led by former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has called on G20 governments to raise their climate ambitions and set out more detailed plans to decarbonize their economies.

The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) urged policymakers to publish robust transition plans with sector-specific strategies, and provide clarity about the policies that would be enacted to support them.

While finance is very much leaning into the challenge of supporting the transition to net zero, you cant be a substitute for government action, said Alice Carr, executive director of public policy at GFANZ.

Where Do Climate Pledges Stand a Year After COP26?

The intervention comes ahead of the next round of global climate talks in Egypt starting next week. While 19 of the G20 countries have set net-zero targets to curb climate change, current policies are not enough to help meet the worlds climate goal, according to nonprofit Climate Watch.

Such policies would be a crucial factor in funneling investment to areas such as clean energy, phasing out use of fossil fuels and helping communities through the transition, the group said.

GFANZ, chaired by Carney who is now the U.N. climate envoy, also called on policymakers to address uncertainty over the current energy crisis and how it would impact their short- and longer-term energy transition planning.

Over the last year, GFANZ has begun to build out a series of tools and frameworks to assist members in making the transition, including in helping define how aligned an investment portfolio is with the climate goal.

Last week, GFANZ, a coalition of asset managers, banks and insurance firms representing $150 trillion in assets, said it would no longer require members to sign up to a U.N. emissions reduction campaign.

That move had drawn criticism from climate activists over who would hold the financial industry to account over its climate commitments.

(Reporting by Virginia Furness in London; editing by Simon Jessop and Matthew Lewis)
Insurers are no longer offering new cargo insurance cover for shipments out of Ukraine through a U.N.-backed safe corridor after Russia suspended its participation, industry sources said on Tuesday.

An export deal, agreed by Russia and Ukraine and brokered by Turkey and the United Nations in July, was meant to ease a world hunger crisis caused in part by Moscows invasion of Ukraine and an earlier blockade of its ports.

While shipments have been moving out of Ukraine since Moscows announcement on Saturday, insurers are grappling with a changed risk environment and more uncertainty, sources said.

Update: Lloyds Insurer Ascot Pauses Writing New Cover for Ukrainian Grain Shipments

It is imperative that ships already in the grain corridor do not become collateral damage, and are allowed safe passage, Guy Platten, secretary general of the International Chamber of Shipping association, said on Tuesday.

Furthermore, the safety of seafarers must remain a top priority, and all parties must give consideration to the crews who may now be stuck on board or in port due to factors beyond their control.

Ships entering the three ports, which have been part of the agreement, are usually required by their banks to have various insurance policies in place including hull and cargo war cover, which is renewed every seven days.

Lloyds of London insurer Ascot said on Monday it was suspending writing cover for new shipments. Since then, sources say other Lloyds underwriters have followed suit.

Any shipments that come in to be quoted post yesterday will likely struggle to get coverage, Ascot head of cargo Chris McGill told Reuters on Tuesday.

Were trying to gather as much information as we can from multiple sources in order to create an appropriate solution that makes sense for all involved.

Norwegian war risk insurer Gard said its focus was on doing what it could to support clients in a turbulent time.

Three industry sources said indicative rates for hull war cover had risen by half to 1.5% of the value of the ship on Tuesday, from around 1% on Monday, adding it was unlikely that any cover would be provided at the moment.

Underwriters will be bearing in mind they wont want to increase their exposure in the current situation. The hull insurers can quote but nothing is moving, another source said.

According to ICS analysis, there are still 65 ships stuck in Ukraine, which includes other ports not part of the initiative as well as 346 seafarers.

Delegations from Ukraine, Turkey and the U.N. agreed not to plan any movement of vessels through the grain corridor on Nov. 2, the initiatives joint coordination center said on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Jonathan Saul and Carolyn Cohn; editing by Josie Kao)

Photograph: Smoke rises in the background during a fierce battle on the frontline, as a farmer collects harvest in a field in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, on Monday, July 4, 2022. Photo credit: AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky.

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Topics Carriers Ukraine Trucking
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a settlement with Petroff Trucking Company, Inc., for an alleged violation of the Clean Water Act. The company has agreed to purchase and secure 15.5 wetland acres to compensate for wetlands it destroyed in East St. Louis, Illinois.

The settlement is memorialized in a proposed consent decree that the United States lodged with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois on October 25, 2022.

In 2020, the United States, on behalf of EPA, alleged in a complaint that from 2016 through 2019, Petroff Trucking Company, Inc., dredged, filled, and excavated 15.5 acres of wetlands without a permit in clear violation of the Clean Water Act. The operation discharged pollutants into the wetlands which led to their complete destruction.

Petroff Trucking Company, Inc., will not pay a civil penalty pursuant to the civil penalty factors of the Clean Water Act and EPA policy. The Department of Justice and EPA completed a financial analysis of Petroffs financial documentation and found that it was formally dissolving and no longer had an ability to pay a civil penalty. However, Petroff has agreed to find and expend $259,000 to buy compensatory wetlands to resolve this action.

Source: EPA

Topics Illinois Trucking
A Missouri state employee has been indicted on three federal felony charges and accused of using her position to send about $140,500 in unearned unemployment benefits to friends, relatives and others.

According to the indictment, Vicky Hefner, 63, of Jefferson County, Missouri, began work with Missouris Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Division of Employment Security as a benefit program specialist in 2009. She worked out of her home and an office in St. Louis helping people file their claims over the phone and adjudicating issues people were having with unemployment claims.

From July to December of 2020, Hefner logged into the accounts of multiple friends, relatives or associates, the indictment says. She changed their status and used her credentials in ways that either made them eligible for unemployment benefits or increased their benefits, the indictment says,

She also triggered unemployment payments to people who were still working, the indictment says. Hefners friends and relatives then paid her kickbacks, the indictment says.

Hefner was indicted by a federal grand jury on September 28 on three charges of theft of public money. She pleaded not guilty to the charges last week. Each charge carries a potential penalty of up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both. If convicted, Hefner will also be ordered to repay the money.

Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The case was investigated by the Office of Inspector General at both the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Labor. Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward Dowd III is prosecuting the case.

Source: U.S. Attorneys Office, Eastern District of Missouri

Topics Fraud Missouri
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Florida is in the midst of a swirling storm with a property insurance market that has been described as in free fall.

In late August, we marked the 30th anniversary of Category 5 Hurricane Andrew making landfall in South Florida. At the time, Andrew was the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. More recently, parts of Florida were decimated by Hurricane Ian, a strong Category 4 hurricane that will join the ranks of costliest Atlantic hurricanes and, unfortunately, one of the deadliest hurricanes to ever strike Florida.

Simply put, Hurricane Ian is a crisis on top of a crisis.

As Floridians, we know its not if there is a hurricane, but when. This season, like every hurricane season, we must do our part to prepare, to harden our homes and businesses to mitigate potential damage, and plan for the worst outcomes. Catastrophic storms not only bring devastation and suffering to those impacted, but drive up rates consumers must pay and, of late, have only intensified our manmade property insurance crisis. In 2021, Florida generated 7.03% of property insurance claims nationwide but was responsible for 76.32% of the nations homeowner insurance lawsuits filed. These numbers are especially alarming considering that until Hurricane Ian, Florida had not had a major storm hit our coast since 2018.

Unfortunately, due to our bottom-five legal climate (according to the FloridaScoreCard.org, compiled by the Chamber Foundations Community Development Partnership Council) driving unnecessary litigation and fraud, Floridas property insurance rates have skyrocketed to three times the national average. Additionally, non-catastrophic claims and the incentive to litigate have led to many property insurers going out of business or reducing their coverage in Florida. Recently, Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the taxpayer funded insurer of last resort, reached more than 1 million policies, putting all taxpayers at risk of a massive hurricane tax if a major storm exhausts their reserves. Prior to Hurricane Ian making landfall last week, Citizens president and CEO Barry Gilway had bluntly stated the industry is on life support.

To address this crisis, Gov. Ron DeSantis wisely called a special legislative session that convened in May. The reforms that passed are a significant step forward, but like previous efforts to fix the market, the trial lawyers and fraudsters fight to stay a step ahead of policymakers and reforms, so we have much more work to do.

We need to stabilize the market by restricting fraud and abuse by bad actors and eliminating the incentive to over-litigate. We need to create competition in the market by welcoming new capital and addressing Citizens Property Insurances below-market, taxpayer-subsidized rates. The ultimate goal is to reduce insurance premiums for hard-working Floridians and protect Florida taxpayers.

Named storms directly hitting our coast exacerbate our manmade insurance crisis and test the limits of our struggling property insurance market. In addition to the destruction of homes, businesses and lives, claims from damage caused by a hurricane lead to increased premiums and possible unexpected payments by taxpayers through hurricane taxes, higher payouts by insurance companies, more litigation, and conceivably even more insurers unable to maintain their presence in Florida. This ultimately decreases competition and capital in Florida, furthering the crisis the insurance market is in.

As we begin the long road to recover from this storm and encourage Floridians to do their part in preparing for the next one, it is essential policymakers begin considering additional reforms to stabilize Floridas property insurance market, incentivize insurance capital coming to Florida, and immediately improve our bottom-five legal climate.

Mark Wilson is president and CEO of the Florida Chamber of Commerce. This viewpoint was reprinted with permission from the Florida Chamber. It previously ran in the Orlando Sentinel. The Chamber will host a property insurance summit Dec. 5-7 in Orlando.

Topics Florida Property
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Marsh McLennan Agency, a subsidiary of the global insurance broker Marsh, has acquired Bradley Insurance Agency, a commercial brokerage in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The Bradley agency was founded in 1972 by Steve Bradley and was acquired by Kendall and Kevin Bradley in 2014. All employees will be joining the Marsh team, the company said in a news release.

With the addition of Bradley Insurance, were expanding our insurance expertise in eastern Tennessee under the direction of a highly respected and accomplished team, said Peter Krause, CEO of MMAs Southeast region.

Marsh McLennan Agency, based in White Plains, New York, offers business insurance, benefits plans, retirement and other products. It has 170 offices across North America, the company said.

Wright Flood Expands

Wright National Flood Insurance Co., known as Wright Flood, announced that it has purchased the flood book of business from North Carolina-based IAT Insurance Group and its affiliate, Occidental Fire and Casualty Co.

Starting early next year, Wright Flood will administer and issue National Flood Insurance Program coverage for IAT policyholders and agents, and will service IATs private flood business, the company said, according to local news reports.

Wright Flood, headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida, has significantly expanded its reach this year. In June, the firm bought United Property & Casualtys flood book. In August, Wright launched ResiFlood, a private flood insurance program in North Carolina.

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Flood Tennessee
They're small and ridiculously cute looking and it's cold out there on beaches and rocky coves so when people spot a baby seal on land, they think it is in distress.

But well-meaning rescuers of baby grey seals could end up doing more harm than good if they don't have proper training on what to do.

It's pupping season  the time of year when baby Grey seals are born  and Seal Rescue Ireland (SRI) is already inundated with calls from people concerned about baby seals on windy beaches.

Melanie Croce, executive director of this Wexford-based charity, says that since August this year they have had well over 150 reports of potential seals in distress.

But she adds that when the trained network of volunteers looked into the incidences, they only ended up needing to tend to around 30 of these: "And one of those probably wouldn't have needed our attention at all only that the person had tried to rescue themselves and brought it home."

A rescued grey seal pup eating fish in her ICU (with a very noisy neighbour!)

There are two types of seals at Ireland's coastline: Common seals, which breed in the summer; and Grey seals, which typically have pups between August and January.

Newborn Grey seals weigh about 15kg (33lb) and need to stay on land for the first three weeks of their life while they get their weight up to around 50kg (110lb)  their mother visits them regularly to feed them while they build up their fat stores and develop their waterproof coat.

This is often when walkers spot the pups with their fluffy white coats and may even try to 'return' them to the water, which actually endangers them.

Seal Rescue Ireland monitored this pup which was visited by its mother for feeding.

Indeed, only around 50% of baby seals born here survive, and each adult female only gives birth to a single pup each year, which has impacted on population numbers.

Other factors affecting seal numbers include climate change, coastal erosion, dangers in their habitat  such as dogs  and human factors such as food source depletion and dumped plastic and fishing materials.

"Storms are getting worse and more frequent so they have a tougher time now but one of the worst dangers seals encounter is discarded plastic which they think is a food or when they get entangled in monofilament recreational fishing line or commercial nets."

Dogs can scare a mother seal away from her pup or cause them serious distress. "And seals are genetic cousins of dogs  as well as bears and weasels  so there is a risk of disease transfer to your pet too so definitely keep your dogs away from seals."

So how close is a safe distance?

At least 100 metres is recommended: the general rule, according to SRI, is if a seal is reacting to you in any way, then you are too close.

"And if the seal actually goes into the water to get away from you then you may have done some real harm," notes Melanie.

Wild seal pup with its mother. Seal Rescue Ireland was monitoring these but did not need to rescue them

"So, if you see a seal pup on its own, stay a safe distance away and scan the water to see if the mother is close by. And call our rescue hotline  we have rescued around 1,000 seals in the past decade and have a list of 800 trained volunteers who will monitor the situation."

Seals absolutely love herring, but stocks have diminished in recent years and as opportunistic feeders they will also eat sand eels, squid, crabs and octopus.

If you have healthy seals, then they are a good indicator that there is good biodiversity in that area.

"They don't typically eat seabirds but we have had rescued seals pass some feathers so they would occasionally scavenge. Thankfully though we haven't seen an impact from dead birds killed by bird flu so far, but we are monitoring that situation," said Melanie.

And other good news for wildlife lovers who are keen to do their bit in helping seals is that SRI is looking for rescue network volunteers  and you can be based anywhere in the Republic of Ireland "even in the midlands!".

Sign up for a training session here.

If you're not in a position to be a volunteer, you can still get involved: the centre in Courtown is open to visitors year-round for educational tours.

"And we view everyone who comes to visit as a 'future conservationist'," says Melanie. She's proof of that herself: she was an intern when SRI was based in Dingle. Then when they moved to Wexford, she ended up moving east also and is now executive director of the organisation.

Rescue hotline: 087 195 5393
Emma Dunn has a cherished memory of looking out the kitchen window and seeing her husband carrying their tiny daughter in a sling as he pottered round the garden.

While pregnant with Zoe, now almost five months old, Emma knew she wanted to babywear  to carry her child in a sling/baby carrier. That Richard was equally passionate about it was hugely important, particularly in the intense early weeks of breastfeeding.

It meant I could get short breaks during the day to take a nap. That was so precious, says Emma.

A speech and language therapist living in Kinvara, Co Galway, Emma admits feeling daunted initially by the number of diverse baby slings and carriers. My sister babywears with her two boys. Ive a friend who babywears. Both raved that it made life so much easier as a new parent. I really wanted to do it but felt a bit daunted by the plethora of slings and carriers. I didnt know where to start.

With the help of a babywear consultant, the couple chose carriers that suited them individually. Richard loves the ring sling, a long piece of woven fabric with two metal rings on one end for closing, while Emmas go-to is a soft structured carrier. Its a soft cotton material with buckles, which gives me reassurance Zoes securely attached to my body.

With the couples close family members all living far away, babywearing has made not having practical family support nearby much less impactful than it might be. I can have Zoe close with me everywhere I go. Yet my hands are free, so I can get on with my day knowing shes safe and secure. I can make myself a cup of tea, have a snack.

She naps easily in the carrier so we have naps on the go, whenever she wants to sleep. I dont have to time my day around them. She could be napping while Im doing the laundry.

And I dont have to lug the buggy in and out of places. Shes a bit of a Velcro baby  she just wants to be close and held, and the sling allows me do that without being stuck to the couch or the one room.

Amid all her new-mum purchases, Emma says she couldnt do without the sling. I had to wash it recently. I was lost for 24 hours, not having it. Zoe was definitely harder to entertain. It has become part of us, so very natural, says Emma, wholl babywear for as long as Zoes happy to do it.

Babywearing has made not having practical family support nearby much less impactful for Emma and Richard. Picture: Ray Ryan

Sling meets

Donna Leavy is secretary of Babywearing Ireland, a not-for-profit organisation run by volunteers, who peer-support other parents wanting to babywear. Babies are generally worn anytime from day one right through toddlerhood. Leavy runs the Longford Sling Library  once a month she loads her suitcase of slings into her car and holds a two-hour sling meet in her local community centre.

The sling meet allows parents  90% attending are mums  to learn about different sling types and see them demonstrated. Aside from ring slings and soft structured carriers, there are stretchy wraps, woven wraps and Mei Tai-style carriers. All have distinguishing features and advantages, so for parents it comes down to personal, individual choice around which best suits their needs/their baby.

If they see a sling they like, they can try it on. They can also rent it for a month to further try it out, says Leavy, who sees the occasional dad attend  particularly of very young babies  as well as grandparents eager to carry grandkids.

Nationwide, Ireland has 14 active sling libraries  the national sling library is Kerry-based  and about 60 volunteers. Leavy sees babywearing growing steadily in popularity. Uptake of sling rentals from the national library skyrocketed during the pandemic, almost doubling from 178 requests in 2019 to 345 in 2020, while 2021 saw 376 requests.

Leavy says babywearing mums felt they and their child were better protected from Covid when baby was close to them, in their own little bubble  it helped avoid well-meant caresses babies attract. People are less likely to pick up an infant or rub its cheek if its in the mothers personal space.

Galway-based Olwen Rowe is a certified babywearing consultant and licensed trainer with Die Trageschule

Parenting tool

Leavy has heard parents express concerns  prior to babywearing  ranging from will it make my baby clingy to will s/he be reluctant to walk. A mum of five, she discovered babywearing on her fourth child. It has been an invaluable parenting tool.

When my youngest was two days old, his blood sugar and temperature were low. There was talk of placing him in an incubator. Luckily Id packed my ring sling in my hospital bag, and they were open to me trying babywearing to improve his temperature. It worked  I was able to help regulate it.

Her youngest two are autistic and she has found babywearing a great addition for children with neurodiversity. Slings give a feeling of being held securely. Vestibular movements while a parent rocks or sways can be very comforting and regulating.

A study highlighted by the American Academy of Pediatrics found infants who were carried cried 43% less. A New York study on whether infant-carrying promotes attachment found possible causal relation between increased physical contact, achieved through early carrying in a soft baby carrier, and subsequent security of attachment between infant and mother (exa.mn/Infant-Attachment).

Galway-based Olwen Rowe is a certified babywearing consultant and licensed trainer with Die Trageschule, an international network of babywearing consultants, begun in Germany in 1998. Teaching content of courses/training is based on scientifically recognised research in biology, medicine, and psychology.

Rowe works one-to-one and in groups with parents, and also trains healthcare providers, for example, doulas and physiotherapists. I train in how to translate infant physiology into positioning and safety in the sling. For a baby, safety and positioning go hand-in-hand, she says, citing three essential aspects to watch for.

Baby has to be secure, both while being put into the sling and when theyre actually in it, so theres no fall risk. Their airways have to be clear, and they have to be at a safe temperature because they cant regulate their own temperature. For example, we advise against using a snowsuit when baby is in a sling  they get too hot.

Rowe describes the easiest way of keeping baby safe in their sling: Ensure their chin is off their own chest and that theyre upright, resting high and snug against the parent. Babys head should rest against the flat, hard part of parents chest, above the breasts or chest tissue.

This high, close enough to kiss position also dovetails with whats most comfortable for a parent, Rowe explains. It means babys weight is going into the parents centre of gravity and down their hip; much safer because carrying baby low or loose increases risk of lower back injury for parents.

Spread squat position

Babywearing in an ergonomic carrier facilitates the babys spread squat position, recommended for good hip development. Babys legs are open, knees are up at level of their belly button, bum is down and the lower leg from knee down is free to move. This really protects babys hip health, says Rowe, adding that this dovetailing of baby and parental needs happens a lot with babywearing.

Carrying baby in a sling is a very practical intervention, allowing parents have contact with their baby while theyre moving  because parents need to move and babies benefit from moving. Theres this beautiful dovetailing of both sets of needs.

Rowe quotes what clinical psychologist and author Mia Scotland says about babywearing benefits for mums. Scotland described babywearing her third child as a million miles away from putting him down on a mat with dangling toys and listening out for him, frantically hoping hed last long enough for me to wash some potatoes.

In her book, Why Perinatal Depression Matters, Scotland says there is anecdotal evidence suggesting babywearing wards off anxiety/depression in mothers. Essentially, you get a continual hug from your baby (feels lovely), while you get on with things (what a relief), knowing your baby is happy with you (no need to worry or go check on them).

Rowe sums it up: Holding babies holds them together. And therefore parents too.

Babywearing Ireland is seeking new volunteers. Contact through babywearingireland.ie, or facebook.com/babywearingireland or email secretarybabywearingireland@gmail.
A protest against a proposed change to homebirth regulations, which campaigners say will exclude women in rural areas from being able to give birth at home, is planned for Cork on Sunday

A proposed recommendation to limit homebirths nationally to women living within 30 minutes of a maternity unit has sparked concerns among advocates and service users. The 30 minutes refers to the time needed for an ambulance to reach the nearest unit with its siren on, the HSE has said.

Elke Hasner, a self-employed community midwife in Cork and a member of the HSE Home Birth Oversight and Steering Committee, said: "The protest is against the exclusion of rural women from the choice of homebirth."

The recommendation estimated that the majority of women will not be affected, but campaigners disagree. That is true for some maternity units, particularly in Dublin, but it is not true for Cork, for instance, Ms Hasner said. If you live in rural Ireland, your choices are being restricted.

Ms Hasner has raised her concerns with the HSE steering committee and says she would like to see this formally discussed.

The HSE service is being integrated with hospital groups and a meeting is to take place on Monday between designated midwifery officers and the South/SouthWest Hospital Group on integration across Cork and Kerry.

On Sunday, protesters will gather near Cork University Maternity Hospital. Ms Hasner said: This is not a protest against CUMH. Midwives want to work with CUMH and are absolutely willing to co-operate and bring this integration into reality.

AIMS Ireland also supports the protest, as one member of the recently formed Birthright Alliance.

Krysia Lynch said: Ireland has an extremely limited set of choices with respect to maternity care. There are no birth centres and very few midwifery-led options, unlike what you would find across the border in Northern Ireland for example.

The proposals are unacceptable, she said, "home birth is the primary alternative to medicalised childbirth for the majority of rural people."

Meanwhile, a suspension of homebirth services in the mid-west, initiated by the UL Hospitals Group, remains in effect six months after the death of a first-time mother following her scheduled homebirth in Co. Limerick.

A hospital spokesman confirmed that the temporary suspension across Limerick, Clare and Tipperary, which came into effect last June, was continuing pending an external review following a recent maternal death. He said this review has begun and is ongoing.
Tanaiste Leo Varadkar has said he "profoundly disagrees" with a Kerry priest who said gay politicians are going to hell if they do not repent.

Mr Varadkar, who is on a trade mission in Singapore this week, was singled out by Fr Sean Sheehy who also claimed that being gay is "against nature".

A spokesperson for the Fine Gael leader said: "The Tanaiste profoundly disagrees with Fr Sheehys views; however he respects his right to express his religious beliefs freely.

"The Tanaiste does not believe that gay people will go to hell for being who they are, nor does he believe that any man or woman can make such a judgment. As Pope Francis said: 'Who are we to judge'. As the Bible says: 'Judge not lest you be judged. We are all Gods children'."

Earlier today Fr Sean Sheehy said the Tanaiste and other gay politicians are absolutely going to hell if they do not repent their sins and seek forgiveness.

Fr Sean Sheehy has doubled down on his comments after he described same-sex relationships and transgenderism as mortal sins on Sunday.

Fr Sheehy  who was deputising for parish priest Canon Declan OConnor  has since been taken off the roster in Listowel by the Bishop of Kerry Dr Ray Browne.

The bishop on Tuesday apologised for the comments made by Fr Sheehy, saying he was aware of the deep upset and hurt the comments had caused. Bishop Browne said the views expressed were not representative of Christianity.

Fr Sheehy had also delivered a similarly controversial homily at the Saturday vigil mass, according to Listowel locals.

In an interview on Radio Kerry on Wednesday, Fr Sheehy doubled down and elaborated on his position, saying sin was embedded in modern culture and enshrined in legislation.

"People think because there's no law against it, its ok. But thats not true, Fr Sheehy told the Kerry Today programme.

He added that scripture taught that the sinner had to be admonished and this was done out of love in order to bring them to eternal life.

Fr Sheehy also said compassion was misunderstood  being compassionate meant telling the truth to people doing something wrong.

The truth hurts, but it sets us free, he said.

Fr Sheehy insisted all he was doing was preaching scripture and Catholic doctrine.

Its not fundamentalism its the word of God," he added.

St Mary's Church, Listowel, where Fr Sheehy delivered the controversial sermon.

While around 30 people had left the church on Sunday, others remained. And on Tuesday morning, he claimed he got a standing ovation at the end of mass.

Asked about politicians legislating for same-sex marriage, and about gay politicians including Leo Varadakar, and if they were going to hell, Fr Sheehy said: Absolutely, if they dont repent of their sin and seek forgiveness. Absolutely. Absolutely.

What they're doing is first of all against nature and secondly and most importantly contrary to the law of God," Fr Sheehy said.

He added that everyone was prone to sin and while a small percentage of homosexuality may very well be biological mostly this behaviour was nurture, and environment, not nature.

He had seen in the US how some psychologists were successful in helping people in that respect. However, the media had come down on the therapists.

Reacting to the bishop's comments on RTE Radio's News At One, Fr Sheehy suggested Bishop Browne needed to "read the catechism and also read the scriptures as well."

Defending his remarks, Fr Sheehy said he spoke to the Bishop and told him that he had "sacrificed truth in order to appease people who do not want to face the reality of sin," which he said was "embedded in the culture and enshrined in legislation."

Fr Sheehy went on to say that Church teaching "does not change."

Later in the interview, Fr Sheehy suggested that those mass attendees who walked out of his homily in Listowel on Sunday had done so because they "did not want to face either their own sinfulness or the sinfulness of members of their family."

He said that those who left were walking away "from the same word that Jesus spoke himself".

"They weren't walking away from me. They were actually walking away from Jesus," he suggested.

Fr Sheehy also hit out at Kerry TD Norma Foley saying he expected her not to implement the school sex education programme.

The Education Minister, who is regarded as a Catholic, "speaks out of both sides of her mouth," the priest told the Irish Examiner.

She, as Education Minister, did nothing to address the horrible sex education programme even though people had expected different of her.

"I expected her not to implement that programme. God does not like hypocrisy, he said.

Fr Sheehy, who returned to Kerry from Baton Rouge in Louisiana in the US in 2007, has been embroiled in controversy before after he shook hands with and supplied a character reference for convicted sex offender Danny Foley of Listowel in Tralee Circuit Court in 2009.
A recent violent protest outside the Dail by far-right activists has once again raised the question as to whether their brand of intolerance is on the rise in this country.

Throughout Europe, far right parties have been having electoral success this year, but beyond politics, how much of a threat do these groups pose, and how do they operate?
Seoul has said North Korea fired more than ten missiles off its eastern and western coasts hours after issuing a veiled threat to use nuclear weapons against the US and South Korea.

The escalation in animosities between the rivals saw South Korea issue an air raid alert for an eastern island. The countrys Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement North Korea fired the missiles from its eastern coastal area of Wonsan on Wednesday morning.

According to the statement, one of the missiles landed in the international waters 16 miles south of the Koreas eastern sea border and 104 miles north-west of South Koreas Ulleung island.

A TV screen shows a file image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, on Wednesday (Ahn Young-joon/AP)

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said South Korea will not tolerate North Korean provocations and will sternly deal with them in close coordination with the United States. It said South Korea has boosted its surveillance posture on North Korea.

Animosities on the Korean Peninsula have been running high in recent months, with North Korea testing a string of nuclear-capable missiles and adopting a law authorising the pre-emptive use of its nuclear weapons in a broad range of situations. Some experts still doubt North Korea could use nuclear weapons first in the face of US and South Korean forces.

North Korea has argued its recent weapons tests were meant to issue a warning to Washington and Seoul over their series of joint military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal, including this weeks exercises involving about 240 warplanes.

In a statement released early on Wednesday, Pak Jong Chon, a secretary of the ruling Workers Party who is considered a close confidant of leader Kim Jong Un, called the so-called Vigilant Storm air force drills aggressive and provocative.

North Koreas Foreign Ministry criticised the United States for expanding joint military exercises with South Korea that it claims are practice for a potential invasion (Lee Jin-man/AP)

Mr Pak also accused the Pentagon of formulating a North Korean regime collapse as a major policy objective in an apparent reference to the Pentagons recently released National Defence Strategy report. The report stated any nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or its allies and partners will result in the end of that regime.

He slammed South Korean military leaders over what he called rubbish comments that threatened to destroy North Korea if it uses nuclear weapons.

South Koreas military has warned North Korea that using its nuclear weapons would put it on a path of self-destruction.

If the US and South Korea attempt to use armed forces against (North Korea) without any fear, the special means of the (Norths) armed forces will carry out their strategic mission without delay, Mr Pak said, in an apparent reference to his countrys nuclear weapons.

The US and South Korea will have to face a terrible case and pay the most horrible price in history, he said.
Taiwan has welcomed experts from China to help with a sick panda in a rare opportunity for contact between the sides.

The two experts arrived on Tuesday after Taipei Zoos Tuan Tuan, suspected to have a malignant brain tumour, took a turn for the worse.

The giant panda and his mate, Yuan Yuan, were gifted to the zoo in 2008 during a time of warming relations between China and Taiwan, which split amid civil war in 1949.

Tuan Tuan eats bamboo shoots at Taipei Zoo (Taipei Zoo via AP)

Ties have deteriorated since then, with Beijing cutting off contacts in 2016 following the election of independence-leaning President Tsai Ing-wen, who was re-elected in 2020.

Polls routinely show Taiwanese rejecting Chinas demand for political unification between the sides, favouring instead the status quo of de-facto independence.

China sends pandas abroad as a sign of goodwill but maintains ownership over the animals and any cubs they produce. The animals are native to south-western China and are an unofficial national mascot.

An MRI on Tuan Tuan showed that lesions on his brain had grown in a sign the disease was progressing rapidly, the zoo said in a news release.

Zoo spokesperson Eric Tsao said the sides were pooling their knowledge and experience to provide Tuan Tuan with the best treatment and the best daily care.

Chief veterinarian Lai Yen-hsueh said the experts had agreed to hold off on surgery based on the animals possible reaction to anaesthesia and the location of the diseased area.

The experts, Wu Honglin and Wei Ming, have long experience working on panda health and reproduction at the main panda research base at Wolong in Chinas Sichuan province.

Pandas, which reproduce rarely in the wild and rely on a diet of bamboo, remain among the worlds most threatened species.

An estimated 1,800 pandas live in the wild, while another 500 are in zoos or reserves, mostly in Sichuan.
A Palestinian crashed his car into an Israeli army officer near a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, seriously injuring him, the Israeli military said.

The officer opened fire on the man, the military said, and according to the Palestinians, he died soon after.

The Palestinians identified the suspected attacker as Habas Abdel Hafeez Yousef Rayan, 54.

Israeli soldiers secure the site of the attack at the Maccabim checkpoint (Mahmoud Illean/AP)

The army said in a statement that the attacker arrived in a vehicle at the Maccabim checkpoint on a busy commuting route and struck an officer.

The attacker left the vehicle and tried to attack the officer with an axe, the statement said. The officer fired at the man.

The officer was injured, according to the army, and transferred to a hospital.

Rush-hour traffic was backed up for miles as official cars lined the road, part of a link between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

The Palestinians and rights groups accuse Israeli forces of using excessive force in their dealings with the Palestinians, without being held accountable.

The military says it contends with complex, life-threatening scenarios.

It was the latest in a spate of violence between Israel and the Palestinians and came as results were still being counted in the countrys fifth national election in four years.

Results were not final, but turnout was the highest it has been in decades and four fifths of the ballots counted so far show former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared headed toward victory as Israelis gave him and his far-right allies what looks like a stable majority in the parliament.

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, with several more killed in a recent spasm of violence.

The Israeli army says most of the Palestinians killed have been militants. But stone-throwing youths protesting Israeli raids and others not involved in confrontations have also been killed.

The nightly military raids in the West Bank have contributed to the tension.

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.
The White House has accused North Korea of covertly shipping a significant number of artillery shells to Russia in support of its invasion of Ukraine.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US believes North Korea is trying to make it appear as though theyre being sent to countries in the Middle East or North Africa.
Burma China Opens New Shipping Route to Myanmar From South China Sea

A Yangon-bound SITC cargo ship at Qinzhou Port on Oct. 28. / GNLM

In the latest sign of its growing ties with Myanmars military regime, China has opened a direct shipping route linking its international port in the South China Sea to Myanmars business hub, Yangon.

Named after the Beibu Gulf Port complex in Guangxi Province, the new Beibu Gulf Port-Myanmar shipping route was opened last Friday, the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar announced on its Facebook page.

The embassy said the new shipping route would add to those in the RCEP region, referring to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a free-trade agreement grouping Asia-Pacific countries.

Signed in November 2020, the RCEP is the first free-trade agreement between the largest economies in Asia including China, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea.

The new route to Myanmar was jointly launched by Beibu Gulf Port Group and SITC Container Lines (Shanghai). The embassy said four cargo ships will travel the route weekly.

The ships will call at ports in other coastal cities in China, Malaysia and Indonesia before arriving in Yangon.

Cargo will reach Yangon 12 days after departure from Qinzhou Port (one of Beibu Gulfs three ports) in Guangxi. SITC said the new route will greatly reduce enterprises logistics and storage costs.

Beibu Gulf Port and Yangon Port of Myanmar signed an agreement in September 2019 to establish a sister port relationship, providing favorable conditions for Myanmar to strengthen cooperation with ports in the pan-Beibu Gulf region, China Daily reported in 2020.

The inauguration of the shipping route follows last months opening of a Chinese-backed power plant that forms an important part of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) scheme in Myanmars western Rakhine State, and further signals that Beijing is moving forward with its projects in post-coup, conflict-torn Myanmar.

China is a major investor in Myanmar, and has placed importance on projects that will give it access to the Indian Ocean. A crucial part of Beijings Belt and Road Initiative, the estimated 1,700-km-long CMEC will connect Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province in southwest China, with Myanmars major economic hubslinking first with Mandalay in central Myanmar, then forking east to Yangon and west to the Kyaukphyu SEZ in Rakhine State.

Unlike other countries that condemned the Myanmar militarys 2021 coup, China referred to it as merely a cabinet reshuffle. Along with Russia, it has backed the regime at the UN, leaving the Security Council unable to take action against the junta, which has killed more than 2,400 people so far.

During a visit to China in April this year, the regimes foreign minister, Wunna Maung Lwin, received a warm welcome from his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. Beijing said it would help safeguard Myanmars sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity no matter how the situation changes.
Burma Myanmar Junta Has Killed Over 2,400 Civilians Since Coup: AAPP

Regime leader Min Aung Hlaing / AFP

A total of 2,404 civilians have been killed by Myanmar regime forces in the 18 months since the coup in February last year, with the resistance stronghold of Sagaing Region suffering the highest death toll, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

In its latest report on regime killings, arrests and detentions as of October 31, AAPP records that 12.2 percent or 291 of those killed were women and 10.1 percent or 243 were children, of the total death toll since the coup, 742 (about 31 percent) were killed in detention by junta forces or officials in interrogation centers, in prisons, or in military barracks.

Region with most killings

AAPP said Sagaing Region, a hotbed of resistance, saw the highest number of victims killed by military and pro-military groups.

Nearly 1,000 civilians and pro-democracy activists were killed by military and pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia in Sagaing Region, where regime forces are launching combined infantry and aerial attacks.

The region also ranked highest for the number of children killed, with nearly 80 child victims since the coup. Neighboring Mandalay Region ranks second about two-dozen children killed.

Children in Sagaing Region are frequently killed in brutal junta artillery and air strikes.

Arrests and detentions

A total of 16,016 civilians and pro-democracy activists have been arrested since the military seized power, with 12,806 in detention as of October 31, AAPP said.

About 30 percent or 3,349 of those detained are women, while 2.9 percent or 465 are children.

A total of 459 civilians have been taken hostage by junta forces after they were unable to find pro-democracy activists.

Most of these were arrested in Yangon, which is seeing frequent anti-junta protests and attacks on regime-controlled offices.
Burma Number of Myanmar Children Made Homeless Under Junta Passes Half a Million

Karenni children gather at an IDP camp in Demoso in September. /KnHRG

The number of children in Myanmar forced to flee their homes to escape violence since last years coup has reached 520,000, according to Save the Children.

More than 1.4 million people have been displaced by conflict in Myanmar  including over half a million children  with 1.1 million forced to flee since the military takeover and crackdown in February 2021, said Save the Children in a statement released yesterday.

The organization said the figures do not include half a million Rohingya children who have been living in camps in neighboring Bangladesh for more than five years.

People dont just take the decision to leave their homes lightly  this rapid escalation in children having to flee is down to the very real everyday threats to their lives from fighting in Myanmar, said Olivier Franchi, Save the Childrens Asia Programmes Director.

Myanmar people living in displacement camps are reliant on donations from local charity groups and humanitarian aid organisations to survive. However, roadblocks and ever-tightening restrictions on transport and aid mean that access is often inconsistent, Save the Children said. Those in desperate need are being denied humanitarian aid as a result, it added.

Nearly two years after the coup, childrens lives remain under daily threat, the childrens aid group said.

In September, 11 children were killed and another 17 injured in a regime airstrike on a school in Sagaing Region. Last month, two children were killed and one severely injured by an explosion on their way home from school in Chin State. Rights group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners- Burma (AAPP) said in its latest report that 243 children have been killed since the coup.

Most of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) are in Kayah and Karen states and Sagaing Region. Many displaced families in Myanmar are living in makeshift shelters in the jungle and are vulnerable to hunger, illness, trafficking and exploitation.

The number of IDPs in Karen State surpassed 300,000 and included 100,000 children in October, according to the Karen Human Rights Group.

Kayah State has over 150,000 IDPs, 35 percent of whom are children aged under 18, according to data from the Karenni Human Rights Group.
Burma Pro-Myanmar Junta Militias, Nationalist Monks Forcibly Recruiting Villagers in Sagaing

U Wasawa and other nationalist Buddhist monks at a ceremony to honor pro-regime local militias at a military base in Kanbalu Township, Sagaing in October.

Nationalist monks and junta-affiliated Pyu Saw Htee militias have been forcing villagers in Sagaing Regions Kantbalu Township to undergo military training, according to locals.

Led by influential monk U Wasawa from the ultranationalist Association for Protection of Race and Religion, known locally as Ma Ba Tha, Pyu Saw Htee members are forcing males aged between 18 and 55 to undergo military training under threat of burning their villages if they refuse, a Kantbalu resident told The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity.

U Wasawa, who is a well-known Buddhist leader in Kanbalu, Kyunhla and Taze, has been forming Pyu Saw Htee groups since November last year, and by June had attracted over 4,000 villagers including more than 100 women to his cause, according to residents.

A local Peoples Defense Force (PDF) fighter said: They ordered that at least 35 males from each village must attend Pyu Saw Htee training, threatened them with arson. Some villagers are attending the training out of fear while others have fled. The situation is getting a lot worse.

Leading the training are one regime military officer, soldiers from about five other ranks, and hard-core Pyu Saw Htee leaders. Around 100 armed Pyu Saw Htee fighters provide security around the village during training sessions.

An anti-regime activist from Kantbalu said: The majority of Pyu Saw Htee members are from [the militarys proxy] Union Solidarity and Development Party [USDP] and Ma Ba Tha. There are some villages that are entirely Pyu Saw Htee. They are the USDP strongholds. Those who do not support the USDP also have to attend training because they fear for their safety. And PDFs cant attack Pyu Saw Htee villages.

More than 50 villages have been turned into Pyu Saw Htee bases in Kantbalu and Kyunhla townships. Previously armed with home-made rifles, they are now supplied with BA-63 (G-3) rifles, MA-1 assault rifles and carbines.

At a press conference in July, the junta denied forming Pyu Saw Htee as its military proxies, saying it only allows the establishment, training and arming of militias at the request of locals for their security. Formation of these militias is legal, it clarified.

A local PDF member said: As the number of Pyu Saw Htee villages increases, U Wasawa and Pyu Saw Htee leaders keep asking the regime to supply them with arms. And the regime has complied with continuous supplies. It is continuously arming villages undergoing military training and deemed loyal to the regime.

At the same time, Pyu Saw Htee militias are demanding money from households in the villages to pay the salaries of hard-core Pyu Saw Htee members.

A resident from southern Kantbalu said: They are extorting money in every village. In some villages, they ask for 10,000 kyats per month from every household. Sometimes, they extort the money while collecting electricity bills. They cut off the electricity to households that refuse to pay.

Pyu Saw Htee militias are also kidnapping villagers for ransom. Following an explosion near a boarding school in Buttaw Village in October, Pyu Saw Htee fighters detained seven local Muslim men, demanding ransoms of 100,000 kyats, one million kyats or 1.3 million kyats depending on their financial situation.

One of the Muslim men was rearrested on October 26 after revealing to others that he had paid money for his release.

Infinity Group, which reports on local news in Kantbalu, said local Pyu Saw Htee militias and junta soldiers have been arresting locals for ransom with various excuses, extorting more than 30 million kyats from some five majority-Muslim villages.

A local PDF fighter said: Pyu Saw Htee militias are getting stronger in Kantbalu Township partly because of the weakness of PDF groups. PDF groups have failed to rally villages to their cause. This is because district and township authorities of the [parallel] National Unity Government are ineffective, in my opinion. Under such circumstances, U Wasawa and others can coerce local villagers into joining Pyu Saw Htee. This is the reason why the Pyu Saw Htee have grown significantly in numbers.

Local Pyu Saw Htee militias are heavily involved in junta raids on villages in Kantbalu and Kyunhla townships, committing arson attacks and looting. As of October 26, Pyu Saw Htee militias have begun to conscript villagers.

Currently, a force of over 200 troops consisting of junta soldiers and Pyu Saw Htee fighters are raiding villages around Thein Yin Dam in the south of Kantbalu Township. More than 10,000 people living near the dam have been forced from their homes and some 150 houses in three villages have been torched.
War Against the Junta Around 24 Myanmar Regime Troops Killed in Week: Arakan Army Claims

Caption for Feature- Arakan Army troops. / Development Media Group

An estimated 24 Myanmar regime troops were killed in Rakhine State in a week during clashes with the Arakan Army (AA), the separatist group said on Tuesday.

At least six civilians were killed and 21 others injured in October in regime shelling.

On Monday, a two-hour clash broke out near Thayargone village in Maungdaw Township when Light Infantry Battalion 201 troops entered AA territory, the resistance group said.

The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports.

Three soldiers were killed and 10 others injured and weapons, ammunition and other equipment were seized, the AA claimed.

On Monday junta outposts in Paletwa Township in neighboring Chin State randomly shelled villagers.

Regime troops also bombarded civilians in Kyauktaw and Buthidaung townships without being attacked by the AA on Sunday.

On Saturday clashes broke out in Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U and Paletwa townships after the AA attacked regime bases.

The AA claimed to have killed five Light Infantry Battalion 374 soldiers and injured others in Kyauktaw Township on Sunday.

Regime forces shelled nearby Yote Tha village and targeted its monastery with drones.

On Sunday Buthidaung Township was attacked with shells following fighting on Saturday.

On Saturday, junta forces and drones bombarded civilians in Kyauktaw and Paletwa townships without provocation.

Fighting between regime forces and the AA broke out in Buthedaung Township on Friday with an estimated 11 regime deaths and more than 15 injuries alongside resistance casualties, the AA claimed.

Four junta solders were killed and weapons and ammunition seized in Rathedaung Township last Wednesday.

From August to October around 13 civilians were killed and more than 40 others injured in Rakhine State by the regime, according to media reports.

Fighting has broken out across Rakhine State since November last year when an informal ceasefire between the junta and the armed group broke down.
War Against the Junta Around 30 Myanmar Junta Troops Killed in Kayah Last Month: Resistance

KNDF troops

Nearly 30 Myanmar regime troops have been killed in Kayah State in October, according to a Karenni civil society group and resistance forces.

During October an estimated 32 clashes broke out in Kayah State with numerous attacks on junta outposts and patrols, the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) stated on Tuesday.

The group said five of its members were killed in October.

The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports.

Clashes broke out in Shadaw, Bawlakhe and Hpruso townships and Demoso, where most residents have fled their homes, and Loikaw, the state capital.

Regime forces are trying to keep control of Mobye across the border in Shan State with the deployment of around 300 troops between the town and Loikaw.

Despite a major deployment, they are failing on the ground. When they cannot beat us so they shell civilian targets instead, said Khu Reh Do, a KNDF spokesman.

According to the Progressive Karenni Peoples Force (PKPF), an activist group, an estimated 282 Kayah civilians had been killed since the 2021 coup, of whom 97 were displaced.

The junta has detained up to 280 people since the coup, the PKPF reported on Tuesday.

At least 13 civilians, including a child, were killed in Demoso, Loikaw and Hpruso townships in October, the KNDF reported.
War Against the Junta Lieutenant Colonel Among 56 Myanmar Junta Soldiers Killed in Week of Clashes With Resistance

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A military battalion commander was among 56 regime forces killed during a number of clashes with Peoples Defense Force groups (PDFs) and ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) across the country in the last seven days.

A PDF fighter was also killed.

Incidents were reported in Mandalay, Magwe and Sagaing regions and Rakhine and Karen states.

The Irrawaddy has rounded up the following reports of significant clashes between regime forces and resistance groups comprising PDFs and EAOs.

Some military casualty figures could not be independently verified.

Five junta soldiers including battalion commander killed in Magwe

At least five regime soldiers including a lieutenant colonel serving as a battalion commander were reportedly killed and four injured in Tilin Township, Magwe Region on Tuesday when Yaw Defense Force-Tilin ambushed a military detachment of 150 soldiers and Pyu Saw Htee pro-regime militia members.

The detachment was conducting a raid on Par Myin Village after torching 16 houses in nearby Kyarkhae Village when it was ambushed by resistance fighters.

All resistance fighters escaped from the area despite regime forces attempts to arrest them, the group said.

Citing military informants, the PDF group claimed the battalion commander died later after suffering injuries to his waist.

The commanders death prompted the military detachment to retreat to the town of Tilin that evening.

Regime forces killed, injured by PDF time bombs in Magwe

At least two regime forces were killed and nine others injured in Salin Township, Magwe Region on Tuesday when PDF-Western Region used two C4 time bombs to attack a regime checkpoint at a junction in the township, the PDF group said.

Two regime motorbikes were damaged in the attack.

Junta forces at the checkpoint are notorious for extortion and rude treatment of civilians, the PDF group said.

Three junta police killed in PDF urban attack in Mandalay

Three junta police including a female police captain were reportedly killed in Maharaungmyay Township in the city of Mandalay on Tuesday morning when PDF fighters threw a bomb into the drivers cabin of a prison transport vehicle near a police station, claimed Mandalay-PDF, which conducted the attack.

On the same day, combined urban resistance groups used a cluster of three land mines to ambush a regime convoy of three vehicles in Aungmyaythazan Township in the city, said Generation Z Power, which joined the attack.

Many regime forces are believed to have been killed as two vehicles were stopped and junta forces cries were heard from the vehicles, the PDF group said.

PDF fighter killed in clash in Karen

A resistance fighter was killed and two others injured during an intense clash with regime forces trying to enter the town of Kawkareik in Karen State on Tuesday afternoon, according to PDF groups.

A fierce, five-hour clash broke out outside the town when the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and allied PDF groups based around Kawkareik attacked a large number of regime forces attempting to raid the town.

After suffering casualties, the regime forces retreated from the area. Details of the military casualties were unknown, said the PDF group Lion Battalion Commando, which was involved in the clash.

24 regime soldiers killed in clashes with AA in Rakhine

Around 24 Myanmar military soldiers were killed and many others injured during clashes with the Arakan Army (AA) in several townships in Rakhine State over the past week, the AA said on Tuesday.

Clashes were reported in Buthedaung, Rathedaung, Kyauktaw and Mrauk-U townships and Paletwa Township in neighboring Chin State.

Regime bases in the area also shelled civilian villages without provocation, the AA said.

Five junta soldiers killed or injured in Sagaing

Five regime troops are believed to have been killed or injured in Kanbalu Township, Sagaing Region on Monday when local resistance groups used land mines to ambush junta soldiers raiding a series of villages in the township, according to one of the resistance organizations, Kotaungbo Revolution.

The regime forces escaped the first mine ambush near Kaine Ma Village, but were hit by additional land mines while they were leaving Pauk Kone Village in the township.

After being ambushed, the surviving military troops took five soldiers who were killed or injured in a vehicle to Kotaungbo Village, where junta forces have been stationed for several months, the resistance group said.

Five junta soldiers killed in Sagaing

Five regime soldiers were reportedly killed in Shwebo Township, Sagaing Region early on Tuesday morning when six PDF groups jointly attacked regime forces stationed in Kawt Village in the township using 40-mm and 60-mm mortar shells, said Nay Satkyar PDF group, which joined the attack.

Regime forces responded with small arms fire but all PDF fighters escaped from the area without any casualties.

On Oct. 27 and 28, another four regime soldiers were killed when combined resistance groups attacked and ambushed junta forces stationed in Kawt Village, the PDF group said.

Five regime forces killed by PDF shelling in Sagaing

Five regime forces were reportedly killed in Monywa Township, Sagaing Region on Sunday when at least seven local PDF groups used improvised mortar shells to attack a police station and newly built junta prison near Tharsi Village, claimed the One Star PDF group, which was involved in the attack.

Five regime forces killed in PDF raid on junta camp in Sagaing

Five regime forces were killed in Mingin Township, Sagaing Region early on Tuesday when two battalions of the Student Revolutionary Force raided a military camp in the pro-regime village of Thay Mathout, said the PDF group.

The group seized three weapons during the raid.

During the 30-minute clash, two PDF fighters suffered injuries, the group said.

Two soldiers killed in PDF drone strike in Sagaing

A blast occurs near a tree after a PDF done drops an improvised bomb on regime targets in Myinmu Township. / Zero Guerrilla Force-Myingyan District

Zero Guerrilla Force-Myingyan District from Mandalay Region claimed to have killed two regime soldiers and injured six others in neighboring Myinmu Township, Sagaing Region on Tuesday when they used a drone to drop a bomb on regime forces in Htee Saung Village.

Aerial video taken by the PDF shows a blast occurring near a tree after a drone drops an improvised bomb.
Analysis Myanmar Tycoons Do Junta Bidding Amid Threat of Arrest

Tycoon U Chit Khine greets former junta supremo Than Shwe at a Union Day dinner in February 2011. To U Chit Khines right is U Zaw Zaw and left is U Aung Ko Win. / Khin Maung Win

Some business owners who prospered under previous military regimes have fallen from favor under Myanmars current junta with some cronies detained after the February 2021 coup.

Of Myanmars top-five cronies, two were deemed too close to ousted State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and were questioned for a few days.

Several tycoons amassed fortune under the previous military regime, exploiting their ties with Senior General Than Shwe, Vice Senior General Maung Aye, General Khin Nyunt, General Tin Aung Myint Oo and General Shwe Mann and other generals.

Junta witness

The first crony who was detained after the coup was Maung Weik, the owner of Sae Paing Construction Co.

Maung Weik was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2008 under the previous military regime for drug trafficking and was released in 2014 under U Thein Seins quasi-civilian government.

He was a key prosecution witness in a corruption case against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi over donations made to her Daw Khin Kyi Foundation and other National League for Democracy (NLD) ministers.

The foundation is a charity headed by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and named after her mother.

After his release from prison, Maung Weik offered substantial support to the NLD following its victory in the 2015 general election. He was known to have close ties with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her Yangon Region chief minister U Phyo Min Thein.

Sae Paing won contracts for projects in Yangon, Mandalay and other cities, including the construction of staff quarters at the Hline campus of Yangon University.

He generously contributed to Daw Aung San Suu Kyis humanitarian assistance and rehabilitation programs in conflict-torn Rakhine State and Covid quarantine centers.

He had close ties with generals, especially powerful spy chief General Khin Nyunt under U Than Shwes regime but lost his access after the general was purged.

Business sources said the generals have been using Maung Weik to discredit Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her NLD cabinet, which took a tough line on bribery and corruption while in office.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi worked with several cronies regardless of their murky past and she said they played an important development role under her government.

Snubbed cronies

The junta arrested two of Myanmars top 10 cronies, Eden Group of Companies chairman U Chit Khine and Zaykabar Co. chairman U Khin Shwe, in March and April this year.

The regime has also opened cases against their sons. The arrests sent shockwaves through business leaders associated with previous regimes.

U Chit Khine was detained for allegedly squandering state funds through the Tigyit power plant joint venture for the Electric Power Generation Enterprise under the NLD.

Many observers believe he was arrested for his links to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD. U Chit Khine was a member of the NLD and spent time in prison in the 1990s under military rule.

The Eden Group is one of Myanmars largest conglomerates with construction, hospitality and oil and gas operations.

U Chit Khine also runs the Myanmar Apex Bank and Denko Trading, which operates gas stations and an industrial oil storage depot in Yangon.

His brother-in-law, Major General Hla Oo, helped U Chit Khine establish ties with ex-military dictator Than Shwe, his deputy Maung Aye, and General Khin Nyunt, which enabled him to win lucrative contracts. He maintained close ties with former generals under U Thein Seins administration.

The military went off U Chit Khine and [AYA Bank owner] U Zaw Zaw as the two were close to the NLD. It charged U Chit Khine because the generals think he has backed the NLD since the coup, a source close to U Chit Khine told The Irrawaddy.

The prosecution of U Chit Khine and his son was believed to be a warning to other business owners who oppose the regime, he said.

U Zaw Zaw has resumed visits to Min Aung Hlaings house. The regime wants to show that business owners cant distance themselves from it, he added.

U Khin Shwe and his son Zay Thiha were detained in connection with a failed building development on military-owned land in Yangon. The project was shut down in 2018 after U Khin Shwe allegedly breached a memorandum of understanding signed with the military.

U Khin Shwes daughter is married to the son of former general and parliament speaker Thura Shwe Mann.

U Shwe Mann was called a traitor by the military due to his close ties with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi after he was purged as the chairman of the militarys proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party in a power struggle with then President U Thein Sein.

The prosecution of U Khin Shwe was widely viewed as a warning to U Shwe Mann who established his own political party, the Union Betterment Party, and contested the 2020 general election.

Since the coup, U Shwe Manns two sons, U Aung Thet Mann and U Toe Naing Mann, have been living abroad. And U Shwe Mann announced in October that he had dissolved his party.

IGE Groups of Companies, owned by brothers U Nay Aung and U Pyay Aung, was denied the chance to buy Norwegian telecom operator Telenors operations in Myanmar.

The operation was sold to a joint venture with Shwe Byain Phyu (SBP), owned by military-linked U Thein Win Zaw, taking an 80 percent share.

Min Aung Hlaings daughter, Khin Thiri Thet Mon has invested in SBP.

U Nay Aung and U Pyay Aung are the sons of late industry minister Aung Than who was a notoriously corrupt member of Than Shwes regime. Their brother, Admiral Moe Aung, is the current naval chief.

IGE has been snubbed and the brothers are trying to distance themselves from the generals. They fear more western sanctions, said a business source in Yangon.

New generation

Business owners with reported links to Kanbawza Group of Companies chairman U Aung Ko Win, who is arguably Myanmars most influential crony, have emerged as a new generation under the current regime.

They are known as frontmen because they provide cover for the generals. Among them are Shwe Byain Phyu Co. chairman U Thein Win Zaw, hotelier U Aung Myo Min Din, 24 Hour Co. chairman U Aung Aung Zaw, Sky One Construction chairman U Maung Maung Naing, Ayeyar Hinthar Group of Companies chairman U Zaw Win Shein, U Soe Naing and U Soe Hlaing of Strong Source Co and U Aung Myo Hein of Authentic Co.

Generals force businesses to work for them. In the past, the generals normally proposed but did not issue orders. Today, the generals make orders because they fear tycoons may ask for favors in return, said an energy source.
 BOGO Happy Hour drinks on the island? $5 wine & beer? Free or Half off appetizers? Yes!

Our participating #tasteofkeybiscayne restaurants are serving up some of the most delicious meal-deals on this Wednesday, November 2, 2022.

Costa Med Bistro

Open for Indoor and Expanded Outdoor Dining, Takeout!

Today, treat yourself to our special homemade black linguine with spicy tomato sauce and lobster chunks

Order online for take out - click here!

Costa Med, a TripAdvisor Traverlers Choice nominated restaurant, is located in the Square Shopping Center. 260 Crandon Blvd. Reservations suggested.

Call Antonio or Harold at (305) 361-7575

Hours.

Lunch Mon to Sat: Noon a.m. to 4 p.m.

Dinner Mon to Sat: 6 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. / Sun 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

The Golden Hog

Eat Local. Help local. Shop Safely.

Visit us for our Wednesday special Grilled Chicken sandwich, prepared fresh on our grill!

Todays menu.

Soups & Creams: Chicken Tortilla / Red Beans / Lobster Bisque

Main Course: Pork Baby Back in BBQ Sauce / Chicken Marsala / Bacalao / Spinach Canneloni

Side Dishes: Yellow Rice / Broccoli / Yuca Sticks

The Golden-Hog has a complete line of specialty groceries for delivery.

Golden Hog puts safety first. We have taken steps to ensure the safety of employees and customers. Shop with confidence.

Call (305) 361-1300 to place a delivery or take out order; you can also email your orders to orders@thegoldenhogmarket.com or order online here.

Miss Mui Chinese Bistro

Newest #tasteofkeybiscayne dining experience, serving authentic Chinese and Cantonese food.

Miss Mui is a family owned and operated restaurant, serving Cantonese cuisine staples like special fried rice, BBQ Spare Ribs, but also lumpias, a Venezuelan-style spring roll and more.

This Wednesday try their specialty, the Pekin Duck. Reputed to be the best in South Florida!

Miss Mui is located in the Square Shopping Center at 260 Crandon Blvd. Suite 14, on Key Biscayne. To place an order, please call 305)-381-0694.

Follow them on Instagram. Click here.

Sake Room

FREE* Crunchy Crab Salad!!!

Make it a Sake-Lunch-Wednesday and try one of the delicious options in our new Lunch Menu, starting at $10.99.

Open for Indoor and Outdoor Dining, Takeout or delivery!

Join us today, open from Noon to 10 p.m.

New hours! Noon to 10 p.m.

Call (305) 456-0488 to place a takeout or delivery order directly

328 Crandon Blvd Ste 108, Galleria Shopping Center

Grub hub  UberEats also available. Please if you can call us first

*Offer good on any $50+ order

Gran Inka

Open for Outdoor Dining, Takeout or Delivery.

El Gran Inka brings to every dish authentic Peruvian gastronomy featuring a unique creation and a touch of gourmet.

On this Wednesday, join us for MidWeek Happy Hour - all drink 2 for 1 and special $7 appetizers

Offering Delivery or Take out directly from El Gran Inka. Order directly from us by calling (305) 365-7883

Open 7-days Noon to 10 p.m.

606 Crandon Blvd. Suite 4 / Key Biscayne (across from Winn Dixie)

UberEats Available

La Scala

Join us for that special Wednesday dinner night! Or let us deliver you a fresh cooked Italian meal! Today, treat yourself to our delicious Linguine Mari Piemonte

A La Scala meal makes any day that much more special. Join us for dine-in, open for indoor dining, limited outdoor seating, reservations recommended.

Come in even if just to say hello to Chandra, and the la Scala team!

To place a takeout - offering curbside service - order call (786) 773-3633 or visit us online by clicking here.

Brasas KB

Open for covered Indoor & Outdoor Dining, Takeout or delivery!

Mid-Week $10.99 burger special.... Our delicious half pound hamburger, with one side and a soda, only $10.99 - loaded it up with a fried egg, bacon, cheese and pickles to make it a "completa" for only $4 more! Can't beat the quality! Unmatched value!

Have you tried our Peruvian Chicken Rotisserie Family Combo for lunch or dinner? Package includes 4 sides and sauce of your choice: huancaina, aji amarillo, huacatay and olivas negras peruanas.

Call (786) 615-2399 to place a takeout order. Open Noon to 8 p.m.

328 Crandon Blvd, Galleria Shopping Center

D'Lite Bistro & Bakery

Who says eating healthy means sacrificing taste and flavor? Not at DLite!

We are a unique and healthy restaurant that serves salads, wraps, sandwiches, bowls, protein smoothies and cold press juices made fresh every morning  including gluten-free, vegetarian and keto options.

This Wednesday, try out any of perfectly packed Wraps.

We open at 7 a.m. daily and close at 8 p.m. everyday except Sat and Sun when we close at 6 p.m.

DLite is located in the Arcade Mall, 180 Crandon Blvd. To place an order, call (305) 882-9284 or visit us online by clicking here.

Kazumi

We are open to serve you with indoor & ample outdoor seating

This Wednesday, treat yourself to our delicious Asian Baby Back Ribs

Modern Japanese fusion restaurant. We offer creative treatments & creativity in our dishes for takeout and delivery by our own employees. Available for lunch and dinner.

Mon to Sat Noon to 9:45 p.m.

Closed Sundays

To place an order call (305) 361-2675 or order online here.

Boaters Grill & Lighthouse Cafe / Bill Baggs

The restaurants inside Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park  the popular Boaters Grill, located at No Name Harbor and accessible by boat, and the beachside Lighthouse Cafe are ready to serve you.

Start the day with a delicious breakfast under the Lighthouse! Serving traditional breakfast favorites being served at Lighthouse Cafe

Boaters Grill is open Sunday through Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Thursday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Lighthouse Cafe is open 7-days a week, from 9 a.m. to Sunset

The restaurants are located inside Bill Baggs State Park, at 1200 Crandon Blvd., Key Biscayne. You can reach them at (305) 361-0080

Randazzo by Yesenia

Open for Indoor & Outdoor dining, Takeout or delivery. Reservations recommended

Join us today, between 5 and 7 p.m. for $5 Wine & Beer specials and HALF OFF Appetizers

Please call (305) 456-0480 to place an order or make a reservation

Open Monday, Wednesday to Sunday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., open until 11 p.m. Friday.

Closed Tuesdays

328 Crandon Blvd Ste 112, Galleria Shopping Center

Delivery service with Postmates or UberEats

Check back tomorrow for more specials as we add more restaurants to #tasteofkeybiscayne-To-Go

And please remember to order from the restaurant directly before using one of the apps  this way we support the local restaurants by saving them the commission they are charged, which at times is as much as 30%
Former US secretary of state and ex-head of the CIA Mike Pompeo has been formally served with a lawsuit which claims he provided oversight for a criminal conspiracy to violate Fourth Amendment rights of American lawyers and journalists inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Pompeo is one of the defendants in the case, which also names the CIA, security firm UC Global and UC Global director David R. Morales Guillen. They are accused of spying on WikiLeaks publisher and founder Julian Assange and his visitors while he took refuge in the embassy.

A statement from the Assange Defence Committee said the suit was served on the former CIA head as he was posing for photographs at the John Ashbrook Memorial Dinner in Ohio on 29 October.

The plaintiffs, who include renowned civil rights activist and human rights attorney Margaret Ratner Kunstler, attorney Deborah Hrbek and journalists Charles Glass and John Goetz, visited Assange while he was in the embassy.

BREAKING: Pompeo and the CIA SUED for spying on lawyers and journalists at the Ecuadorian embassy. We will keep you updated as this develops. pic.twitter.com/iqYXewbUCM  Assange Defense (@DefenseAssange) November 1, 2022

Thealleges violations of the plaintiffs Fourth Amendment rights and documents how UC Global provided the CIA with information about Assanges visitors and forced visitors to surrender their electronic devices to enter the embassy  digitally copying and transmitting information on those devices to the CIA.

Assange was a legally protected asylee at the time. More than 100 Americans visited Assange in the embassy.

Plaintiff Margaret Ratner Kunstler blasted the threat such surveillance poses to constitutional liberties.

If a foreign journalist can be prosecuted for publishing factual documents, then no journalist is safe, she said. And apparently Mike Pompeo believes that attorneys representing journalists should not be safe either. These actions are outrageous.

The suit claimed these actions were authorised and approved by Pompeo.

Assange is currently being held in Belmarsh prison in the UK, pending an appeal against his extradition to the US which was approved by British Home Minister Priti Patel on 17 June.

His legal team has appealed to the British High Court against the order. If that fails, then he can try to approach the UK Supreme Court. In the event that an appeal is refused, he has to be extradited in 28 days.

The suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages for the plaintiffs for the alleged violation of their rights.

It also seeks the removal of any information held by the CIA which was collected from them during their visits to see Assange and prevention of the release of any this information to a third party.
GUEST OPINION by Bruce Bennie, VP & GM, ANZ at Juniper Networks: Vital to the security and reliability of an organisations network infrastructure, intent-based networking (IBN) is a form of network administration that incorporates artificial intelligence (AI), network orchestration and machine learning (ML) to automate administrative tasks across a network.

It can enable enterprises and service providers to execute faster root-cause identification, therefore reducing time in correcting errors and seeking out areas that need to be streamlined or optimised. It also informs operators of conditions and insights that need attention and filters out irrelevant noise, so it is easier to quickly see what is most important.

More than that, intent-based networking is an essential component to creating a future of autonomous networks, enabling organisations to spend less time manually self-servicing their network. By allowing the network to self-analyse and self-correct, you remove the need for heavy human intervention, thereby greatly increasing cost efficiencies which can be hugely beneficial to businesses.

Data control and optimisation

Due to the benefits of data sovereignty and maintaining authority and control over your data  there is a shift towards Australian enterprises storing their most critical data in local, private data centres. Intent-based networking allows for this by enabling organisations to quickly, simply and automatically, deploy and migrate data to private data centres where critical information can be held in more local, controlled environments.

Deploying intent-based networking also ensures your networks are performing optimally. It averts outages with predictive insights, shortens time to resolution, and diminishes human error with change control and fast, all-network rollback: the ability to rollback to previous networking configurations if a misconfiguration occurs. It also increases speed and agility, enabling organisations to significantly improve service delivery times, reduce mean time to resolution (MTTR)  the average time it takes to fully resolve a failure  and shorten maintenance windows.

Furthermore, intent-based networking can dramatically save costs and spearhead growth by freeing up resources. According to Forrester, Junipers intent-based networking technology, Apstra, can deliver present value (PV) benefits totalling $952,000 over three years on total costs of $227,000. This equates to a net present value (NPV) of $725,000, or 320 percent ROI. Benefits highlighted by Forrester include reducing scoping and design time with Apstras inbuilt templates when creating new data centres or expanding their footprint; as well as Apstras simple point-and-click interface enabling customers to configure switches, test deployment scenarios, validate cabling and document deployments much more quickly and easily. Where organisations previously needed 24 hours per device to deploy in a data centre, now they need just twosaving more than $72,000.

Zero Trust security across the network

Australia experienced 464 breaches in January to June 2021 alone, which is why it is more important than ever before to enforce robust security across networks and data centres. The AI driven nature of intent-based networking is perhaps the most important factor, as from the period in January to June 2021, data breaches resulting from human error in Australia accounted for 190 - 41% of the total.

Beyond just localising and streamlining network operations, intent-based networking provides robust protection to Zero Trust security, including workload protection, threat intelligence and prevention, unified policy management and network segmentation and isolation at scale.

Juniper Networks Apstra, for example, provides a multitude of security benefits for data centre fabrics, including intent-based policy assurance for consistent and accurate policy enforcement, and continuous validation across vendors. It also provides easy-to-use blueprints and templates for securing the data centre and audit trails.

Driving better user experiences and business growth

Deploying intent-based networking dramatically improves network operations by averting outages, shortening time to resolution, and reducing the chance of human error. It also keeps data centres secure, insuring workload protection and threat intelligence and prevention at scale.

Above all else, intent-based networking can be a huge cost saver and growth driver. As proved by Forrester, with the right technology you can drive significant return on investment and save hundreds of thousands of dollars over time.
Well-known ABC personality Wil Anderson has bought into the claim that the broadcaster lacks young presenters by suggesting that he could act as some kind of overseer for late-night programs presented by young comedians.

The Age quoted Anderson as saying: "Lets make something. Lets get all these young people and give them more shows and do something in a slot  I dont care where it is, it could be 10.30 on a Friday night, or we find a channel and we do it every night  lets just invest in people.

The debate over a lack of youth presenting on the ABC arose after the 8.30pm slot on Friday night was given to Fran Kelly, the former host of the news show, RN Breakfast. Kelly stopped hosting the show recently and it has been taken over by Patricia Karvelas.

Her selection was criticised by a number of writers  Thomas Mitchell, a culture reporter for the Nine newspapers, Luke Buckmaster of Guardian Australia and Osman Faruqi, culture news editor and columnist for Nine  but backed by Kelly's colleague, Karvelas.

ABC chairwoman Ita Buttrose labelled criticism of Kelly's suitability for the slot as being driven by "ageism". Kelly is 64.

But Anderson clearly agrees with the contention that the ABC is not doing enough to promote young talent, suggesting that a different comedian could host the show he had in mind every night.

Image by Watercolor Artist from Pixabay

Part of the problem is absolutely the discrepancy between the audience who watch the ABC and the audience they try to attract, he told The Age. Its chicken or egg: are young people not watching the ABC because the ABC doesnt have good programs for young people or are young people just not watching free to air TV?"

The ABC has said nothing about Anderson's views on the issue. He is a major draw for the broadcaster and has been so since he made his debut hosting The Glass House, an excellent political show, at the age of 27.

The claims about ageism by Buttrose and Karvelas fall flat in the face of the fact that Laura Tingle, the political editor for 7.30, has never attracted anything but praise for her contributions. Tingle is over the age of 60.

The same is the case for former Age political editor Michelle Grattan, now 78, who appears on radio quite often. She has never been called anything, but balanced in her approach.

But the ABC is like a mule when it comes to change and Kelly is likely to continue if only because of all the criticism. A good example of the corporation's ostrich-like attitude is the way it has experimented with Q+A (formerly Q&A) moving the show to Thursday, despite numerous warnings that this would reduce the viewership by a goodly number.

But given the alarming drop in audience numbers, the broadcaster has finally admitted defeat, and will return the show to Monday nights from next year onwards. However, it is unclear whether this will make a difference, given that it is now hosted by Stan Grant, a man who needs no audience or panellists, as he generally plays the role of all three.

On bringing in youth, the ABC is again unlikely to move unless audiences begin to drop beyond a certain level.
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Malian troops and "white soldiers" believed to be from the Russian paramilitary group Wagner have killed 13 civilians in Mali, local sources told AFP, an allegation denied by the African nation's army.

France, the United States and their Western allies have accused Mali's military-dominated government of hiring Wagner mercenaries in their fight against a long-running jihadist insurgency.

The murky group's fighters have been linked with rights abuses and war crimes in conflict zones in Africa and the Middle East.

The government has denied the claim and says the Russians working with its army are military instructors.

A local politician told AFP on condition of anonymity that Malian soldiers arrived in the village of Guelledje in central Mali on Sunday in large numbers "with white soldiers".

"There was gunfire and arrests. We counted at least 13 dead," he said on Monday.

Another local lawmaker, also speaking on condition of anonymity, corroborated the report. He said three people from the same family were among the victims.

A Guelledje resident said his village was attacked because "the Malian army and the white Wagner soldiers see it as a 'jihadist' settlement".

An official with a local association promoting the Peul culture, one of the west African country's main ethnic groups, told AFP on Monday that more than 20 Peul civilians were killed and arrested in Guelledje.

"They're putting us in the same box. Not all Peuls are jihadists. Those who were killed were innocent civilians," he added.

A Malian military source told AFP the army "categorically rejected these accusations".

Mali has been battling a severe security, political and humanitarian crisis since 2012 after jihadist and separatist insurrections erupted in the north of the Sahel state.

The army, which seized power in a 2020 coup, has broken with traditional partner and colonial power France in favour of Russia.

It claims to have turned around the situation on the battlefield and pushed back the jihadists.

The army has long been accused of abuses, including by the UN stabilisation mission deployed in Mali.

The authorities say they respect human rights and open investigations where necessary, but the results are rarely made public.

There were also new clashes between armed groups in recent days in the northern regions of Gao and Menaka, with an unconfirmed toll from military officials and jihadists suggesting dozens had been killed.

Two civilians including a child were also killed during an attack on a bus by armed men between Ansongo and Menaka, police said Tuesday.

Gao and Menaka have for months been plagued by fighting between the army, armed groups and jihadists, with civilians caught in the crossfire.
SOUTHWESTERN LAW SCHOOL, Los Angeles, Calif., Nov. 01, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE)  The Kenneth & Harle Montgomery Foundation joins Southwestern Law School in the appointment of five Montgomery Scholars for the 2022-2023 academic year. Each grantee receives a lavish award from the Foundation, which provides important support and enables them to continue to produce high-quality grants that will make an impact on the legal profession and the world.

The 2022-2023 Montgomery Scholars are Professors Mira Deo, Warren Grimes, Hila Keren, John Teheranian, and Rachel VanLandingham. Professors Keren and Tehranian have been named Montgomery Scholars for the first academic year of 20212022.

I am pleased that our family foundation is able to make this gift and contribute to Southwesterns strong scientific legacy. As a past Dean of Southwestern, I know Southwestern has many outstanding scholars.~Bryant G. Garth, President of the Kenneth & Harle Montgomery Foundation; Dean Emeritus of Southwestern Law School; Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus, UC Irvine Law; Interim Director, American Bar Foundation

Each years award winners build and share knowledge and concepts that impact their fields and help improve the law and our society. Scholarship recognition and support is critical to Southwesterns continued success. ~Darby Dickerson, President and Dean, Southwestern Law School

Professor Meera Deo, the Honorable Vaino-Spencer Chairman of Southwestern, is a national expert on legal education, racial representation and diversity, equity and inclusion. She uses empirical methods and interdisciplinary science to study vulnerable populations in legal education, drawing on her PhD. in Sociology and the JD Professor Deo Fellowship has been published in numerous peer-reviewed and law-reviewed journals. She is also director of the Law School Survey of Student Engagement (LSSSE), which is the nations largest
A senior official in President Joe Bidens administration visited Ukraine on Tuesday to pledge further support, a week ahead of congressional elections in which some Republicans have vowed closer scrutiny of billions of dollars in war aid.

Karen Donfried, the foreign ministrys top official for Europe, is visiting Ukraine until Wednesday and will hold talks with officials in President Volodymyr Zelenskyys cabinet.

The focus of her trip is to underscore the unwavering and continued US support for Ukraine as she defends her freedom and territorial integrity from Russias brutal war, the State Department said in a statement.

She is also meeting with staff at the US embassy in Kyiv, which has remained operational despite intensified Russian strikes in the Ukrainian capital, including its electricity and water supplies.

The US Congress in May pledged $40 billion to Ukraine, with cross-party support as the country fends off Russian invaders.

Kevin McCarthy, who is set to become Speaker of the House if the Republicans win next weeks election, recently warned that there would be no blank check for Ukraine if his party was in control.

Ukraine enjoys the support of much of the Republican base, although far-right lawmakers close to former President Donald Trump have voiced criticism.

Foreign Minister Antony Blinken, who visited Kyiv on September 8, will also express his support for Ukraine in talks with colleagues from the Group of Seven Industrial Nations this week in Munster, Germany.

Howard Solomon, a deputy to Donfried, said the G7 will discuss ways to assist Ukraine as winter sets in amid Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure.

I think there are many common positions and solidarity  and I think also among populations, even within Europe, within the United States  on the need to support Ukraines heroic efforts to withstand this invasion, he said told reporters.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama slammed the British government on Wednesday for allegedly discriminating against Albanians after a senior British official singled out nationality for its role in illegal migration to the country.

Crossing the English Channel in small boats from mainland Europe has caused a political headache for UK ministers who promised Brexit would result in tighter immigration controls.

Official statistics in the United Kingdom have found that Albanians are now the largest single group crossing the English Channel in small boats.

In a series of messages published on his personal Twitter account, Rama said British officials had been actively discriminating against Albanians.

Targeting Albanians as the cause of Britains crime and border problems (as some shamefully did while campaigning for Brexit) is simple rhetoric but ignores hard facts, Rama tweeted.

Albanians in the UK work hard and pay taxes. The UK should fight criminal gangs of all nationalities and stop discriminatingto excuse policy failures, he added.

UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman was recently criticized for her choice of language during a heated debate in the House of Commons when she claimed there was an invasion of migrants in England.

Braverman has also pointed the finger at Albanian asylum seekers, saying that many Albanian adult males seeking asylum in the UK have posed as children, a practice she wanted to crack down.

British MPs were recently told that so far this year 12,000 Albanians have arrived in the country after crossing the English Channel, compared with just 50 in 2020.

Migrant arrivals have reached record highs, causing delays in asylum applications and rising costs for housing and other social services.

Albanian organized crime gangs are believed to be among the key players in smuggling migrants from northern Europe across the English Channel to the UK.
The two Ukrainian women sat laughing on a sunny bench during a days-long lull in Russian shelling, arguing about how it feels to be at war.

The ruins of their village Bilozirka stretched along a rutted road, behind which lay trenches and artillery pieces trapped in the Ukrainian Battle of Kherson.

The Russians have been firing volleys from the south end of the road since they were routed and withdrew from the village in the first month of the war, March.

Ukrainians have tried to push a more recent counteroffensive past Russian positions into areas around the Crimean peninsula that the Kremlin captured in 2014.

Anzhelika Borysenko told her older friend that anyone can get used to anything  even in a full-blown war that few would believe would break out.

The 20-year-old mother of two had spent March trying not to be noticed by Russian soldiers who were setting up camp at a school across the street.

She had spent the ensuing months of Russian shelling either hiding in basements or figuring out a safe time to head out in search of water and food.

At first you only thought about when it would finally end. But now it feels normal. We got used to it, Borysenko said of the war.

Natalia Popesko frowned, implying that her younger friend missed the point.

Personally, I feel dead inside, said the 38-year-old.

We didnt get used to it. We just accepted that this was real.

 Ups and downs 

Ukraines lightning-fast counterattack in the north and ever-deeper pushes south have created new tracts of land that neither side fully controls.

The village of Bilozirka hides in one of these poor gray areas.

Some of Bilozirkas stronger residents are returning, and Ukrainian troops feel safe enough to use the village as a rear base.

But there is no functioning government or established means to support the few hundred residents who have filled the villages better-preserved houses.

The school where the Russians set up their headquarters is now a shattered shell after facing a devastating Ukrainian attack.

This state of neither total war nor any semblance of peace leaves Anastasiya Kuplevska vacillating between despair and hope.

If theres no shelling, you wake up and you suddenly want to do something, said the 40-year-old single mother.

But when they start shooting, you immediately feel helpless again.

 Overwhelmed with food 

Kuplevskas biggest problem is how little she can do on a good day when shes in a good mood.

The only jobs in the village are selling basic groceries from the nearby town of Mykolaiv.

Most of the local residents worked at a juice factory down the driveway.

But the roads bridges were blown up during the fighting and the side streets are still heavily shelled.

I dont even know if its still standing, Kuplevska said of her factory.

She also balks at offers from well-wishers, which she feels are misguided help.

They flooded us with food, Kuplevska said of the various humanitarian aid programs.

But you cant build a house out of food.

 will to fight 

The debates and grievances in Bilozirka come at a crucial time in the war.

Ukraines counteroffensive has drawn Russian retaliation aimed at putting much of the country into the winter months without heating and electricity.

Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to be counting on the need to break the Ukrainians will to fight.

But the months of suffering have had exactly the opposite effect on the two women on the bench.

Many of us had relatives in Russia. We spoke to them. We saw them as normal people, Popesko said.

We consider them animals now.

The young mother simply said she refused to talk to her Russian friends.

What Borysenko struggled with more was the mere idea that there was a war.

You see it and you feel it and you understand that its true  but you still kind of dont realize its real, she said.
Lee Jung Jae took the world by storm with his outstanding performance in "Squid Game" as well as his charm, making global fans swoon over his personality.

Besides this, the award-winning actor is also acing the fashion department as seen on his Instagram and red carpet appearance.

Interestingly, his debonair looks made him one of the global ambassadors for the fashion luxury house Gucci.

At the height of the Netflix series, the Italian Maison has announced Lee Jung Jae as their newest ambassador joining fellow South Korean actress Shin Min Ah.

The award-winning actor stuns in Gucci's newest Aria collection looking dapper and hotter for the campaign.

In a press release obtained by a media outlet, the Maison revealed what prompted them to select the actor to represent the brand.

In an official statement, it pointed out Lee Jung Jae's "charismatic and iconic style and a strong self-identity is similar to Gucci's philosophy that values acceptance of diversity and self-expression."

From his stunning Instagram photos, campaign shorts, and more, here are Lee Jung Jae's fashion moments on the red carpet that made a mark on the public.

Being a former model, there's no doubt why Lee Jung Jae slays every red carpet that he attends - from sporting a classic suit to trendy ensembles.

Lee Jung Jae's Classic Sleek Suit

While women dazzle with their variety of long gowns, it's all about suits with men.

As for Lee Jung Jae, he never fails to make the crowd miss him by sporting a classic black suit.

During the 2021 SAG Awards where he bagged the Best Actor trophy, the actor graced the red carpet wearing a Gucci dark blue suit with black lapel details and a bow tie.

Interestingly, you can have the same silhouette as Lee Jung Jae's red carpet look with this Calvin Klein slim-fit suit available on Amazon.

Studded Suit

Lee Jung Jae took the classic suit to the next level as the "Squid Game'' star wowed the crowd with his charm while wearing a sharp dark navy suit.

However, instead of the usual, the South Korean star opted for studded and leather detailing.

Apart from his head-turning red carpet moment, the top star also won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role in "Squid Game" as Seong Gi Hoon.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Lee Jung Jae to Receive 1 Billion Won Per Episode in 'Squid Game 2'?

If you are looking for the same vibe as Lee Jung Jae's fashion style at the Emmys 2022, go big with the cloudstyle mens 2-piece suit with peaked lapel.

What's interesting about this Amazon find is bedazzled detail perfect for weddings, dinner dates and special celebrations.

All White Suit

Lee Jung Jae appeared at the Cannes Film Festival red carpet opening with "Hunt" co-star Jung Woo Sung.

While his fellow actor and a good friend chose a pop of color, Lee Jung Jae's fashion style leans on the basic yet elegant style by opting for an all-white outfit.

In case you are looking for a sleek suit but on a budget, check out Amazon's slim-fit 2-piece suit with double-breasted coat detail.

KDramastars owns this article

Written by Geca Wills
BEIJING, Nov. 2 -- Chinas Ministry of Education recently released a postgraduate enrollment plan in 2023 customized for the demobilized college student soldiers, covering an enrollment quota of 7,261 persons. This plan is to be undertaken by 513 universities and colleges, including Beijing University, Renmin University of China, and Tsinghua University.

It is learned that China's Ministry of Education has initiated the special enrollment plan for the demobilized college student soldiers applying for postgraduate programs since 2016. After serving in the military and being demobilized, the college students who meet the requirements for the postgraduate entrance examination can enjoy various preferential policies, such as bonus points for the preliminary examination, exemption from the preliminary examination for those who have won second-class merit citations or above, and preferential admission compared with other applicants with same scores.
Port-Louis, Mauritius (PANA)  Mauritius has launched the National Sexual Reproductive Health Policy 2022 and its implementation Plan 20222027, whose objective is to achieve sexual health and well-being of all the population at every stage of life
In Korea, most students finish high school at the age of 19. With that in mind, K-drama stars playing high schoolers must be of the same age too. However, with their youthful look, these overaged stars Kim Go Eun, Hwang In Yeop, and more were able to slay playing teen roles into their late twenties and early thirties!

1. Kim Go Eun

Thanks to her iconic role as the "Goblin's bride" in the hit 2016 fantasy-romance series "Goblin," Kim Go Eun made a huge success in her career. She played the character of Ji Eun Tak, a high school student who was struggling at the hands of her aunt.

ALSO READ: Lee Do Hyun Flexes New Tattoos For New Movie With Kim Go Eun

The actress was 25 years old at that time when she convinced the viewers that she does look like a bubbly teenager enjoying carefree days.

2. Hwang In Yeop

Famous for his role in "18 Again," this actor shocked many when he finally revealed his age. At the age of 29, Hwang In Yeop played another high school role in tvN's "True Beauty."

His young and appealing look indeed deceived many that he can pass as a student heartthrob.

3. Kim Jung Hyun

Before he landed big drama roles, Kim Jung Hyun captivated the viewers when he portrayed the high schooler, Hyun Tae Woon, in the KBS campus series "School 2017. He was 28 years old when he did this project.

4. Kim Hee Sun

Making it on the list is veteran actress Kim Hee Sun. In 2015, she starred in the MBC series "Angry Mom," where she immersed herself in the character of a high schooler Jo Bang Wool.

She surprised many with her role and wore that adorable school uniform at the age of 39. She was a mother who went undercover as a high school student.

5. Ryu Jun Yeol

This award-winning actor has worn different hats already, which earned him recognition from the public. When he played the role of Kim Jung Hwan in the coming-of-age tvN series "Reply 1988" in 2015, Ryu Jun Yeol was in his late twenties and yet looked young in those high school uniforms.

6. So Joo Yeon

Though many of the overaged high school stars are male, there are still some old female stars who've used their youthful looks and landed teen roles. Known for her character in "Dr. Romantic 2," So Joo Yeon also played a 17-year-old high school student in her recent Kakao M web-drama, "A Love So Beautiful", when she was at the age of 28.

7. Lee Dong Hwi

Joining Ryu Jun Yeol in the list is his "Reply 1988" co-star and real-life friend, Lee Dong Hwi, who was 31 years old when he took the role of teen Ryu Dong Ryong.

For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news and updates, keep your tabs open here at Kdramastars.

Kdramastars owns this article.

Shai Collins wrote this.
Over the years, Kelowna's bus system has been managed by companies based in Scotland and Sweden. Now, a French-based company is poised to take over the system.
Kenosha County is preparing for the future of a new farming industry  one that relies on virtually no fertilizer but depends on lots of sunlight.

On Tuesday night the County Board unanimously approved changes to its zoning ordinance that will allow for the conditional use of smaller-scale solar energy systems, aka solar farms on properties that were previously used for agriculture. The ordinance also received unanimous approval from the Planning and Development Committee last month.

The concept of solar farming isnt new to Kenosha County as construction on a 200-megawatt system  enough electricity to power 60,000 homes each year  is already well underway in the Town of Paris. The Paris Solar Energy Center LLC, Wisconsins first and largest utility-scale solar farm with battery back up located on 1,500 acres of a 5,300-plus acre parcel about 1.5 miles west of Interstate 94, bordering Highway KR on the north, Highway 45 on the west and partly adjacent to Highway 142 (Burlington Road) on the south, is expected to begin generating power as early as next year.

Smaller scale solar

However, the county isnt looking at regulating wattage of that magnitude, according to Andy Buehler, director of planning and development.

So this (ordinance) is for a solar farm application thats under 100 megawatts, said Buehler in an earlier interview. Any use over 100 megawatts is completely administered by the Public Service Commission, which regulates utility-grade systems in the state.

Buehler said that revising the countys zoning ordinance for solar energy systems also isnt a new concept as officials had looked at how they might accommodate them back in 2013. At the time, the county had also been revising the ordinance to include wind farms because that was something that was kind of sweeping across the state, he said.

The County Board approved changes for energy generation via wind turbines about two years later, but not for solar. Incidentally, the county currently has no wind farms, he said.

There didnt seem to be much movement of solar in this state and so we just kind of put it in our back pocket, he said. We knew the legislation out there had a provision that if an application was made, that local municipality would have, I think its like up to three months to enact an ordinance if one didnt exist.

Wheatland proposal would power 2,000 homes

Then, over the summer, Madison-based OneEnergy Development LLC, applied to construct a 7.5-megawatt solar farm on 68 acres, of which 40-acres would be used for harnessing and converting sunlight into usable energy, in the Town of Wheatland on property upland from the Fox River at Highway 50, said Buehler.

According to the application, the The Salix Solar Project, with its 16,380 solar panels made of crystalline silicone, is expected to produce enough electricity to power about 2,000 average Wisconsin homes. The developers timeline proposes work to begin as early as May 2023 with estimated completion in about five to six months later. The application has yet to come before committee.

Theyve only made an application. And then that prompted us to put together a solar ordinance, which will be enacted, probably mid-December. And then at that point, well be able to process their application because now well have an ordinance in effect, Buehler said.

Buehler said the ordinance isnt just to accommodate one particular proposal, though.

Its a general solar energy ordinance for the private landowner and for a solar farm, he said.

The ordinance takes into account the conditional use permit OneEnergy or anyone else for that matter would apply for.one The permit allows for solar farms in three agricultural districts and an industrial district. It must be on a minimum of 10 acres with a frontage of 300 feet on a public street, along with setbacks of anywhere from 40-100 feet depending on where a yard is situated. The maximum height of its solar collectors can be no more than 15 feet at maximum tilt. Among the many other regulations  they cant be located within 100-year flood plains or designated wetlands, either.

Buehler said so far, there has only been one application for a conditional use permit for a lower megawatt solar farm, but the county has fielded a number of phone calls.

This ones prompting us to kind of put one in place now ... and the communities have told us  they have concerns over a solar farm and want to make sure if one were to come  that we have the things in place to help address different concerns.

Before the Paris solar farm gained approval, among the concerns expressed were over how the development would affect roads, drainage and the overall environment.

More farms to see sunlight?

Whether solar farms are proliferating energy source or a just a farming fad has yet to be seen, according to Buehler. But it appears that more public utilities are seeing the sunlight.

Utility-scale solar modeling studies at the Center for Land Use Education at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point indicate public utility companies have certainly begun to shift from dependence on fossil-fuels to renewable energy sources. The center has also published a detailed poster ranking counties on their suitablility for solar energy systems with criteria that includes proximity to infrastructure, power lines, lands that are agricultural or undevelopable and slope of the land. Kenosha County was ranked in the top 10 of 72 counties for solar farm suitability, according the study.

In addition, the price of solar panels has also decreased, said Buehler.

So then, from what weve been told, it makes it cost-effective to do this, he said.

Board scheduled to vote on budget Wednesday

In other business, the Board held a public hearing and heard a first reading of the proposed 2023 county budget Tuesday night. It is scheduled to meet at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday to vote on the budget that includes a proposed levy of $73,872,508, a slight increase of 1.56% in 2023. In 2022, the levy was at $72,740,907.

Corresponding to the proposed levy is a tax rate that is expected to drop by 57 cents from $4.18 this year to $3.61 per $1,000 of equalized property value next year. This means the owner of a median value home, $271,000 (up from $238,549 this year) would expect to pay $978.31 in taxes, a decrease in 2023. In 2022, the owner of a median value home paid $997.01 in taxes to the county.
Hissing cockroaches, tarantulas, bugs and snakes may already fit into peoples idea of a spooky Halloween, but at Carthage Colleges Science Center atrium Monday late afternoon, they were being used for a more educational, and in some cases nutritional, purpose.

The Carthage College Entomology Club, as part of the Biology Honors Societys Boo Bash, had a table for students to check out a wide variety of creepy creatures. Professor Angela Dassow, the clubs advisor and chair of the biology department, said the event normally was a bit tamer, but this year they wanted to try something special.

Carthage Entomology 1 Professor Angela Dassow, advisor to the Carthage Entomology Club, holds up Beth, a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach. The Halloween event also feat

The brave of heart could handle tarantulas, snakes, Vietnamese walking sticks, and even Madagascar Hissing cockroaches.

Anything that might look a little creepy but that people can learn from, Dassow said.

Carthage Entomology 2 Entomology Club Secretary Michael Carlson and club advisor Angela Dassow hold up Madagascar Hissing cockroaches Aric and Beth, showing them of

In addition, the table featured several packets of flavored insects to try. Club secretary Michael Carlson said they were trying to raise awareness about insects, and to normalize something that could one day be a major source of nutrition for people.

Bugs are really important to the environment, people have a weird stigma that theyre just gross, Carlson said.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - As the bloody Ethiopian conflict enters its third year on Thursday, Human rights advocate, Amnesty International, has urged the international community to show solidarity with the victims and survivors of atrocity crimes in the conflict
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The recent case of a fourteen-year-old girl being denied her medications for arthritis highlights that the Roe v. Wade decision has far-reaching consequences for women and girls. Disturbingly, the Supreme Courts decision allowing for abortion bans also contains several factual errors. As a doctor, I think it is important that we understand the facts about abortion. I want to share the top 10 misconceptions about pregnancy termination that I have heard.

1. Miscarriage and abortion are distinguishable. Medically, miscarriage and other forms of pregnancy termination are the same. Whenever a pregnancy is interrupted by medication or a surgical procedure, it is an abortion. Any miscarriage could also leave women open to criminal prosecution. This is already happening in many states.

2. Abortions are violent. One of the most surprising things for me to hear is that many people believe that pregnancy termination is the same as killing a baby. According to the CDC, 92.7 percent of abortions are performed before 13 weeks of gestation, when the fetus is incapable of living outside the womb. Terminations at this point in the pregnancy are done either with medications or via a 15-minute suction procedure. Less than 1 percent of abortions happen after 26 weeks, usually because the mothers life is at risk or the fetus has a severe deformity.

3. Bans on later pregnancy abortions will decrease later pregnancy abortions. Interestingly, 94 percent of women who seek pregnancy termination later in their pregnancy (after 20 weeks in this study) faced an access barrier earlier in their pregnancy, most often financial. It is, therefore, likely that state restrictions will lead to more abortions later in pregnancy.

4. Women will still have access to medication abortions. Weeks of pregnancy are not counted from when women know they are pregnant but from their last menstrual period. Even for women with regular periods, six-week bans mean they will not be able to access an abortion almost as soon as they suspect they are pregnant. Effectively, many state laws have outlawed all abortions, including medication abortions.

5. Women will still have access to abortion if they leave their state. The cost of an abortion increases dramatically when travel becomes necessary, and some states have rules in place that allow the state to punish women who travel to seek care. Many women (especially poor women) are, therefore, unlikely to be able to afford care.

6. Pregnant women will be able to get an abortion if their life is at risk. Laws on the books generally include exceptions for the life of the mother, but in practice, many women will die. Women who are afraid of being arrested will delay seeking care; many will die before they can be helped. Even when they do seek care, they may be turned away. The Texas Medical Association has documented cases where women were denied care for their ectopic pregnancy (a pregnancy that occurs outside of the uterus and is never viable), putting their lives at risk. They also noted two hospitals where pregnant women seeking care were sent home and told to expel the fetus on their own, putting them at risk of severe infection and death. Doctors interested in providing full-spectrum pregnancy care are already leaving these states, leading to a brain drain that could affect women for generations.

7. These bans will only affect abortion care. Because of the fears of lawsuits, the bans have far-reaching consequences. For instance, methotrexate, a medication used to treat autoimmune diseases like lupus, may lead to early pregnancy loss. As a result, some doctors refuse to prescribe it, and some pharmacies refuse to dispense it. Women are also being refused medications that can cause birth defects, even if there is no chance that they are currently pregnant, as healthcare providers and pharmacists fear medicolegal consequences.

8. We are returning to a pre-Roe world. Pre-Roe, many women privately received abortions. Now, technology has made privacy much more difficult to protect. Every piece of data, from our emails to our medical records, could be seized in a criminal investigation. A teenage girl and her mother have had their messages turned over by Facebook to the Nebraska prosecutors investigating her medication abortion. The past has many lessons for us, but this new era has ushered in an unprecedented invasion of privacy.

9. These bans will decrease abortion. There is almost no evidence that abortion bans decrease abortions or demand for these services. Bans have only been shown to convincingly make abortion less safe.

10. These bans are pro-life. Judge Alito incorrectly stated in his opinion that surgical abortions are dangerous to pregnant women, one of many factually incorrect statements in his decision. These procedures are remarkably safe. Meanwhile, abortion bans increase the risk of dying during pregnancy or in the postpartum period 34 times.

In many states, women can now be forced to carry a fetus to term, even when their life is at risk, or there is no possibility that the baby will survive birth. In a profession where we value facts and patient autonomy, it is impossible not to be alarmed by the Courts decision to interfere with patients most basic decisions about their health and body, especially using false information.

Elisabeth Poorman is an internal medicine physician and can be reached on Twitter @DrPoorman.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
My sister went to the hospital seeking help. Instead, she died. [PODCAST]

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I am heartbroken at the loss of my sister. No, breast cancer didnt physically kill her, and for that, I am grateful. Its presence in her medical history, however, quite possibly did as it was apparently used as the justification for all that went wrong. Perhaps the young hospitalist will remember her. Perhaps he will consider the harm that was done and how assumptions delayed what might have been life-saving treatment. If so, others may benefit. As a physician, I hope for that. As a grieving sister, that hope brings me no solace, but perhaps, someday, Hippocrates can stop crying.

Sydney Lou Bonnick is an internal medicine physician.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, Hippocrates is crying.

The Podcast by KevinMD is brought to you by the Nuance Dragon Ambient eXperience.

With so many demands on their time, physicians today report record levels of burnout. Burnout is caused by many factors, one of which is clinical documentation. Studies indicate physicians spend two hours documenting care for every hour spent with patients.

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Heralding a new era for greener ferry travel, Brittany Ferries Salamanca, the first LNG (liquefied natural gas) powered passenger ferry to operate from Ireland, departed from Rosslare Europort this morning (6:00am GMT) on its maiden voyage to Bilbao, Spain.

Following significant passenger growth on its Ireland-France (46%) and Ireland-Spain (9%) routes in 2022 compared with 2019, Brittany Ferries is now offering greater capacity and an enhanced experience for passengers with the introduction of the luxury cruise ferry, Salamanca.

The new energy-efficient, state-of-the-art ship replaces the predominantly freight-carrying vessel, Connemara.

As well as significantly increased capacity on the Rosslare-Bilbao route, Salamanca promises lower emissions and a smoother, quieter voyage for travellers.

General Manager of Brittany Ferries in Ireland, Hugh Bruton said that Salamanca is the first of four Brittany Ferries vessels to be powered by cleaner liquefied natural gas (LNG).

"She will operate throughout the winter and into next summer on the Cherbourg and Bilbao to Rosslare routes," he said.

"The aim is to grow by 50,000 the number of holidaymakers sailing between Ireland and Spain - as we have recognised that the demand is there. This modern cruise ferry is not only more sustainable but is better equipped and more spacious and luxurious than its predecessor. That means more space for passengers to relax on board, greater comfort and more to do and to share during the voyage.

Christophe Mathieu, CEO of Brittany Ferries added that Brittany Ferries is proud to be taking a lead by investing in the technologies of tomorrow.

"We have a responsibility to bring cleaner vessels to market, which is what we have done," he said.

"LNG-powered ships such as the Salamanca are cleaner today and greener tomorrow, which helps to future-proof our decarbonisation journey - ensuring we can continue to play our part in a more sustainable future.

"But bringing this new cruise ferry to the route is not just about sustainability. Its about a commitment to Ireland and Spain and our desire to build a tourist route between two beautiful destinations. We have spent four years building freight connections; now is the time to focus on holiday-makers."

Glenn Carr, Director, Commercial Business Units, Iarnrod Eireann, Port Authority for Rosslare Europort, added that 'there is no doubt that we are at a critical juncture when it comes to global energy security and supply'.

"It is great to see companies such as Brittany Ferries investing in more sustainable vessels that run on cleaner fuels, mirroring our own decarbonisation journey in Iarnrod Eireann and Rosslare Europort," he said.

"LNG-powered, fuel-agnostic, hybrid and possibly even electric ships are a crucial part of the journey toward future-proofing the maritime industry. We look forward to welcoming all passengers, travelling on board the Salamanca through Rosslare Europort."

As part of its overall fleet renewal plan, Brittany Ferries has invested in four LNG-powered vessels. The move includes two LNG-electric hybrid ships, arriving in 2024 and 2025 servicing UK and mainland European routes.

In addition to more efficient fuel, all of the Brittany Ferries LNG ships will be E-Flexer class vessels, featuring slender hulls and a design that offers a high level of hydrodynamic performance below the surface of the water.

That means a smoother ride and less vibration even in difficult weather conditions.

LNG is currently the best fuel option available to shipping companies, delivering lower emissions and a 90% reduction on nitrogen oxide (Nox).

Further future-proofing its sustainable journey, the Brittany Ferries Salamanca is described as fuel agnostic, which means that when even more renewable options like e-methane or bio-methane come on stream, it will be ready to run on them.

Salamanca will therefore automatically become greener in the coming years, following fuel technology, distribution and supply advances.

Brittany Ferries is currently working with long-term fuel partner Repsol and the ports of Bilbao and Santander for refuelling its LNG ships.

Salamanca will sail from Rosslare to Bilbao twice weekly departing Wednesday and Friday mornings.

To find out more and to book tickets, please visit 'www.brittany-ferries.ie'.
Kilkennys only community radio station hit the jackpot on Thursday when the Community Radio National Awards for a wide range of broadcasting excellence were handed out to the winning broadcasters.

Supported by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, in conjunction with CRAOL, Community Radio Ireland, CRKC were awarded two Golden Awards.

Collecting the first Gold gong was the Radio adaptation of the Story of the Liam Mac Carthy Cup. The Liam Mac Carthy story won Gold in the Commissioned Programme category. Written by Barrie Henriques, Liam MacCarthys Story is a four part dram, telling the story of the most iconic trophy in hurling.

And it was made in Kilkenny, by a Kilkenny man. The four part drama, produced in association with Lake Productions, was a huge hit with audiences when first broadcast in March of this year.

It was such an entertaining dramatisation that the many thousand listeners to the only Community Radio in Kilkenny that tuned in over the four success nights it was aired that the Board of the Radio felt that it was a good idea to submit for an award.

In addition to writer and producer, Barrie Henriques, the project was directed by Ger Cody, who also played the role of Liam MacCarthy with Derek Dooley as interviewer. The series was edited by Mick Cummins of CRKC and narrated by Declan Gibbons.

The drama tells the story of the Cup -famed in song and story- from its inception from the silver mines of the Andes Mountains to the podium in Croke Park on All Ireland Final day.

The first time the new Liam MacCarthy Cup was presented, it was given to a Kilkenny captain  Liam Fennelly - the only man ever to be presented with the old and new Liam Mac Carthy cups.

Collecting one National Gold Award was a tremendous achievement for the Kilkenny Community Radio, but when Pat Shortall and the Sunday Serendipity team were announced as the second Kilkenny Gold Award, the large Kilkenny contingent present were filled with pride and delight at this double success.



Gold Award winners Pat Shortall and Ger Cody (Sunday Serendipity) and Derek Dooley and Barrie Henriques (Liam MacCarthy's Story), with (behind) Declan Gibbons, Station Manager

The programme, Sunday Serendipity, presented by Pat Shortall and featuring a cast of dozens received a Gold award in the category, Social Benefit  Talk. The programme, which ran for a series of 30 episodes up to October 2022 includes contributions from a wide range of community groups and individuals.

These include St Canices (RC) parish, Kilkenny, Circeal Comhra Cois Fheoir, Kilkenny Local History Group, Kilkenny Union of Parishes (C of I), Lake Productions, the Mayors Historical Walk Group among many others. The series has featured poets, writers, farmers, hurlers, priests, men, women and children, with a particular focus on local talent.

Reacting to the award, Sunday Serendipity presenter/producer, Pat Shortall said: I was greatly surprised when Sunday Serendipity was nominated for a CRAOL award. I must thank our manager at the radio station for selecting the programme and the personal compliment it entails. I was extremely delighted for not alone the listeners but for the many contributors who assist with the production each week."
An Irish minister has called for common sense to prevail in a row over whether Dublin citys live animal crib should take place this Christmas.

It emerged over the weekend that the live animal crib would not be set up outside the Mansion House, the Lord Mayor of Dublins residence, as has been tradition for 25 years.

The current lord mayor Caroline Conroy, a Green Party member, said that the crib was good, but we can do better, suggesting choirs, games, or a Santa postbox would be more interactive for children.

Fine Gael councillors criticised the decision as Grinch-like and said they would submit an emergency motion at a November 7 council meeting with the aim of overturning the decision.

Fine Gael junior minister Patrick ODonovan said he was working with the Irish Farmers Association, who manage the animals at the crib, on a new location in the event that the decision is overturned.

Since then the row has escalated, with various elected politicians weighing in on whether the live animal crib should be held in the capital.

Former Irish president Mary McAleese is reported to have written to Ms Conroy about the issue, while former education minister and Fianna Fail councillor Mary Hanafin put Dun Laoghaire forward as an alternative location.

Exactly this from @NARACampaigns. I fully support @caroline1conroy in her decision as @LordMayorDublin. Next year will be a @fiannafailparty Mayor & they can bring back dancing monkeys & put a real baby in the live crib or whatever they & @FineGael think defines Christmas. pic.twitter.com/4UKCu8ZINc  Cllr Claire Byrne (@CByrneGreen) October 31, 2022

When asked about the issue on Tuesday, Taoiseach Micheal Martin avoided being drawn into the debate, suggesting that it was beyond his pay grade.

Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys told reporters on Wednesday that her grandson has the chance to see farm animals in her native Co Monaghan.

People in the city dont get that same opportunity, she said.

And I think for a young child to get that experience, to see those live animals in the centre of the city, was something that many families enjoy and I would say I hope that common sense prevails here and a solution is found.

She added: What Im saying is that its something that I think common sense should prevail, and that a solution should be found.

I think its important to say that a child going to look at an animal, Im sure youve seen it yourself, the joy they have in seeing, whether its sheep, whether its goats, whether its cattle, its something to behold and I hope that common sense prevails.
A rural Kilkenny community is gathering this evening to protest the erection of a communication mast in the centre of their village.



People living in Kells will meet at the Kells Creche tonight (Wednesday) at 8pm. This is the latest move by locals to prevent a mast being allowed to remain in the village. It began to be erected earlier this summer but that wasnt the end of the matter.

Eircom initially applied to Kilkenny County Council for permission to develop a 15 metre high, free standing, communications structure with its associated antennae, communication dishes, ground equipment and all associated site development works, at Haggard Road, in June 2020. This was to replace an existing 10 metre, wooden pole.



Permission was refused in November 2020, but appealed to An Bord Pleanala by Eircom Ltd. In June 2021 An Bord Pleanala granted permission for the development with conditions, despite a planning inspectors recommendation it be refused.

Construction on the mast began in April, however according to local residents that was halted and it was removed in October "never having functioned, on foot of community complaints/actions." Local residents now hope they can prevent the re-erection of the mast in the coming weeks.
A speed camera van in South Kilkenny has been deemed a 'waste of space' by a local councillor due to its current location.

The speed van in question is located on the N25 between Glenmore and Slieverue.

Councillor Ger Frisby raised the positioning of the speed van with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) representatives during an online consultation recently.

"The aim was to try to get across local knowledge to them," he told elected members of Piltown Municipal District Council at this month's meeting.

"The speed van there is a waste of space. Look at all the accidents happening further down the road. Theyll fly once they pass that van, going 120km/hr passing the Rhu Glenn hotel."

Cllr Frisby said that TII did take on his concerns but did not have a timeframe for when the issue could be addressed.

Councillor Eamon Aylward told members that he had been talking to guards about that speed van 'a long time ago'.

"It's still sitting there doing nothing while cars are speeding through all of our villages," he said.

"TII are just kicking the ball further down the road, even though local knowledge is best knowledge."
A funding windfall for NINE separate Men's Sheds across Co Kilkenny has been announced today by Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys.

Each of the groups will receive 2,000 under the total 800,000 announced for Men's Sheds all over Ireland.

Grants of 2,000 will go to: Mooncoin Men's Shed; Graignamanagh Men's Shed, D.G.K. Men's Shed in Cuffesgrange, Fen Men's Shed in Kilkenny City, Thomastown Men's Shed, Callan Men's Shed, Kilkenny Men's Shed, Castlecomer and District and Ferrybank Men's Shed.

Minister Humphreys made the announcement during a visit to the Dublin 12 Mens Shed in Kimmage in Dublins South Inner City on Wednesday.

The individual grants will be distributed to the over 400 Mens Sheds via its representative body, the Irish Mens Sheds Association (IMSA).

Announcing the funding today, Minister Humphreys said: Our Mens Sheds provide an absolutely invaluable service in communities the length and breadth of the country. They help tackle isolation and provide a welcoming and comfortable space for men to come together and socialise. And as we enter the winter period, the supports that our Mens Sheds provide are even more important. So Im delighted to be in a position to support our Mens Sheds.

This announcement today builds on the 100,000 I recently set aside for Womens Sheds, which will also see grants of 2,000 provided. I know that the number of Womens Sheds being set up across the country is on the rise  and thats a fantastic development," the minister said.
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Cloudy skies with a few showers after midnight. Low around 40F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Cloudy skies with a few showers after midnight. Low around 40F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
CNN has obtained the driver's license photograph of David DePape, the man suspected of attacking Paul Pelosi at his San Francisco home. DePape has been released from Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and moved to the county jail.
An undated photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows the units of the Korean People's Army (KPA) for the operation of tactical nukes staging a military drill carried out to check and assess the war deterrent and nuclear counterattack capability of the country, Oct. 10. EPA-Yonhap





North Korea launched at least three short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) into the East Sea on Wednesday, one of which flew across its de facto maritime border with South Korea for the first time since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, according to the South's military.







The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the missile firing from a site in or around the North's eastern coastal city of Wonsan was detected at around 8:51 a.m.







The North's latest provocation came in apparent protest of the five-day large-scale combined air drills of South Korea and the United States that kicked off Monday.







One of the three SRBMs fell into high seas 26 kilometers south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), an area 57 km east of the South's eastern city of Sokcho and 167 km northwest of Ulleung Island near Dokdo. It headed toward the island before falling into the international sea, prompting local authorities to issue an air raid alert.






Chang Jae-hoon, left, CEO of Hyundai Motor, meets with Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis at the prime minister's office in Nassau, the Bahamas on Oct. 26 (local time) to gain support to host the World Expo 2030 in Busan. Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group





By Kim Hyun-bin







Hyundai Motor CEO Chang Jae-hoon visited Latin American and Caribbean countries including the Bahamas, Paraguay and Chile to drum up support for Busan to host World Expo 2030, according to the company, Wednesday.







Chang met with President Mario Abdo, Foreign Minister Julio Cesar Ariola and Vice Minister of Commerce Pedro Mancuello Perez of the presidential palace in Asuncion, Paraguay on Oct. 28, and requested support and cooperation with Busan's bid to host the World Expo.







He also held meetings with high-ranking officials of the Bahamian government, including Prime Minister Philip Davis, Minister of Works and Utilities Alfred Michael Sears and Director General of Foreign Affairs Rhoda Jackson at the prime minister's office in Nassau, the Bahamas, on Oct. 26, where he promoted Busan's competitiveness.







The next day, he visited the offices of the Ministry of Economy in Santiago, Chile, and met with Salvatore di Giovanni, head of the Chilean Investment Promotion Division, and managing director Karla Flores.







Chang also exchanged broad opinions on ways to cooperate with Hyundai Motor Group, emphasizing the company's global leadership in electric vehicles (EV) and fuel cell EVs, and discussed ways to cooperate in the development of eco-friendly energy such as in the supply of eco-friendly vehicles and the establishment of infrastructure.







The CEO also discussed the possibility of social contribution projects such as education and culture, medical support and healthcare services for the development of the local community in the countries he visited.






Haseeb Kazi, left, professor of mathematics at Trine University, and Lance Jutze, a mathematics major, present Best Practices for Online Instruction of Mathematics for Students who Face Learning Barriers at the Indiana Section meeting of the Mathematical Association of America at Rose Hulman Institute of Technology on Oct. 22 in Terre Haute.
President Joe Bidens administration told hospitals in July they must provide emergency abortions when necessary even in states with strict bans in place.

And here in Missouri, a Joplin hospital is apparently the first in the nation to be investigated for possibly violating federal law by telling a woman experiencing an emergency that she needed to terminate her pregnancy to protect her health but that the abortion could not take place in the state.

The law, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, was passed in 1986 to block hospitals from sending patients who could not pay for treatment to other facilities. A hospital that accepts Medicare must provide screening and stabilizing treatments to anyone who seeks care in their emergency departments.

Investigations are only authorized after a complaint. The woman who was denied an abortion, Mylissa Farmer of Joplin, told The Independent on Tuesday that she wasnt the source of the complaint.

I have not filed complaints or initiated any investigation, Farmer said.

And while her attorney says she doesnt know the origin of the complaint, she hopes the investigation shows what happened internally as the hospital was considering how to handle Farmers case.

Farmer was almost 18 weeks pregnant when her water broke, according to a Springfield News-Leader article published Oct. 14. After advising her that she would lose the pregnancy before the fetus was viable, her doctor told her he could not perform the abortion.

Farmer, on her own, found treatment at a clinic in Granite City, Illinois.

What happened to our client Mylissa is devastating and it shouldnt happen to anyone in Missouri or any other state, Tanner said. We hope that any investigation into what happened to Mylissa will bring clarity and justice to her and others who live in the state.

The highest-profile controversy over Missouris law making most abortions illegal is wrapped up in politics of this years U.S. Senate race. Democratic Senate candidate Trudy Busch Valentine started running an ad featuring Farmer on Oct. 20. In it, Farmer says she blames Attorney General Eric Schmitt, Valentines Republican opponent in Tuesdays election, for her doctors denying her an emergency abortion.

The same day the ad started airing around the state, Schmitts attorney, Ed Greim, sent letters to stations calling it defamatory and threatening possible legal action.

And Oct. 20 is also the day the complaint about Farmers treatment was received and an investigation was authorized.

Because the investigation followed quickly on the release of the ad and Schmitts protest, and because the nature of the investigation wasnt initially known, Democrats worried it was retaliation for the ad by the states Republican administration.

House Democratic Leader Crystal Quade of Springfield filed Sunshine Law requests demanding communications between Schmitt, Gov. Mike Parson and the health department.

Federal law for investigations makes the state health department the fact-finding agency. But the decision to initiate an investigation and a final say on whether it finds violations is the responsibility of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, also known as CMS.

Lisa Cox, spokeswoman for Missouris health department, confirmed in an email to The Independent that the complaint was received Oct. 20 and the investigation was authorized that day.

Material provided to The Independent by CMS states that investigations only occur after complaints.

Complaints can be based on credible information from a variety of sources, which may include media reports, patients, family members, facilities, or staff, the guidance states.

To file complaints, CMS directs the public to their state agency overseeing hospitals. In Missouri, that is the state health department. Under regular procedure, the department would field the complaint and pass it on to CMS to determine whether an investigation is warranted.

Cox said she cannot release whether the complaint was received through the regular process or if it was received directly by CMS.

While the case is roiling the Missouri political scene, it is also being viewed as a test of how strongly the Biden administration will enforce the July guidance.

The guidance says a doctor cant be prosecuted under state laws when an abortion is necessary as stabilizing treatment.

When a state law prohibits abortion and does not include an exception for the life of the pregnant person  or draws the exception more narrowly than (the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Acts) emergency medical condition definition  that state law is preempted, the guidance states.

In Missouri, abortion is only permitted in a medical emergency, which state law defines as necessary to save the patients life or for which a delay will create a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman.

Health care providers who violate the ban can be guilty of a class B felony, which can result in five to 15 years in prison, and suspension or revocation of their medical license.

The language in the law leaves a lot of uncertainty for doctors treating patients as problems develop during pregnancy, Jeannie Kelly, a maternal fetal medicine specialist at Washington University in St. Louis, told The Independent in July.

I am worried that people will sit on very sick, pregnant patients longer than they should, in fear of being prosecuted, Kelly said soon after the Dobbs decision. This isnt just our licenses, this isnt malpractice. This is a criminal felony charge with jail time.

The guidance, coming less than three weeks after the Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Constitution does not recognize a right to abortion, was immediately challenged by Texas. In Idaho, the federal government sued the state over a law that only allows abortions to save a womans life.

Federal courts have issued conflicting rulings on whether the guidance provides the protection from prosecution it promises.

The guidance was challenged by Texas and two anti-abortion medical organizations. On Aug. 23, Judge James Hendrix of the Northern District of Texas ruled the administration had not followed proper procedures for issuing the guidance.

Hendrix also wrote that the law doesnt do what the guidance states. He blocked CMS from enforcing it in Texas or against members of the two organizations.

Since the statute is silent on the question, the guidance cannot answer how doctors should weigh risks to both a mother and her unborn child, Hendrix wrote. Nor can it, in doing so, create a conflict with state law where one does not exist. The guidance was thus unauthorized.

In Idaho, the federal government sued the state. On Aug. 24, a day before a restrictive abortion law was to take effect, Judge B. Lynn Winmill blocked it from being used to prosecute doctors acting in an emergency.

Its not about the bygone constitutional right to an abortion, Winmill wrote. This court is not grappling with that larger, more profound question. Rather, the court is called upon to address a far more modest issuewhether Idahos criminal abortion statute conflicts with a small but important corner of federal legislation. It does.

The post Missouri hospital the first confirmed federal investigation of denied emergency abortion appeared first on Missouri Independent.
In this handout image released by the South Korean Defense Ministry, South Korean Air Force KF-16 fighter jet (left, bottom) and US Air Force F-16 fighter jets are seen during the "Vigilant Storm" US-South Korea joint aerial drill at Gunsan Air Base on October 31, 2022 in Gunsan, South Korea. Photo: VCG

By Wang Qi

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula situation escalated to fresh heights on Wednesday when North Korea reportedly launched multiple missiles after a US-South Korea military drill kicked off, with Chinese officials and experts calling for restraint, as well as dialogue and peaceful solutions to the crisis.

North Korea reportedly launched the highest number of short-range missiles in a day, up to 23 as of press time. One of the short-range ballistic missiles landed close to South Korean waters for the first time since 1945, according to media reports.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said on Wednesday that China has been closely following the situation on the Korean Peninsula. And it serves the common interests of the region to maintain peace and stability and address each other's concerns in a balanced manner through dialogue and consultation.

We hope the relevant parties will stick to the direction of political settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue, meet each other halfway and prevent escalation of the situation, Zhao said at a regular press briefing.

According to Yonhap, the launches on Wednesday mark the 15th time Pyongyang has fired missiles since South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol took office on May 10. Nevertheless, Pyongyang's latest missile firing is still rare amid the growing intensity of the confrontational atmosphere in Northeast Asia, analysts said.

The missile launches are in response to South Korean-US joint deterrence efforts, to show its stance after feeling threatened, Lu Chao, an expert on Korean Peninsula issues at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Past experience has shown that increasing military deterrence against North Korea only provokes a tougher response from Pyongyang, heightens tensions on the Korean Peninsula and may even spur Pyongyang to speed up development of nuclear weapons, Lu said.

North Korea on Monday denounced the US-South Korean large-scale joint air drills, vowing to take all necessary measures to defend its sovereignty and security from external military threats, and that "more powerful follow-up measures" will be taken if the US "continuously persists in the grave military provocations."

Lasting from Monday to Friday, the drill is the first between Seoul and Washington to feature US F-35B fighters. It also involves about 240 warplanes conducting about 1,600 sorties, according to US media.

On October 26, South Korea's first vice foreign minister Cho Hyun-dong said that Seoul had agreed with the US and Japan that North Korea's resumption of nuclear testing would have to be met with an "unparalleled response," Reuters reported. Cho discussed the issue with his Japanese counterpart Takeo Mori and US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in Tokyo last week.

Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, previously said that the tension on the Korean Peninsula is mainly caused by the US. Since North Korea took denuclearization measures in 2018, the US has failed to respond to Pyongyang's positive measures, failed to address Pyongyang's legitimate and reasonable concerns, and has not shown the due attitude of sincerely resolving the issue. There are a lot of things the US can do, such as easing sanctions in certain areas and stopping joint military exercises.

"Both Seoul and Pyongyang should remain calm and exercise restraint and try to resolve the tense situation through peaceful dialogue," Lu said.

Da Zhigang, director of the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies at Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the situation on the Korean Peninsula and even in Northeast Asia could become more tense and filled with uncertainty in the future.

This is what the US wants to see and is pushing hard for, to turn China's neighborhood into a powder keg, Da said.
New Delhi [India], November 2 (ANI/PNN): With more than two billion rides completed across the world, inDrive, an international ride-hailing platform, is disrupting the ride-sharing industry by allowing passengers and drivers to negotiate fair fares amongst themselves.

And now the global ride-sharing service has arrived in New Delhi, the capital city of India.

Also Read | Examine if People With Disabilities Can Be Under Different Categories in Civil Services: Supreme Court Asks Centre.

InDrive is a People Driven company that believes that there is no technology in the world that can replace human empathy. inDrive exists to prove -- ride-hailing apps can and should be more human. Because a fair price is something you can agree on, not hope for.

Key features of inDrive

Also Read | Meghalaya CM Conrad K Sangma's Chopper Makes Emergency Landing Near Shillong Due to Bad Weather.

Fair Fares

Unlike other services that have pre-established algorithms; the cost of the service is agreed between passenger and driver and does not depend on traffic or weather conditions.

Safety First

For passenger and driver safety inDrive has developed many features, such as:

24/7 support

Real-time location sharing

Emergency button always at hand

Ride Control

Total transparency brings back the feeling of control:

Passengers are free to choose their driver.

Drivers can choose which trips are the most profitable and convenient for them.

Drivers see the exact route before accepting.

"We are excited to launch inDrive in Delhi. inDrive is a service that allows drivers and passengers to find each other, and to independently agree on all the terms of each trip. The passenger can use our app to offer their price and get counter-offers directly from nearby drivers. In turn, drivers have the right to decide for themselves which ride requests suit them best, and can suggest their own prices. For example, through our app, passengers will pay Rs.160 for travelling from New Delhi Railway Station to Lajpat Nagar and Rs.179/- for travelling from Delhi Airport to Cyber City" said Pavit Nanda Anand, South Asia PR Manager, inDriver.

Unlike typical ride-hailing apps, inDrive aims to offer a unique service by allowing passengers and drivers to have freedom of choice. If the passenger receives multiple offers, they can take their pick based on the driver's ETA, the price, the vehicle model and the driver's rating. The driver can also choose a particular order based on the price and distance, the passenger's rating, the pick-up location and the number of inDrive trips the customer has already taken.

"The number of active drivers in the city is growing fast. We already have thousands of registered drivers in Delhi NCR. All our driver partners are highly experienced and have completed the full document-verification process. With the launch of inDrive in Delhi NCR, users can now enjoy higher chances of booking a ride with shorter waiting times, and avoid elevated fares during peak hours", added Pavit Nanda Anand, South Asia PR Manager, inDrive.

inDrive is a global IT and transportation platform. inDrive is one of the world's fastest growing online ride-hailing services. Its services are available in over 700 cities in 47 countries throughout the world. The Company's app has been downloaded over 150 million times. inDrive offers other services, including intercity transportation, freight and cargo services, as well as delivery services in different markets of operations.

inDrive is based in Mountain View, California, and operates regional hubs in the Americas, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the countries of the CIS, and employs over 2,400 people. In early 2021, inDrive achieved unicorn status after closing a $140m investment round with Insight Partners, General Catalyst, and Bond Capital, which valued the company at $1.23 billion.

For more information visit www.inDrive.com

This story has been provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content in this article. (ANI/PNN)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, Nov 2 (PTI) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday announced that 100 special mohalla clinics for women will be opened in the national capital.

Inaugurating four 'mahila special mohalla clinics', he said children below 12 years and women will get free of cost treatment at these facilities.

Also Read | Karnataka Shocker: Three Girls Drown in Pond While Trying To Save Brother in Vijayanagar.

The mohalla clinic system is one of the flagship initiatives of the Kejriwal government and it is aimed at boosting primary healthcare in the city.

Also Read | Income Tax Department Introduces User-Friendly Common ITR Form for All to Ensure Ease of Compliance.

"Four mahila mohalla clinics, special clinics for women where gynaecological services, tests and medicines will be available free of cost for them and children under the age of 12 years, are being opened today," Kejriwal said.

"In the first phase, 100 such clinics will be opened for women and children," he said, adding that doctors and staff at these facilities will be women.

The chief minister, however, did not comment on a timeline for opening of these clinics.

On an average, each mohalla clinic handles 116 patients a day and together a total of over 60,000 patients a day.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kinnaur (Himachal Pradesh) [India], November 2 (ANI): 106-year-old Shyam Saran Negi, the first voter of Independent India, exercised his right to franchise for the 34th time for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections through a postal ballot at his residence in Kinnaur district on Wednesday.

Negi, a teacher by profession who hails from the tribal district of Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh exercised his right to franchise for the 34th time for the 14th Vidhan Sabha elections through a postal ballot at his home in Kalpa today. He cast his vote through a postal ballot for the first time.

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Born in July 1917, Negi voted for the first time in 1951 in the general elections of India and has voted for sixteen times in Lok Sabha Elections. He cast his vote in every Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabha and all local bodies right after 1951. He has also been made a state election icon in 2014.

Popularly known as Master Shyam Saran, the centenarian has voted in every election since 1951 and has never missed an opportunity to vote.

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After casting his vote, Negi said that every citizen should vote for strengthening the democratic set-up.

"The young voters should consider their duty to vote and contribute in strengthening the Nation," he said, adding that we should feel proud of our voting right as it helps in choosing the right representative to lead the Nation.

District Election Officer cum Deputy Commissioner, Abid Hussain Sadiq said that a red carpet was laid to bring him to the postal booth set up in the compound of his house.

Negi was brought on a red carpet to the booth where he exercised his right to franchise and soon thereafter his vote was sealed in an envelope and dropped in the ballot box.

Sadiq along with the returning officer cum SDM Kalpa, Major (retd) Shashank Gupta and the other officers and officials of the district administration honoured the first voter of Independent India.

Meanwhile, as many as 5,093 people have cast their vote through the postal ballot in Himachal Pradesh for the Assembly elections. Voting by postal ballot commenced on November 1 and will be completed before November 11.

According to the Election Commission, to make the electoral process inclusive and ensure the participation of special category voters a total of 1,70,403 Form 12-D were issued to those above 80 plus, Persons with Disability (PwD) voters and those employed in essential services in the state.

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Maneesh Garg said that out of the total forms as above 43,143 forms were received back complete in all respects. He said that 4,330 postal ballots of 80 plus and 763 ballots of PwDs were received back from all over the State.

Garg further informed that on Wednesday, the number of postal ballot cast were 366 in Kangra, 297 in Kullu, 1991 in Mandi, 528 in Una, 838 in Bilaspur, 315 in Solan, 669 in Shimla and 89 in Kinnaur.

Himachal Pradesh is all set to go to polls on November 12, the results of which will be declared on December 8. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Mumbai, Nov 2 (PTI) Mumbai crime branch's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) on Wednesday attached properties worth Rs 19.58 crore of the prime accused in the 2,400 kg MD drug haul case in which eight persons were arrested earlier this year, an official said.

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The seized properties include two flats and nine commercial units located in a highrise in suburban Dahisar. Six bank accounts, containing Rs 1.14 crore, operated in the name of family members of the prime accused were also attached, the official said.

"We have attached his property and will submit the report to the state government," the ANC official added.

The prime accused in the case is a chemistry post-graduate who was arrested along with others between March and June for allegedly selling mephedrone manufactured in his factory in Ambernath in Thane district. He was allegedly trying to set up a pharmaceutical unit in Gujarat as a front to manufacture the synthetic stimulant.

Police had conducted multiple raids in Nalasopara in Palghar district neighbouring Mumbai and also busted a factory at Bharuch in Gujarat.

The 1,200 kg of raw material was recovered from the Bharuch-based factory in August, which was used to make mephedrone or MD. The haul took the quantum of the total drug seizure to 2,400 kg worth Rs 4,853 crore, police had said earlier.

In August, the ANC seized 701 kg of MD from Mumbai and arrested six persons. Their interrogation led ANC to the Bharuch factory.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Bhubaneswar, November 2: Tight security arrangements have been made in the Dhamnagar constituency in Odisha which goes to by-election on Thursday, state chief electoral officer S K Lohani said.

As many as 1,000 police personnel and four companies of central paramilitary forces have been deployed and the entry and exit points of Dhamnagar constituency in Bhadrak district have been sealed, Lohani said. Assembly By-Elections 2022: Bypolls on Seven Vacant Assembly Seats in Six States To Be Held on This Date, Check Complete Schedule Here.

Of the total 252 polling booths, 110 have been declared sensitive, and there will be webcasting in 126 booths, he said. There are five candidates in the fray for the by-poll. Assembly By-Elections 2022: Voting in Bypolls to Seven Assembly Seats in Six States Tomorrow.

While the ruling BJD has fielded a woman Abanti Das as its candidate, the opposition BJP's nominee is Suryabanshi Suraj, son of late MLA Bishnu Charan Sethi whose demise on September 19 necessitated the by-election.

The Congress has fielded advocate Baba Harekrushna Sethi while former BJD MLA Rajendra Das is in the fray as an Independent candidate. AAP nominee Anwar Sheikh is also in the electoral race.

A ban has been imposed on the broadcast of exit or opinion polls during voting on November 3, he said. Canvassing for votes within a distance of 100 meters from the polling booths has also been prohibited.

The CEO said at least five cases have been registered with the police in connection with poll code violations. A total of 1,008 polling officers have been deployed, he said.

Over 2.38 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise. He said that there will be 15 model booths and five pink booths, which will have women security personnel and polling parties.

Pick-up and drop arrangements have been made for voters with physical disabilities, he said, adding that there will be ramps, separate queues, and wheelchairs for them.

The CEO said dummy ballot papers in Braille will be available with each presiding officer for helping visually challenged voters, he said. Polling will be held from 7 AM to 6 PM and the counting of votes will be on November 6.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Port Blair, Nov 2 (PTI) The Andaman and Nicobar Police on Wednesday announced a reward of Rs one lakh for information leading to the arrest of absconding Labour Commissioner R L Rishi in connection with a gang rape case in which former chief secretary Jitendra Narain is also an accused.

The same declaration of Rs one lakh bounty was made by the police authorities also for a businessman identified as Sandeep Singh alias Rinku.

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Photographs and physical details of the two absconding persons - 46-year-old Rishi and Singh, 38, - were shared by the police on Twitter.

The name of the informant will be kept secret and shall be given a cash reward of Rs 1,00,000 for each accused, the Andaman and Nicobar Police tweeted.

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A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the police was constituted to probe into allegations that a 21-year-old woman in Andaman and Nicobar Islands was lured to the chief secretary's residence by promising a government job and then raped by Narain and Rishi.

The businessman was named in the FIR as an accomplice in the crime.

The FIR was registered on October 1 when Narain was posted as the chairman and managing director of the Delhi Financial Corporation. The government suspended him on October 17 with immediate effect.

The SIT questioned Narain in connection with the case for two days.

A police inspector was also grilled by the SIT in this connection.

The woman said as her father and stepmother did not take care of her financial needs, she required a job and was introduced by some people to the labour commissioner as he was close to the then chief secretary.

She claimed in the FIR that the chief secretary appointed "7,800 candidates" in various departments in the administration of the islands "on the basis of recommendation only" and without any "formal interview".

The woman alleged that she was lured to the chief secretary's home with the promise of a government job, and then raped there on April 14 and May 1.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Dibrugarh (Assam), Nov 2 (PTI) At least four people were arrested on the charge of stealing 8,000 litres of condensate oil which was seized in Dibrugarh district of Assam, a senior police officer said on Wednesday.

Condensate oil is a mixture of light liquid hydrocarbons, similar to very light crude oil. They occur as vapour in natural gas and can be dissolved in crude oil or occur separately in oil reservoirs.

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The police have seized a tanker with 8,000 litres of stolen condensate oil near the Bogibeel bridge over the Brahmaputra river.

The officer said that it is suspected that it was stolen from the transportation pipeline of PSUs Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) or Oil India Limited (OIL).

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"Four people involved in the racket were arrested. The tanker was on its way from Naharani in Sivasagar district to Dhemaji when the police intercepted it on Tuesday," he added.

Stealing such oil from tankers and pipelines is common in Upper Assam.

Due to the rise in oil theft and pilferage, OIL started drone surveillance in October last year for its installations and oil and gas pipelines in Assam.

Once separated from natural gas, condensate is generally treated like crude oil. It can be blended with other heavier crude streams or sent to market directly by pipeline or tanker.

(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, November 2: The Central Election Committee (CEC) of the Congress will meet here on November 4 to finalise the candidates for the Gujarat Assembly elections which are expected to be announced in the coming days. The meeting will be held at the party headquarters.

Congress, which had put up a strong fight in the last assembly polls, is seeking to oust the BJP from power in Gujarat. With AAP also seeking to make its presence felt in the state, the challenge for Congress has increased in this election. Gujarat Assembly Elections 2022 Opinion Poll Results: BJP Likely To Be Single Largest Party, Congress Distant Second, Says Pollster.

The BJP has won six consecutive assembly polls in Gujarat. The Congress is keen to take an early decision on candidates to give them more time for campaigning and is seeking to bolster its campaign through yatras. Gujarat Assembly Elections 2022: Congress Takes Out Rally in Saurashtra Region to Woo Patidar Community.

Prime Minister Modi has already held a slew of public meetings in the state. Mallikarjun Kharge became Congress chief last month and elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat will be the first elections to be fought by the party under his leadership. Himachal Pradesh will go to the polls on November 12 and counting of votes will take place on December 8.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Hyderabad, November 2: Congress leader and former Maharashtra Energy Minister Nitin Raut was admitted to a hospital in Hyderabad after receiving injuries. Raut sustained injuries in his right eye, hand, and leg as he fell down after being allegedly pushed by the police during the 55th day of the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

"I was in Bharat Joda Yatra and had already crossed Charminar. I was moving towards the stage when Rahul Gandhi's convoy came, seeing which the police panicked and started pushing people here and there. The ACP pushed me strongly by placing both hands over my chest. I fell near a barricade at the road and sustained injuries. I started bleeding and was then finally taken to the hospital," Congress leader Nitin Raut told ANI on Wednesday. Bharat Jodo Yatra: BJP Scared of Rahul Gandhis Rising Popularity, Says Congress Leader Mallikarjun Kharge.

The incident took place after the Bharat Jodo Yatra resumed the march from Hyderabad city, which was briefly joined by actress-filmmaker Pooja Bhatt. Earlier in the day, the senior Congress leader and party president, Mallikarjun Kharge, interacted with Bharat Jodo Yatra marchers at Bowenpally in Hyderabad. Rahul Gandhi Continues Bharat Jodo Yatra Amid Heavy Rainfall in Karnataka (Pics and Videos).

Kharge in his interaction said that the marchers are also walking 3,500 km with Rahul Gandhi. They bring positive energy to our Bharat Jodo Yatra and are a great source of inspiration to our party cadres. Kharge also claimed that Bharat Jodo Yatra is bringing a silent revolution that will change the political landscape.

While tweeting from its Twitter handle Congress said that every day a new chapter of history is being added. Every day the count of people is taking a jump who wants love and peace in their country.

On Tuesday, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) working president and minister KT Rama Rao (KTR) on Tuesday called Congress leader Rahul Gandhi a "wannabe PM", hit back at him stating that the "international leader" should first convince his people to elect him as an MP than ridiculing Telangana Chief Minister KCR's national party ambitions.

"International leader Rahul Gandhi who can't even win his own parliament seat in Amethi, and ridicules Telangana CM KCR's national party ambition. Wannabe PM should first convince his people to elect him as an MP," tweeted KTR.

Meanwhile, in the sequence of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee is going to start a three-day yatra from Chamoli District's Mana village on November 7.

State Congress President Karan Mahara told ANI that in the course of the Bharat Jodo Yatra Congress will take out padyatra from five places in the state. The first such yatra is starting from Mana. He said that similarly yatras will be taken out from Kumaon and other parts of Garhwal at different times.

Mahara said that apart from the issues of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, state-level issues will also be included in the padyatra. He said that these yatras originating from five places in the state would be under his leadership, in which senior party leaders and workers would be involved.

On October 31, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) planned to launch the Bharat Jodo Yatra, from Assam on Tuesday with the aim of covering 834 km distance in the state.

The Assam march will be led by APCC president Bhupen Kumar Borah on Tuesday and plans to cover 834 km across the state within 70 days. The Bharat Jodo Yatra, Assam will start from Golakganj in the Dhubri district, situated along Assam-West Bengal border to the Sadiya district, along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border.

(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], November 2 (ANI): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, asking him to appear for questioning on November 3 in its ongoing probe into illegal mining case, sources said on Wednesday.

Soren has been asked by the agency to appear before its Jharkhand's Ranchi based regional office by 11.30 am.

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The ED's move came almost a month after it seized a passbook and a chequebook, including two signed cheques, of Soren from the home of his alleged close associate Pankaj Mishra, who enjoyed political clout being the representative of Soren and exercised considerable control over illegal mining businesses as well as inland ferry services in Sahebganj and its adjoining areas through his accomplices. Mishra is in judicial custody now for exercising control over the mining of stone chips and boulders as well as installation and operations of several crushers set up across various mining sites in Jharkhand's Sahebganj district.

The ED made the revelations after it filed a Prosecution Complaint under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 before the special court at Jharkhand's capital Ranchi against Pankaj Mishra, Bachhu Yadav, and Prem Prakash.

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During the investigation, 47 searches were conducted by the ED throughout India on several dates resulting into the seizure of Cash amounting to Rs 5.34 crore, freezing of bank balances amounting to Rs 13.32 crore, freezing of an inland vessel MV Infralink -III, reg. No- WB 1809, 5 number of stone crushers, two Hyva trucks besides the seizure of incriminating documents along with two numbers of AK 47 Assault Rifles. ED had arrested Pankaj Mishra on July 19, Bachhu Yadav on August 4 and Prem Prakash on August 25. All the accused persons arrested so far are presently in judicial custody.

ED initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of First Information Report registered by Barharwa Police Station, Sahebganj under various sections of Indian Penal Code, 1860, against Pankaj Mishra and others.

Later on, several FIRs regarding illegal mining lodged under IPC, Explosive substances Act, Arms Act have also been taken into the ambit of scheduled offence.

Till date, the ED has identified Proceeds of Crime relating to illegal mining to the tune of more than Rs 1,000 crore in this case.

"PMLA Investigation revealed that Pankaj Mishra, who enjoys political clout, being the representative of the Chief Minister, MLA from Barhait, Sahebganj, Jharkhand controls the illegal mining businesses as well as inland ferry services in Sahebganj and its adjoining areas through his accomplices," the ED had said earlier in a statement.

Proceeds of Crime amounting to Rs 42 crore approximately acquired by Pankaj Mishra have been identified till date, the ED has said. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, Nov 2 (PTI) The Editors' Guild of India on Wednesday said it was extremely disturbed by the manner in which Delhi Police carried out searches and seizures at the homes of the editors of The Wire as well as their office and newsroom.

"The haste with which the police searches were carried out at multiple locations, is excessive and disproportionate, and in the manner of a fishing and roving enquiry," the Guild said in a statement here.

Also Read | Kinnaur Assembly By-Election 2022: Shyam Saran Negi, Who Participated in Indias First Election, Casts Vote in Himachal Pradesh.

The Guild also urged Delhi Police to be objective and impartial in investigating all the complaints filed in this matter and not use intimidatory tactics in disregard of democratic principles.

Delhi Police was acting on a criminal defamation complaint filed by BJP functionary Amit Malviya against The Wire.

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The Indian Women Press Corps (IWPC) also voiced concern over the police action against The Wire and said such actions did not augur well for the freedom of the press and for the Fourth Estate performing its role in a democracy.

"There is no doubt that journalistic writing and reporting has to be done with utmost responsibility and accountability. There cannot be any compromise in that. Yet, there are ways and means of addressing errors in news reporting and recourse to police action of this kind in the form of searches and seizure is not one of them," the IWPC said.

The Guild said as per a statement published by The Wire, the police personnel seized phones, computers, and iPads from the homes of journalists, as well as the office, and no hash value of the digital devices was given in spite of requests made by them.

"This is a serious violation of procedures and rules of investigation. Moreover, digital devices of editors and journalists would have sensitive information pertaining to journalistic sources and stories under work, the confidentiality of which can be seriously compromised in such seizures," it said.

The Guild noted that The Wire has already admitted to serious lapses in its reporting on stories pertaining to Meta with references to Malaviya.

"These lapses are condemnable and the reports based on wrong information have since been withdrawn by The Wire," it said.

The Guild said the police search and seizures were in violation of established rules and in an intimidating manner was also alarming.

It urged the law enforcement agencies to strictly adhere to the rules of investigation in this matter and ensure that integrity of sensitive journalistic information was not violated and other ongoing work of the news organisation not obstructed.

(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], November 2 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the inaugural function of 'Invest Karnataka 2022', the Global Investors Meet of the state, via video conferencing today.

The address is slated for 10:30 AM today.

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The meet is aimed to attract prospective investors and set up development agenda for the next decade.

The three-day program, being held from November 2-4 in Bengaluru will have more than 80 speaker sessions.

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The speakers include some of the top industry leaders including Kumar Mangalam Birla, Sajjan Jindal, and Vikram Kirloskar among others. Along with this, a number of business exhibitions with more than three hundred exhibitors, and country sessions would run parallelly, read an official statement by the PMO.

The country sessions would each be hosted by the partner countries - France, Germany, Netherlands, South Korea, Japan, and Australia - which would be bringing in high-level ministerial and industrial delegations from their respective countries, the statement said.

The global scale of the event will give Karnataka an opportunity to showcase its culture to the world as well, the statement added.

On Tuesday, Karnataka chief minister talking to reporters after inspecting the arrangements for the three-day meet at Palace Ground in Bengaluru said the 'Invest Karnataka' is going to grab the attention of the whole world.

He stated that global investments are coming to Karnataka as the state has a rich atmosphere. This will put a strong foundation for the development of Karnataka in the next five years. It is a most important meet and all technocrats, young engineers, IT/BT experts, startups, educational institutions and global and domestic investors are welcome to Bengaluru.

"We are expecting over Rs 5 lakh crore investment and the State High level Committee has already given clearance for investment over Rs 2.8 lakh crore. This is our commitment to our investors and we are going to distribute the certificate of investment tomorrow. We will sign an agreement with new investors and give all the clearances in the next few days. The State of Karnataka is making a big leap in the industrial sector and it will be evident in tomorrow's meet," the chief minister said.

Bommai said most of the investors have shown interest for investment beyond Bengaluru, and new industries are coming up in Ramanagar, Hubballi-Dharwad, Ballari, Kalaburagi and Mysuru.

"We are expecting over Rs 5 lakh crore investment and the State High level Committee has already given clearance for investment over Rs 2.8 lakh crore. This is our commitment to our investors and we are going to distribute the certificate of investment tomorrow. We will sign an agreement with new investors and give all the clearances in the next few days. The State of Karnataka is making a big leap in the industrial sector and it will be evident in tomorrow's meet, "the CM said.

The dream of Beyond Bengaluru is becoming a reality, he said.

Last week, the FMCG Cluster to come up in Dharwad was inaugurated in Hubballi and expected an investment of Rs 10,000 crore. It is going to provide employment to over one lakh people. The textile park will come up in Kalaburagi, Vijayapura and Raichur districts; Pharma Park in Yadgir; Electronic Park in Mysuru and Defence production unit in Tumkur.

"The situation is conducive in Karnataka and plays an important role in building New Karnataka. Our aim is to contribute One Trillion Dollar to the Prime Minister's five Trillion dollar economy of India. The ecosystem that exists in China is present in Karnataka. The state has made achievements in the manufacturing sector," the chief minister 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, November 2: Elaborate security arrangements have been made for the November 3 bypoll in Gola Gokarannath constituency in Lakhimpur Kheri of Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP and the SP will fight it out. The BSP and the Congress are keeping away from the poll this time.

"Elaborate security arrangements have been made for the polls. The polling will start from 7 am and will end at 6 pm on Thursday," an official of the Election Commission (EC) said here. The bypoll was necessitated after BJP MLA Arvind Giri died on September 6. Andheri East Assembly By-Election 2022: After Court Battle, Eknath Shinde Faction and Shiv Sena To Square Off in First Electoral Contest in Mumbai.

Over 3.90 lakh voters will decide the fate of seven contestants in the fray. The main contest is likely to be between the BJP's Aman Giri, the son of Arvind Giri, and Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate and former Gola Gokarannath MLA Vinay Tiwari.

Despite a wave of sympathy for Giri following the death of his father, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has not left anything to chance and deputed 40 star campaigners, including all major Cabinet ministers and party office-bearers. Assembly By-Elections 2022: Bypolls on Seven Vacant Assembly Seats in Six States To Be Held on This Date, Check Complete Schedule Here.

The BJP's campaign was led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Gola Gokarannath is part of Ajay Mishra Teni's Kheri parliamentary constituency. Mishra has been in the eye of a storm following the alleged killing of four farmers last October, in which his son is an accused.

Adityanath, in his speech, during campaigning assured the electorate of clearing sugarcane dues at the earliest, establishment of a Chhoti Kashi corridor (along the lines of Kashi Vishwanath corridor in Varanasi) and a medical college.

He urged the people to elect Giri so as to carry on the legacy of his father.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) campaign was led by its state unit chief Naresh Uttam Patel with support from National General Secretary Ravi Prakash Verma, former ministers and other office-bearers. The SP leaders conducted door-to-door contacts and held public meetings to woo the electorate. Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, however, did not campaign.

The outcome of the bypoll will not have much impact on the state government with the BJP and its allies enjoying an overwhelming majority in the 403-member Assembly. But it would be a test of strength between the rivals in the run-up to the 2024 general elections.

The SP candidate had represented Gola Gokarannath in 2012, when the constituency was carved out after abolishing the then-Hyderabad segment.

Before 2012, Kheri district had seven Assembly segments -- Mohammadi, Hyderabad, Paila, Lakhimpur, Srinagar, Nighasan and Dhaurahra.

After the 2012 delimitation, while Mohammadi, Lakhimpur, Srinagar, Nighasan and Dhaurahra were retained, three new constituencies -- Kasta, Paliya and Gola Gokarannath -- were added, and Paila and Hyderabad abolished.

Arvind Giri joined the BJP ahead of the 2017 polls and contested from his native constituency against the SP's Tiwari. Riding on the Modi-wave and his own ground support, Giri wrested the seat from the SP in 2017, and in the 2022 polls, Giri retained the seat.

Issues related to farmers, including cane dues, crop procurement and floods, assume prominence during the polls. Urging the people to fulfil Arvind Giri's dream, Adityanath promised to participate in the foundation laying ceremony of the promised Chhoti Kashi corridor.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Bengaluru, Nov 2 (PTI) The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday directed the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to conduct an inspection on the quality of the potholes filling or repair work undertaken by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and its contractors, and to submit a detailed report within four weeks.

Also Read | Karnataka Horror: Minor Girl Gang-Raped, Murdered in Kalaburagi District.

The direction came from the bench comprising Chief Justice P B Varale and Justice Ashok S Kinagi, hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) regarding the bad condition of roads in Bengaluru.

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BBMP, the city's civic body, submitted a report to the HC on Wednesday on the status of the pothole-filling work undertaken.

It was submitted that out of the 25,032 potholes identified, 13,843 were filled up. Many more were under various stages of being repaired and there were 6,689 potholes which will be filled up within four weeks.

The HC noted that even after six years of the PIL along with several orders of the HC over the years, and several reports and affidavits submitted by the BBMP, "the road conditions in Bengaluru city is not very positively changed and the unfortunate sufferers are the citizens of the city."

The court, which also pointed to deaths due to potholes, said, "This court has observed in various orders that the condition of roads and particularly potholes led to unfortunate loss of precious human lives."

It also noted during the hearing that BBMP seemed to be engaged in cosmetic surgery of roads in the city.

To a question about the quality of the repair work undertaken by the contractors to whom the BBMP has entrusted the task, the court was told that civic body officials themselves file a satisfaction certificate after the private contractors undertake the work.

The HC, however, not happy with this process, said: "There is no independent third party assessment of the work undertaken by private contractors assigned by BBMP."

It then directed the chief engineer of NHAI to personally inspect the work or assign a senior engineer to do the survey and submit a report.

The NHAI representative will survey whether the pothole repair work is as per the contract and also whether the work is satisfactory. It will then give an independent opinion of the pothole-filling work and make suggestions. The report will also indicate whether there is dereliction of duty by the BBMP and failure on part of the contractors.

The court said that NHAI's survey will not stop the work already in progress and BBMP can continue with it.

The HC on Monday had specifically directed BBMP to file a report on specific questions it has raised regarding the pothole filling work.

Among the questions raised by the court are: why did the BBMP not renew the contract of the agency which was filling potholes with advanced machinery and why it did not start the process of appointing a new agency even after the original contract ended in January 2022.

The BBMP in its report on Wednesday submitted on the various aspects of the pothole filling measures. Among these, the civic agency said it was introducing a mobile app for citizens through which potholes can be identified through GPS coordinates.

The app, developed by a private agency, was tested by BBMP and traffic police officers in May this year, the court was told.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Srinagar, Nov 2 (PTI) The Jammu and Kashmir Committee for Fixation and Regulation of Fee of Private Schools (FFRC) on Wednesday directed all schools in the valley not to charge annual fees for the period from November 2022 to March 2023 following the change of academic calendar by the government.

Managements of all the private schools "are restrained from charging and collecting annual fee for the period November 2022 to March 2023. Any breach of this order will result in initiating action according to law," FFRC chairman Justice (retd) M H Attar said in an order.

Also Read | Kinnaur Assembly By-Election 2022: Shyam Saran Negi, Who Participated in Indias First Election, Casts Vote in Himachal Pradesh.

The FFRC order was issued in response to Tyndale Biscoe and Mallinson School, and two other affiliate institutions, asking parents to pay annual fee for the five-month period as the current academic session had been extended by virtue of the government order.

The Jammu and Kashmir State Board of Education used to conduct annual examinations for classes 10, 11 and 12 for students hailing from Kashmir and some parts of Jammu region in the months of October and November.

Also Read | Examine if People With Disabilities Can Be Under Different Categories in Civil Services: Supreme Court Asks Centre.

However, a government order last month aligned the academic calendar of all schools in the Union territory with the rest of the country.

The FFRC directive said that during an interaction with the managements of these four schools, it was made clear to the schools that in view of the government order the new admissions will commence from the month of March of the calendar year.

"It was thus impressed upon these authorities that the school managements' notice to the students to pay annual fee for the months November 2022 to March 2023 is legally not sustainable and the authorities in these circumstances should withdraw the notice," it said.

"It was made clear to the authorities of this school management that academic session cannot be stretched beyond 12 months period, which now starts from 1st April and ends on 31 March of the calendar year. The period of five months commencing from November 2022 to March 2023 being not part of the academic session, the students cannot be asked to pay annual fee for the period, 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)
Kochi, Nov 2 (PTI) The sessions judge, who had made controversial observations in his orders while granting bail to an accused in two sexual harassment cases in Kozhikode district, had once disposed of a case after sending a WhatsApp message to the accused about the hearing date, the Kerala High Court has been informed by its Registrar General (RG).

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This, coupled with the sessions judge's "successive inappropriate approaches" in dealing with sexual harassment cases was the reason for his transfer to a Labour Court in Kollam district, RG P Krishna Kumar has said in an affidavit.

Also Read | Madhya Pradesh: Government Teacher Suspended for Liquor and Non-Veg Food Party in School Premises in Shivpuri.

The affidavit has been filed in response to the sessions judge's appeal against an order of a single judge of the High Court upholding his transfer.

Referring to the two controversial orders of the sessions judge, S Krishnakumar, granting bail to writer and social activist Civic' Chandran in separate cases of sexual harassment, the RG has said that the decisions "point to the cussedness of the approach of the officer".

"These orders point to the cussedness of the approach of the officer subjecting the entire judiciary in a poor light among the general public which would lead to the erosion of the public confidence in the institution," the RG said in his affidavit dated October 10.

It also said that the judicial officer -- while serving as Additional Sessions Judge, Kollam -- had "in a hurry to take up a deputation post, disposed of a sessions case after sending a WhatsApp message to the accused regarding the posting of the case".

This decision of the judicial officer was set aside by the High Court which, according to the RG's affidavit, had said that "zeal to dispose of as many cases as possible is a laudable quality for a judge, especially at a time when we talk about docket explosion. Legal rights of a party shall not be a casualty in a hurry to dispose of cases".

It also said that the Judge-in-charge of Kozhikode judicial district had noted that various judicial orders passed by the appellant had invited scathing and severe criticisms from the public as well as the academicians.

"In the above circumstances, the Judge-in-charge of Kozhikode district called for a report from the registry and also considered many of the orders and judgements passed by the appellant (S Krishnakumar)," the RG's affidavit said.

It further said that after considering the "unwarranted observations" of the judicial officer with regard to the attire of a woman and "having regard to the successive inappropriate approaches made by the officer in dealing with matters of the nature aforesaid, the High Court decided to post him in the Labour Court, Kollam, in the general interests of the administration of justice".

The RG also told the High Court that the Supreme Court has ruled that inefficiency or misbehaviour could expose an officer to be transferred to a post borne in the same cadre.

The apex court also held that such a transfer need not be preceded by a departmental enquiry and same will be in the interest of administrative exigency and such a transfer would certainly fall within the sweep of administrative ground or public interest, the affidavit said.

Even the High Court has held that transfer made to ensure efficiency in administration and maintenance of discipline cannot be interfered with, it said.

In view of these facts and the judgements, the order of the single judge of the High Court "does not suffer from any infirmity" and the appeal against it "lacks merit" and the same should be dismissed, the affidavit said.

It has also sought vacation of the interim order of a division bench of the High Court staying the transfer of the judicial officer on his appeal against the single judge's decision.

Krishnakumar, 59, in his plea before the single bench had said that he was discharging his duty as a Principal District and Sessions Judge, Kozhikode, from June 6, 2022 and his transfer order issued by the Registrar of the High Court was against the transfer norms.

On September 1, the single judge had dismissed his plea saying there was no reason to interfere with the transfer order as the post of Presiding Officer of Labour Court that he has been transferred to was equivalent to that of a District Court Judge.

Krishnakumar's observations regarding survivors in his two orders on the anticipatory bail pleas moved by accused 'Civic' Chandran in two sexual harassment cases had stirred up a controversy.

While granting bail to Chandran in the case, Krishnakumar, in his order dated August 2, observed that the accused is a reformist, and against the caste system and it is highly unbelievable that he would touch the body of the victim fully knowing that she belongs to the Scheduled Caste (SC).

The judge had also made controversial observations about the dressing of another survivor while granting bail to Chandran on August 12 in the bail application moved by the latter in another case of sexual harassment against him.

In its August 12 order, the court had observed that the photograph of the complainant, produced by the accused along with the bail application, would explain that she herself dressed in a sexually provocative manner and it is impossible to believe that a man aged 74 and physically disabled would ever do the offence.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Mumbai, Nov 2 (PTI) Benchmark indices fell in early trade on Wednesday after rallying in the past four days amid mixed global market trends.

Despite a positive beginning, the 30-share BSE Sensex failed to hold on to the gains and later declined 140.5 points to 60,980.85. The broader NSE Nifty dipped 36 points to 18,109.40.

Also Read | Goa: 6-Year-Old Boy From Mumbai Drowns in Hotel Swimming Pool in Candolim.

From the Sensex pack, Bharti Airtel, Titan, Maruti, Infosys, Nestle, Tata Consultancy Services, Asian Paints and Mahindra & Mahindra were the major laggards.

Sun Pharma, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel and UltraTech Cement were among the gainers.

Also Read | Gujarat Shocker: Minor Abducted from Road, Sexually Assaulted Inside Truck Cabin in Surat, Accused Arrested.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading higher, while Tokyo quoted lower.

Wall Street had ended in the negative territory on Tuesday.

"Globally markets are waiting for the Fed commentary tonight. So it will be the Fed's commentary and probable guidance that would be market moving," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

The BSE benchmark climbed 374.76 points or 0.62 per cent to settle at 61,121.35 on Tuesday. The Nifty advanced 133.20 points or 0.74 per cent to end at 18,145.40.

International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 1.26 per cent higher at USD 95.84 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers on Tuesday as they bought shares worth Rs 2,609.94 crore, as per exchange data.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Morbi (Gujarat) [India], November 2 (ANI): Out of nine persons arrested pertaining to the October 30 collapse of the century-old suspension bridge, killing 135 people, Gujarat's Morbi Court on Wednesday has sent four people to police custody and remaining five into judicial custody till November 5.

Of the four persons in police custody, two are managers of the Oreva company, which threw the bridge open for visitors after seven months of maintenance works, and the other two are fabrication work contractor's people.

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Speaking on the ongoing investigation, Rahul Tripathi, SP Morbi, said, "We are questioning all the 4 accused in our custody and we are trying to establish the liability of the different kinds of lapses in the bridge renovation. We are doing a thorough investigation and if anyone's role comes forward, he or she will be booked and arrested."

He added further, "Yes, We have given a scientific report to the court but details of the same can't be shared with you at this stage as this will hamper our investigation."

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The Gujarat Police has filed a First Information Report under IPC sections 304 and 308 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) in the bridge collapse tragedy.

Earlier, the Gujarat government constituted a five-member committee to probe the bridge collapse incident.

"An FIR has been registered against the maintenance and management agencies of the bridge, under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), and 114 (abettor present when offense is committed) of the India Penal Code," said Morbi B Division Police Inspector, Prakashbhai Dekavadiya.

Briefing mediapersons here, Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi said, "The death toll in the Morbi hanging bridge collapse incident has gone up to 132. The Chief Minister has constituted a high power committee yesterday itself while leaving Ahmedabad. All officers, posted at different locations, were asked to report at Morbi by 2 am. The investigation is going on."

The Gujarat Home Minister further informed that a criminal case has been registered in connection with the incident.

"An investigation has begun today under the leadership of Range IGP," Sanghavi said. Everyone worked all through the night. The Navy, NDRF (National Disaster Relief Force), Air Force and Army arrived at the spot quickly. More than 200 persons have worked the entire night for search and rescue operations," Sanghavi said.

At least 135 people, including women and children, were killed and over 100 are receiving treatment for their injuries sustained after a cable suspension bridge in Morbi town collapsed on Sunday, plunging people into the Machchhu River.

The search and rescue operation is underway in the Machchhu river.

"According to the information received from the district administration, one or two people are still missing. We are carrying out search operation along with other agencies. 5 teams of NDRF are working here," Prasanna Kumar, NDRF commandant said today. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Bhopal, Nov 2 (PTI) Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday reported ten COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 10,54,772, a health official said.

Also Read | Assam: 35 Cattle Heads Rescued by Police in Golaghat District.

The death toll increased by one to 10,776, the official said.

Also Read | Haryana Roadways Bus Collides Into Tree After Brake Failure in Southwest Delhi.

The case positivity rate stood at 0.3 per cent, he said.

The number of recoveries rose by nine to 10,43,933, leaving the state with 63 active cases.

A total of 3,305 samples were examined during the day, raising the number of tests conducted so far in MP to 3,01,46,391, he added.

A government release said 13,35,13,300 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered so far in the state, including 1,757 on Wednesday.

Coronavirus figures in MP are as follows: Total cases 10,54,772, new cases 10, death toll 10,776, recoveries 10,43,933, active cases 63 number of tests so far 3,01,46,391.

(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, Nov 2 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre what the reasons were for denial of security clearance to Malayalam news channel 'MediaOne' and why those reasons cannot be disclosed to them.

The top court said the essence of court proceedings was that anything relied upon by one party should be disclosed to the opposite party.

Also Read | Morbi Suspension Bridge Collapse: Shankersinh Vaghela Urges Chief Justice Aravind Kumar To Take Suo Muto Cognisance of Gujarat Bridge Tragedy.

A bench of justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli told Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj, appearing for the Centre, that even in cases of detention under the National Security Act, the authority has to give grounds of detention but in this case, it was only said that the Ministry of Home Affairs has denied security clearance.

"The authority granting the broadcast licence is different from the authority revoking the licence on the ground of security. It is a third party. Then what is the remedy for the citizen, who is denied the permission...you are not saying they are the offenders but are revoking their licence", the bench said.

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The top court was hearing the plea of the news channel against the Kerala High Court's order which had upheld the Centre's decision to ban its telecast on security grounds.

The bench added that in a criminal case, a charge sheet is filed against the accused, and no matter how sensitive the charges are, they are disclosed to the accused, and in the present case, it is not even at that threshold.

"We understand there are sources which cannot be disclosed but then you can provide a redacted copy of the materials. You can't straight away deny the other party information on which you are arriving at a conclusion," the bench said.

It added that guidelines say national security and public order will be grounds for denial of permission to renew broadcast licence but the other party needs to know what their breach was.

"Renewal of licence is important for a media house because there is investment involved, market reputation at risk, people have been employed. In this case, they have been running for the past 10 years, so goodwill in the market is also there," the bench said.

In a nearly four-hour hearing, the bench asked Nataraj to seek instructions on these queries and come prepared on Thursday.

At the outset, senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for the channel, claimed that it has never violated the programme code but the only crime is that the channel is owned by people of a minority community.

He said the lack of security clearance by the Ministry of Home Affairs cannot be grounds to not renew the licence if the channel is fulfilling the conditions under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995.

"The fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression, which includes the press freedom, can be restricted only on the grounds enumerated under Article 19 (2)," he said.

Senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, appearing for the chief editor of the channel, said the government has said before the high court that the channel is a threat to national security and public order.

"When you (Centre) pass the final order you don't tell me that I have violated national security or public order. You merely say that I have violated security clearance," he said.

The bench said if there is revoking of clearance on national security and public order, there should be tangible material to show that channel is impinging upon national security.

Ahmadi said, "If they are saying something sensitive then they may redact that part, but at least, they can provide me a gist of how the channel has breached the conditions."

On Tuesday, the top court was told by the news channel that security clearance from the Centre was not needed for renewal of broadcast licence and the government does not have omnibus discretion to impose any new condition.

The top court had on March 15 in an interim order stayed until further directions the January 31 directive of the Centre revoking the licence of the news channel and banning its telecast on security grounds.

It had said the news and current affairs channel would continue its operations as it was operating prior to the ban of telecast.

The top court had passed the order after perusing the files filed by the Centre on the basis of which security clearance was revoked and the Kerala High Court had passed the order upholding the ban on telecast.

It had left the question open on whether the content of files on the basis of which the ban order was passed be given to the channel to enable it to defend itself.

The Kerala High Court had upheld the Centre's decision to bar telecast of the Malayalam news channel and dismissed the plea of Madhyamam Broadcasting Ltd -- which operates MediaOne -- challenging the central government's January 31 decision.

The high court had said that the decision of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to deny security clearance was based on intelligence inputs received from various agencies.

The channel had contended that MHA clearance was only required at the time for fresh permission/licence and not at the time of renewal.

It had also contended that according to the uplinking and downlinking guidelines, security clearance was only required at the time of application for fresh permission and not at the time of renewal of licence.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kolkata/Jalpaiguri, Nov 2 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday slammed the Centre for the possible implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, claiming that the BJP was raking the issue ahead of the Gujarat assembly election.

Hours later, Union Minister of State for Home Nisith Pramanik asserted that the CAA will be gradually implemented across the country.

Also Read | Supreme Court Says Non-Reporting of Sexual Assault on Children Serious Crime.

The Centre had on Monday decided to grant Indian citizenship to minorities mostly from Pakistan, who have migrated to India, and are currently living in two districts of Gujarat, under the Citizenship Act, 1955, and not the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA).

"Stop all these politics. They (BJP) are doing it because there are elections in Gujarat. We will not let them implement it. To us, all are citizens (of India). We are against this," Banerjee told reporters at the Kolkata airport before leaving for Chennai.

Also Read | Maharashtra Shocker: Man Held for Killing Woman With Borewell Hand-Pump in Nagpur.

She has travelled to the southern Indian city to attend a family gathering of West Bengal Governor La Ganesan.

"I would say that elections are not that important, politics are not that important, people's lives are more important," she added.

Union minister Pramanik, after landing at Bagdogra airport in the northern part of West Bengal, told reporters that the legislation will be implemented across the country.

The CAA is for the deprived and oppressed Hindus and others. It will be implemented not only in Gujarat but also gradually all over India, he said.

Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP on Tuesday claimed that the process of CAA implementation has started in the country and the state will not be left out of it.

BJP MLA Ashim Sarkar, however, on Tuesday sang a different tune wondering what was the need for Citizenship Act in 2019 if citizenship was granted under the 1955 Act.

The Narendra Modi government wants to grant Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan  Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians  who had come to India till December 31, 2014.

The CAA was passed by the Parliament in 2019 but the law is yet to be implemented as rules under it have not been framed.

The promise of implementing the controversial CAA had been a major poll plank of the BJP in the last Lok Sabha and Assembly polls. The saffron party's leaders consider it a plausible factor that led to the rise of the BJP in West Bengal.

The panchayat election is due in the state in 2023.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Chandigarh, Nov 2 (PTI) Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda alleged on Wednesday that farmers were facing shortage of di-ammonium phosphate fertilisers across the state.

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Hooda said when Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar was addressing an election rally for the November 3 bypoll in Adampur Mandi a day ago, farmers were standing in long queues 50 metres away from the venue and were waiting for their turn for fertilisers.

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"Farmers in entire Haryana are facing the shortage of the DAP fertiliser," the Congress leader said in a statement. "The situation is such that even after standing in queues for several days, farmers are not getting fertiliser for their crops."

The leader of the opposition said farmers had to wait also for payment for paddy, bajra and cotton.

"Despite claims by the government, it is unable to pay the farmers on time. The farmers have not received compensation for the crops damaged due to the weather in every season for the last three years," he said.

Hooda underscored that the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy has shown a mirror to the government with its unemployment data.

"Due to the policies of the government, Haryana is at the top of the country with an unemployment rate of 31.8 per cent," he said.

"The unemployment figures released every month tell the same story every time as the present BJP-JJP government has proved to be a complete failure in providing employment to the youth," Hooda said.

He alleged that the government continued to harass the youths who have been waiting for a long time for the Common Eligibility Test for Group C posts, which will be conducted on November 5 and 6.

The candidates, especially women, have to face a lot of trouble as they have been given exam centres 150-200 km away from their homes, according to Hooda.

(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, Nov 2 (PTI) Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services (Mahindra Finance) on Wednesday reported over 55 per cent decline in its net profit at Rs 492 crore in the quarter ended September 2022.

In the year ago same quarter ended September 2021, it had posted a net profit of Rs 1,103 crore.

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Total income increased 3 per cent to Rs 3,029 crore during the quarter under review against Rs 2,951 crore during the corresponding quarter last year, it said in a release.

The non-banking finance company focused on providing financial services in the rural and semi-urban markets said in Q2FY22 it had witnessed significant reversal of impairment provisions due to improvement in asset quality which had deteriorated during Q1 FY22 during the second wave of Covid-19.

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This had resulted in a higher profit after tax.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Nagpur, November 2: A man allegedly murdered a 45-year-old woman from Nagpur district of Maharashtra with a borewell hand-pump on the suspicion that her son was in an illicit relationship with his wife, police said.

The 34-year-old accused, who was arrested on Wednesday, a day after he killed Omeshwari Sharnagat and also injured her husband Shamdayal (54), all residents of Dongri village located under Ramtek police station limits. Hyderabad Shocker: Businessman Brutally Murdered Over Illicit Relationship, Financial Dispute; 7 Held.

"The accused and victims are neighbours. He suspected that Omeshwari's son was in an illicit relationship with his (accused's) wife. Around 3 pm on Tuesday, the victim was fetching water from a hand pump when he came to the spot and picked a quarrel with her. He took out the hand-pump pipe and attacked her," the official said. Gujarat Shocker: Uncle, In Illicit Relationship with 20-Year-Old Niece, Chops Off Her Head on Suspicion in Dahod.

As she started screaming for help, Shamdayal rushed to rescue her. However, the accused continued his attack on the woman. Her husband also sustained injuries in the attack, he said.

After beating the woman to death with the rod, the accused fled from the spot. The woman, who was bleeding profusely, was taken to the hospital, where she breathed her last, police said.

A case under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered by Ramtek police against him. The accused was arrested by the police on Wednesday.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)


File photo Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday directed Labour Minister Manish Sisodia to provide financial aid of Rs 5,000 per month to labourers amid ban on construction activities. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday directed Labour Minister Manish Sisodia to provide financial aid of Rs 5,000 per month to labourers amid ban on construction activities.



Amid rising air pollution in the capital city, the Delhi government had on Sunday banned the construction and demolition activities in line with the GRAP.



"Construction activities have been stopped across Delhi in view of pollution. I have directed Labour Minister, Manish Sisodia, to give Rs 5000 pm as financial support to each construction worker during this period, when construction activities are not permitted," Kejriwal tweeted.



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 also 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.



"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", Environment Minister Gopal Rai had said on Sunday while imposing a ban on the construction and demolition activity.




New Delhi, Nov 2 (PTI) City-based Punjab National Bank (PNB) is on track to achieve the target to recover Rs 32,000 crore from bad loans in the current fiscal year, MD & CEO Atul Kumar Goel said on Wednesday.

The recovery target is of Rs 32,000 crore for the current fiscal year and it comes at around Rs 8,000 crore per quarter, Goel told reporters in a post-quarterly earnings call.

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"In the June quarter, we have recovered Rs 7,057 crore. In the September quarter, the total recovery was Rs 8,564 crore. It means we are on the right track, whatever is the target per quarter. Definitely, we will be able to achieve the target (for the fiscal)," Goel said.

The state-owned lender posted a net profit of Rs 411 crore in the second quarter ended September of the current fiscal year, down by nearly 63 per cent from a year ago same period. However, the profit grew by 33.4 per cent from the previous quarter ended June 2022.

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The main reason behind the decline in the net profit was higher provisioning towards bad loans.

Bank's provisioning for Q2FY23 rose to Rs 3,556 crore, as against Rs 2,693 crore in the year-ago period.

"I had to do major provisioning of Rs 3,556 crore for NPA (non-performing assets). In addition to that around Rs 450 crore, we were required to provide for the non performing investment (NPI). In addition to that around Rs 900 crore was to be done for standard account as per the June 2019 circular of RBI. So, we were required to provide for this.

"So this was the major reason (for higher provisioning) otherwise our credit cost is reducing and slippages are also reducing," the official said explaining the higher provisioning despite a fall in NPA ratio.

The gross non-performing assets of PNB fell to 10.48 per cent for the quarter ended September 2022 as against 13.63 per cent by end of September 2021. It was down sequentially also against 11.27 per cent in quarter ended June 2022.

Further, Goel said one account may be standard in the account of PNB. However, if it is a non-standard account with some other bank, the provision is still required to be done.

"This was the reason for the Rs 900 crore odd figure that we were required to provide for."

The official said bank's slippages should be less than the recovery numbers as was the case in both June and September quarters.

He said as on date the position is comfortable. "I am not finding any amount more than Rs 100 crore which we have to recognise in the future as an NPA."

The fresh slippages during the first half, April-September period of 2022-23, fell to Rs 9,606 crore from Rs 13,299 crore in the same period. For Q2FY23 it was down at Rs 5,301 crore against Rs 7,620 crore.

Replying to a question on accounts referred to the National Asset Reconstruction Company Limited (NARCL), he said PNB has identified 62 accounts with outstanding of Rs 20,008 crore.

Out of this, for the first phase the bank has identified nine accounts amounting to Rs 2,752 crore. In the second phase, around 11 accounts of Rs 2,685 crore are there. Out of the first phase, Rs 2,752 crore in five accounts, NARCL has given the offer where PNB has an outstanding of Rs 1,099 crore," Goel added.

About the recoveries from the bad accounts referred to NCLT, he said, Rs 693 crore was recovered in June quarter and Rs 778 crore in September quarter.

"And we are hopeful to recover Rs 1,936 crore in the December quarter and Rs 588 crore in the March 2023 quarter."

The lender has also closed its operations of the branch at Hong Kong. Disposal of its major assets and liabilities, the seed capital and accumulated profits have been repatriated.

The MD & CEO said around Rs 252 crore has been repatriated from the Hong Kong branch.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kathmandu [Nepal], November 2 (ANI): Ahead of this month's elections, Nepal's democracy faces a dual challenge - its own factionalism and the Chinese Communist Party's growing influence in the Himalayan nation.

Marcus Andreopoulos, a senior research fellow at the Asia-Pacific Foundation, writing in Foreign Policy said that China has become increasingly more involved in Nepal's domestic politics.

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On November 20, Nepalis will head to the polls to elect their 11th government since the country became a democratic republic in 2008. However, the continuous formation and breakdown of alliances has plagued Nepal's politics, leaving voters disillusioned.

Geography makes engagement with China a necessity for Nepal, but during the country's transition to democracy, this relationship quickly developed into what onlookers inside Nepal describe as foreign meddling in Kathmandu's political affairs, said Andreopoulos.

Also Read | South Korea Issues Air Raid Alert After North Fires Short-Range Ballistic Missiles.

Nepal features prominently in China's growing assertiveness in South Asia, and the vote outcome could either blunt or enhance Beijing's strategic plan as Chinese President Xi Jinping begins his historic third term.

Nepal's elections will briefly see united communist parties compete against each other once again.

Leftist and communist ideologies have formally existed in Nepali political discourse since the mid-20th century. Sympathies for the communist movement continued into the late 1990s and early 2000s, manifesting in popular support for the Maoist insurgency that eventually oversaw the end of former King Gyanendra Shah's rule.

Today, all major Nepali political parties still see themselves as proponents of democratic socialism. Since Nepal embraced democracy, the CCP seems to have taken advantage of the willingness of some communist factions in Nepal to deepen diplomatic ties, reported Foreign Policy.

Seeking to mitigate political instability, China has pushed for a united leftist party in Nepal that would enjoy widespread support and govern in favour of officials in Beijing.

By attempting to shape a hegemonic party that could rule unopposed, erode the apolitical nature of Nepal's police, and seek to undermine the free press, the CCP machine appears intent on making Nepal serve China's interests, said Andreopoulos.

Although Nepal's dominant leftist ideology is inviting for the CCP, its diplomats appear baffled by divisions among seemingly aligned parties.

In 2017, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) announced that they would contest that year's general election as an alliance. Many analysts suspected the CCP played a role in the merger.

The newly formed Nepal Communist Party took office in 2018, but by 2021, the coalition had fallen apart. The Maoists entered into yet another partnership with the centre-left Nepali Congress party, suggesting opportunism rather than ideology still fuelled the country's political alliances.

To achieve its own ambitions in Nepal, China would prefer consistent and ideological leadership similar to the CCP. To start, a lack of consensus among the various leaders who have come through Kathmandu's revolving doors has inhibited progress on infrastructure projects under Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which Nepal signed on to in 2017.

Since the initial agreement, Kathmandu has appeared reluctant to begin work on a single project. Concern about debt remains an obstacle for the ruling coalition led by the Nepali Congress. There is also growing scepticism toward Chinese-funded projects after repeated delays to the opening of the international airport in Pokhara, Nepal, reported Foreign Policy.

For Beijing, continuity of leadership in Kathmandu could also benefit the CCP's geopolitical standing. Deepening ties between Nepal and China have already led to a strong display of solidarity at the United Nations; in 2021, Nepal joined other South Asian countries in commending China's approach in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong, where it has faced criticism for human rights violations.

And any hope of a free Tibet would be quashed if the CCP is able to sandwich the region between two like-minded governments in Beijing and Kathmandu, said Andreopoulos.

In 2019, Nepal endorsed the CCP's position on Taiwan--but that was under the leadership of pro-China former Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli. If Beijing manages to push for a united leftist party to take power in Kathmandu, it would both boost economic ties between the countries and consolidate China's global reputation in the event of a war with Taiwan, reported Foreign Policy.

These developments highlight the grave danger facing Nepal's democracy ahead of this month's elections. The CCP will undoubtedly seek to court whichever party or coalition emerges victorious. (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, Nov 2 (PTI) The powerful Congressional India Caucus has expressed its deepest condolences to the people of India in the wake of the Morbi bridge collapse that took the lives of at least 135 people.

Morbi bridge, a century-old suspension bridge on the Machchhu river in Gujarat's Morbi city, collapsed on Sunday evening, killing 135 people.

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The Congressional India Caucus and the United States stand with our ally India in the wake of this tragedy. As Co-Chairs of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans, we relay our deepest condolences in the wake of the devastating Morbi bridge collapse that has taken the lives of at least 135 people, Congressman Brad Sherman and Congressman Steve Chabot, Co-Chairs of the Caucus on India and Indian-Americans said in a statement on Tuesday.

We are saddened to hear that many of the victims were families with children that had gathered in celebration of the Diwali and Chhath Puja holidays, in what should have been a joyous occasion for the Morbi community, the two top US lawmakers said.

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Our hearts are with the people of India as the search for remaining survivors continues, 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)
Cairo, Nov 3 (AP) Egypt's foreign minister Wednesday urged world leaders and negotiators to deliver on previously made pledges to battle climate change ahead of this month's UN summit.

Sameh Shoukry, the president of the COP27 climate change conference to be held in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh on November 6-18, said participants should aim to take meaningful and tangible steps" to implement the 2015 Paris climate accord.

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The Paris Agreement aims to keep global temperatures from rising another degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit) between now and 2100, a key demand of poor countries ravaged by rising sea levels and other effects of climate change. Last year's summit in Glasgow produced a compromise deal aimed at keeping that key global warming target alive.

We aim to restore the grand bargain' at the centre of the Paris Agreement and our collective multilateral climate process, Shoukry said in a four-page letter to world leaders and delegates taking part in the COP27.

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This year the picture is less encouraging, he said, warning of backsliding on the delivery of finance pledges to developing countries to increase their efforts to address climate change.

Shoukry said the summit comes amid uphill challenges including the failure of the G-20 meeting of industrial and emerging-market nations earlier this year to produce an agreement on environment. He also pointed to a lack of concrete agreements to allow financial support to address the impacts of climate change during the fall meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The annual conference convenes 197 nations for deliberations on how to address climate change. The COP27 comes as the world faces an energy crisis and a war in Europe that have rattled the global economy.

In recent years, many developing nations and activists have increased long-standing calls to establish a fund to compensate poor countries for devastation brought about by climate change, disproportionately caused by rich countries because of past emissions.

The call was rejected during last year's summit. Many supporters of the idea, often called loss and damage, hope to make progress on it this month. Their arguments could get a boost by the symbolic significance of this conference being held in Egypt, a developing nation in North Africa.

The Egyptian minister said significant progress was achieved over the past year, including a $40 billion resilience fund created by the IMF, and the Green Climate Fund which provides some $2.5 billion a year to support developing countries addressing impacts of climate change.

This progress proves that when there is political will, a sense of urgency and a functional structure, we can collectively make strides in our joint effort to combat climate change, he said.

He called for countries to launch implementation frameworks stemming from the negotiating process of the UN climate change convention.

COP27 creates a unique opportunity for the world to come together, mend multilateralism, rebuild trust and unite at the highest political levels to address climate change, he said.

The conference, dubbed Africa COP," centres around financial aid to poor countries struggling to cope with the impacts of climate change. It is expected to draw more than 45,000 delegates, including President Joe Biden, and over 100 head of states and governments. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Quito, November 2: At least five police officials were killed in gang wars that rocked the Ecuadorian coastal provinces of Guayas and Esmeraldas prompting President Guillermo Lasso to declare a state of emergency in two provinces, El Telegrafo, Spanish-language daily newspaper in Ecuador, reported. After the attack, Lasso announced the State of Exception in Guayas and Esmeraldas, on Tuesday.

During the press conference, the President described these acts as "sabotage and terrorism." He assured that "they are a declaration of war against the Government and you, the citizens," according to El Telegrafo.

President Lasso indicated that before his government "drug crime lived in a paradise, today it feels uncomfortable," but he warned that "we are not afraid of them."

In addition to the declaration of a State of Exception, the president also announced that he, in person, will lead the Unified Command Post that will be installed in Guayaquil. He also confirmed that the curfew will start at 9:00 pm, reported El Telegrafo.

Meanwhile, the National Police of Ecuador confirmed the death of Police agents Hugo Davila, Jimmy Sarango and Marlon Iza in Duran and Guayaquil. After their announcement, the death toll touched 5 police officials.

"The murder of our companions #SgosHugoDavila, #CbosJimmySarango and #CbosMarlonIza, who were victims of criminal attacks, in #Duran and #GYE. Peace at the grave of our police heroes and strength to their families," the National Police of Ecuador tweeted.

Earlier, a police official confirmed that officials Rommel Chunata and Felix Contreras were murdered during the early hours of this Tuesday, November 1, 2022, according to El Telegrafo.

The attacks would be linked to reprisals by drug gangs, following operations by the National Service for Comprehensive Care for Adults Deprived of Liberty and Adolescent Offenders (SNAI) in the Litoral Penitentiary. Kansas Shooting: One Dead, 6 Injured After Gunfire at Halloween Party in US.

Taking to Twitter, the General Commander of the National Police of Ecuador said, "The criminal acts that mourn our country are inadmissible, we have apprehended several individuals who cowardly attacked the humanity of our POLICE OFFICERS We demand respect for life and honour the value and sacrifice of each police server."

Regarding the investigation, National Police further tweeted, "We respond with determination by capturing the perpetrators of the latest attacks against police servers in the #Zona8 2 GUNS 3 pistols different calibre ammunition 2 vehicles and more clues."

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Colombo, Nov 2 (PTI) India has started talks with Sri Lanka for the quick implementation of a USD 15 million Indian grant for the promotion of Buddhist and Tamil cultural ties in this island nation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a USD 15 million special grant for the promotion of bilateral Buddhist ties at a virtual bilateral summit on September 26, 2020, and the MoU governing it was signed on March 28, 2022, during the External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar's, visit to Colombo.

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High Commissioner Gopal Baglay held two separate meetings with Vidura Wickramanayaka, Minister of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs on the implementation of the grant by Government of India for the promotion of Buddhist ties and functioning of Jaffna Cultural Centre (JCC) on Tuesday in Colombo, a press release by the Indian Commission here said on Wednesday.

The High Commissioner and Minister Wickramanayaka agreed to immediately undertake steps for the quick implementation of jointly-identified priority projects under the grant in numerous areas pertaining to Buddhism, it said.

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Specific action points regarding the installation of solar power facilities in Buddhist places of worship across Sri Lanka were identified during the meeting.

In the meeting regarding the functioning of the Tamil cultural centre, built with an Indian grant of USD 11 million, the focus was on the establishment of a framework to make the state-of-the-art facilities in the centre available for regular use by the common public.

The centre, a glowing example of the India-Sri Lanka development partnership, consists of multiple facilities such as a double-storey museum, a theatre-style auditorium with a capacity of more than 600 people, an 11-storeyed learning tower, and a public square cum amphitheater, among others, according to the release.

The High Commission said the meetings underscored the Indian government's commitment to bring about a palpable impact on the daily lives of the Sri Lankan people through the implementation of people-centric grant projects.

India has been associated with the implementation of more than 85 grant projects in Sri Lanka and the latest endeavours include the Sri Lanka Unique Digital Identity Project, the press release said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Bangkok, Nov 2 (AP) A court in military-ruled Myanmar has found a former lawmaker from ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party guilty of terrorism and given him a 148-year prison sentence, which added to previous convictions extends his total prison term to 173 years, a person familiar with the case said on Wednesday.

The sentence handed Win Myint Hlaing, 52, on Monday appeared to be the longest given to any member of Suu Kyi's government and party detained after the military takeover on February 1, 2021.

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However, authorities executed at least four political activists who were convicted on terrorism charges.

A statement from Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party in May said 917 party officials and members had been arrested and 701 were still being detained by the military.

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Suu Kyi, who was arrested on the day the army seized power, has already been convicted on several charges and sentenced to 26 years in prison. Her supporters say the charges were fabricated to discredit her and keep her from taking part in the next election, which the military has promised in 2023.

Win Myint Hlain won election to the local parliament of Magway region, in Myanmar's central heartland, in 2015, but didn't take part in the 2020 election. He participated in anti-military protests before being arrested in Yaksawk township in eastern Shan state in November last year.

His house in Magway's Taungdwingyi township was seized by security forces a day after his arrest, forcing his family to flee.

The military-controlled state media said Win Myint Hlaing had collected weapons and ammunition and supported a local defense force that targeted an education office, banks and police stations with bombings in its fight against the army.

They also said he organized another local defence group in his area called the Beikthanoe People's Defense Force that allegedly carried out more than two dozen attacks involving arson, bombings and assassination.

Political trials in Myanmar are virtually all closed so the evidence used to convict him is not known.

A court in Magway on Monday found Win Myint Hlain guilty of eight offenses under the Counter-Terrorism Act and sentenced him to 148 years, said a person familiar with the legal proceedings who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being arrested.

Some of the incidents for which he was convicted took place while he was already in prison, the person said.

Win Myint Hlain had already been convicted in March, April and June by a prison court of five offenses involving incitement and terrorism, for which he received sentences totaling 25 years.

Long-term prisoners in Magway prison, including Win Myint Hlaing, are kept in shackles, a person with knowledge of the prison said.

The army's takeover prevented Suu Kyi's party from returning to office for a second five-year term after it won a landslide victory in the 2020 general election. The military's takeover was met with widespread nonviolent protests that were quashed by the security forces with lethal force, triggering armed resistance that some UN experts have characterised as civil war.

The military government's arrests of many leaders of the party could cripple its attempts to challenge the military in new polls. Charges against them include treason, corruption, incitement, terrorism and flouting coronavirus regulations. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Washington, Nov 2 (AP) Saudi Arabia has shared intelligence with American officials that suggests Iran could be preparing for an imminent attack on the kingdom, three US officials confirmed on Tuesday.

The heightened concerns about a potential attack on Saudi Arabia as the Biden administration is criticising Tehran for its crackdown on widespread protests and condemning it for sending hundreds of drones  as well as technical support  to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine.

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We are concerned about the threat picture, and we remain in constant contact through military and intelligence channels with the Saudis, the National Security Council said in a statement. We will not hesitate to act in the defence of our interests and partners in the region.

One of the officials who confirmed the intelligence sharing described it as a credible threat of an attack soon or within 48 hours. No US embassy or consulate in the region has issued alerts or guidance to Americans in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere in the Middle East based on the intelligence. The officials were not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

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Asked about reports of the intelligence shared by the Saudis, Brig Gen Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said US military officials are concerned about the threat situation in the region."

"We're in regular contact with our Saudi partners, in terms of what information they may have to provide on that front, Ryder said. But what we've said before, and I'll repeat it, is that we will reserve the right to protect and defend ourselves no matter where our forces are serving, whether in Iraq or elsewhere.

The Wall Street Journal first reported on the Saudis sharing the intelligence earlier on Tuesday.

The US and Saudis accused Iran in 2019 of being behind a major attack in eastern Saudi Arabia, which halved the oil-rich kingdom's production and caused energy prices to spike. The Iranians denied they were behind the attack.

The Saudis have also been hit repeatedly in recent years by drones, missiles and mortars launched by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen in retaliation for Saudi involvement in the civil war that began there in 2014. Saudi Arabia formed a coalition to battle the Houthis in 2015 and has been internationally criticised for its airstrikes, which have killed scores of civilians.

In recent weeks, the Biden administration has imposed sanctions on Iranian officials for the brutal treatment of demonstrators after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September while in the custody of Iranian security forces. The administration has also hit Iran with sanctions for supplying drones to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine.

At least 270 people have been killed and 14,000 arrested during the protests, according to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran. Demonstrations have continued, even as the feared paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has warned young Iranians to stop.

US relations with Saudi Arabia have also been strained after the Riyadh-led alliance of oil producing nations, OPEC+, announced in October that it would cut production by 2 million barrels per day starting in November.

The White House has said it is reviewing its relationship with the Saudis over the move. The administration said the production cut is effectively helping another OPEC+ member, Russia, pad its coffers as it continues its war in Ukraine, now in its ninth month.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Tuesday reiterated that the administration remains concerned that Iran may also provide Russia with surface-to-surface missiles.

We haven't seen that concern bear out, but it's a concern we have, Kirby said.

Even as the US and others raise concerns about nefarious Iranian action, the administration has not ruled out the possibility of reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which was brokered by the Obama administration and scrapped in 2018 by the Trump administration.

The US special envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, said on Monday that the administration was not currently focused on the deal, which has been stalled since August.

Still, Malley refused to declare the deal dead and said the administration makes no apology for trying to do everything we can to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

The pact, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, would provide Tehran with billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for the country agreeing to roll back its nuclear programme to the limits set by the 2015 deal. It includes caps on enrichment and how much material Iran can stockpile and limits the operation of advanced centrifuges needed to enrich. (AP)

(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], November 2 (ANI): It is predicted that Chinese premier Xi Jinping's re-election as the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the head of the state for the next five years will witness more hard-lined policies with regard to the economy, foreign relations, human rights and public dissent.

After securing his third term, Xi has surpassed China's great leader Mao Zedong, hailed as the 'red sun'. However, with an emboldened Xi, we might witness a world worse than what Mao created, reported Voices Against Autocracy.

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The warning signs have been showing for a long time now, as witnessed by the debt trap many countries find themselves in. It is one of the many ways in which China is trying to dominate the world.

It is also being speculated that just like Mao's time saw the annexation of Tibet by China, Xi is planning to execute his long-term plan of taking over Taiwan, reported Voices Against Autocracy.

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Xi's plan is to hold the world to ransom, just like Mao's time witnessed heightened aggression against other countries that resulted in China's border problems with the Soviet, India and his intervention in the Korean War, reported Voices Against Autocracy.

Xi's comfortable filling the Politburo Standing Committee with his close allies forebodes a future where there would be no one in the Chinese political elite to stop him from doing as he pleases, no matter how that might impact the country and the world at large.

There are many similarities being drawn between the 20th National Congress and the 9th National Congress which hailed Mao as the 'red sun' that was perhaps expected to illuminate the Chinese land with brilliant rays. A lot of scholars are predicting a reversal back into the Maoist era, reported Voices Against Autocracy.

The emphasis on security has particularly accelerated under Xi's reign, as he tides to maintain his political relevance amidst slowing economic growth and the rising geo-political tension with the West.

Added to these are the recent surge in internal protests by the Chinese citizens against the establishment for a plethora of issues, including the draconian lockdown led zero-COVID strategy, purging of his detractors, economic hardships and the declining real estate sector, reported Voices Against Autocracy.

Xi intends to counter all of these unfavourable oppositions, hence, his emphasis on national security. He confirmed this approach change by saying, "The era of championing growth at all costs is behind us."

Under Xi's rule, there might also be a clear move away from the market economy envisioned by Deng Xiaoping to a state-led economy. One example has been witnessed in China's ruthless pursuit to achieve self-reliance in core technologies, reported Voices Against Autocracy.

The efforts are further expected to be intensified as the US is preparing to categorically limit the sale of semiconductors and chip-making equipment to Chinese buyers.

Investment in research and development of core technologies in a directed manner will most likely come from government support, implying a greater involvement of the state in these sectors.

The dependency that China has created for the world on itself, will allow Xi to dominate the global and Chinese economy like never before. It has become nearly impossible to decouple the Chinese economy from the world's economy, so it is an issue of grave concern, reported Voices Against Autocracy. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Bengaluru, November 2: The Adani Group has plans to invest almost Rs 1 lakh crore over the next seven years in Karnataka as it seeks to expand its footprint in multiple sectors, Adani Ports and SEZ Limited CEO Karan Gautam Adani said on Wednesday.

He said having already invested over Rs 20,000 crore in Karnataka till now, the busineess group is active in multiple sectors in the state, ranging from cement, power, city piped gas and edible oil to transport, logistics and digital.

Adani was speaking at the inaugural function of the three-day 'Invest Karnataka 2022'-Global Investors Meet. Invest Karnataka 2022 Summit: State Challenging Not Just Other States but a Few Countries Also, Says PM Narendra Modi.

"When I combine all of the sectors that we will be investing (in) and we will be expanding in the state of Karnataka, we would be looking at almost Rs 1 lakh crore of investment in the next seven years," Adani said.

"As the world's largest solar power developer, Adani Group will be investing more in the renewable energy sector in Karnataka," he said. The company has an installed cement manufacturing capacity of more than seven million tonne across four plants in Karnataka, and it will be looking at expanding its footprint in this sector as well, according to him. Invest Karnataka Summit 2022: PM Narendra Modi Says World Considers India as 'Bright Spot'.

Mangaluru International Airport (owned by Adani Airport Holdings, a subsidiary of Adani Group), is undergoing a facelift and "we will be expanding that airport as well", the CEO said. Adani Wilmar is increasing its presence in the coastal Karnataka town of Mangaluru, he added.


Yogi Adidyanath Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said that tap water would be available in every household in Bundelkhand by December this year. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said that tap water would be available in every household in Bundelkhand by December this year.



"The Namami Gange project has restored cleanliness and the unobstructed, continuous flow of water in the Ganga. Work to provide tap water connections in the dry and arid areas of the Vindhyas and Bundelkhand is taking place on a war footing under the 'Har Ghar Nal Yojana' and the exercise will be completed in December this year," he added.



According to the government spokesman, there has been a marked improvement in the quality of the Ganga water, mainly due to the Namami Gange project.



The Chief Minister said that the most critical point of the river in Kanpur, the Sisamau sewer line, have been converted into a selfie point while in Varanasi, where the water was not even fit for consumption, Gangetic dolphins who had left the area due to pollution in the river, have finally returned.



He also claimed that more than 60 rivers had been revived in the state in the past few years.



He added that Uttar Pradesh had adequate water resources and availability of water and areas like Vindhyas and Bundelkhand, which were considered to be water scarce and where rainwater harvesting was barely implemented, had now changed over the past few years.



The Chief Minister said that water conservation was a primary concern of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and "the outcome of his resolve was visible for everyone".



Claiming that more than 60 rivers had been revived in the state over the past few years, Adityanath added that a large area of the state is covered by rivers originating from the Himalayas which carry silt with them, due to which many were on the verge of extinction.



"We revived them and gave them a new life. So far, more than 60 rivers have been revived in the state. The Kumbh in Prayagraj took place on the banks of the Ganga, where devotees and seers realised for the first time after decades that the water was fit for consumption."



He also spoke about the Amrit Sarovar project, saying that efforts were being made at different levels for water conservation.



"Pure drinking water is the biggest need to save lives today. Keeping this in mind, we have started the Amrit Sarovar project and so far, work has been completed in 58 gram panchayats and the remaining are being completed on a war footing," he said.



A day after it, he also announced to hand over the amount deposited in the bank accounts of VVSS, himself, his wife and son, Rakhi Singh and her husband to the chief minister.




New Delhi, November 2: A Nigerian woman has been arrested for smuggling into the country heroin worth Rs 30 crore at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport here, a customs official said on Wednesday. Delhi: Man Arrested for Smuggling out Foreign Currencies Worth Rs 58 Lakh at Indira Gandhi International Airport.

The accused was intercepted after her arrival from Lagos via Doha on Monday.

Around four kg of heroin, valued at Rs 30 crore, which was concealed inside cavities of a bag was recovered from her possession, the official said.

The passenger has been arrested and the narcotic was seized, he added.
Hyderabad, November 2: In a strange incident, a large number of people with a ticket for the Hyderabad-Delhi flight on Monday were told at the airport that "no such flight existed." As per the report published by the Times of India, the flyers booked tickets for a Go First flight. The airport authority told the people that the airline had stopped operating on the route about a month ago.

In a conversation with the media outlet, the frustrated passengers urged the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to intervene and take strict actions against the airline. The stranded passengers also demanded action against Happy Fares, a Guwahati-based firm that issued the tickets to the "ghost flight." Bangalore-Bound IndiGo Flight Grounded at Delhi Airport After Suspected Spark in Aircraft.

What Exactly is Ghost Flight?

A ghost flight usually occurs when airlines continue to fly routes despite having no passengers on board. The term is said to be originated out of Europe. Video: Drunk Passenger Bites Attendants Finger in Plane, Forces Turkish Airlines Flight to Make Emergency Landing At Kualanamu Airport.

According to the reports, the owner of GoFlySmart, Ankit Agarwal admitted to a slip and shared an email sent by the airline on October 26 that indicated that the flight had changed due to operational reasons. Agarwal further added that "since the PNR was live on the website, we thought it would operate. As per the reports, GoFlySmart is a sub-agent of Go First that buys tickets from the airline and sells them to Happy Fares.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 02, 2022 10:21 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Lucknow, November 2: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said that tap water would be available in every household in Bundelkhand by December this year.

"The Namami Gange project has restored cleanliness and the unobstructed, continuous flow of water in the Ganga. Work to provide tap water connections in the dry and arid areas of the Vindhyas and Bundelkhand is taking place on a war footing under the 'Har Ghar Nal Yojana' and the exercise will be completed in December this year," he added. Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath Dedicates Projects Worth Rs 1,670 Crore in Noida, Greater Noida.

According to the government spokesman, there has been a marked improvement in the quality of the Ganga water, mainly due to the Namami Gange project.

The Chief Minister said that the most critical point of the river in Kanpur, the Sisamau sewer line, have been converted into a selfie point while in Varanasi, where the water was not even fit for consumption, Gangetic dolphins who had left the area due to pollution in the river, have finally returned. He also claimed that more than 60 rivers had been revived in the state in the past few years.

He added that Uttar Pradesh had adequate water resources and availability of water and areas like Vindhyas and Bundelkhand, which were considered to be water scarce and where rainwater harvesting was barely implemented, had now changed over the past few years.

The Chief Minister said that water conservation was a primary concern of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and "the outcome of his resolve was visible for everyone".

Claiming that more than 60 rivers had been revived in the state over the past few years, Adityanath added that a large area of the state is covered by rivers originating from the Himalayas which carry silt with them, due to which many were on the verge of extinction. Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath Launches Projects Worth Around Rs 420 Crore in Etah.

"We revived them and gave them a new life. So far, more than 60 rivers have been revived in the state. The Kumbh in Prayagraj took place on the banks of the Ganga, where devotees and seers realised for the first time after decades that the water was fit for consumption."

He also spoke about the Amrit Sarovar project, saying that efforts were being made at different levels for water conservation.

"Pure drinking water is the biggest need to save lives today. Keeping this in mind, we have started the Amrit Sarovar project and so far, work has been completed in 58 gram panchayats and the remaining are being completed on a war footing," he said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 02, 2022 08:27 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Kanpur, November 2: A class 12 student, who had gone reportedly missing from Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur, was found dead in a secluded place near his school, police said. Assistant Divisional Commissioner of Police (Kanpur), Brijesh Srivastava, said that there were no injury marks on the body of 18-year-old Ronil Sarkar. Uttar Pradesh Horror: Highly Decomposed Body Found in Locked Toilet of Janseva Express at Roza Station in Shahjahanpur.

"We are waiting for the post-mortem report. The police will probe how the boy reached the secluded place, which is around 500 metre from his school," he added. Police, meanwhile, have converted the missing report case into a murder FIR.

According to police, Ronil went to school on Monday morning. In the afternoon, when he did not return home, his family began to look for him and met his tuition teacher. After failing to trace him, Ronil's family lodged a missing persons' report. UP Shocker: SP Leader Rakesh Kumar Gupta, Wife, and Mother Found Dead in House in Badauns Satra Village.

On Tuesday, a local informed the police about spotting the body of a youth near a railway track. Since the body had a school uniform, they contacted school authorities for identification.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 02, 2022 08:17 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Mumbai, November 2: The byelection to the Andheri East Assembly constituency in Mumbai scheduled on Thursday is a mere formality following the withdrawal of the BJP's candidate from the fray last month. Rutuja Latke, the nominee of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction, is expected to register a comfortable win. She is pitted against six candidates- four of them Independents.

The NCP and Congress have supported her candidature. The bypoll was necessitated due to death of Rutuja Latke's husband and Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke in May this year. It is the first election after the revolt in the Shiv Sena by Eknath Shinde and 39 other legislators led to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. Andheri East By-Elections 2022: Voters Are Being Paid To Choose NOTA in Bypoll, Alleges Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray Party.

Political observers claimed the BJP's move to withdraw its candidate was aimed at denying Uddhav Thackeray a morale booster or an upper hand should Rutuja Latke emerge victorious at the hustings.

The main aim of the BJP and the Shinde faction is to unseat Thackeray's Sena from the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) where the elections are due in next few months, they further claimed.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Raj Thackeray had pitched for an unopposed contest and withdrawal of the saffron party's candidate as per "political traditions" in the state.

Before the BJP pulled out its candidate Murji Patel from the bypoll race last month, it was being seen as a litmus test for former chief minister Thackeray and an opportunity to assess the general mood of the electorate. The contest was also being seen as a trial to set the tone for the crucial BMC polls.

Conventionally in Maharashtra politics, the electoral contest is generally avoided if bypolls necessitated by the death of sitting MLAs or MPs are contested by their kin, though there are exceptions. After the MVA government collapsed, Shinde was sworn in as the chief minister with the BJP's support on June 30.

The Thackeray and Shinde factions of the Sena are fighting a legal battle to claim the party's name and the 'bow and arrow' symbol, which have been frozen by the Election Commission of India. The EC has allotted 'mashaal' (flaming torch) symbol to the Thackeray-led faction and the 'shield and sword' symbol to the Shinde group.

The run up to the bypoll saw much political drama as the acceptance of Rutuja Latke's resignation from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was delayed. The Thackeray faction had alleged that she was being pressured to contest as the Shinde group candidate. Andheri East Assembly By-Elections 2022: Mumbai Police Issue Prohibitory Orders for Constituency for November 3.

Rutuja Latke later approached the Bombay High Court, which asked the BMC to accept her resignation, saying the use or non-use of discretion by the civic commissioner in taking a decision on the resignation in this case was "arbitrary".

The Thackeray faction on Tuesday claimed that voters were being paid to choose None Of The Above or NOTA option. Andheri East is a cosmopolitan area comprising largely Maharashtrian voters, north Indians, south Indians, Christians and Muslims. Ramesh Latke, the Shiv Sena MLA who died in May this year, bagged 62,680 votes in the 2019 Assembly poll.

Murji Patel, who had then contested as an independent, polled 45,680 votes while Congress nominee Amin Kutty stood third with 27,925 votes. There are 2,71,502 voters and 256 polling booths in the Andheri East Assembly constituency. Polling will be held from 7 am to 6 pm on Thursday the counting of votes will be taken up on November 6.
Mumbai, November 1: The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), through a resolution, has dedicated a day as the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists. The UNGA labelled the resolution as the General Assembly Resolution A/RES/68/163. Under this resolution, all member states are called upon to take concrete steps to combat the current culture of impunity in their countries. On International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists 2022, let's learn about its date, history and significance.

The motive of the resolution is to end impunity for crimes against journalists to guarantee freedom of expression and access to information for all citizens. Since the day was established, the International Freedom of Speech Exchange (IFEX) organizes the No Impunity Campaign, which argues year-round for all those viciously attacked for exercising their right to freedom of speech in a democratic society. Russia-Ukraine War: US Journalist Killed in Ukraine's City of Irpin.

International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists: Date

The date for the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists (IDEI) was chosen in commemoration of the assassination of two French journalists in Mali on November 2, 2013. Pakistan: Journalist Sadaf Naeem Crushed to Death by Imran Khans Truck During Long-March Coverage in Gujranwala District.

International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists: History and Significance

The International Freedom of Speech Exchange (IFEX) established the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists on November 23, 2011, marking it for the 2009 Ampatuan massacre - which was the single bloodiest assault on journalists in modern history. In December 2013, IFEX members and other civil society advocates for freedom of expression extensively lobbied at UNGA to pass the "A/RES/68/163."

Since 2013, the resolution has provided a unique opportunity to raise awareness and promote a productive discussion among all involved in the fight against impunity for crimes against journalists. According to the United Nations, between 2004 and 2014, more than 700 journalists were killed. The resolution condemns all attacks and violence against journalists and media workers and protects the rights and lives of journalists.

Threats of violence and attacks create a climate of fear for media professionals, impeding the free circulation of information, opinions, and ideas for all citizens.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 02, 2022 08:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
This is due to the battle between him and the state government on a host of issues. The Congress has agreed to sign the memorandum for the removal of Tamil Nadu Governor after DMK parliamentary party leader T.R. Baalu sent a letter to all the opposition parties.
Shehbaz arrived in Beijing on Tuesday night on a two-day visit. This is his first visit to China since assuming office in April this year. However, this is Shebaz's second meeting with Xi after becoming the prime minister.
Speaking about the Morbi Bridge Collapse incident, advocate HS Panchal, Additional Public Prosecutor, Morbi on Wednesday said that one of the two managers of Oreva company, who have been arrested told the court that the Morbi tragedy is an 'Act of God'. Earlier in the day, Gujarat's Morbi Court sent four people to police custody and remaining five into judicial custody till November 5. A total of 135 people have been killed in the incident so far. Morbi Suspension Bridge Collapse: PM Narendra Modi, Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel Visit Accident Site (Watch Video).

It Is an Act of God

Gujarat | One of the two managers of Oreva company (that have been arrested) told the court that it is an 'Act of God': Adv HS Panchal, Additional Public Prosecutor, Morbi on #MorbiBridgeCollapse pic.twitter.com/jFKtohbIh4  ANI (@ANI) November 2, 2022

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#Latvia's new parliament assembled for its first session on Tuesday, to swear in lawmakers and elect leaders in a televised ceremony. pic.twitter.com/ycpwZrV8zY IANS (@ians_india) November 2, 2022

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Heartland Group Holdings Limited (Heartland) (NZX/ASX: HGH) is pleased to announce that its subsidiary Heartland Bank Limited (Heartland Bank) intends to appoint Simon Tyler as an independent non-executive director (subject to Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) non-objection), effective on 8 November 2022, immediately following the conclusion of the 2022 Annual Shareholder Meeting.

Simon will bring to Heartland Banks Board his extensive banking skills. His experience spans more than 35 years with particular expertise in treasury, including holding senior treasury and financial markets roles within the National Bank of New Zealand and the RBNZ. More recently, Simon was Chief Executive of the Government Superannuation Fund Authority and the National Provident Fund. Simon is currently an independent director on the audit committee of IHC New Zealand, a director of Palliser Estate Wines of Martinborough Limited, and is a trustee of the Fale Malae Trust and the University of Otago Foundation Trust.

Simons appointment will provide Heartland Bank with an additional independent director, further contributing to the depth of skills and experience of the Board.

 ENDS 

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BREAKING: North Korea test-fires ballistic missiles, triggering sirens in parts of South Korea. The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) November 2, 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.)
"WHO continues to calls for unfettered humanitarian access for the millions of people who are in dire need.

And we continue to call on the international community to give the crisis in Tigray the right attention."-@DrTedros World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) November 2, 2022

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San Francisco, November 2: As Elon Musk continues to fire top executives at Twitter, the company's chief marketing officer Leslie Berland is leaving the company along with other senior people amid growing uncertainty.

Jean-Philippe Maheu, vice president of global client solutions; chief consumer officer Sarah Personette; and Dalana Brand, chief of people and diversity, are also leaving the micro-blogging platform.

Berland was yet to make the decision to leave Twitter officially, after tweeting out a simple blue heart emoji. "Thank you, Leslie! Your inspiration and passion were an all time highlight," a Twitter employee posted. Twitter Blue Tick Subscription Charge: Elon Musk Suggests Charging $8 Per Month for Verification.

"It's not hyperbolic to say that no one had a bigger impact on Twitter the service -- and Twitter the company. She always had your back, she always listened, she always did right, and she made Twitter 'what's happening," another employee tweeted.

Personette, who was in-charge of Twitter's ad sales business, tweeted that she resigned last Friday and her work access was officially cut off by Tuesday.

"It has been the greatest privilege to serve all of you as a leader and a partner. Many have heard me say this but the most important role I believe I played in the company was championing the requirements of brand safety," said Personette. Brand, who joined Twitter in 2018 and served as VP of People Experience and Head of Inclusion & Diversity, also resigned last Friday. Elon Musk To Charge USD 8 per Month for Twitter Blue Badge; Heres What You Get for Monthly Subscription.

Musk last week fired CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, General Counsel Sean Edgett and Vijaya Gadde, Head of Legal Policy, Trust and Safety. He is set to lay off more Twitter employees amid concerns that nearly 75 per cent of the workforce can be asked to go.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 02, 2022 11:07 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Jair Bolsonaro is now the first incumbent president to lose a reelection bid in Brazil after Lula was declared the winner of last weekend's presidential runoff elections. He stayed silent for a while when the results became clear, but now, the right-wing incumbent has seemingly broken his silence.

In a short speech held at the presidential palace in Brasilia, Bolsonaro stated that he would "continue to fulfill all the commandments of our constitution." However, while he stated that he would cooperate with the transfer of power, the controversial politician did not concede defeat to his rival, leftist candidate Lula, according to CNN.

According to Bolsonaro chief-of-staff Ciro Nogueira, the president would be working with the new government and is already waiting for Lula's transition team to begin the transfer of power.

"President Jair Messias Bolsonaro authorized me, when it is time, based on the law, to start the transition process," said the chief-of-staff.

Jair Bolsonaro Hits Back on His Critics

Bolsonaro did hit back at his critics, though, saying that while they label him as "undemocratic," he claimed that he has "always played within the four lines of the constitution."

According to the Associated Press, the firebrand politician also thanked the 58 million people who voted for him. He also said that he also supports the nationwide protests by truckers in Brazil who have set up roadblocks around the country. However, he added that his support only comes as long as they do not become violent.

"Current popular movements are the result of indignation and a feeling of injustice regarding how the electoral process occurred," he said.

Independent political analyst Thomas Traumann stated that this is a "two-fold move" on the part of Bolsonaro, who did not recognize defeat but sustained the suspense as he "wants to continue to dominate" and at the same time, maintain the "possibility of peaceful demonstrations."

READ MORE: Brazil Election Results: Lula Beats Jair Bolsanaro After Controversial Race, Brazilians React

U.S. Pres. Joe Biden Congratulates Lula, Spoke With the New Brazilian President on the Phone

U.S. President Joe Biden was one of the first world leaders to congratulate Lula. Biden earlier promised Lula that he would swiftly recognize the outcome of the Brazilian elections no matter who won to prevent Bolsonaro from staging a Donald Trump-style coup inspired by the January 6 Capitol insurrection.

The official White House website released Biden's statement on Lula's victory, which read, "I send my congratulations to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on his election to be the next president of Brazil following free, fair, and credible elections. I look forward to working together to continue the cooperation between our two countries in the months and years ahead."

The White House official website also confirmed that Biden spoke with Lula on Monday via a phone call.

They discussed the strong relationship between the United States and Brazil and committed to working together to address the common challenges both countries are facing, including climate change, food security, and immigration.

READ MORE: Brazil: US Diplomats Assure Swift Recognition of Election Winner Amid Fears of Jair Bolsonaro Pulling Donald Trump Move

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro declines to concede - WPLG Local 10
SNAP Benefits update has been announced in Texas, with Gov. Greg Abbott noting that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission is providing more than $334.5 million in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance emergency allotments.

The emergency allotment for SNAP benefits in November 2022 is expected to help around 1.6 million Texas households.

Texas HHS Access and Eligibility Services Deputy Executive Commissioner Wayne Salter noted in the press release that the state and its partnered agencies hope that it would provide nourishing meals to Texans in need as the holiday season nears.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has granted HHSC federal approval to extend the emergency allotments, with the amount of SNAP benefits to receive depend on family size.

SNAP households will receive a minimum of $95 in emergency allotments which should be reflected by November 30 on recipients' accounts.

The November emergency allotments are on top of more than $8.7 billion in benefits previously provided to Texas residents since April 2020.

READ NEXT: Social Security Payments Update: When Will You Get Your Money This November 2022?

SNAP Benefits Texas

If you just recently became eligible for SNAP benefits in Texas, you might experience a short delay in getting benefits.

A single mother in North Texas was still waiting on her benefits, which she filed in July 2022.

There were 198,025 new SNAP benefits applications waiting to be processed, while state workers themselves are lining up in food banks while waiting for their own applications to go through.

Aside from delays in SNAP benefits, Texas residents also applying for Medicaid are also facing delays.

The state's HHSC has consistently processed SNAP benefits applications, but an influx of new applicants through the pandemic combined with a high turnover of eligibility workers have led to significant delays.

One employee noted that they are going to pantries or the food bank to put meals on their tables, citing the cost of living going higher.

The same employee noted that the state was not even considering giving them a raise or merit to help the employees out, as reported by KXAN News.

Tiffany Young, Assistant Press Officer with HHSC, said in September that the state increased base salaries for clerks, eligibility advisors, and supervisors.

SNAP Benefits Payments

SNAP benefits payments are distributed through the state's EBT card, known as the Texas Lone Star Cards.

Texas Lone Star card are accepted at major grocery chains or retailers. Any store that has a Lone Star card sign also accepts EBT cards for payments.

Recipients can ask store employees if they accept the EBT card if postings are not made available.

Aside from using it for grocery and basic goods, EBT cardholders can also use their Texas Lone Star Card to avail of Amazon Prime, with the subscription priced at $6.99. it is about half the regular cost of a subscription.

Over 600 museums, aquariums, and zoos around the country welcome SNAP recipients at a discounted price, once they present their Lone Star cards. Some museums, zoos, and aquariums admit visitors for free if they have EBT cards.

READ MORE: Disaster SNAP Benefits Update: Are You Eligible for New Florida Payments?

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: SNAP food benefits delayed for some Texas families - from KXAN


Controversial wrestler and former UFC fighter CM Punk was previously involved in a backstage brawl with Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks. This led to him being stripped of his AEW world title and suspended by Tony Khan. Now, wrestling insiders are saying that he may be done with pro wrestling for good.

According to What Culture, sources close to the Second City Saint said they believe the Chick Magnet Punk will never compete in professional wrestling again.

Meanwhile, Nick Hausman reportedly told Wrestling Observer Radio's Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer that the real-life Phil Brooks is not short on money, as he currently has in-roads for potential work in Hollywood. He also confirmed that many insiders close to Punk have agreed that he will never wrestle again.

AEW Concludes Investigation on Brawl Between CM Punk and The Elite

The Wrestling Observer also reported that during AEW's post-All Out press conference, CM Punk, who just won the AEW world title at that time, made incendiary remarks about Hangman Page, Colt Cabana, and AEW Executive Vice Presidents Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks. This resulted in the three EVPs approaching the then-world champion backstage, and this was where the brawl between them broke out, with Ace Steel joining in to help CM Punk out.

After the brawl, all those involved, including CM Punk, Ace Steel, Kenny Omega, and the Young Bucks, were suspended. Since the suspension, Ace Steel has already been released and Punk was stripped of his AEW World Title. However, the Bucks and Omega are believed to be on their way back to AEW television.

Punk is still suspended but AEW is reportedly negotiating to buy out the rest of his contract. The heat on him in the AEW locker room has been described as "nuclear," with many not happy with his incendiary comments and recent actions.

READ NEXT: Mexico: The 5 Lucha Libre Wrestlers Who Helped Change the Sport

CM Punk to Sue AEW and Tony Khan?

While CM Punk's AEW heat is nuclear right now, making his future in the company certainly not looking good, it does not seem that he will be going back to the rival promotion, WWE, as there is still friction between Punk and the McMahons, as well as Paul "Triple H" Levesque.

With AEW buying out his contract, many, including Dutch Mantell, raised the possibility of him suing AEW after he exits.

According to Ringside News, Mantell thinks that Punk might end up filing a lawsuit as Punk might think buying out his contract would not be enough.

"I still believe that they can talk all they want. And he can say whatever came in there and he could claim this and this. That's what AEW doesn't want. They don't want to take it down to a lawsuit." he stated.

Neither CM Punk nor Tony Khan have commented on the matter publicly as of writing.

READ MORE: WWE: Paul 'Triple H' Levesque Replaces Vince McMahon as Head of Creative

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: CM Punk DONE With Wrestling! - WhatCulture Wrestling
One Mexican politician revealed that he is acting as a middleman between Mexico's government and drug cartels prompting the rise of violence due to drug trafficking.

Manuel Espino Barrientos said that the only option to stop violence is for the government to strike a peace deal with Mexican drug cartels. Espino is a federal congressman from the ruling party MORENA.

Espino said he handed out a proposal to Interior Secretary Adan Augusto Lopez to reach a pact with some of the Mexican drug cartels, and only two of them reached back to him.

The two Mexican drug cartels said, "if this is really happening, we are in," according to Espino.

However, the Mexican lawmaker did not detail which cartels reached out or which two agreed to the proposal.

He added that he will not reveal more as it could "jeopardize the talks," noting that "this kind of thing always works out."

Espino cited Ciudad Juarez, El Salvador, and Colombia, where peace talks worked out.

READ NEXT: Mexico: 3 Bodies Found Dumped on Roadside in Zacatecas as Mexican Drug Cartels Battle for Territory

Manuel Espino Barrientos' Plans for Mexico's Drug Cartels

The former Mexican lawmaker shared that he told the Secretary of the Interior that the strategy of freezing accounts and taking money from criminal groups is not the proper route.

Espino said money has similar effect as tequila has to people, noting that it is neither good nor bad, as reported by El Universal.

He also noted that the lesser evil is to dialogue with the criminal groups and agree with them while taking into account their interests.

Espino also said that if the government were to agree with the peace deal, they would give drug cartels an assurance to integrate into the legal economy.

As a result, the Mexican drug cartels will stop working on all illegal activities, according to Espino.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador denied during his daily morning conference that Mexico has a pact with Mexican drug cartels.

Lopez Obrador said the limits are very clear, noting that one side remains the authority and on the other, the criminals.

Mexico's Spike in Violence

Most of the violence in Mexico is driven by Mexican drug cartels who produce methamphetamine, fentanyl, and heroin, then trafficking it to the United States.

Mexico's government has implemented several security force deployments over the years but has been unable to gain an upper hand against criminal groups.

Lopez Obrador created the country's National Guard in 2019 to fill in the gaps in some cases and replace Mexico's federal police.

The Mexican president noted that the country's federal police were "hopelessly corrupt and ineffective."

A new study noted that local media outlets report an average of 17 atrocities, which is defined as "the intentional use of force to severely abuse, maim, kill, or provoke terror."

In the first half of 2022, the study found 5,463 victims from 3,123 events in a total of 2,657 news articles. It was considered to be an 18% increase compared to the same period in 2021.

READ MORE: El Chapo's Sinaloa Cartel Continues to Thrive Despite the DrugLLord's Absence: Report

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Manuel Espino revela que trabaja en propuesta de dialogo entre grupos criminales y gobierno federal - from El Universal


Cuba has experienced a six-decade embargo from the United States government, which took effect since the Cold War. However, 18 former Latin American and Caribbean leaders have signed a letter addressed to U.S. President Joe Biden to lift that embargo.

The letter came as Cuba continues to struggle after the devastation brought about by Hurricane Ian. Parts of the country are still without electricity, while homes have been devastated or flooded.

The letter also urged the U.S. government to remove Cuba from its list of state governments sponsoring terrorism, as the ELN rebels that Cuba is said to be sponsoring are now in peace talks with Colombia, an American ally.

The Associated Press has obtained a copy of the letter and it reads, "We ask you, Mr. President, to take into account this dramatic situation that thousands of Cubans are experiencing and do whatever is necessary to lift those restrictions that affect the most vulnerable."

Former Brazilian, Colombian, Caribbean, and Other Latin American Presidents Signed Letter to Joe Biden

According to the Washington Post, several big names signed the letter, including former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and former Colombian presidents Juan Manuel Santos and Ernesto Samper. Former leaders from other Latin American and Caribbean countries like Bolivia and Belize also signed the letter.

However, there was a notable absence of the signatories, as all of those who signed the letter were centrists or leftists. No right-wing leader has signed the letter, and this underscored the deep divisions that Cuba still invokes all over the Americas.

READ NEXT: Cuba: US Offering Hurricane Relief After Hurricane Ian Devastates Island

This week, the United Nations General Assembly will be voting on a resolution to condemn the U.S. embargo on Cuba. It is expected to pass again for the 30th consecutive year, according to ABC News.

The U.S. government imposed the trade embargo back in 1962 when Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution embraced communism. This means that the United States restricted Cuba from gaining access to various products, as well as international aid and financial resources.

U.S.-Cuba Relations Easing With Democrats, Continue to Sour With Republicans

Under the Obama administration, U.S-Cuba relations began to thaw as the U.S. eased a few sanctions and provided a few friendly gestures toward the Caribbean Island. However, former President Donald Trump undid all his predecessor's gains in normalizing relations with Cuba.

Former president Donald Trump justified the sanctions against the Cuban government and re-designated the country as a state sponsor for terrorism for its refusal to extradite 10 ELN rebel leaders. These leaders have now left Cuba and are in Venezuela to hold peace talks with the Colombian government, resulting in the request to lift Cuba's status as a state sponsor of terrorism.

As for Biden, while he continues criticizing the Cuban government for its human rights abuses, he has also sought to thaw relations between the two countries. He recently made friendly gestures such as providing $2 million in Hurricane Ian relief.

However, lifting the embargo may not be easy, as this would require authorization from Congress.

READ NEXT: Cuban Officials Say Matanzas Oil Fire in Cuba Now Under Control

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Cuba: High prices, lines and shortages | DW Documentary
The violent home invasion at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Paul Pelosi's residence in San Francisco has raised concerns and questions from their neighbors, asking why no alarms went off.

According to Daily Mail, Pelosi's old neighbor in Broadway Street, Marjorie Campbell, said everybody in the neighborhood had alarms on their windows.

Campbell noted that an alarm will go off if a glass window had been smashed. She added that they all had alarms that chimed if the door opened or closed.

Gavin DeBecker, who ran Jeff Bezos' security, was surprised that there appeared to be "no security" on the house. However, he pointed out that federal protection only applies to Nancy Pelosi, who was out of town at the time.

Former CIA agent and private security chief to billionaires Tony Schiena told Daily Mail the break-in was an "obvious security failure for the family of a high profile politician to be so vulnerable and exposed."

Schiena noted that there was a general failure to adapt to the new norm, which was "right-wing terrorism" in the United States.

He added that he feels that the U.S. will experience the emergence of more vigilance, and reactive management will provide congressional leadership and their families more protection.

READ NEXT: Nancy Pelosi Says Donald Trump Is Not 'Man Enough' to Testify Before Jan. 6 House Committee After Being Subpoenaed

Nancy Pelosi and Paul Pelosi's Home Invasion Prompts Security Questions

Eight years ago, the Capitol police installed cameras around Nancy Pelosi and Paul Pelosi's home. The House Speaker also has an around-the-clock security detail and a San Francisco police cruiser on standby outside her home day and night.

The camera of Capitol Police caught the footage of the invasion showing a man with a hammer, breaking a glass panel, and entering the couple's house.

Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said while there have been improvements, the department is still in the process of hiring 280 additional officers this year.

The Washington Post reported that Manger noted that the country's "political climate" would require additional layers of "physical security."

Suspect in Nancy Pelosi Home Invasion

The intruder was identified as 42-year-old David DePape, who was charged with numerous state charges, including assault on a family member of a U.S. official and attempted kidnapping of a federal official.

Police caught DePape at the Pelosi home on Friday morning. They said that the suspect forcibly entered the back door of the house.

He then encountered the House Speaker's husband, Paul Pelosi, and struggled over a hammer before the suspect struck him with it.

Nancy Pelosi was in Washington during the attack. Paul Pelosi underwent surgery to repair his fractured skull and serious injuries to his hands and right arm. He remained in the intensive care unit of a San Francisco hospital.

DePape told investigators that he aimed to break Nancy Pelosi's kneecaps if she "lied" and see her "wheeled into Congress" to serve as a lesson to fellow lawmakers.

San Francisco district attorney Brooke Jenkins on Monday announced additional charges such as attempted murder, residential burglary, elder abuse, and assault with a deadly weapon.

DePape is also facing charges of false imprisonment of an elder and threatening family members of public officials.

READ MORE: Donald Trump Says FBI Agents Raided Mar-A-Lago Home; Agency's Visit Unannounced

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Nancy Pelosi Breaks Silence After the Home Invasion - From 7NEWS Australia
A Halloween night shooting on the West Side of Chicago injured 14 individuals, including three children.

The shooting occurred near California Avenue and Polk Street in East Garfield Park past 9 p.m. Monday, when a group of people gathered for a vigil and released balloons to honor a woman who died of natural causes, according to Chicago police.

"It's heartbreaking. People go out to memorialize someone and ultimately become victims," said 28th Ward Alderman Jason Ervin.

ABC 7 Chicago reported that the youngest casualty was a 3-year-old child. An 11-year-old and a 13-year-old were also injured.

According to the police, the other victims were in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. All of the victim's conditions reportedly ranged from severe to non-critical.

There were no reports of casualties yet, but at least six people were listed in serious or critical condition in nearby hospitals. A victim identified as Pierre Riley was reportedly shot in the head and is currently fighting for his life in the hospital.

READ NEXT: North Carolina Mass Shooting Suspect Arrested After Killing 5 People, Including a Police Officer

Halloween Night Shooting Incident in Chicago

Police said the Halloween night shooting incident was partly caught on security camera. Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said it was a drive-by shooting, and they know "it happens in just a few seconds."

"It begins and then it's over, about three seconds, the car is pulling out after driving by and shooting randomly, really, into the crowd," Brown noted.

Based on the preliminary investigation, two unidentified persons traveling via a dark-colored SUV suddenly started shooting people standing on the corner of the intersection attending the vigil, NBC News reported.

Brown said the motive was still unknown, and no offender had been identified yet. Police are also unaware of any conflicts in that area.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot condemned this violence and called it "another tragic display of gun violence by cowards indiscriminately shooting into a crowd." She asked people to speak up if they knew anything about the suspects.

"The Chicago Police Department has been hard at work through the night to bring the perpetrators to justice," the mayor noted.

Detectives from the Chicago Police Department investigating the video reportedly talked to witnesses and victims and have taken steps to find the shooters.

"We are also coordinating with community organizations to support the victims and their families in their time of crisis," Lightfoot added.

Violence a Daily Ordeal in Chicago Area Where the Halloween Night Shooting Happened

According to Chicago Sun-Times, violence is so common at the block of three flats where 14 people were shot. The outlet noted that drivers had been seen reversing their cars after being waved away at gunpoint while on the one-way street.

According to a person familiar with the 2700 block of West Flournoy Street in East Garfield Park, a group of young kids on the east end of the block stand in the street and show off their guns and will not let people pass.

The person said: "It's a terrible block. Just horrible... Gunfire is a daily occurrence. When the police come, they get yelled at and spit on."

READ MORE: Steve Nash Leaves Brooklyn Nets Following Disastrous Coaching Tenure, Ime Udoka Possible Replacement

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: 14 People Shot Halloween Night in Garfield Park Drive-by Shooting, Chicago Police Say - From WGN News
The U.S. Army recently received a report on 2021 infantry experience with a new item of equipment. The infantrymen who used the new item said they would never use it in combat because it would get them killed. The item in question is IVAS (Integrated Visual Augmentation System), which is the Microsoft militarized HoloLens VR (Virtual reality) goggles. The report was about the IVAS units that had been modified to address problems the army reported to Microsoft in 2021. Soldiers using IVAS under simulated combat conditions reported that the device was not rugged or light enough for combat use and required too much battery power. IVAS was supposed to be waterproof but wasnt. In 2021 the army ordered a report on soldier reactions to IVAS and that report was delivered and made public in October 2022.

This all began in 2020 when the army gave Microsoft a contract for IVAS worth up to $22 billion (if it worked). Microsoft said it could adapt the commercial VR HoloLens headset so that it could replace existing gear like the ENVG-B (Enhanced Night Vision Goggle-Binocular) while also providing many more capabilities. This seemed unlikely to many infantrymen, who are avid users of FPS (First Person Shooter) combat games and follow the development of these games.

When these user problems were discovered in 2021 the army paused the IVAS project and said it would only be delayed a year and would soon be back on schedule. Those kinds of assurances usually mean the army will be in big trouble if they cant make IVAS work because IVAS was also expected to revolutionize combat training as well as improve on existing favorites of combat troops.

Left unsaid was that the army already had a successful ENVG-B which was receiving regular upgrades since 2009 that gave it many of the IVAS features and was already operating successfully in combat. Additional features IVAS include built-in audio for communications and VR features, which add weight, bulk and power demands that the army knows are a major obstacle for troop acceptance, especially for use in combat rather than just training.

The army had long sought something like IVAS for their Soldier of the Future concept. While the army had sometimes adapted commercial tech for combat use, it was more difficult to do that for infantry equipment because of the harsher conditions and troop resistance to carrying more weight, especially if the additional gear did not provide some spectacular improvements over current equipment.

IVAS was seen as overly ambitious for use by infantry and that proved to be the case. The army also underestimated the importance of the ENVG-B as a combat proven item that was adding more IVAS features one at a time while keeping all the existing ENVG-B gear operational. Theres no pause feature for troop training and combat demands.

ENVG entered service in 2009, as improved NVG (night vision Goggle) tech that has been around since the 1960s and kept evolving since then with particularly rapid upgrades after 2000. A lot of the new tech was coming from work done on helicopter and jet fighter pilot HMDS (Helmet-Mounted Display System). Israeli firms led in developing new tech and software for HMDS and were the first to transfer it to equipment for ground troops. This involved replacing the traditional goggles with a display on the inside of the pilots visor. This display can use more powerful sensors the aircraft is carrying to not only produce far better range and field of view than goggles but also VR capabilities. This means being able to look in any direction, even metal parts of the aircraft (like the cockpit floor) and see what is out there. The pilot can see these images in a more realistic light.

The next feature for ENVG-B is software-enabled IronVision, which comes from Israel. IronVision was developed nearly a decade ago and first used for aircraft, which enabled the pilot to look down and see what a vidcam on the bottom of the aircraft was seeing, or select rear view. The army version was for tank crews in the form of a face visor for each member of the crew so they can, while inside the vehicle, see what the day/night vidcams mounted on all sides of the vehicle see. In effect the crew can see through the armor at what is going on outside the vehicle.

The IronVision HMS (Helmet Mounted System) was a breakthrough because vehicle crews in combat are often forced to operate buttoned up, as in no one with their head outside the vehicle to see what was going on because of intense enemy fire. Instead of a separate visor, ENVG-B will use its wireless capability to connect with the vehicle (tank or Infantry Fighting Vehicle aka IFV) external vidcams to enable crew plus troops carried inside the IFV to see what is outside. This would be a big boost in situational awareness for troops who travel in IFVs and thats why the Americans are trying to implement EBVG-B rather than the Israeli approach.

IronVision is already used in the F-35 HMDS and for Israeli pilots and tank crews. ENVG-B already has wi-fi that enables ENVG-B using IronVision to do much of what IVAS was aiming for. The army realized that it could either further develop the combat tested and troop favorite ENVG-B or spend a lot of time and money to create something similar and potentially superior using the HoloLens. EBVG-B has already solved the weight, ruggedness, power requirements and troop acceptance problems IVAS was just beginning to deal with.

The original ENVG monocular began troop (field) testing in 2005 and it took four years of that before it was ready for regular use, ENVG-B (binocular) with wi-fi and some VR capabilities was ready by 2018. The troops found it useful enough to justify the additional weight and power consumption. IVAS is at least a decade away from matching that and in that time ENVG-B development will provide even more of the data-sharing and VR capabilities that the much more expensive IVAS is still working on. Trying to leap-frog existing combat tech is always a gamble and the IVAS/ENVG-B situation is another expensive example.
The U.S. Embassy in Ecuador on Tuesday issued a security alert for American citizens traveling to Guayaquil and Esmeraldas cities due to attacks presumed to have been carried out by gangs linked to the Jalisco cartel.

In a statement released by the U.S. Embassy, the agency said U.S. citizens should exercise extreme caution and maintain increased vigilance in these cities because of the series of violent crimes.

The embassy also urged Americans in these areas to avoid large gatherings and limit their travel to daylight hours. The agency also advised U.S. citizens to be aware of their surroundings and monitor the local media for updates.

READ NEXT: Infamous Jalisco Cartel of Mexico Is Trying to Establish Base of Operations in Washington State

2 Gangs Responsible for Attacks in Ecuador Link to Mexico's Jalisco Cartel

During the night of October 31 and the early morning of November 1, Infobae reported that at least 13 attacks, including nine explosions, were reported in Guayaquil and Esmeraldas that were carried out by Los Lobos and Los Tiguerones gangs.

According to CBS News, both gangs reportedly work with Mexico's Jalisco cartel. The attacks against police and oil installations were in response to a transfer of inmates from Guayas 1 prison in Guayaquil in Guayas province.

Prison officials said shots were also fired inside the facility. "We have had reactions" of "organized crime" in Guayaquil, and the northwestern oil port of Esmeraldas, said Interior Minister Juan Zapata. These reportedly included car bomb attacks and an explosion at a bus terminal.

Reports said at least five police officers were killed, prompting President Guillermo Lasso to declare a state of emergency in Guayas and Esmeraldas provinces.

Authorities said two police officers died when armed individuals attacked their patrol car in Guayaquil in the early morning hours. Three more cops were gunned down in the port and the nearby city of Duran later in the day. Two officers were also injured in a separate attack on a police station.

In Esmeraldas, three explosions were reported, and seven prison officers were held hostage by inmates in protest of prisoner transfers. Authorities said the officers were released after negotiations.

So far, the prisons agency SNAI said 515 prisoners had been transferred from Guayaquil's Guayas 1 prison to others around the country. The transfers aim to reduce overcrowding.

The security situation in Ecuador has been at its worst in the past 10 years. The government has recently taken steps to improve law and order due to prison violence and the presence of Mexican drug cartels.

According to Rise To Peace, the South American nation's unrest and violence indicate that crime in Ecuador is worsening.

Ecuadorian authorities said there was evidence that the Sinaloa Cartel has been operating in Ecuador since 2009, followed by the Jalisco cartel, which has also infiltrated the country.

In the past years, authorities in Ecuador had already seized drug shipments allegedly belonging to these illegal Mexican drug cartels.

Jalisco Cartel of Mexico

The Jalisco New Generation Cartel or Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) of Mexico is reportedly operating in other countries.

U.S. officials said the cartel controls the movement of more than a third of all drugs consumed in the U.S. and has expanded into Central and South America, Europe, and Asia.

The Jalisco cartel had risen to power after former Sinaloa Cartel capo Ignacio Coronel, known as "Nacho," was killed in July 2010 by Mexican security forces.

Nacho's death resulted in the split of the Sinaloa Cartel into two factions, the "La Resistencia" and "Torcidos." The "Torcidos" became what is now the Jalisco cartel, which has since expanded rapidly.

Nemesio "El Mencho" Oseguera Cervantes, who currently heads the Jalisco cartel, continues to evade capture. The U.S. government has already offered a $10 million reward for information leading to his arrest. However, he remains to be the most elusive criminal, and he is reportedly hiding in Mexico.

READ MORE: Steve Nash Leaves Brooklyn Nets Following Disastrous Coaching Tenure, Ime Udoka Possible Replacement

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: Fueron Reportados 12 Atentados en Ecuador - From MILENIO
China has recently had some user dissatisfaction problems with the VT4 tanks China exports. Nigerian tank crews reported that in combat it took them 30 minutes to load and fire a 125mm shell. The problem turned out to be lack of training and poor maintenance. These two items have long been a problem for complex exports like tanks, artillery and warplanes. Some VT4 (also known as MBT3000) users reported problems that did not involve poor maintenance or poorly trained crews. China said it would fix it. The recent discovery of a major design flaw in all T-72 type tanks is another matter.

Export tanks are often less capable (and cheaper) versions of the ones China builds for its own forces. In some cases, the export models lack new features China considers secret and not for export. In most cases export models simply get less advanced and cheaper tech. Such was the case with the VT series of tanks. These are exported and not used by Chinese forces. The VT1 (also known as MBT2000) was the export version of the Chinese Type 90 tank. Actually, the Type 90 was not accepted by the Chinese army, which instead went with the 54-ton Type 99, a superior T-72 variant that entered service in 2001, underwent a major upgrade (the 58-ton Type 99A) in 2011 and is still in production with over a 1,200 in service so far. The Chinese have over 6,000 tanks, with 2,500 of them modern designs. The rest of them are based on the Russian T-54/55. China developed many variations on this 1950s design and built them under license as the Type 59. In addition to the Type 99 there are 1,500 of the earlier Type 96, which began as the Type 88 in the 1980s as China began to develop and build variations of the Russian T-72. The Type 96 and 99 are, like most current Russian tanks, further upgrades of the successful T-72 design. By adding better engines and other mechanical and electronic components, improved armored protection and 125mm main guns, the Chinese have managed to create a force of modern tanks superior to what the Russians have. China now has more modern tanks in service than Russia, which has had to put a lot of its most modern tanks in storage because it cannot afford to maintain and operate them. Unknown to the Chinese was the fact that T-72-type tanks have a fatal flaw that was only discovered during combat with a foe equipped with Western anti-tank weapons. This was discovered recently in Ukraine. The fatal design flaw was due to the use of an autoloader for the 125mm gun. This led to the total destruction of Russian tanks hit by a top-attack ATGM (Anti-Tank-Guided Missile). None of the Russian ATGMs used top-attack because of the additional cost and the fact that Western tanks did not use autoloader and were not automatically destroyed by top-attack ATGMs.

Most Chinese tanks use an autoloader. Only the older T-54/55 clones dont. The fix for this is a new turret that includes the design features found in Western tanks and require an additional crew member to load the shells. A new turret would store the 125mm ammunition in an armored area behind the main gun. That storage area would have blow-out panels. This means that if the ammo storage area is penetrated by a shell or top attack ATGM, the crew would survive because the force of the explosion would be outwards, away from the crew because the armor between the storage area and the crew is much sturdier. The new turrets would cost over a million dollars each and probably closer to two million.

China has always tried to keep the price of its tanks cheap, for its own troops as well as export customers. China would have built more Type 99s were the tank not so expensive ($3-4 million each). That is why so many of the cheaper (less than $2 million each) 43-ton Type 96 tanks remain in service. In addition to being cheaper, the Type 99 and the Type 96 are considered adequate for most potential battlefield opponents.

This fatal and largely unknown flaw in Russian tank designs presents a major problem to most users of T-72 -type tanks. There are many variants of the T-72 design and what makes them different is the quality of the components used. The T-72 was the most successful Russian post-World War II tank design and the basic model was, in theory, pretty solid and reliable. The T-72 also proved to be a good platform for variants that added new (or more) armor, better electronics and improved engines. This resulted in some impressive tank models. The most outstanding of these has been the Russian 46-ton T-72B3. As proof, consider that most of the new tanks the Russian army has received since 2000 have been refurbished and much upgraded T-72B3s. Currently, the Russian Army has about 2,600 tanks in service and most (65 percent) are T-72B3s, which you hear little about. The new breakthrough design, the T-14, has fewer than a hundred in service and cuts in production (which began in 2015) were recently announced with only 10-20 a year being built. The T-14 is mostly about publicity. The T-90 has been produced in large quantities, but not for Russia. The T-90 was a 1980s project that was to incorporate T-80 features into many upgrades of the T-72. Originally it was designated the T-72BU but when Russia finally began production in 1993 it was renamed the T-90. That succeeded in making the tank an export success and most (84 percent) of those produced were for export. In fact, India and Algeria each have more T-90s in service than Russia. Worse Russia has quietly put over a third of its newly 550 built T-90s into a reserve. While the T-90s were loudly proclaimed to be the next big thing, the Russian army preferred the refurbished T-72s in the form of the T-72B3. These proved to be more reliable, something that got little publicity. While all the upgrades (new engine, gun, fire control and protection) made it nearly as expensive as the T-90, it was preferred by the troops and the older officers quietly agreed that it was a better tank than the new T-90/T-72BUs.

The best Chinese T-72 mod is the Type 99, which is 25 percent heavier than the T-72B3 and even more expensive to build. Thats because the Type 99 has better armor protection and electronics. The Chinese can afford this while the Russians cannot, its as simple as that. Chinese manufacturing capabilities are, on average, superior to what the Russians had when the Cold War ended and this makes a big difference for tank design and production. India and Pakistan have not been able to match Russian or Chinese production standards or development capabilities, which is largely due to corruption and government regulations that make it difficult to innovate and excel. Most of the best South Asia (India and Pakistan) design and production talent moves to the West. A glance at the design and development stars in the West, especially the United States, shows a lot of these South Asians playing leading roles. China managed to keep more of this talent at home and even attract some that had settled in the West to return. In the end high-tech, like everything else, is about the people creating it.
Men's Sheds in Laois are set to get help with their bills thanks to a national funding from the Government.

Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD, has today announced funding of 800,000 to support Mens Sheds.

The initiative will see grants of 2,000 provided to over 400 Mens Sheds nationwide to assist them with running costs such as electricity or insurance bills.

The eight groups in Laois to get support are:

Borris-in Ossory Men's Shed

Portarlington Men's Shed

Laois Travellers Men's Shed

Rathdowney Men's Shed

Mountrath Men's Shed

Mountmellick Men's Shed

Portlaoise Community Men's Shed

Knock Vintage Men's Shed



Laois Offaly TD and Minister of State in the Department of Finance Sean Fleming welcomes news.

"Over the past decade, Mens Sheds have become a vital part of Irelands community infrastructure. Sheds offer men an opportunity to meet in a supportive, collaborative space, improve their health and wellbeing, and contribute to their communities.

"Eariler this year I met with representatives from the Mens Shed in Laois and I am very pleased to see this funding being allocated to every group. It will assist in some part to the rising costs.

"I look forward to each group receiving these grants as soon as possible so they can put the money to good use to the benefit of everyone involved and assist them continue their great work," he said.

Fine Gael Laois Offaly TD, Charlie Flanagan was also pleased forr the Laois groups.

The work of Mens Sheds in recent years has been an extremely positive development for communities across Laois and this funding in recognition of the wonderful contribution they make at a local level. This capital funding provides small grants to individual Mens Sheds to enable them to purchase equipment or to carry out minor works to improve their premises.

The great work that local Mens Sheds do in supporting important local initiatives. Especially as among their members they have great expertise, experience and know-how and make a great contribution to our local communities, in Laois.

Mens Sheds offer a safe, comfortable and inclusive environment where men of all ages can share skills, work on meaningful projects and connect with their communities. This level of support reflects the impact Sheds are making on communities throughout Ireland," said Deputy Flanagan.

Minister Pippa Hackett also welcomed the funding.

Enda Egan, CEO of the Irish Mens Sheds Association, also welcomed the funding.

We are delighted with todays announcement and were grateful to Minister Humphreys for her ongoing support for the sheds. Mens Sheds have really come into their own in recent years and its such a boost for us in the Irish Mens Sheds Association to know that we can use this funding to help our members with their utility and materials bills through this winter.

"This funding will help towards the sustainability of Sheds as many struggle to re-open after Covid; Shed members up and down the country, and their communities will benefit greatly from this funding and I know that the support from Minister Humphreys is much appreciated," he said.

The Mens Sheds movement had its birth in Tipperary where the first Mens Shed was formed. Following the formation of the first shed in Ireland, the shed movement began to grow rapidly, with there now being over 400 sheds registered with the Irish Mens Sheds Association and at least 12,000 men visiting a shed every week.

Sheds offer men an opportunity to meet in a supportive, collaborative space, improve their health and wellbeing, and contribute to their communities.

Minister Humphreys recently announced 100,000 for Womens Sheds.
Warning signs that could potentially save a life are needed on a narrow road in Aghaboe because a lot of extra trucks are using the road partly due to Brexit.

So claimed Cllr Conor Bergin, Fine Gael, at a recent meeting with Laois County Council officials in relation to narrow road near the famous Abbey.

He tabled a motion calling on the Council to erect a warning signpost at the Hand Cross, Clough to slow traffic heading towards Aghaboe.

Cllr Bergin welcomed road surfacing work carried out during the summer around Aghaboe. He said, however, that Britains departure from Europe has led to more traffic that requires a response from the council.

Since Brexit there is a lot of HGV coming up from the southeast of the country up to the M7. It is a narrow pinch point and Aghaboe - you really have to know the road. I have been asked by residents in the area if there can be signs to warn people, he said.

He continued: Perhaps it can save a life.

His Fine Gael colleague Cllr Joh King said he believed road markings, signs were part of a project already agreed upon. He said two thirds of the work is already completed.

Aghaboe is a much safer place than what it wasthe council has done a tremendous job, he said.

Edmond Kenny, District Engineer, replied that the Council will examine the broader signage along this route and upgrade signage where found to be inadequate.

The issue was raised at the Borris-in-Osory Mountmelllick Municipal District Meeting in October.
Families of Disappeared victims of the Northern Ireland Troubles braved torrential rain and heavy winds to complete a silent walk in memory of their loved ones.

Relatives urged those involved in the deaths of their relatives to unburden their consciences and finally reveal where they are buried.

Seventeen people were disappeared by republican paramilitaries during the Troubles.

Aided by a commission set up to investigate their whereabouts, 13 have been found over the last two decades.

The remains of Co Tyrone teenager Columba McVeigh, former monk Joe Lynskey, British Army Captain Robert Nairac and Seamus Maguire, who was in his mid 20s and from near Lurgan, Co Armagh, have never been recovered.

Co Down hairdresser Lisa Dorrian, who vanished in the post-Troubles era from a caravan park in Ballyhalbert, Co Down in 2005, is now considered one of the remaining five Disappeared victims whose bodies are yet to be found.

Republican paramilitaries were not suspected in her case.

The annual All Souls Day walk to Parliament Buildings at Stormont in Belfast took place just weeks after fresh digs commenced for Columba McVeigh.

Forensic archaeologists and excavators are attempting to locate his remains at a site at Bragan Bog, near Emyvale in Co Monaghan.

It is the sixth search to find him in the area since 1999.

On Wednesday, relatives gathered together under umbrellas to say prayers, led by priest Father Joe Gormley, for the return of the Disappeared prior to commencing a slow walk up the hill at Stormont to the steps of the parliament.

Columba McVeighs sister Dympna Kerr then laid a wreath on the steps bearing five white lilies to signify the five victims.

We hope that those who have information that will help us to find our loved ones will come forward, feel it in their hearts to come forward and give that information, she said.

Among those who joined the families on Wednesday was Emer Currie, a senator in the Oireachtas parliament in Dublin.

Ms Currie, a family friend of the McVeighs, said: I felt it was important to be here today to support the McVeighs and the families of the Disappeared.

The McVeighs are our family friends from Donaghmore, Co Tyrone.

My dad, Austin Currie, did what he could in Tyrone and Dublin to support Vera, Columbas mum, and now I and my brothers and sisters will do the same for (siblings) Oliver, Eugene and Dympna.

Thats part of the injustice and cruelty of the Disappeared  that nearly 50 years later its the next generation of family members who take on the search and who wont give up until their loved ones are found.

Until Columba is buried beside his mother and father in Donaghmore, and the others are returned to their families, we will never let this go.
Irelands Central Bank Governor has indicated that it could take measures to delay the withdrawal of two banks from the Irish market as customers face difficulties in making the switch to new providers.

Gabriel Makhlouf also admitted that some peoples experiences of trying to switch leaves something to be desired, and mentioned issues such as delays with answering phones.

Its not particularly new, but people are just finding the whole thing a bit of a hassle, Im paraphrasing.

Its just difficult to talk to people, he told reporters at a financial sector conference held in Dublin.

It comes as new research showed that 60% of KBC or Ulster Bank consumers reported challenges with switching, with the most significant issue being transferring direct debits and payments (29%).

A further 10% reported difficulties in accessing in-person support, according to research by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC).

Ulster Bank and KBC Bank announced within two months of one another in 2021 that they plan to leave the Irish market, affecting hundreds of thousands of people and businesses in Ireland.

The three remaining banks, AIB, Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB, gave evidence to an Oireachtas committee earlier this year about the measures they were taking to support people who had to switch, particularly elderly and vulnerable customers.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Governor Gabriel Makhlouf said that more needed to be done to help people switch banks, and that it it was within the Central Banks power to take action to delay the withdrawals if required.

We can take that sort of action, he told reporters.

But let me just say that the answer to this is not for us to just say OK, theres just going to be loads more time.

The answer to this is to actually get everybody to be working towards the transition, but certainly at the end of the day, account holders are not going to be left stranded.

Mr Makhlouf added: Its quite clear that more people need to get on and switch, so I think more needs to be done by everybody, actually.

By the banks who are leaving, by the banks who are receiving, by us, by people like the CCPC itself, which I think is an important role to play in communicating messages, etc.

By the BPFI (Banking and Payments Federation Ireland), which is playing a bit of a galvanising role in getting all this going.

Research published on Wednesday by the CCPC found that 52% of consumers who have their main account with Ulster Bank or KBC have opened a new account.

It also found that almost two-thirds of Ulster Bank customers who plan on switching expect to have done so within the next month.

Kevin OBrien, CCPC commission member said the CCPC was strongly encouraging consumers to try and switch banks as soon as possible so they dont experience any banking issues over Christmas.

Ulster Bank have indicated they will start freezing certain accounts in the coming weeks so consumers could lose access to their money if they havent completed their switch, he said.

The CCPCs research also found that one in eight consumers have yet to decide on a new provider, compared to one in four in July.

Almost one in four consumers are prepared to consider an online-only banking provider without branch services in Ireland but 73% would not consider it.

Mr Makhlouf said that the 25% figure was fascinating and that it was further evidence that the banking sector in Ireland is changing.

Its our individual actions ultimately, as consumers of financial services, that will determine what is the future financial landscape.

Its not the decisions of the senior executives of the banks (that) are going to decide, it is consumers ultimately, who will decide what sort of financial services world they want to live in.
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The Sanctuary Runners are calling on people in towns across Kildare to come together to form new running, jogging and walking groups.

Launching their new Side-By-Side' programme this week the solidarity-through-sport initiative, founded in Cork in 2018, hope to build groups in 50 new towns across the country.

Focusing on community integration and bringing people together to the benefit of all the initiative will focus on areas to which Ukrainian and other people have moved in recent months and years.

Supported by the Ireland for Ukraine Fund, and 'the Sunflower Foundation Fund', both managed by the the Community Foundation for Ireland (CFI), as well as support from the CFI itself and the One Foundation the new 'Side by Side Programme' will build on the work of the Sanctuary Runners which has attracted the support of almost 10,000 runners, joggers and walkers over the years  with almost a quarter of those being people who either are, or were, living in Direct Provision.

Ailis McSweeney, Ireland Lead Manager with Sanctuary Runners said, Weve already received great support from the people of Kildare for our work. This new programme will seek to build groups in towns to which people have moved in more recent times  people from Ukraine and also those from other countries. Weve seen over the years how running or walking shoulder-to-shoulder on one team can be such a vital tool for community integration, for welcoming people who might be afraid, isolated and worried  and also for building stronger communities. Also, it's lots of fun and good for everyones health.

Focusing on solidarity over charity the Sanctuary Runners already have groups in 30 locations across Ireland and three in the UK with plans to expand to Germany and Belgium in the coming months.

Im so proud that this is an Irish initiative. Its about being the change we want to see as individuals, doing our bit one step-at-a-time to build stronger communities for all. It's about being sound and decent, said Sanctuary Runners founder and CEO Graham Clifford.

While to date groups have been established in Ireland in communities where Direct Provision centres were located this new programme will see an enlargement of the not-for-profit's footprint.

Earlier this year the Sanctuary Runner initiative was celebrated at the United Nations in New York for its unique model and it contributed to a special report produced by the UN on the importance of sport as a tool towards peaceful communities and social cohesion.

If interested in starting a Sanctuary Runner group in your town, please contact Annemarie Sheehan, Community Development Lead, at annemarie@sanctuaryrunners.ie. All new groups will be given Sanctuary Runner tops, a toolkit and guidance on how to start and structure your group.
The Childrens Health Foundation (CHF) has appealed to Kildare residents to take part in its Christmas Jumper Day 2022 campaign.

Irish rugby star and Childrens Health Foundation Ambassador Rob Kearney and the CHF are asking families, communities, schools, creches, clubs and companies across the county to tote their tinsel and sport their sparkliest Christmas fashions; all while raising funds that will be put to work where they are needed most to help sick children and their families.

Rob joined little friends Shay and Chloe to launch the charitys 2022 campaign, which will take place on Friday, December 9.

Organisers have said that the latest campaign will help more children than ever, by raising vital funds to support Childrens Health Ireland (CHI) hospitals and urgent care centres across Crumlin, Temple Street, Tallaght and Connolly.

Commenting at the launch, Rob said: "Im thrilled to be involved once again this year to support Childrens Health Foundations Christmas Jumper Day campaign.

"Its such a fun and easy way to get into the festive spirit while doing something really important to support sick children and their families when they need it most.

He added: "Christmas should be magical for all children, and this year, you can help young people from across Ireland by raising vital funds that will be put to work where they are needed most in Crumlin, Temple Street, Tallaght and Connolly."

Pic: Andres Poveda Photography Ltd.

Denise Fitzgerald, Chief Executive of CHF, added: "On behalf of all us here in the Foundation and in the hospitals, I want to thank our dear friend Rob and our wonderful families for helping us to launch our Christmas Jumper Day campaign.

"With your support, we can continue to support Childrens Health Ireland hospitals and urgent care centres; to fund vital equipment, patient and parental supports, make innovative new services possible and invest in ground-breaking paediatric research.

"We hope that you will join us on 9th December, put on your festive finery and be part of our extraordinary community of care that helps transform young lives."

For further information and to sign up a free Childrens Health Foundation Christmas Jumper Day pack, simply visit www.childrenshealth.ie/xmasjumper, or call 01 709 1700.
The High Court has rejected a challenge by the former Stardust nightclub manager over a new inquest into the deaths of 48 people at the venue 41 years ago.

Eamon Butterly failed in his bid to have the court rule that a verdict of unlawful killing was open to the jury at the inquest.

Forty-eight people died in the nightclub fire in Dublin on February 14 1981.

Mr Butterly, the former manager of Stardust, applied to the High Court seeking an order preventing a verdict of unlawful killing being considered by the inquest jury.

However, Mr Justice Charles Meenan ruled that a verdict of unlawful killing was permitted where no person or persons are identified or identifiable.

Justice Meenan added: The deaths and serious injury to so many young people resulted in grief and loss to all the families involved.

Even though this tragic event took place some 41 years ago, this grief and loss has not diminished and has been compounded by a strong sense of injustice.

This injustice focuses on the belief that there has been a failure to properly answer the most basic questions of where and how the devastating fire started.

The families of the victims welcomed the courts decision.

Darragh Mackin of Phoenix Law, who acts for the families of 47 of the 48 victims, said: The families we act for are relieved with todays news and are hopeful that the Stardust fire inquests can now proceed as planned.

The significance of a potential verdict of unlawful killing cannot be overstated for these families.

They have from the outset maintained that such a verdict ought to be considered by a jury.

Todays decision not to exclude such a verdict, is of a massive importance.

To have the backing of the High Court that these inquests should proceed with a full and fair investigation and for all verdicts to be on the table, as is normally the case, is a meaningful endorsement of the families pursuit of truth and justice in the Stardust Fire Inquests.

Sinn Fein senator Lynn Boylan welcomed the decision.

Ms Boylan said: The families of those who lost their lives in the Stardust fire have waited four decades for answers.

The decision taken by the High Court today to leave the verdict of unlawful killing available to the jury is very welcome.

There have been a number of legal obstacles since the attorney general Seamus Wolfe granted a fresh inquest into the fire, including access to legal aid and the selection of the jurors.

Todays High Court ruling should pave the way for the inquest to proceed without any further delay.
The UK Government has yet to decide whether to call an election in Northern Ireland, a senior Irish minister has said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney was commenting after holding talks with Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris in Belfast to discuss the ongoing political uncertainty at Stormont.

Mr Heaton-Harris faced criticism for failing to set a date for a new poll last Friday when a legislative deadline for calling the election passed.

He had previously vowed to announce a poll the minute the deadline lapsed.

The 24-week deadline for forming a functioning assembly and powersharing executive in following Mays election ran out at midnight on Friday.

A DUP boycott of the devolved institutions, in protest at Brexits Northern Ireland Protocol, has prevented an administration being formed in the wake of the election result.

While the UK government is now under a legal responsibility to call a fresh election within 12 weeks, it could move to amend legislation at Westminster that would either extend or remove that time limit.

Junior minister at the Northern Ireland Office Steve Baker insisted on Wednesday that Mr Heaton-Harris would still call an election.

Mr Coveney said he believed a final decision had not been taken.

However, he said he expected Mr Heaton-Harris would be providing clarity soon.

On Tuesday, the Northern Ireland Secretary pledged to provide an update on what steps he intended to take next in due course.

Mr Coveney said he reiterated the Irish governments view to Mr Heaton-Harris during their meeting on Wednesday that an election would be unhelpful.

We dont have clarity on a way forward as of yet, but certainly were not going to have to wait weeks for that clarity, he said.

Mr Coveney added: I made it clear that the Irish Governments position is that we dont believe an election at this time is a good thing for Northern Ireland, in the context of the pressures that families and households are facing now, and also in the context of the reality that weve had an election only a number of months ago.

So, we discussed options and views on a way forward. No decisions have been finalised yet, but I dont think were going to have to wait for very long before decisions are made in relation to the way forward.

There really are only two options here: there is a legal obligation to set a date for an election, or else there will need to be new legislation to avoid an election at this time.

During a Westminster debate earlier on Wednesday, Mr Baker told MPs: In line with his legal obligation, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State will soon confirm the date of the next Northern Ireland Assembly election, as required by law.

Following that election, and regardless of the result, the Northern Ireland parties really do need to come together to restore the devolved institutions and lead the people of Northern Ireland through the challenging times ahead.

Mr Heaton-Harris has acknowledged he has a legal duty to call an election but has avoided setting a date, prompting Northern Irelands chief electoral officer, Virginia McVea, to apologise to election workers who are on stand-by to assist on the basis that polling day would be December 15.

The Government has vowed to secure changes to the protocol, either by a negotiated compromise with the EU or through proposed unilateral domestic legislation, the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, which would empower ministers to scrap the arrangements without the approval of Brussels.

The European Commission has said the latter approach would breach the terms of an international treaty and potentially prompt retaliatory action.

Mr Coveney added: For us, we think that an election would be unnecessary and unhelpful at this time, thats been the Irish Governments view for some time.

But these are difficult choices for the British Government and for the Secretary of State because of his obligations under NDNA (the New Decade New Approach agreement).

On Tuesday, Mr Heaton-Harris expressed concern at the enormous 660 million-plus black-hole of an overspend facing the rudderless Stormont system in the absence of a powersharing executive, and made clear action would be needed to set a budget for Northern Ireland.

He also said he would be looking to cut the pay of MLAs.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro arrives to give a press statement at the Alvorada Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, Nov. 1, 2022. ADRIANO MACHADO / REUTERS

He walked briskly down the red ramp that leads to the golden hall of the Alvorada Palace, followed by a score of ministers and close advisors. Nearly 48 silent hours after his defeat in the presidential election, Jair Bolsonaro finally deigned to address the nation from his official residence in Brasilia on Tuesday, November 1. As a storm suddenly darkened the sky, and with his face closed and his jaws clenched, the Brazilian president put on his glasses and read his speech word for word, hardly looking up at the hundred or so journalists who had been waiting for him for over an hour. The speech lasted less than two minutes. Mr. Bolsonaro never uttered the name of his left-wing opponent, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, nor did he explicitly acknowledge his defeat.

Mr. Bolsonaro began by thanking the "58 million Brazilians" who voted in his favor, before mentioning the mobilization of his supporters who, since Sunday night, have blocked hundreds of roads throughout the country to contest the results of the election. The outgoing president did not want to blame them. All this is only "the fruit of indignation and the feeling of injustice related to the way the electoral process was conducted," he said, while condemning the violence and saying that "our methods cannot be those of the left." Compelled to do so, Mr. Bolsonaro finally promised "to respect all the commandments of our Constitution". Then he left, with an even faster step, applauded by his ministers and ignoring the journalists who called out to him with a: "President, are you finally going to admit defeat?"

Ciro Nogueira, minister of the Casa Civil (equivalent to "super" chief of staff), then stepped up to the lectern. "We will begin the transition process strictly following the law," he assured. His statement was intended to satisfy the judges of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), the highest judicial body in the country. All day long, they had been doing everything to force the president to publicly recognize the results of the election and avoid, in the long run, any prosecution for non-compliance with the Constitution.

Read more Brazil elects Lula: A global sigh of relief

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'This is a big step'

Beyond the maneuvering, and despite its ambiguities and brevity, the former president's speech sent some overall positive signals. "Bolsonaro said he would respect the Constitution and spoke out against violent protests. That's a big step. He couldn't go so far as to acknowledge Lula's victory and congratulate him. That would have been too big a leap for his militant base," said Mayra Goulart, a political scientist and professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

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InvestigationLong before the rush to the borders triggered by the 'partial mobilization,' tens of thousands of Russians from the educated middle class fled, opposed to Vladimir Putin's regime and his war in Ukraine. Many draw parallels to the early 20th-century mass emigration caused by the Bolshevik Revolution.

The camera turned on and Dmitry Chernyshev appeared remotely in front of his computer, ruffling his hair with one hand. "My story is quite simple," he began. "When the war broke out [on February 24], I spent all my time in front of my screen, barely sleeping two or three hours." A well-known blogger in Russia, this professional trainer never stopped condemning the "monstrous" invasion of Ukraine, until the police barged into his home on March 4, a first warning sign. He was then arrested in the middle of the street in Moscow near the metro station Mayakovskaya, where he was spotted by the facial recognition system ubiquitous in the capital. "The police handed me over to the FSB [Russian security services]. I told them that, for me, Putin was no longer president since 2008, when he usurped power. I added, 'I served two years in the paratroopers in Chernobyl, Ukraine, between 1984 and 1986, to protect a reactor, so don't bother trying to scare me."

Yet fear did creep in. "They started by threatening my children, then, after three hours of interrogation, a white-haired woman came and introduced herself as a general of the SVR [foreign intelligence service]. She demanded I put my loyalty to Putin in writing, a kind of oath. I refused. She then threatened to send me to the DNR [self-proclaimed republic of Donetsk] and to tie me to a post as an informer paid by Kyiv. I ended up writing a text saying I was giving up all internet activity." A few days later, on April 17, Mr. Chernyshev flew with his wife and two children to Israel, where he now resides.

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Read more Subscribers only 'I'd rather go to jail than to Ukraine': Russians shocked by military call-up

Well before the rush to the borders provoked by Vladimir Putin's announcement of a "partial mobilization" on September 21, tens of thousands fled Russia since the beginning of the war in Ukraine unleashed by the Kremlin. While Russian data on the issue is incomplete and debatable, the national statistics institute Rosstat estimated in early September that the number of people leaving during the first six months of the year was twice the number recorded during the same period in 2021 (419,085 departures compared to 202,562). According to other evidence provided by the FSB, which oversees border guards, every former Soviet republic  Armenia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan  saw a dramatic increase in entries from Russia in the first half of 2022 compared to 2019, before Covid-19-related restrictions. Just Abkhazia, a territory that declared itself independent from Georgia after the 2008 flash war waged by Russian forces, recorded 1.1 million entries, 13% more than in the first half of the year two years earlier.

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Virginia Dutkin of Niwot and Dale Sherrod of Longmont are both modest  and kind. Highly successful professionals in their previous lives in high finance and medicine, respectively, they spoke recently in a church basement in Longmont about an upcoming concert to benefit the Recovery Cafe.

The organization, which launched just four years ago in Seattle, now has 49 sites in the U.S. and Canada, including the one in Longmont in the basement of the Central Longmont Presbyterian Church, at 402 Kimbark Street across from the public library. Its mission is to serve as "a community of refuge and healing for people in recovery."

On Sunday Nov. 12 at 3 p.m, Sherrod, a retired doctor and talented pianist along with three other local musicians, will conduct a concert in the Presbyterian Church. Sponsored by Flatirons Bank and High Plains Bank, the concert will be followed by a reception downstairs in the Recovery Cafe. For free tickets email: virginia@recoverycafelongmont.org.

"We stand in the gap between crisis and stability" for people recovering from addiction, trauma, mental health challenges and homelessness," Dutkin said. "We're not a drop-in center. We're a community of refuge and healing."

Now development director for the Recovery Cafe, Dutkin started her career at Chase Manhattan Bank in New York City and for eight years, she lived in Hong Kong where she was Investment Communications Manager for Fidelity Investments.

After she and her husband Todd Dutkin moved to Niwot in 2001, she worked in a family-owned business while raising three children who all went through the Niwot school system. She wanted to learn more about nonprofits and enrolled at CU Denver where she earned a Masters in Public Administration with a concentration in nonprofit management. She has also served on the Board of Directors for Intercambio and Longmont Community Foundation.

Dutkin said membership at the Recovery Cafe is free but there are three requirements for joining: sobriety for 24 hours; willingness to help with the up-keep of the cafe; and taking part in "recovery circles" where members and volunteers such as Sherrod sit together and share their stories.

"We believe in accountability," she added.

Sherrod, a resident of Longmont since 1965 and an OB-GYN physician for 40 years before retiring in 2006, first heard about the Recovery Cafe during a talk hosted last year by the Longmont Rotary Club, where he has been a member for 12 years, and where he has been recognized as a member who "exemplifies the Rotary tenets of compassion and service above self." After hearing the talk at Rotary, Sherrod said, "I was very, very impressed and I wanted to learn more. I asked if I could become a volunteer."

Volunteers at the Recovery Cafe are known as "Ambassadors of Hospitality." They can sign up on-line. "I came in," said the highly accomplished physician and musician, "and introduced myself in the circle. I'm Dale. It's a great lesson in just listening  in learning to be."

Every Thursday, 12 to 14 "members" watch a Ted Talk on a relevant subject. "We discuss it together," he said. "It's a very good sharing.".

The Recovery Cafe is open five days a week for meals and circles of sharing  Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday from 12-3 p.m. and Friday from 4-7 p.m. The Cafe cooks and volunteers serve the free meals, and as Sherrod, who serves as an Ambassador of Hospitality, said, "a lot happens for 15 people sharing a meal."

Sherrod, an accomplished pianist who started piano lessons at age six, has hosted benefit concerts almost every year since 1997, interrupted only by the COVID pandemic. All of his concerts are free, with voluntary donations going to different charities.

The concert Nov. 12 to benefit Recovery Cafe is his first public concert since 2019. He has been quoted as saying that piano performance "is a way to spread joy and to serve humanity by helping to provide financial support to good organizations."

With a current budget of $500,000 (50% provided by grants and 50% by individual donations), the Recovery Cafe, which is experiencing increased participation post-Covid, is working to raise money for "a bigger location with a commercial kitchen," Dutkin said.

Five years ago, Dutkin started Left Hand Giving Circle, a group of local women in the Niwot area who pool their resources to provide grants to local nonprofits and who participate in group volunteer projects. They also enjoy social activities such as book groups, monthly happy hours and museum outings. In just five years, the Left Hand Giving Circle has donated more than $100,000 to local nonprofits and has contributed more than 1,000 volunteer hours to the community.

Both Sherrod and Dutkin are true believers in the Recovery Cafe's transformative model where members set personal goals and have reported that the Cafe supported them in finding increased hope, feeling connected and useful, experiencing support and gaining skills, preventing relapse, and discovering an increased desire for recovery.
THE STORY of how 550 Limerick hurling fans felt when their beloved county took its third All-Ireland title in-a-row has been captured in a beautifully-crafted new book.

Illustrated Tales From The Limerick Terraces reaches into the hearts and minds of some of Limerick hurlings most hardy and loyal supporters, retelling the July 17 success through pictures and print.

Limerick supporters are the best in the land for their fierce loyalty, their togetherness along with that wonderful wit and sense of humour, said Liam O Brien.

Liam declared that whether it is TUS Gaelic Grounds, Semple Stadium or Croke Park, the colour and noise of a Limerick crowd in all its glory is unparalleled.

He helped Niall Deegan, of Old Christians GAA club, who put the 112-page book together.

Niall, who wrote the book, said the third successive All-Ireland win made him feel so proud to be a Limerick man and that he wanted to capture what it was like from a supporters perspective.

In it, tales abound of Luimneach Abu and some of her finest fans celebrating in true Limerick fashion.

These include characters like the highly adored singing and dancing Davy Ryan from Bruff and the mighty Christy Keogh with his little green boat wading through the waters by King Johns Castle.

Proceeds from the book will go to Milford Care Centre.
ELECTED representatives, residents and business owners in Newcastle West have said that the Halloween scenes perpetrated by a "small element" have "brought the town to its knees."

Councillors in Newcastle West attending the district's monthly meeting this morning stressed that the "thuggery" within the town has progressed and are calling for action and resources to be implemented immediately by An Garda Siochana.

Cllr Liam Galvin (FG) stated that "the system has broken down" and that senior gardai in Limerick "must be held to account."

"They have failed the people of Newcastle West and Abbeyfeale due to a lack of garda resources in towns. I don't want to hear about their promotions anymore. There were people held to ransom and serious damage caused in the town on Halloween," he said.

"The system has failed County Limerick," he told those present.

Cllr John Sheahan (FG) said that gardai are leaving the force due to poor conditions, poor wages and a new "paltry" pension scheme introduced in 2013.

He stressed that gardai are "living under the microscope" and "are being held up in box-ticking exercises."

"You have a situation where no garda would intervene unless they had the armed response unit with them, considering what went on in Newcastle West on Halloween," Cllr Sheahan added.

Calls to change the laws around GDPR and using CCTV footage were made by Cllr Jerome Scanlan (Independent), who stated that even if footage of the culprits was secured via CCTV, it could not be used due to current restrictions set in law.

Mayor of Limerick, Cllr Francis Foley (FF) warned that "people will have to pay" for their actions on Halloween.

Following impassioned remarks, Cathaoirleach Cllr Michael Collins (FF) told his colleagues that Chief Superintendent Derek Smart will meet with councillors on Friday morning to discuss what happened in the town on Halloween.

Cathaoirleach Michael Collins has informed that elected representatives are due to meet the Chief Superintendent this Friday pic.twitter.com/ACPsVhRwTN  cianobroin (@cianobroin1) November 2, 2022

The business community in Newcastle West have also been weighing in heavily on the impact that anti-social activity and the antics that occurred on Halloween has had on trading.

Speaking to Limerick Live, Tony Hayes, who owns Hayes Newsagents on The Square, said: "I closed a bit earlier as I was concerned about eggs and fireworks. It was unreal to see the videos and how reckless it all was."

He referenced one woman, who visited his newsagents the next day. He said she was panicked on Monday night after gangs of youths started to throw bins at her car, which can be seen in one of the videos circulating on social media.

"Some businesses rang for assistance from the guards and they didn't get a call back until the following morning," he stated.

He stressed that the gardai on the ground are "at their wits end" with the situation. He has asked for a stronger garda presence around the town to assist the business community, who he said are now closing earlier due to fears of being the target of anti-social activity in the darker evenings.

Wayne Cronin, who owns Dan Cronin's Bar on The Square said customers in the bar on the night couldn't leave due to the anti-social activity taking place on Monday night.

"We tried ringing the guards, but it just rang out," he told Limerick Live. He wants gardai to be present 24/7 to address the anti-social behaviour. "This is not good for businesses in the town. All of them had to close their doors by 9pm. We lost a lot of business on the night," he added.

He said that the chaos of Monday night is "just not good enough for a big town like Newcastle West."

Cllr Tom Ruddle, who is also President of the Newcastle West Chamber of Commerce is urging business owners to come forward with reports of what they witnessed on Halloween, to help catch those responsible.

Cllr Tom Ruddle has spoken with the business community in Newcastle West and has asked those with info to come forward pic.twitter.com/TBq9sal80p  cianobroin (@cianobroin1) November 2, 2022

"We are doing everything in our power, we are working with gardai to get more resources into the town, because what happened is totally unacceptable.

"We will do whatever we can to improve this situation. We need people to come forward to let us know who are these culprits that caused all the damage the other night," he said.

Check out the Limerick Leader next week for more views from the business community in Newcastle West.
A CONFINEMENT order introduced by the Minister for Agriculture this Wednesday is "a major worry for poultry farmers in Limerick" said local IFA chairman Sean Lavery.

The decision, as announced by the Department of Agriculture, relates to poultry and captive birds and is a precautionary measure against avian influenza.

Mr Lavery said anyone in County Limerick who keeps free range ducks, turkeys, laying hens or broilers will have to keep them indoors.

"The dig danger is that if a farmer has so much as one bird confirmed with avian flu, then the whole flock will be slaughtered and incinerated. So it's a major worry for poultry farmers in Limerick. It is spreading in the wild bird population currently," said Mr Lavery.

Minister Charlie McConalogue announced he is introducing the regulations under the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013 requiring flock keepers to confine all poultry and captive birds in their possession or under their control in a secure building to which wild birds, or other animals do not have access.

The regulations, entitled Avian Influenza (Precautionary Confinement of Birds) Regulations 2022, are being introduced as a precautionary measure and come into force on Monday next, November 7.

This measure is being taken against a background of the confirmation of disease in wild birds along the east coast since July, increasing risk levels due to colder temperatures and shorter daylight hours as well as recent confirmation of disease in a wild bird inland.

In addition, two outbreaks of HPAI H5N1 have been reported in captive bird flocks in coastal areas of counties Dublin and Wicklow where HPAI H5N1 had been confirmed previously in wild birds.

These findings highlight an increasing risk to all poultry flocks and captive birds and by extension the poultry industry. Outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza have also been identified in poultry flocks in Great Britain and a number of other European countries in recent weeks.

The department previously introduced regulations on September 19 making it mandatory for all keepers of poultry and captive birds to adopt enhanced biosecurity measures for poultry and other captive birds. It is important to note that housing is a support to biosecurity, not an alternative. Stringent biosecurity remains key to protecting poultry and captive bird flocks from disease.

Poultry flock owners should remain vigilant for any signs of disease in their flocks, maintain strict biosecurity measures and report any disease suspicion to their nearest Department Veterinary Office.

The Department continues to closely monitor and assess the disease situation and is in regular contact with industry stakeholders.

It is important to note that there is no evidence of risk to humans associated with consumption of poultry or poultry products. Properly cooked poultry products, including meat and eggs are safe to eat.

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has confirmed that although the H5N1 subtype can cause serious disease in poultry and other birds, the risk of infection to humans is considered to be very low.

However, members of the public are advised not to handle sick or dead wild birds and to report sick of dead wild birds to the Regional Veterinary Office or notify the Department of Agriculture through its Avian Influenza Wild Bird App.

An early warning system is in place with Birdwatch Ireland, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the National Association of Regional Game Councils with regard to surveillance for signs of disease in wild birds.
NEW DELHI : Promoters of Vodafone Idea Ltd must infuse more funds into Indias third-largest telecom operator before the government converts the interest on spectrum dues of 16,000 crore into equity, two officials aware of the development said. Company executives were also told about the new condition at a recent meeting.

Vodafone Idea has been trying to raise 20,000 crore in debt and equity from external investors since 2020, and the latest government move follows the telcos inability to secure such funding.

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The promoters have to be as committed as us; they have to be equal partners... they have to bring in more money right away. We have asked them, and they have to come back to us," one of the two officials cited above said on the condition of anonymity.

Under the option taken by the telco in January, the government would take up about 33% equity in Vodafone Idea following the conversion of interest on the adjusted gross revenue, or AGR, dues, payments of which have been deferred by four years.

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Queries sent to a spokesperson for Vodafone Idea remained unanswered till press time.

Promoters Vodafone Group Plc and Aditya Birla Group own a combined 74.9% stake from 72.05% earlier, after they infused 4,500 crore as equity in March. Vodafone Group brought in 3,375 crore, while Aditya Birla Group invested 1,125 crore. After the equity conversion, this shareholding is expected to drop to 50%, and a proportionate reduction will take place for the publicly held shares.

A second official said the change in the plan does not mean the equity conversion proposal, on the whole, has been junked.

Its still in the works; there are some technical issues that are being resolved," the official said.

According to company law provisions, the conversion has to be done above the 10 par value of the stock.

A telecom industry expert said on the condition of anonymity that additional equity from promoters could help arrest the downward trend in the Vodafone Idea stock and, in turn, aid the conversion of interest on dues into equity.

The Vodafone Idea stock has remained under 10 since April. On Wednesday, it fell 0.93% to 8.56.

However, according to Vodafone Idea, no rule prevents the equity conversion below par value.

We wish to clarify that there is no such guideline that prohibits the government from taking equity if the companys current share value is less than par value," the company said in a statement on Monday, which came after its vendor Indus Towers mentioned so in its quarterly report, before withdrawing it later.

The option to defer payment of dues and conversion of interest on the AGR (adjusted gross revenue) dues till FY17 to equity to be owned by the government was part of the relief package offered by the government in September 2021, at a time the company was on the verge of bankruptcy.

The package aimed to improve the financial health of the telecom sector, which was battered by high debt and low tariffs leading to higher losses and limited revenue generation.

In September, the money-losing carrier decided against converting the 8,837 crore interest on deferred AGR dues for FY18 and FY19 into equity to be owned by the government.

Elsewhere in Mint

In Opinion, Debjani Ghosh says G20 presidency can make India the architect of a redesigned digital economy. Biju Dominic says activity trackers can change your beahviour. Amit Kapoor & Bibek Debroi tell how to boost India's competitiveness. Long Story reveals the ugly truth of a dud vaccine.
Russia said on Wednesday it would resume participation in a deal to free up vital grain exports from war-torn Ukraine after suspending its involvement over the weekend in a move that had threatened to exacerbate hunger across the world.

The agreement, reached in July, created a protected sea transit corridor and was designed to alleviate global food shortages, with Ukraine's customers including some of the world's poorest countries. Developing nations such as Somalia and Eritrea also rely heavily on imports of wheat from Russia.

The agreement from the outset was based on facilitating commercial shipments.

Here are some of the issues:

WHAT HAS BEEN EXPORTED?

The pact created a safe shipping channel for exports from three ports in Ukraine and the early focus was enabling some of the ships that had been trapped in the war torn country since Russia's invasion in February to leave.

So far, some 9.76 million tonnes of agricultural products have been shipped, predominately corn, but also volumes of soybeans, sunflower oil, sunflower meal and barley.

Shipments of wheat have reached 2.8 million tonnes, or nearly 30% of the total.

This partly reflects the timing of Russia's invasion, as much of last year's wheat crop had already been exported in February. Wheat is harvested several months before corn and so tends to be shipped earlier.

HAS IT ALLEVIATED THE FOOD CRISIS?

A drop in shipments from major exporter Ukraine has played a role in this year's global food price crisis, but there are also other important drivers.

These include the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate shocks which continue to challenge agricultural production, mostly recently droughts in both Argentina and the United States.

The corridor has led to a partial recovery in shipments from Ukraine but they remain well below pre-invasion levels and will not fully recover for the foreseeable future.

Transporting grains to ports there remains challenging and expensive, while Ukrainian farmers have reduced sowings of crops such as wheat after in many cases selling last year's crops at a loss, with domestic prices remaining very low.

The three ports involved in the deal - Odesa, Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi - have the combined capacity to ship around three million tonnes a month.

According to estimates from consultants APK-Inform Ukraine could export between 23.9 to 40 million tonnes of grains in 2022/23 depending on the situation with the three seaports.

As of Nov. 2 it had exported 13.4 million tonnes, including 5.1 million tonnes of wheat and 7.1 million tonnes of corn, according to agriculture ministry data that includes shipments via smaller Danube ports and by land.

However, there have been too few large ships coming in tokeep up the pace and volumes needed.

Many bigger shipowners have remained wary of entering a war zone, particularly with the threat posed by mines and the high cost of insurance.

The exclusion of Mykolaiv, Ukraine's second-largestgrain terminal according to 2021 shipment data, has made a bigger export push challenging.

HAS IT DRIVEN DOWN GLOBAL WHEAT PRICES?

Prices of wheat on the Chicago Board of Trade rose sharply in the aftermath of Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine but are now only slightly above pre-conflict levels.

Ukraine's ability to export millions of tonnes of wheat through the corridor has been one element driving down prices.

Other factors include a record crop in major exporter Russia this year, the gloomy global economic outlook and a strong dollar.

But prices for wheat-based food staples such as bread and noodles remain well above pre-invasion levels in many developing countries despite the decline in Chicago futures, due to weak local currencies and higher energy prices which have raised costs such as transport and packaging.

WHAT ABOUT THE SEA MINES?

Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of planting the many naval mines that now float around the Black Sea. These pose a significant threat and were cited as the one thing feared by a crew member on the Sierra Leone-flagged Razoni, the first ship to pass through the corridor on Aug. 1.

The mines have drifted far from Ukraine's shores, with Romanian, Bulgarian and Turkish military diving teams defusing some that have ended up in their waters.

It could take months to clear them and there was not enough time to do so before the grains pact came into effect.

WHAT ABOUT INSURANCE?

The Istanbul based Joint Coordination Centre, which oversees the deal and is made up of Turkish, Russian, Ukrainian and U.N.officials, in August published procedures on the shipping channel, which aims to alleviate concerns of insurers and shipowners.

Insurers initially said they were willing to provide cover if there were arrangements for international navy escorts and a clear strategy to deal with sea mines.

Since then, they have created clauses for providing cover, including provisos that ships need to stay inside the corridor when transiting or risk invalidating their policies.

Following the July 22 agreement, Lloyd's of London insurer Ascot and broker Marsh set up a marine cargo and war insurance facility for grain and food products moving out of Ukrainian Black Sea ports with $50 million cover per voyage.

The cost of overall insurance for ships sailing into Ukrainian ports - which includes separate segments of cover - is nevertheless likely to remain steep.

WHAT ABOUT CREWS?

In September, Ukraine implemented a decree allowing its seafarers to leave the country despite wartime restrictions, a move aimed at freeing up vital manpower for both Ukrainian grain exports and the wider global shipping industry.

At the start of the conflict there were around 2,000 seafarers from all over the world stranded in Ukrainian ports. The International Chamber of Shipping association estimated that figure had fallen to some 346 mariners as of Oct. 27.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.
German officials have agreed on the main details of a plan to provide up to 200 billion euros ($198 billion) in subsidies to households and businesses to ease the strain of high gas, electricity and heating prices.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the governors of Germany's 16 states agreed Wednesday on a two-stage plan to tackle high gas prices that largely mirrors the recommendations last month of an expert panel.

Some other European Union countries think the move by the 27-nation blocs biggest economy should have been coordinated with them and have expressed concern that it could push up prices elsewhere.

Scholz has repeatedly defended the plan, insisting that Germany is showing solidarity with the rest of Europe and its program is similar in scope to other countries.

Scholz's Cabinet agreed that the state will take on the cost of gas customers monthly bill in December. That will be followed by a price subsidy for part of what households use starting in March and through April 2024. Officials aim to backdate the start to Feb. 1; state governors are still pressing the federal government to find a way to make it valid for January too.

For businesses, the so-called gas price brake" is being introduced in January already.

In addition to that, an electricity price brake" is to take effect on Jan. 1, capping the cost of part of what households and businesses use. It will be financed in part by using windfall profits" that many electricity generators have run up as a result of high energy costs.

German officials say the plan, which will limit subsidies to a proportion of pre-crisis use, will still encourage people to save energy.

One thing is clear -- (costs) won't quite go down to the level we had before the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, but the increase won't be as enormous as what some people have received in the way of bills," Scholz said.

Both houses of parliament have cleared the way for the government to borrow the money for the plan.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.
Concern is growing for two imprisoned Iranian journalists who helped draw attention to Mahsa Amini's death but who activists claim are now the targets of a smear campaign portraying them as spies.

During the first round of protests that broke out after Amini passed away following her arrest by Iran's morality police, Niloufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi were detained. The movement currently presents the government with its biggest obstacle since the revolution of 1979.

Hamedi covered the story from the hospital where the young woman spent her final three days in a coma before passing away for Iran's Shargh newspaper. According to the journalist's family, she was taken into custody on 20 September.

Reporter Mohammadi from the Ham Mihan newspaper travelled to Saqez, Amini's hometown in the Kurdistan region of northwest Iran, to cover her funeral, which turned into one of the first protest actions. In custody since 29 September.

According to family members' social media posts, both women are still being held in Tehran's Evin prison.

They are among 51 journalists who have been imprisoned as part of a widespread crackdown since the protests began, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), based in New York. Only 14 have been confirmed to have been granted bail releases.

In a statement, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), based in New York, expressed its "deep concern" for the two women's circumstances.

They are "being detained without access to internationally recognised standards of due process" and "could face years of imprisonment if convicted", it said.

Iranian intelligence authorities last week accused the pair of being foreign agents whose status as journalists was "cover".

According to a statement, the women participated in foreign training programmes and used their reporting to stir up opposition to Amini's funeral protests. "The two were the first sources for fabricating this news for foreign media," the statement said.

The CHRI said the statement was "filled with unsubstantiated claims" including a false allegation that Hamedi had published a photo of Amini on Twitter that went viral.

"This witch hunt is a cowardly attempt by the Islamic republic to pin its many failures on two women journalists, to deflect attention from the repressive policies that gave birth to the country's organic and growing protest movement," said CHRI executive director Hadi Ghaemi.

"The Islamic republic expects the world to turn its attention away from the deadly repression of the protests so that it can kill, maim, detain, and smear innocent people like these women with impunity," Ghaemi added.

(With inputs from AFP)
Chinese President Xi Jinping has a vision to distribute wealth more equally across the country. Investors are sobering up to what that could mean for the companies that make the nations beloved fiery booze.
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Hamilton County Attorney Rheubin Taylor speaks during a County Commission meeting in the County Commission assembly room at the Hamilton County Courthouse on Wednesday, April 17, 2019 in Chattanooga. TFP photo
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Six Mens Sheds across county Longford are to receive a 2,000 grant from the Department of Social Protection.

Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD, has announced funding of 800,000 to support Mens Sheds.

The initiative will see grants of 2,000 provided to over 400 Mens Sheds nationwide to assist them with running costs such as electricity or insurance bills.

The six Men's Sheds in the county that will benefit are: North Longford Men's Shed; Drumlish / Ballinamuck Men's Shed; Dromard Men's Shed; Killoe Men's Shed; Longford Men's Shed & Granard Men's Shed.

The grants will be distributed via the Irish Mens Sheds Association (IMSA).

Minister Humphreys said, Our Mens Sheds provide an absolutely invaluable service in communities the length and breadth of the country.

They help tackle isolation and provide a welcoming and comfortable space for men to come together and socialise. And as we enter the winter period, the supports that our Mens Sheds provide are even more important.

So Im delighted to be in a position to support our Mens Sheds with funding of 800,000. This will assist our Mens Sheds with grants of 2,000, which they can use to cover their running costs or carry out small improvements at their premises.

The Minister added, This announcement builds on the 100,000 I recently set aside for Womens Sheds, which will also see grants of 2,000 provided. I know that the number of Womens Sheds being set up across the country is on the rise  and thats a fantastic development.

And I welcome the fact too that the IMSA have committed to assisting the Womens Sheds in building a similar successful organisation.

Enda Egan, CEO of the Irish Mens Sheds Association, said, We are delighted with todays announcement and were grateful to Minister Humphreys for her ongoing support for the sheds. Mens Sheds have really come into their own in recent years and its such a boost for us in the Irish Mens Sheds Association to know that we can use this funding to help our members with their utility and materials bills through this winter.

"This funding will help towards the sustainability of Sheds as many struggle to re-open after Covid; Shed members up and down the country, and their communities will benefit greatly from this funding and I know that the support from Minister Humphreys is much appreciated.
Met Eireann is warning of 'severe and damaging gusts' of wind on Wednesday as a weather alert has been issued for all of Ireland.

Met Eireann has issued a Status Yellow Wind and Rain Warning for Wednesday from 4am until 9pm while a Status Orange Storm Warning has been issued for seas around Ireland. A Status Yellow Gale Warning has also been issued for all coasts of Ireland and the Irish Sea.

The UK Met Office has issued Status Yellow Weather Warnings for Wind and Rain for all of Northern Ireland.

The Status Yellow Rain and Wind Warning from Met Eireann states that it will be very windy on Wednesday with widespread gales, southerly veering westerly. Met Eireann says some 'severe and damaging gusts' may occur with potential for localised wave overtopping along Atlantic coasts. It also warns that a spell of heavy rain will occur, leading to flooding in places.

The Status Orange Storm Warning from Met Eireann covers for Roches Point to Slyne Head to Malin Head and warns that south to southwest winds, veering west will reach storm force 10 at times on Irish coastal waters from Roches Point to Slyne Head to Malin Head. That warning comes into effect at 6am on Wednesday and remains in place until midnight on Thursday.

The Status Yellow Gale Warning for all coasts of Ireland and on the Irish Sea warns that south to southwest winds, veering west will reach gale force 8 or higher on all Irish coastal waters and on the Irish Sea. That warning is valid from 3am on Wednesday until midnight on Thursday.
(Alliance News) - Royal Mail workers will stage two 48-hour strikes around Black Friday and Cyber Monday in an escalating row over pay, jobs and conditions.

It announced strikes around Black Friday on November 25 and Cyber Monday on November 28.

Royal Mail is the UK arm of International Distributions Services PLC.

The union has withdrawn strikes planned for November 12 and 14, saying it wants to take more "proportionate" action.

An offer made by Royal Mail on pay and conditions on Monday was described as a "surrender document" because the union said it involved attacks on terms and conditions as well as redundancies.

The union will put the offer to its members in a ballot, recommending rejection.

Members will also be asked to deliver a vote of no confidence in Royal Mail chief executive Simon Thompson.

Communication Workers Union General Secretary Dave Ward said industrial action will continue in the run up to Christmas unless the dispute is resolved.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "On Monday, October 31, Royal Mail proposed a new pay-for-change offer to the CWU worth 9% over two years, despite making a loss of GBP219 million in the first half of the year.

"The CWU have been in talks with us at Acas and claim they are open to change but they now need to show it.

"Instead, the CWU have announced four days of strike action which will damage our business further at our busiest time of year.

"The CWU is playing a dangerous game with its members' jobs and the future of Royal Mail.

"We urge CWU to withdraw these strikes for the good of our customers and our people.

"We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience the CWU's continued strike action will cause.

"We are doing all we can to minimise delays and keep people, businesses and the country connected."

source: PA

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - i3 Energy PLC on Wednesday said it was confident of further progress in its Canadian portfolio after seeing record corporate production, while its UK assets failed to deliver results.

i3 Energy is a Hampshire, England-based oil and gas company, with assets and operations in the UK and Canada.

For the third quarter, the company reported average production of 20,571 barrels of oil equivalent per day, comprised of 64.2 million standard cubic feet per day, 5,038 barrels per day of natural gas liquids, 4,396 barrels of oil & condensate, and 440 barrels equivalent of royalty interest production.

Notably, i3 Energy also reported record levels of corporate production in October, exceeding 23,000 boepd, with forecasts in line to reach 24,000 boepd prior to year-end.

It attributed this to the organic growth of its drilling campaign in Canada.

During the quarter, the company brought nine wells onto production. In Central Alberta, it successfully drilled two operated wells targeting the Falher zone in Willesden Green, and two targeting the Belly River formation in Leedale.

Operations have continued post quarter-end, with five gross operated wells and five non-operated gross wells due to be brought on stream by the end of the year.

The growth realised in the third quarter marks the fifth consecutive quarter-on-quarter production increase for i3 Energy. The company said costs for this year's drilling programme have remained in line with its set budget.

In the UK, the 13/23c-12 Serenity appraisal well was drilled in October, but produced lower volumes than anticipated. i3 Energy said the well was plugged and abandoned after target sand intervals were found not to be present.

Moving forwards, data from the well will be incorporated into an updated mapping of the field around the 13/23-10 discovery well, which has the potential for a single well development.

"The benefits of this drilling success [in Canada] will be largely realised in 2023 as most of the production growth commenced in the second half of the year. Whilst the Serenity appraisal well in the UK didn't prove up the anticipated volumes hoped for, we remain confident in our ability to commercialise value from the discovery," said Chief Executive Officer Majid Shafiq.

Based on current strip pricing, i3 Energy expects 2022 net operating income of USD172 million, up sharply from GBP48.8 million in 2021.

The company declared a monthly dividend of 0.1425 pence per share, totalling GBP1.7 million.

i3 shares were trading 6.2% lower at 23.50 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.

By Holly Beveridge; hollybeveridge@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Rockfire Resources PLC - London-based gold and base metal exploration company - Reports "good progress" is being made "on multiple fronts" at its 100%-owned Molaoi zinc deposit in Greece. Explains that the concrete entrance to the old underground portal and decline has now been exposed. Says mapping has located numerous old workings along the strike of zinc mineralisation. Adds that rock sampling remains in progress.

"Our path towards drilling continues to advance and our team has contacted the landowners on whose ground we are planning to drill. Access agreements have been signed in preparation for our initial drill programme, which will consist of 4 geotechnical holes," says Chief Exeuctive David Price.

Current stock price: 0.16 pence

12-month change: down 82%

By Heather Rydings; heatherrydings@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Ireland's Central Bank Governor has indicated that it could take measures to delay the withdrawal of two banks from the Irish market as customers face difficulties in making the switch to new providers.

Gabriel Makhlouf also admitted that some people's experiences of trying to switch "leaves something to be desired", and mentioned issues such as delays with answering phones.

"It's not particularly new, but people are just finding the whole thing a bit of a hassle, I'm paraphrasing.

"It's just difficult to talk to people," he told reporters at a financial sector conference held in Dublin.

It comes as new research showed that 60% of KBC or Ulster Bank consumers reported challenges with switching, with the most significant issue being transferring direct debits and payments, some 29%.

Ulster Bank is owned by NatWest Group PLC.

A further 10% reported difficulties in accessing in-person support, according to research by the Competition & Consumer Protection Commission.

Ulster Bank and KBC Bank announced within two months of one another in 2021 that they plan to leave the Irish market, affecting hundreds of thousands of people and businesses in Ireland.

The three remaining banks, AIB Group PLC, Bank of Ireland Group PLC and Permanent TSB Group Holdings PLC, gave evidence to an Oireachtas committee earlier this year about the measures they were taking to support people who had to switch, particularly elderly and vulnerable customers.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Governor Gabriel Makhlouf said that more needed to be done to help people switch banks, and that it it was within the Central Bank's power to take action to delay the withdrawals if required.

"We can take that sort of action," he told reporters.

"But let me just say that the answer to this is not for us to just say 'OK, there's just going to be loads more time'.

"The answer to this is to actually get everybody to be working towards the transition, but certainly at the end of the day, account holders are not going to be left stranded."

Makhlouf added: "It's quite clear that more people need to get on and switch, so I think more needs to be done by everybody, actually.

"By the banks who are leaving, by the banks who are receiving, by us, by people like the CCPC itself, which I think is an important role to play in communicating messages, etc.

"By the BPFI (Banking & Payments Federation Ireland), which is playing a bit of a galvanising role in getting all this going."

Research published on Wednesday by the CCPC found that 52% of consumers who have their main account with Ulster Bank or KBC have opened a new account.

It also found that almost two-thirds of Ulster Bank customers who plan on switching expect to have done so within the next month.

Kevin O'Brien, CCPC commission member said the CCPC was strongly encouraging consumers to try and switch banks as soon as possible so they don't experience any banking issues over Christmas.

"Ulster Bank have indicated they will start freezing certain accounts in the coming weeks so consumers could lose access to their money if they haven't completed their switch," he said.

The CCPC's research also found that one in eight consumers have yet to decide on a new provider, compared to one in four in July.

Almost one in four consumers are prepared to consider an online-only banking provider without branch services in Ireland but 73% would not consider it.

Makhlouf said that the 25% figure was "fascinating" and that it was further evidence that the banking sector in Ireland is changing.

"It's our individual actions ultimately, as consumers of financial services, that will determine what is the future financial landscape.

"It's not the decisions of the senior executives of the banks (that) are going to decide, it is consumers ultimately, who will decide what sort of financial services world they want to live in."

source: PA

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Embattled UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman has been referred to a financial watchdog by Labour over concerns of a breach of insider trading laws.

Shadow city minister Tulip Siddiq has asked the Financial Conduct Authority to investigate the leaking of information that led to Braverman's resignation.

Rishi Sunak has been under sustained pressure since deciding to reappoint Braverman to the role six days after she was forced out by Liz Truss while she was still prime minister.

Without authorisation, Braverman sent draft immigration policy to Tory backbencher John Hayes from a personal email address, inadvertently also sending it to a staff member of another Conservative MP.

Siddiq questioned whether the minister sharing "highly sensitive" information regarding "growth visas" could have been a breach under market abuse regulation.

She said the information could have affected Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts, saying "policy changes can constitute inside information".

"I believe this is a case to answer," the Labour MP wrote.

A spokesman for Braverman, who has apologised for her "errors of judgment", declined to comment.

source: PA

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Malvern International PLC on Wednesday said it expects student intake for the new year to be ahead of 2022's, as it confirmed major share restructuring plans.

The London-based learning and skills development company said that, based on deposits, it expects this January's student intake for University Pathways to be "significantly ahead" this past January's intake.

Malvern said this is the product of "strategic investment over the last two years" in sales and marketing, management team and processes within the University Partnerships structure.

Results from the British Council inspection of its Language in Action junior programmes were "excellent", Malvern said, and put the company in "the top quartile of inspections in the industry". It noted that these results will make marketing easier.

The board believes Malvern in a "strong position" to grow its market share in 2023 and beyond.

The company also held a general meeting on Wednesday in which shareholders confirmed plans to consolidate its 2.19 billion existing shares into 21.9 million shares. The new shares are expected to start trading on AIM on Thursday.

The closing mid-market share price on Tuesday was 0.095 pence, which would be equivalent to a price of 9.5p per new share.

Shares in Malvern International were trading 4.0% lower at 0.091 pence each in London on Wednesday afternoon.

By Chris Dorrell; chrisdorrell@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Tesco PLC has been given the go-ahead to reinstate a High Court claim against Lidl as the supermarkets prepare for a legal battle over their use of a yellow circle logo.

The retail giants are suing each other over the use of a yellow circle on a blue square background, which is used by Lidl with a red ring surrounding the circle as its main logo and by Tesco to highlight offers available to members of its Clubcard scheme.

Lidl, which has used the logo in the UK since 1987, says Tesco's use of its "Clubcard Prices" sign since about September 2020 infringes its trademarks and amounts to passing off and copyright infringement.

The German discount chain owns various trademarks to protect its logo, including a "wordless mark"  a version of its logo without the word Lidl in it, which has never been used in that form in the UK  and is bringing a High Court claim against Tesco.

Lidl's case is that Tesco is "seeking deliberately to ride on the coat tails" of its reputation as a "discounter" supermarket and says the use of the sign in connection with Tesco's Clubcard prices is "intended to, and does, cause members of the public to call to mind Lidl's business and its trademarks".

Tesco, in return, has filed a claim against Lidl and contends the wordless mark trademarks should be declared invalid as it has never been used by Lidl in the UK and alleges the application for it was made "solely for the purposes of deployment as a weapon in legal proceedings".

Tesco's counterclaim was struck out by a judge in June, at a preliminary stage of the case.

But, following a hearing at the Court of Appeal in October, Tesco can now go ahead with its case against Lidl  paving the way for a High Court showdown between the retail giants.

In a ruling on Wednesday, three senior judges concluded that Tesco's claim has a "real prospect of success" and overturned the earlier decision.

No date has yet been given for the trial.

source: PA

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Rio Tinto PLC on Tuesday said it reached an agreement with shareholders of Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd regarding its planned acquisition of the 49% share in the mine operator it does not yet own.

Vancouver-based Turquoise Hill Resources owns 66% of the massive Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in Mongolia, with the Mongolian government holding the remaining 34%. Rio currently holds a 51% stake in Turquoise Hill.

On September 6, Rio Tinto reached an agreement with Turquoise Hill on an improved CAD43-per-share, around USD33.00, takeover offer.

On September 12, Pentwater Capital Management, which has topped up its stake in Turquoise to 12%, said it will explore an "exercise of dissent rights or other legal action" in a bid to block Rio's buyout.

Rio Tinto on Tuesday said Pentwater as well as SailingStone Capital Partners LLC, another Turquoise shareholder, have agreed to withhold their votes at the Turquoise special meeting next week Tuesday.

Rio Tinto shares were 0.6% higher at 4,761.50 pence each on Wednesday morning in London.

By Tom Budszus; tombudszus@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Wednesday and not separately reported by Alliance News:

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TI Fluid Systems PLC - Oxford-based manufacturer and supplier of automotive fluid storage, carrying and delivery systems - Hires Alexander Bock as new chief financial officer. He will succeed Ronald Hundzinski who will be retiring. Bock will join no later than May 1, 2023.

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FireAngel Safety Technology Group PLC - Coventry-based home safety products maker - Delivers the third development milestone for its deal with Techem Energy Services GmbH for the development of a new generation smoke alarm, primarily for the German market. The third milestone saw the delivery of a fully featured product development board, which allows for design verification and testing to be conducted on all product functions prior to committing to the first product representative build. "The transformational partnership with Techem continues to be of long-term value and of significance for FireAngel and its stakeholders. We are pleased to announce the successful delivery of the third milestone following the formal signing of DP2," Executive Chair John Conoley comments.

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Shanta Gold Ltd - Guernsey-based east Africa-focused gold producer, developer and explorer - Identifies "encouraging" drilling intersections at its New Luika gold mine in Tanzania. They are related to drilling conducted in the second half of 2022. "I am pleased to announce that we continue to deliver encouraging drilling results at New Luika, adding to the exploration success that we have had around the wider portfolio this year. These results give us confidence that the reserve-based mine life at New Luika will continue to be extended beyond its current timeline of H1 2027," Chief Executive Eric Zurrin says.

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Sound Energy PLC - Morocco-focused upstream gas company - Confirms that its wholly owned subsidiary Sound Energy Morocco SARL AU has challenged the Moroccan Court about the tax assessments levied against SEMS. Says the filing has been made within the required period of 60 days from the date of notification of the local tax committee decision. Remains of the opinion that the assessments levied against SEMS that certain purported historical intra group transactions between SEMS and Sound Energy Morocco East Ltd have taxable bases, has been wrongly interpreted by the Moroccan tax administration. In totends to engage constructively with the authorities. Plans to continue to defend its rights through the court and will also continue to do so in the event that the Moroccan tax authority does not withdraw the assessments levied against SEMS.

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Capital Ltd - Mauritius-based mining company - Appoints Rick Robson as chief financial officer following the departure of Giles Everist. Robson has been a member of Capital's senior management team since 2019 and is currently head of corporate development & CFO of MSALABS. He will take on the role on January 1, 2023.

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Riverstone Credit Opportunities Income PLC - energy infrastructure and energy-transition credit investor - Declares a dividend of 2.0 US cents per share for its third quarter, in line with its dividend target. "The strong realised dividend for Q3 was supported by exceptional cash generation activity driven by a supportive market environment for the company's 100% floating rate portfolio and a robust list of attractive realisations. This meant actual net revenue profit for the quarter comprised USD1.8 million or 2.0 cents per share," Chair Reuben Jeffery comments.

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ThomasLloyd Energy Impact Trust PLC - London-based Asia-focused renewable energy investment trust - Signs a USD30.0 million investment agreement with Solar Electric Vietnam. As the first transaction in this new partnership, it enter into an agreement to acquire Viet Solar System Company Ltd, a privately-owned company which holds 6.12 MWp of rooftop solar assets. Has deployed more than 86% of its net IPO proceeds.

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Angle PLC - Surrey, England-based medical diagnostics company - Notes that a study from the University of Texas shows that circulating tumour cells isolated by Parsortix can be analysed with downstream techniques. The study provided data to support the De Novo Class II Classification application for its Parsortix system for use in harvesting cancer cells from metastatic breast cancer patient blood for subsequent, user-validated analysis, it says.

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Seed Innovations Ltd - Guernsey based wellness and life sciences company - Says investee LGP gets firm commitments for a AUD4 million, or GBP2.2 million, placement from new and existing institutional and sophisticated investors. Adds that it received commitments for a further AUD200,000 from LGP's board and executive. Business also launches a share purchase plan offer for eligible existing shareholders. "With further funds now in place to support this growth, LGP can focus on its aim to achieve break-even while continuing on expanding its Australian and European sales channels," SEED CEO Ed McDermott comments.

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Smithson Investment Trust PLC - investment trust - Net asset value per share as at October 31 stands at 1,382.78p, up versus 1,339.5p as at June 30.

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By Abby Amoakuh; abbyamoakuh@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has reversed his decision to skip the Cop27 climate summit in Egypt next week, bowing to pressure from activists, his own environment adviser and Boris Johnson.

The PM accepted there is "no long-term prosperity without action on climate change" as he confirmed he will attend this year's UN talks in Sharm El Sheikh that start on Sunday.

Sunak had been declining to go, arguing that he needed to focus on the "depressing domestic challenges" as he worked on the autumn budget with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

But Labour accused the PM of having been "dragged kicking and screaming into doing the right thing" days ahead of the summit.

Cop26 president Alok Sharma, who will be handing over the UK's presidency to Egypt at the summit, said he is "delighted" about the U-turn, having previously expressed his disappointment.

Sunak announced his attendance the morning after Johnson, one of his predecessors in No 10 and rival in the Conservative Party, confirmed he will be joining the talks in Egypt.

"There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change," Sunak tweeted.

"There is no energy security without investing in renewables.

"That is why I will attend @COP27P next week: to deliver on Glasgow's legacy of building a secure and sustainable future."

Johnson chose not to publicly criticise Sunak's initial refusal to attend, but said in an interview broadcast on Tuesday evening that he will be attending to discuss "how we see things in the UK" given he has a "particular interest".

"I was invited by the Egyptians so I'm very happy to go," he told Sky News.

Sharma, who presided over Cop26 in Glasgow last year, welcomed Sunak's reversal, saying he "completely" agrees with his comments that climate action is required to secure long-term prosperity.

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said the U-turn was "embarrassing", arguing that Sunak had to be "dragged kicking and screaming into doing the right thing".

It was only on Friday that Sunak was arguing to broadcasters that he was "focusing on the depressing domestic challenges we have with the economy" as he sought to justify not attending.

"I think that's what people watching would reasonably expect me to be doing as well," he said.

Shadow Climate Secretary Ed Miliband said Sunak had agreed to go "to avoid embarrassment not to provide leadership" and seized on his change in language, saying: "The guy is a phoney."

"The prime minister has been shamed into going to Cop27 by the torrent of disbelief that he would fail to turn up," Miliband added.

"Yet again we see a prime minister who only makes decisions for reasons of political management not the national interest."

The key day for world leaders is Monday, when high-level talks are scheduled, and US President Joe Biden is expected to attend.

Green MP Caroline Lucas tweeted: "Glad to see Sunak's screeching U-turn on #COP27, but what an embarrassing mis-step on the world stage. Let this be a lesson to him  climate leadership matters.

"Now he urgently needs to increase UK ambition on emission reduction targets & pay what we owe to global climate funds."

Friends of the Earth international climate campaigner Rachel Kennerley welcomed Mr Sunak having "seen sense and decided to attend".

"But simply showing up won't be enough," she said. "The UK government has a lot of work to do to rebuild its climate reputation after a year of rowing back on commitments made in Glasgow."

Despite No 10's U-turn, the King is still not planning to attend Cop27.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said there is "unanimous agreement" with the government that it is not right for Charles, a long-standing environmental campaigner, to go.

source: PA

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Sue Boyd, director of the Broadcast and Cinema Arts (BCA) Program, and Dan Boyd, an adjunct professor and engineer of the BCA Program, will be featured in an episode of Hearts of Heroes on Sunday, January 22, 2023.

On May 6 of 2021, the Boyds got a call from their neighbor, saying their house was on fire. Dealing with the shock and tragedy, they still came to campus to teach each day, and even filmed the 2021 commencement.

They showed up very much optimistic, still worrying about the students first, said BCA student Ethan Colado.

Crews from Belfor Holdings, Inc spent more than a year restoring the Boyd's house. During that time, Sue invited the company to be on the Celebrate Michigan show, which is produced on Madonnas campus. Belfor Holdings CEO and Hearts of Heroes Host Sheldon Yellen (left picture below) appeared on the show.

To everyones surprise, Yellen said they would come back to shoot an episode of Hearts of Heroes.

We had no clue that they were making us out to be the heroes, said Dan. We are not the heroes. The heroes are the firemen. Without them, the house would have completely burned to the ground.

The Hearts of Heroes episode was shot in Madonna's television studio and BCA students had the chance to be a part of the production.

Make sure to tune in to ABC's Hearts of Heroes on Sunday, January 22, 2023.

But wait, there's more...

Belfor Holdings, Sheldon Yellen, and the Hearts of Heroes crew gifted the BCA Department with a new anchor desk which is now being used for all Celebrate Michigan shows!

To watch Celebrate Michigan shows, follow them on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/CelebrateMichigan




With the Day of the Dead celebrations that take place at the end of October and beginning of November, Mexicans remember and honor their deceased loved ones, but with joy, not sadness.

The Day of the Dead is a celebration of pre-Hispanic origin and Mexicans in the United States have carried on the tradition.

There are several cities where events are held and altars can also be seen in homes, in addition to families visiting local cemeteries to decorate them with flowers and sugar skulls to honor their deceased loved ones.

In New York, as part of Mexico Week, a Day of the Dead ofrenda was set up at Rockefeller Center, which will be on display until November 2.

Day of the Dead is celebrated in the United States

The Mexican community in the United States (more than 36 million) has made the celebration of the Day of the Dead increasingly popular, with events in several cities, in some cases with virtual activities.

Of course, the Disney movie Coco (2017) also contributed to its popularity with a theme of Mexican tradition.

Los Angeles is one of the cities in the United States where the Day of the Dead is most celebrated.

It has one of the largest communities of Mexicans and its major annual event is the Day of the Dead Festival on Olvera Street.

There is also the annual Day of the Dead Festival at Main Street Canoga Park and the annual Day of the Dead Celebration at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. There are events all over the state of California, but these are the most popular.

Other U.S. Cities Celebrating Day of the Dead

After California, Texas also has many cities with deep roots in Mexican traditions, among them the Desfile de Muertos River Walk Parade, its floating altars on the river, decorated floats and catrinas.

Also, in Houston there is a two-day festival with traditional food, live music, shows and ofrendas.

But California and Texas are not the only states that have cities with celebrations, here is a list of the most notable ones in the United States:

Chicago

The Mexican community of Chicago organizes artistic events. In addition, the National Museum of Mexican Art organizes the Day of the Dead Xicago, with the participation of families, who set up their altars, accompanied by typical food and music.

Detroit

The Detroit Institute of Arts presents the exhibition "Ofrendas: Celebrating the Day of the Dead", with altars in which the Mexican Consulate of Detroit collaborates.

Albuquerque

This New Mexico city celebrates the Day of the Dead in the South Valley and organizes the Parade of Wonders, Dead and Marigolds.

New Orleans

With a solemn event, the Day of the Dead Procession is held, in which attendees carry candles and photos of their deceased to place them on an altar.

Miami

Miami and other cities in Florida also hold Day of the Dead events and celebrations as part of their cultural calendar.
Leading provider of wellbeing solutions acquires EAP business of the Veretis Group



RALEIGH, N.C., Nov. 01, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Workplace Options (WPO), a leading provider of holistic wellbeing solutions for more than 75 million people around the world, announced the company acquired the EAP business of the Veretis Group, a provider of wellness support across Australia. Prior to the acquisition, Veretis was WPOs local provider partner of employee assistance programs in Australia. WPOs decision to invest in the Australian market and launch WPO Australia points to the companys commitment in seeking new ways to propel WPOs services to the next level and help more people access immediate emotional, physical, and practical wellbeing care. The acquisition of the Veretis EAP business will further advance WPOs capabilities and expertise and will be a valuable complement to WPOs existing growth strategy.



62% of Australians reported feeling burned out compared to a global average of 48%.

66% of managers in Australia also reported burnout, compared to a global average of 53%.
The Air Force is allowing instructors who remain unvaccinated against COVID-19 to fly again, a change that comes as the result of a pending lawsuit that is stopping the service from punishing those who have refused to get inoculated. The pilots were grounded this summer.

An Oct. 25 memo shared with Military.com on Tuesday issued by Maj. Gen. Phillip Stewart, the commander of 19th Air Force, reverses an Aug. 19 decision that kept those unvaccinated teachers from flying.

"Instructor pilots, who received final denial of their religious or medical accommodation request for the COVID-19 vaccination and requested retirement or separation, will be permitted to fly again until litigation regarding the COVID-19 mandate is resolved by the U.S. Courts," Capt. Lauren Woods, a spokeswoman for Air Education and Training Command, told Military.com in an emailed statement.

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One of the reasons behind the change is a pending lawsuit filed by troops attached to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, that has led to temporary protections for the more than 9,000 active-duty, Active Reserve, Reserve and National Guard members of the Air Force and Space Force who asked for a religious exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

While the Oct. 25 memo states that the pending court case "does not affect" the policy that the Air Force intends to ground unvaccinated flight instructors, but Stewart wrote he was reinstating their flying privileges, adding it was "in the best interest of the Air Force," meaning the policy could change again based on the outcome of the lawsuit.

"This guidance will be reassessed after the final determination of the court," Stewart wrote.

Nineteenth Air Force, which is under Air Education and Training Command out of Joint Base San Antonio, had grounded the instructor pilots for two months. The policy reversal only applies to instructor pilots, Woods said. Students who have refused the COVID-19 vaccine will still be grounded.

"Given the lengthy nature of the administrative exemption process and uncertain outcomes for each specific case, student pilots who have refused the vaccine will remain on administrative hold," Woods said in an email. "In order to maximize readiness, training will be prioritized for student pilots who have received the vaccine."

Since July 11, the day when the latest figures were released, the Department of the Air Force has administratively separated 834 service members, and nearly 140 airmen and Guardians have received religious exemptions.

As of the most recent vaccination data for the Department of the Air Force, 98% of the total force -- active-duty, Reserve and Air National Guard -- had been inoculated against COVID-19.

Around 12,000 of the 497,000 total personnel in the Air Force and Space Force have not been vaccinated.

As of Oct. 18, the service had approved more than 1,000 medical and administrative exemptions to the vaccine.

The service members out of Wright-Patterson who are part of the religious exemption lawsuit are represented by the New York-based Siri & Glimstad law firm. They were all "found by a Chaplain in the Air Force to hold sincere religious belief substantially burdened by the order to be vaccinated," according to a press release from the firm.

Refusers often state that the use of fetal cell lines in the creation of the vaccine prevents them from taking the vaccine because of their views on abortion.

The Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines do not need fetal cell lines for development or production but were tested on fetal cell lines replicated from an aborted fetus in the 1970s to ensure their efficacy. Only the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is made using fetal cell lines.

In an attempt to convince some with those religious objections, the Air Force announced in July that Novavax -- a COVID-19 vaccine developed without the use of human fetal-derived cell lines or tissue -- would be an option in the near future for airmen and Guardians.

"Novavax may accommodate those with sincerely held beliefs who felt limited in their options with the previous vaccine offering," Maj. Gen. Sharon Bannister, medical operations director, Air Force surgeon general, said in a statement in July.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been approximately 163,000 reported cases of COVID-19 in the Air Force, and 166 deaths, according to the latest data.

-- Thomas Novelly can be reached at thomas.novelly@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomNovelly.

Related: Military Faces National Guard Refusals and Legal Blockade over Disobeying COVID-19 Vaccine Order
U.S. defense personnel inspecting foreign weapons shipments inside Ukraine won't be close to the front-line fighting, Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said Tuesday when questioned over the risk of engaging with Russian forces in the war.

The Pentagon has not provided the number of personnel or number and location of site visits in the country, which are aimed at ensuring the immense flow of American and other allied military aid is not trafficked. But Ryder asserted the new mission is not an escalation of U.S. involvement in the eight-month-old conflict.

"No, no, this is responsible management of the capabilities that we're providing to the Ukrainians," Ryder said during a public briefing with reporters. "And as I mentioned, the Ukrainians are working very closely with us to provide insight and tracking of those capabilities in places where it's not safe for U.S. personnel to go."

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The inspection teams are working under the defense attache and the Office of Defense Cooperation at the U.S. embassy in Kyiv. Such monitoring of aid shipments to foreign allies is not unusual, but it is the first time the Pentagon has acknowledged U.S. personnel working outside of the embassy since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

"My understanding is they would be well, well far away from any type of front-line actions," Ryder said. "We're relying on the Ukrainians to do that; we're relying on other partners to do that. So essentially, that would not be the case for U.S. personnel."

Uniformed military personnel are assigned to the Kyiv embassy, as well as a Marine Corps security detail.

On Friday, the Pentagon announced a $275 million package of weapons aid to Ukraine -- the 24th time it has tapped its inventories to aid Kyiv through presidential drawdown authority since August 2021. The latest shipment includes High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, precision guided artillery rounds, remote anti-armor mine systems, Humvees and small arms, among other items.

The U.S. has sent $17.6 billion in security assistance since the start of the war, according to a Pentagon update on Oct. 14. The inspections are designed to ensure none of that aid is being skimmed or transferred out of the war zone to other parts of Eastern Europe or the world.

Russia has claimed without evidence that weapons supplied to Ukraine have found their way onto the black market in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, according to Reuters. Russia's foreign minister, Maria Zakharova, said in October that a "considerable part" of the missile and artillery systems and ammunition has or will be resold elsewhere in what would appear to be a bid to slow the flow of weapons flowing into the country to aid Ukrainian forces.

A senior defense official said Monday that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has been speaking with Ukraine about accounting for the weapons, and that Kyiv is tracking the assistance from the time it enters the country to the front lines of the war. But an effort is underway to improve the monitoring.

"DoD is conducting hands-on training with the Ukrainian Armed Forces on U.S. best practices so they can provide better data, for example, from sites close to the front lines that U.S. personnel cannot visit," the official said on condition of anonymity to brief reporters.

The U.S. personnel in the field will still be operating around weapons caches in a country that is under assault.

Russia has continued missile strikes on infrastructure in Ukraine such as its power grid -- a ruthless tactic that has also included bombing train stations, apartment buildings and other non-military targets.

The strikes have left Ukrainians without power and utilities as winter approaches and Russia continues to fight pitched battles with Ukrainian forces over territory in the east.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has also threatened to use nuclear weapons and pressed claims that Kyiv is preparing to detonate a so-called "dirty bomb" that could spread nuclear radiation. The U.S. and western allies have shot down the claims as baseless.

-- Travis Tritten can be reached at travis.tritten@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @Travis_Tritten.
An Army officer and his wife had what seemed to be a great and wholesome idea, to share the American Halloween tradition in Poland.

But then people dressed as the Ku Klux Klan showed up at their party.

Maj. Allen Rust of the Army Reserve's 7th Mission Support Command and his wife decorated their home in Imbramowice, a Polish village, for Halloween last year. Neighbors in the town, who typically don't celebrate the holiday, paid the couple compliments, leading them to plan a costume party this year. They invited the whole town.

Read Next: US Inspectors in Ukraine Won't Be Near the Front, Pentagon Says

More than 200 people showed up, including at least six individuals dressed as klansmen, complete with crosses to burn, according to photos of the event reviewed by Military.com.

"I see these guys dressed as the KKK, and these guys were not a part of my event," Rust told Military.com. "I thought it was a protest. But when I passed them, someone told me these guys were in costumes and wanted to come to the party, and that was a problem."

Several men dressed as klansmen lighting red flares, a staple of far-right protests in Europe. (Photo courtesy of Zygmunt Solnica)

At first, Rust didn't want to make a scene in front of the kids at the party, he said, partly over concerns about whether the men would be violent or whether there was some cultural misunderstanding of what was considered appropriate at a Halloween party. The men in klan garb, who were seemingly in their late teens and early twenties, were ostracized by other partygoers, according to Rust, and were not allowed inside the party.

Eventually, the men were confronted and told to leave the neighborhood altogether after they started jumping on people's cars and igniting small fires in the street, according to Rust.

"I handled it the best I could; it was a bunch of hooligans that crashed the party," he told Military.com. "I'm not sure if they were radical right wingers; they didn't speak English. But there is no doubt in my mind they understood what the klan was."

It's unclear whether those in the hoods were part of a group supportive of the racism often symbolized by KKK paraphernalia, or simply did not fully grasp the implications of their outfits.

Far-right and nationalist movements have grown in Poland in recent years. In 2017, 60,000 people marched through Warsaw during the nation's Independence Day carrying banners with overtly white supremacist messaging, including advocating for a "white Europe" and a "pure Poland."

The group at the party was also lighting red flares, which has become a staple of white supremacist and far-right nationalist protests in Europe, including in Warsaw; a 2018 protest in Germany; and one in 2019 in Ukraine.

Immediately after the party, Rust's wife posted in a Facebook group for the event, making it clear the KKK group was not welcomed.

"The KKK group was not part of the event," Izabela Rust said in a post. "It was not organized by us or supported in any way. We are against the KKK and in no way did we support or plan their participation in the party."

Party-goers kicked the men dressed as klansmen out of the party. (Photo courtesy of Zygmunt Solnica)

All posts in the Facebook group were written in Polish and translated to English for this article with Google Translate.

But some in the Facebook group seemingly did not understand the cultural baggage the KKK has in the United States and its long history of terrorism, white supremacy and antisemitism.

"With all due respect, but you are organizing a fancy dress party.  They made an appointment, sewed, and came to play with others, and were excluded," one person who was in the Facebook group said, presumably referring to the klan costume wearers.

Another person added, "Please also remember that when introducing innovative approaches, it is worth defining guidelines, instead of killing creativity in youth -- as I dare to say it is popular now."

But Rust feels his Halloween party was ultimately successful, despite the young men in klan costumes, and plans to host another celebration next year. He said he isn't sure whether he'll be more clear about a dress code.

-- Steve Beynon can be reached at Steve.Beynon@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevenBeynon.

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The Navy wants to keep its Red Hill fuel facility, including the 20 cavernous fuel tanks, surge tanks and pipelines, in the ground after it permanently retires the facility from fueling operations, according to a plan it submitted Tuesday to the Hawaii Department of Health.

The Navy wants to keep its Red Hill fuel facility, including the 20 cavernous fuel tanks, surge tanks and pipelines, in the ground after it permanently retires the facility from fueling operations, according to a plan it submitted Tuesday to the state Department of Health. Defense officials say they also hope to consult with the community to come up with alternatives for using Red Hill for nonfuel purposes.

The closure plan, which must be approved by DOH, also details how the Navy intends to clean sludge and other waste left in the tanks and pipelines after fuel is drained and the Navy's plans for remediating the environment, including cleaning up petroleum contamination in the soil and groundwater.

The Navy was required to come up with a plan for permanently closing Red Hill under a May 6 emergency order issued by DOH. Options include removing the facility, filling it in or leaving it in place without filling it. The Navy added another option : closing Red Hill for fuel operations but finding another use for it.

"If we do pursue a closure in place with beneficial reuse, then we will work with the community to see what inputs they have for how we might be able to reuse the space there, " said Meredith Berger, assistant secretary of the Navy for energy, installations and environment, during a news conference at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. "We will continue to make sure we are protective of the environment, of the people and of the community, and we are not--I want to make sure this very clear--we are not going to pursue any beneficial reuse option that would contain potential contaminants, and none of the options that we have laid on the table would be a fuel reuse."

Defense officials were hesitant to discuss potential uses of the Red Hill facility, though did mention the idea of using it for a hydroelectric plant to provide an alternative energy source, an idea that has been floated in the past.

DOH spokeswoman Kaitlin Arita-Chang said it's not clear whether Hawaii administrative rules allow for a reuse option when permanently shutting down underground fuel tanks.

"It is not something that has ever been proposed before, and it is really the Navy's burden to say what that beneficial reuse could and would be, " she said. "And then we would have to reevaluate it from there."

Hawaii Sierra Club Director Wayne Tanaka said he didn't think reusing Red Hill would be safe or even feasible given its dilapidated condition and location directly above an aquifer.

"We know that (the tanks ) have been actively corroding for so long, and we really don't have a good idea of the integrity of their steel liners or even the concrete that is holding them up, " he said.

Tanaka said the Navy also must consider the possibility that contaminants from the tanks and pipelines will leach into the environment in the coming decades, including pollutants from corroding metal and the breakdown of protective coating.

The Red Hill fuel facility was built between 1940 and 1943, spurred by global tensions leading up to World War II. The 20 massive fuel tanks, each capable of storing up to 12.5 million gallons of fuel, were installed inside cavities mined into a volcanic mountain ridge east of Pearl Harbor. Three 2.5-mile pipelines run from the tanks through an underground tunnel to Pearl Harbor fueling piers.

The tanks were constructed out of concrete that was lined with a thin layer of steel and sit below 100 feet of rock. Each tank is large enough to envelop Aloha Tower.

The Navy says it plans to provide DOH in December with an independent analysis of the available options for closing the facility, including an engineering analysis, cost estimates and timelines for the different alternatives. It's not clear why that analysis wasn't completed prior to the Navy submitting its closure plan and its recommendation that Red Hill remain in place and be repurposed.

Berger said the Navy had received input from internal and external experts in coming up with its closure plan and that it submitted it to DOH prior to the more robust analysis of closure options to make sure that it made DOH's Nov. 1 deadline.

The Navy's report concludes that leaving the facility in place and filling it in with some sort of material would be risky for workers as there isn't enough room to stage material and equipment. Surrounding residents also would have to deal with increased traffic from dump trucks and trucks hauling construction equipment that would last for about five years, according to the Navy.

The Navy says that trying to completely remove the tanks, including the concrete and steel liners, would pose "extreme safety concerns " and could cause a "catastrophic failure due to destabilization of the substrate." Only removing the steel liners also could be difficult, posing "engineering feasibility challenges " and safety concerns. Those two options also would be costly.

The Navy says the closure-in-place option is the easiest and could be done in two to three years after all the fuel is drained from the Red Hill tanks. Implementing an alternative use for Red Hill could take an extra year, according to the Navy's plan. Under those scenarios Red Hill would be permanently closed around 2027.

As part of permanently shutting down Red Hill, the Navy also has to clean up its environmental contamination. Historical records and Navy documents indicate that there may have been at least 76 fuel leaks from Red Hill totaling 180, 000 gallons of fuel.

The soil and groundwater below the facility is contaminated with petroleum, according to soil vapor and groundwater monitoring reports. It's not clear to what extent the Navy will be able to clean up all of the contamination, particularly if the tanks are left in place.

Navy officials said they are exploring new technologies that could assist.

Navy Region Hawaii Commander Rear Adm. Steve Barnett said he would defer to the engineers as to whether petroleum in the ground beneath the tanks could be cleaned. up. "But I can tell you that there are some things that I think we can do with soil vapor monitoring ... and other new technologies that we are looking into to see what industry is doing for things like this."

Red Hill was ordered to be shut down earlier this year after leaks from the facility contaminated the Navy's drinking water system in 2021, sickening military families.

The Honolulu Board of Water Supply, which has civilian water wells that have been affected by the Navy's fuel contamination of the aquifer, said closure of Red Hill was long overdue and that it hoped the timeline could be expedited.

The BWS "remains concerned with the length of time suggested by the Navy to accomplish tank closure, the lack of details in the closure plan, lack of meaningful stakeholder and public involvement, and the Navy's proposed 'closure in place' approach, " BWS said in a statement.

The Navy is almost finished draining about 1 million gallons of fuel from the Red Hill pipeline system, an early step in its plans for defueling Red Hill. It then plans to embark on extensive pipeline repairs before draining approximately 100 million gallons of fuel that remains in 14 tanks, work that is expected to be finished in June 2024.

(c) 2022 The Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
SEOUL, South Korea  Air raid sirens sounded on a South Korean island and residents there evacuated to underground shelters after North Korea fired more than 20 missiles Wednesday, at least one of them in its direction and landing near the rivals tense sea border. South Korea quickly responded by launching its own missiles in the same border area.

The launches came hours after North Korea threatened to use nuclear weapons to get the U.S. and South Korea to pay the most horrible price in history in protest of the ongoing South Korean-U.S. military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal. The White House maintained that the United States has no hostile intent toward North Korea and vowed to work with allies to curb North Koreas nuclear ambitions.

The Norths barrage of missile tests also came as world attention was focused on South Korea following a weekend Halloween tragedy that saw more than 150 people killed in a crowd surge in Seoul in what was the countrys largest disaster in years.

South Koreas military said North Korea launched at least 23 missiles  17 in the morning and six in the afternoon  off its its eastern and western coasts on Wednesday. It said the weapons were all short-range ballistic missiles or suspected surface-to-air missiles. Also Wednesday, North Korea fired about 100 artillery shells into an eastern maritime buffer zone the Koreas created in 2018 to reduce tensions, according to South Koreas military.

The 23 missiles launched is a record number of daily missile tests by North Korea, some experts say.

One of the ballistic missiles was flying toward South Koreas Ulleung island before it eventually landed 167 kilometers (104 miles) northwest of the island. South Koreas military subsequently issued an air raid alert on the island, according to the Souths Joint Chiefs of Staff. South Korean media published photos showing island residents moving to underground shelters.

Hours later on Wednesday, South Koreas military said it lifted the air raid alert on the island. South Koreas transport ministry said it has closed some air routes above the countrys eastern waters until Thursday morning in the wake of the North Korean launches.

That missile landed 26 kilometers (16 miles) away from the rivals sea border. It landed in international waters but far south of the two countries border, off the east coast of South Korea. South Koreas military said it was the first time a North Korean missile had landed so close to the sea border since the countries division in 1948.

This is very unprecedented and we will never tolerate it, South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

In 2010, North Korea shelled a frontline South Korean island off the peninsula's western coast, killing four people. But the weapons used were artillery rockets, not ballistic missiles whose launches or tests are banned by multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Later Wednesday, South Korean fighter jets launched three air-to-surface, precision-guided missiles near the eastern sea border to show its determination to get tough on North Korean provocations. South Koreas military said the missiles landed in international waters at the same distance of 26 kilometers (16 miles) north of the sea border as the North Korean missile fell earlier Wednesday.

It said it maintains a readiness to win an overwhelming victory against North Korea in potential clashes.

North Korea firing missiles in a way that sets off air raid sirens appears intended to threaten South Koreans to pressure their government to change policy, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. North Koreas expanding military capabilities and tests are worrisome, but offering concessions about alliance cooperation or nuclear recognition would make matters worse.

South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff earlier identified three of the North Korean weapons launched as short-range ballistic missiles fired from the Norths eastern coastal town of Wonsan, including the one that landed near the sea border.

North Korean short-range weapons are designed to strike key facilities in South Korea, including U.S. military bases there.

In an emergency meeting with top security officials, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered officials to take swift unspecified steps to make North Korea face consequences for its provocation. He said he would consider the North Korean missiles landing near the border a virtual violation of (our) territorial waters.

During the emergency South Korean meeting, officials also lamented that the North Korean missile launches came as South Korea is in a mourning period over the crowd crush. They noted this clearly showed the nature of the North Korean government, according to South Koreas presidential office.

Earlier Wednesday, Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters that at least two ballistic missiles fired by North Korea showed a possibly irregular trajectory. This suggests the missiles are the Norths highly maneuverable, nuclear-capable KN-23 missile, which was modeled on Russias Iskander missile.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called North Koreas continuing missile tests absolutely impermissible.

Analyst Cheong Seong-Chang at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea said that the danger of armed clashes between the Koreas off their western or eastern coasts is increasing. He said South Korea needs to make proportional responses to North Korean provocations, not overwhelming responses, to prevent tensions from spiraling out of control and possibly leading the North to use its tactical nuclear weapons.

Animosities on the Korean Peninsula have been running high in recent months, with North Korea testing a string of nuclear-capable missiles and adopting a law authorizing the preemptive use of its nuclear weapons in a broad range of situations. Some experts still doubt North Korea would use nuclear weapons first in the face of U.S. and South Korean forces.

North Korea has argued its recent weapons tests were meant to issue a warning to Washington and Seoul over their series of joint military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal, including this weeks exercises involving about 240 warplanes.

In a statement released early Wednesday, Pak Jong Chon, a secretary of the ruling Workers Party who is considered a close confidant of leader Kim Jong Un, called the so-called Vigilant Storm air force drills aggressive and provocative.

If the U.S. and South Korea attempt to use armed forces against (North Korea) without any fear, the special means of the (Norths) armed forces will carry out their strategic mission without delay, Pak said, in an apparent reference to his countrys nuclear weapons.

The U.S. and South Korea will have to face a terrible case and pay the most horrible price in history, he said.

U.S. and South Korean officials have steadfastly said their drills are defensive in nature and that they have no intentions of attacking North Korea.

We reject the notion that they serve as any sort of provocation. We have made clear that we have no hostile intent towards (North Korea) and call on them to engage in serious and sustained diplomacy, White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said late Tuesday.

North Korea continues to not respond. At the same time, we will continue to work closely with our allies and partners to limit the Norths ability to advance its unlawful weapons programs and threaten regional stability, Watson said.

___

Associated Press writers Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Aamer Madhani in Washington, D.C. contributed to this report.
UNITED NATIONS  The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday overwhelmingly rejected Russias attempt to establish a commission to investigate its unfounded claims that Ukraine and the United States are carrying out military biological activities that violate the convention prohibiting the use of biological weapons.

Russia only got support from China in the vote on its resolution, with the U.S., Britain and France voting no" and the 10 other council nations abstaining. The resolution was not approved because it failed to get the minimum nine yes votes required for adoption.

The 2-3-10 vote reflected the councils continuing opposition and skepticism about Russias actions since its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. The council has been paralyzed from taking any action against Russia's military offensive because of Russia's veto power.

Russia circulated the draft resolution and a 310-page document to council members last week alleging that military biological activity is taking place at biological laboratories in Ukraine with support from the U.S. Defense Department.

Russias deputy ambassador Dmitry Polyansky said after the vote that his government was extremely disappointed that the council did not respond positively to its request to establish a commission comprising the Security Councils 15 members to carry out an investigation of its complaint as allowed under Article VI of the biological weapons convention.

He claimed Western countries demonstrated in every way that the law does not apply to them and are ready to trample any norm, to flout any rule, accusing them of a colonial mentality."

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield countered that the United States voted against the resolution because it is based on disinformation, dishonesty, bad faith, and a total lack of respect for this body.

Before the vote, Russias Polyansky called the resolution a considerable milestone that would show whether the Security Council was prepared to act in line with international law giving state parties to the biological weapons convention the right to seek an investigation at the Security Council.

It is a milestone for Russias deception and lies, Thomas-Greenfield shot back. And the world sees it.

At a meeting in September of the 197 state parties to the biological weapons convention, she said, Russia failed to provide any credible evidence to support these false allegations and an overwhelming number of countries that spoke considered that the issues raised by Russia were unsubstantiated and had been conclusively addressed.

But Thomas-Greenfield said that wasnt enough and it inappropriately raised the same false claims here, abusing its position and abusing us.

Russias initial allegation of secret American biological warfare labs in Ukraine in March has been disputed by independent scientists, Ukrainian leaders and officials at the White House and Pentagon. An Associated Press investigation in March found the claim was taking root online, uniting COVID-19 conspiracy theorists, QAnon adherents and some supporters of former President Donald Trump.

Ukraine does have a network of biological labs that have gotten funding and research support from the U.S. They are owned and operated by Ukraine and are part of an initiative called the Biological Threat Reduction Program that aims to reduce the likelihood of deadly outbreaks, whether natural or manmade. The U.S. efforts date back to work in the 1990s to dismantle the former Soviet Unions program for weapons of mass destruction.

Russia called a Security Council meeting on its claims last Thursday, which the United States and its Western allies vehemently dismissed.

Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador, called the meeting a colossal waste of time and said the claims are part of a Moscow disinformation campaign that is attempting to distract from the atrocities Russian forces are carrying out in Ukraine and a desperate tactic to justify an unjustifiable war.

Ukraine does not have a biological weapons program, she said. The United States does not have a biological weapons program. There are no Ukrainian biological weapons laboratories supported by the United States.

Russias U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused the U.S. of conducting work in Ukraine with deadly pathogens  including cholera, plague, anthrax and influenza  that couldnt be justified under the guise of public health. He said documents and evidence recovered by Russian authorities suggested a military application.

Nebenzia told the Security Council that the Russian military during its time in Ukraine had recovered drones capable of spraying bioagents as well as documents that he said related to research on the possibility of spreading pathogens through bats and migrating birds.

Thomas-Greenfield countered that Russias claims are absurd for many reasons, including because such species, even if they could be weaponized, would pose as much a threat to the European continent and to Ukraine itself as they would to any other country.

Associated Press writer David Klepper contributed to this report.
Gen. B. Chance "Salty" Saltzman on Wednesday formally became the second officer to lead the Space Force since it was created just three years ago.

During a ceremony at Joint Base Andrews, Saltzman took the reins from outgoing Chief of Space Operations Gen. John "Jay" Raymond, who has led the service since its formation in late 2019. Frank Kendall, secretary of the Department of the Air Force, to which the Space Force belongs, was in attendance and praised both men for their dedication to leading a new service that lacks the financial backing of the other military branches.

"The Space Force would have to carry all the load associated with being a military service without anywhere near the resources associated with a traditional American military service," Kendall told the men during his remarks. "Jay and his team have met this challenge and positioned the Space Force for success. ... Salty, you have some big shoes to fill, and I know you're ready and we are lucky to have you as the second chief of space operations."

Read Next: SpaceX Nails Booster Landings After Foggy Military Launch

Saltzman will lead the service at a time when space is becoming a more competitive environment. Adversaries such as China and Russia are developing technology that threatens America's satellite fleet, which is used for everything from GPS on phones to helping the U.S. military and its allies conduct operations on the battlefield.

"The world is becoming an increasingly dangerous place, and preserving U.S. national security interest in space is growing harder every day," Saltzman said during his speech. "A resilient, ready, combat-capable Space Force is indispensable to deterrence today, tomorrow and every day after that. And, in the worst case, if deterrence fails, the Space Force will be an indispensable component of our joint force at war."

The Space Force asked for $24.5 billion in its 2023 budget request, a 40% increase from the previous year. But to counter looming threats from other countries, it will likely ask for more funding in the coming years. Last week, a top official for the service said it needs more money to protect America's satellites as it faces rapid competition with China.

Attendees at the event included Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley, as well as astronauts, lawmakers and Space Force officers.

Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, was also at the event and received praise from Milley.

"I would also like to recognize Elon Musk, who's here and who needs no introduction, certainly by me," Milley said. "But what he symbolizes, in reality, is the combination of the civil and military cooperation and teamwork that makes the United States the most powerful country in space."

Musk's appearance at the event came just one day after SpaceX launched its Falcon Heavy rocket for a classified mission on behalf of the Space Force. The billionaire's presence at the ceremony also came as the Department of Defense squares off with him over the financing of SpaceX's Starlink satellite technology, which has been used by Ukraine during Russia's invasion.

Raymond, during his retirement speech, also thanked Musk for being in attendance.

Kendall called the outgoing general the "Father of the Space Force." While Raymond declined to take credit for his role in starting the service -- instead thanking "bipartisan support from Congress" -- he did reflect fondly on the challenges of building a team from the ground up.

"Without a doubt, we are better postured and are a more capable and ready force than we were just three short years ago," Raymond said. "And although still in our terrible twos, we have attracted incredible talent. ... Starting with a clean sheet of paper to build a new service is hard, but space is hard and Guardians don't shy away from tough challenges."

Raymond was once an opponent of creating the Space Force. In 2017, as the head of Air Force Space Command, he penned an opinion piece for Defense One decrying congressional efforts to start a separate space corps and asking for more focus on and resources for the Air Force's existing mission.

But a lot has changed in the nearly three years since former President Donald Trump signed a defense policy bill and created the Space Force. Raymond was tasked with shaping the culture and identity of the newest military branch in more than 70 years, while also advertising its mission.

During his nearly 40-year military career, Raymond went from leading U.S. Space Command to becoming the first member of the Space Force to be sworn in. Now, the service has upward of 8,000 Guardians and a total force of 15,000 people, including contractors and civilians assisting the service's mission.

Raymond oversaw the creation of the service's uniforms, along with its motto, physical fitness standards and official song, and even helped cultivate the first Space Force boot camp for enlisted Guardians.

Austin said all of that was a tall order.

"He laid the foundations for the culture and the traditions that will define this service for decades to come," Austin said. "You know what? He did all that, and he made it look easy."

-- Thomas Novelly can be reached at thomas.novelly@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomNovelly.

Related: Citing Growing Threat from China, Space Force Leaders Say They Need More Money
The military's version of a civilian 401(k) -- called the Thrift Savings Plan, or TSP -- is a solid way to build for the future. A greater appreciation of this, along with some help from the automatic enrollment of those covered by the Blended Retirement System, has more than doubled active-duty participation rates from under 40% just over 10 years ago, to over 80% today. That's a good news story.

However, it's not a complete victory. There is still a large group of service members who aren't taking advantage of this plan. After a quick and inexact crunching of numbers, I would put that figure of non-participants at around 300,000. Over the years, I've talked to a lot of these folks and have heard several recurring themes on why they are choosing to skip the TSP.

Here are some of the excuses I've heard repeatedly and why I don't think they should keep you from using the TSP to save for your and your family's future:

1. "I'm Getting Out Soon and Don't Have Enough Time."

Even if you only have a year or two left in the military, it can still make sense to contribute to the TSP. Why? First, you never know what the future holds. I've talked to people whose short-term plan to leave the military turned into decades of continued service. If that happens to you, you could miss out on years of contributions.

Second, even if you get out soon, you typically have the option of keeping the accumulated money in the TSP, rolling it over to your new employer's plan or transferring it into an individual retirement account (IRA). In any of those scenarios, starting now allows you to build for the future.

2. "I Don't Have Enough Money."

If that's the case, revisit your spending plan. Most people can make changes to accommodate a small contribution to the TSP. All you need to do is to visit myPay and sign up to get things started. The TSP is a great tool to live a pay-yourself-first lifestyle. Because the contributions are deducted before the money hits your checking account, you'll save first without the temptation to spend. Starting small provides a building block for bigger contributions with future pay increases. Get your foot in the door.

3. "Retirement, Are You Kidding Me?"

OK, I get it. Retirement could be decades away. On a day-to-day basis, you're faced with more pressing issues. However, if you put off building for the future, you're ignoring one of your greatest allies -- time. The power of compounding returns, or earning interest on your interest, can turn $50 or $100 monthly contributions into a six-figure retirement balance. Don't miss that opportunity.

4. "I've Got Military Retirement."

The monthly retirement paycheck from the military is a great benefit, the kind of retirement pension that many American workers no longer receive. However, at 20 years of service, it still represents only half your basic pay -- no Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH), Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS) or other allowances or pay. Most recipients will need to supplement it through retirement savings. And beyond that, less than 20% of those who serve actually qualify for military retirement. Finally, to get the most from the new blended military retirement system, service members will need to contribute at least 5% to the TSP.

If any of those excuses sound familiar, I hope these thoughts help overcome your objections. Keep on saving.

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02.11.2022 LISTEN

Commenting on the illegal mining menace that has become a topical national discussion, the founder of the Christ Miracle Power Mission in Accra, Very Rev Anthony Kwarteng has described as wrong the approach by government to clamp down on illegal miners.

Speaking to the correspondent in an interview, Rev Kwarteng said the constant arrest of common labourers at galamsey sites is the reason Ghana is not achieving any positive results in the fight.

He said the galamsey kingpins who recruit youth to engage in the illegal activity should be the target.

According to him, arresting people just to create the impression that government is fighting the menace will amount to nothing.

In order to discourage the galamsey menace in the country, Rev Kwarteng suggested that land owners and chiefs who gave out their lands should be arrested and punished to serve as a deterrent to others who are planning same.

By so doing, he added that government will gain the confidence of the citizens to support the move instead of allegedly arresting ordinary labourers.
02.11.2022 LISTEN

A Kumasi-based mechanic and farmer, Mr Musah Malik has opined that Mr. Alan Kwadwo Kyeremanten, the Trade Minister is a failure.

He said the Trade Minister should not waste time and resources to contest the NPP's flagbearership race.

According to him, if Alan Kwadwo Kyeremanten cannot manage a small sector like the Trade Ministry to gain public confidence, how can he manage the whole country if the power is entrusted to his care?

Speaking to the Modernghana News Correspondent in an interview, Mr. Musah Malik who is the Managing Director of Daily Sure Engineering Services (Gear Box Specialists) allegedly linked the collapses of many businesses in the country to the failure of Alan Kyeremanteng's to fashion out policies to sustain businesses.

He added that the development of every economy relies on the effective management and supervision of the Trade Ministry.

Mr. Malik who also doubles as the Zone 18 Chairman of the Ashanti Regional branch of the Ghana National Association of Garages (GNAG) cited how a number of businesses have been folding up in the country on daily basis.

He cited Ghana United Traders Association (GUTA) and other groups who recently shut down their shops over the free fall of the cedi which is affecting their businesses.

That was not all, Musah Malik popularly known as 'Wustar' further expressed worry that Kumasi Suame Magazine though one of the popular industrial hubs in the West Africa sub-region is on the verge of collapse due to lack of proper management.

Suame Magazine Malik observed is strategically placed to equip the youth with skills and craft if well managed.

Malik alleged further that Mr Alan Kwadwo Kyeremanteng has not been able to visit the industrial hub since his appointment to ascertain the situation for himself.
Ghana will assume the rotating monthly Presidency of the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday, 1st November 2022.

During the month of November 2022, Ghana shall preside over the meetings of the Council (adoptions, debates and consultations) and, under its authority, shall represent the Security Council in its capacity as an organ of the United Nations.

The Security Council, which is composed of 15 Member States, is the organ of the United Nations authorised by the Charter with primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.

The responsibility of presiding over the Security Council comes at a time when international peace and security is threatened in several parts of the world.

The President of Ghana, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botwey are expected to be in New York during the period to participate in the meetings of the Security Council.

Key highlights of Ghana's presidency are two signature events that will take place on 3rd and 10th November, as well as an exhibition of Ghanaian arts and a food tasting event.
Business tycoon and financial analyst, Mr. Daniel Okyem Aboagye is now a happy person after the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo addressed the nation amidst economic hardship facing Ghanaians.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of 2M Express, a transport business company, after listening to the president he can now heave a sigh of relief as his transport business was on the verge of collapsing.

"The President's speech has now brought us hope. The President just spoke to truth and the assurance he gave is welcoming news for us as Ghanaians," the former Government Spokesperson for Finance stated.

The politician cum businessman also backed President Akufo-Addo's 'sika mp dede' comment saying, "'Yes! 'Sika mp dede.' The President said it right. If we begin to talk positively about our economy, things will normalize. No investor is ready to put his or her money in an ailing economy. So let's stop painting a bad picture about Ghana."

Speaking to Kumasi-based Nhyira FM, Hon. Daniel Okyem Aboagye appealed to Ghanaians to show their patriotism for the country despite the economic challenges.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo spoke extensively about the depreciation of the Ghana cedi while charging the populace to avoid speculation.

"Fellow Ghanaians, as the French would say, largent naime pas le bruit, to wit, money does not like noise, sika mp dede. Where there is chaos, where there is noise, where there is unrest, you will not find money.

"If you talk down your money, it will go down. If you allow some unidentifiable person to talk down your money, it will go down," he stressed.
Central Regional NPP Women organiser, Madam Charlotte Adwoa Antwi

02.11.2022 LISTEN

The main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has been described as a party just interested in amassing wealth for themselves as compared to the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) known to be people's centered.

Central Regional NPP Women organiser, Madam Charlotte Adwoa Antwi was of the view the NPP has a track record of initiating policies and programmes that improve the lives of Ghanaians.

Speaking at a breast cancer and treatment retreat by the Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese women's wing of the party over the weekend, the Regional Women Organiser mentioned the construction of the ultra-modern market, roads, clinic and other projects as some of the achievements of the Akufo-Addo led government.

Madam Adwoa Antwi emphasised that many women have benefited from some of these policies in order to support their activities while others have also received financial support to enable those unemployed to start any business of their choice.

Despite admitting to the current economic woes, she assured Ghanaians of a bright future as President Akufo-Addo and his appointees are working hard to get Ghana out of the woods.

"I know we are not in normal times but I will urge Ghanaians to remain resolute in the NPP because President Akufo-Addo and his team are doing their best to redeem Ghana from the current global economic crises," she stated.

The Asebu-Abura-Kwamankese Women organiser on her part encouraged women to take advantage of the numerous government's interventions to improve their livelihoods.

She indicated the constituency has got its fair share of the national cake and urged the women's wing to support in propagating the achievement of government.

The Constituency Chairman Mr. Obed Aquah Quansah also touched on the party's preparedness towards the 2024 elections as the NPP is poised to break the '8'.
 BBC Africa Eye pieces together the most comprehensive account of what happened on 24 June 2022, when at least 24 migrants died in clashes with Moroccan security forces at the border of Melilla, Spain.

 Survivors claim Moroccan security forces stopped medics from helping people who were severely injured.

 More than 70 people are still missing.

On 24 June 2022, disturbing videos started circulating online, showing violent clashes between African migrants and Moroccan border guards. The footage was filmed on a small piece of land where Morocco meets Spain  a gateway into Europe. These videos revealed shocking evidence of migrants being restrained and severely beaten. Twenty-four people died in the incident, and dozens more are still missing.

For months, BBC World Service's award-winning investigative strand, BBC Africa Eye, has been searching for the truth. In the documentary Death on the Border, viewers are taken through the events of that deadly day in forensic detail. The BBC Africa Eye team verified and geolocated dozens of videos posted on social media and obtained from sources on the ground.

The film retraces the steps taken by migrants on the morning of 24 June 2022, when an estimated 2,000 people descended on the Moroccan border post, trying to storm the fence and cross into the enclave of Melilla, Spain.

Throughout the film, survivors share their testimonies, giving the most comprehensive account yet of what happened. They reveal how Moroccan border forces drove the group into an enclosed courtyard inside the border post, then blocked their path out. Videos show how the Moroccan border forces continued to throw teargas and smoke bombs into the enclosed space where migrants were trapped. This led to a deadly crush of people.

One anonymous survivor describes how hundreds of migrants were kept on the ground for several hours, with injured and dead people among them. He claims they received no medical care and security forces stopped medics from helping the injured.

While most migrants were detained inside the border post, hundreds did make it across into Spanish controlled territory. The investigation by BBC Africa Eye reveals new evidence of 'pushbacks' by Spanish security forces  a practice where migrants are taken back across the border, without being given the opportunity to claim asylum. One migrant told Africa Eye he was returned to Moroccan authorities who beat him so badly he lost consciousness for several hours.

Survivors said security forces placed them on buses and drove them to cities across Morocco, far from the border. During that journey, at least one injured migrant died. His name was Abdelnasir, and his brother reveals the impact on his family in Sudan. He said: My mother didn't accept the news at first when I told her. We were waiting for his bodywe managed to ask the people that were with him to tell us what happened, but we couldn't get any details.

Several sources allege that the bodies of dozens of migrants are still being held in a morgue in Nador, the Moroccan city closest to Melilla.

Omar Naji, Vice-President of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights told BBC Africa Eye that they witnessed authorities in the cemetery of Nador digging 21 graves. He said: The authorities wanted to bury the bodies without making the necessary investigations and without identifying them.

The Moroccan government declined BBC Africa Eye's request for an interview and did not respond to the allegations made in this film. The Moroccan Ministry of the Interior has publicly maintained that its security forces responded in line with legal protocols, and that all migrants received necessary medical assistance and care. They claim the huge group of migrants were armed with sticks and sharp tools and were extremely violent.

Both Morocco and Spain have since faced questions about the tragedy, and both have begun internal investigations into what happened that day. But to date, neither have released any CCTV footage or taken responsibility for the deaths.

One of the anonymous survivors in the film appeals to authorities to disclose the evidence they have. He says: The whole border area in Melilla is covered by surveillance cameras, there are cameras along almost the entire fence and in the area where we were trapped and some of us died.

The Spanish Ministry of Interior denied the allegations in the film, stating: Any rejections at the border were made according to Spanish law, endorsed by the European Court of Human Rights. The claim that '300 migrants were forced back to Morocco from Spanish territory' is absolutely false. The statement added: All CCTV recordings have been handed over to the Spanish judiciary and Ombudsman as part of their investigations.

However, in October, the Spanish Ombudsman released the initial findings of its investigation, stating that 470 migrants were pushed back across the border, without considering the legal provisions, and that the Ministry of the Interior had not shared all available CCTV with investigators.

Death on the Border also explores the wider question of how tensions between Morocco and Spain on migration control could have contributed to the events on the 24th of June.

BBC Africa Eye: Death on the Border is available BBC Africa YouTube channel here.
Samuel Bryan Buabeng, Head of New Media at the Office of the President, is receiving a backlash over his old social post on fuel price increments.

On March 1, 2014, the Presidential staffer took to his Facebook page to lambast the then John Mahama-led NDC government in the local Akan language, "Kwasia bi nti ya tu petrol mu," to wit, "because of a certain fool, fuel prices have been increased."

Amidst the current frequent hikes in fuel prices, the post has resurfaced with many bashing Mr. Buabeng for being the worst government.

With a screenshot of the post, Joyce Bawa Mogtari, the Special Aide to former President John Dramani Mahama, wrote on her Twitter handle, "May the Lord forgive us our trespasses!"

But with a tough heart, Mr. Buabeng has since been defending himself in a series of tweets, saying "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

The infamous Kwasia bi nti phrase was coined by General Mosquito. Then, you were enjoying big so you didnt notice.

Top of the Morning to you and the man, who described his opponents as foolish and baloney. Indeed, for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God, he defended.

He emphasized, The tags and mentions don't move me. Some nonentities in the NDC want to be seen or heard. The infamous Kwasia bi nti phrase was coined by General Mosquito.
Digital agricultural services have proliferated across Africa over the last decade. Most are services that work on mobile phones, although more advanced technologies are in use too  like satellite images, sensors, blockchains and big data analytics.

The services offer access to information, markets and financial products.

Kenya is at the forefront of this development in Africa. The country is home to numerous service providers that seek to solve problems in food and agriculture using digital technologies. In 2020, the GSM Association counted 95 such services in Kenya . This is around twice the number found for instance in Nigeria, the country with the second highest digital agricultural services prevalence in Africa. Providers range from small start-ups to large companies that mainly offer advice, finance and market linkage.

But scaling up these solutions remains a challenge. A study on digital agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa showed that only a few service providers managed to register more than one million users. In Kenya, it's estimated that only 20% to 30% of farmers use a digital agricultural solution. This is better than other countries in the region  but still low.

In our research , we examined how to support the scaling of digital agricultural services in Kenya. We found that uptake could be increased by building digital bridges in the form of digital platforms that bundle such services for easy access and use. But human bridges are also needed that link service users and providers.

The insights from the research can help service and platform providers design and scale solutions that suit different users. They can also inform policies and investments needed to create the conditions for scaling these services.

What we did

We conducted a survey of 758 likely users of hypothetical digital platforms that would aggregate digital agricultural services in Kenya. All the potential users had access to the internet or basic data connectivity. Respondents were contacted via relevant Facebook groups and invited to complete the survey online.

A second in-person survey shed light on how agricultural intermediaries in Kenyan value chains use digital technologies in their work. These included 296 input dealers, output dealers and extension agents. Our research offers the first comprehensive study of the digital capabilities of agricultural intermediaries. More commonly, studies focus on agricultural producers.

What we found

Our research showed that likely users would see value in aggregator platforms if they made digital agricultural services easier to find and assured their quality. They would also like platforms to be open to a wide range of value chain actors with diverse levels of digital skills. Our findings also highlighted that human interaction still matters. It should complement digitally enabled contacts and transactions.

Aggregator platforms can help scale up digital agricultural solutions in a number of ways:

Accessibility and usability: The platforms could make digital agricultural services easier to locate and use. This would help users navigate the often confusing array of services on offer. For instance, platforms could provide a one-stop shop for a diverse range of services that are easily searchable and only require a single registration and payment system. They would need to be usable with different types of digital technologies and skills.

Value enhancement and trust building: Aggregator platforms would be valuable if they could guarantee the quality and reliability of digital agricultural services. This would build trust in the services. They could do so, for instance, by setting, monitoring and enforcing quality standards for participating service providers or introducing user rating systems.

Human intermediaries could also play an important role in building trust.

Inclusivity: Users would like aggregator platforms to include a wide range of value chains and actors. Through their networks, intermediaries could get more actors to use aggregator platforms.

Of course, aggregator platforms don't offer all the answers to scaling digital agricultural solutions. They would need a supportive policy environment. But there are gaps. These include:

Insufficient digital skills. This needs to be addressed by integrating related training at all levels of education.

Poor technology infrastructure. This would require expanding access to high-speed mobile networks, affordable smartphones and reliable electricity, particularly in rural areas.

The way forward

Various factors have contributed to Kenya's leadership role in digital agriculture in Africa. Mobile network infrastructure expanded early on, supported by government policies which attracted the necessary investments and fostered competition.

Digital business development was largely driven by dedicated individuals, innovation hubs and so-called angel investors. Together they created a conducive innovation environment for local start-ups developing digital solutions for a technology-savvy customer base of relatively well-educated users.

The widespread adoption of M-Pesa also played an important role. It facilitated the provision of digital agricultural services that require financial transactions.

The country needs to build on these successes. The digital transformation of Kenya's agriculture will become a reality if it can link viable digital solutions providers with potential beneficiaries. That requires digital bridges connecting diverse services and users. But it will also require human bridges to narrow the technological and skill gaps, to build trust in service provision and to reach those who are not yet connected.

Aggregator platforms that integrate agricultural intermediaries into their design are one avenue for building such bridges. This will happen if they understand the different demands and capacities of their users. The design and marketing of digital agricultural services will have to match users' needs and abilities. Similarly, public and private investments in skills, infrastructure and the business environment are crucial for such platforms to fulfil their potential.

Heike Baumuller receives funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

John Kieti has received funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

By Heike Baumuller, Senior Researcher, Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn And

John Kieti, PhD Researcher, University of Nairobi
The Majority in Parliament is asking the Minority to give the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta an opportunity to be heard on allegations that formed the basis for a vote of censure against him.

The Minority filed a motion of vote of censure against the Finance Minister over claims of conflict of interest and fiscal recklessness leading to the current economic hardship.

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, in his ruling on an objection against the vote of censure, described the motion as appropriately laid.

But speaking on the floor of Parliament, the Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin raised some other concerns pertaining to the motion.

The Minister is entitled to be heard. You cannot take away the right to fair hearing from a respondent. So Mr. Speaker, my view is that, we have a serious matter as censure and the applicants have not served the Minister neither have they served the basis on which they mounted their application.

The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu said the Speaker's ruling must be upheld.

The Speaker has ruled, and we must show respect to the Speaker. If there are any disagreements with the ruling, they know what to do. Ordinarily, any civilized democracy in the world, you dont even need a motion for the Minister of Finance to go home. He, upon self-appraisal of where he has led the country and economy to, in all conscience, will bow out and save the nation. So, we have brought a competent motion.

The Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Andrew Asiamah Amoako in his ruling has directed that the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbins ruling on the matter be maintained.

The issue of censure motion has already been discussed. These issues were raised, and the Speaker ruled that the motion was appropriate, so I think that we will patiently wait as the motion matures.

The grounds the Minority cites for the vote of censure are:
01.11.2022 LISTEN

The Minority in Parliament says government will announce a haircut on some investments within the next 14 days.

They said the move is part of government's debt restructuring measures.

President Akufo-Addo in his economic recovery speech on Sunday, October 30, 2022, assured that government does not intend to slash the returns made on investments in its negotiations with the International Monetary Fund.

But addressing the media on Tuesday, November 1, 2022, the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu insisted that there will be some form of cuts in investments in the coming days.

Mr. Iddrisu accused the president of creating the current economic mess the country currently finds itself in.

As a Minority group, we believe the president failed to accept responsibility [during his address] that he is responsible for the sorry state of the Ghanaian economy, and he is responsible for the wrench economy which has consequences on livelihoods. Poverty has exacerbated, cost of living has gone high, cost of doing business has gone high, many businesses are folding up, and some industries are now re-routing their investments into neighbouring Ivory Coast and other countries because Ghana is no longer the investment haven as it should be.

He also alleged that considering the happenings and conditions that come with seeking an IMF facility, haircuts on investments are inevitable.

We are giving you only 14 days from today, and you will hear from them publicly efforts to restructure our unsustainable debt, and those efforts will necessarily include a sika mp dede baba [mallam] for many persons who have investments and savings in some instruments.

Those of you who listen to [Kristalina] Georgieva of the IMF, you will recall a few months ago when the World Bank and the IMF, particularly led by its Managing Director, were again categorical that they didnt see anything wrong with Government policy. We now state that there is everything wrong with Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addos government and his economic management teams policy on borrowing. Borrowing is a policy. You decide to borrow and how much to borrow and where to direct the borrowing. So if you now borrow to the level of debt distress, to the level of unsustainable debt, to the level that you are now talking about ratio of 105% of GDP as your debt level and then he Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the president of the Republic added that he hopes that Ghanas debt to GDP will improve to 55% by 2028, we ask the question, where will he be?

-citinewsroom
The Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Bagbin is questioning how he is continually being denied military protection under President Akufo-Addo's government.

Early this year in January, some four military officers assigned to the office of the Speaker of Parliament were withdrawn by the Ghana Armed Forces, citing improper procedure.

While many including the Speaker thought the proper procedures would be followed for new military officers to be assigned, it has not been done to date.

Speaking on the matter during a media engagement in Parliament last Friday, Speaker Alban Bagbin wondered why he is being treated unfairly by Akufo-Addo's government.

He is shocked that there is a military attache for EC boss Jean Mensa, the Chief Justice, and others while he is denied the same treatment although he is the third gentleman of the land.

When I was second deputy Speaker, the Office of the same President approved his staff sergeant to be my military attache. For four good years, the staff sergeant was with me. Now I have been elected as Speaker, which is a higher position, and the same President says I am not entitled to military attache, but the others are entitled. If you go to his Excellency's office, you may count getting to about 200 military [personne], and the Vice-President definitely has access to some.

I, following, I am not entitled, but the Chief Justice who is after me has four military personnel; ministers have their own and each Supreme Court judge has two military personnel, and as for the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, that is a battalion. The Minister of National Security is entitled to military and my brothers in the Interior and Defence ministries both have; the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice has his own. The same with the Minister of Finance, but the Speaker is not entitled and this is Ghana's unique democracy, the unhappy Speaker of Parliament shared.

Despite being appalled by the treatment from the government, Speaker Alban Bagbin notes that he is not shaken as he is very safe and protected.
South Africa, one of the world's largest greenhouse gas emitters, will require at least half-a-trillion dollars to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the World Bank said Tuesday.

"Financing requirements associated with the transitions could amount to 4.4 percent of GDP per year -- or 8.5 trillion rand (about $500 billion)" between this year and 2050, said the bank in a report published Tuesday.

In light of the government's limited fiscal capacity, the domestic private sector and external financing will be required for the transition, it said.

Last year, South Africa, the continent's most industrialised economy, secured $8.5 billion in loans and grants from a group of rich nations to finance the transition to cleaner energy sources.

The bank said South Africa accounts for 1.2 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions -- with the coal-dominated energy sector responsible for nearly half of its discharges.

"The power sector... will need to transform radically by moving away from coal toward renewables," it said, projecting that solar and wind will provide about 85 percent of the country's energy by 2050.

The country "is one of the most carbon- and energy intensive economies in the world", the bank added, noting that South Africa's carbon intensity was 3.2 times higher than the global average in 2019.

"This shift should start immediately to address the ailing generation capacity, accompanied by (an) enhanced regional energy market," said the bank.

A shift away from coal for renewable sources of energy will help the country tackle its ongoing energy crisis "most urgently and cost-competitively".

But transitioning from coal will come at a heavy cost.

The bank estimates that at least 300,000 jobs in high-emitting sectors will be lost, urging the government to find ways to alleviate the potential negative effects of the transition.

For every job lost, the bank estimated that between two and three jobs could be created in renewables, green manufacturing and non-coal mining sectors.
As part of measures put in place by the traditional authorities of Nabdam in collaboration with the Nabdam District Assembly as well as Queros Gualvao, the contractor working on the Bolgatanga-Bawku highway, the three partners agreed to erect beehives among other measures along the Wildlife Eastern Corridor stretch that serves as the pathway for the elephants aimed at preventing the annual invasion by these stone pieces.

This incident left many farmers still honouring their loan obligations contracted from banks to farm during the last farming season as a result of a number of elephant invasions experienced by the farmers during the last harvesting season in particular.

The Paramount Chief of the Sakote Traditional Area, Naba Sigri Bewong who disclosed this in an interview with ModernGhana News at his palace in Sakote added that the move was sponsored by the contractor as part of its corporate social responsibilities to the people of the area to enable them benefit from their yearly labour.

Having agreed to handle the cost of manufacturing the beehives that will stand the test of time, Naba Sigri Bewong also stated that the contractor suggested if the traditional authorities of the area could form what is called Community Resource Management Committee (CRMC) to be responsible in the management and maintenance of the beehive for the benefit of members of the stretch.

Members of this committee according to the Paramount Chief, should be made of the Traditional Ruler, Unit Committee Member, three Assembly Members, a Queen Mother, a member of the Charcoal Burners Association, Youth Leader of the community, a fisherman and a Fulani herdsman.

Other measures employed aside the establishment of the beehives included the flashed lightening system in the night by some community volunteers during harvesting as well as the tying of nylon ropes around the farms on which farmers tie white rubbers. It makes noise anytime the wind blows to drive them away since elephants dislike noisy environments.
Kwabena Agyapong. Former Press Secretary to former President John Agyekum Kufuor has said the woes of Ghana can be transformed within two years if he assumes the highest position as President.

He said with his track record as a former General Secretary of the incumbent NPP and his politics of service, sacrifice and selflessness, Ghana can be the gateway to Africa.

He added that during his term as a press secretary, he never amassed wealth at the expense of the destitute, impoverished and vulnerable.

Mr Agyapong with a strong presidential ambition said, unlike the political sweet talkers, he will put into action every word of his without fear or favour.

He said considering the population of Ghana, only 19 ministers,19 deputy ministers in addition to 16 regional ministers will be adequate to steer the nation towards progress and development.

Kwabena Agyapong granted an interview to Kofi Marfo (Sir Richie) on a London-based Ghanaian radio station, Hot Digital Online.

Mr Agyapong stressed that his government will hire competent Ghanaians regardless of their political orientation, however, he will not hesitate to fire anyone who ill performs.

On the economy, Mr Agyapong indicated that he has nothing personal against Ken Ofori-Atta, however he strongly believes the Finance Minister must be relieved of his post.

On galamsey, Kwabena Agyapong said, his government will tackle the menace from the source. He noted that surveillance will be mounted high on the country's borders and harbours.

Mr Agyapong added that even though he was ostracized from his own party and has now been exonerated, NPP is still in his blood.

On speculations of a possible uprising in Ghana, Mr Agyepong indicated that the coup in 1979 and 1981 which caused the infamous abduction and murder of his father, Lawyer Kwadwo Adjei Agyapong must never repeat itself. He intimated that democracy is about counting heads not cutting heads.

Mr Agyapong is on a tour in the United Kingdom and America in his bid to become the next President of Ghana.

Watch the interview below:
The Essikado-Ketan Parliamentary candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2020 polls, Dr Grace Ayensu-Danquah, has dropped her case against the New Patriotic Party's Joe Ghartey, MP for the same constituency, who, she insists, was fraudulently declared the winner by the Electoral Commission.

Dr Ayensu-Danquahs decision, according to her, is because of disappointment and frustration, especially as the case, which has dragged on for close to two years, with no end in sight, continues to drain her time and commitment towards rejuvenating the party at the constituency level.

Dr Ayensu-Danquah, who is an American-trained Burn Reconstructive Surgeon, has also debunked syndicated media reports suggesting she was fined for chickening out of the case.

According to her, Counsel for the plaintiffs demanded GHC500,000 but the Judge, Justice Richmond Osei Hwere, declined the request and instead handed them (the 1st and 2nd respondents, i.e. the Electoral Commission and Joe Ghartey) the initial GHC20,000 deposited to settle administrative fees.

The 2020 Essikado-Ketan NDC candidate in her petition to the Sekondi High Court, cited several infractions during the coalition of votes which changed the figures in favour of the incumbent MP, Joe Ghartey.

She avers that illegality resulted in the EC declaring results based on the second respondent, Joe Gharteys own pink sheets, which gave him  26,701 valid votes compared to the NDC candidate  24,527, while Ghana Union Movements (GUM), Frank Cobbinah Parliamentary candidate polled just 629.

The petitioner however insisted that her "own collated results from the figures declared after counting at polling stations were that the first respondent obtained 26,299 valid votes while the petitioner had 26,336 valid votes, making the petitioner the obvious winner, but the second respondent declared otherwise."

But Dr Grace Ayensu, in her termination plea before Court raised a number of concerns.

That to date she and her lawyer, Daniel Ametepe, have complied fully with all orders of the High Court and have pursued the matter with the utmost zeal and diligence but the 1st Respondent has not yet complied with pre-trail orders of the Court by the failure to file his witness statement and pre-trial checklist.

That 20 months after she first filed the action, a lot of water has gone under the bridge and upon serious reflection and consultation, "I have decided to let go and rather help my party focus on the future reorganisation as Election 2024 is not too far away, she explained.

She has since described twists on the development and the Courts decision to fine her as mischievous and lacks appreciation of how the case travelled and her reason to move on.

It is left with just about two years to the next elections but because of this case, not much in terms of development is happening in Essikado-Ketan, but just confusion, her lawyer, Mr Daniel Ametepe, explained to journalists, after the hearing.

We filed a witness statement for three witnesses to come before the court to narrate what happened on the 7th and 8th of December 2020 because we had a case, he continued: Joe Gharteys lawyer filed a motion for the case to be dismissed but he lost that case and still went ahead to file an appeal to that ruling.

Even the appeal that Joe Ghartey made his lawyer file, he is not pursuing it, Mr Ametepe noted, indicating: This is all to create uncertainty in the High Court.

So, the processes that we have taken to terminate the case [are] part of the rules of the court. That is why the judge granted our case of discontinuation, he concluded.

Source: classfmonline.com
Dr. Kabiru Mahama, Technical Advisor, Office of the Vice President

02.11.2022 LISTEN

The Technical Advisor at the Office of the Vice President, Dr. Kabiru Mahama, has clarified why President Akufo-Addo carries his chair around.

President Akufo-Addo has been slammed for dedicating a V8 to be moving his chair around.

The main opposition, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and some political experts have been complaining that carrying the chair around in a V8 vehicle is causing financial loss to the state.

But according to Dr. Mahama, those agitations by the opposition are just baseless propaganda, explaining that the President carries his chair around for security reasons.

This propaganda about this presidential chair ought to stop because we know that the president goes with his handlers and presidential staffers. If a president for national security reasons..." he noted.

Speaking on Accra-based Metro TV's Good Morning Ghana show on Tuesday, November 1, he further explained that as President, whatever he wears, eats and sits on is in line with the National Security advice.

The host, Randy Abbey asked, Are you justifying taking a special chair to a radio studio? Dr. Mahama responded: I am justifying the fact that what the president eats, what the president wears, what the president sits on must be in line with the National Security standards.

On why the chair is not carried along with the President when he travels abroad, he noted, Let me tell you why it may not be applicable outside Ghana, one; systems elsewhere are different."

He continued to suggest that this chair is having its own car and is being fueled when it can easily be placed in the boot of a car and go anywhere they want, you try to make a lot of noise about it.

Dr. Mahama refutes the claim that the President is simply obsessed with luxurious lifestyles, citing an instance when American President Joe Biden drove to Queen Elizabeth's funeral in his own fleet when other Presidents boarded a bus.

It wasn't a luxury, he said, but a security protocol he had to follow in that situation.
Hospitals in and around Paris have started transferring children to paediatric intensive care units in other hospitals to alleviate overcrowding due to an epidemic of bronchiolitis that is putting strain on already short-staffed paediatric services. The health minister said he will meet with healthcare workers on Wednesday to address what has been called a crisis in France's paediatric healthcare sector.

Some 30 children have been transferred to hospitals outside of the Paris region, as emergency services in the capital are overwhelmed by a convergence of a large number of bronchiolitis cases needing hospitalisation, and a staffing shortage in paediatric services.

Doctors are used to treating bronchiolitis, a common, contagious chest infection that mostly affects babies. But this year, the infection has reached epidemic proportions, with over a quarter of children under the age of two needing to be hospitalised for two to four days due to trouble breathing.

The Paris regional health agency declared a bronchiolitis epidemic on 3 October, and since then it says there has been a stark increase of visits to children's emergency services over the last three weeks.

The French public health authority said last week that nearly the entire country is seeing epidemic levels of the illness.

The bronchiolitis epidemic coincides with staffing shortages in the health sector, and the Paris area regional health agency said there are fewer paediatric emergency beds open than there were in 2021.

On Tuesday, Health minister Francois Braun said he would meet with paediatric healthcare workers to address what they say are poor work conditions, notably for nurses, which also make it difficult to recruit.

Earlier in October, a group of 7,000 paediatric healthcare workers signed an open letter to French President Emmanuel Macron decrying work conditions and their inability to properly care for patients, blaming it on irresponsible political inaction

Braun responded with a 150 million euro immediate action plan and a promise to hold a concertation on paediatric care in the spring.

The collective at the origin of the letter said what was being offered was not enough to address structural issues in the healthcare sector. They are calling for bonuses for nurses who specialise in treating children, who have specific skills and are difficult to replace.

The collective had been planning to gather at the Eylsee palace Wednesday to attempt to personally deliver a letter to Macron underlying the urgency of the situation.

(with wires)
The Concerned Citizens Against Discrimination (C-CAD) has expressed concern about the reasons given by Teacher Unions and education stakeholders for the appointment of the new Ghana Education Service (GES) Director General, Dr. Eric Nkansah.

Since his appointment was confirmed by the Presidency, some teacher unions have argued that he is not qualified for the job while others have also insisted that his appointment is politically motivated.

Amid agitations, the National Council of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), has given President AKufo-Addo an ultimatum to revoke Dr. Nkansahs appointment by 4th November.

In a press release from the Concerned Citizens Against Discrimination, the group says it has noticed that the Teacher Unions have not conducted a thorough background check on Dr. Nkansah before going public with their pronouncements in opposition to the appointment.

C-CAD is urging the Teacher Unions and all stakeholders in the education sector to do a thorough background check on the new GES Director General.

We are however taken aback by a purported new release dated 30th October 2022 from a press conference by the National Council of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), giving ultimatum to the President of Ghana to revoke Dr. Nkansahs appointment by 4th November, published on Graphic online.

In the said press release, reference was again made to Dr. Eric Nkansah as a banker which we find very inappropriate. We would therefore urge the Teacher Unions to do a thorough background check on Dr. Eric Nkansah to ascertain his suitability for the job, the release by Concerned Citizens Against Discrimination read in parts.

Below is a copy of the release:

PRESS RELEASE

We - Concerned Citizens Against Discrimination (C-CAD)  would like to issue a Press Release in the matter involving the appointment of Dr. Eric Nkansah as Director General of Ghana Education Service (GES).

As a group, we are particularly interested in this case for a number of reasons. Firstly, the age of the appointee. We would not want to believe that the Teacher Unions are opposed to the appointment of Dr. Nkansah partly because he is a younger person. He was referred to as young man by NAGRAT President during news conference by the Teacher Unions.

Secondly, we have noticed that the Teacher Unions have not conducted a thorough background check on Dr. Nkansah prior to going public with their statements in opposition to the appointment.

We have since written a Rejoinder to the Teacher Unions / Open Letter to the President of the Republic; which have been published on Graphic online, Citinews online, Ghanaweb and Modernghana.com.

Our advocacy was given a boost by the Renowned/Veteran Journalist Hon Ajoa Yeboah-Afari in her column of The Mirror on Saturday October 29, 2022 with the title Three Education Sector Surprises, and a related Open Letter.

We are however taken aback by a purported new release dated 30th October 2022 from a press conference by the National Council of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), giving ultimatum to the President of Ghana to revoke Dr. Nkansahs appointment by 4th November, published on Graphic online.

In the said press release, reference was again made to Dr. Eric Nkansah as a banker which we find very inappropriate. We would therefore urge the Teacher Unions to do a thorough background check on Dr. Eric Nkansah to ascertain his suitability for the job.

We have attached our published rejoinder for ease of reference.

Maxwell Maundy

Concerned Citizens Against Discrimination (C-CAD)
The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has given a new update on the talks between government of Ghana and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Speaking to 3Business in an interview, the Ofoase-Ayirebi MP said all talks relating to debt analysis have been completed with the Fund.

According to him, the government will soon come out with a communique to update Ghanaians with details.

The debt analysis has been completed and the details will be announced soon, Mr. Oppong Nkrumah shared.

The government of Ghana has been in talks with the International Monetary Fund since July after President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo directed Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to engage the fund for support.

While government informs the public that talks with the IMF are far advanced, there are concerns that a deal for a support programme may not be reached until the first quarter of next year.

But Government has expressed confidence that before the end of the year, a deal would have been reached for it to receive support to bolster the poor-performing Ghanaian economy.

Some finance and economic experts argue that Ghanaians will find some respite once the deal is sealed.
02.11.2022 LISTEN

1.0 Introduction

If there is one criminal activity that has outsmarted Ghanaians, it is illegal gold mining. Christened as galamsey, this ass has turned all those who wield power in Ghana into an edentulous lot. Finding a solution to the problem has eluded the President of the Republic. Chiefs are wriggling their hands in despair. The Army and the Police seem clueless. Religious leaders have not found a solution, despite on-site prayers. Journalists have formed coalitions, done underground investigations at the peril of their lives, and yet almost all the major rivers we learned about in High School now look like rich chocolate drink. Talk about Rivers Offin, Pra, Birim, Ankobra, etc. Forest reserves are no longer forests to be reserved.

After years of fighting the menace, we scored an ace a few months ago when we arrested one Chinese woman and her three or so inconsequential Chinese collaborators, believed to be the nerve-centre of galamsey. They are reportedly in custody and facing criminal trial but our riverbeds and forest reserves are still being overturned with sophisticated machinery even as at this moment. Every one alleges there are big people behind the illegal mining activities. Yet, no one mentions names. And the pillage and wanton destruction go on while those who are in duty bound  politically, militarily and customarily - to lead the fight have joined the masses to sing dirges of frustration. Who, then, will lead the fight against this canker of an illegality?

It has recently been suggested that, a possible way of curbing the illegal mining menace is to adopt alternative dispute resolution methods (ADR) in dealing with cases arising out of such illegal activities.[1] This article gives an overview and explores the use of ADR in settling disputes. In particular, the article discusses the suggestion that has been made recently, proposing the use of ADR to handle galamsey cases. The article posits that, illegal mining (galamsey) is a matter of national and public interest. It is also an issue that affects the environment. Illegal mining is a criminal enterprise and as such, any cases that arise out of it must be dealt with according to the strict sanctions regime under our criminal laws. It concludes that, ADR is not, and cannot be, a viable legal strategy that can be used to address the debilitating phenomenon of illegal mining.

2.0 Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR): Brief background

2.1 What is ADR?

ADR is the short form of alternative dispute resolution. Generally, whenever there is a dispute or misunderstanding, the first thing that comes to mind is to go to court. Therefore, the majority of disputes are settled through the courts. The courts handle all manner of cases such as divorce, child custody, land cases, commercial and business cases, estates and trusts administration, criminal cases, and so on. However, the processes and procedures for handling cases in court can be daunting, even for the most sophisticated of persons. Litigation can be very expensive in terms of money and time spent to go through the life cycle of a case in court. Moreover, hardly do people come out of fighting their cases in court and remain friends. For most business owners, going through a court case with a business associate or partner negatively affects their business relationships.

In order to ensure that there are other means of resolving disputes and misunderstandings other than going to court, other forms of handling disputes have emerged. These modes of settling cases are believed to be less formal, less expensive, less time-consuming and less acrimonious, among many other advantages. It is these other modes of settling disputes (other than litigating in court) that are known as alternative dispute resolution, or ADR for short.

2.2 What are the ADR methods used in settling disputes?

The popular ADR methods that are used in settling disputes are arbitration, mediation and customary arbitration. Arbitration is the most popular and commonly used of the ADR methods. It is widely used in settling international commercial disputes as well.[2] Arbitration is popular because the decision given by the arbitrator or umpire is final.[3] It is just like a decision given by a court. An arbitral award  whether made in Ghana or at international arbitration - can be enforced against a party in Ghana just like any judgment given by a court.[4]

Mediation is also now widely used as a means of resolving disputes. Mediation has been given a further boost since it was formally introduced into the High Court Rules recently.[5] As a result of introducing mediation into the court system, persons who have already filed their cases in court can opt for court-assisted mediation.

Customary arbitration as known and practiced under customary law in various communities in Ghana is also recognized as a valid and enforceable alternative method of dispute resolution. Customary arbitration is usually used in settling disputes before a head of family, a chief, etc. under our traditional customs and usages.

One major feature of ADR that makes it popular is that, the parties involved in a dispute get to choose the person they want to settle their dispute for them. The rules of procedure are not rigid and formal as we have in the rules that are used in the law courts. With arbitration, for instance, the parties can choose one arbitrator or a panel of three (3) arbitrators. If they choose a panel of three, each party will choose one arbitrator. Then both parties will select one other person to be the third arbitrator. The third arbitrator will act as the umpire or chairperson of the panel. This may sound easy but sometimes, getting the parties to agree on an umpire can be a challenge.[6]

2.3 History of ADR in Ghana

The use of arbitration as an alternative means of settling cases was recognized in pre-independence Gold Coast. It was regulated by a law that bore the ancient name of Arbitration Ordinance.[7] When Gold Coast gained its independence and was named Ghana, the new nation-state set out to pass its own laws to reflect the history, culture and aspirations of its people. Hence, an Arbitration Act was passed in 1961.[8] In view of the huge progress that has been made in the use of arbitration in settling disputes worldwide, Parliament passed a new law in 2010 to regulate the use of ADR in Ghana. Thus, the current law  Alternative Disputes Resolution Act  was born.[9] The law recognizes arbitration, mediation and customary arbitration as alternative means of resolving disputes.

3.0 What types of cases can be handled under ADR?

It is important to note that, unlike courts that deal with every type of case, ADR methods such as arbitration and mediation cannot be used to settle every type of dispute. They can be used to settle only some types of disputes or cases. The cases that can be settled by ADR usually arise in the following areas:[10] Energy, Construction, Labour disputes, Oil and gas, Mining services, Insurance services, Intellectual property rights, Maritime and shipping, Property and land disputes, Chieftaincy disputes and so on.

4.0 What cases cannot be resolved by ADR?

As noted earlier, the ADR Act of 2010 is the law that regulates the use of alternative dispute resolution methods to settle cases. Under section 1 of the ADR Act, there are specific cases that cannot be settled by ADR whether by arbitration, mediation or customary arbitration. The cases that cannot be settled by ADR are cases relating to:[11] (a) the national or public interest; (b) the environment; (c) the enforcement and interpretation of the Constitution; and (d) any other matter that by law cannot be settled by an alternative dispute resolution method. The matters that cannot be settled by an alternative dispute resolution method include Family Law disputes (such as marriage, divorce, paternity, adoption etc.), Immigration Law disputes (for example, citizenship, right of residence, etc.) and Criminal offences (such as rape, defilement, murder and other offences under the Criminal Offences Act[12]).

5.0 Can illegal mining cases be handled under ADR?

In the light of the knowledge that disputes on issues that are of national or public interest, issues that affect the environment, as well as criminal offences, cannot be resolved by ADR, it is submitted that, the proposal for ADR to be used for resolving galamsey cases does not hold valid. In the first place, illegal mining is arguably public enemy number 1 in Ghana now. It is a matter of utmost national and public interest. The cocoa industry is reportedly facing imminent collapse because of illegal mining. Ghana Water Company has warned we may soon have to import water as a country since all our major sources of water are being polluted by galamsey.

Citizens are being hounded out of their homes by illegal miners; judicial officers are not spared.[13] Illegal migrants are sneaking in to partake in the spoils from galamsey. Our youth prefer galamsey to education; galamsey proceeds are immediate and tangible. Not a day passes that the news media do not report on the negative impact galamsey is having on our country. It is submitted that, such a matter of national and public interest cannot be left to be jaw-jawed at arbitration or mediation proceedings. The perpetrators must face the full rigours of the law of the Republic in the courtroom. It is for this reason that the ADR Act is not applicable to matters of national and public interest.

Secondly, it is common knowledge that illegal mining activities harm the environment. Our water bodies are polluted beyond belief. Our forest reserves have lost the very essence of their names. The ADR Act specifically excludes matters concerning the environment from its ambit. Even the suggestion that the provisions of the ADR Act could be amended to make environmental issues amenable to arbitration and mediation is problematic.

Thirdly, it is no derogation of words to say that illegal mining is criminal. And as stated in the earlier paragraphs, criminal offences cannot be sanctioned under ADR. Criminal offences such as illegal mining are handled by courts with criminal jurisdiction under the Criminal Offences Act and the Criminal Procedure Rules.[14] Those found guilty by the courts of law are punished according to the provisions of the law. Let us consider a typical scenario: a person who is illegally mining in someones cocoa farm is arrested by the farm owner. If ADR is available for dealing with such issues, the illegal miner chooses an arbitrator, and has the right to decide who will be the umpire too! Will there be any incentive for illegal mining to stop in such a situation? Your guess is as good as mine.

6.0 Conclusion

Sometime in August, 2018, I decided to spend some time with my younger brother, a medical doctor, at his work station at Agroyesum St Martins Hospital in the Amansie West District of the Ashanti Region. We drove together from Kumasi. It was a jolly good ride. Anwia- Nkwanta bofrot and all. A few miles after we branched off the Kumasi-Obuasi Highway, I began to encounter the most devastated environment I had ever seen in my life. Abandoned illegal mining sites. In my trepidation and anguish, my brother tried to console me with the fact that the situation I was carrying on about was far better. He said the illegal miners had been driven away by the anti-galamsey taskforce so what I was seeing was far better. So, those people took away whatever they managed to extract from the belly of Mother Earth and left in their trail such monumental destruction. Wanton pillage and destruction. And they have just walked away free. Criminals on rampage with no one to stop them. Till date, that horrible sight is etched in my memory.

It is for this reason that I do not share the enthusiasm of those who propose that illegal mining cases should be handled through ADR. Illegal mining is a crime. Crimes are handled under the criminal laws of Ghana, not ADR. Illegal mining is a matter of national and public interest. National and public interest cases are settled in court, not through ADR. Illegal mining adversely affects the environment. Environmental issues are resolved in court, not through ADR. We have enough heads under which to handle illegal mining cases in the courts. Much as I am a staunch proponent and practitioner of ADR, ADR is simply not an option for addressing the beast called galamsey.

Footnotes

[1] The suggestion that ADR can be used to resolve illegal mining cases was reportedly made by a Supreme Court nominee who appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament recently. Source: https://gna.org.gh/2022/10/justice-ackah-yensu-calls-for-adr-in-addressing-galamsey-menace/

[2] The use of arbitration in resolving disputes is so important that, there is a UN Convention on it, known as the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, New York, 1958 (New York Convention). Ghana acceded to the New York Convention on 8th April, 1968 and it took effect on 8th July, 1968. In Ghana, the Convention is applicable for the recognition and enforcement of awards made in the territory of another contracting State. Due to its importance, the Convention has been incorporated into Ghanaian law in Schedule 1 of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act, 2010 (Act 798). The ADR Act contains most of the provisions of the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (1985), with amendments as adopted in 2006. Ghana is also a signatory to International Convention on Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (ICSID), having ratified the ICSID Convention on 13th July, 1966. It came into force on 14th October, 1966

[3] See: Order 64 rule 8 of the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2004 (C.I 47). Section 52 of the ADR Act also provides that, subject to the right of a party to set aside an award under section 58 of the Act, an arbitration award is final and binding as between the parties and any person claiming through or under them.

[4] Sections 57 (1) (on arbitral awards given in Ghana) and section 59 (1) (on foreign arbitral awards) of the ADR Act. For an example of a foreign arbitration award enforced in Ghana, see: Get Technologies Ltd v Bankswitch Ghana Ltd Suit No. GJ/1041/2017, ruling dated 28th July, 2017, HC (unreported)

[5] High Court (Civil Procedure) (Amendment) Rules, 2020 (C.I 133)

[6] See: Westchester Resources Ltd v Ashanti Goldfields Co. & Africore Ghana Ltd v Ashanti Goldfield Co. Consolidated Civil Appeal No. J4/63/2013 judgment dated 11th November, 2015, SC (unreported) where the parties were able to choose their respective arbitrators but they could not agree on the person to choose as the umpire.

[7] Cap. 16 (1951 Rev.). That law was based primarily on the provisions of the English Arbitration Act, 1889, which was later re-enacted as the English Arbitration Act, 1950. See also: Arbitration (Foreign Awards) Ordinance (Cap. 17)

[8] Act 38

[9] Alternative Disputes Resolution Act, 2010 (Act 798). Order 64 of the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2004 (C.I 47) sets out the procedure rules for arbitration

[10] See: Melisa Amarteifio and Isaac Aburam Lartey, Arbitration Procedures and Practice in Ghana: Overview, available at https://uk.practicallaw.thomsonreuters.com/66107025?transitionType=Default&contextData=(sc.Default)&firstPage=true

[11] Section 1 of the ADR Act

[12]1960 (Act 29) (as amended)

[13] https://dennislawnews.com/article/galamsey-activities-in-nkroful-area-forces-district-court-magistrate-to-vacate-official-bungalow

[14] See: Acts 29 and 30 of 1960 (as amended)
Religious Bodies in Ghana have called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to ban small-scale mining in the country until a workable solution is found to dealing with illegal mining, known as galamsey.

The religious bodies, comprising the Christian Council of Ghana, Ghana Pentecostal Council, Ghana Charismatic and Pentecostal Council, the Catholic Bishops Conference and the National Muslim Council made the statement when they called on the President at the Presidency Tuesday.

Leader of the delegation, Rev. Prof. J.O.Y Mante, who is the chairman of the Christian Council of Ghana, said they were worried about the continuous deterioration of the galamsey menace despite the governments interventions.

We are here as your Spiritual Leaders to find out if there is any problem that we do not knowWe know that the government machinery has the power to uproot anything it wants to uproot.

We are asking ourselves the question, is there something more than we see, Rev. Prof. J.O.Y Mante rhetorically asked, and added that they were ready to partner with the government to deal with the galamsey menace.

Rev. Prof. J.O.Y Mante said the body had visited many galamsey sites across the country and we have seen some very dangerous things that cannot be expressed in textbooks.

The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana said some homes within the communities had dug pits where some residents awkwardly went down the pits to mine gold.

According to Rev. Prof. J.O.Y Mante, the Council had earlier met with the Minister for Lands and Mineral Resources, Samuel Abu Jinaper to express their concerns about the menace.

The Religious Bodys discussion with the President was a follow-up on a press release it issued on the 17th of October 2022, calling on the government to ban small-scale mining until solutions were found to dealing with galamsey.

In the press release, the religious bodies essentially called for a ban to be placed on small-scale mining in the country until a solution is found to the menace.

President Akufo-Addo welcomed and expressed his appreciation to the leaders for their interest in supporting the government's efforts at dealing with the galamsey phenomenon.

The President said he was happy Ghanaians were talking about the galamsey menace, adding: the time when it went out of hand, which we should have talked, we were quiet about it.

He said today, the public discourse and public consciousness have fully been aroused as to the dangers galamsey posed to the countrys growth and progress, adding: that to me is the source of satisfaction.

He said public discourse, advocacies and agitations on the matter were the first step to any fundamental reforms.

As the society, itself is sufficiently seized with and agitated by the problem, and from that, from public opinion, you would then get the reforms and the measures and the decisions that make it possible.

The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor who spoke to the Presidential Press Corps said the call by religious bodies to collaborate with the government in the fight against the galamsey menace was welcome news.
Kenya's President William Ruto announced Wednesday that Nairobi was deploying troops to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in a joint regional operation against a rebel offensive.

The mineral-rich DRC is struggling to contain dozens of armed groups whose recent advances in the country's east have revived old animosities and led to a surge in tensions with neighbouring Rwanda.

Leaders of the seven-nation East African Community (EAC) bloc, in which Kenya is the regional heavyweight, agreed in April to establish a joint force to help restore security in the DRC.

Speaking at a ceremony in Nairobi to announce the deployment, Ruto said the troops were "on a mission to protect humanity".

"The destiny of DRC is intertwined with ours," he added, without giving details of the deployment schedule.

"We will not allow any armed groups, criminals and terrorists to deny us our shared prosperity."

Kenya will command the force, which will also include soldiers from Burundi, South Sudan and Uganda.

A Rwandan contingent will be deployed along the border, after Kinshasa objected to Kigali's participation in any operations within the DRC.

'Military escalation'

Military officials in Nairobi declined to reveal the number of Kenyan soldiers involved, citing "obvious security reasons".

Kenya will command the regional force. By Tony KARUMBA (AFP)

A UN force, known by its French acronym of MONUSCO, is already operating in the DRC.

Burundi and Uganda also sent troops to the DRC earlier at the invitation of the Congolese government.

The M23 rebels, a mostly Congolese group, resumed fighting in late 2021 after lying dormant for years, accusing the DRC government of failing to honour an agreement to integrate its fighters into the army.

Fresh advances by the militia across North Kivu province last month prompted the UN peacekeeping mission there to increase its alert level and boost support for the Congolese army.

The M23's resurgence has had resounding repercussions for relations in central Africa.

The DRC accuses Rwanda of backing the militia, claims denied by Kigali.

On Saturday, Kinshasa decided to expel Rwanda's ambassador. In turn, Rwanda accused Kinshasa of being "on the path of continued military escalation."

Calls for ceasefire

The increase in violence has alarmed the international community, with the African Union appealing for a ceasefire.

Burundi President Evariste Ndayishimiye and current EAC chairman said on Tuesday he held talks with his regional counterparts on "managing the security crisis" and agreed to hold a summit at a yet-to-be-announced date.

The EAC comprises Burundi, the DRC, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

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 in eastern DRC, many of them a legacy of two regional wars that flared late last century.

The groups include the FDLR, a Rwandan Hutu rebel group based in the DRC which Kigali views as a threat and has regularly accused Kinshasa of supporting.

While Rwanda has denied backing M23, a report by independent UN experts seen by AFP in August found that Kigali had provided direct support to the militia.

The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) -- which the Islamic State group claims as its Central African offshoot -- is also active in the region and is accused of slaughtering thousands of Congolese civilians and carrying out bombings in neighbouring Uganda.
The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has said the government is willing to work with Rand Refinery to assist Ghana in obtaining London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) Certification.

He emphasized the significance of the LBMA certificate to the government's plan to develop the mineral industry and make Ghana a key player in the refinery of mineral resources, adding that securing the certification would propel Ghana to participate and fully exploit the benefits in the mineral value chain.

Dr Bawumia made this remark when the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Samuel A. Jinapor, led the delegation from Rand Refinery to call on him at the Jubilee House on Monday to deliberate on ways of actualizing the governments agenda to make Ghana a hub for the processing and refining mineral resources and in particular obtain the LBMA certification for the country.

The Chairman of Rand Refinery, Mr Rams Ramashira, disclosed that his outfit has held positive preliminary talks with the Ministry and other key stakeholders.

He said the CEO of Rand Refinery, a member of the LBMA Board, is very happy to be of assistance and share some experiences and strike some alliances and hope the meeting with key stakeholders will help develop something concrete for the two parties.

Before the meeting with the Vice President, Mr Jinapor and members of Rand Refinery had held discussions where they advocated for effective collaboration between the government and LBMA to ensure that the certification is issued.

The CEO of Rand Refinery, Mr Praveen Baijnath expressed high expectations thta the company would establish a refinery in Ghana.

"Our general strategic objective is to collect much intelligence and data as possible to build a business case and see how we can develop it," he noted.
02.11.2022 LISTEN

Dr. Emmanuel Kwaku Asiedu, the Chief Executive Officer of Gratis Foundation, says Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions must be well equipped with state-of-the-art workshops and laboratories for the effective training of people who would be capable of leading Ghanas industrialisation drive.

He believes that just as every medical school has a teaching hospital attached to it for students practicals, there should not be any TVET institution without well-furnished and fully functional workshops and laboratories to aid hands-on training of students.

Dr. Asiedu, an alumnus of Sunyani Technical University, was delivering a lecture organised by the University as part of its 55th anniversary celebrations.

The theme for the occasion was Mobilising Excellence for Leadership in TVET and Engineering Education for Ghanas Industrialisation Agenda.

Innovations, inventions

Dr. Asiedu proposed that students of TVET institutions must be made to design or come out with an innovation that would solve a problem in society before being allowed to graduate.

He said instead of making such students produce written materials as their project works, they should rather be trained to come out with inventions that would be of great benefit to the country and the world at large.

The CEO, who is also a Consultant to the governments One-District, One Factory (1D1F) Programme, also proposed that lecturers handling various TVET courses should have at least five years industrial training in their respective fields to put them in a better position to impart relevant skills and knowledge to their students.

In this regard, Dr. Asiedu recommended to technical universities in the country to sponsor their lecturers to the industry for specialised skills acquisition to broaden their horizons.

Processing factory

He also suggested that in instances where there is a shortfall of lecturers for certain programmes, the TVET institution could hire the services of practitioners in such areas who may not have the requisite academic qualification to train the students.

He also suggested to STU to consider the setting up of a processing factory to give meaning to its mandate, adding that such a factory would serve as an excellent place for industrial attachment by students while generating income for the university.

Earlier in his opening remarks, the Vice-Chancellor, Ing. Prof. Kwadwo Adinkrah-Appiah, was hopeful that the 55th anniversary celebrations would increase the universitys visibility as well as bring stakeholders on board for the common good of the institution.

The lecture was attended by both students and staff of Sunyani Technical University.
02.11.2022 LISTEN

Following the Presidents call on Ghanaians to prioritise the consumption of locally-manufactured products, the Bono Regional Minister, Justina Owusu Banahene, has been rallying more support for this call.

She believes that if Ghanaians heed to the Presidents call and make it their habit to patronize locally made goods, the cedi would stabilize and compete favourably with other currencies.

The minister stressed that there are enormous benefits for the entire country if we all resolve to pratronise products made in Ghana. Well be creating more jobs, well be expanding the economy and well be putting money in the pockets of our own people while reducing the unemployment rate drastically.

Speaking to the media at Peduase after the recent Cabinet Retreat, Madam Owusu Banahene noted that in the face of the serious economic challenges confronting the nation, local production of goods and services is a veritable way of addressing the challenges associated with our economy.

She called on the media and Ghanaians in general to inculcate the habit of patronizing locally made goods and services in the interest of national economic growth

Robust economy

The Bono Regional Minister said most foreign-made goods are no longer affordable on account of the prevailing exchange rate, adding that happily, most of these goods now have locally made ones. This is the time to patronize our locally made goods with all its benefits for the economy and the stabilization of our currencys value.

She also emphasised that the robustness of the domestic economy of every country greatly depends on citizens taste for locally manufactured goods and services.

According to her, though the campaign to whet Ghanaians appetite for made in Ghana goods and services has been intensified for some years, the efforts are yet to yield appreciable dividends.

Competitiveness

She said products manufactured in Ghana can only be competitive on the international stage if Ghanaians make deliberate and conscious decisions to patronize them, saying; brands do well on the international market when they enjoy high patronage and support from their countries of origin.

According to her, products made in certain countries enjoy good reputation globally because citizens of those countries prefer their own products to products from elsewhere.

However, if a countrys citizens have a high taste for foreign made products, products made in that country struggle on the international market because they are considered inferior by their own people, she explained.

As Ghanaians, we need to support our own products. Ghana has a good name internationally. If we dont like our products, it affects the image of goods made in Ghana, she said.
Members of the Economic Fighters League say they will fully participate in the planned demonstration to be organized by a private legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu.

They accused the government of engaging in thievery.

Martin Kpebu wants the president to resign over the economic challenges hence the planned demonstration.

In a post on Facebook, Mr. Kpebu announced; Ku me preko demo for God and country. Let's join the ku me preko demo reloaded to force Akufo-Addo to resign.

He has scheduled to lead the march on Saturday, November 5, 2022, at 7am.

In a statement on this, the Fighters said Recent developments in our nation have underscored the fact that Akufo-Addo and his NPP cabal have become so comfortable in their stealing and capture that the voice of the People demanding accountability is often swallowed by his government's impunity and contempt.

For this reason it is important and vital for Ghanaians to increase pressure on government and the system, reminding these corrupt politicians that Ghana belongs to the People and that bad leaders can, and will, be disposed of.

In this the Economic Fighters League will always applaud and support every effort made by Ghanaians to challenge the system, and as such we will be participating in the November 5 Demo taking place in Accra. However, as we organise we must remember that while it is understandable, in moments of crisis, to focus on the immediate issues at hand in order to ensure survival, the political beast we face is one that has a long-term plan to dominate and deprive we citizens of our power.

That beast is the rotten NPP-NDC duopoly that has plagued Ghana for thirty years.

The Economic Fighters League has always stood by the assertion that the NPP and the NDC are the same, and that both parties must go. To truly liberate and save Ghana we must break free of the pendulum in which we have been caught since 1992. We must #EndNPPNDCRule; that is the reason why our movement resolved to build the alternative to these two through conscious, consistent organising at grassroots level.

On Tuesday 1 November we made contact with Martin Kpebu, the sole convener of the 5th November demonstration. The objective was to seek clarity on whether we have unity of objective, as organization without unity of objective is purely mobilisation, open to imposing motives and losing us all valuable time at a critical moment. Our position on the state of affairs was stated to him as follows:  The current crisis is a culmination of, among other factors, years of corruption and self interest at the hands of both the NPP and

the NDC, the rotten political duopoly birthed by the 1992 constitution.

- This period has been one sanctioned and underpinned by the 1992 constitution, of which the NPP And the NDC are custodians. This constitution is an abrogation of the power of the

masses to the political establishment, denying Ghanaians the power that is ours by right. This constitution must be abolished and a new, People-centred constitution put in place.

 The NPP-NDC duopoly has deceived Ghanaians that change has and is happening, while instead exploiting the people's power for selfish gain. As such it is necessary that this pendulum duopoly is broken, in order for true and sustainable democracy to be established.

-That is to say, Akufo-Addo and his NPP must go, yes, but so must the entire rotten system over which he is currently custodian. We can not mobilise for the removal of one and leave a vacuum for the other; we must prevent a cooption of this people's action by the NDC who, along with the NPP, are equally responsible for the crisis we currently find ourselves in. Mr Kpebu has responded positively to the above points, indicating that he has no political affiliation. The 5th November demo offers a credible platform for Ghanaians to put pressure on the current custodians of this decaying system. But as we stand, we must be strategic in how we act to save Ghana. We must not allow ourselves, in this moment of crisis, to be co-opted for the partisan interests of this NPP-NDC duopoly, the very forces responsible for the crisis we are in.

We must be very clear. It is not just Akufo-Addo who must go. His corrupt NPP must also go. Their corrupt partner in crime, the NDC, must go. The figurehead of the NDC Mahama, must also go. The entire oppressive system and the constitution underpinning it must

go. Akufo-Addo and his NPP, like Mahama and his NDC before them, are merely the symptoms of and custodians over a system that must be brought down in order for Ghana to survive and thrive.

And so, Comrades, we encourage you to join the November 5th Demo. But as you do so, remember that as we address the symptoms, as we tear down and uproot the custodians, we must keep our eyes on what will truly save Ghana: a system that serves the people under a #NewConstitutionNOW; a move by the people to organise and reclaim our power #Organise4Power; the building of a new, sustainable alternative.

It is only in this that we will be able to ensure that Mother Ghana is never again plagued by the rot of Akufo-Addo and his NPP, Mahama and his NDC, and any other 'force' that seeks to claim the People's power for their own selfish interest.

-3news.com
Burkina Faso's new military leader, Captain Ibrahim Traore, was heading to Mali on Wednesday for his first foreign trip since taking power on September 30, officials in both countries said.

The 34-year-old junta chief will meet his Malian counterpart, Assimi Goita, who came to power in a putsch in August 2020, they said.

"The main issue will be the fight against terrorism," a Burkinabe official said, referring to the two countries' bloody struggle against jihadists.

The Malian foreign ministry said Traore's "friendship and working visit" in the capital Bamako was scheduled to last around three hours.

The two Sahel states rank among the poorest and most volatile nations in the world.

Both leaders came to power at the head of army officers angered by failures to roll back Islamists linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

Along with neighbouring Niger, the two countries have suffered thousands of fatalities and more than two million people have fled their homes.

Traore ousted Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who in January had toppled Burkina's last elected president, Roch Marc Christian Kabore.

Under Goita, Mali began to weave closer ties with the Kremlin, acquiring aircraft to strengthen its beleaguered armed forces and bringing in Russian "trainers", described by Western countries as Wagner mercenaries.

As this relationship intensified, ties with Paris, Mali's traditional ally, deteriorated and France became a target of vilification.

Paris this year pulled out the last troops it had deployed in Mali under its Barkhane anti-jihadist force in the Sahel.

The latest coup in Burkina has been marked by anti-French protests in which some demonstrators have waved Russian flags and demanded the departure of a contingent of 400 French special forces.

On Sunday, the new prime minister, Apollinaire Kyelem de Tembela, hinted that Burkina may look at stronger connections with Russia, in the light of "the new deal" in security.
Kenya's President William Ruto announced Wednesday that Nairobi was deploying troops to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in a joint regional operation against a rebel offensive.

The mineral-rich DRC is struggling to contain dozens of armed groups whose recent advances in the country's east have revived old animosities and led to a surge in tensions with neighbouring Rwanda.

Leaders of the seven-nation East African Community (EAC) bloc, in which Kenya is the regional heavyweight, agreed in April to establish a joint force to help restore security in the DRC.

Speaking at a ceremony in Nairobi to flag off the deployment, Ruto said the troops were "on a mission to protect humanity".

"The destiny of DRC is intertwined with ours," he added, without giving details of the deployment schedule.

"We will not allow any armed groups, criminals and terrorists to deny us our shared prosperity. We owe our brotherly duty to DRC until the job is done."

Kenya will command the force, which will also include soldiers from Burundi, South Sudan and Uganda.

A Rwandan contingent will be deployed along the border, after Kinshasa objected to Kigali's participation in any operations within the DRC.

The Kenyan contingent will be deployed for an initial period of six months and will set up its command base in Goma, the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) said.

'Military escalation'

Military officials in Nairobi declined to reveal the number of Kenyan soldiers involved, citing "obvious security reasons".

But the KDF said "close to a thousand" soldiers had undertaken the mandatory pre-deployment training.

Kenya will command the regional force. By Tony KARUMBA (AFP)

A UN force, known by its French acronym of MONUSCO, is already operating in the DRC.

Burundi and Uganda also sent troops to the DRC earlier at the invitation of the Congolese government.

The M23 rebels, a mostly Congolese group, resumed fighting in late 2021 after lying dormant for years, accusing the DRC government of failing to honour an agreement to integrate its fighters into the army.

Fresh advances by the militia across North Kivu province last month prompted the UN peacekeeping mission there to increase its alert level and boost support for the Congolese army.

The M23's resurgence has had resounding repercussions for relations in central Africa.

The DRC accuses Rwanda of backing the militia, claims denied by Kigali.

On Saturday, Kinshasa decided to expel Rwanda's ambassador. In turn, Kigali accused its neighbour of being "on the path of continued military escalation".

As tensions have spiked, DRC residents have staged angry protests against M23 and Kigali, with hundreds taking to the streets in South Kivu province on Wednesday and chanting: "Let the Rwandans go home!"

The demonstration followed a protest on Monday in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, where thousands marched through the city demanding weapons to fight Rwanda.

Calls for ceasefire

The increase in violence has alarmed the international community, with the African Union appealing for a ceasefire.

Current EAC chairman, Burundi's President Evariste Ndayishimiye, said on Tuesday he held talks with his regional counterparts on "managing the security crisis" and agreed to hold a summit at a date yet to be announced.

The EAC comprises Burundi, the DRC, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

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 in eastern DRC, many of them a legacy of two regional wars that flared late last century.

The groups include the FDLR, a Rwandan Hutu rebel group based in the DRC which Kigali views as a threat and has regularly accused Kinshasa of supporting.

While Rwanda has denied backing M23, a report by independent UN experts seen by AFP in August found that Kigali had provided direct support to the militia.

The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) -- which the Islamic State group claims as its Central African offshoot -- is also active in the region and is accused of slaughtering thousands of Congolese civilians and carrying out bombings in neighbouring Uganda.
The Minority in Parliament has disclosed that the government is profiting so much from the Russia-Ukraine war.

Addressing the media in parliament on Wednesday, November 2, the minority spokesperson on Mines and Energy, John Jinapor shared that checks with PIAC have revealed that the government has made over GHS8 billion in petroleum revenues from the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

According to him, this is more than the money government projected to make in petroleum revenues at the end of 2022.

Its sad to note that fuel price today is going through the roofs. At the beginning of the year, fuel that was selling at GHc6.5 per litre has now increased by more than 300%. Indeed today fuel is more costly than the minimum wage.

I wish to place on record that this government is making so much money from the Russia-Ukraine war. So in three months government has received more than it projected the whole year. So government is making supernormal profit, John Jinapor told the media.

With this, the Minority in Parliament is calling on government to use some of the profits to cushion Ghanaians in the midst of the "insane hike in fuel prices."

The Minority also wants the government to ensure that crude is processed in the country to address petroleum challenges in the country.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, MP for North Tongu

02.11.2022 LISTEN

Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, has called for a reduction in the levies and taxes on petroleum products.

The legislator believes when the taxes are reduced, the prices of fuel will be reduced to bring relief to Ghanaians.

In a tweet on Wednesday, November 2, he complained that the current increase in fuel and transportation prices is highly unbearable for Ghanaians.

I reiterate earlier calls for govt to urgently reduce the taxes on petroleum products. The suffering is unbearable, portion of the tweet reads

According to the MP, Cost of petrol & diesel in Ghana is higher than many countries including Cote dIvoire, Togo, Nigeria & USA.

If the taxes are not removed with immediate effect, Mr. Ablakwa suggested that Parliament will take action.

If Prez Akufo-Addo doesnt listen, Parliament must act.

The recent increase in fuel and transportation prices in Ghana has caused agitation among Ghanaians who are expressing their pain.

In a space of four days, prices have shot up twice causing transportation fares to rise.
Mr. Sulemana Braimah, Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), has echoed his call for press freedom in Ghana.

He stated unequivocally that his call is for journalists who are performing the watchdog function of the media without bias.

According to Mr. Braimah, such journalists should be protected from any injustices or maltreatment.

When we say journalism matters, we mean watchdog journalism, not praise-singing journalism. Journalists who do such critical work must always feel safe to do that important work for society. Safety of journalists matters. And we must fight impunity for crimes against journalists, Mr. Braimah said in a tweet on Wednesday, November 2.

Ghana fell 30 places to 60th out of 180 countries surveyed by Reporters Without Borders in the 2022 World Press Freedom Index (RSF).

Ghana is ranked third-lowest this year, after being ranked 67th in 2002 and 66th in 2005 since the Index's inception in 2002.

The RSF said, In 2020, reporters covering the effectiveness of anti-COVID-19 measures were attacked by security forces.

And political leaders are again making death threats against investigative journalists. Nearly all cases of law enforcement officers attacking journalists are not pursued.
Radical Nkrumahist movement, the Economic Fighters League has issued a press release on the importance of joining the upcoming Ku me preko demonstration.

The protest being organised by Lawyer Martin Kpebu is scheduled to be held on Saturday, November 5, in Accra.

Ahead of the demonstration, the Economic Fighters League says it is in full support and will join the organisers for the march this weekend.

EFL share the view that Ghanaians must rise to remind government that bad leadership will not be entertained.

Recent developments in our nation have underscored the fact that Akufo-Addo and his NPP cabal have become so comfortable in their stealing and capture that the voice of the People demanding accountability is often swallowed by his governments impunity and contempt.

For this reason it is important and vital for Ghanaians to increase pressure on government and the system, reminding these corrupt politicians that Ghana belongs to the People and that bad leaders can, and will, be disposed of, the Economic Fighters League has said in a release.

The release adds, In this the Economic Fighters League will always applaud and support every effort made by Ghanaians to challenge the system, and as such we will be participating in the November 5 Demo taking place in Accra. However, as we organise we must remember that while it is understandable, in moments of crisis, to focus on the immediate issues at hand in order to ensure survival, the political beast we face is one that has a long-term plan to dominate and deprive we citizens of our power.

The simple motive behind the upcoming Ku me preko demo is to protest against the hardships in the country and call on President Akufo-Addo to resign for failing the Ghanaian people.
November 2022 marks the second year of the Ethiopia-Tigray war. What began as a swift armed mission by Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed to bring the rebellious state of Tigray to order soon degenerated into a humanitarian nightmare in which innocent civilians have been killed and many more rendered homeless or destitute.

As many as 500,000 people had died as a result of war-related violence and famine by late 2022. In 2021, Ethiopia reported 5.1 million internally displaced people in 12 months. This, according to a report , is the highest number internally displaced in any country in any single year. Millions more have fled to Sudan as northern Ethiopia, especially Tigray, remains cut off from food, water and medical aid.

On the eve of the war's second anniversary, a commission of independent UN experts warns that the risk of further atrocity crimes is growing if hostilities are not stopped.

Over the course of the war, various scholars have written important articles for The Conversation Africa on the war and its devastating consequences. Here are five essential reads.

1. African Union's failure to broker peace

The African Union pledged in 2016 to silence the guns by the end of 2020: to end armed conflict on the continent. But the AU has not exerted its influence to broker a ceasefire or find peace over the past two years.

The war in Tigray has intensified. Ethiopian and Eritrean armies have encircled Tigray in an attempt to break the resistance. Most international actors, such as the UN, the US, the EU and the UK, have condemned the resumption of hostilities and the involvement of Eritrea in the war. But the AU has not.

Mulugeta G Berhe writes that the AU's failures are as evident as they've been from the start. The chairperson of the AU and his high representative have failed Africa and the norms, principles and institutions of the African Union.

A lire aussi : Tigray war: two years on, the AU has failed to broker peace and silence the guns

2. Why Tigray's army is holding off the onslaught

For almost two years, the governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea  along with Amhara regional forces and militia  have waged war against Tigray's regional government and society. Tigray is a tiny ethnonational group that makes up about 6% of Ethiopia's population of 121 million. Yet it has been able to hold off well-armed military forces.

Asafa Jalata, a sociologist who has written extensively on the cultures of nationalism in the region, sets out the historical roots of Tigray's resolve to keep at bay a far greater military might than its own.

A lire aussi : Tigray has resisted Ethiopia's far greater military might for two years -- here's why neither side is giving in

3. The history behind aid blockades

Nearly 40% of northern Ethiopia's six million inhabitants face an extreme lack of food. This is not the result of a natural disaster, writes Martin Plaut:

it is a famine induced by the closure of the borders of Tigray by Ethiopian, Eritrean and Somali forces, reinforced by militia from Ethiopia's Amhara and Afar ethnic groups.

Asmara's determination to crush the Tigrayans stems from the longstanding, complex and visceral enmity between the Eritrean People's Liberation Front - now renamed the People's Front for Democracy and Justice - and the governing Tigray People's Liberation Front.

A lire aussi : Famine in Ethiopia: the roots lie in Eritrea's long-running feud with Tigrayans

4. Healthcare workers are 'fair game'

Tragic stories of human suffering have emerged from Tigray since 2020  such as women's malnutrition resulting in childbirth complications and deaths. It's not only the patients who are suffering, write Hailay Gesesew, Fasika Amdesellassie and Fisaha Tesfay. Despite being protected by international laws, healthcare workers and health facilities in the region are extremely vulnerable. Since the war broke out, healthcare workers have lost their jobs, been displaced, and been wounded, threatened or killed.

A lire aussi : Tigray's healthcare workers haven't been paid in over a year -- and bear the brunt of the war

5. Centuries of the world's history at risk

The Tigray region's heritage sites have been deliberately targeted. The bombing and destruction of centuries-old churches, as well as other religious sites, strikes at traditional power structures. To appreciate the weight of these attacks, the role and influence of the church in Ethiopia needs to be understood, explains Hagos Abrha Abay. The church underpins historical and modern claims of political and military authority in Ethiopia. It has shaped community identity and informed cultural narratives.

A lire aussi : Ethiopia's war in Tigray risks wiping out centuries of the world's history

By Julius Maina, Regional Editor East Africa
Outgoing Lesotho prime minister Moeketsi Majoro, right, hands over the national flag as the symbol of passing power to his successor, Sam Ntsokoane Matekane, on 28 October 2022. - Source: Molise Molise/AFP via Getty Images

02.11.2022 LISTEN

Lesotho's 2022 general election , its tenth since its independence from Britain in 1966 , was unique in more ways than one.

It was the first election since the political transition of 1993 to be about key issues facing the nation, rather than personalities. This is largely due to the exit from active politics of Motsoahae Thomas Thabane of the All Basotho Convention and Pakalitha Mosisili of the Democratic Congress. They had dominated Lesotho's politics for over two decades.

With the exception of Monyane Moleleki of the Alliance of Democrats , the contenders were new to the political scene. This made the contest interesting and exciting as many citizens yearned for change.

A record 65 parties contested the election.

The winning party, Revolution for Prosperity , led by businessman Samuel Ntsokoane Matekane , was formed just six months ahead of the election. Its campaign message centred on governance and economic growth. This focus also influenced the party's coalition agreement with the Alliance of Democrats and Movement for Economic Change .

The party's overwhelming victory  it won 56 of the 120 seats  was as surprising as its emergence.

A lire aussi : Lesotho elections: newcomers score impressive win, but politics will still be unstable

With the benefit of hindsight, there are three main factors that help explain the party's victory.

These are the country's poor socio-economic conditions , disenchantment with politics and the concerted efforts by the traditional leaders to withdraw support for the All Basotho Convention and the Democratic Congress.

The Matekane-led coalition government will need to make concerted efforts to address the socio-economic problems, restore faith in politics and deepen the country's democracy and peace. Failure to deliver will dash citizens' expectations. The low public trust in government institutions will decline further.

Factors that swayed voters

First, socio-economic conditions had deteriorated considerably, especially under the coalition governments led by All Basotho Convention and Democratic Congress since 2012. The COVID pandemic made conditions worse.

More than half of Lesotho's 2.2 million people live in poverty . Around 24.6% of the population is unemployed . Youth unemployment stands at 37.4% . Lesotho is among most unequal societies in the world. Social discontent worked in favour of new parties.

Second, public faith in elections has been waning, as reflected by declining voter turnout since 1993. Voter turnout was 46.4% in 2017 and declined to 37.7% in 2022.

Public trust in the executive, parliament and judiciary and in political parties has declined over the years due to poor governance. Corruption in the public sector is a major reason for mistrust.

In contrast, public trust remains high for non-elective institutions such as the army, churches, chiefs and the king .

Citizens perceive politics as serving interests of the elites at the expense of the broader national purpose . Basotho were determined to see the Democratic Convention and All Basotho Convention out of state house .

Third, the traditional leaders, who form the core of the upper house of parliament (the Senate), influenced voters' choices against All Basotho Convention and Democratic Congress. The traditional leaders made it publicly known that they were unhappy with the failure of the national reform process.

A lire aussi : Lesotho bungles political reforms, risking fresh bout of instability after 2022 poll

The reform was initiated at the behest of the Southern African Development Community in 2014 with a view to restoring security, peace and political stability in Lesotho. But the National Assembly and Senate could not agree on the proposals from the National Reforms Authority - a statutory body which was tasked with driving the reform agenda.

The chiefs blamed the coalition government for this failure.

Deepening Lesotho's democracy and peace

Both state and non-state actors will have to make concerted efforts to entrench Lesotho's democracy in order to anchor peace, and improve socio-economic conditions. There are six areas they can focus on:

More resources and effort have to go into addressing underdevelopment , poverty, hunger, unemployment and inequality.

More investment needs to be earmarked for democracy and peace education to reverse the trend of democracy fatigue. This manifests in voter apathy and dwindling public trust in governance institutions.

Public funding for political parties has to be revisited to stem the proliferation of parties. The current formula gives parties money for campaigns even before they test their electoral strength  an exercise in futility.

New regulations governing private funding and external technical assistance to parties should be introduced to safeguard Lesotho's sovereignty and guard against state capture.

Concrete steps have to be taken to combat corruption in both public and private sectors.

The electoral commission's case in the Constitutional Court should be resolved by constitutional means to avoid a post-election political crisis. The case seeks to reallocate about four compensatory proportional representation seats to smaller parties.

A lire aussi : Lesotho elections: turnout was down to 38% - new leaders will have to deal with political discontent

The vote for the new party and its leader was largely a protest vote against the All Basotho Convention and Democratic Congress grand coalition government and their failure to improve the lives of the people  which have worsened because of COVID  and the botched national reform process.

Basotho's expectations are extremely high and the new coalition government has to deliver tangible changes fast, some of them within the first 100 days.

Khabele Matlosa serves on the board of the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation. He is also a member of the International Advisory Board of the South African Institute for International Affairs (SAIIA). He is on the editorial board of the African Journal of Elections and observed Lesotho's 2022 under the aegis of the Lesotho Council of Non-Governmental Organisations.

By Khabele Matlosa, Visiting Professor, Centre for African Diplomacy and Leadership, University of Johannesburg, University of Johannesburg
02.11.2022 LISTEN

The news in many parts of the world is that tuberculosis (TB) is reclaiming the title of the worlds most deadly infection, even as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to kill an estimated 1,450 people daily around the world. But this is not news to African countries, which are home to one third of the people globally who die from TB, even though they have less than one fifth of the worlds population.

And on our continent, the real burden might be worse: only 60% of the estimated cases have been diagnosed. All the other infections are hidden by povertyand so the disease continues to spread.

Consider Zanyiwes story, who is recovering from TB a fifth time. Her son-in-law died from the disease, and her 18-month old granddaughter has it currently. TB has hammered her family and her community in Cape Town, South Africabut this story could be set in Nigeria, Kenya, or just about anywhere, as TB has never been contained in Africa.

Four years ago, there was hope that TB might be receiving the attention it deserves. The United Nations held a High-Level Meeting with heads of state in September 2018 where more than half of the worlds nations convened to rally support to tackle TB. Many pledges were made; fulfillment of these pledges got off to a slow start and then the COVID-19 pandemic derailed things completely.

The first commitment was to find and treat 40 million people with TB between 2018 and 2022, including 3.5 million children and 1.5 million people with drug-resistant TB. Were 19% behind that overall goal, but 32% behind with children and 46% behind with drug-resistant TB. We now have new and shorter treatment regimens for TB and drug-resistant TB; using these new technologies could make next year, when another UN high level meeting on TB will convene, a different story.

The second commitment was to provide preventive treatment for 30 million people at risk for TB infections. Were 48% behind here; while we already exceeded the sub-target of reaching 6 million people with HIV with preventive treatment, from 2018-2021 weve only provided preventive treatment to 2.2 million household contacts of people with TB, 11.5% of the goal. Once again, we now have new, more effective and shorter preventive regimens to deploybut we need the outreach capacity and willingness of countries to get the treatment into the hands of the people who need it.

The third and fourth commitments are about funding. Leaders pledged to spend a total of US$13 billion annually on prevention, diagnosis and treatment by 2022; in 2021 only 42% of that yearly goal was spent. For TB research, US$2 billion annually was pledged by 2022 but in 2021 research spending reached less than half that amount (46%). Rolling out the new treatments and developing even better ones will require a stronger embrace of these commitments; the status quo simply will not get us there.

While we have yet to finish 2022, it is obvious that we will not meet these goals. With that being said, there have been signs of progress worth drawing attention to.

First, Gabon, Kenya, Liberia, Namibia, Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, and Uganda all made progress in finding more cases of TB last year. And Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zambia have all made progress throughout the pandemicshowing the political will needed to keep their people healthier. Overall, Africa found 4% more TB in 2021 than in 2020. Its a startand we can do better.

New TB medicines are being supported by the World Health Organization (WHO). Six-month therapy for drug-resistant TB has been approved in more than 20 countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. And Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe are working to roll out a new TB prevention treatment.

In Africa, we will not mistake these initial signs of progress for anything more significant. Yet, at the same time, it is still progress to be respected and built upon. Next year, the world will consider their long-ignored pledges. We need to show the world that it is time to move forward; all thats been missing is the same thing thats been missing for far too many years: political will.

Morounfolu (Folu) Olugbosi, M.D. is the Senior Director, Clinical Development, TB Alliance. He works with the clinical development of products in the TB Alliance portfolio and helps to oversee clinical trials in TB endemic countries and heads the South Africa office.
The upcoming COP27 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Egypt, starting on 6thNovember, will be coming towards the end of a year that has witnessed multiple extreme weather events across every continent. The need for strong negotiations and for evidence-based science has never been greater in the discussions on global warming.

Science tells us that Africa is the most vulnerable continent yet it has contributed the least in terms of emissions. Africas voice in the global climate negotiations therefore becomes critical, states Dr George Wamukoya, an experienced lead coordinator for G77+China (134 countries) on agriculture, and team leader of the African Group of Negotiators Expert Support (AGNES) which is supported by the International Development Research Centre. We are proud to say that Africa is now recognized as the strongest agriculture negotiating group and that others are adopting our model.

In just this year alone, super-charged tropical storms, intense flooding and more prolonged droughts have resulted in billions of dollars of damage to infrastructure, millions of people made homeless and untold damage on agriculture and food security. There is not a place in the world that is not being impacted by climate change but the most vulnerable are in the Global South. The adverse impacts of the climate crisis such as increased food insecurity, water scarcity, reduced crop yields and disruption of food systems have taken a toll on African households and the continents economic growth; seven out of 10 of the most climate-change-vulnerable countries are from Africa.

And yet, prior to 2008, each African country negotiated on its own, unlike the European Union that took a common stand on behalf of its member states. A lack of scientific data also hindered negotiations. At the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Summit  COP15  there was no scientific data available to accurately calculate the cost for Africa to adapt to climate change.

Negotiating with one voice

Aware of the lack of coordination between policymakers, scientists and negotiators to provide such evidence, the heads of states under the African Union decided in 2009 following COP15 that Africa should have one voice and negotiate as a block. This led to the strengthening of the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) with the guidance of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) and the Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC).

In 2015, ahead of COP21, IDRC supported the formalization of AGNES with the objective of bringing together negotiators, policymakers and scientists to forge a common African position informed by science. It was during COP21, that the Paris Agreement on Climate Change highlighted the attention that the agriculture sector required in the wake of climate change, by recognizing the fundamental priority of safeguarding food security and ending hunger, and the particular vulnerabilities of food production systems to the adverse impacts of climate change.

In all the positions that we take, we must do technical or background papers to generate evidence guiding that position, Wamukoya explains. Ahead of every climate change conference, we convene pre-meetings where scientists and negotiators congregate to discuss the agenda and identify areas that require evidence. The scientists are then able to help negotiators in packaging a common African position that is informed by science.

In November 2017, in Bonn, AGNES played a critical role at COP23, resulting in the adoption of two historic decisions on agriculture (Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture) and gender (Gender Action Plan).

The evidence-based science model  the brainchild of AGNES  has now been replicated in Asia and Latin American countries. In addition, to build a pool of well-equipped negotiators, AGNES has been running atraining initiative, Climate Governance, Diplomacy and Negotiations Leadership Program, for the last year. So far, the training has involved over 500 professionals in public and private sectors, civil society and academia from 50 countries in Africa, with 75 per cent being youth and 43 per cent women.

The cost of adapting to climate change shocks across the continent is estimated to be US$50 billion every year by 2050 if the global temperature increase remains within 2C above preindustrial levels, according to research by United Nations Environment Programme. This, despite the continent accounting for less than 4 per cent of global emissions.

Delivering a good outcome at COP27 is therefore an imperative. The AGN is ready to make a case for adaptation, doubling adaptation finance, creating greater prominence for loss and damage discussions, raising mitigation ambition and institutionalizing agriculture in the UNFCCC process. I have been told that I must deliver on agriculture, emphasizes Wamukoya. And science-driven policies will be key to implementation in Africa.

About IDRC:

As part of Canadas foreign affairs and development efforts, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) champions and funds research and innovation within and alongside developing regions to drive global change. We invest in high-quality research in developing countries, share knowledge with researchers and policymakers for greater uptake and use, and mobilize our global alliances to build a more sustainable and inclusive world.

About AGNES:

The African Group of Negotiators Expert Support (AGNES) was created in 2015 to provide scientific expertise and evidence to inform a common African position in climate change negotiations. AGNES seeks to facilitate the exchange of ideas between experts and negotiators at the international level, especially within the framework of the UNFCCC.

https://agnes-africa.org/

AGNES brings together negotiators, policymakers and scientists to forge a common African position informed by science - Credit: AGNES
Radical Nkrumahist movement, the Economic Fighters League (EFL) has described the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) as the "beast" destroying the country.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, November 2, the movement says the two largest political parties must go if Ghana wants to break free from the years of underdevelopment in the country.

That beast is the rotten NPP-NDC duopoly that has plagued Ghana for thirty years. The Economic Fighters League has always stood by the assertion that the NPP and the NDC are the same, and that both parties must go. To truly liberate and save Ghana we must break free of the pendulum in which we have been caught since 1992.

We must #EndNPPNDCRule; that is the reason why our movement resolved to build the alternative to these two through conscious, consistent organising at grassroots level, parts of the release from the Economic Fighters League read.

Meanwhile, the movement has confirmed that it will participate in the Ku me preko demonstration being organised by Private Legal Practitioner, Lawyer Martin Kpebu.

In this, the Economic Fighters League will always applaud and support every effort made by Ghanaians to challenge the system, and as such we will be participating in the November 5 Demo taking place in Accra, the release from Fighters add.
Kenya's president said on Wednesday that his country is deploying troops to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to join a new operation against a rebel offensive.

William Ruto said more than 900 military personnel would be dispatched to join the seven-nation East African Community regional force for a mission that he called necessary and urgent .

"We will not allow any armed groups, criminals and terrorists to deny us our shared prosperity," Ruto said, adding that the troops were on a mission to protect humanity.

Led by a Kenyan commander, the regional force also includes two battalions from Uganda, two from Burundi and one from South Sudan. Kenyan forces will be based in Goma, eastern Congo's largest city.

Officials in Nairobi declined to reveal the number of Kenyan soldiers involved, citing obvious security reasons.

Frustration with UN peacekeepers

The force is tasked with restoring security in eastern DRC and pushing back rebel groups, including the M23 rebels, who Congo says are supported by Rwanda.

Rwanda's government denies it is supporting the group and has accused Congo of backing another rebel group hostile to Rwanda.

On Tuesday, angry crowds in Goma set fire to United Nations vehicles, expressing frustration over what they see as the failure of the UN's Monusco mission in protecting them from worsening militia violence.

Dozens were killed in anti-UN protests in July.

Earlier Tuesday, Monusco announced a strategic and tactical withdrawal of 450 peacekeepers from Rumangabo, a town north of Goma, with a military base that M23 rebels are closing in on.

(with wires)
Francis Awusi, an evangelist and a YouTube host, said to have made false and offensive statements about Prophet Gabriel Akwesi Sarpong, General Overseer of Cross of Miracles International, Accra, has been fined.

The Kaneshie District Court ordered Awusi to pay a fine of GHS6,000 in default serve one year imprisonment.

The said publications said Prophet Gabriel Akwesi Sarpong (the complainant) was an occult pastor and a murderer who had killed his wife for occultic powers to run his church.

The court ordered Awusi to go to Peace FM, a private radio station, Daily Graphic Newspaper and use his own YouTube channel where he had defamed the complainant and render apology.

Awusi who was charged with offensive conduct and publication of false news, earlier pleaded not guilty.

However, when sitting resumed today, Awusi who was represented by a lawyer, informed the court that he wanted to change his plea.

Meanwhile, the prosecution had called three witnesses and played three videos at the ongoing trial.

The court presided over by Ms Ama Adomako Kwakye convicted Awusi on his own plea.

His counsel, prayed the court to have mercy on him, saying he was a first offender, married with kids, and was a man of God with huge congregation.

The case of the prosecution led by Detective Chief Inspector Richard Amoah was that the complainant was Prophet Akwesi Sarpong.

The prosecution said the convict was also a host of YouTube channel programme known as Hell and Heaven whiles Isaac Gyasi, the second accused, aka K2 Temple, was at large.

It said the complainant reported to the Police that in August 2020, Gyasi whose face was covered with a veil, made certain false and offensive statements about the complainant during a live YouTube TV programme hosted by Awusi.

It said Gyasi alleged among other things that the complainant, Prophet Gabriel Akwesi Sarpong, was an occult pastor and a murderer who had killed his wife for occultic powers to run his church.

The prosecution said Awusi who was hosting the live TV programme also published the pictures and videos of some church activities of the complainant on the screen and had warned the public to stay away from his church.

The prosecution said Awusi was arrested and during investigations, it was established that Awusi hosted the programme with Gyasi as his guest in August 2020.

Awusi also supported the allegations made against the complainant by showing pictures and videos of the complainant on the YouTube channel on the internet.

The prosecution said Awusi admitted the offence and explained that he only interviewed Gyasi who was brought on his programme by his producer and that he did not know Gyasi personally.

GNA
A high-level delegation from Bahrain Oil and Gas Holding Company (nogaholding) is at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (Adipec) 2022, the worlds most influential energy forum along with representatives from its portfolio companies - Bapco, Bahrain National Gas Company (Banagas), Tatweer Petroleum and Arab Shipbuilding and Repair Yard Company (Asry).

The forum hosted industry professionals, thought leaders, global policymakers, and decision-makers from over 160 countries who came together to discuss this years strategic theme, The Future of Energy: Secure, Affordable and Sustainable.

Alongside ministers, C-level industry executives, and policymakers, nogaholding Group Chief Executive Officer Mark Thomas, took part in the invitation-only Adipec Leadership Roundtable that discussed the role of oil and gas in a new energy world, said nogaholding Group in a statement.

The conference topic of discussion focused on industry trends, including energy security, climate response, innovation, and future supply perspectives it stated.

On the expo, Thomas, said: "Our participation at Adipec directly aligns with the vision of HH Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, His Majestys Representative for Humanitarian Works and Youth Affairs and Chairman of nogaholding for transforming and developing the oil and gas sector in the Kingdom of Bahrain."

The conference serves as a platform to turn net-zero pledges into net-zero plans by stimulating debates and demonstrating the critical role oil and gas will play in driving innovative, more sustainable, and reliable energy systems.

"We come here annually to meet with global industry leaders and business partners to discuss the essential role the sector plays in an orderly and progressive transition to cleaner forms of energy while maintaining energy security for the kingdom," he stated.

"The event is an excellent platform for nogaholding to build relationships and explore business opportunities that will help us in our ultimate goal for economic growth and prosperity for Bahrain," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
The main combatants in the two-year Ethiopia-Tigray war have announced a dramatic pause in hostilities that began on November 3 2022. What started as a swift armed mission by Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed to bring the rebellious state of Tigray to order soon degenerated into a humanitarian nightmare in which innocent civilians have been killed and many more rendered homeless or destitute.

As many as 500,000 people had died as a result of war-related violence and famine by late 2022. In 2021, Ethiopia reported 5.1 million internally displaced people in 12 months. This, according to a report , is the highest number internally displaced in any country in any single year. Millions more have fled to Sudan as northern Ethiopia, especially Tigray, remains cut off from food, water and medical aid.

Over the course of the war, various scholars have written important articles for The Conversation Africa on the war and its devastating consequences. Here are five essential reads.

1. African Union's failure to broker peace

The African Union pledged in 2016 to silence the guns by the end of 2020: to end armed conflict on the continent. But until now the AU has not exerted its influence to broker a ceasefire or find peace over the past two years.

Most international actors, such as the UN, the US, the EU and the UK, condemned the resumption of hostilities in recent months and the involvement of Eritrea in the war. But the AU did not.

Mulugeta G Berhe writes that the AU's chairperson and his high representative failed Africa at a critical moment.

Read more: Tigray war: two years on, the AU has failed to broker peace and silence the guns

2. Why Tigray's army is holding off the onslaught

For almost two years, the governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea  along with Amhara regional forces and militia  have waged war against Tigray's regional government and society. Tigray is a tiny ethnonational group that makes up about 6% of Ethiopia's population of 121 million. Yet it has been able to hold off well-armed military forces.

Asafa Jalata, a sociologist who has written extensively on the cultures of nationalism in the region, sets out the historical roots of Tigray's resolve to keep at bay a far greater military might than its own.

Read more: Tigray has resisted Ethiopia's far greater military might for two years -- here's why neither side is giving in

3. The history behind aid blockades

Nearly 40% of northern Ethiopia's six million inhabitants face an extreme lack of food. This is not the result of a natural disaster, writes Martin Plaut:

it is a famine induced by the closure of the borders of Tigray by Ethiopian, Eritrean and Somali forces, reinforced by militia from Ethiopia's Amhara and Afar ethnic groups.

Asmara's determination to crush the Tigrayans stems from the longstanding, complex and visceral enmity between the Eritrean People's Liberation Front - now renamed the People's Front for Democracy and Justice - and the governing Tigray People's Liberation Front.

Read more: Famine in Ethiopia: the roots lie in Eritrea's long-running feud with Tigrayans

4. Healthcare workers are 'fair game'

Tragic stories of human suffering have emerged from Tigray since 2020  such as women's malnutrition resulting in childbirth complications and deaths. It's not only the patients who are suffering, write Hailay Gesesew, Fasika Amdesellassie and Fisaha Tesfay. Despite being protected by international laws, healthcare workers and health facilities in the region are extremely vulnerable. Since the war broke out, healthcare workers have lost their jobs, been displaced, and been wounded, threatened or killed.

Read more: Tigray's healthcare workers haven't been paid in over a year -- and bear the brunt of the war

5. Centuries of the world's history at risk

The Tigray region's heritage sites have been deliberately targeted. The bombing and destruction of centuries-old churches, as well as other religious sites, strikes at traditional power structures. To appreciate the weight of these attacks, the role and influence of the church in Ethiopia needs to be understood, explains Hagos Abrha Abay. The church underpins historical and modern claims of political and military authority in Ethiopia. It has shaped community identity and informed cultural narratives.

Read more: Ethiopia's war in Tigray risks wiping out centuries of the world's history

By Julius Maina, Regional Editor East Africa
The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has lauded the contributions made by the Group of Earth Observations (GEO) through the provision of critical data that continues to inform policy formulation, programme design and implementation in Ghana.

Speaking in Accra at the 18th Plenary of the Group of Earth Observations (GEO) Week in Accra on Wednesday, November 2, 2022 Dr Bawumia said such data had become increasingly important for decision-making, and Governments targeted programmes such as poverty reduction drives and the fight against illegal mining were based in part on such data.

In Ghana we are applying the products of the Digital Earth Africa programme to monitor landscape changes because of illegal mining activities. Developing an interoperable data ecosystem that combines Earth observations data with other data, including socioeconomic data, citizen data, and statistical data, among others would be more meaningful and impactful.

Our development priorities are focused on economic transformation through value-addition to create jobs, reduce poverty, and enhance social inclusion while sustaining the integrity of our environment. Our medium and long-term development plans are underpinned by the Ghana Beyond Aid vision to change the mindsets of our citizens towards an increased reliance on internal resources plus private sector investment to lead economic transformation.

The application of digital technologies is fundamental to the achievement of the "Ghana Beyond Aid" agenda, with emphasis on the maximisation of resources, investments in agriculture, improved health, and industrialisation, enhancing critical skills and education and promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Dr Bawumia disclosed that Government is finalizing a new Digital Economy Policy and a Digital Transformation Blueprint to position Ghana as the leader in ICT innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The ongoing Ghana Digital Acceleration Project is expected to increase access to mobile internet and broadband services by encouraging private sector investment in last-mile connectivity in underserved and rural areas, with particular attention to women, persons with disabilities and the youth.

He continued, We are working through bilateral and multilateral partnerships to put in place concrete actions to boost resource efficiency, establish a circular economy, mitigate, and adapt to climate change, mitigate disaster risks and halt biodiversity loss. We are also actively pursuing improved ways to harness the power of earth observations to support planning and decision-making in weather forecasting, measuring land-use change (such as deforestation), monitoring coastlines, and monitoring and responding to disasters, including fires, floods, and earthquakes.

Data and systems to address challenges

While Ghana has made major progress in her poverty reduction efforts through increased access to education, jobs, higher agricultural production and rapid urbanization, significant challenges remain, and government will continue to employ data, tools and systems to address them, Dr Bawumia pledged.

Unplanned spatial expansion of big cities threatens economic efficiency, increasing social and environmental costs for urban commuting. Natural resource depletion heightened by unsustainable mining, inadequate waste management and sanitation, make Ghana extremely vulnerable to climate change and environmental degradation and threaten resilience and economic growth.

Existing efforts to tackle these challenges will require accurate, global, and timely data and information to support sustainable development in the country. Earth observation systems could easily be used to track, and in some instances minimize the negative impact of these environmental problems," he maintained.

The Vice President called for greater collaboration in the quest to protect the environment and entire planet.

The fight against poverty, hunger, natural resource depletion and efforts toward a clean environment, and to achieve economic prosperity is at serious risk without a safe and secured planet. We believe that this gathering offers Ghana and the rest of Africa the opportunity to catalyze increased use of Earth observations data, tools, and services to inform decisions for accelerated climate and sustainable development action.

This meeting represents the pinnacle of global collaboration for accelerating the use of Earth observations as evidence for local impact, both in Africa and around the world, he added.
Veteran Israeli politician Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to have all but regained power on Wednesday, with initial election results showing his alliance with the extreme right taking a narrow lead.

With around 84 percent of the vote counted, according to the Central Elections Committee, Netanyahu could be set for a dramatic comeback.

Addressing supporters who chanted: "King of Israel", Netanyahu said his Likud party had received a huge vote of confidence.

As Israel's longest-serving leader seeks to make a comeback, initial results put his right-wing bloc ahead in the race to form a government, following the country's fifth election in four years.

Caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid  the architect of the coalition which ousted Netanyahu last year  cautioned that nothing had been decided.

"(We) will wait patiently ... for the final results," Lapid told crowds backing his centrist Yesh Atid party.

While Israelis are split broadly between those who support or oppose Netanyahu, the former premier has been buoyed by votes for his extreme-right allies.

The Religious Zionism bloc of Itamar Ben-Gvir has made significant gains and is expected to emerge as the third-largest party, behind Yesh Atid.

The controversial Ben-Gvir heralded the party's showing as a "great achievement", which is expected to hand the right-wing a majority in the 120-seat parliament.

The margins remain narrow, however, and previous elections have shown that slight adjustments during the count can make or break a government.

A number of smaller parties opposed to Netanyahu are close to the threshold required to win seats in parliament and could yet change the political arithmetic.

(With AFP)
Former President John Dramani Mahama has shared his experiences with participants at the African Youth Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The former President in a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency said he shared his thoughts on Pan Africanism and how they could address the challenges the continent and, especially African youth continue to face in their efforts to realize a united, peaceful and prosperous Africa.

The Africa Prospective Leaders Summit 2022 brought together youth from 42 African Countries, including Ghana.

Former President Mahama expressed gratitude to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the Government and People of Ethiopia for the consideration, the initiative and funding of the maiden edition of the Summit.

He said bringing the youth of the continent together, as had been done, to share experiences and whatever best practices they bring along from their individual countries was a very good start.

It also provides them with a great networking opportunity  something the continent needs in the quest to enhance the capacity and skills of our youth to utilize its untapped potential, Mr Mahama said.

He noted that African should aim for a take-off to rapid growth, a double-digit growth, and Africa's breakthrough would be nearer.

We are talking smart infrastructure, we are discussing the use of smart technology on our farms, we are looking at how to build an effective digital economy that provides huge opportunities for entrepreneurship and businesses that serve the world from Africa, Mr Mahama said.

With young people that have the right skills set, we should be moving to achieve that.

The former President said he was looking forward to all the countries on the African continent allowing for visa-free entry by fellow Africans or an easier visa-on-arrival. process; declaring that I started it in Ghana in 2016, Rwanda followed suit, later, Kenya, and I think we can all do it.

That way, he said, the benefits of the networking African youth were exposed to, could be enhanced with reciprocal visits to each other.

GNA
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Buem Constituency, Kofi Adams is not buying the story being told by the Majority MPs in relation to the attempt by a businessman to bribe them to drop the demand for Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Attas removal.

On October 25, Member of Parliament for the Asante-Akim North, Mr. Andy Kwame Appiah-Kubi speaking on behalf of 80 MPs on the Majority side urged President Akufo-Addo to change the Finance Minister.

In an engagement with the media, the MPs threatened to boycott government business in Parliament if the President refuses to listen to their call.

The recent development within the economy is of major concern to our caucus and our constituents. We have made our grave concern known to our president through the parliamentary leadership and the leadership of the party without any positive response.

We are by this medium communicating our strong desire that the president changes the Minister of Finance and the Minister of State at the Finance Ministry without further delay in order to restore hope to the financial sector and reverse the downward trend in the growth of the economy, Mr. Andy Kwame Appiah-Kubi told the media.

After the announcement, a wealthy businessman is said to have held a meeting with the Majority MPs and attempted to bribe them with money.

However, Mr. Andy Kwame Appiah-Kubi has disclosed that the MPs rejected the money on grounds that it was not their motivation.

"We refunded it to him on the principle that we are not doing what we are doing for money.

"Because of that, we did not open the envelope to even know how much was in it, the Asante-Akim North said.

Speaking to Joy News in an interview on Wednesday evening, Buem MP Kofi Adams has shared that the story being told by the Majority MPs is just to polish their image and look good.

The majority MPs just want their ratings to go up because people would be happy someone offered them a bribe and they refused, Kofi Adams argued.

He further stressed that if the story is true, then it must be taken very seriously because it is a crime.

Attempting to bribe a member of parliament in the performance of his or her duties is a serious crime we must not toy with, the Buem MP stressed.
Arab leaders on Wednesday vowed their "total support" for the Palestinian cause, as veteran Israeli hawk Benjamin Netanyahu inched closer to a return to power.

The declaration came in the final statement of the first Arab League summit since the United Arab Emirates normalised ties with the Jewish state in 2020, sparking a string of similar moves that have divided the region.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas had called for more support from the 22-state bloc in the face of "crimes" by Israel, which he accused of "systematically destroying the two-state solution and throwing away agreements it has signed".

In a speech to the summit in Algeria, Abbas made no reference to the Israeli election on Tuesday, but urged Arab leaders to "save the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre before they're Judaised", referring to sensitive religious sites in the Israeli-annexed Old City of Jerusalem.

Member states affirmed in the summit's final declaration the "centrality of the Palestinian cause and our absolute support for the Palestinian people's inalienable rights" including to an independent state with east Jerusalem as its capital.

Israel seized east Jerusalem and the Old City in the Six-Day War of 1967 and later annexed it, in a move not recognised by most of the international community.

The statement made no mention of the US-mediated Arab normalisation deals with Israel, but said the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should be resolved "on the basis of land for peace".

It also voiced support for the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative that calls for Israel's withdrawal from land it occupied in 1967 including the West Bank.

'Concrete actions' not statements

The Arab League has for decades been a forum for strident statements of solidarity with the Palestinians, but has had little real impact in its 77 years of existence.

A handout picture provided by the Tunisian presidency press service shows Arab League leaders posing in the Algerian capital following their first summit since a string of normalisation deals with Israel. By - (Tunisian Presidency/AFP)

Leaders addressing Wednesday's session took turns in declaring support for a Palestinian state, and the final statement backed moves to make the state of Palestine a full member of the United Nations.

Abbas avoided directly mentioning the Israeli election that, according to initial results, looks set to deliver a comeback by former premier Netanyahu, who has long dropped any support for a two-state solution.

Netanyahu's possible return comes almost two years after a normalisation accord with the UAE mediated by the administration of former US president Donald Trump.

It was quickly followed by another with Bahrain, a provisional deal with Sudan and a re-launch of ties with Morocco, helping rekindle the kingdom's decades-old rivalry with neighbouring Algeria.

Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Israel would be committing "a grave error" if it stands in the way of a two-state solution, as Palestinians and Arab citizens of Israel already form a majority in the territory Israel controls.

But an editorial in the Palestinian Al-Quds newspaper said Palestinians "don't need any more statements, of which we've heard many, but concrete actions on the ground".

It also called for the summit to take a stand "against Arab countries' normalisation deals with the occupier (Israel) which totally ignore our cause".

Libya, Syria, oil

The summit also touched on conflicts across the region.

Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, a steadfast supporter of the Palestinians, at the closing ceremony of the Arab League summit. By - (AFP)

It expressed "support for efforts to end the Libyan crisis through an inter-Libyan solution" and "a joint effort" by Arab states to end fighting in Syria.

In a nod to Saudi Arabia, it expressed its backing for oil producers after the Saudi-led OPEC cartel and allied producers headed by Russia angered Washington by slashing production by two million barrels a day from November, further pushing up already elevated crude prices.

The statement said the "balanced" policy would help stabilise markets and "help the interests of both producer and consumer nations".

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, however, was the summit's most notable absentee, staying away with a reported ear infection.

King Mohammed VI of Morocco, Algeria's main rival, also stayed away.

Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita told AFP that Algeria had sent "no confirmation via the appropriate channels" when Moroccan diplomats in Algiers asked how the monarch would be hosted, but that the king had invited Tebboune for a "dialogue" in Rabat.
The Minority in Parliament has bemoaned the high cost of living in Ghana exacerbated by the astronomical hikes in the prices of fuel.

Addressing the media in Parliament on Wednesday, November 2, the minority spokesperson on Mines and Energy, John Jinapor noted that it is an understatement to say Ghanaians are suffering.

According to him, the government has made over GHS8 billion in three months from petroleum revenue regardless of the Russia-Ukraine war and must use some of the funds to cushion the citizenry.

We are in a difficult time. Some have said that we are in a deep hole. Life and living conditions are getting unbearable.

People are going through excruciating poverty. People cannot even make ends meet. So one will have thought that after the national address by the President things will begin to cushion or cool down. It is sad to note that fuel prices today are going through the roof.

Its sad to note that fuel price today is going through the roofs. At the beginning of the year, fuel that was selling at GHc6.5 per litre has now increased by more than 300%. Indeed today fuel is more costly than the minimum wage.

I wish to place on record that this government is making so much money from the Russia-Ukraine war. So in three months government has received more than it projected the whole year. So government is making supernormal profit, John Jinapor told the media.

The Minority spokesperson on Mines and Energy added, I, therefore, call on President Akufo-Addo and the outgoing Minister of Finance that they should do something about the price increment. They should sit and think outside the box and apply these huge super normal profits to cushion the ordinary Ghanaian.
A Paris court on Wednesday sentenced a former Liberian rebel commander to life in jail for violence against civilians and complicity in crimes against humanity after France's first trial linked to Liberia's civil wars.

The criminal court found Kunti Kamara guilty of crimes against civilians between 1993 and 1994, including a teacher whose heart he reportedly ate, and not preventing soldiers under his command from repeatedly raping two teenage girls.

The 47-year-old defendant betrayed little emotion when the verdict was pronounced.

The allegations against Kamara date back to the early years of the back-to-back conflicts that would ultimately kill 250,000 people in the West African nation between 1989 and 2003.

The fighting was marked by mass murders, rape and mutilations, in many cases by child soldiers conscripted by warlords, with atrocities against civilians common.

Kamara was a regional commander of the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO), a rebel group that fought the National Patriotic Front of ex-president Charles Taylor.

'Good news for victims'

In Monrovia, Adama Dempster, secretary general of the Civil Society Human Rights Group, hailed "good news for the numerous victims of atrocities during the Liberian civil war".

"We hope that all those who were perpetrators of savage brutality will have their days in court without exception," he told AFP.

Liberia. By Valentina BRESCHI (AFP)

Siah Tamba, 37, saw her father gunned down during the conflicts.

"Every day when I get up, I pray that one day the killers of my father will also be judged," she told AFP in the Liberian capital.

The case was brought by the crimes against humanity division of the Paris court after Kamara was arrested in France in 2018.

It was set up in 2012 to try suspected perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide detained on French soil, irrespective of where their alleged crimes were committed.

This is the first case taken by the unit that is not related to the 1994 Rwanda genocide.

The prosecution had sought a life sentence against Kamara during the three-week trial, which involved witnesses who came from Liberia.

Kamara consistently denied the allegations, with his defence team questioning the trustworthiness of the evidence against him.

Prosecutors had also accused Kamara of executing civilians and organising forced marches, describing ULIMO's control of Lofa county in northwestern Liberia in the 1990s as a "governance by terror".

Prosecution lawyer Aurelie Belliot told the court of public executions and the distribution of human flesh and intestines used to mark checkpoints.

A truth and reconciliation commission was set up in 2006 to probe crimes committed during the fighting, but its recommendations, published in 2009, have remained largely unimplemented in the name of keeping the peace.

Kamara was a regional commander of the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy. By Alain BOMMENEL (AFP)

And many warlords who were incriminated are still considered heroes in their communities.

So far only a handful of people have been convicted in Liberia itself for their part in the conflict, and efforts to establish a war crimes court in the country have stalled.

Former Liberian warlord-turned-president Taylor was imprisoned in 2012, but for war crimes committed in neighbouring Sierra Leone, not in his own country, where he also rampaged.

Other former participants in the Liberian wars have been tried abroad in recent years.
The Centre for Plant Medicine Research (CPMR) on Wednesday, November 2, kicked off the first Oku Ampofo Memorial Conference in honour of its founder, Dr. Oku Ampofo.

The Centre formerly called the Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine (CSRPM) has been in operation since the 1970s and has become the leading name in its field.

Courtesy of the great works of Dr. Oku Ampofo, his name after his demise is synonymous with the centre as he continues to receive applause for setting the pace and leaving behind a legacy Ghana can be proud of.

To honour him, the Centre for Plant Medicine Research has now decided to hold a Memorial Conference in honour of his name.

This week, the first edition is being held in Accra at the AH Hotel where various stakeholders with expertise and interest in herbal medicine not only in Ghana but from abroad are participating.

Delivering an address on day one of the Conference, Executive Director of the Centre for Plant Medicine Research, Prof. Alex Asaase stressed that Dr. Oku Ampofos contributions to the Centre and herbal medicine in the country are worth celebrating.

According to him, the Conference is just the first of a series that will be held to honour the founder of the renowned centre located at Mampong Akuapem, in the Eastern Region.

He said the Centre is committed to preserving the name of Dr. Oku Ampofo and will continue to strive to be better.

Continuing his address at the Conference organised on the theme "Medicinal plant research: innovation and prospects in a pandemic era", Prof. Alex Asaase indicated that the centre supports the vaccine project of the government and wants to do more to help.

We are very supportive of the presidential vaccine initiative and we will like to play a more central role in that project. The centre can do more when given adequate resources and support, he noted.

Prof. Alex Asaase added, The mission of the Centre is to gain the highest recognition for research and the development of herbal products that meets the needs of patients and industry through innovative scientific research and productive partnerships.

The Executive Director of the Centre for Plant Medicine Research in his concluding remarks urged all participants of the maiden memorial conference to leverage on opportunities presented to them.

Called to give some remarks, Dr. William Collins Asare who is the Fund Administrator of the National Covid-19 Trust Fund expressed appreciation to the Centre for the invitation to be part of the important memorial conference.

While encouraging the Centre for Plant Medicine Research to continue with its important research, he indicated that It will be a great success story for Ghana, Dr. Oku Ampofo, and Africa as a whole if the Centre finally comes out with the medicine to cure Covid-19."

On his part, Special Guest Speaker Prof. Kwabena Frimpong Boateng commended the Centre for Plant Medicine Research for the good work they do as he stressed that he is a strong believer in herbal medicine and its potency.

He urged the centre to remember Dr. Oku Ampofo and work to continue his exemplary work.

We are remembering Dr. Oku Ampofo. He was the first Ghanaian to receive a scholarship to study medicine abroad. As we remember this great man let us pray that we will preserve what he left for us so that one day they will get the money to continue what he left. May God bless his soul, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong Boateng.

The renowned physician and cardiothoracic surgeon in his address, admonished the centre to expand its scope to other areas for breakthroughs that will make a great difference.

I think that we should widen our scope and not only focus on plants. That way we may find something that will also be beneficial from animals and even fungi. All this will be possible through research, Prof. Frimpong Boateng urged the Centre.

Delivering the closing remarks, businessman Dr. Ernest Ofori Sarpong who chaired the conference underscored the importance of the work done by the Centre for Plant Medicine Research.

He said if government pays attention to plant medicine, the benefits will be enormous.

Plant medicine is one area that I believe as a country we need to pay a lot of attention to. Not only will it bring in a lot of money for us but it will also create huge employment opportunities, Dr. Ernest Ofori Sarpong noted.

The first Oku Ampofo Memorial Conference is being attended by scientists from both Ghana and abroad.

The conferences focus is on a broad range of topics about medicinal plants and natural product development.
Seoul, Nov 2 (UNI) North and South Korea fired a number of missiles into waters near each other's coasts in a marked escalation of hostilities on Wednesday.

The North launched its most missiles in a single day - at least 23 - including one that landed less than 60km off the South's city of Sokcho, yonhap news agency reported.

Seoul responded with warplanes firing three air-to-ground missiles over the disputed maritime demarcation line. Later Pyongyang fired six more missiles and a barrage of 100 artillery shells, the BBC said.

North Korea launched its barrage of missiles, including one that flew across its de facto maritime border with South for the first time since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, according to the South's military.

In response, South Korea's fighter jets fired three precision-guided missiles into waters north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL).

The North says the launches were in response to large-scale military exercises currently being held by South Korea and the US, which it termed as "aggressive and provocative".

On Tuesday, Pyongyang warned both nations they would pay "the most horrible price in history" if they continued their joint military drills, seen as a veiled threat to use nuclear weapons.

Wednesday's exchanges began with missile launches by Pyongyang into waters close to South Korea, triggering air raid sirens on Ulleung, an island controlled by Seoul. Residents there were told to evacuate to underground shelters.

One ballistic missile crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL), a disputed maritime border between the Koreas. It landed outside South Korea's territorial waters but it's the closest a North Korean missile has come, Seoul said, calling it an "unacceptable" breach of its territory.

Officials there said the air-to-ground missiles fired by the South landed a similar distance past the NLL off the North's coast.

The tit-for-tat missile launches come during a period of national mourning in South Korea, following the crowd crush in Seoul at the weekend which killed more than 150 people.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the North's firing of three short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) from a site in or around the North's eastern coastal city of Wonsan at around 8.51 a.m. One of them landed near South Korea's territorial waters, further raising tensions around the inter-Korean border. It marked the first time since the two Koreas' division that the North sent a ballistic missile southward past the NLL.

The latest provocation came in apparent protest of the five-day large-scale combined air drills of South Korea and the US that kicked off Monday amid growing speculation that Pyongyang may conduct a nuclear test soon.

One of the three SRBMs fell into high seas 26 kilometers south of the NLL, an area 57 km east of the South's eastern city of Sokcho and 167km northwest of Ulleung Island near Dokdo. It headed toward the island before falling into the international sea, prompting local authorities to issue an air raid alert. Two other SRBMs traveled into the East Sea, the yonhap reported.

They were among the more than 20 missiles that the North fired over a span of more than 10 hours, according to the South's military.

The North first fired four SRBMs into the Yellow Sea at 6.51 a.m., then fired the three SRBMs into the East Sea two hours later.

Starting at 9.12 a.m., Pyongyang launched more than 10 missiles, including those presumed to be SRBMs and surface-to-air missiles, off its east and west coasts.

From 4.30 p.m. to 5.10 p.m., it fired six more missiles, including suspected surface-to-air ones, into the East and Yellow Seas.

The South Korean military also spotted more than 100 artillery shells lobbed from the North's Kosong County, Kangwon Province, into the eastern maritime buffer zone at around 1.27 p.m. The buffer zone was set under the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement.

"North Korea's missile launch, which marks the first time since the division of the peninsula that it has landed near our territorial waters south of the NLL, is very rare and intolerable," the JCS said in a statement.

In response to the North's provocations, South Korea's F-15K and KF-16 warplanes fired three precision strike air-to-surface SLAM-ER missiles into high seas north of the NLL from 11.10 a.m.

The South's missiles landed in a location north of the NLL at a distance almost equivalent to that of the North's missile that dropped south of the de facto border, the JCS said.

"Our military's response reaffirms our resolve to sternly respond to any provocations (by North Korea) and shows that we are capable of accurately striking our enemy," it said.

Since 1984, North Korea has fired around 200 missiles toward the East Sea or the Yellow Sea but had not launched a major missile southward in a direct threat to South Korea.

In November 2010, the North carried out an artillery shelling into the South's front-line Yeonpyeong Island, killing four people, including two civilians, with 18 others wounded.

President Yoon Suk-yeol convened an emergency National Security Council session, condemned North Korea's latest barrage of missile launches as a de facto violation of the South's territory and ordered "swift" action to make the North pay for the provocations.

The US Indo-Pacific Command said the North's provocation highlights its "reckless behavior" and the "destabilizing" impact of the country's unlawful ballistic missile programs.

"The U.S. commitments to the defense of the Republic of Korea and Japan remain ironclad," the command said in a statement, using South Korea's official name.

The North's weapon tests came as Seoul and Washington are staging the Vigilant Storm exercise involving more than 240 aircraft, including their advanced stealth jets, across the skies of the peninsula in a bid to bolster the deterrence posture against the North's threats.

USS Key West, a U.S. nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine, also arrived in South Korea on Monday for a "scheduled visit" as part of its deployment to the Indo-Pacific region.

The North has long denounced joint military drills between Seoul and Washington as a rehearsal for invasion. The allies stress that the exercises are defensive in nature.

Earlier in the day, Pak Jong-chon, secretary of the Central Committee of the North's ruling Workers' Party, warned that South Korea and the U.S. will pay a "terrible" price if they decide to attack the North.

The North's foreign ministry also threatened on Tuesday to carry out "more powerful follow-up measures" if the U.S. continues "ceaseless and reckless" military provocations.

North Korea has fired more than 40 ballistic missiles this year, the largest number that it launched in a single year, as it is apparently bent on developing a variety of delivery vehicles for strategic and tactical nuclear warheads, yonhap reported.

UNI ING
Vulcan Energy [ASX:VUL] has announced a strategic expansion of its lithium business into France.

Vulcan Energy [ASX:VUL] has announced a strategic expansion of its lithium business into France.

Currently, Vulcan is developing its Zero Carbon Lithium project in Germanys Upper Rhine Valley region. The lithium developer is now seeking to expand into the Alsace region in France, arguing it is a natural extension of its Upper Rhine Valley base.

VUL shares did not move on the news; however, they traded flat late on Wednesday.

Vulcan shares are down 30% year to date.

Source: tradingview.com

Vulcan Energy eyes France expansion

On Wednesday, Vulcan Energy announced plans to expand its business to France, saying the proposed expansion has been endorsed by Stellantis and Renault, Frances largest automakers.

The French side of the Upper Rhine Valley Brine Field (URVBF) accounts for one-third of the Upper Rhine Graben and harbours rich deposits of geothermal energy and lithium brines.

VUL has already taken around 10,000 litres of brine samples from this area, and tests revealed a high grade of 214 mg/L and low impurities  the same brine composition as Vulcans German operations.

This allows VUL to maintain the same processes used in Germany but in France.

Upon expanding its French operations, Vulcan has opened Vulcan Energie France SAS (VEF) and is rapidly growing its French team.

Discussions for development with local companies are ongoing, and VEF now has its first lithium exploration licence ready to go, 155km worth of area, in Les Cigognes.

Vulcans Chief Commercial Officer Vincent Ledoux-Pedailles commented:

Vulcan is aiming to increase the future supply of our sustainable lithium product in response to significant customer demand, as we leverage our extensive experience in lithium extraction from heated brines to have a materially decarbonising effect on global electric vehicle supply chains. An extension of our core operating area, the Upper Rhine Valley Brine Field, expanding into France is a natural next step for Vulcan as we can apply the same expertise and technology to extract lithium sustainably. We look forward to supporting our French customers and working with local communities and companies to decarbonise their energy mix.

Source: Vulcan Energy

Vulcans French connection

VUL flagged lithium production is strategically critical for Frances automotive industry and quoted French President Emmanuel Macron:

We need to work across the entire supply chain. We have lithium resources in France and we will develop them thanks to a new mining code; it is key for our sovereignty.

In its September activities report, Vulcan reported that Italy and Germany projects are progressing, the DFS for Phase 1 renewable energy and lithium production is underway, and an updated PFS for Phase 2 is nearly complete.

The companys financial position held 158.2 million cash on hand at the end of the September quarter, with revenue of 1.52 million from the NaturLich Insheim power plant.

Cash outlay went into DFS engineering, Sorption Demo plant and CLP Demo plant works and equipment, NaturLich Insheim power plant production costs, exploration, and corporate costs.

Vulcan says it will seek public and strategic funding to boost its French expansion, but shareholders dont yet seem convinced.

Are you prepared for the EV takeover?

The EV market is rapidly expanding, boosted further by government initiatives and funding programs supporting production across the globe.

But our energy expert, Selva Freigedo, thinks the global transition to EVs means the industry faces a supply crunch, which can send prices for battery materials soaring even higher in 2022 and beyond.

If youd like to know more, check out Selvas battery tech metals report  for free  here.

Regards,

Kiryll Prakapenka,

For Money Morning
Defence Dialogue: India France discuss co-production opportunities 28 Nov 2022 | 9:56 PM New Delhi, Nov 28 (UNI) India and France on Monday discussed ways to bolster defence industrial cooperation and potential co-production opportunities during the 4th Annual Defence Dialogue between the two countries here. see more..

Defence Dialogue: India France discuss co-production opportunities 28 Nov 2022 | 9:45 PM New Delhi, Nov 28 (UNI) India and France on Monday discussed ways to bolster defence industrial cooperation and potential co-production opportunities during the 4th Annual Defence Dialogue between the two countries here. see more..

SC rejects Tarun Tejpal's plea seeking in-camera proceedings in Bombay HC 28 Nov 2022 | 9:39 PM New Delhi, Nov 28 (UNI) The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the appeal filed by veteran journalist Tarun Tejpal seeking in-camera proceedings in the Bombay High Court, which is hearing an appeal filed by the government of Goa, challenging his acquittal in the 2013 rape case. see more..

Shraddha murder case: police van carrying Aftab attacked in Delhi's Rohini 28 Nov 2022 | 9:25 PM New Delhi, Nov 28 (UNI) The Police van carrying Aftab Poonawala, who is an accused of murdering Shraddha Walkar, was attacked by unidentified persons in Rohini area where he was brought for polygraph test. see more..
November 02, 2022 Biden Administration Again Plants False Nuclear Scare Stories Last month I dissected the fear mongering the Biden administration released over alleged Russian nuclear threads: [The report] quotes Biden as saying: "[Putin] is not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons because his military is you might say is significantly underperforming." Fact is that Putin has not talked about the "potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons." Not. At. All.

...

All the war mongering talk and reports about Russia's alleged threat of nuclear weapon use in Ukraine is totally unfounded. That 'western' media suddenly engage in it shows that it is part of a well directed propaganda campaign. I speculated that the intent of the campaign was to prepare for some false flag incident in Ukraine. Two weeks later the Russian secret services found out that Ukraine was preparing a 'dirty bomb' which would spread radioactive substances with the help of chemical explosives. Such bombs are not a meaningful military threat but have a high 'scare' value. If it would use one of those the Ukraine would surely blame Russia for launching such a bomb. When the Kremlin found out what Ukraine had planned it order Russia's Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu and Chief of its General Staff Valery Gerasimov to call their peers in the U.S., Turkey, Britain and France. Shoigu called U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin even twice: Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu spoke with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday for the second time in three days and held a flurry of calls with three other counterparts from NATO countries. Moscow provided no details on the conversation with Austin, which came after the two men spoke on Friday for the first time since May. Its readouts on the other calls said Shoigu had said the situation in Ukraine was worsening.

...

Shoigu spoke separately to Turkey's defence minister, Hulusi Akar, and Britain's Ben Wallace. Shoigu's ministry said he had told his French, Turkish and British counterparts of Moscow's concern that Ukraine could detonate a "dirty bomb" - a device laced with radioactive material. Russia has provided no evidence to substantiate such a claim. Calls on such high levels are only done for serious business. They are not done for propaganda value or to warn of non-existing threats. The fact that these calls happened means that the threat from Ukraine was real. The calls seemed to have had the desired effect. For a few days the talk of a 'dirty bomb' calmed down. It has now been revived. Today the Washington Post as well as the New York Times are back fear mongering about alleged threats which Russia has never made. Both stories are based on 'administration officials' meaning that the Biden administration has planted these stories. Russias dirty bomb threats challenge the nuclear calculus - WaPo

U.S. officials still maintain that Moscow is unlikely to go nuclear in Ukraine. But Washington doesnt have many good options to prevent Putins worst intentions. The dirty bomb speculation is tied to comments made by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, and repeated last week by Putin, suggesting Ukraine planned to detonate a device loaded with fissile material on its own territory. U.S. officials believe it is more likely that Russias warnings were in fact the opening steps of a false flag operation, signaling the Kremlins intentions to use such a weapon and blame Ukrainians for the fallout, literally. --- Russian Military Leaders Discussed Use of Nuclear Weapons, U.S. Officials Say - NYT

The conversations alarmed the Biden administration because they showed how frustrated Moscow had become over its battlefield setbacks in Ukraine. Senior Russian military leaders recently had conversations to discuss when and how Moscow might use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine, contributing to heightened concern in Washington and allied capitals, according to multiple senior American officials.

...

President Vladimir V. Putin was not a part of the conversations, which were held against the backdrop of Russias intensifying nuclear rhetoric and battlefield setbacks. Russia has not intensified its nuclear rhetoric and, since the Ukraine's push into the empty east Kharkov region came to a halt in late September, has not seen any recent battlefield setbacks. All attempts by Ukraine to break through the front lines have since been defeated at high cost for the attacking Ukrainian units. Russia is in fact strengthening its front lines as more and more of the 300,000 mobilized reservists join its forces. It has degraded the Ukraine's transport and communication infrastructure by destroying some 40% of the countries 330 kilovolt electric substations. The destroyed transformers are Soviet era equipment without a 'western' substitute and there is no timely way for Ukraine to replace them. Russia has done this on the cheap by using Iranian suicide drones. In exchange Iran will receive SU-35 fighter jets. The financial damage of these strikes to Ukraine is much higher than the costs are for Russia. There is absolutely no reason for Russia to think of using anything nuclear. It would contradict its policies and doctrines without giving it any advantage. If in mid October Russian military leaders indeed talked to each other about something nuclear it is much more likely that they talked about Ukrainian or U.S. weapons than of the ones their country owns. The core question in all this remains the same as a month ago. Why is the Biden administration doing this? Why is planting stories about non-existing 'Russian threats'? During a recent talk Russia's president Vladimir Putin gave at the Valdai Club he was asked the same question. He answered it: Ivan Safranchuk: Ivan Safranchuk, MGIMO University.

...

Nuclear rhetoric has intensified greatly as of late. Ukraine has moved from irresponsible statements to the practical preparation of a nuclear provocation; representatives of the United States and the United Kingdom are making statements with suggestions of the possible use of nuclear weapons. Biden, lets say, speaks about nuclear Armageddon, and straight away there are comments in the US that there is nothing to fear. At the same time, the United States is hurrying to deploy modernised tactical nuclear bombs in Europe. It looks like they are rattling the sabre while refusing to acknowledge the lessons of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Mr President, could you please comment, is it true that the world is on the verge of the possible use of nuclear weapons? How will Russia act in these circumstances, given that it is a responsible nuclear state? Thank you. Vladimir Putin: Look, as long as nuclear weapons exist, there will always be a danger that they could be used. This is the first thing. Second, the goal of the current fuss around such threats and the potential use of nuclear weapons is very primitive, and I would probably be not mistaken when I explain what this is about. I already said that the dictate of the Western countries and their attempts to apply pressure on all the participants of international communication, including countries that are neutral or friendly to us, are achieving nothing, and they are looking for additional arguments to convince our friends or neutral states that they all need to confront Russia collectively. Nuclear provocation and the inflaming of the possibility that Russia might theoretically use nuclear weapons are being used to reach these goals: to influence our friends, our allies, and neutral states by telling them, look at whom you support; Russia is such a scary country, do not support it, do not cooperate with it, do not trade with it. This is, in fact, a primitive goal. What is happening in reality? After all, we have never said anything proactively about Russia potentially using nuclear weapons. All we did was hint in response to statements made by Western leaders.

...

As for RussiaWe have the Military Doctrine, and they should read it. One of its articles explains the cases when, why, in relation to what and how Russia considers it possible to use weapons of mass destruction in the form of nuclear weapons to protect its sovereignty, territorial integrity and to ensure the safety of the Russian people. The answer Putin gave seems plausible to me. I still have to find a better one. To me this looks all very low-brow, demented and indeed primitive. When one reads these planted stories and checks their veracity one ends up shaking ones head. No serious person or foreign country will be influenced by such nonsense. What the stories really show is that the neocons in the Biden administration have no real instruments left and no abilities to influence the execution of further Russian plans in Ukraine. In a month or two, when Russian troops will throw the Ukrainian army out of Donetsk and other regions, there will be nothing left for them to say. Posted by b on November 2, 2022 at 16:16 UTC | Permalink Comments next page  next page 
November 02, 2022 Open (Not Ukraine) Thread 2022-188 News & views not related to the war In Ukraine ... Posted by b on November 2, 2022 at 13:10 UTC | Permalink Comments next page  next page 
Talkwalker Names New CEO

Social media monitoring platform Talkwalker has promoted Lokdeep Singh to the role of Chief Executive Officer, replacing Tod Nielsen, who has been with the company for just over a year. Singh is based in Luxembourg.



Talkwalker's platform uses AI-powered technology to monitor and analyze online conversations in real-time across social media networks, news web sites, blogs and forums in 187 languages. The firm's data visualization tool, Conversation Clusters, enables marketers, PR professionals and consumer insight analysts to uncover, understand and visualize the context around any topic.



Singh (pictured) joined in January as EVP and Chief Product Officer, before which, he was General Manager and SVP Messaging at subscriber connection software provider Synchronoss Technologies. Earlier, he led product strategy and technology innovation as Chief Product Officer at Openwave Messaging, Chief Innovation Officer at Syniverse, and CTO at MACH.



In his new role, Singh will focus on company growth, customer experience, and product innovation. He replaces Nielsen, who last year succeeded Robert Glaesener, now Chairman of Talkwalker's Board. Singh comments: 'I have been a fan since I first heard of Talkwalker and learned about the company's commitment to industry-leading technology and consumer-first mindset. I am fully committed to enabling Talkwalker to continue to achieve significant growth while working with our customers, partners, and employees to continue to create success for all.'



Web site: www.talkwalker.com .




UW, Wyoming SBDC Network to Host Small Business Saturday Training

Small Business Saturday is right around the corner and, for small-business owners, it can be a make-or-break sales day that sets the tone for the holiday shopping season.

Michelle Talbert will discuss how small-business owners can build anticipation and a pipeline of potential customers for the holidays during a Wyoming Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Network online training workshop titled Before, During and After: Leveraging Small Business Saturday to Create Raving REPEAT Customers Thursday, Nov. 10, from 11 a.m.-noon. The presentation will be hosted by the SBDCs Wyoming Community Navigator Program. To register, go here. Registration is free.

Talbert is a relationship marketing strategist and co-working space founder. In January 2020, she opened Her Power Space, a woman-forward, men-welcoming boutique co-working space near Fort Lauderdale, Fla. In August 2022, she celebrated the grand opening of her second location, Her Power Space Too.

In response to the pandemics impact on the small-business community, Talbert created the No Small Business Left Behind series that, to date, has highlighted 200 small businesses. Talbert also hosts virtual and in-person groups, including the Her Power Moves Book Club, The UnChamber monthly workshops and the nonprofit Her Happiness Collective, where women entrepreneurs gather to lay down their capes. Talbert has been featured in Forbes, The Washington Post and other major publications. Her motto is We all win.

Talbert graduated from Cornell University and received her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania, with a business certificate from the Wharton School of Business. In June 2021, she completed the Cornell Womens Entrepreneurship Certificate.

For more information, call Maureen Johnson, CARES Act recovery program manager for the Wyoming SBDC Network, at (307) 343-0925 or email mjohn125@uwyo.edu.

The Wyoming SBDC Network offers business expertise to help Wyoming residents think about, launch, grow, reinvent or exit their business. The Wyoming SBDC Network is hosted by the University of Wyoming with state funds from the Wyoming Business Council and funded, in part, through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Oliver Whitmore to Represent Gibraltar at UK Youth Parliament

Gibraltarian student Oliver Whitmore has been selected by the Commonwealth Youth Association (CYA) to represent Gibraltar at a meeting of the UK Youth Parliament which will assemble in the House of Commons chamber later this week.

This is the first time that anyone from Gibraltar has participated in the event.

Mr Whitmore was chosen after an essay competition the theme of which was the most important issue affecting young people in Gibraltar.

The meeting will take place on Friday 4 November and will include representatives of the UK Overseas Territories who will each have a two minute slot to raise the most important issue affecting young people in the respective territories today. The speeches will be delivered from the despatch box and the session will be streamed live on Parliament TV. Mr Whitmore met with a representative of the CYA for guidance and advice beforehand, and also with the Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia.

The Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia CMG MP said:

I wish Oliver well in his role as an ambassador for Gibraltar. I too was very impressed with his work and I am sure that he will do Gibraltar proud during the meeting and with the many contacts that he will come across there. In the course of the year, our young people will have represented Gibraltar at the Commonwealth Youth Forum in Kigali, at the Commonwealth Youth Parliament in Trinidad and Tobago and the UK Youth Parliament in London. This demonstrates both the eagerness of our youth to represent our country abroad, as well as the strength of our relationship with the United Kingdom and with the Commonwealth family. The Government is very grateful to the Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle for the inclusion of young people from the UK Overseas Territories in this event. 
A U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortress, assigned to the 20th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, deployed from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., approaches the flightline at Royal Australian Air Force Base Darwin, Australia, April 6, 2018.
A 21 kiloton underwater nuclear weapons effects test, known as Operation Crossroads or the Baker Test, was conducted at Bikini Atoll in 1946.
Gibraltar Day in London 2022

The Chief Minister has today hosted a Financial Services Lunch alongside the Minster for Financial Services, the Hon Albert Isola, at the GuildHall to mark the start of the annual Gibraltar Day events in London.

Those attending the Finance Centre lunch now pay for their participation and the event is no longer subsidised by Government.

This evening, the Chief Minister will host a reception at The Shard which will see UK Members of Parliament, foreign ambassadors to the UK and other industry leaders networking and reflecting on the ever closer political and economical links between the United Kingdom and Gibraltar.

The Chief Minister will also make use of his time in London to hold a number of political meetings.

The Chief Minister, the Hon Fabian Picardo KC MP, said: This is the first Gibraltar Day in London since the pandemic began and I am absolutely delighted to have hosted the Financial Services lunch earlier today which brought together all those industry leaders who are so fundamentally important to Gibraltars economy. It was also particularly poignant to mark Gibraltar Day in London this year for the first time since the passing of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. I would like to thank the Sir Phillip Barton for attending the lunch and addressing those present and for reenforcing the United Kingdoms commitment to Gibraltar and to securing a safe and beneficial deal in the UK/EU negotiations on Gibraltars future relationship with the EU. Sir Phillip is a great friend of Gibraltar and a former Deputy Governor and so it was a real pleasure to have him with us for todays lunch.
Wisdom & bits of knowledge: The unity of all Christian faiths on All Saints & Souls Days
We are saddened to announce that our colleague Katerina Fialkova, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Switzerland and Liechtenstein, suddenly passed away in Bern on Tuesday, November 1 at the age of 55. Ambassador Fialkova joined Czech diplomacy 30 years ago, in 2003 she was seconded to the Iraq Policy Unit at the British Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and from 2003 to 2007 she worked as a Deputy Ambassador at the Embassy of the Czech Republic in London.

Katerina Fialkova graduated from the University of Economics in Prague and after the Velvet Revolution, she studied also in Switzerland and in the USA. She was one of the leading figures that brought the Czech Republic into international organizations. She was also the first high-ranking Czech woman in NATO, working in Secretary General Lord Robertson's cabinet.

Ambassador Fialkova belonged to the generation of Czech diplomats who brought the Czech Republic not only to NATO, but also to the European Union, so that our country became anchored in the Western world  in democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights and the dignity of every human life. Her inexhaustible energy, courage to stand up to all inequity and determination to bring the right things to their fulfillment, personified the values of the post-Velvet Revolution Czech foreign service. Our sincere condolences to her family and friends.
On Sunday, October 30, representatives of the Embassy traditionally took part in the annual Remembrance Day commemoration event, organized by the MAFCV at the military cemetery in Brokwood.

The local military cemetery is the central cemetery for Czechoslovak soldiers who served in the United Kingdom during the Second World War.

The Embassy was represented by 3rd Secretary Michal Zizlavsky and military attache Brig. Gen. Vratislav Beran, who together laid a wreath at the Memorial to Czechoslovak army. In addition, the ambassador of the Slovak Republic, Mr. Robert Ondrejcsak, the military attaches of other 7 allied countries including the United Kingdom, representatives of Woking, representatives of the Czech Scout from Hlinsko and other representatives of Czech associations in the United Kingdom also took part, including children from Czechoslovakian schools, who closed the ceremony with performance of Czech, Slovak and British anthems.
Even if youve been told how to get to recording studio EastSide Manor, its easy to miss the driveway, hidden in plain sight along a residential street in Inglewood among canes of towering bamboo that look like theyre blocking the wind for another yard.

Make your way down the curved stretch of gray pea gravel, and eventually a grand residence reveals itself. Walking up from my parking spot on a particularly warm October afternoon, I no longer feel like Im anywhere near Gallatin Pike, but rather in a secluded artist commune in some exotic locale. A friendly group greets me from their seats around a long picnic table, and audio engineer Aaron Dethrage, whos been texting me to coordinate this meetup, offers a welcoming handshake. He walks me across a large stone patio, past a soot-stained firepit and into the facility that, among many other things, serves as home base for Nashville hip-hop collective Six One Tribe. The room is full  of people on nearly every surface that can double as a seat, of snack foods spread across an octagonal table, of recording gear flanking two large mixing boards.

This is where the group and their many collaborators have been at work for a long time, creating an array of projects including their debut full-length album Tribe Over Everything, which theyll release Friday. It doesnt take long to understand that Six One Tribe takes the term collective very seriously, and describing themselves as a family who chooses each other is a common refrain. Most of the contributors to the album are in the control room with me. The first to say hello is Quai, a rapper and producer who has his own album due soon. To his left, Gee Slab leans against a mixing board. Slab is the co-founder of the collective in a formal sense  he and Dethrage launched the LLC together  but hes also a producer and the rapper that listeners hear first on the albums lead track, They On Notice.

A word we use a lot around here is ecosystem,  Slab says in his robust Middle Tennessee drawl. He comes across like the groups wise elder statesman. Its just an ecosystem of creativity  pushing one another to be better, over and over again. And through that, people shine bright in their own light.

Before my visit, three singles have been released in the run-up to the album: the driving Wholotta, the grooving, nimble We the Wave and the kinetic Carbon Copy. Combined, there are four producers and 13 rappers on the mic on these three tracks alone. Every cut on Tribe Over Everything has at least three MCs, while some tracks feature as many as eight. The artists are fairly disparate in style, but their familiarity with one another is the connective tissue that makes the work cohesive. The continuity from track to track is like a beautiful stew, where each chef has chosen specific spices that complement the ingredients everyone else is bringing. The resulting flavor is distinctly Southern and uniquely Nashville.

Different flavors coming into the same pipe, says Tripgod FRFR (read: for real, for real). Hes a jovial jokester, and hes all over Tribe, both on the microphone and the beats. He greets everyone who steps through the door with a hug and a smile that extends the entire width of his face. Were showing that Nashville is that new melting pot of flavor. All these artists that are around me right now are the great flavors that make this dish so outstanding.

When you count up everybody whos worked on this project, Dethrage notes, like everybody, everybody  its like 55 or 60 people attached to the project at this point.

I ask for a headcount on Tribes active rappers, and the soft answer is about 16. But there are about as many collaborators functioning as featured guests on tracks across the album and their various solo projects.

Its more of a label-slash-production company, says Slab. I cant just say its just artists, because that would be unfair to everyone else who contributes to what we do.

Continuing around the loose circle in the control room, rapper and fashion designer 3van 9rey sits next to Negro Justice, who currently holds the Best of Nashville title belt in the Hip-Hop Album category. Chosen Family, the solo album he released in the spring, features most of the Tribe crew. HB Mandela never announces his role in the group, but rather his enthusiasm to be involved. Its a beautiful thing to be in here, Mandela says. And a beautiful time with all these great artists  something as authentic as it gets. To my right is wordsmith and guitarist BLVCKWIZZLE, who radiates confidence as he introduces himself. Its clear that the members of the crew are each others biggest fans.

To my right sit PesoTaxin and Mack, the young duo behind Redeye Films, who function as the video production team within the Tribe orbit. The whole group is passing around a tablet displaying stills from the cult-themed video for the track Same Beast, Different Monsters, shot around EastSide Manor (and co-directed by all3y3z) the night before. As the photos go from hand to hand, each member expresses so much admiration for the work the others do. Everyone on the team is an equal  rappers, producers, designers, editors  each just as important as the other.

Its more like a church than a playground here, says Mandela. I feel like this is a healing place. I dont even know how to put it. These people come here, and Ive learned to love every one of them like family.
(Natural News) President Joe Biden admitted in an interview that he is pushing for children to have unlimited access to transgender treatments  such as puberty blockers and surgeries.

In an interview with transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney, Biden declared that there ought to be nothing limiting transgender treatments, including states themselves. He reiterated that states should not be permitted to control any health care that involves a person who has adopted the transgender belief.

I mean, no state should be able to do that, in my view. So, I feel very, very strongly that you should have every single solitary right including use of your gender-identity bathrooms in public, Biden stated.

The president told Mulvaney that states limiting so-called gender-affirming care is wrong [as both a] moral question and as a legal question.

Biden also blasted several red states for passing laws that restrict the use of puberty blockers used to prevent normal adolescent development and surgeries that can possibly render children and teenagers permanently sterile. His remarks appeared to be directed at four states  Alabama, Arkansas, Texas and Arizona  that approved laws or policies that restrict what doctors can do to children who have gender dysphoria  a condition that generally resolves as a child grows.

LGBT advocacy groups and civil rights advocates have condemned the current restrictions against gender-affirming care as discriminatory. But Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a member of the Republican Party, condemned Biden and the Democratic Party for pushing transhumanist medical procedures on children. (Related: TRANS activists resort to terrorism in second swatting incident targeting Marjorie Taylor Greene, who introduced legislation to halt transgender mutilations of children.)

[President] Joe Biden thinks its wrong to stop the profit-driven medical industry from cutting breasts off 15-year-old girls and castrating teen boys before they are old enough to legally get a tattoo or vote, she tweeted. Democrats are the party of child abuse.

Biden seeks to make taxpayers shoulder the bill for genital mutilation

Meanwhile, the Biden administration is broadening the range of taxpayer-financed gender-affirming healthcare options available to federal employees beginning in 2023, as stated in an Office of Personnel Management (OPM) explanation of federal benefits issued in late September.

OPM continues to focus on ways our Carriers can improve access to gender-affirming care for transgender and gender diverse individuals, the agency stated.

The expansion of this care arrived just after the national debt hit $31 trillion and fiscal year 2022 finished with an estimated budget deficit of $1.4 trillion.

OPM announced healthcare costs for federal employees are given to the increased debt load with premiums under the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program likely to increase an average of 7.2 percent next year, and the government is predicted to confront a cost increase of about that amount.

A number of these costs increase reflects a wider range of treatment options for those diagnosed with gender dysphoria.

As an example, OPM stated that beginning in 2023, all health care providers giving service under the FEHB program will bring coverage for fertility preservation procedures for people dealing with the chance of infertility associated with medical and surgical gender transition treatment.

OPM stated that all providers have made sure they have equitable access to medications and can offer coverage of medically necessary hormonal therapies for gender transition care.

Providers are all coordinating acknowledged entities to ensure they are giving evidence-based benefits and coverage for gender-affirming care, such as the World Professional Association of Transgender Health or others.

As reported by OPM, they will all provide patients the option of being guided by a care coordinator as they look for gender-affirming care.

Furthermore, all providers have checked their own medical literature to guarantee the use of inclusive and gender-neutral terminology as they consider these medical options.

OPM defined these changes in a document that describes a wide range of healthcare options for federal workers and enrollment in these plans will happen between mid-November and mid-December.

Follow GenderConfused.com for more news about gender-affirming medical procedures.

Watch the video below to know more about the gender-affirming treatments.

This video is from the Son of the Republic channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

MEDICAL RACKET: Vanderbilts transgender clinic in Nashville EXPOSED for chemically and surgically castrating minors.

ALL gender affirmation treatments completely lack FDA approval  no real safety studies, Reuters admits.

Barbara Bush Childrens Hospital promoting risky, gender-affirming medical interventions.

Sources include:

WND.com

WashingtonExaminer.com

Fox News.com
(Natural News) The Biden regime chose Nina Jankowicz to head up the new Ministry of Truth earlier this year for a reason: She is an expert in spreading disinformation, which also made her the perfect person to spread it.

Whats more, she has had extensive experience in spreading lies and misinformation, much of it on the U.S. taxpayers dime.

An extensive report from Revolver News in May exposing Jankowiczs role in these operations, which have been in place since at least 2015, noted her recent claim that there is no deep state was part of her modus operandi  that is, she lies for a living.

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, she claimed in a video clip posted to social media earlier this year.

There is no deep state. Nina says so. pic.twitter.com/WY7h7SKhWW  Maze (@mazemoore) May 2, 2022

Got that? The disinformation expert who was working on behalf of the deep state says there is no such thing so we should just believe her and move on. After all, she was from the government, and the government wouldnt lie to Americans.

As Revolver News continued:

Revolver News reports:

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 report further noted that the initiative claimed it defended democracy by recruiting secret clusters of national security bureaucrats, academics, think tank members and lobbyists in several countries in the European Union. Those groups would then get to work allegedly addressing nation-specific threats of so-called Russian disinformation. The report also noted that the Integrity Initiative got funding from NATO.

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, Revolver News noted, explaining the function of the organization.

One cannot understand how the Disinformation Industry functions without understanding the little-known (and now defunct) Integrity Initiative, Revolver News continued.

The investigative outlets report added that while the initiative has since been disbanded, hackers leaked a massive trove of documents exposing its truly diabolical purpose.

Later, the report said that Jankowiczs name appeared in a 2018 leak as a member of the inner core of the Integrity Initiatives U.K. Cluster, and specifically in a subgroup that focused on Russia.

Her name appears in the same hacked document alongside that of far-left The Atlantic writer Anne Applebaum, who recently refused to explain why she and other mainstream journalists agreed to take part in a coordinated cover-up of the incredibly scandalous information found on Hunter Bidens laptop that also involved his uncle, James Biden, and his father, now-President Joe Biden.

WATCH The Atlantics @anneapplebaum refuse to answer @RealDSchmidts?? question about Hunter Bidens laptop during @UChicagos Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy conference! pic.twitter.com/1OgXBBiiI0  The Chicago Thinker (@ThinkerChicago) April 6, 2022

After outing Jankowicz and the operation she took part in, Revolver News then made some key points about the initiative.

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, the site reported.

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, the outlet noted further.

Revolver News said that its not hyperbole or exaggeration to describe Musks threat to bring free speech and transparency to Twitter as a declaration of war against the global deep state regime. As the initiatives use of the platform reveals, Twitter is used often by U.S.-aligned intelligence agencies to conduct influence operations both within and outside the country because it is literally friendly ground, and that far outweighs its nominal value as a technology company.

Two more points on that front:

 On Wednesday, the regime decided to shelve the phony Disinformation Governance Board that it was going to use for domestic influence operations because of the public outcry. Also, Jankowicz resigned, meaning she (and the impetus behind the board she was to lead) are likely going to be retasked elsewhere.

 Musk is aware they are coming for him, though for now, he went through with his bid to buy Twitter and is already making substantial changes. After revealing that some 20 percent (or more) of the accounts on the platform are bot accounts used for disinformation and to drive narratives, he claimed  on Twitter  that the deep state was set to move against him, which he framed as just a political attack.

In the past, I voted Democrat because they were (mostly) the kindness party. But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican. Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold, he tweeted after noting, cryptically, earlier in the day: Political attacks on me will escalate dramatically in coming months.

Sources include:

Revolver.news

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Canadas euthanasia laws have reached a new and more terrifying low, according to Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

He noted during a recent edition of Tucker Carlson Tonight there had been a very big change in Western civilization as Canada is set to legalize new standards for euthanasia in March 2023, and is set to extend medical assistance in dying (MAiD) to those with mental illness after a temporary exclusion expires.

Prior to the passage of the bill, MAiD eligibility was based only on having a grievous and irremediable medical condition.

In 2021, data showed that 10,064 people in Canada died with medical aid, which is a massive 32 percent increase compared to 2020. The report said that 3.3 percent of all deaths in Canada in 2021 were assisted deaths. On a provincial level, British Columbia has the highest rate at 4.8 percent, while Quebec comes second at 4.7 percent.

However, advocates say that it isnt surprising because Canadians are growing more comfortable with MAiD, although many expect the rising rates to level off soon.

A way to cut down on healthcare costs

This is about to become a lot more common in Canada as a way to cut down on healthcare costs, Carlson said. (Related: Health insurance companies now pushing EUTHANASIA to avoid paying disease treatment coverage costs to doctors and hospitals.)

He referenced a womans 23-year-old son, who sought approval for MAiD on account of depression and diabetes despite his mothers disapproval. Carlson said doctors are killing kids without telling their parents because they are depressed.

The doctors are said to have retracted their approval for euthanasia after receiving backlash, and it is believed that the man remains alive while trying to find a doctor who will sign off on his medically assisted death.

A source also said that doctors reject the mans application because he is young and healthy and has an abundant life ahead of him.

During his show, Carlson was joined by Charles Camosy, a professor of Medical Humanities at the Creighton University School of Medicine. The two discussed the rapidly declining situation of euthanasia laws in Canada.

Camosy mentioned that theres a group of physicians in Quebec who wants to kill newborn infants. This is what happens when autonomy just goes nuts, the professor said.

Carlson also commented that Canadas medical system is comparable to the Nazis. They were famous for doing this exact thing, he said, noting that the Nazis also used doctors to murder the weakest in their society.

I thought doctors kind of agreed after the Second World War not to do things like this, Carlson continued. A doctors job is to help people, make them better, not to kill them and give up on them when theyre kids.

Camosy said the problem with the modern healthcare system is that it is losing its dignity as it is becoming hyper secularized, and it is often based on cost-benefit analysis  something that is called quality-adjusted life years.

He also noted that for respect for life to return to Canada and for such laws not to seep into the U.S., citizens must begin to support healthcare that prioritizes actual care. What we need to do is support in whatever way you can, healthcare that is about caring and not killing, he said.

There are states in the U.S. that already approved medical-assisted suicide, namely Oregon, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Vermont, Washington state, and Washington, D.C. Montanas Supreme Court has also ruled that state laws do not prohibit medical aid in dying.

Watch the video below to listen to the discussion on whether euthanasia is mercy killing or murder.

This video is from the Bible News Prophecy channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Canada to become ASSISTED SUICIDE capital of the world.

Euthanasia- and infanticide-promoting philosopher wins 1 Million dollar Berggruen prize.

Canadian hospice group pushes to normalize euthanasia of children who are suffering  many due to vaccine injuries.

Sources include:

LifeSiteNews.com

NYPost.com

CTVNews.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Ohio-based lawyer Tom Renz broke down Christian nationalism on his Brighteon.TV program Lawfare with Tom Renz.

Renz recounted his discussion on the topic during his appearance on Clay Clarks ReAwaken America Tour. He reiterated that Christianity is about treating people with love and respect, regardless of whether they are Christians or not.

We are supposed to love and we lead by example, not through abuse or punishment or anything of the sort, he said. We teach with respect.

According to Christianity.com, Christian nationalism is a desire to have a God-centered nation run by godly people. Renz pointed out that Christian nationalism contains the term nationalism  which equates to supporting America, a nation that ended slavery, created suffrage, promoted equality, promoted economic prosperity across the world, stood for freedom and stood against communism.

Renz said being a lawyer does not prevent him from being a Christian and his faith is central to him as a person before God, family and country. He added that his loyalty is to God first before anything else.

The Brighteon.TV program host said people have the right to believe as they want, adding that people can teach and talk about Christianity and faith without forcing it on others.

He reiterated that America is a nation that will not tolerate religious discrimination or any other type of discrimination because it is a country that recognizes that nothing good comes from discrimination. (Related: The Resistance Chicks: Americas Founding Fathers were Christian nationalists  Brighteon.TV.)

Renz ultimately pointed out that Christian nationalism, which is all about freedom and autonomy, serves as the remedy to tyranny and oppression. He added that Christian nationalism also calls for people to stand up and fight for freedom.

The Lawfare with Tom Renz host expressed pride in being a proud Christian nationalist who believes and stands for America and God.

MSM waging psychological warfare with Christian nationalists

The Ohio attorney also pointed out that the mainstream media (MSM) sneers at the thought of Christian nationalism. He pointed to the MSMs psychological warfare against Christian nationalists, painting them as bad guys.

In particular, Renz cited Clark and Gen. Michael Flynn as the MSMs main targets due to their Christian nationalism. The Brighteon.TV host lauded the two for their courage to stand up for what they believe in.

He also questioned the motives of people opposing Christian nationalism and promoting discrimination against Christians. According to Renz, a person who wants to eliminate freedom would always begin by removing faith  which is at the core of every dictatorship that wants to do away with God or become God. The first thing tyrants do upon coming to power, he added, is to supplant religion.

Renz warned that people who want to destroy America will start by destroying Christianity and nationalism in the country.

We have people who are trying to do what every tyrant and every dictator in history has tried to do. They are trying to take more for themselves and take away from everybody else, at everybody elses expense, and they do it through lies, cheating, manipulation and all sorts of evil.

Follow Liberty.news for more about Christian nationalism.

Watch the Oct. 25 episode of Lawfare with Tom Renz below. Lawfare with Tom Renz airs every Tuesday at 11:30-12 p.m. and Saturday at 12:30-1 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

More related stories:

Biden plans to resume Obamas war on Christianity: Dem memo declares white Christians countrys foremost national security threat.

Attorney Tom Renz tells the Resistance Chicks: Faith without freedom is SLAVERY  Brighteon.TV.

Christians who recite scripture or pray in abortion safe zones face prison time in the UK.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

Christianity.com
(Natural News) Our COVID oppressors at the far-left Atlantic are now begging for a COVID amnesty in the wake of all their anti-science COVID oppression.

(Article by John Nolte republished from Breitbart.com)

Thats not going to happen.

Ever.

First, never forget the Atlantic is owned by this fascist who did this while you and I werent allowed to visit our relatives in hospitals or nursing homes or attend funerals.

Because Ive needed both, Im a big fan of forgiveness and second chances. Before that can happen, however, there must first be an admission of wrongdoing, an apology, accountability, and repentance.

Were seeing nothing even close to that from our COVID oppressors. Instead, all we see is lying and gaslighting. The best example is Dr. Anthony Fauci  the COVID oppressors tin idol  running around saying, Who me? I didnt call for lockdowns. I didnt call for school closures.

The thrust of the dishonest Atlantic piece is pure lies: We didnt know what we didnt know at the time.

In April 2020, with nothing else to do, my family took an enormous number of hikes. We all wore cloth masks that I had made myself. We had a family hand signal, which the person in the front would use if someone was approaching on the trail and we needed to put on our masks. Once, when another child got too close to my then-4-year-old son on a bridge, he yelled at her SOCIAL DISTANCING!

The World Health Organization admitted that the very lockdown policies it advocated for have resulted in a rise of mental health issues. https://t.co/o2Zo0li3Dp  Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) June 17, 2022

These precautions were totally misguided. In April 2020, no one got the coronavirus from passing someone else hiking. Outdoor transmission was vanishingly rare. Our cloth masks made out of old bandanas wouldnt have done anything, anyway. But the thing is: We didnt know.

Okay, but here is what you did know on day one

You did know The elderly were most at risk, and yet you still flooded nursing homes with infected COVID patients and then aided and abetted the cover up.

You did know The risk of catching the China Flu was the same in a big box store or a small business. You still closed and bankrupted small businesses.

You did know Everyday Americans had to watch their loved ones buried via Zoom, and then you attended the funeral for John Lewis.

You did know The risk to children was minimal, and you still closed schools and practiced the cruelty of forcing crying and confused toddlers into masks.

You did know People legally traveling to America were as capable of spreading infection as those illegally entering America. Yet, you still refused to stop illegal immigration.

You did know That while we were shamed, ridiculed, fined, punished, and bankrupted for not following your fascist rules, that one left-wing COVID oppressor after another  including Fauci, Nancy Pelosi, Chris Cuomo, Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, Muriel Bowser, the United Nations  proved they knew those rules were unnecessary by personally violating them.

You did know Every gathering came same with the same risk of infection. Yet, you cheered and joined Black Lives Matter and Antifa gatherings, while condemning any gathering of Trump supporters or the Faithful.

You did know You declared liquor stores necessary while locking Churches and Synagogues.

You did know It was as safe to buy vegetables as vegetable seeds. Yet you made seeds off limits.

You did know It was unconstitutional for anyone outside of state legislatures to alter voting rules. Yet you did so anyway.

You did know There was zero proof the vaccine stopped the spread of infection or prevented anyone from becoming infected. Yet you lied and said it did to justify firing, fining, ridiculing, harassing, dehumanizing, bullying, and discriminating.

You did know Every human life is worthy. Yet you still laughed at those of us who died, wished us dead, and threatened violence against us.

No.

There will be no amnesty before there is accountability for the savages who forced our loved ones to die alone.

There will be no forgiveness before theres a reckoning for the mercenary liars who abused our elderly and children.

There will be no moving on before theres justice for those who were bankrupted, fined, jailed, mourned alone, forced into lonely despair, and stripped of youths magic and irreplaceable moments.

Most of all, there will be no reprieve because you are not sorry; because given the opportunity, you will do it all over again; because you are vicious, heartless, mercenary, politically-driven bullies only asking for amnesty so you can catch us off guard the next time.

Read more at: Breitbart.com
(Natural News) Three doctors in the armed forces have decided to blow the lid on the United States militarys open deception concerning the negative outcome of Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccination on American troops.

According to the three whistleblowers, medical billing code data captured by the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database (DMED), which is run by the Department of Defense (DoD), shows that rates of miscarriage, myocarditis, cancer, Bells palsy, female infertility, and many other health conditions are up big time.

Cancer rates are particularly concerning, they say, as the normal average number of new cases per year is about 38,700, based on the time period from 2016-2020. In 2021 after Operation Warp Speed was launched, however, the number of new cancer cases that year rose to 114,645.

The Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch (AFHSB) runs the DMED, which it describes as a web-based tool to remotely query de-identified active component personnel and medical event data contained within the Defense Medical Surveillance System (DMSS).

The database contains every International Classification of Diseases (ICD) medical billing code for all medical diagnoses submitted by the military for medical insurance billing, reports explain. (Related: Remember at the launch of Operation Warp Speed when Dr. Sara Beltran Ponce, MD, suffered a horrific miscarriage right after getting jabbed for the Chinese Flu?)

Neurological issues up 1,000% in military following Operation Warp Speed

The three military whistleblowers in question are Samuel Sigoloff, Peter Chambers, and Theresa Long. Attorney Thomas Renz issued sworn statements from these three to the courts as part of a major lawsuit.

During the first 10 months of 2021, Renz says, miscarriages alone rose by 300 percent in the military. His hope is that the suit will lead to an end for covid jab mandates in the military.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) is also involved, having recently hosted COVID-19: A Second Opinion, a livestreamed discussion panel featuring numerous world-renowned doctors and medical experts who offered a much different take on the scamdemic and how the government handled it.

On February 1 of this year, Johnson wrote a letter to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. In it were the findings from a roundtable on covid jab injuries and deaths, including data showing a 10-fold increase in neurological issues post-Operation Warp Speed.

Johnson also revealed the following increases in other health conditions following the mandate of covid injections in the military:

Hypertension: 2,181 percent increase

Nervous system disorders: 1,048 percent increase

Malignant neoplasms of esophagus: 894 percent increase

Multiple sclerosis: 680 percent increase

Malignant neoplasms of digestive organs: 624 percent increase

Guillain-Barre syndrome: 551 percent increase

Breast cancer: 487 percent increase

Demyelinating: 487 percent increase

Malignant neoplasms of thyroid and other endocrine glands: 474 percent increase

Female infertility: 472 percent increase

Pulmonary embolism: 468 percent increase

Migraines: 452 percent increase

Ovarian dysfunction: 437 percent increase

Testicular cancer: 369 percent increase

Tachycardia: 302 percent increase

Between the years of 2016 and 2020, there were 1,499 codes for miscarriage reported each year. From January through October 2021  not even a full year  there were an astounding 4,182 miscarriages logged into the system.

During his panel, Johnson further made note that it appears myocarditis rates are being doctored by the government. Back in August 2021, it was shown in the codes that myocarditis diagnoses were up 2,800 percent. This month, however, it is now listed as only 200 percent higher.

There appears to be doctoring of the data, Johnson stated. Now, my staff has already sent  this morning, we sent a record preservation letter to the Department of Defense to try and protect this data.

Our soldiers are being experimented on, injured, and sometimes, possibly, killed, he added in a statement.

The latest injury and death counts associated with Fauci Flu shots can be found at ChemicalViolence.com.

Sources for this article include:

FearUnmasked.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Billionaire Elon Musk quickly made his presence felt after finally taking over Twitter on Oct. 27. Musk fired several Twitter executives as he made his way into the companys San Francisco headquarters.

Among the Twitter bigwigs shown the door were Parag Agrawal (former CEO), Ned Segal (CFO), Sean Edgett (general counsel) and Vijaya Gadde (head of legal policy, trust and safety). According to a Business Insider report, the South African-born Musk publicly feuded with Agrawal in July as the SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO accused the latter of misleading him and other investors.

The bickering between Musk and Agrawal stemmed from the formers warning that he might not proceed with his purchase due to the number of fake accounts on the site. The social media platform then sued Musk in July, forcing him to honor his original $44 billion deal first announced in April.

Three months later in October, Musk finally made up his mind to purchase the company at $54.20 per share  which Twitter accepted. (Related: Elon Musk changes course, now says he plans to go through with Twitter purchase.)

Musk later posted a manifesto for advertisers that explained why he purchased the platform, saying that he completed the purchase out of his love for humanity and a desire to expand the digital public square.

Fundamentally, Twitter aspires to be the most respected advertising platform in the world that strengthens your brand and grows your enterprise, he stated.

Musk, a self-declared advocate of free speech, promised that any moves to cut back restrictions would not turn the platform into a hellscape. According to Musk, removing constraints will help reduce polarization in todays particularly fraught political landscape.

Twitter inundated with 50K tweets following Musks entry

Musk said on Oct. 29 that no new changes will be made to the sites content moderation policies, pending the formation of a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints. No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes, he added.

Twitter has been hit by a coordinated trolling campaign following his takeover, with more than 50,000 tweets from 300 accounts attempting to make users think the platform has dropped or weakened its content policies.

Yoel Roth, the sites current head of safety and integrity, agreed with Musks initial statement and said those running the site had not changed content policies but had been subject to an organized effort to make people think we have.

Roth reported they found a ton of tweets posted by a small number of accounts featuring slurs and other derogatory terms. The said tweets that repeatedly used one unspecified slur came from just 300 inauthentic accounts. The users involved had been banned, according to the him.

Weve taken action to ban the users involved in this trolling campaign  and are going to continue working to address this in the days to come to make Twitter safe and welcoming for everyone, he posted. Our rules prohibit hateful conduct. This includes targeting people with dehumanizing content and slurs.

Analysts say that the attacks could be primarily caused by Musks statement to relax content policies and reinstate banned accounts such as those controlled by former U.S. President Donald Trump and right-wing British political commentator Katie Hopkins.

Moreover, Musk has previously talked about creating a super app called X in which multiple services such as shopping, ordering food and ride-hailing can be requested.

The long-term potential for Twitter in my view is an order of magnitude greater than its current value, he said on Teslas call with analysts on October 19.

Visit ElonMuskWatch.com for more stories about Musks tenure as Twitter CEO.

Watch the video below about Musk firing Twitter executives after officially taking control of the social media giant.

This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Ukranian ambassador tells Elon Musk to f*ck off for suggesting peace in Twitter post.

Disinfo operative caught in secret influence operation after attacking Elon Musk over push to buy Twitter.

90% bots: Elon Musk reveals Twitter is a military grade psy-op to brainwash the masses.

Venture capitalist: Elon Musk could close Twitter deal at a lower price due to fake accounts.

Sources include:

LifeSiteNews.com

BusinessInsider.com

TheGuardian.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) SynBio means synthetic biology. If a corporation develops a gene-altering technology that gets injected into your body and permanently alters your chromosomes to be something other than fully human, they have turned you into a part-synthetic organism. Under existing US law and court precedent, that corporation may have an intellectual property claim to your physical body, which would make you a slave to that corporation.

A legal war is being fought right now to determine whether mRNA injections that alter human chromosomes confer intellectual property ownership rights of the organism to the corporation that invented the injection. Attorney Todd Callender is currently engaged in this legal battle in an effort to secure the status of self-ownership of your own body, a principal from which the entire philosophy of freedom springs.

In todays Situation Update podcast, I interview Todd Callender, covering a sweeping range of truly shocking realizations surrounding the covid jab, genetic alterations and the borgification of humanity. Some of the items covered in this interview include:

 The lawsuit against the DoD over vaccine mandates

 Why vaxxed people may be PROPERTY of the pharmaceutical cartels

 Details on Robert v. Austin, which sued HHS, FDA, DoD

 Upcoming 10th circuit hearing in Colorado

 The Truth for Health Foundation

 The global #TRANSHUMANISM push and the war against humanity

 Gene deletion effects

 SM-102, nanolipids and luciferase

 Cesium 137 (Cs-137) as a cellular potentiator

 How to remove radioactive cesium-137 from your body

 What is Prussian Blue?

 External frequency activation of self-assembled nanocircuits

 Cellular borgification and the takeover of the body

 The human body as a HOST for a SynBio nanoscale computational cloud

In addition, I also cover these world events in todays podcast:

 Liz Truss iPhone HACKED by Russian-linked hackers

 Truss text to Blinken CONFIRMS collusion to destroy Nord Stream

 Dems demand AMNESTY for murderous covid propagandists

 Same dems refuse to APOLOGIZE for ruining peoples lives with lockdowns, vaccines

 Mass uprisings now under way across Europe: France, Belgium, Hungary, Germany

Heres how you can hear the podcast:

Brighteon: Brighteon.com/d5878287-4648-4ec1-9686-dd0bd5c5011c

Bitchute: Bitchute.com/video/rhmiJKtmYmOo/

Rumble: Rumble.com/v1qx8pc-situation-update-nov-1-2022-the-transhumanism-demonic-ai-takeover-of-humani.html

Banned.Video: Banned.video/watch?id=6361275b661a4d057412d9a2

iTunes podcast: Healthrangerreport.com/situation-update-nov-1-2022-the-transhumanism-demonic-ai-takeover-of-humanity-is-about-to-fail

Follow more news about transhumanism at Transhumanism.news

Discover more interviews and podcasts each day at:

https://www.brighteon.com/channels/HRreport

Follow me on:

Brighteon.social: Brighteon.social/@HealthRanger (my breaking news gets posted here first)

Telegram: t.me/RealHealthRanger (breaking news is posted here second)

Banned.video: Banned.video/channel/mike-adams

Truth Social: https://truthsocial.com/@healthranger

Gettr: GETTR.com/user/healthranger

Parler: Parler.com/user/HealthRanger

Rumble: Rumble.com/c/HealthRangerReport

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Join the free NaturalNews.com email newsletter to stay alerted about breaking news each day.

Download my current audio books  including Ghost World, Survival Nutrition, The Global Reset Survival Guide and The Contagious Mind  at:

https://Audiobooks.NaturalNews.com/

Download my new audio book, Resilient Prepping at ResilientPrepping.com  it teaches you how to survive the total collapse of civilization and the loss of both the power grid and combustion engines.
(Natural News) The United States has undergone a coup. Having observed no martial conflict, you might think that I have gone off my rocker. But not all coups are physically violent. They can occur because poisonous ideas take hold and subvert the society. The United States is defined by the Constitution, and when the Constitution is eroded away, so is the United States.

(Article by Paul Craig Roberts republished from PaulCraigRoberts.org)

The Constitution has been eroding away for a long time. The liberals said the Constitution had to be a living document, which means that it is forever changing, which means redefined, which means eroded.

The Tenth Amendment was lost to Abraham Lincoln. George W. Bush got rid of habeas corpus in the name of national security when he declared that the terrorist threat gave him the power to hold American citizens indefinitely without presentation of evidence to a court, without trial and conviction. And he did. Obama one-upped Bush. He said he could execute American citizens on suspicion alone without due process of law. And he did. Bush and Obama were not held accountable for their violation of the US Constitution.

Today free speech and association are dead letter rights. Everyone can now censor our free speechemployers, school boards, people claiming they are offended, social media, print and TV media. People who say something offensive can be erased and never heard from again. What this means is that whoever controls the right to be offended can cancel the free speech of those who cannot claim to be offended. Without free speech, there is no debate, just the imposition of approved views.

In Woke America, this is the situation today.

You can also tell a coup has occurred when traditional patriots like Make America Great Again Trump supporters and Oath Keepers are demonized by media and government officials as domestic extremists, persecuted, and imprisoned on false charges, such as the Americans who attended a rally in support of Trump and were turned, with Republican complicity, into insurrectionists who tried to seize control of the government by taking selfies of themselves sitting in Nancy Pelosis chair.

When something so juvenile can be designated an insurrection, you know a coup has occurred. The message is clear. Those supporting the established order against the coup that is being imposed are enemies of the people.

You can also tell a coup has occurred when perversity of all kinds, particularly sexual, is celebrated and normality is derided as fascism or some form of phobia or other word of abuse. When the moral high ground is held by LGBT people who cannot reproduceand natures norm of heterosexual is regarded. as an unjustified definition of normality, the natural order has been overthrown.

Thats where we are today. Soon pedophilia will be declared normal, and there will be brothels where formerly depraved people, now normalized, can have sex with children.

Impossible, you say, but not, for once one perversity is legitimized, all others follow, as we have experienced. It is just a matter of time. Once the rot starts, it doesnt stop until the job is finished. We already have one foot in Sodom and Gomorrah, and the other foot is drawing nearer.

Read more at: PaulCraigRoberts.org
(Natural News) Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss is at the center of a growing controversy regarding the act of sabotage against Russias Nord Stream 1 and 2 natural gas pipelines.

Early last month, the world held its breath as news spread that the Russian-owned infrastructure had been attacked, with many in the West convinced that President Vladimir Putin would retaliate in some manner. Reports at the time suggested that the United States was responsible.

However, according to various reports, it appears as though the British government had at least some role in the incident.

Kim Dotcom, a self-proclaimed Internet Freedom Fighter, tweeted that then British PM Truss sent this message to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken  Its done  right after the sabotage took place, which is why the Russian government has accused London of being responsible.

Liz Truss used her iPhone to send a message to Secretary Blinken saying its done a minute after the pipeline blew up and before anybody else knew, he told his nearly one million Twitter followers.

Dotcom, who was born Kim Schmitz in West Germany  when the country was divided  suggested he obtained the information through an iCloud hack.

Its not just the Five Eyes that have backdoor admin access to all Big Tech databases, he said. Russia and China have sophisticated cyber units too. The funny thing is Govt officials with top security clearance still prefer using iPhones over their NSA & GCHQ issued encrypted s**t-phones.

How do the Russians know that the UK blew up the North Stream pipelines in partnership with the US? Because @trussliz used her iPhone to send a message to @SecBlinken saying Its done a minute after the pipeline blew up and before anybody else knew? iCloud admin access rocks!  Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) October 30, 2022

Its not just the Five Eyes that have backdoor admin access to all Big Tech databases. Russia and China have sophisticated cyber units too. The funny thing is Govt officials with top security clearance still prefer using iPhones over their NSA & GCHQ issued encrypted shit-phones.  Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) October 30, 2022

The U.S. Sun reported that Trusss phone was accessed by hackers linked to Russia.

In an astonishing security breach, messages Ms Truss sent to foreign powers and other Cabinet ministers are understood to have fallen into enemy hands, the report said. Her phone was so compromised it has been locked in a safe at a secret government location, it is claimed. The hack was discovered during the Tory leadership race while Ms Truss was still Foreign Secretary.

Still, there are those who believe that the U.S. was primarily responsible for the act of sabotage, including Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 are pouring millions of cubic meters of natural gas into the Baltic Sea, Carlson began in a monologue on his show shortly after the incident, noting the environmental damage the leak was likely to cause.

Natural gas is comprised of up to 90% methane. Methane, as Joe Biden has often told you, is the key driver of global warming, which is, of course, an existential threat to humanity and the planet, he added. So if youre worried about climate change, what just happened to the Nord Stream pipelines is as close to the apocalypse as we have ever come. So, the question is, how did this happen? And it turns out it was not an accident.

The host then noted that due to the nature of the pipeline breaks, they could not have happened naturally and said that European officials quickly declared it an act of sabotage. He also said it is highly doubtful that Russian President Vladimir Putin would have approved of taking out his own pipelines.

Se video og fotos af gaslkagerne pa Nord Stream 1 og 2-gasledningerne i stersen pa https://t.co/pj96CN7CDB: https://t.co/7bgt8TljaH #dkforsvar pic.twitter.com/I1zEPaBLYO  Forsvaret (@forsvaretdk) September 27, 2022

This is the president who has declared climate change the most pressing emergency in the history of the world. This is the man who lectures you about using a woodstove or driving an SUV because of its emissions, the host continued. This is the guy who spent billions trying to mitigate cow flatulence because methane. Would that guy really blow up a methane pipeline in the middle of the Baltic Sea? It was hard to imagine.

That would be an unimaginably reckless act. That would be the kind of thing you would do if you wanted to start a nuclear war. It would be insane. And yet in retrospect, its obvious they were thinking about this because Joe Biden wasnt the only person to suggest it, Carlson said before adding that neocon Victoria Nuland, the Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, also pledged that the U.S. would stop the pipeline.

So once again, did the Biden administration really do this? Its hard to believe, Carlson added.

If the Biden administration did this, this will be one of the craziest, most destructive things any American administration has ever done. But it would also be totally consistent with what they do. What do they do? Carlson said. They destroy. These people built nothing, not one thing. Instead, they tear down and they desecrate from historic statues to the Constitution to energy infrastructure and no one in Congress is trying to stop any of it.

What would be the effect of this? Every action has a reaction, equal and opposite. Blow up the Nord Stream pipelines? Okay, weve entered a new phase, one in which the United States is directly at war with the largest nuclear power in the world, he added.

Sources include:

NaturalNews.com

The-Sun.com
(Natural News) A top Russian official recently revealed that two Ukrainian firms had been ordered to build a dirty bomb, which is now nearing its completion.

Chemical and Biological Protection Troops Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov told reporters in a news briefing on October 24 that Russias Ministry of Defense has data on contacts of the Ukrainian presidential office in the U.K. on the issue of potentially obtaining these nuclear technologies. (Related: Two Ukrainian firms caught building dirty bomb  media blackout.)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskys administration reportedly has sufficient research and production potential to make a dirty bomb, including three active nuclear power plants and large amounts of spent nuclear fuel.

Thus, Ukraine has nuclear industry enterprises with stockpiles of radioactive substances that can be used to make a dirty bomb. They are three active nuclear power plants: Yuzhno-Ukrainskaya, Khmelnitskaya and Rovnenskaya, which have nine spent fuel pools that contain up to 1,500 tons of uranium oxide enriched to the level of 1.5 percent, Kirillov said.

He added that there are 22,000 spent fuel assemblies containing uranium-238 at the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which also contains products related to operation: uranium-235 and plutonium-239, the main components of the nuclear charge.

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu already told his American, British, French and Turkish counterparts about Ukraines possible use of a dirty bomb.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi assured that inspectors would arrive and start working in a couple of days at two facilities in Ukraine that are allegedly diverting nuclear material to make a dirty bomb.

I had a very comprehensive discussion with [Ukrainian] Foreign Minister [Dmytro] Kuleba about this, Grossi told reporters at the United Nations headquarters in New York. He came to the conclusion, and I agreed, that the best way to dispel any doubt is to allow the inspectors in.

Dirty bombs combine conventional explosives with radioactive material and are designed to spread radioactivity that can cause massive death and contamination

Biden: Russia would be making an incredibly serious mistake if it were to use a tactical nuclear weapon

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden was asked on October 25 if Russia is preparing to deploy a tactical nuclear weapon after making claims that Ukraine will use a dirty bomb.

I spent a lot of time today talking about that. Let me just say, Russia would be making an incredibly serious mistake if it were to use a tactical nuclear weapon. I am not guaranteeing you that its a false-flag operation yet, but it would be a serious, serious mistake, Biden told reporters.

If [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has no intention, why does he keep talking about it? Why is he talking about the ability to use a tactical nuclear weapon?

In an interview, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said it is indeed possible for Moscow to consider using the so-called dirty bomb to set up a pretext to blame Ukraine. But he said the U.S. still had not seen any signs that were necessarily the case.

They often blame others for that which they are doing themselves or about to do. So thats why we have to take that seriously, Kirby said of Putins allegations. Ill also tell you that were not seeing any signs, even today, that the Russians are planning to use a dirty bomb or to even make preparations for that.

Also, Kremlin insisted that its warning of a purported Ukrainian plan to use a dirty bomb should be taken seriously. The Russian administration also criticized Western nations for shrugging it off.

The dismissal of their warning is unacceptable in view of the seriousness of the danger that we have talked about, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Speaking during a conference call with reporters, Peskov warned: We again emphasize the grave danger posed by the plans hatched by the Ukrainians.

Visit NuclearWar.news for more news related to a possible nuclear war.

Watch the video below that talks about Moscows warning to the West about Kyivs dirty bomb plans.

This video is from the InfoWars channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Dirty bomb false flag event to IGNITE World War with Russia, but Europe and USA dont have enough functioning INDUSTRY to win a war.

DIRTY TACTICS: Ukraine claims without evidence that materials for DIRTY BOMB were stolen from lab near Chernobyl.

Ukraines DIRTY SECRET revealed: Dirty bomb ingredients from Chernobyl monitoring lab have gone missing.

Fears of radiation leak emerge amid shelling of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine.

Sources include:

NewsPunch.com

TASS.com

VOANews.com

Reuters.com

EuroNews.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Nineteen Republican attorneys general (AGs) announced a formal investigation on six major U.S. financial institutions over their investments related to Environmental Social Governance (ESG). Such investments, they argued, tend to promote the woke agenda instead of the interests of bank investors.

The six major banks  Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo  have become subservient to the United Nations (UN). To this end, they have signed on to the UN Net-Zero Banking Alliance, pledging to achieve net-zero emissions in their lending and investment portfolios by 2050.

Seeing this kowtowing to the globalist UN across the country, the 19 AGs bonded together to put a stop to the practice. Speaking to the Epoch Times, the AGs said the investigation seeks to enforce consumer protection laws. They added that a lot of legal issues are at play in their class action against the banks, including anti-trust issues and unfair lending practices. (Related: Nineteen states launch investigations into banks with climate cult ties.)

We are leading a coalition investigating banks for ceding authority to the UN, which will only result in the killing of American companies that dont subscribe to the woke, climate agenda, Missouri AG Eric Schmitt, who is leading the probe, said in a statement.

These banks are accountable to American laws. We dont let international bodies set the standards for our businesses.

Meanwhile, Montana AG Austin Knudsen warned that companies considering ESG factors in their investments may be running afoul of their duties to investors.

We got involved in this investigation because this is another attempt by the liberal woke left to shove their ideas down our throats. Since they cant change the laws using the political process, they want to do it by weaponizing business, he said. They are doing this out of some misplaced desire to advance their liberal agenda.

Schmitt: Six banks seek to shut down lending to non-woke entities

During an appearance on Fox News, Schmitt told anchor Laura Ingraham that the six banks they are probing seek to essentially shut down lending to entities that do not adhere to the woke agenda.

For creditworthy applicants who happen to be in the oil and gas industry, the coal industry, the auto manufacturing industry or agriculture where they have diesel vehicles or cows, you know, the stench that everybodys complaining about that pollutes the world, I suppose, as they think  it means that theyre going to shut down lending and make everything more expensive, said the Missouri AG. Thats a real problem.

He mentioned that there is a risk that the six banks would refuse to lend to applicants seeking a loan simply because they dont adhere to woke liberal agendas such as feminism, the gay agenda and critical race theory. According to the Missouri AG, the six banks are so big that they constitute 40 percent of the banking assets in the United States.

We launched this investigation because the Left is going to do what they could never get done legislatively, which is stuff like this. You have corporate banking and the investment industry trying to flex their muscle and pressure businesses into a political direction and political action. But thats not their function. Their job is to provide credit and earn profit for shareholders.

But based on the six banks ESG investments, they seem to regard the UN and the global elites as their masters.

Watch Glenn Beck explain how big banks, such as the six being investigated by the AGs, could sway the U.S. economy below.

This video is from the High Hopes channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

BlackRock stock downgraded after pushing radical ESG agenda.

What is ESG? Its a leveraging tool for the woke communist takeover.

ESG scoring drives companies into sustainable development, aka technocracy.

Meet BlackRock: The architect of woke capitalism destroying America from within.

ESG is a globalist scam meant to usher in One World Government: James Lindsay.



Sources include:

100PercentFedUp.com

TheEpochTimes.com

NationAndState.com

CNSNews.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) On October 28, MakerDAO co-founder Nikolai Mushegian tweeted a disturbing message to his followers linking government intelligence agencies to a pedophilia ring allegedly running out of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean islands. Two days later, he was found dead in San Juan.

Mushegians message, which is still posted on Twitter, reads as follows:

CIA and Mossad and pedo elite are running some kind of sex trafficking entrapment blackmail ring out of Puerto Rico and caribbean islands. They are going to frame me with a laptop planted by my ex gf who was a spy. They will torture me to death.

It is safe to say that most of our readers are well aware of the Central Intelligence Agency, but Mossad, the national intelligence agency of Israel, is probably lesser-known. Mossad is the Israeli version of the CIA, in simple terms.

What Mushegian was suggesting before his mysterious passing is that a Jeffrey Epstein-style child trafficking operation is running wild off Americas eastern coast. He must have struck a nerve because he was quickly silenced for broadcasting this to the world. (Related: Efforts are currently underway to investigate Joe Bidens pedophilia.)

Mushegian died just five days after approval of a lucrative custodian partnership with Coinbase

Mushegian was 29 when he died. He is profiled as a stablecoin innovator and BitShares contributor who created DAI, which runs on the Ethereum (ETH) network.

According to reports, the San Juan police bureau in Puerto Rico found Mushegians body on a beach behind Ashford Hospital in Condado. He was found near the water and rescuers were unable to revive him because his vital signs were already gone.

Official reports suggest that Mushegians body was dragged by currents and swept away while he was swimming. In other words, the official cause of death is an accident.

Few believe this based on the timeline of when Mushegian tweeted about the CIA and Mossad and when he turned up deceased. Three days prior to that tweet, the MakerDAO community had also approved a lucrative custodian partnership with cryptocurrency giant Coinbase, which is also worth noting.

Many in the crypto space are skeptical of the official story concerning Mushegians death. It is clear to them that something nefarious occurred as a result of the information he tweeted.

Mushegian himself tweeted several other concerning messages about how his future might include being suicided by CIA or becoming a CIA brain damage slave asset. Here is what he wrote:

sunday night, conditions met, surprise discovery, new opportunity, now all in on timeline shifting insanity index, quantum immortality but for human civilization, a bet that there is no future where negative sum banker global slave agenda doesnt end in extinction. wish me luck. 3 possible futures for me 1) suicided by CIA 2) CIA brain damage slave asset 3) worst nightmare of people who fucked with me up until now, I am sure these are the only options.

Compared to many others in the crypto space, Mushegian was relatively quiet most of the time, choosing instead to let his development do the talking. Very rarely did he say anything on Twitter, which makes the aforementioned messages chilling, to say the least.

Why did Mushegian believe he was about to die or become a deep state slave? What did he see or know that he knew made him a likely target for elimination? Here is what one commenter had to say about the shadowy figures potentially behind these pedophile rings:

Rome celebrated pedophilia as an annual festival for centuries. Its their custom. [Those] who created Roman Catholicism corrupted the Jewish Temple, turned it into a den of thieves and a synagogue of Satan as Jesus said, and are the moral authority for rule of law who crucified Christ.

The latest news about pedophilia and other deep state wickedness can be found at Evil.news.

Sources for this article include:

Newspunch.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Newly leaked documents show that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regularly met with executives from Facebook and Twitter to conjure up new ways to censor critical and damning information on social media.

The Intercept is credited with obtaining the leaks, as is Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who recently filed a lawsuit against the Biden regime for engaging in criminal collusion with Big Tech to suppress the First Amendment rights of Americans.

Twitters Vijaya Gadde, who was recently fired by Elon Musk, participated in these discussions between DHS and Big Tech, which dealt with topics beyond just the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19). We now know that there were efforts to control the narratives surrounding United States withdrawal from Afghanistan, as well as racial justice issues stemming from the George Floyd false flag incident.

The leaked materials show that specifically with regard to the Fauci Flu, DHS honed in on stopping misinformation surrounding the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, racial justice, U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the nature of U.S. support to Ukraine.

Facebook and Twitter created special portals for the government to rapidly request takedowns of content, tweeted The Intercepts Lee Fang.

The portals, along with NGO partners used to censor a wide range of content, including obvious parody accounts and content disagreeing w gov pandemic policy. (Related: Facebook and Twitter also took cash in exchange for protecting Hunter crackhead Biden and the rest of the Biden Crime Family from public scrutiny.)

Microsoft executive said social media platforms have got to get comfortable with govt

Private text messages between tech executives and DHS officials were also leaked, one of them showing an executive at Microsoft stating that social media and other tech platforms have got to get comfortable with govt.

The implication, of course, is that so-called private tech companies are now an extension of the government, and that they must get used to this fascism as the new normal.

One of the worst offenders that we know of in all this is Facebook, which actually created an official process for the government itself to flag misinformation on the platform. Here is how it is described by The Intercept:

There is also a formalized process for government officials to directly flag content on Facebook or Instagram and request that it be throttled or suppressed through a special Facebook portal that requires a government or law enforcement email to use. At the time of writing, the content request system at facebook.com/xtakedowns/login is still live. DHS and Meta, the parent company of Facebook, did not respond to a request for comment. The FBI declined to comment.

Kate Starbird, the infamous leftist professor who leads the Election Integrity Partnership, a group devoted to ensuring that Democrats always win, also reportedly participated in these shady talks between Big Tech and DHS.

Starbird played a critical role in drafting a report for the CISA director calling for the creation of an expansive new role for DHS in patrolling and policing the information ecosystem. That report called for close monitoring of:

 social media platforms of all sizes, mainstream media, cable news, hyper partisan media, talk radio and other online resources.

The report also called for DHS to intervene immediately to stop the spread of false and misleading information online, including anything deemed to be a threat to key democratic institutions, such as the courts, or by other sectors such as the financial system, or public health measures.

Be sure to check out the full report from The Intercept to learn more.

Interested in learning more about Big Tech collusion and criminality? Visit TechGiants.news.

Sources for this article include:

Breitbart.com

NaturalNews.com

TheIntercept.com
(Natural News) The U.S. has exported a record amount of nitrogen this past summer as surging natural gas prices in Europe drove up costs of producing the crop nutrient there.

Western sanctions against Russia have made U.S. shipments more competitive. Russia is a major producer of fertilizer and natural gas, which is key in making nitrogen products that boost yields of corn and other crops.

According to recent Census Bureau data compiled by industry group The Fertilizer Institute (TFI), exports from the U.S. increased to 370,000 short tons of nutrient in August  the highest monthly total since TFI began tracking the data in 2013. America is the worlds third-largest fertilizer producer.

TFI economist Jason Troendle said its not yet clear whether the U.S. produced more than usual in July and August or it just diverted a larger share of supplies to Europe. But America is historically a small exporter, and its ability to backfill markets is limited, he added. This could mean that the nutrient supply for U.S. farmers will be in danger.

The biggest year-over-year increases in U.S. purchases are in France, Belgium, Norway, Lithuania, Morocco, Chile and Brazil.

Moreover, European buyers are outbidding domestic buyers in the U.S. and other exporters like Indonesia and Malaysia, said Alistair Wallace, principal at Argus Media in London. European countries typically buy most of their imported urea, a form of nitrogen fertilizer, from North Africa, but are now purchasing it further afield, he said.

Farmer Dave Nelson of Belmond, Iowa, has seen his fertilizer costs soar to $1,280 per ton this year from $350 a ton two years ago. He locked into that price this fall so he could start calculating a 2023 budget.

I might as well do it because (price) is only going to go higher, said Nelson, who grows corn and soybeans. If you start skimping on fertilizer, you just end up hurting yourself in the end. 

$500M stimulus money not enough to boost fertilizer production

The Joe Biden administration has recently unveiled its plan to implement $500 million grants to support independent, innovative and sustainable American fertilizer production to supply American farmers. (Related: USDA announces $500 million stimulus program to boost domestic fertilizer production.)

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack introduced the new program called Fertilizer Production Expansion Program, which aims to expand the manufacturing and processing of fertilizer and nutrient alternatives in the U.S. and its territories. This is part of a larger effort to promote competition in agricultural markets, and funds are being made available through the Commodity Credit Corporation.

Agronomist Emerson Nafziger, a crop specialist with the University of Illinois Extension for the past 36 years, said he would be interested to hear what other agriculture policy watchers have to say about the effort.

Increase domestic production of fertilizer  that is not a phrase we have ever heard from the federal government, Nafziger said. Its pretty unusual for the government in the U.S. to try to manipulate supply for inputs like that.

According to Nafziger, prices for nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers are significantly higher than they were a year ago.

It is a new world in terms of prices and availability of fertilizers in particular, he said. Its a frustrating situation for individual farmers because they need to make an effort to see if they can get all the fertilizer that they need.

The program may be too late to help farmers deal with the soaring prices. In fact, farmers in Missouri are currently paying an average of $1,325 for a ton of nitrogen fertilizer, while they are paying more than $1,400 per ton in Iowa.

Fertilizer Institute President and CEO Corey Rosenbusch praised the program but noted that it would require billions of dollars if the Biden administration really wanted to help boost domestic fertilizer production. He noted that one nitrogen fertilizer plant may cost $2 to $4 billion to build.

Visit FertilizerWatch.com for more news related to the dwindling fertilizer supply in Europe and the United States.

Watch the video below that talks about how banning fertilizer exports will cripple agriculture.

This video is from the High Hopes channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Many Western countries are trying to ban NITROGEN (and thus meat).

Nitrogen fertilizer prices are expected to rise  and the cost of natural gas is no longer the only factor.

USDA launches a $500 million grant program for domestic fertilizer production.

Dutch farmers group vows to continue protests, calls into question science behind nitrogen fertilizer ban.

Sources include:

StrangeSounds.org

Reuters.com

JustTheNews.com

USDA.gov

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Billionaire Elon Musk moved quickly to exert control over Twitter after taking over the social media giant late last week.

No sooner than Musk walked in the door of the companys San Francisco headquarters than he fired four top executives, including the one responsible for booting then-President Donald Trump off the platform and shadow-banning conservatives.

The Wall Street Journal reported:

Mr. Musk fired Chief Executive Parag Agrawal and Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal after the deal closed, the people said. Spokespeople for Twitter didnt comment.

It wasnt immediately clear who would step into those top positions. CNBC previously reported the firings.

Mr. Musk also fired Vijaya Gadde, Twitters top legal and policy executive, and Sean Edgett, general counsel.

Earlier, Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, Tesla, and the Starlink satellite internet service, posted a video on Twitter of him entering the companys HQ holding a sink and noting: Entering Twitter HQ  Let that sink in!

Entering Twitter HQ  let that sink in! pic.twitter.com/D68z4K2wq7  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 26, 2022

In addition, Musk changed his Twitter bio to read Chief Twit. Later, he tweeted, Meeting a lot of cool people at Twitter today.

To remind readers, after having been with Twitter since 2011, Gadde was the top executive in charge of trust and safety, legal and public policy functions  described by Politico as the companys moral authority:

Gadde holds one of the most controversial positions at Twitter: Her teams decide how to moderate content. Thats made her a target of right-wing criticism, particularly when Twitter blocked the distribution of a New York Post article about President Joe Bidens son, Hunter Biden, in 2020. She faced a renewed wave of criticism after multiple reports confirmed she was behind the decision to ban Trump from Twitter.

It was she who was likely the executive who agreed to banning several other media outlets and figures because they refused to tow the official lines regarding the COVID-19 vaccines and pandemic, as well as Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

In all seriousness, imagine being such an arrogant, incompetent, entitled litttle wokester that your pissy texts provoked the richest man on earth to buy your employer just so he could fire you in his first act as owner. pic.twitter.com/NjpCOB9gbM  Sean Davis (@seanmdav) October 28, 2022

That said, its not as though these executives are going away penniless:

Agrawal is set to receive the largest payout of $38.7 million, due largely to the entirety of his shares vesting upon his firing.

Segal is set to receive a $25.4 million payout for getting fired.

Gadde will leave with $12.5 million.

Musk is prepared to make other major changes to the workforce at Twitter when he officially owns the company.

For instance, he plans to cut the workforce by nearly 75 percent of Twitters 7,500 workers, whittling the company down to a skeleton staff of just over 2,000, the Washington Post reported. But even if Musk does not complete his purchase of Twitter the report said that the current owners plan to cut the workforce by 25 percent:

The extent of the cuts, which have not been previously reported, helps explain why Twitter officials were eager to sell to Musk: Musks $44 billion bid, though hostile, is a golden ticket for the struggling company  potentially helping its leadership avoid painful announcements that would have demoralized the staff and possibly crippled the services ability to combat misinformation, hate speech and spam.

The impact of such layoffs would likely be immediately felt by millions of users, said Edwin Chen, a data scientist formerly in charge of Twitters spam and health metrics and now CEO of the content-moderation start-up Surge AI. He said that while he believed Twitter was overstaffed, the cuts Musk proposed were unimaginable and would put Twitters users at risk of hacks and exposure to offensive material such as child pornography.

A new dawn is coming in social media, and its glorious.

Sources include:

WashingtonPost.com
(Natural News) For years, conservatives have seen their content posted on the major social media platforms severely throttled and censored, even though the same platforms claimed that they were not singling out any users based on political ideology.

It didnt take long for their hypocrisy to be exposed. While some world leaders could call for the deaths of people they didnt like, others  like former President Donald Trump  were falsely blamed for things they did not do and were summarily kicked off all major platforms.

Other conservatives, especially media outlets, were summarily banned or censored outright over false claims they were spreading misinformation. Now, thanks to the stellar work of investigative journalists at The Intercept, we know that the platforms have been working with the federal governments deep state to censor and ban information that runs afoul of the accepted narratives on issues like COVID-19, vaccines, and the 2020 election (which was definitely stolen).

The Department of Homeland Security is quietly broadening its efforts to curb speech it considers dangerous, an investigation by The Intercept has found, the outlet said. Years of internal DHS memos, emails, and documents  obtained via leaks and an ongoing lawsuit, as well as public documents  illustrate an expansive effort by the agency to influence tech platforms.

The work, much of which remains unknown to the American public, came into clearer view earlier this year when DHS announced a new Disinformation Governance Board: a panel designed to police misinformation (false information spread unintentionally), disinformation (false information spread intentionally), and malinformation (factual information shared, typically out of context, with harmful intent) that allegedly threatens U.S. interests, the report continued.

While the board was widely ridiculed, immediately scaled back, and then shut down within a few months, other initiatives are underway as DHS pivots to monitoring social media now that its original mandate  the war on terror  has been wound down, the report added.

The outlet went on to report that this big tech-deep state collusion runs deep and has been occurring at least since Trump was elected. In fact, it would be safe to suggest that the collusion deepened under Trump, despite the fact that as president, he is in charge of the same executive branch agencies that were undermining him.

Platforms have got to get comfortable with govt. Its really interesting how hesitant they remain, Microsoft executive Matt Masterson, a former DHS official, texted Jen Easterly, a DHS director, in February.

CharlieKirk.com noted further:

Much of the focus, according to The Intercept, has been on the federal governments efforts to clamp down on Russian disinformation, but these efforts have clearly gone too far and appear to have a political bias. The New York Posts pre-2020 election revelations about Hunter Bidens allegedly corrupt business deals and other illegalities that seemed to loop in his father, then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, were censored by the big tech platforms (and many intelligence officials) as Russian disinformation though it clearly was not.

We looked at really hundreds of documents that paint a vivid picture of the [Federal Bureau of Investigation], the [Department of Homeland Security] closely collaborating with the top social media platforms, Twitter and Facebook, to censor various forms of content under the banner of fighting disinformation, one of the investigative reporters, Lee Fang, told Fox News Tucker Carlson Monday night following the publication of the report.

Leaked Documents Show Facebook And Twitter Worked Closely With The FBI And DHS To Police Disinformation @lhfang Joins Tucker Carlson Tonight To Discuss This Bombshell Report Link To The Intercept Piece: https://t.co/PHMEGJVngE pic.twitter.com/mhUkmTDaDe  The Columbia Bugle ?? (@ColumbiaBugle) November 1, 2022

At least there is pushback on the governments efforts to censor Americans through social media.

In May, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who is also the GOP nominee for the U.S. Senate, filed a lawsuit that seeks to expose the extent of the Biden regimes collusion with the big tech platforms to unconstitutionally silence users.

Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law school professor who has written about the suit, said, according to The Intercept, there is growing evidence that the legislative and executive branch officials are using social media companies to engage in censorship by surrogate.

It is axiomatic that the government cannot do indirectly what it is prohibited from doing directly. If government officials are directing or facilitating such censorship, it raises serious First Amendment questions, Turley added.

Sources include:

TheIntercept.com

CharlieKirk.com
(Natural News) Many, if not most, major scientific institutions have been captured by private interests pushing a special interest agenda, including vaccine research and the study of vaccine adjuvants such as aluminum.

Prof. Christopher Exley conducted extensive research in aluminums toxicity at Keele University in the United Kingdom, only to have his research funding stripped at the behest of the vaccine industry.

It turns out that Exley was revealing too much about how aluminum, which is contained in many childhood vaccines, causes serious health conditions like Alzheimers disease and autism. (Related: The CDC has also confirmed that aluminum in vaccines causes both asthma and autism in children.)

As far back as the early 1980s, Exley was digging into why fish were dying in increasing numbers in lakes and water ways. It turns out that aluminum toxicity was to blame.

Today, many more things contain aluminum, including not just vaccines but also non-stick cookware, cosmetics, antiperspirant deodorants, and even infant formulas. In each of these uses, aluminum is highly toxic to those exposed.

Many childhood vaccines contain far more aluminum than whats indicated on the label

We know that Exley published more than 200 scientific papers throughout his tenure. He and a team of scientists confirmed in 2017 what they described as an unequivocal connection between aluminum toxicity and dementia.

Without aluminum, there would be no Alzheimers, Exley wrote in his book Imagine you are an Aluminum Atom.

A few years later in 2020, Exley and that same group of scientists published a seminal paper comparing aluminum content in the brains of people with Alzheimers, multiple sclerosis (MS), and autism to that of people without those conditions. His findings, which were published in the journal Natures Scientific Reports, were highly concerning.

In short, people diagnosed with the aforementioned health conditions were found to have elevated levels of aluminum in their brains.

After that, in 2021, Exley et al. looked at aluminum adjuvants in 13 different infant injections and compared what they found to manufacturer data. Six out of the 13 had aluminum content significantly greater than what was indicated on the label.

At the time, Exley and his colleagues were the only group left in Great Britain that was studying the impacts of toxic exposure to aluminum. Now, there is nobody left doing this because all funding has conveniently and predictably dried up.

It started in the 1990s when the aluminum industry really started to push back against aluminum toxicity research, which even just 20 years ago was happening all over the place. Today, it is just a remnant of history.

Hence, group by group moved their attention from aluminium to other areas where funding was available, Exley says (aluminium is an alternate spelling for aluminum in proper English).

I have said this many times but I did not become a scientist for sciences sake. I took up science to solve the paradox of aluminium and human life. I was undeterred and worked harder and harder to win research funding from as wide a funding base as possible. I doubt that any scientist has worked as hard as I did in keeping research funding coming to my lab.

Since the time that Exley and other researchers were cut off from funding into aluminum toxicity, rates of autism and Alzheimers have only continued to skyrocket. These two diseases are so prevalent today that they have become household names, whereas in decades past they were exceptionally rare.

Even so, Exley has now been dubbed an anti-vaxxer for his decades of research, which is the usual label thrown at anyone who dares to question the safety or effectiveness of the chemicals found in vaccine vials.

Want to learn more about the dangers and ineffectiveness of vaccines? Visit VaccineDamage.news.

Sources for this article include:

Expose-News.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Growing video platform Rumble, based in the US, has refused to cave to Frances demands to censor Russian news sources such as RT France and Sputnik.

(Article by Christina Maas republished from ReclaimTheNet.org)

Rumble has instead chosen to pull its services from France rather than comply with the order.

The French Government has demanded that Rumble @rumblevideo block Russian news sources. Like @elonmusk, I wont move our goal posts for any foreign government, Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski tweeted.

In a statement, Rumble said, the French Government demanded that we remove certain Russian news sources from Rumble.

Rumble outlined its commitment to free speech, adding, As part of our mission to restore a free and open internet, we have committed not to move the goalposts on our content policies. Users with unpopular views are free to access our platform on the same terms as our millions of other users.

Rumble said that it was disabling access to users in France while they look into challenging the legality of the governments demands.

Journalist Glenn Greenwald, who has a show on Rumble, weighed in on the decision. If Rumble obeyed Frances censorship order  like Big Tech firms often do  itd mean Americans could only access voices and views which foreign governments (EU, China, Iran, etc.) permitted to be aired.

Several months ago, the European Union (EU) imposed sanctions on Russia, including banning RT and Sputnik from being broadcast in member countries. The two news outlets were accused of spreading Russian propaganda about the invasion of Ukraine.

The channels are not allowed on television or online in EU countries. However, they have been circumventing the sanctions through online platforms that are not based in the EU.

Last month, Frances President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged the difficulties in blocking RT and Sputnik from the country, as French citizens still had online ways to access the content.

Were using the informational weapon and Russia was doing it even before by spreading propaganda on social networks, through propaganda channels that we have cut off on our soil but still continue to find channels to broadcast, Macron said in an interview broadcast by France 2.

Rumble describes itself as a high-growth neutral video platform with independent infrastructure that is immune to cancel culture  and a platform with a mission of restoring the internet to its roots.

Read more at: ReclaimTheNet.org
(Natural News) An interim report published by the Senate Committee on Health Education, Labor and Pensions casts fresh doubt on the wet market bat soup origin theory of the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19).

The GOP policymakers who contributed to it say that there is now substantial evidence to suggest that a lab accident was responsible for the release of the Fauci Flu, which appears to have escaped from Wuhan, China, and contaminated the world.

Evidence for a natural spillover event is missing despite three years of probing, American politicians claim. Communist China, they added, should no longer get the benefit of doubt on the matter.

To be clear, the report still shrouds the true origin in the Chinese Flu in mystery, suggesting that there is no concrete evidence either way when it comes to accurately pinpointing from where the Wuhan Flu came. (Related: Remember when The Lancet did a 180 by suddenly deciding covid could have been cooked up in a lab after previously denying the possibility?)

Based on the analysis of the publicly available information, it appears reasonable to conclude that the COVID-19 pandemic was, more likely than not, the result of a research-related incident, the report reads.

Nearly three years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, critical evidence that would prove that the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 and resulting COVID-19 pandemic was caused by a natural zoonotic spillover is missing.

White Coat Waste Project says taxpayer-funded gain-of-function experiments on animals in Wuhan likely caused the Covid-19 pandemic

Described as a bombshell by the DailyMail Online (United Kingdom), the report highlights the lack of transparency and collaboration from China as problematic because it prevents reaching a more definitive conclusion about the matter.

The hypothesis of a natural zoonotic origin no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt, or the presumption of accuracy, the report further states.

Many will recall that former President Donald Trump was a proponent of the lab leak theory, having presented it at a time when few others were even considering it as a possibility.

Trump was relentlessly mocked for the proposition, only to later be vindicated by scientists and politicians as possibly being right, just as he was concerning the use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as a safe and inexpensive remedy for the virus.

A campaign group called the White Coat Waste Project is thrilled by the new GOP-led Senate report, which affirms the groups belief that the Fauci Flu did, in fact, originate in a lab.

Once again, an authoritative Congressional report has concluded that taxpayer-funded gain-of-function experiments on animals in Wuhan likely caused the Covid-19 pandemic, the White Coat Waste Project said.

Yet, nearly three years into the pandemic, the white coats responsible for probably causing and covering up this global disaster have not been held accountable. Lab accidents are common and taxpayers in both parties shouldnt be forced to pay for another pandemic.

It is also worth noting that the report addresses the high unlikelihood that covid was even circulating at all in animals prior to the start of the scamdemic. This further debunks the contrived myth that bats were somehow spreading it to each other before covid magically transferred species to humans.

Samples collected from various wet market stalls and later tested would show that the animals being sold as food at the time  this does not include bats, by the way, which were banned from Chinese wet markets in 2018  had not tested positive for the Chinese Flu.

It is also noteworthy that the earliest variants of SARS-CoV-2 were well-adapted for human-to-human transmission, the report further adds.

Want to keep up with the latest news about the covid lab origin debate? You can do so at Pandemic.news.

Sources for this article include:

DailyMail.co.uk

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) ArcelorMittal, the worlds second-biggest steel company, was forced to shut down manufacturing plants in Germany due to the worsening energy crisis there.

The steel giant stopped operations at one of its largest steel plants in the German city of Hamburg in September before shutting down a blast furnace at its Bremen facility in October. The shutdowns sent shockwaves throughout the German steel industry.

ArcelorMittal Germany CEO Reiner Blaschek lamented that the company can no longer keep up with high energy prices, adding that production in Germany is currently no longer competitive.

With a tenfold increase in gas and electricity prices, which we had to accept, within a few months, we are no longer competitive in a market that is 25 percent supplied by imports. We see an urgent need for political action to get energy prices under control immediately, Blaschek said. (Related: Worlds largest steel manufacturer to shutter plants in Germany amid catastrophic energy crisis.)

A separate report by IndustryWeek cited low market demand, negative economic perspectives and high CO2 costs in steel production as the main reasons for the shutdowns, quoting an ArcelorMittal press release.

Germanys industrial sector suffered serious repercussions after the European Union sanctioned Russia over the latters invasion of Ukraine. Cuts in natural gas supply to Germany in response to the sanctions, alongside damage to the Nord Stream pipelines, made the problem worse. Rising gas prices have already decreased demand for steel in manufacturing, the auto industry and construction, while steel plant operational costs continue to rise.

ArcelorMittal closures significantly reduced European steel capacity

Without energy from Moscow, the ArcelorMittal facilities were heavily reliant on the weather  only operating when there was a sufficient amount of renewable energy on the grid.

According to the German newspaper Die Welt, one of the smelters in the Hamburg plant require 76,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity in an hour. This amount of energy could run 500,000 television sets, the newspaper noted.

ArcelorMittals decision to close down the Hamburg plant has greatly impacted the supply chain. The plant makes more than one million tons of steel annually, which is then used in manufacturing machines, vehicles, ships, pipelines and buildings. Bloomberg reported that European steel capacity has already been reduced by about 20 percent across the bloc, with ArcelorMittal causing most of the reductions.

Two industry unions raised the alarm over the matter. The German steel trade association WV Stahl said additional energy costs in Germany are predicted to surpass $10.6 billion in 2022, about 25 percent of the steel industrys average yearly turnover. Meanwhile, the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce said the German economy could collapse and come to a halt if companies are unable to acquire more energy supplies.

Blaschek agreed as he called for urgent political intervention to regulate energy costs. We need competitive energy prices for industry, he said. Other industrial sectors are also having major problems, and any slump in Germans steel industry may lead to a domino effect that could bring down the rest of the countrys industrial sector.

Follow EnergySupply.news for more news about the energy crisis in Germany.

Watch Jonathan Kogan explain Germanys energy crisis in the video below.

This video is from the channel The Jonathan Kogan Show on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

The SHUTDOWNS continue in 2022: Aluminum, copper, iron, steel production being shuttered at alarming rate.

Europes top steel plants CLOSE due to exorbitant rise in energy prices.

As energy costs soar, steel production in Europe on verge of collapse which will have catastrophic ripple effects across global economy.

FORCE MAJEURE: Massive global shutdowns are now under way for METALS SMELTING operations covering iron, copper, nickel, aluminum, zinc and STEEL.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

SlayNews.com

Brighteon.com
Because they have been surviving hunts for the past 100 years, research shows that rhinos are now growing shorter horns.

Because shorter-horned animals have a higher chance of surviving, years of hunting long-horned rhinos have not only endangered the species but also diminished the horn sizes for future generations.

All rhinoceros species' horns have gradually shrunk throughout the past century, and scientists think hunting may be to blame.

The study is based on the examination of numerous photographs of the animals amassed over the course of the last 140 years.

Rhino Horns and Its Uses

Researchers believe that rhinos with shorter horns more likely survived and passed on their genes to subsequent generations after years of rhinos being hunted for having the longest or larger horns.

According to The Guardian, over the years, hunters have long sought after rhino horns, and today's poachers sell them so that they can be used in Chinese and Vietnamese traditional medicines. This information was also confirmed by the specialists from the University of Cambridge.

The report's lead author, Oscar Wilson, a former researcher from the zoology department at the University of Cambridge, expressed how happy they were to have discovered photographic proof that rhinoceros horns have shrunk over time.

Wilson added that because of security issues, the rhinos are probably one of the most difficult things to work on in all of natural history.

There is a belief that having smaller horns might be disadvantageous to a rhino's survival because different species use their horns in different ways, such as to help them grasp food or defend against predators, according to Wilson, who is currently based in Finland's the University of Helsinki.

Read also: Notorious Rhino Poacher from Mozambique Received Sentence of 30 Years in Prison

Rhinos with Shorter Horns in Records

All five rhino species found in The Rhino Resource Center's online archive were included in the study, which measured the horns of 80 rhino images taken between 1886 and 2018. The five rhino species are the Indian, Javan, Sumatran, White, and Black.

They looked closely at photos of hunters shooting dead rhinos, including one that showed Theodore Roosevelt, a former US president, standing over the black rhino he killed in 1911.

The dimensions of the horn in relation to the rhino's body were also compared by the researchers.

Even 500-year-old drawings and artwork were examined by scientists. They discovered that there had been little interest in the species' conservation up until the 1950s.

Endangered, Critically Endangered

According to Wilson, for a few decades now, there has been a lot more attention paid to rhino conservation, and this is evident in more recent images that depict rhino conservation in protected areas or their daily struggles in the wild.

Less than 30,000 rhinos remain in the wild today, making them an endangered species compared to more than 500,000 that existed at the beginning of the 20th century.

The status of the black, Javan, and Sumatran rhinos is critically endangered, Sky News reports.

The findings of the study by Wilson and his colleagues were released in the People And Nature journal.

Related article: Eggs Taken From the Remaining Two Northern White Rhinos Might Rescue the Species
We just completed our November Members-Only call, and subscribers who missed the event can watch the replay here. Later Wednesday, a transcript will be available, but while we wait for that, here are some of the highlights from the discussion:

We began the call reviewing the year-ago decision to exit the shares of what was then Facebook, and now Meta Platforms (META) , with Bob walking us through a chart that showcased the technical factors at play.

The conversation then shifted to the lack of fresh trading activity with the portfolio in the last several weeks, which started soon after we initiated new positions in Lockheed Martin (LMT) , Elevance (ELV) , Axon Enterprises (AXON) , and Clear Secure (YOU) , but also as the September-quarter earnings season got underway. As that earnings season unfolded, the market was injected with a new round of "hopium" that the Fed could slow the size of its future rate hikes. The latest bear market rally ensued, leading to a great move in the market and a wonderful move in the AAP portfolio.

But, again, that was likely just the latest bear market rally, and we look to add to those newer positions at better prices in the days ahead. As we discussed in our opening comments to members this morning, what the Fed has to say on Wednesday afternoon will be the catalyst for either the October market rally to continue or fizzle.

In reviewing the portfolio's holdings, we touched on what the cumulative earnings reports said about the tech sector and discussed what it would take for us to re-enter it. Given that several holdings are benefitting from spending out of Washington, including ChargePoint (CHPT) , United Rentals (URI) , Vulcan Materials (VMC) , Axon, and Lockheed Martin, we walked through the likely outcome for the elections and what they could mean for the portfolio.

Bob also tackled a question on gold and the portfolio's position in the SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLDX) , as well as Verizon (VZ) and how that 7% dividend yield sets it apart from several competitors. And while the market is focused on today's Fed meeting and the following one in December, Chris pointed out the lag effect associated with monetary policy means a far greater impact will be had in 2023. This has both Bob and Chris already looking at what's ahead in 2023, and both agree that current consensus expectations, especially those for the S&P 500, likely have further room to come down.
Fire ants and their first invasive colony was found in France, and poses a threat to humans and the environment, according to UK media reporting this week.

The fire ant super colony consisting of extremely large number of ants is already spreading around the French city of Toulon, located in the country's southern Mediterranean coast.

With this, panic is also reportedly spreading for some people.

The specific reason how the tiny insects arrived on the French southern coastline is still unclear at this time.

One of the most likely causes is through maritime transport into Southern France.

In the United States, this was the case when fire ants arrived in the North American nation from Argentina in the 1930s, wherein cargo stowaways are the most likely culprit.

These introductions are believed to be accidental.

Fire ant is an umbrella term to depict the several species of ants belonging to the genus Solenopsis and the family Formicidae.

Consisting of over 200 species, the invading insects in France are also known as electric ants (Wasmannia auropunctata) or little fire ants, which are native to Central America and South America.

Over the past century, W. auropunctata has spread to different continents worldwide.

France Fire Ant Super Colony

Fears are lingering in France over the spread of the invasive fire ants after a super colony was found in the European country for the first time in history, according to Ireland's Independent.ie news website.

The stings of these invasive insects can cause blindness to pets like cats and dogs if they are stung near their eyes.

The feisty insects are also known for causing immense pain to humans when nipped.

Olivier Blight, a researcher from the University of Avignon and the first person to identify the pest in France, told Le Figaro the ants were only identified now but has been in the country for around four or five years already with a population, ranging from several hundred thousands or event millions in over 2.5 acres of land, as cited by The Telegraph.

Although they move slowly, W. auropunctata can reach a population of 90 million individuals per acre of land, Blight added, as cited by the UK news outlet.

Also Read: Invasive Fire Ants Moved to a New "Wetter" Environment After Old Hills Damaged by Wildfire

What are Electric Ants?

Little fire ants are reportedly responsible for reducing species diversity and overall abundance of flying and tree-dwelling insects, as well as destroying arachnid populations.

In the Galapagos Island, electric ants eat tortoises' hatchlings and even attacks the eyes of adult tortoises.

In addition, these invasive insects could be the "greatest ant species threat" in the Pacific region, according to the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI), a non-profit organization.

In terms of global spread, the risk of introduction is high since it is likely to be transported in soil and other plant parts in tropical parts of Earth.

In spite of their worldwide track records, it seems fire ants are unsuccessful when it comes to cold climates, CABI added.

Related Article: Indian Village Declares War on Fire Ants After Invading Houses, Roads, and Trees
A huge "planet killer" asteroid has been discovered and is heading in our direction. The space rock 2022 AP7, which has a diameter of 1 to 2 km and passes our orbit, has "no risk" of impacting Earth.

Largest in Eight Years

According to astronomers, the largest planet-killer-sized asteroid to be found in eight years will cross Earth's orbit.

Researchers exploring space pebbles near the Earth and Venus' orbits discovered the asteroid 2022 AP7.

One of the three "quite big" asteroids discovered by main research author Scott Sheppard and colleagues at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, 2022 AP7, crosses the Earth's orbit, making it a potentially dangerous asteroid, they report in the Astronomical Journal (PHA).

The team claims that 2022 AP7, with a diameter ranging from 1.1 to 2.3 km, is the biggest PHA observed since 2014 and is likely among the top 5% of all known PHAs.

Sheppard stated that "any asteroid over 1 kilometer in size is regarded a planet killer" and that if such an object were to collide with Earth, it would have a catastrophic effect on life as we know it by kicking up dust and contaminants into the atmosphere, where they would remain for years.

The lack of sunshine would probably cause the Earth's surface to cool considerably. He added that the Earth hasn't had a huge extinction catastrophe like that in millions of years.

Also Read: New Algorithm Detected Over a Hundred Asteroids After Studying Old Telescope Data

Should We Be Afraid?

The discovery of the 2022 AP7 may conjure up images of the asteroid Armageddon shown in the movie Don't Look Up, but the study also provides comfort.

Currently, 2022 AP7 passes the Earth's orbit while it is on the opposite side of the sun; Sheppard asserted, "It has no chance to impact the Earth at all."

Sheppard noted that the asteroid would gradually begin to cross Earth's orbit closer to where our planet is located over time. But he said, "this will be millennia from now, and we do not know the orbit of 2022 AP7 precisely enough to say anything about its risks."

Sheppard stated that the team's survey effort, which uses the Blanco four-meter telescope in Chile, is expected to discover "a few more" planet-killing near-earth objects 1km in size or greater in the upcoming year or two.

The Earth is a pretty modest target, according to Jay Tate, director of the National Near Earth Objects Information Centre in mid Wales, who told the Guardian that he was not losing sleep over 2022 AP7. "The effect likelihood is now relatively low, at least. Though not insignificant, I would describe it as low.

Planetary Defense

NASA's Dart mission, launched in September, involved ramming a spacecraft into an asteroid to alter the latter's orbit. The mission's goal was to test equipment that may one day be applied to deal with space objects that could be dangerous to Earth. Researchers affirmed Dart's effectiveness last month.

Given the size of the asteroid, Tate said a technique like Dart would not be appropriate for 2022 AP7, but other strategies might work.

However, he added, "We've got plenty of time," adding that it could be feasible to utilize several Dart-like hits to change the asteroid's course gradually.

Related Article: NASA Plans to Deflect Asteroids to Defend the Planet from Cosmic Disaster

For more Space news, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
From Texas to Nebraska, severe weather is anticipated through Friday. This will result in scattered thunderstorms, a chance of tornadoes, and strong winds.

The Plains are expected to experience numerous thunderstorms late this week, which could threaten damaging winds as well as some tornadoes from parts of Texas throughout Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska.

By late Thursday, a strong jet stream disturbance and the corresponding cold front will enter the Plains states and block the surging humidity from the Gulf of Mexico. Due to this, a broad region of rain and thunderstorms will develop across the central states, with the potential for severe weather as well as localized flooding rainfall.

Severe Weather Ahead

Starting late Thursday night and continuing into early Friday morning, severe to very severe thunderstorms may begin to form. It's then possible to encounter sporadic storms that bring about destructive straight-line winds and a few tornadoes in an area extending from southwest Texas to northwest Oklahoma, central Kansas, and south-central Nebraska.

On Friday, the potential location for severe storms will move further south and east, particularly from the central Oklahoma area to areas in eastern and central Texas. Houston, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Oklahoma City, and Dallas-Fort Worth are a few of the major cities that could experience severe weather. In the western portion of the orange-shaded regions on the map below, strong to severe storms may be continuing throughout the morning hours.

The remainder of the day could see this threat extend to the areas east of the Interstate 35 corridor. The main threat will be damaging wind gusts, however, risks of a few tornadoes also loom in the area. Rainfall will help drought-stricken areas, but there may be some isolated flash flooding.

As that occurs, the availability of unstable air will increase, lowering the threat of severe weather as a whole. However, a few strong storms in the lower Mississippi Valley cannot be completely ruled out, Weather Underground reports.

Weather Advisories

According to the National Weather Service, Dense Fog Advisories issued in different areas of Texas ended by 10 AM today. However, parts of southeast New Mexico, the southwest, and western Texas are placed under Hazardous Weather Outlook for the next seven days.

The Hazardous Weather Outlook was issued at 9:59 AM today, Day One of the weeklong outlook.

In parts of Southeast New Mexico, Upper Trans Pecos, the Permian Basin, and Lower Trans Pecos this morning, in addition to the far southwest Texas Panhandle and the western South Plains, patchy fog is anticipated to develop.

Read also: Tropical Storm Martin Forms over the Atlantic Ocean, Joins Tropical Storm Lisa in the 2022 Season

Fire Weather is anticipated for Day One in Oklahoma. A small area of northwest Oklahoma will experience increased fire danger hazard this afternoon due to strong southerly winds near a dry line.

Strong winds may be present across the Delaware and Guadalupe Mountains on Days Two through Seven from Thursday afternoon to Friday afternoon.

There may be a few storms across some of the Permian Basin on Thursday evening through Friday morning, some of which may be strong.

Friday into early Saturday, a cold front and upper-level storm system will pass through Texas. From Friday afternoon until late Friday night, strong to severe thunderstorms are likely to affect South Central Texas, mainly the central and eastern regions. Although isolated tornadoes and some large hail cannot be ruled out, damaging winds are expected to be the main severe threat.

Air Quality will be Fair, which is generally acceptable for most individuals, for the next four days or until Saturday as per AccuWeather data.

Related article: Dense Fog Advisory in Effect Over Illinois Counties as November Starts
According to a PR published by Naval Group on November 1, 2022, the firm participates in the 9th edition of the Indo Defence exhibition in Jakarta from 2 to 5 November 2022. It will be showcasing its leading technologies.

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Naval Group's booth at Indo Defence 2022, Jakarta. (Picture source: Naval Group)

Naval Group is committed to its customers to provide high performance naval military capacity and to stand by them in the long term. Naval Group supports its partners in developing national security through transfer of technology for the production and maintenance of their defence systems and contributes to their self-reliance and sovereignty.

The company has been established in Indonesia since 2013 and is able to bring its robust track-record in terms of large and successful technology transfers worldwide.

Indonesia is a key country in the Indo-Pacific region and a strategic partner of France. The two countries have signed a defence cooperation agreement at Defence Minister level in August 2021.

In February 2022, Naval Group and PT PAL signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement seeking to leverage the capabilities of both partners to provide solutions to meet the needs of the Indonesian Navy but also by opening a joint R&D centre involving other Indonesian stockholders, such as universities, research centres and industrials.

During Indo Defence, Naval Group will have a joint stand with its strategic partner PT PAL. The group will reiterate its commitment to develop strategic partnerships with the Indonesian Industry and meet the growing requirements of the Indonesian Navy.

Naval Group will present a large range of equipment and solutions including:

 Scorpene conventional attack submarine

Scorpene is a multi-mission sea proven submarine designed by Naval Group to cover the full spectrum of submarine warfare, such as anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, special operations or intelligence gathering. Extremely stealthy with a powerful combat capability (torpedoes and missiles) and high operational readiness, contributing to a credible deterrence.

With 14 submarines built worldwide, the Scorpene is a key reference of conventional attacksubmarines (SSK) for navies around the world. She can be easily adapted to specific requirements of customers and the continuous improvement of the Scorpene ensures the seamless integration

of the latest technology onboard.

 CANTO: anti-torpedo countermeasure

CANTO represents a breakthrough in the field of anti-torpedo defence. Based on dilution/confusion concept, it is the only solution capable of protecting surface vessels against both the most advanced and the previous generation torpedoes.

Unlike the seduction-based decoy, CANTO acts completely independently of the attacking torpedo(es). Its principle consists in saturating the torpedo sonar and data processing by generating a permanently renewed tactical picture resulting in exhausting the torpedo(es) energy.

Thanks to the limited number of CANTO needed by salvo and to its compatibility with most decoy launchers, CANTO can be easily installed on board any surface vessel.

 Belharra frigate

Belharra is the innovative, 100% digital and cybersecure combat ship, designed for crisis management as well as naval supremacy in high-intensity conflict.

This compact frigate provides a wide and complete spectrum of missions, alone or as part of a collaborative naval force, for long-duration missions on the high seas as well as for littoral operations.

As the first digital frigate, Belharra has high-level capabilities in anti-air, anti-surface, anti-submarine and asymmetric warfare, considering the French Navy's operational heritage acquired in operations.

Modular and scalable, Belharra can be adapted to meet the specific needs of the navies. This frigate, natively ready for technology transfer and local construction, contributes to the sovereignty of our client countries.

The French Navy FDI program will see the first of its five frigates completed in 2024 and the Belharra has also been selected by the Hellenic Navy.

A model of the Belharra frigate at Euronaval 2022. (Picture source: Naval Group)
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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).
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 39F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph..

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Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 39F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph.
In a recent study published by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, researchers assessed the prevalence of post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) condition symptoms.

To make it easier to document clinical side effects following severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, the World Health Organization (WHO) developed the International Classification of Disease (ICD) codes in September 2020. The WHO used the Delphi approach to produce a consolidated clinical case definition, using the terminology "post-COVID-19 condition" in response to the wide variety of symptom constellations included in the various definitions for "long COVID." The post-COVID-19 condition's management continues to be challenging for healthcare providers, and it may threaten healthcare systems that the pandemic has already overburdened.

Systematic review: Prevalence of post COVID-19 condition symptoms: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort study data, stratified by recruitment setting. Image Credit: Donkeyworx / Shutterstock

About the study

In the present study, researchers identified symptoms of post-COVID-19, quantified their prevalence, and ascertained whether COVID-19 disease severity affected symptom prevalence for patient cohorts.

Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) and Meta-analyses Of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) protocols were used for conducting the present systematic review. This meta-main analysis estimated the prevalence of post-COVID-19 condition symptoms as a proxy for illness severity, classified according to recruitment setting into community, hospital, and intensive care units (ICU).

Only retrospective and prospective cohort studies performed in Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand were deemed eligible if they satisfied the following conditions: (a) the study assessed patients having a confirmed SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis in one of the community, hospital, or ICU settings, and (b) the study described the post-COVID-19 condition as occurring a minimum of 12 weeks after SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Within Medline (OVID) and EMBASE, peer-reviewed articles published between January 2020 and February 2022 were identified. A thorough search strategy was created using terms related to the post-COVID-19 condition and cohort trial design. In order to find more pertinent studies, the reference lists of all included studies and reviews were also checked.

The degree of certainty in the evidence obtained for each relevant outcome was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE). According to GRADE recommendations, all study outcomes were given an initial score of high certainty before being rated down for flaws like inconsistency, evidence of publication bias, indirectness or inaccuracy of results, or rated up for methodologically robust studies with significant observed effects.

Results

Thorough electronic searches across EMBASE and Medline resulted in 7,125 peer-reviewed studies. Following a full-text evaluation, it was determined that 272 studies met the inclusion criteria and were subsequently further assessed for eligibility. With a sample size ranging between 13 and 57,748 SARS-CoV-2 infected patients within each study, 61 cohort studies contained 74,213 cases of post-COVID-19 conditions that were evaluated a minimum of 12 weeks after SARS-CoV-2 infection. In addition, 58 papers used reverse transcriptionpolymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to diagnose COVID-19, three studies employed clinical diagnosis or serological/antibody assays, and nine studies used clinical and serological methods in addition to RT-PCR.

The prevalence of any symptom associated with the post-COVID-19 condition was 50.6% among community-recruited cohorts, 66.5% among hospital-recruited cohorts, and 73.8% among ICU-recruited cohorts. The most widely documented symptoms from patients enrolled in the community setting, taking into account only prevalence estimates having high or moderate certainty, were general weakness, shortness of breath, fatigue, depression, headache, concentration issues, dizziness, and body aches.

The most common symptoms reported by patients enrolled in the hospital setting, taking into account only prevalence estimates having high or moderate certainty, were cough, constipation, dizziness, depression, diarrhea, fatigue, hair loss, headache, joint pain, nausea, palpitations, rash, shortness of breath, stomach upset, and vomiting. Evidence with a high or moderate degree of certainty supported the prevalence estimates corresponding to five symptoms of post-COVID-19 conditions, namely depression, fatigue, dizziness, shortness of breath, and headache in the community and hospital settings. Each of these symptoms was found to be more common in hospitalized patients than in patients from the community setting.

Conclusion

The study findings identified a broad spectrum of physical and psychological symptoms experienced by SARS-CoV-2-infected people at least 12 weeks after contracting the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Overall, it was estimated that among cohorts recruited in the community, post-COVID-19 condition symptoms were more prevalent in hospital and ICU settings compared to individuals recruited from the community.
Appendiceal cancer (malignancies of the appendix, a small tissue pouch that is part of the gastrointestinal tract) is very rare, occurring in perhaps one or two people per 1 million per year. Prognoses is mixed, with a 5-year survival rate of 67 to 97 percent for low-grade tumors detected early, but much lower for advanced cases that may have spread to other parts of the body.

For cancer researchers attempting to study appendiceal cancer and find remedies, a primary challenge has been the lack of an effective preclinical model to probe its pathology and test new drugs or therapeutic approaches.

In a paper published in the November 1, 2022 print issue of Clinical Cancer Research, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health describe the first preclinical model of appendiceal cancer that contains all elements of the tumor, allowing previously stymied investigations to proceed.

"We've learned that appendiceal cancer has a distinctive genomic landscape and is surprisingly full of immune cells," said senior author Andrew Lowy, MD, chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology at Moores Cancer Center and a professor of surgery at UC San Diego School of Medicine.

"Relying on other models, such as colorectal, don't apply, which makes this an unmet need. Epithelial neoplasms (new, abnormal tissue growth) of the appendix are rare, but without an effective way to study them, the opportunities to develop new treatments have also been rare."

The obstacles to creating a preclinical model of appendiceal cancer are numerous:

Access to clinical tissues is rare because the disease is rare.

The majority of neoplasms have mucinous histology, a characteristic that makes them difficult to assess under a microscope and to culture.

Mice do not have the equivalent of a human appendix, rendering them unsuitable as a genetically modified model.

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Lowy and colleagues developed an organotypic slice culture of living appendiceal cancer cells. Organotypic slices are three-dimensional cultures of an organ. In this case, the slices are made from appendiceal cancer tissue removed from patients at surgery, then cultured ex vivo, or outside, of the patient. Organotypic slices have been created to model other cancers, such as pancreatic, lung and colon, but not appendiceal, until now.

The authors said the organotypic model accurately recapitulates appendiceal tumors in terms of cell mix and behavior, which makes it a promising new research tool in addition to other approaches, such as organoids and patient-derived xenografts (transplanted tissue grown in another species, such as a mouse or rat).

We've learned that utilizing tissue slices made from patient tumor resections is great way to study the pathobiology of this disease, and we are hopeful they will help predict therapy responses in patients. Using this new model, we can now test new treatments that might lead to better outcomes for patients with advanced disease." Andrew Lowy, MD, chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology at Moores Cancer Center and a professor of surgery at UC San Diego School of Medicine

Co-authors include: Jonathan Weitz, Tatiana Hurtado de Mendoza, Herve Tiriac, James Lee, Siming Sun, Bharti Garg, Jay Patel, Kevin Li, Joel Baumgartner, Kaitlin J. Kelly, Jula Veerapong, Morgan Hossein and Yuan Chen, all at UC San Diego.

Funding for this research came, in part, from the National Organization for Rare Disorders (grants R21CA273974, 1F32CA265052-01) and gifts from gifts from the estate of Elisabeth and Ad Creemers, the Euske Family Foundation, the Gastrointestinal Cancer Research Fund and the Peritoneal Metastasis Research Fund.
The federal government has launched its first confirmed investigation of an alleged denial of an abortion to a woman experiencing a medical emergency.

In late October, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services opened an investigation at Freeman Hospital in Joplin, Missouri, under the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, department spokesperson Lisa Cox told KHN. It was authorized by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which contracts with state agencies to conduct EMTALA surveys.

The case involves a woman whose water broke early in her pregnancy, but the hospital refused to let doctors perform an abortion. She eventually sought medical help outside the state.

The Biden administration in July had reminded hospitals and physicians in the 13 states that have outlawed most abortions that federal law requires them to provide life- or health-saving medical services  including abortion, if necessary  to patients experiencing emergency pregnancy complications.

The Missouri investigation is significant because EMTALA is one of the government's strongest tools to ensure that patients with pregnancy complications receive needed abortions following the Supreme Court's June ruling erasing the constitutional right to abortion. The 1986 EMTALA law requires hospitals and physicians to provide screening and stabilizing treatment in emergency situations.

The July policy guidance from the Department of Health and Human Services stressed that EMTALA supersedes any state law barring abortion, and that hospitals and physicians who don't comply with the federal mandate could face civil fines and termination from the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

HHS cited several emergency pregnancy situations in which abortion might be required to prevent permanent injury or death, such as ectopic pregnancies, severe blood pressure spikes known as preeclampsia, and premature rupture of the membrane causing a woman's water to break before her pregnancy is viable, which can lead to serious infections and threaten her life.

Other EMTALA investigations of hospitals and physicians alleged to have denied medically necessary emergency abortions have been opened in Texas but haven't been publicly reported, said Greer Donley, an associate law professor at the University of Pittsburgh, who studies abortion issues.

CMS does not disclose EMTALA investigations before they have been completed and findings and penalties have been finalized, and states generally don't publicize them either. But patients or hospital staff members might talk, particularly on issues like abortion if they strongly object to the alleged denial of services.

The Missouri investigation involves the case of Mylissa Farmer, 41, who went to Freeman Hospital on Aug. 2, after her water broke nearly 18 weeks into her pregnancy, followed by bleeding and cramping. Physicians there reportedly recommended terminating the pregnancy because it was not viable, Farmer had lost amniotic fluid, and she faced a risk of serious infection. Her case is described in detail in an Oct. 19 article in the Springfield News-Leader, which Farmer, in a brief interview with KHN, said was accurate. Farmer confirmed she was contacted and questioned in October for the EMTALA investigation.

According to the newspaper article, Farmer's physicians, after consulting with Freeman Hospital's legal team, told her they could not offer her the standard procedure to terminate the pregnancy  dilation and evacuation  due to Missouri's law banning all abortions, which took effect June 24.

That position was different from what Farmer said the physicians told her. "My doctors said it was an emergency, and I felt it was an emergency," she told KHN.

Even though the law includes an exception for "medical emergency," the doctors and hospital lawyers allegedly determined that her case did not qualify for that exception. Providers found to violate the law can be prosecuted for a class B felony, as well as have their license to practice revoked. The burden of proof is on the providers to show that the abortion was performed because of a medical emergency.

Abortion opponents argue that most state anti-abortion laws include adequate exceptions for the health and life of the pregnant woman. But physicians and hospital lawyers say the exceptions are vaguely worded, and what really matters is how prosecutors in these conservative states interpret them.

Physicians say they need flexibility in deciding when there is an emergency that requires a pregnancy to be terminated and that it's dangerous to have politicians and lawyers looking over their shoulders. "This is medicine, not law, and it's very complicated," said Dr. Kim Puterbaugh, a Cleveland OB-GYN who is a past president of the Society of OB/GYN Hospitalists. Setting arbitrary limits on blood pressure or bleeding when determining if a pregnancy is "in distress, that's ridiculous. There are too many variables."

Democratic lawmakers in Missouri have pushed the governor, the attorney general, and state health officials for a clearer definition of the exception for medical emergencies.

Farmer and her boyfriend, who both wanted a child, called multiple hospitals in Kansas and Illinois to see whether she could deliver safely but were repeatedly told that the pregnancy wasn't viable and that her health was at risk. She eventually got an appointment at the Hope Clinic for Women, across the state border in Granite City, Illinois, where she went into labor and received a procedure to end the pregnancy Aug. 6.

Freeman Hospital officials did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

"The Missouri statute puts doctors and providers between a rock and a hard place," said Genevieve Scott, senior counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York. "It creates an extreme deterrent to providing care in medical emergencies, given the risk of providers facing prosecution and losing their livelihood. That clearly threatens the health and lives of every pregnant person in the state."

The Missouri investigation could provoke a new legal showdown between the Biden administration and Republican state elected officials who favor strict abortion bans. The administration already is locked in litigation in Texas and Idaho over the July guidance on EMTALA.

A Texas federal judge issued a temporary restraining order in August saying the guidance was "unauthorized" and went beyond EMTALA in requiring abortions in emergency situations. Federal officials have appealed. But an Idaho federal judge sided with the administration's position, and Idaho officials have asked him to reconsider his ruling.

Experts doubt whether such litigation will block EMTALA enforcement in abortion-related situations like the Missouri case. The investigation of the actions of Freeman Hospital and its physicians will solely examine whether they complied with the requirements of federal law, not state law, said Katie Keith, an associate research professor at the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute. Still, she added, the hospital could cite the Missouri anti-abortion law as a defense, setting up a court fight down the line.

Farmer's case also is playing a role in the U.S. Senate race in Missouri between Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Democratic nominee Trudy Busch Valentine, a nurse. Farmer appeared in a TV ad for Busch Valentine criticizing Schmitt for issuing a proclamation on June 24 that put Missouri's anti-abortion trigger law into effect. "My Missouri doctors weren't allowed to give me the care I needed, all because of the mandate Eric Schmitt put into place," Farmer said in the ad. "Eric Schmitt doesn't care about women like me."

Schmitt's campaign lawyers sent letters to the TV stations carrying the ad demanding that it be taken off the air, according to local news reports. They claimed it was inaccurate in stating that women could go to prison for having an abortion and failing to mention that it includes an exception to protect the health of the patient.

Cases similar to Farmer's likely are happening every day in states that have banned abortions, and more EMTALA investigations will be launched, warned Sara Rosenbaum, a professor of health law and policy at George Washington University. This places hospitals and physicians in an excruciating spot, she added. CMS has said it will initiate investigations based on credible information including news reports.

An EMTALA investigation "is one of the worst things that can happen to you," she said, speaking about providers, "because it puts a label on you that you denied what the woman needed to survive when it was clear that the baby was lost."
Inside tiny cellular machines called ribosomes, chains of genetic material called messenger RNAs (mRNAs) are matched with the corresponding transfer RNAs (tRNAs) to create sequences of amino acids that exit the ribosome as proteins. Unfinished proteins are called nascent chainsm and they are left attached to the ribosome.

Scientists know that some of these nascent chains can regulate the activity of the ribosome and that the nascent chains can sometimes interfere with antibiotics -; many of which work by targeting bacterial ribosome activity. Scientists do not know why this happens, mainly because it is hard to visualize what the ribosome-peptide-drug interactions look like while the unfinished proteins are still tethered to the ribosome.

Now, scientists at the University of Illinois Chicago are the first to report a method for stable attachment of peptides to tRNAs, which has allowed them to gain new fundamental insights into ribosome function by determining the atomic-level structures of ribosomes and the shapes that these peptides take inside the ribosome.

Their method is newly reported in the journal Nature Chemistry.

The challenge has been to see up close the structure of the ribosome and the exit tunnel in the presence of the nascent peptides because, in nature, the ribosome is very quick for us to capture images or conduct experiments. Until the advent of this new method, we've essentially been blinded from seeing what is happening in the active site of the ribosome at this critical moment in time." Yury Polikanov, associate professor in the biological sciences department at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Polikanov and his colleague Egor Syroegin, a PhD candidate in biological sciences at UIC, used a method called native chemical ligation to fuse custom peptides with the tRNA to yield what is called a peptidyl-tRNA.

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"Obtaining tRNA molecules linked to peptides, similar to those inside the ribosome during protein synthesis, has remained a dream of many researchers in the field for almost two decades," Polikanov said. "This has been extremely challenging because there are no enzymes that can directly attach peptides to a tRNA."

"The method has been used for a long time in chemistry, but it has never been applied in this way. It's mimicking nature, basically, and with our advanced imaging experience, we are now seeing how nature works at a high resolution," Syroegin said.

With this new approach, Polikanov and Syroegin determined a set of high-resolution structures of the ribosome carrying peptidyl-tRNAs of various lengths.

Detailed analysis of these structures provides new and surprising insights into the mechanism of the ribosome's catalytic center and answered several long-standing fundamental questions in the ribosome field, Polikanov said.

"We saw that depending on the sequence, different peptides can form different shapes or folds within the ribosomal tunnel, and we can synthesize different peptides of different sequences and then follow their shape very precisely, because of the high resolution of our structures," Syroegin said. "So now, we can very confidently say that 'these peptides, of this sequence, have this shape' or 'another peptide has another shape.' That's important because nascent peptide folding determines whether drugs would arrest ribosome or not."

"This method opens countless avenues for structural and functional studies aimed at understanding the mechanisms of ribosome functioning, as well as sequence-specific ribosome stalling induced by certain antibiotics," Polikanov said.
Physician scientists at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine have published a review in the Journal of the American Medical Association that clarifies current treatment approaches for myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), which are rare and often deadly bone marrow cancers.

For years, MDS was mischaracterized as precancerous. To help remedy this, the World Health Organization (WHO) recently reclassified MDS to acknowledge its severity.

MDS is only rarely described as a cancer. In the vast majority of cases, patients affected by MDS, who are mostly older adults, are told they have a blood disorder or a bone marrow condition. The WHO reclassification really emphasizes that this is not a precancerous condition -; it's cancer." Mikkael Sekeres, M.D., chief of the Division of Hematology and co-author on the paper

Dr. Sekeres does not have to go far to prove his point. MDS and lung cancer survival curves are quite similar. "Nobody would dispute the seriousness of a lung cancer diagnosis," he said, "and no one should overlook the seriousness of MDS."

Patients with MDS experience a reduction in peripheral blood cells and are at higher risk for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The disease is divided into subtypes based on the patient's risk of developing AML. Patients with low-risk disease have a three- to 10-year survival rate. For those with higher risk disease, the median survival is less than three years. The five-year survival for all MDS subtypes is 37%

Treatment Approaches Based on Risk Profiles

The review discusses the different treatment approaches, which are largely based on each person's unique disease, and is aimed at clinicians to help them better care for patients based on their MDS risk profiles.

"MDS is a diagnosis in older adults, so it is particularly relevant in South Florida's aging population," said Dr. Sekeres. "Because low blood counts can be a normal consequence of aging, the disease tends to be underdiagnosed. A specific patient may not have MDS, but if they have low blood counts, they should be referred to a hematologist for further consultation."

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This is doubly important because MDS is a highly complex disease. Precise diagnosis, preferably at an academic medical center, is critical to ensure patients are neither over- nor under-treated. "Because MDS is so heterogeneous, every patient's therapeutic plan should be tailored to that individual," said Dr. Sekeres. "There is no one-size-fits-all approach."

Dr. Sekeres and co-author Assistant Professor Justin Taylor, M.D., are both optimistic that emerging treatments and combinations will continue to improve MDS survivability.

"We've had a couple of new drugs that target the genetic underpinnings of MDS," said Dr. Sekeres. "I think we are on the cusp of having combination therapy to treat higher risk disease. MDS is one of the few cancers where we don't combine drugs to treat it, so that is a big deal."

Other MDS study

Dr. Sekeres recently collaborated on another study in the New England Journal of Medicine, led by researchers at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, that produced encouraging results. The research showed that 67% of patients with low-risk disease responded well to low doses of decitabine, a drug that helps bone marrow produce healthy blood cells.

"This was an important study because it showed that less is more," said Dr. Sekeres. "Giving less chemotherapy led to more patients benefiting from treatment."

The study was conducted through the MDS Clinical Research Consortium, which is led by Dr. Sekeres, and is one in a series of recent studies that offer good news for MDS patients.

"To be an oncologist, I think you have to be optimistic," said Dr. Taylor. "But I see a bright future for medications being approved for MDS."
Mount Sinai researchers have cataloged thousands of sites in the brain where RNA is modified throughout the human lifespan in a process known as adenosine-to-inosine (A-to-I) editing, offering important new avenues for understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of brain development and how they factor into both health and disease.

In a study published in Cell Reports, the team described how the rate of RNA editing in the brain increases as individuals age, with implications for dissecting the pathology of altered A-to-I editing across a range of neurodevelopmental and aging disorders.

Our work provides more nuanced and accurate insights into the contribution of RNA modifications by A-to-I editing during human brain development. The field has already identified millions A-to-I sites in the brain, which has made it particularly challenging to determine which of these are likely to be physiologically important. We narrowed this down to about 10,000 sites with potential functional roles from early fetal development through advanced aging. By providing an atlas of these sites, we've opened the door to further understand brain neurodevelopment through the lens of A-to-I RNA modifications." Michael Breen, PhD, Senior Author, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, and Genetics and Genomic Sciences, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Member of the Seaver Center for Autism Research and Treatment

DNA holds the genetic blueprint for humans and other living creatures, but RNA actually carries out its instructions to create functional proteins. Modifications that accumulate on the RNA can alter the way a protein ultimately functions. A family of ADAR enzymes introduce these individual A-to-I changes. A handful of these edits are known to play essential physiological roles during early fetal development by regulating synaptic transmission and neuronal signaling in the brain. This work shows that across the human lifespan, RNA in the brain accumulates thousands of individual edits, and these changes are likely to have functional consequences as we age.

The Mount Sinai study generated and compiled brain RNA-sequence data across more than 800 individuals. This data covered all stages of prenatal and postnatal development, from the very first embryonic progenitor cells to functionally distinct brain tissue from centenarians. This broad sweep enabled researchers to develop a model depicting for the first time how A-to-I editing evolves over a lifetime, in which unedited RNAs are expressed, and possibly translated into proteins, more predominantly during fetal periods of development, while edited RNA is more abundant in the adult brain.

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"This means that during older age there is generally a higher editing rate and frequency of A-to-I editing occurring, including stabilizing RNA structures and modulating the way RNAs interact with microRNAs," notes Dr. Breen. His research team also learned that a subset of these A-to-I sites introduce new amino-acid substitutions into the protein-coding region of the brain, an event known as RNA recoding. This is a particularly important finding inasmuch as RNA recoding has direct functional and/or structural effects on proteins.

The Mount Sinai team also sought to answer the question of how genetic variability might explain some of the differences in A-to-I editing as individuals age. They learned that because editing sites are strongly regulated during early fetal development, editing levels are measurably different for thousands of sites based on unique genetic variants. This distinction evens out during postnatal development. From a basic science perspective, the dynamically regulated sites uncovered by researchers provide numerous avenues for future work to manipulate basic mechanisms of early brain development through A-to-I editing.

Previous work by Dr. Breen-;whose laboratory works at the intersection of functional genomics, computational biology, and neuroscience-;found that A-to-I editing is disrupted in brain tissue from individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders.

"This work provides us with immediate avenues for dissecting the pathological implications of altered A-to-I editing across a range of neurodevelopmental and aging disorders," he says. "It's more clear now than ever that elucidating the dynamic regulation of RNA editing can offer unique insights into their role in promoting health as well as disease."
On November 1, 2022, Pfizer announced its maternal vaccine against the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) to be almost 82% effective in protecting infants for the first 90 days of life against severe illness due to RSV. Furthermore, the vaccine was found to remain 69.4% effective in preventing severe RSV illness throughout the first six months of life.

Study: Pfizer Announces Positive Top-Line Data of Phase 3 Global Maternal Immunization Trial for its Bivalent Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Vaccine Candidate. Image Credit: Blanscape / Shutterstock.com

What is RSV?

RSV is the most common cause of respiratory infections in children aged two years and younger. In fact, some estimates indicate that over 60% of children will be infected with RSV by the time they reach one year of age, with nearly all children likely to be infected by age two.

RSV infection typically causes cold-like symptoms such as a runny nose, reduced appetite, coughing, sneezing, fever, and wheezing. Nevertheless, RSV can cause severe illness in a significant number of children under the age of one and, as a result, is the leading cause of death due to respiratory infections in this patient population.

Several factors can increase a childs risk of severe illness due to RSV, which include age less than one year before or during peak incidence of the virus, as well as prematurity, low birth weight, and the presence of comorbidities such as congenital heart disease, chronic respiratory diseases, and immunodeficiency. In addition, children with an older sibling, as well as those who are exposed to cigarette smoke and are not breastfed, are also at a greater risk of severe RSV infection.

Every year we see high levels of RSV cases among babies in the U.S. with some regions reporting hospital admission rates higher than normal this year.

Pfizers RSVpreF vaccine

There remains no specific treatment available for RSV infection; therefore, children infected with this virus, including those hospitalized with severe illness, typically receive symptomatic care until the infection eventually clears their systems. The lack of both preventative and antiviral treatments available for RSV has led Pfizer to develop and test the efficacy of a bivalent RSV perfusion vaccine candidate known as RSVpreF or PF-06928316.

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Previous research conducted at the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) has provided detailed information on the crystal structure of prefusion F, an important form of the RSV viral fusion (F) protein responsible for its entry into host cells. Moreover, antibodies specific to prefusion F were found to effectively prevent RSV infection from occurring.

This information was then used to support the development of RSVpreF, an investigational RSV vaccine candidate that comprises equal amounts of recombinant RSV prefusion F from subgroups A and B.

Clinical trial results

RSVpreF has been clinically evaluated in two trials, including the RSV vaccine Efficacy Study iNOlder adults Immunized against RSV disease (RENOIR) trial and the MATernal Immunization Study for Safety and Efficacy (MATISSE) study.

The MATISSE study is an ongoing randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled Phase III clinical trial study aimed towards evaluating the safety, efficacy, and immunogenicity of RSVpreF. To this end, about 7,400 pregnant women during the late second to the third trimester of their pregnancy were enrolled in the trial to receive a single dose of either Pfizers RSVpreF or the placebo vaccine.

Infants born to mothers who received either vaccine were followed for at least one year to determine the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. Furthermore, 50% of these infants were monitored for two years.

Vaccine efficacy of 81.8% for preventing severe lower respiratory tract illness (LRTI) was reported through the first 90 days of life. This high efficacy against severe illness was retained in 69.4% of infants by the time they reached six months of age.

In addition to the protection conferred against severe LRTI, Pfizer reports that the vaccine protected against non-severe medically attended LRTI in 57.1% and 51.3% of infants through the first 90 days and six months of life, respectively.

"A maternal vaccine with high efficacy that can help protect infants from birth could substantially reduce the burden of severe RSV among newborns through six months of age.

Future outlook

Based on the promising results of the MATISSE study, Pfizer intends to submit a Biologics License Application (BLA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by the end of this year. Although no additional participants will be enrolled in the MATISSE trial, Pfizer will continue to monitor infants born to immunized mothers.
Vaginal progesterone, a hormone treatment considered the standard of care for preventing preterm birth in at-risk pregnant women, may not be effective, according to UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers.

Anyone who has held the fragile body of a preterm baby  born between 20 and 37 weeks  knows every extra day and week in the womb is vital to the newborn's health. Previous early deliveries are one of the biggest risk factors for preterm birth. Doctors usually recommend progesterone for women in this group.

The new study, involving more than 1,600 pregnant women with a history of early delivery, found vaginal progesterone had no effect on preterm birth. The findings, reported in the journal JAMA Network Open, add to growing evidence suggesting that progesterone may not be worth prescribing for some women.

Our hope is that this information will help practitioners guide conversations with their patients. Certainly in different populations there may be different outcomes. But among our patients, we did not find benefit of vaginal progesterone when given for an indication of prior preterm birth." David Nelson, M.D., Study Leader, Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Division Chief of Maternal-Fetal Medicine

.Despite decades of advances in neonatal care, babies born prematurely face short- and long-term health complications. Preterm birth affects about 10% of all live births in the United States and is the leading cause of death in children under age 5. For pregnant women with previous preterm births, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine recommend progesterone therapy.

In 2017, a study by Dr. Nelson and UTSW colleagues concluded that injectable progesterone was ineffective at preventing preterm births in at-risk women. However, the use of vaginal progesterone had not been analyzed in a large study among similar patient populations.

"Because of the controversy around injectable progesterone, professional organizations pivoted and began to recommend vaginal progesterone," said Dr. Nelson. "Everybody hoped this was the answer to reduce preterm births and there's been enthusiasm that it may show a benefit."

Women in the new study all had a history of preterm birth and were treated at Parkland Health, an urban safety net health system served by UT Southwestern physicians. Between 2017 and 2019, 417 study patients received vaginal progesterone. The research team then compared the rate of preterm births in this group with the historical rate among 1,251 similar patients seen at Parkland.

Of women who took vaginal progesterone during the study period, 24% gave birth at or before 35 weeks' gestation, compared to 16.8% in the historical control. Dr. Nelson, a Dedman Family Scholar in Clinical Care at UTSW, said thus progesterone therapy did not reduce preterm births. Moreover, the team found no association between preterm births and how well patients adhered to the medication schedule, or between preterm births and patients' blood levels of progesterone.

Additional studies are likely needed before clinicians eliminate vaginal progesterone as a treatment option, Dr. Nelson said. He and his colleagues hope their results help spur not only new research into progesterone but other potential treatment for preterm birth.

"As we begin to better understand the diverse underlying causes of preterm birth, our hope is that we can develop treatments that are more targeted and effective to patients," said Catherine Spong, M.D., Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UTSW and an author of the study.

Other UTSW researchers who contributed to this study include Ashlyn Lafferty, Chinmayee Venkatraman, Jeffrey McDonald, Kaitlyn Eckert, and Donald McIntire. Ms. Eckert is also currently employed by SCIEX.

Dr. Spong holds the Paul C. MacDonald Distinguished Chair in Obstetrics and Gynecology.
State employees in Colorado are being asked to be better consumers when shopping for health care services. And if they choose lower-cost and higher-quality providers, they could get a check in the mail for a portion of the savings.

It's part of an initiative known as the Colorado Purchasing Alliance, through which employers in the state are banding together to negotiate lower prices for health care services. The state government is one of 12 employers that have agreed to join the alliance and will be the first to use the newly negotiated rates and consumer incentives.

The goal is to disrupt what's considered a dysfunctional market for health care by encouraging employers and employees to make better choices and forcing health systems in the state  which have some of the highest prices and profits in the country  to cut their rates.

Since July 1, state employees have had access to the Healthcare Bluebook, which is an online tool, owned by a health data company of the same name, that ranks health providers by both costs and quality. Providers in the top 25% for quality are designated in green, the bottom 25% in red, and anyone in between in yellow. The same color scale is used for costs.

"If you go to a green-green provider, then we'll send you a check," said Josh Benn, director of employee benefits contracts for the Colorado government.

The checks can range from less than $50 for something like a mammogram to thousands of dollars for surgery. In most cases, the money helps offset the employee's copayments, coinsurance, or deductible. But for preventive services like colonoscopies, which have no copay, it's extra cash in the employee's pocket.

The reward program is available only to employees who choose the state's self-funded health plan, which is administered through Cigna, not the Kaiser Permanente option, which has a closed network of providers. Of the nearly 20,000 people, both employees and family members, on the Cigna plan, more than 1,200 used the tool in the first six weeks, conducting 4,500 searches.

"We could cut the network to the bone and really limit choice, but part of what I want to do is encourage people to make better decisions," Benn said. "There are ways to curb health care spending without harming employees."

Although it's too early to tell how much the state will save through the program, Healthcare Bluebook estimates that employers save an average of $1,500 every time an enrolled member uses the online tool to choose a provider.

"And you wind up with fewer complications and sick days," Benn said.

Larimer County, in northern Colorado, has been using Healthcare Bluebook since 2018 in its incentive program to counteract the high prices it was paying for employees' care under its self-funded plan. With little competition, the local health systems were charging county employees nearly double the prices in Denver, just two hours to the south.

"We have one particularly dominant health care system here that knows they are the system of choice, just based on market reputation, and they are willing and able to charge accordingly," said Jennifer Whitener, benefits manager for the county.

Whitener recalled one employee who needed a hip replacement and found a free-standing orthopedic surgery center that cost $20,000 less than a hospital-owned facility and had higher quality ratings.

"Being able to share information in terms of how you can shop for health care and that not everyone is charging the same price for everything, and  oh, there's actually a difference in quality depending on where you go  has been eye-opening," she said.

Over the first four years, the county paid out an average of $15,000 in rewards per year. The county calculated that for every $1 it spends to offer Healthcare Bluebook to its employees, it saves $3.50.

Andrea Bilderback, a health promotion and outreach specialist with the county, used the tool when deciding where to have a mammogram and a colonoscopy after recently turning 40. She wound up getting a check for $100 for the colonoscopy and $35 for the mammogram, neither of which had any out-of-pocket costs. She and her husband used the funds for a date night, a welcome respite for the parents of a 1-year-old boy.

"It was like free money," Bilderback said.

Such incentives have been used with varying degrees of success across the country. Self-Insured Schools of California, a purchasing alliance that represents 450 school districts in the Golden State, implemented a similar system years ago. Officials compared the prices they paid for five common procedures  arthroscopies, cataract surgeries, colonoscopies, upper GIs, and endoscopies  at hospitals versus free-standing surgery centers. They found that surgery centers were generally much cheaper and the care was often rated as better. The group capped the amount of money it would pay hospitals, leaving employees on the hook for any balance. If they went to a surgery center, there would be no cap.

For example, arthroscopies were capped at $4,500, so if a hospital charged $6,000, the patient could be billed for the remaining $1,500. But if that patient went to a surgery center, the plan would cover the entire cost, no matter the amount.

In the first year, starting Oct. 1, 2018, the new approach had shifted 54% of procedures from high-cost hospitals to lower-cost surgery centers, saving the school districts $3.1 million in health care costs.

"If you could pay $25,000 for a car or $75,000 and the only difference was the overhead of the dealership, why would you pay $75,000?" said John Stenerson, Self-Insured Schools of California's deputy executive officer. "That's kind of like what we do with medical pricing all the time."

The Colorado alliance did a similar analysis of the 10 most frequent outpatient procedures paid for by its employer members. Even before negotiating any rates, those employers could cut their costs for those procedures in half by sending employees to surgery centers instead of hospitals. Surgery centers tend to charge less than hospitals for the same procedures, and hospitals often tack on a facility fee that increases costs for consumers and employers. A recent study found that costs for a range of orthopedic surgeries were an average of 26% lower at ambulatory surgery centers than at hospitals.

The cash-back incentive program is part of a broader effort by the Colorado alliance to lower health care costs for state employees and 12 other employers, mostly school districts and local governments. But the state employees are what give the alliance a sizable block of covered lives and greater negotiating power with doctors, hospitals, and other health providers.

Robert Smith, head of the Colorado Business Group on Health, which is spearheading the alliance, believes the purchasing-alliance model can revolutionize the health care market and use the power of the employers to drive down costs. Most companies, he explained, pay premiums to a health plan to cover their employees but allow those health plans to negotiate rates with hospitals, doctors, and other providers. It would be too complicated and time-consuming for most businesses to take on that role themselves.

Health-purchasing alliances, on the other hand, allow employers to band together and negotiate rates for a much larger group of employees, giving them greater market power to negotiate lower rates.

"Health care outcomes are not related to the price," Smith said. "You can pay twice as much for some of the worst health care at one facility, and then you can get some of the best health care at half the price at another facility 10 miles away."

But if employers changed the way they buy health care, it could create a competitive market, Smith said.

So far, most of the negotiated rates have been limited to providers in the populous Front Range region of Colorado that includes Denver, Fort Collins, and Colorado Springs. The alliance is trying to sign up providers in other areas, particularly in the western part of the state, but it might take three years or more to fully transition to the new model.

Purchasing alliances have been tried in other parts of the country with limited success. A report by the nonprofit Catalyst for Payment Reform found that such alliances often had early success but couldn't survive, in part because of the reactions of the large health care systems. Those systems often undercut the pricing of purchasing alliances to drive them out of business.

So far, Smith has negotiated with free-standing ambulatory surgery centers, imaging facilities, and physician-owned clinics. But he has had little luck getting the larger health systems to play ball.

"If it's disruptive enough that it affects their bottom line and they notice it," said Benn, the state employee benefits director, "then, yeah, I think they'll come to the table."
Microplastics are not just tiny particles that can be ingested, they can also carry viruses, a University of Queensland study has revealed.

The study, led by Associate Prof Jianhua Guo and Dr Ji Lu from UQ's Australian Centre for Water and Environmental Biotechnology (ACWEB), investigated if microplastics have the ability to harbor viruses, including the one found inside E. coli bacteria.

We often hear about the human and environmental harm caused by microplastics in water, but there is little known about whether the tiny microplastic particles can carry viruses." Jianhua Guo, Associate Professor, Australian Centre for Water and Environmental Biotechnology, University of Queensland

"What we found is that viruses can hitchhike on microplastics and prolong their infectivity, which means there could be an increased risk of virus transmission throughout waterways and the environment."

Dr Lu said they used the E. coli bacteriophage in the study, which is a virus that infects and replicates within the bacteria itself and is not harmful to humans.

"By testing polystyrene particles of varying sizes, we found that more than 98 per cent of the virus we used was found on the microplastic, and over half of the viruses could still be detected 10 days later  much longer than if the virus particles were free-floating in the water," Dr Lu said.

The team also tested how sun exposure and the size of microplastics helped prolong the virus's survival and found the more environmental damage on the microplastic, the more likely it was to carry viruses.

"The virus-carrying microplastics could be a big issue," Dr Lu said.

"The required dosage to be infectious to humans varies between different types of viruses, but there could be instances where the dosage is enough on a microplastic to cause potential infection.

"Because microplastics can potentially accumulate deadly viruses and travel through waterways, it might be risky to eat seafoods harvested from areas where they are frequently contaminated by microplastics."

Dr Lu said the study started when wastewater was being tested to detect COVID-19 cases in the community, which spurred the team's investigation into what could mediate virus transmission in water environments.

"Our findings also indicated that microplastics could affect how viruses are distributed in water, which could be of interest in future studies," Dr Lu said.

"Our findings have opened the door to further research that is needed in this area, including to test if other pathogens can hitchhike on more types of microplastics.

"The fact that viruses and microplastics can interact with each other could be problematic for human health, but more research needs to be conducted to investigate these impacts further."
A team of Canadian researchers from Universite de Montreal has designed and validated a new class of drug transporters made of DNA that are 20,000 times smaller than a human hair and that could improve how cancers and other diseases are treated.

Reported in a new study in Nature Communications, these molecular transporters can be chemically programmed to deliver optimal concentration of drugs, making them more efficient than current methods.

Optimal dosing at all times: a medical challenge

One of the key ways to successfully treat disease is to provide and maintain a therapeutic drug dosage throughout treatment. Sub-optimal therapeutic exposure reduces efficiency and typically leads to drug resistance, while overexposure increases side effects.

Maintaining an optimal concentration of drugs in the blood remains a major challenge in modern medicine. Since most drugs undergo rapid degradation, patients are forced to (and often forget) to take multiple doses at regular intervals. And because each patient has a distinct pharmacokinetic profile, the drugs concentration in their blood varies significantly.

Observing that only about 50 per cent of cancer patients get an optimal drug dosage during certain chemotherapy, UdeM Chemistry associate professor Alexis Vallee-Belisle, an expert in bio-inspired nanotechnologies, started to explore how biological systems control and maintain the concentration of biomolecules.

We have found that living organisms employ protein transporters that are programmed to maintain precise concentration of key molecules such as thyroid hormones, and that the strength of the interaction between these transporters and their molecules dictates the precise concentration of the free molecule." Alexis Vallee-Belisle, UdeM Chemistry Associate Professor

This simple idea led Vallee-Belisle - who holds a Canada Research Chair in bioengineering and bionanotechnology - and his research team to start developing artificial drug transporters that mimic the natural effect of maintaining a precise concentration of a drug during treatment.

UdeM PhD student Arnaud Desrosiers, the first author of the study, initially identified and developed two DNA transporters: one for quinine, an antimalarial, and the other for doxorubicin, a commonly used drug for treating breast cancer and leukemia.

He then demonstrated that these artificial transporters could be readily programmed to deliver and maintain any specific concentration of drug.

"More interestingly, we also found that these nanotransporters could also be employed as a drug reservoir to prolong the effect of the drug and minimize its dosage during treatment," said Desrosiers.

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"Another impressive feature of these nanotransporters," he added, "is that they can be directed to specific parts of the body where the drug is most needed - and that, in principle, should reduce most side effects."

Nanotreated mice: reduced cardiotoxicity

To demonstrate the effectiveness of these nanotransporters, the researchers teamed up with Jeanne Leblond-Chain, a pharmacist at Universite de Bordeaux, in France; Luc DesGroseillers, a biochemist at UdeM; Jeremie Berdugo, a pathologist at UdeM; Celine Fiset, a pharmacist at the Montreal Heart Institute; and Vincent De Guire, a clinical biochemist at the UdeM-affiliated Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital.

Using the new drug transporter developed for doxorubicin, the team demonstrated that a specific drug-transporter formulation allows doxorubicin to be maintained in the blood and drastically reduces its diffusion towards key organs such as the heart, lungs and pancreas.

In mice treated with this formulation, doxorubicin was maintained 18 times longer in the blood and cardiotoxicity was reduced as well, keeping the mice more healthy as evidenced by their normal weight gain.

"Another great property of our nanotransporters is their high versatility," said Vallee-Belisle.

"For now, we have demonstrated the working principle of these nanotransporters for two different drugs. But thanks to the high programmability of DNA and protein chemistries, one can now design these transporters to precisely deliver a wide range of threrapeutic molecules."

And, he added, "additionally, these transporters could also be combined with human-designed liposomic transporters that are now being employed to deliver drugs at various rates."

A clinical study for blood cancers?

The researchers are now eager to validate the clinical efficiency of their discovery. Since their doxorubicin nanotransporter is programmed to optimally maintain the drug in blood circulation, it could be deal to treat blood cancers, they believe.

"We envision that similar nanotransporters may also be developed to deliver drugs to other specific locations in the body and maximize the presence of the drug at tumor sites," said Vallee-Belisle. "This would drastically improve the efficiency of drugs as well as decrease their side effects."
A new study has linked an invasive insecticide-resistant mosquito native to South Asia to an unprecedented urban outbreak of malaria in Ethiopia, the most compelling evidence to date that the mosquito, which is fast expanding its range, could cause infections to surge in areas of Africa with previously low rates of disease.

The report, presented today at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH), follows reports of a suspicious 40-fold rise in malaria cases in neighboring Djibouti since 2013, with novel evidence that this mosquito, which was not confirmed in Africa until 2012, is a significant threat to the goal of eliminating malaria on the continent.

Malaria in Africa is typically associated with rainy seasons in rural areas, but this mosquito produced a 10-fold spike in malaria infections in just three weeks in an urban area during a dry season. Also, unlike the mosquitos that typically transmit malaria parasites in Africa, this one is best known for its ability to thrive in man-made water storage containers like what you see in rapidly expanding urban neighborhoods." Fitsum G. Tadesse, Molecular Biologist, Armauer Hansen Research Institute

The outbreak occurred in Dire Dawa, a city of about 500,000 people in eastern Ethiopia that typically records only about 200 cases a year. But between January and May 2022, when rains are scarce and infections are particularly rare, about 2,400 cases were reported. An investigation by Tadesse and his colleagues found that the surge was caused by a mosquito known as Anopheles stephensi. They also found that the mosquito was resistant to the insecticides most commonly used to control malaria via treated bednets and indoor insecticide spraying.

Most malaria in Africa is caused by a mosquito species known as Anopheles gambiae, with populations rising and falling with the rainy seasons that swell rural waterways. Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes have long been the primary transmitter (vector) of malaria in urban areas of India and Iran. But they were never seen in Africa until 2012, when they were reported from Djibouti, a tiny East African country of about 1 million people that, at the time, had been close to eliminating the disease. An. stephensi mosquitoes likely arrived in shipping containers, Tadesse said, but they did not appear to be a significant threat until 2020, when they were suspected as the cause of the steadily rising number of malaria infections in Djibouti since 2013.

Now, new evidence that they were the source of the Dire Dawa outbreak-;coupled with recent evidence of An. stephensi mosquitoes thousands of miles away in Nigeria in West Africa-;is ratcheting up concerns of a new front opening up in Africa's long-running battle against malaria. Africa suffers 95 percent of the world's 627,000 annual malaria deaths, and most victims are children under age 5. In recent years, progress against the disease has stalled.

"This is not like any other malaria-carrying mosquito we have seen in Africa before," said Sarah Zohdy, PhD, a disease ecologist and An. stephensi expert with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) who works with the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative (PMI), a key partner for the Ethiopia study. "This mosquito's ability to persist in the dry season and in urban environments has the potential to alter the landscape of malaria in Africa," she said. "It could cause malaria to expand from a predominantly rural disease to both a rural and urban challenge that also impacts Africa's rapidly growing and densely populated cities, where infection rates have been comparatively low."

Meanwhile, a separate study presented at the ASTMH Annual Meeting reported new evidence that An. stephensi mosquitoes are ubiquitous in and around households across nine states in Sudan. Zohdy said the concern with the detection of An. stephensi mosquitoes in Sudan-;and also Nigeria-;is that they could follow the pattern of Djibouti, where there was a lag of several years between the mosquito's detection and its link to a surge of malaria infections.

Zohdy said that CDC and PMI, which is co-implemented by USAID and CDC, are actively working to mitigate the threat of An. stephensi by utilizing enhanced vector and disease surveillance. PMI and CDC are also collaborating with the World Health Organization, which just launched an initiative last month to stop the expanding range of An. stephensi in Africa. In addition, PMI is leading the deployment of interventions informed by An. stephensi's unique biology, including the development of ways to limit breeding sites in urban areas.

What the Ethiopia outbreak tells us about Africa's new malaria threat

Tadesse said that in the wake of the outbreaks in neighboring Djibouti, malaria experts in Ethiopia were alerted to the potential threat from An. stephensi mosquitoes. He said Dire Dawa is a rail hub linked to Djibouti. When malaria infections suddenly surged earlier this year, he said he and his colleagues "immediately started thinking 'stephensi,'" and "we jumped in to assess the causes of the change." Driven by urgency, the team, including Tadele Emiru and Dr. Deiene Getachew, completed their field work in just over two months.

In addition to linking An. stephensi to malaria infections, Tadesse and his colleagues conducted extensive tests in water sources around households and neighborhoods where cases occurred. They found evidence of malaria-carrying An. stephensi in nearby water containers, confirming what was already known from extensive work in India, where An. stephensi is known as mainly a "container breeder." But he said they also found plenty of An. stephensi mosquitoes at the edge of streams and nearby rivers.

"We should be careful about considering it as just a container breeder," Tadesse said. "It can survive in man-made or natural water sources. It also can feed on animals or humans. Basically, our findings indicate it can survive anywhere, so we need to be looking for this mosquito in places where, previously, people were not expecting to find it."

For example, he said projections that 126 million additional people in Africa could be at risk of malaria from An. stephensi mosquitoes could underestimate the threat if the evidence from Dire Dawa of the mosquito's adaptability is confirmed elsewhere.

"We're fortunate that this team moved quickly to confirm in just a few months that An. stephensi mosquitoes were the source of an unusual dry season urban outbreak," said ASTMH President Daniel Bausch, MD, MPH&TM, FASTMH. "Robust surveillance to detect and investigate unusual outbreaks in African countries is essential for developing strategies to stop this invasive mosquito from derailing Africa's efforts to eliminate malaria."
A decrease in protein synthesis in cells of the developing gut contributes to a rare genetic disorder, and an inexpensive nutritional supplement may help reverse that decrease, according to a new study publishing November 1st in the open access journal PLOS Biology by Yun-Fei Li of Zhejiang University School of Medicine in Hangzhou, China, and colleagues. The finding is an advance in understanding the pathogenesis of the disease, and may lead to new treatments.

Feingold syndrome type 1 leads to multiple problems in development, including of the skeleton and nervous system, but the symptom with the greatest impact on patients' lives is intestinal atresia, or incomplete development of the gastrointestinal tract. The disorder is caused by loss-of-function mutations in the gene Mycn, which encodes a critical transcription factor that regulates the activity of many genes, but to date there has been no animal model to study the effects of that loss.

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The authors created that model by using CRISPR genome editing to delete a portion of the Mycn gene in zebrafish, whose gut development shares important similarities with that of humans. They found that the resulting loss of gene activity led to a dramatic reduction in the size of the intestine, both in length and in the folding that gives the intestine its enormous surface area for absorption. Within a particularly affected subgroup of cells in the developing intestine, they found a significant down-regulation of numerous ribosomal genes, leading to reduced gene translation and protein synthesis.

Particularly affected were genes in the mTOR signaling pathway, a central regulator of protein synthesis; treatment of wild-type zebrafish with an mTOR inhibitor recapitulated the intestinal developmental defects seen in Mycn mutants. When the authors treated the mutant fish with leucine, an amino acid known to activate the mTOR pathway, the result was a partial normalization of the intestinal size in the mutants.

"Our work shows that during embryonic development, intestinal cells, which are in a highly proliferative state, require high Mycn expression levels," the corresponding authors, Peng-Fei Xu and Xi Jin, say, "and that the proliferation arrest caused by reduced protein synthesis was the main reason for the developmental defects in the intestines of the Mycn mutant. This suggests a possible treatment strategy for the intestinal symptoms in patients with Feingold syndrome type 1, although confirmation in a human intestinal organoid system is essential."

The first authors, Yun-Fei Li and Tao Cheng, add, "Feingold syndrome resulting from Mycn deficiency has been discovered for decades, however, the mechanism that leads to gastrointestinal atresia in Feingold syndrome type 1 is still unclear. We developed a Mycn mutant zebrafish model which recapitulates key phenotypes of Feingold syndrome type 1, and also provided a possible treatment strategy for Feingold syndrome type 1."
A significant reduction in childhood poverty could cut criminal convictions by almost a quarter, according to a study conducted in Brazil. An article on the study is published in Scientific Reports. The researchers used an innovative approach involving an analysis of 22 risk factors that affect human development and interviews with 1,905 children at two points  a first interview to form a baseline (mean age 10.3) and a follow-up interview seven years later (mean age 17.8).

The scientists concluded that poverty  measured broadly as a combination of little schooling for the head of household, low purchasing power and limited access to basic services  was the only crime-related factor that could be prevented. They used estimates of the population-attributable risk fraction (PARF) to predict the possible reduction in criminal convictions assuming successful early anti-poverty intervention in the lives of the children.

In a scenario without poverty, 22.5% of criminal convictions involving these young people could have been prevented. On the other hand, factors such as unplanned pregnancy, prematurity, breastfeeding and prenatal maternal smoking or drinking showed no correlation with future criminal convictions.

A holistic view of young people who commit crimes is necessary in order to understand the circumstances that lead to this situation and a range of preventable factors need to be considered." Carolina Ziebold, Study First Author and Researcher, Department of Psychiatry, Medical School, Federal University of Sao Paulo

Ziebold was supported by FAPESP during her PhD research. She also received a Talented Young Investigator scholarship from CAPES, the Ministry of Education's Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel, via its Internationalization Program.

For Ary Gadelha, last author of the article, the use of a complex measure of poverty including many more factors than household income is a groundbreaking aspect of the study. Gadelha is a professor of psychiatry at EPM-UNIFESP and was Ziebold's thesis advisor.

"The study took into account housing conditions and access to public services such as healthcare or sanitation, for example, in order to understand poverty more comprehensively. This led us to advocate broader solutions than merely improving income. The many adversities faced by these children become difficulties in adulthood, such as low educational attainment and unemployment, among others," Gadelha told Agencia FAPESP.

The approach used in the study is based on an epidemiological method called exposure-wide association, which is similar to the method used in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). "Exposure-wide association studies explore a broad array of potential exposures relating to a single outcome (using a hypothesis-free approach)", the authors write.

In this case, they add, the analysis encompassed "multiple modifiable perinatal, individual, family and school-related exposures associated with youth criminal conviction to identify new potential targets for the prevention of this complex phenomenon". Moreover, they argue, "when a significant risk factor [such as poverty] is identified, the magnitude of its effect on criminal conviction should be explained to inform and guide public measures for crime prevention".

Another study led by Ziebold involving the same cohort and published in December 2021 had already found correlations between childhood poverty and a heightened propensity to develop externalizing disorders during adolescence and early adulthood, especially among girls. The researchers concluded that multidimensional poverty and exposure to stressful life events, including frequent deaths and family conflicts, were avoidable risk factors that should be addressed in childhood in order to reduce the impact of mental health problems in adult life.

Results

In the recent Scientific Reports article, the researchers stress that although baseline poverty was the only modifiable risk factor significantly associated with crime as far as the children in the study sample were concerned, most of them (89%) did not have any criminal convictions.

"We wanted to avoid criminalizing poverty and show that it's a complex phenomenon. Exposure to this situation during a life can lead to social tragedy. Crime is a social question, and punishment alone may not be appropriate in the case of young people. It would be more useful to create real opportunities for rehabilitation  life opportunities," Gadelha said.

Only a small proportion (4.3%) of the 1,905 participants interviewed reported any history of criminal convictions, mainly involving theft, violent robbery, drug dealing and other violent crimes, including a homicide and an attempted homicide.

The participants were from the Brazilian High-Risk Cohort Study for Psychiatric Disorders (BHRC), a major community-based survey involving 2,511 families with children aged 6-10 when it began in 2010. They were all students at public schools in two large Brazilian state capitals, Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul). Three follow-up surveys have been completed so far, the last in 2018-19. A fourth has begun this year and is scheduled for completion in 2024.

Considered one of the most ambitious childhood mental health surveys ever conducted in Brazil, the BHRC, also known as Project Connection  Minds of the Future, is led by the National Institute of Developmental Psychiatry (INPD), which is supported by FAPESP and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), an arm of the Ministry for Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI).

More than 20 universities in Brazil and elsewhere are involved in INPD's activities. Its principal investigator is Euripedes Constantino Miguel Filho, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Sao Paulo's Medical School (FM-USP).

Impact

According to a report published by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in March 2022, "children and adolescents have always been  and continue to be  the most affected by poverty. By the beginning of 2020, the percentage of children and adolescents living in monetary poverty and extreme monetary poverty in Brazil was, proportionally, twice that of adults".

Between 35% and 45%, depending on the age group, lived on less than USD 5.50 per day in 2020. The proportion living on less than USD 1.90 per day  the extreme monetary poverty line  was 12%.

Furthermore, according to Getulio Vargas Foundation's Center for Research on Social Policies (FGV Social), food insecurity reached a record level in Brazil at the end of 2021, surpassing the global average and affecting mainly women, poor families and people aged 30-49. The proportion of the overall population suffering from food security reached 36%, compared with 17% in 2014. The global average for 2021 was 35%.

"We know people have yet to feel the full economic impact of the pandemic, including food insecurity and lack of access to schooling. The consequences of children's exposure will become clear in the future," Ziebold said, adding that more research is needed to understand how the vulnerabilities of the places where children live can influence juvenile crime rates. "This type of factor has been observed in research conducted in other countries, such as the United States, where young people are more likely to commit crimes if they live in areas without infrastructure or with gangs. This is a topic for further research."

About 46,000 young people in conflict with the law were processed in 2019 by SINASE, Brazil's special justice system for juvenile offenders.
The outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 led to the novel coronavirus (CoV) disease 2019 (COVID-19), causing a significant worldwide public health crisis.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 pandemic on 11th March 2020 due to an alarming increase in cases worldwide. Specific anti-CoV strategies and therapies are essential for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19.

Background

Currently, seven different CoVs are known to cause respiratory illnesses in humans. Paxlovid (Pfizer) was approved for emergency use authorization by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in response to SARS-CoV-2. Paxlovid contains the antiviral Nirmatrelvir/Ritonavir that blocks the activity of the SARS-CoV-2 3CL protease (3CLpro) and main protease (Mpro). However, it can lead to serious side effects. Moreover, the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC) has led to the urgent requirement for developing antiviral agents, new drugs, and new vaccines to prevent infection.

Cyclophilin (Cyp) proteins play an important role during the lifecycle of viruses from different families, such as hepatitis C virus, human immunodeficiency virus, dengue virus, human papillomavirus, cytomegalovirus, influenza A virus, vesicular stomatitis virus, Japanese encephalitis virus, and various CoVs. The lifecycles of NL-63 (HCoV-NL63), human CoV 229 E (HCoV-229 E), and SARS-CoV that causes mild respiratory infections in humans, as well as feline infectious peritonitis coronavirus (FPIV) that causes fatal disease in cats, is reported to be dependent on CypA, which plays an important role in CoV replication. Cyclosporine A (CsA), which is the inhibitor of CypA can provide a broad-spectrum suppression of CoV.

The 18 kDa human cyclophilin A (hCypA) belongs to the immunophilin family and is both present and conserved in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. The hCypA protein consists of peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase (PPIase) activity and can carry out the catalysis of cis-trans isomerization of peptide bonds at proline residues as well as regulate protein trafficking and folding. CsA can be useful in inhibiting the binding of hCypA to the SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain (RBD). It can inhibit PPIase activity by binding CypA both extracellularly and intracellularly. It has been observed to inhibit the protein phosphatase calcineurin (Cn) and prevent the translocation of a nuclear factor in activated T cells (NF-AT) which in turn prevents the transcription of genes encoding the pro-inflammatory cytokines. However, studies on the extracellular activity of CypA are not well known.

Previous studies have indicated that MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV contain significant amounts of CypA for maintaining their lifecycle and expediting any defects in cell production in their target cells. CypA has also been observed to interact intracellularly with non-structural SARS-CoV protein 1 (Nsp1). Therefore, CsA can inhibit the in vitro replication of various CoVs, including HCoV-NL63, HCoV-229 E, SARS-CoV, avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), mouse hepatitis virus (MHV), and FPIV, which are genetically close to SARS-CoV-2.

The homotrimeric spike (S) glycoprotein mediates the entry of SARS-CoV-2 through the host the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor. SARS-CoV-2 ACE2 receptor recognition is observed to be similar to the 2003 SARS-CoV. The expression of the human ACE2 receptor can be observed as a membrane-bound protein in various organs. The RBD of S1 includes comprises a core and a receptor-binding motif (RBM) that accurately recognizes ACE2. Additionally, RBD is important for determining human-to-human and cross-species transmissibility. Furthermore, identification and analysis of interactions between hCypA and S proteins of SARS-CoV-2 have been carried out to understand the function of hCypA in the life cycle of SARS-CoV-2.

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants has increased concerns about the efficacy of vaccines. Researchers have indicated that the variants comprise mutations that can lead to high transmissibility, affect COVID-19 severity, and prevent vaccine and natural-induced immunity. These mutations can also affect the binding of the S protein to the ACE2 receptor.

A new study in the Bioengineering and Translational Medicine journal aimed to analyze the molecular interactions between the hCypA protein and the SARS-CoV-2 variants to determine the impact of variants on the blocking and binding potential of the hCypAS protein complex with the ACE2 receptor.

About the study

The study involved the purchase of different SARS-CoV-2 variants that included, Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma, Omicron, Kappa, Epsilon, Deltcron, and Lambda variants along with anti-SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies, human cyclophilin A, recombinant ACE2, anti-rabbit IgG, and anti-Human IgG antibody. After that far-western blotting was carried out using purified ACE2, hCypA, and RBD. Surface plasma resonance was used to determine the binding affinity of hCypA to RBD proteins and variants.

Structural analysis of SARS-CoV-2hCypA complexes docked with ACE2 was carried out to analyze the impact of hCypA on S protein ACE2 interactions. Finally, a molecular interaction lateral flow (MILF) assay was constructed to obtain immunochromatographic signal read-outs.

Study findings

The results indicated that the SARS-CoV-2 S protein was very similar in structure and sequence to the SARS-CoV S protein. Also, the binding affinity between ACE2 and SARS-CoV RBDs was observed to be similar. The hCypA protein was observed to engulf the RBM of SARS-CoV-2 and block access to key residues that are involved in the interaction with ACE2. Additionally, the hCypAs active site was observed to consist of seven residues that interact with CsA and are involved in PPIase activity. The hCypARBD complex interface was reported to be stabilized by many interactions and five intermolecular hydrogen bonds.

The binding of RBD to hCypA and the ACE2 receptor was confirmed through the far-western blotting results. High binding energy and binding affinity values were observed when hCypA interacted with SARS-CoV-2 RBD. The binding of ACE2 with RBD was observed to be reduced in the presence of hCypA. Moreover, RBD interactions were observed to be reduced in the presence of the hCypACsA complex. The binding affinity of the hCypACsA complex was observed to be higher as compared to the binding affinity of the hCypARBD complex. Therefore, the binding of hCypACsA favors the binding of ACE2 to RBD.

No significant structural alterations were observed for the SARS-CoV-2 variants as compared to the wild-type RBDhCypA complex, except for Delta. hCypA was reported to bind to the RBD of all the variants except Delta. The positive residues on the Delta RBD were reported to cause steric hindrance during the binding of hCypA. The results of the MILF strip assay also confirmed that the binding of hCypA inhibited the interaction of RBD with ACE2. Similar results were obtained for all SARS-CoV-2 variants except Delta.

Therefore, the current study demonstrated that hCypA plays an important role in regulating SARS-CoV-2 inside the host. It can bind to RBD and prevent its interaction with host ACE2, suggesting that hCypA can be used as a potential target for antiviral therapy.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Health Minister Dr Jalila bint Sayed Jawad Hassan has stressed the importance of hosting medical conferences and exhibitions in Bahrain.

Visions and concepts concerning the latest technologies are exchanged at these events, while the latest international developments can engender the best health practices being utilised in Bahrain, ultimately improving the nations standing in this area, Dr Jalila said.

The Minister was speaking as she patronised the seventh edition of the International Dental Conference and Exhibition, which will be held tomorrow until 6 November at the Crown Plaza Hotel.

The conference will be organised as part of a strategic partnership with the National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA), in cooperation with the Saudi Dental Society.

Dr Jalila said that by hosting the seventh edition of DLS Bahrain, the Kingdom reaffirms what a supportive environment it provides for scientific research centres across many areas of health and care.

Furthermore, Bahrain is establishing itself as a nation where experts and practitioners working in health can meet to discuss ideas and developments in the sector.

The continued success of DLS Bahrain also reflects the great development seen in the dental health area.

The level of service provided to citizens and residents has been enhanced and has improved the effectiveness and sustainability of the system.

The Kingdom of Bahrain continues to strive to provide the highest quality standards for health provision.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

The fastest-growing Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) organisation in the world has its next destination locked and loaded.

On 26 November, BRAVE Combat Federation returns to Indonesia for BRAVE CF 66, officials announced yesterday.

It will be the promotions first trip to the Southeast Asia country since early 2018, when BRAVE CF 12 took place in Jakarta.

The show follows up a tremendous Kombat Kingdom series with three events in nine days taking the Kingdom of Bahrain by storm in October.

BRAVE CF 63, 64, and 65 were a tremendous success and set the pace for an electric end-of-year by the most-travelled company in MMA today.

Indonesia is a long-term target territory for BRAVE Combat Federation to return after the success of BRAVE CF 12: KHK Legacy, which took place in Jakarta on May 11th, 2018, and featured future Super Lightweight world champion Eldar Eldarov taking on Brian Hooi in a Lightweight main event.

While no bouts have been announced, BRAVE Nation can expect a very entertaining fight card as BRAVE CF will look to celebrate its return to Indonesia in style.
Agencies | Riyadh

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Saudi Arabia has shared intelligence with American officials, warning of an attack from Iran on targets in the kingdom and Erbil in Iraq, according to a report in Wall Street Journal (WSJ). The planned attacks are aimed at taking away the focus from the protests that have swept Iran in recent weeks. These demonstration were triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody for reportedly not wearing hijab. Since then, thousands of women have come out on roads without covering their heads or faces, challenging the Iranian government.

The WSJ spoke to an official of the White House National Security Council who said that the US is "concerned about the threat picture" and "officials remain in constant touch with the Saudis".

The official, however, did not provide any details about the intelligence shared by the Saudi officials.

In response to the warning, the militaries of Saudi Arabia, the US and other countries in the Middle East have raised the alert levels.

Iran has blamed the US, Saudi Arabia and Israel for instigating the ongoing protests in the country. Last month, the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps publicly warned Saudi Arabia to rein in the coverage of protests in Iran.

Iran has for the past six weeks been rocked by protests of a scale and nature unprecedented since the 1979 Islamic revolution, sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in September.

The authorities have warned protesters it is time to leave the streets but the demonstrations have shown no sign of abating, taking place in residential areas, major avenues and universities nationwide.

Thousands of people have been arrested nationwide in the crackdown on the protests, according to rights activists, while Iran's judiciary has said 1,000 people have already been charged in connection with what it describes as "riots".
MISSISSAUGA, ON, Nov. 1, 2022 /CNW/ - BASF Canada and Bullfrog Power have come together with Iron & Earth to support upskilling Indigenous workers in the renewable energy sector. Through a joint $25,000 donation from BASF Canada and Bullfrog Power, Iron & Earth provided funding to the Community Wind Skills Training Program and Maskwacis Cultural College. This program supports the green energy infrastructure required to transition Canada's grid to renewable sources and meet climate targets.

Photo Credit: Jamie Tanner, DRFTWD Films. (CNW Group/BASF Canada) Photo Credit: Jamie Tanner, DRFTWD Films. (CNW Group/BASF Canada) Photo Credit: Jamie Tanner, DRFTWD Films. (CNW Group/BASF Canada)

The Community Wind Skills Training Program curriculum has been created in collaboration with Indigenous communities and teaches the technical knowledge and skills required for a career in renewable energy, as well as Indigenous perspectives on renewable energy, reconciliation, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In the process of completing the program, trainees established two solar arrays rated at 5.28kW DC and 6kW AC, and a 1.1kW wind turbine that will bring power to the community.

"Iron & Earth is proud to support Maskwacis in bringing much needed green economy infrastructure and skills to their community," said Luisa Da Silva, Executive Director, Iron & Earth. "There are talented community members for whom a bit of upskilling allows them to thrive in the energy transition. In turn, the societal transition to address climate change needs Indigenous knowledge at its core to promote environmental justice and a healthy planet for all who share our ecosystems. Iron & Earth thank our sponsor partners Bullfrog Power and BASF Canada who have helped make this opportunity a reality."

"We are proud to partner once again with BASF and Iron & Earth to help develop community-based renewable energy initiatives," said Suha Jethalal, President, Bullfrog Power. "The bullfrogpowered community is pleased to support the Four Nations of Maskwacis as they lead the way to a renewably powered future."

BASF Canada, Bullfrog Power, and Iron & Earth celebrated this collaboration in a ribbon-cutting celebration at Maskwacis Cultural College on September 2, 2022, which was structured in a traditional first nations ceremony format. The ribbon cutting included a pipe ceremony, a cultural feast, and a drum group with the Maskwacis community.

The event was an opportunity to celebrate the success of the 2022 Renewable Skills training programs with the trainees and to hear about their experience and impact of solar and wind installations. A video highlighting the event can be found by visiting here.

"This is another significant milestone in our partnership with Bullfrog Power, where we support local clean energy programs in communities across the country," said Eva Musso, Head of Sustainability and Government Relations, BASF Canada. "Together by partnering with Iron & Earth, we can support the Maskwacis community as it transitions to a cleaner future."

Funding the Community Wind Skills Training Program and Maskwacis Cultural College provides support for the project including transportation, accommodations, and hospitality for instructors and trainees who are participating in the project.

About BASF

BASF Canada, headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, is a subsidiary of BASF SE and an affiliate of BASF Corporation. BASF has more than 1,100 employees in Canada and had sales of $2.5 billion in 2021. For more information about BASF Canada's operations, visit www.basf.com/ca.

At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. Around 111,000 employees in the BASF Group contribute to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio comprises six segments: Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technologies, Nutrition & Care and Agricultural Solutions. BASF generated sales of 78.6 billion in 2021. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchange in Frankfurt (BAS) and as American Depositary Receipts (BASFY) in the U.S. Further information at www.basf.com.

About Bullfrog Power, Spark Power's sustainability division

Bullfrog Power, part of Spark Power Group Inc. (TSX: SPG), offers smart and sustainable energy solutions that help thousands of businesses and individuals meet their climate goals. In 2005, Bullfrog Power revolutionized Canada's energy landscape by giving businesses and individuals a renewable energy choice for the first time. Bullfrog Power's team of sustainability experts also offers solutions including power purchase agreements, energy efficiency, on-site solar, and a suite of green energy products. As a Certified B Corporation, Bullfrog Power meets higher standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. Visit bullfrogpower.com to see how our sustainability solutions can power the future of your business, or join the bullfrogpowered community online on LinkedIn , Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

SOURCE BASF Canada

For further information: BASF Media Contact: Marlena Mista, Tel.: (905) 301-2740, Email: [email protected]; Bullfrog Power Media Contact: Heather Eason, Tel.: (416) 360-3464 x0249, Email: [email protected]
OTTAWA, ON, Nov. 2, 2022 /CNW/ - Canadian fishery officers have now completed their work in Operation North Pacific Guard, an annual international law enforcement operation on the high seas of the North Pacific. This multilateral operation conducted alongside the United States, South Korea and Japan aims to detect and deter illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing activity, which is a major cause of declining fish stocks and marine ecosystem destruction around the globe.

Fishery officers onboard Canadas surveillance aircraft during a night patrol to inspect fishing operations. (CNW Group/Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) Canada) Fishery officers observe a densely packed fishing fleet as they participate in light-based fishing activities. The red lights indicate the vessels are actively fishing. (CNW Group/Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) Canada) A Canadian fishery officer inspects several bags of shark tails and shark fins that have been retained but not recorded in catch logs. (CNW Group/Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) Canada)

Fishery officers and air crew were deployed to Hokkaido, in northern Japan, where they conducted daily patrols over the Northwest Pacific, a region known for its density of high seas fishing activity. Fishery officers were also deployed to the US Coast Guard Cutter Munro from which they boarded and inspected fishing vessels alongside our international partners.

This year, Canada flew 29 patrols over 247 hours, and covered a total of 44,200 nautical miles as part of Operation North Pacific Guard. Canadian officers discovered concerning incidents of sharks being caught and kept and garbage pollution, and noted a large number of vessels with improper identification markings. During vessel inspections, fishery officers also reported many cases of harvesters failing to maintain proper catch records  a key element used to calculate sustainable harvest limits.

Operation North Pacific Guard is part of Canada's larger role to protect Canadian livelihoods, fish stocks and marine ecosystems, and to better understand potential harms to migratory fish stocks such as Pacific salmon and tuna. Operation North Pacific Guard serves as an opportunity for international law enforcement partners from Pacific nations to work together to enforce regulations adopted by regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) related to fishing on the high seas.

This December will mark the 30th anniversary of the United Nations ban of high seas driftnets. Drift net fishing is a technique that uses large panels of netting which hang vertically in the water and drift in the currents and the wind to capture fish and other wildlife living in the ocean. High seas driftnets are a threat to Canadian migratory fish stocks such as Pacific salmon, and their use has a devastating impact on all living marine species. Joint operations such as Operation North Pacific Guard are critical to monitor and enforce these types of bans, to protect marine ecosystems and migratory fish stocks.

Through Operation North Pacific Guard, Canada continues to show its commitment to enforcing rules and regulations to protect fish stocks and marine ecosystems, and contribute to Canadian livelihoods.

Quotes

"Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing cheats people living in coastal communities out of hard-earned income. In addition, it causes severe harm to aquatic ecosystems and fish stocks, like wild Pacific salmon. Hard-working, law-abiding harvesters work to protect oceans and ensure sustainable fisheries here in Canada and around the world. We will continue working with our international and non-governmental partners to combat these harmful practices that affect global food security and fish sustainability."

The Honourable Joyce Murray

Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard

"We are grateful to Japan for their assistance in facilitating the movement of equipment and personnel in support of Operation North Pacific Guard. Canada and Japan have much to gain by increasing our interoperability, as we work together to uphold the rule of law. Our two countries are committed to ongoing cooperation in countering illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, as set out in the Canada-Japan Action Plan for contributing to a free and open Indo-Pacific region, announced last month by our respective Ministers of Foreign Affairs."

H.E. Ian G. McKay, Ambassador of Canada to Japan

Quick Facts

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing is a major cause of declining fish stocks and marine ecosystem destruction around the globe. It is estimated that it accounts for about 30 per cent of all fishing activity worldwide  that's up to 26 million tonnes of fish, costing the global economy up to $23 billion a year.

a year. Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing threatens the livelihoods of fish harvesters everywhere. It impacts the food security, human rights, and economic stability of millions of people in coastal communities, in Canada and around the world.

and around the world. Canada works with several partner countries and non-government organizations to address illegal fishing issues at a global level and to support lawful, sustainable fisheries.

works with several partner countries and non-government organizations to address illegal fishing issues at a global level and to support lawful, sustainable fisheries. There are over 1,300 vessels currently authorized to fish in the high seas of the North Pacific.

Canada works within regional fisheries management organizations, including the North Pacific Fisheries Commission, North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission, the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, and the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, to advance sustainable fisheries policy and strong management and regulatory measures and ensure fishing operations in the high seas of the Pacific Ocean covered by these organizations are sustainable.

works within regional fisheries management organizations, including the North Pacific Fisheries Commission, North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission, the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, and the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, to advance sustainable fisheries policy and strong management and regulatory measures and ensure fishing operations in the high seas of the Pacific Ocean covered by these organizations are sustainable. Operation North Pacific Guard was supported by Fisheries and Oceans Canada's Dash-8 patrol aircraft, and guided by intelligence cooperation from Canada's Marine Security Operations Centre, US Coast Guard District 17, US Coast Guard Maritime Intelligence Fusion Centre, Global Fishing Watch and Canada's Department of National Defence.

Associated Links

Stay Connected

Follow Fisheries and Oceans Canada on Twitter , Facebook, Instagram and YouTube .

, and . Follow the Canadian Coast Guard on Twitter , Facebook, Instagram and YouTube .

SOURCE Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) Canada

For further information: Kevin Lemkay, Director of Communications, Office of the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, 613-992-3474, [email protected]; Media Relations: Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 613-990-7537, [email protected]
Evidence on Covalon's New ColActive Plus Powder presented at the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care

MISSISSAUGA, ON, Nov. 1, 2022 /CNW/ - Covalon Technologies Ltd. (the "Company" or "Covalon") (TSXV: COV) (OTCQX: CVALF), an advanced medical technologies company, today announced that its newest advanced wound care product, ColActive Plus Powder, was showcased in a case study presentation at the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care (SAWC), from October 13 to 16, 2022 in Las Vegas. The study, conducted by Dr. Alton Johnson Jr., DPM, FACPM, DABPM, CWSP, at University of Michigan School of Medicine, demonstrates the efficacy of ColActive Plus Powder in treating chronic non-healing wounds.

ColActive Plus Powder (CNW Group/Covalon Technologies Ltd.)

"I've had success using the ColActive Plus Powder to close challenging stalled wounds. It's applicable to a range of wound types, offering the benefits of collagen in an advanced formulation suitable for chronic or acute wounds", states Dr. Johnson. "It's a unique product, the only collagen-based powder that is available with or without an antimicrobial."

Chronic, hard-to-heal wounds fail to advance through the phases of healing in an orderly and timely manner, often becoming stalled in the inflammatory phase. Imbalances in important cellular mediators for healing perpetuate the cycle of chronicity, which can lead to severe complications such as infection or amputation, which have grave consequences on overall quality of life. ColActive Plus Collagen Powder was uniquely designed to optimize the wound environment while supporting native collagen and connective tissue growth to help clinicians break the cycle of chronicity.

"In just a short time on the market, ColActive Plus Powder has become known as a "closer" of challenging wounds. The positive outcomes we're seeing from clinicians like Dr. Johnson continue to drive growth of this new and unique product and importantly, remind us of the impact it can have on patients suffering from chronic wounds," says Brian Pedlar, CEO of Covalon.

Case Study Summary

An 83-year-old patient with peripheral arterial disease underwent metatarsal toe amputation which resulted in non-healing wounds.

The post-amputation surgical wounds failed to heal over several months with use of a competitive collagen/Oxidized Regenerated Cellulose product.

Treatment with weekly pulse lavage and ColActive Plus Powder resulted in the chronic post-amputation wounds being closed within 28 days, remaining healed to date.

Dr. Alton Johnson Jr. concluded that the use of the novel powder preparation of the ColActive formulation, in combination with pulse lavage, initiated and progressed the healing of the patient's chronic wounds rapidly, in addition to being simple to use as part of the existing treatment plan.

For further details, please refer to the case study poster.

Covalon's advanced wound care solutions include the following:

ColActive Plus Powder - Collagen wound filler that supports native collagen and connective tissue growth within the wound bed, while also stimulating cellular processes essential for wound healing. Allows for optimal moisture balance. Excellent solution for wounds of irregular shape or wounds in challenging locations

ColActive Plus Powder Ag - Collagen wound filler with antimicrobial ionic silver to prevent bacterial colonization within the product, thus minimizing the risk of infection.

Healthcare providers who are interested in learning more about Covalon's solutions can visit www.covalon.com or follow Covalon on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

About Covalon

Covalon Technologies Ltd. is a researcher, developer, manufacturer, and marketer of patent-protected medical products that improve patient outcomes and save lives in the areas of advanced wound care, infection management and surgical procedures. Covalon leverages its patented medical technology platforms and expertise in two ways: (i) by developing products that are sold under Covalon's name; and (ii) by developing and commercializing medical products for other medical companies under development and license contracts. The Company is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, having the symbol COV and trades on the OTQX Market under the symbol CVALF. To learn more about Covalon, visit our website at www.covalon.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements which reflect the Company's current expectations regarding future events. The forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "plan, "estimate", "expect", "intend" or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information are not historical facts, but instead represent management's expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the factors described in greater detail in the "Risks and Uncertainties" section of our management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations for the three and nine months ended June 30, 2022, which is available on the Company's profile at www.sedar.com, any of which could cause results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Investors should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update or alter any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, further events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Website: https://covalon.com/

Twitter: @covalon

SOURCE Covalon Technologies Ltd.

For further information: To learn more about Covalon, please contact: Brian Pedlar, CEO, Covalon Technologies Ltd., Email: [email protected]; Phone: 905.568.8400 x 233, Toll-Free: 1.877.711.6055
Fund will support research organizations through competitive, peer-reviewed process

OTTAWA, ON, Nov. 2, 2022 /CNW Telbec/ - The scientific breakthroughs of tomorrow will be born out of the work that our researchers and innovators are doing today. That is why the Government of Canada is committed to supporting, leveraging and protecting Canadian research and science to grow the economy and improve the quality of life of Canadians.

Today, the Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, along with the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health, announced that Dr. Elizabeth Cannon has been appointed as chair of the independent expert panel that will review the full applications to the Strategic Science Fund (SSF). As announced in August 2021, the SSF is a new approach to supporting third-party science and research organizations through a transparent, competitive, peer-reviewed funding process.

Dr. Cannon, OC, FRSC, FCAE, has led research at the forefront of global positioning systems (GPS) since 1984, commercializing technology to over 200 agencies worldwide. She is President Emerita and Professor Emerita of Geomatics Engineering at the University of Calgary. Among her many appointments, Dr. Cannon has served on the Minister of Natural Resources' National Advisory Board on Earth Sciences and been president of the U.S. Institute of Navigation and a director on the board of the Canada Foundation for Innovation. She has also served as chair of Universities Canada and co-chair of the Business + Higher Education Roundtable. From 1997 to 2002, Dr. Cannon was the NSERC/Petro-Canada Chair for Women in Science and Engineering for the Prairie Region and worked to raise public awareness about science and engineering careers for women.

Dr. Cannon and the members of the independent expert panel will meet later this month to review the full applications that were submitted as part of phase two of the Strategic Science Fund. Program details can be found on the Strategic Science Fund website.

Quotes

"By investing in science and research, the Government of Canada is helping to expand our understanding of the world, generate new ideas and cement Canada's position as a world leader in research and innovation. The Strategic Science Fund will bring greater transparency and accountability to how we fund third-party science and research organizations and provide them with the support they need. The work of Dr. Cannon and the independent expert panel will be integral to that process as the government continues its historic support for science and research."

 The Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry

"It is by strengthening evidence-based decision-making that we can improve Canadians' overall well-being and prosperity. That's why the independent expert review panel chaired by Dr. Cannon will work to ensure science and research organizations receive federal funding through a transparent and competitive process so they can contribute to the scientific breakthroughs of tomorrow."

 The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health

Quick facts

The Strategic Science Fund (SSF) will allow the Government of Canada to support research and related activities in specialized areas in cases where organizations cannot access other federal funding programs.

to support research and related activities in specialized areas in cases where organizations cannot access other federal funding programs. Members of the Canadian and international academic, private and not-for-profit sectors were invited to join the independent expert panel on a volunteer basis. The panel, which represents a diversity of expertise, disciplines and backgrounds, will serve until it provides its recommendation of successful applicants to the government.

Since 2016, the Government of Canada has invested more than $14 billion in science and research and related initiatives.

Associated links

Stay connected

Find more services and information at Canada.ca/ISED.

Follow Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada on social media.

Twitter: @ISED_CA, Facebook: Canadian Innovation, Instagram: @cdninnovation and LinkedIn

SOURCE Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

For further information: Laurie Bouchard, Senior Manager, Communications, Office of the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, [email protected]; Media Relations, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, [email protected]
The Beaverbrook Art Gallery's new Harrison McCain Pavilion in Fredericton will help strengthen the local economy and draw tourists to world-class cultural attractions

FREDERICTON, NB, Nov. 2, 2022 /CNW/ - The Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pablo Rodriguez, and the Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, the Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, are pleased to announce more than $2.5 million in funding for the Beaverbrook Art Gallery's new Harrison McCain Pavilion in Fredericton.

The Government of Canada is continuing its commitment to invest in projects that contribute to the vitality of our communities, support the local economy, and promote the development of the tourism industry.

Named in honour of the late Harrison McCain, co-founder of the multinational McCain Foods, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery's new pavilion is a multipurpose community space intended to host a variety of activities.

For the gallery's infrastructure projects, the Department of Canadian Heritage has provided $1.5 million in funding through the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund, including $1 million for the new pavilion and $500,000 for improvement projects within the gallery itself.

To support marketing and events in connection with the opening of the new pavilion, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency has provided non-repayable funding of $1 million through the Innovative Communities Fund (ICF), as well as $48,557 in non-repayable funding under the Rediscover Main Streets initiative.

The official opening of the Harrison McCain Pavilion was held on September 10 at an event open to the public.

Quotes

"Cultural organizations form a key part of the fabric of our country. Culture brings us together and unites us. The Beaverbrook Art Gallery's Harrison McCain Pavilion project perfectly embodies the vision behind the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund. Today, I commend the determination and commitment of everyone who took part in developing and implementing this project, and I invite the public to come out and discover everything this gallery has to offer."

 The Honourable Pablo Rodriguez, Minister of Canadian Heritage

"We are proud to invest in the outreach of this new pavilion, which will enable visitors to enjoy the expanded gallery and programming space. Cultural spaces such as the Harrison McCain Pavilion offer enriching and exciting activities that reflect all that Atlantic Canada has to offer."

The Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency

"Cultural and tourism spaces are at the heart of our communities. Thanks to projects like the new Harrison McCain Pavilion, the Government of Canada is making a positive contribution to the development of the arts and culture sector, the expansion of the tourism sector, and the economic future of the region and our country."

The Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance

"The Beaverbrook Art Gallery is a pillar of Fredericton's cultural and social life. I am delighted to see the gallery's evolution with the opening of this new pavilion, a welcoming space that will bring our community together. I commend the efforts of those who believed in and accomplished this project."

Jenica Atwin, Member of Parliament for Fredericton

"The gallery's mandate is to enrich life through art. With our extensive collection, we truly have something for everyone. We are confident that this expansion will develop and grow the arts and culture sector at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery and beyond. We are thrilled that, through funding from the Government of Canada, the Harrison McCain Pavilion will grow to offer even more to those who visit our space."

Thomas Smart, Director/CEO, Beaverbrook Art Gallery

Quick Facts

Canadian Heritage's Canada Cultural Spaces Fund supports the improvement of physical conditions for arts, heritage, culture and creative innovation. The Fund supports renovation and construction projects, the acquisition of specialized equipment and feasibility studies related to cultural spaces.

The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency's Innovative Communities Fund (ICF) supports projects that build the economies of Atlantic Canada communities.

The Rediscover Main Streets initiative helps non-profit organizations team up to generate new ideas that inspire locals and tourists alike to rediscover all that their main streets, downtowns and neighbourhoods have to offer, while driving more support for local businesses.

Construction of the Harrison McCain Pavilion started in 2019. A particular goal of this major project was to create a fully accessible, 10,000-square-foot expansion that would dramatically change the streetscape of Queen Street, honouring the legacy and generosity of Harrison McCain.

The Beaverbrook Art Gallery and a significant art collection were given to the people of New Brunswick by Lord Beaverbrook, Sir Max Aitken, on September 16, 1959. In 1994, the Beaverbrook was officially designated the provincial art gallery of New Brunswick.

The Beaverbrook Art Gallery brings art and community together in a dynamic cultural environment governed by the highest standards in exhibitions, programming and education.

As the provincial art gallery of New Brunswick, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery is committed to maintaining artistic excellence in the care, research and development of the gallery's collections; presenting engaging and stimulating exhibitions and programs to encourage greater appreciation of the visual arts; and embracing and advancing the province's two official-language communities, as well as the Indigenous communities in New Brunswick.

Associated Links

Beaverbrook Art Gallery

News Release of August 16, 2022 (Beaverbrook Art Gallery website)

SOURCE Canadian Heritage

For further information: For more information (media only), please contact: Media Relations, Canadian Heritage, 819-994-9101, 1-866-569-6155, [email protected]; Marianne Blondin, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, [email protected]; Ann Kenney, Senior Communications Officer, Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, [email protected]
OTTAWA, ON, Nov. 1, 2022 /CNW/ - The Government of Canada recognizes the immense contributions health professionals made throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and continue to make every day. The Government shares the concerns raised by health workers on the state of the health care system, including the impacts that the health workforce crisis is having on their patients' ability to receive quality care when and where they need it. Health workers are the backbone of the health system, and the health workforce is in crisis.

Over the last two and a half years, Canada's health workers, including those working in public health, have been challenged like never before. This has led to unprecedented levels of burnout, absences, and turnover. These workforce challenges are in turn affecting patients who are experiencing long wait times for surgeries, emergency room closures, and difficulty accessing family health services.

We have heard stories of cancer patients having their surgeries delayed because hospitals do not have the time, space, or in most cases the staff, to provide timely care. These delays lead to more complex and invasive treatments, worse outcomes and further disrupts patient's lives. That is why this past March we outlined our vision for improving health care by:

Reducing backlogs and supporting our health care workers;

Enhancing access to family health services;

Improving mental health and substance use services;

Helping Canadians age with dignity, closer to home; and

Using health data and digital health more effectively.

The Government of Canada remains committed to protecting and strengthening the publicly funded health care system, and continuing to work with provincial and territorial governments to do so. Provinces and territories are taking actions to increase health care training capacity, accelerate the integration of internationally educated health professionals, and improve workplace conditions. We are committed to working collaboratively with provinces and territories to drive pan-Canadian approaches to support health workers.

Today, the Government held the first meeting of a Coalition for Action for Health Workers. This group's advice will inform immediate and longer-term solutions to address significant health workforce challenges, so that all Canadians can access the quality care they need and deserve.

The Coalition will be comprised of representatives from key groups, including nurses, doctors, personal support workers, unions, colleges and universities, public health, patients, Indigenous peoples and equity-deserving communities.

Skilled and supported health workers are key to ensuring quality health care, which is why the Coalition's initial priorities will include providing advice on workers' retention so health workers continue to stay in their jobs; increasing the supply of health professionals in the country; improving health workforce data; and opportunities to scale new models of care to address key barriers.

Quotes

"Canadians expect us to work collaboratively to urgently address the health worker crisis to strengthen the universal publicly funded health care system that we all cherish as Canadians. As we continue our work with provinces and territories, the Coalition will help support moving forward on concrete actions so we can get clear outcomes for Canadians, their families and for our health workers by ensuring they get the care they need and deserve."

The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos

Minister of Health

From coast to coast to coast health workers are working night and day to keep our communities safe and healthy. They work in stressful conditions often dealing with life and death and sometimes risking their own safety to help us. They deserve our endless gratitude and support. This Coalition will help determine how we can support them to do the job they want to be able to do, with the appropriate training and educational interventions in order to address the urgent mental health and substance use care needs of health workers now, and into the future.

The Honourable Carolyn Bennett

Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, and Associate Minister of Health

"Seniors across Canada need and deserve a healthcare system that provides quality care when they need it, where they need it. As a Registered Nurse who has worked on the frontlines in a hospital and volunteered in a long-term care home during the height of the pandemic, I have seen first hand the challenges faced by patients, healthcare workers and our healthcare system. The Coalition will help us address the health workers crisis and improve supports for doctors, nurses and PSWs who sacrifice so much to support the health and well-being of Canadians. Our government remains committed to protecting and strengthening our healthcare system through long-term solutions."

The Honourable Kamal Khera

Minister of Seniors

Quick Facts

In addition to the establishment of the Coalition for Action, the Government of Canada is taking a leadership role to address the health workforce crisis and is moving forward with other actions, including: On September 23, 2022 , the federal government announced that it would introduce measures to facilitate the entry of foreign national physicians as permanent residents through Canada's federal economic immigration programs managed through the Express Entry system; On August 23, 2022 , Health Canada announced that it had appointed Dr. Leigh Chapman as Chief Nursing Officer; Budget 2022 announced $26.2 million in funding to increase the forgivable amount of student loans for doctors and nurses who practise in rural and remote communities; Budget 2022 provided an additional $140 million over two years to the Wellness Together Canada portal, which offers free, confidential mental health and substance use tools and services for all Canadians, including tools for frontline health care workers; Budget 2022 provided $115 million over five years, with $30 million ongoing, to expand the Foreign Credential Recognition Program and help up to 11,000 internationally trained health care professionals per year get their credentials recognized and find work in their field. It will also support projects that will reduce barriers to foreign credential recognition for health care professionals; A $2 billion top-up to the Canada Health Transfer (CHT) was provided to the provinces and territories, to reduce backlogs caused by COVID-19. This investment supplements the Budget 2021 investment of $4 billion through the CHT, distributed equally per capita, to help provinces and territories address immediate health care system pressures; In December 2021 , amendments were made to the Criminal Code (under the former Bill C-3), to ensure health care workers are safe and free from threats, violence and harassment; and, Budget 2021 provided $100 million over three years to support the mental health of Canadians who have been most affected by COVID-19 and an additional $50 million to help those experiencing PTSD due to the pandemic, including frontline and essential service providers. Budget 2021 announced funding for Employment and Social Development Canada's Sectoral Workforce Solutions Program, which aims to support key sectors of the economy, including health, to implement solutions to address workforce needs, such as labour shortages.

is taking a leadership role to address the health workforce crisis and is moving forward with other actions, including:

Associated Links

SOURCE Health Canada

For further information: Media Relations, Health Canada, 613-957-2983, [email protected]
TORONTO, Oct. 31, 2022 /CNW/ - Karora Resources Inc. (TSX: KRR) (OTCQX: KRRGF) ("Karora" or the "Corporation") is pleased to announce that it will achieve carbon neutrality for the second straight year in 2022 for its own operations (Scope 1 emissions) and purchased electricity consumption (Scope 2 emissions) through the purchase and retirement of 95,000 tonnes of verified carbon offset credits. The credit retirements form a part of Karora's ongoing carbon emissions reduction and concurrent offset strategy.

Contemporaneously, Karora is well underway with the development of an emissions reduction plan to reduce future emissions including the analysis of a variety of renewable and hybrid power solutions at Higginsville. Karora is working with Invert Inc. to set emission reduction targets which will be announced in Q1 2023 as part of Karora's annual ESG report. The targets will include 2030 and 2050 and will outline the GHG reduction impact of the selected power option at Higginsville currently being finalized. Karora plans to evaluate additional GHG reduction opportunities across its operations in 2023.

Paul Andre Huet, Chairman & CEO, commented: "After becoming one of the world's first carbon neutral gold producers in 2021, we are committed to continuing to be a leader amongst our peers in actively reducing our carbon emissions and implementing further initiatives in line with our commitment to develop a pathway toward a Net Zero mining future. We believe mining will continue to form the backbone of critical metals delivery in the years to come and we are proud to be leaders in the junior gold mining space.

Similar to our 2021 process, our selection of offsets was driven by a thorough analysis of carbon reduction and removal quality and credibility as well as the social impact expected from the variety of offset projects selected. We have maintained our geographical community focused approach leading to the further investment in Australian carbon reduction projects, among others, including the Mount Sandy project. Through this project, we achieve two important outcomes by offsetting Karora's Scope 1 and 2 emissions as well as ensuring the protection of Australia's unique biodiversity.

Moving forward, we are advancing our evaluation of a range of renewable and hybrid power solutions at Higginsville that will drive lower emissions. Options being actively considered include grid tie-in analysis and hybrid power solutions that include solar and wind power components. Our approach to power solutions and future mining equipment selections is part of our broader strategy of reducing our future greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We will be setting our first emissions reduction targets in our 2022 Sustainability report, which is scheduled to be released in the first quarter of 2023. This will include our targets for 2030 and 2050. Our goal is to continue to be a sector leader amongst our junior gold mining peers with our initial focus on Scope 1 and 2 emissions reductions and ultimately reducing our Scope 3 emissions to achieve Net Zero status."

Andre Fernandez, Co-CEO of Invert. Inc, commented: "We are very pleased to continue to support Karora in both its geographically impactful carbon credit program and in the development of its emissions reduction strategy moving forward. Last year, Karora and Invert's carbon neutral announcement was one of the first of its kind in the junior gold producer sector and its impact on the industry has been notable. At Invert we are well equipped to help mining companies develop their long-term carbon solutions and are looking forward to further announcements as we work on a number of exciting initiatives with Karora."

Karora, through its alliance with Invert Inc., selected a range of offset projects in order to support a diversified basket of important carbon offset projects ranging from renewable projects to reforestation in Australia, among others. The retired Australian carbon offsets are independently verified by Gold Standard and simultaneously qualify as government accredited Australian Biodiversity Units, meeting the standards required for the Australian Government's Climate Active Program (formerly the National Carbon Offset Standard  NCOS).

The Mount Sandy Conservation project selected in Australia involves the protection of a 200 hectare strategic habitat with replanting of over 30 species of native vegetation including tree cover. The project area is managed via close collaboration with the traditional land owners and custodians of Coorong County, the local Ngarrindjeri people. Native plant species for revegetation are supplied by the local nursery at Raukkan Aboriginal Community located 50 kilometres northwest of the project site.

About Karora Resources

Karora is focused on increasing gold production to a targeted range of 185,000-205,000 ounces by 2024 at its integrated Beta Hunt Gold Mine and Higginsville Gold Operations ("HGO") in Western Australia. The Higginsville treatment facility is a low-cost 1.6 Mtpa processing plant, which is fed at capacity from Karora's underground Beta Hunt mine and Higginsville mines. Karora recently acquired the 1.0 Mtpa Lakewood Mill in Western Australia. At Beta Hunt, a robust gold Mineral Resource and Reserve are hosted in multiple gold shears, with gold intersections along a 4 km strike length remaining open in multiple directions. HGO has a substantial Mineral gold Resource and Reserve and prospective land package totaling approximately 1,900 square kilometers. The Corporation also owns the high grade Spargos Reward project, which came into production in 2021. Karora has a strong Board and management team focused on delivering shareholder value and responsible mining, as demonstrated by Karora's commitment to reducing emissions across its operations. Karora's common shares trade on the TSX under the symbol KRR and also trade on the OTCQX market under the symbol KRRGF.

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" including without limitation statements relating to the Company achieving a True Net Zero mining future in line with Science Based Targets, including the goals of reaching Scope 1 Scope 2 net zero emissions, reducing the Company's carbon footprint, achieving net zero GHG emissions across the business and the Company becoming world's first Net Zero GHG junior mining company.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Karora to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could affect the outcome include, among others: future prices and the supply of metals; the results of drilling; inability to raise the money necessary to incur the expenditures required to retain and advance the properties; environmental liabilities (known and unknown); general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; results of exploration programs; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; political instability, terrorism, insurrection or war; or delays in obtaining governmental approvals, projected cash operating costs, failure to obtain regulatory or shareholder approvals. For a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, refer to Karora 's filings with Canadian securities regulators, including the most recent Annual Information Form, available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Although Karora has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news release and Karora disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws.

SOURCE Karora Resources Inc.

For further information: Rob Buchanan, Director, Investor Relations, T: (416) 363-0649, www.karoraresources.com
Recent decision by GFANZ to water down accountability of voluntary net-zero commitments proves that enforceable and credible climate plans are necessary

OTTAWA, ON and TRADITIONAL, UNCEDED TERRITORY OF THE ALGONQUIN ANISHNAABEG PEOPLE, ON, Nov. 2, 2022 /CNW/ - Amid drought in Canada's west, Canada's east picking up the pieces from Hurricane Fiona, and the bills for climate disasters adding up to billions of dollars, now is the time for Canada's federal government to implement financial policy that aligns financial flows with climate action.

The financial sector is making voluntary net-zero commitments, but Canada's financial system continues to make investments that are fuelling the climate crisis. This 'say-do' gap puts our climate, economy, and the savings of everyday Canadians at risk.

The recent announcement from GFANZ that strips a requirement for financial institutions to commit to UN-backed criteria clearly illustrates that the current system of self-regulation is failing.

Canada has a global reputation for sound financial regulation - it is time our policymakers step up to ensure our private sector is not investing in its own climate crash.

The path for new rules for aligning the financial sector with Canada's climate obligations have been published today in a report co-authored by Ecojustice, Environmental Defence, and Shift: Action for Pension Wealth & Planet Health.

The federal government has pledged to slash Canada's climate pollution by 2030, as part of a larger commitment to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. However, Canada will fail to achieve these objectives without bold new standards, oversight and enforcement to align the financial sector with the country's climate goals.

A worsening climate crisis exposes our financial system to unacceptable levels of systemic risk. New regulations are required to protect our climate and our financial system.

The report recommends a package of federal regulations that would:

Require a Credible Climate Plan from financial firms, pension funds, insurance companies, federally regulated large corporations and crown corporations, which would be reviewed and approved by regulators

Place investment and lending limits on assets that are not aligned with limiting global warming, namely excluding new assets that expand oil, gas, or coal production

Empower regulators to tackle greenwashing

Financial institutions have an outsized role in fuelling climate change. It's why the Paris Agreement, which Canada is a signatory to, specifically requires "Making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development."

Canada's banks are among the biggest backers of fossil fuel projects in the world, Canada's pension funds own billions of dollars in fossil fuel dependent investments, and insurance companies are continuing to underwrite projects that are fuelling climate change.

Quotes:

"Climate greenwash is rampant in Canada's financial sector. New rules are required to ensure climate pledges are translated into concrete action. We need clear standards to ensure fairness, and enforcement to level the playing field." Alan Andrews, Climate Program Director, Ecojustice

"The financial sector is running rogue without accountability on climate. Regulators have historically done a good job keeping our financial system afloat but they are leaving too much to voluntary measures when it comes to climate risks. Policy must address how financial flows contribute to, and will be affected by, a warming and volatile world. This roadmap shows how Canada can fill this policy void." Julie Segal, Senior Manager Climate Finance, Environmental Defence

"Our future is shaped every day by financial decisions made behind closed doors in Canada's boardrooms. Averting disaster requires that those decisions align with the urgent action now required of all sectors of our economy." Adam Scott, Executive Director, Shift: Action for Pension Wealth & Planet Health

Spokespeople from all three organizations are available to speak to the report.

SOURCE Shift: Action for Pension Wealth & Planet Health

For further information: Sean O'Shea, Communications Strategist | Ecojustice, 416-368-7533 ext. 523, [email protected]; Alex Ross, Senior Communications Coordinator | Environmental Defence, 647-546-3239, [email protected]; Adam Scott, Executive Director | Shift: Action for Pension Wealth & Planet Health, 416-337-953858, [email protected]
SASKATOON, TREATY 6 TERRITORY, SW, Nov. 2, 2022 /CNW/ - Indigenous dental professionals will soon have a platform through which they can network with other Indigenous colleagues and contribute to improving the delivery of oral health services in communities across Canada.

The newly-established Indigenous Dental Association of Canada is working to bring together the Indigenous dental community to support its vision of reconciliation. This will provide Indigenous dental professionals with a community through which they can share resources, knowledge and experiences, while supporting approaches to dentistry rooted in traditional ways of knowing.

Through its Indigenous Oral Health Knowledge Transfer Project, Indigenous Dental Association of Canada will create tools and resources for communities to improve oral health. This will include a multimedia project aimed at raising awareness about oral health care and services in Indigenous communities. The project will also seek to bridge cultural understanding and combat racial biases in receiving oral health care.

Together, these initiatives will contribute to safer, culturally-informed dental services for Indigenous peoples, while also creating a network of Indigenous dental professionals from across the country.

Indigenous Services Canada is proud to support the Indigenous Dental Association of Canada's work with a total just over $1-Million over the next two years.

Quotes

"Indigenous Services Canada is proud to support the newly created Indigenous Dental Association of Canada (IDAC) that will bring together a network of dental professionals from across the country, create new tools and resources, and ultimately help improve oral health care in Indigenous communities. This is part of the larger work that must be done to ensure that Indigenous peoples have access to safe and culturally sensitive healthcare, free from racism and discrimination. I commend the work and advocacy that lead to the creation of IDAC, and I look forward to following the progress ahead."

The Honourable Patty Hajdu

Minister of Indigenous Services

"The Indigenous Dental Association of Canada (IDAC) was founded on Reconciliation guided by the Final Reports by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and the 94 Calls to Action. In fact, IDAC invited Canada's dental community to join us on our Reconciliation journey during the Anti-Indigenous Racism in Dentistry webinar that was supported by Indigenous Services Canada back in March 2022. Importantly, while IDAC endeavours to support oral health providers, researchers, and affiliates to move forward on our Reconciliation journey, our priority is to create a culturally safe community for Indigenous oral health providers, Indigenous students interested in the oral health profession, and Indigenous communities."

Dr. Sheri McKinstry, Founder

Indigenous Dental Association of Canada

Quick facts

In Budget 2021, the Government of Canada committed to provide $126.7 million over three years to take action to foster health systems free from racism and discrimination where Indigenous Peoples are respected and safe.

committed to provide over three years to take action to foster health systems free from racism and discrimination where Indigenous Peoples are respected and safe. This included $33.3 million to improve access to culturally safe services, with a focus on services for Indigenous women, 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, persons with disabilities and other marginalized groups who may experience intersecting discrimination. This includes expanding support for Indigenous midwifery and doula initiatives and strengthening funding for national Indigenous women's organizations, as well as regional and grassroots organizations.

Related products

Associated links

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Join the conversation about Indigenous Peoples in Canada:

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SOURCE Indigenous Services Canada

For further information: Alison Murphy, Press Secretary, Office of the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Indigenous Services, [email protected]; Media Relations, Indigenous Services Canada, 819-953-1160, [email protected]; Dr. Sheri McKinstry, Founder, Indigenous Dental Association of Canada, (306) 850-5416, [email protected]
Collaborative Artist in Residence program now entering its fifth year

INGONISH, NS, Nov. 2, 2022 /CNW/ - Parks Canada and Cape Breton Centre for Craft & Design are pleased to welcome Erika Germain as the 2022 Artist in Residence in Cape Breton Highlands National Park.

Erika Germain is a Canadian artist currently based out of Toronto, Ontario. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Emily Carr University of Art and Design, where she graduated as valedictorian, and her Master of Fine Arts from Cornell University.

Cape Breton Highlands National Park and the Cape Breton Centre for Craft and Designs 2022 Artist in Residence, Erika Germain (Credit: E. Madinsky/Parks Canada) (CNW Group/Parks Canada)

Her art practice situates an investigation of translation, language and poetry as a means to explore questions around rituals, community, religion, and social practice. These explorations make use of mediums ranging across painting and writing to ceramics, installations and sculpture, print media, book media, and performance.

Ms. Germain began her residency on October 1, 2022, and is staying in Ingonish for six weeks until November 12, 2022.

In its fifth year, the Artist in Residence program in Cape Breton Highlands National Park provides an opportunity for a professional artist to focus for a concentrated period on developing new projects, or to work on existing projects, within quiet, natural surroundings. Natural spaces such as Cape Breton Highlands National Park have always been sources of inspiration for many people and supporting the creation and enjoyment of art is one more way Parks Canada can encourage people to enjoy the outdoors and connect with nature.

Quotes

"I am thrilled to hear that the Artist in Residence program at Cape Breton Highlands National Park is celebrating its fifth year of creativity and inspiration. The Government of Canada works with organizations like the Cape Breton Centre for Craft & Design to provide this amazing opportunity for artists such as Erika Germain. I know she will find inspiration in the natural beauty of Northern Cape Breton, its breathtaking fall colours, and the quiet, reflective atmosphere found in the park this time of year."

Jaime Battiste,

Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Member of Parliament for Sydney-Victoria

"Cape Breton Centre for Craft & Design is pleased to welcome Erika Germain to Cape Breton. Providing exposure to the arts in a rural Cape Breton community is important for all residents. We are pleased that this program continues to be a success and look forward to continuing our strong partnership with Parks Canada."



Lori Burke,

Executive Director, Cape Breton Centre for Craft & Design

"I'm excited to be able to live and create in the beautiful Cape Breton landscape, exploring through my work themes of community and connection within the welcoming local environment here in Ingonish."

Erika Germain,

Artist in Residence

Quick Facts

Cape Breton Centre for Craft & Design, a for-impact charitable organization, is an integral and leading force in the educational, promotional and economic development of the craft sector on Cape Breton Island with a membership of over 300 individuals and organizations throughout the Island.

with a membership of over 300 individuals and organizations throughout the Island. Parks Canada manages one of the finest and most extensive systems of natural and cultural heritage places in the world.

manages one of the finest and most extensive systems of natural and cultural heritage places in the world. Parks Canada has offered an Artist in Residence program at other locations throughout the country including Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site, Banff National Park , Gros Morne National Park and Terra Nova National Park , amongst others.

Related Links

SOURCE Parks Canada

For further information: Adam Young, Public Relations and Communications Officer, Parks Canada, 902-574-8206, [email protected], pc.gc.ca/capebreton; Elizabeth Slaunwhite, Marketing Manager, Cape Breton Centre for Craft & Design, 902-322-5510, [email protected], capebretoncraft.com; Media Relations, Parks Canada Agency, 855-862-1812, [email protected]
WELL expects 1 to announce strong financial results for Q3-2022 with another record for omni-channel patient visits and interactions which will lead to another record revenue performance.

to announce strong financial results for Q3-2022 with another record for omni-channel patient visits and interactions which will lead to another record revenue performance. Total omni-channel patient visits 2 in Q3-2022 increased by approximately 53% when compared to Q3-2021. The Company also achieved an annualized run-rate of ~5.0 million patient interactions.

in Q3-2022 increased by approximately 53% when compared to Q3-2021. The Company also achieved an annualized run-rate of ~5.0 million patient interactions. WELL continues to successfully allocate capital and complete highly accretive tuck-in acquisitions in both Canada and the US. Today it completed the acquisition of various Canadian EMR, Billing and Clinical assets from CloudMD Software & Services Inc. (" CloudMD ").

and the US. Today it completed the acquisition of various Canadian EMR, Billing and Clinical assets from CloudMD Software & Services Inc. (" "). WELL will disclose its financial results and host its Q3-2022 earnings conference call on Thursday November 10, 2022 .

VANCOUVER, BC, Nov. 2, 2022 /CNW/ - WELL Health Technologies Corp. (TSX: WELL) (OTCQX: WHTCF) ("WELL" or the "Company"), a digital health company focused on positively impacting health outcomes by leveraging technology to empower healthcare practitioners and their patients globally, is pleased to provide a preview of the volume of its patient visit and interactions in Q3-2022.

WELL expects1 to report strong financial results underpinned by significant growth in patient visits. WELL achieved a total of 892,966 omni-channel patient visits2 in Q3-2022, representing a year-over-year increase of 53% compared to Q3-2021, and a 7% increase compared to Q2-2022. In addition, MyHealth conducted 169,294 diagnostic visits in Q3-2022, while Wisp completed 186,952 asynchronous patient consultations. Combining WELL's omni-channel patient visits2, MyHealth's diagnostic visits and Wisp's asynchronous patient consultations, WELL achieved a total of 1,249,212 patient interactions in Q3-2022, representing an annualized run-rate of 5.0 million patient interactions.



Q3-2022 Q2-2022 Q3-2021 Omni-Channel

Patient Visits 892,966 835,078 582,958 Patient Interactions 1,249,212 1,175,880 710,588

"We're very pleased to report another record quarter of patient visits and interactions mainly delivered by our more than 2,300 healthcare provider partners systemwide," said Hamed Shahbazi, Chairman and CEO of WELL. "WELL's business model is simple and effective because it is laser focused on supporting and tech-enabling the healthcare providers that form the bedrock of our healthcare ecosystem. Our solutions help care providers with all aspects of their business including front and back-office solutions so that they can focus on patient care and not administrative burdens and deliver improved patient outcomes. Healthcare workers continue to face significant challenges as we transition to a post-pandemic world, and WELL is applying all its talents and resources to support them. WELL's business not only continues to reflect the strength and resilience associated with the healthcare industry, but we've also demonstrated that when care providers are supported well, their practices flourish. Our industry leading organic growth is showing our model of 'caring for the car providers' is working."

Eva Fong, CFO of WELL, commented, "Our strong Q3 patient visits and interactions were driven by healthy growth in our US-based virtual services businesses, Circle Medical and Wisp, which now exceed an annual revenue run-rate of US$100M on a combined basis, reflecting 124% YoY organic growth and are operating profitably on an Adjusted EBITDA3 basis. In addition, Q3 patient visits and interaction metrics were positively impacted by the onboarding of new practitioners onto our platform and the closing of the Inliv acquisition. We look forward to reporting Q3 results."

Completion of asset acquisition from CloudMD

WELL is pleased to announce that it has closed the previously announced acquisition of various Canadian EMR, billing and clinical assets from CloudMD for approximately $5.7 million paid in cash, subject to post-closing adjustments and holdbacks. WELL reaffirms its expectation that the assets will operate profitably while contributing more than $9M in topline revenues. This transaction reflects WELL's disciplined capital allocation strategy and continued expansion in the Canadian healthcare service and healthcare IT space. Integration of the newly acquired assets will begin immediately.

Q3 Earnings Release and Conference Call

WELL will release its Third Quarter 2022 financial results for the period ended September 30, 2022, on Thursday, November 10, 2022. The Company will hold a conference call and simultaneous webcast to discuss its results on the same day at 1:00 pm EST (10:00 am PST). The call will be hosted by Hamed Shahbazi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and Eva Fong, Chief Financial Officer. Please dial in 10 minutes prior to the start of the call.

Conference Call Participant Details

Date Thursday, November 10, 2022 Time 1:00 PM ET / 10:00 AM PT Confirmation # 0127 7025 Local Toronto: 416-764-8650 Vancouver:778-383-7413 North American Toll Free +1-888-664-6383 International +1-416-764-8650 Webcast URL https://www.well.company/for-investors/events/

Footnotes:

1. Expectations noted are based on preliminary results recorded to date. These results may be subject to change as they are prepared for financial disclosure. 2. Omni-channel patient visits is defined by all patient visits generated by all sources and channels. This includes any patient visits delivered by a WELL healthcare practitioner (inclusive of in-person or virtual) or a non-WELL practitioner but facilitated by WELL's virtual care tools. This figure does not include visits for diagnostic testing consultations or any asynchronous physician consultations. 3. Non-GAAP financial measure. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization ("EBITDA") and Adjusted EBITDA should not be construed as alternatives to net income/loss determined in accordance with IFRS. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA do not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. The Company defines Adjusted EBITDA as EBITDA (i) less net rent expense on premise leases considered to be finance leases under IFRS and (ii) before transaction, restructuring, and integration costs, time-based earn-out expense, change in fair value of investments, share of loss of associates, foreign exchange gain/loss, and stock-based compensation expense, and (iii) Revenue precluded from recognition under IFRS 15 that relates to certain patient services revenue that the Company believes should be recognized as revenue based on its contractual relationships. The Company considers Adjusted EBITDA a financial metric that measures cash that the Company can use to fund working capital requirements, service future interest and principal debt repayments and fund future growth initiatives.

WELL HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES CORP.

Per: "Hamed Shahbazi"

Hamed Shahbazi

Chief Executive Officer, Chairman and Director

About WELL Health Technologies Corp.

WELL is a practitioner focused digital healthcare company whose overarching objective is to positively impact health outcomes to empower and support healthcare practitioners and their patients. WELL has built an innovative practitioner enablement platform that includes comprehensive end to end practice management tools inclusive of virtual care and digital patient engagement capabilities as well as Electronic Medical Records (EMR), Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) and data protection services. WELL uses this platform to power healthcare practitioners both inside and outside of WELL's own omni-channel patient services offerings. As such, WELL owns and operates Canada's largest network of outpatient medical clinics serving primary and specialized healthcare services and is the provider of a leading multi-national, multi-disciplinary telehealth offering. WELL is publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "WELL" and on OTCQX under the symbol "WHTCF". To learn more about the Company, please visit: www.well.company .

Forward-Looking Information

This news release may contain "Forward-Looking Information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws, including without limitation WELL's expectations to report strong financial results. Forward-Looking Information is based upon several estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties, and contingencies. Forward-Looking Information generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "may", "should", "will", "could", "intend", "estimate", "plan", "anticipate", "expect", "believe" or "continue", or the negative thereof or similar variations. Forward-looking Information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause future results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from the estimated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such Forward Looking Information and, which are not guarantees of future performance. WELL's statements expressed or implied by Forward Looking Information are subject to several risks, uncertainties, and conditions, many of which are outside of WELL 's control, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. Forward-Looking Information is qualified in their entirety by inherent risks and uncertainties, including: direct and indirect material adverse effects from the COVID-19 pandemic; adverse market conditions; risks inherent in the primary healthcare sector in general; regulatory and legislative changes; that future results may vary from historical results; inability to obtain any requisite future financing on suitable terms; any inability to realize the expected benefits and synergies of acquisitions; that market competition may affect the business, results and financial condition of WELL and other risk factors identified in documents filed by WELL under its profile at www.sedar.com, including its most recent Annual Information Form. Except as required by securities law, WELL does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, events or otherwise.

SOURCE WELL Health Technologies Corp.

For further information: Tyler Baba, Investor Relations Manager, [email protected], 604-628-7266
In October 2022, Niagara Regional Police Service (NRPS) detectives assigned to the Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) Unit, commenced a joint investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Seattle, Washington office regarding the sexual exploitation of children on the internet.

In the early morning hours of November 1st, 2022, after receiving judicial authorization, detectives executed a search warrant at a residential address located in the Town of Grimsby, Ontario.

Jason Robert KING (31 years) of Grimsby was arrested and charged with the following Criminal Code offences:

 Unlawfully Make Child Pornography Available

 Unlawfully Possess Child Pornography (2 counts)

 Unlawfully Make Child Pornography

 Personation to Avoid Arrest

 Public Mischief

 Fail to Comply with Prohibition Regarding Children (2 counts)

 Fail to Comply with Probation Order

KING has been held in custody pending a bail hearing that is scheduled to occur on November 1, 2022, via video link to the Robert S.K. Welch Courthouse, located at 59 Church Street, in the City of St. Catharines.

The Niagara Regional Police Service is a member of the Provincial Strategy to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse and Exploitation on the Internet and conducts investigations into Internet Child Exploitation Offences in partnership with Ontario Police Services and International Partners. This investigative initiative has been made possible by a grant from the Ministry of the Solicitor General.

Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to contact the lead detective at 905-688-4111, option 3, extension #1009384.

Members of the public who wish to provide information anonymously are encouraged to contact Crime Stoppers of Niagara online or by calling 1-800-222-8477. Crime Stoppers offers cash rewards to persons who contact the program with information that leads to an arrest.

Incident #22-116986
Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has warned that Peoples Democratic Party, PDP may not make progress in next years election if the party ...





Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has warned that Peoples Democratic Party, PDP may not make progress in next years election if the party ignores the demands put forward by the five Governors elected on the platform of the party.





Governor Ortom spoke, Tuesday, during the inauguration of the PDP State Campaign Council and Campaign Management Committee at the partys State Secretariat, Makurdi.





It is not possible for us as a party to move forward without resolving the issues that I and my other colleagues are raising. These are the issues creating some challenges in the PDP. We must therefore come together as a team and work to resolve them.





I want to assure you and all Nigerians that if our PDP Presidential candidate is able to come out in sincerity and open up and resolve those issues, we shall work together. I am in PDP and I am working for the PDP and all our candidates from bottom to top.





I have said before and I will say again, but where a particular candidate said that Benue votes did not matter, Ortom did not matter, the Governor of Benue State did not matter, the leader of the party in Benue State did not matter, that is where we will have issues.





But we do not have issues with the candidates of the party. And so I call on the national leadership of the party to rise to its responsibility and listen to the voice of reason and deploy its conflict resolution mechanism and resolve all the issues so that we can work as a team as we move into 2023, he said.





Governor Ortom insisted that Those people who say that five Governors do not matter, I disagree with them. It is impossible for PDP to win an election in this kind of massive conflict that we have in our party and most of these Governors that we are talking about, they are PDP States who won election including Benue State for the PDP. So there is no way you can dismiss the issues that are being raised by the five Governors.





For all that I and my colleagues stand for, let there be a committee of the whole house to look at these issues and discuss frankly and resolve them amicably, if not there will be a challenge. But for us in Benue State here, we have no issue, we have all said it, the candidates have said it. We are PDP, Benue State is PDP, but if the issues that the five Governors are raising are not resolved, I cannot guarantee what will happen at the national level. But I want my party to win and this is all that I have to say, he stated.





Speaking further on the lingering crises, Governor Ortom maintained that Benue State remains PDP and PDP remains Benue State. No amount of intimidation, no amount of evil treatment or anything that can turn us away from PDP. We remain committed to PDP.





He said that despite the internal crisis in the PDP, some of them love the party and want Nigeria to be liberated where there will be equity, fairness and justice, stressing that it is PDP that can provide all these.





He blamed the national leadership of the party for not acting swiftly arising from the issues that cropped up after the national convention, pointing out that The national leadership of the party should rise up to their responsibility and address these issues and deploy its internal conflict resolution mechanism to solve those problems.





Governor Ortom described Engr. Titus Uba, the PDP gubernatorial candidate as A seasoned engineer, a man of impeccable character and a man without blemish, saying, this is a man that you should trust.





He also announced the donation of 25 buses to the state chapter of the party the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike to boost the campaigns, saying it would strengthen the PDP in the forthcoming polls.





The PDP Governorship candidate and Speaker, Benue House of Assembly, Engr Titus Uba in a remark expressed optimism about the victory of the PDP, stating that the party was poised to win all its elections.





Acting State Chairman of the PDP, Hon Isaac Mffo noted that the party was waxing stronger and united in the state because of Governor Ortoms inclusive leadership and transparent primaries that were done, emphasising that the party will prioritize taking the correct approach by involving all members down to the polling units to achieve victory at the polls.





The Director of the State Campaign Council, Dr Cletus Tyokyaa in his remarks, stated that the team will evolve strategies for the party to win all its elections in the state, stressing that the cream of people on the team were committed to the victory of the partys candidates.





PDP Board of Trustees member, Mrs Margaret Icheen, Patrick Ogbu for former governorship aspirants, Julius Atorough for National and State Assembly candidates as well as Dr Torngee Jem-Toranyiin, Hon Mike Mku, Sir Moses Ajima for the three Senatorial districts in the state in separate remarks expressed readiness to work for the victory of the party at the 2023 polls.





Others, who gave goodwill messages, were the representatives of the youth, Johnpaul Uttuh and the State Woman Leader, Abege Egwa.
Nigerians have been warned that the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu will not be different fr...





Nigerians have been warned that the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu will not be different from President Muhammadu Buhari if elected into office come 2023.





Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, gave the warning while reacting to President Buharis latest medical trip to the United Kingdom.





They pointed out that the Presidents latest medical examination in the United Kingdom says a lot about two major national issues in Nigeria.





The group further berated the President for failing to keep to his campaign promise to end medical tourism in Nigeria, but has instead spent over two hundred days on foreign medical trips with the countrys money.





Buhari left for London on Monday October 31, 2022, for routine medical check-up and HURIWA warned that Nigeria should never again elect someone who is medically unfit to govern.





According to the rights advocacy group, the APC candidate for the presidential election has proven beyond doubts that he is medically unfit.





The group claimed it was unimaginable that even before the campaigns started, Bola Ahmed Tinubu had gone to London, France and USA over five times for alleged medical tours.





Nigerians must have it at the back of their minds before casting their votes, with few weeks to the end of his first term in office, President Buhari has spent a total of 404 days (a year and 39 days) travelling to 33 countries on four continents in about four years of his first term in office, as captured by a media report recently, HURIWA said in a statement signed by Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko.
Reuben Fasoranti, former leader of the socio-political group, Afenifere, says the group never endorsed Peter Obi, national leader of the L...

Reuben Fasoranti, former leader of the socio-political group, Afenifere, says the group never endorsed Peter Obi, national leader of the Labour Party.

Fasoranti said this on Tuesday during an interview.

Over the weekend, Fasoranti gave his blessings to Bola Tinubu, flagbearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential bid.

This came weeks after Ayo Adebanjo, one of the founding fathers of Afenifere, endorsed Peter Obi.





According to Fasoranti, Adebanjo did not have the capacity to warn him not to welcome Tinubu, adding that he (Fasoranti) is still the leader of the Afenifere, who had such power.

I am still the leader of Afenifere. Afenifere has not endorsed Obi, we are endorsing Jagaban (Bola Tinubu) for the presidency, he said.

As you can see, the trend, the approval and the acceptability. You could see what happened when Tinubu came to meet me in Akure.





The media carried the whole thing. Adebanjo does not have the capacity to warn me not to welcome Tinubu. Can he do that successfully?

What happened was that Adebanjo took a stand and I took a stand. I didnt call him and he didnt call me. We never spoke about the (Tinubus) visit. As you can see, Jagaban is accepted and we approve of him. Obi has no standing in our mind at all.

Meanwhile, Adebanjo said his reason for endorsing Obi was based on the principle of equity and federal character as enshrined in Nigerias constitution.

Adebanjo is of the opinion that since the south-west has produced a president and currently sits as VP; the south-south has spent a total of six years in the presidency, but the Igbo people of the south-east have never tasted presidency in Nigeria.

Now that the power is due back in the south, equity demands that it be ceded to the Igbo, he said.
The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has been called upon to retain the Arabic inscription on the redesigned naira notes. Recall that t...

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has been called upon to retain the Arabic inscription on the redesigned naira notes.

Recall that the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele announced the redesigning of N100, N200, N500, and N1000 notes.

Emefiele said the redesigned naira notes would be released on December 5, 2022.

Following this announcement, the apex bank was asked by some Nigerians to expunge Arabic inscription from the new naira notes, stressing that its not Nigerias official language.

But, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) said Arabic inscription, also known as Ajami, should be retained on all naira denominations, stressing that the removal would provoke Muslims and cause division within the country.

Amid these controversies, a former CBN Governor, Muhammadu Sanusi had said the apex bank would not remove the Arabic inscription from the new naira notes.

Also speaking on the matter, the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, AYCF, said the Arabic inscription should be retained in the spirit of brotherhood.

AYCF National President, Yerima Shettima said that most Northerners couldnt read the English language, hence Ajami should be retained in the new naira denominations.

Shettima described those calling for Ajami to be expunged as religious bigots.

He said: Most of our people in the North understand Arabic, so for us to move together and in the spirit of brotherhood, its not a bad idea to allow the inscription.

Most of the people advocating for the removal of the inscription are ethnic bigots that create a story where there is no need for such.

Over time, this inscription has been there and does not in any way imply an Islamization agenda; its just a figure, and I dont know why this issue is coming up now.

I dont think its part of the governments policy, but biased-minded people are thinking in that light. In the spirit of oneness and brotherhood, the inscription should remain.

Personally, I have no problem because I can read, write, and understand any figure on the naira but most people in the Northern part of the country have issues understanding the other side of the naira. In the North, we have people who only understand Islamic knowledge, so to carry them along and make them feel they belong to the society, our forefathers initiated that.

It was not initiated by a Muslim government but by a Nigerian Government from the onset.

On his part, an Abuja-based public affairs commentator, Deji Adeyanju, however, wondered about the correlation between Nigeria and Arab that would warrant Arabic language on the countrys legal tender.

He said it would have been preferable that Nigerian language was inscribed on the naira instead of Arabic.

Adeyanju also noted that having Arabic inscription on the naira was not an issue.

He said: I dont think the debate around the Arabic inscription on the naira notes is a big deal because English is also a language.

However, it would have been preferable if it was a Nigerian language that is on the naira instead of Arabic, because what is the correlation between Nigeria and Arab? Is Nigeria an Arab nation?

I dont understand the correlation between our legal tender and Arabic inscription, but it should not be a big thing that people begin to give religious connotations because its just a language after all.

I think CBN should be looking towards having our local language on our legal tender, Adeyanju said.
Ayo Adebanjo, the acting leader of Afenifere has disclosed that he warned Pa Reuben Fasoranti, former leader of the group not to endorse All...





Ayo Adebanjo, the acting leader of Afenifere has disclosed that he warned Pa Reuben Fasoranti, former leader of the group not to endorse All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Ahmed Tinubu.





Speaking during an interview on Arise TV on Tuesday, Adebanjo said he had foresaw that Tinubu had been planning to split the group.





Tinubu recently received the blessing of the Leader of Afenifere, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, who had resigned as the President of the apex Yoruba sociopolitical organisation.





Tinubu received the blessing on Sunday at the country home of Pa Fasoranti.





The blessing was coming weeks after the acting leader of the group, Ayo Adebanjo and the leadership of the group had endorsed the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi.





As a matter of fact, I dont want to be brought into the controversy, Pa Adebanjo said.





I know about the controversy a month ago, that they want to split Afenifere, which they have been trying to do over the years.





When they come for you to bless them, just say Afenifere has taken its stance. Dont get yourself involved in the mess.





It is the intention of those who went there to cause confusion within the group, by going to meet a leader who resigned two years ago, he stated.
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In Goat in the Road Productions immersive dramas, what details an audience member catches depends on their choices. Since they can roam the site-specific productions spaces and choose which characters they want to follow, audiences catch different snippets.

In The Family Line, they might catch the matriarch Teresa Jacona quietly slipping her nephew Vincenzo an envelope of cash, or they might eavesdrop on uncle Pascal Jacona and Christine, a friend who is a midwife, discreetly sharing a quaff of liquor in the storeroom.

Theres plenty of personal and social intrigue in The Family Line, which runs through Nov. 20 at BK House, formerly known as Beauregard-Keyes House. But what makes the drama stand out and builds on the companys past two similar immersive productions is how the action swirls through six spaces and the story comes together so seamlessly.

With the different combinations of characters in simultaneous scenes, audiences cant catch every detail, but they cant miss the core narrative, as the Jacona family and their workers and friends are torn by the proposition of a general strike spreading through New Orleans. Everyone is feeling the pinch, but will joining the strike make it better? The sequencing is fast and compelling, and the story stitches together brilliantly no matter what patch or thread viewers start with. The story is about 35 minutes, and it runs twice, so audiences can catch most of the scenes. Tickets for each showtime are limited.

The drama is set on a single evening during the 1892 General Strike in New Orleans. The Jacona family owns a grocery store in the French Quarter, then dubbed Little Palermo because of its Sicilian population and businesses. The store owners and clerks were considering joining the strike to fight back against the wholesalers steadily squeezing them on prices.

The action starts as night is falling, and everyone is tense as there is talk of a city curfew being imposed after recent unrest. Also, its a year after Italian-Americans were lynched by mobs following the unsolved murder of the New Orleans police chief. Teresa is afraid that anti-Italian sentiments could erupt again and hurt her family or business.

The drama is set around BK Houses back courtyard, with rooms around it serving as the Jacona home, the grocery store and sitting area where neighbors gather, and a storeroom where characters have private conversations.

Natalia is trying to take care of her mother and keep the store open. Siblings Dez and Isaac Richardson, who also own a grocery store, drop by the Jaconas store. Isaac has an eye on Annette, a young shop clerk who works for the Jacona family. Dez is trying to organize more grocery store owners to join the strike. Though hes a family cousin, Vincenzo Jacona works for the grocery wholesalers.

With The Family Line, head writer Christopher Kaminstein and the team show how proficient theyve become at tying together a fast-moving story coming together from disparate scenes. He and Richon May Wallace directed the nimble production. The various rooms are efficiently designed with useful props while leaving room for the actors and audiences to move in the spaces.

The entire ensemble is strong, and there are many powerful moments, particularly the tensions between the Jaconas as the strike comes between family members and new information is revealed. KC Simms is very natural in Isaacs flirtation with Annette. Constance Thompson is bright-eyed and passionate about the strike and progress, and what failure would mean for many people. Not all of the Italian-American accents land just right, but the family drama is tense. The story has a very intimate feel and subtly provides a window into an often-overlooked chapter in New Orleans past.

"The Family Line" runs through Nov. 20. Start times and dates vary. Tickets are $40 via goatintheroadproductions.org.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Sergey Lavrov, at the meeting with the so-called Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Ossetia, Akhsar Jioev said that the so-called Republic of South Ossetia will actively be supported by Russia in the implementation of the socio-economic development program."We are glad to welcome you to Moscow as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Ossetia. Our political dialogue continues to develop intensively," Lavrov said at the beginning of the meeting with the de facto minister.Sergey Lavrov also recalled the meeting with so-called President Alan Gagloev on June 15, and talked about "established contacts" between Russia and the de facto Republic."We have established regular contacts with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, presidential administrations, as well as at the parliamentary level, and preparations are currently underway for the visit of the Chairman of the Parliament of the Republic Alan Alborov to Moscow, at the invitation of the Chairman of the State Council of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Volodin," Lavrov said.In addition, according to Lavrov, investment projects are being implemented successfully."Recently, the socio-economic development program of the Republic of South Ossetia was adopted. We will actively help you to implement it," Lavrov said at the meeting."We appreciate your balanced and objective position regarding what is happening within the framework of a special military operation, in the matter of declaring the independence of two republics and two regions. We cooperate in the field of security. Russian military bases reliably ensure the security of the Republic of South Ossetia. Employees of the Border Department of the Federal Security Service of Russia are working on the borders," Lavrov said.Representatives of the Russian occupation forces illegally detained three citizens of Georgia near the village of Mejvriskhevi in Gori municipality, the State Security Service of Georgia released the information.According to the agency's explanation, upon receiving the information about the illegal detention, the State Security Service activated the "hot line" operating through the EU monitoring mission.Information about the incident was immediately provided to the international partners and the co-chairs of the international discussions in Geneva.According to the State Security Service, the central government of Georgia has activated all the mechanisms at its disposal to release illegally detained persons in the shortest possible time."The harmful practice of illegal detentions restricts the fundamental right to free movement, significantly worsens the security environment on the ground and threatens stability in the region."Responsibility for the destructive actions committed in the occupied territories of Georgia, as well as in the vicinity of the occupation line, rests with the occupying power," State Security Service of Georgia writes.
Gov. Eric Holcomb is leaving Indiana on Saturday for an African destination where he likely won't encounter many of his fellow Republicans.

The Hoosier chief executive announced Wednesday he's spending next week at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, alongside Indiana Commerce Secretary Brad Chambers.

The event, known as COP27, is the 27th annual Conference of the Parties to assess global progress in combating "dangerous human interference with the climate system," in accordance with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change initially signed by the United States and 153 other countries in 1992 at Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

Holcomb is scheduled to deliver a keynote address at the conference  attended by representatives of more than 200 countries, as well as subnational leaders, business executives and academics  detailing Indiana's efforts to transition to clean energy infrastructure and apply innovation to the state's energy mix.

In an exclusive interview with The Times, Holcomb said there are great stories to tell about what Indiana as a whole, and particularly businesses and institutions in Northwest Indiana, are doing to spur innovation, collaboration and next-generation technologies.

"I look forward to presenting a long list of practical and pragmatic steps that have occurred in the state of Indiana in terms of increasing alternative energy supply," Holcomb said.

"The market is moving this way on its own, but we certainly have real alignment now with government, academia and the private sector. And other places around the world that we compete against simply don't," he added.

The governor specifically cited Whiting-based BP's efforts to reduce refinery emissions and innovate in hydrogen as examples of worldwide companies already making massive investments in Indiana's green economy.

He also noted the Cleveland Cliffs steel mills in East Chicago and Burns Harbor are continuing to find more efficient means of churning out the steel that goes into the electric, hybrid and hydrogen-powered vehicles of today and the future.

In addition, Holcomb said countless suppliers and other small businesses in the Region and across the state are indelibly linked to the innovations and successes imagined and developed by those two global giants.

"As important as those technologies are and the investments that they're making, to me it's also very supportive of the tens of thousands that are employed somewhere along that value chain," Holcomb said.

"I want to make sure we don't wake up two years from now or 10 years from now when an industry has transformed itself and we just sat by and watched the paint dry," he added.

Holcomb acknowledged many Republicans cast doubt on human-caused climate change. But he sees no reason not to brag about Indiana's efforts to combat it in front of an international audience likely unaware of the state's achievements and looking for places to bring their businesses.

"I will show up in support of all the investments that are occurring and that we hope to be a part of in the coming years," he said. "Change is a fact of life and technology and innovation are exciting, and I'm excited to share the Indiana story about our all-of-the-above approach."

Before heading to Egypt, Holcomb is set Thursday to join executives from Doral Renewables LLC to break ground on the second phase of the $1.5 billion Mammoth Solar farm across 13,000 acres in Starke and Pulaski counties in rural Northwest Indiana.

The governor said he expects coal, oil and natural gas will remain the core components of Indiana's energy systems well into the future.

But he said Hoosiers need to be willing to embrace change over time, just as his great-grandfather, a blacksmith in Knox County, saw his world transform during his lifetime from a 19th century horse-and-buggy economy to a 20th century dominated by the internal combustion engine.

"I'm saying, 'What can we do in the state of Indiana to be an example, to be actually a leader, and not left behind?'" he said. "We want to make sure that as other options become not just viable, but affordable, that we are able to meet the market's demand."

Holcomb said his Nov. 10 address in Egypt, during the Achieving Measurable Climate Benefits through Innovative Infrastructure Investments in North America session, also will focus on how Purdue University, Indiana University, the University of Notre Dame, the state and local governments are collaborating to ensure clean and reliable energy security, stability and innovation.

"I embrace the fact that we're always going to be leaning into new innovations, always seeking to be more efficient and improve things, and this is a huge strategic area where the state of Indiana can truly harness all the synergy of all these different sources: wind, solar, nuclear, hydro, oil, gas, coal. We've got it all," Holcomb said.

During their stay at the UN climate conference, Holcomb and Chambers plan to participate in additional discussions focused on clean energy and technology with representatives of international businesses, universities, foreign governments and global organizations. They'll also attend a reception at the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt.

"As a state, Indiana is squarely focused on building the economy of the future  one that is powering and is powered by sustainable solutions and clean energy," Chambers said.

"We are seeing unprecedented momentum, and Indiana has an incredible story to tell. I look forward to advancing future-focused conversations and partnerships at COP27 that will usher in new innovations and investments, fueling the global economy while reducing our carbon footprint," he added.

The Hoosiers are scheduled to return to Indiana on Nov. 12.

This will be Holcomb's 14th foreign trade mission since taking office in 2017 and his first visit to Egypt as governor.

The costs of the state delegation, including staffers from the Indiana Economic Development Corp. and the governor's office, are being covered by private donations to the Indiana Economic Development Foundation.
The Chesterton Art Center will host a free family art day for the "Mark My Words" exhibit.

The art center at 115 S. 4th St. in downtown Chesterton will host the free event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 12. Both kids and adults can visit to see the exhibit and make art with provided materials.

All ages are welcome at the event.

"It is such a wonderful feeling to see families creating art together and we look forward to these community engagement events," Chesterton Art Center Marketing Director Scott Saporiti said.

Attendees can check out the current exhibit "Mark My Words" by Amos Paul Kennedy Jr., a Detroit-based printer who specializes in letterpress posters that call for action. The exhibit showcases zines, prints, artist books and other works by local artists.

"Families will learn about and discuss the exhibited works with CAC staff and then move into the classroom space to create artwork using various printing processes, including monoprints, relief printing and screen printing," Saporiti said. "All supplies are provided, and folks should dress for a bit of mess."

The Chesterton Art Center offers a number of free outreach programs such as the Teen Arts Group, School Group Art Visits and a Youth Arts Outreach Program through the Duneland Boys & Girls Club and YMCA. The free family art days seek to offer educational programming connected to the current exhibit on display.

We welcome new and returning families to join us for this exciting event that showcases the special work of Kennedy and many local artists," Chesterton Art Center Program Director Jillian Bridgeman said. "Its a wonderful way to spend a creative Saturday afternoon with friends and family, so come learn different printmaking processes together.

The program is free but registration is required.

For more information, visit chestertonart.org/classes or call 219-926-4711.
LAKE VILLAGE  Lake Village Elementary School is closed through the end of the week because of a high number of respiratory syncytial virus cases, North Newton School Corp. Superintendent Ryan Middleton said Wednesday.

Classes will resume Monday with recommendation from the Indiana Department of Health, Middleton said. The school closed Tuesday when a high number of students and teachers called in sick.

Middleton said the school has about 10 confirmed cases of RSV. However, about 70 students have reported symptoms consistent with RSV and influenza.

The decision to close the school was made by Middleton and the head nurse at Lake Village. Both have been in contact with the ISDH this week, Middleton said. The school principal is among those out sick this week.

The school will not be conducting remote learning because of the growing number of students and teachers who are ill, Middleton said. The administration believes it will decrease quality of instruction if students and teachers are feeling unwell.

Middleton said administrators toyed with the idea of reopening the building Friday but have decided not to, hoping that cases will subside over the weekend.

"Normally in cases like this, we'd only be out until Friday," Middleton said. "But what's the point of trying to force a Friday if it could cause another spike in illness?"

The school will discuss how to make up the missed school days with the Indiana Department of Education.

The closure doesn't affect NNSC's other schools, Middleton said.
CROWN POINT  A defense attorney asked jurors to keep an open mind during a trial this week for a man accused of stabbing his pregnant girlfriend in 2017 and causing the death of their child.

The woman, who survived and gave birth to a baby boy, was "high on drugs" at the time of the attack Aug. 6, 2017, in Gary and had "mental health issues," attorney Scott King said.

King's client, Austin A. Mendez, 28, pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder, attempted murder and aggravated battery.

King told a Lake Criminal Court jury Mendez's trial would be different than most because the baby's mother, Latricia Lacey, would not be called to testify.

Her death in 2021 "had nothing whatsoever" to do with Mendez, King said.

"We're being asked to look at a difficult situation, an ugly situation," he said. "But we're also being asked  each of us individually  to see that justice is done."

He predicted the state would not be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that his client is guilty.

Lake County Deputy Prosecutor Christopher Bruno told jurors the evidence would show Lacey met up with Mendez to exchange items for their daughter.

Lacey was about seven months pregnant with a second child by Mendez at the time, according to testimony.

"Mr. Mendez propositioned her for sex, and she turned him down," Bruno said.

The rejection upset Mendez, so he attacked her and pushed her into an abandoned building, the deputy prosecutor said.

Lacey didn't initially realize she was being stabbed, Bruno said. She was able to break away and make it to the 700 block of Taney Street.

That's where a man and his mother found her lying in a front yard calling for help and moaning in pain.

After she was taken by ambulance to a hospital, doctors learned she had been stabbed in the chest, breast, thigh and buttocks, Bruno said.

Lacey gave birth to her son Isaiah Lacey on Aug. 11, 2017, but he was brain dead because Latricia Lacey nearly died while doctors were treating her for stab wounds, he said.

Isaiah died Aug. 28, 2017, after Latricia Lacey and her family decided to take him off life support.

Bruno conceded Gary police didn't conduct a thorough investigation after Latricia Lacey was stabbed.

"You can't hide it. It's the truth," he said. "But it doesn't change the fact that Latricia Lacey said from the start that Austin Mendez did this."

King told jurors to consider Lacey's prior statements carefully.

She told police she saw a man in black and purple before she passed out and awoke to see the man was still there, King said.

"You're going to see, time and time and time again, questions could have been resolved but for the simple failure to do the most basic investigation of what happened to Ms. Lacey," he said.

Police never went to check if a gas station Lacey said she visited with Mendez had video surveillance of them, he said.

Lacey's clothing was collected as evidence, but subsequent DNA analysis excluded Mendez as the source of male DNA found on her coat, King said.

The state's second witness, the woman who found Lacey on the ground and called 911 with her son, testified Lacey told her she had been thrown from a vehicle by her boyfriend.

April Sullivan could be heard in the 911 call telling a dispatcher, "We just found her here bleeding."

The dispatcher directed Sullivan to ask for the boyfriend's name. After an exchange with the woman, Sullivan said, "Austin Mendez."

The trial was expected to continue Wednesday before Judge Samuel Cappas.
Indiana Supreme Court Justice Derek Molter, a Newton County native, received his black robe Tuesday during a ceremony celebrating his new position as one of the five justices on the state's highest court.

The 111th Hoosier justice officially took his seat on the bench Sept. 1. His robing ceremony was delayed two months so family, friends and colleagues could participate in the festivities at the Statehouse.

During the event, Molter ceremonially was administered the oath of office by his father, Newton Superior Judge Daniel Molter, as his mother, Kate Molter, and Gov. Eric Holcomb watched.

"I am honored you have placed your trust in me again," Molter said to the Republican governor who had appointed him to a vacancy on the Indiana Court of Appeals.

Molter's wife, Katie, and their three children then helped Molter into his robe and he took his seat in the historic Supreme Court chamber.

"I feel as though I'm sprinting to leap onto a train that's already at full speed. But thankfully all of my colleagues up here have extended a hand to help me aboard," Molter said. "I'll do my best to contribute to what you all have helped build."

Molter, 40, succeeded retired Justice Steven David on the Supreme Court. Molter initially will serve a two-year term; Hoosier voters will decide at the 2024 general election whether Molter should be retained for a renewable, 10-year term.

The new justice is a graduate of Indiana University and its law school at Bloomington. Prior to becoming an appellate judge in 2021, he was a partner at the Ice Miller law firm in Indianapolis where he primarily worked on state and federal appellate litigation.

That work included serving as counsel to the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority and representing the Lake County Council in its ongoing separation of powers dispute with the Lake County Board of Commissioners.

Some of Molter's earliest legal work also took place in the Region when Molter served as law clerk in 2007-08 for Hammond-based Judge Theresa Springmann of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.

In fact, Molter comes from a long line of Northwest Indiana attorneys, dating back to the 19th century when his great-great-aunt Agnes became one of the first female attorneys in the United States, and in 1933 was appointed Newton County prosecutor, and the first female prosecutor in the state, by Democratic Gov. Paul McNutt.

Molter's grandfather also was an attorney, as well as his father, Judge Daniel Molter, who has served on the Newton Superior Court bench for nearly four decades.

Derek Molter is well-known for his community service in addition to his legal service. For example, he recently partnered with Appeals Judge Leanna Weissmann and the Indiana State Bar to organize a collection effort to provide diapers and other needed supplies to Afghan evacuees temporarily housed at Camp Atterbury.

Since 2011, he's also helped administer a leadership fund that provides scholarships to students at his alma mater, South Newton High School.

Molter is the second Northwest Indiana native currently serving on the Supreme Court. Justice Geoffrey Slaughter originally is from Crown Point.
CROWN POINT  A Gary man was ordered Tuesday to serve two years on probation for felony battery of a 10-year-old girl and criminal recklessness.

Anthony C. Hill, 33, initially was charged in 2018 with child molesting in connection with allegations of sexually abusing the 10-year-old in 2015 at a residence in Gary and threatening her with a gun if she told anyone.

He admitted in a plea agreement filed in September that he "placed his hands" on the child without her consent.

Hill also admitted as part of a global plea agreement to discharging a firearm in the area Sept. 22, 2020, in front of a home near West 39th Court and Grant Street in Gary.

Defense attorney John Cantrell asked Lake Criminal Court Judge Samuel Cappas to accept Hill's plea agreement.

The defense attorney said he and prosecutors reached the deal after "hours and hours of negotiations."

Lake County Deputy Prosecutor Veronica Gonzalez said Deputy Prosecutor Christopher Bruno contacted the girl, but she "could not bring herself" to come to court to give a victim-impact statement.

Cappas accepted Hill's plea and sentenced him to consecutive one-year terms on each count, all suspended in favor of probation.

If Hill fails probation, he could be ordered to serve the remainder of his sentences in jail.

Hill agreed to not contact the girl involved in his case during the year of probation for battery.
VALPARAISO  The woman accused of arranging the ambush-style killing of Portage resident Carl Griffith Sr. 10 years ago this week is scheduled to appear in court Monday for yet another status hearing.

Sheaurice Major, who was released on her own recognizance in January 2019 because of the delays in the case, still faces charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder, according to court records.

Neither prosecutors nor defense attorney Matthew Norman Fech were immediately available Wednesday morning to comment on the status of the case.

Major, who is now 52, had spent nearly four years behind bars the first time she was charged with the crime but was released in March 2017 due to a lack of evidence.

She was taken back into custody in October 2018 after convicted gunman Dontaye Singletary, of Gary, reached out to police and prosecutors, offering to provide the information they needed against Major.

Major, who has pleaded not guilty, had been scheduled to face jurors in April 2019. But the trial was delayed due to health problems suffered by her former attorney.

The trial was rescheduled for October of that year but again derailed when her former attorney pulled out of the case due to a medical condition.

The case has been repeatedly continued by the court since, records show.

Major is accused of hiring Singletary to shoot and kill Griffith on Nov. 1, 2012, as Griffith returned to his home in the 2700 block of Locust Street in Portage.

Griffith was an employee of a towing company owned by Major's estranged husband, and police said Major had Griffith killed because she did not like him.

A witness in the case, who herself was shot and killed Dec. 13, 2012, in her beauty salon in Gary, had said on videotape that she put Major in touch with Singletary when she voiced interest in hurting Griffith.

Johnson said she drove Singletary to Major's Portage apartment on the day of the murder and she noticed he had a gun. Johnson said Major instructed her where to drop off Singletary and where to wait to pick him up.

Johnson said Major paid her $2,700 and Singletary $2,500 for their roles in the murder.

A jury found Singletary guilty in January 2015 of murdering Griffith by shooting him three times with a high-powered rifle shortly after Griffith returned to his home. Singletary was sentenced to 65 years behind bars.

Monday's status hearing is before Porter Superior Court Judge Mike Fish.
VALPARAISO  A 35-year-old Portage man, appearing in a local courtroom Tuesday on child-pornography charges, was taken into custody by federal agents to face a new charge.

Timothy Carpenter, who had been working as a custodian at an Illinois elementary school and lived with three young children and his fiancee, made an initial video conference appearance before a federal magistrate on the new charge of production of child pornography, records show.

The details of the federal charge remain sealed, although records show that he was granted a public defender. A probable cause and detention hearing is scheduled for Thursday at the federal courthouse in Hammond.

Carpenter, who had been out on bond on the local charges, appeared for a status hearing Tuesday before Porter Circuit Court Judge Mary DeBoer on two charges of child exploitation and two counts of possessing child pornography.

Carpenter was taken into custody Sept. 2 after being nabbed with at least 25 videos and 130 images of child sexual abuse material, police said.

He admitted to police that he "routinely watched pornography on his phone and identified multiple websites that he used to access pornographic videos depicting older men," a charging document reads.

Carpenter was arrested by the Indiana State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, using peer-to-peer file sharing software, the group announced.

The group came across the alleged child pornography between July 1 and 3 while conducting an online investigation, police said. The group said it made three contacts with a device, which was later traced to Carpenter.

One photo featured three boys between the ages of 10 and 7 engaged in a sexual act, police said, and one video had a young boy engaged in sex with a man.
CROWN POINT  A jury trial was scheduled to begin Monday for a man accused of stabbing a girlfriend and causing the death of his child, who was born premature in 2017 while the mother was being treated for her wounds.

Austin A. Mendez, 28, pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder, attempted murder and aggravated battery. He's been in custody since July 2018.

His case has been complicated by the death of the child's mother, Latricia Lacey, in May 2021 from causes unrelated to Mendez.

Mendez is accused of repeatedly stabbing his pregnant girlfriend Aug. 6, 2017, while they were walking in the 500 block of Taney Street in Gary. She was taken to a Chicago hospital.

Isaiah Lacey, the child Mendez allegedly fathered by Latricia Lacey, was born brain dead Aug. 11, 2017, according to court records.

Latricia Lacey survived the stabbing, but Isaiah died Aug. 28, 2017, after he was taken off life support.

The Cook County medical examiner's office ruled Isaiah's death a homicide resulting from "complications of prematurity due to maternal assault."

Lake Criminal Court Judge Samuel Cappas previously granted the state's motion to declare Latricia Lacey unavailable for trial, allowing for the jury to be shown her testimony from previous court proceedings.

During a pretrial hearing Thursday, Deputy Prosecutors Infiniti Westberg and Christopher Bruno and defense attorney Scott King discussed other evidence that could be presented to the jury.

Jurors likely will hear at least part of a 911 call made by a passer-by who found Latricia Lacey lying wounded in a front yard.

King requested data from Latricia Lacey's cellphone be excluded, because prosecutors only recently provided him with 5,000 pages of information and he had a limited amount of time to review it.

Westberg said the mother's cellphone data was obtained in 2019, but the Gary Police Department lost the information when the city's computer system was hacked.

Westberg objected to exclusion as an extreme remedy, but said she didn't foresee using Latricia Lacey's cellphone data at trial.

Cappas denied King's motion to for exclusion, but he ordered prosecutors to provide King with information if they decide to use the phone data.
Israel votes in yet another election

Early exit polls from Israels fifth parliamentary election in four years suggest that Benjamin Netanyahu may reclaim power. He would preside over one of the most right-wing governments in the countrys history even as he is on trial on corruption charges.

Voters face a familiar choice between a right-wing bloc led by Netanyahu and a broad coalition helmed by Yair Lapid, the current prime minister. Many hope for a clear outcome after years of turbulence. Here are live updates.

Netanyahus opponents see the vote as a litmus test for Israels liberal democracy: They feel he should stay out of office until the end of his trial. Many also worry that he and his allies could whittle away at democracy, particularly through a sweeping judicial overhaul that would reduce checks and balances on lawmakers.

Netanyahus allies see his trial as a politically motivated sham and portrayed the vote as a chance to underscore the countrys Jewish character. His coalition partners include ultra-Orthodox lawmakers who oppose teaching math and English to their children, and far-right settlers who frequently antagonize Israels Arab minority.
Not long before he died, my father, a doctor, announced that he would write a cookbook of Greek food. The news came as a shock. In England, where hed spent most of his life, he had shown very little interest in cooking. In Greece, where he was born and where he returned to live much later, he was now fanatical about it. Research began. Tavernas were scouted and recipes recorded. One summer when I visited him, we went together to a restaurant on the island of Paros. There he had discovered fava, a pea or bean puree, yellow and buttery, that he thought was the best hed ever had. He felt it deserving of a page in his book. I watched him photograph the dish from above, his shirt damp with midafternoon sweat, the cotton pulled tight against his belly, the fava set against a plain white tablecloth.

My father died in 2005, when I was 21 and muddling through that smudge between childhood and becoming an adult. As with our relationship, his cookbook remained a sketch of what it might have become: a collection of notes and pictures, now lost, that I experienced more as an atmosphere than a formal set of instructions. When I was growing up, my father was my entryway to Greek culture, but he was a poor, uninterested translator. He didnt speak Greek to me when I was young, which I later considered deliberately mean; he rarely insisted on eating Greek food. That he had developed this belated interest always puzzled me.

Sometimes I wonder if the book was his way of reaching out, of passing on what he knew or loved of his culture. He did not leave behind a diary. I do not have any of his letters. What better way to reconnect with him and introduce him to my own young children, whom he never met, than through an attempt at recreating the dishes he once sought feverishly to create himself? My favorite of his recorded recipes, then as now, is revithia me spanaki, chickpeas with spinach, the kind of traditional dish the Greek food writer Vefa Alexiadou has described as deceptively simple, straightforward and memorable.

Revithia me spanaki takes 12 hours to prepare, according to some cooks (you must soak the chickpeas), and another hour or so to stew. Its a simmered comfort food, good as a main and fine on the side. In the winter its warming; in the summer it can be eaten cold. It might be described, in contemporary parlance, as a superfood salad. As with other Greek legume dishes, it involves very few ingredients: olive oil, chickpeas, spinach, white onions, a tomato sauce and fresh, finely chopped dill, which is widely used in Greek cooking. Professional pictures of revithia me spanaki sometimes show the chickpeas still fully formed and the spinach still recognizable as leaves  though its my experience that everything dissolves into a mess of tasty little clumps.
This is the approach that Putin, with the assistance of Iranian drones, is now adopting in Ukraine. On Monday, Russian strikes left 80 percent of Kyivs residents without water, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschkos estimate. Dozens of energy facilities have also been hit. Ukraines Economy Ministry estimates that as many as 130,000 buildings have been destroyed in Russian attacks since the war began, including 2,400 schools.

The strategy is clear. Putins armies might be falling back in the field. But if he can freeze, starve and terrorize Ukraines people by going after their water supplies and energy infrastructure  while waiting for winter to blunt Ukraines advance  he might still be able to force Kyiv to accept some sort of armistice, leaving him in possession of most of his conquests.

That would count as a victory in Putins books, however wounded he might otherwise be. It would also be encouragement to Chinas Xi Jinping as he eyes Taiwan and Irans Ali Khamenei as he tries to suppress weeks of protest that are starting to have the color of a revolution. Much more is at stake in the outcome in Ukraine than the fate of Ukraine itself.

What can the Biden administration do? More. And more quickly.

So far, weve had a policy of nick-of-time delivery of critical weaponry, such as the Javelin and Stinger missiles that saved Kyiv at the beginning of the war and HIMARS, the rocket systems that turned the tide of war over the summer. We need to switch to an approach that stays consistently ahead of the pace of war and weather.

On Tuesday the administration announced that it would soon be delivering to Ukraine two National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, or NASAMS, with ranges of up to 30 miles. But theres a hitch: Only in the next few years, according to a report in The Times, will Ukraine get to take delivery of the next six systems.
In May 1941, the Royal College of Surgeons in London was bombed during a Nazi air raid. Among the specimens lost from its museum collection was a skeleton of an ichthyosaur  an extinct marine reptile that appeared millions of years before dinosaurs laid their first footprints on prehistoric soil.

But not just any ichthyosaur was lost. The three-foot-long fish lizard was the first complete fossil of the animal ever collected, and it was most likely discovered by Mary Anning, a trailblazing English paleontologist. In 1818, the ancient marine reptile landed on the desk of Everard Home, an anatomist at the Royal College of Surgeons. He named the fossil Proteo-saurus in a paper published in 1819.

Losing the fossil to the ravages of World War II was a blow to paleontology, depriving future scientists of a specimen that would have aided study of the long extinct animals while also being steeped in the fields history.

At the time, they were like the real icons of evolution, said Dean Lomax, a paleontologist at the University of Manchester in England.
This time, the application came to the attention of Ms. Simmons, who was the assistant to the village mayor at the time, Mark Epley. She came in yelling at me, You cant do this! Mr. Epley said. I had no idea what she was talking about.

Though Southampton Village had honored Mr. Concer in its historical museum and with plaques and signs, his name was not a household one for many, Mr. Epley said. (At the Southampton African American Museum, the institution Ms. Simmons now runs on the former site of a historically Black barbershop, a mural dedicated to Mr. Concer graces one wall, accompanied by an educational video.)

The villages architectural review board convened a public hearing on whether to allow the demolition of 51 Pond Lane in September 2013. The outpouring was intense. Ms. Simmons, Dr. Grier-Key, representatives from historical associations, academics and amateur local history buffs shared details of Mr. Concers life, including records  such as deeds and estate documents  that indicate he lived at the home, and that it therefore qualified for protection under the village landmark criterion for a structure identified with historic personages.

Its an unfortunate tenet of historical scholarship that in centuries past, the lives of marginalized people are often poorly recorded and therefore more difficult to trace. More documentation of Mr. Concers life survives than is typical of a Black man of his time. He was born in Southampton to enslaved parents in 1814 and under the legal process known as Gradual Emancipation, he was classified as an indentured servant, and was to be freed by age 28. As a young man, he sailed on whaling voyages captained by scions of local families as a means of working toward his freedom, which he attained in 1835.

By then, records show, his grandparents had acquired land that included what is today the lot at 51 Pond Lane, and in 1838, Mr. Concer bought an acre from them to the west of this lot. In 1843, his grandmother, then widowed, granted her property and home to Mr. Concer in return for his care later in her life.
Daniel Smith, who was believed to be the last surviving child of an enslaved person, and who over a long and eventful life witnessed firsthand many of the central moments of the African American experience, died on Oct. 19 in Washington. He was 90.

His wife, Loretta Neumann, said the cause was congestive heart failure and bladder cancer.

Mr. Smiths father, Abram Smith, was born into slavery during the Civil War in Virginia and was 70 when his much younger wife, Clara, gave birth to Daniel in 1932. While it is impossible to know for certain whether Daniel Smith was the last living child of an enslaved person, historians who have studied his generation say they do not know of any others.

Mr. Smith, a Connecticut-born retired federal employee, liked to say that he led a quiet, unexciting life. Yet he also joked that he was a bit like a Black Forrest Gump: He attended the March on Washington in 1963; crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1965; and stood in the audience to watch Barack Obama take his first oath of office as president in 2009.

His father also linked him to some of the darkest times in American history.

I remember hearing about two slaves who were chained together at the wrist and tried to run away, Mr. Smith told The Economist in 2021, recounting his fathers stories. They were found by some vicious dogs hiding under a tree, and hanged from it.
Gov. John Bel Edwards of Louisiana said this week that he was calling for an investigation into one of the states largest juvenile detention centers, after The New York Times documented a long record of repeated abuse, lenient oversight and, in recent years, a surge in suicide attempts. Three children have died by suicide there since 2017.

Were going to take a hard look and see what is happening there, Mr. Edwards said after a public appearance in Lafayette on Monday. He said the state would examine what actions, if any, we need to take to protect children at the Ware Youth Center in Red River Parish, in northwest Louisiana. On Tuesday, the governors office said it was asking the states inspector general to undertake the investigation. The inspector generals office was not immediately available for comment.

The Times examination, published over the weekend in partnership with the Investigative Reporting Program at the University of California, Berkeley, Graduate School of Journalism, was based on thousands of pages of state records and court documents and interviews with more than 100 people who were previously held at Ware or who have worked there. In all, 42 people held at Ware over the last 25 years described being sexually abused by staff members; 30 employees were identified through interviews and records as having sexually abused children at Ware over that time. A majority of those interviewed said that guards had routinely punished, degraded or inflicted pain.

In only a few cases have Ware guards been convicted of sex crimes against children held at the facility, most in the last 13 years under the current district attorney  who, in all instances, negotiated plea deals that kept the guards out of prison and off the sex-offender registry.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered election officials in the battleground state to refrain from counting mail-in ballots that lack a written date on their outer envelope, siding with Republicans in a matter that could have national implications on Nov. 8.

The Republican National Committee and several other party-aligned groups filed a lawsuit in October to stop undated ballots from being counted, citing a state law that requires voters to write the date on the return envelope when sending them in.

In a two-page ruling issued a week before Election Day, the court said that noncompliant ballots should be set aside. It was the latest wrinkle in a protracted legal fight over undated ballots in Pennsylvania, where voters are set to decide pivotal contests for governor and the U.S. Senate.

But the six justices were split about whether their rejection violated the voting protections of the federal Civil Rights Act. Three Democrats on the elected court said that it did violate federal law, while a fourth Democrat, Kevin M. Dougherty, joined the courts two Republicans in saying that it did not. (The court typically has seven members, but Chief Justice Max Baer, a Democrat, died in September.)
SEOUL  North Korea fired nearly two dozen missiles Wednesday in its largest deployment on a single day, an escalation in recent tensions that triggered an air-raid alert on a populated island in the South and provoked a military warning from Seoul.

North Korea launched at least 23 missiles off its east and west coasts, one of which landed 103 miles northwest of the outlying island of Ulleung, where people took cover. South Korea, in response, fired missiles from fighter jets into waters near the Norths territory.

The exchange between the two marked the first time that many missiles had been launched across the Koreas maritime border, the Souths Defense Ministry said, though all of them fell into international waters.

Lt. Gen. Kang Shin Chul, the South Korean militarys chief director of operations, called the launch a highly unusual and intolerable act.
Vitaly Kim, the Ukrainian head of the regional military administration in the embattled southern city of Mykolaiv, said that the Russians were clearing out civilians to provide places for newly mobilized troops to stay, hoping that by providing spaces to live with heat, water and power  conditions he said were better than at home  they would be more motivated to fight. In essence, he said, the Russians are turning the eastern bank of the river into a militarized zone.

In the city of Kherson, residents said the situation was growing more dire by the day. One resident, Katerina, 38, wrote in a text message that over the weekend they could hear fighting on the outskirts of the city.

The city is empty, as if it were dying, Katerina wrote. But we are alive. We keep on and wait.

Satellite imagery from last week indicated that Russian forces had abandoned their positions at the Kherson regional airport, about seven miles outside the city. Local proxies said Russian forces had begun engineering defensive positions in Bilozerka and Chornobaivka, also on the citys outskirts.

And late Tuesday, the Ukrainian military high command said that the offices of the Russian occupation administration in Kherson had been relocated. Such a move had been expected for weeks, but instead of setting up on the Russia-controlled east bank of the Dnipro, occupation officials moved some 50 miles southeast to the city of Skadovsk, on the Black Sea.

Even as Russian forces prepared for what might turn out to be a critical battle in Kherson, Russias president, Vladimir V. Putin, affirmed that a military mobilization order that prompted hundreds of thousands of Russian men to leave the country was no longer in effect.

It has been completed, period, Mr. Putin told reporters at the Black Sea resort of Sochi, where he was meeting with the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and the prime minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan.
As Israelis vote on Tuesday in their fifth parliamentary election in less than four years, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is hoping to return to power, but polls are predicting another deadlock.

Once again, voters are choosing between a right-wing bloc led by Mr. Netanyahu and the governing alliance of right-wing, left-wing and centrist parties, led by Prime Minister Yair Lapid, that share little beyond their opposition to Mr. Netanyahu.

Mr. Netanyahu is currently standing trial on corruption charges, and his fitness for office remains a central question of Israeli politics. For the fifth election in a row, Israelis are roughly evenly divided between his critics, who feel that he should stay out of office until the end of his trial, and his supporters, who see his trial as a politically motivated sham.

Beyond Mr. Netanyahu, the election is also a referendum on the kind of society Israelis want to have. His opponents see the vote as a litmus test for Israels liberal democracy. His allies portray it as a chance to underscore the countrys Jewish character.
Mr. Ben-Gvir seeks to grant legal immunity to Israeli soldiers who shoot at Palestinians, and deport rival lawmakers he accuses of terrorism. Until recently, he hung a portrait in his home of Baruch Goldstein, who shot dead 29 Palestinians in a West Bank mosque in 1994.

The public voted for a Jewish identity, Mr. Ben-Gvir added, as his supporters chanted death to terrorists in the background.

At 3 a.m., Mr. Netanyahu arrived at the Likud party headquarters in Jerusalem and was given a triumphant reception by the party faithful. Though he cautioned that the final results were not yet in, he nevertheless delivered a kind of victory speech, telling his supporters, If the true results reflect the projections, I will establish a national government that will look after everyone.

In an effort to appeal to all Israelis, and assuage the fears of his critics, he said he intended to work to heal the rifts within Israeli society, as well to seek a broader peace with Israels neighbors. He spoke of restoring national pride in the Jewish state, but added that Israel was a country that respects all its citizens. He made no mention of his allies divisive proposals to overhaul and weaken the justice system.

Clearer results may not emerge until Wednesday morning, and final numbers will not be announced until Friday. Party leaders will not be asked to nominate a prime minister before next week.

But if the exit polls prove to be correct, Israel may have ended a four-year political deadlock in which no leader could win a stable parliamentary majority, leaving the country without a national budget for long stretches and repeatedly returning Israelis to the ballot box.

For the first time since 2019, the country could be governed by a parliamentary majority formed from a single ideologically aligned bloc  reducing the risk of infighting in the coalition and the likelihood of another early election. In addition to the far-right, Mr. Netanyahus likely coalition includes two ultra-Orthodox parties that oppose the secularization of Israeli public life.
Over the past three months, The New York Times has asked musicians, writers and scholars to share the favorites that would make a friend fall in love with jazz  starting with Duke Ellington, then moving on to Alice Coltrane and bebop.

This month, we focus on Ornette Coleman, the iconoclastic saxophonist and bandleader whose style prioritized atonal chords over traditional rhythm and harmony, which helped establish the subgenre of free jazz in the late 1950s. Though the rules of what jazz entailed would soften a decade later, as musicians like Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis began mixing the genre with elements of funk and rock, Colemans approach was controversial at first, leading to ridicule or even violence. Davis once said that Coleman was all screwed up inside. In 1959, the drummer Max Roach punched him in the mouth after hearing him play. In New York, Im telling you, guys literally would say, Im going to kill you. You cant play that way, Coleman once said.

Yet you dont become legendary by doing the same old thing, and Coleman was confident and fearless in his artistry. Through albums like Something Else!!!!, The Shape of Jazz to Come and Free Jazz, Coleman stuck to his vision and earned respect in the long run. In 2007, his album Sound Grammar won the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Coleman is now considered a pioneer in avant-garde jazz.

Enjoy listening to excerpts from these tracks selected by a range of musicians, writers and critics. You can find a playlist with full-length songs at the bottom of the article, and be sure to leave your own Coleman favorites in the comments.
At Carnegie, it was also a heartening glimpse of Reichs legacy. At the time of the works premiere, Reich and his own ensemble were more or less the only artists able to perform his pieces. The Desert Music, from 1984, was a foray into orchestral writing that was so disastrous, he didnt return to the genre until Music for Ensemble and Orchestra. Now, though, his style is widely playable  and played.

The first time Reich saw his music taken up by Currie and his group, he had two thoughts, he said: This guys fantastic, and I want to kill this guy. Hes just totally outmoded my ensemble. Thats very gratifying, to live long enough for that handover.

Thats what Reich wants. His favorite direction to the conductor Michael Tilson Thomas has always been Pretend Im dead; and hes delighted that what seemed exotic in his style even 20 years ago is now met with comments like, Is that all?

I dont see that changing any time soon. Reichs sound is by now central to the history of American classical music  and modern art more generally. Some works may go in and out of fashion. (Pity WTC 9/11.) But others are entrenched in the repertory or are ripe for revisiting, like Proverb and the stage works, particularly The Cave (1993).

Once a darling of gallery performance, Reich is now firmly a fixture in concert halls. In the interview, he said that the New York Philharmonic was looking to premiere his next work, Jacobs Ladder, in fall 2023. Still, Reich, who has published little about his music over the years but who in conversation betrays a close reading of reviews and public reception, is cautious about the future.

So far so good, he said. If musicians want to do it, it will get done. If they dont  well, it will take an awful lot. I joke that Ive got a new business on the side. I make flags. Theyre white flags, they have black writing, and they say, I dont know.
Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous nights highlights that lets you sleep  and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.

Check, Please!

According to a leaked business plan, Elon Musk is trying to figure out ways to monetize Twitter and is considering charging Twitter users monthly for verified blue check marks on their profiles.

But that would be chaos, Stephen Colbert said on Tuesday. I rely on that blue check mark to know which of my butters I cant not believe!
Walter, a professor at the University of California at San Diego, notes that civil war is in fact foreseeable and rooted in specific conditions. Civil wars ignite and escalate in ways that are predictable, she writes. They follow a script. Her book is data-driven, while the book by Marche, a Canadian journalist, sometimes resorts to the tropes of apocalyptic fan fiction. But both agree that we are experiencing prime conditions for civil war: ethnic factionalism, an aggrieved class of citizens and a demagogic former leader who is threatening to run for re-election. Walter argues that the trigger for civil war often comes from a dominant ethnic group that believes the country is theirs and that the groups members have been unfairly downgraded. In the 21st century, the most dangerous factions are once dominant groups facing decline, she writes. Its not the destitute or the downtrodden who start civil wars today, but the once privileged who want to take their country back. As Marche says, tribalism is no longer a mere metaphor.

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The Great Experiment: Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure, by Yascha Mounk

Penguin Press, 2022

Progressive politicians like to say that diversity is our strength, but Mounks book explores an uncomfortable truth: There is little precedent for the success of a large, diverse democracy. Throughout history, democracies from Athens to Rome to Geneva were ethnically homogeneous and relatively small. The great experiment of Mounks title is whether a modern heterogeneous democracy like ours can survive. Thats what the framers worried about too.

Its important to remember that our political diversity is a recent phenomenon. For most of our history, people of color were not entitled to receive the full benefits of democracy. The democratic experiment with diversity is not just occurring here. With giant waves of immigrants arriving in Europe, democracies across the Atlantic are also under threat from right-wing groups seeking to restore ethnic purity and exclude foreigners. At the same time, the very openness and hurly-burly of democracy  supercharged by social media  doesnt always serve diversity. Democratic institutions, Mounk writes, can do as much to exacerbate as to alleviate the challenge of diversity.

So, can the many become one? And should this be the goal of a modern democracy? Mounk rejects the metaphor of the melting pot as too idealistic, and that of the salad bowl as too fragmented. The hoped-for future he envisions is more like a beautiful and vibrant public park that everyone can enjoy separately or together.

The potential end of our democracy is an urgent matter.

It has become cliche in publishing that no matter how pessimistic your book title, you have to add a clause to the subtitle along the lines of: and what we can do about it. The problem in this case is that what we can do about democratic decline is not very clear; the diagnosis has been much more extensively analyzed than the potential cures. All the books on this list call for less inequality, more fairness, less social media, more facts. Easier said than done.

But the potential end of our democracy is an urgent matter. Remember, modern democracies vote themselves out of existence, and the midterms are around the corner. Though the authors of these books have different views of our current political situation, they would probably agree on this: If you have one party in a two-party democracy that does not accept election results, you dont really have a democracy anymore. The question is no longer: Can it happen here? (The answer to that is yes.) The question is now: Will it happen here?

Richard Stengel was the under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs from 2013 to 2016, and is the author of several books, including, most recently, Information Wars: How We Lost the Global Battle Against Disinformation and What We Can Do About It.
ARTIST, by Yeong-shin Ma. Translated by Janet Hong. (Drawn & Quarterly, paperback, $39.95.) This wry story, drawn with pen on paper, follows three friends  a novelist, a painter and a musician  as they struggle with creative obstacles, daily tedium and the pretensions of their wounded egos.

SOPHIES WORLD: A Graphic Novel About the History of Philosophy, Vol. I: From Socrates to Galileo, by Vincent Zabus and Jostein Gaarder. Illustrated by Nicoby. (SelfMadeHero, paperback, $22.99.) In this adaptation of Gaarders best seller about the history of philosophy, Sophie receives a mysterious letter that asks Who are you? and begins a life-changing correspondence.

BELOW AMBITION, by Simon Hanselmann. (Fantagraphics, paperback, $24.99.) This earthy, raunchy follow-up to Hanselmanns pandemic hit, Crisis Zone, tells the story of two jaded bandmates who embark on tour to play bad music and righteously deflate the egos of posturing clowns.

THE JOY OF QUITTING, by Keiler Roberts. (Drawn & Quarterly, paperback, $24.95.) A diary in comics form, Robertss book collects snippets from eight years of her daily life, capturing exasperating and hysterical moments of mothering, friendship and more.
The discussions showed the frustration of Russian generals about their failures on the ground, and added context to Putins veiled threats to use nuclear weapons.

The new intelligence surfaced when Russia began pushing the unsubstantiated claim that Ukraine was planning to use a dirty bomb. U.S. officials expressed concern that Russia was laying the groundwork for a false flag operation, in which the detonation of a dirty bomb would be the pretext for a Russian response using a tactical nuclear weapon.

Late last month, the U.S. defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, and the Russian defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, discussed the claims during two phone calls. Shoigu also spoke with his British, French and Turkish counterparts.

Biden administration officials and U.S. allies say the phone calls helped ease some of the nuclear tensions. Last week, Putin denied in a speech that Moscow was preparing to use a nuclear weapon, which further lowered the temperature, according to some of the officials.

We see no need for that, Putin said in his speech. There is no point in that, neither political nor military.
Paramount, the parent company of CBS, and the networks former chief executive Leslie Moonves agreed to pay $9.75 million after a state investigation found that the network and its senior leadership had concealed accusations of sexual misconduct against Mr. Moonves and, in the case of one executive, engaged in insider trading related to the allegations.

Paramount said it would pay $7.25 million into a settlement fund as part of the deal. Mr. Moonves will pay $2.5 million. Separately, Paramount has agreed to pay $14.75 million to settle a shareholder lawsuit related to the claims.

Paramount confirmed in a statement that it had reached a resolution with the New York attorney generals office without admitting wrongdoing or liability.

The matter involved alleged misconduct by CBSs former C.E.O., who was terminated for cause in 2018, and does not relate in any way to the current company, the statement read.
Another 18,000 bedrooms are in the pipeline for the next five years, Mr. Hargreaves said, adding that the companies that have failed have generally paid huge sums to lease entire buildings, rather than collect fees based on rents, like Common, which acquired Starcitys assets last year.

Our model has done well across the board, he said.

Mr. Hargreaves declined to say whether Common was profitable. Like other co-living providers, it has been powered by venture capital, in its case to the tune of $113 million across several rounds of fund-raising.

Being large and well funded does not seem to insulate against problems. This spring, some Common tenants lobbed complaints about roommate fights, poor sanitation and inadequate security, which forced the landlord to double the size of its support teams. In August, Mr. Hargreaves stepped down as chief executive and was replaced by Karlene Holloman, a hotel industry veteran, although he remains as chairman and chief creative officer.

As co-living proliferates, the authorities seem to be paying more attention. Letitia James, New York States attorney general, said this year that she was monitoring housing-code issues and other potential co-living violations in response to complaints.

This spring, New York City fined the landlord of a small apartment building on West 107th Street in Manhattan over a conversion into a co-living facility. Required sprinklers and fire alarms were missing in an apartment after the landlord had added an extra bedroom to it, records show, though by September, the owner had corrected the problems.

Co-living providers run afoul of the rules in other ways, officials say. Some providers install locks on doors to make bedrooms private. But in New York, locks are not allowed in shared housing. Adding them creates the equivalent of a single-room-occupancy hotel, a once-common offering that is now generally banned.

But lawmakers in other cities facing a housing crunch, like Philadelphia, are considering allowing the development of that kind of hotel again. As it is, sites can be tough to find, developers say. Since the pandemic, industrial land that was once ripe for co-living housing has been in higher demand for warehouses and shipping centers as manufacturers try to unclog bottlenecked supply chains.
SHOALWATER BAY INDIAN RESERVATION, Wash.  The van carrying tribal officials veered off the coastal highway, away from the Pacific and onto a dirt path hidden by cedar and spruce trees. After climbing an old logging road, it emerged into a clearing high above the Shoalwater Bay Indian Reservation, half a square mile of oceanfront thats disappearing fast.

The tribal leaders want to relocate to the remote hilltop where they were standing, despite its uneven terrain. If you can believe it, this is the most suitable land we have for building, said Quintin Swanson, treasurer of the 471-member tribe. Moving up the mountain could cost half a billion dollars, he said.

As climate change gets worse, tribes like Shoalwater Bay are being squeezed between existential threats and brutal financial arithmetic. Consigned to marginal land more than a century ago by the United States government, some tribes are now trying to relocate to areas better protected from extreme weather yet lack the money to pay for that move.

In response, the Biden administration has created what appears to be the first program in American history specifically designed to help relocate communities threatened by climate change. The Department of the Interior is now deciding which tribes will win funding this year  and which will have to keep waiting as their land falls farther into the sea.
Of the groups of defendants in the opioid litigation, the pharmacies were the last to be named and often the most eager to test the strength of their arguments in court. But in August, a federal judge ordered CVS, Walgreens and Walmart to pay $650 million to two Ohio counties. As the companies sensed that things werent going their way, they also settled in other cases brought in Florida and West Virginia and by two New York counties.

For years, the pharmacies maintained that they bore no responsibility for the epidemic  that they had only filled prescriptions of government-approved medications ordered by doctors. But plaintiffs lawyers argued that companies had turned a blind eye to the vast quantities of prescription opioids they were dispensing and the potential for diversion, ignoring warning flags.

Both CVS and Walgreens said that their settlement agreements represented no admission of wrongdoing.

CVS said that under the agreement the company would pay $4.9 billion to states and municipal governments over the next 10 years and about $130 million to tribes.

We are pleased to resolve these longstanding claims, and putting them behind us is in the best interest of all parties, as well as our customers, colleagues and shareholders, said Thomas Moriarty, the chief policy officer and general counsel for CVS Health. We are committed to working with states, municipalities and tribes, and will continue our own important initiatives to help reduce the illegitimate use of prescription opioids.

Walgreens said it would pay $4.79 billion over 15 years to the states and $154.5 million to the tribes. It would also pay $753.5 million in lawyers fees and costs, over six years. (CVS did not disclose what it would pay lawyers.)

This settlement framework will allow us to keep our focus on the health and well being of our customers and patients, while making positive contributions to address the opioid crisis, Walgreens said in a statement.
Researchers warned an expert panel of the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday that flawed readings on devices measuring oxygen levels in the blood  especially among Black and dark-skinned patients  might have contributed to deaths during the coronavirus pandemic. Panelists, in turn, urged the federal agency to raise accuracy standards and to alert doctors and consumers of the potential risks.

The devices that measure blood oxygen typically on the fingertip, known as pulse oximeters, can be cheap, small products sold over the counter or medical devices used in hospitals and clinics.

Decades before the pandemic, studies showed that they were less accurate on darker skin, often giving a healthy reading when blood tests showed more concerning levels.

But in recent years, experts said the flawed readings might have driven some of the racial and ethnic disparities exposed in studies reviewing access to Covid treatments. Authors of the studies emphasized that blood-oxygen levels were often a key factor in deciding who would receive certain medicines, oxygen therapies and even hospital beds at times when all were in short supply.
After he turned the streets of Los Angeles into a playground and a dance floor for the musical La La Land, you might think the writer and director Damien Chazelle would have little left to mine from the location.

But its a big, big city.

His latest film, Babylon (out Dec. 23), aims to be even more extravagant in capturing the indulgent, mythical nature of the place where starry dreams are made (and dashed). It follows multiple characters through a period in the 1920s when Hollywood, high on the success of silent films, began experiencing growing pains and significant collateral damage from the transition into the sound era.

But before those problems set in, very little about the period, or the way it is portrayed in this film, is scaled back. Instead, Chazelle and his team want to capture what it might have been like to be swirling around in the excess of those early days, when the movies were silent but the living was not.

To solidify the look, Chazelle worked with the production designer Florencia Martin, whose most recent credits (Blonde, Licorice Pizza) have also showcased the city and the industry in periods of transformation. Following are images from the movie, with commentary from the two on how these outsize moments were assembled.
Mr. Cockfield defended his stewardship of the PAC in a series of written responses to The New York Times. He said that spending levels were related to one-time start-up costs and fell within his discretion as chairman. Asked about the groups lack of recent political activity, he said that it planned to make additional contributions for Tuesdays election that would be disclosed in the coming weeks, but declined to reveal them because he did not want to share our political strategies with you or anyone else.

Mr. Cockfield said that the contribution to his charter school would go toward enhancement of the educational program, not his salary. In fact, he framed the groups nonpolitical giving as part of its mission, even though Striving for a Better New Yorks website says that its purpose is to fund political candidates.

The PAC exists to advance community interests, and broader interests, to help make a better New York, Mr. Cockfield said on Wednesday. Helping a struggling charter school serves that purpose.

Mr. Adams has no formal control over the group and has not received any known financial benefit from it. Evan Thies, a spokesman for the mayors campaign, said that Mr. Adamss political campaign and Mr. Cockfields operation are two wholly separate entities with separate leadership and do not work together.

But the groups spending could pose fresh political problems for the mayor, whose inner circle has already attracted scrutiny.

At the time the PAC was formed, Mr. Adams  whose campaign had already raised all the money it needed  and some members of his team helped steer donors who still wanted to show their support to Mr. Cockfields new group. He also headlined a major fund-raiser for the group last year, an event first reported by Politico.
The uniformed officers responded to the building about 13 minutes after the 1 p.m. 911 call, Mr. Baraka said. They searched the premises and encountered the suspect as they were leaving.

The officers were shot at close range in a rear parking lot of the buildings, the mayor said, and at least one officer fired a weapon at the suspect as he fled back into one of the buildings. A woman who was driving by and heard the gunfire stopped and helped pull one of the officers to safety, the mayor said on Wednesday.

Our residents in Newark have shown several times over and over again that they are willing to put themselves in the way of police and harm, he said.

Jeff Weber, president of the Newark Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge No. 12, and a 22-year veteran of the department, said getting calls about an officer shot in the line of duty never gets easier.

Doesnt matter how many times you get them, he said, it gives you that knot in your stomach.

Public information officials from Newark released no details about the shooting until about 8 p.m. Tuesday. An initial report that a suspect had fired a weapon from a rooftop, striking the officers  a version an elected state official shared with reporters  later proved inaccurate. Still, that detail made its way into a news briefing issued by the White House later Tuesday about a scourge of gun violence across the country this week and the presidents support for stricter gun laws.

The states attorney general, Matthew J. Platkin, said the Newark shootings were among six gun incidents in New Jersey on Tuesday.

Gun violence is and remains an epidemic in this country, and it remains an epidemic in the state of New Jersey, Mr. Platkin said at a news conference announcing Mr. Howards arrest.
Donald J. Trump on Wednesday reached a settlement in a civil case brought by protesters who said they were attacked by his bodyguards in 2015, a deal that will spare the former president and his family business the prospect of two simultaneous trials in New York State court.

In a joint statement, Mr. Trump and the protesters  Efrain Galicia, Florencia Tejeda Perez, Miguel Villalobos and the estate of Johnny Hosvaldo Garcia  announced that they had reached a deal and that the case had been dismissed.

In September 2015, in the early months of Mr. Trumps 2016 campaign for the presidency, the protesters staged a demonstration outside Trump Tower during which they said the candidates bodyguards violently attacked them. They said Mr. Trump himself was responsible, because he had explicitly authorized the bodyguards to use force. They also sued his company, the Trump Organization, and several guards.

The case dragged on for years, through Mr. Trumps presidency and beyond. In October 2021, Mr. Trump was questioned under oath by the protesters lawyers and this month, after many delays, the case was scheduled to go to trial. Because the case was civil, Mr. Trump did not face charges, but could have been subject to fines or other penalties if it had continued.
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In 2003, the Supreme Court justice Sandra Day OConnor cast the deciding vote to save affirmative action. The dream of a united multiracial nation, she believed, required that the path to higher education be open to every American, which justified the consideration of race as one factor among many in university admissions  at least for a while. In 25 years, she predicted, affirmative action would no longer be necessary.

Nineteen years later, the Supreme Court is considering whether that expiration date should be preserved or pushed forward. If the conservative majoritys reaction to oral arguments on Monday was any indication, The Timess Adam Liptak reported, race-conscious admissions could soon be a thing of the past.

Why has the debate over affirmative action become so contentious in recent years, and has the policy really become obsolete? Heres what people are saying.

The halting rise and fall of affirmative action

Although the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed racial discrimination, many movement leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., contended that bringing about a fair society in deed, and not just in the word of the law, would require programs to compensate African Americans for centuries of exploitation, disenfranchisement and exclusion from equal education and employment opportunities.
How universities balance the ethnic compositions of their student bodies is an urgent question right now, as the Supreme Court on Monday heard arguments on two cases challenging affirmative action, at Harvard and the University of North Carolina. In several months, when it rules on the legality of their admissions practices, the court may forbid the use of race or ethnicity as considerations. If so, partisans on both sides will argue about what such a change means for diversity, especially the imperative to admit historically underrepresented people of color, like Black and Hispanic Americans.

These fights are nothing new. As the plaintiffs note in their brief on the Harvard case, in 1922 Harvard began to suss out which applicants were Jewish, in part by asking questions like, What change, if any, has been made since birth in your own name or that of your father? (Explain fully.) Indeed, as scholars like Jerome Karabel and Robert McCaughey have shown, the modern college application process, from the form to the interview, were developed to weed out Jews.

Stanford adopted some of this playbook midway through the last century, so its reckoning is welcome. Some of its reports recommended steps for atonement are symbolic, like issuing an official apology (which Stanford just did). Other steps are more concrete, like better accommodating students who need kosher food or dont use technology on the Sabbath, and thus cant use electronic key cards on Saturday. The report recommends paying better attention to the Jewish calendar, so the start of school does not conflict with Jewish holidays  as it did this year, when first-quarter classes started on Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year.

One of the recommended steps was intentionally vague: Develop and include modules addressing Jews and Jewish identity in appropriate future educational trainings, seminars and programs intended to make ours a more equitable, inclusive and just community. Here, the reports authors are asking that Jews be remembered when the university undertakes diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Put another way, this is acknowledgment that antisemitism should be treated as an evil worth fighting, like racism or homophobia.

That brings us to the reports recommended step toward redemption, which carries a heavy whiff of historical irony: Undertake a comprehensive study of contemporary Jewish life at Stanford. The report clarifies that the point of such a study would not be to put Jewish students under a microscope, but rather to better understand how Jews at Stanford are impacted by antisemitism. There is troubling precedent for such a study: In the 1920s, Harvard prepared a tendentious report comparing Jewish and Gentile students in categories like participation in sports, scholarly achievement and amount of disciplinary infractions.
In July, she began producing social media content for Dr. Michael Salzhauer, a celebrity plastic surgeon known as Dr. Miami, and her crop tops are, to her relief, accepted in the office. And despite comments from her former boss and colleagues, she never got in any real trouble for it.

I guess the thing was that I went into it, 21 years old, kind of straight out of college, and I didnt have a lot of professional wear, but it didnt make sense to me to buy so much of it because my closet is pretty minimal, she explained. I dont want to buy things that I dont think Im going to wear.

For Jane Yee of Adelaide, Australia, cost is also a big reason she chooses to disguise her crop tops in her work attire, even though they are frowned upon at her job. She said she preferred to shop her closet or go thrifting for work clothes.

When I incorporate crop tops in my work fits, I try to make it as work-appropriate as possible, said Ms. Yee, 22, who works as a recruiter for an organization that focuses on employment services. So if I know Im going to wear a crop top or a top that isnt going down and covering my waist, Im going to always try and pair it with something that is more high-waisted or just pop on an extra blazer just so it looks more formal.

I think its just more me, she added. I dont want to spend a certain amount of money to get corporate clothes that Im going to wear during my 9 to 5.
Todays wildly ornamented creations veer even further from tradition and toward self-expression. In Berlin, Hana Betakova, 29, sells surreal tiered cakes through her bakery, Rustcakes, that are edible studies in opposition. She likes to work with aquafaba meringue, which is easily shaped into peaked dollops, obscuring the fluffy crumb within. Her signature style pairs frosting in atonal color combinations (cotton candy blue, dusky garnet) with small forests of herbs, berries and flowers, and is tinged with the subversive aesthetics of the metal subculture. The New York City-based baker Gigi M. (who prefers not to disclose her last name to protect her privacy), 25, has a similarly inventive approach. Her references include the British artist Jenny Savilles close-focus nudes and John Gallianos shimmering 90s-era dresses for Givenchy. The results have an enchanted, overgrown look: Often multitiered or domed and covered in densely piped pastel-colored buttercream flowers, many of her cakes are finished with an outcropping of long-stemmed plants  recently, she has experimented with asparagus ferns and thistles.

Nature is likewise a muse for the Brooklyn-based baker Aimee France, 23. On trips back to her family home in New Hampshire, she forages for many of the plants (violas, flowering lemon thyme, lilacs) and stem-on fresh fruits, including blackberries and Concord grapes, that adorn the baroque, often vegan, buttercream-frosted tiered cakes she sells under the pseudonym YungKombucha420. Hyun Jung Jun, a 33-year-old baker and artist in Chicago who makes work as Dream Cake Test Kitchen, also creates fantastical multidimensional landscapes, topping her domed cakes with craggy coconut macaroons, spiny piped meringue swans and treelike spires of dill.

For many of these bakers, most of whom found their followings on social media, playing with organic materials in their rawest form is a way to engage in a more tactile and instinctive kind of creativity, a relief from the shiny digital world. Ive been online since I was, like, 9, says Jamie Rothenberg, 26, who is based in Brooklyn and shares her culinary creations through the Instagram account @foodjars. Recently, for a series of astrology-inspired cakes, she enlivened a Pisces-themed design bordered in rosemary sea salt buttercream rosettes with uneven stems of lavender. Being able to create something with my hands, she says, is one of the coolest things Ive ever done.

Whats more, unlike fondant, which is rarely eaten, these unruly natural decorations can have a second life. France encourages her customers to crush the leaves of the dried lemon thyme sprigs that often radiate from the exterior of her cakes and sprinkle them, sparingly, over a slice before eating it. And Yip wraps the cut ends of her flowers in floral tape before arranging them on a cake so that her customers can preserve them as keepsakes. Because if cakes are comfort, they are also the stuff of celebration, fleeting monuments to time spent with others  now more so than ever.

Set design by Maria Santana. Photo assistant: Brian Galderisi
Mike Lindell, the chief executive of MyPillow and a Trump supporter, was featured last week in several interviews on the video-sharing site Rumble saying that voting machines were connected to the internet and had been tampered with to steal elections. One of his interviews on Rumble was viewed more than 20,000 times.

No, ballot fraud isnt rampant.

Over the past month, there were more than 365,592 mentions of voter fraud on Twitter, up 25 percent from October 2018, according to Zignal.

Claims of voter fraud have often centered on ballot drop boxes. One false theory involves Democrats paying people to stuff the boxes with illegal ballots. The idea was stoked by the May release of the film 2000 Mules, which asserted with little evidence that illegal drop box stuffing could be traced through cellphone location data. Security experts and former Attorney General William P. Barr have refuted the claims.

Last month, Melody Jennings, a Trump supporter and the founder of CleanElectionsUSA, an activist group that has spread unfounded rumors of illegal drop-box stuffing, warned on Truth Social that mules  or people who were allegedly vote-trafficking  were doing their thing at drop boxes in Maricopa County. She and other conspiracy theorists falsely said these mules had stuffed boxes with illegal ballots and called for volunteers to watch over the boxes. Her post was shared more than 3,000 times and liked 7,400 times.



Conspiracy theories about the handling of ballots by election officials are also circulating on social media. According to one unsubstantiated theory, election officials are purposely confusing voters over the kinds of pens that can be used to mark ballots  and declaring that ballots marked with Sharpie pens arent counted.

Those false claims, which have circulated since 2020, resurfaced in July when a Maricopa County election office sent an advisory suggesting that voters use felt-tip pens on their ballots. The advisory created a backlash online, with several voters posting on Twitter and Facebook that they would instead use blue ballpoint pens because they worried that ballots marked with felt-tip pens provided at polling stations would not be counted.

No, dead people and illegal immigrants arent being exploited.

False rumors of voting by dead people and illegal immigrants have long circulated, including after the 2020 election in states such as Arizona, Virginia, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia. In all of these states, a small fraction of ballots were cast in the names of dead individuals.

The trope has reared its head again online ahead of the midterms.

Politicians including Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, have recently said without evidence that Democrats want immigrants who are in the United States illegally to vote.
I have always been fascinated by webcams that watch for anything that moves. When I lived in a no-frills neighborhood in San Francisco a few years ago, my camera witnessed all flavors of urban crime, from amateur fireworks shows to street fights. After I moved to the suburbs, my camera became a nature documentarian of the local fauna, like the deer that devour my rosebushes the instant they bloom.

Only recently did I force myself to weigh the potential privacy costs of this seemingly innocuous surveillance gadget against the benefits I was gaining from it  and I decided to unplug my camera.

Thats because San Francisco, long a capital of progressivism and a haven for techies, is about to embark on a citywide surveillance experiment that privacy experts warn could set a dangerous precedent. It signifies an important moment in which anyone who owns a security camera, including popular devices like Amazons Ring and Googles Nest Cam, should pause to reflect on some critical questions: What are we actually getting from these cameras? What are we giving away? Are the trade-offs worth it?

First, let me explain whats happening in San Francisco. This week, the city will put into effect its new camera ordinance, which is aimed at helping the police investigate crimes. The legislation, crafted by the citys mayor, London Breed, gives the police the right to request access to the live footage of privately owned internet cameras.
Should we weight on recalled vote choice?

If youre a reader of this newsletter, you probably know that I remain concerned about the possibility that the polls  including our own polls  are still biased toward the Democrats.

So you might be surprised that were not weighting on recalled vote. Its certainly tempting: In fact, weighting on recalled vote would have moved seven of our eight recent House and Senate polls to the right, by an average of around two percentage points:

Senate races:

Pennsylvania: D+6 (our result) > D+3 (result if we had weighted by recalled vote)

Nevada: Even > R+3

Georgia: D+3 > D+2

Arizona: D+6 > D+9 (notice the exception here)

House races:

Kansas 3: D+14 > D+12

Pa. 8: D+8 > D+6

Nevada 1: Even > R+3

N.M. 2: D+1 > R+1

If I had to bet, Id guess those recall-weighted numbers come closer to the final results than our reported numbers. I imagine a lot of you are thinking the same thing.

Nonetheless, Im not convinced that this is a good practice  at least for us.

The biggest reason: Theres longstanding evidence that voters are less likely to recall voting for the losing candidate, and more likely to recall voting for the winner (this is one of my earliest polling-nerd memories).

The shift in our data is consistent with this pattern: Mr. Trump won the 2016 election, thus he outperformed the final result on recalled 2016 vote in 2020 polling; Mr. Biden won the 2020 election, thus hes the one now outperforming. This suggests weighting on recalled vote will bias a poll against the party that won the last election, all else being equal.

This isnt just a theoretical proposition: The partisanship of the people who refuse to tell us whom they supported last time around offers evidence that this is playing out in the Times/Siena poll. In our recent wave of congressional polling, nearly 10 percent of validated 2020 voters didnt tell us whom they supported last time around. As a group, these voters are registered Republicans by a two-to-one margin, 48 percent to 25 percent. They disapprove of Mr. Biden by an even greater margin, 61 percent to 26 percent. This is certainly consistent with the possibility that an important and disproportionate sliver of Trump 2020 voters would prefer not to recall or divulge their vote.

I would find it hard to embrace something that would have unequivocally made our results even worse in 2020, no matter what our 2022 data showed. This evidence makes it very hard for me to justify weighting on recalled vote  even if I think the results look better that way.

Theres also an important practical challenge: Whats the right target? Its easy enough to say that it should match the 2020 election, but thats really not quite so clear. Its entirely possible that Mr. Trump ought to lead on recalled vote with the likely electorate, if Republicans enjoy the usual midterm turnout advantage. Or maybe its the other way around, if Democrats benefit from demographic change or an influx of new registrants. And what about the voters who dont seem to provide accurate information  like the folks who wont tell us whom they supported or those who say they voted, even though they dont have a track record of doing so. Its messy.
Goran Gogic, a former professional boxer, was charged in a Brooklyn federal court last week with trafficking over 20 tons of cocaine, estimated to be worth more than $1 billion, prosecutors said.

Officials said in a news release that Mr. Gogic was a major drug trafficker who they believe conspired with an extensive network of drug suppliers, ship crew members and port workers to traffic vast amounts of cocaine from Colombia to Europe via U.S. ports, often using commercial cargo ships to stash the drugs.

In February, March and June of 2019, according to prosecutors, U.S. law enforcement officers seized three shipments amounting to 22 tons of cocaine. One shipment contained nearly 40,000 pounds of cocaine, valued at roughly $1 billion, prosecutors said. The bust, at the Port of Philadelphia in June 2019, was one of the largest cocaine seizures on record in the United States, prosecutors said.

The value of the other two seized shipments was unclear.

After a joint investigation conducted by local, state and federal agencies, Mr. Gogic was arrested on Sunday at Miami International Airport while trying to board an international flight headed to Zurich, prosecutors said.
WASHINGTON  President Biden will give a speech on Wednesday night about protecting democracy and the threats that election deniers pose to the voting process.

The speech, first reported on by Axios, and detailed by two of Mr. Bidens most senior aides at an Axios event, will be one of several Mr. Biden has used in recent months to target the extreme ideologies of far-right politicians and their supporters.

The speech, which will be delivered during a Democratic National Committee event, is scheduled for 7 p.m. Eastern time. The committee said that the president would address the threat of election deniers in his speech and outline the current stakes for democracy before next weeks midterm elections.

Wednesdays remarks come at a time of heightened alarm about the threat of violence to political figures and their families.
As in 2020, much of this litigation has focused on absentee ballots, including disputes over how election officials count ballots that are incomplete, contain errors or arrive late. Many of these cases are unlikely to be resolved before Election Day on Nov. 8.

Richard L. Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, described many of them as placeholders.

So, if its really close in Nevada, then youve got these lawsuits that are pending, already in the pipeline, that could provide a basis for trying to claim that there was fraud or some reason to think that a Democrat didnt win, he said.

Behind the surge of lawsuits is a surge of cash. Both Republican and Democratic groups are spending record sums on legal services, with Democratic committees pouring $14.5 million into legal and compliance fees as of Saturday, and Republicans spending more than $17.5 million, according to campaign finance records.

Of that Republican total, more than $10 million has gone to firms or lawyers who helped with the 2020 litigation effort, according to campaign finance records.

Several of the more far-fetched claims now, as in 2020, have been filed by the Thomas More Society. Before the 2020 election, its election project, called Amistad Project, filed several lawsuits that were ultimately dismissed. After the election, the groups lawyers worked with Mr. Trumps legal team, led by Rudolph W. Giuliani, to try to overturn the results and push for a slate of Trump-supporting electors to replace those elected by voters.

In early December 2020, Thomas E. Breth and Thomas W. King III, two lawyers in Pennsylvania for Thomas More, filed a motion to direct Gov. Tom Wolf to decertify the election, making a host of claims about improper and illegal ballots cast in the 2020 election. The suit was dismissed in less than a week.
ALEXANDRIA, Va.  Leyla Ekren, a quiet but scrappy girl from rural Kansas, lost her childhood in Syria, where her mother dragged her after war broke out more than a decade ago.

Even as she fell ill with typhoid fever, her mother, a hardened militant who would ascend the ranks of the Islamic State, demanded that she undertake military training. As delirium and pain ravaged her mind and body, Leyla, then 10, found her effervescence evaporating. She just wanted to die.

I got closer and closer to death, my mind started to deteriorate, she said. My ribs showed through my skin like a ladder. My stomach was sunken in like a bowl. My nose would bleed all the time. I would have random seizures as my body started to collapse. My mother did nothing.

She survived, yet her mother, Allison Fluke-Ekren, again bent Leyla to her will, forcing the girl to marry an Islamic State fighter when she was 13. He raped Leyla. In the fall of 2017, with the help of the U.S. government, Leyla, now several months pregnant and still in her teens, made her way home to Kansas, where she gave birth.
Military experts say the use of a nuclear weapon  for the first time in more than 75 years  would fundamentally change the shape of war. Although the resulting destruction would depend on many factors, including the weapons size and the winds, even a small nuclear explosion could cause thousands of deaths and render parts of Ukraine uninhabitable.

Mr. Putin has sole authority over whether to use a tactical device and would make the decision to deploy one regardless of the views of his generals.

The new intelligence surfaced when Moscow was also promoting the baseless notion that Ukraine was planning to use a so-called dirty bomb  a conventional explosive laced with radioactive material. And it came amid a flurry of contacts between U.S. and other Western officials and their Russian counterparts, including two calls between Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and the Russian defense minister, Sergei K. Shoigu.

While the risk of further escalation remains troublingly high, Biden administration officials and U.S. allies also say that the phone calls between Western and Russian counterparts late last month helped ease some of the nuclear tensions. A speech by Mr. Putin last Thursday in which he denied that Moscow was preparing to use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine further lowered the temperature, according to some of the officials.

We see no need for that, Mr. Putin said in his speech. There is no point in that, neither political, nor military.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February and suffered significant casualties, Mr. Putin himself has fanned fears that he might resort to a nuclear weapon.

A European official said the speech was seen among allies as part of Mr. Putins regular pattern of inflaming tensions, watching the reaction of the West and his own public, then taking steps to calm the situation.
WASHINGTON  A conservative lawyer who was an architect of a plan to keep former President Donald J. Trump in office warned in late December 2020 that if Mr. Trump falsely swore to the courts that he had specific evidence of voter fraud in Georgia, both the president and his lawyers could face prosecution.

I have no doubt that an aggressive DA or US Atty someplace will go after both the president and his lawyers once all the dust settles on this, the lawyer, John Eastman, wrote on Dec. 31, 2020, to fellow members of the Trump legal team.

The warning came at a time when some members of Mr. Trumps legal team were pushing for him to sign a verification document swearing under oath that information in a Georgia lawsuit he filed challenging the results of the 2020 election was true, even though his lawyers were aware the specific allegations were false.

But Mr. Trump ultimately did sign a new verification, which a federal judge in California has said could be evidence of a crime.
WASHINGTON  State supreme court races, traditionally Election Day afterthoughts, have emerged this year as crucial battlefields in the struggle over the course of American democracy, attracting a torrent of last-minute money and partisan advertising.

In Ohio, an arm of the national Democratic Party funneled a half-million dollars last month into a super PAC backing three Democratic candidates for the high court. In North Carolina, a state political action committee with ties to national Republicans gave $850,000 last week to a group running attack ads against Democratic state supreme court candidates.

On another level entirely, Fair Courts America, a political action committee largely bankrolled by the Schlitz brewing heir and shipping supplies billionaire Richard E. Uihlein and his wife, Elizabeth, has pledged to spend $22 million supporting deeply conservative judicial candidates in seven states.

The motivation behind the money is no mystery: In states like Ohio, North Carolina and Michigan, partisan control of supreme courts is up for grabs, offering a chance for progressives to seize the majority in Ohio and for conservatives to take power in North Carolina and Michigan. In Illinois, competing billionaires are fueling court races that offer Republicans their first chance at a Supreme Court majority in 53 years.
Joe Gonzales, a progressive district attorney seeking re-election in Bexar County, which includes San Antonio, did not appear concerned. He said he was elected precisely because the citys voters shared his progressive values, which include focusing on violent criminals and less on low-level offenders, a policy many Republicans decry as soft on crime. Voters want someone who is smart on crime, not tough on crime, he said.

Still, something appears to be happening among Latino voters even in urban areas, said Nelson Wolff, the top executive in Bexar County for more than 20 years.

For as long as he can remember, he said, fellow Democrats have been able to win elected offices in the county with relative ease.

But as Mr. Wolff prepares to retire, he is not sure that will hold true in the future. Support for Democratic candidates like Mr. ORourke abounds. But Mr. Wolff said he had found recently that the more he criticized the conservative policies of Mr. Abbott and Mr. Trump, the more he noticed some Latino voters disagreeing with him.

While he is confident that the San Antonio region, like other urban centers in Texas, is safe for Democrats for now, he wonders: For how long? Lets see if these young people vote, Mr. Wolff said.
Permanently, said Kenya Oliveira, 38, holding her 4-year-old son.

Camila Rocha, a Brazilian political scientist who wrote a book on the radicalization of Brazils right, said the calls for the military were the product of years of absorbing Mr. Bolsonaros claims that the elections were rigged, combined with fears of a da Silva administration.

Mr. da Silvas leftist Workers Party was at the center of a sprawling government kickback scheme that was revealed after he left office in 2010, leading to the imprisonment of many of the partys top officials. Mr. Bolsonaro and his allies have long called the party corrupt, but they have also falsely framed it as communist.

Many on the right view Mr. da Silva not as an adversary, but as an enemy that needs to be contained, Ms. Rocha said. In this sense, there is a strong parallel with the 1964 coup, which was justified precisely to halt the advance of what was thought to be the rise of communism in Brazil.

Many of the protesters said their demands for intervention were supported by Article 142 of the Brazilian Constitution, which says that the military has the role of guaranteeing constitutional powers under the supreme authority of the president.

According to constitutional lawyers and past court rulings, the article does not allow the military to take control of the government.

Marco Aurelio Mello, a retired Supreme Court Justice and an outspoken supporter of Mr. Bolsonaro, said the protesters interpretation is merely nostalgia for the authoritarian regime.

He added that instead the protesters had the losers right to whine.

Lais Martins contributed reporting from Sao Paulo, Flavia Milhorance, Ana Ionova and Leonardo Coelho from Rio de Janeiro, and Andre Spigariol and Gustavo Freitas from Brasilia.
Covid lockdown measures have generated a wave of fear and unrest inside the worlds largest iPhone manufacturing complex, in north-central China, with stories of food shortages among quarantined employees filling social media, and large numbers of workers fleeing the facility.

The plant, operated by Foxconn, the Taiwanese-based manufacturing giant with facilities across China, went into lockdown in mid-October as coronavirus cases were rising in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province. Under Chinas zero-Covid policies, cities and companies are expected to take strict measures to eliminate transmission of the virus.

As Covid cases began to be detected in the plant, Foxconn shut the facility off from the outside world, walling its roughly 200,000 workers inside its grounds. It banned eating in the factorys cafeteria, forced employees to take long, circuitous routes from their dormitories to reduce contact with others, and required daily coronavirus testing and temperature checks.

But what really worried workers were accounts that emerged from employees who had been taken into quarantine after testing positive. At the mercy of Foxconn to feed themselves, some said they were getting inadequate food or none at all, and were lacking other necessities.
Whenever a tropical cyclone barrels toward the Southeastern United States, forecasters assign it a name and a category based on a grading system that is widely used for storms in the Atlantic Ocean.

But if a similar storm sweeps west across the Pacific Ocean, there is no such uniform system.

There are variations in how different regions of the world define tropical systems, including storms, depressions and cyclones. In the Western Pacific, the process is especially complex because countries and territories have their own systems for measuring, grading and naming tropical cyclones, which they call typhoons instead of hurricanes.

In Asia it is a bit complicated, said Clarence Fong, a meteorologist in Macau, a Chinese territory, who works for an intergovernmental committee under the World Meteorological Organization that coordinates typhoon warnings across the region.

Let us explain.

What cyclones have in common.

The scientific definition of a tropical cyclone is straightforward: It is a storm, typically with a diameter of around 200 to 500 kilometers (124 to 311 miles), that begins over a tropical ocean and generates violent winds, torrential rain, high waves and other bad weather. Less powerful storms are called tropical depressions or disturbances.
But her reputation was battered in a fiasco rooted in a government order to cull the countrys mink population over coronavirus fears. A parliamentary commission later found that the move was illegal at the time and said officials mislead the public. Pressure from the Social Liberals, a crucial government ally, led her to call the election.

Ms. Frederiksens resignation officially kicked off a process in which she and other party leaders will need to negotiate with each other and meet with Queen Margrethe II before a prime minister is nominated.

The whole discussion will now be: How will she negotiate with the other parties? Mr. Hansen said, pointing to Ms. Frederiksens promise to bridge divides across the political spectrum. Under her leadership, he said, climate change policy might become more left-leaning, military spending might increase and strict controls on immigration would stay in place.

We will see a prime minister that will be working across the middle, he said.

Another new party, the right-wing Denmark Democrats  founded by Inger Stojberg, a former immigration minister who was sentenced to two months in jail for illegally ordering the separation of some asylum-seeking couples  also gained 14 seats. On the other hand, other right-wing parties, including the far-right, populist Danish Peoples Party, lost ground, with key lawmakers joining the Denmark Democrats instead.

The end result, analysts said, rested more on which leader voters preferred to steer the country rather than jarring differences in policies.

I dont have any allegiance to one party or one ideology in general, said Mats Greve Hansen, 24, a masters student of international business, who was outside a polling station on Tuesday who made up his mind just before voting.

After following television debates and taking online tests to see which candidate he agreed with the most, he ultimately voted for a candidate from the Moderates party.
KYIV, Ukraine  A top Kyiv official said that more than 400 fallout shelters were being readied in the capital and that similar measures were being taken elsewhere around the country to prepare for a possible nuclear attack from Russia.

I am preparing for the worst-case scenario, but I hope everything will be fine, the official, Oleksiy Kuleba, the head of the Kyiv regional military administration, told Hromadske, a Ukrainian news outlet, in an interview published on Tuesday.

The authorities are designating 425 shelters for use in a nuclear emergency and are outfitting them with necessary supplies, he said. Evacuation routes are being updated in cities, towns and villages. All emergency workers are receiving protective gear and training. And the authorities are developing communication methods to warn the public if an attack is imminent, including via government hotlines, radio broadcasts and cars equipped with loudspeakers.

Worries that the Kremlin might turn to its nuclear arsenal as it suffers setbacks on the battlefield have deepened since President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, in a speech in September, raised the specter of using such weapons to hold on to Moscows slipping territorial gains.
WASHINGTON  The United States on Wednesday accused North Korea of covertly shipping a significant number of artillery shells to Russia to aid its war effort in Ukraine, a sign that Moscow is increasingly turning to pariah states for military supplies as the grinding conflict persists.

The White Houses national security spokesman, John Kirby, said that it was unclear if the artillery munitions, which are being transferred through the Middle East and North Africa, had reached Russia. The United States does not believe that the additional weapons will alter the trajectory of the war.

Our indications are the DPRK is covertly supplying and were going to monitor to see whether shipments are received, Mr. Kirby told reporters on Wednesday, referring to the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. Our information indicates that theyre trying to obscure the method of supply by funneling them through other countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

North Korea said in September it had never supplied weapons or ammunition to Russia and has no plans to do so.
Russia said on Wednesday that it was rejoining a deal that allows the shipment of grain from Ukrainian ports through the Black Sea, easing days of uncertainty over an agreement that had offered hope to countries facing severe food shortages.

Moscow, which suspended its participation in the deal over the weekend, said it had received an assurance from the Ukrainian government that it would not use the civilian shipments for military operations against the Russian Federation, Tass, the Russian state-run news agency, reported.

Moscow had suspended its participation over the weekend after an attack on Russian naval ships in Crimea that it blamed on Ukraine. Moscow claimed, without evidence, that the attack showed that the waters being used to transport grain were unsafe.

The status of the deal  brokered by Turkey and the United Nations this summer  had been uncertain for days, although some previously authorized shipments continued through Tuesday.
Russia on Wednesday rejoined an agreement allowing the shipment of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea, one of the few areas of cooperation amid the war in Ukraine, easing uncertainty over the fate of a deal seen as crucial to preventing famine in other parts of the world.

Moscow had suspended its participation in the deal over the weekend after an attack on Russian warships in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol that it blamed on Ukraine  though the attack was far from the corridor used by grain ships. It was unclear why the Kremlin reversed course so quickly, but President Vladimir V. Putin said in televised remarks that the agreement was tied to Ukraines ensuring the safety of Russian vessels.

Russia retains the right to leave these agreements if these guarantees from Ukraine are violated, he said.

But Ukrainian officials suggested that Russia had reconsidered after seeing that other parties, including Turkey and the United Nations, were committed to continuing with or without Moscows involvement.
The family of four was watching television at home in central Tehran on Sunday night when a series of big explosions outside rattled their windows. The mother grabbed her two children and ducked under the dining table.

The husband peeked out from a window to see what was going on and several laser dots flashed on his body  a warning from the security forces arrayed outside his apartment block that he had been spotted. He joined a chorus of voices from other apartments chanting death to the dictator, the antigovernment cry that has been taken up by thousands of protesters across Iran for more than a month.

The husband and wife, in interviews by telephone from Tehran, described the attack Sunday on the Shahrak Ekbatan apartment complex where they live as tantamount to a military invasion, with security forces shooting into windows and using stun grenades and tear gas. Videos posted on social media and statements by other residents corroborated their account.

The couple asked not to be identified by name for fear of retribution from the authorities, who have cracked down hard on those engaged in the protests that erupted in late September when a young woman, Mahsa Amini, died in the custody of the morality police. The protesters are demanding an end to the Islamic Republics rule.
The far right has been mainstreamed.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, one of Mr. Netanyahus key far-right allies, once found traction only on the fringes of Israeli society. He was barred from serving in the Israeli Army because he was considered too extremist. He was convicted several times for charges including racist incitement and membership of a terrorist group. Until last year, he repeatedly failed to win election to Parliament.

Today, his far-right alliance is set to become the third largest parliamentary bloc, and the second largest in Mr. Netanyahus coalition. That will give momentum to the alliances goals of reducing checks and balances on lawmakers and giving politicians more control over the appointment of judges  setting the stage for a brewing constitutional crisis.

Mr. Ben-Gvir also wants to grant legal immunity to Israeli soldiers who shoot at Palestinians, deport rivals whom he accuses of terrorism and end Palestinian autonomy in parts of the occupied West Bank.
As a teenager he was barred from serving in the Israeli Army because he was considered a security threat. He was subsequently convicted several times, including for incitement and support for a terrorist group. Recently, he described Meir Kahane, an extremist rabbi who wanted to strip Palestinian Israelis of their citizenship, as his hero.

The time has come for us to be the landlords of our country, Mr. Ben-Gvir said in a speech hours after the election.

In a brief statement to The New York Times before the election, Mr. Ben-Gvir said he had no problem, of course, with the minorities here  only with whoever is a terrorist, whoever commits terror. He has also sought to distance himself from Mr. Kahane, describing himself as his own man.

Mr. Netanyahu could also unexpectedly persuade some of his centrist opponents to join his coalition, ending his dependence on Mr. Ben-Gvir. Hours after the election on Wednesday, Mr. Netanyahu sought to play down his opponents fears, promising to build a national government that will look after everyone.

But many are unconvinced: Since 2019, Mr. Netanyahu has repeatedly helped forge electoral alliances between far-right groups, including Mr. Ben-Gvirs, that at the time would have struggled to enter Parliament alone. His interventions helped validate Mr. Ben-Gvir and gave him a bigger platform at a time when his profile was limited.

Now, members of Israels Arab minority, which forms about a fifth of Israels 9 million citizens, are frightened.

Mr. Ben-Gvirs visits to a Palestinian area of East Jerusalem gave momentum to unrest last year that then spiraled into an 11-day war between Hamas and Israel. He has regularly returned to the neighborhood since, and last month encouraged police officers there to open fire on Palestinians.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Mr. Pelosi stood up and tried to leave by the elevator near the bedroom, but Defendant held the door, preventing Mr. Pelosi from escaping. Mr. Pelosi then returned to the bedroom, sat on the bed, and asked Defendant why he wanted to see or talk to Nancy. "Well, she's number two in line for the presidency, right?" When Mr. Pelosi agreed, Defendant responded that they are all corrupt and "we've got to take them all out." When Mr. Pelosi asked if he could call anyone for Defendant, Defendant ominously responded that it was the end of the road for Mr. Pelosi. Still trying to escape from Defendant, Mr. Pelosi asked to use the bathroom; Defendant allowed him to do so. Mr. Pelosi stood up and walked to the bathroom where his phone was charging. Standing in the bathroom, Mr. Pelosi grabbed his phone, turned it on, called 911, and put the phone on speaker. Watching Mr. Pelosi, Defendant stood about three feet away, still holding the large hammer and the zip ties. During the 911 call itself, Mr. Pelosi said that there was a gentleman there waiting for his wife-Nancy Pelosi-to come back. But Mr. Pelosi said they would have to wait because his wife would not be coming back for about a day. Mr. Pelosi could see Defendant gesturing and heard Defendant tell him to get off the phone. To diffuse the situation, Mr. Pelosi told the dispatcher that he did not need police, fire, or medical assistance. Trying to be calm and discreet while also trying to help dispatch to understand the situation, Mr. Pelosi then asked for the Capitol Police because they are usually at the house protecting his wife. The dispatcher clarified that Mr. Pelosi was calling San Francisco police; Mr. Pelosi said that he understood and then asked someone, "I don't know, what do you think?" Another man responded, "Everything's good." Mr. Pelosi then stated, "Uh, he thinks everything's good. Uh, I've got a problem, but he thinks everything's good." When the dispatcher told Mr. Pelosi to call back if he changed his mind, Mr. Pelosi quickly responded, "No, no, no, this gentleman just uh came into the house uh and he wants to wait for my wife to come home[.]" The dispatcher then asked Mr. Pelosi if he knew the person and Mr. Pelosi said that he did not. Mr. Pelosi then said that the man was telling him not to do anything. The dispatcher then asked Mr. Pelosi for his name and address and Mr. Pelosi gave the dispatcher both. Mr. Pelosi then said that the man told him to put the phone People v. DePape, Court No. 22012966, Notice of Motion and Motion to Detain, p. Scanned with CamScanner
An 18-year-old lioness has baffled staff at a zoo in Kansas after growing an awkward teenage mane after the prides last male lion passed away.

Looking at Zuri, youd think she was a young lion growing his mane for the first time, but she is actually an 18-year-old female. That makes the mane around her neck pretty unusual, with only a handful of similar cases reported in the past. The lioness reportedly started growing a mane soon after the last male lion at Topeka Zoo in Kansas passed away in October of 2020. Although zookeepers dont believe there is any connection between the lack of a male lion and Zuris mane, they do admit that the lioness has gotten feistier since growing the new fur, growling, snarling, and roaring more often than before.

Photo: Topeka Zoo

I dont think theres really any kind of evolutionary reason for this, either lack of males or too much competition with other females or anything like that, Kris Everatt, a conservation scientist, told Live Science. I think its just a random event.

But Zuris curator, Shanna Simpson, believes that there is some connection between the death of Avus, the last male lion at Toopeka Zoo and the lioness awkward mane.

The Topeka Zoos alpha lioness, Zuri, is sporting a new look following the passing of her mate two years ago. https://t.co/ZqEB4aDUK8 pic.twitter.com/ljA9M91IJb  WIBW (@wibw) October 24, 2022

She feels like she needs to protect her pride, so her testosterone increases, Simpson told CJ Online. And boom, shes got more fur around her neck.

Topeka Zoo has yet to conduct any hormone tests for Zuri, but all standard test results came back normal, so there is no reason to suspect that her mane is a result of any kind of cancer or any other serious condition. Hormonal imbalance could be the cause, given her old age, but the zoo doesnt plan on conducting invasive testing just to be sure.

We have no reason to believe shes unhealthy in any way with whats going on with this faux mane, Simpson said. Shes just very weird-looking.

In 2016, cases of wild lionesses in Botswana growing impressive manes made international headlines, and there were also a 2011 case in South Africa and a 2018 case at the Oklahoma City Zoo, but female lions growing manes is considered extremely rare.
MZ Group is selected to lead a comprehensive strategic investor relations and financial communications program for Kaleyra, an enterprise Communication Platform as a Service business. The agency will work with Kaleyra management to develop and implement a comprehensive capital markets strategy designed to increase the company's visibility throughout the investment community. The depth of their highly experienced IR professionals will help us improve all facets of our investor relations efforts, said Kaleyra, vice president of investor relations Colin Gillis.

Proof Strategies is named the first public relations agency of record for the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. Proof will oversee integrated marketing campaigns for the LCBO brand family (LCBO, Vintages and Food & Drink) and its social impact platform Spirit of Sustainability, as well as support the LCBO corporate communications office. The scope of work will include strategy, measurement, social media, corporate communications, influencer relations, earned media, social impact and public affairs. Proof Strategies wowed us with their strategic thinking, highly relevant experience and deep understanding of trust, said Krista Moriarity, director, integrated marketing, marketing and customer intelligence, LCBO.

CommCreative is named North American agency of record for Raymarine, a marine electronics company. CommCreative is developing and executing brand messaging and a go-to-market strategy, including creative, digital, social media and mobile advertising. The agencys efforts are targeted at boat owners and the fishing community in the Americas. We look forward to partnering with CommCreative to continue to grow our brand, tell our stories to American boaters and fishermen, and deepen our connection in the community, said Raymarine marketing director Stacey Ogden.
Ackee and saltfish are undeniably linked to Jamaica, but how did that come to be?

Thats one of the many questions that constantly swirl around Melissa Thompsons head  a food writer and cookbook author who says shes always been interested in the stories behind food.

Jamaican food  where her father is from  particularly piques her interest. Ackee and saltfish just rolls off the tongue, its such a classic dish. But those things are quite odd, when you think about it  theres ackee, then theres saltfish. Theyre not necessarily a natural pairing, she muses.

How did they become, who thought to put them on a plate together? It works so well, but obviously everything has a beginning.

Thompson, 41, was surprised to learn ackee isnt originally from Jamaica, despite being synonymous with the countrys cuisine (its actually native to West Africa, and came to the Caribbean through the slave trade). I was looking for a book that satisfied my curiosity about the history of Jamaican food, she says, but it didnt really exist  so she decided to write Motherland. She refers to her debut as a cookbook with this historical narrative, with Jamaican recipes interwoven with powerful essays about the history of the country, particularly the impact of slavery and colonisation.

She first learned about Jamaican food from her father, who she describes as a magpie when it comes to flavours. He was in the navy and picked up lots of different cuisines from his travels, but its his Jamaican cooking that seems to have stuck with Thompson the most.

Hes a very poor delegator when it comes to cooking, so I just observed, she remembers fondly. Sometimes, I got to help make the dumplings and all that stuff, but really Id watch him  maybe Id flake the saltfish.

It was when Thompson moved out of home and went to uni that she started cooking the dishes of her childhood. When the people who cook the food youve grown up with are no longer living with you, you have to cook it for yourself, to satisfy the craving.

But because Thompson wasnt allowed to do much in the kitchen growing up, she learned these dishes more by osmosis  by watching and taking it in, she says.

And she got to experience Jamaican food first-hand when visiting the island. Food is everywhere in Jamaica, whether its getting cooked, or whether its just growing, she says. To me, ackee had always come in a tin, and its always expensive  like 5 for a tin, so its quite a precious thing. I would never be allowed to deal with the ackee, because Id stir it too enthusiastically and break it all up.

But the first time we went to Jamaica, it was in season, and it blew my mind to hold an ackee pod, and see the ackee fruit  its beautiful. I couldnt believe the ground was littered with them  I wanted to take them all, pick them all up.

Food in Jamaica makes you realise how brilliantly people in the UK do it  how brilliantly my dad has always done it. Jamaican immigrants to the UK had to learn how to recreate their cuisine with limited access to the ingredients of their homeland, and this really surprised Thompson when she visited the island. Suddenly, things that are so precious and scarce in the UK are in beautiful abundance in Jamaica, its really verdant  my dad would tell me these stories about growing up, climbing trees and eating mangoes to his hearts content. For me, mango has always been one of my most favourite fruits  wed go to London and buy four, because they were quite expensive. Youd have one each, and youd savour this mango  and all of a sudden there was more mango than you can possibly eat [in Jamaica].

Its the same, but obviously massively different, because youre seeing the cuisine at its source, at the country of origin. In the environment where these dishes were created, you get to understand it a bit better.

So, whats the one thing people tend to get wrong about Jamaican food? Thompson suggests theres a massive misunderstanding of what Jamaican food is about. She says: People think its quite one-note, they think its more about jerk  jerk is amazing, but there is so much more to Jamaican food than jerk.

I feel sorry for other Caribbean islands, because when people talk about Caribbean food, they think about jerk, they think about Jamaican food. Actually, its so diverse  its such a rich, diverse cuisine across the Caribbean.

And Thompson really wants people to stop messing around with classic recipes. Sometimes, youll see recipes from very established chefs  who should know better  its like jerk with different chillies, whether its jalapenos or random things  its like, where does that come from? I dont know whether its trying to differentiate, so its not copying someone else  but jerk has to be Scotch bonnet.

This is another big part of Motherland: Know where the food has come from, know the origins, and know how its supposed to be before you start playing with it.

Motherland traces the history of Jamaica through the Spanish settlers and the slave route from West Africa, through to becoming a free society. For Thompson, You cant tell the story Jamaican food without talking about slavery  thats just the way it is.

Motherland by Melissa Thompson is published by Bloomsbury Publishing, priced 26. Photography by Patricia Niven. Available now.
Praised for its biodiversity and charismatic species, the African continent encompasses some of the wildest places on earth. Many, however, remain threatened, as the pressures of human overpopulation, over-exploitation of resources and climate change continue to grow.

Yet, in the face of so many challenges, committed conservationists and brave rangers continue to protect our natural treasures for generations to come. The work of several outstanding individuals was acknowledged at this years Tusk Conservation Awards, in partnership with Ninety One, attended by the Prince of Wales.

We are living through turbulent times and its all too easy to lose sight of how critical it is that we look after our natural world, said Prince William to an audience gathered at Hampton Court Palace.

But we must remain focused on investing in nature and environment, protecting it for future generations. We must not pass on the baton to our children and grandchildren, apologising for our lack of collective action. Instead, we must do all we can to support those who support our natural world, often at great risk to themselves.

Each winner and finalist has a remarkable story to share.

Putting Mozambiques wildlife on the map

Miguel Goncalves  winner: Tusk Award for Conservation in Africa

There are few places in the world where elephants graze metres from breaching humpback whales, with only a stretch of golden sand and rolling dunes between.

Such unique beauty led Park Warden Miguel Goncalves to make an application for the Maputo National Park to be recognised as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, an accolade he believes the newly formed protected area richly deserves.

Formed by a partnership between Mozambiques National Administration for Conservation Areas and Peace Parks Foundation, the Maputo Special Reserve and Ouro Partial Marine Reserve were amalgamated in 2021.

Key in making the transition, Goncalves has worked hard to earn the respect of communities still living in the park, providing healthcare, education and alternative farming projects. Their buy-in, he says, is essential in what looks set to become one of Africas most exciting and visually striking safari parks.

Saving Kenyas elephants from drought

David Daballen  runner-up: Tusk Award for Conservation in Africa

Able to identify more than 500 individual elephants from both land and air, David Daballen knows the residents of Samburu National Reserve almost as well as his own family.

As director of field operations for charity Save The Elephants, he works with wildlife and communities, but admits northern Kenyas three-year drought has presented some of the greatest challenges of his life.

Competition for resources is resulting in conflict, as elephants leave the safe haven of the park and venture into villages. But David remains positive, firmly believing the key to successful conservation lies in supporting the people who live alongside wildlife.

Protecting Tanzanias last hunter-gatherer tribe

Dismas Partalala  runner-up: Tusk Award for Conservation in Africa

Growing up as a Maasai on the border of the Serengeti and Mara, Dismas Partalala always understood the importance of living from the land. But meeting the Hadzabe, who reside in the forests of the Yaeda Valley, opened his eyes to a new level of subsistence living.

Inspired by their respect for resources  foraging for berries, harvesting honey from baobabs and hunting with wooden bows and arrows  he felt compelled to help the historically nomadic people secure land rights to protect their forest forever.

Enabling the Hadzabe to gain even greater benefit from the pure air they breathe, he also set up a deal with Carbon Tanzania to secure revenue through carbon credits.

Connecting the communities of northern Kenya

Ian Craig  winner: Prince William Award for Conservation in Africa

When Ian Craig transformed his familys 62,000-acre cattle ranch into a community conservancy 27 years ago, the Kenyan-raised conservationist had his sights firmly set on restoring populations of black rhinos.

Today, Lewa is one of Africas prime safari destinations  where Prince William proposed to his future wife  but Craigs attention has since switched to communities.

As the founder and chief of conservation for the Northern Rangelands Trust, hes helped establish 43 community conservancies in northern Kenya  many with their own wildlife sanctuaries and ambitious ecotourism plans.

Inspiring a new generation of birders in Uganda

Achilles Byaruhanga  winner: Prince William Award for Conservation in Africa

Raised with the call of a crown crane as his daily alarm clock, Achilles Byaruhanga has always been surrounded by birds. As a student, he conducted a research project into an invasion of marabou storks into Ugandas capital, Kampala, ultimately praising the feathered scavengers for carrying out waste disposal duties neglected by authorities.

Understanding the role of birds as indicators of environmental degradation, he saw a need to protect Ugandas wetlands, historically drained in an attempt to eradicate mosquitoes.

As executive director of NGO Nature Uganda, hes established 34 Important Bird Areas for protection and helped identify and designate 11 of Ugandas 12 Ramsar sites.

Working alongside communities to build ecotourism projects, hes cleverly made local people the custodians of these precious pockets of land.

Conserving Zambias Kafue lechwe

Neddy Mulimo  winner: Tusk Wildlife Ranger Award

A stint training with the military would prove to be invaluable for ranger Neddy Mulimo later in his career. On many occasions, hes employed defence tactics to outwit poachers.

But it was an ingenious idea to build trenches in the Kafue Flats that helped the veteran make his name. Previously exposed in the open landscape, rangers now had a good chance of ambushing criminals hunting for the areas rare and endemic Kafue lechwe.

Having witnessed rhino go locally extinct in his lifetime, the 66-year-old, who came out of retirement to manage Zambias specialist anti-poaching units, is determined to keep every animal  and ranger  safe under his watch.

Additional award sponsors include DEFENDER and the Nick Maughan Foundation.

For more information, visit tuskawards.com.
Branches of the social organisation Mens Sheds are to get a funding boost of about 2,000 euro each.

Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys announced an 800,000 euro fund to support the 400 Mens Sheds across Ireland.

The move has been widely welcomed.

Speaking at the Mens Shed in Kimmage, Dublin, Eamonn OConnor, chairman of the Irish Mens Shed Association, said: Two thousand euros is a lot of money and while Sheds can run on small budgets, they do need it.

Delighted to visit the Dublin 12 Mens Shed in Kimmage. Our Mens Sheds do tremendous work in communities across the country. Today Im announcing 800,000 to support the 400 Mens Sheds nationwide. @IrishSheds @DeptRCD pic.twitter.com/gvzHgxz1Zq  Heather Humphreys (@HHumphreysFG) November 2, 2022

To know that you have that money coming in makes the sheds sustainable, you can plan for the future, you can think about things.

You can get capital grants, but just to actually run the shed, that is just a phenomenal amount of money.

Its just so fantastic.

Enda Egan, chief executive officer of the association, said that Mens Sheds are an important part of local communities.

Minister for Rural and Community Development, @HHumphreysFG , announced funding of 800,000 to support Mens Sheds during a visit to the Dublin 12 Mens Shed in Kimmage today. We will be running webinars to help individual sheds with the process; applications open early Dec. pic.twitter.com/fLQvuXDULh  Irish Men's Sheds Association (@IrishSheds) November 2, 2022

Sheds have come about by a demand for men at local level, right around our communities, to engage with each other, Mr Egan added.

The magical dust that you find in sheds, if we could bottle it and sell it and put it into other parts of the community, its just magical and you get a real sense of community in every shed.

Sheds are completely inclusive, they welcome everybody from any part of the world, it doesnt matter. The sheds are really inclusive sort of places.

Theyre also massively important within the community as community connectors. They connect huge parts of society, you see sheds involved in a huge range of other community groups.

The funding thats been announced this morning is a hugely important.

Ms Humphreys said: The money will be divided between 400 Mens Sheds that operate throughout the country.

So that means each of them will get 2,000 euros and thats going to go a long with to help pay some of the costs that they have in terms of running their sheds.

Its a wonderful organisation, I am delighted that Government is supporting them because they combat isolation, they allow people to come in and have that conversation.

Its good for your mental health, to talk to people, and they continue to make some wonderful pieces of crafts that are donated to charitable organisations.

It keeps them busy and they really enjoy their experience here.
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Britains new prime minister has relented to pressure and will attend the UN climate summit alongside Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron. But not Albanese.
South Africa: Estina Farm project case transferred to Bloemfontein High Court

The fraud and corruption case related to the controversial R280 million Estina Dairy farm project has been transferred to the Bloemfontein High Court from the Bloemfontein Regional Court on Wednesday.

The accused that appeared in the regional court this morning are:

Former Mineral Resources Minister, Mosebenzi Zwane.

Former Free State head of Department for Rural Development (FSDoRD), Peter Thabethe.

Former Chief Financial Officer, Seipati Dhlamini.

Former Chief Director District Services, Takisi Masiteng.

Former Sahara employee, Ugeshni Govender.

Islandsite former Director, Ronica Ragavan.

Estina Director, Kamal Vasram, was added to the case, as well as eight companies.

According to the National Prosecuting Authority Investigating Directorate (NPA ID) spokesperson, Sindisiwe Seboka, the accused face charges of contravention of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), fraud, corruption and money laundering emanating from the alleged looting of the Free State Department of Agriculture through a company called Estina.

Seboka explained that in 2012, Estina and the Free State Agriculture Department entered into an agreement to establish and implement a dairy farm project for the benefit of emerging and previously disadvantaged farmers in the Vrede area.

In terms of the agreement, Estina was to provide a capital injection of R228 million. Paras Dairy  a company incorporated in India  was presented as Estinas partner in the Vrede Dairy Project.

The agreement further stipulated that the department was to contribute R342 million including VAT over a period of three years. Estina received R280 million from July 2012 to April 2014.

Investigations also revealed that no proper tender procedures were followed with regards the decision to fund the proposed Vrede Dairy Project. Estina did not adhere to its obligations in terms of the agreement as only the department paid its contribution into bank accounts held by Estina, Seboka said.

The accused are expected to next appear in the Bloemfontein High Court on 25 January 2023.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-11-02. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Socialist Party (India)

Dated: 2 November, 2022

To: Chief Election Commissioner

Nirvachan Sadan

New Delhi

Subject: Socialist Party (India) not allowed to take out padyatra on the issue of Bilkis Bano in Gujarat whereas Bhartiya Janata Party trying to take advantage of communal polarization by releasing the convicts.

Respected Sir,

(1) When Socialist Party (India) tried to organize a padyatra from Randhikpur in Dahod district to Ahmedabad between 26 September and 4 October, 2022, the padyatris were detained twice on 25 September in Godhra and on 26 Septemer in Kheda district and then brought in police vehicles to Ahmedbad scuttling our plan to meet and have a dialogue with common people on the issue of Bilkis Bano.

(2) In Ahmedabad when Sandeep Pandey, General Secretary of Socialist Party (India), tried to sit on fast in spite of writing to the Police Commissioner we did not hear from him and permission was denied by Rakhiyal police station. Similarly, SP, Gandhinagar did not reply and Sandeep Pandey was not allowed to sit at Satyagrah Chavni, the designated place for holding demonstrations, by the local intelligence personnel.

(3) The BJP on the other hand by prematurely releasing 11 convicts, in the gang rape case of Bilkis Bano and killing of her 14 family members, through an order of the Home Ministry (No. 15/05/2022-JC-II, Dated 11 July, 2022, marked Confidential/Most Immediate) is tryng to take advantage of communal polarization before the Gujarat Assembly elections. This is clear from the manner in which 11 convicts were garlanded and offered laddoos after coming out of Godhra Sub-jail on 15 August this year.

We register our strong protest for violation of our fundamental rights of freedom of expression and movement as well as the right of a political party to raise an important issue concerning safety and dignity of women and law and order.

We request you to institute an enquiry into why we, as a political party registered with the ECI, were not allowed to take out our padyatra and why Home Ministry decided to prematurely release the convicts timing it before Gujarat elections. The guilty in both cases must be punished.

Sincerely,

Amita Buch

President, Socialist Party (India), Gujarat

Mobile No.: 9925039160, e-mail: amitabuch[at]gmail.com

Our mailing address is:

Socialist Party (India)

Socialist Party (India), Lohia Bhawan

Narhi

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226001

India
In 2021, companies pulled their headquarters out of California at twice the rate they did in both 2020 and 2019, and at three times the rate in 2018, according to a new report.
Some believe Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will soon have to monitor social media due to negative posts about them.
As per the reports of Variety, Police informed KPRC Houston that there was a gathering of 40 to 50 people there when the shooting happened. and a man with a head or neck gunshot wound. Quavo was uninjured, while Takeoff was pronounced dead at the scene. After being shot, two more victims were brought to the hospital
Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government has firmed up its plans for addressing the energy crisis as the country heads into winter. The plans still need to win the approval of Germany's state leaders.
The German government has backed a draft law to charge companies over the sale of single-use plastic products. The plan still needs approval from lawmakers.
David DePape's lawyer told a California court he would be looking into the suspect's mental state. The 42-year-old nudist activist will remain in custody without bail.
The list of criminal laws passed by the Stephen Harper government that have since been struck down by Canadian courts is growing steadily.
AFP English 02 Nov 2022

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Russia said it would return to the grain export agreement on Wednesday, according to Turkey. Meanwhile, the city's mayor is planning "heating points" in case of loss of electricity and water. Follow DW for the latest.
North Korea fired at least 17 missiles into the sea on Wednesday, including one that landed less than 60 kilometres off South Korea's coast, which the South's President Yoon Suk-yeol described as "territorial encroachment" by Pyongyang.
In a late night address, the Ukrainian president said the Kremlin was choosing to spend money on missiles and drones, instead of reducing poverty in Russia.
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A Florida judge sentenced Nikolas Crus, the man who killed 17 students and staff at a school in Parkland, to life in prison.
Boris Johnson is in talks with one of Hollywood's most prominent talent agencies about a lucrative speaking deal following his aborted run for a second stint as Britain's prime minister.
The White House released a statement late Tuesday night in which press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said thoughts and prayers are not enough to reduce gun violence.
Two of the largest teachers unions in the United States donated more than $1 million each to a group supporting Michigan Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
More than 2,000 academics in the U.S. are calling on the Biden administration to respond with action to the Iranian regime's crackdown against protests.
Former Republican Gov. Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey denounced her party as a cult and said a part of her hopes that "all the crazies" win next week's midterms.
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(EurActiv)  Germany has cautioned Serbia against cultivating deeper ties with Russia, warning that it could thwart its bid to join the European Union, a German government source said on Tuesday (1 November).



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Ethiopia's warring sides formally agreed during talks in South Africa to a permanent cessation of hostilities in a conflict whose victims could be counted in the hundreds of thousands.
Mondaq 28 Nov 2022

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Miss Belgium 2022 Chayenne van Aarle has now been officially confirmed to represent her country at the 71st Miss Universe pageant. Miss Belgium 2022 Chayenne van Aarle has now been officially confirmed to represent her country at the 71st Miss Universe pageant.





The 23-year-old bilingual flight attendant from Antwerp won her beauty title during the national competition held at the Proximus Theater in De Panne in March.





"Chayenne grew up in a castle full of neglected animals, from which her love for animals was born. As a child, she walked among zebras, kangaroos, camels and alpacas," the Miss Belgium Organization posted about her on social media.





"As the daughter of hard-working parents, she quickly became independent and can now put that strength to good use in her Miss Universe adventure."





The upcoming Miss Universe edition will be held at the New Orleans Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA on January 14.





Meet the new Miss Universe Belgium:





Photos: Miss Belgium Organization, Joeri Peeters





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Photo: (Photo : Cole Strivers)

Joanna McFarland Owusu, expressed her anger to Yahoo News after her child brought home a pamphlet that she said came from the school. She added that many parents including her learned to modulate anger as being in a constant state of outrage is only detrimental to her health, however, currently, her rage is crushing and feels like lava coursing through her veins.

Her 7-year-old child brought home a pamphlet from school earlier this week entitled "National Child Identification Program" and handed it to her with a confused look on her face and opened it to show her a page with slots for her fingerprints and one for each finger. The child says they needed to fill those out for school purposes.

The American mom still looked confused and told her child that they would look at the pamphlet later and the child trotted off. The mom carefully looked at the pamphlet and opened it, as she was opening it, she immediately noticed the two simple sketches of a naked and genderless child which were labeled 'Front' and 'Back.'

Read Also: Many American Kids Prefer Deep-Fried Foods, Experts Warn It Has 13% Risk of Death

Kits for the aftermath of a shooting or a tragedy

The mom of three choked up as she soon realized what she was meant to do. She was about to label the figure with any birthmarks, moles, scars, and other distinguishing features on her so her body could be identified, for example, the child's face was severely blown off by an assault weapon. The officials, on the other hand, clarifies that the pamphlet was part of a program that predated the Uvalde shooting and will be mainly used to find missing children, hence, the kits can also be used in the aftermath of a tragedy.

The mom recalls rolling her eyes when the large, urban school district mandated students to only carry clear backpacks this school year and wondered if anyone believed clear backpacks were making anyone safer but breathed a sigh of relief that her youngest child didn't understand why the clear backpack edict was actually made. However, the mom currently resides in Texas, and the horror of the Uvalde shooting was at top of my mind

The Uvalde shooting killed loving 19 students and beloved 2 educators at Robb Elementary School on May 24 and was marked as the deadliest school shooting in the history of Texas after a gunman walked into the school and began firing. One of the children killed aspired to be a lawyer someday and another is a marine biologist. Another kid had just celebrated her school honor roll achievement with her family whereas another student was saving up for a trip to Disney World.

"It's disgraceful and I'm ashamed of our elected leaders"

The anxious mom says that there are many ways for parents to meet such moments with young children, adding that parents are supposed to embrace the willful ignorance of a young child as kids still can't comprehend the pamphlet given to them and what it could actually possibly be used for. Noting that officials should keep it simple to make children safe at school. "It's disgraceful and I'm ashamed of our elected leader," specifically to those who refuse to put the lives of small kids ahead of a well-financed gun lobby.

The mom added that she cannot summon a rational explanation, even on a second-grade level for the current state of affairs.

The editor based in Dallas refused to believe that clear backpacks, active shooter drills, and other law enforcement programs, to help officials identify kids' disremembered bodies are the most suggested ones and the best thing we could offer kids as her rage knows no bounds and she'll carry it with her to the ballot box.

Related Article: Study: Roughly a Third of Parents Worry a Shooting Incident Could Happen at School
Photo: (Photo : Pexel/Ron Lach)

One in every 3 marriages ends in divorce, according to the latest divorce statistics.

There are approximately 4 to 5 million people who are getting married every year in the United States. However, approximately 42 to 53 percent of these marriages eventually end up in divorce, as the National Center for Health Statistics in the US reported.

Moreover, it was also reported that roughly one in 2 children will witness their parents' marriage break and go through a divorce.

Divorce usually is between two parties - the husband vs. the wife. Unfortunately, when the couple has kids, the latter are generally set aside, as if they are not part of the heartbreaking incident and the stress and trauma it creates. When the truth is, most of the time, they are the ones that are greatly affected.

Children are victims of divorce too

Susan Moss is an attorney in New York City, who occasionally serves as the representative of children who are caught in between their parents' battle of divorce.

Having a front-row seat to too many marriages that ended in court, she gives a list of what she thinks parents going through a divorce should know about their children.

1. Children's voices matter.

Most of the time, when parents and their lawyers discuss about divorce settlements, the focus is usually on what the parents want, when the children are actually the ones who need to shuffle back and forth between 2 houses. Thus, children's opinions must be heard too.

A teenager might be having a hard time getting good grades at school because switching homes in the middle of the week distracts his/her study routine. A middle schooler might not want to go to his/her mother's hometown for the summer because his/her friends live where daddy lives.

These concerns might seem insignificant for adults but the child has the right to be heard. Children can have logical and mature opinions, and the parents owe it to them to at least consider.

2. Children might be telling their parents different things.

Parents should understand that "kids are people pleasers," especially if the people are the ones they love so much. They might express that they want to live with daddy, and then turn around and tell mommy that they do not want to leave her home too.

The kids are not lying or following around. They are telling their truth at that moment.

Parents should not be surprised if their children are telling them one thing, their ex-spouse another, and the attorney another altogether. Moss said that in her profession she has learned to ask questions at least 3 ways in different settings just to get to the bottom of how the children really feel.

3. Parents do not need a plan that will work forever.

As children grow and their needs change, custody arrangements need to be adjusted. As Moss always tells her clients' parents, it is important to go with the flow. Reevaluation of arrangement should be done after there is a major change for each parent or for children.

4. Parents should not bad-mouth each other.

Do not vent up your anger, frustrations, and disappointments to children, especially to the older ones. Save the "you'll never believe what she did" conversations for your relatives and friends.

It is crucial for parents to keep in mind that their co-parent can be the only mother or father their kids will ever have. He/She may not be the perfect parent, but the kids need not know all the ways they have failed. Instead, parents should respect the important role their co-parent holds in their children's life.

Always set a peaceful tone.

Read Also: Child Of Divorce Writes A Powerful Letter To His Parents; It's A Wake-Up Call For Everyone

5. Keep a united front.

Moss stated that parents always ask her what the best custody schedule is for the children. And, she only has one answer - it doesn't matter.

What matters, she stressed, is that the parents are on the same page. If the parents keep on fighting, they can have any type of schedule and the child will still feel and absorb all the negativity they have towards each other. If they keep a united front, however, children will progress better.

A licensed clinical psychologist in Mount Pleasant, specializing in helping parents stay united through the process of divorce, Dr. Elizabeth VanPelt, suggested that parents should keep their children's lives as normal as possible and not include them in the issues of the adults, and to prioritize positive co-parenting as much as possible.

6. If one parent got everything he/she want, something went wrong.

"These nasty divorces are hardly ever one-sided. You have to realize that the other side has a point of view, and their point of view is usually not 100% wrong. There needs to be a happy compromise in the middle. If you get 100% of what you want, it's often not in the best interest of the child," Moss explained.

Related Article: How to Co-Parent and Keep the Kids Happy Even With Divorce
Photo: (Photo : 3D Animation Production Company from Pixabay )

Emily Evil Reznick claimed in letters from Juvenile Hall that her mom tried to kill her on July 7 and that she and her boyfriend, Nikolai Thorn Roach, just fought back in self-defense.

Authorities who responded to the Oildale home found 54-year-old Michelle Louise Taylor dead with a stab wound to her neck. Both Roach and Reznick were arrested on suspicion of murder, according to the Daily Mail.

Reznick wrote in a letter that month that her own mom tried to kill her and she did all she could to get her off. She added that her boyfriend was there and saved her life that morning.

Reznick wrote about the mixed feelings she had for her dead mom

Reznick wrote about her love for Roach, her plans for a possible career as a nurse, and the boredom of life in custody in dozens of letters that were shared with 17 News. The common theme in the letters that she wrote was the mixed feelings she had for her mom, according to KTLA.

Reznick wrote in a letter dated August 12 that she hates her mom a lot but loved her cause she was her mom. She added that she will never ever forgive her for what she did to her at the end and all the lies she put her through too.

Reznick implied through her writings that both she and Roach were 15 at the time of her mother's killing. That means if convicted, the teen couple can only be held in custody until they turn 25.

Reznick expressed hope in her letters that were written to friend Kenneth Eagles that she and Roach will eventually get married when they are released. She wrote in a letter dated September 3 that she wants to be out as soon as she can. She said that she wants to be free and with Nik. She added that he makes her feel safe, and he is her everything.

Read Also: Las Vegas Teen Dies From Brain-Eating Amoeba After Swimming at Lake Mead

Readiness hearings postponed to late November

Reznick said in another letter, dated September 6, that she hates herself a lot for what she did. She added that she cries about being here and she feels alone. Reznick said in the same letter that she did not mean to kill her mom and that was like the last thing she wanted to happen.

Eagles said in an interview that he believes Reznick suffered years of abuse from her mom, both physical and verbal. According to the 70-year-old, he witnessed Reznick having bruises and cuts on her body, including marks around her neck. Eagles made it clear that these marks were not little bruises.

Eagles said that he first met Reznick about four years ago, when the girl was 12 years old. She lived near him in the area of Taft Highway and South H Street. Eagles said he was known in the area as the grandfather type and he knew most of the kids in the neighborhood.

Readiness hearings for Reznick and Roach scheduled on Thursday were postponed to late November, according to KGET.

Related Article: 25% of Maternal Deaths in the US in 2020 and 2021 Are Due to COVID-19
Photo: (Photo : Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images))

The dad of an American college student, who died during a crowd surge in South Korea on Saturday, October 29, is remembering his beloved son as a smart young man who had an incredibly bright future.

Steven Blesi, who hails from Marietta, Georgia, was studying abroad in South Korea when he was killed in the tragic incident over the weekend. According to CNN, officials have confirmed that at least 153 other people, including another American student, passed away after they were caught in the crush of people. The victims were out celebrating Halloween in the Itaewon part of Seoul.

Steve Blesi said that his son could have done anything he wanted in this world and he had an adventurous spirit. The retired IT director said that the world is a darker place without his son in it.

Two Americans among the dead in Seoul crowd surge incident

Anne Gieske, who was a junior nursing student at University of Kentucky, was also studying abroad this fall in Seoul when she was killed in the crowd surge, according to a statement released by university president Eli Capilouto.

Steven was a junior at Kennesaw State University (KSU), where he was studying international business. The school issued a statement on Sunday, saying that Steven was one of 11 students from KSU that was part of a study abroad program in South Korea. The university said that the remaining 10 students have been reported safe.

Steve told PEOPLE magazine that he was initially hesitant to let Steven study abroad, but after the COVID-19 pandemic postponed his son's plans for a couple of years, he finally had the chance to go to South Korea this year.

Steve said he gave his 20-year-old son a pep talk before he left, telling him to be careful there and to realize how precious life is. He told his son that he can't protect him there and he can't come to his aid quickly.

Read Also: California Teen Claims Self-Defense After She Is Accused of Killing Her Mother

Steve can't imagine the pain his son Steven went through

Steve's worst fears unfortunately came true on Saturday. He was returning home from grocery shopping when his brother told him of the terrible news coming from South Korea. Steven's family immediately contacted him via WhatsApp, but they received no response.

Steve said that a police officer answered his son's phone after about two-and-a-half hours. An official at the U.S. Embassy in South Korea then informed the family later that evening that Steven had indeed died in the incident.

The grieving dad said that he can't imagine the pain his son went through. He added that if he could put himself in his place, he would do it a hundred times over. Steve said that he can't hug his son one last time and he can't kiss his boy and he can't hear his voice.

According to NBC News, more than 100,000 people were out in the popular nightlife district for the Halloween celebrations.

Related Article: Las Vegas Teen Dies From Brain-Eating Amoeba After Swimming at Lake Mead
The Managing Director of Consolidated Bank Ghana Ltd. (CBG), Mr. Daniel Wilson Addo, has been adjudged the Marketing Man of the Year 2021 at the 33rd Annual National Marketing Performance Awards organized by the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG).



Themed: Creative Marketing and Innovation in a Volatile Global Economy, this years Annual National Marketing Performance Awards seek to recognize marketing practitioners and organizations that rely on innovative strategies and modern marketing practices in the realization of their business success.



In a citation presented to him, Mr. Daniel Wilson Addo was commended for his outstanding excellence in strategic marketing in the areas of marketing insights, people management, corporate reputation management, CSR, and sound marketing management, thereby setting him and his company apart as a corporate achiever for the year 2021.



Speaking at the event, Mr. Addo dedicated the award to the Board, Management, Staff and Customers of CBG for their contribution and support to the growth of the Bank.



This award has been possible with the immense contribution of my CBG Team, who, like me, did not see the COVID-19 challenges as disadvantages but worked assiduously to positively change the fortunes of CBG. I also want to thank our customers who continue to stand with us; they encourage us to work hard to actualize the CBG vision to be the most trusted Bank in the country.



For the MSME sector, we have established a center at Kokomlemle to intensify efforts to support their business growth, design innovative products and provide differentiated services to our customers, he added.



Mr. Daniel Wilson Addo is a Chartered Accountant with over two decades of post-qualification experience. With his extensive knowledge of the banking industry and his vast work experience in Ghana and other African countries, he was able to successfully play the lead role in integrating seven (7) insolvent banks into the Consolidated Bank Ghana (CBG) in 2018. This was the first of its kind in the history of Ghana.



Mr. Addo has directed the Bank on a path of success from restructuring and alignment of staff to new systems and processes to create a common culture for the CBG brand. His leadership skills have helped in building a strong, reputable and profitable brand, and CBG has grown to become one of the largest and leading SME-oriented banks in Ghana. With a strong financial standing, robust technology platforms and innovative banking solutions, CBG prides itself in being a pacesetter in the changing phase of banking in Ghana and Africa. CBG currently operates in 114 branches nationwide, delivering on its mandate to make a difference in the lives of its stakeholders.



Prior to being named marketing man of the year 2021, Mr. Daniel Addo was awarded the Most Respected Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a state-owned bank at the 2020 Ghana Industry CEOs Awards held in Accra.



The 33rd edition of the CIMG Awards covered six (6) major competitive areas: Hall of Fame, Personality, Media and Marketing Communications organizations, Business organizations, Products, and Not-for-Profit organizations.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Vodafone Ghana won three different awards at the Ghana Business Awards and the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG) Awards held over the weekend.



At the Ghana Business Awards, Vodafone Ghana was named Telecommunications Company of the Year, and Patricia Obo-Nai, the company's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), won the CEO of the Year (Private Sector) Award.



At the CIMG Awards, Vodafone Ghana was again named the Telecommunications Company of the Year.



The two prestigious awards schemes recognise, and reward excellence based on rigorous criteria for shortlisting nominees. Key indicators for awards in these schemes include, among other things, technology and innovation, excellence, and impact on society.



Speaking about the awards, Patricia Obo-Nai said that Vodafone Ghana's success is due to the support of its customers and all stakeholders.



"It is a great honour to see how, over the years, Vodafone Ghana continues to receive accolades for our dedication to customer satisfaction and leadership. Indeed, we are immensely proud of what we have achieved as an organisation, but we recognise that we could not have come this far without the support and loyalty of our customers and all stakeholders. We therefore dedicate these awards to all our customers."



The Ghana Business Awards, which are organised by Globe Productions Limited, gives individuals and businesses a chance to be recognised for their important contributions to the growth and development of their business sector. The awards also highlight the key functions within the sector that help it grow and stay strong.



The CIMG Awards, organised by the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Ghana (CIMG), is another well-known award that honours excellence in the business world.



It aims to increase awareness of marketing and its importance to business success, as well as to promote high professional standards and encourage excellence among marketing practitioners.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Attackers suspected to be members of Somalia's al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group have abducted two paramedics, plus a driver and a patient near Kenya's border with Somalia, police said.



The attackers ambushed an ambulance belonging to the regional county government of Mandera, north east of the country, as it transported the patient to a hospital in the county.



"The .... ambulance (was) enroute to Elwak hospital for referral with a patient ... and ... in the company of hospital staff," Mandera's Lafey police station said in a report late on Tuesday.



"They were car jacked by suspected AS (al Shabaab) militia and driven towards Somalia ... They are not in communication at now due to network issues."



While the frequency and severity of al Shabaab attacks in Kenya have reduced in recent years, the group has in the past targeted security personnel, schools, vehicles, towns and telephone infrastructure in north east and eastern Kenya as part of their campaign to pressure Kenya into withdrawing its forces from Somalia.



Kenyan troops are part of the African-Union mandated peace keeping force ATMIS that is helping defend Somalia's central government from al Shabaab.



Al Shabaab has been fighting for more than a decade to topple Somalia's central government and establish its own rule based on its strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.



On Saturday, twin car bomb attacks that al Shabaab claimed responsibility for in the Somali capital killed at least 120 people.



In 2015, al Shabaab attackers killed 166 people at Garissa University in eastern Kenya, while in another attack at a mall in Nairobi in 2013, the group killed 67 people.



The group has been under pressure in Somalia since August when President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud began an offensive against them, supported by the United States and allied local militias, in a bid to disrupt their financial network.

Source: Reuters









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The Ghanaian Academic and Research Network (GARNET), a not-for-profit organization in Ghana is poised on its mission to support research and education institutions in Ghana; by providing internet connectivity and access to research and education content both locally and internationally.



GARNET is the Ghana National Research and Education Network (NREN) recognized by the West and Central African Research and Education Network (WACREN). As part of its mandate to foster collaboration among researchers, GARNET is open to all accredited tertiary institutions in Ghana including research and educational institutions, Libraries, and teaching hospitals.



GARNETs primary objective is to enhance the mechanisms for improving the delivery of educational resources and creating more opportunities for innovation among students, faculty, and other staff in all tertiary educational institutions in Ghana by augmenting Internet access for all.



Through its product offerings such as Capacity Building, Connectivity, Eduroam, Tertiary Multiple Mobile Data, Video Conferencing, and Federated Identity Services, GARNET has fostered high-speed internet connectivity needed to enable Ghanaian education and research institutions to join its network.



The institution over the years has helped streamline the business operations of most research and education institutions in Ghana by offering feasible business solutions that meet market demands.



The origins of the Ghanaian Academic and Research Network (GARNET) can be traced back to 1995 when the idea was mooted. It only took a recognized significance in November 2006 at the end of a three-day workshop held by the Association of African Universities (AAU) in Accra to facilitate more effective integration of ICT into higher educations core mandate of teaching, learning, research, and information management.



The institution after several years of consultations among its stakeholders was incorporated as a legal entity on August 24th, 2010, and now has over 40 institutions signed on as members: comprising 30 public institutions and 10 private institutions.



In other development, GARNET held its third Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the University for Development Studies (UDS) in August to discuss company matters and address resolutions. Reports at the well-attended AGM indicate that GARNET plans to increase its membership drive across Ghana to onboard more education and research institutions as well as organize workshops to build the technical capacity of its member institutions through direct engineering services.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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The leadership of the Teacher Trainees' Association of Ghana (TTAG) has kicked against requests on them by their principals to start feeding themselves.



The Association has vehemently vowed to resist all attempts to deprive them of their three square meals per day.



The General Secretary Sumaila Musah in a communique cited by OTEC News Kwame Agyenim on Tuesday, November 1, 2022, said allowing students to feed themselves will cause havoc at the various colleges of education.



"Without mincing words, we, the TTAG would want to state that, feeding should continue unabated"



"We also wish to appeal to the Ministry of Education to expedite steps in addressing the food shortage issue and subsequently the release of funds for the payment of outstanding months of trainee allowances."



Their calls follow a new directive by the National Conference of Principals of Colleges of Education  Ghana (PRINCOF) asking the teacher trainees to begin funding their own feeding.



A letter, signed by the Executive Secretary PRINCOF, Dr. Harriet Naki Amui, explained the development is due to food suppliers refusal to give them goods over current market trends.



Barring any future changes, the trainees will from November 7, 2022, feed themselves according to the new directives.



Meanwhile, Mr. Sumaila Musah says they will oppose PRINCOF's decision, adding that it will not help the students.



"The Principals are taking this decision because they have not been given a feeding component that comes with the allowances. So if you are asking the students to go and feed themselves, where will they get the money from? So our position is that this should be solved as soon as possible, he added.





Source: ghanaweb.com









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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration (MFARI) has urged the public to disregard reports that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has placed a blanket ban on Ghanaians and citizens of 20 other African countries seeking to visit Dubai.

According to the publication, the countries affected by the visa ban include Ghana, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Cameroon, Nigeria, Liberia, Burundi, the Republic of Guinea, the Gambia, Togo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Benin, Ivory Coast, Congo, Rwanda, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau. Comoros, and the Dominican Republic.



The said publication assigned no reason for the ban, but social media users have alleged that it was aimed at keeping away visitors from African countries who usually overstay their visit visas in the UAE.



The Ministry in a statement said it had received no such communication from the UAE authorities.



While assuring the general public to remain calm, the Ministry advised travelling Ghanaians to observe the new visa requirements put in place by the UAE.



The UAE has reviewed its tourist and visit visa requirements as follows;





i. The 30-day single entry visas have been put on hold:



ii. A 60-day multiple visa entry regime is currently in force; and



iii. Travellers to the UAE should secure a round-trip ticket and a hotel booking prior to the visa application









Source: graphiconline.com









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The Council of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) held its fifty-sixth ordinary session on October 28, 2022, under the chairmanship of Mr. Marien Valstar of the Netherlands.



The purpose of UPOV is to provide and promote an effective system of plant variety protection, with the aim of encouraging the development of new varieties of plants, for the benefit of society.



UPOV has 78 members covering 97 States. The Republic of Ghana deposited its instrument of accession to the 1991 Act of the UPOV Convention on November 3, 2021, and became bound by the 1991 Act on December 3, 2021 as the 78th member .



On the occasion of the participation for the first time in the UPOV Council in October 28th 2022, as a member, Ms. Diana Asonaba Dapaah, Deputy Attorney General and Deputy Minister of Justice of Ghana led Ghanas delegation. In her statement to the Council, she shared some of the reasons why it is important for Ghana to be a UPOV member.



That Agriculture is one of the important sources of livelihood in Africa and particularly so in Ghana. That Ghana recognizes the progress made in breeding activities at the national level by research institutions and private breeders. Breeding improved varieties is key to meeting society needs in the agricultural sector.



Furthermore, Ghana recognizes the UPOV System as offering an effective protection of new varieties of plants. That the Government is committed to improve breeding activities and develop the seed sector . It has in place a protection system for breeders and intend to use agriculture to provide for food and jobs in the rural sector and farming communities. Ghanas accession to the UPOV Convention to become a UPOV Member is not only opportune but critical to Ghanas food and nutrition security as well as meeting its national development goals.



Also, the Council members took a positive decision on the conformity of the Draft Law on the Protection of Varieties of Plants of Armenia with the provisions of the 1991 Act of the UPOV Convention, which allows Armenia, once the Draft Law is adopted with no changes and the Law is in force, to deposit its instrument of accession to the 1991 Act.



The meeting discussed topical issues affecting agriculture and the need for improved seeds globally. Such as the role of plant breeding and plant variety protection in enabling agriculture to mitigate and adapt to climate change , for which Ghana presented a paper.



In his concluding remarks, The President of the Council of UPOV , Mr. Marien Valstar, reminded member states that Climate change is increasingly affecting everyone around the world: farmers, breeders and consumers. Effects are biotic (new pests and diseases) and abiotic (heat, drought, rain, seasonal changes).



Consequently, a range of strategies is needed to respond to the challenges. Plant breeding has a vital role to play in these strategies; farmers need new plant varieties to adapt to climate change but also to sustainably increase productivity in order to minimize climate change.



Plant breeding is a long-term process that requires long-term investment from public institutions and from private companies. Plant breeders need a regulatory environment that promotes innovation and supports the conservation and utilization of genetic resources.



The UPOV system enables plant breeders to provide farmers with the varieties they will need to feed the world in the face of climate change.



Ghana had fruitful deliberations with the member states of UPOV and will embark on a nationwide awareness to ensure that breeders and farmers take advantage of the plant variety system to the benefit of all.

Source: Shafic Ahmed, Contributor









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Workers at the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO) have rejected a 22% increment in salary from the Management of the Company, describing it as insufficient.



What should have come as welcoming news to the over 300 workers, at a time when the country is experiencing an economic downturn, is rather being met with stiff opposition from the workers who staged a demonstration in the early hours of Monday, October 31, 2022, refusing some Management Members entry into the facility.



Sources close to Peacefmonline.com revealed that the workers after a series of negotiations led by their union executives made a demand of a 55% salary increment to the Management of VALCO.



In response, the Management of VALCO offered to grant a 22% increment in salaries for the workers with the assurance of further increment in the future as steps are being taken to retrofit the plant.



Management of VALCO appealed to the workers to consider the current state of the Aluminium Smelter which, for years, has been recording losses until the year 2021 where, through prudent management and better supervision, chalked some modest gains recording Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation & Amortization (EBITDA) profits. According to Management, they are hoping to build on this and retrofit and modernize the plant to improve efficiency and increase its capacity.



This will see VALCO partnering with an investor to increase its production from the current 50,000 tonnes out of its 200,000 tonnes installed capacity to 300,000 tonnes of refined aluminium per year.



Management of VALCO further indicated to the workers union executives that they will have to invite an independent arbiter in labour/industrial disputes settlement i.e the National Labour Commission (NLC), to take up the matter after negotiations between Management and the workers ended up in a stalemate.



However, the workers will have none of this and staged a demonstration against the Management of VALCO, calling for better conditions of service and the immediate dismissal of some Management members who they describe as retirees.



Following the announcement of a 15% Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) for workers in the Public Service by the Government in July 2022 in the face of what government describes as a global crisis, the declaring of losses for more than a decade by VALCO and a nosedive in the prices of Aluminium prices, a 22% increment in salaries, amidst all the difficulties, should be a good step towards addressing the conditions of service of any worker.







Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Ghana HIV and AIDS Network (GHANET) has appealed to President Akufo-Addo and Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta to quicken the activation of the National HIV and AIDS fund which has stalled since 2016.



The fund was enacted into law in 2016 following the amendment of the GAC Act, 938. According to the Act, the only person who can activate the Fund is the Minister of Finance.



Ernest Amoabeng Ortsin, President of GHANET delivering a solidarity message during the launch of the 2022 World AIDS Day and the 20th Anniversary Celebration of the Ghana AIDS Commission said:



"I, therefore, wish to use this platform to make a special appeal to the Honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, to unfailingly activate the Fund in the 2023 budget which will be read exactly two weeks from today.



We need the National HIV and AIDS Fund to preserve the lives of the over 250,000 Ghanaians who are currently surviving on life-saving Anti-Retroviral (ART) drugs. It is instructive to note that about 8 percent of this number are children (i.e. 20,000). At the present time, the Global Fund is the major donor supporting Ghanas interventions against HIV and AIDS. I am of the view that this is not tenable as the Global Fund may one day decide to wind down its activities.



As a country, we need to take our destiny into our own hands. And that is why GHANET and all Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Health are calling on the President and Minister of Finance to ACTIVATE the Fund".



Ghana AIDS Commission @ 20



Meanwhile, Mr Ortsin has congratulated the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) on the occasion of its 20th Anniversary.



"GHANET has a long history with the Commission dating back to its founding in 2002. Since that period till now, our successive presidents have always served on the Governing Board of the Commission. We are, therefore, very familiar with the story of the Commission...I wish to congratulate the Ghana AIDS Commission for this important milestone and I pray for a successful 2022 World AIDS Day Celebration" he added.





Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com









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Ghanaian statesman and politician Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe has alleged that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo refused to meet two top retired generals, General Brigadier Joseph Nunoo-Mensah and General Napoleon Ashley-Lassen, over a pressing security issue.



According to him, the generals, who have both served the nation as Chief of Defence Staff, wanted to inform the president of a potential security threat to Ghana, but Akufo-Addo did not give them an audience, which is a shame.



"Believe it or not, two retired generals General Brigadier Nunoo-Mensah and General Ashley Lassen, have both been chief of staff before in this country. They watched carefully about a couple of months ago, and they realised security was at its lowest end.



"They wanted to see the president; the president refused to see them This happened this year. They (the retired generals) have the experience, and they wanted to see you the president. Where on this planet will any president refuse to see such top people?



"If I'm telling lies, he should come out and say it. The generals know that things were going bad, and they wanted to whisper in his ears or tell him what to do so that there will be calm in this country," he said.



Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe, a founding member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), previously alleged that, but for the intervention of the NPP MPs, Ghana was on the verge of experiencing a military coup.



According to him, the call for the dismissal of the finance minister wiped away the plot.



He advised the president to learn from this development as the actions of the NPP MPs are unprecedented.



"Those who made this intervention have saved the 4th republic. We were getting close to military intervention, but the MPs' actions yesterday totally wiped it off, and I think the country should learn from that as well. Akufo-Addo, as I know, will definitely make attempts to change their minds; if they instead allow that, then they will be [the] most hated people in this country or on the political landscape," he said in an interview with TV3's Big Issue show.





Source: ghanaweb.com









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Students of the University of Malawi have been sent home after a decision to close it because of student protests.



The students are protesting against an academic calendar that keeps them at home for five to six months between semesters - which they say will result in a four-year course being concluded in up to seven years.



Several meetings between student representatives and university authorities have been held without an agreement being reached.



Last Thursday, a student general assembly resolved to suspend classes and on the following day, students started rioting, blocking all roads leading to the university with stones and tree branches.



In a statement on Wednesday, the university's acting registrar, Mary Wasiri, said the school had been closed until further notice, saying the protests had rendered the campus unsafe for both staff and students.



The academic calendar that's being contested was adopted in April in order to accommodate two first-year groups, one from last year and another from this year.



Last year's group spent almost a year and a half at home following the closure of all academic institutions due to Covid-19.



The university resolved to stagger the teaching of the two first-year groups so that both would alternate their time on campus, Ms Wasiri said.



This is because the university did not have enough teaching space and staff to accommodate them at the same time.

Source: BBC









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From 2023, public sector workers will be barred from using private emails for official work.



The official platform they are expected to use for government emails will be overseen by the National Information Technology Agency.



Speaking in Accra, the Minister of Communication and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, urged government agencies to liaise with the agency to make sure they are placed on the platform.



Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful said this policy will ensure the continuity of state information and mitigate instances of exposing state information to cyberattacks.



She charged the public sector CEOs to tighten structures to protect government information in the discharge of duties and noted that the goal is to ensure that official information stays within the official domain.



In other countries, you could lose your job for not using your official email because it compromises the security of the entire system. It destroys institutional memory. It makes government information available everywhere in the world.



Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful is also concerned that government business could fall into the wrong hands.



Somebody somewhere is using that information that has been provided on those supposedly free platforms and doing all kinds of things with our data which we dont know about.



The minister was speaking at the technology Breakfast meeting organised to sensitise Public Chief Executives on leveraging on governments digitalisation drive.

Source: citinewsroom.com









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The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, will make a historic visit to Anloga in the Volta Region on Saturday to attend the Hogbetsotso festival.

Sources close to the Manhyia Palace told the Daily Graphic yesterday that, the Asantehene, who will be the Special Guest at the festival, will be accompanied by a large delegation of chiefs and courtiers from Asanteman.



The Hogbetsotso festival of the Anlos of the Volta Region is celebrated to commemorate the exodus of the Ewe people from the tyrannical rule of King Agorkorli in Togo.



For this year, the Anlos had programmed to give the festival a unique mix of the cultures of the Anlos and Asantes.



Invitation



Earlier this year, the Awoamefia of the Anlo State, Togbui Sri III, officially extended an invitation to Otumfuo Osei Tutu to attend this year's Hogbetsotso festival.



A delegation from the Anlo State led by Togbui Tenge Dzokoto was at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi to hand over the invitation to Otumfuo in line with tradition.



Asante, Anlo relations



Asanteman and Anlo have both acknowledged the long history of friendship between them.



In 2018, Togbui Sri III was in Kumasi with a delegation of about 170 from his traditional area, to attend the last Akwasidae festival for the year.



After the event, the Manhyia Palace took its twitter handle to celebrate Togbui Sri for the visit.



Asantehene celebrated the last #Akwasidae for the year 2018 in grand style at Manhyia Palace with Togbui Sri III being the Special Guest of Honour, the Manhyia Palace tweeted.



At that Akwasidae, Otumfuo Osei Tutu recounted how Asantes and Anlos had lived together as brothers and sisters without any problems, and called for the sustenance of the relations.



My uncle, Otumfuo Sir Osei Agyeman Prempeh II, had the extraordinary challenge of managing the full integration of Asante into what is now the united Republic of Ghana. He was always proud that statesman as he was, he was able to draw a great deal from the Awoamefias great uncle, Togbui Sri I, and from some of the eminent sons of the Anlo State, Otumfuo Osei Tutu said.



He added: His (Otumfuo Osei Agyeman Prempehs) personal physician was Dr R.E.G. Amraoti, one of the finest physicians and scientists of his time; and his lawyer was the renowned B.E.A. Tamakloe, who was to become the lawyer of Asanteman during the very difficult years before independence.



Otumfuo Osei Tutu further indicated that the allocation of a suburb in Kumasi known as Anloga, as well as the allocation of some positions in the Asante Kingdom to Anlos, attested to the fact that the Anlos and Asantes had no conflict between them.



The Awoamefia, also expressed his appreciation to the Asantehene and the people of Asanteman for the way they had lived in peace with Anlos in the Ashanti Region.







Source: graphiconline.com









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An Accra High Court has threatened to release four alleged accomplices of En Huang, aka Aisha Huang, an alleged illegal miner, due to the absence of interpreters.



I will adjourn the case for the last time, if we dont get these interpreters (Chinese and Vietnamese), I will release the accused persons either conditionally or unconditionally.



The case is hereby adjourned to November 21, the Court presided over by Mrs Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, said on Tuesday.



The trial judge said this when three Chinese nationals namely: Shi Yang, alias Philip, Li Wei Guo and Shi Mei Zhi and Nguyen Thi Thanh Tuyen, a Vietnamese national, appeared before her at the Criminal Court 5 division of the High Court.



The three Chinese have been charged with engaging in small-scale mining without license while the Vietnamese are facing a charge of remaining in Ghana after expiration of a permit.



The Chinese accused persons have denied the charges.



The Court, however, could not take the plea of the Vietnamese because there was no Vietnamese interpreter.



When sitting resumed today, the court indicated that it had not been able to secure a Vietnamese interpreter and that the Chinese Interpreter who was in court at the last sitting had also travelled outside the jurisdiction.



The Registrar of the Court said a letter had been written to the Institute of Languages for a Vietnamese interpreter.



The Registrar said the Court had also reached out to the Chinese Interpreter who was out of the jurisdiction and he had agreed to do the interpretation via zoom but failed to answer his calls during sitting.

Source: GNA









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The country can pursue its development objectives while considering the challenges of climate change and the opportunities from its transition following the launch of the World Bank Group Country Climate Change Report on Ghana.

The Ghana Report is the second to be launched in Africa, after that on Rwanda.



According to the 68-page report, addressing the country's low emissions and major financing constraints in the short term should focus on bolstering resilience of its economy and society and also avoiding the creation of additional risks, among others.



It also called for the strengthening of institutional capacity for climate action and legal framework, as well as unlocking private climate financing.



In addition, it underscored the need to integrate agricultural development and forest and water management, while creating conditions for resilient cities and infrastructure.



Significance





The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Jinapor, who was speaking at the launch of the report in Accra yesterday, said the launch was timely, coming at the time preparations were being wrapped up for the COP 27 event in Cairo, Egypt.



We will study the recommendations as they relate to the ministrys mandate and continue to work with all stakeholders, including the World Bank, to address the challenges of climate change for a more integrated and sustainable landscape management, he said.



According to him, climate change had been identified as the most significant threat to sustainable development, dragging millions of people into poverty, adding: If we are to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), then we must tackle climate change head-on.



Mr Jinapor said although the countrys contribution to global emissions was minimal, estimated at 0.04 per cent, most of the emissions were attributed to agricultural, forestry and land use (AFOLU) activities.



Support



The World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Pierre Laporte, said the bank was already supporting Ghana to address climate change and build resilience.



Our current portfolio stands at US$3.3bn, with strong engagements in disaster risk management, urban development, landscape management, forestry, water supply, social protection, food systems, among others.



As part of the Climate Change Action Plan 2021-2025, we aim to step up our commitment to the climate agenda and also align all World Bank projects to the Paris Agreement by the end of this fiscal year, he said.



Mr Laporte further said Ghanas contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions was little, with emissions on a per capita basis at 24 per cent of the global average.



Nonetheless, Ghana will be disproportionally affected by climate change without action; at least more than one million people could fall into poverty due to climate shocks, while incomes could reduce by up to 40 per cent for poor households, he said.



The report also estimated that the additional cost of climate action was equivalent to between two and three per cent of cumulative GDP until 2050.



Situation



The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, said 20 per cent of the wealth of vulnerable countries had been eroded away, adding: So we are at a very crucial point in which those who have contributed least to this scourge that we are facing are going to have to be responsible to pay for it.



He, however, said there was a certain level of acknowledgement of transiting from mitigation to adaptation, which he said was necessary.



In a video presentation, the Senior Leader, Sustainable Development of the World Bank, Lorenzo Carrera, said climate change was a global crisis, and that the choices made today would influence the future.









Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Commercial drivers have begun charging new fares following an agreement that transport fares should be adjusted.

However, while members of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) are charging the 19 per cent increment as announced, the Concerned Drivers Association members have pegged their increment at 30 per cent.



This situation has triggered agitation between drivers and their mates on one hand and passengers on the other hand as the latter insist on charging the fares as approved by their unions and the former try to protest.



Situation



This has resulted in arguments, insults and name-calling with almost every moving trotro.



The Daily Graphic visited some transport terminals and also commuted on some trotros to observe how displeased passengers challenged the fares and sometimes refused to pay the new fares, which led to hot exchanges.





On one of the buses from Ridge Roundabout to Adentan Barrier, a hot exchange ensued as the passenger, obviously unaware that fares had been adjusted, refused to pay the GH8.50 being charged, insisting that the fare was GH6.80.



The passenger said he did not understand how the fare would change on the same day. The mate, who insisted that the new fare be paid, asked his driver to stop at 37 Military Hospital bus stop, so the passenger could alight from the bus.



Eventually, the passenger, who realised that it was rush hour and he might have to struggle to get to his destination, paid the fare and calm was restored in the vehicle.



Fares



Short distances have had an average of 50 pesewas increment while long distances have seen an average increment of GH1 to GH2 depending on which union the operators belong to.



For instance, Circle to Kaneshie which used to be GH3 was now GH3.50. Also, Circle to Accra has seen a consistent increment from GH 2.80 and GH3 to GH3.30 and GH3.50



Passengers are paying more for longer distances. The fare from Kasoa to Circle, for example, has increased from GH7.50 to GH8.50. Commuters from Ashongman to Circle now pay GH7.50 instead of GH6.20, with the fare from Amasaman to Circle increased from GH4.70 to GH6.00.



Drivers, mates



A driver, James Boye, who commutes between Circle and Kasoa, said despite the hardships, the increment was necessary in order not to run at a loss and urged passengers to bear with them.



People think we are the cause so they blame and insult us. But what they dont understand is that we are also trying to survive.



How do they expect transport fares to stay the same when literally on a daily basis, prices of fuel are going up? he said.



Another driver, Charles Aryee, said he was only complying with the new directives of the GPRTU.



As for me, I do as the union says. They have told us to increase the fares so we are doing just that. Anyone who has a problem should go and speak to the union heads.



I dont engage passengers when they insult me and my mate. I give them a choice, they either pay or get off my bus, its that simple, he explained.



A mate, who only identified himself as Randy, said: At this point, I am even tired of being a mate. I am tired of the insults and the arguments.



I am called a thief more times in a day than I can count. Something needs to be done and people must understand that it is not our fault, he lamented.



Passengers



A beautician, Eunice Amoo, accused transport operators of taking advantage of the changes in fuel prices to cheat passengers.



We understand that times are hard but these new fares are just exorbitant. Some of the drivers and mates are not being fair.



They are taking advantage of the increment to charge unfairly and the government needs to step in, she said.



A spare parts dealer, Abu Tahiru, said: This is getting out of hand. The government should not make this another talk shop but must do something about the fuel prices because that is what transport operators are mainly using as an excuse to increase fares and that is affecting everything.



A passenger in a Circle to Kaneshie bus, Mildred Esi Baiden, said the new fares were making business difficult on a daily basis.



As a trader, these new fares have taken a great toll on me and my business.



If I should increase the prices of my wares, people will accuse me of profiteering but they seem to forget that transport plays a role in the cost of commodities, she said.









Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Deputy Director of Elections, Daniel Amartey Mensah, has said the successful nature of the partys recently held branch and constituency elections was an indication that people were ready to lead the party to victory in the 2024 general elections.

The enthusiasm exhibited by the members of the party, supporters and sympathisers during the branch and constituency elections tells you how ready the party is, he said.



Historic



Mr Mensah, speaking in an interview with the Daily Graphic, disclosed that the party successfully conducted elections in 43 out of 47 constituencies in the Ashanti Region within two days.



So far, we have done 43 out of 47 constituencies within two days, which is historic.



Even those who claim the Ashanti Region to be their stronghold have never polled 43 out of 47 in two days; it has never happened, he said.



Mr Mensah, however, contended that despite some isolated incidents, the party had managed to complete a fair percentage of its branch and constituency elections across the country.



One hundred and ninety constituencies were slated to have had their elections a fortnight ago (Oct 22 and 23) and out of that, 169 constituencies had theirs successfully.



Eleven unfortunately had late arrival of materials while others got their materials but due to transposition of candidates and injunctions in certain cases, the elections had been rescheduled in the affected areas, he said



Late arrivals



Mr Mensah explained that many of the isolated incidents were as a result of election materials reaching the respective venues late.



For instance, he said: It was due to the fact that ballot printing was decentralised at the regional level, and unfortunately Eastern and Greater Accra regions found themselves printing ballots from the same printing house. That was where they had little challenges because the printer did not live up to expectation and that was why we had some late arrivals.



Mr Mensah also said some incidents were as a result of the behaviour of supporters of some candidates.



We condemn such incidents because it is uncalled for, he added.



Gratitude to police, EC



Mr Mensah commended the police and officials of the Electoral Commission (EC) for exhibiting professionalism and expressed his gratitude for the roles they played in ensuring the elections went on with minimum hitches.



Our engagement with the police has been very beneficial to the exercise we undertook, he said.



Congratulations



Mr Mensah charged the newly elected executives to hit the ground running to ensure that the party recaptured power in 2024.



He thanked those who lost their re-election bid for their service to the party, adding: The fact that the delegates chose another person does not mean youre not needed in the party.



What it means is that in the assessment of the delegates, the 2024 elections need new personnel to assist.









Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Chief Executive Officer of the State Transport Corporation (STC), Nana Akomea, has asked government not to arrest the people operating in black markets and the forex sector.



Nana Akomea made this call following President Nana Addo's speech on Sunday, October 30, 2022 on the current status of the economy as well as measures his government is undertaking to resolve the economic crises.



Sika Mp Dede



Speaking to the nation, the President said; "Fellow Ghanaians, as the French would say, largent naime pas le bruit, to wit, money does not like noise, sika mp dede. Where there is chaos, where there is noise, where there is unrest, you will not find money. If you talk down your money, it will go down. If you allow some unidentifiable person to talk down your money, it will go down."



"The recent turbulence on the financial markets was caused by low inflows of foreign exchange, and was made worse in the last two to three weeks, in particular, by the activities of speculators and the Black Market. An anonymous two-minute audio message on a WhatsApp platform predicting a so-called haircut on Government bonds sent all of us into banks and forex bureaus to dump our cedis, and, before we knew it, the cedi had depreciated further.



"All of us can play a part in helping to strengthen the cedi by having confidence in the currency, and avoiding speculation. Let us keep our cedi as the good store of value it is. To 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."



He underscored steps being taken to restore order in the forex markets.



Steps To Restoring Forex Market



"The following actions have been taken thus far:



1) enhanced supervisory action by the Bank of Ghana in the forex bureau markets and the black market to flush out illegal operators, as well as ensuring that those permitted to operate legally abide by the market rules. Already some forex bureaus have had their licenses revoked, and this exercise will continue until complete order is restored in the sector;



2) Fresh inflows of dollars are providing liquidity to the foreign exchange market, and addressing the pipeline demand;



3) the Bank of Ghana has given its full commitment to the commercial banks to provide liquidity to ensure the wheels of the economy continue to run in a stabilized manner, till the IMF Programme kicks in and the financing assurances expected from other partners also come in;



4) Government is working with the Bank of Ghana and the oil producing and mining companies to introduce a new legal and regulatory framework to ensure that all foreign exchange earned from operations in Ghana are, initially, paid to banks domiciled in Ghana to help boost the domestic foreign exchange market; and



5) the Bank of Ghana will enhance its gold purchase programme."



President Has Spoken, It's Time To Act



Speaking in an interview with Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' show, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah called on the State authorities not to let the President's orders be in vain.



"The President cannot go and stand at Airport Police station to arrest those selling money on the black market when he has given this direction and the Governor is there, the IGP and the Police officers are at the Airport Police station this morning. So, action must follow . . . and you see if we all decide to dump everything on the President as the only source of our interest and our criticisms, people will go scot free . . . We have to ensure action happens but it is the collective effort and pressure on all the agency Heads to get the action happening," he stated.



No Arrests



But Nana Akomea disagrees with the idea that the black market and forex operators should be apprehended as a solution to fixing the forex markets.



Making his submissions on 'Kokrokoo', he called for amicable resolution between the authorities and the forex operators.



"You must sit with them to find out their ways. Why doesn't the Bank of Ghana have dollar but some are at Cow Lane? You have to ask yourself that question and before you can find answers, you must sit with these people," he said.

Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Managing Director of the Intercity State Transport Corporation (STC), Nana Akomea has backed President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for refusing to sack the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, despite incessant calls for the latter's dismissal.



Last week, over 90 Members of Parliament in the ruling New Patriotic Party called for the head of Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta but the President intervened, telling the MPs to wait for the Minister to conclude Ghana's deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).



However, some people have questioned the President's decision asking in the unfortunate incident that the Finance Minister is incapacitated, will the President not find a suitable replacement?



Responding to the calls for Ken Ofori-Atta's dismissal, Nana Akomea says, "if you decide to appoint a new Finance Minister, it will take another two months. From nomination, when you nominate, it has to be there for 21 days or something before Parliament can sit and so forth. Even if you speed up the process, it will still cover one month".



"Has the IMF complained that the Finance Minister is not doing well? If you remove him, it's just aesthetics?", he also asked.



Nana Akomea made these comments during Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" discussion programme.



Watch video below





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Speaker of Parliament Alban Sumana Bagbin has questioned why his counterparts in higher positions in the country are entitled to military attache, but he isnt.



He argued why the Akfuo-Addo-led government withdrew his military attache when officials in equal ranks with him are enjoying such benefits, adding that the withdrawal is politically motivated.



The 3rd gentleman of the land bemoaned that the Chief Justice who is after him in the hierarchy has four military personnel, adding that Ministers, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Minister of Interior and Defence amongst others all have been assigned with military protection whiles he has been left out.



Four military officers assigned to the office of the Speaker of Parliament were, on January 14, 2022, withdrawn by the Ghana Armed Forces, citing improper procedure.



But during a media engagement in Parliament last Friday, he wondered why the President has decided to mete out this treatment to him, questioning the double standards by the President.



When I was second deputy Speaker, the Office of the same President approved his staff sergeant to be my military attache. For four good years, the staff sergeant was with me. Now I have been elected as Speaker, which is a higher position, and the same President says I am not entitled to military attache, but the others are entitled. If you go to his Excellencys office, you may count getting to about 200 military [personne], and the Vice-President definitely has access to some.



I, following, I am not entitled, but the Chief Justice who is after me has four military personnel; ministers have their own and each Supreme Court judge has two military personnel, and as for the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, that is a battalion. The Minister of National Security is entitled to military and my brothers in the Interior and Defence ministries both have; the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice has his own. The same with the Minister of Finance, but the Speaker is not entitled and this is Ghanas unique democracy.



Mr. Bagbin indicated that a tour of the Presidency will show the huge number of military personnel assigned to that office.



If you go to his Excellencys office, you may count getting to about 200 military, and the Vice-President definitely has access to some, he fumed.



An incensed Speaker whose security detail has been cut off said, but do not worry, as I am very, very secure.









Source: citinewsroom.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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Former President John Mahamas spokesperson, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, described the New Patriotic Party as stubborn after its members criticism of Mr. John Mahamas speech on the economy.



Though some NPP members who commented on Mr. Mahamas speech described it as hypocritical and in bad faith, among others, Mr. Ofosu said the NPP needed to show humility given the current economic crisis.



It is a bit disappointing that they remain obstinate and have not shown any inclination towards addressing the problems we face.



Any objective-minded Ghanaian who listened to the former President on Thursday would admit that he spoke to the issues in a manner that they should be spoken to.



Among other things, Mr. Mahama urged the President to cut down on the size of Presidential staffers, reduce the number of ministers to 65, jettison the Finance Minister and stop funding the national cathedral project.



Mr. Kwakye Ofosu added that the NPP was certain to lose the next election because of its manner of governance.



I am certain that if they do not listen to the wise prescription as put out by President Mahama, it is only a matter of time before the people boot them out at the earliest opportunity and then they will learn in humility in opposition.







Source: citinewsroom.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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Director of Public Affairs at Ghana Gas, Ernest Owusu Bempah, has said the Nana Akufo-Addo administration has so far paid $3.6 billion in the past seven years for the ENI/Sankofa gas pipeline deal signed by the Mahama administration in 2015.



Ernest Owusu Bempah was briefing Journalists in Accra on Tuesday, November 1 about how the contract which he termed as the 'most expensive gas contract in the world'.



On a monthly basis, he explained, Ghana is paying $46 million, making it $552 million yearly.



This contract, he intimated, was also signed for 20 to 25 years.



"The Akufo-Addo government had no choice but to continue with the contract when it came into office because of the terms and conditions."



This contract was signed for 20 to 25 years, monopoly for that period and the IMF questioned it."



We wouldnt be going to the IMF but for some of these reckless dubious contracts signed by the Mahama administration, he explained.



According to Ernest Owusu Bempah the contract is partly to blame for the current economic challenges facing the country.



The government is unable to reduce cost of electricity for thermal generation," he stressed.



Former President Mahama signed the agreement with ENI and Vitol Energy at a ceremony at the Peduase lodge near Aburi in 2015.



This was, at the time, probably the biggest single largest foreign direct investment in West Africa and indeed Ghana since independence.



The project was situated in the Western region.



The oil production from the offshore cape three points was estimated at eighty thousand barrels per day.



World Bank Country Director on Economic Challenges



Recently, the World Bank Country Director(Ghana), Pierre Frank Laporte mentioned losses in the energy sector of the economy as one the challenges that forced Ghana into a situation where it is now seeking support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).



Speaking in an interview with TV3s Paa Kwesi Asare on the Business Focus, Mr Laporte indicated that losses in the energy sector are compounding the challenges.



The big issue has been on the fiscal side. Before the current crisis happened, we observed certain challenges on the budget side that really has been the area more hit by everything. Also where actions are required now to deal with them.



For instance, on the revenue side we have always been saying that this is an area where Ghana should do better. We are encouraged by the fact that this should be one of the areas for potential programme and support from the World Bank. The problem is fiscal, not just revenue.



The problem is that there are also spillovers from other sectors. For instance, the energy sector. There is about one billion dollars going to the energy sector because of losses. The sector itself is not financial viable and to keep it going you have to subsidize.



Actions are required. Of course with Covid, the general business environment is been a bit more difficult.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has initiated moves in Parliament to halt the move by the Electoral Commission (EC) to use the National Identification Card (Ghana Card) as the only evidence of citizenship for the compilation of a new register for the 2024 general election.

A petition seeking to halt the laying of a draft Constitutional Instrument (C.I.) titled: Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulations, 2021, was captured on the Order Paper for yesterday but was put on hold at the instance of the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu.



Mr Iddrisu, who will present the petition in Parliament next week, explained that the rescheduling was to allow for an engagement with the Speaker, Alban Bagbin, as well as the leadership of Parliament.



Expected to regulate continuous voter registration, the draft C.I. has in it a proposal to make the Ghana Card the sole source document of identification for prospective voters.



Petition



According to the petition, which was sighted by the Daily Graphic, the NDC did not want the proposed C.I. to be laid until the backlog of Ghana cards, which the National Identification Authority (NIA) has admitted to, had been cleared.





Furthermore, it said the C.I., as subsidiary legislation, could not override the substantive provision in the Constitution on the citizens right to register and vote.



It pointed out that an insistence on the Ghana Card as the only evidence of citizenship would deny millions of citizens the right to register and vote.



Consequently, the NDC wanted other forms of evidence of citizenship, such as the Ghanaian passport and the guarantor system, to be added to the Ghana Card as evidence of citizenship in the proposed C.I.



Any further action on the proposed C.I. by or in Parliament should be frozen until consultations have been initiated and concluded with the major stakeholders, especially the political parties, including the NDC, and civil society, the petition added.



Minority duty



Later, at a press conference, the Minority Leader said as a group, they had a duty to protect and preserve the fundamental human rights and freedoms of Ghanaians.



"This includes the right to vote, as enshrined in Article 42 of the 1992 Constitution," he said.



The article states: "Every citizen of Ghana of 18 years of age or above and of sound mind has the right to vote and is entitled to be registered as a voter for the purposes of public elections and referenda."



Mr Iddrisu said the Minority was concerned about the disparity and discrepancies in the number of people captured on the bio-data of the EC and the NIA.



He said while the EC claimed to have registered about 17 million Ghanaians, the NIA said it had registered less than that figure.



In a recent interview with the Daily Graphic, a former Chairman of the EC, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, opposed the decision to use the Ghana Card as the only source document for continuous voter registration, arguing that it could disenfranchise millions of qualified Ghanaians.



He said with many Ghanaians finding it difficult to get their Ghana cards, making it the only form of identification for voter registration was against electoral inclusivity, fairness and justice.



Ghanaian citizens dont lose their citizenship if they are 18 years or older but do not have the Ghana Card. So the moot question is: why make the Ghana Card the only means of identification for purposes of establishing eligibility to register to vote? Dr Afari-Gyan queried.



EC position



However, the EC has explained that the decision to use the Ghana Card as the sole source of identification is to ensure the integrity of the voters register.



Speaking with the Daily Graphic in August this year, a Deputy Chairman of the EC, Dr Eric Bossman Asare, said the registration process would be continuous and should, therefore, not cause any harm.



He explained that voter registration, when rolled out in January next year, would go on for almost two years, and that by the end of the exercise in August 7, 2024, eligible voters who wanted to register would have obtained their Ghana cards to enable them to register as voters.



When you look at this, how is this going to disenfranchise millions of Ghanaians? he quizzed, adding: It should be clear that we are not going to use the Ghana Card for voting; it is only going to be used for registration, and when you register, we will issue you with our voter card.

Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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New Twitter CEO Elon Musk confirmed that the social media platform's verified checkmark system will cost $8-a-month after he was spotted leaving his mother's New York City apartment following Heidi Klum's Halloween bash.



Musk, who also serves as the CEO of Space X, was seen sporting his 'Occupy Mars' T-shirt as he left his mother's home to head into Twitter's New York City headquarters for the second-day following his $44 billion takeover.



As he made the rounds in his new business, Musk explained his plan for Twitter's verified system on the social media platform itself.



Read Full Story .... dailymail >>> :

















Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) and musician Kirani Ayat have reached an agreement in their copyright infringement case.



In a statement jointly issued on October 31, 2022, the parties said they reached an amicable agreement in settlement.



Kirani in September 2022 dragged the Tourism Ministry and the Authority together with President Akufo Addo on social media for copyright infringement.



This was after the President shared footage which included images from his Guda music video to promote tourism in Ghana on his social media handles.



According to Kirani, no one sought his permission to use snippets of his video



But GTA dismissed the claims that it pirated the footage. It said it paid for it through an agency, a claim that Kirani denied knowledge about.



In Mondays statement, the GTA admitted using the visual since 2019 to produce various content to promote tourism in Ghana.



In view of this, aside from reaching a settlement, the statement noted both parties will collaborate on a number of projects aimed at showcasing Ghana.



Moving forward, Ayat and GTA will collaborate on a number of projects aimed at showcasing Ghana, our beautiful landscapes, and exciting talents to the world. Ayat appreciates all support from the good people of Ghana throughout this process. His new project, Aishas Sun is available now on all music streaming platforms, said the statement shared by Kirani on Twitter.

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Police has contacted musician Shatta Wale to assist in investigations into the murder of late artiste Manager Fennec Okyere.



The Ghana Police Service, in a statement seen by Peacefmonline and signed by Chief Superintendent of Police, Grace Ansah-Akrofi, Director, Public Affairs, indicated that the recently set up 'Cold Case Unit' working on unresolved murder cases has been working on the case and many others.



Shatta Wale has been invited by Police following a tweet by him accusing his former manager, Bulldog, of masterminding the murder of Fennec Okyere.



The dancehall artiste and his former Manager whose real name is Lawrence Asiamah Hanson have recently engaged in a social media war.



Their fight started after Bulldog claimed that Black Sheriff's album 'The Villian I Never Was' would perform better than Shatta Wale's 'GOG' album.



Shedding light on the Fennec's demise, Shatta Wale tweeted; "Bull Dog since u r bringing out secrets You will tell Ghanaians What happen to Fenicks Murder!! And I am not joking about this time!! I am ready to tell the court about what you told me about you and your men and how planned that foolish act get ready

This Akuffo Addo won't give you a murder chance to be on our streets!!! Watch how this ends!!! You can't fight time!!!"



The tweet has engendered the Police's response stating; "This new development from Shatta Wale is therefore going to complement our ongoing investigation. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the families who have been working with the Cold Case Unit since its establishment for their cooperation and understanding. We wish to assure the public that the Police will continue to work relentlessly on these cases in order to bring closure to the affected families."

Police Statement

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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Quebec Premier Francois Legault speaks at a news conference prior to his government's first cabinet meeting since his party was re-elected, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022, at the legislature in Quebec City. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot
NDP MP for Hamilton Centre Matthew Green is seen as he arrives on Parliament Hill on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020, in Ottawa. Green is calling on the House of Commons to hold an emergency debate about Ontario Premier Doug Ford's use of the notwithstanding clause.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz is seated at the defense table for a sentencing hearing at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022. Cruz was sentenced to life in prison for murdering 17 people at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School more than four years ago. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP, Pool)
Peoples Daily: On November 1, the 31st session of the Arab League (AL) summit kicked off in Algeria. President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message to Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the rotating president of the Council of the AL, on the convening of the 31st AL summit. Could you share more details on that?

Zhao Lijian: The 31st Arab League summit kicked off in the Algerian capital of Algiers on November 1. President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message to Algerian President Tebboune, who is also the rotating president of the Council of the Arab League (AL), to express warm congratulations on the convening of the meeting. He applauded the ALs effort in upholding multilateralism and defending the common interests of developing countries and spoke highly of Chinas friendly ties with Arab countries. He also noted that the two sides have consolidated political mutual trust, achieved sustained and tangible progress in Belt and Road cooperation and witnessed fruitful practical cooperation in various fields. In the face of COVID-19, China and Arab countries have stood together and offered each other support, setting a good example of South-South cooperation. China stands ready to work with Arab countries to continue to offer staunch support to each other and expand cooperation, jointly forge a China-Arab community with a shared future in the new era, create a better future for China-Arab relations and contribute to world peace and development. Zhai Jun, Special Envoy of the Chinese Government for the Middle East, attended the opening ceremony and passed on President Xi Jinpings congratulatory letter to the meeting.

China-Arab relations are time-tested and have grown from strength to strength. China and Arab countries are future-oriented strategic partners of all-round cooperation and common development. We have offered each other consistent and firm support on issues concerning core interests and of major concerns. Our joint response in the face of changes and a pandemic unseen in a century has made China-Arab relations brighter and even more resilient, providing a benchmark for solidarity and coordination between developing countries. Under the new circumstances, China will enhance solidarity and coordination with Arab countries to jointly build a China-Arab community with a shared future in the new era and continue to deepen our strategic partnership.

YTN: The DPRK launched missiles today. Unlike before, it fired missiles to the south, which fell into areas close to the ROKs territorial waters. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have heightened recently. How does China view the Peninsula issue?

Zhao Lijian: China is closely following the developments of the Korean Peninsula situation. It is in the common interest of this region to maintain peace and stability of the Peninsula and address each others concerns in a balanced way through dialogue and consultation. We hope relevant parties can keep to the direction of seeking political settlement, meet each other halfway, and avoid a spiral of escalation.

Beijing Daily: According to reports, Tanzanian Ambassador to China Mbelwa Kairuki gave a warm review of Tanzania-China cooperation and gave a preview of the possible outcomes of President Samia Suluhu Hassans visit to China at a press conference recently. He said, the two sides will sign multiple agreements during the presidents stay in China, which will bring new opportunities to bilateral cooperation in infrastructure, agriculture, trade and investment. The two countries enjoy close relations and share mutual benefits. This visit demonstrates the high-level political mutual trust between the two countries and will elevate the relations to a new stage. Whats Chinas comment?

Zhao Lijian: I have also noted relevant reports. Ambassador Mbelwa Kairuki also shared the tangible benefits China-Tanzania cooperation has brought to the Tanzanian people in such areas as socioeconomic development, trade, employment, health care and people-to-people exchanges. Just as Ambassador Mbelwa Kairuki said, the upcoming visit by President Hassan will fully demonstrate the high-level friendship and mutual trust between China and Tanzania. We believe this visit will promote the development of the relations at an even higher level.

President Hassan is the first African head of state China will receive after the 20th National Congress of the CPC. China-Tanzania friendship is an epitome of China-Africa friendship and cooperation. China-Africa relations have been strong, and the two sides have ushered in a new era of building a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future. China is working closely with African countries to carry forward the spirit of China-Africa friendship and cooperation under the new circumstances, and jointly implement the outcomes of the FOCAC Dakar Conference. We believe that President Hassans visit will further bolster the building of a China-Africa community with a shared future in the new era.

AFP: The Dutch government said yesterday that no permission was sought from the Netherlands for the Chinese police service stations, and it ordered China to close the police service stations in the Netherlands. What is China's comment?

Zhao Lijian: I would refer you to competent authorities for more detailed information. Let me say that according to our understanding, the sites you mentioned are not police stations or police service centers. They assist overseas Chinese nationals who need help in accessing the online service platform to get their driving licenses renewed and receive physical check-ups for that purpose. The venues are provided by local overseas Chinese communities who would like to be helpful, and the people who work on those sites are all volunteers who come from these communities. They are not police personnel from China. There is no need to make people nervous about this.

Dragon TV: The fifth China International Import Expo (CIIE) will kick off on Saturday, with the preparations almost completed. Do you have any comment? What are your expectations for this CIIE?

Zhao Lijian: The fifth China International Import Expo (CIIE) will be held in Shanghai from November 5 to 10. It is the first major international expo to be held by China after the 20th CPC National Congress. As an official from the CIIE Bureau noted at a press conference yesterday, the fifth CIIE will see more participating countries, more diverse exhibits, more premium products and various activities that people can look forward to.

The report to the 20th CPC National Congress says explicitly that China is committed to its fundamental national policy of opening to the outside world and pursues a mutually beneficial strategy of opening-up, and that China strives to create new opportunities for the world with its own development and to contribute its share to building an open global economy. The success of the CIIE has been and will continue to be a good example of Chinas resolve and confidence to open up its market to the world and share development opportunities with other countries. We wish the fifth CIIE full success. We are convinced that it will be a highlight in global economic recovery and growth for this year.

CGTN: Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan has started his official visit to China. Can you share more about his visit?

Zhao Lijian: On the morning of 2 November, President Xi Jinping met with Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan on his official visit to China at the Great Hall of the People.

President Xi welcomed Prime Minister Sharif and thanked him for his congratulatory letter right after the opening of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). President Xi noted that China and Pakistan are good friends, good partners and good brothers. Amid global changes and uncertainties in recent years, the two countries have supported each other and forged ahead, demonstrating an iron-clad friendship. China views its relations with Pakistan from a strategic and long-term perspective, and Pakistan has always been a high priority in Chinas neighborhood diplomacy. China is ready to work with Pakistan to elevate the level of all-round strategic cooperation, speed up efforts to build a closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era, and inject new impetus into their all-weather strategic cooperative partnership.

President Xi stressed that China commends Pakistans firm commitment to advancing friendship and cooperation with China, and expressed appreciation for Pakistans support on issues vital to Chinas core and major concerns. China will continue to firmly support Pakistan in safeguarding its sovereignty, territorial integrity, development interests and dignity, and in achieving unity, stability, development and prosperity. China expressed deep sympathies to the Pakistani people over the devastating floods that have hit the country, and will provide additional emergency relief to help with post-flood reconstruction. China supports Pakistans efforts to revive agricultural production, and will strengthen cooperation with Pakistan on disaster prevention and relief and climate change.

After presenting the key outcomes of the 20th CPC National Congress, President Xi underscored that China will continue its fundamental policy of opening-up and provide new opportunities to Pakistan and the rest of the world through continuous development. China will further deepen synergy between its development strategies and those of Pakistan. The two sides will make full use of the Joint Cooperation Committee of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), advance CPEC with greater efficiency, and make CPEC an exemplar of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. It is important to accelerate the construction of auxiliary infrastructure for Gwadar Port to unleash its role in driving interconnected development in the region. The two sides will work together to create conditions for the early implementation of the upgradation of ML-1 and the Karachi Circular Railway project. Pakistan is welcome to export more quality agri-products to China. China will work with Pakistan to expand cooperation in digital economy, e-commerce, photovoltaic and other new-energy technologies, and take solid steps to advance cooperation concerning agriculture, science, technology and peoples livelihood. China will continue to do its best to support Pakistan in stabilizing its financial situation. China supports its provinces with a strong industry in pairing up with Pakistani partners to advance industrial cooperation, and hopes the Pakistani side will provide a sound business environment. President Xi said the safety of Chinese nationals in Pakistan is close to his heart, and conveyed his hope that Pakistan will provide a reliable and safe environment for Chinese institutions and personnel working on cooperation projects there.

President Xi pointed out that the world, our times and history are changing in ways like never before. Facing a highly uncertain world, both sides should stand on the right side of history, keep up their strong cooperation in multilateral mechanisms, and work closely on major international and regional issues so as to uphold true multilateralism, international fairness and justice and the shared interests of developing countries, and inject certainty and positives into the world. China will work with Pakistan to advance the operationalization of the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, make the global economic governance system more fair, equitable, inclusive and beneficial to all, and build a community with a shared future for mankind. These collaborative efforts will provide a strong underpinning for the development of the two countries, and contribute more to global peace, stability and prosperity.

Prime Minister Sharif noted that it is a great honor for him to be among the first foreign leaders to visit China after the successful 20th CPC National Congress, which marked a new milestone. The visit is a testament to the profound, iron-clad friendship between Pakistan and China. On behalf of the Pakistani government and people, Prime Minister Sharif once again expressed hearty congratulations to President Xi on his re-election as General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee. He said that over the past decade, under the dynamic leadership of President Xi, China has created a miracle of great development achievements. China has upheld multilateralism, promoted global solidarity and cooperation, and made important contributions to safeguarding world peace and development. In doing so, China has lived up to its responsibility as a major country. The world cannot operate without China, and Chinas development cannot be isolated or contained by any force. Prime Minister Sharif expressed his confidence that President Xi, with his extraordinary vision, will continue to lead China toward even more remarkable achievements and create an even brighter future for the world.

Prime Minister Sharif stressed that deepening Pakistans all-weather strategic cooperative partnership with China is a cornerstone of Pakistans foreign policy and the national consensus of Pakistan. He expressed heartfelt appreciation to the Chinese government and people for the valuable anti-COVID support, and for the generous assistance in the wake of the devastating floods. No country has ever helped Pakistan or other developing countries with such wholehearted sincerity, he said. He reiterated Pakistans firm commitment to the one-China policy and its firm support for Chinas position on issues concerning Chinas core interests including Taiwan, Xinjiang and Hong Kong. Even as Pakistan learns from Chinas successful experience and tries to rely on its own efforts, Pakistan will deepen all-round cooperation with China to better develop itself. This is the only way forward for Pakistan. CPEC has had a profound impact on Pakistans economic and social development. Pakistan is ready to work with China to continue promoting high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and hopes to have Chinas strong support in the upgradation of ML-1, the Karachi Circular Railway and other important infrastructure projects. Pakistan will further step up security measures and do all it can to protect the safety of Chinese institutions and personnel. Pakistan fully supports the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative put forth by President Xi. It will strengthen communication and collaboration with China in international and regional affairs to make a positive contribution to world peace and development. The Pakistan-China friendship is unbreakable. Pakistan will always stand firmly with China.

After the meeting, President Xi held a welcoming banquet for Prime Minister Sharif at the Golden Hall of the Great Hall of the People.

Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, State Councilor and Foreign Minister, and He Lifeng, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, were present at the events.

Prime Minister Sharif will also meet with other Chinese leaders later today. We will release updates in due course.

Phoenix TV: According to reports, the US government has asked countries like Japan to adopt restrictive measures on semiconductor exports to China. Japanese officials familiar with the matter said that after receiving the US proposal, the Japanese government has started relevant coordination, including discussions on the restrictive measures it could take as the US has done. Whats Chinas comment?

Zhao Lijian: For some time, the US has been abusing export control measures to deliberately block and hobble Chinese companies. The US has coerced its allies to join in suppressing Chinas economic development. This can only cause huge damage to the stability of global industrial and supply chains, seriously violate free trade rules and gravely undermine the economic development of countries and the well-being of their people. We will continue to work with the international community to oppose the USs economic coercion and bullying practices to jointly keep the world economic system, rules and foundation stable. We also hope other countries will independently make the right decisions on the basis of their own long-term interests and the fundamental interests of the international community.
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At an event in Florida, President Biden used Sen. Rick Scotts own words against him on Social Security and Medicare.

Video of Biden:

The President said:

Folks here in Florida, you need to know, I mean, sincerely, you need to know this need to know why. Because of your own. Senator, senator Rick Scott, I have a brochure here. Hes in charge of electing Republicans in the Senate. Ahead of the campaign. And he laid out a clear plan. He said every five years, Social Security, Medicare would have to be reauthorized. This is from the brochure.

Quote, all federal legislation, sunsets, means go out and goes out of existence in five years. If the law is worth keeping, Congress will pass it again. Every five years. The Congress has to vote to reauthorize Social Security, reauthorized.

It goes away. Wed have to vote to reauthorize Medicare, reauthorized veterans benefits go down the list. The very idea that a senator from Florida wants to cut Social Security, Medicare but they dont just go where they can cut it, they can change it. Basically, the senator from Florida going after Medicare and Social Security.



Youve been paying your Social Security your whole life. You earned it. Now, these guys want to take it away.

Rick Scotts platform of killing Social Security and Medicare has been the gift that has kept on giving throughout the midterm election. Biden has been going around the country telling voters exactly what Republicans intend to try to do if they get control of both the House and the Senate.

Biden has been a solid messenger for Democrats, and if Republicans win control of all or part of Congress, the American people should expect the President to call out Republicans by name.

The President likes to promote bipartisanship, but he is demonstrating that he is equally skilled at the bare-knuckle brawling that is sometimes necessary in American politics.
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The first stop the steal protests didnt occur in 2020, but after the 2018 Senate race in Florida, and now the Justice Department is investigating Roger Stone and the Proud Boys for their actions after that election.

Via: The New York Times:

In recent months, prosecutors overseeing the seditious conspiracy case of five members of the Proud Boys have expanded their investigation to examine the role that Jacob Engels  a Florida Proud Boy who accompanied Mr. Stone to Washington for Jan. 6  played in the 2018 protests, according to a person briefed on the matter.

The prosecutors want to know whether Mr. Engels received any payments or drew up any plans for the Florida demonstration, and whether he has ties to other people connected to the Proud Boys activities in the run-up to the storming of the Capitol.

Different prosecutors connected to the Jan. 6 investigation have also been asking questions about efforts by Mr. Stone  a longtime adviser to Mr. Trump  to stave off a recount in the 2018 Senate race in Florida, according to other people familiar with the matter.

The DOJ is investigating whether the 2018 protest was a model for 1/6. If the Justice Department can prove that the 2018 Florida protest and the 2020 attack are linked, it will demonstrate a coordinated network that intended to disrupt elections and had a series of developed tactics.

In other words, it will show that the 1/6 attack was not a protest that got out of control and sink any defenses that Stone and the Proud Boys could mount. Such evidence would also place Trump, his allies, and militias a lot closer to being labeled a criminal cell than a group engaging in protected political protest against the government.

If the pattern holds, the attacks by Trump and his associates are growing, so DOJ must take action to dismantle this network before the 2024 election.;
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Time to stop the false equivalence whataboutism Republicans are using to justify their failure to even admit a smidge of responsibility for the savage attack on Paul Pelosi.

These numbers are FACTS, which are not the same as show me, prove it, prove it again, still dont believe you conspiracies.

The Anti-Defamation League reported in May of 2022 that over the past decade, right-wing extremists have committed the majority of extremist-related killings in all years but one2016, the year of the shooting spree at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, by a person motivated by Islamist extremism. Of the 443 people killed at the hands of extremists over that 10-year period, 333 (or 75%) were killed by right-wing extremists.

The left-wing extremism you keep hearing about on TV and all over the Internet? 4%.

Yes. Four percent. 4%. FOUR PERCENT.

Four percent versus seventy-five percent.

333 people were murdered by right-wing extremists over the past decade.

In 2021 alone, As in most years, lethal extremist violence in 2021 was heavily dominated by right-wing extremism. All but three of the 29 murders (90%) documented in this report had ties to forms of right-wing extremism, including white supremacy, anti-government extremism of several types, right-wing conspiracy theory adherents and toxic masculinity adherents.

This doesnt include all of the violence committed by people with these beliefs.

Theres crossover with, for instance, domestic violence, which kills an estimated three women a day in the United States, and the likelihood of being murdered in your own home by your partner goes up 500% if theres a gun in the home.

Additionally, the Republican Party is now openly breeding domestic terrorists with lies and invitations to violence from the top down. These terrorists consistently manage to do the dirty work of terrorizing the other party and people who dont agree with Republicans, including trying to take the United States by force on January 6th, 2021 after Trump lost the election to President Joe Biden. And they, the little guys radicalized by Republican leadership and Republican leaderships cowardice, are the ones paying  along with their victims, not the people at the top who are inciting them.

These are the people running on crime? As Jennifer Rubin put it so well on Twitter, if Republicans would stop inciting violence crime might go down.

Seventy-five percent to 4% is not comparable. They are both always wrong and unacceptable, but they are not the same.

Yet Republicans continue to deflect in an effort to justify their refusal to publicly admit Joe Biden won the election and to avoid accountability for horrifically irresponsible public comments like this:

Enjoyed exercising my Second Amendment rights with @KellyCooperAZ & General @JackBergman_MI1. 13 days to make history. Lets #FirePelosi. pic.twitter.com/QgSpjkApIz  Tom Emmer (@tomemmer) October 26, 2022

ADL explains why right-wing extremists commit such a high proportion of murders: Most of these movements have some degree of association with violence, with many even engaging in terrorist plots and attacks. Even the newest right-wing movements to emerge in recent yearsmovements that include incel/manosphere extremists, QAnon adherents and anti-government boogalooershave all quickly developed violent track records.

Lets all say it together until this dangerous conflation is finally called out: right-wing extremists committed about 75% of the murders committed by extremists. Left-wing extremists committed 4%.

75 and 4 are not the same. They are not equivalents. This is not a both sides issue.

While any party can become extremist and radicalized, only one party seems to get cover from the media for their violence by allowing this conflation, which is deeply concerning because the other huge difference between Republicans and Democrats is Democrats not only call out violence on their side, but they are NOT INSPIRING IT with their rhetoric or visuals or with conspiracies.

Its apparently painful for objective people to call out reality, but it must be done. And frankly, its not objective to hide from the facts and not inform readers and viewers. A distortion of a dangerous fact is not some high horse on which to hand the country over to terrorists while congratulating oneself for ones objectivity.

At long last, can we for the love of the truth stop this conflation. Its not about gotcha; its about the fact that we dont stand a chance in Hell of stopping this violence if people inciting and excusing and lionizing it from the very leadership positions of the Republican Party arent held accountable.

Republican Party leaders like Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell cant even find the spine to publicly condemn Trumps election denialism lies to their base. Yes, McConnell reportedly worked privately to undermine Trumps attack on his own country, but the Republican base still believes that the Republican Party leader, Donald Trump, won and the election was stolen from him. They need to hear from other Republican leaders loudly and consistently until this lie dies. They are responsible for allowing it to fester so they could use Trump for all hes worth until he goes the way of Sarah Palin.

If the media doesnt immediately start calling Republicans out for running on crime while inciting it and their profound lack of moral character that dodges accountability for consistent use of weapons of war imagery and violent language, the public must hold media accountable as part of the problem.
Aiken, SC (29801)

Today

Sunny skies. High 69F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies and rain later during the night. Low 54F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
The legal battle over the $8 million plus estate of an Aiken woman who died in early January appears to be over.

John W. Harte, attorney for former South Carolina House of Representatives candidate and George Funeral Home owner Cody Anderson, said that an agreement had been reached to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed on Anderson's behalf against local attorney Ray Massey and accountant Wanda Scott.

Harte filed the defamation suit on Anderson's behalf against Massey and Scott on June 12 over allegations of elder abuse and undue influence made in legal documents filed during the spring legal battle over the estate of Mary Margaret Wenzell Crandall.

Massey and Scott asked the court in late January to use a will written in 2001 to distribute Crandall's assets. In that will, Massey and Scott were named as the people who distributed Crandall's assets.

Anderson asked the court in February and March to use a will written in 2020 to distribute Crandall's assets. In that will, Anderson was named the person who distributed Crandall's assets.

On March 17, Massey and Scott argued that Anderson had used undue influence to convince Crandall, who was diagnosed with dementia in 2018, to sign the 2020 will.

The allegation was denied by Harte in a statement sent after the Aiken Standard published an article about the legal battle.

Judge Courtney Clyburn-Pope eventually threw out the 2020 will because it did not meet the requirements of the South Carolina Probate Code. When the 2020 will was thrown out, Massey and Scott agreed to dismiss their claims of elder abuse and undue influence against Anderson.

Harte then filed two defamation lawsuits over the allegations over elder abuse and undue influence.

On April 5, Harte filed a defamation lawsuit on Anderson's behalf against Ed Hatcher, the owner of Hatcher Funeral Home and Cremation Service over comments Hatcher made on Facebook about the allegations over elder abuse. That suit was settled on Aug. 12.

Harte filed the defamation suit against Massey and Scott on June 12, alleging that the allegations of elder abuse and undue influence were made without evidence and with no investigation.

Billy Newsome, the attorney for Massey and Scott, said there had been no defamation and that the suit was "a ridiculous attempt to deflect from the truth, and we look forward to sharing the facts through the legal process  again."

That suit was dismissed by the parties on Oct. 17.

Harte, said in an emailed statement that Anderson, Massey and Scott had reached an agreement to dismiss the case without an admission of liability or a payment by any of the parties.

"After investigation, Anderson determined that Scott and Massey did not have a personal vendetta against him or knowingly make false statements against him without investigation or with the intent to hurt his professional reputation as a licensed funeral director," Harte said.

He added Scott and Masseys investigation did not reveal evidence of Anderson obtaining any of Margaret Crandalls funds before or after her death, and that Scott and Massey were not aware of Anderson participating in isolating Margaret Crandall from her friends and family or her financial assets.
Over 10,000 Aiken County residents have already voted in the 2022 midterms.

Voter participation statistics provided by the South Carolina Election Commission indicate that 9,562 people have voted early and 870 people have returned absentee ballots for a total of 10,432 ballots already cast as of Monday.

Early voting in South Carolina involves going to a physical polling place to cast a ballot prior to election day. Anyone can vote early. In Aiken County, people wishing to vote early can do so from 8:30 a.m.- 6 p.m. through Saturday at the Aiken County election office or North Augusta Public Safety Station II.

Monday was the busiest early voting day in Aiken County so far: 1,734 people voted early. Saturday was the least busy day. On that day, Oct. 29, 444 people voted early.

Absentee voting involves requesting a ballot to be mailed, receiving the ballot, filling it out and returning it before polls close at 7 p.m. next Tuesday. Absentee voting is allowed for people who have disabilities or who are attending people with disabilities, who are 65 or older, who are members of the military or married to someone who is in the military, who are in the hospital, who aren't going to be in their county of residence on Nov. 8, who have employment obligations, or who are in a jail awaiting a trial.

In all, just under 9% of Aiken County's registered voters have cast ballots. Specifically, 10,432 voters have already cast ballots out of 116,055 registered voters which equates to a percentage of 8.99%.

That percentage places Aiken County 25th out of South Carolina's 46 counties.

The counties with the highest percentages of voters who have already cast ballots are Colleton (19.42%), Marion (17.55%), Georgetown (16.33%), Clarendon (14.04%) and Charleston (13.39%).

Seventeen counties have a voting percentage of higher than 10%. Of these, 16 are in the eastern half, or lower state, of South Carolina.

Oconee County is the only exception in 16th with a percentage of 10.33%.

The remainder of the top 10 can be split into three groups: counties with a coastline or counties that border a county with a coastline, a cluster of counties on the outskirts of the Charlotte metro area, and counties located between Aiken and the Atlantic Ocean.

Seven of the top eight counties and nine of the top 11 either have a coastline or border a county with a coastline. The exceptions are Clarendon, Lancaster (9th; 11.61%) and Allendale (10th; 11.32%).

Lancaster, Kershaw, Fairfield and Chesterfield comprise the cluster near Charlotte. Orangeburg, Calhoun and Allendale are counties located not far from Aiken County.

The counties with the lowest percentage of voters who have already cast ballots are Laurens (4.47%), Dillon (5.31%), Anderson (5.80%), Union (7.15%) and Cherokee (7.20%).

In all, 13 counties have percentages lower than 8%.

With the exceptions of Dillon and Berkeley (11th lowest; 7.64%), all of these counties are located in the western half, or upper state, of South Carolina.

Edgefield County is included in this list of counties. It ranks 35th with a percentage of voters who have already cast ballots of 7.82%.

Barnwell County joins Aiken squarely in the middle: it ranks 20th with a percentage of 9.63%.

In all, 324,725 of South Carolina's nearly 3.38 million registered voters have voted early for a percentage of 9.61%.

Early voting will continue until Saturday. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Aiken County election offices and North Augusta Public Safety Station II.

The voter registration and election offices are on the first floor of the Aiken County Government Center located at 1930 University Parkway. North Augusta Public Safety Station II is located at 501 Five Notch Road.

People who wish to vote early are asked to bring one of four types of photo identification: South Carolina driver's license, South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles identify card, U.S. Passport or federal military identification.

Qualified voters have until 5 p.m. Friday to return their absentee ballot application.

Once people receive their ballot, they're asked to return it to the election office by 7 p.m. on Nov. 8. Ballots returned by mail should be mailed no later than one week prior to election day to help ensure timely delivery.

Absentee voters are still required to have the ballot signed by a witness and to have a photo identification if they return their ballot in person.
From interactive installations to parties that celebrate being out in nature, New Paradigm Productions brings a fresh approach to experiencing art and connecting the community.

The trio of women behind this creative venture  Aggie Flores, Jing Wen and Stephany Ferreira  said the name New Paradigm Productions reflects their vision for a new way of creating art and holding events.

After launching last November and attracting a following from those in the Charleston art and music scene, the group is celebrating its anniversary with a party at Lo-Fi Brewing on Nov. 11. Dubbed "Urban Artcelium," the event will feature their trademark art installations and focus on unique experiences and intentional gathering.

If you go *This event has been rescheduled to Nov. 12* WHAT: Urban Artcelium one-year anniversary party featuring DJ Mouldybrain w/ Adam Coyne of Easy Honey and Schema WHEN: 8 p.m. Nov. 11 WHERE: Lo-Fi Brewing, 2038 Meeting Street Road PRICE: $19 presale, $39 merch bundle MORE INFO: newparadigmproductions.org/event-details/urban-artcelium

The idea behind artcelium started when the three founders met while working for the Woodlands Nature Reserve, an outdoor space in Dorchester County that hosted events and camping. Wen was in finances, Flores was in event coordination and Ferreira was in hospitality and marketing.

Despite their different departments, they became fast friends who began throwing monthly artcelium events at the Woodlands.

It started as a once-a-month event with the idea of bringing people out into nature, Flores said.

Taken from the word mycelium, which is a wide-reaching network of fungi that connects underground, artcelium was designed to create a network of artists and to connect that community.

If someone needs something or has an idea and wants to create something, we can all get together and ... make really awesome things happen, Ferreira said.

Flores added many artists typically separate themselves to create.

Having artcelium in nature so that others could see, watch, experience other people creating.  It was interesting for me to see the things people would make in their studios versus what people would make out in nature, surrounded by other people," Flores said.

As the trio's friendship grew, so did the realization that they could build something new on their own. They officially formed New Paradigm Productions in late 2021.

Each of these international women brings a unique perspective and skill set to the startup company.

Jing Wen came to the United States from China when she was 19 to attend school in Alabama. With an MBA in accounting, she moved to Charleston for a corporate job.

Ive always wanted a business of my own, so creating a business with your best friends sounded like the best option, she said.

Flores, who studied industrial design and has a background in event planning, grew up in Argentina and brings an inventive approach to the team.

Ever since I was a kid, Ive been drawing and painting and creating and building, she said. Ive always liked creating fantasy lands.

She is passionate about sustainability and transforming materials into new things.

Ferreira grew up in New Jersey but was born in Brazil. With a business degree and emphasis on marketing and communications, she also adds an arts-and-crafts element to the collaboration.

Weve seen all sorts of different celebrations, and lots of different gatherings, so why cant we just bring other things that weve seen around the world back home to Charleston, Flores said.

Last November, they held their first party and invited friends from the music industry, including musicians, band managers, artists and DJs. Held at the house of the local hip-hop duo, Little Stranger, the event featured a rainforest room, a neon-decorated space and a backyard covered in chandeliers.

We want to bring the celebration and have intention behind the events, Flores said. Why do we gather? What is our purpose? I think some people gather with no intention and it turns out to be whatever energy that prevails in the room. So that was our main thing: Whats our intention behind every single one of our events? Whats the experience we want to give to people?

Wen said the goal for a party is to create a specific vibe and environment that brings out the energy and creativity in attendees.

Were really into immersive art as well, Ferreira added, describing how they transformed one room at the party into a jungle room with vines, bird sounds and fog machines.

It was a really cool gathering space, and it was great to watch how people interact with that space," she said. "A lot of what we do and what were going to be doing at our upcoming event will be creating those immersive spaces."

Their unique, community-oriented approach led them to produce interactive installations at venues such as the Pour House, The Royal American and Tobins Market.

As Ferreira put it, Were celebrating one year of crazy projects.

The Urban Artcelium anniversary event plans to be a complete interactive experience, featuring live music, a tie-dye station, face and neon body painting, tarot readings, fairy hair, a DIY jewelry station and glass blowers making custom pieces.

Everyone can have their own experience, and its going to be different for everyone, Ferreira said.

Flores said they want to play with the industrial design of Lo-Fi, which is located in a North Charleston warehouse space, as well by decorating the brewery silos with cool lights.

A visit to Meow Wolf, a large interactive art display in Denver, over the summer left the group inspired to include a hidden story for attendees to discover. Special QR code cards allow guests to go on a quest and visit different places. The card will end up as a piece of art.

DJ Moldybrain will be curating a lineup of musicians on stage while members from Radiance Performing Arts will be dancing with LED lights. The walls will be illuminated with projection mapping, and aerialists will be hanging from the ceiling.

The music itself, its a live jam, the idea of reciprocity between the room, the space and the people and the art itself, Flores added. So you never know what youre going to listen to or what you can expect.

Having local artists and organizations excited about participating at the event has made their hard work over the last year worth it.

We want artcelium to be a place of exploration and where people feel safe to try something new and do something different, Flores said. Its so awesome that people reached out and said, Hey, I want to be a part of this. I think thats the most rewarding part.

In the future, New Paradigm Productions plans to expand artcelium events and have a podcast based on their conversations together.

We definitely want to keep it going and keep growing and see where we can take it, Ferreira said.
COLUMBIA  A national retailer of tough outdoor clothing and military-style gear is opening its first retail store in the Midlands.

5.11 Tactical is revamping a store location at 1009 Bower Parkway, near Harbison Boulevard. The store is expected to open in early 2023, according to company spokeswoman Kristen Gooding.

The company market high-durability clothing and backpacks, along with luggage, gun bags and vests for bullet-resistant inserts or exercise.

It markets itself as a supplier for law enforcement and others needing military-grade gear for outdoor living.

Other outdoor retailers have carried its gear, notably its high-durability hiking pants, but to date it has none of its own retail locations in South Carolina.

The California-based company has more than 100 US retail stores and also several locations overseas.

The company takes its name from the rating for near-impossible rock-climbing challenges, which are listed at 5.11 difficulty.

The store location formerly was home to a Lifeway Christian store.

Urban Wok to the Vista

Urban Wok, which lets customers order a custom stir-fry with personalized ingredients, is coming to a new location in the Vista.

The restaurant will open on Lincoln Street as part of the 650 Lincoln student housing complex, according to a permit on file with the city of Columbia.

The chain is 100 percent cashless and uses kiosks for things like ordering food and drinks, so there arent wait staff or bartenders.

The Minnesota-based chain already has a location in the Northeast at 1033 Robert Branch Parkway, just off Killian Road.

New salon in Five Points

A salon space in Five Points was not vacant for long.

Vivid: Color Cut Style had a ribbon-cutting Oct. 26 for its salon at 910 Harden St.

The space formerly had been home to Bombshell Beauty Studio, which has relocated to 1308 Pulaski St. in the Vista.

Jessica Holdman contributed to this report.

Make sure to get our weekly Columbia Business newsletter. Sign up here.

Click here for more news from Columbia, South Carolina.
Marc Thiessen writes a twice-weekly column for The Post on foreign and domestic policy. He is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and the former chief speechwriter for President George W. Bush. Follow Marc A. Thiessen on Twitter, @marcthiessen.
Members of the Summerville Police Department were the recent recipients of multiple boxes of frozen turkeys, courtesy of Tom Fernandez and the Punishers Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club  Peace Keeper Chapter during Thanksgiving week. Local cops proceeded to distribute some of the donated bir Read moreLeave the gun  take the turkey
Dr. Kenneth Burgess is running for an at-large seat on the Williamsburg County School District board. Incumbent James Dukes Jr., the boards vice chairman, is not running for reelection. Former S.C. Rep. Cezar McKnight is opposing Burgess in the Nov. 8 General Election.
Kingstree High School was put on a lockdown briefly Tuesday morning when a student was arrested after bringing a loaded gun to the school.
Kingstree, SC (29556)

Today

Generally sunny. High 72F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies during the evening will give way to cloudy skies overnight. Low 51F. Winds light and variable.
SUMMERVILLE  A California man was visiting South Carolina on a business trip when he was fatally shot last week outside his hotel in an apparent random act of violence, according to the authorities and the victim's friends.

Michael Britt, 34, died after 9 p.m., Oct 26 outside the Hampton Inn off of Interstate 26 from a gunshot to the head, a police report states.

Summerville police officers responding to the scene located Britt lying on his back near the hotel's front entrance. Blood pooled beneath Britt's head and a shell casing lay beside his feet.

Britt was from Fountain Valley, a suburban city in Orange County, Calif. He was in the area on a business trip, according to several people who identified themselves as his friends.

A Summerville man was charged with Britt's murder. Michael Terrell Profit, 32, is being held in the Berkeley County jail.

The victim and suspect did not know each other, Hirsch said.

The night of the shooting, Britt was sitting outside the hotel with another man  a witness to the crime  when the defendant briefly entered the Hampton Inn, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. Upon exiting, the suspect walked up to the victim and accused Britt of "watching" him.

Profit, the affidavit says, then pulled out a firearm from his jacket pocket and shot Britt. The suspect proceeded to walk away but was later identified by the witness who specifically recalled Profit's gold teeth.

"We are unsure of why this random act of violence occurred, which may be something we never know," Hirsch said.

The FBI estimates that 10 percent of murder victims in the U.S. were killed by a stranger in 2021, though the relationship between the victim and defendant was unknown in roughly half of the crimes, according to data.

A relative of the victim declined an interview when reached by phone.

The defendant was out on bond for a 2020 weapons charge that is currently pending in Charleston County, court records show. Profit has drug and weapon convictions throughout the Lowcountry dating to 2011.

Editor's Note: A previous version of this article misidentified the purpose of the victim's visit.
You are the owner of this article.
SPARTANBURG  A massive Confederate battle flag raised over Interstate 85 in Spartanburg County has been taken down and replaced with a South Carolina state flag, though the county still intends to follow through with its order that the entire flag pole be removed.

The flag pole, erected by a local chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans on private property near where I-85 and I-85 Business converge northeast of Spartanburg, remains in violation of county zoning law.

County Councilman David Britt told The Post and Courier on Nov. 2 the property owners have until Nov. 10 to comply with orders to take it down.

The county has issued the property owner an order demanding removal based on a 1999 zoning law that in part bans flag poles that have no accompanying uses such as a home or a business.

The county's order demands removal within 20 days before officials seek remedy through the ordinance.

Britt said he received notice Nov. 2 that the flag had been removed but that the issue isn't resolved.

"They had said they planned to change flags in and out with different flags and our position is not the flag," Britt said. "It's the flag pole that is in violation."

Britt said if the flag pole is not removed then the county will start the legal process through the courts to get the flag pole taken down.

The Confederate flag has long been a divisive symbol in South Carolina dating back to the onset of the Civil War when the slave-owning state was the first to secede from the Union.

The symbol has lived on more than a century after the Souths defeat. Despite efforts to claim it represents a deep cultural heritage for White Southerners, the flags use by white-supremacist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan and later others have branded it a racist symbol.

A Spartanburg chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans claimed responsibility for the Confederate flag, which the group said was the largest Confederate flag in South Carolina.

A video posted Oct. 23 to the organization's YouTube account depicts a flag-raising ceremony the day before on vacant private property.

The local chapter, Camp 68, recently erected the flag pole on property it owns off I-85 for what it said is the purpose of remembering Confederate soldiers.

On Oct. 27, an attorney for Camp 68 issued a statement explaining that the Confederate Naval Jack flag was part of a variety of flags intended for the pole.

Camp 68 will continue to alternate the flags that it flies, the statement said, and looks forward to providing an array of historical flags and hopes that their presence spurs further interest of our citizens in the rich history of Spartanburg County and South Carolina.
Jim Fraboni, a longtime resident of Socastee, looks out at the floodwaters in his backyard in March 2021.
I have been writing for a long time that the alleged transition from fossil fuels to green energy is not happening, will not happen, and can not happen. At Watts Up With That, Vijay Jayaraj notes that the opposite is true. Links omitted:

Despite the fanfare surrounding wind and solar, the worlds dependency on fossil fuels is increasing. Last week, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said that the world is now transitioning to coal.

Not a headline you are likely to see in the New York Times.

Saad al-Kaabi, Energy Minister of Qatar, says, Many countries particularly in Europe which had been strong advocates of green energy and carbon-free future have made a sudden and sharp U-turn. Today, coal burning is once again on the rise reaching its highest levels since 2014. They are right. Global coal demand will reach an historic high in 2022, similar to 2013s record levels. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), Global coal consumption is forecast to rise by 0.7 percent in 2022 to 8 billion tons. Coal consumption in the European Union is expected to rise by seven percent in 2022 on top of last years 14 percent jump. Coal will continue to be a sought-after energy source as rising gas prices after 2030 will make existing coal-fired generation more economic, the IEA says. Global energy demand will grow by 47 percent from now through 2050, and oil is expected to be the major source of energy.

Happily, the United States has vast, almost endless, reserves of coal. In recent years there has been a transition, not from coal to renewables, but from coal to natural gas. But that could change:

Analysts are projecting a huge gas-to-coal fuel transition in power and industrial sectors of Europe. Yes, not gas to renewables, but gas to coal. In fact, the European Unions coal consumption grew 16 percent year-on-year for the first half of 2022. European countries imported 7.9 million tons of thermal coal in June, more than doubling year-on-year. Annual coal imports are expected to reach 100 million tons by the end of the year, the highest since 2017. Even in the most developed economies of the West like Germany and the UK, fossil fuels continue to dominate as the only dependable source of energy. Germany is set to become the third highest importer of Indonesian coal in 2023, ranked just below coal-guzzling China and India. AP says, Coal, long treated as a legacy fuel in Europe, is now helping the continent safeguard its power supply and cope with the dramatic rise in natural gas prices caused by the war. Rather than wind or solar, it is coal that is keeping the lights on in Europe.

More at the link, concluding with this:

Qatars Saad Al-Kaabi says that European green policies are responsible for high energy prices and that leaders in the West dont have a plan. Energy shortages have forced them to return to the most dependable sources  coal and oil. They are now scampering to ensure energy security for winter, when many believe likely that there will be power blackouts in the UK and Germany.

In my opinion, we should not just accept the transition to fossil fuels, we should celebrate it. That is for my next post.
It is sad that 161 years after Confederates fired on Fort Sumter, and 154 years after the adoption of the 14th Amendment, we are still debating whether public institutions like the University of North Carolina should be able to engage in race discrimination. One might have thought that by now, that issue would have been settled.

Liberals seem resigned to the fact that that they now will have to pretend, at least, to stop discriminating on the basis of race. The New York Times emails out a daily roundup of the newsor newsand todays email included this commentary on yesterdays Supreme Court arguments:

Laws need support from the public or the courts to survive. Affirmative action seems to have neither.

A telling point.

Throughout nearly five hours of heated arguments for both cases, the justices in the courts conservative majority aggressively questioned the lawyers arguing in favor of affirmative action policies. They appeared skeptical that such policies were necessary, fair or the best way to address racial gaps in higher education. Chief Justice John Roberts, who has long been skeptical of affirmative action, and other conservative justices suggested that Harvard had discriminated against applicants of Asian descent by disfavoring them in the admissions process.

Is there a difference between discriminating against and disfavoring? Any sane person would say, No, there is not.

But the Times seems to acknowledge that its battle to preserve a legal right to discriminate has been lost:

Lawmakers can, in theory, override Supreme Court decisions. But such a reversal typically requires support from their constituents: The public, after all, elects representatives who enact laws and place judges on courts. The public can also protest or criticize the courts to try to sway them. And the public can push to amend the U.S. Constitution or state constitutions.

***

Amovement defending affirmative action seems unlikely because a majority of Americans oppose the policy. Nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults said in March that race or ethnicity should not be a factor in college admissions, a Pew Research Center survey found. A majority of Black, Hispanic and Asian respondents opposed the consideration of race or ethnicity. Even in liberal states, most voters do not support affirmative action. In 2020, about 57 percent of Californians rejected an amendment to the states Constitution that would have let government and public institutions, including public universities, adopt affirmative-action policies. In that same election, Biden won more than 63 percent of the vote in the state. So if the Supreme Court strikes down affirmative action, its not clear what, if any, path exists for policies like the University of North Carolinas or Harvards to survive.

While correct as to public opinion, the Timess conclusion is perhaps disingenuous. Americas universities will no more accede voluntarily to an adverse Supreme Court ruling than did public schools in the deep South after Brown v. Board of Education. It took not just lawsuits but federal troops to enforce the Courts ruling that public schools should be integrated, and years went by before it finally happened. This time there will be no federal troops occupying Harvard et al., so we will have to rely on lawsuits.

As a practical matter, perhaps not much will change. Americas universities, especially its elite schools, will rather easily come up with proxies for race, and the composition of their student bodies probably wont be much different.

Perhaps more important, then, is the principle: America will stand as a country that does not officially countenance discrimination by public bodies on the basis of race. If you thought that principle had already been established, you were mistaken. So this will be an important step forward.

But still: under the new regime, Asian-American students most likely will need to over-achieve, vastly, to be admitted to Harvard and other elite schools. Under whatever cover the schools may adopt, that isnt likely to change.
Taking a break from the news, I attended the 2022 edition of the annual Grateful Dead Meet-Up at the suburban AMC multiplex in Eden Prairie, Minnesota last night. This years Meet-Up featured a showing of the Deads April 17, 1972 concert at the Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen, Denmark. The footage derived from what was advertised as the first-ever broadcast of a a live concert on Danish television.

Last nights event represented a resumption of the annual Meet-Ups after a three-year hiatus induced by the plague hysteria. I did not see a single mask in evidence last night.

The Meet-Ups draw an older crowd. The audience for the show had the highest median age in the multiplexs 18 theaters by a wide margin. The audience was not only the oldest but also the happiest, again by far. By contrast with the 2019 Meet-Up I attended, no one was dancing in the aisle, but the audience applauded after every number. We would have been happy to be there if only in the existential sense, but we were especially happy with the resumption of the Meet-Ups. In an introductory message David Lemieux promised more to come.

The Deads European tour was first memorialized on a three-album set. This years Meet-Up celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Europe 72 album. Its a fantastic live album featuring the Deads original lineup plus Keith Godchaux. The godawful Donna Jean Godchaux appeared in the film toward the end only to dance onstage. (I think that was Donna. We only saw her from behind.)

The bands return to the Tivoli made for the sixth show on the Deads Europe 72 tour. The footage has been restored and color corrected in high definition with audio mixed from the 16-track analog master tapes. The film, however, features less than 90 minutes of a much longer concert.

The show included an overview of the Deads 1972 touring repertoire, including versions of China Cat Sunflower, I Know You Rider, Big Railroad Blues, as well as the first live performance of Hes Gone and other new songs including the great Jack Straw and One More Saturday Night. The Europe 72 tour was Ron Pigpen McKernans last with the band. He sounded in good form on the three songs he covers in the film.

The film does not follow the original order of the bands setlist that night (setlist here). The film captures only a disordered fraction of the Deads concert. Where is the rest of it? The answer is out there somewhere. I wish Lemieux had offered some explanation.

The film also provides only a glimpse of the band stretching out, Dead style. That surprised me. Truckin' afforded the glimpse. I loved it (and I could have covered for Bobby when he missed the first line of the opening verse).

Although it wasnt the closing number in the concert, the film closes on an upbeat note with One More Saturday Night.

In my comments on the 2017-2019 Meet-Ups I lamented the bands partially drug-related mortality. This time around I was struck by the survival of core members including Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, and Bill Kreutzmann (Donna Jean Godchaux is also still with us). Long may they run.

Next year in Eden Prairie!
In the post immediately below, I note that a global transition is currently under way, in which the minuscule portion of the worlds energy attributable to green sources is shifting to fossil fuels, especially coal. That is a good thingfor the environment, among other, more vital considerations.

Fossil fuels have done more for humanity than virtually anything else. The transition from horses, donkeys and carts to the modern world is essentially the transition from wind and solar energy to fossil fuels. Our entire civilization, the fact that we live mostly by our wits rather than through back-breaking, soul-killing, and horrifically unproductive labor, is due mainly to fossil fuels.

And yet, for reasons that are hard to fathom, the companies that provide us with natures most important bounties seem almost embarrassed to admit it. The oil companies pretend to be energy firms, not just oil companies, and boast of their money-sucking ventures into inept green energy. If the oil companies, among the greatest forces for good in human history, will not stand up for themselves and remind the rest of us of their immense contributions, who will?

American Experiment, for one. Our energy team, the nations best, has repeatedly exposed the inadequacy and the grotesque cost of wind and solar energy, and has documented the vastly superior value of oil, gas, coal and nuclear. You can read some of their most recent reports here, here, here and here.

But data, charts and graphs go only so far. Our marketing efforts need to reach the general population. Hence the current campaign by American Experiment North Dakota to drive public support for North Dakotas oil and gas industry. We have produced this video, suitable for television at 30 seconds. There is also a longer internet version:

We are buying billboards and radio time in North Dakota to further our pro-oil and gas campaign. These billboards will soon be up all over North Dakota:

It is not enough to grumble at the skyrocketing costs of energy and take note of the inherent unreliability and unacceptability of wind and solar energy. We need to affirmatively champion the life-saving virtues of fossil fuels. American Experiment North Dakota is taking the lead in bringing such positive messages to the people. If you want to support American Experiment North Dakotas efforts to bring sanity to discussions of energy issues, you can donate here.
The movement of the movable portion of the electorate seems to be heading toward Republican candidates. Incumbent Senate Democrats have struggled to clear the 50 percent bar in polls  a factor suggesting that they may have a problem. Incumbent Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan is a worthless zero, but incumbency has its advantages and New Hampshire is something of a swing state.

Hassan lucked out when incumbent Republican Governor Chris Sununu passed on the opportunity to challenge her. Sununu is New Hampshires most popular politician by far. I think Hassan also drew the opponent she preferred when retired Army Brigadier General Don Bolduc defeated New Hampshire Senate President Chuck Morse in the ludicrously late Republican primary.

According to a poll of likely voters just released by the Saint Anselm College Survey Center, Bolduc has come from behind to pull even with Hassan. The poll results are summarized here (full results here). The poll actually shows Bolduc leading by one point at 48-47 percent, within the margin of error (+/- 2.5 percent). However, Hassan remains under 50 percent and the movement is toward Bolduc.

In related good news, the 25-year-old Karoline Leavitt appears poised to take out Democratic incumbent Chris Pappas in New Hampshires First Congressional District. On the cusp of victory, Leavitt was profiled in an October 30 AP story. According to the poll, Leavitt has built a solid 51-45 percent lead over two-term incumbent Democrat Chris Pappas. I believe that is also within the polls slightly larger margin of error for the congressional race (+/- 3.5 percent), but it gives an idea of what is going on.
For some reason or other Biden spokesman Karine Jean-Pierres explanation of the tweet  lets declare it the tweet of the year  deleted by the White House this morning reminds me of Johnny Cochranes closing argument on behalf of O.J. Simpson. Both O.J. and Biden are guilty. However, Cochrane got his guilty client off. KJP just kept reading out her talking point.

A reporter asks about the White House's now-deleted tweet where they falsely took credit for increased Social Security benefits. Jean-Pierre: "The tweet was not complete.let's not forget  about MAGA Republicans in Congress and their continued threat." pic.twitter.com/yCRcy5JT4M  Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) November 2, 2022

Here is the tweet that KJP alleged not to be complete. On the contrary, the tweet was complete. Indeed, it was complete in more ways than one. It was completely complete.
Two beauty queens, Mariana Varela (Miss Argentina) and Fabiola Valentin (Miss Puerto Rico) have announced their marriage.

The models who met at the Miss Grand International pageant in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2020 had a secret wedding ceremony at the Marriage Bureau in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on 28 October.

In a joint Instagram post, the couple announced their marital status while thanking their fans for all the love they have shown.

Miss Argentina wrote, After deciding to keep our relationship private, we opened the doors to them on a special day. 28/10/22.

Complementing her, Miss Puerto Rico added, Thanks for all the love! We are very happy and blessed. I wish you that the love you are giving us is multiplied! Endless thanks.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CkUOoo_glwy/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Ms Valentin, 22, represented Argentina in the 2019 Miss Universe competition before making it through to the Top 10 Miss Grand International 2020.

Ms Varela, 26, on the other hand, was crowned Miss Argentina in 2019

Uncommon friendship

The couple, with a combined Instagram following of 233,000, shared a highlights video from their relationship. It included a clip from the evening they decided to get engaged

They have been keeping their relationship private for two years.

Before sharing their surprise news on Instagram, the newlyweds never confirmed dating. They only ever gushed about their friendship on social media.

In the 30-second video which announced their marriage, the couple shared snippets from their travels, including a clip of them cuddling up on Jobos beach in Puerto Rico and enjoying a romantic boat ride in Mexico.

The video, which has garnered over 1.8m views in three days, then jumps forward to the night they got engaged.

The clip shows the couples apartment filled with an assortment of red and white balloons, rose petals and fairy lights.

For their engagement, the newlyweds chose almost identical silver rings featuring a cushioned-set diamond on a pave band.

Before this week, the pair only seem to have hinted at their romance on social media.

Wishing her now-wife a happy birthday earlier this year, Fabiola wrote: Thank you for making me part of your life and accomplice of your happiness.

You are a priceless treasure, and I hope to keep our friendship forever.

According to Hola, Mariana made it to the competitions final after being crowned Miss Argentina in 2019.

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Following the suspension of the prolonged strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the authorities of the concerned universities have in the past two weeks announced the resumption of activities in the institutions. Many revised their academic calendars and ordered the immediate resumption of academic activities with the aim of covering the lost ground.

For the eight months that the industrial action lasted, the striking lecturers were not paid their salaries. Until the National Industrial Court (NIC) ordered them to return to work, ASUU had cited that payment of the backlog as one of the conditions for suspension of the strike.

However, after the Court of Appeal affirmed the order of the industrial court, ASUU advised its members to return to their duty posts, banking on the reported pledge by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, to ensure that at least parts of the withheld salaries are paid, among other promises.

However, more than two weeks after the suspension of the strike, the lecturers confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that they were yet to be paid.

From the University of Lagos (UNILAG) to the University of Abuja (UNIABUJA), Bayero University Kano (BUK), Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA), and Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), among others, concerned lecturers told PREMIUM TIMES reporters that they were not motivated to work.

Many students have also said the long absence from school has quenched their passion and that they are finding it difficult to acclimatise again.

But shop owners, artisans, and service providers on the campuses such as commercial transporters are glad that life is returning to the universities.

Unmotivated staff, students

Full academic activities have resumed in FUTA and some students have begun writing tests in preparation for their examinations which begin in two weeks, our reporter observed. But the students expressed frustration in getting back to their studies after such a long break in the system.

A student of the Electrical Electronics Department, Segun Dairo, said he and some of his mates had lost the motivation for studies as they had taken up other activities while the strike lasted.

In the last eight months I spent my time learning skills related to my course and I was beginning to really settle into it when they called off the strike, he said.

Some others went to do some work and we were earning money, so returning to school was difficult.

The student said he had remained in his first year since enrolling at the university in 2019, hoping there would be no other strike till the end of his academic programme.

Another student of FUTA, Prince Ome, said he was unhappy to resume at this time. The student of Computer Science said he was training to become an e-mail marketer and web designer during the strike. For now I am preparing for examinations. There will be lectures next week and exams will start the following week, he said. I am hoping I will gradually get the right feeling as we go along.

Students who spoke to our reporter expressed apprehension that ASUU may declare another strike over the eight months salaries. But ASUU Chairperson, FUTA, Olayinka Awopetu, said the lecturers are doing their work, despite their anger over the issue.

He said the matter had been worsened by the fact that the federal government has not addressed most of the issues over which the strike was called.

Fresh students dominate UNIABUJA Campus

The University of Abuja (UNIABUJA) Permanent Campus was a beehive of activities when our reporter visited last Wednesday. The school resumed academic activities on 24 October, and lectures had since begun, our reporter observed.

But the population of returning students on campus is still low despite the commencement of lectures. During a lecture for students of graduating class of Public Administration on Tuesday, only about 25 students attended, said a member of the class, Muhammad Nasir. He said there are over 130 students in the class.

So far, I dont really see things moving as they should be because lecturers are not available and when you see them, they just come but not really to teach. Maybe starting from next week, Mr Nasir said.

He, however, expressed his excitement to be back on campus after eight months of the strike. By now, I am supposed to be a graduate but due to the strike, we are still in the school environment running up and down. It is not what I planned for but we still thank God.

A large number of fresh students was however noticed on the campus. The students could be seen at the Faculty of Management Science and the Faculty of Science queuing up for registration.

One of the fresh students, Reuben Bulus, said he started his registration shortly before the ASUU strike and was back on campus to complete it. Others said they could not start the registration before the strike was declared.

I was doing my faculty screening when the strike commenced. So I am yet to finish. Thats why I am here now, he said.

PREMIUM TIMES observed students taking lectures on BUS 103 at the management science faculty around 11 a.m.

Murmuring over calendar in UNILAG

A report from UNILAG said many lecturers have relocated abroad but the university management said it could not confirm the claim.

A lecturer at the institutions Faculty of Engineering who does not want to be quoted for fear of victimisation said 11 of his colleagues left the faculty during the strike. According to the lecturer, the backlogs of work left by those lecturers have been automatically transferred to the few left in the system.

Just when we resumed, I learnt that 11 lecturers have left while three papers are still pending. So when they leave, the backlog of their work is now the responsibility of the few lecturers left. So you carry an additional load, and you are stressed, which nobody pays for, the source said.

The lecturer said the low remuneration of the lecturers is a demotivating factor.

Meanwhile, students at UNILAG said academic activities have commenced in full throttle.

While the students expressed delight at resuming after months of the strike, others said the coming examination could mean low grades for them.

A 300-level student of Quantity Surveying at the Faculty of Engineering, Salaudeen Adewumi, expressed concern that the academic calendar which sets examinations to begin on 28 November would put students under undue pressure. The student, a member of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), said the association was trying to reach the management of the school for possible adjustment.

Similarly, a final-year student of Creative Arts and President of the Faculty of Art, Ovic Odeyemi, said the academic calendar might need to be reviewed to avoid mass failure of 100-level students who are not used to the system.

The academic calendar doesnt favour the 100-level students, and we are trying to speak on their behalf to the school management to see if they can give them more time to prepare. As a 400-level student, I can manage. But 100-level students that have not attempted any university examination and their first semester results matter a lot in boosting their CGPA.

We are starting our exams on 28 November, so we have a month to prepare. Some lecturers have not even started. Some of the 100-level students even waited till after matric to resume school in January, now they have to keep up with everything they missed before the strike, he said.

Some final-year students of UNILAG also expressed concern over the slow pace of their final-year projects, with some saying they are yet to be assigned to supervisors.

I didnt get a supervisor or project topic approved before the strike, so it is not palatable for me. I have to do everything in just a short while, said a 400-level student, Odeyemi.

Another final-year student of Creative Art, Esther Omoyele, said she lost all motivation to attend to her projects during the strike despite having a topic approved and a supervisor assigned to her.

University approves one-week extension

Meanwhile, during a meeting with the students on Friday, the universitys outgoing Vice-Chancellor, Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, announced the approval of a one-week extension by the management.

Mr Ogundipe, whose tenure as the universitys 12th substantive vice-chancellor ends on 11 November, appealed to the students for understanding. He said there was no time to waste and enjoined everyone to be prepared for the tasks ahead.

BUK yet to commence academic activities

At Bayero University, Kano (BUK), academic activities were yet to commence, three days after the official resumption date.

The university had approved Monday 24 October for the resumption of academic activities including revision for the first-semester examination scheduled for 14 November.

But the school campus was desolate with the popular Mahmud Tukur Lecture Theatre at the universitys old site under lock and key last Wednesday morning.

Our reporter observed that the bus station opposite the school gate where students board buses from the old site to the permanent site was near empty and without the commercial buses present.

Students said lectures have not begun.

A 100-level student of the Department of Biochemistry, Moses Edozie, among others, complained that their belongings, including cooking gas cylinders, were stolen from their hostels during the break.

The university did not keep our belongings safe. Most have been stolen, he said.

The student also said he was waiting for the release of the school calendar, the return of other students, and the commencement of academic activities.

NASU strike in FUNAAB

Checks by PREMIUM TIMES on universities in Ogun State revealed that while activities have resumed at both Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye, and Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED), Ijagun, a seven-day warning strike by the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Other Associated Institutions (NASU) at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), has impacted activities negatively.

At both TASUED and OOU, students are already set for what they called electronic-based tests while some others are already submitting assignments.

When PREMIUM TIMES visited the schools, students were seen moving in and out of the campus in a joyous mood.

At TASUED, the institutions new calendar obtained by PREMIUM TIMES showed that the first-semester examination will begin on 7 November and end the semester on 30 November, while the second semester starts almost immediately.

A 300-level student, Adetutu Adelani, expressed happiness about the resumption but also concern over the heavy workload.

When I saw the calendar, I wanted to faint, but what can we do? ASUU has reorganised our lives, no thanks to them, she said.

In OOU, a 200-level student of Law, Adebayo Noimat, said she was prepared for the serious work ahead because I know our lecturers will rush things so as to cover for the days wasted. Anyways, may God help us.

Activities have not fully commenced in classes at FUNAAB because the lecturers are currently marking examination papers.

When asked why students are not in class, ASUU chairman of FUNAAB chapter, Gbenga Adeleye, explained that the lecturers have resumed work by marking examination papers. He explained that the university had just concluded the first-semester examination at the time the eight months strike started nationwide.

Relief for business owners

Unlike students and lecturers who appeared to be struggling to return to their normal academic activities, artisans and business owners on the various campuses are ecstatic. The traders said they experienced losses during the strike, but are glad to be back after eight months.

Two traders at UNILAG who identified themselves simply as Mrs Amao and Mrs Olutokun said they incurred losses during the strike. Both retailers whose shops are located behind the Creative Arts Departments said they had to dispose their expired goods.

During the strike, there was no point coming to the school at all and the strike affected us seriously because we dont have other things we are doing. We dont pray for another strike, said Mrs Amao

At the Faculty of Engineering Market, another woman, who also identified herself as Mrs Akachukwu, said the resumption for her means more sales, saying she did not leave the campus throughout the strike period.

The photocopy machine operator said she worked more for a few PhD students and some lecturers who were around at the time.

At UNIABUJA, artisans and business owners on the campus expressed relief at the return of life which directly improves their business performance.

A tricycle rider at the university, Yahuza Haruna, said his daily earnings had almost doubled since the return of students to the campus.

Now one can make as much as N7,500 or N8,000 in a day. But during the strike, we hardly made up to N3,500. Our only customers were the labourers working inside the school, he said. We thank God the strike is suspended now and we pray such would not happen again.

Also, a photographer who simply identified himself as Samuel, expressed delight over the resumption, saying life is gradually taking shape.

At FUTA, shuttle bus drivers expressed delight that the school was finally reopened for academic activities. One of the drivers, Owoeye Joseph, said he had to return to farming during the period as there were no students, the regular passengers.

Fortunately it was during the raining season, so farming was the option, he said. It was like we lost our source of livelihood and we were thrown out of work without any hope, but we thank God that things are picking up now.

Another driver, Peter Dolapo, who makes about N3,000 daily, said nothing was coming in during the strike.

A fruit seller at one of the universitys gates, Helen Adepoju, said she closed her place of sale once the students left. Today is the first day I am coming to my shop, and I dont know how things will look because students have just started returning, she said.

However, an elderly woman who preferred to be identified simply by her business name, KTC Bookshop, said the sales were really poor during the strike.

Even with the resumption, she said, most of the students returned to school with their items purchased from home and that they would only start patronising her after they had exhausted what they had.

What I can say is that we are happy that school has resumed. We hope business will continue to improve with time, she added.

Good time for landlords too

While many students are happy to be back on the campuses, those occupying private hostels are unhappy that eight months of their rent have been wasted.

At Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) in Ago Iwoye, Damilola Ogunyemi, said: Our house rents have been wasted. I never came to terms with this reality until my landlord told me that my house rent will be expiring in November.

Ms Ogunyemis friend said she was already considering living with someone as she could not raise her house rent immediately.

My landlord is a pensioner. He doesnt joke with his house rent and I dont have the energy to argue or fight an old man, she said.

Shop owners are also unhappy that they would need to pay new rents without making sales during the eight-month period of the strike.

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The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited on Tuesday announced it has signed a settlement and exit agreement with Sinopecs Addax Petroleum Development (Nigeria) to exit its four major oil mining blocks in the country.

With this agreement, according to NNPC Limited, Addax has ceased to be the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) contractor for the Oil Mining Leases (OML) 123/124 and OMLs 126/137.

The NNPCL Chief Finance Officer, Umar Ajiya, signed the agreement on behalf of the company, while the Managing Director of Addax Petroleum, Yonghong Chen, signed on behalf of his company. The signing of the agreement took place at the NNPC headquarters office in Abuja.

Earlier today, NNPC Limited and Addax Petroleum Development (Nigeria) Ltd signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the Transfer, Settlement and Exit Agreement (TSEA) for Oil Mining Leases (OML) 123/124 and OMLs 126/137, the state oil firm said on its official Twitter page on Tuesday.

The PSC for the blocks was initially signed in 1973 between NNPC and Ashland and was terminated after 25 years.

Addax took over ownership of the four OMLs after the NNPC terminated its contract with Ashland in 1998.

Again, in 1998, the NNPC signed another PSC with Addax on the blocks and operated through Addax Petroleum for another 24 years.

In April 2021, Nigerias oil regulator revoked the four oil mining licenses, citing the companys inability to comply with targets, but the decision was restored by President Muhammadu Buhari three weeks later.

The Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC Limited, Mele Kyari, said the Addax transfer would boost the production of crude oil from the assets for the benefit of Nigeria.

We have worked with all our regulatory agencies, the FIRS, the FCCPC, NUPRC and all other agencies of government to arrive at what we have today, Mr Kyari said.

We believe that we have delivered on the mandate given to us by the government to take over this asset and as expected. There have been ongoing engagements with the FIRS and this is in line with the approvals that we have.

From today, we expect the asset to take off immediately and we will restore production, ensure all governance requirements and as we proceed and also maintain the confidence of workers in this company in line with the commitment that we have, there will be no disruptions in the operations of this company.

Lastly, I know that the team in NNPC and Addax have done great work to arrive at what we have today. Today, we see the exit of our partners and we hope they stay with us in Nigeria because Nigeria is a good place to invest, he said.

Bala Wunti, head of NNPCs subsidiary National Petroleum Investment Management Services, said this is the first time in the history of the hydrocarbon production journey that a PSC asset is being reverted to the concessionaire from a contractor.

With the exit upon signing, We are going into a physical transition in which the asset operatorship will be transferred to us in a very prudent manner, he said.

We have already agreed on a transition framework. That transition framework will begin immediately.

We believe immediately we sign this in another two weeks, we should be able to bring back and immediately restore about 10,000 barrels and that will be a stage that will set more incremental production. This wouldnt have been possible without this signing, Mr Wunti said.

The event was attended by the Chairman of the NNPC Board, Margary Okadigbo, the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mallam Mele Kyari while the Executive Vice President, Upstream, NNPC Limited, Adokiye Tombomieye, the Chief Upstream Investment Officer of the NNPC Upstream Investment Management Services, Bala Wunti, the Chief Finance Officer of NNPC, Umar Ajiya, the Executive Commissioner, Development and Production, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Dr Habib Nuhu, and the Managing Director, Addax Petroleum, Yonghong Chen.

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In a few months, Nigerias electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), will conduct the general elections.

The presidential election will be conducted on Saturday, February 25, 2023, by 18 candidates from various political parties.

On September 28, 2022, the electoral body announced the official campaign seasons commencement; since then, manifestoes and policy documents have been rolling in. Some candidates had theirs published prior to the time.

It is common practice for candidates seeking elective offices to intimate voters of their plans and programmes for governance if they get into power.

A good manifesto is a partys policy offerings to the voters before an election. It includes an analysis of the costs and projected outcomes of implementing proposed policies. This educates members of the electorates and assists them with a choice of candidate and political party.

Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and his running mate, Kashim Shettima, former governor of Borno State, recently released an action plan for governance.

The 80-page document, titled Renewed Hope 2023  Action Plan for a Better Nigeria, highlighted key economic issues to be addressed during their governance.

In the document, several sections were attributed to Mr Tinubu, boasting of his many achievements in Lagos State, where he was governor from 1999 to 2007. Mr Tinubu promised to replicate the same governance method he used to transform Lagos into a mega city, making Nigeria a great nation.

On page 11 of the document, Mr Tinubu discussed the importance of Agriculture to the economy but raised concerns about the increase in urban population.

The presidential candidate said from 1960, when Nigeria gained independence, till date; there has been a significant increase in urban population from 15% in 1960 to over 50%.

Agriculture has traditionally been the backbone of this nation and will continue to be. However, we must acknowledge the growing importance of our urban population, the document reads.

At independence, city dwellers represented less than 15 per cent of the national population. Today, the urban populace exceeds 50 per cent. Over 100 million people reside in our cities and towns.

Also, on page 26, the presidential candidate noted that a little less than 49 per cent of the population dwells in rural areas. Only 35 per cent of the arable land in the country was being cultivated.

On youth population, Mr Tinubu said young people aged between 15 and 35 account for over 65 per cent or over 130 million of our 200 million people, adding that the unemployment rate in the country is about 33 per cent.

But how true are these assertions? DUBAWA fact-checked some of them to ascertain their veracity.

At independence, city dwellers represented less than 15 per cent of the national population. Today, the urban populace exceeds 50 per cent. Over 100 million people reside in our cities and towns.

Verification

Urban population refers to the population of persons living in urban areas as defined by national statistical offices.

In the agenda plan for the 2023 elections, Mr Tinubu stated that less than 15% of the populace lived in the city at independence. He said this has significantly increased to over 100 million persons (50%) over time.

Nigeria gained independence from British colonialism in 1960. According to data from the United Nations (UN) showing World Urbanisation prospects, Nigerias population in urban areas in 1960 was 15.4% of the total population.

Also, data from World Population Review showed that Nigerias population at the time was approximately 45 million, with a total of 6,955,837 urban population representing 15.41% of the total population.

Data from Worldometer shows that the countrys population in 2022 is currently 217 million, with about 107 million urban population representing 52% of the total populace in 2020.

Verdict

The statement that less than 15% of Nigerians lived in urban areas at independence is false.

The assertion that over 50% of the total populace now lives in urban areas is true.

Even today, a little less than half the people live in rural communities, equally earning their livelihoods from the soil and, in the process, helping to feed the nation. However, only 35% of arable land in Nigeria is presently cultivated.

Verification

Four sub-activities comprise the Agricultural sector: crop production, livestock, forestry and fishing. In the second quarter of 2022, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) noted that agriculture contributed 21.90% to the nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Despite its high potential for economic growth, the agricultural sector in Nigeria has been bedevilled with many challenges, particularly the insecurity that has caused farmers to abandon their farmlands. Other issues include climate change, lack of adequate finance, and low technology.

As established, over 52% of Nigerians live in the urban areas leaving the rest of the populace in the rural areas. However, not everyone in rural areas can be said to be into agricultural production.

Is it true that only about 35% of arable land is being cultivated?

Nigeria boasts of large tracts of arable land. A report by Statista in 2019 showed that the country has about 70.8 million hectares of agricultural land area, out of which 34 million hectares are arable land; 6.5 million are under permanent crops, and 28.6 million hectares are under permanent meadows and pastures.

A 2018 estimation shows that around 78 per cent of land in Nigeria is used for agriculture with, 37 per cent of arable land.

While there is no official data for arable land in 2022, in September 2022, Dr Mohammed Abubakar disclosed that 56 per cent of Nigerias arable land is underutilised while 44 per cent of agricultural land is being cultivated.

Verdict

There is insufficient evidence to back the statement that only 35% of arable land is being cultivated in Nigeria.

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The Ethiopian government and the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front on Wednesday reached an agreement to end a two-year-long crisis.

The two parties in the Ethiopian conflict have formally agreed to the cessation of hostilities as well as the systematic, orderly, smooth and coordinated disarmament, VOA quoted African Unions lead mediator and former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo as saying.

The warring parties last Monday arrived in South Africa to commence another round of peace talks after previous attempts failed. The talks were expected to last until 30 October but were extended till today (Wednesday).

The talks were facilitated by Mr Obasanjo, ex-Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, former deputy president of South Africa.

Observing the process were representatives from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the UN and the US.

Speaking after the truce was reached, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, according to the VOA, said, as were completing the war in the north with victory, we have to bring peace, development and ensure Ethiopias prosperity, so we make those forces that (cause) conflict among Ethiopians from afar feel shame.

If a victory found in war isnt repeated in peace, if the peace found through victory isnt repeated with prosperity, Ethiopias existence/sovereignty will inevitably be violated one way or another, he added.

The Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Workneh Gebeyehu, congratulated both parties on the signing of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement. He said, by signing this agreement to silence the guns and end the armed conflict, the people of Ethiopia now have the opportunity to establish a long-lasting peace.

Crisis in Ethiopia

For two years, the government of Ethiopia and forces in its northern Tigray region have been at loggerheads, throwing the country into political and economic instability

Eritrean soldiers are also fighting in Tigray for the Ethiopian government. All sides have been accused of atrocities.

Several factors are said to be contributing to the seemingly unending crisis.

According to the UN Refugees agency (UNHCR), Ethiopia is the third largest refugee-hosting country in Africa, home to over 924,000 refugees and asylum seekers  mainly from South Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea.

The ongoing conflict killed thousands and internally displaced millions of Ethiopians. An estimated 59,000 people fled Ethiopia to find refuge in eastern Sudan.

Millions of Ethiopians are still in desperate need of humanitarian aid and protection. An estimated 9 million people across Ethiopias conflict-stricken regions of Tigray, Afar and Amhara lack access to adequate food, according to the UN.

In Tigray, nearly 40 per cent of the population is suffering from a lack of food. In addition to severe food insecurity, gender-based violence has increased significantly. Also, women and children lack access to proper healthcare, social welfare and justice services, the UN has said.

Amidst the conflict in the Tigray region, international NGOs and aid groups faced difficulties in delivering critical humanitarian aid and vital services. A shortage of fuel, supplies and cash has forced several aid groups to reduce or cancel distributions of food, water and medicine.

Chiamaka Okafor is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe.

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The management of Realnews Magazine and Publications Limited, publishers of Realnews Magazine Online, has announced that Buba Marwa, chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), will deliver the Realnews 10th Anniversary Lecture.

Mr Marwas acceptance to deliver the lecture was communicated to Realnews in a letter dated May 31, 2022, and signed by M.I. Aminu, a lieutenant colonel and military assistant to the NDLEA chairman.

The lecture on Drug Abuse among Youths in Africa: Implication for Nigerian Economy and 2023 Elections will hold at the Sheraton Hotel, Lagos, on Thursday, November 17, 2022.

Mr Marwa, a retired brigadier general and former Governor of Lagos State, is a renowned national and international security expert.

In the past few years, he has become a force to reckon with in the fight against drug trafficking and abuse in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.

The NDLEA, under Mr Marwas leadership, has waged an exemplary war against illicit drugs, with demonstrable strategy and effectiveness in tackling transnational drug trafficking and the abuse of illicit drugs among Nigerians, especially the youths.

He has made strides in transforming the NDLEA, including the arrest and prosecution of high-profile drug traffickers.

Under his leadership, the NDLEA has shown that there are no sacred cows in the fight against criminality, the statement by RealNews Magazine said.

The lecture will be chaired by Elizabeth Ngozi Ebi, the group managing director of Futureview Financial Services Limited, who will also moderate the panel session.

Realnews, a general interest magazine, is an online publication that thrives on investigative journalism.

The Realnews Anniversary Lecture Series was established to commemorate the best minds in our society and to tap from them to enrich the discourse in our national development.

The 9th Anniversary Lecture of Realnews in 2021 was delivered by Simbi Kesiye Wabote, executive secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board on Nigeria in the Unfolding Integration of the African Market: The Oil and Gas Perspective.

The 2020 Eighth Anniversary Lecture of Realnews was delivered by Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Chairman of the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 on Managing COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa: The Nigeria Experience.

Former President John Dramani Mahama of Ghana gave the 2019 Lecture on Beyond Politics: An Economic Narrative for West Africa while Prof. Mahmood Yakubu spoke on Political Transitions and Africas Economic Development: Preparations for Nigerias 2019 General Elections at the 2018 Lecture.

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Fintech startups in Africa grew 81 per cent in 2021, with South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya emerging as key hubs on the continent, a study by Mastercard says.

Mastercard, a global technology company in the payments industry, disclosed this in its recent study on the state of fintech in African markets titled The Future of Fintech: Rapid Growth Smart Capital.

According to the study, fintech startups in Africa grew from 311 in 2019 to 564 in 2021.

It said the sector accounted for 27 per cent of the record-high number of deals closed and 61 per cent of the USD 2.7 billion deployed across Africa in 2021.

In terms of funding, the study showed that Africas fintech startups recorded 894 per cent year-on-year growth in funding in 2021, the second highest in the Middle East, Africa and Pakistan region during the period, and the highest yearly growth rate over the past five years.

It said Sub-Saharan Africa received USD 1.56 billion in funding, the highest in the region by a wide margin.

Nigeria emerged as a leading fintech hub across the Middle East, Africa, and Pakistan as startups there accounted for a third of all funding deployed into fintech in 2021.

Within Nigeria, fintech accounted for 71 per cent of all venture capital, it said.

Globally, it said fintech funding jumped to a new record of USD 131.5 billion in 2021.

The number of fintech unicorns reached 235 with 34 born in Q4-2021. Fintech companies now represent more than 20 per cent of total tech unicorn value, compared to 15 per cent in the previous year, it said.

The study noted that the rapidly growing sector comprises sub-segments of particular interest, including digital payments, e-money, international remittances, peer-to-peer (P2P) lending, and equity crowdfunding.

On the demand side, it said the role of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) has been crucial to fintechs growth.

MSMEs use fintech and e-commerce solutions to scale, source and reach.

The growth in alternative payment rails and emerging platforms are shaping the commercial landscape.

Buoyed by demand, fintech it said has seen products based on multi-faceted innovation in emerging and mature economies.

It said that by providing scalable financial services using the internet, blockchain, and algorithms, fintech companies have widened the reach of financial services traditionally offered by banks, including loans, payments, investments, or wealth management.

Country Performance

Within Africa, the study said Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa are among the countries leading the transition to digital payments, with existing or rapidly developing infrastructure and policy frameworks that enable the growth.

It said Nigeria is a major player in tech startup funding in Africa and the fintech sector is dominated by the payments segment.

It noted that Lagos is one of the continents major startup hubs, with 88.4 per cent of Nigerian tech startups based there.

According to the study fintech, is the leading sub-sector of the Nigerian startup space, both in terms of activity and amount of funding.

it said 15.6 per cent of Nigerian tech startups have at least one woman in the founding team while 45.1 per cent of startups have gone through acceleration or incubation (38.6 per cent in Egypt and 25.7 per cent in South Africa).

Nigeria produced two unicorns in 2021, it said.

According to the study, a third of all fintech funding in Emerging Venture Markets in 2021 was in Nigeria.

In Kenya, the study said financial inclusion increased from 26.7 per cent in 2006 to 83.7 per cent in 2021.

During the first 11 months of 2021, Kenyans made 1.9 trillion mobile money transactions worth more than USD 55 billion, up 20% over the number of transactions in all of 2020, it said.

It said Cape Town is the startup capital of South Africa, accounting for 45.9 per cent of ventures; Johannesburg follows with 41.6 per cent.

It noted that fintech is a major driver of startup activity with 30 per cent of companies active in that space

14.3 per cent of South African tech startups have at least one female founder and 25.7 per cent of startups are accelerated; South Africa has the continents oldest tech incubator.

It added that fintech is the largest employer among startups, accounting for almost 40 per cent of jobs.

Payments and remittances attract the most startups in fintech, 27.2 per cent in 2021 while lending and financing produce 17 per cent, it said.

Speaking on the findings, Ngozi Megwa, Senior Vice President, Digital Partners and Enablers, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, Mastercard, said: It is encouraging to witness the growth of the fintech landscape across the region, creating multiple opportunities for start-ups, scale-ups, enablers and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to bring more people into the digital fold.

At Mastercard, we are helping to fuel fintech acceleration by offering access to our expertise, network and technology. We provide a portfolio of technology solutions, APIs, developer tools, partner networks, startup programs and a community experience for every fintech company and payments developer, helping turn their bold ideas into reality, she said.

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The Lagos State Government, through its Health Facilities Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA), has sealed 42 health facilities in nine months.

The Executive Secretary of HEFAMAA, Abiola Idowu, made this known on Tuesday in Ikeja, while reviewing activities of the agency in nine months.

Mrs Idowu said the 42 facilities were sealed, out of about 1,040 health facilities visited from January to September.

She said the facilities were sealed for non-compliance with regulatory standards, including non-registration of facilities, lack of qualified medical personnel, as well as the illegal training of auxiliary nurses.

According to her, within the same period, 170 facilities across the state were inspected for registration, while 157 closure notices were issued.

She said the key areas the monitoring officers focused on during monitoring and inspection of health facilities were the qualification of personnel, operation processes of the facility, the environment, and the standard of equipment.

The executive secretary said the agency was ensuring that monitoring of all the health facilities in the state was done at least twice a year, as the law stipulated.

The agency is empowered by the Health Sector Reform (HSR) Law 2006 to franchise some of its activities.

Section 49 (5) of the law granted the agency the power to select franchise companies to monitor and ensure compliance with the law by health facilities in the state, she said.

Mrs Idowu, therefore, advised owners and operators of health facilities to get acquainted with the law and carry out their operations in accordance with it, to safeguard the health of the people.

According to her, the state government is committed to sustaining the fight against quackery and unprofessional conduct in the system.

She urged intending operators to ensure proper registration with the agency through its website before commencing operations.

Mrs Idowu also urged existing registered operators to ensure prompt renewal of their certificates to avoid being sanctioned.

(NAN)

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The police in Akwa Ibom State have confirmed the abduction of a former permanent secretary in Akwa Ibom State, South-south Nigeria.

The man, identified as Ignatius Brown, was abducted on Monday, a few metres away from his home, in Abak Local Government Area, while returning from a church meeting in the evening, according to a report by Channels TV.

The report quoted unnamed sources as saying that some armed men had trailed Mr Brown from the church  Saint Johns Catholic Church, Abak  before they (gunmen) overtook and blocked his car along Abak-Ikot Ekpene Road.

The gunmen reportedly fired gunshots into the air to scare away other road users, and pushed the driver out of the car, before abducting the former permanent secretary.

The gunmen fled with the mans car, but later abandoned it on a highway  Abak-Ekparakwa Road, according to the Channels TV report.

The police spokesperson in Akwa Ibom, Odiko Macdon, said a suspect has been arrested in connection with the incident.

READ ALSO: Gunmen kill police officer in Calabar

He said the suspect was helping the police with information that would lead to the tracking down of the kidnappers.

We have received that report already, and as we speak, preliminary investigation is ongoing.

The Commissioner of Police, Olatoye Durusinmi, has detailed the officer-in-charge of kidnapping and other tactical teams to ensure that the victim is successfully rescued and reunited with his family, said Mr Macdon, a superintendent of police.

Based on the CPs instructions, a lot had already been done. We have one person in our custody who is helping us with the necessary information, and I believe that the kidnapped victim will soon regain his freedom.

Mr Brown is the chairperson of Saint Johns Catholic Church Council in Abak.

He has been living in Abak for many years before his abduction.

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Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has said that peace and security may remain elusive in Nigeria if some ethnic nationalities continue to marginalise others.

I continue to tell our people or those who believe that they are dominant  you need peace for you to preside over those who you think do not have the number.

You need peace. If there is no peace, it will be difficult, Mr Wike said on Tuesday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, when the management of New Telegraph newspaper visited him at the Government House to present its nomination of the governor as the Political Icon of the Year 2022.

The delegation from the New Telegraph was led by its Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief, Ayodele Aminu.

Mr Wike and other governors who are his allies are demanding the resignation of the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Iyorchia Ayu, to pave the way for a southerner to lead the party in order to achieve a regional balance.

Both Mr Ayu and the PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar are from the north.

While receiving the New Telegraph delegation, Mr Wike said it was becoming difficult to convince Nigerians that his party, the PDP, can rescue the country.

He once again accused the PDP of violating its zoning principle, which would have had a southerner emerge as the party presidential candidate for the 2023 election. He also accused the PDP leadership of not allowing for inclusivity in the party.

The governor said he and others would continue to demand Mr Ayus resignation, no matter the blackmail against them.

He said it is difficult for Mr Ayu to lead the PDP to victory in the 2023 elections.

If you like, abuse us the way you want to abuse us, but we will stand by what we have said.

If you say you will not relinquish that position to the south, no problems. Go ahead, but you cant force us to do what we think is not right, we will not do it. So, this kind of man cannot, in all honesty, take this party to any victory. He cannot, Governor Wike said, of the PDP national chairman.

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has moved Ismaila Atumeyi, a member of the cyber-fraud syndicate linked to a N1.4 billion fraud to Lagos for further investigations, the agency said in a statement on Wednesday.

The commission had announced earlier on Tuesday that it arrested Mr Atumeyi, who is the Kogi State House of Assembly candidate of the Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), in Abuja on 30 October.

EFCC said it arrested Mr Atumeyi along with another member of the alleged syndicate, Joshua Dominic, with N326 million and $140,500 cash at Macedonia Street, Queens Estate, Karsana, Gwarinpa.

A former bank employee, Femi Abdumalik, who allegedly supplied inside information that facilitated a cyber-attack on a bank by the syndicate, was arrested on Tuesday at Radisson Blu Hotel, Lagos, with $470,000 cash, according to EFCC.

The commissions spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, said in his statement on Wednesday, that Mr Atumeyi, the politician-cum-cyber-fraud suspect was flown into Lagos in the early hours of Wednesday, 2 November 2022 in continuation of the investigation into the scam.

He is billed to be interrogated by another team of operatives at the Lagos Command of the commission, the statement added.

According to the commission, Mr Atumeyi and the two others  Messsrs Dominic and Abdulmalik  were arrested for allegedly hacking into the system of a commercial bank and defrauding the institution of over N1.4 billion.

The EFCC had said in its statement on Tuesday that it recovered N326 million and $140,500 cash from Mr Atumeyi during a sting operation at his hideout in Queens Estate, Gwarinpa, Abuja, while $470, 000 was recovered from Abdulmalik in Lagos.

The commission said Mr Atumeyi is contesting the Ankpa 11 Constituency seat in the Kogi State House of Assembly in the forthcoming 2023 general elections.

The arrest of the suspects followed months of investigation into the hacking of one of the commercial banks by a syndicate of fraudsters who pulled off a heist of N1.4 billion, the statement read in part.

It accused the syndicate of moving N887 million into the account of Fav Oil and Gas Limited, from where the fund was disbursed to several Bureau de Change operators and some auto dealers for exchange into United States dollars and purchase of high-end cars.

The EFCC said the suspects will be charged to court as soon as the investigation is concluded.

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Three days after abducting over 40 workers, including 39 children, at a farm in Mai Ruwa community, their abductors are now demanding N30 million as ransom.

They also stated that they want to have a dialogue with the owner of the farm where the victims were abducted. They vowed not to release the captives until either of the demands are met.

The victims are from different villages in Faskari and Funtua local government areas of Katsina State.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered from a source at the area that the terrorists invaded the farm Sunday afternoon and took away over 40 workers working on the farm. The number included 39 children who could not run when the terrorists struck.

A source, who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons said the terrorists had reached out to some of the parents of the abducted children on Monday, demanding N30m to free the children.

The owner of the farm was not around. It (the farm) was under one of his staff. When the victims were abducted, they (terrorists) reached out to some parents for the ransom but they suddenly called to say they would not accept anything less than the mentioned ransom or direct access to the owner of the farm.

They said they had made their investigations and they found out that the owner of the farm is very rich. The situation now is theyve remained adamant to only speak with the owner of the farm, he said.

He, however, could not confirm if the owner of the farm had agreed to speak with the terrorists or not.

When contacted, the police spokesperson in Katsina State, Gambo Isa, said the command was aware of the abduction.

READ ALSO: Panic in Katsina community as terrorists demand N250m ransom for 43 kidnapped residents

Mr Isa said the command has been making efforts to rescue the abducted victims.

He, however, did not give the exact number of those abducted during the attack.

Yes, we got the report and were working to rescue them. Ill get the full details of the abduction including the exact number of the captives as sent to me by the DPO and get back to you, he said through the phone.

Communities in the North West states of Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Sokoto and Kebbi as well as Niger in North-central have been witnessing a series of terrorist attacks for years.

The terrorists have been making life difficult for residents, especially farmers.

A PREMIUM TIMES investigation revealed how terrorists made farmers abandon their farmlands or forced them to pay farming levies to access their farms.

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By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) have discussed joint cooperation in the public-private partnership sector, Azernews reports.

The discussion took place during a meeting between Azerbaijan's Small and Medium Business Development Agency Board Chairman Orkhan Mammadov and International Finance Corporation in Azerbaijan representative Aliya Azimova and IFC's expert on public-private partnership Philip Drapak.

During the meeting, the parties also exchanged views on the opportunities for financing projects in the mentioned sector with the participation of SMBs.

Azerbaijan became a member of the IFC in 1995. Since then, IFC has implemented a range of advisory projects aimed at encouraging private sector growth and provided $250 million for the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.
This bike ride started on 27 th August from Lithuania and concluded in India on October 15 th , 2022

This bike ride is of almost 14000 KM ride covering 10 countries and was initiated to create awareness about fitness and wellness amongst thousands of people across the world.

MUMBAI, India, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Wellman, a known brand of Meyer Organics and part of the world's No. 1 & fastest growing Nutraceutical Company, Vitabiotics Ltd, supported the famous Lithuanian motorcycle rider Mr. Karolis Mieliauskas in his 'Around the World in 40 Days' journey to create awareness about fitness and wellness amongst thousands of people across the world.

Mr. Karolis along with the Wellman Team

This bike ride journey started on 27th August from Lithuania and Mr. Karolis came to India after travelling through Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan. Karolis covered key Indian cities such as Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru before he concluded his trip in Kanyakumari.

Mr. Karolis is an adventurer, explorer and an inspirational speaker who is passionate to create awareness about physical and mental wellness in the society. He has ridden through many tough terrains across the world and created many records for his journeys. In Feb 2021, he took upon a journey of 'World's Coldest Bike Ride' from Lithuania to Oymyakon in Russia.

Wellman, a known brand of Meyer Vitabiotics is the official sponsor of the bike ride. Meyer Vitabiotics is in the forefront to create an impact by improving the production technology, safety and environment protection in production system. They are able to optimize their production systems performance through their control systems in accordance with GMP and ISO 9001.

About Meyer Vitabiotics:

Vitabiotics has manufactured innovative health care products for over 50 years; a British company committed to human health and research. Based in London, Vitabiotics has created a unique portfolio of products at the forefront of scientific developments in key sectors, including nutrition and women's health. Designed to provide maximum efficacy by supporting the human body in its own natural processes, each product is developed using the latest research available, and produced to the highest pharmaceutical standards. Vitabiotics has a profound commitment to translating the latest scientific advancements into effective products, which are fully integrated with modern consumer lifestyles. Vitabiotics' brand portfolio includes some of the fastest growing supplements in the UK and numerous brand leaders.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1935981/Mr_Karolis_Wellman_Team.jpg

SOURCE Meyer Organics
Broadcom MASTERS Awards $100,000 in Prizes, Inspiring and Rewarding the Nation's Next Generation of Scientists, Engineers, and Innovators

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Broadcom Foundation and Society for Science today announced that Thomas Aldous, 14, from Pittsburgh, Penn., won the coveted $25,000 Samueli Foundation Prize, the top award in the Broadcom MASTERS, the nation's premier science and engineering competition for middle school students. Thomas impressed the judges with his leadership style, collaborative spirit, and innovative research project. He designed and developed a robotic hand that can be used in situations that might be too dangerous for humans, like a natural disaster.

The top winners of the 2022 Broadcom MASTERS. Courtesy: Lisa Fryklund

Thomas's remote-controlled robotic hand connects fingers on a glove to threads that link to spools with electronic devices. A control board uses data from the devices to prepare and send instructions to the hand, which then mimics the glove-wearer's movements. Through his design process, Thomas sought to ensure that the controls for his robotic hand would be simple and intuitive.

The other top winners took on issues ranging from honeybee colony collapse to understanding human memory.

The Broadcom MASTERS (Math, Applied Science, Technology and Engineering for Rising Stars), a program of Society for Science, awards middle school students for their STEM passions to inspire them to continue their pursuit of science and engineering. Thirty finalists, including Thomas, took home more than $100,000 in awards.

The competition took place in Washington, D.C., back in person for the first time since the 2019 competition. Each of the 30 finalists participated in team challenges in addition to being judged on their science research projects. The challenges leveraged project-based learning and tested their mastery of 21st Century skills of critical thinking, communication, creativity and collaboration in each of the STEM areas. During the team challenges, the finalists designed a quantum board game, studied blue crabs to build a robotic arm using hydraulics and developed devices that could detect early-stage Parkinson's tremors.

This year marks the culmination of Broadcom Foundation's proud 12-year sponsorship of the Society's middle school STEM competition as Thermo Fisher Scientific becomes the new title sponsor of the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge. Broadcom Foundation will continue partnering with the Society through the Broadcom Coding with Commitment Award, which will be given to a Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge finalist who combines STEM learning with coding to solve a community problem that aligns with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.

"Congratulations to Thomas Aldous on winning the top award in the 2022 Broadcom MASTERS," said Maya Ajmera, President and CEO of Society for Science and Publisher of Science News. "Thomas's robotic hand has the exciting potential to help search and rescue workers. Like so many other of our amazing finalists, Thomas looked around him and identified a problem in our world that he sought to solve through STEM."

"These finalists hold a special place in our hearts as our last Broadcom MASTERS class," said Paula Golden, President of Broadcom Foundation. "Broadcom Foundation is excited to hand the baton for the middle school competition over to Thermo Fisher Scientific, a company that we know places equally high value on STEM education, and we look forward to being part of their celebration of excellence through the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge."

Thomas Aldous, 14, Pittsburgh, Penn., won the $25,000 Samueli Foundation Prize, for his project designing a robotic hand as well as his leadership, collaboration and critical thinking skills. The prize is a gift of Dr. Henry Samueli, Chairman of the Board, Broadcom Inc., and Chair of the Broadcom Foundation and his wife, Dr. Susan Samueli, President of the Samueli Foundation.

Rory Hu, 12, San Jose, Calif., won the $10,000 DoD STEM Talent Award for demonstrating excellence in science, technology, engineering or math, along with the leadership and technical skills necessary to excel in the 21st Century STEM workforce and build a better community for tomorrow. Rory's research on honeybees suggests that feeding bees tea polyphenols and caffeine could boost their ability to learn and remember. She also showed that the chemicals might repair some of the harm done by pesticides, which could help dwindling honeybee populations.

Jeanelle Dao, 13, San Jose, Calif., won the $10,000 Lemelson Award for Invention, awarded by The Lemelson Foundation to a young inventor who creates a promising solution to a real-world problem. Jeanelle invented a foot-controlled welcome mat that wirelessly unlocks a door when the user enters the correct code. The device could help people with arthritis and other hand problems become more self-sufficient.

Elizabeth Shen, 14, Cary, N.C., won the $10,000 Marconi/Samueli Award for Innovation, an honor made possible by Samueli's generous donation of his 2012 Marconi Society Prize Award. The finalist demonstrates both vision and promise as an innovator, in the spirit of radio inventor Guglielmo Marconi. Elizabeth drew inspiration from the way many flower petals grow and the golden ratio to design a system for better managing the wear on a computer's memory. Over time, many heavily used cells within computers become damaged, and the memory must be replaced. Elizabeth's system reduces the average number of times cells were accessed, compared to other options.

Mina Fedor, 14, Berkeley, Calif., won the $10,000 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Award for Health Advancement, which recognizes the student whose work and performance shows the most promise in health-related fields and demonstrates an understanding of the many social factors that affect the health of communities. Mina used electroencephalography, or EEG, to measure a certain type of brain activity as people did active and passive learning tasks. Mina's research, which found that the brain doesn't substantially differentiate between the two different kinds of learning, could impact the way educators teach.

The Broadcom MASTERS winners were chosen from the 30 finalists selected from 1,807 applicants from 47 states and three U.S. territories (Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands). Winners were selected by a panel of distinguished scientists, engineers and educators. Each finalist's school will receive $1,000 from the Broadcom MASTERS program to benefit their STEM initiatives.

In addition to the top prizes, the Broadcom Foundation and the Society also announced the winner of the $5,000 Broadcom Coding with Commitment Award, first and second place winners in each of the STEM categories of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. The organizations also named the two Rising Stars who will be official student observers to Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) and the winners of the Team Award, sponsored by TIES.

Winners Include:

Samueli Foundation Prize: $25,000

Thomas Aldous, Remote Rescue Robot: Robotic Hand Controlled by Human Motion

DoD STEM Talent Award: $10,000

Rory Hu, The Effects of Pesticides, Caffeine and Tea Polyphenols on the Visual and Olfactory Learning and Memory of the Honey Bee

Lemelson Award for Invention: $10,000

Jeanelle Dao, Controlling Doors Using Interface Technology with Steps for People with Hand Disabilities (CONDUITS)

Marconi/Samueli Award for Innovation: $10,000

Elizabeth Shen, Flower Petal-Inspired Computer Memory Leveling via the Golden Ratio

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Award for Health Advancement: $10,000

Mina Fedor, EEG Theta During Self-Directed Versus Passive Spatial Memory Encoding and Retrieval

Broadcom Coding with Commitment Award: $5,000

Ankit Biswas, A Novel LP-Based Approach to Mitigating Launch Vehicle CO2 Emissions

STEM Award Winners:

First and second place winners of STEM Awards demonstrated acumen and promise in science, technology, engineering and math. First place winners were awarded $3,500 and second place winners received $2,500 to be used toward a STEM summer camp experience, with top awards in math sponsored by Robert John Floe, President Floe Financial Partners.

Science Award:

First place: Victoria Harding Bradley, Green Ears: A Study of Ultrasonic Acoustic Emissions in Response to Environmental Stressors in Plants

Second place: Kasey Moore, The Effect of Uncaria tomentosa (Cat's Claw) in Learning and Memory in Lymnaea stagnalis (The Great Pond Snail)

Technology Award:

First place: Skye Holyn Knox , Laboratory Testing of Chemical Cloud Seeding

Second place: Moitri Santra, Innovative Engineering Tools for Controlling Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB): Year 3

Engineering Award:

First place: Alexander Montgomery, The Impact of Different Environmental Conditions on Galvanic Corrosion at Launchpad Structures

Second place: Emma Abigail Simmons , Portable Bronchodilator Delivery System for Equine Inflammatory Respiratory Diseases

Mathematics Award:

First place: Sritej Sai Padmanabhan, Can Video Analysis of Hand Tremors Aid in Telehealth?

Second place: Mahi Kohli, Identifying Potential Alzheimer's Biomarkers in Cerebrospinal Fluid

Rising Star Awards:

In recognition of their promise as two of the youngest competitors, two Rising Stars win the opportunity to attend the Regeneron ISEF, the world's largest international high school science fair competition, as student observers.

Tate Baum , Throwing a Curve Like Kershaw

Sarah Charlotte Simmons , Portable Bronchodilator Delivery System for Equine Inflammatory Respiratory Diseases

Team Award, sponsored by TIES: Each member of the team that best demonstrates their ability to work together and solve problems through shared decision making, communication and scientific and engineering collaboration will receive a gift card to a science supply company to support their interests in STEM. The team award is sponsored by TIES, Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM.

Blue Team  Thomas Aldous, Shaunak Dalal, Skye Holyn Knox, Moitri Santra, Ethan Yan

Broadcom Leadership Award:

The Broadcom Leadership Award is bestowed upon the Broadcom MASTERS finalist elected by their peers to speak on behalf of their class at the Awards Ceremony. The Class Speaker demonstrates the collegiality and spirited leadership that has earned the collective esteem of the class throughout the Broadcom MASTERS competition and united them around common goals.

Luka Anthony Nguyen , Which Mangroves (Mature Plants vs. Immature Propagules) Thrive Better and Are Best Suited for Aerial Reforestation?

Resources:

For more information on the Broadcom MASTERS, visit the Broadcom Foundation and Society websites . To keep up with the Broadcom MASTERS, use the hashtag #brcmMASTERS or follow Broadcom Foundation and the Society on Twitter or the Society on Instagram. To stay connected, visit the Broadcom MASTERS and Society Facebook pages.

Media Kit: https://www.societyforscience.org/broadcom-2022-media-kit/

About Broadcom Foundation

Founded in April 2009, the Broadcom Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation with the mission of advancing science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education by increasing opportunities to achieve success through equitable access to STEM pathways.

The foundation inspires young people to pursue careers in STEM and to develop 21st Century+ skills of critical thinking, computation & coding, collaboration, communication and creativity. It is a founding member of the National STEM Funders Network and plays a leadership role in the STEM Education Ecosystem Initiatives in the U.S., Mexico and Israel.

The foundation's signature programs focus on computational skills needed for careers in the Information Age. It champions student achievement at science fairs and code clubs and promotes the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations as the vehicle by which young scientists and engineers can "Act Globally and Think Locally."

Learn more at http://broadcomfoundation.org/ and follow us on Twitter (@BroadcomSTEM), Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

About Society for Science

Society for Science is a champion for science, dedicated to promoting the understanding and appreciation of science and the vital role it plays in human advancement. Established in 1921, Society for Science is best known for its award-winning journalism through Science News and Science News Explores, its world-class science research competitions for students, including the Regeneron Science Talent Search, the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair and the Broadcom MASTERS, and its outreach and equity programming that seeks to ensure that all students have an opportunity to pursue a career in STEM.

A 501(c)(3) membership organization, Society for Science is committed to inform, educate and inspire. Learn more at www.societyforscience.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat (Society4Science).

Media contact: Gayle Kansagor, [email protected]

SOURCE Society for Science
Two legal industry leaders announce a strategic marketing agreement and launch ABA Journal Audience First which targets messaging to legal professionals based on law firm size, topic interest and intent to buy products and services.

NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ALM's Law.com and the ABA Journal announced an agreement where Law.com will sell targeted messaging solutions that engage the ABA Journal's online audience using Law.com's advanced advertising technology.

The agreement is a unique collaboration between ALM's Law.com, the leading legal industry media platform with 20 leading national and regional media brands, and the ABA Journal which is the flagship magazine of the American Bar Association, the largest voluntary association of lawyers and legal professionals in the world.

Law.com will create and sell ABA Journal Audience First, a new audience extension product that allows marketers to target the ABA Journal's online audience of 500,000 monthly unique visitors by law firm/company size and by topical interest (such as practice management and litigation) as well as buying intent.

For example, a legal marketer looking to sell an eDiscovery solution to small to mid-size law firms can find out which ones are demonstrating top, mid or late sales funnel interest in this topic, and then advertise to legal professionals at these firms as they access brand-safe websites during their day.

The ABA Journal has a broad legal industry audience but especially includes small to mid-sized law firms. For example, 73 percent of the ABA Journal's readership are firms of 50 lawyers or less. Combined with Law.com's own small law reach, marketers now have a one-stop solution to reach this critical audience.

"ALM and the ABA are two of the biggest names in the legal industry and we're proud we can now include the ABA Journal's audience as part of our Audience First solution that allows legal marketers to target messaging to our industry leading audience of legal professionals," said Matt Weiner, President of ALM's Marketing Services Division.

"We're very excited at the potential of being able to access Law.com's advanced digital ad technology" said John O'Brien, publisher of the ABA Journal.

About Law.com

Law.com is the legal industry's most reputable and trusted legal media brand. It is by far the leading media platform in the US reaching 100% of the Am Law 100 and one out of every two lawyers in the US is a digital member or full subscriber. It has an average of 1.6 million unique visitors and 7,200 new subscribers a month. It consists of 20 leading national and regional brands including The American Lawyer and National Law Journal and regional titles such as Texas Lawyer and the New York Law Journal. Visit www.law.com

About ALM

ALM, an information and intelligence media company, provides customers with critical news, data, analysis, marketing solutions and events to successfully manage the business of business. ALM serves a community of more than 7 million business professionals in the legal, finance, insurance and commercial real estate industries. Please visit www.alm.com for more information.

About the ABA Journal

The ABA Journal is the flagship media brand of the ABA, the largest voluntary association of lawyers in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law. Aside from its online audience, the ABA Journal has more than 200,000 print readers and an audience of nearly 500,000 newsletter subscribers. Visit www.abajournal.com

Contact Information:

Joe Braue

VP, Marketing & Custom Solutions

ALM

212.457.7705

[email protected]

SOURCE ALM
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --

Arcor S.A.I.C. Offer to Exchange Any and All of its Outstanding

6.000% Fixed Rate Notes due 2023

(CUSIP Nos.: 03965PAC5 and P04559AL7; ISIN Nos. US03965PAC59 and USP04559AL70)

On October 4, 2022 Arcor S.A.I.C. (" Arcor " or the " Company ") announced the commencement of its offer to exchange (the " Exchange Offer ") any and all of its outstanding 6.000% Notes due 2023 (the " Old Notes ") for newly issued 8.250% Notes due 2027 (the " New Notes ") and cash consideration, as applicable, each upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the exchange offer memorandum (the " Exchange Offer Memorandum "), dated October 4, 2022 and the related eligibility letter (the " Eligibility Letter " and, together with the Exchange Offer Memorandum, the " Exchange Offer Documents "). Capitalized terms not defined herein shall have the meaning ascribed to them in the Exchange Offer Documents.

Arcor hereby announces that the Exchange Offer expired as of 11:59 p.m., New York City time on November 1, 2022.

Morrow Sodali Ltd., acting as information and exchange agent for the Exchange Offer (the " Information and Exchange Agent "), advised Arcor that (i) U.S.$122,693,000 in aggregate principal amount of Old Notes, representing approximately 24.54% of the aggregate principal amount of Old Notes outstanding, have been tendered (and not validly withdrawn) in the Exchange Offer under Option A, and (ii) U.S.$249,365,000 in aggregate principal amount of Old Notes, representing approximately 49.87% of the aggregate principal amount of Old Notes outstanding, have been tendered (and not validly withdrawn) in the Exchange Offer under Option B, totaling a participation of U.S.$372,058,000 in aggregate principal amount of Old Notes, representing approximately 74.41% of the aggregate principal amount of Old Notes outstanding.

As previously announced on October 18, 2022, the Early Participation Date was extended from October 18, 2022 at 5:00 p.m., New York City time to 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on November 1, 2022. Therefore, the amended Early Participation Date and the Expiration Date are the same. Eligible Holders who validly tendered their Old Notes before the Expiration Date are eligible to receive the Early Exchange Consideration and there will be no Late Exchange Consideration. The Old Notes validly tendered pursuant to the Exchange Offer are sufficient to satisfy the Minimum Participation Condition.

Given that Arcor has satisfied the minimum participation condition and subject to the satisfaction or waiver of the conditions set forth in the Exchange Offer Documents, Arcor has accepted for exchange all validly tendered Old Notes and intends to pay the Early Exchange Consideration for Old Notes validly tendered, together with the Accrued Interest Payment on or about November 9, 2022 (the " Settlement Date "), in compliance with Argentine Central Bank's requirements to access the foreign exchange market. On the Settlement Date, Arcor expects to issue U.S.$265,427,742 aggregate principal amount of New Notes and to pay U.S.$111,617,400.03 cash consideration (excluding the Accrued Interest Payment) as total consideration for the Old Notes validly tendered in the Exchange Offer. For each US$1,000 principal amount of Old Notes validly tendered and accepted for exchange, Eligible Holders will receive, as applicable: (a) under Option A (Early A Consideration): approximately (i) U.S.$90.27 in New Notes, and (ii) U.S.$909.73 in cash; or (b) under Option B (Early B Consideration): U.S.$1,020 in New Notes.

Questions or requests for assistance related to the Exchange Offer or for additional copies of the Exchange Offer Documents may be directed to Morrow Sodali Ltd. at the following email address: [email protected]. You may also contact your broker, dealer, commercial bank, trust company or other nominee for assistance concerning the Exchange Offer. The Exchange Offer Documents are available for Eligible Holders at the following web address: https://projects.morrowsodali.com/Arcor.

Citigroup Global Markets Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Santander Investment Securities Inc. acted as dealer managers (the " Dealer Managers ") for the Exchange Offer. Banco Santander Argentina S.A., Banco Itau Argentina S.A. and Banco de Galicia y Buenos Aires S.A.U. acted as local placement agents.

Subject to applicable law, the Exchange Offer may be amended in any respect, extended or, upon failure of a condition to be satisfied or waived prior to the Expiration Date or Settlement Date, as the case may be, terminated, at any time and for any reason. Although the Company has no present plans or arrangements to do so, the Company reserves the right to amend, at any time, the terms of the Exchange Offer (including, without limitation, the conditions thereto) in accordance with applicable law. The Company will give Eligible Holders notice of any amendments and will extend the Expiration Date if required by applicable law.

To reimburse the time and cost of processing the tender of Old Notes in the Exchange Offer, Arcor will pay a processing fee to brokers acting on behalf of certain Eligible Holders. This processing fee will be payable to brokers only with respect to individual tenders of up to U.S.$250,000 aggregate principal amount of Old Notes per each Eligible Holder and will be in an amount equal to 0.25% of the principal amount of such tendered Old Notes that are accepted for exchange. See "Description of the Exchange OfferProcessing Fee" in the Exchange Offer Memorandum for more information regarding eligibility requirements that the process brokers must follow to obtain the processing fee.

Important Notice

This announcement is not an offer of securities for sale in the United States, and none of the New Notes has been or will be registered under the Securities Act or any state securities law. They may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons except pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to the registration requirements of the Securities Act. This press release does not constitute an offer of the New Notes for sale, or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, in any state or other jurisdiction in which any offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. Any person considering making an investment decision relating to any securities must inform itself independently based solely on an offering memorandum to be provided to eligible investors in the future in connection with any such securities before taking any such investment decision.

This announcement is directed only to holders of Old Notes who are (1) "qualified institutional buyers" ("QIBs") as defined in Rule 144A under the Securities Act, or (2) other than "U.S. persons" (as defined in Rule 902 under the Securities Act) who are located outside of the United States, who are qualified offerees in other jurisdictions, are authorized to receive the Exchange Offer Memorandum and to participate in the Exchange Offer. No offer of any kind is being made to any beneficial owner of Old Notes who does not meet the above criteria or any other beneficial owner located in a jurisdiction where the Exchange Offer is not permitted by law.

The distribution of materials relating to the Exchange Offer may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions. The Exchange Offer is void in all jurisdictions where it is prohibited. If materials relating to the Exchange Offer come into your possession, you are required by the Company to inform yourself of and to observe all of these restrictions. The materials relating to the Exchange Offer, including this communication, do not constitute, and may not be used in connection with, an offer or solicitation in any place where offers or solicitations are not permitted by law. If a jurisdiction requires that the Exchange Offer be made by a licensed broker or dealer and a dealer manager or any affiliate of a dealer manager is a licensed broker or dealer in that jurisdiction, the Exchange Offer shall be deemed to be made by the dealer manager or such affiliate on behalf of the Company in that jurisdiction.

Forward-Looking Statements

All statements in this press release, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on expectations and assumptions on the date of this press release and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, market conditions, and factors over which the Company has no control. The Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, and does not intend to do so, unless otherwise required by law.

Notice to Investors in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom

The New Notes are not intended to be offered, sold or otherwise made available to and should not be offered, sold or otherwise made available to any retail investor in the European Economic Area ("EEA"). For these purposes, (a) a retail investor means a person who is one (or more) of: (i) a retail client as defined in point (11) of Article 4(1) of Directive 2014/65/EU (as amended, "MiFID II"); or (ii) a customer within the meaning of Directive (EU) 2016/97 (the "Insurance Distribution Directive"), where that customer would not qualify as a professional client as defined in point (10) of Article 4(1) of MiFID II; or (iii) not a qualified investor as defined in Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 (the "Prospectus Regulation"); and (b) the expression "offer" includes the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and the New Notes to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to subscribe for the New Notes. Consequently, no key information document required by Regulation (EU) 1286/2014 (as amended, the "PRIIPs Regulation") for offering or selling the New Notes or otherwise making them available to retail investors in the EEA has been prepared and therefore otherwise offering or selling the New Notes or otherwise making them available to any retail investor in the EEA may be unlawful under the PRIIPs Regulation.

The New Notes are not intended to be offered, sold or otherwise made available to and should not be offered, sold or otherwise made available to any retail investor in the United Kingdom. For these purposes: (a) the expression retail investor means a person who is one (or more) of the following: (i) a retail client, as defined in point (8) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 2017/565 as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (EUWA); or (ii) a customer within the meaning of the provisions of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (as amended, the "FSMA") and any rules or regulations made under the FSMA to implement Directive (EU) 2016/97, where that customer would not qualify as a professional client, as defined in point (8) of Article 2(1) of Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the EUWA and (iii) not a qualified investor as defined in Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the EUWA; and (b) the expression an offer includes the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and the New Notes to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to subscribe for the New Notes. Consequently, no key information document required by Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the EUWA (the "UK PRIIPs Regulation") for offering or selling the New Notes or otherwise making them available to retail investors in the UK has been prepared and therefore offering or selling the New Notes or otherwise making them available to any retail investor in the UK may be unlawful under the UK PRIIPs Regulation.







The Information and Exchange Agent for the Exchange Offer is:

INFORMATION AND EXCHANGE AGENT Morrow Sodali Ltd. Offer Website: https://projects.morrowsodali.com/Arcor E-mail: [email protected]







In Stamford:

In London: 333 Ludlow Street, South Tower, 5th Floor

103 Wigmore Street Stamford, CT 06902

W1U 1QS, London United States

United Kingdom Telephone: +1 203 609 4910

Telephone: +44 20 4513 6933











Any question regarding the terms of the Exchange Offer should be directed to the Dealer Managers.







The Dealer Managers for the Exchange Offer are:





Citigroup Global Markets Inc. 388 Greenwich Street, 4th Floor

New York, New York 10013

United States Attention: Liability Management Group

Call Collect: (212) 723-6106 US Toll-Free: (800) 558-3745 J.P. Morgan Securities LLC



383 Madison Avenue New York, New York 10179 Attn: Latin America Debt Capital Markets U.S. Toll-free: +1 (866) 846-2874 Collect: +1 (212) 834-7279 Santander Investment Securities Inc. 45 East 53rd Street  5th Floor

New York, New York 10022

United States Attention: Liability Management

Collect: +1 (212) 940-1442 Toll Free: +1 (855) 404-3636

The Exchange Offer Memorandum shall be available online at https://projects.morrowsodali.com/Arcor until the consummation or termination of the Exchange Offer.

SOURCE Arcor S.A.I.C.
-- ASC11 is an in-house discovered oral small molecule drug candidate, targeting 3-chymotrypsin like protease (3CLpro)

-- In antiviral cellular assays with infectious SARS-CoV-2, ASC11 demonstrated higher potency against SARS-CoV-2 than other 3CLpro inhibitors including Nirmatrelvir, S-217622, PBI-0451 and EDP-235, etc.

-- Ascletis owns global intellectual property rights for ASC11

HANGZHOU and SHAOXING, China, Nov. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ascletis Pharma Inc. (HKEX: 1672, "Ascletis") today announces that the Investigational New Drug (IND) application of ASC11, an oral inhibitor drug candidate targeting 3-chymotrypsin like protease (3CLpro) for COVID-19, has been filed to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after the Pre-IND consultation.

In antiviral cellular assays with infectious SARS-CoV-2, ASC11 demonstrated higher potency against SARS-CoV-2 than other 3CLpro inhibitors including Nirmatrelvir, S-217622, PBI-0451 and EDP-235, etc. ASC11 remains potent antiviral activity against various popular Omicron variants such as BA.1 and BA.5. In the animal model with infectious SARS-CoV-2, ASC11 also showed potent antiviral activity.

ASC11 is an in-house discovered oral small molecule drug candidate using various proprietary technologies including molecular docking. Ascletis has filed global patent applications for ASC11 and related compounds and their use in viral disease.

Ascletis has completed all IND enabling studies for ASC11 including Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) toxicology studies in rats and dogs as of today.

About Ascletis

Ascletis is an innovative R&D driven biotech listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (1672.HK), covering the entire value chain from discovery and development to manufacturing and commercialization. Led by a management team with deep expertise and a proven track record, Ascletis focuses on three therapeutic areas with unmet medical needs from a global perspective: viral diseases, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and oncology. Through excellent execution, Ascletis rapidly advances its drug pipeline with an aim of leading in global competition. To date, Ascletis has three marketed products, i.e. ritonavir tablets, GANOVO and ASCLEVIR, and 22 drug candidates in its R&D pipeline. The most advanced drug candidates include ASC22 (HBV functional cure), ASC10 and ASC11(oral small molecules for COVID-19 treatment), ASC40 (recurrent glioblastoma), ASC42 (PBC, primary biliary cholangitis), and ASC40 (acne).

For more information, please visit www.ascletis.com.

SOURCE Ascletis Pharma Inc.
TAMPA, Fla., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ashley Global Retail (Ashley) is joining forces with City of Hope, one of the largest cancer research and treatment organizations in the United States, to raise awareness about diabetes during National Diabetes Month. Ashley is spotlighting City of Hope and The Wanek Family Project for Type 1 diabetes, with the goal of educating consumers on the difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes and City of Hope's approach to developing next-generation therapies, tackling complications and ultimately, uncovering cures.

Diabetes is a chronic health condition that affects millions of people worldwide and can cause serious and life-threatening complications over time. Diabetes incidence is growing in the United States, and there is an urgent need for better prevention, treatment and cures.

City of Hope is a global leader in diabetes  its scientists helped develop synthetic human insulin, now used by millions of people with diabetes. The co-branded campaign with Ashley aims to feature City of Hope's expertise and groundbreaking milestones as well as to raise funds toward new medical advancements. Consumers will be able to interact and test their knowledge as they learn about how the disease affects people in the United States, research advances made through the Wanek Family Project, and the approaches to better treatments and potential cures for diabetes: promoting prevention, stopping progression, restoring function and addressing complications. They will also be able to make donations to accelerate this work at City of Hope.

The Wanek Family Project for Type 1 Diabetes, established by a cornerstone donation from the Wanek Family, has helped City of Hope make monumental medical advancements since 2017, including 36 new discoveries, 21 patents, six clinical trials and over 385 publications. These findings have revolutionized the way diabetes is understood around the world.

"The work that City of Hope is doing is groundbreaking. Its research has revolutionized the understanding and treatment of diabetes and is going to improve the lives of many affected by this disease," said Todd Wanek, President and CEO, Ashley Furniture Industries, LLC. "We are honored to partner with City of Hope, and we hope the campaign will educate others on how this disease affects people we know and love and how we can rally together to find a cure."

"Through the generosity of the Wanek family and gifts from additional donors and foundations, City of Hope has advanced key areas of research in the treatment of type 1 and prevention of type 2 diabetes," said Debbie Thurmond, Ph.D., director of City of Hope's Arthur Riggs Diabetes & Metabolism Research Institute. "City of Hope's areas of research include identifying biomarkers that help predict and prevent diabetes, using immunotherapies to stop the attack on beta cells, gene editing to prevent diabetic complications, and taping into the knowledge of a team of experts who are studying the intersection between cancer and diabetes."

"We are deeply grateful to the Wanek family for their generosity and look forward to continued collaboration," Thurmond added.

Ashley Furniture Industries, LLC will also host the awareness campaign across its North American facilities, engaging over 15,000 employees in learning more about diabetes, research efforts and prevention measures. The facilities will also provide diabetes checks at on-site wellness clinics.

Follow the campaign on Ashley's Instagram or website, where you can learn more and donate toward City of Hope research and medical advancements or visit your local Ashley store. You can also follow City of Hope's Facebook and Instagram or visit CityofHope.org/diabetes-Ashley.

Ashley is committed to being your trusted partner and style leader for the home. This commitment has made Ashley the largest retail furniture store brand in North America and one of the world's best-selling furniture store brands with more than 1,100 locations in 65 countries.

Start designing your dream home today. Visit Ashley online at www.ashley.com "Like" Ashley on Facebook, follow on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok, or see our design-focused boards on Pinterest .

About City of Hope

City of Hope's mission is to deliver the cures of tomorrow to the people who need them today. Founded in 1913, City of Hope has grown into one of the largest cancer research and treatment organizations in the U.S. and one of the leading research centers for diabetes and other life-threatening illnesses. As an independent, National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, City of Hope brings a uniquely integrated model to patients, spanning cancer care, research and development, academics and training, and innovation initiatives. Research and technology developed at City of Hope has been the basis for numerous breakthrough cancer medicines, as well as human synthetic insulin and monoclonal antibodies. A leader in bone marrow transplantation and immunotherapy, such as CAR T cell therapy, City of Hope's personalized treatment protocols help advance cancer care throughout the world.

With a goal of expanding access to the latest discoveries and leading-edge care to more patients, families and communities, City of Hope's growing national system includes its main Los Angeles campus, a network of clinical care locations across Southern California, a new cancer center in Orange County, California, and Cancer Treatment Centers of America. City of Hope's affiliated family of organizations includes Translational Genomics Research Institute and AccessHope. For more information about City of Hope, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and LinkedIn.

CONTACT: Bailey Waldera [email protected]

SOURCE Ashley HomeStores, LTD.
In addition to launching their B2B 'Food As Medicine' marketplace, cofounder and bitewell COO, Samantha Citro Alexander, transitions to CEO and founder Chris Fanucchi becomes bitewell's Chief Growth Officer

DENVER, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- bitewell unveils its B2B 'food as medicine' marketplace, allowing employers to provide healthy food as a benefit for employees. Given the impact of The Great Resignation employers are tapping into unique benefits to attract and retain talent. Employees are increasingly looking for 'total wellness' benefits, which is evident with the rise of fitness, wellness & mental health benefit offerings. Foodhealth is the next massive category and bitewell has emerged as a corporate benefit pioneer by providing companies and their employees with healthy food that can be all or partially subsidized by insurance.

As bitewell continues to lead innovation in the emerging foodhealth space, CEO and co-founder, Samantha Citro Alexander says, "bitewell is revolutionizing the way we think about food. Ten years ago, mental health benefits were practically unheard of. Today, they're universal. Ten years from now we'll be saying the same thing about foodhealth benefits." By using bitewell, "companies can reallocate traditionally unhealthy food spending to health-focused food options." Citro Alexander says.

The process is simple. Employees download the bitewell app and can order food from a selection of over 1.2 million meals and products that fit their health needs. Employers can upload a food stipend into their team's account to incentivize healthier food decisions. Team members can utilize this foodhealth benefit no matter where they work, whether remote, hybrid, or in-office.

In addition to the launch of bitewell's B2B "Food As Medicine" marketplace, bitewell's executive leadership team announced that co-founder and COO, Samantha Citro Alexander (ex-Bridgewater, ex-Estee Lauder Companies), will now assume the role of CEO. Founder and current CEO, Chris Fanucchi, will now be the brand's Chief Growth Officer.

When announcing the transition, Fanucchi said, "In every company I've been involved in, the common thread to success has been having the right people in the right seats  especially people who are equally as passionate about (and capable of realizing) your vision for the future." A future which will be very bright. The company is continuing to scale - attracting the attention of large insurance partners and corporate partners. bitewell is laying a strong foundation not only for their organization but for the future of foodhealth benefits by making medical, dental and vision synonymous with food.

About bitewell

Founded in 2020, bitewell believes in the power of improving health through food. Purpose-built by food lovers, nutrition experts and technologists to be the smartest place to shop for food, bitewell is a healthy food marketplace that works directly with employers to provide food health benefits, reducing insurance premiums and improving health for users. The platform utilizes food experts to make healthy eating simpler and smarter by applying a customized FoodHealth Score  think credit score, but for food  to the foods users are eating. The Denver-based company developed a simpler way to personalize food delivery options by implementing a customized nutritional guide, creating an intentional food shopping experience without sacrificing or limiting options.

To find out more about bitewell, please visit www.bitewell.com . Follow us on LinkedIn , Instagram , Twitter , TikTok and Facebook to stay in the loop on the latest news and updates.

SOURCE bitewell
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Breville, the iconic global brand rooted in innovation and design that delivers award-winning coffee machines to consumers around the world, has launched its highly anticipated next generation of best-selling home espresso machine, the Barista Express Impress. The new machine is perfectly automated for helping consumers achieve the best dose of espresso and a precise tamp while reducing espresso grind mess. This impressive next generation Breville home espresso machine is ready just in time for the holidays, gifting, and entertaining.

Breville's Barista Express Impress, the next generation home espresso machine, just launched for the holiday season. Tweet this Brevilles Barista Express Impress

The Barista Express, Breville's classic best-selling espresso machine, has sold over 2 million units worldwide. In the Barista Express Impress, we find updated state-of-the-art technology to impress the home barista. It's the machine that reimagines automation with impressive, intuitive "assisted manual" technology that learns on the job.

The Barista Express Impress introduces new technology by way of its Impress puck system, a smart dosing system that ensures each dose of ground espresso delivered to the filter basket is calculated based on your previous grind, just the way you like it.

It delivers the ideal dose of 18 to 22 grams of freshly ground beans from the in-machine grinder. The system automatically adjusts the dose when the barista changes the grind setting or switches to a different coffee. These precision adjustments create the right formula for a rich, full, and balanced flavor. The system also ensures the espresso grinds are delivered to the centre of the filter basket prior to tamping. This promotes an even distribution, which is essential for an optimum extraction.

The Barista Express Impress also includes "assisted tamping" with a tamp lever on the side of the machine, delivering a consistent and precise tamp, with a 7 barista twist - just like the professionals. As the tamp twists, it automatically polishes the surface of the puck, removing excess espresso grinds for less mess.

Breville's Global General Manager, Coffee, Doug Nash, says the Barista Express Impress is the latest, best, and brightest of Breville's range of espresso machines, redefining the "third wave" specialty coffee experience at home.

"We are thrilled to launch the Barista Express Impress in time for the holiday season," said Nash. "This machine solves two of the biggest friction points for those making espresso at home: achieving a precise and consistent dose and reducing mess. Its innovative technology automatically adjusts the dose based on the previous grind but still allows manual control if you prefer. Combined with an assisted tamp, we're delivering the cleanest and most hassle-free option for home espresso enthusiasts everywhere."

Key features of the Breville Barista Express Impress:

Dose feedback via an LED array, guiding you to the perfect dose every time

54mm stainless steel portafilter

Thermocoil heating system

PID temperature control

Precision conical burrs

250g bean hopper

Two-litre water tank

High pressure manual steam wand to create microfoam textured milk

Dedicated hot waterspout

Automated 10kg tamping and 7 barista twist

Low-pressure pre-infusion and high pressure (9 bar) extraction process delivered via a 15 bar Italian pump

Stainless steel

In April 2022, Breville's new machine-in-demo debuted in Boston at the Specialty Coffee Expo, North America's largest speciality coffee trade show. The Barista Express Impress won Best New Product Award 2022, Consumer Coffee Preparation & Serving (Electrical). The machine launched at end of September into stores and online. On October 24, the Barista Express Impress also won the coveted Good Housekeeping 2022 Kitchen Gear and Coffee Award.

Breville's Barista Express Impress retails for $899.95 USD and is now available nationwide.

About Breville

Over the past 90 years, Breville has grown to become an iconic global brand, delivering innovative kitchen appliances including award-winning home coffee machines, to over 70 countries around the globe. The company goes to market as the Sage brand in Europe, and as the Breville brand in the rest of the world. Breville enhances people's lives through the delivery of brilliant innovation and thoughtful design based on deep consumer insights, empowering people to do things more impressively or easily than they'd thought possible in their own homes and ultimately, allowing them to Master Every Moment. Breville.com @breville

For all Breville espresso portfolio media inquiries, contact Diana Bianchini, Di Moda Public Relations, [email protected], [email protected], 310.288.0077 (ph).

SOURCE Breville
LONDON, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- London-based Builder.ai won Scale-Up of the Year at last night's Europa's 2022 awards in Lisbon. The award ceremony brought together the very best of European tech for the night to honour the organisations and individuals doing amazing things to further the tech scene across the continent.

The win comes as Builder.ai rounds off an incredible year of growth, including Series C funding from Insight Partners that brings the total raised to date up to $195m and a lucrative partnership with Middle-Eastern tech powerhouse Etisalat.

Sachin Dev Duggal, Founder & Chief Wizard Buildar.ai: "This win means so much to us and is testament to the tenacity, grit and excellence the team at Builder.ai bring to work every day. It's been a phenomenal year for us as a business, with 300% revenue growth. None of this would have been possible without everyone in the Builder.ai family and their commitment to making it the Scaleup of the Year. A huge thanks to Mike and the team at the Europas for this honour, I'm truly humbled by the belief in this business from the industry and everyone who has made it what it is today."

Now in their 14th year, the annual awards, held each year during Web Summit's opening night, recognise and celebrate the innovation emerging from Europe's burgeoning tech startup scene. Shortlists for each of the 20 awards were decided by an all-star panel of leading tech journalists from across Europe, before going to public vote to decide on the overall winners.

About Builder.ai

Builder.ai is the next generation app development platform for every idea and company on the planet. The AI-powered assembly line fuses together Lego- like reusable features, using Building Blocks automation to reduce human effort, leveraging a verified network of experts to vastly extend development capabilities, and producing apps at almost zero failure rate that are multitudes cheaper and faster than traditional software development.

Led by serial entrepreneur Sachin Dev Duggal, Builder.ai is reshaping how software is built and operated with a suite of products and services, including BUILDER STUDIO, BUILDER CLOUD, BUILDER CARE, BUILDER NOW, BUILDER HIVE, STUDIO STORE and STUDIO RAPID. In 2020, Builder.ai was awarded 'Hottest AI Startup' at the Europas for Europe's successful tech start-ups and Best COVID-19 Innovation-Recovery at CogX and awarded 'Visionary' in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Multi-experience Development Platforms. Builder.ai is headquartered in London, supported by employees and hubs in Delhi NCR, Singapore, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Sophia Antipolis and Dubai. For more information, visit www.builder.ai .

BUILDER.AI and BUILDER are trademarks of Engineer.ai Corp. All other marks are trademarks of their respective owners.

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SOURCE Builder.ai
BEIJING, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ruijin, the cradle of the People's Republic of China, has created countless firsts in history. Songping Village is a historic site. On a wall, there wrote a few essays, rough in lines but tender in style, appearing to be doodles of pupils. In fact, these essays were written by the Red Army soldiers, who studied here some 90 years ago.

Lyrics of In the Name of Youth

In the 1930s, the Kuomintang carried out a raging military "encirclement and suppression" and economic blockade in the Central Soviet Area. In 1933, the Communication School of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was established at Pingshan Hill of Songping Village during the ravaging war. A group of young Red Army soldiers, aged 16 to 17, with lower than elementary school-level knowledge, diligently studied radio technology to build the communication network for the Red Army.

It has been 90 years since then. Today's young students may not be able to feel the hunger and thirst for knowledge of the youth in those days. After 90 years, we can no longer decipher how the young soldiers felt when they painted the graffiti on the wall. However, we can see traces of their lives here. This is the place where their loud reciting voices and their flourishing youth were recorded. It was during those years that they bravely rushed to the battlefield of communication only after a short period of learning.

The once teenagers became fading figures in the ocean of time, but their essays on the wall are still clear. What the rough and tender strokes represent is the indelible spirit of the Red Army. After 90 years, the wish behind the graffiti has already come true. The loyalty, faith, dedication, and sacrifices of generations of Communists have initiated the great revival of the Chinese nation. The shadows of the past are bygone, but the red mark on the land of Jiangxi has never faded and shall always remain brilliant.

Video - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1935979/Lyrics_of_In_the_Name_of_Youth.mp4

SOURCE CCTV+
GREENWICH, Conn., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ceruvia Lifesciences, a leading neurotransformational biopharmaceutical company, is pleased to announce the appointment of Stephen Hurst and David Steinberg to its Board of Directors, effective immediately.

Stephen Hurst has over thirty-five years' experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, including in senior executive positions at Sequential, Inc. and Inhale Therapeutic Systems, Inc., (now Nektar Therapeutics, Inc.), where he played a pivotal role in raising over $700 million in investment capital. In addition to formerly serving as a consultant to the World Bank and BIO Venture for Global Health, Hurst most recently served as co-CEO of Mind Medicine, a psychedelic pharmaceutical company he co-founded in 2019. From 2011 to 2019, Hurst served as CEO of Savant HWP, which he co-founded and oversaw the development and testing of psychedelic-based treatments to address substance use disorders.

"We are thrilled to welcome Steve to Ceruvia's Board of Directors," said Carey Turnbull, Founder and CEO of Ceruvia Lifesciences. "Steve brings a wealth of experience from the biopharmaceutical industry, including the development of psychedelic therapies, that will contribute significantly to our efforts to develop neurotransformational medicines for underserved patient populations. With a shared belief in the life-changing potential of these drugs, we are looking forward to working with Steve to help patients return to living their lives to the fullest."

Stephen Hurst said, "I am honored to be joining the Board of Ceruvia Lifesciences. Carey Turnbull has been a leader in advancing psychedelics research and I look forward to working with him, other members of the Board of Directors, and his executive team as we advance Ceruvia's pipeline of drugs through the clinical research and approval process."

David Steinberg has over twenty-five years' experience on Wall Street as a top-ranked equity research analyst following the specialty pharmaceuticals industry. Prior to being appointed CFO at a privately held biotechnology company earlier this year, David served as Managing Director at Jefferies LLC and Deutsche Bank. He has regularly been voted by portfolio managers to the Institutional Investor "All America Research Team." Most recently he was ranked #2 in the sector for 2021 and has been recognized as a top stock picker by surveys such as The Wall Street Journal's "Best on the Street." David also has deep capital markets experience and was instrumental in helping launch over 50 successful pharmaceutical and biotechnology IPOs, while also assisting entrepreneurial companies raise over $25 billion in equity and equity linked securities during his career.

"We are pleased to welcome David to Ceruvia's Board of Directors," said Carey Turnbull, Founder and CEO of Ceruvia Lifesciences. "David's exceptional record as a top-ranked analyst within the pharmaceuticals industry and his extensive understanding and experience in capital markets will bring a unique and valuable skillset to our organization and our fundraising efforts."

David Steinberg said, "I am delighted to be joining Ceruvia's Board of Directors. With a very promising pipeline of drugs under development and a top-notch executive team, Ceruvia has a bright future as a leading player in the burgeoning psychedelic medicines industry. I look forward to contributing to its continued success."

About Ceruvia Lifesciences

Founded in 2017, Ceruvia Lifesciences is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a mission to improve the lives of underserved patients suffering from neurological and psychiatric disorders. Founded by Carey Turnbull, Ceruvia is relentlessly focused on the development and commercialization of neurotransformational medicines to deliver meaningful relief to patients suffering from hard-to-treat headache disorders, OCD, and substance abuse disorder. For too long, these communities have been poorly understood and under-served. At Ceruvia, we believe they no longer have to live this way. With leading researchers at Yale University School of Medicine, NYU School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School, Ceruvia is undertaking clinical research in order to help patients return to living their lives to the fullest. For more information, please visit www.ceruvialifesciences.com

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SOURCE Ceruvia Lifesciences
MILWAUKEE, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Client First Tax & Wealth Advisors announced today it is in the pre-effective stage of launching its first exchange traded fund (ETF); Adaptiv Select ETF (ticker: ADPV).

Client First, an independent Registered Investment Advisor located in West Bend, Wisconsin, is working with strategic partners US Bank, Exchange Traded Products (ETC), and Quasar Distributors to bring the Momentum-based large-cap stock selection strategy to life within the tax efficient exchange traded vehicle.*

NEW ADAPTIV SELECT ETF (TICKER: ADPV) SET TO LAUNCH; A PROPRIETARY ACTIVELY MANAGED, LARGE CAP STOCK SELECTION ETF. Tweet this

"As we enter the active ETF space, we are excited about the full roster of strategic experts we are partnering with," said Paul Zarling, Managing Partner at Client First. "Our partners, such as sub-advisor (ETC), lead market maker, Global Trading Systems (GTS), and fund custodian and administrator (US Bank) are well known in the marketplace. They provide the extreme depth of expertise we were looking for on behalf of our clients. Launching this ETF is no small task. We wanted to find experts and partner with them. We owe that to our clients and we think they'll appreciate what we've built for them."

"We are thrilled to have Adaptiv capabilities within an ETF structure, in order to provide our clients with the benefits of active management and the tax efficiencies of an ETF," stated Partner and Head of Financial Planning, Justin Krueger, CFP. Client First manages over 120M in assets while implementing their TrueHolistic Planning process for over 400 households. "Having Adaptiv active management for selecting individual stocks within a tax-efficient ETF wrapper is something we've wanted to do since 2018. We had to be patient, make sure we got the right teams, strategy, and partnerships in place. The Adaptiv Select ETF took over a year to build and the Adaptiv team worked hard to make this a reality. The time is now and our planning team is excited for our clients and the potential this ETF could have on their retirement plan and portfolios."

The Adaptiv Select ETF is designed with two main objectives in mind: (1) To identify and own the 25 highest ranked U.S. Large Cap stocks out of a universe of the 1000 largest capitalized U.S. stocks when the broad U.S. market is in an uptrend. (2) To identify when the broad U.S. market is in a downtrend and shift out of the stocks held and into cash and short-term Treasury Bills. The Adaptiv Select ETF uses proprietary objective rules-based calculations to try and accomplish the aforementioned.

"There's really three main features of the Adaptiv Select ETF," said Ian McMillan, CMT, Portfolio Manager and Market Analyst at Client First. "First, when the broad U.S. stock market is in an uptrend, it tries to own the very best stocks using Momentum and Relative Strength as our measuring stick. Second, when a broad U.S. stock market downtrend is identified using moving averages, it tries to mitigate risk and reduce drawdown by shifting 100% of the ETF into cash and T-Bills. Third, we don't wait a full quarter of a year to implement the aforementioned. We make these calculations and reconstitute the Adaptiv Select ETF weekly. That's important."

With the fund now effective, the Adaptiv Select ETF has a potential launch date this upcoming November and is anticipated to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under ticker ADPV.

"While we are still in the final stages of getting Adaptiv Select live and available for trading on the NYSE, we wanted to go public with the great news," said David Zarling, CMT, Partner and Head of Investment Strategy and Research at Client First. "This labor of love was done first and foremost on behalf of our own clients. At the same time, we fully realize that other Advisors might appreciate an ETF built by Advisors based on client needs. Advisors and investors have often sought to select individual stocks in order to try and capture both absolute and relative returns. This ETF seeks to capture both of the aforementioned using two investment factors observed consistently across many market time horizons: Momentum and Relative Strength. Being able to provide the aforementioned stock selection methodology in a more tax efficient wrapper is a win-win proposition for us: Our own clients get the benefit of stock selection within a tax-efficient wrapper. And so do other investors and Advisors if they want the same selection protocol and tax efficiency in their portfolios."

About Client First Tax & Wealth Advisors

Client First Tax & Wealth Advisors is an independent Registered Investment Advisor located in West Bend, WI with clients all across America and US citizens domiciled overseas. Client First manages 120M and implements TrueHolistic planning for over 400 households. Client First is focused on democratizing the family office. Everyday Americans deserve the same team of experts that surround billionaire families. Accordingly, Client First has a full team of experts knowledgeable in financial, estate, medicare, social security, tax and insurance planning. Incorporating active asset management for their clients using Adaptiv Investment Management, they've given their full-service financial process a name: TrueHolistic. Using the aforementioned unified expertise and processes, they help people secure the financial confidence they deserve.

NOTE: The registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the SEC but has not yet been declared effective. These securities may not be sold nor may offers to buy be accepted prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective. This press release is not an offer to sell these securities and is not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any state where the offer or sale is not permitted.

You should consider the Fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before you invest. You should consider the Fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before you invest. This and other important information is contained in the Fund's prospectus, which can be obtained by calling shareholder services at 1-833-753-3825 or visiting ADPVetf.com once the site is live. Read carefully before you invest.

Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. To the extent the Fund's investments are concentrated in or have significant exposure to a particular issuer, industry or group of industries, or asset class, the Fund may be more vulnerable to adverse events affecting such issuer, industry or group of industries, or asset class than if the Fund's investments were more broadly diversified.

Active management by the Adviser in selecting and maintaining a portfolio of securities that will achieve the Fund's investment objective could cause the Fund to underperform compared to other funds having similar investment objectives. For longer periods of time, the Fund may hold a substantial cash position. If the market advances during periods when the fund is holding a large cash position, the Fund may not participate to the extent it would have if the Fund had been more fully invested

The Adviser relies heavily on a quantitative model developed by the Adviser, which is used to value and rank investments or potential investments, to provide risk management insights and to assist in reducing extending declines in in the Fund's net asset value. When models and data prove to be incorrect, misleading, or incomplete, any decisions made in reliance thereon will expose the Fund to risks.

*The ETF structure may allow for certain tax benefits over investment vehicles. Investors seeking tax advice should consult an independent tax advisor.

Opinions expressed are subject to change at any time, are not guaranteed and should not be considered investment advice.

Adaptiv Select ETF is distributed by Quasar Distributors, LLC.

SOURCE Client First Tax & Wealth Advisors
Collibra Data Marketplace, Collibra Data Quality & Observability in the Cloud, and Collibra Protect make trusted data accessible to more users

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at Data Citizens '22 , the Data Intelligence conference, Collibra unveiled a wave of new innovations designed to make data intelligence easy and accessible to more data users with the performance, security, and scale that enterprise organizations demand.

These innovations include new capabilities for Collibra Data Intelligence Cloud that enhance search, collaboration, business process automation, and analytics as well as brand new products that support customers with data access governance and data quality and observability in the cloud. Collibra Data Intelligence Cloud brings together an enterprise-grade data catalog, data lineage, flexible governance, continuous quality, and built-in data privacy.

Currently, the majority of organizations understand the need for data intelligence, but according to IDC , close to 72% continue to be challenged when it comes to building a strong data culture and driving adoption.1 Making reliable data accessible to more users at scale is key to helping organizations unlock the full potential of their data.

"At Collibra we are building products and capabilities with an eye to making data intelligence easier for our customers  easier to get started, easier to use and manage, and easier to securely and cost-effectively scale to support even across the most demanding use cases," said Laura Sellers, Chief Product Officer for Collibra. "We are incredibly excited about these new innovations because they make trusted data accessible to more users, across more use cases, and more data sources on a truly enterprise-grade, complete data intelligence platform."

Delivering Simple and Rich Experiences to More Users

The introduction of a new data marketplace, usage insights and rich tailored experiences ensures all users, even those who don't have a background in data, can easily find, understand, trust and access data to deliver better business outcomes. Advanced process automation capabilities further allow data teams to easily create and use workflows to enhance productivity and streamline processes.

Data Marketplace : Too often teams struggle to find reliable data they can use. The new Collibra Data Marketplace makes it easier and faster than ever for teams to surface curated and approved data, so they can confidently and reliably make better decisions. Taking full advantage of the power of the Collibra metadata graph, Collibra Data Marketplace makes finding, understanding and collaborating with data within Collibra Data Catalog as simple as conducting a quick Google search.

: Too often teams struggle to find reliable data they can use. The new Collibra Data Marketplace makes it easier and faster than ever for teams to surface curated and approved data, so they can confidently and reliably make better decisions. Taking full advantage of the power of the Collibra metadata graph, Collibra Data Marketplace makes finding, understanding and collaborating with data within Collibra Data Catalog as simple as conducting a quick Google search. Usage Analytics : Driving data literacy and user adoption requires an understanding of what users are doing within any data intelligence platform. The new Usage Analytics dashboard provides organizations with real-time actionable insights on which communities, domains and assets are most widely used across users over a period of time, so teams can proactively monitor adoption and take the necessary actions to help maximize their data intelligence investments.

New Homepage : Making it easy for users to get started means creating a consistent and intuitive experience that allows them to easily navigate across the platform to find what they are looking for. The new Collibra homepage provides a simplified and tailored experience complete with insights, links, widgets and recommendations on datasets based on a user's browsing history or what is popular so they can quickly find what they are looking for every time they log into Collibra Data Intelligence Cloud.

Collibra datasets Collibra Workflow Designer (Beta) : Manual rules and processes can be cumbersome and error-prone for data teams. The new Workflow Designer, now in beta, makes it easier for teams to work together to create and use new workflows to automate business processes. Accessible from within Collibra Data Intelligence Cloud, Workflow Designer now also opens to a new App Model view which enables users to easily define, verify and deploy a bundle of processes or forms to streamline tasks.

Meeting the Performance, Scale, and Security Requirements of the Modern Enterprise

As the volume, variety and velocity of data increases, organizations are continuing to move their data to the cloud to minimize costs and reap the benefits of better performance, scale and security. To help accelerate this journey, Collibra is introducing several new offerings in the cloud as well as multiple new integrations.

Collibra Protect : Collibra Protect provides intelligent data controls so organizations can easily discover, define and protect data across cloud platforms. This new integration will be made available through Collibra's partnership with Snowflake, the Data Cloud company, and enable data stewards to create and execute data protection policies in minutes without the need for any code. The offering provides increased visibility into the use of protected and sensitive data, and when combined with data classification, it ensures organizations can easily protect data and maintain compliance at scale.

: Collibra Protect provides intelligent data controls so organizations can easily discover, define and protect data across cloud platforms. This new integration will be made available through Collibra's partnership with Snowflake, the Data Cloud company, and enable data stewards to create and execute data protection policies in minutes without the need for any code. The offering provides increased visibility into the use of protected and sensitive data, and when combined with data classification, it ensures organizations can easily protect data and maintain compliance at scale. Data Quality & Observability in the Cloud : The new release of Collibra Data Quality & Observability brings scalability, agility and security to data quality operations across multiple clouds. Organizations can deploy Collibra Data Quality & Observability in the cloud of their choice to reduce IT overhead, enjoy real-time updates and flexibly scale up or down to meet their changing business needs.

Collibra Observability Collibra Observability Data Quality Pushdown for Snowflake (Beta) : Data Quality Pushdown for Snowflake gives organizations the ability to process data quality operations in Snowflake. The new offering enables organizations to reap the benefits of managing data quality in the cloud without having to worry about egress charges and dependencies on Spark compute.

New Integrations (Beta): Today, 77% of organizations are integrating up to five different types of data in pipelines and up to 10 different types of data storage or management technologies . Collibra is proud to partner with the world's leading technology organizations to deliver trusted data across more sources to all users. With new integrations now in beta, joint Collibra customers across Snowflake, Azure Data Factory and Google Cloud Storage can get complete visibility into cloud data assets from source to destination and deliver trusted data to all users across the organization.

Customer, Analyst, and Partner Support

"Data gives us a competitive advantage. By using data as a strategic product, we are transforming our business, accelerating product innovation, and truly connecting with customers and partners both in-store and online. The Collibra Data Intelligence Cloud enhances the ability of data users in our organization to quickly and easily find, understand and trust our data," said Bart de Geus, Global Manager Data Governance at Heineken.

"Data Intelligence is widely recognized across business leaders as a critical component of any data strategy, but as the volume of data continues to grow exponentially, adoption challenges must be addressed sooner rather than later," said Stewart Bond, Vice President, Data Intelligence and Data Integration Software at IDC. "Collibra's introduction of new features focused on simplicity, scale, and adoption are a welcome addition, and will go a long way in helping organizations move from implementation to realizing value faster, in a more agile way."

"We're proud to continue expanding Snowflake's strong partnership with Collibra as we enable our joint customers to maximize the value of their data in the cloud," said Colleen Kapase, SVP of WW Partner and Alliances for Snowflake. "Snowflake and Collibra have a shared vision to help enterprises easily discover and scale access to trusted data, and these new product innovations are an important step in our growing collaboration."

About Data Citizens

Data Citizens is the industry's go-to event for all things data intelligence. This year, it features 45+ customer and Collibra-led sessions, an extensive ecosystem of top data intelligence leaders and partners including Google, Amazon, and Snowflake, and multiple workshops and networking events. Learn more about Data Citizens '22.

About Collibra

Since 2008, Collibra has been uniting organizations by delivering trusted data for every use, for every user, and across every source. Our Data Intelligence Cloud brings flexible governance, continuous quality and built-in privacy to all types of data. The Global 2000 relies on Collibra to create the critical alignment that accelerates workflows and delivers better results faster. We have a diverse global footprint, with offices in the U.S., Belgium, Australia, Czech Republic, France, Poland and the U.K. To learn more, visit collibra.com , follow @Collibra on Twitter or follow us on LinkedIn .

1 IDC White Paper, sponsored by Collibra, Data Intelligence Maturity to Drive 3x Better Business Outcomes, doc #US49446822, August 2022

SOURCE Collibra
NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The color cosmetics market size in the US is expected to grow by USD 2.50 billion during 2021-2026, accelerating at a CAGR of 3.88% during the forecast period, according to Technavio. Product premiumization, the advent of social media and celebrity endorsements, and product innovation will offer immense growth opportunities. However, the increased availability of counterfeit products might hamper the market growth. Request Free Sample Report.

Color Cosmetics Market in the US 2022-2026: Segmentation Analysis

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Color Cosmetics Market in US 2022-2026

Distribution Channel

Offline



During the anticipated timeframe, the offline segment will significantly increase its market share for color cosmetics in the US. In the US, there are more offline channels for distribution, and this trend is anticipated to continue during the projected period.





For example, color cosmetics are becoming more common at specialty shops, allowing customers to browse for their preferred brand by selecting from a variety of brands. Since specialty stores offer personal luxury goods from many brands, more affluent shoppers and devoted patrons are drawn there to buy desired color cosmetics that aren't sold online or in other retail locations. Such availability will drive segment growth during the forecast period.



Online

Product

Face



Face makeup includes foundation, face powder, blush, concealer, and bronzer. Foundation aids in covering under-eye circles, dark spots, pores, and blemishes and helps provide the skin with a uniform finish. It is available in the form of a cream, liquid, mousse, and powder. Face powder is generally used to cover fine lines and dark spots and improve the overall skin tone. Face powder is commonly layered on the foundation base in order to keep the foundation in place and give a final finish. With the high demand for face makeup products, it is expected that the market for color cosmetics in the US will foresee high growth during the forecast period.



Eye



Lip



Nail

Learn more about the additional trends impacting the future of the market and the positive and negative consequences on the businesses, download a free sample report.

Color Cosmetics Market in the US 2022-2026: Scope

Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. Our color cosmetics market in the US report covers the following areas:

One of the main forces driving the expansion of the US color cosmetics business is the premiumization of products. The premium price is another characteristic of premium product offers. The majority of businesses in the market that sell premium products target the elite or premium consumer. Premium brands are often thought to have a high brand value. As a result, customers gain some level of confidence from investing in such a brand.

The availability of high-end products increases demand for cosmetics generally in the US, and many consumers are eager to make significant financial commitments to purchase goods of the finest quality. As a result, demand for luxury goods will increase during the projection period. This study identifies increasing demand for natural and organic products as one of the prime reasons driving the color cosmetics market in the US growth during the next few years.

Color Cosmetics Market in the US 2022-2026: Vendor Analysis

We provide a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the Color Cosmetics Market in the US, including some of the vendors such as vendors Backed with competitive intelligence and benchmarking, our research reports on the Color Cosmetics Market in the US are designed to provide entry support, customer profile and M&As as well as go-to-market strategy support.

Amway Corp.

Beiersdorf Aktiengesellschaft

CHANEL Ltd.

Coty inc.

Dambiro de

Glossier inc.

HB USA Holdings inc

Holdings inc Kao Corp.

LOreal SA

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE

Oriflame Holding AG

Revlon inc

Shiseido Co. Ltd

The Avon Co.

Find additional highlights on the growth strategies adopted by vendors and their product offerings, Buy Sample Report.

Color Cosmetics Market in the US 2022-2026: Key Highlights

CAGR of the market during the forecast period

Detailed information on factors that will assist the color cosmetics market in the US growth during the next five years

Estimation of the color cosmetics market in the US size and its contribution to the parent market

Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

The growth of the color cosmetics market in the us

Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors

Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of the color cosmetics market in the US vendors

Get lifetime access to our Technavio Insights! Subscribe to our "Basic Plan" billed annually at USD 5000.

Related Reports:

Cosmetics Market by Type, End-user, Distribution channel, and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026: The report extensively covers the cosmetics market segmentation by type (skincare, hair care, makeup, fragrance, and others), end-user (women and men), distribution channel (offline and online), and geography (APAC, North America, Europe, South America, and the Middle East and Africa).

Hair Care Market in US by Distribution Channel, Product, and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026: The report extensively covers the hair care market in the US segmentation by distribution channel (offline and online), and product (shampoo, hair color, conditioner, and others).

Color Cosmetics Market In The US Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 3.88% Market growth 2022-2026 $2.50 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 3.2 Regional analysis US Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled Amway Corp., Beiersdorf Aktiengesellschaft, CHANEL Ltd., Coty Inc., Dambiro de, Glossier Inc., HB USA Holdings Inc, Kao Corp., LOreal SA, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, Oriflame Holding AG, Revlon Inc, Shiseido Co. Ltd, The Avon Co., The Estee Lauder Co. Inc., The Procter and Gamble Co., Tom Ford International LLC, Ulta Beauty Inc, and Unilever PLC Market Dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and future consumer dynamics, and market condition analysis for the forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Table Of Contents :

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Country Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Distribution Channel



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Product



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 07: Parent market



Exhibit 08: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 09: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 10: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2021

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2021-2026

Exhibit 11: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 12: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 13: Chart on US: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 14: Data Table on US: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

4 Five Forces Analysis

4.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 15: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2021 and 2026

4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 16: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2021 and 2026

4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 17: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 18: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 19: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 20: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.7 Market condition

Exhibit 21: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2021 and 2026

5 Market Segmentation by Distribution Channel

5.1 Market segments

Exhibit 22: Chart on Distribution Channel - Market share 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 23: Data Table on Distribution Channel - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

5.2 Comparison by Distribution Channel

Exhibit 24: Chart on Comparison by Distribution Channel



Exhibit 25: Data Table on Comparison by Distribution Channel

5.3 Offline - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 26: Chart on Offline - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 27: Data Table on Offline - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 28: Chart on Offline - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 29: Data Table on Offline - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 Online - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 30: Chart on Online - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Online - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 32: Chart on Online - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Online - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 Market opportunity by Distribution Channel

Exhibit 34: Market opportunity by Distribution Channel ($ million)

6 Market Segmentation by Product

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 35: Chart on Product - Market share 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 36: Data Table on Product - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

6.2 Comparison by Product

Exhibit 37: Chart on Comparison by Product



Exhibit 38: Data Table on Comparison by Product

6.3 Face - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 39: Chart on Face - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 40: Data Table on Face - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 41: Chart on Face - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 42: Data Table on Face - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

6.4 Eye - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 43: Chart on Eye - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 44: Data Table on Eye - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 45: Chart on Eye - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 46: Data Table on Eye - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

6.5 Lip - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 47: Chart on Lip - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 48: Data Table on Lip - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 49: Chart on Lip - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 50: Data Table on Lip - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

6.6 Nail - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 51: Chart on Nail - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 52: Data Table on Nail - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 53: Chart on Nail - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 54: Data Table on Nail - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

6.7 Market opportunity by Product

Exhibit 55: Market opportunity by Product ($ million)

7 Customer Landscape

7.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 56: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

8 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

8.1 Market drivers

8.2 Market challenges

8.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 57: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2021 and 2026

8.4 Market trends

9 Vendor Landscape

9.1 Overview

9.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 58: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

9.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 59: Overview on factors of disruption

9.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 60: Impact of key risks on business

10 Vendor Analysis

10.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 61: Vendors covered

10.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 62: Matrix on vendor position and classification

10.3 CHANEL Ltd.

Exhibit 63: CHANEL Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 64: CHANEL Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 65: CHANEL Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 66: CHANEL Ltd. - Segment focus

10.4 Coty Inc.

Exhibit 67: Coty Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 68: Coty Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 69: Coty Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 70: Coty Inc. - Segment focus

10.5 Kao Corp.

Exhibit 71: Kao Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 72: Kao Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 73: Kao Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 74: Kao Corp. - Segment focus

10.6 LOreal SA

Exhibit 75: LOreal SA - Overview



Exhibit 76: LOreal SA - Business segments



Exhibit 77: LOreal SA - Key news



Exhibit 78: LOreal SA - Key offerings



Exhibit 79: LOreal SA - Segment focus

10.7 LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE

Exhibit 80: LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE - Overview



Exhibit 81: LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE - Business segments



Exhibit 82: LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE - Key news



Exhibit 83: LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE - Key offerings



Exhibit 84: LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE - Segment focus

10.8 Revlon Inc

Exhibit 85: Revlon Inc - Overview



Exhibit 86: Revlon Inc - Business segments



Exhibit 87: Revlon Inc - Key offerings



Exhibit 88: Revlon Inc - Segment focus

10.9 Shiseido Co. Ltd

Exhibit 89: Shiseido Co. Ltd - Overview



Exhibit 90: Shiseido Co. Ltd - Business segments



Exhibit 91: Shiseido Co. Ltd - Key offerings



Exhibit 92: Shiseido Co. Ltd - Segment focus

10.10 The Avon Co.

Exhibit 93: The Avon Co. - Overview



Exhibit 94: The Avon Co. - Product / Service



Exhibit 95: The Avon Co. - Key offerings

10.11 The Estee Lauder Co. Inc.

Exhibit 96: The Estee Lauder Co. Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 97: The Estee Lauder Co. Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 98: The Estee Lauder Co. Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 99: The Estee Lauder Co. Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 100: The Estee Lauder Co. Inc. - Segment focus

10.12 Unilever PLC

Exhibit 101: Unilever PLC - Overview



Exhibit 102: Unilever PLC - Business segments



Exhibit 103: Unilever PLC - Key news



Exhibit 104: Unilever PLC - Key offerings



Exhibit 105: Unilever PLC - Segment focus

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 106: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 107: Exclusions checklist

11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 108: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 109: Research methodology



Exhibit 110: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 111: Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 112: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
Seniors Can Learn About their Medicare Options from Home

JACKSON, Tenn., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Seniors who are aging into Medicare or want to explore their options for 2023 can attend a virtual seminar from the comfort of their own homes. The Jackson Clinic is offering a Virtual Medicare Shop & Compare Expo, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022.

The webinar is a great opportunity for seniors to learn more about the differences between Medicare and Medicare Advantage and the various choices available to them. Registration is desired, but not required. To register, visit: TheJacksonClinicSeniorCareAdvantage.com

The webinar will include several sessions, including a physician panel entitled, "The Benefits of Value-Based Healthcare;" Medicare 101 sessions by independent, licensed brokers; as well as insurance company presentations. The event is hosted by Jackson Clinic Senior Care Advantage, a program offered by The Jackson Clinic.

Don't worry if you miss the webinar. You can still watch the Medicare information program at TheJacksonClinicSeniorCareAdvantage.com.

About Jackson Clinic Senior Care Advantage

The Jackson Clinic Senior Care Advantage program is not a new Medicare Advantage plan. Rather, it is a collaborative approach to care delivery that focuses on preventive care and providing care coordination resources. This program is open to senior patients of the The Jackson Clinic. More information about The Jackson Clinic Senior Care Advantage program and Medicare informational resources are available at TheJacksonClinicSeniorCareAdvantage.com.

SOURCE The Jackson Clinic
CHICAGO, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Compound semiconductor market size is estimated to be USD 40.5 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach 55.8 billion by 2027, at a CAGR of 6.6% during the forecast period according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets. Increasing use of compound semiconductors in LED applications and the rising demand for high-speed and advanced devices in datacom applications play a key role in driving the growth of compound semiconductor market in near future.

Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=178858112

Browse in-depth TOC on "Compound Semiconductor Market"

168  Tables

52  Figures

241  Pages

Increasing use of GaN in general lighting, signage, and automotive applications to drive GaN segment

GaN is used in various applications, such as power drives, radio frequency, lighting and lasers, and supplies and inverters, which can be adopted in different verticals, including automotive, telecommunications, consumer display and devices, military, defense and aerospace, and datacom. One of the other major driving factors for the GaN material is the massive demand from the RF semiconductor device industry. The RF industry started its quest for alternate semiconductor materials. Owing to its ability to deliver high power amplification at high-frequency ranges, GaN semiconductor devices penetrated the RF power semiconductor device industry, bolstering its growth.

Telecommunication segment dominates the compound semiconductor market

The growth of telecommunication application is driven by increasing demand for RF devices. To meet all the requirements for 4G and 5G, including saturated and linear efficiency, it is necessary to use a power amplifier manufactured with a compound semiconductor technology, which is expected to drive market growth during the forecast period. Skyworks Solutions, Inc. focuses on launching RF-based devices, planning to conquer the opportunities in the telecommunications sector. Similarly, NXP Semiconductors N.V. plans to invest in 5G and wireless infrastructure markets with its leadership in GaN, LDMOS, and 5G mm-Wave.

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North America accounted for the second largest share of the compound semiconductor market

The market in North America is expected to grow at the second highest CAGR during the forecast period. The growing electric and hybrid vehicle market in North America is expected to support the growth of the compound semiconductor market. North America is a regional hub for many renowned OEMs that deliver quality and high-performance vehicles. OEMs in North America, such as Tesla and GM, focus on developing faster, cleaner, and high-performance electric vehicles

Nichia Corporation (Japan), Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (South Korea), ams OSRAM AG (Austria), Qorvo, Inc. (US), Skyworks Solutions, Inc. (US), Wolfspeed, Inc. (US), GaN Systems (Japan), Canon Inc. (Canada), Infineon Technologies AG (Germany), Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (Japan), are some of the key players in the compound semiconductor market.

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Browse Adjacent Market: Semiconductor and Electronics Market Research Reports &Consulting

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From thoughts on in-person banking experiences to skepticism of cryptocurrency and the rise of embedded finance, EPAM Continuum unpacks consumer insights and attitudes toward retail banking products and services

NEWTOWN, Pa., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- EPAM Continuum, the integrated business, technology and experience consulting practice of EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE: EPAM), today announced the release of its third annual Consumer Banking Report  revealing how customers' evolving attitudes, needs and expectations are reshaping the industry and changing how banks compete to deliver services in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Access the Full Report Here

EPAM Continuum Releases Third Annual Consumer Banking Report  Revealing Shifting Trends Facing the Banking Industry

Surveying 26,000 people across key banking geographiesincluding the U.S., U.K., Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australiathe report builds on the 2020 and 2021 survey editions to explore how consumer attitudes towards banking have changed in the past 12 months.

"Today's banking and financial services organizations are experiencing economic volatility, consumer confidence challenges, competitive pressures and unpredictable geopolitical conditions," said Balazs Fejes, President of EU and APAC Markets at EPAM. "In response to fast-changing market conditions, banking institutions must leverage customer loyalty and the strong foundation of trust they have built over decades to provide their consumers with stable and reliable core banking services. They must also focus on optimizing their technological and operational agility to drive personalization and stronger customer engagement, while reducing costs and improving innovation."

Key emerging themes:

Consumers are embracing embedded finance products and services. With embedded finance having become a popular trend in financial services, more than half of those surveyed globally (51%) reported having used some form of embedded finance in the past 12 months. Twenty-two percent of respondents reported using Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services, while 21% reported purchasing insurance through various point-of-sale processes.





With embedded finance having become a popular trend in financial services, more than half of those surveyed globally (51%) reported having used some form of embedded finance in the past 12 months. Twenty-two percent of respondents reported using Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services, while 21% reported purchasing insurance through various point-of-sale processes. Branch use remains significant. While consumers' digital financial habits remain reasonably high, with 31% reporting using a banking app daily and 33% doing so weekly, survey respondents continue to view the physical branch as an important resource, with 85% saying they used a physical branch in the last year and 44% doing so at least monthly. Of those who reported using the branch, 35% say they still like the face-to-face interactions that bank branches provide, 26% say it's easier to bank in-person, while 32% go to the branch to use services that can't be accessed online.





While consumers' digital financial habits remain reasonably high, with 31% reporting using a banking app daily and 33% doing so weekly, survey respondents continue to view the physical branch as an important resource, with 85% saying they used a physical branch in the last year and 44% doing so at least monthly. Of those who reported using the branch, 35% say they still like the face-to-face interactions that bank branches provide, 26% say it's easier to bank in-person, while 32% go to the branch to use services that can't be accessed online. Interest in cryptocurrencies and non- fungible tokens (NFTs) has waned. With Bitcoin plummeting to an 18-month low in June 2022 , and the crypto market itself losing nearly $1 trillion in value at its lowest point of the year, nearly a quarter of those surveyed globally (28%) reported having purchased a crypto product in the last year. Of those who haven't invested, only 3 in 10 would consider doing so in the next 12 months.





With plummeting to an 18-month low in , and the market itself losing nearly in value at its lowest point of the year, nearly a quarter of those surveyed globally (28%) reported having purchased a product in the last year. Of those who haven't invested, only 3 in 10 would consider doing so in the next 12 months. The fragmentation of the banking experience continues. The entrance of FinTechs and non-banking companies into the financial services sphere is contributing toward an unbundled and fragmented banking experience. Despite 79% of those surveyed globally saying that they trust their primary bank the most of any of their financial services, 77% report using or holding, on average, two additional financial products, services or accounts from providers different from their primary banking account.

According to a recent report by Forrester, "the competitive landscape continues to evolve as large, non-bank brands look to offer banking services to banks' existing, and large, customer bases. These firms are expanding into banking to keep customers loyal to their non-bank brands and strengthen their existing business models." [1]

EPAM Continuum's annual Consumer Banking Report summarizes how these emerging trends, attitudes and behaviors could influence banking's future across multiple demographics and geographies.

Methodology

The data published in this report is based on a survey of 26,000 adults aged 18+ in Australia, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. The survey was conducted between July 25 and August 2, 2022. Survey data was collected in partnership with Opinium Research.

To read the full 2022 Consumer Banking Report, visit: www.epam.com/2022-banking-report.

To learn more about EPAM Continuum's integrated business, experience, technology and data consulting practice, visit: epam.com/epam-continuum.

[1] Forrester, "Consumer Banking Trends, 2022", Alyson Clarke, David Hoffman, Jacob Morgan, Aurelie L'Hostis, Peter Wannemacher, Sohm Gough, Aaron Suiter, Diane Lynch, September 16, 2022

ABOUT EPAM CONTINUUM

EPAM Continuum is the integrated business, experience, and technology consulting network within EPAM Systems, Inc.

EPAM Continuum's diverse, integrated consulting teams apply a Systems Thinking mindset to get to the heart of our clients' increasingly complex business challenges. Our business, experience, technology and data consultants work together to create holistic solutions that achieve meaningful, sustained impact for businesses, their employees and customers. Consulting Magazine named EPAM Continuum a top 20 Fastest Growing Firm in 2022.

Learn more at www.epam.com/epam-continuum and follow us on LinkedIn.

ABOUT EPAM SYSTEMS

Since 1993, EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE: EPAM) has leveraged its advanced software engineering heritage to become the foremost global digital transformation services provider  leading the industry in digital and physical product development and digital platform engineering services. Through its innovative strategy; integrated advisory, consulting, and design capabilities; and unique 'Engineering DNA,' EPAM's globally deployed hybrid teams help make the future real for clients and communities around the world by powering better enterprise, education and health platforms that connect people, optimize experiences, and improve people's lives. In 2021, EPAM was added to the S&P 500 and included among the list of Forbes Global 2000 companies.

Selected by Newsweek as a 2021 and 2022 Most Loved Workplace, EPAM's global multi-disciplinary teams serve customers in more than 50 countries across six continents. As a recognized leader, EPAM is listed among the top 15 companies in Information Technology Services on the Fortune 1000 and ranked four times as the top IT services company on Fortune's 100 Fastest Growing Companies list. EPAM is also listed among Ad Age's top 25 World's Largest Agency Companies for three consecutive years, and Consulting Magazine named EPAM Continuum a top 20 Fastest Growing Firm.

Learn more at www.epam.com and follow EPAM on Twitter and LinkedIn.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release includes estimates and statements which may constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the accuracy of which are necessarily subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. Our estimates and forward-looking statements are mainly based on our current expectations and estimates of future events and trends, which affect or may affect our business and operations. These statements may include words such as "may," "will," "should," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "estimate" or similar expressions. Those future events and trends may relate to, among other things, developments relating to the invasion of Ukraine, political and civil unrest or military action in the geographies where we conduct business and operate, developments relating to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, and the effect that they may have on our revenues, operations, access to capital, profitability and customer demand. Other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied include general economic conditions, the risk factors discussed in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, particularly under the headings "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and "Risk Factors" and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although we believe that these estimates and forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, they are subject to several risks and uncertainties and are made based on information currently available to us. EPAM undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities law.

SOURCE EPAM Systems, Inc.
SILVER SPRING, Md., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is providing an update on additional steps it has taken that will lead to more infant formula available in the U.S. under the agency's increased flexibilities .

Company (Product Origin):

Danone ( Ireland )

) The a2 Milk Company ( New Zealand )

Product(s):

Danone:

Aptamil Care Stage 1, 0-6 months, Infant Milk (800 grams (g) retail container)



Aptamil Care Stage 2, 6-12 months, Follow On Milk (800 grams (g))

a2 Milk Company:

a2 Platinum Infant Formula (0-6 months), 900g (a2MC Stage 1)



a2 PlatinumFollow-on Formula (6-12 months), 900g (a2MC Stage 2)

Type of Formula: General

Availability: Both products will be sold at major U.S. retail outlets.

The FDA is exercising enforcement discretion for the importation of the infant formula products listed above following the review of information provided pertaining to nutritional adequacy and safety, including microbiological testing, labeling and additional information about facility production and inspection history.

Ongoing FDA Steps to Increase Availability of Safe, Nutritious Infant Formula

The FDA has been leveraging a number of flexibilities to bolster the supply of products that serve as the sole source of nutrition for many infants while ensuring the infant formula can be used safely and provides adequate nutrition. The agency continues to dedicate all available resources to help ensure that safe and nutritious infant formula products remain available for use in the U.S. Important progress has been made toward improving the infant formula supply in the U.S. and paving the way for a more robust and diverse marketplace for the future.

The FDA issued guidance in May 2022 that outlined a process by which the agency would not object to the importation of certain infant formula products intended for a foreign market or distribution in the U.S. of products manufactured here for export to foreign countries. This guidance also may provide flexibilities to those who manufacture infant formula products domestically and may be able to further increase the quantity of domestically-produced product for the U.S. market.

Additionally, in September 2022, the FDA announced new guidance that will help provide a pathway for infant formulas operating under enforcement discretion in the U.S. to remain on the market. This will help ensure the U.S. continues diversifying its infant formula market, and make families less susceptible to shocks in the infant formula market.

The agency continues to advise against making infant formulas at home or diluting formula. Parents and caregivers are encouraged to work with their child's health care provider for recommendations on changing feeding practices, if needed. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also has additional information available at HHS.gov/formula, including information to help families find infant formula.

The FDA also monitors online marketplaces for fraudulent products and works with major online retailers to remove violative and harmful products offered for sale on their sites. Additionally, since many of these fraudulent products originate overseas, the agency targets and examines these products at ports of entry. The FDA also monitors and follows up on various external signals such as consumer complaints about potential counterfeit and fraudulent products.

Additional Information:

Media Contact: FDA Office of Media Affairs, 301-796-4540

Consumer Inquiries: 888-723-3366

The FDA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for human use, and medical devices. The agency also is responsible for the safety and security of our nation's food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, products that give off electronic radiation, and for regulating tobacco products.

SOURCE U.S. Food and Drug Administration
LAS VEGAS, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The VIVA Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing the field of vascular medicine and intervention through education and research, announces the results for the final Late-Breaking Clinical Trials session at the VIVA22 conference, hosted at Wynn Las Vegas.

VIVA (Vascular InterVentional Advances) is an annual vascular education symposium that brings together a global, multispecialty faculty to present a variety of talks and live case presentations from clinical centers around the world. Attendees include an audience of interventional cardiologists, interventional radiologists, vascular surgeons, and endovascular medicine specialists. Below are summaries of this morning's 5 late-breaking clinical trial presentations.

The AFX2 Anatomically Fixated Endograft Has Similar Outcomes to Commercially Available Proximally Fixated Endografts: 5-Year Results of the LEOPARD Trial

Presented by Christopher J. Kwolek, MD, MBA

The LEOPARD (Looking at EVAR Outcomes by Primary Analysis of Randomized Data) trial is the first prospective randomized clinical trial designed to compare relevant clinical outcomes after endovascular aneurysm repair using contemporary commercially available devices.

A total of 455 patients were randomized. 235 patients were treated with a stent graft using anatomic fixation and the AFX/AFX2 device (Endologix) with Duraply, and 220 patients were treated with a stent graft using proximal fixation (91 Endurant [Medtronic], 72 Gore Excluder [Gore & Associates], and 57 Zenith [Cook Medical]). Demographic and anatomic characteristics were similar between the groups.

Patients were followed for 5 years, and an independent core lab was utilized. All device-related events and major adverse events were reviewed and adjudicated by an independent physician.

At 5 years, there was no difference between the anatomic and proximal fixation groups with respect to aneurysm-related mortality, aneurysm rupture, all-cause mortality, reintervention, or limb occlusion. Freedom from open conversion was statistically lower for the AFX group at 5 years at 100% versus 98% for the proximal fixation group (P = .0142).

The primary endpoint was aneurysm-related complications (ARCs) combined with the following: periprocedural death, aneurysm rupture, open conversion, any type of endoleak (I, II, III, IV), limb occlusion, migration > 10 mm, sac enlargement > 5 mm, and device-related reintervention.

Freedom from ARCs was higher at 5 years for the AFX group at 63.8% versus 55.5% for the proximal fixation group and was predominantly driven by the higher type II endoleak rate noted in the proximal fixation group.

In summary, all four devices were effective for preventing aneurysm rupture and aneurysm-related death in over 97% of patients out to 5 years. There was no difference in type I or type III endoleaks noted, and reintervention was required in 15% of patients in both groups at 5 years with minimal need for open conversion. 70% of patients were still alive at 5 years, and thus further follow-up will be necessary to determine long-term outcomes.

Utility of Sirolimus Drug-Eluting Balloons in the Treatment of Complex Below-the-Knee Atherosclerotic Disease in Patients With Chronic Limb-Threatening Ischemia24Month Results From the PRESTIGE Study

Presented by Tjun Y. Tang, MD

The use of sirolimus-eluting balloons (SEBs) to improve long-term tibial artery patency in chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI) is novel. The PRESTIGE study investigated performance outcomes and safety of the Selution sustained limus release (SLR) SEB (MedAlliance SA) for treatment of TASC II C and D tibial occlusive lesions in patients with CLTI from Singapore. We report 24-month results.

PRESTIGE was a prospective, nonrandomized, single-arm, multi-investigator, single-center clinical pilot study. 25 patients (25 limbs; 33 lesions) with Rutherford class 5 wound severity were originally included, and 18/25 (72%) patients were available for 24-month analysis. Collected data included clinically driven target lesion revascularization (CD-TLR), amputation-free survival (AFS), change in Rutherford class, wound status, EQ-5D quality-of-life survey, and Walking Impairment Questionnaire (WIQ).

Baseline demographics included 17 (68.0%) males; mean age was 63.7  9.7 years. Significant comorbidities included diabetes mellitus (n = 22; 88.0%) and end-stage renal failure (n = 11; 44.0%). Fifteen (45.5%) patients had TASC II D lesions, and mean lesion length treated was 19  11 cm. At 24 months, AFS was 75.0% (18/24 patients; 4 deaths and 2 major lower extremity amputations), and freedom from CD-TLR was 87.0%. Mean Rutherford class improved from 5.00 at baseline to 0.44  1.33 (P < .05) at 24 months. The wound healing rate was 94.4% (17/18). Mean EQ-5D visual analogue scale improved from 58.0  9.57 at baseline to 76.7  11.1 (P < .001) at 24 months. WIQ (distance) and WIQ (stairs) generally decreased, albeit insignificant from baseline to 24 months.

The Selution SLR SEB remains safe and efficacious in treating complex tibial arterial occlusive lesions in this frail cohort of CLTI patients with a high prevalence of diabetes and end-stage renal failure. However, medium-term outcomes demonstrate a trend of disease progression or recurrence as reflected by worsening of the WIQ.

ELEGANCE: Increasing Diversity in Peripheral Artery Disease Trials

Presented by Maureen P. Kohi, MD

Despite the high prevalence of peripheral artery disease (PAD) in women and underrepresented minorities (URMs), these groups are infrequently included in PAD trials. The ELEGANCE registry is a global, nonrandomized, open-label, prospective, multicenter registry actively collecting real-world data on outcomes following endovascular treatment of PAD, with an emphasis on enrolling diverse patients treated with drug-eluting devices (DEDs). Inclusion criteria included age  18 years, written informed consent, and treatment with any commercially available Boston Scientific Corporation DEDs marketed for lesions in peripheral artery circulation. ELEGANCE aims to enroll at least 40% each of women and URMs. Patients enrolled will be followed up to 5 years postindex treatment.

As of July 28, 2022, 579 patients (710 lesions) have been enrolled across 46 activated sites in the United States, China, Germany, and Thailand. Mean age is 69.6 years (SD  9.7 years); 241 (41.6 %) are female and 235 (40.6%) are URMs. Of these, 117 (20.2%) are Black or of African heritage, 55 (9.5%) are Asian, and 47 (8.1%) are Hispanic/Latino. Comorbidities and risk factors include current (156 [27.4%] patients) or past smoking (292 [51.3%] patients); type 2 diabetes mellitus (305 [52.7%] patients); and history of hyperlipidemia (468 [82.2%] patients) and/or history of hypertension (515 [90.5%] patients) requiring medication. Treatment indications include claudication (370 [66.3%] patients) and chronic limb-threatening ischemia (143 [25.6%] patients). Median lesion length was 100 mm (IQR, 60-200 mm). Of 710 treated lesions, 513 (72.7%) were de novo and 193 (27.3%) were restenotic. Calcification was moderate or severe in 178 (25.3%) and 225 (32.0%) patients, respectively. Among the 538 patients with available Rutherford classification at baseline, 204 (37.9%) were  class 4.

By emphasizing diversity of patients studied, ELEGANCE will improve therapeutic decision-making and clinical outcomes for the management of PAD with DEDs in all populations, including those uncommonly included in PAD trials.

Revascularization Therapy for Femoropopliteal Disease With a Novel Intra-Arterial Stent Graft: 12-Month Results of the TORUS-2 Study

Presented by Ehrin J. Armstrong, MD

The Torus stent graft system (Endologix) represents the first covered stent for the superficial femoral artery (SFA) introduced in nearly 20 years. The goal of the TORUS 2 study is to investigate both the safety and effectiveness of this potential covered stent graft option by comparing results to preestablished performance goals.

The TORUS 2 study is a prospective, single-arm, multicenter, international trial. Follow-up was scheduled at 30 days, 6 months, and then annually through year 3. The primary effectiveness endpoint assesses primary patency at 12 months, which is defined as absence of clinically driven target lesion revascularization (CD-TLR) and recurrent target lesion diameter stenosis > 50% with a peak systolic velocity ratio of > 2.5. The primary safety endpoint is a composite outcome of several major adverse event (MAE) types through 30 days, consisting of all-cause mortality, CD-TLR, and amputation of the target limb.

A total of 188 patients were enrolled and treated with the Torus stent graft system across 34 sites. The mean age is 69.7  8.4 years, 72% are male, and 84% had a Rutherford class  3. The mean lesion length as assessed by the core lab is 118  44 mm and ranges up to 275 mm. 52% had moderate to severe calcification. Mean maximum stenosis was 89%, ranging from 50% to total occlusion, and 36% of patients presented with a total occlusion of the diseased vessel. Technical success was achieved in 100% of patients. 13% of patients underwent atherectomy. The 30-day MAE rate (141 patients) was 1.4% (2 CD-TLRs were reported at day 14 and 18). Through 1 year, there were four (2.8%) deaths, 24 (17.0%) CD-TLRs, and one (0.7%) target limb amputation. At 1 year, the freedom from CD-TLR was 75.7%.

A Registry-Based Study of Paclitaxel Drug-Coated Balloon Angioplasty for the Treatment of In-Stent Restenosis of the Femoral-Popliteal Artery

Presented by Daniel J. Bertges, MD

The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) Vascular Quality Initiative (VQI) conducted a prospective, single-arm, registry-based study assessing the safety and performance of a paclitaxel drug-coated balloon (DCB) (In.Pact Admiral, Medtronic) for the treatment of superficial femoral artery (SFA) or popliteal artery in-stent restenosis (ISR). The study included 43 sites across the United States and evaluated 300 patients.

Clinical outcomes were assessed at 12, 24, and 36 months. The primary endpoint was target lesion revascularization (TLR) at 12 months. Secondary endpoints included technical success, target vessel revascularization (TVR), major limb amputation, and all-cause mortality.

Patients were typical of the peripheral artery disease population with a mean age of 68 years, 58% male, and 56% with diabetes. The majority had claudication (80% Rutherford class 2-3), while 20% had ischemic rest pain (Rutherford class 4). Lesions included ISR of the SFA in 68%, SFA-popliteal in 26%, and popliteal arteries in 7%. Mean lesion length was 17.8  11.8 cm. Occlusions were treated in 43% of lesions (mean occluded length, 16  10 cm). Type by TransAtlantic Inter-Society Consensus (TASC) included: TASC A, 17%, TASC B, 29%; TASC C, 38%; and TASC D, 15%.

Based on interim Kaplan-Meier estimates at 12 and 24 months, freedom from any TLR was 90% and 72%, freedom from any TVR was 88% and 68%, freedom from major target limb amputation was 99% and 99%, and all-cause survival was 95% and 89%.

This postmarket registry-based study of the In.Pact Admiral paclitaxel DCB shows promising results in treating femoropopliteal ISR with freedom from TLR of 90% at 1 year. These results demonstrate the ability of the SVS VQI to conduct postmarket evaluation of peripheral devices in partnership with industry and federal regulators.

About the VIVA Foundation

The VIVA Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing the field of vascular medicine and intervention through education and research, strives to be the premier educator in the field. Our team of specialists in vascular medicine, interventional cardiology, interventional radiology, and vascular surgery is driven by the passion to advance the field and improve patient outcomes. Educational events presented by the have a distinct spirit of collegiality attained by synergizing collective talents to promote awareness and innovative therapeutic options for vascular disease worldwide. To learn more about the VIVA Foundation, visit https://thevivafoundation.org/.

SOURCE The VIVA Foundation
VANCOUVER, BC, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Fineqia International Inc. (the "Company" or "Fineqia") (CSE: FNQ) (OTC: FNQQF) (Frankfurt: FNQA) announces the setup of a wholly owned subsidiary Fineqia AG in Liechtenstein to pursue business on the European continent. The Company also announces a new corporate website to better reflect its business.

The new entity enables Fineqia to expand its business in the European Economic Area (EEA), in which Liechtenstein is a member. The country has created laws compatible with the European Union (EU) directives and regulations, enabling locally domiciled businesses to operate across various EU financial markets.

The Principality of Liechtenstein was one of the first countries in the world to provide regulation of the digital asset industry with the Blockchain Act in Jan. 2020. The law provides business with regulatory and legal clarity about blockchain related services, tokenisation of assets and rights including the classification of tokens based on the rights held in them such as utility, security or payment tokens. It also stipulates information requirements for public offerings.

"Seeds of innovation need a fertile ground to germinate," said Fineqia CEO Bundeep Singh Rangar. "Liechtenstein is proving to have such soil."

Liechtenstein scored highest for two years in a row in a global ranking by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), an audit and consulting firm, that rated the comprehensiveness of tax guidance for cryptocurrencies in each country. PWC evaluated countries on 19 factors to determine the comprehensiveness of their policies on digital assets and transactions including taxation of mining, staking and NFTs.

Separately, Fineqia announces that the closing of its private placement of units representing stock and warrants for up to $5 million, has been extended to Dec. 10, 2022, on account of the health situation of the Company's CFO.

Fineqia also announced the publishing of an updated corporate website with new branding at www.fineqia.com.

About Fineqia International Inc.

Fineqia (www.fineqia.com) is a listed entity in Canada (CSE: FNQ), US (OTC: FNQQF) and Europe (Frankfurt: FNQA). Fineqia's strategic focus has been to provide a platform and associated services to support securities issuances and manage administration of debt securities. Fineqia is building out its alternative finance business and holds a growing portfolio of blockchain, fintech and cryptocurrency technology companies worldwide.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Some statements in this release may contain forward-looking information (as defined under applicable Canadian securities laws) ("forward-looking statements"). All statements, other than of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that Fineqia (the "Company") believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future (including, without limitation, statements regarding potential acquisitions and financings) are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of the words "may", "will", "should", "continue", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "believe", "intend", "plan" or "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict, that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, without limitation, the failure to obtain sufficient financing, and other risks disclosed in the Company's public disclosure record on file with the relevant securities regulatory authorities. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made except as may be required by applicable securities laws. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement except to the extent required by applicable securities laws.

Katarina Kupcikova, Analyst, E. [email protected], T. +44 7806 730 769; Bundeep Singh Rangar, CEO, E. [email protected], T. +1 778 654 2324

SOURCE Fineqia International Inc.
-Earnings Call Scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET on November 14, 2022-

SHANGHAI, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- FinVolution Group ("FinVolution", or the "Company") (NYSE: FINV), a leading fintech platform, today announced that it will report its third quarter 2022 unaudited financial results, on Monday, November 14, 2022, after the close of U.S. markets.

The Company's management will host an earnings conference call at 7:30 PM U.S. Eastern Time on November 14, 2022 (8:30 AM Beijing/Hong Kong Time on November 15, 2022).

Dial-in details for the earnings conference call are as follows:

United States (toll free): 1-888-346-8982 Canada (toll free): 1-855-669-9657 International: 1-412-902-4272 Hong Kong, China (toll free): 800-905-945 Hong Kong, China: 852-3018-4992 Mainland, China: 400-120-1203

Participants should dial-in at least 5 minutes before the scheduled start time and ask to be connected to the call for "FinVolution Group."

Additionally, a live and archived webcast of the conference call will be available on the Company's investor relations website at https://ir.finvgroup.com.

A replay of the conference call will be accessible approximately one hour after the conclusion of the live call until November 21, 2022, by dialing the following telephone numbers:

United States (toll free): 1-877-344-7529 Canada (toll free): 1-855-669-9658 International: 1-412-317-0088 Replay Access Code: 9485337

About FinVolution Group

FinVolution Group is a leading fintech platform in China connecting underserved individual borrowers with financial institutions. Established in 2007, the Company is a pioneer in China's online consumer finance industry and has developed innovative technologies and has accumulated in-depth experience in the core areas of credit risk assessment, fraud detection, big data and artificial intelligence. The Company's platform, empowered by proprietary cutting-edge technologies, features a highly automated loan transaction process, which enables a superior user experience. As of June 30, 2022, the Company had over 149.3 million cumulative registered users.

For more information, please visit https://ir.finvgroup.com.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

In China:

FinVolution Group

Head of Investor Relations

Jimmy Tan

Tel: +86 (21) 8030 3200- Ext 8601

E-mail: [email protected]

The Piacente Group, Inc.

Jenny Cai

Tel: +86 (10) 6508-0677

E-mail: [email protected]

In the United States:

The Piacente Group, Inc.

Brandi Piacente

Tel: +1-212-481-2050

E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE FinVolution Group
SAN DIEGO, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Fuse Integration, a warfighter-focused engineering and design firm, today announced another successful live-flight demonstration of its Tactical Edge Networking capability in support of a Technical Concept Experiment hosted by the Office of Naval Research. In the joint multi-domain exercise, which replicated expeditionary operations in a contested littoral environment, Fuse enabled the interconnecting of distributed nodes and provided persistent sea-to-shore networked communications via text, voice and live video feeds.

"Today's warfighters are routinely operating in multi-domain joint operational environments that rely on dependable and secure connections and communications," said Rebecca Unetic, Director of Strategy at Fuse. "Fuse capabilities are built for operational relevance and this Navy-Marine Corps exercise further demonstrates the readiness and applicability of our products and technologies on board ships and aircraft today."

Throughout the multi-day exercise, held along Camp Pendleton's Red Beach training area in California, Fuse engineers and technical personnel effectively integrated user data from various technologies into the overall event network architecture. The team provided data linkages over disparate mesh and CDL networks in a highly terrain-challenged environment; securely connected beyond-line-of-sight command posts and tactical units; extended the range of communications to enable joint amphibious operations and naval mine countermeasures; and facilitated text and live video across the multi-domain, multi-link network with cyber-secure IP and TDL gateways.

As with previous Navy-Marine Corps exercises, the Fuse TEN architecture demonstrated persistent, secure and resilient networked communications from sea to shore in a constructive command and control/denied and degraded environment. The TEN architecture is designed to accelerate the sensor-decider-shooter cycle and enhance data-informed decision-making critical in the modern battlespace, enabling the U.S. Defense Department's JADC2 initiative. It also facilitates rapid prototyping with joint networks and "speed to fleet" deployment across multi-domain platforms.

About Fuse Integration

Fuse is a warfighter-focused engineering and design firm providing innovative communications, networking and computing solutions for defense customers. The company's virtualized network systems, tactical edge virtual network and airborne networking gateway products improve the sharing of information, video, text and voice among warfighters throughout airborne, maritime and ground environments. Founded in 2010, Fuse is a service-disabled veteran-owned small business with headquarters in San Diego and a corporate office in Washington, D.C. www.fuseintegration.com

Contact:

Joyce Bosc

On behalf of Fuse Integration

301-717-9529

[email protected]

SOURCE Fuse Integration
SOUTH COAST METRO, Calif., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Golden State family of companies ("Golden State"), registered investment advisers with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, announced today that their affiliated company, Golden State Asset Management ("GSAM"), claims compliance with the Global Investment Performance Standards ("GIPS")1.

The GIPS standards are ethical standards for calculating and presenting investment performance based on the principles of fair representation and full disclosure. They are voluntary industry standards that provide transparency and global comparability in a world where regulations and market practices differ significantly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. The thoroughness of the GIPS standards and the requirement for composite reporting greatly improves transparency by eliminating survivorship biases, misrepresentations, and omissions of historical data.

GSAM enables fee-based financial advisors with tools and research to optimize their business' investment process. Affiliated advisors participate in a Turnkey Asset Management Program, which gives them access to centrally managed goals-based portfolio strategies, designed and implemented by Golden State's Chief Investment Officer.

"Transparency has always been important to the mission and vision of Golden State. We are thrilled to have consistency in our guidelines and standards for investment performance across all of the model portfolios," says Kyle Fairall, Chief Investment Officer of GSAM.

About Golden State

The Golden State family of companies, comprised of Golden State Wealth Management, Golden State Equity Partners and Golden State Asset Management, are investment advisers registered with the SEC, registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training, dedicated to financial professionals and their clients. The firm's initial company was founded in 2013 by a group of executives who collectively contribute over 50 years of industry experience and has partnered with advisors serving over $3 billion in assets under care2. Golden State's infrastructure provides an extensive support network through succession planning, compliance oversight, dedicated transition support, and a Turnkey Asset Management Program. The Golden State family of companies maintain business alignments with LPL Financial, the nation's largest independent broker/dealer3, Raymond James, TD Ameritrade Institutional and Charles Schwab, some of the nation's largest independent custodians, who provide comprehensive tools and research necessary in today's complex markets. Golden State's flagship office is located in South Coast Metro, California. With offices across the country, Golden State is committed to creating an atmosphere that benefits both advisors and their investors. For more information about Golden State, visit www.teamgoldenstate.com.

Follow Golden State on LinkedIn and Twitter.

For a copy of a presentation that complies with the GIPS standards and/or the firm's list of composite descriptions, please email [email protected].

1GIPS is a registered trademark of CFA Institute. CFA Institute does not endorse or promote this organization, nor does it warrant the accuracy or quality of the content contained herein.

2Source: SEC filing; Golden State.

3As reported in Financial Planning magazine, June 1996-2021, based on total revenue.

Investment advice may be offered through Golden State Wealth Management, Golden State Equity Partners, or Golden State Asset Management, investment advisers registered with the SEC. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. For information pertaining to the registration status of our firm, you may refer to the Investment Adviser Public Disclosure website (www.adviserinfo.sec.gov).

Media Inquiries:

Jennifer Nahas

CMO, Golden State

[email protected]

SOURCE Golden State Wealth Management
NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Goliath Group , a family-owned global toy company, announces today that it unanimously chose toy industry veteran Brian Weiss as Goliath's President of North America. Weiss started his tenure at Goliath Group on Nov. 1 and is focused on expanding and accelerating business growth in the United States and Canada.

Brian Weiss, President Goliath Group North America

"Following a rigorous search process, Brian's credentials were far and away the strongest for the role that we were looking to fill, and his experience in the toy industry aligns perfectly with our vision to expand further into that category," says Jochanan Golad, CEO of Goliath Group. "With well over two decades of high-level experience in the toy industry and a track record of strong leadership, Brian is highly qualified to lead the North America team to a successful future. In addition, his industry insights will play an integral role as we continue to drive success for our core brands and innovate our world-class portfolio."

"As I transition into my new role as President of North America at Goliath Group, I am grateful to be joining an incredibly innovative and collaborative team that loves what they do," said Brian Weiss. "I look forward to complementing Goliath's robust game offering with an equally impressive toy line. All our products have one simple goal, to bring smiles to faces of all ages. We have been creating smiles for over 30 years, and we have only just begun, so hold on!"

Weiss holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Economics and Business Management from Cornell University (CALS 97). He joins Goliath Group with over 23 years of executive experience within the toy industry. Most recently, he held the title of Senior Vice President at Moose Toys, where he was a member of their Global Management Team, and led US sales and global e-commerce. In addition, he has held other executive leadership positions at Jakks Pacific and Impact Sales & Marketing.

Goliath remains a family-owned business, founded in 1980 by Adi Golad and is now being led by his son, Jochanan Golad. For more information about Goliath Group, please visit www.goliathgames.us .

About Goliath Group

Goliath Group, North America's largest family owned game manufacturers, has been spreading joy to families for over 30 years. As one of the world's fastest-growing independent toy companies, Goliath is always thinking about the next move and what other players may want to join in on the fun. The products are available in over 75 countries worldwide, including the Netherlands, France, Spain, Hong Kong, and Canada.

SOURCE Goliath Group
Care Resource Hosts Rooftop Tribute in Midtown Miami

MIAMI, Nov. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Care Resource Community Health Centers, Inc. is hosting a tribute to World AIDS Day with the theme "Healing Through the Arts," on the rooftop of their Midtown Miami health center located on 3510 Biscayne Boulevard on December 1, 2022, from 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm.

The night includes dance performances by the United Ballroom Houses of South Florida, an array of donated and radiant art pieces, poetry readings, a candlelight vigil, and more.

World AIDS Day Miami

This event incorporates the four pillars to ending the HIV epidemic, which include: diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and response. Additionally, this is an opportunity to recognize, honor and celebrate the medical advancements made during the past 30 years.

According to Steven Santiago, M.D., Chief Medical Officer at Care Resource, "World AIDS Day reminds us that HIV has not gone away. The event's four pillars of diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and response are crucial to increasing awareness, fighting prejudice, and improving education. Diagnosis is a reminder that there are still people living with HIV who are not aware. Prevention is a reminder about the need to further increase methods to reduce the rate of infection. Treatment is a reminder that hope is available for people who do not know their status. The pillar of Response is critical as it is a reminder to the community that new outbreaks are happening all the time. "

Observed worldwide on December 1, World AIDS Day is the moment of the year when millions of people come together across the world to commemorate those who have been lost to HIV, applaud the progress made in responding to the crises, and recommit to ending the epidemic.

For more information, or to RSVP to the event, please click here.

About Care Resource:

Care Resource is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization and a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) with four locations in Midtown Miami, Little Havana, Miami Beach, and Fort Lauderdale. The health center provides comprehensive health and support services to address the full health care needs of South Florida's pediatric, adolescent, and adult populations.

SOURCE Care Resource
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --

Logistics company IL2000 today announces the promotion of Techa Pacitto to Chief Executive Officer. Pacitto's appointment coincides with the company's recognition as 2022's Most Engaged 3PL - USA.

"We treat every customer's success as though it were our own." Techa Pacitto, CEO Tweet this

Learn more about what IL2000's engagement looks like .

The Logistics Warehouse & Supply Chain Awards  granted each year by global digital media agency, The Business Concept  was given to IL2000 this year in recognition of the company's strong customer service record. Elaborating on the basis for their decision, The Business Concept cited IL2000's wide base of supply chain expertise, deep client satisfaction, and continued high rates of customer retention.

Pacitto moves into the CEO role having served the company for more than five years. Formerly the company's COO, Pacitto was instrumental in securing the robust customer service results that fueled the award decision.

Founder and former CEO, Kraig Cesar, said: "Techa has been my trusted partner in running IL2000 for many years. She has outstanding operational expertise and corporate leadership experience, and I'm thrilled to announce her as CEO. I feel confident we're placing IL2000 in capable hands."

"I'm honored to take on the CEO role," Pacitto said. "Kraig's vision as IL2000's founder has always been to build a company that was passionate about innovation and deeply committed to customer service. His leadership as CEO has been a big part of making that happen. I'm excited about continuing to forge that path for IL2000 enriched by the endlessly energetic inventiveness of our whole team."

Commenting on IL2000's recognition for its customer service and engagement, Pacitto chalked the win up to the company's combined clear vision and passionately dedicated people:

"First and foremost, our goal has always been to earn client trust. Our team has achieved that by offering customers real thought partnership, creative problem-solving, and a relentless determination to bring great results."

About IL2000

Founded in 1999, IL2000 is a third-party transportation and logistics service provider. IL2000 uses a proprietary transportation management system, customer collaboration, comprehensive logistics engineering, and a robust carrier procurement and partnership process to create seamless and optimized supply chain performance.

IL2000 operates the following business segments: freight management; truckload brokerage; international freight forwarding; and freight bill audit & pay. Modes supported include LTL, FTL, parcel, and international LCL, FCL and airfreight.

SOURCE IL2000
Partnering with Fairfax County, Insight Doubles Down on Delivery of Attainable Housing in DC Metro

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Insight Property Group, with partner AHC Inc, has announced its acquisition of Colvin Woods Apartments, a 259-unit community on Becontree Lake Drive in Reston, VA. The community will be re-branded as Haven Reston and, in partnership with Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority, the venture will preserve all 259 units for households earning between 60% and 80% of the area median income (AMI).

"Insight Property Group is excited to preserve affordability at Haven Reston and expand that opportunity to the entire community over the next several years," said Tim White, Principal at Insight. "We are thrilled to partner once again with AHC, who has repeatedly demonstrated their commitment and success at preserving and expanding housing that is affordable and attainable to a growing segment of Fairfax County residents."

"Partnering with local jurisdictions to address the urgent need for workforce and affordable housing in the DC Metro area has proven to be something that Insight is particularly well suited for," said Insight Group Partner, Mae Klinger. "Our founders' roots are firmly planted in the pursuit of attainable housing and we have spent decades involved in and advocating for solutions to affordability in a rapidly growing region with dramatically increasing housing insecurity such as ours. Culturally and operationally, Insight embraces a highly disciplined, institutional-level approach to investments that attracts equity partners of the highest quality who have the utmost faith in our ability to perform. For our municipal partners, the Insight team understands their housing goals and can be the partner that best helps them accomplish those goals."

"Through our joint venture with Insight and with significant support from Fairfax County, we're ensuring housing security for hundreds of individuals and families for decades into the future," says Paul Bernard, AHC Inc. President & CEO. "Preserving the affordable housing in this beautiful woodland area, full of nearby amenities, is central to our mission of helping residents thrive."

Built in 1979, Haven Reston has provided naturally occurring affordability in a lush, quiet setting convenient to all the amenities and job centers in and around Reston, VA. With the acquisition, Insight Property Group and AHC will phase in affordability income and rent requirements over the next three to five years. No current residents will be displaced over the next five years regardless of income.

Haven Reston has one and two-bedroom apartments with a community clubhouse, playground, fitness center, and swimming pool. The venture intends to invest in a number of improvements to building exteriors, common areas, and amenities, and landscaped areas. Gates Hudson has managed the property to date and the existing team has been retained to continue that management role.

About Insight Property Group

Insight Property Group develops, acquires and re-positions well-situated multifamily and mixed-use properties in the greater Washington, D.C. area. Since its inception in 2009, through the collaboration of a team of highly experienced and locally-focused industry professionals, the Company has unlocked a broad range of investment opportunities that continue to set a standard for strong and innovative execution in the marketplace. Thanks to established partnerships, with investments of over $1.4 billion, Insight Property Group has planned, delivered and acquired over 4,500 residential units, and 200,000 square feet of office and retail space. The Company's portfolio of activities includes the development of high-end residential and mixed-use buildings, the acquisition of workforce housing, the construction of affordable housing through public partnerships, the delivery of infill for-sale housing, and the repositioning of close-in suburban rental communities. The approach to each project -- focus, creativity and care.

About AHC Inc.

Founded in 1975, AHC Inc. is a nonprofit developer of affordable housing that provides quality homes plus education programs and social services for low-and moderate-income families. Based in Arlington, VA, AHC has developed more than 8,000 apartment units in 50+ properties in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. AHC's Resident Services program reaches 3,000 children, teens, adults, and seniors each year. For more information, visit www.ahcinc.org

Media Contact: Karen Widmayer

KW Communications LLC

[email protected]

301.661.1448

SOURCE Insight Property Group
DUBLIN, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Malaysia Data Center Market - Investment Analysis & Growth Opportunities 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



Malaysia data center market is one of the most mature data center markets after Singapore in Southeast Asian countries. Malaysia's government is continuously improving the country's digital economy. The Ministry of International Trade and Industry aims to be a solution provider for new technologies and attract investment in the manufacturing industry.

Regarding the impact of COVID-19 in Malaysia, the government launched various initiatives to improve the economy and the country's digital infrastructure. These initiatives helped the country to witness growth in cloud adoption by various industry verticals such as enterprises, government agencies, and education sectors.

The cloud service providers such as AWS, Microsoft, Google, and Alibaba have a presence in the country. For instance, the government is appointed Alibaba cloud to support the local SMEs, enterprises, and government agencies.

The investment in renewable energy, from solar and wind energy to power data centers, is increasing. Companies such as Bridge Data Centres (Chindata) and YTL Data Centers have set goals to improve the facilities' carbon footprint. Free Trade Zones attract operators to invest in the country by enabling various tax incentives. In March 2022, Yondr announced plans to develop a hyperscale data center campus with a power capacity of around 200 MW on approximately 72.8 acres in Sedenak Tech Park, which is projected to be built phase-wise out of which the first phase is expected to be live by 2024.

The rising adoption of smart devices and the growing demand for big data analytics and IoT technologies are prompting several DC investments in Malaysia. The rise in popularity of gaming and surge in digitization across various sectors such as BFSI, manufacturing, IT, and logistics have generated more data, creating a greater demand for DC in the country.

Key Highlights

Malaysia has around 23 operational colocation data centers. Most of them are developing according to Tier III standards. Uptime Institute has about seven data center facilities certified under Tier III standards.

has around 23 operational colocation data centers. Most of them are developing according to Tier III standards. Uptime Institute has about seven data center facilities certified under Tier III standards. In Malaysia , Cyberjaya and Kuala Lumpur are the most preferred locations for development due to their proximity to end-users.

, Cyberjaya and are the most preferred locations for development due to their proximity to end-users. According to Enterprise Cloud Index (ECI) 2021 report, around 96% of Malaysian respondents voted who implement hybrid cloud infrastructure for the organizations.

Celcom Axiata Bhd, DiGi Telecommunications, and Maxis Bhd are some telecom operators working to deploy commercial 5G services.

The demand for edge data centers in the country expects to grow with the development of 5G deployment. In June 2022 , Edge Centres is developing the EC31 edge facility in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia .

, Edge Centres is developing the EC31 edge facility in . Edge data center deployments will reduce latency and ease the accessibility of data and device-to-device communications, which will play a significant role in emerging applications, such as autonomous vehicles, virtual/augmented reality, and robotics.

Big data technologies help companies store large volumes of data and help organizations to analyze information and improve decision-making. Various industries in Malaysia , such as healthcare, education, BFSI, transportation, professional services, smart city operators, and the government, will be the major adopters of big data solutions during the forecast period and will help to boost the industry's growth.

Vendor Landscape

Malaysia's market is witnessing the entry of new investors such as Pure Data Centres Group, Yondr, and PP Telecommunication plans to build data centers in the country.

market is witnessing the entry of new investors such as Pure Data Centres Group, Yondr, and PP Telecommunication plans to build data centers in the country. Some key investors in the industry are Pure Data Centres Group, Yondr, and Chindata in 2021.

The demand drivers for colocation services in Malaysia is the primary demand driver due to COVID-19; various organizations started working on cloud platforms, and the cloud is followed by telecom, 5G deployment, and AI.

is the primary demand driver due to COVID-19; various organizations started working on cloud platforms, and the cloud is followed by telecom, 5G deployment, and AI. Huawei Technologies partnered with the real estate company Hatten Land to develop data centers in Malaysia .

to develop data centers in . Companies are collaborating with IT infrastructure providers to improve the efficiency of infrastructure in the data center. The operators JD Cloud and Inspur launched liquid-cooled rack server ORS3000S to reduce energy consumption and improve heat dissipation efficiency by 40%.

IT Infrastructure Providers

Cisco Systems

Dell Technologies

Fujitsu

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)

Huawei

IBM

Inspur

Lenovo

NetApp

NEC Corporation

Data Center Construction Contractors & Sub-Contractors

Asima Architects

AVO Technology

B-Barcelona Consulting

DSCO Group

ISG

NTT FACILITIES

Nakano

Powerware Systems

S5 Engineering

Shaw Architect

Support Infrastructure Providers

ABB

Caterpillar

Cummins

Eaton

Fuji Electric

HITEC Power Protection

Legrand

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation

Rittal

Rolls-Royce

Schneider Electric

Vertiv

Data Center Investors

AIMS Data Centre

Bridge Data Centres

GDS Services

Keppel Data Centres

Microsoft

NTT Global Data Centers

Open DC

Regal Orion

VADS

YTL Data Centers

New Entrants

Pure Data Centres Group

Yondr Group

Chindata

PP Telecommunication

Frequently Asked Questions:

1. What will be the malaysia data center market size by 2027?

2. What is the growth rate of the malaysian data center market?

3. How many data centers are there in malaysia?

4. What are the driving factors in the malaysian data center market?

5. Who are key investors in the malaysia data center market in 2022?

Key Topics Covered:



Chapter 1: Existing & Upcoming Third-Party Data Centers in Malaysia

Historical Market Scenario

20+ Unique Data Center Properties

Data Center It Load Capacity

Data Center White Floor Area Space

Existing vs Upcoming Data Center Capacity by Cities

Cities Covered

Cyberjaya

Other Cities

Chapter 2: Investment Opportunities in Malaysia

Microeconomic and Macroeconomic Factors for Malaysia Market

Investment Opportunities in Malaysia

Investment by Area

Investment by Power Capacity

Chapter 3: Data Center Colocation Market in Malaysia

Colocation Services Market in Malaysia

Retail vs Wholesale Data Center Colocation

Colocation Pricing (Quarter Rack, Half Rack, Full Rack) & Add-Ons

Chapter 4: Market Dynamics

Market Drivers

Market Trends

Market Restraints

Chapter 5: Market Segmentation

It Infrastructure: Market Size & Forecast

Electrical Infrastructure: Market Size & Forecast

Mechanical Infrastructure: Market Size & Forecast

General Construction Services: Market Size & Forecast

Chapter 6: Tier Standard Investment

Tier I & Ii

Tier Iii

Tier Iv

Chapter 7: Key Market Participants

It Infrastructure Providers

Construction Contractors

Support Infrastructure Providers

Data Center Investors

New Entrants

Chapter 8: Appendix

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ppdfv0

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Research and Markets
International leaders and scholars share Perspectives on Moving Forward

HONG KONG, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The International Communication Forum: Towards a fairer, safer world", jointly organized by Friday Culture Limited and the Hong Kong Coalition, was held on 2 November. The Forum was officiated by Mr John KC LEE, the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Ms LU Xinning, Deputy Director, Liaison Office of Central People's Government in the HKSAR; Mr YANG Yirui, Deputy Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in the HKSAR; Mrs Regina IP, The Convenor of the Non-official Members of the Executive Council of the HKSAR; Dr Herman HU, Chairman, Friday Culture Limited; Dr Kennedy WONG, Vice Secretary-General, Hong Kong Coalition; Mr Patrick Tsang, Chief Executive Officer, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises Limited.

From left: Patrick Tsang, Regina Ip, Lu Xinning, John KC Lee, Yang Yirui, Herman Hu, Kennedy Wong

Dr Herman Hu has mentioned in his welcome speech that "Today, many voices are trying to tell a broader, deeper, fairer story of what is happening in our city and our country. When we put our heads together, we are good at solving problems."

The forum included two panel discussions, the first panel discussed "Achieving fairness in a polarised world". Mr Patrick TSANG, moderated the panel with a number of distinguished guests including Mrs Regina IP; Mr Amr Wafik Mohamed ELHENAWY, Consul General of Consulate General of Egypt in Hong Kong, China; Mr Chandran NAIR, Founder, Global Institute for Tomorrow and Mr Nick CHAN, Director of AALCO Hong Kong Regional Arbitration Centre.

The second panel focused on "Safety, from individual to global perspectives". The discussion was moderated by Prof Witman HUNG, Member of Global Council, World Summit Awards and views were shared by CHEUNG Kwok Kwan, Deputy Secretary for Justice; Ms YANG Meng Yang, Executive Director, CICC Capital Management Department, China International Capital Corporation Hong Kong Asset Management Limited; Dr William YU, Chief Executive Officer, World Green Organisation and Mr. Laurie PEARCEY, former CE of the China-Australia Business Council.

About Friday Culture Limited

Founded in 2021, Friday Culture Limited is a multi-dimensional media company which celebrates cultural diversity, promotes peace and shares insight. Please visit Friday Culture's Website: www.fridayeveryday.com .

About Hong Kong Coalition

Founded on 2020 with Mr. Tung Chee Hwa and Mr. Leung Chun-ying, the Hong Kong Coalition aims to support Hong Kong in overcoming difficulties, reaching greater heights by upholding the "One Country, Two Systems" principle.

To download event photo: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Dk3fliURQVMuZTtTsampDx_ouHxVipLY?usp=sharing

SOURCE Friday Culture Limited
Founder and CEO of the Company 'The Sioux Chef,' Showcases Modern Indigenous Foods

JAMUL, Calif., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On Saturday, November 19, Jamul Casino will welcome Chef Sean Sherman, Founder and CEO of the company The Sioux Chef, for a one-of-a-kind culinary event on The Rooftop. Internationally renowned for advancing indigenous cuisine, Chef Sean Sherman will guide guests through a three-course, curated meal, exclusively prepared for the evening. Offering two seatings at 5:00pm and 7:30pm, tickets for the Chef Sherman culinary event are $85.00 and may be purchased here. By partnering with Chef Sherman, Jamul Casino continues to elevate and expand its culinary offerings and experiences.

Jamul Casino will welcome the internationally-renowned Chef Sean Sherman for a one-of-a-kind culinary event featuring modern indigenous foods on November 19, 2022. Photo credit: Nancy Bundt.

Chef Sherman

Chef Sean Sherman of the Oglala Lakota tribe has been delighting palates across the globe for the last three decades as a caterer, educator, cookbook author, and restaurant owner. Chef Sherman has extensively studied Native American farming techniques, wild food usage and harvesting, land stewardship, salt and sugar making, hunting, fishing, food preservation, Native American migration histories, and elemental cooking techniques to revitalize and bring awareness to indigenous foods in a contemporary context. Chef Sherman and his vision of modern indigenous foods have been featured in many articles and radio shows; he has hosted dinners at the James Beard House in Manhattan and Milan; and he has shared his knowledge at Yale, the Culinary Institute of America, the United Nations, and more. He has won numerous awards, including the 2018 James Beard Award for Best American Cookbook, the 2019 James Beard Leadership Award, and the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant in June 2022.

Jamul Casino's Culinary Excellence

With its emphasis on maintaining an exceptional culinary program, Jamul Casino and its restaurants have received a variety of "San Diego's Best" honors from The San Diego Union-Tribune Reader's Poll, and a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence for five years running. In addition to its in-house talent, Jamul Casino regularly welcomes celebrity chefs such as Sam the Cooking Guy, Jeremiah Tower, and Alex Guarnaschelli, to offer guests unique culinary experiences.

President and General Manager of Jamul Casino, Mary Cheeks, states, "Chef Sean Sherman is an absolute visionary with an extraordinary talent. We're so honored to welcome him, and offer San Diego the opportunity to be a part of his mission to revive indigenous foods and ancestral knowledge in today's world."

About Jamul Casino

Opened in 2016, the Jamul Casino is located in Jamul, California, San Diego County, and is owned and operated by Jamul Indian Village Development Corporation (JIVDC), a wholly owned enterprise of the Tribe. The $430 million, award-winning casino features nearly 1,700 slot machines, 46 live table games, a dedicated poker room, and various restaurants, bars and lounges. Jamul Casino supports 1,200 permanent jobs in the region and is the closest casino to downtown San Diego, which is the eighth-largest city in the United States by population. For more information about Jamul Casino, please visit www.jamulcasinosd.com.

Media Contact: Beth Binger

BCIpr

619-987-6658

[email protected]

SOURCE Jamul Casino
Best Practices and Identity Verification Solutions Significantly Mitigate Frequency and Impact of Cyberbreaches

ATLANTA, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- LexisNexis Risk Solutions, the leading provider of healthcare data analytics and technology, today released its True Cost of Fraud for Healthcare Payers study, which analyzes the impact cyberfraud has on healthcare payers, particularly how much it costs their business, and inevitably affects the overall cost of care. The recent growth in digital health strategies, where data is more widely shared and analyzed, presents significant opportunity to improve access, engagement and patient care. At the same time, the proliferation of digital health is also correlated with an increase in cybercrime. This report explores these vulnerabilities and the steps organizations should take to mitigate their risk.

The study analyzed incidents of ransomware, portal hacking, phishing and cyberbreaches experienced by 41 of the top 100 healthcare payers, exploring the type, impact and potential solutions to quantify the overall financial impact of cybercrime. Almost half (49%) of respondents say they have experienced a data breach in the last five years, involving an average of 12,000 compromised records per incident and costing an average of $5.39M per incident.

Of the payers who experienced a breach in the last five years, nearly all (85%) report that cyberattacks and breaches have a negative impact on their brand reputation. Of these respondents, 40% reported a lower enrollment rate for new members and more than half (55%) reported a lower re-enrollment rate for existing members following a breach.

Payer organizations applying a multi-solution, best practice mitigation strategy recognize a significant reduction in incidences and impact. According to the study, payer organizations with digital identity verification, an incidence response team and security automation are less likely to have experienced a breach within the past five years. With mitigation initiatives in place, organizations can save up to 39 days on average with detecting a breach and up to 43 days on average with containing a breach. Additionally, the average cost of a breach for these organizations is significantly less  $3.5M compared to $5.39M overall.

Key Findings from the True Cost of Fraud for Healthcare Payers Study:

Attacks and Costs: The average number of data breaches experienced in the past five years is 3,379, with 30% of payers reporting incidents of ransomware attacks alone happening more than five times per month. The study estimates an average $5.39M burden on each payer for a breach. The study found that every $1 spent on immediate remediation and escalation of a breach actually costs payers $3.23 based on additional costs resulting from the breach, including restitution, lost productivity, member churn, fines, fees and investments in mitigation.

The average number of data breaches experienced in the past five years is 3,379, with 30% of payers reporting incidents of ransomware attacks alone happening more than five times per month. The study estimates an average burden on each payer for a breach. The study found that every spent on immediate remediation and escalation of a breach actually costs payers based on additional costs resulting from the breach, including restitution, lost productivity, member churn, fines, fees and investments in mitigation. Digital Transactions Increase Fraud: With the 21st Century Cures Act opening payer data to consumers and mobile apps, this inevitably adds more risk for potential fraud. 68 percent of payers report challenges verifying identity on mobile applications. Nearly all (95%) of respondents consider online identity and credential verification to be a challenge.

With the 21st Century Cures Act opening payer data to consumers and mobile apps, this inevitably adds more risk for potential fraud. 68 percent of payers report challenges verifying identity on mobile applications. Nearly all (95%) of respondents consider online identity and credential verification to be a challenge. Top Fraud Challenges: Social engineering (direct scams) is the most common form of cyberfraud afflicting payers with 35 percent reporting more than five attacks a month. Ransomware is the second greatest threat with 30 percent reporting more than five attacks per month. Compromised integration partner systems, member and employee phishing and portal hacking round out the most common types of attacks.

Social engineering (direct scams) is the most common form of cyberfraud afflicting payers with 35 percent reporting more than five attacks a month. Ransomware is the second greatest threat with 30 percent reporting more than five attacks per month. Compromised integration partner systems, member and employee phishing and portal hacking round out the most common types of attacks. Reputation Risk and Loss of Members: For payers, acquiring a new member is more costly than retaining one. For payers in the survey, the average cost of acquiring a new member is $615 , while the cost of retaining a member is $192 . The majority (55%) of payers report a loss in members after a data breach, forcing them to increase spending on new enrollment efforts.

"Cyberattacks and breaches continue to be a growing challenge across healthcare, and this is one of the first studies to explore and quantify the true financial implications of these events on payers, including the potential impact on their brand reputation and member enrollment," said Jonathan Shannon, associate vice president of market planning and strategy for the Health Care business of LexisNexis Risk Solutions. "The study also emphasizes the effectiveness of identity access management solutions in limiting the frequency and overall impact of these events, which is consistent with our belief that there is significant opportunity to further mitigate this problem with the right set of data and solutions."

Click here to download a copy of the Trust Cost of Fraud in Healthcare study.

To learn more about the report results, join the panel discussion "The True Cost of Data Breaches for Payers," November 15 at 2pm EST.

About LexisNexis Risk Solutions

LexisNexis Risk Solutions harnesses the power of data and advanced analytics to provide insights that help businesses and governmental entities reduce risk and improve decisions to benefit people around the globe. We provide data and technology solutions for a wide range of industries including insurance, financial services, healthcare and government. Headquartered in metro Atlanta, Georgia, we have offices throughout the world and are part of RELX (LSE: REL/NYSE: RELX), a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. For more information, please visit www.risk.lexisnexis.com and www.relx.com.

Media Contact:

Syed Shabbir

Manager, Media and Analyst Relations

LexisNexis Risk Solutions

816-572-7709

[email protected]

SOURCE LexisNexis Risk Solutions
EMERYVILLE, Calif., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- After much consideration, the Red Herring judging panel has announced its Top 100 Global Winners today, recognizing the leading private companies from North America, Europe, and Asia, celebrating these startups' innovations and technologies across their respective industries.

With 80% of IoT devices wireless, wireless is the new network and attack surface - the invisible threat. Tweet this AirShield - External Attack Surface Management

Red Herring's Top 100 Global list has become a mark of distinction for identifying promising companies and outstanding entrepreneurs. Red Herring editors were among the first to recognize that companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, Skype, Salesforce.com, YouTube, and eBay would change the way we live and work. Thousands of the most interesting and innovative companies have graced the Top 100 list over the years.

"Choosing the companies with the strongest potential was by no means a small feat this year" said Alex Vieux, publisher and CEO of Red Herring. "After rigorous contemplation and discussion, we narrowed our list down from hundreds of candidates from across the globe to the Top 100 Winners . We believe LOCH Technologies embodies the vision, drive and innovation that define a successful entrepreneurial venture. LOCH Technologies should be proud of its accomplishment as the competition was very strong."

Red Herring's editorial staff evaluated the companies on both quantitative and qualitative criteria, such as financial performance, technology innovation, management quality, strategy, and market penetration. This assessment of potential is complemented by a review of the track records and standing of startups relative to their peers, allowing Red Herring to see past the "hype" and make the list a valuable instrument of discovery and advocacy for the most promising new business models from around the world. Red Herring is dedicated to following LOCH's path to further success and innovation.

"In the exponentially growing world of Wireless/RF & Cellular communications, Zero Trust Security requires a different set of tools as traditional wired/network side security solutions fall short," said Garry Drummond, CEO at LOCH Technologies. "Our software defined radio based AirShield is able to sense a wide range of RF (100MHz to 6GHz) bringing high fidelity IoT and other asset discovery to enterprises of all sizes and lines of business. The ability to continuously track such devices and API-driven integrations for remediations enables our customers to comprehensively execute on their External Attack Surface Management policies."

About LOCH

LOCH is a global leader of next-generation wireless threat monitoring and observability. The company provides actionable signal intelligence across 5G cellular and broad spectrum wireless IoT devices to help organizations improve their security posture and reduce risk across the enterprise. Every wireless device needs to be visible and secure, regardless of what type of device it is, what protocol it uses, and who owns it. This guides everything we do and why LOCH aims to secure and enable the new world of wireless innovation that will drive the next generation of digital transformation. Find out more at www.LOCH.io .

Media Contact: Media relations & Legal: Rhett Currier [email protected]

SOURCE LOCH Technologies
Increase in consumption of fast food and processed food, increase in demand for clean label and natural products, and rise in disposable income of consumers drive the global low fat sausage market.

PORTLAND, Ore., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Low Fat Sausage Market by Type (Pork, Beef, Chicken, Plant based, Others), by End User (Residential, Commercial), by Distribution Channel (Hypermarkets and Supermarkets, Specialty Stores, Convenience Stores, Online Sales Channels, Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2031." According to the report, the global low fat sausage industry generated $2.5 billion in 2021, and is estimated to reach $4.8 billion by 2031, witnessing a CAGR of 6.7% from 2022 to 2031. The report offers a detailed analysis of changing market trends, top segments, key investment pockets, value chain, regional landscape, and competitive scenario.

Download Free Sample Report (331 Pages PDF with Insights, Charts, Tables, Figures): https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/32236

Drivers and Opportunities

Increase in consumption of fast food and processed food, increase in demand for clean label and natural products, and rise in disposable income of consumers drive the growth of the global low fat sausage market. However, a wide range of health problems related to sausages hamper the market growth. On the other hand, the inclination of consumers toward flavored and processed meat products, increase in penetration of the internet, and the rise in inclination of consumers toward online shopping present new opportunities for the market in the coming years.

Covid-19 Scenario

The COVID-19 outbreak impacted the low fat sausage market negatively at the initial stage.

However, sales eventually increased when the government allowed home delivery of food items. Online food delivery platforms such as Zomato, Dunzo, Deliveroo, and Swiggy played an essential role in increasing the sales of low-fat sausage products during the lockdown period.

With the lifting of restrictions and reduction in Covid-19 cases, the sales of low-fat sausage has stabilized and the market is now in full swing.

The pork segment to rule the roost during the forecast period

Based on type, the pork segment was the largest market in 2021, contributing to nearly one-third of the global low fat sausage market, and is expected to maintain its leadership status during the forecast period. Pork products are popular among consumers, as they contain less saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium. Moreover, it is lower in calories and protein quality is better than beef due to the presence of a high quantity of amino acids. On the other hand, the plant based sausage segment is projected to witness the fastest CAGR of 9.0% from 2022 to 2031. The segment is slated to gain traction over the forecasting years because of the rise in trend of veganism and launching of new plant based sausages by firms such as Nestle S.A. aiming to offer low fat vegan products to its consumers. In addition, the key market players are grabbing the opportunity and introducing new variants of plant-based meats in the global market.

The commercial segment to maintain its dominance during the forecast period

Based on end user, the commercial segment held the largest market share of four-fifths of the global low fat sausage market in 2021, and is expected to maintain its dominance during the forecast period. This is due to the growing demand for commercial areas such as restaurant and cafe as places for consumers to socialize and spend time with new and different food. On the other hand, the residential segment is projected to witness the largest CAGR of 7.9% from 2022 to 2031. The major factors that drive the growth of the residential segment include rise in disposable income, rapid urbanization, growth in the demand for convenient food products, and increase in consumption of meat and meat products including sausages.

The online sales channels segment to maintain the fastest growth during the forecast period

Based on distribution channel, the hypermarkets and supermarkets segment held the largest market share of nearly two-fifths of the global low fat sausage market in 2021, and is expected to maintain its dominance during the forecast period. This is because consumers have easy access to niche products on the market in these kind of stores. Moreover, the establishment of hypermarkets/supermarkets offer lucrative opportunities for the growth of the global low fat sausage market. However, the online sales channels segment is projected to witness the highest CAGR of 9.0% from 2022 to 2031. Low fat sausage can be conveniently sold via online sales channels and people opt for these channels to buy various products to save time and money, thereby prominently driving the segmental growth.

For Purchase Enquiry at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/32236

North America to maintain its dominance by 2031

Based on region, North America was the largest market in 2021, capturing nearly two-fifths of the global low fat sausage market, and is expected to lead the trail during the forecast period. The North American low fat sausage market is anticipated to expand rapidly due to the surge in working population, increase in disposable income of consumers, high demand for ready-to-cook & ready-to-eat food products, and an increase in number of players entering the market. However, the Asia-Pacific market is projected to manifest the fastest CAGR of 8.6% during the forecast period. Asia-Pacific is the largest producer and consumer of meat and meat products across the globe. This provides a lucrative growth opportunity for the key players operating in the low fat sausage market in the region.

Leading Market Players

Atria Plc

Beyond Meat, Inc.

Heck Food Ltd.

Hormel Foods Corp.

JBS S.A.

Johnsonville LLC.

Nestle S.A.

Premium Brands Holding Corporation

Tyson Foods

WH Group Limited

Want to Access the Statistical Data and Graphs, Key Players' Strategies: https://bit.ly/3TZhbld

Trending Reports in Food and Beverages Industry:

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Plant-based Seafood Market Expected to Reach $1.3 Billion by 2031

About Us

Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.

We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Allied Market Research CEO Pawan Kumar is instrumental in inspiring and encouraging everyone associated with the company to maintain high quality of data and help clients in every way possible to achieve success. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.

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SOURCE Allied Market Research
Massage Envy will donate $1 to GlamourGals for every My Dear Friend note sent to a senior by December 31, 2022, up to $15,000 total

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. and NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Massage Envy Franchising, LLC, a national leader in massage and skincare services, and the GlamourGals Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to reducing elder isolation through intergenerational relationships, announced today that Massage Envy will support GlamourGals' My Dear Friend initiative by donating $1 to GlamourGals for every My Dear Friend note sent to a senior this holiday season, up to $15,000. Massage Envy franchisees and employees will also participate in GlamourGals' note-writing initiative, sending holiday greetings to seniors living in care across the country.

Rachel Doyle founded GlamourGals in 2000 as a junior in high school in honor of her grandmother who had recently passed away. She created a unique program that fosters connections between teens and seniors through conversation and GlamourGals' signature programming of complimentary beauty makeovers. Over the pandemic, the program expanded to note-writing, inviting volunteers of all ages and reaching tens of thousands of seniors.

"Each hand-written note captures the thoughtful intention of the GlamourGals experience and serves as a reminder to a senior that we are thinking of them," said Doyle, Founder and CEO of GlamourGals. "We are delighted to have the support of Massage Envy to help us reach thousands of isolated seniors this holiday season."

Massage Envy is focusing its support on the holidays from now through December 31, 2022, and will leverage its network of approximately 1,100 independently owned and operated franchises for grassroots involvement in the campaign.

"It is a disheartening reality that so many seniors living in care facilities don't receive visitors, and the holiday season can certainly amplify the loneliness that these seniors experience," said Beth Stiller, CEO, Massage Envy Franchising. "Massage Envy's primary focus is helping people to feel better, and I'm grateful to our network of franchise owners for joining together to help brighten the holidays for the senior community that the GlamourGals organization serves."

Anyone can take part in the My Dear Friend program. Participants write the short, kind notes and then request a senior home address on the GlamourGals website. They can also invite senior homes to join the network and receive notes.

To participate, go to glamourgals.org/MDF and make a positive difference by sending notes to seniors over the holidays.

About Massage Envy

Massage Envy, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, is a national franchisor and does not independently own or operate any of the Massage Envy franchised locations nationwide. The Massage Envy franchise network, through its franchise locations, is the leading provider of massage services. Founded in 2002, Massage Envy has approximately 1,100 franchise locations in 49 states that have together delivered more than 200 million massages and skin care services. For more information, visit www.massageenvy.com or follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook at @MassageEnvy.

About GlamourGals Foundation, Inc.

Since 2000, the GlamourGals Foundation, Inc. has been reducing elder loneliness. GlamourGals teen volunteer chapters provide companionship, conversation and our signature programming of complimentary beauty makeovers to isolated seniors in their communities. The impact is twofold. Elderly residents in care feel a renewed sense of community and self-worth. Teen volunteers gain essential leadership skills demonstrating empathy and compassion through our intergenerational programming. Learn more at glamourgals.org or on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @glamourgals.

SOURCE Massage Envy
The accomplished business leader and educator will set the course and extend the growth of the AEC firm's PMCM business in Texas and the Southwest

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- McKissack & McKissack, one of the nation's leading Black- and woman-owned architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) companies, announced today that Heidi Obie joined the company as vice president of operations for Texas. The Houston-based executive has more than 23 years of experience leading program management construction management (PMCM) and building projects in multiple markets. She will focus on operations and P&L, and partner with McKissack's Dallas-based Business Development VP Shandra Colon to grow the firm's capacity and PMCM business in Texas and the Southwest.

Heidi Obie

Obie comes to McKissack from a long-standing career with large global consulting firms, where she served in multiple roles that have given her impressive AEC industry experience. Most recently, she was a PMCM VP and business leader in the buildings, water and transportation markets in South Texas. Since 2015, she also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Houston (UH) College of Technology's Construction Management Department and was vice chair of the Strategic Planning Committee on the UH Construction Management Industry Advisory Board.

"Heidi is not only an outstanding AEC industry leader, she's also a committed and tireless business leader in Houston. Her extensive strategic planning, operations and front-line experience significantly strengthens the value McKissack brings to its clients and partners and is a significant addition to our company's already substantial human resources. With Shandra in Dallas, these two talented professionalswho are both longtime Texas residents and very involved in their communitieswill be a formidable team in the region," McKissack President and CEO Deryl McKissack said.

"As a West Indies immigrant, university-level educator and mentor to many students, Heidi is also a trailblazer and incredible role model for young minority women pursuing professional careers," McKissack added.

Obie sits on the board of directors for the Greater Houston Women's Chamber of Commerce, was a recent graduate of the 2022 Class XL Leadership Houston cohort and remains active in several national AEC industry groups. These include the Construction Management Association of America (CMAA), where she served as a past chair of the board of governors for the Construction Management Certification Institute (CMCI). She is committed to supporting diversity, equity and inclusion in AEC, and in particular attracting young women and people of color to STEM fields. To that end, besides mentoring University of Houston students Obie serves on the Education Committee of the Greater Houston Women's Chamber of Commerce.

Obie's proven leadership in PMCM supports McKissack's growth in Texas

"Heidi has proven leadership skills and deep experience navigating the AEC industry, which will be invaluable to our company's growing operation in Texas," McKissack said. "Because we're a mid-sized company, we don't have a cumbersome structure that can slow things down and hamper innovation. But we are looking to Heidi for her expertise in refining processes to maximize groundbreaking solutions, spur continuous improvement and inspire people to do their best work.

"Heidi's academic experience is also a plus for our company, especially when it comes to attracting exceptional talent in a competitive market. Teaching has given her access to a lot of talent, and she has stayed in contact with many of her students over the years," McKissack added.

"I'm looking forward to channeling all my prior experiences into this remarkable opportunity," Obie said. "McKissack already has a solid presence in Texas after working here for almost a decade. They've already been awarded many major projects here, and even made history last year when Fort Worth selected them as the first Black woman-owned business to be the top firm for capital projects. We're growing very quickly here because McKissack is nimble and streamlined and can react to opportunities and market needs quickly. I find that extremely rewarding, but we must be strategic about maximizing our efficacy and expertise.

"Texas is the nation's second largest in terms of population and square miles, and it's also very diverse. Every region has its own business culture and unique challenges. So we must be mindful of those nuances as we think about what each region needs not just strategically but also in terms of talent acquisition, resource allocation, business development and community involvement," Obie noted. "This would include forging lasting relationships with local businesses and their communities."

Initially, Obie says McKissack will be focusing on several sectorseducation, healthcare, water and transportation. She is also committed to maintaining and strengthening McKissack's celebrated culture, noted for its people- and client-centric focus where employees and their families are inspired and empowered every day. In addition, longstanding client relationships are fueled by the firm's commitment, service and excellent performance.

Obie brings majority-company skills back to a minority, woman-owned AEC business

After more than two decades working with large international consulting firms, Obie said she was drawn to McKissack because of its entrepreneurial spirit and "humble, hungry and smart" culture inspired by Patrick Lencioni's "The Ideal Team Player." "What I admire about the McKissack team is their willingness to go the extra mile to support each other and deliver excellent service. I saw tenacity. I saw fearlessness. I saw excitement about executing projects of every size, whether small or large. That was inspiring to me."

"Heidi truly feels like coming to McKissack was a calling," McKissack said. "She learned so many significant skills with some of the largest AEC companies in the nation and knows so much about best practice from teaching. Given her many talents and enormous drive, she will be instrumental in helping us grow in synchrony with Texasone of our nation's fastest growing states. We are fortunate to have her on our team."

Obie was born in the Caribbean nation of St. Lucia. She moved to the United States to attend Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., where she earned a bachelor's degree in architecture and a master's degree in construction management and building construction. After several years of work in the design and construction management industry, she shifted her focus to business operations. To support that focus, she earned an executive MBA in management at Tulane University in New Orleans. Her professional registrations and certifications include Certified Construction Manager (CCM) and Safety-Trained Supervisor (STS).

Obie lives in Houston with her husband and their 5-year-old daughter. Her extended family lives in Texas and in St. Lucia. In addition to her business and industry group leadership roles, Obie has been active in community service and advocacy roles dating back to her time at Virginia Tech, where she joined the Zeta Phi Beta sorority, a national sorority that emphasizes continuing achievement and community involvement by Black women. Since 2001, she has advocated for children and families through her volunteer work as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) in Houston and nearby counties. She was recently inducted into the National Women of Achievement (NWOA).

About McKissack & McKissack: Founded in 1990, McKissack is a national woman and minority-owned architecture, engineering, program and construction management firm dedicated to delivering industry-leading expertise and best-in-class services to a diverse array of clients in all market sectors. McKissack strives to work with clients to envision and deliver building and infrastructure projects that enrich people's lives and empower communities to flourish. Based in Washington D.C. with offices in Austin, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and Los Angeles, McKissack's three services areas are architecture and interiors, program and construction management and infrastructure. It is ranked by Engineering News-Record among the top 50 Program Management Firms and top 100 Construction Management For-Fee firms in the nation. Learn more at mckinc.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Beshanda Owusu

Purpose Brand

[email protected]

773-398-9194

SOURCE McKissack & McKissack
Prominent Financial Services Lawyer, James A. Murphy (MetaLawMan), calls for Adoption of Universal Rights in the Metaverse

RICHMOND, Va., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Due to the overwhelming response to the findings in his first research report "Metaverse Much? Better Read the Fine Print," MetaLawMan is now calling for adoption of a declaration of universal rights in the metaverseto be called the "Meta Magna Carta."

Upon release of MetaLawMan's research report, it became apparent that much of the user community was unaware of the surprising rules included within the Terms of Service of metaverse platforms. The report found that, on some metaverse platforms, users do not obtain any ownership rights with respect to the virtual assets they buy in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Similarly, in some cases, independent developers and creators do not obtain intellectual property rights with respect to the structures, games and user experiences that they create in the metaverse. And, in the event of a dispute with a metaverse operator, many users have waived their right to go to court to seek damages. But, perhaps most surprisingly, some metaverse operators retain the unilateral right to banish any user from the metaverse platform with no prior notice and for no reason at all . The findings of MetaLawMan's full report are available here.

MetaLawMan is now calling for adoption of a declaration of universal rights in the metaverse... the "Meta Magna Carta." Tweet this

"I would like to see the metaverse flourish and grow to realize its enormous potential," said Murphy. "But the only way that will happen is if gamers, developers, artists, platform users and investors can all have confidence that they will secure true ownership rights in what they buy or create on these metaverse platforms. Without that assurance, there is little incentive for the investment of valuable time, creative talents and money by the decentralized metaverse community."

Why call it the Meta Magna Carta? The original Magna Carta, signed by King John in 1215, asserted the radical proposition that the King was not above the law and could no longer treat his subjects with impunity. The Magna Carta imposed limits on the King's right to confiscate property and levy taxes on the inhabitants of the realm. It also established the right of trial by jury to replace the existing system that permitted the King to imprison whoever he chose for as long as he chose. For 800 years, the Magna Carta has served as a foundational text for free societies everywhere seeking to establish a statement of the fundamental rights of the people. The Bill of Rights in the United States was partially based on the Magna Carta.

Drawing on inspiration from the original, MetaLawMan has proposed a Meta Magna Carta, to serve as a declaration of universal rights in the metaverse. "It is time for a clear and concise statement of fundamental rights in the metaverse" declared Murphy. "Because metaverse owner/operators have unilaterally written the rules that will apply within their realms, the rights of the user community have not always been fully considered," said Murphy.

MetaLawMan believes strongly that no centralized entity or authority should dictate the terms of the Meta Magna Carta. Rather, the greater metaverse community (including both metaverse operators and the decentralized user community) should collectively debate and collaborate on the ultimate text of the Meta Magna Carta. MetaLawMan has proposed an initial draft of the Meta Magna Carta available here as a means to catalyze this important debate. "This level of decentralized collaboration on a universal statement of rights in the metaverse will be a daunting challenge. Perhaps collaboration on this scale might best be accomplished through a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) approach," suggested Murphy.

About MetaLawMan:

Backed by acclaimed financial services lawyer, James A. Murphy, MetaLawMan is a source for objective metaverse and Web3 content and commentary. The name "MetaLawMan" represents Murphy's digital persona as a thought leader on metaverse-related issues on social media channels. For more data and commentary on legal and business issues arising in the metaverse, visit the MetaLawMan website or follow MetaLawMan on Linkedin and Twitter.

Media Contact:

Robert Murphy,

COO MetaLawMan, LLC

[email protected]

SOURCE MetaLawMan
Vanderbilt Urologist Speaks to Need for Early, Accurate Prostate Screening

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Jeffrey J. Tosoian, MD, MPH, an Assistant Professor of Urology at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, was featured on the October 31 episode of 'The Balancing Act' a BrandStar Original program on Lifetime co-hosted by Montel Williams and Olga Villaverde. Dr. Tosoian played a key role in the groundbreaking research behind LynxDx's early risk assessment tool and its biomarkers capturing the complex nuances of prostate cancer risk.

One in eight men will be diagnosed with cancer -- survival rates can be 100 percent if diagnosed early. Tweet this Jeff Tosoian, MD

Dr. Tosoian explained why screening for prostate cancer is so important and how new risk assessment technology can provide more clinically significant results at the right time for a provider and patient to make informed decisions together.

About one in eight men will be diagnosed with cancer during his lifetime. The survival rate can be 100 percent if diagnosed early and contained within the prostate. To support this important public health effort, LynxDx offers the revolutionary MyProstateScore (MPS), focused on improving the sensitivity and accuracy of prostate cancer risk assessment testing.

Using a non-invasive urine biomarker based diagnostic test originated in a research lab at the University of Michigan, the company developed MyProstateScore. MPS is capable of detecting the presence of two genetic markers linked to prostate cancer. Combining this information with the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level, the test measures levels of cancer-specific genes in a patient's urine with a 97 percent accuracy rate.

"By using the MPS assessment, physicians are able to more accurately inform their patients whether or not a clinically relevant cancer is present, or if their elevated PSA score was the result of other factors, determining if a biopsy is the best next step," Tosoian said.

Tosoian also discussed other factors that may lead to an elevated PSA, the importance of active surveillance for low growth prostate cancers, and why elevated PSAs may not always indicate a biopsy is needed.

Dr. Tosoian's own father underwent an unnecessary biopsy and surgical procedures due to an elevated PSA, but low risk cancer. As a result, Tosoian is both professionally and personally dedicated to enhancing risk assessment test accuracy.

"We needed a more accurate test to differentiate between aggressive cancer and an elevated PSA due to benign reasons. MyProstateScore measures two components of urine associated specifically with cancer making the test more accurate," he said. "It's so important for patients and their families to know about their options. The field has come a long way since my dad's elevated PSA. We now have non-invasive, highly accurate tests that can help guide informed decision making."

For more information about LynxDx and MyProstateScore, please visit lynxdx.com.

For more information on The Balancing Act, visit TheBalancingAct.com.

About LynxDx

Using technology developed at the University of Michigan, LynxDx develops innovative diagnostic solutions that can be implemented in a clinical setting. Among these are MyProstateScore (MPS), a prostate cancer urine test that provides the most accurate results for prostate cancer detection and eliminates unnecessary biopsies. The company's mission is to improve patient care through translation of cutting-edge technologies. In addition to using scientific expertise to develop novel diagnostic tools, LynxDx works to see these tools used in clinical practice. The company is committed to developing and enhancing MyProstateScore as well as looking ahead to introducing future diagnostic solutions.

About MyProstateScore

MyProstateScore (MPS) is an early detection assessment for prostate cancer that measures urine levels of two cancer genes, TMPRSS2:ERG and PCA3 that are rarely present at high levels in the urine of men without prostate cancer. The MPS test provides patients with an individualized risk estimate for having prostate cancer. Combining the patient's PSA level and the levels of these two cancer-specific genes, MPS can predict a person's risk of high-grade prostate cancer with an incredibly high degree of accuracy and sensitivity. Using this information, the physician and patient work to devise a personalized plan for evidence-based medical decisions.

For more information about LynxDx and MyProstateScore, please visit lynxdx.com.

Media Contact:

Susan Thwing

248.396.1083

[email protected]

SOURCE LynxDx
WASHINGTON, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EST Wednesday, Nov. 9, to discuss the hardware, technology demonstrations, and science experiments headed to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX's 26th commercial resupply mission for the agency.

Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live online at:

https://www.nasa.gov/live

SpaceX is targeting Friday, Nov. 18, to launch its Dragon cargo spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

One of the payloads aboard the cargo flight is the Moon Microscope kit for in-flight medical diagnosis that includes a portable handheld microscope and a small self-contained blood sample staining device. This will allow astronauts to collect and stain a blood sample, obtain images with the microscope, and transmit images to the ground, where flight surgeons will use them to diagnose illnesses and prescribe treatments.

SpaceX's Dragon also will deliver new science investigations, supplies, and equipment for the international crew, including the next set of International Space Station Roll Out Solar Arrays (iROSAs). It also will carry a study which will grow dwarf tomatoes as part of efforts to create a continuous fresh-food production system in space, and an experiment that tests an on-demand method to create specific quantities of key nutrients.

Teleconference participants include:

Kirt Costello , NASA's chief scientist for the International Space Station Program Research Office, who will provide an overview of the research and technology launching aboard the Dragon spacecrafts

, NASA's chief scientist for the International Space Station Program Research Office, who will provide an overview of the research and technology launching aboard the Dragon spacecrafts Gioia Massa , NASA's space crop production scientist and principal investigator for the Veg-05 study

, NASA's space crop production scientist and principal investigator for the Veg-05 study Matt Mickle , Boeing's developmental projects senior manager, who will discuss International Space Station Roll Out Solar Arrays (iROSA)

, Boeing's developmental projects senior manager, who will discuss International Space Station Roll Out Solar Arrays (iROSA) Timothy Macaulay , CIPHER vestibular health study lead, an experiment which will use the newly launching Falcon Goggles tool

, CIPHER vestibular health study lead, an experiment which will use the newly launching Falcon Goggles tool Mayra Nelman-Gonzalez , immunologist in NASA's Johnson Space Center's Immunology and Virology Laboratory and co-investigator for the Moon Microscope technology demonstration

, immunologist in NASA's Johnson Space Center's Immunology and Virology Laboratory and co-investigator for the Moon Microscope technology demonstration John A. Hogan , chief of the bioengineering branch at NASA's Ames Research Center and principal investigator for the BioNutrients-2 experiment

, chief of the bioengineering branch at NASA's Ames Research Center and principal investigator for the BioNutrients-2 experiment A representative for the Extrusion study sponsored by the ISS National Laboratory

To participate in the call, media must contact Lora Bleacher at least two hours prior to the start of the call for dial-in details at: [email protected]. Media and the public can submit questions on social media using #AskNASA.

Cargo resupply by U.S. companies significantly increases NASA's ability to conduct more investigations aboard the orbiting laboratory. Those investigations lead to new technologies, medical treatments, and products that improve life on Earth. Other U.S. government agencies, private industry, and academic and research institutions can also conduct microgravity research through our partnership with the ISS National Laboratory.

Humans have occupied the space station continuously since November 2000. In that time, 263 people and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft have visited the orbital outpost. It remains the springboard to NASA's next great leap in exploration, including future missions to the Moon under Artemis and eventually Mars.

Members of the public can attend the launch virtually and receive mission updates. To participate, members of the public can register to stay up to date on mission information, mission highlights, and interaction opportunities.

For launch countdown coverage, NASA's launch blog, and more information about the mission, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/spacex

SOURCE NASA
WASHINGTON, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Biden Administration welcomed David Long, CEO of the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), to the White House along with other employers, training providers, and state and local government leaders.

The association was recognized by the President for participating in the Talent Pipeline Challenge, which was designed to entice organizations to make tangible commitments in three specific sectors that support workforce development. Those three critical infrastructure sectors that Long and NECA have shown dedication to are: broadband, construction and "electrification" (EV charging infrastructure and battery manufacturing).

"This is an initiative we at NECA are proud to be a part of as we look to continuously educate and improve the electrical construction industry," said Mr. Long. "However, we have been implementing these equitable workforce development programs for decades. It is our mission to develop the best talent to fill high quality jobs that will help expand the nation's infrastructure and supply chains."

Through this program, NECA is aiding the initiative by ensuring there are trained workers who are ready to meet the demands of implementing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), which was passed last year.

The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program (NEVI) was established through the BIL. NEVI is planned to provide $5 billion in funding to states to build the charging infrastructure along highways and ensure reasonable access throughout the country. "The hands and minds of our skilled industry members are already working hard to make the future of EV possible," said Mr. Long. The White House event can be viewed publicly through this link.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION

NECA is the voice of the $202 billion electrical construction industry that brings power, light, and communication technology to buildings and communities across North America. NECA's national office and 118 local chapters advance the industry through advocacy, education, research, and standards development. Go to www.necanet.org for more information.

SOURCE National Electrical Contractors Association
BMC nurses joined together and with their community to successfully advocate for a contract that will help recruit and retain the nurses needed to protect and enhance the quality of patient care

PITTSFIELD, Mass., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The registered nurses of Berkshire Medical Center, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, voted overwhelmingly on November 1 to ratify a collective bargaining agreement with the hospital that will help address staffing problems through strong wage and benefit improvements, and will add additional protections to how nurses provide care.

"Our new MNA contract represents important progress toward addressing the increasingly critical staffing, recruitment and retention problems our nurses and patients have faced in recent years," said Alex Neary, a critical care nurse at BMC and Co-Chair of the BMC MNA Bargaining Committee. "We are also committed as MNA nurses to enforce our contract and make sure the improvements we have secured make a real difference for our patients and in our work life."

"We are extremely proud of all the ways BMC nurses have worked together during these negotiations to get a strong contract," said Gerri Jakacky, a nurse who works in pre-anesthesia services at BMC and Co-Chair of the BMC MNA Bargaining Committee. "We also appreciate that the process of bargaining with BMC's management and legal team was more respectful during this negotiation cycle. Hopefully this mutual respect will continue as we work to make nursing practices and patient care safer every day."

Contract Agreement Highlights

The contract includes strong language protecting nurses from inappropriate floating. Nurses are specialized to certain care areas and should not be forced to care for patients independently in areas where they are not competent.

The new language requires that a nurse have competency in an area to which they are floated. Nurses will be able to determine if they are competent to care for patients in the new area.



It also prohibits nurses from floating when they are in orientation and for 12 shifts afterward.



Nurses must have had proper orientation to a particular unit within six months to be floated to that unit.



When floating does happen, the hospital must use a specified procedure that is fair and transparent, including an inverse seniority rotation specific to this issue that safeguards newly licensed nurses.

Added the 2W OBs and 2E Transition units to the contract language BMC nurses won in 2018 protecting RN staffing grids from diminishment. This is important to maintaining a minimum level of nurse staffing in each hospital unit and providing patients with the care and attention they deserve.

Wages: 3% across-the-board increase for all nurses (ATB) retro to Sept. 30, 2021 ; 4.5% ATB effective Sept. 30, 2022 ; 3.5% ATB effective Sept. 30, 2023 and add a new top step that is 2% higher than the current; 4% ATB effective Sept. 30, 2024 .

; 4.5% ATB effective ; 3.5% ATB effective and add a new top step that is 2% higher than the current; 4% ATB effective . That totals 15% over four years in across-the-board raises in addition to existing step increases for nurses on steps and the additional 2% to the top step for nurses at the top.

Nurses will receive a $1,000 or $500 lump sum payment depending on their hours worked.

or lump sum payment depending on their hours worked. There are also increases in the contract across a range of differentials, an added allowance to utilize bereavement leave with the death of a significant others' parent, protection against discipline for nurses who park at the hospital during non-work hours, and an expansion of a special benefit program for nurses at least 60 years of age with 30 years of bargaining unit seniority.

BMC nurses won this contract by working together as nurses and with the community. Nurses participated in member meetings, signed petitions, attended a community forum and standouts, and participated during in-person negotiations. The solidarity of MNA/BMC member nurses was essential to securing this agreement.

MassNurses.org  Facebook.com/MassNurses  Twitter.com/MassNurses 

Instagram.com/MassNurses

Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 25,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on healthcare issues affecting nurses and the public.

SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association
NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- October 18th to 20th, HolonIQ Summit 2022, a world-renowned educational technology event, was held online. Hundreds of experts, scholars, and business leaders including Steven Butschi, Director of Education from Google Cloud, Chip Paucek, Co-founder and CEO from 2U, Krishna Vedati, President from BYJU'S, etc. were invited to share insights with global education practitioners.

WuKong Education, a global K12 online edtech company, was invited to join the HolonIQ East Asia Summit 2022 due to its rapid growth and outstanding influence in the industry. Vicky Wang, the founder and CEO of WuKong Education, was invited as a guest speaker at the CEO Fireside Chat to share her practices as a pioneer in the industry with Patrick Brothers, the Co-CEO of HolonIQ.

October 18-20, HolonIQ East Asia Summit 2022 was successfully held online. It has witnessed vigorous development and innovative revolution of the edtech industry and gradually become the bellwether. Vicky, founder and CEO of WuKong Education, was invited as a guest speaker and representative from the global K12 online education industry at the CEO Fireside Chat to share her practices as a pioneer in the industry.

WuKong Education started with Chinese education product and is one of the innovators in the online Chinese education sector. Since its founding in 2016, WuKong Education has expanded its product subject line based on the market demand, and now wholly owns two core multidisciplinary products, namely WuKong Chinese and WuKong Math. It strives to be the one-stop online learning platform for global K12 students to optimize the allocation of educational resources for students across the globe.

"At WuKong, we strongly believe that one of the most effective ways to drive growth is the product", Vicky shared her thoughts when it comes to WuKong's rapid growth rate.

Before 2020, WuKong's team succeeded in their Minimal Viable Product Test in the regional market of New Zealand. Not only can it provide 1-on-1 and small group live classes, but also deliver the whole process of "teaching, learning, practicing, testing and evaluating" online. In the past two years, WuKong's growth model has been successfully proven among users, and a large proportion of the new users came from referrals of existing users by the power of word-of-mouth.

According to the statistics, WuKong has grown 120 times in size from 2020 - 2022. Under the circumstance where the global market is gradually slowing down, WuKong Education's growth rate is significantly above the industry level. The Chinese product, WuKong Chinese, has become the first choice of families with Chinese heritage calling for Chinese learning. As for its Math product, WuKong Math has stood out in the market due to its differentiated positioning to meet the demand of families.

Fast but stable development cannot be achieved without excellent products, which will naturally lead to positive user feedback. In fact, two out of three WuKong's new users come from referrals and the renewal rate is far ahead in the industry.

To date, WuKong Education has more than 4,000 employees and teachers worldwide, with over 300,000 users from over 118 countries and regions, and maintained a high market share in its core markets, including the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

"Since day 1, WuKong Education has embedded the philosophy that excellent products always contain well-crafted curriculums, professional teachers, and considerate service. We sincerely hope that our users are satisfied with our products and service" said Vicky, "we will always be student-centric and stick to day 1."

Media Contact:

WuKong Education

AucklandNewZealand +8615108478176

[email protected]

SOURCE WuKong Education
STAMFORD, Conn., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Heniff Transportation Systems ("Heniff" or "the Company"), a portfolio company of Stamford, Connecticut-based private equity firm Olympus Partners, has acquired Coal City Cob, a provider of liquid bulk transportation services to the chemical and hazardous waste industries. Coal City Cob operates with over 230 drivers and 500 trailers within its network of terminals, including a significant rail-to-truck bulk transfer yard and tank wash facility at its headquarters in Waxahachie, Texas. The acquisition of Coal City Cob marks the fourth acquisition completed under Olympus' ownership since the recapitalization of Heniff in November of 2019.

"We're very pleased to welcome Coal City Cob into the Heniff family of companies," said Bob Heniff, Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Heniff Transportation Systems. "I have been friends and a competitor with the Cloonen family for many years and this combination now allows us to work together as partners. Given the complementary nature of the two operations, we believe strongly that this combination will create value for all our stakeholders and offer real service enhancements to our respective customers."

"We are excited to have Coal City Cob join the broader platform, and we look forward to our continued partnership with Heniff as we further expand the Company's network and service offering," said David Cardenas, Partner at Olympus.

The Olympus team included David Cardenas, Griffin Barstis and George Swenson. Olympus was represented by Matt Goulding, Ankur Sharma and Kelsey Chetosky from Kirkland & Ellis.

About Olympus Partners

Founded in 1988, Olympus Partners is a private equity firm focused on providing equity capital for middle market management buyouts and for companies needing capital for expansion. Olympus is an active, long-term investor across a broad range of industries including business services, consumer products, healthcare services, financial services, industrial services, and manufacturing. Olympus manages in excess of $8.5 billion mainly on behalf of corporate pension funds, endowment funds and state-sponsored retirement programs.

About HENIFF Transportation Systems

Based in Oak Brook, Illinois, the Heniff family of companies is North America's premier leader in liquid bulk transportation services. Heniff operates approximately 2,000 tractors and 5,000 trailers through its network of over 100 locations with expertise in chemical transport, food-grade transport, rail transloading, ISO depot operations, equipment maintenance, tank cleaning services and logistics.

About Coal City Cob

Based in Waxahachie, Texas, Coal City Cob Company, Inc. was founded in 1970 and provides liquid bulk transportation services to the chemical and hazardous waste industries through its network of nine terminals, including a centrally located 27-acre facility in Waxahachie integrating rail-to-truck transfer, fleet maintenance and tank wash capabilities.

SOURCE Olympus Partners
Semper Fi & America's Fund Kicks Off the Double Down for Veterans Campaign with The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation and PXG

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Semper Fi & America's Fund (The Fund) and The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation announced that, for the eleventh consecutive year, they have launched the Double Down for Veterans Match Campaign. From November 1st through the end of the year, donations to The Fund will be matched dollar-for-dollar, up to $10 million, by The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation.

Since 2012, Semper Fi & America's Fund has partnered with The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation to support The Fund's core mission of assisting combat wounded, critically ill, and injured service members, veterans, and military families across all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. These heroes become part of The Fund familyand The Fund becomes part of theirsfor life.

"Recovery from the wounds of war is often the longest battle. Even when physical wounds have healed and the body has adapted, emotional and mental trauma persists," said Bob Parsons, Marine Corps Vietnam War Veteran and Co-founder of The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation. "Semper Fi & America's Fund is always there, providing not only financial assistance but connection when service members, veterans and their families need it most."

Parsons issued the Double Down for Veterans challenge via a moving video address during his annual Marine Corps birthday tribute.

The Fund was started in 2003 by military spouses who immediately jumped in at the beginning of the war to provide bedside support to combat-wounded service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Since then, The Fund has provided $290 million in assistance to 29,000 service members, veterans, and military families. The Fund delivers individualized holistic support by highly trained and experienced case managers who establish enduring lifelong relationships with service members and their families.

"Those we serve are such an important part of our family," said Karen Guenther, President, CEO, and Founder of Semper Fi & America's Fund. "We want our service members, veterans, and military families to achieve the highest possible quality of life and independence. This mission would not be possible without the generosity of Bob and Renee Parsons, who continually invest in the lives of our military heroes."

"Family is an essential part of the recovery process, no matter the injury or illness," said Renee Parsons, Co-founder of The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation. "The Fund's connection and commitment to a lifetime of support creates the extended family so many of our nation's ill and injured need and deserve. Whether suffering from a devastating physical injury or invisible wounds like PTSD, to many The Fund is nothing short of a lifeline."

Through the generosity of The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation, with support from PXG, the Double Down for Veterans Campaign has raised $169 million to date. Last year alone, The Fund raised $23.6 million during the Match campaign.

Donations to the Double Down for Veterans Match Campaign can be made online from November 1st until December 31st, 2022, by visiting www.TheFund.org/Match , or via check, equities, donor-advised funds, or other donation methods. Keep up to date on the campaign's progress and learn more about those benefiting from the work of The Fund by visiting their website and social media channels.

About Semper Fi & America's Fund:

Semper Fi & America's Fund was started in 2003 by military spouses who immediately jumped in to provide bedside support to wounded and injured service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Operated today by those same military spouses and now considered one of our nation's most trusted charities, The Fund includes a nationwide staff of patriotic veterans, community members, and volunteers, and their model of creating lifelong relationships between military families and their team is completely unique among veteran nonprofits. Learn more at: https://thefund.org .

About The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation:

The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation offers support to nonprofit organizations successfully working to empower, educate, nurture, and nourish people during what is often the darkest time of their lives. Founded in 2012 by philanthropists and business leaders Bob and Renee Parsons to provide hope and life-changing assistance to the country's most vulnerable populations, The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation offers critical funding at critical times to those in need. The Foundation's giving is driven by the core belief that all people  regardless of race, religion, roots, economic status, sexual orientation or gender identity  deserve access to quality healthcare, education and a safe place to call home. Follow @WeDealInHope on social media or visit TBRPF.org to learn more about partner organizations and the important work being done in the community.

SOURCE Semper Fi & America's Fund
STORRS, Conn., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 2,000 faculty members and academic leaders across several hundred universities in the United States have launched an open letter to President Biden seeking his urgent attention to a dire situation in the Iranian universities where thousands of students and faculty have been killed, injured, or arrested since September, says Professor Kazem Kazerounian. They ask President Biden "to take urgent action to prevent such casualties and loss of life." Repressive forces affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are ordered to "mercilessly confront" protesters, everywhere including on over 100 university campuses across Iran. The signatories find the regime's attacks "appalling and totally unacceptable."

The growing 2000+ signatories include 10 American Nobel laureates, one Templeton Laureate, 125 members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and hundreds of awardees of prestigious medals, including the National Medal of Science, Isaac newton Medal, and Fields Medal. The signatories include more than 425 Iranian-American professors.

CalTech Hans W. Liepmann Professor of Aeronautics Dr. Morteza Gharib, member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering said: "I finished my undergraduate degree at Tehran University. The videos from students' struggle for freedom and democracy in Iran reminds me of my time, where the students of my generation struggled for freedom from monarchical dictatorship, and its continuation by the current generation of students in Iran's universities against Khamenei and his brutal regime."

Referring to Iran's "rich history of student movements who have been at the forefront of the Iranian people's struggle for freedom and democracy, both under the dictatorship of the Shah and the current totalitarian theocracy," co-signers of the letter urge President Biden to take "tangible actions." In particular, the professors ask that the US "halt any and all negotiations with the Iranian regime, and prevent any sanctions relief," until "all violators of human rights in Iran are held accountable." The signatories further ask President Biden to "recognize the universally accepted right of the Iranian people to self-defense as they seek to attain sovereignty and self-determination."

Dr. Soolmaz Abooali, faculty at George Mason University, 14-time US Champion, and four-time World Champion in Traditional Karate says, "I am so proud to see how the 1950's student movement legacy continues and this time with women at the helm. Their fight is our fight and Iran will be free of any dictatorships soon."

Prof. Hossein Sadeghpour, Professor and Director of Institute for Theoretical Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics, Harvard University, added: "Iranians on college campuses or the streets deserve to enjoy similar rights as we have in the United States."

UConn Dean of Engineering Professor Kazem Kazerounian says "thousands of faculty and university students stood against the theocracy over the past four decades and paid the ultimate price, the new generation is ready to move the nation from its decades of tyranny to a democratic and secular republic Iran; the academic world must fully support them."

SOURCE Professor Kazem Kazerounian
Technology Demo to be Held at Electronica 2022

CAIRO, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- High-performance timing company Pearl Semiconductor announced a patented all-digital PLL technology for ultra-low-noise timing solutions. Pearl's "SpurFree" architecture is a critical necessity in timing solutions for next-generation connectivity standards that will handle increasing data flow within and between data centers, including optical transmission networks and 5G backhaul. The patented technology, enabled by a DSP engine, will be demonstrated at Electronica 2022 in Munich, Nov. 15-18.

The SpurFree technology is designed to solve the problem of fractional "spurs" created by phase locked loops (PLLs)electronic noise that can create signal interference. The technology has already been validated in silicon, yielding a programmable any-rate reference clock with sub-75 femtosecond performance, with frequencies up to 3GHz. The performance competes with best-in-class timing products on the market today. The technology is the foundation for building a full-breadth line of products, including a range of programmable reference clocks, multi-output clock generators, clock buffers, jitter attenuators and network synchronizers.

"This family of new high-performance devices will serve the rapidly expanding market of next-generation data centers, which are seeing 20% growth," said Mostafa Elkhouly, vice president of Marketing and Business Development, Pearl Semiconductor. "These data center providers are demanding higher throughput, and Pearl's any-frequency PLL has a second-to-none noise performance that can now help critical equipment OEMs keep pace with next-generation data center connectivity and optical networks. We are seeking strategic partners for collaboration on new product development and are ready to provide demo boards."

Importance of Clocks for Advanced Networks

With the growing importance of cloud computing and storage, and with 5G driving greater network density, the global market is seeing a surge in demand for high-frequency data connectivity that in turn requires ultra-low noise and programmability.

Currently, high-frequency low-noise reference clocks are mostly developed using quartz SAW devices that are bulky and lack programmability. Only a handful of semiconductor players provide truly programmable low-noise high-frequency reference clocks and timing products. There is strong pressure on all timing products providers to develop new technologies that meet such unprecedented noise and programmability requirements.

"The vast number of new applications requiring high-throughput connectivity is staggering -- the growth of 5G alone is predicted to hit trillions of dollars by 2030," said Ayman Ahmed, CEO, Pearl Semiconductor. "The performance we are already achieving is only a start  we see a clear path to improvement that will yield unprecedented performance. With our track record of innovation and robust performance we expect to be the leading timing solution provider for data center connectivity worldwide."

Pearl will demonstrate its technology at Electronica 2022 in Hall C2, Booth 565 from Nov 15th to Nov 18th in Munich, Germany. To set up a demo meeting, please contact [email protected].

About Pearl Semiconductor

Pearl Semiconductor is a fabless semiconductor company specializing in high-performance reference clocks and timing ICs. Its products are based on innovative manufacturing and patented IC design technologies achieving outstanding performance. Pearl Semiconductor aims to be the leading supplier of high-performance reference clocks and timing ICs serving the most demanding industrial, networking, telecom, and automotive applications.

http://www.pearlsemi.com

For more information contact:

Tom Breunig

Helios Communications

510.847.1637

[email protected]

SOURCE Pearl Semiconductor
NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The global pozzolan market growth will be driven by increasing urbanization. Many countries in MEA, such as Syria and Sudan, are witnessing large-scale migration of the population from rural to urban areas. The rise in the urban population will lead to an increase in the need for infrastructural development. Countries across the world are focusing on developing infrastructure to meet the needs of large-scale migration, which will create a high demand for cement. For instance, the Government of India plans to invest USD 650 billion over the next 20 years to develop the urban infrastructure of the country. Similarly, the Government of China plans to invest about USD 1 trillion in urban infrastructure projects by 2030. These factors are expected to fuel the market growth during the forecast period. The pozzolan market size is projected to grow by USD 17.61 billion from 2021 to 2026. In addition, the growth momentum of the market is anticipated to accelerate at a CAGR of 4.85%. Make confident decisions using our insights and analysis. Download FREE Sample Report

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Pozzolan Market 2022-2026

Pozzolan Market Material Outlook (Revenue, USD bn, 2021-2026)

Artificial pozzolan - size and forecast 2021-2026

Natural pozzolan - size and forecast 2021-2026

Pozzolan Market End-user Outlook (Revenue, USD bn, 2021-2026)

Residential - size and forecast 2021-2026

Commercial roads and highways - size and forecast 2021-2026

Others - size and forecast 2021-2026

Pozzolan Market Geography Outlook (Revenue, USD bn, 2021-2026)

North America - size and forecast 2021-2026

- size and forecast 2021-2026 APAC - size and forecast 2021-2026

Europe - size and forecast 2021-2026

- size and forecast 2021-2026 South America - size and forecast 2021-2026

- size and forecast 2021-2026 Middle East and Africa - size and forecast 2021-2026

Learn about the contribution of each segment summarized in concise infographics and thorough descriptions. View a FREE PDF Sample Report

Revenue-generating Material Segment

The artificial pozzolan segment will be a significant contributor to market growth during the forecast period. Artificial pozzolan is a result of several industrial operations, especially those including the burning of coal. Artificial pozzolanic materials are the by-products of industry operations or materials that have undergone processing or heat treatment. These procedures change the composition of such materials. Artificial pozzolan comes in various forms, such as silica fume, fly ash, blast furnace slag, and glass powder.

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Regional Analysis

North America will account for 39% of the market's growth during the forecast period. This growth is attributed to factors such as increasing urbanization. However, market growth in this region will be slower than the growth of the market in other regions. The US is a key country for the pozzolan market in North America.

Major Pozzolan Companies

3M Co.

Co. Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd.

BASF SE

Burgess Pigment Company

CARBO Ceramics Inc.

CEMEX SAB de CV

Charah Solutions Inc.

CR Minerals Co. LLC

Hess Pumice Inc.

iMinerals Inc.

Imerys S.A.

HERACLES Group

Nebraska Ash

Nevada Cement Company

Salt River Materials Group

The SEFA Group

Seven Group Holdings Ltd.

Sunrise Resources Plc

Titan America LLC

RED Industrial Products

This report provides a full list of key vendors, their strategies, and latest developments. Buy Now for detailed information about market dynamics

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Pozzolan Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 4.85% Market growth 2022-2026 USD 17.61 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 3.8 Regional analysis North America, APAC, Europe, South America, and the Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution North America at 39% Key consumer countries US, China, India, UK, and Germany Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Key companies profiled 3M Co., Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd., BASF SE, Burgess Pigment Company, CARBO Ceramics Inc., CEMEX SAB de CV, Charah Solutions Inc., CR Minerals Co. LLC, Hess Pumice Inc., iMinerals Inc., Imerys S.A., HERACLES Group, Nebraska Ash, Nevada Cement Company, Salt River Materials Group, The SEFA Group, Seven Group Holdings Ltd., Sunrise Resources Plc, Titan America LLC, and RED Industrial Products Market dynamics Parent market analysis, market growth inducers and obstacles, fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, and market condition analysis for the forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

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Table of Contents

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Material



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by End-user



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 09: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 10: Parent market



Exhibit 11: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 12: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 13: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2021

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2021-2026

Exhibit 14: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 15: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 16: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 17: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

4 Five Forces Analysis

4.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 18: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2021 and 2026

4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 19: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2021 and 2026

4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 20: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 21: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 22: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 23: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.7 Market condition

Exhibit 24: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2021 and 2026

5 Market Segmentation by Material

5.1 Market segments

Exhibit 25: Chart on Material - Market share 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 26: Data Table on Material - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

5.2 Comparison by Material

Exhibit 27: Chart on Comparison by Material



Exhibit 28: Data Table on Comparison by Material

5.3 Artificial pozzolan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 29: Chart on Artificial pozzolan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 30: Data Table on Artificial pozzolan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 31: Chart on Artificial pozzolan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 32: Data Table on Artificial pozzolan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 Natural pozzolan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 33: Chart on Natural pozzolan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 34: Data Table on Natural pozzolan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 35: Chart on Natural pozzolan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 36: Data Table on Natural pozzolan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 Market opportunity by Material

Exhibit 37: Market opportunity by Material ($ billion)

6 Market Segmentation by End-user

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 38: Chart on End-user - Market share 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on End-user - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

6.2 Comparison by End-user

Exhibit 40: Chart on Comparison by End-user



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Comparison by End-user

6.3 Residential - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 42: Chart on Residential - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Residential - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 44: Chart on Residential - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Residential - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

6.4 Commercial - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 46: Chart on Commercial - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 47: Data Table on Commercial - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 48: Chart on Commercial - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 49: Data Table on Commercial - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

6.5 Roads and highways - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 50: Chart on Roads and highways - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 51: Data Table on Roads and highways - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 52: Chart on Roads and highways - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 53: Data Table on Roads and highways - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

6.6 Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 54: Chart on Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 55: Data Table on Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 56: Chart on Others - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 57: Data Table on Others - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

6.7 Market opportunity by End-user

Exhibit 58: Market opportunity by End-user ($ billion)

7 Customer Landscape

7.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 59: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

8 Geographic Landscape

8.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 60: Chart on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 61: Data Table on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)

8.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 62: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 63: Data Table on Geographic comparison

8.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 64: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 65: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 66: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 67: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

8.4 APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 68: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 69: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 70: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 71: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

8.5 Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 72: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 73: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 74: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 75: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

8.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 76: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 77: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 78: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 79: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

8.7 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 80: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 81: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 82: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 83: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

8.8 US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 84: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 85: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 86: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 87: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

8.9 China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 88: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 89: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 90: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 91: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

8.10 India - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 92: Chart on India - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 93: Data Table on India - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 94: Chart on India - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 95: Data Table on India - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

8.11 UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 96: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 97: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 98: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 99: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

8.12 Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 100: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 101: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 102: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 103: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

8.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 104: Market opportunity by geography ($ billion)

9 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

9.1 Market drivers

9.2 Market challenges

9.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 105: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2021 and 2026

9.4 Market trends

10 Vendor Landscape

10.1 Overview

10.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 106: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

10.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 107: Overview on factors of disruption

10.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 108: Impact of key risks on business

11 Vendor Analysis

11.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 109: Vendors covered

11.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 110: Matrix on vendor position and classification

11.3 BASF SE

Exhibit 111: BASF SE - Overview



Exhibit 112: BASF SE - Business segments



Exhibit 113: BASF SE - Key news



Exhibit 114: BASF SE - Key offerings



Exhibit 115: BASF SE - Segment focus

11.4 Burgess Pigment Company

Exhibit 116: Burgess Pigment Company - Overview



Exhibit 117: Burgess Pigment Company - Product / Service



Exhibit 118: Burgess Pigment Company - Key offerings

11.5 CARBO Ceramics Inc.

Exhibit 119: CARBO Ceramics Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 120: CARBO Ceramics Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 121: CARBO Ceramics Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 122: CARBO Ceramics Inc. - Segment focus

11.6 Charah Solutions Inc.

Exhibit 123: Charah Solutions Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 124: Charah Solutions Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 125: Charah Solutions Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 126: Charah Solutions Inc. - Segment focus

11.7 CR Minerals Co. LLC

Exhibit 127: CR Minerals Co. LLC - Overview



Exhibit 128: CR Minerals Co. LLC - Product / Service



Exhibit 129: CR Minerals Co. LLC - Key offerings

11.8 Hess Pumice Inc.

Exhibit 130: Hess Pumice Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 131: Hess Pumice Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 132: Hess Pumice Inc. - Key offerings

11.9 iMinerals Inc.

Exhibit 133: iMinerals Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 134: iMinerals Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 135: iMinerals Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 136: iMinerals Inc. - Segment focus

11.10 Imerys S.A.

Exhibit 137: Imerys S.A. - Overview



Exhibit 138: Imerys S.A. - Business segments



Exhibit 139: Imerys S.A. - Key offerings



Exhibit 140: Imerys S.A. - Segment focus

11.11 Nevada Cement Company

Exhibit 141: Nevada Cement Company - Overview



Exhibit 142: Nevada Cement Company - Product / Service



Exhibit 143: Nevada Cement Company - Key offerings

11.12 The SEFA Group

Exhibit 144: The SEFA Group - Overview



Exhibit 145: The SEFA Group - Product / Service



Exhibit 146: The SEFA Group - Key offerings

12 Appendix

12.1 Scope of the report

12.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 147: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 148: Exclusions checklist

12.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 149: Currency conversion rates for US$

12.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 150: Research methodology



Exhibit 151: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 152: Information sources

12.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 153: List of abbreviations

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provide actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions.

With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contacts

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
The recognition program honors companies and nonprofits providing people compelling reasons to care about them and offering inspiration for others to buy in

SECAUCUS, N.J., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX), the world's leading provider of diagnostic information services, announced it has been named to the Fast Company second annual Brands That Matter list, honoring brands that communicate and demonstrate brand purpose. This list includes companies and nonprofits that have achieved relevance through cultural impact and social engagement, and authentically communicated their missions and ideals.

Quest Diagnostics Named in Fast Company's Second Annual List of "Brands That Matter"

Quest received this designation for its Quest for Health Equity (Q4HE) initiative, a commitment of more than $100 million in financial and in-kind testing resources made by the company and the Quest Diagnostics Foundation to help reduce health disparities in underserved communities. Q4HE addresses critical health issues that disproportionately impact underserved communities, such as heart disease, diabetes, and COPD. The dedicated Q4HE team works to help remove the barriers deepening health disparities, while improving equity in testing, screening, and diagnosis.

The list of Fast Company honorees, which includes large multinational conglomerates, small-but-mighty companies, and nonprofits, recognizes 144 brands that give people compelling reasons to care about themand offer inspiration for others to buy in. Fast Company editors judged each brand on relevancy, cultural impact, ingenuity, and business impact to compile the list. All 144 have found an ability to forge an emotional connection with customers, whether leading on the environment or pop culture, engaging B2B customers, or responding meaningfully to current events.

"This year, we've expanded the Brands That Matter program to evaluate honorees in the context of how they matter within the category in which they compete for people's attention or loyalty. The result is a wide-ranging list of honorees that are making their mark on culture, and through social impact," said Brendan Vaughan, Fast Company's editor-in-chief.

"We are proud to be named to Fast Company's Brands That Matter list," said Jim Davis, Chief Executive Officer and President of Quest Diagnostics. "At Quest, our vision is to empower better health through diagnostic insights. Our Quest for Health Equity initiative, which positively impacts communities, reflects our goal to promote a healthier world."

Click here to see the complete list of all 144 honorees.

About Fast Company

Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. The editor-in-chief is Brendan Vaughan. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication, Inc., and can be found online at fastcompany.com.

About Quest Diagnostics

Quest Diagnostics empowers people to take action to improve health outcomes. Derived from the world's largest database of clinical lab results, Quest's diagnostic insights reveal new avenues to identify and treat disease, inspire healthy behaviors and improve health care management. Quest Diagnostics annually serves one in three adult Americans and half the physicians and hospitals in the United States, and our nearly 50,000 employees understand that, in the right hands and with the right context, our diagnostic insights can inspire actions that transform lives. www.QuestDiagnostics.com.

About Quest for Health Equity

Quest for Health Equity is an initiative of Quest Diagnostics and the Quest Diagnostics Foundation focused on providing resources, funding, testing services and education to address health disparities in underserved communities across the U.S.

SOURCE Quest Diagnostics
TORONTO, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - RDARS Inc. ("RDARS" or the "Company") (CSE: RDRS) (OTCQB: RDRSF), an autonomous robotics and drone technology company developing advanced systems for alarm system augmentation and surveillance, is pleased to announce its successful integration of the SpaceX Starlink High Speed internet services into its Eagle Nest Drone-in-a-Box product. This achievement provides RDARS with a unique Eagle Watch data transmission platform that delivers extremely reliable internet connectivity even in areas where cellular and other networks may be unavailable or unreliable. Starlink has proved itself to be a game changing technology by providing extremely low latency and high bandwidth connectivity for consumers and mission-critical business and defense operations.

Providing robust and reliable communications is a core requirement for the Eagle Watch Platform. One of the main issues facing commercial drone operations is communications outside of urban areas where maintaining sufficient internet connectivity may be challenging. Traditional solutions usually require expensive and old-fashioned VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) or BGAN (Broadband Global Area Network) type Satellite modems, which are extremely expensive, complicated to use, and provide extremely limited bandwidth with high latency transmission due to the geosynchronous locations of the satellites. SpaceX Starlink provides over 350mb/s of satellite bandwidth for TCP/IP transmissions with sub-20ms latency and, in comparison, can even outperform certain landline fiber and cable internet offerings from local service providers. "I am super excited about this development and our continued rollout of additional features for Eagle Watch as we continue to incorporate our platform with the latest in technology to offer the best-in-class drone solutions in the marketplace," said Jason Braverman, Chief Technology Officer of RDARS.

The Eagle Eye drone supports connectivity through WiFi, Dual Band Cellular (including FirstNet), and LoS (Line of Sight) 915mhz radio, and can relay information via Eagle Nest or communicate directly with the Eagle Watch Command and Control Center. Similarly, Eagle Nest also offers several connectivity features including WiFi, Dual Cellular, LoS 915mhz, and now  Starlink. With its backup power systems, even in a complete power outage with a lack of cellular coverage, Eagle Nest and Eagle Eye can continue to function and provide situational awareness anywhere in the Starlink global coverage area. This will provide the utmost reliable data transmission to the Eagle Watch platform and the downstream transmission to public safety agencies that depend on our products.

"We are ecstatic about this milestone as is sets us apart and ahead from any other systems out there with one of the most reliable and super redundant drone communications data transmission possible in a security operating environment," commented Charles Zwebner, Chief Executive Officer of RDARS. "We are forging ahead aggressively on our game changing technology solutions and business plans," added Charles.

About RDARS Inc.

RDARS possesses a disruptive technology that is advancing the security industry's approach to protecting commercial, industrial, and residential properties, by introducing protection with autonomous artificial intelligence systems that allows for real time response, situation awareness, verification, intervention, evidence recording, data capture, analysis, and immediate downstream transmissions to public safety agencies. RDARS has the ability, upon a property security breach, in real time to receive, analyze, and downstream the data and inform public safety agencies who the perpetrators potentially are before they even arrive at the property.

Founded in 2019, RDARS is an original equipment manufacturer of its flagship product, the Eagle Watch Platform, comprised of Eagle Eye, a drone, Eagle Nest, a drone station, Eagle Rover, an indoor robotic system, and Eagle Watch Command & Control Software. The Company's autonomous robotic systems provide situational awareness in a cost effective and reliable manner. The Company's mission is to improve alarm response and situational awareness by obtaining required approvals from federal regulatory agencies for BVLOS operations. RDARS is currently developing its technology for private and enterprise customers in the United States and Canada, where these customers require a more reliable and advanced understanding of their property security. For more information about RDARS, please visit its website at www.rdars.com and its profile page on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") nor its Market Regulator (as such term is defined in the CSE policies) has reviewed or accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information in this news release constitutes forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. Any statements that are contained in this news release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as "may", "should", "anticipate", "expect", "potential", "believe", "intend" or the negative of these terms and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements in this news release include statements relating to: the Company's business objectives and milestones and the anticipated timing of, and costs in connection with, the execution or achievement of such objectives and milestones; the Company's future growth prospects; the development of the Company's business and future activities following the date hereof; expectations relating to market size and anticipated growth in the jurisdictions within which the Company may from time to time operate or contemplate future operations; expectations with respect to economic, business, regulatory and/or competitive factors related to the Company or the autonomous drone and robotic industry and security industry generally; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company's current and future operations; the market for the Company's current and proposed product offerings, as well as the Company's ability to capture market share; the Company's strategic investments and capital expenditures, and related benefits; the distribution methods expected to be used by the Company to deliver its product offerings; the competitive landscape within which the Company operates and the Company's market share and reach; the performance of the Company's business and the operations and activities of the Company; the Company's ability to obtain, maintain, and renew or extend, applicable authorizations, including the timing and impact of the receipt thereof; the Company's technology making an impact on the autonomous drone and robotic industry and security industry; the Company's products providing its consumers with the benefits as described herein; the Company continuing its research and development in its products; integration of Starlink into the Company's products providing its users the benefits stated herein; robust and reliable communications continuing to be a core requirement for the Eagle Watch Platform; the Company's plans to develop, rollout additional features, and incorporate the latest in technology to offer the best-in-class drone solutions in the marketplace; even in a complete power outage with a lack of cellular coverage, Eagle Nest and Eagle Eye can continue to function and provide situational awareness anywhere in the Starlink global coverage area; Starlink providing the utmost reliable data transmission to the Eagle Watch platform and the downstream transmission to public safety agencies that depend on the Company's products; the Company offering one of the most reliable and super redundant drone communications data transmission possible in a security operating environment; and the Company forging ahead aggressively on its technology solutions and business plans.

Forward-looking information in this news release are based on certain assumptions and expected future events, namely: the Company's financial condition and development plans do not change as a result of unforeseen events; there will continue to be a demand, and market opportunity, for the Company's product offerings; current and future economic conditions will neither affect the business and operations of the Company nor the Company's ability to capitalize on anticipated business opportunities; current and future members of management will abide by the Company's business objectives and strategies from time to time as established by the Company; the Company will retain and supplement its board of directors and management, or otherwise engage consultants and advisors having knowledge of the industries (or segments thereof) within which the Company may from time to time participate; the Company will have sufficient working capital and the ability to obtain the financing required in order to develop and continue its business and operations; the Company will continue to attract, develop, motivate and retain highly qualified and skilled consultants and/or employees, as the case may be; no adverse changes will be made to the regulatory framework governing beyond visual line of sight operations, taxes and all other applicable matters in the jurisdictions in which the Company conducts business and any other jurisdiction in which the Company may conduct business in the future; the Company will be able to generate cash flow from operations, including, where applicable, distribution and sale of its products; the Company will be able to execute on its business strategy as anticipated; the Company will be able to meet the requirements necessary to obtain and/or maintain authorizations required to conduct the business; the Company's continuing ability to meet the requirements necessary to remain listed on the CSE of the OTCQB; general economic, financial, market, regulatory, and political conditions, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, will not negatively affect the Company or its business; the Company will be able to successfully compete in the autonomous drone and robotic industry and security industry; prices offered by competitors will not decline materially; the Company will be able to effectively manage anticipated and unanticipated costs; the Company will be able to conduct its operations in a safe, efficient and effective manner; general market conditions will be favourable with respect to the Company's future plans and goals; the Company's products providing its consumers with its benefits as described herein; the Company continuing its research and development in its products; integration of Starlink into the Company's products will provide its users the benefits stated herein; robust and reliable communications will continue to be a core requirement for the Eagle Watch Platform; the Company will develop, rollout additional features, and incorporate the latest in technology to offer the best-in-class drone solutions in the marketplace; even in a complete power outage with a lack of cellular coverage, Eagle Nest and Eagle Eye will continue to function and provide situational awareness anywhere in the Starlink global coverage area; Starlink will provide the utmost reliable data transmission to the Eagle Watch platform and the downstream transmission to public safety agencies that depend on the Company's products; the Company will offer one of the most reliable and super redundant drone communications data transmission possible in a security operating environment; and the Company will forge ahead aggressively on its technology solutions and business plans.

These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including but not limited to: the risks associated with the autonomous drone and robotic industry and security industry in general; the inability of the Company to obtain requisite approvals; the Company's inability to attract and retain qualified members of management to grow the Company's business and its operations; unanticipated changes in economic and market conditions (including changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic) or in applicable laws; the Company's inability to secure or maintain required authorizations necessary to conduct the business and operations and meet its targets; the Company's inability to effectively manage unanticipated costs and expenses, including costs and expenses; the risk's associated with the Company's in meeting its business objectives and milestones and the anticipated timing of, and costs in connection with, the execution or achievement of such objectives and milestones; the inability of the Company's to identify and secure future growth prospects; the Company's inability to develop its business and future activities following the date hereof; the Company's inability to meet or exceed expectations relating to market size and anticipated growth in the jurisdictions within which the Company may from time to time operate or contemplate future operations; the Company's inability to meet the requirements necessary to remain listed on the CSE or the OTCQB; the Company's inability to meet or exceed expectations with respect to economic, business, regulatory and/or competitive factors related to the Company or the autonomous drone and robotic industry and security industry generally; the Company's inability to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company's current and future operations; the risks associated with the market for the Company's current and proposed product offerings, as well as the Company's inability to capture market share; the risks associated with the Company's strategic investments and capital expenditures, and related benefits; the risks associated with the distribution methods expected to be used by the Company to deliver its product offerings; the risks associated with the competitive landscape within which the Company operates and the Company's market share and reach following the date hereof; the lack of performance of the Company's business and the operations and activities of the Company following the date hereof; the Company's inability to obtain, maintain, and renew or extend, applicable authorizations, including the timing and impact of the receipt thereof; the Company's technology making an impact on the autonomous drone and robotic industry and security industry; the inability of the Company's products to provide its consumers with its benefits as described herein; the Company inability to continue its research and development in its products; integration of Starlink into the Company's products will not provide its users the benefits stated herein; robust and reliable communications will not continue to be a core requirement for the Eagle Watch Platform; the Company will not develop, rollout additional features, and incorporate the latest in technology to offer the best-in-class drone solutions in the marketplace; in a complete power outage with a lack of cellular coverage, Eagle Nest and Eagle Eye will not continue to function and provide situational awareness anywhere in the Starlink global coverage area; Starlink will not provide the utmost reliable data transmission to the Eagle Watch platform and the downstream transmission to public safety agencies that depend on the Company's products; the Company will not offer one of the most reliable and super redundant drone communications data transmission possible in a security operating environment; and the Company will not forge ahead aggressively on its technology solutions and business plans.

Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive. Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated.

Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and reflect the Company's expectations as of the date hereof and are subject to change thereafter. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, estimates or opinions, future events or results or otherwise or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking information, except as required by applicable law.

SOURCE RDARS INC.
Optical Navigation Systems Demand to Grow at Stupendous CAGR of 19% Through 2027

Fact.MR's latest report on the global orthopedic navigation systems market provides a 5-year forecast through 2022 & beyond. The report explicates crucial dynamics such as drivers, challenges, and opportunities somehow influencing the orthopedic navigation systems market. To present the information in vividly, the report has been segmented into technology, application, end user, and region.

NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The global orthopedic navigation systems market is estimated to reach US$ 197.9 Million in 2022. Sales are poised to expand at 17% CAGR between 2022 and 2027 and exceed US$ 433.8 million by the end of 2027.

Rising prevalence of orthopedic conditions such as osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis along with increasing number of orthopedic procedures being performed worldwide is primarily driving the global orthopedic navigation systems market.

Over the years there has been a sharp rise in the number of musculoskeletal conditions across the globe. For instance, as per the World Health Organization (WHO), around 1.71 Bn people have musculoskeletal conditions worldwide. This will continue to generate demand for orthopedic navigation systems during the forecast period.

Similarly, rising popularity of minimally invasive orthopedic procedures along with growing geriatric population and an increase in joint reconstruction cases is expected to boost the sales of orthopedic navigation systems.

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Based on technology, optical segment is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR of 19% throughout the forecast period. This can be attributed to the rising end user preference for optical navigation systems due to their easy to use and effective nature.

Regionally, Asia Pacific is likely to emerge as the most lucrative orthopedic navigation systems market during the forecast period. Increasing geriatric population, surge in cases of orthopedic disorders, and rising government policies to increase patient awareness of minimally-invasive procedures are expected to drive the Asia Pacific orthopedic navigation systems market. Similarly, increasing efforts of manufacturers for developing affordable orthopedic navigation systems will drive sales across Asia Pacific during the projection period.

Key Takeaways:

By technology, electromagnetic navigation system sales are predicted to grow at 16% CAGR between 2022 to 2027.

Based on end user, hospitals segment is likely to retain its dominance in the global orthopedic navigation systems market during the forecast period.

North America currently holds the largest share of the global orthopedic navigation systems market.

currently holds the largest share of the global orthopedic navigation systems market. China's orthopedic navigation system market size is expected to reach US$ 74 million by 2027.

orthopedic navigation system market size is expected to reach by 2027. Asia-Pacific is anticipated to emerge as the fastest growing orthopedic navigation systems market during the forecast period of 2022 and 2027.

is anticipated to emerge as the fastest growing orthopedic navigation systems market during the forecast period of 2022 and 2027. Demand for orthopedic navigation systems across Europe is likely to grow at an impressive CAGR during the projection period.

Growth Drivers:

Rising adoption of orthopedic navigation systems to improve the precision of surgical techniques and reduce intraoperative mistakes is a key factor driving the global market.

Growing popularity of minimally invasive procedures and the increased use of navigation software are expected to boost the global orthopedic navigation systems market.

Increasing prevalence of orthopedic conditions like osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis is expected to drive the demand for orthopedic navigation systems.

Technological advancements in orthopedic navigation systems coupled with continuous new product launches and approvals will further aid in the expansion of orthopedic navigation systems market during the forecast period.

Restraints:

Higher treatment costs and a lack of knowledge and availability in developing nations are some of the factors limiting market expansion.

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Competitive Landscape:

To raise their market share, key competitors in the orthopedic navigation systems market are adopting various strategies such as new products, distribution agreements, facility expansions, mergers, and acquisitions.

For instance,

In January 2021 , DePuy Synthes gained FDA 510(k) approval for the VELYS robotic-assisted solution for use with the ATTUNE complete knee system.

DePuy Synthes gained FDA 510(k) approval for the VELYS robotic-assisted solution for use with the ATTUNE complete knee system. In February 2021 , Brainlab received FDA approval for both the Loop-X Mobile Imaging Robot and the Cirq robotic surgical system. Following CE mark certification, the FDA's permission allowed Brainlab to join the US market with the Cirq robotic alignment module for spine operations and Loop-X, the market's first completely robotic intraoperative imaging system.

Brainlab received FDA approval for both the Loop-X Mobile Imaging Robot and the Cirq robotic surgical system. Following CE mark certification, the FDA's permission allowed Brainlab to join the US market with the Cirq robotic alignment module for spine operations and Loop-X, the market's first completely robotic intraoperative imaging system. In November 2020 , Stryker announced the acquisition of Wright Medical in an effort to strengthen its global market position in trauma and extremities, which provides a tremendous opportunity to improve outcomes, promote innovation, and expand patient access.

Stryker announced the acquisition of Wright Medical in an effort to strengthen its global market position in trauma and extremities, which provides a tremendous opportunity to improve outcomes, promote innovation, and expand patient access. In July 2020 , Smith+Nephew announced the launch of the RI.HIP Navigation for Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA).

Key Companies Profiled by Fact.MR

B. Braun Melsungen AG

Stryker

Medtronic

Smith+Nephew

Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc. (DePuy Synthes)

Zimmer Biomet

Amplitude Surgical

Kinamed, Inc.

Globus Medical

OrthAlign

More Valuable Insights on Orthopedic Navigation Systems Market

In the latest study, Fact.MR offers a detailed study on global orthopedic navigation systems market for the forecast period of 2022 to 2027. This study also highlights key drivers promoting the sales of orthopedic navigation systems through detailed segmentation as follows:

By Technology:

Electromagnetic

Optical

Radiography

Others

By Application:

Knee

Spine

Hip

Joint Replacement

Others

By End User:

Hospitals

Clinics

Ambulatory Surgical Centers

Others

By Region:

North America

Latin America

Europe

East Asia

South Asia & Oceania

& Oceania MEA

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Key Questions Covered in the Orthopedic Navigation Systems Market Report

What is the projected value of the orthopedic navigation systems market in 2022?

At what rate will the global orthopedic navigation systems market grow until 2027?

Which are the factors hampering the growth in the orthopedic navigation systems market?

Which region is expected to lead in the global orthopedic navigation systems market during 2022-2027?

Which are the factors driving the orthopedic navigation systems market during the forecast period?

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Dual Antiplatelet Therapy Market: The global demand for dual antiplatelet therapy is anticipated to grow at a significant pace during the assessment period owing to the rising prevalence of cardiovascular disease, increasing government support, and expansion of healthcare industry.

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MENLO PARK, Calif., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Global talent solutions and business consulting firm Robert Half (NYSE: RHI) has been named to Forbes' list of World's Top Female-Friendly Companies.

Based on a survey of more than 85,000 women in 36 countries, participants evaluated their own employer, as well as other companies in their industry, on how well they perform across a series of gender-related topics such as pay equity and advancement opportunities. In addition, a women-only public opinion survey and the number of women in executive and board roles were also considered.

"We are honored to once again be recognized for our commitment to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion and supporting the women who choose to build their careers with us," said M. Keith Waddell, president and chief executive officer of Robert Half. "Through equal access to career development, networking and mentorship programs, and expanded family benefits and paid time off, we support and empower the women of Robert Half who make up more than half of our global workforce."

In 2021, Robert Half launched the Global Women's Employee Network (GWEN), one of its five Employee Network Groups (ENGs). With nearly 1,200 members, GWEN is the largest of these groups and connects thousands of employees from across the globe to share ideas, offer support and access resources.

Robert Half has also been recognized by Forbes as one of America's Best Employers for Women and was named to the FORTUNE Best Workplaces for Women list. Robert Half is a supporter of the Women's Empowerment Principles, a joint initiative of the UN Global Compact and UN Women. Learn more at roberthalf.com/esg-report.

About Robert Half

Robert Half is the world's first and largest specialized talent solutions and business consulting firm that connects people with meaningful work and provides clients with the talent and subject matter expertise they need to confidently compete and grow. Visit roberthalf.com and download the company's award-winning mobile app.

SOURCE Robert Half
TORONTO, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - SCI Group, a leading Canadian 3PL specializing in e-commerce fulfillment and transportation management, released their 2021 sustainability report today, which summarizes the company's sustainability activities, and achievements from calendar year 2021. This inaugural report reflects progress made in SCI's environmental, social and governance (ESG) journey, helping Canada meet its goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

This is the next evolution on SCI's ESG journey that started two years ago, focused on reducing its environmental impact (our planet), investing in local communities (our communities), and advancing a safe, inclusive, and respectful workplace (our people).

The 2021 report highlights SCI's progress on their ESG responsibilities as they put strategies in place, make investments, and build positive momentum towards their goals. This includes establishing 2021 baseline greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) inventory, which it had verified for the first time by a third party. In addition, the report highlights a multi-year equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging strategy, and outlines support for their community partner, the Canadian Red Cross.

"We are pleased to share our first sustainability report that shows significant progress towards our goals around climate action, zero waste, community support and championing our people" said Chris Galindo, President and CEO, SCI. "The report is a testament to the steps we are taking to make our people, our planet and our communities even better. I'm proud of what we've accomplished and how far we've come in such a short time."

2021 Achievements

" Zero Lost Time Incidents" achieved at 78% of SCI facilities

SCI is in the top 25 th percentile for exemplary safety results within their industry group; in comparison to the overall standards from the Association of Workers' Compensation Boards of Canada (AWCBC)

percentile for exemplary safety results within their industry group; in comparison to the overall standards from the Association of Workers' Compensation Boards of (AWCBC) Recognized as one of Canada's Most Admired Corporate Cultures for 2021 by Waterstone Human Capital

Most Admired Corporate Cultures for 2021 by Waterstone Human Capital 86% of our employees reported feeling a sense of belonging in equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging (EDIB) survey and focus groups

Diverted 96% of our waste from landfill, of which 68% was recyclable

Electricity and natural gas emission intensities were lower than the national average for Canadian warehouses

Shipped 20M+ pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE) for charitable partners including:

5M face masks

face masks

12M pairs of gloves

pairs of gloves

255,000 bottles of hand sanitizer

Helped deliver 1M PPE masks to 100+ community organizations

For more information on SCI's achievements, please visit sci.ca/sustainability or download the 2021 Sustainability Report.

About SCI:

SCI makes North American businesses even better by offering our clients a suite of innovative supply chain solutions in the omni-channel retail, technology, health, beauty and wellness sectors.

Across Canada's most extensive national distribution and transport network, SCI manages complex logistics for both Canadian and North American clients. We pride ourselves on adding value to clients' business with our commitment to reducing costs, risks and complexity through continuous improvement, business intelligence, analytics, and transparency. We give our clients the competitive advantage they need to grow their business.

SCI's tagline "We'll make you even better" is a commitment today from a business that's leading clients into tomorrow. As a trusted strategic partner, our team is dedicated to understanding the unique intricacies of our clients' businesses, providing end-to-end management of the entire customer experience. We have the North American expertise and 30+ years experience to deliver on this commitment and keep our clients steps ahead of their customers' expectations.

For further information: SCI | http://www.sci.ca| Natasha Wookey | [email protected]

SOURCE SCI Group Inc.
Iconic landmark enters its next century gleaming with a fresh coat of Emerald Rain Refresh paint

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The timeless beauty of Tinseltown's biggest star  the Hollywood Sign  has been restored as it enters its next century thanks to a speedy centennial facelift from Sherwin-Williams and the Hollywood Sign Trust.

Video courtesy of Sherwin-Williams The Hollywood Sign painted in Sherwin-Williams Emerald Rain Refresh in Extra White SW 7006. Photo by David Livingston, courtesy of the Hollywood Sign Trust.

Over the four-week refurbishment, Roger Martinez led his dedicated crew of 10 workers from commercial painting company Duggan & Associates to prep, prime and paint the Sign from sunrise to sunset using nearly 400 gallons of Emerald Rain Refresh paint in Extra White SW 7006 (referred to as "Hollywood Sign Centennial White" for the occasion). The historical landmark was refreshed approximately a month ahead of schedule.

Emerald Rain Refresh was chosen for its ultra-durable exterior coating with Self-Cleaning Technology and excellent UV and weather protection to keep the Hollywood Sign gleaming beneath the sun for centuries to come. This innovative paint is formulated to repel dirt upon contact with rain or water for a clean and fresh look with minimal maintenance.

"We're thrilled to continue our longstanding partnership with the Hollywood Sign Trust to usher the Sign into its next century," said Justin Binns, president of the Americas Group at Sherwin-Williams. "For 155 years, Sherwin-Williams has helped protect and beautify our nation's most iconic landmarks through trusted and innovative paint solutions, and it was an honor for us to help bring this stunning milestone restoration to life."

"We are so grateful to the talented team that helped us complete this effort and are thrilled for fans around the world to view and capture the Sign's new centennial makeover," said Jeff Zarrinnam, chairman, Hollywood Sign Trust. "The opportunity to partner again with Sherwin-Williams on this extensive project is a testament to the Sign's legacy as a beautiful, timeless and treasured symbol of hopes and dreams."

One of the most photographed sites in the world, the Hollywood Sign has been repaired over the years and was completely rebuilt in 1978. It was last refurbished in 2012 by Sherwin-Williams and the Hollywood Sign Trust to celebrate the iconic landmark's 90th anniversary.

For more information on Sherwin-Williams, visit www.Sherwin-Williams.com . A time-lapse video showing the refurbishment process can be seen on Sherwin-Williams' YouTube channel at youtube.com/sherwinwilliams, and the entire painting project can be seen on the Hollywood Sign's webcams at www.hollywoodsign.org/webcam.

For more than 155 years, Sherwin-Williams has been an industry leader in the development of technologically advanced paint and coatings. As the nation's largest specialty retailer of paint and painting supplies, Sherwin-Williams is dedicated to supporting both do-it-yourselfers and painting professionals with exceptional and exclusive products, resources to make confident color selections and expert, personalized service at its more than 4,300 neighborhood stores across North America. For more information, visit sherwin-williams.com. Join Sherwin-Williams on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, TikTok, Instagram and LinkedIn.

About the Hollywood Sign Trust

The Hollywood Sign Trust is a 501(c)3 nonprofit trust formed on October 7, 1978, with the express purposes of repairing, maintaining, refurbishing, and providing capital improvements to the Hollywood Sign or related thereto for the benefit of the public at large and so as to help preserve and maintain the image of Hollywood as the Worldwide Center of Motion Pictures and Cinema Arts; and shall be operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes. The Trust is also the official source for news and information about the Hollywood Sign and maintains the Hollywood Sign website www.HollywoodSign.org and its social media platforms.

Contact:

Sherwin-Williams

Regine Labossiere

[email protected]

Hollywood Sign Trust

Betsy Isroelit

[email protected]

SOURCE Sherwin-Williams
NEW BRITAIN, Conn., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Stanley Black & Decker (NYSE: SWK) invites investors and the general public to listen to a webcast of a presentation by Don Allan, President and CEO, at the Baird 2022 Industrial Conference in Chicago, IL on Wednesday, November 9, 2022 at 9:30 AM ET.

The live webcast will be available in the "Investors" section of the company's website at www.stanleyblackanddecker.com/investors. A replay of the webcast will be provided on the website and will be available for 30 days.

Headquartered in the USA, Stanley Black & Decker (NYSE: SWK) is the world's largest tool company operating manufacturing facilities worldwide. Guided by its purpose  for those who make the world  the company's approximately 60,000 diverse and high-performing employees produce innovative, award-winning power tools, hand tools, storage, digital tool solutions, lifestyle products, outdoor products, engineered fasteners and other industrial equipment to support the world's makers, creators, tradespeople and builders. The company's iconic brands include DEWALT, BLACK+DECKER, CRAFTSMAN, STANLEY, CUB CADET, HUSTLER and TROY-BILT. Recognized for its leadership in environmental, social and governance (ESG), Stanley Black & Decker strives to be a force for good in support of its communities, employees, customers and other stakeholders. To learn more visit: www.stanleyblackanddecker.com.

Stanley Black & Decker Investor Contacts

Dennis Lange

Vice President, Investor Relations

(860) 827-3833

[email protected]

Cort Kaufman

Senior Director, Investor Relations

(860) 515-2741

[email protected]

Christina Francis

Director, Investor Relations

(860) 438-3470

[email protected]

SOURCE Stanley Black & Decker
Right to Work Proposal Attacks Workers, State Constitution

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- With one week to go until Election Day, Teamsters across Tennessee are ferociously opposing Amendment 1, which would enshrine so-called "right to work" into the state constitution.

"The more people learn about Amendment 1 and what it actually means, the more uncomfortable they are with it," said Wes Trotterchaud, President of Teamsters Local 519 in Knoxville. "Our members, whether Republican or Democrat, are turned off by what the General Assembly tried to do in referring Amendment 1 to the ballot."

As Teamsters and labor allies make their final pitch to voters on why Amendment 1 needs to be rejected, there are recent signs that support for Amendment 1 may be faltering among registered voters. A January poll had support for Amendment 1 at 64 percent, followed by an early October poll with support at 58 percent. Finally, a recent poll showed support falling to 44 percent. The trend line across the surveys shows that the number of undecided voters on the issue has increased from 18 percent in January to 38 percent in late October.

In addition to the proposed amendment being harmful to workers, its recent drop in support coincides with Brian Kelsey, the lead sponsor of the amendment referral in the Tennessee Legislature, pleading guilty to multiple campaign finance-related crimes.

"Workers are paid less, receive fewer benefits on the job, and suffer much higher risk of workplace death in states that have laws like Amendment 1  that's a fact," said Lendon Grisham, President of Teamsters Local 480 and Teamsters Joint Council 87 in Nashville. "Working people have had enough and are standing up to say, 'Keep your damn hands off our constitution!'"

Tennessee has been a right-to-work state since 1947. While defeating Amendment 1 would not change any existing law in the state, the Teamsters are using this opportunity to educate union members and the general public about the ugly history of right to work.

"The architect of right to work, Vance Muse, was a famous segregationist," said James E. Jones, President of Teamsters Local 667 in Memphis. "Throughout the 1940s, he presented right to work as a way to keep white and black workers out of the same organization. With our local union based in the city where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed, we are constantly reminded of Dr. King's opposition to right to work and his support for Memphis and Tennessee's workers."

Pathetically, Amendment 1 is being backed by the current Tennessee governor, both of the state's sitting U.S. senators, and most of the Tennessee political establishment. But the Teamsters and labor allies are relentlessly traveling the entire state to properly educate union and non-union workers and their families about the true dangers of Amendment 1. Teamster volunteers are making phone calls, visiting worksites, sending text messages, and speaking one-on-one with voters.

"We've got an uphill battle, but so what? That's the story of the entire American labor movement," said Joe Bennett, President of Teamsters Local 327 in Nashville. "Win or lose, Tennessee Teamsters will never stop fighting to protect workers. We have to take it to the streets, stay organized, and remain energized. That's how we all win together in the end."

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.2 million hardworking men and women throughout the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Visit Teamster.org to learn more. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and "like" us on Facebook at Facebook.com/teamsters.

Contact:

Wes Trotterchaud, (865) 300-0558

[email protected]

SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters
All family caregivers in the state can access free support at home

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Trualta , the leading e-learning platform for family caregivers, is partnered with Washington state to bring free caregiver training to families. Family caregivers can sign up and log in at wacaregivingjourney.com .

In the past year, Trualta has enabled more than 200 Washington caregivers to provide better care for their loved ones. As November's National Family Caregiver month begins, Trualta is excited to celebrate the important work caregivers do, no matter where they are on their caregiver journey.

"We are thrilled to work with Washington to empower family caregivers across the state," said Trualta CEO Jonathan Davis Tweet this

"We are thrilled to work with Washington to empower family caregivers across the state," said Jonathan Davis, Trualta CEO. "We know that our online content and modules will be extremely valuable for caregivers suffering from burnout, anxiety and isolation, especially at this point in the pandemic."

There are an estimated 860,000 unpaid family caregivers in Washington who provide $10.8 billion in annual care, according to the AARP. Additionally, the number of Washingtonians aged 65+ is expected to reach 1.5 million by 2025, which will require a 50 percent increase in professional caregivers.

Trualta's innovative education platform offers micro-lessons on many caregiver skills, including activities of daily living like toileting, bathing, or transferring a loved one, as well as important skills like managing caregiver burnout. It offers content for families caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's disease or dementia, an intellectual or developmental disability, heart disease, diabetes, COPD, a recent stroke and more.

Trualta is free for Washingtonians and they can register today at wacaregivingjourney.com .

About Trualta

Trualta's online learning platform supports families managing care for loved ones at home. In partnership with innovative healthcare payers, providers, government and social service organizations, Trualta improves care at a lower cost. Each partner organization is equipped with a customized learning portal offering on-demand, personalized, skills-based training to help caregivers support loved ones at home for longer. Currently available in 29 states, Trualta's evidence-based offering is proving that trained, confident family caregivers can improve health outcomes and reduce costs.

SOURCE Trualta
After successfully unlocking nearly $100 million across five cities in the past year, Indianapolis homeowners can now access their home equity debt-free without having to move

INDIANAPOLIS, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Truehold , the leading provider of residential sale-leasebacks in the nation, today announced its expansion into Indianapolis, Indiana. After bringing its sought-after offering to other Midwest cities St. Louis, Kansas City, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh in the past year, homeowners in Indianapolis can now access their equity in cash with Truehold without having to leave the homes they love.

Home equity in the United States is at an all-time high , but with debt-financing options becoming costly and the emotional strain of moving making selling unappealing, most homeowners feel stuck. Truehold's platform buys your home at a competitive price and then leases it back to you, allowing you to skip the showings and move when you're actually ready to leave home. No surprises, no hidden fees, and no more homeownership stress.

Truehold, the leading provider of residential sale-leasebacks in the nation, announced its expansion into Indianapolis. Tweet this

"With mortgage rates on the rise, we're seeing first-hand that homeowners in the US are turning to sale-leasebacks for a flexible and trustworthy option to access their record-high home equity. In fact, Truehold receives close to 1,000 leads a week from both equity-rich homeowners and local realtors with clients who want to move on their own time," said Brian Hardecker, Founder and CEO of Truehold. "After five successful Midwest market launches this past year, I'm excited to expand our community of local residents and partners to the great city of Indianapolis."

Over 300 residents have already used Truehold's reliable sale-leaseback to transform over $50 million in equity into debt-free cash and simplify their lives. Their wealth has helped them achieve a wide variety of goals, including paying off debts, optimizing retirement, and diversifying into income-generating assets. Truehold is an especially appealing option for seniors hoping to age in place  grow older in the comfort of their own homes and not assisted living facilities.

After a transaction, Truehold takes care of the hassles of home ownership like taxes, repairs, and property insurance, while giving residents access to their first-of-its-kind digital home services platform. Developed in-house by Truehold's technology team, the platform is built for residents to take care of their home, health, and wealth all in one place. They can access curated products and services at exclusive discounts, simply submit repair requests, and even use Truehold's concierge service an on-call team of occupational therapists.

To learn more about Truehold and get an offer on your home in 48 hours, visit Truehold.com .

About Truehold

Truehold is the nation's leading provider of residential sale-leasebacks, the preferred choice for homeowners who want to unlock their equity without taking on debt or moving. A BBB-accredited American company, Truehold has brought together industry-leading experts to unlock nearly $100 million in equity to residents in 6 cities across the Midwest. After a transaction, Truehold residents get access to the Truehold platform, which delivers support in the areas that matter most: health, wealth, and home. To get an offer on your home or become part of our partner network , visit truehold.com .

Media: Molly Graizzaro

[email protected]

SOURCE Truehold
DUBLIN, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "United States Compliance Management Kit 2022" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



Everything from an Industry standard White Paper to a detail audit program - Compliant with GDPR, HIPAA, FIPS 199, ISO and mandated security and business continuity requirements

Recent ransomware attacks focused most C-Level executives on asset security and compliance as more business is conducted on the Internet. In addition, not meeting compliance mandates exposes enterprises to damaged reputations and fines. The Compliance Management Kit provides tools that are properly implemented minimizes those risks. The Compliance Management Kit is the must-have tool to meet mandated governmental and industry compliance objectives.

The Kit comes in three versions. Each version contains the Compliance Management White Paper, a self-scoring Security Audit Program, a PCI Audit Program, and 25 key job descriptions including one for the Chief Compliance Officer which is six pages in length.

Most common fraud is from information theft after a security breach

With the greater dependence by corporations on open INTERNET-based systems there has been a notable increase in fraud and theft. In 2021, 70% of companies were impacted by IT-related fraud. IT-related fraud is now the most common security threat that enterprises of all types and sizes face. IT professionals not only need to be concerned with the protection of sensitive information in the new mobile computing environment.

Janco in its monthly interviews of CIOs found that one in three organizations has experienced some type of fraud associated with their systems.

Janco conducted a security survey of 827 senior executives, 62 percent of them at the C-suite level. They found that over seventy percent of CIOs and CFOs said their companies experienced fraud in the previous 12 months. That is compared to 61% percent in 2021. The fraud they found went beyond IT systems.

Compliance Management - Silver Edition

Compliance Management White Paper

HIPPA Audit Program

Security Audit Program - fully editable -- Comes in MS EXCEL and PDF formats -- Meets ISO 27001, 27002, Sarbanes-Oxley, PCI-DSS and HIPAA requirements -- Over 400 unique tasks divided into 11 areas of audit focus which are the divided into 39 separate task groupings including BYOD.

PCI Audit Program - Word and PDF

Compliance Management Job Descriptions (25 key positions) - Word Format - fully editable and PDF- Chief Compliance Officer (CCO), Chief Data Officer, Chief Mobility Officer, Chief Security Officer, Data Protection Officer, Director Electronic Commerce, Director IT Management and Controls, Director Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance, Manager Blockchain Architecture, Manager BYOD Support, Manager Compliance, Manager E-Commerce, Manager Enterprise Architecture, Manager Internet Systems, Manager Record Administration, Manager Transaction Processing, Manager Video and Website Content, Manager Web Content, Manager Wireless Systems, PCI-DSS Administrator, System Administrators - Linux, System Administrators - Windows, System Administrators - UNIX, Webmaster, and WiFi Network Administrator

Key Topics Covered:

License Conditions

Compliance Management

Compliance Requirements



Record Classification, Management, Retention, and Destruction



ISO Security Domains



ISO 27000

Governmental Mandates

California Consumer Privacy Act (CaCPA)



California SB 1386 Personal Information Privacy



COPPA



FCRA



FCTA



FISMA



FTC Information Safeguards



General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)



Gramm-Leach-Bliley (Financial Services Modernization)



HIPAA



Massachusetts 201 CMR 17.00 Data Protection Requirements

201 CMR 17.00 Data Protection Requirements

Sarbanes-Oxley Act



State Security Breach Notification Laws

Implementation

Compliance Tools Purchase Options

COBIT Edition

Version History

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/cdetzu

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



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SOURCE Research and Markets
New research shows university students prioritize compensation and quality of work-life, while desire for "challenging work" plummets. Bumpy road ahead for hiring negotiations?

STOCKHOLM, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2022 World's Most Attractive Employers (WMAE) rankings highlight a growing misalignment between students' job expectations and what employers can offer in a cooling economy. "Competitive salary" and "high future earnings" are now two of the top-three priorities for business, engineering, and IT university students  and are among the fastest-growing priorities.

"Over the last 18 months, employers offered generous contracts and working conditions to attract young talent because demand exceeded supply in many regions," says Mats Rojdmark, Chief Executive Officer, Universum. "Now that hiring is slowing, we expect more realistic employment deals in 2023."

Universum, the global leader in employer branding, surveyed over 185,067 students in business, engineering, and IT from the 9 largest economies between September 2021 and May 2022. The survey asks students which employer characteristics are most influential as they consider future employment, and which employer brands they most admire. Other key findings:

Google drops to #2 among business students. It was edged out by Apple, which rose two places this year to #1. (Google still ranks #1 for engineering and IT students.)

Quality of life is still a growing priority. From a list of 40 attributes, "work-life balance" rose 6 places to rank as #8 most important in 2022, and "flexible working conditions" rose 7 places to #10.

Evidence of "quiet quitting?" Asked to rank their top priorities in a future employer, young people were significantly less likely to choose "challenging work" in 2022  the largest one-year drop of any priority in 2022.

Universum Global Account Director Richard Mosley says the 2022 study offers critical data points for employers' 2023 budgets: "Companies are still hungry for young talent in tech, business, and engineering, but budget tightening will likely force difficult decisions. Now more than ever, organizations must take a data-driven approach to employer branding, messaging and channel strategy."

Download a full-length copy of the World's Most Attractive Employers report: https://bit.ly/3VQJWlv.

About Universum

Universum is a data-driven, insight-led employer branding agency. Founded in Stockholm, we are now active in over 60 countries, with key hubs in Paris, Berlin, London, New York, Singapore and Shanghai.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1929119/Universum_Logo.jpg

Media contact:

Jonas Barck

Chief Marketing Officer

[email protected]

+46706933388

SOURCE Universum
NOIDA, India, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new report published by UnivDatos Markets Insights, the US Hospice Market is expected to reach 60 billion in 2028, growing at a CAGR of around 8% from 2022-2028. The analysis has been segmented into Diagnosis (Cancer, Cardiovascular Diseases, Chronic Respiratory Diseases, Chronic Kidney Diseases, Others); Provider (Hospitals & Nursing Homes, Home Care Settings, Others); Region/States

Click here to view the Report Description & TOC

https://univdatos.com/report/u-s-hospice-market/

The Hospice market report has been aggregated by collecting informative data on various dynamics such as market drivers, restraints, and opportunities. This innovative report makes use of several analyses to get a closer outlook on the Hospice market. The Hospice market report offers a detailed analysis of the latest industry developments and trending factors in the market that are influencing the market growth. Furthermore, this statistical market research repository examines and estimates the Hospice market at the US level.

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Market Overview

The U.S. hospice Market is expected to witness a CAGR of around 8% during the forecast period. Hospice care is a type of care for severe patients during their last phase of life. It focuses on the personal satisfaction of their guardians or individuals who deal with life-limiting diseases. Hospice care can be offered in two types of settings at home or in a facility such as a nursing home, hospital, or even a separate hospice center. In addition, the growth factors for this segment are the rising geriatric population, increasing cancer in developed countries, cardiovascular diseases, chronic diseases, etc. will drive the growth of this market.

Some of the major players operating in the market include Kindred Healthcare Inc., Amedisys, Inc., LHC GROUP, INC., BROOKDALE SENIOR LIVING, INC. Chemed Corporation, Crossroads Hospice, ProMedica Senior Care, Accentcare, Inc., Heart to Heart Hospice, Oklahoma Palliative & Hospice Care.

COVID-19 Impact

Covid 19 pandemic is a global public health emergency that adversely affected operational goals and long-term projections of hospice businesses in the U.S. according to WHO during the pandemic the hospitals saw a 50% decrease in inpatient visits for palliative care. Because of the risk of the infection and complications in the condition. That's why home care settings grow during this pandemic period. In addition, In the healthcare industry, the covid-19 pandemic directly disturbed the manufacturing, demand and supply chain but in the current situation, the adoption of new technologies will drive the growth of the hospice sector.

The US Hospice market report is studied thoroughly with several aspects that would help stakeholders in making their decisions more curated.

Based on diagnosis, the U.S. hospice market is segmented into cancer, cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, chronic kidney diseases, and others. In 2020, The cancer category is anticipated to witness a considerable growth rate during the forecast period. This is mainly due to the increasing cases of cancer in the elderly population and surgeries of cancer patients across the world. Furthermore, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2018, around 2.09 million cases of lung cancer were reported globally. Therefore, such factors drive the growth of the hospice market in the U.S.

Based on provider, the U.S. Hospice market is categorized into hospitals & nursing homes, home care settings, and others. In 2020, the home care settings category is anticipated to witness a significant growth rate during the forecast period. Moreover, the segment growth is credited to the increasing preference by patients and families for home care as it offers a more comfortable environment for the patient, provides a personal care assistant for the patient, and cost-effective option compared to long-term hospital stays.

Have a Look at the Chapters- https://univdatos.com/report/u-s-hospice-market/

Hospice Market Geographical Segmentation Includes:

California

Texas

Florida

New York

Pennsylvania

Others

California accounted for the largest market share in this segment because of the maximum number of hospitals and treatment possibilities. This is mainly attributed to the growing prevalence of chronic cancer, the rising geriatric population coupled with an increasing number of cardiovascular diseases in this region.

The major players targeting the market include

Kindred Healthcare Inc.

Amedisys, Inc.

LHC GROUP, INC.

BROOKDALE SENIOR LIVING, INC.

SENIOR LIVING, INC. Chemed Corporation

Crossroads Hospice

ProMedica Senior Care

Accentcare, Inc.

Heart To Heart Hospice

Oklahoma Palliative & Hospice Care

Competitive Landscape

The degree of competition among prominent US companies has been elaborated by analyzing several leading key players operating worldwide. The specialist team of research analysts sheds light on various traits such as US market competition, market share, most recent industry advancements, innovative product launches, partnerships, mergers, or acquisitions by leading companies in the US Hospice Market. The major players have been analyzed by using research methodologies for getting insight views on US competition.

Key questions resolved through this analytical market research report include:

What are the latest trends, new patterns, and technological advancements in the Hospice market?

Which factors are influencing the US Hospice market over the forecast period?

What are the US challenges, threats, and risks in the Hospice market?

Which factors are propelling and restraining the US Hospice market?

What are the demanding US states of the Hospice market?

What will be the US market size in the upcoming years?

What are the crucial market acquisition strategies and policies applied by US companies?

We understand the requirement of different businesses, regions, and countries, we offer customized reports as per your requirements of business nature and geography. Please let us know If you have any custom needs.

About UnivDatos Market Insights (UMI)

Browse Other Related Research Reports from UnivDatos Market Insights

US Hospice Market Report Coverage

Report Attribute Details Base year 2020 Forecast period 2022-2028 Growth momentum Accelerate at a CAGR of 8% Market size 2028 USD 60 billion Major contributing States California to Dominate the US Hospice Market Key States covered California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, and others Companies profiled Kindred Healthcare Inc., Amedisys, Inc., LHC GROUP, INC., BROOKDALE SENIOR LIVING, INC. Chemed Corporation, Crossroads Hospice, ProMedica Senior Care, Accentcare, Inc., Heart to Heart Hospice, Oklahoma Palliative & Hospice Care. Report Scope Market Trends, Drivers, and Restraints; Revenue Estimation and Forecast; Segmentation Analysis; Impact of COVID-19; Demand and Supply Side Analysis; Competitive Landscape; Company Profiling Segments Covered By Diagnosis; By Provider; By States

About UnivDatos Market Insights (UMI)

UnivDatos Market Insights (UMI) is a passionate market research firm and a subsidiary of Universal Data Solutions. We believe in delivering insights through Market Intelligence Reports, Customized Business Research, and Primary Research. Our research studies are spread across topics across the world, we cover markets in over 100 countries using smart research techniques and agile methodologies. We offer in-depth studies, detailed analysis, and customized reports that help shape winning business strategies for our clients.

Contact

UnivDatos Market Insights

Ankita Gupta

Director Operations

Ph: +91-7838604911

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://univdatos.com/

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1225049/UnivDatos_Logo.jpg

SOURCE UnivDatos Market Insights Pvt. Ltd.
HOUSTON, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. Legal Support, the nation's leading provider of litigation support services, proudly announced today the company's recognition as one of the nation's happiest workplaces by leading workplace culture site, Comparably. The annual Comparably Awards recognizes the top 100 companies with the happiest employees. For 2022, U.S. Legal Support was ranked as one of the Top 100 Large Companies (organizations with 500 employees or more) with the highest self-reported levels of employee happiness.

U.S. Legal Support named one of the nations happiest workplaces by Comparably!

"As CEO, I recognize employees are the heart and soul of our company. We've been working hard to put employees at the forefront of U.S. Legal Support, and it is nice to see these efforts recognized by those who mean the most  our employees," said U.S. Legal Support CEO, Jimmie Bridwell. "As the only litigation support services provider on this prestigious list, we're honored to lead our industry in employee well-being."

"Our organization believes we serve our clients best when we first serve one another, and we're excited to see this value resonate with the people who make our company such a special place," said Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, Jessica Frost. "From our prioritization of mental health care to crisis relief funds, to engaging with our remote employees in addition to onsite engagements, U.S. Legal Support aspires to lead with honesty, transparency, and kindness."

Launched in late 2017, the Comparably awards are an annual series that highlights the best CEOs and places to work by those who know best  employees. Based solely on sentiment feedback provided by current employees who anonymously rated their employers on Comparably.com on a combination of factors that contribute to happiness at work (positive environment, fair pay, great benefits, excitement about work & co-workers, clear company goals & investment in them, pride in company), each answer is then given a numerical score and compared to companies of similar size. The final data set of winners are compiled from over 15 million ratings across 70,000 companies within a 12-month period.

"The companies on our top 100 list are rock stars at creating a work environment where employees can thrive," said Comparably's co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Jason Nazar. "U.S. Legal Support demonstrates that an organization in the demanding legal industry can still create a happy work environment that prioritizes wellness and work-life balance."

This year, U.S. Legal Support received the award alongside companies such as HubSpot, Adobe, Google, Facebook, and more.

About U.S. Legal Support

U.S. Legal Support was founded in 1996 with the goal of becoming the first nationwide, all-inclusive litigation support company. Nearly three decades later, we're one of the leading providers of litigation support services and the only company to provide a full suite of court reporting solutions, record retrieval, interpreting & translations, trial services and transcription services to law firms, major corporations, and insurance companies nationwide. With on-demand access to 12,000+ offices in 2,700 cities across the country and a robust digital infrastructure, we can accommodate your litigation support needs quickly, comfortably, and safely from anywhere in the country. For more information about U.S. Legal Support, visit the company's website at: www.uslegalsupport.com.

About Comparably

Comparably is a leading workplace culture site and corporate brand reputation platform with over 15 million anonymous employee ratings on 70,000 companies. With the most comprehensive data on large and SMB organizations in nearly 20 workplace categories  based on gender, ethnicity, age, experience, industry, location, education  it is one of the most used SaaS platforms for employer branding and a trusted third-party employee review site for workplace culture and compensation. For more information on Comparably's studies, salary reports, and annual Best Places to Work Awards, visit Comparably News.

Media contact: [email protected]

SOURCE U.S. Legal Support, Inc.
Enviro Power's Patented High-Efficiency SmartWatt Boiler Incorporates Mini Power Plant to Convert Lost Heat into Electricity at Campus Dorm

MIDDLETOWN, Conn., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Wesleyan University has tapped a revolutionary new heating system that also generates free electricity as part of its ongoing sustainability efforts. Hartford-based Enviro Power, Inc.'s SmartWatt Boiler has been installed at the Butterfield student dormitory complex, where it is converting heat that would otherwise be lost in traditional boilers into useful electricity. This is the first time the energy-saving, groundbreaking technology has been installed by a university, advancing Wesleyan's vision to minimize the environmental impact of its campus.

Designed as an innovative drop-in replacement for conventional heat and hot water system boilers, the SmartWatt boiler generates clean energy at 98 percent efficiency (HHV). It is the only boiler to incorporate a compact internal power plant that captures and converts heat and steam lost in typical boilers into free electricity. Utilizing existing heating infrastructures, the boiler is an easy-to-install replacement solution that more than pays for itself over time by lowering a building's energy costs.

"We were excited to work with the forward-thinking leaders at Wesleyan and join them on their journey to become a more sustainable, energy-efficient campus," said Dan Nadav, CEO of Enviro Power. "The SmartWatt boiler not only provides free electricity to the building, lowering energy costs, but it is an advanced system that delivers heat and hot water using the dorm's existing infrastructure."

With a mission to help commercial building owners in various segments lower their carbon emissions, the boiler is installed and maintained at similar costs of a traditional boiler. U.S. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut recently lauded the technology, naming Enviro Power a 2022 Innovator.

With a footprint comparable to traditional boilers, the boiler was able to easily be installed by Wesleyan's in-house facilities team. The system was initially installed and tested at the 56,000-square-foot Butterfield C dormitory, then fully launched recently upon the return of students to campus following the COVID pandemic. It provides hot water to the three-story,197 student residence and its dining hall. In addition to the free electricity produced, the boiler also is much more efficient than the previous heating system, using less natural gas and reducing carbon emissions.

"The installation was flawless, and the new boiler fit seamlessly into our existing heating infrastructure," said Jeff Murphy, Facilities Business Manager for Wesleyan University, who led the project. "It works automatically to generate electricity and we expect to bring this technology to other dorms and campus buildings moving forward."

Enviro Power's boiler generates near-zero cost, onsite electricity and continuous backup power while adhering to power load guidelines at the building and grid levels. The product is one of just a few commercialized hardware energy-saving technologies for buildings ready for mass production and deployment.

"Wesleyan University has a commitment to work with local companies and support innovation and manufacturing in the state of Connecticut," Murphy said. "Working with Enviro Power checks every box  engaging with a high-quality local manufacturer, advancing new technology, improving energy efficiency in University buildings and reducing our energy costs."

Enviro Power recently achieved two major milestones  Intertek ETL certification of the SmartWatt Boiler and the start of serial production with its strategic partner Burnham Holdings, one of the largest boiler manufacturers in the U.S.

About Enviro Power

Enviro Power is an advanced climate technology company that is revolutionizing the multi-billion heating system replacement market by incorporating a mini power plant into its SmartWatt Boiler, allowing property owners to generate on-site electricity within their existing heating system infrastructures. Creating a Distributed Energy Resource platform, Enviro Power's patented technology integrates a simple, low-pressure steam turbine into a condensing boiler structure. The product helps reduce carbon emissions at the same purchase, installation and maintenance costs as replacing a traditional boiler. The SmartWatt Boiler is also positioned to become hydrogen-ready for future production of CO2-free heat and power.

The company has partnered with Burnham Holdings, the national boiler manufacturing company, for production, distribution, and warranty. The energy-saving product qualifies for the IRS Code 48 investment tax credit

Contact:

Great Ink Communications  212-741-2977

[email protected]

Roxanne Donovan, Eric Nizguretsky, Rick Van Warner, Sara Williams

SOURCE Enviro Power
ZUG, Switzerland, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- WiFi Map, a leading internet connectivity tool with over 3 million monthly active users, is announcing a strategic partnership with power bank sharing service Chargefon, which operates more than 500 stations across the USA. The move marks a major use case for the upcoming $WIFI utility token and points to greater synergy between digital and brick and mortar services in the Web3 space.

WiFi Map is a global, decentralized connectivity tool with over 10 million WiFi hotspots, all of which were added by its community. The company recently announced a move to Web3 with the launch of the $WIFI utility token, which is arriving later this year. The token will be issued as a reward for adding new hotspots to the platform and can be redeemed for mobile internet, VPN and other connectivity services within the app.



A new partnership with Chargefon means that WiFi Map users will also be able to redeem their $WIFI tokens to rent power banks on the go. Locating charging stations natively within the app will boost the flow of customers to Chargefon, with plans to install $WIFI routers at 500 US-based charging stations in Q2 2023. The value flow between the Web3 ecosystem and Chargefon will be entirely automated, and it is expected that this solution will be easily scalable with the rollout of further partner services in the near future.

Denis Sklyarov, CEO and Co-Founder of WiFi Map: "Power and connectivity are the driving force of the global economy today. We've made it the mission of WiFi Map to ensure that people can get online wherever they are and now, with the help of partner services like Chargefon, we'll be able to cover the essential amenities of modern life."

Vladimir Korobeynik, CEO and Founder of Chargefon: "WiFi Map brings years of experience and a huge user base, which massively expands Chargefon's potential reach. We see a symbiotic relationship developing, where WiFi Map brings people to our charging stations and we keep their devices charged, helping people to stay connected for longer."

About WiFi Map

WiFi Map is a world-leading platform for locating and connecting to WiFi hotspots. Founded in 2014, the app has been downloaded by over 150 million people and helped them get online more than 1 billion times. Driven by a belief in the power of community and a conviction that the internet is a fundamental human right, WiFi Map announced a shift to Web3 in 2022. The new $WIFI token is set to become available as a means of payment for all services offered within the app, including eSIM and VPN packages, offline maps and the ad-free pro version of WiFi Map.

Find WiFi Map online: twitter.com/wifimapapp, instagram.com/wifimap, facebook.com/wifimap.io, weconnectu.io

About Chargefon

Founded in 2019, Chargefon is a power bank sharing service with a network of hundreds of charging stations for mobile phones and tablets located in bars, hotels, restaurants, malls and more. Customers can rent a power bank for a set period and return it to any charging station on the network, which covers some of the largest cities in the US including NYC, Miami, Portland and Orlando. chargefon.com

Contact:

Jamie Brown

Communications

+447867303975

[email protected]

SOURCE WeConnectU AG
Technology Veteran brings Years of Marketing and Technology Experience to the Board.

VANCOUVER, BC, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Wishpond Technologies Ltd. (TSXV: WISH) (OTCQX: WPNDF) ("Wishpond" or the "Company"), a provider of marketing-focused online business solutions, is pleased to announce that Lloyed Lobo has joined its board of directors ("Board") as an independent director and member of the Audit Committee effective November 1, 2022.

Mr. Lobo is a seasoned leader with over 15 years of experience building technology products and companies from conception to scale. He is the co-founder of Boast.AI, a fintech platform that helps companies fund their R&D and innovation projects. In addition, Mr. Lobo also runs Traction, a non-profit community of more than one hundred thousand subscribers, where leaders from the fastest growing companies share learnings on building, growing, and scaling companies through podcasts, meetups and conferences. Previously Mr. Lobo led sales, marketing and product for several start-ups and was a venture partner at a Silicon Valley based venture capital fund.

Mr. Lobo has been covered in a number of mainstream media publications including Forbes, TechCrunch, Fox Business, Bloomberg, SF Biz Journals, Globe and Mail, and VentureBeat. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in software engineering from Lakehead University, Ontario, Canada.

Mr. Lobo replaces Arinder Mahal, who has resigned from the Board effective November 1, 2022 in order to give him more time to devote to his other projects.

"Wishpond is pleased to welcome Lloyed Lobo to our Board of Directors," said Ali Tajskandar, Chairman and CEO of Wishpond. "As Wishpond continues to grow and mature as a public company, an experienced leader of Lloyed's calibre will greatly assist us in moving down this path. His deep experience in sales, marketing and scaling a business will be a valuable asset as we enter Wishpond's next stage of growth. I also want to thank Arinder Mahal, who has served on our Board since we became a public company and has been instrumental in our public listing process and in executing our business plan."

Mr. Lobo commented, "I am pleased to join the Wishpond Board at a time where the organization is rapidly growing and scaling as a public company. I have known Ali Tajskandar for more than ten years and have immense respect for him as an entrepreneur and leader. Wishpond is at the forefront of innovation in the martech space, and I could not be more excited to have the opportunity to be a part of a talented team that is poised to achieve great heights. I look forward to working with the Wishpond team as we continue to grow the success of the business."

About Wishpond Technologies Ltd.

Based out of Vancouver, British Columbia, Wishpond is a provider of marketing-focused online business solutions. Wishpond's vision is to become the leading provider of digital marketing solutions that empower entrepreneurs to achieve success online. The Company offers an "all-in-one" marketing suite that provides companies with marketing, promotion, lead generation, and sales conversion capabilities on one integrated platform. Wishpond replaces disparate marketing solutions with an easy-to-use product, for a fraction of the cost. Wishpond serves over 3,700 customers who are primarily small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in a wide variety of industries. The Company has developed cutting-edge marketing technology solutions and continues to add new features and applications with great velocity. The Company employs a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business model where substantially all the Company's revenue is subscription-based recurring revenue which provides excellent revenue predictability and cash flow visibility. Wishpond is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the ticker "WISH", and on the OTCQX Best Market under the ticker "WPNDF". For further information, visit: www.wishpond.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

"Ali Tajskandar"

Chairman, CEO and Director

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary & Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may include certain statements and information that may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical facts, including statements regarding future estimates, plans, objectives, timing, assumptions or expectations of future performance are forward-looking statements and contain forward-looking information.

Generally, forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "intends" or "anticipates", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "should", "would" or "occur". Forward-looking statements are based on certain material assumptions and analysis made by the Company and the opinions and estimates of management as of the date of this press release. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement, forward-looking information or financial out-look that are incorporated by reference herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

SOURCE Wishpond Technologies Ltd.
New York Film Academy alumni network and friends to fund scholarships, programs, and projects for up-and-coming artists

NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A group of New York Film Academy (NYFA) alumni, parents of alumni, and friends announced today the launch of 10 ARTS Foundation , a new 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to funding, educating, and nurturing up-and-coming visual and performing artists from under-resourced communities. Named for the 10 creative disciplines taught for more than 30 years at NYFA, the foundation will offer scholarships, programs, and project grants empowering the next generation of storytellers in every discipline.

"We founded 10 ARTS with a mission - to connect the world through the gift of opportunity," said Emmy- and Peabody-winning journalist and filmmaker Tony Harris, Chair of the 10 ARTS Board of Trustees . "By amplifying the voices of aspiring storytellers  who are not always heard, and too often overlooked  we hope to foster global creativity."

The 10 ARTS Foundation has awarded scholarships to students from Ukraine, Afghanistan, Nigeria, and the U.S., and fully funded a digital storytelling program for teens from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx.

The early accomplishments of the foundation included providing a production award to two NYFA MFA alumni and Fulbright scholars, who, in conjunction with funding from the National Geographic Explorer Grant, created the award-winning documentary film "Shirampari" , currently running in 2022 film festivals.

The 10 ARTS Foundation offers individuals, corporations, and other foundations several options to support their efforts to foster young talent:

"Sponsor Your Way" by funding the projects or educational needs of your choosing

"Pick Your Passion" by giving to programs or disciplines you would like to support

"Get Involved" by subscribing to the 10 Arts Foundation newsletter and social campaigns

"Donate" your time or treasure to offer the gift of opportunity

"Creating a world that values the diversity of voices increases our connectivity through shared experiences. Thanks to the 10 ARTS Foundation and the storytellers it supports, we begin to feel more compassion as our global viewpoint broadens," noted Heidi Wissmiller, 10 ARTS Foundation trustee.

About 10 ARTS Foundation: Named for the 10 creative disciplines taught for more than 30 years at the New York Film Academy (NYFA), the 10 ARTS Foundation is a nonprofit providing scholarships and grants to foster the next generation of global storytellers. Founded by NYFA alumni, parents of alumni, and friends, 10 ARTS Foundation supports aspiring artists as they craft impactful visual and performing arts productions and projects for our evolving media and edutainment ecosystem. Learn more at 10ARTS.org.

SOURCE 10 ARTS Foundation
HARRISBURG, Pa., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2022 National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Convention set its highest participation record in history with over 1,400 total attendees who held an estimated 3,600 business appointments with leading retailers. The event held on October 15-18, 2022, at the World Center Marriott, Orlando, Fla. and hosted by the National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association (NFRA), was designed to bring together leading companies from every segment of the industry in one venue to efficiently and effectively conduct the maximum amount of business in the least amount of time.

More than 100 retailers booked meeting rooms to hold customer business appointments. In addition, some retailers participated in 6-minute speed meetings to accommodate new members and smaller manufacturers who may have difficulty getting regular appointments. Twenty-five retailers set aside time for speed meetings with nearly 100 manufacturers creating more than 600 speed meeting slots, a 20% increase over 2019.

From beginning to end, the convention was structured to help attendees make valuable connections. The opening Taste of Excellence Reception on Sunday, October 16, featured 52 manufacturers, including 13 new NFRA member companies, showcasing 120 of the latest frozen and refrigerated food products.

Opening the Monday, October 17 breakfast session was Alec Ross, former senior advisor for Innovation, State Department, and author of New York Times best-seller The Industries of Future, which dives into economical and tech trends that will shape the next ten years. Headlining the Tuesday, October 18 breakfast session was Ken Jennings, author, gameshow host and most notably, the Greatest Jeopardy! player of all time, accumulating $2.5 million in winnings over his 75-game streak.

The convention also served as a platform for recognizing NFRA leaders and award recipients. The Annual Membership Luncheon on October 17 included the induction of NFRA's new officers and directors. Kevin Schwab, EVP/CCO Sales & Marketing, The Pictsweet Company, was elected as Chairman of the Board. In addition, two new Frozen Food Hall of Fame inductees were Richard Graeter, Graeter's Ice Cream and Ray Tarnowski, Philadelphia Warehousing & Cold Storage (retired).

An Awards Luncheon on October 18 recognized the 2022 Golden Penguin winners for the March Frozen Food Month, June Dairy Month and June/July Ice Cream & Novelties promotions. Award winners with the highest scoring entries were revealed as Top Marketers during the luncheon. Four companies were named Top Marketers for March Frozen Food Month: North Florida Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association, B&G Foods, Chris' Food Center and Schraad Sales & Marketing. Two companies were named Top Marketers for June Dairy Month: Land O'Lakes and Brookshire Grocery Company. Two companies were named Top Marketers for the Ice Cream & Novelties promotion: Bubbies Ice Cream and Babbs Supermarket.

The 2023 NFRA Convention is set for October 7-10 at the Marriott Marquis, San Diego. Registration for the event opens March 1, 2023. For more information, visit NFRAConvention.org.

NFRA is a non-profit trade association representing all segments of the frozen and refrigerated foods industry. Headquartered in Harrisburg, PA, NFRA is the sponsor of March Frozen Food Month, June Dairy Month, June/July Ice Cream & Novelties and the Cool Food for Kids educational outreach program.

SOURCE National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association
DUBLIN, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Social Media in Medical Devices - Thematic Research" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This report will explore the trends behind social media in the medical device industry and provide an industry analysis of the market and competitive landscape.

This report identifies companies most likely to succeed in a world filled with disruptive threats. Inside, we predict how each theme will evolve and identify the leading and disrupting companies.

Digital technology is continuously becoming more accessible, driving the growth of internet and social media users at about 9.2% year-over-year. With 61% of the total population as social media users, people are turning to social media to connect with one another, form communities, and seek information. The publisher expects that as social media becomes an integral part of people's lives, it will also become essential in driving the growth of the medical device industry.

Social media's ad-funded business model is unsustainable

Social media companies will increasingly diversify away from their ad-funded business model, which regulators have attacked. Companies like Facebook and Google stand accused of using ad-targeting techniques that prioritize profit over respect for user's privacy and content quality. They are also accused of acting as gatekeepers around access to personal data to the detriment of smaller players in the online advertising sector.

Social media companies face a dilemma

In pursuing their super-app aspirations, social media companies could end up attracting even more regulatory scrutiny. They are viewed as data monopolies in whichever sector they move into, increasingly at odds with antitrust and data privacy regulations.

Reasons to Buy

The publisher's thematic research ecosystem is a single, integrated global research platform that provides an easy-to-use framework for tracking all themes across all companies in all sectors. It has a proven track record of identifying the important themes early, enabling companies to make the right investments ahead of the competition, and secure that all-important competitive advantage.

Develop and design your corporate strategies through an in-house expert analysis of Social Media by understanding the primary ways in which this theme is impacting the medical devices industry.

Stay up to date on the industry's major players and where they sit in the value chain.

Identify emerging industry trends to gain a competitive advantage.

Key Topics Covered:

Executive Summary

Players

Thematic Briefing

Social media in the healthcare industry

Trends

Technology trends

Macroeconomic trends

Regulatory trends

Industry trends

Industry Analysis

Market size and growth forecasts

Mergers and acquisitions

Case Study

Timeline

Value Chain

Content layer

Distribution layer

Data layer

Services layer

Customer layer

Companies

Public companies

Companies Mentioned

Facebook

Twitter

Tencent (WeChat)

(WeChat) Microsoft (LinkedIn)

Mail.ru (VKontakte)

Yandex

Weibo

Sina

Reddit

Quora

India Forums

Stack Overflow

XDA-Developers

Digital Point

Snap (Snapchat)

Google (YouTube)

Amazon (Twitch)

Pinterest

Automattic (Tumblr)

Amazon

Alibaba

TripAdvisor

Yelp

Zomato

Shopify (Reputon)

GameSpot

Foursquare

Uber

Airbnb

Grab

Deliveroo

Lyft

Didi Chuxing

Pinduoduo

Just Eat Takeaway

Line

Kakao

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SOURCE Research and Markets
LONDON , Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- eDreams ODIGEO , one of the world's largest online travel companies and one of the largest e-commerce businesses in Europe, launches its 'Year in Travel' report today, providing an overview of the past year, insight into the year ahead and predictions for 2023. In the USA, the group's brand is eDreams .

eDreams ODIGEO 2022 bookings & search data reveals:

TOP DESTINATIONS 2022:

American travelers' top destinations in 2022 were all domestic: Las Vegas, Orlando and Denver were the most popular destinations for Americans this year (as in 2021), followed by Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale, Miami & Los Angeles.

In 2022, 72% of eDreams ODIGEO's American customers travelled within the USA as opposed to 28% journeying to the rest of the world. Among the nationalities that visited the USA during this year, the French top the list, followed by Germans and Spanish visitors.

TOP SEARCHES 2022:

American travellers searched mainly for domestic travel destinations, with Las Vegas, New York and Orlando topping the list, followed by London, Los Angeles, Miami and Paris.

TOP GROWTH DESTINATIONS:

eDreams ODIGEO's data further reveals that the top 3 growth destinations for Americans in 2022 compared to the previous year were Canada, primarily Vancouver (+1092% bookings), Toronto (+574% bookings), and Montreal (+303% bookings). It is important to bear in mind that these growth figures are atypical in that they reflect a return to travel following the disruptions of previous years.

TRAVEL HABITS:

How long did Americans travel for in 2022?

In 2022, 48% of eDreams ODIGEO American customers chose to travel for short breaks of between 2-4 days.

Trip duration Percentage of American travelers 2 days 11 % 3 - 4 days 37 % 5 - 6 days 17 % 7 - 13 days 22 % 14 - 20 days 6 % +21 days 7 %



During the pandemic, travellers began to replace long-term planning with last-minute action and this habit has remained, with the majority of US travellers (47%) choosing to book within a two week window of departure - followed by 19% booking 16 - 30 days and 31  60 days before departure and 15% booking more than 60 days before departure.

2023 PREDICTIONS:

European countries are popular for travel next year, with three European countries in the top 2023 booked destinations (Paris, Barcelona & Madrid) and six in the top searched destinations for 2023 (London, Paris, Rome, Frankfurt, Barcelona & Lisbon).

Top booked destinations for 2023 (American travelers) Top searched destinations for 2023 (American travelers) Las Vegas London Orlando Paris Paris Cancun Cancun Tokyo Los Angeles Rome San Francisco Orlando Barcelona Honolulu Madrid Frankfurt New York City Barcelona Fort Lauderdale Lisbon



Dana Dunne, CEO of eDreams ODIGEO, comments: "The data speaks for itself, consumers are embracing the opportunity to travel whenever they can. Our bookings data shows short breaks are currently the most prominent, revealing that consumers are looking to squeeze in holidays wherever possible, with almost a third of trips lasting for just three-four days. This trend could also be representative of more flexible work patterns, enabling travellers to bring their laptops with them and work abroad whilst enjoying a long weekend in a new, exciting environment.

"This is reflected in the most booked destinations, with a range of European destinations such as Budapest, Copenhagen and Malta pushing some of the more traditional European holiday destinations out of the top ten.

"Our findings also reveal that travellers have been spontaneous with their bookings, with nearly half (45%) taking place just 15 days before departure, or less. This underpins consumers' desire to seize the day after being restricted on their travel plans for so long.

"The jam-packed sporting calendar coupled with the coronation next year is the perfect recipe for further growth to key European destinations in 2023, such as London and Paris. As people look to put the pandemic in their rear-view mirror, we expect the travel resurgence to continue in 2023."

Website showing full report data here .

Methodology

*Global and market specific eDreams ODIGEO booking and search statistics from the report "A Year in Travel", containing statistics from over 690 airlines worldwide, for trips booked 1 January - 31st October and which refer to trips from 1 January to 31 December 2022, as well as bookings made for 2023. Comparisons have been made with the same dates in 2021.

About eDreams ODIGEO

eDreams ODIGEO is one of the world's largest online travel companies and one of the largest e- commerce businesses in Europe. The business is the largest player worldwide in flight revenues, excluding China, and the largest in Europe. Under its four leading online travel agency brands  eDreams, GO Voyages, Opodo, Travellink, and the metasearch engine Liligo  it serves more than 17 million customers per year across 44 markets. Listed on the Spanish Stock Market, eDreams ODIGEO works with over 690 airlines and +2.1 million hotels. The business conceptualised Prime, the first subscription product in the travel sector which has attracted 3.5 million members since launching in 2017.

SOURCE eDreams ODIGEO
Mileage Plan members can earn 1 mile for every $1 spent on all Lyft rides in the U.S. and Canada, plus this holiday season they can earn 2 miles for every $1 spent on Lyft rides  anytime, everywhere; guests can redeem miles for flights

SEATTLE, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Your travels this holiday season just got more rewarding. Alaska Airlines has hitched a new partnership with Lyft  one of the largest transportation networks in the U.S. and Canada  and we're eager for our guests to come along for the ride.

Alaska Airlines and Lyft announce a new partnership. Guests can earn Mileage Plan miles with every Lyft ride when they link accounts at AlaskaLyft.com.

Starting today, our Mileage Plan members can earn miles for their everyday Lyft rides  such as trips to and from the airport, heading out to a concert or across town for a holiday party. The sky's the limit. All it takes is a simple step of linking your Mileage Plan and Lyft accounts. And we're adding a festive bonus. Between now and Dec. 31, 2022, our members will earn double miles: two miles for every dollar* spent on rides everywhere Lyft operates in the U.S. and Canada.

"We always want our guests to have a terrific travel experience, even when they're not flying with us. Our new partnership with Lyft makes sure our flyers are also cared for on the ground as they go places," said Sangita Woerner, senior vice president of marketing and guest experience at Alaska Airlines. "Alaska and Lyft are both respected brands by millions of customers who turn to us for access to their preferred modes of transportation."

It's easy to start earning miles with Lyft right away:

The first thing to do is link your Mileage Plan and Lyft accounts at AlaskaLyft.com. Signing up is free.

Once your accounts are linked, you're ready to earn miles.

You'll earn one mile for every dollar* spent on all Lyft rides in the U.S. and Canada with no limit on the amount of miles you can earn.

with no limit on the amount of miles you can earn. Make sure Alaska Mileage Plan is selected as your preferred travel partner in the Rewards section in the Lyft app. For additional details, visit AlaskaLyft.com.

All Lyft rides are eligible for earning miles, which includes Lyft Standard, Wait & Save, Priority Pickup, Shared, Shared Saver, Preferred, Lyft XL, Lux, Lux Black and Lux Black XL rides*.

"We are thrilled to provide our riders with more benefits and opportunities to enjoy a best-in-class travel experience. At Lyft, we're committed to hospitality and to giving our users the chance to unlock the best value for all their transportation needs  a key purpose embedded in this partnership. The Alaska team's dedication to customer loyalty and creating a culture of belonging aligns seamlessly with many of the values that we maintain at Lyft," said Zach Greenberger, Vice President of Strategic Business Development and Supply Chain at Lyft.

There's also a way to earn even more miles. Mileage Plan members with the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature credit card earn an additional mile for every dollar spent when they use it for payment when riding with Lyft. It's just another way using the credit card for everyday purchases can earn miles redeemable for memorable experiences down the road.

Alaska is a member of the oneworld global alliance. With oneworld and our additional airline partners, our guests can earn and redeem miles with our highly acclaimed Mileage Plan program to fly on more than 20 oneworld and partner airlines all around the globe. Elite status on Alaska automatically matches tier status in oneworld right away and all the benefits that come with it.

*Lyft ride prices/payments that are eligible to earn miles include base fare rideshare charges but exclude taxes, fees, tolls and tips. Bike and scooter rides are not eligible for earning miles. Riders earn rewards with only one travel partner at a time with Lyft. See full offer terms for more details. There are also full terms on the bonus miles being offered between now through Dec. 31, 2022.

The credit card program is issued and administered by Bank of America, N.A. Visa and Visa Signature are registered trademarks of Visa International Service Association and are used by the issuer pursuant to license.

About Alaska Airlines

Alaska Airlines and our regional partners serve more than 120 destinations across the United States, Belize, Canada, Costa Rica and Mexico. We emphasize low fares and award-winning customer service. Alaska is a member of the oneworld global alliance. With the alliance and our additional airline partners, our guests can travel to more than 900 destinations on more than 20 airlines while earning and redeeming miles on flights to locations around the world. Learn more about Alaska at news.alaskaair.com. Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group.

About Lyft

Lyft was founded in 2012 and is one of the largest transportation networks in the United States and Canada. As the world shifts to transportation-as-a-service, Lyft is at the forefront of this massive societal change. Our transportation network brings together rideshare, bikes, scooters, car rentals, transit and vehicle services all in one app. We are singularly driven by our mission: to improve people's lives with the world's best transportation.

SOURCE Alaska Airlines
LUND, Sweden, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- AlixLabs from Lund, Sweden, demonstrates pitch splitting in bulk silicon using their proprietary patterning technology for semiconductor device manufacturing. The company has developed a new, innovative method for manufacturing semiconductor components with a high degree of packing, eliminating several steps in the semiconductor manufacturing process - Atomic Layer Etch Pitch Splitting (APS)*. The method makes the components cheaper and less resource-intensive to manufacture and can open up a new path for a more sustainable mass production of electronic products. The method also makes it possible to manufacture tiny semiconductor components accurately and efficiently with manageable wafer fab equipment investments.

As a snapshot of the process flow for APS demonstration in bulk silicon (see Figure below):

The first feature with Aspect Ratio 1:1 was given before APS with a 40 nm (top width)

The second feature produced by APS is the split of the silicon feature into two fins <10 nm (top width)

No damage to the single crystalline silicon, Si(100), was observed.

AFM data indicate lower surface roughness post-APS.

The method is covered by core IP in the USA, Taiwan, and Europe. Dr. Dmitry Suyatin, CTO and co-founder of AlixLabs, stated,, "In APS, the sidewalls of nanoscale features act as a topological mask in combination with Atomic Layer Etch Processes and can be used to initiate splitting of the nanostructures. Previously we have verified the process for nanowires for such different materials as gallium phosphide (GaP) and Silicon (Si), and now we have the evidence also for bulk silicon, by creating features with sizes below 10 nm."

Dr. Jonas Sundqvist, CEO and co-founder, said, "The APS method is complementary for single exposure Immersion and Extreme UV (EUV) Lithography and corresponding multiple patterning technologies like self-aligned double and quadruple patterning (SADP resp. SAQP) as well as multiple exposure lithography-etch and directed self-assembly (DSA). However, APS can considerably reduce the complexity, capital expenditure, and environmental footprint of wafer manufacturing. Demonstrating pitch splitting in bulk silicon by creating sub-10 nm structures has been a major milestone for AlixLabs. We will continue the introduction of this breakthrough technology into wafer-scale semiconductor manufacturing and have already started the process transfer to a 300 mm Pilot-fab."

* Atomic Layer Etch Pitch Splitting (APS). As previously reported (April 30, 2021), The US Patent Office has approved AlixLabs's patent application for nanofabrication by ALE Pitch Splitting (APS). The US Patent Office issued a patent (US10930515) on February 23, 2021, and recently the second patent (US11424130) on August 23, 2022. Additional patents in Taiwan and Europe are secured as well. The patent family covers methods to split nanostructures in half by a single process step using Atomic Layer Etching (ALE). The method can have a significant impact on the semiconductor industry by enabling sustainable scaling of electronic components and shrinking critical chip components further in a cost-effective way. The method is complementary for single exposure Immersion and Extreme UV (EUV) Lithography and corresponding multiple patterning technologies like self-aligned double and quadruple patterning (SADP resp. SAQP) as well as multiple exposure lithography-etch and directed self-assembly (DSA).

CONTACT:

Jonas Sundqvist, CEO of AlixLabs, phone +46 767 63 94 67, email [email protected].

The following files are available for download:

https://news.cision.com/alixlabs-ab/i/tem-cross-section-aps-in-bulk-silicon,c3109965 TEM cross section APS in bulk Silicon https://news.cision.com/alixlabs-ab/i/05-alixlabs-labb-211116,c3109966 05 AlixLabs labb 211116

SOURCE AlixLabs AB
Leaders from across the world will convene at VISION 2045 Summit which takes place alongside COP27 (the U.N. Climate Change Conference) in November

AMSilk will be attending and participating in a panel discussion at the Vision 2045 Summit on 'Commerce and Industry: What's Next?'

MUNICH, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- AMSilk GmbH ("AMSilk"), a world leader in supplying innovative high-performance bio-based silk materials, announces its participation at the VISION 2045 Summit, which will take place alongside the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference, COP27.

The VISION 2045 Summit, taking place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, from 7-9 November, brings together industry leaders and pioneers to discuss the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals. With its focus on sustainability, the VISION 2045 Summit aims to positively impact the future of our planet through a series of groundbreaking panel discussions in the political, economic and social areas.

AMSilk will be participating in the Summit's 'Commerce and Industry: What's Next?' panel, where Chief Executive Officer, Ulrich Scherbel will interact with other industry leaders, including MFL and Progress Werk Oberkirch, as well as UN Representatives whose goal is to strengthen global trade relationships and partnerships in the industry to build high-quality, sustainable, and resilient infrastructure and promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization.

Industry's heavy reliance on fossil carbon and pollution from microplastics, are among the biggest threats to the environment. Sustainability is at the heart of AMSilk's vision with an environmentally friendly product portfolio and manufacturing process. As the world's first industrial supplier of smart biotech silk materials, AMSilk is creating material solutions for everyday use by using structural proteins to produce vegan, fully biodegradable products from plant-based raw materials and microplastic free; AMSilk's fibers thus can influence a positive change towards a zero waste society.

Ulrich Scherbel, Chief Executive Officer at AMSilk: "I am excited to participate in such an integral discussion and I look forward to exploring new ideas with UN Representatives, political decision makers, and fellow business leaders. By providing our environmentally friendly, highly adaptable material alternatives at large quantities we can break down boundaries and limitations in many industries and enable our customers to make a true change."

About AMSilk

AMSilk GmbH is the world's first industrial supplier of biofabricated materials based on silk proteins. AMSilk's materials provide the same unique functional properties of the natural product they are based on. Being vegan, completely biodegradable and solely produced with renewable resources, the biopolymers are combining performance aspects with an unrivalled ecological assessment. AMSilk offers its innovative range of smart-performing materials for a variety of industrial applications such as textiles, footwear and consumer goods and has announced collaborations and partnerships with world leading brands. AMSilk invites you to discover more at www.amsilk.com

SOURCE AMSilk
Master Franchise Owner For Leading Commercial Cleaning Leader

SANTA ANA, Calif., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Anago Cleaning Systems, an industry-leading commercial cleaning franchise with over 1,700 Regional and Unit Franchises throughout the U.S. and Canada, announced its Orange County Master Franchise owner, Deepak Sinha, expanded his operations into South Los Angeles County. Deepak's success in Orange County fuels this expansion since taking ownership of the territory in 2019. Since then, Deepak has grown and developed his franchise operations, paving the pathway for small business ownership for many first-time entrepreneurs. The expansion includes territory from the Orange/LA County line to I-10 in Santa Monica.

"I have thoroughly enjoyed establishing Anago of Orange County as a leading commercial cleaning franchise over the last three years," said Sinha. "I knew coming in that this was a top cleaning franchising company, and my plans to expand to South LA is an exciting endeavor. I aim to take what we've built and accomplished in Orange County to more people and businesses. With a proven model as my foundation, I look forward to helping others realize small business ownership. "We're very proud of what Deepak has accomplished in Orange County since joining Anago in 2019," said Adam Povlitz, CEO & President of Anago Cleaning Systems. "Deepak has mastered the skills and experience necessary to successfully establish and operate his franchise business and grow into new areas where competition is fierce, but demand is high - no small feat for a vast territory like Southern California.

Sinha, an alumnus of St. Stephen's College in New Dehli, India, and the Indian Institute of Management, has been in the corporate world for 25 years, including stints in sales with IBM, Accenture, and DuPont India. A nearly twenty-year resident of Orange County and serial entrepreneur, Sinha emphasizes businesses with a community focus by investing in people. In addition to the food and beverage industry, Sinha launched a Montessori school to help families and children with better access to quality education.

"I have thoroughly enjoyed establishing Anago of Orange County as a leading commercial cleaning franchise over the last three years," said Sinha. "I knew coming in that this was a top cleaning franchising company, and my plans to expand to South LA is an exciting endeavor. I aim to take what we've built and accomplished in Orange County to more people and businesses. With a proven model as my foundation, I look forward to helping others realize small business ownership while increasing my involvement in nonprofit, community impact work."

Sinha is deeply involved in his community and hopes to expand his philanthropic work into South LA County. Since establishing Anago operations in Orange County, Sinha has become active in the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce and recently was elected to its Board of Directors. He's passionate about his community and works with several local nonprofits geared to community impact, including the Rotary Club and the Passkeys Foundation, dedicated to opening pathways and creating influence for good.

"We're very proud of what Deepak has accomplished in Orange County since joining Anago in 2019," said Adam Povlitz, CEO & President of Anago Cleaning Systems. "Deepak has mastered the skills and experience necessary to successfully establish and operate his franchise business and grow into new areas where competition is fierce, but demand is high  no small feat for a vast territory like Southern California. We're excited to see Deepak continue our formula for success, expanding into LA County, and proud of the philanthropic attitude of giving back to his community to reach more people."

Anago's Success Built on Value, Strong Ethics

Because of this strong business ethic, history of growth, and business-friendly franchise program, Anago is consistently recognized by industry peers, including its regular inclusion within Entrepreneur's suite of ranking systems. Anago has earned top positions for several years in all the magazine's central ranking systems. These include Fastest Growing Franchise, Top-Ranked Franchises Under $50K, Top Home-Based Franchise, and Top Global Franchise. Anago Cleaning Systems' continued inclusion within these rankings demonstrates the brand's rising popularity with franchisees and clients.

"Anago Cleaning Systems is a pioneer of the Master Franchise system, offering successful mid-career professionals to operate their regional franchises while allowing small business owners to invest in their success," added Povlitz. "Both levels focus on running their business while we provide the assistance, technologies, and critical marketing tools to grow. We expect continued growth and expansion into 2023 and beyond as an industry."

To learn more about Anago's expansion into Southern LA County, please contact Deepak at [email protected]. To explore Master Franchise opportunities with Anago, contact Adam Yazejian, Director of Master Franchise Sales, at 800-213-5857 or visit www.AnagoMasters.com.

About Anago Cleaning Systems

Anago Cleaning Systems is an international commercial cleaning franchise brand. Founded in 1989, Anago has set the worldwide standard in business support and structure for local and regional companies to provide unparalleled cleaning services to businesses. Utilizing the Master Franchise System, Anago supports over 45+ Master Franchisees and 1,700 Unit Franchisees. Anago was ranked #34 overall by Entrepreneur magazine in its latest Franchise 500 ranking. For further information, visit www.AnagoCleaning.com.

Press Contact: Perry Athanason/TopFireMedia/[email protected]/917-319-2126.

SOURCE Anago Cleaning Systems
IRVINE, Calif., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Animal Dermatology Group, Inc. ("ADG"), recently welcomed three new veterinary dermatology specialists to their medical team that now totals over 60 board certified veterinary dermatologists, dermatology associates and dermatology residents throughout the United States. These new specialists, all members of the American College of Veterinary Dermatology (ACVD), underscore ADG's commitment to leadership in education, research and the clinical practice of veterinary dermatology.

Dr. Alison Diesel, Diplomate, ACVD, joined ADG at Animal Dermatology Clinic  Austin, Texas. Dr. Diesel received her veterinary degree from Kansas State University and completed her dermatology residency at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Until recently, she was Clinical Associate Professor for Dermatology at the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences.

ADG has doubled its U.S. medical team this year and added specialty practices in the northeast, southeast and Texas. Tweet this

Dr. Jackie Watson, Diplomate, ACVD, is ADG's newest veterinary dermatologist at Animal Dermatology Clinic  Greenville, South Carolina. Dr. Watson earned her veterinary degree at the University of Minnesota before completing her dermatology residency at the University of Tennessee. She lectures widely throughout the US and has published extensively in veterinary medical journals on topics related to veterinary dermatology.

Dr. Allison Inga, Diplomate, ACVD, joined the care team at Animal Dermatology Clinic  Wayne, New Jersey. A New York native, Dr. Inga graduated from St. George's University School of Veterinary Medicine and was in general practice and emergency medicine before undertaking her 3-year dermatology residency and achieving board certification with the ACVD in 2020.

"We are proud to welcome Drs. Diesel, Watson and Inga to the ADG medical team," said Dr. Rusty Muse, ADG's Medical Director. "Their clinical expertise and passion for patient care align perfectly with our commitment to the pets we treat and pet parents we support."

2022 has been an exciting year for ADG. ADG has doubled its U.S. medical team and expanded pet care reach by adding specialty practices throughout the east coast (NY, NJ, NC, SC, FL) as well as Texas.

About Animal Dermatology Group

Animal Dermatology Group is the largest veterinary dermatology business in the U.S., providing the highest quality care to pets with acute and chronic skin conditions. ADG has over 60 veterinarians supporting more than 40 primary and satellite locations where its specialists are actively involved in providing clinical care, research and academic training. For more information, please visit www.animaldermatology.com.

SOURCE Animal Dermatology Clinic Management Group, Inc.
NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- LILYSILK, the world's leading silk brand with a mission to inspire people to live spectacular, sustainable lives, was once again Anne Hathaway's clothing of choice with the Hollywood star this time favoring the LILYSILK X Mika Ninagawa Exclusive Lily Chrysanthemum Silk Shirt in a recent interview. Alongside co-star Jeremy Strong, the pair talked with Will Reeve on ABC News ahead of their new movie Armageddon Time.

Anne Hathaway Shines Spectacularly in LILYSILK Once Again in Interviews for Her Movie Armageddon Time

A clear fan of LILYSILK, Anne was earlier this year spotted in LILYSILK's Timeless Mei Silk Knit Polo when leaving the Martinez Hotel and later accessorizing with a stunning Rectangular Silk Lily Scarf from LILYSILK during the 75th Cannes Film Festival this May.

The flirtatious and bright LILYSILK shirt is the most exclusive design among the brand-new Mika Ninagawa Crossover Collection and looks just as well unbuttoned with a silk cami underneath for a relaxed weekend brunch look or buttoned and tucked into a flowy skirt for a colorful office ensemble.

In the ABC News interview, they talked about Armageddon Time being about the "strength of family and the generational pursuit of the American dream," a concept close to LILYSILK's key belief that people should "Live Spectacularly." The iconic silk brand hopes that customers globally can be responsible for themselves, everyone around them, the environment, and most importantly, to live a wonderful life.

"It is a huge honor to see LILYSILK on our beloved Anne Hathaway again," says David Wang, LILYSILK CEO. "We've branched out with our LILYSILK X Mika Ninagawa Collection and we're so glad that more people will get to see our vivacious celebration of flowers plus silk."

About LILYSILK

LILYSILK is driven by its care for its customers, the planet and one another. LILYSILK seeks to inspire people to live spectacularlyand the stars agree. Recently, several high-profile celebrities including Emily Ratajkowski, Julianne Moore, Viola Davis, Nina Dobrev, and Anne Hathaway, have been spotted wearing LILYSILK and the company has regularly graced the pages of numerous top media outlets with VOGUE, ELLE, Marie Claire, Harper's Bazaar, Glamour, People, InStyle, and Cosmopolitan all inspiring readers by highlighting spectacular  and affordable  pieces from the popular global silk brand.

For more information, visit http://www.lilysilk.com and follow @lilysilk on Instagram and @Lilysilk on Facebook.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1933344/image1.jpg

SOURCE LILYSILK
NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The arak market will be driven by factors such as the increasing number of distilleries and growth in exports of arak. Distilleries are increasing their footprint in North America due to the increase in demand for arak. For instance, in January 2020, Rechmaya Distillery, a Lebanon-based spirit distillery, announced to increase in their export of spirits, including arak, to the US. Moreover, a significant rise in the per capita income in developed and developing economies is increasing the demand for premium spirits among consumers. Thus, the growing demand for arak has led to an increase in the number of craft distillers globally, which will drive market growth during the forecast period.

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Arak Market 2022-2026

The arak market size is expected to grow by USD 2.63 billion from 2021 to 2026. In addition, the growth momentum of the market will accelerate at a CAGR of 3.32% during the forecast period, according to Technavio.

Get a comprehensive report summary that describes the market size and forecast along with research methodology. The FREE sample report is available in PDF format

Arak Market: Market Trend

Growing online sales is one of the key arak market trends contributing to the market growth. The Internet has become an important tool for sales and marketing activities in the alcoholic beverages industry. Moreover, online retailing has helped small businesses such as producers of arak to expose their brands to a larger consumer base. In addition, the use of e-commerce websites as a tool to engage consumers has increased. Vendors often organize various contests on their social media platforms and reward winners with gifts. Such initiatives help the vendors in enhancing consumer engagement. Meanwhile, during the outbreak of COVID-19, people and governments were focused on maintaining social distancing to contain the spread of the disease, which further boosted the sale of alcoholic beverages through online platforms. These factors are expected to have a positive impact on the market growth during the forecast period.

Technavio has identified key trends, drivers, and challenges in the market, which will help vendors improve their strategies to stay ahead of their competitors. View our FREE PDF Sample Report

Arak Market: Segmentation Analysis

This report segments the arak market by raw material (grapes, aniseed, and others), and geography (Middle East and Africa, North America, Europe, APAC, and South America).

Subscribe to our "Basic Plan" billed annually at USD 5000 that enables you to download 5 reports and view 100 reports every month

47% of the market's growth will originate from Middle East and Africa during the forecast period. Lebanon and Jordan are the key markets for the arak market in Middle East and Africa. The increase in the number of local distillers and the increasing consumption of anise drinks will facilitate the arak market growth in Middle East and Africa over the forecast period. Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Syria are the major contributors to the regional arak market. Arak consumption is mostly concentrated in the Middle East and is used in various cocktail drinks in Lebanon, Jordan, and other countries of the Middle East.

Learn about the contribution of each segment summarized in concise infographics and thorough descriptions. Buy Now for Segment Analysis

Related Reports:

Alcoholic Drinks Market by Type and Geography  Forecast and Analysis 2021-2025: The alcoholic drinks market share is expected to increase by USD 23.13 billion L from 2020 to 2025.

Commercial Coffee Brewer Market by Product and Geography  Forecast and Analysis 2021-2025: The commercial coffee brewer market share is expected to increase by USD 121.56 million from 2020 to 2025.

Arak Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 3.32% Market growth 2022-2026 USD 2.63 billion Market structure Concentrated YoY growth (%) 3.12 Regional analysis Middle East and Africa, North America, Europe, APAC, and South America Performing market contribution Middle East and Africa at 47% Key consumer countries US, Canada, Lebanon, Jordan, and Japan Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled Chateau Ksara, Domaine des Tourelles, El Massaya, Haddad Distilleries, Kawar Arak, Lebanese Arak Corp., Lebanese Fine Wines Ltd., LibanonWeine, and Zumot Distilleries Market Dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and future consumer dynamics, and market condition analysis for the forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Table of Contents:

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market Overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Raw Material



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 09: Parent market



Exhibit 10: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market Definition

Exhibit 11: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 12: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2021

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2021-2026

Exhibit 13: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 14: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 15: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 16: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

4 Five Forces Analysis

4.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 17: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2021 and 2026

4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 18: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2021 and 2026

4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 19: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 20: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 21: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 22: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.7 Market condition

Exhibit 23: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2021 and 2026

5 Market Segmentation by Raw Material

5.1 Market segments

Exhibit 24: Chart on Raw Material - Market share 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 25: Data Table on Raw Material - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

5.2 Comparison by Raw Material

Exhibit 26: Chart on Comparison by Raw Material



Exhibit 27: Data Table on Comparison by Raw Material

5.3 Grapes - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 28: Chart on Grapes - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 29: Data Table on Grapes - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 30: Chart on Grapes - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Grapes - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 Aniseed - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 32: Chart on Aniseed - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Aniseed - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 34: Chart on Aniseed - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Aniseed - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 36: Chart on Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 38: Chart on Others - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Others - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.6 Market opportunity by Raw Material

Exhibit 40: Market opportunity by Raw Material ($ million)

6 Customer Landscape

6.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 41: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

7 Geographic Landscape

7.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 42: Chart on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)

7.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 44: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Geographic comparison

7.3 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 46: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 47: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 48: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 49: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.4 North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 50: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 51: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 52: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 53: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.5 Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 54: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 55: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 56: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 57: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.6 APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 58: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 59: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 60: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 61: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.7 South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 62: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 63: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 64: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 65: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.8 Lebanon - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 66: Chart on Lebanon - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 67: Data Table on Lebanon - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 68: Chart on Lebanon - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 69: Data Table on Lebanon - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.9 US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 70: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 71: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 72: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 73: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.10 Jordan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 74: Chart on Jordan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 75: Data Table on Jordan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 76: Chart on Jordan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 77: Data Table on Jordan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.11 Canada - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 78: Chart on Canada - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 79: Data Table on Canada - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 80: Chart on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 81: Data Table on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.12 Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 82: Chart on Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 83: Data Table on Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 84: Chart on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 85: Data Table on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 86: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

8 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

8.1 Market drivers

8.2 Market challenges

8.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 87: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2021 and 2026

8.4 Market trends

9 Vendor Landscape

9.1 Overview

9.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 88: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

9.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 89: Overview on factors of disruption

9.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 90: Impact of key risks on business

10 Vendor Analysis

10.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 91: Vendors covered

10.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 92: Matrix on vendor position and classification

10.3 Chateau Ksara

Exhibit 93: Chateau Ksara - Overview



Exhibit 94: Chateau Ksara - Product / Service



Exhibit 95: Chateau Ksara - Key offerings

10.4 Domaine des Tourelles

Exhibit 96: Domaine des Tourelles - Overview



Exhibit 97: Domaine des Tourelles - Product / Service



Exhibit 98: Domaine des Tourelles - Key offerings

10.5 El Massaya

Exhibit 99: El Massaya - Overview



Exhibit 100: El Massaya - Product / Service



Exhibit 101: El Massaya - Key offerings

10.6 Haddad Distilleries

Exhibit 102: Haddad Distilleries - Overview



Exhibit 103: Haddad Distilleries - Product / Service



Exhibit 104: Haddad Distilleries - Key offerings

10.7 Kawar Arak

Exhibit 105: Kawar Arak - Overview



Exhibit 106: Kawar Arak - Product / Service



Exhibit 107: Kawar Arak - Key offerings

10.8 Lebanese Arak Corp.

Exhibit 108: Lebanese Arak Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 109: Lebanese Arak Corp. - Key offerings

10.9 Lebanese Fine Wines Ltd.

Exhibit 110: Lebanese Fine Wines Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 111: Lebanese Fine Wines Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 112: Lebanese Fine Wines Ltd. - Key offerings

10.10 LibanonWeine

Exhibit 113: LibanonWeine - Overview



Exhibit 114: LibanonWeine - Product / Service



Exhibit 115: LibanonWeine - Key offerings

10.11 Zumot Distilleries

Exhibit 116: Zumot Distilleries - Overview



Exhibit 117: Zumot Distilleries - Product / Service



Exhibit 118: Zumot Distilleries - Key offerings

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 119: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 120: Exclusions checklist

11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 121: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 122: Research methodology



Exhibit 123: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 124: Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 125: List of abbreviations

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provide actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions.

With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contacts

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
Schneider Electric executives attending COP27 to showcase how the company is addressing energy and climate crises

BOSTON, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, today called for accelerated action for an equitable transition to net-zero, driven by collaborative action across the private and public sectors.

"The climate and energy crises, and the often-unequal economic pain they're inflicting around the globe, are far too big for any of us to tackle alone," said Gwenaelle Avice-Huet, Schneider Electric's Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer. "What we need is faster action, across all fronts, and across all facets and layers of business, government and society  a systemic and collaborative approach that spans both big-picture global initiatives and on-the-ground local action."

The company's call to action comes in the run-up to the COP27 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Egypt on November 6-18th, which Gwenaelle Avice-Huet and other senior Schneider Electric executives will attend. Confirmed events with Schneider Electric participants include the following:

Wednesday, November 9 :

Powering Forward to Address Climate Risk, Build Resilience: a panel, hosted by the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, will focus on how climate-smart investments into critical infrastructure, including energy systems, technologies, supply chains, the built environment, are a "win-win" proposition.

a panel, hosted by the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, will focus on how climate-smart investments into critical infrastructure, including energy systems, technologies, supply chains, the built environment, are a "win-win" proposition. Spokesperson: Michael Lotfy , Senior Vice President, Power Products.

, Senior Vice President, Power Products.

Location: International Chamber of Commerce Pavilion, P124, Blue Zone.

International Chamber of Commerce Pavilion, P124, Blue Zone.

Time: 12  1 p.m. EET

Friday, November 11 :

One Year Later: How the Energize Program is Acting on Supply Chain Emissions: a discussion on the progress of the Energize program, a first-of-its-kind initiative to reduce the emissions of the global pharmaceutical supply chain.

a discussion on the progress of the Energize program, a first-of-its-kind initiative to reduce the emissions of the global pharmaceutical supply chain. Spokesperson: John Powers , Vice President, Global Renewables.

, Vice President, Global Renewables.

Location: Schneider Electric Sustainability Hub, Central Park. Al Rewaysat Rd.

Schneider Electric Sustainability Hub, Central Park. Al Rewaysat Rd.

Time: 8  9 a.m. EET

Innovation to Serve Enhanced Circularity: a discussion on the role of transformative digital solutions in enhancing circularity.

a discussion on the role of transformative digital solutions in enhancing circularity. Spokesperson: Gwenaelle Avice-Huet, Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer.

Gwenaelle Avice-Huet, Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer.

Location: UN Climate Change Global Innovation Hub Pavilion, Blue Zone.

UN Climate Change Global Innovation Hub Pavilion, Blue Zone.

Time: 4  5 p.m. EET

Described by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as a "litmus test" of how serious governments are about the growing toll that climate change is taking on the most vulnerable countries, COP27 takes place against a backdrop of mounting climate-linked disasters and a painfully disruptive global energy crisis.

During COP27, Schneider Electric executives will participate in a series of panels and meet decisionmakers across business, government and civil society, to help advise on of the sometimes still-underappreciated solutions and approaches that can help deliver urgently needed carbon-reduction action. In-depth analysis from the Schneider Electric Sustainability Research Institute, like the Back to 2050 report and quantitative studies on decarbonization of the building sector for example, is helping to underline the big role that the demand-side of the energy equation, and the combination of electrification and digitization, can play in accelerating the energy transition.

A widely recognized champion of decarbonization and sustainability and a founding member of the First Movers Coalition announced at COP26, Schneider Electric is a firm believer in the need for companies to go beyond just "doing business," and to work with multiple stakeholders and partner to generate a positive long-term impact on the planet and society.

Schneider's Access to Energy program, for example, is particularly relevant at the COP27 setting, as it brings affordable renewable power solutions and education to rural and remote communities in emerging countries in Africa and elsewhere.

With more than 17,000 U.S. employees and over 128,000 worldwide, Schneider Electric products are found in four out of 10 American homes, 1 million buildings and 40 percent of hospitals around the world. The company's tools and technology make the places we live and work smarter, safer, and healthier for people and the planet. Notably, Schneider Electric is the largest consultant on renewable energy purchasing in the U.S. and the leading builder of microgrids, which make electrical power systems more resilient, sustainable and efficient. The company is also a leader in smart manufacturing, and its Lexington, KY factory is recognized by the World Economic Forum as a Sustainability Lighthouse, one of only three worldwide.

About Schneider Electric

Schneider's purpose is to empower all to make the most of our energy and resources, bridging progress and sustainability for all. We call this Life Is On.

Our mission is to be your digital partner for Sustainability and Efficiency.

We drive digital transformation by integrating world-leading process and energy technologies, end-point to cloud connecting products, controls, software and services, across the entire lifecycle, enabling integrated company management, for homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure and industries.

We are the most local of global companies. We are advocates of open standards and partnership ecosystems that are passionate about our shared Meaningful Purpose, Inclusive and Empowered values.

www.se.com

Discover Life Is On

Follow us on:

Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram | Blog

Discover the newest perspectives shaping sustainability, electricity 4.0, and next generation automation on Schneider Electric Insights

Hashtags: #SchneiderElectric #ImpactCompany #COP27

Related resources:

SOURCE Schneider Electric
LISBON, Portugal, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at Web Summit, A.Team the world's first team formation platformannounced the launch of a new CxO Network to serve as product visionaries, strategic advisors, and team leaders for its growing client roster of market-leading startups, growth stage, and enterprise companies. The network features industry luminaries such as former Walmart Chief Product Officer Meng Chee and former US Air Force CTO Jen Snow, as well as renowned product leaders like Jared Cocken and Martin Strutz.

A.Team 's platform is home to a broader network of over 7,000 top engineers, product managers, designers, and data scientists. These independent workers come together as Ocean's-11-style teams on its platform to tackle high-order product initiatives.

As A.Team built teams for over 300 companies over the past two years, it noticed a common pattern amongst its most successful initiatives. "What we realized is that great teams need that 'George Clooney' element," explained Raphael Ouzan, A.Team's Co-Founder and CEO. "They had a CxO-level expert who served as the strategic lead to unlock the vision and mission, making it much easier to bring the right team together and build incredible products."

A "team spin" on the Fractional CxO

Fractional CxOs have exploded in popularity in the remote work age, as startups and enterprises alike look to infuse their growth initiatives with c-suite-level expertise. Too often, though, the impact of fractional CxOs is limited to a Powerpoint deck that never gets acted on. A.Team's CxO Network can not only set the strategic visionit can deploy an expert team in under 10 days to bring that vision to life.

At launch, the CxO network is a small, exclusive group of 20 world-class leaders that were drawn to A.Team's vision for reshaping the future of work through cloud-based product teams that accelerate the way companies innovate and develop transformative products. Some members of the CxO Networklike Chee and Snowspecialize as strategic advisors. Others, like Cocken and Strutz, also serve as functional leaders, building and leading the team hands-on.

Take Blank Street Coffee, the tech-enabled coffee shop: A.Team brought in a product leader, Martin Strutzfounder of and.co , later acquired by Fiverrto craft the vision for a sophisticated order-ahead app that would allow Blank Street to deliver high-end coffee at a fraction of the cost, thanks to the operational efficiency the app created. Strutz then built out a full team to bring that vision to life  powering Blank Street's rapid expansion from a single Williamsburg-based coffee cart to a beloved franchise with 60 locations across New York, Boston, Washington D.C. and London.

"Working with an expert product leader like Martin transformed our roadmap and vision," said Issam Freiha, co-founder of Blank Street. "And then we were able to execute on that vision with our A.Team so quickly. Our A.Team is not a group of 3rd-party contractors. They are core members of our team and family, adding a level of expertise better than we could have found anywhere else."

This model has also proved extremely powerful for enterprise companies pursuing digital transformation initiatives. Global education company McGraw Hill came to A.Team with a mission to take studying into the social media era. A.Team brought in Cocken, a renowned product designer, to help build the initial prototype of its "TikTok for studying" app before building out an A.Team of 27 to help build and launch the full product. That app, SHARPEN , launched this past month with great fanfare, helping transform how thousands of students study.

"From the start, A.Team enabled us to prototype and iterate more efficiently," said Justin Singh, McGraw Hill's Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer. "Then ultimately, at the product development stage, they gave us the agility to quickly scale up and down with the resources needed to get to market sooner."

To learn more about A.Team's new offering, head to a.team/cxo

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE A.Team
The report also describes ransomware gangs innovating to ensure better results, businesses and governments targeted with DDoS attacks, and the state of mobile malware

TEMPE, Ariz. and PRAGUE, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Avast, a global leader in digital security and privacy, today released its Q3/2022 Threat Report summarizing the cyber threat landscape derived from Avast's telemetry data and experts' insights. Avast's data shows an increase in PC adware activity at the end of September this year. Avast also protected 370% more users from Raccoon Stealer, an information stealer, in Q3/2022 than in the previous quarter. Ransomware attacks increased in some markets such as Canada, Spain, and Germany, but slightly declined at a global level. The chances of mobile users encountering a banking trojan increased by 7% quarter-on-quarter, despite Europol dismantling the Flubot group. Most malicious activities remained stable or declined.

"An interesting trend we observed this quarter was cyber gangs actively crowdsourcing and paying people to support their criminal activities, including the improvement, marketing and distribution of their malware," said Jakub Kroustek, Avast Malware Research Director. "In terms of attacks, we noticed an uptick in DealPly adware towards the end of Q3/2022, a massive spike in Raccoon Stealer infection attempts, increased MyKings botnet activity, and a new botnet called Pitraix, written in Go, gaining a bit of traction. Overall, the volume of cyber attacks remained high, despite cybercriminals appearing to relax a bit over the summer months."

Ransomware Attacks Focusing on Data Exfiltration

The risk to Canadians encountering ransomware this quarter increased by 16% compared to Q2/2022. In Germany and Spain, people were 12% more likely to encounter ransomware. However, at a global level, people faced a slightly lower risk of ransomware attacks quarter-on-quarter.

"Ransomware strains increasingly use complicated methods of partial encryption, for example, only encrypting the beginning or end of a file, or blocks of files, to rapidly encrypt files, to avoid user detection," explained Kroustek. "Furthermore, ransomware gangs are now exfiltrating data from enterprises, threatening to publish sensitive files, and then deleting or corrupting the files rather than encrypting them. We also observed an interesting series of events involving the LockBit ransomware group. The events include the group offering bug bounties to those who discover vulnerabilities or deliver ideas to the group, rewards for people tattooing their logo onto their bodies, group members retaliating and leaking code, and a back and forth between the gang and a security company called Entrust."

Businesses and Governments Targeted by Hacking and APT Groups

Pro-Russian group, NoName057(16), targeted companies such as banks and news agencies, and governments supporting Ukraine throughout Q3/2022. The group uses a botnet of computers infected with Bobik malware to perform retaliatory DDoS attacks. According to Avast's observations, the group has a 40% success rate, and about 20% of the attacks they claim responsibility for cannot be accounted for in their configuration files. In August, the group announced a new project called DDOSIA, and created a new, private Telegram group with more than 700 members. The DDOSIA project allows anyone on the internet to download a binary through which they can carry out DDoS attacks on sites determined by NoName057(16). In return, they are rewarded cryptocurrencies.

The Gamaredon APT group also targeted Ukraine in Q3/2022, attacking military and government institutions, and foreign embassies. The group introduced new tools to their toolset, including file exfiltration tools, various droppers, and new ways of distributing payloads and IPs of C&C servers.

LuckyMouse, a well-known Chinese-speaking threat group, targeted several government agencies in the United Arab Emirates, Taiwan, and the Philippines. Avast found backdoors on infected computers, password stealers for Chrome, and open-source tools, like BadPotato, which is used for privilege escalation. The attackers likely infected devices through a compromised server.

Other groups Avast researchers are tracking are the Donot Team, also known as APT-C-35, and Transparent Tribe, also known as APT36. The Donot Team was most active in Pakistan in Q3/2022. Avast discovered DLL modules from yty's framework on several infected devices. Transparent Tribe, believed to be a Pakistani group, continued to attack victims in India and Afghanistan, infecting PCs using spear-phishing and Office documents with malicious VBA macros. Avast researchers identified that the executables belong to the CrimsonRAT strain, Transparent Tribe's custom malware used to access infected networks.

Rise in DealPly, Racoon Stealer, and MyKings

DealPly, adware installed by other malware, peaked at the end of September 2022. The adware is a Chrome extension capable of modifying new pages within the browser and can replace newly-opened tabs, read browser history, change bookmarks, and manage apps, extensions, and themes in the browser. These capabilities allow the cybercriminals behind the extension to modify search results and replace them with ads, read passwords and credit card details stored in the browser and read what users enter in forms (as well as what they filled in in the past).

Raccoon Stealer, an information stealer capable of stealing data and downloading and executing additional malware, made a big comeback in Q3/2022. Avast protected 370% more users from the stealer during this quarter.

"Raccoon Stealer spreads when users attempt to download 'cracked' versions of software like Adobe Photoshop, Filmora Video Editor, and uTorrent Pro," explained Kroustek. "People often ignore or turn off antivirus shields when attempting to download files like cracked software versions, putting themselves at risk of downloading malware like Raccoon Stealer. Malware is often capable of downloading additional malicious programs, which is how DealPly is spread, for example. Therefore, users must install antivirus software and leave protections on at all times."

While botnet activity stabilized in Q3/2022, MyKings botnet activity increased. MyKings is a botnet focused on stealing cryptocurrencies, active since 2016.

Mobile Malware

Adware remains the dominant mobile threat, with adware like HiddenAds and FakeAdBlockers prevailing. Avast protected the largest number of people from adware in Brazil, India, Argentina, and Mexico.

Despite Europol's recent disbanding of Flubot, the global risk of falling victim to a banking trojan went up by 7% in Q3/2022 compared to Q2/2022. Banking trojans are mainly spread via SMS phishing but can also spread via dropper malware.

TrojanSMS, or premium SMS scams, continue to target mobile users, with SMSFactory and Darkherring leading in the category, while UltimaSMS and Grifthorse retired. SMSFactory and Darkherring are distributed via pop-ups, malvertising, and fake app stores. In contrast, UltimaSMS and Grifthorse were distributed on the Google Play Store, but not since Google removed them from the Store.

The Avast Q3/2022 Threat Report can be found on the Decoded blog:

https://decoded.avast.io/threatresearch/avast-q3-2022-threat-report/

About Avast:

Avast , a brand of NortonLifeLock, is a global leader in digital security and privacy, headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic. With over 435 million users online, Avast offers products under the Avast and AVG brands that protect people from threats on the internet and the evolving IoT threat landscape. The company's threat detection network is among the most advanced in the world, using machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies to detect and stop threats in real time. Avast digital security products for Mobile, PC or Mac are top-ranked and certified by VB100, AV-Comparatives, AV-Test, SE Labs and others. Avast is a member of Coalition Against Stalkerware, No More Ransom, and the Internet Watch Foundation. Visit: www.avast.com .

Keep in touch with Avast:

For security and privacy insights, visit the Avast blog: https://blog.avast.com/

For in-depth technical analysis of threats, visit the Avast Decoded blog: https://decoded.avast.io/

For handy guides, advice and tips, visit Avast Academy: https://www.avast.com/c-academy

Follow us on Twitter: @Avast

Join our LinkedIn community: https://www.linkedin.com/company/avast

Visit our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/avast

Media contact:

[email protected]

SOURCE Avast Software, Inc.
LINDON, Utah, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- BambooHR , the industry's leading cloud-hosted software provider dedicated to powering the strategic evolution of human resources, today announced it is launching its first ever HR Experience Maker Awards to recognize HR professionals who stand out in their efforts to build, grow, support and lead their organizations into the future.

"We believe the HR Experience Maker Awards will give well-deserved recognition to those business partners, workplace caretakers, problem solvers, people nurturers, and employee advocates you work alongside every day," says Anita Grantham, head of HR at BambooHR. "We encourage you to find ways to celebrate your own organization's HR hero!"

Nominations for the six HR Experience Maker Award categories are open until December 2, 2022. Winners will receive a HR Experience Maker virtual badge to display as proof of their achievement, plus a $2,000 vacation voucher mirroring the company's annual Paid Paid Vacation stipend for employees.

Who to Nominate:

Any HR professional, from recruiters to chief people officers, who is outstanding in one of the six Experience Maker categories below.

How to Nominate:

Visit https://www.bamboohr.com/about-bamboohr/hr-experience-maker-awards to nominate your favorite HR professional by December 2, 2022 .

Award Categories:

Employee Experience: for someone who is driving an exceptional employee experience in unique ways.

for someone who is driving an exceptional employee experience in unique ways. Business Growth: for flawlessly hiring and onboarding at speed to handle rapid business growth.

onboarding Heart & Soul: for those who are building better working relationships, providing excellent emotional support, and displaying courageous communication.

Problem Solving: in recognition for tackling challenging problems and devising creative solutions.

Strategic Leadership: to an HR pro whose close partnership with business leaders makes them a critical strategic asset.

Career Growth/Advocate: for showing uncommon concern about the growth of employees and being uniquely tuned into growth opportunities.

The HR Experience Maker Awards program will be formally launched at BambooHR's eighth-annual HR Virtual Summit (November 2-3, 2022). The two-day event, which hosts over 45,000 HR professionals across the globe every year, is designed to provide the HR industry with the latest insights from some of the nation's foremost authors, industry experts, and thought leaders. Conference tracks will provide specific takeaways core to the work of HR, like compensation & benefits, culture & values, career growth, well being, and employee experience. HR Virtual Summit will also have sessions tailored to the HR newcomer.

About BambooHR

BambooHR is the world's leading HR and payroll platform for growing businesses. We're on a mission to empower the three million employees across more than 30,000 organizations by giving them intuitive HR tools, insights, and support to curate an exceptional employee experience. The company was founded in 2008 by Ben Peterson and Ryan Sanders, who created a values-focused, award-winning internal culture that then provided inspiration for BambooHR's product and features. BambooHR customers include Asana, Foursquare, Stance, Change.org and Postmates. To find out more, visit bamboohr.com , follow @bamboohr or come join 30,000 other HR change agents at our annual HR Virtual Summit.

SOURCE Bamboo HR LLC
James Corrigan, former SimCorp and SunGard Systems Executive, joins as President of Beacon Platform.

NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Beacon Platform, Inc , the leading cloud-native platform for innovation in capital markets, asset management, and risk analytics, is adding depth and breadth to its executive team to support the company's revenue growth and service expansion. James Corrigan joins Beacon as the first company president.

James Corrigan, President of Beacon Platform, Inc.

Mr. Corrigan will lead Beacon's Go-To-Market divisions as they ramp up their global expansion. Corrigan has more than 20 years of experience in financial services technology. He joins Beacon from SimCorp, where he spent eight years serving as Executive Vice President & Managing Director, overseeing all of SimCorp's operations in North America. Mr. Corrigan was also a member of SimCorp's global management committee, where he focused on global operations, strategy, and the deployment of enterprise initiatives that drove SimCorp to become a leading buy-side SaaS investment management solutions provider. Prior to SimCorp, he spent seven years as Executive Vice President within SunGard's Global Trading business, running the Americas P&L for a $500M Global Trading & Risk software business.

"I am excited to be joining Beacon at this stage in its development where I can leverage my experience to help the team continue to transform the trading and risk landscape by offering the industry cloud-based solutions that improve efficiency and lower the time to market for new trading strategies." said James Corrigan. "The Beacon team and its executive committee have built a company and platform that are enabling and accelerating the digital transformation of the financial services industry."

"Jamie is a well accomplished fintech leader who understands the complexities of front office and back office technologies operating in a mission critical financial systems environment," said Beacon CEO Kirat Singh. "His appointment comes as we scale our customer base and client services to meet the unique demands in constantly evolving marketplaces."

ABOUT BEACON PLATFORM

Beacon Platform ushers in the future of financial markets with secure and scalable quant technology, elastic cloud infrastructure, and front-office applications. Its unique integrated development environment and web application framework make developing fintech applications faster and accessible to clients beyond the largest investment banks. Bringing decades of collective experience developing trading and risk management systems for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan Chase, and Goldman Sachs, Beacon Platform offers its clients the robustness of these powerful tools with an unprecedented new layer of flexibility and security. To learn more about Beacon's next-generation platform for enterprise-scale analytics, trading, and risk management, visit at www.beacon.io .

Media Contact

Consort Partners for Beacon Platform

[email protected]

Related Links

https://www.beacon.io

SOURCE Beacon Platform, Inc.
ISTANBUL, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Beko, one of the leading home appliances brands in Europe*, is delighted to announce its integration with Youreko, an energy efficiency tool that helps consumers choose sustainably and understand the financial running costs when choosing new appliances.

Akn Garzanl (CMO, Arcelik)

The integration of the Youreko tool on Beko's website, displays information to consumers on how energy efficient Beko's appliances are when compared with traditional models and how much money the consumers could save in the long run with manufacturer's appliances. The tool supplements the listings of Beko's washing machines, washer dryers, tumble dryers, dishwashers, refrigerators and freezers.

Currently operational on the Beko UK website, the Youreko partnership will be further implemented on Beko's websites in Romania and Poland, helping consumers across Europe to calculate their cost saving potential.

Resource efficiency is a key priority for Beko, particularly in the current economical and climate-conscious environment. This integration with Youreko is an extension of the brand's ongoing commitment to providing products for their consumers to encourage sustainable living.

The tool helps consumers on Beko's websites by providing more information on the energy consumption and financial cost of running a particular appliance. Utilising an easy-to-read gold, silver or bronze tiered rating system, the tool signals where money and energy can be conserved most, helping consumers make more informed buying decisions.

By integrating Youreko into its products, Beko is also able to make a smart-recommendation to the consumers based on a product's energy efficiency rating. This calculation is based upon a comparison against a more traditional, like-for-like model of the appliance.

Akin Garzanli, Chief Marketing Officer at Arcelik, of which Beko is one of their key brands commented, "At Beko, we appreciate that consumers want to be well-informed when deciding about a big purchase, especially household appliances which will last for a long time. Of course, given the current financial landscape, every penny saved, counts. We hope that with the integration of Youreko on our sites, we will help empower our consumers to make decisions with information that is relevant to them."

The Youreko Energy Savings Tool is available to use on the Beko UK website, with multiple products that help consumers enhance sustainable living at home.

Notes to Editors

About Beko:

Beko is the international home appliance brand of Arcelik, which is a multinational household appliances manufacturer that operates with 12 brands and employs over 45,000 people worldwide. It is one of the top three large home appliances brands in Europe* in the white goods sector.

Beko has been focusing on healthy living for years, raising awareness and developing products that make healthy living possible and convenient. Beko's brand mission is 'healthy living is only possible on a healthy planet'. Beko is committed to protecting the planet by designing and manufacturing energy-efficient products and investing in resource efficiency in production.

*Source Euromonitor International Limited; Large Appliances as per "Major Appliances" in Consumer Appliances 2022ed, retail volume, 2021 data. For more information, please visit www.beko.com

About Youreko:

Youreko's Energy Savings Tool presents the energy efficiency of products in financial terms on manufacturer and retailer websites. This allows people to understand the impact of energy efficiency on their wallet, helping them in their purchase journey.

Youreko's innovative approach to energy efficiency also provides manufacturers and retailers with an effective way to market their efficient products. Top products stand out clearly when people can see the real financial benefit of buying a more efficient appliance.

For more information visit: https://www.youreko.com

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1936299/youreko_logo_Logo.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1936298/Ak_n_Garzanl.jpg

SOURCE Beko
TROY, Mich., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The BetterInvesting Board of Directors has named two new members, Patricia Gamble-Moore, of Indianapolis, and Daniel G. Guerra, Jr., of Madison, Wisconsin, to each serve a four-year term on the Board. BetterInvesting is a national nonprofit investment education association based in Troy, Michigan.

Eve Lewis, of Milford, Ohio, a long-time Board member and most recently the vice chair, was term limited.

BetterInvesting, founded in 1951, has helped more than 5 million people from all walks of life learn how to improve their financial future. The association is based on the belief that anyone can become a successful lifelong stock investor by following sound, practical investing principles. BetterInvesting offers memberships both to individuals and investment clubs at www.betterinvesting.org.

Gamble-Moore is a senior vice president, market manager for PNC Community Development Banking in Indiana. She is responsible for developing relationships and growing community development loans, investments and services that meet the needs of low- and moderate-income communities.

"We are excited to have Pat and Daniel join us, each bringing years of diverse professional experience and community involvement to our board of directors" said NAIC/BetterInvesting Board of Directors Chair Cy Lynch.

Lynch continued, "Pat's extensive volunteer community involvement and professional focus on financial education of youth, seniors and atrisk populations will bring new perspectives to our efforts to increase our effectiveness in reaching varied demographic groups. Daniel's entrepreneurial spirit and focus on problem-solving will contribute to BetterInvesting's ability to assure that our services match the needs of prospective members of tomorrow."

Gamble-Moore brings to the BetterInvesting Board knowledge gained from 30 years of experience in banking, affordable housing, community economic development, nonprofit consulting and philanthropy. She is a vital member of her community and currently serves on numerous boards and committees, including as chair of board of Second Helpings of Indianapolis; vice chair of the board of New Hope of Indiana; secretary of the board of Volunteers of America Ohio & Indiana; chair of the board of Housing and Economic Concepts, Indianapolis Housing Trust Fund Advisory Committee; United Way of Central Indiana, Human Services Professional Renewal and Capital Funds Project committees; and the Ball State University Miller Leadership Academy Advisory Board.

She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Alpha Mu Omega Chapter and Impact 100. She is an active member of the I2K Ivy Investment Klub, serving as the portfolio manager.

Gamble-Moore received the 2021 Hamilton County (Indiana) Leadership Academy Impact Award, where she led the creation of its first DEI Committee. In 2020 she was named an "Indianapolis Business Journal" Woman of Influence. She also received Prosperity Indiana's Michael Carroll Community Economic Development Leadership Award in 2018.

In Madison, Wisconsin, Guerra is the founder of ArgusX, a software enabled stock trading company; Altus a training and compliance company for health care professionals; and SDMCentral, which develops tools for patients and doctors to make better care decision together. Guerra says his immigrant father's challenging health care journey fuels his passion for innovations for patients and the dedicated workers in clinics, hospitals, and other facilities.

Guerra has a long history of volunteering. He served as chairperson of the board of directors Madison's Community Development Authority from 2011 to 2019. This agency champions redevelopment efforts for the city and oversees the Section 8 federal housing program and the city's public housing program that assists 1,800 people.

He has also participated in national Hispanic efforts including a program at Stanford University Latino Entrepreneurship Program and a member of the national Latino Business Action Network.

In addition, Guerra currently is a member of the board of directors for the Latino Professional Association of Greater Madison, Inc.

Prior to starting Altus, his first company, he worked in the web technologies and software development industry.

For further information about BetterInvesting or to speak with Patricia Gamble-Moore and/or Daniel Guerra , contact Jan Jeffres at [email protected].

About BetterInvesting:

BetterInvesting, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit, investment education organization, has been empowering everyday Americans since 1951. Also known as the National Association of Investors (NAIC), we have helped more than 5 million people from all walks of life learn how to improve their financial future. BetterInvesting provides unbiased, in-depth investing education and powerful online stock analysis tools to create successful lifelong investors. BetterInvesting staff, along with a dedicated community of volunteers across America, teach the organization's principles and time-tested methodology to individuals and investment clubs. For more information about BetterInvesting, please visit www.betterinvesting.org

Follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook.

Contact: 877-275-6242

SOURCE National Association of Investors/BetterInvesting
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bitech Technologies Corporation (OTCQB: BTTC) (the "Company"), a green energy technology provider, today announces it has completed the FPGA (Field Programable Gate Array) design for its Intellisys-8 chip and is now proceeding with field testing. In parallel, the Company has initiated ASIC production initiatives for its Intellisys-8, a 5 nanometer ASIC chip for bitcoin mining and data centers, through partnerships in Vietnam.

The Bitech Intellisys-8 development achievements include the ASIC chip code and FPGA components that will be used to complete the next phase of ASIC production after the completion of testing and tape-out. With this ASIC, the Company's goal is to develop an energy efficient immersion-cooled bitcoin mining system that utilizes less than 50% of energy consumed by conventional air-cooled systems. These bitcoin mining systems currently make up over 90% of the global bitcoin mining fleet.

"This latest achievement of a 5 nanometer ASIC chip prototype from our Intellisys-8 project is a significant technological milestone that enhances our intellectual property portfolio," stated Roy Bao, Chief Technology Officer of the Company.

"We plan to hire qualified and talented ASIC engineers in Vietnam, one of the fastest growing countries in the burgeoning Southeast Asian region where the cost of intellectual labor will be our greatest advantage for the development of an emersion-cooled mining solution for larger mining operations," commented Dr. Benjamin Tran, CEO of the Company.

As a technology company, the Company constantly strives to expand its renewable energy technology portfolio via in-house R&D, licensing and acquisitions of innovative technologies around battery storage, flywheel energy, heat-to-energy, hydrogen power, and other renewable energy technologies to resolve the high cost of power in cryptocurrency mining, with a plan to expand to other industries outside of cryptocurrency mining in the future.

About Bitech Technologies Corporation

Bitech Technologies Corporation (OTCQB: BTTC), is a technology solution provider dedicated to providing a suite of green energy solutions with a focus on cryptocurrency mining, data centers, commercial and residential utility, electric vehicle infrastructure, and other renewable energy initiatives. Bitech offers its Evirontek Integrated Platform to resolve the exorbitantly high cost of electricity in cryptocurrency mining and related industries. Bitech innovates energy technologies through research and development, planned acquisitions of other green energy technologies and plans to become a grid-balancing operator using Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) solutions and applying new green technologies in power plants. We seek business partnerships with renewable energy providers and value-added resellers to facilitate and implement innovative, scalable and modular energy system solutions. For more information, please visit www.bitech.tech.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains statements that involve expectations, plans or intentions (such as those relating to future business or financial results) and other factors discussed from time to time in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings. These statements are forward-looking and are subject to risks and uncertainties, so actual results may vary materially. You can identify these forward-looking statements by words such as "may," "should," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "intend," "plan" and other similar expressions. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors not within the control of the Company. The Company cautions readers not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The company disclaims any obligation subsequently to revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events.

Contact:

Bitech Technologies Corporation

Investor Relations

Tel: 1.480.861.2425

Main: 1.855.777.0888

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Bitech Technologies
BOSTON, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Boston Lawyers Group (BLG), which supports its members' efforts to identify, recruit, advance, and retain attorneys of color, today announced that Tracey West has been named the organization's new Executive Director. West is a nationally-known diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) leader and has extensive experience in DEI best practices in the legal profession. In July 2022, BLG announced the retirement of Carolyn Golden Hebsgaard, who served as Executive Director for nearly 30 years.

Tracey West has been named the new Executive Director of the Boston Lawyers Group, which supports its members efforts to identify, recruit, advance, and retain attorneys of color,

Previously, West was a Senior Consultant at Loeb Leadership and before that served as Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at WilmerHale. She spent nearly 20 years at Boston College Law School, most recently as Associate Dean of External Relations, Diversity & Inclusion, which was a first-of-its-kind position at a U.S. law school. In 2015, the National Association for Law Placement named her "Diversity Champion" for creating the nationally recognized LAHANAS program at BC Law School, which was designed to assist historically underrepresented law students with their successful transition to law school and the legal profession.

"BLG has had a significant impact on the legal industry over the past 35 plus years, and I am excited to continue this important work as we strive to continue making Boston a more inclusive and welcoming city for diverse talent," said West. "This position is the culmination of everything I've learned throughout my career. I look forward to bringing my professional experiences, knowledge, ideas, resources, and enthusiasm to BLG's next stage of development as we work together to create more opportunities for inclusive leadership, cultural competency, and real change."

"We are fortunate to have hired Tracey as the BLG's new Executive Director. After a long and thorough search process, we were able to find someone with exceptional experience and judgment and who is already familiar with the organization and the needs of the Boston legal community. Our member firms and the newly constituted Board of the BLG are looking forward to working closely with her," said Dan Halston, Partner-in-Charge of WilmerHale's Boston office.

Under West's leadership, BLG plans to expand its successful programming  which includes an annual job fair, summer internship program, mentorship program, mock interview training, and social skills development  to further establish itself as a resource for attracting diverse talent to Boston. BLG will also enhance its positioning as a support system for attorneys navigating their careers and the city through new relationships with similar organizations within other fields, including other nonprofit organizations and an expanded outreach effort to corporate law offices and government agencies.

"We are delighted to have Tracey as our new Executive Director of the BLG. She has extensive experience in diversity, equity, and inclusion matters related to the legal profession given her prior roles at WilmerHale and Boston College Law School and will do a tremendous job in advancing the mission of the BLG. We also thank Carolyn Hebsgaard for her tireless work on behalf of the BLG," said Louis Mercedes, Member at Mintz.

"Tracey has long served the Boston legal community by empowering the next generation of lawyers and building a framework for their ability to succeed and thrive within the profession. She has a unique ability to connect with students and a proven record of collaboration with schools, firms, and members of the DEIB community. This background will serve the members and participants of BLG well," said Shawn D. McShay, Assistant Dean, Graduate Enrollment Management at Boston College Law School.

West began her career as a civil and criminal trial lawyer, and spent 12 years in the private and public sectors. She recently completed a two-year term as Co-Chair of the Boston Bar Association's Diversity, Equity & Inclusion section. She earned her law degree at Georgetown Law School and her bachelor's degree at Georgetown University.

"As a fellow Black woman attorney and now diversity professional, and a member of the BLG Board, I am thrilled to have Tracey on our team. Her vision and leadership will play a pivotal role in furthering BLG's ongoing mission to become the primary resource for attracting attorneys of color to Boston, and helping diverse attorneys thrive in our community," said Ayeshah Johnson, Senior Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Goulston & Storrs.

About Boston Lawyers Group

Founded in 1986, the Boston Lawyers Group (BLG) was established by 13 Boston law firms with the mission to support the efforts of its member organizations to identify, recruit, advance, and retain attorneys of color. Since then, BLG has seen its membership grow to more than 40 organizations, including law firms, corporate law offices, and government agencies.

Contact:

Amy Blumenthal

Blumenthal & Associates PR

(617) 879-1511

[email protected]

SOURCE Boston Lawyers Group
DURHAM, N.C., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bio Products Laboratory (BPL), a leading manufacturer of plasma-derived protein therapies with US Offices in Durham, NC, announced today its support of the Immune Deficiency Foundation (IDF) Research Grant Program for the second year in a row.

The IDF Research Grant Program is designed to encourage and support patient-oriented research on primary immunodeficiencies (PI), including well-defined research projects with a specified benefit for improving the treatment, health, management, or diagnosis of people with primary immunodeficiencies

"We're excited to support IDF's grant program again this year," said Eric Wolford, PharmD, Vice President of the Global Medical group for BPL. "Helping PI patients live healthier, happier lives is a goal we share with IDF, and we are pleased to reflect this ongoing commitment with another year of support for this research grant."

According to Tracy Shaw, Chair of IDF's Board of Trustees, "This partnership represents our combined commitment to support studies that contribute to the body of medical knowledge in PI. The research funded through this program will advance IDF's mission to improve the diagnosis, treatment, and quality of life of persons with primary immunodeficiencies."

Primary immunodeficiencies are a group of more than 450 rare, chronic disorders in which part of the body's immune system is missing or functions improperly. Because one of the most critical functions of the normal immune system is to protect against infection, patients with PI commonly have an increased vulnerability to recurrent and sometimes severe and debilitating infections.

For more information about the IDF Research Grant Program, contact Christopher Scalchunes at [email protected] .

About Bio Products Laboratory (BPL)

Recognizing the power of plasma and with over 60 years heritage in the industry, BPL supplies high-quality plasma derived medicines to meet the needs of clinicians, patients, and customers globally. BPL is headquartered in Elstree, United Kingdom, where its manufacturing operations are located. BPL USA Inc.'s offices are located in Durham, North Carolina. BPL is dedicated to producing medicines for the treatment of immune deficiencies, bleeding disorders, and infectious diseases as well for critical care. BPL invests in the latest R&D, technology, and manufacturing methods, and continuously adapts to ensure that it continues to serve all its stakeholders effectively. As of September 1, 2022, BPL became part of the Kedrion group of companies, a portfolio company of the global private equity firm, Permira. For more information visit http://www.bplgroup.com or https://www.bpl-us.com/.

About Immune Deficiency Foundation (IDF)

The Immune Deficiency Foundation improves the diagnosis, treatment, and quality of life of people affected by primary immunodeficiency through fostering a community empowered by advocacy, education, and research. Individuals affected by PI often find it difficult to receive proper diagnosis, treatment, and specialized healthcare. IDF estimates that the average length of time between the onset of symptoms and diagnosis is between nine and 15 years. Patients also experience difficulties financing their healthcare, finding educational materials, and/or locating others with whom to share their experiences. IDF helps individuals overcome these difficulties. Tens of thousands of individuals and families affected by PI depend on IDF for advocacy, education, and empowerment.

IDF provides accurate and timely information for patients and families living with PI and offers valuable resources. IDF

Helps the patient and medical community gain a broader understanding of PI through education and outreach efforts.

Promotes, participates in, and conducts research that has helped characterize PI and given patients and physicians substantially improved treatment options.

Addresses patient needs through public policy programs by focusing on issues such as insurance reimbursement, patient confidentiality, ensuring the safety and availability of immunoglobulin therapy, and maintaining and enhancing patient access to treatment options.

Offers patients and healthcare professionals educational materials and specialized programming free of charge. This is possible because of the generosity of the donors and sponsors who make unrestricted gifts to IDF.

Learn more at www.primaryimmune.org .

SOURCE Bio Products Laboratory USA
Worldwide talent crisis spurs employers to scramble for ways to retain valuable employees and attract new pools of talent

CAFE Program, hailed as "New National Model" by the U.S. Labor Secretary, is now addressing workforce needs globally

Program marks its 16th year helping age 50+ workers stay engaged and land work with "age-friendly" employers that seek a well-rounded approach to their Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) efforts

WALTHAM, Mass., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Age-Friendly Institute announced the international expansion of the Certified Age-Friendly Employer (CAFE) program into Brazil and Canada. Age-Friendly Institute President Tim Driver said "we're delighted to join forces with our new partners in Brazil and Canada, and turn this into a truly worldwide movement."

The Certified Age-Friendly Employer (CAFE) Program, developed by a team of analysts and professionals with specializations in compensation, benefits and HR, began establishing best practices for an age-friendly employer in 2006. There are hundreds of employers in the program across all industries, including both the private and public sector. Massachusetts became the first state in the U.S. to become certified in 2022.

Brazil's Maturi, a platform that helps people remain active through work, understands that by creating opportunities for more mature people to continue working, learning, teaching, motivating and inspiring, they promote health and social well-being. Founder Morris Litvak, said "the CAFE program helps us deliver on the core mission and purpose of our firm. We are creating a culture in Brazil that values the wisdom of those who already have a long history of life, which is essential to break the existing paradigm in the job market where older adults are seen simply as obsolete."

In Canada, CAFE program Affiliate Aging Proactively is making inroads with employers in the country's Atlantic Provinces, including working with 20 TIANS (Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia) members. Mary Kilfoil, lead for the CAFE rollout in Canada's eastern region, said "employers are welcoming the opportunity to embrace older adults, apply a proven standard about what is required to be age-friendly, and learn best practices and benchmarks from like-minded employers." Co-lead Ed Leach said "with increased longevity, older adults are a value-add to economic growth, rather than a challenge. The employers we speak with are excited to learn where they stand versus their industry peers."

About The Age-Friendly Institute

Founded in 2019, the Age-Friendly Institute (institute.agefriendly.org) celebrates and elevates all things age-friendly. Its consumer website AgeFriendly.org was created to simplify the confusing landscape for older adults and families as they navigate aging and to give voice to their experiences. AgeFriendly.org brings together expert-developed systems for establishing what is age-friendly with reviews, ratings and insights from older adults and family caregivers. Through its research and events, the Institute encourages cross-sector collaboration among aging services organizations in pursuit of a comprehensive Age-Friendly Ecosystem. The Age-Friendly Institute is also the home of the Certified Age Friendly Employer (CAFE) program. The CAFE Program began as part of RetirementJobs.com in 2006.

Media Contact:

Emily Johnson

[email protected]

SOURCE Age-Friendly Institute
BEIJING, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- China and Pakistan on Wednesday vowed to make joint efforts in elevating the level of all-round strategic cooperation and inject new impetus into their all-weather strategic cooperative partnership.

CGTNChina, Pakistan vow to inject new impetus into all-weather strategic cooperative partnership

Chinese President Xi Jinping said that Pakistan has always been a high priority in China's neighborhood diplomacy when meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, who was among the first foreign leaders invited to Beijing after the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). This is also the prime minister's first visit to China since assuming office in April.

Sharif said that his visit is a "testament to the profound, iron-clad friendship" between Pakistan and China, adding that deepening Pakistan's all-weather strategic cooperative partnership with China is a cornerstone of Pakistan's foreign policy and the national consensus of Pakistan.

China ready to provide new opportunities

China will continue its fundamental policy of opening-up and provide new opportunities to Pakistan and the rest of the world through continuous development, Xi told Sharif.

The two sides should make full use of the Joint Cooperation Committee of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), advance CPEC with greater efficiency, and make CPEC an exemplar of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, he said.

Noting that CPEC has had a profound impact on Pakistan's economic and social development, Sharif said Pakistan is ready to work with China to continue promoting high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

As a flagship program of the Belt and Road Initiative, CPEC has become a landmark of China-Pakistan cooperation. It has effectively boosted economic development, improved people's livelihood, and generated positive socioeconomic effects in Pakistan. The recent 11th meeting of the Joint Cooperation Committee of CPEC was a success. Multiple common understandings were reached about CPEC's future development.

The two sides also agreed to expand cooperation in digital economy, e-commerce, photovoltaic and other new-energy technologies, as well as advance cooperation concerning agriculture, science, technology and people's livelihood.

China has been Pakistan's largest trade and investment partner, the largest exporter and the second largest importer for six consecutive fiscal years since 2015.

Last year, trade between China and Pakistan reached $27.82 billion, a year-on-year increase of 59.1 percent. Chinese exports to Pakistan totaled $24.23 billion, a year-on-year increase of 57.8 percent, while imports from Pakistan were $3.59 billion, a year-on-year increase of 68.9 percent, showed data from the General Administration of Customs.

Jointly advancing global governance

China will work with Pakistan to advance the Global Development Initiative (GDI), the Global Security Initiative (GSI), and make the global economic governance system more fair, equitable and inclusive that benefits all, Xi said.

The GDI and the GSI, proposed by Xi Jinping in 2021 and 2022 respectively, seek to overcome the tunnel vision that contributes to the rise of de-globalization, populism and xenophobia, which risk impeding global governance of development and security.

The GDI highlights re-energizing and speeding up the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and building a global community of development, while the GSI gives clear answers to questions such as what security concept the world needs and how countries can achieve common security, which opens an important new way for global security governance.

Sharif expressed full support for the initiatives, adding that his country will strengthen communication with China in international and regional affairs to contribute positively to world peace and development.

The Pakistani prime minister also reiterated his country's firm commitment to the one-China policy and its firm support for China's position on issues concerning China's core interests including Taiwan, Xinjiang and Hong Kong.

The Pakistan-China friendship is unbreakable, and Pakistan will always stand firmly with China, he added.

The two countries issued a joint statement, highlighting mutual support on issues concerning each other's core interests, the key role of various bilateral cooperation mechanisms for deepening strategic communication, and cooperation in the areas of agriculture, mining, IT and socio-economic development under CPEC.

The two sides also signed and concluded a number of agreements, covering bilateral cooperation in areas of e-commerce, digital economy, export of agricultural products, financial cooperation, protection of cultural property and infrastructure, among others.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-11-02/Xi-holds-talks-with-Pakistani-PM-Muhammad-Shehbaz-Sharif-in-Beijing-1eD8tTJ79bW/index.html

SOURCE CGTN
Former Red Bull Marketing Leader Brings a Decade of Expertise to Gen-Z Coffee Brand

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Chamberlain Coffee , the brainchild of Youtube phenomenon Emma Chamberlain, announced today the appointment of Liz Ahern as the Gen-Z coffee brand's Chief Marketing Officer. In this role, Ahern will be responsible for brand strategy, omnichannel expansion, and integrated campaign planning and execution across all marketing touchpoints.

"Liz is a highly-experienced, ambitious leader in CPG marketing and I am beyond excited to have her join the team," said Chamberlain Coffee CEO Christopher Gallant. "With her extensive knowledge in experiential and product marketing, I am confident that she will be able to build our team and support our growth."

Prior to joining the Chamberlain Coffee team, Ahern worked at Red Bull for seven years, as a colleague of Gallant, managing national product launches as well as regional campaigns in the Southwest. Most recently, Ahern led Brand Marketing at Carvana, overseeing the company's advertising campaign development and brand strategy. There she led teams responsible for brand partnerships, experiential activations and new product launches within Carvana. Ahern is also a Harvard University and Harvard Business School graduate

"I'm proud to be joining Chris and the Chamberlain Coffee team as their Chief Marketing Officer," said Ahern. "I admire Chamberlain Coffee's commitment to quality and sustainability within their products, while simultaneously being inviting and approachable. I was intrigued by this unique positioning in the premium coffee space and am looking forward to playing a role in bringing Emma's brand vision to life."

In August 2022, the company announced the closing of its $7M Series A funding round, which will help the brand expand into new channels and develop new products to further its mission of being an innovator in the beverage space. Chamberlain Coffee's success has gone well beyond its direct-to-consumer model, reaching more customers than ever before. Their products have recently launched in LA hot-spot Erewhon, national grocer Sprouts and digital delivery market Gopuff  while releasing a steady cadence of product collaborations with brands like Levi's, OffLimits Cereal, Nutpods, Swoon and Bliss.

Chamberlain Coffee is available on ChamberlainCoffee.com , Amazon.com and at select retailers. For more information on Chamberlain Coffee, and to stay up to date on the latest product launches, follow on Instagram at @chamberlaincoffee .

ABOUT CHAMBERLAIN COFFEE

Founded by YouTube phenomenon Emma Chamberlain, Chamberlain Coffee is high-quality, sustainably sourced organic coffee roasted in California, so you can feel good about the coffee you're sipping on. No pesticides, no BS. Available in single-serve bags, instant sticks, ground and whole bean options, Chamberlain Coffee is symbolized by different characters to encapsulate the different coffee drinker in all of us. The brand also has various other delicious offerings, including their 5x sold-out Matcha, Cocoa Grizzly Hot Chocolate, and Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans. Supporting coffee-farming communities in Latin America, Chamberlain Coffee works with Food4Farmers to ensure long-term food security for coffee-farming families.

SOURCE Chamberlain Coffee
Martin Mao will make the case for why cloud native companies need to rethink their approach to observability to maximize business outcomes

NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Chronosphere , the only cloud native observability platform that puts engineering organizations back in control by taming rampant data growth and cloud native complexity, today announced that co-founder and CEO Martin Mao will take the stage on Thursday, Nov. 3, at Web Summit 2022 , the largest technology event in the world.

Mao will speak as part of the FullSTK developer's track, joining engineering leaders from Amazon, Celonis, PagerDuty and others, and share important insights on how cloud native observability can improve efficiencies, reduce engineering attrition, and tame data costs - all which result in better business outcomes. In fact, an upcoming report from Chronosphere found that engineers waste more than 10 hours on average per week trying to triage and understand incidents when they could be contributing more time to more productive work that drives value for their business.

"We are honored to be part of Web Summit and discuss the crucial role that observability plays in a cloud native environment," said Chronosphere co-founder and CEO Martin Mao. "On a daily basis we help companies like DoorDash, Robinhood, and Snap move from inefficient, DIY, or legacy tools toward solving complex challenges through faster, more accurate and more personalized visibility into their observability data. This is an opportunity to help Web Summit attendees understand the value of a reliable cloud native observability solution."

Mao's participation at Web Summit arrives on the heels of Chronosphere's new release of its cloud native observability platform which is designed to improve cloud native engineering team efficiency by streamlining workflows and speeding up mean time to detection and remediation (MTTD) (MTTR). Chronosphere also recently announced that it has tripled its Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) and employee count over the last 12 months.

Web Summit is taking place in Lisbon, Portugal, brings together more than 70,000 attendees and 1,040 speakers who are forecasting what the next few years will look like for society, the economy and tech companies globally.

Details of Mao's session can be found here and below:

Thursday, November 3, 1:45pm - 2:05pm WET

The observability effect

Increasingly complex systems are leading to exponential data growth, hundreds of millions of dollars wasted and burned-out engineering teams. In the search for efficiency, could cloud-native observability be the solution? Do companies need to rethink their approach to controlling observability data? Join Chronosphere co-founder and CEO Martin Mao to discuss the ways in which companies can change things through process and technology.

About Chronosphere

Chronosphere is the only cloud native observability platform that puts engineering organizations back in control by taming rampant data growth and cloud native complexity while accelerating innovation. Faster alerts and issue resolution ensures responsive and reliable cloud native workloads underlying the most valuable services at leading organizations like DoorDash, Robinhood, and Abnormal Security. Teams at organizations of all sizes trust Chronosphere to help them drive competitive advantage and world-class customer experiences while reducing engineering burnout and eliminating lock-in. Chronosphere is a remote-first company, backed by Greylock, Lux Capital, General Atlantic, Addition and Founders Fund. For more information, visit https://chronosphere.io or follow @chronosphereio.

SOURCE Chronosphere
NEW YORK and BRUSSELS, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cobepa S.A. ("Cobepa") today announced the acquisition of Ned Stevens ("Ned" or the "Company") from AVALT. Cobepa completed the acquisition in partnership with Ned Stevens' existing management team and The Jordan Company, L.P. ("TJC"). AVALT will remain a minority investor in the Company.

Founded in 1965 and headquartered in Fairfield, New Jersey, Ned Stevens is a market leading provider of exterior residential services. The Company, which operates in 15 states across the country, primarily provides gutter cleaning and other exterior residential services such as dryer vent cleaning, power washing, and window cleaning. The Company has grown into a leading platform in the industry through strong organic expansion over its long history supplemented by several acquisitions. Ned Stevens currently serves over 140,000 customers.

Led by CEO Rob Rapuano, Ned Stevens' seasoned management team has been instrumental to the success of the business and is well-positioned to lead the Company going forward. This new investment by Cobepa will provide Ned Stevens with significant resources to continue its rapid growth.

Rob Rapuano, CEO of Ned Stevens said, "Our team couldn't be more excited to partner with Cobepa. As the global market leader in our industry, Ned Stevens is ready to achieve significant long-term growth. Our customers and employees deserve the best, and in Cobepa we have a partner that has extensive experience in residential services, as well as the resources necessary to enable us to deliver the best. The next phase of Ned Stevens starts today, and we are lucky to be fully aligned with a great partner in Cobepa."

"We are thrilled to invest in Ned Stevens and excited to support Rob and the rest of Ned's outstanding management team in expanding the Company's market-leading position. We will fully capitalize on this partnership by deploying Cobepa's extensive resources to explore both organic and inorganic growth strategies, while continuing to support the Company's highly consistent track record of exceptional service to its customers," said Andrew Hollod and Peter Connolly, both Managing Directors of Cobepa.

John Straus, Partner at TJC, commented: "Rob and his team have done a phenomenal job building Ned Stevens into a differentiated leader within the home services industry. We look forward to working with the Company, Cobepa and AVALT during this next stage of growth."

"It's been a privilege to work with the Ned Stevens management team, and to know that while they have achieved so much under our ownership, enormous growth opportunities remain. We're very excited to continue our partnership with the Company into its next chapter," said Ian Reynolds, Partner at AVALT.

Ned Stevens represents Cobepa's ninth platform investment in the U.S. since 2017 and second within residential services, following Cobepa's investment in Heartland Home Services in December 2020. Residential services are a core focus area for Cobepa's Business Services team, alongside testing, inspection, and certification (TIC), governance, risk, and compliance (GRC), need-based repair and maintenance services, IT Services, and financial and insurance services, including tech-enabled solutions in all areas.

White & Case served as legal counsel to Cobepa, and Jefferies served as Cobepa's financial advisor. Golub Capital and Audax Private Debt provided financing for the deal. Harris Williams served as the lead advisor to Ned Stevens with support from Solomon Partners.

About Ned Stevens

Ned Stevens is one of the country's fastest growing and most trusted gutter cleaning and home maintenance companies. Since its founding in 1965 in Fairfield, New Jersey, Ned Stevens has expanded its service offerings and geographic footprint, servicing 15 states including Washington D.C. The Company has earned multiple accolades and thousands of 5-star reviews thanks to its commitment to complete customer satisfaction. Ned Stevens employs an experienced team of gutter and home maintenance providers that give homeowners back their safety, time, and peace of mind.

About Cobepa

Cobepa is an independent, privately held investment company with offices in New York, Brussels, and Munich. Cobepa manages a diverse portfolio of private equity investments representing approximately $4.2 billion of equity capital. Cobepa invests in leading companies with superior business models, sustainable market positions and leading management teams. In the U.S., Cobepa is primarily focused on investments in the healthcare, business services and tech-enabled services sectors. For more information, visit www.cobepa.com.

About The Jordan Company

TJC, founded in 1982, is a middle-market private equity firm that has raised funds with original capital commitments in excess of $19 billion with a 40-year track record of investing in and contributing to the growth of many businesses across a wide range of industries, including Diversified Industrials; Technology, Telecom & Utility; Logistics & Supply Chain and Consumer & Healthcare. The senior investment team has been investing together for over 20 years, and they are supported by the Operations Management Group, which was established in 1988 to initiate and support operational improvements in portfolio companies. TJC has offices in New York, Miami, Chicago and Stamford. For more information, visit: www.thejordancompany.com.

About AVALT

AVALT is a family office that invests only its own principals' capital in high quality companies that have significant long-term potential. AVALT builds truly collaborative partnerships with management teams to drive significant growth and change in their businesses. AVALT's permanent and flexible capital supports those companies as they achieve their full potential, without regard to any fund structure or fixed time horizon. For additional information, visit www.avalt.com

SOURCE Cobepa
New viewer reinvents enterprise content search by leveraging the power of the human brain, augmented by AI, for the last mile of search.

PASADENA, Calif. and WASHINGTON, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CogniVision, a leader in document display technology, formally announced CogniVision OneView, its patented universal viewer for Microsoft SharePoint that dramatically reduces time to review and find information from search results - by a factor of ten.

"Search typically takes one to five seconds," said Basker Krishnan, Chief Executive Officer, CogniVision and a McKinsey alumnus. "However, reviewing search results and finding specific information within documents is often tedious, time-consuming, and takes a long time,"

CogniVision OneView is the first major reinvention of document viewing and display technology in decades. It pairs technological advances with human capabilities to provide better viewer interface for AI-driven enterprise content search. Leveraging a person's innate pattern recognition and cognitive capabilities, CogniVision OneView enables users to find needed information extremely fast without having to read through pages of tedious text.

SharePoint offers options to display search results in either a list or modified list view to enhance reading.

However, the human brain operates in an analog world, storing and recognizing information as images rather than text. A study by leading neuroscientists from MIT published in the journal Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics and referenced in MIT News found that "the human brain can process entire images that the eye sees for as little as 13 milliseconds."

Searching images is hundreds of times faster than reading text. Users can quickly refine relevance in SharePoint search when search results are displayed as thumbnail images in CogniVision, rather than textual summaries.

However, CogniVision is not just an image-centric thumbnail viewer.

CogniVision is a "display engine" offering patented document navigation using progressive adjacent display panels and page filtering to just the relevant pages within a document containing specific search keywords highlighted.

CogniVision's "game changer" display and navigation system replicate the analog user experience of working with paper files in finding information within digital documents from SharePoint's search results - ten times faster than current viewers.

Improving the enterprise content search experience within SharePoint only requires using CogniVision as an alternate Viewer to accelerate the review process.

CogniVision has a minimal footprint. It does not alter anything within SharePoint. It requires no schema changes and will work with existing document repositories, without any changes to taxonomy or metadata.

Initial deployments have proven invaluable to banks and financial institutions and can address significant pain points in other enterprises.

CogniVision OneView is provided on a subscription basis and is available for deployment either on-premises, in a private cloud, or as a secure SaaS.

To request a demo, please visit https://cognivision.com/ or stop by Booth #404 at KMWorld 2022, where CogniVision OneView technology will be on display November 7-10.

For more information:

About CogniVision

CogniVision started as ImageScan, assisting banks with their imaging conversion needs. With Fortune 500 clients such as Wells Fargo, Visa, Bank of America, Northern Trust, Mellon Bank, Bank of the West, and Bank of New York, ImageScan has over 25 years of experience in digitizing content and optimizing banking operations. The CogniVision platform, consisting of CogniVision OneView and Workspace, evolved out of client frustration with using de facto search within Enterprise Content Management (ECM) platforms such as Microsoft SharePoint, IBM FileNet, Fiserv Director, OpenText Documentum, and others. The platform reinvents digital document viewing, search, and management. It has become an intuitive, easy-to-use solution for banks and modern enterprises to migrate off paper files to capture, organize and work with documents digitally from any source.

Contact: Kira Wojack, [email protected]

SOURCE CogniVision
By Trend

The monetary base in Azerbaijan grew in October 2022, the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) told Trend on November 1.

According to the CBA, this indicator amounted to 16.67 billion manat ($9.8 billion), which is 2.05 billion manat ($1.2 billion), or 14 percent more compared to October last year (14.6 billion manat or $8.6 billion).

The monetary base includes cash and free banking and required reserves of commercial banks in circulation.
NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cold Chain Logistics Market share is set to increase by USD 11.6 billion from 2022 to 2027. Moreover, the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 9.51% as per the latest market forecast report by Technavio. The market will also record a 9.23% Y-O-Y growth Rate during the forecast period.

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Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Cold Chain Logistics Market for Pharmaceuticals Industry Market 2021-2025

Cold Chain Logistics Market- Parent Market Analysis

Technavio categorizes the global cold chain logistics market for the pharmaceutical industry as a part of the global air freight and logistics market within the global transportation market. The parent global air freight and logistics market cover revenue generated by companies providing air freight transportation; courier; and logistics services, including package and mail delivery and customs agents. Technavio calculates the global air freight and logistics market size based on revenue generated by air freight and logistics service providers. The air freight and logistics market includes tracking of goods in transit and up to the point of delivery.

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Global Cold Chain Logistics Market Characteristics with Five Forces

The global Cold Chain Logistics Market is fragmented and the five forces analysis by Technavio gives an accurate vision 

Bargaining Power of Buyers

The threat of New Entrants

Threat of Rivalry

Bargaining Power of Suppliers

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Global Cold Chain Logistics Market  Customer Landscape

The disruption threats are strategic in nature, and operational risks for suppliers have been mapped based on their negative business impact and probability of occurrence.

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Global Cold Chain Logistics Market- Segmentation Assessment

Geography Segment Overview

Technavio's market research report entails detailed information on regional opportunities in store for vendors, which will assist in generating sales revenues. The Global Cold Chain Logistics Market as per geography is categorized into North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and the Middle East and Africa. The report provides an accurate prediction of the contribution of all regions to the growth of the Global Cold Chain Logistics Market Size and actionable market understandings.

Regional Highlights:

APAC is the fastest-growing region in the global Cold Chain Logistics Market compared to other regions. 34% growth will originate from APAC. Due to the expansion of the healthcare business in Asia , the cold chain logistics market for the pharmaceutical industry in APAC is anticipated to increase rapidly. Between 2020 and 2021, the consumer healthcare industry in APAC experienced tremendous growth, mainly due to rising public and private sector investments in the expansion of the healthcare infrastructure. Substantial growth is anticipated due to the improved healthcare infrastructure and increasing government and non-governmental organization (NGO) spending on raising public health standards during the forecasted period.

Service Segment Overview

The Global Cold Chain Logistics Market as per type segmentation is categorized into Service, product, and region.

Revenue Generating Segment - The market share growth by the warehousing and VAS segments will be significant during the forecast period. The term "warehousing" describes the storage of finished and semi-finished goods in a warehouse or distribution facility. In the supply chain, storage is a crucial and capital-intensive function. It thus plays a crucial part in the logistics of the cold chain for the pharmaceutical industry. Furthermore, LSPs provide their clients with a range of warehouse services, including loading and unloading, inventory management software, and other services pertaining to the supply chain. Pharmaceuticals that need to be kept chilled, such as insulin, chemical medicines, vaccines, and biopharmaceutical reagents, are kept in a cold chain network while being delivered. Due to the increase in the chilled pharmaceutical product the cold chain market will grow which would benefit the warehouse and VAS industries.

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Global Cold Chain Logistics Market  Market Dynamics

Major Driver Boosting the Market

One of the main factors propelling the expansion of the pharmaceutical industry's worldwide cold chain logistics market is the rising demand for medicines on a global scale. The US Federal government's introduction of the Affordable Care Act, a health insurance program, has contributed to the rapid increase in pharmaceutical sales.

The demand for pharmaceutical items in India would also increase with the introduction of the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) in 2018, which aims to give healthcare insurance to 100 million families. Therefore, end-user organizations need specialist cold-chain healthcare logistics services in order to efficiently transport, warehouse, and distribute vast amounts of pharmaceuticals. This will drive the growth of the global cold chain logistics market for the pharmaceutical industry during the forecast period.

Major trends influencing the growth of glamping

Global cold chain logistics market growth for the pharmaceutical industry will be fueled by growing consolidation in the global healthcare logistics market. The pharmaceutical industry's worldwide cold chain logistics market is highly fragmented and competitive.

Big firms face difficulties as a result of the high market fragmentation, which prevents them from expanding into other nations or areas. They are left with the difficult option of starting a network from scratch in a new area.

Therefore, established logistics suppliers like United Parcel Service, Deutsche Post AG, and FedEx Corp. are embracing market consolidation as a strategic tactic for corporate expansion to lower the entry barrier into new geographies. This market consolidation technique aids major businesses in acquiring regional or local technologies from local rivals, boosting their market share, and achieving profitability in a cutthroat industry.

Major Challenges interrupting the market growth

The main obstacle to the expansion of the global cold chain logistics market for the pharmaceutical industry is the functional hurdles in cold chain logistics that raise operational costs. LSPs make a strategic choice when buying land for warehouses, which are an essential component of cold chain logistics. Due to the rise in interbank exchange rates, real estate expenses are higher in nations like China , India , and the US.

, , and the US. Due to the rise in interbank exchange rates, real estate prices are higher in nations like China , India , and the US. Industrial rents have gone up because of the US's low vacancy rate. The profitability of cold chain logistics participants is being impacted by the increase in industrial rents. These elements will limit the expansion of the pharmaceuticals market's cold chain logistics during the anticipated time frame.

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Technavio suggests three forecast scenarios (optimistic, probable, and pessimistic) considering the impact of COVID-19. Technavio's in-depth research has direct and indirect COVID-19-impacted market research reports.

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Cold Chain Logistics Market 2023-2027: Key Highlights

CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2023-2027

Detailed information on factors that will assist Cold Chain Logistics Market growth during the next five years

Estimation of the Cold Chain Logistics Market size and its contribution to the parent market

Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

The growth of the Cold Chain Logistics Market

Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors

Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of Cold Chain Logistics Market vendors

Related Reports:

The Self-Storage and Moving Services Market is projected to grow by USD 18.29 billion with a CAGR of 4.08% during the forecast period 2021 to 2026. The market is segmented by service (climate-controlled self-storage, full-service moving, non-climate-controlled self-storage, and DIY moving truck rental) and geography ( North America , Europe , APAC, South America , and the Middle East and Africa ).

is projected to grow by USD 18.29 billion with a CAGR of 4.08% during the forecast period 2021 to 2026. The market is segmented by service (climate-controlled self-storage, full-service moving, non-climate-controlled self-storage, and DIY moving truck rental) and geography ( , , APAC, , and the and ). The Apparel Logistics Market is projected to grow by USD 32.54 billion with a CAGR of 5.95% during the forecast period 2021 to 2026. The market is segmented by service (transportation, warehousing and distribution, and others) and geography ( Europe , North America , APAC, South America , and the Middle East and Africa ).

Cold Chain Logistics Market For Pharmaceuticals Industry Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2022 Historical year 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 9.51% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 11.6 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 9.23 Regional analysis APAC, North America, Europe, South America, and the Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution APAC at 34% Key consumer countries US, Canada, China, Germany, and UK Competitive landscape Leading companies, Competitive Strategies, Consumer engagement scope Key companies profiled AGRO Merchants Group, Air Canada, Burris Logistics, Cold Chain Technologies LLC, Coldman Logistics Pvt.Ltd., Deutsche Post AG, DSV Panalpina AS, FedEx Corp., Helapet ltd., JWD InfoLogistics Public Co. Ltd., Kerry Logistics Network Ltd., Kuehne + Nagel Management AG, Lineage Logistics Holdings LLC, Nichirei Corp., PCI Pharma Services, SCG Logistics Management Co. Ltd., Singhania Logistics and Distribution Pvt. Ltd., Snowman Logistics Ltd., United Parcel Service Inc., VersaCold Logistics Services, and XPO Logistics Inc. Market Dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, and market condition analysis for the forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Table of Contents:

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Service



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Product



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 09: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 10: Parent market



Exhibit 11: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 12: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 13: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2022

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2022-2027

Exhibit 14: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 15: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 16: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 17: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

4 Five Forces Analysis

4.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 18: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2022 and 2027

4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 19: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2022 and 2027

4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 20: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

4.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 21: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

4.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 22: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

4.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 23: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

4.7 Market condition

Exhibit 24: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2022 and 2027

5 Market Segmentation by Service

5.1 Market segments

Exhibit 25: Chart on Service - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 26: Data Table on Service - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

5.2 Comparison by Service

Exhibit 27: Chart on Comparison by Service



Exhibit 28: Data Table on Comparison by Service

5.3 Warehousing and VAS - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 29: Chart on Warehousing and VAS - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 30: Data Table on Warehousing and VAS - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 31: Chart on Warehousing and VAS - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 32: Data Table on Warehousing and VAS - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

5.4 Transportation - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 33: Chart on Transportation - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 34: Data Table on Transportation - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 35: Chart on Transportation - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 36: Data Table on Transportation - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

5.5 Market opportunity by Service

Exhibit 37: Market opportunity by Service ($ million)

6 Market Segmentation by Product

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 38: Chart on Product - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Product - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

6.2 Comparison by Product

Exhibit 40: Chart on Comparison by Product



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Comparison by Product

6.3 Vaccines - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 42: Chart on Vaccines - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Vaccines - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 44: Chart on Vaccines - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Vaccines - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.4 Biopharmaceuticals - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 46: Chart on Biopharmaceuticals - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 47: Data Table on Biopharmaceuticals - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 48: Chart on Biopharmaceuticals - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 49: Data Table on Biopharmaceuticals - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.5 Clinical trial materials - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 50: Chart on Clinical trial materials - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 51: Data Table on Clinical trial materials - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 52: Chart on Clinical trial materials - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 53: Data Table on Clinical trial materials - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.6 Market opportunity by Product

Exhibit 54: Market opportunity by Product ($ million)

7 Customer Landscape

7.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 55: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

8 Geographic Landscape

8.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 56: Chart on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 57: Data Table on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)

8.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 58: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 59: Data Table on Geographic comparison

8.3 APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 60: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 61: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 62: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 63: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

8.4 North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 64: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 65: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 66: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 67: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

8.5 Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 68: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 69: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 70: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 71: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

8.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 72: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 73: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 74: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 75: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

8.7 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 76: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 77: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 78: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 79: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

8.8 US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 80: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 81: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 82: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 83: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

8.9 China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 84: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 85: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 86: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 87: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

8.10 Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 88: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 89: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 90: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 91: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

8.11 UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 92: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 93: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 94: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 95: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

8.12 Canada - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 96: Chart on Canada - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 97: Data Table on Canada - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 98: Chart on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 99: Data Table on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

8.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 100: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

9 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

9.1 Market drivers

9.2 Market challenges

9.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 101: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2022 and 2027

9.4 Market trends

10 Vendor Landscape

10.1 Overview

10.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 102: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

10.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 103: Overview on factors of disruption

10.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 104: Impact of key risks on business

11 Vendor Analysis

11.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 105: Vendors covered

11.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 106: Matrix on vendor position and classification

11.3 AGRO Merchants Group

Exhibit 107: AGRO Merchants Group - Overview



Exhibit 108: AGRO Merchants Group - Product / Service



Exhibit 109: AGRO Merchants Group - Key offerings

11.4 Air Canada

Exhibit 110: Air Canada - Overview



Exhibit 111: Air Canada - Product / Service



Exhibit 112: Air Canada - Key offerings

11.5 Burris Logistics

Exhibit 113: Burris Logistics - Overview



Exhibit 114: Burris Logistics - Product / Service



Exhibit 115: Burris Logistics - Key offerings

11.6 Cold Chain Technologies LLC

Exhibit 116: Cold Chain Technologies LLC - Overview



Exhibit 117: Cold Chain Technologies LLC - Product / Service



Exhibit 118: Cold Chain Technologies LLC - Key offerings

11.7 Deutsche Post AG

Exhibit 119: Deutsche Post AG - Overview



Exhibit 120: Deutsche Post AG - Product / Service



Exhibit 121: Deutsche Post AG - Key news



Exhibit 122: Deutsche Post AG - Key offerings

11.8 DSV Panalpina AS

Exhibit 123: DSV Panalpina AS - Overview



Exhibit 124: DSV Panalpina AS - Business segments



Exhibit 125: DSV Panalpina AS - Key offerings



Exhibit 126: DSV Panalpina AS - Segment focus

11.9 FedEx Corp.

Exhibit 127: FedEx Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 128: FedEx Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 129: FedEx Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 130: FedEx Corp. - Segment focus

11.10 Helapet ltd.

Exhibit 131: Helapet ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 132: Helapet ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 133: Helapet ltd. - Key offerings

11.11 Kerry Logistics Network Ltd.

Exhibit 134: Kerry Logistics Network Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 135: Kerry Logistics Network Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 136: Kerry Logistics Network Ltd. - Key news



Exhibit 137: Kerry Logistics Network Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 138: Kerry Logistics Network Ltd. - Segment focus

11.12 Kuehne Nagel Management AG

Exhibit 139: Kuehne Nagel Management AG - Overview



Exhibit 140: Kuehne Nagel Management AG - Business segments



Exhibit 141: Kuehne Nagel Management AG - Key offerings



Exhibit 142: Kuehne Nagel Management AG - Segment focus

11.13 Lineage Logistics Holdings LLC

Exhibit 143: Lineage Logistics Holdings LLC - Overview



Exhibit 144: Lineage Logistics Holdings LLC - Product / Service



Exhibit 145: Lineage Logistics Holdings LLC - Key news



Exhibit 146: Lineage Logistics Holdings LLC - Key offerings

11.14 Nichirei Corp.

Exhibit 147: Nichirei Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 148: Nichirei Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 149: Nichirei Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 150: Nichirei Corp. - Segment focus

11.15 United Parcel Service Inc.

Exhibit 151: United Parcel Service Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 152: United Parcel Service Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 153: United Parcel Service Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 154: United Parcel Service Inc. - Segment focus

11.16 VersaCold Logistics Services

Exhibit 155: VersaCold Logistics Services - Overview



Exhibit 156: VersaCold Logistics Services - Product / Service



Exhibit 157: VersaCold Logistics Services - Key offerings

11.17 XPO Logistics Inc.

Exhibit 158: XPO Logistics Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 159: XPO Logistics Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 160: XPO Logistics Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 161: XPO Logistics Inc. - Segment focus

12 Appendix

12.1 Scope of the report

12.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 162: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 163: Exclusions checklist

12.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 164: Currency conversion rates for US$

12.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 165: Research methodology



Exhibit 166: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 167: Information sources

12.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 168: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provide actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
SINGAPORE, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Four of China's most established food trade fairs  "Food2China EXPO" by Guangdong (China) Imported Food Association (GDIFA) and Constellar-WorldEx, "Zhong Shi Zhan" by China Commerce Development Center (CCDC), "Guangzhou International Food and Ingredients Exhibition (GIFIF)" by the China Council For the Promotion of International Trade Guangzhou Committee (CCPIT), and "Wine to China EXPO" (originated from Shenzhen TOEWine)  have signed a long-term partnership agreement to launch the inaugural Food2China Expo, which will be held at Poly World Trade Center Expo (Guangzhou) from 21 to 23 September 2023.

Food2China Expo, collaboratively organised by the above-mentioned parties and to be managed by Constellar-WorldEx, Guangzhou Chamber of International Commerce and Shanghai Hehe Exhibition Group, will leverage on the extensive expertise and experience from the individual fairs to become the largest and most influential international food trade exhibition in Guangzhou, connecting Guangzhou to Greater China and the rest of the world.

As one of China's earliest trading ports and a major terminus of the maritime Silk Road, Guangzhou is an international gateway to Chinese cuisine and culture. A key commercial centre, it is also an international food hub where cuisines around the world can be enjoyed. With Guangzhou's strong global reputation and business credentials, Food2China Expo expects to occupy over 66,000 square metres exhibition area, attracting over 1,400 exhibitors and 80,000 visitors comprising F&B producers, processers, buyers, importers, caterers, restaurants, e-commerce and other professional service providers from over 40 countries and regions.

"Food2China Expo represents strong collaboration between the Chinese government, enterprises and industry associations to integrate resources and expertise towards the development of the largest professional food trade exhibition in the GuangdongHong KongMacau Greater Bay Area", said Mr Wolfgang Qi, General Manager of Constellar-WorldEx. "Food2China Expo is the key trade platform for stakeholders to address changing food consumption needs and preferences, as well as improve the quality of living for Chinese citizens."

The establishment of Food2China Expo will be a significant boost to Guangzhou's exhibitions and events sector, elevating the city's reputation as the influential global hub for the food industry. Food2China Expo will host and conduct over 20 themed sessions and forums, where participants can discover new opportunities and collaborations, forge new networks, keep up-to-date with the latest trends and gain deeper insights on policy implementation, food innovations, applications and more.

Apart from the exhibition showcase, Food2China Expo will bring about a new business exchange and cooperation platform where exhibitors can optimise their participation via onsite and all-year-round business matchmaking services, connecting with over 300,000 leads in the qualified buyers' databases accumulated over 20 years from the respective individual trade fairs.

The launch of Food2China Expo presents a timely opportunity for international companies to explore the massive potential of the Chinese market. As the international joint venture partner for Constellar-WorldEx and Asia's partner of reference for curating innovative event and venue experiences, Constellar will bring to this long-term partnership its expertise in facilitating transnational collaboration and expanding networks.

"In an increasingly connected global economy, our goal is to unlock the value of international partnerships to help businesses grow," said Mr Mel Shah, Senior Vice President (International & Business Development), Constellar. "With our experience organising internationally renowned business-to-business events such as the Industrial Transformation ASIA-PACIFIC, Agri-Food Tech Expo Asia and Singapore FinTech Festival where we convene communities to showcase innovations, connect with one another and exchange knowledge, Food2China Expo will set the stage for Constellar-WorldEx to play a pivotal role in inspiring China's food trade industry for long-term collaborative and sustainable growth."

Find out more about Food2China Expo here.

For media enquiries and interview requests, please contact the Constellar Communications team at [email protected]

About Constellar

Constellar connects a global eco-system of event partners and consumers through a holistic portfolio of intellectual property (IP) in the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) industry. As Asia's partner of reference for curating innovative event and venue experiences, Constellar activates impactful networks to bring global markets, businesses and consumers together for sustainable growth. With our expertise and dedication, we are invested in helping clients to build trusted relationships with stakeholders for the long term and enabling cross-industry collaboration through world-class audience engagement solutions. Visit constellar.co for more information.

About Constellar-WorldEx

Constellar-WorldEx (previously known as WorldEx-SingEx Exhibitions (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd), who manages Food2China EXPO, is a joint venture with Singapore's Constellar Holdings - one of the leading exhibition companies in the Asia-Pacific region jointly invested by Temasek Holdings and Cuscaden Peak Investments (formerly known as Singapore Press Holdings Private Limited before it was privatised on 13 May 2022). With 20 years of experience in organising exhibitions, and leveraging on Constellar's global network and expertise, Constellar-WorldEx focuses on developing markets and networks in Asia and Greater China for sustainable growth as it connects them with the rest of the world.

SOURCE Constellar
Fresh Up Your Life, the project promoted by CSO Italy and funded by the European Union on display at the Ifpa in Orlando

Origine Group, the consortium that brings together 9 leading Italian and Chilean companies that produce and market over 1,000 tons of fresh fruit and vegetables, brings the values of fruit and vegetables in the USA.

ORLANDO, Fla., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Is the constant consumption of fruit and vegetables in the US still a dream? According to the IFPA, which has just ended in Orlando, Florida, it would seem so. 90% of Americans below the WHO recommended amount (3.4 servings per day), although research has found that over 75% of consumers overwhelmingly agree that fruits and vegetables are important and a percentage similar thinks he is eating enough.

Fresh Up Campaign and Origine Group at IFPA

And right in the midst of this contradiction between declarations and behaviors, we find Fresh Up Your Life, the project by CSO Italy and funded by the European Union promoted in the USA (and in the United Arab Emirates) which until 2025 will support the promotion of high-quality products. quality, nutritious and healthy, with renewed attention to the issues of sustainability, clarity and traceability of the supply chain.

The subject of Fresh Up Your Life is fresh and transformed fruit and vegetables at the basis of a healthy lifestyle. In particular, the activities will target 2 targets: B2C, in particular millennials residing in California, Florida and in the State of New York and Emirati and western expats in the United Arab Emirates; B2B, in particular the trade operators in the 2 countries.

Fresh Up Your Life landed in Orlando together with Origine Group, the consortium associated with CSO Italy, which brings together 9 leading Italian and Chilean companies that produce and market over 1,000 tons of fresh fruit and vegetables. The international mission of Origine Group is achieved by focusing on kiwifruit and pears, with its Sweeki and Made in Blu brands, but also by investing in research and innovation: this season the first harvest of the red kiwi HFR18 and the FRED pear will take place.

"We are among the few global suppliers that can offer themselves as strategic partners in the kiwi industry with 25% of the entire Italian kiwifruit and 15% of the entire Chilean kiwifruit," Alessandro Zampagna, CEO of Origine Group, told IFPA of Orlando. The pandemic has also pushed further the demand for transparency of the food supply chain, which is why our companies have updated certifications for food safety, responsible sourcing and organic production, concluded the number one of Origine Group ".

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1936295/CSO_Italy.jpg

SOURCE CSO Italy
OKLAHOMA CITY, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --

Strong 3Q22 Results

 $2.22 B Cash Flow from Operations (CFO) & $1.01 B Free Cash Flow (FCF) (Non-GAAP)

 $1.01 B Net Income; $2.80 per Diluted Share ($1.04 B Adj. Net Income; $2.88 per Adj. Share (Non-GAAP))

 Total Debt of $6.30 B & Net Debt (Non-GAAP) of $4.49 B as of 9/30/22 (No Change in Total Debt & $1.26 B Net Debt (Non-GAAP) Reduction in 3Q22)

 More Than $4.00 B of Total Liquidity, Inclusive of Undrawn $2.25 B Revolver & $1.81 B Cash Balance as of 9/30/22

Continental Resources, Inc. (NYSE: CLR) (the "Company") today announced its third quarter 2022 operating and financial results.

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/95419/continental_resources_logo.jpg

The Company reported net income of $1.01 billion, or $2.80 per diluted share, for the quarter ended September 30, 2022. In third quarter 2022, typically excluded items in aggregate represented $27 million, or $0.08 per diluted share, of Continental's reported net income. Adjusted net income for third quarter 2022 was $1.04 billion, or $2.88 per diluted share (non-GAAP). Net cash provided by operating activities for third quarter 2022 was $2.22 billion, and EBITDAX was $2.05 billion (non-GAAP).

Adjusted net income, adjusted net income per share, EBITDAX, free cash flow, net debt, net sales prices, and cash general and administrative (G&A) expenses per barrel of oil equivalent (Boe) presented herein are non-GAAP financial measures. Definitions and explanations for how these measures relate to the most directly comparable U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) financial measures are provided at the conclusion of this press release.

3Q22 Production Update

Third quarter 2022 total production averaged 414.4 MBoepd. Third quarter 2022 oil production averaged 200.5 MBopd. Third quarter 2022 natural gas production averaged 1,284 MMcfpd. The Company is on track to achieve full year 2022 production guidance. The following table provides the Company's average daily production by region for the periods presented:





3Q

3Q

YTD

YTD Boe per day

2022

2021

2022

2021 Bakken

175,383

167,604

169,889

167,632 Anadarko Basin

162,829

152,522

155,861

147,626 Powder River Basin

31,234

4,937

23,438

4,477 Permian Basin

38,948



40,903

 All other

6,047

6,344

6,197

6,367 Total

414,441

331,407

396,288

326,102

3Q22 Financial Update

3Q 2022 Financial Update Three Months Ended

September 30, 2022

Nine Months Ended

September 30, 2022 Cash and Cash Equivalents



$1.81 billion Total Debt



$6.30 billion Net Debt (non-GAAP) (1)



$4.49 billion Average Net Sales Price (non-GAAP) (1)





Per Barrel of Oil $89.46

$95.51 Per Mcf of Gas $8.56

$7.63 Per Boe $69.91

$70.59 Production Expense per Boe $4.34

$4.22 Total G&A Expenses per Boe $1.79

$1.91 Crude Oil Net Sales Price Discount to NYMEX ($/Bbl) ($2.16)

($2.63) Natural Gas Net Sales Price Premium to NYMEX ($/Mcf) $0.37

$0.74 Non-Acquisition Capital Expenditures attributable to CLR $815.9 million

$1.99 billion Exploration & Development Drilling & Completion $686 million

$1.62 billion Leasehold and minerals $31.6 million

$88 million Workovers, Recompletions and Other $98.3 million

$283.4 million Minerals attributable to FNV $4.2 million

$7.9 million



(1) Net debt and net sales prices represent non-GAAP financial measures. Further information about these non-

GAAP financial measures as well as reconciliations to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial measures

are provided subsequently under the header Non-GAAP Financial Measures.

The Company's full 2022 guidance can be found at the conclusion of this press release.

3Q22 Earnings Summary Presentation

The Company plans to publish a third quarter 2022 summary presentation to its website at www.CLR.com on Wednesday, November 2, 2022. The Company does not intend to host a conference call in connection with its third quarter 2022 results.





Three months ended September 30,

Nine months ended September 30,



2022

2021

2022

2021 Average daily production:















Crude oil (Bbl per day)

200,464

157,153

197,869

158,609 Natural gas (Mcf per day)

1,283,865

1,045,521

1,190,516

1,004,954 Crude oil equivalents (Boe per day)

414,441

331,407

396,288

326,102 Average net sales prices (non-GAAP), excluding effect from derivatives: (1)







Crude oil ($/Bbl)

$89.46

$66.48

$95.51

$60.79 Natural gas ($/Mcf)

$8.56

$4.62

$7.63

$4.38 Crude oil equivalents ($/Boe)

$69.91

$46.07

$70.59

$43.04 Production expenses ($/Boe)

$4.34

$3.39

$4.22

$3.29 Production taxes (% of net crude oil and natural gas sales)

7.5 %

7.3 %

7.4 %

7.3 % DD&A ($/Boe)

$12.79

$15.29

$12.91

$16.26 Total general and administrative expenses ($/Boe) (2)

$1.79

$1.92

$1.91

$1.87 Net income attributable to Continental Resources (in thousands)

$1,013,107

$369,328

$2,819,611

$918,295 Diluted net income per share attributable to Continental Resources

$2.80

$1.01

$7.79

$2.52 Adjusted net income (non-GAAP) (in thousands) (1)

$1,040,156

$437,237

$3,251,690

$1,048,893 Adjusted diluted net income per share (non-GAAP) (1)

$2.88

$1.20

$8.98

$2.88 Net cash provided by operating activities (in thousands)

$2,221,698

$1,015,535

$5,463,971

$2,728,653 EBITDAX (non-GAAP) (in thousands) (1)

$2,048,415

$1,121,294

$6,092,717

$3,074,868



(1) Net sales prices, adjusted net income, adjusted diluted net income per share, and EBITDAX represent non-GAAP financial measures. Further

information about these non-GAAP financial measures as well as reconciliations to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial measures are

provided subsequently under the header Non-GAAP Financial Measures.

(2) Total general and administrative expense is comprised of cash general and administrative expense and non-cash equity compensation expense. Cash

general and administrative expense per Boe was $1.36, $1.45, $1.35, and $1.37 for 3Q 2022, 3Q 2021, YTD 2022, and YTD 2021, respectively. Non-cash

equity compensation expense per Boe was $0.43, $0.47, $0.56, and $0.50 for 3Q 2022, 3Q 2021, YTD 2022, and YTD 2021, respectively.

Previously Announced Definitive Agreement to Be Acquired by the Hamm Family

As previously announced, on October 17, 2022, the Company entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the "Merger Agreement") with Omega Acquisition, Inc., an Oklahoma corporation ("Merger Sub"), an entity that is owned by the Company's founder, Harold G. Hamm. The following documents have been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the tender offer and merger contemplated by the Merger Agreement: (i) a tender offer statement on Schedule TO (filed by Merger Sub); and (ii) a Solicitation/Recommendation Statement on Schedule 14D-9 (filed by the Company). The Schedule TO and Schedule 14D-9, together with their exhibits and incorporated documents (collectively the "Tender Offer Materials"), contain important information related to the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement and their impact on the Company. Shareholders are urged to read the Tender Offer Materials carefully.

The transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement are expected to close prior to December 31, 2022, subject to customary closing conditions. The Company cautions its shareholders and others considering trading in its securities that no further assurances can be given, including the timing of or whether such transactions will be completed.

About Continental Resources

Continental Resources (NYSE: CLR) is a top 10 independent oil producer in the U.S. and a leader in America's energy renaissance. Based in Oklahoma City, Continental is the largest leaseholder and the largest producer in the nation's premier oil field, the Bakken play of North Dakota and Montana. The Company is also the largest producer in the Anadarko Basin of Oklahoma and is the second largest leaseholder in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and tenth largest in the Permian Basin of Texas. With a focus on the exploration and production of oil, Continental has unlocked the technology and resources vital to American energy independence and our nation's leadership in the new world oil market. In 2022, the Company will celebrate 55 years of operations. For more information, please visit www.CLR.com.

Cautionary Statement for the Purpose of the "Safe Harbor" Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All statements included in this press release other than statements of historical fact, including, but not limited to, forecasts or expectations regarding the Company's business and statements or information concerning the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement, the Company's future operations, performance, financial condition, production and reserves, schedules, plans, timing of development, rates of return, budgets, costs, business strategy, objectives, and cash flows are forward-looking statements. When used in this press release, the words "could," "may," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "expect," "project," "budget," "target," "plan," "continue," "potential," "guidance," "strategy," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words.

Forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current expectations and assumptions about future events and currently available information as to the outcome and timing of future events. Although the Company believes these assumptions and expectations are reasonable, they are inherently subject to numerous business, economic, competitive, regulatory and other risks and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the Company's control. No assurance can be given that such expectations will be correct or achieved or that the assumptions are accurate. With respect to the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement described above, risks and uncertainties include the timing and/or occurrence of the consummation of such transactions and the Company's plans for financing such transactions. With respect to the Company's operations generally, the risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, commodity price volatility; the geographic concentration of our operations; financial market and economic volatility; the effects of any national or international health crisis; the inability to access needed capital; the risks and potential liabilities inherent in crude oil and natural gas drilling and production and the availability of insurance to cover any losses resulting therefrom; difficulties in estimating proved reserves and other reserves-based measures; declines in the values of our crude oil and natural gas properties resulting in impairment charges; our ability to replace proved reserves and sustain production; our ability to pay future dividends or complete share repurchases; the availability or cost of equipment and oilfield services; leasehold terms expiring on undeveloped acreage before production can be established; our ability to project future production, achieve targeted results in drilling and well operations and predict the amount and timing of development expenditures; the availability and cost of transportation, processing and refining facilities; legislative and regulatory changes adversely affecting our industry and our business, including initiatives related to hydraulic fracturing and greenhouse gas emissions; increased market and industry competition, including from alternative fuels and other energy sources; the impact of the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement on such operations and the other risks described under Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors and elsewhere in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2022, registration statements and other reports filed from time to time with the SEC, and other announcements the Company makes from time to time.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which such statement is made. Should one or more of the risks or uncertainties described in this press release occur, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, the Company's actual results and plans could differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Except as otherwise required by applicable law, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly correct or update any forward-looking statement whether as a result of new information, future events or circumstances after the date of this report, or otherwise.

Readers are cautioned that initial production rates are subject to decline over time and should not be regarded as reflective of sustained production levels. Production from horizontal drilling in shale oil and natural gas resource plays and tight natural gas plays that are stimulated with extensive pressure fracturing are typically characterized by significant early declines in production rates.

We use the term "EUR" or "estimated ultimate recovery" to describe our best estimate of recoverable oil and natural gas hydrocarbon quantities. Actual reserves recovered may differ from estimated quantities. EUR data included herein, if any, remain subject to change as more well data is analyzed.

Investor Contact: Media Contact: Rory Sabino Kristin Thomas Vice President, Investor Relations Senior Vice President, Public Relations 405-234-9620 405-234-9480 [email protected] [email protected]

Continental Resources, Inc. and Subsidiaries Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations

















Three months ended September 30,

Nine months ended September 30,

2022

2021

2022

2021

In thousands, except per share data Revenues:









Crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids sales $2,767,262

$1,456,181

$7,870,696

$3,986,628 Loss on derivative instruments, net (337,778)

(127,110)

(1,009,460)

(232,795) Crude oil and natural gas service operations 17,747

12,341

52,707

38,519 Total revenues 2,447,231

1,341,412

6,913,943

3,792,352















Operating costs and expenses:













Production expenses 166,322

103,222

456,840

292,791 Production and ad valorem taxes 200,593

102,398

563,204

280,667 Transportation, gathering, processing, and compression 85,650

53,969

236,851

156,670 Exploration expenses 2,809

2,534

20,460

9,470 Crude oil and natural gas service operations 10,356

4,884

29,361

15,037 Depreciation, depletion, amortization and accretion 490,523

465,357

1,396,185

1,446,823 Property impairments 12,794

7,945

52,868

30,991 General and administrative expenses 68,687

58,421

206,098

166,822 Net (gain) loss on sale of assets and other (618)

(3,029)

(773)

(3,496) Total operating costs and expenses 1,037,116

795,701

2,961,094

2,395,775 Income from operations 1,410,115

545,711

3,952,849

1,396,577 Other income (expense):













Interest expense (70,717)

(59,894)

(215,508)

(185,796) Gain (loss) on extinguishment of debt 



(403)

(290) Other 4,490

345

4,503

895

(66,227)

(59,549)

(211,408)

(185,191) Income before income taxes 1,343,888

486,162

3,741,441

1,211,386 Provision for income taxes (323,390)

(115,641)

(903,745)

(291,116) Income before equity in net loss of affiliate 1,020,498

370,521

2,837,696

920,270 Equity in net loss of affiliate (660)



(736)

 Net income 1,019,838

370,521

2,836,960

920,270 Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests 6,731

1,193

17,349

1,975 Net income attributable to Continental Resources $1,013,107

$369,328

$2,819,611

$918,295















Net income per share attributable to Continental Resources:







Basic $2.83

$1.02

$7.88

$2.54 Diluted $2.80

$1.01

$7.79

$2.52

Continental Resources, Inc. and Subsidiaries Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets









In thousands

September 30, 2022

December 31, 2021 Assets







Cash and cash equivalents

$1,813,182

$20,868 Other current assets

2,150,579

1,543,522 Net property and equipment (1)

18,249,221

16,975,465 Other noncurrent assets

198,794

51,256 Total assets

$22,411,776

$18,591,111









Liabilities and equity







Current liabilities (2)

$3,311,259

$1,500,127 Long-term debt, net of current portion (2)

5,663,533

6,826,566 Other noncurrent liabilities

3,125,237

2,408,093 Equity attributable to Continental Resources

9,935,193

7,475,456 Equity attributable to noncontrolling interests

376,554

380,869 Total liabilities and equity

$22,411,776

$18,591,111



(1) Balance is net of accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization of $17.85 billion and $16.48 billion as of September 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively.

(2) The Company's $636 million of outstanding 2023 Notes are scheduled to mature in April 2023 and, accordingly, are included in the caption "Current liabilities" at September 30, 2022. The Company's total debt, including the current portion, amounts to $6.30 billion at September 30, 2022.

Continental Resources, Inc. and Subsidiaries Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows





















Three months ended September 30,

Nine months ended September 30, In thousands

2022

2021

2022

2021 Net income

$1,019,838

$370,521

$2,836,960

$920,270 Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash

provided by operating activities:















Non-cash expenses

815,501

687,296

2,563,874

1,961,607 Changes in assets and liabilities

386,359

(42,282)

63,137

(153,224) Net cash provided by operating activities

2,221,698

1,015,535

5,463,971

2,728,653 Net cash used in investing activities

(848,963)

(352,587)

(2,697,322)

(1,123,801) Net cash used in financing activities

(112,813)

(119,337)

(974,335)

(958,673) Net change in cash and cash equivalents

1,259,922

543,611

1,792,314

646,179 Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period

553,260

150,038

20,868

47,470 Cash and cash equivalents at end of period

$1,813,182

$693,649

$1,813,182

$693,649

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Non-GAAP adjusted net income and adjusted net income per share attributable to Continental

Our presentation of adjusted net income and adjusted net income per share that exclude the effect of certain items are non-GAAP financial measures. Adjusted net income and adjusted net income per share represent net income and diluted net income per share determined under U.S. GAAP without regard to non-cash gains and losses on derivative instruments, property impairments, gains and losses on asset sales, gains and losses on extinguishment of debt, certain legal matters, certain transaction costs, and charitable donations as applicable. Management believes these measures provide useful information to analysts and investors for analysis of our operating results. In addition, management believes these measures are used by analysts and others in valuation, comparison and investment recommendations of companies in the oil and gas industry to allow for analysis without regard to an entity's specific derivative portfolio, impairment methodologies, and property acquisitions and dispositions. Adjusted net income and adjusted net income per share should not be considered in isolation or as an alternative to, or more meaningful than, net income or diluted net income per share as determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP and may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. The following table reconciles net income and diluted net income per share as determined under U.S. GAAP to adjusted net income and adjusted diluted net income per share for the periods presented.





Three months ended September 30,



2022

2021 In thousands, except per share data

$

Diluted EPS

$

Diluted EPS Net income attributable to Continental Resources (GAAP)

$1,013,107

$2.80

$369,328

$1.01 Adjustments:















Non-cash loss on derivatives

111,680





85,030



Property impairments

12,794





7,945



Net (gain) loss on sale of assets and other

(618)





(3,029)



Resolution of legal matter

(95,030)









Transaction costs

7,000









Total tax effect of adjustments (1)

(8,777)





(22,037)



Total adjustments, net of tax

27,049

0.08

67,909

0.19 Adjusted net income (non-GAAP)

$1,040,156

$2.88

$437,237

$1.20 Weighted average diluted shares outstanding

361,521





364,248



Adjusted diluted net income per share (non-GAAP)

$2.88





$1.20











































Nine months ended September 30,



2022

2021 In thousands, except per share data

$

Diluted EPS

$

Diluted EPS Net income attributable to Continental Resources (GAAP)

$2,819,611

$7.79

$918,295

$2.52 Adjustments:















Non-cash loss on derivatives

605,822





145,194



Property impairments

52,868





30,991



Net (gain) loss on sale of assets and other

(773)





(3,496)



(Gain) loss on extinguishment of debt

403





290



Charitable donation

2,000









Resolution of legal matter

(95,030)









Transaction costs

7,000









Total tax effect of adjustments (1)

(140,211)





(42,381)



Total adjustments, net of tax

432,079

1.19

130,598

0.36 Adjusted net income (non-GAAP)

$3,251,690

$8.98

$1,048,893

$2.88 Weighted average diluted shares outstanding

362,025





364,479



Adjusted diluted net income per share (non-GAAP)

$8.98





$2.88







(1) Computed by applying a combined federal and state statutory tax rate of 24.5% in effect for 2022 and 2021 to the pre-tax amount of

adjustments.

Non-GAAP Net Debt

Net debt is a non-GAAP measure. We define net debt as total debt less cash and cash equivalents as determined under U.S. GAAP. Net debt should not be considered an alternative to, or more meaningful than, total debt, the most directly comparable GAAP measure. Management uses net debt to determine the Company's outstanding debt obligations that would not be readily satisfied by its cash and cash equivalents on hand. We believe this metric is useful to analysts and investors in determining the Company's leverage position, since the Company is able to, and may decide to, use a portion of its cash and cash equivalents to reduce debt. This metric is sometimes presented as a ratio with EBITDAX in order to provide investors with another means of evaluating the Company's ability to service its existing debt obligations as well as any future increase in the amount of such obligations. At September 30, 2022, the Company's total debt was $6.3 billion and its net debt amounted to $4.49 billion, representing total debt of $6.3 billion less cash and cash equivalents of $1.81 billion. At June 30, 2022, the Company's total debt was $6.3 billion and its net debt amounted to $5.75 billion, representing total debt of $6.3 billion less cash and cash equivalents of $553.3 million. From time to time the Company provides forward-looking net debt forecasts; however, the Company is unable to provide a quantitative reconciliation of the forward-looking non-GAAP measure to the most directly comparable forward-looking GAAP measure of total debt because management cannot reliably quantify certain of the necessary components of such forward-looking GAAP measure. The reconciling items in future periods could be significant.

Non-GAAP EBITDAX

We use a variety of financial and operational measures to assess our performance. Among these measures is EBITDAX, a non-GAAP measure. We define EBITDAX as earnings before interest expense, income taxes, depreciation, depletion, amortization and accretion, property impairments, exploration expenses, non-cash gains and losses resulting from the requirements of accounting for derivatives, non-cash equity compensation expense, gains and losses on extinguishment of debt, and non-cash charitable donations as applicable. EBITDAX is not a measure of net income or net cash provided by operating activities as determined by U.S. GAAP.

Management believes EBITDAX is useful because it allows us to more effectively evaluate our operating performance and compare the results of our operations from period to period without regard to our financing methods or capital structure. Further, we believe EBITDAX is a widely followed measure of operating performance and may also be used by investors to measure our ability to meet future debt service requirements, if any. We exclude the items listed above from net income/loss and net cash provided by operating activities in arriving at EBITDAX because these amounts can vary substantially from company to company within our industry depending upon accounting methods and book values of assets, capital structures and the method by which the assets were acquired.

EBITDAX should not be considered as an alternative to, or more meaningful than, net income/loss or net cash provided by operating activities as determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP or as an indicator of a company's operating performance or liquidity. Certain items excluded from EBITDAX are significant components in understanding and assessing a company's financial performance, such as a company's cost of capital and tax structure, as well as the historic costs of depreciable assets, none of which are components of EBITDAX. Our computations of EBITDAX may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies.

The following table provides a reconciliation of our net income to EBITDAX for the periods presented.





Three months ended September 30,



Nine months ended September 30, In thousands

2022

2021



2022

2021 Net income

$1,019,838

$370,521



$2,836,960

$920,270 Interest expense

70,717

59,894



215,508

185,796 Provision for income taxes

323,390

115,641



903,745

291,116 Depreciation, depletion, amortization and accretion

490,523

465,357



1,396,185

1,446,823 Property impairments

12,794

7,945



52,868

30,991 Exploration expenses

2,809

2,534



20,460

9,470 Impact from derivative instruments:

















Total loss on derivatives, net

337,778

127,110



1,009,460

232,795 Total cash paid on derivatives, net

(226,098)

(42,080)



(403,638)

(87,601) Non-cash loss on derivatives, net

111,680

85,030



605,822

145,194 Non-cash equity compensation

16,664

14,372



60,766

44,918 (Gain) loss on extinguishment of debt







403

290 EBITDAX (non-GAAP)

$2,048,415

$1,121,294



$6,092,717

$3,074,868

The following table provides a reconciliation of our net cash provided by operating activities to EBITDAX for the periods presented.





Three months ended September 30,



Nine months ended September 30, In thousands

2022

2021



2022

2021 Net cash provided by operating activities

$2,221,698

$1,015,535



$5,463,971

$2,728,653 Current income tax provision

139,831





478,656

 Interest expense

70,717

59,894



215,508

185,796 Exploration expenses, excluding dry hole costs

2,755

2,534



8,353

9,470 Gain (loss) on sale of assets and other, net

618

3,029



773

3,496 Other, net

(845)

(1,980)



(11,407)

(5,771) Changes in assets and liabilities

(386,359)

42,282



(63,137)

153,224 EBITDAX (non-GAAP)

$2,048,415

$1,121,294



$6,092,717

$3,074,868

Non-GAAP Free Cash Flow

Our presentation of free cash flow is a non-GAAP measure. We define free cash flow as cash flows from operations before changes in working capital items, less capital expenditures, excluding acquisitions, plus noncontrolling interest capital contributions, less distributions to noncontrolling interests. Noncontrolling interest capital contributions and distributions primarily relate to our relationship formed with Franco-Nevada in 2018 to fund a portion of certain mineral acquisitions which are included in our capital expenditures and operating results. Free cash flow is not a measure of net income or operating cash flows as determined by U.S. GAAP and should not be considered an alternative to, or more meaningful than, the comparable GAAP measure, and free cash flow does not represent residual cash flows available for discretionary expenditures. Management believes this measure is useful to management and investors as a measure of a company's ability to internally fund its capital expenditures, to service or incur additional debt, and to measure management's success in creating shareholder value. From time to time the Company provides forward-looking free cash flow estimates or targets; however, the Company is unable to provide a quantitative reconciliation of this forward-looking non-GAAP measure to the most directly comparable forward-looking GAAP measure because management cannot reliably quantify certain of the necessary components of such forward-looking GAAP measure. The reconciling items in future periods could be significant.

The following table reconciles net cash provided by operating activities as determined under U.S. GAAP to free cash flow for the three months ended September 30, 2022.

In thousands

3Q 2022 Net cash provided by operating activities (GAAP)

2,221,698 Exclude: Changes in working capital items

(386,359) Less: Capital expenditures (1)

(820,200) Plus: Contributions from noncontrolling interests

1,817 Less: Distributions to noncontrolling interests

(11,126) Free cash flow (non-GAAP)

$1,005,830





(1) Capital expenditures are calculated as follows:



In thousands

3Q 2022 Cash paid for capital expenditures

762,117 Less: Total acquisitions

(43,130) Plus: Change in accrued capital expenditures & other

100,353 Plus: Exploratory seismic costs

860 Capital expenditures

$820,200

Non-GAAP Net Sales Prices

Revenues and transportation expenses associated with production from our operated properties are reported separately. For non-operated properties, we receive a net payment from the operator for our share of sales proceeds which is net of costs incurred by the operator, if any. Such non-operated revenues are recognized at the net amount of proceeds received. As a result, the separate presentation of revenues and transportation expenses from our operated properties differs from the net presentation from non-operated properties. This impacts the comparability of certain operating metrics, such as per-unit sales prices, when such metrics are prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP using gross presentation for some revenues and net presentation for others.

In order to provide metrics prepared in a manner consistent with how management assesses the Company's operating results and to achieve comparability between operated and non-operated revenues, we may present crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids sales net of transportation expenses, which we refer to as "net crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids sales," a non-GAAP measure. Average sales prices calculated using net sales are referred to as "net sales prices," a non-GAAP measure, and are calculated by taking revenues less transportation expenses divided by sales volumes. Management believes presenting our revenues and sales prices net of transportation expenses is useful because it normalizes the presentation differences between operated and non-operated revenues and allows for a useful comparison of net realized prices to NYMEX benchmark prices on a Company-wide basis.

The following table presents a reconciliation of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids sales (GAAP) to net crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids sales and related net sales prices (non-GAAP) for the periods presented.





Three months ended September 30, 2022



Three months ended September 30, 2021 In thousands

Crude oil

Natural gas

and NGLs

Total



Crude oil

Natural gas

and NGLs

Total Crude oil, natural gas, and NGL sales

(GAAP)

$1,738,414

$1,028,848

$2,767,262



$1,002,823

$453,358

$1,456,181 Less: Transportation expenses

(67,818)

(17,832)

(85,650)



(45,241)

(8,728)

(53,969) Net crude oil, natural gas, and NGL sales

(non-GAAP)

$1,670,596

$1,011,016

$2,681,612



$957,582

$444,630

$1,402,212 Sales volumes (MBbl/MMcf/MBoe)

18,674

118,116

38,360



14,404

96,188

30,435 Net sales price (non-GAAP)

$89.46

$8.56

$69.91



$66.48

$4.62

$46.07































Nine months ended September 30, 2022



Nine months ended September 30, 2021 In thousands

Crude oil

Natural gas

and NGLs

Total



Crude oil

Natural gas

and NGLs

Total Crude oil, natural gas, and NGL sales

(GAAP)

$5,343,742

$2,526,954

$7,870,696



$2,758,859

$1,227,769

$3,986,628 Less: Transportation expenses

(188,418)

(48,433)

(236,851)



(129,218)

(27,452)

(156,670) Net crude oil, natural gas, and NGL sales

(non-GAAP)

$5,155,324

$2,478,521

$7,633,845



$2,629,641

$1,200,317

$3,829,958 Sales volumes (MBbl/MMcf/MBoe)

53,979

325,011

108,147



43,257

274,352

88,982 Net sales price (non-GAAP)

$95.51

$7.63

$70.59



$60.79

$4.38

$43.04

Non-GAAP Cash General and Administrative Expenses per Boe

Our presentation of cash general and administrative ("G&A") expenses per Boe is a non-GAAP measure. We define cash G&A per Boe as total G&A determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP less non-cash equity compensation expenses, expressed on a per-Boe basis. We report and provide guidance on cash G&A per Boe because we believe this measure is commonly used by management, analysts and investors as an indicator of cost management and operating efficiency on a comparable basis from period to period. In addition, management believes cash G&A per Boe is used by analysts and others in valuation, comparison and investment recommendations of companies in the oil and gas industry to allow for analysis of G&A spend without regard to stock-based compensation programs which can vary substantially from company to company. Cash G&A per Boe should not be considered as an alternative to, or more meaningful than, total G&A per Boe as determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP and may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies.

The following table reconciles total G&A per Boe as determined under U.S. GAAP to cash G&A per Boe for the periods presented.





Three months ended September 30,



Nine months ended September 30,



2022

2021



2022

2021 Total G&A per Boe (GAAP)

$1.79

$1.92



$1.91

$1.87 Less: Non-cash equity compensation per Boe

(0.43)

(0.47)



(0.56)

(0.50) Cash G&A per Boe (non-GAAP)

$1.36

$1.45



$1.35

$1.37

Continental Resources, Inc. 2022 Guidance As of November 2, 2022









2022 Full-year average oil production (Bopd)

200,000 to 210,000 Full-year average natural gas production (Mcfpd)

1,100,000 to 1,200,000 Capital expenditures budget

$2.6 to $2.7 billion





Full-Year Operating Expenses:



Production expense per Boe

$3.75 to $4.25 Production tax (% of net oil & gas revenue)

7.5% to 8.0% Cash G&A expense per Boe (1)

$1.20 to $1.40 Non-cash equity compensation per Boe

$0.50 to $0.60 DD&A per Boe

$12.00 to $14.00





Average Price Differentials:



NYMEX WTI crude oil (per barrel of oil)

($2.25) to ($3.25) Henry Hub natural gas (2) (per Mcf)

$0.25 to $1.00



1. Cash G&A is a non-GAAP measure and excludes the range of values shown for non-cash equity compensation per Boe in the item appearing immediately below. Guidance for total G&A (cash and non-cash) is a projected range of $1.70 to $2.00 per Boe.

2. Includes natural gas liquids production in differential range.

SOURCE Continental Resources
HOUSTON, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Coterra Energy Inc. (the "Company" or "Coterra") (NYSE: CTRA) announced today that the Company's Board of Directors appointed Thomas E. Jorden, its President and Chief Executive Officer, as Chairman of the Board effective January 1, 2023, succeeding Dan O. Dinges, as Executive Chairman upon the expiration of his term on December 31, 2022 in accordance with the merger agreement between the Company and Cimarex Energy Co. ("Cimarex"). Mr. Dinges will remain as Chair of the Executive Committee. The Board also appointed Robert Boswell to succeed Lisa Stewart as Lead Independent Director effective January 1, 2023.

"I want to express my appreciation to the Board, to the management team and to all of our employees for their collective efforts this past year in setting Coterra on the path to success," said Dan Dinges, Executive Chairman. "I am grateful for the experience. I know under Tom's leadership the Company will continue to be an industry leader."

"I want to thank Dan for his leadership and compliment him on building a great organization with premier assets over the last two decades," said Thomas Jorden, President and CEO. "I am also looking forward to working closely with Bob as Lead Independent Director, drawing on his boardroom and upstream oil and gas experience to move Coterra forward."

Mr. Dinges served as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President from May 2002 until the completion of the merger with Cimarex on October 1, 2021, bringing decades of executive management experience in the oil and gas exploration and production business and a deep knowledge of operations. He also oversaw an era of tremendous growth for the Company. Mr. Dinges joined the Company in September 2001 as Chief Operating Officer and President after a successful 20-year career in various management positions with the predecessor to Noble Energy, Inc.

Mr. Jorden was appointed as Chief Executive Officer in October 2021 in connection with the consummation of the merger with Cimarex. At Cimarex, he began serving as Executive Vice President of Exploration when the company was formed in 2002. In 2011, he became Chief Executive Officer and President of Cimarex and then Chairman of the Board in 2012. Prior to the formation of Cimarex, Mr. Jorden held multiple leadership roles at Key Production Company, Inc., Cimarex's predecessor. He joined Key in 1993 as Chief Geophysicist and went on to become Executive Vice President of Exploration.

Mr. Boswell has served as a director of Coterra since 2015 and currently serves on the Executive, Audit, and Environment, Health & Safety Committees of the Board. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Laramie Energy LLC, an exploration and production company operating in the Piceance Basin of Colorado.

About Coterra Energy

Coterra is a premier exploration and production company based in Houston, Texas with focused operations in the Permian Basin, Marcellus Shale and Anadarko Basin. We strive to be a leading producer, delivering returns with a commitment to sustainability leadership. Learn more about us at www.coterra.com.

SOURCE Coterra Energy Inc.
NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cruiser Bikes Market report has been added to Technavio's offering. With ISO 9001:2015 certification, Technavio is proudly partnering with more than 100 Fortune 500 companies for over 16 years. The potential growth difference for the cruiser bikes market between 2021 and 2026 is USD 15.49 billion. 48% of the growth originated from North America. Request Free Sample Report.

Key Market Dynamics:

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Cruiser Bikes Market 2022-2026

Market Driver

The rising consumer demand for technologically advanced motorcycles is one of the main factors boosting the market for cruiser bikes. The most popular mode of transportation for getting from one place to another is a motorcycle, including cruiser bikes. While an increasing number of manufacturers, like Honda Motor Company, are adding features like navigation systems, other businesses are creating bikes that will give riders a better driving experience.

is one of the main factors boosting the market for cruiser bikes. The most popular mode of transportation for getting from one place to another is a motorcycle, including cruiser bikes. While an increasing number of manufacturers, like Honda Motor Company, are adding features like navigation systems, other businesses are creating bikes that will give riders a better driving experience.

Additionally, by incorporating state-of-the-art sensor systems and AI technologies, cruiser bike manufacturers will be able to offer features that will meet the needs of both experienced and inexperienced riders. The increased interest in technologically advanced bikes is anticipated to fuel the expansion of the global cruiser bikes market.

Market Challenges

During the forecast period, the cruiser bikes market will face significant challenges due to the faulty components, subpar construction, and problematic designs associated with these bikes. Due to complaints from customers that the suspension and chassis of these bikes have not been tuned enough for roads with potholes, Harley Davidson is unable to successfully market its cruiser bikes in some nations, such as India . The most obvious issues that prevent Harley Davidson from selling its cruiser bikes in developing nations like India are faulty brakes and burned clutch plates. Most cruiser bikes only have one speed, making them extremely slow even though they are easy to ride. Therefore, these elements may limit the market's ability to expand.

To learn about additional key drivers, trends, and challenges available with Technavio. Download FREE Sample Report right now!

Market Segmentation

Engine capacity

More than 1000 cc



Larger cylinders found in cruiser bikes with higher cubic capacity boost their capacity to ingest fuel and air. High cubic centimeter capacity (cc), such as more than 1000, provides the rider with more power and torque at lower engine speeds, resulting in more power and flexibility with gear changes. Harley-Davidson, Triumph Motorcycle, Ducati, and other well-known manufacturers sell cruiser bikes of greater than 1000cc. Due to the rising popularity of touring activities among people all over the world and the consumer's increasing demand for more power and torque, the market for cruiser bikes with engines larger than 1000cc is expected to grow. Hence, such factors are expected to drive the growth of the market



Less than 500 cc



501 cc to 1000 cc

Geography

North America



North America will contribute 48% of market growth. The main markets for cruiser bikes in North America are the US and Canada . The expansion of the cruiser bikes market in North America will be driven by rising consumer desire for technologically sophisticated motorcycles, improvements in rider safety, rising consumer per capita income, and rising demand for advanced motorcycle accessories.

will contribute 48% of market growth. The main markets for cruiser bikes in are the US and . The expansion of the cruiser bikes market in will be driven by rising consumer desire for technologically sophisticated motorcycles, improvements in rider safety, rising consumer per capita income, and rising demand for advanced motorcycle accessories.

Europe



APAC



Middle East and Africa



South America

To know additional highlights and key points on various market segments and their impact in coming years, Buy Sample Report.

Cruiser Bikes Market Vendor Insights

The leading vendors compete by offering electrostatic precipitator systems with advanced technologies and features. Vendors are trying to increase their market share by adopting strategies such as mergers and acquisitions. Therefore, competition in the market is expected to increase during the forecast period.

Bajaj Auto Ltd.



Bayerische Motoren Werke AG



Classic Legends Pvt. Ltd.



Eicher Motors Ltd.



Harley Davidson Inc.



Hero MotoCorp Ltd.



Honda Motor Co. Ltd.



Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd.



KLB KOMAKI PVT LTD



Lifan Technology Group Co. Ltd.



LVMC Holdings Co. Ltd.



Piaggio and C. Spa



Polaris Inc.



Suzuki Motor Corp.



Triumph Motorcycles Ltd.

Get lifetime access to our Technavio Insights! Subscribe to our "Basic Plan" billed annually at USD 5000 .

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Mountain Bike Market by End-user, Type and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2023-2027: The market report presents the overall historical data of market size and geographical analysis from 2017 to 2021. The market size in 2017 was USD 7755.40 million. From a regional perspective, North America was the leading market in 2017 with a market value of USD 2,701.20 million.

Motorcycle Rental Market Growth, Size, Trends, Analysis Report by Type, Application, Region and Segment Forecast 2022-2026: The report extensively covers the motorcycle rental market segmentation by product (commuter motorcycles and luxury motorcycles) and geography (North America, APAC, Europe, South America, and the Middle East and Africa).

Cruiser Bikes Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 5.18% Market growth 2022-2026 $15.49 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 4.58 Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, Middle East and Africa, and South America Performing market contribution North America at 48% Key consumer countries US, Canada, India, France, and UK Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled Bajaj Auto Ltd., Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, Classic Legends Pvt. Ltd., Eicher Motors Ltd., Harley Davidson Inc., Hero MotoCorp Ltd., Honda Motor Co. Ltd., Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd., KLB KOMAKI PVT LTD, Lifan Technology Group Co. Ltd., LVMC Holdings Co. Ltd., Piaggio and C. Spa, Polaris Inc., Suzuki Motor Corp., Triumph Motorcycles Ltd., TVS Motor Co. Ltd., Volkswagen AG, Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd., Zero Motorcycles Inc., and Zhejiang Qianjiang Motorcycle Co. Ltd. Market Dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and future consumer dynamics, and market condition analysis for the forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Key Topics Covered:

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market Overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Engine Capacity



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 09: Parent market



Exhibit 10: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 11: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 12: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2021

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2021-2026

Exhibit 13: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 14: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 15: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 16: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

4 Five Forces Analysis

4.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 17: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2021 and 2026

4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 18: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2021 and 2026

4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 19: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 20: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 21: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 22: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.7 Market condition

Exhibit 23: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2021 and 2026

5 Market Segmentation by Engine Capacity

5.1 Market segments

Exhibit 24: Chart on Engine Capacity - Market share 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 25: Data Table on Engine Capacity - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

5.2 Comparison by Engine Capacity

Exhibit 26: Chart on Comparison by Engine Capacity



Exhibit 27: Data Table on Comparison by Engine Capacity

5.3 More than 1000 cc - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 28: Chart on More than 1000 cc - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 29: Data Table on More than 1000 cc - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 30: Chart on More than 1000 cc - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on More than 1000 cc - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 Less than 500 cc - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 32: Chart on Less than 500 cc - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Less than 500 cc - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 34: Chart on Less than 500 cc - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Less than 500 cc - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 501 cc to 1000 cc - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 36: Chart on 501 cc to 1000 cc - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on 501 cc to 1000 cc - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 38: Chart on 501 cc to 1000 cc - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on 501 cc to 1000 cc - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.6 Market opportunity by Engine Capacity

Exhibit 40: Market opportunity by Engine Capacity ($ million)

6 Customer Landscape

6.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 41: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

7 Geographic Landscape

7.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 42: Chart on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)

7.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 44: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Geographic comparison

7.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 46: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 47: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 48: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 49: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.4 Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 50: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 51: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 52: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 53: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.5 APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 54: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 55: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 56: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 57: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.6 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 58: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 59: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 60: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 61: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.7 South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 62: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 63: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 64: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 65: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.8 US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 66: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 67: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 68: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 69: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.9 France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 70: Chart on France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 71: Data Table on France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 72: Chart on France - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 73: Data Table on France - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.10 UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 74: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 75: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 76: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 77: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.11 Canada - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 78: Chart on Canada - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 79: Data Table on Canada - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 80: Chart on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 81: Data Table on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.12 India - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 82: Chart on India - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 83: Data Table on India - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 84: Chart on India - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 85: Data Table on India - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 86: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

8 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

8.1 Market drivers

8.2 Market challenges

8.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 87: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2021 and 2026

8.4 Market trends

9 Vendor Landscape

9.1 Overview

9.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 88: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

9.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 89: Overview on factors of disruption

9.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 90: Impact of key risks on business

10 Vendor Analysis

10.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 91: Vendors covered

10.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 92: Matrix on vendor position and classification

10.3 Bayerische Motoren Werke AG

Exhibit 93: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG - Overview



Exhibit 94: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG - Business segments



Exhibit 95: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG - Key news



Exhibit 96: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG - Key offerings



Exhibit 97: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG - Segment focus

10.4 Harley Davidson Inc.

Exhibit 98: Harley Davidson Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 99: Harley Davidson Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 100: Harley Davidson Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 101: Harley Davidson Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 102: Harley Davidson Inc. - Segment focus

10.5 Hero MotoCorp Ltd.

Exhibit 103: Hero MotoCorp Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 104: Hero MotoCorp Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 105: Hero MotoCorp Ltd. - Key offerings

10.6 Honda Motor Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 106: Honda Motor Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 107: Honda Motor Co. Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 108: Honda Motor Co. Ltd. - Key news



Exhibit 109: Honda Motor Co. Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 110: Honda Motor Co. Ltd. - Segment focus

10.7 Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd.

Exhibit 111: Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 112: Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 113: Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. - Key news



Exhibit 114: Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 115: Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. - Segment focus

10.8 Piaggio and C. Spa

Exhibit 116: Piaggio and C. Spa - Overview



Exhibit 117: Piaggio and C. Spa - Business segments



Exhibit 118: Piaggio and C. Spa - Key offerings



Exhibit 119: Piaggio and C. Spa - Segment focus

10.9 Suzuki Motor Corp.

Exhibit 120: Suzuki Motor Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 121: Suzuki Motor Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 122: Suzuki Motor Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 123: Suzuki Motor Corp. - Segment focus

10.10 Triumph Motorcycles Ltd.

Exhibit 124: Triumph Motorcycles Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 125: Triumph Motorcycles Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 126: Triumph Motorcycles Ltd. - Key offerings

10.11 Volkswagen AG

Exhibit 127: Volkswagen AG - Overview



Exhibit 128: Volkswagen AG - Business segments



Exhibit 129: Volkswagen AG - Key offerings



Exhibit 130: Volkswagen AG - Segment focus

10.12 Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 131: Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 132: Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 133: Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. - Key news



Exhibit 134: Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 135: Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. - Segment focus

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 136: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 137: Exclusions checklist

11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 138: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 139: Research methodology



Exhibit 140: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 141: Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 142: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions.

With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email:[email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
WOONSOCKET, R.I., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) announced today that it has agreed in principle to a financial resolution designed to substantially resolve all opioid lawsuits and claims against the company by states, political subdivisions, such as counties and cities, and tribes in the United States.

If all conditions are satisfied and the non-monetary terms  which still need to be determined  are finalized, CVS Health has agreed it will pay approximately $5 billion ($4.9 billion to states and political subdivisions and approximately $130 million to tribes) over the next ten years beginning in 2023, depending on the number of governmental entities that agree to join the settlement.

The agreement would fully resolve claims dating back a decade or more and is not an admission of any liability or wrongdoing. CVS Health will continue to defend against any litigation that the final agreement does not resolve.

"We are pleased to resolve these longstanding claims and putting them behind us is in the best interest of all parties, as well as our customers, colleagues and shareholders," said Thomas Moriarty, Chief Policy Officer and General Counsel, CVS Health. "We are committed to working with states, municipalities and tribes, and will continue our own important initiatives to help reduce the illegitimate use of prescription opioids."

CVS Health has undertaken numerous initiatives to fight opioid abuse, which include:

Significant investments in technology and procedures to support its pharmacists in exercising their professional obligations.

Innovative, comprehensive, and industry-leading policies, procedures and controls relating to the dispensing of controlled substances.

Effective educational programs on prescription drug misuse that have reached 1.8 million teens and parents.

Rollout of more than 4,750 safe medication disposal units in stores and local police departments across the country, which to date have collected more than 4.5 million pounds of unused medication.

Installation of time delay safes in more than 7,650 pharmacies across 45 states and Washington, DC to help deter opioid robberies.

to help deter opioid robberies. Nationwide access in CVS Pharmacy locations to life-saving opioid overdose reversal medication.

The timing of cash settlement payments, spread over multiple years, allows the company to continue to invest in its strategic priorities. More information about the settlement will be provided during the CVS Health third quarter 2022 earnings conference call on Wednesday, November 2 at 8:00 a.m. ET.

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a safe harbor for forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of CVS Health. By their nature, all forward-looking statements, including the statements in this press release related to the scope and coverage of the ultimate settlement and the expected financial and other impacts that could result from the Settlement Framework, are not guarantees of future performance or results and are subject to risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and/or quantify. Actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements for a number of reasons as described in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including those set forth in the Risk Factors section and under the heading "Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.

You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on CVS Health's forward-looking statements. CVS Health's forward-looking statements are and will be based upon management's then-current views and assumptions regarding future events and operating performance, and are applicable only as of the dates of such statements. CVS Health does not assume any duty to update or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, uncertainties or otherwise.

About CVS Health

CVS Health is the leading health solutions company, delivering care like no one else can. We reach more people and improve the health of communities across America through our local presence, digital channels and over 300,000 dedicated colleagues  including more than 40,000 physicians, pharmacists, nurses and nurse practitioners. Wherever and whenever people need us, we help them with their health  whether that's managing chronic diseases, staying compliant with their medications or accessing affordable health and wellness services in the most convenient ways. We help people navigate the health care system  and their personal health care  by improving access, lowering costs and being a trusted partner for every meaningful moment of health. And we do it all with heart, each and every day. Follow @CVSHealth on social media.

Media contact

Mike DeAngelis

401-770-2645

[email protected]

Investor contact

Larry McGrath

800-201-0938

SOURCE CVS Health
NICOSIA, Cyprus, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CYENS researchers Dr Christos Ioannou and Prof. Marios Avraamides participated the healthTECH expo in Yokohama, Japan on 12-14 October 2022 to present their respective projects, TONE and PULSEVR. The team is looking to engage with the Japanese industry to create synergies and collaborations.

About TONE

TONE Project - Using musculo-postural biofeedback in virtual reality for pain management in musicians."

TONE is a digital biofeedback mirror tool developed by Dr Ioannou. The purpose of this tool is to prevent, diagnose and rehabilitate musculoskeletal disorders, caused by repetitive movements during work. Such task-specific disorders often develop in musicians and athletes. The biofeedback mirror tool uses motion tracking and electromyography sensors to display full-body musculo-postural feedback that simulates the movement of the user in real-time. The mirror tool provides corrective feedback to help users overcome work-related musculoskeletal disorders.

"Imagine a mirror showing you what your posture and muscles are doing while you are playing an instrument or exercising. If something is wrong, you will know immediately and would be able to correct yourself. This means avoidance of injuries caused by repetitive actions or a relief from pain caused by musculoskeletal imbalances. Our tool gives an opportunity to any user to observe in real time how specific activities affect their own body", says Dr Ioannou.

About PULSEVR

PULSEVR, developed by Prof. Avraamides with SilverSky Ltd., is a Virtual Reality (VR) application that aims to treat Public Speaking Anxiety (PSA). Stage fright or fear of public speaking is often accompanied by a variety of physical and emotional reactions that pose a threat to mental health. PULSEVR implements interventions from Clinical and Cognitive Psychology and is part of a larger suite of VR apps that combine VR with eye-tracking and wearable sensors to treat conditions relating to anxiety.

"PULSEVR is quite different from any other app in this field as it does not rely on desensitisation. We know from research that this doesn't work well in the long term. PULSE offers something that actually works", says Prof. Avraamides.

CYENS Centre of Excellence is a joint venture of three public universities of Cyprus - University of Cyprus, Cyprus University of Technology, and Open University of Cyprus, the Municipality of Nicosia, and two renowned international partners, Max Planck Institute for Informatics, Germany, and, University College London, United Kingdom. CYENS is funded by the EU's Horizon 2020 and the Government of the Republic of Cyprus. For more information visit www.cyens.org.cy

CONTACT: Andreas Psaltis, Partnerships Manager email: [email protected], +357 2274757

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1774630/CYENS_Centre_of_Excellence_Logo.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1936292/TONE_Project_CYENS.jpg

SOURCE CYENS Centre of Excellence
DCS Corporation to Mentor Makai LLC through Pele Solutions Joint Venture

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Makai LLC and DCS Corporation announced the formation of Pele Solutions, a U.S. Small Business Administration-approved 8(a) Mentor-Protege Joint Venture. Through this partnership, DCS will mentor and assist Makai in further developing its capabilities and advancing its role in the national security sector.

Pele Solutions brings together the complementary capabilities of partner companies Makai LLC and DCS Corporation.

"The mentorship gained through this program will greatly expand Makai's technical capabilities and optimize our corporate infrastructure," commented Makai President and CEO Stephanie Malia Hutch. "DCS has been a great partner, and we are excited about the opportunity to grow and increase contributions to our dual missions of supporting national security and the Native Hawaiian community."

Makai and DCS share a common drive to provide exceptional services to the Department of Defense and other customers. Pele Solutions, which takes its name from the Hawaiian goddess of fire and volcanos, brings together the complementary capabilities of the partner companies in software development, systems engineering, and technology integration.

"Makai, like DCS, is dedicated to delivering exceptional technical expertise to its customers," stated Jim Benbow, DCS CEO. "As this joint venture launches, we at DCS are committed to supporting Makai in its pursuit of excellence today and beyond."

ABOUT MAKAI

Makai, a Native Hawaiian 8(a) consulting and engineering company, specializes in software and systems engineering, network modernization, and information technology and integrated systems for command, control, computers, communications, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C5ISR). A subsidiary of the Kekoa Foundation, a Native Hawaiian Owned nonprofit organization, Makai provides services and support to DoD customers and industry partners. For more information, please visit: https://www.makaidefense.com

About DCS

An employee-owned company, DCS offers advanced technology, engineering, and management solutions to government agencies in the national security sector. The transformative ideas, commitment to quality, and entrepreneurial spirit that characterize our employee-owners allow us to ensure the success of each customer's mission and actively contribute to the well-being of the Nation. For more information, please visit: https://www.dcscorp.com.

Contact: DCS Corporation, [email protected], 571-227-6000

SOURCE DCS Corporation
Past Winners Include Customer-Centric Companies Such as Bank of America,

Google, and Wyndham Hotel Group

DALLAS, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- DECA Dental Group ("DECA" or the "Company"), a leading dental services organization based in Dallas, announces it has been selected as a recipient of the highly prestigious Brandon Hall Group Excellence Award for developing a company-wide learning initiative for its staff to better serve guests coast-to-coast across the DECA Dental Group's Ideal Dental offices.

The Group Excellence Award for Best Learning Team is bestowed annually to companies illustrating exceptional commitment to learning strategies and excellent employee training designed to enhance customer relationships. Past award winners are renowned companies, including Bank of America, Bayer AG, General Motors, Google, HP, Sam's Club, Wyndham Hotel Group, and several other Fortune 500 companies.

With patient relationships across the United States, DECA Dental Group provides dental, orthodontics, periodontal, oral surgery, endodontics, and Invisalign services. As the company scaled to its current national platform, it was imperative to create a dedicated learning team to better meet the organizational needs of the business and provide its employees with educational and learning initiatives designed to meet the situational needs of their patients.

The DECA Clinical Advisory Board was formed and began training team members through DECA Academy. Through these efforts, the team works effectively to provide learning services, identify new learning approaches and models for the organization, and establish measurable benefits and outcomes.

"In our early stage of development, DECA Dental Group realized that to become a more mature business capable of deriving the most from its resources, we would have to develop unique ways to facilitate system-wide learning," said Dr. Shalin Patel, Partner & Chief Clinical Officer of DECA Dental Group. "We have seen the practical application  and milestone achievements  of having dedicated learning professionals, and we are proud to be recognized for these efforts with a Brandon Hall Group Excellence Award."

The DECA Clinical Advisory Board provides a voice for clinicians by enabling them to express opinions and provide input into the company's vision and strategy. Senior clinicians within the company lead the Board and work with management to ensure ongoing clinical success. Each board member, selected for their commitment, expertise, and diversity of backgrounds, offers valuable new insights and ideas for DECA's growth, innovation, and continuous improvement.

Since its development, identifying specific learning goals has been a critical part of the DECA Clinical Advisory Board. Key findings show that the learning program helps clinicians be driven by having content and utilizing it in a manner that helps deliver better dentistry. Due to this investment in a learning platform, all procedures and quality assurance are tracked to continuously elevate the standard of care within the company.

About DECA Dental Group

DECA Dental Group is a Dallas-based, clinician founded and clinician led, dental service organization that has been delivering high-quality dental care to patients since 2008. DECA is actively expanding its footprint coast-to-coast under the brand Ideal Dental. DECA's culture is founded on a patient-centric model. The company is guided by its vision to be the premier provider of all dental services under one roof while being the first choice for dentists and staff seeking a partner for growth, innovation, and learning. To learn more, please visit decadental.com and myidealdental.com.

SOURCE DECA Dental Group
NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The global e-prescribing market is categorized as a part of the global application software market within the global IT software market. The global application software market has covered companies engaged in producing and developing software designed for specialized applications for the business or consumer market. It includes enterprise and technical software as well as cloud-based software. The growth of the global application software market will be driven by factors such as increasing adoption of analytics in enterprises, increasing software investments by SMEs, growing adoption of cloud-based and subscription-based software, availability of open-source applications, data security concerns, and data integration issues. The e-prescribing market size is expected to grow by USD 1.9 billion from 2021 to 2026. The growth momentum of the market will accelerate at a CAGR of 16.74% during the forecast period, according to Technavio. The report provides an up-to-date analysis of the market. To know the exact growth variance and the Y-O-Y growth rate, Request a FREE Sample Report.

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global E-Prescribing Market 2022-2026

E-Prescribing Market 2022-2026: Scope

Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. Our e-prescribing market report covers the following areas:

This study identifies the increasing use of Internet-enabled mobile devices in healthcare IT as one of the prime reasons driving the e-prescribing market growth during the next few years. However, privacy and data security concerns challenge the global e-prescribing market's growth.

Subscribe to our "Basic Plan" billed annually at USD 5000 that enables you to download 5 reports and view 100 reports per month

E-Prescribing Market 2022-2026: Vendor Analysis

We provide a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the e-prescribing market, including Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc., Athenahealth Inc., Change Healthcare Inc., CompuGroup Medical SE and Co. KGaA, Constellation Software Inc., Computer Programs and Systems Inc., eClinicalWorks LLC, DrFirst Inc, General Electric Co, Epic Systems Corp., iMedX Inc., Henry Schein Inc., Medical Information Technology Inc., McKesson Corp., Oracle Corp., NextGen Healthcare Inc., and Surescripts RxHub LLC.

The e-prescribing market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will accelerate during the forecast period. Market vendors should focus on the growth prospects in the fast-growing segments and maintain their positions in the slow-growing segments to make the most of the opportunities.

This report provides a full list of key vendors, their strategies, and latest developments. Buy Now for detailed vendor information

E-Prescribing Market 2022-2026: Segmentation

Deployment

On-premise



Cloud-based

Geography

North America



APAC



Europe



South America



Middle East And Africa

Learn about the contribution of each segment summarized in concise infographics and thorough descriptions. View a FREE PDF Sample Report

E-Prescribing Market 2022-2026: Key Highlights

CAGR of the market during 2022-2026

Detailed information on factors that will assist e-prescribing market growth during the next five years

Approximation of the e-prescribing market size and its contribution to the parent market

Forecasts on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

The growth of the e-prescribing market

Analysis of the competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors

Comprehensive details of factors that will impede the growth of e-prescribing market vendors

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Healthcare Cloud Based Analytics Market by Component and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026: The increasing cloud-assisted medical collaborations are driving market growth. Research collaborations are increasing globally, especially in the field of healthcare. Organizations are moving toward conducting collaborative studies to tackle human healthcare issues quickly and effectively.

E-Prescribing Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 16.74% Market growth 2022-2026 USD 1.9 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 16.25 Regional analysis North America, APAC, Europe, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution North America at 47% Key consumer countries US, Japan, China, UK, and Germany Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc., Athenahealth Inc., Change Healthcare Inc., CompuGroup Medical SE and Co. KGaA, Computer Programs and Systems Inc., Constellation Software Inc., DrFirst Inc, eClinicalWorks LLC, Epic Systems Corp., General Electric Co, Henry Schein Inc., iMedX Inc., McKesson Corp., Medical Information Technology Inc., NextGen Healthcare Inc., Oracle Corp., and Surescripts RxHub LLC Market Dynamics Parent market analysis, market growth inducers and obstacles, fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and future consumer dynamics, and market condition analysis for the forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

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Table Of Contents

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Deployment



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 09: Parent market



Exhibit 10: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 11: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 12: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2021

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2021-2026

Exhibit 13: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 14: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 15: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 16: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

4 Five Forces Analysis

4.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 17: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2021 and 2026

4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 18: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2021 and 2026

4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 19: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 20: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 21: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 22: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.7 Market condition

Exhibit 23: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2021 and 2026

5 Market Segmentation by Deployment

5.1 Market segments

Exhibit 24: Chart on Deployment - Market share 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 25: Data Table on Deployment - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

5.2 Comparison by Deployment

Exhibit 26: Chart on Comparison by Deployment



Exhibit 27: Data Table on Comparison by Deployment

5.3 On-premise - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 28: Chart on On-premise - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 29: Data Table on On-premise - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 30: Chart on On-premise - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on On-premise - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 Cloud-based - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 32: Chart on Cloud-based - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Cloud-based - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 34: Chart on Cloud-based - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Cloud-based - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 Market opportunity by Deployment

Exhibit 36: Market opportunity by Deployment ($ million)

6 Customer Landscape

6.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 37: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

7 Geographic Landscape

7.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 38: Chart on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)

7.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 40: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Geographic comparison

7.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 42: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 43: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 44: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 45: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.4 APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 46: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 47: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 48: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 49: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.5 Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 50: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 51: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 52: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 53: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 54: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 55: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 56: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 57: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.7 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 58: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 59: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 60: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 61: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.8 US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 62: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 63: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 64: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 65: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.9 UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 66: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 67: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 68: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 69: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.10 Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 70: Chart on Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 71: Data Table on Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 72: Chart on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 73: Data Table on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.11 China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 74: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 75: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 76: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 77: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.12 Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 78: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 79: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 80: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 81: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 82: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

8 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

8.1 Market drivers

8.2 Market challenges

8.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 83: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2021 and 2026

8.4 Market trends

9 Vendor Landscape

9.1 Overview

9.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 84: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

9.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 85: Overview on factors of disruption

9.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 86: Impact of key risks on business

10 Vendor Analysis

10.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 87: Vendors covered

10.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 88: Matrix on vendor position and classification

10.3 Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc.

Exhibit 89: Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 90: Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 91: Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 92: Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc. - Segment focus

10.4 Athenahealth Inc.

Exhibit 93: Athenahealth Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 94: Athenahealth Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 95: Athenahealth Inc. - Key offerings

10.5 Change Healthcare Inc.

Exhibit 96: Change Healthcare Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 97: Change Healthcare Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 98: Change Healthcare Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 99: Change Healthcare Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 100: Change Healthcare Inc. - Segment focus

10.6 Computer Programs and Systems Inc.

Exhibit 101: Computer Programs and Systems Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 102: Computer Programs and Systems Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 103: Computer Programs and Systems Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 104: Computer Programs and Systems Inc. - Segment focus

10.7 DrFirst Inc

Exhibit 105: DrFirst Inc - Overview



Exhibit 106: DrFirst Inc - Product / Service



Exhibit 107: DrFirst Inc - Key offerings

10.8 eClinicalWorks LLC

Exhibit 108: eClinicalWorks LLC - Overview



Exhibit 109: eClinicalWorks LLC - Product / Service



Exhibit 110: eClinicalWorks LLC - Key news



Exhibit 111: eClinicalWorks LLC - Key offerings

10.9 Epic Systems Corp.

Exhibit 112: Epic Systems Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 113: Epic Systems Corp. - Product / Service



Exhibit 114: Epic Systems Corp. - Key offerings

10.10 General Electric Co

Exhibit 115: General Electric Co - Overview



Exhibit 116: General Electric Co - Business segments



Exhibit 117: General Electric Co - Key news



Exhibit 118: General Electric Co - Key offerings



Exhibit 119: General Electric Co - Segment focus

10.11 Medical Information Technology Inc.

Exhibit 120: Medical Information Technology Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 121: Medical Information Technology Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 122: Medical Information Technology Inc. - Key offerings

10.12 Oracle Corp.

Exhibit 123: Oracle Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 124: Oracle Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 125: Oracle Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 126: Oracle Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 127: Oracle Corp. - Segment focus

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 128: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 129: Exclusions checklist

11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 130: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 131: Research methodology



Exhibit 132: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 133: Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 134: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provide actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

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Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

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UK: +44 203 893 3200

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SOURCE Technavio
BOGOTA, Colombia, Nov. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ecopetrol S.A. (BVC: ECOPETROL; NYSE: EC) announces that on Tuesday, November 8, 2022, after market close, it will release its financial and operating results for the third quarter of 2022.

On Wednesday, November 9, 2022, Ecopetrol's senior management will host two conference calls to review the results, one in Spanish and the other in English. Please find below the timing, dial-in, and links to access the conferences:

To access the webcast, the following links will be available:

Spanish:

https://onlinexperiences.com/Launch/QReg/ShowUUID=DC61965E-7501-445F-BAE2-2659C10E174F&LangLocaleID=1034

English:

https://onlinexperiences.com/Launch/QReg/ShowUUID=BB969832-83A2-4612-976C-2C021A7B73E9&LangLocaleID=1033

To ask a question, participants will need to access the conference through the following telephone lines:

Spanish Conference Call English Conference Call 08:00 a.m. CO Time 10:00 a.m. CO Time 08:00 a.m. NY Time 10:00 a.m. NY Time US Dial-in: 404 400 0571 US Dial-in: 404 400 0571 US Dial-in (Toll Free): 866 374 5140 US Dial-in (Toll Free): 866 374 5140 CO Dial-in: 57 601 485 0348 CO Dial-in: 57 601 485 0348 CO Dial-in (Toll Free): 57 800 519 0788 CO Dial-in (Toll Free): 57 800 519 0788 Passcode: 36662281 Passcode: 67766302

Participants from different countries may search for different international numbers to the ones mentioned above by consulting the following link:

https://1drv.ms/b/s!AppisLgkpP8lzmUV-ekYg0rNK9JN?e=3prv6r

The earnings release, slide presentation, live webcast and recording of the conference call will be available on Ecopetrol's website: www.ecopetrol.com.co.

Please verify in advance the proper operation of the webcast in your browser. We recommend the use of the latest versions of Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox.

Ecopetrol is the largest company in Colombia and one of the main integrated energy companies in the American continent, with more than 18,000 employees. In Colombia, it is responsible for more than 60% of the hydrocarbon production of most transportation, logistics, and hydrocarbon refining systems, and it holds leading positions in the petrochemicals and gas distribution segments. With the acquisition of 51.4% of ISA's shares, the company participates in energy transmission, the management of real-time systems (XM), and the Barranquilla - Cartagena coastal highway concession. At the international level, Ecopetrol has a stake in strategic basins in the American continent, with Drilling and Exploration operations in the United States (Permian basin and the Gulf of Mexico), Brazil, and Mexico, and, through ISA and its subsidiaries, Ecopetrol holds leading positions in the power transmission business in Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Bolivia, road concessions in Chile, and the telecommunications sector. This press release contains business prospect statements, operating and financial result estimates, and statements related to Ecopetrol's growth prospects. These are all projections and, as such, they are based solely on the expectations of the managers regarding the future of the company and their continued access to capital to finance the company's business plan. The realization of said estimates in the future depends on the behavior of market conditions, regulations, competition, and the performance of the Colombian economy and the industry, among other factors, and are consequently subject to change without prior notice.

This release contains statements that may be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All forward-looking statements, whether made in this release or in future filings or press releases, or orally, address matters that involve risks and uncertainties, including in respect of the Company's prospects for growth and its ongoing access to capital to fund the Company's business plan, among others. Consequently, changes in the following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those included in the forward-looking statements: market prices of oil & gas, our exploration, and production activities, market conditions, applicable regulations, the exchange rate, the Company's competitiveness and the performance of Colombia's economy and industry, to mention a few. We do not intend and do not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

For more information, please contact:

Head of Capital Markets

Tatiana Uribe Benninghoff

Email: [email protected]

Head of Corporate Communications

Mauricio Tellez

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Ecopetrol S.A.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Modernizing Medicine (ModMed), a provider of cloud-based electronic health records (EHR) systems, has agreed to pay $45 million to the federal government to settle a whistleblower lawsuit filed in 2017 by Phillips and Cohen LLP of Washington, DC and Downs Rachlin Martin of Burlington, Vermont.

ModMed, based in Boca Raton, Florida, sells cloud-based electronic health records systems through subscription services, to specialty medical practices including dermatology and orthopedics. Medical providers use the software for clinical documentation, prescribing medications, telemedicine, billing, and more.

In March 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice joined the case against ModMed and its two founders and executives, Dan Cane and Dr. Michael Sherling, after an investigation. Today the United States filed its complaint in intervention alleging, among other things, that, from January 2010 through July 2017, ModMed engaged in multiple kickback schemes, including creating a "strategic partnership" with a clinical laboratory, Miraca Life Science, where Miraca would directly compensate ModMed when its users sent laboratory orders to Miraca. The alleged illegal conduct included providing Miraca with exclusive "enhanced" laboratory interfaces within ModMed's EHR that would drive diagnostic testing business to Miraca. The settlement resolves the allegations against ModMed. Allegations against Mr. Cane and Dr. Sherling also are dismissed with resolution of this lawsuit.

As part of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act), the federal government has paid billions of dollars as incentives to healthcare providers to buy and implement certified electronic health record systems. In 2017, the United States settled the first groundbreaking qui tam suit against an electronic health record vendor, eClinicalWorks, and certain top executives, for $155 million and established a first-of-its-kind corporate integrity agreement tailored to health IT vendors.

Resolution of the lawsuit with ModMed demonstrates the continued commitment of the United States to enforcing compliance with federal requirements for certification of health information technology. It is also significant because it resolves allegations concerning illegal referral arrangements between the EHR vendor and a clinical laboratory, Miraca. The United States alleges that these financial arrangements improperly generated sales for ModMed and Miraca, while causing healthcare providers to submit false claims for reimbursement to the federal government for pathology services, and false claims for incentive payments for the adoption and "meaningful use" of ModMed's EHR technology. This is believed to be the first time the United States has taken enforcement action under the False Claims Act against an EHR vendor for providing preferential treatment for a clinical laboratory.

"Resolution of this lawsuit is significant for a number of reasons, including that it reminds EHR vendors of the need to comply with the federal laws prohibiting kickbacks when entering into arrangements with third party providers including laboratory and other diagnostic services providers within the EHR ecosystem," said Colette Matzzie, a whistleblower attorney and partner with Phillips & Cohen LLP. "Steering clinicians to send orders to a preferred laboratory has the potential to inappropriately influence clinical decisions. Transparency of these financial relationships is essential for quality of care and beneficiary choice."

The "relator," or whistleblower, in the False Claims Act case is Amanda (Mandy) Long. Ms. Long was Vice President of Product Management at ModMed. She resigned from ModMed in 2017. Ms. Long is currently CEO and member of the Board of Directors of BigBear.ai. Ms. Long was previously Vice President of IT Automation at IBM. Ms. Long has over 15 years of experience in software and hardware portfolios across multiple industries and is a subject matter expert in product management processes and artificial intelligence/machine learning.

"I felt compelled to come forward to report my concerns about decisions made by ModMed that appeared to place corporate profits over compliance with federal healthcare laws including those intended to protect patient safety and quality clinical care. I am grateful that the Department of Justice investigated the matter diligently and recovered these funds for taxpayers," said Ms. Long.

Phillips and Cohen has been a leader representing whistleblowers exposing fraud in the electronic medical records industry, with successful settlements in the eClinicalWorks litigation ($155 million), Konica Minolta ($500,000), CareCloud ($3.8 million), and, now, Modernizing Medicine ($45 million) litigation. These settlements, and three other matters settled by the government, represent a growing trend of DOJ and HHSOffice of Inspector General investigating allegations of fraud in the development and implementation of electronic health records. Read more about the lessons learned since the eClinicalWorks settlement here.

Lead counsel for Relator were Colette Matzzie of Phillips & Cohen and Tristram Coffin of Downs Rachlin Martin in Burlington, Vermont. Ms. Matzzie and Mr. Coffin also represented Relator Brendan Delaney in the eClinicalWorks case. Tristram J. Coffin was previously the US Attorney for the District of Vermont under President Obama.

The whistleblower complaint is posted here .

The United States' Complaint in Intervention is posted here .

The Settlement Agreement is posted here .

DOJ's press release is here.

SOURCE Phillips & Cohen LLP
NOIDA, India, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new report published by UnivDatos Market Insights, the Electric Powertrain Market is expected to reach at 190 billion in 2028, growing at a CAGR of 15% from 2022-2028. The analysis has been segmented into Vehicle Type (BEV and HEV/PHEV); Component (Motor/Generator, Battery, Power Electronics Controller, Converter, Transmission, and On-Board Charger); Region/Country.

Click here to view the Report Description & TOC

https://univdatos.com/report/electric-powertrain-market/

The Electric Powertrain market report has been aggregated by collecting informative data on various dynamics such as market drivers, restraints, and opportunities. This innovative report makes use of several analyses to get a closer outlook on the Electric Powertrain market. The Electric Powertrain market report offers a detailed analysis of the latest industry developments and trending factors in the market that are influencing the market growth. Furthermore, this statistical market research repository examines and estimates the Electric Powertrain market at the global and regional levels.

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Market Overview

Electric powertrain systems include the main components that generate and deliver power to the road surface for fully electric, hybrid electric, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle applications.

The Global Electric Powertrain Market is expected to witness a significant CAGR of around 15% during the forecast period owing to the increasing demand for electric vehicles and rising incentives and subsidies by governments across the world for mass adoption and domestic production of electric vehicles. For instance, the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) and Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid & Electric Vehicles in India (FAME I and II) helped create the initial interest and exposure for electric mobility. For instance, in phase two of FAME, the government announced an outlay of USD 1.4 billion through 2022. Moreover, reducing the prices of batteries to support demand for cost-effective EVs coupled with the development of private and semi-public EV charging stations is further expected to increase the adoption of EVs during the forecast period. Thus, driving the market for electric powertrain during 2022-2028.

Some of the major players operating in the market include Robert Bosch GmbH, Mitsubishi Electric Corp, Magna International Inc., Continental AG, Schaeffler AG, BorgWarner Inc., ZF Friedrichshafen AG, Valeo SE, Nidec Corporation, and Magneti Marelli Ck Holdings.

COVID-19 Impact

Due to travel limitations and the projected dismal financial performance of market players in 2020, the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has hurt the Electric Powertrain industry. Supply chain execution, regulatory and policy changes, labor reliance, working capital management, and liquidity and solvency management are all major concerns for electric powertrain manufacturers. Since the COVID-19 epidemic has considerably diminished by the beginning of 2021, a lot of businesses are resuming operations. In terms of demand and supply, China, as an automobile manufacturing powerhouse, is controlling the global automotive industry. China's supply shortages have triggered a chain reaction throughout the world.

The global electric powertrain market report is studied thoroughly with several aspects that would help stakeholders in making their decisions more curated.

Based on vehicle type, the electric powertrain market is divided into BEV and HEV/PHEV. The BEV segment is expected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period owing to the rapid investments in R&D activities by industry participants to develop advanced powertrain solutions for BEVs. For instance, in October 2021 , Tesla announced the use of Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) based batteries in all its standard range of electric cars to increase its profit margin. Further, BEVs have become an integral part of the automotive industry and represent a pathway toward achieving energy efficiency, along with reduced emission of pollutants and other greenhouse gases. Thus, with increased government focus on promoting EV adoption to further drive the growth of the BEVs segment.





, Tesla announced the use of Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) based batteries in all its standard range of electric cars to increase its profit margin. Further, BEVs have become an integral part of the automotive industry and represent a pathway toward achieving energy efficiency, along with reduced emission of pollutants and other greenhouse gases. Thus, with increased government focus on promoting EV adoption to further drive the growth of the BEVs segment. Based on component, the electric powertrain market is categorized into motor/generator, battery, power electronics controller, converter, transmission, and onboard charger. The battery segment is expected to hold a majority share throughout the forecast period owing to the ongoing development of Lithium-Ion Batteries coupled with a higher share of batteries in overall powertrain cost. In addition, major stakeholders in the market are engaging in strategic alliances to develop and innovate EV batteries. For instance, in July 2020 , China's electric vehicle (EV) battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) announced that Japanese automaker.

Have a Look at the Chapters- https://univdatos.com/report/electric-powertrain-market/

Electric Powertrain Market Geographical Segmentation Includes:

North America ( United States , Canada , and the Rest of North America )

( , , and the Rest of ) Europe ( Germany , United Kingdom , Italy , France , and the Rest of Europe )

( , , , , and the Rest of ) Asia-Pacific ( China , Japan , India , South Korea , and the Rest of Asia-Pacific )

( , , , , and the Rest of ) Rest of the World

APAC grabbed the leading market share of the global market in 2020, and it is expected to grow with considerable CAGR during the forecast period owing to the growing working population and expanding middle-class population thus creating demand for new-age electric vehicles. Furthermore, the presence of a large pool of skilled & semi-skilled workforce and cost-effective manufacturing in countries like India and China along with the presence of a vast number of automobile manufacturing businesses and OEMs in the region is further expected to drive the market.

The major players targeting the market include

Robert Bosch GmbH

Mitsubishi Electric Corp

Magna International Inc.

Continental AG

Schaeffler AG

BorgWarner Inc.

ZF Friedrichshafen AG

Valeo SE

Nidec Corporation

Magneti Marelli Ck Holdings

Competitive Landscape

The degree of competition among prominent global companies has been elaborated by analyzing several leading key players operating worldwide. The specialist team of research analysts sheds light on various traits such as global market competition, market share, most recent industry advancements, innovative product launches, partnerships, mergers, or acquisitions by leading companies in the Electric Powertrain Market. The major players have been analyzed by using research methodologies for getting insight views on global competition.

Key questions resolved through this analytical market research report include:

What are the latest trends, new patterns, and technological advancements in the Electric Powertrain market?

Which factors are influencing the Electric Powertrain market over the forecast period?

What are the global challenges, threats, and risks in the Electric Powertrain market?

Which factors are propelling and restraining the Electric Powertrain market?

What are the demanding global regions of the Electric Powertrain market?

What will be the global market size in the upcoming years?

What are the crucial market acquisition strategies and policies applied by global companies?

We understand the requirement of different businesses, regions, and countries, we offer customized reports as per your requirements of business nature and geography. Please let us know If you have any custom needs.

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Electric Powertrain Market Report Coverage

Report Attribute Details Base year 2020 Forecast period 2022-2028 Growth momentum Accelerate at a CAGR of 15% Market size 2028 USD 190 billion Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, Rest of World Major contributing region APAC to Dominate the Global Electric Powertrain Market Key countries covered United States, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, France, China, Japan, India, South Korea Companies profiled include Robert Bosch GmbH, Mitsubishi Electric Corp, Magna International Inc., Continental AG, Schaeffler AG, BorgWarner Inc., ZF Friedrichshafen AG, Valeo SE, Nidec Corporation, and Magneti Marelli Ck Holdings. Report Scope Market Trends, Drivers, and Restraints; Revenue Estimation and Forecast; Segmentation Analysis; Impact of COVID-19; Demand and Supply Side Analysis; Competitive Landscape; Company Profiling Segments Covered By Vehicle Type; By Component; By Region/Country

About UnivDatos Market Insights (UMI)

UnivDatos Market Insights (UMI) is a passionate market research firm and a subsidiary of Universal Data Solutions. We believe in delivering insights through Market Intelligence Reports, Customized Business Research, and Primary Research. Our research studies are spread across topics across the world, we cover markets in over 100 countries using smart research techniques and agile methodologies. We offer in-depth studies, detailed analysis, and customized reports that help shape winning business strategies for our clients.

Contact

UnivDatos Market Insights

Ankita Gupta

Director Operations

Ph: +91-7838604911

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://univdatos.com/

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1225049/UnivDatos_Logo.jpg

SOURCE UnivDatos Market Insights Pvt. Ltd.
Rider, a longtime administrator and academic of the institution, has been Transitional President since January

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Elizabethtown College Board of Trustees announced Betty Rider as the College's 16th President, effective immediately. Rider, who has been serving as Transitional President since January, has successfully led the College over the past 10 months. Her term will last through June 30, 2025, with the ability to extend.

"We are pleased to have appointed and named President Betty Rider, Ph.D. to lead Elizabethtown College. As a well-respected and recognized higher education leader to the faculty, staff, students, alumni, and surrounding community, the Board of Trustees is confident in her proven success to elevate Etown during a transformative time," Elizabethtown College Board of Trustees Chairman Ed Lovelidge '82 said. "Along with an experienced and strong Senior Leadership Team, President Rider has established a transparent and open campus culture and will continue to build and grow upon it to leverage the institution's key priorities and five-year strategic plan that will enhance the academic experience for students, prioritize fiscal sustainability and diversity and equity for all, and establish partnerships to make deep social and economic impact."

"I am honored to lead Elizabethtown College as its 16th president and thank the Board of Trustees for their vote of confidence and support," Elizabethtown College President Betty Rider said. "As a longtime Blue Jay, the time for growth and opportunity has never been better for the institution. With our already growing momentum with enrollment, academic programming, diversity efforts, and strengthening and building relationships within the community, I am excited and energized to continue to elevate our College's greatest assets and build a strong sense of belonging for all."

For the past three consecutive years, the College has achieved record growth and enrollment levels, exceeded fundraising goals, received national accreditation for the College's new Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Science in Nursing (RN to BSN) program, launched the first cohort of Physician Assistant students, hired the College's first Special Advisor to the Office of the President for Diversity, Equity & Belonging, and elevated its position in the U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings.

The College continues to add high-demand programs under President Rider working collaboratively with faculty to add Healthcare Administration as a new bachelor's program along with new minors in Marketing, Medical Humanities, and Technical Communications. These add to already highly sought-after programs like Occupational Therapy, Engineering, Biology, Business, Education, Humanities, and Political Science

In its second year, the College is making great progress on its five-year Strategic Plan that prioritizes dynamic and relevant academic programming in which President Rider has led the charge by working collaboratively with faculty to develop and deliver new programs. The plan also focuses on enhancing diversity, equity, and belonging efforts, and strategic partnerships to continue to elevate the College.

President Rider is a graduate of Gettysburg College, has master's and doctoral degrees in psychology from Vanderbilt University, and completed Harvard's Institute for Educational Management. She has spent the majority of her career at Elizabethtown College teaching Psychology and serving in various administrative roles including Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs.

View more about President Betty Rider and the institution at etown.edu.

About Elizabethtown College

Elizabethtown College, located in southcentral Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is a private coed institution offering more than 50 health, science, engineering, political science business, communications, fine art and music, humanities, and education degrees. Discover more: etown.edu.

Contact:

Keri Straub

Associate Vice President for Marketing and Communications

Elizabethtown College

(717) 725-6907

[email protected]

SOURCE Elizabethtown College
Valdez brings diverse experiences as nurse, educator and researcher to journal leadership role

SCHAUMBURG, Ill., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Over the last 16 years, Anna Valdez, PhD, RN, PHN, CEN, CFRN, CNE, FAEN, FAADN, has contributed in a variety of ways to the Emergency Nurses Association, the Journal of Emergency Nursing and the emergency nursing community as a whole.

On Wednesday, Valdez reached a new career milestone when ENA introduced her as the Journal of Emergency Nursing's new editor-in-chief.

Anna Valdez reached a career milestone when ENA introduced her as new editor of the Journal of Emergency Nursing. Tweet this

"The Journal guided my practice as an emergency nurse for many years, so I am honored to be its next editor-in-chief," said Valdez, the nursing department chair at Sonoma State University where she is also a professor. "This opportunity allows me a chance to reconnect with stretcherside ED nurses and to ensure the Journal publishes articles that will directly impact their clinical practice."

Valdez's impressive resume features extensive experience within the emergency department in various roles, as well as in the classroom teaching student nurses and a three-year stint as the editor-in-chief for the Teaching and Learning in Nursing journal.

Her experience also includes published research on emergency nursing topics in several publications  including the Journal of Emergency Nursing  since 2007, numerous presentations at ENA and other health care conferences and a steady presence as a volunteer in support of many association groups, most recently as the chair of ENA's Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity Committee.

"The committee felt Anna was the best choice for the position based on her vision, leadership and passionate motivation for the role," said Ryan Oglesby, a member of the ENA Board of Directors who headed the editor-in-chief search committee. "She brings strong vision and clear commitment to the role, and her prior experiences add great value as she takes on this leadership role."

With the goal of continuing the Journal's nearly 50-year mission of delivering high-quality research that supports the emergency nursing practice and aims to improve patient outcomes, Valdez is responsible for the Journal's editorial content in coordination with a team of associate and section editors, as well as strategic collaboration with the editorial board and ENA Board of Directors.

"Since 1975, the Journal has been a go-to resource for emergency nurses," said ENA President Jennifer Schmitz, MSN, EMT-P, CEN, CPEN, CNML, FNP-C, NE-BC. "Anna's commitment to emergency nursing, especially as an educator, gives her extensive experience and qualifications to not only lead the Journal, but to build on its legacy."

About the Emergency Nurses Association

The Emergency Nurses Association is the premier professional nursing association dedicated to defining the future of emergency nursing through advocacy, education, research, innovation, and leadership. Founded in 1970, ENA has proven to be an indispensable resource to the global emergency nursing community. With 50,000 members worldwide, ENA advocates for patient safety, develops industry-leading practice standards and guidelines and guides emergency health care public policy. ENA members have expertise in triage, patient care, disaster preparedness, and all aspects of emergency care. Additional information is available at www.ena.org.

ENA Media Contact:

Dan Campana

Director of Communications

847.460.4017

[email protected]

SOURCE Emergency Nurses Association
The all-new Reno8 series features OPPO's Battery Health Engine (BHE) for faster, safer, and longer-lasting charging and battery performance

OPPO BHE intelligently controls the charging current and voltage through real-time monitoring to significantly extend battery lifespan

OPPO's Reno8 5G was recently granted the 2022 GOLD BATTERY label of DXOMARK

DUBAI, UAE, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to data from OPPO's SUPERVOOC lab, after a year of use, most smartphone batteries have just 90% of their original capacity; and after two years, this drops to as low as 80%. This is without factoring in heavy smartphone use, like running multiple apps at the same time or playing graphically intensive online games. For these users, it's not unusual to have to replace the battery often.

Reno8 Pro_80W SUPERVOOC

OPPO spent over three years conducting fundamental research into lithium-ion batteries, resulting in a system-level battery health optimization solution called the OPPO Battery Health Engine (BHE). This technology can keep a battery running at over 80% of its original capacity after as many as 1,600 charge cycles, double the current industry average of 800 cycles, making batteries equipped with the OPPO BHE, the world's longest lasting in terms of battery lifespan. Not only does this help aid in battery care each day, it helps reduce pollution and long-term environmental damage caused by discarded lithium batteries.

Why do batteries lose their ability to store charge over time?

Inside a lithium-ion battery, lithium ions move from the positive electrode into the negative electrode when the battery is charging, via a process known as electrolyte conduction. When the battery is discharged, the opposite process occurs.

How much charge can move between the electrodes during either of these processes depends on how many active lithium ions are present in the battery. Unfortunately, it is possible for the active lithium ions to become inactive if subjected to excess current or overcharging which leads to a drop in battery capacity.

However, measuring this poses another huge challenge. Smartphone batteries are like a black box: while we can measure the potential between positive and negative electrodes, it's impossible to measure the potential of a single electrode without adding another 'third' electrode to the battery.

OPPO's Smart Battery Health Algorithm solves the 'black box' mystery of lithium-ion batteries

OPPO came across research by Professor Gregory Offer, who specializes in lithium battery research at Imperial College London. Following discussions with Professor Offer and after three years of testing and modifications, OPPO developed an accurate battery model capable of achieving real-time tracking of the negative electrode potential without adding another third electrode. Through these measurements, OPPO is able to precisely control parameters such as battery charging speed and temperature to deliver the best balance between performance and longevity.

This innovative battery model, named the Smart Battery Health Algorithm, is one of two technologies that make up the OPPO BHE. Through the precise simulation, OPPO has solved one of the industry's biggest mysteries in measuring the negative electrode potential of lithium-ion batteries, making it possible to precisely control the charging current through real-time monitoring of the smartphone battery without sacrificing charging speeds.

Hardware protection for Battery Life

Aside from the Smart Battery Health Algorithm, the other breakthrough innovation found in the OPPO BHE is the Battery Healing Technology, helping to preserve battery lifespan by altering the inner chemistry of the Reno8 series phone battery.

When lithium-ion batteries are charged and discharged, the breakdown of the electrolyte compounds under the electrical potential result in a thin protective layer known as the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) forming on the electrode, improving the performance and preventing the electrode material from being damaged by the electrolyte molecules.

OPPO's Battery Healing Technology further enhances the performance of the electrodes and helps to continually repair the SEI during charging and discharging by optimizing the electrolyte formula.

Worry-free and easy-to-use charging experiences on Reno8 series phone

Reno8 series owners don't just get to benefit from the longer-lasting battery enabled by the new BHE. With 80W SUPERVOOC charging technology, the Reno8 Pro's 4,500mAh battery can be charged to 50% in just 11 minutes and to 100% in just 31 minutes with integrated 5-Layer Charging Protection for safe charging. Tests by TUV Rheinland show that even a 5-minute charge is enough for two hours of gaming.

From high-efficiency, high-power SUPERVOOC to the brand-new Battery Health Engine, OPPO has consistently led the path in battery and charging technology. With more innovative charging solutions to come, OPPO will continue to explore more ways of bringing safe, effective, and easy-to-use charging experiences to more users.

DXOMARK Gold Battery Label

OPPO's Reno8 5G was recently granted the 2022 GOLD BATTERY label of DXOMARK. DXOMARK, the world-leading quality evaluation laboratory, acknowledged the battery's excellent charging performance, exceptional efficiency, and decent autonomy overall. Reno8 5G received a total score of 141, placing it on the podium of the global ranking.

About OPPO

OPPO is a leading global technology brand since 2004, dedicated to providing products that seamlessly combines art and innovative technology.

OPPO is on a mission to build a multiple-access smart device ecosystem for the era of intelligent connectivity. The smartphone devices have simply been a gateway for OPPO to deliver a diverse portfolio of smart and frontier technologies in hardware, software and system. In 2019, OPPO launched a $7 Billion US, three-year investment plan in R&D to develop core technologies furthering design through technology.

OPPO is firmly pursuing the creation of the best technology products and technological artistry for global users. Based on the brand elements of leading, young and beautiful, OPPO dedicates to the mission of letting extraordinary users enjoy the beauty of technology.

For the last 10 years, OPPO has focused on manufacturing smartphones with camera capabilities that are second to none. OPPO launched the first mobile phone, the Smile Phone, in 2008, which marked the launch of the brand's epic journey in exploring and pioneering extraordinary technology. Over the years, OPPO has built a tradition of being number one, which became a reality through inventing the world's first rotating camera smartphone way back in 2013, launching the world's then thinnest smartphone in 2014, being the first to introduce 5X Zoom 'Periscope' camera technology and developing the first 5G commercial smartphone in Europe.

Today, OPPO was ranked as the number four smartphone brand globally. OPPO brings the aesthetics of technology to global consumers through the ColorOS system Experience, and Internet services like OPPO Cloud and OPPO+.

OPPO's business covers 60 countries and regions, with more than 40,000 dedicated employees to create a better life for customers around the world.

About OPPO MEA

OPPO started its journey in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region in 2015 after setting up its regional office in Egypt. Following the immense success of the brand's sales centre in Cairo in the first year, OPPO accelerated its expansion plan across the MEA region and inaugurated its country operations in the UAE in 2019. Now OPPO is physically present in more than 14 markets across the region, including Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and the Levant.

To empower its presence in the region in line with its product localisation strategy, OPPO further invested in MENA and set up its very own factory in Algeria in 2017, thus, becoming the first Chinese brand to build a manufacturing premise in North Africa. Based on insights of local consumers in each country, OPPO has evolved the progress of product localisation, taking into consideration several perspectives towards each market, including product localisation, to further meet the core needs of users; marketing localisation, to better communicate with local young customers; and talent localisation, to understand local consumers further and provide optimum customer service.

Within the last year, OPPO has started to adjust its product line in the Middle East region specifically. This has included the launch of its flagship OPPO Find X Series and the introduction of the OPPO Reno Series. OPPO will continue to evolve its local product line to offer more premium series to consumers in the region.

A forward-thinking international technology company, OPPO strives to be a sustainable company that contributes to a better world and has enacted positive change in every way possible through activating local community initiatives and humanitarian, and charity campaigns.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1936041/Reno8_Pro_80W_SUPERVOOC.jpg

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1451542/OPPO_Logo.jpg

SOURCE OPPO
Clorox receives additional EPA recognition for leadership on the Design for the Environment industry coalition, demonstrating continued commitment to product stewardship

OAKLAND, Calif., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Clorox Company (NYSE: CLX) was named a 2022 Safer Choice Partner of the Year award winner for outstanding achievement in the manufacturing of products with ingredients that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) designates as safer for families, pets, workplaces, communities, and the environment. This is the company's fifth time receiving this award in the formulation/product manufacturing award category.

Safer Choice is important to Clorox because it's directly linked to our ESG goals that support healthy lives. Tweet this Safer Choice U.S. EPA Partner of the Year 2022

Clorox was also recognized with a second award for participating in an industry coalition that partnered with the EPA to revise and modernize the Design for the Environment (DfE) logo for antimicrobial products. This work aligns the DfE logo more closely with the Safer Choice logo so consumers can be confident in knowing that products containing either one of the two logos have met the rigorous human health and environmental standards that the program stands for.

Safer Choice and Design for the Environment labels help consumers and organizations find products that perform and are made with safer ingredients. To qualify for either label, a product must meet the EPA's standards, which include stringent human and environmental health criteria. Currently, 11 Clorox products carry the Safer Choice label, and five of Clorox's EPA-registrations carry the Design for the Environment logo. Certified products include Clorox Multi-Surface Cleaner Free and Clear and the CloroxPro EcoClean product line (All Purpose Cleaner, Glass Cleaner, and Disinfectant).

"Clorox has played an active role in Safer Choice for 15 years to advocate and support this critical program, and we're proud of our new collaboration with the agency and industry peers to advance the Design for the Environment logo to further help consumers," said Lisa Pankiewicz, vice president of Global Stewardship for Clorox. "The Safer Choice Program is extraordinarily important to Clorox because it's directly linked to our ESG product stewardship goals that support healthy lives."

Product stewardship is one of the environmental, social, governance (ESG) goals embedded in Clorox's corporate strategy, called IGNITE. Clorox's ESG goals are focused on strategic pillars where the company can have the greatest impact:

Healthy Lives : Improving people's health and well-being through initiatives such as promoting employee safety, advancing product stewardship and innovating wellness products

: Improving people's health and well-being through initiatives such as promoting employee safety, advancing product stewardship and innovating wellness products Clean World : Taking climate action and reducing plastic & other waste

: Taking climate action and reducing plastic & other waste Thriving Communities: Investing in employees and communities to contribute to a more equitable world

Clorox's product stewardship efforts build on a track record of accomplishments, including becoming the first major consumer packaged goods company to voluntarily disclose ingredients in U.S. and Canadian retail and professional cleaning, disinfecting and laundry products over a decade ago. This recognition supports Clorox's goals of reducing its chemical footprint and enhancing consumer confidence in its products through certification programs.

The company was previously recognized as a Safer Choice Partner of the Year in 2016, 2017, 2020 and 2021.

About The Clorox Company

The Clorox Company (NYSE: CLX) champions people to be well and thrive every single day. Its trusted brands, which include Brita, Burt's Bees, Clorox, Fresh Step, Glad, Hidden Valley, Kingsford, Liquid-Plumr, Pine-Sol and Rainbow Light, can be found in about nine of 10 U.S. homes and internationally with brands such as Ajudin, Clorinda, Chux and Poett. Headquartered in Oakland, California, since 1913, Clorox was one of the first U.S. companies to integrate ESG into its business reporting, with commitments in three areas: Healthy Lives, Clean World and Thriving Communities. Visit thecloroxcompany.com to learn more.

About EPA Safer Choice program

The Safer Choice program, formerly known as the Design for the Environment (DfE) Safer Product Labeling Program, was developed in 1997 and draws upon chemical and environmental expertise from across EPA. Safer Choice uses the technical tools and expertise of EPA's New Chemicals Program to evaluate the environmental and human health impacts of every chemical ingredient in a product, and only the safest ingredients in certified products are allowed. As a voluntary partnership program, Safer Choice brings all interested parties together to advance sustainability in chemical products. Safer Choice currently certifies approximately 2,000 products. For more information about the Safer Choice program, visit: www.epa.gov/saferchoice.

CLX-C

Contact:

[email protected]

510-271-7250

SOURCE The Clorox Company
STOCKHOLM, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Hygiene and health company Essity extends its partnership with United Nations Foundation by joining the organization's campaign #EqualEverywhere to accelerate progress towards gender equality.

Essity has been a partner to the United Nations Foundation since 2016 with the aim of contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with Goal 5: Gender Equality being one of Essity's prioritized SDGs*. As a leading hygiene and health company breaking barriers to well-being, Essity has decided to join the UN Foundation's annual campaign #EqualEverywhere to further advance progression towards gender equality.

"As a hygiene and health company developing and providing products for all stages in life and breaking stigmas around sensitive, often gender-related topics, Essity is fully committed to do what we can to contribute to gender equality. By extending our partnership with the UN Foundation, we will continue to pursue global discussions in collaboration with the public sector and other companies to accelerate progress towards achieving this vital goal", says Josephine Edwall Bjorklund, Senior Vice President, Communications at Essity.

Essity has for many years been addressing gaps in menstrual health and hygiene while promoting the empowerment of women and girls. Since 2016, Essity is working actively to increase dialogue about menstruation and hygiene issues among young people in Mexico, reaching over 7.5 million people up to date. Projects like these have been initiated as research shows that menstruation is the most stigmatized topic, followed by incontinence and menopause in countries such as Mexico, Colombia and Brazil**.

In addition, Essity's intimate hygiene brands such as Bodyform/Libresse/Nosotras/Saba and Tena are also heavily involved in breaking taboos with campaigns such as "Blood Normal" which was the first TV advertisement for period products to replace blue liquid with a more representative red, "Viva La Vulva" which helped normalize the conversation about the female body and "The Last Lonely Menopause" which encourages conversations about menopause.

"The UN Foundation's #EqualEverywhere campaign aims to reach, inspire, and mobilize diverse champions to take up the cause for equality for everyone, everywhere," says Michelle Milford Morse, the UN Foundation's Vice President for Girls and Women Strategy. "We are thrilled to partner with Essity and to benefit from Essity's enduring commitment to gender equality."

To learn more about Essity's partnership with the UN Foundation, please visit Essity's homepage.

More information about #EqualEverywhere can be found at United Nations Foundation's campaign website.

* Essity's prioritized SDGs:

- Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being

- Goal 5: Gender Equality

- Goal 6: Clean water and Sanitation

- Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

- Goal 13: Climate Action

- Goal 15: Life on Land

** Essity's Global Hygiene and Health Survey 2022 based on responses from more than 15,000 people world-wide.

For further information, please contact:

Helena Hansen,

Media Relations Manager,

+46 70 616 96 69

[email protected]

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/15798/3659559/1647236.pdf Essity joins United Nations Foundationas campaign to tackle gender inequality https://news.cision.com/essity/i/uni366049,c3109068 UNI366049

SOURCE Essity
Roundup highlights B2B partners that support startups across all business functions and empower growth

PLANTATION, Fla., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Inc. Business Media today announced the inaugural Power Partner Awards, honoring B2B organizations across the globe that have proven track records supporting entrepreneurs and helping startups grow. Everise, one of the fastest growing outsourced customer experience companies in the world, was recognized among the 252 firms in marketing and advertising, health and human resources, financial planning, engineering, logistics, and security, as well as other areas of business.

Everise named INC Power Partner 2022.

All 252 companies received top marks from clients for being instrumental in helping leadership navigate the dynamic world of startups. These B2B partners support entrepreneurs across various facets of the business, including hiring, compliance, infrastructure development, cloud migration, fundraising, etc., allowing founders to focus on their core missions.

"Trusted B2B partners provide guidance and expertise that founders rely on at various steps of their organization's journey. Partners that possess a demonstrated ability to deliver quality support are at the core of entrepreneurship and help bring big ideas to life," says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. Business media.

"That Everise is honoured as a Power Partner to some of the world's leading businesses is truly a recognition of our brand as one that stands shoulder to shoulder with the top global B2B companies. We are proud to continue challenging traditional perceptions of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), transforming them into valued and trusted customer experiences that drive retention and loyalty," said Sudhir Agarwal, CEO & Founder, Everise.

Everise, headquartered in Florida, USA, was founded in 2016 with the vision to disrupt the BPO industry through tailored customer experiences, enabled by blending highly-skilled talent with innovative technology solutions. The company today employs over 15,000 people across seven strategic markets  US, Bogota, Guatemala, Ireland, Malaysia, The Philippines and Singapore. Some of the world's leading healthcare brands entrust Everise with designing and perfecting their customer support experiences, which are seamlessly omnichannel, offer support in 32 languages, and are highly secure.

Everise has previously won multiple awards for its industry-leading culture and relentless customer focus. These include being named one of Newsweek's 100 Most Loved Workplaces in America for two consecutive years in 2021 and 2022, and bagging the Gold Stevie Award for Employer of the Year  Consumer Services in 2022. The company also enjoys the highest Glassdoor and Indeed ratings in the outsourcing industry.

Inc. partnered with leading global social and media intelligence platform Meltwater to develop a proprietary methodology that uses sentiment from online conversations about organizations and translates it into numerical scores. Companies were evaluated on commitment, reliability, trust, creativity, supportiveness, and other virtues that offer value to clients. Inc. also conducted surveys to gather client testimonials as part of the process.

To view the complete list, go to: https://www.inc.com/power-partner-awards/2022

The November 2022 Issue of Inc. magazine is available online now at https://www.inc.com/magazine and will be on newsstands beginning November 8, 2022.

About Inc. Business Media

The world's most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community they need to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. The associated Inc. 5000 Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit www.inc.com .

About Everise

Everise is a technology-enabled outsourcing firm with expertise in transforming healthcare and technology customer experiences globally. The Company's unique approach combines customer and technical support services with AI, robotic process automation, analytics, and secure cloud-based technology. Some of the world's most loved brands have products and services that are perfected, protected, supported, and sold by Everise.

Our innovative digital outsourcing services are high performing, scalable, secure, agile, and have fluent proficiency in 32 languages, which helps brands to create seamless customer, product, digital, and home experiences. We strategically operate in seven markets to enable our partners to economically reach their customers across the globe. Learn more at www.weareeverise.com.

SOURCE Everise
Pioneer of extreme fast charge battery technology, StoreDot, says that global automotive manufacturers should be considering interim technologies in the medium term, such as semi-solid batteries

StoreDot's CEO asserts the importance of leading battery developers giving a realistic roadmap for the introduction of extreme fast-charging battery technologies

StoreDot remains on target for mass production readiness of '100in5' cells by 2024 delivering at least 100 miles of range in just five minutes of charging

HERZELIYA, Israel, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- StoreDot, the pioneer of extreme fast charging battery technology for electric vehicles, has stated that mass-produced solid state batteries are still at least a decade from mass production and that global automotive manufacturers should be considering interim technologies in the medium term, such as semi-solid batteries.

StoreDot proprietary flexible solid state electrolyte

Solid-state-batteries promise cost-effective fast and safe charging batteries, with high energy densities, however they remain a work in progress, and still face significant challenges before they can be manufactured at scale. A solid-state battery uses solid electrolytes instead of the liquid or polymer gel electrolytes found in current technologies such as lithium-ion or lithium polymer batteries.

Dr Doron Myersdorf, StoreDot CEO "It's crucial that leading battery developers like StoreDot give global automotive manufacturers a realistic and hype-free roadmap for the introduction of extreme fast-charging battery technologies. Right now, despite some of the bullish claims by our rivals, all-solid-state batteries are still at least 10 years away. They are certainly no silver bullet for any vehicle maker currently developing fast charging electric vehicle architectures.

"We believe a more practical step is the introduction of semi-solid-state batteries which we are targeting for mass production by 2028. These will be advanced, safe, high performing cells that can achieve 100 miles of charge in just three minutes. They have the additional benefit of requiring a simpler and less challenging manufacturing process than all-solid-state technologies."

In March this year StoreDot revealed its '100inX' strategic technology roadmap. This featured 100in5, 100in3 and 100in2 of miles per minute of charging - three generations of StoreDot technologies of silicon-dominant XFC, semi solid state and all solid state. The roadmap confirmed that the timings for these will be delivered over the coming decade with 100in5 by 2024, 100in3 by 2028 and 100in2 by 2032. This groundbreaking technology is being demonstrated for the first time live on stage at Web Summit Lisbon this week. For more information, please see here.

Last month StoreDot proved the superior performance of its extreme fast charging battery cell technology by delivering cells that exceeded 1000 cycles in production ready EV form factor. These cells are now being shipped in pouch format to StoreDot's global automotive OEM partners for intense real-world testing and exhibit the promised '100in5' EV performance, allowing drivers to charge consecutively 100 miles of range for each 5 minutes of charging.

About StoreDot:

StoreDot is the pioneer and leader of extreme fast charging (XFC) electric vehicle batteries that overcome the critical barriers to mainstream EV adoption  range and charging anxiety. The company has revolutionized the conventional Li-ion battery by designing and synthesizing proprietary organic and inorganic compounds, optimized by Artificial Intelligence algorithms, making it possible to charge an EV in under ten minutes  the same experience as refuelling a conventional combustion engine car.

Through its '100inX' product roadmap, StoreDot's battery technology is delivering 'Range on Demand': 100 miles charged in 5 minutes in 2024, 100 miles charged in 3 minutes by 2028, and extreme energy density solution enabling 100 miles to be charged in 2 minutes by 2032. StoreDot's strategic investors and partners include Daimler, BP, VinFast, Volvo, Polestar, Ola Electric, Samsung, TDK, and its manufacturing partner EVE Energy. In 2022, the company achieved a world first by demonstrating a live extreme fast charging of an EV battery cell in 10 minutes. StoreDot is on target for mass production readiness of 100in5 technology by 2024.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1935346/StoreDot_flexible_solid_electrolyte.jpg

SOURCE StoreDot
International initiative strengthens the California-based insurer's efforts to incorporate Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) values into its business strategy

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters and other stressors across the United States and around the globe are exacting a greater toll on communities and neighborhoods of every kind. To help focus its efforts on developing innovative initiatives to reduce risk and intensify existing sustainability strategies, Farmers Insurance Exchange announced today it has become the first U.S.-based insurer to sign onto the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative's Principles for Sustainable Insurance (the Principles), an international framework for the global insurance industry to address environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities. With this announcement, Farmers joins over 200 organizations worldwide who have publicly committed to the Principles since they were introduced during the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012.

Farmers Insurance Logo. (PRNewsFoto/Farmers Insurance)

"Farmers is committed to operating in a way that positively impacts our customers, our employees and communities by incorporating Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations into our business," said Jeff Dailey, Chief Executive Officer of Farmers Group, Inc. "We are honored to become the first U.S.based insurer to sign the Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI) and hope to amplify the impact of our efforts by inspiring others in the insurance industry to follow our example."

Signatories to the Principles are called to:

Embed environmental, social and governance issues relevant to the insurance business into decision-making; Commit to working with clients and business partners to raise awareness of environmental, social and governance issues, manage risk and develop solutions; Agree to work with governments, regulators and other key stakeholders to promote widespread action across society on environmental, social and governance issues; and, Demonstrate accountability and transparency in regularly publicly disclosing progress in implementing the Principles.

For some time, Farmers has been involved in a variety of efforts to address various ESG areas, including: making socially responsible investments in traditionally underserved communities through IMPACT Community Capital; investing in an NGO-led fund that helps homeowners recover faster from disasters; transitioning to a fully hybrid and electric fleet of company vehicles; reducing its carbon footprint through paperless billing processes; and embracing enhanced options for our employees to serve our customers while working flexibly, to name just a few.

Through this new engagement with the Principles, Farmers intends to expand on its current efforts to make more meaningful impacts that will benefit its customers, employees, agents and the planet.

The United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative's (UNEP FI) Principles for Sustainable Insurance serves as a global framework for the insurance industry to address environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities. The vision of the initiative is of a risk aware world, where the insurance industry is trusted and plays its full role in enabling a healthy, safe, resilient and sustainable society. The purpose of the Initiative is to better understand, prevent and reduce environmental, social and governance risks, and to better manage opportunities to provide quality and reliable risk protection.

"Through its commitment to implement the Principles for Sustainable Insurance, Farmers Insurance Exchange is demonstrating leadership, raising its ambition, and engaging with key stakeholders to tackle the most pressing sustainability challenges and to seize the opportunities of a sustainable economy," said Butch Bacani, who leads the PSI at the U.N. Environment Programme. "We look forward to more U.S. insurers joining the PSI and becoming part of the solution. The time for decisive sustainability action is now."

About the Principles for Sustainable Insurance

Endorsed by the U.N. Secretary-General and insurance industry CEOs, the Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI) serve as a global framework for the insurance industry to address environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks and opportunitiesand a global initiative to strengthen the insurance industry's contribution as risk managers, insurers and investors to building resilient, inclusive and sustainable communities and economies on a healthy planet.

About Farmers Insurance

"Farmers Insurance" and "Farmers" are tradenames for a group of insurers providing insurance for automobiles, homes and small businesses and a wide range of other insurance and financial services products. Farmers Insurance Exchange, the largest of the three primary insurers that make up Farmers Insurance, is recognized as one of the largest U.S. companies on the 2022 Fortune 500 list.

For more information about Farmers Insurance, visit Farmers.com, Twitter and Instagram, @WeAreFarmers, or Facebook.com/FarmersInsurance.

Contact: External Communications

Farmers Insurance

818-965-0007

[email protected]

SOURCE Farmers Insurance
Finastra's Fusion Trade Innovation solution enables lower transaction costs and superior user experience for NBP customers

KARACHI, Pakistan and SINGAPORE, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Finastra has today announced that NBP (National Bank of Pakistan) has implemented Finastra's Fusion Trade Innovation solution to power its trade finance operations. InfoTech (Pvt) Ltd., a leading systems integrator and Finastra's exclusive authorized and certified reseller in Pakistan, led the deal and implemented the solution, which will enable NBP to lower transaction costs and provide corporate customers with a superior user experience.

"In the digital age it is important to have the right systems in place to give customers the best possible experience, so digital transformation has been a key priority for us," said Imran Farooqui, SEVP & Group Chief, Operations, NBP. "Having already built a relationship with Finastra and InfoTech, we are confident in their industry-leading offerings and the ongoing service they provide after implementation. Fusion Trade Innovation will give us the tools we need to modernize, future-proof and ultimately grow our business."

Finastra's end-to-end working capital solution, Fusion Trade Innovation, is the industry's leading booking engine. It includes capabilities for frictionless trade and supply chain finance, including buyer and seller loans, letters of credit, collections, guarantees, and government support for export credit and SME loans. Fusion Trade Innovation gives banks control with a development toolkit that enables them to deliver change themselves, all within a solution that is maintained by Finastra. This future-proofing feature provides a more predictable total cost of ownership and enables banks to maintain a clear upgrade path.

"Increasing complexity, regulatory changes and cost of capital mean that efficient trade and supply chain finance management has never been more important. In this environment, banks that are constrained by legacy infrastructures, disjointed processes and fragmented transactional views will struggle to successfully grow their businesses," said Manish Joshi, Managing Director, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific at Finastra. "Fusion Trade Innovation is a comprehensive, modern solution that overcomes these challenges and we look forward to helping NBP take its trade finance business to a new level."

"InfoTech is delighted to spearhead this implementation at Pakistan's largest public sector bank," said Asim Haque, Vice President, Banking Services Business Unit, InfoTech. "We were able to automate NBP's trade operations nationwide, which were previously managed manually. Integrating this with the core, treasury and SWIFT not only gives NBP 360-degree visibility of its trade transactions, but has also managed to reduce operational costs. We look forward to helping NBP to grow its business further with Finastra's solutions."

About Finastra

Finastra is a global provider of financial software applications and marketplaces, and launched

the leading open platform for innovation, FusionFabric.cloud, in 2017. It serves institutions of all sizes, providing award-winning software solutions and services across Lending, Payments, Treasury & Capital Markets and Universal Banking (Retail, Digital and Commercial Banking) for banks to support direct banking relationships and grow through indirect channels, such as embedded finance and Banking as a Service. Its pioneering approach and commitment to open finance and collaboration is why it is trusted by ~8,600 institutions, including 90 of the world's top 100 banks. For more information, visit finastra.com

About InfoTech

Established in 1995, InfoTech is a System Integrator and Software company with specialized focus on Financial & Capital Markets, GovTech (G2B & G2C Services), RegTech (Regulations, Compliances, Fraud Detection) and Connected Governments. Over 600 professionals remain busy serving our clients with end-to-end solutions through a network of 6 offices. InfoTech's products and services offer a blend of technology, domain expertise, and change consulting expertise to deliver results at rapid speed and low delivery risk. ISO 9001 and 27001 certifications along with CMMI Level 3 software development standards ensure world-class quality of product and solutions, and its global presence in multiple countries empowers InfoTech to develop strong delivery channels and post implementation support regionally. For more information, connect with InfoTech at [email protected] or visit www.infotechgroup.com

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1916021/FINASTRA_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Finastra
VANCOUVER, BC, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Fineqia International Inc. (the "Company" or "Fineqia") (CSE: FNQ) (OTC: FNQQF) (Frankfurt: FNQA) announces the setup of a wholly owned subsidiary Fineqia AG in Liechtenstein to pursue business on the European continent. The Company also announces a new corporate website to better reflect its business.

The new entity enables Fineqia to expand its business in the European Economic Area (EEA), in which Liechtenstein is a member. The country has created laws compatible with the European Union (EU) directives and regulations, enabling locally domiciled businesses to operate across various EU financial markets.

The Principality of Liechtenstein was one of the first countries in the world to provide regulation of the digital asset industry with the Blockchain Act in Jan. 2020. The law provides business with regulatory and legal clarity about blockchain related services, tokenisation of assets and rights including the classification of tokens based on the rights held in them such as utility, security or payment tokens. It also stipulates information requirements for public offerings.

"Seeds of innovation need a fertile ground to germinate," said Fineqia CEO Bundeep Singh Rangar. "Liechtenstein is proving to have such soil."

Liechtenstein scored highest for two years in a row in a global ranking by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), an audit and consulting firm, that rated the comprehensiveness of tax guidance for cryptocurrencies in each country. PWC evaluated countries on 19 factors to determine the comprehensiveness of their policies on digital assets and transactions including taxation of mining, staking and NFTs.

Separately, Fineqia announces that the closing of its private placement of units representing stock and warrants for up to $5 million, has been extended to Dec. 10, 2022, on account of the health situation of the Company's CFO.

Fineqia also announced the publishing of an updated corporate website with new branding at www.fineqia.com.

About Fineqia International Inc.

Fineqia (www.fineqia.com) is a listed entity in Canada (CSE: FNQ), US (OTC: FNQQF) and Europe (Frankfurt: FNQA). Fineqia's strategic focus has been to provide a platform and associated services to support securities issuances and manage administration of debt securities. Fineqia is building out its alternative finance business and holds a growing portfolio of blockchain, fintech and cryptocurrency technology companies worldwide.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Some statements in this release may contain forward-looking information (as defined under applicable Canadian securities laws) ("forward-looking statements"). All statements, other than of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that Fineqia (the "Company") believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future (including, without limitation, statements regarding potential acquisitions and financings) are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of the words "may", "will", "should", "continue", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "believe", "intend", "plan" or "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict, that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, without limitation, the failure to obtain sufficient financing, and other risks disclosed in the Company's public disclosure record on file with the relevant securities regulatory authorities. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made except as may be required by applicable securities laws. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement except to the extent required by applicable securities laws.

SOURCE Fineqia International Inc.
-- Revenues of RMB274.2 million for the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2022, up 0.5% year-over-year

-- Net Income of RMB51.0 million for the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2022, up 95.3% year-over-year

BEIJING, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- First High-School Education Group Co., Ltd. ("First High-School Education Group" or the "Company") (NYSE: FHS), an education service provider primarily focusing on high schools in Western China, today announced its unaudited financial results for the nine months ended September 30, 2022.

Financial Highlights for the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2022  Continuing Operations

Total revenues were RMB274.2 million ( US$38.5 million ), an increase of 0.5% from RMB272.7 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 .

were ( ), an increase of 0.5% from for the nine months ended . Gross profit was RMB124.7 million ( US$17.5 million ), an increase of 28.1% from RMB97.3 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 .

was ( ), an increase of 28.1% from for the nine months ended . Income from operations was RMB72.0 million ( US$10.1 million ), an increase of 78.6% from RMB40.3 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 .

was ( ), an increase of 78.6% from for the nine months ended . Net income was RMB51.0 million ( US$7.2 million ), an increase of 95.3% from RMB26.1 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 .

was ( ), an increase of 95.3% from for the nine months ended . Adjusted net income[1] (Non-GAAP) was RMB51.0 million ( US$7.2 million ), an increase of 95.3% from RMB26.1 million for the nine months ended September 30 , of 2021.

Operational Highlights  Continuing Operations

The total number of students enrolled at our school programs and public schools for which we provide management services as of October 31, 2022 was 27,777, an increase of 25.9% from 22,062 as of October 31, 2021 .

at our school programs and public schools for which we provide management services as of was 27,777, an increase of 25.9% from 22,062 as of . The total number of school programs at our school programs and public schools for which we provide management services as of October 31, 2022 was 23, an increase of 9.5% from 21 as of October 31, 2021 .

CFO Comments

Mr. Tommy Zhou, Chief Financial Officer of First High-School Education Group, commented:

The third quarter period, from July to September, is internally known as the quiet period of our business. Since no school activities are conducted during the summer months of July and August, no revenue is recognized for 2/3 of the third quarter period, resulting in only modest revenue growth. During the third quarter period, the Company did extensive preparation work for the school opening in September, such as teacher recruitment and training, constructions and repairs of school properties, and student admission campaigns.

For both operation and financial perspectives, the Company continues to thrive. As of October 31, 2022, for continuing operations, we admitted 7,963 students for class of 2022, among a total of 27,777 students enrolled at the school programs and public schools for which we provide management services. We currently operate 23 school programs, including 13 high school programs, five Gaokao repeater programs and five school management service programs.

Financially, our continuous drive for greater efficiency yielded improved profitability. It is worth noting that most of our efficiency measures were put in place during September last year. It is especially rewarding to see that these measures, such as a stricter and more scientific budget system, increasing horizontal comparison among business units, and tying compensation to performance, have been yielding positive results for a full year.

Lastly, the Company is aware of the difficult macro- and micro-environment ahead. We will constantly monitor the changing environment, and act for the best of the Company and its shareholders.

Financial Results for the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2022 Continuing Operations

Total Revenues

Total revenues were RMB274.2 million (US$38.5 million), an increase of 0.5% from RMB272.7 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021.

Revenues from customers were RMB238.3 million (US$33.5 million), a decrease of 1.6% from RMB242.1 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021. The decrease was primarily driven by decreased collection of teaching and auxiliary materials fees.

Revenues from government cooperative agreements were RMB36.0 million (US$5.1 million), an increase of 17.3% from RMB30.7 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021. The increase was primarily driven by increased number of publicly-sponsored students served.

Cost of revenues

Cost of revenues were RMB149.5 million (US$21.0 million), a decrease of 14.7% from RMB175.4 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021. The decrease was primarily due to the effective cost control measures such as stricter budget control.

Gross profit

Gross profit was RMB124.7 million (US$17.5 million), an increase of 28.1% from RMB97.3 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021. Gross margin was 45.5%, compared with 35.7% for the nine months ended September 30, 2021. The increased gross margin was primarily due to the improved cost control measures, resulting from (1) improved school operating efficiency, tighter utility usage limits, and stricter budget control; and (2) revised compensation structure for teachers and supporting staffs, for a more efficient system tying pay to performance.

Net operating expenses

Net operating expenses were RMB52.7 million (US$7.4 million), a decrease of 7.6% from RMB57.0 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021.

Selling and marketing expenses were RMB1.9 million ( US$0.3 million ), a decrease of 52.7% from RMB4.0 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 . The decrease was primarily due to the decreased expenses in brand promotion and marketing activities for our relatively mature school operation.

( ), a decrease of 52.7% from for the nine months ended . The decrease was primarily due to the decreased expenses in brand promotion and marketing activities for our relatively mature school operation. General and administrative expenses were RMB51.7 million ( US$7.3 million ), a decrease of 6.6% from RMB55.4 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 . The decrease was primarily due to improved cost control.

( ), a decrease of 6.6% from for the nine months ended . The decrease was primarily due to improved cost control. Government grants were RMB0.9 million ( US$0.1 million ), a decrease of 60.0% from RMB2.4 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 . The decrease was primarily due to the government's tight fiscal budget resulting in delayed payments made by government.

Income from operations

Income from operations was RMB72.0 million (US$10.1 million), an increase of 78.6% from RMB40.3 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021.

Net Income from continuing operations

Net income from continuing operations was RMB61.0 million (US$8.6 million), an increase of 84.6% from RMB33.1 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021.

Net Loss from discontinued operations

Net loss from discontinued operations was RMB10.1 million (US$1.4 million), an increase of 44.3% from RMB7.0 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021.

Net income

Net income was RMB51.0 million (US$7.2 million), an increase of 95.3% from RMB26.1 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021.

Adjusted net income[2] (Non-GAAP)

Adjusted net income (Non-GAAP) was RMB51.0 million (US$7.2 million), an increase of 95.3% from RMB26.1 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2021.

Business Outlook

For the fiscal year 2022, the Company expects total revenues of continuing operations to be between RMB440.0 million to RMB460.0 million, representing an increase of 10% to 15% on a year-over-year basis. This outlook reflects the Company's current and preliminary views on the market and operational conditions, and the outlook ranges for the fiscal year 2022 reflect a number of assumptions that are subject to change based on uncertainties.

Impact of Implementation Rules for Private Education Laws

On May 14, 2021, the State Council of the People's Republic of China promulgated the Implementation Rules for Private Education Laws () (the "Implementation Rules"), which became effective on September 1, 2021. The Implementation Rules prohibit social organizations and individuals from controlling private schools that provide compulsory education through, among other methods, mergers, acquisitions and contractual arrangements. Additionally, the Implementation Rules prohibit any private schools providing compulsory education from conducting transactions with its related parties. As a result, the Implementation Rules affected the Company's control over the affiliated entities providing compulsory education as well as the sponsor entities (collectively referred to as the "Affected Entities").

In compliance with the Implementation Rules and other applicable PRC regulations and based on the relevant accounting standard in accordance with U.S. GAAP, the Company has determined to cease to recognize revenues for all activities related to schools providing compulsory education and the sponsor entities after September 1, 2021 within China that are affected by the Implementation Rules, and classified such Affected Entities as discontinued operations. The discontinued operations of the Affected Entities had certain impact on the Company's financial conditions for the nine months ended September 30, 2022. Net loss from discontinued operations was RMB10.1 million (US$1.4 million) for the nine months ended September 30, 2022.

There still exist uncertainties with respect to the interpretation and enforcement of the Implementation Rules. The Company will closely monitor the developments related to the Implementation Rules, and continue to assess the possible impacts on the Company and make any applicable actions to keep in compliance with the Implementation Rules and other applicable PRC regulations.

[1] Adjusted net income is a non-GAAP measure. See "Non-GAAP measure" in this press release. A reconciliation of the Company's most directly comparable GAAP measure to historical non-GAAP financial measure has been provided in the tables captioned "Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Measure" included at the end of this press release, and investors are encouraged to review the reconciliation. [2] Adjusted net income is a non-GAAP measure. See "Non-GAAP measure" in this press release. A reconciliation of the Company's most directly comparable GAAP measure to historical non-GAAP financial measure has been provided in the tables captioned "Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Measure" included at the end of this press release, and investors are encouraged to review the reconciliation.

Conference Call

First High-School Education Group's management will hold an earnings conference call on Wednesday, November 2, 2022, at 8:00 AM U.S. Eastern Time (8:00 PM November 2, 2022, Beijing/Hong Kong Time). Please dial in 15 minutes before the conference is scheduled to begin using below numbers.

International 1-412-317-6061 United States 1-888-317-6003 Hong Kong 800-963976 Mainland China 4001-206115 Passcode 8168551

A telephone replay of the conference call may be accessed by phone at the following numbers until November 9, 2022.

International 1-412-317-0088 United States 1-877-344-7529 Replay Access Code 8804664

A live and archived webcast of the conference call will be available on the Company's investors relations website at https://ir.diyi.top/

About First High-School Education Group

First High-School Education Group is an education service provider primarily focusing on high schools in Western China. The Company aspires to become a leader and innovator of private high school education in China, with the focuses on a comprehensive education management integrating education information consulting, education research project development, education talent management, education technology management, education service management, and general vocational integration development services. For more information, please visit https://ir.diyi.top/.

Non-GAAP Measure

The Company has provided in this press release financial information that has not been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or U.S. GAAP. The Company considers and uses one non-GAAP measure, adjusted net income, as a supplemental measure to review and assess its operating performance. Adjusted net income enables the Company's management to assess the Company's operating results without considering the impact of non-cash charges, including share-based compensation expenses, and without considering the impact of donation expenses and transaction costs in relation to previous financing activities. The Company also believes that the use of the non-GAAP measure facilitates investors' assessment of its operating performance.

The presentation of the non-GAAP financial measure is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Adjusted net income is a non-GAAP measure. A reconciliation of the Company's most directly comparable GAAP measure to historical non-GAAP financial measure has been provided in the tables captioned "Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Measure" included at the end of this press release, and investors are encouraged to review the reconciliation.

Exchange Rate

The Company's business is primarily conducted in China and all of the revenues are denominated in Renminbi ("RMB"). This announcement contains translations of certain RMB amounts into U.S. dollars ("USD" or "US$") at specified rates solely for the convenience of the readers. Unless otherwise noted, all translations from RMB to USD are made at the rate of RMB7.1135 to US$1.00, the exchange rate set forth in the H.10 statistical release of the Federal Reserve Board on September 30, 2022. No representation is made that the RMB amounts could have been, or could be, converted, realized or settled into US$ at that rate on September 30, 2022, or at any other rate.

Statement Regarding Preliminary Unaudited Financial Information

The unaudited financial information set out in this earnings release is preliminary and subject to potential adjustments. Adjustments to the consolidated financial statements may be identified when audit work has been performed for the Company's year-end audit, which could result in significant differences from this preliminary unaudited financial information.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects, as well as any other statements regarding matters that are not historical facts, may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to the expected trading commencement and closing dates. The words "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "target," "will," "would" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: the uncertainties related to market conditions and the completion of the public offering on the anticipated terms or at all, and other factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of the preliminary prospectus filed with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date hereof, and the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

For Investor and Media Inquiries Please Contact:

First High-School Education Group

Tommy Zhou

Chief Financial Officer

E-mail: [email protected]

Customer Service

E-mail: [email protected]

Phone: 010-62555966 (9:30-12:00, 13:30-16:00 CST)

First High-School Education Group Co., Ltd. Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (All amounts in thousands, except share data and per share data, or otherwise noted)





Nine months ended September 30, 2021

2022

2022 RMB

RMB

US$ Revenues









Revenue from customers 242,092

238,259

33,494 Revenue from governments cooperative agreements 30,657

35,956

5,055 Total revenues 272,749

274,214

38,548 Cost of revenues (175,401)

(149,541)

(21,022) Gross profit 97,347

124,674

17,526











Operating expenses and income









Selling and marketing expenses (4,000)

(1,891)

(266) General and administrative expenses (55,402)

(51,743)

(7,274) Government grants 2,354

941

132 Income from operations 40,298

71,980

10,119











Other income (expenses):









Interest income 463

534

75 Interest expense (7,842)

(5,297)

(745) Foreign currency exchange loss, net -

-

- Others, net 1,360

935

132 Income from Continuing Operations before Income Tax 34,280

68,152

9,581 Income tax expenses (1,204)

(7,108)

(999) Income (loss) from Continuing Operations 33,075

61,045

8,582 Discontinued Operations (6,972)

(10,062)

(1,414) Net income/(loss) 26,104

50,983

7,167 Foreign currency translation adjustments (4,928)

1,332

187 Comprehensive income - Continuing Operations 28,147

62,377

8,769 Comprehensive income (loss) - Discontinued Operations (6,972)

(10,062)

(1,414)











Attributable to









Shareholder of the Company 26,102

50,983

7,167 Non-controlling interests 2

0

0











Earnings per ordinary share

Basic 0.32

0.59

0.08 Diluted 0.30

0.55

0.08











Weighted average number of ordinary share outstanding

Basic 82,691,090

86,838,700

86,838,700 Diluted 88,241,090

92,388,700

92,388,700













First High-School Education Group Co., Ltd. Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (All amounts in thousands, except share data and per share data, or otherwise noted)





As of

December 31,

As of September 30, 2021

2022

2022 RMB

RMB

US$ Current assets









Cash 144,409

260,242

36,584 Accounts receivable, net of allowance for doubtful

accounts 39,975

61,294

8,617 Amounts due from related parties 24,171

33,394

4,694 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 93,254

91,884

12,917 Assets related to discontinued operation 79,505

58,889

8,278 Total current assets 381,314

505,703

71,091 Non-current assets









Property and equipment, net 140,670

130,120

18,292 Intangible assets, net 47,523

46,227

6,499 Goodwill 150,996

150,996

21,227 Deferred tax assets 28,567

28,593

4,020 Other non-current assets 56,488

59,050

8,301 Assets related to discontinued operation 15,112

11,784

1,657 Total non-current assets 439,355

426,770

59,994 Total assets 820,669

932,474

131,085



Current liabilities As of

December 31,

As of September 30, 2021

2022

2022 RMB

RMB

US$









Contract liabilities 156,236

243,787

34,271 Deferred revenue 7,833

14,220

1,999 Bank loan 43,219

57,751

8,119 Borrowing under financing arrangements 40,078

21,236

2,985 Accounts payable 3,538

4,312

606 Accrued expenses and other payables 110,330

94,010

13,216 Income tax payables 24,718

27,252

3,831 Amounts due to related parties 19,759

31,071

4,368 Liability related to discontinued operation 106,335

93,679

13,169 Total current liabilities 512,046

587,319

82,564 Non-current liabilities









Borrowing under financing arrangements 44,178

33,123

4,656 Deferred revenue 13,632

12,247

1,722 Other long-term liabilities 7,868

5,376

756 Deferred tax liabilities 12,575

12,193

1,714 Liability related to discontinued operation 6

-

- Total non-current liabilities 78,259

62,938

8,848 Total liabilities 590,305

650,257

91,412











Equity/(Deficit)









Ordinary shares (US$0.00001 par value; 5,000,000,000

shares authorized; and 86,838,700 shares issued and

outstanding as of December 31, 2021, and 86,838,700 shares

issued and outstanding as of September 30, 2022,

respectively) 6

6

1 Additional paid-in capital 389,199

389,199

54,713 Statutory reserves 49,060

49,060

6,897 Accumulated deficit (207,713)

(156,891)

(22,055) Accumulated other comprehensive income 462

1,332

187 Total equity attributable to the shareholders of the

Company 231,014

282,706

39,742 Non-controlling interests (650)

(489)

(69) Total equity 230,363

282,217

39,673























Total liabilities and equity 820,669

932,474

131,085

First High-School Education Group Co., Ltd. Reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP Measure (All amounts in thousands)









Nine months ended September 30,





2021

2022

2022



RMB

RMB

US$













Reconciliation of net income to adjusted net income:











Net income

26,104

50,983

7,167 Add:











Share-based compensation expenses

-

-

- Donation expenses

-

-

- Transaction costs in relation to previous financing

activities

-

-

- Tax effects of adjustments*

-

-

- Adjusted net income

26,104

50,983

7,167































* Tax effects were determined based upon the nature, as well as the jurisdiction, of each reconciliation

adjustment at the respective applicable income tax rate.

SOURCE First High-School Education Group Co., Ltd
NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the report "Frozen Baby Food Market by Product and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026", the market will witness a YOY growth of 7.36% in 2022 and a CAGR of 8.59% during the forecast period. The report is segmented by product (frozen ready meals, frozen fruits and vegetables, frozen meat, and others) and geography (Europe, APAC, North America, Middle East and Africa, and South America).

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Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Frozen Baby Food Market 2022-2026

Key Market Drivers

The rise in the working women population is driving the frozen baby food market growth. Rapid urbanization and the growth of the middle-class population have led to the adoption of convenience-oriented lifestyles. Hence, frozen baby food products have become a viable option. The increase in dual-income households and per capita income has strengthened the purchasing power of consumers. Thus, the rise in the working woman population will fuel market growth during the forecast period.

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Vendor Insights

The frozen baby food market is fragmented, and the vendors are deploying growth strategies such as new product launches, employing innovative marketing strategies, and various packaging innovations to compete in the market. The report analyzes the market's competitive landscape and offers information on several market vendors, including Annabel Karmel Group Holdings Ltd., Bambinos Baby Food, Bouchee, Danone SA, Dr. Praegers Sensible Foods Inc, Little Foodie Club LLC, Mamamade Foods Ltd., Monsoon Agro Bio Ltd., Nascens Enterprises Pvt. Ltd., Nestle SA, Organic Keedz, Poppets Baby Food, Square Foods LLC, Sun Maid Growers of California, The Hain Celestial Group Inc., Upon A Farm PBC, and YUM Baby. The key offerings of some of these vendors are listed below:

Annabel Karmel Group Holdings Ltd. - The company offers frozen baby foods such as Cowboy Mince and Rice and Sweet and Sour Chicken with Rice.

The company offers frozen baby foods such as Cowboy Mince and Rice and Sweet and Sour Chicken with Rice. Bambinos Baby Food - The company offers frozen baby foods such as Peanut Mani and Sockeye Salmon Bisque.

The company offers frozen baby foods such as Peanut Mani and Sockeye Salmon Bisque. Bouchee - The company offers frozen baby foods such as barbecue sausage rolls and cheesy arancini balls.

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Key Segment Analysis

The frozen ready meals segment will be a significant contributor to market growth during the forecast period. Frozen-ready meals provide high nutrition while being convenient. They reduce food waste, thus benefitting the environment. Frozen-ready meals are a viable option for working mothers, with the rise in urbanization and middle-class population. Such factors will drive the frozen ready meals segment growth during the forecast period.

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Geographical Market Analysis

Europe will provide maximum growth opportunities in the frozen baby food market during the forecast period. According to our research, the region will contribute 38% of the global market growth. France and the UK are the two major markets for frozen baby food in Europe. The growth of the region is attributed to factors such as changing lifestyles and the rising number of working women.

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Key Market Challenges

Warehousing and distribution challenges of frozen baby food are hindering the frozen baby food market growth. Retailers and distributors of frozen baby food products need cold storage warehouse facilities with appropriate temperatures and desired quality. They also need to be transported in a short timeframe while maintaining these conditions. Warehouses also require proper backup facilities in terms of electricity and freezing equipment. This is a challenge in the rural areas of countries such as Nigeria and Kenya. Such factors may impede market growth in the coming years.

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Frozen Vegetables Market by Distribution Channel and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026: This report extensively covers segmentation by distribution channel (offline and online) and geography (Europe, North America, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa). 37% of the market's growth will originate from Europe during the forecast period. The market share growth by the offline segment will be significant.

Frozen Food Market by Product and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026: This report extensively covers segmentation by product (frozen ready-to-eat meals, frozen meat and poultry, frozen fish and seafood, frozen fruits and vegetables, and others) and geography (Europe, North America, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa). 39% of the market's growth will originate from Europe during the forecast period. The frozen food market share growth in the frozen ready-to-eat meals segment will be significant.

Frozen Baby Food Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 8.59% Market growth 2022-2026 USD 8.08 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 7.36 Regional analysis Europe, APAC, North America, Middle East and Africa, and South America Performing market contribution Europe at 38% Key consumer countries US, China, India, France, and UK Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Key companies profiled Annabel Karmel Group Holdings Ltd., Bambinos Baby Food, Bouchee, Danone SA, Dr. Praegers Sensible Foods Inc, Little Foodie Club LLC, Mamamade Foods Ltd., Monsoon Agro Bio Ltd., Nascens Enterprises Pvt. Ltd., Nestle SA, Organic Keedz, Poppets Baby Food, Square Foods LLC, Sun Maid Growers of California, The Hain Celestial Group Inc., Upon A Farm PBC, and YUM Baby Market dynamics Parent market analysis, market growth inducers and obstacles, fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, and market condition analysis for the forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

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Table of Contents

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Product



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 09: Parent market



Exhibit 10: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 11: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 12: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2021

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2021-2026

Exhibit 13: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 14: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 15: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 16: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

4 Five Forces Analysis

4.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 17: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2021 and 2026

4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 18: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2021 and 2026

4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 19: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 20: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 21: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 22: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.7 Market condition

Exhibit 23: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2021 and 2026

5 Market Segmentation by Product

5.1 Market segments

Exhibit 24: Chart on Product - Market share 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 25: Data Table on Product - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

5.2 Comparison by Product

Exhibit 26: Chart on Comparison by Product



Exhibit 27: Data Table on Comparison by Product

5.3 Frozen ready meals - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 28: Chart on Frozen ready meals - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 29: Data Table on Frozen ready meals - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 30: Chart on Frozen ready meals - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Frozen ready meals - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 Frozen fruits and vegetables - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 32: Chart on Frozen fruits and vegetables - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Frozen fruits and vegetables - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 34: Chart on Frozen fruits and vegetables - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Frozen fruits and vegetables - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 Frozen meat - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 36: Chart on Frozen meat - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Frozen meat - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 38: Chart on Frozen meat - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Frozen meat - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.6 Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 40: Chart on Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 42: Chart on Others - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Others - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.7 Market opportunity by Product

Exhibit 44: Market opportunity by Product ($ million)

6 Customer Landscape

6.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 45: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

7 Geographic Landscape

7.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 46: Chart on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 47: Data Table on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)

7.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 48: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 49: Data Table on Geographic comparison

7.3 Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 50: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 51: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 52: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 53: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.4 APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 54: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 55: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 56: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 57: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.5 North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 58: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 59: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 60: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 61: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.6 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 62: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 63: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 64: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 65: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.7 South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 66: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 67: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 68: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 69: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.8 US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 70: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 71: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 72: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 73: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.9 France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 74: Chart on France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 75: Data Table on France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 76: Chart on France - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 77: Data Table on France - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.10 UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 78: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 79: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 80: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 81: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.11 China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 82: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 83: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 84: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 85: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.12 India - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 86: Chart on India - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 87: Data Table on India - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 88: Chart on India - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 89: Data Table on India - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 90: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

8 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

8.1 Market drivers

8.2 Market challenges

8.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 91: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2021 and 2026

8.4 Market trends

9 Vendor Landscape

9.1 Overview

9.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 92: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

9.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 93: Overview on factors of disruption

9.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 94: Impact of key risks on business

10 Vendor Analysis

10.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 95: Vendors covered

10.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 96: Matrix on vendor position and classification

10.3 Annabel Karmel Group Holdings Ltd.

Exhibit 97: Annabel Karmel Group Holdings Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 98: Annabel Karmel Group Holdings Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 99: Annabel Karmel Group Holdings Ltd. - Key offerings

10.4 Bambinos Baby Food

Exhibit 100: Bambinos Baby Food - Overview



Exhibit 101: Bambinos Baby Food - Product / Service



Exhibit 102: Bambinos Baby Food - Key offerings

10.5 Bouchee

Exhibit 103: Bouchee - Overview



Exhibit 104: Bouchee - Product / Service



Exhibit 105: Bouchee - Key offerings

10.6 Danone SA

Exhibit 106: Danone SA - Overview



Exhibit 107: Danone SA - Business segments



Exhibit 108: Danone SA - Key news



Exhibit 109: Danone SA - Key offerings



Exhibit 110: Danone SA - Segment focus

10.7 Mamamade Foods Ltd.

Exhibit 111: Mamamade Foods Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 112: Mamamade Foods Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 113: Mamamade Foods Ltd. - Key offerings

10.8 Nestle SA

Exhibit 114: Nestle SA - Overview



Exhibit 115: Nestle SA - Business segments



Exhibit 116: Nestle SA - Key news



Exhibit 117: Nestle SA - Key offerings



Exhibit 118: Nestle SA - Segment focus

10.9 Organic Keedz

Exhibit 119: Organic Keedz - Overview



Exhibit 120: Organic Keedz - Product / Service



Exhibit 121: Organic Keedz - Key offerings

10.10 Square Foods LLC

Exhibit 122: Square Foods LLC - Overview



Exhibit 123: Square Foods LLC - Product / Service



Exhibit 124: Square Foods LLC - Key offerings

10.11 Sun Maid Growers of California

Exhibit 125: Sun Maid Growers of California - Overview

- Overview

Exhibit 126: Sun Maid Growers of California - Product / Service

- Product / Service

Exhibit 127: Sun Maid Growers of California - Key offerings

10.12 Upon A Farm PBC

Exhibit 128: Upon A Farm PBC - Overview



Exhibit 129: Upon A Farm PBC - Product / Service



Exhibit 130: Upon A Farm PBC - Key offerings

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 131: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 132: Exclusions checklist

11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 133: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 134: Research methodology



Exhibit 135: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 136: Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 137: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provide actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
WASHINGTON, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Fuse Integration, a warfighter-focused engineering and design firm, today announced another successful live-flight demonstration of its Tactical Edge Networking capability in support of a Technical Concept Experiment hosted by the Office of Naval Research. In the joint multi-domain exercise, which replicated expeditionary operations in a contested littoral environment, Fuse enabled the interconnecting of distributed nodes and provided persistent sea-to-shore networked communications via text, voice and live video feeds.

"Today's warfighters are routinely operating in multi-domain joint operational environments that rely on dependable and secure connections and communications," said Rebecca Unetic, Director of Strategy at Fuse. "Fuse capabilities are built for operational relevance and this Navy-Marine Corps exercise further demonstrates the readiness and applicability of our products and technologies on board ships and aircraft today."

Throughout the multi-day exercise, held along Camp Pendleton's Red Beach training area in California, Fuse engineers and technical personnel effectively integrated user data from various technologies into the overall event network architecture. The team provided data linkages over disparate mesh and CDL networks in a highly terrain-challenged environment; securely connected beyond-line-of-sight command posts and tactical units; extended the range of communications to enable joint amphibious operations and naval mine countermeasures; and facilitated text and live video across the multi-domain, multi-link network with cyber-secure IP and TDL gateways.

As with previous Navy-Marine Corps exercises, the Fuse TEN architecture demonstrated persistent, secure and resilient networked communications from sea to shore in a constructive command and control/denied and degraded environment. The TEN architecture is designed to accelerate the sensor-decider-shooter cycle and enhance data-informed decision-making critical in the modern battlespace, enabling the U.S. Defense Department's JADC2 initiative. It also facilitates rapid prototyping with joint networks and "speed to fleet" deployment across multi-domain platforms.

About Fuse Integration

Fuse is a warfighter-focused engineering and design firm providing innovative communications, networking and computing solutions for defense customers. The company's virtualized network systems, tactical edge virtual network and airborne networking gateway products improve the sharing of information, video, text and voice among warfighters throughout airborne, maritime and ground environments. Founded in 2010, Fuse is a service-disabled veteran-owned small business with headquarters in San Diego and a corporate office in Washington, D.C. www.fuseintegration.com

Contact:

Joyce Bosc

On behalf of Fuse Integration

301-717-9529

[email protected]

SOURCE Fuse Integration
DENVER, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Gates Industrial Corporation plc (NYSE:GTES), a global manufacturer of innovative, highly engineered power transmission and fluid power solutions, today announced that the Company will participate in the Baird 2022 Global Industrial Conference in Chicago, Illinois, on Wednesday, November 9, 2022. Ivo Jurek, Chief Executive Officer, will present at 4:40 p.m. Central Time.

To access the webcast and presentation materials, please visit the Events & Presentations section of the Gates Investor Relations website at investors.gates.com, and click on the event webcast link.

About Gates Industrial Corporation plc

Gates is a global manufacturer of innovative, highly engineered power transmission and fluid power solutions. Gates offers a broad portfolio of products to diverse replacement channel customers, and to original equipment ("first-fit") manufacturers as specified components. Gates participates in many sectors of the industrial and consumer markets. Our products play essential roles in a diverse range of applications across a wide variety of end markets ranging from harsh and hazardous industries such as agriculture, construction, manufacturing and energy, to everyday consumer applications such as printers, power washers, automatic doors and vacuum cleaners and virtually every form of transportation. Our products are sold in 128 countries across our four commercial regions: the Americas; Europe, Middle East & Africa; Greater China; and East Asia & India.

SOURCE Gates Industrial Corporation plc
BEIJING, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Less than one week after the conclusion of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, led the members of the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau to visit Yan'an, an old revolutionary base in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, on October 26.

They were there to pay sacred tribute to the land of the Chinese revolution, revel in the eventful days of the CPC Central Committee in Yan'an in the years of the Chinese revolutionary struggles, commemorate the great achievements made by revolutionaries of the older generation, and manifest the conviction of the new central leadership to carry forward CPC's revolutionary fighting spirit legacy and present a road map on what is to be expected in China's future, drawing a road map or the prosperity and achievements to come.

"I lived and worked in Yan'an for seven years," Xi said affectionately.

"My elder generation also once lived here, and I am quite familiar with the region. When I was sent to northern Shaanxi and worked in the fields as a farmer, every time I got a chance to come to Yan'an, I would visit those revolutionary sites, including the site of the Seventh CPC National Congress, Yangjialing, Zaoyuan, and Fenghuang Hill. After working in the CPC Central Committee, I've paid three inspection tours here," said Xi, who is also president of China and chairman of the Central Military Commission.

"This time, with members of the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, I come here to manifest that the new central leadership will inherit and carry forward the glorious traditions and fine work styles of the Party cultivated during the Yan'an period, and carry forward the Yan'an spirit," Xi said during the visit.

Some local residents in the CPC's former revolutionary base, which is also hailed as a sacred site for the Chinese revolution and cradle of the New China, told the Global Times that the visit shows that the CPC Central Committee attaches great importance to the Yan'an spirit fostered by revolutionaries and communist members from the older generation during their years in Yan'an, which has become an invaluable source of inspiration for the Party.

The CPC Central Committee's stay in Yan'an is one of the most significant parts of the Party's history. Having remained in Yan'an for 13 years, the CPC Central Committee led China's revolutionary endeavors to their peak, achieving a historic turning point - the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

The Yan'an spirit, which was forged during this period, has become the CPC's most precious treasure. It calls for firmness in correct political orientation, emancipation of the mind, seeking truth from facts, serving the people wholeheartedly, and developing self-reliance and encouraging pioneering efforts.

"In the course of the 13 years, the CPC became a fully mature political entity complete with its own ideology, culture, and military, forming a core leadership in shaping ideology and guiding the team, which was the first glorious period of the Party," Zhang Xixian, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee in Beijing, told the Global Times.

Now the CPC has embarked on the journey toward achieving its second centennial goal, which means the Party is marching toward the most mature and glorious period which echoes the historical zeitgeist, Zhang noted. "How the Party march forward without losing the direction? It's about seeking the direction, the belief and spirit in Yan'an," he said.

What is the Yan'an spirit

Yan'an served as the CPC's headquarters from 1935 to 1948, which was also the period that witnessed the CPC's growth from obscurity to a formidable political power. From that period, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region surrounding Yan'an also served as the political guidance center for the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) as well as the general backing for the Chinese People's War of Liberation (1945-49).

In 1938, when replying to the question "What should be learned at the Military and Political University of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in Yan'an," Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out, "First and foremost, we need to learn about a political direction."

The firm and correct political direction was the essence of the Yan'an spirit - an invaluable source of inspiration for the Party that should be passed down from generation to generation, Xi said during the visit.

In the eyes of Chinese experts, the Yan'an spirit has a great practical significance today, which was also underscored in the Party's congress.

"The practical significance of the Yan'an spirit today is that we should always adhere to the correct political direction firmly as the Party firmly placed its political direction at the first place during the period in Yan'an," Zhang said.

In 1941, CPC troops initiated a large-scale production campaign in Nanniwan, a small town located about 40 kilometers south of Yan'an. The move created a land of abundance and realized self-sufficiency amid military and economic sieges by the Kuomintang (KMT) forces. The miraculous achievement came through hard work and self-reliance, which also constitute an important part of the Yan'an spirit.

Hou Xiuzhen, 76, and her family have kept precious photos chronicling the history of the large-scale production campaign in Nanniwan. As the daughter-in-law to a veteran of the brigade of the Chinese Eighth Route Army which led the campaign at that time, she has witnessed the great change of the town over the last half-century.

"Xi's visit to Yan'an shows that the CPC Central Committee pays the greatest importance to this place, to the Yan'an spirit," Hou told the Global Times on Sunday. "In my view, it represents self-reliance and hard work."

At the beginning of the a large-scale production campaign, there was no place to live, not enough food to eat, but step by step, we transformed this place into a beautiful site thanks to our spirit of resilience, and we need to pass on this spirit from generation to generation, she noted. "Without the hard work of our revolutionary predecessors, there would be no good days today," Hou said.

Nanniwan is where the CPC industrialized the wilderness, against all odds, according to the website of Shaanxi provincial government.

It hosted a large-scale production campaign that transformed vast swathes of thorny no-man's land into productive terrain between 1941 and 1944, as a solution to the KMT blockade along the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia border, the website showed. The Eighth Route Army's 359th brigade converted wasteland into productive land, creating rice paddies, cave houses, and workshops, with only the most rudimentary of hand implements at best and often nothing but their bare hands.

"Some Chinese youth do not understand where our good days came from; they don't have a chance to live through what the old generations had endured, and some young people don't know that China has grown stronger through struggling and fighting," Hou said. Such a fighting spirit needs to be carried on, she said.

During the Yan'an period, our Party put forward the fundamental principle of serving the people wholeheartedly and wrote it into the Party Constitution, emphasizing that "the contingent of the CPC was established for the liberation of the people and always stood ready to work for their interests," and requiring all Party officials to "stand firmly on the side of ordinary people," and thus bringing about a vivid picture in which "officials were all public servants in people's eyes," Xi stressed during the latest Yan'an trip.

"The power gathered in Yan'an helped the CPC fight against fascism, which also amazed the world," Zhang Shuhua, director of the institute of political sciences at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday.

When the new CPC leadership has been chosen, a visit to a sacred site linked to the Chinese revolution is a very good tradition upheld by the CPC Central Committee. Besides the interpretation of the Yan'an spirit, the trip is also considered a unifying force for the hard work and goals meant to be achieved ahead, as the CPC members adhere to a firm position in the face of rising uncertainties in the world, Zhang Shuhua said.

"We are in a much better position today compared to the past. What the CPC needs to do now is reject formalism and bureaucratism - the two greatest enemies to our cause, and we need to work hard together with the people in order to - like they did during their period in Yan'an - forge close ties with the people and unify all the forces to achieve our goals," Zhang Shuhua said.

Long-lasting inspiration

"The Yan'an spirit represents an important time of struggle in China's developing history," Eric Foster, nephew of the well-known Western journalists Helen Foster Snow (1907-97) and Edgar Snow (1905-72), told the Global Times over the weekend.

Edgar Snow, a household name in China, was a journalist from the US best known for his 1937 book entitled Red Star Over China which portrayed a clear and compelling image of how the then "mysterious" CPC led the revolution and brought human dignity and equality to the masses via Snow's observations in Yan'an.

Edgar Snow's wife, Helen Foster, was also a great figure in presenting the CPC to the world through first-hand accounts about CPC's leaders and the CPC-led Red Army.

They were among the first journalists to share the truth about who the CPC members were and the good that they were fighting for in Yan'an, Eric Foster said.

"When you have all these brave forces coming together in one place and all believe and are willing to sacrifice and fight for the same cause, because they know from the bottom of their hearts that this is a right and just cause, and the right path for China, then it seems this is when the magic of something more can happen, and thus you get the Yan'an spirit," said Eric Foster. He visited Yan'an in 2021 to track down the spirit that attracted Edgar and Helen Snow.

"To me, what has kept the CPC in good standing with the people is all the tremendous progress that has been made at all levels of society. So Yan'an played a key role in helping China to become the new China that we have today," he said.

"This Yan'an spirit is alive today for the many people who come to visit and learn about the great sacrifices of both the men and women at that time," said Eric Foster.

Over the last couple of weeks, the world has closely watched the CPC's national congress, trying to learn how the Party has achieved so many and how it will continue leading the country to realize the second centennial goal of transforming China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization.

Yan'an is of great practical significance for clearly seeing why Chinese people have been successful in the past and how they can continue to be successful in the future. The practical significance of the Yan'an Spirit is to seek rejuvenation for the Chinese nation, to seek happiness for the people, and to seek great harmony for the world, Mohammad Saiyedul Islam, a Bangladeshi journalist based in China, told the Global Times after he visited the Yan'an Revolutionary Memorial Hall and other historical sites in Yan'an.

"The powerful and inspirational spirit created by the CPC is undoubtedly a strong driving force for the people in moving forward bravely," he said.

In a cave home on the Loess Plateau, a historic conversation took place in 1945 between late Chairman Mao Zedong and Huang Yanpei, a non-Communist personage, on how to maintain the long-lasting success of political power when talking about breaking the country's historical cycle. Mao gave an answer: Supervision by the people and the due diligence of people working in public office.

Through painstaking efforts, the CPC has found a second answer to the question of how to escape the historical cycle of a rise and fall, Xi said in the report delivered to the 20th CPC National Congress. The answer is self-reform.

We have ensured that the Party will never change its nature, its conviction, or its character, he said.

The central leadership's visit to Yan'an is also considered as tracing the roots of the CPC, Zhang Xixian said.

"The first answer is supervision by the people and the second answer today is self-reform. CPC members can't and shouldn't forget their traditions and they need to pass on the Party's spirit from generation to generation," he said.

SOURCE Global Times
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Trading Symbols:TSX: GGD

OTCQX: GLGDF

3,047 g/t AgEq over 11.5m within 110.6m of 388 g/t AgEq discovered in Eagle Deposit

HALIFAX, NS, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - GoGold Resources Inc. (TSX: GGD) (OTCQX: GLGDF) ("GoGold", "the Company") is pleased to announce the second set of drilling results from the newly acquired Eagle concession, which contains the northern strike extension of the Main Deposit on the Los Ricos South property. Highlights of the drilling include hole LRGAG-22-035, one of the strongest holes drilled to date in the Los Ricos district, which intercepted 21,580 g/t silver equivalent ("AgEq") over 0.9m, contained within 11.5m of 3,047 g/t AgEq within a wider intercept of 110.6m of 388 g/t AgEq. See Table 1 for breakdown of silver and gold values.

Figure 1: Eagle  Cross Section Holes 32,35 (CNW Group/GoGold Resources Inc.) Figure 2: Eagle + Main Area Longitudinal Section (CNW Group/GoGold Resources Inc.) Figure 3: Eagle Longitudinal Section (CNW Group/GoGold Resources Inc.) Figure 4: Eagle & Main Area Geophysics (CNW Group/GoGold Resources Inc.) Figure 5: Los Ricos District Overview (CNW Group/GoGold Resources Inc.)

"Drilling along strike on the new Eagle concession continues to return exceptional results in both high grade and very wide widths. Today's release of hole 35, along with hole 14 in our last release represent two of the best holes drilled in the Los Ricos district," said Brad Langille, President and CEO. "With results like this, we are focussing the majority of our exploration on the new Eagle concession along with additional drill targets on the Main zone in Los Ricos South. Additional results are expected shortly."

Table 1: Drill Hole Intersections

Hole ID Area / Vein From To Length1 Au Ag AuEq2 AgEq2



(m) (m) (m) (g/t) (g/t) (g/t) (g/t) LRGAG-22-032 Eagle 48.1 113.8 65.8 1.36 107.7 2.79 209.6

including 85.8 113.8 28.1 2.96 216.6 5.85 439.0

including 88.5 92.9 4.3 7.17 1,012.8 20.68 1,550.7

including 88.5 89.1 0.6 25.00 3,020.0 65.27 4,895.0 LRGAG-22-033 Eagle 190.9 222.0 31.1 0.66 64.6 1.53 114.4

including 215.5 219.3 3.8 1.92 170.6 4.19 314.5 LRGAG-22-035 Eagle 69.0 179.6 110.6 1.64 264.6 5.17 387.5

including 129.0 140.5 11.5 11.31 2,198.3 40.62 3,046.7

including 130.4 133.8 3.5 30.24 6,392.5 115.48 8,660.8

including 130.4 131.9 1.5 63.24 12,729.3 232.96 17,472.0

including 131.0 131.9 0.9 104.50 13,742.5 287.73 21,580.0 LRGAG-22-036 Eagle 87.0 128.0 41.0 1.26 83.9 2.38 178.5

including 109.0 128.0 19.0 2.11 143.8 4.02 301.8

including 119.5 120.9 1.5 9.00 509.3 15.79 1,184.3

including 119.5 120.3 0.8 12.55 782.0 22.98 1,723.3 LRGAG-22-037 Eagle 122.2 167.8 45.7 0.82 69.9 1.76 131.7

including 146.4 155.0 8.7 3.44 200.5 6.11 458.3

including 149.9 151.6 1.7 12.95 181.7 15.37 1,152.6

including 150.9 151.6 0.7 26.00 115.0 27.53 2,065.0 LRGAG-22-038 Eagle 88.0 124.0 36.0 1.30 75.7 2.31 173.0

including 106.9 116.0 9.2 4.81 256.1 8.23 616.9

including 108.4 109.6 1.3 6.76 1,271.6 23.72 1,778.9

including 108.4 109.0 0.7 7.70 2,030.0 34.77 2,607.5

also including 112.6 115.0 2.4 12.64 163.6 14.82 1,111.7

including 114.2 115.0 0.8 31.60 70.0 32.53 2,440.0 LRGAG-22-039 Eagle 149.7 169.0 19.4 0.93 65.8 1.81 135.7

including 156.8 164.4 7.6 1.87 145.0 3.81 285.6

including 158.0 163.4 5.4 2.37 168.9 4.62 346.6

1. Not true width 2. AqEq converted using a silver to gold ratio of 75:1 at recoveries of 100% 3. Hole LRGAG-22-034 did not intercept significant mineralization

The Eagle concession adjoins the Main Deposit where the Los Ricos South Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") was released on January 20, 2021. This represents an extension to this previously defined Mineral Resource Estimate at Los Ricos South. The concession covers 1,107 hectares, including the area between the Main Deposit and the Company's Jamaica concession located 3km to the northwest, where the Company holds the rights to additional concessions. Due diligence drilling has returned the highest grade intercepts to date in the district. These wide high grade intercepts are consistent with geophysical targets on the new concession. See Figure 1 below which shows a cross section including drill hole LRGAG-22-035.

The Company has completed preliminary geological mapping, sampling, geophysical IP surveying, and has commenced a drill program at the Eagle. Mapping and geophysics indicate the Eagle structure extending in excess of 2.5km to the northwest, at which point it continues onto the Company's previously owned Jamaica concessions. The Main Area was included in the initial Los Ricos South Mineral Resource estimate released on July 29, 2020, which included 1.1 km along strike of the mineralized trend.

While there was some historical underground mining development in the early 1900's on the Eagle concession, there was only one historical void encountered during drilling, which suggest that the mineralization at the Eagle may be intact and not previously mined. The location and high grade intercepts may indicate the presence of a high grade ore shoot that was not previously exploited. This differs from the Main Area which has had portions of it's high grade ore shoots mined out.

The results of the sampling and geophysical IP survey (Figure 4) appear to indicate that the mineralized structure continues in a Northerly direction from the Main Area. Significant geophysical anomalies were identified which will form targets for the drilling campaign.

The Eagle concession connects the Company's concessions held in the southern portion of its Los Ricos South project, including the Main area where the Initial Resource was released, to its northern concessions in Los Ricos South, which includes the Jamaica exploration target. As a result, all of the concessions in Los Ricos South are now contiguous (Figure 5).

The Company exploration team has been completing detailed mapping and sampling at Jamaica over the last year and sees the same structure that was drilled in the main zone at Los Ricos South extending for several kilometres over the Jamaica concessions. This offers the potential for an additional bulk tonnage target in Los Ricos South, with continuity from the Main Area and Eagle.

Table 2: Drill Hole Locations

Hole ID Easting Northing Elevation Azimuth Dip Length LRGAG-22-032 610059 2328444 1278 50 -70 159 LRGAG-22-033 610057 2328344 1283 0 -90 295 LRGAG-22-034 609857 2328604 1244 50 -45 271 LRGAG-22-035 610058 2328443 1278 0 -90 216 LRGAG-22-036 610026 2328548 1271 0 -90 171 LRGAG-22-037 610090 2328247 1295 0 -90 213 LRGAG-22-038 609977 2328575 1265 50 -50 139 LRGAG-22-039 610087 2328271 1289 50 -65 219

VRIFY Slide Deck and 3D Presentation

VRIFY is a platform being used by companies to communicate with investors using 360 virtual tours of remote mining assets, 3D models and interactive presentations. VRIFY can be accessed by website and with the VRIFY iOS and Android apps.

The VRIFY 3D Slide Deck for GoGold can be viewed at: https://vrify.com/companies/gogold-resources-inc and on the Company's website at: www.gogoldresources.com.

Los Ricos District Exploration Projects

The Company's two exploration projects at its Los Ricos Property are in Jalisco state, Mexico. The Los Ricos South Project began in March 2019 and an initial Mineral Resource was announced on July 29, 2020 which disclosed a Measured & Indicated Mineral Resource of 63.7 million ounces AgEq grading 199 g/t AgEq contained in 10.0 million tonnes, and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 19.9 million ounces AgEq grading 190 g/t AgEq contained in 3.3 million tonnes. An initial PEA on the project was announced on January 20, 2021 indicating an NPV 5% of US$295M.

The Los Ricos North Project was launched in March 2020 and an initial Mineral Resource was announced on December 7, 2021, which disclosed an Indicated Mineral Resource of 87.8 million ounces AgEq grading 122 g/t AgEq contained in 22.3 million tonnes, and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 73.2 million ounces AgEq grading 111 g/t AgEq contained in 20.5 million tonnes. The Company has a drill program for an additional 100,000 metres of drilling for 2022 in place.

Procedure, Quality Assurance / Quality Control and Data Verification

The diamond drill core (HQ size) is geologically logged, photographed and marked for sampling. When the sample lengths are determined, the full core is sawn with a diamond blade core saw with one half of the core being bagged and tagged for assay. The remaining half portion is returned to the core trays for storage and/or for metallurgical test work.

The sealed and tagged sample bags are transported to the ALS Chemex facility in Guadalajara, Mexico. ALS Chemex crushes the samples and prepares 200-300 gram pulp samples with ninety percent passing Tyler 150 mesh (106m). The pulps are assayed for gold using a 30-gram charge by fire assay (Code AA23) and over limits greater than 10 grams per tonne are re-assayed using a gravimetric finish (Code ME-GRAV21). Silver and multi-element analysis is completed using total digestion (Code ME-ICP61 Total Digestion ICP). Over limits greater than 100 grams per tonne silver are re-assayed using a gravimetric finish (ME-GRA21).

Quality assurance and quality control ("QA/QC") procedures monitor the chain-of-custody of the samples and includes the systematic insertion and monitoring of appropriate reference materials (certified standards, blanks and duplicates) into the sample strings. The results of the assaying of the QA/QC material included in each batch are tracked to ensure the integrity of the assay data. All results stated in this announcement have passed GoGold's QA/QC protocols.

Mr. David Duncan, P. Geo. is the qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and is responsible for the technical information of this release.

About GoGold Resources

GoGold Resources (TSX: GGD) is a Canadian-based silver and gold producer focused on operating, developing, exploring and acquiring high quality projects in Mexico. The Company operates the Parral Tailings mine in the state of Chihuahua and has the Los Ricos South and Los Ricos North exploration projects in the state of Jalisco. Headquartered in Halifax, NS, GoGold is building a portfolio of low cost, high margin projects. For more information visit gogoldresources.com.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT:

The securities described herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for the benefit of, U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act) except in compliance with the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or pursuant to exemptions therefrom. This release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy of any of GoGold's securities in the United States.

This news release may contain "forward-looking information" as defined in applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Los Ricos South and North projects, and future plans and objectives of GoGold, including the intention to undertake further exploration at Los Ricos North, and the prospect of further discoveries there, constitute forward looking information that involve various risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking information is based on a number of factors and assumptions which have been used to develop such information but which may prove to be incorrect, including, but not limited to, assumptions in connection with the continuance of GoGold and its subsidiaries as a going concern, general economic and market conditions, mineral prices, the accuracy of mineral resource estimates, and the performance of the Parral project. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information.

Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from GoGold's expectations include exploration and development risks associated with GoGold's projects, the failure to establish estimated mineral resources or mineral reserves, volatility of commodity prices, variations of recovery rates, and global economic conditions. For additional information with respect to risk factors applicable to GoGold, reference should be made to GoGold's continuous disclosure materials filed from time to time with securities regulators, including, but not limited to, GoGold's Annual Information Form. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date of this release.

SOURCE GoGold Resources Inc.
Five Mill's app growth campaign unlocked efficient trials and high value customers while lowering cost per trial

SHELTON, Conn., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Five Mill , a Barrington Media Group Company , has been named the winner of the 2022 Google Premier Partner Awards . Google Premier Partners are at the forefront of digital innovation, and this award recognizes Five Mill as the industry-leading agency in the App Growth category across US and Canada.

Google's Premier Partner Awards honor excellence in digital marketing across search, mobile, video, display, shopping, and growing businesses online. Evaluation is based on expertise and innovation in app campaigns that helped clients grow, acquire, and retain new customers. For this year's evaluation, Google partnered with Accenture , whose wide range of expertise and industry knowledge ensured a balanced judging assessment.

The award was based on Five Mill's work driving new app user acquisition for a top wellness and self-care client with 1.2 million users worldwide via Google Ads. The campaign focused on app install growth and trials, beginning with an audit to identify key gaps and opportunities.

The team's efforts led to an increase of over 2x the amount of new app trials QoQ and a 34% lower cost per trial. Five Mill also built custom measurement dashboards, providing insights to scale growth initiatives efficiently and unlock greater long term business insights for the client.

"Our approach is to partner and share in our clients' success. Each team member brings unique expertise to the table, and we customize for each client to ensure the best chance of success," said Matt Gillooly, head of App Advertising at Five Mill.

"I'm very proud of how we've adapted to significant privacy changes and look at marketing efforts holistically to drive growth. This award is a testament to how Five Mill brings that work to life for our clients, and we're honored to be recognized by Google among so many well-respected companies."

"Five Mill's focus on driving client success through aligning business, marketing, and campaign objectives while continuously identifying insights gathered from machine learning and analytics, reflects the best-in-class strategic work we strive to deliver with partners in our US Agency Program," said Amanda Rivera, Head of Agency at Google.

About Barrington Media Group

Barrington Media Group (BMG) is the unique combination of experts, tools, and processes that together comprise the most versatile and effective customer acquisition engine. BMG utilizes real-time data to optimize omnichannel campaigns across the full customer journey: from the initial prospect stage to purchase, across digital, broadcast, and hybrid channels. This integrated expertise across media, data, and creative drives consistently better results for our clients' marketing investments. www.barringtonmediagroup.com

About Five Mill

Five Mill is a partnership of expert-level Digital Marketers within the Barrington Media Group. Each member of the team has different industry expertise to utilize towards ensuring client success. Working in SEM and Paid Social, Five Mill develops customized algorithms for each client and integrates them into our proprietary bidding technology. www.fivemill.com

Media Contact: Claire McCue, [email protected]

SOURCE Barrington Media Group
Haute Couture Kitchenware, Personalized Jewelry, Culinary Treats, Bedroom Luxury

MALIBU, Calif., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumer Product Events, matchmaker for products and press, presents their favorite products for holiday gift guide consideration and those planning product roundups and reviews:

Blue Orange Games  For ages eight and up, Bag of Chips is an addictively fun push-your-luck party game packaged in a snack-looking chip bag.

Holiday Gift Guide - Men's Holiday Gift Guide - Women's

Corinne Marcot Jones | [email protected]

British M Annatto Hair Oil - Award-winning luxury Korean salon brand's styling oil, is vegan and made with Amazonian Annatto as well as organic Pumpkin and Argan Oils.

Connie Zhen | [email protected]

British M Gentle Flex Brush  A wet hairbrush from cult K-beauty brand that the Allure Beauty Awards named "Best of 2022," this patented brush is a standout for curly or textured hair to easily detangle.

Connie Zhen | [email protected]

CannaBestDog  This maker of CBD dog treats, is pioneering use of an ice-water infusion to extract the full spectrum hemp oil used in its products.

Bill Schwing | [email protected]

Carmel Berry  is a woman- owned business with a farmer focus to create fresh pressed elderberry products that support the values of health and sustainability.

Katie Reneker | [email protected]

Cult Crackers  Recognized by Good Housekeeping as the "Best Gluten-Free Crackers," these little squares of crunchy goodness are packed with flavor from six powerhouse seeds and crafted by hand in small batches.

Dianna Dar | [email protected]

Diplomacy Worldwide  is a streetwear brand delivering reflective messages of unity and hope as "thoughtwear."

Sari Baez | [email protected]

Sin  Serves up custom cakes and sinful desserts. Sin's Assorted Brownie and Krispy Packs are filled with dark Dutch chocolate brownies and marshmallow krispies.

Jennifer Luxmoore | [email protected]

Emile Henry - The Emile Henry Cheese Baker makes stunning, baked cheese recipes including melted brie-based appetizers and mini-fondue or French 'raclette' style dinners.

Susan Jardina | [email protected]

JK Adams - The Maple Serving Board with oval handle is a plank style board designed for serving appetizers. The Formula 67 paste is a food safe wood conditioner made from coconut oil, organic carnauba wax, and beeswax.

Susan Jardina | [email protected]

Oaktown Spice Shop  Oaktown Spice Shop's Avocado Toast Gift Box serves up four artisanal spice blends to satiate this year's most popular food trends, including Umami Sea Salt and Za'atar.

Erica Perez | [email protected]

The Original PeachSkinSheets  - Featuring unique moisture-wicking, temperature-controlled fabric, this highly engineered bedding ensures hot sleepers stay cool and cold sleepers stay cozy.

Melissa Ketz | [email protected]

The Jam Stand - Brooklyn's happiest food company, announces its 2022 holiday slate of delicious fruit spreads: the brand-new Strawberry Jalapeno, and fan-favorite, Blueberry Bourbon.

Sabrina Valle | [email protected]

Still Standing Spray - is a natural, drug free and cooling foot spray made with Aloe, Ilex, and Arnica used by celebrity stylists for grooming kits.

Connie Zhen | [email protected]

Sallyrose - Licensed brand jewelry from Disney, Hello Kitty, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Marvel, and DC Comics, the new collection of personalized initial necklaces feature Hello Kitty and Minnie Mouse.

Jacob Chera | [email protected]

tinyB Chocolate  the San Francisco-based chocolatier specializing in Brazilian Brigadeiros (creamy relative of the chocolate truffle), is launching their Holiday Chocolate Truffle Creation Kits to make snowmen, trees and wreaths.

Eva Dilmanian | [email protected]

About Consumer Product Events is a sister company of the consumer packaged goods launch pad, Brown + Dutch Public Relations, Inc. Established in 2009, CPE is a "do it yourself" matchmaker, connecting consumer packaged goods with the press who are looking to report about them.

Media Contact:

Trinity Ondek, [email protected]

310.317.1543

SOURCE Consumer Product Events
New York-based CX company, Horatio, is honored as one of Inc. Magazine's Power Partners on their inaugural list of the best B2B companies across the globe

NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Horatio , the customer service outsourcing company behind viral e-commerce, fintech, and celebrity-backed brands, has been named one of Inc. Magazine's Power Partners. Horatio was recognized in the Business Products and Services category, along. Inc. Magazine deems this list as "The Best B2B Companies Across The Globe."

The final list, which includes 252 companies, was drawn from thousands of applicants from around the world who vied to make the inaugural list. Horatio and other winners had to prove a record of going "to extraordinary lengths to drive its clients' businesses, according to Scott Omelianuk, Editor-in-chief of Inc. magazine and Inc.com.

"We strive to go the extra mile for each and every Horatio client. We are grateful to Inc. for recognizing our innovation in the field of Customer Experience and the leaps we have taken over the last four years in pioneering a new era of CX," said Alex Ross, COO & co-founder at Horatio.

Horatio was founded in 2018 by three former Columbia Business School classmates, CEO Jose Herrera , COO Alex Ross and CFO Jared Karson . Horatio's business has grown fourfold from 2021 to 2022. In 2021, they opened a new office in the Dominican Republic and expanded their offices in New York City. Horatio serves next-generation digitally native clients in a variety of sectors including ecommerce, healthtech, technology, hospitality, fintech, and cryptocurrency.

The results of Inc.'s Power Partner Awards were announced on November 1st, 2022 on Inc.com in addition to being published in print as part of Inc. Magazine's November issue.

For more information please visit www.hirehoratio.com or follow @HireHoratio or @HireHoratiord.

About Horatio:

Horatio is the trusted partner for some of the fastest-growing startups and enterprises in the world. Their on-brand customer support teams help them leverage CX as a revenue generator through personalized customer experience support. As seen on INC , Forbes, and Bloomberg , and the recipient of the 2022 Customer Contact Week Next Generation Leaders Award. Horatio is headquartered in New York City with main offshore offices located in Santo Domingo and Santiago, Dominican Republic. For more information please visit www.hirehoratio.com .

Contact

Carly Wienner

[email protected]

SOURCE Horatio
H.Res. 1430 . calls for Action Under International Law Against Pakistan Armed Forces and Islamist War Criminals

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As more and more lawmakers join in support of the resolution, The Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) held a press conference at the National Press Club last Friday. The conference 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, to discuss the recent introduction of the bipartisan H.Res. 1430 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 (D-CA), Congresswoman Katie Porter (D-CA) and Congressman Tom Malinowski (D-NJ).

Priya Saha, Executive Director of HRCBM said, "In 1971, 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."

The Bangladesh government started to prosecute war criminals who collaborated with the Pakistan army and the Government of 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.

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 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, complimented both Congressmen for presenting this resolution and departing from the 1971 United States policy on the genocide in Bangladesh.

Mr. 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.

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.

Mr. 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 expressed appreciation for 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.

SOURCE Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM)
NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the recent study published by P&S Intelligence, in 2021, the HVAC systems & services market was worth around $206.6 billion, which is predicted to touch $319.9 billion revenue by 2030, progressing at a compound annual growth rate of 5.0% from 2021 to 2030. The key factors that will have a positive influence on the market are the significant demand for an ambient atmosphere in a building and the diverse worldwide climatic conditions.

As per NASA's GISS, the global temperature has risen by 0.5 degrees Celsius annually since 1980, due to global warming.

Get the sample pages of this report: https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/hvac-market/report-sample

Important Findings in HVAC Systems & Services Market Report

Over the next few years, the sales of VRF systems are expected to increase at a CAGR of over 10%, due to the increasing need for energy-efficient temperature-control solutions.

The commercial sector is predicted to have the largest revenue share in 2030, of over 40%, due to the growing construction in this sector. For example, hotel transaction volume in Europe has already reached more than $6.87 billion in the first half of 2022.

has already reached more than in the first half of 2022. The need for heating equipment has increased significantly owing to the cold weather in most of Europe , particularly in Eastern Europe , where the average wintertime temperature ranges between 6 and 3 degrees Celsius.

, particularly in , where the average wintertime temperature ranges between 6 and 3 degrees Celsius. The German government is actively encouraging the adoption of effective heating and cooling systems powered by green energy sources. This has created a significant shift in the customer perception, which is driving the country's heating and cooling business.

Moreover, Germany is one of Europe's biggest investors in hotels, with around $730 million in transaction value in H1 2022. Moreover, the top five hospitality hubs ( Spain , the U.K., France , Italy , and Germany ) together accounted for nearly 81% of the transacted value, up from 68% in H1 2021.

is one of biggest investors in hotels, with around in transaction value in H1 2022. Moreover, the top five hospitality hubs ( , the U.K., , , and ) together accounted for nearly 81% of the transacted value, up from 68% in H1 2021. IoT integration in HVAC systems is the most-significant opportunity for appliance makers. IoT aids in the management of control systems, collection and storage of data in the cloud, updation of temperature control procedures for greater efficiency, and execution of a predictive maintenance plan.

APAC Has Highest Sales of HVAC

By 2030, APAC's sales revenue is expected to hit $170 billion. This is due to the rising average temperature, particularly in China, India, South Korea, Japan, and Indonesia. Compared to North America and Europe, APAC has a hotter climate; thus, there is a higher requirement for air conditioning equipment.

Browse detailed report on HVAC Systems & Services Market Size, Share and Demand Analysis Report 2022-2030

Further, China had 1.45 billion people as of October 2022, followed by India, which had 1.38 billion people. The need for these appliances is, thus, being driven by the increase in the population, apart from the rise in the average temperature.

Global HVAC Systems & Services Market Report Coverage

HVAC Systems & Services Market by Offering

Equipment

By component



HVAC machine controllers





Energy meters





Drives





Contactors





HMIs/displays



By type



Heating





Furnaces







Heat pumps







Boilers







Unitary heaters





Ventilation





Humidifiers/dehumidifiers







Air cleaners







Ventilation fans







Air handling units and fan coil units





Air conditioning





Variable refrigerant flow







Ducted splits/packaged units







Split units







Chillers







Room ACs

Services

Installation



Upgradation/replacement



Maintenance and repair



Consulting

HVAC Systems & Services Market by End User

Commercial

Office buildings



Supermarkets/hypermarkets



Government



Healthcare



Hospitality



Transportation

Industrial

Oil and gas



Food and beverage



Automotive



Energy and utilities

Residential

Regional Outlook

North America

U.S.



Canada

Europe

Germany



U.K.



France



Italy



Spain



Russia

Asia-Pacific

China



India



Japan



South Korea



Indonesia



Malaysia



Thailand



Vietnam



Taiwan



Philippines

Latin America

Brazil



Mexico



Argentina

Middle East and Africa

and Saudi Arabia



U.A.E.



Kuwait



Qatar



Nigeria



South Africa



Egypt



Oman



Bahrain



Israel



Turkey

Browse More Reports Published by P&S

Global Southeast Asia HVAC Market Size and Share Analysis Report, 2030

Global Saudi Arabia HVAC Market Size and Share Analysis Report, 2030

U.A.E. HVAC Market Size and Share Analysis Report, 2030

Asia-Pacific HVAC Market Size and Share Analysis Report

About P&S Intelligence

P&S Intelligence provides market research and consulting services to a vast array of industries across the world. As an enterprising research and consulting company, P&S believes in providing thorough insights on the ever-changing market scenario, to empower companies to make informed decisions and base their business strategies with astuteness. P&S keeps the interest of its clients at heart, which is why the insights we provide are both honest and accurate. Our long list of satisfied clients includes entry-level firms as well as multi-million-dollar businesses and government agencies.

Contact:



Prajneesh Kumar

P&S Intelligence

Phone: +1-347-960-6455

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.psmarketresearch.com

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SOURCE P&S Intelligence
BROOKFIELD, Wis., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Hydrite has entered into a multi-year agreement with PURE Bioscience, Inc. (OTCQB: PURE) to be the exclusive distributor of PURE Hard Surface disinfectant in the dairy and plant-based protein processing market.

PURE Bioscience is a producer of proprietary antimicrobial products containing Silver Dihydrogen Citrate (SDC), a liquid ready-to-use antimicrobial agent. PURE Hard Surface is an SDC-based, EPA-registered food contact surface sanitizer and disinfectant formulated to rapidly eliminate food borne pathogens.

With a significant presence in the dairy processing market, Hydrite is uniquely positioned to serve as a distribution affiliate for PURE Hard Surface with a robust product and service offering in food safety and sanitation.

"Hydrite is a leader in chemical distribution, and we look forward to working with them as our exclusive distributor in addressing efficacious solutions in the dairy, beverage and food safety segments," PURE Bioscience Chief Operating Officer Tom Myers said.

Hydrite will distribute the product to dairy processing facilities (milk from mammals and related products containing milk), and plant-based protein facilities (products identifying as a milk substitute).

"We are pleased to offer PURE Hard Surface disinfectant as part of our dairy sanitation solutions, expanding our customers' options for keeping their facilities clean and running smoothly," Hydrite Vice President of Food James Mahmoudi said.

Hydrite has developed a reputation within the industry for providing excellence in manufacturing and distribution with comprehensive technical expertise.

About Hydrite

Hydrite is one of the largest independent providers of chemicals and related services in the United States. Headquartered in Brookfield, Wisconsin, Hydrite has a network of manufacturing facilities, warehouses and laboratories in the Midwest, California and Texas with nearly 1,000 employees across 25 states.

Hydrite offers expertise in chemical manufacturing and distribution, food sanitation, organic processing, liquid sulfites, foam control and water treatment chemistries. Hydrite's dedicated chemists, engineers and technical service staff have extensive knowledge and experience to provide creative solutions to challenging formulation problems. www.hydrite.com

About PURE Bioscience, Inc.

PURE is focused on developing and commercializing proprietary antimicrobial products primarily in the food safety arena. PURE provides solutions to combat the health and environmental challenges of pathogen and hygienic control. PURE's technology platform is based on patented, stabilized ionic silver, and the company's initial products contain silver dihydrogen citrate, better known as SDC. PURE is headquartered in Rancho Cucamonga, California (San Bernardino metropolitan area). www.purebio.com.

Media Contact:

Judy Allen

262-792-1450

SOURCE Hydrite
Acquisition further bolsters Intel 471's suite of threat intelligence solutions and provides a new level of insight for the company's portfolio of clients

WILMINGTON, Del., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Intel 471 , the premier provider of cyber threat intelligence for leading intelligence, security, and fraud teams across the globe, today announced the acquisition of SpiderFoot , a best-in-class provider of open-source intelligence, attack surface management and digital investigations. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The acquisition of SpiderFoot's complementary threat intelligence solutions expands Intel 471's leading cyber threat intelligence portfolio, further enabling Intel 471 to deliver unmatched cybersecurity insights to its global clients. Intel 471 will invest in enhancing SpiderFoot's existing tools and plans to integrate SpiderFoot's advanced capabilities into the TITAN platform over the coming months. Additionally, as part of the acquisition, SpiderFoot Founder, Steve Micallef, joins Intel 471 as Vice President of Attack Surface Technology.

SpiderFoot is an OSINT automation platform for threat intelligence operations and digital investigations. Available as open source on GitHub and as a commercial SaaS, SpiderFoot has been developed for over a decade, enabling threat intelligence and security teams to identify vulnerabilities and threats posed to their organizations.

"Organizations of all sizes are facing unparalleled cybersecurity challenges as the complexity and severity of attacks intensifies," said Mark Arena, CEO of Intel 471. "At Intel 471, our mission is to protect the world's organizations from today's most prevalent cyber risks and threats. Our acquisition of SpiderFoot reinforces our commitment to our mission by enhancing our portfolio and providing premier cyber threat intelligence solutions to organizations across the globe."

"We're excited to become part of the Intel 471 team," said Steve Micallef. "The data returned from a SpiderFoot scan provides insight into possible data leaks, vulnerabilities or other sensitive information that can be leveraged during a penetration test, red team exercise or for threat intelligence. Bringing SpiderFoot's innovative technology and 10 years of insight to Intel 471 will provide customers with the industry's most comprehensive and secure threat intelligence experience available on the market today."

To learn more about SpiderFoot, please visit https://www.spiderfoot.net/ .

About Intel 471

Intel 471 empowers enterprises, government agencies, and other organizations to win the cybersecurity war using near-real-time insights into the latest malicious actors, relationships, threat patterns, and imminent attacks relevant to their businesses.

The company's TITAN platform collects, interprets, structures, and validates human-led, automation-enhanced results. Clients across the globe leverage this threat intelligence with our proprietary framework to map the criminal underground, zero in on key activity, and align their resources and reporting to business requirements. Intel 471 serves as a trusted advisor to security teams, offering ongoing trend analysis and supporting your use of the platform. Learn more at https://intel471.com/ .

Media Contact

For Intel 471:

John Kreuzer / Justin Finnegan

Lumina Communications for Intel 471

[email protected]

SOURCE Intel 471
NEW YORK, Nov. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Juan Monteverde, founder and managing partner of the class action firm Monteverde & Associates PC (the "M&A Class Action Firm"), a national securities firm rated Top 50 in the 2018-2021 ISS Securities Class Action Services Report and headquartered at the Empire State Building in New York City, is investigating ABIOMED, Inc. (ABMD), relating to its proposed acquisition by Johnson & Johnson. Under the terms of the tender offer, ABMD shareholders will receive $380.00 in cash per share they own. Click here for more information: https://www.monteverdelaw.com/case/abiomed-inc. It is free and there is no cost or obligation to you.



About Monteverde & Associates PC

We are a national class action securities litigation law firm that has recovered millions of dollars and is committed to protecting shareholders from corporate wrongdoing. We were listed in the Top 50 in the 2018-2021 ISS Securities Class Action Services Report. Our lawyers have significant experience litigating Mergers & Acquisitions and Securities Class Actions. Mr. Monteverde is recognized by Super Lawyers in 2013 and 2017-2019 as a Rising Star and in 2022 as a Super Lawyer in Securities Litigation. He has also been selected by Martindale-Hubbell as a 2017-2021 Top Rated Lawyer. Our firm's recent successes include changing the law in a significant victory that lowered the standard of liability under Section 14(e) of the Exchange Act in the Ninth Circuit. Thereafter, our firm successfully preserved this victory by obtaining dismissal of a writ of certiorari as improvidently granted at the United States Supreme Court. Emulex Corp. v. Varjabedian, 139 S. Ct. 1407 (2019). Also, we have recovered or secured over a dozen cash common funds for shareholders in mergers & acquisitions class action cases.

If you own common stock in ABMD and wish to obtain additional information and protect your investments free of charge, please visit our website or contact Juan E. Monteverde, Esq. either via e-mail at [email protected] or by telephone at (212) 971-1341.

Contact:

Juan E. Monteverde, Esq.

MONTEVERDE & ASSOCIATES PC

The Empire State Building

350 Fifth Ave. Suite 4405

New York, NY 10118

United States of America

[email protected]

Tel: (212) 971-1341

Attorney Advertising. (C) 2022 Monteverde & Associates PC. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Monteverde & Associates PC ( www.monteverdelaw.com ). Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.

SOURCE Monteverde & Associates PC
HANGZHOU, China, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, IPLUSMOBOT is a leading indoor and outdoor multi-scenario innovative manufacturing logistics service provider in China that just launched a cutting-edge end-to-end intelligent manufacturing logistics solution for a global market in the session forum on "Lithium manufacturing automation transformation."

PLUSMOBOT Empowers Smart Manufacturing of Lithium Batteries with Smart Logistics Robots

IPLUSMOBOT is a representative enterprise of domestic autonomous mobile robots deeply engaged in the new energy field. Its products and solutions meet the development needs of the lithium battery industry and assist in upgrading this industry's smart manufacturing.

IPLUSMOBOT designs end-to-end unmanned smart manufacturing logistics solutions that meet users' requirements of lithium battery production, from raw material transportation to battery cell/module/pack manufacturing. Moreover, the company's solutions seamlessly interconnect with production equipment for production scheduling and coordination by means of a unified and powerful logistics software platformachieving the comprehensive digitalization from manufacturing to logistics.

The production line logistics of the front-end cell process poses heavy demands regarding material transportation efficiency, accuracy, and punctuality. To satisfy these demands, IPLUSMOBOT has developed a series of special robotssuch as the cartridge-changing AMR and the cantilever AMRthat tackle the key pain points of battery production workshops. These workshops require manual assistance in processes such as slitting, die-cutting, baking, and lamination. These robots conduct the unmanned automation of the logistics of the core processes, and their high docking accuracy of 1mm greatly improves the flexibility of production.

IPLUSMOBOT's smart forklifts can be used in back-end module/pack factories for smart transportation, stacking, loading and unloading of pallets, and automatic transportation in sites with shelves close to each other, personnel and vehicles co-working, and narrow lanes. The omnidirectional lifting AMR is applied to the smart and flexible transportation of semi-finished products between the various processes in the smart assembly and inspection links of the pack line. It can load up to 2t without compromising stability or performance. To take another robot as an example, the roller lifting AMR has a docking accuracy of 5mm/0.5 that allows it to precisely and stably dock with the equipment on site. Also, it conducts the smart and flexible loading and unloading of auxiliary box pallets.

Chen Shouxian, CEO of IPLUSMOBOT, added: "IPLUSMOBOT leverages its full-stack robotics technology and excellent solution capabilities for smart logistics to constantly analyze user needs, improve user experience, and provide users with high-value smart manufacturing logistics solutions."

IPLUSMOBOT currently has a broad selection of AMR robot products for each process segment of lithium battery production. These robots have been applied in many well-known leading lithium battery enterprises and significantly improved their productivity.

SOURCE IPLUSMOBOT
The 1937 Group, in conjunction with KVL International,

brings this one-of-a-kind event to Chicago on Saturday, November 5

CHICAGO, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- KVL International (www.kvlinternational.com), in conjunction with The 1937 Group, Ltd - the first minority-owned vertically-integrated cannabis company in Illinois - are hosting the KVL International Flower Ball - a one-day fusion of fashion, music, art and cannabis.

The KVL Flower Ball features multiple immersive experiences, including a fashion show co-hosted by Power 92.3's Money MAHA and an after party powered by legendary local DJ Nehpets.

The event will be held on Saturday, November 5 at the world-renowned CineCity Chicago Studios located west of downtown Chicago.

The event will include:

Activations by notable cannabis and fashion brands, manufacturers, and operators

Merchandise and apparel for sale

An immersive fashion runway show co-hosted by Power 92.3's Money MAHA

A live performance by Vic Mensa (founder of the 93 Boyz cannabis line)

Live shoe designs by Matt Burzec of Kicks of Chicago

of Kicks of On-site mural painting by Chicago's own Darrius Dennis

own After-party set by Power 92.3's DJ Nehpets

The KVL International Flower Ball features a three-part experience: a cannabis exhibition that leads into a fashion runway show followed by an after party.

This is the first ever Cannabis/Fashion/Art/Music Expo in Illinois.

Attendance to this event is open to anyone 21+ with a valid ID.

Click here to purchase tickets. Doors will close and entry will end at 7pm.

Event Schedule:

Expo 12:30pm

Cocktail Hour 6:00 - 7:00pm

Runway Show 7:30pm

Vic Mensa Live - 10:00pm

After Party - 10:30pm - 12:30am

Helpful Information:

Dress Code: Cocktail Attire

Valet is included with VIP ticket

Non-VIP Valet: $20

Coat Check Available $5

Food trucks will be on site all day

Event is restricted to persons 21+. Government issued ID will be required at the door.

Event Location:

CineCity Studios Chicago

2429 West 14th Street

Chicago, IL 60608

We encourage rideshare if you are not planning to valet. There is almost no parking near the venue as it is gated off in a private location.

Connect

Websites:

www.kvlinternational.com

www.the1937group.com

Instagram:

@the1937group

Media Contact:

The Innovation Agency

310-571-5592

[email protected]

www.inov8.us

SOURCE The 1937 Group
REVENUE GROWTH TO SUPPORT FURTHER U.S. EXPANSION WHILE SCALING GERMAN OPERATIONS

NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- FINN , the leading car subscription platform in the U.S. and Germany, today announced that it has grown to 100 Million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR), less than three years after launching in Germany. During that span the company has also raised $110 Million in Series B and $700 Million in ABS financing to fund its steep growth. The revenue growth to 100 Million marks the latest milestone for the company, which continues to achieve rapid consumer adoption through its seamless and convenient car subscription model. FINN first launched in Germany in late 2019 before expanding to the United States in 2022, where it is currently available to residents in Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

During its first six months in the U.S., FINN grew its subscription business twice as fast as in Germany in its first year, while also growing to 27 U.S. fleet partnerships. FINN expects to continue its expansion in the U.S. while expanding its fleet of vehicles and brand offerings.

FINN offers a one-stop e-commerce experience - with the company's flat monthly rate covering the cost of the vehicle, insurance, roadside assistance, and more. Through a seamless digital experience, FINN customers can order their car in less than five minutes.

"We are thrilled by the customer response to our service in the U.S. and Europe, which demonstrates real consumer demand for FINN's seamless and convenient car subscription model," said Maximilian Wuhr, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer at FINN. "As we continue to grow, we will continue to invest to deliver the best customer experience at a competitive price."

FINN offers a wide range of vehicles as part of their fleet offerings, including Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Jeep, Nissan, Tesla, and Ram. Thirty percent of its fleet are electric vehicles (EVs). FINN vehicles range from compact sedans to full-sized SUVs, and subscriptions start at just $549 per month.

About FINN

FINN is a car subscription platform united by its purpose to make mobility fun and sustainable by providing a flexible way to choose the car that best fits its customers' lifestyles. The established car subscription provider offers transparency in pricing, as well as comprehensive insurance, maintenance and 24/7 customer support and roadside assistance. The company facilitates consumer adoption of electric vehicles and offsets the CO2 expended for every mile driven across its active fleet of vehicles. FINN makes driving a car seamless and convenient: with just a few clicks, customers can subscribe to a car that will be delivered straight to their door in just a few days or weeks.

SOURCE FINN
THEKEY ACQUIRES COMPANIONS AND HOMEMAKERS PRIVATE DIVISION, AND

ACCORDCARE ACQUIRES MEDICAID DIVISION

FARMINGTON, Conn., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Companions and Homemakers, a leading provider of in-home personal care in Connecticut for over thirty years, announced changes last week to its ownership and go-forward branding.

TheKey has acquired the company's private pay division, which will operate under TheKey's branding. AccordCare has acquired the company's Medicaid division, which will continue to be branded as Companions and Homemakers. The two companies will form a unique partnership in Connecticut, with each provider expanding upon existing capabilities to deliver quality and compassionate care in its respective payor segment.

Speaking about the deal on Wednesday, TheKey Chief Development Officer Matt Neal said, "We are excited to formally welcome the Companions and Homemakers Private division team and clients to TheKey family. Companions and Homemakers has distinguished itself as a leading provider for private clients for more than three decades, and we look forward to building upon its strong commitment to quality home care in Connecticut." TheKey is the nation's leading provider of premium, private pay home care, and the acquired care team and operations will join TheKey's existing Connecticut team and business.

The Companions and Homemakers Medicaid division will retain its branding and joins the AccordCare family of companies. AccordCare, a national provider of home care and certified home health, will enhance the Companions & Homemakers management team and allow it to continue to provide unmatched care to Connecticut's Medicaid recipients. Together with Companions Forever, an AccordCare company, Companions & Homemakers will be the largest provider of Medicaid home care services in the state.

AccordCare CEO Brandon Ballew said, "We are excited about this growth opportunity and how we can broaden our Medicaid footprint and services throughout Connecticut. AccordCare will continue to focus on delivering exceptional home-based care and support to Medicaid clients along with embracing our new team members with Companions & Homemakers, building on an impressive legacy."

Media Contact, TheKey: Media Contact, AccordCare:



Julia Natasha Watthey, MBA Lynne Palmer King Director of Corporate Communications AVP of Marketing, AccordCare [email protected] [email protected]

SOURCE AccordCare
Subterranean Network in Miami Will Be Customer-Ready in January 2023

NEW YORK and MIAMI, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Lightpath , an all-fiber, infrastructure-based connectivity provider that is revolutionizing how organizations connect to their digital destinations, today announced its entrance into the Miami market for fiber connectivity solutions with a 135-mile, all-fiber network throughout the Miami Metro region. Miami marks the second major east coast market that Lightpath has entered over the past 16 months, following Boston in June of 2021.

Lightpath's entry into Miami will kick off with a 55-mile subterranean network of new, high-count fiber in early 2023. Tweet this First phase of Lightpath's 135-mile, all-fiber, network in Miami will be customer-ready in January 2023.

Lightpath's entrance into Miami will kick off with a 55-mile subterranean network of brand new, high-count fiber that will be ready in early 2023 (yellow on map). The Miami Central Business District (CBD) network will be customer-ready in January 2023, while two rings to the north and west of the CBD will come online in April 2023. Subsequent planned network expansions (red on map) will blanket the entire metro region with an additional 80 route miles of fiber.

"The Miami region is an exciting new market for Lightpath with its robust business centers, a large population of educators and governments, and of course its de facto status as the technological and financial gateway to Central and South America," stated Chris Morley, Lightpath's CEO. "Miami represents the second, major market that Lightpath has entered in less than a year and a half, after successfully operating for more than 30-years exclusively in the New York Metro area. The incredible rate of business growth in Miami demonstrates the opportunity for a new connectivity provider, and we look forward to bringing our unique approach to customer service into the market."

Miami area customers also have access to the entire Lightpath network, consisting of over 20,000 route miles of fiber providing access to over 13,500 service locations. Lightpath long haul services can connect Miami locations to all service locations in New York Metro and Greater Boston, including over 100 northeast data centers and seven cable landing stations. Long haul services can also connect Miami customers to Atlanta, Ashburn, Dallas, and Chicago. Direct connect service to Cloud providers is available in Ashburn, VA and Secaucus, NJ, with Miami peering coming later in 2023.

During the initial rollout of the Miami network, customers will have access to area data centers at 15 NE 9th Street and 36 NE 2nd Street, with six additional area data centers coming online throughout the year. These initial data centers will also provide direct connect services to Cloud providers, connections for Lightpath long haul services, as well as connectivity options for Southern Florida cable landing stations.

The network build-out is being funded with cash on Lightpath's balance sheet and will not have a material impact on the Company's leverage.

"Lightpath has served thousands of the largest enterprises in the country around the New York City area for over 30 years. Now we want to bring that successful recipe to Miami organizations that demand powerful, secure, and reliable connectivity," explained Doug Dalissandro, Lightpath's Chief Revenue Officer. "Lightpath really is different from other service providers. In addition to our incredible network services and reliability, we really take a consultative approach to working with customers. From sales, to installation, and later for support, we take pride in becoming a trusted partner for a customer's network strategy."

Miami area customers will have access to the entire portfolio of Lightpath all-fiber solutions, including Optical Transport , Ethernet , Internet Access , Private Networks , Dark Fiber , SD-WAN , Security Solutions , and other Managed Services . Lightpath Voice Services will be available to Miami customers later in 2023.

To learn more about Lightpath in Miami, visit lightpathfiber.com/miami .

Follow Lightpath on LinkedIn. For more information about Lightpath, visit lightpathfiber.com.

About Lightpath:

Lightpath is revolutionizing how customers connect to their digital destinations by combining our next-generation network with our next-generation customer service. Lightpath's advanced fiber-optic network offers a comprehensive portfolio of custom-engineered connectivity solutions with unparalleled performance, reliability, and security. Our consultative customer service means we work with you to design, deliver, and support the solution for your unique needs, faster and more easily than ever before. For over 30 years, thousands of enterprises, governments, and educators have trusted Lightpath to power their organization's innovation. Altice USA (NYSE: ATUS) owns a 50.01% controlling interest in Lightpath, and investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners (MSIP) owns 49.99% of the Company.

Learn how Lightpath can connect you to your digital destinations. Visit lightpathfiber.com .

For media inquiries:

JSA for Lightpath

1-866-695-3629 ext. 13

[email protected]

SOURCE Lightpath
Nearly 50% of phishing attacks aimed at government personnel in 2021 sought to steal credentials, up from 30% in 2020

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Lookout, Inc., the endpoint to cloud security company, today released its 2022 Government Threat Report which examines the most prominent mobile threats affecting federal, state and local governments in the United States. Lookout data reveals mobile phishing and device vulnerability risk within U.S. government agencies has increased since 2021. According to a Lookout analysis of data specific to federal, state, and local government entities from the Lookout Security Graph, nearly 50% of phishing attacks aimed at government personnel in 2021 sought to steal credentials, up from 30% in 2020.

In addition to the increase in phishing attacks for government employees, the report findings include:

Federal, state, and local governments increased their reliance on unmanaged mobile devices at a rate of 55% from 2020 to 2021, indicating a move toward BYOD to support a larger remote workforce.

1 in 8 government employees were exposed to phishing threats. With more than two million federal government employees alone, this represents a significant potential attack surface as it only takes one successful phishing attempt to compromise an entire agency.

There was a steady rise in mobile phishing encounter rates for state and local governments across both managed and unmanaged devices, increasing at rates of 48% and 25% respectively from 2020 to 2021. This steady climb continued through the first half of 2022.

Nearly 50% of state and local government Android users are running outdated operating systems, exposing them to hundreds of device vulnerabilities. This is an improvement versus 99% in 2020.

Government organizations store and transmit a variety of sensitive data, the security of which is essential to the wellbeing of hundreds of millions of people. In the case of government organizations, the potential fallout from a breach that results in leaked data, stolen credentials or a forced halt to operations due to ransomware can have a disproportionate impact compared to a typical cybersecurity incident.

Additionally, government employees use iOS, Android and ChromeOS devices everyday to stay productive and increase efficiency. This makes them targets for cyberattackers as their devices are a treasure trove of data and a gateway to government infrastructure. Only a modern endpoint protection solution can detect mobile threats in apps, device operating systems and network connections, while also protecting against credential harvesting and malware delivery attacks through phishing. Due to the personal nature of smartphones, tablets and Chromebooks, endpoint security must protect the user, the device and the organization while respecting user privacy.

"It's more important than ever for government agencies to keep pace with the evolution of the cyber threat environment,'' said Tony D'Angelo, vice president, Americas Public Sector, Lookout. "Regardless of whether devices are managed, protecting these modern endpoints requires a different approach  one that is built from the ground up for mobile. Only a modern endpoint protection solution can detect mobile threats in apps, device operating systems, and network connections while also protecting against phishing attacks that steal credentials and deliver malware."

The Lookout Government Threat Report is based on analysis of data specific to federal, state, and local government organizations from the Lookout Security Graph. The graph, which includes telemetry data from analysis of more than 205 million devices and more than 175 million apps, enabled Lookout to identify and break down the most prominent mobile threats agencies faced in 2021 and the first half of 2022. Information used in this report was compiled from de-identified, aggregated Lookout data.

Download the 2022 Lookout Government Threat Report here.

Additional Resources:

About Lookout

Lookout, Inc. is the endpoint to cloud security company purpose-built for the intersection of enterprise and personal data. We safeguard data across devices, apps, networks and clouds through our unified, cloud-native security platform  a solution that's as fluid and flexible as the modern digital world. By giving organizations and individuals greater control over their data, we enable them to unleash its value and thrive. Lookout is trusted by enterprises of all sizes, government agencies and millions of consumers to protect sensitive data, enabling them to live, work and connect  freely and safely. To learn more about the Lookout Cloud Security Platform, visit www.lookout.com and follow Lookout on our blog, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Contact Lookout PR: [email protected]

 2022 Lookout, Inc. LOOKOUT, the Lookout Shield Design, LOOKOUT with Shield Design, SCREAM, and SIGNAL FLARE are registered trademarks of Lookout, Inc. in the United States and other countries. EVERYTHING IS OK, LOOKOUT MOBILE SECURITY and POWERED BY LOOKOUT are registered trademarks of Lookout, Inc. in the United States; and POST PERIMETER SECURITY ALLIANCE is a trademark of Lookout, Inc. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

SOURCE Lookout
Orbita also on main-stage panel discussing transformation of the 'digital front door' through next-generation technologies that better serve the consumer

BOSTON, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Orbita, a leading provider of intelligent virtual assistants and workflow automation for healthcare, will join Sandhya Pruthi, MD, Medical Director for Health Education & Content Services at Mayo Clinic, for a presentation Monday, Nov. 7, at the annual Healthcare Internet Conference (HCIC) in Miami. The presentation, also featuring Orbita's COO Nate Treloar, will highlight Mayo's efforts to provide a digital front door experience that delivers a personalized and frustration-free path for patients and consumers to access information and health resources.

In addition, Treloar will participate in a main-stage panel discussion Tuesday afternoon, featuring industry experts that likewise believe healthcare leaders must transform the patient experience by adopting next-generation technologies to streamline access and meaningful engagement.

"The topic of creating a more consumer-like experience for patients is timely," said Orbita CEO Patty Riskind. "The healthcare industry is under extreme pressure as we head into 2023, balancing labor shortages against the need to drive revenue and better manage costs. Digitizing routine tasks and interactions is a critical strategy for success."

Orbita will introduce its innovative digital front door solution at HCIC. Conference attendees will get a sneak peek at Orbita Blaze, designed to revolutionize the search function on healthcare websites by transforming limited search tools into a genuinely intelligent virtual assistant. Orbita Blaze uses natural language understanding and intentional conversational dialogs, so the entire website becomes an intuitive and useful search experience, guiding patients to valuable information and appropriate care.

"Think of Blaze as a match-maker, connecting consumers looking for healthcare information to the right medical answers and resources," Riskind said. "More than 43% of visitors to a provider's website immediately try to use the search bar. But most abandon their search, because current tools are unable to understand the individual's context or intent. Our conversational AI and NLP remove these barriers and improve patient access and conversion."

HCIC attendees can connect with Orbita at Booth 85 during the conference or reach out via [email protected] to schedule a meeting.

ABOUT ORBITA

Orbita is the connective tissue between providers and patients, to make navigating healthcare easier. We partner with healthcare organizations to implement smart virtual assistants, powered by conversational AI, that engage patients across web, text and voice channels. Our solutions  which meet privacy and security standards  help providers improve operational efficiency by automating workflows as they face the challenges of labor shortages, while also capturing revenue generated by routine, chronic and preventative care. Visit Orbita.ai.

MEDIA CONTACT

Karina Stabile

Senior Account Executive, Aria Marketing

[email protected]

(m) 516.317.5835

SOURCE Orbita, Inc.
CALGARY, AB, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Every city has a story to tell, and Calgary's is one of innovation. Calgary, Alberta, Canada is emerging as a leading centre of tech and innovation in North America. Home to young, entrepreneurial talent focused on solving global challenges and a business community generating one unicorn after another, there's something exciting happening in Calgary.

We invite you to experience the tech world's best kept secret by visiting Calgary during Innovation Week Nov. 21 to Nov. 27 hosted by Platform Calgary. From robots, drones and augmented reality to advances in agribusiness, energy and life sciences, Innovation Week showcases the diversity and depth of Calgary's bright minds and big ideas.

Calgary is a leader in energy transition but there's a new energy emerging. It includes record venture capital investment in local startups and some of the world's most innovative companies choosing to grow in the city.

IBM, Amazon Web Services, Infosys, Mphasis, Plug and Play and more have made big investments in Calgary in the last two years and the ecosystem is producing success stories like Benevity, Neo Financial, Solium, Attabotics, Helcim and Symend. Calgary is also forecast to lead all Canadian cities in GDP growth through 2026.

We could tell you more, but this short video captures the momentum in Calgary and provides a glimpse into why The Economist Intelligence Unit ranks Calgary the third most livable city in the world. And number one in North America.

The main event of Innovation Week, Launch Party, on Nov. 24 is a must attend. As the city's annual largest startup-focused showcase, Launch Party spotlights Calgary's most promising startups. More than 150 companies have been highlighted since 2010, including SkipTheDishes, StellarAlgo, Orpyx and Virtual Gurus. The full itinerary for Innovation Week can be found here.

If you want to experience Calgary for yourself to tell this captivating story, we'd be happy to connect to help make the most of your visit.

Hope to see you in Calgary at Innovation Week. Or anytime.

Did you know?

Cleantech

Calgary ranked among world's Top 30 cleantech ecosystems and an "ecosystem to watch" in North America (Startup Genome, 2021).

ranked among world's Top 30 cleantech ecosystems and an "ecosystem to watch" in (Startup Genome, 2021). More than 70 per cent of Alberta's cleantech companies are based in Calgary .

Fintech

Calgary ranked among the top 30 North American fintech hubs (Global Fintech Index, 2021).

ranked among the top 30 North American fintech hubs (Global Fintech Index, 2021). NEO Financial becomes the fastest-ever unicorn in Canada in 2022.

Aerospace

De Havilland Canada and WestJet Airlines announce multi-billion expansions in Calgary and area in Fall 2022.

Life Sciences

World's largest germ-free facility  International Microbiome Centre  is at UCalgary.

Calgary Cancer Centre opens in 2023  largest facility of its kind in Canada and 2 nd in North America .

and 2 in . Home to more than 100 life sciences companies.

Agribusiness

Agriplay Ventures launches vertical farming in the Calgary Tower as innovation drives the Calgary-Olds Smart Agri-Food Corridor.

Logistics

ABOUT CALGARY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Calgary Economic Development is an opportunity-maker, helping to spark and fuel Calgary's growth. Our job is to connect people with resources that can help them grow their careers or businesses, thrive in new locations or markets, and feel at home in our community. We offer a wealth of information to help everyone succeed and we tirelessly promote Calgary, in Canada and around the world. We're exhilarated about our role in shaping and sharing Calgary's story and we're proud to be part of the energy. For more information, please visit our website and follow us on Twitter.

For further information:

Sarah Ferguson

Media Coordinator, Communications

Cell: 403 880 7040

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Calgary Economic Development Ltd.
Participated in Public Tender of Macau Gaming Concession Full Confidence in Macau Future Development

HONG KONG, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- MGM China Holdings Limited ("MGM China" or the "Company"; SEHK Stock Code: 2282) today announced selected unaudited financial data of the Company and its subsidiaries (the "Group") for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022.

Macau and Greater China are under the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022. A local outbreak in Macau at end-June led to safeguard measures, including a 12-day suspension of business activities in July and tightened travel and border controls during the quarter, have severely hampered Macau visitation.

Daily visitor arrivals for Macau and visitation from mainland China both decreased by 44% from the second quarter.

Headline GGR in the third quarter was down further hit the lowest level since the border opened. Market-wide GGR was down 35% quarter-to-quarter to MOP5.5 billion, representing 8% of pre-pandemic levels.

During the third quarter, MGM China recorded total revenue of approximately HK$687 million , compared to HK$1.1 billion in the second quarter. The Group recorded negative adjusted EBITDA of approximately HK$536 million , compared to negative adjusted EBITDA of approximately HK$382 million previously. Occupancy was 21% in the third quarter, compared to 25.6% in the second quarter.

, compared to in the second quarter. The Group recorded negative adjusted EBITDA of approximately , compared to negative adjusted EBITDA of approximately previously. Occupancy was 21% in the third quarter, compared to 25.6% in the second quarter. MGM China had market share of 13.2% for the third quarter. Our GGR in third quarter was 11% of 19Q4 pre-pandemic levels, compared to 8% market levels. Our team focuses on positioning our properties to capture opportunities in premium mass business and preparing for return of demand in the longer term while controlling cost.

The Group maintained a healthy financial position. As of September 30, 2022 , the Group had total liquidity of approximately HK$9.9 billion , comprised of cash and cash equivalent and undrawn revolver.

During the reporting period, Macau has made significant progress and set preparation for retendering of gaming concession. On July 1, the Macau Chief Executive approved Administrative Regulation 28/2022, which covers details of the bidding for gaming concessions, the qualifications of bidding companies and the criteria for granting. On July 28, the Chief Executive Dispatch was published and announced the opening of the public tender.

We have officially submitted in September our application for a new concession and we remain committed to supporting Macau's continual development as a world-class tourism and leisure destination. The Macau government is in the process of reviewing each of the concessionaire proposals and it is expected the granting of the new concession to be announced by the end of the year.

On the other hand, the China's National Immigration Administration has announced it accepts applications for electronic travel permits for mainland residents to travel to Macau, started November 1. This resumption includes group tour visas and Individual Visitor Scheme visas for all 49 eligible cities. The Administration further stated that Mainland Chinese's demand for travel to Macau has been increasing.

Kenneth Feng, President, Strategic & Chief Financial Officer of MGM China said: "We aim to support the Macau government in achieving its diversification goals and will continue to invest in innovative projects and programs that help the region flourish. We expect the travel relaxation measures will drive a gradual recovery in visitation. We look forwards to participating in the future development of Macau."

About MGM China Holdings Limited

MGM China Holdings Limited (HKEx: 2282) is a leading developer, owner and operator of gaming and lodging resorts in the Greater China region. We are the holding company of MGM Grand Paradise, SA which holds one of the six gaming concessions/sub-concessions to run casino games in Macau. MGM Grand Paradise, SA owns and operates MGM MACAU, the award-winning premium integrated resort located on the Macau Peninsula and MGM COTAI, a contemporary luxury integrated resort in Cotai, which opened in early 2018 and more than doubles our presence in Macau.

MGM China is majority owned by MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) one of the world's leading global hospitality companies, operating a portfolio of destination resort brands including Bellagio, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay and The Mirage. For more information about MGM Resorts International, visit the Company's website at www.mgmresorts.com.

SOURCE MGM China
GUANGZHOU, China, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- MINISO Group Holding Limited (NYSE: MNSO and HKEx: 9896, "MINISO Group" or the "Company"), a global value retailer offering a variety of design-led lifestyle products, today announced that it plans to release its September quarter 2022 financial results before the U.S. market opens on Monday, November 14, 2022.

The Company's management will hold an earnings conference call at 7:00 A.M. Eastern Time on Monday, November 14, 2022 (8:00 P.M. Beijing Time on the same day) to discuss the financial results. The conference call can be accessed by the following zoom link or dialing the following numbers:

Access 1

Join Zoom meeting.

Zoom link: https://dooyle.zoom.us/j/88478292986?pwd=RTVoazJkQytrWnl5R1FkOTBFdlkyUT09

Meeting Number: 884 7829 2986

Meeting Passcode: 9896

Access 2

Listeners may access the call by dialing the following numbers by using the same meeting number and passcode with access 1.

United States Toll Free: 833 548 0276 (or +1 646 518 9805) Mainland China Toll Free: 400 182 3168 (or 400 616 8835) Hong Kong, China (Charge Fees): +852 5803 3730 (or +852 5803 3731) United Kingdom (Charge Fees): +44 203 481 5237 (or +44 131 460 1196) France (Charge Fees): +33 1 7037 9729 (or+33 1 7037 2246) Singapore (Charge Fees): +65 3158 7288 (or +65 3165 1065) Canada (Charge Fees): +1 438 809 7799 (or +1 204 272 7920)

Access 3

Listeners can also access the meeting through the Company's investor relations website at http://ir.miniso.com/.

The replay will be available approximately two hours after the conclusion of the live event at the Company's investor relations website at http://ir.miniso.com/.

About MINISO Group Holding Limited

MINISO Group is a global value retailer offering a variety of design-led lifestyle products. The Company serves consumers primarily through its large network of MINISO stores, and promotes a relaxing, treasure-hunting and engaging shopping experience full of delightful surprises that appeals to all demographics. Aesthetically pleasing design, quality and affordability are at the core of every product in MINISO's wide product portfolio, and the Company continually and frequently rolls out products with these qualities. Since the opening of its first store in China in 2013, the Company has built its flagship brand "MINISO" as a globally recognized retail brand and established a massive store network worldwide. For more information, please visit http://ir.miniso.com/.

Investor Relations Contact

Raine Hu

MINISO Group Holding Limited

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +86 (20) 36228788 Ext.8039

SOURCE MINISO Group Holding Limited
NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The mono-vaccine market is expected to grow by USD 2.8 billion from 2021 to 2026. In addition, the growth momentum of the market will accelerate at a CAGR of 5.16% during the forecast period, according to Technavio. This growth can be attributed to the increase in the pediatric population. However, rising antimicrobial resistance can hamper the growth of the market during the next few years.

View a comprehensive report summary that describes the market size and forecast along with the research methodology. The FREE sample report is available in PDF format

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Mono Vaccine Market 2022-2026

Mono Vaccine Market 2022-2026: Scope

The mono-vaccine market report covers the following areas:

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Mono Vaccine Market 2022-2026: Segmentation

Type

Meningococcal Vaccine



Japanese Encephalitis Vaccine



Hepatitis Vaccine



Yellow Fever Vaccine



Others

The mono-vaccine market share growth in the Meningococcal Vaccine segment will be significant during the forecast period. Meningococcal meningitis is a type of meningitis caused by the Neisseria meningitides bacteria, which can be transmitted from an infected person through direct contact with droplets from the throat or respiratory secretions. Asymptomatic carriers are also capable of transmitting the infection. Such prevalence of meningococcal disease across the globe is expected to fuel the growth of the global mono-vaccine market during the forecast period.

Geography

North America



Europe



Asia



Rest Of World (ROW)

36% of the market's growth will originate from North America during the forecast period. The US is the key market for the mono-vaccine market in North America. The increase in the pediatric population will facilitate the mono-vaccine market growth in North America over the forecast period.

Learn about the contribution of each segment summarized in concise infographics and thorough descriptions. View a FREE PDF Sample Report

Mono Vaccine Market 2022-2026: Vendor Analysis

We provide a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the Mono Vaccine Market, including AstraZeneca Plc, Aurobindo Pharma Ltd., Bavarian Nordic AS, China National Pharmaceutical Group Corp., Dynavax Technologies Corp., GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Johnson and Johnson, Merck and Co. Inc., Moderna Inc., Pfizer Inc., Sanofi SA, Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd., Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products Co. Ltd., Valneva SE, and VBI Vaccines Inc. The key offerings of some of these vendors are listed below:

Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products Co. Ltd. - The company, Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products Co. Ltd. offers a mono vaccine, namely the SARS-COV 2 Vaccine.

The company, Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products Co. Ltd. offers a mono vaccine, namely the SARS-COV 2 Vaccine. AstraZeneca Plc - The company offers mono-vaccine namely COVAX.

- The company offers mono-vaccine namely COVAX. Aurobindo Pharma Ltd. - Under this segment, the company manufactures generic pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients.

- Under this segment, the company manufactures generic pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients. Sanofi SA - The company offers mono vaccine through its subsidiary China National Biotec Group.

- The company offers mono vaccine through its subsidiary China National Biotec Group. Dynavax Technologies Corp. - The company offers mono-vaccine namely Heplisav B.

This report provides a full list of key vendors, their strategies, and latest developments. Buy Now to gain access to exclusive vendor information

Mono Vaccine Market 2022-2026: Key Highlights

CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2022-2026

Detailed information on factors that will assist mono-vaccine market growth during the next five years

Estimation of the mono vaccine market size and its contribution to the parent market

Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

The growth of the mono-vaccine market

Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors

Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of mono-vaccine market vendors

Related Reports:

Travel Vaccines Market by Disease Type and Geography  Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026: The travel vaccines market share is expected to increase to USD 2.44 billion from 2021 to 2026.

Tetanus Toxoid Vaccine Market by Age Group and Geography  Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026: The tetanus toxoid vaccine market share is expected to increase by USD 1.17 billion from 2021 to 2026.

Mono Vaccine Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 5.16% Market growth 2022-2026 USD 2.8 billion Market structure Concentrated YoY growth (%) 4.2 Regional analysis North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of World (ROW) Performing market contribution North America at 36% Key consumer countries US, Germany, UK, France, and China Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled AstraZeneca Plc, Aurobindo Pharma Ltd., Bavarian Nordic AS, China National Pharmaceutical Group Corp., Dynavax Technologies Corp., GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Johnson and Johnson, Merck and Co. Inc., Moderna Inc., Pfizer Inc., Sanofi SA, Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd., Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products Co. Ltd., Valneva SE, and VBI Vaccines Inc. Market Dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and future consumer dynamics, and market condition analysis for the forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Table Of Contents :

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market Overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Type



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 09: Parent market



Exhibit 10: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market Definition

Exhibit 11: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 12: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2021

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2021-2026

Exhibit 13: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 14: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 15: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 16: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

4 Five Forces Analysis

4.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 17: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2021 and 2026

4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 18: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2021 and 2026

4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 19: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 20: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 21: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 22: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.7 Market condition

Exhibit 23: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2021 and 2026

5 Market Segmentation by Type

5.1 Market segments

Exhibit 24: Chart on Type - Market share 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 25: Data Table on Type - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

5.2 Comparison by Type

Exhibit 26: Chart on Comparison by Type



Exhibit 27: Data Table on Comparison by Type

5.3 Meningococcal Vaccine - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 28: Chart on Meningococcal Vaccine - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 29: Data Table on Meningococcal Vaccine - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 30: Chart on Meningococcal Vaccine - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Meningococcal Vaccine - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 Japanese Encephalitis Vaccine - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 32: Chart on Japanese Encephalitis Vaccine - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Japanese Encephalitis Vaccine - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 34: Chart on Japanese Encephalitis Vaccine - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Japanese Encephalitis Vaccine - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 Hepatitis Vaccine - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 36: Chart on Hepatitis Vaccine - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Hepatitis Vaccine - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 38: Chart on Hepatitis Vaccine - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Hepatitis Vaccine - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.6 Yellow Fever Vaccine - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 40: Chart on Yellow Fever Vaccine - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Yellow Fever Vaccine - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 42: Chart on Yellow Fever Vaccine - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Yellow Fever Vaccine - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.7 Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 44: Chart on Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 46: Chart on Others - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 47: Data Table on Others - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.8 Market opportunity by Type

Exhibit 48: Market opportunity by Type ($ million)

6 Customer Landscape

6.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 49: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

7 Geographic Landscape

7.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 50: Chart on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 51: Data Table on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)

7.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 52: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 53: Data Table on Geographic comparison

7.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 54: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 55: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 56: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 57: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.4 Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 58: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 59: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 60: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 61: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.5 Asia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 62: Chart on Asia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 63: Data Table on Asia - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 64: Chart on Asia - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 65: Data Table on Asia - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.6 Rest of World (ROW) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 66: Chart on Rest of World (ROW) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 67: Data Table on Rest of World (ROW) - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 68: Chart on Rest of World (ROW) - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 69: Data Table on Rest of World (ROW) - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.7 US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 70: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 71: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 72: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 73: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.8 Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 74: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 75: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 76: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 77: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.9 UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 78: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 79: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 80: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 81: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.10 France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 82: Chart on France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 83: Data Table on France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 84: Chart on France - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 85: Data Table on France - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.11 China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 86: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 87: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 88: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 89: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.12 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 90: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

8 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

8.1 Market drivers

8.2 Market challenges

8.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 91: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2021 and 2026

8.4 Market trends

9 Vendor Landscape

9.1 Overview

9.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 92: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

9.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 93: Overview on factors of disruption

9.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 94: Impact of key risks on business

10 Vendor Analysis

10.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 95: Vendors covered

10.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 96: Matrix on vendor position and classification

10.3 AstraZeneca Plc

Exhibit 97: AstraZeneca Plc - Overview



Exhibit 98: AstraZeneca Plc - Product / Service



Exhibit 99: AstraZeneca Plc - Key news



Exhibit 100: AstraZeneca Plc - Key offerings

10.4 China National Pharmaceutical Group Corp.

Exhibit 101: China National Pharmaceutical Group Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 102: China National Pharmaceutical Group Corp. - Product / Service



Exhibit 103: China National Pharmaceutical Group Corp. - Key offerings

10.5 Dynavax Technologies Corp.

Exhibit 104: Dynavax Technologies Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 105: Dynavax Technologies Corp. - Product / Service



Exhibit 106: Dynavax Technologies Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 107: Dynavax Technologies Corp. - Key offerings

10.6 GlaxoSmithKline Plc

Exhibit 108: GlaxoSmithKline Plc - Overview



Exhibit 109: GlaxoSmithKline Plc - Business segments



Exhibit 110: GlaxoSmithKline Plc - Key offerings



Exhibit 111: GlaxoSmithKline Plc - Segment focus

10.7 Merck and Co. Inc.

Exhibit 112: Merck and Co. Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 113: Merck and Co. Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 114: Merck and Co. Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 115: Merck and Co. Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 116: Merck and Co. Inc. - Segment focus

10.8 Moderna Inc.

Exhibit 117: Moderna Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 118: Moderna Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 119: Moderna Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 120: Moderna Inc. - Segment focus

10.9 Pfizer Inc.

Exhibit 121: Pfizer Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 122: Pfizer Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 123: Pfizer Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 124: Pfizer Inc. - Key offerings

10.10 Sanofi SA

Exhibit 125: Sanofi SA - Overview



Exhibit 126: Sanofi SA - Business segments



Exhibit 127: Sanofi SA - Key news



Exhibit 128: Sanofi SA - Key offerings



Exhibit 129: Sanofi SA - Segment focus

10.11 Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd.

Exhibit 130: Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 131: Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 132: Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd. - Key offerings

10.12 Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 133: Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 134: Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products Co. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 135: Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products Co. Ltd. - Key offerings

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 136: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 137: Exclusions checklist

11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 138: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 139: Research methodology



Exhibit 140: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 141: Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 142: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provide actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
BOSTON, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Moors & Cabot, a 132 Year-Old diversified financial services and wealth management firm headquartered in Boston with offices throughout the country, and its shareholders have closed on a transaction involving the sale of its shares to Eighteen Ninety Partners, LLC in a "management buy-out" of the current non-operating shareholders. Eighteen Ninety Partners is a limited liability corporation owned and controlled by current Moors & Cabot Executive Chairman Mark Garrett, Moors & Cabot Chief Financial Officer Mike Hildreth and Howard "Skip" Hauser. The transaction is the culmination of a strategic succession planning process launched in 2019 by current ownership for the long-term stewardship of the business.

"As we enter the next phase for our 132 year-old firm, we expect to build on the foundation that is in place today and continue to work closely with our financial professionals, support staff, and partners to continue to serve clients in the manner to which they've become accustomed," Mark Garrett, Executive Chairman, said. "This is an ownership and stewardship commitment to the stability and longevity of our company in a market that has experienced tremendous consolidation. We are entering an exciting period for Moors & Cabot as we look to scale and grow the business for the long-term."

Assisted by Berkshire Global Advisors, an investment bank, the Board of Directors and the shareholders engaged in a strategic review process and ultimately determined that the management buy-out would deliver the best possible outcome for both current shareholders' interests and limit disruption to the remaining stakeholders of M&C; its management, financial professionals, employees, and most importantly - Moors & Cabot clients.

Dan Joyce, President and CEO of Moors & Cabot, commented, "For 132 years, Moors & Cabot has managed private wealth for many families and businesses through generations. This transaction will allow us to continue the tradition of always putting the best interests of our clients front and center."

The terms of the deal are not being disclosed.

The transaction closed on October 27, 2022.

About Moors & Cabot

https://www.moorscabot.com/about

About Eighteen Ninety Partners

https://www.1890partners.com/

ABOUT MOORS & CABOT, INC.

Moors & Cabot is an investment firm headquartered in Boston with offices throughout the country.

While Moors & Cabot's approach to wealth management is a more personal one, they are also a full service firm. Their financial products and services span the full spectrum of investment optionsfrom financial and investment management to insurance and equity trading.

For over 130 years, Moors & Cabot has been a trusted advisor to individuals, families, businesses and institutions in building, managing, protecting and transitioning wealth.

Moors & Cabot, Headquarters: One Federal St., 19th Floor,

Boston, MA 02110. Global legal and regulatory information can be found at https://www.moorscabot.com/info-disclosures.html

Member FINRA, NYSE & SIPC

SOURCE Moors & Cabot Investments
Chef Jet Tila Collaborates with Brand; Bringing the Crisp Just in Time for Holidays

NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Mr. Bing Chili Crisp, well-known for its rich and transformative flavors of Chinese street food to home cooks, professional kitchen and grocery stores, is excited to announce today a brand partnership with Celebrity Chef Jet Tila.

Celebrity Chef Jet Tila Jet Tila Mr Bing Cashew Chicken Stir Fry with a Twist

Best known for his many regular appearances on Food Network as host and competitor, and now Brand Partner of Mr. Bing Chili Crisp, Chef Jet will assist the brand in many business facets including: original recipe creation and inspiration for everyday meals, support for foodservice partners and brand relationships, as well as future ideas for Mr. Bing innovation.

"Growing up in my family's restaurant kitchens and markets in Los Angeles, I spent time learning the ancient traditions of Asian cuisine and I truly enjoy creating unique dishes inspired by my culture," says Chef Jet Tila. "As an original fan of Mr. Bing Chili Crisp, I am excited to show consumers how they can use this gold standard product in everyday or new dishes to add unique twists and delicious flavor without it being difficult."

"Partnering with Chef Jet was a no-brainer for our company  our customers admire him, and we both share the passion and love for Chinese culture," says Brian Goldberg, Founder & CGO, Mr. Bing Chili Crisp. "Chef Jet is able to share with our consumers and partners how flavorful and versatile our condiment really is."

To celebrate this partnership, Chef Jet has developed two original recipes that translate easily to the at-home cook, busy parent, or professional chef wanting to spice things up a bit in the kitchen: Honey Chili Crisp Chicken Wings and Chili Crisp Cashew Chicken Stir Fry.

Mr. Bing Chili Crisp can be purchased at www.mr-bing.com as well as on Amazon; single jars start at $11.99.

ABOUT MR. BING

Inspired by the flavors of Beijing street food, Mr. Bing Chili Crisp is an intensely flavorful, crispy condiment that elevates everyday meals with a burst of heat and just enough sweetness. Mr. Bing Chili Crisp originated in 2013, as the signature ingredient at Mr. Bing restaurant locations across Hong Kong and New York City. When the restaurants closed in 2020 after nine years in business, Mr. Bing launched the restaurants' cult-favorite ingredient to home kitchens everywhere. Mr. Bing Chili Crisp (Mild and Spicy) are available online for nationwide delivery, as well as on Amazon.com and at more than 2,000 retailers across the U.S. Mr. Bing is a minority owned business, is made in the USA, non-GMO project verified, contains no preservatives, is kosher, gluten-free, and is low in sodium and saturated fats. For more information visit www.mr-bing.com, and @mrbingnyc on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

ABOUT JET TILA

As co-host of Iron Chef America and recurring judge on several Food Network shows, Chef Jet Tila is an Emmy, James Beard nominee and best-selling author. He grew up in the first family of Thai food and then later attending both French and Japanese culinary schools. Jet was appointed as the inaugural Culinary Ambassador of Thai Cuisine by the Royal Thai Consulate, the first-ever chef to represent his country's culture and cuisine.

Chef Jet's culinary operations includes VP Culinary of Pei Wei Group 148 restaurants & Managing Partner Dragon Tiger Noodle Co in Las Vegas. He has partnerships with Compass Group, Schwan's & NBC Universal/DreamWorks.

Media Contact:

Erica Gabel

3109879848

[email protected]

SOURCE Mr. Bing Chili Crisp
United States-based National Comprehensive Cancer Network enters strategic cooperation agreement with Chinese medical information website to publish and translate evidence-based expert consensus guidelines for cancer care; now available at nccnchina.org.cn.

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa., Nov. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN)an alliance of leading cancer centers in the United Statesis announcing a new collaboration with Medlive to share NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) in China at nccnchina.org.cn. NCCN Guidelines are the recognized standard for clinical direction and policy in cancer management and the most thorough and frequently-updated clinical practice guidelines available in any area of medicine.

The current library of 84 evidence-based, expert consensus practice guidelines cover 97% of cancer cases affecting patientswith specific treatment recommendations for nearly every type of cancer, plus supportive care and preventionand are updated at least once-a-year. There are also 65 patient-focused versions of the guidelines for patients and caregivers. All are now available at quicker in-country download speeds with a one-step registration process, also via guide.medlive.cn/NCCN on computer or the Medlive APP on smartphone. These resources will also be translated into Chinese in the future.

"We are committed to making sure providers and patients have access to the most up-to-date standards in cancer care around the world," said Robert W. Carlson, MD, Chief Executive Officer, NCCN. "At NCCN, we believe that everyone worldwide should benefit from the rapidly expanding knowledge on how to treat cancer most effectively; and we work tirelessly to make that happen. We are proud to collaborate with Medlive on this important project."

Although NCCN is a U.S.-based organization, NCCN resources are accessed and utilized throughout the world. Nearly half of the 1.5 million registered users viewing NCCN Guidelines at NCCN.org or via the Virtual Library of NCCN Guidelines app are located outside of the U.S. China is currently the third-highest country for clinical practice guideline downloads, with more than 400,000 per year. This new in-country platform for guidelines is expected to increase that number significantly.

"We are happy to introduce a new home for NCCN resources in China here on our Medlive platform, providing doctors with faster access to NCCN Guidelines," said Tian Lixin, President, Medlive. "This collaboration will help oncologists in China to reference the widely-recognized NCCN Guidelines, so all patients can receive high-quality, effective, and efficient treatment according to the latest evidence-based expert consensus standards."

"Both NCCN and Medlive recognize the importance of collaboration and mutual learning," said Xin Jiangtao, Vice President, Medlive. "We are pleased to use this platform for knowledge sharing between oncology circles in Asia and the United States, ultimately improving care for patients everywhere."

The collaboration will focus on providing the full English-language library of NCCN Guidelines on Medlive's platform (in addition to their longtime home at NCCN.org), with Chinese translations to follow in the near future. The new website specifically for NCCN on Medlive was first announced on June 15, 2022 with a live conference hosted by Medlive. The full broadcast is available on-demand at class.medlive.cn/class/live/close/68550.

Visit NCCN.org/global to learn more about NCCN's work to improve cancer outcomes around the world. Join the conversation online with the hashtag #NCCNGlobal.

About the National Comprehensive Cancer Network

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) is a not-for-profit alliance of leading cancer centers devoted to patient care, research, and education. NCCN is dedicated to improving and facilitating quality, effective, equitable, and accessible cancer care so all patients can live better lives. The NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) provide transparent, evidence-based, expert consensus recommendations for cancer treatment, prevention, and supportive services; they are the recognized standard for clinical direction and policy in cancer management and the most thorough and frequently-updated clinical practice guidelines available in any area of medicine. The NCCN Guidelines for Patients provide expert cancer treatment information to inform and empower patients and caregivers, through support from the NCCN Foundation. NCCN also advances continuing education, global initiatives, policy, and research collaboration and publication in oncology. Visit NCCN.org for more information and follow NCCN on Facebook @NCCNorg, Instagram @NCCNorg, and Twitter @NCCN.

Media Contact:

Rachel Darwin

267-622-6624

[email protected]

SOURCE National Comprehensive Cancer Network
The Patient Priority Shows How Health Systems Around the World Can Deliver Better Health Outcomes for the Same or Lower Cost

BOSTON, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- To address the accumulating crises confronting the global health sector in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, health systems around the world need to refocus their efforts on delivering better health outcomes to patients for the money spent, according to a new book by Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

The Patient Priority: Solve Health Cares Value Crisis by Measuring and Delivering Outcomes That Matter to Patients

The book, entitled The Patient Priority: Solve Health Care's Value Crisis by Measuring and Delivering Outcomes That Matter to Patients, is being launched today before an international audience of health care professionals at the tenth anniversary conference of the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM) in Boston.

Health Outcomes Measurement: The Key to Sustainable Health-System Reform

The Patient Priority is the product of more than a decade of research and consulting at BCG in the domain of value-based health care. Contrary to traditional approaches to health-systems reform that emphasize cost containment, value-based health care shifts the focus to continuous improvement in the health outcomes delivered to patients.

Through powerful case studies of leading value-based innovators around the world, the book shows how systematically measuring, tracking, and improving health outcomes over time allows health systems to:

deliver better patient outcomes and overall population health more consistently

identify and disseminate best-practice diagnostics and treatments more rapidly

control total health care costs more effectively (because unnecessary procedures are eliminated, expensive complications occur less frequently, and repeat treatments are avoided)

rebuild the trust and motivation of health professionals by aligning system performance goals with professional purpose

"The only way the health care sector can simultaneously contain costs and improve quality is by putting the continuous improvement in the delivery of health outcomes that matter to patients at the center of how individual provider organizations and entire national health systems are organized and managed," said Dr. Stefan Larsson, BCG senior advisor, ICHOM co-founder, and lead author of the book. "This is what we mean by 'the patient priority.' How to make it real is the subject of our book."

A Road Map for Health-System Transformation

The Patient Priority is a practical step-by-step guide for leaders of individual health care organizations who want to improve the value they deliver to patients. Dr. Thomas Lee, chief medical officer at Press Ganey Associates, Inc., and editor-in-chief of NEJM Catalyst, calls it "One of the best books on health care that I have ever read. It takes the concept of value-based health care from rhetoric to actionable frameworks for strategy and operations."

The Patient Priority also presents a detailed road map for the value-based transformation of national health systems in which care pathways, payment models, digital infrastructure, and government policies and regulations are all aligned with the shared goal of improving patient valuemaking possible a new era of patient-centered innovation that brings about step function improvements in productivity, performance, and population health.

"The coronavirus pandemic had highlighted the urgent need for increased multi-stakeholder cooperation to transform health systems around the world," said Rich Lesser, BCG's global chair. "We are proud of BCG's leadership role in the international value-based health care community, including our pro bono support of ICHOM. In The Patient Priority, our authors present a comprehensive agenda to secure the long-term sustainability of the world's health systems and better health outcomes for patients."

In addition to Dr. Larsson, the co-authors of The Patient Priority are Jennifer Clawson, a partner in BCG's Madrid office and global head of the firm's Center for Value in Health Care, and Josh Kellar, a partner in BCG's Chicago office and coleader of BCG's medical response to Covid-19.

The Patient Priority is published by McGraw Hill and is available at Amazon.com and other online book websites.

To view a three-minute video about the book, click here.

To arrange an interview with one of the authors, please contact Eric Gregoire at +1 617 850 3783 or [email protected].

About Boston Consulting Group

Boston Consulting Group partners with leaders in business and society to tackle their most important challenges and capture their greatest opportunities. BCG was the pioneer in business strategy when it was founded in 1963. Today, we work closely with clients to embrace a transformational approach aimed at benefiting all stakeholdersempowering organizations to grow, build sustainable competitive advantage, and drive positive societal impact.

Our diverse, global teams bring deep industry and functional expertise and a range of perspectives that question the status quo and spark change. BCG delivers solutions through leading-edge management consulting, technology and design, and corporate and digital ventures. We work in a uniquely collaborative model across the firm and throughout all levels of the client organization, fueled by the goal of helping our clients thrive and enabling them to make the world a better place.

SOURCE Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
New book offers leaders a research-based framework and measurement tool for earning trust, practical actions to build trust, and direct ties to behavioral and financial outcomes

NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Trust is at the core of successful relationships and businesses. Yet trust is at an all-time low, steadily declining since 1973 ("Confidence in Institutions," Gallup Historical Trends, Aug. 13, 2021). Until now there has been no meaningful and actionable measure of how trust impacts human behavior. "The Four Factors of Trust: How Organizations Can Earn Lifelong Loyalty" authored by Deloitte Consulting LLP Principal Ashley Reichheld with Deloitte Digital's Chief Experience Officer Amelia Dunlop, builds on Deloitte's longterm investment and research into the science of trust to explore the creation of a new predictive and actionable measure of trust. By quantifying trust, organizations can use this measurement to build trust with employees, customers, partners and society at large.

"Deloitte has more than 175 years of experience in building trust with our clients, our people, the capital markets and our communities, and we are investing heavily in Enterprise Trust to help organizations build and strengthen trust with their stakeholders," said Joseph Ucuzoglu, Chief Executive Officer, Deloitte US.

Highly engaging and readable, with exciting new research at its core, "The Four Factors of Trust: How Organizations Can Earn Lifelong Loyalty" (Wiley/Nov. 1, 2022) breaks trust down into four elements  humanity, capability, transparency and reliability  that makes it possible to build a new way to measure trust to help companies "Elevate the human experience" (HX).

These four factors make up Deloitte Digital's HX TrustID, a groundbreaking measurement tool poised to become the gold standard for evaluating organizational performance. HX TrustID complements the Net Promotor Score (NPS) by offering leaders immediate insight into actions, tied directly to behavioral and financial outcomes. Reichheld and Dunlop show how organizations can use HX TrustID to measure, predict and act in ways that proactively build trust to earn lifelong loyalty  and elevate the human experience with customers, workers and partners.

"We believe trust is the path to loyalty," said Ashley Reichheld, Lead author of "The Four Factors of Trust" and a principal at Deloitte Consulting LLP. "Our research found that there is a strong linear correlation between HX TrustID and the Net Promoter Score  as trust increases so does NPS."

Full of compelling stories from organizations  Delta Air Lines, Marriott International, Energizer, Cleveland Clinic and many others  Reichheld and Dunlop provide practical applications in Marketing & Experience, Cybersecurity, HR, Sustainability (ESG) and Operations & Technology.

Dunlop said, "'The Four Factors of Trust' can help leaders create the relationships they want to build, the organizations they want to belong to, and the world we all want to live in."

"The Four Factors of Trust" lays it all out in do-able parts so leaders can:

Create better business outcomes by understanding how trust affects human behaviors.

Measure their company's trust score  revealing strengths, deficits and opportunities to (re)build trust with key stakeholders.

Design actionable strategies to improve trust with customers, the workforce and partners.

Build trust and earn loyalty through every business function from marketing to operations to talent experience.

Key insights from "The Four Factors of Trust":

Trust is an ecosystem. To deliver on financial outcomes , trust needs to be built with all of your humans (workers, customers, partners):

, trust needs to be built with all of your humans (workers, customers, partners): Workers who trust their employer are 79% more motivated to work (and less likely to leave).



A trusting workforce achieves 2x improved customer satisfaction.



Customers who trust a brand are 88% more likely to buy again.



Building customer trust affects partners and improves up to 4x market capitalization.



Trusted companies outperform their peers by up to 400%.

Research from the book shows that when customers believe a brand is high in:

believe a brand is high in: Humanity  they are 2.5x more likely to stick with a brand through a mistake.



Transparency  they are 2x more likely to promote the brand on social media.



Capability  they are 3x more likely to choose the brand over competitors.



Reliability  they are 2.1x more likely to spend more on the brand (compared to a similar product or service).

Research from the book shows that when workers believe a brand is high in:

believe a brand is high in: Humanity  they are 1.5x more likely to defend their employer after someone's criticism.



Transparency  they are 1.5x more likely to positively review their employer on a public website.



Capability  they are 33% less likely to look for another job.



Reliability  they are 1.5x more likely to recommend their employer to a friend, family member, or colleague.

Three most trusted brand archetypes were identified:

were identified: Competence Leaders have capability and reliability scores almost 2x higher than the average organization.



Humanity Leaders have humanity scores roughly 2x higher than the average.



Trust Winners excel in both intent and competence and have an average HXTrust ID score 2x higher than the average.

The book is based on almost two years of rigorous research including nearly two dozen in-depth interviews with trust experts, several surveys with a total of 207,550 respondents, and tested in-market with more than 5,000 respondents. Additional resources about HX TrustID also available at www.Thefourfactorsoftrust.com.

Advance praise for "The Four Factors of Trust"

"Nothing is more important to business success than building trusted relationships with all your stakeholders. Every organization can benefit from reading 'The Four Factors,' a thoroughly researched, comprehensive guide for creating a deeply-rooted culture of trust."

 Amy Weaver, president and chief financial officer, Salesforce

"It's no secret that trust is on the decline around the world. Yet trust remains more important, even vital, than ever before. It is, in fact, the one thing that changes everything  a force-multiplier for inspired performance and greater well-being in everyone around you. Whether you're in the C-suite or on the factory floor, you can lead in creating and extending trust to others. Ashley and Amelia's terrific book will show you how."

Stephen M. R. Covey, The New York Times and No. 1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of "The Speed of Trust and Trust & Inspire"

"We all know the importance of trust, but few of us really understand how to earn it. Thankfully, Ashley Reichheld and Amelia Dunlop are here to help. In this remarkably readable, well-researched, and actionable book, they reveal what it takes for individuals and organizations to establish reliability, transparency, capability, and humanity."

Adam Grant, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of "Think Again" and host of the TED podcast, "WorkLife"

"Read this important new book so you can help your organization measure and manage trust  one of the most vital ingredients for building relationships that are worthy of loyalty."

Fred Reichheld, creator of the Net Promoter Score and System and author, "Winning On Purpose: The Unbeatable Strategy of Loving Customers"

About the authors

Ashley Reichheld, a principal at Deloitte Consulting LLP, works with organizations across industries to help their leaders reimagine brands and experiences. Ashley believes that building trust is the single greatest opportunity to create competitive advantage, so she led a team to create Deloitte's HX TrustIDTM  a groundbreaking measurement tool poised to become the gold standard for evaluating organizational performance  to help companies measure, predict and build trust with their customers, workforce and partners. Ashley is the lead author of "The Four Factors of Trust" (2022) with Amelia Dunlop.

Amelia Dunlop, chief experience officer at Deloitte Digital and a principal at Deloitte Consulting LLP, helps organizations solve their toughest problems using human-equity-centered design to build empathy and trust. Dunlop believes in elevating the experience for all humans, including customers, workers, and partners. She received Consulting Magazine's 2020 Top Women in Technology Award for Excellence in Innovation. Amelia is the author of The Wall Street Journal bestseller, "Elevating the Human Experience: Three Paths to Love and Worth at Work" (2021), and co-author of "The Four Factors of Trust" with Ashley Reichheld (2022).

About Deloitte

Deloitte provides industry-leading audit, consulting, tax and advisory services to many of the world's most admired brands, including nearly 90% of the Fortune 500 and more than 7,000 private companies. Our people come together for the greater good and work across the industry sectors that drive and shape today's marketplace  delivering measurable and lasting results that help reinforce public trust in our capital markets, inspire clients to see challenges as opportunities to transform and thrive, and help lead the way toward a stronger economy and a healthier society. Deloitte is proud to be part of the largest global professional services network serving our clients in the markets that are most important to them. Building on more than 175 years of service, our network of member firms spans more than 150 countries and territories. Learn how Deloitte's more than 345,000 people worldwide connect for impact at www.deloitte.com.

Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee ("DTTL"), its network of member firms, and their related entities. DTTL and each of its member firms are legally separate and independent entities. DTTL (also referred to as "Deloitte Global") does not provide services to clients. In the United States, Deloitte refers to one or more of the US member firms of DTTL, their related entities that operate using the "Deloitte" name in the United States and their respective affiliates. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting. Please see www.deloitte.com/about to learn more about our global network of member firms.

SOURCE Deloitte
MIAMI, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) has released its coveted Digital Health Most Wired Survey results for the 2022 data collection period. Nicklaus Children's Hospital is proud to announce its achievement as a certified acute Level 8 hospital.

Nicklaus Children's Hospital is proud to announce its achievement as a certified acute Level 8 hospital. Tweet this Nicklaus Childrens Hospital is proud to announce its achievement as a CHIME Digital Health Most Wired certified acute Level 8 hospital.

Among the more than 38,000 organizations surveyed by CHIME, Nicklaus Children's ranked above peers in categories like analytics and data management, population health, infrastructure, and patient engagement. The survey assessed the adoption, integration and impact of technologies in healthcare organizations at all stages of development, from early development to industry leading.

"We are proud to honor your team's exceptional dedication to excellence in digital health," said CHIME President and CEO Russell P. Branzell. "Your pioneering performance in the industry inspires other organizations by example. Patients in communities around the world receive better care when you drive change through digital transformation, as you have proven through your success in this rigorous program."

"Employing technology to advance quality pediatric care is an important focus for Nicklaus Children's Hospital," said Dr. David Seo, Senior Vice President and Chief Digital and Information Officer. "We are honored to again be recognized by CHIME, as this achievement is an important measure of our commitment to implementing technology to enhance safety, communications and optimal medical care."

The Digital Health Most Wired survey and recognition program serves as a comprehensive "Digital Health Check-up" for healthcare organizations across the world. As success in digital health increasingly determines the quality of patient care, the scope of the CHIME Digital Health Most Wired survey reflects the progress of leading healthcare providers as they reinvent healthcare for a new century.

About Nicklaus Children's Hospital

Founded in 1950 by Variety Clubs International, Nicklaus Children's Hospital is South Florida's only licensed specialty hospital exclusively for children, with approximately 800 attending physicians, including more than 500 pediatric subspecialists. The 309-bed hospital, known as Miami Children's Hospital from 1983 through 2014, is renowned for excellence in all aspects of pediatric medicine with many specialty programs routinely ranked among the best in the nation by U.S. News & World Report since 2008. In the 2022-2023 ranking, the hospital tied with two other hospitals as the number one children's hospital in Florida. The hospital is also home to the largest pediatric teaching program in the southeastern United States and since 2003 has been designated an American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Magnet facility, the nursing profession's most prestigious institutional honor. For more information, please visit www.nicklauschildrens.org

About CHIME The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives

College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers (CIOs), chief medical information officers (CMIOs), chief nursing information officers (CNIOs), chief innovation officers (CIOs), chief digital officers (CDOs) and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With more than 5,000 members in 58 countries plus two U.S. territories and over 190 healthcare IT business partners and professional services firms, CHIME and its three associations provide a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate, exchange best practices, address professional development needs and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and care in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit chimecentral.org.

For more information:

Rachel Bixby

786-449-4797

SOURCE Nicklaus Childrens Health System
SPRINGFIELD, Mo., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Next Level Solutions, a high-end technology company serving the Property and Casualty insurance market, has announced that they will now be offering Quality Assurance as a Service to both current and potential clients. Previously known in the industry exclusively as a leading provider of best-in-class Duck Creek solutions, adding QaaS was the logical next step for the rapidly growing company. "Our clients know that the work we do is exceptional, and when they started inquiring about other offerings, QaaS was something we knew we could deliver," said Cheri Fisher, Associate Vice President of Quality Assurance at NLS. "The teams we have were assembled and trained for this, and I cannot wait to see them in action. We have experts on hand in Springfield, Puerto Rico, Honduras, Columbia, SC and in remote locations across the world prepared to do this."

In recent years, QaaS has become more necessary to the successful maintenance of standards in product and application environments. Next Level Solutions will be offering an impressive suite of QaaS services, including audits, testing, design, execution, writing, training, and on-demand QA leadership. NLS provides tools and framework for automation strategies to meet both short-term goals and long-term planning for clients in any phase of implementation. "We're always looking to push our business to do more, because we know we have top-notch talent," said Chris Sawyer, President and CEO of Next Level Solutions. "This new, definitive offering came from conversations with our clients and putting the right people on projects. Now that QaaS is becoming an industry necessity, we answered the call and we're making huge differences for companies in the P&C space. We're ready to make an even bigger impact."

After seeing tremendous growth over the past four years, Next Level Solutions plans to continue hiring more resources for QaaS and for their core Duck Creek needs. As momentum surges, NLS has met the demand and put plans in place to expand intelligently. Additional offerings come on the heels of this QaaS announcement, and 2023 should be another hallmark year for the organization.

About Next Level Solutions: Next Level Solutions is a software services company providing high-end solutions to the Property and Casualty market. By dealing extensively with the P&C market, they help their clients harness the power of evolving insurtech solutions, allowing improved market potential, enhanced performance, and streamlined day-to-day operations. Through their industry expertise, deep product knowledge, and implementation experience, they have quickly become the premier choice of P&C carriers to meet their technology needs. Next Level Solutions is committed to delivering custom solutions and supporting those solutions every step of the way. To learn more, visit nlsnow.com.

Contact:

[email protected]

SOURCE Next Level Solutions
Increasing cases of depression and Parkinson's disease globally are expected to assist the non-invasive brain stimulation system market advance at a CAGR of 6.3% during 2022-2031

Rise in R&Ds and presence of sturdy healthcare industry in North America are fueling the growth of the non-invasive brain stimulation system market in region

WILMINGTON, Del., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The global non-invasive brain stimulation system market is forecasted to reach a value of over US$ 1.04 Bn by the end of 2031, as per a review by Transparency Market Research (TMR). In addition, the TMR assessment finds that non-invasive brain stimulation system market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.3% during the forecast period, from 2022 to 2031.

Leading players in non-invasive brain stimulation system market are investing sizable amounts in R&Ds in order to develop technologically advanced devices that can help in the treatment of depression. Moreover, enterprises are focusing on the use of mergers, acquisitions, and new product launch strategies in order to stay ahead of the competition, states a TMR report that delivers key data on the recent developments in non-invasive brain stimulation system market.

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Non-invasive Brain Stimulation System Market: Key Findings

Over the period of past few years, there has been a surge in the prevalence of depression across many developed and developing nations globally. This aside, the cases of different health disorders including Parkinson's disease, chronic pain, and epilepsy are being rising worldwide. These factors are fueling the need for effectual treatment solutions, which in turn, is driving the business prospects in the global non-invasive brain stimulation system market, note analysts at TMR.

In the healthcare industry, the adoption of non-invasive technologies, specifically brain stimulation, is being increasing in the last few years. While non-invasive procedures do not utilize anesthesia, these procedures offer varied advantages including minimum infections risks, insignificant complications, rapid recovery, and less pain & discomfort. Hence, the hospital stay of patients is reduced than conventional treatments and therapies. These advantages are estimated to lead to increase in the future market demand for non-invasive brain stimulation system.

The market players are prognosticated to gain sizable business avenues in the hospitals segment during the forecast period. The segment growth is ascribed to many factors including a surge in the prevalence neurological diseases, presence of attractive medical reimbursement policies for non-invasive brain stimulation systems and sturdy established health care infrastructure in developed nations, and relatively high prices of devices.

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Non-invasive Brain Stimulation System Market: Growth Boosters

Surge in the prevalence of Parkinson's disease and depression globally is leading to lucrative opportunities in the non-invasive brain stimulation system market

The transcranial magnetic stimulation system segment is anticipated to expand at notable pace during the forecast period owing to R&Ds in the market

Non-invasive Brain Stimulation System Market: Regional Analysis

North America is one of the prominent markets for non-invasive brain stimulation system. The market is expected to gain lucrative prospects in the region during the forecast period due to a rise in the prevalence of different neurological diseases, existence of key players, and surge in R&Ds focused on non-invasive brain stimulation systems in the region.

is one of the prominent markets for non-invasive brain stimulation system. The market is expected to gain lucrative prospects in the region during the forecast period due to a rise in the prevalence of different neurological diseases, existence of key players, and surge in R&Ds focused on non-invasive brain stimulation systems in the region. Asia Pacific is the fastest growing market for non-invasive brain stimulation system and expected to attract significant growth prospects in the near future owing to surge in the prevalence of epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, and depression in the region

Non-invasive Brain Stimulation System Market: Key Players

Some of the key players profiled in the report are:

BrainsWay

Brainbox Ltd.

Flow Neuroscience

eNeura Inc.

Magstim

Magnus Medical, Inc.

NeoSync, Inc. (Wave Neuroscience, Inc.)

MagVenture

Neurocare Group AG

NeuraLace

Neuronetics

NeuroMetrix

Soterix Medical, Inc.

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Non-invasive Brain Stimulation System Market Segmentation

Product Type

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) System



Transcranial Current Stimulation (TCS) System

Application

Depression



Epilepsy



Parkinson's Disease



Chronic Pain



Others

End-user

Hospitals



Ambulatory Surgical Centers



Specialty Clinics



Others

Region

North America

Latin America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Middle East & Africa

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About Transparency Market Research

Transparency Market Research, a global market research company registered at Wilmington, Delaware, United States, provides custom research and consulting services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insights for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools & techniques to gather and analyse information.

Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.

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SOURCE Transparency Market Research
Octopus Deploy boosts deployment capabilities to complement GitHub Actions deployment workflows

BRISBANE, Australia, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Octopus Deploy, the universal deployment automation company, today announced the availability of GitHub Actions for Octopus Deploy v2. The new updates to the company's integrations further support its first-in-class deployment automation for GitHub Actions workflows.

Learn more about the latest updates in GitHub Actions for Octopus Deploy: https://octopus.com/blog/new-in-github-actions

"GitHub Actions is a powerful tool that automates software development workflows, like CI/CD," said Paul Stovell, founder and CEO of Octopus. "We are evolving the deployment capabilities of GitHub by providing actions that integrate directly with Octopus Deploy. Octopus Deploy is the 'peanut butter' to GitHub Actions' 'jelly'; it uses GitHub Actions for building and testing code and uses Octopus Deploy for deployments. With our integration in GitHub Actions, customers may achieve reliable, repeatable, traceable deployments across clouds and on-premises infrastructures."

Key updates to GitHub Actions for Octopus Deploy include:

Incorporate build information into deployment pipelines : GitHub has introduced a new push-build-information-action, which lets users provide detailed commit, build, and issue tracking information to Octopus. These are used with deployments to produce release notes for stakeholders and for each production deployment. These allow users to follow links from deployments back to builds and commits when trying to isolate bugs introduced in specific releases. This action also synchronizes DevOps Insights in Octopus, giving users better visibility into their company's DevOps performance by surfacing DORA metrics.

: GitHub has introduced a new push-build-information-action, which lets users provide detailed commit, build, and issue tracking information to Octopus. These are used with deployments to produce release notes for stakeholders and for each production deployment. These allow users to follow links from deployments back to builds and commits when trying to isolate bugs introduced in specific releases. This action also synchronizes DevOps Insights in Octopus, giving users better visibility into their company's DevOps performance by surfacing DORA metrics. Semantic Versioning (SemVer) release tag support : Users can reference release tags in workflows more easily than before. Any changes made to actions will automatically update release tags and will be incorporated into workflows.

: Users can reference release tags in workflows more easily than before. Any changes made to actions will automatically update release tags and will be incorporated into workflows. Improved usability: GitHub Actions for Octopus Deploy are now easier to use for deployment automations from GitHub. It has reduced the number of required parameters and added detailed output to the execution logs. It also added support for environment variables for sensitive values.

GitHub Actions for Octopus Deploy are now easier to use for deployment automations from GitHub. It has reduced the number of required parameters and added detailed output to the execution logs. It also added support for environment variables for sensitive values. Job summaries: Actions output was previously limited to logs and annotations, which were difficult to aggregate and group. With GitHub Actions for Octopus Deploy v2, users can now see job summaries generated through GitHub-flavored Markdown when creating a release or pushing a package to Octopus, making these actions easier to aggregate and group.

Start integrating Octopus Deploy with GitHub Actions:

https://octopus.com/docs/packaging-applications/build-servers/github-actions

Visit Octopus Deploy at GitHub Universe:

Octopus Deploy will be speaking throughout GitHub's global developer event for cloud, security, community, and AI at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco on November 910, 2022. Speaking topics and times include:



At Demo Stage

11/9: 2:30 - 3 pm PT - James Chatmas - "Octopus Deploy for Octocats"

Shared Demo Kiosk

11/9: 1 - 2 pm PT - Matthew Morton - " My Journey Turning DevOps Frowns Upside Down"

- - " 11/10: 1 - 2 pm PT - Matthew Tingstrom - "Getting Started with Octopus Deploy"

To schedule a discussion about new Octopus Deploy's integrations with GitHub Actions go to: https://calendly.com/d/g5m-nqs-ccp/octopus-deploy-github-universe-follow-up?month=2022-11

About Octopus Deploy

Octopus Deploy sets the standard for deployment automation. We help software teams deploy freely  when and where they need, in a routine way. More than 3,000 organizations and 350,000 users worldwide use our universal deployment automation solution to make their complex deployments easy. From modern containers and microservices to trusted legacy applications, Octopus orchestrates software delivery in data centers, multi-cloud, and hybrid IT infrastructure. More on Twitter at @OctopusDeploy and at octopus.com.

PR Contact

Olivia Heel

[email protected]

(303) 581-7760

SOURCE Octopus Deploy
DUBLIN, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Oleochemicals Global Market Report 2022" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global oleochemicals market is expected to grow from $22.85 billion in 2021 to $24.53 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.38%. The oleochemicals market is expected to reach $32.61 billion in 2026 at a CAGR of 7.38%.

The main types of oleochemicals include specialty esters, fatty acid methyl esters, glycerol esters, alkoxylates, and fatty amines. The fatty acid methyl refers to fatty acid esters derived from the transesterification of fats with methanol. They are used to manufacture detergents and biodiesel. They are sold through direct and indirect sales channels. They are used in the manufacturing of various products ranging from personal care & cosmetics, consumer goods, food processing, textiles, paints & inks, industrial, healthcare & pharmaceuticals, and polymers and plastic additives.



Asia-Pacific was the largest region in the oleochemicals market in 2021, and it is also expected to be the fastest-growing region in the forecast period. The regions covered in the oleochemicals market report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East and Africa.



The increased demand for sustainable plastics is expected to propel the oleochemical market. The use of plastic and other non-biodegradable materials has caused several environmental issues forcing industries and customers to adapt to sustainable plastics. The use of sustainable plastic is intended to reduce inefficiencies that contribute to environmental harm and aid in the optimization of business operations. This surge in consumer demand for environmentally friendly plastic opens up new markets, particularly in the cosmetics, pharmaceutical, fashion, and food industries for oleochemicals.

For instance, In December 2020, European Bioplastics, an association representing the interests bioplastics industry in Europe, stated that global bioplastics production capacity is expected to rise from approximately 2.1 million tonnes in 2020 to 2.8 million tonnes in 2025 in Europe. Therefore, the increased demand for sustainable plastics is expected to boost the oleochemicals market during the forecast period.



Technological innovation is a key trend gaining popularity in the oleochemicals market. Major companies operating in the oleochemical market are focused on providing technologically-innovative solutions to meet end-customer demands and strengthen their market position. These companies are innovating next-generation chemical solutions technologies into their solution, such as bio-diluent, cosmetic emollient, dispersant, blowing agent management, rigid foam formulators, and others, to provide an alternative to replace fossil fuels.

For instance, In September 2020, Emery Oleochemicals, a natural-based specialty chemicals manufacturer, announced EMERY E fatty acid esters product line. These fatty acid esters offer better color stability and low odor and are biodegradable.



In September 2019, a Portugal-based, RNM Group, a chemical industry company acquired Limsa Oleochemical S.A for an undisclosed amount. With this acquisition, RNM Group expands their distribution area and adds LIMSA's capacity and technical expertise, while creating synergies that will raise the expectations of their partners, specifically in the detergence, cosmetics, and personal hygiene sectors. Limsa Oleochemcial S.A. is a Spain-based distributor of raw materials for the chemical industry

Scope

Markets Covered:



1) By Product: Specialty Esters; Fatty Acid Methyl Ester; Glycerol Esters; Alkoxylates; Fatty Amines

2) By Application: Personal Care & Cosmetics; Consumer Goods; Food Processing; Textiles; Industrial; Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals

3) By Sales Channel: Direct; Indirect



Key Topics Covered:



1. Executive Summary



2. Oleochemicals Market Characteristics



3. Oleochemicals Market Trends And Strategies



4. Impact Of COVID-19 On Oleochemicals



5. Oleochemicals Market Size And Growth



6. Oleochemicals Market Segmentation

7. Oleochemicals Market Regional And Country Analysis



8. Asia-Pacific Oleochemicals Market



9. China Oleochemicals Market



10. India Oleochemicals Market



11. Japan Oleochemicals Market



12. Australia Oleochemicals Market



13. Indonesia Oleochemicals Market



14. South Korea Oleochemicals Market

15. Western Europe Oleochemicals Market



16. UK Oleochemicals Market



17. Germany Oleochemicals Market



18. France Oleochemicals Market



19. Eastern Europe Oleochemicals Market



20. Russia Oleochemicals Market



21. North America Oleochemicals Market



22. USA Oleochemicals Market



23. South America Oleochemicals Market



24. Brazil Oleochemicals Market



25. Middle East Oleochemicals Market



26. Africa Oleochemicals Market



27. Oleochemicals Market Competitive Landscape And Company Profiles



28. Key Mergers And Acquisitions In The Oleochemicals Market

29. Oleochemicals Market Future Outlook and Potential Analysis



30. Appendix



Companies Mentioned

Cargill Inc.

Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad

BASF SE

Oleon N.V.

IOI Group Berhad

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/smhjpq

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

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Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

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SOURCE Research and Markets
Aifl Honors CEOs and Leaders of Prime Pharma and Real Estate Companies Who Have Strengthened Economic And Business Relations Between Israel and The United States

NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- For over twenty years, the America-Israel Friendship League ("AIFL") has annually honored business and civic leaders from the United States and Israel for their contributions to strengthening the economic and business relations between the two countries.

This year, the Kenneth J. Bialkin Leadership Award is being awarded to Pfizer Inc., and its CEO, Dr. Albert Bourla, and Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries, and its CEO Kare Schultz. The Partners for Democracy Award is being awarded to Danna Azrieli, Chairwoman of the Azrieli Group, and Lisa Silverstein and Tal Kerret, Vice Chairman and President of Silverstein Properties.

"51 years ago, AIFL embarked upon its mission of enhancing the relations between the people of the United States and of Israel by focusing its efforts upon the understanding and awareness of the common foundations of the people of both countries," says Jonathan Barsade, President of the AIFL. Barsade continues to say that "we are honored to bring together this year's award recipients, who are prime examples of the similarities and close ties between the two countries, and how these similarities are used to benefit not only the stakeholders of the organizations, but also the people of both countries, and the world at large."

"In our lives and in our work, we are all about building communities," said Lisa Silverstein and Tal Kerret, Vice Chairman and President of Silverstein Properties, developers and owners of the World Trade Center and other landmark properties in the United States. They continue to explain that "America and Israel are our homes, and we will continue to do everything we can to strengthen the ties between both countries, and bring Americans and Israelis together to build a better future for our children."

"Being born in Canada, educated in the US and having made Aliyah to Israel over 20 years ago, I am truly a product of all of these countries," said Danna Azrieli. "As Chairwoman of the Azrieli Group that manages and operates a global company and builds beautiful buildings on an international scale, I have learned that really there is more that unites people of different backgrounds than what separates us. In addition, I think that we, as leaders of the business community in Israel, have an enormous responsibility to maintain an open mind in everything we do and sustain our relationship with our friends in America."

"Israel had given the world great hope during the pandemic by providing real world data on our COVID-19 vaccine," said Dr. Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, Inc. Dr. Bourla continued to explain that "The country's excellent health system, digitized medical record sharing and expertise in managing crises allowed them to quickly administer vaccines and share data with the world that demonstrated the significant impact of the vaccine in preventing severe disease and deaths."

Mr. Kare Schultz, President and CEO of Teva explains that "Teva is extremely proud to have led the successful operational efforts of the national Covid-19 vaccines rollout in Israel. With our state-of-the-art technologies, unmatched supply chain and distribution capabilities and committed employees, we were able to spearhead this life-saving project that has contributed to vaccination efforts in Israel and served as a model worldwide. It is our mission to improve the lives of patients across the globe and we believe that everyone should have access to quality medicines whether it be for managing disease, fighting infections, or simply improving overall health."

"The AIFL's transformation in recent years has enabled the organization to communicate, to a larger audience, its mission that the bonds between Israel and the United States are rooted in common principles and beliefs forming a basis for true friendship," added Eric Gertler, AIFL's Chairman, "At the same time, the AIFL has expanded the many ways that it exposes the wonderful parts of Israel to the United States, including its culture, the arts, the food, the music, history and so much more."

"Our two organizations, AIFL and the America-Israel Friendship League (Israel), practice what we are preaching,", says Ambassador Dan Gillerman, Chairman of the America-Israel Friendship League (Israel). Gillerman says that these "two different organizations focus on the similarities rather than the difference in order to work together and promote the mission of creating friendship between the people of our two countries, through education, and familiarization, showcasing and discussions, in person and remote." Gillerman says that "we are managing to show what a complex but wonderful mosaic this creates, a mosaic that is forming common bonds of true friendship."

About AIFL

For more than 50 years, the America-Israel Friendship League has been building and mobilizing grassroots support for Israel across the United States and strengthening the relationship between the two countries through people-to-people activities. AIFL enhances bonds of friendship between the people of the United States and Israel by engaging and educating people of all ages, faiths, ethnic backgrounds and political orientations to better understand the common foundations of both countries, both of which are built upon principles of democracy, free speech, protection of individual rights and the quest for knowledge and innovation. These common bonds sustain deep and long-term friendships.

AIFL is continuing the vision of its founders, who sought to promote a strong and enduring friendship and cooperative bond between Americans and Israelis by increasing Americans' understanding of the contemporary Israel story  its entrepreneurship, culture, medical research, agricultural technology, environmental protection initiatives and so much more. This is a story that expands beyond the traditional focus on geopolitical affairs and is unknown to most Americans. Broadening this lens enhances Americans' understanding of Israel and Israelis, the ties between the people of these two countries, and the bonds of long-term friendship and support for Israel.

Media Contact:

Giovanni Cosetti

America Israel Friendship League

Tel: 516-325-1990

e-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE America-Israel Friendship League
Expanding presence and strengthening in-market capabilities with a new Singapore office

SINGAPORE, Nov. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- PingPong ("the Company"), a global payment solutions provider, debuts at Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF) 2022 (2-4 Nov 2022) to present its latest one-stop payment services and comprehensive cross-border solutions for online merchants, financial institutions, technology platforms, and enterprises. During the event, the company also announces that it is applying for a Major Payment License in Singapore and plans to launch in Singapore upon receiving approval from the regulator.

A pioneer in providing end-to-end payment solutions for global cross-border businesses, PingPong offers global e-commerce sellers the ability to manage multiple currencies in a single, secure platform across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Since it was established in 2015, the company has been growing rapidly, and as of today, more than one million merchants utilize its technologies for cross-border, value-added tax, and supplier payments. The company's TPV had reached more than USD 90 billion by the end of September 2022.

PingPong is strengthening its coverage in Southeast Asia at a time when buying and selling habits in the region have changed profoundly following the unprecedented challenges of the global pandemic. In 2022, Southeast Asia's digital economy is expected to grow by 20%, approaching $200 Billion GMV. PingPong is well-positioned to capture the growth of cross-border e-commerce in Southeast Asia with its extensive experience in working with both upstream and downstream participants in the e-commerce payment ecosystem and providing high-quality cross-border financial services for enterprises of all sizes in the region.

Cyrus Tong, Regional Chief Compliance Officer, said, "At PingPong, we have helped hundreds of thousands of customers expand their business globally. Our on-boarded and supported platforms include globally important e-commerce enablers such as Amazon and Shopify."

"We understand the anxiety of our customers when they venture into new markets, especially a region as diverse as Southeast Asia, which consists of 11 countries, 7 major languages and multiple local currencies. But it is also one of the most exciting markets for e-commerce right now because the majority of the population is young and digital-savvy. Our team provides a comprehensive suite of solutions that allow global payments at a lower cost and higher speed, and most importantly, helps our customers navigate cross-border compliance and regulatory complexity, which are some of the key concerns they have when establishing their e-commerce businesses beyond the borders."

At Singapore Fintech Festival 2022, which is themed "Building Resilient Business Models amid Volatility and Change", PingPong presents its one-stop payment services designed for small-to-medium businesses. It supports onshore/offshore payments in 16 major currencies and allows merchants and suppliers to manage international transactions and track the payments in real time.

Another highlight is a one-stop treasury and payment solution. An ecosystem that supports 266 local payment methods in more than 50 currencies, this solution connects hundreds of thousands of merchants and trillion-dollar GMV e-commerce and digital economy platforms. It enables platforms and financial institutions to tap into the enormous potential of a rapidly growing e-commerce industry. Business opportunities in over 200 countries with a 5 billion reach could be unlocked at the click of a button.

About PingPong

Founded in 2015, PingPong is a leading technology company built on the global vision that empowers cross-border digital commerce to grow. We are one of the largest payment and digital trade solution providers serving more than 1 million global customers. Our one-stop, compliant and comprehensive suite of products includes e-commerce payment, B2B trade payment, acquiring service, card issuing, FX management, supply chain finance, VAT tax services, enterprise solutions, business intelligence software and more.

Today, PingPong has accommodated business flows from over 200 countries/regions. Our tested and proven global infrastructure has processed over $90 billion in transaction volume and connects over 100 international e-commerce marketplaces and ecosystem partners, as well as over 100 international financial institutions.

PingPong has established more than 20 global offices and holds relevant payment, forex, financing and internet operation licenses and permits in the world's largest economies including the U.S., Europe, Greater China, Japan and India.

https://www.pingpongx.com/

SOURCE PingPong
Guatemalan-born fast service restaurant's newest location opens in Stanton in mid-November; other new additions in Lawndale, Santa Ana, Covina

DALLAS, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Pollo Campero, the Guatemalan-born fast casual restaurant specializing in uniquely flavorful chicken and a diverse menu, is continuing to grow its presence in the Los Angeles area. Three locations recently opened in Lawndale, Santa Ana and Covina, with a fourth location opening in Stanton in November.

The new locations are:

Stanton : 10511 Beach Blvd., coming soon

: 10511 Beach Blvd., coming soon Santa Ana : 1325 17 th St., opened Aug. 31

: 1325 17 St., opened Covina : 1477 N. Azusa Ave., opened Oct. 24

: 1477 N. Azusa Ave., opened Lawndale : 16606 Hawthorne Blvd., opened July 14

Pollo Campero opened its first U.S. location in LA in 2002 and celebrated the 20th anniversary of the West Olympic Boulevard location in March. The brand now has 15 locations in the market.

"Over the past 20 years, our delicious fried and marinated grilled chicken, along with our unique sides, have steadily gained a loyal Southern California following that has driven our recent local growth," said Campero USA Managing Director and COO Luis Javier Rodas. "Our expansion is a testament to our legacy customers who have supported the brand since we first brought it to the U.S. and helped us introduce it to a new generation of fans."

Each location will serve the restaurant's full menu, using family recipes passed down from generation to generation. Pollo Campero is known for its flavorful chicken, which the LA Times has described as "addictive," and sides like Yuca Fries, Campero Beans and Sweet Plantains, for individual, family and catering occasions. The restaurants also feature Campero's latest menu addition, the Spicy Chicken Sandwich, served with cayenne habanero spicy sauce.

Guests can sign up for Campero rewards to earn points and exclusive deals, including the current 16-piece combo and any three sides family meal deal, perfect for holiday gatherings. Price varies by market.

For more information on Pollo Campero or to sign up for the loyalty program, please visit https://us.campero.com/.

About Pollo Campero

Family-founded in Guatemala in 1971, Pollo Campero is a fast casual restaurant specializing in uniquely flavorful chicken and a diverse menu offering individual and family meals made with quality ingredients. Using family recipes passed down from generation to generation and a fried chicken recipe that is considered a national treasure of Guatemala, Pollo Campero offers tender, juicy fried chicken and slow-marinated, citrus-infused grilled chicken that is always fresh and prepared daily. Pollo Campero also offers sides inspired by the brand's roots in Latin America. Since its beginnings as a small, family-owned restaurant, Pollo Campero has grown to more than 350 restaurants around the world. To learn more about Pollo Campero, visit us.campero.com and follow the flavor on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Media Contact:

Kendra Byrd

[email protected]

817-329-3257

SOURCE Pollo Campero
LONDON, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Riscure, a global security advisory lab and market leader in Side Channel Analysis (SCA), has partnered with PQShield, a cybersecurity company specializing in post-quantum cryptography, to evaluate PQShield's SCA testing and validation processes.

The quantum threat is high on the global security agenda, with governments and their partners planning their transition to quantum-resistance via post-quantum cryptography (PQC). In July, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced draft standards for post-quantum cryptography  an important and long-awaited information security milestone.

Even when PQC algorithms are mathematically secure, they can potentially be broken by a class of exploits known as side channel attacks. These attacks exploit the PQC algorithm implementation in hardware or software rather than the underlying mathematical problem itself, and underline how important it is that any side-channel vulnerabilities are identified and addressed before solutions are widely rolled out.

PQShield is a market leader in quantum-ready cryptographic solutions for hardware, software and communications. The company is a major contributor to the NIST post-quantum standardisation project, and the draft standards it announced in July this year are all schemes contributed to by PQShield's researchers and advisory board.

Riscure provides evaluation and validation services to reinforce the security of products and components including hardware cryptographic engines, large SoCs, boot ROM, security-enhanced software applications and trusted execution environments. Riscure also provides Security Tools and Training to help companies improve the security knowledge and expertise of their development teams.

With this project, the two companies will evaluate PQShield's SCA testing process. They will also share knowledge about post-quantum cryptography and its impact on side channel attacks, advancing companies' and governments' understanding of how new quantum-secure algorithms can be secured through robust validation and countermeasures.

PQShield CEO & Founder, Ali El Kaafarani, said: "Side channel attacks are a serious concern for cryptographers working on quantum-secure solutions. Not all devices running cryptographic operations provide the same level of assurance, so while many governments have encouraged organizations to upgrade their secure digital infrastructure, this must be tested and validated before it can stand up to the quantum threat.

"Riscure has a well-earned reputation when it comes to understanding and tackling complex security challenges. We are delighted to share our learnings in the face of the looming quantum threat to information security."

Marc Witteman CEO & Founder from Riscure added: "We have seen a surge in interest from businesses and governments recently looking to secure sensitive data with PQC. We are looking forward to working alongside PQShield, experts in PQC software and hardware co-design, by educating and sharing best practices with industry. With this collaboration we also aim to provide the industry with robust quantum-resistant Side Channel Analysis and lead to integration of PQC into our leading tools - in turn helping all major businesses and governments mitigate the quantum-threat."

About PQShield

PQShield is a cybersecurity company specialising in post-quantum cryptography, protecting data from today's attacks while readying organisations for the threat landscape of tomorrow. It is the only cybersecurity company that can demonstrate quantum-safe cryptography on chips, in applications, and in the cloud. Headquartered in the UK, with additional teams in the United States, France and the Netherlands, its quantum-secure cryptographic solutions work with companies' legacy systems to protect devices and sensitive data now and for years to come. PQShield is principally backed by Addition, Crane Venture Partners, Oxford Science Enterprises (formerly OSI), Kindred Capital, and InnovateUK. www.pqshield.com | LinkedIn | Twitter

About Riscure

Riscure is a leading vendor of security tools, services, and training for edge devices. Our tooling helps global technology leaders to build robust hardware and software solutions. Riscure security analysts bring top-notch security expertise to development teams and aim to run no-pain certification projects. Built on a wealth of security research and extensive practical experience, Riscure is well recognized for its technical leadership. Riscure serves Semiconductor, Mobile Security and Mobile Payment, Automotive and Premium Content industries as well as the Government sector. Follow us on Twitter @Riscure and LinkedIn.

SOURCE PQShield
NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Primary Battery Market share is expected to increase by USD 6.22 billion from 2022 to 2027, with an accelerated CAGR of 6.36% - according to a recent market study by Technavio. This report also offers a 5-year historic (2017-2021) data projection of market size, segment, and region. The Y-O-Y growth rate of the Primary Battery Market is estimated at 5.28% as of 2023. Moreover, the market is fragmented. Our analysts have conducted an internal and external analysis of vendors to help companies understand the wider business environment as well as the strength and weaknesses of key market players. Our report also forecasts the Bargaining Power of Buyers & Suppliers and the Threat of New Entrants & Rivalry ranging between LOW-HIGH during the forecast period.

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Primary Battery Market 2023-2027

Find Analysis of Price Sensitivity, Lifecycle, Customer Purchase Basket, Adoption Rates, and Purchase Criteria Prepared Exclusively by Technavio Research Analysts

One of the core components of the customer landscape is Price Sensitivity  an analysis of which will help companies refine marketing strategies to gain a competitive advantage.

is an analysis of which will help companies refine Moreover, this report also provides the impact of price sensitivity drivers ( purchases are undifferentiated, purchase is a key cost to the buyer, and quality is not important ), which are expected to range between LOW-HIGH from 2023-2027.

expected to range between from Our report provides extensive information on the customer landscape of the Primary Battery market, involving qualitative and quantitative intelligence.

FOR A DETAILED OVERVIEW ON CUSTOMER LANDSCAPE, REQUEST SAMPLE PAGES

The Primary Battery Market Report Also Offers Information on the Criticality of Inputs, R&D, Capex, Technology, Labor, and Brand of 20 Vendors Listed Below 

Amara Raja Batteries Ltd.

Camelion Batteries GmbH

Dongguan Large Electronics Co. Ltd.

EaglePicher Technologies LLC

Energizer Holdings Inc.

EnerSys

EVE Energy Co. Ltd.

Fujitsu Ltd.

GP Industries Ltd.

Hitachi Ltd.

Integer Holdings Corp.

Panasonic Holdings Corp.

Samsung SDI Co. Ltd.

Sony Group Corp.

The Duracell Co.

Toshiba Corp.

Ultralife Corp.

VARTA AG

Zhejiang Mustang Battery Co. Ltd.

DOWNLOAD SAMPLE REPORT FOR MORE ACCESS

Chart & Data Table on 5-Year Historic (2017-2021) Market Size, Comparison and Y-O-Y Growth of Primary Battery Industry Segment

The market is segmented by End-user (Defense, Medical, and Others) and Type (Alkaline Battery, Lithium Battery, and Others).

and By End-user - The defense segment shows a gradual increase in demand during 2023-2027.

The shows a gradual increase in demand during Primary batteries are used in most weapon systems used by the US Department of Defense, especially portable devices. These batteries provide more energy and less weight .

. The growth of the primary battery market is fueled by changes in military techniques, demand for modern high-tech combat systems, increased demand for surveillance drones, and increased reliance on mobile technologies and remotely piloted unmanned aerial vehicles.

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Innovative Features and User Interfaces are Notably Driving the Primary Battery Market Growth

The demand for portable devices is rising. Pulse power and batteries provide long-term power solutions to portable devices such as portable defibrillators and electrocardiograms (EKGs). Primary lithium batteries power most medical devices, such as surgical saws, drills, and infusion pumps. Vendors provide a wide range of batteries with different outputs. These batteries are suitable for different applications. Hence, the rising demand for portable medical devices will drive the growth of the global primary battery market.

TO ACCESS WHAT ARE THE LATEST DRIVERS, TRENDS, AND CHALLENGES INFLUENCING THE GROWTH OF THIS MARKET? REQUEST SAMPLE REPORT

Chart & Data Table on Historic Market Size (2017-2021), Comparison and Y-O-Y Growth of 11 Countries of Primary Battery Industry

The market is segmented by Geography into Europe (The UK, Germany , France , and Rest of Europe ), North America (The US and Canada ), APAC ( China and India ), Middle East & Africa ( Saudi Arabia , South Africa , and Rest of the Middle East & Africa )

Europe is projected to contribute 31% of the market growth by 2022. The market in Europe is growing steadily. APAC is another region that will offer significant growth opportunities. The growth of the market in APAC is attributed to factors such as the increasing consumption of primary batteries for high-drain applications such as digital cameras, toys, and utility metering.

is projected to contribute The market in is growing steadily. is another region that will offer significant growth opportunities. The growth of the market in APAC is attributed to factors such as the such as digital cameras, toys, and utility metering. Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, primary battery production in APAC came to a standstill due to the unavailability of raw materials. The pandemic resulted in several transportation and logistics issues. However, after July 2020 , supply chain and logistics issues were resolved, with the introduction of vaccines and the initiation of mass vaccination drives. Thus, as APAC is expected to be one of the major electronics hubs of the world, the primary battery market in APAC is expected to grow during the forecast period.

FOR MORE INSIGHTS ON THE MARKET SHARE OF VARIOUS REGIONS, VIEW PDF SAMPLE NOW!

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Battery Market in Telecommunication Industry by Product and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026  The market share is expected to increase by USD 5.95 billion from 2021 to 2026, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 13.45%. Furthermore, this report extensively covers market segmentation by product (lead-acid battery, Li-ion battery, and others) and geography (APAC, North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and South America). To get more exclusive research insights: VIEW SUMMARY OF THE REPORT FOR MORE

Marine Battery Market by Application and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026  The market share is expected to increase by USD 604.14 million from 2021 to 2026, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 18.19%. The rising demand for lithium batteries is one of the key factors driving the market growth. To get more exclusive research insights: VIEW SUMMARY OF THE REPORT FOR MORE

Primary Battery Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2022 Historical year 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 6.36% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 6.22 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 5.28 Regional analysis APAC, North America, Europe, South America, and the Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution Europe at 31% Key consumer countries US, China, Japan, Germany, and UK Competitive landscape Leading companies, Competitive Strategies, Consumer engagement scope Key companies profiled Amara Raja Batteries Ltd., Camelion Batteries GmbH, Dongguan Large Electronics Co. Ltd., EaglePicher Technologies LLC, Energizer Holdings Inc., EnerSys, EVE Energy Co. Ltd., Fujitsu Ltd., GP Industries Ltd., Hitachi Ltd., Integer Holdings Corp., Panasonic Holdings Corp., Samsung SDI Co. Ltd., Sony Group Corp., The Duracell Co., Toshiba Corp., TotalEnergies SE, Ultralife Corp., VARTA AG, and Zhejiang Mustang Battery Co. Ltd Market dynamics Parent market analysis, market growth inducers and obstacles, fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, and market condition analysis for the forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

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Table of Contents

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by End-user



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Type



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 09: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 10: Parent market



Exhibit 11: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 12: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 13: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2022

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2022-2027

Exhibit 14: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 15: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 16: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 17: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

4 Five Forces Analysis

4.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 18: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2022 and 2027

4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 19: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2022 and 2027

4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 20: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

4.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 21: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

4.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 22: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

4.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 23: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

4.7 Market condition

Exhibit 24: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2022 and 2027

5 Market Segmentation by End-user

5.1 Market segments

Exhibit 25: Chart on End-user - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 26: Data Table on End-user - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

5.2 Comparison by End-user

Exhibit 27: Chart on Comparison by End-user



Exhibit 28: Data Table on Comparison by End-user

5.3 Defense - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 29: Chart on Defense - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 30: Data Table on Defense - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 31: Chart on Defense - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 32: Data Table on Defense - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

5.4 Medical - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 33: Chart on Medical - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 34: Data Table on Medical - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 35: Chart on Medical - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 36: Data Table on Medical - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

5.5 Others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 37: Chart on Others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 38: Data Table on Others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 39: Chart on Others - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 40: Data Table on Others - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

5.6 Market opportunity by End-user

Exhibit 41: Market opportunity by End-user ($ billion)

6 Market Segmentation by Type

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 42: Chart on Type - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Type - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

6.2 Comparison by Type

Exhibit 44: Chart on Comparison by Type



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Comparison by Type

6.3 Alkaline battery - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 46: Chart on Alkaline battery - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 47: Data Table on Alkaline battery - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 48: Chart on Alkaline battery - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 49: Data Table on Alkaline battery - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.4 Lithium battery - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 50: Chart on Lithium battery - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 51: Data Table on Lithium battery - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 52: Chart on Lithium battery - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 53: Data Table on Lithium battery - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.5 Others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 54: Chart on Others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 55: Data Table on Others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 56: Chart on Others - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 57: Data Table on Others - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.6 Market opportunity by Type

Exhibit 58: Market opportunity by Type ($ billion)

7 Customer Landscape

7.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 59: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

8 Geographic Landscape

8.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 60: Chart on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 61: Data Table on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)

8.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 62: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 63: Data Table on Geographic comparison

8.3 APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 64: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 65: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 66: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 67: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

8.4 North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 68: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 69: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 70: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 71: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

8.5 Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 72: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 73: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 74: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 75: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

8.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 76: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 77: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 78: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 79: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

8.7 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 80: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 81: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 82: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 83: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

8.8 US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 84: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 85: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 86: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 87: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

8.9 China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 88: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 89: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 90: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 91: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

8.10 Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 92: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 93: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 94: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 95: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

8.11 Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 96: Chart on Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 97: Data Table on Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 98: Chart on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 99: Data Table on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

8.12 UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 100: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 101: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 102: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 103: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

8.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 104: Market opportunity by geography ($ billion)

9 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

9.1 Market drivers

9.2 Market challenges

9.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 105: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2022 and 2027

9.4 Market trends

10 Vendor Landscape

10.1 Overview

10.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 106: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

10.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 107: Overview on factors of disruption

10.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 108: Impact of key risks on business

11 Vendor Analysis

11.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 109: Vendors covered

11.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 110: Matrix on vendor position and classification

11.3 Amara Raja Batteries Ltd.

Exhibit 111: Amara Raja Batteries Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 112: Amara Raja Batteries Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 113: Amara Raja Batteries Ltd. - Key news



Exhibit 114: Amara Raja Batteries Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 115: Amara Raja Batteries Ltd. - Segment focus

11.4 Dongguan Large electronics Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 116: Dongguan Large electronics Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 117: Dongguan Large electronics Co. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 118: Dongguan Large electronics Co. Ltd. - Key offerings

11.5 Energizer Holdings Inc.

Exhibit 119: Energizer Holdings Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 120: Energizer Holdings Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 121: Energizer Holdings Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 122: Energizer Holdings Inc. - Segment focus

11.6 EnerSys

Exhibit 123: EnerSys - Overview



Exhibit 124: EnerSys - Business segments



Exhibit 125: EnerSys - Key news



Exhibit 126: EnerSys - Key offerings



Exhibit 127: EnerSys - Segment focus

11.7 Fujitsu Ltd.

Exhibit 128: Fujitsu Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 129: Fujitsu Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 130: Fujitsu Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 131: Fujitsu Ltd. - Segment focus

11.8 Hitachi Ltd.

Exhibit 132: Hitachi Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 133: Hitachi Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 134: Hitachi Ltd. - Key news



Exhibit 135: Hitachi Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 136: Hitachi Ltd. - Segment focus

11.9 Panasonic Holdings Corp.

Exhibit 137: Panasonic Holdings Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 138: Panasonic Holdings Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 139: Panasonic Holdings Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 140: Panasonic Holdings Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 141: Panasonic Holdings Corp. - Segment focus

11.10 Samsung SDI Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 142: Samsung SDI Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 143: Samsung SDI Co. Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 144: Samsung SDI Co. Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 145: Samsung SDI Co. Ltd. - Segment focus

11.11 Sony Group Corp.

Exhibit 146: Sony Group Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 147: Sony Group Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 148: Sony Group Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 149: Sony Group Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 150: Sony Group Corp. - Segment focus

11.12 The Duracell Co.

Exhibit 151: The Duracell Co. - Overview



Exhibit 152: The Duracell Co. - Product / Service



Exhibit 153: The Duracell Co. - Key news



Exhibit 154: The Duracell Co. - Key offerings

11.13 Toshiba Corp.

Exhibit 155: Toshiba Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 156: Toshiba Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 157: Toshiba Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 158: Toshiba Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 159: Toshiba Corp. - Segment focus

11.14 TotalEnergies SE

Exhibit 160: TotalEnergies SE - Overview



Exhibit 161: TotalEnergies SE - Business segments



Exhibit 162: TotalEnergies SE - Key news



Exhibit 163: TotalEnergies SE - Key offerings



Exhibit 164: TotalEnergies SE - Segment focus

11.15 Ultralife Corp.

Exhibit 165: Ultralife Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 166: Ultralife Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 167: Ultralife Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 168: Ultralife Corp. - Segment focus

11.16 VARTA AG

Exhibit 169: VARTA AG - Overview

- Overview

Exhibit 170: VARTA AG - Business segments

- Business segments

Exhibit 171: VARTA AG - Key offerings

- Key offerings

Exhibit 172: VARTA AG - Segment focus

11.17 Zhejiang Mustang Battery Co. Ltd

Exhibit 173: Zhejiang Mustang Battery Co. Ltd - Overview



Exhibit 174: Zhejiang Mustang Battery Co. Ltd - Product / Service



Exhibit 175: Zhejiang Mustang Battery Co. Ltd - Key offerings

12 Appendix

12.1 Scope of the report

12.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 176: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 177: Exclusions checklist

12.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 178: Currency conversion rates for US$

12.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 179: Research methodology



Exhibit 180: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 181: Information sources

12.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 182: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provide actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

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Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
Agreement will initially cover the UK and France with potential to expand to other European countries and worldwide

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, England and FLORENCE, Italy, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- QuantuMDx Group Limited ("QuantuMDx"), a UK-based developer of transformational Point-of-Need molecular diagnostics, and A.Menarini Diagnostics S.r.I. (Menarini), are pleased to announce an exclusive distribution agreement for QuantuMDx's Q-POC platform in the UK and France.

Under the terms of the agreement, Menarini will market, sell and service Q-POC, QuantuMDx's SARS- CoV-2 assay and its new SARS-CoV-2, Flu A/B, RSV Respiratory Panel test which the Company launched earlier this year. The [five-year] agreement will initially cover distribution to the UK and France, with the scope to expand to other markets.

Jonathan O'Halloran, Chief Executive Officer, QuantuMDx, said: "This agreement with Menarini is a significant commercial step for QuantuMDx. Not only does Menarini have a vast global network, but their specific in-country knowledge and presence across Europe, and beyond, means they are an excellent partner for us. The agreement will allow us to further accelerate commercial sales of Q- POC, bringing our Point-of-Need multiplex molecular diagnostics platform to clinical and non-clinical settings in a host of new markets. I look forward to working closely with Menarini on what I am confident will be a very successful partnership."

Fabio Piazzalunga, Global Head, Menarini Diagnostics S.r.I., commented: "The recent pandemic has highlighted the importance of being able to accurately, and rapidly, diagnose infectious diseases. QuantuMDx's Q-POC platform, which can provide results in approximately 30 minutes, will allow healthcare professionals to make informed treatment decisions and slow the risk of transmission. Menarini is a pioneer in decentralising diagnostics routines and developed core competencies and technologies in doing so. We are extremely happy to be able to start providing such an innovative platform to laboratories in the UK and France."

About QuantuMDx

QuantuMDx is a progressive MedTech company passionate about empowering the world to control disease and reduce suffering. QuantuMDx solves real-world diagnostic problems by creating multiplex molecular solutions for the Point-of-Need.

QuantuMDx has global operations and strategic partnerships  keeping it at the forefront of molecular diagnostics.

Q-POC is a rapid, simple to use, portable, sample to answer multiplex PCR device. It has been designed for use in a range of real-world healthcare settings.

Q-POC and its first test, a SARS-CoV-2 multiplex detection assay, are CE-IVD marked under the In Vitro Diagnostics Directive (98/79/EC), enabling use within the European Union and the UK. On 26th May Q-POC was CE marked under the IVDR (Regulation EU 2017/746).

QuantuMDx plans to launch a range of syndromic multiplex testing assays over the coming months and years.

For more information about QuantuMDx and Q-POC, its rapid PCR point of care system, go to: www.quantumdx.com.

About A.Menarini Diagnostics, the Human Touch of Technology:

The company has more than 45 years dedicated to helping healthcare professionals make safe and sustainable diagnosis, improving the quality of life of people all over the world.

A.Menarini Diagnostics is part of the Menarini Pharmaceutical Group, founded in 1886. Today it is present in 140 countries throughout the world, it counts more than 17,000 employees and has a 2021 turnover of  3.922 billion.

Find out more: www.menarinidiagnostics.com.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1936226/Menarini_Diagnostics_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Menarini Industrie Farmaceutiche Riunite
Authentic Mexican Street Food Meets High-Energy Experience

ATLANTA, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Atlanta's exciting Mexican food dining scene evolution continues to expand as owners Damian Otero's and Miguel Hernandez's Rreal Tacos refines its high-energy brand and plans new locations in Chamblee and Sandy Springs in the next six months.

"In Atlanta if you want real, authentic Mexico City tacos, you go to Buford Highway, but it's not a date night kind of place," explains Otero. "Conversely, if you want something upscale with great drinks, it's a mammoth restaurant with 'Americanized' food. We have created a niche intersecting the two."

Photo courtesy Rreal Tacos

Patrons at the Midtown or West Midtown locations are transported into an atmosphere with modern Mexican aesthetics including music from popular artists such as Bad Bunny. "Our restaurants are designed for the new generation looking for a high-energy, upscale dining experience," says Otero.

Otero and Hernandez have recruited top-level chefs, managers, and mixologists to ensure patrons have a one-of-a-kind experience. With Latinos now accounting for 11% of Atlanta's population, the bar for excellence in the taco scene is very high. "I believe diners realized five years ago they've been eating Tex-Mex their whole lives, and they are hungering for authenticity," he adds.

Chefs Ignacio Barquera and Miguel Aguirre strive to recreate the characteristics of tacos from various regions of Mexico using freshnever frozenmeat marinated for over 12 hours for dishes such as asada from northeastern Monterrey, birria barbacoa from Guadalajara, or taco al pastor, one of Mexico City's signature tacos. Desserts include platano macho  sweet plantain with cream and brown sugar.

"We have a very high standard and believe our dishes surpass others because of our unwavering commitment to using the freshest cuts of meat and cooking with ingredients sourced only from Mexico," says Otero.

Mixologists and beverage directors Arturo Salgado and Jesus Perez curate Rreal Taco's extensive list of libations including 24 creative cocktails, more than 200 different tequilas, and 100 mezcals. The extensive margarita collection is among the best in the city and includes the Malverde, fresco cucumber, spicy pineapple margarita, mezcalita, and Hennessy margarita.

Otero and Hernandez are also co-founders of Resto, a technology company implementing a unique QR code configuration allowing them to reimagine the service model to provide an extraordinary guest experience. The QR code streamlines the order-taking process, connects it to the kitchen, and benefits the wait staff and diners. Having ordering and payment technology at their fingertips gives guests control over the pace of the meal. "With this data, we can better understand our customers' preferences and continue to deliver what our diners desire," says Hernandez.

As a relatively new company, Rreal Tacos already offers top-level performing employees an opportunity to own equity in new locations. "We believe in creating opportunities for our team members to become partners as we expand," says Hernandez.

Rreal Tacos' growth is burgeoning; the eatery will open locations in Chamblee and Sandy Springs within the next six months and is planning expansion to Buckhead, Decatur, and Gwinnett County. They are also eyeing operating partners in South Florida, Nashville, Charlotte, and surrounding cities.

About Rreal Tacos

Owned by Damian Otero and Miguel Hernandez, Rreal Tacos brings the authentic flavor of Mexican street food to taco purists and connoisseurs at its two Atlanta locations: Midtown at 100 6th St. NE and West Midtown at 1000 Northside Dr. NW. New locations are planned in Chamblee and Sandy Springs in the next six months. Call (404) 458-5887 or visit rrealtacos.com for more information.

SOURCE Rreal Tacos
LAS VEGAS, Nov. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The VIVA Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing the field of vascular medicine and intervention through education and research, announces the results for the second of three Late-Breaking Clinical Trials sessions at the VIVA22 conference, hosted at Wynn Las Vegas.

VIVA (Vascular InterVentional Advances) is an annual vascular education symposium that brings together a global, multispecialty faculty to present a variety of talks and live case presentations from clinical centers around the world. Attendees include an audience of interventional cardiologists, interventional radiologists, vascular surgeons, and endovascular medicine specialists. Below are summaries of this afternoon's 6 late-breaking clinical trial presentations.

Three-Year Results of the GORE VIABAHN Stent Graft in the Superficial Femoral Artery for In-Stent Restenosis

Presented by Peter A. Soukas, MD

The RELINE MAX study is the first report of long-term, 36-month outcomes of the postmarket approval study of the Gore VIABAHN endoprosthesis (Gore & Associates) for the treatment of bare-metal in-stent restenosis (ISR) in the superficial femoral artery (SFA).

RELINE MAX was a prospective, single-arm international study that enrolled patients at 23 sites from October 2015 to April 2018. Patients with  50% ISR or occlusion in the SFA, Rutherford category 2-5 disease, and  1 patent runoff vessel were eligible. The primary effectiveness endpoint was primary patency at 12 months. The primary safety endpoint was rate of device- or procedure-related serious adverse events (SAEs) at 30 days.

A total of 108 patients were enrolled in the study; 86 were included for analysis through 3 years (mean age, 70.9  10.4 years; 48.8% female). Mean core labreported lesion length was 12.4  6.92 cm (29.1% occluded lesions); 10.5% of patients presented with chronic limb-threatening ischemia and 81.9% of lesions were Tosaka class II and III. Acute procedural success was 98.8%. Freedom from device- or procedure-related SAEs was 96.5% through 30 days. At 1 year, primary, primary-assisted, and secondary patency rates were 74.7%, 80.4%, and 89.4%, respectively. Freedom from target lesion revascularization was 84.8%, 74.6%, and 65.0% at 1, 2, and 3 years, respectively. Per core lab assessment, no major amputations or device fractures occurred through 3 years. At 3 years, 80.4% of patients had  1 Rutherford category improvement.

More recent studies from Japan using the study device in de novo SFA lesions suggest high primary patency rates with use of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) to avoid oversizing the device by 20%. A prospective evaluation of stent grafting for the treatment of femoropopliteal ISR utilizing IVUS and best practices is needed to improve the long-term outcomes of patients with long, complex femoropopliteal ISR.

Cross-Seal IDE Trial: Prospective, Multi-Center, Single-Arm Study of the Cross-Seal Suture-Mediated Vascular Closure Device System

Presented by Prakash Krishnan, MD

The objective of this prospective, multicenter, single-arm trial (NCT03756558) was to determine the effectiveness and safety of the Cross-Seal suture-mediated vascular closure device (VCD; Terumo Interventional Systems) in obtaining hemostasis at the target limb access site after interventional procedures using 8- to 18-F procedural sheaths.

The trial included patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), balloon aortic valvuloplasty, or endovascular thoracic or infrarenal aortic aneurysm repair (TEVAR/EVAR) using 8- to 18-F sheath sizes.

The primary efficacy endpoint was time to hemostasis (TTH) at the target limb access site, and the primary safety endpoint was freedom from major complications of the target limb access site within 30 days.

A total of 147 patients were enrolled between August 9, 2019, and March 12, 2020. TAVR was performed in 53.7% (79/147) and percutaneous TEVAR/EVAR in 46.3% (68/147). The mean sheath inner diameter was 15.5  1.8 mm. The primary effectiveness endpoint of TTH was 0.4  1.4 minutes; the median was 0.05 minutes (IQR, 0.017-0.15 minutes). Adjunctive intervention was required in 9.2% (13/142), of which 2.1 (3/142) were surgical and 5.6% (8/142) endovascular. Technical success was achieved in 92.3% (131/142) of subjects. Freedom from major complications of the target limb access site was 94.3% (83/88).

Periprocedural and Patient-Reported Quality of Life Outcomes After Computer-Aided Mechanical Aspiration Thrombectomy for the Treatment of Acute Pulmonary Embolism: Interim Analysis of the STRIKE-PE Study

Presented by Ido Weinberg, MD

The objective of the STRIKE-PE study is to evaluate real-world safety, performance, and functional outcomes of computer-aided mechanical aspiration thrombectomy with the Indigo Lightning 12 aspiration system (Penumbra, Inc.) for the treatment of pulmonary embolism (PE). This summary reports the periprocedural and patient-reported quality-of-life outcomes from an interim analysis of the study.

STRIKE-PE is a prospective, multicenter study of adult patients with clinical symptoms consistent with acute PE of  14 days and right ventricular/left ventricular (RV/LV) ratio  0.9 who received frontline endovascular treatment with Lightning 12.

This interim analysis included 60 patients. The mean patient age was 59.4 years, 43.3% were female, and 95.0% had submassive PE. Of the patients with an intensive care unit (ICU) stay, the median ICU length of stay was 1 day; 34.5% (19/55) did not require an ICU stay. The median improvement in RV/LV ratio from baseline to 48 hours was 0.27 (P < .001)a reduction of 24.3%. The mean improvement in systolic pulmonary artery pressure (sPAP) from before to after thrombectomy was 10.6 mm Hg (P < .001)a reduction of 19.9%.

The median overall improvement in PE Quality of Life Questionnaire score from discharge to 90 days was 19.4 points (P < .001). From baseline to 90 days, the median improvement in EQ-5D-5L visual analog scale was 10 points (P < .001), and the mean improvement in EQ-5D-5L index value for health status was 0.14 points (P = .041). Each EQ-5D-5L profile dimension had also improved at 90-day follow-up.

Treating acute PE with computer-aided mechanical aspiration thrombectomy with Lightning 12 resulted in periprocedural reduction in RV/LV ratio and sPAP, as well as improvement of patient-reported quality of life at 90-day follow-up.

Safety and Performance of the Indigo Aspiration System for the Treatment of Lower Extremity Acute Limb Ischemia: Interim Analysis of the STRIDE Study

Presented by Thomas Maldonado, MD

This interim analysis reports safety and performance data from STRIDE to evaluate the benefits of aspiration thrombectomy for patients with lower extremity acute limb ischemia (LE-ALI).

STRIDE is a global, prospective, multicenter study, enrolling up to 130 participants presenting with LE-ALI. Participants were treated with frontline aspiration thrombectomy using Indigo aspiration (Penumbra, Inc.) prior to stenting or angioplasty.

The primary endpoint is the target limb salvage rate at 30 days postprocedure. Secondary endpoints include technical success, as defined by core labadjudicated thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) 2/3 flow rate immediately postprocedure, and change in modified Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) runoff score.

Of 96 participants enrolled from 14 sites, the mean age was 65.9 years (46.9% female). Ischemic severity at baseline (n = 95) was classified as Rutherford class 1 in 5.3% of patients, Rutherford class 2a in 57.9% of patients, and Rutherford class 2b in 36.8% of patients. Mean thrombus length was 109.9  115.8 mm. Prior to the procedure, 94.5% of patients (69/73) had no flow (TIMI 0) through the target lesion. The most common thrombus location was the popliteal in 66.0% of patients (62/94), followed by the superficial femoral in 44.7% (42/94).

The target limb salvage rate at 30 days was 97.9% (94/96). The rate of periprocedural major bleeding was 4.2%, and device-related serious adverse events was 1.0%. Flow restoration (TIMI 2/3) was achieved in 94.4% (67/71) of patients immediately postprocedure. Median improvement of modified SVS runoff score (after vs before procedure) was 5.0 (0.0, 10.0).

In this interim analysis, STRIDE patients treated with Indigo aspiration had low 30-day amputation rates, low periprocedural complications, and high rates of technical success.

Mechanical aspiration thrombectomy provided an effective endovascular treatment option in this population of LE-ALI patients.

Twelve-Month Results From a Prospective Study of the Rotarex Atherectomy and Thrombectomy Catheter System

Presented by Michael Lichtenberg, MD

This prospective, multicenter, single-arm study is designed to assess the technical/procedural success, safety, and primary patency of the Rotarex catheter (BD Interventional), a rotating and aspirating atherectomy and thrombectomy catheter system. A total of 220 patients were enrolled at 14 centers in Europe from July 2019 through September 2020. Ethics approval and informed consent were obtained prior to enrollment in the study.

The technical/procedural success, defined as the ability to cross and successfully treat the target lesion, was measured at completion of the index procedure. The safety measure, defined as freedom from major adverse events (MAEs), was collected through 30 days. Primary patency was collected at 1, 6, 12, and 24 months and defined as freedom from clinically driven target lesion revascularization (TLR) and freedom from > 50% stenosis (peak systolic velocity ratio < 2.5). Secondary outcomes at 1, 6, 12, and 24 months included safety events, freedom from target vessel revascularization (TVR), walking improvement (VascuQoL-6), quality-of-life improvement (EQ-5D-3L), and various subcohort analyses.

Freedom from MAEs through 30 days was 94.4%. Technical/procedural success where Rotarex was used alone was 47.2%. When used with adjunctive treatments (in 97.7% of the cohort), technical/procedural success was 94.1%. Primary patency at 1, 6, and 12 months was 87.2%, 68.1%, and 57.8%, respectively. Freedom from TLR at 1 month was 96.7%, and freedom from TVR at 1 month was 99.1%; these were sustained through 6 and 12 months. Most patients showed improvement in Rutherford class, and improvements were also observed in the quality-of-life measures.

Results showed a freedom from MAE rate of 94.9% at 1 month. Technical/procedural success with adjunctive treatments was 94.1%, with a primary patency rate of 57.8% at 12 months. The Rotarex catheter study is an ongoing study with a follow-up period of 24 months.

6-Month Results From the PROMISE II US Pivotal Trial of the LimFlow System

Presented by Daniel Clair, MD

PROMISE II is a pivotal trial of the LimFlow system for transcatheter arterialization of the deep veins (TADV) (LimFlow, Inc.). The trial was a multisite, single-arm, prospective study designed with a composite primary endpoint of amputation-free survival (AFS). The study included patients with chronic limb-threatening ischemia who were felt to have no option for arterial revascularization into the foot. The lack of option was confirmed by an independent review committee of vascular surgeons.

The trial enrolled 105 patients with a mean age of 69 years, 69% of whom were male. Over 75% of patients were diabetic, and 18% had end-stage renal disease and were on dialysis. The primary endpoint was compared to a performance goal of 54% AFS based on an extensive literature search for outcomes in this complex group of patients. Technical success for the procedure in the entire group was 99%, with the majority of procedures being performed to the posterior tibial vessels (75%) and the others connecting the peroneal or tibioperoneal trunk vessels. AFS for the entire group at 6 months was 66%, which was well above the previously identified performance goal, and limb salvage was 76%. More than 75% of wounds were either healed or healing at 6 months, and Rutherford class and pain scores improved over 6 months.

There was a large difference in outcomes for dialysis versus nondialysis patients, which was driven primarily by the increased mortality in the dialysis group. AFS in the nondialysis group was 75%, while AFS in the dialysis group was 37%. Overall survival in nondialysis patients at 6 months was 95%, while survival in the dialysis population was only 63%.

The outcomes for these "no-option" patients were similar to what has previously been published with this technique, and this study showed that the results for TADV with the LimFlow system are better than expected and reproducible, and that this patient population can significantly benefit from this procedure.

About the VIVA Foundation

The VIVA Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing the field of vascular medicine and intervention through education and research, strives to be the premier educator in the field. Our team of specialists in vascular medicine, interventional cardiology, interventional radiology, and vascular surgery is driven by the passion to advance the field and improve patient outcomes. Educational events presented by the have a distinct spirit of collegiality attained by synergizing collective talents to promote awareness and innovative therapeutic options for vascular disease worldwide. To learn more about the VIVA Foundation, visit https://thevivafoundation.org/.

SOURCE The VIVA Foundation
NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Seedtag , the leading contextual advertising company, is strengthening their competitive positioning in the U.S. by partnering with attention measurement provider, Adelaide , to help clients move beyond viewability and gain a deeper understanding of media quality.

Seedtag & Adelaide partnership

Adelaide leverages a machine learning model to construct their omnichannel attention-based metric, AU. Through analyzing hundreds of quality signals and their weighted contribution to outcomes, AU reveals media quality by predicting a placement's ability to capture attention. Leveraging these insights, Seedtag clients can ensure that they are reaching the most relevant audiences with the highest quality media.

"We're excited to kick off this new partnership with Adelaide allowing us to connect the dots on how our proprietary contextual targeting and decisioning capabilities drive attention benchmarks and ultimately client outcomes. Measuring on-target audience delivery and viewability simply isn't enough to drive real-world impact. Working with a leading attention partner such as Adelaide allows us to prove that our sophisticated, AI powered targeting, creative and placement optimization tools do more to drive action than other metrics," said Brian Danzis, Managing Director of Seedtag US.

As lawmakers, consumers, and platforms continue to push for stricter privacy regulations, this partnership offers a solution to marketers who rely on audience-based targeting and attribution. By replacing audience-based targeting with contextual targeting, Seedtag allows marketers to reach target audiences where they're consuming relevant content. Attention metrics are able to connect ad exposures to results without user-based identifiers, enabling Seedtag clients to understand the impact of their contextual advertising.

"With the imminent deprecation of cookies, it's crucial for advertisers to invest in privacy-friendly approaches to targeting and measurement," said Marc Guldimann, CEO of Adelaide. "We're excited to work with forward-thinking partners like Seedtag who are focused on creating better outcomes for advertisers and ad experiences for consumers while respecting their privacy."

About Adelaide

Adelaide is the leader in the rapidly growing field of attention-based media quality measurement. Adelaide's metric, AU, helps advertisers make better media investment decisions. AU is an omnichannel metric that evaluates thousands of signals to predict attention and drive more efficient outcomes. Since 2019, Adelaide has enabled the world's top brands to understand media quality across their entire media spend and uncover valuable optimization opportunities to reduce waste and drive better results. Named after the global epicenter of evidence-based marketing in southern Australia, Adelaide is headquartered in New York City. For more information, visit adelaidemetrics.com.

About Seedtag

Seedtag is the leading Contextual Advertising Company that creates highly impactful and engaging solutions for relevant premium visual content, powering targeting and returns for top publishers and the finest brands. The company's contextual A.I. allows brands to engage with consumers within their universe of interest on a cookie-free basis.

Seedtag was founded in Madrid in 2014 by two ex-Googlers who wanted to get the most out of editorial images and to this day it is a global company that has more than 350 employees and an important international presence with offices in Spain, France, Italy, UK, Benelux, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, UAE and the US.

For more information, visit seedtag.com .

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1936270/Seedtag_and_Adelaide_partnership.jpg

SOURCE Seedtag
SHANGHAI, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Shanghai Operation Robot Co.,Ltd announced the results of its initial clinical trial of ERCP (Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography) robot in biliary stent placement surgery. It is the first Robot-assisted human clinical trial of biliary stent placement surgery in the world. The surgery was conducted by Aopeng Medical.

The operation was performed by the team of Professor and Dr. Xiaofeng Zhang, vice president of Hangzhou First People's Hospital and director of the Center for Digestive Endoscopy. Dr. Zhang operated the robot outside the operating room (without wearing heavy lead), advanced the guidewire and balloon catheter in a precisely controlled manner and successfully completed the entire surgical procedure including the nipple cutter action, balloon stone removal, and accurate placement of bile duct stents.

Dr. Zhang highly values the precision performance of the ERCP robot from Shanghai Operation Robot, and the benefit for physicians in reducing radiation exposure during the surgery. This surgery was live-streamed at the meeting of the 15th Hangzhou International Symposium on Diagnosis and Treatment of Biliary and Pancreatic Diseases. Many experts in the audience watched the whole procedure and considered it a great success for robot-assisted ERCP surgery.

This trial verified the application of surgical robots in the field of natural orifice ERCP surgery and opened a new era of robotic surgery.

ERCP surgery is carried out under X-rays, so the physicians need to wear a 30-pound protective lead apron. They are suffering health risks from long-term radiation exposure and heavy lead weight. In addition, the variable orientation and opening position of the duodenal papilla requires a high level of guide wire operation and the doctors' cooperation with the assistant. Therefore, the training of a qualified ERCP doctor and an excellent ERCP team requires the accumulation of operating time and experience. These can be easily resolved by surgical robots. In robot-assisted ERCP surgery, the physician can perform the operation remotely behind the wall, away from X-ray exposure. Furthermore, the natural stability, accuracy, and flexibility of robots can effectively reduce the learning curve of ERCP surgery and bring a better outcome to patients.

The natural orifice ERCP flexible surgical robot from Shanghai Operation Robot has a modular design, which imitates the physician working with an assistant. Its small footprint enables easy and flexible movement in the operating room. The robot adopts the principle of master-slave operation, the operation of the master stick is exactly the same as that of traditional manual operation, which greatly shortens the learning time. By operating the left and right master stick together, the physician can manipulate the knob of the endoscope handle, the forceps lifter, the water and gas button, the water absorption button, the guide wire and catheter delivery, withdrawal, and instrument exchange. The robot also includes a closed-loop mechanism for the delivery of the guide wire and instrument, which avoids the risk of slippage or blockage during the movement of the guide wire and instrument. The resistance is reproduced in real-time during the master operation, so the physician possesses the actual feeling.

SOURCE Aopeng Medical
Acquisition will extend Siemens' enterprise verification platform, adding Avery's Verification Protocol and Compliance Test Suite offerings

Verification Protocol and Compliance Test Suite offerings Customers can optimize quality and reduce time-to-market by utilizing Siemens' verification solution across simulation, emulation, and prototyping cycles

PLANO, Texas, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Siemens Digital Industries Software today announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Avery Design Systems, Inc., the leading simulation-independent verification IP supplier, headquartered in Tewksbury, MA, USA. Siemens plans to add Avery's technology to the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio as part of its industry-leading suite of electronic design automation (EDA) integrated circuit (IC) verification offerings.

Siemens plans to add Averys technology to the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio as part of its industry-leading suite of electronic design automation (EDA) integrated circuit (IC) verification offerings.

"The verification and verification IP markets continue to undergo major paradigm shifts," said Joseph Sawicki, Executive Vice President, IC-EDA, Siemens Digital Industries Software. "Increasing SoC complexity, demand for new protocols and standards, and broadening use of verification IP use cases present customers with new challenges relating to the verification of sophisticated, next-generation IC designs. The acquisition of Avery further extends Siemens' leadership in the verification space, adding Avery's impressive Verification Protocol and Compliance Test Suite offerings, critical verification IP market understanding and know-how, and eminent R&D talent. This can enhance Siemens' offerings across mainstream verification IP segments, while further extending Siemens verification solutions into areas such as High Performance Computing, Edge, Networking, and 3DICs."

"Customers need a complete protocol portfolio for their applications and verification IP available as soon as standards are released, as well as compliance testing solutions that can help reduce risk and help enhance the correctness of their protocols," said Chilai Huang, President and CEO, Avery Design Systems. "The Avery offerings enable this, helping system and SoC design teams to achieve dramatic functional verification productivity improvements. Being part of Siemens also allows growth opportunities for the business, with the combination of Avery's products and Siemens' Questa verification IP offerings enabling continued support of verification engineers across the entire spectrum of simulation solutions."

Siemens' acquisition of Avery Design Systems is subject to closing conditions and is anticipated to close in the first quarter of fiscal year 2023. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Siemens Digital Industries Software helps organizations of all sizes digitally transform using software, hardware and services from the Siemens Xcelerator business platform. Siemens' software and the comprehensive digital twin enable companies to optimize their design, engineering and manufacturing processes to turn today's ideas into the sustainable products of the future. From chips to entire systems, from product to process, across all industries, Siemens Digital Industries Software is where today meets tomorrow.

Siemens Digital Industries (DI) is an innovation leader in automation and digitalization. Closely collaborating with partners and customers, DI drives the digital transformation in the process and discrete industries. With its Digital Enterprise portfolio, DI provides companies of all sizes with an end-to-end set of products, solutions and services to integrate and digitalize the entire value chain. Optimized for the specific needs of each industry, DI's unique portfolio supports customers to achieve greater productivity and flexibility. DI is constantly adding innovations to its portfolio to integrate cutting-edge future technologies. Siemens Digital Industries has its global headquarters in Nuremberg, Germany, and has around 76,000 employees internationally.

Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a technology company focused on industry, infrastructure, transport, and healthcare. From more resource-efficient factories, resilient supply chains, and smarter buildings and grids, to cleaner and more comfortable transportation as well as advanced healthcare, the company creates technology with purpose adding real value for customers. By combining the real and the digital worlds, Siemens empowers its customers to transform their industries and markets, helping them to transform the everyday for billions of people. Siemens also owns a majority stake in the publicly listed company Siemens Healthineers, a globally leading medical technology provider shaping the future of healthcare. In addition, Siemens holds a minority stake in Siemens Energy, a global leader in the transmission and generation of electrical power.

In fiscal 2021, which ended on September 30, 2021, the Siemens Group generated revenue of 62.3 billion and net income of 6.7 billion. As of September 30, 2021, the company had around 303,000 employees worldwide. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com.

Note: A list of relevant Siemens trademarks can be found here. Other trademarks belong to their respective owners.

This document contains statements related to our future business and financial performance and future events or developments involving Siemens that may constitute forward-looking statements. These statements may be identified by words such as "expects," "looks forward to," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," ....

SOURCE Siemens Digital Industries Software
Introducing Green Goo's Plants for Your Face & Body Collection at Walmart Stores Nationwide in November

LYONS, Colo., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Sierra Sage Herbs LLC ("SSH") is pleased to announce that it has secured a wholesale agreement with accelerate360 , an omni-commerce sales, distribution, logistics, marketing and media company, to drive awareness and sales growth for its family of brands, including Green Goo , Good Goo , and Southern Butter . Under the agreement, SSH intends to leverage accelerate360 and its long-standing retail partnerships, cultivated over 100 years of experience and service, to implement innovative and customizable programs designed to elevate brand recognition and amplify revenue for retailers.

Green Goo will introduce its new Plants for Your Face & Body collection in Walmart stores across the country Tweet this Green Goo Plants for Your Face and Body - Us Weekly Now Trending Collection: Hydrating Face & Body Wash and Jumbo Stick, Eczema Face & Body Wash and Jumbo Stick, Acne Face & Body Wash and Spot Treatment Roll-on, Pain Relief Jumbo Stick, Dry Skin Jumbo Stick. Sierra Sage Herbs Founders -- Jodi Scott, Jennifer Scott, Kathy Scott (PRNewsfoto/Sierra Sage Herbs) Group Logos of Sierra Sage Herbs Brands - Green Goo, Southern Butter, Good Goo (PRNewsfoto/Sierra Sage Herbs)

"The team at accelerate360 has instantly proven themselves to be creative thinkers, which is key in establishing a retail presence," said Sierra Sage Herbs CEO and Co-founder Jodi Scott. "They are providing opportunities for our company to grow, while not only discovering new ways to showcase our brands and products, but ensuring they are presented thoughtfully and relevantly."

Launching in November 2022, all-natural Sierra Sage Herbs brand Green Goo will introduce its new Plants for Your Face & Body collection in Walmart stores across the country as part of an Us Weekly Now Trending shopping fixture curated in partnership with accelerate360 and a360media's Us Weekly brand. The inventive shopping experience also allows customers the ability to discover more about the Green Goo brand and its products, alongside additional engaging content, via a QR code highlighted on the in-store display.

"Launching innovation in today's attention economy is challenging for brands and retailers. The dynamism of trend often outpaces that of sourcing and merchandising, and breaking through to gain trial and repeat is a tall hurdle," said accelerate360's Chief Innovation Officer and President of Marketing and Brand Development Nikki Laughlin. "This is where accelerate360's services, along with our Us Weekly brand and Now Trending displays come in, lending cultural credibility and impact at shelf to great brands and products like Green Goo, Good Goo, and Southern Butter."

Developed to target a range of skin conditions and issues including acne, eczema, sun damage, wrinkles, dry skin, and psoriasis, Green Goo's Plants for Your Face & Body collection is formulated utilizing the brand's proprietary lipid-infusion process. Rather than using harsh chemicals or pre-made extracts, Green Goo infuses healing herbs and whole-plant botanicals in rich, nourishing organic essential oils to maximize the purity and elevate the healing properties of its products. The available Plants for Your Face & Body collection will include a range of Face & Body Washes, Face & Body Jumbo Sticks, and an Acne Roll-On Spot Treatment (MSRPs $9.99-$17.99). Consumers will also be able to purchase Green Goo's fan-favorite Dry Skin and Pain Relief Jumbo Sticks (MSRP $9.99) as part of the program as well.

Link to additional images

Instagram / Facebook

About Sierra Sage Herbs

Committed to producing the best all-natural, plant-based skincare products, Sierra Sage Herbs, a Creso Pharma subsidiary, is on a mission to spread goodness, empower change, and redefine natural body care. Founded in 2008 by sisters Jodi and Jen Scott and their mother, Kathy Scott, the company's natural products brands, which are cruelty free and made in the USA, include Green Goo , Good Goo , and Southern Butter . These brands are sold across more than 100,000 points of distribution around the US, including Whole Foods, Walmart, Amazon, Target.com, CVS, Walgreen's, Rite Aid, Albertsons, and Kroger, among many others. A certified B Corp, Sierra Sage Herbs aligns and partners with charities, aid organizations, and causes both in the United States and around the world. For further information, visit www.greengoo.com .

About accelerate360

accelerate360 is an omni-commerce sales, distribution and logistics, marketing and media company that unlocks growth for retailers and brands at the intersection of culture, content, and commerce. For more than 100 years, with delivery to over 56,000 retail locations weekly, the company's customized solutions have connected people, products, and point of sale with a specialization in General Merchandise, Health, Beauty, and Wellness categories. Headquartered in Atlanta, accelerate360 has offices and fulfillment centers strategically positioned across the United States and is proud to employ more than 1,300 employees. For further information, visit www.accelerate360.com .

SOURCE Sierra Sage Herbs
Uninhabited Black Hawk helicopter lifts external cargo and

completes casualty evacuation and medical resupply missions

YUMA PROVING GROUND, Ariz., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company (NYSE: LMT) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have successfully demonstrated to the U.S. Army for the first time how an uninhabited Black Hawk helicopter flying autonomously can safely and reliably perform internal and external cargo resupply missions, and a rescue operation.

Sikorsky is partnered with DARPA to develop autonomy technology that will improve aircraft safety and efficiency. Tweet this Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have successfully demonstrated to the U.S. Army for the first time how an uninhabited Black Hawk helicopter flying autonomously can safely and reliably perform internal and external cargo resupply missions, and a rescue operation. Sikorsky demonstrates to the U.S. Army for the first time how an optionally piloted Black Hawk helicopter flying in autonomous mode could resupply forward forces. These uninhabited Black Hawk flights occurred in October at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. Photo courtesy Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company.

Performed Oct. 12, 14 and 18 as part of the U.S. Army's Project Convergence 2022 (PC22) experiment, the flights show how existing and future piloted utility helicopters could one day fly complex missions in reduced crew or autonomous mode. This would give Army commanders and aviators greater flexibility in how and when aircraft and pilots are used, especially in limited visibility or contested environments.

See demonstration photos and video.

Why It Matters

Sikorsky is partnered with DARPA to develop autonomy technology that will exponentially improve the flight safety and efficiency of rotary and fixed-wing aircraft. Sikorsky's autonomy system, known as MATRIX technology, forms the core of DARPA's ALIAS (Aircrew Labor In-cockpit Automation System) project.

"We believe MATRIX technology is ready now for transition to the Army as they look to modernize the enduring helicopter fleet, and acquire Future Vertical Lift aircraft," said Igor Cherepinsky, director of Sikorsky Innovations. "In addition to increasing flight safety and reliability, MATRIX technology enables survivability in high tempo, high threat 21st Century Security environments where Black Hawk helicopters operate today, and DEFIANT X and RAIDER X helicopters could operate in the future. Uncrewed or reduced crewed helicopters could safely perform critical and lifesaving missions day or night in complex terrain and in contested battlespace."

The Yuma Details

During PC22 Technology Gateway, the Sikorsky and DARPA team showed how the optionally piloted Black Hawk helicopter with no humans on board can deliver a large quantity of blood product unharmed by flying low and fast above ground level using the terrain to mask its signature; resupply troops with an external load; and re-route mid-flight to evacuate a casualty.

To begin the flight demonstrations, pilots flew and landed the Black Hawk aircraft, then activated the MATRIX system to give full control to the flight computer. When the pilots exited, the helicopter autonomously completed the following mission demonstrations:

Long-endurance Medical Resupply: The Black Hawk aircraft flew 83 miles while loaded with 400 units of real and simulated blood  totaling 500 pounds. On reaching 40 miles from its initial take-off point, the helicopter descended into a valley as low as 200 feet above ground level at 100 knots.

The Black Hawk aircraft flew 83 miles while loaded with 400 units of real and simulated blood  totaling 500 pounds. On reaching 40 miles from its initial take-off point, the helicopter descended into a valley as low as 200 feet above ground level at 100 knots. Cargo Delivery and Casualty Evacuation (combined mission) : The helicopter lifted off with a 2,600-pound external load attached to a 40-foot sling, and flew at 100 knots for 30 minutes toward a designated landing zone. While in flight, the helicopter was redirected, simulating a scenario in which a threat needed to be neutralized near the primary landing site. Sikorsky demonstrated how a ground operator with a secure radio and tablet can take control of the uncrewed helicopter, command it to release its sling load, and then land to evacuate a casualty from a nearby location. Once the manikin on a litter was secured inside the cabin, the ground operator launched the aircraft. During the return flight, a BATDOK health monitoring device integrated with the helicopter's communications system relayed the patient's vitals in real-time to a ground-based medical team.

: The helicopter lifted off with a 2,600-pound external load attached to a 40-foot sling, and flew at 100 knots for 30 minutes toward a designated landing zone. While in flight, the helicopter was redirected, simulating a scenario in which a threat needed to be neutralized near the primary landing site. Sikorsky demonstrated how a ground operator with a secure radio and tablet can take control of the uncrewed helicopter, command it to release its sling load, and then land to evacuate a casualty from a nearby location. Once the manikin on a litter was secured inside the cabin, the ground operator launched the aircraft. During the return flight, a BATDOK health monitoring device integrated with the helicopter's communications system relayed the patient's vitals in real-time to a ground-based medical team.

What's Next

The PC22 demonstrations were the second set of uninhabited Black Hawk flights this year. Sikorsky and DARPA will continue to work toward the transition of this technology for military operations, such as aircrew support and operations, logistics and medical resupply, casualty evacuation, and commercial applications such as firefighting, cargo and urban air mobility.

For more information visit, www.lockheedmartin.com/matrix.

About Lockheed Martin

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin Corporation is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 114,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.

Please follow @LMNews on Twitter for the latest announcements and news across the corporation.

SOURCE Lockheed Martin
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Pop Culture retailer BoxLunch is thrilled to announce a partnership with Simu Liu, star of Marvel's Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings. Simu will act as the first ever BoxLunch Giving Ambassador and appear in a campaign featured across all 207 BoxLunch stores and online during the 2022 Holiday Season. The campaign's goal is to increase awareness of BoxLunch's on-going mission to end hunger in the U.S. alongside partner Feeding America, the nation's largest hunger-relief organization.

Smu Liu FEEDING AMERICA

In addition, Simu will present an award celebrating the 150 millionth meal donated to Feeding America by BoxLunch at the first ever BoxLunch Gala Honoring Feeding America on Wednesday November 9th, 2022 in Los Angeles at the City Market Social House. The star-studded gala will help bring awareness to Feeding America's mission to advance change in the United States by ensuring equitable access to nutritious food for all in partnership with food banks, policymakers, supporters, and the community. Expected attendees include John Stamos and Caitlin Stamos, Lewis Tan, Xochitl Gomez, Emma Caulfield Ford, Yasmeen Fletcher, Monique Coleman, Nico Greetham, Paloma Garcia Lee, Sam Richardson, Juju Green aka Straw Hat Goofy and more TBC.

In 2015 Hot Topic Inc., with a focus on a philanthropic mission, created a specialty retail experience offering a curated collection of licensed pop culture merchandise with the name BoxLunch. The origin of the brand is rooted in the concept of giving back to local communities to help alleviate the issue of hunger in the United States. The name BoxLunch forever connects the brand's name to that goal. BoxLunch partnered with Feeding America, the nation's largest domestic hunger-relief organization with a network of 200 food banks, 60,000 food pantries that provide meal programs and for over 40 years has responded to the hunger crisis in America by providing food to people in need.1 in every 10 people in the United States is food insecure, meaning they may not know where their next meal is coming from. Every $10 spent at BoxLunch either in-store or online will help provide a meal to a person in need with funds from each of its 207 brick and mortar stores nationwide going back to their local Feeding America member food bank.

"We are thrilled and honored to have Simu Liu as the first ever BoxLunch Giving Ambassador. His support for Feeding America and BoxLunch will bring tremendous awareness to the mission of our organizations to end hunger and food insecurity," said Steve Vranes, CEO of Hot Topic Inc.

The 2022 Gala will highlight BoxLunch's commitment to helping to end hunger and celebrate the milestone of donating over 150 million meals to Feeding America since the retailer's inception in 2015. It will also recognize several members of the Feeding America network  the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County, and St. Francis Center Los Angeles  who will receive awards presented by BoxLunch.

For Press Inquiries regarding BoxLunch:

Paul Christensen

[email protected]

About BoxLunch

BoxLunch is a specialty retailer offering a curated collection of licensed pop culture merchandise. With every $10 spent across the retailers' themed product offering of apparel, accessories, home goods, gift and novelty, and collectibles BoxLunch will provide a meal to a person in need through its philanthropic partnerships. To join the movement and help in the fight against hunger visit BoxLunch in-store or online at www.boxlunch.com to learn more on how you can get involved in your local community. BoxLunch is headquartered in CA and currently operates over 200 stores throughout the US. For more information, please visit our e-commerce website and Facebook.com/boxlunchgifts or follow us on TikTok, Twitter and Instagram at @BoxLunchGifts.

*For every $10 spent, BoxLunch will donate at least one meal to Feeding America. $1 helps provide at least 10 meals secured by Feeding America on behalf of local member food banks. BoxLunch guarantees a minimum of 5,000,000 meals (monetary equivalent of $500,000) to Feeding America and member food banks from January 31, 2022 to January 29, 2023. Meal claim valid as of Dec 2020 and subject to change.

SOURCE BoxLunch
Space cybersecurity solutions provider selected to secure the "Outernet"

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- SpiderOak, the leader in complete cybersecurity solutions for next generation space systems, today announced that it has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to deliver the company's OrbitSecure zero-trust protocol on-orbit. The project will demonstrate end-to-end cybersecurity for the Department of Defense's future Hybrid Space Architecture, an initiative the U.S. Congress has begun referring to as the "Outernet" through legislation.

As commercial space companies continue delivering increasingly innovative capabilities at an unprecedented rate, the Pentagon grows more eager to incorporate these technologies while securing and defending these hybrid (mixed commercial and government) networks across multiple domains. With escalating threats from China and Russia, it is more critical than ever to ensure secure global, ubiquitous, and hybrid connectivity throughout the space domain for commercial, civil, and military users, including international allies and partners.

SpiderOak will demonstrate its OrbitSecure zero-trust software suite on-orbit to support DIU's development of a scalable architecture capable of communicating across government and commercial networks, while also remaining trusted and relevant in a dynamic threat environment. SpiderOak's contract with DIU is in collaboration with the United States Space Force Space Warfighting Analysis Center (SWAC).

SpiderOak's zero-trust OrbitSecure software was developed for 21st century space needs and is also backward compatible to the Space Force's existing on-orbit constellations. OrbitSecure will demonstrate an enhanced space-domain cyber resilience even when network hardware or application software has been compromised.

"Warfighters have identified cyber-attacks as the 'soft underbelly' of the satellites on which we depend for our defense and modern life," said John Moberly, Senior Vice President for Space, SpiderOak. "We are thrilled to be selected by DIU and SWAC and partnered with York Space Systems to secure this mission and we are very much looking forward to working with the other companies selected to support the entire Hybrid Space Architecture into the future. Jointly we are enabling a foundational layer of commercial industry and allied capabilities to ensure our national security is protected from the ground and from space."

About OrbitSecure

Designed to take zero-trust security to zero-gravity environments, OrbitSecure leverages a unique combination of no-knowledge encryption and distributed-ledger technology to meet the unique demands of cybersecurity in space. OrbitSecure utilizes a new fully decentralized key management system allowing for full availability and continued operations in space despite disconnected or highly contested networks. This new capability provides enhanced decentralized space resiliency to multi-vendor, multi-network, mesh proliferated low-Earth orbit networks by significantly reducing the attack surface and the ability of adversaries to jam, disrupt, modify, or contest space communications and satellite services.

About SpiderOak

SpiderOak is a U.S.-owned and operated software company that delivers end-to-end cybersecurity solutions for civil, military, and commercial space operations. Our commercially available products are built upon a foundation of zero-trust encryption and distributed ledger, ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of your most sensitive data in the space domain.

For more information about SpiderOak products, services, or business development opportunities, check us out at https://spideroak.com.

Editorial Contact

For inquiries, please call SpiderOak at (866) 432-9888 ext. 6 or write [email protected]

SOURCE SpiderOak Inc.
First-of-its-kind research provides key data and insights on the current state of the nonprofit sector in Baltimore.

BALTIMORE, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The T. Rowe Price Foundation today announced the release of its "2022 State of the Baltimore Nonprofit Sector" report, providing data and insights into the health and capacity of Baltimore's nonprofit community. The report details 10 key insights covering topics pertinent to sustaining effective organizations within the nonprofit sector, including partnerships, diversity, fundraising, technology, and more. This report is available for reading and downloading at https://events.troweprice.com/stateofthebaltimorenonprofitsector/home.

Those 10 key insights are:

Partnerships are the key to strong organizations. The nonprofit leadership pipeline remains tenuous at best. Effective capacity building requires organizations to dig deep into financial realities and sometimes face hard truths. To increase funding, organizations need dedicated staff and capacity to support it. The best expense is technology. When it comes to evaluation practices, it is better to focus on learning, not counting. There's a difference between having a strategic plan and being a strategic organization. Effective management can result in stronger programs and increased revenue streams. To achieve diversity in leadership, it's imperative to target recruitment and advancement efforts. Reimagine the governance structure.

The "State of the Baltimore Nonprofit Sector Report" is a result of years of collaboration between the T. Rowe Price Foundation and dozens of community partners throughout the city of Baltimore. Findings presented within the report results from a compilation of a variety of sources, including an economic analysis conducted by SeaChange Capital Partners, a review of iCAT (Impact Capacity Assessment Tool), and fundraising audit data submitted by several dozen organizations throughout Baltimore since 2016, which also includes analyses of financial audit and 990 data and feedback from local nonprofit leaders and staff using the Race to Lead (RacetoLead.org) and Daring to Lead survey tools.

To analyze the financial health of the nonprofit sector in Baltimore, the T. Rowe Price Foundation engaged SeaChange Capital Partners to review data from 1,723 of the city's nonprofit organizations that electronically filed their 990 forms in one or more years from 2014 to 2019. Aside from year-over-year comparisons of select metrics, the analysis mostly focused on 2019 990 data submitted by a core group of 731 organizations with total expenses of $2.7 billion. More than half of these organizationsboth by number and total expensesare in the health and human services or community capacity sectors. Of these 731 organizations, almost two-thirds had expenses less than $1 million.

Beginning in 2015, the T. Rowe Price Foundation began engaging with community-based leaders throughout the city of Baltimore to understand how they hoped to make positive change. Through these conversations, Baltimore residents reported how much they loved their local nonprofits, respected their leaders, and wanted them to grow stronger. Recognizing that strong, local organizations with equally strong leaders are vital to creating and maintaining strong communities, the T. Rowe Price Foundation launched its Capacity Building Program, offering training in key areas local leaders had identified as the most important to them.

In 2022, the T. Rowe Price Foundation has engaged over 5,000 organizational leaders in Baltimore through the Foundation's Capacity Building Program. The program offers tailored trainings, focused cohorts, educational webinars, and organizational health assessments. The latter section, organizational health assessments, yielded tens of thousands of data points on the organizational health of many Baltimore nonprofit partners that formed the basis for the "State of the Baltimore Nonprofit Sector Report."

"We view the data in this report as a resource for the broader nonprofit and funder community in Baltimore and beyond. We hope that it helps our nonprofits develop strategies for future growth, enables grant-makers to develop better strategies to serve their grantees, and helps intermediaries think through stronger supports for their networks," said John Brothers, president of the T. Rowe Price Foundation. "We hope that this report supports a more robust sector conversation that moves our discussions toward an emphasis on the organizational health outcomes of our nonprofit sector, rather than the current overemphasis on program outcomes, while considering factors such as racial equity and nonprofit leadership. This is one of the most comprehensive case studies on the health of a city's nonprofit sector. We hope it will provide inspiration for others to investigate the health of the nonprofit sectors in their own cities, states, and regions."

Supporting partners for the "State of the Baltimore Nonprofit Sector Report" include SeaChange Capital Partners, Algorhythm, the Building Movement Project, and the Meyer Foundation.

ABOUT T. ROWE PRICE

Founded in 1937, Baltimore-based T. Rowe Price is a global investment management organization with $1.23 trillion in assets under management as of September 30, 2022. The organization provides a broad array of mutual funds, subadvisory services, and separate account management for individual and institutional investors, retirement plans, and financial intermediaries. The organization also offers a variety of sophisticated investment planning and guidance tools. T. Rowe Price's disciplined, risk-aware investment approach focuses on diversification, style consistency, and fundamental research. For more information, visit troweprice.com, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook.

ABOUT THE T. ROWE PRICE FOUNDATION

Founded in 1981, the T. Rowe Price Foundation is steadfastly committed to its mission of pursuing the long-term success of the communities in which T. Rowe Price associates live and work. The Foundation offers direct grants, a generous matching gift program, pro bono opportunities, and robust capacity-building programs for grantees and partners. The Foundation is one of the largest corporate philanthropies in Baltimore and Maryland, contributing more than $140 million since its inception to support local organizations dedicated to creating positive change.

The T. Rowe Price Foundation aims to be a strong collaborator in communities where T. Rowe Price associates live and work, and we believe that our partner organizations are best equipped to decide how their resources should be utilized. The Foundation champions trust-based philanthropy principles and partners with communities to measure impact through grant-making. Recognizing that meaningful, lasting change cannot happen overnight, the Foundation is deeply committed to the long-term success of its grantees and partners.

The Foundation partners with colleagues from across T. Rowe Price to advance the firm's corporate social responsibility and equity goals.

Learn more by visiting troweprice.com/foundation.

SOURCE T. Rowe Price Group, Inc.
Launches Phase 2 of the 'School of Hope and Empowerment' project in collaboration with The Better India; Expands reach to Bihar and Odisha States

MUMBAI, India, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tata Communications, a global digital ecosystem enabler, today launches Phase 2 of its 'School of Hope and Empowerment' (S.H.E) project intended to provide entrepreneurship education and professional guidance to 5 million women by 2024 across the states of Bihar and Odisha in India. Phase 1 of the project has motivated women to complete the education series and be empowered with knowledge and skills to set up and manage a business independently, ensuring access to quality education for all.

"The Phase 1 of School of Hope and Empowerment project has advanced the well-being of women in Jharkhand and empowered them to play a pivotal role in advancing their family and the larger community," said Aadesh Goyal, Chief Human Resources Officer, Tata Communications. "In Phase 2, we are now scaling up this project by 10X to help women in the States of Bihar and Odisha in India. Through this project, we are extending access to self-empowering learning modules, local support ecosystem and micro communities to bridge the rural and gender development gap."

Phase 1 of the project, launched at the 2021 UNESCO World Conference has surpassed its target and brought entrepreneurship education to over 1 million women in the state of Jharkhand in just 1 year well before the committed 3 years.

The empowered women of this project are an embodiment of courage and confidence, overcoming structural barriers including gender stereotypes, household responsibilities, financial constraints, social pressures. A multi-media, multi-stakeholder impact communications initiative, this project is designed in collaboration between Tata Communications and The Better India to support and educate women from rural parts of India. As reported in the Tata Communications Sustainable Development Report 2022, sustainability is built on the premise that positive economic results are possible when we effectively manage our environmental, social and governance (ESG) activities and is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG) in policy and practice. The School of Hope and Empowerment Project aligns with the UN SDG number 5 (Gender Equality) and number 8 (Economic Growth). It is empowering youth and rural communities (especially women) economically and socially through vocational, entrepreneurship and life skills training which enhance access to resources, new technology and financial services, there by supporting them in becoming active contributors to the economy.

To celebrate and recognise the success of phase 1 of this project, both partners have unveiled an education video series featuring real-life women entrepreneurs with their stories. One such story is that of Kalawati Kumari, a resident of village Kurumdegi in Simdega district of Jharkhand. A beneficiary of the project, she won a business grant to set up a flour mill which today she manages with her own funds. She also creates and fosters relationships with her customers and operates the flour mill. "The workshop trained on subjects like book-keeping of accounts, managing customer relations, shop environment, the importance of saving," said Kalawati.

For more information, please visit www.tatacommunications.com

About School of Hope and Empowerment (S.H.E.)

The School of Hope and Empowerment is a community initiative co-created and supported by Tata Communications which leverages mobile technology for equipping community members with the knowledge, skills and tools required to engage in sustainable livelihood choices. It is a multi-media, multi-channel, multi-stakeholder impact communication initiative that leverages the power of digital connectivity and partnerships to extend entrepreneurship education to women from remote geographies. Through this, our aim is to create enabling environments in which women can establish themselves as local leaders and entrepreneurs through inspiration, education and mentorship. It also includes examples where private sector investment, community-based organisations, NGOs and state livelihood missions come together to extend non-formal education while driving progress on other inter-connected SDGs (SDG 5 and 8).

About Tata Communications

A part of the Tata Group, Tata Communications (NSE: TATACOMM; BSE: 500483) is a global digital ecosystem enabler powering today's fast-growing digital economy in more than 190 countries and territories. Leading with trust, it enables digital transformation of enterprises globally with collaboration and connected solutions, core and next gen connectivity, cloud hosting and security solutions and media services. 300 of the Fortune 500 companies are its customers and the company connects businesses to 80% of the world's cloud giants. For more information, please visit www.tatacommunications.com

Forward-looking and cautionary statements

Certain words and statements in this release concerning Tata Communications and its prospects, and other statements, including those relating to Tata Communications' expected financial position, business strategy, the future development of Tata Communications' operations, and the general economy in India, are forward-looking statements. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including financial, regulatory and environmental, as well as those relating to industry growth and trend projections, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements of Tata Communications, or industry results, to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from such forward-looking statements include, among others, failure to increase the volume of traffic on Tata Communications' network; failure to develop new products and services that meet customer demands and generate acceptable margins; failure to successfully complete commercial testing of new technology and information systems to support new products and services, including voice transmission services; failure to stabilize or reduce the rate of price compression on certain of the company's communications services; failure to integrate strategic acquisitions and changes in government policies or regulations of India and, in particular, changes relating to the administration of Tata Communications' industry; and, in general, the economic, business and credit conditions in India. Additional factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from such forward-looking statements, many of which are not in Tata Communications' control, include, but are not limited to, those risk factors discussed in Tata Communications Limited's Annual Reports.

The Annual Reports of Tata Communications Limited are available at www.tatacommunications.com. Tata Communications is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements.

 2022 Tata Communications Ltd. All rights reserved.

TATA COMMUNICATIONS and TATA are trademarks or registered trademarks of Tata Sons Private Limited in India and certain countries.

SOURCE Tata Communications
GURGAON, India, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tdafoq Energy of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia has entered into a distribution and manufacturing license with Delectrik Systems of Gurgaon, India. Tdafoq Energy will exclusively sell Delectrik's Vanadium Redox Flow Battery products manufactured in India in the Gulf countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE). Tdafoq has also commenced to setup a local Flow Battery manufacturing plant in Saudi Arabia which will serve the Gulf region. The production plant in Saudi Arabia will be scaled to a GWh capacity by 2025. The partnership aims to become a global technology leader in the fast-growing stationary energy storage segment, supporting the Kingdom's Vision 2030 economic diversification objectives.

Delectrik Founder & CEO Vishal Mittal (left) with Tdafoq Founder Hajed Mohammad Hashan Vanadium Redox Flow Battery RFB200 series

Delectrik's products are based on patented stack and system design using a proven and mature Vanadium Redox Flow Battery chemistry. The company manufactures RFB10, RFB40 and RFB200 series of Vanadium Flow Batteries with 10 kWh, 40 kWh and 200 kWh capacity respectively. These systems are building blocks which can be connected to build even large systems of 100s of MWh. These systems are designed for use in residential, commercial, industrial and grid scale stationary Energy Storage applications. Delectrik is commercially selling these products in several regions such as USA, Australia, Western Europe, Middle East and India.

About Tdafoq

Tdafoq, a company established in 2021, based in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the vision of providing sustainable, clean and affordable energy systems to businesses and individuals. With the accelerating shift towards renewables and clean energy the need for long lasting, cost effective and safe storage systems has grown. Tdafoq promises to deliver on all these terms and even more with the innovative line of products from Delectrik, tailored to every sector's need and demands.

www.tdafoq.com

About Delectrik

Delectrik is an established vanadium redox flow battery OEM based in Gurgaon, India. The company has designed and manufactures VRFB systems from kW to MW scale. The products are designed to offer highly scalable and flexible decentralized electricity solutions for various stationary applications.

www.delectrik.com

For further enquiries contact:

Hajed Mohammad Hashan, Ph.D.

Founder

[email protected]

Vishal Mittal, Ph.D.

Founder & CEO

[email protected]

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1936128/Delectrik_Tdafoq.jpg

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1936127/RFB200.jpg

SOURCE Delectrik
~ strengthens senior roster and deepens consumer footprint~

BOSTON, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- TEAM LEWIS, the global marketing agency, welcomes Sam Mazzarelli as a Senior Vice President to its growing consumer practice. The role will serve as Head of the Boston office, as well as support global growth across integrated accounts.

For almost 20 years, Mazzarelli has worked for a range of agencies, serving clients across technology, hospitality, retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG). As Senior Vice President he led marketing programs for Nestle brand portfolios including San Pellegrino, Perrier, Essentia and Toll House, among others. His specialties include: innovation & product launches, corporate communications, integrated campaigns, partnerships, experiential marketing, celebrity & influencer engagement.

In addition to client growth and account management at TEAM LEWIS, Mazzarelli will also be responsible for team mentorship, operations and business development.

"Sam's varied client experience deepens and diversifies our reach across consumer sectors," said Noah Dye, Executive Vice President. "He brings a fresh perspective to our growing client roster and his expertise will strengthen our client engagement strategy."

"TEAM LEWIS is a creative agency in the consultancy space offering a host of marketing solutions across a range of B2B and B2C clients. I'm eager to build relationships and leverage my experience for the growth of the agency into new industry sectors," said Mazzarelli.

About TEAM LEWIS

TEAM LEWIS is a global marketing agency built to help and inspire brands to grow. It provides a full spectrum of marketing, communications and digital services to deliver tangible business impact for clients. The company has over 650 staff across 24 offices throughout Asia, Europe and North America. www.teamlewis.com.

Media contact:

Rachel Winship

Account Director

TEAM LEWIS

[email protected]

224-808-9002

SOURCE TEAM LEWIS
Mexico-based manufacturer is the newest move from TekniPlex to continue its expansion in molded fiber.

WAYNE, Pa., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- TekniPlex Consumer Products, a globally integrated provider of innovative solutions through materials science and manufacturing technologies, has acquired Empaques Moldeados de America Tecnologias S. de R.L. de C.V. (EMATEC), a Mexico-based manufacturer of molded fiber packaging solutions for eggs, produce, food service, and other fresh food items. Ematec's portfolio of sustainable molded cellulose pulp packaging solutions further strengthens TekniPlex's leading position as a materials-diverse solutions provider in the fresh foods industry.

Ematec Product collage

Molded fiber is a renewable bio-based material derived from 100% natural, typically-recycled paper and cardboard fibers, making it highly attractive to brands seeking to expand their bio-based packaging offerings. Ematec also offers a line of post-consumer recycled PET plastic containers such as egg cartons, clamshells, and others.

Following the acquisitions of Keyes and Fibro, acquiring Ematec adds to TekniPlex's substantial fiber-based solutions portfolio, and leverages its materials science insights and customer relationships. Overall, TekniPlex Consumer Products is becoming increasingly materials diverse, providing fresh foods companies with a broad range of packing and packaging solutions to help stand out in the perimeter of supermarkets.

"Ematec bolsters our commitment to leadership in the fresh foods and foodservice categories, reinforcing our strategy to focus on helping our customers win in the perimeter of the store," said Eldon Schaffer, CEO of TekniPlex Consumer Products. "Ematec has a solid reputation for developing and commercializing packaging solutions for the segments it serves, and we're proud to create a powerful fiber solution leveraging the combined strengths of Keyes, Fibro, Ematec, and TekniPlex."

Ematec's six facilities and 530 employees in Mexico strengthen TekniPlex's footprint in the Americas, adding to its existing locations in Mexico, North America, and Colombia, and providing additional manufacturing capacity and diversification capabilities to better serve its customer's needs.

The acquisition is the latest in a series of strategic moves by TekniPlex in the consumer goods space, especially in fresh food and foodservice solutions. It aims to boost the company's growth based on its "Sustainability And" approach, combining sustainability-minded materials science solutions with its customers' business needs such as product performance, supply assurance, competitiveness, and more. Ematec has been in business for over half a century, and has deep roots in the Americas.

About TekniPlex Consumer Products

TekniPlex Consumer Products specializes in advanced materials science solutions for companies in the food & beverage and CPG industries with a focus on protecting products, strengthening brands, and innovating sustainably. TekniPlex Consumer Products serves companies around the world in sectors including beauty and personal care, household items, and food and beverage.

With an expanding selection of material-diverse solutions  bolstered in recent years, by a series of strategic acquisitions  TekniPlex Consumer Products is leading the way creating next-generation packaging designs that address real-world challenges in the markets it serves. Most notably, the company is focused on developing more sustainable solutions that continue to provide product safety and consumer satisfaction. For more information, visit www.tekni-plex.com/consumer

SOURCE TekniPlex
45 locations serving 115 counties offer confidential application assistance, legal counseling and/or housing counseling services

AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Texas homeowners financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic after January 21, 2020, now have access to local in-person support from the Texas Homeowner Assistance Fund (TXHAF). The program has nearly $500 million dollars available statewide to help eligible Texans who are behind on mortgage payments, property taxes, property insurance, homeowner/condo association fees, and/or utility bills.

Texas Homeowner Assistance Fund has nearly $500 million dollars available statewide to help eligible Texans. Tweet this Soundbites: Bobby Wilkinson - TDHCA Executive Director Soundbites: Bobby Wilkinson - TDHCA Executive Director

The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) recently approved $18.5 million in contracts for 26 subrecipients across the state13 of which are already activatedto serve as local resources for application submission, housing counseling, and legal counseling. Application intake centers can submit applications on a homeowner's behalf, making it easier for people with disabilities, limited computer proficiency, or limited internet access to apply.

"Thank you to TDHCA for your hard work to ensure Texas homeowners have access to Texas Homeowners Assistance Fund resources," said Governor Greg Abbott. "With new local in-person support options across our state, eligible Texans will have greater access to assistance with critical mortgage, property tax and insurance, homeowner and condo fees, and utility bill needs. Working together, we are ensuring Texans can care for their families and continue to thrive in their communities."

"Our staff is working tirelessly to make sure as many Texans as possible know about TXHAF and have access to the resources they need to apply," said Bobby Wilkinson, TDHCA Executive Director. "By partnering with key organizations across the state, we're able to provide homeowners one-on-one personalized help from trained staff who live in or near their communities  people they can trust."

Each household can receive up to $65,000 in total assistance from TXHAF for mortgage payments, property taxes, property insurance, homeowner/condo association fees, and/or utility bills. Among the requirements for eligibility, homeowners must have experienced financial hardship after January 21, 2020, due to the pandemic and have household income at or below 100% of the Area Median Income (AMI) or United States median income, whichever is greater.

"The pandemic really hurt my grandfather. He's 84 years old. He got COVID and had a lot of health issues  he almost passed away. He had a franchise company and couldn't work, so he lost a lot of money," said Jessie Spillman, who lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. "I'm really grateful for this program. We were able to help my two nephews and my grandfather keep their home."

Since its launch, TXHAF has assisted more than 20,000 households and distributed more than $200 million. Approximately 72% of those funds were for mortgage assistance, 26% for property tax assistance, and the remainder for insurance premiums and utilities.

For a full list of intake centers, housing counseling, and legal counseling services, visit TexasHomeownerAssistance.com/find-help/. Full program details, an eligibility screening tool, Applicant Success Checklist, program dashboard, and online application are available at TexasHomeownerAssistance.com. For all other questions, a toll-free multi-language call center is available at 833-651-3874 Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.- 6 p.m.

About the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs

The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs is committed to expanding fair housing choice and opportunities for Texans through the administration and funding of affordable housing and homeownership opportunities, weatherization, and community-based services with the help of for-profits, nonprofits, and local governments. For more information about fair housing, funding opportunities, or services in your area, please visit www.tdhca.state.tx.us or the Learn about Fair Housing in Texas page.

SOURCE Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs
WASHINGTON, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Doughboy Foundation today invited all Americans to participate in Bells of Peace 2022: A World War One Remembrance on Veterans Day, November 11, 2022, 11 a.m. local, in tandem with Bells Of Peace @ The National WWI Memorial in Washington, D.C. Special guest at the D.C. ceremony will be retired U.S. Army General Barry McCaffrey.

A sailor from the Naval History and Heritage Command prepares to ring a historic ships bell at the National World War I Memorial in Washington, DC as part of the annual Bells of Peace ceremony on November 11, 2022, 11:00 a.m. EST. Bells of Peace is sponsored by the Doughboy Foundation in honor of all those who served and sacrificed in WWI, all veterans, and all active-duty military personnel. General Barry McCaffrey, U.S. Army (Retired)

Bells of Peace @ the National WWI Memorial, will begin at 10:45 a.m. EST, with remarks by General McCaffrey, and a wreath ceremony. At 11 a.m. the U.S. Navy will toll a ship's bell 21 times in remembrance of all those who served and sacrificed in WWI, all veterans, and all active-duty military personnel. "Echoing Taps" by Taps for Veterans, will then sound from multiple buglers who will play Taps from different corners of the WWI Memorial concluding with a moment of silence and a reading. If you are in DC, you are invited to join the commemoration at the National WWI Memorial, located at Pennsylvania Avenue between 14th Street and 15th Street NW, across from the White House Visitor Center. Please arrive before 10:30am.

For the LIVE STREAM from the WWI Memorial on 11/11 starting at 10:30 a.m. EST: https://youtube.com/c/TheDoughboyFoundation

Now in its 5th year, Bells of Peace are tolled nationwide by local groups and organizations signing up at https://BellsOfPeace.org/register, and holding ceremonies at churches, veterans cemeteries, schools, veterans organization posts, parks and more, tolling the Bells of Peace at 11am, local time on November 11.

If they do not have a bell to toll, The Doughboy Foundation has provided a free Bells of Peace Participation App that will toll bells from a selection of bell sounds with one or many smartphones tolling together. Search Bells of Peace in the Android or iOS App stores, or find links here: https://bellsofpeace.org/app.

"Bells of Peace" was created in 2018 by the U.S. WWI Centennial Commission and the Doughboy Foundation, in collaboration with the Society of the Honor Guard, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (SHGTUS) to commemorate the November 11th, 100-year anniversary of the World War I Armistice.

The Doughboy Foundation has since promoted "Bells of Peace" as an annual remembrance of the 11th hour (local), of the 11th day, of the 11th month, when in 1918 the guns fell silent, and bells tolled on the Western Front after four years of brutal combat. Though its roots are in WWI, "Bells of Peace" has kicked off many thousands of remembrance gatherings on Veterans Day morning, honoring all those who serve and have served our nation in the name of freedom and Democracy.

Since 2018, tens of thousands of participants have included individuals, families, state capitols, city halls, houses of worship, military installations, museums, cemeteries, schools, veteran posts, war memorials, and others, tolling the bells anywhere that Americans gather to honor their veterans. (See the Participants Wall going back to 2018!) Register your Bells of Peace participation at https://BellsOfPeace.org/register.

CONTACT

[email protected]

For more information about BELLS OF PEACE 2022, visit: https://bellsofpeace.org/index.php/about.

The Doughboy Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization incorporated in the District of Columbia in 2013 under the name of the "United States Foundation for the Commemoration of the World Wars." The Foundation has as its vision to Keep Faith with the American Doughboy. https://doughboy.org

No bell? No problem! Those that wish to participate but have no bell, search your Android or iOS app stores for "Bells of Peace" or get the links from https://bellsofpeace.org/app

SOURCE The Doughboy Foundation
NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A self taught home cook and mother of two from New Jersey, Tara (@aldentediva 1.9 million followers) who first took to social media to share easy recipes for everyday people and overwhelmed moms is now a Netflix star. With the goal of inspiring people to make delicious recipes for the whole family and gain confidence in the kitchen, the Italian mom's following quickly grew to millions. From her viral Tiktok to becoming one of the top performing creators on Pinterest's Golden Recipe Contests, to her Netflix debut on Easy-Bake Battle, she continues to expand to new horizons. Her community can't get enough of hearty meal ideas, and now fans get to buy her newly released cookbook.

With over 1.9 million followers total, Tara has become a master of multiple social media platforms, more specifically Pinterest. With her first 30 minute live on the platform being a part of the Creator Council for Pinterest's Golden Recipe Contest, Tara's fans jumped on the chance to watch a live cooking demonstration and have specific recipe questions answered in live time from Tara herself. This was the top performing live from the campaign with 85k views. Since incorporating Pinterest TV live episodes, her page is now receiving over 10 million monthly views, as her audience from other platforms are coming over to check out these fun and interactive lives.

"When you watch Tara's content, you feel like you are sitting at her family table eating the most delicious food." Tweet this

Not only does Tara emphasize the convenience and simplicity of creating delicious and hearty recipes, but it's also her creative twists on classic recipes like her slider burgers as well as this dish for Easter brunch. It's her quick tips like this as well as creative and easy to make meals that further landed her on the Netflix new cooking competition show Easy-Bake Battle, which has home cooks competing for a cash prize in creating the fastest, easiest and most delicious foods/snacks. See a sneak peak of Tara's Broccoli Chaffle here!

With so much of her audience asking for full recipe details and instructions after seeing her mouth-water results through TikTok, IG, and Instagram, Tara released her highly demanded cookbook FAST. SIMPLE. DELICIOUS. : 60 No-Fuss, No-Fail Comfort Food Recipes to Amp Up Your Week. Tara recognized the problem that most cookbooks had which was that they aren't meant for people with a tight schedule and not a lot of time to cook that day, and that no one was making a cookbook for busy moms looking to cook for their family in a time crunch!

"When you watch Tara's content, you feel like you are sitting at her family table eating the most delicious food," says her agent and President of The Digital Renegades, Christina Brennan. "I began working with Tara when she had just 100,000 followers and I have watched her grow to become one of the most dynamic creators home cooks on social media and now beyond!"

Tara has two boys but the youngest , Dominic, loves being in the kitchen just like his mom. Dominic is featured in many of Tara's videos as her little helper and more times than not steals the show.

Tara has worked with some of the largest brands in the food space such as Kingsford, Walmart, Sam's Club and more - and with the holiday season underway the New Jersey mom's content is continuing to get incredible engagement. For more information on working with Tara, please contact Christina Brennan at [email protected].

Contact: William Martin, [email protected]

SOURCE CelebExperts
This powerful philanthropic alliance will raise funds for the Ricky Martin Foundation during the GCF Gala

RAS AL KHAIMAH, UAE, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- With only 15-days before the Global Citizen Forum (GCF) unveils its 2022 Annual Summit on November 16-17, Ricky Martin and the Ricky Martin Foundation join an exciting line-up of global changemakers, celebrities, and organizations driven to unlock opportunities to create a better world. And you can be part of the unforgettable experience too. Secure your spot today and prepare for a truly inspiring event.

The Global Citizen Forum Brings Global Superstar and Humanitarian Ricky Martin to Ras Al Khaimah

Internationally acclaimed philanthropist, artist, and author Ricky Martin believes in inclusivity, and that all rights are human rights. With Martin at the helm, the Ricky Martin Foundation has educated, protected and advocated for vulnerable communities for over two decades and has hopes for the world to be a better place for children for all generations to come. The foundation has long been recognized as a leading force in the fight against human trafficking, as well as for its immediate humanitarian response following natural disasters both in Puerto Rico and around the world.

Joining the Summit as a guest speaker, Mr. Martin comments: "I look forward to joining the mission at Global Citizen Forum and being part of an important event that is helping shape the future for the next generation. With our aligned vision, our alliance to raise funds for the Ricky Martin Foundation will come at a critical time in the world where we need to unite"

Human Metamorphosis is the first chapter of the much anticipated 3-year GCF Annual Summit in Ras Al Khaimah. It is set to be an empowering and immersive experience curated to offer an authentic expression of global citizenship catalyzed by the evolution of humanity and will cover a diverse range of topics  from global economics and the escalating refugee crisis, to empowering female leadership and unlocking technological advances for human health and wellness.

Talimka Yordanova, CEO of the Global Citizen Forum, said: "We are thrilled to welcome an extraordinary line-up of dignitaries, delegates, and attendees in Ras Al Khaimah for this year's Annual Summit which will catalyze profound discussions that advance human progress for all individuals across the globe  and truly value the incredible work driven by the Ricky Martin Foundation which will further allow us to extend the reach and impact of our mission."

In addition to raising funds for the Ricky Martin Foundation, the GCF Gala will feature a fundraiser auction to support UNHCR projects across the globe, as well as the Global Gift Foundation. Last year, the Gala honored Eva Longoria and the Eva Longoria Foundation their incredible work with women in underprivileged communities and her commitment to change the narrative on their untapped potential.

Follow GCF and join the social conversations via www.globalcitizenforum.org | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Linkedin | YouTube

#GCF2022 #GCFRAK #HumanMetamorphosis #VisitRasAlKhaimah

About Ricky Martin Foundation

The Ricky Martin Foundation (RMF) believes in inclusivity, and that all rights are human rights. Through programs and partnerships, it educates, protects and advocates for vulnerable communities, and will leave the world a better place for our children. RMF denounces human trafficking and educates about its existence through research and community initiatives. Because the risk of human trafficking is tremendously heightened after any natural disaster, for almost two decades, the RMF team have also been front lines responders, helping to ensure the safety of vulnerable children and families.

About Global Citizen Forum

The Global Citizen Forum is a Canadian non-profit organization driven by a global community of leaders and catalyzers unlocking the potential of global citizenship. Through a series of curated events and experiences, GCF's membership-based community gathers from across the globe for their Annual Summit to bridge dialogue with action for traceable, transparent, and measurable impact.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1935258/Ricky_Martin.jpg

SOURCE Global Citizen Forum
WILMINGTON, Del., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Reliance Tactical was founded to train people in the responsible, defensive use of firearms. In a recent report by the Crime Prevention Research Center, it was shown that armed citizens stopped at least 34% of active shooter attacks. Amidst rising crime and anxiety over safety, Reliance owner, Kevin O'Shaughnessy, offers concealed carry classes, beginner pistol, advanced pistol, defensive rifle, simulator shooting, and private sessions that cover anything the student wants to learn.

Kevin OShaughnessy Kevin OShaughnessy

Anyone who is willing to learn, and disciplined to practice can learn safe gun handling, the enjoyment of shooting, defensive use of firearms, as well as the responsibilities and constitutional implications of firearm ownership, Kevin believes.

There were all of two students in his first Delaware concealed carry class. One of those students, Glenn, wrote, "I took the concealed carry class, and learned more in this class than in a previous class taught by older pros. The class was interspersed with shooting skills and shooting for fun, with practicing loading, unloading, fixing jams and misfires. Excellent class taught by a competent instructor."

Since that first class, Kevin has trained more than 400 people in dozens of classes. Included in his teaching repertoire is an exceptional knowledge of laws applying to gun ownership and shooting. Kevin is NRA-certified, and a State of Delaware- and State of Maryland-approved concealed carry instructor. He strives to give students the very best knowledge and instruction in firearm use in a fun, safe environment.

While he can (literally) hit a fly on a target, he recognizes that there is much more to being a firearms instructor. Kevin is a diligent student, always trying to improve his knowledge and skills. He is highly proficient with defensive shooting techniques as he has studied under law enforcement veterans, as well as nationally renowned organizations: Warrior Poet Society, Tactical Response, and Defensive Training International. Readers who would like to learn more about Kevin's training and the journey that led him to establish Reliance Tactical can read his interview on The Sunday Review .

Simulator drills are the newest training offered, making Reliance Tactical unique in the local training cadre. It is an economical way to practice since it requires no ammunition, but gives the student the realistic feel of a gun. The student can safely practice moving and shooting without putting anyone in harm's way. There are a variety of scenarios where the student has to develop judgment as to when to shoot a bad guy or when to hold back. Students who are anxious about live fire, or who want to practice in a variety of settings benefit from the simulator.

One student, Caroline said, "I had never been around guns before my class with Kevin. I was a bit nervous, but once he started, I felt at ease. Safety was a priority right from the beginning. Kevin was extremely knowledgeable and had an answer to every question. If you're curious about guns and want to gain some experience, Kevin is your guy. It was a lot of fun too!"

Media Contact:

Joe Hummel

302-545-3123

[email protected]

SOURCE The Sunday Review
KYIV, Ukraine, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - TIU Canada, a leading solar energy producer in Ukraine, is donating generators to Ukrainians affected by the electricity blackouts. These fuel operated generators will provide electricity to Ukrainian families in Nikopol and other cities affected by the war. Company CEO Michael Yurkovich said, "At TIU Canada we produce electricity on a large scale, and while our solar stations continue operating during the war, the attacks on the energy infrastructure are sometimes preventing our electricity from getting to the people. That is why the best way to help Ukrainians now is to fill the gap by providing small generators to produce electricity". The generators are being delivered to reliable NGO partners.

In addition, TIU Canada will be donating supplies to Ukrainians in need, including hundreds of flashlights, sleeping mats, and post operative medical kits. These humanitarian and medical supplies are being shipped to Ukraine and will arrive this month. The donations are part of TIU Canada's ongoing corporate social responsibility efforts in the communities where it works.

"We believe in Ukraine and that is why we are providing this support now when the country is in need. We are also supportive of the Canadian government's efforts to help Ukraine including the recent announcement by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the government is providing $55 million to assist with winterization needs. Our efforts will complement that Canadian government efforts at the local level" said Yurkovich.

TIU Canada is owned by the Calgary based Refraction Fund 1 and has been working in Ukraine since 2016. The company currently operates 54 megawatts of electricity production in three solar stations. TIU Canada has invested more than $65 million USD in Ukrainian solar energy and was the first investor in Ukraine under the Canadian Ukrainian Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA).

Web site www.tiucanada.ca

SOURCE TIU Canada
159 technology products earned a spot on the new TrustRadius Best Software List based on recent trusted, unbiased user feedback and sentiment serving a specific business' market size.

AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- TrustRadius, the most-trusted research and review platform, announces 159 Best Software List award winners for 2022. The first-annual TrustRadius Best Software List enables B2B software buyers to self-serve by providing important product information for their business' market size and needs.

2022 TrustRadius Best Software List Overall Badge

The needs of a small business and an enterprise are vastly different. TrustRadius earns 17.8 million impressions a month on category-level market-specific searches, so identifying which business size the product is for is essential. That's why the Best Software List is broken down into four sections: Best for Enterprise, Best for Mid-Sized Businesses, Best for Small Businesses, and the full Best Software List. Market size-specific badges will be displayed on TrustRadius' product pages to help buyers make intelligent software-buying decisions for their business size.

"Buying the right technology for your unique business context is challenging. This year we've organized our Best Software List by market-size segment to help buyers narrow down their searchproviding all recent, relevant, and trusted product information at their fingertips. This is all part of our mission to be the most-trusted decisioning platform for business technology buyers," said TrustRadius Founder and CEO, Vinay Bhagat.

Winning products had 40+ reviews generated between October 1, 2021, and September 30, 2022, and a trScore of 7.5 or higher. This ensures buyers are getting the most recent user feedback and sentiment that is unbiased and trustworthy.

"The value of this award is in the combination of a large sample size of reviews and business size segmentation," said Megan Headley, Vice President of Research. "Our commitment to unbiased customer feedback is apparent in the Best Software List. These badges truly give software buyers confidence that the product they're evaluating has high customer satisfaction and plenty of peer feedback on TrustRadius to help them make the best decision."

Our commitment to building trust by providing buyers with unbiased, vetted product information means there is no pay-to-play here. Any product that meets the requirements mentioned above will be recognized. Check out the Best Software List with all winners or view the winners by market size that they're best suited for: Best for Enterprise , Best for Mid-Sized Business , and Best for Small Business

About TrustRadius:

TrustRadius is the most-trusted research and review platform for business leaders to find and select the right software for their needs. Decision-makers across industries rely on verified, peer-based guidance and research from TrustRadius. Vendors engage and convert high-intent buyers by telling their unique story through rich reviews. Over 12 million visitors a year create and engage with high-quality review content and data on Trustradius.com. Headquartered in Austin, TX, TrustRadius was founded by successful entrepreneurs and is backed by Mayfield Fund, LiveOak Venture Partners, and Next Coast Ventures.

SOURCE TrustRadius, Inc.
AS THE LATEST ADDITION TO THE OCEAN MASTER COLLECTION, THE MEGA MAX OFFERS THE MOST EXPANSIVE SHADE EXPERIENCE EVER PRESENTED BY TUUCI

MIAMI , Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tuuci, the Miami-based creator of outdoor shade structures including parasols and cabanas, introduces its biggest parasol yet, the Ocean Master MEGA MAX Classic. With sizes ranging from 16 to 24 feet and engineered to withstand wind gusts up to 75MPH, the MEGA MAX defines a new scale of parasols and suits all large outdoor space shade needs.

Tuucis Ocean Master MEGA MAX Classic Tuucis Ocean Master MEGA MAX Classic

The Ocean Master MEGA MAX allows multiple tables or lounge areas to be easily shaded with a single shade device, opening the possibilities for flex and multi-use spaces. The expansive shade structure is well suited for commercial and hospitality applications, quick service restaurants, multi-family, theme park, educational institutions, and residential settings. Available in a selection of colors and finishes to complement the desired setting, the MEGA MAX provides the ability to deliver varied experiences easily and quickly throughout the day and night.

"Tuuci's passion is to create comfort and accessibility in the harshest environments on earth. Our mission is now more complete with the new Ocean Master MEGA MAX offering. Focusing on engineering and robust design, while leaning into our marine roots, has allowed us to create a shade structure that is a well-intentioned and elegant element for the ultimate outdoor destination," said Dougan Clarke, Tuuci's Founder, CEO and Chief Product Architect.

In addition to utilizing several core Tuuci performance elements in its construction, the MEGA MAX brings innovations such as the stainless steel bracketed hub system and stainless steel hinged anchor plate to life. These new advancements provide enhanced strength and stability to the core of the parasol and ease during installation, as the massive parasol is secured in place prior to tilting upward. Combining well established and new features has helped to create Tuuci's largest and strongest parasol yet.

Tailoring the outdoor experience and creating a customized atmosphere under the MEGA MAX is a breeze with integrated lighting and heating options. The dual Ambia LED light offers independent dimmable up and down light, while the adjustable infra-red heaters pivot to efficiently and directly warm objects below the canopy, not simply the surrounding air. This smart heating system features a micro-switch that automatically turns power off when the umbrella frame is closed. As a bonus, when selecting the heating system, the dual Ambia LED light is automatically included.

For more information on the Ocean Master MEGA MAX Classic, visit www.tuuci.com or a dealer near you.

About Tuuci

For nearly a quarter century, Tuuci  has revolutionized outdoor spaces with durable, innovative shade platforms featuring nautically inspired designs. Founded by Dougan Clarke in 1998, The Ultimate Umbrella Company, Inc., (simply known as "Tuuci"), was born from seaside roots in Miami, Florida where Dougan began his career as a marine outfitter for high performance yachts.

With a keen eye on design and a passion for form and function, Dougan applied his craftsmanship to the shade industry to create Tuuci's unique brand of marine grade, shade architecture. Today, Tuuci's distinctive, award-winning shade designs and furnishings may be experienced around the world and are sought by leading design professionals within the architectural and residential design community.

Tuuci's primary manufacturing campus is in Miami, Florida and serves as the company's global headquarters. The organization maintains two additional, wholly owned manufacturing centers in Northern Europe and Southeast Asia providing localized customer service including fully integrated internal sales teams and distribution support across each continent.

Tuuci's sense of community is a cornerstone of the company's foundation, providing charitable outreach across a host of environmental and humanitarian concerns. The company's mission is to help people live their best life outdoors through inspiring design, enduring performance, and convivial service.

Press Contact: Marisa Jones Issa, Hello PR Group

Phone: +1 (323) 989-2925

Email: ma[email protected]

SOURCE TUUCI
CLEVELAND, Nov. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- UBIZ Venture Capital, in partnership with the Urban League of Greater Cleveland, held the Business Legacy Award Reception and launched the Business Growth Institute (BGI), at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

Lonnie Coleman , President and CEO of the Coleman Spohn Corp. whose construction projects include Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center.

, President and CEO of the Coleman Spohn Corp. whose construction projects include Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center. Mel Pye , President and CEO of Fairfax Place, which provides cutting edge healthcare services in partnership with local hospitals to residents in a 100-bed facility.

, President and CEO of Fairfax Place, which provides cutting edge healthcare services in partnership with local hospitals to residents in a 100-bed facility. Anthony E. Smith (posthumously) and his wife Vanessa Whiting , the CEO of A.E.S. Management Corp., and the owner and operator of 15 Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen locations in Northeast Ohio .

(posthumously) and his wife , the CEO of A.E.S. Management Corp., and the owner and operator of 15 Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen locations in . Tilmon Brown , the chairman of Norwalk, Ohio -based, New Horizons Baking Co. is a McDonald's supplier that produces soft sandwich buns and English muffins to more than 5,000 quick-service restaurants, grocery stores and food service providers nationwide. Tilmon has also been inducted into the "Bakers Hall of fame", the first African American to be selected by the American Society of Baking.

The Business Growth Institute is an initiative to sustain legacy Black businesses in our community. The Institute will also develop more Black-owned businesses in high growth sectors, such as renewable energy, software development, and advanced manufacturing with the potential to generate $1 Million in revenue or more each year.

"Black-owned businesses are critical to the U.S. economy, especially here in Northeast Ohio, but they often lack access to capital and resources for growth," said David Allen, Market Team Lead for Northern Ohio at J.P. Morgan Private bank. "JPMorgan Chase's investment will help strengthen the region's workforce, community and local economy."

"Highlighting these companies is a perfect way to celebrate their excellence and share ways we can create more similar successful companies through the Business Growth Institute," said Michael Obi, President of UBIZ Venture Capital. "We are very grateful for funding from JPMorgan Chase totaling $500,000, which speaks volume to its commitment to closing the wealth gap in the black community." Obi added that Key Bank also invested $100,000 to launch the Institute, in addition to its support of UBIZ's economic development efforts since its inception.

Contact:

Michael Obi, [email protected]; 440-212-2567

SOURCE Urban League of Greater Cleveland
NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Task Force on Inequality-related Financial Disclosures (TIFD), a global collaborative effort to develop a systemic risk management framework that can reduce socio-economic inequality created by the private sector, today announced that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has joined the Interim Secretariat.

The announcement will be formally made at TIFD's second Global Allies Meeting on November 3, where TIFD stakeholders from civil society, financial institutions, companies, academia, and governments will gather to learn about updates on the development of TIFD and deliberate on next steps based on lessons from other frameworks.

Established in 2021, the TIFD Interim Secretariat comprises the Argentine Network for International Cooperation (RACI), Predistribution Initiative (PDI), Rights CoLab, the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies (SCIS), and now the UNDP. Each of these organizations has experience working with a variety of stakeholder groups, including investors, to address inequality. The Interim Secretariat continues to evaluate opportunities to integrate diverse representation into the governance of the framework.

The broader TIFD coalition also includes the 70+ organizations that have signed on as TIFD Allies, signaling their support for TIFD's work. Allies and other stakeholders may also choose to participate in one or more working groups. The growing list of TIFD Allies is available at https://thetifd.org/tifd-allies .

"UNDP brings an important perspective on international development and the diverse economic needs of communities around the world, including through their leadership in helping countries make progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)," said the TIFD Interim Secretariat in a joint statement. "Additionally, UNDP's experience working with policymakers and regulators, as well as through international partnerships, makes them an ideal partner in TIFD's work to build the broad coalition of market actors needed to co-create a TIFD framework."

"We are excited to work with TIFD to explore how inequality-related risks can quickly translate to business risks and develop tools to help manage and reduce these systemic risks from negatively impacting corporates and investors," said Marcos Neto, Director at UNDP's Sustainable Finance Hub.

Additionally, Pedro Conceicao, Director of the Human Development Report Office at UNDP, remarked: "Firms, workers, and governments share an interest in operating in social contexts where people can thrive and feel secure. This is reflected, for instance, in many social insurance initiatives, to which all three contribute, so that people can better cope with economic volatility. With some inequalities in human development persisting or increasing, it is timely to have a reflection on the implications of these inequalities for financial risk, as well as on how to account for and disclose these risks."

TIFD is inspired by similar efforts to address climate-related risks via the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and nature-related risks via the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), and aims to be interoperable with these frameworks, as well as other leading frameworks including the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).

Alongside investors, companies, and other stakeholders, TIFD is intentionally engaging with those most affected by inequality, particularly civil society organizations and individuals representing marginalized groups across both the Global North and Global South. To drive progress beyond disclosure, TIFD will also provide guidance on thresholds, targets, and metrics for companies and investors to measure and manage their impacts on inequality and inequality's effects on company and investor performance.

The TIFD framework will help businesses, investors, regulators, policymakers and other market actors to identify enterprise-level risks, systemic and systematic risks, and salient human rights risks. This inclusive design process ensures that TIFD will be able to adapt to different stakeholder needs and interpretations of materiality as the market evolves.

Learn more about TIFD at www.thetifd.org and register to meet us at the November 3rd Global Allies Meeting .

About TIFD

TIFD was conceived in 2020 to meet the market need for a systemic risk management framework that can help reduce inequality created by the private sector. TIFD will provide guidance on thresholds, targets, and metrics for companies and investors to measure and manage their inequality-related risks, including a focus on how inequality affects company performance, how inequality contributes to market-wide system-level risks and therefore affects investor performance, and how private sector activity can exacerbate inequality.

About UNDP

UNDP is the leading United Nations organization fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality, and climate change. Working with our broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries, we help nations to build integrated, lasting solutions for people and planet.

Media Contact

17 Communications

Dmitriy Ioselevich

[email protected]

SOURCE Task Force on Inequality-related Financial Disclosures (TIFD)
The Legendary Catalog Includes All-Time Best-Selling Single "White Christmas," "Anything You Can Do," "Blue Skies," "Cheek To Cheek," "How Deep Is The Ocean," "It's A Lovely Day Today," "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm," "Let's Face The Music And Dance," "Puttin' On The Ritz," "Steppin' Out With My Baby,", "There's No Business Like Show Business" and more

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG), Universal Music Group's leading global music publishing division, today announced an exclusive global publishing agreement to represent the iconic song catalog of Irving Berlin. The deal builds upon UMPG's existing relationship with Berlin's estate as the company has served as his catalog administrator, ex-US, since 2012.

Irving Berlin

Lauded as one of the greatest songwriters in American history, Berlin composed more than 1,500 songs over his 60-year career, from ballads and dance numbers, to love songs and Broadway scores. Under the expanded agreement, UMPG will represent Berlin's catalog of renowned classics including "Anything You Can Do," "Blue Skies," "Cheek To Cheek," "How Deep Is The Ocean," "It's A Lovely Day Today," "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm," "Let's Face The Music And Dance," "Puttin' On The Ritz," "Steppin' Out With My Baby," "The Song Is Ended (But The Melody Lingers On)," "There's No Business Like Show Business," Guinness World Records' longtime best-selling single "White Christmas," and more.

Evan Lamberg, President of North America, UMPG, said: "I've been in the music publishing business my entire working life. It doesn't get any better than UMPG having the honor of representing the timeless cultural songs of Irving Berlin, as well as working with the wonderful Irving Berlin family and Estate."

"The family of Irving Berlin enthusiastically welcomes the expansion of their 10 year relationship with Universal Music Publishing Group and looks forward to continued collaboration as the exclusive global music publisher for Irving Berlin's extensive catalog" said Mary G Campbell of JPMorgan, on behalf of the legendary songwriter's estate.

In support of the expanded agreement and to help drive maximized value for Berlin's legacy, UMPG created https://www.irvingberlinsync.com , a custom Film & TV industry site focused on showcasing Berlin's expansive and iconic catalog. The site strategically uses themed playlists and intuitive tagging to empower sync clients to discover the perfect Irving Berlin song for any audiovisual usage.

Additionally, UMPG will act as representatives for the Berlin estate's brand and social marketing efforts. The global music publisher has launched dedicated social channels including a new Tik Tok page to support Berlin's legacy and songbook, empowering new generations of fans around the world to continue connecting with his timeless music.

Tom Foster, SVP of Film & TV Europe, UMPG, added: "Irving Berlin is quite simply one of the greats. His songs, laced with romance and wit, continue to inspire generations young and old. I'm delighted the Irving Berlin family have chosen UMPG as the caretaker of these songs."

Supplementing his historic musical success, Berlin composed 19 Broadway shows and 18 Hollywood films including White Christmas, Holiday Inn and Top Hat. Proving that great songs stand the test of time, Berlin's music has been featured in films and shows like Home Alone, Titanic, The Simpsons, Spider Man 3 and Downton Abbey. Among numerous honors from throughout his life, Berlin won eight Academy Award nominations, multiple Tony Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, induction into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame, the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His timeless songs have been covered by generations of music's biggest acts including Lady Gaga, Frank Sinatra, Taylor Swift, Bing Crosby, Paul McCartney, Gregory Porter, Ella Fitzgerald, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Aretha Franklin, Doris Day, Judy Garland, Nat King Cole, Barbra Streisand, Michael Buble, Cher, Diana Ross, and Celine Dion, to name just a few.

For more information on Irving Berlin, visit www.irvingberlin.com

About Universal Music Publishing Group

Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) is a leading global music publisher with 51 offices in 41 countries. Headquartered in Los Angeles, UMPG represents music across every genre from some of the world's most important songwriters and catalogs. These include ABBA, Adele, Alabama Shakes, Bad Bunny, J Balvin, Bastille, Beach Boys, Beastie Boys, Bee Gees, Louis Bell, Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein, Jeff Bhasker, Justin Bieber, Benny Blanco, Nicholas Britell, Chris Brown, Tommy Brown, Mariah Carey, Brandi Carlile, Michael Chabon, Kenny Chesney, Desmond Child, Cirkut, The Clash, Coldplay, Luke Combs, Alexandre Desplat, Jason Derulo, Neil Diamond, Disclosure, Dua Lipa, Bob Dylan, Billie Eilish, Danny Elfman, Eminem, Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Omer Fedi, Florence + the Machine, Future, Martin Garrix, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Al Green, Josh Groban, Halsey, Kid Harpoon, Emile Haynie, Jimi Hendrix, Don Henley, H.E.R., Hit-Boy, Sam Hunt, Imagine Dragons, Carly Rae Jepsen, Tobias Jesso Jr., Billy Joel, Elton John/Bernie Taupin, Joe Jonas, Nick Jonas, Alicia Keys, Kendrick Lamar, Lil Baby, Lil Yachty, Linkin Park, Logic, Demi Lovato, the Mamas & the Papas, Steve Mac, Maroon 5, Dave Matthews, Megan Thee Stallion, Shawn Mendes, Metallica, Metro Boomin, Julia Michaels, Miguel, Nicki Minaj, Maren Morris, Mumford & Sons, Nas, Randy Newman, New Order, Ne-Yo, Nija, Pearl Jam, Post Malone, Quavo, Otis Redding, R.E.M., Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rex Orange County, Lionel Richie, Rosalia, Carole Bayer Sager, Gustavo Santaolalla, Schoolboy Q, Sex Pistols, Carly Simon, Blake Slatkin, Britney Spears, Stax (East Memphis Music), Sting, Harry Styles, Swedish House Mafia, Taylor Swift, SZA, Justin Timberlake, Shania Twain, U2, Keith Urban, The Weeknd, Jack White, Frank Zappa, Zedd and many more.

SOURCE Universal Music Publishing Group
VALLEY FORGE, Pa., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Vanguard Global Environmental Opportunities Stock Fund is now available for investment. Starting today, investors can purchase shares during a two-week subscription period. The fund will begin pursuing its investment objective on November 16, 2022.

Managed by Ninety One North America, Inc., the fund takes a structured, research-driven approach to investing that targets companies seeking to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon world. Portfolio managers Deirdre Cooper and Graeme Baker invest in companies that they believe will benefit from long-term structural tailwinds driven by the global transition to a lower-carbon economy. The fund invests in approximately 25 companies involved in activities including renewable energy, resource efficiency, and electrification.

"Creating funds with enduring investment merit is the cornerstone of Vanguard's disciplined product development efforts," said Dan Reyes, head of Vanguard Portfolio Review Department. "Vanguard Global Environmental Opportunities Stock Fund is designed to meet the long-term investment needs and preferences of clients who want a concentrated, actively managed fund focused on decarbonization."

The fund caters to environmentally conscious investors who have a higher risk tolerance and want to augment a broadly diversified portfolio. At launch, the fund will have both Investor Shares (ticker: VEOIX, expense ratio: 0.75%, minimum initial investment: $3,000) and Admiral Shares (VEOAX, 0.60%, $50,000).

Vanguard's active management leadership

Since its founding in 1975, Vanguard has been a leader in active management. Vanguard partners with world-class investment advisors to offer investors a broad range of actively managed equity, bond, and balanced funds.

The Global Environmental Opportunities Stock Fund is the first Vanguard fund managed by Ninety One. The fund's portfolio managers have extensive expertise and a proven track record in global and decarbonization investing. Deirdre Cooper is head of sustainable equities at Ninety One and has developed deep experience in sustainable investing throughout her 25-year career in the industry. Graeme Baker is a portfolio manager on the sustainable equities team with 16 years of industry experience.

Disciplined product development

Vanguard's broad, yet carefully defined, lineup of investment solutions is tailored to meet the diverse needs of global investors. Before launching a new fund, Vanguard rigorously evaluates whether the fund has enduring investment merit, fulfills the long-term investment needs and preferences of its targeted clients, and has the potential to be world class. Vanguard scours the globe to find leading active investment managers who bring differentiated capabilities and talent to the management of Vanguard funds.

About Vanguard

Founded in 1975, Vanguard is one of the world's leading investment management companies. The firm offers investments, advice, and retirement services to individual investors, institutions, and financial professionals. Vanguard operates under a unique, investor-owned structure where Vanguard fund shareholders own the funds, which in turn own Vanguard. As such, Vanguard adheres to a simple purpose: To take a stand for all investors, to treat them fairly, and to give them the best chance for investment success. For more information, visit vanguard.com.

About Ninety One

Ninety One is an active, global investment manager managing $147.7 billion in assets (as of September 30, 2022). Ninety One's goal is to provide long-term investment returns for its clients while making a positive difference to people and the planet. Established in South Africa in 1991, as Investec Asset Management, the firm began as a small start-up offering domestic investments in an emerging market. In 2020, as a global firm proud of our emerging market roots, it demerged to become Ninety One. Ninety One is committed to developing specialist investment teams organically. Its heritage and approach let it bring a different perspective to active and sustainable investing across equities, fixed income, multi-asset and alternatives to its clients - institutions, advisors and individual investors around the world. For more information, please visit NinetyOne.com

For more information about Vanguard funds, visit vanguard.com or call 800-523-1036 to obtain a prospectus or, if available, a summary prospectus. Investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses, and other important information about a fund are contained in the prospectus; read and consider it carefully before investing.

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ESG funds are subject to ESG investment risk, which is the chance that the stocks or bonds screened by the index provider or advisor, as applicable, for ESG criteria generally will underperform the market as a whole or, in the aggregate, will trail returns of other funds screened for ESG criteria. The index provider or advisor's assessment of a company, based on the company's level of involvement in a particular industry or their own ESG criteria, may differ from that of other funds or an investor's assessment of such company. As a result, the companies deemed eligible by the index provider or advisor may not reflect the beliefs and values of any particular investor and may not exhibit positive or favorable ESG characteristics. The evaluation of companies for ESG screening or integration is dependent on the timely and accurate reporting of ESG data by the companies. Successful application of the screens will depend on the index provider or advisor's proper identification and analysis of ESG data. The advisor may not be successful in assessing and identifying companies that have or will have a positive impact or support a given position. In some circumstances, companies could ultimately have a negative or no impact or support of a given position.

Investments in securities issued by non-U.S. companies and governments are subject to risks including country/regional risk and currency risk. These risks are especially high in emerging markets.

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SOURCE Vanguard
Program designed to support patient recovery and self-management from home using personalized patient engagement & remote patient monitoring

MIAMI, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Veta Health announced today the launch of its virtual care offering at Parkview Health (Parkview), a not-for-profit, Indiana-based network of 10 hospitals and more than 100 clinics. In partnership with Veta Health, Parkview will offer its patients virtual care programs designed to support patient recovery and self-management at home. The initial focus is utilizing Veta Health's patient engagement, device-based monitoring, and telehealth tools to manage patients who are at risk of readmission through Parkview's telehealth monitoring program.

With greater patient and provider acceptance of remote patient monitoring and telehealth following the Covid-19 pandemic, Parkview, which serves a large rural patient population, is utilizing the Veta Health virtual care platform to reduce disease exacerbation following discharge, when patients are often most vulnerable.

"A strong virtual care offering is essential to how we best serve our post-acute and chronically-ill patients who are most at risk," said Maximilian Maile, SVP of Digital Health at Parkview. "We selected Veta Health due to its flexible, user-friendly technology and easy-to-use interfaces to help us effectively deliver on our mission to ensure that our patients receive the best care anytime, anywhere."

As Parkview expands its virtual care offerings, it selected Veta Health to replace its existing telehealth monitoring technology with plans to support more services soon. Its multi-year partnership with Veta Health, which encompasses integration with Epic, will allow the health system to move patients more seamlessly through its care settings and to strengthen the clinician-patient relationship.

Once enrolled, patients receive cellular-enabled biometric monitoring devices to record their vital signs and a digitized care plan to report their symptoms, engage in educational content, and communicate with their care team via video conference. The cellular-enabled devices ensure access and remove barriers to patient adoption and follow-up monitoring, and the digital care plans are uniquely tailored to each patient's journey based on their condition(s) and programmatic focus. The backbone of this personalization is Veta Health's AI-driven patient engagement technology.

Veta Health's platform alerts clinicians about risk factors and disease exacerbation  allowing for proactive, early intervention. In addition, by leveraging remote monitoring devices and telehealth capabilities to support the care journey, connected layers of interaction and support from their care team will optimize recovery and outcomes.

"Parkview's forward-thinking approach represents the future of healthcare delivery by providing a true longitudinal experience for their patients and clinicians. We are proud to innovate alongside a true industry leader," said James Sutcliffe, CEO of Veta Health.

About Parkview Health

Parkview Health is a not-for-profit, community-based health system serving a northeast Indiana and northwest Ohio population of more than 850,000. Parkview Health's mission is to improve health and inspire well-being in the communities it serves. With more than 14,000 co-workers, it serves as the region's largest employer.

Parkview Health includes 10 hospitals and an extensive network of primary care and specialty care physicians. The flagship Parkview Regional Medical Center campus includes services such as the Parkview Cancer Institute, Parkview Heart Institute, Samaritan flight and ground transport program, Parkview Ortho Hospital, a certified stroke center, verified adult and pediatric trauma centers, Women's & Children's Hospital and an outpatient services center. Parkview Health has been designated a Magnet health system for nursing excellence.

About Veta Health

Veta Health is a remote care platform that fosters greater patient engagement and improves the relationship between clinicians and patients in the spaces between and beyond where traditional healthcare is experienced. Its AI-driven platform leverages existing data sources as well as patient-generated data to achieve timely treatment and improve overall population health. For more information on Veta Health, please visit http://www.myvetahealth.com/ .

Contact:

[email protected]

SOURCE Veta Health
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- EKC PR has signed fashion brand and storefront, Wuitusu, one of only a few to specialize in high-quality apparel and accessories handmade by the Colombia and Venezuela Wayuu tribe artisans.

The Wayuu people, a tribe who live on ancient land located between Colombia and Venezuela, are known for their impressive and unique craftsmanship in crocheting of handcrafts, featuring vivid and muted colors. Reflecting the Wayuu people's traditional designs, Wuitusu serves as a bridge between customers and the tribe's skills, while providing the Wayuu people with income from the sale of their goods.

Founded in 2019, Wuitusu was set into motion when owner Lisset Verde was online shopping and had come across a Wayuu hat and bag. Having been born in Venezuela herself, Lisset was intrigued by the Wayuu's breathtaking work and began to do intense research of the tribe's crafts. Soon, she was importing the colorful wares to her home, selling them amongst friends.

"I am proud to present high-end Wayuu wearables in America, while at the same time preserving the Wayuu culture, and educating our customers about our products," says Lisset Verde.

Grown from humble beginnings, the first Wuitusu shop opened in April 2019 at the Santa Monica Place Mall, with the second in October 2019 at Ovation Hollywood (formerly Hollywood & Highland). Upon walking into either location, visitors are mesmerized by eye-popping designs ranging from denim jackets to vibrant bags to stunning kaftans  just a few of Wuitusu's dynamic offerings  essential for any lover of bohemian-styled wearables.

Currently, the company works with a cooperative of approximately 40 Wayuu women in Riohacha, Colombia, a village in Uribia, Colombia, and several other individuals recognized by their fine workmanship and skills. In these designs, the Wayuu people blend their experiences with Wayuu life to create a mixture of traditional and novel, a multicultural concept.

Additionally, Wuitusu prides itself on their partnerships with Helping Children of Venezuela, a Los Angeles-based organization that donates medicine, food, clothing, shoes, and school supplies to susceptible communities in Venezuela, as well as The Wayuu Taya Foundation, which helps to improve the living conditions of the indigenous communities in Latin America.

Each $50.00 purchase at Wuitusu helps to feed five Wayuu children.

Wuitusu is located at 395 Santa Monica Place, Suite 156, and 6801 Hollywood Blvd, Suite 112.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Eileen Koch

EKC PR

310-441-1000

[email protected]

SOURCE Wuitusu
BEIRUT, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Yassin Fawaz, better known as King Rolodex, and noted Egyptian film and music star Mohamed Ramadan pleasantly surprised patients and caregivers with a recent visit to the St. Jude affiliated Children's Cancer Center of Lebanon (CCCL). The children's spirits were uplifted with handshakes, smiles, hugs and lasting memories of their encounter with the two celebrities. The pair was welcomed to the facility by CCCL board members, Mrs. Yolla Noujeim and Mr. Joe Asseily, as well the hard-working caregivers who appreciated the two taking time out of their busy day to encourage and support the children undergoing treatment.

Yassin Fawaz, King Rolodex and Mohamed Ramadan with the Children at Beirut Cancer Center

Mohamed Ramadan agreed, at the request of CCCL officials, to hold a charity concert for the benefit of the CCCL with all proceeds going to this worthy cause. Mr. Fawaz also pledged to provide the financial backing and logistical support behind bringing this concert to reality. Mohamed Ramadan previously demonstrated his commitment to St. Jude by performing a charity event last year in Dubai under the patronage of Wassim "Sal" Slaiby, a Lebanese-Canadian music industry executive; and his wife Rima Fakih, Miss America 2010.

Mohamed Ramadan and Yassin Fawaz both expressed their delight at the opportunity to visit the CCCL facility and bring the children a modicum of happiness during their difficult medical condition that they are bravely fighting. Mohamed Ramadan added "a message from the heart" to CCCL's Golden Book and promised to visit the facility again while actively supporting the center throughout its laudable mission.

About the Children's Cancer Center of Lebanon (CCCL)

The Children's Cancer Center of Lebanon (CCCL) is a leading national organization dedicated to the treatment and support of kids and adolescents with cancer, in addition to being a national advocate of childhood cancer control and a leading NGO in Lebanon and the region. Inaugurated in 2002, CCCL supports almost 50% of children with cancer in Lebanon (including non-Lebanese coming from the Arab region and refugees), with ages ranging between a few months old up to 18 years. The center was established under Notice no. 138AD in affiliation with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

About Mohamed Ramadan

Considered a household name in the MENA region, Mohamed Ramadan is an accomplished Egyptian film actor and bona fide musical star. In 2019, he was crowned the Most Popular Artist in Africa by AFRIMA (the All Africa Music Awards), and to date, Ramadan has amassed over 4.65 billion views on YouTube, including for hits "Ensay" with Saad Lamjarred and "Ya Habibi" with French artist, Gims. With over one million Spotify monthly listeners and more than 20 million Instagram followers, Ramadan has cultivated a strong fanbase and is primed for success beyond the MENA region. He is currently working on new material, which features collaborations with international artists and producers.

About Yassin Fawaz (King Rolodex)

Yassin Fawaz is an American social media phenomenon known for his extreme wealth and philanthropy. Under the handle King Rolodex, he has amassed an enormous following across multiple social media platforms. In 2022, he was the first black parliamentary candidate in the Middle East, running for office in Lebanon. He was born and raised in the United States to a Lebanese father and African-American mother.

Mr. Fawaz operates as the CEO of the Raddington Group, a Washington DC based advisory firm that provides services to heads of state, royals, and billionaires. He leverages his far-reaching international connections to provide his clients with services that are crucial to their global decision making and investments. His keen insights have been highlighted in Forbes, Huffington Post, and The Hill. Yassin Fawaz has been instrumental in implementing support programs in parallel with advocacy and financial support for the deserving, which includes human rights advocacy, educational grants for low-income students, and material donations to charitable causes in hotspots of the world.

Media Contact: Kat Levy, [email protected]

SOURCE Do Tell PR
By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

UNESCO will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Azerbaijan's eminent composer Fikrat Amirov, Azernews reports.

As a result of joint activities of the Culture and Foreign Ministries, Azerbaijan's Permanent Mission to UNESCO, and the National Commission for UNESCO, relevant nomination documents were submitted to UNESCO. The events have been included in the program of anniversaries for 2022-2023.

UNESCO Headquarters in Paris will host a musical evening dedicated to the national composer on November 3.

Honored Artists Sabina Asadova, Babak Niftaliyev, young performers Seljan Nasibli, Orkhan Jalilov will perform at the concert co-organized by the Azerbaijani Culture Ministry and UNESCO.

The musicians will be accompanied by the Azerbaijan State Symphony Orchestra under the baton of People's Artist Faxraddin Karimov, People's Artist of the USSR and Azerbaijan, Farhad Badalbayli.

The concert will feature Fikrat Amirov's music pieces Azerbaijan-Symphonic Suite, Gulistan-Bayati-Shiraz symphonic mugham, as well as Concerto on Arabian Themes for Piano and Orchestra by Fikrat Amirov and Elmira Nazirova.

The concert program is directed by Honored Art Worker Ulviya Konul.

Fikrat Amirov, the founder of the symphonic mugham genre, brilliantly synthesized folk music and mugham traditions with modern musical techniques.

The composer wrote the first Azerbaijani lyrical-psychological opera on a contemporary theme. In the opera Sevil, the composer used a variety of musical forms.

Amirov's symphonic mughams Shur and Kurd Ovshari are unprecedented in the history of world music.

He is the author of numerous operas, ballets, symphonies, symphonic poems, symphonic mugham, suites, capriccio, piano concertos, sonatas, musical comedies, and songs, love songs, piano pieces, music for dramatic productions, and movies.

Fikrat Amirov's heritage, which calls for patriotism, always instills spiritual richness, and glorifies human ideals, is one of the brightest pages in the history of Azerbaijani music.
Athens, Nov 2 : A man was rescued by a cargo ship after a boat carrying 68 migrants sank near Cape Kafireas, Evia Island. The rescue of the man brings the total number of survivors to 10, according to the Hellenic Coast Guard.

The rescue operation has been underway since early Tuesday morning in the Aegean Sea. None of the survivors was wearing lifejackets, the Coast Guard said on Tuesday.

The migrants were from Egypt, Afghanistan and Iran, Coast Guard spokesperson Commander Nikos Kokkalas told state media. He said the rescue operation had been hampered by strong winds of up to 9 on the Beaufort scale, Xinhua news agency reported.

More than one million people have illegally entered Greece since 2015. Most have continued their journey to other European countries, but hundreds more have drowned at sea.
Tunis, Nov 2 : Tunisian Minister of Economy and Planning Samir Saied has said that Tunisia has no choice but to implement the reform plan presented to the IMF.

"We have presented a detailed reform plan to the IMF after losing credibility over the past few years," state media outlet quoted Saied as saying on Tuesday during a conference organised by the Confederation of Tunisian Citizen Enterprises in the nation's capital of Tunis.

"Otherwise, our children's future could be at stake," the Minister said, adding that the release of an IMF loan depends on the progress of the reform, Xinhua news agency reported.

The release of the loan in tranches will ensure the implementation of the country's reform, he added.

On October 16, Tunisia and the IMF reached a staff-level agreement to support the country's economic policies with a 48-month arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility of nearly $1.9 billion, Tunisian media reported on Saturday.

The final agreement on the arrangement is subject to the approval of the IMF's Executive Board, which is scheduled to discuss Tunisia's request in December, an IMF statement was quoted as saying.

The loan is expected to support the Tunisian government' economic reform by restoring the country's external and fiscal stability, enhancing social protection, promoting higher, greener and inclusive growth, as well as creating private sector-led jobs.
Los Angeles, Nov 2 : One person was killed and four others were injured in a shooting in Denver, the capital city of the US state of Colorado, authorities said.

THe incident took place on Tuesday afternoon, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Denver Police Department wrote on Tuesday in an update on Twitter that five victims were located, adding that four of the victims were transported to hospital and one was pronounced deceased.

Officials shared a photo of a dark vehicle that "is believed to have been used by the suspect(s) in this shooting," and urged anyone who saw it or knew the person(s) associated with the vehicle to call police.

The department wrote in an earlier tweet that there were six victims in the shooting at the 1400 block of Verbena Street.

The department said it's investigating the shooting.
Algiers, Nov 2 : The 31st session of the Arab League (AL) summit kicked off in the Algerian capital of Algiers with regional food security and Palestinian issue being on top of agenda.

Tunisian President Kais Saied, whose country hosted the last AL summit in 2019, on Tuesday evening handed over the presidency of the summit to his Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune at a symbolic ceremony.

In his opening address, Saied said the summit's slogan "reunion" sums up the hope to overcome all the differences that led to the discord in the Arab region, Xinhua news agency reported.

"We hope that the Algiers summit will be the summit of brothers and solutions," he added, hailing the efforts of Algeria to help Palestinian factions to achieve reconciliation.

For his part, Tebboune noted that "the summit is being held under complex and sensitive regional and international circumstances, characterised in particular by the escalation of tensions and crises, especially in the Arab world".

He urged Arab countries to boost their economic cooperation with the aim to secure the region's food security.

"The Palestinian issue remains at the core of our preoccupations and on the top of our priorities," the Algerian leader stressed, calling for "renewing Arab collective commitment to the Arab Peace Initiative to guarantee the Palestinian people for the establishment of their independent state within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as capital".

In his address to the summit, AL Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit called for boosting the pan-Arab organisation's work to settle all the armed conflicts in the region.

"I call upon the Arab leaders to stop the bloodshed which threatens the present and the future of the Arab nation," Ahmed Aboul-Gheit said, referring to armed conflicts raging in several Arab countries, including Libya, Yemen, Sudan and Syria.

In addition to the leaders from AL member countries, some guests of honour, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, the President of the Non-Aligned Movement, and President of Senegal Macky Sall, the current Chairperson of the African Union, attended the AL summit.
Lucknow, Nov 2 : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said that tap water would be available in every household in Bundelkhand by December this year.

"The Namami Gange project has restored cleanliness and the unobstructed, continuous flow of water in the Ganga. Work to provide tap water connections in the dry and arid areas of the Vindhyas and Bundelkhand is taking place on a war footing under the 'Har Ghar Nal Yojana' and the exercise will be completed in December this year," he added.

According to the government spokesman, there has been a marked improvement in the quality of the Ganga water, mainly due to the Namami Gange project.

The Chief Minister said that the most critical point of the river in Kanpur, the Sisamau sewer line, have been converted into a selfie point while in Varanasi, where the water was not even fit for consumption, Gangetic dolphins who had left the area due to pollution in the river, have finally returned.

He also claimed that more than 60 rivers had been revived in the state in the past few years.

He added that Uttar Pradesh had adequate water resources and availability of water and areas like Vindhyas and Bundelkhand, which were considered to be water scarce and where rainwater harvesting was barely implemented, had now changed over the past few years.

The Chief Minister said that water conservation was a primary concern of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and "the outcome of his resolve was visible for everyone".

Claiming that more than 60 rivers had been revived in the state over the past few years, Adityanath added that a large area of the state is covered by rivers originating from the Himalayas which carry silt with them, due to which many were on the verge of extinction.

"We revived them and gave them a new life. So far, more than 60 rivers have been revived in the state. The Kumbh in Prayagraj took place on the banks of the Ganga, where devotees and seers realised for the first time after decades that the water was fit for consumption." He also spoke about the Amrit Sarovar project, saying that efforts were being made at different levels for water conservation.

"Pure drinking water is the biggest need to save lives today. Keeping this in mind, we have started the Amrit Sarovar project and so far, work has been completed in 58 gram panchayats and the remaining are being completed on a war footing," he said.
Chandigarh, Nov 2 : Rachna Singh, a Punjab-origin Parliamentary Secretary for anti-racism initiatives in Canada's British Columbia, has made history by addressing the legislature in Punjabi.

The MLA from Surrey-Green Timbers who is the daughter of a renowned Punjabi scholar Raghbir Singh Sirjana, made a brief introduction in the house in her mother tongue on Tuesday.

The occasion was the Punjab Day, when the present day state of Punjab came into being on November 1, 1966.

In her address, Rachna Singh recognised the sacrifices made by the supporters of a Punjabi speaking region in India.

She not only thanked the Canadian government for giving opportunities to the Punjabi language to grow in a foreign land, but also expressed her support to the indigenous peoples, who have been struggling to keep their mother languages alive since the time of colonialism in the country.

Rachna Singh, who spent initial years of life in Chandigarh, is the granddaughter of the prominent Punjabi playwright, the late Tera Singh Chann.
Seoul, Nov 2 : North Korea on Wednesday fired three short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) into the East Sea, one of which flew across its de facto maritime border with South Korea for the first time since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, according to the military in Seoul.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the missile firing from a site in or around the North's eastern coastal city of Wonsan was detected at around 8.51 a.m., reports Yonhap News Agency.

One of the three SRBMs fell into high seas 26 km south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), an area 57 km east of the South's eastern city of Sokcho and 167 km northwest of Ulleung Island near Dokdo.

It headed toward the island before falling into the international sea, prompting local authorities to issue an air raid alert, according to the JCS.

The North also fired various types of several other missiles westward and eastward, it added.

"Our military can never tolerate North Korea's provocative act and will sternly respond to it in close cooperation with the US," the JCS said in a statement.

It criticised the North's first firing of a ballistic missile near the South's territorial waters since the division as an "intolerable" act.

The North's latest provocation came as Seoul and Washington are staging the Vigilant Storm exercise involving more than 240 aircraft, including their advanced stealth jets.

USS Key West, an American nuclear-powered submarine, also arrived in South Korea on Monday for a "scheduled visit" as part of its deployment to the Indo-Pacific region.

The North has long denounced joint military drills between Seoul and Washington as a rehearsal for invasion.
Lucknow, Nov 2 : Police in Uttar Pradesh's Balrampur have arrested a 35-year-old Nepalese woman with cocaine worth over Rs 7 crore in the international market.

Dil Kumari was arrested from the Jarwa police station area on Tuesday, following a tip-off from intelligence agencies.

Balrampur SP Rajesh Saxena said that the woman had to deliver the consignments in Delhi and Maharashtra and she was possibly being used by an international cartel, as a 'drug mule' -- a term used for couriers used by international drug traffickers.

Following the arrest, the police have also sought help from the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) for further investigations.

According to the SP, sub-inspector Ram Kumar was patrolling near Piyera Pahadi area on the India-Nepal border when he got a tip-off about the movement of a woman suspected to be trafficking drugs.

A senior officer said that around 25 women were frisked by women cops who were to cross into the Indian side.

"But when Dil Kumari's turn came, she seemed nervous and as soon as the women cops started frisking her, she gave in," the officer said.

The cops recovered 40 capsules containing cocaine besides 1,500 grams of cocaine separately, worth over Rs 7 crore in the international market.

The woman hails from the bordering Dang district in Nepal.
Lucknow, Nov 2 : Five persons, including two masterminds of the Cooperative Bank fraud case in which Rs 146 crore was digitally transferred by hackers, have been arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police's Special Task Force (STF).

However, the hackers from Delhi are still on the run.

According to the police, the cyber thugs spent Rs 1 crore in 18 months, hired three hackers, used six devices, used three keylogger softwares and roped in three employees to breach the bank's server to transfer the money on October 15.

Those arrested have been identified as Dhruv Kumar Srivastava, Ramraj (mastermind), Karmveer Singh, Akash Kumar and Bhupendra Singh.

Additional SP, STF, Vishal Vikram said that Ramraj is section officer in Uttar Pradesh's Home Department, while Karmveer is assistant manager in the payment section of the Cooperative Bank's Sitapur branch.

The team recovered a bank ID card, 25 sets of Aadhaar Cards and blank cheques, eight mobile phones and seven ATM cards from the accused.

They have owned up to their crime.

In his confession, Dhruv Kumar Srivastava revealed how they hired a hacker who had expertise in taking remote access to the bank's system.

On October 15, five teams of the gang assembled at KD Singh Babu Stadium.

"The gang managed to breach the server and Rs 146 crore was transferred," said the officer.

After the money transfer, the gang reached an eatery for refreshment when the bank's staff got an alert and the money transfer was frozen, the ASP added.

When the gang members came to know of this, they panicked and fled to different destinations.

The accused said they were working on the 'project' for the last 18 months and had also spent Rs 50 lakh in purchasing the devices.
Brasilia, Nov 2 : Following his defeat in this week's presidential runoff election, outgoing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro finally broke his silence and thanked voters who voted for him, but did not acknowledge his loss.

In Sunday's election, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was banned from standing for office after being convicted in a fraud case, received more than 60 million votes, or 50.89 per cent of the ballots, surpassing Bolsonaro's 58 million votes, or 49.11 per cent.

This was the smallest margin in a runoff election in Brazil's history.

In the first round held on October 2, Lula garnered 48.3 per cent of the vote, compared to 43.2 per cent for Bolsonaro.

In a brief statement on Tuesday, the outgoing leader said that "our dreams continue as alive as ever", reports the BBC.

Bolsanaro insisted that he would continue to strive for "order and progress", the words emblazoned on Brazil's flag.

Directly addressing his supporters who have erected hundreds of roadblocks in all but two states of Brazil, Bolsonaro referred to them as "current popular movements" and said they were "the fruit of indignation and a sense of injustice of how the electoral process unfolded".

He added that "peaceful demonstrations" would always be welcome, but that "our methods can't be the same as those used by the left, which always harmed the population, such as invasion of lands, disrespecting property and impeding the right to come and go".

In his short address that lasted only two minutes, he did not mention Lula at all, the BBC reported.

Despite Bolsonaro is yet to concede hs defeat, Brazil's Supreme Court released a statement shortly after his speech saying that by authorising the transition of power, he had recognised the result of the election.

Lula's victory has paving the way for the 77-year-old's third four-year term beginning from January 1, 2023.

This is a comeback for the former President who could not run in the 2018 election because he was in jail and banned from standing for office.

Lula, who had served as the President for two terms between 2003 and 2010, had been found guilty of receiving a bribe from a Brazilian construction firm in return for contracts with Brazil's state oil company Petrobras.

He spent 580 days in jail before his conviction was annulled, marking his return to the political fray.
Lucknow, Nov 2 : The Enforcement Directorate has attached 28 immovable properties worth Rs 10.12 crore belonging to gangster Vikas Dubey and his associates, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

The ED had lodged a PMLA case against Vikas Dubey, his family and aides on September 14, 2020.

"Vikas Dubey and his aides were involved in various offences like organised crime, land mafia, corruption and embezzlement of the funds meant for the Public Distribution System (PDS). Statements of the accused persons were recorded and their ITRs and bank accounts were scrutinized. Most of the accused persons are in jail. Their statements were recorded in jail," said an ED official.

The attached properties are in Kanpur and Lucknow.

It may be recalled that on July 3, 2020, a police team that went to the house of Vikas Dubey in Bikru village for a raid, was attacked by the latter and his aides.

Eight policemen, including the then Circle Officer of Bilhaur, Devendra Mishra, were killed by the gangster and his aides in the attack.

Later, the police, in back-to-back encounters, had killed six accused, including Vikas Dubey. About 50 accused, including some cops, are in jail.
Bengaluru, Nov 2 : A Karnataka man has complained to the office of the Prime Minister (PMO) seeking help and protection from his wife, who 'regularly beats him'. The man has also alleged that he was facing threat to life from his wife.

Yadunandan Acharya from Bengaluru sent his grievances to the PMO through social media. He also tagged his tweet to the handles of Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Pratap Reddy and Union Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju.

"Would anyone help me? Or did anyone help me when this happened? No, Because I am a man! My wife attacked me with knife, Is this the naari shakti you boost about? Can I put a domestic violence case against her for this? No!

He also stated that he was bleeding from his hand after the stab injury caused by his wife.

Reacting to his tweet, Bengaluru Police Commissioner Pratap Reddy asked him to visit the police station and seek legal action and address his grievance.

Yadunandan Acharya has got support from across the sections and highlighted the need to address the issue of harassed husbands.
Beijing, Nov 2 : Visiting Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Chinese President Xi Jinping and discussed mutual cooperation between the two countries, especially in economic fields.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Sharif said that they also "agreed to increase multilateral cooperation between China and Pakistan, including CPEC, and further strengthen the strategic partnership".

The Pakistani leader also posted images of the meeting.

Sharif landed in Beijing on Tuesday night on a two-day official visit -- the first since he took office in April this year.

Before departing for China, he said in a series of tweets: "Leaving for Beijing today. Honoured to be among the first few leaders to have been invited after the historic 20th National Congress of the CPC. At a time when the world is grappling with multiple challenges, Pakistan & China stand together as friends & partners.

"My discussions with Chinese leadership will focus on revitalization of CPEC among many other things. Second phase of CPEC promises to usher in a new era of socio-economic progress that will uplift quality of our people's lives. There is a lot to learn from Chinese economic miracle." The Prime Minister is also scheduled to hold delegation-level talks with Premier Li Keqiang and meet Chinese investors and Pakistani businessmen.
San Francisco, Nov 2 : Google has added the direct access of Lens image search option to its homepage.

According to 9To5Google, users can "search any image with Google Lens" by clicking the button that appears next to the voice search button and can "drag an image here or upload a file".

"The google homepage doesn't change often, but it did. We are always working to expand the kinds of questions you can ask and improving how we answer them," Rajan Patel, vice president of engineering at Google, said in a tweet.

"Now you can ask visual questions easily from your desktop," he added.

Lens made the switch from mobile devices to the desktop web with Google Photos and later Chrome last year, the report said.

Back in August, Google Images on desktop websites moved to Lens and it also showed up in the search field on the results page.

Google Lens is an image recognition tool that uses visual analysis to identify things and display relevant information about them.

Earlier, the tech giant was reportedly tested to add Lens to desktop Search on the web.

According to a report, Lens was primarily a visual lookup tool for mobile devices, but it has been branching out to Chrome. The next expansion could see Google Search on the desktop web add Lens.
Seoul, Nov 2 : South Korea on Wednesday closed some of its air routes in the East Sea after one of multiple missiles fired by North Korea landed near the South's Ulleung Island.

Earlier in the day, the North fired various types of about 10 missiles, including three short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs), off its west and east coasts, reports Yonhap News Agency.

One of the SRBMs fell into high seas 26 km south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the East Sea, marking the first missile launched by the North that flew past the de facto maritime inter-Korean border since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said some air routes in the East Sea would be closed from 10.58 a.m. on Wednesday to 11.05 a.m. on Thursday.

The Ministry has advised local airlines to take a detour to ensure passenger safety in the routes to the US and Japan.

Currently, airlines offer 33 flights via the East Sea -- 32 bound for the US and one for Japan.
New Delhi, Nov 2 : As India enters the 5G era, Apple will enable 5G in the iOS 16 Beta software programme next week for the select iPhone users in the country, the tech giant confirmed on Wednesday.

Apple Airtel and Jio customers who participate in iOS 16 Beta software programme will be able to try out 5G before it's publicly available in December, according to Apple.

The Beta programme lets users try out pre-release software and experience the latest features before the software becomes publicly available.

Last month, Apple said it was working with its "carrier partners in India to bring the best 5G experience to iPhone users as soon as network validation and testing for quality and performance is completed".

"5G will be enabled via a software update and will start rolling out to iPhone users in December," the company had said in a statement.

With the beta programme, users can also provide feedback to Apple on quality and usability, which helps Apple identify issues, fix them, and make Apple software even better.

A user has to enrol iPhone in the Apple Beta Software Programme to access the latest public betas, as well as subsequent updates, including the 5G beta which will be available to Airtel and Jio customers from next week.

As India rolls out 5G in a phased manner starting with key metro cities, smartphone players are working towards making 5G available on their devices.

Those using iPhone 14, iPhone 13, iPhone 12 and iPhone SE (third generation) models will get an upcoming software update on 5G.

Apple performs extensive testing with carrier partners to ensure a great experience for iPhone users.

iPhone offers users super-fast downloads and uploads, better streaming, and real-time connectivity with 5G to help them stay in touch, share, and enjoy the content.

The support for 5G on iPhone has now extended to over 250 carrier partners in over 70 markets around the world, with expanded support for standalone networks.

Prioritising software upgrades would enable the early adoption of 5G in India.
Colombo, Nov 2 : Over 150 Sri Lankan organisations, including opposition political parties, trade unions, university students and civil rights groups, will stage a mass anti-government protest march on Wednesday in Colombo despite a warning by the police.

Trade unions representing teachers, lawyers and other professional groups; student movements joined by the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and main northern based Tamil political party, Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) led by former president Maithripala Sirisena, Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) representing mostly Indian origin Tamils living in central tea plantations, Colombo and other parts of the country; will march demanding state suppression of protests, using draconian law, Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) to arrest and detain student movement leaders and urge the government to step down and hold early elections.

Six leading business chambers, including the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, have urged the protesters to call off the march claiming it "could undermine the efforts being taken to resolve the current economic crisis with the support of the international community".

"Any act of destabilisation taking place at this time and any negative publicity arising from it would seriously derail actions that are being taken to revive the economy including the efforts being taken to promote tourism," the business chambers in a joint statement stated.

Hoteliers and tourism sector representatives also have urged to call off protest stating that affect the slowly booming tourism sector.

Meanwhile, the police had served letters to the political parties and other protest leaders warning that the march would not be permitted in the planned locations and action would be taken under Police Ordinance and other laws if any traffic congestion or obstruction is caused.

However the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL), an independent body, has asked the police not to use the Ordinance to block people's rights to protest and thereby violate their Constitutional rights.

The HRCSL has deployed a team to monitor the protest march and any violations by the police.

A spokesman from the United National Party (UNP) led by President Ranil Wickremesinghe labelled those engage in the protest as "traitors".

UNP chairman Vajira Abeywardena said that it would be a traitorous act to resort to public protests at a time when the government is engaged in a program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to recover from the economic crisis.

Sri Lankans took to streets on March 31 following severe economic crisis lead shortages in essentials including food, fuel, fertilizer and medicine.

The violent street fights toppled the powerful Gotabya Rajapaksa-led government, forcing him to flee the country, as well as the resignation of his brother and Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Wickremesinghe was elected as Presidentand he is supported by pro-Rajapaksa majority in Parliament and some MPs of the SJB lead by former presidential hopeful Sajith Premadasa.
Mumbai, Nov 2 : A senior Congress leader from Maharashtra, Dr. Nitin Raut was injured and is hospitalised after he was allegedly pushed around by an officer of the Telangana Police on Wednesday, party officials said here.

The incident occurred when he was walking with Congress MP Rahul Gandhi during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Telangana.

A local senior police officer reportedly pushed Dr. Raut hard and he fell to the ground, suffering injuries on his head, above the right eye and bruises on his hands and legs.

Though the provocation for the police's behaviour is not clear, Dr. Raut has been admitted to the Vasav Hospital in Hyderabad and his condition is described as stable by Congress leaders here.

Later, Rahul Gandhi called up Dr. Raut to enquire after his health and wished him speedy recovery, as the yatra continued ahead, towards Maharashtra.

Several top leaders like Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge; AICC office-bearers K.C. Venugopal, K. Raju, Rajesh Lilothia, Imran Pratapgarhi, Kanhaiya Kumar; Telangana Leader of Opposition Hatti Vikramark; and others either called up or visited Dr. Raut at the hospital.

Hailing from Nagpur, Dr. Raut, 70, is a former Maharashtra Minister and also former President of the Congress' SC/ST Cell.

He, along with his supporters, had gone to take part in the walkathon's Telengana leg before it enters Maharashtra on November 7 in Nanded, where massive preparations are in place to welcome Rahul Gandhi and the other marchers.
Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 2 : A week after a man stalked and misbehaved with a lady doctor, the Kerala police identified him as the driver of a government car and took him into custody.

The accused was identified as Santhosh who stalked and misbehaved with the woman while she was out on morning walk in the state capital city.

The man worked as a driver on contract of the official vehicle of the private secretary of a Kerala Minister. It has come to light that he used the Innova car bearing a Govt of Kerala registration board for his needs during nights.

Last Wednesday, he stalked and attacked the doctor while she was walking in the compound of the state-run Museum and fled.

The woman immediately raised an alarm and contacted the local Police aid post, but by the time the police came, he managed to escape.

The CCTV visuals of the incident were aired by the local TV channels. Soon another visual surfaced from near the museum, in which a similar looking man was spotted.

On Tuesday, the local Peroorkada police took the man into custody.

The doctor was summoned by police this morning and she immediately identified her attacker.

"I had no difficulty in identifying my attacker, even when his head was shaved. I was able to identify his shoes and the dress he wore that day and I was told that this man had visited a home hours before I was attacked. I thank the media and the police for the support," she said.

Meanwhile, State Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine said the driver in custody is not a member of his personal staff.

"The driver is on contract from an agency and has no connection with the government or any of my departments and is not on the payroll also," said Augustine.

Augustine's private secretary Gopakumar, who was being driven by Santhosh in the Innova car, said that only after checking the logbook of the vehicle will he be able to say anything.

But senior Congress legislator Ramesh Chennithala said neither the Minister nor the government can wash their hands off this incident stating that the driver was on contract.

"The crime has been committed by a person who is attached to a Minister's office, so the government is also responsible. This shows that women are no longer safe in the state and the time taken to crack the case is also a cause of concern," said Chennithala.
Colombo, Nov 2 : India and Sri Lanka have agreed to expedite projects, including promoting Buddhist ties, under a special Indian grant of $15 million.

High Commissioner Gopal Baglay and Minister of Buddhashasana, Religious, and Cultural Affairs Vidura Wickramanayaka held talks on Tuesday to expedite jointly-identified priority projects including promotion of Buddhist ties and functioning of the Jaffna Cultural Centre (JCC), the Indian High Commission in Colombo said in a statement.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the special grant for the promotion of bilateral Buddhist ties at the Virtual Bilateral Summit on September 26, 2020 and the related MoU was signed in March this year, during the visit of External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to Colombo.

Discussions were held on the installation of solar power facilities in places of worship and Pirivenas or schools where monks are trained around the country from the grant.

"The meeting on JCC focused on the establishment of an enabling joint-framework to make the state-of-the-art facility available for regular use by common public. This glowing example of India-Sri Lanka development partnership, which has been constructed under a government of India grant of more than $11 million, consists of multiple facilities such as a museum of two floors, a latest theatre style auditorium for more than 600 people, a 11-storeyed learning tower, and a public square which could also act as an amphitheatre, among others," the High Commission statement said.

The statement also noted that the meetings with the minister underscored India's abiding commitment to bring about a palpable impact to the daily lives of the people of Sri Lanka through the implementation of people-centric grant projects.

"These projects are guided by the demands and needs of all sections of Sri Lankan society and the priorities of the government of Sri Lanka," it added.

So far, India has been associated with the implementation of more than 85 grant projects in the island nation and the latest endeavours include the Sri Lanka Unique Digital Identity Project.
Chennai, Nov 2 : Actress Hansika Motwani, who has been a part of several superhit films in Tamil and Telugu, is to wed entrepreneur Sohael Khaturiya soon.

Entrepreneur Sohael Khaturiya owns the popular garment brand, Avant.

On Wednesday, the actress took to Instagram to post a series of pictures including one that showed her future husband going down on a knee to propose to her in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

The pictures also showed the words 'Marry Me' made using flowers in the background during the proposal.

Hansika, who posted a series of five pictures of the proposal, wrote, "Now and Forever".

Several top celebrities have been congratulating Hansika ever since she put out the post.

Actresses Anushka Shetty, Khushbu, DD and Sriya Reddy were among those who congratulated the actress on Instagram.
Mumbai, Nov 2 : A senior Congress leader from Maharashtra Dr. Nitin Raut sustained a hairline fracture on his forehead and is hospitalised after he was allegedly pushed by an officer of the Telangana Police during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, party leaders and aides said here on Wednesday morning.

According to his aide Pankaj Borkar, Dr. Raut has sustained a hairline fracture on his forehead above the right eye and medicos will advise how long he will remain in hospital.

The incident occurred around 7 p.m. on Tuesday when Dr. Raut was marching along with Congress MP Rahul Gandhi during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Hyderabad, Telangana, according to Borkar.

As massive crowds thronged there, a local Assistant Commissioner of Police officer there pushed Dr. Raut hard and he fell to the ground, suffering injuries on his head, above the right eyes and bruises on his hands and legs, said the aide.

Dr. Raut was admitted to the Vasav Hospital in Hyderabad and his condition was described as stable by the Congress leaders here.

A family member said Dr. Raut suffered "a small injury on his forehead and a little swelling in his eye due to a very minor blood clot" and doctors have assured he will be fine.

Later, Rahul Gandhi called up Dr. Raut to enquire after his health and wished him speedy recovery, as the Bharat Jodo Yatra continued ahead, towards Maharashtra.

Several top leaders like Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, AICC office-bearers like K.C. Venugopal, K. Raju, Rajesh Lilothia, Imran Pratapgarhi, Kanhaiya Kumar, Telangana Leader of Opposition Hatti Vikramark and others either called up or visited Dr. Raut at the hospital.

Hailing from Nagpur, Dr. Raut, 70, is a former Maharashtra Minister and also former President of the Congress' SC/ST Cell.

He, along with his supporters, had gone to take part in the Bharat Jodo Yatra Telangana leg before it enters Maharashtra on November 7 in Nanded, where massive preparations were in place to welcome Rahul Gandhi and the other marchers.
Washington, Nov 2 : More than 200 new laws officially took effect in the US state of Oklahoma, running the gamut from limiting pesky spam calls to more government transparency and ensuring health insurance coverage of diagnostic mammograms.

One of the laws that came into force on Tuesday will allow renters to make essential home repairs without having to pay the bill, Xinhua news agency reported.

The deduction of tenants' repair costs from their rent, which previously was only up to $100, can now be up to one month's total.

Another state law will prohibit calls before 8 a.m. or after 8 p.m., as well as spam calls that block the caller's number or alter the voice.

However, it won't end all robocalls because the state cannot regulate calls from out of state.

Stealing a catalytic converter, tires or wheels from a vehicle is now punishable by $5,000 or five years in prison. There has been a dramatic rise in catalytic converter thefts across the state in the past few years.

To address youth mental health issues, school districts and charter schools have to print the state suicide prevention number on student IDs until the summer of 2023. Colleges and universities, though not required, are also encouraged to follow suit.

At the state Capitol, when the Governor appoints a cabinet secretary or head of state agency, they will have to disclose investments and income.

Republican Governor Kevin Stitt vetoed the bill but state lawmakers overturned it.

Across the state, insurance companies are now required to cover mammograms and any other diagnostic imaging as ordered by a doctor so as to advance women's healthcare.

Starting Tuesday, Oklahoma has also become the 30th state to allow self-driving cars on public roadways, with or without a human driver behind the wheel.

The law requires the state's Department of Public Safety must now define new laws and regulations for the future.

The state also puts restrictions on electric scooters. Riders must be at least 14 years old and the maximum allowed speed is officially 35 miles per hour.

Under related new laws, all school libraries in the state must abide by community standards in regard to providing age-appropriate material, according to a report from local radio broadcaster KLAW.

Libraries and content censorship have been a hot topic in recent years in many states including Oklahoma.

One of the laws stipulates that all libraries -- school, university, public, and state agencies -- must institute protections and content filters to ensure young students, kindergarten through 12th grade, cannot send, receive, or view pornographic and/or obscene materials.

Some new state laws are sure to create debate and argument between those on the far edge of political sides, said the KLAW report.
Seoul, Nov 2 : Korean Air Co. said on Wednesday it has launched a thorough special safety audit of its Airbus A330 fleet after two incidents involving the same model in less than two weeks.

The move came after an A330 plane, carrying 162 passengers and 11 crew members, overran the runway at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport in the Philippines on October 23, reports Yonhap News Agency.

No casualties were reported, but the underbelly of the plane was badly damaged.

On Sunday, another A330 plane bound for Sydney flew back to Incheon less than two hours after its takeoff due to an engine problem.

The South Korean flag carrier said it will temporarily take 24 Airbus A330s out of service in phases for an intensive inspection that began on Tuesday, adding it will retire six old Airbus A330s from its fleet, though it did not provide a specific time frame.

"Korean Air is aware of the gravity of the recent events involving our A330 aircraft," Korean Air President Woo Kee-hong said in a meeting with the transport minister and other top executives of South Korean airlines on aviation safety.

"To address concerns and secure a safe operation system, we will carry out a full-scale, comprehensive safety inspection of our A330 fleet and seek an independent, external safety consultation." Korea Air said it will introduce a total of 90 new aircraft -- 10 Boeing 787-9, 20 Boeing 787-10, 30 Boeing 737-8 and 30 Airbus A321neo -- by 2028 while phasing out six Boeing 777-200ERs and six A330s.
Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 2 : A day after various youth organisations criticised the Kerala government for raising the retirement age of state PSU employees to 60, the weekly cabinet meeting held here on Wednesday under Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan decided to freeze the October 29 order.

According to sources, Vijayan himself expressed his concern that the decision to raise the retirement age has not gone down well with the youths, and hence it need not be pursued.

On Tuesday, the Youth Congress activists took to the streets here protesting against the decision and also came down heavily on the youth wing of the CPI(M) -- the DYFI, after national president A.A. Rahim said the Kerala unit will decide on what needs to be done.

While the AIYF, the youth wing of the second biggest ally of the ruling Left, CPI announced their protests plans, it was later that the Kerala unit of the DYFI said the decision to raise the retirement age will affect the job prospects of the youth.

Welcoming the decision, the Youth Congress leader and former two-time legislator K.S. Sabarinathan said that they welcome the decision and now the need of the hour was that the youth get an assurance from Vijayan that they will not try to rake this issue again, as youths are desperate for jobs.

"A meeting with all the youth organisations must be called by the government to discuss the burning issue of unemployment here," said Sabarinathan.

There are over 100 state PSU's engaging around 1.50 lakh workers.

Notably, the retirement age of various PSUs in the state varies from 56 to 58 and the fresh order was issued based on the recommendations of an expert committee, which conducted a comprehensive study on the formulation of a common framework for pay/wage structure of PSUs in the state except Kerala State Electricity Board, Kerala State Road Transport Corporation and Kerala Water Authority.

The expert committee had recommended that the retirement age of employees of all state PSUs shall be enhanced uniformly to 60 as in the case of central PSUs.

Incidentally, there are around 4.5 million educated unemployed youths in Kerala and all along, the CPI(M) has been strongly opposing raising the retirement age, even when Kerala is the only state where the state government employees retire at age 56.
Mumbai, Nov 2 : It's Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's birthday on Wednesday and the world can't keep calm.

Like every year, thousands of fans gathered outside the 'Don' star's residence Mannat in Bandra area of Mumbai. Several videos of fans flying down from all over the world to greet Shah Rukh on his birthday have been going viral on social media. Many even carried sweets, t-shirts, and huge posters of SRK along with them.

The love for King Khan is such that fans waited outside for hours just to get a glance of the superstar, their wishes came true when SRK, who celebrates his 57th birthday on Wednesday, stepped outside and greeted fans with his signature pose in the early hours of Wednesday. The superstar thanked his fans for believing in him and showering love on him for years together. SRK, who was seen wearing a black t-shirt, was accompanied by his youngest son, AbRam.

Meanwhile, on the work front SRK will be next seen in director Siddharth Anand's upcoming action thriller film 'Pathaan' alongside Deepika Padukone and John Abraham. The film is all set to release theatrically on January 25, 2023, in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

He also has Rajkumar Hirani's upcoming film 'Dunki' in the pipeline where he will be seen alongside Taapsee Pannu, and south director Atlee's upcoming action thriller film 'Jawan' opposite south star Nayanthara.

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
Copenhagen, Nov 2 : The general election in Denmark was expected to end the Left-Right polarisation that has dominated Danish politics for years and pave the way for a centrist government, according to local analysts.

But Tuesday's outcome was anti-climactic and fell short of expectations with the lowest turnout rate since 1990, reports Xinhua news agency.

Of a total of 4,269,044 eligible voters, 3,592,041 voted by mail or showed up at one of the polling stations across the country to cast their ballots on Tuesday.

The voting percentage now stands at 84.14 per cent, the lowest in more than 30 years.

The Social Democratic Party-led left-wing or the red bloc did live up to their hype.

It was projected to win 87 of 179 seats with about 27.6 per cent of the vote, remaining the largest party in Parliament, or the Folketing, according to the preliminary result of Statistics Denmark issued on Wednesday.

The centrist, non-aligned Moderates, led by former right-wing Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, was projected to secure 16 seats, potentially enough to play "kingmaker" in the next Parliament.

However, support for the so-called blue bloc's right-wing parties did not turn out in sufficient numbers to create a counterbalance with the opposition.

The blue bloc was expected to obtain 72 seats in total.

Mette Frederiksen, the Social Democratic Party's leader and incumbent Prime Minister, will now be able to form a majority government with the help of promising three of the four seats elected from the North Atlantic territories -- the Faroe Islands and Greenland.

Despite the apparent "red majority", Frederiksen said in her election speech that she would submit the government's resignation on Wednesday and seek to form a broad coalition.

"It is also clear that the government does not have a majority in its current form. As a result, I will tender the government's resignation to the Queen," said Frederiksen.

The Danish Parliament is re-elected at least every four years.

The most recent election took place on June 5, 2019.

Denmark's political parties compete for 179 seats in the Folketing: 175 in Denmark proper, two in the Faroe Islands and two in Greenland.

The "mink scandal", which saw the country cull 17 million minks in late 2020, has cast a long shadow over the current administration since July, when an independent panel reprimanded the minority government for its role but did not impeach it.

After months of speculation, the Prime Minister on October 5 called a general election on November 1.
Hyderabad, Nov 2 : The stage is set for polling for by-election to Munugode Assembly seat in Telangana on Thursday.

The poll authorities have made all the arrangements for the polling in the constituency in Nalgonda district.

A total of 2,41,855 electorate is expected to utilise their right of franchise at 298 polling stations.

The polling will be held from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. The poll authorities have made arrangements to webcast the election process in all the polling stations.

As many as 3,366 state police personnel and 15 companies of central forces have been deployed.

A total of 105 polling stations have been identified as critical.

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vikas Raj said sending bulk SMS has been barred. The election authorities have also deployed special teams to constantly monitor the messages on social media.

Non-voters have been directed to leave the constituency. Special teams have been deployed to verify the presence of non-voters in function halls, hotels and other places.

As many as 51 static surveillance teams and flying squads were deployed on the ground to check model code of conduct (MCC) violations.

Vikas Raj has said that 198 police teams are on the ground to check any unauthorised movement of men and material.

As part of the election process, 821 persons with criminal antecedents had been bound over and 111 belt shops (unauthorised outlets of licensed liquor shops) shut.

The high-voltage campaigning went silent on Tuesday evening with the leaders of three major parties making a last-minute bid to woo the voters by canvassing to the optimum level.

On the last day there were many roadshows, street-corner meetings and public meetings.

The day also saw a clash between workers of BJP and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). Barring couple of incidents, the campaigning activisties went off peacefully.

The constituency is witnessing a three-cornered contest, whose outcome is expected to be significant ahead of the next year's Assembly elections.

There are a total of 47 candidates in the fray but the main contest is among three major players - TRS, BJP and Congress.

The bypoll was necessitated after sitting MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy resigned from the Congress to join the BJP in August. Reddy is now contesting on BJP ticket.

The TRS has fielded former MLA Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy, who had lost to Rajagopal Reddy in 2018.

Congress leader has fielded Palvai Sravanthi Reddy, daughter of former MP Palvai Goverdhan Reddy.

The BJP is confident of winning a third by-election in the state to consolidate its position ahead of 2023 polls.

The saffron party had wrested Dubbak and Huzurabad from TRS in 2020 and 2021 respectively to emerge as the main opposition party while Congress is still reeling under series of poll debacles since 2018.

The TRS has gone all out out to stop the saffron surge. The party deployed about 80 leaders including ministers, MPs and MLAs for the intensive campaigning.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao addressed two public meetings with the first being in Augusta day before union Home minister Amit Shah addressed a rally to welcome Rajagopal Reddy into BJP.

TRS working president K. T. Rama Rao, finance and health minister Harish Rao also addressed couple of meetings and road shows to bolster the ruling party's campaign.

For the BJP, its state president Bandi Sanjay, union minister G. Kishan Reddy, party's national vice president D. K. Aruna participated in the campaign.

During the campaign, the TRS called upon people to teach a lesson to BJP and Rajagopal Reddy for imposing an unnecessary by-election.

The allegation of both TRS and Congress was that Rajagopal Reddy resigned from Congress and joined BJP for Rs 18,000 crore contract awarded by the BJP government at the Centre to his family owned company.

The BJP candidate, however, argued that the company bagged the contract in competition. He claimed that he resigned for the development of the constituency as it was neglected by the TRS government.

The BJP was on the defensive as the TRS leaders also slammed it for seeking votes without its government at the Centre sanctioning a single project for Telangana in last eight years.

The arrest of three alleged agents of BJP in Hyderabad last week while trying to buy four MLAs of TRS caused huge embarassment to the party in the midst of the campaign. One of the TRS MLAs Pilot Rohit Reddy, who had tipped-off police, claimed that the accused, including two godmen, offered Rs 100 crore to him and Rs 50 crore each to three others to join BJP.

The TRS also leaked the audio of telephonic conversation of the accused, which indicate that some top central leaders of BJP are behind 'MLAs poaching' scam.

The BJP called the arrests a drama by TRS due to fear of defeat in Munugode and even moved the high court seeking CBI probe.

The Congress party's campaign was led by its state president A. Revanth Reddy. The party's campaign in last few days was affected as party leaders were busy with Bharat Jodo Yatra of Rahul Gandhi in other parts of the state.

The Congress leaders trained guns on both TRS and BJP by highlighting their failures in the state and at the Centre's respectively.

The Congress focussed it's efforts on garnering support from women.

The party signed off its campaigning by holding a women's rally with Palvai Sravanthi making an emotional appeal seeking one opportunity to work for her father's ideals.

The Congress evoked the women's sentiment as speakers said "Sravanthi is your daughter and don't let a daughter cry." Revanth Reddy said it was not a good omen for the state if a daughter cries and asked people to bless the Munugode's daughter whole heartedly.
Kolkata, Nov 2 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday arrested Faizal Khan alias Palash, the prime accused in the murder Trinamool Congress leader Vadu Sheikh.

The murder had led to the killing of ten people on March 21 at the Bogtui village in West Bengal's Birbhum district. The attack was said to be revenge violence following Vadu Sheikh's murder.

The CBI said that Faizal Khan was arrested from Bogtui village only late Tuesday night and he will be presented at a lower court in Asansol on Wednesday afternoon.

The CBI sleuths have been conducting parallel probes on both the Vadu Sheikh's murder as well as the Bogtui carnage as par an order of the Calcutta High Court which observed that the two events were linked.

During the course on investigation, the CBI got access to CCTV footage that gave the investigating officials some clear idea about Vadu Sheikh's murder. In the CCTV footage, Faizal Khan was seen hurling crude bombs towards Vadu Sheikh. He had also been named in the charge sheet filed by the CBI at Rampurhat sub- divisional court in Birbhum district.

Faizal Khan went absconding since the day of the two gruesome incidents of March 21. CBI sources said that they had been tracking the tower location of Faizal Khan's mobile phone for quite some time. On the basis of that the sleuths came to know on Tuesday night that he had come to Bogtui and after a sudden raid he was arrested.

The CBI will seek Khan's custody at the court. Sources said that he needs to be integrated thoroughly to find the reasons for his rivalry with Vadu Sheikh.
New Delhi, Nov 2 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition seeking to restrain Justice D.Y. Chandrachud from taking oath as the 50th Chief Justice of India on November 9.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit told the petitioner's counsel, "We see no reason to entertain the petition, petition is misconceived," and dismissed it.

During the hearing in the matter, the petitioner's counsel cited certain "irregularities, illegal acts" allegedly committed by Justice Chandrachud. The bench, also comprising Justices S. Ravindra Bhat and Bela M. Trivedi told the counsel: "We do not see any substance in this petition".

In a case related to Covid vaccination, the counsel submitted that when a senior advocate appeared, Justice Chandrachud's bench allowed tagging, but when a junior advocate appeared no tagging was allowed.

He further argued that Justice Chandrachud's bench heard a special leave petition arising out of an order in the Bombay High Court in which his son had appeared as a counsel.

The petition was filed on the basis of a representation filed by one Rashid Khan Pathan before the President of India against Justice Chandrachud.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) and the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) have issued statements condemning the letter circulated against Justice Chandrachud.

The petition was mentioned by a counsel for urgent listing by the petitioner's counsel Wednesday morning before a bench headed by Chief Justice Lalit. The counsel submitted that the oath is on November 9 and requested for urgent listing. The top court listed the matter for hearing at 12.45 p.m.
Mumbai, Nov 2 : The king of romance - Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan turned 57 on Wednesday and the on the occasion, the teaser of his upcoming film 'Pathaan' was unveiled which has set time ticking for the audience.

The film's director Siddharth Anand shared that the idea behind secretly dropping the teaser of Pathaan was to celebrate Shah Rukh Khan's birthday with his countless fans across the globe.

Siddharth, who set the cash registers ringing for Yash Raj Films with his last blockbuster 'War', said in a statement: "The craze for a glimpse of 'Pathaan' has been unprecedented. After a long, long time there's insane buzz for a film that is genuine and organic. And it's all due to the super stardom of this one man - Shah Rukh Khan. His fans, and we are talking of millions of them, have been clamouring for just a peek of him and his film. And thus, there could be no better day to put out the teaser of 'Pathaan' than SRK's birthday".

The visually stunning action extravaganza, which also stars Deepika Padukone and John Abraham in pivotal roles and Salman Khan in a cameo, is part of producer-director Aditya Chopra's spy universe.

Talking about the film, Siddharth further mentioned: "He, truly, has been ruling the hearts and minds of audiences for decades and 'Pathaan' marks his return to the big screen after a gap of four long years. So, while we decided to surprise them all on his birthday, the pressure to deliver was immense." Siddharth shared that given the massive expectations of fans, the teaser of 'Pathaan' had to deliver the goods.

"We had to make a unit that justifies their wait to see something of Pathaan as well as the fact that we have chosen his birthday to release the first big asset of the film! It had to be spectacular and memorable at the same time and I think we have managed to make them very happy, given the incredible reaction that we are witnessing for Pathaan's teaser", he added.

For the team behind the action saga, 'Pathaan' goes beyond the realm of being just a film, "For us, Pathaan is not just a film, it is an emotion as we are aiming to make the biggest action spectacle with one of the all-time biggest on-screen icons that Indian cinema has ever seen", the director concluded.

'Pathaan' has one of the biggest on-screen pairings of SRK and Deepika from the Hindi cinema given their epic blockbusters like 'Om Shanti Om', 'Chennai Express' and 'Happy New Year'.

The film, produced under the banner of YRF, will arrive in cinemas on January 25, 2023.
Lucknow, Nov 2 : The syllabus of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) will be implemented from class 1 to 3 in government primary schools in Uttar Pradesh from the 2023-24 academic session.

According to Director general, school education, U.P, Vijay Kiran Anand, the basic education department has sent a proposal to the cabinet for approval.

The books of NCERT have already been introduced for class 9 to 12 students in U.P. Board schools.

"A detailed proposal has been sent to the government. NCERT books will be introduced in government schools in a phased manner. First, we will start with class 1 to 3. Then it will be introduced in class 4 to 5 from session 2024-25 and in the following session, it will be rolled out among students from class 6 to 8," the official said.

Talking about books, he said, "Since they are already available in the market, the basic education department is only required to take consent for copyright for printing of these books. About 75 lakh students of class 1 to 3 will benefit from NCERT books." The decision to implement NCERT syllabus in council schools was taken in 2018 and there was a plan to implement it in a phased manner from classes I to 8 from 2021-22. But it got delayed due to the outbreak of Covid-19.

Now the government will implement the syllabus from class 1 to 3 in the next session and then till class 8 in the next two years. Ahead of it, the basic education department will carry out teachers' training for which the workbook module has been designed.

"Teachers' training is an important aspect as the NCERT books are a little different from the SCERT books," the official said.

The official added the decision to switch to NCERT books was taken as most of the competitive exams after class 12 are based on NCERT pattern.

Already NCERT books are being taught in class 9 to 12 at the secondary level and when these students graduate to higher classes, they will be able to adapt well.

Presently, there are 1.9 crore (19 million) students studying in 1.32 lakh (1,32,000) government primary and upper primary schools across the state.

Soon after the BJP government came to power, NCERT syllabus was introduced in U.P. Board schools.
Kanpur : , Nov 2 (IANS) The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur is offering a carefully curated and unique eMasters degree program on Cyber Security for working professionals.

Developed by the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Kanpur, this executive-friendly program is taught by world-class faculty and researchers from IIT Kanpur.

According to an official release, working professionals will have the flexibility to complete the 60-credit 12-module industry-focused curriculum between 1-3 years. The selection into this program is based on one's academic and professional background. Therefore, GATE score is not required.

The release said that with the rapid evolution of the Internet, along with life-changing advantages, cyber threats are also on the rise.

According to Gartner, by 2025, 45 per cent of organisations might face attacks on their software supply chains.

With data multiplying, the risk of attack on important information systems, critical infrastructure, and personal devices also multiplies.

As per reports, India is about to have over 1.5 million job vacancies in the cyber security sector by 2025 and to meet this upcoming talent gap, India needs to have a well-equipped and skilled workforce for the changing cyber security landscape.

Last year itself, India's Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) recorded over 14 lakhs cyber-attack incidents.

Banking systems, communications, railways, armed forces, power sectors are some of the critical infrastructures that are affected by cyber threats.

Apart from that, the advent of technologies like AI and IoT has led to the increase of ransomware threats.

Last year, India saw an estimated 120 per cent increase in ransomware attacks. Although most of them are from third-party attackers, there is significant increase in attacks expected from insiders in near future.

Data breaches, hacking, foreign espionage, and cyber phishing are some key categories plaguing cyber security in India.

Usage of cloud-based services, sharing unauthorised data, financial exchanges on digital payment platforms, social media communication, net banking, e-commerce are also providing attack surfaces to the growing cyber threats.

With the threat landscape expanding, the necessity for more skilled professionals is also becoming a priority.

The eMasters degree program from IIT Kanpur comes in to assist professionals build capabilities for an evolving and volatile threat environment. It will thoroughly train professionals in the methods and technologies of Cyber Security.

Professionals and cyber security enthusiasts will also become well-versed with the latest concepts to effectively manoeuvre through the changing scenarios of the field.

Dr. Manindra Agarwal, Professor at Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Kanpur, said, "This one-of-a-kind program enables students to stay ahead of the competition with future-proof training. Over 85 participants of Batch 1 are reaping great benefits as this futuristic program prepares them for the challenges of tomorrow. The participants gain theoretical knowledge along with a hands-on experience of tools and technologies, which when put into practice helps mitigate upcoming risks with utmost expertise."
Mumbai, Nov 2 : As Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan celebrates his 57th birthday on Wednesday, his closest friend and brotherly figure, filmmaker-producer Karan Johar expressed how much the actor means to him.

Taking to his Instagram, KJo shared a video featuring throwback pictures of him with SRK. He also posted a long note reminiscing how their friendship started and how it has become firm more than ever.

He wrote: "The film was KARAN ARJUN... the set was in Film City... my father and I arrived (me playing the part of a plus size hanger on) for a professional meeting (the signing on the dotted line for the film DUPLICATE) I had many apprehensions about movie stars ... many of them based on fact and some of course Stardust (sic)".

KJo had no preconceived notion about SRK but, he was intrigued by this 'breakout star' back then, as he continued in his note: "So I wondered about this new breakthrough star who was apparently a lot like his first big hit (DEEWANA for the uninformed ) ... he was in costume and met my father warmly and gave him a massive jhappi." After greeting KJo's father Yash Johar, SRK turned to young KJo, and greeted him not knowing that this friendship will go down in the pages of the history of Bollywood as the one that clouded all friendships including the iconic on-screen equation of Jai-Veeru from 'Sholay'. KJo further mentioned: "He shook my hand and with his immensely kind eyes asked me many questions about my non existent career and my unproductive life (at that time) My answers were as bland as khichdi for an upset stomach but he listened with so much attention that I felt at that time that I had cracked the Da Vinci code." A long time has passed since then, almost three decades, 29 years to be precise and their friendship is still going strong. "That was 29 years ago... Today I call him Bhai and he still listens to me with wrapped attention (even when I am discussing my trials and tribulations of hosting a talk show ) his kind eyes are even kinder...and he is...PERSONALITY! That word just means SRK." "For me, he is more than family and will always be my fiercest critic and my hugest inspiration...I owe my entire being to Adi and bhai... And today I celebrate him and his extraordinary teaser of what I believe is going to be a juggernaut blockbuster! Hail the King !!! Because there isn't and will never be another! Love you Bhai (heart emojis) @iamsrk (sic)", KJo concluded his note.
New Delhi, Nov 2 : The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar's plea challenging the probe against him in relation to a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case.

A division bench of Justice Mukta Gupta and Justice Anish Dayal, however did not issue any order staying coercive action against the Karnataka Congress president.

The court directed the probe agency to file their reply in the matter by December 15.

In his plea, Shivakumar argued that the fresh PMLA probe in the matter was based on identical facts and infringed his rights.

"The respondent in the 1st ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report) had sought custody of the petitioner primarily to investigate the issue pertaining to the growth in assets of the petitioner during the period he served as the Minister and MLA in the State of Kamataka. The commencement of fresh proceedings under the PML Act on identical facts and covering the same period is directly infringing the rights guaranteed under the Constitution more particularly Article 20(2) and Article 21," his plea read.

The plea further argued that the offence under 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 cannot lead to the generation of proceeds of crime.

"...PML Act in such cases cannot be invoked against the person alleged to have amassed disproportionate assets. Thus, the inclusion of offence u/s 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act is violative of Article 20(2) of the Constitution and Section 300 of CrPC," it added.
Chennai, Nov 2 : The DMK has written a letter to all the opposition parties to sign a petition addressed to President Draupadi Murmu calling for immediate removal of Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi from the post.

This is due to the battle between him and the state government on a host of issues.

The Congress has agreed to sign the memorandum for the removal of Tamil Nadu Governor after DMK parliamentary party leader T.R. Baalu sent a letter to all the opposition parties.

Recently, CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury, in a press conference at New Delhi, urged the like-minded opposition parties to come together for a joint protest against the acts of Governors which are mostly "undemocratic and anti-Constitutional".

The CPI-M and the LDF government in Kerala are engaged in a bitter fight with the state Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on issues of the posting of Vice Chancellors. The Governor seeking removal of K.N. Balagopal as Kerala Finance minister has infuriated the CPI-M leadership.

The CPI, another ally of the DMK, has called for abolishing the post of Governors in India. The CPI National general secretary, D. Raja has in a statement said that the post of Governor must be abolished.

Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi is in a running fight with the DMK government of the state in contentious issues including the NEET for Medical Entrance exams.
New Delhi, Nov 2 : A Nigerian woman was arrested at Indira Gandhi International Airport with heorin worth Rs 30 crore, customs official said on Wednesday.

The official said that the woman arrived at the IGI airport on Monday.

"The Nigerian national was intercepted on suspicion. We recovered four kg heroin from her bag. The contraband was secreted in the false cavities of the bag," the official added.

"The accused has committed offence punishable under section 21, 23 and 29 of NDPS Act. Accordingly, she was placed under arrest under section 43(b) of NDPS Act. Heroin was seized along with concealing material under section 43(a) of NDPS Act," said the customs official.

The customs official produced her before the court which remanded her to judicial custody.
Rajkot, Nov 2 : A woman was killed while trying to save her son from his paramour's husband in Jetpur town in Gujarat's Rajkot.

Complainant Vidhan Solanki said that he had an affair with one Manu Patolia's wife and both the families had fought in the past.

Later, both families had reached a compromise, under which Vidhan severed his relationship with Manu's wife and paid money to the latter's family.

On Tuesday night, Manu came to Vidhan's house and started demanding Rs 2 lakh more as part of compromise, but complainant's mother Rekhaben refused.

Enraged over it, Manu ran after Vidhan to beat him, and when Rekhaben tried to intervene, he stabbed her and fled away.

Vidhan rushed Rekhaben to the government hospital, where the doctor declared her brought dead.
New Delhi, Nov 2 : The Delhi Police's Crime Branch has arrested a 25 year-old man for allegedly smuggling illicit liquor from Haryana into the national capital, a top official said on Wednesday.

The accused has been identified as Samir Khan, a resident of Kirari.

Ravindra Singh Yadav, the Special Commissioner of Police (Crime), said: "Specific inputs were received regarding liquor being transported illegally in a Tata Ace vehicle following which a trap was laid in Rohini. The vehicle was intercepted and 120 cartons containing the illicit liquor were recovered.

"On interrogation, the driver of the vehicle, Samir, told police that he used to purchase the illicit liquor from Bahadurgarh in Haryana and to avoid any suspicion and police checking, he used to transport it during late night hours by taking aroute through rural areas." Yadav added that the illicit liquor was to be supplied in Punjabi Bagh, Raghuveer Nagar and Mangolpuri areas.
Jaipur, Nov 2 : Deputy Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Legislative Assembly Rajendra Rathore on Wednesday asked Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to put his house in order instead of hitting the central government every now and then.

This comes after former deputy CM Sachin Pilot broke his silence on the leadership change issue in Rajasthan and demanded action against three veteran Congress leaders who were served disciplinary notice.

In his tweet, Rathore said, "Sachin Pilot ji has broken his silence after the ruckus created during Congress Legislature Party meeting. Time will tell where this silence will lead The A team of Gehlot camp and B team of Pilot camp in the Congress party are engaged in settling each other. It will be better if Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who makes unrestrained remarks every day on the central government, saves his house."
Chennai, Nov 2 : Actress Rambha, who had asked her fans and followers to pray for her and her kids after her car was hit by another speeding car at an intersection in Canada, has now thanked everybody who prayed for the safety of her family.

Taking to Instagram to do a live session for the very first time, Rambha said: "To all my fans, friends and family members, whoever they are from all over the world -- whoever prayed for our speedy recovery and for our safety, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart." "Thank you so much. My kids and I are safe now. I am overwhelmed with this support and love I am getting from you." The actress also confirmed that her daughter Sasha, who was in the hospital, had been discharged and had now come home.

"No words to share my happiness. My kids are safe. Especially Sasha is safe. She came out of the hospital. I love you all," the actress said.

"I am very fortunate to receive so much love. It is all because of your prayers that we escaped from a major mishap," she added.

On Tuesday, Rambha had said that a car rammed into her's while she was on her way back picking her kids from school.

The actress also posted pictures of her damaged car and her little daughter who has been hospitalised.
Jaipur, Nov 2 : Rajendra Gudha, a minister in the Rajasthan government and a known supporter of Sachin Pilot, has opened a front against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot by demanding the convening of CLP meet to discuss the leadership change.

Gudha has demanded that the Congress high command convene a meeting of the legislature party soon to decide on changing the chief minister in the state. He also demanded the sacking of two ministers, namely Shanti Dhariwal, Mahesh Joshi and also RTDC President Dharmendra Rathod from their posts for being responsible for the political mess.

These three leaders were served disciplinary notice for calling a parallel meeting of the MLAs to CLP called officially by the Congress high command.

He said, "Our organisation general secretary K.C. Venugopal had said that in a day or two, we will decide the Rajasthan CM. Next, notices were served to Shanti Dhariwal, Mahesh Joshi and Dharmendra Rathod. It has been more than a month since this matter happened. At that time, there was a talk of convening the Congress Legislature Party meeting again, till now the Legislature Party meeting has not been called.

"All I have to say is that it is a question of the credibility of the high command. The Congress Legislature Party should call a meeting and decide on the CM soon. Take a decision on the three leaders soon".

Gudha further said, "Venugopal had at that time asked to decide the Chief Minister of Rajasthan in a day or two, that decision should now be taken soon, so that the party benefits in Himachal and Gujarat elections." "The Congress is in a good position in both the places. Be it ministers, bureaucracy, there is a topic of discussion about the CM everywhere, a decision should be taken on this soon. Mallikarjun Kharge has become our new president. He has come here as an observer. Now, he should give a message that the party is making the decision, it will benefit the Congress," said Gudha.
Jaipur, Nov 2 : A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot during his Mangarh visit, Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Wednesday termed it an "interesting development", saying the former had once heaped praises on Ghulam Nabi Azad and everyone knows what followed.

It should not be taken lightly, he added.

Days after the incident, Azad had quit the Congress to float his own party.

He also demanded action against the three leaders slapped with notices for calling an unofficial meeting of MLAs parallel to an official meeting called by the party high command.

"Our's is a disciplined party where the same set of rules and regulations are applicable to all. Quick decisions should be taken even on notices. Kharge ji has taken over as the new party chief. It's not possible that an incident of violation of rules is left unheeded," he further said.

Party leader K.C. Venugopal had said that soon a decision will be taken on the fate of the three leaders, he said, adding "We all are busy in elections, soon the announcement of Gujarat polls will also be made." On a query regarding the upcoming Assembly polls, he said, "AICC will soon take a decision on the allocation of posts and the responsibilities. Only 13 months are left for the election so quick decisions have to be taken. We are winning Assembly elections in both the states," he claimed.

Party leader Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra is getting a huge response from the public which is unnerving the BJP, he said. Very soon, the yatra will enter Maharashtra and from there to Rajasthan.

Notably, Chief Minister Gehlot and PM Modi shared the stage in the meeting held at Mangarh Dham in Banswara on Tuesday during which Modi called the latter a "senior among the Chief Ministers in a way".

Both the leaders also engaged in a private discussion which lasted 10 minutes. PM Modi had said "Ashokji is our senior most Chief Minister. We have worked together".
Bengaluru, Nov 2 : Union Minister for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman stated on Wednesday that for industries which are moving out from China and Europe, Karnataka is the best place for investments.

Sitharaman was delivering her keynote address at the inaugural session of the three-day Global Investors' Meet (GIM).

"They are moving out to other destinations which are offering more than just tax incentives. Karnataka is the major job generator in the country. While contributing 8.8 per cent to the national GDP, whilst its population is just five per cent of total national population, 10 per cent of all formal jobs are created here," she explained.

"I wish to assure all the investors that the state is absolutely very nimble-footed, that the policies are kept abreast of the global developments at a time when all of you are trying to move in. Here is a state which has showcased itself for its previous achievements, and assuring that even now and for the next 25 years during Amrit Kal, Karnataka will be an essential foundation for many investors to come into India, from here to the entire globe," the minister stated.

"I would like to draw also from what is evolving around India globally. All over there is definitely a sense of uncertainty. Immense amounts of challenges, that is not just for India, every country in the world feels the headwinds are very strong elements of feeling of certainty completely absent, even as we all started talking about China plus one," she stated.

"When you wanted to diversify the value chains, or when you wanted to ensure that there is more than one source for the raw materials or for the intermediary products that you will produce. You had a global situation of war. The war, especially from countries which sourced raw materials whether it is fuel, fertilizer or food related. So, you have these countries at war which are causing insecurity to the globe particularly in the area of fuel and food.

"As a result, the countries are readjusting themselves to source these materials from different parts of the world. That has had a bearing on industries, economy, trade and global trade as well. The results of these disruptions were seen in large economies which were essential sources of raw materials for intermediary products, which were markets to emerging markets... are all going through huge recessionary doubts.

"They may technically be at the threshold of recession, but are not really out of suspense or shock on whether they will be getting into further rigid recession in the future... With all these uncertainties, I am here to put it before you because of the careful planning, targeted facilitation, and fiscal prudence, the Prime Minister led from the front and made sure that Indian economy will not be severely threatened by these developments outside.

"As a result of this, between 2020 and today, we seem to have come out to a situation where the challenges continue, the new challenges are also building up. But, India remains as an island of calm. We will have our own challenges but not as other countries as they think India would be threatened by.

"In a way I have been hearing both during my Washington visit, also through visitors at New Delhi that India seems to be an oasis of calm and the challenges are carefully firewalled and that our economy now is very attractive for investors."
New Delhi, Nov 2 : The Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF) on Wednesday hailed the action taken by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against Google for unfair use of its dominant position with respect to Play Store policies, especially in regards to In-app payment systems.

As Google's unfair practices in regards to In-app purchases and subscription fees is established through CCI verdict, the lasting way out is to have a legislative frame to restrain such practices of excessive charging by the App Aggregators platforms, it said.

An ADIF spokesperson said that this payments decision, along with Android app bundling decision by the CCI last week, will set a new precedent globally against the anti-trust practices followed by any dominant tech organisation in India.

ADIF, an over 500 member alliance working relentlessly for easing the operating ecosystem for startups, said that there is a strong need to back the CCI decision with appropriate legislation, so as to stop App Aggregator platforms charging excessively from App developers.

"A price regulatory authority and framework in Digital India Act or Competition Act, in line with DMA act in UK for digital markets may be the imminent step in the right direction, which would help in restraining such anti-competitive practices by Significant IT intermediary organisations," said the organisation.

Charging to the tune of 30 per cent for payment services is excessive by any means and the CCI noted that mandatory imposition of GPBS (Google Play Billing System) limits technical advancement in the market for in-app payment processing services because it disturbs the incentives for innovation and the capacity of payment processors and app developers to innovate and build new technologies.

"Also, other than payment processing services, Google play store does not provide any additional service which justifies the imposition of its supra-competitive fees, hence their commission of 15 per cent or 30 per cent is without any commercial justification," it added.

There is a strong need to stop this abusive practice, and as has been established by CCI of this unfair practice, there needs a legislative framework to restrict the In-app payment charges in line with PG charges (upto 3 per cent).

"The time is ripe to replicate the same for the app-developers also, as this would usher a new paradigm in the Start-up space in India, with consumers getting innovative app-based solutions for their professional and business needs," said the ADIF.

The CCI fining Google Rs 936.44 crore on October 25 for abusing its dominant position with regards to its Play Store Billing and payment policy, a few days after the regulator slapping a fine of Rs 1,338 crore for abusing its dominant position in multiple markets with its Android mobile operating system (OS), may be considered as the resilient footing to set up the legislative framework.
San Francisco, Nov 2 : Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance's CEO Changpeng Zhao has said that his company invested $500 million in Elon Musk's Twitter because he is "extremely supportive" of free speech.

Zhao, famously known as CZ, told an audience at the Web Summit in Lisbon that "when we invest in a deal, we're very comfortable if the deal goes through. We're very comfortable if the deal doesn't go through. We always want to get to a point where we're in that position".

"Number one is that we want to be extremely supportive of free speech," he said. "Twitter is an important free speech platform." Zhao admitted that he was "honestly" a "little bit surprised" when the deal finally went through as Musk is a "pretty hard guy for me to predict".

"I'm a heavy Twitter user," added the Binance CEO.

Zhao also sees Twitter as an important business development tool, calling himself an "active Twitter user" who uses the app more than he uses the Binance app, reports TechCrunch.

Zhao said Binance aceloves to support Musk's "different ideas".

"We're very supportive of anything that can reduce the bots on Twitter," he noted.

Twitter boss Musk has announced that users can get their accounts verified with the new Blue plan at a price of $8.

"Power to the people! Blue for $8 per month," he tweeted.

The world's richest man also said that the "price adjusted by country is proportional to purchasing power parity".

Musk mentioned the additional benefits that the users will get with the new Twitter Blue plan including, "priority in replies, mentions and search, ability to post long video and audio, half as many advertisements".

Zhao admitted that he doesn't have details about what's happening inside Twitter HQ right now.
Hyderabad, Nov 2 : The Hyderabad Police and Secunderabad Cantonment officials on Wednesday decided to undertake joint inspection of roads in Cantonment area amid demands from the local population to reopen the closed roads.

Cantonment authorities led by General Officer Commanding (GOC) Brigadier K. Somashanker, Station in Charge Col. Sidharth met Hyderabad Police Commissioner C.V. Anand to discuss the issue.

The meeting followed last week's visit by Joint Commissioner of Police Ranganath and DCP North Zone Chandana Deepthi to the office of the Station in Charge in a bid to find an amicable solution to the problem of roads being closed for a decade.

Wednesday's meeting discussed the way forward. It was decided that a joint physical inspection will be taken up on Thursday by the Colonel's team and the DCP North Zone traffic team of all the roads to see which ones can be opened up for public traffic and which ones are sensitive.

A decision will be taken based on the findings of joint inspection.

The police commissioner said that it is imperative that the needs of public convenience and free flow of traffic are balanced with the needs of security of the military and defence establishments in the Cantonment area.

"In view of the growing population and vehicular traffic, we are also ready to consider the aspect of public convenience and review our stand," said the Brigadier and Station Commander.

The police commissioner promised to deploy more traffic personnel on those roads, patrol cars and patrolling teams to ensure the safety and security of the defence personnel.

He also requested the civilians and public to be patient and not agitate or politicise this exercise being undertaken for finding a solution in an amicable atmosphere.

It may be recalled that in March this year while speaking in Telangana State Assembly, municipal administration and urban development minister K.T. Rama Rao had warned that power and water supply would be cut to defence areas in Cantonment limits in the city, if the Local Military Authority (LMA) continued to cause inconvenience to residents by blocking roads and opposing development works.

Later, the minister held a meeting with Army officials who assured him that the LMA would cooperate with the state government.

KTR, as the minister is popularly known, had written letters in the past to the Defence Minister to direct the LMA to re-open the closed roads.

The minister had stated last year that 21 roads were closed illegally in the Secunderabad Cantonment area, causing inconvenience to the people.

Disputing a statement made by Union Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt in Lok Sabha that only two roads were closed, the minister had claimed that 21 roads were closed.

KTR had also requested Defence Minister Rajnath Singh that if the Secunderabad Cantonment Board cannot provide basic facilities for citizens, it should be merged with Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.
Bengaluru, Nov 2 : A 15-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped and murdered in Karnataka's Kalaburagi district.

Kalaburagi SP Isha Panth on Wednesday said a special team has been formed to probe the case and nab the accused.

According to police, the victim had gone out of the house to attend nature's call on Tuesday afternoon.

When the girl did not return home, her family members started searching her everywhere, after which her body was found in a farm.

After reaching the spot, Isha Panth assured that the accused will be arrested soon.

The girl was studying in Class 9 and staying at her relative's place, the police said.

Aland police have taken up the investigation.
New Delhi, Nov 2 : Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Wednesday urged the citizens in the national capital to follow five points appeal to reduce the rising level of pollution.

Addressing mediapersons here, Gopal Rai said: "Firstly, if you see construction work is underway, send the picture to the Green App. Secondly, use the car or bike pooling. Thirdly, if possible, do work from home. Don't use the coal and wood for burning. And lastly, RWA should provide heater to the security guards to avoid using wood for heat during the winter," Gopal Rai said.

The minister also accused the BJP of targeting farmers in Punjab for stubble burning "because of their earlier protests against three contentious farm laws of the Centre".

The minister urged the BJP to cooperate in fighting pollution as the Delhi government alone could not curb the pollution that wafts from the adjoining NCR region.

"Everybody is asking the same question -- why has stubble burning not reduced despite AAP being in power in Delhi and Punjab? Stubble burning has not reduced because the Centre has denied support," Environment Minister claimed.

"The BJP is blaming farmers for burning stubble because of their protests... They now want FIRs to be filed against them. They should stop abusing farmers, stop seeking revenge from them," Rai said.
Chandigarh, Nov 2 : The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Wednesday announced that it will host the 15th edition of CII Agro Tech India in Chandigarh from November 4 to 7.

Making its formal return to the city after 2018, CII Agro Tech India 2022 will have 246 exhibitors, including 27 international exhibitors from four countries.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, and Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) are partners for CII Agro Tech India.

Commenting on the event, Sanjiv Puri, Chairman, CII Agro Tech India, said, "It is critical to usher in future-ready agriculture by leveraging the power of digital technology as well as by building climate resilience and adaptive capacity to enable enhanced farmers' income and empowerment.

"CII Agro Tech India promises to be an effective platform to showcase and discuss some of the emerging opportunities in this crucial sector that provide livelihood to a large proportion of the country. It is indeed a privilege that Vice President of India, Jagdeep Dhankhar, will inaugurate the fair." The event will also facilitate extensive interaction opportunities between farmers, agro tech players and the agro food industry, both in India and overseas, to help shape the next horizon of value-added and sustainable agriculture.

This year's theme is 'Digital Transformation for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security', which encompasses focusing on sustainable agriculture; technologies; enhancing productivity and profitability for various stakeholders in the agriculture chain; innovations for growth and sharing of best practices for agri-excellence.

Some of the products and services that will be launched at the event include power machineries such as tillers, water pumps, brush cutters, etc.
Chennai, Nov 2 : With Karthi-starrer 'Sardar' going on to emerge a big hit, its producer Lakshman Kumar has presented director P. S. Mithran a brand new car.

Sources close to the unit of the film said that producer Lakshman Kumar, who is thoroughly pleased with the success of the film, has presented the film's director P. S. Mithran a Toyota Fortuner.

The film, which released on October 21, has been doing exceptionally well in theatres. In fact, the resounding success of the film had recently prompted its makers to announce a sequel to the film.

The film, which had Karthi playing two characters with one of them being the role of a spy, also had a crucial socially relevant message on the significance of water.

Apart from Karthi, the film also featured Chunkey Pandey, Laila, Rajisha Vijayan and Raashi Khanna among others. Music for the film was scored by G. V. Prakash Kumar and cinematography was by George C. Williams.

In the sequel too, Karthi will be seen playing a spy with the action shifting to Cambodia.
Chandigarh, Nov 2 : The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Wednesday suspended senior leader Jagir Kaur from the party and issued a two-day ultimatum to her to stop anti-party activities, failing which strict disciplinary action would be taken against her.

Announcing this, SAD Disciplinary Committee Chairman Sikander Singh Maluka said it was mandatory for Jagir Kaur to clarify that she would not contest the forthcoming elections to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).

"If she does not do this, the party is bound to act against her as no one is above party discipline," he told the media here.

Giving details, Maluka said Jagir Kaur was indulging in anti-party activities since the last few months and was working in conjunction with forces inimical towards SAD.

He said the party had tried its best to counsel Jagir Kaur with senior leaders, Daljit Singh Cheema and Surjit Singh Rakhra, holding a three-hour-long meeting with her recently. "Earlier party President Sukhbir Singh Badal also met her but she remained adamant on contesting the SGPC elections." The Disciplinary Committee Chairman said the party had also received complaints from SGPC members that Jagir Kaur was pressuring them to support her as the candidate for the post of President of the SGPC.

He said the leader's statements in the media also indicated that she was adamant on contesting the elections even against the wishes of the party.

Meanwhile, Maluka said the disciplinary committee, which met here, has also considered the reply submitted by senior leader Jagmeet Singh Brar to the show-cause notice issued to him and found it unsatisfactory.

"We will give him another opportunity to explain his utterances and actions before proceeding in the matter," he added.
Kolkata, Nov 2 : Despite the Calcutta High Court's insistence, the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) has expressed its inability to provide certificates to candidates appearing in the primary teachers' eligibility tests in 2014 and 2017.

At a meeting between the counsel of WBBPE and the petitioners demanding certificates with break-up of marks for 2014 and 2017, the board representative clearly communicated that providing certificates to all the candidates who appeared in the primary teachers' eligibility tests in 2014 and 2017 will not be possible before November 14 this year when fresh written examinations for primary teachers' recruitment will be conducted.

However, Bikram Bandopadhyay, one of the counsel for the petitioners, who met the current WBBPE President Gautam Pal, told media persons that the board authorities have assured intimating the candidates who appeared for the primary teachers' eligibility tests in 2014 and 2017 about the marks obtained by them then.

Several petitioners, who appeared for the primary teachers' eligibility test in 2014 and 2017, alleged even after so many years, they are yet to receive the certificates on this count and hence, they are unable to get a break-up of the marks they secured in the examinations. The petitioners claimed that if their clients get the certificates for 2014 and 2017 examinations, they would be able to know whether they have qualified for direct interview or will have to appear for a fresh written test. Hence, they are insisting on the issuance of certificates before the last date of application.

As per the WBBPE rules, anyone who has qualified in the written test before can appear directly for the interview and such candidates need not appear for fresh written examination.

On Tuesday, a single judge bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay advised the WBBPE counsel to immediately arrange a meeting with the counsel of the petitioners on this count, if possible, on Tuesday only, and find out ways. Accordingly, the meeting was scheduled.

--IANS src/vd

A
London, Nov 2 : UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confirmed he will attend the Cop27 environmental conference in Egypt next week, the media reported.

The UK PM had initially indicated he would not travel to North Africa despite the UK hosting the previous event in Glasgow last yea, Daily Mail reported.

The change came after Sunak's predecessor Boris Johnson confirmed he would attend, having made the environment a key plank of his premiership.

Writing on Twitter, Sunak said: "There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change. There is no energy security without investing in renewables.

"That is why I will attend Cop27 next week: to deliver on Glasgow's legacy of building a secure and sustainable future." He had previously said he had to focus on Britain's 'depressing domestic challenges' but faced growing pressure to join other world leaders at the conference next week.

Labour's climate change secretary Ed Miliband said: "The Prime Minister has been shamed into going to Cop27 by the torrent of disbelief that he would fail to turn up.

"He is going to avoid embarrassment, not to provide leadership." Labour had called Sunak's decision to skip Cop27 a 'massive failure of leadership'.

Britain hosted Cop26 last year and holds its presidency until the start of the next summit, Daily Mail reported.

The Prime Minister's own climate adviser Alok Sharma had said he was 'disappointed' that Sunak was not planning to attend.

But today he praised the Prime Minister's U-turn. The outgoing Cop26 president tweeted: "Delighted that @RishiSunak is attending Cop27 -- completely agree with his comment that 'there is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change'." Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said Rishi Sunak had been 'dragged kicking and screaming into doing the right thing' after he committed to attend the Cop27 climate summit. "Embarrassing," she added, Daily Mail reported.

The decision of his arch-rival and former Downing Street neighbour to attend made it even harder for Sunak to resist going.
New Delhi, Nov 2 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to examine the possibility of putting people with disabilities under different categories in civil services.

Attorney General R. Venkataramani, representing the Centre, contended that the government was looking into the matter and sought time from a bench comprising Justices S.A. Nazeer and V. Ramasubramanian.

In March this year, the Supreme Court allowed physically challenged candidates who have cleared the civil services exam to provisionally opt for the Indian Police Service, the Railway Protection Force, and the Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Police Service (Danips). The court asked them to submit their application forms by April 1 to the UPSC.

During the hearing, one of the judges on the bench shared an incident where a 100 percent blind person in Chennai was appointed as a civil judge junior division and interpreters at the court got all kinds of orders signed by him. The bench added that he was later appointed as a Tamil journal editor and pointed out that one aspect is the sympathy for the disabled people, but the other aspect is the practicality of the decision.

"Sympathy is one aspect, practicality is another aspect," it said.

The top court asked the AG to examine the matter and added, "they may not fit into all categories....".

After hearing arguments, the bench scheduled the matter for further hearing after eight weeks.

The top court was hearing a plea by the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled' challenging the Centre's August 18, 2021 notification that denied them entry into the country's elite police forces.
Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 2 : The war of words between Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Governor Arif Mohammed Khan intensified on Wednesday with Vijayan asking the latter to "behave" and reminding that "this is Kerala".

"Some (Governor) here are trying to run a parallel government here and are even directing the police on how to run their department. He says he will withdraw the pleasure towards the Ministers. What he fails to understand is that there is an elected government here and a legislature and above all that, he should understand that this is Kerala. He thinks all powers are vested with him and considers himself even above judiciary," Vijayan said while inaugurating a public meeting called by the Left Democratic Front at the auditorium at the state CPI-M headquarters here.

He went on to add that it appears the Governor has an agenda.

Just look, several universities in the country are under the control of the RSS and a similar agenda is on the cards here and he wants to do the same here by placing RSS followers here," Vijayan said and sternly warned Khan that this is Kerala.

He said Khan is not performing his duties as a Governor and is not signing Bills which are sent to him.

"There have been rulings from the Madras High Court on the responsibilities of the Governor," added Vijayan, and accused Khan of trying to create a scenario here which will enable the Centre to intervene.

Khan of late has been going hammer and tongs against the way Vijayan is running the higher education sector and first removed 15 nominated Senate members of the University of Kerala for not obeying his directions.

Then riding on a Supreme Court order which asked the Vice Chancellor of the Kerala Technological University to step down as rules were not followed in his appointment, Khan asked 10 other VCs to quit.

This irked the Vijayan government and following an intervention of the Kerala High Court, all the VCs have been given time till November 4 to reply to the show cause notice served by Khan as the Chancellor on why they should not be removed.

Khan is presently out of station and will return on Friday.
Shimla, Nov 2 : Shyam Saran Negi, believed to be India's first voter at 105 years of age, cast his vote on Wednesday in the Kinnaur assembly constituency in Himachal Pradesh.

As per official record, Negi had also participated in the 1951-52 general elections, the country's first.

"I have never missed an opportunity to cast my vote since India got its Independence in 1947 and I am happy to vote this time too," Negi said in Kalpa, some 275 km from the state capital, after exercising his franchise.

Last year also, he cast his vote for the Mandi parliamentary by-poll.

Election officials said on earlier occasions Negi went to the nearest polling station to cast the vote.

"This time, the Election Commission made a special provisions for those above 80 to cast vote on a ballot paper at their place of residence. First, he asked that he will cast the vote on the day of polling (November 12), later he decided to cast vote in his house," an election official told IANS.

He flashed his inked wrinkled finger after voting.

Like on previous occasions, the centenarian requested the young voters to actively participate in the democratic exercise to get their representatives at the helm.

A staunch believer in democracy, the centenarian never fails to cast his vote in any election, be it Lok Sabha, Assembly or panchayat.

In 1951, Negi, a retired school teacher, was on election duty and had exercised his franchise in Chini constituency, later renamed Kinnaur.

Back then, voting in the snow-bound areas of the mountain state was held ahead of other places in the country.
Mumbai, Nov 2 : Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan is receiving a lot of love from across the world and the Hindi film fraternity on his 57th birthday. In the long list of actors and film personalities wishing the actor on social media, Vicky Kaushal too made an appearance as he wished the 'Chak De! India' star on his Instagram.

Taking to the story section of his Instagram, Vicky shared an image of the megastar greeting his fans with an angelic yellow light behind him almost giving an appearance of a God with a halo behind him.

Vicky wrote on the picture, Happy birthday to you sir. There's no one like you @iamsrk".

A few days back, Vicky's father, renowned action choreographer Sham Kaushal had shared a throwback picture of Vicky and his brother, Sunny's childhood. Vicky and Sunny can be seen posing with SRK in the frame. The picture is from the sets of the 2001 movie 'Asoka'. He also wrote a long note about how 'nobody ever imagined that one day Vicky will join' Bollywood.

'Shershah' director Vishnuvardhan, and Vicky's actor-brother Sunny Kaushal, were also a part of the picture Sham posted on Instagram.
Hyderabad, Nov 2 : Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council member, Challa Bhageerath Reddy, belonging to YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) died at a hospital in Hyderabad on Wednesday following a brief illness. He was 46.

The MLC was diagnosed with pneumonia and was shifted to Hyderabad a few days ago for treatment. With his condition deteriorating, he was kept on a ventilator.

Bhageerath Reddy is survived by his wife Sri Lakshmi and two sons.

Hailing from Owk in Nandyal district, he was given the MLC post by the YSRCP after his father Challa Ramakrishna Reddy's death due to Covid-19 in January last year.

Ramakrishna Reddy was also a member of the upper house of the state legislature. The father-son duo had quit the Congress to join the YSRCP in 2019.

Bhageerath Reddy worked as Kurnool district Congress president from 2003 to 2009. He had worked as All India Youth Congress Secretary between 2007 and 2008.

Bhageerath Reddy's body will be transported to Nandyal district, where the last rites are likely to be held on Thursday.

Chief Minister Y. S Jagan Mohan Reddy expressed his grief over the untimely death of Bhageerath Reddy.

He recalled that coming from a political family in Owk, Bhageerath was an active leader. He conveyed his condolences to the bereaved family members.
San Francisco, Nov 2 : Elon Musk on Wednesday said Twitter will not allow anyone who was de-platformed for violating its rules "back on platform until we have a clear process for doing so, which will take at least a few more weeks".

Amid calls to bring back on Twitter former US President Donald Trump, who was banned for instigating Capital Hill riots in January last year that left five people dead, Musk said that Twitter's content moderation council "will include representatives with widely divergent views, which will certainly include the civil rights community and groups who face hate-fueled violence".

"Twitter speaks to the inner masochist in all of us. To all complainers, please continue complaining, but it will cost $8," he posted.

His comments came as the US prepares for mid-term elections on November 8, and there are fears of election manipulation from the Republicans.

Yoel Roth, who is Head of Safety and Integrity at Twitter, said that the company is staying vigilant against attempts to manipulate conversations about the 2022 US midterms.

Late last month, Trump hailed Musk for acquiring Twitter for $44 billion, saying the micro-blogging platform is now in "sane hands".

He, however, did not reveal that he wishes to make a comeback on the platform which banned him after the Capitol Hill riots in January 2021.

"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," Trump said in a post.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, he said: "I like Elon and I wish him a lot of luck. I hope he does well with it." However, the 76-year-old real estate magnate added that "I don't think Twitter can be successful without me".

The 'Chief Twit' Musk earlier said that he will reinstate Trump's account on Twitter.

Trump now has over four million users on Truth Social, which he founded in October last year.

Musk recently called the Truth Social app a "Trumpet" of "right-wing echo chamber".

The Tesla CEO said that he bought Twitter in order to avoid the site becoming a counterpart to Truth Social.
New Delhi, Nov 2 : According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, a global trade statistics platform, India increased monthly imports from Russia by 430 per cent compared to the five-year average.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade of India reported that trade turnover between Russia and India exceeded $18.2 billion in the first five months of the fiscal year. The surge in trade between the two countries made Russia the country's seventh largest trade partner, rising from 25th place with a total trade turnover of $13.1 billion in 2021.

Of the total bilateral trade from April to August, India's imports from Russia totalled $17.2 billion, while Indian exports to Russia totalled $992.73 million.

The start of transportation along the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) and the partnership relations established between the countries in recent years have largely contributed to bilateral trade growth.

"Our economies are increasingly benefitting from the interaction. The leadership of Prime Minister Modi saw many achievements in recent years, and the trade between our countries is growing. For example, Prime Minister Modi asked me to supply more fertilisers, which are vital for Indian agriculture. And we have done so. We increased our fertiliser exports to India by a factor of 7.6. Not 7.6 per cent but 7.6 times," said Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Valdai Club meeting.

He also mentioned that trade in agricultural commodities between the two countries has doubled.

"Indian entrepreneurs should leverage the current situation in Europe to strengthen trade ties with Russia," stated S. Adikesavan, former CEO of the State Bank of India (SBI).

"After the West imposed anti-Russian sanctions, trade turnover between Russia and India increased. Trade in INR and RUB will help India reduce its dependence on the US dollar," he explained.

Increased energy exports from Russia have already allowed India to pursue its energy relief plan, while trade growth has enabled the country to increase its GDP and become a leader among the world's economies. The development of international economic and transport corridors, such as the INSTC, is crucial to these efforts.

Professor Agnieszka Kuszewska of the Polish Institute of Middle and Far East, speaking at an international conference on Central Asia in Bishkek, stated that the 7,200-km-long INSTC serves as a geostrategic alternative to China's New Silk Road stipulated by the Belt and Road Initiative.

According to the professor, INSTC could potentially strengthen India's geostrategic position in the region manifold, increasing its chances to counteract China's expansionism, while cooperation with Iran and Central Asian countries would allow Indian cargoes to bypass Pakistan.

The growing role of the INSTC in trade between the two countries is driven not only by the sanctions against Russia, but also by the change in economic hubs.

According to Andrei Belousov, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, the longitudinal transport infrastructure between Russia and neighbouring countries no longer meets global trends, as now the key role is played by latitudinal routes, especially the North-South route. Belousov also believes that the corridor could become a full-fledged competitor to the Suez Canal.

"By 2030, we expect to double the volumes of Russian cargo passing through the INSTC, reaching 32 million tonnes as compared to the current 17 million tonnes. Furthermore, we have great hopes for the western route that passes through Azerbaijan," said the First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia.

"For Russia, the INSTC is a powerful, landmark trade route that will bring us closer to Iran and India, the two key players at this time. In the long term, India may prove to be a much bigger strategic partner for us than China," suggested Konstantin Andrianov, associate professor at the State University of Management, member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, and an expert at the Russian State Duma.

According to the expert, India is currently the leader in economic growth and has the potential to become the world's largest economy, as it regularly outpaces even China's development.

Once the INSTC is fully operational, India will be in a position to fully meet its demand for energy, metals, and military equipment, cutting delivery time and cost.

Moreover, the country would stand to develop international collaboration in new and promising sectors and industries, including aluminium, pharmaceuticals, and food exports.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
London, Nov 2 : Senior Russian military leaders have discussed when and how they would use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, multiple US officials have claimed, the media reported.

The officials talked about scenarios in which they would use nuclear weapons, showing how frustrated the generals are about setbacks on the battlefield in Ukraine, Daily Mail reported.

They did not talk about using the weapons with Russian President Vladimir Putin -- but the conversations have heightened concern about the prospect of a nuclear Armageddon, Daily Mail reported.

US government officials learned about the discussions in mid-October, as Moscow's nuclear rhetoric intensified, The New York Times reported.

It comes after Putin joked about the prospect of a nuclear war last week.

The Kremlin leader was asked to reassure an audience at the Valdai Discussion Club think-tank that the world is not on the verge of nuclear annihilation -- and chose to respond with a long pause.

When host Fyodor Lukyanov pointed out his silence was 'alarming', a smirking Putin responded: "I did that on purpose so you would be on your guard. The effect has been achieved." John F. Kirby, a National Security Council official, told the New York Times: "We've been clear from the outset that Russia's comments about the potential use of nuclear weapons are deeply concerning, and we take them seriously.

"We continue to monitor this as best we can, and we see no indications that Russia is making preparations for such use." Russia's nuclear stockpile, the largest in the world, consists of 'tactical', lower-yield bombs and strategic weapons that can annihilate cities and population centres.

Its tactical nukes, with a yield of between ten and 100 kilotons, are designed for use on the battlefield in contested territory.

In comparison, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 was approximately 18 kilotons, Daily Mail reported.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Bengaluru, Nov 2 : Coming down heavily on the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in connection with pothole menace in the state capital, which is also known as the Silicon Valley of India, the Karnataka High Court on Wednesday stated that filling in of potholes is a constitutional obligation of the civic agency.

Taking up the petition submitted regarding pothole menace in Bengaluru, a bench, headed by Chief Justice Prasanna B. Varale expressed its displeasure that the orders released to repair pothole-ridden roads in the city have just remained on paper.

"The roads in Bengaluru have been in pathetic condition for the last six years. The residents are facing grievances continuously. Potholes have become death traps and many lives are lost," it said.

The court underlined the action of giving certification for the filling up of potholes by the BBMP only is not appropriate. The BBMP is in charge of filling up potholes, but, it can't give quality certification in this regard for its own work, it said, adding that in the coming days, the responsibility of quality certification will be given to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

The court also directed that the Chief Engineer or senior engineer must be deputed to monitor the filling up of potholes. The BBMP must submit the status quo report to the NHAI within a week, and an officer deputed by the NHAI should undertake an inspection, it said.

The BBMP should extend all cooperation to the NHAI in this regard and in turn, the NHAI should submit a report on the quality of roads to the court, the bench said.

The court also stated that NHAI can also record the shortcomings of BBMP officers and contractors in its report. It could also give recommendations regarding pothole menace in its report.

BBMP Commissioner Tushar Girinath had earlier stated that Bengaluru is going to be a pothole-free city by November 10 as the work on filling up potholes had been taken on a war-footing.

Everyday 1,000 potholes are being filled in the city and by November 6, 95 per cent of work will be done. The officers have been directed to complete the task by the deadline, he said.
Beijing, Nov 2 : Beijing will continue to support Pakistan in stabilising its financial situation, the Chinese state media quoted China's President Xi Jinping as saying following his meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday, media reports said.

China and Pakistan should move forward more effectively with the construction of their economic corridor, as well as accelerate the construction of infrastructure for the Gwadar Sea Port, the state media reported, according to Express Tribune.

Shehbaz Sharif and Xi Jinping met earlier on Wednesday and agreed to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries, including the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The two leaders met at the People's Great Hall of China and talked about broad-based cooperation in economy and investment besides exchanging views on regional and global developments.

Sharif and Xi Jinping also discussed the need to further promote the 'all-weather strategic cooperation partnership' between the two nations.

The Pakistani premier landed in Beijing on Tuesday on a two-day official visit to meet the Chinese leadership and discuss regional and global developments.

On his arrival at the Beijing airport, senior Chinese officials warmly received the Pakistan Prime Minister who was heading a high-level delegation.

Sharif is among the first leaders to visit China following the historic 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China that elected Xi Jinping as general secretary of the party, Express Tribune reported.
New Delhi, Nov 2: In order to curtail red-tapism and inordinate delays and to ensure quick services delivery, the Government in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has on Tuesday brought 43 more services under the purview of the Jammu and Kashmir Public Services Guarantee Act (PSGA), 2011, along with their timelines, designated officers and appellate authorities.

With the new incorporation, more than a hundred government services are now available to the residents of Jammu and Kashmir within an assured timeframe of 5 to 45 days. While 18 services had been added to the list in July 2021, 6 more services were notified under PSGA in January 2022. With these inclusions, as many as 67 government services have been made time-bound in the UT in the last 16 months.

Section 4 of the J&K PSGA-2011 states that the Government may, from time to time, specify the services to be the public services for purposes of the Act and shall specify the time limit within which such services shall be provided to the eligible persons.

Sub-Section 2 of Section 4 reads: "For providing services specified under Sub-Section (I), the Government may for different areas and for different services designate officers who shall be responsible for providing each of such services to the eligible persons".

Section 8 states that the Government may by notification in the Government Gazette, designate officers who shall be First Appellate Authorities and Second Appellate Authorities in respect of each public service.

In exercise of these powers, the Government has now notified 43 more services of seven key departments and specified the timeframe for providing the same besides designating Appellate Authorities.

These departments include Industries and Commerce Department, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, Revenue Department, Forest, Ecology and Environment Department, Jal Shakti Department, Health and Medical Education Department, Information Technology Department and Labour and Employment Department.

The services of the Industries and Commerce Department, which have been brought under the purview of PSGA, are assessment of raw material and finished goods; prior permission for additional products; prior permission for substantial expansion and additional line of activity; change in location; change in name and style; transfer of leasehold rights; merger of units; change in constitution; subsidy on DG set under Jammu and Kashmir Industrial Policy 2021-30; reimbursement on quality certificate under J&K Industrial Policy 2021-30; subsidy on cost of automation under J&K Industrial Policy; subsidy on following green and environment protection initiative and turnover incentives under Industrial Policy.

The timeframe for providing these services ranges between 15 days to 45 days and designated officers are General Manager of District Industries Centre concerned while as Director Industries and Administrative Secretary of the department are the First and Second Appellate Authorities.

The certification of verification and re-verification of weights and measures; registration of manufacturer/ packer/ importer under Packaged Commodities Rules; issuance of license to dealer of weights and measures; renewal of license to dealers of weights and measures; issuance of license to manufacturer of weights and measures etc are the services of the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs which have been brought under the purview of PSGA.

The timeframe for providing all these services is 30 days while as concerned Area Inspector of Legal Metrology is the designated officer.

Likewise, change of land use; issuance of domicile certificate, character certificate, income certificate for economically weaker section, legal heir certificate and marriage certificate are the services of the Revenue Department which have been notified under PSGA. Timeframe for providing these services is between 15 days to 45 days.

The services of Forest, Ecology and Environment Department which have been brought under the ambit of PSGA are registration for dealers under the Batteries (Management and Handling Rules, 2001; authorization under Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016; authorization under Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules, 2016; services under wood- based industry; registration of timber sale depot and certificate of non-forest land etc. The timeframe for these services range between 30 days to 120 days.

Obtaining water connection (domestic and commercial) and NOC for water extraction from Central Ground water Authority are the services of Jal Shakti Department which have been brought under the ambit of PSGA while as generation of Ayushman Bharat card by Health and Medical Education Department, ROW permission by Information Technology Department and approval of registration of boiler manufacturers and renewal of registration by the Labour and Employment Department have also been brought under PSGA ambit.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
New Delhi, Nov 2: With November 20 elections for the House of Representatives and Provincial Assembly just three weeks away in Nepal, election fever is slowly gripping Madhes Province.

Rallies and campaigns have intensified across Terai ahead of the crucial elections that are being held for the second time after the country promulgated its first federal republican constitution in 2015. The first such elections took place in 2017.

Madhes Province borders India and shares close socio-cultural affinities with the neighbouring country. There are eight districts in the province, with 32 federal parliamentary seats. There are 107 seats in the provincial assembly headquartered in Janakpur.

As elections are inching closer, there are various projects and calculations over election results of Madhes.

The Madhes-centric parties are allying with traditional political parties in the elections, avoiding an electoral alliance with each other.

The Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) led by Upendra Yadav, a leading political force in Madhes, has allied with former Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli's CPN (UML).

But, another Madhes-centric party Loktantrik Samajbadi Party (LSP), led by Mahantha Thakur has partnered with the five-party ruling coalition under the Nepali Congress.

Madhes-centric parties' electoral alliance with the ruling and opposition parties is not based on ideology, but rather on electoral calculations.

The Madhes-centric parties, who once championed the agenda of federalism and inclusiveness, are struggling to ensure seats in the federal and provincial assemblies. In the upcoming polls they are partnering with the conventional political forces, which are mostly centrist and anti-federalist.

Analysts say that Madhes-centric parties are likely to lose elections this time around for their own past mistakes.

"In the last elections, Madhes-centric parties lured voters claiming they would make ground for amending the constitution to meet their demands. But when they got into power, they failed to live up to their promises -- they could not lobby for creating a situation for the constitutional amendment. Rather, they got mired in the quagmire of power politics. Because of their failure to vocally advocate for Madhes' agendas, the Madhesis are disassociating themselves from the regional parties and are yet to associate with the newer parties," Tula Narayan Shah, a political analyst who also comes from the Madhes region, told Kathmandu Post newspaper in an interview on Monday.

Shah projected that two key Madhes-centric parties Janata Samajbadi Party and the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party will fare poorly in the polls as they lack public trust.

"They will get fewer seats than in the last elections. Loktantrik Samajbadi Party will witness a poorer performance than the Janata Samajbadi Party because they deviated from their core original agendas," he observed.

Apart from traditional and Madhes-centric parties, some other fringe parties such as CK Raut-led Janamat Party have made their presence felt on the ground in the upcoming elections.

Analyst Shah says that he does not think Raut's party will bring impactful results in the upcoming polls. "Major Madhes-based parties will shrink, and emerging parties in Madhesh don't spark much hope," he added.

The Nepali Congress has been the most influential political force in the Terai-Madhes region even after the emergence of regional parties on account of a massive Madhes uprising in 2008.

Since then, Madhes-centric parties are dominant political force in Madhes. Over the years, these regional parties played a vital role in the formation and dissolution of successive governments in the Center.

Madhes-centric parties under fire When Nepal promulgated its first federal republic constitution in 2015, the Madhes-centric parties collectively launched months-long protest in Terai region, seeking amendments to the national charter. The traditional parties including the Nepali Congress, the CPN (UML) and the Maoist enacted the constitution through a two-thirds majority despite the fierce agitation in Madhes region that saw the killings of over 50 people.

The situation of traditional parties Vs Madhes-centric parties did not last long.

Because, the same Madhes-centric parties who protested the newly-promulgated constitution, joined elections along with major parties in the House of Representatives to pick a new prime minister in October 2015, inviting ire from the agitating population from Terai.

Seven years later, the Madhes-centric parties were seen disoriented as they abandoned their constitutional amendment agenda.

However, the present provincial government in Madhes is headed by Lal Babu Raut, a leader of the Janata Samajbadi Party led by Upendra Yadav. The provincial government is backed by the Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist) and the CPN (Unified Socialist). At the federal level, the JSP quit the party after it joined the UMl-led electoral alliance in mid-October.

Congress may also win in Madhes Analysts say the existing ruling alliance is likely to emerge victorious in the upcoming elections in Madhes and chief ruling party the Nepali Congress will be benefited the most this time around.

"Madhes has traditionally been a bastion of the Nepali Congress (NC). In the impending elections, too, every political force including Madhesis will have a fierce battle primarily with the NC as before. Ultimately, the NC will reap benefits from this alliance-based electoral competition," Sitaram Baral, a senior journalist, who follows regional politics of Madhes closely, told India Narrative.

In view of the upcoming elections, the ruling alliance over the past few months has given an impression to the Madhesi people that it can be their savior. For example, the ruling alliance endorsed the long-delayed Citizenship bill in August from the federal parliament as a matter of urgency. It was widely believed that the prime political motto of the ruling alliance was to secure electoral gains mainly in Madhes region.

UML may also gain more seats Similarly, the main opposition, CPN (UML) which has been described as anti-Madhesi might also secure more seats in parliament from this region, according to analyst Shah.

"The UML is not going to emerge victorious in Madhes. But, it will secure a better position than the past because there is a lack of public trust in Madhes-centric parties," Shah noted.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
Ahmedabad, Nov 2 : Veteran leader and former Chief Minister Shankersinh Vaghela has requested the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court to initiate suo motu case in the Morbi bridge collapse, in which 141 persons died.

In a letter to the Chief Justic, Vaghela, citing the unnamed FIR and later the arrest of security guard and booking clerks and workers, claimed that "to save the actual offenders, police have arrested poor people to make them scapegoats, therefore there is pressing need for an independent inquiry and unbiased investigation into this incident".

He has alleged that the FIR does not mention the name of the owner of the Oreva group and no top person from the management has either been arrested or investigated.

Drawing attention towards the repair and renovation, Vaghela said that "media reports say the wires (cables) of the suspension bridge were not changed, without obtaining fitness certificate, or permission to inaugurate it or open it for public. Oreva group has started charging Rs 17 and Rs 12 for visiting the said bridge. The tickets had no numbering. Though the bridge load bearing capacity was 10 to 15 persons, hundreds were allowed."
Ahmedabad, Nov 2 : Ela Bhatt, noted Gandhian and women's rights activist who founded the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), passed away on Wednesday after a brief illness. She was 89.

"It is with profound grief that we announce the passing away of our beloved and respected founder, Smt Elaben Bhatt, a pioneer in advocating women workers' rights; we strive to carry her legacy forward," SEWA Bharat tweeted.

Mihir Bhatt, the son of Padma Bhushan recipient Elaben, told mediapersons that till her last breath, his mother was concerned about the rights of women workers.

The former Chancellor of Gujarat Vidyapith, Elaben inspired lakhs of women from low-income groups to become self-reliant. Her work was not limited to Gujarat, but was spread across India and the world.

Mourning Elaben's demise, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: "Sad to know about the death of Elaben Bhatt. She will be remembered long for her work for the promotion of women empowerment, social service and education among the youth. Condolences to her family members and admirers." Elaben, who was inspired by the freedom movement and had joined social service after quitting her job, also received the Ramon Magsaysay award for community leadership.

Condoling Elaben's demise, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh tweeted, "Ela Bhatt was a truly iconic figure and a pioneer in the movement for empowerment in the unorganised sector, first in Gujarat and later across the country. SEWA is her greatest legacy and has made a huge difference to the lives of millions of women and their families." Founded by Elaben, SEWA is a trade union based in Ahmedabad that promotes the rights of low-income, independently employed female workers. With over 1.6 million participating women, SEWA is one of the largest organisations of informal workers in the world.

Elaben's last rites will be performed at the V.S. crematorium here on Thursday.
New Delhi, Nov 2 : The aim of the Central government is to turn Delhi into a grand city complete with all amenities in accordance with its status as the capital of the country, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.

PM inaugurated 3,024 newly constructed EWS flats at Kalkaji area, built for rehabilitating slum dwellers under the 'In-Situ Slum Rehabilitation Project' and handed over keys to eligible beneficiaries at Bhoomiheen Camp in a programme at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister informed that more than 3,000 homes have already been prepared in the first phase of Kalkaji Extension alone. Very soon, other families living in the area will get the opportunity to enter their new homes. "I am sure that these efforts of the Central government will play a big role in making Delhi an ideal city", he said.

"Our government is leaving no stone unturned to fulfil the aspirations of citizens in Delhi. The aim of the Central government is to turn Delhi into a grand city complete with all amenities in accordance with its status as the capital of the country," the PM said. Referring to his talk of 'aspirational society' from the ramparts of Red Fort, the Prime Minister said that Delhi's poor and middle class are both aspirational and talented.

Speaking on the topic of unauthorised colonies in Delhi, the Prime Minister acknowledged the constant worry of the people about the status of their houses. "The Central government has also done the work of reducing this concern of the people of Delhi. Work is going on to regularise the houses built in unauthorised colonies of Delhi through the PM-UDAY scheme. Till now thousands of people have taken advantage of this scheme", he said. He also mentioned that 700 crore rupees have been spent in providing interest subsidies to poor and middle-class families for constructing their own houses.

The Prime Minister pointed out that for decades, the system of governance in the country was plagued with the mentality that poverty is poor people's issue but the government of today belongs to the poor and it is not in its nature to leave them be. He highlighted that the poor remain Central to policy formation and decision-making systems and that the government is treating the issues of the urban poor with equal importance.

The Prime Minister said that there were 50 lakh people in Delhi, who did not even have a bank account. That deprived them of any benefit of the banking system. "They were in Delhi but Delhi was very far from them," he said. This situation was changed by the government and a campaign for financial inclusion via opening accounts. This resulted in direct benefits to the poor people of Delhi, including street vendors.

Emphasising the development in the Delhi NCR region, the Prime Minister informed about the expansion of metro routes from 190 km to 400 km after 2014. He further noted that in the last 8 years, 135 new metro stations have been added to the network which ended up saving time and money. He also informed that the Government of India with an investment of Rs 50,000 crores is widening roads to provide relief to Delhi from traffic congestion. The Prime Minister gave examples of Dwarka Expressway, Urban Extension Road, Akshardham to Baghpat 6-lane Access Control Highway and elevated corridor in the form of Gurugram-Sohna Road.

The Prime Minister informed that services like Rapid Rail for Delhi NCR are going to begin in the near future. He noted the grand construction of the New Delhi Railway Station that is going to take place and expressed delight at the construction of Bharat Vandana Park on 80 hectares of land in Dwarka which is now moving towards completion in the next few months. "I am told that over 700 big parks in Delhi are maintained by the DDA. Various parks are being developed by DDA on the 22 km stretch between Wazirabad barrage to Okhla barrage", he informed.
Mumbai, Nov 2 : Mumbai's Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thakersey (SNDT) Women's University on Wedneday signed an agreement of academic collaboration and exchange of students and faculty with the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), New York.

The initiative was signed by BMCC-City University of New York President Dr Anthony Munroe and SNDT Women's University Vice-Chancellor Prof Ujwala Chakradeo in the presence of Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.

SNDT is India's and South-Asia's first ever all-women university, founded in 1916 by legendary academician, Maharishi Dr. Dhondu Keshav Karve, to give a fillip to higher education for women in the pre-Independence era.

"We live in an era of collaboration and cooperation, not confrontation. This partnership will bring new light in the students' work-life," said Koshyari on the occasion.

He said that the collaborative venture of exchange of students and faculty will produce goodwill and good results for both the academic institutions in Mumbai and New York.

Dr. Munroe said that the BMCC is the largest community college in the US offering affordable education to students from 140 countries, and has 60 percent women students on its rolls, with the fees charged being around 1/6th of private colleges.

Ranked among the Top 5 Community Colleges in the US, it also has collaborations with renowned financial institutions like Goldman Sachs, Zurich, CitiBank, Moodys and others, while the students can pursue higher education in the best of Ivy League institutions like New York, Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, UC Berkeley and MIT, he added.

Chakradeo said that MoU was signed at an appropriate time when India is on the verge of implementing the New Education Policy-2020, and the diverse courses offered by the two institutions would open up many avenues of academic collaboration for the students on both sides.

The two institutions have identified areas like internship, joint degrees, entrepreneurship and girls from India can get the best of higher education opportunities in the US through the BMCC, she pointed out.

The signing ceremony also saw a conclave on 'Internationalisation of Higher Education: Opportunities & Challenges' with discussions on a wide range of topics.
New Delhi, Nov 2 : The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) held a meeting with implementing agencies and bodies of NCR districts of Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday in continuation of Tuesday's review meeting with Delhi to take stock of the status of implementation of Stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in the entire NCR in addition to actions under Stage I and Stage II.

These NCR districts were further reiterated to enhance the implementation of Stage I, II and III under GRAP with stringent actions including heavy penalties against gross defaulters flouting the statutory directions of the Commission.

The review meeting was primarily focused on enhancement of water sprinklers including use of fire tenders, round-the-clock mechanical sweeping of roads, augmentation and increased utilisation of smog guns at construction & demolition (C&D) sites, effective waste management, improved vigilance against waste burning and strict penal actions, ensuring use of only approved cleaner fuels in industries, enforcing ban on mining activities, issuance of challans against vehicles not running with PUCC, stringent actions against dust generating activities, drive against the use of coal in tandoors, etc.

"A positive impact and improvement is likely to be seen in the air quality of NCR in the coming days because of effective steps and stringent actions taken under GRAP," said Dr VK Soni, Member of the GRAP Sub-Committee.
NE region of India has potential to become the organic food basket of the country : President Image Source: IANS News

NE region of India has potential to become the organic food basket of the country : President Image Source: IANS News

NE region of India has potential to become the organic food basket of the country : President Image Source: IANS News

Kohima, Nov 2 : President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday said that the entire northeast region has potential to become the organic food basket of the country as the good quality agro and horticultural produce of Nagaland has great demand in the market.

Noting that about 70 per cent of the agricultural practice in Nagaland is traditional and organic, she said that she was happy to note that three agro products - Naga tree tomato, Naga cucumber and Naga Mircha - are G.I. tagged.

Addressing the civic reception accorded to her by the Nagaland government at Capital Cultural Hall here, Murmu said that the opening of Naturally Nagaland outlets by the state government has provided a new platform to local entrepreneurs, farmers and weavers to sell traditional handicrafts and handlooms, the beautiful Naga shawls and varieties of organic products.

Noting that there is a tremendous potential of tourism in Nagaland, she said that the Naga tribes are known for their vibrant culture and rich heritage that exemplifies our motto of 'Unity in Diversity'.

"Songs and dances, feasts and festivals are an intrinsic part of Naga life. The Hornbill Festival has become a popular platform for capturing and showcasing the colourful and beautiful culture of the state." The President at the function virtually inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for various projects related to education, road infrastructure and financial sector in the state.

Saying that the development of infrastructure is a key parameter for the growth of a state, she pointed out that the 'Act East Policy' of the government focuses on the overall development of the northeastern region.

She expressed confidence that roads and bridges under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana which were inaugurated on Wednesday will give a new boost to the connectivity in the region.

The President also said that the dynamic youth of Nagaland is immensely talented and creative.

With a literacy rate of over 80 per cent, the skilled young men and women of Nagaland, well-versed in the English language, are working in the IT, hospitality and other sectors across India. The President noted that the literacy rate among women in the state is higher than the national average and Nagaland is the safest place for women in the country.

She said that this demonstrates the high respect given to the women in the Naga society. She urged women of Nagaland to come forward and get more involved in public life. "If women are empowered, there would be more development in society." The President said that Nagaland could be truly proud of institutionalising its traditional mode of local self-governance through Nagaland Village and Tribal Councils Act of 1978.

She said that as Nagaland completes 60 years of statehood, all should rededicate themselves towards the goal of a more prosperous and developed Nagaland.

Earlier on her arrival in Kohima, acting Governor Prof. Jagdish Mukhi and Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio received the President, who was accorded a guard of honour.

Murmu arrived in Kohima as part of her four-day visit to three northeastern states -- Nagaland, Mizoram and Sikkim -- from Wednesday.

On Thursday, Murmu would pay her respects at the Kohima War Cemetery and visit Kigwema village where she would interact with the village council members and members of Self-Help Groups (SHGs).
Chennai: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin and his wife,son Udaynidhi Stalin and T R Balu during her visit at his residence in Chennai on Wednesday November 02,2022.(Photo:IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Kolkata, Nov 2 : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday demanded a Supreme Court monitored judicial probe into the recent bridge collapse in Morbi, Gujarat, that killed over 130 people.

"Accidents are not always in our control. But at the same time, it has to be seen that the right organisation is given the right task. I heard the government there (in Gujarat) did not provide sufficient assistance to the victims' families. The bridge at Morbi was allowed to be used by the public before its rennovation work was completed properly.

"This was done in a hurry keeping in mind the forthcoming Assembly elections there. Hence, I feel there should be a SC monitored probe into the matter," Banerjee told mediapersons before leaving for Chennai on Wednesday.

The Chief Minister will be in Chennai to attend the 80th birth anniversary celebrations of the elder brother of West Bengal Governor La Ganesan.

She is also supposed to hold a meeting with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK leader M.K. Stalin in Chennai.

While talking to reporters here, Banerjee also questioned as to why central probe agencies like CBI and ED are not looking into the irregularities in the tendering process for the rennovation of the bridge.

"People's lives are more important than politics. The manner in which the bridge was maintained was nothing but a crime," she said.

The Chief Minister also lambasted the Centre and the BJP over the decision of the Union Home Ministry to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis and Christians coming from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and currently living in Mehsana and Anand districts in Gujarat.

"We are totally against such decisions which are aimed at serving narrow political interests. This decision has been taken keeping in mind the forthcoming Assembly elections in Gujarat. We will not tolerate such things in West Bengal," she said.
New Delhi, Nov 2 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has prepared a set of 50 questions which would be asked to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren who was summoned by the agency on Wednesday in connection with a money laundering case pertaining to illegal mining and extortion in Jharkhand and Bihar, a source said.

Soren has been called to join the investigation for Thursday.

"He will have to appear at our Ranchi office by 11 a.m. We will question him in parts. We are ready with around 50 questions," the source said.

The ED had recently filed a chargesheet at a special court in Ranchi against Pankaj Mishra, a close aide of Soren, and Bachhu Yadav and Prem Prakash who are also said to be close to the Jharkhand Chief Minister.

The ED has also written a letter to the Jharkhand Police to make appropriate security arrangements ahead of his questioning.

The court has already taken a cognizance of the chargesheet.

The ED said that during investigation into the case, 47 searches were conducted throughout India on several dates resulting into the seizure of cash amounting to Rs 5.34 crore, freezing of bank balances amounting to Rs 13.32 crore, freezing of an inland vessel, 5 stone crushers, two Hyva trucks besides the seizure of incriminating documents along with two AK-47 assault rifles.

Earlier ED had arrested Pankaj Mishra, Bachhu Yadav and Prem Prakash. The accused are currently in judicial custody.

The ED initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of the FIR registered by Barharwa Police Station, Sahebganj District, Jharkhand under various sections of IPC, against Mishra and others.

Later on, several FIRs regarding illegal mining lodged under IPC, Explosive substances Act, Arms Act have also been taken into the ambit of scheduled offence.

Till date, the ED has identified proceeds of crime relating to illegal mining to the tune of more than Rs 1,000 crore in this case.

The investigation revealed that Mishra, who enjoys political clout, being the representative of the Chief Minister, controls the illegal mining businesses as well as inland ferry services in Sahebganj and its adjoining areas through his accomplices.

"He exercises considerable control over the mining of stone chips and boulders as well as installation and operations of several crushers, set up across various mining sites in Sahebganj. Proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 42 crore acquired by Mishra have been identified till date," said the ED official.
New Delhi, Nov 2 : Air India on Wednesday announced that it has signed agreements to complete the acquisition of 100 per cent shareholding in AirAsia India (AAI) and to subsidiarise it under Air India.

An operational review process is underway with a view to ultimately integrating AAI fully with Air India Express (AIXL). Consolidation of these two airlines, both of which operate as low-cost carriers, will be undertaken as part of the restructuring roadmap that is being envisioned for the Tata Group's airline business and is expected to bring customer, revenue, cost and operational benefits through broader adoption of each airlines' best practices, systems and routes, and the combined entity's greater scale.

Air India CEO and MD Campbell Wilson said: "We are excited to initiate the creation of a single Air India Group low-cost carrier. This is a key step in the rationalisation and transformation of the Group, and we will be working closely with the management teams and staff throughout the process. We also look forward to the many new opportunities a stronger AI Group low-cost carrier will bring for customers and staff alike." A working group has been formed to evaluate and execute the integration of the AI Group's low-cost operations, which will be co-led by Sunil Bhaskaran, CEO & MD, AirAsia India and Aloke Singh, CEO, Air India Express. The working group will report to a committee chaired by Wilson.

The assessment and implementation of full integration process of AAI and AIXL, through a possible scheme of merger or otherwise and subject to necessary corporate approvals, is expected to take approximately 12 months, with network and other synergies to be realised progressively during that period.

Founded by the legendary JRD Tata, Air India is synonymous with the growth and evolution of civil aviation in India. Since its first flight on October 15, 1932, Air India has spread its wings to become a major international airline with a network across the US, Canada, the UK, Europe, Far East and South-East Asia, Australia and the Gulf.

The airline also has an extensive domestic network connecting over 55 cities in the country through its fleet of narrow and wide-bodied aircraft. Air India has been a member of Star Alliance, the largest global airline consortium, since July 2014.

Air Asia India, launched in 2014, as a joint venture between Tata Sons and Malaysia's Air Asia Berhad, operates a fleet of 29 aircraft that flies over 50 direct and 100 connecting routes across India.

Upon Tata Sons acquisition of full ownership, the Bengaluru-based company was subsidiarised under Tata Sons' 100 per cent-owned Air India.
New Delhi, Nov 2 : The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has issued a notice to Delhi Police after five out of seven Uzbek girls, who had complained about trafficking and sexual exploitation in India, went missing from a private shelter home.

The police said that they have registered an FIR based on the girls' complaint and arrested three accused persons in connection with the case.

The Uzbek girls had alleged that they were brought to India on the pretext of jobs, but when they arrived here, they were forced into prostitution and sexual slavery.

According to DCW, the girls had informed that while some of them were brought to Delhi via Nepal, others were brought to India directly on tourist and medical visa at different times.

"They alleged that the passports and other documents of those who were brought to Delhi via Nepal were snatched in Nepal itself, while the documents of the others were taken away by the traffickers after their arrival in India," said a DCW official.

"When they reached India, they were forced into prostitution and when the girls resisted, they were threatened and beaten up. The girls also told the Commission that they were sold to different owners during their stay in Delhi and were raped repeatedly," said the official.

"The girls had named 10 accused persons, of which seven are yet to be arrested. The girls desperately needed their documents to go back to their country, but the Delhi Police was unable to arrange the same. Also, the girls were sent to a private shelter home and now the commission has learnt that five girls have gone missing from there," said the DCW official.

The DCW has also asked the police as to why their identity documents, including passports, could not be retrieved from the clutches of the traffickers and returned to the girls.

Meanwhile, DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal has also issued a notice to the private shelter home to understand the circumstances under which the girls had gone missing from there.

"Seven Uzbek girls had exposed a big international racket involving trafficking and sexual slavery. Delhi Police registered an FIR, but all the accused persons were not arrested and the girls' passports could not be recovered from the traffickers," she said.

"Now, five of the seven girls have gone missing from the shelter home. I am concerned that the traffickers may have orchestrated this since all of them are yet to be arrested. I have issued summons to Delhi Police," said Maliwal.

"I want them (Delhi Police) to produce these five girls before the commission, ensure the arrest of all the traffickers and recover the girls' passports. Strongest action should be taken against such international sex rackets operating in the national capital," Maliwal added.
Chennai: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin and his wife,son Udaynidhi Stalin and T R Balu during her visit at his residence in Chennai on Wednesday November 02,2022.(Photo:IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Chennai, Nov 2 : West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, who is on a private visit to Chennai, called on her Tamil Nadu counterpart, M.K. Stalin at his residence on Wednesday.

Banerjee is in Chennai to attend the birthday celebrations of West Bengal Governor L Ganesan's elder brother to be held on November 3. Ganesan was trying to build bridges with the Chief Minister after the major rift between her and his predecessor Jagdeep Dhankar, who is now the Vice President.

Sources in DMK told IANS that the meeting discussed strategies for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Banerjee has been trying to form a national alternative against the BJP during the 2024 general elections.

Tamil Nadu minister and senior DMK leader, S. Duraimurugan, DMK Deputy General Secretary and MP, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi and Youth leader and MLA, Udayanidhi Stalin also were present during the meeting between the two Chief Ministers.

Addressing reporters at the Kolkata airport before leaving, Banerjee has said: "Today I will meet Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin. He is my political friend and this is a courtesy meeting as I am going to Chennai. Whenever two political persons meet there are related things that get discussed."
New Delhi, Nov 2 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday said non-reporting of sexual assault against a minor child, despite having knowledge of it is a serious crime and also an attempt to shield the offenders.

A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and C.T. Ravikumar made the ruling as it set aside a judgment passed by Bombay High Court in April last year quashing an FIR and the charge sheet against a medical practitioner in Maharashtra's Chandrapur.

It was alleged that the medical practitioner did not inform the authority about sexual assault against several minor girls at a hostel despite having knowledge about it. Criminal proceedings were initiated against the doctor for failure to report sexual exploitation of 17 minor girls of tribal origin at a Chandrapur school in 2019.

Allowing the appeal by the Maharashtra government against the high court judgment, the apex court said: "Non-reporting of sexual assault against a minor child despite knowledge is a serious crime and more often than not, it is an attempt to shield the offenders of the crime of sexual assault." Criticising the high court judgment, the bench said: "In the case on hand, the high court arrived at the finding of absence of evidence to implicate the respondent in the crime in question upon going through the statements of the victims and also the statement of the teacher of the victims, which recourse is absolutely impermissible." It said in the light of Section 59 of the Evidence Act, the high court was not justified in bringing abrupt termination of the proceedings qua the respondent. The sexual exploitation came to light after girls studying in classes 3 and 5 fell ill and were taken to general hospital.

The bench said the very case of the Maharashtra government is that some among the 17 victims have given statements under Section 161, Cr.P.C. and some others under Section 164 Cr.P.C., specifically stating that the respondent was informed of the sexual assault on them.

"When that be the position, we have no doubt that the high court should not have embarked upon an enquiry, especially by looking into the statements of the victims recorded as also their teacher to form an opinion regarding the availability of evidence to connect the respondent with the crime," it said.

The bench added: "To achieve the avowed purpose, a legal obligation for reporting of offence under the POCSO Act is cast upon a person to inform the relevant authorities specified thereunder when he/she has knowledge that an offence under the Act had been committed. Such obligation is also bestowed on a person who has apprehension that an offence under this Act is likely to be committed." Justice Ravikumar, who authored the judgment on behalf of the bench, said prompt and proper reporting of the commission of offence under the POCSO Act is of utmost importance and they have no hesitation to state that its failure on coming to know about the commission of any offence thereunder would defeat the very purpose and object of the Act.

"We say so taking into account the various provisions thereunder. Medical examination of the victim as also the accused would give many important clues in a case that falls under the POCSO Act," said the bench.

"Prompt reporting of the commission of an offence under POCSO Act would enable immediate examination of the victim concerned and at the same time, if it was committed by an unknown person, it would also enable the investigating agency to commence investigation without wasting time and ultimately to secure the arrest and medical examination of the culprit," it added.

In the case, the Superintendent of the hostel and four others were arrested and arraigned as accused in the crime. During the investigation, it was found that 17 minor girls were abused by the accused and a medical practitioner appointed for treatment of girls admitted to the girls' hostel and the victim girls were taken to him.

The investigation revealed that the doctor had knowledge about the incidents that occurred, from the victims themselves as the victim girls revealed in their statements, recorded under Section 161 of Cr.P.C..
Kabul, Nov 2 : A shadowy private Russian mercenary force with close ties to the Kremlin is attempting to boost its ranks in Ukraine by recruiting US-trained Afghan commandos and other security forces, who fled to Iran following the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, a former Afghan general said, according to a media report.

About 15 former Afghan commandos have already joined the Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary organisation, and thousands more could be recruited with the help of Iran to fight in Ukraine, according to General Abdul Raouf Arghandiwal, a former Afghan Defence Ministry official and commander of Afghanistan's elite 207 Zafar Army Corps, RFE/RL reported.

"[Wagner's] plan is to recruit 1,000 people in the first phase and 1,000 people in the second phase as a battalion, and to gradually continue this process," Arghandiwal told RFE/RL.

"There is no information about their fate," Arghandiwal said of the commandos who have joined Wagner, and there has been no confirmation from Kyiv or elsewhere that Afghan soldiers have reached the battlefield in Ukraine.

Russia initially occupied wide swathes of Ukraine following its full-scale of invasion in February but has for months suffered significant troop and territorial losses due largely to a two-pronged Ukrainian counteroffensive.

The setbacks, which have left Russia trying to hold the line in parts of southern and eastern Ukraine that it still occupies and claims as its own, have forced the Kremlin to introduce a military draft and to increasingly rely on mercenaries from Wagner and Chechen troops to replenish its depleted forces.

Arghandiwal said he was personally informed of the recruitment drive by "hundreds" of his former troops.

"The Russians, through the Wagner security company and in cooperation with the host country [Iran], where the majority of Afghanistan's security and defense forces are [now] located, as well as some Afghans who previously moved to Iran and Russia, are trying to recruit commandos," he said, RFE/RL reported.

He said that former members of the Afghan National Army, the Afghan National Police, and other former security forces are next in line for recruitment to be taken to Russia and then on to fight in Ukraine.

Tens of thousands of Afghan troops and security personnel were trained by the U.S. military during the nearly 20-year war in Afghanistan that ended with a chaotic withdrawal of foreign forces and the Taliban retaking power in Kabul in August 2021.

Fearing retribution by the Taliban, many members of Afghanistan's army, police, as well as military and intelligence officers loyal to the ousted government fled to Iran, Pakistan, and other countries.

The US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) had reported in May that even before the fall of Kabul, "around 3,000 Afghan security forces consisting of high-ranking officers to foot soldiers, along with their military equipment and vehicles, crossed the border into Iran", although many returned to Afghanistan after the Taliban offered a general amnesty, RFE/RL reported.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
New Delhi, Nov 2 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice to Punjab National Bank (PNB) and two others on pleas by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) in connection with alleged siphoning-off funds of Bhushan Steel Ltd.

A bench of Chief Justice U.U. Lalit and Justices S. Ravindra Bhat and Bela M. Trivedi said: "Issue notice. Since the concerned respondents (Rajesh Kumar Yaduvanshi and Ajoy Kumar Deb) appear on caveat through Pinaki Mishra, senior counsel, instructed by Manikya Khanna, in SLP(Crl.) No.3252/2021, and R. Basant, senior counsel, instructed by Sanjay Kapur, counsel, in SLP(Crl.) No.7720/2021, service of notices upon the said respondents is dispensed with." "Let notice be issued to other respondents in the matters. The respondents are at liberty to file their response to these special leave petitions within three weeks. Rejoinder affidavits, if any, be filed within two weeks' thereafter. List the matters for disposal before the appropriate Court on December 6." The top court considered the SFIO's submissions that the accused were complicit in the case connected with the fund embezzlement. The SFIO moved the apex court challenging the Delhi High Court order to quash the summons issued to Yaduvanshi in the case.

Allegations were made that promoters of Bhushan Steel Ltd in connivance with their employees and several other entities fraudulently siphoned off funds from the company.

Yaduvanshi was PNB's nominee on the Board of Directors of Bhushan Steel Ltd. and the question was regarding his prosecution for the alleged fraud committed by the company and others. In August 2019, the trial court summoned Yaduvanshi to appear in the complaint case lodged by the SFIO against Bhushan Steel Ltd and others, but the high court said Yaduvanshi cannot be summoned solely for the reason that he was a nominee director of Bhushan Steel Ltd.
New Delhi, Nov 2 : Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav on Wednesday said that Punjab has seen over 19 per cent rise in stubble burning, while Haryana has reported a drop of 30.6 per cent in farm fires.

"As of today, Punjab, a state run by the AAP government, has seen an over 19% rise in farm fires over 2021. Haryana has seen a 30.6% drop. Just today, Punjab saw 3,634 fires. There is no doubt over who has turned Delhi into a gas chamber," he tweeted.

In a series of tweets, he lashed out on the Aam Aadmi Party leader and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for not providing relief to the farmers even in his constituency Sangrur.

Earlier in the day, the Punjab Chief Minister lashed out at the centre for not paying heed to his recommendations on stubble burning issue and also blaming Punjab solely for the situation.

"We gave recommendations to Centre but they didn't pay heed to them. Why are questions being raised only about Delhi & Punjab? Several cities of Haryana and Rajasthan are also reporting poor AQI, why isn't the Centre raising questions on these states?" Mann said in a video message in his tweet which was also shared by Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.

In subsequent tweets, Bhupendra Yadav, responding to Mann, said: "Scam is where AAP is. In the last 5 years, the Central Government gave Rs 1,347 crore for crop residue management machines to Punjab. The state bought 1,20,000 machines. 11,275 of those machines have gone missing. Money utilisation shows clear incompetence.

"Last year, Rs 212 crore were left unspent. This year, the Central Govt gave Punjab Rs 280 crore for crop residue management machines. So about Rs 492 crore was available but the state govt chose to sit with the funds forcing helpless farmers to burn the crop residue".

"The Chief Minister of Punjab has failed to even provide relief to farmers in his own turf of Sangrur. Last year (Sept 15-Nov 2) farm fires in Sangrur stood at 1,266. This year they have shot up by 139% rising to 3,025".
New Delhi, Nov 2 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said that free yoga training will not be allowed to be stopped and the yoga classes will resume across the national capital from Thursday.

"I had a meeting with the yoga teachers of Delhi's Yogashala. Yoga classes will resume all over Delhi from tomorrow (Thursday). I assured the yoga teachers that I would pay their monthly wages. They may continue the work of teaching yoga to the people of Delhi. We will not let the work of yoga training stop," he said in a tweet in Hindi.

Kejriwal's announcement came a day after the free yoga classes, conducted at around 590 sites in the capital city, were suspended amid the ongoing tussle between the Delhi government and Lt Governor V.K. Saxena.

"Today, 17,000 Delhi residents are doing yoga for free. Our target is that 17 lakh people should do yoga. One day, I will facilitate free yoga for 130 crore residents of the country," Kejriwal said in another tweet.

Deputy CM Manish Sisodia on Monday had said the proposal to continue 'Dilli Ki Yogshala' programme, which was started in December 2021, was already sent to the LG's office. However, the clearance was still awaited, he had claimed.

However, a source at the LG's Secretariat on Monday said that the LG office has not received yet any files seeking extension of yoga classes.

"LG office has not yet received any file seeking permission for extension of the yoga programme beyond October 31 so it is wrong to state that the LG has not approved the extension of the programme due to which it is being discontinued," the source told IANS.
Kolkata, Nov 2 : Tapas Mondal, a prime witness in the multi-crore teacher recruitment scam in West Bengal, on Wednesday accused Trinamool Congress MLA and former president of West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE), Manik Bhattacharya, of being a recipient of share in the admission fees received by different private diploma in elementary education (D.El. Ed) colleges in the state.

Mondal, the president of All Bengal Teachers' Training Achievers' Association (ABTTAA), an umbrella organisation of such private D.El.Ed colleges, was a close associate of Bhattacharya.

He himself used to run a number of such private colleges. On Wednesday, he appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths to face questioning relating to the scam.

Speaking briefly to waiting mediapersons, Mondal levelled some serious allegations against Bhattacharyya, which virtually corroborated ED's findings that the candidates going for offline registration in some private training colleges had to pay Rs 5,000 each, a portion of which went to Bhattacharya, who is currently under judicial custody for his alleged involvement in the primary teacher's recruitment scam.

"Candidates had to pay Rs 5,000 each for offline registration. 'He' used to send people to my office to collect the files and cash, which has been confirmed by the staff of my office," Mondal said.

When asked who was the person who sent people to his office, Mondal said, "Manik Babu." Meanwhile, ED sources said that as per the rules, the admission process in such private training colleges is online. However, after the completion of online admission, some seats often remained vacant. For these vacant seats, offline registrations were done for which each candidate had to pay a sum of Rs 5,000, a portion of which reportedly went to Bhattacharya.

ED sources said that it is a matter of investigation whether these candidates going for offline registration got appointed as primary teachers at a later stage.

"For that purpose, the interrogation of Tapas Mondal is important since he is privy to important information on this count," they said.

To recall, on October 24, ED's counsel Phiroze Edulji had informed a lower court that following preliminary investigation, the central agency has traced properties worth Rs 10 crore owned by Bhattacharya and his family members.

Edulji had informed that ED sleuths have traced Rs 3 crore from a bank account held jointly by Bhattacharya's wife, Satarupa Bhattacharya, and a deceased person named Mrityunjoy Chakraborty.

The ED's counsel also informed the court that a compact disc was recovered from the residence of Bhattacharya which contained the names of 4,000 individuals.

On cross-checking with WBBPE authorities, the central agency officials confirmed that 2,500 out of that 4,000 have secured jobs as primary teachers.
New Delhi, Nov 2 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday queried Centre on the non-disclosure of reasons for denying security clearance to Malayalam news channel 'MediaOne'.

A bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Hima Kohli told Additional Solicitor General K.M. Nataraj, representing the Centre, that in court proceedings, if one party relies on something then it should be disclosed to the opposite party.

Noting that the authority granting the broadcast licence is different from the authority revoking the licence on the ground of security, it queried the ASG as to what is the remedy for the citizen, who is denied permission? The court pointed out that Centre did not call them offenders but it revoked their license.

It further added that the court understands there are sources which cannot be disclosed, but the opposite party can at least have access to the redacted copy of the material.

"You can't straight away deny the other party information on which you are arriving at a conclusion," the bench told Nataraj.

The bench said for a media house license renewal is important as it has made investment, employed people, and the market reputation is at risk.

After a detailed hearing in the matter, the top court asked Nataraj to seek instructions on its queries and scheduled the matter for further hearing on Thursday.

On Tuesday, 'MediaOne' told the Supreme Court that there is not a single instance when the channel violated the programme code and security clearance from the Centre is not needed for renewal of broadcast licence.

Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, representing the news channel, contended that the government does not have omnibus discretion to impose any new condition and emphasised on the aspect of freedom of press.

Dave said the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 does not contemplate any requirement of security clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs for the renewal of broadcast licence. He said the Act itself provides certain conditions which need to be fulfilled like interest of sovereignty, and security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, incitement of offence, decency and morality, and contempt of court. "There is not a single instance when we violated the programme code," he said.

Criticising government filing affidavits in sealed-cover, Dave submitted that the court should consider laying a law on the practice of sealed cover affidavits adopted by the government. He added that in the name of national security, these affidavits are filed behind the back of opposite parties and also create a bias in the minds of judges.

The top court is hearing a plea by the news channel challenging the Kerala High Court's order upholding the Centre's decision to ban its telecast on security grounds.

On March 15 this year, the Supreme Court stayed the Centre's ban on the Malayalam TV news channel. The Central government had cited national security grounds to justify the ban.

Media One had moved the top court after the Kerala High Court upheld the ban imposed on it by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Patna, Nov 2 : The Sashastra Seema Bal, along with Bihar Police, has detained a woman carrying only a driving license issued in California at the India-Nepal border in Kishanganj district.

The woman was identified as Farida Malik who is of Pakistani origin but claims to have US citizenship. She was intercepted at Galgalia border in Kishanganj district, as she was trying to sneak through a security check post without any valid documents.

According to officials, Malik was arrested in Uttarakhand one year ago and served a jail term. After being released, she was deported to the US. Now, she again came to India but her motive was yet to be ascertained.

"We have detained her in the women police station and questioning is on. We have also informed the US Consulate at Kolkata. We are trying to find out the reasons for her arrival in India and why she is going to Nepal. The alleged woman was not carrying valid documents including passports and visa. She is only carrying a driving license. The movement of Malik is suspicious," said an officer of the women police station of Kishanganj.
By Azernews

By Fatima Hasanova

The World Turkic Medical Congress is underway in Istanbul under the auspices of the Turkish Presidential Administration, with the organizational assistance of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS), Azernews reports per the press service of Azerbaijan's Health Ministry.

Within the framework of the congress, Azerbaijani Health Minister Teymur Musayev met with OTS' Secretary General Baghdad Amreyev, as well as Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, Kazakh Health Minister Azhar Giniyat, Kyrgyz Health Minister Gulnara Baatyrova, and Uzbek Health Minister Bekhzod Musayev.

In the course of the talks, the parties discussed new opportunities for establishing and deepening ties in the healthcare sector. They also discussed new prospects for the development and strengthening of bilateral pharmaceutical partnerships.

During the meetings, it was emphasized that the VIII TWG Summit's joint agreement of the leaders of the member countries on convening the World Turkic Medical Congress annually in October was a historic event for these countries' healthcare systems and medical communities.

The World Turkic Medical Congress was designed to encourage health collaboration among partners from around the world. The international conference, which is attended by health ministers and scientists from OTS member nations, is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build a powerful platform for the benefit of all OTS member countries.
New Delhi, Nov 2 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday inaugurated four Mahila Mohalla Clinics, developed as special primary healthcare facilities exclusively for women.

The Chief Minister inaugurated the clinics at a ceremony held at the Mahila Mohalla Clinic developed at DIZ Staff Quarters, Kali Mandir.

The first four clinics have been opened at Basti Vikas Kendra J.J. Camp Moti Lal Nehru Camp, Munirka; Sector - 4 DIZ Area; Sapera Basti, Kondli and DJB Sewage Pumping Station Batla House, Okhla.

CM Kejriwal and his Deputy Manish Sisodia took stock of all the facilities provided at the clinic, and interacted with the doctors and staff present there.

While inaugurating the Mohalla Clinics in the city, Kejriwal said that the need was felt to have some facilities that are exclusively for women.

"Therefore, based on the needs of the women in Delhi, such facilities are being opened on a large scale. He informed that soon 100 such facilities will be available for the women of Delhi.

"This Mahila Mohalla Clinic Model is the first of its kind innovation in our country. Only women and children aged under 12 will be treated at Mahila Mohalla Clinics. All employees in Mahila Mohalla Clinics will be females and like normal Mohalla Clinics, all the treatment will be free here," he said.

"These facilities are exclusively for women and children under the age of 12 years, so basically it is a gynae as well as paediatrics facility. So, all the health issues of women and mostly pregnant women and adolescent children will be taken care of in these facilities. The staff in all of these facilities will also be women," he said.

In addition to the 239 types of tests done at Mohalla Clinics, all tests related to female and adolescent healthcare will be done in Mahila Mohalla Clinics, he added further, he added.

"Delhi has always had the big hospitals such as AIIMS, Safdarjung, LNJP, GTB and GB Pant but for primary healthcare, people did not have an alternate facility that would cater to them. After our party came to power we started more than 500 Mohalla Clinics all over the city. This enabled the people to visit the clinics in their own 'mohallas' and get their health issues addressed," Kejriwal said.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Imphal, Nov 2 : Demanding release of adequate funds under the MGNREGA scheme to all the 16 districts of the state, the All Manipur Tribals Development Grievances Forum (AMTDGF) on Wednesday called for an indefinite economic blockade on two vital National Highways, which are life lines of Manipur, from Thursday onwards.

National Highway-2 (Dimapur-Imphal) and National Highway-37 (Jiribam-Imphal) connect Manipur with the rest of the country by road through Nagaland and Assam.

AMTDGF President Hesho Lorho and General Secretary Gangonglung Khumba said in a joint statement that the state government's "adamant stand" of not releasing sufficient funds to all the districts led to a serious economic crisis among the people living in the interior and tribal dominated areas of Manipur.

The tribal forum urged people, truck and transport associations and civil society groups to cooperate with AMTDGF to make its agitation successful.

It also cautioned the people to remain alert of "vested organisations masquerading as service messengers of tribals and trying to mislead and confuse the people of the state through social media".

"The forum had submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on October 10 demanding the release of adequate funds sanctioned under MGNREGA by the Union Rural Development Ministry.

"On October 10, the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department of the state government released only a meagre amount to 16 districts of Manipur under MGNREGA," the AMTDGF statement claimed.

Various other local organisations have extended their support to the AMTDGF's economic blockade on the two vital National Highways.

State government officials refused to make any comments on the AMTDGF's claims about release of MGNREGA funds.
Mumbai, Nov 2 : A special CBI court in Mumbai on Wednesday sentenced two Customs officials and four others to jail terms of various lengths in a corruption case.

The court sentenced Taufiq Hazi Gaffar to seven years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 5.3 crore, then Assistant Commissioner, EOU Section, Customs, Vinayak M Bhende to two years jail with a fine of Rs 20 lakh, then Appraiser, EOU Section, Customs, Vinay Kumar to one year jail with fine of Rs 5 lakh, Maqsood Abdul Karim Bakali to one year rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs 25,000, Rafique Khanda to six months rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs 15,000, and Rouf Abdul Aziz Janoo to six months rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs 6,000.

The CBI had registered the case in 2003 on the basis of the complaint from Additional Commissioner of Customs, Special Intelligence & Investigation Branch, Mumbai, against a private company and others including its Directors and unknown officials of Customs and Central Excise.

The accused were found instrumental in clearing 38 consignments of fabrics under duty free 100 per cent EOU Scheme by submitting forged procurement certificates.

The accused submitted forged procurement certificates valued at Rs 4.15 crore on which Customs duty exemption of Rs. 4.25 crore was availed.

It was also alleged that the goods, which were imported duty free, were diverted to local market, and its proceeds were misappropriated resulting into a loss to above extent.

After investigation, a chargesheet was filed before the Court of Special Judge, CBI Cases, Mumbai in 2005 against all the accused, and it convicted all of them.
Bengaluru, Nov 2 : Calling the Global Investors' Meet (GIM) a grand success, Karnataka Large and Medium Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani said that the state received investment proposals worth nearly Rs 8 lakh crore and is expected to go beyond government's expectation by the end of the three-day event.

The Minister was addressing media persons after the grand opening ceremony at Palace Ground in Bengaluru.

Elated over the overwhelming response that GIM received on the inaugural day, Nirani added that the event was a grand success.

"We are pleased that the GIM attracted 100 per cent attendance and overwhelming response from all the stakeholders." "We have received investments worth nearly Rs 8 lakh crore so far and we are expecting more by November 4," the Minister said.

"These investments are expected to create more than five lakh jobs in the state. The Chief Minister will announce the exact amount of investments on the concluding day. We will release a booklet containing the full details of investments, including the names of companies, places and the number of jobs that are going to be created," Nirani added.

Expressing his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who praised the state government for holding the GIM and its efforts in pushing industrial growth in the country.

"I'm thankful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his support and encouraging words for our efforts. Our government is working hard to realise his dream of making India a five trilion dollar economy by 2025 and our contribution would be one trillion dollar," the Minister said.

The Minister stressed on the need to improve connectivity for economic progress.

He added that the airports in Hassan, Shivamogga and Vijayapura would be operational soon, adding the next GIM would be held in January 2025.
Bengaluru, Nov 3 : Social activist and senior advocate T.J. Abraham has lodged a complaint against six persons, including two sitting Ministers of the BJP government, in connection with the death of a Police Inspector posted with Karnataka Police department.

The complaint has been lodged at the K.R. Puram police station in Bengaluru.

Nandeesh, a Police Inspector, suffered a heart attack and died recently. It was alleged that he died due to political pressure.

Abraham had lodged a complaint in this regard against state Home Minister Araga Jnanendra and state Urban Development Minister Byrathi Basavaraj.

He had also lodged the complaint against Bengaluru Police Commissioner Pratap Reddy, Central Crime Branch (CCB) Assistant Commissioner of Police Reena Suvarna, Chandru, a relative of Byrathi Basavaraj and another person Ganesh.

He alleged that all accused are indirectly responsible for the death of Inspector Nandeesh.

The complaint states that Nandeesh suffered a heart attack because of the pressure from relatives of Basavaraj. He was targeted for not listening to Chandru and Ganesh.

The raid by the CCB was intentional and pressure was put for the deceased inspector's suspension.

The complaint also alleged that the deceased had given a bribe of Rs 50 lakh to the state Urban Development Minister and Rs 20 lakh to the state Home Minister.

"Before suspending, no clarification was sought from the deceased Nandeesh. I have demanded that an FIR should be registered against all accused persons. If they don't file an FIR, I will approach the court," Abraham said.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday ordered a probe in connection with the case. Inspector Nandeesh posted with the K.R. Puram police station in Bengaluru had succumbed to heart attack on October 27.

Former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy from the JD (S) has questioned the BJP-led Karnataka government over Nandeesh's death, alleging that political pressure led him to suffer a heart attack.

Kumaraswamy questioned the circumstances leading to the Inspector's heart attack. The deceased Inspector's wife had alleged that the incident took place due to pressure on him.

Nandeesh was suspended for allowing a pub to operate within the jurisdiction of K.R. Puram police station till early morning.

The JD(S) Chief 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." "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 added.
Jerusalem/Ramallah, Nov 3 : Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian after he carried out a car-ramming attack at a checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah, the Israeli army and Palestinian Health Ministry said.

The Palestinian man drove to the Maccabim checkpoint, hit an Israeli officer and wounded him seriously, the Israeli army said in a statement on Wednesday.

The man then got out of his car and tried to attack the officer with an axe before he was "neutralised," the army statement added.

The killed Palestinian man was identified by the Palestinian Health Ministry and local sources as Habes Rayyan, 54, from the village of Beit Duqqu, northwest of Jerusalem, Xinhua news agency reported.

A video clip published on social media platforms shows the alleged entire process of the incident.

The incident came a day after exit polls suggested the return to power of hawkish former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right bloc in the Israeli parliamentary elections.

Tension has been mounting between Israelis and Palestinians since March when the Israeli army intensified its military actions and operations against Palestinian militants and activists by storming Palestinian towns and cities in the West Bank.

At least 130 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since January, and more than 20 Israelis killed in attacks by Palestinians since March, according to official Palestinian and Israeli figures.
Dar Es Salaam, Nov 3 : Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa has ordered the Ministry of Water, in collaboration with the private sector, to complete preparations for a project to address water shortage in the port city of Dar es Salaam and Coast regions.

A statement by the Prime Minister's office on Wednesday said Majaliwa made the directive when he held talks with Water Minister Jumaa Aweso, senior officials of Dar es Salaam and Coast regions, and the Dar es Salaam Water and Sewerage Authority (DAWASA).

Majaliwa said the project to tap water from the Rufiji river, the largest and longest river in the country, should be expedited to save Dar es Salaam and Coast regions that are currently facing an acute water shortage caused by decreased water levels in the Ruvu river, their main source of water.

The Prime Minister also directed the Ministry of Water and DAWASA to embark on the construction of wells to be used by residents in the two regions, Xinhua news agency reported.

Majaliwa inspected wells in the Kigambani district in Dar es Salaam with a total capacity of pumping 70 million litre of water per day.

He said following the decrease in water levels in the Ruvu river, water production has gone down to 300 million litre a day from 520 million litre a day, creating a deficit of 220 million litre a day.

The drop in water levels in the Ruvu river has resulted in the rationing of water in Dar es Salaam and Coast regions.

On September 2, the Tanzania Meteorological Authority (TMA) issued an alert over an imminent seasonal rainfall deficit scheduled to begin from October to December, saying various water-sensitive sources and sectors were likely to be affected.

The TMA said the diminished rainfall will affect sectors such as health, agriculture and food security, livestock and fisheries, natural resources, tourism and wildlife.
RIM Recruitment Professionals Rebranded Logo We are celebrating another record year...due to our lucrative commission plan, with the highest commission payout rates in our industry! Sean Kogan (Co-Founder)

Recruiting in Motion US Holdings Inc announced that it has rebranded as RIM Recruitment Professionals (RIM) in recognition of its growing team of dedicated recruitment industry professionals throughout the US. The rebrand includes a new US website (https://www.rimrp.com/), and company logo. RIMs Canadian-based sister-company, Recruiting in Motion Inc, will continue to operate as Recruiting in Motion in Canada.

With our new US website and brand launch, we are excited to share RIMs backstory and how we differentiate ourselves from thousands of other recruitment and staffing agencies, said Paul Vendittelli, Co-Founder of RIM.

Known as one of the most progressive agencies in the country, RIM has evolved to allow their team members full autonomy and to work 100% remotely from home offices. Their dedicated representatives are encouraged to set their own working hours, and they receive unlimited time-off. The organization has built a dedicated network of industry professionals and recruitment agency partners who utilize RIMs experience in the industry, along with its resources and team synergies to assist employers in filling permanent, temporary and contract vacancies.

When asked to comment on the companys rapid growth, Sean Kogan, Co-Founder of RIM, said We are celebrating another record year, with our US team more than doubling in size over the past 12 months. One reason may be due to our lucrative commission plan, with the highest commission payout rates in our industry!

RIMs team members are treated like business partners and do not pay entry fees or monthly minimums. This makes the business model extremely attractive to successful agency employees who want to venture out on their own, as well as to those individuals who may run their own small agency but want the team synergies typically only found in large agencies.

The updated brand name, RIM Recruitment Partners, reflects the team-based recruitment philosophy that emanates throughout the organization along with one of their primary core values; Better Together.

For more information, please visit https://www.rimrp.com/

About RIM Recruitment Professionals

Established in 2010, RIM specializes in the permanent, temporary and contract placement of professionals and currently has dedicated representatives in more than 15 US states and 2 Canadian provinces. It pioneered its Visual Advantage System resulting in a shorter hiring cycle that saves employers time and money while delivering superior results. Since its inception, RIM has changed the lives of over 10,000 people. In the US, its growing peer-to-peer network of independent industry professionals work as a cohesive team matching professionals with employers of all sizes and across all industry sectors.
We believe New Jersey licensees are having and will continue to have a difficult time finding properties if they dont act soon and make commitments to candidate properties.

As New Jersey approaches the end of its second year of medical and adult-use legalization, the access to compliant cannabis real estate is worrying some cannabis real estate professionals. With the extremely long lead times on securing and developing compliant cannabis real estate, new licensees face potentially high barriers to opening their doors promptly, risking the loss of invested money. For one cannabis real estate consultant, the reality is setting in  some new licensees may risk losing it all if they dont source their property soon.

We never want to alarm people if there isnt a need; that being said, we believe New Jersey licensees are having and will continue to have a difficult time finding properties if they dont act soon and make commitments to candidate properties, said Bill Betts, managing partner at CannaRE\Group.

Its a heavy dose of reality, but we need to be blunt about the realities of the market, Betts said. We interact with licensees and property owners every day  we can tell you that things are moving fast and quality space is being absorbed. If you arent working with someone now, youre already in a very concerning position.

Not only are dispensary locations in scarce numbers, but green-zone approved properties for cultivation, manufacturing and processing are also running low. For companies looking to vertically integrate  meaning they will grow, manufacture and dispense cannabis  highly complex dual property real estate acquisition plans need to happen simultaneously to accommodate property licensing properly. If the process of sourcing multiple properties or facilities isnt happening in tandem, operators may run into major roadblocks at harvest or when theyre ready to start manufacturing or dispensing cannabis to customers.

In the state of New Jersey, you must have property sourced to submit with your New Jersey license application. So real estate has to be one of the first things tackled for prospective license holders; however, just because a property is tentatively sourced, doesnt mean it will be available once the license is granted. Betts said. Many properties fall through in the process of the license being approved. So many businesses have to start over in their quest for property even after their plans are approved.

With a short supply of properties and the race to secure property, some business owners are searching for new properties entering the market. Although some properties will go through rezoning and the process to gain compliance to meet demand, many will be slow to come to market.

To the experts at Canna Real Estate Group, its become apparent that new business owners, in their race to develop their business, are not planning for the steps that come after the initial development. With such a long lead time, their experts urge licensees to partner with a cannabis real estate expert now to avoid delays two or three years down the road.

Betts had one final piece of advice: Make a decision now, while you have the option  while theres a decision to make.

If you are an owner, operator or licensee launching a cannabis business in the Northeast that requires property or commercial development projects, please contact Canna Real Estate Group.

About CannaRE\Group (CREG). Canna Real Estate Group is a cannabis real estate and property development consulting group with decades of experience completing scaled commercial projects within the cannabis industry in most states where cannabis is legal. Visit the CREG blog for more cannabis real estate news and perspectives.
The nature of our business is such that we dont succeed unless our partners do, so were deeply committed to that end and feel a special sense of pride being recognized among Inc.s list of the worlds best partners. - Richard Lamondin, EcoSystems

Inc. Business Media today announced the inaugural Power Partner Awards, honoring Miami-based conservation firm EcoSystems and more than 250 other B2B organizations across the globe that have proven track records supporting entrepreneurs and helping startups grow.

The nature of our business is such that we dont succeed unless our partners do, so were deeply committed to that end and feel a special sense of pride being recognized among Inc.s list of the worlds best partners, said EcoSystems Co-Founder and CEO Richard Lamondin.

EcoSystems was founded in 2012 by brothers Richard and Lawrence Lamondin who were motivated to create impact at the intersection of good business and doing good for the planet. Since its founding, EcoSystems has saved its partners in the multifamily housing industry more than $58 million through upgraded fixtures, including faucets, toilets and lighting, among others. This work has helped EcoSystems clients efficiently design and execute sustainability programs, translating into more than 6 billion gallons of water and 252 million kWh of energy saved.

All 252 companies on the Power Partner Awards list received top marks from partners for being instrumental in helping leadership navigate the dynamic world of startups. These B2B partners support entrepreneurs across various facets of the business, including hiring, compliance, infrastructure development, cloud migration, fundraising, and more, allowing founders to focus on their core missions.

Trusted B2B partners provide guidance and expertise that founders rely on at various steps of their organizations journey. Partners that possess a demonstrated ability to deliver quality support are at the core of entrepreneurship and help bring big ideas to life, says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. Business media.

Inc. evaluated companies on commitment, reliability, trust, creativity, supportiveness, and other virtues that offer value to partners. Inc. also conducted surveys to gather testimonials from nominees as part of the process.

See the full list of honorees in the November print issue of Inc. Magazine, and online at https://www.inc.com/power-partner-awards/2022.

About EcoSystems

EcoSystems is a water and energy conservation firm proving that conservation is good for business through sustainability for the real estate industry. In 2020, EcoSystems was recognized by Inc. as the 48th fastest growing private company, and the fastest growing environmental services company in the United States. In 2021, EcoSystems received the Gold Medal for Inc.s Best in Business Awards honoring the most inspiring companies of the year. For more information, visit http://www.ecosystems.com/.

About Inc. Business Media

The worlds most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community they need to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. The associated Inc. 5000 Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit http://www.inc.com.
Every year Washington Business Journal ranks hundreds of the hottest area companies in their fields. INFINITI HR, a rapidly growing and customer-focused PEO, made the list of the largest private companies for the seventh year in a row. The annual list includes 105 companies in the Washington, D.C., metro area that are locally headquartered and privately owned, and INFINITI HR ranked number 32.

INFINITI HR has continued to grow at an exponential rate and has doubled the number of employees in the past seven years. As a human resources outsourcing, payroll, and benefits service provider with its headquarters in Burtonsville, Maryland, the company made nearly $620 million in revenue last year. INFINITI HR is an IRS-certified PEO, a nine-time member of the Inc. 5000, and a 2022 Top Workplace in Washington D.C. by The Washington Post. As the leading PEO for some of the most recognized franchise brands throughout the world, the company now has nearly 32,000 employees and clients in all 50 states.

INFINITI HR joins this years list of the largest private companies in the professional services sector.

INFINITI HR has established its place as one of the fastest-growing large companies in the metro DC region, among great organizations that include MARS Inc., Bechtel Corp, Clark Group, and more, CEO Scott Smrkovski said. This is the seventh year in a row of making the list, and we are honored. Our success can be attributed to our loyal employees who always put our customers first and provide stellar customer service. Id like to thank them for their commitment and for being integral members of the team, especially during the last few, tough years.

The list is ranked by total 2021 revenue. Industries represented in the full list include: retail, professional services, technology, government contracting, construction, real estate, and more.

To view the list, click here*.

About INFINITI HR

INFINITI HR is a leading Professional Employer Organization (PEO). The INFINITI HR PEO platform provides full regulatory compliance management, on-demand HR guidance, real-time payroll /tax filing, POS integration, and access into industry leading True-Group Master Policies for workers compensation, employment practices liability insurance, and other operational business coverages.

Click here for the latest press releases and up-to-date news on human resources outsourcing. To learn more about how your units can save time, money and mitigate employer liability, call INFINITI HR at 866-552-7360 or email info@infinitihr.com.

*denotes a paywall
The winners of the seventh annual Community Leadership Awards were announced Tuesday, October 25th, and included community leaders from organizations like Udacity, Microsoft, Zapier, and more. The Community Roundtable, the leading global resource for the community management industry, presented the awards at their first in-person Connect event since the COVID-19 pandemic began. As the recognized leader in community management research, training, and thought leadership, The Community Roundtable is uniquely qualified to evaluate and reward individual and organizational contributions to the industry.

Community Leadership Awards recognize excellence in online community management across five categories: Outstanding Community Program, Outstanding Community Dashboard, Outstanding Community ROI, Outstanding Community Design Element, and Best Recognition & Reward Program. Members of TheCR Network  the world's premier resource for community professionals  were recognized in six individual categories. An additional award, Community MVP, was awarded based on peer nominations. In total, 11 organizations and individuals were recognized for outstanding efforts in community management.

2022 proved to be the first year of a new normal in the community management space, said Jim Storer, Co-Founder and COO at The Community Roundtable. The esteemed community leaders recognized provided invaluable vision and guidance for their organizations during a year full of change.

The winners of the 2022 Community Leadership Award are:

Outstanding Community Dashboard 2022: Progress

The Outstanding Community Dashboard award recognizes a community dashboard that exhibits the most impressive and engaging design, sharing metrics and measurement in an impactful way that contributes to the overall narrative of a community program.

Outstanding Community ROI 2022: Udacity

Outstanding Community ROI award recognizes a community that has best demonstrated significant ROI for their business/organization through innovative community management practices.

Outstanding Community Program 2022: Microsoft

The Outstanding Community Program recognizes an exceptional community program that supports new member onboarding, including communications, training, mentoring, and more.

Outstanding Community Design Element 2022: Zapier

The Outstanding Community Program award recognizes a design element in an online community program that demonstrates meaningful engagement through thoughtful design.

Best Recognition + Reward Program 2022: Analog Devices, Inc.

The Best Recognition + Reward Program award recognizes outstanding community recognition, reward, and gamification programs that increase engagement

Community MVP 2022: Kayla Koch, Sr. Marketing Manager, Customer Community Programs, Egencia

The Community MVP award recognizes excellence in community management  including outstanding efforts, willingness to share with peers, achievements, and excellent community results.

Community Detective 2022: Claire Richardson, Enterprise Community Manager, Thomson Reuters

Community Detective awards the member who helps source group knowledge and expertise by regularly asking thoughtful and meaningful questions in TheCR Network.

Community Explorer 2022: Dan Simon, Director, Bain

Community Explorer awards the member who charts new territory in the community management industry. They take best practices, research, and community models to experiment and advance the industry.

Community Pack Leader 2022: Melissa Hockenberry, Community Program Manager, Datto

Community Pack Leader awards the member who consistently leads the most discussions, online, in-person, and on virtual calls, and shows leadership around a topic or initiative in TheCR Network.

Community Journaler 2022: Sam Pirok, Community Moderator, Extreme Networks

Community Journaler awards the member who works out loud the most regularly and with the most depth.

Community Power User 2022: Rachael Silvano, Community Operations Manager, Zapier

Community Power User awards the most active member in TheCR Network who contributes on a regular basis in a wide variety of ways, from sharing their expertise to supporting and encouraging other members.

Community Rookie of the Year 2022: Vee VoPham, Community Programs Coordinator, Pantheon

Rookie of the Year awards a Network member who has fewer than three years of industry experience, is new to TheCR Network, and is a power user  regularly collaborating and contributing inside the Network.

About The Community Roundtable: The Community Roundtable is the leading, global resource for the community management industry. The Community Roundtable helps organizations from Fortune 500s to start-ups and associations recognize, define and leverage the power of their communities. Through the industrys only comprehensive community management research, The Community Roundtable provides training, events, and consulting to help companies recognize real ROI from their community programs. TheCR Network  the world's premier resource for community professionals, connects hundreds of community practitioners worldwide for networking, professional development and support. Learn more at communityroundtable.com
A manager at a Fuzzys Taco in Little Elm is alleged to have fired a bartender for refusing his sexual advances, according to a lawsuit filed in Dallas County District Court.

The lawsuit, Erin Norman v. Fuzzys Taco Holdings, LLC, et al. No DC-22-15062 in Dallas 68th District Court, alleges that Earnest Wayne Ashburn, who held himself out as the Front of House General Manager at Fuzzys on W. Eldorado Parkway in Little Elm, had hired Erin Norman in late 2020 for a bartending position. The lawsuit claims that Ashburn terminated Norman before she could start the job because she asked him to stop sending her sexually explicit text messages and images.

More information about the lawsuit can be found here.

Fuzzys allegedly terminated Norman on the basis of her sex and in retaliation for refusing to acquiesce to Ashburns sexual advances, says Normans attorney, Jennifer Spencer, of Dallas Jackson Spencer Law.

Its sadly not uncommon for employees to be subjected to this kind of harassment on the job, Spencer says. We are asking not only for Fuzzys to make our client whole, but were also seeking a change in corporate policy that would protect future employees from this kind of harassment.

About Jackson Spencer Law

Jackson Spencer Law is a Dallas-based employment law firm representing employees who have been treated wrongfully in the workplace. For more information, visit JacksonSpencerLaw.com.
Sora Schools This is a historic moment for every Arizona family. Parents are now empowered to make the best decision for their child whether that is progressive private school like Sora or a local public school, said Sora CEO, Garrett Smiley.

Arizona recently made history when its expanded private school Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) system officially took effect. The program allows parents of the more than 1.2 million school-age children in Arizona to be eligible to receive approximately $7000 to use for private school or other school costs. This will give parents the option to choose what type of education their children need and deserve.

Sora Schools announced a major expansion today to address the growing demand for school choice, as the accredited, innovative, project-based, affordable, interdisciplinary, and global online education choice for middle and high school students. Known for its innovative curriculum with classes such as The Science of Marvel, Commotion in the Ocean, The Physics of Sharks, and Banned Books, the school utilizes student-led learning which puts students in the driver seat of their education.

Sora has pledged to offer up to 1,000 spots in their virtual learning campuses to Arizona students. They also vow to open new Arizona faculty positions to Arizona teachers, as well as building on its existing partnership with KaiPod Centers in the state.

Sora will be kicking off its expansion into Arizona by conducting a faculty recruiting event on November 9 to meet with Arizona educators, and to draw the best of the best of Arizona teachers to join their faculty team. In addition, Sora will be hosting information sessions for Arizona families in mid-November. For more information visit http://www.SoraSchools.com/Arizona.

This is a historic moment for every Arizona family. Parents are now empowered to make the best decision for their child whether that is progressive private school like Sora or a local public school, said Sora CEO, Garrett Smiley. Sora is an accredited school where students are happier and more engaged because they are selecting the real-world classes that match their interests. Even though Sora students enjoy school, theyre still building a powerful transcript for college- in fact, Sora boasts a 100% college acceptance rate. Our students are supported by caring faculty, a blend of both live and independent learning, a diverse community, and an academic journey firmly rooted in their real-world interests.

Sora is passionate about bringing a student-led education option to every student and with the expanded ESA funding plus Soras sliding tuition scale, a Sora education will be free to students who live in households with an annual household income of $65,000 or less.

Arizonas new law is expected to increase the demand for private schools; online options like Sora present a unique and needed solution for many parents. Soras mission is to transform student lives; to bring a meaningful, 21st century education to everyone, not just the 1%. This expanded universal ESA will put Arizona at the forefront of innovative education options--and Sora is excited to lead the way.

About Sora Schools

Founded in 2019, Sora is an online, project-based middle school and high school where students join a vibrant student-centered community that offers world-class, innovative education. Sora was founded by Garrett Smiley when he discovered that the more he uncovered about the education system, about how humans learn best and the challenges facing our world, the clearer it became that school was failing both our children and our future. Sora is the answer to this crisis. Sora is the most innovative, accredited and affordable private online school with exciting and relatable student-led curriculum that prepares students to go out in the world and be limitless. Learn more at http://www.SoraSchools.com.
Neutral milk cartons on farm "This opportunity enables us to surface new and innovative financial incentives to farmers who need support transitioning to climate-smart agriculture practices," says Sami Tellatin, Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder

Neutral Foods, the nations first carbon neutral foods company, is partnering with FarmRaise, a startup that has developed an end-to-end farm funding software platform dedicated to scaling regenerative agriculture through financial access. Neutral is the first partner to offer private grants via the FarmRaise platform, which typically assists farmers in navigating and applying for funding opportunities such as conservation grants and operational microloans.

Neutral Foods is committing $1 million to scale the adoption of climate-smart practices through 2023. In addition to providing financial support, Neutral provides advisory services and monitors the effectiveness of diverse solutions shown to reduce a farms carbon footprint, including manure management solutions, using feed supplements, and planting tannin-rich forage grasses that reduce methane. FarmRaise, a U.S.-based remote company, helps farmers apply for funding quickly and efficiently and keeps them updated with alerts tailored to each farmers goals.

"This partnership will help to radically reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions by providing more financial access and advisory services to conservation-driven dairy farmers," said Ann Radil, head of carbon reduction, Neutral Foods. FarmRaises platform is aligned with Neutral's personalized approach that tailors every climate solution to the needs of the individual farm.

Through its robust lifecycle analysis, Neutral knows approximately 72% of its dairy products greenhouse gas emissions occur on farms. Neutral organic milk is the first dairy milk in the U.S. to measure and eliminate its climate impact. Its whole milk, 2% milk, half-and-half, and butter products are 100% carbon-neutral throughout the products' lifecycle from farm to fridge.

"We at FarmRaise are thrilled to share Neutral's mission and financial support with the farmers in our network," says Sami Tellatin, chief operating officer and co-founder, FarmRaise. "This opportunity enables us to surface new and innovative financial incentives to farmers who need support transitioning to climate-smart agriculture practices. We look forward to engaging our farming community in this opportunity and empowering eligible farmers to apply.

Neutral will focus on funding projects near its existing supplier sheds in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and California with the intent to expand beyond these regions. Once a complete application is received, the company will conduct a feasibility study and make funding decisions within 30 days. Applications will be considered based on each project's climate impact, financial feasibility, and other environmental, social, and economic benefits.

About Neutral Foods

Neutral Foods, the first carbon neutral food company in the United States, backed by Bill Gates founded Breakthrough Energy Ventures, offers carbon neutral dairy products nationwide. Its on a mission to radically reduce the nearly 37 percent of global emissions the agriculture industry produces. Started in 2019 in Portland, Oregon, Neutral is a national brand that works directly with farmers to reduce the carbon footprint of dairy products - for good. Neutral has organic and conventional carbon neutral dairy solutions, including whole milk, 2 %, half-and-half, and butter. Neutral milk is available at Whole Foods Market, Sprouts Farmers Market, Target on the West Coast, The Fresh Market, Giant Eagle, Imperfect Foods, Fresh Direct, and several regional and local chains and independent grocers.

Additional Neutral investors are Mark Cuban and David Adelmans Darco Capital, which led a celebrity round of investors, including LeBron James, John Legend, and Questlove. Japanese firm Global Brain, its CVC partners Kirin Holdings Company, Limited and Norinchukin Bank, and Craig Shapiro of the New York-based Collaborative Fund have also invested in Neutral and its vision of a more sustainable food system.

About FarmRaise

FarmRaise delivers digital tools for farmers to master their farm finances and access farm funding. Since early 2020, FarmRaise has connected over 15,000 farmers with grant and loan opportunities and submitted applications for hundreds of farmers to conservation grants and operational microloans. Founded by a team spanning experience on family farms, at robust technology companies, and USDA grant agencies, FarmRaise executes towards a vision of vital farming communities. By providing farm-appropriate financial tools, FarmRaise is supporting agriculture that is profitable, equitable, and ecologically sound.
Artist Michael Robinson in his studio with "I Prevail" For me as a painter, this exhibit at Legends Gallery of La Jolla is a dream come true, Robinson says.

Michael Robinson, an award-winning former reporter and Pulitzer Prize nominee turned visual artist, is having several his cutting-edge original contemporary paintings shown at Legends Gallery of La Jolla.

Robinson will be at the gallery on Dec. 2 for the First Friday La Jolla Art Walk starting at 5 PM. The exhibit runs through the end of January, 2023.

This is the second major art exhibit for Robinson. He previously had a one-artist show at the Town Hall Theater Gallery in Lafayette, CA last May.

To say that Robinson, 66, has followed a circuitous path to becoming a rising star of Californias contemporary art scene is an understatement.

Before getting into the visual arts at age 60, he spent years as a Bay Area rock and blues musician, releasing four CDs and playing more than 100 live shows. Hes been featured in more than a dozen California newspapers as well as in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

Armed with a playful attitude, Robinsons becoming known for a deceptively simple style imbued with hidden meanings and cultural references, often quoting titles or lyrics from rock music.

His Legends Gallery exhibit builds on that reputation with paintings like Dance Cadaverous, a Warhol-style riff on Picasso and punk rock, and Ansonia Takes An Aria, the story of lost love that quotes a seminal lyric from the hard rock band Three Days Grace.

As a painter, this exhibit is a dream come true, Robinson says. My wife and I started our serious art collecting years ago at Legends Gallery. So, I feel like my artistic journey is coming full circle.

Highly regarded for his love of big ideas and for his bold color schemes, Robinson counts as his major influences Basquiat, Kandinsky, Miro, and Klee.

Legends Gallery of La Jolla is located at 1205 Prospect Street Suite B. For specific operating hours, please visit the website or phone 1-858.456.9900. Robinsons reprints and merchandise are displayed on his website. You can follow Michael on his Instagram account: @michaelrobinsonart.
7-Eleven, Inc. Encourages Customers To Round-Up To Support Childrens Miracle Network Hospitals This Holiday Season "Round-up campaigns hosted by our corporate partners, like 7-Eleven, Inc., make it easier for consumers to share the holiday spirit this season and support their local CMN Hospital."

Childrens Miracle Network Hospitals (CMN Hospitals) and 7-Eleven, Inc. today announced the launch of a holiday fundraising campaign at participating 7-Eleven, Speedway, and Stripes stores. Beginning today through January 10, customers are invited to round up their purchase at checkout or donate $1 to help support more than 105 member hospitals in communities across the country.

Following a successful Speedway Miracle Tournament and Celebration Dinner this summer, which raised nearly $3 million, we are excited to expand our support of CMN Hospitals with the launch of a holiday fundraising campaign in 7-Eleven, Speedway, and Stripes stores, said Rankin Gasaway, executive vice president and chief administrative officer for 7-Eleven, Inc. Funds raised through this campaign will help advance pediatric healthcare by providing critical lifesaving equipment and much-needed resources to treat children throughout the communities we serve.

Along with the option to round up at the register, customers can also donate directly to CMN Hospitals here.

The holiday season is always a special time of year  a time for reflection and giving back, said Teri Nestel, President & CEO of CMN Hospitals. Round-up campaigns hosted by our corporate partners, like 7-Eleven, Inc., make it easier for consumers to share the holiday spirit this season and support their local CMN Hospital. Their generosity will help ensure kids have access to holistic, best-in-class care to unleash their full potential.

7-Eleven, Inc. began its partnership with CMN Hospitals earlier this year to help protect kids health and well-being across local communities. Since 1991, Speedway, a part of the 7-Eleven family of brands, has partnered with CMN Hospitals to raise more than $150 million for local childrens hospitals through in-store campaigns, promotions, and its annual Speedway Miracle Tournament and Celebration Dinner. In 2021, Speedways generous customers, vendor partners, and associates raised more than $19 million for the nonprofit organization.

About Childrens Miracle Network Hospitals:

Childrens Miracle Network Hospitals raises funds for 170 childrens hospitals that support the health of 10 million kids each year across the U.S. and Canada. Donations go to local hospitals to fund critical life-saving treatments and healthcare services, along with innovative research, vital pediatric medical equipment, child life services that put kids and families minds at ease during difficult hospital stays, and financial assistance for families who could not otherwise afford these health services. When we improve the health of all children and allow them the opportunity to reach their full potential, we also improve our communities for years to come. Together, we can change kids health. Together, we can change the future. To learn about Childrens Miracle Network Hospitals and your local childrens hospital, visit cmnhospitals.org.

About 7-Eleven, Inc.:

7-Eleven, Inc. is the premier name in the convenience-retailing industry. Based in Irving, Texas, 7-Eleven operates, franchises, and/or licenses more than 14,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada. In addition to 7-Eleven stores, 7-Eleven, Inc. operates and franchises Speedway, Stripes, Laredo Taco Company and Raise the Roost Chicken and Biscuits locations. Known for its iconic brands such as Slurpee, Big Bite, and Big Gulp, 7-Eleven has expanded into high-quality sandwiches, salads, side dishes, cut fruit and protein boxes, as well as pizza, chicken wings, and mini beef tacos. 7-Eleven offers customers industry-leading private brand products under the 7-Select brand including healthy options, decadent treats, and everyday favorites at an outstanding value. Customers can earn and redeem points on various items in stores nationwide through its 7Rewards loyalty program with more than 50 million members, place an order in the 7NOW delivery app in over 2,000 cities, or rely on 7-Eleven for bill payment service, self-service lockers, and other convenient services. Find out more online at http://www.7-Eleven.com.

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Unlimted ACA Form Printing with ez1095 2022 The new efile and print version of ez1095 2022 software for processing ACA forms 1095 and 1094 has just been released for the upcoming tax season.

Halfpricesoft.com has just released the 2022 print and efile version for ez1095 ACA software. ez1095 has been approved by the IRS to generate the efile documents that customers can upload to IRS for ACA form electronic filing for the upcoming tax season. ez1095 can also print both IRS copy and recipient copy on white paper. No pre-printed forms are needed.

The 2022 version of ez1095 software also allows customers to import data quickly from external files and makes it simple to print ACA forms for recipients. Priced from just $195 per installation ($295 for efile version), ez1095 can support multiple company accounts on the same computer at no additional charge.

The new efile and print version of ez1095 2022 software for processing ACA forms 1095 and 1094 has just been released for the upcoming tax season, said Dr. Ge, the Founder of Halfpricesoft.com.

Customers that need to file Form 1095C, 1094C, 1095B and 1094B can download and try ez1095 ACA software from halfpricesoft.com before purchasing, by https://www.halfpricesoft.com/aca-1095/aca-1095-software.asp

The main features include, but are not limited to :



Customers can easily roll data from previous versions of ez1095 to the current version for faster processing,

Unlimited ACA form printing with ez1095

No pre-printed forms are needed to print 1095 and 1094 Forms. ez1095 can print ACA form 1095-B, - 1094-B, 1095-C & 1094-C on white paper for recipients and the IRS.

Unlimited accounts, recipients and ACA forms with one flat rate

PDF forms printing

PDF print ACA forms for recipients in digital format

XML files validation and E-file

Efile feature: generate XML documents that customers can upload to the IRS site.

Validate XML files

Efile: support 1095/1094 original, testing, replacement and correction submissions

Fast data import

Import data from spreadsheet, XML files and previous data

Easy-to-use, safe and flexible

Free customer support For product use and troubleshooting

User-friendly graphic interface and Windows menus make our software quick and easy to set up, use and understand.

No internet is required to run this 1095 form software

ez1095 software is compatible with Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 8, and 7. Designed with simplicity in mind, ez1095 software is easy to use and flexible. ez1095 softwares graphical interface leads customers step-by-step through setting up the company, adding employees, adding forms and print forms. Customers can also click form level help links to get more details regarding the software.

To learn more about ez1095 ACA software, customers can visit: https://www.halfpricesoft.com/aca-1095/aca-1095-software.asp

Halfpricesoft.com is a leading provider of small business software, including online and desktop payroll software, online employee attendance tracking software, accounting software, in-house business and personal check printing software, W2, software, 1099 software, Accounting software, 1095 form software and ezACH direct deposit software. Software from halfpricesoft.com is trusted by thousands of customers and will help small
Our partnership with SDFCU is focused on addressing engagement and efficiency improvements through cost- and time-savings solutions, and streamlined, consistent member experiences across all in-branch and remote channels, said Jason Schwabline, Alogent's Chief Strategy Officer.

Alogent (@AlogentCorp), a global software leader for the banking and financial services market, announced today that State Department Federal Credit Union (SDFCU) has overhauled its item processing workflows with its comprehensive suite of enterprise check and payment processing solutions. Deployed in the Alogent Cloud, SDFCU benefits from a single, consolidated, and central deposits platform with maximum flexibility potential, combined with strategic automation across all points of capture that eliminate redundant procedures and reduce processing times from days to minutes.

Modern payment workflows are strategic to any financial institutions long-term success as they look to improve efficiencies and engagement, said Jason Schwabline, Chief Strategy Officer of Alogent. Our partnership with State Department Federal Credit Union is focused on addressing these goals through cost- and time-savings solutions, and streamlined, consistent member experiences across all in-branch and remote channels.

By streamlining all Day 1, Day 2, and back-office reconciliation, SDFCU eliminated errors and reduced paper processes associated with keying, sorting, and balancing. Real-time fraud prevention and web-based capabilities also enable greater control, increased visibility, and faster research and reporting of transactions across their deposit channels, freeing employees of time to instead focus on member services.

State Department Federal Credit Union, with more than $2.4 billion in assets and chartered in 1935, has grown to more than 90,000 members worldwide, including those from Department of State and its affiliate Select Employee Groups. As a full-service financial institution, SDFCU is headquartered in Old Town Alexandria, VA and has 6 branches, offering products and services to help its members achieve their financial goals.

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About Alogent

Alogent provides proven, end-to-end payment processing, content and information management, digital banking, and data analytics software solutions to financial institutions, including over 2,400 credit unions, community and regional banks, and some of the largest national and international institutions. Our unique approach spans the entire transaction ecosystem: digitizing transaction data, automating workflows, making enterprise data actionable, and boosting user engagement with AI and predictive analytics. Versatile, scalable, and user-friendly, Alogents solutions are stable and enable our clients to consistently exceed their productivity, financial, and customer experience goals. Learn more about Alogent at alogent.com.

Media Inquiries

Alogent

Wendi Klein, VP Marketing & Communications, pr@alogent.com, +1-678-966-0844

State Department Federal Credit Union

Victor Hall, Senior Director, Retail Delivery, vhall@sdfcu.org, +1-703-705-5168
After three years of uncertainty, now is the time to reimagine our communities and cities and their purpose. Join us and hear firsthand from the innovative disruptors who are transforming todays architecture and design and reshaping society. Paul Makovsky

ARCHITECT Magazine, a Zonda publication, has announced the inaugural and highly anticipated Architect Live industry conference to be held November 7-9 at the historic Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC. The event boasts a distinguished lineup of industry leaders to provide innovative perspectives on the future of design. Attendees can earn 12 continuing education credits, as approved by the American Institute for Architects (AIA).

After three years of uncertainty, now is the time to reimagine our communities and cities and their purpose, says Paul Makovsky, editor-in-chief of ARCHITECT magazine. Join us and hear firsthand from the innovative disruptors who are transforming todays architecture and design and reshaping society.

Throughout the conference attendees will learn about the compelling ideas, projects, and design approaches that are shaping the world of commercial, institutional, and residential architecture. The insightful discussions will decode the evolving demographics of work, home, and the community, and will illuminate upcoming design trends.

Some of the speakers and topics include:



 Kai-Uwe Bergmann, partner, Bjarke Ingels Group  Bergmann will explore new approaches to home design and construction including modularity, new financing systems, construction coordination and new marketing approaches that are revolutionizing the housing market.

 Katie Swenson, senior principal, Mass Design Group  Swenson will focus on public architecture and designs that heal, and will explore new design strategy approaches that produce diverse, healthy, and productive habits for human, animal, and ecological growth.

 Rosa Sheng, vice president, SmithGroup  Sheng will explore ways of supporting a diverse array of architects and empowering them to embed themselves within the communities they represent and will discuss how architects and designers can work to advance equity in their firms and in the built environment.

 Danish Kurani, founder, Kurani  Kurani will unveil a fresh approach to building better spaces for learning, focused on gender and racial equality, mental health, community sustainability and education.

View the full agenda, speaker lineup and more at https://www.architect-live.com/events/architect-live

About Zonda

Zonda provides data-driven housing market solutions to the homebuilding industry. From builders to building product manufacturers, mortgage clients, and multifamily executives, we work hand-in-hand with our customers to streamline access to housing data to empower smarter decisions. As a leading brand in residential construction, our mission is to advance the home building industry, because we believe better homes mean better lives and stronger communities. Together, we are building the future of housing.
David Morrisey As Vice President of Construction Management, David will lead and oversee the companys Construction Management division, providing critical leadership to ensure Capstone continues its successful track record of delivering quality projects on-time and under budget.

Capstone Development Partners (Capstone), a leader in the on-campus student housing development and P3 industry, today announced a promotion within the companys construction management division. David Morrisey has been promoted from Senior Construction Manager to Vice President of Construction Management.

David Morrisey brings more than 15 years of construction management experience with on-campus student housing, beginning his career at Capstone as a Quality Control Manager and advancing into Construction Manager and then Senior Construction Manager at the company. As Vice President of Construction Management, David will lead and oversee the companys Construction Management division, providing critical leadership to ensure Capstone continues its successful track record of delivering quality projects on-time and under budget. David has led the construction of over 3,000 beds of housing on campuses including that of the University of Massachusetts Boston and Arizona State University. He is currently leading Capstones construction team on the construction of the new Portland Commons Residence Hall and Career & Student Success Center at the University of Southern Maine in Portland, ME, opening in 2023.

Davids appointment to Vice President reflects the advancement and growth efforts of Capstone, as it looks ahead to 2023 and beyond. Capstone is enjoying continued growth nationally across its student housing platform, with a 2 to 3-year development and management pipeline of approximately 4,300 beds valued at more than $1 billion.

We are pleased to recognize David with this well-deserved promotion to Vice President of Construction Management. David brings several years of experience in on-campus student housing construction on college campuses across the country. We are excited to watch Davids continued growth within Capstone and the positive impact his leadership will have on our team and our projects, said William Davis, Chief Development Officer at Capstone.

About Capstone Development Partners

Capstone Development Partners, LLC is a leading student housing developer in the on-campus and university-affiliated student housing market. The company has offices in Birmingham, Alabama and Denver, Colorado. Its principals, Jeff Jones and Bruce McKee, have 55 years combined experience as leaders in the higher education student housing sector specializing in the development and management of on-campus student housing through Public-Private Partnerships. Since 1997, the principals of Capstone have partnered with 70 public and private colleges and universities and delivered more than 50,000 beds of student housing nationwide.
Select Buick models are available with 3.99% APR for 72 months

Carl Black Roswell is offering low APR financing on select Buick SUV models in November. Drivers who are interested in financing a 2022 Buick model are encouraged to visit the dealership before the end of the month to secure a low financing rate. On top of the low financing rate, drivers can pay no monthly payments until 2023 when they purchase a Buick in November 2022.

Drivers who finance a 2022 Buick SUV in November may be eligible for financing with rates as low as 3.99% APR. New retail delivery must be taken by November 30, 2022, in order to qualify for the low APR. As a bonus, drivers can take advantage of deferred monthly payments for 90 days, which means no monthly payments until 2023. In order to qualify for this offer, drivers must finance their new Buick with GM Financial. A down payment will be required at signing.

Individuals who are interested in taking advantage of this temporary offer can learn more by visiting Carl Black Roswell in Roswell, Georgia, or by visiting the dealerships website, carlblackroswell.com. The dealerships website provides more information about special offers, inventory and services provided by the dealership. The website also provides contact information, business hours and an address for the dealership. Drivers are encouraged to act fast to find the Buick SUV theyre looking for and secure a low financing rate this month.
Global infosec awards now open It's going to be an exciting year in 2023 when some of the newest and most innovative cybersecurity solutions begin to enter the marketplace...said Gary Miliefsky

Cyber Defense Magazine, the industrys leading electronic information security magazine and a media partner of the RSA Conference 2023, is announcing that the 11th annual Global InfoSec awards are now open to innovative information security companies of any size to apply for their innovations in the field of information security.

Winners will be showcasing their teams, products, technologies and services at the RSA Conference 2023, which takes place Moscone Center | April 24 - 27, 2023, San Francisco, California.

Since COVID-19 and after so many unstoppable breaches, new cloud exploits, the work from home (WFH) business equation flipped on its head, nation state cyber espionage, critical infrastructure attacks, phishing attacks and ransomware all on the rise, it's going to be an exciting year in 2023 when some of the newest and most innovative cybersecurity solutions begin to enter the marketplace. If you think you have what it takes to be named one of our winners and receive our coveted award, now is the time to apply," said Gary S. Miliefsky, Globally Recognized Cyber Security Expert and Publisher of Cyber Defense Magazine.

Innovative companies that wish to apply may visit http://www.cyberdefenseawards.com/

About Cyber Defense Global InfoSec Awards

This is Cyber Defense Magazines 11th year of honoring these next generation leaders and innovators in the field of cyber security. Winners will receive titles such as, Hot Company, Best Product, Most Innovative, Cutting Edge and Editors Choice" for 2023 with Cyber Defense TV Hotseat and new Red Carpet Photoshoot opportunities. Our submission requirements are for any startup, early stage, later stage or public companies in the InfoSec space who believe they have a unique and compelling value proposition for their product or service. The judges are CISSP, FMDHS, CEH, certified security professionals who will be voting based on their independent review of the Company materials on the website of each submission including but not limited to data sheets, white papers, product literature and other market variables. CDM has a flexible philosophy to find more innovative players with new and unique technologies, than the one with the most customers or money in the bank. CDM is always asking Whats Next? so we are looking for Next Generation InfoSec solutions. #RSAC is the BEST place for Cyber Defense Magazine to find these Next Generation InfoSec products, services and solutions. For the full details of each respective winner and their award, special annual magazine editions will be freely available electronically during the RSA Conference 2023 and thereafter with interviews taking place at our Media area located in the Marriot Marquis or signup for an always free online edition. http://www.cyberdefensemagazine.com/

About Cyber Defense Magazine

Cyber Defense Magazine was founded in 2012 by Gary S. Miliefsky, globally recognized cyber security thought leader, inventor and entrepreneur and continues to be the premier source of IT Security information. We are managed and published by and for ethical, honest, passionate information security professionals. Our mission is to share cutting-edge knowledge, real-world stories and awards on the best ideas, products and services in the information technology industry. We deliver electronic magazines every month online for free, and limited print editions exclusively for the RSA conferences and our limited edition paid reprint subscribers. Learn more about us at http://www.cyberdefensemagazine.com. Cyber Defense Magazine is a proud member of the Cyber Defense Media Group.

NOTE: In the event of an additional variant outbreak, we have prepared a complete virtual awards solution.
Greenberg Traurig, LLP Real Estate Litigation Shareholders Michelle D. Gambino and Howard K. Jeruchimowitz spoke about preventing retail leases from ending up in litigation during the 2022 ICSC+U.S. LAW Conference held Oct. 26-28 in Orlando, Florida. Shareholder Neil Oberfeld, also in the firms Real Estate Practice, served as a planning committee member for the annual event and co-chaired the presentation of 58 roundtable sessions.

Gambino, co-chair of the firms Real Estate Litigation Practice, and Jeruchimowitz, a member of the firms Litigation Practice, appeared together on a general session panel titled Youre Vaccinated, Now Lets Immunize Your Lease from the Litigators. The panel discussed how leases could lead to litigation, as well as possible strategies for preventing lawsuits and winning favorable court rulings.

For more than 50 years, the ICSC+U.S. LAW Conference has provided an opportunity for retail real estate legal professionals to gain industry-specific knowledge and insight from leading authorities in the field. ICSC, previously the International Council of Shopping Centers, recently rebranded as ICSC with a tagline Innovating Commerce Serving Communities.

Based in Greenberg Traurigs Northern Virginia office, Gambino routinely serves as lead counsel in high-profile litigation matters, including complicated lease disputes, projects gone wrong, and anchor-tenant holdout disputes. Her successful representations include winning a $31 million verdict on behalf of Lord & Taylor against the owners of a mall in Montgomery County, Maryland, and defeating an injunction aimed at stopping a $330 million mixed-use development in downtown San Diego last year.

Jeruchimowitz, based in the firms Chicago office, focuses his commercial litigation practice on the real estate, construction, and financial services industries. Working with clients who include property owners, developers, landlords, tenants, and lenders, he handles a wide range of matters from shopping center disputes to mechanics liens and foreclosures. He has served on the board of editors for Shopping Center Law & Strategy, is a frequent speaker at the ICSC conference, and recently finished serving as co-chair of the American Bar Association (ABA)s Real Estate Litigation, Trust, and Condemnation Committee; he now serves as a member of the ABA Section of Litigations Virtual Programming Board.

Oberfeld, a shareholder in the firms Denver office, assists national and regional retailers, developers, institutional owners, and investors in real estate and general business matters. He concentrates his practice on acquisitions, developments, leasing, finance, and investment transactions, including retail, office, and industrial real estate; joint venture and fund formation and investment; secured and commercial loan transactions; and property tax assessment.

About Greenberg Traurig: Greenberg Traurig, LLP has more than 2500 attorneys in 43 locations in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East. The firm reported gross revenue of over $2 Billion for FY 2021 and is consistently among the top firms on the Am Law 100, Am Law Global 100, and NLJ 250. On the debut 2022 Law360 Pulse Leaderboard, it is a Top 15 firm. Greenberg Traurig is Mansfield Rule 5.0 Certified Plus by The Diversity Lab and the Center for Resource Solutions Green-e Energy program certifies that the firms U.S. offices are 100% powered by renewable energy. The firm is often recognized for its focus on philanthropic giving, innovation, diversity, and pro bono. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com.
David Boyle ''I am delighted to present this paper to commemorate the Institutes 123rd anniversary. The extensive use of ammonia as a refrigerant is linked to developing vapour compression as the preferred method of achieving mechanical refrigeration.''

Celebrate the 150th anniversary of the world's first ammonia refrigeration system using vapour compression and discover the exciting story surrounding the developments that spawned the widespread use of one of the most climate-friendly refrigerants at an informative online webinar organised by the Institute of Refrigeration on 3rd November at 4:30 pm.

The talk will be presented by Dr Andy Pearson, Group Managing Director of Star Refrigeration and American Society of Mechanical Engineer-Historian award winner, Bernard A. Nagengast, and is based on the pairs co-authored paper that examines the timeline of ammonia refrigeration compression.

Their presentation will highlight the contribution of the early pioneers of ammonia refrigeration compression during the 1800s and demystify some of the generally accepted assumptions about the origins of the technology and its successful commercialisation.

Spotlighting the life, sacrifices, and sheer determination of inventors such as David Boyle of the Boyle Ice Machine company, to whom the commercial success of ice machines based on the compression of ammonia vapour is attributed, the event will track the history of ammonia vapour compression technology from its inception in the 1870s.

Attendees are expected to enjoy a showcase of inspiring developments and famous firsts attained by precursors like Francis De Coppet, who has been credited with the construction of the first leak-tight ammonia compressor, or Charles Tellier, the first person to run an ammonia compressor for refrigeration.

Evaluating the successes and blunders in ammonia vapour compressions history offers the opportunity to understand the significant technical developments that were required to make ammonia compression cooling systems safe, efficient and reliable to ultimately change the face of modern refrigeration. More recent advancements in ammonia refrigeration technology, along with international pressure for more environmentally friendly refrigeration alternatives in response to the warming crisis, have further accelerated the adoption of ammonia systems due to its high efficiency and proven performance over the last centuries.

Dr Andy Pearson, said I am delighted to present this paper to commemorate the Institutes 123rd anniversary. The extensive use of ammonia as a refrigerant is linked to developing vapour compression as the preferred method of achieving mechanical refrigeration. As well as crediting the early pioneers of the invention of ammonia refrigeration systems using vapour compression, it is important to recognise the vital role they play on each successive generation of technological advances to date.

Ammonia is carbon neutral and still the most efficient refrigerant known to man. Being a top refrigerant choice for years, especially in the temperature-controlled storage and food and drinks manufacturing sectors, the historic double anniversary event provides a timely platform to examine this development and amplify its exciting history, particularly as the world moves closer to Net Zero.

Dr Andy Pearson: Group Managing Director of Star Refrigeration is a past president of the Institute of Refrigeration and past chairman of the Institute of Refrigerations Technical Committee. He has served two terms as a director of the International Institute of Ammonia Refrigeration and is a member of the Refrigeration Safety Technical Committees for the British Standards Institute (BSI), the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) and the International Standards Organisation (ISO).

Bernard A. Nagengast is a consulting engineer and the winner of the 2020 Engineer-Historian Award presented by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and is a co-author of the Book "Adventures in Heat and Cold: Men and Women who Made Your lives Better". He is also an ASHRAE Distinguished Life Member.

The ammonia historical Techtalk is being hosted by the Institute of Refrigeration, which was originally founded in December 1899, 123 years ago. The IOR was formerly known as the Cold Storage and Ice Association, in reference to the early focus of the UK refrigeration industry, which was based on ice imports.

Those interested in attending and celebrating the 150th anniversary of the worlds first ammonia refrigeration system to use vapour compression can register at https://ior.org.uk/150-years-of-ammonia-refrigeration

To download the paper Celebrating 150 Years of Ammonia Refrigeration  the life and times of David Boyle by Dr Andy Pearson and Bernard A. Nagengast visit https://ior.org.uk/rachp-publications?id=766&state=b


Laynes Chicken Fingers, the Soon to be Famous fried chicken restaurant, is expanding to Morgantown, Virginia. Henry Wang, Principal of TMD Holdings and 3E Group, has joined forces with Erik Mansmann, Director of Operations at 3E Franchise, to bring the brand their first location in the state.

To be able to have something as rich in history as Laynes and to be the first franchisee outside of Texas is really exciting, Mansmann said. To be able to work with Henry and our team to take this and make it even larger in the way we plan to is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us. Im so excited about it.

After many years in corporate America, both Wang and Mansmann decided it was time for a change.

What I do is Im a diehard entrepreneur. I graduated from Carnegie Mellon  a real nerd. My family is first-generation immigrants and very entrepreneurial, and Ive always had the idea of the American dream in my mind, Wang said. My philosophy has always been to find people who are passionate; If youre passionate, we can always make things work. When we first met Erik, he showed me that his energy was there; he had paid his dues, and he was a real unicorn.

In the past, Mansmann had worked with brands like Chipotle, Starbucks and Panera Bread. At 3E Franchise, he is responsible for all of the guest-facing businesses and has owned an operated business in Morgantown. Alongside management and openings, Wang tasked Mansmann with identifying additional brands to franchise with.

We cant just have one brand if we want to grow and grow aggressively, Wang explained. I asked Erik to start looking out for other brands, and he came back to me and said, I think I found a winner.

Wang said Laynes is a great fit because of the shared mindset. He recalls a conversation with the brands leadership where someone said that everyone can sell chicken, but Laynes differentiates itself with passion and service.

It was music to our ears, so we flew down there and had a meeting with them, he said.

Were very excited, said Samir Wattar, Laynes Chicken COO. Henry and Erik bring a lot to the table. Erik has been in operations for a long time and has worked for companies like Panera and Chipotle. We feel like they will be a great partner for us, and entering a new market with people like that is very exciting.

Ultimately, the duo hopes to see great success with the five additional locations currently in progress including their Pittsburgh location which is set to open within the next year.

How high is high? Mansmann asked. I think we have the opportunity to be one of Laynes largest franchise organizations in our current agreement.

Franchise opportunities range from $656,000 - $1,280,500 with different buildout options available. Learn more about franchising at https://www.layneschickenfingers.com/franchising/.

ABOUT LAYNE'S CHICKEN FINGERS

Founded in 1994 in College Station, the original location became a Texas A&M legend known for its small-town charm, friendly service, iconic chicken fingers and secret sauce. While opening corporate locations across the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the leadership team focused on fine tuning its operations and starting to franchise. Now, the company is planning to bring Laynes Soon to be Famous Chicken Fingers to the rest of the world with plans to open 100 locations by the next four years.
Studies show that when parents allow their high schoolers to have a small glass of wine or a beer on special occasions, the teens are likely to drink more often and in greater amounts when they are not with their parents.

The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly touched each American family, with massive disruptions to work, school, and social routines. Now entering the third year of the pandemic  with many facets of American life returning to normal  Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) sought to check in with U.S. parents and their teens on topics like alcohol and cannabis consumption, binge drinking, and substance impaired driving through a recent survey. Survey results revealed the need for conversations between parents and teens about the dangers of alcohol and other drugs.

In February 2022, MADD commissioned IPSOS, a global research company, to conduct a nationwide study  a random sample of approximately 1,000 parents and their high school teens ages 15-18.

The survey found parents may be devaluing their role in preventing underage drinking  both their influence on teens decision-making and their ability to curb access to alcohol at home  because this topic is not being discussed enough. In fact, of the parents surveyed, half report discussing the potential consequences with their high school teen just one to three times in the past year (39%) or not at all (12%). By contrast, relatively few (13%) are tackling the subject 12 or more times a year, as is recommended by Dr. Turrisi in MADDs Power of Parents handbook.

The most alarming of the results reveal that a third of parents allow youth access to alcohol according to both teen and parent responses. Of the parents surveyed, one in five (21%) say they allow alcohol consumption from time to time, while a smaller amount (9%) allow it fairly often. About two-thirds (64%) of teens say their parents have not allowed them to consume alcohol, with more having discussed the subject with their parents (36%) versus saying it has not come up (28%). The remainder of teens say their parents have allowed them to consume alcohol  mostly with them (29%) as opposed to without them (8%).

Additional key findings of the report include:



Teens are less likely to characterize certain behaviors as high risk opposed to parent views on binge drinking and mixing alcohol and marijuana (each six percentage points lower among teens).

There are large differences between mothers and fathers on perceptions of risk and strong disapproval of behaviors surveyed, with mothers taking a more cautious stance. This gender divide is seen among teen girls vs. boys, as well.

In addition to talking to their teenagers, its equally important for parents to set the example by not allowing underage drinking in their home, said Alex Otte, MADD National President. Studies show that when parents allow their high schoolers to have a small glass of wine or a beer on special occasions, the teens are likely to drink more often and in greater amounts when they are not with their parents.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), excessive drinking is responsible for more than 4,300 deaths among underage youth each year and can lead to early addiction as well as many other dangerous outcomes, including drunk driving. MADDs Power of Parents program is focused on empowering parents of middle school and high school students to have ongoing, intentional conversations about the dangers and consequences of underage drinking and drug use to combat these statistics. Parents can download free Power of Parents handbooks at http://www.madd.org/powerofparents.

MADD thanks General Motors for their support in funding this important project. We are so grateful for their dedication to our shared mission to stop these tragedies that destroy families and devastate our communities, Otte said.

General Motors is proud to have supported MADD as they conducted this research, said Terry Rhadigan, vice president of Corporate Giving at GM. We believe the findings in the report will spark important conversations between parents and their children, which will help reduce the occurrence of impaired driving and other unsafe behavior.

To review the survey results, visit madd.org/reports.

About Mothers Against Drunk Driving

Founded in 1980 by a mother whose daughter was killed by a drunk driver, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is the nations largest nonprofit working to end drunk driving, help fight drugged driving, support the victims of these violent crimes and prevent underage drinking. MADD has helped to save more than 400,000 lives, reduce drunk driving deaths by more than 50 percent and promote designating a non-drinking driver. MADDs Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving calls for law enforcement support, ignition interlocks for all offenders and advanced vehicle technology. MADD has provided supportive services to nearly one million drunk and drugged driving victims and survivors at no charge through local victim advocates and the 24-Hour Victim Help Line 1-877-MADD-HELP. Visit http://www.madd.org or call 1-877-ASK-MADD.

About General Motors

General Motors (NYSE:GM) is a global company focused on advancing an all-electric future that is inclusive and accessible to all. At the heart of this strategy is the Ultium battery platform, which will power everything from mass-market to high-performance vehicles. General Motors, its subsidiaries and its joint venture entities sell vehicles under the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Baojun and Wuling brands. More information on the company and its subsidiaries, including OnStar, a global leader in vehicle safety and security services, can be found at https://www.gm.com.
Were thrilled Triangle Parade of Homes awarded top honors for our HighRidge home, said Patty Sloan, McKee Homes Vice President of Land Acquisition.

North Carolina-based home builder McKee Homes is thrilled to announce that its model home in Fuquay-Varinas HighRidge community has been recognized with a Gold Award in the $470,000  $540,000 category at this years Triangle Parade of Homes. The Parade of Homes is a showcase of new homes for sale, emerging trends in floor plans and home design, as well as home decor and technology.

Were thrilled Triangle Parade of Homes awarded top honors for our HighRidge home, said Patty Sloan, McKee Homes Vice President of Land Acquisition. With our model home in HighRidge, home owners get the best of everything: a low-maintenance home with open living space thats perfect for entertaining. The judges appreciated the purposeful design and world-class construction.

Gold Winner  The Promenade 2020 at HighRidge

The McKee Homes model at HighRidge showcases the companys Promenade 2020 floor plan, part of the popular Epcon collection. The Epcon collection is designed for active 55+ adults and offers single-family homes with large, open floor plans, refined finishes, private outdoor spaces and minimal steps between indoor and outdoor spaces.

HighRidge is situated in a quiet country setting minutes from downtown Fuquay-Varina. The quaint neighborhood features 45 available homesites. New homes start in the $400s. The award-winning model is located at 1319 Richfield Oaks Drive in Fuquay-Varina. Interested home buyers, Realtors and those looking for inspiration can learn more or schedule a visit at McKeeHomesNC.com or by calling 910-672-7491.

Easy, From Buy to Build

McKee Homes delivers an easy and seamless experience for buyers of presale homes from start to finish. The company assigns New Home Sales Consultants (NHSC) to work hands-on with buyers from day one. Buyers have the option of selecting a model and letting McKee Homes build or they can be involved in every detail along the way. For select homes, buyers have the opportunity to meet with a McKee Homes Design Studio Consultant at one of the company's three Design Studios to make personalized interior selections that reflect their taste and style.

About McKee Homes

McKee Homes is an exclusive North Carolina home builder that offers unwavering commitment to a unique and incredible experience, known as the McKee Team Experience. McKee Homes believes in embracing the local communities and providing excellent customer service from the beginning of the homebuying process to move-in and beyond and stands behind their core values: McKee Focus, Continuous Improvement, Good People and Work Smart, Play Hard.

McKee Homes was founded in 2010 by brothers Pat and Mike McKee, in honor of their late father Joe McKee who passed away from Alzheimer's disease. The Joe McKee Memorial Alzheimers Fund was established in his honor and a portion of every home sold is donated to research and support for families living with Alzheimers. Our vision and mission is to help create A World Without Alzheimers.
The tidy security perimeter of the traditional on-premises network has disappeared. Every user, every device that connects to cloud data presents a possible doorway for hackers, greatly enlarging the attack surface.

A NYC area Microsoft Gold Partner and cyber security consultant examines Microsoft 365 infrastructure security in a new article on the eMazzanti Technologies website. The informative article first asserts that most organizations conduct business in the cloud and are taking stock of security issues.

The author then identifies some unique cloud security concerns, including data breaches, a greatly enlarged attack surface, and hybrid cloud complexity. He briefly reviews some of the methods that Microsoft uses to protect user data in the cloud. And he concludes by listing four Microsoft 365 infrastructure security best practices to implement, including access management, endpoint security, and encryption.

The tidy security perimeter of the traditional on-premises network has disappeared, stated Almi Dumi, CISO, eMazzanti Technologies. Every user, every device that connects to cloud data presents a possible doorway for hackers, greatly enlarging the attack surface.

Below are a few excerpts from the article, Microsoft 365 Infrastructure Security Best Practices Businesses Operating in the Cloud Should Adopt.

Cloud Environment Brings Unique Security Concerns

According to the 2021 State of Cloud Security Report by IDC, 79 percent of businesses reported suffering a cloud data breach in the previous 18 months. While cloud providers list security as one of the key benefits of cloud computing, the true picture involves more complexity.

How Microsoft Protects Customer Data

When granting access to resources, Microsoft follows the principle of least privilege. That is, the system assumes that any user or service presents a possible threat. Thus, personnel who develop and maintain Microsoft services are granted the minimum amount of resource access necessary to complete the task at hand.

Microsoft 365 Infrastructure Security Best Practices to Implement

Access management  Even when the cloud provider protects the infrastructure, customer organizations must still secure user accounts and control data access. Consider following the least privilege principle, granting users and services the minimum amount of access they need. Make sure to remove user accounts and access when not needed.

Endpoint security  Implement an endpoint detection and response (EDR) solution such as Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. An EDR will automatically inventory each endpoint, as well as the processes and applications running on the device. By analyzing data from each endpoint, the EDR can quickly respond to potential security threats.

Partner with Cloud Security Experts

To improve the organizations cloud infrastructure security posture, leaders should consider partnering with a managed security services provider such as eMazzanti Technologies. With deep expertise in cyber security, as well as Microsoft and other cloud services, its consultants help business leaders implement a cloud security strategy designed to meet business and regulatory requirements.

Have you read?

Microsoft Security Services Deliver Critical Data Protection with 3-Pronged Approach

Microsoft 365 Security Features Protect Business Data from Evolving Threats

About eMazzanti Technologies

eMazzantis team of trained, certified IT experts rapidly deliver increased revenue growth, data security and productivity for clients ranging from law firms to high-end global retailers, expertly providing advanced cyber security, retail and payment technology, digital marketing services, cloud and mobile solutions, multi-site implementations, 247 outsourced network management, remote monitoring, and support.

eMazzanti has made the Inc. 5000 list 9X, is a 4X Microsoft Partner of the Year, the #1 ranked NYC area MSP, NJ Business of the Year and 5X WatchGuard Partner of the Year! Contact: 1-866-362-9926, info@emazzanti.net or http://www.emazzanti.net Twitter: @emazzanti Facebook: Facebook.com/emazzantitechnologies.


New Blue Grass Chemical Specialties President, Matt Brenner, takes a hands on approach "Matt brings a hands-on approach, extensive experience, and an engineering pedigree. When we saw his expertise, proven industry track record, and entrepreneurial passion, it was clear he was the right fit for the role." -Mark Corr, President and CEO of parent company, Signet LLC

Blue Grass Chemical Specialties LLC has named Matt Brenner as its new President. Brenner takes the helm as veteran chemist and manufacturing leader Paul McCauley (who has led the company since 2017) continues as Executive Vice President.

A Louisville, KY native with a global professional background in the chemical and power generation industries, Brenner brings a dynamic leadership skillset to the position. Prior to joining Blue Grass, Brenner led sales for all North American hydrogenation catalyst product lines for Clariant Corporation. Brenner brings global business development, sales, and managerial experience to Blue Grass, which recently celebrated 53 years in business.

Mark Corr, President and CEO of parent company, Signet LLC, says, Matt is exactly what we were looking for: a proven sales leader who can build lines of business, coupled with a diverse engineering background. Matt brings a hands-on approach, extensive experience, and an engineering pedigree. When we saw his expertise, proven industry track record, and entrepreneurial passion, it was clear he was the right fit for the role.

Blue Grass Chemical Specialties made its name in the metal salt solutions and nitrates industry. The firm offers extensive toll production capabilities, as well as a proprietary lineup of offerings in the space.

We are putting our efforts into people, product innovation, and capability expansion. There is immense opportunity in supporting the efforts of downline chemical manufacturerstheir R&D efforts are fueled by firms like Blue Grass making their technology a reality, says Brenner. Im happy to own the entire process and carry that responsibility. Theres no secret sauce to our success; hard work, improvement, and living up to our potential. The chance to build a fantastic team and solve challenges in the industry through constant improvement are what drive and excite me.

To that end, Brenner led off this effort by hiring Bill Turner. Affectionately known in the catalyst and chemicals industry as The Wizard, Bill is an uncontested legend, bringing over 48 years of sales experience, including technical, manufacturing, procurement, and custom project management. Turner joining the Blue Grass team should be a signal of the direction Brenner is leading Blue Grass, and of the significant growth the team expects.

Learn more about Blue Grass Chemical Specialties here

ABOUT BLUE GRASS CHEMICAL SPECIALTIES LLC

Blue Grass Chemical Specialties is the recognized leader in aqueous inorganic metal salt solutions, serving the PowerGen, Catalysis, Gas, Agriculture, Metal Finishing, Battery, and Electronics industries. Featuring a modern toll production and chemical manufacturing facility, Blue Grass is strategically located for intermodal transportation across the Ohio River from Louisville, KYthe #3-rated global logistics hub in the U.S. (Business Facilities Magazine, 2022).
Lisa Vegso has been promoted to Chief Commercial Officer for PECO Pallet, North America's second largest rental pallet network operator w/ 23 million of its signature red block pallets in circulation Lisas experience and business acumen have been a significant asset to PECOs growth and development. Her proven leadership skills will drive continued contributions to PECOs strong employee culture, operational excellence and customer satisfaction -- Joe Dagnese, chief executive, PECO Pallet.

PECO Pallet, Inc., which operates North Americans second largest pallet rental network, has named Lisa Vegso as Chief Commercial Officer.

Ms. Vegso was previously vice president of marketing and managing director, Canada. In her new role, she assumes commercial responsibility for sales and marketing in North America, including business development, sales operations and strategic sales planning. She also heads up PECOs company-wide Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) program.

Ms. Vegso has over 25 years of experience in transportation and logistics. She joined PECO in 2013 as director of sales, was promoted to country manager for Canada in 2015, and named vice president and managing director, Canada, in 2018.

Prior to PECO she advanced through increasingly responsible finance, customer service and business development roles with several Canadian trucking and logistics firms.

Lisas experience and business acumen have been a significant asset to PECOs growth and development, noted Joe Dagnese, PECOs chief executive. This expanded role will leverage her proven leadership skills to drive her continued contributions to PECOs strong employee culture, operational excellence and customer satisfaction.

Ms. Vegso holds an MBA from Hamilton, Ontario-based McMaster Universitys DeGroote School of Business. In 2019 she was recognized by Canadas Supply Chain Management Association as one of Canadas 100 Most Influential Women in Supply Chain. She also is a Certified Logistics Professional, having completed the coursework for certification administered by the Canadian Institute of Traffic and Transportation, and is certified in logistics and supply chain practice by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP).

PECO operates a North American pallet pool network encompassing more than 90 facilities and some 23 million pallets. The company builds, services, delivers, and manages distribution of its signature red, high-quality block pallets for Americas top consumer products, grocery, and other food-related enterprises to ship goods.

About PECO Pallet, Inc.  Itasca, IL-based PECO Pallet is the North American leader in pallet rental services and provides tens of millions of its red block pallets to major grocery and consumer goods manufacturers in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. PECO Pallets tremendous growth over the last 25+ years reflects the companys commitment to quality and service. Customers using PECOs superior pallets experience less product damage, greater efficiency, improved safety, and significant cost savings. For more information about PECO Pallet, please visit http://www.pecopallet.com.


TMC Financing approved 467 SBA 504 loans, totaling $1.65 billion in total project costs. The number of loans approved by TMC Financing surpasses every other SBA 504 lender in the U.S.

For the second year in a row, TMC Financing is the No. 1 U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) 504 lender in the nation. In fiscal year 2022, which ended September 30th, TMC Financing approved 467 SBA 504 loans, totaling $1.65 billion in total project costs. The number of loans approved by TMC Financing surpasses every other SBA 504 lender in the U.S.

TMC Financing, a non-profit mission-based lender, administers below-market, fixed-rate loans to small business owners to purchase, construct, or refinance fixed assets, such as commercial real estate and equipment.

The loans approved by TMC Financing in fiscal year 2022 are projected to create 4,953 jobs.

Were thrilled to produce such outstanding results for two consecutive years, said Barbara Morrison, founder and president, TMC Financing. 2021 was a record-breaking year for us but in 2022 we managed to approve 30 percent more in SBA 504 financing. While the totals are incredible, the real joy stems from the small businesses that we have helped grow.

TMC Financing was also the top SBA 504 lender in the Arizona Market, with 87 loans approved for $285 million in total project costs.

Fiscal year 2022 was our first full year operating in Arizona, explains Morrison. Its amazing to make such an impact on the Arizona small business community right out of the gate. We just expanded into Oregon so we look forward to working with Oregon small business owners in the upcoming year. Hopefully we make another big impact!

Since its founding in 1981, TMC has secured more than $12 billion in SBA 504 commercial real estate financing for 6,000 small businesses. As a result of the financing, these small businesses have created over 60,000 jobs.

Business owners in Arizona, California, Nevada, or Oregon can confirm they meet the qualifications for an SBA 504 loan by visiting the TMC Financing website at https://www.tmcfinancing.com/.


Wavicle Data Solutions Wavicle is thrilled to support the educational and career goals of these bright students who are pursuing data sciences and STEM study.

Chicago-based Wavicle Data Solutions, a leading data analytics firm offering cloud migration services and data management consulting, today announced the winners of its 2022 Data Analytics Scholarships. The scholarships help high-performing incoming or current college students pursue data and analytics career paths, and winning students may be eligible for internships at the company.

For the second year in a row, Furkan Mohamed of Chicago is the winner of Wavicles Chicago STEM Scholarship. This scholarship is open to Chicago-area students in need who are majoring in mathematics, computer science, information sciences or information technology, statistics, or similar subjects. Mohamed will receive a $2,500 scholarship to be applied to tuition at an accredited university.

Angel Yin-Hua Hsu is the recipient of the $2,500 Women in Technology Scholarship, which was open to U.S. women in need who are part of a STEM program specifically in mathematics, computer science, information sciences or information technology, statistics, or similar subjects.

Wavicle is thrilled to support the educational and career goals of these bright students who are pursuing data sciences and STEM study, stated Naveen Venkatapathi, Managing Partner at Wavicle Data Solutions. Our company is committed to growing and promoting data sciences and related STEM study and we wish Furkan and Angel Yin-Hua much success as they go forward in their studies.

This is the second year in a row that Wavicle offered its scholarship program, and the company intends to award the scholarships annually going forward. Applicants must meet scholarship criteria, including a household income metric. For additional information and to watch for 2023 scholarship information, go to https://wavicledata.com/careers/wavicle-data-analytics-scholarship.

ABOUT WAVICLE DATA SOLUTIONS

Wavicle provides award-winning cloud data and analytics solutions that accelerate value, reduce risk, and empower our clients to make smart, data-driven decisions. We merge deep technical expertise and industry knowledge with proprietary automation tools to support the rapid shift to modern data architectures and real-time insights. We have been recognized as an Inc. 5000 company four years running and have won the Chicago Tribunes Top Workplace award three years in a row. Wavicle is also an NMSDC certified MBE. For more information about Wavicle Data Solutions offerings, please visit wavicledata.com.
As we enter a pivotal new chapter for WestJet Cargo, SmartKargos cutting-edge cloud platform will propel WestJet Cargo forward by providing innovative technology and expertise that will assist us in growing our business to its full potential." - Kirstin de Bruijn, WestJet EVP, Cargo

Today, WestJet Cargo and SmartKargo have announced the successful launch of their state-of-the-art air cargo management platform. The partnership will provide a comprehensive digital solution that will transform and strengthen WestJet Cargos business and user experience for customers, in advance of the upcoming arrival of its dedicated freighters.

SmartKargo is a leading Cloud provider of air cargo solutions that extend markets for global airlines, with innovative technology and superior capabilities that include business intelligence, real-time information and machine learning. The solution interfaces seamlessly with the airline's other systems, as well as third-party providers via Application Programming Interfaces--for fast integration and deployment. While the arrival of WestJet Cargo freighters will be announced very soon, the launch of SmartKargo marks a new milestone in the cargo development of the Canadian carrier.

"The innovative SmartKargo platform empowers us to develop a very reliable and flexible air cargo business, Kirstin de Bruijn, WestJet, Executive Vice-President, Cargo. As we enter a pivotal new chapter for WestJet Cargo, SmartKargos cutting-edge cloud platform will propel WestJet Cargo forward by providing a complete solution that includes innovative technology and expertise that will assist us in growing our business to its full potential."

"We are delighted to work with the team at WestJet Cargo to enable their vision for launching a state-of-the-art air cargo business, Olivier Houri, CRO for SmartKargo. We congratulate them on the successful launch and look forward to working together with them to realize their goals for the business."

The two companies will continue to evolve the digital solution, ensuring ongoing innovation.

About WestJet Cargo

WestJet Cargo provides cargo services in Canada and the United States. It is a division of well-established Canadian airline WestJet which has offices located across major Canadian hubs in Vancouver and Toronto, with its head office located in Calgary, Alberta. Offering a high-quality of service along with a dedicated team, WestJet Cargo is characterized by reliable on-time performance combined with competitive cost. Specialized in the transportation of pets, it can also handle a wide scope of freight such as ecommerce, livestock, perishables, pharma, dangerous goods as well as compassionate transport.

About SmartKargo

SmartKargo delivers advanced digital technology to facilitate the efficient digital transformation of an airlines cargo business. With deep expertise in air cargo, technology, and e-commerce, SmartKargo empowers airlines to open new revenue streams through e-commerce package shipping and delivery, as recently featured in Forbes. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts (in what The New York Times called the most innovative square mile on the planet), with key offices in India, the Philippines, Brazil, and Canada. Learn more at https://smartkargo.com.

Media Contacts:

WestJet

Lemon Queen

Manal Hamdani m.hamdani@lemon-queen.com

SmartKargo

Ed Burek edward@smartkargo.com or Olivier Houri olivier@smartkargo.com
Glenn Pacchiana, right, with Thalle Industries team at Fishkill, NY quarry Some of my employees have lived through tough times,. What I have learned is that it is amazing if you can give someone a real job with good pay. It will change peoples lives, said Glenn Pacchiana.

Thalle Industries President Glenn Pacchiana says companies must provide social support when hiring workers from diverse backgrounds. Thalle Industries has employed workers who often face difficult social challenges within their families and who require additional support at work, said Pacchiana, whose company operates a quarry, a virtual quarry and provides aggregate and asphalt products.

We really try to help them with situations they may be experiencing. Whether that includes family, mental health, money problems, it is incredibly important to establish support and trust for all employees. It is our mission to ensure that when an employee joins our company, they feel supported by Thalle both at work and at home. Our mindset is that an employee in a good mental state with a stable home is an employee that will be better equipped in the work environment, said Pacchiana.

Employing workers who have come from difficult backgrounds with limited opportunities has taught Pacchiana that a workers personal life must be stable for them to have both the mental and physical capacity to work to the best of their ability.

Support for employees ranges from assisting employees in finding housing in safe neighborhoods to inviting bankers to explain the basics of building credit scores, providing opportunities for professional development, providing professionals for mental health support and educating employees on healthy eating habits and taking care of their bodies.

Helping employees during life events like a new baby or the death of a family member builds loyalty between employees and leaders. Without overstepping boundaries, being available to help an employee in need is crucial to the success of a business and its employees.

Fulfillment outside of work should also be a company focus. Facilitating opportunities for employees to gather outside workday and enjoy time together builds friendship and trust. At the annual Thalle Industries picnic, employees have the time to relax with their coworkers without the everyday stress of work. Families are invited to enjoy a day of fun, and the event has become a tradition that enthuses employees.

Most importantly, small businesses must listen and understand what their employees need to maintain a positive work and home life. Developing a safe, welcoming, and supportive environment allows employees to feel comfortable asking for help in times of need.

Some of my employees have lived through tough times, said Pacchiana. What I have learned is that it is amazing if you can give someone a real job with good pay. It will change peoples lives.


You know about the book bans and the growing number of challenges to childrens and YA titles. You know that there are two main strands of attacks on kid lit. The first strand makes specious claims about the power of books with queer characters to somehow corrupt children. The second strand argues that exposing white children, in particular, to the history and reality of racism, colonialism, and genocide will fill them with a traumatizing sense of guilt and self-loathing. At the heart of both strands is a simple idea: childrens books are dangerous because they have the potential to change us.

And you know what? Childrens books are dangerous. They do change us. They just dont change us in the ways that far-right conservatives suggest.

For one thing, we dont become the characters we encounter in narratives. If we did, we would need to worry, becauseas I write thisone of the top streaming series on Netflix is about Jeffrey Dahmer.

Likewise, novels that confront racism do not undermine the psyches of white children. But surprise! Research supports the idea that such stories might actually make white readers feel a little bit guilty. In a study by Dutch scholars, a group of high schoolers read a short passage about either Hollands participation in the African slave trade or its treatment of Jews during World War II. The students were then asked to imagine themselves in the place of slaves or Jews. After the experiment, some students did feel guilty about their countrys past actions. But that guilt didnt scar them. Instead, it made them more inclined to support such things as reparations. And even those students who did not report feeling guilty did develop a greater sense of compassion towards the people they imagined being.

And right there is why childrens books are so dangerousto haters. At the least, they teach compassion. At the most, they inspire a desire for change.

Imagine a computer simulation that allows you to take on the internal thoughts and feelings of others. And imagine, now, that this simulation is so effective that when you are done you better understand what its like to be someone else; youve developed empathy. Scientists describe literature as that simulation.

Literature helps us develop two kinds of empathy. The first kind is affective empathy. Affective empathy gives us the ability to share another persons feelings and emotions, and it is exactly what the computer-simulation-like gift of reading triggers. Its why we are so devastated when Charlotte the spider dies, even though we know that she never existed andeven if she didshe would have been unable to save the life of a pig.

The second kind of empathy that literature helps us develop is cognitive empathy, which helps us understand another persons perspective. It is so important to decision making and creativity that pre-professional programs now incorporate fiction, creative nonfiction, and memoir into coursework. The teachers of future doctors, nurses, managers, social workers, criminologists, engineers, and educators get it. Successful professionals need to understand the different perspectives and goals of the people they serve, and this skill needs cultivating.

 You can try and silence publishers and writers. But you can't stop the stories. The stories are stronger than the haters. 

Other research suggests that literature has the ability to weaken cognitive closure, which is the desire to reach a quick conclusion or make a fast decision. Cognitive closure is not all bad. It keeps us from freezing when survival depends upon immediate action. But cognitive closure also shuts us down emotionally and intellectually. When were in the throes of cognitive closure, the best argument, data, and facts are superfluous. We have taken a stand, and we are sticking to it. Butaha!sneaky stories. They loosen the clamshell of the mind. In a 2013 study, for example, college students who read a short story reported less need for cognitive closure immediately after reading than students who had not. Because they were transported into this computer-like simulation, they didnt feel compelled to resist new perspectives. Their empathy was beginning to blossom.

Literature truly does what Marcel Proust said of art: it helps us emerge from ourselves and know what another person sees. And when you know what another person sees and feels, it is much harder to hate them, to dehumanize them, to call them other. And if people understand the perspectives of those around them, where will the haters be?

Toward the end of Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag finds a group hidinglike himfrom the totalitarian state that burns book. They are the readers, and in the dark of night, they whisper the strands of stories that they have memorized by heart.

Bradbury saw. You can destroy books. You can defund libraries. You can remove titles from schools. You can try and silence publishers and writers. But you cant stop the stories. The stories are stronger than the haters. Ask Homer. Ask Shakespeare. Ask Anne Frank. The stories bind us. And if you take them away, we will whisper them to one another. Because the stories also see us, and we want to be seen. They take us out of the cave and into the light. And sunlight kills viruses.

Margaret Finnegans latest middle-grade novel is New Kids & Underdogs (Atheneum, Oct.)
Six independent bookstores are teaming up to host a series of virtual events tackling the ever-present issue of gun violence. On November 3, IndiesUNITE!, a collaborative project focused on events that use literature and conversations to confront societal issues, will bring together authors and activists for two virtual panels on gun violence. The participating independent bookstores are Boogie Down Books, Little Shop of Stories, Monkey See, Monkey DoChildrens Bookstore, Politics and Prose Bookstore, River Dog Book Co., and Second Star to the Right, in partnership with Bookshop.org. Both panels are virtual and free to the public.

Starting at 1 p.m. ET, authors Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal, co-authors of Im Not Dying with You Tonight; Marieke Nijkamp, author of This Is Where It Ends; Kindra Neely, author of Numb to This; and moderator Kim Johnson, author of This Is My America, will discuss how gun violence affects school communities, and will offer resources for students and educators in need of support.

The evening event will begin at 8 p.m. and will feature Barbara DiLorenzo, author of One Thursday Afternoon; De Nichols, author of Art of Protest; and John Della Volpe, author of Fight: How Gen Z Is Channeling Their Fear and Passion to Save America, in conversation with activists from nonprofit organization Teachers Unify to End Gun Violence.

For more information and to register for the event, click here.
The analyst predicts an estimated 5 million new paid subscriptions on VOD services will be activated during 2022 with, not surprisingly, the clear market leader being Netflix, which passed the 5 million subscribers bar in the region earlier in the year, and will likely achieve a 15% yearly growth rate by the end of 2022. The company announced in March that it will open an office in Poland, the biggest market of the region, to pursue its investments in local content.The increased attention put by Netflix on localising its platform and its content proposition has proven successful in the last years, with Central Europe representing an estimated 6.4% of its subscriber base across EMEA markets at mid 2022. That is almost 3 points higher than two years ago.HBO achieved second plane in the rankings with a strong leap in subscriptions expected after the rebranding of its streaming service into HBO Max. In the Western Balkans, where HBO has a dedicated entity and bundles its service with virtually all available TV packages, the platform has an even higher market share. The latest up-and-coming OTT player in the region was found to be Disney+, which is expected to become part of the leading top 3 platforms in Central Europe right after its launch in June 2021.However, Dataxis, also stress the part played in the region by homegrown platforms like Voyo, which just announced it reached 400,000 subscribers in Czech and Slovakia alone, and Go3 in the Baltics, which passed the 300,000 subscribers bar at the end of 2021.Looking at the industry on a country level, Poland was by far the leading market both in volume and in value. The regions biggest market was found to be home to more than 20 active SVOD platforms. The most significant growth in volume was observed in Hungary and Slovakia this year. Hungary alone is expected to count 1.7 million subscriptions by the end of 2022, which makes it the second biggest SVOD market in the region, despite counting 3.2 million fewer households than its neighbour Romania. The potential of this market is further highlighted by the upcoming launch of the subscription-based service RTL+.Yet Dataxis also cautioned that after what seemed to be a tireless growth in VOD consumption that swelled pretty much every services user base, some local market insights might be showing the first signs of a slowdown for a handful of services after this summer.Further growth opportunities could be reached through partnerships with local telcos and content aggregators, added Dataxis senior analyst Ophelie Boucaud commenting on the study. If this strategy is already well in place for players like HBO Max, or regional services Filmbox+ and Pickbox NOW, this is yet a segment to develop for others. Outside of Poland, Netflix is only available in bundles with two regional telcos: Vodafone and Orange, she noted. Meanwhile, Disney+ was only available in a packaged offer with Vodafone Greece at launch. With a growing penetration of high connectivity fixed broadband services and a larger adoption of 3P bundles in the region, bringing SVOD services on aggregators platforms could prove to be a requisite tactical move to reach more audiences beyond the D2C perspective.
Netflix is giving a glimpse of Elite Season 6.

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The streaming service shared a trailer Wednesday for the new season of the Spanish teen drama series.

Elite follows the students of the exclusive Las Encinas high school. Season 6 picks up in the wake of Samuel's (Itzan Escamilla) death.

"After Samuel's death, Las Encinas faces a new school year trying to have a facelift by covering up disasters of the past," an official synopsis reads. "However, the conflict in its classrooms is systemic: racism, sexism, domestic abuse or LGBTI-phobia are just a few of the difficult issues that will run through the hallways of the prestigious institution this season."

The trailer shows Isadora (Valentina Zenere) seek revenge following her assault in Season 5.

Carla Diaz, Martina Cariddi, Manu Rios, Andre Lamoglia, Carloto Cotta and Adam Nourou also star.

Season 6 premieres Nov. 18 on Netflix.

The streaming service renewed the series for Season 7 last week and teased Omar Ayuso's return as Omar Shanaa.
Mayan Lopez says her new sitcom, Lopez vs. Lopez, was inspired by her real-life estrangement and reunion with her dad, comedian George Lopez.

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"There was a time where we didn't speak and were estranged for about three years," Mayan Lopez, 26, said in a recent virtual press conference.

"But, really, the pandemic brought us back together, and I started making TikToks with my family to reconnect. And [showrunner] Debby Wolfe was scrolling one day and she saw one of our TikToks and this whole Lopez vs. Lopez was kind of born from that idea," she added.

Mayan Lopez said the show is an amalgamation of the writers' stories and cultural references within Latino parent-child relationships.

Lopez vs. Lopez, which stars the father and daughter as fictionalized versions of themselves, premieres Friday on NBC. The show is about what happens when a divorced, opinionated and penniless day drinker crashes back into the life of his estranged daughter, a married veterinarian technician with a young son.

"To have Debby see Mayan do TikToks about our unfortunate break in our relationship and create a beautiful thing from something that was so painful and so much my fault is just a wonderful thing," said George Lopez , 61.

Addressing Wolfe directly, he added, "For you to think of us and to just be as devoted to the show as you are, I thank you."

Mayan Lopez described the opportunity to work with her father on a comedy they both love as "the gift of a lifetime" now that enough time has passed since the rift in their relationship.

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"I'm actually gaining more confidence in my relationship with my dad," she said.

"And now, we're co-workers, and we have to make, for the sake of our relationship, some emotional separation, but the bond and the love shows very clearly on screen with not just with my dad, but with the entire cast of Lopez vs. Lopez. And, so, it is just a beautiful, beautiful thing."

Wolfe joked, "I like to say the only way these two were going to heal their relationship was on the set of their own NBC sitcom."

George Lopez said he is a proud papa, who constantly looks at Mayan Lopez as they work together and remembers what she was like at different ages.

"My eyes have seen a lot of incredible things, but what I get to see every day, I never imagined would ever be something I would be able to do," he said, explaining he has worked harder on his ties to his daughter than he has with anyone else in his life.

George Lopez said he used to give up on people -- whether it was his fault or not.

"But this is the one relationship that is the most valuable thing to me in my entire life. So, it was very difficult to be able to have to look at yourself and your flawed self and be honest with yourself and know that whether it worked out or not, I was going to do something that was entirely new to me and was going to take me on a very painful journey to look at myself," he said.

The series arrives 15 years after The George Lopez Show ended its six-season run on ABC and its eponymous star admitted a lot has changed regarding the television landscape since then.

For one, George Lopez noted, episodes of Lopez vs. Lopez will be available to stream on Peacock the day after they are broadcast on NBC.

What is considered funny has also evolved over the years, as has the immediacy of viewer reactions to jokes, thanks to social media.

Remaining the same, however, is the multi-camera filming technique, which was employed in both The George Lopez Show and Lopez vs. Lopez to capture the simultaneous reactions of the main characters.

"I just think as times have changed, social media has changed, the comedy has changed, but the use of multi-camera doesn't change," George Lopez said.

"So, to have done it 20 years ago is great, but to do it now and to do it with people that are incredibly talented and much easier to find than they were 20 years ago."

Wolfe said: "George Lopez and the show really did pave the way and opened up a lot of doors and inspired a lot of Latinx talent to pursue their dreams. And now, 15 years later, here we are. And we do have so much great talent coming in and it is different than it was in the past."

Selenis Leyva, Brice Gonzalez, Matt Shively, Laci Mosley and Kiran Deol co-star on Lopez vs. Lopez.
Amazon Prime Video released a trailer for the new documentary Wildcat on Wednesday.

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The film follows young veteran Harry Turner on a journey into the Amazon rainforest, where he meets Samantha Zwicker, who is running a wildlife rescue center. Turner works to save an orphaned baby ocelot.

The trailer follows Turner as he addresses his PTSD from the war in Afghanistan and heads into the Amazon.

"I'm in the most beautiful place in the world and I can't be happy," he tells the camera. The baby ocelot "Keanu," is introduced, with Turner saying, "He's saving me and I'm saving him."

Wildcat will be released in theaters on Dec. 21 and stream on Prime Video on Dec. 30.
Demolition of the parking lot and railroad site near the East Campus Road and Baldwin Street intersection will begin on Monday, Nov. 28, according to an email from the Office of University Architects Facilities Management Division. The sidewalk will also be closed during this time.
Before her first Halloween in her new home on West Lake Drive, Carley Reeves purchased a life-size skeleton to place in the yard. After the holiday season came and went, she decided she would leave it up. Since that first Halloween, one skeleton has become many and Reeves' creative displays have grown beloved to passersby.
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
To the editor: Many thanks for Susan Smallheer's Nov. 3 story ("Governor Hunt House even older than was thought (but looks good for its age),"
Susan Avery, of Brattleboro, fills out an election ballot that she received in the mail before the 2020 election.
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 37th day of the Second Karabakh War:

- President Ilham Aliyev shared a publication in connection with the liberation of several more villages of the Jebrail, Zangilan and Gubadli regions by the Azerbaijani army from the occupation.

- President Ilham Aliyev received a delegation led by former Prime Minister of Turkey Binali Yildirim.

- President Ilham Aliyev received the Secretary General of the Turkic Council and other officials.

- The list of destroyed military equipment of the Armenian Armed Forces was published.

- The Armenian Armed Forces fired at the territory of Aghdam and Aghjabadi districts. Armenia violated the ceasefire at the state border. Armenian troops retreated, suffering losses of up to 30 people.

- The Armenian Su-25 attack aircraft was destroyed. Four more "GRAD" missile launchers of the Armenian Armed Forces were destroyed.

- The Armenian Armed Forces intensively fired at the territory of the Terter and Goranboy regions. Armenia again fired at Gubadli from the territory of Armenia.

- The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan has disseminated a video of the destruction of enemy personnel.

- The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry has disseminated a video of the destruction of the KUB anti-aircraft missile system of the Armenian Armed Forces.
Many of service centers work with Chinese law enforcement to run operations on foreign soil, rights group found

The Dutch government says it has ordered China to shut down its overseas "service centers" that have reportedly been used to target and harass dissidents overseas.

"Because no permission has been requested from the Netherlands for this, the ministry has informed the ambassador that the stations must close immediately," Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said via his Twitter account.

"In addition, the Netherlands is also conducting research into the stations in order to find out their precise activities."

Hoekstra's tweet came after reports by RTL Nieuws and website "Follow The Money" alleged that two Chinese "service centers" had carried out official functions, including remotely renewing Chinese citizens drivers' licenses without official diplomatic status.

Spanish-based rights group Safeguard Defenders reported in September that Chinese police are operating from "service centers" across Europe, targeting exiled dissidents for harassment and putting pressure on them to go back to China.

Chinese police are currently running at least 54 "overseas police service centers" in foreign countries, some of which work with law enforcement back home to run operations on foreign soil, the Sept. 13 report found.

A growing number of governments including Canada, the United Kingdom and Spain, have said they are investigating the reports, while the Netherlands, Portugal and Ireland have ordered Chinese "service centers" in their respective territory to close.

Overseas 110

Safeguard Defenders researcher Chen Yen-ting said the service centers are linked to an overseas police website called Overseas 110, which enables people to report crimes to Chinese law enforcement while located overseas.

"Overseas 110 is an online platform set up by the Fuzhou police department that allows people to report crimes from overseas," Chen said. "They have set up many such service stations overseas, basically combining online and physical sites. These are all in the public domain, and have contact numbers and addresses in the cities listed by [police in] Fuzhou."

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian denied that the centers had any law enforcement functions.

"The organizations you mentioned are not police stations or police service centers," Zhao told a regular briefing in Beijing on Wednesday. "Their activities are to assist local Chinese citizens who need to apply for expired driver's license renewal online, and activities related to physical examination services by providing the venue."

A number of reports on official news websites in China have also reported on the service centers, with a June 6, 2022, report listing service centers run by police in the southeastern city of Fuzhou as having "police work" within their remit.

Chinese national Wang Jingyu, who is seeking asylum in the Netherlands after a harrowing escape from Chinese agents last year that spanned the Middle East and eastern Europe, said he was targeted by calls he believes came from the "service center" in Rotterdam earlier this year.

"I hope the Dutch government will sanction, arrest or expel these so-called overseas Chinese police," Wang told RFA on Wednesday. "The Dutch foreign ministry has also previously said that Dutch police are making plans to protect us."

Wang told RFA last week that he received a call from someone in the Rotterdam service center claiming to be a wealthy overseas Chinese businessman looking to support dissidents.

"The Chinese police and overseas Chinese service station in Rotterdam tried to meet with me in February, pretending to be this rich man saying he supports dissidents," Wang told RFA shortly after the RTL report was published.

"He wanted me to meet with him somewhere in Rotterdam, so I ignored him," he said. "He was so angry that he started repeatedly calling me to harass and abuse me. This harassment continued until March.

Tracking suspects

Chen Yan-ting said Wang's experience is by no means unique.

"These overseas service stations are used to track people designated 'suspects' by the Chinese Communist Party, to put pressure on them and to force them to return to China," Chen said.

"We also suspect they may have an intelligence-gathering function, as a way to show Chinese people overseas how powerful their government is, and that they will be forced to return to China to face judicial proceedings and punishment, no matter where in the world they escape to," Chen said.

Netherlands-based China commentator Lin Shengliang said Beijing has been extending unofficial law enforcement activities around the world for some time now.

"Regardless of where in the world they seek refuge, Chinese dissidents and rights activists may not be safe," Lin told RFA. "The Chinese government will do whatever it takes to extend its suppression to every country in the world."

"This is a multi-pronged operation that can be packaged as contact with overseas Chinese associations linked to a person's hometown, overseas student associations and even some churches, so it's hard to escape," Lin said.

The Chinese Communist Party's law enforcement agencies routinely track, harass, threaten and repatriate people who flee the country, many of them Turkic-speaking Uyghurs, under its SkyNet surveillance program that reaches far beyond China's borders, according to a report from Safeguard Defenders in May 2022.

Between the launch of the SkyNet program in 2014 and June 2021, China repatriated nearly 10,000 people from 120 countries and regions, according to Safeguard Defenders. Just 1% of them were brought back to China using judicial procedures; more than 60% were just put on a plane against their will, the group reported in May 2022.

Experts said last month that authoritarian regimes including China and Russia are also increasingly making use of regional cooperation organizations like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to bolster each others' regime security in the name of counter-terrorism.

Chinese embassies and consulates have also been implicated in Beijing's attempts to wield law enforcement power far beyond its borders.

Pulling hair

China's Consul General in the northern British city of Manchester admitted on Oct. 20 to assaulting a Hong Kong pro-democracy protester inside the grounds of the diplomatic mission as a peaceful protest gave way to attacks at the weekend.

Consul General Zheng Xiyuan told Sky News that he was the gray-haired man in a hat seen on social media footage pulling the hair of protester Bob Chan, adding that he and several other consular staff members filmed beating Chan were "trying to control the situation."

Asked again if he pulled Chan's hair, Zheng responded: "Yes ... because he abused my country, my leader. I think it's my duty."

Another of Chan's attackers was named by Australia's ABC News as Gao Lianjia, who the report said was also one of two Chinese diplomats who made global headlines in 2020 when they allegedly assaulted a representative of the democratic island of Taiwan outside the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva, capital of Fiji.

The Chinese foreign ministry claimed at the time that Taiwan's diplomats had "provoked" the conflict by displaying the flag of Taiwan on a cake. Taiwan later lodged a diplomatic protest with Fiji over the incident. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/asault-10192020142123.html

Taiwan's foreign ministry then issued a warning to all of its missions abroad to take precautions against similar incidents in future.

Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
The group is launched as former top editors of Stand News stand trial under colonial-era sedition laws.

Former acting chief editor of Stand News Patrick Lam walks to a prison van to head to court over his charge of conspiring to publish 'seditious publications' in Hong Kong, China, Oct. 31, 2022.

Hong Kong journalists who fled the city amid an ongoing crackdown on public dissent and political opposition have vowed to keep campaigning for press freedom for the city from overseas, as well as retraining exiled journalists for jobs elsewhere.

Several prominent journalists who left after the ruling Chinese Communist Party imposed a draconian national security law on Hong Kong from July 1, 2020 have formed a press freedom group to "defend the freedom of the press wherever it is being threatened or violated."

The move came as two former chief editors and the parent company of the now-folded Stand News website stood trial in a Hong Kong court for "sedition."

Chung Pui-kuen, Patrick Lam and Best Pencil Ltd. are accused of conspiring between July 7, 2020 and Dec. 29, 2021 to publish seditious articles, with 17 articles and three videos brought as evidence by the prosecution, some of which were published before the retrospective period allowed by Hong Kong's colonial-era sedition law.

Chung and Lam, who have already been in pretrial detention for 10 months, have pleaded not guilty, and face prison sentences of up to 24 months if found guilty, according to live tweets from the courtroom on Oct. 31 by AFP correspondent Xinqi Su.

In London, the newly formed Association of Overseas Hong Kong Media Professionals said it welcomed individuals in the Hong Kong diaspora who are starting out as journalists, as well as established journalists.

"We especially want to acknowledge the tenacity and courage of our colleagues in the media who remain in Hong Kong and are determined to provide information about what is happening in Hong Kong to the rest of the world," the group said on its website.

"We are equally aware of the dangers they face and the mounting obstacles to freedom of expression," it said. "We are dedicated to using our residence overseas to keep the spirit and tradition of a free Hong Kong media alive."

Former finance channel chief at i-CABLE News Joseph Ngan, one of the group's directors, said the group isn't a labor union like the beleaguered Hong Kong Journalists' Association.

"The Journalists Association is a trade union ... that is now under various kinds of political pressure in Hong Kong," Ngan told RFA in a recent interview. "We are concerned about this, and hope to be another voice speaking out about the suppression of press freedom and the flow of information in Hong Kong, from overseas."

"We hope to use the freedoms we enjoy overseas to be more open in our support for the people of Hong Kong," Ngan said.

Ngan said Hong Kongers overseas can still be indicted under the national security law, which applies globally. In practice, this has meant that anyone charged under the law is unable to travel to or transit through Hong Kong, mainland China or any country with extradition agreements with those jurisdictions, while former pro-democracy lawmaker Ted Hui has been tried in absentia for contempt of court after he fled the city while under bail.

Interviews with Hui and exiled former pro-democracy lawmaker Nathan Law were among the Stand New articles submitted by the prosecution at the sedition trial of the website's former editors.

"It's hard to define where the red lines lie, because the national security law is enforced around the world," Ngan said. "But our organization isn't a political one, but a group concerned with freedom of speech and of the press."

A screenshot of the homepage of the Association of Overseas Hong Kong Media Professionals. It says it welcomes individuals in the Hong Kong diaspora who are starting out as journalists, as well as established journalists. Credit: RFA screenshot

Association 'couldn't be more needed'

Hong Kong Journalists' Association chair Ronson Chan said there is no link between his union and the Hong Kong press freedom group, with no cooperation planned, either.

"We have absolutely no relationship with this organization," Chan told RFA. "The Hong Kong Journalists Association will continue to assist journalists in Hong Kong, and mainly serves journalists working in Hong Kong. There is no overlap in our work."

"Personally, I would be very happy to see them help journalists who have left Hong Kong to keep working, but we have no plans to work with them," Chan said.

Azzurra Moores, campaign officer for the Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders, said via Twitter: "The association couldnt be more needed. Once a bastion of press freedom, Hong Kong now ranks at 148th/180 countries in [our] world press freedom index."

Former Radio Television Hong Kong host and veteran columnist Steve Vines, who is also a director of the new group, said it had received funding from the International Federation of Journalists to retrain Hong Kong journalists for jobs in overseas media organizations.

The federation said on Oct. 18 that it was concerned over the "gutting" of press freedom in Hong Kong, and called on governments worldwide to put pressure on the authorities to uphold freedom of speech in the city.

Late supreme Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping had promised Hong Kong could run its own affairs under a "one country, two systems" arrangement, with the city's freedoms preserved for at least 50 years after the 1997 handover, and with progress promised towards fully democratic elections.

Just 25 years after the handover, Hong Kong is no longer the world's freest economy and has plummeted in global press freedom rankings following a citywide crackdown on several prominent pro-democracy news organizations, including Stand News and Jimmy Lai's Apple Daily newspaper.

June 2021 raids by national security police on the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper and the jailing of several top editors and founder Jimmy Lai, as well as subsequent targeting of Stand News in December 2021, have totally changed the environment for working journalists in the city, journalists have told RFA.

Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
The moves are meant to warn Seoul and Washington and raise tensions, experts say.

A South Korean Air Force's F-15K fires an air-to-surface missile towards the north of the maritime border with North Korea, in this handout provided by South Korea's Defence Ministry on November 2, 2022.

UPDATED at 2:17 p.m. EDT on 11-03-2022

North Korea unleashed nearly 30 missiles over two days, ratcheting up tensions on the Korean peninsula amid growing speculation that Pyongyang may conduct its seventh nuclear test in the near future.

After launching 23 missiles on Wednesday  including one that crossed a disputed maritime border for the first time  North Korea fired six more on Thursday, including a long-range inter-continental ballistic missile, the South Korean military said.

The ICBM, believed to be a Hwasong-17, seems to have failed after second stage separation, a defense expert told South Koreas Yonhap news agency.

The rising tensions were similar to the period before the Norths sixth nuclear test and three intercontinental ballistic missile tests in 2017, Ken Gause, of the Virginia-based CNA think tank, told Voice of America.

The barrage was North Koreas response to Seoul and Washingtons Vigilant Storm joint military exercises after a five-year hiatus, said Gary Samore, the former White House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction. The drills began on Monday.

It's a warning, said Samore.

It demonstrates that North Korea has the ability to launch multiple ballistic missiles at targets in South Korea and the region to deter the U.S. and the R.O.K. from attacking North Korea, even though [they] have no intent of attacking, he said, using the abbreviation for South Koreas official name, the Republic of Korea.

The Vigilant Storm exercises were supposed to end on Friday, but South Koreas military announced that Seoul and Washington agreed to extend them in response to the Norths provocations.

Dangerous and false choice

The Norths state-run Korea Central News Agency made no mention of the missile launches but quoted Pak Jong Chon, secretary of the Central Committee of North Koreas ruling Workers Party, who called the extension a very dangerous and false choice.

The irresponsible decision of the U.S. and South Korea is shoving the present situation caused by provocative military acts of the allied forces to an uncontrollable phase, he said. The U.S. and South Korea will get to know what an irrevocable and awful mistake they made.

Adding to tensions, one of the 23 missiles launched on Wednesday  the most in a single day  crossed a disputed maritime border and became the first North Korean fired missile to land near South Korean territory since the 1950-53 Korean War.

It flew south of the Northern Limit Line and splashed down more than 100 miles (160 km) away from the Souths eastern island of Ulleungdo.

Experts said the escalation in tensions could culminate in a seventh nuclear test.

Such a test is possible, especially if North Korea fails to get what it wants after milder provocations, Gause told RFA.

They already sent things over to the NLL, and over Japan, they are running out of things to do that move up the escalation ladder, he said.

With the U.S. and South Korea cooperating for joint military exercises, there is no reason to believe North Korea will stop missile testing, Frank Aum, the U.S. Institute of Peaces senior expert on northeast Asia, told RFA.

North Korea has completed preparations for another nuclear test so it is possible that it could happen soon, he said.

The two countries need to move away from mutual saber-rattling and start taking measures to reduce tensions.

The seventh nuclear test could come before the U.S. midterm elections on Nov. 8, the Wilson Centers Sue Mi Terry said Thursday at a Seminar hosted by the Center for Strategic International Studies.

I thought they might take a pause because of the Itaewon tragedy but of course they are not. They are careless. They are not going to do that, she said, referring to the tragic loss of more than 150 lives over the weekend caused by overcrowding during Halloween celebrations in Seouls Itaewon neighborhood.

She said Pyongyang faces little if any repercussions for its provocations, so there is nothing preventing a seventh nuclear test.

For me, the North Korea calculation remains the same. Why not? Get to it. Do the test. Learn from it. Get to the next level so they do have leverages.

ICBM

The ICBM launched Thursday morning Korea time traveled about 760 kilometers (472 miles) from its origin point in Pyongyangs Sunan area, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

"Our military's response reaffirms our resolve to sternly respond to any provocations (by North Korea) and shows that we are capable of accurately striking our enemy," the JCS said.

Though North Korea launched its most missiles ever in a single day on Wednesday, the barrage was not very impressive, said Bruce Bennett of the California-based RAND Corporation.

It took the North 10 hours to launch 23 missiles; the last of the launches took 40 minutes to fire just 6 missiles, said Bennett.

If that is the best North Korea can do in terms of synchronizing missile launches, then the North Korean threat is not very intimidating, he said.

Bennett said that in a serious attack, Pyongyang would need to launch many dozens of missiles within minutes of each other to avoid swift retaliation from the South that would destroy unfired missiles and launchers.

Thus far, the North is well short of demonstrating that kind of capability, he said.

But despite Pyongyangs attempts to project strength through the missile launches, it may actually be a sign of desperation, David Maxwell of the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told RFA.

This may be a sign of desperation because [leader] Kim [Jong Uns] political warfare and blackmail diplomacy strategies have failed to achieve Kim's desired effects. South Korea and the United States refuse to appease him, said Maxwell.

He urged Washington and Seoul not to give in to Kims demands.

Now is the time to increase pressure on Pyongyang with a comprehensive information and influence campaign to force three choices on Kim: change his behavior, have the elite and military leadership force a change, or the Korean people will cause change, Maxwell said.

People watch a TV report on North Korea firing missiles off its east coast, in Seoul, South Korea, Nov. 2, 2022. Credit: Reuters

More provocations from North Korea are likely to follow in the coming days, Ellen Kim, deputy director of the Korea Chair at the Washington-based Center for Stratigic and International Studies, said in a statement.

"CSIS data shows that North Korea responds belligerently to U.S.-ROK military exercises when there is no ongoing diplomacy taking place among the parties concerned," she said.

South Koreas Foreign Ministry said in a news release that Foreign Affairs Minister Jin Park and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken denounced North Koreas launches during a phone call.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told reporters that Beijing was closely following the situation.

It is in the common interest of the region to maintain peace and stability in the peninsula, and resolve each other's concerns in a balanced manner through dialogue and consultation, he said, adding that China hopes all concerned parties would work toward a political settlement and prevent a spiral of escalation of the situation.

RFA's Korean Service contributed to this report.

UPDATE: Adds information about additional three missiles fired on Thursday evening and discussion over possible 7th nuclear test.
Myanmar's struggle "for democracy is also the struggle of all people who love democracy and justice everywhere."

A new report by lawmakers from Southeast Asia and other regions criticizes what they describe as a timid response to the post-coup crisis in Myanmar by countries and international blocs that claim to support democracy.

The Final Report by the International Parliamentary Inquiry, or IPI, into the Global Response to the Crisis in Myanmar, which was released in Bangkok on Wednesday, specifically took aim at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ahead of the regional blocs summit later this month.

The struggle of the Myanmar people for democracy is also the struggle of all people who love democracy and justice everywhere, the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, or APHR, said in the report, according to BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.

ASEANs five-point consensus reached with Myanmar junta leader Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing in April 2021 has been an utter failure, Charles Santiago, a Malaysian lawmaker and chairman of the APHR, said in a news release announcing the 52-page report.

Myanmar is one of the 10 members of ASEAN.

Gen. Min Aung Hlaing has shown an absolute contempt for the agreement he signed and for ASEANs member states, and the regional group has been unable to adopt a stance to put pressure on the junta, Santiago said in a press release accompanying the statement.

Meanwhile, most of the international community has hidden behind ASEAN in order to avoid doing anything meaningful. It is past time that ASEAN ditches the five-point consensus and urgently rethinks its approach to the crisis in Myanmar, he said.

The consensus called for an immediate end to violence; a dialogue among all concerned parties; mediation of the dialogue process by an ASEAN special envoy; provision of humanitarian aid through ASEAN channels; and a visit to Myanmar by the blocs special envoy to meet all concerned parties.

A common theme often repeated by our witnesses has been that, in the face of such a horrible tragedy, the countries and international institutions that claim to support democracy in Myanmar have reacted with a timidity that puts in serious doubt their alleged commitment to the country, the report said.

In its recommendations, the report called for ASEAN to negotiate a new agreement with Myanmars opposition National Unity Government, or NUG, making sure the new accord has enforcement mechanisms.

As recently as last week, ASEAN leaders announced they would continue efforts to implement the 18-month-old consensus.

The ministers reaffirmed the importance and relevance of the consensus, and underscored the need to further strengthen its implementation through concrete, practical and time-bound actions, Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn said in a statement after the Oct. 27 meeting. Cambodia, which chairs ASEAN this year, will host the summit in Phnom Penh from Nov. 10 to 13.

While some ASEAN members, including Malaysia, have sought to hold the Burmese junta accountable, members such as Cambodia and Thailand are among the nations who have persisted as junta enablers, the report said.

And because ASEAN makes its decisions consensually, some analysts dont foresee much progress being made at the summit in Phnom Penh.

Against Myanmar participation

Meanwhile, Malaysias outgoing top diplomat has put forward a proposal to prohibit the Myanmar junta from all ASEAN ministerial-level meetings.

All ASEAN ministerial meetings should not have Myanmar political representation. That is Malaysias position, caretaker Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah told The Australian Financial Review on Wednesday.

We know two more countries share this view, and we are very hopeful it will be considered at the leaders summit next week.

Saifuddin is a caretaker minister because Malaysian leader Ismail Sabri Yaakob dissolved parliament when he announced a general election, which will be held later this month. The first ASEAN foreign minister to publicly meet with the NUGs foreign minister, Saifuddin is seen as one of the shadow governments biggest allies.

IPI said that throughout its hearings while compiling the report participants, even those that also expressed a level of criticism toward the NUG, overwhelmingly called for the international community to recognize it as the legitimate government of Myanmar and engage with it instead of the junta.

The IPI held six public hearings along with several private hearings and received dozens of written submissions. Malaysias Santiago and Indonesian House member Chriesty Barends traveled to the Thai-Myanmar border in August to gather information.

The IPI investigation team included officials from African countries, the Americas and Europe. Heidi Hautala, vice president of the European Parliament, served a chairwoman, and United States Rep. Ilhan Omar served as a member. Thai MP Nitipon Piwmow served on the team as well.

The report blamed the international community for encouraging a sense of impunity within the Myanmar military, the news release said. It pointed to an October airstrike at a Kachin music festival that killed at least 60 civilians.

Myanmar is suffering a tragedy words cannot describe. The global community should urgently step up the delivery of humanitarian assistance and it should work with local civil society organizations that know the terrain well, have ample experience and are trusted by the population, Barends said.

Millions of Myanmar citizens suffering the most grievous hardships cannot wait for long. International actors should leave politics aside and help the Myanmar people immediately.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news service.
The junta fired heavy artillery at two villages they believed were harboring local Peoples Defense Forces.

A pregnant woman and her husband were among four people injured by heavy artillery shells when the junta bombarded two villages in Myanmars eastern Kayah State.

A spokesman for the Progressive Karenni Peoples Force (PKPF) told RFA the shelling started at around 10 a.m. on Tuesday, targeting Wan Pan and Lin Hpon villages.

Locals said more than 10 shells exploded near Lin Hpon and two landed inside the village. The second one exploded near the home of the pregnant woman and her husband.

A PKPF official said the woman received abdominal injuries and her husband was in critical condition after being hit in the leg.

Two men from Wan Pan both received leg injuries when shells went off near their village. They are being treated by aid workers, according to a resident.

Five houses in the two villages were damaged by the shelling, he said. Local media reported that the shells were 120 millimeter and 60 millimeter types.

A spokesman for the anti-junta Karenni Peoples Defense Force said infantry battalion 350 (the Kha La Ya) fired the heavy artillery but RFA could not confirm this independently.

RFAs calls to the junta spokesman for Kayah State, Social Affairs Minister Aung Win Oo, went unanswered on Wednesday.

According to data compiled by RFA based on the statements of civil society groups in Kayah State, 13 civilians, including four children were killed and 33 injured by heavy artillery in Moebye and Pekon townships in neighboring Shan state and in Kayah States Loikaw and Demoso townships.
As was typical in other countries during pandemic, families are denied ritual burials for loved ones.

A sign is taped to the sealed door of a house in northwestern China's Xinjiang region amid an outbreak of the coronavirus in August 2022. It reads, 'Monitored in the residence. Entry and exit will be prohibited.'

Authorities in Xinjiang collected the bodies of Uyghur residents in the northeastern city of Ghulja who died during a strict coronavirus lockdown but did not inform the families of the deceased about whether they handled their remains according to Islamic burial rituals, Uyghurs with knowledge of the situation and local officials said.

Ghulja, known as Yining in Chinese, has been under lockdown since early August due to outbreaks of the COVID-19 virus, in some cases leading to deaths from starvation or lack of access to medicine in the city of roughly a half-million mainly Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims, RFA reported earlier.

About 90 people died in Ghulja during the lockdown, according to a member of the citys coronavirus pandemic working group.

Though authorities rescinded the strict coronavirus lockdown there in late September, Uyghurs in Xinjiangs third-largest city said in a previous RFA report that the lack of Uyghur-language emergency services also had contributed to the number of deaths.

Chinese authorities arranged for special staff to collect the bodies of the deceased, though they did not allow their families to bury them in accordance with Uyghur customs and religious rituals, people with knowledge of the situation said. Authorities did not allow relatives of the deceased to wash their bodies before burial.

After someone dies, washing his body and burying it properly has been the Uyghur peoples custom since we accepted Islam, said Turghunjan Alawudun, a vice chairman of the executive committee of the World Uyghur Congress.

While Alawudun said that Chinas decision to deny families the chance to perform religious rituals was proof that China is continuing its genocidal policy toward the Uyghurs, authorities in many countries have also had to take similar steps, and deny families the chance for religious death rituals.

Still, family members mourned that they were unable to do so.

Nabijan Ala, a Uyghur living in Sweden, told RFA that his uncle, Ablimit Zunun, who lived in eastern Ghulja, fell ill in mid-September during the lockdown and died on Oct. 1 because he could not go to a hospital.

He could not get permission to get medical treatment because the authorities blocked all communities and did not let anyone move from one block to another, he said.

The authorities took away his uncles body after he died, and up to now, no government agency has informed the grieving family about how his corpse was handled, Ala said.

According to the information we obtained, the authorities there collected the bodies of the deceased systematically but did not reveal how they treated those dead bodies, he said. The Chinese did not say anything about his body.

A staffer on Ghuljas coronavirus pandemic aid working group told RFA that only the local Public Security Bureau had information about what authorities did with the bodies, which are still being collected.

Authorities have been collecting the bodies of deceased Uyghurs in other areas of Xinjiang without informing their relatives how the corpses will be handled.

A staffer at a neighborhood committee in Kashgar Yengisheher county told RFA that police took the body of 27-year-old Alimjan Abdurishit, who died from a combination of illness and starvation during the lockdown there, 40 days after his release from prison. He had served five years in prison for participating in illegal religious activities.

The police have been involved in this from the beginning to the end, said the staffer, adding that they did not tell the youths family what they would do with his corpse.

Translated by RFA Uyghur. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
The Evangelical Church of Christs claims came just ahead of Wednesdays U.S.-Vietnam Human Rights Dialogue.

Police break into the house of Y Nguyet Bkrong to prevent a religious ceremony on Oct. 30.

Followers of the Evangelical Church of Christ in Vietnams Dak Lak province have accused local police of monitoring and disrupting their worship for nearly a month.

Their claims came just ahead of Wednesdays U.S. Human Rights Dialogue in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi. One of the issues that will be raised is the right to religious freedom.

Y Nguyet Bkrong, one of the followers of Vietnams biggest Protestant church, said that around 7:30 a.m. on Sunday around 20 believers gathered at his house to pray. After 10 minutes, plain clothes police arrived and told them to stop the ceremony. They also ordered everyone who was not registered as a resident of the house to leave.

When I performed Christian religious rites  15 people from the commune and city police as well as the People's Committee of Hoa Thang Commune, came. They didnt allow us to practice religious activities, said church follower Y Coi.

They said that whatever [religion] the State has not yet recognized will not be allowed to practice. The Evangelical Church of Christ has no legal entity, so if we continue, they are likely to take tougher measures.

Before the followers left, he said the police made two copies of a statement and gave one copy to him.

30 minutes after everyone left, officials came back and asked me to give them back the document, he said.

They threatened that if I didn't return it, they would get orders from their superiors to search my house. I was alone at the time, so I had to obey their request.

Ceremonies in Buon Ma Thuot city also stopped

A similar incident happened on the same morning at the home church of Evangelical Church of Christ follower Y Lui Bya in Buon Ma Thuot city, the capital of Dak Lak province. More than a dozen plainclothes and uniformed police burst into the house, preventing worshipers from performing religious rites.

The police said that the State does not recognize or allow our sect, he said.

Believers asked them why the state did not recognize our sect if there is a freedom of religion.

"Then they threatened to demolish the house that was worshiping God. They wanted to beat my son-in-law. They threatened us, telling us to sign a statement but we refused.

RFA called the Buon Ma Thuot City Police at the phone number posted on the Dak Lak Provincial Police Portal. The officer on duty hung up after being questioned about the incident and nobody answered when we called back.

A statement and summons letter from Buon Ma Thuot city police to Y Nguyet Bkrong. CREDIT: Y Nguyet Bkrong





Constant surveillance

Y Nguyet Bkrong, Y Coi and Y Lui Bya all said they were kept under constant surveillance last month.

Y Lui said he has been watched by the police since Oct. 13.

I am still under surveillance now. They always follow wherever I go. When I go to the fields, they also follow.

Y Coi told RFA that from Oct. 13 to 17, he was watched and was followed by police wherever he went. From Oct. 27 to 29, he said the police set up night surveillance in front of his house:

The Communist government of Vietnam carries out strict surveillance. I don't know why they were on guard, not letting me go anywhere. I have pictures as evidence that the provincial police and the city police monitored me, he said.

He said that while giving an interview to RFA on Monday evening, more than a dozen policemen were in front of his house.

Whenever there is a U.S. delegation to Vietnam, the first thing they do is go to each house  so sometimes I feel stressed and unsafe.

Protestants in Central Highlands accused of trying to establish their own State

The Vietnamese government has repeatedly accused the Protestant Church in the Central Highlands of being a reactionary organization, taking advantage of religion to oppose the State.

In January, the People's Police newspaper website published an article accusing them of gathering dignitaries and ethnic minority believers in the Central Highlands and also in the U.S. to "gather force, fight for religious freedom, democracy and human rights. To proceed to establish their own religion and an ethnic minority State in the Central Highlands.

The churchgoers RFA interviewed all denied the accusations.

My religious activities at home are not meant to oppose or overthrow them in any way, said Y Nguyet Bkrong.

Here it is just religious belief, worshiping without the supervision of the Government, being free to worship God, not as they say, taking advantage of religion to oppose them.

Y Coi served eight years in prison for conducting anti-state propaganda as a result of his religious activities. He said that since being released from prison, he has been constantly harassed and his family have been unable to run a stable business.

They summon me again and again, threatening everything, he said.

They say we are against the people's government, against the Party and the State. But the fact is that we are not against the State. I want to rebuild the church, the church should be separate and independent.

The 26th U.S.-Vietnam Human Rights Dialogue on Nov. 2 will be led by the U.S. Senior Bureau Official for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Erin Barclay and Vietnamese Assistant Foreign Minister Do Hung Viet. Americas Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Rashad Hussain will also attend.
4 Bulgarian border police are photographed on September 2 near a fence on their countrys border with Turkey.



Construction of this border barrier began in 2014 as what became known as the migrant crisis was just beginning. Turkeys ambassador to Bulgaria at the time criticized the fence and what he called the "political message" it sent.








Welcome back to The Farda Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that tracks the key issues in Iran and explains why they matter. To subscribe, click here.

I'm RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari. Here's what Ive been following during the past week and what Im watching for in the days ahead.

The Big Issue

Iran has accused two female journalists who covered the hospitalization and funeral of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini -- whose death in the custody of Tehran's morality police triggered protests across the country -- of being U.S. spies and the "primary sources of news for foreign media."

The accusations came in a joint statement by the feared intelligence branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and the Intelligence Ministry, which identified the two journalists, Nilufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, who are being held in Tehran's Evin prison, by their initials. The statement claims the journalists were trained abroad. It also says the protests that have shaken Iran were planned by the CIA along with other foreign intelligence services, including the British and Saudi spy agencies as well as Israel's Mossad.

The statement was met with fear and anger by Iranian journalists and their colleagues, who pushed back against the accusations. Senior editors of Hamedi's Sharq daily and Mohammadi's Hammihan dismissed the charges and said the journalists were only doing their jobs. "Our journalist and our newspaper.....acted within the framework of the journalistic mission," said Mehdi Rahmanian, editor of the reformist Sharq, while Gholamhossein Karbaschi, the editor of Hammihan, said the IRGC-affiliated Fars news agency and other news agencies had similar reports that included more details. More than 500 journalists, photographers, and other media workers demanded the release of their colleagues while calling on officials to allow the free flow of information.

Separately, Tehran's Journalist Association said that based on the statement by the Iranian intelligence agencies, journalism should be banned because "the normal activity of journalists has been cited as evidence of a crime." For its part, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists dismissed the charges against the two journalists as "conspiracy theories," adding that it will hold Iranian leaders accountable for any harm done to the journalists.

Why It Matters: The spying accusations against Hamedi and Mohammadi are a major escalation of state pressure on the media, which is already facing a severe crackdown and tough censorship. The spying charges leveled against the two carries the death penalty. According to the CPJ, more than 45 journalists and columnists have been arrested in the current crackdown. The French media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said Iran has become the world's biggest jailer of female journalists in the course of the current crackdown.

Meanwhile, reports have emerged that France-based Iranian journalist Vahid Shamsoddinnezhad, who had traveled to Saghez to cover the aftermath of Amini's death for the European TV channel Arte, has been in jail since September 28.

What's Next: The judiciary has not officially charged the two journalists with spying. The pushback from the Iranian press and journalists and international pressure could be instrumental in clearing the two journalists of the accusations.

Stories You Might Have Missed

Iranian authorities secretly buried the body of RFE/RL's Radio Farda broadcaster Reza Haghighatnejad at a location near Shiraz after seizing his body upon repatriation to Iran for burial. Haghighatnejad, 45, died of cancer in Berlin on October 17. His body was flown to Iran on October 25. His family was not allowed to see the body or participate in his burial. Radio Farda obtained a video of Haghighatnejad's gravesite , where the anthem of the current mass protests in Iran, Shervin Hajipur's Baraye, was heard in the background. The U.S. State Department has called on Iran to release Haghighatnejad's body and said the episode showed the extent the Iranian government will go to intimidate the press.

at a location near Shiraz after seizing his body upon repatriation to Iran for burial. Haghighatnejad, 45, died of cancer in Berlin on October 17. His body was flown to Iran on October 25. His family was not allowed to see the body or participate in his burial. Radio Farda obtained , where the anthem of the current mass protests in Iran, Shervin Hajipur's Baraye, was heard in the background. The U.S. State Department has called on Iran to release Haghighatnejad's body and said the episode showed the extent the Iranian government will go to intimidate the press. Iran has arrested rapper Toomaj Salehi, who had expressed support for the anti-govenment protests in Iran. Security authorities announced that the rapper was arrested on October 30 while attempting to flee the country. Salehi's uncle denied the claim, saying his nephew was arrested in the southwestern province of Chaharmahal Bakhtiari. Salehi was also detained last year over lyrics he wrote that condemn state repression, the killings of protesters, poverty, and injustice.

What We're Watching

Iran saw a surge in protests last week when thousands of people marked 40 days since the death of Mahsa Amini in state custody. In Amini's hometown of Saghez, a massive crowd gathered at the cemetery where the young woman is buried. Many walked to the cemetery amid reports that authorities had blocked the roads leading to Amini's resting place. Mourners also gathered last week at the grave of 16-year-old Nika Shahkarami near the western city of Khorramabad, 40 days after she was killed in the brutal state crackdown amid reports that security forces had opened fire to disperse mourners while also making arrests.

Why It Matters: The memorial ceremonies for those killed by security forces have energized the protest movement by fueling more anger with state repression. The establishment has responded with force. More protests could erupt as Iranians mourn those killed by security forces.

Thats all from me for now. Dont forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you have.



Until next time,



Golnaz Esfandiari



If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Wednesday.
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.
An appellate court in Tbilisi has rejected an appeal filed by Georgian journalist Nika Gvaramia against his conviction and imprisonment on a charge of abuse of power in a case decried by EU and U.S. officials.

The Tbilisi Court of Appeals ruled on November 2 that a decision by a lower court in May to sentence Gvaramia to 3 1/2 years in prison was correct and the journalist and founding director of the independent Mtavari Arkhi TV channel must serve out his sentence.

Some of those gathered in the courtroom for the ruling erupted into cries of "Slave!" in a reference to the panel of judges who heard the case.

Gvaramia, who has insisted that the case against him is politically motivated, said he will now turn to the European Court of Human Rights.

The U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi immediately expressed its "deep concern" after the appellate ruling and cited "significant questions" from local and international rights defenders over the charges and their timing.

"At a time when Georgias commitment to an impartial judiciary and media pluralism is being closely reviewed, the continued imprisonment of Nika Gvaramia, the director-general of the main opposition TV channel, puts at risk the clear choice of the people of Georgia  and Georgian leaders stated goal  for a more secure, democratic European future," the embassy said.

Tbilisi accelerated its bid for EU membership after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in late February.

But unlike aspiring members Ukraine and Moldova, Georgia was not granted "candidate" status in June pending an EU checklist of required reforms related to democracy, media freedom, and the rule of law.

Earlier in June, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on "violations of media freedom and the safety of journalists in Georgia" that singled out Gvaramia's case and "deplored the significant deterioration of the media situation in Georgia, including cases of intimidation, threats and violence, and politically motivated criminal investigations into media workers and owners."

Gvaramia served as Georgia's justice minister in 2008 and education minister in 2008-09, both under then-President Mikheil Saakashvili.

He then served as director-general of Rustavi-2 before founding Mltavari Arkhi in 2019.

The Tbilisi City Court in May sentenced the 46-year-old journalist and lawyer to 3 1/2 years in prison after finding him guilty of abuse of power related to his activities atop Rustavi-2 in 2019.

It also found co-defendant Kakhaber Damenia, a former financial director of Rustavi-2, guilty of embezzlement and ordered him to pay a 50,000 lari ($18,000) fine. Another co-defendant, the director of the Inter Media Plus news agency, Zurab Iashvili, was acquitted of all charges.
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 -- The jailed leader of the unregistered Democratic Party of Kazakhstan, Zhanbolat Mamai, has been transferred to house arrest.

Mamai's relatives, colleagues, and supporters greeted him on November 2 at the gates of a detention center in Almaty, Kazakhstans largest city. He was then brought home by police.

Also on November 2, the Bostandyq district court in Almaty set November 7 as the date of Mamai's trial.

The 34-year-old Mamai was arrested in late February. He faces up to 10 years in prison on charges of organizing mass riots and knowingly disseminating false information during protests in January, which he and his supporters reject as politically motivated.

In August, the European Parliaments Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI) called on Kazakh authorities to release Mamai and other political prisoners and stop the criminal prosecution of those who died during unrest in the Central Asian nation in January.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have urged Kazakh authorities to release Mamai and drop all charges against him, calling them politically motivated.

Mamai, known for his harsh criticism of the nation's authoritarian government, has been trying to register the Democratic Party of Kazakhstan but claims he is being prevented from doing so by the government. He says officials only permit parties loyal to the political powers to be legally registered.

Kazakhstan was ruled by authoritarian President Nursultan Nazarbaev from its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 until current President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev succeeded him in 2019.

Over the past three decades, several opposition figures have been killed and many jailed or forced to flee the tightly controlled former Soviet republic.

Toqaev recently broadened his powers after Nazarbaev and his family left the oil-rich nation's political scene following the deadly anti-government protests in January.

The unrest, which started over a fuel-price hike, quickly spread across Kazakhstan because of discontent over the cronyism that had long plagued the country. At least 238 people, including 19 law enforcement officers, were killed during the dispersal of the protests by security forces and police.

Several participants in the protests have been handed lengthy prison terms across the country in recent months on charges of organizing mass disturbances and riots.

Mamai's transfer to house arrest comes hours after Toqaev signed a decree granting mass amnesty to hundreds of people charged and imprisoned in connection with the January protests.

Rights activists have said that the mass amnesty was initiated to help law enforcement officers who opened fire at unarmed demonstrators evade accountability.
The Russian Defense Ministry has said Moscow is resuming its participation in the Ukraine grain deal, saying it had received "sufficient" guarantees from Kyiv on demilitarizing a maritime corridor.

"Russia considers that the received guarantees are at the moment sufficient and is resuming the implementation of the agreement," the ministry said in a statement.

The statement came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told parliament that "shipments will continue from 12 p.m. today as planned," after a call between the Russian and Turkish defense ministers.

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.

Zelenskiy hailed the development as "a significant diplomatic result for our country and the whole world." In his nightly address, he said the implementation of the grain export initiative continues.

Zelenskiy also said that Russia's call for guarantees showed the failure of Russia's aggression.

After eight months of war, "the Kremlin is demanding security guarantees from Ukraine," he said. "This shows both the failure of the Russian aggression and how strong we are when we remain united."

Earlier, in a tweet, Zelenskiy thanked Erdogan "for his steadfast support of [the] sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine."

The United States also welcomed the restoration of the grain deal and urged Russia to renew it beyond November 19, its current expiration date.

State Department spokesman Ned Price praised UN and Turkish mediators but said it was important that the deal is "not only set back in motion, but it's renewed later this month."

"That will ultimately inject even more predictability and stability in this marketplace and, most importantly, apply downward pressure to the prices" of global food, he told reporters.

Moscow pulled out of the UN-brokered deal on October 30 after its Black Sea Fleet based in Crimea's Sevastopol port was targeted by drones in what Russia called a "terrorist attack."

The Defense Ministry said it was able to get written guarantees from Kyiv "thanks to the participation" of the UN and "assistance" from Turkey.

The ministry said Kyiv guaranteed "the nonuse of the humanitarian corridor and Ukrainian ports defined in the interests of the export of agricultural products for conducting military operations against the Russian Federation."

The announcement came after Russian President Vladimir Putin told Erdogan that he wanted "real guarantees" from Kyiv before rejoining the deal.

Putin spoke with Erdogan before Russia announced it was reentering the deal. He said later on November 2 that Russia would again leave it if Kyiv violated security guarantees.

"Russia retains the right to leave these agreements if these guarantees from Ukraine are violated," Putin said in televised comments.

But he added that even if Moscow withdraws again, it would not interfere with grain deliveries from Ukraine to Turkey. He cited Turkey's neutrality, the grain processing industry in Turkey, and Erdogan's mediation efforts as reasons for Moscow's stance.

Ukraine had condemned Russia's decision to leave the UN-brokered deal, with Western countries urging Moscow to reconsider.

The deal, overseen by the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul, has allowed more than 9.7 million metric tons of grains and other foodstuffs to leave Ukrainian ports.

It was agreed in July and played a crucial role in driving down the prices of wheat and other commodities globally and helping poor countries in Africa and Asia avoid famine.

Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said Russia has yet to decide if it will remain part of the deal beyond the expiration date.

The extension of the deal beyond November 19 is "a separate issue" and that decision will be made "taking into account all the accompanying factors," Rudenko was quoted as saying by state news agency RIA Novosti.

He reiterated Moscow's displeasure with the implementation of the deal.

Grain exports are a key revenue source for Ukraine, whose economy has been devastated by Russia's eight-month war.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP
The press statement, put out by a St. Petersburg company called Concord Catering and Management, pulled no punches: The elected head of Russias second-largest city is a crook, it suggested.

Prosecutors should investigate the possible fact of the creation by Governor [Aleksandr] Beglov of an organized criminal community on the territory of St. Petersburg in order to plunder the state budget and enrich corrupt officials in his entourage, the company said in its October 31 statement, addressed to the national Prosecutor-Generals Office.

In the often cutthroat arena where Russian politics and business meet, this sort of allegation might normally pass as business as usual.

But the businessman who is firing the broadside against a powerful elected leader is Yevgeny Prigozhin, a tycoon whose vast wealth comes from Kremlin catering contracts and whose notoriety comes from ownership of Russias most famous private mercenary company, Vagner -- also known as Wagner -- as well as its best-known troll factory.

Prigozhins grudge match with Beglov goes back a few years, but this latest round comes as Prigozhin has stepped further into the limelight of Russian politics, especially where conduct of the war in Ukraine is concerned.

Prigozhin has been one of the most strident critics of Russian commanders approach to the invasion, which by many accounts is faltering eight months in. Never mind the fact that its currently illegal under Russian law to criticize, or discredit, the armed forces, or to own or operate private mercenary companies.

It seems pretty obvious that Prigozhin has found this an opportune moment to expand his public profile, said Candace Rondeaux, a researcher at the New America Foundation in Washington and the author of a 2019 report called Decoding The Wagner Group. He is not anything except for an opportunist. His career shows this, and this shows that there could be rewards for any activity that supports the war.

He is really at his high point, his peak of political power and influence right now, she told RFE/RL, because the nature of this phase of the war has allowed him to lean into his role as captain of the rogue state.

Andrei Kolesnikov, an expert on Russian politics and a senior fellow at the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, drew a parallel with Grigory Rasputin, the mystical monk who held sway over the family of Russias last tsar in the 1910s.

In terms of his influence, at least in the public space, he begins to resemble Rasputin at the court of Nicholas II, Kolesnikov told Current Time. And naturally, many are now thinking about whether this person is, say, the next presidential candidate or the figure who can enter the highest spheres of politics, who is throwing elbows at everyone who approaches him.

'I Myself Cleaned The Old Weapons'

While Prigozhin got his start as a restauranteur and caterer in his hometown of St. Petersburg, it wasnt until he started landing contracts to supply food services to the Kremlin that he garnered financial success. The name Concord is used for a variety of related companies.

Vagners exact origins, meanwhile, are shrouded in mystery, but Russian reporters and researchers like Rondeaux say the company evolved out of a network of private security companies run by former Russian special forces soldiers.

Soldiers from the group were believed to have fought in Ukraines Donbas after the Russian-fueled war broke out there in 2014.

And after the Kremlin ordered a large intervention in Syria to bolster the embattled regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in 2015, Vagner soldiers gained a further reputation for wanton brutality, where they provided security for diplomats, guarded oil and gas facilities, and trained local militias. Vagner mercenaries have also been reported in the Central African Republic, working in operations to mine and export diamonds and valuable minerals.

Russian reporters identified a former Russian military intelligence soldier named Dmitry Utkin as the head of Vagner; Utkin attended a lavish Kremlin ceremony in 2016.

Prigozhins ownership of the Vagner group has been an open secret in and out of Russia for years.

In September, he confirmed it.

I myself cleaned the old weapons. I myself sorted out the bulletproof vests, and I found specialists to help me with this, he said in a September 26 statement published by Concord Management and Consulting on the VK social network. On May 1, 2014, a group of patriots was born, which later acquired the name Vagner.

The other Prigozhin-funded company whose origins are shrouded in mystery is the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency. Dubbed the Russian troll factory, the company specialized in creating fake online accounts for Facebook and other social media and spreading disinformation and propaganda. It later was implicated in a conspiracy to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Two years later, a U.S. grand jury indicted Prigozhin, 12 other Russians, and the Internet Research Agency. The FBI put him on its most-wanted list last year.

After President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February, Vagner mercenaries were among several irregular units that fought alongside regular Russian forces. Vagner fighters played a central role in the Russian capture of the port city of Mariupol and the Luhansk region city of Syevyerodonetsk and are reportedly involved in the ongoing assault on Bakhmut in the Donetsk region.

WATCH: A businessman known as "Putin's chef" has now developed "a taste for business in blood," according to a leading Russian campaigner for prisoners' rights. Olga Romanova said she's seen reports from trusted inmates in at least three prisons. They say Kremlin-connected businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin visited personally to recruit convicts as mercenaries to fight in Ukraine.

Over the summer, as the war began to grind into one of attrition, a growing number of Russian military bloggers vented their frustrations with commanders and the Kremlins unwillingness to either call a general mobilization or merely send more men to the fight.

Prigozhin took the effort to find more men into his own hands in September, when a video emerged on the Telegram messaging app showing him at a rural prison promising convicts early release if they signed up for a six-month tour in Ukraine.

Criticism of the war became a clamor after Ukrainian forces recaptured swaths of territory in the northeastern Kharkiv region and advanced against Russian troops in the Kherson region in the south.

Among those clamoring: Prigozhin and Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, who called for a major escalation of the war and major changes in Russian command.

"Send all those bastards barefoot, with machine guns, to the front, Prigozhin said in a statement issued by his company in the wake of the Kharkiv retreat.

On October 29, one of the generals who was vilified after the Russian retreat in Kharkiv  Colonel General Aleksandr Lapin  was reportedly removed from his command.

Three weeks earlier, in a shake-up to the disjointed command structure in Ukraine, Putin appointed a new overall commander: General Sergei Surovikin, who then unleashed a pummeling barrage of missiles, rockets, and drones on civilian targets in Ukraine.

Surovikin, whose appointment was hailed by Prigozhin and other critics of the way the military has waged the war, had previously been the top Russian commander in Syria -- at the time when Vagners forces were playing an active role on and off the battlefield.

Surovikin is the one who gave Prigozhin the running room to become what he became today, Rondeaux said.

Grudge Match

Prigozhins fight with Beglov isnt new, likely dating back to 2018, when Beglov was appointed St. Petersburgs governor, then winning an election for the office the following year. Novaya Gazeta Europe said the bad blood traces back to a scuffle over funding of Beglovs election campaign, as well as a real estate development on the Gulf of Finland.

Prigozhin was also behind a series of videos that mocked Beglov and featured the front man for the popular punk rock band Leningrad.

In September, another Prigozhin-linked organization that bills itself as a veteran's advocacy group called on the national Investigative Committee to look into how St. Petersburg officials were conducing the mobilization campaign aimed at bolstering troop levels in Ukraine. The group also suggested that Beglovs relatives might be trying to dodge the draft.

The timing of this latest broadside, however, is even more auspicious. Novaya Gazeta Europe called it a showdown and a sensation. The newspaper Petersburg Vestnik characterized Prigozhins popularity as skyrocketing.

On the same day Prigozhin made his appeal for an investigation, he announced the opening of a new business center in St. Petersburg to be called the Vagner Center.

Rising Political Star?

Whether Prigozhin can turn his rising star into a political career is an open question. However, if there was any viable path for Prigozhin to become a politician, it would be in St. Petersburg, Rondeaux said. Its not going to be in Moscow or somewhere in the Urals.

I think he expects to be rewarded. He doesnt need the money. Now he would probably like to have more political cachet and influence, she said.

He is establishing himself as a political force, using his popular status and his affiliation with Vagner to critique his opponents within elite circles and institutionalize his authority, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said in a report this week.

Prigozhin, who could not be immediately reached for comment via his company, also gave an interview with Petersburg Vestnik in which he was asked about his political aspirations.

As far as my increased popularity is concerned, I do not strive for popularity, he was quoted as saying. My task is to fulfill my duty to the motherland, and today I do not plan to found any [political] parties, let alone go into politics.

Prigozhins political influence within the Kremlin is also an open question. Analysts who have followed his career point out that he has powerful backers  known as a roof in Russian  who have enabled him to grow his businesses and work hand in glove with Russian military structures.

And his criticism of the way the war on Ukraine is being waged has struck a chord in Russian nationalist and military-security circles.

Prigozhin reportedly complained about the conduct of the war directly to Putin, according to The Washington Post, which said his confidential conversations with Putin had made it into U.S. intelligence briefings.

Theyre on a collision course, Kolesnikov told Current Time, the Russian-language network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA. Prigozhin is clearly very power hungry. Hes a very tough person and in many ways cruel. He has the negative charisma of a devil, and in a sense, this charisma can compete with Putin's.

But Putin now needs him in this capacity, in this form. He gives [Prigozhin] more and more powers, as it were, and outsources a variety of functions to him, he said.
Russian forces have launched suicide drones on targets in eastern and central Ukraine, the Ukrainian air defense reported, as heavy fighting continues in the east.

"Twelve out of 13 [loitering] munitions were destroyed by [the Ukrainian] anti-aircraft defense in the eastern and central regions of the country," the military said in a message on Telegram.

The air defense said six drones were shot down in eastern Ukraine and another six were destroyed in the central part of the country.

Russia has been targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure and civilian objectives with missile, drone, and artillery attacks for weeks amid a Ukrainian counteroffensive that has driven Russian troops out of the northeast and pushed them back in the east and southeast.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on November 2 that authorities in the capital were preparing more than 1,000 heating points throughout the city in case its district heating system is disabled by continued Russian attacks.

Russia launched missiles into several Ukrainian cities on October 31, including Kyiv, as the Kremlin continues its relentless assault on Ukrainian critical infrastructure in the hopes of wearing down its population's will to resist.

Water and electricity supplies were all but cut off for hours in Kyiv before being restored on November 1, but officials warned that power rationing would continue to be necessary in the capital.

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.

Klitschko wrote on Telegram on November 2 that city authorities were considering different scenarios due to missile attacks.

"The worst one is where there will be no electric power, water, or district heating at all," he said. "For that case, we are preparing over 1,000 heating points in our city."

Missile and drone attacks have damaged at least 40 percent of Ukraine's energy infrastructure and have already briefly left large parts of Kyiv without power and water.

Nine regions were experiencing power cuts, authorities said.

"We will do everything we can to provide power and heat for the coming winter," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his regular address late on November 1. "But we must understand that Russia will do everything it can to destroy normal life."

In the central Cherkasy region, a drone hit an infrastructure objective on November 2, said regional Governor Ihor Taburets in a message on Telegram.

Taburets said that two other drones that targeted Cherkasy were shot down. He said no injuries were reported.

Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat on November 1 warned that Kyiv does not have an effective means of defense against Iranian-made ballistic missiles, which Russia is likely planning to deploy north of the Ukrainian border.

Ihnat told a news briefing that it would be theoretically possible to shoot down Iranian ballistic missiles, but it would be very difficult to do it "with the means that we have in our arsenal today."

The Washington Post reported last month that Iran had agreed to supply Russia with surface-to-surface missiles, citing sources in U.S. security agencies

The Ukrainian military said Russian troops continued shelling the eastern city of Bakhmut, a target of Russia's armed forces in their slow advance through the Donetsk region.

There was fierce fighting near Bakhmut, as Ukrainian forces held back Russian assaults on two other areas in Donetsk, around Avdiyivka and Uhledar.

With reporting by Reuters and AP
Its main revenue is dependent on either tourism or on the production of fruits and flowers. Dalat city has limited revenue sources and no natural resources, so it cannot develop any industry.

Because of this Dalat is currently facing a very difficult situation as to whether it should continue to develop its greenhouses or not, as now they have become a source of warming of temperatures.

About ten years ago, farmers in Dalat and people who had leased cultivable land were excited about making a particular type of greenhouse. This is a greenhouse design that is made of pre-engineered steel framework, with a thick white nylon roof or clear plastic roof sheeting. This type of greenhouse always kept the internal temperature of the soil warm and moist, prevented water from evaporating, and also prevented damage to plants from severe frost and insects.

For these reasons, greenhouse farming was seen as superior in productivity and efficiency compared to traditional farming. One hectare of greenhouse covered land area could yield nearly VND 350 mln to VND 1 bln, depending on crop.

Currently, 100% of flowers exported from Dalat in particular and Lam Dong province in general, are to the tune of about 300 million branches per year, all grown in greenhouses. Most of the vegetables for export, and vegetables supplied to 4-star and 5-star hotels in the Ho Chi Minh City area are grown in greenhouses for high quality yield. Now, unfortunately, the uncontrolled growth investment in greenhouse development has led to serious and harmful consequences.

There are hundreds of thousands of farms and greenhouses in the outskirts of Dalat, running along both sides of the Cam Ly stream. From downstream to upstream, thousands of hectares of land are covered with tarpaulins for agricultural production. At the end of the 1990s, Dalat had only a few greenhouses, but now the area of greenhouses has increased to about 15,000 ha out of a total of 18,000 ha for vegetables and fruits.

Greenhouses are concentrated in all wards and communes, even in some places in the inner city which have greenhouse density in wards 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, and 12. Seen from above, Dalat seems overwhelmed by greenhouses, and the green belt surrounding the city has disappeared. Instead, it has been replaced by thousands of greenhouses, with the majestic pine forests scattered in few clusters in the suburban areas of the city.

Greenhouses have made the general temperature of the Dalat area rise and increase by 1 degree to 1.5 degree Celsius, because the surface of the synthetic roofs does not absorb heat but bounces it back into the atmosphere. This has caused hotter temperatures in the area, even more than from an entire house made of concrete. Summertime in Dalat has now become even more hotter, while the cold season is too short.

Land areas covered with greenhouses have a zero permeation coefficient, which means that rain falls on plastic sheets that does not penetrate into the soil. Hence, despite heavy rainfalls, the inside of a greenhouse remains absolutely dry, which means that the water does not seep into the ground. The city uses mud bags and water storage bags to replenish ground moisture. The loss of natural water storage has caused some places in the central area such as Phan Dinh Phung, Nguyen Cong Tru, Ngo Van So, To Ngoc Van, Mac Dinh Chi, and Truong Van Hoan to flood after heavy rains that may last for a few days, with no drainage flow for the water to go out of the area.

In order to tackle this situation, the Peoples Committee of Lam Dong Province has planned that after 2030, several of these wards in Dalat City will do away with greenhouses. This policy decision has now become a seriously debated hot topic in scientific forums, seminars, and among the public. Both removal or maintenance of greenhouses is proving to be a growing and difficult problem that needs to be studied very carefully to find a reasonable and rational solution.

There are many opinions that say that greenhouses must be removed as quickly as possible and the green space be restored for Dalat. However, the situation is far more complex and difficult to tackle in a simple way. Up to now, Dalat has only dismantled about 71.6 hectares of construction sites, greenhouses, and other housing structures because they were built on land planned for forestry. Because this is not agricultural land it cannot be evicted forcibly. On this land, agricultural planning is not possible because people are legally cultivating their own land, hence they are not violating rules of public land and greenhouses are mostly on private property.

Moreover, agriculture and tourism are two main strengths of Dalat that have been encouraged to develop over the years. If the greenhouse system is demolished, then agriculture that produces vegetables, fruits, and flowers will suffer immediately. It will have an effect on the people's income, the source of vegetables, fruits, and flowers for export, and there will also not be enough vegetables and fruits to supply to the provinces, especially Ho Chi Minh City.

The agricultural products themselves serving millions of tourists who come to Dalat every year, and this may also reduce the number of tourists visiting this region. Another problem that is arising is that it will be difficult for farmers to return to growing fruits and flowers in the traditional way, for reasons of low productivity and also lack of knowledge of traditional techniques.

Serious questions are now arising as to how farmers in Dalat can still produce fresh fruits and vegetables with high yields and good quality, and if Dalat can once again regain its green space, natural landscape, and cool climate. Currently there are ongoing consultations with Japanese experts, and persons of skills working in Dalat. According to them, there are two options or solutions.

The first solution is for replanning all the greenhouse areas on a large scale in a methodical way in districts far from Dalat city, approximately 20 to 30 kilometers away such as in Lac Duong, Dran, and Nam Ban. These places will form modern ecological agricultural cities, with the main function of producing fresh vegetables, fruits, and flowers grown under the latest technology, automation, and industrialization processes in all stages from tillage to harvesting. This model has already been applied in the UAE countries and several cities in China, South Korea, and Japan.

The second solution is to make vertical greenhouses that are multi-storey with about ten to fifteen floors in the periphery of Dalat city, instead of ground level greenhouses spread over large areas of land within the city. This solution offers saving of space, does not affect the landscape, and can be used as an attractive tourist destination where visitors can go on agricultural tours. These solutions seem more harmonious, and economically and environmentally much more beneficial for farmers as well as the people of Dalat.

Dr. Nguyen Minh Hoa
Rhinos are among the most charismatic and well-known mammals on Earth, but they face extinction because of human activities. To learn how to save rhinos, scientists need as much information as possible about how their relationship with humans has changed over time. By analyzing thousands of artistic portrayals and photographs, a team of researchers from the University of Helsinki, the University of Cambridge and the Rhino Resource Center found that the relationship between humans and rhinos has been changing from the 16th century onwards. The authors found that African rhino species have become more commonly depicted in the images, compared to Asian rhino species. During the age of European imperialism (between the 16th and 20th centuries), rhinos were commonly portrayed as hunting trophies, but since the mid-20th century, they have been increasingly portrayed in a conservation context, reflecting a change in emphasis from a more to less consumptive relationship between humans and rhinos. Finally, the scientists found evidence for declining horn length over time across species, perhaps related to selective pressure of hunting.

Worldwide, there are five recognized living rhino species across four genera (family Rhinocerotidae).

These are the white rhino (Ceratotherium simum), the black rhino (Diceros bicornis), the Indian rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis), the Javan rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus) and the Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis).

Three of the five species (the black rhino, Javan rhino and Sumatran rhino) lie within the top twelve Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) species, demonstrating their evolutionary distinctiveness, and all face conservation challenges as a result of human hunting for their horns, as well as habitat loss.

The white rhino (Near Threatened) is the only species not currently threatened according to the IUCN Red List, with the Indian rhino listed as Vulnerable, and the black, Javan and Sumatran rhinos all listed as Critically Endangered.

Modern poaching of rhinos is driven by high demands for horns, particularly in China and Vietnam, where the horn is used in traditional medicines, as a medium for carvings and as a financial investment in a valuable material.

This has resulted in rhino populations suffering precipitous declines. For example, one estimate suggests that 12,750 black rhinos were killed to provide the 36 tons of horn sold in Yemen between 1970 and 1986 alone. In Kenya, there were an estimated 20,000 black rhinos in 1991, but only 631 in 2014.

Hunting, combined with habitat loss, has already led to the extirpation of the Sumatran rhino in mainland Southeast Asia, and the species was declared extinct in Malaysia in 2019. Similarly, the northern white rhino, a subspecies of the white rhino, is now considered functionally extinct, with only two surviving females remaining.

In their new study, University of Helsinki researcher Oscar Wilson and colleagues used data from the Rhino Resource Center (RRC), an online repository curated by experts and holding a collection of over 4,000 rhino images and publications.

They assessed the changing representations and human interactions with rhinos using 3,158 images (1,531 pieces of artwork and 1,627 photographs).

They also measured the horns of 80 rhinos, photographed in profile view between 1886 and 2018.

Horn length was found to have decreased significantly in all species over the last century.

The researchers think rhino horns have become smaller over time due to intensive hunting.

We were really excited that we could find evidence from photographs that rhino horns have become shorter over time, said Dr. Wilson, formerly a researcher at the University of Cambridge.

Theyre probably one of the hardest things to work on in natural history because of the security concerns.

Rhinos evolved their horns for a reason  different species use them in different ways such as helping to grasp food or to defend against predators  so we think that having smaller horns will be detrimental to their survival.

The scientists also saw a dramatic shift in human perceptions of rhinos around 1950, when the animals became the focus of conservation efforts rather than hunting.

We found that we can use images from the last few centuries to visualise how human attitudes towards wildlife have changed, and how artists have influenced these views, said Dr. Ed Turner, a researcher at the University of Cambridge.

Many hundreds of photographs showing rhinos shot dead by hunters, taken in the 19th and early 20th century, are included in the collection.

These include a photograph of American President Theodore Roosevelt, taken in 1911, standing triumphantly over a black rhino he had just killed.

Other early images show rhinos as huge, frightening animals chasing humans.

The authors think these images helped justify the hunting of these animals.

The images suggest that there was very little effort to promote rhino conservation to the public before the 1950s, they said.

But after this the focus suddenly changed from hunting the animals to trying to keep them alive.

This shift coincides with the collapse of European empires, when African countries became independent and European hunters no longer had easy access to Africa for hunting.

More recent images appear to reflect a growing awareness of the threats facing the natural world.

For at least a few decades now theres been much more of a focus on the conservation of rhinos  and this is reflected in the more recent images, which relate to their conservation in sanctuaries or their plight in the wild, Dr. Wilson said.

A paper on the findings was published this week in the journal People and Nature.

_____

Oscar E. Wilson et al. Image-based analyses from an online repository provide rich information on long-term changes in morphology and human perceptions of rhinos. People and Nature, published online October 31, 2022; doi: 10.1002/pan3.10406
(Photo : NASA/GSFC/SDO) Smiling Sun as seen in ultraviolet light.

NASA continues to observe the cosmos for interesting sights and new discoveries. The space agency has even launched a team to study unexplained aerial phenomena and regularly digs deeper into the unknown aspects of space.

Once in a while, NASA shares astonishing photos of the universe and one of them is the recent image of the Sun that looks like it is smiling for the camera. The photo left the people divided on what the unusual image really looks like.

Say Cheese! What Does the Smiling Sun Resemble?

NASA's official Sun Tram shared in a Twitter post a stunning image of the center of the Solar System flashing a toothless grin to the camera. Astronomer Dr. Brian Keating, a professor in University of California, San Diego, also noted in another post the timing of the photo release and how the smiling Sun bore a striking resemblance to a Halloween jack-o-lantern.

Say cheese! 



Today, NASAs Solar Dynamics Observatory caught the Sun "smiling." Seen in ultraviolet light, these dark patches on the Sun are known as coronal holes and are regions where fast solar wind gushes out into space. pic.twitter.com/hVRXaN7Z31  NASA Sun, Space & Scream  (@NASASun) October 26, 2022

The unusual photo of the Sun is captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). They have been monitoring the star since it was launched in 2010 as part of the Living With a Star Program of the space agency. The program aims to study aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society.

The orbiting observatory regularly captures images of the Sun and monitors the activity in its interior, atmosphere, magnetic field, and energy output. But the photo has divided people online, per the Daily Mirror.

The post on Twitter quickly received an outpouring of responses from users who chimed in about what they thought the picture resembled. Some thought the smiling Sun looks adorable, while others are getting a more eerie feel from it.

People have compared it to the iconic Teletubbies sun, which features the smiling face of a baby, or the more striking resemblance to the Stay Putt Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters. Other comparisons also included the mini BN biscuits, a lion, a blowfish, an otter, and other cartoon characters.

READ ALSO: LOOK: Mind-Blowing 300-Megapixel Image of the Sun Is Made Up of 150,000 Individual Photos Taken With a Modified Telescope

The Science Behind the Smiling Sun

NASA's description in its caption of the smiling Sun photo explains that the dark patches are called coronal holes. These spots are common occurrences on the solar surface and represent a cooler area because of having less density than the rest of the Sun. More so, these spots have open magnetic fields that allow fast solar winds to escape to space.

According to 23ABC, cooler temperatures are relative when it comes to the Sun. Sometimes temperatures on the solar core could reach up to 27 million degrees Fahrenheit in which energy builds up and pushes outward to emit heat, charged particles, and light. The particle emission could reach about 500 to 800 kilometers per second.

Space Weather Prediction Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) explains that these coronal holes and their associated solar winds cal last up to 27 days. Despite sounding violent, NASA has not reported any major issues or geomagnetic storms connected to the smiling Sun.



RELATED ARTICLE: Astronomers Capture Stunning New Image of Jupiter Revealing 'Jack-O-Lantern' Appearance



Check out more news and information on Sun in Science Times.
Chief Seattle Club (CSC) is a Native-led housing and human services agency dedicated to physically and spiritually supporting American Indian and Alaska Native people. Guided by Executive Director Derrick Belgarde, 13, 15 MPA, CSC embraces the Indigenous cultures, languages and traditions of its members as the primary method for healing and transformation.

Belgarde began his CSC career as program manager in 2015, when the club had 10 employees. He moved on to deputy director in 2017 and since becoming executive director in 2021, hes now leading more than 80 team members.

Each service at CSC is culturally appropriate and tailored for the marginalized Native community. Among its many programs, CSC focuses on homelessness, permanent housing solutions, domestic violence and sexual assault support, legal services, Native art job training and re-entry assistance for those recently released from prison.

After earning his associates degree, Belgarde chose to transfer to Seattle University knowing he wanted to dedicate his career toward nonprofit and social justice work. SU was the right fit on account of its mission to educate the whole person. Its not just about building careersits also about social justice and building a humane and just world, says Belgarde, who remains active with the university as an alum, serving on the College of Arts and Sciences Deans Leadership Council and supporting the Indigenous Peoples Institute.

More than Home

In February 2022, CSC achieved a major milestone of opening its first affordable housing building in Pioneer Square named a?al?al, home in the Lushootseed language.

Belgarde explains CSCs landmark housing facility, consisting of 80 studio apartments, took a lot of perseverance. The fact that few seemed to believe in their vision didnt stop them as Belgarde and his predecessor refused to take no for an answer.

We just kept going and had one heck of a capital campaign that raised a lot of money. Weve done a good job of marketing the Native disparity and the Native issues that have been neglected for decades and pushed it on [both] the public agenda and mindset, he says.

An enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon and the Chippewa-Cree from Rocky Boy Montana, Belgarde says Native Americans are the least likely to get support services from state offices, government offices or to get housing assistance, food stamps, etc. He attributes this to established administrative processes. Administration is like a science nowit might make sense to westernized thinkers, but westernized and colonized systems impact the well-being of Native Americans.

As noted on the CSC website, Native Americans face the highest poverty rate of any racial group in King County. Of the 12,000 homeless people in King County, more than 15 percent are American Indian or Alaskan Native. Belgarde sheds light on why there isnt a one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to providing homelessness resources and support.

The streets eat people alive, says Belgarde. Our Native community has been through so much for 500 years that PTSD is off the charts. The trauma is just unimaginable and our Native community, who is suffering the most, arent going to reach out to non-Native providers.

Some established approaches for fighting homelessnesslike providing a set number of shelter beds and ushering people indont take the Native culture into consideration.

Natives dont go to a shelter where theyre the only one among a large group, explains Belgarde. Theyre not going to feel safe or welcomed. Theyre going to feel threatened  disrespected and that their culture is disrespected by everything they see in the shelter.

To access those hard-to-reach communities like mine, you have to offer specific services. That requires a place where you can build trust, friendships and relationships, then you start working on the healing, says Belgarde.

Healing from Within

With a goal of providing trauma-informed services that center healing, safety and community, CSC launched its first domestic violence and sexual assault program in 2020.

While there were efforts of outside providers offering free support at CSC, it was difficult to create changes due to challenges around relating to the chronically homeless, female-identifying members. When it comes to offering support in this area, Belgarde notes this is a totally different intersectionality.

When youre working with somebody who is chronically on the streets, every meeting you have is going to be like a first meeting all over again, he says.

After seeing our women come into CSC battered and bruised, Belgarde and his staff knew they needed to develop their own services, despite being up against the issue of victims refusing to talk out of fear of abuser retaliation. They understood the best approach was to hire someone internally with an understanding of chronic homelessness and relationship building.

Thats what is really needed, because women out there on the streetsnot just of the Native community but all women living on the streetsare sexually and physically assaulted more frequently, often by their own partner," Belgarde explains. And typically, victims feel that they have no choice but to stay with these partners, as they offer protection from random assaults.

Launching this new program during the start of the pandemic has prevented full utilization of the model CSC developed, but Belgarde is hopeful this changes once the pandemic ceases.

Part of what keeps Belgarde inspired is witnessing the transformation of CSC members, individuals who enter raw from the streets, homeless for so long theyve become withdrawn, disassociated and unable to speak in coherent sentences. He sees them begin to bloom after entering CSCs shelter or long-term placement facility. There they can talk with other Native people and the layers slowly chip away by bringing people together and building community, making them feel a sense of belonging and that theyre cared for and loved.

All of this motivates Belgarde, who was recently named as one of nine members of the Seattle City Council's first Indigenous Advisory Council.

Even though theyre suffering  when I see my people, theres part of me that is mesmerized by their strength and their humor, he says. Were going to continue building housing and were going to stabilize our community. Its coming. Its just a matter of when.

Read more stories like this in the fall/winter edition of Seattle University Magazine.
Libya: Briefing and Consultations

On Monday (24 October), the Security Council will convene for an open briefing, followed by closed consultations, on the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL). Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya and head of UNSMIL Abdoulaye Bathily will brief the Council for the first time in this capacity. (The Secretary-General announced the appointment of Bathily, a Senegalese national, as Special Representative and head of UNSMIL on 2 September.)

Council members are expected to welcome the appointment of Bathily following a protracted and contentious process. (More than a year has passed since the resignation of former Special Envoy Jan Kubis in November 2021.) The A3 members (Gabon, Ghana and Kenya), with the support of China, had publicly called for the position of Special Representative to be filled by an African candidate. Prior to Bathilys appointment, at least one other name was apparently proposed to the Council, but the candidate was not supported by all 15 members. This further delayed the appointment process.

The delays in appointing UNSMILs leadership also complicated the Councils approach to the implementation of the August 2021 independent strategic review of UNSMIL (S/2021/716), of which Bathily was the team leader. Among other things, the review recommended a restructuring of UNSMIL, including replacing the Geneva-based Special Envoy with a Tripoli-based Special Representative, thus reversing the changes made to UNSMILs structure in 2020, with the aim of facilitating a renewed focus on the political dynamics of the various aspects of the conflict in Libya. The Council decided to implement this recommendation in resolution 2629 of 29 April. (For background, see our 29 April Whats in Blue story.)

Bathily officially assumed his duties on 25 September and arrived in Tripoli on 14 October. In a statement issued upon his arrival, Bathily said that he would begin by engaging with Libyan parties across the country, including civil society, women and youth groups. He also noted that his priority is to identify a consensual pathway towards the holding of inclusive and credible national elections, which should be held as soon as possible on a solid constitutional framework.

Since his arrival, Bathily has met with various stakeholders, including Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dbeibah, who welcomed him to the country and expressed the support of the Government of National Unity (GNU); Presidential Council President Mohamed al-Menfi; Agila Saleh, the speaker of the House of Representatives (the Libyan legislature based in Tobruk); Chairman of the National Oil Corporation Farhat Bengdara; Chief of General Staff of the Libyan Army Mohamed Al-Haddad; Chairperson of the High National Elections Commission Emad Al-Sayeh; and Minister of Foreign Affairs Najla El Mangoush. Council members may be interested in hearing more about these meetings as well as further details about Bathilys priority areas.

The security situation in Libya is an expected focus of Mondays meeting. The protracted political stalemate continues to generate security threats, including fighting in Tripoli that erupted in late August. In a 1 September press statement, Council members condemned the clashes, which resulted in civilian casualties and destruction of civilian infrastructure (SC/15015). The statement additionally emphasised the importance of an inclusive, comprehensive national dialogue and reconciliation process aimed at, inter alia, forming a unified Libyan Government with the full, equal, effective and meaningful participation of women and the inclusion of youth and civil society.

Some members may seek to highlight the deteriorating living conditions across the country and the situation of migrants in Libya. On 11 October, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a report that seeks to highlight key human rights risks and protection gaps faced by migrants in Libya in the context of assisted return and reintegration. (Assisted returns are meant to be voluntary, but the report finds that in most cases, many migrants are unable to make voluntary decisions.) These include lack of access to pathways for safe and regular migration; lack of free, prior and informed consent; and returns to unsustainable situations. The report contains testimony from some of the 65 immigrants interviewed by OHCHR who had recently been returned from Libya to The Gambia. It makes a series of recommendations directed at Libyan authorities, countries of origin, the AU and its member states, the EU and its member states, and UN entities. At Mondays meeting, some members may refer to the report and its findings.

In their statements, members may reiterate the urgent need for a Libyan-led inclusive political process and the holding of elections. Several members may also express concern over the precarious security situation. In a 3 September statement welcoming Bathilys appointment, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken encouraged him to prioritize efforts to ensure transparency and accountability in Libyas state institutions as well as the work of the UN ceasefire monitoring mission as it assists the Libyan 5+5 Joint Military Commission in overseeing the immediate withdrawal of all foreign forces, fighters, and mercenaries. The US and other members may echo such messages at Mondays meeting.

Council members were last briefed on the situation in Libya during consultations on 29 September, with a briefing by Assistant Secretary-General for Africa in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations (DPPA-DPO) Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee. At the time of writing, Council members were engaged in negotiations on a draft resolution renewing the mandate of UNSMIL, which expires on 31 October in accordance with resolution 2647 of 28 July.
Arria-formula Meeting on the Ongoing Protests in Iran

Tomorrow (2 November) at 1:15 pm EST, Albania and the US will convene an Arria-formula meeting on the ongoing protests in Iran. The expected briefers are Javaid Rehman, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran; Shirin Ebadi, Iranian human rights defender and 2003 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate; and Nazanin Boniadi, an Iranian-born activist and actress.

The meeting, which will take place in the ECOSOC Chamber, will be broadcast on UNTV. It is open to all UN member states, as well as permanent observers and non-governmental organisations accredited to the UN.

Albania and the US have prepared a concept note for the meeting, which says that its objectives are to:

highlight the ongoing repression of women, girls, and members of religious and ethnic minority groups in Iran;

identify opportunities to promote credible, international, independent investigations into the Iranian governments human rights violations and abuses; and

underscore the Iranian regimes unlawful use of force against protesters, pursuit of human rights defenders abroad, and attempts to abduct or assassinate them in contravention of international law.

The wave of anti-government protests currently sweeping Iran, which analysts have described as the most serious challenge to the Iranian government in more than a decade, were sparked by the 16 September death of Mahsa Amini after falling into a coma while in police custody. Amini, a 22-year-old woman from the city of Saqquez in Kurdistan province, was arrested in Tehran by Irans morality police on 13 September for allegedly violating a law requiring women to cover their hair and wear loose-fitting clothing.

The protests, which have largely been spearheaded by Iranian women, began in Saqquez and other cities in Kurdistan province before spreading throughout the country and quickly turning violent. Human rights organisations working in Iran have reported incidents involving the use of tear gas and live ammunition by security forces, including by the Basij Resistance Force, a paramilitary volunteer militia that forms part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as well as mass arrests and widespread beatings of protesters. Lawyers, journalists, and other members of civil society have reportedly been detained for supporting the protests. The Iranian government has also charged hundreds of those arrested with offences related to the protests, some of which carry the death penalty, and has curtailed access to the internet for most of its citizens. On 29 October, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a press association established by Iranian human rights activists, reported that 283 protesters have been killed and more than 14,000 people arrested during the unrest.

Both the EU and the US have imposed fresh sanctions on Iranian officials and government entities as a result of its response to the protests. On 26 October, for example, the US Department of the Treasury announced that ten Iranian officials would be sanctioned for the brutal ongoing crackdown on nationwide protests in Iran, while the EU placed a travel ban and asset freeze on 11 people and four entitiesincluding Irans morality policeon 17 October.

On 30 October, a group of prominent women leaders, including former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Canadas Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland, former US First Lady Michelle Obama, former Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and education activist Malala Yousafazi, published an open letter calling for Irans immediate removal from the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Some member states might echo this call at tomorrows meeting.

In a 26 October statement, a group of human rights experts from the special procedures of the Human Rights Council (HRC) condemned the killings and the crackdown by security forces in Iran, including alleged arbitrary arrests and detentions, gender-based and sexual violence, excessive use of force, torture, and enforced disappearances. The experts also said that the violations against women are part of a continuum of long-standing, pervasive, gender-based discrimination embedded in legislation, policies, and societal structures and expressed support for the establishment of an international investigative mechanism, to ensure accountability in Iran and to end the persistent impunity for grave human rights violations. Some Council members are expected to convey similar messages in their statements during tomorrows meeting.

On 31 October, Iran wrote an open letter to all member states defending its human rights record, urging member states not to participate in tomorrows meeting, and accusing the US of politicising human rights issues in order to achieve its political agenda. The letter also argued that addressing internal issues of states by the Security Council, including through establishing an artificial link between such issues with international peace and security is counterproductive to the promotion of human rights and undermines existing mechanisms that are already in place. At tomorrows meeting, some Council members may also argue that the situation in Iran is an internal matter that should not be discussed by the Council. These members might suggest that other organs within the UN system, such as the HRC, are more appropriate fora for discussing human rights in Iran.

The Council discussed protests in Iran in a public meeting on 5 January 2018. Shortly before the meeting took place, Russia issued a statement saying that the relevant demonstrations were an internal affair for Iran and that external interference is unacceptable. Russia was expected to raise an objection at the outset of the meeting, which would have precipitated a procedural vote on whether the meeting should be held, however no objection was made after Council members held closed consultations prior to the meeting. (For more information, see our 5 January 2018 Whats in Blue story).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday will address the inaugural function of Invest Karnataka, the Global Investors Meet via video conferencing. Prime Minister Modi will inaugurate the event at 10:30 am on 2 November

According to the Prime Ministers's office, the meet is aimed at attracting prospective investors and setting up development agenda for the next decade.

The three-day programme, being held from 2 to 4 November in Bengaluru, would witness more than 80 speaker sessions.

The speakers include some of the top industry leaders including Kumar Mangalam Birla, Sajjan Jindal, Vikram Kirloskar among others. Along with this, a number of business exhibitions with more than three hundred exhibitors, and country sessions would run parallelly.

The country sessions would each be hosted by the partner countries - France, Germany, Netherlands, South Korea, Japan, and Australia - which would be bringing in high-level ministerial and industrial delegations from their respective countries.

CM Basavaraj Bommai has called 'Invest Karnataka' an important meeting wherein all technocrats, young engineers, IT/BT experts, startups, educational institutions, and global and domestic investors are welcome.

"Invest Karnataka' is going to grab the attention of the whole world. Global investment is coming here as Karnataka has a rich atmosphere. This will put a strong foundation for the development of Karnataka in the next five years," CM Bommai said.

The Karnataka CM said he is expecting over a5 lakh crore investment and the State High level Committee has already given clearance for an investment of over a2.8 lakh crore.

"The State of Karnataka is making a big leap in the industrial sector and it will be evident, " he added.

Bommai said most of the investors have shown interest in investment beyond Bengaluru, and new industries are coming up in Ramanagar, Hubballi-Dharwad, Ballari, Kalaburagi, and Mysuru.

Today, industries are crossing the regional barrier. The dream of Beyond Bengaluru is becoming a reality. Last week, the FMCG Cluster to come up in Dharwad was inaugurated in Hubballi and expected an investment of a10,000 crore. It is going to provide employment to over one lakh people. The textile park will come up in Kalaburagi, Vijayapura, and Raichur districts; Pharma Park in Yadgir; Electronic Park in Mysuru and Defense production unit in Tumkur. "The situation is conducive in Karnataka and plays an important role in building New Karnataka. We aim to contribute One Trillion Dollar to the Prime Minister's five Trillion dollar economy of India. The ecosystem that exists in China is present in Karnataka. The state has made achievements in the manufacturing sector.

Besides, it is at the forefront in the fields of electrical, mechanical, energy, iron, and steel. Apart from this, a strong foundation has been laid for Electronic and Artificial Intelligence. We have been at the forefront of IT/BT in the last two decades, and Bengaluru is called Silicon Valley. The contribution of Karnataka in IT/BT export is 40 % and the maximum number of jobs in this field is created in IT/BT. The state is ahead in agriculture production, IT/BT, Startups and others. The industrial policy, Ease of Doing Business has helped attract investment here. The State has attracted 38% of Foreign Direct Investment in the last four quarters.
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has completed his visit to the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria.

A guard of honor was arranged for the head of state at the Algiers Houari Boumediene International Airport.

The President of Azerbaijan was seen off by officials.
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On the other side of Meat and Livestock Australias boardroom wall is a kitchen, where corporate executive chef Sam Burke can be heard preparing a lunch of lamb cooked two ways.

The slow-cooked lamb shoulder and the grilled lamb chops Burke serves are a nod to Australias sheep industry that is already climate neutral, meaning it has managed to decrease emissions to the point it is not contributing any further to global warming.

MLA corporate executive chef Sam Burke cooks up climate-neutral lamb at the Meat and Livestock Associations North Sydney offices. Credit:Brook Mitchell

Its not quite a carbon-neutral steak  but thats the goal. Inside the boardroom, meanwhile, Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) managing director Jason Strong is detailing the complexity involved in delivering the lofty goal of carbon neutrality by the $67.7 billion red meat industry. This would mean Australian beef, goat and lamb production  including feeding, meat processing, fuel and energy use contributes net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

Meat and Livestock Australias head honcho is keenly aware this will be a hard slog.
Look at the songwriting credits on Taylor Swifts Midnights, past names like Jack Antonoff and Lana Del Rey and (weirdly) Zoe Kravitz, and down there on Karma, the albums wavy eleventh track, youll spot the name Keanu Beats, the moniker of Melbourne-born, Gold Coast-based producer Keanu Torres.

The 25-year-old may be an unknown name to all but obsessive Discogs listings enthusiasts, but hes already one of Australias most successful hip-hop and R&B producers, having contributed to tracks for Beyonce, Drake, Kendrick Lamar and The Kid Laroi since his first big break on Migos trap classic Culture in 2017. But the shift to Taylor Swifts pop world, on whats already the years biggest album, is a rare move.

Melbourne producer Keanu Beats (aka Keanu Torres) has worked with Beyonce, Drake and Kendrick Lamar, and now adds a Taylor Swift credit to his resume.

It does feel like a big move, just because of how different the actual music is and because the stats, how the album is performing, is insane, says Torres, from a holiday break in Japan.

I mean, it had got to the point where everything I was getting sort of felt the same and I didnt know if or when I was gonna get to that next level. So this was like, holy shit. Its a completely different ballgame.
Parts of the NSW Southern Tablelands are bracing for flood levels not seen for 70 years and the states Central West is in the grips of snow-vember as a polar blast makes its way across south-eastern Australia. Sydney experienced its coldest November night in 16 years according to Weatherzone, as temperatures fell to 11.1 degrees.

The Bureau of Meteorology has warned major flooding is expected at the Lachlan River at Forbes over the coming days, which from Friday could see waters reach similar levels to the 1952 floods.

Incredible footage, filmed by the Heralds chief photographer Nick Moir, shows water being released from Wyangala Dam ahead of the anticipated flood.

The dam, like many others across the state, is over capacity at 102 per cent. Further downstream, severe flooding continues at Jemalong, Condobolin, Euabalong and Hillston. Major floods are also expected along the Bogan River, the Murray, Edwards and Macquarie rivers.
All eyes in NSW are on Premier Dominic Perrottets decimated frontbench, rocked by a series of retirements that give off a real rats off a sinking ship vibe. But then theres the matter of two former Liberal ministers, who despite being forced onto the crossbench, and suspended from parliament, are continuing to perform their functions as independent local MPs with gusto.

CBD brought word last month that Gareth Ward, committed to stand trial over historic sexual abuse offences which he firmly denies, is still busying himself with local community events.

And then theres John Sidoti, who was booted from Parliament after the Independent Commission Against Corruption found hed engaged in serious corrupt conduct over family property interests.

Drummoyne MP John Sidoti departs ICAC earlier this year. Credit:Wolter Peeters

The Drummoyne MP has always denied any wrongdoing, blaming gutter elements of the media for creating a story of misconduct, and promising to clear his name. And that defiant approach means, despite tearing up his Liberal membership, Sidoti, like Ward, seems set on running for the seat as an independent next March.
The London agent-general met former deputy premier John Barilaro twice in two days  including at Barilaros office in NSW parliament  before he was added late to the recruitment process for the lucrative role and eventually selected over the frontrunning candidate.

But Stephen Cartwright, also the states senior trade commissioner to Europe and Israel, denied he received preferential treatment or benefitted from jobs for mates as he spoke publicly for the first time since his appointment to the $600,000-a-year position came under scrutiny.

Cartwrights spending and salary expectations  including that he wanted an allowance to ship his car from Australia to London because he couldnt afford a new one  were pored over during the parliamentary inquiry into his appointment on Wednesday morning.

Agent-general Stephen Cartwright gives evidence via video on Wednesday morning. Credit:NSW Parliament

Cartwright, the former head of the Business NSW lobby group, said Barilaro first raised the agent-general job with him over coffee on February 17 and that he was taken by complete surprise. He met again with Barilaro at his parliamentary office on February 18 to confirm his interest.
You can tell its election season because Cath Andrews is handing out the blueberry muffins, while her husband accuses the other side of shameless stunts.

On Wednesday, Labors big red bus carted journalists to Ballarat East, in the safe Labor seat of Eureka, for the official start of the Victorian election campaign where Premier Daniel Andrews announced plans for cheaper V/Line fares and more services for the regions.

Premier Daniel Andrews and wife Cath Andrews get off Labors big red bus in Ballarat East for the first official day of the 2022 election campaign. Credit:Justin McManus

While the premier hit the road to regional Victoria, Opposition Leader Matthew Guy was deep in the Melbourne suburbs. Im not focused on his bus, Guy told journalists at a family home in Parkdale, where he announced cost-of-living relief by cutting water bills.

The Coalition has decided against taking a bus out on the hustings. Instead, they unveiled a different campaign vehicle, a 1970s-style ambulance they called the ditch Danmobile  but were quickly accused by the Labor-aligned ambulance union of breaching the law by impersonating the emergency service.
Singapore: North Korea has fired an additional six missiles off its eastern and western coasts, South Korea has said.

South Koreas military said the launches came after it detected at least 17 missile firings by North Korea off its eastern and western coasts earlier on Wednesday.

South Koreas military said one of the 17 missiles flew in the direction of a South Korean island before it landed near the sea border between the rivals.

The North Korean missile launches came as Pyongyang threatened to retaliate against ongoing South Korea-US military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal.

Earlier on Wednesday, South Korea fired three missiles back at North Koreas maritime border, escalating its response to what it described as an effective territorial invasion by Pyongyang.
The victory of Lula da Silva over Jair Bolsonaro is a gift for Brazil, the planet and the forthcoming COP27 climate summit: he will end logging in the Amazon so the lungs of the world can breathe freely again. He will implement socialist policies to tackle poverty and inequality. He will stop discrimination against ethnic minorities, the easy sale of guns and Bolsonaros promise to his evangelical base to prosecute women for having abortions.

Most of all, the election as Brazils president of Luiz Inacio da Silva  known universally as Lula  signifies an extraordinary triumph against injustice.

Illustration: Dionne Credit:

What the reports of Lulas political resurrection cannot quite account for is the extraordinary courage with which he has faced  and overcome  the malevolence of his enemies and the cruelty of the injustices they perpetrated. I witnessed this over six years as his international lawyer, fighting  successfully  for his exoneration in the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

Lulas backstory is inspiring enough. At eight years of age, he was selling peanuts on the street to provide for his impoverished family. At 14, he passed his only exam  to become a lathe worker. In time, he rose to leadership of his trade union, fighting against the military regime for living wages and democratic rights.
PHILIPSBURG:--- In recognition of Rotarys Basic Education and Literacy Month, observed during the month of September, members of the Rotary Club of St. Martin Sunset hosted its fifth annual Reading Slumber Fun on Friday, October 21st, 2022, under the theme Finding Nemo. This event was scheduled to take place in September, but due to weather conditions, it was postponed until this day. This event took place at Cocky Turtle Beach Restaurant and Bar on Kimsha Beach. There were approximately 75 children between the ages of 4 -9 years that came out in their pajamas with their blankets and pillows for a cozy evening under the stars of live storytelling and movie time.

Basic Education and Literacy are one of Rotary's six avenues of service, which serve as the philosophical cornerstone and foundation for this club activity. Literacy development is an essential component of a childs overall growth. It is the foundation for succeeding in school, socializing with others, problem-solving, decision-making, developing independence, and achieving financial freedom. It also provides skills and empowers us to transform our lives; it improves our health and ability to live a purpose-driven life, and it improves our standard of living and that of our family and community. The Reading Slumber Funs aim is to promote the value of reading and literacy.

The event kicked off with welcoming remarks by President Kimberley Duzong followed by each team leader calling out the names of the members in their group. Once everyone was split into their respective groups, the live storytelling performances of Ms. Georginette Lake, Ms. Rita Carty, Mr. Ralphe Cantave, and Rotarian Franklyn Salomons began.

The Rotary Club of St. Martin Sunset would like to express its heartfelt appreciation to all the volunteers and sponsors, including those that asked to remain anonymous, who helped make this a memorable evening for the children a success. A special thank you to the Health Care Laboratory Sint Maarten for their financial support, Cocky Turtle Restaurant and Bar for allowing us to utilize their space for this event, our dynamic readers, and Mr. Roy Q. Marlin and Mr. Ralph Cantave for donating their reading books.

The Rotary Club of St. Martin Sunset meets every second and fourth Monday of the month at Carl N Sons Unique Inn and Conference Facilities in Colebay at 7:30 PM. The club can be contacted via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or via the official Facebook page at facebook.com/rotarysxmsunset.
IsoEnergy Announces Appointment of Peter Netupsky to its Board of Directors and Grants Stock Options

IsoEnergy Ltd. (aIsoEnergya or the aCompanya) (TSXV: ISO; OTCQX: ISENF  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/isoenergy-ltd/ ) is pleased to announce the appointment Mr. Peter NetupskyA to the Company\-s Board of Directors.

Mr. Netupsky brings significant experience in finance, capital markets and banking. Currently, he serves as Vice President, Corporate Development at Agnico Eagle. A Prior to joining Agnico Eagle he held progressively senior roles in Investment Banking with TD Securities focused on M&A and financings in the global resources sector.A Mr. Netupsky began his professional career as a staff accountant with Ernst & Young.

Mr. Netupsky is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA), a CFAA Charterholder, has obtained the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors, and holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) degree (Queena?s University).A

Leigh Curyer, Chairman, commented: \On behalf of the Board ofA IsoEnergyA we welcomeA Mr. Netupsky.A A I have worked with Peter in his role as a banker at TD. Peter hasA attributes andA experienceA in the miningA andA financialA sectors that will greatly benefit IsoEnergy as the Company advances itsA high-gradeA HurricaneA deposit together with the continued exploration of itsA high qualityA portfolio of projects in the Eastern Athabasca Basin.a

Mr. Netupsky has been granted 250,000 incentive stock options (the aOptionsa). The Options are exercisable at a price of $3.46, vest in three equal annual instalments commencing on the grant date and have a term of five years. The Options were granted pursuant to the Companya?s incentive stock option plan and are subject to regulatory approval.

About IsoEnergy

IsoEnergy is a well-funded uranium exploration and development company with a portfolio of prospective projects in the eastern Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan, Canada. The Company recently discovered the high-grade Hurricane Zone of uranium mineralization on its 100% owned Larocque East property in the Eastern Athabasca Basin. IsoEnergy is led by a Board and Management team with a track record of success in uranium exploration, development, and operations. The Company was founded and is supported by the team at its major shareholder, NexGen Energy Ltd.

Tim Gabruch

President and Chief Executive Officer

IsoEnergy Ltd.

+1 306-261-6284

info@isoenergy.ca

www.isoenergy.ca

Investor Relations

Kin Communications

+1 604 684 6730

iso@kincommunications.com

In Europe:

Swiss Resource Capital AG

Jochen Staiger

info@resource-capital.ch

www.resource-capital.ch

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulations Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of any securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The securities referenced herein have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the aU.S. Securities Acta), and such securities may not be offered or sold within the United States absent registration under the U.S. Securities Act or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements thereunder.

Forward-Looking Information

The information contained herein contains aforward-looking statementsa within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and aforward-looking informationa within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. aForward-looking informationa includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including, without limitation, planned exploration activities. Generally, but not always, forward-looking information and statements can be identified by the use of words such as aplansa, aexpectsa, ais expecteda, abudgeta, ascheduleda, aestimatesa, aforecastsa, aintendsa, aanticipatesa, or abelievesa or the negative connotation thereof or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results amaya, acoulda, awoulda, amighta or awill be takena, aoccura or abe achieveda or the negative connotation thereof.

Such forward-looking information and statements are based on numerous assumptions, including among others, that the results of planned exploration activities are as anticipated, the price of uranium, the anticipated cost of planned exploration activities, that general business and economic conditions will not change in a material adverse manner, that financing will be available if and when needed and on reasonable terms, that third party contractors, equipment and supplies and governmental and other approvals required to conduct the Companya?s planned exploration activities will be available on reasonable terms and in a timely manner. Although the assumptions made by the Company in providing forward-looking information or making forward-looking statements are considered reasonable by management at the time, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will prove to be accurate.

Forward-looking information and statements also involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual events or results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future events or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking information or statements, including, among others: negative operating cash flow and dependence on third party financing, uncertainty of additional financing, no known mineral reserves or resources, the limited operating history of the Company, the influence of a large shareholder,A alternative sources of energy and uranium prices, aboriginal title and consultation issues, reliance on key management and other personnel, actual results of exploration activities being different than anticipated, changes in exploration programs based upon results, availability of third party contractors, availability of equipment and supplies, failure of equipment to operate as anticipated; accidents, effects of weather and other natural phenomena and other risks associated with the mineral exploration industry, environmental risks, changes in laws and regulations, community relations and delays in obtaining governmental or other approvals.

Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information or implied by forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.A The Company undertakes no obligation to update or reissue forward-looking information as a result of new information or events except as required by applicable securities laws
New York (UN), 1 November 2022 (SPS)  Member of the National Secretariat and Representative of the Frente POLISARIO at the United Nations and Coordinator with MINURSO, Dr Sidi Mohamed Omar, stressed that the statements made by the representative of the occupying state of Morocco following the adoption of the latest Security Council resolution on the extension of the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) are just a new episode of the pathetic acrobatic shows prepared mainly for domestic consumption.

In a statement to the Sahara Press Service (SPS), Dr Sidi Mohamed Omar said that the representative of the occupying state, as evidence of his poor and pathetic performance, brought in a group of journalists loyal to the occupying regime to whom he distributed roles to ask him about a set of topics whose answers had been prepared in advance, thinking that this ploy would fool the international journalists and diplomats present at the media encounter.

During this poor monologue, the representative of the occupying state displayed his expertise in deception and disinformation when he desperately tried to deny the existence of a Sahrawi civil society in the Liberated Territories of the Sahrawi Republic and the Sahrawi refugee camps. He cited one of the articles of the Constitution of the Sahrawi State against the background of the mention in the Secretary-Generals recent report of the meetings that the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Western Sahara held with Sahrawi civil society groups.

The Representative of the Frente POLISARIO at the United Nations stressed that the noise made by the representative of the occupying state will not obscure the fact that there is a vibrant Sahrawi civil society including women, youth, and voluntary groups in both the Liberated Territories of the Sahrawi Republic and the refugee camps as well as active human rights organisations in the Sahrawi Occupied Territories.

The Sahrawi diplomat wondered since when does the concept of civil society mean anything to the representative of an absolute monarchy based on tyranny and degradation of human dignity that strips Moroccans of their sense of citizenship and civil status to become mere subjects who are forced to succumb to humiliating practices that call to mind the past ages of slavery?

The occupying state of Morocco, added Dr Sidi Mohamed Omar, is the least qualified in the world to speak of human rights and fundamental freedoms due to its appalling and well-documented human rights record and its inherently repressive and authoritarian political regime. Moreover, raising the issue of civil society is aimed at trying to hide the fact that the occupying state refused and obstructed the visit of the Personal Envoy to the Territory in early July.

He further stated that it is very clear that the occupying state continues to fear that the Personal Envoy would witness first-hand the situation on the ground in the Sahrawi Occupied Territories and the repression to which Sahrawi civilians and human rights activists are subjected daily under the illegal Moroccan military occupation.

In an indirect response to the brief mention in the Secretary-Generals latest report of the situation of Sahrawi prisoners among the Gdeim Izik group, the representative of the occupying state claimed that they were living in the best conditions. This claim is refuted by the reports of the competent United Nations bodies and international human rights organisations, which confirm that Sahrawi prisoners live in deplorable conditions and are subjected to humiliating and retaliatory practices by the Moroccan prison administration, which deprives them of the most basic rights to receive family visits and necessary health care.

The Representative of the Frente POLISARIO at the United Nations added that, as usual, the representative of the occupying state of Morocco rehashed the same false propaganda that the occupying state has long been spreading regarding the existence of forced recruitment of children in Sahrawi refugee camps. To support its baseless claims, the occupying state often presents photoshopped images and uses pictures taken from different conflict zones.

In this context, the Sahrawi diplomat emphasised that many United Nations, European Union, and international agencies have been present in the Sahrawi refugee camps for decades, and that none of them has ever supported Moroccos misleading claims.

Dr Sidi Mohamed Omar added that, instead of making baseless allegations about Sahrawi children, the representative of the occupying state of Morocco should have been deeply concerned and ashamed about the situation of so many children in his own country who are being exploited where some foreign nationals, primarily from Europe and the Middle East, engage in child sex tourism in major Moroccan cities, according to the Trafficking in Persons report issued by the U.S. Department of State in July 2022.

As part of the continued, desperate attempt by the Moroccan regime to discredit the legitimate liberation struggle waged by the Sahrawi people against the illegal Moroccan occupation of parts of the Sahrawi Republic, which has entered a new phase since 13 November 2020, the representative of the occupying state claimed that there are military relations between the Frente POLISARIO and foreign actors, citing images of military devices the manufacture of which has been shown by specialists to be different from the one claimed by the representative who is obsessed with fabrication.

In conclusion, the Representative of the Frente POLISARIO at the United Nations and Coordinator with MINURSO stressed that, by spreading such malicious propaganda, the occupying state of Morocco seeks only to hide its well-documented role in supporting terrorism and transnational terrorist groups that rely on Moroccan-made cannabis and other drugs as the main source of financing its terrorist operations in the Sahel and the Sahara region.

The reliance of the occupying state on external actors and its attempt to please them by spreading these kinds of false propaganda demonstrate that its childish diplomacy is in disarray at a time when it persists in its aggressive policy, which threatens the security and stability of the entire region. (SPS)

090/500/60 (SPS)
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The number of registrations of individuals and legal persons increased, in the first nine months of this year, by 3.32%, compared to the similar period in 2021, to 120,602, of which 90,814 are limited liability companies (SRL), according to data centralized by the National Trade Register Office (ONRC), consulted by AGERPRES.

The most registrations were recorded in Bucharest, respectively 22,447 (plus 25.46%, compared to January-September 2021), and in the counties of Cluj - 7,474 (+13.35%), Ilfov - 6,207 (+16.13 %) and Timis - 5,702 (+5.18%).At the opposite pole, the lowest number of registrations was recorded in the counties of Covasna - 738 (14.39% decrease, compared to the first nine months of 2021), Tulcea - 834 (20.95% decrease) and Ialomita - 864 (plus 1.41%).According to ONRC, the fields in which the most registrations were made are: wholesale and retail trade; motor vehicle and motorcycle repair (20,670, -11.4%, compared to the same period last year), professional, scientific and technical activities (13,384, +29.65%) and construction (12,394, -4.99%)
Sanda Ionescu turned 100 years old in October 2022, and one of her wishes was to return to the place where she lived, as she says, "a large part of her life", at the National News Agency AGERPRES.

Sanda Ionescu worked for 30 years in the National News Agency and came back to visit it after another 43.





She has vivid memories from the time she was a journalist. She remembers the first newsroom she worked in and says that not much has changed, listing almost every destination of the rooms we pass by. She admires the photos arranged on the walls of the hallways and, because her sight no longer helps her like it did in her youth, she asks us to tell her their stories.



In front of the Central News Office, she stops for a few seconds and then stretches out her hand, as if impatient, to open the door. We enter and she sits at a desk.





"This agency, AGERPRES was established, which, how can I put, had seven newsrooms at the beginning, and after that, little by little, it took the scale it took, because at one point it was the only Romanian news agency, there was nothing else (...) I was really wondering if there would be people who knew that AGERPRES was founded in a modest house on Matei Millo street and not in this palace where we came," says Madam Ionescu, emphasizing that, over time, "AGERPRES has kept its identity".





She recounts a lot of, perhaps to keep her emotions in check. She tells us how the offices were set up, how the editors worked, shows us the work book and magazines featuring news articles written by her. The only thing she regrets is that the news in the magazines were only signed AGERPRES and she would have liked the editors' names to be written as well.



She graduated from the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy in 1947 and after that taught, for a short time, at the high school she graduated from, the Carmen Silva high school. However, teaching did not appeal to her, so she participated in the competition at the Ministry of Information, Press and Culture. She worked as an editor-translator for two years, at a bulletin, translating Italian and French magazines.

"And that's how I started the activity until 1949 - 1950 when they told us, for whomever is interested, that the Romanian News Agency is being established," recalls Sanda Ionescu about how she became a journalist.



She says that she liked translating best and then making news, because the information was much more interesting. She liked to write from cultural events. To convince us, she brought news articles written by her. With the paper yellowed by time in her hand, she tells us about the time she was at a festival in 1953, from where she returned to the newsroom with statements that were then broadcast on news feeds.





Sanda Ionescu maintains that it is important for journalists to do their job passionately, to be convinced that they have chosen the workplace that best suits each one's qualities and possibilities, and she wishes her "colleagues" from AGERPRES to remember with emotion that they lived part of their lives at the National News Agency.





"I wish them to get to an age like mine, and to be able to remember with emotion that they lived a large part of their lives at AGERPRES. 30 years may even represent half for some, as Dante says, who considered that 36 years is halfway through life. (...) So, I wish them to always be (...) attracted to the work they do, not to do it for other reasons. I wish them good health and many years. AGERPRES is an absolutely necessary institution not only for the country, but also abroad. As long as there are agencies with tradition such as France-Presse or others, I think it is absolutely necessary to have a Romanian news agency and especially one with a very large range of work and activity. I wish you a long life!'' Sanda Ionescu told us before leaving.
Bucharest general mayor Nicusor Dan, said, in a live on his Facebook page Tuesday night, when asked what his strengths are compared to the former mayor Gabriela Firea, that he managed to get the institution out of bankruptcy, that he has a systematic vision on the main problems of the city, but also a different approach regarding urbanism.

"We have a mayor who pushed the city hall into bankruptcy and one who pulled it out. But probably if we compare there are several (strong points, ed.n.). First of all, a systematic vision of what needs to be done in this city regarding the main problems: traffic, heating. And after that, also a huge difference in urban planning, where the public authority did not matter, not to say that it was an accomplice in the previous term," said Nicusor Dan.When asked what a working day at the city hall looks like for him, Nicusor Dan replied that initially he had a schedule from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., but now, because he takes his daughter to school, he works from 8:00 a.m. until 20:00. At the same time, he declared that a meeting with representatives of the General Council of the Capital and a discussion with representatives of the Legal Department (Bucharest City Hall has a total of 5,000 litigations) are part of the program of every Monday."Every Monday I sign about 50-80 defenses. There is also an almost weekly meeting with those from the Investment Directorate, with whom we see the status of the projects we have. There is a meeting, also weekly, on urban planning disputes and property, in general, which are about 500. That means we talk between 20-30 a week. Other than that, things are pretty fluid, depending on the emergencies that come up and the opportunities that come up. There is some periodicity of the meetings with the Economics Direcorate, with the Directorate of non-reimbursable funds. An important component: signing construction authorizations and certificates," he said.As for the "octopus" in the City Hall, which he had denounced during the election campaign, the general mayor specified that there are only about 10 people left, out of the 50 he referred to."If I remember correctly, there were about 50 people in that octopus. Through the dissolution of the municipal companies, an important part of them left the institution. I think we are somewhere around 10 out of 50 left at the moment. It must be said that the city has so many problems, that it was not a goal in itself to go to war with the people brought in by the former administration and they are people who won a job contest. So until they do something grave, they are people who won a contest and they are part of the public administration," said Nicusor Dan.A
The Minister of the French Armed Forces, Sebastien Lecornu, will be on an official visit to Romania on Thursday, informs the Ministry of National Defense (MApN), told Agerpres.

He will have a meeting with the Minister of Defense, Angel Tilvar, at the MApN headquarters, at the end of which joint press statements are scheduled.

The agenda of the French delegation also includes, during the morning, a visit to the "Getica" National Training Center in Cincu, Brasov County, a wreath-laying ceremony at the French Heroes Monument in Cismigiu Park in Bucharest.

Later, Minister Lecornu will be received by President Klaus Iohannis, at the Cotroceni Palace, and by Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, at the Victoria Palace.

France leads the NATO battle group in Romania established since May. The formation of battle groups from Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary is part of the wider set of measures adopted by NATO to strengthen the deterrence and defense posture in the medium and long term, as a result of the war started by the Russian Federation in Ukraine.

At France's proposal to take over the role of framework nation, the French battalion deployed in Romania, considered the spearhead of NATO's Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF), is currently forming the Collective Defense Battle Group (CDBG) on the territory nationally, integrating, in rotation, troops from Belgium and the Netherlands. The main forces of the CDBG are deployed in the National Combined Training Center in Cincu, where they carry out training missions and activities alongside structures of the Romanian Army.
Freedom of the press must remain protected, but journalists must take responsibility for the information they convey, German Ambassador in Bucharest Peer Gebauer stated on Wednesday, at the opening of the conference called "Combating disinformation and fake news."

"We ask how can we make ourselves heard before this immensity of pieces of information floating through social media, how can we deal with this absurd theories because they are everywhere. Basically, the central piece is that the freedom of the press must remain further protected, it is an undisputed thing and this allowed free societies to exist. (...) It's paramount to keep this thing, but it is also about mass media's own responsibility," the diplomat stated, according to the official translation.

He talked about the necessary effort to verify information.

According to him, combating "fake news" cannot be more actual than it is now." "I have experienced this thing in the year of the pandemic and now, too, following Russia's aggression against Ukraine, when disinformation and fake news are propagating," the Ambassador stated, told Agerpres.

Germany's Ambassador in Bucharest added that the phenomenon is expanding through social media, also talking about Russia's practices that use various "targeted methods, in order to manipulate."

Ambassador Peer Gebauer mentioned some alternative theories, including in the context of Russia's attack on Ukraine, "which cannot be challenged by anyone."

"All these theories lead to the fact that in certain Western societies some people think 'yes, perhaps there is a grain of truth' and not necessarily because they support Russia, but somehow they gain a distance," he explained.

The diplomat called on journalists and politicians to react to such fake information. In Germany, at the Executive level, the fake news phenomenon is "fought very firmly," he underscored.
On Wednesday, the Government approved the draft law on the organization and operation of the National Informatics System for Alerts and Romania's accession to the Schengen Information System, as well as on the modification and supplementing of of GEO no. 194/2002 on the regime of foreigners in Romania, told Agerpres.

According to a press release from the Executive, the draft law ensures the legal framework necessary for Romania's participation in the exchange of data with the member states of the Schengen Area, according to the provisions included in the three regulations that form the new European legal basis of the Schengen Information System (SIS) regarding return of illegally staying third-country nationals, borders and cooperation.

"It is about Regulations (EU) 2018/1860, 2018/1861 and 2018/1862 of the European Parliament and of the Council of the European Union, which include regulations aimed at increasing the effectiveness of the Schengen Information System, strengthening data protection and extending access rights. All these improvements are now transposed, through this draft law, in the national level, ensuring the alignment of the National Alert System (N-SIS) to the Schengen Information System. For the newly introduced aspects, the necessary mechanisms must be created to allow their implementation and to correspond to the new European context of data exchange between member states through the Schengen Information System," the same press release explains.

The normative act establishes the competent national authorities with the right to access, provide or consult data in the N-SIS. An operational committee is to be established to analyze and solve operational problems.

The project provides for the extension of the right of access to the National Alert System for several national authorities, includes vulnerable persons in the category of missing persons reports and introduces a series of new procedural regulations regarding the confidentiality of border controls and the protection of personal data.
Representatives of the Border Police from the member states of the Salzburg Forum met on Wednesday at the headquarters of Romania's General Inspectorate of the Border Police (IGPF), the discussions targeting the management of the illegal migration phenomenon, told Agerpres.

"The delegation of the Romanian Border Police presented the measures available regarding the management of the illegal migration phenomenon, but also the implications from the external border of the European Union. Thus, it was pointed out that, because of the specifics of its geographical position and considering the migration routes existing in this region, Romania is constantly monitoring the development of the migration phenomenon, especially in the south and southeast of Europe, in order to ensure an adequate and efficient response to possible crisis situations," a IGPF press release informed.

The Romanian delegation was led by Inspector General Stefan Ivascu. Also in attendance were representatives of the management of the "Border Police" Directorate-General of Bulgaria, the Directorate for Foreigners within the Czech Police, Croatia's Directorate of the Border Police, the Border and Foreign Bureau of Slovakia, the Border Police Division of Slovenia and the Directorate General of Law Enforcement within the General Inspectorate of the Hungarian Police.

"At the same time, the possibility of a common approach regarding the strengthening of security and cooperation at the external borders in the region was discussed, in view of identifying the most effective methods of response to the challenges generated by the implementation of the border management concept," the quoted source shows.

The Salzburg Forum represents a form of cooperation between the Interior Ministries of the following member states: Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia.
President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday signed, during a ceremony held at the Cotroceni Palace, the decree on the promulgation of the law approving the national cancer prevention and control plan, told Agerpres.

The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, initiators of the law and presidential advisors.

According to the law, the plan is implemented for the period 2023 - 2030 and represents the main public policy document that underpins the measures meant to prevent and fight cancer at the national level. The document will be updated depending on new results and according to the strategic directions in the field of cancer prevention and control established by the World Health Organization and at the level of the European Union.

The normative act provides that all Romanian citizens with their domicile or residence in Romania, citizens of the member states of the European Union, of the European Economic Area and citizens of the Swiss Confederation, as well as foreigners and stateless persons who have their domicile or residence in Romania have the state-guaranteed right to medical, social and psychological support services included in the National Cancer Prevention and Control Plan, such as: medical services for cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment, care services, including palliative care, psycho-oncology, onconutrition and oncofertility, social services and monthly food allowances.

"The Ministry of Health, as the central authority in the field of public health, is responsible for planning, initiating, coordinating, monitoring and evaluating all measures necessary to prevent and combat cancer. The National Health Insurance House and the Ministry of Finance are responsible for carrying out the measures of plan," the law establishes.

The cancer prevention and control plan in Romania is mainly financed by the Ministry of Health, from the state budget. The amount approved annually for the financing of the national plan represents at least 20pct of the total funds approved for the implementation of health programmes at the national level by the Ministry of Health and the National Health Insurance House, the law stipulates.

The normative act also provides that the Ministry of Finance creates and finances a health innovation fund through the budget of the Ministry of Health.

In charge with meeting all the objectives and measures included in the national cancer prevention and control plan are all the central and local public authorities, as well as of all natural and legal persons.

Within 180 days from the date of the entry into force of the law, the Government approves by decision the rules for the application and implementation of the national cancer prevention and control plan in Romania, developed by the Ministry of Health together with each ministry that has a medical network.

The law comes into force on January 1, 2023.
The Minister of Research, Innovation and Digitization, Sebastian Burduja, is currently paying a visit to Lisbon, where he is participating in the world's largest event for new technologies - Web Summit 2022, told Agerpres.

According to a press release of the MCID sent to AGERPRES on Wednesday, in this context, on Tuesday, the 7th "Meeting of the Romanian network of startups participating in the Web Summit" took place at the Romanian Embassy in Portugal.

"I debated for almost three hours with over 60 Romanian entrepreneurs, with incredible energy and with products that are already changing the world. About the Portuguese model of supporting startups, best practice models and what we can bring back home. I conveyed to them that the Romanian Government is open to collaboration and encouragement of the business environment, especially in the IT&C sector, and I am always at their disposal," said Burduja, according to the press release.

On Wednesday, the Minister of Research, Innovation and Digitization met with Carlos Moedas, the mayor of the city of Lisbon, and visited the Hub Creativo de Beato, where he was presented with the "unicorn factory" concept.

Sebastian Burduja also had a series of bilateral meetings with the Minister of Economy, Antonio Costa Silva, and with Bernardo Ivo Cruz - Secretary of State for Internationalization.

He also visited the stands of the Romanian companies exhibiting at the Web Summit: HyperSense Software, Tulipr, Freya Sense, Newtowner based in Portugal and Plant an App based in the USA, it is also shown in the same press release.
New vehicle registrations in Romania in the first ten months of 2022 reached 105,817 units, up 8.19% y-o-y, according to data with the Driving Licence and Motor Vehicle Registration Directorate (DRPCIV), cited by the Romanian Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACAROM), told Agerpres.

In the category of new vehicles, registrations increased by 9.71% in October, y-o-y, to 10,541 units.

According to the official data, new vehicle registrations in the first ten months of 2022 reached 105,817 units, up 8.19% over 97,870 units one year before.

The ranking of new vehicle brands registered between January and October is led by Dacia, with 30,906 units, followed by Toyota (8,623), Hyundai (8,202), Ford (7,481), Skoda (7,168), Volkswagen (6,817), Renault (6,299), Peugeot (3,056), and Mercedes (2,977).

As regards used vehicles registered for the first time in Romania, their number was standing at 26,390 units in October, down 20.27% from the year before.

In the first ten months of 2022, 268,382 used vehicles were registered for the first time in Romania, down 20.65% from last year's 338,241 units.
The National Investment and Trade Agency will become operational in a "very short" time and will be a support tool for the business community, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said on Wednesday at the release of a national ranking of Romania's privately-owned companies, told Agerpres.

"If we currently manage to keep the balance, to give predictability for what the business community in Romania means, it is also due to this stability of trust that we managed to transmit to you, to the business community of Romania, as well as to foreign investors. We did it in such a way that we could optimise and bring to life everything that we decided. We promised that we would make an agency, a tool, which ultimately materialised into an agency that deals with investment and the promotion of Romanian products. It is about the National Investment and Trade Agency. It is going to become functional, we cannot say that it will work miracles overnight, but in a very short time it will become operational and we will be able to come to your aid with this tool,' said Ciuca.

He added that the measures taken by the government were in accordance with the opportunities offered by the access to the European cohesion funds and those allocated under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).

"I will remember all the debates on the measures that had to be implemented, on the technical procedures that had to ensure equity and access for the entire business community. It is very clear that we cannot achieve our goals without ensuring a business environment that is open to Romanian investors. I have been in a whole series of visits to the country and managed to see both foreign investment and investment on mixed capital and 100% Romanian investment. I want to tell you that I am as impressed as possible and, at the same time, proud when I saw what is still the reality of Romanian investment, the reality and the potential of Romanian capital, which is very clearly distinguished in a whole series of areas where we can perform. It is a shame not to come to the aid of all those who at the moment from the front can demonstrate that we have creativity; we have human resources and we have a framework that can encourage you to continue investing and developing business the countries you have," the prime minister conveyed to the entrepreneurs.

He added that the government will also keep its word regarding the implementation of the procedures and opportunities offered by Romania's accession to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

"There are a whole series of technical phases, stages, which we will discuss with you and we will transpose them in administrative measures so that we can have a regulated business environment in accordance with that of the other countries that provide 90% of the world's economic potential," said Ciuca.
President Klaus Iohannis will welcome, on Thursday, at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace, President of the Swiss Confederation Ignazio Cassis, on the occasion of the latter's official visit to Romania, informs the Presidential Administration.

The visit takes place within the framework of the dynamic, high-level bilateral dialogue in recent years.The two heads of state will address proposals for strengthening the bilateral relationship and economic and sectoral cooperation, with an emphasis on stimulating investments and identifying new areas of collaboration.They will also have an exchange of views on current topics on the international agenda, with an emphasis on the evolution of the Russian Federation's war of aggression against Ukraine, humanitarian aid measures for the Ukrainian population and refugees, the implications of the conflict in terms of energy, as well as in terms of global food security. Romanian-Swiss multilateral cooperation will also be on the agenda of the discussions, including from the perspective of Switzerland's future mandate as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, which it will exercise in the period 2023-2024.From the perspective of the European agenda, the framework of relations between the European Union and the Swiss Confederation will be addressed, as well as the Swiss contribution to the EU's cohesion fund, by the granting of the second financial tranche intended to reduce economic and social disparities within the EU.The signing of the Romanian-Swiss Framework Agreement, operationalizing the second Swiss financial tranche for the reduction of economic and social disparities within the EU will also take place on the occasion of the visit of the President of the Swiss Confederation in Bucharest.The two presidents will have face-to-face and official talks to be followed by joint press statements.
The city of Timisoara will be an European Capital of Culture (ECC) in 2023, on which occasion it will welcome visitors with a new museum, especially built just a few kilometers from Timisoara, in Parta, where there will be placed a replica of the Neolithic Sanctuary from Parta, unique in the world, told Agerpres.

The museum will be ready in December.

"Visitors will see a replica of this unique sanctuary in the world, through which we can find out how our ancestors used a location 12 thousand years ago to pray and perform different religious rituals. The original is located at the National Museum of Banat (MNB) and it should also be moved [to the new museum - editor's note]. Besides the sanctuary there will also be exhibitions related to the archaeological diggings, and in addition to these exhibitions we want the new museum to be like a research base for future generations and for those who still want to do diggings at Parta, on the site, because only a small part of the things there has been uncovered. We are only starting to built the replica now, because we still hope to be able to convince archaeologist Gheorghe Lazarovici, who is the scientist at the MNB responsible for the replica, to also allow us to move the sanctuary from the replica of the sanctuary in the castle. The restoration is going very quickly, in a maximum of three weeks it will be ready, we have the people, we have the plan, we have everything," MNB head Claudiu Ilas stated on Wednesday.

The archaeological site of Parta is known through discoveries of archaeological materials from the second half of the 19th century. The sanctuary was discovered by the unveiling of the monumental statue which immediately stood out as an exceptional architectural element. The results of the archaeological investigation proves the existence of two main stages of the sanctuary, overlapping, both belonging to the Middle Neolithic, of which the second had two stages of restoration. The initial sanctuary was probably burned down and rebuilt later, in the form of a building with several rooms erected around a monumental statue that was made of sandy soil covered by a layer of chaff. The preserved elements of the sanctuary were integrated into its reconstruction in one of the halls of the Huniade Castle, but the dimensions of the hall did not allow the reconstruction of the sanctuary on a real scale.

"The uniqueness of the Parta sanctuary is due to cultural peculiarities. It is unique in that the cultural aspect that is in Parta is unique, but the uniqueness also depends on a stage of research. There are other sanctuaries in Europe, but Parta is a special place because there are several monuments with a spiritual function there, many objects that belong to this spiritual domain are found in Parta. It is also a very big excavation that was done there and much more things can be exhibited in a museum dedicated to the Neolithic,' the former manager of the MNB, Leopold Ciobotaru, told AGERPRES.

According to him, there are several sanctuaries in the county, the most famous being those at Uivar and Cornesti, each with its own particularities. He also specified that especially foreign tourists are attracted to the Parta sanctuary.

"There are people who deal with centres of spiritual energy, of original, primitive, native culture. They come to Parta, buy books about Parta and publish abroad about Parta, because it is one of the important European centres of this kind," mentioned Leopold Ciobotaru.

The new museum in Parta is being built within the INTERREG IPA Romania-Serbia Cross-border Cooperation Programme and benefits from a total funding of 762,660 euros and will be served by 100 employees, estimating over 10 thousand visitors in the first five years.
A mammoth molar, about 10,000 years old, has been found by the Neamt Police Criminal Investigation Service at a woman of Borlesti, Neamt County, told Agerpres.

Spokesperson for the Neamt County Police Inspectorate Ramona Ciofu said on Wednesday that the police started an investigation this May when someone posted on an online sales platform an advertisement for the sale of a mammoth molar.

According to some sources, the woman asked 4,000 euros for the molar, but the ad was deleted after a short time.

Following their latest investigation of November 2, the Police identified a 55-year-old woman of Borlesti as the owner of the mammoth molar.

"The police probes have established that the fossil was discovered by chance in 2018 in the bed of the Nechit river, in the village of Borlesti, by a local, now dead. He allegedly offered it as a gift to the 55-year-old woman, who would have kept it as a decorative stone, not knowing its value and provenance," said Ciofu.

The Police impounded the molar.

Under Article 49 of Law 182/2000 on the protection of the national movable cultural heritage, individuals who accidentally discover cultural, paleontological or archaeological items have to hand them over to the state authorities, within 72 hours after discovery.
Young musicians and visual artists between the ages of 14 and 24, pupils or students at vocational education institutions, who come from low-income families, can apply until November 30 to become scholarship holders of of the "Young Talents" program, now at its 15th edition, told Agerpres.

During a calendar year, young artists in the field of classical music or visual arts will be supported through artistic development grants, inter-generational mentoring programs and promotion actions, Royal Foundation Margareta of Romania (FRMR) informs in a release sent to AGERPRES on Wednesday.

Individual scholarships, worth up to 2000 euros, can be used for the purchase of materials and tools necessary for artistic activity or for participation in specialization courses, contests, festivals, exhibitions or other projects, in the country and abroad.

The inter-generational mentoring sessions give scholarship holders the chance to interact with personalities of the artistic and cultural life, and the masterclasses and creative workshops supported by established artists support them in improving their skills.

The artistic creations of young people, realized through individual and group projects, will be promoted by participating in various events, concerts, recitals and exhibitions, organized by the foundation and partners.

Recognized as the best Art and Culture program in Romania, four times laureate at the Civil Society Gala, the national program "Young Talents" creates equal opportunities for budding artists, offering them the chance to develop their potential, to express their talent and fulfill their dreams, regardless of their social context.

Over time, more than 1,800,000 euros has been invested in Romania's artistic future, FRMR informs.

The program is supported by partners and sponsors, but also through donations made via SMS to 8864 with the text ARTA. The public can donate 4 euros per month to support scholarships for Romania's talented young people.
The 2023-2026 Strategy for Romanians Abroad is to be proposed to the Executive for approval in May - June next year, Secretary of State with the Department for Romanians Abroad Gheorghe Carciu announced on Wednesday, told Agerpres.

"The purpose of this work is to ensure a direction of concrete actions for the next four years, I would say in the medium and long term, because we also want to achieve what we aim and, in order to truly support Romanians outside of the borders, we need medium and long term projects. (...) We hope we achieve it in 2023, to place on the Government's table a new well determined strategy," Carciu stated.

The Secretary of State participated on Wednesday in an inter-institutional consultation conference and with the Romanian associative environment over the 2023-2026 National Strategy for Romanians Abroad and the 2023-2026 Prioritization Plan of interventions made by the Department for Romanians Abroad.

Carciu brought to mind that the Government took on the completion of this strategy, and this year, for the first time, the Department for Romanians Abroad, "has been taken seriously" at the budget revision and received 51 million lei.

The State Advisor with the Department for the Relation with Romanians Abroad of the Presidential Administration, Sandra Pralong, signaled the necessity of a better collaboration between the state's institutions in supporting Romanians abroad, as well as the adoption of a "more articulated" vision in providing some services to them.

"Romanians abroad represent an absolutely incalculable asset for Romania. Obviously, they represent a loss, this is not up for debate, however, if we know how to better use this potential of influence and expertise, we can be a country that wins not only through the Romanians' return who come with new skills, new abilities, who come with new expectations from the state. (...) Romanians abroad are ambassadors. We all say this thing, but we do little to truly empower and expand the Romanian soft-power through them," Pralong stated.

Social Democratic Party (PSD) Deputy Natalia Intotero, former Minister for Romanians Abroad, called for the regulation of teachers' statute who teach classes of Romanian language, culture and civilisation outside Romania.

Former Education Minister Monica Anisie, the head of the Senate's Committee for education, youth and sport, underscored that the Romanian state should make all the efforts so that "each Romanian be valued, whether he/she is on Romania's soil or beyond the country's borders."

According to PSD senator and former National Defence Minister Vasile Dincu, in the activity dedicated to Romanians abroad, there should be a shift from emotion to reason. He pleaded for the establishment of a ministry for Romanians abroad, with a "serious" budget, "comparable to one of a ministry which manages the destiny of millions of Romanians."

The Former National Defence Minister proposed that the future strategy for Romanians abroad be debated within the governing coalition.

The Department for Romanians Abroad organised, with physical and online participation, a first consultation on the strategic documents for the drafting of the new National Strategy for Romanians Abroad, the event's objective being the development of a set of strategic planning tools through its substantiation.

The dialogue moderated by Secretary of State Gheorghe Carciu was also attended by representatives of the Government and Parliament, Director of AGERPRES National News Agency Claudia Nicolae and Director of TVR International Mihaela Craciun, representatives of other public institutions and the Romanian associative environment interested in the topic from the country and abroad.

The National Strategy for Romanians Abroad is the public policies document which includes the objectives, directions of actions and measures foreseen for 2023-2026, adapted to the current needs of the historical communities and the mobility diaspora, in order to preserve, affirm and promote the Romanian identity.

The Strategy includes seven general objectives: preserving, developing and stating linguistic identity; preserving, developing and affirming cultural and spiritual identity; supporting civil society, defending the rights of Romanians outside the borders and strengthening the associative environment; the development of mass media in the Romanian language; facilitating the return and reintegration of the Romanian citizens who decide to come back to the country, including by supporting social and economic initiatives; the involvement of the Diaspora members in the development of Romanian society; facilitating access to information and programmes unfolded by the Romanian state for Romanians abroad.
The "Babes-Bolyai" University (UBB) of Cluj Napoca announced on Tuesday that it forwarded to the National Council to Attest University Titles, Diplomas and Certificates (CNATDCU) and the Education Ministry, the briefing regarding the decision of the Ethics Commission regarding Interior Minister Lucian Bode's doctoral thesis, told Agerpres.

"Seeing some discussions in the public space and, in order to contribute to the understanding of the Decision on correct principles, beyond some exaggerations and misunderstandings, some clarifications are needed in respect to the procedures which can and cannot be implemented by various institutions (which also results from a careful reading of the decision). Therefore, based on its own authority established by various regulations, the Ethics Commission of the UBB: analyzed the concrete notifications; analyzed the thesis in its entirety based on two anti-plagiarism softwares," a release of the UBB showed.

The quoted source mentions that, according to the law, the Ethics Commissions analyzed the notifications which also include the related evidence.

"However, in this case, the UBB's Ethics Commission analyzed both the evidence presented in the notification and those resulting from the complete verification of the thesis through anti-plagiarism softwares. Texts without quotation or which raise issues from the perspective of their correct attribution were additionally checked. For clarity, the resulting 2.95 plagiarism percentage is related to the entire thesis, after checking the whole thesis, not just a part of it," the release states.

The UBB also announces that the value of the scientific content of the thesis, which is not the subject of the ethical approach, has not been analyzed. Instead, the Decision of the UBB's Ethics Commission "clearly" identified the existence of ethical violations and made internal recommendations to Lucian Bode as well, which, however, cannot be imposed directly to him, as he no longer has a contractual relationship with the university.

On Tuesday, the UBB make public the conclusions of the analysis conducted by the Ethics Commission of the UBB on the doctoral thesis of Interior Minister Lucian Bode, establishing that there are "a series of deviations from good publishing norms - quotation errors and some plagiarized fragments."

The Ethics Commission mentioned that it cannot lay down sanctions in this case, but it can request the author and the publishing house which edited the thesis to correct the identified inaccuracies.
President Klaus Iohannis signed on Wednesday the decree for the decoration of academician Zeljko Reiner, vice-president of the Parliament of the Republic of Croatia, told Agerpres.

According to the Presidential Administration, the head of state conferred the National Order "For Merit" in the Grand Cross rank to Zeljko Reiner as a sign of appreciation for "the important involvement in the development and deepening of cooperation on multiple levels between our country and the Republic of Croatia, for the promotion of Romania's image in the Croatian space".
A stream that has flowed underground in Tower Grove Park for more than 100 years formally saw daylight Wednesday morning during a dedication ceremony that involved members of the Osage nation, park officials, and the engineers and workers who revived it.

The stream, named Nee Kee Nee, or revived water in Osage, came to life when Andrea Hunter, director of the Osage Nation Tribal Historic Preservation Office in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, pressed the button that activated the clean water portion of the stream for the first time.

The water bubbled up, filled a basin, and began flowing over an edge over a series of stones and into the channel.

We have a longtime history of being here and taking care of the landscape, taking care of the plants, the animals in the water, and that was a mission that we hold in common with the Tower Grove Park folks, said Hunter.

The stream, a $2.6 million project with construction that started in spring 2021, meanders about 1,600 feet northwest through the eastern end of the park. It involved about three acres of new construction, with plantings of 61 trees and 137 shrubs.

The project treats stormwater from more than 43 acres of the park and neighborhoods to the south, said Chip Crawford, the managing director for the Lamar Johnson Collaborative and the projects lead designer. It can treat 300,000 gallons of water that no longer has to enter the sewer system.

Its a pretty small stream with a mighty impact, he said. What started as a pretty straightforward stormwater infrastructure project has evolved into what I think will be one of the most culturally rich landscapes in our community, one that the St. Louis community can enjoy, be proud of and, most importantly, learn from.

There is no proof the Osage lived in Tower Grove Park, but it is likely they used it as hunting grounds. They lived in the area before the citys first European residents arrived in 1763, and the people were forced to cede the land to the U.S. government through the Treaty of 1808.

Park officials first spoke with members the Osage nation about the fate of the Christopher Columbus statue that was removed in 2020 amid national protests for racial justice. They started talking about incorporating symbolism into and working together on the stream project, part of the parks 2017 master plan.

The stream had been put underground around 1913, likely for sanitation reasons.

Three boulders in the basin at the headwaters represent the three remaining clans of the tribe, with the flowing waters representing part of the Osage origin story. Three boulders at the northern end represent three current tribal districts.

A line of granite pavers bisecting the stream sits along the line of the eastern-western equinox. Larger, rectangular stones set in the ground along the equinox represent the layout of a village. Nearby, pavers in the ground form a rectangle that represents a 45-foot-long Osage lodge.

Nothing that weve done has really been an accident, said Beth Casagrand, the parks director of community programs.

Near the headwaters there is also a small nature play area with balance beams and logs that angle out of the ground. The switch to turn on the water makes it flow for 15 minutes, and the creek is generally supposed to stay dry in drier weather. It joins with the sewer system at the first bridge within view of the headwaters.

Interpretive signage and artwork of animals significant to the Osage still have to be installed, and the plants along the creek will come more to life in the spring. Many of the seeds came from the Shaw Nature Reserve. The design also had to honor National Register of Historic Places requirements and retain elements of Victorian design, so more formal plantings border wilder prairies.

The project was funded by the Crawford Taylor Foundation, the Taylor and Kindle Families, and Metropolitan Sewer Districts Project Clear.
Q  Last night I had the chips and salsa from Sureste at City Foundry. It was amazing, and I would love to know how to make the salsa.  Jeff Wunrow, Botanical Heights

A  The salsa at Sureste Mexican isnt very chunky, its not bright red, and although theres some heat to it, the deeply brown salsa of roasted tomatoes, peppers and onions topped with cilantro really highlights the earthy spices and herbs that make it sing. Its served with house-made tortilla chips, thin and crispy.

SEE THE RECIPE HERE: Sureste Salsa Yield: About 22 cups; serving size  cup

Chef and owner Alex Henry noted salsa and chips isnt a menu standard in the Yucatan, the state in southeast Mexico where he was born. He serves it at his restaurant in the Food Hall at City Foundry, to the delight of his patrons. The dish isnt difficult to make, but it takes time and attention. At Sureste, each dish is built from scratch. There are no shortcuts. He wouldnt have it any other way.

When his St. Louisborn father relocated his family to the city in the mid-90s, Henry would return to Mexico for several months each year, spending time with his relatives.

My mother, my abuelitas and a lot of other people along the way influenced my cooking, he says. In Mexico, you go out on the street and see people cooking on the street and how they are doing it. Here, in the states, cooking happens behind closed doors. More often than not you cant see the food cooking or whos cooking it, he says.

At some point post-adolescence, Henry decided he liked cooking and gave it a shot. He attended culinary school at Forest Park Community College, then went out to work. I learned from a lot of really good teachers, both in school, and in the field from the great chefs right here in St. Louis.

I want to help people better understand just how vast the cooking of Mexico is. Most people in this part of the country are familiar with Tex-Mex, or Southwestern cooking, and northern regional Mexican cuisine, but there are 64 different indigenous languages in Mexico, with probably twice as many dialects. These cultures all have their different cuisines, he says.

Henry suggested two dishes for first-time visitors to Sureste Mexican might enjoy  the colado-style tamale, and the cochinita pibil tacos. Post-Dispatch food critic Ian Froeb agreed highlighted both dishes this year as well.

Henry also highlighted future plans. Well be getting our tortillas to markets soon, but anyone looking for fresh masa or tortillas can come by any day. We sell tortillas and masa here by the pound, he says. Its also noteworthy to mention, that since we are a corn-based kitchen instead of wheat-based one, were a dedicated gluten free restaurant.

Sureste Mexican City Foundry STL 3730 Foundry Way 314-760-4957; surestemexican.com

To request a recipe Would you like to request a recipe from a restaurant that is still open in the St. Louis area? Send your request along with your full name and the city you live in to reciperequest@post-dispatch.com.
Regardless of the constantly changing wine trends in the United States, chardonnay remains the most popular white wine in the country and the most-planted white grape variety in California. While the styles of California chardonnay can vary greatly, they tend to be food-friendly, medium- to full-bodied wines that can stand up to fatty fishes, white meats and cream sauces. The following are examples of oaked and unoaked wines from two of California top chardonnay-growing regions.

Mer Soleil 2020 Silver Unoaked Chardonnay, Monterey County, California

Bought  Wine and Cheese Place, 457 North New Ballas Road, in October for $15.99

Description  Mer Soliel is owned by the Wagner Family of Wines, the company launched by Chuck Wagner who founded the prestigious Caymus Vineyards with his late parents. Chucks son, Charlie, is the winemaker at Mer Soliel and his medium-bodied unoaked chardonnay was fermented and aged in a combination of stainless steel and small concrete tanks imported from Burgundy, France. This is a rich chardonnay that is so fruity it seems almost off-dry. It tastes of ripe green apple and stone fruit with a touch of spice. It ends with a long lemony finish.

Raeburn Winery 2020 Chardonnay, Russian River Valley, California

Bought  Wine and Cheese Place, 457 N. New Ballas Road, in October for $14.98

Description  Raeburn, a certified California Sustainable Winery, was founded by Purple Brands owner Derek Benham in honor of his mother Phyllis, who was a passionate naturalist. Its high-scoring Russian River Valley chardonnay is a beautifully balanced wine of which 75% was aged in French and Hungarian oak and the remainder in stainless steel. The combination results in a more subtle oak flavor. This is an elegant, creamy and complex medium- to full-bodied white that tastes of juicy green apples, pears and citrus with notes of honey, vanilla and toast.
Joe Holleman Joe Holleman is a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Joe Holleman Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

It was a celebration for a museum that arose from atrocity and delivered by dedication.

With about 170 people in attendance Wednesday  with several guests being Holocaust survivors  the ribbon was officially cut for the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum in west St. Louis County.

Technically, the event was a reopening of sorts. A Holocaust museum had been in the Jewish Federation building since 1995. That was closed in 2020 because of COVID-19, and remained closed while the new, considerably larger structure was built.

The guests of honor were survivor Gloria Kaplan Feldman and her family, which lost many relatives in the Holocaust.

Feldmans daughter, Cheryle Feldman Atkin, said the museum underscores societys obligation to insure that anti-semitism, bigotry and hatred are eliminated.

One speaker was U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, R-2nd District, who said she was proud of the role she played in securing about $1 million in grant money for the project.

Wagner also underscored her support of Israel, saying Jews must be allowed to live in peace ... in their own sovereign state.

The biggest laugh of the morning came courtesy of Missouri Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, who told the audience, Im not a politician by trade, Im a car dealer  and that probably gives most people comfort.

Kehoe, a Republican, said efforts to develop the museum enjoyed bipartisan support in the state Legislature. He singled out state Sen. Brian Williams, D-University City, and state Rep. Adam Schwadron, R-St. Charles, for sponsoring laws that set aside one week each April to teach Missouri students about the Holocaust.

Both Kehoe and St. Louis County Executive Sam Page lauded state Sen. Jill Schupp, D-Creve Coeur, who has represented the area in both legislative houses.

Page recalled being at the site in 2019 when plans for a new museum were proposed. This new museum, he said, will show visitors that the past is not just our past, but also a guide for our future.

Also speaking were two Jewish Federation of St. Louis executives, board chair Greg Yawitz and chief executive Brian Herstig.

The heartiest applause came when Rabbi Jeffrey Stiffman delivered a Hebrew blessing and attached a traditional mezuzah to a museum doorpost.

Said Stiffman, We live, and we shall live.
JEFFERSON CITY  A federal judge has set a February sentencing date for a former state lawmaker convicted of conducting fraud at medical clinics in southwest Missouri.

U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes set Feb. 28 to determine how long Patricia Derges will spend in prison for her role in the scheme, which included false claims that she was giving patients stem cell treatments.

Derges could face up to 20 years in federal prison without parole on each of the 10 wire fraud counts and on each of the 10 drug distribution counts, and a sentence of up to five years in federal prison without parole on each of the two false statements counts.

Wimes, however, has discretion on the length of time based on sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.

After a two-week trial in June, Derges was convicted of 22 counts including wire fraud, illegal distribution of controlled substances and making false statements to investigators.

Derges, a Republican from Nixa, was an assistant physician at several clinics. Federal prosecutors argued Derges claimed nearly $900,000 in federal funding for COVID-19 treatments that were not performed or had already been performed.

Prosecutors also said Derges administered amniotic fluid, which she falsely claimed contained stem cells, as a treatment for patients who suffered from various diseases, including erectile dysfunction, Lyme disease and urinary incontinence.

Derges attorney, Al Watkins of Clayton, told the jury that Derges was innocent and was targeted because she provided care for underserved patients through her nonprofit clinic. He said she did not intend to deceive patients.

Derges narcotics license was put on probation for three years in January.

Derges, first elected to the Missouri House in 2020, refused to resign after she was indicted early in 2021, despite pressure. She was stripped of her committee assignments in the House and given an office in a broom closet in the Capitol after the federal charges were lodged against her in 2021.

The Missouri Republican Party moved in February to block Derges from running for reelection as a member of the GOP.

She formally resigned from the House of Representatives soon after she was found guilty.

Derges was a businesswoman in the Springfield area when she decided in her 50s to go into medicine to answer what she described as a religious calling. Derges, who was born in Texas and is a 1975 graduate of Kirkwood High School in suburban St. Louis, where she was recognized in 2019 among several outstanding alumni. That recognition was later retracted.

Wimes allowed Derges to remain free on bond pending sentencing. He ordered Derges to turn over her passport and medical licenses and directed her not to refer to herself as a doctor or speak publicly about stem cells.
ST. LOUIS  Missouri residents have until Monday to apply for federal disaster aid to help recover from Julys floods.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has a Nov. 7 deadline for residents of St. Louis, St. Louis County and St. Charles County to apply for individual grants available since President Joe Biden approved a major disaster declaration Aug. 4 following flooding July 25 through July 28.

In Illinois, residents of St. Clair County can now apply for federal aid at one of two disaster recovery centers that opened Oct. 28. The aid was made available to residents Oct. 15 after Biden approved a disaster declaration for St. Clair County. FEMA has a Dec. 16 deadline for St. Clair County residents to apply for aid.

FEMA grants are available to renters and homeowners for home repair, personal property replacement and other assistance. Renters whose apartments werent flooded but who were evicted because of flood damage to other parts of the building are also eligible to apply for aid. Relief payments are not allowed to duplicate any insurance coverage.

Applications are also open to renters and homeowners for low-interest disaster loans administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Businesses can also apply for loans from the SBA. More information is available at SBA.gov or by calling 1-800-569-2955.

Applications for FEMA grants can be made by calling 800-621-3362, visiting DisasterAssistance.gov. or by visiting one of two local FEMA disaster recovery centers in Missouri.

 University City Recreation Division Centennial Commons: 7210 Olive Boulevard, University City. The center closes permanently at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

 Ranken Technical College Mary Ann Lee Technology Center: 1313 North Newstead Avenue, St. Louis (on the corner of Newstead and Page)

Both disaster centers are open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.

In Illinois, residents of St. Clair County can visit one of two FEMA disaster recovery centers:

 Clyde Jordan Senior Citizen Center: 6755 State Street, East St. Louis.

 Caseyville Village Hall: 909 South Main Street, Caseyville.

Both disaster centers are open from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Both centers will be closed Tuesday for elections.

Aid applicants with hearing or speech disabilities can use a video or captioned telephone service by providing the services phone number to FEMA. A helpline is open seven days a week.

FEMA asks flood survivors applying for aid to have information available including contact information, a list of damages or losses and bank and insurance information.

Updated at 10 a.m. Thursday
NEW ORLEANS (AP)  Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has given the Urban League of Louisiana a $5.7 million gift, the largest donation in the agency's 84-year history.

The Urban League of Louisiana, founded in 1938, hosts a variety of programs covering youth education, economic development and policy.

With the gift from Scott, the agency plans to expand its programs aimed at securing economic self-reliance and civil rights for underserved communities, the organizations president and CEO, Judy Reese Morse, said in a statement Monday.

So often the work of black-led, community-serving organizations goes unnoticed and under-resourced, she said. Ms. Scotts spirit and conviction to address historic disparities by supporting organizations that prioritize and engage the community inspires us to remain unwavering in our commitment to deliver even more for black and other underserved communities in Louisiana.

Morse said Scotts gift would be transformational.

With a net worth estimated at over $30 billion by Forbes, Scott is one of the wealthiest people in the world. Much of that fortune stems from her 2019 divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, in which she received a 25% stake in the company.

Along with other billionaires, Scott has signed what is known as The Giving Pledge, a promise from the mega-wealthy to give away most of their fortunes.

Scott, in a statement, said her giving was guided by her desire to support local organizations rather than tell them how to solve problems.

We dont advocate for particular policies or reforms. Instead, we seek a portfolio of organizations that supports the ability of all people to participate in solutions, she said. This means a focus on the needs of those whose voices have been underrepresented.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  Election officials said Tuesday that some Tennessee voters have cast ballots in the wrong congressional district in Nashville  a city that Republican lawmakers carved three ways during redistricting in hopes of flipping a Democratic seat.

At least one precinct has been affected, which includes the 7th Congressional contest that pits a Black Democratic candidate, Odessa Kelly, against Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Green.

Some voters relied on interactive maps from the comptroller's office and the Legislature, only to find later that the secretary of state's office lists them as in the 6th District.

That means an unknown number of voters have cast ballots in the wrong congressional race, said Davidson County election administrator Jeff Roberts. The county office, which oversees Nashville, was only made aware of the issue Tuesday after being alerted by The Associated Press. Early voting has been ongoing for nearly two weeks.

At this point in time, theres no way for us to know, the ballots that were cast, who cast those ballots," Roberts said. We cant undo what has already been done out there.

Roberts said the issue is a result of a voting precinct that was divided under the redistricting map, splitting the voting area between the 6th and 7th congressional districts. Some voters in the 7th were grouped wrongly with the 6th. More than 1,350 voters live in the precinct.

Mistakes happen, Roberts said, adding that he was unsure if the same problem was happening in other precincts.

He promised that the issue would be resolved by Election Day, which is Nov. 8. Until then, the county is currently working up a plan on what poll workers should tell voters as early voting continues, Roberts said.

Julia Bruck, a spokesperson for the secretary of state's office, told the AP that the information on the state's GoVoteTN app is submitted from each individual county and relies on accurate information from the local election commissions. Bruck said the office is not aware of any other issues elsewhere.

Kelly's campaign treasurer, Anna Carella, was hoping to cast a ballot for her boss. She relied on the comptroller's website, which said she was in the 7th District, and for weeks she thought she would be able to vote for Kelly. But when she went to vote early, poll workers handed her a ballot that included the 6th District race, Carella said.

That there's conflicting information about what your district is, Carella said, "it definitely doesn't instill confidence in the system."

In the 7th District race, both Kelly and Green have spoken against the redistricting plan that carved up Nashville.

Whether this is blatant incompetence or purposeful deceit, the end result is the same: textbook voter disenfranchisement," Kelly said in a statement Tuesday. But make no mistake: this is just fuel for my fire and a glaring reminder of why Im running in the first place  so that every Tennessean who has ever faced systemic oppression or bigotry knows that we will persist and fight for whats right no matter what obstacles are levied against us.

During redistricting early this year, Tennessee Republican state lawmakers redrew the states 5th Congressional District with an eye toward gaining an additional GOP seat in Congress, where the balance of power is on the line in the midterm elections.

The redistricting plan, which carved Nashville into three different seats, spurred the city's longtime Democratic representative, Jim Cooper, not to seek reelection. That created an open race in a newly drawn district  now snaking through six counties  that favored Donald Trump over Joe Biden by 12 percentage points in 2020.

The 6th District is the most favorable Nashville seat for Republicans, where GOP U.S. Rep. John Rose of Cookeville is running for another term. Trump topped Biden there by 30 points. Rose faces Democrat Randal Cooper.

Kelly and Green are contending in the 7th District, which extends through 14 counties. Its voters favored Trump over Biden by 15 percentage points.

"Nashville has enough population to comprise nearly an entire single congressional district, as it has for decades," said Mark Gaber, senior director of redistricting at the Campaign Legal Center. But the legislature carved Nashville into three congressional districts with little regard for the needs of the city or its residents, and now voters are paying a double price.

Meanwhile, Carella still put up a campaign sign in her yard for her candidate, Kelly, after she couldn't vote in her race. While she's disappointed she couldn't vote for her preferred candidate this year, she's grateful that her neighbors will be able to cast a correct ballot by Election Day.

Still worth it," she said.
Authorities have identified the victims who drowned at Lake of the Ozarks as two men from Telangana, India. The Missouri State Highway Patrol said Sunday that the victims were 24-year-old Uthej Kunta and 25-year-old Shiva Kelligari. They were graduate students in St. Louis University's health data science program. Troopers were called at 2:40 p.m. Saturday to help search for two people in the water near Bagnell Dam. The patrol said Kelligari was in the water and began to struggle before going under. Kunta jumped into the water to try and rescue Kelligari. Kunta's body was found about two hours later. Divers recovered Kellilgari's body Sunday morning.
Kansas City Star. October 27, 2022.

Editorial: Mourn St. Louis school shooting victims. Condemn lawmakers behind Missouris gun laws

A teacher and a student died following a shooting Monday at a high school in St. Louis. Several others were injured.

Alexzandria Bell, a sophomore, was on the school dance team. The teacher, 61-year-old Jean Kuczka, appears to have put her body between the killer and students.

The suspected shooter was killed by St. Louis police.

We mourn the loss of life, and offer condolences to the families and friends of the victims. We join with all Americans in condemning yet another act of gun violence in a school.

The facility, Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, appears to have been hardened against an attack, yet it happened anyway. The White House called the attack senseless, and it was certainly that.

In Missouri, though, senseless shootings  in a high school, in a parking lot, at a weekend fair  are entirely predictable. Its lawmakers have pursued reckless, senseless gun legislation for years. The states General Assembly, and its governor, have created the violent world in which all Missourians live.

It was only a matter of time until something like this happened here, state Sen. Karla May of St. Louis said Monday. To see the violence that is happening everywhere and to act like it wasnt going to come home, I dont know what to say about that.

Consider, for example, the Second Amendment Preservation Act, passed in 2021 and now a part of Missouri law. All federal acts, laws, executive orders, administrative orders, rules, and regulations  shall be invalid to this state, shall not be recognized by this state, shall be specifically rejected by this state, and shall not be enforced by this state, SAPA says.

Theres more. Under SAPA, local officials are prohibited from assisting any federal official in enforcing federal gun laws. In the St. Louis case, that means local authorities risk a fine if they cooperate with the FBI or the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in their investigation of the shooting.

This could compromise the work in St. Louis. The shooter may have obtained his weapon illegally, or without a background check, which is generally required under federal law. The seller or sellers could face federal criminal liability.

If St. Louis police find such evidence, they may be precluded from sharing it with federal authorities. Had they found such evidence before the shooting, they risked a lawsuit if they shared it with the feds. Its dangerous and appalling.

Local and federal authorities are permitted to work together to enforce Missouris gun laws. We hope and expect they will do so in this case.

The broader point still matters: SAPA prevents full enforcement of laws designed to prevent tragedies like the one in St. Louis. Republican state lawmakers complain relentlessly and inaccurately about alleged defunding of police, yet they have taken proactive steps to hamstring enforcement of gun regulations.

Thats not only defunding the police  its disarming them. That has to stop.

The Justice Department has sued to stop Missouri from enforcing SAPA. This act impedes criminal law enforcement operations in Missouri, U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement.

The United States will work to ensure that our state and local law enforcement partners are not penalized for doing their jobs to keep our communities safe, he said.

SAPA is clearly unconstitutional, and we expect the courts to say so. For now, it is also bad law.

After Mondays shooting, several Missouri politicians  Attorney General Eric Schmitt, Gov. Mike Parson, Sen. Josh Hawley  expressed sorrow and remorse for the shooting. Teresa and I are praying for the victims, their families, and the entire community, Parson said in a tweet.

Missourians should join Parson in that prayer. Then they should demand that he, and others in the state, stop making their gun fetish more important than protecting innocent life.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch. October 29, 2022.

Editorial: Missouri lawmakers made sure teen gunman faced minimal obstacles to arm himself

The more detail that emerges about the assailant in last weeks St. Louis school shooting, the more clear it becomes that his deadly violence was, in real ways, abetted by Missouris Legislature. Conservative lawmakers have spent more than a decade preventing or assertively tearing down every legal safeguard that might have stopped Orlando Harris from obtaining his weapon. Each step along the path that led to the deaths of two innocent people was cleared by pro-gun lawmakers in Jefferson City, who have worked hard to ensure their state has among the loosest gun laws in the country. And years worth of data indicates there are many other victims of their extremism.

Harris broke into the Central Visual and Performing Arts High School and Collegiate School of Medicine & Bioscience on Monday armed with an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle. He managed to kill student Alexzandria Bell, 15, and teacher Jean Kuczka, 61, and wound several others before police killed him.

Unlike the grade school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, in May, no one this time can point to failures at the scene as a contributing factor. Police responded quickly and professionally to stop the rampage almost immediately. Before the attack, the shooters family went to extraordinary lengths to deny him access to a gun and to address his mental health issues. The school was well-secured, and well-prepared teachers were able to protect most of the students. Everyone did everything right.

Everyone, that is, except the Missouri elected officials ultimately responsible for protecting all of them. Consider:

 When a licensed gun dealer refused to sell Harris a gun on Oct. 8 because he couldnt pass the federally required background check, the Legislature had already made sure that he could instead buy one from a private seller who had no legal obligation to run such a check.

 When Harris family called the police on Oct. 15, fearing that his mental state made it dangerous for him to be armed, the Legislature had already ensured there was no red-flag law in place that would have allowed them to get a court order removing the gun.

 Harris was 19, an age at which even mentally healthy people can be unpredictable. In recognition of that fact, numerous states, including Illinois, have raised their minimum age to buy all firearms to 21. But in Missouri, 18-year-olds can still buy semi-automatic weapons like the one Harris bought.

 Because Missouri doesnt require permits to carry guns in most public spaces for anyone 19 or older, Harris theoretically didnt even face the threat of being stopped and questioned as he transported his weapon on the street outside the school.

If a state intentionally designed its laws to make it as easy as possible for dangerous people to lay their hands on deadly firearms, that would look pretty much like Missouris laws today. This isnt an accident or an oversight. Its the result of a long campaign by Republican state politicians to methodically eliminate anything that their most extreme constituents might define as gun control.

The most glaring example is on the issue of background checks, which in this case worked the way it was supposed to  until Missouri law came into play.

Federal law says anyone who buys a weapon from a federally licensed gun dealer must submit to a background check to ensure that person isnt legally prohibited from having one. Police havent specified why Harris failed the background check by the St. Charles gun dealer he tried to buy from two weeks before the shooting. But according to police, Harris had been committed at one point for his mental health issues, which is one element that can prohibit a gun sale.

That could have and should have been the end of it  except that Missouri, like some other red states, provides an extraordinary loophole for unfit people seeking weapons: They can go to a private seller, who doesnt fall under federal background-check requirements, and buy the weapon, no questions asked.

Missouri used to have a universal-background check requirement for purchases of handguns, but the Legislature repealed it in 2007. Even if that particular law wouldnt have prevented Harris purchase (because it was a rifle rather than a handgun), theres been nothing to stop lawmakers from instituting a universal background check of all gun purchases, as other states have.

In Illinois, for example, even someone who buys from a private seller has to present a state Firearms Owners Identification Card, which means that person has undergone a background check by the state police. The private seller is required to contact the state police to confirm that the card-holder is still eligible to buy, and only then can sell.

Its a reasonable system to prevent someone like Harris from arming up. And Missouris deliberate lack of such a system helps explain why it has almost twice the firearms death rate that Illinois does. In fact, Missouris rate today is consistently among the worst of any state  and far worse than it was just a dozen years ago.

Gov. Mike Parsons astonishing comment on Thursday indicates just how much Missouris Republican leadership still doesnt get it: You got a criminal that committed a criminal act, and all the laws in the world are not going to stop those things.

So whats the point of having any laws at all? That a governor from the law and order party (and a former sheriff, no less) would spout such nonsense shows, once again, that Missouris Republican politicians are so deep down the gun-culture rabbit hole that they cant even think straight on this topic. Voters should keep the stunning images from the school grounds foremost in their minds on Nov. 8 and remember: Elections have consequences.

St. Joseph News-Press. October 28, 2022.

Editorial: Dont get fooled by the cannabis cabal

You have to admire the chutzpah of Missouris titans of medical marijuana.

After voters approved medical cannabis in 2018, the licensing process generated quite a bit of outrage, more than a few lawsuits and a legislative hearing or two. You would think the response to this messy rollout would be to try to do better, perhaps with less opaque grading criteria during the inevitable expansion into recreational marijuana.

Think again.

No, those businesses that were fortunate enough to win medical marijuana licenses instead doubled down on trying to use the Missouri Constitution to cement their monopoly over what could become a $900 million industry. Those vote yes signs on Amendment 3 are green for a reason.

The time for moralizing about marijuana has long passed. At least 19 states allow marijuana for recreational use, and a total of 37 allow cannabis for medical reasons. Missourians showed their leanings with 65% approval of medicinal marijuana in 2018.

Supporters of widespread legalization can claim that prohibition shifts police resources from more serious crimes. Opponents can point to the experience in places like Colorado, where legalization brought an increase in marijuana-related traffic crashes and increased use among youth as young as 12.

Maybe these two versions of reality cancel each other out. The issue then becomes not whether legalization is advisable but whether Amendment 3, the industry-supported constitutional amendment to allow recreational use, is good public policy.

It is not. Missouri voters are being played for suckers and should reject it. Amendment 3 gives existing medical marijuana businesses the exclusive right to convert their licenses to recreational use without having to go through a rigorous application process. Whats more, the state is prohibited from issuing new licenses for nearly a year and a half, thereby affirming a lucrative hold on this industry. The amendment allows for greater consolidation with a provision allowing an entity to own 10% of state dispensaries.

Amendment 3 throws a bone to underserved communities with microbusiness licensing, but the concept is highly flawed because awards are based on a lottery system  not a review of whether applicants have adequate capital or expertise. By establishing watered-down marijuana businesses in poorer neighborhoods without providing adequate funding for business planning and loans, they are set up to fail.

Whether thats the goal of the insider monopoly or an unintended consequence is irrelevant. Amendment 3 gives many Missourians what they want  legalization and expungement of past records  but with a sweetheart deal thats too hard to swallow.

We dont blame Big Marijuana for asking for the moon. We would blame voters for not seeing through it.

END
Enter the Island of the Dolls - if you dare. But whatever you do, dont take one away with you.
media release

Winners of the Wine Pinnacle Awards 2022

recognised at Resorts World Sentosa

Results for the 18 categories were announced at the highly-anticipated celebration of prestige and innovation.

SINGAPORE - Media OutReach - 2 November 2022 - The prestigious black-tie soiree, the Wine Pinnacle Awards Gala Dinner & Awards Ceremony 2022 celebrated 18 winners of the second edition of Wine Pinnacle Awards presented by Resorts World Sentosa (RWS). The most coveted title of Technical Committees Choice was presented unanimously to Barbara Banke, Chairman and Proprietor of Jackson Family Wines.

Technical Committee Members of the Wine Pinnacle Awards 2022 presented by Resorts World Sentosa.

From left to right: Oz Clarke, Doug Frost MW & MS, Jeannie Cho Lee MW, Kenichi Ohashi MW, Andreas Larsson.

The distinguished event at RWS Resorts World Ballroom in Singapore hosted nearly 500 leading figures and luminaries in the wine world which included distinguished winemakers, top wine professionals, and wine enthusiasts. The much-awaited celebration was the finale of a five-day programme that featured exclusive wine dinners, masterclasses, and a two-day symposium.

Mr Tan Hee Teck, CEO of Resorts World Sentosa, said Its a pleasure to see a great variety of guests from all over the world represented here tonight. The diversity on display  both in terms of attendees and the geographical origin of the nominees  beautifully demonstrates the dedication of Wine Pinnacle Awards to celebrating diversity, inclusivity, and excellence. Leading a business, let alone a vintage, to triumph can be an uphill battle, and, as such, we are eager to shine the spotlight on the commitment, ability, and sheer hard work of our deserving nominees and winners. I wish them the best of luck for the future and congratulate them on their win in these prestigious awards.

A Celebration of Excellence

The 18 winners were celebrated while guests enjoyed an exquisite eight-hands, four-course collaboration dinner, by four internationally renowned chefs: chef Arnaud Dunand Sauthier (2 Michelin stars, Maison Dunand Bangkok), chef Cedric Vongerichten (Wayan, New York), chef Guillaume Galliot (3 Michelin stars, Caprice Hong Kong) and chef Olivier Bellin (2 Michelin stars, LAuberge des Glazicks). Each course was meticulously paired with exceptional wines from Domaine de Montille, Chateau Leoville-Las Cases, and Weingut Joh. Jos. Prum.

The full list of winners can be found in the Annex.

EDITORS NOTES

High-resolution photographs can be downloaded here: PRESS RELEASE ANNEX All photographs are to be attributed to Resorts World Sentosa (   ) unless otherwise stated. The winners list is published at www.winepinnacle.com

ANNEX

WINE PINNACLE AWARDS 2022 WINNERS

MATURE WINES

Best 2002, 2004, 2008 Vintage Champagne

2008 Louis Roederer, Cristal Millesime Brut

Best 1999, 2002 Vintage Burgundy Red

1999 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, La Tache Grand Cru Monopole

Best 1996, 1998, 2000 Vintage Bordeaux Red

1996 Chateau Latour

Best 2001, 2004 Vintage Piedmont Red

2001 Giacomo Conterno, Monfortino Barolo Riserva DOCG

Best 2004, 2006 Vintage Tuscan Red

2004 Tenuta San Guido, Sassicaia Bolgheri

BEST RECENT RELEASES

Best Recent Release: Sauvignon-Blanc

2018 Chateau Margaux, Pavillon Blanc du Chateau Margaux, Bordeaux, France

Best Recent Release: Riesling

2019, Joh. Jos. Prum, Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese, Mosel, Germany

Best Recent Release: Burgundy White

2019 Domaine Bonneau du Martray, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru

Best Recent Release: Chardonnay (ex-Burgundy)

2018 Leeuwin Estate, Art Series Chardonnay, Margaret River, Australia

Best Recent Release: Cabernet Sauvignon

2018 Ridge Vineyards, Monte Bello, Santa Cruz Mountains, USA

Best Recent Release: Pinot Noir (ex-Burgundy)

2018 Tolpuddle Vineyard, Pinot Noir, Tasmania, Australia

Best Recent Release: Rhone Red

2016 Chateau Rayas, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, France

Best Recent Release: Spanish Red

2010 Vega Sicilia, Unico Gran Reserva, Ribera del Duero, Spain

COMFORT WINES

Comfort White < 40 Euros

2019 Joh. Jos. Prum, Riesling Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Mosel, Germany

Comfort Red < 40 Euros

2019 Domaine Jean Foillard, Morgon, Beaujolais, France

Comfort Rose < 40 Euros

2020 Chateau Miraval, Cotes de Provence Rose, Provence, France

BEST FRIEND OF THE EARTH

Best Friend Of The Earth (Winery)

Domaine Zind-Humbrecht, Alsace, France

PANDEMIC HERO

Pandemic Hero (Personality)

Barbara Banke, Chairman and Proprietor of Jackson Family Wines

ABOUT RESORTS WORLD SENTOSA

Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) is home to world-class attractions including Universal Studios Singapore, S.E.A. Aquarium, Dolphin Island and Adventure Cove Waterpark. Complementing the adventure and adrenaline of its theme parks and attractions are six unique luxury hotels, the world-class Resorts World Convention Centre and a casino. RWS also offers world-class entertainment as well as award-winning dining experiences and exciting cuisines from around the world across its acclaimed celebrity chef restaurants. RWS has been named Best Integrated Resort since 2011 for the 10th year in a row at the TTG Travel Awards.

MEDIA CONTACTS
Ontario Paramedic Service is the fifth County to choose Cloud DX Connected Health" to improve positive patient outcomes as part of its Community Paramedicine Remote Monitoring program

News in Summary

As hospital-at-home and community remote monitoring programs increase in scale, Cloud DX expects to deploy over 1,000 Connected Health kits for this use case by early 2023.

Paramedicine deployments are funded through the $82 million Community Paramedicine Long Term Care Program .

Cloud DX has now announced 6 Community Paramedic Service contracts in Ontario, delivering services to Peterborough, Guelph Wellington, 2 contracts with Oxford, and more.

KITCHENER, ON / ACCESSWIRE / November 2, 2022 / Cloud DX (TSXV:CDX)(OTC:CDXFF), announces a new Ontario County Paramedic Service Group contract to provide Connected Health" kits and services to vulnerable patients within the community. The award-winning Cloud DX remote patient monitoring platform is becoming standard of care for Ontario Community Paramedicine services seeking to strengthen community connections while residents benefit from greater access to much needed care.

The initial funding envelope for this deployment includes up to $200,000 CAD over 24 months. [JS1] Funding for the program comes from the $82.5M Community Paramedicine for Long Term Care program announced last year by the Ontario government.

Cloud DX COO and co-founder, Anthony Kaul says "This new partnership solidifies Cloud DX as the virtual care platform of choice for Ontario's Community Paramedicine programs. As our Connected Health" network expands across Ontario, we're reducing the burden on the province's overtaxed 911 system, lowering hospital admissions, keeping residents in their homes longer and giving them more control of their health."

This new contract comes within weeks of Peterborough County Paramedic Group announcing Cloud DX as its partner of choice for its evolving Community Paramedicine Program. Peterborough County Paramedics Deputy Chief Craig Jones says "Our main goal is to support people in their choice to stay at home and do everything we can from a health perspective to facilitate that happening. What Cloud DX does that no other provider offered us was, they do the heavy lifting of the compliance phone calls. We don't need to make reminder phone calls to clients that forgot to take their vital signs for the day. This allows a paramedic to focus on being a clinician and ensure that our residents stay well."

Upcoming Earnings Call

Cloud DX will present Q3 earnings on November 16, 2022 at 12pm. In addition to covering the Q3 results, CEO Robert Kaul will also highlight the corporate initiatives driving momentum throughout the year as well as an update on a number of contracts, partnerships, and technology developments. Register for the call: https://bit.ly/3Nw5srR

About Cloud DX

Accelerating digital healthcare, Cloud DX is on a mission to make healthcare better for everyone. Our Connected Health" remote patient monitoring platform is used by healthcare enterprises and care teams across North America to virtually manage chronic disease, enable aging in place and deliver hospital-quality post-surgical care in the home. Our partners achieve better healthcare and patient outcomes, reduce the need for hospitalization or re-admission, and reduce healthcare delivery costs through more efficient use of resources. Cloud DX is the co-winner of the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE, a 2021 Edison Award winner, a Fast Company "World Changing Idea" finalist, and one of "Canada's Ten Most Prominent Telehealth Providers." The company was named 2022 Top Innovator by Canadian Business. Cloud DX is an exclusive RPM partner to Medtronic (NYSE: MDT), Teladoc Health (NYSE: TDOC), CBI Health, and Equitable Life of Canada.

Cloud DX Investor Site https://ir.clouddx.com/overview/default.aspx

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Social Links

Twitter https://twitter.com/CloudDX

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/clouddxinc/

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For media inquiries please contact:

Janine Scott

Marketing Lead

888-543-0944

[email protected]

For investor inquiries please contact:

Jay Bedard

Cloud DX Investor Relations

647-881-8418

[email protected]

SOURCE: Cloud DX Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of a- (Excellent) of Abu Dhabi National Takaful Company P.S.C. (ADNTC) (United Arab Emirates). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.

The ratings reflect ADNTCs balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its strong operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.

AM Best considers the takaful regulations in the UAE to be sufficiently strong, given the protection it provides to policyholders. ADNTCs risk-adjusted capitalisation is at the strongest level, as measured by Bests Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR) on a combined policyholder and shareholder fund basis. AM Best expects the companys prospective risk-adjusted capitalisation to remain sufficient to support its strategic plans, including the recently announced proposed acquisition of a portfolio of unit-linked life insurance business from Dubai Islamic Insurance & Reinsurance Company (Aman) P.J.S.C., which remains subject to regulatory approval. ADNTC has a generally conservative investment strategy, with over 50% of invested assets held in cash and deposits as at year-end 2021. Since 2020, the company has increased its weighting to higher-risk equity and real estate assets, to utilise surplus capital and strengthen investment yields. An offsetting factor in ADNTCs balance sheet strength assessment is its high dependence on reinsurance, which increased following changes to its reinsurance structure for its family takaful (life) business in 2020. However, the associated credit risk is managed through the use of a reinsurance panel of sound financial strength.

ADNTC has a track record of strong operating performance with a five-year (2017-2021) weighted average return-on-equity ratio of 17.3%. The company has a history of strong underwriting performance within both its general and family takaful portfolios. Following challenging operating conditions in the UAE and structural changes made by ADNTC, which particularly affected the companys family (life) takaful business, underwriting returns contracted for a second consecutive year in 2021. The company returned a technical result of AED 12.3 million (USD 3.4 million) in 2021, compared with AED 15.2 million (USD 4.1 million) in 2020, and AED 70.3 million (USD 19.1 million) in 2019 (as calculated by AM Best). Management actions implemented since 2020, including the restructuring of the family takaful reinsurance programme and strategic diversification of the underwriting portfolio, are expected to contribute toward the maintenance of strong underwriting performance over the coming years.

The company has a niche and established position in the UAE insurance market as a successful takaful operator, which is supported by strong and established distribution channels. After several years of strong annualised top-line growth, the company experienced two years of contraction in gross written contributions in 2020 and 2021. The effect was more pronounced on the companys family takaful portfolio than on its general takaful portfolio, with the former more sensitive to macroeconomic conditions and subject to significant product changes in recent years.

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Bests website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Bests Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Bests Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Bests Credit Ratings, Bests Performance Assessments, Bests Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Bests Ratings & Assessments.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specialising in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright  2022 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005968/en/

Romeo Berti

Financial Analyst

+44 20 7397 0267

[email protected]

Alex Rafferty

Associate Director, Analytics

+44 20 7397 0312

[email protected]

Christopher Sharkey

Manager, Public Relations

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159

[email protected]

Al Slavin

Communications Specialist

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5098

[email protected]

Source: AM Best
Inaugural award highlights Canopys commitment to providing the best practice management solutions for accounting professionals, helping them unlock the firm they always wanted

DRAPER, Utah--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Canopy, the leading cloud-based practice management platform for accounting professionals, announced that it has been named as an honoree on Inc.s 2022 Power Partner Awards list.

Receiving the Inc. Power Partner honor validates Canopys continual efforts to provide accounting professionals with a leading Practice Management solution that makes it easier and more profitable to run a firm. All winning 252 companies received top marks from clients for being instrumental in helping business leaders navigate the dynamic world of startups. These B2B partners support professionals across various facets of the business, including accounting practice management and cloud migration.

In addition to our commitment and passion to provide the best customer care, Canopy has made significant investments in refining its product strategy over the last two years, said Davis Bell, CEO, Canopy. As a result, we are seeing the benefits across record-high customer usage, retention, and new customer interest and were very honored that our team has been recognized for the considerable efforts we put into our product and customers.

Inc.s inaugural list acts as a seal of approval for the companies  from SMBs to full-scale enterprises  that other companies rely on to level up. What the Inc. 5000 does for fast-growth businesses, Inc. Power Partners does for B2B providersvalidate and thereby bring recognition and opportunity to the partners that power businesses to reach new heights.

This recognition follows a long list of accolades Canopy has received in 2022 including Accounting Todays Top New Products, the Utah Business Fast 50, CPA Practice Advisors Tax & Accounting Technology Innovation Award, the Customer Contact Week Excellence Awards, the Women's Tech Councils Shatter list, and a Silver Stevie Award, among others.

Canopy works closely with tax and accounting professionals to mitigate busywork and streamline business with cloud-based accounting software. Hear about how customers succeed with Canopy.

The November 2022 Issue of Inc. magazine is available online now at https://www.inc.com/magazine and will be on newsstands beginning November 8, 2022.

About Inc. Business Media

The worlds most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community they need to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. The associated Inc. 5000 Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit www.inc.com.

About Canopy

Canopy is an award-winning, cloud-based accounting practice management software suite designed to increase efficiency and boost revenue for accounting firms. It offers tools for client management, document management, workflow, and time & billing, as well as specialty compliance solutions that help accountants obtain IRS transcripts and resolve notices quickly. Canopy was ranked by Capterra as the #1 Top Performing Accounting Practice Management Software in 2022 and included in The Women's Tech Councils 2022 Shatter list, highlighting Canopys inclusive and diverse culture of innovation and well-being. Canopys solutions are SOC2 certified and data encrypted to ensure personal information is secure. Connect with us @CanopyTax and https://www.getcanopy.com/.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005717/en/

Media contact:

Jenny Olson

mPR, Inc. for Canopy

310-773-2568

[email protected]

Source: Canopy
Organizations kick off National Entrepreneurship Month with commitment to propelling the future of New Jersey businesses and a focus on the next generation of founders

FORT LEE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Cross River Bank (Cross River), a technology infrastructure provider that offers embedded financial solutions, and TechUnited, a non-profit membership organization focused on empowering entrepreneurs & innovators, announce the launch of the 2nd Annual Women and Minority Business Owner Mentorship Cohort to benefit women and minority entrepreneurs in New Jersey.

Now in its second year, were proud to launch this years Women and Minority Business Owner Mentorship Cohort to benefit underrepresented entrepreneurs in New Jersey together with our longstanding community partner, TechUnited, said Phil Goldfeder, SVP, Global Public Affairs at Cross River. When we invest and empower women and minority business owners with the resources to succeed, we all win.

Kicking off with the start of Novembers National Entrepreneurship Month, the cohort is meant to provide support and guidance to underrepresented founders and business owners as they launch and grow their businesses. The program will run though January, with both virtual and in-person sessions. Program mentors will be matched with business owners based on their business strengths and the needs of the mentee, and could include aid in resolving business challenges, tactical advice or providing guidance in decision-making, among other areas of support.

Programs like the Women and Minority Business Owner Mentorship Cohort that TechUnited and Cross River have created are the key to improving our community and helping our businesses thrive, said New Jersey Assemblywoman Angela McKnight (LD-31). As an entrepreneur and business mentor, I know firsthand that having someone in your corner guiding you, educating you, and providing business acumen you wouldnt normally have access to, is life-changing. It is organizations like these, that are committed to helping, mentoring, empowering, and supporting our community that will positively impact the lives of these entrepreneurs and make New Jersey stronger.

Cross River and TechUnited share common values in propelling the inclusion of underrepresented groups in business and enhancing the community through supporting entrepreneurs. The cohort will empower those that build the future, specifically focusing on women and minority founders & small business owners in New Jersey.

These types of programs are critical, says Jasmine Ward, Head of Experience at TechUnited:NJ. While our region is #2 in the country for investment, still less than 3% of venture financing is awarded to female-founded companies when women own and operate over 22% of businesses in the US. Our goal is to continue building the momentum of New Jerseys women and minority entrepreneurs so that they can access the guidance, capital, and customers needed to succeed.

Applications into the cohort are being accepted until November 15, 2022. Business owners and those interested in participating as a mentor can learn more about the program here.

About Cross River

Cross River provides technology infrastructure powering the future of financial services. Leveraging its proprietary real-time banking core, Cross River delivers innovative and scalable embedded payments, cards, lending and crypto solutions to millions of consumers and businesses. Cross River is backed by leading investors and serves the worlds most essential fintech and technology companies. Together with its partners, Cross River is reshaping global finance and financial inclusion. Member FDIC. Find out more at www.crossriver.com.

About TechUnited

TechUnited:NJ is a membership-driven, non-profit organization that offers opportunities for tech-enabled companies and entrepreneurs to connect, collaborate, and grow to propel the future of New Jersey and beyond through events, mentorship, content creation, and more.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005420/en/

Mackenzie DeLuca

[email protected]

201-808-7000 x 778

Source: Cross River Bank
From networking events and board retreats, to collaborations, offsites and trainings, Downtown Works offers event spaces for up to 275 people throughout San Diego County

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Downtown Works, renowned in San Diego County for hospitality-inspired, high-design coworking spaces, is taking reservations for corporate events, private meetings, and offsites for 2 to 275 people in its Carlsbad, Pacific Beach and Little Italy San Diego locations.

Downtown Works coworking continues to provide business community connection in San Diego County with event spaces and furnished, tech-enabled conference rooms for board retreats, off-site strategy meetings, collaborations, trainings, and more.

The Downtown Works location in Carlsbad offers 2.5 acres of outdoor event space, and scalable furnished indoor conference areas. Free parking is included. Those renting space for events or off-site meetings can bring in their own food and beverage. Downtown Works assists with catering and party rental contacts for large events.

The Little Italy San Diego and Pacific Beach locations offer a variety of indoor event spaces and private conference rooms. All include coffee service, A/V and more.

Nothing beats meeting in person  whether its a corporate networking event or a team huddle. Weve designed our event spaces and meeting rooms to be flexible and strive to make connecting with customers and team members comfortable, easy, and fun, says Downtown Works Chief Operating Officer David Adato.

Organizations such as Startup San Diego, SCALE, 6 Degrees Networking, American Marketing Association San Diego, and others have hosted events and meetings at Downtown Works  click here to see clips and photos of events at Downtown Works.

Kirsty Nunez, president and chief research strategists at Q2 Insights and co-chair of the AMA San Diego Art of Marketing conference says, Downtown Works private meeting rooms are a convenient and comfortable for our board and committee meetings as we have members throughout San Diego County. The staff is incredible, and the rooms equipped with beautiful furniture. We couldnt be happier with the experience.

To book an event or meeting, contact Director of Operations Niki Ellis at [email protected].

About Downtown Works

Downtown Works, a hospitality-inspired coworking company, features enterprise-grade technology, a service-driven staff, inspiring interior designs and comfortable, furnished offices that allow creatives, professionals, and entrepreneurs to collaborate, network and grow their businesses. Visit www.downtownworks.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005396/en/

Hilary McCarthy

[email protected]

774 364 1440

Source: Downtown Works
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Endava (NYSE: DAVA), a leading next-generation technology services provider, today announced it will release results for the first quarter ended September 30, 2022, on Tuesday November 15, 2022 before the opening of regular U.S. market hours.

Following the release, John Cotterell, Endavas CEO and Mark Thurston, Endavas CFO, will discuss the results in a conference call beginning at 8:00 am ET.

Conference call access information is:

Participant Toll Free Dial-In Number: 1-844-481-2736

Participant International Dial-In Number: 1-412-317-0665

Conference ID: Endava Call

Webcast: https://investors.endava.com

Additionally, a replay will be available on our investor relations website after the call.

ABOUT ENDAVA PLC:

Endava is reimagining the relationship between people and technology. By leveraging next-generation technologies, our agile, multi-disciplinary teams provide a combination of product & technology strategies, intelligent experiences, and world class engineering to help clients become digital, experience-driven businesses by assisting them in their journey from idea generation to development and deployment of products, platforms and solutions. Endava collaborates with its clients, seamlessly integrating with their teams, catalysing ideation and delivering robust solutions.

Endava services clients in Payments and Financial Services, TMT, Consumer Products, Retail, Mobility and Healthcare. As of June 30, 2022, 11,853 Endavans served clients from locations in Asia-Pacific, Middle East, North America and Western Europe and delivery locations in Argentina, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Colombia, Croatia, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Uruguay.

For more information, visit www.endava.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221101006023/en/

Investor Relations:

Laurence Madsen, Endava

[email protected]

Source: Endava PLC
HANOI, Vietnam--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Vietnam's leading IT services provider FPT Software, a member company of FPT Corporation, announced its new alliance with Julie Sandlau, one of the world's leading jewelry producers, supporting the company to build its first smart jewelry manufacturing factory in Vietnam. The partnership is expected to enhance FPT Software's presence in the Nordic region and incorporate digital technologies into Julie Sandlau's production line, revolutionizing it with Smart factories, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and so on.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221101005835/en/

FPT Software and Julie Sandlau signed the strategic partnership (Photo: Business Wire)

The signing ceremony took place on November 1st, in Hanoi, Vietnam, within the framework of Vietnam-Denmark Business Summit Forum 2022, organized by the Embassy of Denmark in Vietnam, Vietnamese Government Office and the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affair in Denmark.

Through this alliance, FPT Software becomes Julie Sandlaus strategic partner, provides the company with an exclusive roadmap to build their first Smart factory and transform the traditional jewelry manufacturing process with digital technologies like Robotic Process Automation, Artificial Intelligence, and more. The new manufacturing plant is set to be completed by the end of 2023 in Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park, Vietnam's first and largest hi-tech industrial zone.

The newly established partnership also transforms Julie Sandlau's operations and work processes, from human resources, operational management, to accounting and so on. FPT Software's automation and robotic processing solutions help ease the usual back-office procedures, reduce workload and workforce, thereby promoting and accompanying Julie Sandlau's towards sustainable development. The strategic step also allows Julie Sandlau's to expand its operations to a strategic market like Vietnam and target potential customers here.

FPT Corporation Chairman Dr Truong Gia Binh said. In the past five decades, Vietnam and Denmark have established a strong relationship, with many deals among companies of both countries. With this partnership with Julie Sandlau, FPT believes that we can help reinforce the tight relationship between both nations.

As Vietnams leading IT solutions provider, FPT is confident to help Julie Sandlau with their digital transformation process and expansion goals in the Vietnamese and Southeast Asian markets, Chairman Binh added.

Vietnam always has a special place in our hearts since we started our business in 2006 here in Hanoi, so we are very excited to continue our Vietnam journey investing and developing further into digitalization, AI, blockchain technology and robotics., said Julie Sandlaus CEO Soren Roed Pedersen.

For years we have been first movers with our strong focus on ESG and we are now ready to start our digital transformation together with FPT and thus further proving the great collaboration between Vietnam and Denmark. We find the core values and vision of FPT and Julie Sandlau are a great match as we aim to transform a jewelry industry from traditional manufacturing methods to a modern digital hub. We have obviously great ambitions for our partnership with FPT as our long term strategy for Vietnam will develop into much more than just manufacturing., he further added.

"Julie Sandlau is our first-ever client in the jewelry manufacturing industry. This gives us more opportunities to explore and amplify FPT Software's technology potentials, especially in building a smart manufacturing factory for a client in a peculiar industry as such., FPT Software Europe CEO Hai Le said. "I believe this partnership will allow us to strengthen our workforce and experience, particularly in providing digital transformation solutions for future manufacturing clients.", he added.

On nurturing and developing human resources, FPT Software will transfer expertise and provide comprehensive training to Julie Sandlau's employees in Vietnam, with a deep dive into Artificial Intelligence applications. This practice will turn Julie Sandlau the world's first jewelry manufacturer to involve emerging technology in its production process, supporting its goal of becoming a digital transformation hero in premium accessories production by 2025.

The strategic partnership allows the two companies' employees to exchange knowledge and experiences, with Julie Sandlau offering fresh graduates from FPT University and FPT Corporation's staffs internship and employment opportunities. The program aims to improve educational quality and develop a guaranteed career path for future industrial engineers for FPT students and employees.

About FPT Software

FPT Software is a part of FPT Corporation, a globally leading technology and IT services & solutions provider headquartered in Vietnam with nearly US$1.6 billion in revenue and 41,000 employees in 27 countries. As a pioneer in digital transformation, it delivers world-class services in Smart factories, Digital platforms, RPA, AI, IoT, Enterprise Mobility, Digital Product Development, Cloud, AR/VR, Business Applications, Application Services, Managed Services, and so on. The company has served 1,000+ customers worldwide, nearly 100 of which are Fortune Global 500 companies in the industries of Aerospace & Aviation, Manufacturing & Automotive, Banking, Finance & Insurance, Logistics & Transportation, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Retail, Utilities & Energy, and more. For further information, please visit http://www.fpt-software.com.

About Julie Sandlau

Julie Sandlau Vietnam is the manufacturing arm of Danish luxury Jewelry brand Julie Sandlau and have since 2006 been producing high quality jewelry for some of the largest jewelry brands in the world with a strong focus on environment, sustainability and governance. The factory is committed to the United Nations Global Compact, The UN Women Empowerment Principles, The Science Based Target Initiative and is a certified member of the Responsible Jewellery Council, the highest international standard of responsible business practices in the jewelry business. With a workforce of nearly 400 people in which the goldsmiths are specialised and educated in Danish craftsmanship traditions and skills, Julie Sandlau Vietnam has been a first mover in CSR in Vietnam for years, winning multiple awards. All Julie Sandlau Vietnam's jewelry are made from recycled precious metals and sustainable certified gem stones giving their customers and stakeholders the ultimate trust and confidence in mutual business.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221101005835/en/

Media contact

Mai Duong (Ms.)

FPT Software

PR Manager

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://www.fpt-software.com/newsroom/

Source: FPT Software
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES. ANY FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THIS RESTRICTION MAY CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF UNITED STATES SECURITIES LAWS.

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Heritage Cannabis Holdings Corp. (CSE: CANN) (OTCQX: HERTF) (Heritage or the Company), today announced that it has entered into an equity line of credit agreement (the ELOC Agreement) with Obsidian Global Partners, LLC (the Investor) whereby the Investor proposes to purchase common shares in the capital of Heritage (Common Shares) for the aggregate gross proceeds of up to US$20 million by private placement, at Heritages discretion (the Offering).

On closing, Heritage will pay the Investor an initial fee in an amount equal to 1.5% of US$20 million, which will be satisfied by the issuance of Common Shares. These Common Shares are subject to a statutory lock-up of four months plus one day from closing (the Statutory Lock-Up). An additional fee equal to 1.5% of US$20 million is due after 50% of the total Offering amount has been drawn by the Company, which amount may be satisfied by cash or the delivery of Common Shares at the option of the Company.

Heritage will also advance 79,030,611 Common Shares to the Investor in escrow (the Escrow Shares). The Escrow Shares will be subject to the Statutory Lock-Up and will only be released to the Investor in tranches as and when Heritage requests that the Investor purchase Common Shares pursuant to the ELOC Agreement. Any Escrow Shares that are not purchased by the Investor will be subject to cancellation at the end of the term of the ELOC Agreement.

Heritage will use the proceeds of the equity line of credit for general corporate purposes and expenses of the Offering.

In accordance with the terms of the ELOC Agreement, at no time shall the Investor be issued Common Shares which would result in the Investor beneficially owning in aggregate greater than 9.99% of the outstanding Common Shares of the Company.

The closing of this deal with Obsidian is another indication that Heritage has a solid foundation for a sustainable business. With access to additional equity funds, we can continue to grow even stronger from quarter to quarter. We are adding new revenue streams, expanding across borders, and this equity financing will assist us with our continued plan for future growth. The market is starting to recognize that Heritage is a real player and a company to keep their eyes on. stated David Schwede, CEO of Heritage.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to sell any of securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

About Heritage Cannabis Holdings Corp.

Heritage is a leading cannabis company offering innovative products to both the medical and recreational legal cannabis markets in Canada and the U.S., operating under two licensed manufacturing facilities in Canada. The company has an extensive portfolio of high-quality cannabis products under the brands Purefarma, Pura Vida, RAD, Premium 5, feelgood., CB4, Thrifty and ArthroCBD.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF HERITAGE CANNABIS HOLDINGS CORP.

David Schwede

David Schwede

CEO

The Canadian Securities Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and may also contain statements that may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking information and forward-looking statements are not representative of historical facts or information or current condition, but instead represent only the Companys beliefs regarding future events, plans or objectives, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of the Companys control. Generally, such forward-looking information or forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as plans, expects or does not expect, is expected, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates or does not anticipate, or believes, or variations of such words and phrases or may contain statements that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, will continue, will occur or will be achieved.

By identifying such information and statements in this manner, the Company is alerting the reader that such information and statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such information and statements.

An investment in securities of the Company is speculative and subject to several risks including, without limitation, the risks discussed under the heading Risks and Uncertainties in the Companys annual management discussion and analysis for the year ended October 31, 2021 and dated May 10, 2022. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information and forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended.

In connection with the forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained in this press release, the Company has made certain assumptions. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing, and the expectations contained in, the forward-looking information and statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and statements, and no assurance or guarantee can be given that such forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information and statements. The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information and/or forward-looking statements that are contained or referenced herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking information and statements attributable to the Company or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by this notice.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102006112/en/

Kelly Castledine

Tel: 647-660-2560

[email protected]

Source: Heritage Cannabis Holdings Corp.
PLYMOUTH, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Horizon Global (NYSE: HZN) announced today that it will host a conference call regarding the Companys third quarter 2022 results on Wednesday, November 9, 2022, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. The conference call will be hosted by Horizon Global's President and Chief Executive Officer Terry Gohl, and James Zhou, Chief Financial Officer. Participants on the call are asked to register five to ten minutes prior to the scheduled start time by dialing (844) 825-9786 and from outside the U.S. at (412) 902-4185. Please ask to join the Horizon Global call.

The third quarter 2022 results and supplemental materials, including a presentation in PDF format, will be distributed before the market opens on November 9, 2022, and will be available on the Companys website at www.horizonglobal.com prior to the start of the call.

The conference call will be webcast simultaneously and in its entirety through the Horizon Global website. Shareholders, media representatives and others may participate in the webcast by registering through the Investor Relations section on the Companys website.

A replay of the call will be available on Horizon Globals website or by phone by dialing (877) 344-7529 and from outside the U.S. at (412) 317-0088. Please use the replay access code number 6916805. The telephone replay will be available approximately two hours after the end of the call and continue through November 23, 2022.

About Horizon Global

Headquartered in Plymouth, Michigan, Horizon Global is a leading designer, manufacturer and distributor of a wide variety of high-quality, custom-engineered towing, trailering, cargo management and other related accessory products in North America, Europe and Africa. The Company serves automotive original equipment manufacturers, retailers, dealer networks and the end consumer as the category leader in the automotive, leisure and agricultural market segments. Horizon provides its customers with outstanding products and services that reflect the Company's commitment to market leadership, innovation and operational excellence. The Companys mission is to utilize forward-thinking technology to develop and deliver premium products for our customers, engage with our employees and realize value creation for our shareholders.

Horizon Global is home to some of the worlds most recognized brands in the towing and trailering industry, including: Draw-Tite, Reese, Westfalia, BULLDOG, Fulton and Tekonsha. Horizon Global has approximately 3,500 employees.

For more information, please visit www.horizonglobal.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005909/en/

Matthew Meyer

Horizon Global Corporation

Chief Accounting Officer

(734) 656-3000

[email protected]

Source: Horizon Global Corporation
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ICR, a leading strategic communications and advisory firm, is pleased to announce that Gregg Nabhan, Chairman, Americas Equity Capital Markets, Bank of America, recently appeared on Episode 49 of ICRs Welcome to the Arena podcast.

Welcome to the Arena is hosted by Tom Ryan, Co-Founder & CEO of ICR. Tom spoke with Gregg about the past four decades of economic twists and turns, career highlights and what he sees on the horizon for the IPO market.

The Welcome to the Arena podcast has featured discussions with CEOs, CFOs, financial analysts, members of the media, investment bankers, private equity executives and others who influence and create value for public and private-equity backed companies. The podcast made its debut in August 2021, airing episodes roughly every two weeks, and is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

About ICR

Established in 1998, ICR partners with its clients to execute strategic communications and advisory programs that achieve business goals, build awareness and credibility, and enhance long-term enterprise value. The firms highly-differentiated service model, which pairs capital markets veterans with senior communications professionals, brings deep sector knowledge and relationships to approximately 1,000 clients across more than 20 industry groups. ICRs healthcare practice operates under the Westwicke brand (www.westwicke.com). Today, ICR is one of the largest and most experienced independent communications and advisory firms in North America, maintaining offices in New York, Norwalk, Boston, Baltimore and Beijing. Learn more at www.icrinc.com. Follow us on Twitter at @ICRPR.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102006071/en/

Brian Ruby, ICR, 203-682-8268, [email protected]

Source: ICR
The 31st Arab League Summit has been held in Algiers, the capital city of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attended the opening ceremony of the event as a Guest of Honor at the invitation of the President of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria Abdelmadjid Tebboune who hosts the 31st Arab League Summit.

President of Algeria Abdelmadjid Tebboune welcomed President Ilham Aliyev, the heads of state and government, and the heads of delegation attending the Summit.

The Azerbaijani and Algerian presidents posed for official photographs.

President of the Republic of Tunisia Kais Saied opened the Summit and handed over the chairmanship of the organization to President of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

President of Algeria Abdelmadjid Tebboune, and Secretary General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit made speeches at the event.

Then the floor was given to the President of Azerbaijan.

President Ilham Aliyev made a speech at the Summit.

Speech of President Ilham Aliyev

-Dear Mr. President of Algeria Abdelmadjid Tebboune,

Dear Mr. Secretary General of Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit

Dear heads of state and government,

Dear heads of delegations, ladies and gentlemen.

First of all, I would like to express deep gratitude to the President of Algeria, and Secretary General of Arab League for invitation. I consider it as a sign of friendship, as a sign of brotherhood. It is a big honor for me to be present today at this important Summit and to demonstrate unity between our countries. I am especially very glad to visit Algeria on this special day, the day of national liberation, day of national dignity. I congratulate the President, the government of Algeria, all the people of Algeria on the occasion of this liberation day. Today I paid respect to the memory of the martyrs. I visited the Memorial of Martyrs. I visited the Museum of Moudjahid and was deeply impressed and shocked by what I have seen. The brutality, mass atrocities committed by France against the people of Algeria, something the world should never forget. France conducted a terrible war against the Algerian people for more than 130 years which resulted in the deaths of more than one and a half million Algerians. Today, commemorating this tragedy, we need to do everything in order to avoid these tragedies in the future.

Relationship between the Arab League and Azerbaijan has special dimension. This summer I had an honor to receive Secretary General Mr. Aboul Gheit in Baku. We had broad discussions about our future cooperation. Since 2006 Azerbaijan is an observer to the organization and we want to expand our cooperation. Today I participate at the Summit as the chair of Non-Aligned Movement but, at the same time, we have very profound relationship with the member states of Arab League. And I am sure that in the coming years our cooperation will grow, we will have new dimension and new dynamics. We pay a special importance to bilateral cooperation with the members of Arab League and we highly value the mutual support and solidarity between us. Azerbaijan is a country which also suffered like Algeria from occupation for 30 years. Our lands were occupied by Armenia, and during all these years of occupation we always felt the support of our Arab brothers, we felt the support of member states of the Organization of Islamic States. Azerbaijan, in its turn, always in all international fora supported our Muslim brothers. We contributed largely to Islamic Solidarity. 2017 was declared in Azerbaijan the year of Islamic Solidarity and we hosted the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games which transformed into a sporting event, into a festival of solidarity and friendship.

As a chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement, Azerbaijan plays an important role on the international arena. The Non-Aligned Movement is the second largest international institution after the United Nations, which unites 120 countries. Since 2019, Azerbaijan is a chair of this institution and we have been elected by a unanimous decision of all member states, which demonstrates their high level of support and respect to our position and our policy. Our chairmanship was extended again by a unanimous decision until the end of 2023 and we consider it as another sign of appreciation of our policy. Our chairmanship coincided with the COVID-19 and we took a very proactive stand on that. Azerbaijan provided financial and humanitarian assistance to more than 80 countries with respect to coronavirus. We organized a Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, we initiated a Special Session of the UN General Assembly devoted to COVID-19, which was held in December 2020. All these initiatives had one objective-the objective to help the countries, which are in need, to help the countries and to mobilize resources, and to help the countries, which cannot afford to acquire vaccines. As you remember, dear colleagues, at the beginning of the pandemic, the access to vaccines was the most critical issue. Some developed countries of the West were acquiring the number of vaccines 5-10 times more than they needed, while countries which did not have resources had to suffer. So, Azerbaijan was very vocal against vaccine nationalism, against unfair distribution of vaccines and that strengthened the support of the Non-Aligned Movement to our position. We are planning to organize a Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement next March, and I, using this opportunity, would like to invite the members of Arab League, the heads of state and government to participate in the Summit. Two years ago, Azerbaijan put an end to almost 30 years of occupation by Armenia of almost 20 percent of our territory. Despite the decisions and resolutions of the leading international institutions, Armenia ignored all these decisions and resolutions and continued to illegally occupy almost 20 percent of our territory.

During the times of occupation, more than one million Azerbaijanis became refugees and IDPs. Our people became the subject of ethnic cleansing. Armenia committed a genocide of Khojaly in 1992 which is now recognized by more than 10 countries. UN Security Council adopted four resolutions demanding immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian troops from our territories but these resolutions were never materialized. And this leads to another important factor which is a mechanism of implementation of resolutions of Security Council. In some cases, resolutions of UN Security Council are being implemented within days, but in our case they remained on paper for almost thirty years. This is double standards, this is unacceptable. This is a selective approach to the norms and principles of international law and to obligations of the countries. Therefore, Azerbaijan as a country, which suffered from injustice and occupation, is actively working in order to contribute to the course of unification of approaches to conflicts. All the conflicts must be treated from the same position. There should not be double standards addressing the conflicts. Occupation must be called an occupation. Two years ago, Azerbaijan, as I said put an end to the conflict. We did it by force. We used our right for self-defense, which is provided by the Article 51 of the UN Charter, and we liberated our territory by force. We defeated Armenia. Armenia had to capitulate. And now our territories are free and we are back. And what we have seen as we returned. We have seen total devastation and destruction of territory, which is more than 10, 000 square km. It is equal to the territory of some countries. Everything is destroyed-cities and villages, buildings, historical monuments graves of our ancestors. 65 out of 67 mosques have been completely destroyed by Armenia during the times occupation. This is a reflection of Islamafobic essence of terrorist Armenian state.

Now we are restoring our cities and villages. We started a program, which is called Great Return. We do it with our own resources. Unfortunately, international donor organizations dont help us. We do it on our own. Today, visiting the Museum of Moudjahid, I was informed that during the French occupation France planted more than 5 million landmines. It just reminded me of the same, the same what we are suffering now. Armenia planted more than 1 million mines during the times of occupation and after the war ended in November 2020, we have more than 260 Azerbaijanis who have been killed or severely injured because of the landmines. We are doing it ourselves. We will restore our lands ourselves and we are already in the process. We see again solidarity from our brothers from member states, from the Arab League. We see support in international institutions and we are very grateful for that. As the President of the brotherly Azerbaijan, brother to members of the Arab League, as a chair of the NAM, I want to assure you that we will do everything in order to strengthen our solidarity, our unity. Once again Id like to express gratitude to President and Secretary General for this invitation. Once gain Id like to say that it is a great honor for me be able to address this distinguished audience. I wish you and your people happiness, prosperity and peace. Thank you.

***

Other heads of state and government, and heads of delegation then addressed the Summit.

***

The Arab League was formed on March 22, 1945 by Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Transjordan (now Jordan), Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. Currently, the League has 22 members. The official headquarters of the League is in Cairo.

Turkiye has the permanent observer status in the League.




Save the Date for the 2023 Summit and Follow Progress as Speakers, Sponsors, and Exhibitors are Announced

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AtScale, the leading provider of semantic layer solutions for modern business intelligence and data science teams, hosted the inaugural Semantic Layer Summit on September 28, 2022. More than 7,000 signed up for the one-day virtual event, which featured top experts in artificial intelligence (AI) and business intelligence (BI), interactive opportunities, education and discussion sessions and networking opportunities. Over 30 enterprise data leaders shared practical advice based on real-world semantic layer initiatives, best practices, and information on what the future holds. For more details on the event, see this summary blog post.

We were thrilled with the level of interest in this first ever Semantic Layer Summit, said Josh Epstein, CMO, AtScale. The overwhelming response from attendees, combined with the high caliber of speakers and sponsors we were able to attract, demonstrates the level of interest in this topic. We are looking forward to using this event to build a community of professionals interested in actively shaping the evolution of semantic layers for data and analytics.

The date for the Semantic Layer Summit 2023 has been set for April 6, 2023 with early registration now available. A new Semantic Layer Slack channel has also been created to host ongoing conversations related to the evolution of Semantic Layers and to share updates on upcoming conferences.

While the concept of a semantic layer is by no means new, it has become an even more important element of analytics strategy, as organizations modernize their data infrastructure, said Bill Inmon, the founder and CEO of Forest Rim Technology. This years Semantic Layer Summit brought together different viewpoints from practitioners, researchers and vendors. I think it is a big enough topic to warrant its own special interest forum.

The data industry is at an interesting inflection point in how we think about analytics-ready data, said Ram Kumar, Chief Data and Analytics Officer for Cigna. The complexity of data pipelines and the reliance on data engineers to support the ever changing needs of the modern data-driven business, as well as the rapidly changing technology and tools landscape, is not sustainable. A well-thought out semantic layer strategy as a critical component of an organizations data strategy is extremely important in delivering a return on data assets.

Speaker and Presentation Highlights

Some of the notable speaker and presentation highlights from the 2022 Summit included:

Virtual Sponsors

During this years virtual event, attendees were able to interactively visit all sponsor exhibitor booths and connect with other attendees. The full list of event sponsors for this years event include:

AICamp

AtScale

CDO Magazine

DAS42

Databricks

DATAcated

Digital Analytics Association

DM Radio

Hopsworks

Intersystems

ODSC

The Ravit Show

Snowflake

Snowplow

Tableau

Virtual Intelligence Briefing

Resources and More Information

Semantic Layer Summit On-Demand Sessions - Interested parties can watch all of the Main Stage: and Tech Stage sessions from the Semantic Layer Summit 2022 on-demand here. Sessions explore the importance and impact of using a semantic layer for data and analytics. Top data leaders, technologists, and industry experts focus on how to deliver actionable insights for everyone in your organization.

Interested parties can watch all of the Main Stage: and Tech Stage sessions from the Semantic Layer Summit 2022 on-demand here. Sessions explore the importance and impact of using a semantic layer for data and analytics. Top data leaders, technologists, and industry experts focus on how to deliver actionable insights for everyone in your organization. Complimentary Book - Make Insights Actionable with AI & BI - Data and analytic enthusiasts can get their complimentary digital book here featuring 20+ AI & BI contributing authors offering practical advice on executing data and analytics across the enterprise.

Data and analytic enthusiasts can get their complimentary digital book here featuring 20+ AI & BI contributing authors offering practical advice on executing data and analytics across the enterprise. Save the Date - To pre-register for the 2023 Semantic Layer event being held on April 6, 2023, click here. For more information on sponsorship or speaking opportunities, please email [email protected] .

To pre-register for the 2023 Semantic Layer event being held on April 6, 2023, click here. For more information on sponsorship or speaking opportunities, please email . Semantic Layer Slack Community - Join the Semantic Layer Slack community to network and exchange ideas with data and analytics professionals interested in the evolution of the semantic layer.

About AtScale

AtScale enables smarter decision-making by accelerating the flow of data-driven insights. The companys semantic layer platform simplifies, accelerates, and extends business intelligence and data science capabilities for enterprise customers across all industries. With AtScale, customers are empowered to democratize data, implement self-service BI and build a more agile analytics infrastructure for better, more impactful decision making. For more information, please visit www.atscale.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook.

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Media

Jeff Drew

Guyer Group for AtScale

P: 617-233-5109

E: [email protected]

Source: AtScale
Investor Conference Call to be held 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time

ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- InfuSystem Holdings, Inc. (NYSE American: INFU) (InfuSystem or the Company), a leading national health care service provider, facilitating outpatient care for durable medical equipment manufacturers and health care providers, announced today it will issue third quarter 2022 financial results on Tuesday, November 8, 2022, before the market opens.

The Company will also conduct a conference call for all interested parties on Tuesday, November 8, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss its financial results.

To participate in this call, please dial (833) 366-1127 or (412) 902-6773, or listen via a live webcast, which is available in the Investors section of the Companys website at https://ir.infusystem.com/. A replay of the call will be available by visiting https://ir.infusystem.com/ for the next 90 days or by calling (877) 344-7529 or (412) 317-0088, confirmation code 5564226 through Tuesday, November 15, 2022.

About InfuSystem Holdings, Inc.

InfuSystem Holdings, Inc. (NYSE American: INFU), is a leading national health care service provider, facilitating outpatient care for durable medical equipment manufacturers and health care providers. INFU services are provided under a two-platform model. The lead platform is Integrated Therapy Services (ITS), providing the last-mile solution for clinic-to-home healthcare where the continuing treatment involves complex durable medical equipment and services. The ITS segment is comprised of Oncology, Pain Management, Wound Therapy and Lymphedema businesses. The second platform, Durable Medical Equipment Services (DME Services), supports the ITS platform and leverages strong service orientation to win incremental business from its direct payer clients. The DME Services segment is comprised of direct payer rentals, pump and consumable sales, and biomedical services and repair. Headquartered in Rochester Hills, Michigan, the Company delivers local, field-based customer support and also operates Centers of Excellence in Michigan, Kansas, California, Massachusetts, Texas and Ontario, Canada.

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Joe Dorame, Joe Diaz & Robert Blum

Lytham Partners, LLC

602-889-9700

Source: InfuSystem Holdings, Inc.
New partnership will enable both companies to better serve CPG brands through early access to new Instacart Ad products, joint marketing, education and development initiatives

LONDON & SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Insert in first paragraph, second sentence of release issued October 26, 2022: Perpetua, Spotlight.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221026005183/en/

The updated release reads:

ASCENTIAL AND INSTACART ANNOUNCE COMPREHENSIVE JOINT BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP

New partnership will enable both companies to better serve CPG brands through early access to new Instacart Ad products, joint marketing, education and development initiatives

Ascential plc (LSE: ASCL.L), the specialist information, analytics, and eCommerce optimization company, and Instacart, the leading grocery technology company in North America, today announced a new comprehensive joint business partnership. Delivered through Flywheel Digital, LIONS, Perpetua, Spotlight and WARC, all part of Ascential, the partnership will enable both Instacart and Ascential to better serve brands through early access to new Instacart advertising products and pilots, co-marketing, and educational and developmental initiatives.

At Instacart, we are harnessing technology to deliver innovations in convenience, personalization, and engagement to our consumers and CPG brand partners, said Suzanne Skop, Director of Agency Partnerships at Instacart. Brands choose Instacart because weve built a platform with high-intent consumers, an unparalleled scale of retailers, and closed-looped measurement, all of which drives meaningful results for our CPG brand partners. Our partnership with Ascential will extend Instacarts ad offerings to even more brands to provide them with the valuable insights, tools, and resources they need to win on Instacart.

Instacart currently partners with more than 900 national, regional and local retail brands to facilitate online shopping, delivery, and pickup services from more than 75,000 retail locations in North America. The company currently provides self-service and managed ad services for more than 5,500 CPG brands through Instacart Ads. Instacart is available to over 95% of households in the U.S. and Canada.

Brands and retailers with the deepest, most recent insights into the digital performance of their products and services will gain an informed edge in the competitive eCommerce landscape of today, said Patrick Miller, Co-President, Digital Commerce at Ascential and Co-Founder of Flywheel Digital. "Through this partnership, Ascential will be able to help brand leaders on Instacart stay ahead of the curve when it comes to inspiring and engaging consumers throughout their shopping journey.

As part of the partnership, Ascential and Instacart will be engaging in joint marketing initiatives, which include value-added services to Ascentials customers throughout Q4 2022. Ascential and Instacart recently held several co-hosted activations at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2022, including Marketplace confessions and co-hosting the Cannes Celebration session. For more information on upcoming shared initiatives from both companies, listen to Ascential CEO, Duncan Painters 3 Years Ahead Podcast on September 30, 2022, for an in-depth conversation on creativity in eCommerce between Duncan and Instacart CEO, Fidji Simo.

Ascential and Instacart Joint Business Partnership Detail

Ascentials customers will receive early access to Instacart Ads pilot programs, new features, and product capabilities.

Joint Marketing and Training Activities

Ascential and Instacart will co-host joint webinars, case studies, and co-branded activations throughout Q4 2022.

Ascential team members will receive priority access to Instacart training and accreditation programs, allowing the company to be at the forefront of developing best-in-class commerce media and measurement solutions for their customers.

Ascential and Instacart leadership teams will work closely together by engaging in quarterly top-to-top meetings, QBRs, and office hours.

About Ascential

Ascential delivers specialist information, analytics and eCommerce optimization platforms to the world's leading consumer brands and their ecosystems. Our world-class businesses improve performance and solve problems for our customers by delivering immediately actionable information combined with visionary longer-term thinking across Digital Commerce, Product Design, Marketing and Retail & Financial Services. With more than 3,000 employees across five continents, we combine local expertise with a global footprint for clients in over 120 countries. Ascential is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

About Instacart

Instacart, the leading grocery technology company in North America, works with grocers and retailers to transform how people shop. The company partners with more than 900 national, regional, and local retail brands to facilitate online shopping, delivery and pickup services from more than 75,000 stores across more than 13,000 cities in North America on the Instacart Marketplace. Instacart makes it possible for millions of busy people and families to get the groceries they need from the retailers they love, and for more than 600,000 Instacart shoppers to earn by picking, packing and delivering orders for customers on their own flexible schedule. The Instacart Platform offers retailers a suite of enterprise-grade technology products and services to power their e-commerce experiences, fulfill orders, digitize brick-and-mortar stores, provide advertising services, and glean insights. With Instacart Ads, thousands of CPG brands  from category leaders to emerging brands  partner with the company to connect directly with consumers online, right at the point of purchase. For more information, visit www.instacart.com/company, and to start shopping, visit www.instacart.com. For anyone interested in becoming an Instacart shopper, visit https://shoppers.instacart.com/.

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Josh Kail

PR for Ascential

(347) 684-2966

Source: Ascential plc
New Functionality Along With Enhanced Models to Deliver More Efficient and Comprehensive Predictions in Chemical Safety

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Instem, a leading provider of IT solutions and services to the global life sciences market, announced today that the latest edition of its powerful Leadscope Model Applier Computational Toxicology software solution has been released.

This latest update includes new functionality to provide a more seamless experience when performing a Read-Across, as well as new and updated predictive models to support the increasing market need for in silico solutions. The new release will also be used as part of the recently introduced Predict technology-enabled service for nitrosamine carcinogenicity risk assessment.

Renowned for their advanced informatics and prediction technology, together with comprehensive database solutions, Instems in silico solutions enable organizations around the world to effectively unlock valuable knowledge contained in both public and proprietary sources of research data. Clients can also access well over 600,000 toxicology studies for more than 200,000 chemicals, enabling fast, accurate, defendable and regulatory-accepted predictions.

Core features of the 2022 software release include:

NEW Read-Across Tool  a single and easy-to-use tool for searching analogs and performing read-across, while providing direct access to an extensive toxicology database.

Leadscope Advanced Edition  includes advanced functionality and now available online, eliminating the need to invest in computer hardware and enabling quicker, easier access to new software updates.

UPDATED Genetox Expert Alerts  The Leadscope Expert Alerts suite for bacterial mutagenicity, widely used for ICH M7 regulatory submissions, has been updated to enhance predictivity and interpretation.

regulatory submissions, has been to enhance predictivity and interpretation. UPDATED Sensitization Models and Alerts - Updated models and alerts for the assessment of skin sensitization; including models to predict strong or extreme sensitizers formed on a growing database.

NEW Acute Toxicity Predictive Models  New expert predictive models to predict acute lethality in dermal, oral and inhalation studies, based on research of over 175,000 chemicals with acute toxicity data.

chemicals with acute toxicity data. NEW Statistical Models and Expert Alerts to support the prediction of eye irritation and corrosion.

NEW and UPDATED Statistical-Based Models to support the assessment of endocrine activity, drug permeability across the blood-brain barrier* (supporting abuse liability), and cardiac toxicity* (*developed by the US FDA under the Research Collaboration Agreement).

Dr. Glenn Myatt, VP Informatics, Instem said, We are delighted to introduce the 2022 Computational Toxicology software release, which will further strengthen the ongoing demand for reliable alternatives to traditional testing methods.

Dr. Myatt continued, This latest release is highly anticipated and will give both existing and prospective clients expanded support for regulatory guidelines, drug discovery, classification and labeling as well as occupational toxicology. Throughout the lifecycle of the release, we have been working in close collaboration with our clients, and feedback has been extremely positive.

Instem has developed a comprehensive program to help raise awareness of this important 2022 software release through on-demand demonstrations and presentations at key industry events including the ACT 43rd Annual Meeting, November 13th  16th, Denver, Colorado.

To be added to the release alert list and be one of the first to receive a copy of the on-demand presentation, please email [email protected]

About Instem

A global provider of leading software solutions and scientific insight services, Instem is helping clients bring their life enhancing products to market faster.

We enable organizations in the life sciences to more efficiently collect, report and submit high quality regulatory data, while offering them the unique ability to generate new knowledge through the extraction and harmonization of actionable scientific information.

Across the entire drug development value chain, every day Instem solutions are meeting the rapidly expanding needs of life science organizations for data-driven decision making, leading to safer, more effective products.

Instem supports its global roster of clients through offices in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Japan, China, and India.

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Press:

Instem

Julie Jones, Marketing Director

[email protected]



Pooja Pankhania, Marketing Manager  In Silico Solutions

[email protected]

Source: Instem
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Institutional Property Advisors (IPA), a division of Marcus & Millichap (NYSE: MMI), announced today the sale of SeventyOne15 McDowell, a newly built, 274-unit multifamily asset in Scottsdale, Arizona. The property sold for $150 million, or $547,445 per unit.

Phoenix will again record one of the highest rates of in-migration in the country this year and Scottsdale is one of the areas most appealing live-work-play destinations for high-wage earning professionals, said Steve Gebing, IPA executive managing director. Developed by Alliance Residential, SeventyOne15 McDowell features best-in-class design and construction with luxury interior and common area amenities. The property is poised to benefit from the business and academic partnerships that are driving South Scottsdales economic resurgence. Gebing and IPA executive managing director Cliff David represented the seller and procured the buyer.

Completed in 2022, the asset is located near SkySong, a 1.2 million-square-foot ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center. Old Town Scottsdale and South Scottsdale employment corridors are nearby, along with major area employers General Dynamics, HonorHealth, Vitalant, Yelp, Indeed, Banner Health, and Opendoor. Old Town Scottsdale, home to designer art galleries, nightlife, and Scottsdale Stadium, is less than three miles away.

About Institutional Property Advisors (IPA)

Institutional Property Advisors (IPA) is a division of Marcus & Millichap (NYSE: MMI), a leading commercial real estate services firm in North America. IPAs combination of real estate investment and capital markets expertise, industry-leading technology, and acclaimed research offer customized solutions for the acquisition, disposition and financing of institutional properties and portfolios. For more information, please visit www.institutionalpropertyadvisors.com

About Marcus & Millichap, Inc. (NYSE: MMI)

Marcus & Millichap, Inc. is a leading brokerage firm specializing in commercial real estate investment sales, financing, research and advisory services with offices throughout the United States and Canada. As of December 31, 2021, the company had 1,994 investment sales and financing professionals in 82 offices who provide investment brokerage and financing services to sellers and buyers of commercial real estate. The company also offers market research, consulting and advisory services to clients. Marcus & Millichap closed 13,255 transactions in 2021, with a sales volume of approximately $84.4 billion. For additional information, please visit www.MarcusMillichap.com.

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Gina Relva, VP of Public Relations

[email protected]

510-999-1284

Source: Marcus & Millichap, Inc.
NEUILLY-SUR-SEINE, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News:

M6 Group (Paris: MMT) has entered into exclusive negotiations with the company Passat S.A., with a view to the sale of its subsidiary Best of TV, which is 51% owned.

Best of TV (importer / wholesaler) offers, for mass retail, various niche products including some that are exclusive to home shopping. They are generally accompanied in store by modern and attractive displays with a demo vide.

Passat S.A. and Best of TV evolve in the same competitive universe and offer different and complementary ranges to their customers. This complementarity of offer, as well as the sharing of common values, will accelerate the development of their business.

This project has the support of the management of Best of TV.

Completion of the transaction remains subject to finalisation of the negotiations and to consultation with employee representative bodies.

With this disposal, M6 is continuing the turnover of its diversification portfolio whose development is notably based on the strength of the Groups TV channels.

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INVESTOR RELATIONS

Guillaume Couturie +33 (0)1 41 92 28 03 / [email protected]

PRESS

Paul Mennesson +33 (0)1 41 92 61 36 / [email protected]

Source: M6 METROPOLE TELEVISION
By leveraging the full power of the Calix Revenue EDGE platform, the Wisconsin-based service provider increased managed services revenue by 700 percent and their Net Promoter by 20 percent in a year by deploying an omnichannel marketing campaign with the help of Calix Marketing Cloud and the Calix Market Activation Program

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Calix, Inc. (NYSE: CALX) recognizes MHTC as a Giant of Marketing and a 2022 Calix Innovations Award winner. Announced at Calix ConneXions 2022, the award honors MHTC for successfully differentiating in highly competitive markets with a data-driven, subscriber-centric approach to marketing. The southwestern Wisconsin-based broadband service provider (BSP) built their managed Wi-Fi offering on the Calix Revenue EDGE platform to excite suburban subscribers, including work-from-homers and technology innovators. The full power of the Revenue EDGE platformincluding Calix CommandIQ, Revenue EDGE managed services, and Calix Cloudenables MHTC to easily meet subscribers unique needs. Last year, the BSP launched a personalized MHTC-branded mobile app (built on CommandIQ) to give subscribers more control of their home Wi-Fi experiences. MHTC leveraged Calix Marketing Cloud (Marketing Cloud) and the Calix Market Activation Program to execute an omnichannel marketing campaign focused on accelerating app adoption. With more subscribers on the app, MHTC leveraged this direct line of communications with subscribers to successfully launch managed servicesExperienceIQ advanced parental controls and ProtectIQ home network security. The response was phenomenal. In the past year, MHTC increased its average revenue per user (ARPU) by 6 percent and its revenue from managed services by 700 percent. Their Net Promoter Score (NPS) also increased by 20 percent to a stunning +90three times the telecommunications industry average.

Their successful omnichannel marketing campaign helped MHTC meet the needs of their subscribers and increase revenue by:

Increasing mobile app adoption by 276 percent in Q4 2021. The MHTC marketing team saw remarkable results from their omnichannel campaign during Q4 2021. Their marketing campaign, complete with weekly prizes, ran across email, social media, and mobile notifications. The campaign went viral on social media thanks to subscribers sharing their app use and the prizes they wonfurther increasing MHTCs visibility and contributing to their growing NPS.

The MHTC marketing team saw remarkable results from their omnichannel campaign during Q4 2021. Their marketing campaign, complete with weekly prizes, ran across email, social media, and mobile notifications. The campaign went viral on social media thanks to subscribers sharing their app use and the prizes they wonfurther increasing MHTCs visibility and contributing to their growing NPS. Driving higher subscriber engagement with email open rates of up to 50 percent. Thanks to the Marketing Cloud integration with Mailchimp, MHTC built a high-performing email marketing channel. Marketing Cloud enabled MHTC to tailor email messaging to better reach their target subscribers, further increasing marketing effectiveness. MHTC achieved high conversions with open rates of 40-50 percent compared to an industry average of 21 percent.

Thanks to the Marketing Cloud integration with Mailchimp, MHTC built a high-performing email marketing channel. Marketing Cloud enabled MHTC to tailor email messaging to better reach their target subscribers, further increasing marketing effectiveness. MHTC achieved high conversions with open rates of 40-50 percent compared to an industry average of 21 percent. Growing the number of subscribers using new managed services by more than 300 percent each. With a stronger line of communication to subscribers through their app and higher email open rates, MHTC successfully launched and grew the usage of their new managed services. By understanding their subscribers better, they could more easily tailor their Wi-Fi offerings to create exceptional experiences. As a result, since January 2022, the BSP increased the number of subscribers using ProtectIQ by 465 percent and ExperienceIQ by 344 percent.

We are thrilled to receive this recognition from Calix, said Melissa Lease, senior manager of marketing and sales at MHTC and newly inducted member of the Calix Broadband Marketing Hall of Fame. It demonstrates that having an aligned team can have a giant-sized impact. The Revenue EDGE platform enables us to run unparalleled managed Wi-Fi that can support a growing portfolio of value-added managed services. Marketing Cloud gives us access to a subscriber insights engine to better understand our subscribers. Then the Market Activation Program makes it easy for us to pair those insights with customizable, agency-quality materials to run campaigns that drive growth and maximize our marketing return on investment. As a result, we can more easily expand and grow the exceptional subscriber experience that MHTC is known to provide.

We are proud to recognize MHTC as the winner of the 2022 Customer Innovations Award for Marketing, said Matt Collins, executive vice president of commercial operations and chief marketing officer at Calix. By crafting an omnichannel, data-driven approach to marketing and leveraging the full power of Calix platforms, MHTC drove business growth and gained an advantage in competitive markets. They were able to accomplish this by meeting the needs of their subscribers. The result was a dramatic increase in the adoption of new managed services and revenue growth. Over the past year, they have increased their subscriber base, grown ARPU, and positively impacted subscribers lives. MHTC stands out as a giant in the broadband industry, and we are proud to partner with them in their success.

Learn how other BSP marketers use Calix platforms to support phenomenal business growth by registering for the ConneXions 2022 Virtual Learning Experience, running until November 3, 2022.

About Calix

Calix, Inc. (NYSE: CALX)Calix cloud and software platforms enable service providers of all types and sizes to innovate and transform. Our customers utilize the real-time data and insights from Calix platforms to simplify their businesses and deliver experiences that excite their subscribers. The resulting growth in subscriber acquisition, loyalty, and revenue creates more value for their businesses and communities. This is the Calix mission: To enable broadband service providers of all sizes to simplify, excite, and grow.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based upon managements current expectations and are inherently uncertain. Forward-looking statements are based upon information available to us as of the date of this release, and we assume no obligation to revise or update any such forward-looking statement to reflect any event or circumstance after the date of this release, except as required by law. Actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from current expectations based on risks and uncertainties affecting Calixs business. The reader is cautioned not to rely on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Additional information on potential factors that could affect Calixs results and other risks and uncertainties are detailed in its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC and available at www.sec.gov.

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Press Inquiries:

Alison Crisci

919-353-4323

[email protected]

Investor Inquiries:

Jim Fanucchi

(408) 404-5400

[email protected]

Source: Calix, Inc.
ZURICH--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Swiss performance sportswear brand On (NYSE: ONON) announced today that the Company will release its third quarter 2022 financial results on Wednesday, November 16, 2022, before U.S. financial markets open.

The Companys management will host an earnings conference call and webcast at 8:00 am U.S. Eastern Time on November 16, 2022 (2:00 pm CET on November 16, 2022). To access the live conference call by telephone, please dial the following numbers:

United States: +1 760 294 16 74

United Kingdom: +44 203 059 58 69

Switzerland: +41 91 261 14 47

No access code necessary

Additionally, a live webcast of the conference call will be available on the Company's investor relations website and under the following Link. Following the conclusion of the call, a replay of the conference call will be available on the Company's website.

About On

On was born in the Swiss Alps with one goal: to revolutionize the sensation of running by empowering all to run on clouds. Twelve years after market launch, On delivers industry-disrupting innovation in premium footwear, apparel, and accessories for high-performance running, outdoor, and all-day activities. Fueled by customer-recommendation, Ons award-winning CloudTec innovation, purposeful design and groundbreaking strides in sportswears circular economy have attracted a fast-growing global fanbase  inspiring humans to explore, discover and dream on.

On is present in more than 60 countries globally and engages with a digital community on www.on-running.com.

Source: On

Category: Earnings

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Investor Contact:

On Holding AG

Jerrit Peter

[email protected]

or

ICR, Inc.

Brendon Frey

[email protected]

Media Contact:

On Holding AG

Vesna Stimac

[email protected]

Source: On
POWELL RIVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Powell River library workers, represented by CUPE Local 798, have reached a tentative agreement with the Powell River Public Library.

We are confident that this agreement addresses our members longstanding concerns around wage fairness and supports fair compensation for workers and improved services for residents, says CUPE Local 798 President Fred Stutt.

Stutt says the union is committed to working collaboratively with the Library to develop and implement a newly negotiated job evaluation plan.

Library workers had been without a contract since December 2021.

No further details of the agreement will be released until both parties have ratified the tentative agreement.

Our members are passionate about the work they do and the services they provide in our community, and we look forward to working with the new Library Board and its leadership team to deliver quality library services to residents, says Stutt.

CUPE 798 represents workers at the Powell River Public Library.

cope491

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005859/en/

Kathryn Davies

CUPE National Communications Representative

250.886.6502 or [email protected]

Fred Stutt

CUPE Local 798 President

604.414.4137

Source: Canadian Union of Public Employees
STRONGSVILLE, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Saint-Gobain today held a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of its new state-of-the-art CertainTeed Architectural facility in Strongsville, Ohio where it will manufacturer specialty wood ceilings systems. The relocation from its former plant in nearby Lakewood, OH to this new location has more than doubled the facilitys manufacturing footprint and will create 38 jobs in Northern Ohio.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005867/en/

(Photo: Business Wire)

The event, hosted in conjunction with the Strongsville Chamber of Commerce, featured remarks from Mayor Thomas Perciak, Vice President and General Manager of CertainTeeds Interior Products Group Jay Bachmann, Vice President of Operations for CertainTeeds Interior Products Group Marc Bartolomei, Team NEOs VP of Project Management, Site Strategies, and Talent Christine Nelson, and CertainTeed Strongsvilles Plant Manager Luis Granja.

The project, which was supported by the State of Ohio through state grant funds and tax credits, will allow the company to expand its offerings of specialty ceiling and wall systems and comes as Saint-Gobain continues to roll out its global Grow and Impact Strategy, which includes expanding its presence in key, fast growing markets.

As we cut the ribbon on this new, modern facility today, we would like to thank the State of Ohio, Team NEO, and the City of Strongsville for their constant support. We must also thank the entire Strongsville team for making this project possible and their tireless work to make the world a better home, said Jay Bachmann, Vice President and General Manager of CertainTeed Interior Products Group. Our new home will provide our team with the necessary manufacturing, storage, and warehouse space needed to invest in our customers, expand our offerings, and continue to be a worldwide leader in light and sustainable construction.

The City of Strongsville is excited to welcome CertainTeed into our business community, said Strongsville Mayor Thomas Perciak. We truly appreciate the significant investment CertainTeed has made within Strongsville, as well as the new, high quality jobs they are creating within our City. We look forward to a long, successful partnership with CertainTeed.

Todays ceremony in Strongsville follows several other growth investments taken by Saint-Gobain to grow its business in North America in recent months:

In September, Saint-Gobain completed the acquisition of GCP Applied Technologies Inc., furthering its worldwide leadership position in construction chemicals.

In August, Saint-Gobain completed its $928 Million acquisition of Kaycan, Ltd., a family-owned manufacturer and distributor of exterior building materials, becoming the top siding player in Canada.

In May, Saint-Gobain announced a $100 Million expansion of its CertainTeed roofing facility in Peachtree City, Georgia, more than doubling the sites production capacity while also reducing its carbon dioxide emissions.

Also in May, the company announced a $28 Million investment in its ADFORS technical textile products facility in Dublin, Georgia, creating 400 jobs over the next two years.

In April, Saint-Gobain announced a $118 Million expansion of its CertainTeed roofing plant in Oxford, North Carolina, adding an additional 225,000 square feet of manufacturing space to what was already one of the largest roofing shingle manufacturing sites in North America.

In February, the company invested $32 Million in its CertainTeed insulation manufacturing site in Chowchilla, California, increasing the locations production capacity by 13% while also reducing its carbon footprint.

About CertainTeed

Through the responsible development of innovative and sustainable building products, CertainTeed, headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania, has helped shape the building products industry for more than 115 years. Founded in 1904 as General Roofing Manufacturing Company, the firms slogan Quality Made Certain, Satisfaction Guaranteed, inspired the name CertainTeed. Today, CertainTeed is a leading North American brand of exterior and interior building products, including roofing, siding, solar, fence, railing, trim, insulation, drywall and ceilings. www.certainteed.com.

About Saint-Gobain

Worldwide leader in light and sustainable construction, Saint-Gobain designs, manufactures and distributes materials and services for the construction and industrial markets. Its integrated solutions for the renovation of public and private buildings, light construction and the decarbonization of construction and industry are developed through a continuous innovation process and provide sustainability and performance. The Groups commitment is guided by its purpose, MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER HOME.

44.2 billion in sales in 2021

167,000 employees, located in 75 countries

Committed to achieving Carbon Neutrality by 2050

For more details on Saint-Gobain, visit http://www.saint-gobain.com and follow us on Twitter @saintgobain.

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Peter Clark

Saint-Gobain North America

[email protected]

Source: Saint-Gobain
WESTLAKE, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Schwab Advisor Services is expanding its RIAConnect platform to provide greater support to firms who custody with both Schwab and TD Ameritrade (TDA) to make the right connections with each other and with prospective talent. The online community and matching tool, which originated as a TDA initiative, connects firms and advisors on topics related to M&A, talent and succession planning. There are more than 1,000 firms currently on the platform, and they have exchanged more than 11,000 messages since the original launch.

We hear consistently from advisors that connecting with new talent, scaling for growth, and solidifying succession plans are top priorities, platforms like RIAConnect are more valuable than ever, said Lisa Salvi, Managing Director of Business Consulting and Education at Schwab Advisor Services.

Expanding the platform to include advisors who custody with Schwab and with TD Ameritrade increases the likelihood that firms exploring M&A and succession opportunities can find their perfect match.

The enhanced platform leverages a proprietary algorithm designed to match firms with mutual goals or needs. Firms can connect anonymously online to pursue strategic relationships narrowed down through a filtered search by factors like firm culture, growth projections, and investment management approaches.

Another important enhancement is that prospective talent can now leverage the platform to explore career opportunities through an external link, making it easier for firms and job seekers to find the right fit.

As a complement to RIAConnect, the Schwab Affinity Services program provides firms with access to a collection of curated third-party providers at preferred pricing that cover talent, M&A, and succession planning capabilities offered through the platform.

Advisors can access RIAConnect by visiting the Schwab Advisor Center or Veo One. Individuals interested in a career in the RIA industry are invited to create a profile at: schwabriaconnect.com. Advisors are also invited to learn more about the platform at Schwabs 2022 IMPACT Conference by visiting our booth in the Exchange.

About Charles Schwab

At Charles Schwab we believe in the power of investing to help individuals create a better tomorrow. We have a history of challenging the status quo in our industry, innovating in ways that benefit investors and the advisors and employers who serve them, and championing our clients goals with passion and integrity.

More information is available at www.aboutschwab.com. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.

Disclosures

Through its operating subsidiaries, The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE: SCHW) provides a full range of securities brokerage, banking, money management and financial advisory services to individual investors and independent investment advisors. Its broker-dealer subsidiary, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (member SIPC, www.sipc.org), and affiliates offer a complete range of investment services and products including an extensive selection of mutual funds; financial planning and investment advice; retirement plan and equity compensation plan services; compliance and trade monitoring solutions; referrals to independent fee-based investment advisors; and custodial, operational and trading support for independent, fee-based investment advisors through Schwab Advisor Services. Its banking subsidiary, Charles Schwab Bank (member FDIC and an Equal Housing Lender), provides banking and lending services and products. More information is available at www.schwab.com and www.aboutschwab.com.

TD Ameritrade Institutional, Division of TD Ameritrade, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC, a subsidiary of The Charles Schwab Corporation. TD Ameritrade is a trademark jointly owned by TD Ameritrade IP Company, Inc. and The Toronto-Dominion Bank.

Schwab Advisor Services serves independent investment advisors and includes the custody, trading, and support of Schwab.

Independent investment advisors are not owned by, affiliated with, or supervised by Schwab. For informational purposes only.

2022 Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (Schwab) All rights reserved. Member SIPC.

(1122-2VTM)

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005305/en/

Kristin Meza

Schwab Corporate Public Relations

862-742-7482

[email protected]

Liz Shaw

The Neibart Group

732-757-2119

[email protected]

Source: The Charles Schwab Corporation
Online directory that helps investors find and research RIAs now features advisors who custody with TD Ameritrade.

WESTLAKE, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Schwab Advisor ServicesTM continues to expand and enhance its trailblazing Independent Difference campaign, an education and advertising campaign that uses national TV, print, digital and social media advertising to raise awareness among high-net-worth investors about the many advantages of working with an independent registered investment advisor.

Schwab has long championed the RIA model through advertising that profiles actual independent advisors who custody with Schwab. The campaign articulates why many investors, as they explore their options, owe it to themselves to understand what makes independent investment advisors stand apart from other financial professionals.

The campaign has generated more than 2 billion ad impressions and attracted over 3 million visitors to FindYourIndependentAdvisor.com, Schwabs independent advisor education center, where investors can learn about the RIA model and how to make an informed choice when choosing an advisor.

We firmly believe independent RIAs play a vital role in providing trusted financial advice that helps investors achieve their life goals, which is why weve been champions of the RIA model for more than 30 years, said Bernie Clark, head of Schwab Advisor Services. As the leading custodian to independent advisors, were proud to dedicate our energy and resources to raise awareness of the independent difference.

Directory adds advisors who custody with TD Ameritrade

The website also hosts an advisor directory of more than 2,300 RIA firms, through which visitors can conduct a zip code search to find independent advisors in their community. Since the directory was launched in 2013, investors have conducted more than 300,000 searches, of which 65 percent led to a phone call, website click or email to an advisory firm.

And even before Schwab completes its integration with Ameritrade, the Independent Difference campaign this year profiles some independent investment advisors that use Ameritrades custody services and has added some Ameritrade firms to the advisor directory.

Schwabs ad campaign and educational website have helped elevate investor awareness about the many benefits of working with independent RIAs, including customized guidance, competitive fee structures and the opportunity to build deeply personal and trusted relationships. And by walking through key questions investors should ask when seeking an advisor who is right for them, the program has helped shine a positive light on the broader RIA community.

When we first launched this campaign, many investors were unfamiliar with the difference between independent advisors and traditional brokers, so we put our education and advertising muscle to work on behalf of our RIA clients. We are passionate about this work, said Susan Forman, head of marketing for Schwab Advisor Services. Our ads and educational website showcase how independent advice can make a positive difference for high-net-worth investors.

Investing in ads that celebrate RIAs

Schwab began educating investors on the independent difference in 2011 when it introduced the RIA Stands for You campaign, putting actual advisors front and center while highlighting the values and standards they uphold. The campaign, rebranded Independent Difference in 2016, has continued to evolve and expand over time. The first national TV ads debuted in 2017, for example, while today Schwab reaches high-net-worth investors through social media channels and interactive digital experiences.

When investors choose an advisor, its critical to understand how theyre compensated, the standards they uphold, and whether their financial interests are truly aligned, said Thomas Meyer of Meyer Capital Group, a Marlton, New Jersey, advisor who is an advocate for the fiduciary approach. A lot of financial professionals these days claim to be client-first, but that may not always be the case, which can create confusion for investors.

To learn more, visit FindYourIndependentAdvisor.com. Those attending Schwabs IMPACT conference in Denver, November 1-3, can visit the Independent Difference booth at the Schwab Advisor Services center of the exhibit hall, where they can engage with interactive experiences, learn more about the campaign and explore the significant results it has generated for advisors.

The Independent Difference campaign was developed in collaboration with TRG, a Dallas-based agency.

About Charles Schwab & Co.

At Charles Schwab we believe in the power of investing to help individuals create a better tomorrow. We have a history of challenging the status quo in our industry, innovating in ways that benefit investors and the advisors and employers who serve them, and championing our clients goals with passion and integrity. More information is available at www.aboutschwab.com. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.

Disclosures

Through its operating subsidiaries, The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE: SCHW) provides a full range of securities brokerage, banking, money management and financial advisory services to individual investors and independent investment advisors. Its broker-dealer subsidiary, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (member SIPC), and affiliates offer a complete range of investment services and products including an extensive selection of mutual funds; financial planning and investment advice; retirement plan and equity compensation plan services; compliance and trade monitoring solutions; referrals to independent fee-based investment advisors; and custodial, operational and trading support for independent, fee-based investment advisors through Schwab Advisor Services. Its banking subsidiary, Charles Schwab Bank (member FDIC and an Equal Housing Lender), provides banking and lending services and products. More information is available at www.schwab.com and www.aboutschwab.com.

TD Ameritrade Institutional, Division of TD Ameritrade, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC, a subsidiary of The Charles Schwab Corporation. TD Ameritrade is a trademark jointly owned by TD Ameritrade IP Company, Inc. and The Toronto-Dominion Bank.

The above-mentioned firms and their employees are not affiliated with or employees of Schwab unless otherwise noted. Mention should not be construed as a recommendation, endorsement of, or sponsorship by Schwab. The views expressed are those of the third party and are provided for informational purposes only. Experiences expressed are no guarantee of future performance or success and may not be representative of you or your experience.

Schwab Advisor Services serves independent investment advisors and includes the custody, trading, and support of Schwab.

Independent investment advisors are not owned by, affiliated with, or supervised by Schwab or TD Ameritrade, Inc.

Information in the advisor directory is made available by Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. as a convenience. Inclusion in the Directory does not constitute a recommendation, endorsement or sponsorship of the RIA by Schwab. Each RIA in the Directory is responsible for the content of its own listing, has voluntarily agreed to be included, and does not pay to or receive from Schwab any compensation relating to their listing. The Directory includes some, but not all, of the RIAs that have an agreement with Schwab and/or TD Ameritrade, Inc to provide custody, trading and other support services relating to RIA client accounts that are maintained at Schwab. The Directory is not all-inclusive and there may be other RIA firms in your area.

2022 Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (Schwab) All rights reserved. Member SIPC.

1122-2BUW

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005247/en/

Joseph A. Giannone

Charles Schwab

(862) 370-9144

[email protected]

Liz Shaw

The Neibart Group

(732) 757-2119

[email protected]

Source: The Charles Schwab Corporation
Starry demonstrates solid execution for a third quarter in a row, with strong year-over-year growth in customer relationships, network growth and expansion of its digital equity program;

Full reporting of 3Q results follows implementation of cost-cutting measures and retention of advisors to explore strategic and balance sheet solutions.

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Starry Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: STRY) (the Company or Starry), a licensed fixed wireless technology developer and internet service provider, today reported full results for the third quarter of 2022. The results showed that Starry has continued to successfully execute on its subscriber growth plan, delivering a strong increase in customer relationships and driving an increase in penetration of homes serviceable. Additionally, Starry expanded its digital equity program, Starry Connect, growing to reach more than 87,000 units of public and affordable housing as of September 30, 2022, an 83% increase year-over-year.

Third Quarter of 2022 Highlights

Revenue of $8.0 million, up 36% year-over-year.

Net Loss of $60.3 million, compared to a Net Loss of $39.8 million in the third quarter of 2021.

Adjusted EBITDA loss of $39.7 million, compared to an Adjusted EBITDA loss of $26.0 million in the third quarter of 2021.1

Capital expenditures were $19.7 million, compared to capital expenditures of $19.3 million in the third quarter of 2021.

Homes serviceable of 6.0 million at quarter end, up 18% year-over-year.

Customer relationships of 91,297 at quarter end, up 66% year-over-year. Net additions in the third quarter of 2022 were a record 10,347.

Penetration of homes serviceable increased by 44 bps year-over-year to 1.53%.

As announced earlier this week, we have retained PJT Partners to advise the Company and its Board of Directors on potential mergers and acquisitions, capital raising, and balance sheet solutions, said Chet Kanojia, Starry co-founder and CEO. To enable sufficient time for this process to take place, we proactively undertook significant cost-cutting measures last month to limit our expenditures and put the company in the best position to undergo this process. We are laser-focused on financing the business over the long-term so we can continue serving our markets and customers.

Operational Highlights

Homes Serviceable: As of the end of the third quarter, homes serviceable were 6.0 million, an increase of 18% year-over-year. The growth in homes serviceable was due to network improvements and expansion in existing markets.

As of the end of the third quarter, homes serviceable were 6.0 million, an increase of 18% year-over-year. The growth in homes serviceable was due to network improvements and expansion in existing markets. Customer Relationships: As of the end of the third quarter, customer relationships were 91,297, an increase of 66% year-over-year. The net additions in the quarter were a record 10,347. Starry saw growth in customer relationships in each of its six markets during the quarter.

As of the end of the third quarter, customer relationships were 91,297, an increase of 66% year-over-year. The net additions in the quarter were a record 10,347. Starry saw growth in customer relationships in each of its six markets during the quarter. Penetration of homes serviceable: The Company increased penetration by 44 bps year-over-year to 1.53% by focusing sales and marketing efforts primarily on multiple dwelling units where Starry equipment had previously been installed.

As we have always said: execution matters. For a third quarter in a row, Starry added a record number of customer relationships and expanded our network coverage to reach nearly six million households, said Alex Moulle-Berteaux, Starry co-founder and Chief Operating Officer. While the significant cost-reduction measures we undertook last month will have an impact on our full-year growth numbers, the strength of our last three quarters demonstrates our ability to scale and add record numbers of customers each quarter. We concentrate on our core business: serving dense urban areas and will continue to serve existing and new customers in our markets with the same exemplary level of customer care and service that has come to define #HappyInterneting.

Financial Highlights

Revenue: Revenue increased 36% year-over-year as a result of an increase in our customer relationships from 55,078 to 91,297, partially offset by a decline in ARPU.

Revenue increased 36% year-over-year as a result of an increase in our customer relationships from 55,078 to 91,297, partially offset by a decline in ARPU. Cost of revenue: Cost of revenue increased by 43% year-over-year due to higher depreciation related to our network expansion as well as increased headcount and network service costs.

Cost of revenue increased by 43% year-over-year due to higher depreciation related to our network expansion as well as increased headcount and network service costs. SG&A: SG&A expense increased by 120% year-over-year due to higher headcount, accrued Rural Digital Opportunity Fund ("RDOF") penalties, public company costs and other expenses.

SG&A expense increased by 120% year-over-year due to higher headcount, accrued Rural Digital Opportunity Fund ("RDOF") penalties, public company costs and other expenses. R&D: R&D expense increased by 35% year-over-year due to increased headcount costs to support the development of our network and next generation equipment.

R&D expense increased by 35% year-over-year due to increased headcount costs to support the development of our network and next generation equipment. Net Loss: Net Loss increased to $60.3 million, compared to $39.8 million in the prior year quarter.

Net Loss increased to $60.3 million, compared to $39.8 million in the prior year quarter. Adjusted EBITDA: Adjusted EBITDA loss increased to $39.7 million as we invested in our network, systems and staff to support growth.

Adjusted EBITDA loss increased to $39.7 million as we invested in our network, systems and staff to support growth. Capital expenditures: Capital expenditures increased by 2% year-over-year due to growth in our network and customer base, partially offset by the pause in our Las Vegas expansion.

Capital expenditures increased by 2% year-over-year due to growth in our network and customer base, partially offset by the pause in our Las Vegas expansion. Cash: As of September 30, 2022, Starry had cash and cash equivalents of $29.4 million and restricted cash of $18.6 million.

As of September 30, 2022, Starry had cash and cash equivalents of $29.4 million and restricted cash of $18.6 million. Debt: As of September 30, 2022, Starry had outstanding term debt of $231.0 million.

Last month, we implemented significant cost-reduction measures to reduce our capital expenditures and provide an extended runway for the company to pursue financing and other options, said Komal Misra, Starry Chief Financial Officer. While implementing these measures, including a significant reduction in our workforce, was difficult, they were necessary in order to put the company in the best position possible to undertake these next steps in our capital raising process.

Business Outlook

Starry is not providing guidance for full-year 2022 at this time. We will provide the market with further updates as warranted.

Conference Call

Starry will host a conference call to discuss its financial results for the third quarter of 2022 on Wednesday, November 2, 2022 at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time (ET).

Those parties interested in participating via telephone should dial one of the numbers below and enter the conference ID number 242769.



United States Toll Free: 1-844-200-6205

United States Local: 1-646-904 -5544

Other Locations: 1-929-526-1599

A live webcast of the conference call will be available on Starrys Investor Relations website at https://investors.starry.com. A replay of the call will be available after 12:00 p.m. ET on the Investor Relations website. To automatically receive Starry financial news and updates, please subscribe to email alerts on the Investor Relations page.

About Starry Group Holdings, Inc.

At Starry (NYSE: STRY), we believe the future is built on connectivity and that connecting people and communities to high-speed, broadband internet should be simple and affordable. Using our innovative, wideband hybrid-fiber fixed wireless technology, Starry is deploying gigabit capable broadband to the home without bundles, data caps, or long-term contracts. Starry is a different kind of internet service provider. Were building a platform for the future by putting our customers first, protecting their privacy, ensuring access to an open and neutral net, and making affordable connectivity and digital equity a priority. Headquartered in Boston, Starry is currently available in Boston, New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Denver and Columbus, OH. To learn more about Starry or to join our team and help us build a better internet, visit: https://starry.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes statements that may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include, but are not limited to, express or implied forward-looking statements relating to our expectations regarding our plans, objectives and expectations relating to our reduction in force, including timing, potential cost savings and expected impacts to our financial results and operations, our strategy, competitive position and opportunities in the marketplace, and our anticipated business and financial performance. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in these forward-looking statements. Existing and prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied include our limited remaining available cash, our ability to remain in compliance with and not in default under our credit facility, our potential inability to timely procure additional financing or other strategic options on favorable terms, or at all, our potential inability to realize the expected benefits of the announced reduction in force and other cost-cutting measures and the risks and uncertainties described in the Risk Factors section of our Annual Report on Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

1 Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin are not measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. See Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Other Business Metrics at the end of this release for more information and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures.

STARRY GROUP HOLDINGS, INC. Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (Unaudited) (in thousands, except for share data) Three Months Ended

September 30, Nine Months Ended

September 30, 2022 2021 2022 2021 Revenues $ 7,959 $ 5,871 $ 23,083 $ 15,485 Cost of revenues (22,641 ) (15,784 ) (61,557 ) (41,606 ) Gross loss (14,682 ) (9,913 ) (38,474 ) (26,121 ) Operating expenses: Selling, general and administrative (37,857 ) (17,170 ) (88,075 ) (47,408 ) Research and development (9,559 ) (7,064 ) (25,596 ) (19,482 ) Total operating expenses (47,416 ) (24,234 ) (113,671 ) (66,890 ) Loss from operations (62,098 ) (34,147 ) (152,145 ) (93,011 ) Other income (expense): Interest expense (8,581 ) (5,192 ) (24,149 ) (17,773 ) Other income (expense), net 10,367 (436 ) 26,042 (8,591 ) Total other income (expense) 1,786 (5,628 ) 1,893 (26,364 ) Net loss $ (60,312 ) $ (39,775 ) $ (150,252 ) $ (119,375 ) Net loss per share of common stock, basic and diluted $ (0.37 ) $ (1.09 ) $ (1.22 ) $ (3.28 ) Weighted-average shares outstanding, basic and diluted 162,687,604 36,521,158 122,685,468 36,394,746

STARRY GROUP HOLDINGS, INC. Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (Unaudited) (in thousands, except for share data) September 30,

2022 December 31,

2021 Assets Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 29,381 $ 29,384 Accounts receivable, net 879 380 Deferred costs  7,049 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 12,224 7,079 Total current assets 42,484 43,892 Property and equipment, net 159,536 129,019 Intangible assets 48,463 48,463 Restricted cash and other assets 20,166 1,860 Total assets $ 270,649 $ 223,234 Liabilities, redeemable shares and stockholders (deficit) equity Current liabilities: Accounts payable $ 12,414 $ 6,832 Unearned revenue 1,684 1,630 Current portion of debt 1,981 1,504 Accrued expenses and other current liabilities 33,933 23,177 Total current liabilities 50,012 33,143 Debt, net of current portion 229,203 191,596 Earnout liabilities 1,264  Warrant liabilities 2,685 14,773 Asset retirement obligations 3,207 2,387 Other liabilities 23,419 12,412 Total liabilities 309,790 254,311 Redeemable shares 10,579  Stockholders (deficit) equity : Convertible preferred stock  453,184 Legacy common stock  4 Class A common stock 16  Class X common stock 1  Additional paid-in capital 601,886 17,106 Accumulated deficit (651,623 ) (501,371 ) Total stockholders (deficit) equity (49,720 ) (31,077 ) Total liabilities, redeemable shares and stockholders (deficit) equity $ 270,649 $ 223,234

STARRY GROUP HOLDINGS, INC. Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flow (Unaudited) (in thousands, except for share data) Three Months Ended

September 30, Nine Months Ended

September 30, 2022 2021 2022 2021 Operating activities: Net loss $ (60,312 ) $ (39,775 ) $ (150,252 ) $ (119,375 ) Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating activities: Depreciation and amortization expense 11,204 7,773 30,849 20,746 Paid-in-kind interest on term loans, convertible notes payable and strategic

partner obligations 6,627 4,300 18,697 12,669 Amortization of debt discount and deferred charges 1,898 806 5,300 3,956 Conversion of debt discount    971 Loss on extinguishment of debt    2,361 Fair value adjustment of derivative liabilities (10,367 ) 454 (29,926 ) 6,250 Recognition of distribution to non-redeeming shareholders   3,888  Loss on disposal of property and equipment 197 633 1,631 1,856 Share-based compensation 4,333 389 9,032 967 Transaction costs allocated to warrants and earnout liability instruments   314  Accretion of asset retirement obligations 83 54 227 143 Provision for doubtful accounts 11 19 35 21 Changes in operating assets and liabilities: Accounts receivable (451 ) 56 (535 ) (50 ) Prepaid expenses and other current assets (1,637 ) (319 ) (5,131 ) (2,460 ) Deferred cost  (465 )  (918 ) Other assets (450 ) 9 (1,099 ) (5 ) Accounts payable 3,422 (30 ) 3,176 (800 ) Unearned revenue (893 ) (130 ) 54 411 Accrued expenses and other current liabilities 12,140 2,029 14,025 3,502 Other liabilities 862 145 866 2,145 Net cash used in operating activities (33,333 ) (24,052 ) (98,849 ) (67,610 ) Investing activities: Purchases of property and equipment (19,719 ) (19,292 ) (57,303 ) (49,277 ) Net cash used in investing activities (19,719 ) (19,292 ) (57,303 ) (49,277 ) Financing activities: Proceeds from Business Combination, net of transaction costs   160,539  Repayment of note assumed in the Business Combination   (1,200 )  Proceeds from the issuance of convertible notes payable and beneficial conversion

feature on convertible notes    11,000 Proceeds from Strategic Partner Arrangement 246 711 4,178 2,705 Proceeds from exercise of common stock options 116 127 872 345 Proceeds from the issuance of Series E Preferred Stock, net of issuance costs    119,850 Proceeds from the issuance of term loans, net of issuance costs   10,000  Payments of third-party issuance costs in connection with Term Loans   (47 )  Repayments of capital lease obligations (404 ) (188 ) (986 ) (561 ) Net cash provided by financing activities (42 ) 650 173,356 133,339 Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash: (53,094 ) (42,694 ) 17,204 16,452 Cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash, beginning of period 101,060 85,977 30,762 26,831 Cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash, end of period $ 47,966 $ 43,283 $ 47,966 $ 43,283

Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Other Business Metrics

To supplement our consolidated financial statements, which are prepared and presented in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States (GAAP), we provide investors with certain non-GAAP financial measures and other business metrics, which we believe are helpful to our investors. We use these non-GAAP financial measures and other business metrics for financial and operational decision-making purposes and as a means to evaluate period-to-period comparisons. We believe that these non-GAAP financial measures and other business metrics provide useful information about our operating results, enhance the overall understanding of past financial performance and future prospects and allow for greater transparency with respect to metrics used by our management in its financial and operational decision-making.

The presentation of non-GAAP financial information and other business metrics is not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the directly comparable financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. While our non-GAAP financial measures and other business metrics are an important tool for financial and operational decision-making and for evaluating our own operating results over different periods of time, we urge investors to review the reconciliation of these financial measures to the comparable GAAP financial measures included below, and not to rely on any single financial measure to evaluate our business.

As of September 30, 2022 2021 Addressable Households 9,691,029 9,691,029 Homes Serviceable 5,960,685 5,065,304 Customer Relationships 91,297 55,078 Penetration of Homes Serviceable 1.53 % 1.09 %

Three Months Ended

September 30, Nine Months Ended

September 30, 2022 2021 2022 2021 Revenue (000s) $ 7,959 $ 5,871 $ 23,083 $ 15,485 Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) $ 30.80 $ 38.05 $ 33.19 $ 38.42 Net Loss (000s) $ (60,312 ) $ (39,775 ) $ (150,252 ) $ (119,375 ) Net Loss margin (758 )% (677 )% (651 )% (771 )% Adjusted EBITDA (000s) $ (39,680 ) $ (25,968 ) $ (101,342 ) $ (71,279 ) Adjusted EBITDA margin (499 )% (442 )% (439 )% (460 )%

Reconciliations of Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin

We define Adjusted EBITDA as Net Loss, adjusted to exclude interest, tax, depreciation and amortization expense, unusual or non-recurring items, non-cash items and other items that are not indicative of ongoing operations (including one-time transaction related expenses, stock-based compensation expenses, loss on extinguishment of debt, the fair value adjustment of derivative liabilities, recognition of distribution to non-redeeming shareholders, litigation-related expenses and RDOF penalties). We define Adjusted EBITDA margin as Adjusted EBITDA divided by revenue. Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin are frequently used by management, research analysts, investors and other interested parties to evaluate companies. Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin are not based on any comprehensive set of accounting rules or principles and should not be considered a substitute for, or superior to, Net Loss or Net Loss margin, the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, and may be different from similarly titled non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies.

Three Months Ended

September 30, Nine Months Ended

September 30, ($ in thousands) 2022 2021 2022 2021 Net Loss ($) and Net Loss margin (%) $ (60,312 ) (758%) $ (39,775 ) (677%) $ (150,252 ) (651%) $ (119,375 ) (771%) Adjustments: Add: Interest expense, net 8,581 108% 5,191 88% 24,144 105% 17,772 115% Add: Depreciation and amortization expense 11,204 141% 7,773 132% 30,849 134% 20,746 134% Add: Non-recurring transaction related expenses (1) 1,548 19%   5,590 24%   (Subtract)/Add: (Gain)/loss on fair value adjustment of derivative liabilities (10,367 ) (130)% 454 8% (29,926 ) (130)% 6,250 40% Add: Recognition of distribution to non-redeeming shareholders     3,888 17%   Add: Loss on extinguishment of debt       2,361 15% Add: Stock-based compensation 4,333 54% 389 7% 9,032 39% 967 6% Add: Litigation-related expenses (2) 1,300 16%   1,300 6%   Add: RDOF penalties 4,033 51%   4,033 17%   Adjusted EBITDA ($) and Adjusted EBITDA margin (%) $ (39,680 ) (499%) $ (25,968 ) (442%) $ (101,342 ) (439%) $ (71,279 ) (460%)

(1) We add back expenses that are related to transactions that occurred during the period that are expected to be non-recurring, including mergers and acquisitions and financings. Generally these expenses are included within selling, general and administrative expense in the condensed consolidated statements of operations. For the nine months ended September 30, 2022, such transactions comprised of the Business Combination, the sale of the PIPE shares, the sale of the Series Z Preferred Stock shares, the registration for resale of both Class A common stock and private placement warrants as well as other financing costs. (2) Litigation-related expenses relate to amounts accrued for loss contingencies.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005409/en/

Investor:

Ben Barrett, Starry

[email protected]

[email protected]

Media:

Mimi Ryals, Starry

[email protected]

[email protected]

Source: Starry, Inc.
ADELAIDE, Australia--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Sunverge Energy, provider of an industry-leading distributed energy resource (DER) control, orchestration, and aggregation platform, and ENGIE announced the deployment of a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) virtual power plant (VPP) that will support Flinders Universitys electric vehicle business fleet. The project consists of Wallbox Quasar bi-directional EV charging systems, most of which will be aggregated to utilize the V2G services and the remaining to be used for fast-charging EV solutions. The project was developed by ENGIE to demonstrate the commercial application of bi-directional EV smart charging systems in support of the universitys business fleet electrification, microgrid operations, wholesale market participation, as well as wider market adoption. ENGIE received funding from the South Australian Governments EV Smart Charging and V2G Trials Program as part of the development of the project.

Were very excited to partner with Flinders University and Sunverge on this groundbreaking and innovative project, said Greg Schumann, Director of Transport & Green Mobility, ENGIE Australia & New Zealand. This V2G VPP showcases the flexibility and reliability that V2X services can provide for fleet operators and grid operators alike.

In addition to serving the transportation needs of the universitys faculty and students, the project leverages Sunverges DER control, orchestration, and aggregation platform to operate in the AEMO market as a multi-service VPP that delivers a variety of grid services including wholesale price arbitrage, peak demand management, and optimization of behind-the-meter generation supply and local demand.

The electrification of fleets promises to not only decarbonize much of the transportation sector, but also provide new sources of value for fleet operators and the electric grid through the control, optimization and aggregation of DERs, in this case fleet of electric vehicle batteries and solar energy, said Martin Milani, CEO of Sunverge. As government, businesses, and other organizations continue to electrify large fleets, this project demonstrates the commercial potential of aggregating and utilizing this new and game changing source of DERs.

About ENGIE

ENGIE Australia & New Zealand, a joint venture with Mitsui & Co Ltd, is accelerating the transition to a carbon-neutral economy by providing innovative, sustainable energy solutions to households, businesses, communities and cities. We have 1,100MW of low-carbon generation capacity and more than 2,00MW of renewable energy under development supporting the Groups ambition of 50 GW in 2025. Our retail business, Simply Energy, has more than 740,000 gas and electricity customer accounts. Were also delivering sustainability solutions to cities, precincts, and universities through our ENGIE Net Zero Energy Solutions team. ENGIEs trading arm, Global Energy Management & Sales (GEMS) provides long-energy supply agreements, energy trading, risk management and asset management services to business customers across the ENGIE ANZ portfolio.

About Sunverge

Sunverge Energy provides the leading open dynamic platform for Virtual Power Plants (VPP), a grid-aware and dynamic power source built from the aggregation of behind-the-meter DERs (distributed energy resources). The Sunverge real time DER control, orchestration and aggregation platform is unique in providing dynamic multi-objective optimization of services on both sides of the meter, helping customers with intelligent management of their own renewable energy generation and utilities with greater flexibility in managing their infrastructure investments, reducing generation costs, increasing system reliability and meeting their renewable energy goals. Together with the Sunverge Infinity edge controller, the Sunverge VPP platform provides intelligent dynamic near real-time control over decentralized energy resources that is efficient, reliable, and responsive to utilities and their customers. For more information, please visit http://www.sunverge.com/.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005925/en/

Jared Blanton

Antenna

[email protected]

415.712.1417

Source: Sunverge Energy
FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TJX) today announced that it plans to release its third quarter Fiscal 2023 sales and earnings results on Wednesday, November 16, 2022, before 9:30 a.m. ET.

At 11:00 a.m. ET that day, Ernie Herrman, TJXs Chief Executive Officer and President, will hold a conference call to discuss the Companys third quarter Fiscal 2023 results, operations, and business trends. A real-time webcast of the call will be available to the public at TJX.com. A replay of the call will also be available by dialing (866) 367-5577 (toll free) or (203) 369-0233 through Tuesday, November 22, 2022, or at TJX.com.

About The TJX Companies, Inc.

The TJX Companies, Inc. is the leading off-price retailer of apparel and home fashions in the U.S. and worldwide. As of July 30, 2022, the end of the Companys second quarter, the Company operated a total of 4,736 stores in nine countries, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Poland, Austria, the Netherlands, and Australia, and five e-commerce sites. These include 1,290 T.J. Maxx, 1,157 Marshalls, 862 HomeGoods, 62 Sierra, and 40 Homesense stores, as well as tjmaxx.com, marshalls.com, homegoods.com, and sierra.com, in the United States; 295 Winners, 150 HomeSense, and 106 Marshalls stores in Canada; 626 T.K. Maxx and 77 Homesense stores, as well as tkmaxx.com, in Europe; and 71 T.K. Maxx stores in Australia. TJXs press releases and financial information are available at TJX.com.

Important Information at Website

Archived versions of the Companys conference calls are available in the Investors section of TJX.com after they are no longer available by telephone as are reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to GAAP financial measures for applicable periods and other financial information. The Company routinely posts information that may be important to investors in the Investors section at TJX.com. The Company encourages investors to consult that section of its website regularly.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005789/en/

The TJX Companies, Inc.

Debra McConnell

Global Communications

(508) 390-2323

Source: The TJX Companies, Inc.
Members can explore more than 200 experiences offered globally, focused on meeting members where they are on their wellbeing journeys

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Grounded in its ongoing efforts to inspire and empower travelers to pursue their individual wellbeing goals, World of Hyatt is introducing FIND, an experiences platform, through Hyatts industry-leading World of Hyatt loyalty program. With 200+ experiences across 85+ destinations in over 30 countries, the FIND platform is designed to complement members wellbeing journeys and meet them where they are.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221101006068/en/

World of Hyatt FIND Experiences Platform. (Photo: Business Wire)

We know travelers are eager to explore new destinations and are prioritizing their wellbeing now more than ever, said Amy Weinberg, senior vice president, loyalty, brand marketing and consumer insights, Hyatt. The FIND platform allows for more opportunities to enhance World of Hyatt members wellbeing through a lens of self-discovery. With experiences available to all members, its incredibly easy for them to find something that moves them or keeps them moving.

Whether discovering local cultures that feed into emotional and mental wellbeing, enjoying culinary experiences that power the body or restoring your energy through mindful movements, World of Hyatt members can explore their definition of wellbeing through FIND experiences.

Meeting Members Where They Are on Their Holistic Wellbeing Journey:

With the flexibility for members to book during and outside of hotel stays, on- or off-property, FIND experiences allow members to continue evolving and growing on their wellbeing journey. With countless ways to spend quality time with friends, family, or self, no matter the occasion, members can find experiences that fit their wellbeing purpose through the FIND platforms three pillars of wellbeing: Feel, Fuel and Function:

FEEL with experiences focused on members emotional and mental wellbeing through culturally immersive workshops, tours and activities: Open Air Jungle Safari at Alila Ubud (Indonesia): Reconnect with nature during an unforgettable open-air jungle safari tour in the propertys private coupe Volkswagen. Wander around the archaic villages of Alila Ubud and Gianyar Regency, surrounded by the panoramic view of blooming golden rice fields and breathtaking emerald mountain hills. Horseback Riding at Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa (United States): Bond with rescued and rehabilitated horses through a horseback ride at the Stables at Tamaya. Located in the Santa Ana Pueblo desert, members can enjoy a variety of programs, from trail rides to the stables stretch and ride program, which includes simple breath work and movement to bring relaxation and a renewed focus with the horse. Viennese Vineyard Tour at Park Hyatt Vienna (Austria): Explore Viennese vineyards on a private three-hour tour with a local guide, including wine tasting at two local wineries. Enjoy a bottle of local wine as well as a plate of complimentary cheese at the hotel bar after your return. Snorkeling with Clownfish at Hyatt Regency Seragaki Island Okinawa (Japan): Learn something new from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, who has teamed up with the hotel to offer members the opportunity to participate in protecting clownfish and their natural environment in the hotel's surrounding waters. Guests will attend an educational lecture about the local marine environment, followed by a jump in the East China Sea to snorkel and see the clownfish community up close .



FUEL with culinary offerings designed to power the body, while evoking all of ones senses through fresh local ingredients and unique spirits:

A Day with Chef Nino Redruello at Thompson Madrid (Spain): Discover recipes and secrets that have been handed down for generations with this one-of-a-kind culinary experience. Members will join Chef Nino Redruello as he takes them to his favorite local markets to choose the best ingredients, and then will open the doors of his hotel kitchen to prepare a unique gourmet tasting dinner together.

(Spain): Discover recipes and secrets that have been handed down for generations with this one-of-a-kind culinary experience. Members will join Chef Nino Redruello as he takes them to his favorite local markets to choose the best ingredients, and then will open the doors of his hotel kitchen to prepare a unique gourmet tasting dinner together. Dinner Under the Stars at Zoetry Aqua Punta Cana (Dominican Republic): Indulge in an intimate dining experience for two on the hotel's pristine Uvero Alto beach, where guests will enjoy an exquisite dinner and first class service. While dining, members will be able to connect with the fullness of the universe as theyre lulled by the soothing sounds of the Caribbean Sea and surrounded by the moon and a sky fully of stars.

(Dominican Republic): Indulge in an intimate dining experience for two on the hotel's pristine Uvero Alto beach, where guests will enjoy an exquisite dinner and first class service. While dining, members will be able to connect with the fullness of the universe as theyre lulled by the soothing sounds of the Caribbean Sea and surrounded by the moon and a sky fully of stars. Personalized Cocktail Tasting at Andaz Dubai the Palm (United Arab Emirates): Learn how a drink might take shape from ones personality or personal experience during this two-hour cocktail tasting. The hotel's trained mixologist will listen to each guest and then prepare the most unique and personal cocktail possible, all while members enjoy delicious Japanese finger foods at the rooftop bar overlooking the gorgeous Palm skyline.

(United Arab Emirates): Learn how a drink might take shape from ones personality or personal experience during this two-hour cocktail tasting. The hotel's trained mixologist will listen to each guest and then prepare the most unique and personal cocktail possible, all while members enjoy delicious Japanese finger foods at the rooftop bar overlooking the gorgeous Palm skyline. Fishing Charter Day Trip at Hyatt Centric Key West Resort & Spa (United States): Embark on a half-day fishing charter where members will go in search of the best local seafood and can hand their catch over to the hotel's culinary team who will prepare a feast for members in the hotel's Shor American Seafood Grill with views of postcard-worthy sunsets.

FUNCTION with thoughtfully planned activities and adventures designed to move, restore energy and expand the mind: Truffle Hunting at Parisi Udvar Hotel Budapest (Hungary): Experience the excitement of hunting for truffles and learn about the regulations of local truffle hunting from this hotel in The Unbound Collection by Hyatt. Members will accompany dogs while they sniff out these cherished fungi buried beneath the forest floor, and after hunting, enjoy a truffle-inspired picnic prepared by the hotel's culinary team. Off-Road Volcano Adventure at Hyatt Regency Yogyakarta (Indonesia): Start the morning with a thrilling four-wheel drive tour where travelers will go off the beaten path to get under the skin of majestic Mount Merapi and view evidence of its previous eruptions, followed by a guided bicycle ride down the mountain through Yogyakarta's lush paddy fields, plantations and local villages. Conclude the day with a relaxing afternoon enjoying assorted refreshments at Bogey's Teras. Private Walking Tour at Andaz Prague (Czech Republic): Discover the hidden secrets of Prague with a private walking adventure that will unveil the connection between the hotel and the city. This guided tour will explore all the mythical places that helped shape Prague and inspire the artwork and design of the hotel. Find Your Inner Rocker at Thompson Denver (United States): Unleash the inner rocker with music industry pro, Chris Bloom, who will trick out The Library at Reynard Social with everything members need for a private 60-minute guitar lesson. Over the course of the session, members can sing and learn a rock n roll jam while sipping on a complimentary cocktail from Reynard Social (age 21+ only).



FIND Your Wellbeing Journey with More Ways Than Ever to Earn and Redeem:

Becoming a World of Hyatt member is free, and with experiences starting at $15 USD, all World of Hyatt members can pay directly with money  no points required. Members can also choose to utilize their World of Hyatt points to redeem on experiences, which start at 1,000 points, or will have the option to bid on limited-time auctions (coming soon), and even gift experiences to loved ones. World of Hyatt members can also select a $150 credit toward a FIND experience as part of the 40-night FIND Milestone Reward offering. World of Hyatt members will earn 10 base points per eligible $1 spent, double the regular earning rate for eligible spend on hotel stays. World of Hyatt Credit Cardmembers can also earn an additional 4 World of Hyatt Bonus Points per eligible $1 spent when paying with their World of Hyatt Credit Card.

Whether members are looking to shake things up or slow things down, travelers can find what inspires them and learn more about World of Hyatt and FIND at hyatt.com/FIND

The term Hyatt is used in this release for convenience to refer to Hyatt Hotels Corporation and/or one or more of its affiliates.

For further information:

About Hyatt Hotels Corporation

Hyatt Hotels Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, is a leading global hospitality company guided by its purpose  to care for people so they can be their best. As of June 30, 2022, the Companys portfolio included more than 1,150 hotels and all-inclusive properties in 72 countries across six continents. The Company's offering includes brands in the Timeless Collection, including Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt, Hyatt Residence Club, Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, and UrCove; the Boundless Collection, including Miraval, Alila, Andaz, Thompson Hotels, Hyatt Centric, and Caption by Hyatt; the Independent Collection, including The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, Destination by Hyatt, and JdV by Hyatt; and the Inclusive Collection, including Hyatt Ziva, Hyatt Zilara, Zoetry Wellness & Spa Resorts, Secrets Resorts & Spas, Breathless Resorts & Spas, Dreams Resorts & Spas, Vivid Hotels & Resorts, Alua Hotels & Resorts, and Sunscape Resorts & Spas. Subsidiaries of the Company operate the World of Hyatt loyalty program, ALG Vacations, Unlimited Vacation Club, Amstar DMC destination management services, and Trisept Solutions technology services. For more information, please visit www.hyatt.com.

About World of Hyatt

World of Hyatt is Hyatts award-winning guest loyalty program uniting participating locations in the Park Hyatt, Miraval, Grand Hyatt, Alila, Andaz, The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, Destination by Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt, Hyatt Ziva, Hyatt Zilara, Thompson Hotels, Hyatt Centric, Caption by Hyatt, JdV by Hyatt, Hyatt House, Hyatt Place, UrCove, and Hyatt Residence Club brands as well as resort and hotel brands under the AMR Collection, which are joining World of Hyatt in phases and include Secrets Resorts & Spas, Dreams Resorts & Spas, Breathless Resorts & Spas, Zoetry Wellness & Spa Resorts, Alua Hotels & Resorts, and Sunscape Resorts & Spas. Members who book directly through Hyatt channels can enjoy personalized care and access to distinct benefits including Guest of Honor, confirmed suite upgrades at time of booking, diverse wellbeing offerings, mobile key, and exclusive member rates. With more than 30 million members, World of Hyatt offers a variety of ways to earn and redeem points for hotel stays, dining and spa services; as well as the benefits of Hyatts strategic loyalty collaborations with American Airlines AAdvantage, Small Luxury Hotels of the World, Lindblad Expeditions and MGM Resorts International. Travelers can enroll for free at hyatt.com, download the World of Hyatt app for android and IOS devices and connect with Hyatt on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221101006068/en/

Kaitlyn Sheehy

Hyatt

[email protected]

Source: Hyatt Hotels Corporation
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE: AJG) today announced that its U.S. wholesale brokerage, binding authority and programs division, Risk Placement Services, Inc. (RPS), has acquired Cedar Park, Texas-based Tejas American General Agency, LLC (TAGA). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 1997, TAGA is a managing general agency offering commercial, farm and personal insurance products to independent agents throughout Texas. Bart Koch, Anita Herzog, Cindy Yurkovich, Richard Salley and their team will remain in their current location under the direction of Kevin Doyle, VP-Western Region & Chicago for RPS.

"TAGA is a well-regarded agency whose deep expertise and strong culture will enhance our growth opportunities in Texas," said J. Patrick Gallagher, Jr., Chairman, President and CEO. "I am very pleased to welcome Bart, Anita, Cindy, Richard and their associates to our global company."

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE: AJG), a global insurance brokerage, risk management and consulting services firm, is headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Gallagher provides these services in approximately 130 countries around the world through its owned operations and a network of correspondent brokers and consultants.

Investors: Ray Iardella Media: Paul Day VP - Investor Relations Communications Manager 630-285-3661/ [email protected] 630-285-5946/ [email protected]

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/arthur-j-gallagher--co-acquires-tejas-american-general-agency-llc-301665963.html

SOURCE Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.
On Wednesday, Boeing (NYSE: BA) Chief Financial Officer Brian West told investors it believes it will generate between $3 billion and $5 billion in free cash flow next year.

The company made the prediction at its investor conference, based on expectations that it will increase deliveries of its 737 MAX and 787 jets.

Boeing shares jumped Wednesday, hitting a high of $151.76 per share. At the time of writing, they are trading at $146.68, up 2.3%.

West stated the Arlington, Virginia-based company expects to deliver between 400 and 450 MAX airplanes next year, well above the 375 it expects to deliver this year. It also expects to deliver 70 to 80 787 planes in 2023.

Boeing's business has suffered significantly in recent years from various issues, while supply chain problems and labor shortages have hindered its output and deliveries of new planes more recently.

By Sam Boughedda
Charles River Laboratories (NYSE: CRL) announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to divest its Avian Vaccine business for approximately $170 million in cash with potential contingent payments of up to an additional $30 million, subject to certain closing adjustments.

The Avian Vaccine business, which is part of Charles Rivers Manufacturing Solutions segment, produces specific-pathogen-free (SPF) chicken eggs and associated products and services, principally for avian vaccine manufacturers and researchers. It has approximately 250 employees across approximately 20 sites in the United States.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year, and will not have a meaningful impact on 2022 revenue and non-GAAP earnings per share. In 2023, the divestiture is expected to reduce annual revenue by approximately $80 million and non-GAAP earnings per share by approximately $0.35, prior to any benefit from redeploying the proceeds towards other capital priorities. Items excluded from non-GAAP diluted earnings per share are expected to include gains on the sale of the businesses and all divestiture-related costs, which primarily include advisory fees and certain other transaction-related costs.
Flame Acquisition Corp. (Flame) (NYSE: FLME, FLME.WS), a special purpose acquisition entity focused on the energy industry in North America, today announced an agreement to enter into a business combination with Sable Offshore Corp. (Sable). Sable has separately agreed to acquire oil and gas assets as part of the merger. After giving effect to the business combination, the company will be named Sable Offshore Corp.

Additional Information and Where to Find It

This document relates to the proposed Business Combination between Flame and Sable. In connection with the proposed Business Combination, Flame will file with the SEC a proxy statement on Schedule 14A (the Proxy Statement). Flame will also file other documents regarding the proposed Business Combination with the SEC. The Proxy Statement will be sent or given to the Flame stockholders and will contain important information about the Business Combination and related matters. INVESTORS ARE URGED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT (INCLUDING ALL AMENDMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTS THERETO) AND OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE SEC IF AND WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION WITH RESPECT TO THE Business Combination AND THE OTHER TRANSACTIONS CONTEMPLATED BY THE BUSINESS COMBINATION AGREEMENT. You may obtain a free copy of the Proxy Statement (if and when it becomes available) and other relevant documents filed by Flame with the SEC at the SECs website at www.sec.gov. You may also obtain Flames documents on its website at www.Flameacq.com.

Participants in Solicitation

Flame, Sable and certain of their respective directors, executive officers and employees may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies in connection with certain matters related to the Business Combination and may have direct or indirect interests in the Business Combination. Information about Flames directors and executive officers is set forth in Flames Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, filed with the SEC on April 4, 2022, and its other documents filed with the SEC. Other information regarding the participants in the proxy solicitations and a description of their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, will be contained in the Proxy Statement and other relevant materials to be filed with the SEC regarding the proposed transaction when they become available. Investors should read the Proxy Statement carefully when it becomes available before making any voting or investment decisions. Investors may obtain free copies of these documents using the sources indicated above.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005845/en/

Gregory Patrinely, CFO // Email: [email protected] // Phone: 713-579-8111

Source: Flame Acquisition Corp.
11:30 | New York (U.S.), Oct. 12.

He recalled that Peru had first provided the United Nations with peacekeeping forces personnel when it deployed troops to Lebanon back in 1958, and has been a constant contributor ever since.





Currently, Peru provides 270 uniformed personnel, including 38 women, to five UN peacekeeping operations. It makes the South American country the 48th largest contributor of personnel to peacekeeping operations.





The largest contribution of peacekeepers from Peru is to the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) , where 255 Blue Helmets serve including women and men. The vast majority work for the Peruvian Engineering Company, which performs construction and maintenance works.





"The invaluable work of engineers to repair and build roads, as well as bridges, not only allows the mission to perform entrusted activities, but also has a tangible impact on the lives of local communities by boosting trade and allowing people from remote locations to access health care (services) and build relationships among them," the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations specified.









"The United Nations appreciates the service and sacrifice of Peruvian men and women who have served in dangerous and difficult environments. Members of Peruvian peacekeeping forces have proven a high level of professionalism and dedication wherever they serve. We are deeply grateful for their continued service," Lacroix expressed.





"The United Nations will never forget the sacrifice of eight Peruvian peacekeepers who lost their lives while serving under the UN flag since 1958," he added.




loanDepot (NYSE: LDI) today announced the formation of NHC Mortgage, a new joint venture with National HomeCorp, a Georgia-based homebuilder specializing in affordable single-family homes co-founded by industry veteran Wade Jurney. NHC Mortgage is the latest in a series of joint ventures for loanDepot that expand the company's reach in the important purchase mortgage market.

Beginning today, NHC Mortgage will offer full-service, residential mortgage solutions and personalized service in Florida, Iowa and North Carolina, with plans to add Kentucky, Arizona, Virginia, Texas, Alabama, Missouri, Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina in 2023.

"Affordability is one of the key housing issues of our time and loanDepot's strategic focus on increasing and sustaining homeownership in underserved communities is a natural complement to National HomeCorp's commitment to affordable housing," said Dan Pena, loanDepot executive vice president of national joint ventures. "This new joint venture enables us to bring the American dream of homeownership to even more individuals and families across the country while providing National HomeCorp's customers with the best-in-class customer service loanDepot is known for every step of the way."

With decades of experience, National HomeCorp's team of industry-leading professionals has a shared drive for building affordable homes throughout the nation. The company aims to change the narrative of the housing market to focus on affordable and dependable housing for everyone with a streamlined buying process that takes the stress of home buying out of the equation.

"National HomeCorp is committed to building affordable and dependable homes in incredible communities across the United States, while providing our customers with an exceptional, full-service homebuying experience," said Wade Jurney, CEO and co-founder of National HomeCorp. "loanDepot's industry-leading expertise, technology and infrastructure will allow us to quickly scale and streamline the homebuying process to ensure a terrific experience as our customers embark on their homebuying and building journey."
Marsh McLennan Agency (MMA), a subsidiary of Marsh, today announced the acquisition of Bradley Insurance Agency, a leading commercial insurance broker based in Knoxville, Tennessee. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Founded in 1972 by Steve Bradley, and acquired by Kendall and Kevin Bradley in 2014, Bradley Insurance serves organizations across multiple industries and sizes. All Bradley Insurance employees, including Kendall and Kevin Bradley, will be joining MMA.

With the addition of Bradley Insurance, were expanding our insurance expertise in eastern Tennessee under the direction of a highly respected and accomplished team, commented Peter Krause, CEO of MMAs Southeast region. We are proud to welcome Bradley Insurance to the MMA family.

Kendall Bradley added: We are looking forward to continuing to tailor our services to the needs of local businesses and individuals, while also expanding our capabilities as a part of the leading global insurance broker. Joining MMA is an exciting step forward for our clients and colleagues, as we expand the ways in which we can offer innovative solutions for clients evolving challenges and further invest in the growth of our employees.

About Marsh McLennan Agency

Marsh McLennan Agency (MMA) provides business insurance, employee health & benefits, retirement, and private client insurance solutions to organizations and individuals seeking limitless possibilities. With 9,000 colleagues and 170 offices across North America, MMA combines the personalized service model of a local consultant with the global resources of the worlds leading professional services firm, Marsh McLennan (NYSE: MMC).
Ryder System, Inc. (NYSE: R), a leader in supply chain, dedicated transportation, and fleet management solutions, announces it has acquired Dotcom Distribution, a provider of omnichannel fulfillment and distribution services for high-growth retail and e-commerce brands specializing in health, beauty and cosmetics, and fashion and apparel.

With the acquisition, Ryder continues to expand its e-fulfillment network with the opportunity to add an impressive roster of consumer brand names and increase its national footprint with the addition of a 400,000-square-foot multiclient fulfillment facility in Edison, New Jersey. Additionally, Dotcom Distributions experienced leadership team, including founder and CEO Maria Haggerty, and the companys operations team, totaling approximately 100 full-time employees, will join Ryder to ensure a seamless transition for customers.

Dotcom Distribution has been doing e-fulfillment since e-commerce was still in its infancy. Maria and her team bring 22 years of knowledge, expertise, and experience in helping customers weather market fluctuations. Thats a big benefit for Ryder, says Steve Sensing, president of supply chain solutions for Ryder. This acquisition also affords us the opportunity to expand our e-fulfillment portfolio in new industry verticals in health, beauty and cosmetics, which is in line with our larger strategy to grow and diversify our portfolio.

We chose Ryder for its nearly 90 years of logistics expertise, its sophisticated fulfillment, distribution, and transportation network, and commitment to staying at the forefront of innovation  all of which deliver the speed-to-market, scalability, and elevated brand experience that our customers expect, says Haggerty.

Earlier this year, Ryder announced the acquisition of another e-commerce and omnichannel fulfillment provider, Whiplash. The company had established itself as a leading national provider of scalable solutions to more than 250 digitally native brands and omnichannel retailers, backed by a proven e-commerce technology and operating platform.

We look forward to welcoming Dotcom Distributions customers into the Ryder family of brands and capitalizing on the synergies created with the acquisition, as well as the improved scalability, flexibility, and speed-to-market that our omnichannel and e-commerce fulfillment technology delivers, says Jeff Wolpov, senior vice president of Ryder E-commerce by Whiplash.

Ryders e-commerce and omnichannel fulfillment solution now delivers to 100% of the U.S. within two days and 60% of the U.S. within one day.

For the Dotcom Distribution transaction, Wofford Advisors LLC acted as strategic advisor and Gunster acted as legal counsel for Ryder. G2 Capital Advisors acted as exclusive financial advisor and Stradley Ronon served as legal counsel to Dotcom Distribution.

About Ryder System, Inc.
FILE PHOTO: A logo of the electric vehicle maker Tesla is seen near a shopping complex in Beijing, China January 5, 2021. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo

SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) -Electric vehicle giant Tesla has closed what had been its flagship showroom in China, a move sources described as one aimed at paring retail costs in its second-largest market.

Tesla confirmed the closure of the showroom in Beijing's upscale downtown shopping centre Parkview Green to Reuters on Wednesday. It said it had relocated the store to another mall called Raffles City. That showroom was opened in mid-October and is smaller than the original two-floor showroom in Parkview Green.

Two people with knowledge of the matter previously said Tesla had shut the Parkview Green showroom late last week. The store, opened in 2013, was Tesla's first in China and was renovated and expanded in 2018.

A member of the mall's staff confirmed to Reuters during a visit to the site on Wednesday that Tesla had shut the showroom, whose windows are now plastered with posters belonging to the next tenant, a streetwear brand BAPE.

"Their contract with us expired and Tesla decided not to extend it," the mall staff member said.

A call to the store earlier in the day was redirected to the Raffles City showroom.

Tesla owns and runs over 200 outlets across the country that display models and arrange test drives for potential buyers.

Reuters reported in September that Tesla was considering closing some showrooms in flashy malls in cities like Beijing after traffic plunged during COVID restrictions.

It also plans to put more emphasis on stores in less-costly suburban locations that can also provide repairs as the company works to meet Chief Executive Elon Musk's goal of improving service for customers.

As part of that effort, Tesla has been hiring technicians and other staff for service jobs in China. The company's China recruitment website showed 305 openings for service jobs as of Wednesday, little changed from September.

More than half of Tesla's China stores do not offer repair or maintenance services and are in high-rent locations where space is limited. That included the now-closed Parkview Green Tesla store.

Tesla owns all of its own stores rather than relying on dealers. It also sells its cars online. That has allowed it more leeway to adjust a retail strategy that had been initially modeled on Apple's glossy stores in high-rent locations.

Tesla has cut starter prices for its Model 3 and Model Y cars by as much as 9% in China, reversing a trend of price increases across the industry amid signs of softening demand in the world's largest auto market.

Tesla sold 318,151 vehicles in China in the first nine months of 2022, up 55% from a year earlier, according the China Passenger Car Association. By comparison, overall sales of electric vehicles and hybrids increased 113.2%.

(Reporting by Zhang Yan and Brenda Goh in Shanghai and Sophie Yu in Beijing; Editing by Stephen Coates, Kenneth Maxwell and Bernadette Baum)
A still image from video, released by the Russian Defence Ministry, shows what it said to be Russia's Yars intercontinental ballistic missile launched during exercises held by the country's strategic nuclear forces at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia, in t

(Reuters) -Russia said on Wednesday that avoiding a nuclear clash between the world's nuclear powers was its first priority, but accused the West of "encouraging provocations with weapons of mass destruction".

Western capitals have said Moscow is behind a ramping up of nuclear rhetoric since Russia invaded Ukraine in February - most recently by repeatedly accusing Kyiv of planning to use a radioactive "dirty bomb" without offering evidence. Kyiv has denied having any such plan.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said it feared the five declared nuclear powers were teetering "on the brink of a direct armed conflict" and that the West must stop "encouraging provocations with weapons of mass destruction, which can lead to catastrophic consequences".

"We are strongly convinced that in the current complicated and turbulent situation, caused by irresponsible and impudent actions aimed at undermining our national security, the most immediate task is to avoid any military clash of nuclear powers," the ministry said in a statement.

Moscow said it stood by a joint declaration issued together with the United States, China, Britain and France in January affirming their joint responsibility for avoiding a nuclear war.

"We fully reaffirm our commitment to the joint statement of the five nuclear-weapon states' leaders on the prevention of nuclear war and the avoidance of an arms race from Jan. 3, 2022," the ministry said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has appeared on several occasions to threaten a nuclear strike in connection with the war in Ukraine, and Moscow has repeatedly said its military doctrine permits the use of nuclear weapons if Russia's territorial integrity is under threat.

In September, Putin said he was "not bluffing" when he stated that Russia was prepared to use "all available means" to defend its territory. He also said the United States had created a "precedent" at the end of the Second World War when it dropped two atomic bombs on Japan.

Shortly afterwards, Ramzan Kadyrov, leader of the Chechnya region and a key ally of Putin's, called for Russia to use a "low-yield nuclear weapon" in Ukraine.Moscow also frequently accuses Kyiv of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, and alleged at the start of the war that the Western NATO alliance planned to use Ukraine as a bridgehead to threaten Russia - allegations denied by Ukraine and NATO.

(Reporting by Reuters;Editing by Alison Williams)
FILE PHOTO: Elon Musk's Twitter account is seen on a smartphone in front of the Twitter logo in this photo illustration taken, April 15, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

By Sheila Dang

(Reuters) - Banned accounts will not be allowed back onto Twitter until the social media platform has "a clear process for doing so," Elon Musk tweeted in the early hours on Wednesday, giving more clarity about the potential return of Twitter's most famous banned user, former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Creating such a process would take at least a few more weeks, Musk tweeted. The new timeline implies Trump will not return in time for the midterm elections on Nov. 8.

Twitter users, advertisers and its own employees have been watching closely for signs of what Musk will do in his first week as Twitter's owner. The Tesla chief executive has previously said Twitter should not permanently ban users and that he would reverse the ban on Trump, who was suspended for risk of further incitement of violence after the U.S. Capitol riot last year.

Musk's tweets came after he held a call with several civil rights organizations including Color of Change, the Anti-Defamation League and the NAACP on Tuesday.

During the call, Musk committed to uphold Twitter's content moderation policies and enforcement around election integrity, said Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change, in an interview.

Musk also reiterated in his tweet on Wednesday that Twitter will create a content moderation council composed of representatives with "widely divergent views."

The billionaire expressed during the call that he would like the civil society groups to join the council, Robinson said, adding the discussions were still at an early stage.

"Actions will speak louder than words," he said. "The issues that were addressed in this meeting were just the tip of the iceberg."

(Reporting by Sheila Dang in Dallas; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- American Lithium Corp. (American Lithium or the Company) (TSX-V:LI | OTCQB:LIACF | Frankfurt: 5LA1) is pleased to report its operating and financial results for the three month period ending August 31, 2022. Unless otherwise stated, all amounts presented are in Canadian dollars.

We made good progress across all projects during the quarter, stated Simon Clarke, CEO of American Lithium. In Peru we were pleased to be able to commence drilling again at and around our Falchani Deposit for the first time since before COVID 19. We are advancing well with initial assays anticipated shortly. We have also made good progress at Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) Minerals Business Unit laboratories in Sydney, Australia where we continue to refine the Falchani flow sheet to produce both sulfate of potash (SOP) and Cesium as economically important and strategic by-products. In addition, we continue to refine the Macusani uranium flow sheet for pre concentration and even higher extraction rates.

"In Nevada, the Company started to receive first assays with positive drill results from its 2022 drill program, including the best intersections and grades recoded to date at TLC and this momentum continued to build post quarter end. Initial drill results from this program have been incorporated into the existing TLC Resource and an updated Mine Plan which are being included in the Companys maiden PEA for TLC, currently being finalized with leading engineering firm DRA Global.

Highlights During the Quarter:

Launching of Pre-Feasibility Work at Falchani  commencement of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) with SRK Peru which will run in parallel with updates to the existing PEA.

commencement of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) with SRK Peru which will run in parallel with updates to the existing PEA. EIA Drilling at Falchani  commencement of hydrological and core drilling at Falchani.

commencement of hydrological and core drilling at Falchani. Validation of SOP as strategic by-product at Falchani - successful precipitation of high purity, fertilizer-quality SOP, strategically important because of Perus large dependence on imported fertilizers.

successful precipitation of high purity, fertilizer-quality SOP, strategically important because of Perus large dependence on imported fertilizers. Appointment of DRA Global and Stantec to update Falchani PEA - to expand / reclassify resource, bring in SOP and cesium by-products and update lithium carbonate pricing.

to expand / reclassify resource, bring in SOP and cesium by-products and update lithium carbonate pricing. Acquisition of additional concessions in Peru - acquired additional highly prospective mining concessions covering approximately 14,243 hectares in Southern Peru, in close proximity to its existing projects, further broadening the Companys existing asset base and operations.

acquired additional highly prospective mining concessions covering approximately 14,243 hectares in Southern Peru, in close proximity to its existing projects, further broadening the Companys existing asset base and operations. Positive drill results at TLC - initial diamond drill results with best results to date including up to 2900 ppm lithium and averaging 1,550 ppm Li over 50.3 metres in hole TLC-2206C.

- initial diamond drill results with best results to date including up to 2900 ppm lithium and averaging 1,550 ppm Li over 50.3 metres in hole TLC-2206C. Board and Senior Management Appointments  addition of Claudia Tornquist to the Board of Directors as an independent member /chair of audit Committee and Ted OConnor transitioning from Director to Executive Vice President Exploration and Development.

addition of Claudia Tornquist to the Board of Directors as an independent member /chair of audit Committee and Ted OConnor transitioning from Director to Executive Vice President Exploration and Development. AGM Results  overwhelming support for the election of board members, adoption of new omnibus incentive plan along with the appointment of Ernst & Young as auditor.

Subsequent Events

Board Appointment  addition of Carsten Korch to the Board of Directors as an independent member based in Peru.

Market Awareness Program

As announced on March 23, 2021, as part of its ongoing strategy to continue to raise its profile in the United States and to generate a greater following among United States investors, the Company entered into an agreement (the Agreement) with Promethean Marketing Inc., of Annapolis, Maryland in the United States (Promethean) pursuant to which Promethean can provide marketing services including content creation and distribution and market awareness campaigns.

Under the Agreement, the launch of market awareness campaigns is dependent upon market conditions, developments in the Company and available financial resources with timing and budgets to be agreed in advance. The Company has now elected to launch an initial 6-month program with a US$500,000 budget to build awareness in US markets as to the progress and status of its TLC Project as well as the large-scale potential of its Peruvian Projects. This timing also aligns with recent developments in the US to support the near-term advancement of domestic critical minerals production, including lithium, with a focus also being placed on the development of critical minerals production in allied countries. Prior to the commencement of service, Promethean will receive a creation budget of US$50,000 used to develop materials for the campaign, with the balance of US$450,000 directed towards the digital media budget. Initially, the Company will pay Promethean an initial media deposit of US$150,000, with the residual budget being paid in subsequent monthly installments. The Agreement may be terminated at any time upon written notice.

Promethean has advised that it does not have any equity interest in the securities of the Company, or any right to acquire such an interest. Promethean is at arms length to the Company. Promethean will provide the Company with an opportunity to review all content describing the Company generated on behalf of Promethean prior to its publication and Promethean will not publish or distribute any content without the prior approval of the Company. All services provided by Promethean will be overseen on Prometheans behalf by Kailyn White, Vice President.

Plateau Energy Metals Inc.

The Company is also pleased to announce the resolution of regulatory proceedings brought by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) against its subsidiary Plateau Energy Metals Inc. (Plateau), and Alexander Holmes and Philip Gibbs (collectively, the Executives), the former Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, respectively, of Plateau. The proceedings relate to historical disclosure by Plateau in 2019, prior to the acquisition of Plateau by the Company in May 2021. The proceedings were ongoing at the time Plateau was acquired by the Company.

In the final resolution of the proceedings, Plateau and the Executives have entered into a joint settlement agreement (the Settlement Agreement) with the OSC. As part of the settlement terms, Plateau and the Executives agreed to pay administrative penalties totaling $750,000, as well as $300,000 towards the costs of the OSC. Plateau is responsible for the payments in accordance with indemnity obligations owing to former directors and officers.

While Plateau and the Executives had continued to defend the proceedings brought by the OSC, the Company is of the view that this resolution will allow it and the management team to focus all efforts on advancing all three active projects. At the same time, the Settlement Agreement avoids additional ongoing expenses of continuing to defend the proceedings and provides certainty on the financial outcome.

Selected Financial DataThe following selected financial data is summarized from the Companys consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto (the Financial Statements) for the three and six months ended August 31, 2022. A copy of the Financial Statements and MD&A is available at www.americanlithiumcorp.com or on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Three months ended August 31, 2022 Three months endedAugust 31, 2021 Loss and comprehensive loss $10,709,964 $8,867,509 Loss per share - basic and diluted 0.05 0.05

As at August 31, 2022 Year EndFebruary 28, 2022 Cash $42,311,173 $55,855,718 Total assets $188,910,671 $193,493,125 Total current liabilities $4,153,684 $1,863,445 Total liabilities $4,341,810 $2,691,682 Total shareholders equity $184,568,861 $190,801,443

About American LithiumAmerican Lithium, a member of the TSX Venture 50, is actively engaged in the development of large-scale lithium projects within mining-friendly jurisdictions throughout the Americas. The Company is currently focused on enabling the shift to the new energy paradigm through the continued development of its strategically located TLC lithium claystone project in the richly mineralized Esmeralda lithium district in Nevada, as well as continuing to advance its Falchani lithium and Macusani uranium development-stage projects in southeastern Peru. Both Falchani and Macusani have been through robust preliminary economic assessments, exhibit strong significant expansion potential and enjoy strong community support. Pre-feasibility work has now commenced at Falchani.

For more information, please contact the Company at [email protected] or visit our website at www.americanlithiumcorp.com for project update videos and related background information.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of American Lithium Corp.

Simon Clarke

CEO & Director

Tel: 604 428 6128

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking InformationThis news release contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements (collectively forward-looking statements) within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the ability to appeal the judicial ruling, and any other statements regarding the business plans, expectations and objectives of American Lithium. Forward-looking statements are frequently identified by such words as "may", "will", "plan", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "intend", indicate, scheduled, target, goal, potential, subject, efforts, option and similar words, or the negative connotations thereof, referring to future events and results. Forward-looking statements are based on the current opinions and expectations of management are not, and cannot be, a guarantee of future results or events. Although American Lithium believes that the current opinions and expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable based on information available at the time, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements since American Lithium can provide no assurance that such opinions and expectations will prove to be correct. All forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and subject to a variety of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, including risks, uncertainties and assumptions related to: American Lithiums ability to achieve its stated goals; risks and uncertainties relating to the COVID-19 pandemic and the extent and manner to which measures taken by governments and their agencies, American Lithium or others to attempt to reduce the spread of COVID-19 could affect American Lithium, which could have a material adverse impact on many aspects of American Lithiums businesses including but not limited to: the ability to access mineral properties for indeterminate amounts of time, the health of the employees or consultants resulting in delays or diminished capacity, social or political instability in Peru which in turn could impact American Lithiums ability to maintain the continuity of its business operating requirements, may result in the reduced availability or failures of various local administration and critical infrastructure, reduced demand for the American Lithiums potential products, availability of materials, global travel restrictions, and the availability of insurance and the associated costs; the judicial appeal process in Peru, and any and all future remedies pursued by American Lithium and its subsidiary Macusani to resolve the title for 32 of its concessions; risks regarding the ongoing Ontario Securities Commission regulatory proceedings; the ongoing ability to work cooperatively with stakeholders, including but not limited to local communities and all levels of government; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic; the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; the possibility that any future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with our expectations; risks that permits will not be obtained as planned or delays in obtaining permits; mining and development risks, including risks related to accidents, equipment breakdowns, labour disputes (including work stoppages, strikes and loss of personnel) or other unanticipated difficulties with or interruptions in exploration and development; risks related to commodity price and foreign exchange rate fluctuations; risks related to foreign operations; the cyclical nature of the industry in which American Lithium operates; risks related to failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms or delays in obtaining governmental approvals; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks related to the uncertain global economic environment and the effects upon the global market generally, and due to the COVID-19 pandemic measures taken to reduce the spread of COVID-19, any of which could continue to negatively affect global financial markets, including the trading price of American Lithiums shares and could negatively affect American Lithiums ability to raise capital and may also result in additional and unknown risks or liabilities to American Lithium. Other risks and uncertainties related to prospects, properties and business strategy of American Lithium are identified in the Risks and Uncertainties section of Plateaus Managements Discussion and Analysis filed on January 19, 2021, in the Risk Factors section of American Lithiums Managements Discussion and Analysis filed on January 29, 2021, and in recent securities filings available at www.sedar.com. Actual events or results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. American Lithium undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements except as required by applicable securities laws. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Cautionary Note Regarding Macusani Concessions Thirty-two of the 151 concessions held by American Lithiums subsidiary Macusani, are currently subject to Administrative and Judicial processes (together, the Processes) in Peru to overturn resolutions issued by INGEMMET and the Mining Council of MINEM in February 2019 and July 2019, respectively, which declared Macusanis title to 32 of the concessions invalid due to late receipt of the annual validity payments. In November 2019, Macusani applied for injunctive relief on 32 concessions in a Court in Lima, Peru and was successful in obtaining such an injunction on 17 of the concessions including three of the four concessions included in the Macusani Uranium Project PEA. The grant of the Precautionary Measure (Medida Cautelar) has restored the title, rights and validity of those 17 concessions to Macusani until a final decision is obtained at the last stage of the judicial process. A Precautionary Measure application was made at the same time for the remaining 15 concessions and was ultimately granted by a Court in Lima, Peru on March 2, 2021 which has also restored the title, rights and validity of those 15 remaining concessions to Macusani, with the result being that all 32 concessions are now protected by Precautionary Measure (Medida Cautelar) until a final decision on this matter is obtained at the last stage of the judicial process. The favourable judges ruling confirming title to all 32 concessions from November 3, 2021 represents the final stage of the current judicial process. However, this ruling has recently been appealed by MINEM and INGEMMET. American Lithium has no assurance that the outcome of these appeals will be in the Companys favour.

Source: American Lithium Corp.
HOUSTON, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Anew Climate, LLC ("Anew") announced today the acquisition of entities managed by The Forestland Group ("TFG"), which includes a 1.7-million-acre timberland portfolio. The acquisition was completed by Blue Source Sustainable Forests Company ("BSFC"), a joint venture with Oak Hill Advisors, L.P. ("OHA") focused on forest acquisitions and sustainable forest management. BSFC has also entered into definitive agreements to acquire additional TFG-managed entities holding an additional 200,000 timberland acres. The transactions are valued at approximately $1.8 billion, representing one of the largest private conservation-focused forest investments in U.S. history.

At a time when 4.2 million acres of U.S. forest cover continues to be lost annually from industrial logging practices,1 Anew is transitioning the newly acquired lands into sustainably managed forestland for climate mitigation. With 110,000 acres previously purchased for carbon sequestration in New York, Michigan, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi, BSFC's portfolio will exceed 1.9 million acres upon completion of all TFG-related acquisitions, making it the seventh largest private forestland owner in the United States.2 This acquisition also expands the nature-based and agricultural portion of Anew's carbon development portfolio, which includes numerous private, indigenous, and public lands, to over 5.6 million acres primarily in North America.

"Forests, sustainably managed, are and will be a major climate mitigation tool with substantial benefits to local ecosystems and communities," stated Bill Townsend, Chief Strategy Officer, Anew. "Change at this scale requires equal dedication from buyers seeking the highest quality carbon credits. With the help of several significant global investment firms, led by OHA, and the shared commitment to the climate by carbon market participants, environmental finance has made a significant stride in furthering climate action through nature-based solutions," Townsend said.

BSFC is the first of the industry's ten largest forestland owners to commit to prioritizing climate mitigation practices. BSFC management will maintain the lands as working forestlands under carbon development requirements which are the strictest in the industry, exceeding that of FSC certification. Selective harvest, significantly below annual tree growth levels, will prioritize the restoration of native biodiversity, bolster the forests' natural defenses against disasters such as fire or disease, and produce high-value timber products. Conservative calculations, based upon decades of expertise and Registry-approved carbon quantification methodologies, estimate that the acquired properties have the capacity to absorb hundreds of million tonnes of atmospheric carbon dioxide over the next century through tree growth resulting from improved management.

"BSFC's ownership of these properties will bring the highest degree of care and focus on creating real, additional, and measurable environmental benefit for decades to come," stated Jamie Houston, Chief Executive Officer, BSFC. "We are thrilled to shift the management strategy to a model that enables the trees to be valued for their carbon permanence and global ecological benefit. We are creating older, more resilient, more biodiverse forests with long-lasting benefits to plants, wildlife, and communities."

Communities near BSFC forestlands are expected to see increased sustainable forestry job opportunities as well as quality of life and public health benefits through recreation and ecological restoration, preservation, and resilience. The newly acquired lands include 4,528 miles (about 7287 km) of rivers and streams, which will directly benefit from improvements in forest health and contribute to healthier habitats within the watersheds, as well as downstream. Additionally, in honor of TFG's Founder Chris Zinkhan, BSFC is forming the TFG Foundation with a $4 million initial contribution to create sustainable forestry education opportunities to increase pathways into the growing green economy.

Prior to the advent of environmental finance, pathways for long-term forest conservation were limited and not available at the scale required for substantive climate change mitigation. The climate benefit from the sustainable management of these forests will be realized in full through multi-decade carbon credit generation and sale to organizations investing in offsets, insets, and carbon reduction practices to meet sustainability and net zero goals.

"OHA is pleased to lead this landmark conservation transaction along with support from a global consortium of like-minded investors with a shared commitment to climate solutions," said Adam Kertzner, Senior Partner of OHA. "We believe this acquisition will be transformational, enabling BSFC to fulfill its mission to be a leader in sustainable forestry, a scale partner for market participants seeking the highest-quality forest carbon credits and to produce measurable outcomes for the climate."

1World Resources Institute, Global Forest Watch - United States Dashboard. Annual Tree Cover Loss by Dominant Driver.

2 Forisk 2022 North American Timberland Owner and Manager List

###

About Anew

Anew Climate, LLC ("Anew") is accelerating the fight against climate change by enabling companies and organizations to align their goals for conservation and impact with actionable next steps. With a comprehensive solutions portfolio that includes advisory services, carbon credits, renewable natural gas, renewable energy credits, EV credits, plastic credits, and emission reduction credits, we lower barriers to participation in environmental markets for clients across the private and public sectors. As a leading marketer and originator of environmental products, we bring together strategic finance, regulatory expertise, scientific knowledge, and impact focus to make it possible for businesses to thrive while building a sustainable future. Anew is majority owned by TPG Rise, TPG's global impact investing platform, and emerged from the February 2022 combination of durational industry leaders Element Markets, LLC and Blue Source, LLC. The company has offices in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, and an environmental commodities portfolio that extends across five continents.

Media contact: Jeanethe Falvey, [email protected]

For further information about Anew, please visit: www.anewclimate.com

About Oak Hill Advisors

OHA is a leading alternative investment firm with $57 billion of capital under management across its private, distressed, special situations, liquid, structured credit and real asset strategies. OHA has generated attractive risk-adjusted returns over its more than 30-year history by specializing in performing and distressed credit-related investments in North America, Europe, and other geographies. OHA employs more than 350 people globally and is headquartered in New York, with primary offices in London, Sydney, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, and Fort Worth. Oak Hill Advisors is a subsidiary of T. Rowe Price.

For further information about OHA, please visit oakhilladvisors.com.

Contact: Natalie Harvard [email protected]

Counsel

Kirkland & Ellis and Eversheds Sutherland served as counsel to Anew and BSFC. Paul Hastings served as counsel to Oak Hill Advisors. Womble Bond Dickinson served as counsel to TFG.

Contact Information: Jeanethe Falvey Sr. Director, Marketing & Communications [email protected]

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

Source: Anew Climate, LLC
Wilmington, Del., Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ChristianaCare has launched ChristianaCare Business Health Solutions, a direct-to-employer business unit that markets the health systems award-winning products, services and capabilities to business and industry regionally and throughout the United States. ChristianaCare Business Health Solutions leverages the nationally recognized clinical expertise of ChristianaCare to provide high-quality, cost-effective health care services to businesses and employers, said Joe Miralles, vice president of Business Development at ChristianaCare. We offer direct-to-employer packages to keep health care costs down, improve employee wellness and workforce productivity and integrate services to offer accessible, high-quality, convenient care through enhanced coordination.ChristianaCare Business Health Solutions builds on the success of ChristianaCares Destination Surgery program, which has provided bariatric surgery services to more than 300 patients throughout the United States since 2019. Under the program, employers pay a set cost for surgical services and patients receive access to a health care provider with demonstrated clinical excellence.ChristianaCare has already developed strategic partnerships providing health care services to more than 100 national and international employers in a wide range of industries, including the manufacturing, retail and airline industries, and multiple employee welfare arrangements.Programs and services of ChristianaCare Business Health Solutions currently available to business clients and their employees include:

Destination Surgery  provides concierge-level coordination for personalized, expedited bariatric surgery, heart and vascular surgeries, including bypass, valve replacement and endovascular valve replacement, womens health procedures including abdominal hysterectomy and hysterectomy and other surgical care experiences.

 provides concierge-level coordination for personalized, expedited bariatric surgery, heart and vascular surgeries, including bypass, valve replacement and endovascular valve replacement, womens health procedures including abdominal hysterectomy and hysterectomy and other surgical care experiences. ChristianaCare Center for Virtual Health  offers direct virtual primary care services accessible from anywhere, anytime on any digital device.

 offers direct virtual primary care services accessible from anywhere, anytime on any digital device. Virtual Behavioral Health  supports the emotional and psychological health of employees throughout their careers.

 supports the emotional and psychological health of employees throughout their careers. Vaccination Campaign  offers voluntary inoculation sites for employees at offices and campuses.

 offers voluntary inoculation sites for employees at offices and campuses. COVID-19 Symptom Monitoring  helps businesses by monitoring employee symptoms and wellbeing.

Customizable programs are available that offer expert consultation by nationally recognized health care leaders. Pricing is based on each clients unique needs.Our program offerings are extremely popular with employees of the many businesses we are privileged to serve, said Dave Repshas, director of ChristianaCare Business Health Solutions. For example, our Center for Virtual Health has achieved a 92 Net Promoter Score (NPS), greatly exceeding industry averages for satisfaction and loyalty in the health care sector. Our capabilities will continue to expand as we position ourselves to be the health partner of choice for the clients we serve.ChristianaCares clinical services are continually ranked among the best in the nation by multiple independent quality rating services, including Healthgrades, U.S. News & World Report and Newsweek. Its Center for Heart & Vascular Health has earned the 3-Star rating (highest) from the Society of Thoracic Surgery for coronary artery bypass surgery and the HeartCARE National Distinction of Excellence Award from the American College of Cardiology for three consecutive years.For more information, visit ChristianaCare Business Health Solutions or email [email protected].

About ChristianaCare

Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, ChristianaCare is one of the countrys most dynamic health care organizations, centered on improving health outcomes, making high-quality care more accessible and lowering health care costs. ChristianaCare includes an extensive network of primary care and outpatient services, home health care, urgent care centers, three hospitals (1,430 beds), a freestanding emergency department, a Level I trauma center and a Level III neonatal intensive care unit, a comprehensive stroke center and regional centers of excellence in heart and vascular care, cancer care and womens health. It also includes the pioneering Gene Editing Institute.

ChristianaCare is nationally recognized as a great place to work, rated by Forbes as the 2nd best health system for diversity and inclusion, and the 29th best health system to work for in the United States, and by IDG Computerworld as one of the nations Best Places to Work in IT. ChristianaCare is rated by Healthgrades as one of Americas 50 Best Hospitals and continually ranked among the nations best by U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek and other national quality ratings. ChristianaCare is a nonprofit teaching health system with more than 260 residents and fellows. With its groundbreaking Center for Virtual Health and a focus on population health and value-based care, ChristianaCare is shaping the future of health care.

Bill Schmitt ChristianaCare (302) 327-3318 [email protected]

Source: ChristianaCare
Total sales grew 25% quarter over quarter, and 126% from Q321

Total revenue increased to $2.9M from $2.3M in Q222, and $1.3M in Q321

Gross margin before fair value adjustments of 48%

General and administrative expenses decreased to 35% of revenue

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (CSE: CLC) Christina Lake Cannabis Corp. (the "Company" or "Christina Lake") is pleased to report its financial results for the third quarter fiscal 2022 ended August 31, 2022 (Q322). All amounts are expressed in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.

I am honored to be able to report a record quarter at Christina Lake, said Christina Lake CEO Mark Aiken. This represents our highest revenue per quarter, with 25% growth over last quarter. As one of Canadas leading extractors, our team remains focused on driving significant growth with our high-quality extracts, while continuing to look for new opportunities in the market. On top of this, we have delivered another quarter of positive net income.

Third Quarter 2022 Financial Highlights The following table of financial highlights is presented in thousands of Canadian dollars.

Q322 Q222 Q321 Three months ended August 31, 2022 Three months ended May 31, 2022 Three months ended August 31, 2021 Revenue $ 2,912 $ 2,321 $ 1,291 Cost of Sales (1,512 ) (1,027 ) (532 ) Gross Profit before fair value 1,400 1,294 758 Changes in the fair value of inventory sold (504 ) (442 ) (743 ) Gross profit 895 852 16 Fair value change on growth of biological assets 3,002 - 5,430 General and Administrative Expenses (1,032 ) (969 ) (1,295 ) Total other items (344 ) 139 (371 ) Net Income $ 2,521 $ 22 $ 3,780

Revenue grew 25% to $2.9M from $2.3M in the prior quarter, and from $1.3M in Q321. Revenue growth was driven by the growing demand in our premium distillate, extended product offerings, and expanding customer base.

Gross Margin Before Fair Value Adjustments was 52% of net revenue for the nine-month period ended August 31, 2022, compared with 60% in the comparative prior year period. The Company continued to realize production efficiencies to combat price compression in the wholesale distillate market as production and sales continued to ramp up. This was offset by an evolving product mix, which included the monetization of slower moving inventory.

Total general & administrative (G&A) expenses declined by 20% in Q322 compared to in Q321, driven by year-over-year reductions in corporate development, marketing, and share based compensation expenses. G&A decreased to 35% of revenue during the quarter, compared with 42% in Q222 and 100% in Q321.

Net income in Q322 was $2.5M which is a $1.3M decrease from Q321. The year-over-year decline is primarily driven by a decrease in the fair value change on the growth of biological assets, which was offset by an increase in revenue and reduction in G&A expenses.

Cash & Working CapitalAs at August 31, 2022, the Company had working capital of $10.4M, which consisted of $1.2M of cash, $1.7M in receivables, $4.6M of inventory, $4.4M of biological assets, and $1.6M of current liabilities.

The Company was able to optimize processing techniques which lead to consistent production of high potency distilled oils and other extracts, while adding additional processing capacity. That improvement was a key contributor to the significant increase in the revenue from the prior fiscal year. Fiscal 2021 was the first year the Company established a commercial inventory for the sale of premium extracts and cannabis products. The Company intends to finish processing its remaining biomass and oils in inventory, and will look to accelerate processing of its third 2022 harvest.

ABOUT CHRISTINA LAKE CANNABIS CORP.

Christina Lake Cannabis is a licensed producer of cannabis under the Cannabis Act. It has secured a standard cultivation license and corresponding processing amendment from Health Canada (March 2020 and August 2020, respectively) as well as a research and development license (early 2020). Christina Lake Cannabis facility consists of a 32-acre property, which includes over 950,000 square feet of outdoor grow space, offices, propagation and drying rooms, research facilities, and a facility dedicated to processing and extraction. Christina Lake Cannabis also owns a 99-acre plot of land adjoining its principal site. CLC focuses its production on creating high quality extracts and distillate for its B2B client base with proprietary strains specifically developed for outdoor cultivation to enhance extraction quality.

For more information, please visit www.christinalakecannabis.com and www.sedar.com. CLC.CN

For more Information, please contact:

Jennifer SmithInvestor Relations and Media Inquiries [email protected]

Reader Advisory

THE CSE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCURACY OR ADEQUACY OF THIS RELEASE, NOR HAS OR DOES THE CSES REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER.

This press release contains forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws (Forward-Looking Statements) including and not limited to: the revenue growth; future crop growth and distillate sales; production capacity; and operating expenses. Forward-Looking Statements are based on certain expectations and assumptions and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events, results, performance and achievements to differ materially from those anticipated in these Forward-Looking Statements. Forward-Looking Statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these Forward-Looking Statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation, except to the extent required by law, to update or revise any Forward-Looking Statements as a result of new information or future events, or for any other reason.

The press release should be read in conjunction with the managements discussion and analysis (MD&A) and unaudited condensed consolidated interim financial statements and notes thereto as at and for the nine months ended August 31, 2022. Readers should also refer to the section regarding Non-IFRS Measures in the immediately following section of this press release. Additional information about Christina Lake is available on the Companys profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

In this press release, reference is made to gross profit/(loss) before fair value adjustments which are not measures of financial performance under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). These metrics and measures are not recognized measures under IFRS, do not have meanings prescribed under IFRS and are as a result unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. These measures are provided as information complementary to those IFRS measures by providing a further understanding of our operating results from the perspective of management. As such, these measures should not be considered in isolation or in lieu of a review of our financial information reported under IFRS. Further information regarding the above can be found in the MD&A for the nine months ended August 31, 2022, filed under the Companys profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com

Source: Christina Lake Cannabis Corp.
The ambassador affirmed that OAS mission members will talk not only with President Pedro Castillo and other Executive Branch officials, but also with Congress' Chairman Jose Williams , as well as with various political forces represented at Parliament.





They might also dialogue with members of the Judiciary, the Prosecutor's Office, and some civil society organizations.





According to the diplomat, it is possible that two or three weeks after the visit , or even a little more, high-level group members will present their final report to the OAS Permanent Council . The document will reflect its members' point of view.





"We hope that this final report (by the OAS mission) will be a factor of unity for the Peruvian family and that all of us know how to put an end to this confrontation which has been wearing us down so much and has been causing us so much damage for many years," Forsyth said in remarks to radio Exitosa.





"A day must come when we begin to respect one another a little more, put aside the insults and permanent attacks, and see the future as the outcome of a joint work by a single people," he added.





The Peruvian representative to the OAS indicated that the high-level group is made up of highly-qualified professionals five of them are Foreign Affairs ministers and other two are deputy ministers of the same sector.





"It is a very competent group. Consequently, they will know how to gather the information they need, ask the corresponding questions; after that, they will process the information according to their experience and, above all, their overall vision," he pointed out.





The envoy clarified that, as of this moment, no Peruvian authority has any interference in the agenda or the stance that OAS delegation members will assume.





Ambassador Forsyth said that in the next few days the mission might announce the date of the trip to Peru. He also projected that it could be in mid-November, since its members are high-ranking authorities in their respective countries and must synchronize their schedules.





Regarding the final report, the Peruvian representative to the OAS affirmed the ideal is that these recommendations be well received by all sectors in the country.





"It is important that a little bit of tranquility reigns again at some point," he remarked.
October was the best month ever for grain movement

MONTREAL, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CN (TSX: CNR) (NYSE: CNI) today announced that October was the single best month ever for Western Canadian grain movement on CNs network. The Company moved over 3.23 million metric tonnes of grain from Western Canada. This exceeds the previous record set in October 2020 by over 50,000 metric tonnes and follows an all-time record set for weekly movement earlier in the month. These records were accomplished despite some challenges in the supply chain that CN and its supply chain partners addressed by working together.

Our railroaders have once again surpassed expectations and delivered for the North American economy and I would like to thank them for their stellar work. Our people are the key to our success and I am proud that we continue to set records.

- Rob Reilly, Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer, CN

Our performance is a testament to what can be accomplished through supply chain cooperation and collaboration. When the end-to-end supply chain runs well, we can move grain to ports and return railcars quickly to elevators to get more grain on the move. We would like to thank our supply chain partners for their part in this accomplishment and we look forward to continuing to work together.

- Doug MacDonald, Executive Vice-President and Chief Marketing Officer, CN

About CNCN is a world-class transportation leader and trade-enabler. Essential to the economy, to the customers, and to the communities it serves, CN safely transports more than 300 million tons of natural resources, manufactured products, and finished goods throughout North America every year. As the only railroad connecting Canadas Eastern and Western coasts with the U.S. South through a 18,600-mile rail network, CN and its affiliates have been contributing to community prosperity and sustainable trade since 1919. CN is committed to programs supporting social responsibility and environmental stewardship.

Contacts:

Media Investment Community Jonathan Abecassis Paul Butcher Senior Manager Vice-President Media Relations Investor Relations 438-455-3692 [email protected] (514) 399-0052 [email protected]

Source: Canadian National Railway Company
MONTREAL, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ERP Success Partners (ESP), a leading global ERP consulting firm, is pleased to welcome Catherine Campbell as its newest business solutions consultant. In this role, Campbell will help contract furniture organizations embrace and address digital transformation leveraging Oracle NetSuite and CFI Suite.

Campbell joins ESP with 17 years of experience in the contract furniture space, where she began her career as an account coordinator using software to support customers. She worked her way up into an IT management role, along the way convincing her employer of the value of using software and hardware to work smarter, better, and faster. After taking time off to raise a family, Campbell reentered the workforce in 2013 as an IT director for a Herman Miller dealer in Seattle.

In late 2018, ERP Success Partners developed its own micro-vertical for the contract furniture industry (CFI) and corresponding NetSuite SuiteApps to seamlessly integrate with contract furniture manufacturers. Built for NetSuite, CFI Suite helps dealers manage their business with one unified system to improve efficiency and scalability. The application also helps decrease operational costs and increase profitability.

CFI Suite gives contract furniture dealers a powerful platform to operate their business and seamlessly incorporate business divisions, such as construction, flooring, AV and office supplies, said Mark Rhyman, Partner, ESP.

In her new role, Campbell will serve as a subject matter expert for dealers who want to take the next step in their digital transformation journeys. Recognizing the challenges that the contract office furniture industry has faced over the last few years due to the pandemic and its subsequent impacts, Campbell is excited about the future and the value that NetSuite and CFI Suite can bring to dealers that are both solving for the now and preparing for the future.

Ill be interfacing with my existing network of dealer contacts. I've been at the conferences, made the presentations, and I can help guide dealers to the solutions that make the most sense for their individual organizations, said Catherine Campbell, business solutions consultant, ESP. The contract furniture industry is at a pivotal point right now and I want to help companies lean into the idea of streamlining their businesses with better software and a solid foundation built on an ERP that they can trust.

About ERP Success Partners ERP Success Partners is part of NetSuite Solution Provider and SuiteCloud Developer Network programs, with coverage in North America (NA), and Europe, Middle-East and Africa (EMEA). Our leaders have spent the past 15 years working with NetSuite which gives us first-hand knowledge on how powerful the platform can be and how it can benefit our customers. Headquartered in Canada and with a wider geographic presence in the United States of America, France, Mauritius and Philippines, we are able to better serve our clients with a strong value promise. As a NetSuite highest-tier partner, we take pride of our varied backgrounds which bring an abundance of experience and expertise. Our vision brings us to transform businesses to maximize efficiency using NetSuite as their preferred and final cloud-based solution.

Trademarks Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or affiliates. CFI Suite is a registered trademark of ERP Success Partners and/or affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Source: ERP Success Partners
SANTA CRUZ, CA, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A new analysis harnesses automatic identification system, or AIS, data to provide information about global fishing activity, including illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Originally designed as a collision avoidance tool, AIS can be intentionally disabledsometimes for legitimate reasons, and other times in an attempt to conceal illegal activities.

The new study, Hotspots of Unseen Fishing Vessels, was published November 2 in Science Advances and presents the first global dataset of AIS disabling in commercial fisheries, which obscures up to 6 percent of vessel activity.

Lead author, Heather Welch, a project scientist in the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), worked on the study with researchers at Global Fishing Watch and NOAA Fisheries. While maintaining a dataset of vessel activity, Global Fishing Watch developed a machine learning method to distinguish intentional AIS disabling from gaps in satellite coverage and other technical issues, allowing Welch to identify four primary reasons for AIS disabling.

There are some legitimate reasons why vessels disable their AIS, but we found two situations in which it is done for potentially nefarious reasons, either to fish in unauthorized locations or to obscure unauthorized transshipments, said Heather Welch, project scientist at UCSC and lead author. This dataset is now operationalized, and the data are produced in real time, so it can be used to target inspections and improve fisheries management.

In the study, researchers identified over 55,000 suspected intentional disabling events from 2017 to 2019, obscuring nearly 5 million hours of fishing vessel activity. More than 40 percent of the total hours obscured by suspected AIS disabling occurred across four geographical locations, identified as hotspots, three of which are areas of concern for illegal fishing: the Northwest Pacific and areas adjacent to the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of Argentina and West African nations. These areas contain rich fishing grounds with limited management oversight.

AIS data can tell us a lot, but so can the lack of it, said coauthor Tyler Clavelle, a data scientist at Global Fishing Watch. We might not always be able to see what vessels are doing, but knowing when they're intentionally hiding their movements provides valuable information that managers and scientists didn't have before. Having a better understanding of where vessels may hide their position allows authorities to deploy valuable on-the-water resources more strategically, supporting improved fisheries management.

Disabling events were concentrated in waters adjacent to EEZ boundaries, suggesting that vessels may be disabling AIS before entering unauthorized locations to fish illegally.

In many cases, vessels go dark, disabling their AIS, as they approach the edge of an EEZ where they are not authorized to fish, Welch said. For example, you might see a Korean-flagged vessel heading toward Argentina, and then it goes dark in international waters just outside of Argentinas EEZ.

Notably, disabling was particularly common within and adjacent to EEZs with overlapping claims, such as the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) that are disputed by the U.K. and Argentina. The political conflicts in these regions may create blind spots for enforcement.

Disabling events were also common in areas with high transshipment activity, where ships transfer their catch to refrigerated cargo vessels. Transshipment can be an efficient way to get catch back to shore and resume fishing quickly, but it can also be used to obscure illegal fishing activity, effectively laundering illicit catch through the cargo vessel. In addition, it can foster conditions that allow forced labor to occur on fishing boats, which rarely make their way back to ports.

The study also found evidence that some disabling is done for less nefarious reasons by vessels engaged in legal activities. In some cases AIS disabling may be done to hide the locations of good fishing grounds from competitors. The fourth disabling hotspot was caused by U.S. trawlers disabling in U.S. waters off the coast of Alaskaone of the most intensely managed fishing grounds in the world.

Another reason for disabling a vessels AIS is to protect the ship and crew from piracy. Using a database of past incidences, it is evident that vessels switch off AIS in historically dangerous waters to prevent others abilities to track and intercept them.

The approach demonstrated in this study could be used to support surveillance and enforcement efforts.

This new dataset is an untapped resource that provides a real opportunity to detect previously unobserved behaviors and illegal fishing activities, Welch said. Authorities could use this information to decide where to send surveillance drones or patrol vessels, and it could also be used to focus port inspections on vessels that have disabled AIS adjacent to EEZ boundaries or in transshipment hotspots.

This work was supported by the Catena Foundation and NOAAs Office of Law Enforcement.

Note to the editor:

Download associated infographics.

A copy of the paper can be found online at the Science Advances press package at https://www.eurekalert.org/jrnls/sciadvances/. You will need your user ID and password to access this information.

Coauthors of Hotspots of Unseen Fishing Vessels include: Timothy White, Jennifer Van Osdel, Timothy Hochberg, and David Kroodsma at Global Fishing Watch; Megan Cimino, an assistant researcher at the Institute of Marine Sciences and assistant adjunct professor of ocean sciences at UCSC; and Elliott Hazen, assistant adjunct professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCSC. Welch, Cimino, and Hazen are also affiliated with the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center.

Global Fishing Watch is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing ocean governance through increased transparency of human activity at sea. By creating and publicly sharing map visualizations, data and analysis tools, we aim to enable scientific research and transform the way our ocean is managed. We believe human activity at sea should be public knowledge in order to safeguard the global ocean for the common good of all. globalfishingwatch.org

The Fisheries Collaborative Program is an umbrella for research, outreach and education collaborations between University of California, Santa Cruz and the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center. We work on issues related to fisheries sustainability and management, climate change, and conservation of coastal freshwater and marine ecosystems. fisheries.ucsc.edu

Attachment

Lisa Tossey Global Fishing Watch 1-302-448-6638 [email protected] Tim Stephens University of California, Santa Cruz [email protected]

Source: Global Fishing Watch
NEW YORK, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Grafana Labs, the company behind the worlds most ubiquitous open and composable operational dashboards, today announced two new open source projects: Grafana Phlare, a horizontally scalable continuous profiling database, and Grafana Faro, a web SDK that enables frontend application observability. Additionally, during ObservabilityCON 2022 held in New York City, the company shared updates about its popular Grafana LGTM (Loki for logs, Grafana for visualization, Tempo for traces, Mimir for metrics) stack.

Continuous Profiling with Grafana Phlare

Continuous profiling helps you understand the resource usage of your program, which in turn helps you optimize its performance and cost. Information about resource usage is collected at regular intervals across an entire compute infrastructure and stored as time series data that can be queried for deeper analysis. Profiles have been dubbed the fourth pillar of observability, after metrics, logs, and traces. And so Grafana Phlare  which brings Grafana Labs' horizontally scalable, object-storage-based database design to profiling data  joins Mimir, Loki, and Tempo in the Grafana open source observability stack. Phlare natively integrates with Grafana, allowing you to visualize your profiling data alongside your metrics, logs, and traces as well as data from any of the hundreds of disparate data sources that can be visualized in Grafana. Read more in our blog.

Frontend Application Observability with Grafana Faro

Grafana Faro is an open source project that enables you to collect data about the health of the frontend of your web applications. A highly configurable web SDK instruments web applications to capture observability signals.This frontend telemetry can then be correlated with backend and infrastructure data in the LGTM stack for a seamless, full-stack, open source observability solution.

Feature highlights include:

Setup in seconds with just two lines of code

Automatic instrumentation that captures errors, logs, and performance metrics

Pre-configured tracing system based on OpenTelemetry with automatic instrumentations

Easy-to-use API for manual instrumentation

The easiest way to get started observing your application frontend with Grafana Faro is with the fully managed Grafana Cloud observability offering. The new Frontend Application Observability service, now in private beta, will be available for all Grafana Cloud users.

Momentum around the LGTM Stack

At ObservabilityCON, Grafana Labs shared the latest developments across the LGTM Stack, which has surpassed 1 million instances, including OSS and Grafana Cloud.

Mimir for metrics

A backend for all metrics formats: Grafana Mimir, which was launched in March 2022 with native support for Prometheus metrics, now also supports ingestion of Influx, Datadog, Graphite, and OpenTelemetry metrics. With this development, Grafana Labs leans into the big tent philosophy by providing a data format-agnostic backend that allows organizations to ingest data from as many sources as possible while leveraging a single query language, PromQL. Just as Grafana is the one tool that enables you to visualize all your data, no matter where it lives, Mimir is being built to enable you to store all your metrics, no matter the format.

Mimir user success stories: During ObservabilityCON, engineering teams shared their stories about leveraging Mimir for storing and querying metrics at massive scale.

Adobe has developed a push-button Grafana deployment, which displays metrics and traces collected via OpenTelemetry and stored in Mimir and Tempo. The organization is in the process of migrating half a billion metrics to Mimir.

has developed a push-button Grafana deployment, which displays metrics and traces collected via OpenTelemetry and stored in Mimir and Tempo. The organization is in the process of migrating half a billion metrics to Mimir. To better serve its customers, Wells Fargo modernized its observability tools, standardizing on Prometheus metrics and Grafana dashboards that are provided as a service to everyone from developers and SREs to business analysts and executives. Leveraging Grafana Enterprise and Grafana Cloud, the Big Four bank relies on Mimir to handle 100M+ metrics per minute, or about 60 trillion metrics over 13 months' retention  and they are just getting started.

modernized its observability tools, standardizing on Prometheus metrics and Grafana dashboards that are provided as a service to everyone from developers and SREs to business analysts and executives. Leveraging Grafana Enterprise and Grafana Cloud, the Big Four bank relies on Mimir to handle 100M+ metrics per minute, or about 60 trillion metrics over 13 months' retention  and they are just getting started. At Banco Itau, Brazil's largest bank, 12,000 engineers leverage Grafana to make sense of the 1.3 billion Prometheus metrics that are ingested daily. The next step in their observability journey: migrating to Mimir.

Loki for logs

A new index in Loki 2.7: Lokis index has been redesigned, replacing a bespoke format with a design based on Prometheuss TSDB. This new format, which will be GA in the upcoming 2.7 release, takes up 75 percent less space on disk, can be accessed more efficiently, and enables further parallelized query execution. Loki can now scan log lines at up to 400GB/second at peak (4x faster than before).

Export logs from Grafana Cloud: Some Grafana Cloud users need to keep logs for years after they're generated, often for compliance reasons. This feature in Grafana Cloud allows you to ship your logs to an object storage bucket you own in AWS, Azure, or GCP for long-term storage, and query it using LogCLI or by running your own Loki, with no additional cost to re-ingest the data to Grafana Cloud. This feature is now in private beta.

Tempo for traces

k6 x Tempo: An industry first, this integration brings together observability and performance testing, allowing you to troubleshoot k6 test runs with server-side tracing data from Tempo. Metrics are generated in real time by aggregating your internal tracing data and correlated with k6's test run data. You can then query these metrics with Prometheus APIs and PromQL or use the attached exemplars to quickly spot if your database was struggling, if the cache hit rate decreased, or if an internal service was taking too much time to respond at some point of the test run. This integration is now in private beta.

Introducing TraceQL: Originally, Grafana Tempo could only look up traces by ID; metrics or logs were required to surface the right trace ID. Then search was introduced, allowing you to find traces by fields like service name. And now, coming soon to Tempo 2.0 is TraceQL, a language designed from the ground up for querying trace data, modeled on PromQL and LogQL to make it easier to learn if you're already familiar with those languages. With TraceQL, youll have a more powerful, flexible way to pinpoint the traces you need to answer questions about your system.

"These days, companies really care that they are able to be online, that their applications are performing fast, that their users aren't getting annoyed and switching to a competitor. The experience and the quality of that online experience is of paramount importance to everybody. So making sure all the software and infrastructure is running, and running properly, is top of mind for every company," said co-founder and CEO at Grafana Labs, Raj Dutt. "To support these organizations, we're launching two brand new open source projects and numerous updates to our Grafana LGTM stack. The team has been innovating a lot the last few quarters, and we're really looking forward to sharing these latest projects and updates with our community."

This news comes on the heels of KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America in Detroit, where Grafana Labs announced a strategic partnership with Isovalent, the creators of Cilium, to make it easy for platform and application teams to gain deep insights into the connectivity, security, and performance of the applications running on Kubernetes by leveraging the Grafana open source observability stack. At ObservabilityCON today, the team announced the Cilium Enterprise integration for Grafana Cloud, which lets you easily monitor the health of your Cilium deployment with turnkey metrics and dashboards included.

About Grafana LabsGrafana Labs provides an open and composable monitoring and observability stack built around Grafana, the leading open source technology for dashboards and visualization. There are more than 2,000 Grafana Labs customers, including Bloomberg, Citigroup, Dell Technologies, Salesforce, and TomTom, and more than 900,000 active installations of Grafana around the world. Grafana Labs helps companies manage their observability strategies with the LGTM Stack, which can be run fully managed with Grafana Cloud or self-managed with the Grafana Enterprise offerings, both featuring scalable metrics (Grafana Mimir), logs (Grafana Loki), and traces (Grafana Tempo) as well as extensive enterprise data source plugins, dashboard management, alerting, reporting, and security. Grafana Labs is backed by leading investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lead Edge Capital, GIC, Sequoia Capital, Coatue, and J.P. Morgan. Follow Grafana Labs on LinkedIn and Twitter or visit grafana.com.

Media Contact:Mentha Benek[email protected]

Source: Grafana Labs
NEW YORK, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Greystone, a leading national commercial real estate finance company, has provided a $22.6 million HUD-insured 223(f) loan to refinance a 96-unit multifamily property in Shelby Township, Michigan. The financing was originated by Lisa Fischman from Greystones New York office, on behalf of Aria of Shelby LLC.

Aria of Shelby in Macomb County is a newly built townhouse-style rental community consisting of 96 two- and three-bedroom units spread across 18 detached, non-elevator buildings. The $22,600,000 non-recourse, fixed rate financing carries a 35-year term and amortization. Additionally, the property secured Green Certification through NGBS. Going green gains Aria a heavily reduced Mortgage Insurance Premium , an MIP of 0.25% vs. 0.60%. In addition to refinancing, loan proceeds enable the borrower to monetize a portion of the equity in the property.

Notably, the temporary certificate of occupancy (TCO) was awarded for the property in May 2022 and the permanent takeout with HUD closing just four months later. The transaction took full advantage of the recent HUD amendment that allows an application for a HUD 223(f) refinance of a newly built multifamily asset to be submitted after 30 days of a debt-service coverage ratio (DCSR) of 1.18, and the closing is allowed to happen after 90 days of said DSCR.

Our underwriting team excels in this extensive multifamily lending platform enables us to deliver the right financing for each clients unique circumstances, said Ms. Fischman. We are committed to finding creative, innovative solutions for clients, and work tirelessly to ensure their experience with Greystone is nothing short of exceptional.

Our Greystone team was a true partner in this transaction, they understood what we needed and expertly navigated the lending landscape so that we could achieve our goals for this property, said Ms. Cathy Lombardo, principal of the borrower. Greystone is truly best-in-class among multifamily lenders.

About GreystoneGreystone is a private national commercial real estate finance company with an established reputation as a leader in multifamily and healthcare finance, having ranked as a top FHA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac lender in these sectors. Loans are offered through Greystone Servicing Company LLC, Greystone Funding Company LLC and/or other Greystone affiliates. For more information, visit www.greystone.com.

PRESS CONTACT:Karen MarottaGreystone212-896-9149[email protected]

Source: Greystone
- Initial Llaguen mineral resource estimate includes 271 million tonnes of indicated resources at 0.42% copper-equivalenti and 83 million tonnes of inferred resources at 0.30% copper-equivalenti

- High-grade core within the Llaguen mineral resource includes 113 million tonnes of indicated resources at 0.60% copper-equivalenti and 16 million tonnes of inferred resources at 0.52% copper equivalenti

- Llaguen is a wholly-owned copper-molybdenum porphyry deposit located close to the city of Trujillo in the La Libertad region in Peru, at moderate altitude and close to existing infrastructure, water and power supply

- Early exploration activities at the Maria Reyna and Caballito properties, located within trucking distance of the Constancia mine in Peru, confirm the occurrence of sulfide and oxide rich copper mineralization at surface

- Results from confirmatory drill program at the Flin Flon tailings facility reveal higher grades than predicted from historical mill records

- Recent drilling at the Copper World project in Arizona has confirmed the continuity of the mineralization between the Bolsa and East deposits and extended the size of the mineralized envelope

TORONTO, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hudbay Minerals Inc. (Hudbay or the company) (TSX, NYSE: HBM) today announced an update on various exploration initiatives, including an initial mineral resource estimate for the Llaguen copper deposit located in the Otuzco province in the La Libertad region in Peru.

We have a rich pipeline of organic copper growth projects at Hudbay and our Llaguen property adds another exciting opportunity to this pipeline, said Peter Kukielski, President and Chief Executive Officer. Our pipeline also includes the Maria Reyna and Caballito properties near Constancia where our exploration team has confirmed copper mineralization that could add meaningful long-term value for our Peru operations. We also continue to have exploration success at our Copper World project in Arizona and we look forward to an initial drill program to test the down-dip extensions of Lalor at depth in 2023. The opportunities arising from our pipeline of organic copper growth projects comes at an opportune time with the global scarcity of new copper assets and long-term global copper supply unable to meet the demands from a low carbon future. We have an extremely talented exploration team at Hudbay and we are excited to continue to add value to these projects through the drill bit.

The initial mineral resource estimate for our Llaguen project has confirmed the presence of a significant copper-molybdenum porphyry deposit at a higher level of geological confidence than we expected at this stage due to the continuous nature of the mineralization, said Andre Lauzon, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. The mineral resources include a significant higher-grade component located near surface, with a low 0.9 strip ratio and the potential to be mined in the initial years of production to maximize the economics for the project. This project benefits from its location at moderate altitude, close to regional infrastructure and the city of Trujillo.

Llaguen Initial Mineral Resource Estimate

The Llaguen project is 100% owned by Hudbay and is located near the city of Trujillo, the third largest city in Peru. The property is at moderate altitude in close proximity to existing infrastructure, water and power supply, including the port of Salaverry located 62 kilometres away and the Trujillo Nueva electric substation located 40 kilometres away, as shown in Figure 1. The deposit is located on the western margin of the Miocene epithermal-porphyry copper-gold belt of northern Peru.

Hudbay optioned the property from a Vale subsidiary in 2017 and has since completed an exploration agreement with the local community, conducted additional geological mapping and geochemical sampling, and completed a 28-hole confirmatory drill program during 2021 and 2022. Hudbays tenement comprises 12 mining concessions totaling 8,900 hectares and the mineralization is fully contained within these 100%-controlled tenements. There are no Indigenous communities in the area, and therefore, community agreements are not subject to Perus Consulta Previa (prior consultation) process.

Successful Confirmatory Drill Program

In the summer of 2021, Hudbay began a confirmatory drilling campaign over a known copper and molybdenum rich mineralized zone. The mineralized zone was previously identified from a 23-hole historical drill program completed by Vale from 2006 to 2008, which was based on a chargeability anomaly identified from a ground geophysical survey. The porphyry mineralization is hosted in tonalite rocks with late-stage hydrothermal breccia with tourmaline and semi-massive molybdenite veins along fractures. Hudbays exploration program at Llaguen included an initial campaign of 28 diamond drill holes duplicating and infilling the widely spaced holes historically drilled by Vale.

Hudbays drilling confirmed and extended the footprint of the known mineralization and highlighted the existence of a high-grade tourmaline rich brecciated zone in the center of the deposit, which starts from surface and is almost entirely contained within the pit shell hosting the initial mineral resource (please refer to Figure 2). The deposit is now defined by a total of 51 drillholes all with mineralized intercepts. As illustrated in Figure 3, the Llaguen mineralization in most cases starts from surface with a low strip ratio of 0.9 and contains higher-grade mineralization at the center of the deposit.

High-grade Mineral Resource Underlying the Global Mineral Resource Estimate

Based on the assay results compiled and validated as of August 31, 2022, the initial mineral resource estimate for the Llaguen deposit contained within an economic pit shell is summarized in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Llaguen Project Mineral Resource Estimate as at November 1, 2022

Category Metric Tonnes Cu (%) Mo (g/t) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) CuEq (%) Indicated Global (>= 0.14% Cu) 271,000,000 0.33 218 0.033 2.04 0.42 Including Indicated High-grade (>= 0.30% Cu) 113,000,000 0.49 261 0.046 2.73 0.60 Inferred Global(>= 0.14% Cu) 83,000,000 0.24 127 0.024 1.47 0.30 Including Inferred High-grade (>= 0.30% Cu) 16,000,000 0.45 141 0.038 2.60 0.52

Notes:1 CIM definitions were followed for the estimation of mineral resources. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.2 Mineral resources are reported within an economic envelope defined by a pit shell optimization algorithm. This pit shell is defined by a revenue factor of 0.33 assuming operating costs adjusted from Hudbays Constancia open pit operation.3 Long-term metal prices of $3.60 per pound copper, $11.00 per pound molybdenum, $1,650 per ounce gold and $22.00 per ounce silver were used for the estimation of mineral resources.4 Metal recovery estimates assume that this mineralization would be processed at a combination of facilities, including copper and molybdenum flotation.5 Copper-equivalent (CuEq) grade is calculated assuming 85% copper recovery, 80% molybdenum recovery, 60% gold recovery and 60% silver recovery.6 Specific gravity measurements were estimated by industry standard laboratory measurements.

Llaguen Remains Open and Several Regional Exploration Targets Untested

The Llaguen mineralization defined by Hudbays recent drilling campaign remains open at depth and to the northeast and northwest in a new porphyry with disseminated mineralization. In addition, mapping has confirmed the continuity of the mineralized system to the southeast, coincident with geochemistry and chargeability anomalies along a structural corridor with several additional targets that have been identified and could be tested in the future to further grow the mineral resource estimates (please refer to Figure 4). The current mineral resource is also surrounded by a large halo of low grade hypogene copper mineralization, not currently included in the mineral resource estimate, for which metallurgical test work could assess the potential for sulfide heap leaching via commercially available technologies.

Llaguen Next Steps

Hudbay has initiated preliminary technical studies at Llaguen, including metallurgical test work as well as geotechnical and hydrogeological studies, which are expected to be incorporated into a preliminary economic assessment for the Llaguen project. Additional exploration drilling is warranted on the property to test the areas of the deposit that remain open and the several untested geophysical targets in the area to fully define the regional extent of the mineralization.

Early Exploration Activities Commence at Maria Reyna and Caballito

Hudbay controls a large, contiguous block of mineral rights with the potential to host mineral deposits within trucking distance of the Constancia processing facility, including the past producing Caballito property and the highly prospective Maria Reyna property. Geophysical surveys indicate large-scale potential at Maria Reyna and Caballito, as shown in Figure 5.

In August 2022, the company executed a surface rights exploration agreement with the community of Uchucarcco that allows for exploration of the Maria Reyna and Caballito properties. Shortly after the agreement was completed, Hudbay commenced baseline environmental and archaeological activities to advance the permitting process to allow for drilling the property in the future. The companys geological team also commenced surface investigation activities and field evidence confirms that both Caballito and Maria Reyna host sulfide and oxide rich copper mineralization in skarns, hydrothermal breccias and large porphyry intrusive bodies.

Caballito

The past producing Caballito property is located approximately five kilometres from Constancia and includes an open pit mine (formerly called Katanga) that was operated by Mitsui Mining and Smelting Co. (Mitsui) until the early 1990s. Hudbay collected hand samples in the old Mitsui pit which confirmed the mineralization is both copper oxides and sulfides rich with extensive occurrence of chalcopyrite and bornite and copper oxides in various forms. Please refer to Figure 6 for images of Hudbays hand samples and the waste rock pile near the old Mitsui open pit. Part of Hudbays immediate exploration plans consist of surveys and the collection of samples from the historical waste stockpiles to assess their size and composition.

A U.S. Geological Survey from 1990 estimated a historical mineral resource estimate of 90.9 million tonnes at 2.3% copperii for the Mitsui open pit mine. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to verify this historical estimate and, as such, Hudbay is not treating it as a current mineral resource for purposes of National Instrument 43-101  Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101). For more information regarding historical estimates, see Qualified Person and NI 43-101.

Maria Reyna

The Maria Reyna property is located approximately 10 kilometres from Constancia and hosts three types of mineralization  skarn, hydrothermal breccia and porphyry  with magnetite and garnet skarns and hydrothermal breccias having the potential to host high grade zones, as shown in Figure 7. Artisanal mining activity is present in these high-grade areas in the form of small-scale selective mining operations reported by the local operators to produce at an average grade ranging between 2% and 6% copper from both oxide and sulfide mineralization. This local production is currently exported by small haul truck to regional processing facilities.

Historical drilling in the Maria Reyna south-west zone completed by a previous owner consisted of 11 diamond drill holes covering a total of 5,585 meters. The historical drill results include 136 metres at 0.61% CuEq, 106 metres at 0.55% CuEq and 160 metres at 1.03% CuEqiii. A qualified person has not independently verified this historical data or the quality assurance and quality control program that was applied during the execution of this drill program. For more information regarding historical estimates, see Qualified Person and NI 43-101.

Manitoba Exploration Continues to Grow Resources and Find Extensions

Hudbays 2022 exploration efforts in Manitoba have been focused on completing ongoing infill drilling at Lalor and 1901 and confirmatory drilling at the Flin Flon Tailings Impoundment System as part of the early technical evaluation of the opportunity to reprocess tailings. Hudbay continues to have resource conversion success at Lalor, which will be incorporated into the companys annual mineral resource and reserve estimate update in the first quarter of 2023. Hudbay is also in the process of planning a winter drill program to test the down-dip gold and copper-gold extensions of the Lalor deposit in 2023, which will be the first time the company has completed step-out drilling in the deeper zones at Lalor since 2009.

Flin Flon Tailings Drilling Indicates Higher Grade than Expected

In 2021, Hudbay identified the opportunity to reprocess Flin Flon tailings where in excess of 100 million tonnes of tailings have been deposited for over 90 years. The company recently completed confirmatory drilling which covered about two-thirds of the facility, as shown in Figure 8. The results indicate higher zinc, copper and silver grades than predicted from historical mill records while confirming the historical gold grade. For more information, please see the table of drill hole intersections provided at the end of this news release. Hudbay plans to complete metallurgical test work on the Flin Flon tailings to assess the processing viability.

Hudbay also intends to evaluate the opportunity to reprocess the tailings at the Anderson facility in Snow Lake given significant amounts of gold have been deposited over many decades. The gold processing capacity in Snow Lake is enhanced with the recent start-up of the New Britannia mill and Hudbays initiatives underway to improve the gold recoveries at the Stall mill.

Continued Exploration Success at Copper World Increases the Size of Bolsa

Hudbay continues to have three drill rigs turning at Copper World and recent drilling completed since the preliminary economic assessment was published in June 2022 has increased the extent of the mineralization at the Bolsa deposit. Drilling has confirmed the continuity of the mineralization between the Bolsa and East deposits and extended the width and depth of the mineralized envelope, as shown in Figure 9. The gain in volume has the potential to more than double the volume of the Bolsa deposit, and while most of the increased mineralization is located on patented mining claims, it is likely to only benefit the mine plan during the second phase of the Copper World project given the first phase already maximizes the use of available private land for mining and waste disposal. The combined mineralized zone remains open in several directions and at depth.

Nevada Regional Exploration Update

A conductivity-resistivity IP ground survey commenced in October 2022 at the Mason Valley properties located on Hudbays private land claims near the Mason project. This work, in combination with a re-interpretation of geological data from past operating mines and previous exploration data, will be used to finalize a drill plan to test high grade skarn targets in 2023. The objective is to repeat the success of the Copper World discoveries in a very similar geological setting with the same history of small-scale operations extracting high-grade copper via small open pit and underground mines in the early part of the 20th century.

Qualified Person and NI 43-101

The scientific and technical information contained in or incorporated by reference into this news release has been prepared under the supervision of Olivier Tavchandjian, P. Geo., Hudbays Vice President, Exploration and Technical Services. Mr. Tavchandjian is a qualified person for purposes of NI 43-101.

At Llaguen, a total of 51 holes drilled by Hudbay and previous owners of the project area have intersected copper-molybdenum mineralization and were used to define the Llaguen deposit. The Llaguen mineral resource estimates were estimated assuming a selective mining unit of 20 metres x 20 metres x 15 metres and within an economic pit shell defined by a Lerch Grossman algorithm. Hudbay is not aware of any drilling, sampling, recovery, or other factors that could materially affect the accuracy or reliability of the Llaguen mineral resource estimate disclosed in this news release.

The methodology followed to estimate mineral resources at Llaguen is identical to the approach used for several years at Hudbays Constancia mine in Peru where the mineral resource and reserve estimates have shown good reconciliation results with mill credited production (please refer to the NI 43-101 Technical Report for Constancia dated March 29, 2021 for more details, which is available on the companys SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com).

Mr. Tavchandjian has verified the Llaguen exploration data disclosed in this news release, including sampling, analytical, and test data underlying the information or opinions expressed herein. The data verification and quality assurance / quality control (QA/QC) measures that were used as part of the Llaguen drill program conducted by Hudbay since June 2021 are summarized below:

Recent exploration core drilling done by Hudbay at the Llaguen porphyry deposit was a combination of HQ and NQ size. Drill core was removed from the core tube by drilling contractors and placed in labelled core boxes. Core was logged by geologist, photographed, tagged with sample tags including drillhole number and depth. Core was cut in half and placed in labeled sample bags with the sample tags weighed in a digital balance and transported via commercial truck from the core storage facilities in Trujillo to the analytical Laboratories in Lima for preparation and analysis. For duplicate samples, the drill core samples were cut for a second time, resulting in a  drill core sample. Two selected independent commercial analytical laboratories were used: Bureau Veritas Lima (BV) and SGS Lima (SGS). The remaining second half and  of the core was securely stored at the Trujillo storage facility for eventual verification purposes and further analysis if required.

Drill core samples were prepared and assayed following industry standard analytical protocols at each laboratory. Analyses were carried using multi acid digestion to achieve near total dissolution with an ICP-AES finish (Methods MA301 at BV and ICP40B at SGS). Gold was analyzed by fire assay with AAS finish (Methods FA430 at BV and FAA313 at SGS). Samples with concentration of Cu>10,000 ppm and Mo>10,000 ppm were reanalyzed by resource grade multi acid digestion with ICP-AES finish (Methods MA402 at BV and AAS41B at SGS). Three stages Cu Sequential Analysis (sulfuric acid leach followed by sodium cyanide leach followed by CuRes CLL) were analyzed by methods LH-SEQ at BV and AAS73B at SGS. QA/QC included the insertion of 3% of samples as blank material, 3% as standards (from 2 certified OREAS reference materials) and 3% as  drill core duplicates. Failure rates were nominal in all cases and no significant QA/QC issue was identified.

The validity of using historical Vale drilling, for which QA/QC results are not available, was confirmed by conducting a global comparison of grade interpolation using this data versus the recent drilling done by Hudbay.

Because of its early stage of development, Hudbay does not consider the Llaguen deposit to be a material mineral property for purposes of NI 43-101.

Certain information in this news release regarding potential mineralization at Caballito and Maria Reyna is based on information that has been obtained from publicly available information and/or industry reports, which constitute historical estimates for the purposes of NI 43-101. Such reports generally state that the information contained therein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but the accuracy or completeness of such information is not guaranteed. While the company considers such historical estimates to be relevant for purposes of this news release as they may indicate the presence of mineralization, the qualified person for the company has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimates as current "mineral resources" or "mineral reserves" (as defined in NI 43-101). The historical estimates contained in this news release are not compliant with NI 43-101 and the company is not treating the historical estimates as current "mineral resources" or "mineral reserves". A thorough review of all historical data performed by a qualified person, along with additional exploration work to confirm results, would be required to produce a current mineral resource estimate prepared in accordance with NI 43-101. The company has not independently verified and cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the historical estimates and other third-party data contained in this news release and investors should use caution in placing reliance on such information.

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, Hudbays expectations regarding the future potential of the Llaguen deposit, its plans for additional drilling and other exploration work on the Llaguen property and the potential for a preliminary economic assessment of the Llaguen project, its expectations regarding the ability to conduct exploration work on the Maria Reyna and Caballito properties, expectations regarding the prospective nature of the Maria Reyna and Caballito properties, expectations regarding the Copper World project and exploration at Lalor and in Nevada, expectations resulting from the Flin Flon tailings drill program and the evaluation of the opportunity to reprocess tailings, plans to implement a winter drill program and other scoping studies in Manitoba, the expected volume of the Bolsa deposit, estimation of mineral reserves and mineral resources and economic outlook. Forward-looking information is not, and cannot be, a guarantee of future results or events. Forward-looking information is based on, among other things, opinions, assumptions, estimates and analyses that, while considered reasonable by the company at the date the forward-looking information is provided, inherently are subject to significant risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors that may cause actual results and events to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information.

The risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information may include, but are not limited to risks generally associated with the mining industry and the current geopolitical environment, such as economic factors (including future commodity prices, currency fluctuations, energy prices and general cost escalation), risks associated with the permitting process with respect to our projects, uncertainties related to the development and operation of our projects, uncertainty with respect to the political and social environment in Peru and its potential impact on our mining operations, as well as the risks discussed under the heading Risk Factors in Hudbays most recent Annual Information Form.

Should one or more risk, uncertainty, contingency or other factor materialize or should any factor or assumption prove incorrect, actual results could vary materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Hudbay does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information after the date of this news release or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and any forward-looking information, except as required by applicable law.

About Hudbay

Hudbay (TSX, NYSE: HBM) is a diversified mining company with long-life assets in North and South America. The companys operations in Cusco (Peru) produce copper with gold, silver and molybdenum by-products. Its operations in Manitoba (Canada) produce gold with copper, zinc and silver by-products. Hudbays organic pipeline includes copper development projects in Arizona and Nevada (United States), and its growth strategy is focused on the exploration, development, operation, and optimization of properties it already controls, as well as other mineral assets it may acquire that fit its strategic criteria. Hudbays mission is to create sustainable value through the acquisition, development and operation of high-quality, long-life deposits with exploration potential in jurisdictions that support responsible mining, and to see the regions and communities in which the company operates benefit from its presence. Further information about Hudbay can be found on www.hudbay.com.

For further information, please contact:

Candace BruleVice President, Investor Relations(416) 814-4387[email protected]

Figure 1: General Location of the Llaguen ProjectThe Llaguen project is located in the La Libertad region in northwestern Peru. It is accessible by road and is in close proximity to the Salaverry port and the Trujillo Nueva electric substation.

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Figure 2: Isometric View of the Llaguen Mineral Resource Estimate ShellThe high-grade (0.30% copper grade) shell is displayed below, inside the 0.33 revenue-factor pit shell used to estimate mineral resources.

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Figure 3: Sectional View of the Llaguen DepositThe Llaguen deposit hosts shallow mineralization over a 1.3-kilometre strike length, with higher grade mineralization located close to surface that has the potential to be mined earlier in the mine life (section clipping is set to 90 metres).

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Figure 4: Additional Exploration Potential at LlaguenField mapping at Llaguen has confirmed the continuity of the mineralized system, coincident with geochemistry and chargeability anomalies, along a northwest-southeast structural corridor.

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Figure 5: Constancia Satellite Exploration TargetsGeophysics indicate several nearby exploration targets within trucking distance of Constancias infrastructure with Maria Reyna and Caballito having large-scale potential.

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Figure 6: Caballito Property High Grade Copper SulfidesMitsui mined high grade copper sulfides rich with chalcopyrite and bornite at Caballito until the early 1990s.

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Figure 7: Maria Reyna Property High Grade Copper Oxides and SulfidesMaria Reyna hosts three types of mineralization  skarn, hydrothermal breccia and porphyry  with skarns and hydrothermal breccias having the potential to host high grade zones.

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Figure 8: Recent Flin Flon Tailings Drill ProgramConfirmatory drilling covering approximately two-thirds of the FFTIS indicates higher zinc, copper and silver grades than historical records and confirms expected gold grade (drill hole assays are shown in the table at the end of this news release).

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Figure 9: Recent Exploration Success at Copper World Increases the Size of BolsaDrilling completed in 2022 confirms the continuity of mineralization between the Bolsa and East deposits along the backbone fault and extends the width and depth of the mineralized envelope, which is shown in grey in the figure.

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Flin Flon Tailings Drill Results

Drill Hole ID Year East North Elev. Length Zn % Cu % Au g/t Ag g/t FF17-BH04 2017 313,464 6,073,444 325.8 30.5 0.70 0.16 0.56 8.13 FF17-BH05 2017 313,191 6,073,346 327.5 25.9 0.85 0.19 0.52 7.89 FF17-BH06 2017 313,675 6,073,348 323.4 31.2 0.71 0.17 0.68 8.49 FF17-BH07 2017 313,450 6,073,253 325.0 32 0.71 0.18 0.65 8.46 FF17-BH08 2017 313,599 6,072,993 321.1 35.8 1.06 0.34 1.04 11.35 FF17-BH09 2017 313,821 6,072,913 318.6 16.8 1.10 0.37 0.92 11.04 FF17-BH10 2017 313,793 6,072,756 315.8 18.3 1.51 0.41 1.20 14.52 FF17-BH11 2017 313,355 6,072,819 323.1 29.7 0.65 0.19 0.73 7.74 FF17-BH12 2017 313,079 6,072,634 324.2 23.6 0.56 0.14 0.69 8.20 FF17-BH13 2017 313,273 6,072,575 321.1 25.9 0.60 0.14 0.59 7.99 FF17-BH14 2017 313,334 6,072,525 318.4 25.2 0.68 0.16 0.66 8.01 FF17-BH15 2017 313,334 6,072,525 318.6 22.9 0.79 0.20 0.70 8.69 FF17-BH16 2017 313,534 6,072,531 320.7 20.6 0.76 0.21 0.67 8.21 FF17-BH17 2017 313,569 6,072,443 317.6 25.1 0.63 0.20 0.80 10.02 FF17-BH18 2017 313,588 6,072,351 318.4 23.6 0.63 0.15 0.60 10.04 FF17-BH19 2017 313,734 6,072,382 312.8 30.5 0.85 0.21 0.75 12.31 FFT17-BH20 2017 313,700 6,072,487 312.9 32.7 0.89 0.23 0.78 12.23 FFT22-0002 2022 313,177 6,074,237 318.2 35.8 0.70 0.11 0.41 7.13 FFT22-0003 2022 313,303 6,074,246 321.6 29 0.61 0.13 0.47 7.84 FFT22-0004 2022 313,303 6,074,111 319.7 32.8 0.62 0.13 0.46 7.88 FFT22-0005 2022 313,144 6,074,098 319.5 33.5 0.69 0.13 0.48 7.51 FFT22-0008 2022 313,051 6,073,956 319.5 33.5 0.68 0.13 0.44 7.31 FFT22-0009 2022 313,175 6,073,930 320.8 31.2 0.62 0.12 0.47 7.62 FFT22-0010 2022 313,302 6,073,942 321.1 30.5 0.56 0.12 0.51 7.97 FFT22-0011 2022 313,448 6,073,948 330.2 13 0.53 0.12 0.53 8.46 FFT22-0012 2022 313,450 6,073,797 324.4 25.2 0.54 0.12 0.50 7.00 FFT22-0013 2022 313,308 6,073,799 323.5 26.2 0.57 0.12 0.51 8.20 FFT22-0014 2022 313,201 6,073,801 321.3 30.5 0.61 0.13 0.49 7.93 FFT22-0018 2022 312,691 6,073,654 331.1 12.2 0.48 0.12 0.53 7.59 FFT22-0019 2022 312,868 6,073,655 329.4 16 0.64 0.14 0.55 8.04 FFT22-0020 2022 312,998 6,073,658 329.6 14.5 0.49 0.11 0.54 7.15 FFT22-0021 2022 313,146 6,073,655 321.8 30.5 0.61 0.14 0.51 7.69 FFT22-0022 2022 313,306 6,073,652 323.1 27.7 0.52 0.12 0.53 7.25 FFT22-0023 2022 313,453 6,073,663 321.8 30.5 0.61 0.13 0.53 8.19 FFT22-0024 2022 313,597 6,073,658 322.9 29 0.52 0.12 0.48 6.70 FFT22-0025 2022 313,458 6,073,499 318.5 38.1 0.56 0.19 0.51 6.69 FFT22-0026 2022 313,300 6,073,494 321.7 31.2 0.57 0.14 0.60 7.63 FFT22-0027 2022 313,163 6,073,481 328.0 18.3 0.51 0.13 0.56 7.84 FFT22-0028 2022 312,994 6,073,501 331.8 11.4 0.49 0.12 0.57 8.09 FFT22-0029 2022 312,857 6,073,502 331.7 12.2 0.53 0.13 0.66 9.34 FFT22-0030 2022 312,675 6,073,505 325.7 23.6 0.41 0.10 0.51 7.15 FFT22-0031 2022 312,534 6,073,545 334.1 4.6 1.11 0.16 0.56 10.93 FFT22-0033 2022 312,634 6,073,667 335.0 4.6 0.62 0.13 0.42 8.37 FFT22-0034 2022 312,851 6,073,355 333.5 9.8 0.50 0.15 0.75 9.33 FFT22-0035 2022 312,999 6,073,359 327.7 20.4 0.58 0.14 0.58 7.73 FFT22-0036 2022 313,156 6,073,435 323.6 27.4 0.54 0.13 0.54 8.10 FFT22-0037 2022 313,305 6,073,352 320.6 36.6 0.67 0.14 0.61 8.37 FFT22-0038 2022 313,451 6,073,345 324.5 28.2 0.56 0.14 0.55 7.63 FFT22-0039 2022 313,602 6,073,340 317.6 42.7 0.60 0.14 0.64 9.18 FFT22-0040 2022 313,604 6,073,460 318.0 41.9 0.46 0.11 0.49 7.24 FFT22-0041 2022 313,606 6,073,196 316.1 45.7 0.77 0.19 0.76 11.82 FFT22-0042 2022 313,450 6,073,208 319.5 38.9 0.63 0.16 0.73 9.75 FFT22-0043 2022 313,483 6,073,271 321.1 39.6 0.57 0.14 0.58 7.30 FFT22-0056 2022 313,446 6,073,055 320.5 37.3 1.59 0.34 0.55 8.23 FFT22-0057 2022 313,599 6,073,054 316.8 45.7 0.90 0.22 0.78 12.05 FFT22-0073 2022 313,274 6,072,556 319.0 33.5 0.93 0.25 0.45 6.62 FFT22-0074 2022 313,149 6,072,510 324.2 18.3 0.55 0.16 0.48 6.01 FFT22-0075 2022 312,994 6,072,537 325.8 14.5 0.59 0.13 0.46 6.53 FFT22-0076 2022 312,901 6,072,523 329.6 6.1 0.88 0.28 0.37 5.97 FFT22-0077 2022 313,012 6,072,425 325.7 16.8 0.49 0.12 0.42 6.05 FFT22-0078 2022 313,146 6,072,409 323.6 21.3 0.52 0.12 0.48 6.96 FFT22-0079 2022 313,301 6,072,450 328.1 15.2 0.59 0.17 0.63 7.23 FFT22-0080 2022 313,450 6,072,447 327.8 13.7 0.65 0.20 0.64 7.73 FFT22-0081 2022 313,604 6,072,447 310.8 38.9 0.60 0.17 0.62 9.56 FFT22-0082 2022 313,742 6,072,442 313.1 32 1.08 0.25 1.08 14.20 FFT22-0083 2022 313,749 6,072,364 315.3 38.1 0.74 0.19 0.76 10.91 FFT22-0084 2022 313,580 6,072,323 316.9 27.4 0.64 0.17 0.61 10.34 FFT22-0085 2022 313,456 6,072,306 326.6 12.2 0.63 0.13 0.54 8.40 FFT22-0086 2022 313,270 6,072,380 329.1 13.7 0.65 0.31 0.40 5.54 FFT22-0088 2022 313,687 6,073,239 320.0 39.6 0.65 0.17 0.67 9.90 FFT22-0089 2022 313,524 6,074,033 328.1 19 0.52 0.13 0.54 7.78 FFT22-0090 2022 313,442 6,074,100 325.2 23.6 0.67 0.13 0.49 8.04 FFT22-0093 2022 313,539 6,073,874 324.1 27.4 0.52 0.11 0.49 6.67 FFT22-0095 2022 313,564 6,073,501 322.5 32 0.52 0.13 0.54 7.51 FFT22-0096 2022 313,438 6,074,253 328.5 17.7 0.57 0.12 0.52 8.03 FFT22-0097 2022 313,329 6,074,101 322.1 28.2 0.61 0.12 0.45 7.63 FFT22-0098 2022 313,354 6,074,101 323.5 25.9 0.58 0.13 0.49 7.32 FFT22-0099 2022 313,301 6,074,069 319.8 32.8 0.60 0.13 0.48 7.57 FFT22-0100 2022 313,298 6,074,031 319.5 33.5 0.58 0.13 0.48 7.34 FFT22-0101 2022 313,266 6,074,100 320.2 32 0.55 0.12 0.51 8.76 FFT22-0102 2022 313,241 6,074,095 319.0 34.3 0.63 0.13 0.45 7.91 FFT22-0103 2022 313,300 6,074,131 319.8 32.8 0.62 0.13 0.46 7.31 FFT22-0104 2022 313,300 6,074,160 320.5 31.2 0.67 0.13 0.49 8.31 FFT22-0200 2022 313,635 6,073,195 320.0 38.9 0.75 0.20 0.73 11.56 FFT22-0201 2022 313,658 6,073,214 318.5 41.9 0.72 0.20 0.64 9.50 FFT22-0202 2022 313,602 6,073,227 317.9 42.7 0.79 0.22 0.78 11.62 FFT22-0203 2022 313,613 6,073,252 318.0 42.7 0.68 0.17 0.70 11.26 FFT22-0204 2022 313,573 6,073,205 314.3 48.8 0.80 0.19 0.77 11.81 FFT22-0205 2022 313,545 6,073,196 317.5 41.2 0.67 0.18 0.66 10.79 FFT22-0206 2022 313,600 6,073,169 316.3 45.7 0.76 0.19 0.74 11.31 FFT22-0207 2022 313,600 6,073,143 315.9 46.5 0.84 0.21 0.79 13.24 FFT22-0208 2022 313,689 6,073,095 318.8 41.9 0.87 0.23 0.85 11.49 FFT22-076R 2022 312,901 6,072,523 329.6 6.1 0.96 0.34 0.43 7.52 FFT22-1051 2022 313,292 6,073,683 322.8 28.2 0.54 0.13 0.52 7.81 FFT22-1061 2022 313,279 6,073,710 320.8 32 0.53 0.12 0.50 7.51 FFT22-1071 2022 313,336 6,073,670 324.8 24.4 0.56 0.13 0.53 8.24 FFT22-1081 2022 313,355 6,073,680 323.1 27.9 0.54 0.12 0.50 7.91 FFT22-1091 2022 313,311 6,073,636 322.9 28.2 0.54 0.12 0.55 7.77 FFT22-1101 2022 313,331 6,073,602 321.4 31.2 0.59 0.13 0.56 8.40 FFT22-1111 2022 313,284 6,073,649 319.9 34.3 0.55 0.12 0.56 7.59 FFT22-1121 2022 313,249 6,073,624 320.3 33.5 0.56 0.13 0.51 7.60 FFT22-S010 2022 313,323 6,074,632 330.5 13 0.38 0.13 0.56 7.83 FFT22-S014 2022 313,298 6,074,552 325.7 21.3 0.56 0.12 0.50 9.68 FFT22-S018 2022 313,297 6,074,395 321.3 29.7 1.56 0.33 0.44 7.61 FFT22-S019 2022 313,394 6,074,381 325.6 22.9 0.71 0.17 0.65 8.15 BGC22-12 2022 313,601 6,072,896 319.1 41.8 0.84 0.22 0.83 11.49 BGC22-13 2022 313,389 6,073,135 321.8 36.4 0.58 0.14 0.62 8.38 BGC22-30 2022 313,447 6,074,454 325.8 24.3 0.73 0.16 0.60 7.35 Drilling Length Weighted Average Grade 0.68 0.17 0.61 8.84

Notes:1 Drilling was completed with a LS250 Sonic drill with samples vibrated out of the core barrel into a long plastic bag and then cut in half, with one half going into a plastic bag with the sample tag number written and sealed and the other half of the sample kept for reference. QA/QC samples are inserted at a rate of one standard, one blank and one duplicate sample for each 20 samples collected. The insertion of QA/QC samples is performed by the geologist logging the samples. 2 All samples were sent to the Bureau Veritas laboratory in Vancouver and were checked against the custody chain form. The sample preparation includes weighing the sample, crushing 1 kg to minimum 80% passing 2 mm and a 250 g split crushed to minimum 85% passing 75 m. Base metals and other elements were analyzed with a modified aqua regia digestion coupled with ICP-MS (method AQ251_EXT), total carbon and sulphur (TC000), gold analysis with lead collection fire-assay with AAS Finish (FA430) for all samples. Check samples were also completed at SGS Canada laboratories with samples arriving checked against the chain of custody form. 3 QA/QC results including standards, blanks, duplicates and external checks did not reveal any issue or concern for this drill program.

i For further information on the mineral resource estimate and assumptions underlying the copper-equivalent grades, please refer to the table on page 3 of this news release.ii Sourced from U.S. Geological Surveys Mineral Resource Data System (MRSD); retrieved November 2, 2022, from https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/show-mrds.php?dep_id=10068767.iii For additional information, including drill hole locations and the data verification and quality assurance / quality control carried out by the prior owner, please refer to Managements Discussion and Analysis for Indico Resources Ltd. (Indico) for the year ended May 31, 2014, as filed by Indico on SEDAR on September 29, 2014.

Figure 1: General Location of the Llaguen Project The Llaguen project is located in the La Libertad region in northwestern Peru. It is accessible by road and is in close proximity to the Salaverry port and the Trujillo Nueva electric substation. Figure 2: Isometric View of the Llaguen Mineral Resource Estimate Shell The high-grade (0.30% copper grade) shell is displayed below, inside the 0.33 revenue-factor pit shell used to estimate mineral resources. Figure 3: Sectional View of the Llaguen Deposit The Llaguen deposit hosts shallow mineralization over a 1.3-kilometre strike length, with higher grade mineralization located close to surface that has the potential to be mined earlier in the mine life (section clipping is set to 90 metres). Figure 4: Additional Exploration Potential at Llaguen Field mapping at Llaguen has confirmed the continuity of the mineralized system, coincident with geochemistry and chargeability anomalies, along a northwest-southeast structural corridor. Figure 5: Constancia Satellite Exploration Targets Geophysics indicate several nearby exploration targets within trucking distance of Constancias infrastructure with Maria Reyna and Caballito having large-scale potential. Figure 6: Caballito Property High Grade Copper Sulfides Mitsui mined high grade copper sulfides rich with chalcopyrite and bornite at Caballito until the early 1990s. Figure 6: Caballito Property High Grade Copper Sulfides Mitsui mined high grade copper sulfides rich with chalcopyrite and bornite at Caballito until the early 1990s. Figure 7: Maria Reyna Property High Grade Copper Oxides and Sulfides Maria Reyna hosts three types of mineralization  skarn, hydrothermal breccia and porphyry  with skarns and hydrothermal breccias having the potential to host high grade zones. Figure 7: Maria Reyna Property High Grade Copper Oxides and Sulfides Maria Reyna hosts three types of mineralization  skarn, hydrothermal breccia and porphyry  with skarns and hydrothermal breccias having the potential to host high grade zones. Figure 8: Recent Flin Flon Tailings Drill Program Confirmatory drilling covering approximately two-thirds of the FFTIS indicates higher zinc, copper and silver grades than historical records and confirms expected gold grade (drill hole assays are shown in the table at the end of this news release). Figure 9: Recent Exploration Success at Copper World Increases the Size of Bolsa Drilling completed in 2022 confirms the continuity of mineralization between the Bolsa and East deposits along the backbone fault and extends the width and depth of the mineralized envelope, which is shown in grey in the figure. Figure 9: Recent Exploration Success at Copper World Increases the Size of Bolsa Drilling completed in 2022 confirms the continuity of mineralization between the Bolsa and East deposits along the backbone fault and extends the width and depth of the mineralized envelope, which is shown in grey in the figure. Figure 9: Recent Exploration Success at Copper World Increases the Size of Bolsa Drilling completed in 2022 confirms the continuity of mineralization between the Bolsa and East deposits along the backbone fault and extends the width and depth of the mineralized envelope, which is shown in grey in the figure.

Source: Hudbay Minerals Inc.
PRINCETON, N.J. and BENGALURU, India, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Indegene, a digital-first, life sciences commercialization company, today announced that it is helping AstraZeneca, a global biopharmaceutical company scale up its omnichannel operations across the globe with an aim to create a more personalized customer experience.

Indegene will leverage its healthcare domain expertise and experience in operating digital centers of excellence to help streamline the clients global content supply chain and orchestrate personalized customer journeys in an agile, global engagement model. Its partnerships with marketing platform providers will support the clients omnichannel operations efficiently, and at scale.

Sanjay Parikh, Executive Director and EVP, Indegene, said, As patients and physicians progressively engage with life sciences companies through a wide variety of communication channels, omnichannel operations are vital to create personalized experiences at scale. We are excited at the opportunity to apply our healthcare domain expertise and technology accelerators to enable and empower life sciences companies on their omnichannel journey.

About IndegeneWe are a digital-first, life sciences commercialization company. We help biopharmaceutical, emerging biotech and medical device companies develop products, get them to the market, and grow their impact through the life cycle in a more effective, efficient, and modern way. We bring together healthcare domain expertise, fit-for-purpose technology, and an agile operating model to provide a diverse range of solutions. These aim to deliver, amongst other outcomes, a personalized, scalable and omnichannel experience for patients and physicians. Its what drives our team and our purpose to enable healthcare organizations to be future ready. To learn more, please visit www.indegene.com

For media inquiries, please contact:Yadunandan K V | [email protected]

Source: Indegene Inc
SmartSoles Featured on Gadget Guys Latest Tech for the Holiday Season

LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MetAlert, Inc. (OTC: MLRT), a pioneer in the field of wearable GPS human and asset tracking and remote patient monitoring, announced it has selected Pod Groups ENO ONE IoT SIM cards and advanced connectivity solutions for enterprise IoT applications for its award-winning 2-way GPS SmartSole, a wearable medical monitoring device that is integrated into an orthotic insole allowing discreet and unobtrusive tracking and remote monitoring of Alzheimers, Dementia, and Autism sufferers.

This week, the GPS SmartSoles were also featured on the Gadget Guys shares latest tech perfect for the holiday season which aired on the CW syndicate across the U.S. and reaches approximately 3.2 million households.

The GPS SmartSole, the worlds first invisible tracking and monitoring device, now available in more than 35 countries, uses cellular networks to communicate with the cloud and send alerts to a mobile app or online portal, enabling the location of the wearer to be traced. Boundaries called Geozones can be set up to alert the caregiver via email or text if the wearer strays beyond a safe zone.

Pod is proud to play a crucial role in contributing to improving the quality of life and safety of people around the world says Pod Groups Director for Strategic Partnership Development, Alessio Piussi. This is a clear example of how ENO ONE can help reduce the complexity of rolling out global, mission-critical IoT applications, providing cost-effective, reliable, and future-proofed connectivity.

Pod Groups ENO ONE eSIM solution includes an embedded chip inserted into the device to grant maximum hardware robustness. It offers global coverage over different technologies, such as 4G/LTE, CAT-M, and LTE-M, allowing the SmartSole to tap into the low-power cellular options to increase the battery life of the SmartSole which can last up to 7 days.

The POD Group partnership is a critical component for the launch of our SmartSole plus, a mobile hot spot connected to other wearable devices. This level of 4G and MB IoT connectivity technology will become very valuable to MetAlert due to the amount of biometric and location data, which will need to be transmitted quickly, securely, and inexpensively across the globe, commented Patrick Bertagna, MetAlert CEO.

Simple global deployment is crucial to MetAlert, which ships its SmartSoles across the world. With the ENO ONE global network covering 185 countries, MetAlert no longer has to worry about dealing with different providers in different geographies; instead, connectivity is managed via one contract.

Every ENO eSIM comes pre-configured with a bootstrap profile, meaning MetAlert no longer has to manually configure each device for a different destination. The eSIM is also provided on a neutral Remote SIM Provisioning (RSP) platform. MetAlert owns the eSIM and is not locked into one vendor. On-SIM applets like Zero-Touch Provisioning mean that upon booting up, the device automatically connects to the nearest network and downloads a dedicated local profile.

The innovative design of the SmartSole uses the floor as a reflector to strengthen GPS signals, circumventing the difficult conditions created by locating the device under the foot. This has led to it being used in nursing homes, by the British NIH, and other national care agencies across Europe, and it is supported by local Alzheimer Associations as well as multiple Police, Search & Rescue organizations.

About Pod Group

Pod Group, a Giesecke+Devrient (G+D) company, founded in 1852 represented by 74 subsidiaries and joint ventures in 32 countries and generated 2.31 billion euros in 2020. POD is a specialist in IoT SIM cards and advanced connectivity solutions for enterprise IoT applications, bringing over 20 years experience and innovation to the telecommunications market. An Enterprise Network Operator (ENO), Pod goes beyond traditional connectivity service providers to offer unique, customized solutions designed to give enterprises of all sizes ownership and control of their IoT connectivity, from the SIM card right up to a complete private network. With offices worldwide and access to 600+ networks in 185 countries, Pods global team supports enterprises across a broad range of sectors as they take ownership of their IoT connectivity. For more information on Pods IoT connectivity solutions, please visit: https://www.podgroup.com

About MetAlert

MetAlert, Inc. (OTC: MLRT) a pioneer in smart, mobile, and wearable tracking and recovery location-based solutions, supported through a proprietary IoT enterprise monitoring platform and intellectual property portfolio. The Company offers a global end-to-end solution of hardware, software and connectivity and develops two-way GPS tracking technologies, which seamlessly integrate with consumer products and enterprise applications. Utilizing the latest in miniaturized, low power consumption GPS, Cellular, RF, NFC and BLE technology, enabling subscribers to track in real time the whereabouts of people or high value assets. Known for its game-changing and award-winning patented GPS SmartSole -- think Dr. Scholls meets LoJack, the worlds first invisible wearable technology tracking device created for those at risk of wandering due to Alzheimers, dementia, autism, and traumatic brain injury. MetAlerts business model is built around technology innovation and holds dozens of patents, with many issued patents in the area of GPS tracking. The company has international distributors servicing customers across the globe with subscribers in over 40 countries and is a U.S. Military Government contractor. Other customers include public health authorities and municipalities, emergency and law enforcement, private schools, assisted living facilities, NGOs, small business enterprises, senior care homes, and consumers. www.MetAlert.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/metalertinc

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/metalertinc

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/metalertinc/

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements. The terms and phrases expects, would, will, believes, and similar terms and phrases are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by MetAlert considering its experience and its perception of current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that MetAlert believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Many factors could cause MetAlerts actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Certain risk factors that may cause actual results to differ are set forth in MetAlerts Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (which may be obtained on the SEC Website). These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on MetAlerts forward-looking statements. MetAlert has no intention and undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required.

Disclaimer: MetAlert does not warrant or represent that the unauthorized use of materials drawn from the content of this document will not infringe rights of third parties who are not owned or affiliated by MetAlert. Further MetAlert cannot be held responsible or liable for the unauthorized use of this documents content by third parties unknown to the company.

General information, investor relations, wholesale licensing, consumer purchase:

MetAlert, Inc.Tel: 213.489.3019Email: [email protected]

MetAlert

United Kingdom, LondonNelson Skip RiddleTel: +44 7785 364100Email: [email protected]

Source: MetAlert Inc.
Kitchener, ON, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Earlier this year the Medical Innovation Xchange (MIX) announced an innovative partnership with the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development called the MIX Knowledge Xchange (MIX-KX). The goal of the MIX-KX is to strengthen and grow talent for the provincial health innovation and MedTech ecosystem, build more successful domestic MedTech companies and ensure the talent, IP and solutions developed in Ontario can succeed while staying in Ontario.

MIX is pleased to announce that with the continued support of the Government of Ontario, it has awarded the first round of MIX-KX funding to three local medtech companies: Nicoya, Scispot and Tamvoes.

Our government is on a mission to give workers the skills they need to find meaningful careers close to home and earn bigger paycheques for their families, said Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. This project will connect leading healthcare innovators with the skilled workers they need to grow their businesses and position Ontario as an industry leader for generations to come.

Nicoya (www.nicoyalife.com), a Kitchener-based company with over 100 employees, designs and builds cutting-edge surface plasmon resonance technology, will receive up to $75,000 to deploy management and leadership training to its ever-growing emerging leaders and executives.

The people at Nicoya are the main drivers of our growth and success, and we are always seeking new opportunities to invest back into their development, said Jeannie Barbu, Senior Director of People and Culture at Nicoya. "With professional advancement being a key priority across all levels of our organization, this training grant will enable us to elevate the managerial capabilities of our people managers, strengthen our internal skill set, and invest in individual contributors' growth and development. Were proud to be included in the first cohort of the MIX KX grant recipients and are grateful for the continued support provided by the MIX team.

Scispot (www.scispot.com), an early-stage start-up also based in Kitchener is automating and digitizing lab processes to aid with productivity and resource management in the biotech industry have been awarded up to $15,000 to deploy advanced data analytics training to aid with product development, and also for skills development activities in investment strategies to help with employee and company growth.

"We're thrilled to receive MIK-KX funding as it will allow us to invest more in upskilling our team and increase our product innovation, says Guru Singh, Founder & CEO of Scispot. "Scispot is continuously growing and has become a tech stack of many modern biotech companies across North America, and this funding can help us grow even faster."

Tamvoes (www.tamvoes.com), also an early-stage start-up based in Waterloo, developed a health management platform for patients, caregivers and their care team will receive up to $25,000 to access blockchain, privacy and commercialization training across their growing team.

We are so excited and grateful to receive MIX-KX funding. Tamvoes will be using this funding to complete knowledge exchange activities with industry experts so that we can be better prepared to be able to commercialize our product in the hospital sector. This is very exciting times for us as we are growing steadily and are seeing lots of traction, says Jessica Lunshof, Co-Founder of Tamvoes.

This important investment by the Province of Ontario helps to realize MIXs vision of establishing Ontario as a world class destination for MedTech talent, product development and economic development states Elliot Fung, MIX Executive Director. Talent development and retention continues to be a challenge across all industries, however MedTech companies face unique issues in being able to develop and keep world-class employees. With the first cohort of companies beginning their training and development programs, more MedTech companies across the ecosystem will be able to advance their talent and product growth as a result of the Skills Development Fund.

MIX continues to accept applications for the MIX-KX until December 31st, 2022. Applications, and more information about MIX can be found at www.medicalinnovationxchange.com.

About the Medical Innovation Xchange (MIX)

MIX is Canadas first industry-led hub dedicated to helping medical technology start-ups scale successfully in Canada. MIX was created to reduce the barriers and bridge the resource gap that medical technology start-ups face as they move from along the entrepreneurial journey from idea generation to commercialization. Our vision is a thriving ecosystem that develops, attracts and retains Canadian medical technology companies and establishes Waterloo Region as a leader in medical innovation. The mission behind MIX is to provide a collaborative environment for medical technology companies that supports their individual growth and adds to the overall success of the growing local ecosystem.

Elliot Fung, Executive Director, MIX Medical Innovation Xchange [email protected]

Source: Medical Innovation Xchange
SPRINGFIELD, Mo., Nov. 01, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Paul Mueller Company (OTC Pink: MUEL) (the Company) announced today that it has initiated a standard plan termination of the Paul Mueller Company Contract Employees Retirement Plan by sending out a Notice of Intent to Terminate (NOIT) to all affected plan participants and other affected parties. The standard termination requires a plan to have enough money to pay all benefits owed to participants and beneficiaries. The Paul Mueller Non-Contract Employees Retirement Plan is not part of this plan termination.

The Company will apply to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for its approval of the termination. The Company expects to file the application with the IRS in the next few months. This process takes approximately a year to complete, culminating in the affected participants receiving either a lump sum payment or a monthly annuity payment provided by an insurance company.

The Company estimates the Contract plan termination will require the Company to contribute $4-6 million and that the termination will result in a non-cash reduction to Net Income of $15-16 million. The Contract plan represents $23.5 million of the $99.9 million of benefit obligation disclosed on December 31, 2021.

Press Contact: Ken Jeffries | Paul Mueller Company | Springfield, MO 65802 | (417) 575-9346

[email protected] | https://paulmueller.com

Source: Paul Mueller Company
Sydney, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Proactive, provider of real-time news and video interviews on growth companies listed in Australia, has covered the following companies:

Latin Resources Ltd (ASX:LRS) is expected to see material value accretion as it moves from lithium prospector to announcing a MRE at Salinas and ultimately defining its path to development, according to Bell Potter Securities. Click here

Azure Minerals Ltd (ASX:AZS) has fielded broad, high-grade nickel hits thanks to resource definition drilling at the Ridgeline nickel-copper-cobalt deposit, part of its 60%-owned Andover Project in WA. Click here

Australian Strategic Materials Ltd (ASX:ASM) has fielded strong support from leading international and domestic institutions in a placement to raise $30 million and is seeking to raise a further $10 million in a non-underwritten share purchase plan (SPP). Click here

Kinetiko Energy Ltd (ASX:KKO) has closed the books on a gas and coal bed methane drilling campaign at core hole 271-23C in energy-hungry South Africa. Click here

Anson Resources Ltd (ASX:ASN) is trading higher after delivering another major upgrade to the mineral resource estimate (MRE) for its Paradox Lithium Project in Utah in the United States, less than three months after it announced a substantial upgrade to the projects resources. Click here

Stellar Resources Ltd (ASX:SRZ) has added a combined 97 square kilometres of ground prospective for lithium, tin and base metals in the Mt Paris and Scamander North areas of Northeast Tasmania through a newly-granted licence secured by wholly-owned subsidiary Tarcoola Iron Pty Ltd. Click here

Pantoro Ltd (ASX:PNR) has wrapped up its 2022 drilling program, ranging across 20,000 metres at the Lamboo platinum group element (PGE) deposit. Click here

Chimeric Therapeutics Ltd (ASX:CHM) has entered into a sponsored research agreement (SRA) with Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) to further advance its NK cell therapy portfolio. Click here

Lake Resources NL (ASX:LKE, OTCQB:LLKKF) welcomes positive results from its lithium processing demonstration plant at the Kachi Project in Catamarca Province in Argentina, where initial test-work on brine has delivered an at spec product. Click here

Theta Gold Mines Ltd (ASX:TGM) welcomes news that the South African Department of Water and Sanitation has awarded it the first of the two water use licences required for its TGME Underground Gold Mine. Click here

Prescient Therapeutics Ltd (ASX:PTX) has reported new data from a clincial trial into its PTX-100 anti-cancer drug candidate. Click here

AdAlta Ltd (ASX:1AD) has made substantial progress expanding the potential disease areas (indications) and routes of delivery for AD-214  its lead program and a first in class antifibrotic. Click here

Krakatoa Resources Ltd (ASX:KTA) has hit widespread rare earth elements (REEs) during infill and extensional drilling at its Mt Clere project in WAs Yilgarn Craton. Click here

archTIS Ltd has been subcontracted by KPMGs technology arm to provide key scaffolding for the first chapter of Australias OneDefence Data Program. Click here

Apollo Minerals Ltd (ASX:AON) has further enhanced the world-class potential of its Kroussou Project in Gabon with metallurgical tests returning zinc and lead recoveries and concentrate grades described as exceptional. Click here

Sovereign Metals Ltd (ASX:SVM, AIM:SVML) is poised to ship off natural rutile from the Kasiya Project in Malawi thanks to a pivotal offtake deal. Click here

About Proactive

Proactive is a unique tech-enabled platform providing companies globally with a comprehensive investor engagement solution across their business lifecycle.

With six offices on three continents, Proactive works with innovative growth companies quoted on the worlds major stock exchanges, helping executives to engage intelligently with investors.

In 2020, Proactive featured in 809 million search results, our content was viewed over 165 million times and our readers spent over 10 million hours on our websites. Proactive has produced over 300,000 articles and 20,000 executive interviews since it was established in 2006.

For more information on how Proactive can help you make a difference, email us at [email protected]

Source: Proactive
Toronto, ON, Canada, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SOPerior Fertilizer Corp. (the Company) (NEX:SOP.H). Further to its press release on August 31, 2022, the Company is announcing a change to the expected timing of payments from a counterparty related to a JV Agreement (JV) for the development of its Blawn Mountain alunite asset. The counterparty has proposed a revised funding schedule which provides for a USD$2,000,000 payment by November 18th, 2022 with the final payment and JV closing by December 16th, 2022. The terms and conditions of the JV Agreement are unchanged from those outlined in the August 24, 2020 press release.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

SOPERIOR FERTILIZER CORP. Andrew Squires

CEO and Director

Contact InformationE-mail inquiries: [email protected]www.SOPeriorfertilizer.com

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect managements current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Investors are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and by those made in our filings with SEDAR in Canada (available at www.sedar.com).

Source: SOPerior Fertilizer Corp
SEATTLE, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WatchGuard Technologies, a global leader in unified cybersecurity, today announced that it has been recognized as a leader by GigaOm in its latest Radar Report on the endpoint detection and response (EDR) market. GigaOm specifically classifies WatchGuard as an Outperformer that is rapidly innovating its EDR solution and bringing capabilities to the space that are valued by both large and small organizations.

The report evaluated WatchGuards advanced Endpoint Protection Detection and Response (EPDR) solution, which includes Endpoint Protection (EPP) and Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) for comprehensive protection against sophisticated cyber threats. With continuous monitoring, detection and classification of all activity, WatchGuard Advanced EPDR reveals and blocks anomalous behaviors on computers, servers and processes while proactively alerting security teams to new hacking and evasion techniques.

This is great validation of the capabilities and value we bring to the EDR market, said Andrew Young, chief product officer at WatchGuard Technologies. Advanced endpoint security capabilities are essential to protect the modern distributed enterprise and a core component of our Unified Security Platform architecture. Were constantly striving to deliver enterprise grade cybersecurity solutions easily accessible for MSPs to deploy and manage.

GigaOm noted that WatchGuard Advanced EPDR is a very well rounded and capable solution, calling out as a differentiator its ability to identify previously unknown applications through its Zero-Trust Application Service. WatchGuard Advanced EPDR combines the widest range of endpoint protection technologies (EPP) with automated detection and response (EDR) capabilities. It also has two services, managed by WatchGuard experts, that are delivered as a feature of the solution. The Zero-Trust Application Service classifies 100% of processes by default, denying any execution until it is certified as trusted, and the Threat Hunting Service automatically processes all data gathered from telemetry, identifying indicators of attack (IOAs).

Other key features called out by GigaOm include:- Osquery integration for rapid forensic evidence collection and interrogation- Jupyter Notebook integration for Runbook management- Ability to remotely isolate potentially infected endpoints for further evaluation

In addition, GigaOm pointed out that WatchGuard Advanced EPDR includes managed threat hunting, which often requires a separate license from other vendors. This is especially important for smaller organizations that may not have the resources or expertise to perform threat hunting on their own.

Get your complimentary copy of the report here.

For more information about the endpoint products and solutions, click here.

About WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.WatchGuard Technologies, Inc. is a global leader in unified cybersecurity. Our Unified Security Platform approach is uniquely designed for managed service providers to deliver world-class security that increases their business scale and velocity while also improving operational efficiency. Trusted by more than 17,000 security resellers and service providers to protect more than 250,000 customers, the companys award-winning products and services offer five critical elements of a security platform: comprehensive security, shared knowledge, clarity & control, operational alignment, and automation. The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, with offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. To learn more, visit WatchGuard.com.

For additional information, promotions and updates, follow WatchGuard on Twitter (@WatchGuard), on Facebook, or on the LinkedIn Company page. Also, visit our InfoSec blog, Secplicity, for real-time information about the latest threats and how to cope with them at www.secplicity.org. Subscribe to The 443  Security Simplified podcast at Secplicity.org, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

WatchGuard is a registered trademark of WatchGuard Technologies, Inc. All other marks are property of their respective owners. ###

Chris Warfield WatchGuard Technologies, Inc [email protected] Kevin Pedraja Voxus PR [email protected]

Source: WatchGuard Technologies, Inc
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - November 2, 2022) - Datametrex AI Limited(TSXV: DM) (FSE: D4G) (OTCQB: DTMXF)(the "Company" or "Datametrex'')is pleased to welcome Mr. Charles Park, CFA, as the President of Nexalogy.

Charles brings a breadth of knowledge cultivated from over a decade in the banking, technology, and online gaming industries. An engineer at heart, Mr. Park obtained his Bachelor of Science at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). He went on to attend the accelerated International Graduate Program at the Standard Chartered Bank where he began as an FX Trader and transitioned to Corporate Lending, where he led several substantial Commercial Real Estate (CRE) deals. It was during this time he became an accredited Charted Financial Analyst (CFA). In the last five (5) years, Charles has taken on significant operation roles at the upstart NSUS Group, helping it grow from a startup to a major player in the Online Gaming space.

"Datametrex is focused on expanding Nexalogy. With our most recent news of bringing in multiple AI contracts, our AI initiatives are growing at a rapid speed. The Company has big plans for Nexalogy. Bringing on Charles was a decision to help further grow our AI business into a new playing field. Charles brings an extensive background in the technology and online gaming world, and management looks forward to working closely with him to expand business," said Marshall Gunter, CEO of the Company.

About Nexalogy

Nexalogy's technology, NexaSMART, reduces the time needed to interpret and integrate large sets of data by offering powerful automated analyses. Rather than replacing the human analyst, he/she sets the parameters of the data collection via keywords and other social media information (e.g., usernames and links). This allows for the identification of data needing extraction and analysis. NexaSMART extracts the relevant data and produces automated reports, thus allowing clients to work with a more manageable information set. NexaSMART allows an analyst to deal with hundreds of thousands of social media documents in minutes rather than hours or days.

Analysts can specify filters on the data to get automatic reports on subsets of the data focusing on specific times, entities, social media users, or topics. The resulting reports are delivered either as PDFs, DOCs, or via API for further processing. The report generation can be scheduled to occur either at regular intervals or to be triggered by specific changes in the conversation (e.g., a sudden increase in volume or an increase in mentions of a particular named entity).

Lastly, NexaSMART analysis helps the user to easily access the required information and helps to detect patterns that currently go unrecognized. This is needed in both the context of the 'short game' of crisis reporting and the 'long game' of identifying narratives, as discussed within the BEND (Build Engage Neutralize Distract) framework.

For more information please visit, www.nexalogy.com.

About Datametrex

Datametrex AI Limited is a technology-focused company with exposure to artificial intelligence, machine learning, telehealth and has recently entered the electric vehicle (EV) market. Datametrex's mission is to provide tools and solutions that support companies in fulfilling their operational goals, including health and safety, with predictive and preventive technologies. By working with companies to set a new standard of protocols through artificial intelligence and health diagnostics, the Company provides progressive solutions to support the supply chain.

For additional information on Datametrex and other corporate information, please visit the Company's website at www.datametrex.com.

To learn more about how our AI is used in Cyber Security, Telehealth and EV, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApFk3sWAXtg.

For further information:

Investor Relations & Communications

Priya Monique Atwal, Director of Communications

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 416-901-5611 x 204

Marshall Gunter, CEO

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 514-295-2300

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

All statements included in this press release that address activities, events, or developments that the Company expects, believes, or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the Bid. These forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions made by the Company based on its experience, perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors it believes are appropriate in the circumstances. In addition, these statements involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties that contribute to the possibility that the predictions, forecasts, projections, and other forward-looking statements will prove inaccurate, certain of which are beyond the Company's control. Except as required by law, the Company does not undertake to revise or update these forward-looking statements after the date hereof or revise them to reflect the occurrence of future unanticipated events.

###

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/142677
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - November 2, 2022) - Delivra Health Brands Inc. (TSXV: DHB) (OTCQB: DHBUF) ("Delivra Health" or the "Company"), a consumer packaged goods ("CPG") leader uniquely positioned in the health and wellness sector, announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Dream Products USA Inc., has further expanded its distribution in the United States with the signing of a sales and distribution agreement (the "Agreement") dated November 1, 2022 with Casey's General Stores ("Casey's"), a leading North American convenience store chain with over 2,400 locations.

Gord Davey, President and CEO of Delivra Health said, "Further to our growth objectives, our team has focused on the development of new emerging channel partners, which we have achieved through the signing of the Agreement, extending distribution to over 2,400 new Casey's locations. These relationships, complemented by our existing partners and network in North America, will accelerate distribution, brand awareness and product trial. This expanded network is exciting news as it will foster additional growth of the Company's existing CPG brand, Dream WaterTM , and set the Company up for future success with our anticipated line extensions of both cannabis infused and non-infused products."

For more information about Casey's, please visit their website at: www.caseys.com.

In addition to the above, the Company announces it has granted certain directors, officers and employees of the Company an aggregate of 4,900,000 options to purchase common shares in the capital of the Company pursuant to its share option plan. The options are exercisable at a price of $0.05 per common share and will have a term of five years from the date of grant.

About Delivra Health Brands Inc.

Helping people take control of their health with alternative wellness solutions is what energizes the Delivra Health team! The Delivra Health portfolio features innovative brands like Dream Water" and LivRelief", which deliver relief from common everyday issues like chronic pain, anxiety, and sleeplessness. Delivra Health products have allowed millions of customers to reclaim their mobility, energy, and in turn, quality of life. The websites of the Company's two subsidiaries are /Dream Water" and /LivReliefTM. For more information, please visit /www.delivrahealthbrands.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates, and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. In this news release, forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements with respect to the Company's growth objectives, new channel and distribution partners, acceleration of distribution, brand awareness, and product trial and future line extensions of cannabis infused and non-infused products.

These forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management of the Company at the time such statements were made. Actual future results may differ materially as forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of the Company to materially differ from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors, among other things, include: implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company's operations; fluctuations in general macroeconomic conditions; fluctuations in securities markets; expectations regarding the size of the cannabis markets where the Company operates; changing consumer habits; the ability of the Company to successfully achieve its business objectives; plans for expansion; political and social uncertainties; inability to obtain adequate insurance to cover risks and hazards; employee relations and the presence of laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on cultivation, production, distribution, and sale of cannabis and cannabis-related products in the markets where the Company operates. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure shareholders that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking statements, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. The Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law.

Additional information regarding this and other risks and uncertainties relating to the Company's business are contained under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's annual information form dated March 2, 2021, and under the heading "Risks and Uncertainties" in the Company's management's discussion and analysis dated October 28, 2022, for the year ended June 30, 2022, filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Neither TSX-V nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX-V) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Investor Relations:

Jack Tasse

Chief Financial Officer

[email protected]

1-877-915-7934

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/142636
Brisbane, Australia--(Newsfile Corp. - November 2, 2022) - Graphene Manufacturing Group Ltd. (TSXV: GMG) ("GMG" or the "Company") is providing details of its upcoming Annual Meeting of shareholders ("AGM") to be held virtually on Friday, November 25, 2022, at 8:00 a.m. Brisbane Australian Eastern Standard Time (being Thursday, November 24, 2022 at 2:00 p.m. (Canadian Pacific Standard Time).

TO VOTE AHEAD OF THE VIRTUAL AGM

The AGM will be held in a virtual format, allowing shareholders to have an equal opportunity to participate at the AGM online regardless of their geographic location.

The meeting materials, consisting of the notice of meeting, management information circular and related materials (collectively the "Meeting Materials") were mailed on or about October 26, 2022. If you have not received your copy of the Meeting Materials by November 10, 2022, please contact your broker if you are a non-registered shareholder, or contact Computershare if you are a registered shareholder. The Meeting Materials outline in detail how to participate at the AGM.

Where a shareholder has previously consented to electronic delivery, the Meeting Materials will be sent to the shareholder electronically.

Non-registered shareholders are encouraged to contact their brokers to register for electronic delivery of GMG's Meeting Materials.

The Meeting Materials are available at GMG's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com as well as in the Investors Section of GMG's website at https://graphenemg.com/agm-materials/.

As in prior years, shareholders have multiple options to cast their vote ahead of the AGM, which include on-line, via telephone or via mail. Details on using each method are included in the Circular and the form of proxy. Shareholders who are planning to vote ahead of the AGM must submit their proxy voting instructions to Computershare (via online at www.investorvote.com, telephone (1-866-732-8683) or mail) no later than 8:00 a.m. Brisbane Australian Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday, November 23, 2022, being 2:00 pm (Canadian Pacific Standard Time) on Tuesday, November 22, 2022 (the "Cut-Off Time").

ATTENDING THE VIRTUAL AGM

All shareholders will be able to attend the AGM virtually. To do so, login online at http://web.lumiagm.com/445493549, Meeting ID: 445-493-549, Password: graphene2022 (case sensitive).

All securityholders MUST register any third party appointments at www.computershare.com/graphene in advance of the AGM. Failure to do so will result in the appointee not receiving login credentials.

Registered Holders will be asked to enter the 15 digit control number provided on your form of proxy provided by Computershare.

Appointed Proxyholders will be asked to enter the user name provided by Computershare via email, provided your appointment has been registered.

Attendees who do not enter the 15 digit control number or the user name provided by Computershare will only be allowed to register for the AGM as a "Guest".

It is recommended that attendees log in 15 minutes prior to the start time of the AGM.

The Lumi Virtual Meeting Guide, can be found at https://graphenemg.com/agm-materials/, the Meeting Guide provides details for attending and voting at the AGM.

TO VOTE OR ASK QUESTIONS AT THE VIRTUAL AGM

For registered shareholders and duly appointed proxyholders to vote their proxies and/or ask questions at the AGM, please follow the instructions set out in the Meeting Materials.

All shareholders wishing to have a question addressed at the virtual AGM can avoid the registration requirements set out in the Meeting Materials by submitting them in advance to [email protected]. Questions will be collected, organized by theme and posed to management at the AGM. It is asked that all written questions be submitted no later than the Cut-Off Time. GMG is committed to addressing all appropriate questions submitted by shareholders either live during the AGM or in advance, as timing and circumstances permit.

Shareholders who have questions on how to vote their proxy in advance of the AGM, or on how to register to vote at the AGM, can contact [email protected].

Attendees who have registered for the AGM as a "Guest" will not have the ability to vote at the AGM or ask questions.

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES

Technical difficulties may arise during the course of the AGM which may impact shareholders and proxyholders participating in the AGM through the Lumi AGM online platform. The Chair has discretion as to whether and how the AGM should proceed in the event that a technical difficulty arises. In exercising this discretion, the Chair will have regard to the number of shareholders impacted and the extent to which participation in the business of the AGM is affected. Where the Chair considers it appropriate, the Chair may continue to hold the AGM and transact business, including conducting a poll and voting in accordance with valid proxy instructions.

For this reason, shareholders are encouraged to submit their voting instructions prior to the Cut-Off Time via www.investorvote.com.

Please ensure that your browser for whichever device you are using is compatible. You will need the latest version of Chrome, Safari, Edge or Firefox. Internet Explorer is not supported.

NEED HELP

If you experience difficulty logging into the AGM using the Lumi AGM online platform, please contact Lumi at [email protected].

If you cannot locate your Control Number, please call Computershare at 1-800-564-6253. Please note for security reasons Computershare is not able to provide you with your Control Number over the telephone.

About GMG

GMG is a disruptive Australian-based clean-tech company listed on the TSXV (TSXV: GMG) that produces graphene and hydrogen by cracking methane (natural gas) instead of mining graphite. By using the company's proprietary process, GMG can produce high quality, low cost, scalable, 'tuneable' and no/low contaminant graphene enabling demonstrated cost and environmental improvements in a number of world-scale planet-friendly/clean-tech applications. Using this low input cost source of graphene, the Company is developing value-added products that target the massive energy efficiency and energy storage markets. The Company is pursuing additional opportunities for GMG Graphene, including developing next-generation batteries, collaborating with world-leading universities in Australia, and investigating the opportunity to enhance the performance of lubricant oil and performance enhanced HVAC-R coating system.

For further information, please contact:

- Craig Nicol, Chief Executive Officer, and Managing Director of GMG

[email protected]

+61 415 445 223

- Leo Karabelas at Focus Communications Investor Relations (FCIR)

[email protected]

+1 647 689 6041

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/142871
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - November 2, 2022) - Plurilock Security Inc. (TSXV: PLUR) (OTCQB: PLCKF) and related subsidiaries ("Plurilock" or the "Company"), an identity-centric cybersecurity solutions provider for workforces, is pleased to announce that the Company has signed contract renewals with more than 50 customers worldwide for Plurilock's recently acquired CloudCodes product in September and October 2022.

These customers are based in various regions around the world including South Asia, Asia Pacific, Latin America and North America. In addition, these customers consist of organizations from different key industry segments such as airlines, eCommerce logistics, online ticketing platforms, manufacturing, pharmaceutical and defence. According to the term of the contracts, each customer is offered the opportunity to upgrade their existing subscriptions to the enterprise plans for Plurilock's CloudCodes product and license other Plurilock proprietary software solutions, namely DEFEND.

Plurilock's CloudCodes offering provides one of the most comprehensive cloud security solutions that includes Single Sign On, Identity Access Management, Access Control and Cloud DLP. This enables customers to add a layer of important security controls on top of their enterprise SaaS applications such as Google Workspace, Office 365, Salesforce, Servicenow and more. As a result, this solution enables organizations to protect against unauthorized access to their enterprise data on the cloud and prevent data leakage from their messaging and collaboration platform.

"We are pleased to see multiple existing customers renewing their contracts for Plurilock's CloudCodes solution, which highlights the robustness of this cloud security product," said Ian L. Paterson, CEO of Plurilock. "These contract renewals represent a milestone for us following the acquisition of certain assets from CloudCodes that has enabled us to expand our distribution channels and develop new business relationships with customers worldwide. As we continue to build more customer traction for the CloudCodes offering, we intend to unlock new synergies and cross-sell other high-margin proprietary products such as DEFEND to existing customers."

About Plurilock

Plurilock provides identity-centric cybersecurity for today's workforces. The Plurilock family of companies enables organizations to operate safely and securely while reducing cybersecurity friction. Plurilock offers world-class IT and cybersecurity solutions through its Solutions Division, paired with proprietary, AI-driven and cloud-friendly security through its Technology Division. Together, the Plurilock family of companies delivers persistent identity assurance with unmatched ease of use.

For more information, visit https://www.plurilock.com or contact:

Ian L. Paterson

Chief Executive Officer

[email protected]

416.800.1566

Roland Sartorius

Chief Financial Officer

[email protected]

Prit Singh

Investor Relations

[email protected]

905.510.7636

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") related to future events or Plurilock's future business, operations, and financial performance and condition. Forward-looking statements normally contain words like "will", "intend", "anticipate", "could", "should", "may", "might", "expect", "estimate", "forecast", "plan", "potential", "project", "assume", "contemplate", "believe", "shall", "scheduled", and similar terms. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, actions, or developments and are based on expectations, assumptions, and other factors that management currently believes are relevant, reasonable, and appropriate in the circumstances. Although management believes that the forward-looking statements herein are reasonable, actual results could be substantially different due to the risks and uncertainties associated with and inherent to Plurilock's business. Additional material risks and uncertainties applicable to the forward-looking statements herein include, without limitation, the impact of general economic conditions, the success of the Company in obtaining new or extended contracts or orders; the Company's ability to maintain existing customers or develop new customers; the Company's ability to successfully integrate acquisitions of other businesses and/or companies or to realize on the anticipated benefits thereof; and unforeseen events, developments, or factors causing any of the aforesaid expectations, assumptions, and other factors ultimately being inaccurate or irrelevant. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect the Company's forward-looking statements. Many of these factors are beyond the control of Plurilock. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as at the date hereof, and Plurilock undertakes no obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the included forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable securities laws. Risks and uncertainties about the Company's business are more fully discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in its most recent Annual Information Form. They are otherwise disclosed in its filings with securities regulatory authorities available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/142685
LONDON , Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- eDreams ODIGEO, one of the world's largest online travel companies and one of the largest e-commerce businesses in Europe, launches its 'Year in Travel' report today, providing an overview of the past year, insight into the year ahead and predictions for 2023. In the USA, the group's brand is eDreams.

eDreams ODIGEO 2022 bookings & search data reveals:

TOP DESTINATIONS 2022:

American travelers' top destinations in 2022 were all domestic: Las Vegas, Orlando and Denver were the most popular destinations for Americans this year (as in 2021), followed by Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale, Miami & Los Angeles.

In 2022, 72% of eDreams ODIGEO's American customers travelled within the USA as opposed to 28% journeying to the rest of the world. Among the nationalities that visited the USA during this year, the French top the list, followed by Germans and Spanish visitors.

TOP SEARCHES 2022:

American travellers searched mainly for domestic travel destinations, with Las Vegas, New York and Orlando topping the list, followed by London, Los Angeles, Miami and Paris.

TOP GROWTH DESTINATIONS:

eDreams ODIGEO's data further reveals that the top 3 growth destinations for Americans in 2022 compared to the previous year were Canada, primarily Vancouver (+1092% bookings), Toronto (+574% bookings), and Montreal (+303% bookings). It is important to bear in mind that these growth figures are atypical in that they reflect a return to travel following the disruptions of previous years.

TRAVEL HABITS:

How long did Americans travel for in 2022?

In 2022, 48% of eDreams ODIGEO American customers chose to travel for short breaks of between 2-4 days.

Trip duration Percentage of American travelers 2 days 11 % 3 - 4 days 37 % 5 - 6 days 17 % 7 - 13 days 22 % 14 - 20 days 6 % +21 days 7 %

During the pandemic, travellers began to replace long-term planning with last-minute action and this habit has remained, with the majority of US travellers (47%) choosing to book within a two week window of departure - followed by 19% booking 16 - 30 days and 31  60 days before departure and 15% booking more than 60 days before departure.

2023 PREDICTIONS:

European countries are popular for travel next year, with three European countries in the top 2023 booked destinations (Paris, Barcelona & Madrid) and six in the top searched destinations for 2023 (London, Paris, Rome, Frankfurt, Barcelona & Lisbon).

Top booked destinations for 2023 (American travelers) Top searched destinations for 2023 (American travelers) Las Vegas London Orlando Paris Paris Cancun Cancun Tokyo Los Angeles Rome San Francisco Orlando Barcelona Honolulu Madrid Frankfurt New York City Barcelona Fort Lauderdale Lisbon

Dana Dunne, CEO of eDreams ODIGEO, comments: "The data speaks for itself, consumers are embracing the opportunity to travel whenever they can. Our bookings data shows short breaks are currently the most prominent, revealing that consumers are looking to squeeze in holidays wherever possible, with almost a third of trips lasting for just three-four days. This trend could also be representative of more flexible work patterns, enabling travellers to bring their laptops with them and work abroad whilst enjoying a long weekend in a new, exciting environment.

"This is reflected in the most booked destinations, with a range of European destinations such as Budapest, Copenhagen and Malta pushing some of the more traditional European holiday destinations out of the top ten.

"Our findings also reveal that travellers have been spontaneous with their bookings, with nearly half (45%) taking place just 15 days before departure, or less. This underpins consumers' desire to seize the day after being restricted on their travel plans for so long.

"The jam-packed sporting calendar coupled with the coronation next year is the perfect recipe for further growth to key European destinations in 2023, such as London and Paris. As people look to put the pandemic in their rear-view mirror, we expect the travel resurgence to continue in 2023."

Website showing full report data here.

Methodology

*Global and market specific eDreams ODIGEO booking and search statistics from the report "A Year in Travel", containing statistics from over 690 airlines worldwide, for trips booked 1 January - 31st October and which refer to trips from 1 January to 31 December 2022, as well as bookings made for 2023. Comparisons have been made with the same dates in 2021.

About eDreams ODIGEO

eDreams ODIGEO is one of the world's largest online travel companies and one of the largest e- commerce businesses in Europe. The business is the largest player worldwide in flight revenues, excluding China, and the largest in Europe. Under its four leading online travel agency brands  eDreams, GO Voyages, Opodo, Travellink, and the metasearch engine Liligo  it serves more than 17 million customers per year across 44 markets. Listed on the Spanish Stock Market, eDreams ODIGEO works with over 690 airlines and +2.1 million hotels. The business conceptualised Prime, the first subscription product in the travel sector which has attracted 3.5 million members since launching in 2017.

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SOURCE eDreams ODIGEO
'Silicon Valley's Favorite Artist' Exhibits Paintings Created by Ensemble Cast of Robots, including Boston Dynamics' SPOT and Agility Robotics' DIGIT

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Agnieszka Pilat, dubbed "Silicon Valley's favorite artist" this year by New York Magazine, returns to her Bay Area roots with a new collection of works exhibited at the San Francisco gallery, Modernism. ROBOTa opens November 3rd and features paintings completed by the acclaimed artist and an ensemble cast of her robot co-creators, including Boston Dynamics' SPOT and Agility Robotics' DIGIT.

"Like the craftsmen in the great art guilds of the Renaissance, my robot apprentices work directly under my control," says Agnieszka. "Meet SPOT: the famous, Boston Dynamics quadruple canine robot. And DIGIT: Agility Robotics' bi-pedal robot gracefully designed to work side-by-side with the human workforce."

ROBOTa takes visitors to the final frontier of man and machine, wherein human beings impart their creations with one last gift: Creativity. This stunning show features paintings completed by Agnieszka, DIGIT, and SPOT, raising questions about history, consciousness, and the growing power of artificial intelligence.

"Agnieszka's newest artworks transcend successfully the extreme edges of contemporary painting," says Modernism's Founder and Owner, Martin Muller. "An artistic glimpse into the future."

"I work for the machine," echoes Agnieszka.

ROBOTa will be on display from November 3rd  December 21st at Modernism Inc., 724 Ellis Street, San Francisco, CA 94109

For all media inquiries, contact [email protected]

About Agnieszka Pilat

Born in Poland, Agnieszka Pilat studied painting and illustration at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, CA. She is an award-winning artist, and her works can be found in public and private collections in the United States, Poland, and Canada. Currently residing and maintaining full-time studios in New York and San Francisco, Pilat is represented by numerous galleries throughout the United States and has exhibited at the Carnegie Museum of Art. She has written about art history for Artnet and spoken about the intersection of art and technology at the annual Founders Forum in London. Her work has been covered by New York Magazine, Hyperallergic, Forbes, Boston Globe, WIRED, and CNN.

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SOURCE Pilat Art
AMATITAN, Mexico, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Award winning Codigo 1530 tequila is releasing an exclusive 14-year-aged extra anejo tequila. This release is an extremely limited edition as only 400 bottles are being produced globally.

Each bottle is individually numbered from 1 - 400, creating an extremely limited and valued special edition.

As always, this extra anejo tequila was created with only the finest local inputs of fully ripe agave, rock-filtered water and no other sugars, colors, flavorings or additives, which Codigo 1530 maintains as a standard for all their premium tequilas. What makes this 14-Year extra anejo tequila notable is that it is a double-barrel extra anejo - first aged in a French White Oak, Cabernet wine barrel, then finished in a French Cognac cask. It is bottled at 80 proof and 40% Alc./Vol.

This unique 14-year-aged extra anejo tequila is one of the oldest tequilas available. Each bottle is individually numbered from 1 - 400, creating an extremely limited and valued special edition. The packaging includes a stunning crystal bottle topped with the brand's timeless Jerusalem cross metal stopper. To make the perfect sipping experience even more luxurious, each handmade antiqued wooden box includes two stemmed Riedel tequila tasting glasses.

Co-Founder/co-CEO Federico "Fede" Vaughan explains, "Our 14-Year Anejo tastes decadent. We decided to experiment with more of our cellared barrels of extra anejo tequila, with additional aging in toasted French Cognac casks for another 6 months beyond the 14 years. The taste is beyond compare, for any aficionado." Co-Founder/co-CEO Ron Snyder adds, "We are proud of this 14-Year, as our aging experiments with our extra anejos continue to only improve over time. Our practiced use of the ripest agaves, freshest local water, and the finest oak wine barrels clearly helps to preserve the high quality of our tequila consistently for collectors."

This 14-Year extra anejo tequila is a deep red amber color with a delicious nose and palate. There is a highly complex balance of sweet maple, dark chocolate, toasted oak, exotic spice and peaty minerality. This limited edition endures a smooth and rich flavor profile to savor beyond compare.

With such a limited number of bottles being produced, tequila lovers and collectors of all things rare and opulent will enjoy this spirit. The pricing is reflective of that rarity, at approximately $3,900 per bottle and only available at the finest retail outlets.

This 14-Year extra anejo tequila from Codigo 1530 is best enjoyed neat or on a large ice rock for special occasions or during celebrations with those deemed worthy of sharing. It will be available starting this holiday season, November 2nd through the Codigo 1530 website www.codigo1530.com or from licensed fine retail shops, for a limited time only.

About Codigo 1530

Codigo 1530 is a premium spirits brand born from a private recipe known for generations by only a select group of Mexico's most respected families and finest jimadors. Now available to the world, Codigo 1530's tequila and mezcal offerings have been perfected using time-honored customs without ever veering from the historic traditions of including no added chemicals, flavorings, or sweeteners. Passionately produced in Amatitan, Jalisco, MX the rested tequilas are meticulously aged to taste in the world's finest French Oak Cabernet wine barrels procured from the Napa Valley region. Codigo 1530 is available in all 50 states, and in over 30 countries world-wide. Learn more at www.codigo1530.com

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SOURCE Codigo 1530
"There is a series of attribution of acts, which of course we are going to explain in due course rejecting them, because we are certain that we had not failed in any case to respect the terms of the effective collaboration agreement, the terms of Peruvian law and the foreign one," he said in remarks to RPP Noticias.





Vela recalled that last week Prosecutor Jose Domingo Perez a member of the special team carried out proceedings normally and had not noticed any type of controversy or dissatisfaction on the part of Odebrecht.





As he mentioned, the company (now called Novonor) alleges "apparent dissatisfactions and past reasons" and does not accept its presence as a witness at international arbitrations related to projects: Rutas de Lima and Gasoducto del Sur (Southern Gas Pipeline).





After explaining that to date they have not been notified of the decision by the Brazilian Prosecutor's Office, Vela indicated that the suspension of the agreement would be temporary, and he could not affirm that trials are harmed.





Later, on radio Exitosa, Vela dismissed that what was advanced in the Odebrecht case, as well as the statements made by its executives, had been invalidated with the suspension of cooperation.





He also announced that the team will prepare a report with the position of the Peruvian Prosecutor's Office.





The Federal Public Ministry of Brazil determined the suspension of the legal cooperation agreement with Peru, linked to the Odebrecht case, following a request from the company, according to EFE.





The decision was made in response to a lawsuit by Novonor (formerly Odebrecht), which denounced the alleged violation by Peruvian authorities of the agreement signed by both parties, which includes the "non-use of evidence produced in Brazil" against the company in the jurisdiction.





The Brazilian body determined the "suspension, for now, of legal cooperation" with Peru until new clarifications are presented by Peruvian authorities regarding the "seriousness and credibility of the information" claimed by the company according to a document dated October 31.
HOUSTON, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Coterra Energy Inc. (the "Company" or "Coterra") (NYSE: CTRA) announced today that the Company's Board of Directors appointed Thomas E. Jorden, its President and Chief Executive Officer, as Chairman of the Board effective January 1, 2023, succeeding Dan O. Dinges, as Executive Chairman upon the expiration of his term on December 31, 2022 in accordance with the merger agreement between the Company and Cimarex Energy Co. ("Cimarex"). Mr. Dinges will remain as Chair of the Executive Committee. The Board also appointed Robert Boswell to succeed Lisa Stewart as Lead Independent Director effective January 1, 2023.

"I want to express my appreciation to the Board, to the management team and to all of our employees for their collective efforts this past year in setting Coterra on the path to success," said Dan Dinges, Executive Chairman. "I am grateful for the experience. I know under Tom's leadership the Company will continue to be an industry leader."

"I want to thank Dan for his leadership and compliment him on building a great organization with premier assets over the last two decades," said Thomas Jorden, President and CEO. "I am also looking forward to working closely with Bob as Lead Independent Director, drawing on his boardroom and upstream oil and gas experience to move Coterra forward."

Mr. Dinges served as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President from May 2002 until the completion of the merger with Cimarex on October 1, 2021, bringing decades of executive management experience in the oil and gas exploration and production business and a deep knowledge of operations. He also oversaw an era of tremendous growth for the Company. Mr. Dinges joined the Company in September 2001 as Chief Operating Officer and President after a successful 20-year career in various management positions with the predecessor to Noble Energy, Inc.

Mr. Jorden was appointed as Chief Executive Officer in October 2021 in connection with the consummation of the merger with Cimarex. At Cimarex, he began serving as Executive Vice President of Exploration when the company was formed in 2002. In 2011, he became Chief Executive Officer and President of Cimarex and then Chairman of the Board in 2012. Prior to the formation of Cimarex, Mr. Jorden held multiple leadership roles at Key Production Company, Inc., Cimarex's predecessor. He joined Key in 1993 as Chief Geophysicist and went on to become Executive Vice President of Exploration.

Mr. Boswell has served as a director of Coterra since 2015 and currently serves on the Executive, Audit, and Environment, Health & Safety Committees of the Board. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Laramie Energy LLC, an exploration and production company operating in the Piceance Basin of Colorado.

About Coterra Energy

Coterra is a premier exploration and production company based in Houston, Texas with focused operations in the Permian Basin, Marcellus Shale and Anadarko Basin. We strive to be a leading producer, delivering returns with a commitment to sustainability leadership. Learn more about us at www.coterra.com.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/coterra-energy-announces-election-of-chairman-and-lead-independent-director-301666896.html

SOURCE Coterra Energy Inc.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Modernizing Medicine (ModMed), a provider of cloud-based electronic health records (EHR) systems, has agreed to pay $45 million to the federal government to settle a whistleblower lawsuit filed in 2017 by Phillips and Cohen LLP of Washington, DC and Downs Rachlin Martin of Burlington, Vermont.

ModMed, based in Boca Raton, Florida, sells cloud-based electronic health records systems through subscription services, to specialty medical practices including dermatology and orthopedics. Medical providers use the software for clinical documentation, prescribing medications, telemedicine, billing, and more.

In March 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice joined the case against ModMed and its two founders and executives, Dan Cane and Dr. Michael Sherling, after an investigation. Today the United States filed its complaint in intervention alleging, among other things, that, from January 2010 through July 2017, ModMed engaged in multiple kickback schemes, including creating a "strategic partnership" with a clinical laboratory, Miraca Life Science, where Miraca would directly compensate ModMed when its users sent laboratory orders to Miraca. The alleged illegal conduct included providing Miraca with exclusive "enhanced" laboratory interfaces within ModMed's EHR that would drive diagnostic testing business to Miraca. The settlement resolves the allegations against ModMed. Allegations against Mr. Cane and Dr. Sherling also are dismissed with resolution of this lawsuit.

As part of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act), the federal government has paid billions of dollars as incentives to healthcare providers to buy and implement certified electronic health record systems. In 2017, the United States settled the first groundbreaking qui tam suit against an electronic health record vendor, eClinicalWorks, and certain top executives, for $155 million and established a first-of-its-kind corporate integrity agreement tailored to health IT vendors.

Resolution of the lawsuit with ModMed demonstrates the continued commitment of the United States to enforcing compliance with federal requirements for certification of health information technology. It is also significant because it resolves allegations concerning illegal referral arrangements between the EHR vendor and a clinical laboratory, Miraca. The United States alleges that these financial arrangements improperly generated sales for ModMed and Miraca, while causing healthcare providers to submit false claims for reimbursement to the federal government for pathology services, and false claims for incentive payments for the adoption and "meaningful use" of ModMed's EHR technology. This is believed to be the first time the United States has taken enforcement action under the False Claims Act against an EHR vendor for providing preferential treatment for a clinical laboratory.

"Resolution of this lawsuit is significant for a number of reasons, including that it reminds EHR vendors of the need to comply with the federal laws prohibiting kickbacks when entering into arrangements with third party providers including laboratory and other diagnostic services providers within the EHR ecosystem," said Colette Matzzie, a whistleblower attorney and partner with Phillips & Cohen LLP. "Steering clinicians to send orders to a preferred laboratory has the potential to inappropriately influence clinical decisions. Transparency of these financial relationships is essential for quality of care and beneficiary choice."

The "relator," or whistleblower, in the False Claims Act case is Amanda (Mandy) Long. Ms. Long was Vice President of Product Management at ModMed. She resigned from ModMed in 2017. Ms. Long is currently CEO and member of the Board of Directors of BigBear.ai. Ms. Long was previously Vice President of IT Automation at IBM. Ms. Long has over 15 years of experience in software and hardware portfolios across multiple industries and is a subject matter expert in product management processes and artificial intelligence/machine learning.

"I felt compelled to come forward to report my concerns about decisions made by ModMed that appeared to place corporate profits over compliance with federal healthcare laws including those intended to protect patient safety and quality clinical care. I am grateful that the Department of Justice investigated the matter diligently and recovered these funds for taxpayers," said Ms. Long.

Phillips and Cohen has been a leader representing whistleblowers exposing fraud in the electronic medical records industry, with successful settlements in the eClinicalWorks litigation ($155 million), Konica Minolta ($500,000), CareCloud ($3.8 million), and, now, Modernizing Medicine ($45 million) litigation. These settlements, and three other matters settled by the government, represent a growing trend of DOJ and HHSOffice of Inspector General investigating allegations of fraud in the development and implementation of electronic health records. Read more about the lessons learned since the eClinicalWorks settlement here.

Lead counsel for Relator were Colette Matzzie of Phillips & Cohen and Tristram Coffin of Downs Rachlin Martin in Burlington, Vermont. Ms. Matzzie and Mr. Coffin also represented Relator Brendan Delaney in the eClinicalWorks case. Tristram J. Coffin was previously the US Attorney for the District of Vermont under President Obama.

The whistleblower complaint is posted here.

The United States' Complaint in Intervention is posted here.

The Settlement Agreement is posted here.

DOJ's press release is here.

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SOURCE Phillips & Cohen LLP
Total compensation for upstream property owners may reach, exceed $1.67 billion

HOUSTON, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Court of Federal Claims has issued a long-awaited ruling providing guidance on the amount of compensation for property owners upstream of the Addicks and Barker reservoirs who suffered flood damage in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in 2017. The ruling by Senior Judge Charles F. Lettow, including interest, resulted in an award of almost $550,000 for the six test cases.

The compensation ruling factored in amounts for the decrease in real property value, the "damage or destruction" of personal property, and the costs being displaced. The biggest awards went to flood victims who suffered structural flooding and damage during Harvey, with the largest award of just over $195,000 before interest. After interest, the average award for flooded homes calculates at roughly $130 per square foot of flooded interior. The ruling and the judgment are available here and here.

"I am grateful that we have achieved this result after so much effort. These awards will be a huge help for our clients," says lead counsel Daniel Charest of Burns Charest LLP. "I hope this result can help achieve as good or better results for the other upstream flood victims going forward."

Mr. Charest notes that applying the average per-flooded-house award across an estimated 10,000 homes could result in total compensation of roughly $1.67 billion before interest. He says that because of the nature of the calculation it may not be appropriate to apply average numbers directly to a home's pre-flood value. And he points out that interest on the amount due runs from the date of the flood until the government pays.

Mr. Charest reminds upstream property owners to file a claim before the statute of limitations passes. "The six-year anniversary of Harvey is August 2023," said Mr. Charest. "And we are encouraging all upstream flood victims to preserve their claims by filing a lawsuit before that anniversary."

Other documents and information about the litigation can be found at www.insideaddicksbarker.com.

Media Contact:Barry Pound 800-559-4534[email protected]

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/federal-court-issues-significant-monetary-awards-for-harvey-upstream-flooding-test-cases-301666681.html

SOURCE Burns Charest LLP
DENVER, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Gates Industrial Corporation plc (NYSE: GTES), a global manufacturer of innovative, highly engineered power transmission and fluid power solutions, today announced that the Company will participate in the Baird 2022 Global Industrial Conference in Chicago, Illinois, on Wednesday, November 9, 2022. Ivo Jurek, Chief Executive Officer, will present at 4:40 p.m. Central Time.

To access the webcast and presentation materials, please visit the Events & Presentations section of the Gates Investor Relations website at investors.gates.com, and click on the event webcast link.

About Gates Industrial Corporation plc

Gates is a global manufacturer of innovative, highly engineered power transmission and fluid power solutions. Gates offers a broad portfolio of products to diverse replacement channel customers, and to original equipment ("first-fit") manufacturers as specified components. Gates participates in many sectors of the industrial and consumer markets. Our products play essential roles in a diverse range of applications across a wide variety of end markets ranging from harsh and hazardous industries such as agriculture, construction, manufacturing and energy, to everyday consumer applications such as printers, power washers, automatic doors and vacuum cleaners and virtually every form of transportation. Our products are sold in 128 countries across our four commercial regions: the Americas; Europe, Middle East & Africa; Greater China; and East Asia & India.

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SOURCE Gates Industrial Corporation plc
EMERYVILLE, Calif., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- After much consideration, the Red Herring judging panel has announced its Top 100 Global Winners today, recognizing the leading private companies from North America, Europe, and Asia, celebrating these startups' innovations and technologies across their respective industries.

With 80% of IoT devices wireless, wireless is the new network and attack surface - the invisible threat.

Red Herring's Top 100 Global list has become a mark of distinction for identifying promising companies and outstanding entrepreneurs. Red Herring editors were among the first to recognize that companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, Skype, Salesforce.com, YouTube, and eBay would change the way we live and work. Thousands of the most interesting and innovative companies have graced the Top 100 list over the years.

"Choosing the companies with the strongest potential was by no means a small feat this year" said Alex Vieux, publisher and CEO of Red Herring. "After rigorous contemplation and discussion, we narrowed our list down from hundreds of candidates from across the globe to the Top 100 Winners. We believe LOCH Technologies embodies the vision, drive and innovation that define a successful entrepreneurial venture. LOCH Technologies should be proud of its accomplishment as the competition was very strong."

Red Herring's editorial staff evaluated the companies on both quantitative and qualitative criteria, such as financial performance, technology innovation, management quality, strategy, and market penetration. This assessment of potential is complemented by a review of the track records and standing of startups relative to their peers, allowing Red Herring to see past the "hype" and make the list a valuable instrument of discovery and advocacy for the most promising new business models from around the world. Red Herring is dedicated to following LOCH's path to further success and innovation.

"In the exponentially growing world of Wireless/RF & Cellular communications, Zero Trust Security requires a different set of tools as traditional wired/network side security solutions fall short," said Garry Drummond, CEO at LOCH Technologies. "Our software defined radio based AirShield is able to sense a wide range of RF (100MHz to 6GHz) bringing high fidelity IoT and other asset discovery to enterprises of all sizes and lines of business. The ability to continuously track such devices and API-driven integrations for remediations enables our customers to comprehensively execute on their External Attack Surface Management policies."

About LOCH

LOCH is a global leader of next-generation wireless threat monitoring and observability. The company provides actionable signal intelligence across 5G cellular and broad spectrum wireless IoT devices to help organizations improve their security posture and reduce risk across the enterprise. Every wireless device needs to be visible and secure, regardless of what type of device it is, what protocol it uses, and who owns it. This guides everything we do and why LOCH aims to secure and enable the new world of wireless innovation that will drive the next generation of digital transformation. Find out more at www.LOCH.io.

Media Contact: Media relations & Legal: Rhett Currier [email protected]

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SOURCE LOCH Technologies
VANCOUVER, BC, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - LUXXFOLIO Holdings Inc. (the "Company" or "LUXXFOLIO", which includes references to its subsidiaries) (CSE: LUXX) (OTCQB: LUXFF) (Frankfurt/Berlin: LUH), provides the following update regarding its business environment and operations.

The Bitcoin mining industry faces intense pressure. The market price for bitcoin has plummeted while hash rate reached new highs. The result is lower revenues for each coin mined. At the same time, electricity prices are increasing, further eroding profitability. To date, LUXXFOLIO has reduced its debt and moved to lower-cost immersive mining, but remains unprofitable.

Following a detailed review of the current operations and market conditions, the Company has decided to seek strategic alternatives for its 15MW Bitcoin mining facility in New Mexico. In the absence of finding a partner or purchaser for the mining operation, the Company will consider all options including idling or a permanent shutdown of operations.

Kelly Klatik and David Gens resigned from LUXXFOLIO's Board effective November 1, 2022. The Company thanks each of them for their service. As a result, LUXXFOLIO's Board presently consists of two directors. While reviewing strategic alternatives, the Company intends to seek qualified candidates to appoint as additional Board members.

www.luxxfolio.com

The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Certain information contained herein may constitute "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "anticipated", "will be", "intend" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events, or results "will" occur. Forward-looking statements regarding the Company, its hosting operations, miners, and the Company's development of its strategy are based on the Company's estimates and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company and its subsidiaries to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, including capital expenditures and other costs. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. The Company will not update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/luxxfolio-operations-update-301666515.html

SOURCE Luxxfolio Holdings Inc.
The 2022 Drowsy Driving Prevention Week campaign urges Americans to Sleep First. Drive Alert.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) released results of a new survey highlighting individual attitudes and behaviors towards drowsy driving. The survey showed that while 95% of Americans believe drowsy driving is risky, more than 37 million motorists are estimated to drive drowsy once a year or more.

95% of Americans believe drowsy driving is risky, but more than 37 million motorists drive drowsy once a year or more.

The survey, fielded earlier this fall, is part of the 15th anniversary of Drowsy Driving Prevention Week, NSF's annual campaign that seeks to help Americans get the sleep they need and reduce the numbers of drivers who get behind the wheel while sleep deprived.

Drowsy driving is a public health issue and linked to thousands of car crashes each year, killing an estimated 6,400 people annually in the U.S. alone. However, the recent data from NSF show drowsy driving is common among American adults, indicating these numbers may be underestimated. Today, more than 6 in 10 drivers admit to having driven a car when they were so tired they had a hard time keeping their eyes open, a projected 150+ million US motorists.

In addition, the survey found:

Nearly 20% of drivers are overly confident in their ability to drive after sleeping only 2 hours or less the previous night.

Drivers who get NSF's recommended amount of sleep per night (7-9 hours for most adults) are less likely to drive drowsy.

Drowsy driving also may be an issue of sleep health equity, with members of historically excluded groups being at higher risk for experiencing drowsy driving. Understanding the social determinants of drowsy driving is an ongoing effort at NSF.

"Drowsy driving is impaired driving," said Joseph Dzierzewski, PhD, Vice President, Research and Scientific Affairs, National Sleep Foundation. "We see that while most Americans believe drowsy driving is risky, they still drive when not fully alert. The good news is  drowsy driving is preventable."

There are steps people can take to help lessen the risk:

Get the recommended amount of sleep before you drive.

While the feeling of a good night's sleep varies from individual to individual, NSF recommends 7-9 hours of sleep per night for adults and 8-10 hours for teens.

Plan your long trips with a companion.

A companion passenger can not only help look for early warning signs of drowsiness, but also help with the driving when needed. A good driving companion is someone who stays awake to talk to you and will be aware of your alertness.

Schedule regular stops for your trip, every 100 miles or two hours.

Be mindful of warning signs of drowsy driving.

Frequent blinking and yawning or having difficulty with lane and speed control are common signs that you may be driving while drowsy.

"At NSF, we are dedicated to helping everyone prioritize their sleep," said John Lopos, CEO, National Sleep Foundation. "As we mark the 15th anniversary of Drowsy Driving Prevention Week, we hope to educate the public on the importance of getting the sleep they need and reduce the number of drivers who choose to get behind the wheel while sleep deprived. If you are not getting enough of the quality sleep you need to be your Best Slept Self, you may not be fit to operate a motor vehicle."

NSF's drowsy driving prevention resources are available on www.theNSF.org. Drowsy Driving Prevention Week 2022 sponsors include Schneider National and Waymo. The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, Drowsy Driving Prevention Project, Higi, and the Maryland Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Administration's Highway Safety Office are collaborators of the campaign. NSF independently produces Drowsy Driving Prevention Week and all related official educational content.

Join NSF to help prevent drowsy driving by sharing the campaign's message on social media using the hashtag #SleepFirst. For science-based general sleep health resources and easy-to-use tips and tools, visit www.theNSF.org.

About the National Sleep Foundation

The National Sleep Foundation (NSF) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation dedicated to improving health and well-being through sleep education and advocacy. Founded in 1990, the NSF is committed to advancing excellence in sleep health theory, research and practice. theNSF.org SleepHealthJournal.org

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SOURCE National Sleep Foundation
New lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility in De Soto, Kansas to add critical capacity to the domestic EV battery supply chain

DE SOTO, Kan., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Panasonic Energy Co., Ltd., a Panasonic Group company, began construction on a new lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility in De Soto, KS, following the approval by Panasonic Holdings Corporation Board of Directors. The project will drive significant economic activity and opportunities for the local Kansas economy making the state a key player in the domestic electric vehicle (EV) industry.

Facility construction is focused on rapidly ramping up manufacture of "2170" cylindrical Li-ion batteries to meet surging domestic EV battery demand. Panasonic Energy plans to begin mass production in Kansas by March 2025. Upon completion of the facility, it will maintain annual total production capacity of approximately 30 GWh to supply EV manufacturers across the United States.

"This groundbreaking in Kansas is an important step towards expanding our production capacity in North America to meet the rapidly growing demand for lithium-ion batteries," said Kazuo Tadanobu, President, CEO of Panasonic Energy Co., Ltd. "With our leading technology, proven expertise, and the state of Kansas as a critical partner, we will continue driving the industry forward while pursuing a more prosperous and sustainable future for our society."

The facility will be located at the Astra Enterprise Park site and will once again make the location a key economic driver for the region. Two contractors from the local Kansas City area, Emery Sapp & Sons Inc., and Kissick Construction Co. Inc., have been awarded contracts for site preparation, with Panasonic Energy expecting to onboard additional firms in the coming months.

"The Kansas City region, just as it has over the past century, is cementing its rightful place as a leader where transit innovation is occurring," said Tim Cowden, president and CEO, Kansas City Area Development Council. "We are incredibly proud to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Panasonic as they revolutionize the global transportation industry from the center of the most dynamic economy in the world."

Kansas's skilled manufacturing workforce, reliable infrastructure, and central location in North America makes it an ideal location for this facility. The facility is expected to create up to 4,000 jobs. Recruitment for the first positions is expected to begin mid-2023 and individuals interested in applying can visit https://na.panasonic.com/us/panasonic-energy.

"Panasonic deeply values the strong relationships we build with the local communities where we live and work," said Megan Myungwon Lee, Chairwoman and CEO, Panasonic Corporation of North America. "This factory will open new career opportunities for De Soto residents in one of the most exciting industries in our modern economy. We hope it will also serve as a source of inspiration for the community's young people, who will become the innovators creating a more vibrant and sustainable future, and we are committed to helping them achieve their goals."

Panasonic has a long track record of supporting the communities where it operates, including investing in local education, talent development, mentorship, volunteerism and environmental initiatives. As a first step in the company's new commitment to Kansas and the De Soto community, Panasonic is making a $25,000 donation to Unified School District No. 232 to support educational opportunities for students.

"The City of De Soto is thrilled to work with Panasonic and welcome them to our amazing community," said Mayor Rick Walker. "De Soto has a rich history of supporting critical manufacturing facilities and we have been planning for this growth and the return of advanced manufacturing jobs to this area for years. We're especially excited for the opportunity to invest in the renewable energy industry and provide strong jobs for generations to come."

Panasonic Energy is a global leader in lithium-ion batteries, with a nearly 100-year history of innovation in batteries spanning both battery cell technology and battery business operations. The company continues to strengthen its lineup of automotive lithium-ion batteries and expand its production capacity, currently developing the new "4680" high-capacity lithium-ion battery in Japan. Panasonic Energy's facility in Sparks, Nevada, is now one of the world's largest lithium-ion battery factories, surpassing six billion EV battery cells shipped. The expansion in Kansas builds on its proven success as the North American market leader in EV lithium-ion batteries and long-term commitment to advancing the EV industry in the United States.

"Expanding production capacity in Kansas will enable us to continue delivering the highest quality batteries for our automotive partners as demand grows," said Kris Takamoto, Executive Vice President of Panasonic Energy Co., Ltd., Head of EV Battery Business. "We are already producing more than five million battery cells a day in North America, and the new facility in Kansas will further grow our capacity, efficiency and economies of scale which are critical to a net-zero emissions future."

The new battery manufacturing facility will also support the company's commitment to contribute to society by reducing global carbon emissions. The factory is a demonstration of Panasonic's Green IMPACT initiative, which is aimed at reducing the company's own CO2 emission to virtually net-zero by 2030 and contributing to 300 million tons in avoided emissions by 2050.

About Panasonic Energy Co., Ltd.

Panasonic Energy Co., Ltd., established in April 2022 as part of the Panasonic Group's switch to an operating company system, provides innovative battery technology-based products and solutions globally. Through its automotive lithium-ion batteries, storage battery systems and dry batteries, the company brings safe, reliable, and convenient power to a broad range of business areas, from mobility and social infrastructure to medical and consumer products. Panasonic Energy is committed to contributing to a society that realizes happiness and environmental sustainability, and through its business activities the Company aims to address societal issues while taking the lead on environmental initiatives. For more details, please visit https://www.panasonic.com/global/energy/

About the Panasonic Group

A global leader in developing innovative technologies and solutions for wide-ranging applications in the consumer electronics, housing, automotive, industry, communications, and energy sectors worldwide, the Panasonic Group switched to an operating company system on April 1, 2022 with Panasonic Holdings Corporation serving as a holding company and eight companies positioned under its umbrella. Founded in 1918, the Group is committed to enhancing the well-being of people and society and conducts its businesses based on founding principles applied to generate new value and offer sustainable solutions for today's world. The Group reported consolidated net sales of 7,388.8 billion yen for the year ended March 31, 2022. Devoted to improving the well-being of people, the Panasonic Group is united in providing superior products and services to help you Live Your Best. To learn more about the Panasonic Group, please visit: https://holdings.panasonic/global/

Connect with Panasonic Corporation of North America:Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube

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SOURCE Panasonic Corporation of North America
Paxos is the first US-Based Blockchain Infrastructure Platform to Secure Regulatory Oversight in Key Financial Hubs of New York and Singapore

NEW YORK and SINGAPORE, Nov. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Paxos, the leading regulated blockchain infrastructure platform, announced today at the Singapore Fintech Festival that Paxos Global Pte Ltd has received a license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to offer digital payment token services under the Payment Services Act 2019. Paxos is the first US-based blockchain infrastructure platform to secure the license as a Major Payments Institution. Paxos meets the highest standards of regulation in both New York and Singapore, making it the most comprehensively regulated platform globally.

Paxos has received a license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore to offer digital payment token services.

Paxos is now able to offer its leading digital asset and blockchain products and services, subject to Singapore's regulatory requirements, to companies domiciled in Singapore. Paxos is one of the earliest digital asset operators to secure this licensing, underscoring the company's commitment to operating with transparency and integrity for its customers. The license will also help Paxos to support its current partners in expanding their services into Asia.

The MAS licensure follows Paxos' efforts to secure the first limited purpose Trust charter for digital assets from the New York Department of Financial Services in 2015 and the first preliminary de novo National Trust bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in the US. This achievement represents the company's latest efforts to expand its global regulatory stack.

Rich Teo, Co-Founder and CEO, Paxos Asia, commented, "We founded Paxos to make it safer and easier to move assets at any time, anywhere. From the start, we've been committed to innovating within regulatory frameworks. We're honored to be one of the first US-based blockchain platforms to secure this important license from MAS. We believe blockchain and digital assets will revolutionize finance for everyone around the world, but development of this technology must have clear oversight and consumer protections. We're excited to have MAS as our regulator. Paxos will safely accelerate consumer adoption of digital assets globally in partnership with the world's biggest enterprises."

To learn more about Paxos and its regulated infrastructure and products, visit www.paxos.com.

About Paxos

Paxos is the leading regulated blockchain infrastructure platform. Its products are the foundation for a new, open financial system that can operate faster and more efficiently. Today, trillions of dollars are locked in inefficient, outdated financial plumbing that is inaccessible to millions of people. Paxos is replatforming the financial system to enable assets to instantaneously move anywhere in the world, at any time, in a trustworthy way.

Paxos uses technology to tokenize, custody, trade and settle assets. It builds enterprise blockchain solutions for institutions like PayPal, Interactive Brokers, Mastercard, MercadoLibre, Nubank, PicPay, Bank of America, Credit Suisse and Societe Generale. Paxos is a top-funded fintech company with more than $540 million raised from leading investors including Oak HC/FT, Declaration Partners, Founders Fund, Mithril Capital and PayPal Ventures. Paxos takes a global approach to modernizing the financial system.

Media Contact:

Becky McClain[email protected]

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SOURCE Paxos
Following Early Success, ZeroEyes to Be Implemented Across Full Pennsylvania District

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ZeroEyes, creators of the only A.I.-based gun detection video analytics platform that holds the US Department of Homeland Security SAFETY Act Designation, today announced that its solution will be deployed across the entire PENNCREST School District in Crawford County, Pennsylvania. This marks an expansion of the district's original February 2022 deployment from three to six schools, following positive early reception.

"The Uvalde shooting raised the concerns of many parents in our district, especially because we are a geographically large school district in a rural part of Pennsylvania where improving law enforcement response time is critical," said Dr. Timothy S. Glasspool, Superintendent, PENNCREST School District. "ZeroEyes has been proven to improve response time dramatically, which is crucial for saving lives in active shooter situations. We consider their proactive technology to be an indispensable part of our layered security solution, and furthermore, their professionalism, expertise and efficiency have been second to none."

Layered on top of a school's existing IP security cameras, ZeroEyes' proprietary software identifies brandished guns instantaneously and alerts school administrators, safety personnel, and local law enforcement within 3 to 5 seconds. Former U.S. military and law enforcement specialists monitor every detection 24/7/365 from the in-house ZeroEyes Operations Center (ZOC) to deliver accurate and actionable intelligence on active shooter incidents, including the gunman's appearance, clothing, weapon, and real-time location. Furthermore, ZeroEyes' A.I. does not record, store, or share videos or images of students or others, ensuring that privacy is maintained.

PENNCREST is a mid-sized public school district located in Northwest Pennsylvania. It encompasses 408 acres and consists of six schools: three K-6 elementary schools and three 7-12 high schools. The district was founded in the 1970s through a merger of the Saegertown, Randolph-East Mead, and Cambridge Springs school systems. The name "PENNCREST" is derived from the words Pennsylvania, Cambridge Springs, Randolph, East Mead, Saegertown, and Townville.

"School districts like PENNCREST are not just our customers; they are our partners in making the world a safer and better place to live," said Mike Lahiff, CEO and co-founder of ZeroEyes. "PENNCREST is proof that a school can be 'rural' while still being on the cutting edge of security technology. We applaud Superintendent Glasspool and the other district decision-makers for their commitment to protecting students and faculty proactively against gun-related violence."

ZeroEyes was founded by a group of former Navy SEAL team leaders that used hundreds of thousands of proprietary images and videos to train its A.I. to be the most comprehensive and superior gun detection technology on the market. It has been implemented in 19 states across public K-12 districts to protect students and staff.

About ZeroEyes

ZeroEyes delivers a proactive, human-verified A.I. gun detection software solution that integrates into existing security cameras and mitigates mass shootings and gun-related violence by reducing response times, providing actionable intelligence with images and delivering clarity among chaos  ultimately saving lives. ZeroEyes' patented solution has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as a promising anti-terrorism technology and is the first video analytics technology to receive SAFETY Act DT&E Designation.

Founded by Navy SEALs and Special Operations military veterans, ZeroEyes delivers accurate and real-time actionable intelligence about the brandishing of a gun near or in an occupied area or building, to local staff and law enforcement with an image of the shooter(s) and location of the threat, within 3 to 5 seconds from the moment the gun is detected. The ZeroEyes team also provides tech consulting, installation assistance and practice drills for active shooter events to enhance safety at schools, corporate and government facilities. Headquartered in the Greater Philadelphia area, the company's affordable and effective gun detection solution has been adopted by the US Department of Defense, leading public K-12 school districts, colleges / universities, commercial property groups, manufacturing plants, Fortune 500 corporate campuses, shopping malls, big-box retail stores and more. Learn more about ZeroEyes at ZeroEyes.com.

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SOURCE ZeroEyes
RoC partners with leading dermatologists to highlight benefits of the powerhouse ingredient

NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- RoC Skincare, a leading clinically-proven skincare brand, is celebrating the second annual National Retinol Day on November 7th. Last year, RoC, who is the #1 most awarded retinol brand1, declared the first-ever National Retinol Day, via the Registrar at the National Day Calendar, to celebrate the powerhouse ingredient as one of the most efficacious available.

Widely regarded as the gold-standard ingredient in the skincare industry, retinol helps to diminish fine lines, wrinkles, sagging skin, and uneven skin tone. RoC was the first brand to stabilize retinol and optimize the ingredient, making it easily accessible to consumers more than 25 years ago.

"At RoC, we're passionate about retinol, an ingredient we've dedicated nearly three decades to researching and utilizing to develop breakthrough skincare solutions," shares Fernando Acosta, CEO of RoC Skincare. "After conducting more than 100 clinical studies and having published multiple patents on retinol technology, we truly understand its benefits and believe it's worth celebrating - on National Retinol Day and every day."

For the second consecutive year, RoC Skincare will be hosting an Instagram Live "Ask Me Anything" with skin experts on November 7th at 3:30pm EST to talk about all things retinol and answer questions about the ingredient in real-time. RoC and several leading dermatologists will also provide education on retinol and will be giving away a free year of RoC Retinol products on Instagram.

"I'm excited to once again celebrate National Retinol Day with RoC. Retinol is perhaps the most effective and most-loved ingredient by dermatologists and anti-aging enthusiasts alike," shared New York City Board Certified Dermatologist Dr. Joshua Zeichner. "There's a reason we call it the gold standard skincare ingredient; it offers a host of benefits for all skin types."

To celebrate National Retinol Day, RoC.com is offering 25% off plus a free mini Retinol Line Smoothing Capsules with any purchase of $65+ November 1st - November 7th so consumers can experience the magic of the ingredient themselves.

Follow along on Instagram at @rocskincare and #NationalRetinolDay to learn how board-certified dermatologists are celebrating National Retinol Day.

ABOUT ROC SKINCARE

RoC has been revolutionizing skincare since 1957 when Dr. Jean-Charles Lissarrague, a French pharmacist at the Roge Cavailles pharmacy, created the first hypoallergenic skincare formulations. This was the first of many collaborations with dermatologists to provide them with safe and effective products for their patients. For more than 60 years, that has been the foundational philosophy at RoC, inspiring a history of firsts: The first broad spectrum UV protection to proactively preserve the health of skin and the first to discover a method for stabilizing Retinol. By combining Retinol with antioxidants and using innovative packaging, RoC made it possible to deliver Retinol's skin-smoothing benefits safely and effectively for daily use. Today, Retinol is still one of the greatest discoveries in the history of skincare.

1Based on a 3rd party study using publicly available data sources from publications and media sources hosting beauty awards since 2010.

Contact: M Booth / [email protected]

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SOURCE RoC Skincare
Heather Archibald and Jamie Gersch bring depth of expertise as Rothy's global business scales

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Rothy's, Inc. today announced two executive hires, appointing Heather Archibald as Chief Product & Merchandising Officer and Jamie Gersch as Chief Marketing Officer. The newest additions to Rothy's executive team support global merchandising and brand expansion as Rothy's business enters its next phase of growth.

Rothy's inaugural Chief Product & Merchandising Officer Heather Archibald joins Rothy's with over 20 years of experience building global product and merchandising strategies at brands like Title Nine, Restoration Hardware and Gap, Inc. Overseeing Rothy's merchandising, design, inventory planning and allocation departments, Ms. Archibald will provide rich expertise on Rothy's global product development and commercialization strategies, fueled by Rothy's wholly-owned factory and supply chain.

"As a lifelong merchant who is customer and product-obsessed, joining a nimble and vertically-integrated business is a dream," said Ms. Archibald. "Rothy's model is unlike anything else in the industry and unlocks infinite opportunity for innovation. I can't wait to dig into the brand's broad product potential and fast pipeline, flexing the design muscle that Rothy's has leveraged since the very beginning."

Jamie Gersch, a 20-year Gap, Inc. veteran, joins Rothy's as Chief Marketing Officer. Ms. Gersch most recently served as Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Old Navy where she oversaw global marketing and brought remarkable campaigns to life. As Rothy's Chief Marketing Officer, Ms. Gersch will oversee global brand marketing and eCommerce strategies as Rothy's expands its loyal community.

"I'm thrilled to join a mission-driven brand with true staying power," said Ms. Gersch. "The Rothy's brand has cultivated an extraordinarily passionate following, and its authentic sustainability story has never been more relevant. I look forward to continuing to build the brand, expand its reach and deepen the connection to our customers through not only our product, but also our purpose."

Following a strategic investment from Alpargatas S.A. announced in December 2021, including an infusion of $200 million in primary capital, Rothy's is accelerating global growth as it invests in customer acquisition, builds physical retail, advances product development and expands vertically-integrated operations.

"Heather Archibald and Jamie Gersch join Rothy's at a tremendously exciting time for the Company," said Stephen Hawthornthwaite, CEO and Chairman of the Board at Rothy's. "With a strategic partner in Alpargatas, our global growth opportunity has never been more promising. As our product and brand continue to gain momentum, Heather and Jamie round out our highly experienced leadership team poised to deliver on our growth objectives."

In addition to the appointment of Ms. Archibald and Ms. Gersch, Rothy's has made two additional executive leadership updates.

Dayna Quanbeck, Rothy's Chief Financial Officer, will also take on the title of Chief Operating Officer (COO) in a further expanded role overseeing the deployment of growth capital. As COO, Ms. Quanbeck will oversee critical growth areas including retail, international expansion and global strategy in addition to managing Rothy's finance, data analytics and technology divisions as the global business scales.

Heather Howard has held a number of executive roles during her 5-year tenure and will continue her dedicated focus on Rothy's wholly-owned factory in the newly formed Chief Supply Chain Officer (CSCO) role. Vertically-integrated operations are the lifeline of Rothy's organization, allowing Rothy's to optimize sustainable practices throughout every step of production and fulfillment. As CSCO, Ms. Howard will navigate the increasing complexities of the global supply chain while advancing the unique opportunities that owning a factory presents.

About Rothy's:

Rothy's takes a whole brand approach to sustainability in manufacturing, transforming recycled materials into beautiful shoes, handbags and accessories. With a vertically integrated supply chain, Rothy's minimizes waste by knitting each product to shape in its wholly-owned factory in Dongguan, China. Since launching in 2016, over 146 million single-use bottles have been transformed into Rothy's signature thread, and over 493,000 pounds of ocean-bound plastic have been kept out of waterways.

With over 2.8 million customers, Rothy's products are sold directly online and through Rothy's 15 retail stores. Rothy's has been recognized for awards including TIME Most Influential Companies, Fast Company Most Innovative Companies, Forbes Next Billion-Dollar Startups and Inc. Best Places to work. Headquartered in San Francisco, California with offices in New York, New York and Shanghai, China.

Further information is available at rothys.com. Follow Rothy's on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @rothys.

Contacts:Rothy'sAnna DoreRothy's Senior Director of Communications[email protected] // (415) 737-6849

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SOURCE Rothys
Safespill Project Improves Safety for U.S. Navy Hangar and Supports Local Contractors

HOUSTON, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Safespill Systems, LLC announced the signing of a further contract with the U.S. Navy to install an ignitable liquid drainage floor assembly (ILDFA) at Naval Air Station (NAS) Point Mugu. The company's innovative flooring technology allows for the safe removal and containment of ignitable and environmentally hazardous liquids when spilled.

Safespill's innovative solution to help protect personnel, aircraft from ignitable, hazardous liquids in Navy hangar.

In March 2022, Safespill completed a pilot project for the Navy with the first installation of the company's unique ILDFA. After the successful completion of this assignment, the Navy awarded the company a second contract for Point Mugu, within six months of completion of the first project. Safespill expects a third contract for additional ILDFA hangar flooring at Point Mugu to be finalized within the next few weeks.

The Navy entered into the first contract directly with Safespill. This ensured that Safespill had complete control over the installation process, enabling them to standardize the process moving forward. This second contract comes through South Bay EDC, a general contractor based in California. South Bay EDC is experienced in military construction projects and specifically, fire protection.

Safespill CEO Tristian Mackintosh is pleased about the prospect of combining forces with an experienced local contractor: "We hope that this is just the first of many hangar installations we do together with South Bay EDC." Several portions of the new project, such as installation and cutting trenches in the hangar, will go to local subcontractors in the area, benefiting the local economy. This approach also allows Safespill to ramp up the manufacture of flooring in its Houston, Texas, headquarters.

As Safespill further develops its flooring applications, it aims to train and certify local contractors to install the flooring in commercial and military hangars. This method will shorten and improve project completion time, reduce hangar downtime, and allow the military to maintain a high state of readiness for its fighters and bombers. Training local contractors also helps commercial airliners spend less time in the hangar and more time in the air.

Safespill is excited to continue serving the U.S. Navy with superior fire protection. The ILDFA minimizes the risk of environmentally hazardous spills and removes spills immediately from hangar floors, protecting personnel and aircraft, and improving daily aircraft mechanic operations.

For more information on Safespill, please visit www.safespill.com.

About Safespill

Safespill Systems, LLC was founded in 2013 to provide radically simpler and safer solutions for industrial problems. Safespill strives to be the industry's standard protection and prevention system for flammable and environmentally hazardous liquid spills.

Source and Related Links https://www.safespill.com

Media Inquiries:Joop OranjeSafespill(713) 645-4370[email protected]

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SOURCE Safespill Systems
Iconic landmark enters its next century gleaming with a fresh coat of Emerald Rain Refresh paint

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The timeless beauty of Tinseltown's biggest star  the Hollywood Sign  has been restored as it enters its next century thanks to a speedy centennial facelift from Sherwin-Williams and the Hollywood Sign Trust.

Over the four-week refurbishment, Roger Martinez led his dedicated crew of 10 workers from commercial painting company Duggan & Associates to prep, prime and paint the Sign from sunrise to sunset using nearly 400 gallons of Emerald Rain Refresh paint in Extra White SW 7006 (referred to as "Hollywood Sign Centennial White" for the occasion). The historical landmark was refreshed approximately a month ahead of schedule.

Emerald Rain Refresh was chosen for its ultra-durable exterior coating with Self-Cleaning Technology and excellent UV and weather protection to keep the Hollywood Sign gleaming beneath the sun for centuries to come. This innovative paint is formulated to repel dirt upon contact with rain or water for a clean and fresh look with minimal maintenance.

"We're thrilled to continue our longstanding partnership with the Hollywood Sign Trust to usher the Sign into its next century," said Justin Binns, president of the Americas Group at Sherwin-Williams. "For 155 years, Sherwin-Williams has helped protect and beautify our nation's most iconic landmarks through trusted and innovative paint solutions, and it was an honor for us to help bring this stunning milestone restoration to life."

"We are so grateful to the talented team that helped us complete this effort and are thrilled for fans around the world to view and capture the Sign's new centennial makeover," said Jeff Zarrinnam, chairman, Hollywood Sign Trust. "The opportunity to partner again with Sherwin-Williams on this extensive project is a testament to the Sign's legacy as a beautiful, timeless and treasured symbol of hopes and dreams."

One of the most photographed sites in the world, the Hollywood Sign has been repaired over the years and was completely rebuilt in 1978. It was last refurbished in 2012 by Sherwin-Williams and the Hollywood Sign Trust to celebrate the iconic landmark's 90th anniversary.

For more information on Sherwin-Williams, visit www.Sherwin-Williams.com. A time-lapse video showing the refurbishment process can be seen on Sherwin-Williams' YouTube channel at youtube.com/sherwinwilliams, and the entire painting project can be seen on the Hollywood Sign's webcams at www.hollywoodsign.org/webcam.

For more than 155 years, Sherwin-Williams has been an industry leader in the development of technologically advanced paint and coatings. As the nation's largest specialty retailer of paint and painting supplies, Sherwin-Williams is dedicated to supporting both do-it-yourselfers and painting professionals with exceptional and exclusive products, resources to make confident color selections and expert, personalized service at its more than 4,300 neighborhood stores across North America. For more information, visit sherwin-williams.com. Join Sherwin-Williams on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, TikTok, Instagram and LinkedIn.

About the Hollywood Sign Trust

The Hollywood Sign Trust is a 501(c)3 nonprofit trust formed on October 7, 1978, with the express purposes of repairing, maintaining, refurbishing, and providing capital improvements to the Hollywood Sign or related thereto for the benefit of the public at large and so as to help preserve and maintain the image of Hollywood as the Worldwide Center of Motion Pictures and Cinema Arts; and shall be operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes. The Trust is also the official source for news and information about the Hollywood Sign and maintains the Hollywood Sign website www.HollywoodSign.org and its social media platforms.

Contact:Sherwin-WilliamsRegine Labossiere[email protected]

Hollywood Sign TrustBetsy Isroelit[email protected]

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SOURCE Sherwin-Williams
Introducing Green Goo's Plants for Your Face & Body Collection at Walmart Stores Nationwide in November

LYONS, Colo., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Sierra Sage Herbs LLC ("SSH") is pleased to announce that it has secured a wholesale agreement with accelerate360, an omni-commerce sales, distribution, logistics, marketing and media company, to drive awareness and sales growth for its family of brands, including Green Goo, Good Goo, and Southern Butter. Under the agreement, SSH intends to leverage accelerate360 and its long-standing retail partnerships, cultivated over 100 years of experience and service, to implement innovative and customizable programs designed to elevate brand recognition and amplify revenue for retailers.

Green Goo will introduce its new Plants for Your Face & Body collection in Walmart stores across the country

"The team at accelerate360 has instantly proven themselves to be creative thinkers, which is key in establishing a retail presence," said Sierra Sage Herbs CEO and Co-founder Jodi Scott. "They are providing opportunities for our company to grow, while not only discovering new ways to showcase our brands and products, but ensuring they are presented thoughtfully and relevantly."

Launching in November 2022, all-natural Sierra Sage Herbs brand Green Goo will introduce its new Plants for Your Face & Body collection in Walmart stores across the country as part of an Us Weekly Now Trending shopping fixture curated in partnership with accelerate360 and a360media's Us Weekly brand. The inventive shopping experience also allows customers the ability to discover more about the Green Goo brand and its products, alongside additional engaging content, via a QR code highlighted on the in-store display.

"Launching innovation in today's attention economy is challenging for brands and retailers. The dynamism of trend often outpaces that of sourcing and merchandising, and breaking through to gain trial and repeat is a tall hurdle," said accelerate360's Chief Innovation Officer and President of Marketing and Brand Development Nikki Laughlin. "This is where accelerate360's services, along with our Us Weekly brand and Now Trending displays come in, lending cultural credibility and impact at shelf to great brands and products like Green Goo, Good Goo, and Southern Butter."

Developed to target a range of skin conditions and issues including acne, eczema, sun damage, wrinkles, dry skin, and psoriasis, Green Goo's Plants for Your Face & Body collection is formulated utilizing the brand's proprietary lipid-infusion process. Rather than using harsh chemicals or pre-made extracts, Green Goo infuses healing herbs and whole-plant botanicals in rich, nourishing organic essential oils to maximize the purity and elevate the healing properties of its products. The available Plants for Your Face & Body collection will include a range of Face & Body Washes, Face & Body Jumbo Sticks, and an Acne Roll-On Spot Treatment (MSRPs $9.99-$17.99). Consumers will also be able to purchase Green Goo's fan-favorite Dry Skin and Pain Relief Jumbo Sticks (MSRP $9.99) as part of the program as well.

Link to additional imagesInstagram / Facebook

About Sierra Sage Herbs

Committed to producing the best all-natural, plant-based skincare products, Sierra Sage Herbs, a Creso Pharma subsidiary, is on a mission to spread goodness, empower change, and redefine natural body care. Founded in 2008 by sisters Jodi and Jen Scott and their mother, Kathy Scott, the company's natural products brands, which are cruelty free and made in the USA, include Green Goo, Good Goo, and Southern Butter. These brands are sold across more than 100,000 points of distribution around the US, including Whole Foods, Walmart, Amazon, Target.com, CVS, Walgreen's, Rite Aid, Albertsons, and Kroger, among many others. A certified B Corp, Sierra Sage Herbs aligns and partners with charities, aid organizations, and causes both in the United States and around the world. For further information, visit www.greengoo.com.

About accelerate360

accelerate360 is an omni-commerce sales, distribution and logistics, marketing and media company that unlocks growth for retailers and brands at the intersection of culture, content, and commerce. For more than 100 years, with delivery to over 56,000 retail locations weekly, the company's customized solutions have connected people, products, and point of sale with a specialization in General Merchandise, Health, Beauty, and Wellness categories. Headquartered in Atlanta, accelerate360 has offices and fulfillment centers strategically positioned across the United States and is proud to employ more than 1,300 employees. For further information, visit www.accelerate360.com.

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SOURCE Sierra Sage Herbs
HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Summit 7, a national provider of Cybersecurity and Compliance solutions for the Aerospace and Defense industry, has been awarded the 2022 Huntsville/Madison County Chamber Small Business of The Year Award in the Technology category. The 37th annual award ceremony honored businesses in the Huntsville/Madison area and celebrated their innovation and business excellence.

"Small businesses are the backbone of the United States, and specifically the U.S. Defense Industrial Base. This award emphasizes Summit 7's position as a supporter of the city of Huntsville and the aerospace and defense contractors that help make this city great. We're honored to win this award and are excited be part of the growth in this amazing city"  Scott Edwards, CEO Summit 7.

The award winners were announced at the Small Business Awards hosted at the Von Braun Center South Hall on November 1st. Other categories of winners included Culinary Business of the Year; Medical Practice of the Year; Nonprofit of the Year and Local Retailer of the Year; Emerging Business of the Year; and Woman-Owned Business of the Year where the woman owns 51% or more of the business.

About Summit 7

Summit 7 is a national leader in cybersecurity and compliance for the Aerospace and Defense industry and corporate enterprises. Summit 7's Microsoft Cloud solutions have led the way in meeting compliance regulations for the DIB regarding CMMC, DFARS, NIST 800-171, ITAR, and CUI. Summit 7 Systems is privately held and headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama.

https://www.summit7.us

http://cmmc.blog

http://cmmc.video

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SOURCE Summit 7 Systems
SINGAPORE, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Talos, the premier provider of institutional digital asset trading technology, has entered into a partnership with Amber Group, a leading global digital asset company. Bringing together two pioneering rms in the digital asset industry, the partnership will integrate the liquidity venue of Amber Group's agship digital asset platform, WhaleFin, into Talos. The integration will facilitate greater access to Amber Group's liquidity via Talos's market-leading institutional trading platform and broaden digital asset trading for all its users.

The partnership comes as Talos continues to expand its business and solidify its presence in Asia Pacic, leveraging on the region's booming digital asset industry and its continued relevance as a global digital asset hub. Amber Group will join Talos's extensive partner network of over 40 liquidity venues that includes leading exchanges such as Binance, Coinbase, and FTX, as well as top OTCs & market-markers.

The integration exemplies the two companies' commitment to drive institutional adoption of digital assets, and also addresses the growing need for advanced trading solutions required by sophisticated crypto-natives and traditional capital markets rms. The partnership capitalizes on the synergies between Talos's and Amber Group's offerings by marrying Talos's end-to-end digital asset trading technology services with Amber Group's institutional-grade liquidity venue WhaleFin.

"The premier institutional investors who trade on our platform will always require connectivity to the best liquidity providers in the world. Partnering with Amber Group not only gives them another solid venue to work with, it is a natural extension of our core mission to make it easy for institutions to connect to digital asset markets in a safe, scalable, and familiar way. As the market-leading trading technology provider that powers institutional access to digital assets, we are proud to partner with Amber Group, and support the overall maturation of the digital asset ecosystem," said Head of APAC at Talos, Samar Sen.

"Despite current market conditions, we continue to see increasing adoption of digital assets by institutions on the buy-side and sell-side - their long term views on the potential of digital assets are undiminished, and many of these institutional service providers are using this time to build their product-offerings before the next growth cycle, and based on demand from their end-customers," Sen added.

"Client-led demand for institutional-grade, aggregated liquidity providers is indicative of the ongoing evolution of digital assets as a maturing asset class. As we mark a new chapter for the growth of digital assets globally, we are excited to integrate the best of our liquidity offering with like-minded ecosystem peers such as Talos. This partnership lays the foundation for us to continue building institutional condence in crypto assets through ease of access to Talos's trusted trading technology and Amber Group's liquidity offering  all this while complementing our commitment to deliver best-in-class service to our clients, be it via superior block pricing or greater transparency for all," said Amber Group's Managing Partner, Annabelle Huang.

Product Lead (Connectivity) at Talos, Sophia Cui added, "Today's digital asset traders demand a better experience - one that offers greater security, scalability, reliability, and usability combined with the familiarity of traditional capital markets trading systems. Our partnership with Amber Group will remove the current barriers to entry for institutions, offering them powerful, sophisticated, standardized institutional-grade digital asset trading technology with unparalleled performance that is already seamlessly connected to the liquidity they desire."

Media Contact Amber Group[email protected]

Talos[email protected]

About Amber Group

Amber Group is a leading digital asset platform operating globally with offices in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The rm provides a full range of digital asset services spanning investing, nancing, and trading. Amber is backed by prominent investors including Paradigm, Dragony, Pantera, Polychain, Sequoia and Tiger Global.

For more information, please visit www.ambergroup.io.

About Talos

Talos powers digital asset trading strategies globally. Engineered by a team with unmatched experience in building institutional trading systems, the Talos platform is trusted by the largest and most sophisticated market participants and their end clients for its performance, reliability, and security. Its growing network of services  trading platform, lending marketplace, data and analytics, and portfolio and settlement tools, all offered directly or through service providers on a white-label basis  enable clients of all types to transact end-to-end without concern for unnecessary intermediary risk or potential conicts of interest. Talos has offices in New York, London, Sweden, and Singapore.

For additional information, please visit www.talos.com.

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SOURCE Talos
CLEVELAND, Nov. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- UBIZ Venture Capital, in partnership with the Urban League of Greater Cleveland, held the Business Legacy Award Reception and launched the Business Growth Institute (BGI), at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

Lonnie Coleman, President and CEO of the Coleman Spohn Corp. whose construction projects include Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center.

Mel Pye, President and CEO of Fairfax Place, which provides cutting edge healthcare services in partnership with local hospitals to residents in a 100-bed facility.

Anthony E. Smith (posthumously) and his wife Vanessa Whiting, the CEO of A.E.S. Management Corp., and the owner and operator of 15 Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen locations in Northeast Ohio.

Tilmon Brown, the chairman of Norwalk, Ohio-based, New Horizons Baking Co. is a McDonald's supplier that produces soft sandwich buns and English muffins to more than 5,000 quick-service restaurants, grocery stores and food service providers nationwide. Tilmon has also been inducted into the "Bakers Hall of fame", the first African American to be selected by the American Society of Baking.

The Business Growth Institute is an initiative to sustain legacy Black businesses in our community. The Institute will also develop more Black-owned businesses in high growth sectors, such as renewable energy, software development, and advanced manufacturing with the potential to generate $1 Million in revenue or more each year.

"Black-owned businesses are critical to the U.S. economy, especially here in Northeast Ohio, but they often lack access to capital and resources for growth," said David Allen, Market Team Lead for Northern Ohio at J.P. Morgan Private bank. "JPMorgan Chase's investment will help strengthen the region's workforce, community and local economy."

"Highlighting these companies is a perfect way to celebrate their excellence and share ways we can create more similar successful companies through the Business Growth Institute," said Michael Obi, President of UBIZ Venture Capital. "We are very grateful for funding from JPMorgan Chase totaling $500,000, which speaks volume to its commitment to closing the wealth gap in the black community." Obi added that Key Bank also invested $100,000 to launch the Institute, in addition to its support of UBIZ's economic development efforts since its inception.

Contact:Michael Obi, [email protected]; 440-212-2567

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SOURCE Urban League of Greater Cleveland
Digital Humanities Project Hosts Rare Collection of Previously Inaccessible Documents and Articles Surrounding the Discovery and Excavation of the Tomb

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. and SEATTLE, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- For the first time in nearly 100 years, scholars and the curious public can see one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of the 20th century in a new light. The Tutankhamun Centenary: 19222022 is a website showcasing University of Washington students' groundbreaking digital humanities (DH) research to mark a century since the discovery of King Tutankhamun's (King Tut's) tomb. For the Tut Talks project, masters and undergraduate students used tools like Gale Digital Scholar Lab (The Lab) from Gale, part of Cengage Group, to create a publicly available resource from previously inaccessible collections. It includes selected private papers of Howard Carter, the British archeologist who discovered the tomb, and articles from The Times of London, the primary disseminator of information about the discovery and excavation. Read Gale's blog for more insight on the project.

The Tutankhamun Centenary project shows how digital humanities is breaking barriers in digital scholarship.

"There has long been a wealth of information on the discovery of King Tut's tomb, but it was not aggregated, curated, or highly accessible until relatively recently, when archives such as the Griffith Institute in Oxford, U.K., started putting material online," said Dr. Sarah Ketchley, project sponsor, affiliate instructor, University of Washington Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures. "The Tut Talks DH project is not only important due to its interesting subject matter; it also highlights the critical role DH plays in academia to connect our understanding of the past, present and future."

Tut Talks marks 100 years since the tomb's discovery in Luxor, Egypt, in November of 1922. It is a compilation of the work of University of Washington Master's of Library and Information Science (MLIS) Capstone students and students in the NEAR E 485 course. Students studied the years between 19001939 to assess the broader influence of the tomb's discovery.

Five exhibits are part of The Tutankhamun Centenary: 19222022:

Egyptomania: The project focuses on how King Tutankhamun's tomb's discovery may have influenced British newspapers' advertisements during the renewed interest in Ancient Egypt's culture.

The project focuses on how King Tutankhamun's tomb's discovery may have influenced British newspapers' advertisements during the renewed interest in Ancient Egypt's culture. The Howard Carter Collection: The exhibit contains a rare collection of personal letters and documents from Howard Carter's career in Egypt dating from 19021932. The collection was made possible by a private collector who spent 40 years finding and preserving the materials. The exhibit is a curated selection of primary source material from Carter's time in Egypt, including unpublished diary excerpts and personal letters written by fellow Nile travelers, artists and archaeologists.

"Howard Carter was a meticulous and dedicated archaeologist who recognized the artifacts he unearthed not as a collection of mystifying antiquitiesbut as humanizing emblems of the innovation and resilience of ancient Egyptian civilization," said Erika Bojnowski, a member of the Tut Talks Capstone team. "Carter valued their stories' place in history, just as we value his."

The Pharaoh's Curse and King Tutankhamun: The project investigates the representation of the so-called "Pharaoh's Curse" in relation to the discovery of King Tut's tomb in English-language newspapers from 1910-1949.

"The Curse subset was anything but a curse, thanks to the DH tools at our fingertips," said Hannah Burrows, University of Washington undergraduate student, pursuing a degree in Informatics. "From collecting articles and compiling content sets to cleaning up OCR text, Gale Digital Scholar Lab made it easy to export our information directly for the Tutankhamen project. The Lab's analysis tools were extremely helpful with conceptualizing data and enabled us to use the tools throughout the entire project process."

The Times of London: The website contains 140 articles from The Times of London, published between 1922 and 1927. Students used the Times Digital Archive from Gale Primary Sources to collect the articles. The Times Exclusive Agreement exhibit contains 26 articles of the Time's coverage of the event, one of the first major exclusive news deals in history.

"The Times articles are primary sources, so they can stand on their own, but they're not absolute truth," said Jane Kern, another member of the Tut Talks Capstone team. "That's why they're so interesting and why historians like to work with them, because you can actually see those different layers of interpretation. In some way, working with databases like this one is a great way of teaching and learning about analytical thinking... It's a way of puzzling through why certain stories are told, and certain stories have not been carried on."

Lindsley Foote Hall Diaries: A draftsman working in Egypt during eight seasons, he was 'loaned' to the Carter/Carnarvon team by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to help record the tomb when it was discovered in 1922.This exhibit showcases some of the diaries he kept and student observations about working with Trankscribus to automate the process of transcribing the handwritten diaries.

Gale Digital Scholar Lab's analysis tools were used throughout the project. As a cloud-based research environment, The Lab integrates an unmatched depth and breadth of digital primary source material with some of today's most popular digital humanities analysis and visualization tools. It provides a new lens to explore history and empowers researchers to deepen their understanding of the world and its representation in the written word.

"The Tutankhamun Centenary project shows how digital humanities is breaking barriers in digital scholarship," said Seth Cayley, Vice President, Global Academic, Gale. "Not very long ago, a project like this would have taken years; now, it is being streamlined to a semester. With DH tools, these students were able to spend more time identifying previously undiscovered data, analyzing results, and gaining new insights into the complicated history of the discovery and excavation of King Tut."

To explore the Tutankhamen Centenary 19222022 website, click here.

For more information on Gale Digital Scholar Lab, visit the Gale Primary Sources webpage.

About Cengage Group and Gale

Cengage Group, an education technology company serving millions of learners in 165 countries, advances the way students learn through quality, digital experiences. The company currently serves the K-12, higher education, professional, library, English language teaching and workforce training markets worldwide. Gale, part of Cengage Group, provides libraries with original and curated content, as well as the modern research tools and technology that are crucial in connecting libraries to learning, and learners to libraries. For more than 65 years, Gale has partnered with libraries around the world to empower the discovery of knowledge and insights  where, when and how people need it. Gale has 500 employees globally with its main operations in Farmington Hills, Michigan. For more information, please visit: www.gale.com.

Follow Gale on:

Media Contact:Kayla Siefker, Gale, part of Cengage Group248-378-3376[email protected]

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SOURCE Gale, part of Cengage Group
Customers to get insights into the latest digital transformation trends

DUBAI, UAE, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Newgen Software, a leading global provider of digital transformation products, is all geared to host customers from the Middle East and Africa at its annual customer meet, NewgenConnect at Grand Hyatt, Dubai (UAE) on November 4, 2022.

Based on the theme  "Do More" the event is an opportunity for Newgen to interact with customers in-person, hear their digital transformation stories, and share how they can further leverage Newgen's platforms and cutting-edge technologies, including AI and ML. The event will be a platform for thought leaders and industry veterans from the Middle East and Africa regions to network, share their experiences, and learn about the latest digital transformation trends like analytics, cloud, and more.

"NewgenConnect's EMEA edition is a special event for us as the Middle East and Africa region is one of our fastest growing markets. The region forms the core of our business plans as it contributes a significant share of our revenue. For years, these customers have bestowed their faith in our innovative solutions and walked the digital mile with us. It is the perfect opportunity for us to interact with our customers and express our gratitude for making us an integral part of their digital transformation journey," said Virender Jeet, CEO, Newgen Software.

"There couldn't have been a better time to meet our customers from the Middle East and Africa. The region is making great strides in digital as enterprises are looking forward to adopting innovative technologies for solving their growing complex needs. We will utilize this opportunity to understand our customers' challenges and help them learn our new offerings, including Trade Finance and AI Cloud platforms. The event will help our customers explore what more they can do in their digital transformation journey," said Tarun Nandwani, COO, Newgen Software.

About Newgen Software Technologies Limited

Newgen is the leading provider of a unified digital transformation platform with native process automation, content services, and communication management capabilities. Globally, successful enterprises rely on Newgen's industry-recognized low code application platform to develop and deploy complex, content-driven, and customer-engaging business applications on the cloud. From onboarding to service requests, lending to underwriting, and for many more use cases across industries. Newgen unlocks simple with speed and agility. For more details, visit www.newgensoft.com

Contact:Ryan Rocque[email protected]

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/676258/Newgen_Logo.jpg

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SOURCE Newgen Software Technologies Ltd
GAVAR, NOVEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS. Governor of Armenias Gegharkunik province Karen Sargsyan received the EU Monitoring Team led by leader Linn Nettelvik, his Office said.

The Governor briefed the EU monitors on the current situation in the settlements affected by the latest Azerbaijani aggression, the Azerbaijani atrocities, as well as showed photos of damaged houses and buildings.

The Governor informed that the government has provided support for the renovation of the damaged houses, and as for the 8 houses that were totally destroyed by the Azerbaijani bombardment, the government will solve it by constructing new ones.

The meeting sides also discussed the risks existing in the province, the psychological support to be provided to the displaced persons and school-children and other topics.

Khosrov Khlghatyan
Item 7.01. Other Events

Walgreen Co. (Walgreens), a subsidiary of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (together with Walgreens, the Company), has agreed in principle to financial amounts and payment terms as part of settlement frameworks (the Settlement Frameworks) to resolve a substantial majority of opioids-related lawsuits filed against the Company by the attorneys general of participating states and political subdivisions (the Settling States) and litigation brought by counsel for tribes.

Under the Settlement Framework with the Settling States, the Company expects to settle all opioid claims against it by such Settling States for up to approximately $4.79 billion in remediation payments to be paid out over fifteen (15) years. Under the Settlement Framework with counsel for tribes, the Company expects to settle all opioid claims against it by such participating tribes for up to approximately $154.5 million in remediation payments to be paid out over fifteen (15) years. The Settlement Frameworks provide for the payment of up to approximately $753.5 million in attorneys fees and costs over six (6) years beginning in year two of the Settlement Frameworks. The Settlement Frameworks include no admission of wrongdoing or liability by the Company.

The Settlement Frameworks are subject to contingencies and will not become effective unless and until the Company makes an independent determination that certain injunctive terms still subject to negotiation are acceptable to the Company. The Settlement Framework with the states is also contingent on (1) a sufficient number of Settling States agreeing to the Settlement Framework following a sign-on period, and (2) following a notice period, a sufficient number of Settling States, including those that have not sued, agreeing to the Settlement Framework (or otherwise having their claims foreclosed). The Company cannot predict if or when either Settlement Framework will be finalized. The Company will continue to vigorously defend against any litigation not covered by the Settlement Frameworks, including private plaintiff litigation. The Company continues to believe it has strong legal defenses and appellate arguments in all of these cases.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

All statements in this report that are not historical including, without limitation, those regarding finalization of the Settlement Frameworks and payments anticipated to be made pursuant to the Settlement Frameworks, are forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as expect, will, likely, intend, plan, aim, continue, believe, seek, anticipate, upcoming, may, possible, and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements.

These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions, known or unknown, that could cause actual results to vary materially from those indicated or anticipated. These risks, assumptions and uncertainties include those described in Item 1A (Risk Factors) of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2022 and in other documents that we file or furnish with the Securities and Exchange Commission. If one or more of these risks or uncertainties materializes, or if underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those indicated or anticipated by such forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements we make or that are made on our behalf are qualified by these cautionary statements. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made.

We do not undertake, and expressly disclaim, any duty or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statement after the date of this release, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions or otherwise.
WASHINGTON  Gen. John Jay Raymond, the first guardian and chief of space operations for Space Force, formally retired Wednesday and passed the responsibility onto Lt. Gen. Bradley Saltzman during a ceremony that marked the end of nearly 40 years of service.

Get ready. Because Im going to need your best, Saltzman told the crowd at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., and the thousands of Space Force guardians worldwide.

Wednesdays ceremony was attended by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Saltzman called his ascension to operations chief of the Space Force a truly humbling experience.

The world is becoming an increasingly dangerous place, he said. Without the space capabilities [we] are designing, building, protecting and operating, the joint force will not be able to complete its missions.

If deterrence fails, the Space Force will be an indispensable component of our joint force at war.

Raymond, 60, took over the Space Force after its founding in late 2019 after serving for 35 years in the Air Force, which included stints leading the Air Force Space Command and combatant commander of U.S. Space Command.

Its been the honor of a lifetime to serve as chief of space operations, Raymond wrote in a tweet Wednesday.

The Space Force is in great hands with Gen. Saltzman, he added. Be bold!

As part of the transition ceremony, the Space Force chief of operations flag for the first time was symbolically passed from Raymond to Saltzman  a gesture that will be repeated in the future whenever the branchs operations chief is succeeded by the next leader.

Raymond joined the Air Force in 1984 after graduating from Clemson University in South Carolina. From 1989 to 1993, he was an officer with the 1st Strategic Aerospace Division and executive officer of the 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. He also spent time in Britain and Japan before he took over at Air Force Space Command in 2016.

When Raymond became the first chief of the new branch in December 2019, he also became its first member. He was tasked with several responsibilities, which included deciding what Space Force members would be called.

He chose guardians, and I think thats absolutely the right name for this great force, Austin said at Wednesdays ceremony. He did all of that and he made it look easy.

Initially, Raymond opposed the creation of the Space Force but later changed his opinion and accepted an appointment to be its first chief of operations. He announced his retirement earlier this year, and President Joe Biden nominated Saltzman as his successor.

Saltzman, 53, was confirmed by the Senate as the new operations chief of the service about a month ago.

As the new chief of space operations, Saltzman becomes a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the principal military adviser to the Air Force secretary for space defense matters. He is also a top military adviser to Biden, Austin and the National Security Council.

From 2020 until Wednesday, Saltzman served as deputy chief of space operations for cyber and nuclear, which is the Space Forces chief operations officer. He graduated from Boston University and joined the Air Force in 1991. For years, he was a launch officer for land-based Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles and a satellite officer for the National Reconnaissance Office.

Raymond was a strong supporter of his candidacy.

Congratulations on your selection as the second chief of operations for the Space Force and a new member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Vice President Kamala Harris said in a letter to Saltzman, which was read during the ceremony. I look forward to working with you. The future guardian workforce will be shaped by your leadership.

During Wednesdays ceremony, Milley also thanked SpaceX founder and controversial billionaire Elon Musk, who was in attendance. Milley said Musk, who recently took control of Twitter, represents the combination of civil and military cooperation that makes the United States the most powerful country in space.
Saigon, South Vietnam, 1963: A Vietnam marine celebrates on the streets after the successful coup deposing president Ngo Dinh Diem on Nov. 1, 1963, by a group of Army of the Republic of Vietnam officers. The South Vietnamese president and his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu fled the capital through underground tunnels, but were captured and executed the next day.

Looking for Stars and Stripes coverage of the Vietnam War? Subscribe to Stars and Stripes historic newspaper archive! We have digitized our 1948-1999 European and Pacific editions, as well as several of our WWII editions and made them available online through https://starsandstripes.newspaperarchive.com/
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa  The Marine Corps has launched a smartphone app that provides troops with information about drowning hazards around Okinawa and a bridge over language barriers in an emergency.

Drowning in riptides is a leading cause of accidental death on Okinawa. The forceful undertow rip currents near many of the islands beaches can pull a swimmer quickly out to sea, often as they struggle helplessly against it.

Marine Corps Community Services developed the Liberty MCCS Okinawa app to provide users upfront information about Okinawas often beautiful but hazardous shoreline, according to Shawn Curtis, safety director at the Marine Corps Installation Pacific Safety Office. The Liberty app was initially developed in 2017 and is free to download and use.

Its available for download from Google Play or the Apple App Store. Among its features, the Liberty app gives users a map of recommended sites for recreation, but also the drowning hazards associated with the islands beaches and the locations of past drownings. It includes information on places to eat on and off base, off-limits establishments, command and emergency numbers, liberty policy and scam alerts.

It comes with an audio translator that allows English speakers to report an emergency by clicking the statement that corresponds to the emergency. An audio message plays back in Japanese for bystanders or an emergency services operator.

Drowning is the No. 1 cause of accidental death on Okinawa and October is the deadliest month in that category, according to Curtis.

The island prefecture is a hot spot for watersports like surfing, bodyboarding, snorkeling and scuba. But its year-round volatile weather can go from safe to dangerous in minutes. Some of the most popular sites along the prefectures 296 miles of shoreline are also associated with hazardous water conditions.

Altogether, 33 people have drowned on Okinawa this year, according to the Okinawa Prefectural Police website. Sixteen were Okinawans; 16 were tourists, including people from elsewhere in Japan; and one was a U.S. service member.

Forty service members have drowned on Okinawa since 2000, according to the safety office. Ten have perished since 2020, including five last year, Curtis said in an email Thursday to Stars and Stripes.

Since 2014, he said, 37 service members, civilian employees or family members have been rescued on Okinawa beaches, although he suspects many more incidents go unreported. One drowning and two rescues were reported this year to the Marine Corps in Okinawa, he said.

The Marine Corps on Okinawa encourages people to download the Liberty app to their mobile phones and preprogram emergency phone numbers into it, including the Japan Coast Guard emergency number, 118, and the off-base emergency dispatcher at Kadena Air Base, 098-934-5911.
JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii  The Navy on Tuesday recommended the Red Hill underground fuel facility be permanently closed by sealing its massive tanks in place rather than removing them or filling them with an inert material.

Overall, permanent Closure in Place is the alternative with the lowest impact to the environment and local community, states a declassified version of the Navys closure plan released Tuesday.

In addition, it has the shortest schedule and would be the safest alternative to execute, with no significant issues related to engineering feasibility, the plan states.

The Navy estimates closure would be completed in 2027 under this alternative, which will require final approval by the Hawaii Department of Health.

The Health Department in January ordered the tanks permanently closed after leaked jet fuel contaminated groundwater in late 2021.

The facility  built during World War II and regarded as an astounding feat of engineering at the time  holds 20 underground tanks. Each is 100 feet in diameter and between 238 and 250 feet high.

Lined internally with welded steel plates and surrounded by reinforced concrete, the tanks can each hold roughly 1.25 million gallons.

The Navys preferred alternative would allow repurposing the buried tanks for a beneficial non-fuel use, the plan states.

A lot of this work is dependent on the pace that we can do the cleaning, and that's limited by the layout of the tanks, the size of the tanks, access to the tunnels, Meredith Berger, assistant secretary of the Navy for energy, installations and environment, said Tuesday during a news conference at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

This is a meticulous process, she said. Just like Red Hill was a new thing when it was built so long ago, it is a new thing when its closing. We've never done something of this size before, but we are committed to make sure that we do it right.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin decided to close the facility on March 7 after a November 2021 well water contamination morphed into a major crisis.

The fuel contaminated one of three wells used for the Navys water distribution system that supplied almost 10,000 homes in military communities on and near the joint base.

Thousands of residents were temporarily relocated, and hundreds claim to suffer from long-term maladies related to using the fuel-tainted water.

Members of four of those families filed suit in federal court in September, the first of possibly hundreds of plaintiffs likely to seek compensation.

Berger said the Navy will seek additional analysis by an independent third-party contractor regarding the four alternatives considered: closure in place, closure in place for potential non-fuel reuse of tanks, closure with filling of tanks with inert material and removal of tank steel liners followed by filling.

That analysis is expected to be complete by December.

And then, once the Department of Health has had the opportunity to review this information along with the closure plan that weve provided today, well request their approval for that closure in place, Berger said.

The closure is being done in four phases, the first three of which will happen concurrently with the ongoing process of emptying roughly 104 million gallons of fuel from the tanks over the next two years.

Phase four is the actual implementation of the permanent closures of the tank, Rear Adm. Steve Barnett, commander of Navy Region Hawaii, said at the news conference.

This includes ventilating and cleaning the 20 large tanks, the surge tanks and the associated piping, he said. We're also going to have to put in place some tank security, electricity and access for long-term maintenance and environmental monitoring.

The independent contractor will seek input from regulators, stakeholders, academia and the public for ideas about how the empty tanks might be used if left in place.

Barnett mentioned hydroelectric and some type of storage as realistic examples of future uses for the tanks.

Capt. Cameron Geertsema, commander of Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Hawaii, told reporters that a top priority in closure is remediation and removal of fuel-contaminated soil around and below the tanks.

Some of that work is straightforward removal of soil with shovel-in-the-ground kind of stuff, he said.

But given the size and depth of the tanks, other methods of cleanup will be needed.

The Navy is working with architectural engineering firms on technologies such as chemical injections and vapor extraction to mitigate contamination, he said.
KYIV, Ukraine  Bathed in red light and surrounded by the booming sound of explosions, Ukrainian soldiers and civilians raced against the clock to stanch wounds before their comrades bleed out.

White strobe lights flashed in the darkness, and a woman screamed as they strapped tourniquets on limbs, checked for labored breathing and ran through smoke to evacuate casualties to safety.

The simulated scene repeats on a regular basis in the basement of a run-down military training school near the outskirts of Ukraines capital city, where instructors with the Ukrainian outfit KoLeSo and the American nonprofit Task Force Yankee Ukraine teach soldiers and civilians the basics of combat medical care.

Its one thing to know how to put a tourniquet on and how to stuff a wound but to save a life in chaos is a whole different thing, and thats what youve got to learn, said Mike Postupak, 56, who served as a U.S. Marine corporal and now leads Kyiv operations for the American group.

Founded by four U.S. veterans in the early days of Russias invasion of Ukraine in February, Task Force Yankee Ukraine has crisscrossed the country to prepare more than 12,000 Ukrainians to treat the unique injuries of war.

They offer an unmatched American military export: training in Tactical Combat Casualty Care, or TCCC, which is considered the gold standard for trauma life support on the battlefield. The set of guidelines developed by the Pentagon aims to identify and stop massive bleeding, respiratory impairment and other ailments caused by serious injury until a casualty can be transported to a hospital.

KoLeSo adapted the methodology for its own training system in 2014, after Russias first incursion into Ukraine, and regularly works with Americans to supplement its teaching staff. Members of the all-volunteer Task Force Yankee Ukraine step in several times a week to teach classes and hold their own trainings to meet high demand. The makeup of the group changes frequently. Most are veterans, others are either paramedics or first responders. Some are not Americans.

We keep this going every day, American veteran Angel Luna said as he watched a class practice wrapping casualties in foil to retain heat and lessen blood loss. Most of the people we get have never held a weapon in their hand so this is doing a great deal; and the people we train, they use their knowledge and they train other soldiers. It's a ripple effect.

Luna, who was a specialist with the North Carolina National Guard, quit his job in a Walmart warehouse in Nebraska to join Task Force Yankee Ukraine in May.

He said he was inspired by the words tattooed on his upper arm: Protect freedom, not just for your country, but for all. He had been following Ukraines plight since 2016 and flew the countrys blue-and-yellow flag in his yard alongside Americas.

I truly believe in these peoples freedoms, said Luna, 30. I feel I have a purpose.

That zeal prompted him to drive to Washington, D.C., at the end of February to stand at attention in front of the Ukrainian Embassy where he was arrested for having firearms in his car.

Luna pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, and he said he served 40 hours of community service.

What I wanted to do was show the world that America was at the ready to help, he said.

Recent missile and drone strikes in Kyiv, where the organizations operations are based and where there is a hostel where all volunteers stay, have not deterred Luna from his mission. The groups members also travel widely throughout Ukraine to wherever unit commanders need them, including the Kharkiv, Luhansk, Odesa, Cherkasy, Vinnytsia and Lviv regions.

I understand the risks, and I accept them, Luna said. Any one of us here can die any second, but it doesnt scare me, Im going to go out there and help.

The attacks on the capital in mid-October after months of relative calm rattled the civilian population so much that Task Force Yankee Ukraine is now largely training government employees and other nonmilitary city residents, Postupak said.

It seems to me that theyre kind of feeling the reality of it, he said. I stress the point, especially to a lot of the government workers, that you are probably a target on someones map and what happened Monday can happen to you here today and maybe your dear friend who you loved is bleeding out in front of you so please learn this.

Postupak arrived in Kyiv from Oregon in September after itching to come to Ukraines aid for months. He is the son of a Ukrainian immigrant father and has family in the country he helped advise as they fled their homes for a cottage in the woods at the start of the war.

My heart just goes out to the Ukrainian people, he said.

As Postupak watched Russias invasion unfold, he took stock of the skills that he gained through six years of service with the 11th Marine Regiment in the 1980s and decided to put them to use. He was given leave from his private security job, left his wife and two children in the U.S. and tapped into his savings to work as an instructor for no pay until his authorized 90-day stay in Ukraine expires in December.

Its fulfilling to see some of the appreciation on people when theyre done, Postupak said. Soldiers, for instance, they think they know what to do, but well run a scenario and let them do it and when you point out all the things they missed they realize, Oh crap everybody wouldve been dead with what I knew at this time. When they see the difference, theyre so appreciative of that.

Oleksandr, a 54-year-old freshly minted soldier from the occupied port city of Berdiansk, watched intently as his comrades acted out a casualty simulation on the broken pavement of a parking lot on a recent evening. He had dutifully recited the steps of trauma care hours earlier, straining to recall their correct order as a Ukrainian KoLeSo instructor prodded him.

Nearly everything was new to him.

I knew almost nothing that I learned today  how to use a tourniquet, how to stop heavy bleeding, how to administer first aid, Oleksandr said, declining to provide his last name for security reasons. I didnt know any of this until today.

Prior to the war, he tended to a 20-acre farm with 10 cows and other livestock. He was in Russia when the fighting began and spent months getting home to the southern Zaporizhzhia region as sanctions sealed off borders, ultimately traveling back through Crimea.

Oleksandr returned to a city under stifling Russian occupation.

You cant breathe there, you cant live there, he said.

Oleksandr continued moving toward Ukrainian-held territory, paying people to help him evade certain Russian checkpoints as he crossed through the front line. As soon as he could, he headed to a military recruitment office to volunteer for the army.

My only wish is to run the occupants from our lands, thats what we all constantly think about and train for, Oleksandr said.

In addition to training, Task Force Yankee Ukraine has produced first-aid kits for soldiers deploying to the front, transported about 25 tons of medical supplies and humanitarian aid, evacuated wounded civilians and housed some 300 refugees who flooded into Poland in March, said Joe Meacham, 41, the groups director of operations and security.

Meacham, a 15-year Army veteran based in Alaska, said the organization is modeled on the structure of an Army or Marine Corps battalion, with staff sections and a command-and-control cell but without rank or yelling.

We have to be delicate because everybodys a volunteer, he said.

Most members served in the military, and the group particularly seeks out those with medical training or command experience. Jason Rhind, a 36-year-old from Bermuda, was among the first wave of volunteers with Task Force Yankee Ukraine and had previously served as a teacher and medic in the Royal Bermuda Regiment.

TCCC is probably one of the most valuable skills you can learn in the military, he said.

Lidiya Todoraschko, a 42-year-old homemaker, has no intentions of fighting in battle, but she signed up for a first-aid class at the urging of a friend who fought in the countrys eastern Donbas region in 2014 and 2015.

This is the kind of information that every Kyivan needs to know now, she said, recovering in the cold air after participating in the red-soaked mass casualty simulation in the basement.

She brought her 18-year-old son, Bohdan, along for the eight-hour day. He is eager to enlist in the Ukrainian army, and she wants him to be prepared in case her efforts to dissuade him fail.

Im not sure Ill be able to keep him at home and in case of an emergency, I want to be confident that he can put on a tourniquet and take care of himself, Todoraschko said.

Postupak said Task Force Yankee Ukraine tailors training to fit its wide range of students. Service members learn how to establish perimeters for evacuations, for example, while civilians might be taught how to check whether areas are safe to enter and, if need be, how to drag a casualty to a safe place, he said.

Masha had little faith that she would be able to do any of the latter. The 28-year-old survived and escaped the siege of Mariupol and, though hardened by the experience, believes she will be just as distraught if faced with a similar situation.

For three weeks, she hunkered down with her family in their fifth-floor apartment as windows were blown out, and the city burned. She avoided sleeping in her bed for two weeks. When she decided finally to spend the night in her bedroom, she woke up to debris narrowly missing her head.

The state of shock as shards of glass and debris are flying is something Ive never been in, Masha said, declining to provide her last name. You become overwhelmed and lost and dont know what to do.

She came to KoLeSo hoping to gain more practice in high-stress situations. Her parents remain in Russian-occupied Mariupol, lucky to be among the few city residents whose home was not significantly damaged or destroyed.

At least one person in the family should know how to do this, Masha said.

Postupak has big dreams for the future of Task Force Yankee Ukraine as more Ukrainians see the value of preparing for the bloody realities of war even far from the front lines. He wants to add training modules on demining or maybe what to do in the event of a nuclear catastrophe. He would like to expand operations to Zaporizhzhia, but that requires more people.

Were a hand-to-mouth organization, the more money we get, the more impact we have, said Meacham, who was a noncommissioned officer in the service.

The groups personnel, donations and support have dwindled from peaks in the spring and summer as Ukraine fatigue sets in, Postupak said. Volunteers constantly come and go, rotating in and out in 90-day cycles to adhere to the countrys visa laws.

Its harder to get people to come over here, Postupak said. Its hard to keep things going.

Task Force Yankee Ukraine is now working with a skeleton crew of six to eight men and will probably scale down further over the bitter Ukrainian winter, he said. Postupak said he anticipates revving back up again in the spring, though he is not certain whether finances will permit him to come back himself.

Postupak said his mission in Ukraine will not feel complete until he has fine-tuned the training and poured all his knowledge into making it the best it could be. Only then will he be comfortable stepping away.

This program is good, its toward the top notch right now, but you can always do better, he said. Id really like to come back and finish the job. Someone has to do it.
VILSECK, Germany  St. Aegidius parish church has been renovated many times since the 12th century, but no one ever adorned it with an American muscle car until recently.

A 20-year-old American was driving through construction near the market square in the small Bavarian village of Vilseck on Thursday when his navigation system led him down the wrong path, Vilseck police said Wednesday. Police did not disclose the Americans identity.

The navigation guidance took the driver down the church steps, where the car got stuck, police said.

A towing company removed the car the same day. There was no damage to the stairs, and Vilseck police let the newly licensed driver off with a warning.

Pictures of the late-model Dodge Charger parked on the churchs steps soon made their way into regional newspapers after police announced the incident last week.

Those reports didnt mention the drivers nationality. But U.S. soldiers in the town, which hosts a portion of the largest Army training ground in Europe, came to their own conclusions.

That make and model are rarely seen at dealerships in Europe other than those on U.S. bases.

The photos soon showed up on U.S. Army WTF! Moments social media sites under the headline, Nothing more American than parking your 17% interest dodge charger on the steps of a German Church #usausausa.

The post attracted more than 800 mostly snarky comments, some of which thought that 17% might be a good rate for a young soldier with little or no credit.

The 2022 Chargers sticker price of $30,940 is a few thousand dollars more than the basic annual pay of a private first class with less than three years of service.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS. The current economic growth rate in Armenia allows to consider as resolved the economic difficulties caused by the pandemic and the war and to restore the economic development pace, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during the debate of the 2023 state budget draft in the joint session of parliamentary standing committees.

Today, the economy of Armenia in fact is booming. According to the data of January-September, the economic activity index comprised 14.1%. This is a highly important indicator. Its important to note that this rate gives us an opportunity to consider, in fact, the economic difficulties resulting from the pandemic and the war in 2020 as overcome and to restore our economic development pace, which is highly important. In other words, this year we have an opportunity in terms of economy and will use that opportunity to return to the pace of 2019, the PM stated.

He highlighted appreciating this economic dynamics. The PM assured that in 2018 the governments approach to the economy was the following that the government must interfere in the economic relations as little as possible, should be more concerned with creating economic opportunities and overcoming the economic problems.

In this respect I think that today we are collecting the fruits in some sense thanks to our policy of eliminating monopolies, oligarchy, our policy of ensuring that everyone is equal before the law and overcoming the systematic corruption, he said, adding that this was the action set by the government.

He said that they put these political pillars on the basis of the economic growth.

Pashinyan also said that a very important event took place this year in terms of Armenias economic image. Armenia has been ranked 11th among 100 countries in the Economic Freedom Index.
Poland has begun building a razor-wire fence along its 130-mile border with the Russian military exclave of Kaliningrad over concerns that Moscow could instigate a migration crisis in the area, Polands defense minister said Wednesday.

The barrier, which will be 8 feet tall and 10 feet deep, is being constructed not far from where a U.S.-led battlegroup is positioned to defend a vulnerable swath of NATO territory.

Construction has begun on the wall, Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak told reporters in Warsaw.

The barrier will be made up of three rows of razor wire, such as is used by armies the world over, Blaszczak said.

The barrier, described as temporary, also would include an electronic monitoring system and cameras.

Although Blaszczak cited a potential migrant crisis in the area, much like the one last year along Polands border with Belarus, the broader area has been a long-standing security concern for NATO allies.

Western security analysts have cautioned that in the event of a crisis, Russia could seal off the Baltic states from the rest of NATO by seizing the Suwalki Gap, a vulnerable choke point that connects Poland to Lithuania.

A quick-reaction NATO force that consists of hundreds of U.S. and other allied soldiers is based about 50 miles from Russias military hub in Kaliningrad.

Blaszczak said the fencing on the border with Kaliningrad is intended to accomplish the same result as the barrier Poland built to block the earlier influx of migrants. Polish and Western leaders accused Belarus, a Russian ally, of instigating the migration in an attempt to create division within the European Union.

It was effective in preventing a hybrid attack from Belarus or slowing that attack down significantly, he said.
UNITED NATIONS  Russia's invasion of Ukraine has driven some 14 million Ukrainians from their homes in "the fastest, largest displacement witnessed in decades," sparking an increase in the number of refugees and displaced people worldwide to more than 103 million, the U.N. refugee chief said Wednesday.

Filippo Grandi, who heads the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, told the U.N. Security Council that Ukrainians are about to face "one of the world's harshest winters in extremely difficult circumstances," including the continuing destruction of civilian infrastructure that is "quickly making the humanitarian response look like a drop in the ocean of needs."

Humanitarian organizations have "dramatically scaled up their response," he said, "but much more must be done, starting with an end to this senseless war."

But given "the likely protracted nature of the military situation," Grandi said his agency is preparing for further population movements both inside and outside Ukraine.

In his wide-ranging briefing, Grandi told members of the U.N.'s most powerful body that while Ukraine continues to grab headlines, his agency has responded to 37 emergencies around the world in the last 12 months arising from conflicts.

"Yet, the other crises are failing to capture the same international attention, outrage, resources, action," he said.

Grandi pointed to the more than 850,000 Ethiopians displaced in the first half of the year, and said the recent surge in conflict in that nation's northern Tigray region has had "an even more devastating impact on civilians."

The U.N. refugee agency is also in Myanmar, where the country's military rulers are facing armed resistance and an estimated 500,000 people were displaced in the first half of the year, Grandi said.

Humanitarian access remains "a huge challenge," he said, adding that a return home remains distant for the almost 1 million Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled from Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh.

In Congo, brutal attacks including sexual violence against women have added more than 200,000 people to the 5.5 million already displaced in the country, Grandi said.

He lamented that "the horrors" he witnessed when he worked in Congo 25 years ago are repeating themselves, "with displacement being, once again, both a consequence of conflict and a complicating factor in the web of local and international tensions."

Addressing a council responsible for ensuring international peace and security, Grandi said: "Surely we can do better in trying to bring peace to this beleaguered region."

The refugee chief said these crises and others, including the longstanding issue of refugees from Afghanistan and Syria and the complex flow of migrants from the Americas, "are not only fading from media attention but are being failed by global inaction."

Reasons for displacement are also becoming more complex, with new factors forcing people to flee including the climate emergency, Grandi said.

He urged greater attention and much greater financing for preventing and adapting to the warming planet, warning that otherwise tensions and competition will grow "and spark wider conflict with deadly consequences, including displacement.

"And what is a starker example of `loss and damage' than being displaced and dispossessed from one's home?" he asked.

Last week, Grandi said he met emaciated Somalis who had walked for days to get help and whose children had died on the way, and Somali refugees "pushed into already drought-affected areas of Kenya."

He praised the Kenyan government, despite its own challenges, for " making a landmark shift from encampment of refugees to inclusion  a transition that I hope all will robustly support."

Grandi expressed hope that this month's U.N. summit on climate change in Egypt and the summit in the United Arab Emirates next year will take into account both climate's link to conflict and the displacement it causes.

But Grandi said this is not enough. He said the U.N. refugee agency needs $700 million by the end of the year to avoid severe cuts in its services.

He further called for strengthened peacebuilding to prevent the recurrence of conflict, including by reinforcing the police, judiciary and local government in fragile countries. He said that security also must be improved for humanitarian workers who are under increasing threat and that the Security Council needs to overcome its divisions on humanitarian issues.

"Because what I saw in Somalia last week was a condemnation of us all," Grandi said.

He pointed to "a world of inequality where extraordinary levels of suffering are getting scandalously low levels of attention and resources," adding that those who contribute the least to global challenges such as climate change "are suffering most from their consequences."
(Tribune News Service)  Russian President Vladimir Putin's swift and severe response to an attack on his Black Sea fleet reflects a war that is increasingly marked by a duel between long-range Russian missiles and Ukraine's innovative array of drones and truck bombs.

Putin on Monday made clear why he was suspending Russia's involvement in a deal that for three months had allowed much-needed Ukrainian grain to be shipped to global markets: He wants to secure the Russian Navy's ships after an attack by air and sea drones.

On Wednesday, Russia's defense ministry said Moscow was rejoining the grain agreement, after receiving assurances from Ukraine that the safe passage corridor it established won't be used for attacks. The episode speaks volumes about the dual nature of a war that's now being fought as intensely behind the front lines as on them.

The Crimea-based Black Sea Fleet may no longer pose the threat of imminent amphibious assault it did at the outset of Putin's invasion, but according to the US and Ukraine it's been launching Kalibr cruise missiles that form part of the missile barrages Russia has been unleashing on Ukrainian cities for weeks.

And while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's forces have no direct equivalents in their arsenal to fire back with, they're finding other ways to respond.

The long-range war that the Black Sea Fleet forms part of is only likely to become more important in the coming months, as fighting on the ground is slowed by autumn rain and falling winter temperatures, adding to exhaustion on both armies in a high intensity conflict that's been underway since February.

It is a "war of drones," Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov told Forbes Ukraine in an interview published Monday, adding his country was on the cusp of a boom in their manufacture, including a model specifically designed to shoot down the Shahed-136 loitering drones the U.S. says Russia bought from Iran. "Those who can now scale the management and production of strike drones on an industrial level will win," Fedorov said.

Russia denies its Geran-2 drones are re-labeled Shaheds bought from Iran. On Tuesday, U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. was concerned "Iran might be considering the provision of surface-to-surface missiles to Russia in addition to the drones."

Putin's own production lines are hampered by sanctions on key components such as silicon chips.

In the meantime, Ukraine appears to be using whatever means it can find to strike behind Russian lines. On Tuesday, the intelligence arm of Ukraine's defense ministry celebrated the destruction of two night-attack helicopters, and damage to two others, by hand-set explosives at Russia's Pskov air base. Pskov is more than 700 km (435 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for Saturday's use of unmanned boats against the Russian fleet. But it described as "the beginning" an Oct. 8 truck bomb attack that disabled a key bridge linking the Russian mainland to Crimea, which Putin annexed in 2014. The bridge is about 250 miles from the nearest Ukrainian controlled territory. Ukraine has also struck numerous behind-the-lines targets within the 50 miles reach of US HIMARS rockets.

Answering questions after a meeting with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan at Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi, Putin first reiterated his claim that as little as 3% to 5% of grain released through the July 22 grain deal's secure corridor was going to the poor countries that were supposed to get it.

The correct figure is 20%, according to the United Nations, which also says the goal with the agreement was to reduce soaring global grain prices, rather than to send specifically Ukrainian grain to poor countries.

"But that isn't the point," Putin continued. The point, he said, was that Ukraine had attacked the Black Sea Fleet with 20-foot-long boat drones that packed with explosives. "This is not a joke."

The attack failed, according to Putin, but it put at risk both Russian and international shipping. To lift the suspension on the grain deal, he said he wanted the U.N.  which brokered the agreement  to get Ukraine to guarantee the security of the agreement's corridor. That assurance now appears to have been given and could give the fleet at Sevastopol a measure of protection to continue launching Kalibr missiles across Ukraine.

The war's different theaters  front line, long range and economic  are tightly interwoven. Taken together, they suggest Putin still has an ambitious strategy to control Ukraine, rather than one based around any sudden nuclear escalation to stop or settle the war, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a U.S. think tank that closely follows the conflict.

The same hold-territory-and-wait strategy is consistent with withdrawals to new defensive lines in Ukraine's southern Kherson province. It's in line, too, with the recent campaign of missile strikes on energy infrastructure aimed at eroding public morale, creating a renewed refugee crisis in Europe, and hindering Ukraine's war effort.

It isn't clear that any of those goals are yet being achieved, but temperatures will fall further. The nation's electricity utility said Wednesday it would order more power outages to maintain the grid in northern and central Ukraine. Zelenskyy, in an overnight statement, said he asked the EU for help in restoring the country's energy infrastructure, 40% of which has been damaged.

Ukraine's General Staff said on Facebook that Russia launched another seven missile and 47 air attacks over the previous day.

Despite optimism in Ukraine that Russian forces can be pushed back to the east bank of the Dnipro river at Kherson by the end of the year, "it looks very much like a hard fight," Michael Kofman, a specialist in Russia's military at the CNA security think tank in Washington, said in a recent podcast.

Kofman, who just returned from a field trip to Ukraine, said Russian forces were digging multiple lines of defense around Kherson in a way they had failed to do in the north east, the scene of September's rapid Ukrainian counteroffensive.

"Putin still thinks he can win time while support for Ukraine withers, and he's getting some positive signals" from the U.S., where both progressive Democrats and Trump Republicans recently expressed reservations about the scale of military and financial aid to the country, said Mykola Bielieskov, a research fellow at the National Institute for Strategic Studies, a government think tank in Kyiv.

Bielieskov said there probably will be a few weeks for Ukraine to claw back territory and inflict Russian losses before winter sets in. The slowdown that follows is likely to be less the result of inclement weather, he said, than of the need for both sides to rest and rebuild after more than eight months in the field.

In the meantime, the long range battle is only likely to accelerate as both sides ramp up production and purchases of attack drones and missiles. Putin's threats of nuclear Armageddon have been over-played, according to Bielieskov, and should be seen as part of a successful strategy to deter the U.S. from supplying Ukraine with the 300 km (190 mile) Army Tactical Missile Systems it needs to level the long range playing field.

"We are trying to innovate," Bielieskov said. "We are trying to compensate for our lack of long range fire."

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As Russia punctuates its mounting losses in Ukraine with overt threats and private deliberations about the possible use of nuclear weapons and dirty bombs, Western leaders are being forced to grapple with whether Moscow is planning a dramatic escalation on the battlefield - a development that would leave the United States and NATO with a limited set of options to respond.

President Biden and his advisers have been closely tracking the Kremlins signaling, which Biden has opined is pitching the world closer to Armageddon than at any point since the Cuban missile crisis. Cabinet-level officials, too, have been warning publicly that any move by Russia to make good on its threats will be answered decisively, with catastrophic consequences.

Last month, senior Russian military leaders began discussing the potential use of a tactical nuclear weapon should their forces face considerable new setbacks in Ukraine, according to two people familiar with the U.S. intelligence. Their conversations, first reported by the New York Times, were speculative and did not entail explicit plans to use such weapons or identify possible targets, these people said on the condition of anonymity to discuss information deemed highly sensitive. But the intelligence concerned Washington considerably and was closely followed by the first contact between top U.S. and Russian military officials in several months.

The Pentagon declined to comment on the specific intelligence regarding Russian leaders recent conversations.

A White House spokesman, John Kirby, said Wednesday that the administration has no indications that Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to use a nuclear weapon, but that we have grown increasingly concerned about the potential as these months have gone on. The United States, he said, continues to monitor Russias nuclear signaling as best we can.

Administration officials have demurred when asked to specify what that response might look like, citing the need for strategic ambiguity - and the value of keeping their options open. They have been plenty specific, they say, with Russia via private channels, including direct engagements between Cabinet-level officials and their counterparts in Moscow that have been increasing in frequency as the Kremlins rhetoric grows more threatening. They also stress that the United States has a vast array of response options from which to choose.

Yet the administrations hands may be more tied than its representatives would like to admit.

Sanctions would be an obvious means of punishment - but some experts worry that punitive economic moves alone will not be sufficient to bring Putin to heel.

Sanctions dont have a proven track record of serving as a successful deterrent, said Eddie Fishman, a former State Department employee who worked on the Russian sanctions portfolio during the Obama administration and now teaches at Columbia University. Unfortunately, the ship has sailed on that. . . . The United States has to be prepared to use military force.

A military response would be a more forceful display of Western repudiation, but a retaliatory attack on Russian interests risks igniting a war between NATO and Russia, something the Biden administration has thus far studiously tried to avoid.

The idea of meeting a nuclear strike with a nuclear strike, according to experts, is expressly off the table.

I do not think the United States would even contemplate a nuclear response. If Putin is bad by blowing up a nuke, then the U.S. is also bad by blowing up a nuke, said Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists. You break the taboo, and you dont get anything out of it - the only thing you get out of it is more nuclear escalation.

That leaves the United States in strategically uncharted territory. For decades, the whole approach to maintaining, updating and growing the U.S. nuclear arsenal has been to deter attacks on the homeland, U.S. allies and other interests. It is far less clear what the playbook is for checking a rival nuclear power that carries out a radioactive attack against a third-party country in a manner that offends morally and upends decades of precedent - but doesnt necessarily pose a direct, physical threat to U.S. or NATO soil.

The political context, the intelligence, the intent and our overall context here would matter a lot, said Thomas Karako, who runs the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He threw out a few example considerations: What was the nature of nuclear use, what was the altitude, what were the effects, how many people died?

The heightened concern over a Russian radioactive attack has centered around two key scenarios: Moscow using a dirty bomb or a tactical nuclear weapon against Ukraine.

The dirty bomb speculation is tied to comments made by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, and repeated last week by Putin, suggesting Ukraine planned to detonate a device loaded with fissile material on its own territory. U.S. and Western officials believe it is more likely that Russias warnings were in fact the opening steps of a false-flag operation, signaling the Kremlins intentions to use such a weapon and blame Ukrainians for the fallout, literally.

Those comments added new urgency to worries that Moscow might draw from its copious arsenal of low-yield nuclear weapons to strike a devastating but geographically limited blow against Ukraine. Such a move would not only terrorize the local population, but throw down a gauntlet at the feet of the rest of the globe, which has not seen a nuclear weapon used in combat since the 1945 bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - attacks carried out by the United States, as Putin has made a point of recalling.

The only country in the world which has used nuclear weapons against a nonnuclear state was the United States of America; they used it twice against Japan, he reminded attendees of the Valdai Discussion Club last week. What was the goal? There was no military need for it at all. . . . The U.S. is the only country that has done it because it believed it was in its interests.

Yet despite the urgency that such potential developments have injected into government planning, Washington has mostly downplayed the idea that Putin will make good on his threats. Military leaders have similarly sought to defuse Bidens recent declaration that Putin was not joking about a potential Armageddon, stressing it was far more likely that the Kremlins beleaguered strongman was letting off some steam, as Ukrainian fighters push the Russian military into a string of embarrassing retreats.

Biden walked back his own comments days later, saying he didnt think Putin would actually use nuclear weapons.

In recent days, Putin also has been trying to backpedal. Last week, in his Valdai Discussion Club speech, he insisted that his government had never said anything proactively about Russia potentially using nuclear weapons; all we did was hint in response to statements made by Western leaders. Putin also insisted that Russia had no need to use either a nuclear weapon or a dirty bomb, arguing, there is no sense in it for us, neither political nor military.

But U.S. officials are loath to let their guard down. According to administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss their assessments of the battlefield, Russia is unlikely to be cowed into a complete retreat anytime soon, even as Ukraines recent battlefield victories put its forces on the back foot. And as Russia exhausts its troops and its conventional arsenal, the danger is rising of Moscow turning to more-insidious tactics and weapons to beat back Ukraines counteroffensives.

The practical effect of their depletion of their conventional forces is unfortunately an even greater reliance on their nuclear forces, a senior defense official told reporters last week, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss U.S. nuclear strategy.

Against that backdrop, U.S. officials have been acutely resistant to signaling any sort of limits on using the U.S. nuclear arsenal - the only one in the world of a size that can rival Russias - to constrain Putins intentions. They continued to stay mum even after French President Emmanuel Macron stated last month that France would not meet a Russian nuclear strike on Ukraine with a nuclear strike on Russia - a position he later defended under fire, stating, we do not want a World War.

Military analysts believe that in a head-to-head matchup of conventional forces, NATO far and away has the advantage.

Thats why hes been making these nuclear threats all along anyway; hes been trying to deter NATO from getting involved conventionally, said Heather Williams, director of the Project on Nuclear Issues at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Yet officials and experts increasingly think that what may bring Putin back from the brink of radioactive warfare is the threat not of mutually assured destruction from the West, but of losing his last remaining allies.

Russia has managed to keep its war machine and domestic economy afloat despite an array of punishing Western sanctions, thanks to oil and gas sales. Over the eight months since the Ukraine invasion, Russia has pumped fossil fuels not only into the energy grids of Europe, but the massive markets of China and India as well.

Beijing and New Delhi, which are both nuclear powers, have remained largely neutral on Russias invasion of Ukraine, repeatedly abstaining from key United Nations votes condemning Moscows war and recent annexation of Ukrainian territory. They have thus far declined to embrace Western efforts to establish price caps on Russian oil that might limit energy profits flowing back to Moscow.

But experts doubt China and India would stand by Moscow should it employ a nuclear weapon.

For Putin, any nuclear use is a huge risk, because he cant know for certain, one way or another, how New Delhi and Beijing will respond to it, Williams said, stressing that the Asian economic powerhouses might distance themselves from Russia if Putin crosses a line.

If Russias last remaining friends were to demonstrate their disdain over use of a radioactive weapon, it could pull the rug out from under Moscows entire war effort.

Using nuclear weapons, it might win the battle, Williams said, but not the war.
Policy leaders in Big Tech have revved up a push for Congress to pass immigration changes before the end of the year, with a pitch aligning those policies to the national security concerns that sparked a recently enacted science and technology funding law.

Tech leaders say they hope to persuade Congress to follow up the law passed three months ago, which aims to reinvest in domestic semiconductor manufacturing and scientific research, with measures to draw the foreign talent to U.S. businesses that they say is needed to make that happen.

Concerns about high migration levels at the U.S-Mexico border have overwhelmed discussions about immigration legislation this Congress, including revisions to key employment-based immigration programs for foreign professionals with advanced degrees.

But the tech sector hopes to connect the issue with the stated goals of the law, known as the CHIPS and Science Act, to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to American shores and better compete with foreign rivals like China.

Linda Moore, president and CEO of TechNet, a tech lobbying group that counts Amazon, Apple and Google among its members, said the sector can now frame follow-up immigration action as a chance "to deliver on the promise of what this bill was passed to do."

"It is a national security issue," Moore said. "Cybersecurity alone, but also the fact that it's high-skilled immigration and filling the jobs that we need in companies across the industry, defense contractors being one of them."

These proposals could be tacked onto broader, must-pass bills in the period after the midterm elections, such as the fiscal 2023 annual spending package or defense policy bill.

With less than two months left in the legislative sessionand a perennial stalemate on immigration billsthe window of opportunity is quickly closing for any immigration changes. Tech leaders also face an uphill battle to get these changes into law.

Close call

Congress came close earlier this year to including some immigration measures in the CHIPS law. The House's version included provisions that would have created a startup visa program and eased the visa process for foreign citizens with high-level science degreesbut they did not survive negotiations with the Senate over the scope of the bill.

Several Republican senators initially signaled openness to House-passed immigration provisions in the CHIPS Act once the bill moved to the other side of the Capitol. But Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee that oversees immigration, promptly dismissed them as "unrelated" to the legislation's goals.

Still, Karan Bhatia, head of government affairs and public policy at Google, said he sees immigration changes as a natural and necessary next step to investing in domestic technological innovation. He added Google has become "more vocal and even more engaged" on immigration issues in recent years.

"If we are doubling down on the country's financial commitment to this phase, it only makes sense to marry that with a competitive immigration system that allows us to match the human resources that are needed with the financial investment," Bhatia said.

David Shahoulian, a former Homeland Security official during the Obama and Biden administrations who now serves as Intel Corp.'s director of workforce policy and government affairs, said the CHIPS law shows that "policymakers on the Hill want to grow semiconductor R&D and manufacturing in the United States."

Intel has already announced plans after the competition bill passed to expand its semiconductor manufacturing across the country. "As we grow the industry in the United States, our labor needs are going to grow," Shahoulian said.

Stewart Verdery, founder of lobbying firm Monument Advocacy and a former Homeland Security official during the Bush administration, said a push for visas for foreign-born engineers at semiconductor fabrication plants, often called fabs, may fare better politically than past efforts for visas in the software industry, which relies heavily on foreign workers.

"Software's very hard to understand and see. A factory you can see," Verdery said. "I do think this idea that high-skilled immigrants are helping with these fabs and these chips plants is a more sympathetic, more likely to work argument, than software, which is so ephemeral and hard to understand."

Political challenges

Big Tech has long advocated for legislation revising key facets of the U.S. immigration system, which is currently plagued by backlogs and visa caps that have not been updated in decades.

And lawmakers on both sides of the aisle generally concede that the current system, largely crafted in the mid-20th century, could use a face lift.

For example, five Republicans, three Democrats and one independent backed a proposed amendment to this year's must-pass, fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act that would prevent the children of work visa holders from "aging out" of their parents' green card applications while they wait in backlogs.

But congressional Republicans consistently link immigration proposals, even those related to measures that could help businesses, to challenges at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Democratic party has also grown more wary of immigration changes championed by Big Tech, as members have grown friendlier to unions that have historically cautioned against expanding temporary visa programs that could displace U.S. workers.

Faraz Khan, legislative director the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, a union of tech workers, questioned employer claims that the U.S. is facing severe labor shortages and said he would like to see improved government data on the labor market.

And while he said he supports efforts to improve existing visa programs, particularly when coupled with investments in the domestic workforce and wage safeguards, he would like to see employers address any shortages by raising salaries.

"This is a difficult space to really move forward with solutions that work for all workers  for workers that are in the U.S., workers that are coming in from overseas so they're not taken advantage of  and benefits the economy broadly," Khan said. "It's difficult because there are a lot of competing interests. There's a lot of money tied up in all of this."

Democratic leaders have also expressed hesitancy to move forward with legal immigration changes without offering relief to the undocumented population, an issue that has garnered less support across the aisle.

Jeremy Neufeld, senior immigration fellow at the Institute For Progress, a nonpartisan think tank, predicted any immigration proposals would not ultimately be included in this year's defense policy bill.

"I think lawmakers are going to find themselves regretting letting this opportunity pass by when the new chips investments run into the labor crunch on the ground," Neufeld said.

But most tech leaders and lobbyists said they don't plan to give up their efforts even if Republicans win majorities next year.

"We can't wait a decade or two," Moore said. "I don't know how to say it any other way: we will go backwards if we don't."

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(Tribune News Service)  CVS Health Corp., Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. and Walmart Inc. have tentatively agreed to pay more than $12 billion to resolve thousands of state and local government lawsuits accusing the chains of mishandling opioid painkillers, according to people familiar with the matter.

The proposed settlement  potentially one of the last big accords spawned by more than five years of litigation over the highly addictive painkillers  calls for CVS to pay $4.9 billion, Walgreens to pay at least $4 billion and Walmart to pay $3 billion, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren't authorized to speak publicly about the tentative deal.

The settlement won't be finalized until enough states, counties and cities agree to it, the people said. That's the way a $26 billion opioid accord involving Johnson & Johnson and the three largest U.S. drug distributors was structured in 2021.

A group of six state attorneys general who targeted pharmacy providers for not properly monitoring opioid prescriptions handled by their companies led months of talks that generated the proposed accord, the people said.

Spokespeople for CVS, Walgreens and Walmart declined to comment Tuesday on the proposed deal. CVS is scheduled to announce third-quarter earnings Wednesday.

Bloomberg Intelligence's Holly Froum predicted a global deal wiping out the pharmacies' opioid exposure could cost $10 billion to $15 billion.

The settlement marks another step forward in the sweeping legal fight over opioids  blamed for more than 500,000 U.S. deaths over the last two decades. States, cities and counties filed almost 4,000 suits against more than a dozen drugmakers, distributors and pharmacies seeking compensation for billions spent battling the U.S. opioid epidemic. So far, they've recovered about $30 billion to bolster police and drug-treatment budgets, based on data collected by Bloomberg News.

Municipalities accuse the companies of downplaying the painkillers' addiction risks and sacrificing patient safety for billions in profits. They've had some success persuading juries to hold the companies liable for creating "public nuisances" by botching their handling of the painkillers. However, state and local government also have lost bids to tag drugmakers with responsibility for wrongdoing in connection with the epidemic.

The pharmacy chains were sued for allegedly failing to create legally mandated monitoring systems to detect illegitimate opioid prescriptions being filled. The companies countered that most of the problems tied to the painkillers come from illegal versions of the drugs brought in from outside the U.S. by criminal gangs.

In August, a federal judge overseeing all federal opioid suits ordered CVS, Walgreens and Walmart to pay $650 million in so-called "abatement fees" to help two Ohio counties cope with the fallout from the public-health crisis created by the epidemic. His ruling came after jurors held the chains responsible for lax opioid monitoring.

Judges in New Mexico and San Francisco are currently hearing evidence against Walgreens in cases accusing the company of fueling the opioid crisis.

The consolidated case is In Re National Prescription Opiate Litigation, 17-md-2804, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio (Cleveland).

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(Tribune News Service)  The Atlanta-Fulton County Emergency Management Agency and several other agencies on Tuesday prepared for the unthinkable: a nuclear detonation.

The agencies  local, state and federal officials, as well as military and civilian response teams  all participated in the mock exercises near Greenbriar Mall that was organized by the Defense Departments U.S. Northern Command in Colorado and Atlantas EMA.

They are designed to get agencies familiar with each other and a variety of response methods in order to determine the most efficient and effective way to save as many people as possible when time and lifesaving resources are limited.

The agencies had three key tasks to execute: Decontaminate all survivors, including pets, reunite families and keep the public accurately informed, Northern Command Lt. Col. Eric Miller said.

Miller, who is a Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) planning officer, said the drills are not in response to any active threats or current national or international events. The training program started before the COVID-19 pandemic but came to a halt as the virus progressed across the country and has restarted now that pandemic restrictions have eased, he said.

Were ( Defense Department) here to support  to help with the resiliency, to get the community back on their feet as quickly as possible, Miller said. For us here, this just happens to be an improvised nuclear device (scenario). It could be any other kind of disaster that requires decontamination.

Tuesdays training was the follow-up to a March exercise in which many of the same agencies practiced the same scenarios in a new tabletop drill at Georgia State Universitys Center Parc Stadium.

While countless people would die in a nuclear blast, many more could be saved with quick action, and the experience gleaned from the training exercises could pave the way for the development of a national model, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.

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YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS. The Russian partners proposed to delay the issue of the status of Nagorno Karabakh for an indefinite period of time. This approach is in full accordance with the approach of the government of Armenia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during the joint session of the parliamentary standing committees relating to the debate of the 2023 state budget draft.

You know that it is being discussed that there is a Russian and a non-Russian concept, an attempt was made to create an impression that the steps of the Armenian government contradict the conventionally speaking Russian concept. But of course, thats not the case. I can present why. I myself could not publicize it previously because it would have been a violation of ethics in some sense. But as the authors of the concepts have somehow revealed the subtlety, I can touch upon the issue from this point of view. You are aware that our colleagues of Russia have stated that in their opinion the right approach would be to delay the issue of the status of Nagorno Karabakh for an indefinite period of time. How is this explained? It is explained based on the fact that at the moment there is objectively no opportunity to find a status that will be mutually acceptable. Moreover, it must be admitted that this is not a new situation, but in any case. To what extent is the policy of the government of Armenia in accordance with this vision? I must say that it fully and 100% coincides, the PM said.

Pashinyan said that there are three components in the NK issue  the security, rights and status of Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh.

You have noticed that we have tried to put aside the word status as an issue of todays daily solution. Why? Precisely because of this vision. Because we agreed with our Russian colleagues that its not worth going and trying to solve this topic because it will lead to an inevitable crisis, he said.
ARLINGTON, Va.  A Defense Department police officer is facing criminal charges after he was arrested for distributing illicit drugs while off duty, according to local authorities.

Police in Arlington County, Va., where the Pentagon is located, said the officer  Eric Welch  was arrested Friday after investigators witnessed him buying illegal narcotics. They said he planned to sell those drugs as part of a trafficking scheme.

Welch is a member of the Pentagon Force Protection Agency and was not on duty when he was taken into custody. Authorities said he was carrying a firearm at the time of his arrest.

Arlington officials said investigators had been watching Welch for illegal drug activity.

Detectives initiated a narcotics investigation after receiving information regarding a suspect possibly distributing cocaine in Arlington County, county police said in a statement Monday. During the course of the investigation, detectives identified Welch as a suspect and obtained evidence confirming involvement in narcotics distribution.

Authorities said Welch was arrested on a street in Arlington about 2 miles southwest of the Pentagon. Police later searched his house nearby in Alexandria, where officials said they found more drugs and more firearms.

Welch, 33, is being held without bond on multiple charges, including possession with intent to distribute while armed. The PFPA said in a statement that hes been placed on administrative leave.

There are hundreds of officers in the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, which is responsible for security at the Pentagon and several other defense-related federal buildings, including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.

It wasnt immediately known whether detectives are looking for other possible suspects or whether they believe anyone else from the PFPA was involved. City officials said the investigation is ongoing.
ATLANTA  The Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham to testify before a Fulton County special grand jury later this month.

In a brief, unsigned order, the high court lifted a temporary stay on the South Carolina Republican's testimony before the grand jury, which is investigating attempts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn Georgia's 2020 elections.

Graham is currently scheduled to appear before jurors and prosecutors on Nov. 17. He must appear at the Fulton courthouse on that date  or potentially face legal consequences, such as a warrant for his arrest so he can be taken to Atlanta to testify.

The order, which had no noted dissent, said that Graham could still challenge individual questions under the U.S. Constitution's "Speech or Debate" clause, which shields members of Congress from being questioned about their official work.

The order also noted that the senator's broader appeal was passed along to all nine justices for their consideration. But it could take weeks or months for the court to weigh in, which could be too late given Graham's testimony date.

Fulton County prosecutors have said they are interested in questioning Graham about two phone calls the Trump ally placed to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in the weeks after the election. During those conversations, Graham discussed "reexamining certain absentee ballots cast in Georgia in order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump," according to his subpoena.

Graham has maintained he did nothing wrong and argued the calls are shielded from questioning because they constituted legitimate legislative fact-finding. At the time, he was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and was deciding whether to sign off on the Electoral College vote.

Prosecutors have argued that what Graham allegedly discussed with Raffensperger fell far outside of normal legislative activity and was fair game for questioning.

U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May ruled in August that Graham could be questioned about matters that are political in nature, including any communications or coordination with the Trump campaign; public statements he made about Georgia's 2020 elections; and any alleged effort to encourage or cajole Raffensperger to throw out ballots or alter Georgia's election practices. Prosecutors cannot ask about anything related to Graham's official work in Congress, she ordered.

Graham's office said in a statement on Tuesday that the Supreme Court "confirmed that the Constitution's Speech or Debate Clause applies here" and affirmed the senator's ability to challenge questions that run aground of the clause.

"The Senator's legal team intends to engage with the District Attorney's office on next steps to ensure respect for this constitutional immunity," it said.

A spokesman for the Fulton County District Attorney's Office declined to comment.

The order from the high court comes less than two weeks after a three-judge panel from the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Graham must testify.

It overruled a temporary stay Justice Clarence Thomas, who oversees the 11th Circuit, had placed on Graham's testimony last week while the Supreme Court considered arguments from both sides.

Under the order, Graham could raise any issues about individual questions from the grand jury or prosecutors to Judge May, an Obama appointee the Senate unanimously confirmed to the bench in 2014. Graham voted in favor of May's nomination at the time.

Steve Bright, a law professor from Yale and Georgetown law schools, said the Supreme Court's ruling means Graham "must answer questions about anything that is not protected by the" Speech or Debate clause.

Outside of those privileges, he said, prosecutors "can certainly ask him about anything else that is relevant to their inquiry."

Staff writer Bill Rankin contributed to this article.

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At least five service members were accounted for last month by the Defense Department agency tasked with recovering U.S. troops listed as missing in action or prisoners of war.

Three of the identifications made in October by the Hawaii-based Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency were killed at Pearl Harbor and during World War II. The other two fought in Korea, according to DPAA news releases.

One died on Battleship Row during Japans surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1941. Edward Conway, 29, an electricians mate from Auburn, Ill., was among 429 killed aboard the USS Oklahoma, which capsized following multiple torpedo hits. His remains were identified on Oct. 1, according to DPAA.

Both Korean War soldiers  Sgt. Howard Malcolm, 23, and Sgt. Allen Tuttle, 23  had been unaccounted for since December 1950 and died in the same POW camp, according to DPAA. Malcolm, who died in August 1951, was identified Oct. 25. Tuttle, who died in March 1951, was accounted for Oct. 26.

The agency also announced a number of identifications in October that had been made in prior months. Among these were two sailors who died during Japans surprise attack.

Keith Tipsword, 27, a machinists mate from Moccasin, Ill., was killed aboard the battleship USS West Virginia, the agency said. Floyd Clifford, 20, a seaman from Mulvane, Kansas, died nearby aboard the Oklahoma. Their remains were accounted for on July 12 and Sept. 27, respectively.
Exercise rider and now trainer Mark Fahey told the court that the horse disappeared from underneath me. I hit the bank

A racehorse rider who claims he was injured when he was thrown off a horse he was exercising for high profile trainer Jessica Harrington has sued in the High Court.

Exercise rider and now trainer Mark Fahey told the court that the horse disappeared from underneath me. I hit the bank.

He told Mr Justice Michael Hanna he was exercising the two year old gelding for the Harrington yard when the accident happened seven years ago.

His counsel Jonathan Kilfeather SC, instructed by Coonan Cawley solicitors, said at issue was the use of a stable bandage on one of the front legs of the horse which Mr Fahey believed was cut open by repeated striking of the bandage by the horses hind leg.

It was the equine equivalent of standing on your own shoelace, counsel said

The Harrington side which denies liability has contended the bandage used is the correct and safe one to use and is the type of bandage used worldwide for training horses.

It is further contended that what happened was an unfortunate accident which was not caused as a result of any alleged act or omission on the part of the Harrington side.

Mr Fahey (35) of Cloneygad, Monasterevin, Co Kildare has sued Ms Harrington of Commonstown Stud, Moone, Co Kildare and Jessica Harrington Racing, of the same address, as well as Commonstown Racing Stables Ltd with an office at Commonstown Stud.

On August 24, 2015, he claimed he was thrown from the horse while he was riding on a sand gallop.

He has claimed he was required to exercise a thoroughbred racehorse on the sand gallop while bandaged and when it was allegedly unsafe to do so.

He has further alleged a failure to ensure that the racehorse was exercised with protective boots rather than bandaging.

The racehorse was caused to trip up and lose his balance due to having allegedly cut open the bandages which had been applied to his forelegs, it is claimed.

Mr Fahey claimed he was thrown heavily to the ground and he suffered immediate and severe back pain as well as dental injuries and was taken to hospital.

The defendants deny the claims and say there was alleged contributory negligence on behalf of Mr Fahey in that he allegedly failed to exercise a reasonable level of care for his own safety and he was allegedly the author of his own misfortune.

In evidence, Mr Fahey said he had exercised the horse every day over two or three weeks and on the sand gallop five or six times.

He claimed on the day of the accident he was told they had to put on the stable bandages on the horse's front leg and he put insulating tape over the bandage.

He said after the fall he was in a lot of pain and told another rider to call an ambulance. He said he did not see what happened to the horse in the fall.

He said his teeth were broken in the incident and he was very grateful to Ms Harrington who paid for the dental work and also paid him for a time while he recovered from the fall.

Counsel for the Harrington side, Stephen Lanigan OKeeffe SC put it to Mr Fahey that the reality is it was just not known what happened.

Mr Fahey replied it was a matter of opinion. Counsel suggested Mr Fahey was wrong to criticise the use of bandages. Mr Fahey replied he had not changed his opinion.

The case continues.
By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic have discussed prospects for cooperation in the oil and gas sector, Azernews reports.

The discussion took place during a meeting between Azerbaijani State Oil Company (SOCAR) President Rovshan Najaf and Czech ambassador Milan Sedlacek in Baku.

During the meeting, the parties stressed that the strategic partnership between the two countries is successfully developing. They underlined the importance of mutually beneficial cooperation between Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic in the economic sector, including in the oil and gas sector.

The sides also exchanged views on other issues of mutual interest.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established on January 29, 1993. Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic cooperate in different spheres of the economy. Around 30 companies with Czech capital operate in Azerbaijan. The Czech Republic had invested $37.2 million in Azerbaijan, while Azerbaijans investment in the Czech Republic amounted to $48.2 million during the period from 1995 to 2021.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic amounted to $307.4 million in 2021.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Ambassador to the United Kingdom Varuzhan Nersesyan has published an article in Telegraph and Economist, where he cited the Azerbaijani atrocities presented by a representative of the Scottish National Party.

Armenpress presents the article published in Telegraph which is entitled: Can there be a just peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan? The Armenian perspective.

On September 22 SNP MP Chris Law, speaking in the House of Commons, delivered a chilling account of an elderly man decapitated with a knife and a female soldier with her eyes gouged out and replaced by stones. The victims he described were Armenians killed during Azerbaijans unprovoked military aggression during which hundreds of people lost their lives. Critical infrastructure, settlements, schools and hospitals deep inside Armenia were hit. More evidence of atrocities have emerged including a video of the extrajudicial killing of Armenian soldiers. These actions echo those of Daesh in Syria and the wave of international condemnation has been swift and unequivocal leading to calls for war crimes investigations.

And yet Azerbaijan talks of peace but what sort of peace do they seek?

This latest aggression follows a pattern. In 2021 Azerbaijan seized 42 sq.km of Armenian sovereign territory and since the September 2022 attack that figure has almost tripled in size. The autocratic Azerbaijani ruler praised the occupation of new swaths of lands and reiterated his irredentist narrative against Armenia, repeating that no one and nothing could stop him in achieving his ambitions. Two years after the fighting stopped, Azerbaijan still holds dozens of Armenian prisoners of war. Azerbaijans government has announced that it intends to erase Armenian inscriptions on religious sites in the territory that it occupied in the 2020 war against Nagorno-Karabakh.

The tragedy in Ukraine has been a useful distraction for Azerbaijan but perhaps its also a lesson we should all heed. There must be vigilance against any further military escalation and recognition that a clear path towards a comprehensive peace has already been laid out. Since the end of the war in 2020 the Armenian Government has adopted the peace agenda and has committed to opening an era of peaceful development in the South Caucasus.

In his speech to the UN General Assembly last month Armenias Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made it clear that the mutual recognition of each nations internationally recognised borders would mean that we can sign a peace treaty, but he also warned that without that recognition it would be a phantom treaty under which Azerbaijan could exploit the border delimitation process for new territorial claims and occupation. Furthermore, the Prime Minister reiterated that Armenias road network would be open to Azerbaijan to reach the Nakhijevan Autonomous Republic but that it wouldnt constitute an extraterritorial corridor as a pretext for a new aggression against Armenia.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict cannot be resolved by force. Under existing international mechanisms Azerbaijan should enter into direct negotiations with the authorities there to resolve the issues around its final status, security and human rights for its people.

There is also room for cautious optimism. In early October, under EU and French mediation Prime Minister Pashinyan met Azerbaijani President Aliyev in Prague where it was agreed that an EU observer mission will be deployed to the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, a move our government has repeatedly called for.

Armenia welcomes the spotlight at this crucial moment for our region. We are a small but vibrant democracy and pose no threat to any of our neighbours. We have an independent press and a government tested by two free elections in four years. Freedom House finds that the independent media in Armenia provide robust coverage challenging the narratives of state broadcasters and outspoken NGOs operate freely. In contrast, according to Human Rights Watch in Azerbaijan the space for critical journalism and opposition political activity has been virtually extinguished.

When visiting Yerevan in September US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, America is committed to Armenias security, democracy and we stand with Armenia in a difficult time. She also mentioned President Bidens invitation for Armenia to attend his first Democracy Summit. As he pointed out democracy doesnt happen by accident. We have to defend it.

Armenia is ready for compromise but one that opens a path for a real and long lasting peace between neighbouring countries. Its territorial integrity cannot be subject to bargaining and Azerbaijans forces must withdraw from the areas it now occupies since May 12, 2021. The war in Ukraine and the energy crisis will not be enough to provide Azerbaijan with cover for any further aggression. Only constructive engagement, political will and mutual compromises will lead to a just peace for both countries.
Karl Brown (45) pleaded guilty to stealing a large quantity of stock from a van parked outside DjBox in Coolock Industrial Estate

A man who stole over 6,000 of musical equipment, including DJ lights and speakers, has walked free from Dublin Circuit Criminal Court with a suspended sentence.

Karl Brown (45) of Belgard Heights, Tallaght, Dublin 24, pleaded guilty to stealing a large quantity of stock from a van parked outside DjBox in Coolock Industrial Estate on February 22, 2018.

A prosecuting garda told Derek Cooney BL, for the State, that the van was unlocked and parked outside the business premises on the night.

CCTV footage of the incident shows a man opening the rear doors of the van shortly before 6am and using a trolley that had been in the van to unload cases.

Karl Brown

A second man identified on the CCTV as Karl Brown was then seen carrying the cases around the corner and out of sight.

The court heard that included in the stolen equipment was 24 sets of lights valued at 3,600, 15 laptop stands and two amplifiers, with the total valued at 6,675.

Brown was arrested some months later and made full admissions to gardai. All of the equipment was recovered apart from the two amps which were worth 1,700.

Brown has 22 previous convictions including theft, robbery, drugs, possession of knives and road traffic offences.

Counsel for Brown said he had been a chronic heroin addict for 20 years but that in the last few years he has got a handle on his addiction and has managed to bring about unbelievable change in his life.

The court heard Brown was providing care for his mother who suffers from advanced dementia and that his father was heavily reliant on him to cook meals and mind his mother.

Brown brought 500 to court by way of compensation, to be handed over to the injured party.

Judge Martin Nolan noted that Brown is dealing with his addiction, supporting his family and taking steps to reform his life. He sentenced Brown to two years but suspended it in full.
The 16-year-old, who cannot be named because he is a minor, has gone on trial charged with murdering Mongolian national Urantsetseg Tserendorj in 2021

A teenage boy took a knife and "went for the jugular" when he stabbed a mother of two as she walked home from work in Dublin city centre, a prosecution barrister has told the Central Criminal Court.

The 16-year-old, who cannot be named because he is a minor, has gone on trial charged with murdering Mongolian national Urantsetseg Tserendorj in January 2021.

The teen has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms Tserendorj but guilty to her manslaughter on January 29, 2021.

He has also pleaded guilty to producing a knife and to attempting to rob Ms Tserendorj on a walkway between Georges Dock and Custom House Quay in the IFSC, Dublin on January 20, 2021.

The plea of manslaughter was not accepted by the State.

Sean Guerin SC opened the case for the State this morning.

Mr Guerin told the jury of six men and six women that the boy, who was 14 at the time of the offence, accepts that he killed the deceased but denies he murdered her.

Counsel said the facts of this case, the prosecution would contend, are simple - this was an attack on an unarmed woman, who did not react and who never demonstrated any act of violence towards the accused.

The teenager simply made a decision to take a knife, to swing it at the head and neck area and to stab Ms Tserendorj, Mr Guerin said.

"In common parlance, he took a knife and he went for the jugular".

He told the jury that if the prosecution does not convince them of that then they must decide that the accused is guilty of manslaughter and not guilty of murder.

He said the jury would view CCTV footage showing the movements of Ms Tserendorj and the accused before and after the stabbing that caused her death on January 20.

Mr Guerin said they would also hear that the following day, January 21, members of the gardai attended the premises where the accused was living and while there he made admissions he stabbed and robbed Ms Tserendorj.

"The admission of responsibility for the killing happened at a very early stage," counsel said.

The accused told gardai he panicked, he pulled a knife out of his pocket and stabbed her in the neck.

The jury would hear that the accused told gardai he didn't mean to do it, Mr Guerin added.

Outlining the facts of the case, counsel said the deceased woman was a Mongolian national who was 49 at the time of her death.

Ms Tserendorj, who worked in Dublin's city centre, had moved to Ireland with her husband and two children approximately 15 years before she was killed.

Counsel said it was when she was on her way home from work on January 20, 2021 that the events occurred which led to her death.

The events unfolded at around 9.30pm, Mr Guerin said, on what was a dark winter's night.

The streets were particularly quiet because the country was in the midst of the Covid experience and there were very few people around.

Just after 9.30pm Ms Tserendorj's husband was at home when he received a call from his wife who was in some distress.

He left home and met her at a taxi rank near the Luas line at Connolly Station.

When he met her she was holding the right side of her neck and there was a taxi driver there who provided some assistance.

It was apparent she had a wound on her neck just under her right ear and initially it didn't appear particularly serious, counsel told the jury.

She had been able to make her way along the Quays and was upright and able to converse when her husband met her.

However, when Ms Tserendorj got into the ambulance her condition deteriorated quickly and she had trouble swallowing tablets which had been given to her.

She became increasingly distressed and had trouble breathing, Mr Guerin said.

By the time she got to the Mater Hospital her face had become purpleish in colour and her eyes were closed.

He told the jury Ms Tserendorj was transferred to theatre immediately where it was discovered that the injury she sustained had penetrated her carotid artery.

As a result of this, the blood supply to the brain was halted, he said, causing swelling on the brain.

He said despite emergency surgery and the best efforts of the medical teams involved, it wasn't possible to save her and following a series of medical tests on January 29, Ms Tserendorj was declared dead.

In order to facilitate family travelling to Ireland from abroad, she was kept on life support until February 3.

Counsel told the jury they would hear evidence from Pathologist Heidi Okkers that Ms Tserendorj had sustained a neck wound just below the ear which produced severe hypoxia causing death.

Mr Guerin said the jury would also hear that on January 21, members of the gardai attended the premises where the accused was living and while there he made admissions that he had stabbed and robbed Ms Tserendorj.

Counsel said essentially what this case is about is what was the accused persons state of mind at the time of the attempted robbery and the stabbing.

Because in this case the facts are admitted, the jury's focus will be on the guilty mind and the question of whether or not the prosecution has proved the guilty mind, counsel said.

Counsel said that an obvious feature of this case is that the accused is a young person.

However, Mr Guerin told the jury they should understand that he is old enough to be responsible in law for his actions and it was for them to assess his state of mind and to assess his state of mind at that particular time.
At the weekend, the Sunday World exposed businessman Eugene Hanratty Snr  a millionaire suspected fuel smuggler as a vicious thug after he was finally convicted of the brutal assault on Mr McAllister.

Eugene Hanratty was convicted of assault 10 years after the incident took place

The victim of what he termed a pre-meditated and vicious assault has said that there is no escape from the torture he continues to suffer both physically and mentally.

Martin McAllister was reading his victim impact statement in the sentencing of Eugene Hanratty Senior (63) at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court this morning.

Hanratty of Castleblayney Road, Crossmaglen, Armagh was convicted by a jury following a trial last month (OCT). He had pleaded not guilty to assault causing harm at Castleblayney, Co Monaghan on November 24, 2012.

At the weekend, the Sunday World exposed businessman Eugene Hanratty Snr  a millionaire suspected fuel smuggler as a vicious thug after he was finally convicted of the brutal assault on Mr McAllister.

Today Mr McAllister said that the pre-meditated and vicious assault had a devastating effect on his life both physically and mentally. He said medical reports before the court substantiated the physical injuries.

Read more Millionaire suspected fuel smuggler jailed after being exposed as vicious thug

He said he had multiple broken bones in his face, both his eye sockets were broken and he has been left with a permanent loss of his peripheral vision. He has been treated numerous times but without success and the loss of his peripheral vision impinges on my everyday life.

Mr McAllister, said that as a musician, he struggles now to read musical notation.

He said the nerves in his face were also damaged by the injuries to his eyes and he has been left with excruciating pain to the left side of his face. He underwent surgical nerve decompression in 2014 and had a titanium implant fitted below his left eye which altered his sensation down the left side of his face.

Eugene Hanratty was convicted of assault 10 years after the incident took place

Mr McAllister said this has left him with constant issues while eating and drinking. He also described problems with his sinuses as a result and said he continues to have problems with injuries he received to his right arm.

I have had 10 years of these problems which will continue for the rest of my life, Mr McAllister said.

It has been a ten-year long wait for justice which has taken a toll on my mental wellbeing. I have lost confidence and I struggle every day to keep myself going, Mr McAllister said before he added that he has been prescribed both short and long-term medication to help with anxiety.

There is no escape from this torture, he continued.

Referring to the fact that his wife witnessed the assault, Mr McAllister said she has since been diagnosed with suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety and depression. Her suffering fills me with sadness, Mr McAllister said.

He concluded his victim impact statement by taking the opportunity to thank the court and the justice system who accompanied him on this long walk to justice.

Detective Garda Paul Everard told Garrett McCormack BL, prosecuting, that on the Saturday afternoon of the attack, Mr McAllister and his wife were driving at 4.20pm in Castleblayney on their way to Crossmaglen when a vehicle approached with its full headlights on.

Mr McAllister told the trial that he felt his path was blocked by the other vehicle and he couldnt drive passed it. He then recognised the occupants of the car as being father and son, Eugene Hanratty Junior and Eugene Hanratty Senior.

Hanratty Snr approached and began an assault on Mr McAllister in his vehicle during which time he was punched a number of times in the head, pulled down by the hair and kicked until he was dragged out of the vehicle by Hanratty Snr.

Martin McAllister

Det Gda Everard confirmed that Mr McAllister told the trial that the assault continued outside the car, with him being continually kicked while on the ground. His right arm was stamped on and he went in and out of consciousness.

He told the trial that Hanratty Snr was aware he was a musician so he felt the stamping on his arm was significant in this regard.

Det Gda Everard said that Mary McAllister also told the jury that it was a sustained attack while her husband was both inside the car and out of the car.

She described asking Hanratty Snr to stop because she was concerned if the assault continued the injuries would be fatal for her husband. The trial heard that Hanratty Junior also asked his father to stop attacking the man.

Mr McCormack told Judge Melanie Greally that the victim was taken to Drogheda Hospital where he was treated for a number of injuries to his face and his arm and wrist. A booklet of photographs of the injuries was handed to the jury during the trial.

Counsel said that this trial was the third trial in the case. The first trial resulted in a disagreement and the jury couldnt reach a verdict, the second trial collapsed after the jury was discharged. Last October the jury unanimously convicted Hanratty Snr following one-hour deliberations.

Mr McCormack reminded Judge Greally that Hanratty Snr had claimed, through his counsel, during the trial that he was acting in self-defence but he said the jury rejected this and convicted him.

Judge Greally adjourned the sentencing to November 8 next when Padraig Dwyer SC, defending, will cross-examine the garda and address the court by way of plea in mitigation.

In October 2016 another jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court acquitted Eugene Hanratty Junior (41) Dundalk Road, Crossmaglen, Armagh of assaulting Mr McAllister causing him harm. It was the States case that he had not taken part in the physical beating but he was charged on the basis of joint enterprise.

Hanratty Senior (63), from Crossmaglen, Co. Armagh, was once accused of cross-border fuel smuggling and had 2m in 12 bank accounts frozen by the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB).

He always denied the claims made by CAB. However, when the case came to court in 2007 the judge was told a settlement had been reached between the Bureau and Mr Hanratty  a settlement that it was agreed would remain confidential.
Gardai have warned third-level students not to let their bank accounts be used for the transfer of stolen money

Detectives are becoming increasingly concerned that gangs involved in organised fraud are using the same intimidation tactics as criminal organisations involved in the illegal drugs trade.

According to sources, Gardai suspect a recent arson attack on a property in Dublin was organised by a senior gang member who is one of the main targets of Operation Skein, which has seen more than 550 people across the country arrested for fraud offences.

Two suspected money mules live in the property that was targeted, a source explained. The belief is that it was set on fire either as a warning for these individuals not to talk to gardai, or because they are in debt to the gang because money has been frozen in their bank accounts.

One of the suspected money mules who lives in the property was recently arrested and has close links to one of the main players in the organisation being targeted by the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB).

Both men are suspected of laundering money in bank accounts for the Irish-based gang, which has links to the global Black Axe crime group.

The source said: What happened in this incident is similar to what drugs gangs have been doing for many years when their junior members build up debts or run into trouble with gardai  their homes get attacked.

This was not the first time a suspected money mule has been targeted in this way by organised fraud gangs.

A number of months ago, a bank employee was arrested in Dublin by GNECB detectives for suspected money-laundering offences after 7,000 was found in his account linked to a vishing scam.

Vishing is a tactic in which people are tricked into revealing financial or personal information to unauthorised people over the phone.

The day after his release from garda custody, the bank employees car was burnt out in an attack suspected of being ordered by the fraud gang.

Again, this was believed to be either a warning against talking to gardai or because of the money owed to the gang by him, the source said.

In an incident related to the more recent arson attack, an innocent persons car, which was parked near the targeted property, was set alight in a case of mistaken identity less than a week earlier.

This shows how dangerous and reckless these criminals are  this is certainly not white-collar crime, the source said.

The GNECBs long-running probe, called Operation Skein, is an ongoing investigation into fraud being committed in Ireland that includes international business email compromise (BEC), invoice redirect and romance fraud. The investigation also targets the laundering of the proceeds through Irish accounts.

Money mules allow their bank accounts to be used by the criminal organisation, often for very little cash reward. Last Wednesday, gardai issued an official warning to third-level students not to let their accounts be used for the transfer of stolen money.

More than 830 money mules have been identified in Ireland in the past number of years.

The GNECB estimates there are at least 4,000 money mules linked to their investigations who have used Irish addresses. The majority are young people located all around the country.

Detective superintendent Michael Cryan of the GNECB said in a statement: Those who agree to allow their bank account to be used for the transfer of illegally obtained money may not necessarily realise that they are enabling very dangerous international criminal organisations and are involving themselves with these criminals.

It seems quite simple and at the same time quite lucrative, but the reality is that those who allow their bank account to be used are taking a huge personal risk.
Victim speaks out as Alan Hutch's ex dodges jail after clocking up sixth assault conviction

Yume showed us photos of her face after Stewart had punched her between the eyes

Yume showed us photos of her face after Stewart had punched her between the eyes

A dental assistant who was assaulted by former model Emily Stewart at a bus stop has labelled the 26-year-old as dangerous and believes she should have been sent to jail.

Emily Stewart, who has five previous convictions for assault, including two for assault causing harm, was given a suspended sentence this week after she pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to 25-year-old Yume Gall.

Good Samaritan Yume was punched between the eyes by Stewart when she went to her aid after hearing her screaming during the course of a confrontation with a man.

Pictures obtained by theSunday World show how Yume sustained two black eyes as a result of being assaulted by the former model.

Yume had gone to Stewarts aid during a row

Stewart initially denied assault at the Bluebell Luas stop on the Naas Road, Dublin, at 9pm on July 20, 2021 but changed her plea to guilty as the Dublin District Court hearing was about to get under way on Tuesday.

Yume told us this week she was surprised that Stewart was only given a suspended sentence after evidence was heard of how she has five previous convictions of assault.

In court, they said she already has five records for assaults, but then she is given a suspended sentence. I dont understand that, Yume told us.

I think she should have been given [more] because I am not the first person she has hit. I am the sixth.

Five other people were injured before me, so its not like she did this for the first time.

The guy who was trying to help her in court (Stewarts solicitor) said the court needed to see her last conviction for assault was in 2017 and now she is much better.

But I dont get that. For me, she is dangerous, and I was reading she assaulted a woman with a baby on a bus before.

So, she is not someone who did this once and, because she is pleasant, she wont do it any more.

She did this five times already  so she should not be outside.

She should be [in jail] because she doesnt learn.

Yume showed us photos of her face after Stewart had punched her between the eyes

Stewart  who previously dated Gerry the Monk Hutchs nephew, Alan  has a previous conviction dating back to March 10, 2017 when she attacked Shannon Ryan, who was travelling with her three-month-old baby on a bus outside Connolly Station, Dublin.

Stewart pulled clumps of hair from her victims head and left her bleeding from facial scratches.

The defendant also pleaded guilty to a separate charge of assault causing harm to Shannons mother, Sabrina Ryan, two days later, on 12 March 2017, when she bit her finger, punched her and scraped her face.

In relation to those charges, Judge Martin Nolan fully suspended a six-month sentence noting that there were pre-existing tensions between the two families.

Speaking about the assault at the Luas stop, for which the ex-model was given a three-month suspended sentence this week, Yume said she had been walking home with a friend when she heard Stewart screaming.

Emily Stewart had previously attacked a woman

When we got closer, we saw there was a car in the middle of the street and there was a man and a woman fighting, Yume recalled.

They were arguing and they were pushing and pulling. We went over to help her and then the guy came out of the car and told my friend to mind her own business.

Yume said after the man got out of the vehicle, Stewart moved into the driver seat and turned the car around as if to drive away.

I thought she was going to leave but she stopped again, Yume said.

She could have driven away.

We had only gone over because she was screaming and other people, two girls, had heard it as well, and they had come over and said they were calling the guards.

They wanted to get the registration of the car so I took my phone to try and get a picture of the number.

But when the girl [Stewart] saw me take out my phone she started to scream again: Dont record me  dont take my picture. And then she came out of the car, and I wasnt expecting it at all, she punched me right between the eyes.

As she was getting close, I tried to explain to her: Look Im trying to help you, Im trying to get the registration number for the guards But she just punched me in the face.

She didnt talk. She just punched me between the eye-brows and I fell. I had two black eyes.

But I was lucky because she didnt punch me in the nose, so my face didnt open. But she hit me hard. And then they both went back to the car and went to drive off.

A short distance away, recalls Yume, the pair stopped the car again and continued their disagreement until gardai arrived.

Stewart did not address the court on Tuesday and broke down in tears as the judge proceeded to sentence.

Yume showed us photos of her face after Stewart had punched her between the eyes

The court heard Stewart has 12 previous convictions in total, including two for assault causing harm dating back to 2017 and three less serious assaults.

Simon Donagh BL, defending, asked the judge to note his client was apologetic for the totally inexcusable assault. Counsel said Stewart was on methadone at the time but is now much better and pregnant.

He handed in two letters on her behalf and said Stewart accepted she was wrong. He asked the judge to note the time gap since her last assault in 2017.

Judge Gerard Jones told Stewart it was a totally unjust and unfair attack on a member of the public, adding, this young lady was trying to help.

He imposed a three-month sentence but suspended it on condition she kept the peace and did not re-offend in the next year.

Breaking the terms would result in going straight to prison, he warned.

Commenting on the court-case, Yume said she found it frustrating.

I waited one year to go to this court because I felt it was the right thing to do. And it was frustrating to see it end like this.

I have lived in Ireland for three years and until the assault I felt Ireland was a safe place to be. But, of course, it changed how I feel.

People say that if you see a man and a woman fighting you should not intervene. But I dont feel that is true, I think I did the right thing, and if it had been me in her situation, I would have wanted someone to come and help.
UVF lackey Vermin Verner finds himself at the centre of a bust-up with UDA boss Mo Courtney, also being hunted by the southern gangsters

Gerry Verner has been told by a Dublin gang to give them back their guns

Dublin gangsters have warned rapist drug dealer Gerry Verner  get our guns back or else.

The depraved sicko is coming under intense pressure from both his southern paymasters and East Belfast UVF for whom he peddles cocaine.

And he has been warned his Dublin partners and his UVF partners have run out of patience.

UVF lackey Vermin Verner finds himself at the centre of a drugs and guns bust-up with UDA boss Mo Courtney, also being hunted by the southern gangsters.

Courtney and his second in command have also been warned their lives are on the line after they stroked Verner of the guns, convincing one of his men to hand the weapons over in return for a stash of coke.

The man, described as vulnerable had been ordered by Verner to keep the weapons  property of the organised crime gang in Dublin  at his east Belfast home.

Having been duped by Courtney, Verner and his Dublin pals dished out a brutal beating before he gave up the names of those whod taken the weapons.

But now, Verner finds himself in the firing line from his Dublin partners.

Rumours they had threatened to kidnap his sister and cut off one of her fingers for each day their guns havent been returned, have been dismissed.

In 2012, Verner was jailed for rape and false imprisonment threatening his victim he would cut off her fingers.

Sources say the false rumour was in reference to his sick past and is an indication of how the community in the east of the city have turned on him.

Graffiti appeared this week warning him he was no longer welcome in east Belfast. The warning was marked PAF  Protestant Action Force  a cover name used during the Conflict by the UVF.

Graffiti which appeared aimed at Mo Courtney

PAF emerged again in the last couple of years amid street violence in protest at the Protocol, fuelling suspicion the UVF  which is still officially on ceasefire  was responsible for bringing guns back on to the streets.

Verner has been left with nowhere to turn. He has been told he can no longer rely on the UVF for protection and now has the added pressure of having the Dublin gang on his tail.

Alleged gangster Stephen Matthews, named in court last month as a UVF leader, and whose organised crime gang has close ties with Dublin mobs, cut Verner adrift amid fears the stand off with Courtney could spark a UDA/UVF feud.

On the other side of the city, Courtney was also the target of graffiti threats, with his name daubed on a wall accompanied by crosshairs.

Courtney has not been seen on his lower Shankill stronghold since the Sunday World revealed last week a carload of Dublin gangsters were cruising the loyalist stronghold looking for him.

He told pals he has no intention of giving up the weapons bragging that he took them from a bunch of taigs.

However, there is a fear within the UDA leadership Courtney has picked one fight too many. Belfast has been drawn into a brutal drugs underworld which has seen loyalist paramilitaries form close ties and partnerships with southern-based gangs.

It has resulted in a number of brutal mafia-style executions on the streets of Belfast.

Last week, UDA mouthpiece Dopey Dennis Cunningham was caught by surprise by the Dublin vigilantes as he locked the offices of the Lower Shankill Community Association.

Cunningham reportedly remains a commander in the terror group but continues to work for the publicly-funded community group

The terrified former jailbird dropped and broke his trade mark glasses before fleeing.

Mo Courtney

His newly-appointed second in command has gone into hiding as tensions increase. He was visited by police during the week and warned his life was in imminent danger, and it is understood two other members of Courtneys outfit have also been warned about their personal security..

Hes s******g himself, a source told us, hes lying low, you wont see him for a while.

Sources say the pair have little or no support in the area.

People are fed up with them selling drugs to young people, and now theyve brought this trouble to the area.

The Sunday World can reveal Courtneys gang has been moving drugs into new hiding places amid fears the Dubliners will return.

The southern-based mobsters already know the names of his runners and where they live.

Sources on the Shankill say he has tasked his team of teenage drug runners to find somewhere to hide their drugs.

Some of them have been getting their girlfriends to hide it in their homes, said our source.

Some of these girls are as young as 14 and theyre being asked to hide drugs, some of them have younger brothers and sisters it doesnt bear thinking about what could happen if they find it.

Children suspected of finding drugs are being frisked as they make their way to school.

You couldnt make this s**t up.

And he slammed the UDA leadership and in particular West Belfast Brigadier Matt Kincaid who has ignored please to take action against drugs dealers.

Kincaid has previously denied involvement in criminal activity of any kind and has said he has never been a member of any proscribed organisation.

Theres nobody more hated than Mo, but UDA men have lost respect for Matt as hes letting it happen.

Look at all the young lads selling drugs on this road, how many of them are UDA leaders sons? Thats right not f****n one of them as theyre not allowed to join but theyll happily let our sons and grandsons join to sell drugs for them so they can have their new car and fancy holidays.

Sources on both sides of the city say the writing is on the wall for both men.
Nicola was 21 years old when she was murdered by American musician Richard Hinds while she was studying abroad in Japan.

The father of Nicola Furlong has said that he still feels raw pain about his daughters murder as her sick-minded killer awaits his release from prison next week.

Nicola was 21 years old when she was murdered by American musician Richard Hinds while she was studying abroad in Japan.

Nicola was on her way to a concert with a friend in May 2012 when the pair asked Richard Hinds and his co-worker James Blackston, who were both working in Japan on a tour.

All four drank and danced together at a nearby bar before Nicolas friend passed out. She had just taken a Tequila shot handed to her by James Blackston, she said in court.

Murderer Richard Hinds

The two women were bundled into a taxi while Hind and Blackston were captured on CCTV discussing what they would do sexually to Nicola and her friend.

Both women were unconscious when they were brought into a hotel, where a worker prepared wheelchairs for the two girls.

Hinds is due to be released from Japanese prison in a few days' time, and Nicola's dad Andrew has opened up about feeling helpless in the run up to the discharge.

There's nothing I can do about it. Its their laws. I cant change it, he admitted on 96FMs The Opinion Line.

I tried to sue the hotel for it but theres some law that I couldnt. I wouldnt be doing it for the money, I wanted to do it to show what theyd done.

How the hotel allowed the girls to go up to the room Ill never forget.

The wheelchairs were brought out to the taxi. Instead of bringing them to a hospital, they brought them to the bedrooms.

Is it any different today than it was 10 years ago? Not a bit of difference. Its as raw today as it was 10 years ago.

The bereaved father recalled the day he learned of Nicolas murder, telling listeners of how he saw gardai pull up to his house unaware of the nightmare that was to come.

I invited them in thinking it was an unpaid fine or something. I wasnt expecting what was coming.

He said, Are you the father of Nicola Rose Furlong? and I said, Oh Christ, dont tell me shes been in an accident.

And he said, No, its worse than that. Shes dead.

I screamed and shouted, It couldnt be. There must be some mistake, somebody must have gotten her passport and somebody else was dead.

We didnt know how she died; we just knew she was dead. The embassy couldnt give us any details at the time but then we got a call telling us she had been murdered.

The Japanese Embassy kept it to themselves at first because they wanted to find out what they were doing, were they partying, were they using drugs.

The pain today is the same as it was then. Every single day.

He said that Hinds showed no remorse during his trial as he issued a warning to other young women: This spiking... it is happening.

If you have to drug a woman to have something with them, theres something severely wrong with you.
Annabelle and Isabelle Bateson were joined from the chest to the pelvis and shared a liver, bladder and bowel, one shared fused leg and one leg each

A Co Antrim couple have shared the first images of their conjoined twins following surgery in London back in September to successfully separate them.

Annabelle and Isabelle Bateson were born together to parents Hannah and Dan back in May and were joined from the chest to the pelvis and shared a liver, bladder and bowel, one shared fused leg and one leg each.

Taking to social media, the Toomebridge couple described the latest step in their journey following the surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London as the light at the end of the tunnel.

While they said there is still a bit to go and further surgeries in the future, the couple said seeing the twins interacting with each other separately is amazing.

We are finally feeling like the girls are coming out the other side of things now, they wrote.

It took Issie a little bit longer to get back to her happy wee self but shes got there.

Theyve both found their voices again and the warbling that they do with each other is back in full force.

Its amazing to see the girls interacting with each other, talking and playing, reaching out for each other (grabbing tubes and stealing each others toys).

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We are now able to take the girls out and about for walks, which has been a game changer, cabin fever was definitely setting in for us all.

We still have a bit to go, both girls still have some more surgeries in front of them, no date for home yet as yet, Im hoping within the next few weeks though.

The news of the twins successful surgery was welcomed by many on social media, with the post receiving more than 6,500 likes.

A crowdfunding campaign set up for the family has also so far raised over 22,000, after the story of the twins captured the hearts of the public.

Their story also went UK wide when the couple spoke to ITVs Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield on This Morning following the birth of the twins back in May.

Conjoined twins are extremely rare and only occur on average once in every 250,000 births.

It is estimated that about 70pc of conjoined twins born are likely to be female.

Tragically, about 40pc of all conjoined twins are stillborn.
His personality overpowers his disability  hes such a loveable child... he loves the attention!

He faces numerous serious health challenges but little Shay Mulhare has overcome a huge amount in his young life, according to his proud mum.

The Cork boy has faced several significant health crises. But despite his many challenges he continues to thrive, thanks in no small part to the support of an Irish charity, says mum Rebecca.

He has a huge personality. Hes bubbly and smiley  hes always laughing. Hes cheeky out, she smiles.

His personality actually overpowers his disability if anything. Hes such a loveable child  he loves to be entertained. He loves to be read books. And he loves the attention!

Still, it has been a long road for four-and-a-half-year-old Shay and his loved ones.

In the early days after his birth he experienced serious medical issues that left doctors fearing the worst. He spent much of the first four months of his life in hospital.

Shay had a lot of medical complications, and hes a very complex child. He has quadriplegic cerebral palsy, which would be the more severe cerebral palsy. It affects his four limbs, the arms and legs, and it affects his head control. Shay has epilepsy as well. So its been a long hard road for him. They would be his two big complications.

Shay celebrates his birthday

When Shay was just a few days old, he was rushed to Crumlin Childrens Hospital in Dublin, where he needed emergency bowel surgery. Over the following days he experienced several setbacks.

When Shay was younger, when he was a baby, he had various complications, says Rebecca.

On a few occasions, it was touch and go and we were told it wasnt looking good. But he pulled through and he came back stronger. Hes just meant to be here.

Praising his vibrant personality despite all the obstacles he faces, Rebecca says they are now focused on gaining as much independence for the little boy as possible. She is proud of her boy, who has weathered more in his four and a half years than many people would in a lifetime.

Shay is non-verbal. He cant sit up on his own. He needs to be supported in everyday activities. He uses a wheelchair that I push him in but in a couple of weeks time were actually being assessed for him to get a motorised wheelchair. Were trying to work with the bit of power just so he has a bit of independence for himself.

Her family are a great support and Rebecca says she and Shay benefit hugely from Irish charity Jack & Jill, which provides home nursing care to children with complex medical needs.

Helping hundreds of Irish children up to the age of six, their annual Up the Hill campaign continued throughout the month of October.

Rebecca and Shay Mulhare (4) from Cork

Jack & Jill came into our life in January 2019 when Shay was seven months old. Since then theyve been a huge part of our family.

His nurse Megan is a big help to us, we got lucky when we got her. When the Jack & Jill nurses come into the house you feel so comfortable around them. You can do your own thing and know your child is being looked after by a medically experienced person. We would be lost without them.

Its a long way away from when he was born. After he was born when he got very sick, I was told Shay would have no quality of life. He might not be able to walk, he mightnt be able to talk  but he has a huge personality. He laughs at the silliest things.

We have good days, we have bad days. We have days where were fed up of life and fed up of appointments and having to go into hospitals.

But then we have brilliant days and to be honest, the good days outweigh the bad.

To support Up the Hill for Jack and Jill, log on to JackandJill.ie to register. Every 18 raised supports an hour of nursing care for a Jack and Jill family.
Jack was walking on Blarney Street in Cork on October 3 when a car sent him to the ground. The motorist failed to remain at the scene.

Jack Duggan (13) who was hit by a car on Blarney Street, Cork on October 3

Jack Duggan (13) who was hit by a car on Blarney Street, Cork on October 3

Gardai have issued an appeal for witnesses of a Cork hit-and-run that left a young boy injured.

Jack (13) was walking on Blarney Street in Gurranabraher when a motorist clipped his leg in early October, sending the teen flying to the ground.

His older sister Donna Duggan told listeners of Corks Red FM of the ordeal that has greatly impacted the shy and quiet Jack.

On Monday, October 3, between 6 and 6.05pm, my brother was out walking with my partners nephew near St Vincents GAA Clubhouse up past Blarney Road in Cork, she told The Neil Prendeville Show.

"They were walking across the road and believe it or not, he actually had his right leg on the pavement when a blonde woman in a silver car clipped his other leg with her car.

"He went up into the air and then hit the ground.

Jack Duggan (13) who was hit by a car on Blarney Street, Cork on October 3

Donna revealed the driver failed to remain at the scene, as seen on CCTV. Although video footage shows the incident, she said the make of the car and registration were not identifiable.

"She briefly stopped for a second or two, took her seat belt off, but then continued to drive on up towards the road. She did not get out of the car.

"I'd say she probably felt: 'Oh my God I am after hitting a child.' Whatever happened, she decided to drive away."

Gardai have now issued an appeal for witnesses of the collision that left Jack with head injuries that required emergency surgery on October 20.

The 13-year-old was rushed to the A&E when the haematoma on his forehead began to swell and became infected.

Gardai have asked any witnesses or road users to come forward, especially those who may have camera and dash-cam footage.

"Gardai are investigating a road traffic collision which occurred on Blarney Street in Gurranabraher, Co.Cork on 3rd, October 2022, a spokesperson said.

"The collision happened at around 6pm in the evening when a car collided with a pedestrian.

The pedestrian, a male youth (teens), was later taken to Mercy University Hospital to receive treatment. The car failed to remain at the scene, they said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Gurranabraher Garda Station on 021 494 6200, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station.

Speaking about her brothers injuries, Donna said: "It was unbelievable - I could not comprehend how this could happen and how a woman could drive away from the scene like that? I just cannot understand it.

"I just hope that this woman is scrolling through social media and comes across my post. If she is listening, Jack had to go for emergency surgery on October 20 - he was rushed back into A&E at CUH as the haematoma started to leak and it had become very infected.

"All the doctors and nurses - and they have been in the medical profession for years - none of them had ever seen a haematoma like this in their lives, his sister told Neil.

"You have no idea of the stress and worry - there wasn't a wink of sleep had in our house."
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS. Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan received today leader of the EU Monitoring Capacity in Armenia, Head of the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia Marek Szczygie, the Office of the Security Council said.

The meeting was also attended by Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Andrea Wiktorin.

Welcoming the visit of the head of the Mission to Armenia, the Secretary of the Security Council praised the results of the bilateral partnership. He expressed confidence that the bilateral cooperation has potential to contribute to strengthening the security environment in the region.

In turn Marek Szczygie thanked for the support both at the state and local levels, particularly highlighting the high readiness to contribute to the bilateral cooperation.

The activity of the EU civilian mission was also discussed during the meeting.
The priest even hugged the convicted sex offender, saying afterward: I just wanted to support him, just let him know he was not alone.

A priest who attacked homosexuality during a sermon in a Co Kerry church previously supported a convicted sex offender and hugged him in court, it has emerged.

Fr Sean Sheehy has said he stands over his comments at the mass in Listowel last weekend, despite having since been taken off the local parish roster.

More than 30 parishioners walked out of mass at St Marys Church in Listowel at the weekend after Fr Sean Sheehy condemned transgenderism, same-sex couples, and supplying condoms to teenagers in his sermon.

Shocked mass-goers were subjected to an outpouring of anger from the pulpit, which many deemed tactless, insensitive, and represented a throwback to the days of clerical authority.

Fr Sheehy, who is deputising for Listowel Parish Priest Canon Declan OConnor, criticised Government legislation around what he said was the promotion of abortion and described the lunatic approach of transgenderism.

On Tuesday night, the priest said he stands over these remarks.

"Bishop Browne said that he was going to take me off all mass and I said okay fine, I couldnt care less really.

I know myself what I said cannot be disproven by any honest to God Christian or Catholic teaching, and thats the bottom line he told Radio Kerry.

He added that Bishop of Kerry Ray Browne, who has apologised for the comments and said they do not reflect Christianity, is muzzling the truth in order to appease people.

Thirteen years ago, Fr Sheehy supported convicted sex offender Danny Foley and gave him a witness statement.

The then 35-year-old Foley from Meen was convicted on December 4, 2009, at Tralee Circuit Criminal Court of sexually assaulting a 22-year-old woman on the morning of June 16, 2008, in a car park at the back of Mermaids nightclub, in the centre of Listowel.

He received a sentence of seven years in prison with the two final years suspended, and was released from Arbor Hill in September 2013 after serving less than four years.

Fr Sheehy, along with reportedly around 50 other people, who were mainly men, marched into the courtroom and shook hands with Foley.

The priest even hugged the convicted sex offender, saying afterward: I just wanted to support him, just let him know he was not alone.

Fr Sheehy did not respond to requests for comment.

In his witness statement to the court at the time, Fr Sheehy said: He always struck me as having the height of respect for women.

"There is not an abusive bone in his body. His respectfulness certainly struck me.

Following censure from the then Bishop of Kerry Bill Murphy, Fr Sheehy stepped down as the parish priest of Castlegregory, in Co Kerry, a few weeks after the verdict.

Read more Bishop of Kerry apologises for priests sermon attacking gay and transgender people

Journalist Claire Byrne said she was left speechless after interviewing the priest on Newstalk at the time.

During an interview, Fr Sheehy said Foley got an extremely harsh sentence that he was a victim of a miscarriage of justice and that his only wrongdoing was the he engaged in a sexual act outside of marriage on the night in question.

Speaking about the victim, Fr Sheehy said: I dont want to make any judgment on her at all, but obviously the whole situation must have been embarrassing, for the police to happen upon them and what-not.

"Shes the mother of a young child as well and, you know, that in itself doesnt look great.

The victims aunt told media at the time that her niece was refused service in shops in Listowel and had been shunned on the street by Foleys supporters.

After Fr Sheehys sermon last weekend, Bishop of Kerry Ray Browne said his views do not reflect the Catholic Church.

In his homily, Fr Sheehy said: We see it, for example, in the promotion of sex between two men and two women. That is sinful. That is a mortal sin and people dont seem to realise it.

Its a fact, a reality, and we need to listen to God about it because if we dont, then there is no hope for those people.

Fr Sheehy said sin was rampant and told parishioners they had a responsibility to seek out those who are lost and to call people to an awareness that sin is destructive, detrimental and would lead people to hell.

The priest was heckled by parishioners, many of whom left the church.

But undeterred, he continued his homily adding that people should admit they are sinners.

There are people who wont like what Im saying, but the day you die youll find out what Im saying is what God is sayingThose of you who happen to be leaving today, God help you. Thats all I have to say to you. And God bless you who are here and worshiping God, he said.

Fr Sheehy continued: I was talking to a woman a few weeks ago whose 17-year-old daughter was out with friends in Tralee. She came home and handed her mother a condoma HSE van was handing these out in Tralee.

"That is promoting promiscuity. That is horrible, horrible. As Christians, we need to stand up for God. If we dont there is no hope for many people.

In a statement, Bishop Browne said he is aware of the deep upset and hurt caused by the contents of Fr Sheehys homily.

I apologise to all who were offended. The views expressed do not represent the Christian position.

"The homily at a regular weekend parish Mass is not appropriate for such issues to be spoken of in such terms. I regret that this has occurred while a parish pilgrimage to the Holy Land is taking place, Bishop Browne said.
Met Eireann has also issued separate status yellow and orange marine warnings for all coasts of Ireland and on the Irish Sea

The rain and wind warning will be in place until 9pm tonight. Stock photo.

A nationwide status yellow rain and wind warning is in place until 9pm tonight with severe winds, heavy rain and localised flooding expected, while two ferry crossings from Rosslare Europort have been cancelled.

"Very windy on Wednesday with widespread gales: southerly veering westerly, Met Eireann said.

Some severe and damaging gusts may occur. Potential for localised wave overtopping along Atlantic coasts. A spell of heavy rain will occur, leading to flooding in places.

Met Eireann has also issued separate status yellow and orange marine warnings for all coasts of Ireland and on the Irish Sea and from Mizen Head to Slyne Head to Malin Head respectively.

Meanwhile, the UKs Met Office has issued separate yellow alerts for wind and rain for counties in Northern Ireland.

A yellow wind warning is in place for counties Antrim and Down until 8pm tonight, while a yellow rain warning is in place for counties Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Tyrone, Derry until 3 oclock this afternoon.

"A spell of very windy weather is expected to affect Irish Sea coastal areas on Wednesday, before spreading to parts of northern England, the Met Office said.

"Heavy rain may cause travel disruption and, in a few places, flooding.

No flights have been cancelled at Dublin Airport so far today, however, two ferry crossings from Wexfords Rosslare Europort to Pembroke, in the UK, have been called off due to the adverse weather conditions.

The Irish Ferries 8.45am and 8.45pm services have been cancelled. Irish Ferries said passengers will be accommodated when services resume.

Met Eireann said it will be very windy or locally stormy today. During the morning, a band of heavy squally rain will sweep eastwards across the country bringing spot flooding and local thunderstorms.

Southerly winds, later veering west to southwest, will be very strong and gusty with possible severe and damaging gusts, especially near south and west coasts. Rain will clear in eastern counties in the early afternoon with sunny spells and thundery showers of rain or hail following. Highest temperatures today will range from 10C to 14C.

It will be windy early tonight with some further severe gusts, especially in the northwest. Clear spells and scattered heavy showers will move in later. Most of the showers will affect Atlantic counties with more general rain moving into the west and southwest later. Temperatures tonight will drop back to between 2C to 6C.

The forecaster said scattered outbreaks of thundery rain will move in across the country on Thursday with local hail and lightning. Parts of Ulster and the north midlands will enjoy the driest conditions. Tomorrow will be cool with highest temperatures of 9C to 12C.

Thursday night will be dry and clear, apart from a few coastal showers in the west and northwest, with lowest temperatures of 3C to 6C.

Met Eireann said Friday will be the driest day nationwide this week with just isolated showers and good sunshine, turning hazy from the west later. Highest temperatures of 11C to 13C are expected.

A band of heavy and possibly thundery rain together with freshening south-westerly winds will sweep in from the Atlantic on Friday night, with spot flooding expected. It will be a mild night with lowest temperatures of 8C to 11C.

The forecaster said any lingering overnight rain will quickly clear with sunny spells and scattered showers developing on Saturday. Highest temperatures will range from 12C to 15C.

Some heavier showers will push into Atlantic counties on Saturday night. Conditions will be mostly clear elsewhere. Lowest temperatures of 7C to 10C are expected.

Met Eireann said brisk southwest winds will bring scattered heavy showers, turning thundery across Atlantic counties on Sunday. Sunny spells are expected too, mostly in the east of the country, with highest temperatures ranging from 12C to 15C.

The forecaster said Monday will be a milder day but with blustery outbreaks of rain, later giving way to drier and brighter conditions.
He said his decision to quit is due to Taoiseach Micheal Martins handling of an investigation into a bullying complaint made against him by a Fianna Fail councillor.

Mock-up of the text messages at the centre of councillor Donal Gilroys bully complaint against former Fianna Fail TD Marc MacSharry

Marc MacSharry has resigned from Fianna Fail, ending his familys association with the party that stretches back nearly 40 years.

In a strongly worded statement, Mr MacSharry said his decision to quit is due to Taoiseach Micheal Martins handling of an investigation into a bullying complaint made against him by a Fianna Fail councillor.

The Sligo-Leitrim TD described the complaint made by councillor Donal Gilroy as highly politically motivated, adding that its timing was unquestionably suspicious given it was made ahead of his readmittance to the party.

The handling of this complaint has involved the blatant manipulation of written Fianna Fail party procedures together with a breach of confidentiality and denial of due process by party officials and the leadership, he said.

The Irish Independent also revealed the text messages at the centre of the bullying complaint by Mr Gilroy.

The expletive-filled messages, which appeared in a Fianna Fail WhatsApp group for Sligo representatives, show Mr MacSharry sharply criticising Mr Gilroy for comments he made on Ocean FM about the TDs efforts to secure additional cardiology services for their local hospital.

Nothing like trying to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, Mr MacSharry wrote into the group on July 13.

Ye fairly tried to f**k me there pouring water all over it, praising (Fine Gael minister Frank) Feighan and the others. It would sicken yer hole. Good man best of luck, he added.

On October 3, when Mr Gilroy again discussed the cath lab on his local radio station, Mr MacSharry questioned his motives.

Donal. What the f**k?? Again Ocean (FM) this morning on cardiology services. For f**k sake, to what end???. he said.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin was strongly criticised by Marc MacSharry. Photo: Frank McGrath

Mr MacSharry urged him to speak to cardiologists and hospital management in Sligo University Hospital, who he said were happy with progress being made on securing extra services.

Regional Health Forum/(retracted) or whomever loading gun are clearly a distance behind the curve but sure keep it up as I said before, nothing like snatching deaf from The jaws of victory, he added.

In his letter of complaint, Mr Gilroy said he considered this behaviour to be bullying of Deputy MacSharry aimed at me personally.

Yesterday, the councillor said he stood over his complaint, saying that sort of behaviour is not acceptable.

Mr Gilroy also said he never spoke to the Taoiseach about the complaint.

Ive spoken to Micheal Martin probably four times in my entire life and the longest one would have been about four years ago and it was in the company of Marc, he added.

In his resignation statement, Mr MacSharry accused the Taoiseach of using the complaint for political gain at national level to delay and prevent his re-admission to the parliamentary party.

This recent complaint related to exchanges between us over several months on services I have secured for Sligo University Hospital and their significance. It was a robust issue and robust language was used, Mr MacSharry said.

He knows that I am critical of his performance as Taoiseach and his support within the parliamentary party is wafer thin. My re-admission would have been a problem for him, so he has used this complaint for his own purposes.

Last week, Mr Martin told a parliamentary party meeting there was no attempt by him or the Fianna Fail hierarchy to prevent Mr MacSharry returning to the party.

Mr MacSharry said the investigation instigated by the Taoiseach is a non-starter as the confidentiality required has been broken by the public statements of the Taoiseach and the Chief Whip.

The Taoiseach has tried to brush this under the carpet with claims that I have not engaged. This is despite numerous correspondence from I to him, the Chief Whip and party officials on the matter setting out my position clearly, he added.

Mock-up of the text messages at the centre of councillor Donal Gilroys bully complaint against former Fianna Fail TD Marc MacSharry

Mr MacSharry resigned from Fianna Fails parliamentary party as he could not vote confidence in Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveneys handling of Katherine Zappones appointment as a special envoy

In his resignation letter, he said Fianna Fail was being run in a fashion consistent with an undemocratic totalitarian regime. Mr MacSharry did not resign from Fianna Fail and continued to vote with the Government in the Dail.

Bishop of Kerry apologises for priests sermon attacking gay and transgender people

After a motion of no confidence in the Government was tabled by Sinn Fein in July, Mr MacSharry issued a statement saying he voted with the Coalition following a commitment that cardiology services in Sligo will be boosted.

He said he held talks with the Taoiseach and Health Minister Stephen Donnelly before voting with the Government.

However, Mr Martin denied there was a side deal with any TD before the vote, which led to Mr Gilroy telling his local radio station that there are different interpretations of what was promised.

The councillor said it was only playing games really and the focus should be on securing the cardiology service. These comments led to Mr MacSharrys first message to the WhatsApp group.

The second text was sent on October 3 after another radio appearance by Mr Gilroy in which he questioned the lack of progress on securing extra cardiac services.On October 5, Fianna Fail TD Barry Cowen and Senator Diarmuid Wilson proposed Mr MacSharrys readmittance to the parliamentary party.

The proposal was criticised by Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue, while the Taoiseach did not immediately accept the motion.

At a meeting on October 12, Mr Martin said a motion would be tabled proposing Mr MacSharrys return the next week. The next day, Mr Gilroy emailed his letter of complaint to Fianna Fail headquarters.

On October 14, the Irish Independent reported details of a tense phone call between the Taoiseach and the TD in the days before that meeting.

At the next Fianna Fail parliamentary party meeting, Mr Martin said the motion for readmittance could not go ahead as a matter had arisen related to Mr MacSharry.

It later emerged the decision to delay his return was made on the back of Mr Gilroys complaint.
We shared some of the fondest memories Ive ever had,

Una and Lynsey on holidays together in Ibiza

Una Healy with her two kids Aoife-Belle and Tadgh, as well as Lynsey Bennett and her daughters Hailee and Zoe in Disneyland Paris

Una Healy has paid a touching tribute to her good friend Lynsey Bennett who she described as a very, very special person.

Speaking on the Six OClock Show, Una, who became close with the CervicalCheck campaigner who passed away last week, said she misses her so much already.

She came into my life in the last couple of years. We shared some of the fondest memories Ive ever had, Una, who was filling in for Karen Koster, told her Six OClock Show co-host Martin King.

We went on a family together in Disneyland during the summer. She came into my life and she changed my whole perspective on life because she had such a positive outlook on things.

She lived her life to the full, and my heart goes out to her family, her friends, and especially to her two little girls Hailee and Zoe.

Una and Lynsey had formed a bond in recent years, and often spent time together by taking spa breaks or holidays together with their children.

Lynsey

Lynsey passed away last Thursday at the age of just 34 following a 2017 cervical cancer diagnosis. She left behind her two young daughters, Hailee and Zoe.

Early last year she settled her High Court action over the alleged misinterpretation of her cervical smear slides.

She had also planned her own funeral and set up a trust fund for her two daughters.

Lynsey's funeral took place over the weekend. A loved one told the packed St Johns Church of Ireland chapel in Longford: From a young age Lynsey always wanted to be a mum.

She was blessed with two beautiful girls, Zoe and Hailee, who she loved dearly.

They were her two rays of sunshine. Everything she did was all for them. However, she still made time for her father-daughter days at Longford Town matches and walks

The biggest thing about Lynsey was her heart. She was generous, kind and caring.

Una and Lynsey on holidays together in Ibiza

As one of her best friends said: She was the first person you could call for absolutely anything.

After her death a statement on behalf of her family described Lynsey as a "very special person".

"It is with great sadness that the family of Lynsey Bennett wish to announce that Lynsey passed away peacefully last night.

"Lynseys beautiful girls, father, sisters, family and friends are heartbroken at the passing of Lynsey at the young age of 34 years and would appeal for privacy at the moment.
I really enjoyed talking to him and a few weeks in he asked me for pictures of myself

A young woman who had fallen victim to online grooming when she was just 11-years-of-age has spoken of her shocking experience in an interview broadcast on RTE this morning.

Warning that it would not be easy listening, host Ryan Tubridy introduced mother and daughter Orla and Lyndsey, who has just turned 21.

Lyndsey revealed what as an 11-year-old she had suffered relentless bullying at her school in France that left her with few friends, so she decided to look for friends elsewhere.

I was over at one girl's house and she created a Facebook account for me. I thought it was a sign maybe she wants to be friends with me, she explained.

She later got a message from a male she thought was her age, and it was all very sweet and innocent for a few weeks.

He really pulled on my vulnerabilities, to a point where I was telling him what was going on. He told me everything I wanted to hear, that I was so pretty and lovely and funny, all the stuff I wasn't hearing from other people around me

I really enjoyed talking to him and a few weeks in he asked me for pictures of myself. I said no, a number of times, and that was all fine. And then one time he started to threaten to leave and stop talking to me if I didn't.

And what was going through my head was, this is the only person that cares about me, apart from my parents. I got really scared that he would stop talking to me because I had nobody else.

So I sent the pictures, two or three, and told him it would never happen again.

He was very happy with the photos and the conversation proceeded as normal for about a week.

Then I got a message from his account stating that the person that was currently messaging me was his brother and that the original messenger had passed away.

His brother had seen the pictures and liked them very much and said if I didn't send more that he would share them with all my friends and family.

I just couldn't bear the thought of anybody finding out. I was already being bullied. I couldn't imagine what they would do or say if they found out this had happened.

My parents had already warned me previously about being online and talking to strangers so I didn't want to get in trouble if they found out. I thought if I do this then no one has to know.

However, she soon spiralled into a situation where she was in contact with this person, every single day, for two and a half to three years, Christmases, and birthdays.

And over three years the content got more and more sinister.

Lyndseys mum Orla said she was aware of the bullying and the issues in the schools.

So you know something was happening, but when I asked Lyndsey what was going on, she just wouldn't open up naturally. I didn't want to make it worse. I didn't want to put her in a more difficult position than she was already in, so you have you kind of back off a bit when she was going up to her room.

However, Lyndsey started to self-harm and she had become very self-destructive and obviously my parents were very concerned.

I was sent to psychiatric ward a number of times. We went to a family friend's house for New Year's 2014 and the family friend is well aware of risks on the Internet. He works within Interpol in trying to find these people.

My parents made him aware of my behaviour and that they had a concern something was going on, online. He sat me down with my parents and showed me a video of a young lady called Amanda Todd from America who went through something very similar to what I went through and unfortunately took her own life.

I was quite shocked by that because at that point I didn't know this was happening to other people.

Lyndsey explained that in the days afterwards she had been asked by the person who had been messaging her for something a lot more sinister than in the past.

And I couldn't take it anymore and I cut myself and ingested medication.

After Lyndsey was treated in hospital, Orla went to a police station with all of the evidence on her daughters phone.

But that was the start of the understanding that nobody was particularly interested, she said.

"The policeman laughed at us and accused Lyndsey of doing this to herself. It was awful.

Lyndsey later did give an interview to the police but there was a never any action taken.

Now, however, she has recovered from her ordeal and while it is not an easy thing to live with shes doing the best I can.

I have very happy, great relationships with most people in my life now but there are still triggers, she said.

Not every day is easy but some days are great so I'll take the great days."

She said the website, cybersafe kids.ie is a brilliant organisation that is trying to raise awareness about these issues, bullying and grooming online.

It's also somewhere where parents can go to seek help and get advice on what to do next, she added.
Sadly it means Eamonn is likely to need a longer period off TV than he first thought in order to get himself better and heal

Belfast presenter Eamonn Holmes is set to remain off TV screens after having to undergo a second surgery following a fall at home.

According to the Express, the 62-year-old suffered a fall at his Surrey home a number of weeks ago which left him with a fractured shoulder.

Holmes had previously been taking a break from his presenting role at GB News to recuperate after having back surgery to deal with chronic pain issues.

According to the newspaper, the former ITV This Morning host is now set for a further eight-week lay-off while he recovers from the latest set back.

As a consequence of being laid low by major surgery, Eamonn suffered a fall at home a couple of weeks ago and had to undergo another operation, a spokesperson for Holmes told the Express.

Hes naturally gutted by the setback, but the good news is the surgery on his shoulder went well. Hes now receiving fantastic care and rest.

Sadly it means Eamonn is likely to need a longer period off TV than he first thought in order to get himself better and heal.

"But despite being in an awful lot of pain, hes remaining positive and is looking forward to doing what he loves most and being back on TV and presenting on GB News just as soon as he can.

Eamonn would like to say thank you for the wonderful care he has received from the NHS. Hed also like to thank everyone who has sent him get-well messages.

Eamonns focus now is solely on resting, and getting better - which he is determined to do.

Holmes, who is married to Ruth Langsford, has been candid with his health struggles over the last few years.

Writing in September, the father-of-four said he hoped his original surgery would allow him to go back to the way I was 18 months ago.

"This week a surgeon will cut into my back to hopefully relieve pressure on my sciatic nerves, he wrote at the time.

"Its an operation that carries a 20 percent risk of going wrong, but such is the pain and restrictions that I have been suffering for the past 18 months, Ive decided it is a risk I am willing to take.

The Northern Irish host joined GB News last year having previously hosted Fridays This Morning, alongside his wife, for 15 years.
Ms McGregor's (63) outfit for the party at Conors Black Forge Inn raised a few eyebrows

Conor in the Black Forge Inn on Halloween

Conor with partner Dee and mum Margaret in the Halloween snaps

Conor McGregor's family have issued a statement denying that his mum Margaret wore blackface for Halloween after it sparked controversy online.

The UFC star had appeared in a series of photos with his family on Monday in which he is seen dressed as pilot Frank Abagnale from the film Catch Me If You Can.

His partner Dee Devlin is pictured in an air hostess outfit but it was Ms McGregor (63) whose outfit for the party at Conors Black Forge Inn in Dublin raised eyebrows.

Some fans on social media accused her of wearing blackface, which is considered highly offensive and racist in many parts of the world.

It is a particularly sensitive subject in North America, where it is traditionally used to mock, objectify and ridicule African Americans, while caricaturing dark-skinned people.

However, McGregors family has come out strongly to deny the claims, insisting that it was spiders painted on her face to go alongside her red dress and necklace with three skulls attached.

A spokesperson for the McGregor family was quoted as saying: The McGregor family loves Halloween. Mrs McGregor had spiders painted on her face since her costume was a ghoul risen from the grave.

Any other interpretation was just wrong and truly unfortunate.

In a now-deleted Instagram story, McGregor's sister, Erin, shared a video of Margaret posing in her costume with the caption: Mad Magzer loving the Halloween vibe, along with two laughing emojis.

Conor in the Black Forge Inn on Halloween

But one person commented: Nobody else seeing the black face paint on the lady at the end? Wtf?

One other added: Is that....blackface? What is going on with that?

One user said: Every one cared about the beard, but none about the black face?

One Instagram user said: Come on bruh we still doing blackface in 2022?' followed by three facepalm emojis.

McGregor himself had posted a number of snaps with his children Conor Jr, Croia and Rian, who were also all dressed up for a night of fun and trick or treating.

Conor Jr appeared to be dressed up as a bear, with Rian in lion costume while Croia went for a fairy's outfit.

The former UFC champion's dog even got in on the Halloween action.

The Irishman has been filming a re-make of classic movie Road House with Jake Gyllenhaal in the Dominican Republic.

When he completes those obligations, he says he'll jump straight back into training.

He had declared: That will give me a good couple of months [to prepare].

Once I wrap this up in a couple of days, get the camp going [for] a good couple of months. And get going.
His campaign of consistent stalking culminated with a visit to Foys home, where her daughter answered the door

Claire Foy attending Women Talking during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London. Picture date: Wednesday October 12, 2022.   PA

An obsessed fan of The Crown star Claire Foy is facing a lengthy prison sentence, a British court has heard.

The Golden Globe-winning actress (38) who played the Queen in early seasons of the Netflix series received 1000s of graphic emails from an American man who has been charged with stalking involving serious alarm or distress.

If found guilty, the man risks up to 10 years in prison, the Daily Mail reports.

In a letter to Thames Magistrates' Court, Foy revealed the man has ruined her sense of freedom with "his relentless attempts to contact me.

She described the events as so traumatic

"Every time I think this is sorted it is not, she said.

The man admitted to breaching a stalking protection order that was already in place to prevent him from contacting Foy.

"I feel like there is nothing that would stop him being able to contact me, he has affected every aspect of my life.

The stalking had an extreme effect on her life and piece of mind, the prosecutor Varinder Hayre said.

Ms Foy has been targeted, Mr Hayre told the court, in a sustained, unwanted, fixated and obsessive behaviour that was intrusive due to his delusional beliefs.

He said the man, named as 49-year-old Jason Penrose, was claiming she was interested in him romantically and he did believe she would like to star in a movie he was planning to make.

The Daily Mail reports the man first made contact with the Hollywood star via her agent and publicist as he claimed to be a movie producer.

Claire Foy attending Women Talking during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London. Picture date: Wednesday October 12, 2022.   PA

He posed as a scriptwriter who had a $20 million deal with Warner Brothers to make a sci-fi film he wanted Foy to act in.

Mr Hayre said his campaign of consistent stalking even culminated with a visit to Foys home, where her daughter answered the door.

"Its Jason, Im outside, he said, according to Mr Hayre.

"Ms Foy was terrified as she did not know what his intention was. She was in fear for her and her daughter's lives, he continued.

She was frightened knowing he was somewhere.

The actress asked friends not to tag her or take her picture in public in case she would be tracked down by the American who begged her to his girlfriend.

He conceded in court that he had breached the interim stalking protection order that was put in place in June.

The court heard he sent Foy a letter and a parcel from the hospital where he was being treated. NHS workers also accompanied him to Thames Magistrates Court.

He has been released on conditional bail until November 28.

The judge presiding over the case said the persistent conduct created very serious distress, a great deal of psychological harm and caused Ms Foy to make considerable changes to her lifestyle.

The man, named as 49-year-old Jason Penrose, will potentially face 'a lengthy prison sentence, the judge said.
Watch the trailer here

Young Dublin actress Alisha Weir is set to attend this month one of the first Irish screenings of the Hollywood movie Matilda, in which she plays the lead role.

Alisha (13) is pencilled in to attend a showing of the Tim Michin musical depiction of Roald Dahls 1988 novel at a gala family screening at the Cork International Film festival on November 20.

Irish fans will also get a taste of the eagerly awaited flick when it is shown for the first time on a big screen here at its multimedia premier in Dublins Movie@Dundrum on Tuesday.

It goes on release on November 25.

Alisha stars alongside Stephen Graham (Mr Wormwood), Andrea Riseborough (Mrs Wormwood) and Emma Thompson (Ms Trunchbull).

Matilda tells the story of an extraordinary girl with a vivid imagination, who dares to take a stand to change her story with miraculous results.

The story has already been a stage musical as well as a 1996 film.

Alisha previously shot to fame when she wowed the Late Late Toy Show audience in 2017 when she fronted a choir which sang a cover of Cindy Laupers True Colours.

She has also appeared in Virgin Medias Darklands and last year took part in Irish Women in Harmony performance on The Late Late Show, with their Christmas song, a cover of The Cranberries Dreams also featuring Una Healy and Imelda May among others in aid of the ISPCC.

She is signed to Maureen Wards Talent Academy and among her other roles has been playing Molly in musical Annie at the Dublin National Concert Hall and Once at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin.

Alisha, who hails from Knockylon, also had a small part in Dancing With The Stars.

It was my first ever big film, it was just amazing and I was quite nervous but they made me feel so welcome, Alisha recently said of her upcoming role.

I was watching everything they were doing so I can be like them as well.

She said she could not believe she landed such a big part.

I was just so stunned, I started crying and I was just so happy and grateful.

Growing up I have always loved Matilda, it has just always been one of my favourites. I just cant believe it, I dont know when it will sink in but its mad to think that Im Matilda.

Among those celebrating Alishas success is her former stage school teacher Johnny Ward.

Im over the moon for Alisha, shes one of my students and everyone is thrilled for her, the former Fair City told the Sunday World.

Emma Thompson takes the role of the nasty headmistress Miss Trunchbull in the new film.
Applications are open for the Creative and Cultural Events Incubator investment fund which provides up to $300,000 to events that highlight New Zealands diverse culture and build national pride.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employments Major Events Manager, Kylie Hawker-Green says the annual Creative and Cultural Events Incubator funding round gives priority to events that celebrate our national identity and what makes us unique in the global context.

"To date, we have committed $2.9 million through the Incubator towards the development and growth of new and existing events aimed at finding the next internationally significant major arts or cultural event for New Zealand.

"New Zealand is known for hosting world-class sporting events; now its time for our creative and cultural events to be a recurring drawcard for our communities and international visitors, driving benefits to the regional and national economy."

The Creative and Cultural Events Incubator is open for applications from November 1 until November 30, 2022.

To be eligible for Creative and Cultural Events Incubator investment, events must create opportunities to profile and celebrate New Zealands national identity, with a focus on Maori and Pasifika arts and culture.

For more details about investment criteria, visit the MBIEs Major Events website.
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS. IT companies in Armenia are facing difficulties because of the depreciation of the foreign currency.

During a press conference today the representatives of IT companies were expressing their concerns about the current situation and were presenting their solutions.

Drastic changes with an unprecedented pace have been taking place in the foreign currency market since this February. Several companies operating in IT industry have been closed because of the foreign current devaluation, and some others made layoffs. At the upcoming session of the government it is necessary to approve the draft on mitigating the risks existing in the IT sector, President of the Union for Advanced Technology Enterprises (UATE) Hayk Chobanyan said.

He said that the devaluation of the foreign currency creates serious consequences for the sector as it is considered to be an exporting sector because orders are made by a foreign currency. He said that the losses that these companies have faced cannot be recovered, as a result there are closed companies or those that made layoffs.

This is a huge blow to the sector which is of strategic significance for Armenia. The role of high technologies in all strategic documents of Armenia is reaching up to 70%, Chobanyan said.

Since April, the leaders of IT companies have had many meetings with the leadership of the Central Bank and all agencies. In June-July there was a governments draft decision on assisting the field, the continuation happened in the Economy Ministry.

On September 12 the Ministry of Economy put into a public debate a new draft which envisages return of income tax of September-December. This will compensate a part of the damages they faced. However, this draft has not been approved yet, he stated.

The representatives of the IT industry claim that the government should solve the issue in any way as the foreign currency devaluation puts the development of the sector under a high risk.

Serious companies operating in the field are being closed, specialists are being laid off, salaries are declining. Each of these processes has its bad consequences for Armenia. Low salary will lead to leakage. We have tried to develop the field within 25 years, we have brought it to a tax field, even if there is no leakage, the specialists will start working on a freelance basis. Due to these problems today the companies are facing collapse, Director of DataArt Armenia Office Arsen Baghdasaryan said.

The IT industry representatives call for the adoption of the aforementioned draft by the government as soon as possible.
Hauraki District Council, together with Waihi i-SITE and Paeroa Information Hub, will host an event for local tourism and hospitality providers at the Paeroa Historical Maritime Park.

The event on Monday, November 7, from 9am  11am, will focus on collaborative opportunities for the district this summer.

Mayor Toby Adams appreciates that many of these businesses have experienced big challenges over the past few years and havent had the opportunity to meet for some time.

This networking event is the chance to build excitement together about the opportunities of the coming summer, especially with the return of international visitors.

Guest speakers Paul Yeo, Industry Relations Manager from Tourism New Zealand and GM from Destination Hauraki Coromandel, Hadley Dryden, will share insights into what to expect this summer and the tourism campaigns and initiatives available.

Visitors will be looking to engage with our stunning landscapes, rich stories and friendly people. We have a really good opportunity to be great hosts and to send them away with lasting memories of our area, says Waihi i-SITE GM, Eddie Morrow.

Hadley says Destination Hauraki Coromandel anticipates a strong domestic summer and there have been solid bookings from the international market already.

Pre-Covid, the districts visitor spend was sitting at a peak of $90.7m which has since dropped to $77.2m in 2021. We want to support our tourism operators to regain these losses. Theres a feeling of making up for lost time, so getting our businesses together to spark collaboration for bespoke experiences that tell our unique stories is the goal, says Toby.

To register for this Get ready for summer event on Monday, November 7, at the Paeroa Historical Maritime Park from 9am  11am, email tourism@haurak-idc.govt.nz.
Whakatane Police have spoken out against median barriers between Whakatane and Awakeri and say Waka Kotahi is listening, but others feel they are not.

The New Zealand transport agency have already made the decision to install flexible wire median barriers along the centre of the road, along with roundabouts at intersections with Thornton, Te Rahu and White Pine Bush roads.

All other roads off the highway will be no-right-turn intersections.

The safety measures are part of its Road to Zero campaign to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries from traffic accidents to zero and work is expected to start on them in 2024.

Eastern Bay road policing manager Sergeant Chris Howard says while hes in agreement with safety improvements to roads, the median barriers could endanger lives if they are installed without sufficient road widening.

We go daily, out to the plains, out to Kawerau, to Te Teko, generally for life-threatening situations from a police point of view, and I know ambos and fire do too.

A 30-second delay or a minute delay, or whatever it might be for that stretch of road, in a worst-case scenario, could be a life and death situation.

Chris says he and his senior officers have met with Waka Kotahi project managers and its clear they have not previously taken into consideration that emergency vehicles need to be able to pass other vehicles on the highway at times.

From a policing point of view, our concern is about our ability to get to an emergency on that stretch of road should they put the barriers in, which was something that they didnt appreciate at the time.

Chris is not necessarily against the barriers if they are done correctly, but roundabouts and speed reductions need to come first.

They need to be done in stages. The roundabouts would be great. That will slow the traffic naturally.

Reducing the speed limit to 80kmh also would go a long way to reducing the crashes we are having. But I think if they just put the barrier in without extensive widening of the road, its going to cause a choke point, for emergency vehicles especially.

Eastern Bay road policing manager Sergeant Chris Howard.

He says the wide, slow-moving tractors used by big agricultural contractors that frequently use the road are already difficult to pass.

I said, you need to engineer that road so we can get past the wider machinery should we need to. Theyre going to go back and have a look at that, which is good.

However, Awakeri-based farming contractor Mark Brogden says hes had two meetings with the consultants so far, in which hes tried to explain the issue of emergency vehicles being trapped behind farm machinery, among other issues, and he did not feel he was being listened to.

The problem is theyve got it set in their minds. They dont want to consider any other option. Theres no working around, theres no talking about it. When 90 percent of the people in the area are against it, there should be some kind of change in the plan, but it doesnt seem to be happening.

Chris will like to see land from the old railway line used for road widening.

He will also like to see a roundabout at the Mill Road intersection, which is not currently included in Waka Kotahi plans, something Whakatane District Council has asked Waka Kotahi to consider.

They cant have logging trucks going into The Hub roundabout and turning around to go into Mill Road. If they put in a barrier thats what theyre going to be doing.

Theres all these sorts of things they have to look at and its going to take a little while to iron out all of those issues.

We would like a roundabout there but its not as simple as just putting one there. Theyve got to realign Shaw Road and theres a lot of impact on councils budget too because the council have to front up with some of the money.

He says its important to remember the proposed median barriers will not begin construction until 2024.

Its not going to happen tomorrow. Weve put our point of view forward. We obviously cant say we dont want any safety improvements because we do, but we need to be practical about it.

Whakatane district councillor Wilson James thinks Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency needs to be gutsy enough to front up at a public meeting about its plans to install median barriers along State Highway 30 from Whakatane to Awakeri.

Theyre visiting people individually, but theyre not actually listening to what people are saying.

Waka Kotahis consultants, Beca, are doing individual visits to everyone, and from the sounds of things, telling people that there hadnt been much pushback about the barriers. There has been no public meeting and I havent spoken to any neighbours who have been in support of [the barriers].

Everyone seems to be getting told something different. Its almost as though they are trying to coerce people into it by saying that everyone else is agreeing to it, but no one is. I dont think its right, the way that theyre doing it.

He says some of these people have been contacting him asking when a public meeting was going to be held as they felt they were being fed misinformation.

Waka Kotahi is currently carrying out a consultation process that will help inform the finer details of the safety measures. It has contracted engineering consultant company Beca to carry out this work.

Waka Kotahi transport services regional manager Jo Wilton says the team is currently talking with people who had property access onto State Highway 30, or who had business operations that could be directly affected.

We have so far had face to face conversations with almost 20 landowners, as well as with iwi, council, local businesses and other stakeholders. Feedback so far has been from a wide range of people, with many different views, all of which will help inform our final designs, she says.

One farmer, Selwyn Cleland says the consultants have told him there will be no public meeting because theres so much public anger about the median barriers.

The consultants said, nah, thats not going to happen because it would be too angst. The health and safety of the people running the meeting would be at risk. Theres so much anger because no one actually wants it.

It seems ridiculous that theres not going to be a public meeting about a public road. At the end of the day, were the ones paying for it. Were the taxpayers and if we dont want something, why should we be having it.

Were a rural community. Theres a lot of farmers down this road who have land both sides and we have to get to the land two, three or four times a day, and if weve got a median barrier weve got to go all the way around the roundabout three kilometres down the road on a motorbike or on a tractor. A lot of farmers run stock across the road. It just doesnt seem to make logical sense.

Wilson says he has spoken with five farmers who have land on both sides of the road and will be affected in this way.

Whakatane District Council Rangitaiki general ward councillor Wilson James.

But its not just the people along the road that will be affected. It will affect every road user including emergency vehicles.

Ive driven tractors up and down the main road there and youre fully aware that youve got quite a queue of traffic behind you. No one wants to be holding up anyone else unduly but if theres a median barrier there youre definitely going to be holding people up. No one wants to see accidents but, at the same time, its got to be practical.

Jo says public drop-in sessions would be held early next year where those who hadnt had face-to-face time with the project team, could do so, learn more about the proposed safety improvements and express their feedback.

Asked whether there would also be a public meeting where interested parties could all be spoken to at the same time, the answer was that a drop-in session is a public meeting.

But rather than a seated event where someone takes questions from the floor, there will be multiple people from the project team available to answer individual or group questions and receive feedback, while directly interacting with the community.

Our experience is that this results in much more meaningful dialogue, and a better turn-out, as people can choose when they arrive at a time that suits within an extended window on an afternoon-evening.

Mark says he has also heard that the consultants have told people that others in the community are coming around to the idea.

Everyone knows everyone in our area and people are talking. Everyone Ive spoken to is still against it. I called them out about it when I saw them but they didnt have much to say. The woman from Beca was rather quiet about it.

He says a town meeting with Waka Kotahi where everyone could hear what everyone else has to say is a good idea.

I put that to them and they didnt think that was necessary because all they were going to get was abuse. I said to them, if all youre going to get is abuse, then what does that tell you.

Mark says a big concern for him is that there seems to be no, or very minimal, road works happening on the highway.

Now, wouldnt you think, if you were trying to minimise accidents, youd try fixing the road to start with?

Jo says details about public drop in sessions will be advertised.

If anyone has any questions about the project they could email bopprojects@nzta.govt.nz or visit www.nzta.govt.nz/sh30a2w for more information or sign up to receive project updates.

-Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
The relocation of Taneatua NZ Post postboxes has made them inaccessible for some users.

Taneatua Superette owners Bobby and JT Singh recently bought the block of buildings on Tuhoe Street in which their shop is located and, over the past month, have removed the 120 postboxes located at number 52.

They have been replaced with 60 new postboxes on the corner of Tuhoe Street and Morrison Road.

Whakatane district councillor Andrew Iles, who represents Te Urewera ward, says the way the postboxes have been recessed into the wall make it quite a job for elderly people to access them and impossible for anyone with a disability. He says it's not good enough.

Community board member and senior citizen Luke Ruiterman is one of the Taneatua residents who collects his mail from the postboxes.

He says he has to now step onto a platform raised about 60 centimetres above the footpath and balance on the ledge while he bends down to open his box.

Tuhoe Hauora trustee Honey Thrupp says it's a disgrace and disrespectful to people with disabilities.

She will like to see the postboxes placed where people can reach them from the footpath.

One of the people with a postbox has just had a hip replacement and uses a walker and there is no way she can reach her postbox. Even if she could get up the steps, her post box is right at the bottom, and she would have to bend right down while standing on a ledge.

Bobby Singh says only 25 of the postboxes are currently in use.

He plans to open Taney Vape Shop in the building next to the superette, recently vacated by the old post boxes.

He says the reason for recessing the new postboxes is to provide shelter from the rain as there is no veranda over the footpath on the corner shop.

Taneatua resident Charlotte McGougan says she has written to NZ Post to complain about the new location for the postboxes.

She says it would have made much more sense to put an awning over the footpath than to create a recess into the wall.

She also notes the wooden step placed in front of the alcove to allow people to access the postboxes is on a public footpath causing a tripping hazard to pedestrians.

Honey, who is involved with the youth centre next door, is also unhappy about the vape shop.

It is right next to a youth hub that promotes healthy messages, she says.

The name also irks me. It is a put down of the name Taneatua.

Bobbys response is that there is a liquor store just two shops along, and that staff from the youth hub frequently buy cigarettes and vapes from his store.

He says he's doing his best to improve the building.

When we took over, it was just all broken glass. I have just begun making improvements. I receive $250 plus GST a month for the postboxes, and it would cost a lot more to put up a shelter for the postboxes. NZ Post need to decide what they want to do.

The NZ Post postboxes were installed in late September, since then a second wooden step and a handrail have been added. Photo in October 30/supplied/Tane postboxes

He says he's happy to assist anyone who has trouble reaching their postbox.

I often helped people when they were in the old location, and I have said they just need to come and ask me.

NZ Post external communications lead Greta Parker told Local Democracy Reporting, "NZ Post agrees that the current set up for the Taneatua PO Boxes is unacceptable. We are actively working on an urgent resolution and will have an update for customers as soon as possible."

-Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.
Western Bay of Plentys new mayor welcomes the review proposing extensive changes to local government to fix a few issues the sector faces.

The Future for Local Government review proposes allowing 16-year-olds to vote, mana whenua appointees potentially sitting alongside elected Maori ward councillors, changing council terms from three years to four years, and more money for councillors.

Set up 18 months ago by Minister of Local Government Nanaia Mahuta, an independent panel has now come up with 29 draft recommendations and a number of questions before its final report due in June 2023.

Strengthening relationships between local and central government as well as looking at the scope of what councils do in the community are also key parts of the review.

Western Bay of Plenty mayor James Denyer told Local Democracy Reporting: There's a few issues in local government that need fixing and a little bit of clarification on where we as a sector are going.

This was particularly with the Government mandated Three Waters reform and council potentially losing its three waters functions, he said.

As well as the repealing of the Resource Management Act (RMA), which Denyer said; will profoundly change how, and why council does things.

The review has the potential to tide that direction.

When asked if the review would help, seeing the reforms are underway and the Future for Local Government review is still in draft form, Denyer replied: The trick will be to align everything.

Ideally you would've done the review and then done Three Waters and the RMA review, but we are where we are.

I'm hopeful that the review gives a little bit more guidance to council.

Denyer is very keen on extending council terms to four years because three year terms were too short and it is out of step with most other western democracies.

Councils are required to do a long term plan every three years, which takes two years to do, so it is a continual tread treadmill for staff, he said.

Elections are also expensive and disruptive in terms of their cost as well as inducting and training new councillors.

With a background in finance, Denyer says: I was hoping to see something a little bit more transformational in terms of local government funding.

The report recommends retaining rates from home and landowners as the principal mechanism for funding local government.

It also recommends central government developed an intergenerational fund for climate change and enabled councils to introduce new funding mechanisms.

Denyer agrees with the strengthening relationships between local government and central government and said they need to work closer together.

Local Government New Zealand president Stuart Crosby had deep concerns the final review sits on the shelf. Photo: Supplied.

Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) president Stuart Crosby told Local Democracy Reporting the review is designed to put the local back into local democracy.

There's been a lot of commentary that that has been eroded over a number of years by a number of governments.

Crosby, a current Bay of Plenty Regional councillor and former mayor of Tauranga, says: The key issue is how central and local government delivers services to the community more effectively and efficiently.

Unfortunately in this country we have siloed governments.

So central government do their thing, local government do their thing

There's a huge opportunity to have a seamless delivery of services to the community through local and central government.

He says he had deep concerns that the review would be shelved, as the final report was due in June 2023 when parliament went into election mode ahead of the general election later in the year.

The risk is Three waters goes ahead in some shape or form, the Resource Management Act [reform] goes ahead in some shape or form, and this piece of work sits on the shelf.

But in saying that, the panel are very clear that a lot of their recommendations do not need a legislative change.

Future for Local Government review panel chairperson Jim Palmer says: The reality is because our report lands in June next year, it will be a new government that actually takes the recommendations forward and considers them.

Both Crosby and Palmer are keen for councils and the public to share their thoughts on the review.

Submissions on the draft report are open until February 28, 2023. They can be made via the Future for Local Government website.

Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.
Hato Hone St John has exceeded its target to empower 10,000 kiwis with life-saving skills in its first ever Shocktober.

Leveraging off Restart a Heart Day held on Sunday, October 16, Hato Hone St John focused the whole month of October on CPR and AED training through its 3 Steps for Life programme.

Cardiac arrest remains one of the leading causes of death in Aotearoa New Zealand with more than 2000 people a year treated.

Of those, only 25 per cent survive hospital arrival and 11 per cent leave hospital alive.

Sarah Manley, Hato Hone St John Deputy Chief Executive Community Health and Education, says she is delighted to announce that around 13,000 people completed the 3 Steps for Life training during Shocktober, marking it as an absolute success since it launched at the beginning of the month.

A huge congratulations to everyone involved. This is easily one of the most successful, visible and engaging campaigns we have run in Hato Hone St John for some time.

To have reached 13,000 people, right across the country  and with some awesome partnership work along the way  has been incredible. So many of our people got involved internally too and that was brilliant.

Shocktober has also led to some other amazing outcomes including attracting new volunteers, increasing awareness and engagement  and most of all, equipping people with the skills to make a life changing difference. I have no doubt lives will be saved from this campaign.

Jacci Tatnell, Hato Hone Head of Community Education, agrees and says none of it would have been achieved without the amazing support from across the motu, including from the Warriors Foundation and Hato Hone St John partners; ASB, Spark and Z Energy.

While its been a collaborative effort to promote and drive the campaign, the delivery of all this mahi is because of our volunteer community educators.

A whopping number of sessions have been delivered by volunteers and without our volunteer workforce, this campaign would not be possible. So, from Hato Hone to our volunteers  a big thank you to all of you for your amazing work.

Shocktober key achievements
Chris Duggan has been recognised for her hard work and perseverance in bringing her charity, House of Science NZ, to where it is today.

The House of Science CEO was presented with the Wintec Secondary School Teacher/Educator award in September.

Chris graduated from Massey University with a degree in biochemistry and spent her early working years in different labs before taking a position as a lab technician at Kawerau College.

When the school needed another science teacher, it was apparent that I was well-qualified to teach and I moved into a teaching role, training on the job, she says.

Her next move was to Tauranga Girls' College, as Head of Science and teaching general science and chemistry.

I saw wave after wave of students who were starting high school with no experience of science and that was a real concern.

A 2012 Education Review Office report shows that 73 per cent of primary schools seen were doing no science at all.

Chris was horrified by this, as New Zealand prides itself on being a developed country.

Chris Duggan, the face behind the idea of House of Science. Photo: Supplied.

She says we arent feeding the curiosity for science in our primary school students and fostering their wondering.

She points out that this has a knock on effect on the continuation of expert scientific knowledge within the country and growing the future workforce.

By the age of 10, many children have decided what subjects they enjoy and what they might like to do in life.

If theyve had no exposure to science, then that wont be in the mix. Research shows that by 13/14 years old, the boat for introducing them to new subjects has been missed.

In 2013, Chris quit her teaching job mid-year and set about making a huge change to the teaching of science in our primary schools.

While it sounds like a dramatic move to quit my job, I knew that if I was going to do this, I needed to devote the time to it and do it properly.

Chris approached Tauranga Primary School principals to identify what was required and discovered the teachers had neither the expertise nor the resources available to them to teach science effectively.

From there she devised a system of science kits that could be lent out to schools from a central library, containing all the equipment, materials and instructions for using them in the classroom, and the House of Science was born.

Chris wanted to focus on resources to give teachers confidence to teach science as science is an inherently expensive subject to resource.

Children benefit hugely from looking at the world through a scientific lens. Photo: Supplied.

House of Science offers schools access to really good resources without having to purchase them themselves.

This all needed funding and I knew nothing about setting up a charity or getting funding. So initially it was just me learning on the job and applying for grants. I have been very fortunate to come across some very generous philanthropists and numerous volunteers.

The Wright Family Foundation are cornerstone partners and their funding has enabled me to expand the House of Science beyond the Bay of Plenty area.

Some kits have local sponsors to fund their maintenance and distribution and their branding is on the kit.

DairyNZ sponsors several kits that relate to their industry under the project name Moo to You, and government departments such as MPIs Biosecurity team are also involved.

All House of Science resources are now bi-lingual and available in Te Reo Maori and English.

For me that is a no-brainer, we are a bi-lingual country and I believe that every teaching resource should be bi-lingual.

The House of Science is now running in 18 other regions, each with a manager and teams of volunteers.

Chris has seen a huge shift in teacher confidence, which for her is the bottom line.

As far as the primary school students are concerned, we are certainly building capacity in the community to look at the world through scientific lenses.

Winning the Wintec award means a lot to Chris but she is quick to acknowledge the team of 40 staff and 100 or so volunteers in the success of House of Science.

Growing the countrys future workforce with science. Photo: Supplied.

Its been a huge team effort with the help of our funders and the award has certainly raised our profile, which is a good thing!

Chris believes that our teachers deserve better and need access to these resources. Her next goal in The House of Science journey is to secure long term and sustainable funding for science resources in New Zealand schools.

Our vision is to build scientific literate children, young people and communities, not just to get them into scientific career paths but so they look at the world through scientific lenses and make informed decisions about the welfare of themselves, their communities and the planet.

ANZ sponsored House of Science kits ready to go out to schools. Photo: Supplied.
An armed assault on the home of a Mongrel Mob presidents daughter  where five children were inside  involved weapons of such high calibre the bullets passed through the entire house.

It was remarkable no one was injured in this event, Crown Prosecutor Anna Pollett told a High Court jury in Hamilton on Wednesday.

At least 96 rounds were fired into the house in Haukore St in Tauranga, and a car parked outside, from the street during the night assault.

It was one of several tit-for-tat acts of violence in a rapidly escalating gang war that hit the Bay of Plenty in early 2020.

Nine senior members and affiliates of one of those gangs  the Mongols  are standing trial on a raft of drugs and weapons charges.

Following a covert surveillance operation, police arrested the entire senior hierarchy of the gang in June 2020.

At the time the police said a gang war was brewing in the Bay of Plenty region, with numerous groups battling for the lions share of the drug market there.

Among those on trial is the Mongols national president, Jim David Thacker, also known as JD; sergeant-at-arms Leon Wolf Huritu; Jason 666 Ross; Kelly Rhino Petrowski; Hone One-er Ronaki; Matthew Ramsden; Kane Ronaki; Te Reneti Tarau; and another man who has interim name suppression.

The trial continued on Wednesday with the second day of the closing argument of Crown prosecutor Anna Pollett, who recounted numerous alleged drug deals that were made during the establishment phase of the gang in 2019.

It was a narrative that took a sudden and decidedly violent turn in early 2020, when the Mongols efforts to intimidate other gangs in the region intensified with a series of increasingly dramatic tit-for-tat incidents, Pollett said.

What we know is that it was not just the distribution of controlled drugs ... It was the preparation and indeed the serious violence that occurred once the Mongols were established in New Zealand.

As well as the first New Zealand chapter of the motorcycle club, Thacker had also established a barbershop in Tauranga called Bladed and Faded, following his arrival as a deportee from Australia in late 2018.

That business had become a target for the other, older gangs in the region  including, apparently, the Tauranga branch of the Mongrel Mob  which had taken exception to the arrival of the new club in their territory.

This animosity had begun on New Years Eve 2019, almost innocuously with the throwing of a firework into the guttering of the business, which had caused some damage. Read more here.

The fire at the shop on New Year's Eve 2019. File photo/SunLive.

Whether it was a deliberate act or not, it wasnt left there, Pollett said.

On January 24 the doors and all the front-facing windows of the business were smashed. This prompted Thacker, who was in Wellington at the time, to take to social media the following day to issue a challenge to his perceived rivals.

To the spineless c...s trying to f... with my shop ... Have a proper go, you cowards, he wrote.

Do something worth it, bra, because its gonna hurt.

The challenge was accepted: Two nights later Bladed and Faded was burnt to the ground.

As Pollet told the jurors, It was all on at that point.

As a secret witness  a gang insider who had given evidence against them  had told the jurors earlier in the trial, Thacker had called a meeting of the gang hierarchy where he issued a commandment: 24 hours for revenge.

That revenge, Pollet said, took the form of four senior members of the Mongols  Thacker, Hone Ronaki, Huritu and the Auckland-based member who has name suppression  stealing a car and heading to the home in Maungatupu, where they pulled up outside and began firing.

Whether the shooters knew there were children inside the house is not known. However, one of the two adult occupants at the time was the daughter of the president of the Tauranga branch of the Mongrel Mob.

Armed police cordons on Haukore Street following the 2020 shooting. File photo: SunLive.

Scientific analysis had determined five different weapons were used in the attack. One adult witness had told the court of bullets like a machine gun hitting the wall above her bed in the bedroom, which was on the far side of the house from the road.

The power of these weapons just cannot be underestimated, Pollett said.

Some of the weapons  a Bushmaster XM15, a DPMS Panther A-15 rifle, an AK47 and a Windham WW15  were subsequently stashed near the Kaituna River, where they were found by police.

The tit-for-tat battle was not yet done. Several cars filled with Mongrel Mob members were mobilised and made tracks for Mongols vice president Hone Ronakis house, which was in the midst of horticultural land west of Te Puke.

But the convoy was spotted and the alarm was raised.

Pollett recounted the evidence of a nearby resident who had watched on as several car loads of Mongrel Mob members pulled up outside his property, not far from Hone Ronakis house.

The man had told the court he had seen three men  allegedly Thacker, Ronaki and Fred Whare, another Mongols member  walk out from Ronakis house onto the road, about 200 to 300 metres from where the rival gang had congregated.

Without waiting, the trio had begun firing on the interlopers, he said.

Although greater in number, the Mongrel Mob members were outgunned, Pollett said.

The three men could have fled into the surrounding kiwifruit orchards, however the response by the Mongols was to outpower them ... They chose to arm themselves and shoot first, and with these types of weapons.

The defence of self-defence is easily disproved. This was not an imminent threat. They had other options available to them, and they chose not to take them.

The trial continues.

-Mike Mather/Stuff.
Police have released the name of a person who died after a car ploughed into Bay of Plenty lake last month.

Seventy-seven-year-old Antony Byrne Ansell of Lake Rotoma, Rotorua District died after the vehicle he was in crashed into Lake Rotoma on October 25.

"Our thoughts are with his friends and family," says a police spokesperson.

"Enquiries into the incident are ongoing."
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia responded to the statements made by the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, at the last session of the Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

"We do not consider it appropriate to comment on the insolent statements of the President of Belarus, unrelated to the logic of negotiations and totally against the nature of allied relations and friendship, which call into question the obligations of the member-state signed by himself within the framework of the CSTO," Foreign Ministry press secretary Vahan Hunanyan told ARMENPRESS.

During the session of the CSTO Collective Security Council, Alexander Lukashenko stated that it would not be right to oppose the CSTO to Azerbaijan. "It is not the right thing to raise the question whether the CSTO is with us, or not. Azerbaijan is now headed by absolutely our man, Ilham Aliyev. What will happen tomorrow, he is not forever, no one knows, so these issues should be resolved now," said the President of Belarus, emphasizing that both Azerbaijan and Armenia are "close" countries for Belarus, and the conflict between the two countries must be settled in an absolutely peaceful way.

Lukashenko also stated that Belarus will support any decision agreed between Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia.
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YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS. On October 10, 2022, the Ministry of Defense of Armenia unilaterally terminated the arms supply contract with the Jadara Equipment and Defense Systems company and demanded payment of a fine, ARMENPRESS reports the relevant document, signed by Deputy Minister of Defense Karen Brutyan, is published on the website of the Ministry of Finance.

The document states that in the sidelines of the purchase contract signed between the Ministry of Defense of Armenia and the "Jadara Equipment and Defense System" company on 08.06.2021, the Jordanian company was supposed to supply the goods stipulated in the aforementioned contract during 2021, but did not supply them.

"Based on the requirements of paragraph b) of clause 2.1.6 of clause 2.1.6.1 of the Agreement, the Ministry of Defense of Armenia unilaterally completely terminated the above-mentioned contract on October 10, 2022.

I inform you that the company "Jadara Equipment and Defense System" is obliged to transfer 23 232 233 AMD as a penalty to the treasury account 900005028106 opened by the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Armenia within 5 (five) banking days after receiving this notice, according to Clause 6.2 of the Agreement, reads the document.
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North Korea's missile launch on Wednesday was unacceptable because one of the missiles fell near the territorial waters of the Republic of Korea, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff.

November 2, 2022, 10:55 South Korea's military slams North Korea's missile launch 'unacceptable'

STEPANAKERT, NOVEMBER 2, ARTSAKHPRESS: "The North Korean missile launched today fell near our territorial waters south of the northern boundary line for the first time since the division [of Korea]. This is unprecedented and unacceptable," the officials said. They added that the South Korean military would respond decisively.

According to Seoul, North Korea launched three short-range ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan. The launch took place from the Wonsan area of the Kangwon Province around 08:51 (02:51 Moscow time). One of the missiles landed south of the northern boundary line, which Seoul considers a de facto maritime boundary. The missile was flying toward the South Korean island of Ulleungdo, an air alert was declared there. It fell into the sea 167 kilometers northwest of Ulleungdo and 57 kilometers east of Sokcho. It was also the first time a missile had flown towards South Korean territory.
ashis89 Distinguished - BHPian



Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Bengaluru Posts: 3,082 Thanked: 8,662 Times

View My Garage





re: Ownership Review | My Kia Seltos HTK+ 1.5L Diesel MT (Coyote) | EDIT: 3 years, 50,000 kms up!



There were not one but multiple instances of:



1. me entering a toll plaza and following a bus only to realize that the bus(es) were not in any line but bullying their way into a lane at the front. Embarrassing as it was, I had to follow suit.



2. Google diverting us through "short-cuts" where roads were closed due to maintenance or too small for a car to go.



3. KM long jams on the highway which I thought to be accidents or toll-plaza. They turned out to traffic signals and speed barricades put up by the cops on the highway.



4. Google directing us to restaurants' location where there was nothing. With our schedule going haywire, we had to look for places impromptu. For example, we were targetting Rice Bowl, Walayar to lunch and had expected to reach the place by 1PM. But we crossed it only at 5:20PM.



What should have been a 540 km, 10 hr journey including breaks, was eventually a 14 hr journey for the 2 of us. On the return leg, with very sedate driving, detour to Malampuzha dam, lunch and dinner breaks, I did the 555 km drive in 11.5 hrs.





All that said, the car continues to be a joy to drive on such long trips. Keep cruising at 80-100 and when the need comes, just a dab on the accelerator is enough to overtake anything in front. Even the ghat section near Krishnagiri was happily dismissed in the 5th gear without needing a downshift. Single lane narrow KL roads and short window to overtake? No worries. Just point and shoot!



The Continentals have done 9k kms so far. While returning from Ethirapilly falls, we got some very heavy rains. The tyres and brakes continue to do a very commendable job on wet as well as dry conditions, good 6 lane roads, bad roads or ghats. The passenger side wiper is leaving some streaks of water and would need a replacement.



Coyote would complete 3 years in another 4 days time. Odo stands at 49.3k kms. I will take it for the next service over the next 2-3 weeks. Apart from the wiper, the stock brake pads might be due for replacement.





Current odo reading after a rather sedate drive back from Kochi





Happy companions! While I had got the car washed, polished the body and wheels myself, thanks to Google taking us through some God forsaken roads/fields, those alloys were muddied almost as soon as we had crossed E-City!







Arduous onward trip. Out of the 30 odd kms, the first 20 kms took 30 mins and the next 16 hrs took 2 hrs





Saravana bhawan near Krishnagiri was packed. So stopped by roadside stall for a hearty breakfast while enjoying the cool breeze





Some free space after crossing Palakkad. The traffic remained super dense until we entered KL. Thereafter, some junctions in KL had long jams. Given I had had a long day, I took service roads, off road shoulders and even slush to get ahead











On Sunday afternoons, most places were closed and wore a deserted look. So the store front was used up as parking





On the way to Kuzhupilly beach





Through the Sholayar reserve forest to reach Athirapilly, Charpa and Vazhachal waterfalls























The 49k mark





The Kuthiran tunnel





Drove down to Kochi over the weekend. The onward journey was a disaster, all thanks to weekend traffic, uncountable road jams, pile-ups and bloody mis-directions.There were not one but multiple instances of:1. me entering a toll plaza and following a bus only to realize that the bus(es) were not in any line but bullying their way into a lane at the front. Embarrassing as it was, I had to follow suit.2. Google diverting us through "short-cuts" where roads were closed due to maintenance or too small for a car to go.3. KM long jams on the highway which I thought to be accidents or toll-plaza. They turned out to traffic signals and speed barricades put up by the cops on the highway.4. Google directing us to restaurants' location where there was nothing. With our schedule going haywire, we had to look for places impromptu. For example, we were targetting Rice Bowl, Walayar to lunch and had expected to reach the place by 1PM. But we crossed it only at 5:20PM.What should have been a 540 km, 10 hr journey including breaks, was eventually a 14 hr journey for the 2 of us. On the return leg, with very sedate driving, detour to Malampuzha dam, lunch and dinner breaks, I did the 555 km drive in 11.5 hrs.All that said, the car continues to be a joy to drive on such long trips. Keep cruising at 80-100 and when the need comes, just a dab on the accelerator is enough to overtake anything in front. Even the ghat section near Krishnagiri was happily dismissed in the 5th gear without needing a downshift. Single lane narrow KL roads and short window to overtake? No worries. Just point and shoot!The Continentals have done 9k kms so far. While returning from Ethirapilly falls, we got some very heavy rains. The tyres and brakes continue to do a very commendable job on wet as well as dry conditions, good 6 lane roads, bad roads or ghats. The passenger side wiper is leaving some streaks of water and would need a replacement.Coyote would complete 3 years in another 4 days time. Odo stands at 49.3k kms. I will take it for the next service over the next 2-3 weeks. Apart from the wiper, the stock brake pads might be due for replacement.Current odo reading after a rather sedate drive back from KochiHappy companions! While I had got the car washed, polished the body and wheels myself, thanks to Google taking us through some God forsaken roads/fields, those alloys were muddied almost as soon as we had crossed E-City!Arduous onward trip. Out of the 30 odd kms, the first 20 kms took 30 mins and the next 16 hrs took 2 hrsSaravana bhawan near Krishnagiri was packed. So stopped by roadside stall for a hearty breakfast while enjoying the cool breezeSome free space after crossing Palakkad. The traffic remained super dense until we entered KL. Thereafter, some junctions in KL had long jams. Given I had had a long day, I took service roads, off road shoulders and even slush to get aheadOn Sunday afternoons, most places were closed and wore a deserted look. So the store front was used up as parkingOn the way to Kuzhupilly beachThrough the Sholayar reserve forest to reach Athirapilly, Charpa and Vazhachal waterfallsThe 49k markThe Kuthiran tunnel Last edited by ashis89 : 26th October 2022 at 17:11 .
In brief: Electronic bicycles have grown in popularity as emissions-free alternatives to mopeds and motorcycles, but charging them can be dangerous. The last two years have seen a dramatic rise in fires and injuries from exploding e-bike batteries in New York City.

The New York City Fire Department reports that as of last week, it has investigated significantly more fires caused by e-bike batteries than in all of 2021. City authorities have proposed multiple solutions, including regulations and partial bans.

Electric bike batteries have caused a suspected 174 fires in NYC in 2022. That's an average of about four per week. By the end of the year, that number may hit double last year's total of 104 and quadruple the 44 reported in 2020. Battery-related fires in 2022 have already injured 93 and killed six New Yorkers, compared to last year's 79 injuries and deaths.

The problem lies between the bikes' lithium-ion batteries and their chargers, which aren't universally inter-compatible. If a rider uses a charger with the wrong power level, it may overheat the battery after it's fully charged, risking a fire. Flammable material can also leak out of the cells and ignite.

Furthermore, users often opt for refurbished batteries that pose a higher risk. Many e-bike riders are couriers and delivery workers for whom new batteries are prohibitively expensive. Firefighters also find it challenging to identify which batteries and chargers are unsafe because fires usually leave them destroyed beyond recognition.

Lithium-ion batteries store a large amount of energy and can pose a threat if not treated properly. Be #FDNYSmart when using any devices powered by lithium-ion batteries. See more tips at https://t.co/3ibx2fA9c4 pic.twitter.com/hyvb5jyN6C  FDNY (@FDNY) November 1, 2022

Another danger is that batteries, especially refurbished ones, can take hours to charge. Users can't keep watch through the entire process and may leave them plugged in overnight. Some restaurants might store the e-bikes on-premises, but freelance Door Dash or Uber Eats couriers have little choice but to pack them into dense apartments.

One new proposal will try to prohibit used power packs altogether, while another would require more stringent national testing standards for batteries. The New York City Housing Authority tried banning e-bikes and batteries from thousands of buildings earlier this year. However, it failed after intense resistance from delivery workers and officials.

Earlier this month, New York mayor Eric Adams announced a $1 million program to provide hubs for freelance delivery workers, which include charging stations. Still, it's unclear if they will allow overnight charging.
Why it matters: Microsoft's $69 billion bid to acquire the publisher behind Call of Duty and Overwatch is already facing extra scrutiny in the United Kingdom. Now it appears the European Union will bring its investigation into the deal to a new phase.

Sources told Reuters and Politico this week that Microsoft opted not to provide any concessions to European Commission regulators regarding its plans to acquire Activision Blizzard. As a result, the EU's examination of the bid will enter phase 2 by next week, echoing the deeper scrutiny UK regulators are placing on the acquisition.

A Microsoft spokesperson said the company would keep working with the Commission to address any concerns. Although Microsoft submitted no official remedies to UK or EU authorities, it recently said it would continue releasing Call of Duty games on rival PlayStation consoles indefinitely to assuage Sony's primary reason for opposing the deal.

Sony isn't just worried about Microsoft potentially taking the massive shooter franchise away from PlayStation. It also thinks Microsoft placing Call of Duty on Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Cloud Gaming would make the company too dominant in the subscription and cloud gaming sectors. However, Microsoft's reply to the UK's examination suggested it would honor a prior deal between Sony and Activision Blizzard that would keep Call of Duty off of its subscription services for years even if Microsoft bought Activision.

Brazilian regulators approved the deal unconditionally after their examination hosted public arguments between Sony and Microsoft. The Brazilian government doubted Call of Duty was essential to PlayStation's survival and said its job wasn't to protect individual competitors.

Despite much of the attention surrounding the acquisition centering on Call of Duty, Microsoft has admitted it mainly wants Activision Blizzard for PC and mobile gaming. A report earlier this year shows that a significant portion of Activision Blizzard's money came from King  the maker of Candy Crush and Farm Heroes.

Another regulator Microsoft might have trouble with is the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Reports indicate the FTC's investigation is still in the early stages, and any decision won't arrive until around late November. Saudia Arabia was the first country to accept the buyout, but Microsoft will also need approval from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea.
WTF?! While it's long been said that flagship smartphones are making digital cameras obsolete, that statement has never been truer than with the Xiaomi 12S Ultra Concept. The phone has the unique feature of allowing users to attach an interchangeable Leica M lens to the rear of the device.

Developed in partnership with German camera giant Leica, the Xiaomi 12S Ultra Concept looks pretty much identical to the Xiaomi 12S Ultrait was created alongside that flagshipbut this version has a second, one-inch 50.3-megapixel sensor in the middle of the camera island.

The extra sensor, which is another Sony IMX989, is placed beneath a circular piece of sapphire glass that the attachable lenses cover. Installing one of the M-series Lecia lens modules, which range from f/1.4 to f/16, involves unscrewing the ring around the island and mounting it via an adapter.

Xiaomi writes that the 5G phone will come with features that include focus peaking, zebra lines, histogram, and 10-bit RAW shooting.

The 48-megapixel ultra-wide camera that had been positioned in the middle of the camera island has been moved to the same space that the 48-megapixel periscopic telephoto camera had occupied.

As the name suggests, the Xiaomi 12S Ultra Concept is still a concept phone, of course, so we don't know if it will ever make its way onto the marketonly ten sample units have been madebut the amount of work Xiaomi appears to have put into its design suggests the company has its sights on a finished consumer version. Engadget writes that each sample cost around 300,000 yuan or about $41,210 to make, so expect them to be expensive.

About the closest thing we've seen to this concept is the Android-based Yongnuo mirrorless cameras (above) that have only been available in China. There was also the Samsung Galaxy Camera and Samsung Galaxy NX from many years ago. It'll be interesting to see if the Xiaomi 12S Ultra Concept offers a compelling mix of high-end digital camera and smartphone.
In a nutshell: A former Apple employee pled guilty in federal court to charges of conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States. The crimes involved scams the man ran during his ten-year employment at Apple as a buyer within its supply chain.

Apple hired Dhirendra Prasad in 2008 to work in its Global Service Supply Chain. His primary responsibility was to purchase services and parts for the company from its various authorized vendors.

In 2011, Prasad began accepting kickbacks, falsifying invoices, and stealing components. Prasad enlisted the help of at least two of Apple's vendors to set up and execute the scams. The embezzlement continued through 2018 before Apple caught on and pressed charges. Prasad's hustle resulted in a $17 million loss.

One scheme that Prasad admitted to involved shipping motherboards to a company called CTrends, operated by Don Baker, who pleaded guilty in a separate federal case. Baker would receive the boards and strip them of parts. Prasad would then draw up a purchase order, and Baker would fill it with the harvested components and fraudulent invoices. The two would then split the money.

In another scam, Prasad shipped parts from a Nevada warehouse owned by Apple to Quality Electronics Distributors. This business was another Apple vendor run by co-conspirator Robert Hansen. Like the other scheme, Hansen would repackage the components and send them back to the warehouse with fake invoices, and Prasad would dummy up purchase orders. Hansen also pled guilty in a separate hearing.

In the seven years of defrauding Apple, Prasad had to set up a shell company to hide his phony business dealings that frequently involved hundreds of thousands of dollars. Prasad would funnel payments from Baker and Hansen into the company while they would write the expenses off as tax deductions. The US Justice Department claims Prasad and his confederates defrauded the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of over $1.8 million.

Sentencing is scheduled for March 14, 2023. Prasad could face up to 20 years in prison for one count of wire and mail fraud against Apple and another five years for a single count of defrauding the IRS.
Sooper, an online marketplace, seeks to advance the construction sector in Brazil by linking suppliers on one side and retailers on the other. Earlier this year, the startup gained a significant seed round led by Canary Ventures and Kaszek Ventures after amassing a total investment of $5.7 million.

Although the company does not disclose its number of suppliers, Bloomberg noted that it has at least 15,000 construction-related materials on its marketplace. At the same time, it is also offering financial products like credit to retailers so that they can further advance the construction industry.

But even though the sector is relatively male-dominated, the person behind this startup is cofounded and headed by a woman named Rafaela Khouri.

How Khouri 'Constructed' Sooper

According to Bloomberg, Khouri has a background in private equity and startups since she worked at Quinto Andar, where she eventually met her cofounder, Hygor Burza Dupin via a founders' program held at Canary Ventures.

The program ultimately helped the two entrepreneurs in developing a business concept. With Dupin's technical expertise and Khouri's startup skills, they constructed Sooper.

This online marketplace was founded in May 2021 and started selling products in November. The business is relatively new, but it has already established two distribution centers in Sao Paulo to expand its base. Bloomberg noted that they have 40 employees, and revenue has increased 270% month over month (MoM).

Several investors, such as Globo Ventures, Ana Luiza Mclaren, Tie Lima, Gabrel Braga, Paula Silveria, and other entities, also joined in its $5.7 million seed round funding back in January.

Read also: Tech Exec Spotlight: Who is Masayasu Ito? Here's What You Need to Know About the Man Who Led PS5 Development

Khouri's Business Model

The current business model of Sooper is reliant on next-day free delivery, and according to Khouri, this has been an effective way of offering credit to customers.

Khouri told Bloomberg that: "if a client goes to the store and wants a product that they don't have, the retailer is able to sell the product because they know Sooper will send it by the next day.

The business enables the retailer to borrow a loan and pay it back once they have sold their products within 90 days or at least three months.

Khouri acknowledged that working capital is a "major pain" for both suppliers and retailers. Hence, the company is offering credit up to about $30,000. The CEO and cofounder noted that this could get bigger over time.

She also added that Sooper generates money by charging a slightly higher price on each product that it sells to a retailer.

Based on Khouri's LinkedIn profile, she has a wealth of experience in developing startups. From December 2018 to September 2020, she was the head of a B2B called QuintoAndar, a tech company that provides solutions in the real estate market.

Related Article: #TechCEO Meet Onyekachi Izukanne, The Man Behind African Retail Aggregator 'TradeDepot'

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Written by Jace Dela Cruz

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
NASA's long-delayed Artemis 1 mission may finally have another shot at the Moon as its rocket will make another journey to the launch pad on Friday, Nov.4, as reported first by Space.com.

The Orion spacecraft capsule that will be launched into lunar orbit by NASA's huge Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket will fly on its second mission with Artemis 1.

The rocket has previously been hauled back to NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) three times: after fueling tests in April and July, then once again in September because of Hurricane Ian.

(Photo : CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)

TOPSHOT - The Artemis I unmanned lunar rocket sits on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center on September 1, 2022. - NASA will make a second attempt to launch its powerful new Moon rocket on September 3, after scrubbing a test flight earlier in the week.

NASA said in a blog post that minor repairs have already been made during thorough inspections. The preparation is on track for the rollout of VAN and the mobile launcher by configuring its arms and umbilicals, as well as retracting the access platforms around Orion and SLS.

The twin solid rocket booters' reaction control system testing and the installation of the flight batteries are also finished, and those parts are now set for flight.

Engineers will complete final closeouts at the launch pad before liftoff. The hatches for the crew module and launch abort system are closed for the roll to the pad, according to NASA.

Read Also: NASA's Artemis 1 Moon Mission Will Be Flying With Strange Passengers - Dummies and MORE!

First Lunar Landing in 50 Years

With the launch of Artemis 1, the Space Launch System, a 32-story rocket topped by the Orion spacecraft, will make its debut. When the spacecraft launches small spacecraft for lunar and extraterrestrial exploration, the distance to the lunar surface will be 62 miles.

This will also be the space agency's first lunar landing in 50 years.

The NASA Artemis program aims to establish a long-term human presence on and around the Moon by the end of the 2020s. Artemis 1 marks the program's maiden mission.

The initiative's total cost since its inception in 2017 is over $40 billion. NASA's major goal will be to construct a lunar base camp and a space station to maintain a permanent presence on the Moon to prioritize human space flight.

It's important to note that Artemis 1 will be carrying three mannequins instead of human passengers. The name Commander Moonikin Campos was chosen by the public for the male mannequin, who was also used for Orion vibration tests.

He will fly next to two female mannequin torsos made of components that resemble the bones, soft tissues, and organs of an adult female.

Ten CubeSats, or shoebox-sized spacecraft, will also be launched as part of the mission to map and study the lunar surface's ice pockets. In addition to completing tests on a space radiation barrier, other CubeSats will also be flying to far-off locations.

If NASA's current preparation proves to be a success, the Artemis 1 may finally fly to the Moon on November 14.

Related Article: NASA Will Land On The Moon For The First Time in 50 Years l Here's Everything You Need To Know About Artemis 1

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 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The Russian partners proposed to delay the issue of the status of Nagorno Karabakh for an indefinite period of time. This approach is in full accordance with the approach of the government of Armenia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during the joint session of the parliamentary standing committees relating to the debate of the 2023 state budget draft.

November 2, 2022, 12:00 Armenia agrees to Russias proposal to delay issue of status of Nagorno Karabakh for indefinite period of time

STEPANAKERT, NOVEMBER 2, ARTSAKHPRESS-ARMENPRESS: You know that it is being discussed that there is a Russian and a non-Russian concept, an attempt was made to create an impression that the steps of the Armenian government contradict the conventionally speaking Russian concept. But of course, thats not the case. I can present why. I myself could not publicize it previously because it would have been a violation of ethics in some sense. But as the authors of the concepts have somehow revealed the subtlety, I can touch upon the issue from this point of view. You are aware that our colleagues of Russia have stated that in their opinion the right approach would be to delay the issue of the status of Nagorno Karabakh for an indefinite period of time. How is this explained? It is explained based on the fact that at the moment there is objectively no opportunity to find a status that will be mutually acceptable. Moreover, it must be admitted that this is not a new situation, but in any case. To what extent is the policy of the government of Armenia in accordance with this vision? I must say that it fully and 100% coincides, the PM said.

Pashinyan said that there are three components in the NK issue  the security, rights and status of Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh.
In the words of DJ Khaled, it's "another one" for Ye

Four days after his return to the platform following a suspension for his antisemitic posts, Kanye West's Instagram account was restricted on Monday once again, a representative for Instagram's parent company Meta confirmed to Forbes, after posting a derogatory post about "Jewish business people."

(Photo : CHRIS DELMAS/AFP via Getty Images)

This illustration photo shows the Parler social network app logo on a cell phone screen with a picture of US rapper Kanye West in the background in Los Angeles, October 17, 2022. - Social network Parler announced on October 17 a deal for Kanye West to buy the platform popular with US conservatives, just over a week after the rapper's Twitter and Instagram accounts were restricted over anti-Semitic posts.

According to Forbes' report, the Meta spokesperson said that Ye (West's legal name) violated some of Instagram's rules, hence, they had to delete the content he posted and restricted access to his account.

Meta did not disclose which post led to its decision on restricting the rapper's account. However, it noted that it imposes restrictions on those who consistently violate its rules, preventing them from posting, commenting, and sending messages.

Ye's Posts

A screenshot showed West texting someone named Russell on Sunday with the words, "I gotta get the Jewish business folks to make the contracts fair Or die trying." But the post is now missing as of writing.

Another sensitive post by West, which featured a picture of the dead Emmett Till's disfigured face following his lynching in 1955, was still viewable on Instagram but was flagged for having "graphic or violent material."

West claimed to be the victim of "digital lynching" and "economic lynching" in the caption of this image, criticizing Endeavor talent agency CEO Ari Emanuel, who was among the first to urge businesses to cut relations with West after he made antisemitic remarks.

This month, West has made numerous antisemitic remarks on Twitter, Instagram, and in interviews. He also shared false information concerning George Floyd's death, claiming that he died after using fentanyl. Floyd's family is now planning to sue the rapper.

Adidas, Gap, and Balenciaga, some of West's largest corporate partners, ended their business relationships with him as a result of his comments.

According to Forbes, West lost his billionaire title after parting ways with Adidas, the company that produced the Yeezy sneakers and was the main source of his wealth.

Read Also: Ye: Kanye West is Buying Parler, Now Welcomed to the App without Restrictions

Is Ye Welcome on Musk's Twitter?

Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, previously offered West to use Twitter when he was suspended from Instagram. However, he was still in the process of completing his acquisition deal at the time.

But after posting an antisemitic Tweet, the rapper's access to Twitter was likewise restricted. Musk is now the new owner of Twitter and it is unknown if West will return to the platform under the billionaire's authority.

Related Article: Instagram Down: IG Bug Leads to Mass Suspension! iPhone Users Mostly Affected

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Environmental issues continue to bombard society and haunt humanity with extreme impacts. Big tech companies often desire to address their concerns about mitigating the effects of climate change, yet it's only half-baked.

Misleading information about environmental protection is often the headline of mainstream newspapers and articles. To make sure that these corporations stick to their climate pledges, a platform has stepped up to ensure that it will be properly addressed.

What Plan A Does For the Companies

(Photo : Maxim Tolchinskiy from Unsplash)

Sometimes, you might see a donation drive in your local area about environmental projects. In many cases, a huge organization or corporation is the one that spearheads these programs.

These days, people easily fall trapped in companies' false promises. Apparently, the corporations could not fulfill their goals regarding the diminishment of carbon emissions and other ways to slow down climate change.

Per WIRED's report, there's a special platform that can ensure companies' tactics when it comes to these proposals. To make sure that "greenwashing" schemes won't be widespread, Plan A CEO Lubomila Jordanova thought of an idea to scale how businesses address these environmental concerns.

At one time, she traveled to Morocco in 2016 and witnessed that humans were throwing trash onto the beach. While surfing is a good thing to start the day, she instead began to pick up the garbage swept by the tide. That's the only instance that she realized the influence of businesses when it comes to environmental problems.

To combat this issue, Jordanova notes that some companies continue to release wrong announcements about climate change and decarbonization.

"There will be a lot of shiny dashboards that are being sold as carbon accounting software or sustainability optimization tools," she says.

Carbon Emission Data

Speaking of Plan A, Jordanova says that the startup utilizes a dashboard where businesses or companies can keep track of their data related to carbon emissions and the like, regardless if it's for a business trip, a workplace, or production.

For instance, BMW relies on Plan A's service for the calculation of its carbon emissions every month. Jordanova notes that the car maker uses data mapping to check the "sustainability picture" from various angles.

Jordanova adds that planning comes next after data mapping. There should be a series of questions that will tell what materials are responsible for decarbonization.

After that, reporting will be followed up for the business owners, as well as regulators and consumers. For this part, Plan A will tackle the ESG (environmental, social, and governance) impacts of a certain company.

There's a need for each organization to report the emission. In this way, the company will discover what to improve to hit its goal of carbon footprint reduction.

Apart from that, Plan A has launched a module to monitor their emissions this October. This time, even the suppliers and logistic partners can send their data so that the platform will include it in the mapping. Having said that, Jordanova points out that this leads to a network responsible for the assessment of decarbonization.

In short, companies should be responsible for disclosing all of the details concerning carbon emissions. Some firms fail to report this information and think it's the right way, but it's not.

Related Article: EMIT Mission by NASA Maps Over 50 Methane 'Super-Emitters' Across the Earth

What is Greenwashing?

There's an upcoming COP27 conference that will kick off this November. Egyptian Streets reports that this would tackle issues regarding climate finance. This will cover global warming mitigation, implementation to combat climate change, and more.

However, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg opposed this program. She said that it was a "scam" because it would only promote "greenwashing."

Speaking of greenwashing, it's often the way for companies to deceive or mislead their investors or consumers about the information on the environment. This is not only limited to environmental impact. A company could also fool the public by conveying bogus effects of its products or services, per Investopedia.

Read Also: Two Wind Energy Areas in the Gulf of Mexico Have Been Finalized, To Power Almost 3 Million Homes

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The new T-Mobile Device Connection Charge fee will soon arrive.

(Photo : Photo by ALASTAIR PIKE/AFP via Getty Images)

The T-Mobile logo is seen outside a shop in Washington, DC, on July 26, 2019. - US antitrust authorities approved the USD 26 billion merger of T-Mobile and Sprint in a deal that brings together the third- and fourth-largest wireless operators as the industry moves toward deployment of superfast 5G networks.

People familiar with the telecom giant claim that this extra fee covers almost all the company's transactions.

Of course, some consumers will definitely be disappointed since T-Mobile is one of the U.S. carriers that avoid the Assisted Support Charge.

Now, T-Mobile is reportedly preparing to implement its DCC fee. Once it rolls out, the company will require its customers to pay for its new services.

New T-Mobile Device Connection Charge Fee to Arrive

According to Phone Arena's latest report, T-Mobile's upcoming DCC is a one-time fee of $35.

(Photo : Photo credit should read JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP via Getty Images)

A Deutsche Telekom T-Mobile logo hangs under pink umbrellas at the stand of the German telecommunications giant at the 2014 CeBIT computer technology trade fair on March 10, 2014 in Hanover, central Germany. Great Britain is partner country of the fair considered as the world's biggest high-tech fair running from March 10 to 14, 2014.

Also Read: T-Mobile Subscribers Will Now Experience Free Wi-Fi for United Airlines Flights

As of writing, consumers can avoid this charge by simply conducting their transactions online.

TMO.Report reported that the new DCC charge would affect those consumers for connecting new T-Mobile devices.

Aside from new devices, the fee also applies to upgrades and activations.

To make matters worst, customers who have orders with numerous devices will be charged for each gadget.

Once T-Mobile's new DCC fee is implemented, it will allow the broadband service provider to align its business with AT&T, Verizon, and other competitors.

Verizon and AT&T both charge their consumers at least $35 activation costs for the past years. If you are among the concerned consumers, there's still some good news.

DCC Fee's Exceptions

Of course, some T-Mobile consumers would like to know if there are exceptions to the upcoming Device Connection Charge fee.

To answer this question, there are some services that will not be affected by the new charge, such as the following:

National retail orders

New lines that were charged for DCC within the past 14 days

Migration from Sprint to T-Mobile

Prepaid activations and upgrades

Changing a SIM or eSIM on an existing line

DIGITS Talk & Text and PROXY by DIGITS activations

T-Mobile for Business customers activation or upgrading through Direct & Indirect Sales or Care

Aside from these exceptions, the DCC fee also won't apply to manual transactions. To learn more about these exceptions, you can click here.

Recently, we reported the complaints made by T-Mobile customers regarding the pre-order iPhone 14 issue on the carrier's site.

Previously, T-Mobile's 5G coverage was able to expand to more than 81 million U.S.-based consumers after it scored 7,000 licenses.

For more news updates about T-Mobile and other telecom giants, keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: T-Mobile Confirms Android 13 is Rolling Out to More Samsung, OnePlus Phones

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The new NASA moon rover copied the design of a Chinese Mars robot, as claimed by experts who are familiar with the two projects.

(Photo : Screenshot from Twitter post of @NASA_Johnson)

New NASA Moon Rover Copies Chinese Mars Bot, Experts Claim; How Similar is VIPER and Zhurong?

Special delivery!  Here at NASA Johnson, we recently welcomed a mockup analog of the Griffin lander. It will bring @NASA's water-hunting Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) to the surface of the Moon.

Read more: https://t.co/TWFRQhmk5I pic.twitter.com/ngKko5Pzeo  NASA's Johnson Space Center (@NASA_Johnson) March 16, 2021

This is quite different from the usual scenario since China is commonly the one being accused of copying technologies from the U.S. and other countries.

For example, the Chinese government has many fighter jets with designs and features of some U.S. military aircraft, such as MiG-21, Boeing C-17, and other models.

Now, it is quite different with the new NASA VIPER, a lunar rover that allegedly copied China's Zhurong robot.

New NASA Moon Rover Copies Chinese Lunar Bot?

According to the South China Morning Post's latest report, Zhurong is a Mars rover named after the Chinese God of fire.

(Photo : Photo by MATTHIEU RONDEL/AFP via Getty Images)

A picture taken on March 23, 2022 shows a replica of Zhurong rover during a presentation to the press ahead of an exhibition titled "Martian Ground" which will offer visitors to discover the universe of the planet Mars at the Cite de l'Espace in Toulouse, southern France. (Photo by Matthieu RONDEL / AFP)

Also Read: NASA's InSight Mars Lander Pushes Through Dust Storm and Continues Operation

This robot has been roaming on the Red Planet for more than a year now. China was able to land Zhurong on Mars last July 2021.

While Zhurong is exploring the soil of Mars, NASA is planning to send its VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) to Earth's natural satellite.

Although their targeted heavenly bodies are different, VIPER and Zhurong both have similarities, leading experts to speculate that NASA copied China's tech.

"This is a copy of the Chinese design," said a Chinese space expert who is closely monitoring the Zhurong and VIPER projects.

He claimed that although VIPER is a four-wheeled rover (Zhurong is a six-wheeled Mars robot), it still has a suspension similar to the Chinese Mars rover.

Other researchers familiar with the works of China and NASA found that Zhurong's design, which was allegedly copied by VIPER, has not appeared on previous space missions.

NASA VIPER's Details

NASA Gov's official report provided the details of its ongoing VIPER project.

The international space agency said that they will use SpaceX's Falcon Heavy to launch its moon rover as early as 2023.

But the exact schedule hasn't been confirmed yet. Once VIPER lands on Earth's natural satellite, it will explore the heavenly body's South Pole.

If you want to learn more about the upcoming NASA VIPER, you click here.

Previously, NASA's DART mission was able to hit its targeted asteroid.

We also reported that NASA's Perseverance rover unearthed organic matter on the ancient river Delta.

For more news updates about Mars and moon rovers, keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Decade-Old NASA Moon Rover Undergoes Pressurized Ground Tests; Here's What to Know About Desert RATS

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Grindr founder Joel Simkhai is still not done with the gay dating app ecosystem, as the tech entrepreneur recently launched Motto, a new spin on the location-based social networking and online dating app that he helped revolutionize.

Simkhai founded Grindr in 2009 and would become a transformative force in society and a social phenomenon, as well as one of the first geosocial apps for gay men. The app's association with gay hookup culture and casual sex put it at the center of censorship discussions; it was also cited in several issues concerning racism and discrimination in the past.

According to Fast Company, Simkhai launched Grindr in order to mingle with gay people in Los Angeles. They had no idea it would grow to 13 million monthly users by 2020 and become a global symbol for gender equality. Simkhai sold the app to Beijing Kunlun Tech for a total of $245 million in 2018. In 2020, the app was resold for $608.5 million.

Simkhai appears to have left some unfinished business when he launched Motto, a new sex-positive matchmaking app for gay and queer hookups and casual dating. Following reports, this new app will be substantially different from other dating apps in that it will show users five to ten profiles per day rather than an endless 'who's nearby?' mechanism.

More About Motto

The app is now available on Google Play and is labeled 'Gay & Queer Hookups,' but it is said to be more of a high-quality matchmaking experience because it will verify every application. How does this feature improve the app?

Read Also: Apple Online Store and Information System Chiefs to Leave the Company, Days After the Design Chief's Resignation

In an interview with Gizmodo, Simkhai stated that the app's goal is to build an experience that allows people to stand for themselves and be comfortable putting themselves out there, also adding that users should represent themselves like a statement, much like a motto.

The founder of the dating app also stated that he hopes to simulate the real experience of dating in the app by having users first look at faces. The app's description even stated, 'No headless torsos,' a direct reference to the prevalent blank faceless accounts on dating apps like Grindr.

"That's just not the experience that we wanted. We really wanted to streamline the experience. One of the complaints that we heard over and over again is these headless torsos or blank profiles," says Simkhai.

Motto is described in official news releases as a free, membership-based app that was developed and designed with the help of thousands of gay and queer people from various backgrounds across the country. Motto also emphasizes profile quality, personalization, verification, and fostering rich interaction among members.

Every profile and photo in the app is checked for authenticity and verified. Members won't see any blank profiles or headless torsos because each profile must have three face images. Motto contends that requiring face photos will encourage users to be more kind and genuine with one another and also be proud of their beautiful faces.

For more information about the app, visit Motto's official website.

Related Article: Grindr to Go Public with $2.1 Billion Valuation and Merge With Tiga

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COVID-19 has remained a concern in different parts of the world for two years since the start of the global pandemic. Thus, researchers and health professionals continue to develop new devices to adapt to and improve the situation.

Attempting to raise room for improvement, a controversial publication from the University of Michigan questions the accuracy of the oximeter, one of the devices commonly used to detect oxygen level anomalies as one of the symptoms of COVID-19.

Assistant professor Thomas Valley has found that patients of black or brown skin color show nearly three times the frequency as white patients when tested by an oximeter. The newfound flaw in the oximeter raises the issue of racial bias in the health community.

U.S. FDA To Hold Meeting Regarding Oximeter Inaccuracy

CTV News reported that the United States Food and Drug Administration committee would hold a meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 2, to discuss and come up with a solution to the oximeter's inaccuracy.

According to the obtained U.S. FDA review for the upcoming meeting, the Anesthesiology and Respiratory Therapy Devices Panel will coordinate with patients, regulators, and researchers to come up with a solution to improve the medical device.

Read Also: Third-Gen Oura Ring To Have Blood Oxygen Sensing-Offering More Efficient Sleep Health, Physiology Monitoring

U.S. FDA Faces Backlash For Initially Ignoring Issue

Health professionals and researchers have been calling out the U.S. FDA regarding their response to the inaccuracy of the oximeter towards dark-skinned patients for years.

A Ph.D. student from Brown University studying racial disparities in pulse oximetry, Rutendo Jakachira, expressed their thoughts on the U.S. FDA's treatment of the issue to CNN and attributed the lack of action as lack of significance until the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Since the pandemic, health professionals see an increased useof pulse oximeters in hospitals and home setting.

Alternative Solution for Dark-skinned Patients

As the U.S. FDA has yet to conduct the upcoming meeting, emergency medicine physician, Dr. Owais Durrani, proposed an alternative solution based on his experience with taking the oxygen pulse of patients with darker skin.

Dr. Durrani explained to CNN that he conducts a "walking" pulse oximeter reading on darker-skinned patients as a way to compensate for the possible overestimating discrepancy. The technique would require the patient to walk for at least five minutes so that if their oxygen levels are actually at a higher risk, the number will drop down.

Despite figuring out a band-aid solution, Dr. Durrani still expressed his "happiness" that the U.S. FDA is finally addressing the "critical issue" on a national level amidst the global pandemic, and hopes for the day that the oximeter can be fully trusted on its readings regardless of skin color.

Related Article: Pulse Oximeters Are 'Less Effective' in COVID-19 Patients With Darker Complexion--Experts Have Some Warnings

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The high demand for chips in China can be a solution for the restrictions that the United States has just implemented, as per experts from the industry.

(Photo : STR/AFP via Getty Images)

TOPSHOT - Employees make chips at a factory of Jiejie Semiconductor Company in Nantong, in eastern China's Jiangsu province on March 17, 2021. - China OUT

Chips Can Shelter Companies in China

After the United States imposed restrictions on China's progress in advanced chips, the domestic market of the country will launch a shield to protect the industry for the domestic semiconductor.

According to the South China Morning Post, this was announced by a group of industry insiders in the country during a forum at the Semicon China executive summit in Shanghai. This event conducted several forums, especially made for executives, researchers, and government officials, for them to share their insights.

Experts' Statements

Semi China President Chu Lung stated that these restrictions that target the advancements and ambitions of the country would have an important effect on the country as he can sense a dangerous outcome for the whole industry. Chu was a former employee in KLA, a U.S. chip process control systems company.

China will be maintaining to open their market for the investors' support as per Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization Deputy Director Tang Wenkan. Currently, Shanghai is also planning to construct five industrial parks dedicated to chips despite high demand, which also focuses on mature node products.

Because of the progression of China's digital economy, the chip market of the country will be growing continuously, as stated by China Electronics Chamber of Commerce President Wang Ning. Amidst that, the United States adopted the mentality of a "cold war" for them to restrict the advancement of the country, and the government will still be supporting the semiconductor sector.

Lastly, Zhejiang University Professor We Hanming stated that adjusting the road map of the country is also a good solution for them to focus more on mature process nodes. He added, "Advanced process technology development is extremely challenging, so China's technology road map has to be refocused."

Also Read: US-China Tech War: ASML, Lam Research Pulls American Engineers From China Amid New Chip Restrictions

US Restrictions

According to a report from CNBC, international chip makers will have to apply for a license first if they want to sell the market advanced computing semiconductors equipment to China. These rules halted several companies' access to key tech, which started to be effective last month. Chip stocks also fell in China when the controls were implemented last month.

"These rules make clear that foreign government actions that prevent BIS from making compliance determinations will impact a company's access to U.S. technology through addition to the Entity List," as per a released statement from the Bureau of Industry and Security United States Department of Commerce. The temporary license will be effective until April 2023.

Related Article: China Boosts Chip Manufacturing Support Amid US Restrictions





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The newly-minted Chief Twit Elon Musk has established himself as moderator-in-chief of one of the most significant social media sites in US politics, days after taking control of the platform and one week before the country's midterm elections.

Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator

As reported first by AP, Musk has stated that he will wait to form a "content moderation council" with a range of perspectives before making significant decisions on content and restoring banned accounts. However, his previous statements have shown otherwise.

He has had direct conversations with political personalities on the right pushing for fewer restrictions, including a Republican running for secretary of state in Arizona who attributes Musk with allowing him to resume tweeting after his account was suspended on Monday, Oct. 31.

In fact, the billionaire updated his profile to "Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator" and added a picture of himself as a little child holding a phone.

On his first full day as Twitter's owner last week, Musk began the anticipated interventions. A conservative political podcaster cited instances when the platform was said to favor liberal views over conservative ones while covertly suppressing the former.

However, Twitter's previous administrators dismissed these claims as unfounded, but Musk said that he would consider diving into it.

Jordan Peterson's daughter also pleaded with Musk to reinstate her father's account following his tweet about transgender actor Elliot Page that violated Twitter's policies on hateful conduct.

Peterson is a Canadian psychologist who is known for opposing "politically correct" culture and feminism. His views are also popular among ring-wing activists.

Read also: Twitter's Elon Musk Reportedly Wants FREE Edit Button for All Users

Musk's Era

Musk released an open letter to advertisers before officially taking over on Twitter last Friday, pledging that he would prevent the platform from becoming a "free-for-all hellscape" while he promotes free speech on the platform.

He also came under fire after suggesting that he would charge users to pay $8 for a coveted verified blue check mark.

However, some have expressed their doubts about Musk's era on Twitter, and one of them is Tesla's rival, General Motors. The company suspended advertising on Twitter as it observes the platform under the billionaire.

Other businesses are also under pressure to reevaluate their plans on whether they should continue posting ads on the platform.

More than 30 advocacy groups urged Twitter's top 20 advertisers in an open letter they published on Tuesday to stop using the platform for advertising if Musk's management weakens "brand safety" and content moderation.

Musk has previously said that he wants to loosen content restrictions and will lift the permanent bans imposed on accounts that have been removed from the network, like former President Donald Trump, who was banned from Twitter after violating rules of violent incitement during the Capital Riot on Jan. 6.

His earlier "free speech for all" sentiments for the app drew concerns from activist organizations, alleging that Musk would transform Twitter into a "megaphone to extremists" by rolling back policies that banned users who spread hate speech and false information.

Related Article: Twitter Becomes the Subject of Coordinated Trolling Following Elon Musk Acquisition

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The head of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, Changpeng Zhao, claims that he was not informed of Elon Musk's plans when he abandoned and eventually continued his Twitter acquisition, according to a report by CNBC.

Why Was Changpeng Zhao Surprised By Elon Musk's Twitter Takeover?

Changpeng Zhao expressed his surprise at learning that Musk had ultimately agreed to buy the business while speaking on stage at the Web Summit technology conference in Lisbon, Portugal.

The biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, Binance, is now one of Musk's equity backers for Twitter after contributing $500 million to the acquisition. The next version of the internet is referred to as "Web3," and Zhao has stated his desire to integrate Twitter into it.

On the first night of the Web Summit on Tuesday, Nov. 1, Zhao, also known online as "CZ," informed the crowd that it was "hard to predict" what Musk would always do next.

"For me, large deals like this, there's so many different factors involved. I'm not directly involved in what he's thinking. There's so many different little things that could go one way or another, negotiations, changes of minds," he said in a statement quoted by CNBC.

Zhao also stated that he was unconcerned by Musk's efforts to stall the takeover. He added that turning the social media company into a "free speech platform" was the number one reason he decided to purchase it.

Read also: Binance CEO Claims Google Promotes Crypto Phishing Websites; Is the CoinMarketCap Issue a Bug?

The End of the Musk-Twitter Saga

Musk's acquisition of Twitter was not a linear process. He unexpectedly announced in July that he is backing down from the deal, citing reasons that the social media company is not being transparent on the number of bots on the platform.

But the saga eventually ended last Friday, Oct. 28, when the billionaire officially bought the blue bird app.

Since then, he has removed some of Twitter's top executives, disbanded the board, and appointed himself as CEO. Musk has already mentioned ideas for increasing the platform's revenue generation, such as by charging verified users.

According to recent tweets, he is leaning toward charging users $8 rather than the $20 that initial rumors claimed he would charge for a "blue tick" badge on their profiles.

Zhao claimed he was unaware of the most recent developments but had heard about Musk's desire to implement a cost for verification badges.

The Binance CEO also noted that he supports Musk's objective to promote free speech on the platform and get rid of bots and malicious accounts.

Musk has also established himself as Twitter's moderator-in-chief, days after taking control of the platform and a week before the U.S. midterm elections.

Related Article: New Chief Twit Elon Musk Pulls More than 50 Tesla Employees to Join Twitter

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When we are angry, some of us punch walls, clench our fists, or yell at the top of our lungs. This Chinese man has a different way of releasing his anger. He got so enraged by a crab that he put it in his mouth and ended up in the hospital as a result.

Based on a report from IFLScience, a man from the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang arrived at a hospital with unexplained excruciating back and abdominal pain. His wife recalled that he had eaten a live crab to exact revenge on his daughter, baffling people at the hospital.

Eating a Live Crab as Revenge

According to local television in China, a 39-year-old man named Lu was enraged when a small crab snapped its pincers, attacking his daughter. He then decided to swallow the crustacean alive as a form of revenge for what the creature had done to his daughter.

The initial examination revealed substantial changes in pathology in the man's chest, abdomen, liver, and digestive system, but doctors had no idea why. Doctors reportedly asked the man several times if he had ever eaten anything unusual or that could cause allergic reactions. All of the doctor's questions were answered with a 'no.'

It was not until the man's wife recounted how the man ate a live crab two months before his hospitalization that it became clear.

Related Article: Zinc Batteries from Crab Shells? University of Maryland Develops New Power Cell

According to his doctors, the man stated, "I wanted to take revenge for my daughter," adding, "when we were by a stream, my daughter was pinched by a small crab, so I got angry and put it into my mouth for revenge."

Parasitic Infection

Based on the South China Morning Post, a subsequent blood test revealed that Lu had been infected by at least three parasites as a result of eating the crab. He has since recovered from his treatment, but he still requires regular checkups.

As per the Center for Food Society in Hong Kong, some food poisoning cases were reported in 2017 that were suspected to be caused by the consumption of raw crabs marinated with soy sauce and wine (a dish also known as 'drunken' crabs).

Raw crabs are said to contain a variety of pathogens, including bacteria and parasites. These microorganisms cannot be eliminated by marinating crab in ingredients such as wine, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, and chili. The only way to prevent diseases caused by these pathogens is to cook the food thoroughly.

Food-borne diseases can be avoided by practicing good food and environmental hygiene, according to government health agencies. Of course, it is preferable to consume thoroughly cooked food rather than raw seafood. Finally, people should avoid using salt, vinegar, wine, or wasabi to kill bacteria because they are ineffective.

There have been no updates on the man's daughter's injuries from the attacking crab, and the man has not stated whether the 'revenge' was worth it after his hospitalization.

Read Also: Single Blood Test Cancer Screening? Doctors Introduce Tech that Can Detect Multiple Cancers At Once

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Armenia doesn't have any misunderstandings with Iran, the Armenian foreign ministry spokesperson says, Mehr News Agency reported.

November 2, 2022, 12:44 Armenian MFA: Armenia has no misunderstandings with Iran

STEPANAKERT, NOVEMBER 2, ARTSAKHPRESS: Vahan Hunanyan told in an interview with Mehr that Armenia and Iran enjoy very long historical relations and these relationships are not only limited to governments, but also exist between the two nations.

Describing Iran as a key partner for Armenia, he expressed hope to see that these relations will become stronger in all domains.

"I think we don't have any misunderstandings with Iran," he said and added that Yerevan and Tehran do not have different opinions on most issues.

As a result, the two countries' relations will get stronger in the future, the Armenian diplomat noted.

Answering a question about his country's relation with Azerbaijan, he said, "Armenia seeks to establish peace in the South Caucasus region. In this regard, we entered into negotiations with the Azeri side but they always raise their maximum demands in the negotiations."

Hunanyan added that all the problems should be resolved at the negotiating table.
Is the New US-Led Data Privacy Forum Just Another Noodle in the Regulatory Soup?

A guest blog submitted by Patrick Leblond, Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation for #techUKDigitalTrade Campaign Week





On April 21, the establishment of the Global Cross-Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) Forum (the Forum) was announced by the US secretary of commerce, Gina Raimondo. Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and the United States are its founding members. Raimondo called it a historic moment for international cooperation in the digital sector.

How does the Forum fit in the noodle bowl of international digital trade governance? Is it just one more noodle in an already thick regulatory soup, or is it, finally, the awaited recipe for a clear broth, in the form of a single data area that would make moving data across borders both simpler and cheaper for businesses whose operations depend on it?

According to the official statement released by Commerce Secretary Raimondo, the Forum is meant to achieve the latter: The establishment of the Global CBPR Forum reflects the beginning of a new era of multilateral cooperation in promoting trusted global data flows that are critically important to our modern economy.

To achieve this aim, the Forum will promote the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CBPR System, from which firms will be able to obtain data privacy certifications that demonstrate their compliance with the CBPR. Under the APEC CBPR System, accountability agents  recognized, but independent, public or private sector entities  are responsible for certifying firms that comply with the CBPR. At the time of writing, 49 companies were listed as being compliant (or certified) under the CBPR System.

To make sense of the Forum, it is necessary to see its creation in the context of the Indo-Pacific Strategy of the United States. Addressing the various challenges posed by China is at the core of the strategy: Our objective is not to change the PRC [Peoples Republic of China] but to shape the strategic environment in which it operates, building a balance of influence in the world that is maximally favorable to the United States, our allies and partners, and the interests and values we share. A new digital-economy framework to govern digital economies and cross-border data flows according to open principles is one of the ways that the United States has identified to shape Chinas strategic environment and deliver prosperity in the region. The fact that the Forums other founding members, except for Canada, are from Asia supports the notion that the Forums original raison detre is to be found in the United States Indo-Pacific Strategy.

If the Forum is just going to promote the APEC CBPR System and its certification process, it begs the question: Whats the point? There is nothing historic here.

However, according to its declaration, the Forum is also expected to disseminate best practices for data protection and privacy and interoperability and pursue interoperability with other data protection and privacy frameworks. And this is to be done through consultation and exchange of views among representatives of members and active multistakeholder participation.

Presumably, this means that the Forum wants to build on the APEC CBPR System but outside the APEC, which has been unable to update its privacy framework since 2005. Being outside the APECs aegis also allows non-APEC countries to join. On May 3, several non-APEC country representatives participated in a stakeholder meeting organized by the United States to discuss the Forum. Finally, taking the CBPR System away from the APEC is another way for the United States to weaken Chinas economic orbit and its influence on international standards affecting the digital trade.

To deliver on its Indo-Pacific Strategys proposed digital-economy framework, the United States could have instead chosen to rejoin the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and build on the agreements e-commerce chapter. Alternatively, or in addition, it could join the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) created by Chile, New Zealand and Singapore (with Canada and the Republic of Korea intent on joining). Why build yet another framework for international cooperation in governing digital trade?

The answer is two-fold. First, bashing the then Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) helped with Donald Trumps election to the presidency in 2016, which is why he pulled America out of the TPP upon his arrival at the White House. President Joe Bidens administration and the Democrats in Congress, therefore, want to avoid giving extra ammunition to the Republicans in the November mid-term elections. Second, China has applied to join both the CPTPP and the DEPA. Although it is highly unlikely that Chinas applications will be approved anytime soon, it would put existing CPTPP and DEPA member states in an awkward position if they were to fast-track negotiations with the United States while stalling Chinas. They would likely face retaliation from China, which they would rather avoid as China remains a key trade partner.

To conclude, it remains that the ideal situation for international digital trade is not a new noodle in the regulatory soup and direct rivalry with the European Unions General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), but integration: i.e., the formation of a single data area where data can flow freely between the member states because they share similar, high-quality standards that will enable their consumers, businesses and governments to trust that their data is safe wherever it is found in the area. Ideally, the United States, the European Union and their economic partners should work together to develop an International Data Standards Board or a Digital Stability Board responsible for creating and enforcing an international single data/digital area between member states.

Click here to read Patrick Leblonds original blog post published by the Centre for International Governance Innovation.
The multinational NATO grouping near Russia's borders with troops of extra-regional members of the alliance has grown 2.5 times since February, to over 30,000 people - and may increase further, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at a joint board meeting of Russian and Belarusian military departments, news.am informs, citing RIA Novosti.

November 2, 2022, 15:19 Shoigu: The NATO grouping near Russia's borders has grown 2.5 times since February

STEPANAKERT, NOVEMBER 2, ARTSAKHPRESS: "Formations of armed forces of extra-regional NATO states are deployed in Eastern and Central Europe, as well as in the Baltic states. New multinational battalion tactical groups are created in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia. Since February 2022 the number of grouping has increased by 2.5 times and makes over 30,000 people. In the near future it can still increase," said the minister.

He noted that the intensification of confrontation with the West and build-up of a multinational grouping of NATO on the eastern flank threatens not only Russia directly. "Our allies, first of all, the brotherly Republic of Belarus, will also come under attack," said the minister.

"At the end of June, at the NATO summit in Madrid a new strategic concept of the bloc was adopted, where the Russian Federation was named as the main source of security threats. In this regard, the alliance intends to move from "deterring Russia through a forward presence" to establishing a full-fledged collective defense system on the "eastern flank," near our borders," the minister said.
He was carrying the flag of Palestine.. In the video - the family of the Brazil coach is looking for an Arab young man who helped her grandson
The UK has a shortage of F-35 fighter pilots. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said that Britain has more modern F-35 aircraft than pilots because of problems with flight training, Sky News reported.

November 2, 2022, 15:54 UK shortage of F-35 fighter pilots

STEPANAKERT, NOVEMBER 2, ARTSAKHPRESS: Wallace confirmed that the defense ministry has more than 20 next-generation combat aircraft costing 100 million pounds, but can't even fly them. He described the situation as quite difficult, saying the pilot shortage also arose because the F-35 Lightning aircraft are new.

Wallace acknowledged that flight training was a key factor, with pilots having to wait up to eight years to qualify.

More than three years ago, he instructed Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston, head of the Royal Air Force, to make flight training his only priority. Yet the process is still in crisis.

The F-35 is one of Britain's most expensive and coveted equipment programs, as these aircraft are considered the next level of military capability because of their sophisticated radars, sensors, and other covert equipment.

Britain originally intended to eventually buy 138 F-35 aircraft. However, it has now bought only 27 aircraft. One of them is out of service after it crashed at sea off one of the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers last year, three more are in the US, with only 23 aircraft left in the UK.
Party leaders China visit is a great success, says FM

The official visit to China between October 30 and November 1 by Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong can be considered a great success in all aspects, according to Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son.









Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son of Vietnam. Photo by VNA



In an interview granted to media outlets, Son highlighted the major results achieved during the visit, noting that the trip was an event of great importance to both sides and captured great public attention both domestically and internationally.





According to the Minister, the visit marked the first in-person meeting between the top leaders of both sides following the COVID-19 pandemic. It was also General Secretary Trongs first visit to China following the 13th national congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam held in early 2021. In addition, he also became first foreign leader received by Chinese Party General Secretary and President Xi Jinping following the recently-concluded 20th national congress of the Chinese Communist Party.









Chinese General Secretary and President Xi Jinping hosts a welcoming ceremony for Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 31.





The visit comes hot on the heels of regular exchanges and contact made between the two countries top leaders over recent years. The past two years alone saw General Secretary Trong and President Xi hold four phone calls, whilst the two sides also regularly exchanged letters of congratulation to mark major events of each country.



Amid ongoing unpredictable regional and global complications, Son said that the visit would help to deepen the comprehensive strategic cooperation partnership that exists between Vietnam and China, while simultaneously strengthening political trust, so a to create a solid political foundation for promoting substantive co-operation in all fields between the two countries.



The visit highlights that the Party, State, and people of Vietnam continue to place great importance on developing good relations with the Chinese Party, State, and people, in the fundamental and long-term interests of both peoples and for peace, cooperation, and development in the region and the wider world, stressed the diplomat.



Discussing the notable outcomes of the visit, Son said that both sides released a 13-point joint statement outlining the various strategic orientations for the development of bilateral relations across all fields. They agreed to consolidate and develop the Vietnam  China comprehensive strategic co-operation partnership under the motto of friendly neighbourliness, comprehensive cooperation, long-term stability and future-oriented thinking and in the spirit of good neighbours, good friends, good comrades, good partners. They also reached a general consensus on substantive cooperation contents, such as promoting the connection between the Two Corridors, One Belt Framework and the Belt and Road Initiative, facilitating the opening of the market for agricultural, forestry and fishery products of Vietnam, and opening Vietnamese trade offices in China.



The two sides also consented to create the best possible conditions to boost businesses and increase investment, along with economic and trading co-operation, along with boosting ties in the fields of air, road, and railway transport. They vowed to reduce the existing trade imbalance, completely solving congestion at border gates, and facilitating customs clearance.



With regard to maritime issues, the two sides agreed that it is extremely important to properly control disagreements and maintain peace and stability in the East Sea. They therefore consented to strive to promote the comprehensive and effective implementation of the Declaration of Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) on the basis of consultation and agreement, as well as swiftly achieving an effective and practical Code of Conduct in the waters (COC) in accordance with international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Along with this they agreed to better control disputes occurring at sea and take no further action to complicate the situation or worsen the dispute.



Most notably, the ministries, agencies, and localities of the two countries signed 13 cooperation documents in various fields, creating the prerequisite for fostering further bilateral ties moving forward.



In order to concretise the outcomes of the visit, the Foreign Minister outlined that the two sides will continue to maintain reciprocal exchanges and contact at all levels and through all channels in a bid to promote mutual understanding and political trust. They must therefore seek to improve the efficiency of economic-trade-investment cooperation, as well as cooperation in other fields to support and give fresh impetus to the future development of mutual relations.



Moreover, Son said that the two sides should strictly adhere to the high-level common perceptions, respect each others legitimate interests, and settle disputes and disagreements through peaceful means in accordance with international law. In his opinion, both sides should continue effectively making use of the Government-level negotiation mechanism on territorial border and Working Groups meetings regarding maritime issues between the two countries, while working with other ASEAN countries to fully and effectively implement the DOC and swiftly formulate the COC.



Minister Son expressed his belief that the full, comprehensive, and effective implementation of high-level perceptions and results of the visit will greatly help to elevate the Vietnam  China partnership to new heights.
By Azernews

By Sabina Mammadli

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev is currently on a visit to Algiers at the invitation of the Algerian president to participate in the 31st Arab League Summit as an Honorary Guest.

Algeria is hosting the Arab League Summit for the fourth time on November 1-2.

Along with the Azerbaijani president, heads of 22 states-members of the Arab League, the Senegalese president as well as Secretaries-General of the UN and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) were invited to the summit as Honorary Guests.

The Azerbaijani-Algerian relations are successfully developing, and both countries cooperate effectively within a variety of international organizations. There are good opportunities for the development of bilateral relationships in all spheres in the future.

Active cooperation is carried out between the two countries within the framework of international organizations, including the UN, the OIC, and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune visited Azerbaijan to participate in the 18th Summit of NAM.

Algeria recognized the independence of Azerbaijan on December 20, 1991. Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established on April 22, 1994. Azerbaijan opened its embassy in Algeria on November 28, 2014, while the latter opened its diplomatic mission in Azerbaijan in January 2015.

The trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $1.3 million in 2021.
Canada has unveiled plans to significantly increase its intake of immigrants, with the goal of having 500,000 people coming into the country each year by 2025, as the country seeks to address a severe labor shortage, the AP reported.

November 2, 2022, 16:05 Canada to welcome 500,000 immigrants a year by 2025

STEPANAKERT, NOVEMBER 2, ARTSAKHPRESS: Immigration Secretary Sean Fraser revealed the new plan. The emphasis is on welcoming more permanent residents with the necessary job skills and experience, along with more modest targets for family members and refugees. The opposition conservative party welcomed the plan.

The new plan calls for a flood of newcomers - 465,000 will arrive in 2023, rising to 500,000 in 2025. By comparison, the immigration department reports that 405,000 migrants were admitted last year.

Most of these new arrivals will be so-called economic immigrants, who are expected to fill about 1 million jobs that are currently empty in various sectors of the economy.

While most of the planned immigration growth over the next three years will be in support of the economy, the new plan also foresees a small increase in the number of family members who will be allowed into Canada. It also projects an overall reduction in the number of refugees from 76,000 in 2023 to less than 73,000 in 2025, which Fraser attributed to the government's plan to complete the resettlement of 40,000 Afghan refugees next year.

Reaction from Canadian industry has been more mixed, with the Business Council of Canada arguing that the government's plan does not go far enough in addressing the country's unprecedented labor shortage.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, in response to the question of Anadolu news agency reporter, clarified that they use the term route, not corridor, while referring to the possible road that will connect Azerbaijan to Nakhijevan via the territory of Armenia.

November 2, 2022, 17:44 We use the term "route" - Russian foreign ministry spox corrects Turkish reporters question on Zangezur corridor

STEPANAKERT, NOVEMBER 2, ARTSAKHPRESS: During a press briefing Anadolu reporter asked Zakharova how Russia assesses the efforts on the organization of the Zangezur corridor that will link Azerbaijan with Nakhijevan.

In response Zakharova said: We use the term route. The issue of the unblocking of transportation communications in the region was discussed during the Sochi summit, and an agreement was reached that the joint work will continue within the working group operating under the co-chairmanship of the deputy prime ministers of the three countries.
The former Chase Bank branch on Government Street has been sold for $913,000 to local landowner Phil Witter.

North Corporate Properties LLC, a company that lists Witter as president, bought the bank branch at 3012 Government Street, according to documents filed with the East Baton Rouge Clerk of Courts office Friday.
Lara Nicholson writes for The Advocate as a Report for America Corps Member. Email her at lnicholson@theadvocate.com or follow her on Twitter @LaraNicholson_.

To learn more about Report for America and to support our journalism, please click here.
It is most unlike the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party to let a lower house seat go uncontested in a state election.

But less than four weeks out from polling day, Labor has a vacant sign hanging over no fewer than seven rural and regional electorates, according to Labors latest update to members. Those seats are Mildura, Benambra, Murray Plains, Ovens Valley, Gippsland East, Shepparton and Lowan, and the comrades down at party HQ in Docklands need to find some bodies fast.

Premier Daniel Andrews will be hoping to find some loyalists to stand in seats. Credit:Penny Stephens

Thats because marginal ALP-held upper house seats, like that of Dan Andrews favourite Harriet Shing in Eastern Victoria, become very hard to retain if theres no lower house candidate  which means little or no Labor presence at polling booths  for seats like Gippsland East.

Likewise, the seat held by Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes in Northern Victoria looks dicey if nobody can be found to wave the red flag at Milduras booths, although Symes herself should be OK. Shes been moved to the safe top spot on the ticket.
The setting is the late 1950s, when two men having sex was still a crime in England. Marion and Tom are recently married, but Marion has just begun to realise that Tom and Patrick precede her solemn vows. She has seen them embrace in the woodshed while literally peeping through a crack.

Hes not the only one in the scene who is undressed. David Dawson, playing his lover Patrick, finally has Tom the policeman (Styles) where he wants him  a long way from Toms wife Marion (Emma Corrin). Shes back in England pondering the mess she has made of her life.

If the sight of Harry Styles standing in front of a gorgeous window in Venice is what you have come for, My Policeman might suffice. Did I mention that he is resplendently, defiantly naked? No doubt about it, that boy is pretty.

The English and American critics have ripped a few holes in My Policeman, which is adapted from a 2012 novel by English novelist Bethan Roberts. A few have acknowledged the performances, singling Styles out for the merest praise, while otherwise damning the films languid pace and lumpy structure. Those last two are probably fair: the script by veteran American writer Ron Nyswaner does not flow like honey, but the pacing is not all his fault. The director Michael Grandage, making only his third feature, gets off to a shaky start and only recovers in the second hour.

Theres an intro, set in Brighton, in which Gina McKee  prim and grey  opens her modest cottage to a bedridden man who has had a stroke. McKees husband, played by Linus Roache, refuses even to speak to the invalided man. The structural problem with this is that we do not yet understand anything about the characters, so it is hard to recognise that these are Marion, Tom and Patrick, 30 years later. A state of confusion is not usually a good place to start building a story. It took me a few minutes to recognise Rupert Everett  whiskered and jowly and without the power of speech  as the person who has experienced the stroke. Grandage has a distinguished career in theatre, lately as director of the Donmar Warehouse in London. His instinct for drama and performance is strong; his awareness of what the camera can and should convey less so.

Tom (Harry Styles) and Patrick (David Dawson) explore Venice in My Policeman. Credit:Parisa Taghizadeh/Prime Video

Even so, the longer it goes, the better My Policeman gets, largely because it describes a beautiful and terrible story. The young Marion is helpless at the sight of young Tom (Styles), the brother of a friend. He is recently back from the army. They begin to bond, he teaching her to swim, she teaching him about art and books. He introduces his friend Patrick, an art curator at the Brighton museum. They become best buddies in the prime of their lives. Blind Freddie can see what is on Patricks mind, but thats the nub: many people were blind to such things in that era. Many tragedies were built on that blindness.

Styles is far better than expected. He has only appeared in two earlier films. In this one, he is convincing as a young man with limited education and the face of a Greek god. He never looks as if he understands that. That innocence is part of what makes Tom so appealing. Corrin, relatively new to the big screen, has to do more work in their role. We will see a lot of them in the future.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size When does recorded history become the recent, remembered past? Its a question that lies at the heart of the new series of Netflixs The Crown. For many viewers, season five, which is set between 1991 and 1997, will conjure images and memories in the way that season one, set in the 50s, never could. See if you can picture it: Charles and Dianas marriage was in tatters, royal family members were tabloid staples and, at the nadir of the Queens famous annus horribilis, Windsor Castle was seriously damaged by fire. In previous seasons of The Crown, only royal experts have been able to say thats not how it was. Now everyone can take a view. It seems like its yesterday, says Imelda Staunton [Vera Drake, Harry Potter] who takes up the gilded mantle of playing Queen Elizabeth II from Olivia Colman. Staunton recognises that the death of the Queen just two months before Netflix screens The Crown has brought the past 30 years into sharp focus. Queen Elizabeth II and the women who played her: Claire Foy, Imelda Staunton and Olivia Colman. Particularly with recent events, it seems to have concertina-ed everything, bringing her up to the present. But she says that just because the Queen and her life are at the front of peoples collective mind, the task of a drama such as The Crown remains constant.

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Its the same as when Claire Foy was doing it, says Staunton, speaking in London in tandem with Jonathan Pryce [Game of Thrones], who takes over from Tobias Menzies in the role of Prince Philip. All the hullabaloo around at the moment, I think is directly as a result of the Queens death. Imelda Staunton, actor Youve got the writing that is hanging on to these real events, and the writing goes in between and connects us emotionally to those events. Were not doing a documentary  youre trying to give an emotional life to these people that we think we know. Come the 1990s and there is a lot of emotion to convey: in particular the marriage of Charles and Diana (now played by Dominic West and Elizabeth Debicki) descends into all-out war with the publication of Andrew Mortons Diana: Her True Story and, later, Dianas tell-all interview with Martin Bashir on the BBCs Panorama. But this is a season of many troubled marriages, not least that of the Queen and Prince Philip themselves. In this fifth run of The Crown, Philip, for years the Queens rock and (in season one) her idol, is shown to be drifting away from his wife: nearly an episode and a half is given to Philips burgeoning friendship with Penny Knatchbull (Natascha McElhone), Countess Mountbatten of Burma whose husband was Philips godson. There is the suggestion that something might have happened between them  hands are touched in lingering close up as they enjoy their favourite sport of carriage-driving together  but without any confirmation that it did (Prince Philip denies it explicitly to Elizabeth in a combative confrontation: Its friendship, Lilibet, he stresses. Its not that sort of companionship. That would just make me even more lonely.) The point, according to Jonathan Pryce, is that this is a crucial story from the marriage that had, until The Crown, been largely forgotten.

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When Peter [Morgan, writer] mentioned it to me when I first met him, I knew nothing of this friendship, nothing at all, he says. Penny, in fact, had been a major influence in Philips later life. Philip was more of an enigma for me ... He had a bad press for most of his life as this irascible, grumpy, mildly racist man. Jonathan Pryce, actor Its no coincidence, Pryce says, that Penny was one of the very few non-family members at Philips funeral. But I think we treat this issue sensitively and in a realistic way. Its a friendship, nothing shocking. Newspapers in the UK who havent seen it have tried to describe it as something else. It isnt. I think its a wonderfully touching relationship and a very honest depiction of a man in his 70s who is still wanting to lead a full life. Philip, Pryce points out, has never really been in the limelight the way that his wife has always been. It meant that his task was very different from Imelda Stauntons  she had a record and an archive to play with and against. He didnt. The difference for me is that the image of the Queen is so well formed in everyones minds, because she was the spokesperson for the family, he says. She was the one we heard talk and give broadcasts. Philip was more of an enigma for me: I cant recall hearing him talk in public. He had a bad press for most of his life as this irascible, grumpy, mildly racist man, always putting his foot in his mouth with his comments. A wonderfully touching relationship: Prince Phillip (Jonathan Pryce) and Penny Knatchbull (Natascha McElhone). Credit:Netflix I wanted to get behind that image and find out what he really was like, and to discover that he was an intellectual, highly intelligent man who also had a great interest in science and the natural world. So it was a challenge, but also a delight to bring that to the fore.

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Philips role in the Firm is of course as an adjunct to the main family line, but he and Elizabeth had, by this point, been married for nearly 50 years. Any married couple will recognise the strains inherent in such a long relationship  Staunton says that her and Pryces depiction is founded in their own experience. Whats quite nice is that Jonathan and I have known each other for over 30 years. Youre also dealing with a long marriage. And were both in long marriages [Staunton to Downton Abbeys Jim Carter; Pryce to the actress Kate Fahy]. So weve got all that to draw on. The scenes felt very, sort of real, didnt they? she says to Pryce. Whether they were slightly funny scenes or scenes where not enough was said or things were left unsaid, it all felt just right. Philip and Elizabeths marital ructions are as nothing compared to the carnage that surrounds them. Season five of The Crown shows three out of her four of the Queens children having marital breakdowns, with the Duchess of Yorks affair with her financial advisor revealed in the papers with a photograph of John Bryant sucking Sarah Fergusons toe. The marriage of Prince Charles (Dominic West) and Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) descends into all-out war in the new season of The Crown. Credit:Keith Bernstein/Netflix In the show, this prompts a spiky discussion between Charles [Dominic West] and the Queen about the childrens marital difficulties, and what sort of moral example their failures sets to the nation. At one point, Charles says in anger that if we were an ordinary family and social services came to visit, they would have thrown us in to care and you (the Queen) in to jail. In the UK and the wider world, this has all led to accusations varying from The Crown vilifying the Queen to its questioning the suitability of Charles being king (episode 5 reminds viewers of a leaked phone call to Camilla Parker-Bowles in which Charles said he would like to be reincarnated as her tampon.) Staunton has heard it all already, and her first episode on the throne hasnt even been shown.

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Map of Benin

Benin, formerly known as Dahomey, is one of Africa's more stable democracies.

Benin's shore includes what used to be known as the Slave Coast, the departure point for captives to be shipped across the Atlantic.

Elements of the culture and religion brought by slaves from what is now Benin and other parts of West Africa are still present in the Americas. These include Vodun (also spelt Vodoun, Voudou or - in English - Voodoo) which is celebrated at the country's annual "Fete du Vodoun" or Voodoo Day.

On the economic side, however, the picture is less bright - Benin is severely underdeveloped, and corruption is rife.

While the country has experienced economic growth over the past few years and is one of Africa's largest cotton producers, it ranks among the world's poorest countries.

To the north, there have been sporadic clashes along Benin's border with Burkina Faso. The trouble has been blamed on land disputes between rival communities on both sides of the border.

Read more country profiles - Profiles by BBC Monitoring

FACTS

LEADER

President: Patrice Talon

Benin's President Patrice Talon

Businessman Patrice Talon, known as the "king of cotton", won the 2016 presidential election in a run-off vote in March.

He beat Prime Minister Lionel Zinsou, the candidate of the ruling party, who had the backing of outgoing President Boni Yayi.

Mr Talon was formerly a close ally of the outgoing president, and financed his campaigns for the 2006 and 2011 elections.

He fled to France after being accused of involvement in a plot to poison Mr Boni Yayi in 2012 - an allegation he strongly denies.

Mr Talon received a presidential pardon in May 2014 and returned from exile in October 2015.

On taking up his post in April 2016, he pledged to make tackling terrorism and cross-border crime a priority area, and to strive to promote national unity.

His proposal to limit the presidential mandate to a single five-year term was subsequently defeated in parliament.

Story continues

His plans for free-market reforms have met resistance, including a series of public sector strikes.

MEDIA

Trader on a boat in Benin

With dozens of private and state-owned radio and TV stations and around 60 newspapers, Benin has one of the region's most diverse media landscapes.

TIMELINE

Some key dates in Benin's history:

A giant 30-metre high bronze statue representing an Amazon, one of Benin's historic female warriors

1600-1894 - Dahomey was an African kingdom known for its military discipline and powerful arms. Defeated by the French in 1894, it became a self-governing part of the French Community in 1958.

1960 - Dahomey gains independence and is admitted to the UN. Elections won by the Parti Dahomeen de L'Unite. Party leader Hubert Maga becomes country's first president. He is removed by the army's Chief of Staff, Colonel Christophe Soglo. In the next several years, the heads of state change several times.

1972 - Major Mathieu Kerekou seizes power. He remains in power until he is voted out in 1991.

1975 - Dahomey is renamed the People's Republic of Benin.

1989 - Anti-government strikes and demonstrations take place, continuing until 1990 until President Kerekou meets dissident leaders. Agreement on constitutional reform and multi-candidate presidential elections is reached.

1996 - Mathieu Kerekou wins presidential polls.

2004 - Benin, Nigeria agree to redraw their mutual border.

2006 - Political newcomer Yayi Boni, running as an independent, wins the run-off vote in presidential elections. The incumbent, Mathieu Kerekou, is barred from the poll under a constitutional age limit.

2009 - Benin announces discovery of oil offshore near Seme, a town on the Nigeria-Benin border.

2016 - Businessman Patrice Talon is elected president.
A global human trafficking syndicate has exploited flaws in Australian border security and the immigration system. See all 15 stories .

I thought Australia was hard to get into, is how British former detective Kevin Forrest reacted when our reporter Nick McKenzie asked him about the presence of a convicted crime boss, Binjun Xie, in this country, unveiled as part of our investigative journalism series Trafficked. Forrest can hardly be blamed for his assumption. During the years when Scott Morrison and then Peter Dutton served as immigration minister, and later during Duttons tenure at Home Affairs in charge of the Australian Border Force, the Coalitions rhetoric on safeguarding borders became so strident that it echoed around the world. Who can forget Morrisons boat-shaped trophy bearing the legend I Stopped These, or the election-day text message alerting voters to the interception of a Sri Lankan vessel and urging them to vote Liberal? Yet it is clear from our investigation, and the experiences of federal and state police it uncovers, that there has not been that level of attention to the suffering and exploitation experienced by young Asian women brought to Australia as sex workers in a system of debt bondage facilitated by large-scale rorting of our visa system. Our investigation shows corruption in the application process for student visas and family reunification visas, as well as asylum seeker visas. It shows how alleged fraudsters are bending the education system out of shape to accommodate fake students. This is far from a new problem  leaked departmental documents obtained by The Age in 2014 showed that such corruption, and a lack of enforcement capacity to deal with it, were a known cause for alarm then.

But in the intervening years, the problem has mushroomed, with tens of thousands of people working in this country in indentured conditions, their entry based on a lie. Law enforcement submissions have repeatedly warned our political representatives about this state of affairs. As Abul Rizvi, a former deputy secretary of the Immigration Department, told McKenzie, what we are seeing is at minimum, an extraordinary level of negligence. While there is no evidence that migration agents and the visa farms they operate are knowingly assisting crime syndicates, it is clear that there must be an overhaul of federal government licensing for such agents and greater scrutiny both of their businesses and of the plethora of education providers capitalising on the student visa stream. Together, the practices of these industries have resulted in an ecosystem that criminals can exploit to traffic some of the most vulnerable people in our region. Loading In response to our reporters revelations, the Home Affairs Department has said that a comprehensive suite of laws and programs exist to defend the integrity of the visa system and prevent worker exploitation. Clearly they are either not fit for purpose or they are not being applied with anything like the consistency required. How else to explain that Binjun Xie, convicted and jailed in connection with an illegal sex ring in Britain a decade ago and deported to China upon release, can enter Australia on a student visa and set up a similar business here? Calls for the appointment of an immigration commissioner to deal with visa rorts and for improvements to the laws governing slavery offences must be revisited.
Three police vehicles burnt in 'suspicious fire' at Queensland police station

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WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following story contains images of a deceased person.

Thousands of people have attended rallies across Australia to remember 15-year-old Noongar Yamatji boy Cassius Turvey, who was allegedly murdered in an attack that sparked national outrage.

Mechelle Turvey, mother of Cassius Turvey, embraces Emily Farmer during a rally for her son Credit:Matt Jelonek/Getty Images

In a pre-released statement to be read out at 44 rallies for Cassius around the country, in New Zealand and America, his mother Mechelle Turvey called on the government to invest in eliminating youth violence.

I dont want any more violence, I am the only person who can get justice for my son; stand alongside me, and I appreciate everyone, but I need to call out for calm, I am angry, Cassius friends and family are angry, I dont want any form of violence at any of these rallies in the name of my child. Violence breeds violence, I want calm and peace, she wrote.
There was a lot that was good about this years Melbourne Cup, some bad, and one big ugly moment that marred the first Tuesday in November.

The Good

Tuesdays race was the second successive Melbourne Cup run fatality free. The spotlight has certainly been on the racing industry since the death of Anthony Van Dyck in 2020, but stringent vetting requirements have meant Racing Victoria has taken no risk in making sure every horse running in the Cup is fully fit.

Jockey Mark Zahra is sprayed with champagne after winning the Cup aboard Gold Trip. Credit:Joe Armao

Gold Trip was a worthy winner of Tuesdays race, despite having only won one race before Tuesday. His form going into the race included a fourth in the 2020 Prix de lArc de Triomphe, regarded as one of, if not, the worlds greatest races.
Russia said on Wednesday it would resume its participation in a deal to free up vital grain exports from war-torn Ukraine after suspending it over the weekend in a move that had threatened to exacerbate hunger across the world.

But Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that Moscow reserves the right to withdraw again from the agreement if Kyiv breaks its word.

Ships, including those carrying grain from Ukraine and awaiting inspections, are seen anchored off the Istanbul coastline on Wednesday. Credit:Getty Images

We demanded assurances and guarantees from the Ukrainian side that ... humanitarian corridors will not be used for military purposes, Putin told a Security Council meeting, according to Russian state news agencies. I have given instructions to the Ministry of Defence to resume our full participation in this work.

The Russian defence ministry said it had received written guarantees from Kyiv not to use the Black Sea grain corridor for military operations against Russia.
The wheels of justice turn as slowly in musical-theater as they do in real life. Twenty-four years after its very short-lived Broadway premiere, Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry's Tony-winning Parade has finally returned to New York City. It's back now for a only week at City Center and it's not a moment too soon. Instead of perennially viewing Parade as an ambitious challenge, the time is right to reappraise this epic musical  which tells the real-life story of a town going (as the rapper formerly known as Kanye would say) "Defcon 3" on the Jewish man they believe raped and murdered a teenage girl  and call it what it is: a work of art ahead of its time.

In Michael Arden's entirely thrilling but physically frustrating revival, its leading man is the audience draw. Ben Platt plays Leo Frank, a Brooklyn Jew transplanted to Atlanta, where he's married to Southern Jewish belle Lucille (Micaela Diamond) and works as the superintendent of a pencil factory. After the corpse of his 13-year-old worker Mary (Erin Rose Doyle) is found in the basement of the plant, Leo is arrested alongside his night watchman, Newt Lee (Eddie Cooper). But for local prosecutor Hugh Dorsey (Paul Alexander Nolan, perfectly slimy), hanging yet another Black man isn't good enough this time, so he sets his sights on demonizing and convicting the town Jew.

Parade is a musical with an enormous cast, and this production boasts many a Broadway luminary. Sean Allan Krill is extremely effective as the Governor who puts his political ambitions aside to do the right thing and reopen Leo's case after his conviction. Manoel Felciano is downright terrifying as extremist rightwing journalist Tom Watson, whose antisemitic sentiments further Leo's damnation. Erin Mackey and Stranger Things's Gaten Matarazzo are stirring as Mary's mother and boyfriend, respectively. Stage mainstays Jennifer Laura Thompson, Howard McGillin, Jay Armstrong Johnson, John Dossett, and Douglas Lyons do very well in less pivotal roles. And Alex Joseph Grayson scores one of the night's most rousing ovations for "That's What He Said," the fake testimony that gets Leo convicted.

For theater fanatics, there's more of a draw than just the amazing company. City Center has given the Tony-winning score the deluxe treatment of our dreams, with a 24-piece orchestra playing Don Sebesky's original orchestrations, conducted by Brown himself (and with his wife, Georgia Stitt, on keys). What a thrill it is to hear Brown's stirring masterwork in all its glory, but if you're a nerd like me and were hoping to watch him bring it to life, you're out of luck.

This leads to the biggest downside of the evening: Arden's production has been designed for the massive venue without sightlines in mind. Dane Laffrey's set is a stage-length elevated platform below a smaller elevated platform, the latter of which is meant to symbolize the gallows. It's where most of the action takes place. At no point will you see everything  if you're too close, you'll have to crane your neck to catch the actors, who sometimes feel like they're in mid-air. If you're too high up, you'll miss Sven Ortel's projected images of the real-life figures involved with the story (a nifty, if sophomoric, touch). The orchestra, for the record, is hidden all the way at the back of the stage; if you're sitting anywhere on the main floor, all you'll see is the fleeting wave of Brown's baton every now and then. It's a crime in itself to have an orchestra that big, conducted by the composer, and not have it in full view.

Alex Joseph Grayson and the company of Parade at New York City Center

( Joan Marcus)

When the right actors are put in the right roles, it creates the kind of alchemy that we go to the theater hoping to see. That happens here with both Platt and Diamond, who are terrific as Leo and Lucille. Leo, in particular, is a difficult role, a cypher who spends most of the night emotionally and physically isolated (he even spends the intermission onstage sitting in his jail cell, the audience alternating between leering at him and tweeting about it). Platt delivers the kind of performance that takes you back to the early days of Dear Evan Hansen, back when there were no preconceived notions about his acting ability and you just had to see him to believe it. His nervous energy is a perfect fit for Leo, and he rightfully owns that great 11 o'clock volcano eruption called "This Is Not Over Yet". He turns it into the showstopper that it needs to be (albeit with a wobbly vibrato here and there).

Diamond brings a steely reserve to Lucille, her expressive face almost believing that her husband is innocent, with a reserved doubt or two burrowed somewhere in her head. She eventually casts that aside and takes her place as his fervent defender and the show's beating heart, giving us a gorgeous "You Don't Know This Man." Together, they create a passionate "All the Wasted Time" where sparks do fly before the inevitable ending.

As with any high-profile show with an even higher-profile cast, the rumor mill is already flying about a potential Broadway transfer. I know as much as you do about that, which is to say that I don't know anything. But I do know this. With the ongoing prevalence of antisemitism around the country and the world, the century-old story of Leo Frank has never been scarier or felt more real to me as a Jew than it does now. That Arden's production of Parade captures the zeitgeist, Dayenu. That it's so good, with an excellent company and tight orchestra, is an even bigger mitzvah.
A Cayuga County real estate market that had been booming since the later part of 2020 has started to cool down, new data from the New York State Association of Realtors shows.

Cayuga County Realtors closed 214 residential sales during the third quarter of 2022, down 15.1% compared with the same three months of the previous year. The median sales price from those sales, at $180,000, was down 2.7%. The median sales price is the point at which half of all sales fell above or below.

Similar trends played out in much of New York state. Cayuga County is included in the territory of both the Greater Rochester Association of Realtors and the Greater Syracuse Association of Realtors, and both organizations reported year-over-year drops in closed sales in the third quarter. Closed sales decreased 7.6% in the Rochester region and 5.0% in the Syracuse market.

Realtors are working with buyers today who are much more measured in their approach to finding a home, said Michael OConnor, GRAR president-elect, in a press release. While newly listed homes are attracting high numbers of buyers, purchase offers reflect an understanding of current economic conditions and desire to avoid bidding wars.

Realtors are seeing our housing market move closer to normal activity with typical buyer competition and a return of common practices such as conducting home inspections, said Mark Re, Central New York Information System president, in a press relase. However, as inventory is still below historical levels, multiple offers are still fairly common and a driver of ongoing price growth.

Re also addressed the recently announced Micron chip manufacturing plant announcement for Onondaga County, a development that could have major impact on the housing market.

The recent Micron announcement and the jobs they will bring to our area will boost demand for housing as the project moves forward, said Re. In order to meet this anticipated demand, our current housing stock and housing developments in the pipeline will need to be supplemented by additional home construction to meet the anticipated population growth. Realtors look forward to working with our local communities and builders to ensure our communities are positioned to benefit the regional economic growth the Micron project will drive.

The Realtors association also released year-to-date data through the end of September. In Cayuga County, closed sales reached 474, down 2.5% from 2021 levels. The median sales price of $170,000 was 3.6% higher.
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Comedians from Buffalo, Syracuse and Binghamton will perform at the next edition of an Auburn brewery's comedy night.

Prison City Brewing's Homebrewed Comedy series will welcome Rick Matthews, Kyle Turner, James Fedkiw and Mike Peters at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3. Seating begins at 6 p.m.

Matthews, of Buffalo, "uses the audience as his own personal therapy session, working out the issues that keep him up at night, all for their enjoyment," according to a news release. He is the winner of the Buffalo's Funniest Person contest in 2014 and recorded his debut album, "This Is Where I Lose You," in 2018.

Fedkiw hosted the long-running open mic at George O'Dea's Pub in Syracuse, and has performed across the state. Turner, of Buffalo, has opened for Dave Attell, Annie Lederman, Charlie Murphy and more.

Peters, the show's host, is a contributor to Funny or Die who has performed in Syracuse and New York City, won the Utica Brews Laugh Contest and opened for Gilbert Gottfried.

Tickets to the show are $10 at the brewery, 251 North St., Auburn. A full dinner menu will be available.

For more information, visit prisoncitybrewing.com.
One of Cayuga Community Colleges newest programs is quickly becoming a popular option for students thanks to a combined emphasis on experiential learning and community involvement.

Now in its second academic year, the human services program at Cayuga has already exceeded enrollment projections, with students benefiting from rigorous classroom instruction and a growing field of internship possibilities. The program, which graduated its first student in 2022, prepares students to enter the workforce or to transfer to a four-year institution to continue their education.

But the human services program has done more than prepare students for their next step, said professor Eric Zizza, who designed the program and chairs the colleges School of Social Sciences and Education. Its shown students that human services is an industry with dozens of career possibilities.

Theres a tendency to think that human services means becoming a social worker, and yes, that is an important career avenue the program explores. But theres more to human services than one career option, Zizza said. Between our classroom instruction and the support of our internship supervisors, were showing students dozens of career pathways that are committed to helping our community.

The combination of classroom discussion and field experience is a key component to the programs success, according to Alyssa Smithler, who is earning her Associate of Science in human services in December. Smithler interned with Cayuga Counseling Services and East Hill Medical Center as part of the program, and is hoping to eventually identify a career supporting adolescent students.

Everything we learned in class was incredibly relevant to what I did at my internships. We were getting that experience in class to prepare us for the field, she said. Working in the field is the best part of the job  I think thats true with any career in human services. Thats when you interact with your clients, and it can be challenging. But thats when you get to see them grow and develop.

Lauren Kingsleys interest in a career in human services started during the COVID-19 pandemic, when she could see children and teenagers struggling with social skills after not interacting as often with people of similar ages. Both of her internships at the college put her in position to work with students to overcome those problems.

Kingsley is eager to continue working with college students as a counselor in the years ahead after earning her Cayuga degree.

I want to connect with students and help them develop the skills they need to build relationships in their personal and professional lives, Kingsley said. This program, because it emphasizes field experience and in-depth classroom discussion with faculty and other students, is a great way to build the skills I need to be in a position to help other students.

The internships also help local employers build a future workforce at a time when the human service industry is seeing a growing need.

Theres a significant need that is growing exponentially, particularly to support people in behavioral and mental health, said Katrina Garrigan, the director of behavioral health at East Hill Medical.

Human services provides aid, resources and education to a population that is very underserved. Some people need to know theres someone there to help them. And thats what youre doing, whether its in a group setting or one-on-one. Youre the lifeline for that person.

Michael Prime, Supported Employment Services program manager of Liberty Resources, said the internships are essential to helping students identify their career pathway. Liberty Resources also hosts internships for the program.

Students get firsthand knowledge by working with people in the field. A student can come in, work with us, and they get a reality check of what the job is. They get that experience  what the job means to the person youre helping, our agency and the community as a whole, he said.

To facilitate students learning about additional career options, the human services program offers concentrations in corrections/parole, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, educational support and social work. Regardless of the concentration, students must complete internships in their third and fourth semesters to gain field experience.

The program offers groundwork and skills needed for students to pursue careers as community health workers, substance abuse or mental health counselors, parole and probation officers, teacher aides, school counselors, therapists and more.

Cayuga also offers articulation agreements to support students who are interested in transferring to continue their education after earning their degree. Agreements are available with SUNY Albany, SUNY Cortland, SUNY Empire, Keuka College and Nazareth College.

Faculty will be available to discuss the human services program at the colleges Open House and Financial Aid Day from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Nov. 12, at the Fulton campus.

For more information on the human services program, visit cayuga-cc.edu/academics/schools/social-sciences-and-education/human-services. Details on the Open House and Financial Aid Day can be found at cayuga-cc.edu/admissions/openhouse.
Batavia, NY (14020)

Today

Considerable cloudiness. High 46F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies early then becoming windy with rain developing later at night. Low 39F. Winds SSE at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Higher wind gusts possible.
Ithaca Tompkins International Airport recently announced that Delta Air Lines will offer two daily flights to John F. Kennedy International Airport starting Jan. 9, 2023.

Business and leisure travelers can begin booking flights now on either the early morning or mid-day departure on 75-seat CRJ-900 regional jets the airport said are more fuel-efficient and have Wi-Fi and first-class options.

The airport said in a news release that from JFK, Delta and its joint venture partners offer service to 91 destinations in 30 countries as well as 225 daily flights including 10 to Los Angeles, eight to London, eight to San Francisco, CA, and five to Orlando.

This destination has been on the radar for many within the community, so this is fantastic news for ITH, and we are proud to help make it happen, thanks to our strong partnership with Delta Air Lines," Airport Director Roxan Noble said in a statement. "I am thankful for the great relationship ITH has with Delta and United Air Lines, and we will continue to work hard as a team to ensure we offer the service that our passengers want and need.

This is great news for Tompkins County," Tompkins County Legislature Chair Shawna Black said. "This shift in service to fly directly to JFK expands where people can connect to locations around the world and offers easy access to New York City. The Ithaca Tompkins International Airport has been working hard to expand flights and connections, thank you to the team who helped make this shift happen, and to Delta for offering this improved service.
A police car stands near the crime scene where three people have been stabbed in the village of Nore in Numedal, Norway, on May 20, 2022. - At least three people were injured, including one seriously, in southeastern Norway in a stabbing attack, Norwegian police said. - Norway OUT (Photo by Lise Aserud / NTB / AFP) / Norway OUT (Photo by LISE ASERUD/NTB/AFP via Getty Images)

2 Dead, 1 Injured as Helicopter Crashes in Central Norway

HELSINKIA helicopter on a leisure flight crashed in central Norway Tuesday killing both passengers and severely injuring the pilot, authorities said.

Norwegian police identified the dead passengers as a Norwegian man and a woman in their 60s. The pilot was found alive at the crash site just outside the town of Verdal, and was rushed to a hospital in the city of Trondheim.

There was also a dog in the helicopter which survived the crash and was taken to a vet, Norwegian public broadcaster NRK said.

Norwegian media reported that the helicopter crashed into a field outside a densely built-up area in thick fog after several unsuccessful attempts to land.

Forensic technicians from the police were working in cooperation with the Norwegian Air Accident Investigation Board to establish the cause of the crash.

The type and model of the helicopter were not made public.

Norways VG newspaper reported that it belonged to Norwegian helicopter service provider Midtnorsk Helikopterservice AS., which offers flights to locals and tourists in central Norways scenic mountainous landscape.
Abortion-rights activists (R) argue with anti-abortion activists in front of the Supreme Court on June 26, 2022 in Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court's decision in the Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health case overturns the landmark 50-year-old Roe v Wade case, removing a federal right to an abortion. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

3 Pro-Abortion Protesters Arrested For Disrupting Supreme Court Hearing

Three women were arrested on the morning of Nov. 2 after interrupting oral arguments at the Supreme Court in protest of the courts decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

According to SCOTUSblog.com, the justices were hearing oral arguments in Bittner v. United States, a bank-reporting case, when the first protester rose from her seat.

I rise respectfully to denounce Dobbs, the first protestor said, according to CNN. Women, vote!

Shortly after that protester was removed from the courtroom by security, a second woman reportedly rose and proclaimed: The right to choose will not be stripped away. Women, vote for your right to choose!

The third woman then followed suit, stating: We will restore our right to choose. Women of America, vote!

The justices did not acknowledge the protests.

Following the incident, a Supreme Court spokesperson, in a statement to The Epoch Times, confirmed that the protesters had been arrested and charged with violating two federal laws: making a harangue or oration, or utter[ing] loud, threatening, or abusive language in the Supreme Court Building, and with demonstrating with the intent of interfering with the administration of justice or with the intent of influencing a judge in the discharge of his or her duty.

The spokesperson added that the individuals were processed at the court and then transported to the D.C. Metro Police Department.

In June, the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion, overturning the precedent set decades before in Roe.

In a press release circulated Wednesday by the protests organizers, the three Dobbs demonstrators explained their reasons for participating in the protest.

The first protester, identified as Emily Paterson of northern Virginia, stated that the reversal of Roe had left her deeply worried about the trajectory of our democracy.

Abortion care is healthcare, she contended. We must vote in historic numbers to elect a Congress that will pass a law to protect our right to choose nationwide.

The third protester, Nikki Enfield of Alexandria, Virginia, added: I have always been grateful I was able to take advantage of a legal and safe abortion when I needed it, and I am appalled that this extremist Court has stripped that right away from millions of women against the will of the majority of Americans. I simply will not stand silently by in the face of this injustice.

The courts Dobbs ruling did not outlaw abortion in the United States. Instead, the decision returned the regulation of abortion back to individual states.

In delivering the opinion of the court, Justice Samuel Alito wrote: The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion. Roe and Casey arrogated that authority. We now overrule those decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives.

Protests inside the Supreme Court are rare, but they do occur occasionally. In January 2015, eight individuals were removed for protesting on the fifth anniversary of the courts Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling about campaign financing. Also in 2015, one spectator was removed during the oral arguments of Obergefell v. Hodgesthe ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationally.
A demonstrator wearing a mask painted with the colors of the flag of East Turkestan takes part in a protest by supporters of the Uyghur minority on April 1, 2021, at Bayazit Square in Istanbul. (Ozan Kose/AFP via Getty Images)

50 Countries Urge China to Uphold Human Rights Obligations, Release Detained Uyghurs

Some 50 countries signed a joint statement at the U.N. General Assembly on Oct. 31 urging China to uphold its human rights obligations and release all those who are being arbitrarily deprived of their liberty in Xinjiang.

The nationswhich include the United States, Japan, the UK, Australia, Germany, and Israelmade up the largest group of countries to publicly condemn Chinas ongoing human rights abuses.

They referred to a U.N. report published on Aug. 31 detailing abuses committed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities, which the report states amounted to crimes against humanity.

Such severe and systematic violations of human rights cannot be justified on the basis of counterterrorism, the joint statement reads.

It raised concerns over Chinas refusal to discuss the reports findings.

The signatory countries urged China to promptly release all detained individuals in Xinjiang, urgently clarify the fate and whereabouts of missing family members, and facilitate safe contact and reunion.

A perimeter fence surrounds a forced reeducation center in Dabancheng, Xinjiang, China, on Sept. 4, 2018. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

The U.S.-based Council on AmericanIslamic Relations (CAIR) welcomed the joint statement and called on Muslim-majority nations to oppose the CCPs Islamophobic campaign of terror against Uyghur Muslims.

It is time for more Muslim-majority nations to also stand up against the CCPs attempt to erase Islam from the Uyghur region of China, CAIR Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said in a statement.

UN Rejects Debate on Uyghurs

Early in October, the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) rejected a proposal co-sponsored by the United States and the UK to hold a debate on the CCPs human rights violations in Xinjiang.

A total of 17 countries voted in favor, 19 were against, and 11 abstained.

Indonesia, the worlds largest Muslim country, was among those 19 nations that voted against the motion, along with Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Pakistan.

Achsanul Habib, director of human rights at Indonesias Foreign Affairs Ministry, said that UNHRC member states should engage in impartial dialogue and not take a selective approach to human rights issues.

We voted no because we dont want the politicization of the Human Rights Council, [for it] to be used for the purpose of political rivalry, he said on Oct. 7.

Habib said Indonesia has consulted with all parties regarding its decision, including China and those who have backed the proposal.

Had the motion been passed by the UNHRC, victims and activists would have been able to tell the international community about the real situation in the region, the World Uyghur Congress said in a statement.
RCMP Const. Shaelyn Yang is seen in this undated RCMP handout photo. (The Canadian Press/HO, B.C. RCMP)

A Sea of Red Serge as Thousands of Officers Honour BC Mountie Const. Shaelyn Yang

Thousands of officers dressed in red serge marched in unison in a procession led by an RCMP pipe band, a hearse and riderless horse in the funeral for fallen RCMP Const. Shaelyn Yang Wednesday.

The procession in Richmond, B.C., began underneath a large Canadian flag hung between two extended ladders from firefighting trucks, as civilians and firefighters in uniform, poppies pinned to their lapels, lined the streets to watch the march.

Yang, a 31-year-old mental health and homeless outreach officer, was stabbed to death two weeks ago while she and a City of Burnaby employee attempted to issue an eviction notice to a man who had been living in a tent at a local park.

Yang shot the suspect before she died, and B.C.s police watchdog later said Jongwon Ham underwent surgery for his injuries.

Ham, 37, is accused of first-degree murder in her death and was due in a Vancouver court Wednesday for remand.

Yang, who lived in Richmond, is being honoured by a regimental, or military-style, funeral in accordance with RCMP protocols for an officer who dies in the line of duty.

The RCMP said as many as 2,000 officers from B.C. and across Canada are joined in the procession by members of the Canada Border Services Agency, the Armed Forces, sheriffs, firefighters and B.C. Ambulance Service, while another 1,500 members will also attend the funeral.

RCMP Sgt. Chris Manseau said the turnout is no surprise because an on-duty death impacts every police officer.

We all look out for each other, we all have each others back, and when something tragic like this happens, its very detrimental to all of us, he said in an interview ahead of the procession Wednesday. I think having a lot of us come together is good for everybody. Its part of the healing process.

Yangs family said in an earlier statement that they are going through immense grief but are grateful for the condolences and support they have received, issuing thanks to the RCMP for making the arrangements to formally honour her.

Angel Liu, the director-general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, Taiwans de facto diplomatic office in Vancouver, said she attended a private funeral over the weekend with about 400 people, including Yangs friends and family, colleagues, Richmond city councillors and the mayor.

Yangs family members shared with us how excited Yang felt when she first became an RCMP officer and she chose this career from her heart, Liu said in an interview conducted in Mandarin Wednesday.

She is the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, so I am here to represent the Taiwanese government to pay respect and tribute to Const. Yang.
As authorities investigate four apparent overdose deaths in Cayuga County in recent weeks, police on Tuesday charged two people with felony drug possession.

According to a news release from the Finger Lakes Drug Task Force, authorities recently conducted an investigation culminating in Weedsport which resulted in the arrests of two suspects.

At about 6:26 p.m. Tuesday, police arrested Kelli Mitchell, 31, and Matthew Carnicelli, 34, at 74 E. Genesee St. in Auburn on charges of possessing fentanyl compounds.

Police said the county has experienced a recent increase in what appears to be overdose deaths.

"There are four apparent overdose deaths in recent weeks. There is no additional information being released or made available relating to these apparent overdoses as we continue to investigate them as independent incidents," a news release said. "Narcotics and/or any unknown substances being injected into a persons body will have devastating or lethal consequences."

Carnicelli and Mitchell were both charged with third-degree criminal possession of controlled substance and fourth-degree conspiracy, which are both felonies. Both were subsequently arraigned at Cayuga County Centralized Arraignment Part.

The Finger Lakes Drug Task Force is comprised of the Auburn Police Department, Cayuga County Sheriffs Office, New York State Police and the National Guard.
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)

Alberta Premiers Proposal for Expanded Exports From Churchill Pricey but Promising: Experts

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith wants her fellow Prairie premiers to take the lead in expanding the capacity of the rail and port systems in Churchill, Manitoba, an expensive idea that analysts say has some merit.

Smith wrote Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson on Oct. 24 to request a meeting in Churchill to discuss how the three could work together to address energy and food security issues, and in particular opportunities at the Port. This includes pipelines,  infrastructure improvements to existing rail lines and highways, and opportunities to increase our export of crops, fertilizers, critical minerals and other commodities.

The Port of Churchill is Canadas only Arctic seaport serviced by rail.

Is there a case for Churchill to be used as a port? Absolutely, Malcolm Bird, a political science professor at the University of Winnipeg, said in an interview.

Its part of a bigger thing where we need to talk about the Arctic and the capacity of Canada to exert sovereignty, which we are [until now] hopelessly, hopelessly unable to do. Were asleep at the switch. This is a really serious issue.

In Smiths letter to fellow premiers, she noted that the Russian Yamal Peninsula project has been operating with great success, and even expanding operations to meet global gas demands.

Bird says Russia is showing Canada up in multiple ways.

If you want to take a cruise ship of tourists through the Arctic, you have to check in with 32 different agencies. Its impossible. You cant do it. Go to Russia and [you get] your permit four hours later.

In August 2022, the Manitoba government and the feds pledged to invest $147 million to upgrade and maintain the railway. Barry Prentice, a professor of supply chain management at the University of Manitoba, says the line has worth beyond commercial considerations.

That route is a strategic military asset because it does give us access to the furthest north point where we have actual water service to the central Arctic, and there is still remaining a very large airstrip there from the Second World War. So from a strategic perspective it has value. And of course, politically it would be impossible to abandon, Prentice told The Epoch Times.

The ice of course is becoming less. Its only one-year ice anyway, so its not that hard to break through if they want to keep that shipping lane open. The shipping season itself is extending naturally because of the warmer climate, but thats still confronted with the issue of marine insurance.

Astronomical Costs

Greg Gormick, a consultant and commentator on rail issues, says politics has been part of the Churchill rail line and port from the beginning. He believes Smiths proposal has some utility but isnt the first place rail investments should go.

Weve never gotten enough traffic to come into the Port of Churchill. There has been some, and it has been kind of a relief valve of sorts at times when Thunder Bay and Vancouver have been overloaded, but its a minor factor, Gormick told The Epoch Times.

The money would be better spent to try and improve the existing CN and CP main lines and to have higher capacity to the ports of Thunder Bay, Vancouver, and Prince Rupert. Youd be assisting the system that handles so many other things through those ports.

A federal charter was granted in 1880 for a railway from Winnipeg to Hudson Bay. Construction of the portion of the Hudson Bay Railroad onward from The Pas, Manitoba, began in 1910 and reached Churchill in 1929. The port opened in 1931 and was acquired by Arctic Gateway Group in 2018. On Dec. 2 that year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau welcomed the first Via Rail passenger train to arrive there in 18 months since flood damage led Via to halt its service to the town in June 2017.

The port itself was closed for two years beginning in November 2021 while the rail line leading to it undergoes repairs.

In August this year, federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra announced $4.4 million in funding for a University of Calgary study on how the railway can be strengthened to handle permafrost melting due to rising temperatures.

Gormick says facilitating more volume on the Churchill line would take substantial time and money.

The cost of rebuilding that railway to handle the volume of traffic that you would need to put through that port will be astronomical, he said.

Youre looking at a couple of years to even get track upgrading done. Youve got to order new steel and ties, youve got to get work gangs, youve got to get ballast, a lot of ballast. This is not a magic wand kind of solution.

Hydrogen, Bitumen Pucks

The Russian invasion of Ukraine and sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline has made energy needs more acute in Europe. The federal government announced a Canada-Germany Hydrogen Alliance earlier this year, with the first Canadian exports of wind-generated green hydrogen from Newfoundland and Labrador expected in 2025.

In June 2021, the Alberta and federal governments agreed to a deal with a private company to build a $1.3 billion low-emission blue hydrogen plant in Edmonton. Blue hydrogen is produced by extracting hydrogen from natural gas.

According to an analysis by HSBC, blue hydrogen has much lower production costs than green hydrogen. Costs and safety can be much improved by shipping the hydrogen in the form of anhydrous ammonia, the gas or compressed liquid form of ammonia that contains no water.

Prentice says one train-load of anhydrous ammonia each week would be enough to make the Churchill line commercially viable by itself.

We need to look at solutions where we have a win-win-win. This is a win for Alberta. Its certainly a win for Manitoba. Its a win for government of Canada. Its a win for Europe, Prentice said.

The only thing thats actually missing is a container crane at Churchill to load the ship. We [would] export a lot of hydrogen. We would provide traffic for the Churchill railway. And the federal government wouldnt get its shorts in a knot because were not exporting carbon.

Prentice said Churchill already has a tank farm to allow oil shipments, but new technology gives other new options for exports.

One suggestion, which has received a lot of talk but no action, is the development of these asphalt pucks, a technology that was developed by CN and the university to move the material from the oilsands in the form of the round discs that can be used for making asphalt for roads, Prentice explained, referring to puck-shaped bitumen capsules covered in a polymer.

The advantage of this idea is that they carry it in bigger hopper cars. If theres a spill, you just sweep them up, or they float so you just pluck them out of the water. So it doesnt have the environmental harm that it would have as a liquid.

In April, then-Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre said a pipeline from the Alberta oilsands to Churchill could carry up to 200,000 barrels daily. He said that if he is elected as prime minister at some point, he would consult with First Nations communities and pre-approve export licences to expedite the process.

At the time, the head of the Arctic Gateway Group, Sheldon Affleck, told the Winnipeg Free Press that he was open to Poilievres proposal and mentioned bitumen pucks as one option.
Alleged Chinese Police Stations in Canada: How Did They Get Here? And Why Arent They Shut Down Yet?

It took a European NGO to raise the alarm about the existence of these centres, and for governments to talk about them

News Analysis

Of all the countries where China has purportedly set up unofficial police stations, only Ireland and the Netherlands have so far ordered the stations to be closed. Authorities in other countries, including in Canada, have at most said they are investigating the issue.

This came after a Spanish NGO, Safeguard Defenders, published a report in September alerting countries like Canada to these stations on their soil. The station in Dublin, Ireland, displayed a public sign, Fuzhou Police Overseas Service Station. Other stations, such as the reported three in Toronto, are more subtle.

But why did it take an NGO to raise the alarm about these stations in countries with sophisticated intelligence and security agencies? And why is there not yet any report on whether theyve been ordered closed in Canada?

A Chinese state-media outlet lists this single-storey commercial building in Markham, Ont., as one of three overseas Chinese police stations in Canada. Human rights NGO Safeguard Defenders said the outposts in the Greater Toronto Area are part of the first batch of Fuzhou overseas police service stations. (Michelle Hu/The Epoch Times)

I think in this case, intelligence operations have simply not been aware of it. Nor do I think politicians have been aware of it. Which is also why I think its become a bit of a story that people are shocked and surprised, because this has been going on now for a number of years, right under our eyes and ears, Peter Dahlin, founder and director of Safeguard Defenders, told The Epoch Times.

Dahlin says one of the reasons that it could have gone unnoticed is that the stations arent directly run by the central government in Beijing, but rather by local authorities such as the one in Fuzhou, the capital city of Chinas Fujian Province, and are therefore more scattered.

Unless you pay attention to bulletins and notices coming out of very local police operations in a province somewhere, its going to be very hard to find this kind of information, he said.

And on top of that, the reason I think its gone on for so long without it being really noticed is that each jurisdiction in China operates these operations slightly differently. So station to station, city to city, country to country, it looks very different in how these service centres are actually run.

Phil Gurski, a 32-year veteran of Canadas Communications Security Establishment and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), says that what China is doing in this case would constitute foreign interference and would fall under the authority of CSIS to investigate.

Whether or not they were aware of it is a great question, and Im going to assume yes, Gurski, who now runs Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting, said in an interview.

He said such information was likely passed on to government authorities, and the bigger question is, why didnt they do anything about it?

If an NGO in Spain could figure it out, Im pretty sure Canada figured it out. So the question is, why was nothing done to actually stop this practice on Canadian soil? he said.

The Epoch Times contacted CSIS for comment but was referred to the RCMP.

The RCMP issued a statement on Oct. 27 titled Reports of criminal activity in relation to foreign police stations in Canada, saying it is investigating the issue.

The Epoch Times asked the RCMP whether its investigation started before or after Safeguard Defenders report was published, but it declined to answer, saying that as the issue is under investigation, it cant comment further.

A sign for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service building is seen in Ottawa in a file photo. (The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick)

Weldon Epp, a Global Affairs Canada (GAC) official, told MPs in a House of Commons committee meeting on Oct. 4 that the government has now started investigating claims in media reports related to this issue.

Epp was asked by Conservative MP Michael Chong if the government has made representations to Beijing about the allegations that it has established police stations in Canada and reports of the stations being used to intimidate Canadians and even coerce them in going back to China.

I can tell you that we are working closely with partners to understand whether these media reports are based in fact, Epp said.

The Epoch Times contacted GAC to confirm whether it only began its investigation after the NGOs report was released, but was told to contact the RCMP, and that GAC has nothing further to add.

110 Overseas Stations

Safeguard Defenders has identified more than 50 such outposts, named 110 Overseas Stations, in different countries. The 110 in the name is a reference to the emergency police number in China.

The Chinese Embassy in Canada has acknowledged that local authorities have set up online service platforms to help Chinese citizens abroad with services such as drivers licence renewal, and that the service centres are needed to perform eyesight and hearing examinations. The embassy says the stations are staffed by volunteers, who are not Chinese police officers and are not involved in any criminal investigation or relevant activity, CBC reports.

Dahlin says these operatives are not registered to perform such duties and dont have the required permissions from the governments of the countries they operate in.

But more concerning is that some of these stations have been involved in much more frightening activities, he says.

The 110 Overseas Stations, both in their online and physical overseas form, also serve a more sinister goal as they contribute to resolutely cracking down on all kinds of illegal and criminal activities involving overseas Chinese,' says Safeguard Defenders report, citing one incident, provided by the Chinese authorities, showing that the police stations have a role in the so-called persuade to return effort.

These activities fall under a broader repatriation effort by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), including Operation Fox Hunt and Operation Sky Net. These initiatives, which, unlike the 110 Overseas Stations, are controlled centrally in Beijing, have resulted in 10,000 fugitives being brought back to China from around the world since 2014, Safeguard Defenders said in a previous report.

Peter Dahlin, director of human rights NGO Safeguard Defenders, in a file photo. (Handout)

The NGO says this account of the stations being involved in forcible repatriation efforts was corroborated recently by a Chinese official, who told a Spanish newspaper: The bilateral treaties are very cumbersome and Europe is reluctant to extradite to China. I dont see what is wrong with pressuring criminals to face justice.

Andy Brooke, a retired RCMP officer who has been involved in counter-terrorism operations, says there are more issues at stake as the CCP has revamped its suppressive tactics, including the recent implementation of the national security law in Hong Kong, which allows application of criminal penalties by the CCP for anyone in the world.

If you have service stations in these countries, then you have your ears to the ground in those countries, Brooke said in an interview.

Why Are They Still Here?

According to Safeguard Defenders, so far their report has resulted in responses from 12 different governments.

British Security Minister Tom Tugendhat told lawmakers on Nov. 1 that the government is assessing the reports as well as other actions by Chinese officials that are incompatible with diplomatic status. The Irish government confirmed in late October that it has told the Chinese Embassy to close the station in Dublin. The Dutch government demanded the closure of the stations on Nov. 1.

When it comes to a response by the Canadian government, beyond the RCMPs Oct. 27 statement saying that it is investigating the issue, not much has been said.

As far as police action is concerned, Brooke says the simplest form would be if someone comes forward who has been the subject of intimidation or assault. In this case, it would be a straightforward case of criminal complaint for police to pursue and take action.

The RCMP logo is seen outside Royal Canadian Mounted Police E Division Headquarters, in Surrey, B.C., in a file photo. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

But it gets more complicated without a formal complaint case, he says, as it would require law enforcement to spend more time to look for evidence and develop a case.

He acknowledged that if law enforcement had access to more legal tools, such as a foreign agent registration act, then it would have more latitude to act.

Countries such as Australia and the United States have already enacted such legislation, and the UK is in the process of enacting its own version of the law. It requires agents acting on behalf of foreign powers to register their names, and failure to do so would result in criminal prosecution. A similar bill was introduced by Sen. Leo Housakos in Canadas Parliament in February. Housakos repeated his request for its passage after the news emerged about Chinas overseas police stations.

Safeguard Defenders is also recommending this legislation as one way of dealing with these unofficial police stations. Other solutions, it says, include setting up hotlines to let victims of CCP harassment make reports anonymously, without feeling intimidated, and regularly making information public on the CCPs activities on these fronts and on the evolution of its tactics.

But even the United States, which has in recent years enacted some of the most aggressive legislation aimed at curbing the CCPs influence, has apparently fallen victim to the overseas stations, with Safeguard Defenders reporting one such office in New York City.

In general, our legal frameworks arent really designed to handle this kind of modern-era transnational repression, Dahlin says.

Government Action

For Gurski, the issue is one where action is needed at the political level, since it involves a foreign government.

They need to sit down, through our embassy in Beijing, and send a very clear message that this is unacceptable. Youre not allowed to come to Canada to engage in this. And if you continue to do so, therell be implications for bilateral relations,' he says.

But, he says, successive governments in Canada havent taken the threat from China seriously due to economic and trade considerations. He says that over his decades working in government intelligence agencies, he often saw China specialists being frustrated that the government is ignoring their findings.

They prized economic benefits over the possibility that China is engaging in activity against our national security, he said.

Julian Spencer-Churchill, an associate professor of international relations at Concordia University, concurs that political considerations are playing a factor in this issue, noting especially that the current Liberal government doesnt have an interest in taking a position on it.

Why havent they been detected? Its because its really easy not to be detected, especially if the government doesnt want to find it, he said.

Andrew Chen, Isaac Teo, and Lily Zhou contributed to this report.
Appeals Court Upholds New York Absentee Ballot Law, Reversing Earlier Ruling

An appeals court in New York upheld a state absentee ballot law on Nov. 1, reversing an earlier ruling that found the law unconstitutional.

The law, enacted in 2022, states that in no event may a court order a ballot that has been counted to be uncounted. New York Supreme Court Justice Dianne Freestone ruled in October that the clause violated the Constitution and ordered all election boards in the state to segregate absentee ballots and hold them until a post-Election Day canvass.

The New York Supreme Courts Appellate Division vacated that order, ruling that Republicans who challenged the law waited too long and that granting them relief would disrupt the midterm election.

Petitioners commenced this proceeding/action challenging the constitutionality of the new process of canvassing absentee ballots in Election Law  9-209 nine months after it was enacted, after the process was in effect for two primary elections and several special elections, and at the time that canvassing of absentee ballots using the new process began in the 2022 general election, the court stated.

More than 488,000 absentee ballots were already mailed as of Oct. 24 and more than 127,00 had been returned, with many having been reviewed and counted.

That means granting relief would result in voters being treated differently during this election depending on when they returned their ballots, according to the court.

In our view, granting petitioners the requested relief during an ongoing election would be extremely disruptive and profoundly destabilizing and prejudicial to candidates, voters, and the State and local Boards of Elections. Under these circumstances, petitioners delay in bringing this proceeding/action precludes the constitutional challenges in this election cycle, and warrants dismissal of the petition/complaint based upon laches, the court stated.

Laches means an unreasonable delay in bringing a claim.

The court reversed Freestones order and vacated it.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, celebrated the decision.

We should be taking every step possible to empower voters and ease New Yorkers access to the polls. I was proud to defend New Yorks absentee ballot reforms and am happy with the decision to keep these commonsense election integrity initiatives in place, James said in a statement. As Attorney General, I will always fight against efforts to infringe on the right to vote and make it harder for New Yorkers to make their voices heard.

The New York State Republican Party, one of the GOP groups that challenged the law, didnt respond by press time to a request for comment.
Applauding in Court, and Shouting Remarks Led to Convictions for Sedition

Pastor and woman were sentenced to 1 year, and 3 months in prison, respectively

A Hong Kong pastor, 59, and a woman, 68, were convicted of uttering seditious words and other crimes for applauding from the public gallery and shouting to the magistrate, You have lost your conscience, when they were watching a hearing of the June 4 vigil (commemorating Tiananmen Massacre) of organizer Chow Hang-Tung in January. They were reprimanded by the judge after the clapping incident, but they continued to shout messages and slogans.

The two were arrested foruttering seditious words during a court hearing on April 6 and faced trial on Sept 1, 9, 13-16, and Oct. 21, and were sentenced on Oct. 27. The many trial days filled by viewing and discussing the content of Youtube videos.

Magistrate Cheng Lim-chi convicted both of them at the West Kowloon Magistrates Court on Oct. 27 and sentenced pastor Pang Moon-yuen to one-year detention, and Chiu Mei-ying was sentenced to three months in prison. When defendant Pang was on the stand, he quoted from the Bible, saying, Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil. He also said that he defended freedom of speech and the rule of law, History will acquit me.

Chow Hang-tungs case refers to the former vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance (HKA), Chow Hang-tung, who last year appealed online to the public to participate in the June 4 vigil and was charged with inciting others to knowingly participate in an unauthorized assembly. The case was decided in January, and Chow was sentenced to 15 months in prison, of which 10 months will be executed in installments with other cases, with a total sentence of 22 months.

Since the June 4 Incident in 1989, the HKA has held candlelight vigils in Hong Kong for 31 consecutive years. The number of citizens participating each year ranges from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. However, after the CCP passed the Hong Kong version of the National Security Law, it banned the HKA and also banned Hong Kong people from mourning the June 4th incident.

Some citizens went to court to show their support for Chow. The two defendants, Garry Pang Moon-yuen, 59, and Chiu Mei-ying, 68, were convicted of uttering seditious words and for applauding at the hearing, while Pang was also found guilty of committing acts with seditious intention for operating a YouTube channel.

In Chengs ruling, he pointed out that when the case occurred, the first defendant, Peng, said, You have lost your conscience. And the second defendant, Chiu, said, Ask Bao Qingtian to come to trial (*Bao Qingtian was an impartial official in the Song Dynasty of China), Zheng said that Bao Qingtian represented justice and strictness, and believed that Chiu was criticizing the judges injustice in the judgment. After someone clapped hands, the magistrate issued a warning, but the two still verbally criticized the judge, and thus, the magistrate believed that a deterrent sentence should be imposed.

In relation to Pangs offense of acting with a seditious intention, Zheng pointed out that the defendant Pang repeatedly criticized the court on his YouTube channel, severely undermining the credibility of the court and damaging the rule of law and trampling on the dignity of the court. He also pointed out that with the defendants background and education, he must understand that there are procedures for complaining about a judges misconduct. Rather than unilaterally saying that judges do not follow the rule of law online.

Pang made a personal statement, citing the Bible as saying, Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil. He also pointed out that in this sedition case, ostensibly, the prosecution won from the perspective of protecting conscience and justice. He defended freedom of speech and the rule of law, I have won, and History will acquit me. He also quoted from the Bible and from Power of the Powerless, authored by Vaclav Havel, and claimed that he confessed to applauding and to accusing the judge, which is defeating the fear of freedom. He said that no matter how long the sentence is, he will happily face it and continue to undertake the mission of prison chaplain.

Pang was sentenced to 12 months in prison for the two crimes, while Chiu was sentenced to 3 months in prison.

Case No.: WKCC928/2022
A poll worker handles ballots in Phoenix, Ariz., on Oct. 25, 2022. (Olivier Touron/AFP via Getty Images)

Arizona County Sued Over Planned Hand Count of Ballots

Officials in an Arizona county have been sued over their plan to hand count ballots cast in next weeks midterm election.

The Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans said Cochise County officials are poised to violate the law with the hand count and have asked a state judge to block the plan.

A.R.S. Section 16-602(F), the plaintiffs said, outlines that hand counts may only be conducted with specific parameters, including counting a sample of no more than 5,000 ballots.

Arizona law thus clearly and expressly prohibits county officials from conducting a hand count audit of ballots beyond the limited sample size allowed by statute, let alone all early ballots cast in the election, they said.

The plan to count more votes violates the law, according to the suit.

The Cochise Countys Board of Supervisors, Cochise County Recorder David Stevens, and Cochise County Elections Director Lisa Marra were named as defendants.

The boards 21 vote in October ran along party lines. Republican Supervisors Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby approved the hand count. Democrat Supervisor Ann English voted against it.

County lawyers told the board that the hand count would be illegal.

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat running for governor, initially said the plan was against the law but later said the board committed to only counting some of the ballots and to delivering the results on time.

Members of the board said in an Oct. 26 meeting that the hand count would follow state law, but that they interpreted state law as allowing a full hand count in contested races.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, said that an expanded hand count of 100 percent of the ballots is legal, provided the hand count was limited to five contested statewide and federal races appearing on the 2022 General Election ballot.

Board members said at a Nov. 1 special meeting that they were aware of the lawsuit but that it hadnt been served yet.

Cochise County Superior Court Judge Timothy Dickerson received the suit but assigned the matter to Judge Kellie Johnson of Pima County. Thats typical in matters involving the Board of Supervisors, according to the meeting minutes.

A spokesperson for the board pointed to the comments made during the meeting.

Any hand count conducted will not impact election night results, Marra said in a statement.

Stevens didnt respond to a request for comment.

County Attorney Brian McIntyre has said he wont represent county officials in the suit, but the board declined to bring forward a motion to find an outside attorney in the recent meeting.

Cochise County is in southeastern Arizona and has about 126,000 residents.
Republican member of the Arizona House of Representatives Mark Finchem speaks at the Let the Church ROAR National Prayer Rally on the National Mall in Washington on Dec. 12, 2020. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Arizona State Rep. Mark Finchem Credits Elon Musk for Restored Twitter Account

Arizona state Rep. Mark Finchem is crediting Twitters new owner, Elon Musk, after Twitter suspended his account for no apparent reason on Oct. 31 and the company restored it less than an hour later.

He said it looks like Musk came to his defense.

He said, Let me look into it. Forty-five minutes later, he posted that our Twitter feed was back on, said Finchem, the Trump-endorsed Republican candidate for Arizona secretary of state.

However, it wasnt clear whether Musk directly intervened on Finchems behalf. Musk began firing top executives after he finalized the purchase of the social media platform for $44 billion last week.

Arizona state Rep. Mark Finchem, the Republican candidate for Arizona secretary of state, holds a T-shirt bearing a campaign slogan at a recent political gathering in Prescott, Ariz. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

Finchem said it appeared that some leftist at Twitter shut his account down just eight days before the Nov. 8 midterm election.

He said of course it was politically motivated.

I didnt even know what we did to offend the political sensibilities of whoever the leftist was that decided to interfere with free speech, Finchem told The Epoch Times. Im very thankful Elon Musk took action, which is what he said he would do when he decided to acquire Twitter.

Finchem said Musk appears to be getting rid of people who hate this countrys First Amendment.

[Theres] no place for people like that, Finchem said. Because heres what ends up happening: You start seeing these social media platforms becoming regulated public utilities.

I dont want to go there. Because any time a government puts its hand on something, it never quite turns out the way you want it to.

He said he prefers a private-sector solution to the online censorship of conservatives, and I think thats what Elon Musk has done here.

Hes restored free speechplain and simpleand he gets the credit for that.

If Musks behavior is a leading indicator of his new business model for Twitter, Finchem said hes all for it.

I think he will make it so that [Twitter is not controlled] by one group with one voice, he said. I think thats important.

Finchems Democratic opponent in the Nov. 8 election is former Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes.

Unintended Boost

Finchem said the leftist meltdown at Twitter over his restored account has given his campaign a political shot in the arm.

In less than 24 hours, his 51,000 followers on Twitter had swelled to 71,000, he said. He said there was no explanation other than people are angry over censorship.

Im sensing were going to see a big red wave, Finchem said. Many Democrats will cross over, and they will be very specific about voting for policy people.

Could there be a November surprise from Democrats?

Its too late for that, Finchem said.
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (L) greets Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare (R) during a bilateral meeting at the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) in Suva, Fiji on July 13, 2022. (Armao/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Australia Pledges Extra $103 Million in Aid to the Solomons Despite Its Pro-Beijing Ties

Australias diplomatic representative to the Solomon Islands has announced an extra US$103 million (AU$161 million) in aid to the Pacific country as part of an ongoing diplomatic offensive against Beijings influence with the Sogavare government.

Australian High Commissioner Lachlan Strahan said the package would include support for health, education, governance, and elections, among several other initiatives, reported RNZ on Oct. 31.

There will also be an allocation for the Tina River Hydropower Transmission System, which will be funded through the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility, and an allocation for the Pacific Games 2023.

Currently, there are more than 3,700 Solomon Islander workers in Australia under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme. In this Budget, the Australian government is improving and expanding the PALM scheme, creating greater opportunities for Solomon Islander workers, he said in comments obtained by RNZ.

Funding to Help Solve Aged Care Worker Shortage

Under the package, there is also the opportunity for up to 500 Pacific and Timorese workers to obtain aged care qualifications, which will help the Albanese government achieve its goal of increasing staff numbers in Australias struggling aged care sector.

Currently, the sector is grappling with severe staff shortages, with an April survey by aged care service consultants CompliSpace, finding that nearly 50 percent of staff were considering leaving the sector within three years.

CompliSpace CEO David Griffiths said the increasing aged care services were needed, but staffing problems needed to be dealt with.

Signage is seen at Arcare aged care facility in Maidstone on May 30, 2021 in Melbourne, Australia. (Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)

Without intervention, the residential aged care industry will be drastically understaffed within the next three years, exacerbating an already fragile framework of quality service delivery, Griffiths said.

He called for more funding to help attract staff to bring on another 50,000 nurses and support staff.

Residents will not get the care that workers want to give them and the care that the government has legislated. Along with a lack of care will come an increased risk of harm.

All politicians are trying their best to navigate their way through these challenges, but workers are emphatically saying the new mandated minimum care standards cannot succeed without a corresponding lift in funding, he said.

Pacific Aid the Crux of Influence Struggle with Beijing

Australia is currently engaged in an influence struggle with Beijing over the Solomons Islands, with the Sydney-based Lowy Institute saying that the Chinese regime is providing sizeable funding for new developments in the country.

According to the Institutes Pacific Aid Map, while Chinese aid declined to the overall Pacific region from 2016 to 2021, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) upped its investment in the Solomon Islands.

China has not given up on using development assistance to cement key relationships, the Institute said.

The current Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has significantly deepened ties with Beijing over the course of 2022, signing a wide-ranging security deal with the CCP that will allow the Chinese Peoples Liberation ArmyNavy to station troops, weapons, and even naval ships in the region.

Meanwhile, according to the Pacific Aid Map, Australia is still the largest source of aid to Pacific countries, providing $1.23 billion (US$780 million) in aid, far exceeding Chinas $245 million.

Alexandre Dayant, director of the Institutes Pacific Aid Program, noted that there was a supply and demand problem with CCP aid money.

On the supply side, Chinas economy is slowing down, so it appears there is less appetite for spending money abroad, he told The Sydney Morning Herald. We see the slowing down of the Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, with fewer projects committed around the world.

But on the demand side, he noted that leaders of Pacific island countries were waking up to the fact that the Chinese aid projects had quality issues and were backed by loans with difficult payment conditions.
A U.S. Air Force B-52 "Stratofortress" bomber, assigned to the 96th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, deployed from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., lands during exercise Lightning Focus on Dec. 6, 2018. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Christopher Quail via AP)

Beijing Wary of B-52 Bomber Deployment to Australia: Expert

A defence expert says the U.S. decision to deploy six B-52 nuclear-capable bombers in northern Australia is a practical sign of the superpowers deterrence strategy towards Beijing.

Michael Shoebridge, the director of Strategic Analysis Australia, told The Epoch Times that the move was part of the 2022 Nuclear Posture Review (pdf).

The comments come in response to Beijing warning the U.S. against the deployment, with Zhao Lijian, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry saying such a move escalates regional tensions, gravely undermines regional peace and stability, and may trigger an arms race in the region.

However, Shoebridge said Beijings reaction demonstrated the CCP was aware that deterrence measures would complicate their plans.

Beijings reaction shows they understand that extended deterrence is being revitalised, and that complicates their aggressive plans, he said. Thats good news.

Shoebridge warned, though, that more work was needed.

More steps from the U.S. and its allies and partners are needed to reset the military balance and demonstrate that the costs and uncertainties of war, making starting one a bad idea for [Chinese leader] Xi and his Party-owned PLA, he said.

The deployment of the B-52s comes as the U.S. deploys capabilities throughout the region most notably in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Guam.

US Preparing For Possible Engagement

Work is underway on dedicated facilities at Royal Australian Air Force Base Tindal, which is located three-and-a-half hours south of Australias northernmost city of Darwin.

U.S. officials have drawn up plans for a squadron operations facility a maintenance centre, and parking space for six B-52 bombers, Australian Broadcasting Corp. (ABC) reported. The cost is expected to reach US$100 million.

The B-52 Stratofortress has been a formidable part of the U.S. military since the 1950s. The aircraft is able to fly extremely long distances without refuelling (8,800 miles or 14,080 kilometres) while carrying a massive payload (70,000 pounds or 31,500 kilograms), including nuclear weapons.

The comments from China come after U.S. Admiral Mike Gilday, chief of U.S. naval operations, said there was a chance of imminent war in the Asia-pacific.

If I look at the trends from, lets say, 2018 to now in how we talk about China, in the 2018 NDS [National Defense Strategy] we really talked about Great Power competition, and that was a focus. And now, based on what were seeing from an increasingly aggressive China and Russia  we have our eyes on preparing for a potential fight tonight, he said.

I cant rule that out. I dont mean at all to be alarmist by saying that. Its just that we cant wish that away.

The admiral noted that the U.S. military was paying particular attention to how the Chinese regime was behaving rather than what it was saying.

What weve seen over the past 20 years is that they have delivered on every promise theyve made earlier than they said they were going to deliver on it, he said. When we talk about the 2027 window, in my mind, that has to be a 2022 window or potentially a 2023 window.

Beijing Moving on Much Faster Timeline

The comments by the naval commander come after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Good Morning America on Oct. 19 that he believed Beijing would seek to invade Taiwan on a much faster timeline.

Blinken said the Chinese regime would not necessarily attempt direct military engagement but by alterting the status quo and resorting to coercive means.

For many, many years, there was a basic understanding when it came to Taiwan. Whatever differences existed between Beijing and Taiwan would be resolved peacefully, Blinken said.

What changed is this: a decision that was made in Beijing some years ago that that was no longer acceptable and that the government wanted to speed up the reunification, and to do it potentially by any means, through coercion and pressure and potentially, if necessary, by force.
Israel's ex-premier and leader of the Likud party Benjamin Netanyahu addresses supporters at campaign headquarters in Jerusalem, Israel on Nov. 2, 2022. (Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images)

Benjamin Netanyahu Poised to Return as Prime Minister of Israel

HAIFA, IsraelFormer Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu is poised to return to power, claiming a huge vote of confidence from voters and declaring that his coalition of conservative parties is on the cusp of an election win.

The people want a different way. They want security, Netanyahu said. They want power, not weakness.  They want diplomatic wisdom, but with firmness.

A unit that provides security for personnel and delegations increased security around Netanyahu on the night of Nov. 1.

Election Results Update

As of Nov. 1 at 10 p.m. local time when polls closed, 4,843,023 Israelis had voted, or 71.3 percent of eligible votersthe highest since the 2015 election.

In Israel, each voter needs to show their ID at the poll in order to vote.

The votes at the polls are hand counted, and there are no election machines at the polls.

As of Nov. 2 at 2:06 p.m. local time, 85.9 percent of the votes had been counted, and Netanyahus conservative Likud Party and its allies were on pace to control a majority in Parliament.

The final results are expected to be received on Nov. 3, but only on Nov. 9 will the official results be submitted to President Isaac Herzog by the chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Supreme Court Judge Yitzhak Amit.

We are on the brink of a very big victory, Netanyahu told supporters at his party election headquarters on the evening of Nov. 1, when Israel held its unprecedented fifth election in less than four years.

Recent elections have produced a deadlock between Netanyahus Likud and a number of opposing parties, with neither side able to hold a majority since 2019.

I am pleased to see such strong voter turnout for the Knesset election.  I look forward to continuing to work with the Israeli government on our shared interests and values, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides wrote on Twitter on Nov. 2.

A Profile of Netanyahu

After less than 18 months out of office, if preliminary counts hold, Israels longest-serving prime minister, who has dominated the countrys politics for more than a decade, is set to return.

Netanyahu has pledged to build on the achievement of his last term in office, the Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which opened the way for a possible normalization of relations with other Arab countries.

Netanyahu has been flanked on the right in previous governments and still managed to normalize ties with Arab states in the Persian Gulf and, as a free-market champion, oversee impressive economic growth.

But he was also more willing to publicly confront the United States over Irans nuclear program than the outgoing government.

On Nov. 2, perhaps trying to allay fears abroad, he voiced confidence that he would be able to build a responsible coalition that would avoid unnecessary adventures and expand the circle of peace.

IsraelLebanon Maritime Agreement

Israel and Lebanon signed a maritime agreement on Oct. 27 that settles a sea border between the two states, which dont have diplomatic relations and have officially been in a state of war for decades.

The deal, which has the potential to unlock additional natural gas production in the Mediterranean at a time of global energy flow disruptions, was finalized on Oct. 11, according to Israeli and Lebanese officials.

[Prime Minister] Yair Lapid shamefully surrendered to [Hassan] Nasrallahs threats, Netanyahu said on Oct. 2 in a video on Facebook, referring to the prime minister agreeing to all of Hezbollah terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallahs demands for the LebanonIsrael Maritime Agreement.

Nasrallah had made threats against Israeli gas infrastructure if Israel began to produce gas at the offshore Karish gas rig near the IsraeliLebanon border and the agreement wasnt finalized.

Lebanons caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Nov. 2 that U.S. guarantees would protect a maritime border deal with Israel should Netanyahu win a majority in elections.

Were not afraid of a change in the authorities in Israel. Whether Netanyahu wins or someone else, no one can stand in the way of this [deal], he said.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) joins hands with Los Angeles Democratic mayoral candidate Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) at a campaign rally for Bass in Los Angeles on Oct. 27, 2022. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Bernie Sanders Stands With LA Mayoral Candidate US Rep. Karen Bass

LOS ANGELESWith the Nov. 8 election approaching, mayoral candidate and U.S. Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) appeared on stage with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) Oct. 27, establishing herself as the most progressive candidate running to govern the second most populous city in the United States.

Organized by the California Working Families Partya progressive political organizationthe Bernie for Bass rally drew hundreds of people to Playa Vistas Central Park in the evening, with both giving impassioned speeches on homelessness, crime, abortion, and wages.

The cost of rent, and the cost of living, means working two or three jobs and barely getting by, Bass told the crowd of supporters. And it means more and more people falling into homelessness every day, but if we dont act now, if we dont win this election, we will return to the day of failed solutions, shelters, and warehouses locking people up, criminalizing povertywere not doing it again.

Los Angeles Democratic mayoral candidate, U.S. Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) speaks at a campaign rally attended by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in Los Angeles on Oct. 27, 2022. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Bass aligned herself with the working class, while referring to her opponent, real-estate mogul Rick Caruso, as an out-of-touch billionaire.

I didnt have to get on a campaign bus to discover East L.A., Hollywood, Sylmar, or Pico Union, Bass said, as cheers erupted. Im not a touristIm an Angeleno.

And I didnt register as a Democrat three weeks before launching my mayors race. I didnt do that because Im a lifelong Democrat, Bass said, alluding to Carusos registering as a Democrat before entering the mayoral race.

Los Angeles Democratic mayoral candidate Rick Caruso (C) walks with Maura Johnson (R), director of housing for Abbey Road, while touring the construction site of the Sun Commons affordable housing development in North Hollywood, Calif., on Nov. 1, 2022. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

If elected, Bass said she plans to initiate an emergency response to homelessness and house 15,000 people in the first year of her term by building more temporary housing units while leasing more unused properties in the city as additional shelters.

To combat crime, one of her policy plans, according to her campaign, is to hire more officers at the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), which is short roughly 300 sworn members.

Bass added she is a pro-choice candidate on the issue of abortion. Caruso has affirmed the same.

Sanders told supporters that Bass is up against right-wing extremism, and talked about how greedy billionaires are, taking another shot at Caruso.

Sanders, a former civil rights activist in the 1960s, supports raising the minimum wage nationwide, adding taxes on capital gains for the wealthiest people in the nation, Medicare for all, the Green New Deal, free college tuition, and rigorous gun control, among other progressive policies. As the longest-registered Independent in Congressional history, Sanders has planted himself as a strong leader of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Los Angeles Democratic mayoral candidate, U.S. Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), C, applauds as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) speaks at a campaign rally for Bass in Los Angeles on Oct. 27, 2022. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

This campaign must be about something else, Sanders said. It must be our fight for a vision that creates a nation and a government that works for all and not just a few.

Sanderss stop in Southern California was part of his campaign Get Out the Vote tour across the country ahead of the midterm election to support Democratic candidates in California, Texas, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Craig Keshishian, political strategist and former pollster for President Ronald Reagan, told The Epoch Times Basss appearance with Sanders shows she doesnt have to hide her true colors.

You add into the mix the raging crime  and the homeless issues  associated with that taking place in Los Angeles, Keshishian said. Now its created a combustible environment for certain, traditionally democratic seats like the mayor of Los Angeles.

Angelenos are facing a decision in the upcoming election that will determine whether the city will continue its progressive path or take a more moderate approach.

Bass has been endorsed by 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 last month for accusing Caruso during a debate of paying for an endorsement from the Avance Democratic Club, a local Latino political group.

Los Angeles Democratic mayoral candidate Rick Caruso (C) poses for photos at a restaurant while campaigning in the Boyle Heights neighborhood, which is predominantly Latino, in East Los Angeles on Oct. 24, 2022. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Francis Conole and central New York labor unions blasted Brandon Williams as "anti-worker" and questioned his support for Micron's $100 billion investment in the Syracuse area.

Williams, in a tweet, questioned if Conole knows the difference between a chip plant and a corn plant.

With one week to go until Election Day, the Micron deal emerged as a top issue in the 22nd Congressional District race. Conole, D-Syracuse, has accused Williams, R-Sennett, of not supporting the legislation, the federal CHIPS and Science Act, that included $52.7 billion to boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing. Micron has said that the bill played a big role in the company's decision to select central New York for its new manufacturing facility.

The claim stems from a letter Williams wrote in August before the Republican primary. In that letter, he referred to the $50 billion for chip manufacturing as "corporate welfare." He has said that he would've voted for the bill if he was in Congress at the time.

Before President Joe Biden visited the Syracuse area last week, Williams told reporters that he met with Micron officials and said he would be "a partner for their growth and success in central New York" if he is elected to Congress. Earlier in the call, he said the region is "very excited that Micron has made a decision to invest in central New York and particularly in the Syracuse area."

But standing with Conole, labor leaders do not think that Williams truly supports the Micron project.

Jim Mason, president of the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters Local 277, called Micron's plan "a game-changer in the central New York area." He said it will be the largest construction project in the Northern Hemisphere and thousands of construction workers will have work for decades.

"After the CHIPS and Science Act was signed into law, Brandon Williams called it 'corporate welfare.' We know that a project like this would not be possible had it not been for the CHIPS and Science Act," Mason said.

Conole highlighted the work of a bipartisan group, namely Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, U.S. Rep. John Katko and Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon, that persuaded Micron to come to central New York. Notably, Katko was one of 24 Republicans who supported the CHIPS and Science Act in the House of Representatives.

Comparing Williams to Katko, Conole said his opponent "could not be more different."

"(Williams) comes from the far right of his party," Conole continued. "The future is right for us but we're not going to get there from the far reaches of one party. We're going to get there together and Brandon Williams is not right for central New York."

After the press conference with labor groups, Conole tweeted that he and Katko "supported the CHIPS bill because it meant good-paying jobs for Central New Yorkers." He accused Williams of remaining silent and playing politics, while adding that it's "a shame he would rather have us build chips in China than here in NY-22."

That led Williams, who is a tech entrepreneur, to respond by tweeting that Conole lacks experience in manufacturing and "wouldn't know a chip plant from a corn plant."

Conole and Williams are running in one of the most competitive congressional races in the country. Republicans want to retain the seat held by Katko, who is not running for reelection after serving for four terms. Democrats are hoping to capture the Syracuse-area seat for the first time since 2012.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks in a neighborhood impacted by Hurricane Ian at Fishermans Pass in Fort Myers, Florida, on Oct. 5, 2022. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden Calls DeSantis, His Potential 2024 Rival, Trump Incarnate

President Joe Biden suggested on Nov. 1 that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would be another version of former President Donald Trump, as Biden stumped for the states Democrat gubernatorial nominee Charlie Crist who is facing an increasing deficit in the polls days before the election day.

Charlie is running against Donald Trump incarnate, Biden said at a fundraiser for Crists campaign at Floridas Golden Beach before denouncing the Republican governor, who has been an opponent of the Biden White House and seen as a potential 2024 presidential candidate.

This guy doesnt fit any of the categories I talked about. The way he deals, the way he denies, Biden said, potentially referring to earlier remarks about decency and honor.

The presidents criticism drew a contrast from the cordial meeting between the two earlier in October, when Biden toured Hurricane Ians damage with DeSantis and praised the governor for doing a good job handling the storm recovery.

With less than a week before polls close in the midterm elections, Democrat candidates in the Sunshine State are now trailing Republican opponents in both the Senate and the gubernatorial races.

According to a mid-October Florida Atlantic University poll, DeSantis leads his Democrat challenger by 11 percentage points with an overall approval rating of 53 percent. DeSantis also led Biden 48 percent to 42 percent in a hypothetical 2024 match-up, according to the same survey of registered state voters.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis campaigns alongside New York Republican gubernatorial hopeful, Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) at a Get Out The Vote Rally in Hauppauge, New York, on Oct. 29, 2022. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)

The rest of the world is looking at us, Charlie. Theyre looking at us, Biden said on Tuesday, calling over the former congressman and Florida governor. It is really important that a state the size of Florida  comes down on the right side of history.

Biden later capped his day in the state with a rally at Florida Memorial University, a historically black university, for the states Democratic candidates, including Crist and Rep. Val Demings, whos running against Republican Sen. Marco Rubio.

During his evening remarks, Biden once again singled out DeSantis, as he noted that the nearby Port of Miami recently received a $16 million federal grant due to one of his biggest legislative victories: the $1 trillion infrastructure legislation.

Im sure your governor will take credit for it somewhere along the line, Biden said.

At a Medicare event in Hallandale Beach earlier that day, Biden has also seized on Florida Sen. Rick Scotts February proposal to sunset all federal legislation after five years, which the president says would require Congress to reauthorize Medicare and Social Security, as emblematic of what hes termed the ultra-MAGA agenda Democrats are running against.

Democrats are now particularly concerned about the trend in Miami-Dade County, home to 1.5 million Hispanics of voting age. It has been a Democratic stronghold for the past 20 years, but the GOP made significant gains in the past presidential election. Republicans, including Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez, are predicting the region will turn red on Nov. 8.

Should Democrats lose Miami-Dade, it could virtually eliminate their path to victory in statewide Florida contests, including presidential elections, moving forward.

Biden, who often ends his speech by asking God to protect our troops, offered a salty addendum with his remarks in Hallandale BeachGod, give some of our Republican friends some enlightenment, the president said.

Florida hasnt voted for a Democrat presidential candidate since former President Barack Obama in 2012. Biden lost the state again in 2020.

DeSantis, 44, has neither confirmed nor ruled out a potential presidential bid in two years, saying that his focus is on the upcoming re-election.

Biden will campaign in New Mexico on Thursday, California on Friday, and Pennsylvania on Saturday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Boston University is being criticized for creating a new COVID strain that showed an 80 percent kill rate in mice. Experts said the researchers were playing with fire by risking the outbreak of a lab-made pandemic. The NIH, meanwhile, has said it was unaware of the research, and took steps to distance itself from the controversy.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration has set in motion a new strategy for future pandemics and biological threats. The National Biodefense Strategy states that the United States must address the accidental release of biological agents, and threats posed by terrorist groups or adversaries seeking to use biological weapons.

And in other news, new findings are emerging on the attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Evidence suggests the attacker was not far right, and instead had far-left views. The attack is also highlighting double standards in political narratives from key influencers.

In this live Q&A with Crossroads host Joshua Philipp, well discuss these stories and others, and answer questions from the audience.

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The Real Story of Jan. 6 Documentary102 Minutes, Color

The Real Story of Jan. 6, a documentary by The Epoch Times, reveals the truth that has been hidden from the American people. While a narrative has been set that what took place that day was an insurrection, key events and witnesses have been ignored, until now.

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Cameras at Pelosi Home Werent Monitored When Attack Occurred: US Capitol Police

The U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) confirmed Nov. 2 that it monitors cameras at the home of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)and that the cameras were not being monitored when a man broke in on Oct. 28 and attacked Pelosis husband.

The cameras are not actively monitored unless Nancy Pelosi is at home, the USCP said. The speaker was in Washington on Friday with her protective detail.

Personnel at the USCPs Command Center did not notice anything was amiss at the Pelosi residence until they noticed police activity at the home.

They then used the feeds to monitor the response and assist investigators, the USCP said.

Authorities say David DePape, 42, broke into the San Francisco home with the intention of kidnapping Nancy Pelosi.

When he learned she wasnt there, he attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer, according to the San Francisco Police Department.

Paul Pelosi was able to call 911 before the attack and officers rushed to the home within minutes. Officers witnessed the attack after a person opened the door, according to charging documents. The FBI has said that person was Paul Pelosi but San Francisco officials have declined to confirm that detail, though they have said no other person, including security personnel, was in the home at the time.

Nancy Pelosis office has not responded to requests for comment.

USCP said it has launched an internal security review and will be gathering input and questions from members of Congress.

We have been immensely grateful for the critical support the Congress already provided to secure the U.S. Capitol Complex after January 6, 2021. The funding was vital for us to implement dozens of immediate improvements, the agency said. Now we will fast-track the work we have already been doing to enhance the protection of Members outside of Washington, D.C., while also providing new protective options that will address concerns following Fridays targeted attack.

Some members have floated expanding USCP protection to family members of key lawmakers, and USCP Chief Tom Manger has issued a call for more resources to provide additional layers of physical security for Members of Congress.

Our brave men and women are working around the clock to meet this urgent mission during this divisive time, USCP added. In the meantime, a significant change that will have an immediate impact will be for people across our country to lower the temperature on political rhetoric before its too late.
Some House districts that voted for President Joe Biden are leaning redand a new endorsement emerges in Arizonas Senate race that could rally an entire base to the right.

A researcher from the Heritage Foundation joins us to discuss censorship on Twitter after his account was just recently suspended. What has been happening since Elon Musk took over?

The federal government is now spending over $470 billion on interest payments. The spending could surpass the countrys entire defense budget by 2025.

A longtime congressional aide was reportedly fired for working on behalf of China. Republicans are calling for an investigation.

Dean of Liberty University Dave Brat joins us to discuss the economic fallout from the Chinese Communist Partys recent meetingand the implications it might have for the American people.

A first print of the U.S. Constitution is coming up for auction at Sothebys.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping, bottom right, is applauded by senior members of the government and delegates as he stands before his speech during the Opening Ceremony of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China at The Great Hall of People on October 16, 2022 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

CCPs 20th National Congress Sends Chilling Message to Democracies: Taiwans Top Envoy in Canada

Taiwans top envoy in Canada says the recent national congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sends a chilling message to like-minded democracies around the world.

Testifying before the parliamentary Canada-China committee on Nov. 1, Harry Ho-Jen Tseng, representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Canada, warned parliamentarians not to take the message from the CCPs 20th national congress lightly, and to prepare in order not to be harmed in the near future.

Tseng was referring to the political report delivered during the opening ceremony of the Chinese regimes national congress in Beijing where CCP leader Xi Jinpingwho just secured a record-setting third termused the term security over 75 times in his speech.

The political report delivered by Mr. Xi Jinping on Oct. 16 has sent a chilling message to all of us in the like-minded group [of democracies], said Tseng, previously deputy minister of Taiwans Foreign Affairs Ministry.

I think it indicates that China as a market is getting more uncertain [and] is getting riskier for Canada and for other countries because we will be trading with someone that lays stress not on profit, but on political control, he added.

Xis speech emphasized that the communist regime will strengthen the safeguards for ensuring economic, major infrastructure, financial, cyber, data, biological, resource, nuclear, space, and maritime security.

Mechanisms for countering foreign sanctions, interference, and long-arm jurisdiction will be strengthened, Xi stressed, adding that the regime will oppose Taiwan independence, and will take resolute action to prevent and stop interference in the affairs of Hong Kong and Macao by external forces.

In addition, Xi said the party will hold high the great banner of socialism and turn China into a country that leads the world in terms of composite national strength and international influence by the middle of the century.

Not Unlike The Era Under Mao

Tseng said the security concerns arising out of the congress are something democracies, including Canada, need to pay attention to. He added that the economic message from Xi is not very rosy at all.

Their reaffirmed zero-COVID policy remains a major risk for growth. There is no hope of loosening regulations on internet platforms, and its real estate industry sees no policy U-turn, Tseng said.

Closing remarks from a CCP spokesperson at the congress stressed a message of equality over prosperity, he added, which Tseng said, spells a return to a communism not unlike the era under Mao.

During questioning at committee, Tseng agreed with comments from Conservative MP and foreign affairs critic Michael Chong that it is time Canada decouple economically from China, particularly in the areas of critical minerals, semiconductors, biotechnology, telecommunications, and artificial intelligence.

It is only wise to be prepared for an economic decoupling to come closer and come faster, Tseng said, while urging Canada to join the effort in ensuring peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific Region and the Taiwan Strait.

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said in late September that she will release Canadas Indo-Pacific strategy and China policy before the end of the year. She said the strategy would be shaped largely by what transpired at the CCPs national congress.

Real Talk

In January, Canada promised to begin exploratory discussions with Taiwan on a possible Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Arrangement (FIPA).

The federal government cant yet say if it will proceed with the trade talk, according to a Globe and Mail report on Oct. 25. The press secretary for International Trade Minister Mary Ng told the media outlet that the department is reviewing the results of the exploratory discussions. A September email statement from Global Affairs to the Globe said FIPA talks with Taiwan would be based on Canadian commercial interests.

Tseng said it will be mutually beneficial to promote trade and investment between Canada and Taiwan. He expressed hope that Canada can support Taiwan in its application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)a free trade agreement between Canada and 10 other countries in the Asia-Pacific region including Australia, Japan, and New Zealand.

We understand that FIPA and CPTPP are very complicated issues, Tseng said, while noting that the two countries have had three discussions since January on very good faith.

I understand that trade matters need to go through different sectoral concerns and that you want to make sure you are not signing some agreement at the expense of your business communitywe understand that.

What we are asking from Taiwan is that we sit down and have a real talknot prior talks before the real talk, he added. Never fear to negotiate.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
A logo is displayed on a television screen in the National Cyber Security Centre in London, on Feb. 14, 2017. (Carl Court/Getty Images)

China Likely Poses Single Biggest Cybersecurity Threat to UK: NCSC

While the threat from Russia has been particularly obvious, China will likely be the single biggest factor affecting the UKs technology, the UKs cybersecurity boss said on Nov. 1.

The comment comes as a government minister confirmed again that China has become a long-term strategic threat to the UK.

Launching the National Cyber Security Centres (NCSCs) sixth annual review on Nov. 1, CEO Lindy Cameron said the past year has seen the private sector taking state threats seriously after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Cameron said shes proud of the NCSCs roles in supporting Ukraines cyber defence and helping UK organisations fortify their defences.

She also warned that the UK cant take its eyes off China.

While the threat from Russia has been particularly obvious over the last year, its important not to forget that Chinas technical development and evolutionthe scale and pace of what they are able to dois still likely to be the single biggest factor affecting our cybersecurity in the years to come, Cameron said.

The NCSC is a part of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the UKs national security agency.

Regarding state threats, the NCSC annual review named regimes in Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea as presenting the most acute cyber threat to the UK and its interests.

The regimes activities targeting local and national governments of other states include cyber-enabled espionage to gain classified information, using tools such as wiper malware to damage IT systems or institutions, cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property or personal data of citizens, and stealing and publishing sensitive or restricted information to embarrass states or institutions or to undermine social cohesion, according to the review.

The NCSC said UK organisations havent been significantly impacted by the cyber front of Russias invasion of Ukraine but cautioned against complacency as Russia continues to be a persistent and active threat to the UK and its interests.

The cybersecurity watchdog also stated that the Chinese regime poses the biggest threat to the UKs cybersecurity in the coming years.

It stated that China has put significant resources into emerging tech research and development, including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and semiconductors, in order to achieve technical supremacy.

The report also cited FBI Director Christopher Wray as saying that China has a bigger hacking program than that of every other major nation combined.

Security Minister Tom Tugendhat announced on Nov. 1 that hes leading a new task force to drive forward work to defend the democratic integrity of the UK.

Asked why China wasnt labeled a threat in the governments Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy last year, Tugendhat confirmed that China has become a long-term strategic threat.
China's DF-41 nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles during a military parade at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on Oct. 1, 2019. (Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images)

China Refusing Talks With US About Nuclear Expansion: Pentagon Official

Chinas communist leadership is uninterested in reducing the risk posed by nuclear weapons, according to senior U.S. officials.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continues to refuse to engage in nuclear nonproliferation and strategic stability talks, despite an announcement last year that the regime would cooperate with the United States on the issue, according to Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Alexandra Bell.

As a first step, wed really like to have a conversation with them about each others doctrines, about crisis communication, crisis management, Bell said during a Nov. 1 fireside talk with the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank.

Were not in that space with Beijing yet. So, theres work to be done to begin the conversation, we think, bilaterally.

Bells comments came just weeks after CCP leader Xi Jinping swore that the regime would strengthen its own nuclear capabilities despite assurances made in November 2021 that it would engage in strategic stability talks with the Biden administration.

Beijing has instead resisted requests for arms-related talks with Washington, and Pentagon leadership believes that China is instead expanding its nuclear forces, going so far as to quadruple its arsenal to 1,000 warheads by 2030.

Dialogue Unlikely to Prevent CCP Nuclear Expansion



Former Under Secretary of Defense Walter Slocombe said that, while admirable, the Biden administrations pursuit of communication for communications sake was unlikely to yield fruitful results with the CCP.

Im afraid Im a skeptic about dialogue as the answer to all these problems, Slocombe said during a panel after Bells comments. We talk to China. This document [the Nuclear Posture Review] talks to China. The Chinese talk to us by what they say.

Dialogue is fine but its not really going to move the ball very far.

Slocombe said that U.S. efforts to counter Chinese nuclear development ought to focus less on deterring the regime from using a nuclear missile and more on preventing it from using the threat of nuclear missiles to coerce other nations.

He warned that China and Russias increasing reliance on nuclear weapons as a key part of their national defense and diplomacy strategies signaled the two powers were likely to depend on the threat of nuclear force to bully other states into behaving according to their will.

It is often the case that countries, like people, say what they would like someone to believe about what they think,  Slocombe said.

Im not saying the Chinese are lying any more than were lying but, I think that the central problem is the use of coercion.

New US Nuclear Review Not Enough to Deter China



The Biden administrations newly released nuclear posture review, unveiled as part of the administrations National Defense Strategy (pdf), alleges that the CCP is expanding and modernizing its nuclear arsenal with the aim of threatening the United States and its allies.

Moreover, the document states it is doing so while cooperating to some degree with Russia, meaning that the United States will have to simultaneously deter two near-peer nuclear adversaries.

That is the central question of the next four or five years: The how do we address two nuclear peers problem, said Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Robert Soofer, who also served on the panel.

On the one hand theyve identified this problem but there seems to be actions in the review that preclude options for dealing with the problem.

Soofer said that, despite all the talk of competition and bringing China to the table, the Biden administration had terminated its pursuit of some capabilities that could be important in deterring Chinas nuclear proliferation. One such example is nuclear sea-launched cruise missiles, despite recommendations by the military to develop the system.

With that in mind, he said, the administration would need to develop a whole new way of understanding and dealing with the CCPs nuclear capabilities and strategy.

The key phrase is major nuclear power,' Soofer said.

By the time China deploys its 1,000 nuclear weapons, it wont just be the numbers, but the fact that they have a full triad, and the fact that in addition to strategic systems theyre also going to have regional systems. Its a whole new framework for addressing them.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Two early 19th Century punchbowls are now on display for a limited time in the Sydney Harbour Gallery at the Australian National Maritime Museum, offering a glimpse into the first European settlement.

Made by unknown Chinese craftsmen, the hand-painted Sydney punchbowls depict the scenes of the city dating from the Macquarie era (1810-1821). The bowls originated in Canton (now Guangzhou City in China) about three decades after the British settled at Sydney Cove in 1788.

They are the only two known examples of Chinese exporting porcelain. One bowl is in the State Library of New South Wales collection, while the other is part of the National Maritime Collection at the Maritime Museum. The two are similar but not exactly matching. Both have been donated to their collectionsthe librarys in 1926 and the museums in 2006.

Two early 19th Century punchbowls are now on display for a limited time in the Sydney Harbour Gallery at the Australian National Maritime Museum. (Supplied)

The punchbowls feature panoramic views of Sydney Harbour from opposite vantage points of early 19th century Sydney, reads a statement by the Maritime Museum. The Library punchbowl has a view from the eastern side of Sydney Cove, named Tubowgule by the Gadigal community, and the view on the Museum bowl is from Dawes Point on the western side, named Tallawoladah. The detailed scenes show several landmarks in and around Sydney Cove at the time.

The designs are combined with traditional Chinese porcelain decorations, each featuring a grouping of Aboriginal figures in the centre.

The original commissioner and the reason for the commission remain a mystery.

Two early 19th Century punchbowls are now on display for a limited time in the Sydney Harbour Gallery at the Australian National Maritime Museum. (Supplied)

Made with in thirty years of the first settlement, the bowls celebrate the progress of the British colony, the Maritime Museums website introduced. Even after 200 years, viewers can still identify some of the buildings and locations on the bowls, such as the Government House, the head of Sydney Cove, and St. Phillips Church.

These punchbowls accurately portray Sydney in about 1818, with its warehouses, commercial wharves and increasingly sophisticated public and private buildings. They were undoubtedly made as a celebration of the colonys progress and move from penal colony to burgeoning metropolis, said Daina Fletcher, museum Head of Acquisitions Development states.

The presence of First Nations people on the foreshores and fishing from Nawi in the harbour is also a reminder of the tragedy being inflicted upon them through introduced disease, pollution of water supplies, and seizure of lands.
The best chrysanthemums are displayed at the head table at the Joan Pisani Community Center in Saratoga, Calif., on Oct. 30, 2022. (Ilene Eng/NTD)

Chrysanthemum Show Puts Seasons Best Blooms On Display

SARATOGA, Calif.Colorful blooms brightened the room at the Joan Pisani Community Center in Saratoga during an annual chrysanthemum show that was held Oct. 2930.

The show was hosted by the Bay Area Chrysanthemum Society, which has held the event for 10 years. Every year, club members get to display the results of their passion, patience, and care. NTD, a sister media of The Epoch Times, spoke to some of the growers.

Visitors take pictures of chrysanthemums at the Joan Pisani Community Center in Saratoga, Calif., on Oct. 30, 2022. (Ilene Eng/NTD)

My father used to grow show chrysanthemums, but then as I grew older, I was busy with life and family and job and things. And then when I was close to retirement, I happened to see the first show of this, which was in Santa Clara, and I was like, This is my opportunity, said Kalpana Shyam, vice president of the Bay Area Chrysanthemum Society.

The goal of the club is to promote cultivation and preservation of chrysanthemums, or mums for short.

Not everybody likes the same flower, Shyam said. I might like these open-centered daisies; somebody else might like these balls. This is called a cushion variety. Somebody might like that.

Daisy-like chrysanthemums at the Joan Pisani Community Center in Saratoga, Calif., on Oct. 30, 2022. (Ilene Eng/NTD)

Mums come in many different shapes, colors, and sizes, but they are divided into 13 classifications.

This year, a panel of nine chrysanthemum judges selected the best flowers. The best of the best were displayed at the head table.

The Bay Area Chrysanthemum Society showcases the best chrysanthemums at the Joan Pisani Community Center in Saratoga, Calif., on Oct. 30, 2022. (Ilene Eng/NTD)

One of the things they have to look for is the stem has to be straight. The flower has to be the size it should be, because some of these may be all very good but the size is small and they wont like it. The color may be faded, and it should be a fresh bloom, Shyam said.

To produce show-worthy flowers, growers need to grow a variety, have consistent watering, fertilize a lot, make sure the plants get sunlight, and keep bugs away.

Decorated chrysanthemums at the Joan Pisani Community Center in Saratoga, Calif., on Oct. 30, 2022. (Ilene Eng/NTD)

The biggest thing about show [chrysanthemums] is that you have to do whats called disbudding, Shyam said. If you didnt remove them, theyll be in a big bunch. So if you remove those, then the center flower gets all the nutrition, and then it grows as big as it can.

Chester Unciano, co-chair of the chrysanthemum show, joined the club in 2018 and has been growing mums since. He brought in a large yellow chrysanthemum that won second place.

Chester Uncianos yellow chrysanthemum (center) at the Joan Pisani Community Center in Saratoga, Calif., on Oct. 30, 2022. (Ilene Eng/NTD)

This species here is a Houston species of an irregular incurving kind. So its a class 1 variety. And its a Class A because its a bigger variety, Unciano said.

The growing season starts with cutting in April and lasts until blooming in late summer or early winter, around October.

Its the discovery of new cultivars and how to get better from growing them. Just the diversity of the plants makes you keep going, Unciano said.

Spider chrysanthemums at the Joan Pisani Community Center in Saratoga, Calif., on Oct. 30, 2022. (Ilene Eng/NTD)

The process is very enjoyable and very fun, and I love to grow flowers, and its rewarding. I got first prize for this one, said Ava Fung Wollman, a Fremont resident.

Wollman bought the plant from a sample sale and had no idea it would grow to be a unique flower. It turned out to be a magenta-purple flat-topped Gyokkouin.

Ava Fung Wollmans Gyokkouin at the Joan Pisani Community Center in Saratoga, Calif., on Oct. 30, 2022. (Ilene Eng/NTD)

I did not know [what] it looks like until I saw it this week. It opened up this week; I just saw it. And I picked that because the name  nobody can spell the name, and its exotic. And also its an Imperial, a Japanese Imperial flower, the symbol, Wollman said.

Growers tend to grow more in hopes that at least one is presentable. Therefore, people can submit multiple entries.

I never knew that chrysanthemums could turn into a bonsai, so this is my first year trying chrysanthemum bonsai, so I entered four of them, Wollman said.

Bonsai chrysanthemums at the Joan Pisani Community Center in Saratoga, Calif., on Oct. 30, 2022. (Ilene Eng/NTD)

When you create something thats really good, it has its own satisfaction. So its a journey, really, not just the last day, Shyam said.

Although winners only receive a ribbon, seeing peoples smiles is their greatest reward.

Theres this lady in a wheelchair yesterday. I think she was being wheeled in by her granddaughter, Unciano recalled. She saw the blooms out there, and she was pointing to the yellow bloom  I want to take pictures of this and this and this. It was cute.

The nonprofit is funded by their cutting sales in June. The club consists of about a hundred members.
Jiusi Zhang, finalist at the 6th NTD International Piano Competition, prepared a program on the theme of death and transfiguration.

He performed the Bach-Busoni Chaconne followed by Brahms Piano Sonata No. 2 on Tuesday.

Traditionally, a chaconne was for either a happy, joyous occasion or a sad and solemn one. This one was from Bachs Partita No. 2 for Violin, which Ferruccio Busoni arranged for solo piano. Actually, it wasnt well received when he first wrote it, people felt Busoni didnt do Bach justice, Zhang said.

But it withstood the test of time and proved otherwise, and its a widely performed piece now. Its a very orchestral work, and feels to me like an old sage, imparting wisdom. Its even, to me, like how in a moment of death your entire life flashes before your eyes, he said.

With Brahms, this work [Opus 2] is early Brahms, and he was only 19 when he wrote this, similar to my age, said Zhang, who is 20.

And I think its an underrated work. He was really ambitious at this age; people have even called these early sonatas, Opus 1, 2, 3, his pseudo-orchestral pieces. This work is full of freedom, Id even venture to call it anti-German, as its so far from Beethovens strict writing.

Theres so many places that allow performers to express their own understanding, and allows many timings in the piece. Theres a feeling of transcendence and transfiguration in these works for me, in the way the music progresses, like in the register expansion of this piece.

These are both pieces Im incredibly fond of, and I was grateful to have the opportunity to practice them in such a detailed way to prepare them for performance; it was a great experience, Zhang said.

To really make music, you should be expressing. I cannot just reproduce exactly the composers ideas, so we have to do something different with their ideas as the foundation, and we have to explore further.

Zhang is currently studying at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music under maestro Dang Thai Son, and he says his mind is much more on learning than it is on prize-winning. He doesnt see awards as a goal at this stage of his life and career.

And one of the most fascinating things hes learned from this competition experience was the learning the commissioned work, The Sacred Journey, which pianists had to perform for the first time in the semi-final round.

Ive never learned a commissioned work like this, and in such a short period of time, Zhang said. I think its a huge challenge, no matter if youre an experienced or inexperienced pianist. Through this piece, I learned there are many more possibilities on the piano, about the sounds that a piano can produce.

The Sacred Journey displays distinctly ancient Chinese melodies and sounds written specifically for the piano. It was arranged by pianist Qin Yuan of the world-renowned Shen Yun Performing Arts, which has been at the forefront of blending East and West in classical music.

In the second half, theres a passage thats very lyrical, and actually very nostalgic to me. Because now Im studying in the U.S., and before, Ive never left my home for such a long time, when I learned this piece, it said something special to me, said Zhang, who is from China.
By Azernews

By Fatima Hasanova

The Turkish parliament has extended the mandate of the country's military group in Azerbaijan, Azernews reports, citing the Turkish media.

On November 1, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan endorsed the parliamentary bill.

Thus, Turkiye's military presence in Azerbaijan's Karabakh will last another year starting from November 17, 2022.

The document states that Turkiye has consistently backed Azerbaijan in its struggle for the protection of its fundamental rights, including the country's territorial integrity, based on international principles.

Ankara continues to provide a substantial contribution to the region's peace and stability, as well as the creation and revitalization of its economic infrastructure.

Since 2020, the joint Turkish-Russian Monitoring Center in Karabakh has successfully coped with the mission.

The document says the Turkish military presence at the Joint Center must continue for Turkey to perform an effective and positive role in the area and serve its national interests.

In the wake of Armenia's defeat in the second Karabakh war that lasted from September 27 to November 10, 2020, Baku, Yerevan, and Moscow signed a trilateral peace deal, thus paving the way for peace efforts that have been on since then.
The events leading up to the murder of Connie Tuori in a Syracuse apartment building are the focus of a new TV ad released by Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin.

Zeldin, who has made crime a top issue in his campaign for governor, released the one-minute ad on Tuesday. It features two of Tuori's family members, one of whom says they hold Gov. Kathy Hochul responsible for the elderly woman's death.

The ad

Zeldin's TV ad opens with text on the screen. "93-year-old Connie Tuori was tortured and killed at her Syracuse home," it reads. It's followed by more text, "Her killer had just been released from jail with no bail."

Connie Tuori's nephew, Guy Tuori, is one of the family members who appears in the TV ad. He provides details about Victoria Afet's arrest record before his aunt's murder. Sue Leone, Connie Tuori's niece, says of Afet, "That woman was a time bomb, a ticking time bomb."

As Guy Tuori mentions that Afet was released with no bail, an image of Hochul is shown with the text, "Hochul REFUSES to end cashless bail."

The ad continues with Guy Tuori saying that he "holds (Hochul) responsible." Leone adds that "Kathy Hochul let my family down."

Guy Tuori then endorses Zeldin for governor. "We need Lee Zeldin," he says. Leone seconds that. "We would be much safer with Lee Zeldin."

The facts

Tuori, 93, was tortured and killed in a Syracuse apartment building in February 2021. Her killer, Afet, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in January 2022.

Afet has an extensive criminal record, including offenses committed before she murdered Tuori. The Syracuse Police Department provided a timeline of Afet's conduct.

One of the crimes listed by Syracuse police is the strong-arm robbery of a 74-year-old woman at Skyline Apartments, the same apartment building where Tuori lived.

The robbery occurred on Feb. 18. Afet was charged that same day. On Feb. 19, she was arraigned in Syracuse City Court.

Syracuse.com reported that the Onondaga County District Attorney's Office asked the Syracuse City Court Judge Felicia Pitts Davis to set bail at $50,000 due to Afet's previous crimes.

The judge could have set bail in the case. While the state's bail reform law eliminated cash bail for misdemeanor and nonviolent felony offenses, there is an exception that allows judges to set bail if a defendant's previous crimes involve harming other people. Afet's record included slamming a victim's head into a tree and a stabbing a man in the head.

As Syracuse.com reported in 2021, Pitts Davis did not set bail for Afet, who was released on pretrial release until her next court appearance.

One week later, Afet murdered Tuori.

Conclusion

Zeldin's ad mentions that Afet was released with no bail before Tuori's murder, but it leaves out key details about why that happened. Afet had a long criminal record, including offenses that involved violence against others. Under the state's bail reform law, the judge had the discretion to set bail based on Afet's criminal history. The Onondaga County District Attorney's Office asked for the judge to set bail in the case, but the judge declined.

One Tuori family member, John Owen Tuori, wrote an open letter to Syracuse City Court Judge Felicia Pitts Davis. He wrote that the judge's decision "to allow Victoria Afet to walk free without bail was a cause in my aunt's death. I believe my aunt would be alive today if it weren't for your version of 'restorative justice.' If you had considered Afet's criminal history before releasing her, I believe my aunt would still be alive."

The ad does not mention that the bail reform law would've allowed bail to be set in this case. It also does not mention the judge's role in freeing Afet on pretrial release instead of setting bail.

One of the criticisms of bail reform is how much discretion judges have to set bail. Republicans believe judges should have more leeway to set bail. Some Democrats have resisted calls for a "dangerousness" standard.

But in the case of Tuori's killer, the judge had the power to set bail after the robbery arrest. That is indisputable.
Democrats Get Crushed on Narrative, Midterm Red Wave Is Coming: Gavin Newsom

With just days before the midterm elections, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he is worried that a red wave will take place as Democrats continue to get crushed on their messaging.

It goes to my fundamental grievance with my damn party, Newsom said in an interview with CBS News that aired on Wednesday. Were getting crushed on narrative. Were going to have to do better in terms of getting on the offense and stop being on the damn defense.

When asked whether he feels a red wave is coming, Newsom responded that he does feel like the tide is turning in favor of Republicans.

Of course it does [feel like a red wave]. Im not paid to say that, he told CBS reporter Major Garrett. Fate and feel, I get it. I can be the cheerleader, but Im also pragmatic. You feel it?

Newsom then admitted the idea that Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) might ascend to House majority leader evokes fear in him. It scares the hell out of me, he said.

Democrats are expected to lose their majority in the House, as most election forecasters are predicting a more or less definitive victory for Republicans in this years House races, where all 435 seats are open for grabs.

FiveThirtyEight, a non-partisan forecaster, estimates there is a better than four in five chance that Republicans win the House. It also predicts, for the first time since July, that Republicans are likely to capture a majority in the Senate as well.

Republicans vs Democrats: Different Priorities

Should Republicans retake the House, according to McCarthy, the first bill they introduce would roll back President Joe Bidens plan to give the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) a $80 billion boost over a course of 10 years. This additional funding would allow the IRS to hire some 87,000 more agents for tax enforcement.

On that very first day that were sworn in, youll see that it all changes because on our very first bill, were going to repeal 87,000 IRS agents, McCarthy said at a Sept. 23 Pennsylvania event as he introduced the Commitment to America, a set of policy priorities focusing on economy, public safety, constitutional rights, and holding federal government accountable.

Our job is to work for you, not go after you, he told the crowd. Our job is to make America strong. We believe America is more than a country. America is an idea.

By contrast, Democrats are betting on abortion as their winning issue, vowing to enshrine abortion access into federal law should they secure a majority in both chambers.

Speaking at an Oct. 18 event, Biden said he was looking to sign the bill early next year to codify Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that had established abortion as a constitutional right until it was overturned in June. This would require Democrats to not only hold onto control of the House, but also expand the slim 5150 majority they currently have in the Senate.

Folks, if we do that, heres the promise I make to you and the American people: The first bill that I will send to the Congress will be to codify Roe v. Wade, and when Congress passes that, Ill sign it in January, the president told the audience.
The Fungi Future Is Here  at an Urban Mushroom Farm Just South of Downtown L.A.
(L-R) U.S. Ambassador to Colombia Philip Goldberg, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, President Joe Biden, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin meet with Colombian President Ivan Duque at the White House on March 10, 2022. (Doug Mills/Pool/Getty Images)

Diesel Shortage Testing Bidens Take on America First: Industry Insider

How the Biden administration addresses the shortage of distillate fuel oil in the United States will show if President Joe Biden will put America first, said an industry insider.

From the consumers standpoint, [it will show] who the Biden administration protects most, Europeans or their own citizens? John Hunt, who worked in the energy trade area, told The Epoch Times.

U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data shows that diesel stockpiles are at their lowest level for October in records that date back to 2008.

The weekly data shows that the United States, as of Oct. 21, has 25.9 days of supplydown from 34.2 days of supply five weeks prior.

Some proposed banning diesel exports to increase domestic supply.

The United States exports of distillate fuel oil increased from 110,000 barrels per day to almost 1.2 million barrels per day from 2004 to 2021, with an annual growth rate of 15 percent.

Distillate fuel oil is a term used for a range of refined products including diesel, heating oil, and fuel oils used for electric power generation.

Data collected by EIA shows the biggest importers of U.S. distillate fuel oil are in South America including Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Peru.

Some European countries like the United Kingdom and the Netherlands imported more from the United States in recent months after decades of decreasing imports.

The Russia-Ukraine war and the anticipated ban on Russian energy most likely are the driving force behind the changes in European imports of American distillate fuel oil.

It will certainly alleviate the tight market if the White House bans certain types of distillate fuel oil exports, Hunt said.

However, he doubted the current administration was willing to do it.

Banning the distillate fuel oil exports for two months will drive the supply to the normal level, he said. But politically its something that the current administration will not do. It will be very hard, we have been supporting Europe facing the Russian cutoff of energy supply.

The oil tanks and the Bayway Refinery of Phillips 66 in Linden, N.J., on March 30, 2020. (Mike Segar/Reuters)

The White House didnt announce any specific measures to deal with the diesel shortage after it was widely reported in the media.

During the White House press briefing on Wednesday, John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, didnt answer a question about how to increase the supply of diesel in the United States.

The Biden administration is doing whatever it can to help European people who will face a long, cold winter, he said.

The Epoch Times reached out to the White House for comment.

Transportation Bottlenecks

However, even if the Biden administration imposes an export ban for diesel, more policy changes are still needed to increase the supply in the Northeast area, which is apparently going to have a harsh winter because of the distillate fuel oil shortage.

Fuel holding tanks are seen at Colonial Pipelines Linden Junction Tank Farm in Woodbridge, N.J., on May 10, 2021. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

There are two wayseither through pipelines or shipsto transport the distillate fuel oil from the gulf coast to the Northeast.

Both transportation channels are facing bottlenecks, Hunt said.

The Colonial pipeline and the Plantation pipeline have limited capacity and sea transportation is restricted by the availability of so-called Jones Act vessels.

The Jones Act, formally known as The Merchant Marine Act of 1920, requires goods shipped between U.S. ports to be transported on ships that are built, owned, and operated by United States citizens or permanent residents.

There are very few Jones Act vessels, Hunt said.

Supporters of the Jones Act said it helped the domestic shipbuilding industry, however, the CATO institute stated that the act is a failure and called on Congress to repeal it in a 2018 report.

Harsh Winter for Northeasters

The coming winter will be harsh for Northeasterners who rely on heating oil, Senior Vice President of the American Energy Alliance Dan Kish warned.

Winter is going to be very tough, especially for the Northeast, he told The Epoch Times.

Jay Young, the founder and president of King Operating Corporation, holds the same view.

Because of the shortage, were gonna see prices go up. If we run out [of heating oil], prices will skyrocket. Thats not good for the American people, he said.

The price of heating oil in New York reached 5.813 dollars per gallon as of Oct. 25. One year ago, the price was 3.641 dollars per gallon.

It shows a 60 percent increase annually.
A sign points the way to a ballot drop box inside a secure perimeter of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in downtown Phoenix on Oct. 25, 2022. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

Election Integrity Group Monitoring Ballot Boxes in Arizona Must Stay at Least 75 Feet Away: Federal Judge

A federal judge in Arizona on Tuesday granted a temporary restraining order against Clean Elections USA, a grassroots organization aimed at maintaining election integrity.

The temporary restraining order (pdf) issued by Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Michael Liburdi limits Clean Elections USAwhich has been observing drop boxes in Arizonafrom carrying out certain actions at the ballot boxes.

Specifically, members of Clean Elections USA and its associates are barred from coming within 75 feet of a ballot drop box or a building housing a drop box; speaking or yelling at people within 75 feet of the drop box, unless they are yelled at first; or openly carrying firearms or wearing body armor within 250 feet of ballot drop boxes.

Members of the organization will not be in breach of the latter ruling if they accidentally or unknowingly reveal a concealed firearm or concealed body armor, the ruling states.

Arizona law prohibits being armed or trying to influence voters within 75 feet of a voting location.

Additionally, the judge ordered that defendants in the restraining order, which include Clean Elections USA founder Melody Jennings, must clearly post the following on the Clean Elections USA website and on its Truth Social page: It is not always illegal to deposit multiple ballots in a ballot drop box. It is legal to deposit the ballot of a family member, household member, or person for whom you are the caregiver.

Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans Files Lawsuit

Truth Social is former President Donald Trumps social media platform. The statement must be posted within 24 hours of the restraining order being issued, the judge said.

Liburdi also banned any associates of the group from posting images, video recordings, or personal information online about individuals who return ballots to drop boxes, and prohibited the group from taking photos or recordings of voters while they are within 75 feet of a ballot box.

The group must also cease and desist making false statements about Arizona election law from now until the end of the voting period, Liburdi said.

The order will be in effect for 14 days, effective immediately, Liburdi said.

Tuesdays temporary restraining order came after the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans sued Clean Elections USA on Oct. 24 for allegedly intimidating voters and violating federal law, including the Voting Rights Act.

However, Liburdi on Friday refused an emergency injunction request by the Alliance to outright block Clean Elections USA from monitoring voters dropping off their ballots, stating in an opinion (pdf) that the Alliance had failed to provide the court with any evidence that Defendants conduct constitutes a true threat.

On this record, Defendants have not made any statements threatening to commit acts of unlawful violence to a particular individual or group of individuals, Liburdi wrote. There is no evidence that Defendants have publicly posted any voters names, home addresses, occupations, or other personal information.

In fact, Jennings continuously states that her volunteers are to follow laws and that [t]hose who choose to break the law will be seen as an infiltrator intent on causing [CEUSA] harm, he added.

Lynnette (L), 50, and Nicole, 52, watch a ballot drop box while sitting in a parking lot in Mesa, Ariz., on Oct. 24, 2022. (Bastien Inzaurralde/AFP via Getty Images)

Striking a Balance

In issuing his restraining order on Tuesday, the judge said he believes it strikes the right balance in maintaining voter privacy.

The balance is [the drop box watchers] can get their information as long as the vehicle, the individual, is outside of that 75-foot limit, but when that person is actually reaching into the car to grab a ballot or ballots or putting the ballot or ballots into the drop box, they are entitled to some greater degree of privacy from being surveilled and video recorded and photographed, somewhat similar to what they would receive in the voting location, Liburdi said, according to The Los Angeles Times.

In a statement posted to Facebook on Friday, the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans called the decision truly disappointing, adding that American citizens should be able to cast a ballot without fear of personal injury or other harm to their safety and security.
Elon Musk Reveals When De-Platformed Users Will Return to Twitter

Elon Musk said on Nov. 2 that suspended Twitter users wont be able to return for several weeks, coming months after he expressed a desire to allow former President Donald Trump back on the platform.

Twitter will not allow anyone who was de-platformed for violating Twitter rules back on platform until we have a clear process for doing so, which will take at least a few more weeks, Musk wrote in response to a post from the firms safety and integrity chief about the midterm elections.

The post came after Musk said he communicated with the NAACP, the Anti-Defamation League, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Color of Change, Free Press, The Bush Center, and the Asian American Foundation.

Twitters content moderation council will include representatives with widely divergent views, which will certainly include the civil rights community and groups who face hate-fueled violence, he wrote early Nov. 2.

Hours ahead of Musks Twitter acquisition, the worlds richest person sent a letter to advertisers that he wont allow the platform to become a free-for-all hellscape.

As Musk met with some of those groups he mentioned, top officials in the Anti-Defamation League, Free Press, and others criticized him.

Just days ago Elon Musk promised Twitter advertisers that this site would not become an anything-goes hell-scape. We got news for you. It already is, Free Press co-CEO Jessica Gonzalez wrote on Twitter, claiming that Musks proposed council wont be good enough for her groups demands.

When the worlds richest man/owner of this very site himself traffics in conspiracy theories days after claiming to advertisers that hes going to be a responsible leader, all I can say is: Im not overreacting by expressing my concerns. Actions always speak louder than words, wrote Yael Eisenstat, vice president at the Anti-Defamation League, who later met with Musk.

Before purchasing Twitter for $44 billion last week, Musk said he would roll back some of the social media websites content moderation policies and accused those rules of favoring left-wing users. He also said he would restore former President Donald Trumps account, which was banned in January 2021 as Twitter officials publicly linked him to the U.S. Capitol breach on Jan. 6, 2021.

Earlier this year, Trump said he wont return to Twitter and that he favors Truth Social, his own platform thats a competitor to Twitter. For years, Trumps account drove huge engagement on Twitter and often shaped news cycles for daysor weeksat a time.
Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) speaks at the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, in Philadelphia, Pa. on July 28, 2016. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Encouraging People to Kill and Confront MAGA Extremism Not a Great Choice of Words, Ryan Admits

Encouraging people to kill and confront the MAGA movement may not have been a great choice of words, Ohio Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tim Ryan told audience members and viewers at a town hall in Columbus on Nov. 1.

The event, which was hosted by Fox News, took place one week before the Nov. 8 midterm election day.

Ryan and Republican nominee J.D. Vance are vying to replace retiring Republican Sen. Rob Portman in a race that will help determine which party has control of the chamber in January 2023.

Unlike the two previous debates, Ryan and Vance did not appear on stage together. They separately fielded questions from moderators and audience members. Ryan was the first candidate to take the stage.

During the event, an audience member asked Ryan about his comments that stemmed from Bidens combative speech in front of Philadelphias Independence Hall in early September when he condemned former President Donald Trump and his supporters.

Former president Donald Trump (L) listens as J.D. Vance, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Ohio, speaks during a rally at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in Ohio on April 23, 2022. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

What were seeing now is either the beginning or the death knell of an extreme MAGA philosophy, Biden said on Sept. 1. Its not just Trump. Its the entire philosophy that undermines theIm going to say somethingits like semi-fascism.

MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution. They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people. They refuse to accept the results of a free election, Biden continued.

And theyre working right now, as I speak, in state after state, to give power to decide elections in America to partisans and cronies, empowering election deniers to undermine democracy itself.

MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwardsbackwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love, Biden continued.

They promote authoritarian leaders, and they fan the flames of political violence.

On Sept. 13, around two weeks after Bidens fiery speech, Ryan reiterated the presidents stance about MAGA supporters.

How do we fix all of these broken systems? Some of those answers will come from Republicans, not the extremists that we are dealing with every single day.

Weve got to kill and confront that movement, but working with normal mainstream Republicans, thats going to be really, really important, Ryan said on MSNBC.

Im saying [the] exhausted majorityDemocrats, Republicans, Independentsagainst the extremists, leading an era of reform around reconciliation so we can heal this country and move into the future, Ryan added.

At the Nov. 1 town hall event, Ryan said that this extremist movement absolutely needs to be confronted but that saying to kill the movement maybe wasnt a great choice of words.

Ryan then turned his attention to the recent attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosis husband, Paul Pelosi, at their San Francisco home. MAGA-type rhetoric encouraged that crime, Ryan alleged.

We absolutely [need to] confront and absolutely stop the extremist movement happening.

We just saw what happened to Paul Pelosi. I dont care what your politics are. I really dont.

I dont care how you feel about Nancy Pelosi and her politics or anything. She is the third-ranking constitutional officer in the United States of America. President, Vice President, Speaker of the House.

Her husband is 82 years old and got beat over the head with a hammer. And that is wrong across the board, Ryan said.

He criticized Vance, claiming his opponent did not condemn the Pelosi attack while Portman and Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine did.

During Vances time on the town hall stage, he rejected Ryans allegation and pointed out that the accused is a Canadian national who had overstayed his visa.

Ive condemned the violence against Paul Pelosi from the very beginning. I think its preposterous. I think its disgusting. And I think its all something that all of us should condemn, Vance said.

What Ive also said is that I think the effort to turn this into a political issue actually is a real problem here because Paul Pelosi was attacked by a person who is an illegal alien in our country and should have never been here in the first place.

My view very simply, is that we need to deport violent illegal aliens.

When an illegal alien attacks Paul Pelosi, its tragic, and its terrible, but its not reflective of Republicans, Vance added. Its reflective of the fact that we let way too many violent people live freely in our country.

As of Oct. 30, the Real Clear Politics average of polls shows Vance with a 2-point lead over Ryan.

On Nov. 1, The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, and Sabatos Crystal Ball rated the race as Lean Republican.
FBI Agent Who Pushed to Censor Hunter Biden Story Is Shaping Biden Admins Response to Misinformation

An FBI agent who coordinated with Facebook to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop story is advising the Biden administration in its push to suppress information on social media, according to leaked documents published by The Intercept.

Laura Dehmlow was involved in conversations between the FBI and Facebook ahead of the social media companys decision to censor the story surrounding the contents of Hunter Bidens laptop before the 2020 election, the Washington Free Beacon reported. She was later involved in the Biden administrations efforts to suppress and censor content on social media platforms for misinformation-related purposes, according to The Intercept.

We need a media infrastructure that is held accountable, she said during a March meeting attended by Twitter executives and executives from JP Morgan Chase, according to documents obtained by The Intercept. She also said subversive content on social media could weaken public support for the U.S. government.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has made plans to pressure private social media companies to censor information on the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, racial justice, U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the nature of U.S. support to Ukraine, according to leaked documents obtained by The Intercept. Facebook and Instagram also have a formal process for government officials to ask them to suppress certain information.

The DHS was created to combat terrorism, and it justified its involvement in online censorship with the claim that threats can be exacerbated by misinformation and disinformation spread online, according to The Intercept.

Disinformation and misinformation arent always precisely defined by the federal government; this creates an opening for the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies to make politically motivated determinations about what constitutes dangerous speech and what they can censor.

Docs show Facebook and Twitter closely collaborating w/ Dept of Homeland Security, FBI to police disinfo. Plans to expand censorship on topics like withdrawal from Afghanistan, origins of COVID, info that undermines trust in financial institutions. https://t.co/Zb3zmI1dQF  Lee Fang (@lhfang) October 31, 2022

The FBI pressured social media platforms to censor reports about the laptop Hunter Biden and called the story Russian misinformation prior to the 2020 presidential election.

Twitter locked the New York Posts account for several days after the outlet broke a story Oct. 15, 2020 about emails on Hunter Bidens laptop regarding a meeting between then-Vice President Joe Biden and a Ukrainian gas executive; the platform also blocked users from sharing links to the article.

The FBI, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundations requests 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.
A member of the Boogaloo Bois walks near protesters in Charlotte, N.C., on May 29, 2020. (Logan Cyrus/AFP via Getty Images)

FBI Arrests Alleged Boogaloo Bois Member Who Threatened to Kill Police, Blow up IRS

The FBI on Tuesday arrested an alleged member of the militant anti-government group Boogaloo Bois after he allegedly threatened to kill police and government officials and blow up the IRS.

According to a criminal complaint (pdf) first obtained by The Daily Beast, Aron McKillips, 29, of Ohio, was arrested Tuesday by members of a task force from the FBIs Cleveland Division.

The complaint alleges that McKillips is a well-known member of the Boogaloo Bois and has traveled across the United States to attend protests, meetings, and training with members of the group. The complaint also states that he is reported to be a member of the New Sons of Liberty anti-government militia group.

McKillips was charged with unlawful possession of a machine gun and interstate communication of threats, according to the complaint.

According to the FBI, multiple confidential human sources were used to build the case against McKillips as well as audio recordings and screenshots of social media communications, posts, and messages on Discord, Signal, and Keybase.

The screenshots show someone who goes by the username of prisonoh, or Prison OH (meaning Prison Ohio), posting on social media on multiple occasions, indicating that the government took some money from him and he still owed the government money.

The FBI said it had identified the user as McKillips.

Prisonoh then indicated that Ive got some planning to do brother, and that its [sic] time I do something for the movement, the complaint states.

The Internal Revenue Service building in Washington on Feb. 19, 2014. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Shooting Spree Targeting Police or Feds

Prisonoh then reiterated that he had planning to do, and said The fight may be coming to my door sooner than later,' the complaint added, noting that he also offered to sell an AR-15 style rifle fitted with what appears to be a grenade launcher, along with three flash bangs and a triple pouch,' which is designed to carry three rifle magazines.

The complaint goes on to state that screenshots provided to the FBI on the Signal chat app show that McKillips posted a picture of an AR-15 style rifle fitted with a grenade launcher.

The rifle is lying on a red and black blanket and appears to be the same rifle depicted in Figure IB posted by Prisonoh on the Keybase messaging platform, the complaint states.

McKillips allegedly made multiple concerning statements on the app, including about killing informants, going on a shooting spree targeting police or feds, drilling out the top of his door and filling it with Tanneritean explosiveand praising another Boogaloo member who killed a law enforcement officer.

On April 9, 2021, McKillips allegedly provided drop-in auto sears, commonly referred to as DIASa device that can make any handgun a fully automatic weaponto several Boogaloo Bois in Lansing, Michigan, and also showed them how to make one themselves. The DIAS itself is considered an illegal machine gun.

Around May 6, 2022, McKillips allegedly said he was going to blow up Facebook headquarters. In Audio recordings, he allegedly said: I just wanna [sic] blow up the IRS.

A day before his arrest, McKillips posted a meme on his Facebook account mocking the hammer attack on Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosis husband, Paul Pelosi.

Pelosis alleged attacker, David DePape, 42, pleaded not guilty on Nov. 1 to attempted murder and other charges during his first court appearance.

McKillips appeared in court on Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Darrell A. Clay.

A lawyer for McKillips could not be reached for comment.
Sylvia Jones, deputy premier and minister of health, shakes hands with Premier Doug Ford as she takes her oath at the swearing-in ceremony at Queens Park in Toronto on June 24, 2022. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)

Ford Lawyers Argue Irreparable Harm to Rule of Law If Inquiry Summons Not Stayed

Ontario government lawyers argued Tuesday there would be irreparable harm to the rule of law if Premier Doug Ford and a top minister were compelled to testify at a federal inquiry after citing parliamentary privilege in trying to avoid doing so.

But lawyers for the Public Order Emergency Commissioner, which is overseeing the inquiry, argued evidence of that harm was speculative at best.

The arguments were made in Federal Court as Ford and then-solicitor general Sylvia Jones look to quash a summons for them to appear at the inquiry examining the the federal governments use of the Emergencies Act to end the so-called Freedom Convoy protests in Ottawa and Windsor, Ont., last winter.

Both Ford and Jones have argued through their lawyers that theyre immune to testifying after invoking parliamentary privilege, a centuries-old privilege enshrined in the constitution that is granted to sitting politicians.

Parliamentary privilege is what protects the separation of court, the Crown and the legislature in the proper functioning of a constitutional system, said Susan Keenan, a lawyer for the province.

Its important that the privilege be protected when it is under threat, Keenan said. If not, harm is not only irreparable, but it is cumulative.

Ford and Jones were seeking a stay of a summons issued by the inquiry last week until a full hearing on their application for judicial review is heard.

The judge and the parties agreed there is no time to hear the full application because the commission only sits until Nov. 25 and Ford and Jones are set to testify on Nov. 10 if the summons is allowed.

The inquirys commissioner wants to hear from Ford and Jones over how they handled the occupation in downtown Ottawa and the blockade of incoming traffic from the U.S. at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor.

Ford and Jones could face contempt of court, fines and imprisonment by ignoring the summons unless they win their application for a stay, they lawyers said.

It puts the premier and the deputy premier in the intolerable position of having to assert their privilege and be potentially faced with contempt proceedings, said Darrell Kloeze, another provincial lawyer.

The province argued that not granting a stay would have a chilling effect on all legislative bodies, leaving politicians open to possible fines, contempt of court or imprisonment if they choose not to testify in any proceeding.

Allowing the summons would erode all parliamentary privileges, Keenan said. Those include exemption from jury duty and freedom of speech in the house while enjoying complete immunity from prosecution or civil liability, and exemptions from being subpoenaed to appear in court as a witness.

The judge hearing the arguments said he was struggling with the idea that the summons itself would be invalid, given the commission has the same summoning power of a provincial Superior Court.

Justice Simon Fothergill said both Ford and Jones have relevant testimony to give and that the harm to them, practically speaking, is not all that serious, just two people testifying.

He noted that parliamentary privilege resulting in immunity to being summoned to a criminal or civil court is a long-standing privilege. But Fothergill said this case will turn on whether he finds that privilege applies to public inquiries.

The province pointed to a 2005 case in Federal Court, which held that parliamentary privilege applies to public inquiries.

Commission lawyer Doug Mitchell argued no single case before has determined if parliamentary privilege applies to inquiries. He argued that privilege must be determined on a case-by-case basis.

It is the role of the court to determine the scope (of the privilege), you dont just accept parliaments assertion, Mitchell said.

There is no blanket rule that provides immunity to sitting politicians in every single case, he said, adding that several courts have disagreed with parliamentarians asserting various types of privilege.

Mitchell said Ford and Joness irreparable harm argument has no evidence about harm to them as individuals, only to their argument that it would harm the rule of law.

I think thats pretty speculative at this point, he said.

Mitchell said Ford and Jones have a choice to make whether or not to waive parliamentary privilege, like other federal ministers have done, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Attorney General David Lametti who are set to testify in the coming weeks.

I dont think it constitutes irreparable harm to make a difficult choice, Mitchell said. Its dressed up in constitutional language, but its not the type of irreparable harm that a court is entitled to insist on.

The judge said hell have a decision by Nov. 8, two days before Ford and Jones are schedule to testify at the inquiry.

By Liam Casey
Image from the Hong Kong government website regarding the Global Financial Leaders' Investment Summit. Four senior executives of financial institutions who had scheduled to attend the summit are not attending. (image from Invest.HK)

Four CEOs Confirm Not Attending Global Financial Leaders Investment Summit in HK

The Global Financial Leaders Investment Summit being held Wednesday (Nov. 2) claimed to have about 200 financial leaders on its list of participants. But just a few days before the event, two of them informed the organizer that they were not coming, one due to work arrangements and the other due to physical discomfort. There were another two who said they were diagnosed with Covid-19 and indicated that they would also be absent. These eleventh-hour changes caught the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) by surprise, forcing an urgent update to the summit programme and participant changes on the eve of the summit.

Barclays Chief Executive C.S. Venkatakrishnan Group Cheif Executive of Barclays cancelled his trip to Asia due to work arrangements and will not be in Hong Kong to attend the Global Financial Leaders Investment Summit to be held on Wednesday (Nov.2). Also on the absentee list is Timothy Armour, chairperson, and chief executive of Capital Group, who will not attend due to ill health. In addition, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser and Blackstone CEO Jonathan Gray will also be absent from the summit due to the confirmed COVID-19 infection. That means, in total, at least four senior executives of financial institutions who were originally scheduled to attend the meeting will not attend.

Some commentators believe that it has something to do with the Hong Kong governments anti-pandemic policy and the U.S. officials earlier statement that attending the summit is deemed to assist in whitewashing the Hong Kong governments human rights violations.

Paul Chan Mo-po, the Financial Secretary who was found to test COVID-19 positive during a visit to Saudi Arabia earlier tested negative on Oct. 31 and was expected to attend to fulfill his commitment.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu responded after knowing the absence of these high-profile executives, saying, This is indeed a very small number. Were now seeing more than 200 participants, which is in line with our expectations.

Four CEOs Failed to Attend

C.S. Venkatakrishnan cancelled his visit to Hong Kong, saying that he was originally scheduled to attend the summit, but he had temporarily cancelled his trip to Asia this week due to work rearrangements and would not attend events in Hong Kong and Singapore. The next day (Nov. 1), it was reported that Capital Group said that their CEO Timothy Armour would not attend the summit due to his feeling unwell.

Jonathan Gray, Jane Fraser, and Timothy Armour were all scheduled to participate in themed panel discussions, speaking on Navigating through Uncertainty, Sustainable Finance, and How to Manage Assets in Turbulent Market Conditions, but all are unable to attend. Blackstone CFO, Michael Chae, will attend the summit as a replacement for Jonathan Gray.

HK Government Uses the Summit to Show Hong Kong Returning to Normal

Paul Chan delivered a speech by way of a pre-recorded clip at Fintech Week that opened on Oct. 31. He said Hong Kong was back in business and wanted to tell the world that Were back.

However, last Thursday (Oct. 27), the co-chairs of the U.S. Congressional and Executive Committee on China (CECC), Representative Jim McGovern, and Senator Jeff Merkley issued a statement calling on U.S. financial institutions Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and other senior executives to reconsider their decision to attend the summit, criticizing their attendance at the event as legitimizing the CCP and the Hong Kong government in undermining Hong Kongs autonomy, press freedom and the rule of law. At the same time, they helped to whitewash the Hong Kong governments human rights violations and provide political cover for Lee Ka-chiu, who was sanctioned by the United States. The statement also pointed out that if the relevant financial institutions expand their investment in the authoritarian government, it will harm the national interests of the United States and accelerate the destruction of Hong Kongs autonomy and the freedom of Hong Kong people, which will attract the attention of the US Congress.

CECC Calls on Top Financial Institutions to Reconsider Attending Summit

The HKMA claimed in their post that the summit would be attended by about 200 financial leaders, of which more than 40 were top managers of international financial institutions. According to the agenda of the summit, the meeting also included Noel Quinn, CEO of HSBC, Bill Winters, CEO of Standard Chartered, and heads of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and UBS.

Before the news that Armour would not attend, there were different comments that the reasons these top executives of financial institutions cancelled their trips were related to the U.S. political statement and Hong Kongs pandemic prevention policy.

Among them, current affairs commentator Chau Sze-tat said in his online programme that Venkatakrishnan didnt even bother finding an excuse and wondered whether participants would cancel one after another by the time the summit opened. He believes that the top executives of financial institutions will take the above CECC statement into their consideration. In addition, in the past two years, the Hong Kong government has not responded to the appeal of financial institutions through the foreign chambers of commerce to relax entry quarantine measures. Now the government is asking a favour from these people and using their presence to indicate that Hong Kong is back. It is fully understandable that, at first, those financial institutions gave the Hong Kong government respect saying they would attend, but in the end, they decided not to come. This is the usual business diplomacy in real life, where everybody shows respect for each other so as not openly to spoil the relationship for the future openly.

In addition, Citigroup said on Thursday (Oct. 27) that Venkatakrishnan was unable to come to Hong Kong to attend the summit. However, Ng Chi-sum, a senior media person, pointed out in his online programme that Venkatakrishnans time to declare his absence from the summit was still a week away, and he should have recovered within a week after contracting the virus. He believed his decision is more on his unwillingness to go through all those clumsy COVID testing rounds in Hong Kong for inbound travellers.

As required by the government, people entering Hong Kong from overseas can board the plane only if they obtain a negative result of a rapid antigen test within 24 hours before the scheduled flight departure and meet the relevant vaccination requirements too. After entering Hong Kong, they will be subject to 3-day medical surveillance. During this period, they will be restricted by the yellow code of the vaccine pass. They are not allowed to enter high-risk places where no mask is needed, such as restaurants and bars, group activities, indoor activity places, and other places that require special protection.

Commentator: Hong Kong is Far from Returning to Normal

Ng Chi-sum added that the Hong Kong government created a door of convenience for the participants of the summit. The Chief Executive of the HKMA, Eddie Yu Wai-man, said last week that in order for participants to make the best use of their short stay in Hong Kong for various activities, a special convenience scheme will be provided, including during their surveillance period, they can share meals with others in private rooms, enter some premises that require inspection of vaccine passports, and the like. In addition, if the test result is positive, they can choose to take a special plane to leave Hong Kong or go into isolation until it is deemed safe from a public health perspective when the isolation can be lifted.

However, Ng pointed out that many other countries do not need people to report the confirmed cases and allow them to solve the problem by themselves. But Hong Kong still needs to test and send the confirmed cases away. He questioned how many people would come in the end. Who else will use whatever excuses not to come is unknown for the time being. But even if it can go on as scheduled, will it show a return to normal? Because these people are exempted, what will happen to their other employees in the future? All these are solid proof that Hong Kong is far from returning to normal.

Records show that this summit was proposed by Paul Chan in this years Budget when Hong Kong still imposed strict pandemic prevention restrictions on tourists arriving from overseas. Until September, when Hong Kong still implemented hotel quarantine for inbound tourists from overseas, it was rumoured that the Hong Kong government was considering waiving the quarantine of the summit attendees. But the Wall Street Journal reported earlier that some invitees were still planning to decline the invitation for fear of receiving special preferential treatment and causing unnecessary criticism.
Two mailers tell different stories about Julie Abbott in the 48th state Senate District race.

One mailer claims Abbott, a Republican, "stands with anti-choice and pro-gun extremists." The other mailer declares that the GOP candidate is not conservative, supports abortion rights and favors gun restrictions.

The New York State Democratic Senate Campaign Committee paid for the mailers, both of which were obtained by The Citizen. In one mailer, Democrats attempt to paint Abbott, an Onondaga County legislator, as "just another radical Republican." She also "sought and received support from a radical right wing group that opposes women's reproductive rights and commonsense gun safety laws," according to the mailer.

On the flip side of the mailer, Senate Democrats say Abbott "sides with extremists, not central New Yorkers" on gun safety and reproductive rights.

The "radical right wing group" mentioned in the mailer is the state Conservative Party. Abbott sought the party's endorsement, but faced opposition from committees in the district's two counties, Cayuga and Onondaga. Despite local party leaders declining to endorse her, the state party authorized her to run on its line.

Justin Coretti, an Owasco attorney and registered Conservative, forced a primary against Abbott for the minor party line. His main reason for running is that he did not believe Abbott represented the party's values. The Conservative Party opposes abortion and "red flag" laws to remove guns from individuals who are considered dangerous. Abbott supports abortion rights and red flag laws.

Coretti won the Conservative primary by 14 votes, 279 to 265, over Abbott. His primary win set up a three-way race for the general election between himself, Abbott and Democratic state Sen. Rachel May.

The second mailer paid for by Senate Democrats highlights the differences between Abbott and Coretti. The mailer describes Coretti as "staunchly pro-life," "pro-Second Amendment, "fiscally conservative" and "pro-border security." Abbott, according to the mailer, supports abortion rights, gun restrictions, voted for the "wasteful" $85 million aquarium project in Onondaga County and opposes "cooperation with federal immigration authorities"  a reference to her position that sanctuary cities should not lose federal funding.

The mailer is a clear attempt to boost Coretti, who has spent little time and money campaigning for the 48th district seat. Because Coretti is on the Conservative line, which Republicans typically run on in state Senate elections, it's believed that he will siphon votes away from Abbott. That could benefit May, the Democrats' preferred candidate, as she seeks her third term in the state Senate.

"I'm sure Julie Abbott would prefer if we didn't expose her by telling the people she's trying to trick what she says when she's not in front of them but we're not going to let her get away with it," said Mike Murphy, a spokesman for Senate Democrats.

Coretti told The Citizen that he was not aware of the mailer and Senate Democrats did not consult with him before its distribution. While he thinks it accurately details his and Abbott's stances on issues, he criticized Democrats for also funding ads and mailers that claim Abbott is conservative and pro-life, which he says is "obviously not true."

Abbott thinks the mailers are an example of what's wrong with politics.

"Imagine you are actually honest in your beliefs, so much so that people are coming along with you to the point where a sitting senator has to pay to fund a third-party opponent," she said. "It's just mind-blowing to me."

It's not the first time these tactics have been deployed in the 48th Senate District race. During the Conservative primary, the Communication Workers of America's PAC paid for a similar mailer that compares Abbott and Coretti on abortion, gun rights and other issues.

The Communication Workers of America is supporting May in the Senate race.

Despite a Democratic enrollment advantage in the 48th district, which includes all of Cayuga County and most of Onondaga County, the race has emerged as one of the more competitive state Senate contests in New York. Republicans are hoping that the national political climate will benefit Abbott and other down-ballot candidates. Democrats, with May as their candidate, want to retain the central New York seat.
Warning: This story contains some graphic images (dental surgery) and may be disturbing or upsetting to some.

A female dental patient became a migrant between multiple dental offices for months. Several clinics declined to treat her one after another. They were reluctant to take over a failed implant that had been performed elsewhere, or unable to heal her inflamed teeth. Certainly, the patient suffered unspeakably. She couldnt eat normallythe implant location in her mouth kept getting infected and festering.

At last, after great effort, the patient met with Dr. Ming-Ko Li, executive director of the Association of Asian Reconstructive Dentistry and head of Ricon Dental Clinic in Taiwan. Since the patient had almost used up her limited dental budget, Li chose implant-supported overdenture, which helped her restore her chewing ability and ended her nightmarish experience.

In fact, the patients experience is far from alone.

In dental implant failure cases, many victims have a torn, swelling pain and biting weakness while eating food. Some are so upset that they feel like snapping the implant body out of their mouth. Others even develop ugly-looking rabbit teeth. Besides, there has also been an enormous gap in the cost of up to $3,000 or $4,000, varying from clinic to clinic.

Since the start of implant technology, chaos has been plaguing the sector for decades, for which greed for large financial benefits and inadequate clinical training of dentists is to blame.

Can a Dental Implant Last for Life?

A dental implant is a screw made of titanium with a treated surface that interfaces with the bone to be inserted into the jawbone and functionally replaces the root of the tooth.

Certain cells in the jawbone secrete minerals and mesenchyme, which fuse with the implanted screw to create osseointegration, thus making the device more stable and supportive of the occlusal force. Then, based on the patients needs, the surgeon places a movable or fixed denture on top of the screw to serve as the tooth.

If the implant body itself is free from bacterial infection and damage, it can be theoretically used forever. Theoretically, Li stressed.

2 Reasons Dental Implants Fail

Infection is the primary contributing factor, depending on the patients tooth brushing, whether he or she is a smoker or has chronic diseases, and whether the dentist has helped create an easy-to-clean-and-maintain oral cavity environment for the patient.

Damage includes broken bite surfaces, components, or the implant body. These problems may arise from tooth grinding during sleep, poor resistance to implant materials, or poor bite. You may not imagine that, when you are eating, the bite force is about 12 kg per square centimeter! That means many parts, including the implant body, are subject to the pounding of such a weight. Grinding teeth at night is even more impactful, with a force roughly six times that of normal chewing. The actual weight measured in tooth grinding is 163 pounds or 74 kilograms. Li described the scenario as a 163-pound person with high-heeled shoes and a heel area of one square centimeter dancing on the teeth. Thats the horror of clenching ones teeth, said Li.

Under such long-term pressure, the implant body may easily become broken or simply bitten off even if it has good resistancehowever, cases of the implant body being bitten off are rare. Li has seen only three or four such cases throughout the course of his more than 20 years of clinical experience.

Implant bodies with poor resistance wear out faster due to being pounded by daily meals. Resistance varies from brand to brand, depending on your choice. Besides, prices range remarkably. Implants from well-known brands cost more, while counterfeit implants usually sell at a quarter of the formers prices, potentially as low as $64 to $97 for a complete set of parts.

However, you get what you pay for.

To maintain their market shares and reputation, well-known brands use materials featuring good resistance and offer good after-sale service for parts replacement. You are likely to obtain their products as long as you place an order, even though their production line for these products may have ceased. You may even get a custom order. Moreover, major players invite researchers, clinicians, and school representatives to deliver lectures and provide study reports for them. Therefore, Li notes, dentists can fully understand the implant bodies they use and significantly enhance product safety once they access long-term clinical follow-up reports, success rates, and basic research on particular products.

In comparison, other manufacturers may cut costs with materials, production processes, and research and development, to sell cheaper products. Their low-priced counterfeits are prone to loosening, fracture, and wear. Also, they offer no guarantee for parts replacement. If such small companies suspend their operations, you cannot possibly access their original drawings of parts or other information.

Some dental clinics may purchase such low-cost implants to attract clients. However, the patients would risk having no parts for replacement in the future. Or they risk changing their complete sets of implants in the future, which will be a painful process, involving both financial loss and bodily pain.

Top Reason for Failure: You Chose the Wrong Dentist

If we elaborate on the topic, however, the key to determining whether you fall into pitfalls or even experience serious side effects after surgery is whether you choose a dentist who is both virtuous and well-experienced in the sector.

Alice Zhu, a licensed Chinese medicine doctor in the United States, said that she had several friends in their 40s and 50s who are also medical professionals and have had dental implants. One of them chose a dentist who is reputable, but not skillful enough in the specific area. So, her surgery turned out to be a disaster. Zhu said, The implant body fell out, and she suffered a lot, not knowing what to do in the future.

Patients receive implant surgeries mostly due to severe tooth decay, breakage, periodontal disease, and bone or gum loss. Therefore, the dentist must take the following steps, depending on the patients physiological conditions.

Restore the alveolar bone

The alveolar bone serves exactly like the foundation of a house. Since the shrinking bone will not grow on its own, it needs to be filled with bone mineral powder, requiring a wait of several months to grow enough new bone.

If the implant body is placed directly into the sunken bone, food scraps and dirty things will get stuck between the teeth later. So, the implanted tooth will easily become infected and inflamed, while the infection is precisely the most likely factor that causes surgical failure.

Another possible scenario is the growth of rabbit teeth. Although it can be inserted deep enough to fit into the base of the alveolar bone and stay in place, the implant body has a limited length. Therefore, if a long denture is placed directly into the remaining part, it will look longer than a natural tooth.

Restore gums

If the shrinking gums are left unrepaired, that will make the implant look unattractive. Even worse, the patient will get hurt when brushing his or her teeth, due to the lack of gums around the teeth, so he or she may not brush them as often as they need to.

The dentist must help the patient restore the gums and install temporary dentures to adjust and fix the shape of the gums.

Adjust for a good bite

Only when the dentist helps the patient achieve the best bite can the patient have a smooth chewing experience and avoid implant damage.

A good bite is crucial. Otherwise, the following effects may occur: the implant itself being subject to undue weight; temporomandibular joint and chewing muscles being affected; myofascial pain syndrome; and depression, which may even affect the patients overall health in severe cases.

In addition, if you have periodontal diseases, the first thing you need to do is remove the plaques and calculi in your mouth thoroughly to avoid surgery failure.

In the case of the migrant patient we mentioned at the beginning of this article, her dentist failed to perform the aforementioned steps for her.

Li pointed out that if the first-time implant abuses the original alveolar bone and causes bone infection and inflammation, the second attempt will be extremely dangerous and tough. If it fails once again, you can almost bet that there will be a third one. However, how many implant surgeries can a person endure in a lifetime? Ive seen patients who have had a full mouth replacement. Ive seen and treated them, but Ive never seen one that could undergo the second replacement, said the doctor.

Is the Immediate Implant Approach Really Feasible?

There are some dentists who focus on and advertise the immediate implant approach, a shortened option that they claim applies to business professionals or those who do not have time to visit dentists. However, the course of treatment from bone restoration and implant placement, to waiting for osseointegration, tends to take months, depending on the patients health. So, is the immediate implant approach feasible?

Li pointed out that it is feasible only with a small portion of patients.

He recalled a world-class lecturers conference that was held in Berlin, Germany, a few years ago, where all the attendees were trained physicians. At the conference, the participants were requested to vote, by pressing a button, on the question What are the chances that you would take the immediate implant approach if you have clinical conditions ready for the option? The result showed that less than 10 percent of the votes were for the strategy, which highlighted the fact that very few patients are clinically good candidates for the immediate implant approach.

The option requires two preconditions: the alveolar bone is not infected and is strong, and the gums remain undamaged. Nevertheless, Li argued, Why would a patient want to get that tooth removed if he meets those conditions?

Usually, the situations we face are that the tooth is irreparably broken, but the breakage location is right at the root, while the alveolar bone is not damaged; or the tooth has gradually decayed until only the root and the alveolar bone remains uninfected.

On the contrary, the dentist risks complications, sequelae, and implant failure, if he does not treat the infected and shrunken alveolar bone, and ignores the inability of the gums to completely cover the tooth, before drilling the implant body directly into the remaining alveolar bone.

How to Choose a Trustworthy Implant Dentist

What is a successful implant? When the entire procedure is completed, the following must be met:

Natural and aesthetic appearance

Smooth chewing after the procedure without jamming or interference with the bite

Strong biting so that no food is left unbreakable

Ease of cleaning; food scraps are unlikely to get stuck between the teeth

Stable and long-term use

Whether the implant is a success or failuretwo opposite outcomescompletely rely on the dentist and whether he or she is clinically well-trained and willing to take responsibility for the patient. The process involves the selection and placement of implant components, alveolar bone and gum restoration, and adjustment for a good bite.

So, how can the public choose a trustworthy dentist? Its not an easy job, actually, Li admitted.

The reason is that dental implants involve medical education, massive financial investments, and doctors philosophy of treatment that varies tremendously. To put it bluntly, doctors work for a better life, said Li. But some do so for their self-interests, while others do for their patients.

In the former case, the dentist will, of course, maximize his or her gains within a short period of time. It is not difficult for a skilled dentist to drill five to six holes in a mouth and insert five to six implant screws. The large profit per hour is virtually a great temptation for a dentist.

Li, who has been invited to deliver lectures in Japan and multiple Southeast Asian countries, discloses another factthat there is currently no implant-related training in Taiwans schools. Dentists in Taiwan have to sign up for relevant courses. Moreover, every step involves a course. However, not many doctors are willing to invest to that level.

Even worse, some could buy dental implant licenses and place them on the wall in their clinics to prove their qualifications as specialists.

Underqualified dentists are seen not only in Taiwan, but also in China and the United States.

Therefore, once you make a decision about a dental implant, the most important thing for you is not to compare brand prices, but to find a dentist that you can trust to take responsibility for your oral cavity health for the rest of your life.

Li suggested that you ask your dentist the two following questions.

Do you provide follow-up cleaning and care after surgery?

Could you solve short-, medium-, and long-term denture problems, if any?

No matter what good condition a fresh implant is in, it will definitely wear out with daily use, and dirt will accumulate on it, which can cause periodontal diseases. Just like a car that needs to be washed and get its parts maintained and replaced on a regular basis, a dental service provider needs to offer long-term maintenance and cleaning after implant placement.

A 2016 study shows that post-surgery care reduces implant failures by 80 percent.

Furthermore, the dentist is expected to provide short-, medium-, and long-term options to care for the patients teeth. For instance:

What if a minor infection occurs at the implant location and parts get somewhat loosened five years later?

Will there be a chance to replace parts if the bite surface is broken and the dentures fall out 10 years later?

What if an implant damaged by wear and tear becomes even more serious 15 years later?

In reality, Li emphasized, almost no dental care provider would like to take over implant bodies that are done by other facilities if something goes wrong with them in the future. Placing an implant is like selling a car, which will produce a considerable gain, while repairing involves only a small fee. No one will regard an automaker as trustworthy if it doesnt care about the after-sales service.

Could you show me your previous implant achievements?

If the doctors answer is Yes, you can follow up with questions about his or her treatment methods, measures, and previous cases and results, including original before-and-after surgery images from their patients.

After all, any careful treatment must be recorded in writing. A trusted physician will at least keep X-rays, photos, and clinical records with regular follow-ups.

The two questions above prove whether a clinic has follow-up visits after five or 10 years, or if it takes good care of its patients. I believe thats a very simple test of trust, said Li. He said that some good dental clinics have patients who follow up with appointments after 20 years and that some implants look as new as they were placed 20 years ago.

A dental implant procedure is not as simple as placing as many teeth as youve lost. You also need to consider whether youre able to look after them.

Take elderly people as an example. Spending a long time getting many implants will be a grind for them. Besides, with less flexible fingers, they may not brush their teeth properly. Comparatively, a solution featuring implant-supported removable dentures would be a better option for them. With a good appearance and stable and easy-to-clean structure, those dentures would accompany and serve them long enough in their remaining years.

For younger patients, the dentist should restore each tooth to its original natural appearance and function as much as possible, so that they can go with their owners for about 50 years to come.

Li said, What a dentist should keep in his mind is to seek custom implant treatment and offer long-term care for the sake of his or her patients.

Of course, patients should also strive for a better quality of life for themselves. For example, smokers should put in some effort to quit cigarettes, which has proven to increase implant failure by 250 to 300 percent. Those with chronic diseases need to keep their conditions under control. Diabetic patients, for instance, may have an implant survival rate that is not significantly different from that of healthy people if their blood sugar is well controlled. Meanwhile, patients are expected to develop good oral hygiene habits. Only by doing this can they reduce the risks of subsequent infection and failure.

Camille Su Follow Camille Su is a health reporter covering disease, nutrition, and investigative topics. Have a tip? kuanmi.su@epochtimes.com
Mary Shelley described Dr. Victor Frankenstein as an Italian-Swiss scientist born into one of the most distinguished families of Genoa, though he was born in Naples. He obtained one of the best scientific educations available at the University of Ingolstadt in Bavaria. Gifted in mathematics and chemistry, he succeeded in creating a human-like creature by assembling dead tissue and reanimating it. The trouble was, upon completing his task, Frankenstein perceived his own creature to be a crude and repulsive imitation of a human being and not a real one.

At this moment in the story, the brilliant and arrogant scientist becomes all too human by dodging responsibility for his abominable creation. When people around him are murdered, he knows his creature is the culprit, but instead of revealing the truth to his community, he tries to conceal it.

The only time Frankenstein shows any courage is when he denies the creatures demand for a female companion. Only then does he realize there is no way he can continue playing God.

In recent years, Ive often thought about Shelleys fascinating novel, which was apparently inspired by her relationship with her husband, the English poet and amateur scientist, Percy Shelley. She was reflecting on how rapid advances in science altered our understanding of ourselves and our limitations.

The intellectual and spiritual problem she identified in 1818 is orders of magnitude more severe today with the advent of modern technology, which has grossly distorted our understanding of the human condition. Consider the following immutable facts that so many of us now struggle to recognize and accept:

1. Were born either male or female (with the notable exception of children born with ambiguous genitalia or intersex characteristics). No amount of surgery or hormones can change this essential fact.

2. We grow old, and we lose our youthful appearance. No amount of surgery or other procedures can change that.

3. Our health is impaired by the excess consumption of calories, alcohol, and drugs. We cant consume whatever we please and expect to remain fit. Having excess body fat is unhealthy.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, it quickly became apparent that the greatest factors for serious disease were morbid obesity and diabetescommon American conditions that are curable by changes of habit and lifestyle, not by expensive patented medications.

4. Medical science cant create a pill or shot to relieve every ailment. We have to assume responsibility for our health and cultivate good habits for taking care of ourselves.

5. Medical science cant create a superior substitute for the human immune system. Conventional vaccines work by inducing natural immunity, not by replacing it. Anyone acquainted with basic immunology understood this before SARS-CoV-2 arrived.

The preposterous notion that the vaccinated possessed better immunity than the COVID-recovered was one of the biggest lies of the pandemic.

6. Medical science can only manipulate nature to a certain point. Certain natural phenomena arent amendable to certain bio-technological interventions.

For example, everyone who has seriously studied respiratory viral infections knows that these infections, which begin in the upper respiratory tract, arent preventable by vaccines that induce antibodies in the blood.

The reason for this is obvious: The virus doesnt interact directly with the blood until it penetrates the lungs alveoli, where gas is exchanged. By then, the host is already infected and likely transmitting the virus. A far more promising approach is to develop interventions that work in the mucosa of the upper respiratory tract, where the virus replicates.

7. We cant receive any satisfying benefit without earning it. If we receive benefits without working for them, we take them for granted and become petulant when we dont receive more.

While all of the above may seem lamentable, great strength can be derived from recognizing and accepting the limits imposed on us instead of chafing against them.

In our conversations about infectious disease, Dr. Peter McCullough has often emphasized that the greatest advances in medicine were achieved through the construction of clean water and sanitation facilities and through personal hygiene. Medical technologies such as vaccines achieved a tiny fraction of the benefit conferred by clean water, public and household sanitation, and hand washing.

The same applies to chronic physical and mental health conditions. For most of us, better health could be achieved by knocking off the booze, slimming down, and getting a good nights sleep than all of the prescription drugs in the world. For obvious reasons, the pharmaceutical industry doesnt want you to think very carefully about that.

Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung once famously remarked, Modern people dont see God because they dont look low enough. For most of us, the elements for building a satisfying, tranquil, and even joyful life are right in front of us. By focusing more on what we do have and working with it, its likely we could all vastly improve our human condition for ourselves and for our communities.

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. Peter A. McCullough MD Follow Dr. McCullough is a practicing internist, cardiologist, epidemiologist managing the cardiovascular complications of both the viral infection and the injuries developing after the COVID-19 vaccine in Dallas TX, USA. He has dozens of peer-reviewed publications on the infection, multiple US and State Senate testimonies, and has commented extensively on the medical response to the COVID-19 crisis in TheHill, America Out Loud, NewsMax, and on FOX NEWS Channel.
We have seen repeat bouts of COVID among such vaccine promoters as the Bidens, Fauci, Walensky, et al.

Could this abysmal negative efficacy of the COVID vaccines have something to do with the immune impairment that some of us were warning about since way back BEFORE most people had taken the COVID shots? I was removed from Twitter permanently the same day, 2/19/21, that I promised a Twitter follower that the above article would be coming out shortly. How high would COVID vaccine uptake have been if critics like me had not been removed from Twitter and suppressed on Facebook?

Here is what the public was not allowed to see, in the heyday of vaccine mania, just a year and a half ago:

A vaccine that makes you more likely to catch the disease its named for is not such an appealing proposition, and is not worth taking.

And this is aside from the vast deaths and injuries that have followed those highly toxic vaccines in all age groups.

Now data analyst Ethical Skeptic has compiled updates of some of the databases (Walgreens, Worldometers, CDC) that I examined in my book Neither Safe Nor Effective, and sees from the most recent data that COVID vaccinated people are seven times as likely to test positive for COVID as the unvaccinated, after adjusting for proportion of the population in each category and testing penetration in each group. Yes, it is possible that the unvaccinated may feel less interested in COVID testing, but have been more bullied into testing by employers and others (Graph 4).

Accounting for such influences, here is Ethical Skeptics breakdown, with gradual zoom-ins to that tweet:

This was Ethical Skeptics earlier conclusions of the data as of October 18, 2022, in which a 4:1 preference for the vaxxed over unvaxxed by the virus had become apparent.

Reposted from the authors Substack

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.
Gary Gensler, Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, testifies before a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee oversight hearing on the SEC in Washington, on Sept. 14, 2021. (Evelyn Hockstein-Pool/Getty Images)

House Republicans Accuse SEC of Hypocrisy and Violating Record-Keeping and Transparency Laws

House Republicans accused Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler and his agency of hypocritically failing to comply with federal record-keeping and transparency laws that they impose on others.

A letter signed by Republican congressmen Jim Jordan of Ohio, Patrick Henry of North Carolina, James Comer of Kentucky, and Tom Emmer of Minnesota, was sent to the SEC chair on Nov. 2, accusing him of skirting federal transparency and records laws by failing to collect and provide records of official business conducted on social media and communications platforms such as Signal, Facebooks WhatsApp, Microsofts Teams, and Zoom.

The representatives currently serve as ranking members of the House Financial Services, Judiciary, and Oversight committees.

Recent reports suggest the SEC, under your leadership, is  failing to comply with federal record-keeping statutes, wrote the lawmakers.

In particular, evidence uncovered during Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation suggests the SEC is failing to identify and produce records of official business conducted on non-email or off-channel platforms, such as Signal, WhatsApp, Teams, and Zoom, regardless of whether the communication took place on a personal or business device.

A Beltway Lawyer Exposes Hypocrisy Among the Enforcers

The letter referred to an Oct. 10 opinion column in The Wall Street Journal by Washington attorney Chris Horner, alleging that SEC staffers were extensively using unauthorized public messaging platforms rather than official government email for official correspondences.

It seems notable that so many government officials have personal accounts on the same encrypted messaging app as others in their agency, wrote Horner.

It isnt difficult to identify officials personal email accounts and cellphone numbers, the latter of which reveals if they have accounts on apps such as Signal or WhatsApp. From this I know that at least a couple of Biden White House climate officials, four current SEC appointees, and one recently departed SEC commissioner have personal Signal accounts, he concluded.

Gensler and the SEC Ironically Caught Breaking Their Own Rules

The ranking house members accused the SEC and the Biden administration of hypocrisy, while the agency acts as the top federal regulator for U.S. financial markets.

While the SEC is failing to comply with federal transparency and record-keeping laws, the SEC is aggressively enforcing record-keeping laws on private businesses, noted the congressmen, after Genslers agency recently charged 16 major banking firms with $1.1 billion in fines for failing to maintain the same electronic communications standards for which they themselves failed to comply. They demanded in the letter that the SEC must practice the transparency and accountability that it preaches. The lawmakers noted that a recent SEC press release announced penalties against private-sector businesses, emphasizing the importance of transparency. The SECs September press release against the financial firms stated: Finance, ultimately, depends on trust. By failing to honor their record-keeping and books-and-records obligations, the market participants we have charged today have failed to maintain that trust. The SECs Director of Enforcement similarly intoned that record-keeping requirements are sacrosanct,' the congressmen commented. The House Republicans ordered Gensler to respond to their inquiry no later than Nov. 15, in order to certify if the SEC is following it own record-keeping laws. They also requested that Gensler and his staff immediately stop using unauthorized communications software for official business, if the allegations were true.

Gensler was further asked to define the SECs definition of off-channel communications for purposes of responding to FOIA requests and other federal transparency requirements.

Chair Genslers regime at the Securities and Exchange Commission has been characterized by regulatory hypocrisy and inconsistency. This is no different. The American people deserve transparency from their regulators, but time and time again, Chair Gensler refuses to practice what he preaches, Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), ranking member of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, wrote in the letter.

It is inappropriate for SEC to target the private sector for failing to comply with record-keeping laws when the SEC itself is in violation of similar transparency laws. Im proud to join Ranking Member Jordan, Ranking Member Comer, and Ranking Member McHenry in demanding accountability from Chair Gensler and the Securities and Exchange Commission, Emmer said.
A person holds a smartphone set to the opening screen of the ArriveCan app in a file photo. (The Canadian Press/Giordano Ciampini)

House Votes to Audit Governments $54 Million ArriveCan Spending

The House of Commons on Wednesday voted in favour of auditing the federal governments $54 million spending on the ArriveCan app, which will include an investigation of all payments and contracts associated with creating and maintaining the app.

The performance audit motion, introduced by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on Nov. 1, passed the House 174149 and found support from both the NDP and Bloc Quebecois. The Liberals and Green Party voted against it.

After introducing the motion Monday, Poilievre called ArriveCan a huge waste and said it couldve been developed for under $250,000 in a single weekend, according to Canadian tech companies who cloned the app between Oct. 7 and Oct. 10.

The Canada Border Services Agency told The Epoch Times in a previous email that creating ArriveCan cost just $80,000, but extra needed services and indirect costs, such as technical support and ensuring the app met federal cybersecurity standards, raised the total price to $54 million.

The Liberal government previously presented documents in the House outlining various ArriveCan contracting costs, which stated that a Canadian tech company called ThinkOn received $1.2 million to contribute maintenance support for the app.

However, ThinkOn CEO Craig McLellan said his company never received the federal funding, according to a report by The Globe and Mail on Oct. 20.

We want to know where the money went, Poilievre said in the House on Nov. 1. Who got rich?

Performance Audit

The ArriveCan performance audit will be carried out by Auditor General Karen Hogan and, as Poilievres motion requests, will include an investigation of the payments, contracts, and sub-contracts for all aspects of the ArriveCAN app and will be given priority.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other Liberal MPs have defended the governments spending on ArriveCan, with Liberal MP Anthony Housefather saying he will make no apology for an app that saved the lives of tens of thousands of Canadians.

This was part of a global health strategy in order to protect Canadians, Housefather told the House on Oct. 7.

Trudeau called ArriveCan an optimal use of taxpayer money and said the $54 million used included much more than the developers fees.

Its extra services, the IT services, updates, call centres, and future costs, he said in the House on Oct. 19.

In a Twitter post following the motions passing on Nov. 2, Poilievre wrote, Now, call in the auditors to get to the truth.

When $54 million goes out the door and government officials cant get their story straight about where it went, the least we can do is have an audit, Poilievre said Tuesday in the House.

Put the auditor general in charge, look into these costs, find out who got the money, who got rich, and why we spent $54 million on an app that could have been designed for a quarter of a million dollars.
"I Voted" stickers on a table during the Pennsylvania Primary election at St. Thomas United Church of Christ in Harrisburg, Pa., on May 17, 2022. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

How the Medias Save Democracy Crusade Threatens Democracy

Commentary

Americans are getting fed up with the mainstream media using leftist narratives that undermine trust in democracy and our election system.

A recent New York Times/Sienna poll found 59 percent of Americans consider the mainstream media a threat to democracyoutranking either President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump.

Ironically, it has been corporate media such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, and MSNBC that have driven the absurd narrative that American democracy is on deaths door. These media outlets have obligingly helped the left establish a template for explaining away a potential shift to the right in the 2022 midterms: blame Republican voter suppression. If the left cant convince voters that Republicans are dangerous election deniers who will stamp out democracy, theyll simply deny the legitimacy of the outcome.

This tactic may seem familiar by now. Last year, corporate media happily hopped on board with Stacey Abrams labeling as Jim Crow 2.0 the commonsense election integrity laws passed by Georgia and some two dozen other states. Echoing Abrams, they smeared these reformssuch as extending voter ID to absentee ballots, requiring accurate voter registration rolls, and restricting ballot harvestingas voter suppression or restrictive voting laws.

These laws neither suppressed nor restricted voting. These states have since experienced massive turnouts for both primaries and early voting. But petty facts havent dampened the lefts narrative or the medias willingness to keep parroting it.

MSNBC pundits still insist voter ID laws put the thumb on the scale for the Republicans. Vox seemed almost disappointed at the large number of people voting after the reforms took effect, doggedly insisting in a September headline that High voter turnout doesnt cancel out voter suppression.

Early this year, Biden wrote in a tweet, Jim Crow 2.0 is about two insidious things: voter suppression and election subversion. And, at a press conference, Biden said, I think it easily could bebe illegitimate, and Im not going to say its going to be legit unless Democrat voting legislation passed Congress. The legislation didnt pass, and it seems likely that final tallies on Nov. 8 will make it difficult to sell the narrative that Republicans rigged the elections with voter suppression.

Rather than scrutinize Democrat legislation pushed by Biden that would effectively nationalize elections and nullify clean election laws, The New York Times dutifully ran a headline, Democrats Fail to Change Filibuster Rules as Republicans Block Action on Voting Rights. Other media outlets used the desired Democrat characterization of being for voting rights or against voting rights.

More recently, Democrats and the media are accusing one of the lefts boogeymen, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, of voter suppression because the states Office of Election Crimes and Security oversaw dozens of arrests for alleged voter fraud in the state.

Several of these defendants say local government employees misled them into registering to vote when they were ineligible. That might well be the case. Even if you accept the premise that the arrests went overboard, the arrests were of ineligible voters. To qualify as voter suppression, they would have had to prevent eligible voters from either registering or voting.

While the media tamely follows the lefts narrative on election integrity, the general public doesnt seem to buy it. A recent Gallup poll found that 79 percent of Americans support voter ID laws, with majorities across racial and partisan demographics.

In October, Rolling Stone tried a new wrinkle on the old narrative. Marrying two of the lefts obsessions, the magazine ran a piece citing a UCLA study claiming that voter ID laws disproportionately harm the transgender community. Rolling Stones claim is that about 65,000 transgender people in battleground states wont have the right ID to vote, and Thats enough suppressed votes to swing an election.

Taxpayer-funded PBS took a more historic tack. Its story, Low literacy voters struggle to cast ballots in the face of restrictive voting laws, trotted out the same argument used in the late 1800s to oppose the secret ballot. Some of these arguments deal with ballot harvestingthe practice of political operatives collecting and distributing mass quantities of ballots. Ballot harvesting clearly opens the door to violating the principle of a private ballot, since political operatives can stare over peoples shoulders while they vote. It also raises chain-of-custody questions and poses a danger of ballot tampering.

Its highly unlikely that these fearmongering predictions of voter suppression will ever pan out. Just as voting increased in 2022 after the discredited Jim Crow 2.0 rhetoric, various studies show voter ID laws have never negatively affected voter turnout.

Its a stretch to say the media actually threatens the existence of democracy, as the New York Times poll suggests a majority believes. But a free and honest press is vital to our political system. And when the bulk of media outlets remain committed to a partisan narrative despite a plethora of facts and evidence to the contrary, it isnt healthy for the press or democracy.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Huntington Beach Voters Revisit Tax on Cannabis Businesses, Changes to City Charter

Huntington Beach voters will decide Nov. 8 if the city should establish taxes for commercial cannabis businesses, as well as on three amendments to the citys governing documents, including changing gender-related pronouns in the text of its city charter.

The two-pronged initiative, known as Measure L, if approved, would change the city charter to allow the city to build and upgrade restrooms and utilities at its parks and beaches without voter input, if the height and footprint dont change by more than 10 percent.

Additionally, it would update language in the citys charter, such as phrases, pronouns, titles, and procedures to clarify their meaning. This includes replacing gender-specific words with the title of the position or a gender-neutral term.

Another initiative, Measure M would amend the city charter to allow the seven-member city council to fill a vacancy on the council with four votes, rather than a simple majority of councilors present at the time of the vote, and only until the next municipal election.

The measure also removes the requirement that the city attorney have a degree from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association, and it would no longer require the city treasurer submit monthly financial reports, since the citys Department of Finance took over that years ago.

Measure N, if approved, would clarify the relationship between the city and its city attorney as outlined in the citys charter and would allow the city council to bypass the elected city attorney to hire outside counsel for legal matters.

The city council would only be allowed to hire such at the request of the city attorney, in the advent of a conflict of interest.

The city is also contemplating whether to reverse its current ban on cannabis businesses.

While another initiative on the ballot, Measure O wouldnt decide whether to allow them or not, it gives voters the chance to tax commercial cannabis businesses if they are allowed in the future.

Retail cannabis businesses, if the measure is approved, would be taxed up to six percent of gross receipts, and non-retail up to one percent, generating between $300,000 and $600,000 annually to fund other city services, according to the city.

The measure failed by a narrow margin in the June 2022 election.

Councilmembers Kim Carr, Rhonda Bolton, and Dan Kalmick support the measure because, they say, they want the city to benefit financially if such businesses are allowed or imposed upon them by Sacramento, as what happened in Kern County, when a state bill was introduced in 2019 to reverse a county-wide ban pot shops.

Russell Neal, Vice President of the Huntington Beach Republican Assemblyan organization that supports Republican candidatessaid the city council will use the measure, if passed, as an excuse to legalize retail cannabis.

If this measure is approved, the Council will have your green light to legalize retail recreational cannabis stores anywhere they want, Neal wrote in an argument against the measure (pdf).
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) speaks to supporters at a primary night event in Jackson, Wyo., on Aug. 16, 2022. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

I Would Not Vote for J.D. Vance, Liz Cheney Tells Ohio Audience

If J.D. Vance is going to defeat Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) in the race to replace retiring Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman on Nov. 8, he will have to do so without the support of Liz Cheney.

Ousted from her seat as a Wyoming congresswoman after voting to impeach former President Donald Trump and losing in the GOP primary, Cheney is touring the country and campaigning against Trump-backed candidates.

During an appearance in Cleveland on Nov. 1, she endorsed Ryan, a 10-term U.S. Representative in northeast Ohio.

I would not vote for J.D. Vance, Cheney, told PBS Newshour anchor Judy Woodruff at the Cleveland State University event.

Fueled by a Trump endorsement weeks before the May primary, Vance defeated a crowded field of Republican challengers. Last month, Trump held a rally supporting Vance and other Republican candidates in Ohio.

Trump is scheduled to have another rally for Vance in Dayton, Ohio, on Nov. 7 on Election Day eve.

J.D. Vance (L), a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Ohio, shakes hands with former President Donald Trump during a rally at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in Ohio on April 23, 2022. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Ryan is not the first Democrat that Cheney has backed. She endorsed Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) over Republican state Sen. Tom Barrett.

In an ad, she encouraged Arizona voters to not support Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake and GOP secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem.

Lake responded by thanking Cheney for the anti-endorsement.

Cheney, who is a vice chairwoman on the Jan. 6 committee, told Fox News last year that I would not vote for a Democrat ever.

After losing the August primary to Harriet Hageman, Cheneys stance evidently changed.

In her concession speech. Cheney blamed the criticism of her opposition to Trump for her decisive defeat.

Two years ago, I won this primary with 73 percent of the vote. I could easily have done the same again, Cheney said.

The path was clear. But it would have required that I go along with President Trumps lie about the 2020 election.

It would have required that I enable his ongoing efforts to unravel our democratic system and attack the foundations of our republic, Cheney said. That is a path I could not and would not take.

Cheney finished her address by hinting about her next steps.

Tonight, Harriet Hageman received the most votes in this primary. She won. I called her to concede the race. This primary election is over. But now, the real work begins, Cheney said.

During her appearance in Cleveland, Cheney urged voters to reject Vance and other Republican candidates who believe that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump.

She also said that Republicans have a responsibility to oppose candidates who do not think that Biden was duly elected.

While we can say, look, the Biden economic policies are not policies we would support, and we believe in limited government, low taxes and a strong national defense, we dont even get to have those debates if we elect Donald Trump again, Cheney said.

And we dont get to have that debate if we elect election deniers who embrace what the former president is doing and saying now, and what we know now that he was willing to do, and what we know that he did.

At a town hall in Columbus on Nov. 1, Vance was asked about his comments that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump.

Look, I have said that and I wont run away from it. And heres particularly what I mean by that. Heres what I worry about, Vance said.

A number of state courts, including lower courts in the state of Pennsylvania, have found they didnt conduct their election in accordance with their own state constitution and in accordance with their own state laws. Thats not me making it up. Thats actually what these lower courts have held.

Well, you want important battleground states to do what Ohio has done, which is run free and fair electionsconsistent, secure elections. Thats really, really important.

The second thing that I really worry aboutand you hear a lot in Americapeople are worried about threats to our democracy, Vance added.

I happen to think the biggest threat to American democracy today is big technology companies in bed with the Communist Chinese who are censoring information.

Ryan criticized Vance for his viewpoints about the 2020 election. In Cleveland, Cheney added that, if she were a registered voter in Ohio, she would cast her ballot for Ryan.

Jeremy Adler, a Cheney spokesman, also told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that she would vote for DeWine, a Republican who is considered a moderate by many Ohioans who disapprove of how he handled the COVID crisis.

Liz is supporting him because hes a good conservative governor, a traditional Republican, and respects the legitimacy of elections, Adler said.

On Twitter, GOP political strategist and Vance political adviser Andy Surabian wrote that Cheneys support would damage Ryans bid.

I think my favorite thing about this is Liz Cheney being so delusional that she actually thinks her endorsement is a net positive for anyone, Surabian wrote in a tweet.

A Vance campaign spokesperson said in a statement that This election will be decided by Ohioans, not creatures of the swamp in D.C.

Liz Cheneys endorsement is the kiss of death for Tim Ryan and will lose him far more votes than it gains.
Irvine Approves Workload Rules, Safety Standards for Hotel Workers

The Irvine City Council passed the first reading of an ordinance after a narrow 32 vote Oct. 25with Vice Mayor Anthony Kuo and Councilman Mike Carroll dissentingwhich will require better safety practices, higher pay in some instances, and a more balanced workload to the citys hotel workers.

One part of the ordinance directs hotel employers in the city to provide employees with a panic button, which can be used when personal safety is at risk. The issue was included in the ordinance after recent reports from housekeepers of harassment by hotel guests.

Back in May while I was working on my floor, a fully naked man stood at the doorway of the room to say, Can you clean my room? an Irvine Hilton room attendant told the council during public comments.

Another housekeeper for the same hotel said since the pandemic, cleaning is only done once a guest checks out. She said this has led to very dirty rooms that take much longer to clean.

I often have to rush from floor to floor to finish them, she said in Spanish.

The ordinance will also cap hotel workers shifts to 10 hours, unless they agree to longer hours in writing.

The ordinance also includes a limit on the square footage a worker can clean in any given workday, depending on the size of the hotel. If exceeded, the worker would be eligible to receive double pay for cleaning the additional square footage.

The new rules dont apply to hotels with fewer than 45 rooms, and it resumes room daily cleaning, with an option for guests to opt out. According to housekeepers, daily cleaning helps relieve the workload.

Several hotel managers who spoke in opposition to the ordinance at the meeting questioned the necessity of holding this meeting on short notice, which was agendized as an emergency meeting by Mayor Farrah Khan and Councilwoman Tammy Kim.

They said they agreed with the personal safety requirements, but most said they werent given an opportunity to provide input on other matters. They argued that some of the ordinances requirements would be detrimental to their hotels bottom-line after rebounding from the pandemic.

All Im asking is that you give us an opportunity to have meaningful discourse together, said Anthony Zand, an attorney with the Pacific Hospitality Group, an Irvine-based property management company representing 12 hotels. Why is this being done under the cover of night at a last-minute emergency meeting?

CEO of the Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce Bryan Starr also spoke on the matter, saying the issue was rushed.

The proposed ordinance has been hastily put in place with no input from stakeholders. Theres been no formal process, Starr said.

Both Starr and Zand said they support worker safety provisions, but said they would like more time to discuss with the council the operations and wage changes in the ordinance.

The room was also packed with UC Irvine students, all in support of the ordinance.

Former Irvine Mayor and Councilwoman Christina Shea sided with hotel owners and managers, saying the emergency meeting was not necessary and more time should have been given for discussion.

I believe this is not an emergency item. Theres nothing emergency about this. I dont feel that its proper that its on the agenda tonight, she said.

Before voting, councilors each discussed their stance on the issue.

Vice Mayor Kuo suggested keeping the requirements for personal safety, and removing issues regarding workers compensation, workload, and other non-personal safety matters until further discussion. However, his motion didnt carry enough votes.

Carroll, who attended the meeting remotely, voted no on the ordinance, but he didnt specify why.

Mayor Khan said she didnt think the ordinance was written adequately and the issue may return before the council in about six to eight months, but said she would vote yes to see immediate protections given.

I have a feeling this ordinance isnt going to work right. But I will support you. I have supported you in the past and I will continue to support you, Khan said to the hotel workers in the room.

The city council will vote again on the ordinance to finalize it at an upcoming meeting.
Likud party chairman Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara cast their ballots during Israeli elections in Jerusalem, on Nov. 1, 2022. (Maya Alleruzzo/AP Photo)

Israels Netanyahu Appears to Hold Lead in Election

JERUSALEMFormer Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to hold a narrow lead early Wednesday in Israeli elections, according to exit polls, potentially paving the way for a return to power.

The exit polls were preliminary, and the final results could change as votes are tallied.

Tuesdays election was Israels fifth in less than four years, with all of them focused largely on Netanyahus fitness to govern. On trial for a slew of corruption charges, Netanyahu is seen by supporters as the victim of a witch hunt and vilified by opponents as a crook and threat to democracy.

The vote, like past elections, was tight. The exit polls on Israels three major television stations all predicted that Netanyahu and his hard-line allies would capture 61 or 62 seats in parliament, giving him the majority in the 120-seat parliament needed to govern.

But the polls showed a small Arab party close to crossing the threshold required to enter parliamenta development that could erase his slim majority.

Elections officials worked through the night tallying votes. In the early hours of Wednesday, 25 percent of the ballots had been counted, and the final outcome remained unclear.

If Netanyahus allies emerge victorious, it could still take weeks of negotiations for a coalition government to be formed. Continued deadlock and a new round of elections are also a possibility.

Speaking in Jerusalem in the middle of the night, Netanyahu asked his supporters to have patience and said his Likud Party was on the verge of a very big victory.

Netanyahu was Israels longest-serving prime minister, governing for 12 consecutive yearsand 15 years altogetherbefore he was ousted last year by a coalition led by Yair Lapid.

But the coalition that Lapid cobbled together, which included the first Arab party ever to join a government, was ravaged by infighting and collapsed after just one year in power. Those parties were poised to capture just 54 seats, according to the polls.

Lapid, addressing supporters early Wednesday, insisted that the race was not decided.

Until the last envelope is counted, nothing is over and nothing is final, he said.
Nov. 2, 1992

Hoping to spur campaign workers to greater efforts during the last hours of this year's partisan battles, Democrats and Republicans held separate rallies last night.

The GOP rally at the Emerson Park Pavilion proved a lackluster affair  drawing far fewer people than in recent years  while the Democrats showed at least some spunk at their Polish Falcons gathering.

But in local races, Republicans remain heavily favored. Democrats are pinning their hopes on capturing the White House after a dozen years in exile.

Tomorrow, voters will head to the polls to choose a president, U.S. senator, congressman, state senator, state assemblyman and several judges. The polls are open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Retiring U.S. Rep Frank Horton, R-Rochester, was to be the featured guest at the Republican rally. But he did not show up.

Horton's Auburn office aide, Vivian Norman, said "something came up at the last second" to keep her boss away.

But several GOP leaders said Horton refused to come because he was angry the GOP rally invitation mentioned City Councilor Chris DeAngelis' catering business more prominently than him. They said Horton hates DeAngelis.

Whatever kept Horton away may have caused others to stay home as well. Republican Elections Commissioner Richard Paulino observed the rally's turnout was the thinnest in years.
A general view of barb wire at the former Reading prison building in Reading, England, on Sept. 1, 2016. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Job Ad With Real White Prison Officer and Black Inmate Banned for Depicting Negative Racial Stereotype

The UKs advertising regulator has ruled that a Facebook ad for the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) was likely to cause serious offence by reinforcing negative stereotypes about black men.

The ad for the MoJs Prison Jobs scheme, seen on June 25, featured an image of a white prison officer talking to a black inmate, with superimposed text stating: Become a prison officer. One career, many roles.

A complainant, who believed the ad perpetuated negative ethnic stereotypes, challenged whether it was likely to cause serious offence.

Undated handout image issued by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) of a post from the Facebook page from the Ministry of Justices Prison Jobs scheme featuring an image of a white prison officer talking to a black inmate. (PA)

Real Officers and Prisoners

Following an investigation, the advertising regulator Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the MoJs paid-for Facebook ad showed an imbalanced power dynamic and ruled that the advertisement must not be shown again.

The MoJ said the recruitment campaign ran every week of the year across a range of media, including social media, physical posters, radio, and video on demand. The campaigns aim was to recruit prison officers and other roles for prisons. The image only formed one small part of the overall campaign.

The MoJ used real officers and prisoners in the ad and argued that it did not portray a black man as a criminal, it depicted a real person who had been convicted of an offence, and it was not an inaccurate or unfair representation of the type of engagement that might have been seen between officers and prisoners.

However, the ASA concluded that the ad was likely to cause serious offence on the grounds of race by reinforcing negative stereotypes about black men.

The ASA pointed out that the inmate wore an afro pick comb in his hair, a tool they understood was uniquely associated with black culture.

The ad made reference to prison officers being problem solvers and life changers, and we considered it drew a link between the officer depicted and those attributes. On the other hand, the black prisoner was depicted as a criminal, without those positive attributes, it added.

It said that the ad showed an imbalanced power dynamic, with a smiling white prison officer, described as a life changer, and a black, institutionalised prisoner.

We considered the ads focus on the positive qualities of the white prison officer and negative casting of the black prisoner was likely to be seen as perpetuating a negative racial stereotype, said the ASA.

The ASA ruled that the ad must not appear again, adding, We told the Ministry of Justice to ensure they avoided causing serious offence on the grounds of race.

Dominance and Subservience

Marc Glendening, head of cultural affairs at the Institute of Economic Affairs think tank, told The Epoch Times by email that he believes that authorities focus on left-wing identity politics is a recipe for a totalitarian culture.

This decision is indicative of the way in which the new, culture-control left see all human interactions and representations of them as inherently political and therefore representing dominance and subservience, said Glendening.

Life, as for fascists as well, is thus perceived as a will to power between groups. Individual human beings become effectively mere avatars for entire social collectivities. This gives those, like the ASA, the right and moral mandate to ban or promote imagery and communications that they deem to either confirm or contradict the power relations, in this case between whites and blacks, they assume exist, he said.

This is a recipe for a totalitarian culture in which the state (and bodies given regulatory power by it) dictates what we can view and hear and tells us how we should interpret all the phenomena we are exposed to. Thus, we are reduced to a child-like status; we are not allowed to judge for ourselves the images and messages we discover, added Glendening.

An MoJ spokeswoman told The Epoch Times by email that it would appeal the ruling.

This was one of a wide range of different images used in an advertising campaign featuring real situations in prisonwhich is an essential part of attracting the right candidates, she said.

A spokesman for the ASA told The Epoch Times by email that it is politically neutral and independent of the state.

Our ruling sets out clearly, on the public record, why we considered the ad by the MoJ breached our advertising rules for being likely to be seen as perpetuating a negative racial stereotype, he added.



PA media contributed to this report.
LA-Bound Plane Makes Emergency Landing in New Mexico

LOS ANGELESA Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles made an emergency landing in New Mexico, the airline said Nov. 2, when the planes cabin appeared to fill with smoke.

The plane took off from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport on Nov. 1 when a smoky order started to fill the cabin, according to media reports.

Someone started yelling there was a fire, but the flight attendants [in a very professional way] told everyone to chill, it wasnt a fire, and keep seated, Mason Weiner, a passenger on the flight, told NBC News on Tuesday.

Crew members on Flight 2846 observed performance issues with one of the planes two engines. The plane made an emergency landing at Albuquerque International Sunport in New Mexico, a spokesman for Delta told NBC News.

Weiner said Delta ordered Chick-fil-A for everyone on the plane while they waited for a new plane to complete the trip to Los Angeles.
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) looks on during her primary election night party in Jackson, Wyo., on Aug. 16, 2022. (David Stubbs/Reuters)

Liz Cheney Backs Democrat Tim Ryan in Contested Ohio Senate Race

The controversial Republican also called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a "tremendous leader"

Embattled Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) has endorsed Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) in Ohios tight U.S. Senate race.

Ryan is running against Republican candidate J.D. Vance, a lawyer and author known for his book Hillbilly Elegy.

Discussing the race, Cheney told PBSs Judy Woodruff on Nov. 1, I would not vote for J.D. Vance.

Asked if she would support Ryan if she were an Ohio voter, Cheney responded, I would.

Cheney has been anathema among Republicans during the 117th Congress for her role on the Jan. 6 Committee, which other Republicans have described as little more than a partisan witch hunt directed against former President Donald Trump and his allies.

Ryan is the second Democrat to receive Cheneys backing. On Oct. 27, the outgoing Wyoming lawmaker threw her support behind Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.).

Cheneys opposition to Vance is unsurprising in view of Vances relationship with President Donald Trump. Trump helped push Vance to victory in the crowded Ohio field with his endorsement.

Cheney has long been a virulent Trump critic, and led an effort by the Jan. 6 Committee to subpoena the former president in October.

A populist through and through, Vance has been outspoken in his support for Trump, who Vance has described as the best president of my lifetime.

Vance has also suggested that he disagrees with the narrative pushed about the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 Stop the Steal rally by the House Jan. 6 committee, on which Cheney serves as ranking member.

The Jan. 6 panel contends that there was no substantial widespread voter fraud in 2020, and that the Jan. 6 rally was the culmination of a months-long effort by Trump to overturn the 2020 election.

There were certainly people voting illegally on a large-scale basis, Vance has said of the election in the past.

Vances campaign is referring to the endorsement not as a boon but as a kiss of death for Tim Ryans campaign.

In an email to the Epoch Times, Vance told the Epoch Times, This election will be decided by Ohioans, not creatures of the swamp in D.C.

Liz Cheneys endorsement is the kiss of death for Tim Ryan and will lose him far more votes than it gains.

At the same time, Vances campaign has won bipartisan support.

Former presidential candidate and Democrat Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) has thrown her backing behind Vance.

Tim Ryan represents everything that is wrong with the warmongering Washington Establishment, Gabbard wrote in a surprise Twitter post on Nov. 1. Im endorsing @JDVance1 because he knows the cost of war, and that our government exists to serve the people, not the other way around.

Pelosi Is a Tremendous Leader

Cheney also called Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) a tremendous leader.

I want to say a word about Speaker Pelosi. Everyone knows she is a liberal from San FranciscoI am a conservative from Wyoming, there are many, many issues, maybe most issues, on which we disagree, Cheney said. But I think that she is a tremendous leader.

Ive watched her up close. She is a leader of historic consequence, Cheney added.

In February, the Republican National Committee voted to strip Cheney, along with Jan. 6 panel compatriot Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) of the support and funding of the national party organization.

In early October, Kinzinger also unveiled a list of Democrat endorsees, mostly for state-level offices.

Though Kinzinger had already decided not to run again, Cheney mounted an ultimately unsuccessful bid to keep her place as Wyomings only federal representative.

Vance will face off against Tim Ryan on Nov. 8 to replace outgoing Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio). The race is viewed as key in determining the makeup of the closely split U.S. Senate during the 2022 midterms.
A woman walks by police tape after Omaha police shot a man who drove through a barricaded area during a neighborhood Halloween celebration in Omaha, Neb., on Oct. 31, 2022. (Chris Machian/Omaha World-Herald via AP)

Man Drives Through Barricaded Area During Halloween Block Party, Shot by Omaha Officer

OMAHA, NebraskaA Halloween celebration turned frantic after a man drove through a barricaded area and was shot by an Omaha police officer Monday night, police said.

The Omaha World-Herald reports that the shooting occurred during the popular annual Halloween on the Boulevard block party in the Minne Lusa neighborhood in Omaha.

Children and adults were out in the neighborhood trick-or-treating when a car drove recklessly through a blocked-off area shortly after 7 p.m., Omaha Police Lt. Neal Bonacci said.

The driver of the vehicle was shot by an Omaha police officer and taken to Nebraska Medical Center with serious injuries. The name of the driver has not yet been released. Police say no one else was injured.

Chrissy Lopez, a resident of the neighborhood, told the Omaha World-Herald that the vehicle initially drove slowly through the crowd as people yelled at the driver to stop.

He would stop and then drive a little more, she said. I heard his engine rev and people started screaming, and I thought Oh no. And then I heard the gunshots, and everybody just started screaming and running and crying.

Police and firefighters were already on the scene for the block party, which is put on by the Miller Park Minne Lusa Neighborhood Association and draws thousands of people to the area each year.

The shooting is under investigation.
Man Sentenced for Shooting National Park Ranger in Colorado

DENVERA Colorado man has been sentenced to more than 23 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to shooting a ranger at Rocky Mountain National Park last year. The ranger was wearing a bulletproof vest and wasnt seriously injured.

Daron Ellis, 29, of Aurora was sentenced Monday in federal court in Denver after pleading guilty to attempted murder of a federal officer and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence, The Denver Post reported.

The Dec. 8 shooting occurred after a Colorado State Patrol officer tried to stop Ellis outside the park for speeding. The trooper learned the car was stolen and ordered Ellis to leave the car, but Ellis sped off, authorities said.

A National Park Service Law Enforcement ranger spotted the car at the Fall River entrance to the national park in Colorado and ordered Ellis to show his hands. Ellis shot the ranger in the chest with a semiautomatic handgun; the ranger returned fire, wounding Ellis, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Colorado.

The rangers identity hasnt been released.

Rocky Mountain National Park is about 50 miles northwest of Denver.
The Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa on Aug. 10, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld)

Mandatory No More: Dissecting Supreme Courts Ruling on Canadas Sex Offender Registry

News Analysis

A recent decision by the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) to raise the threshold for adding an offenders name to the federal sex offender registry has been welcomed by some lawyers but raises concern for some others.

Legislative amendments introduced by the Harper government in 2011 had mandated that those convicted of two or more sex offences would be automatically placed on Canadas National Sex Offender Registry (NSOR) for life. However, in a five-to-four decision, the SCC ruled on Oct. 28 that keeping offenders on the registry for life unduly curtails the constitutional rights of offenders who are not a risk to reoffend.

The court gave the federal government one year to revise its law before the clause on mandatory listing is removed. It also waived the lifetime requirement immediately, allowing those who have been added to the registry following the 2011 amendments to now be able to apply to have their status changed.

Alain Hepner, a Calgary lawyer who has represented sex offenders in the past, welcomed the decision.

Ive always thought it was a travesty that this had happened. And it took, after the amendments in 2011, another 10 years or so to get it straight, Hepner told The Epoch Times.

It was an enormous intrusion into the privacy of the individual.

Former Manitoba judge Brian Giesbrecht, now a fellow with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, also supports the decision.

I think the Supreme Court got it right. In the facts of the case before them, a 19-year-old who committed two sexual offences was automatically included on the registry for life. The Supreme Court found that to be unjust, he said in an interview.

Sentencing judges should have the rightsubject to appealto consider adding an offender to the list, and reviewing that inclusion in appropriate cases.

Edmonton-based Elvis Iginla, the lawyer for the appellant in the case, says that including too many people on the sex offender registry hinders its purpose as it results in having police file through irrelevant records for a potential perpetrator.

The police have a list of people that are dangerous, repeat offenders that are likely to reoffend. They can keep better track of those people because they have their information handy. If we can show that someone is not likely to reoffend, then why should he be on the registry? Iginla said in an interview.

However, the SCCs ruling saw stern opposition from those concerned with victim rights.

Canadians deserve a country where victims rights come first, Conservative MP Michael Barrett said on Twitter. This decision is disgusting. It will rightfully cause victims, parents, and a great many Canadians to be fearful.

Former RCMP Supt. Larry Comeau called the SCC decision dangerous.

Victims of crime are the biggest losers from the Charter. Many judges seem far more interested to setting social norms than doing their jobs of interpreting, not making laws, he said in an email.

Lawyer Rob Talach from London, Ontario, is of the same view.

Ive represented lots of victims, so heres the counterpoint. This was already a very reasonable registry. It was not publicly accessible like in the U.S., it was only accessible by law enforcement, and even then in restricted scenarios, Talach told The Epoch Times.

I think our Supreme Court and our charter is starting to confirm the suspicions that it has lost touch with reality, especially with respect to child offenders.

Talach says sex offences are something the perpetrators should be marked for, and police and law enforcement need to be in the know. He believes the SCC decision is not what the public wants.

Its not proactive to public safety. I remind people that the charter doesnt have the word victim, complainant, citizen anywhere in it. Really, its built around offenders.

Constitutional Challenge

The constitutional challenge was raised by Eugene Ndhlovu, who in 2015 was convicted of the sexual assaults of two women at a party in 2011, when he was 19 years old.

His complainant was a high school peer, the partys host who invited him. According to court documents, the sentencing judge expressed concerned that the nature of the party might have given Ndhlovu the wrong impression because it was advertised on the hosts Facebook page as a highly sexualized Jersey Shore DTF party and had a stripper pole available.

Dissenting Argument

The four SCC judges who partially dissented with the decision said that perceived leniency of judges prompted the amendments in 2011. Although justices Richard Wagner, Michael Moldaver, Suzanne Cote, and Russell Brown agreed that mandatory lifetime registration in the registry was overbroad, they nevertheless found it constitutional.

The exercise of judicial discretion to exempt offenders from registration under SOIRA [Sexual Offender Information Registration Act] was the very problem that prompted Parliament to amend the Criminal Code in 2011 to provide for automatic registration of sex offenders.

Many judges had exercised their discretion to exempt offenders in a manifestly improper manner, and the Registrys low inclusion rate undermined its efficacy, the minority judgment reads.

The evidence is clear that even low risk sex offenders, relative to the general criminal population, pose a heightened risk to commit another sexual offence. It is also clear that it cannot be reliably predicted at the time of sentencing which offenders will reoffend. In the face of that uncertain risk, Parliament was entitled to cast a wide net.

Alberta Justice Minister Tyler Shandro issued a statement on Oct. 31 saying that the SCC decision will make our country a more dangerous place and that he agrees with the dissenting judges.

As the dissenting argument rightly points out, this decision was made using an exceptional case and ignores the rampant misuse of judicial discretion prior to the amendment. Prior to automatic registration, the registrys low inclusion rate undermined its effectiveness, Shandro said.

The decision to end automatic registration on the sex offender registry will make it harder to ensure that these crimes are not repeated.

The Needs of Survivors

Statistics Canada reported in August that 34,242 sexual assaults were reported to police in 2021, an 18 percent increase from 2020. The agency also cited the most recently available self-reported data, from 2019, showing that only 6 percent of actual assaults experienced by Canadians 15 and older in the previous year had been reported to police. A Statistics Canada study released in 2017 showed that just 12 percent of sexual assaults reported by police resulted in a conviction.

The SCC ruling said there are currently 27 offences ranging widely in severity that require offenders to be listed, and that there is little or no concrete evidence of the extent to which it assists police in the prevention and investigation of sex offences.

Kerrie Isaac, executive director of the non-profit Sexual Assault Services of Saskatchewan, said in a statement that she hopes when the federal government introduces legislation to align with the SCC ruling, it will do more to address root causes.

Perhaps this is an opportunity for the federal government to explore how systems can better respond to the needs of survivors of sexual assault, she wrote.
Massachusetts Governor, Overwhelmed by Illegal Immigrants, Asks Biden Admin for Help

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker has appealed to the Biden administration for assistance in supporting the influx of illegal immigrants seeking refuge in his state.

In an Oct. 31 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, Baker asked for urgent federal government assistance on the matter, noting that Massachusetts has seen a significant increase in the number of families and individuals seeking shelter there over the past year.

Massachusetts is proud to welcome individuals and families seeking asylum and refuge and is dedicated to helping families live with dignity, but additional federal support is required, he wrote. Additional federal efforts would make obtaining employment opportunities and benefits easier for these individuals and help them build their lives and relieve the strain on the public services.

In the fiscal year 2022, according to Baker, resettlement agencies based in the Bay State served 4,344 individuals, including over 2,000 Afghan humanitarian parolees, 822 Cuban and Haitian entrants, and 548 refugees.

Further, more than 400 individuals were reported by the states Department of Housing and Community Development to have entered shelter since July.

According to the Boston Herald, Baker recently received backlash for relocating illegal immigrants arriving in Massachusetts to hotels in Plymouth and Kingston due to the states overwhelmed shelter system.

Among his Monday requests, the governor asked for: the expedition and streamlining of the provision of work permits to eligible asylum seekers, a reevaluation of the services currently provided by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, and an expansion of the populations considered eligible for federal assistance.

As long as the situation at the southern border remains unchanged, Massachusetts and many other states will struggle to cope with this substantial increase in immigrant families accessing shelter and other services, Baker noted. I respectfully call on the federal government to do its part in providing urgent assistance.

While the Republican governor may be the latest leader to express discontent with the surge of illegal immigrants in his area, he is not the first.

On Oct. 7, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, declared a state of emergency over the influx of illegal immigrants there, stating: This crisis is not of our own making but one that will affect everyone in this city, now and in the months ahead. New Yorkers deserve to know why this is happening and what we plan to do.

While Adams did not attribute the problem to the policies of the Biden administration, he did call out Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for busing illegal immigrants from the border to his city.

Texas has not provided notice to New York City, and has indicated that it will continue not providing notice to New York City, regarding how many busloads of people will be arriving, or the dates and times of their arrival, Adams noted in his emergency order.

Abbottlike fellow Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who flew two planes full of illegal immigrants to Marthas Vineyard, Massachusetts, in Septemberhas vowed to continue sending illegal immigrants to cities that have previously espoused sanctuary city policies.

Further, blaming the Biden administrations policies for the surge, Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) warned Mayorkas last month that he could face impeachment proceedings if action was not taken soon to secure the border.

An impeachment conviction would require a two-thirds vote in favor in the Senate and a simple majority in the House. But, with the Republican Party aiming to take control of both the House and the Senate in the upcoming midterms, an impeachment trial may be on the horizon.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services for comment.
Republican U.S. senatorial candidate Blake Masters speaks during his election night watch party in Chandler, Ariz., on Aug. 2, 2022. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Masters Closes Gap With Kelly in Arizona Race for US Senate

A week ago, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) led Republican challenger Blake Masters by 6 percentage points. Now, just days before the Nov. 8 election, a new poll by Wick shows Masters closing the gap with the incumbent to 2 points.

Additionally, according to FiveThirtyEight, Wicks results align with other polls conducted just a week earlier.

An Ohio Predictive Insights poll conducted from Oct. 24 to Oct. 26 showed Kelly at 48 percent and Masters at 46 percent. In fact, except for one poll by Siena College/The New York Times that has Kelly with a 6-point lead, all of the latest polls show that the race between Kelly and Masters is neck-and-neck.

These polls were conducted after Masters and Kelly squared off in a debate in which the Republican appeared to make an effort to court more moderate Arizona voters.

Everything in Moderation

According to Wicks poll, the most critical issue to Arizona voters is Threats to Democracy, at 33.8 percent, Cost of Living (27 percent), and Immigration/Border security (12.1 percent). Abortion was fifth, at 9.2 percent.

Moreover, the top choice was moderate, with 29.8 percent when respondents were given the option to note their political ideology. Somewhat Conservative came in second with 24.6 percent.

In the past, Masters has taken a strong Trump stance, while Kelly has continually courted moderates by highlighting his willingness to work across the aisle.

As a result, Republican leaders have questioned their partys ability to win Arizona.

At a Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) alluded to candidate quality as an issue for the Republican Party in Arizona.

Sen. Mark Kelly speaks to supporters during an election night event in Tucson, Ariz., on Nov. 3, 2020. (Courtney Pedroza/Getty Images)

But the Oct. 6 debate saw Masters softening his stance on issues such as abortion and election integrity and denouncing Kelly as a far-left candidate, not a moderate, by pointing to his partisan voting record.

Masters also scrubbed his campaign website of past references to his early MAGA support, his 100 percent pro-life stance, and his view that if elections were fair, Donald Trump would be president.

According to website archives, the positions were on his website as late as Aug. 18.

Those changes seem to be resonating with Arizona voters as polls now show Masters eating away at Kellys lead.

Arizona Decides

Arizona has leaned toward a more moderate electorate in the past two elections. In 2018, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Martha McSally lost to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema in what, at the time, was a significant upset.

In 2020, McSally lost again, but that was to Kelly in a special election to serve the last two years of the late Republican Sen. John McCains term.

Seemingly because of Arizonas moderate stance, Masters has taken measures to soften his previous Trump support.

In the U.S. Senate, 35 seats out of 100 are up for election on Nov. 8, with Democrats currently controlling 14 of those seats and Republicans 21.

The Capitol in Washington on Aug. 6, 2022. (Stephani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

Fifteen of the 35 seats up for election are considered Solid Republican by the Cook Political Reportnine are Solid Democrat; three on each side lean D and R, and one is Likely R. Only four are considered a toss-up.

Those toss-up seats have drawn the nations attention as the outcomes will determine who controls the U.S. Senate going into 2023. One of those seats is in Arizona.

The results of Wicks poll had a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points, was conducted between Oct. 26 and Oct. 30, and was a random sampling of 1,122 registered voters in Arizona.
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) campaigns with Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) at an Evening for Patriotism and Bipartisanship event in East Lansing, Mich., on Nov. 1, 2022. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

Midterm Elections Updates: Liz Cheney Endorses Democrat Tim Ryan in Senate Race

The latest on the midterm elections.

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Liz Cheney Backs Democrat Tim Ryan in Contested Ohio Senate Race

Embattled Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) has endorsed Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) in Ohios tight U.S. Senate race.

Ryan is running against Republican candidate J.D. Vance, a lawyer and author known for his book Hillbilly Elegy.

Discussing the race, Cheney told PBSs Judy Woodruff on Nov. 1, I would not vote for J.D. Vance.

Asked if she would support Ryan if she were an Ohio voter, Cheney responded, I would.

Cheney has been anathema among Republicans during the 117th Congress for her role on the Jan. 6 Committee, which other Republicans have described as little more than a partisan witch hunt directed against former President Donald Trump and his allies.

Ryan is the second Democrat to receive Cheneys backing. On Oct. 27, the outgoing Wyoming lawmaker threw her support behind Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.).

Read the full article here

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South Dakotas Noem Shores Up Support With Youngkin, Gabbard

Republican Gov. Kristi Noem was looking to shore up support for her South Dakota reelection bid Wednesday through a series of rallies with Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.

Noem has risen to national prominence within the GOP during her term as the states first female governor. The Republican governor has outspent her Democratic opponent, state lawmaker Jamie Smith, in the midterm election by nearly 6-to-1.

Noem crisscrossed between the states largest cities for three rallies Wednesday. Smith, meanwhile, embarked on an RV tour that will circle the state.

Noem has focused on ensuring her base turns out on Election Day. She called the race close at the rally with Youngkin.

The rally drew a few hundred people to a Sioux Falls convention hall who laughed along as Noem gifted a cowboy hat to Youngkin. The Virginia governor in turn launched basketballs into the crowd.

Noem allied herself closely with former President Donald Trump early on during the COVID-19 pandemic and derided mandating business closures or masks. The position garnered her national attention in the GOP, and she has staked out right-wing positions on abortion and education.

Noem claimed Smith had attacked me every day for not shutting down the state and letting businesses stay open.

Noem has tried to tie Smith to President Joe Biden, who she says is too extreme for South Dakotaa state where voter rolls have almost twice as many Republicans as Democrats.

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Masters Closes the Gap with Kelly in Arizona Race for US Senate

A week ago, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) led Republican challenger Blake Masters with six percentage points. Now, with just days to go before the Nov. 8 election, a new poll by Wick shows Masters closing the gap as Kellys lead has dropped to two percent.

Additionally, according to FiveThirtyEight, Wicks poll aligns with other polls conducted just a week earlier. An OH Predictive Insights poll conducted from Oct. 2426 showed Kelly at 48 percent and Masters at 46 percent. In fact, except for one poll by Siena College/The New York Times showing Kelly with a six-point lead, all of the latest polls show that the race between Kelly and Masters is neck-in-neck.

These polls happened after Masters and Kelly squared off in a debate where Masters toned down his partisan stance in what appeared to be an effort to court Arizonas more moderate political voters.

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Appeals Court Upholds New York Absentee Ballot Law, Reversing Earlier Ruling

An appeals court in New York on Nov. 1 upheld a state absentee ballot law, reversing an earlier ruling that found the law unconstitutional.

The law, enacted in 2022, says that In no event may a court order a ballot that has been counted to be uncounted. New York Supreme Court Justice Dianne Freestone ruled in October that the clause violated the Constitution and ordered all election boards in the state to segregate absentee ballots and hold them until a post-Election Day canvass.

The New York Supreme Courts Appellate Division vacated that order, ruling that Republicans who challenged the law waited too long and that granting them relief would disrupt the midterm election.

Read the full article here

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Poll: More Americans Planning Early Voting in 2022 Than During Past Three Midterms

A higher percentage of U.S. voters this year are planning to vote ahead of the 2022 Election Day or have already voted, as compared to other recent midterms, according to a poll released Wednesday.

A Gallup poll found that some 41 percent of registered voters have already voted or are planning to vote before Nov. 8, which is up from 34 percent during the 2018 midterms. It noted that during the 2014 and 2010 midterms, only about 26 percent said they planned to vote or had already voted.

However, the poll, which was carried out between Oct. 3 and Oct. 20, said that just 2 percent said they voted. The other 39 percent said they were planning to cast their ballots before next Tuesday.

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Democrat Strategists Express Alarm Over GOP Gains in New York Ahead of Midterms

Some Democrat strategists have expressed alarm by recent Republican gains and warned incumbent Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul could be defeated next week.

New York has not elected a Republican candidate for governor in decades. An aggregate of polls from RealClearPolitics shows that Hochuls alleged lead over Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) has shrunk in recent weeks, coming as Zeldin has repeatedly targeted Hochul and Democrats for what he said are their soft-on-crime policiesprompting Hochul to declare herself the underdog in the race last week.

Im worried. I think every Democrat should be worried, Rich Azzopardi, founder and principal of Bulldog Strategies and a former spokesman for Andrew Cuomos administration, told The Hill.

Read the full article here

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Pence Backs GOPs Kemp as Democrat Abrams Hits on Medicaid

Former Vice President Mike Pence took the stage Tuesday in Georgia to reinforce the main thrusts of Gov. Brian Kemps case for reelection against Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams, arguing that Kemp has been good for Georgias economy and Abrams is soft on crime.

No one in Georgias history has done more to create jobs, cut taxes, restore sanity to your schools, put criminals behind bars, protect the unborn, and secure all the God-given liberties enshrined in the Constitution of the United States than Gov. Brian Kemp, Pence told about 150 people in Cumming, part of a belt of Republican-dominated Atlanta exurbs key to Kemps reelection.

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Arizona Countys Ballot Hand-count Plan Challenged in Court

An Arizona countys plan to hand count all ballots cast in next weeks election has triggered a court challenge, marking the latest twist to the effort by rural Cochise County to mollify skeptics distrustful of its vote-counting equipment.

The lawsuit came Monday as Democrats agreed to help provide volunteers to assist in the tally of an estimated 50,000 early and Election Day ballots in the Republican-heavy county, which strongly backed former President Donald Trump in 2020.

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Top Senator Says Republicans Will Get 52 Senate Seats During 2022 Midterms

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, predicted the GOP will take at least 52 seats in the upcoming midterms.

Were gonna get 52 plus, Scott said in an interview Sunday on CNN. 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.

Scott suggested Republican Blake Masters could also prevail against incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) for Arizonas Senate seat.

Read the full article here

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Some Voters Cast Wrong Ballots in Split Nashville District

Election officials said Tuesday that some Tennessee voters have cast ballots in the wrong congressional district in Nashvillea city that Republican lawmakers carved three ways during redistricting in hopes of flipping a Democratic seat.

At least one precinct has been affected, which includes the 7th Congressional contest that pits Democratic candidate, Odessa Kelly, against Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Green.

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Liz Cheney Visits Michigan to Support Democrat Slotkin Bid

Republican Rep. Liz Cheney visited Michigan on Tuesday to support Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who the Wyoming representative crossed party lines to endorse last week in a first.

Slotkin is a two-term House member competing against Republican state Sen. Tom Barrett in Michigans redrawn 7th Congressional District, which includes Lansing. The contest is among the most expensive House races in the country and is considered a toss-up.

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As Housing Prices Surge, Rent Control is Back on the Ballot

Liberty McCoy was out Saturday urging voters to pass a Nov. 8 ballot measure to limit rent increases in Pasadena because shes afraid shell be priced out of the city where she grew up and where her aging parents live.

The librarian and her husband, a freelance consultant, received notice of a $100 monthly rent increase last year and another for $150 this year, bringing the rent on their home outside Los Angeles to $2,350 a month. They can absorb the increases for nowbut not forever.

A lot of times people are like, Well, just try and pick up and move to someplace cheaper, the 44-year-old said. But I have a job locally, my family, my friends. It would be a big challenge to uproot my entire life chasing cheaper rent.

With rental prices skyrocketing and affordable housing in short supply, inflation-weary tenants in cities and counties across the country are turning to the ballot box for relief. Supporters say rent control policies on the Nov. 8 ballot are the best short-term option to dampen rising rents and ensure vulnerable residents remain housed.

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Biden Lashes Out at DeSantis, Calling the Potential 2024 Rival Trump Incarnate

President Joe Biden suggested Tuesday that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would be another version of former President Trump, while the states Democrat gubernatorial nominee Charlie Crist is facing an increasing deficit in polls ahead of the midterms final week.

Charlie is running against Donald Trump incarnate, Biden said at a fundraiser for Crists campaign in Golden Beach before denouncing the incumbent governora major adversary of the Biden White House who can also be his potential 2024 rival. This guy doesnt fit any of the categories I talked about. The way he deals, the way he denies, Biden added.

The presidents sharp criticism drew a remarkable contrast from the cordial meeting between the two earlier in October, when he toured Hurricane Ian damage with DeSantis and praised the governor in front of the cameras, for doing a good job handling the storm recovery.

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Schmitt Leads by Double Digit in Missouri Senate Race: Poll

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt is now leading Democrat Trudy Busch Valentine by a double-digit in the Senate race as midterms are just one week away, the recent poll shows.

According to a survey from Emerson College Polling and The Hill released Nov. 1, 51 percent of potential voters favored Schmitt while just 39 percent backed Valentine for the Senate with 6 percent staying undecided.

The latest poll also sees Schmitts lead in terms of favorability. Fifty-four percent of interviewees held favorable views of the Republican candidate while 37 percent showed negative perceptions of him.

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Judge Restricts Group From Carrying Firearms, Speaking or Taking Videos at Arizona Ballot Drop Boxes

A federal judge in Arizona on Tuesday granted a temporary restraining order against Clean Elections USA, a grassroots organization aimed at maintaining election integrity.

The temporary restraining order (pdf), issued by Trump-appointed U.S. District Court Judge Michael Liburdim, limits Clean Elections USA, which has been observing drop boxes in Arizona, from carrying out certain actions at the ballot boxes.

Specifically, members of Clean Elections USA or its associates are barred from coming within 75 feet of a ballot drop box or a building housing a drop box, speaking or yelling at people within 75 feet of the drop box, unless they are yelled at first; or openly carrying firearms or wearing body armor within 250 feet of ballot drop boxes.

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Jack Phillips, Zachary Stieber, Rita Li, Hannah Ng, Katie Spence, Katabella Roberts, Joseph Lord, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More Top-Selling Dry Shampoos Found to Have Cancer-Causing Benzene: Study

A new study has found elevated levels of benzene, a human carcinogen, in a string of top-selling dry shampoo brands.

Researchers at Valisure, a New Haven, Connecticut-based independent analytical laboratory, tested 148 batches from 34 different brands using industry-standard GC-MS technology.

Among the dry shampoos tested were those from the brands Redken, Not Your Mothers, Sebastian, Batiste, OGX, and Paul Mitchell Invisiblewear.

They found that 70 percent of the samples tested showed quantifiable levels of benzene, while some samples analyzed directly from contaminated air suggest the sprayed product contained up to 170 times the conditionally restricted FDA concentration limit of 2 parts per million (ppm).

Researchers published their findings on Tuesday.

Benzene is a colorless or light-yellow liquid chemical at room temperature and can be found in many places in the environment, with humans exposed to the chemical on a daily basis in both indoor and outdoor settings.

Trace levels of the chemical can be found in cigarette smoke, gasoline, glues, adhesives, cleaning products, paint strippers, and more.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the World Health Organization, and other regulatory agencies, long-term exposure to high levels of benzene is known to cause cancer, including leukemia and blood cancer of the bone marrow, in humans. It can also cause life-threatening blood disorders.

Cause for Significant Concern

The detection of high levels of benzene in dry shampoos should be cause for significant concern since these products are likely used indoors, where benzene may linger and be inhaled for prolonged periods of time, said David Light, CEO of Valisure, in a press release.

These and other issues identified by Valisure, including the detection of benzene in body spray, hand sanitizer, and sunscreen products, strongly underscore the importance of independent testing and its need to be better integrated into an increasingly complex and vulnerable global supply chain.

Valisure subsequently sent a petition to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requesting that the agency recall the products identified in the study and requesting that if benzene use in products is unavoidable, for example, due to its help in producing a drug product with a significant therapeutic advance, then their levels should be restricted to the FDA concentration limit of 2 parts per million.

However, the dry shampoos tested are not drugs and contain no active pharmaceutical ingredient for a therapeutic purpose; therefore, any significant detection of benzene could be deemed unacceptable, the researchers wrote.

The results of the study come shortly after Unilever U.S. issued a voluntary recall of several brands of dry shampoo aerosol products after discovering potentially elevated levels of benzene.

Under that recall, brands including Dove, Nexxus, Suave, TIGI (Rockaholic and Bed Head), and TRESemme that were produced before October 2021 were pulled from shelves.

In a statement, Unilever U.S. said that based on an independent health hazard evaluation, daily exposure to benzene in the recalled products at the levels detected in testing would not be expected to cause adverse health consequences, but that the global consumer goods company was recalling the products out of an abundance of caution.

It added that it had not received any reports of adverse events related to the recalled products to date.

The Epoch Times has contacted the FDA for comment.

Mimi Nguyen Ly contributed to this report.
Water production at the City of Auburn Water Treatment Plant is set to halt temporarily, the Cayuga County Health Department said.

Kathleen Cuddy, the public health director for Cayuga County, in a news release said on Nov. 3, the city will conduct work on the plant, so water production will temporarily shut down. During the planned shutdown, which is estimated to take about eight hours, customers will get water through the city's reservoir.

Some city residents might experience a reduction in pressure due to the work, the news release said. The health department said people are encouraged to watch the news media and the health department's website, cayugacounty.us/health, for updates. Those with questions can call the Cayuga County Health Department Environmental Division at (315) 253-1405 or the water treatment plant at (315) 253-8754.
MPs on New Special Committee to See Files on Firing of Winnipeg Lab Scientists, Virus Transfers to China

The Liberal government has reached an agreement with opposition parties to create a special committee, giving MPs complete access to previously withheld documents in relation to the firing of two scientists from Canadas highest-security laboratory in Winnipeg and shipments of deadly viruses to China.

Government House Leader Speaker Mark Holland said his Conservative, NDP, and Bloc Quebecois counterparts have signed a memorandum of understanding that will allow MPs on the special committee to learn the reasons behind the eviction of Xiangguo Qiu and her husband Keding Cheng from the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in January 2021.

The couple was first escorted out of the NML facilities in July 2019 and were stripped of their security clearances. Controversies were raised after documents obtained by CBC News through an Access to Information request showed Qiu was in charge of shipping the deadly Ebola and Henipah viruses to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China in 2019.

Holland told The Globe and Mail on Nov. 1 that MPs on the special committee will also see documents involving the virus transfers, which raised public speculations that the two scientists were engaged in espionage activities, though the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) previously denied connections of the shipment and Qius eviction from the lab.

Former PHAC President Iain Stewart, testifying before the House Canada-China committee, had refused to disclose why the two scientists were fired, and the Liberal government even took House Speaker Anthony Rota to court for trying to obtain relevant information. The effort to have the court prohibit the disclosure of the documents was later dropped after the Parliament was dissolved when the federal election was called last year.

What they will have access to is all documents unredacted in their totality. They will be able to see behind the curtain on every aspect, Holland said. MPs on the special committee must sign an oath of secrecy and will be required to view the classified documents at a secure facility, he added.

The Conservatives had initially rejected the proposal of forming an ad hoc committee to review the documents last December, preferring that they be turned over to a regular committee of MPs who would decide what material would be released publicly, in an attempt to hold the Liberal government accountable. The NDP had accepted the proposal, Holland said this April.

Under the special committee, any disputes about what is to be released to Canadians will be decided by a panel of three retired judges, who have yet to be selected, reported the Globe.

Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong said his party still prefers going through a regular committee, and sought to revive their efforts in the 43rd Parliamentbefore the 2021 electionbut the government refused.

The Liberals left us no other option but to pursue this route, he told the Globe.

Collaborations With China

In a June 2021 interview with NTD, Chong said he was aware of seven federal scientists at the NML who worked with Chinese scientists on some of the worlds most dangerous viruses and pathogens.

Clearly there were national security breaches and military researchers from the Peoples Republic of China were given admittance to the lab by the government, and we need to understand why that happened and ensure it doesnt happen again, he told the Globe.

It was a major security breach.

The dismissed scientist Qiu had co-authored an Ebola study, first published in December 2018, three months after she began exporting the viruses to China. The study received grants from a number of Chinese state bodies, including the Ministry of Science and Technology of China and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

The lead author of the study, Hualei Wang, is affiliated with the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, a Chinese military medical institute based in Beijing, CBC reported.

Qiu came to Canada for graduate studies in 1996, but she remains affiliated with the universities in Tianjin, China, where she had worked as a medical doctor and virologist. She made at least five trips to China between 2017 and 2018, including one time to train Chinese scientists and technicians at a newly certified Level 4 lab, CBC reported in October 2019.

Prior to her dismissal, Qiu was the head of the Vaccine Development and Antiviral Therapies Section in the Special Pathogens Program at the NML. She is known for the development of ZMapp, a drug used for the treatment of the Ebola virus that caused the death of over 11,000 people in West Africa between 2014 and 2016.
North Carolina GOP candidate for Senate, Rep. Ted Budd (R-N.C.), celebrates his Republican nomination at a primary election night watch party at Kinderton in Bermuda Run, N.C., on May 17, 2022. (Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images)

North Carolinas Under-the-Radar Race Between Budd and Beasley Staying Tight

The race between Ted Budd and Cheri Beasley for North Carolinas open Senate seat has stayed tight as it enters the last week.

Its a competition that hasnt gotten the attention that Senate races in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia, or Arizona have, but maybe it should have.

The seat of the retiring Richard Burr is one the Republicans want and need to hold to keep up their chances of edging ahead in the U.S. Senate, currently divided 50-50 with the Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris as its tie-breaking vote.

Budd, a Congressman backed by former President Donald Trump, has maintained a narrow lead in the polls but one at, or near, the margin of error.

Politics website FiveThirtyEight averaged Budds margin at 3.2 percent on Nov. 1.

RealClearPolitics puts his average margin at 4.5 percent and rates the race Leans GOP.

Sabatos Crystal Ball has it leaning towards the Republicans.

North Carolina Democrat Senate candidate Cheri Beasley speaks to a crowd during an election night event in Raleigh, N.C., on May 17, 2022. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

Though public polls often show both contests to be within the margin of error, our thinking for basically the entire cycle has been that North Carolina and Ohio would stay in the red column, J. Miles Coleman wrote in Sabatos Crystal Ball.

Going down the home stretch, Republicans will be spending at least a few million more than Democrats in both states.

Budd has some things in his favor, including North Carolinas recent voting history.

The states politicos early on said this race would be won or lost in the suburbs, with rural voters firmly in the conservative Republicans column and urban ones just as firmly aligned with the Democrat former chief justice of the state.

A new Wall Street Journal poll, though, shows white suburban women, a much-sought-after constituency nationally for both parties, have swung 26 points away from the Democrats since August.

Pollster Tony Fabrizio told the Journal that undecided voters show a high level of concern about the economy and appear more likely to break toward the Republicans if they vote.

Michael Bitzer, a political science professor at Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina, told The Epoch Times the states relatively small number of undecideds gives Beasley less chance to find a winning margin among them.

Paul Shumaker, a Republican strategist, told The Epoch Times, the red wave is real in North Carolina.

He tied Beasleys steady lag in the polls to her partys failure to use social issues like abortion and the Supreme Courts Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade to mobilize voters and counter the Republicans message about the ailing economy.

North Carolina Democrat strategist Morgan Jackson told The Epoch Times this was the sleeper race of the cycle, which might have worked to Beasleys advantage, helping her stay close.

Both candidates have kept a distance from certain significant figures in their respective parties.

Budd, despite his endorsement by Trump and the former presidents popularity in rural North Carolina, doesnt talk about him a lot, Bitzer told NPR.

Beasley hasnt had President Joe Biden, his popularity ratings underwater, stump for her.

Thats a key dynamic that Republicans do not need in these last few weeks of the election, is to have Donald Trump on the ballot. They want Joe Biden on the ballot, Bitzer said.

If Trump is on the ballot, that not only energizes Republicans, but it also energizes Democrats because they dont want another Donald Trump clone to be in Congress.

Former President Barack Obama endorsed Beasley and cut an ad for her last week but has not visited the state to stump for her. She did have rocker Dave Matthews appear at a rally with her, while Budd got a visit from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

Budd was one of the first candidates Trump endorsed this cycle. He is much more conservative than the man he seeks to replace, Burr, who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment.

Burr, who announced in 2016 that he would not seek another term, has had his conservatism measured at 61 percent by Heritage Action, while Budd scored 98 percent.
A discarded face mask is pictured on the sidewalk in Long Beach, Calif., on Aug. 22, 2020. (Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images)

Orange County Issues Emergency Declaration Due to Rising RSV Cases

SANTA ANA, Calif.Citing a record number of pediatric hospitalizations and emergency room visits, Orange County was under a health emergency declaration Nov. 1, with the county health officer pointing to a sharp rise in cases of the respiratory infection RSV, combined with COVID-19 and flu.

Cases of RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, have been on the rise nationally, exacerbating a health system still coping with the COVID pandemic and an earlier-than-usual onset of flu season.

While there isnt a vaccine against RSV,  there are many ways to protect children and at-risk individuals. Following preventive measures, including remaining up to date with other vaccinations such as flu and COVID-19, can help reduce the severity of disease and can help reduce the burden on hospitals this fall and winter, Orange County Health Officer Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong said in a statement.

Our best shot at protecting ourselves and our children from respiratory illnesses continues to be the same things we practiced throughout the pandemic including the use of masks when indoors around others and staying home when you are sick, she continued.

In addition to a countywide declaration of a health emergency, a proclamation of local emergency was also issued, allowing the county to access state and federal resources to address the rise in virus infections.

The Orange County Health Care Agency Emergency Medical Services is monitoring regional hospital capacity, and officials said they are working with hospitals experiencing particularly high patient volumes in pediatric units and emergency departments.

RSV is a relatively common respiratory virus. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most patients recover in a week or two, but it can become a serious illness for infants and older adults. CDC officials have been tracking higher-than-usual infection numbers, reporting that some regions of the country are already nearing seasonal peak levels of hospitalizations and ER visits due to RSV.

The Orange County Health Care Agency recommended that parents seek medical attention immediately for children showing warning signs, which may include difficulty breathing, signs of dehydration, persistent or high fever, or looking or acting very sick.

The Health Care Agency also offered a list of preventive actions:

Do not go to school or work when you are symptomatic.

Avoid close contact such as kissing, hugging, and sharing cups or eating utensils with people who are sick, and when you are sick.

Cover your coughs and sneezes with a tissue or your upper shirt sleeve, not your hands. Mask when indoors or in large group settings.

Wash your hands frequently, especially before and after eating and using the bathroom.

Get flu shots and COVID-19 vaccines to prevent complications from these viral illnesses.

In neighboring Los Angeles County, Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said last week the county was seeing a higher-than-usual number of RSV cases, and health officials were monitoring the situation. Flu cases have also been rising earlier than usual, Ferrer said, coinciding with the recent lifting of many COVID-era prevention requirements, such as mask-wearing, which also served to reduce transmission of flu and other viruses during the pandemic.

Los Angeles County Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Janice Hahn introduced a motionset to be heard during Nov.1 board meetingcalling on the county to develop a public-outreach campaign to provide parents with information about RSV and preventative measures and encourage childhood vaccinations. The motion also calls for a report from health officials on RSV case numbers and hospitalizations in the county.

Their motion contends that the positivity rate for RSV has nearly doubled in the past three weeks in the county, and many hospitals are beginning to report capacity strains.

No exact figures were released, but health officials were expected to give an update to the Board of Supervisors Tuesday.

More information on RSV and preventive measures are available online.
Francois-Philippe Champagne, Canadas minister of innovation, science and economic development, speaks at a news conference in Vancouver on Sept. 7, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck)

Ottawa Gets Tougher on Foreign Government Investment in Critical Minerals, Orders Chinese Divestment

Chinese companies present challenges when determining their ownership

News Analysis

Ottawa is taking steps to protect and develop its critical minerals supply chain by cracking down on foreign governments investment in these natural resources. On Nov. 2 Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne ordered three Chinese companies to sell their investments in Canadian lithium companies.

We will act decisively when investments threaten our national security and our critical minerals supply chains, both at home and abroad, he said in a statement.

Critical minerals, which include lithium, cobalt, copper, as well as the rare earth elements, are vital for a number of technologies across a range of applications, such as batteries, electronics, defence, and renewable energy. Thus the demand for them is only projected to go up.

China is by far the dominant player in the global critical minerals supply chainwith 80 percent market share in some casesand Canada and the United States are trying to wrest control to ensure reliable access for themselves and their allies.

Champagne said the government has ordered Sinomine Rare Metal Resources Co. Ltd. to divest itself of its investment in Power Metals Corp., Chengze Lithium International Ltd. to divest itself of its investment in Lithium Chile Inc., and Zangge Mining Investment Co. Ltd., to divest itself of its investment in Ultra Lithium Inc.

The governments decisions are based on facts and evidence and on the advice of critical minerals subject matter experts, Canadas security and intelligence community, and other government partners, the minister said.

Additional Direction

Less than a week before Champagnes Nov. 2 order, the feds had provided additional direction on applying the Investment Canada Act (ICA) in cases involving foreign investments by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Canadas critical minerals sectors.

Significant transactions by foreign state-owned enterprises in Canadas critical minerals sectors will only be approved as of likely net benefit on an exceptional basis, said an ISED statement issued Oct. 28.

As is custom in such announcements, no specific country was named, but China would be the logical target given past Canadian experience with its SOEs and the current state of affairs with critical minerals globally.

The global market for critical minerals is rapidly evolving and the strategic value of certain minerals, including lithium, has grown. The government has concluded that a lack of secure access to critical minerals found and developed both within and outside of Canada, by Canadian firms, is a source of national security risk for Canada, a spokesman for ISED told The Epoch Times.

The government is in the process of finalizing its first Critical Minerals Strategy, announced in this years federal budget. Budget 2022 proposed to provide up to $3.8 billion over eight years to implement the strategy, starting in 202223.

Dealing With SOEs

China analysts and scholars have long said that due to Chinas lack of transparency with respect to its organizational structure, domestic laws, and internal and undocumented regulations and customs, it can be difficult to distinguish between companies that are truly private and those that are state-owned.

For example, there continues to be broad concern over Chinese telecommunications giant Huaweis ownership and claim of independence, especially considering Chinas national security and cybersecurity laws, which have been taken to mean that Huawei and other Chinese companies are subject to Beijings direct orders.

Big Chinese companiesespecially those involved in sensitive industries like telecommunicationsare all subject to the objectives of the ruling communist regime, Michel Juneau-Katsuya, a former Canadian Security Intelligence Service senior manager, previously told The Epoch Times.

ISEDs Oct. 28 statement also provided the link to the feds updated policy on SOEs foreign investments in critical minerals under the ICA. In the policy, the department spelled out the problems, such as how they can be motivated by non-commercial imperatives that are contrary to Canadas interests.

This includes the case of private companies that are assessed as being closely tied to, subject to influence from, or who could be compelled to comply with extrajudicial direction from foreign governments, particularly non-likeminded governments, the updated policy said.

The ICA includes in its definition of an SOE an entity that is controlled or influenced, directly or indirectly, by a government or agency [of such a government].

ISED said its updated policy is not retroactive.

The Quest for Lithium

One critical minerallithiumrecently illustrated a potential weakness in Canadas acceptance of foreign investment. The $960 million takeover by Chinese mining giant Zijin, announced in October 2021, of Canadian firm Neo Lithium went ahead without any scrutiny from the government.

Zijin is ostensibly a private company and thus falls under a much higher threshold for being allowed to directly take control of a Canadian firm without triggering a review. If the investor-purchaser is based in a World Trade Organization member country, as is China, the ICAs 2022 threshold for SOE investments is $454 million, but the threshold for investment by a private company is now $1.141 billion.

The potential of SOE foreign investments threatening Canadas national security has been considered so serious that a senator tabled a bill last year to require a mandatory national security review any time an SEO proposes a foreign investment in Canada.

Senator Thanh Hai Ngo, now retired, proposed Bill S-234 to amend the ICA and specifically pointed the finger at China. However, the potential legislation did not receive royal assent and came to an end in August 2021 when a federal election was called and Parliament was dissolved.

Canada has had its share of experiences dealing with Chinese SOE interest in Canadian natural resources and critical infrastructure. A high-profile case involved the attempted takeover of infrastructure giant Aecon in 2017. Canada rejected the takeover bid in 2018 on national security grounds.

Chinese SOEs have been known to undercut and bankrupt local companies and thus gain market share, with profitability being only a secondary concern.

Beijing has previously said it wanted unfettered access to Canadas economy around the time when Canada-China free-trade talks were being considered in 2017.
Health Canada has issued a recall some lots of Bed Head TIGI, Dove, and Tresemme dry shampoo products due to detection of benzene. (Health Canada Handout)

Over 100 Incidents or Injuries Reported Since Dry Shampoo Mass Recall: Health Canada

More than 100 incidents or injuries have been reported to Health Canada ever since the agency recalled over 1.5 million dry shampoo products due to the detection of benzene, a cancer-causing chemical.

The recall, announced on Oct. 18 by the health agency, covered certain batches of Bed Head TIGI, Dove, and Tresemme dry shampoo products that are packaged in aerosol cans, and distributed by consumer goods giant Unilever Canada Inc.

Unilever Canada issued a statement that same day saying that the recalled products were distributed nationwide in Canada through retail outlets and online.

Health Canada said the affected products, manufactured in the United States, were sold in Canada from January 2020 to October 2022.

In an email statement to The Epoch Times on Nov. 2, Health Canada said it has received over 100 reports of incidents or injuries related to the products since the recall, with irritation or allergic reaction being one of the main injury types reported.

Please note that not all reports include injuries; some reports only relate to questions about the recall, the email said.

The governments official site to report an incident involving a consumer product or cosmetic includes the reporting of defective or damaged products, issues with product labelling or instruction, as well as injury or death.

Due to reports still incoming, the total number of reports and the analysis of types of injury are ongoing, said Health Canada in the email.

Health Canada understands that consumers may have used these products in the past and recognize the challenges for consumers in knowing whether they are impacted by the recalled products.

In the statement on Oct. 18, Unilever Canada said an internal investigation identified the propellant as the source for potentially elevated levels of benzene, and it has started working with the propellant suppliers to address the issue.

Unilever Canada is recalling these products out of an abundance of caution, the company said.

This is not the first time Health Canada has recalled products with presence of benzene. According to its records, there were at least 12 recalls related to the same issue since 2021.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz sits at the defense table during a victim impact statements at his sentencing hearing at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Nov. 2, 2022. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP, Pool)

Parkland School Shooter Nikolas Cruz Formally Sentenced to Life in Prison

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz formally received a sentence of life without parole Wednesday after families of his 17 slain victims spent two days berating him as evil, a coward, a monster and a subhuman.

Cruz, shackled and in a red jail jumpsuit, watched Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer as she pronounced 34 consecutive life sentencesone each for the slain and the 17 he woundedfor the Feb. 14, 2018, massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in suburban Fort Lauderdale.

The judges voice broke as she read the first of the sentences, but her voice gained strength and volume she moved down the list. Cruz showed no emotion as she spoke.

Scherer had no other choice; the jury in Cruzs three-month penalty trial voted 93 on Oct. 13 to sentence him to death, but Florida law requires unanimity for that sentence to be imposed.

The sentencing came after two days worth of parents, wives, siblings and other relatives of slain victims and some of the surviving wounded walking to a lectern 20 feet to address him face to face.

The judge commended the families and wounded who testified, calling them strong, graceful and patient.

I know you are going to be OK, because you have each other, Scherer said.

Some parents and other family members wept as she read. When she finished and Cruz was led from the courtroom, one father muttered Good riddance.

Cruz, 24, will be taken within days to the Florida prison systems processing center near Miami before he is assigned to a maximum-security prison. Families and the wounded spent two days verbally thrashing Cruz, wishing him a painful demise and lamenting that he could not be sentenced to death.

Real justice would be done if every family here were given a bullet and your AR-15 and we got to pick straws, and each one of us got to shoot one at a time at you, making sure that you felt every bit of it, and your fear continued to mount until the last family member who pulled that last straw had the privilege of making sure that they killed you, said Linda Beigel Schulman, mother of slain teacher Scott Beigel. Thats real justice for you.

Beigel Schulman said she takes some comfort in knowing that Cruz will have to worry constantly about his safety for the rest of his life.

From what I hear, child killers are highly frowned upon and hated in prison, Beigel Schulman said to Cruz. I welcome the day that Im told that youve been tortured and taken out for your cold-blooded, premediated, calculated, heinous murders, because you deserve no less.

David Alhadeff, the uncle of Alyssa Alhadeff, told Cruz via Zoom from his classroom in Maryland that he deserves the opportunity to rot away.

You deserve the opportunity to absorb the look of terror on your face once you leave this courtroom, Alhadeff said. You deserve the opportunity of knowing that justice will prevail at some point, causing you great anguish, minute by minute, day by day.

By Terry Spencer
Voters cast their early voting ballot at drop box outside of City Hall in Philadelphia, Pa., on Oct. 17, 2020. (Mark Makela/Getty Images)

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Orders Undated, Wrongly Dated Ballots to Not Be Counted

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered counties to not count any ballots that are in undated or incorrectly dated envelopes in the upcoming Nov. 8 elections, siding with national and state Republican groups in a lawsuit filed just over two weeks ago.

The Pennsylvania county boards of elections are hereby ORDERED to refrain from counting any absentee and mail-in ballots received for the November 8, 2022 general election that are contained in undated or incorrectly dated outer envelopes, the court said in its order (pdf).

It added, We hereby DIRECT that the Pennsylvania county boards of elections segregate and preserve any ballots contained in undated or incorrectly dated outer envelopes.

Court justices were split 33 on whether not counting these ballots would violate 52 US Code section 10101 (a)(2)(B), a voting provision under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The provision states that no person acting under color of law shall deny the right of any individual to vote in any election because of an error or omission on any record or paper relating to any application, registration, or other act requisite to voting, if such error or omission is not material in determining whether such individual is qualified under State law to vote in such election.

Chief Justice Debra Todd, and Justices Christine Donohue and David Wechtall Democratswould find a violation of federal law if ballots were thrown out based on requiring a date, the court order states. Meanwhile, Justice Kevin Dougherty, a Democrat, and Justices Sallie Updyke Mundy and Kevin Brobson, both Republicans, would not find a violation of federal law. The court is down one member after Chief Justice Max Baer died in September.

The court said that opinions for the decision are to follow.

Republicans Sought Expedited Review

The latest court decision comes after the Republican National Committee (RNC), the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), and the Republican Party of Pennsylvania in October joined in filing a lawsuit to block undated mail-in ballots and absentee ballots from being counted, even if they are received on time.

In a petition, the group asked for an expedited review, which requires the court to use its special power to bypass the lower courts in taking up the case. On Oct. 21, the court granted the request, a move that suggested it regards the matter as urgent and important.

Pennsylvania Department of State officials argued that state law between 1945 to 1968 had directed counties to set aside mail-in ballots when the date on the envelope was later than the election day. But in 1968, the state law was changed, resulting in the deletion of a section in the law that required counties to set aside ballots based on the date on the return envelope, the officials noted.

Republicans asked the justices to rule on the language of Pennsylvanias law, which states that an absentee or mail-in voter shall  fill out, date and sign the declaration printed on the outer envelope of the ballot. They asked the court that if it doesnt order counties to throw out the undated or incorrectly dated ballots, then it should at least order counties to segregate the ballots.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the individual petitioners from the case due to lack of standing, while determining that the RNC, NRCC, and the Pennsylvania GOP have standing.

Prior to the latest legal fight, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled in May that having dates on the return envelope is not mandatory, and that mail-in ballots without the date had to be counted in a 2021 Pennsylvania judge race.

The ruling was welcomed by Democrats, including the Pennsylvania Department of State under the administration of Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat. It immediately adjusted its nonbinding guidance to say that counties should count undated ballots.

But the U.S. Supreme Court in October vacated the decision by the appeals court, and dismissed the case as moot.

Pennsylvania state law requires that voters handwrite a date on the outer envelope when they send in mail ballots. However, the date thats handwritten on the envelope is not used to verify whether a ballot has been received on time for the election, because the ballots are supposed to be time-stamped when they arrive at county offices.
Pennsylvania Taxpayers Have Paid $16 Million for Childhood Sex Reassignment Treatments

Switching genders is expensive. But low-income children in Pennsylvania are covered under medical assistance through the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Pennsylvania taxpayers have unknowingly paid more than $16 million under Democrat Gov. Tom Wolfs administration to fund sex reassignment and gender transition services for children.

Each year since 2015, when Wolf took office, state spending on childhood sex change treatments has increased, data obtained by the Pennsylvania Family Institute shows.

In 2015, Pennsylvania paid $78,000 for services related to sex reassignment for children under 18. In 2021, the state spent $3.9 million.

The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (PA DHS) provided data to the Pennsylvania Family Institute through a Right to Know request seeking records reflecting the amount of money Pennsylvania has spent for minors through CHIP to receive services related to sex reassignment and transition related services and drugs, from 2015 to present.

This level of state-endorsed harm upon children is reprehensible, Alexis Sneller of the Pennsylvania Family Institute said in a statement. While we knew the Wolf administration was funding services related to these irreversible procedures on minors, now seeing the exact numbersmillions spent towards these detrimental actsis still shocking.

Taxpayer Funded Treatments

The data includes basic codes and descriptions for each treatment, but its unclear how many treatments were used for each patient, so the total number of minors who received the medications and procedures is unknown.

Treatments listed in the data include androgenic agents, which are used in the transition from female to male; and estrogenic agents, which are feminizing hormones powerful enough to cause a male to develop breasts.

Some girls were given Yuvafem, a vaginal insert tablet used to reduce symptoms of menopause, and Estring, another menopause insert in the form of a flexible ring that continuously releases estrogen. The Estring safety indications include a warning that using the product may increase the chance of developing dementia, and that estrogens should be used at the lowest dose possible and only for as long as needed.

Many treatments are hormones in the form of gels, creams, patches, and pills normally used for women in menopause and post-menopause. Others are testosterone replacements, normally used in men who dont make enough on their own.

All are being prescribed for off-label use.

Since no drugs are specifically for sex reassignment or transition related services, pharmacy claims were only included where the recipient had a previous gender identity disorder diagnosis or personal history of sex reassignment diagnosis within the specified service dates, the PA DHS said in a note included in the answer to the Right to Know request. Data is limited to recipients aged 18 and younger.

The data is from Jan. 1, 2015, to Oct. 21, 2022.

Homeless Kids Get Gender Treatment

During a Pennsylvania House Health Committee hearing, Childrens Hospital of Philadelphias (CHOP) gender clinic co-founder Nadia Dowshen testified that her clinic receives referrals from foster care and homeless shelters.

Were really getting referrals from a variety of resources, Dowshen testified. Were getting a lot more referrals from institutions and other youth serving professionals working with youth in other capacities, sometimes from within the foster care system, or the mental health system, or through homeless shelters for youth who are in need of support.

In another presentation, Dowshen praised Dr. Rachel Levine, calling the former Pennsylvania secretary of health a wonderful advocate  doing amazing work to make sure young people have coverage of these medications.

Levine is a transgender individual who served in Pennsylvania until President Joe Biden appointed Levine as assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Levine is a former professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the Penn State College of Medicine and a longtime advocate of gender affirming care, which includes puberty blockers, hormone treatments, and surgeries with life-altering consequences for children and adolescents who want to change their bodies and live as the opposite sex.

Gender affirming care in children is controversial because many treatments are irreversible, and decisions about medically managing gender in childhood are made before a childs brain is fully developed.

When Gov. Wolf took office, he unilaterally changed state policy to cover things like double mastectomies to remove healthy breasts from minor girls and irreversible experimental hormones for children, Emily Kreps of Pennsylvania Family Institute said in a statement. The same drugs used to chemically castrate convicted sex offenders are being funded by tax dollars for minors.

The transgender industry seems to be driven equally by monetary profit and the radical gender ideology that makes it possible, she said.
Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and Philippine National Police (PNP) rescuers retrieve a body following flooding and landslides due to Tropical Storm Nalgae, in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao, Philippines, on Oct. 28, 2022. (Philippine Coast Guard/Handout via Reuters)

Philippine President Marcos Inspects Landslide-Hit Province, Death Toll at 110

MANILAPhilippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday conducted an aerial inspection over a southern province hit by landslides triggered by Tropical Storm Nalgae that killed 110 people.

More than 100 people were injured and 33 were still missing as a result of widespread flooding and multiple landslides, the disaster agency said.

Nalgae is headed for southern China after damaging $22 million worth of farm goods and $13 million worth of infrastructure, government data showed. It is the second-most destructive storm to hit the Philippines so far this year, after tropical storm Megi killed 214 people in April.

Marcos on Tuesday ordered officials to distribute relief packs faster and called for better preparation ahead of four more tropical storms forecast by the weather agency before the end of the year.

When we were doing aerial inspection, I noticed that landslides occurred in denuded mountains and that was the problem, said Marcos, who also visited an evacuation centre in Maguindanao province.

Most of the casualties from Nalgae, the countrys 14th cyclone this year, were in the southern autonomous region of Bangsamoro because of rain-induced landslides in deforested areas.

The Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,600 islands, sees an average 20 typhoons a year, with frequent landslides and floods blamed on the growing intensity of tropical cyclones due to climate change.
Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and defense minister Mariusz Blaszczak meet with service members near the frontier, as hundreds of migrants gather on the Belarusian side of the border with Poland in an attempt to cross it, near Kuznica in Bialostocka, Poland, on Nov. 9, 2021. (Polish Prime Minister's Office/Handout via Reuters)

Poland Begins Construction of Razor-Wire Barrier Along Border With Russias Kaliningrad Amid Security Concerns

Poland has begun constructing a razor-wire fence on its border with Russias Kaliningrad, where Moscow has a significant military presence, officials said on Nov. 2.

Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak told reporters at a news conference that he has ordered the temporary barrier to be built immediately to ensure that Poland is secure. The barrier will measure 2.5 meters (eight feet) high and three meters (10 feet) deep along the 210-kilometer (130-mile) border.

Baszczak cited security concerns as the reason behind the construction at the border, which comes amid ongoing tensions with Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

Warsaw is also concerned that the Kremlin plans to facilitate illegal border crossings by Asian and African immigrants in an effort to destabilize Europe, concerns prompted by a recent decision by Russias aviation authority to launch flights from the Middle East and North Africa to Kaliningrad.

The border area, which is patrolled by border guards, has no physical barrier. Polish soldiers specializing in demining began carrying out the initial prep work on Nov. 2.

The barrier is due to be completed by the end of 2023, Baszczak said.

He referenced the 2021 crisis during which thousands of African and Middle Eastern illegal aliens attempted to cross the border of Belarus, a close ally of Russia, into Poland. Many of those border crossers died, and Poland subsequently erected a steel wall on the Belarus border to stem the flow of illegal immigrants. That border was completed in June.

At the time, Polish and other European Union leaders accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenkos government of encouraging immigrants from the Middle East to travel to Minsk and make their way into Europe.

Belarus officials denied those claims.

A member of the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service stands near the border with Belarus and Poland in the Volyn region of Ukraine on Nov. 16, 2021. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters)

PolandRussia Border Stable and Calm

Human rights groups then accused Poland of double standards after the nation welcomed an influx of Ukrainians fleeing Russias invasion while simultaneously moving to prevent Middle Eastern and North African migrants from entering via the Belarus border.

If you give a lift to a refugee at the Ukrainian border, you are a hero. If you do it at the Belarus border, you are a smuggler and could end up in jail for eight years, said Natalia Gebert, founder and CEO of Dom Otwarty, or Open House, a Polish nongovernmental organization that helps refugees, according to a June report by The Associated Press.

Kaliningrad is a semi-exclavea portion of a country thats geographically separated from the main part by a surrounding foreign territorythat lies on the Baltic Sea and is sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania and separated from Belarus by a border corridor.

Despite there being no barrier along the border, a spokesperson for the Polish Border Guard told Reuters that there were no illegal entries from Kaliningrad into Poland in October.

The PolishRussian border is stable and calm. There has been no illegal crossing of the border, Polish border spokesperson Anna Michalska said. We are not only there in times of peace. We are prepared for various crisis situations, and after what happened on the PolishBelarusian border, we are even more prepared for everything, for all of the darkest scenarios.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
ROCHESTER  As Democrat Kathy Hochul took the stage at Abraham Lincoln School 22 on Upper Falls Boulevard Saturday, the lineup behind her seemed to represent all the advantages enjoyed by the incumbent governor of New York.

Rep. Joe Morrelle and Monroe County Executive Adam Bello bring the power of the area's Democratic Party. Adam Urbanski, president of the Rochester Teachers Association, commands an army of unionized teachers knocking on doors and making phone calls.

Even the kids posing for photos with their governor proved perfect for the cameras recording Hochul's every move.

"She is a longtime friend who works incredibly hard to lead the state," Morrelle told a crowd gathered at a book drive sponsored by the New York State United Teachers union. "She is a great friend of Rochester."

As Hochul's faceoff against Republican Lee Zeldin enters its final days, she is charging harder than at any other time in her long political career. She traverses the state on an almost daily basis, concentrating on New York City and its trove of Democratic voters while tending to her own upstate base as well. The first upstater in more than a century (as well as the first woman) to vie for the governor's office, Hochul finds herself in an unusual defensive position. Polls show Zeldin squeezing into single digits Hochul's once-commanding lead, prompting prominent Republicans like Governors Glenn Youngkin of Virginia and Ron DeSantis of Florida to campaign in New York for the congressman from Suffolk County.

Now, torrents of money flow into the coffers of both candidates as Zeldin's GOP is heartened and Democrats rush to Hochul's aid. For the first time since Gov. George E. Pataki's victory in 2002, Republicans in New York sense the possibility of an upset in uber-Democratic New York.

But none of it fazes Hochul, the diminutive figure working her way a few days ago through the state's fourth largest city. She seems to have revived her well-chronicled gift for retail politicking, visiting small businesses and plunging into crowds while state troopers hover nearby. On this Saturday in Rochester, she seems the same Kathy from Hamburg who started on the Town Council.

"When I was in third grade  I grew up in a big Irish Catholic family  and took out a book about Harriet Tubman," she tells the kids at Abraham Lincoln School, referring to the famous Underground Railroad conductor with ties to Rochester. "When I read about her life, I did a book report on her. She was brave and courageous. And now I have a statue of her in my office."

But then Hochul latches on to the concepts that she hopes will prompt the Democratic base she needs. Especially upstate, she touts jobs and the economy.

"We're bringing 50,000 jobs to upstate with Micron," she says about the tech giant planning a mega-facility in suburban Syracuse. "And Joe Morrelle helped with the legislation (providing government incentives)."

Indeed, Hochul is basking in the glow of Micron Technologies' plans to invest $100 billion in the facility over the next 20 years that is expected to directly employ 9,000 and indirectly many thousands more. While Zeldin hammers her on crime, he also complains about a state government that taxes too much and over-regulates its businesses  driving away those migrating to other states. She has no problem defending the $5.5 billion in state incentives that helped lure the Idaho-based Micron to the Syracuse area.

Those with her at Abraham Lincoln School will provide key components to the effort she hopes will prompt Democrats in Rochester and elsewhere to go to the polls. Urbanski, the teachers union chief, said the Saturday assemblage represents a powerful coalition of Hochul supporters. His group of 3,100 teachers will not only ask its members to vote, but staff phone banks and mail flyers encourage votes for the governor and other endorsed candidates.

Urbanski acknowledges that the crime issues raised by Zeldin are presenting a challenge to Hochul, and that they must be overcome.

"We're not taking anything for granted," he says. "There's a lot at stake here for public education and for those who are truly disadvantaged."

No stranger to Delavan-Grider

It was no accident that Hochul, accompanied by her husband, Bill (general counsel for Delaware North Cos. and former U.S. attorney for Western New York), earlier on Saturday chose the Delavan-Grider Community Center on Buffalo's East Side to mark her ballot on the first day of early voting. In the heart of Buffalo's Black community, it served as the venue for President Biden to console a grieving community following the May 14 shooting at the Jefferson Avenue Tops that killed 10 Black Buffalonians.

Hochul arrived at the polling site accompanied by most of Erie County's slate of Democratic candidates this year, as well as other top Democrats like Mayor Byron W. Brown, County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz, Rep. Brian Higgins and Assembly Majority Leader Crystal D. Peoples-Stokes. African American voters form a normally reliable cadre of Democratic voters, and Hochul is counting on them for support. For sure, she will gain a high percentage of Black voters against Zeldin. But she must also attract numbers to avoid the less-than-robust Black turnout that doomed former Gov. Mario M. Cuomo's bid for a fourth term in 1994.

And while a steady stream of mostly Black voters flowed into the community center last Saturday, Board of Elections officials report weekend totals at about half of the same period in the 2020 presidential year (about 28,000 then compared to about 14,000 this year). Still, voters like Luveena Ward of Buffalo said they marked their ballot for Hochul.

"I like what she says, and she does what she says," Ward said. "And I like that she showed up after what happened at Tops. She's from this area and knows the people."

Brown, meanwhile, senses "a lot of excitement" as Election Day approaches, and predicts Hochul will win comfortably. But he acknowledges that turning out the vote is "absolutely crucial" to her success. That's where the mayor's own political organization comes into play.

"I will do everything I can to let everyone know that voting for Gov. Hochul is in the best interest of our community," he told The Buffalo News.

The governor, meanwhile, stood before a phalanx of still and television cameras after casting her vote, and immediately focused on efforts to combat gun violence that she constantly touts in the face of her opponent's relentless criticism. Zeldin's anti-crime message, most observers believe, has propelled his recent surge in the polls.

She has been no stranger to the Delavan-Grider Community Center, she says, "in good times and in bad."

"We went back with a strong sense of purpose that we as a community would rise up and also make sure we had the toughest gun laws in the nation," she says, "so that no teenager could ever again buy an AR-15 and do this in our lifetime.

"Public safety is top of mind," she adds.

WNY projects 'not set in stone'

Later in Rochester, Hochul was making her final pitch in tours of small businesses led by Mayor Malik Evans. She finds an enthusiastic audience at Women of Color on South Avenue, a collaborative of 10 businesses owned by Black women in the South Wedge neighborhood. Connie Marple, founder and manager, is in the governor's corner.

"She's definitely pro-woman and pro-choice. She's all about empowering women, especially in a man's world," Marple said.

After one more stop at Loves Barbershop on Thurston Road, Hochul sums up her final pitch in an interview with The News. Zeldin's opposition to her pledge of $600 million in state funds for a new Buffalo Bills stadium, she says, only touches on how his election could submarine a host of Western New York projects planned by the state. She lists projects such as millions for the Outer Harbor, DL&W Terminal, Central Terminal and $1 billion to reunite the neighborhood split by construction of the Kensington Expressway as threatened by a new governor who could reverse her commitments.

"These are all not set in stone," she says. "Just like the stadium, and that's set in panic among a lot of Bills fans."

Ditto, the governor says, for the gun laws enacted after the Tops shooting, such as restrictions on sale of assault-style weapons to people under 18, or removing 8,000 illegal guns from the streets.

"He could reverse all the bills and I proposed and signed to protect people after the massacre in Buffalo," she said, adding Zeldin now talks about arming teachers or allowing people to carry guns in places of worship. She makes the closing argument that her measures more effectively fight crime.

"You can keep people scared," she says, "or you can keep people safe."
U.S. President Joe Biden (L) and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (R) arrive for the family photo during the Jeddah Security and Development Summit (GCC+3) at a hotel in Saudi Arabias Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah on July 16, 2022. (Mandel Ngan/Pool/AFP/Getty Images)

Warning of Potential Iran Attack Puts Saudi Arabia, US on Raised Alert

Saudi Arabia has alerted U.S. officials about intelligence suggesting that Iran is poised to carry out attacks within the kingdom, according to Saudi and U.S. officials.

In response to the threat, the United States, Saudi Arabia, and other neighboring nations have raised the alert level of their military forces, officials from Riyadh and Washington told The Wall Street Journal, without providing details. Tehran is said to be planning the attacks on Saudi Arabia and Iraq, where some U.S. troops are based, in a bid to draw attention away from protests in Iran that have attracted widespread global attention.

I can say that we do remain concerned about the threat situation in the region, Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said during a press briefing on Nov. 1. Were in regular contact with our Saudi partners in terms of what information they may have to provide on that front.

But what weve said before, and Ill repeat it, is that we will reserve the right to protect and defend ourselves no matter where our forces are serving, whether in Iraq or elsewhere.

He declined to talk about specific force protection levels.

There have been widespread public protests in Iran since a young woman died on Sept. 16 while in police custody. She was arrested for not following the countrys strict dress code for women.

Since then, more than 1,000 people have been arrested and more than 200 killed as protesters called for protecting womens rights and demanded that the Islamic government be brought down.

Iran Protests

Authorities in Tehran have accused the United States and Saudi Arabia of instigating the protests. Last month, Hossein Salami, the commander-in-chief of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, blamed Saudi Arabia for trying to trick Iranian youth through media outlets.

I am warning the Saudi regime: Be careful of your behavior and control these outlets or the smoke will blow in your face, he said, according to Al-Monitor. We give you the final word because you are interfering in our internal affairs with these media. We told you, be careful.

Meanwhile, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani has criticized U.S. President Joe Biden for supporting the protests in the country.

The protests in Iran have triggered solidarity rallies in the United States and Europe. In an interview last month, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan stated that Washington has adopted a range of aggressive actions in support of the protesters.

The European Union imposed sanctions on Iranian agencies and officials deemed to have violated human rights. In response, Iran imposed a slew of sanctions on EU officials, NGOs, and media agencies, which were dismissed by the European Union as politically motivated.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at a reception for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party in Philadelphia on Oct. 28, 2022. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

President Biden Plans Trip to San Diego This Week As Election Day Nears

SAN DIEGOAs Election Day approaches, President Joe Biden visits San Diego to campaign for incumbent Rep. Mike Levin on Nov. 3 for the 49th Congressional District race.

Details on the presidential visit are still unclear, but Levins director of communications Eric Mee said more will be revealed Nov. 2.

What is known is that Biden will attend a Thursday campaign event with Levinwho has represented the district straddling North San Diego and South Orange counties since 2018. The president will also speak at an unspecified event on Friday.

The Biden Administration will hope to turn the tide in an election that months ago seemed to lean toward the incumbent, but was recently deemed by Politico a toss-up between Levin and his opponent, Republican and former San Juan Capistrano Mayor Brian Maryott.

The two candidates have faced off before. In 2020 Levin, won the district by about 6 percent. Maryott and the GOP are hoping for a mid-term turn of the tide, tying Levin to Biden and policies they say are unpopular.

Republicans gladly welcome Joe Biden to San Diego for his campaign stop with Mike Levin, which will be a boon for the GOP and remind voters to choose Brian Maryott on November 8th, GOP spokeswoman Hallie Balch said in a statement. The Biden-Levin agenda has been a complete failure for California families and Bidens visit with Levin keeps the record of failure fresh in Californians minds.

Levin has attacked Maryott as a MAGA Republican with reactionary views on abortion. Maryott has said Levin and his party continue to spend taxpayer money without thinking of the fiscal consequences.

The race will be one of several California toss-ups in the national spotlight as Republicans seek to wrest control of the House from Democrats, including one directly norththe race between incumbent Katie Porter (D-Calif.) and former Republican Assemblyman Scott Baugh for Californias 47th Congressional District.
Panelists at the Citizens' Hearingan independent inquiry into Canada's pandemic responselisten to stories of Canadians adversely affected by COVID-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions, in Toronto on June 23, 2022. (LR) Former Reform Party leader Preston Manning, retired Ontario pediatrician Dr. Susan Natsheh, and David Ross, president of the Canadian Covid Care Alliance. (Andrew Chen/The Epoch Times)

Preston Manning Calls for National Citizens Inquiry Into Government COVID Response

Former federal Official Opposition leader and veteran politician Preston Manning announced Nov. 2 that he will spearhead a National Citizens Inquiry (NCI) into the governments handling of COVID-19.

Lockdowns were unprecedented in nature and magnitude, Manning told The Epoch Times.

In a national opinion survey conducted by the NCI in mid-October and published Nov. 1, three out of four respondents reported being hurt or injured by health protection measures put in place by governments during COVID.

These were not people hurt by COVID, he said. They were hurt by lockdowns.

The survey of more than 1,500 Canadians suggested that isolation was the top harm respondents selected. Twenty-five percent of those polled said they were affected by government restrictions, citing examples such as being prohibited from attending a funeral, being unable to visit sick or other loved ones, education impacts on students, and increased divorce and marital disharmony.

Canadians want an inquiry into what went right and what went wrong during COVID [and] what lessons were learned that will mean better management of a future national crisis, said Manning.

He added that a disturbing response emerged from the surveys.

People saw the link between lockdowns and how it affected the economy, mental health, and social well-being, but the disruption of peoples rights and freedoms was a connection harder for people to see, he said.

When your freedoms and rights are limited, it affects all other areas.

A news release issued Nov. 2 by the National Citizens Inquiry stated: The policy, legal, economic, and health authority interventions into the lives of Canadian families, businesses, and communities  impacted the physical and mental health, civil liberties, fundamental freedoms, livelihoods, and overall social and economic well-being of all Canadians.

The organization lists profound social impacts, business bankruptcies, delayed health care, and avoidable deaths, attributed to lockdowns, restrictions, and mandates.

11,000 Sign Petition Supporting Inquiry

Manning acknowledged that Canadians might expect it would be the government that commissions such an inquiry, but in this case, his organization suggests that any commission that has a primary purpose of investigating the government response would lack credibility and integrity if conducted by the government.

He said a citizen-led inquiry has proven to be a popular idea. Over 11,000 individuals have gone to the NCI website to sign the petition supporting an inquiry.

A not-for-profit, federally incorporated organization has been set up to take donations and fund the inquiry. The public is being asked to make submissions with names of potential commissioners who could be trusted to be part of such an initiative, which would begin in early 2023.

The inquiry is tentatively set to be two to three days for each hearing, in cities across the country, with a final summary hearing in Ottawa. Citizens would be able to participate both in-person and remotely, and give testimony about how COVID-19 government responses affected their lives.

The inquiry says similar examples of the types of testimony Canadians might expect at the NCI can be found at A Citizens Hearing, which held public hearings for citizens June 2224 in Toronto. The three-day event invited, among others, participation from families who lost loved ones, students who missed educational opportunities, business owners who had to shut their doors, and experts who had criticisms of the governments lockdown response.

Manning says the inquiry will invite submissions from ordinary people, plus testimony (all under oath) from experts in medicine, law, society, and constitutional rights, with the overall theme being submissions on the impact of COVID public health measures on Canadians.

Manning led the Reform Party of Canada for more than a decade. His late father, Ernest Manning, served as premier of Alberta for 25 years, beginning in 1943.
Vandal dumps 'oily sludge' on Flemington ahead of Melbourne Cup, an iconic event that stops the nation. (Supplied by Extinction Rebellion)

Climate Protestor Dumps 1,000 litres of Unknown Black Substance on Melbourne Cup Racecourse

A protester had allegedly poured 1,000 litres of an unknown substance onto the Flemington Racecourse hours before the Melbourne Cup began to raise awareness about the global impacts of climate change.

Before the first race scheduled for 10:45 a.m. on Nov. 1, the individual broke into the track at 6 a.m. with a large pump and used a long hose to spray the turf generously with a dark, slimy liquid.

However, despite the disruption, the racing event went ahead after cleaning and repair work to the track by Racing Victoria.

Stewards deemed the track to be safe, and there was no impact to racing, RV said. A police investigation is underway.

Victoria Police have said they are investigating the incident.

Environmental Movement Endorses Activist

Climate activist group Extinction Rebellion (XR) said the protestor was a friend and fully endorsed their support for his actions.

The racecourse has been tagged here to alert them to this situation, and we hope they will choose the best course of action to ensure no further harm will come to the horses racing, XR wrote on Twitter.

We fully endorse the message of this person. The privileged in our society are on notice that as crises deepen and we do not see justice for communities, individuals and animals, ordinary people will be drive more and more to undertake these sorts of desperate actions. @ABC pic.twitter.com/pMemmaJFJh  XRVicAus (@XRVicAus) November 1, 2022

Melbourne Criminal Investigation Unit detectives are investigating after unknown offenders have broken into a racing facility in Flemington and poured an unknown substance over a portion of the track about 6 a.m. this morning, Victoria Police said in a statement.

Flood Wall Blamed for Damaged Homes Around Racecourse

In a video and statement released in a thread on XRs Twitter page, the protester called out the racing industry over its alleged attitude towards climate change and blamed the Victoria Racing Club for the damage created by recent flooding in Flemington in October.

This is about Victoria Racing Club choosing to protect their racecourse against the impacts of climate change at the expense of peoples homes and livelihoods, the statement reads. Racing elites callously ignored community opposition to the building of their wall, which contributed to the recent flooding of local homes.

Racegoers arrive during 2022 Melbourne Cup Day at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Australia, on Nov. 1, 2022.(Martin Keep/Getty Images)

The climate activist said that the racecourses flood wall was the last straw in a long line of horrors they had come to learn about the industry, including animal rights abuses, political donations, substance misuse, and gambling.

The Victorian Race Club built a 2.5-metre flood wall around the racecourse in 2007 to protect the venue from flooding, and some local residents believe that the wall is why their homes and possessions went under on Oct. 14.

Victoria Racing Club has started a $500,000 fundraiser for flood victims.
Q&A With Bruce Levine, Democratic Candidate for New Yorks 98th Assembly District

Bruce Levine, a former Rockland County legislator and former municipal attorney, is running in the 98th assembly district, which covers parts of Orange and Rockland countiesincluding Deerpark, Mount Hope, and Goshen.

The Democratic candidate will face Republican incumbent Karl Brabenec in the Nov. 8 general election.

Levine spoke with The Epoch Times on Oct. 31. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

The Epoch Times: You said you were motivated to have a career in public service at the age of 14. Can you tell us why?

Levine: When I was a kid, there were two things that bothered me. One was the Holocaustwhy wasnt anybody able to stop it? The other was the civil rights movementwhy did it take so long? These are the things that ultimately motivated me to get into politics and government.

I spent my life trying to do things that would improve peoples lives. And I was lucky enough to be able to do it. To me, that is a gift from God.

The Epoch Times: You said that from all the work you have done, you are most proud of the means-tested jobs program in Rockland County. Can you tell us more about it?

Levine: The program was created during the 1990s when we had terrible crime going on. I was looking for something we could do to prevent crime. I knew we should do somethingnot too small to be meaningless, but also not too large to drive everybody nuts about spending and taxes.

So I worked with a Republican in the county government to create this program to hire young people, those who dont have a lot of money or connections and whose parents might be working two or three jobs. We really wanted to go deep into the most vulnerable groups in society to make a lasting impact.

Thousands of kids have gone through the program that I created. It still exists today.

The Epoch Times: You see a difference between politics and government. What is it?

Levine: To me, government means getting things done. If I had asked for a million dollars for that jobs program, it never would have happened. If I had asked for $10,000, it would have served so few people that it would not really be moving the needle. You must find the right spot.

At the state level, if you happen to be in the majority partywhether it is Democrat or Republicanyou can get a lot of things done on a big scale.

But even if you are in the minority party, you can still get some things done.

I told my opponent the first time I met him, I know you are a minority, but you can use the power of your ideas to get things done. You just dont have to take credit for it, and you can still get things done.

The Epoch Times: What issues will you focus on, if elected?

Levine: I want to expand childcare options so we have more slots for kids from families where both parents have to work. One way to do it is to require businesses to reserve childcare space in their buildings if they want to get tax breaks from local economic development agencies.

I also want to upgrade existing low-income housing and build new affordable housing in the district. We can subsidize the new constructions with federal and state tax credits.

I am pro-moderate growth. I want our communities to have a variety of housing to meet the needs of different peopleupper-income, middle-income, and low-income.

The Epoch Times: On hot-button issues, you hold drastically different views as a Democrat from your Republican opponent. Can you give an example?

Levine: He is an NRA supporter and is against most gun control measures, whereas I am for gun control.
Q&A With Lisa LaBue, Republican Candidate for New Yorks 100th Assembly District

Lisa LaBue, a former small business owner and banking professional, is running in the 100th assembly district, which covers most of Sullivan County and part of Orange County, including Middletown and Wallkill.

The Republican candidate will face Democratic incumbent Aileen Gunther in the Nov. 8 general election.

LaBue spoke with The Epoch Times on Oct. 31. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

The Epoch Times: Why did you decide to run for the state assembly?

LaBue: During the pandemic, I was working at a bank and doing PPP loans for small businesses and saw how they were overlooked. We had mandates that made no sense to me. It just started building a fire inside me.

Im a single mom, I brought up two boys. I struggled. I know what its like to be afraid to open a bill because you wonder how you are going to pay it. If were already choosing between buying groceries and putting gas in our car to get to work, what are we supposed to do when the prices go up even more?

We have a Democratic majority in our federal government, and we have a Democrat supermajority in our New York State government. Theyve put us in a scary position.

I was looking for a strong voice, for someone to speak up, but no one was doing it. I thought about leaving New York but gave up because I didnt want to live far from my son and his family.

Thats when I decided to get involved. I said I needed to do everything I can possibly do to make this state make sense again.

Some people suggested that I start at a local level. And I said, How am I going to make a difference in these unconstitutional laws that are coming down and being put upon us right now at the local level?

The one good thing about the pandemic and the shutdown is that some people, like me, had time to think and put things into perspective. I said this didnt add up, and it needed to stop.

The Epoch Times: What are the top issues you want to focus on?

LaBue: Id like to focus on the budget. I think the state has a lot of misspending or unaccounted spending. If we get hold of the budget, look at where the money is going, and control the spending, we will be able to find savings.

The other concern I have is with seniors. Their cost of living is going up, but their income remains fixed. There is not much consideration given to them, yet we are giving away so much money to people that come here illegally.

My grandparents came from Italy, and I am not against immigration. But I think that people should come to this country legally, and we shouldnt reward people for doing the wrong thing.

The money we are giving to illegals should be focused on our veterans and our seniors.

I am also concerned with our Second Amendment rights. I understand why our Second Amendment was put in place; it wasnt just for carrying a weapon or a firearm. The Second Amendment right guarantees us all the other rights that are given to us.
People walk to board a ferry during the evacuation of Kherson residents in the course of RussiaUkraine conflict, in the city of Kherson, Russian-controlled Ukraine, on Oct. 31, 2022. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

Russia Orders Wider Evacuation of Occupied Southern Ukraine

KYIV/MYKOLAIV, UkraineRussia told civilians on Tuesday to leave an area along the eastern bank of the Dnipro River in the Ukrainian province of Kherson, a major extension of an evacuation order that Kyiv says amounts to the forced depopulation of occupied territory.

Russia had previously ordered civilians out of a pocket it controls on the west bank of the river, where Ukrainian forces have been advancing for weeks to capture the city of Kherson in what would be a strategic prize in the eight-month-long war.

Russian-installed officials said on Tuesday they were extending that order to a 15-kilometer (9-mile) buffer zone along the east bank too. Ukraine says the evacuations include forced deportations from occupied territory, a war crime.

Russia, which claims to have annexed parts of Kherson region, says it is taking civilians to safety because of the risk Ukraine might use unconventional weapons.

Due to the possibility of the use of prohibited methods of war by the Ukrainian regime, as well as information that Kyiv is preparing a massive missile strike on the Kakhovka hydroelectric station, there is an immediate danger of the Kherson region being flooded, Vladimir Saldo, Russian-installed head of occupied Kherson province, said in a video message.

The decision [to expand the evacuation zone] will make it possible to create a layered defense in order to repel Ukrainian attacks and protect civilians, he said.

Russian-installed authorities in the Kherson region also said an obligatory evacuation of Kakhovka district, close to the Nova Kakhovka hydroelectric station, was to begin on Nov. 6.

Moscow has accused Kyiv of planning to use a so-called dirty bomb to spread radiation, or to blow up a dam to flood towns and villages in Kherson province. Kyiv says accusations it would use such tactics on its own territory are absurd, but that Russia might be planning such actions itself to blame Ukraine.

The mouth of the Dnipro has become one of the most consequential frontlines eight months into Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Saldo identified seven towns on the east bank that would now be evacuated, comprising the main populated settlements along that stretch of the river.

Why Should I Leave?

In the city of Kherson on Tuesday streets were virtually empty, with most shops and businesses shuttered. A handful of people at a jetty boarded a ferry to cross to the east bank of the Dnipro, though a few men were still fishing peacefully, apparently indifferent to the distant rumble of artillery fire.

Some residents remained defiant, despite the order to leave.

Why should I leave?  What for? I will stay here to the very end, said Ekaterina, a shopkeeper, referring to the house she said her ancestors had built with their own hands.

Russian forces swept into Ukraine in February in what Moscow calls a special military operation to eliminate dangerous nationalists and protect Russian-speakers. Kyiv calls Moscows military action an unprovoked imperialist land grab.

Thousands of Russian men have fled abroad to escape conscription. The European Union accused Moscow on Tuesday of illegally conscripting men in Crimea, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014.

Russia fired missiles at Ukrainian cities including the capital Kyiv in what President Vladimir Putin called retaliation for an attack on Russias Black Sea Fleet over the weekend. Ukraine said it shot most of those missiles down, but some had hit power stations, knocking out electricity and water supplies.

The United States on Tuesday denounced the attacks, saying about 100 missiles had been fired on Monday and Tuesday.

With temperatures dropping, these Russian attacks aimed at exacerbating human suffering are particularly heinous, State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters at a daily briefing. Russia denies targeting civilians.

Grain Ships

Putin has suspended Russias cooperation with a program backed by Turkey and the United Nations to escort cargo ships carrying grain out of the war zone.

The three-month-old undertaking had ended a de facto Russian blockade of Ukraine, one of the worlds biggest grain producers, and averted a global food crisis.

Putin told Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in a call on Tuesday that Russia could consider resuming the deal only after completion of an investigation into drone attacks on a Crimean port, which Moscow has already blamed on Ukraine.

Despite Russias suspension of its participation in the grain deal, no blockade has been restored so far. Three vessels left Ukrainian ports on Tuesday morning after 12 ships set out on Monday.

The programs administrators said Tuesdays shipments had been agreed by Ukrainian, Turkish and U.N. delegations and that Moscow had been informed, an apparent sign of a willingness to proceed without Russian cooperation.

Just north of Kherson, Russia fired four missiles into the Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv overnight, demolishing half an apartment building. Reuters saw rescue workers recover the body of an elderly woman from the rubble.
School Board Elections Are DirtyBut They Dont Have to Be

Commentary

School board elections this year were more organizedand dirtierthan ever.

Teachers unions ran sophisticated campaigns to elect slates of progressive trustees, complete with vitriolic attack websites, as angry parents began to organize in response to progressive excesses. Stakes are high: School boards control billions in public spending, and can indoctrinate children with their chosen ideological perspective. The conflict is getting out of hand, but a recent innovation in British Columbia may offer a solution.

Recent political financing laws are probably at the root of the increased tension. Government legislation has largely eliminated political participation by corporations. Unions, whose business is the mobilization and control of their members, are largely unaffected by the new finance regulations. While a corporation might not be able to make donations, the union can simply direct its members to do so. The political balance of business and labour has tilted decisively in labours favour.

B.C.s school board elections demonstrated the new pattern of board politics. The Chilliwack Teachers Association endorsed a slate of candidates, also backed by the Labour Council and other unions. A fundraiser for the slate collected money for the union candidates. An anonymous website affiliated with the Vancouver Labour Council accused non-union candidates and organizers of being anti-vaccine homophobes. The 1,800 members of the Teachers Association formed a voting bloc with a quarter of the votes needed to elect a trustee, plus other union membersenough to make a clean sweep of the at-large election.

The Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF) ran slates of candidates across Ontario. They had a campaign manual worthy of a major political party, a manual for candidates, and even a campaign platform. Of the local races we examined, associates of OSSTF ran 88 candidates in jurisdictions with 129 seats in total, winning 58 and thus controlling some of Ontarios largest jurisdictions. They endorsed more candidates than we could track. It was a resounding success for machine politics that would leave a political party giddy with victory.

Ontario repeated B.C.s patterns. Endorsements echoed from unions to labour councils, creating cascades of favourable publicity. An anti-hate website funded by the federal government ran attack pieces on non-union candidates. While Ontario has no public database of contributions, we know that OSSTF challenged Ontarios $600,000 spending maximum for third-party advertisers in court during the springs provincial election. OSSTF reports surpluses in the millions; winning school board campaigns is almost trivial.

B.C. introduced a new wrinkle: Civic parties enabled parents to organize and introduced some accountability. A new party, ParentsVoice BC (PVBC), even won three seatsincluding one of two against the Chilliwack machine. The mathematics of such races means their victory in Chilliwack could only come from a deeply divided electorate.

It was driven partly by parental anger about gender ideology and critical race theory. Current stories like the Ontario teacher with massive prosthetic breasts, whose inappropriate dress was defended by the board as a right to gender expression, added immediacy. PVBC shared dozens of intense union attacks with me, including letters to union members, attacks on union-affiliated websites, and biased news articles. It was personal, vicious, and barely short of slander. PVBCs gains made in spite of the machines well-funded attacks provides real hope for parents.

School board elections will become more intense. Parent groups will become more organized and better funded. In response, they will face the same poison that was spewed at ParentsVoice BC. Its a recipe for dysfunction: Boards will become battlegrounds, and elections will descend to the pit.

Parents cant hide in independent schools or home education. Exempt from unionization, they threaten union power. The educational establishment calls private schools an assault on public education; home education is even worse. Controlling public boards wont just let unions indoctrinate childrenpublic money will be used to lobby for banning independent schools and home education.

Citizens who care about local control over education have only one option: They need to run for school boards, learn to manage campaigns, and coordinate volunteers. Engaged citizens must volunteer for trustee campaigns and donate money to offset the unions massive financial advantage. The inexpensive political training, campaign tools, and supplies offered to parents by groups like Parents for Choice in Education will become increasingly important.

At the provincial level, fixing school board dysfunction is a policy problem. A province could choose to appoint school boards, as Quebec does, or do away with local boards altogether, as Newfoundland does. However, as Albertas Jason Kenney found out, teachers unions seeking power can influence provincial politics. And without elected trustees, schools are run by bureaucrats further removed from the parents most impacted by local education policy.

Dirty school board politics are probably best approached with the B.C. laws for civic political parties. Clarifying election financing and activities, they put parental organizations on the same footing as unions and encourage accountability across the board. Every provincial government should have a close look at the B.C. legislation before the next school board election.

Until we do, school board politics will become scorching hot. And everyone will get burned.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Former SCMP Senior Editor Peter Langan talked at a seminar at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan on Oct. 13, 2022. (Screenshot of Youtube video)

SCMP Called Out for Self-Censorship After Canceling Report on Possible Genocide in Xinjiang: Journalist

Journalist Peter Langan, who was previously employed as an editor at the China Desk by The South China Morning Post (SCMP), a major English media in Hong Kong owned by Alibaba, highlighted a possible case of self-censorship by the media at a press conference held at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan recently.

In 2021, a group of SCMP journalists under Langan spent a number of months preparing a series, particularly investigating family planning and reproduction in Xinjiang, which was to be published in three segments. The investigation explored whether the human rights situation in Xinjiang constitutes the definition of genocide of targetted groups by the United Nations Guideline.

However, SCMP senior management withheld publishing the report. After that, two journalists and the editor who was responsible for the Xinjiang investigation resigned one after another.

Langan said at a seminar at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan on Oct. 13: The specific investigative report discussed the human rights situation from different perspectives, particularly birth control in Xinjiang, and whether it constitutes genocide as defined by the United Nations.

According to Langans investigation and research, since the cancellation of the one-child policy by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 2016, the use of family planning equipment and sterilization (particularly inter-uterus devices) in many parts of China had decreased dramatically except in the Western region of Xinjiang, which Muslim residents dominate.

Langans investigation combined family planning data from the CCP over the past 30 years, including statistics from the National Health Commission of the CCP, the birth and population growth statistics in the Xinjiang Statistical Year Review, and county-level documents.

Langan explained that SCMP management had dismissed the project as soon as Langans team discussed the Xinjiang investigation report. Langan hoped that the information could be published. However, the executive editor altered and rewrote the piece massively, bringing the whole series to a standstill. Following several conference calls discussing the issue, it was clear that there was no way they were going to publish this story on Xinjiang and the criticism of the Communist Party of China that it implied, Langan said.

Langan wrote in his last email to the SCMP management in August 2021, It seems clear that our three-part Xinjiang story now faces thousands of objections and critics by editors. Langan suggested that the chopping and cutting were to ensure the report wouldnt see the light of day.

Ultimately, the two journalists in charge of writing the report resigned from SCMP. Langen also decided to quit and moved to Japan a few months later, which Langan said was the most direct impact on him. The former SCMP senior editor also mentioned that it has become increasingly difficult to report news related to China in recent years.

It is not ideal. So, in the past two years, more journalists have chosen to leave China and settle in Taipei. He explained.

SCMP Sends Warning Letter to the Report Editor

However, after the press conference in Japan and the release of an online report by Hong Kong Free Press, SCMP sent a warning letter to Peter Langan, sighting potential copyright infringement for the use of unauthorized materials and advising him to stop any such use immediately. In the letter, SCMP also requested him to retrieve any such materials distributed or in his possession and return them to SCMP within seven days.

In response to a question from HKFP, SCMP said the report draft was rejected in the end because it failed to pass its companys editorial review procedure and the publishing standards. The news outlet also claimed it had maintained its highest journalistic integrity and would only publish reports based on reliable facts.

It Is Not The First Time SCMP Has Censored Its Publication

Previously, Beijing netizen Peng Zaizhou hung an anti-Xi Jinping banner on the Sitong Bridge before the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. It triggered waves of protests against Xi Jinpings reelection in China.

SCMP, like other mainstream Hong Kong newspapers, did not report the incident at all.

Since the acquisition by the Chinese-funded Alibaba Group in 2016, SCMPs independence has been questioned repeatedly due to its censorship of any news that might involve CCP in scandals.

SCMP also cooperated with the CCPs propaganda in the past. One includes a staged visit in March 2020 to Michael Gui Minhai, a Chinese-born Swedish writer who owns Causeway Bay Books.

In the staged interview, SCMP claimed the bookstore owner said Sweden had ruined his life and would never trust the Swedish again, and he wanted to stay in China forever. Many netizens did not believe the interviews authenticity. They said it was set up by the CCP, especially since Gui had been writing books about scandals of Chinese political figures in his writing career.

The bookstore case captured international concerns for the safety of Gui after he went missing in Thailand in 2015. Gui is a Chinese political writer, one of the five members that went missing in the incident of The Causeway Bay Books Disappearance.

The case infamously strained the relationship between the CCP and Sweden, as the regime had held Gui, a Swedish citizen, against his will.

Under the Basic Law in Hong Kong, publishers have freedom of speech and publishing. But since Causeway Bay Books sell what is considered banned books in China, the CCP is extremely sensitive and verbally warned the bookstore owners of the consequences before kidnapping the bookstore members.

Causeway Bay Books has since moved its business to Taiwan.
South Carolina County Council Debates Childrens Access to Books About Sexuality in Public Libraries

The debate over childrens books promoting sexuality sparked a South Carolina county council meeting over whether the local library board should restrict access to questionable material in the childrens section of the public libraries.

On Nov. 1, the Greenville County Council voted 93 against a resolution that would have supported the Greenville County Library Systems ability to remove books that have sexual content from the childrens section of the library system.

The resolution was largely symbolic and would not have affected the library boards policies.

The consensus of those who voted against the resolution was that the resolution would be overreaching into another government boards purview.

Councilman Joe Dill, who presented the resolution at the request of the local Greenville County Republican Party, told The Epoch Times that its not a directive but a show of support for the library boards endeavor to remove sexualized material from the childrens section.

However, some of those who spoke during public comment against the resolution called it book banning.

Since books that depict illustrations of characters engaging in sexual activitysuch as Gender Queerstarted appearing in childrens libraries in 2020, parents started speaking out in school board meetings despite other parents and many school board members saying the problem was nonexistent.

Were not even discussing banning books, Dill said. Were discussing putting the books in an age-appropriate area.

One woman who spoke during public comment said there was already a policy in place in the library system that regulated age-appropriate books and prevented them from being checked out without a parents permission.

The truth is that this resolution isnt about protecting childrenits about power, the woman said. Its about parents who feel they should have the power to dictate what books other peoples children have access to, and its about using the power of performative outrage to punish LGBTQ youth.

As a member of the LGBT community, she said she wasnt indoctrinated through a book.

No book has the ability to change someones sexual orientation or gender identity, she said. What books do have is the power to teach empathy and acceptance, and to provide a mirror with which to see ourselves reflected back into the world.

She went on to state that books about sexuality are a lifeline for children who are confused about their sexuality and at risk of suicide.

The Greenville County Library System didnt respond to The Epoch Times request for comment.

The Risk of Suicide

The argument that children commit suicide because of sexual repression has mostly fallen under the transgender debate and has been refuted by psychologists such as Miriam Grossman.

Kids who are confused about their gender often have other issues, and if you compare the suicide rates of kids who have psychiatric issues without gender identity problems with kids who say they are trans, or nonbinary, what you have are very similar suicide rates, Grossman told The Epoch Times in a previous interview. So, its very inaccurate for these parents to be told their child is at risk of suicide because of this one issue when there are many other issues.

The public comment period was colored with biblical allusions and a reference to Ted Bundys admitted addiction to pornography as a source of his murder sprees.

Sid Cates, vice chair of the board of trustees for the Greenville County Library System, said during public comment that the library committee met earlier that day and examined 24 childrens books and had come to a recommendation that falls in line with the councils resolution, though he didnt specify further.

Cates did not reply to The Epoch Times request for comment.

A Question of Timing

Later in the councils discussion around the resolution, Councilman Dan Tripp asked Dillwho lost his primary in Juneif he had told voters that he was going to go out in a blaze of glory, implying that his presenting the resolution was a political stunt, which Dill denied.

Tripp said its the parents responsibility to enforce what books are checked out, though he said he agreed with the intent of the resolution.

Im just questioning the timing and the rationale of doing this while all its doing is dividing the community, he said.

Though Councilman Ennis Fant said he agrees that sexually explicit material should not be found in the childrens library, he said the book in question that was presented to the council the week prior was not a book that was found in the childrens library.

It was kind of wrong to lead us to believe that its in the childrens section when it wasnt, Fant said.

Frant did not respond to The Epoch Times request for a comment.
Serbia said Tuesday it has placed its troops on the border with Kosovo on a heightened state of alert over a row about car license plates that has threatened to further escalate tensions between the two Balkan foes.

Earlier, authorities warned members of the ethnic Serbian minority living in Kosovo, a former province of Serbia, to replace their vehicle registration plates with Kosovar ones.

The warnings came despite calls from the US and the European Union to postpone any such requirement.

In response to Kosovo's move, Serbian Defense Minister Milos Vucevic said that President Aleksandar Vucic, who is the supreme commander of Serbia's armed forces, placed the military on a state of readiness."

We are not getting ready for a war, but we must not be unprepared," Vucevic said. We are ready to continue our dialogue with Pristina."

It was not clear what the state of readiness meant practically. The populist Serbian president has been prone to saber rattling when tensions get high with Kosovo, whose independence Belgrade does not recognize.

Serbian state-controlled media reported later that unmarked drones appeared on the Kosovo-Serbia border observing the barracks and the positions" of the Serbian army.

The reports said Serbian fighter jets were scrambled under Vucic's "command," but the drones left the Serbian airspace before the warplanes reached their targets. The reports could not be independently verified.

The EU has told Kosovo and Serbia that they must normalize ties if they want to advance toward membership in the 27-nation bloc. Brussels and Washington recently have stepped up mediation efforts, fearing uncertainties over the war in Ukraine and Serbias close ties with Russia could aggravate matters.

Trouble started brewing in the summer over Serbias and Kosovos refusal to recognize each others identity documents as well as car license plates. Kosovo Serbs living in the north erected roadblocks, sounded air raid sirens and fired guns into the air in protest of the move.

In June Kosovo passed a law requiring vehicles with Serbian number plates to replace them with Kosovo ones. But following pressure from the United States and the EU and the tension in the Serb-populated north, it agreed to postpone implementation until November 1.

As the measure came into effect Tuesday, Kosovo authorities said enforcement would be gradual. For the first three weeks in November, drivers who fail to comply will receive warnings. After that they will be fined and from late January only vehicles with new temporary plates will be allowed to circulate until April 21, the final date after which no old license plates will be allowed and drivers risk the impounding of their vehicles.

Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla urged ethnic Serbs Tuesday to comply, and not remain pawns to political interests." Last week Svecla said only 20 Serbs had changed plates and at least one of their cars was torched.

Kosovos 2008 independence has been recognized by Washington and most EU countries, while Serbia has relied on support from Moscow and China for its bid to retain the former province. Belgrade lost control over Kosovo in 1999 after NATO bombed the country to stop its brutal crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatist rebels.

NATO has a peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, and any Serbian military intervention would risk reviving widespread tensions that plunged the Balkans into a series of wars in the 1990s.

First Published Date:
People watch a television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a railway station in Seoul on Nov. 2, 2022. (Jung Yeon-je/AFP via Getty Images)

North Korea, South Korea Fire Multiple Missiles Across Maritime Border for First Time

South Koreas military said Wednesday that North Korea had fired at least 10 missiles into the sea, one of which landed close to its maritime border, prompting an evacuation warning for a South Korean island, and subsequent missiles from Seoul.

South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the missiles were fired from the North Korean coastal city of Wonsan at around 8.51 a.m. (local time), and one of them crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL), Yonhap News Agency reported.

The NLL is the de facto sea border as drawn by the United Nations Command at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The JCS said the missile landed 26 kilometers (16 miles) south of the NLL, 57 kilometers (35 miles) east of the South Korean city of Sokcho, and 167 kilometers (103 miles) northwest of Ulleung Island.

Local authorities in the areas issued an air raid alert at 8.55 a.m. (local time) urging residents to evacuate to the nearest underground shelter. Japan said that it also detected ballistic missiles from North Korea.

South Korea Also Fires Missiles

The JCS said that North Koreas missile launches were intolerable as a missile landed near South Koreas territorial waters of the NLL for the first time. It vowed to respond firmly.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol held an emergency National Security Council meeting following the launches and ordered that strict measures be taken to ensure that North Korea pays a clear price for its provocation.

Three hours after North Koreas provocation, South Korea fired three air-to-ground missiles. Officials said the missiles landed a similar distance past the NLL.

Yoon furthermore called on the South Korean military to maintain full preparedness for the possibility of additional and high-intensity provocations by North Korea, according to local reports.

North Korea Issued Warnings Amid Joint US-South Korea Air Drills

North Korea, just hours before firing its missiles, had warned that the United States and South Korea would pay the most horrible price in history if the two allied nations used military force against it.

Pak Jong Chon, secretary of the ruling Workers Party, denounced the U.S. and South Korean joint air drills as aggressive and provocative due to the number of fighters involved, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported.

If the U.S. and South Korea attempt to use armed forces against the DPRK without any fear, the special means of the DPRKs armed forces will carry out their strategic missile without delay and the U.S. and South Korea will have to face a terrible case and pay the most horrible price in history, he said, using North Koreas official name, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK).

A South Korean Air Force F-35A fighter jet takes off from the runway during the Vigilant Storm U.S.-South Korea joint aerial drill at Gunsan Air Base, South Korea on Oct. 31, 2022. (South Korean Defense Ministry via Getty Images)

The United States and South Korea began their joint air drills, known as Vigilant Storm, on Oct. 31. The drills will last until Nov. 4 and involve 240 aircraft from both sides, and an air refueling tanker from the Australian Air Force.

North Korea denounced the joint drills as an invasion rehearsal and fired hundreds of shells in inter-Korean maritime buffer zones that had been established by the two sides in 2018.

The North Korean Foreign Ministry on Monday issued a statement vowing to take powerful follow-up measures if the U.S. continues its military provocations.

If the U.S. does not want to see any serious developments which go against its security interests, it should stop the useless and ineffective war exercises all at once. If it failed to do so, it should be held totally responsible for all the consequences arising therefrom, it stated.
The park, a place for hanging out and relaxing, can now be a stage to speak out and stand for ones own truth, as well as re-establish community ties, according to one advocacy group.

The A Stand In The Park group, which now has 100,000 members across 20 countries, was the brainchild of Brady Gunn, who, after coming face to face with the harsh government reactions during the strict lockdowns and vaccine mandates in Australia in 2020-21, decided there must be another way for people to register their voices other than violent or aggressive protests.

Gunn went to an anti-lockdown and vaccine mandate protest in the Olympic Park in Sydney and was shocked by the whole scenario.

It was just a crazy protest, he said. The cops were chasing us around in circles. Ive never been in a situation like that before, Gunn said. It was just very sobering. It really hit home hard that this is very real.

NSW Police apprehend a man who was allegedly protesting on the edge of Victoria Park in Sydney, Australia, on Aug. 21, 2021. (Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

The 46-year-old Sydney local went home and thought that there probably was a whole different opportunity for people that were at that rally.

As a whole, they didnt really sort of connect with each other long-term, he said.

A Support Network Was Born

Gunn saw that as a missed opportunity.

Wed be great resources for each other, he said.

Its more about getting together, chatting online, meeting in person, being a support network through each other, having a physical energy exchange, getting a hug, and Im feeling so alone If anything happened, we could meet in the park.

Brady Gunn, the founder of A Stand In The Park. (Supplied)

So he created A Stand in the Park, an advocacy group that unites people in parks all over the world every Sunday morning, 10-11 am local time and allows them to celebrate freedom, diversity, and fairness.

But Gunn notes that starting the group was down to strength and determination, with him facing three months of going to the park by himself every Sunday before the idea took off.

I announced it every night Nobody came. Next week, the same thing Gunn said. And then finally two people came, and then another person came, and then another few people came.

There was no organizer. It was just every Sunday because we werent going to protest about really anything as such We would all stand together for our cause no matter what, under one umbrella, which is wearing yellow So thats how it was born, he said.

There are now nearly 600 groups participating in parks every Sunday morning across Australia, New Zealand, England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Canada, Malta, Germany, France, and the USA.

An Energetic Point For Truth

Asked if he is trying to convey a message to the government or the public, Gunn said its more about helping people make connections amid the harsh COVID-19 policies and drawing your own line in the sand.

I disagree with whats happening in the world right now, and I see through it, so Im going to use my body, and Im going to stand in that park as an energetic pinpoint, he said. Im going to show people and myself and the government that I dont agree.

Advocacy groups and even celebrities have spoken out against the COVID lockdowns, including Australian NBA legend Andrew Bogut, who called for voting out the Victorian state government over its handling of the pandemic.

A large crowd gathers to protest lockdown restrictions, at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, on Oct. 23, 2020. (Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

Gunn, however, said all he tried to do was encourage people to stand up for what they believe in. He also hopes that the group will allow people to come together even if they have different points of view on COVID-19 vaccines, government policies, and other issues.

Weve all got different pasts, spiritualities, experiences, relationships, and religions, and were all different, he said.

We werent standing against lockdowns or against COVID or against the government or anything. We were standing for personal truth and for freedom, whatever that looks like for anyone, you decide.

Helping People Find Community

Gunn said there are so many touching stories in the process of founding A Stand In the Park.

Theyre all as powerful each time that I hear them, he said. Ive many people sending me messages online or talking to me when they see me on Facebook, just crying, saying Im crying as Im writing this

One message Gunn said with The Epoch Times explained how after losing everything, including their house, job, kids and friends, the group was able to help them reconnect.

 I lost my house; I lost my kids; I lost my job I lost everything; I lost all my friends, but then I went to the park, and then I made all of these connections, and I reconnected, and I realized that I wasnt alone [I made] the best friends that I ever have. Im just so thankful,  the message read.

So many stories like that Its just really, really big stories of what people have lost and the difference that they made, Gunn said, noting that those stories always filled him with joy.
Stolen Sheriffs Gear Found During Traffic Stop in San Diego

SAN DIEGOPolice officers discovered stolen sheriffs department gear inside a car during a traffic stop in the Paradise Hills area of San Diego Nov. 2.

Around 1:30 a.m., officers pulled over a Mercedes-Benz sedan near Woodman Street and Wattle Drive due to an obstructed license plate, according to ABC 10.

The driver was wearing a sheriffs uniform and a bulletproof vest at the time of the stop, officers also found duffel bags full of sheriffs uniforms, equipment, and deputys mail after searching the car, according to authorities.

In addition, drugs and other paraphernalia were found in the car, police said. Sheriff officials were notified about the discovery and are investigating the findings.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak leaves 10 Downing Street to attend Prime Minister's Questions at the House of Commons in London on Nov. 2, 2022. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Sunak Says UKs Illegal Immigrant Crisis Is Serious and Escalating Problem

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said the wave of illegal immigrants crossing the English Channel is a serious and escalating problem, and admitted the Home Office has been too slow to process asylum claims.

Almost 40,000 people have crossed the Channel this year in small boats, including 12,000 people from Albania, a peaceful country with a human rights record which is on a par with most of its neighbours in Eastern Europe.

Home Secretary Suella Bravermanwho was appointed in September by former Prime Minister Liz Truss, resigned, and was then reappointed by Sunak on Oct. 25has been criticised for her handling of the migrant crisis, and especially the Manston processing centre in Kent.

But on Wednesday Sunak backed her and said she had taken a number of steps to tackle overcrowding at Manston.

Sunak told MPs: Since Sept. 30, more hotels with 4,500 new beds, appointing a senior general to control the situation at Manston and, indeed, increasing the number of staff there by almost a halfthese are significant steps that demonstrate that we are getting a grip of this system.

The Ministry of Defence site in Manston, Kent, which is to be used for processing illegal immigrants, on Jan. 20, 2022. (Gareth Fuller/PA)

But the prime minister added: This is a serious and escalating problem. We will make sure that we control our borders and we will always do it fairly and compassionately, because that is the right thing.

Braverman herself called the system broken on Monday during a speech in Parliament in which she was criticised by the opposition for describing the situation as an invasion.

Labour Blames Government for Broken System

Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer said the Conservatives had been in power since 2010 so if the system was broken then it was their fault for not having fixed it.

Last week the Home Affairs Committee heard from Dan Hobbs, the Home Offices director of asylum, protection, and enforcement, that only 4 percent of asylum claims from 2021 had been processed and there was a huge backlog.

On Wednesday, Starmer said: Theyre only taking half the number of asylum decisions that they used to. Thats why the system is broken.

Braverman has also been criticised for failing to move people out of Manston, where there have been a number of cases of diphtheria and scabies, and Starmer asked Sunak if Braverman had been given legal advice on the subject.

Sunak refused to comment on what legal advice the government had received.

I think the answer to the question whether the Home Secretary received legal advice to move people out of Manston is yeshe just hasnt got the guts to say it, Starmer replied.

It emerged on Wednesday that 6,912 people crossed the English Channel in October, with 1,065 arriving in just a single day.

Members of the military and UK Border Force extinguish a fire from a petrol bomb, targeting the Border Force centre in Dover, Britain, on Oct. 30, 2022. (Reuters/Peter Nicholls)

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said the numbers at Manston had fallen substantially on Tuesday, with more immigrants expected to be moved on Wednesday.

Sir Roger Gale, the local Conservative MP, thanked Jenrick for rectifying the mistakes that have been made by others and said, This must never be allowed to happen again.

The row over illegal immigrants comes only days after a man firebombed an immigration facility on Dover docks before committing suicide.

Counter-terrorist officers are investigating Andrew Leak, 66, from Buckinghamshire, but believe he was a lone wolf.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Harvard University, with an endowment of around $41.9 billion, comes under scrutiny in Charlie Kir's book "The College Scam: How America's Universities Are Bankrupting and Brainwashing Away the Future of America's Youth." (Jorge Salcedo/Shutterstock)

Supreme Court Poised to Strike Down Racial Preferences

Commentary

Lawsuits against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina are exposing the crude and dehumanizing racial sorting that goes on in the admissions offices at elite universities.

The application form asks young people to check a box identifying themselves as either (1) Asian, (2) Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, (3) Hispanic, (4) White, (5) African American, or (6) Native American. White Hispanics with ancestors from Spain are lumped in with Central American immigrants. The black child of a Harvard-trained doctor or diplomat checks the same box as a black applicant living in a homeless shelter. The Asian category absurdly covers 60 percent of the worlds population, from China to Japan to India.

Applicants who mark Hispanic or African American win acceptance with test scores and grades far below what whites or Asians, on average, need to get in, according to data presented to the court.

Broad categories are appropriate for sorting zoo animalsreptiles over here, mammals over therebut its no way to recognize the humanity and individual merit of college applicants.

On Oct. 31, the Supreme Court justices grilled the Harvard and UNC attorneys. The questions indicate that the court is likely to outlaw using race to determine who is accepted.

Universities could still consider the achievements of applicants who convey in their personal essays or interviews that they have overcome hardships related to their race. Patrick Strawbridge, a lawyer for Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), which brought the lawsuits, explained what SFFA objects to is the consideration of race by itself.

Harvard lawyer Seth Waxman argued that while race is sometimes the determining factor on who gets into Harvard, other times being an oboe player in a year in which the HarvardRadcliffe Orchestra needs an oboe player will tip a student in. Chief Justice John Roberts instantly shot back, We did not fight a civil war about oboe players.

The left argues that outlawing racial preferences will be yet another departure from precedent. Not true. The precedent is Grutter v. Bollinger, a 2003 ruling that upheld the use of race at the University of Michigan Law School. But Justice Sandra Day OConnor, who wrote the Grutter opinion, anticipated that racial preferences would be temporary and unneeded in 25 years.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett asked the Harvard and UNC lawyers repeatedly, When is your sunset? They had no answer. They have no intention of ending racial preferences voluntarily.

U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, representing the Biden administration, cautioned that overturning racial preferences would send shock waves through every sector of society. Thats actually good news, especially for employees in the corporate world who are frequently being told, We already have too many white guys.

Some 70 major companies, including Apple and Google, filed briefs supporting Harvard and UNC. A trade group representing human resource (HR) departments in 600 companies also filed a brief supporting racial preferences, citing a McKinsey & Company report that the business case for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is stronger than ever.

Not one company indicated support for colorblind admissions. The gap between the corporate world and what the American public wants is staggering. Corporate Americas HR departments are pushing DEI, but most Americans, according to Pew Research, want people judged on their individual merits.

Justice Elena Kagan asked about preferential hiring to create a diverse police department or a diverse set of law clerks. She challenged the notion that it just doesnt matter if our institutions look like America.

An attorney for SFFA replied that merit and your worth as a person are not correlated with your skin color. Amen.

Another SFFA lawyer summed up the case: Racial classifications cause resentment by treating people differently based on something they cant change.

President Joe Biden promised to unite the nation, but his racial favoritism has done the opposite. A Court ruling striking down racial preferences will help bring the nation together.

The ugly facts revealed about admissions at UNC and Harvard confirm what Roberts said long ago: It is a sordid business, this divvying us up by race.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
The Book We Need and Only Justin Hart Could Write

Commentary

Sometimes, even now, even after writing a book and probably a thousand or more articles on the topic, and following it every step of the way, it still feels like I dreamed the whole thing. Not a good dream but a nightmare of exceptionally dark attacks on freedom. It got so bad that online memes started deliberately misspelling the word: freedumb.

They really did cancel two years of public worship services, segregate the large cities, abolish in-person education, foist masks on all the kids, destroy millions of businesses, censor all media so that we could barely discover facts, forget everything that humanity only recently knew about immunity, end concerts, impose limits on house parties, scrap weddings and funerals, lock the elderly into their homes so that kids couldnt visit, end dentistry, impose travel restrictions across state borders, and.

Yes, I could go on but there remains a sense of unreality about the whole thing. It all happened right here in the land of the free. The Prohibition years (19201932) were grim and ridiculous enough and proof that freedom is nowhere entirely and always safe. But the COVID epoch makes Prohibition seem very mild by comparison. The ostensible reason for the sudden imposition of totalitarian rule was to control a virus with an infection fatality rate of 0.035 percent for people under the age of 70.

None of these wildly destructive efforts stopped the virus. It went ahead patiently and infected the whole population that was made woefully unhealthy due to the egregiously coercive response to the virus, and then our immune systems adapted. It was all utter madness, so much so that masses of people just want to forget the whole thing, especially because so many people and both political parties participated.

We are all left with a kind of PTSD. I dont know what the right cure for that condition is but surely coming to terms with the grim reality of what happened is essential. My worry all along is that the concerted efforts to pretend like none of this occurred, or that it was no big deal, or that it was necessary and needs to happen again, and that governments and experts did their best given the paucity of information, and so on, would actually succeed.

It would be a tragedy if we do not learn from our recent egregious experiences. Reports from the campaign trail of 2022 indicate that the COVID response is a huge issue among voters.

Among deeply conservative and often Trump-backed congressional and gubernatorial candidates, writes StatNews, calls to investigate or even jail Anthony Fauci have become regular campaign rallying cries. Ads lambasting Democrats for school shutdowns, business closures and mask mandates are running in heated races including in Georgia and Florida, where Democratic candidates trail their opponents in the polls.

My worry is that the COVID response would not become a campaign issue at all simply because both parties are so heavily implicated in the pandemic response. After all, it was Trump who was gaslighted into green-lighting the lockdowns in the first place. But even party silence has not been able to stop the waves of outrage. Everyones lives were shattered by it all, from the school closures to the deliberate destruction of businesses to the preposterous kabuki dance scripted by the CDC to forever avoid the virus that ended up infecting everyone.

In any case, Ive waited for the book that could tell the story of all the horrors in a readable form and also back it all by the research we knew was there from the beginning. There are not that many people around who could write such a book simply because there werent many people who had a bead on this disaster from the beginning.

One of them is political consultant and businessman Justin Hart, who watched the unfolding of this mess from its first days. He founded the site Rational Ground to document it all, and provide a clearer perspective. He ended up becoming a major source for people who had an intuition that something was very wrong but needed data to back it all up. Like me, he has ended up dedicating nearly three years of his life countering the mania.

Fortunately for all of usand fortunately for historians of the future who will be utterly perplexed by this period of historyhe just has written a brilliant book. It is Gone Viral: How Covid Drove the World Insane. I highly recommend this to everyone who has been astonished by the unfolding of events and equally shocked at how little in the way of reckoning has really taken place. Hart is the perfect one for the job here: matching rigor with humor, argument with anecdote, and somehow managing to tell a nearly comprehensive story without ever getting bogged down. The voice is clear, confident, and compelling.

He covers it all: school, church, and business closures, travel restrictions, forced jabs, populist disease panic, media censorship and complicity in lies, and the massive corruption of science.

I especially appreciate his detailed work on masking. He proves their ineffectiveness but also utterly skewers the propaganda to push them anyway. Im particularly bitter about this subject because it was obvious to me from the beginning how preposterous the whole thing was.

On May 2, 2020, I tweeted that after lockdowns the face mask will be rightly regarded as a symbol of obsequious obedience and grotesque compliance with arbitrary and ignorant authority. Ive never been so much attacked for a single thought in my life, including whole treatises in large-circulation publications, as if I had committed a thought crime. I was trolled for months, even by one-time friends.

Thats how crazy the world had become. Harts book chronicles it all, including the stickers on the floor, the one-way grocery aisles, the closing of hospitals and day cares, the insane rules on dining, the supply-chain breakages and so much more.

Everything here is written with a special confidence that is tremendously admirable, and this is because Hart is one of the few intellectuals who was correct about the whole hullabaloo from the very beginning. Therefore he doesnt need to embark among some silly dance in which restrictions were fine in the beginning but later became too much. Nope: he kept his wits about him the whole time. Thus does he have the credibility to write without apologies.

He also writes extremely well. Weve been stuffed to the gills in data, studies, and in scientific claims and counterclaims deploying language that had been unfamiliar to most people until 2020. What weve lacked is clear thinking, plain English, and blunt truth in an organized package, turning chaos to order. This is what Hart provides.

No book can cover it all so he is careful to stay away from the purely medical aspects of the controversies about early treatment, for example. However, Peter McCullough covers this ably in The Courage to Face Covid-19. Other aspects of this disaster have been covered in Naomi Wolfs The Bodies of Others, Fritjers/Foster/Baker The Great Covid Panic, Scott Atlass A Plague Upon Our House, Alex Berensons Pandemia, and perhaps the forthcoming book by Paul Alexander entitled Presidential Takedown for the very weird early history of the pandemic response.

Still, for regular people who seek to come to terms with the madness that befell the world, I would rank Justin Harts book among those that should be considered a staple reading on the whole topic. Its as much a medical and political history as it is a psychological study in mass hysteria. Reading it is a form of therapy in the old Freudian sense: unearthing that trauma we so desperately want to forget and bringing it to the surface so that we can be honest about the sufferings weve endured and move on.

A mischievous idea: send a copy to every journalist at every major venue that assisted in drumming up the panic that wrecked our rights, liberties, property, and families. They need to face the truth about what they have done. This book is a great tool of truth and, hopefully, justice.

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.
The Specter of Democratism

Commentary

If fascism ever comes to America, it will come in the name of liberalism, Ronald Reagan prophesied. More precisely, its coming in the name of democracy. That revered word that justifies every political action and policy, democracy is now a Trojan horse for its opposite.

The Washington Post recently published an article titled, incredibly, Democrats failure to make 2022 about the threat to democracy. Can it be argued that any politician has failed to make 2022 about the threat to democracy, least of all the Democrats? The weaponized use of the phrase a threat to our democracy is plausible only because Western elites have redefined the meaning of democracy. Under the new dispensation, democracy has two meanings: its real and original meaning, rule by the people, and its new meaning, rule by the elites.

Over two centuries ago Jean-Jacques Rousseau blessed this novel understanding of democracy, which has all but replaced the Athenian version. Rousseaus idea of a hypothetical ideal of the popular will, the General Will, needing to find expression through an all-knowing and all-powerful Legislator has found a ready audience in the halls of the U.S. Capitol, the spires of the ivory towers, and newsrooms of the legacy media. Those who breathe the rarified air in these places fancy themselves to be just such figures.

Through Rousseau or through other channels, the idea that democracy is in the eye of the (elite) beholder, has profoundly influenced modern Western thinking. Indivisible Project, the name of the activist organization for which Hillary Clinton just made a promotional videowarning, predictably, against the threat to democracy posed by the Republicanscould be a direct translation of the phrase General Will. It claims to be working to defeat populism, paradoxically, in the name of democracy.

The ominous remarks of Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, toward the Italians for electing their own prime minister stem from von der Leyens commitment to the democratic ideal as she conceives of it rather than the actual desires of the people. Von der Leyen says that the EU has tools to deal with Italy if its people follow the path of Hungary and Poland, two other countries that have challenged the elite consensus on the meaning of democracy: Is democracy the actual will of the people? Or is democracy a very particular set of policieson the economy, the family, gender, religionfavored by a transnational elite? Von der Leyen and others suggest that its the latter.

Many sense the hypocrisy of elites who claim to speak on behalf of the general will against those who threaten democracy, but this phenomenon goes beyond contemporary partisan politics. We are in the midst of an entrenched ideological way of thinking about life and politics that I have called democratism. Although it has become much more virulent in recent years, democratisms belief system stretches back centuries, and its ideas have now spread the globe. Therefore, its unlikely to wane any time soon.

Democratism is subtler than the ideologies of the 20th century, but it remains to be seen whether it will stay in its present form of soft despotism, to borrow from Alexis de Tocqueville, or, if emboldened by its late successes and near-monopoly on the political, academic, and journalistic establishments, it will transform into real despotism.

Either way, its important to defang this modern ideology. The first step toward restoring not democracy, since the United States isnt a direct democracy, but constitutional republicanism is diagnosing the current anti-democratic (and unconstitutional) trends as symptoms of a comprehensive and dangerous ideology, not simply a passing fad.

When a politician or intellectual labels the opposition a threat to democracy, we should pause and ask what is meant by democracy. Is the actual will of the people in danger of subversion? Or does the will of the people represent a threat to the power and agenda of those claiming to be the defenders of democracy?

Another indicator of democratism is the perceived need to bypass the electorate in order to usher in real democracywhich must always be centralized at the national or, its hoped, global level. If those who claimed to be advancing real democracyof, by, and for the people, as Indivisible claims to be doing, were in fact interested in having the peoples voices heard, they would celebrate the overturning of Roe v. Wade, for example, as a victory for pluralistic democracy. Now the peoples of the various states may choose for themselves how to regulate abortion laws. But the folks who clamor for more democracy are often the same ones who see abortion as needing to be forced on every state, even against the will of the people.

Enshrining what is taken to be a universal right over the actual desires of the electorate is the new democracy. To get there, however, work must be done on the electorate, which, to the disappointment of the cheerleaders of democracy, still holds some power.

Take the transgenderism movement. This new political frontier is being conquered against the wishes of many Americans, with a majority believing that it has gone too far, according to recent polls. Drag queen story hour and Netflix shows depicting transgender children play a significant role in normalizing, from a young age, what is supposed to be the values of our democracy. Theres a prominent ingredient of vanguardism.

Its important to remember that democracy isnt in danger. Rather, the viewpoints and ways of life of those who oppose democracy are in danger.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
The Truth About Vaccine-induced Myocarditis: Part 3

Commentary

Read Parts 1 and 2 of this series featured in The Epoch Times.

On May 12 of last year, school teacher Emily Jo took her 14-year-old son Aiden to get his first Pfizer vaccine dose. The public health authorities and her sons pediatrician unanimously recommended vaccination, prompting her decision. She knew that mRNA shots caused some number of adverse events, like all vaccines, but was re-assured by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and White Houses public recommendation.

The talk amongst the mainstream medical community was that vaccine myocarditis was mild and that this was very rare, she told me.

At that time, despite concerning heart inflammation reports from Israel, the CDC publicly claimed to have found no signal of myocarditis after intentionally investigating over 200 million administered doses.

Moreover, Emily Jo was never warned of the myocarditis risk or informed about the risk-benefit profile.

When I took Aiden to get his vaccines at the drive-through vaccination site, there was no warning about myocarditis. We were not counseled about any side effects to be aware of, she said.

In the name of public safety, scientific innovation, and personal health, Emily Jo sent out a celebratory tweet proclaiming she and her family are so thankful their teenage son was able to get vaccinated.

However, her pride and relief turned out to be quite short-lived. Two days after her sons second vaccine dose (which he got a month after his first), he ended up in the hospital after complaining about intense chest pain. He was moved to a room on the acute cardiac floor where he was found to have elevated troponin levels (a key sign of heart damage) and an abnormal electrocardiogram. Every doctor Emily Jo spoke to at the pediatric hospital Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta confirmed her son had vaccine-induced myocarditis.

Given her sons dire condition, Emily worried Aiden might die or suffer from a catastrophic injury. Thankfully, after four distressful days at the hospital, Aidens troponin levels returned to baseline and he was discharged. However, this didnt mean he could return to his normal life. Aiden was unable to do physical activity for six months.

I had no idea how life altering mild myocarditis actually is. I have a very hard time with the label mild for anything that requires hospitalization and months of inactivity, Emily Jo said.

The most serious concern with Aidens vaccine injury isnt the harrowing experience itself, but the frequency at which it occurs. Virtually any substance or medication will produce a diverse range of reactions across the human population. As Sam Harris has correctly noted, if you administer peanuts to everyone, there will be some number of fatalities and cases of anaphylaxis.

The rare incidence of life-threatening anomalies doesnt mean that peanuts produce a net harm or should be banned altogether. Tragic interactions with any kind of externality are often exaggerated and exploited to justify irrational ideological agendas. For example, officer Derek Chauvins treatment of George Floyd paved the way for Abolish the Police initiatives.

In the case of COVID-19 vaccines causing myocarditis, we arent dealing with statistically insignificant ratios of one in a million or even one in ten thousand. The most robust data we haveaccording to Dr. Tracy Beth Hoeg (Florida Health department) and Dr. Marty Makary (Johns Hopkins University)is from Dr. Katie Sharff and colleagues, who analyzed a wide database from Kaiser Permanente and investigated cases that werent explicitly labeled as vaccine myocarditis. In her comprehensive search, she found a 1 in 1,862 rate of myocarditis after the second dose in young men ages 18 to 24. For boys ages 12 to 17, the rate was 1 in 2,650. Countries with active surveillance monitoring of medical datasuch as Hong Kongshow virtually identical figures. The risk of vaccine-induced myocarditis remains highly elevated for men up to the age of 40.

Cases such as Aidens have prompted many honest brokers in the public health community to reflect on the CDCs top-down vaccine recommendations. Dr. Anish Kokaa cardiologist with his own clinic in Philadelphiabelieves medical experts should have been more careful about recommending this to low-risk patients from the very outset.

As he explained to me over email, Clinical myocarditis is never milda recent paper of 1229-year-olds found 25% of myocarditis patients end up in the ICU, and 1 patient needed ECMO (a modified heart lung machine) to stay alive.

The long term impacts of the persistent scars that are apparent in follow-up on cardiac MRI are also unknown, he added.

Koka believes it was apparent by April there was a real safety signal, and he questions why public health authorities didnt make decisions starting then to at least inform the public about this potential side effect at that point. 

Instead of mitigating risks by further spacing vaccine doses, recommending Pfizer over Moderna, and being honest about near-zero risks of severe outcomes in younger, healthy groups, Big Pharma in collusion with the government seemingly opted for universal decrees.

Looking back on the CDC and Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) possible negligence and recklessness, Khoka stated the harm perpetrated was unconscionable.

More and more medical professionals are now speaking out on the strong likelihood that vaccine-induced myocarditis seems to occur at a rate that far exceeds deaths and hospitalizations in healthy, naturally immunized men under 40. Medicine professor Marty Makary at Johns Hopkins recently wrote in a tweet:

Last y[ea]r, the NEJM described a 22-yr-old that died from vax-induced myocarditis & Ive heard of many more cases. I have never heard of a young healthy person with nat[ural] immunity dying from Covid. Our govt doctors have not been honest about the risks:benefit in young healthy people.

I had been frankly hesitant to make such a statement since it isnt scientifically rigorous, but since this topic is becoming less taboo, I will say it now: I have heard (without deliberately seeking) of several vaccine myocarditis cases in healthy, young people but have heard of zero hospitalizations and deaths.

This observation is in line with the data. According to UK data before Omicronwhen the virus was deadlierthe COVID-19 death rate was just over 0.001 percent in unvaccinated 30-year-olds. For unvaccinated people in their 20s, the risk is more like 0.0001 percent. Hospitalization figures (from, not with COVID-19) are similarly infinitesimally low. Compare that with a vaccine myocarditis risk of 0.05 percent in young men.

In light of the FDA and CDCs push to vaccinate everyone with the bivalent boosterdespite unknown myocarditis riskshopefully more people will wake up and be skeptical of previously believed scientific dogmas.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Truckers Felt Obligation to Stay in Ottawa Due to Popular Support, Needed Graceful Exit: Lawyer Keith Wilson

A lawyer who was on the ground in Ottawa during the Freedom Convoy to represent the main organizers and who was involved in negotiations with authorities says that truckers never intended to stay that long but did so due to popular support.

This is a very important point, and I dont know that its come out yet, is a lot of people who were there, the truckers, never planned to stay that long, attorney Keith Wilson told the Public Order Emergency Commission on Wednesday.

But the Canadians they met along the way, and the stories and the heartache that they heard, and the trust and plea that they heard from those people, many of the truckers I talked to felt this obligation to stay as long as they could.

Wilson gave an example of that support by explaining how the main organizer Tamara Lich would walk down the street and be stopped by people who wanted to speak with her.

When we were moving from one location to another, it was remarkable the people that would come up and stop her and politely ask if they could have a hug and the tears would just start to flow, said Wilson.

And I would hear these these incredibly tragic stories that these people would share, and the grown men, about how theyd lost children to suicide, theyd lost their businesses, theyd lost their marriage, and it was  seeing what Tamara was doing that had given them hope.

The commission heard from convoy initiator Chris Barber on Nov. 1 and he said his plan was to protest the vaccine mandate for truckers crossing the border. The movement eventually evolved into demanding the lifting of all COVID-19 restrictions.

Based on this objective likely not being met, and since one of the convoys had traveled to Ottawa from western Canada, the Ontario Provincial Police assessed that protesters could be in Ottawa for an extended period.

The truck convoys started arriving in Ottawa on Jan. 28 and settled in the downtown core. The protest was dispersed after the Trudeau government invoked the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14.

Before this action was taken, Wilson had been involved in negotiations with the city to move trucks out of the residential neighbourhoods.

Then-Deputy Minister of Public Safety Rob Stewart was also working on an initiative to engage with protesters, but it was rejected by the government on Feb. 12.

Wilson spoke of the plan he was involved in with the city to move the trucks and said it was also intended that some trucks would leave Ottawa to go to staging areas in rural areas outside the city.

He said this was the more dominant theme of the plan.

Wilson said truckers needed a way to leave gracefully and respectfully.

One of the things we recognized was that if 75 percent of the vehicles were going to be given an opportunity to leave and go either to Embrun or Arnprior that some would actually use it as an opportunity to go home and do so respectfully.

Eventually some trucks were moved on to Wellington as part of the deal made with the city on Feb. 12 and 13, and others left Ottawa, but it could not completely bear out due to a number of obstacles.

Testimonies at the commission so far indicate there was a breakdown in communication among police, which was coupled with the Emergencies Act being invoked on Feb. 14 and the Ottawa police chief being replaced on Feb. 15.
Twitter Staying Vigilant Against Attempts to Manipulate Conversations About the 2022 US Midterms After Musk Takeover

Twitter took down six inauthentic networks with technical links to China and Iran that had sent tweets about the upcoming November midterm elections, according to an independent analysis, which stated that the actors sought to amplify strong views on polarizing issues in American politics.

Were staying vigilant against attempts to manipulate conversations about the 2022 U.S. midterms, said Twitters head of safety, Yoel Roth, in a tweet reshared by the platforms new owner, Elon Musk. Renee DiResta, one of the authors of the report, said, Technical indicators tie three to China, three to Iran. Activity fairly standard: create caricature American personas, ingratiate into communities via follower [train]s & #FBR, create or boost hot takes.

The report, prepared by analysts from the Digital Forensic Research Lab and the Stanford Internet Observatory, said that the content put out by the networks focused on the midterm elections, and U.S. politics, with one network broadening into the RussiaUkraine war and Americas foreign policy on China.

The networks were made to appear as if they came from within the United States, but technical indicators suggested China and Iran, with one additionally suggesting Israel. Twitter disrupted the networks before they managed to garner significant reach. The most-engaged tweet had 31,303 engagements, and of the 705,864 tweets spanning the six sets, 592,333 had zero likes, said the report.

Key Takeaways

The accounts focused on issues that correlated with China and Irans strategic interests. Iranian networks targeted communities and topics which expressed positive sentiments toward American progressive-left candidates, and who supported policies favorable to the regime in Tehran, while actors linked to China were interested in American politicians comments on Taiwan and stance toward China.

The report talked about follow-back or follow-train behaviorsreferring to follow-for-follow effortswhich were adopted by the accounts to integrate themselves into highly active political communities and stoke up already-high emotions.

China-linked networks, on one hand, propagated conservative issues like election integrity, referencing the documentary 2000 Mules and keywords like stolen election, while other accounts supported left-wing talking points like gun control.

One interesting account, 10 Votes, looked like a Progressive advocacy org w/profiles on many platforms (YT, Insta, Reddit, TikTok, Twitter). Had memes articulating prog policies, amplified activism (petitions, marches), but also endorsed candidates, boosted ActBlue links, said DiResta. Endorsement activity included Senate as well as downballot races, incl one for County Commissioner. That degree of specificity is uncommon.

Chinese Network, Twitter Moderators

APAC3, a pro-China network, controlled 1,872 accounts with more than 310,000 tweets, mostly in English and Mandarin, and a smaller proportion in Spanish, Japanese, Russian, Bengali, and Korean. Even though some accounts were created back in 2009, there was overwhelmingly activity between December 2021 and early October 2022,

The network focused on pro-China and anti-Western content in relation to Hong Kong, Taiwan, human rights abuses in Xinjiang, with the most prevalent hashtags being #China, #VladimirPutin, and #AmazingChina. The most active accounts made references to China using the Chinese flag emoji.

Twitter has been accused of left-wing bias in its content moderation as the platform censored multiple Republican and conservative figures since early 2021. According to a Bloomberg reporter who cited anonymous sources, most content moderation staff have had their tools locked since the Musk takeover.

Usually, hundreds of people on the team could remove posts with alleged misinformation, the reporter wrote, saying, its now down to 15 people.
With Gasgoo Daily, we will offer daily important automotive news in China. For those we have reported, the title of the piece will include a hyperlink, which will provide detailed information.

IM L7 SP performance version hits market

IM Motors, the premium new electric vehicle (NEV) joint venture among SAIC Motor, Alibaba Group, and Zhangjiang Hi-Tech, put the high-performance version of the IM L7 onto the market on Nov. 1. Guidance price of the IM L7 Snake Performance Lite and the IM L7 Snake Performance is 478,800 yuan and 578,800 yuan, respectively.

IM L7 Snake Performance; photo credit: IM Motor

BAIC BJEV boasts 76.09% YoY surge in Jan.-Oct. sales

BAIC BJEV sold 5,569 new vehicles in Oct. 2022, representing a year-on-year surge of 124.2%, according to an announcement from its parent company BAIC BluePark New Energy Technology Co., Ltd.

For the first ten months of 2022, BAIC BJEV's auto sales totaled 34,264 units, leaping 76.09% from a year earlier.

HYCAN delivers 3,123 vehicles in Oct. 2022

Chinese electric car startup HYCAN said on Wednesday it delivered 3,123 vehicles in Oct. 2022, versus 3,011 vehicles delivered in the previous month

SGMW announces Chinese name of Wuling Air ev

SAIC-GM-Wuling announced on Wednesday the Wuling Air ev, the first Wuling-branded new energy vehicle model targeting the global market, is named Qingkong in Chinese (meaning Clear Sky). The model comes with four body colors, namely, white, blue, grey, and coffee.

SVOLT's starts production at power battery manufacturing base in Suining

SVOLT, a Chinese power battery maker carved out of Great Wall Motor ("GWM"), on Oct. 31 celebrated the production beginning at the first phase of its lithium ion power battery factory in Suining city, Sichuan province, the company announced via its WeChat account.

Hesai Technology launches pure solid-state LiDAR FT120

On Nov. 2, Hesai Technology, a world-leading LiDAR solution provider, officially launched the pure solid-state short-range blind spot LiDAR designed to the factory-installed ADAS for mass-produced vehicles, named FT120, which is expected for volume production and delivery in the second half of 2023.

ZEEKR 009 all-electric MPV starts at 499,000 yuan

ZEEKR, the premium electric vehicle (EV) brand of Geely, put its second production model, the ZEEKR 009, onto the market on Nov. 1 with two trim levels offered. The WE version's starting price is 499,000 yuan ($68,630), while the ME version starts at 588,000 yuan ($80,870).

Dongfeng Motor-backed VOYAH boasts 154% YoY hike in Oct. 2022 deliveries

VOYAH, the premium new energy vehicle (NEV) brand of Dongfeng Motor Group, announced this week its new vehicle deliveries amounted to 2,553 units in Oct. 2022, surging 154% from the previous year.

ZEEKR 001's monthly deliveries surpass 10,000 units for first time

ZEEKR, the Chinese premium EV brand owned by Geely Holding, saw the monthly deliveries of the ZEEKR 001 exceed 10,000 units for the first time in Oct. 2022.
Russian Navy vessels are anchored in a bay of the Black Sea port of Sevastopol in Crimea May 8, 2014. (Stringer/REUTERS)

UK Rejects Russian Sabotage Claims as Moscow Resumes Black Sea Grain Shipment Deal

The United Kingdom is dismissing the Kremlins claims that British military specialists played a role in September explosions on strategic energy pipelines linking Russian gas fields to Northern Europe.

Were carefully monitoring the situation, but it is right to not be drawn into these sorts of distractions, which is part of the Russian playbook, a spokesman for UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told reporters on Nov. 1.

Russia claims to have evidence that British operatives, working in tandem with Ukrainian forces, participated in an Oct. 29 drone attack on Russian naval vessels docked in the Crimean port of Sevastopol.

The Russian Defense Ministry has also asserted that the same unit of British specialists took part in the planning, provision, and implementation of the Nord Stream pipeline ruptures, which reports have claimed were deliberate acts of sabotage.

Moscow has yet to provide any evidence for the claims, however.

The Turkish-flagged cargo ship Polarnet, carrying Ukrainian grain, passes by the Osmangazi Bridge entering the Gulf of Izmit in Turkey on Aug. 8, 2022. (Yoruk Isik/Reuters)

The Nord Stream pipelines were breached on Sept. 26 in Swedish and Danish territorial waters, prompting a flurry of tit-for-tat accusations between Western capitals and Moscow.

While the Kremlin has repeatedly hinted at Western involvement, it had previously refrained from explicitly naming any state actors.

On Nov. 1, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov doubled down on the claims, telling reporters, There is evidence that Britain is involved in sabotage  a terrorist act against vital energy infrastructure.

Such actions cannot be put aside. Of course, we will think about further steps. It definitely cannot be left like this.

According to Peskov, Russia is awaiting the completion of a damage assessment before deciding whether to begin repairing the multibillion-dollar pipeline.

In mid-October, Swedish authorities abruptly halted joint investigations with Denmark and Germany into the incident, citing concerns over national security.

Later, however, Stockholm announced plans to conduct further examinations of the damaged pipelinethis time with the help of the Swedish Armed Forces.

Ive decided, together with the security police, to carry out a number of additional investigations at the scene of the crime, Mats Ljungqvist, the Swedish prosecutor in charge of the case, said on Oct. 28.

Swedish military authorities had also asked to take part in the investigation, he said.

Swedish and Danish investigators have already concluded that the pipeline breaches were caused by multiple underwater explosions. But so far, theyve refrained from naming any suspects.

On Nov. 2, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that it planned to summon the UKs ambassador to Russia to discuss allegations of British involvement.

These actions were carried out under the guidance of British specialists, ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. In this regard, the British ambassador will shortly be summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Black Sea Grain Deal Resumes

Later the same day, Russian officials announced the resumption of a landmark deal with Ukraine that allows the latter to export grain through the Black Sea.

Thanks to the participation of the U.N. and the support of Turkey, we managed to get the necessary written guarantees from Ukraine regarding the grain deal, Russias Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Russia suspended its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative immediately following the Sevastopol attack, raising concerns about potential disruptions to global grain supplies.

According to Ukraines Infrastructure Ministry, more than 200 grain-laden cargo ships had been effectively blocked from leaving the country because of Russias withdrawal from the deal.

Brokered in July by the U.N. and Turkey, the agreement has to date allowed almost 10 million tons of Ukrainian grain to reach buyers abroad.

Under the deal, a joint coordination center was set up in Istanbul to inspect cargo ships and coordinate their movements. The agreement also established a maritime corridor for the safe shipment of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea.

On Nov. 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the status of the grain initiative.

During their conversation, Putin reportedly accused Kyivand its Western curatorsof having used the maritime corridor to stage the attack on Russian ships docked near Sevastopol.

According to the Kremlins account of the phone call, Putin also asked that Kyiv provide guarantees of its compliance with the terms of the deal, which forbids the use of the maritime corridor for military purposes.

Speaking to leaders of his ruling Justice and Development Party on Nov. 2, Erdogan confirmed the resumptioneffective immediatelyof the U.N.-brokered grain initiative.

After the phone conversation we had with Putin yesterday, Russian Defense Minister [Sergei] Shoigu called our National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and stated that grain shipments will continue as planned as of noon today, he was quoted as saying by Turkeys state-run Anadolu news agency.

Reuters contributed to this report.
An undated police mugshot of Wayne Couzens, a serving police officer who abducted, raped and murdered Sarah Everard in London in March 2021. (Metropolitan Police)

UK Vetting Report Says It Is Too Easy for Wrong People to Join and Stay in the Police

Thousands of corrupt or unsatisfactory police officers may be working in England and Wales because of poor standards of vetting during the recruitment process, a watchdog has stated.

His Majestys Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) looked at the vetting of recruits in eight police forces and found many had joined despite having criminal records or links to organised crime.

The inspection was commissioned in October 2021 by the then-Home Secretary Priti Patel in the wake of Wayne Couzens being jailed for life for the murder of Sarah Everard.

The Inspector of Constabulary, Matt Parr, said the chances of someone like Couzensa serving police officer who abducted, raped, and murdered Everard in March 2021would have been clearly reduced if better screening checks had been in place when he joined the Metropolitan Police.

Parr told reporters at a briefing, It seems reasonable for me to say that over the last three or four years, the number of people recruited over whom we would raise significant questions is certainly in the hundreds, if not low thousands  its not in the tens, its at least in the hundreds.

The report also found there was a culture of misogyny, sexism, and predatory behaviour towards female police officers, civilian employees, and members of the public that was prevalent in many forces.

Parr said this culture existed in all eight police forcesthe Met, Kent, Cumbria, South Wales, Nottinghamshire, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall; and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary.

The report found 131 cases where the vetting decisions made were questionable at best and in 68 of these they said the forces had been wrong to grant vetting clearance.

It said, We found officers and staff with criminal records, or suspicions that they had committed crime (including some serious crime), substantial undischarged debt, or family members linked to organised crime.

HMICFRS said it found a conviction for indecent exposure had been dismissed as a one-off, a warning that a different recruit may present a risk to the public was ignored, and a chief constable argued that hiring a third officer would make an area more diverse despite a string of sexual assault allegations against him.

Vetting Must Be Much More Rigorous

Parr said: It is too easy for the wrong people to both join and stay in the police. If the police are to rebuild public trust and protect their own female officers and staff vetting must be much more rigorous and sexual misconduct taken more seriously.

He said the pressure to meet government targets to hire 20,000 new officers by March 2023 cannot be allowed to act as an excuse for failing to vet new recruits properly.

HMICFRS looked at 11,277 police officers and staff in all, and examined 725 vetting files in detail. It also considered 264 complaint and misconduct investigations.

The chairman of the National Police Chiefs Council, Martin Hewitt, said recruitment procedures had been considerably reformed since the Couzens case emerged.

Hewitt told the BBC: The picture is very bleak, but I do think its important for people to understand that we havent waited for this report to arrive. In the aftermath of the awful revelations about Sarah Everards murder, there has been a range of work that has been undertaken around issues of vetting.

Marc Jones, chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, said: What is also clear is that there is much more to do to address the toxic misogynistic culture which remains engrained in some areas. Complacency is not an option.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, London, on Nov. 2, 2022. (House of Commons via PA Media)

UKs Sunak Reverses Decision to Skip COP27 Climate Summit

The UKs Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday said he will attend the COP27 climate summit in Egypt next week, reversing his previous decision to skip the global conference.

The U-turn comes after Sunak came under pressure from climate activists, opposition parties, and some Conservative MPs including his former boss Boris Johnson and the governments climate czar Alok Sharma, for his planned absence.

The prime minister told reporters on Friday said he was very passionate about the environment, but would focus on the depressing domestic challenges we have with the economy for the time being.

On Wednesday, he announced his change of mind on Twitter.

There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change. There is no energy security without investing in renewables. That is why I will attend @COP27P next week: to deliver on Glasgows legacy of building a secure and sustainable future, Sunak wrote.

Downing Street later said Sunak changed his plans after making good progress on the upcoming autumn budget.

He has always recognised the importance of this summit and indeed on tackling climate change more generally. We wanted to make sure we were making good progress on the governments domestic agenda and the autumn statement in particular, the prime ministers official spokesperson said.

Following discussions with the chancellor this week he has now agreed to attend. The prime minister feels there is sufficient space to make this trip.

Sharma, the current COP president, said on Twitter that hes delighted about Sunaks attendance, having previously told The Sunday Times that he was pretty disappointed Sunak wasnt going.

Sharma is expected to hand over the UKs COP presidency to Egypt during the summit, which takes place between Nov. 6 and 18 in the southern Egyptian city of Sharm El Sheik.

King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become prime minister and form a new government, in London, on Oct. 25, 2022. (Aaron Chown  WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Downing Street also confirmed that King Charles III, who last year told COP26 in Glasgow that the world have to be on a war-like footing over climate change, will not attend the summit.

The new monarch was advised not to go by former Prime Minister Liz Truss.

Sunaks spokesman confirmed on Wednesday that it was a unanimous agreement that the king would not attend.

In his first televised speech as king on Sept. 9, Charles recalled his mothers pledge made on her 21st birthday to devote her whole life to the service of the Commonwealth, vowing to uphold the constitutional principles throughout his remaining life, and signalling that he will take a step back from being involved in the charities and issues about which he care[s] so deeply.

Sunak has been sending mixed signals about his governments energy and climate policies. The new prime minister restored the moratorium on fracking only weeks after Trusss government lifted the ban. But he demoted Sharma and climate minister Graham Stuart, who have been stripped of their Cabinet seats.

Owen Evans contributed to this report.
Members of the Teachers' Professional Association of Queensland (TPAQ) take part in a protest against the state Department of Education's decision to cut the pay of unvaccinated teachers in Brisbane, Australia on Aug. 31. (Courtesy of TPAQ)

Union That Opposed Vaccine Mandates Outlawed by Queensland Government

The head of the start-up Red Unionformed in response to the vaccine mandatesis vowing to fight the Queensland Labor governments decision to effectively bar the organisation from operating in the state.

On Oct. 28, the Palaszczuk government passed the Industrial Relations Amendment Bill, which tightens the criteria for registering new employee organisations, side-lining Red Union and its affiliate nursing, teaching and business unions.

Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace said she made no apologies for the move.

Changes provide protections against organisations and individuals who make false and misleading claims about being able to represent the industrial interests of employers and employees, she said in a statement on Oct. 28.

During her explanatory speech in June (pdf), Grace told the state Parliament she was responding to growing confusion and concerns.

This follows the emergence of self-proclaimed entities promoting industrial representation capabilities without adhering to the strict regulatory requirements to be recognised by a registered organisation under the [Industrial Relations] Act and not being subject to the same level of reporting, accountability or democratic processes.

Under the changes, the industrial watchdog can declare an organisation ineligible to register as a union and hand out penalties of up to $3,722 (US$2,380).

According to the explanatory notes (pdf), the new laws will also introduce a review mechanism that can see applications for a new union blocked if there is an objection on the grounds it could be mistaken for an organisation under the [Industrial Relations] Act; or an entity that has functions that are the same or comparable.

In effect, this would open the door for objections to any new organisation being set up in a field that already has union representation, including teaching or medicine.

Red Union Vows Fightback

In response to the law, Red Unions Managing Director Jack McGuire called it a farce saying the group was already dealing with 800 active matters before the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission.

Grace moved a last-minute amendment to the legislation to ensure that those 800 could stay on the record because if you let 800 people self-represent [it will be a mess], he told The Epoch Times.

In my view, its a politically motivated attack. But I think ultimately workers will see through it because they value freedom of association over this cynical attack.

Red Union is exploring possible avenues under Queenslands state-based Human Rights Act (pdf) that allows every person the right to form and join trade unionsprovisions adopted from the International Labour Organization.

It will cost tens of thousands, no doubt, but thats what we have to do. Well probably end up having to restructure and all that, he said.

McGuire also said the provisions would reinforce the monopoly status of legacy unions.

The Red Union umbrella group was founded in 2020 in response to the widespread acceptance of vaccine mandates by Australias traditional union groups. Membership has steadily grown to around 17,000 across fields like nursing and teaching, with the largest portion in the state of Queensland.

At the same time, union membership across the country has declined markedly from 1986 (47.3 percent of full-time workers) to 2020 (15.3 percent of full-timers).
U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger testifies during the Senate Rules and Administration Committee oversight hearing in Washington on Jan. 5, 2022 (Tom Williams/Pool/Getty Images)

US Capitol Police Seeks More Resources After Pelosi Attack

U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) Chief J. Thomas Manger is asking the federal government to provide resources after Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosis (D-Calif.) husband reported an assault in their California home.

Paul Pelosi was attacked in the Pelosis home by David DePape on Oct. 28, according to authorities. Police have alleged that DePape was trying to murder Nancy Pelosi.

Now the USCP is asking for more resources in view of the attack.

Fridays attack against Paul Pelosi is an alarming reminder of the dangerous threats elected officials and public figures face during todays contentious political climate, Manger said in a lengthy statement.

Manger cited past attacks on former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.) and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) and noted that after these attacks the USCP bumped up its security measures.

With the increasing number of threats against elected officials from city council members to federal judges, our work to further our efforts to protect the Members of Congress becomes increasingly urgent, the statement continued.

Nancy Pelosi was in Washington when the attack on her husband occurred, according to the USCP. No security was present at the Pelosis home.

Nancy Pelosi is third in line for the presidency.

Once a relatively small organization mostly concerned with security on U.S. Capitol grounds, the USCP has expanded its scope substantially since the Jan. 6 Stop the Steal rally that ended in the Capitol being breached.

In July 2021, the agency announced its intention to open new field offices to assist in investigating threats against members of Congress. The decision was critiqued by some as going beyond the bounds of the USCP mission.

Manger is looking to further expand the scope of his agency after the attack on Pelosi.

Following a review of the incident, We believe todays political climate calls for more resources to provide additional layers of physical security for Members of Congress, Manger said.

Manger mentioned a plan that he said would include an emphasis on adding redundancies to the measures that are already in place for Congressional leadership.

He added, Hopefully you can understand that we cannot disclose the details about these improvements because our country cannot afford to make it easier for any potential bad actors.

During this time of heightened political tension, we continue to monitor thousands of cases across the countryin an effort to stop potential threats before they make headlines, the statement continued. During the past five-years, roughly 12-percent of casesin which we identified people making threatshave been prosecuted.

We hope to see more of these cases prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

The USCP is working tirelessly to keep everyone safe during this tense time in American politics, Manger concluded. We understand the urgency of todays challenges and remain committed to our mission.

Calls By Members for Expanded Security

Mangers statement comes after several congressmen asked for additional security for members of their families in the wake of the attack.

I understand that the speaker has a detail but we really need, at least for the leadership, to have Capitol Police at the residences like we do for Supreme Court justices, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said on CNN.

Providing security cant happen for every member of Congress, Khanna said.

But certainly for the leadershipwho are high-profileyou can do that, he said. And if there are some members of Congress who have threats, and unfortunately some of my colleagues do, they need better protection.

Some congressional leaders receive security but their families and residences arent covered at present.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) said that it cannot be solely the members and elected officials responsibility to provide for their families security.

We need more ways to protect members and their families, Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) told Axios.

The Houses sergeant-at-arms said over the summer that the federal government would pay for security system equipment at the homes of members, but capped the scheme at $10,000 per member. The sergeant-at-arms also offered to provide up to $150 a month for ongoing costs.

Nearly 9,700 threats were recorded in 2021, more than double the number in 2017.

The biggest challenge I think we have is keeping up with the number of threats. Weve doubled the number of officers that investigate these threats, agents that investigate these threats, and if they continue to go up the way they have clearly we are going to need additional officers to assign to this responsibility, Manger said.

The USCP received increased funding for fiscal year 2023 in part to provide additional threat based protective details for members. Manger also said that the USCP works with local officers when members return to their home districts to try to ensure the safety and security of lawmakers.

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly testifies before a House Homeland Security Subcommittee, at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington on April 28, 2022. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

US Cybersecurity Head Says There Will Be Errors and Glitches During Midterms

U.S. cybersecurity chief Jen Easterly said the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) does not censor information, and voters should expect normal errors and glitches, such as burst water pipes, during the midterm elections next week.

A week out from the U.S. midterm elections, Easterly, a Biden appointee, has talked about CISAs role in securing election infrastructure and the risk vector of disinformation and misinformation.

I want to be really clear about what CISAs role is in this. You know, we are not an intel agency. Were not a law enforcement agency, she said during a talk at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.

We dont work with the platforms on what they do around content. That is entirely their decision. It is their terms of service. And I want to be very clear about this: We do not censor information.

I want to be very clear, she added with emphasis. We do not censor anything. What social media platforms do, what the news does, is entirely their decision.

CISA, which sits within the Department of Homeland Security, was set up in 2018 to understand, manage, and reduce risk to the critical cyber and physical infrastructure Americans rely on every day, Easterly said. This includes election infrastructure.

A large group of protesters on the East steps of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021. (Jon Cherry/Getty Images)

Errors, Glitches, Burst Water Pipes Are Normal in Elections: Easterly

The cybersecurity chief said voters should expect errors and glitches in the upcoming midterms, which she insisted were normal. As such, she said election officials asked her to pass on a message to Americans.

There are going to be errors. There are going to be glitches. That happens in every election. But thats why there are multiple layers of security controls and resilience built into the system, she said.

These things are going to happen  somebody will forget their key to the polling place, a water pipe will burst  [These] are normal things. Theyre not nefarious, she added.

Election officials sometimes face physical intimidation as a result of misinformation about election integrity spread by foreign bad actors, Easterly said.

A voter places a ballot in a drop box outside of the Maricopa County Elections Department in Phoenix, Arizona, on Aug. 2, 2022. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

While this makes misinformation and disinformation an ongoing concern for CISA, Easterly said the agency saw no credible or specific information about efforts to disrupt or compromise election infrastructure this year.

However, she said there continue to be efforts by foreign adversaries to sow discord among the American people, to undermine confidence in the integration of our elections, and to incite violence against election officials.

Its a significant concern because you think about these adversaries that are trying to sow discord, that are trying to break us apart, about Americans that are trying to undermine, you know, integrity in our elections, she said.

We are very concerned about this, she added.

She noted that elections are not run by the federal government but by state and local officials, who deserve to be safe. She said shes confident CISA has done everything we can to make election infrastructure as secure and as resilient as possible.

Lawsuit Alleges CISA Directed Censorship

Easterly is one of several key officials in President Joe Bidens administration ordered to testify under oath in a deposition about their roles in a case alleging collusion between the federal government and Big Tech companies to censor users.

The plaintiffs in the case, the attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri and others, allege that Easterly supervises the nerve center of federally directed censorship, according to a court filing.

CISA, which sits within the Department of Homeland Security, is accused of directly flagging misinformation to social-media companies for censorship.

Further, Easterly is accused of claiming that speech on social media is a form of infrastructure which therefore falls within her agencys mission to protect infrastructure.' Easterly is quoted in the court filing as claiming that the most critical infrastructure is a cognitive infrastructure.

The lawsuit also notes text messages between Easterly and a former CISA agent, Matt Masterson, who now works at a social media platform, which ultimately centers around how Easterly allegedly seeks greater censorship and that this would be done by federal pressure on social media platforms to increase censorship.

Read More China Seeks to Influence 2022 Midterm Elections: Cybersecurity Chief

Need for Depositions Outweigh Burden

Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases and Bidens chief medical adviser, are among the other officials ordered to be deposed.

The White House has sought to block most depositions but not Faucis.

Lawyers for the government officials have argued in a motion filed on Oct. 27 that plaintiffs shouldnt be able to depose Easterly; Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, a Biden appointee; and Rob Flaherty, a deputy assistant to the president.

The Courts Depositions Order would require the relevant high-ranking government officials to divert time from their professional duties to prepare for, and participate in, time-consuming depositions, the motion states.

The plaintiffs assert that Easterly must be deposed because she has unique knowledge about the scope and nature of communications between CISA, DHS, and other federal officials, according to a court filing.

They further assert she needs to be deposed because CISA disclosed extensive oral communications and meetings between CISA officials and social media platforms, and plaintiffs believe that as director of the agency, Easterly would have detailed knowledge of what CISA is disclosing.

When the judge originally ordered Easterly to be deposed, he found that any burden imposed on her is outweighed by the need to determine whether the First Amendment right of free speech was suppressed.
Brendan Carr, commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission, testifies during a House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee hearing in Washington on March 31, 2022. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

US Federal Communications Commissioner Visits Taiwan for Talks on Cybersecurity Cooperation

Brendan Carr, commissioner of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is visiting Taiwan this week to discuss cybersecurity cooperation, making him the first sitting FCC member to visit the self-ruled island.

In an interview with Axios, Carr said that he will meet with officials from Taiwans Foreign Ministry and National Communications Commission, citing the importance of Taiwans chip industry to U.S. economic growth.

Given my position at the FCC, I look forward in particular to deepening the collaboration with Taiwan and sharing views on network resiliency, cyber, and telecom issues that are vital to our shared security interests, he told Axios.

Carr confirmed to The Epoch Times that he arrived in Taiwan on Wednesday for a three-day visit.

Carr, one of the five FCC members, is known for his tough stance on China. He previously raised national security concerns about the Chinese video app TikTok and urged the Council on Foreign Investment in the United States to ban the app.

The commissioner said that his visit to Taiwan would demonstrate that Taiwans democracy and freedom from the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) brutal authoritarianism is vital to the United States.

China claims Taiwan as part of its territory, even as Taiwan is a sovereign nation with a democratically elected government. The CCP has vowed to conquer Taiwan by force if necessary.

The CCP initiated military drills near Taiwan after a controversial visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in August, firing multiple ballistic missiles over Taiwan and imposing a blockade of its international sea.

Dependence on Taiwan-Made Chips

Li Pao-wen, a professor at National Sun Yat-sen Universitys Institute of China and Asia-Pacific Studies, said at an Oct. 5 forum that Taiwan is currently an asset rather than a burden to the United States in the U.S.China strategic rivalry.

He said that nearly 80 percent of the chips in the United States come from Taiwan, and the two countries have deep commercial and economic links as well as shared democratic values and goals.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. accounts for 53.4 percent of the foundry market, making it the worlds largest contract chip manufacturer. The company is also a major supplier to Apple Inc.

Yun Yun Huang contributed to this report.
Shanghai at night taken by the Expedition 30 crew from the International Space Station, on March 27, 2012. (NASA)

Using Night-Time Light Data, Researcher Finds Chinese GDP May Be Overstated by About 35 Percent

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been known to alter its economic data. A study published in October used night-time light to determine that China, as well as other autocracies, overstate their gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates.

The U.S. study gathered night-time light (NTL) data from satellites and used that to measure the exaggeration of official GDP data of autocratic regimes.

It found that autocracies overstate their GDP by about 35 percent.

The study, published in October in the Journal of Political Economy, is authored by Luis R. Martinez, an assistant professor at Harris School of Public Policy and the College, University of Chicago.

According to Martinez, governments of all types tend to have the incentive to overstate their economic figures, as they are a major determinant of government turnover, but he found proportional exaggeration of GDP growth in autocracies.

Martinez examined GDP data for 184 countries sourced from the World Bank over a period of more than twenty years, and he compared these data with NTL data from the U.S. Air Forces Defense Meteorological Satellite Program.

In democratic countries, there tend to be checks and balances that restrain governments from overstating their economic turnover, which are largely absent in dictatorships, Martinez said in a virtual interview with the VOA on Tuesday.

For the authoritarian states, if the true growth rate is one percent, the authoritarian regime would report a growth rate of 1.3 percent, Martinez told the VOA.

A top Chinese official recently acknowledged that the CCPs GDP data is unreliable, Martinez wrote in his study.

Martinezs model suggests Beijing may have overstated GDP growth by a third over the past two decades, making its economy far smaller than claimed, VOA reported.

On Oct. 24, China disclosed a GDP growth rate of 3.9 percent for the third quarter this year over the same period last year, after an unusual delay of nearly one week, exceeding the 3.4 percent market forecast and doing better than the 0.4 percent growth rate of the second quarter of 2022.

NTL Reveals Economic Activity

Su Tzu-yun, a senior analyst at the Taiwan-based Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said in an interview with the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times on Nov. 1 that NTL data are a very straightforward measurement of economic activity, as the more intense and brighter the lights, the more activity.

A medical worker takes samples during a mass COVID-19 test in a residential block in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, on Aug. 6, 2021. (Getty Images)

Su noted that night-time light can also reveal a public health crisis. He gave the example of the pandemic outbreak in Wuhan City of Chinas central Hubei Province.

Su said that at the initial outbreak of the pandemic in Wuhan, the CCP covered up the pandemic from the world. However, American scientists later observed from night-time satellite images enormous numbers of vehicles traveling around hospitals in Wuhan, causing traffic jams. The unusual traffic flow indicated the possibility of a large-scale outbreak of a pandemic.

Manipulating Economic Data

Chinas manipulation of its economic data has been observed by economists and China experts outside China.

The CCP has been altering economic data and Chinese officials themselves dont trust their own economic data, Wang He, China observer and current affairs commentator, told the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times on Nov. 1.

In China, officials get promoted for their economic achievements. Therefore, they have the incentive to boost their economic data for their promotions, he said.

In the past, Chinese local governments published their own GDP figures, which added up to be much greater than the state-released GDP figures, he said, adding that the CCP had to prohibit local governments from publishing locally-collected data and the national statistical body was appointed to release official data instead.

However, national statistics are overstated as well, Wang said. He doubted the 3.9 percent GDP growth rate for the third quarter of the year.

According to Chinese financial publication Caixins data, Chinas PMI reading from January to September was below 50, showing a contraction of production, he said. How could the 3.9 percent growth be possible?

PMI stands for Purchasing Managers Index, revealing whether market conditions are expanding, staying the same, or contracting. A PMI reading above 50 represents an expansion, while a PMI reading below 50 indicates a contraction. A PMI reading of 50 means no change.

In 2019, The Economist reported that from 2008 to 2016 China overstated real GDP growth by two percentage points on average every year, citing a study by Chang-Tai Hsieh of the University of Chicago and three co-authors from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Therefore, with the incremental addition each year over that period of time, the official GDP data for 2016 would have been exaggerated by 16 percent, or more than $1.5 trillion.

Xia Song and Yi Ru contributed to this report.
Steeve Charland uses a translation aid as he responds to a question at the Public Order Emergency Commission hearings, Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022 in Ottawa. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

We Didnt Occupy It, Says Leader of Quebec Group Blamed for Blocking Key Ottawa Intersection During Freedom Convoy

A spokesperson for the Quebec group Farfadaas testified before the Public Order Emergency Commission on Tuesday and disputed repeated claims heard in recent weeks that the group was blocking a key intersection in Ottawa during the Freedom Convoy protest of last winter.

We didnt occupy Rideau and Sussex, Steeve Charland told the commission a number of times.

The issue was brought to him repeatedly, and in different ways, which led Commissioner Paul Rouleau to interject to say Charland had addressed it.

Charland admitted that its possible that there could have been members of his group in the area, but said he wasnt aware of any effort from his group to hold that area.

The Farfadaas movement is large, but were not responsible for every Quebecer, he said.

Charland said his group led a convoy that was 107 km long from Lachute, Quebec, to the Ottawa area for the Freedom Convoy events.

The group settled on the Gatineau side in a private parking lot where they struck a commercial agreement with the owner.

A week after the Freedom Convoy protest was dismantled by police on the Feb. 18 weekend, after the Liberal government invoked the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14, Charland was arrested in the Vankleek Hill area east of Ottawa.

He was charged with mischief and counselling to commit the offence of mischief.

Biker Gang

Along with claims that the group was occupying a key intersection in the city, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson told the commission that a group of Quebecers there was actually tied to biker gangs.

My understanding, because I was briefed on this, was that the chief indicated there were criminal elements I believe were involved with the biker gang community in Quebec, and they were blockading the corner of Rideau, Wellington, Sussex, and Colonel By, Watson told the commission on Oct. 18.

The allegation was not substantiated and Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) intelligence chief Pat Morris testified to the commission on Oct. 19 that he was told by the Surete du Quebec that the Farfadaas were not violent.

The claim of some biker gang affiliation was touched upon by Government of Canada lawyer Caroline Laverdiere, but dismissed by Charland.

Some of us have motorcycles, and others have roller blades, he said.

Freedom Convoy organizer Chris Barber testified before Charland and said he had only heard of the Farfadaas about a week ago in the context of the commission.

Remain Peaceful

Charland spoke at length about his history of activism and advocacy during his testimony and said he was committed to non-violence.

Its really not in our values to go towards violence, he said.

Infighting within the group with claims of intimidation and verbal violence has been reported by Quebec media.

Charland was asked to comment on an RCMP intelligence report from Feb. 4 which included a screenshot of a Facebook post made during the protest.

In a Facebook post [redacted] calls on members of FARFADAA to remain peaceful, noted the RCMP. Charland confirmed he was behind the post.

We dont win a war by fighting a war. I tried From yesterday, all the Farfadaas are engaged in re-establishing peace everywhere, wrote Charland, in an apparent call for peace within the group.

The Farfadaas spokesperson was previously associated with Quebec group La Meute (The Pack), which defines itself as a citizen group that campaigns for the defence of freedom of expression and democracy and is known for taking stances against illegal immigration and radical Islam.

Charland used many of his answers during his testimony to criticize what he says is a fledging democracy and said the commission would have an important role to determine whether Canadians still have the right to protest in the country.
In response to thousands of entries from 119 different countries, judges from the Royal Meteorological Society (RMS) have announced the 2022 winners of its annual Weather Photographer of the Year competition, and the images are nothing short of breathtaking.

This was the RMSs seventh edition of the competition and the winners were awarded the cash prizes of 500 pounds sterling ($580) for first place, 250 pounds sterling ($290) for second place, and 100 pounds sterling ($115) for third. They were also gifted a Canon SELPHY CP1300 printer and media pack, and one years free membership to the Royal Meteorological Society.

The Winner: Storm Eunice

British photographer Christopher Ison earned the top spot in the competition with his dynamic photo, Storm Eunice. The image depicts raging waves at high tide against the stoic structure of a lighthouse, taken during the first-ever red storm warning in Newhaven, on the south coast of England, in 2021.

Storm Eunice by Christopher Ison. (Courtesy of Christopher Ison/Royal Meteorological Society)

Ison, 50, said in a press release: I knew I had to find a spot to record it; this was going to be big! I got there reasonably early to find many photographers already drenched in rain and sea water, standing very close to the harbor wall. I decided to head to high ground and slightly further away, with my back to the weather.

Isons choice paid dividends, and he was rewarded with a unique and dramatic photo series that contained his winning shot. Judges agreed that Isons photo submission exemplified the power of nature.

Second Place: Frozen

Second place was awarded to Zhenhuan Zhou, 55, from Toronto, Canada, for his mystical photo of an icicle-drenched Niagara Falls in Ontario, titled Frozen.

Frozen by Zhenhuan Zhou. (Courtesy of Zhenhuan Zhou/Royal Meteorological Society)

Third Place: Ghost Under the Cliff

Third place went to 68-year-old Emili Vilamala Benito from Barcelona, Spain, for Ghost Under the Cliffa rendering of a gigantic optical phenomenon that can appear when the shadow of the observer is cast downward onto morning fog off the cliff of Tavertet, Barcelona.

Benito said, In this geographical area, you can see these phenomena due to morning fog, and when it fades, it is possible to see this spectacular optical phenomenon.

Ghost Under the Cliff by Emili Vilamala Benito. (Courtesy of Emili Vilamala Benito/Royal Meteorological Society)

The competition also welcomed submissions for the sub-categories Young Photographer, Mobile Phone, and Public Favorite.

Young Weather Photographer of the Year 2022 went to U.S. photographer Eris Pil, from Pennsylvania. Just 17 years old and using a Google Pixel 3 phone, Eris submitted her photo, Mammatus Sunset, showing the sky softly illuminated by bulbous, backlit clouds in a rare phenomenon that is notoriously difficult to capture.

Pil said: I love mammatus clouds; this was my first time ever witnessing them. I hope I have the opportunity to see them again, and Im excited to share what they look like with others.

Mammatus Sunset by Eris Pil. (Courtesy of Eris Pil/Royal Meteorological Society)

In the Mobile Phone category, Aung Chan Thar from Myanmar took the top spot with Sunset, an opportunistic shot capturing a moment of ethereal beauty as the setting sun illuminates the metallic gold of a nearby pagoda.

Aung said: That evening the clouds were overcast and it was raining, so I could not see the sun. Fortunately, just before sunset, the sun rose through the clouds and mist, creating a beautiful evening. Due to the sun, the pagoda became brighter and I captured this moment.

Sunset by Aung Chan Thar. (Courtesy of Aung Chan Thar/Royal Meteorological Society)

The 22 shortlisted finalists of the overall competition were also put to a public vote, and almost 5,500 voters responded.

Departing Storm Over Bembridge Lifeboat Station by storm-chaser Jamie Russell from the Isle of Wight, the United Kingdom, was named Public Favorite for its striking depiction of a double rainbow against a moody sky, and the lesser-noted feature of the color reversal in the lighter, pastel shadow rainbow.

Jamies winning photo almost eluded him. He said: I had been chasing showers and storms from west to east across the island in an attempt to capture some of the incredible rainbows. I reached Bembridge as the final shower departed, and in a panic waded in to waist-deep water, fully dressed, just to compose this scene!

Departing Storm Over Bembridge Lifeboat Station by Jamie Russell. (Courtesy of Jamie Russell/Royal Meteorological Society)

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
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- SVOLT, a Chinese power battery maker carved out of Great Wall Motor ("GWM"), on Oct. 31 celebrated the production beginning at the first phase of its lithium ion power battery factory in Suining city, Sichuan province, the company announced via its WeChat account.

The last move signifies that SVOLT's first manufacturing base in Southwest China has become operational and the company has taken a stride forward in term of its strategic deployment in Southwest China, said the battery manufacturer.

Photo credit: SVOLT

The Suining base's first phase is expected to reach an annual battery production capacity of 20GWh when it becomes fully operational. As SVOLT's model factory regarding the level of intelligence, technology, and low carbon, it introduces the company's next-generation high-speed stacking technology, high-speed laser die-cutting technology, and fully closed annular laser welding technology, high-efficiency energy storage battery testing, and other cutting-edge technologies, in order to offer clients batteries with high safety and quality.

SVOLT added the second phase of the Suning base is under construction and its production lines are expected to be well-prepared in mid-2023. The two phases will feature a combined designed production capacity of 29GWh per year, serving as a facility that integrates intelligent manufacturing, R&D, and testing functions.

SVOLT's third-generation high-speed stacking technology; photo credit: SVOLT

On Nov. 2, SVOLT announced that its in-house developed third-generation high-speed stacking technology has been officially used in volume production. Using the new technology, the stacking efficiency is improved to 0.125 seconds per piece, versus the 0.45 seconds per piece for the second-generation one.
By Benjy Egel

From The Sacramento Bee

Sacramento California is still Americas wine capital, but day trips to Napa and Sonoma counties arent what they once were.

Tastings, once free or comped with the purchase of a bottle, have skyrocketed north of $80 at some wineries. Add in the costs and headaches of arranging a ride or booking an Airbnb, and a relaxing getaway starts to come with a sticker shock-induced hangover of its own.

One drinker knew there had to be more out there. So she asked Bee Curious, a community-driven series where The Sacramento Bee investigates and answers readers questions on everything from weird sculptures around town to what exactly the Delta Breeze is.

Where are the best hidden gem wine regions in the area? Carolyn Dismuke asked Bee Curious.

Dismuke has made a career out of posing (and answering) that question. Shes a nomadic California wine taster currently staying in Placerville, the author of Drink Your Words: Discovering Californias Other Wine Regions.

Many aspects of the wine tasting experience drive people out of Napa and Sonoma but the most common are prices, crowds and attitudes, Dismuke wrote in a follow-up email earlier this month. At a tasting room in Placerville yesterday, the owner and winemaker were pouring sharing vineyard stories with patrons from big cities who exclaimed that was why they chose the location.

Californias capital city is tucked in between more than 200 wineries, according to Visit Sacramento. You can find international producers with local roots, boutique craftsmen and everything in between.

Heres your guide to six great winery regions around Sacramento, with lower prices and less hullabaloo than the North Bay.

Clarksburg

Shannon Ogilvie, hospitality director and tasting room manager, clears a table in the tasting room at Silt Wine Company on Sept. 3, 2021, in Clarksburg, Calfornia. Her husband, Phil Ogilvie, is one of the owners of at Ogilvie Merwin Vintners, which produces Silt wines from family-owned vineyards. (Xavier Mascarenas/The Sacramento Bee/TNS)

What to know: Hot sun and Delta breezes help create prime conditions for chenin blanc, Clarksburgs flagship wine, as well as chardonnay and pinot grigio. For a comprehensive comparison, visit a handful of the Old Sugar Mills 14 tasting rooms.

Big name: Bogle Family Vineyards (37783 County Road 144, Clarksburg). Founded in 1978 and still run today by the Bogle family, Bogle Family Vineyards has become one of the United States largest producers thanks to its affordable, easy-to-drink wines.

Three more to visit: Julietta Winery (51221 Clarksburg Road, Clarksburg), Miners Leap Winery (54250 S. River Road, Clarksburg), Heringer Estates (37375 Netherlands Road, Clarksburg).

Amador County

What to know: Best known for reds such as barbera, grenache and syrah, Amadors Shenandoah Valley tends to group its offerings close together.

A five-mile cruise down Shenandoah Road passes by at least a dozen wineries including Vino Nocetos famous sangiovese, Borjons explosive tempranillo and Andis barbera/zinfandel blend that Corti Bros. store director Rick Mindermann says is quite possibly be the best red in the shop right now.

Big name: Rombauer Vineyards (12225 Steiner Road, Plymouth). Based in St. Helena, Rombauers famous chardonnay (known to some as cougar juice) can also be enjoyed at its vineyard and tasting room in the Sierra foothills, along with reds from around the area. Be forewarned: a food truck parks outside this tasting room four days per week, but you may want to pack a picnic for other wineries, as full meals can be hard to come by.

Three more to visit: Scott Harvey Wines (79 Main St., Sutter Creek), Terra DOro (20680 Shenandoah School Road, Plymouth), Iron Hub Winery (12500 Steiner Road, Plymouth).

Lodi

Paskett Vineyards & Winery owner Lorraine Paskett is photographed with a bottle of Cabrona, a Bordeaux-style blend, at her vineyards Oct. 26, 2021, near Lodi, California. Part of it sort of honors my mom, but it also honors my fiends, she said of the label. (Xavier Mascarenas/The Sacramento Bee/TNS)

What to know: Some of Americas best-known zinfandels come from a community just 40 minutes south of downtown Sacramento that produces more grapes of any varietal than Napa and Sonoma combined. That fruit feeds wineries across the state, but Lodi regularly produces world-class wines close to home as well. Theres a noticeable trend of Latino farmworkers descendents stepping into winemaking or ownership.

Big name: Michael David Winery (4580 Highway 12, Lodi). Come for the Freakshow line of wines that have made Michael David a household name, stay for the more reserved options and an onsite cafe/bakery that sources veggies from the property and meat from local 4-H programs.

Three more to visit: Klinker Brick Winery (15887 Alpine Road, Lodi), Acquiesce Winery (22353 N. Tretheway Road, Acampo), Oak Farm Vineyards (23627 N. Devries Road, Lodi).

El Dorado County

What to know: Amadors cousin in the Sierra Nevada foothills bears more than 70 wineries, from Apple Hill to the Fair Play AVAs many wine caves. Rocky soil, sunny days and hints of crisp mountain air contribute to a long growing season, and reds such as zinfandel and grenache rule the day up here.

Big name: Boeger Winery (1709 Carson Road, Placerville). Its easy to mix up Bogle and Boeger  both started their respective regions modern wine scenes in the 1970s, and both remain reasonably-priced options today. But Boeger is best-known for its barbera and Hangtown Red blend, while the familys friends in Clarksburg are best known for their petite syrah and chardonnay.

Three more to visit: Skinner Vineyards & Winery (8054 Fairplay Rd, Somerset), Miraflores Winery (2120 Four Springs Trail, Placerville), Gwinllan Estate Winery (7060 Fairplay Road, Somerset).

Yolo County

What to know: With ample farmland and UC Davis renowned enology and viticulture school in its backyard, its no wonder Yolo County has its own burgeoning wine scene  especially if one includes Clarksburg, which is within county limits but sort of its own animal. Petite sirah grows well here, as do whites such as chardonnay, chenin blanc and albarino.

Big name: Matchbook Wines (12300 County Road 92B, Zamora). With 1,700 acres of winegrapes and 350 acres of Spanish and Greek olives, Matchbooks home base in the Dunnigan Hills AVA is a great place to enjoy high-quality bottles of chardonnay and tempranillo that retail for around $15-$20.

Three more to visit: Turkovich Family Wines (304 Railroad Ave., Winters), Grindstone Wines (12700 County Road 89, Esparto), Great Bear Vineyards (24800 County Road 101A, Davis).

Placer County

What to know: Placer Countys modern wineries only started planting in the 1980s. Four decades later  in the Prohibition era  it boasted more than 20 wineries. Full-bodied reds such as zinfandel, barbera and syrah are the most common varietals, as in much of the Sierra foothills; try a viognier if youre more into whites.

Big name: Mt. Vernon Winery (10850 Mt. Vernon Road, Auburn). A converted 1950s milk house now functions as the Taylor familys tasting room, with vineyard views and a $15 tasting fee waived upon purchase of a bottle.

Three more to visit: Secret Ravine Vineyard & Winery (4390 Gold Trail Way, Loomis), Vina Castellano Winery (4590 Bell Rd, Auburn), Ciotti Cellars (3285 Crosby Herold Road, Lincoln).

2022 The Sacramento Bee. Visit sacbee.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Soldiers of the People's Liberation Army are seen before a giant screen as Chinese leader Xi Jinping speaks at the military parade marking the 70th founding anniversary of the regime in Beijing on Oct. 1, 2019. (Jason Lee/Reuters)

When Is Chinas Next Military Exercise Near Taiwan?

Commentary

Many pundits around the world commented on the Peoples Liberation Armys (PLA) exercise conducted in August 2022 following House Speaker Nancy Pelosis (D-Calif.) visit to Taiwan. Most commentators observed that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was waiting for an excuse to have the PLA Air Force, rocket forces, cyber forces, and Navy flex its muscle near Taiwan.

Why and When Will the CCP Order the PLA to Conduct Another Exercise?

Many U.S. government officials have postulated that the PLA will invade within several windows of opportunity, such as the recent comment by the Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Mike Gilday who said on Oct. 19, 2022: When we talk about the 2027 window, in my mind that has to be a 2022 window or a potentially a 2023 window. I cant rule that out. I dont mean at all to be alarmist by saying that, its just that we cant wish that away.

Almost no one is discussing the next time the PLA will conduct another aggressive military exercise near Taiwan as they had done in August.

Several elections are coming up in the next few weeks. How would a PLA exercise affect those elections?

US Elections

The U.S. election will occur on Nov. 8. China favors political parties that it can manipulate. For example, Professor Di Dongsheng, associate dean at the School of International Relations at Renmin University of China, he said the following (pdf) in a speech on Nov. 28, 2020:

Trump waged a trade war with us. Why couldnt we handle him? Why is it that between 1992 and 2016 we always resolved issues with US? Did you guys know? All the crisis, the Yinhe incident, bombing of the embassy or the mid-air collision, everything was taken care of swiftly, in no more than two months. Now with Biden winning the election, the traditional elites, political elites, the establishment, they have a very close relationship with the Wall Street. You all heard that Trump said Bidens son has securities companies all over the world. But who helped Bidens son build his global companies? You understand?There are indeed buy-and-sell transactions involved in here [audience applause]. So I think at this particular time [after Biden won the election], it is of strategic and tactical value for us to show goodwill [to Biden]of course, this is just from my limited perspective as a political economist.

Di Dongsheng, associate dean of the School of International Studies at the Renmin University of China in Beijing, speaking at a seminar shared on Chinese online video-sharing platform Guan Video on Nov. 28. (Screenshot)

Di is also a member of a think tank that is closely affiliated with the International Liaison Department of the Chinese Communist Party, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Democrats are facing the prospect of losing control of the House and Senate in the November elections. Would a PLA exercise prior to the U.S. midterm elections assist or hurt the Democrats? The Democrats took advantage of public support for Taiwan when Pelosi and other congressmembers visited Taiwan. Following their trip, Congress considered pro-Taiwan legislation such as the Taiwan Policy Act, sections in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, as well as President Joe Bidens four mentions of American military support of Taiwan, most recently in a 60 Minutes interview on Sept. 18:

But would U.S. forces defend the island? Biden was asked. Yes, if in fact there was an unprecedented attack, he replied.

So unlike Ukraine, to be clear, sir, U.S. forces, U.S. men and women would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion?

Yes, the president answered.

American voters are not currently concerned about Taiwan; they are concerned about the rising cost of living (gas, food, housing, and transportation), rising crime because of the open border, and the threat of the radical left agenda, especially on children. Recall that Bill Clintons campaign manager James Carville said President George H. W. Bush lost the 1992 electionafter winning the 1991 Gulf Warbecause his campaign did not focus on issues that concerned the publicits the economy stupid!

What public opinion impact might a PLA exercise conducted after the U.S. congressional elections but before Taiwans elections on Nov. 26?

Taiwanese Elections

The Taiwanese electorate will vote for local representatives, county magistrates (city mayors), county (city) councilors, and chiefs of villages in six municipalities and sixteen counties/cities. These officials would serve a four-year term. This election is much like the U.S. midterm elections and is a potential preview of the 2024 election where the Taiwanese citizens will decide who will replace President Tsai Ing-wen (Democratic Progressive Party [DPP]). This election has the potential to give the main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT) insight into popular issues and persuasive campaign themes.

A number Taiwanese civil society organizations call on all candidates for the November nine-in-one elections to sign the Defend Taiwan and Never Surrender pledge in a joint press conference in Taipei on September 5, 2022. (Shih-chieh Lin/The Epoch Times)

Would a PLA Exercise Before the Taiwan Elections Help the Political Opposition?

Many Taiwanese took note and became very concerned when Gilday said the timeline for a PLA invasion could be as soon as late 2022 or 2023. I have met several concerned Taiwanese who have asked me my opinions about Gildays statement.

First, Gilday would never say anything so political without the consent and guidance from Biden and his National Security Staff. Second, given the timing of the comment (Oct. 19), three weeks before U.S. elections and slightly more than a month before Taiwans elections, the message certainly alarmed the Taiwanese people.

The KMTs current political message to Taiwans population is that the DPP is driving the island nation to war while the KMT is the party of peace and stability with communist China. This argument is foolish because the 1992 Consensus that the KMT continues to promote eventually makes Taiwan a province of China, not an independent country. In early 2019 after a speech by PRC President Xi Jinping, President Tsai noted that Taiwan has never accepted the 1992 Consensus. The fundamental reason is that the Beijing authorities definition of the 1992 Consensus is one China and one country, two systems.

KMT Leadership Visits PRC During PLA Exercise Targeting Taiwan

On Aug. 10, the KMT Vice Chairman Andrew Hsia () visited the PRC immediately following Pelosis visit and during the PLA military exercise surrounding Taiwan which involved launching missiles over Taiwans island and capitol, Taipei. Hsai who traveled with former legislator Kao Su-po (), a brother-in-law of KMT Chairman Eric Chu (), claimed the visits purpose was to meet Taiwanese businessmen and was not political. Nevertheless, Hsai and his delegation met several CCP officials, including PRCs Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS, ) Chairman Zhang Zhijun (), and Taiwan Affairs OfficeDeputy Director Chen Yuanfeng ().

The Taiwan governments Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) heavily criticized the visit, especially when PLA military were conducting offensive military exercises that demonstrated their intent to use violence to change the political situation in Taiwan. The MAC stated: We believe that the KMT trip to mainland China has unsettled Taiwanese society, divided domestic will of unity, and sent wrong signals that mislead the international community to the serious detriment of the nations overall interests.

Historical CCP Attempts to Interfere With Taiwans National Elections

The CCP has attempted to interfere in Taiwan elections by various means, through United Front and Ministry of State Security efforts that include the following types of warfare: diplomatic, psychological, cyber, political, media, economic, intelligence, legal, military intimidation, and many others.

Former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui speaks during a news conference in Tokyo, Japan, on June 1, 2007. (Yuriko Nakao/Reuters)

The CCP last attempted a major military intimidation during the 1996 elections when they tried to convince the Taiwanese electorate to not vote for President Lee Teng-hui (). Lee was the first president to be elected by the Taiwanese people after the end of martial law. In 1995, the CCP launched missiles at Taiwan due to the CCPs dismay at Lees speech at Cornell (his alma mater). The CCP launched additional missiles just prior to elections in 1996 in order to persuade the Taiwanese electorate to vote against Lee because of his nationalist stance. Taiwanese overwhelmingly voted for Lee.

US Statements Further Confusing or Agitating Taiwans Population

U.S. political, military, and economic elites have assisted (intentionally or unintentionally) in further agitating or confusing the Taiwanese population by making the following statements:

March 2021: Admiral Davidson, former Indo-Pacific Command Commander stated in Congressional testimony that the PLA could invade Taiwan by 2027.

Sept. 18: Biden made multiple statements on supporting Taiwan in case of a military conflict with the PLA. His staff and the Department of State walked back each of his statements.

Oct. 7: Elon Musk, whose Tesla plant in Shanghai produces a large amount of Teslas total production, made a political statement regarding China and Taiwan: My recommendation  would be to figure out a special administrative zone for Taiwan that is reasonably palatable, probably wont make everyone happy  And its possible, and I think probably, in fact, that they could have an arrangement thats more lenient than Hong Kong. His statement also signaled that his Starlink company that assisted Ukraine during its war with Russia might not be available for Taiwan. Twenty-five percent of Teslas total global revenue comes from China, which is Teslas second-largest market.

Oct. 19: Gildays PLA invasion timeline (202223) statement.

Oct. 26: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinkens statements that the CCP was trying to speed up the timeline for the seizure of Taiwan.

PLA Exercise Effect on the Taiwanese Elections

Will the PLA conduct a military exercise before the Taiwan elections to increase the Taiwanese peoples anxiety about the CCPs intentions and discredit the DPP? The following CCP/PLA provocative actions occurred recently:

Aug. 415: PLA exercise which included 11 missiles fired at five target areas surrounding Taiwan and many other aggressive actions in multiple domains such as sea, cyber, space, air, and land.

Aug. 10: CCP released the blustering White Paper on Taiwan called The Taiwan Question and Chinas Reunification in the New Era

Oct. 1622: Xis troubling comments about Taiwan during the CCPs 20th Congress.

Just like a classical opera, the CCP would want to create a crescendo effect with a massive military exercise that the opposition will exploit for electoral advantage. In effect, the opposition, the CCP, as well as some U.S. politicians, want to change the political landscape in Taiwan via a November Surprise similar to an October Surprise in U.S. elections.

A Navy Force helicopter under the Eastern Theatre Command of Chinas Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) takes part in military exercises in the waters around Taiwan, at an undisclosed location, on Aug. 8, 2022, in a handout picture released on Aug. 9, 2022. (Eastern Theatre Command/Handout via Reuters)

Post-Taiwan Election PLA Exercises

If the CCP was smart, they might wait until after the Taiwanese elections to conduct another intimidation military drill to avoid the failed political manipulation they attempted in 1996. Just as with the Pelosi visit, the CCP will look for an excuse to conduct the next exercise which they had planned for well before her visit. However, their arrogance and the nationalist desire to takeover Taiwan might make them believe that they are impervious to world sanction and will with a military exercise at the most advantageous opportunity.

What to Do?

Taiwanese understand that the CCP through the PLA will continue to conduct military operations that attempt to erode their confidence in the Taiwanese government. This article attempts to better inform Taiwanese and friends of Taiwan regarding CCP machinations and PLA actions.

If the PLA conducts additional missile firings and other military exercises prior to the Taiwanese elections, the CCP expects these actions to influence Taiwanese citizens to vote in favor of the opposition.

Let us hope, as during the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1995-6, that by the PLA conducting military drills around the island, the opposite of the CCPs expectations occurs: Taiwanese support greatly enhanced defense spending, national resilience, and readiness for war.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
LOS ANGELES  Thanks to major financial support from Eldorado and Segpay, Free Speech Coalition will launch a legislative Action Center to help track state and federal legislation affecting the adult industry. The Action Center, which utilizes best-in-class bill tracking and analysis software, will be accessible to all industry members.

At a time when our industry is under increasing attack, the FSC Action Center will allow us to identify, monitor and fight legislation that threatens our rights and our businesses, says Alison Boden, executive director of Free Speech Coalition. Through their support, Eldorado, Segpay and our other sponsors are providing an incredible tool for the industry.

In addition to major sponsors Eldorado and Segpay, Doc Johnson, Grooby, PervOut and Polari Media are supporting the Action Center as Grassroots Sponsors.

Were proud to support this important and ambitious effort to protect our industry, says Wanda Garland, CEO of Eldorado. If were going to successfully fight the discrimination and censorship our industry faces, we need to be as aware and equipped as our opponents. I hope others in the industry will join us in funding this effort.

The Action Center website will provide analysis, status updates, and the opportunity to mobilze in response to bills involving banking discrimination, pleasure product restrictions, age-verification, attacks on section 230 protection, device filter mandates, sex workers rights and other issues. Keyword alerts will update FSC and its members as soon as new legislation is introduced, so FSC can analyze the bills, alert allies and begin the fight before harmful legislation is passed.

While FSC continues to employ lobbyists at the federal level, keeping up with 50-state legislatures can be difficult. FSC has been instrumental in stopping or slowing bills like Californias SB435 or the EARN IT Act in Congress, but too often the adult industry only becomes aware of legislation after a news report or after a bill is passed.

The Action Center will allow us to respond quickly and effectively, and provide tools to our members to take action themselves, says Boden. Weve seen an unprecedented number of anti-adult bills introduced in the past year, and we expect it to only increase with the new Congress. We ask that anyone in our industry who is concerned about the growing attack on our rights to help sponsor the Action Center and our increasing legislative work.
Prayut: Foreign land ownership rules can change

BANGKOK: A new bill to allow eligible foreigners to hold land ownership in Thailand is being vetted by the Council of State and it can still be changed, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said yesterday (Nov 1).

land

By Bangkok Post

Wednesday 2 November 2022, 11:06AM

Bidders attend an auction of residential units and land plots organised by the Government Housing Bank in Bangkok in 2020. Photo: Somchai Poomlard

The Bangkok Post reported that Gen Prayut had told reporters that the Council of State would gather opinions on the issue.

The government would be able to clarify all issues related to the scheme, he added.

In response to growing backlash over the proposal, Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on Tuesday that even if foreigners are permitted to buy and own land in the country, they still cannot take it back to their homeland.

People who are concerned should consider the benefits provided by the foreigners and study the details of the bill, Mr Anutin said.

Under the bill, foreigners categorised under four specific groups would be able to apply for permission to buy up to 1 rai (roughly 0.4 acre) of land on the condition they invest at least 40 million baht each for at least years.

The Cabinet Tuesday last week (Oct 25) approved in principle the draft regulation of the Ministry of Interior, allowing four groups of foreign nationals  wealthy global citizens, wealthy pensioners, people who want to work from Thailand, and highly skilled professionals or specialists  to buy and own land for residences.

To qualify, they must invest at least B40 million in Thai property, securities or funds.

They are required to invest in real estate or infrastructure funds, real estate investment trusts, securities, or enterprises promoted by the Board of Investment. The scheme will become effective after publication in the Royal Gazette.
South Korea police admit crowd surge response was insufficient

SEOUL: South Korean police admitted yesterday (Nov 1) their emergency response to a deadly Halloween crush had been insufficient, with top officials saying crowd management failures had likely contributed to the disaster.

disastersdeath

By AFP

Wednesday 2 November 2022, 09:41AM

Mourners pay tributes at a makeshift memorial for the victims of the deadly Halloween crowd surge, outside a subway station in the district of Itaewon in Seoul yesterday (Nov 1). Photo: Jung Yeon-je / AFP

At least 156 mostly young people were killed, and scores more injured, in a deadly crowd surge late Saturday at the first post-pandemic Halloween party in Seouls popular Itaewon nightlife district.

An estimated 100,000 people had flocked to the area, but because it was not an official event with a designated organiser, neither the police nor local authorities were actively managing the crowd.

There were multiple reports to the police indicating the seriousness at the site just before the accident occurred, national police chief Yoon Hee-keun said.

Police knew a large crowd had gathered even before the accident occurred, urgently indicating the danger, he said, acknowledging the way this information was handled had been insufficient.

Transcripts of emergency calls reported by South Korean news agency News1 documented how desperate members of the public had flagged dangerous overcrowding hours before disaster struck at around 10:00pm local time (7pm Phuket time) Saturday.

At 8:09pm one caller told police: There are too many people here being pushed, trampled, hurt. Its chaotic. You need to control this.

Seouls interior minister, who had been criticised for earlier comments in which he claimed deploying more police would not have prevented the crush, apologised yesterday for the disaster.

Lee Sang-min expressed his sincere apologies to the public as the minister in charge of the peoples safety for this accident, before bowing his head before lawmakers and cameras.

He promised to investigate what had caused the crowd crush and to ensure a disaster of this scale could never happen again.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon also made a public apology, weeping as he said he felt infinitely responsible for this accident.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said yesterday that a lack of a proper crowd management system may have caused the incident, adding that a full review was ongoing.

No crowd control

South Korea is typically strong on crowd control, with protest rallies often so heavily policed that officers can outnumber participants.

But police deployed only 137 officers to Itaewon for Halloween, while 6,500 officers were present at a protest across town attended by about 25,000 people, local reports said.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said yesterday the country needed to urgently improve its system for managing large crowds in the wake of the disaster.

The safety of the people is important, whether or not there is an event organiser, he told a Cabinet meeting.

He called for the country to develop cutting-edge digital capabilities to improve crowd management - but critics claim such tools already exist and were not deployed in Itaewon.

Seouls City Hall has a real-time monitoring system that uses mobile phone data to predict crowd size, but it was not employed Saturday night, local media reported.

Itaewons district authorities also did not deploy any safety patrols, with officials saying the Halloween event was considered a phenomenon rather than a festival, which would have required an official plan for crowd control.

On the night, tens of thousands of people thronged a narrow alleyway, with eyewitnesses describing how, with no police or crowd control in sight, confused partygoers pushed and shoved, crushing those trapped in the lane.

Easy to prevent

Crowd management experts told AFP that the disaster was easily avoidable, even with only a small number of police officers.

Good, safe crowd management is not about the ratio, but about the crowd strategy - for safe crowd capacity, flow, density, said G. Keith Still, a crowd science professor at the University of Suffolk.

South Korean expert Lee Young-ju said that if local police knew they would be short-handed, they could have sought help from local authorities or even residents or shop owners.

Its not just the numbers, Lee, a professor from the Department of Fire and Disaster at the University of Seoul, told AFP.

The question is, how did they manage with the limited number (of police) and what kind of measures did they take to make up for it.
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Woman prevented from jumping off bridge onto Phuket

PHUKET: A troubled woman with her daughter in her car was prevented from jumping off the bridge leading onto Phuket this morning (Nov 2).

suicidehealthSafety

By Eakkapop Thongtub

Wednesday 2 November 2022, 03:47PM

Photo: Panuphan Jindapol

Panuphan Jindapol, Phu Yai Baan (village head) of Moo 5, Mai Khao, was informed of the situation at 8:30am today (Nov 2).

Mr Panuphan rushed to the scene to find a passing motorist had stopped to help the woman, who had parked her Phuket-registered car in the emergency lane on Thao Thepkasattri Bridge, leading onto the island.

The womans daughter was still in the car, crying, Mr Panuphan said.

Rescue workers from the Kusoldharm Foundation and the Mai Khao Tambon Administrative Organization (OrBorTor) soon arrived, Mr Panuphan added.

According to Mr Panuphan initial inquiries by Tha Chatchai Police had confirmed the woman was experiencing a problem within the family.

Regardless, officers contacted relatives of the woman to pick her and her daughter up, he said.

The Phuket News has no other information regarding the incident.

During the dark days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Phuket authorities set up a 24-hour hotline to help people who were impacted or struggling.

The hotline  Tel: 1300  provides advice and coordinated assistance from a range of government departments and support agencies to those affected, be it emotionally, mentally, financially or otherwise.

If you or anyone you know is in need of emotional support and counselling, please contact the Samaritans of Thailand at their 24-hour hotline 02-113-6789 (English & Thai) or the Thai Mental Health Hotline at 1323 (Thai).
The State of Arizona is set to receive $76.5 million from the National Electric Vehicle Program (NEVI) that will fund a wave of electric vehicle (EV) charger upgrades and construction through the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT).

Under current plans, upgrades will begin next year and new construction in 2024. ADOT is currently seeking public input on its plan, and a public meeting on the subject will take place Wednesday at the Flagstaff Aquaplex, located at 1702 N. Fourth St., from 5 to 7 p.m.

ADOTs Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment Plan was approved by the Federal Highway Administration in September, making the agency eligible to claim a portion of the $5 billion in federal funds made available to NEVI through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. According to ADOT, with the newly granted $76.5 million, the goal is to develop a network of EV fast chargers to facilitate long-distance EV travel and encourage EV adoption by more users.

According to a report by the Alternative Fuels Data Center of the United States Department of Energy, Arizona has the seventh-highest number of electric cars in the country at around 28,770 EVs. On a population-weighted level, it means that about one in every 250 people in Arizona has an electric vehicle.

ADOTs proposed EV charger network encompasses Arizonas alternative fuel corridors (AFC), which currently include the interstate highways. Additional highways, however, may be designated as AFCs for future EV charger construction.

The plan is to upgrade eight existing chargers throughout the state and construct 13 to 21 new EV charging stations in a handful of locations. With few exceptions, the proposed network will have a station of four fast chargers  capable of charging the average EV in about 30 minutes  located every 50 miles along the AFCs. In northern Arizona, it includes new and/or improved chargers in Camp Verde, Munds Park, Twin Arrows Casino, Seligman, Kingman, Holbrook, Sanders and the Petrified National Forest.

Farther south, Tucson and Nogales are also included in planned construction. Flagstaff and Phoenix are not.

The assumption is that some of the larger municipalities or municipalities that have already been forging ahead with electric vehicle infrastructure or commitment, such as Flagstaff and Phoenix, may not be as in need of some of the more rural areas in the state, said Diane Brown, executive director of the Arizona Public Interest Group that has been cooperating with ADOT in the dissemination of information about the plan.

Flagstaff currently has 12 publicly listed chargers in the city. Nearly all are hosted by either a hotel, municipal or county facility.

EV owners and potential owners are encouraged to attend the Flagstaff meeting and let ADOT know if they in fact would like to see more charging added in Flagstaff, Brown said.

Exact locations of charger construction are yet to be determined and will largely depend on the request-for-proposal process whereby ADOT will partner with private entities to construct chargers.

According to an ADOT infographic on the plan, No ADOT funding will be used to construct and maintain the charging stations. Stations will be privately owned, operated and maintained. Costs for constructing the stations will be split between the federal government and the operator, with 80% from federal funding and 20% from the private entity.

According to technology consultants Future Energy, a commercial grade fast-charging EV port can cost up to $40,000.

For some businesses in northern Arizona, ADOTs plan may be a bit of a mixed bag.

I don't think it's logical for my town, said Aaron Ryan, manager at the Roadkill Cafe in Seligman, a town of fewer than 500 residents that is included in ADOTs plan for new EV charger construction.

This is a very small town, Ryan added. I guarantee you there's not going to be one electric car in it for quite some time.

Ryan expressed concerns over whether new stations would be wired into the grid or run by generators. He also reported that his business  a prominent Seligman fixture that hypothetically could be an ideal for charging station construction  had shied from the idea when earlier investigations revealed infrastructural inadequacy.

It's going to surge our power too much if we have those installed here, Ryan said.

Nonetheless, Ryan also mentioned that as a business in a town that largely depends on tourism traffic between California, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon, there have been times when customers have asked about the availability of EV charging. But in terms of infrastructural priorities, Ryan said hed rather see potholes on Interstate 40 fixed before an EV charger rollout.

I'm just not for the big push yet, Ryan said.

Those interested in learning more ore contributing comment about ADOTs EV charger plan are encouraged to attend the Wednesday public meeting, or visit AZDOT.gov/EVplan for more information and access to a public survey.
By Azernews

By Sabina Mammadli

An Azerbaijani civilian has been injured in a mine blast in Jabrayil District, Karabakh, Azernews reports, citing the Azerbaijan Mine Action Agency (ANAMA).

According to the agency, an anti-personnel mine went off in an area not cleared of mines on November 2 in Jabrayil Districts Mehdili village.

Ilgar Heybat oglu, a driver of Improtex Industries Company, born in 1972, was injured as a result of the mine explosion. He had three fingers of his left hand amputated.

Armenia spared no efforts to plant land mines on Azerbaijani territory, not only during the 30 years of occupation but also just before days of quitting Azerbaijani lands as envisaged in the trilateral statement in order to cause human casualties.

Rarely a day goes by without news of civilians or military personnel being injured or killed as a result of mine explosions in Azerbaijan's liberated lands.

Armenia deliberately and constantly planted mines on Azerbaijani territories, in violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention, thereby being a major threat to regional peace, security, and cooperation.
Trails and roads are good and very bad.

How do we protect wildlife and wildlife habitat while providing recreation to millions of outdoor enthusiasts?

In Colorado, surveys show that having wildlife to observe is second on peoples list of outdoor priorities. Their number one item is having roads and trails to access the wilds of Colorado. And these two priorities are creating a big problem.

Colorado has the largest elk herd in the nation, numbering 300,000, and people love seeing them, hearing them, harvesting them.

Elk, like all wildlife, need food, water, resting areas, calving areas and the ability to move unmolested to these areas as needed. Elk movement patterns are generational. The calves learn these paths by following their mothers and the herds throughout the year.

A study in Colorado found that if elk had to evade people seven times during the calving period, 30 percent of the calves died because of that disturbance. Increase that disturbance to 10 times and all the calves died. Unfortunately, calving time is springtime and this is also when all the hikers, bikers, and the rest of us are anxious to hit the woods and the trails after the doldrums of winter.

The study found that elk move 0.3 miles from hikers, 0.4 miles from mountain bikers and 0.5 miles from ATVs. It is this distance and the time away from their calves that is deadly.

The Colorado elk population is declining in some areas due to these disturbances.

Government land managers can use the latest science and knowledge of habitat and wildlife to create trails that avoid critical wildlife areas or close road access areas during calving and fawning periods like they do on Anderson Mesa to help antelope fawning success. The problem is so many hikers and bikers and ATV users in Arizona make their own trails without any regard to habitat damage or wildlife disturbance impacts.

We need people to stop making their own trails. We need the USFS to manage our trail system, and this includes enforcement and the closure of illegal user-created trails.

A new trail being opened in the Dry Lake Hills, the Big Bang Trail, was recently celebrated by outdoor enthusiasts and the USFS in this paper. Sadly, the dozens of user-created trails in the same area are disturbing wildlife and causing severe soil erosion issues that are being ignored. There are hundreds of illegal trails and roads on the Coconino National Forest.

Along with having trails and roads located based on human recreation needs and wildlife needs, can we agree that for every legal trail opened or improved that we should close 10 illegal ones?
Montreal, CA (H4T1V6)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy in the afternoon. High 34F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Low 28F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph.
Have an interesting bit of news youd like to see mentioned in the Along the Way column? Email it to Natasha Connolly at news@thesunchronicle.com .




https://www.ias.edu/ideas/2013/farmelo-churchill

In the early evening of March 15, 1933, a group of London socialites gathered in a Westminster mansion to hear a special lecture on the latest developments in nuclear science. The talk was chaired by Winston Churchill. The speakerChurchills friend Frederick Lindemann, a friend of Einsteins and a professor of physics at Oxford Universitydiscussed John Cockcroft and Ernest Waltons recent artificial splitting of the atom and James Chadwicks discovery of the neutron. Churchill had foreseen an important role of this subatomic particle fifteen months before in his essay Fifty Years Hence, read widely in Britain and North America. He had told his readers in this article that scientists were looking for the match to set the [nuclear] bonfire alight.



Now, under pressure of leading a country at war, he himself was about to see whether he would be up to that challenge. Given his familiarity with the concept of nuclear weapons, it was remarkable that he recognized the importance of working closely with the United States in building the first ones, only three years later, in April 1943. By then, it was obvious that the British could not possibly build the Bomb alone during the War, and the gargantuan Manhattan Project was surging ahead, with the British playing only a relatively minor role. Churchill had been able to make only very limited political use of the nuclear bomb established by his nuclear scientists. He did, however, strike a secret deal with President Roosevelt at Quebec in August 1943 that required both British and American leaders to approve the first use of the weapon. Churchill later agreed that the Bomb could be used on Japan, a decision he never regretted.



Churchills thinking about nuclear weapons changed rapidly after it became clear in the early 1950s that both superpowers would soon have the hydrogen bomb, making possible what would become known as mutually assured destruction. In February 1954, toward the end of his second term as British Prime Minister, Churchill read a report on a speech by Sterling Cole, Chair of the U.S. Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, which first brought home to him the extent of the H-bombs destructiveness. This realization drove him, in his final months on the international stage, to urge the Soviet and American leaders to meet with him with the aim of easing the tensions of the Cold War, to reduce considerably the risk of a conflagration. He became a pioneer of detente, though an unsuccessful one, and left office privately fearing that nuclear war was all but inevitable.
Ethiopias warring sides have formally agreed during talks in South Africa to a permanent cessation of hostilities in a 2-year conflict whose victims could be counted in the hundreds of thousands
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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Criticism: Lars Carlstrom, who resigned as chairman of Britishvolt in December 2020, said the right people may not have been in charge

The former boss of Britishvolt has turned on its current management after the firm narrowly avoided collapse by securing a last-minute funding lifeline.

Lars Carlstrom, who resigned as chairman in December 2020, queried whether the right people were in charge of the project, which accelerated too fast with too many people on board.

The former boss of Britishvolt has turned on its current management after the firm narrowly avoided collapse by securing a last-minute funding lifeline.

He said: We could probably have seen a more prosperous project if a number of things had been done in a different way.

His comments came after Britishvolt secured an 11th-hour package from investors to keep it afloat after reports emerged it was on the brink of falling into administration, putting some 300 UK jobs at risk.

The company has been developing Britains biggest electric car battery plant in Blyth, Northumberland, with the 3.8billion gigafactory set to employ up to 3,000 by the time it was fully operational.

But the group struggled amid delays and the resignation of its co-founder and then boss Orral Nadjari in August. It was left scrambling for emergency funding to stop itself going bust.

Matters were made even worse after ministers scrapped plans to inject 100million into the company when it discovered the cash would be used to keep it afloat rather than constructing the Blyth factory.

Speaking to the BBCs Today programme, Carlstrom said the Government could have made a very good return on its investment in Britishvolt but admitted he disagreed with the way the firm was run.

He quit after it emerged he had been convicted of tax fraud in Sweden in the 90s, although he maintained the main reason he left had been due to disagreements about how to run the business.

He said: There are some shortcomings and the reason for my exit was that we couldnt agree.

'There were collaboration issues and we couldnt agree on how to take this forward in a good way.

Carlstrom added that someone had fuelled the news of his tax conviction to make my exit go smoother and faster.

Britishvolt was set up in 2019 to make batteries for electric cars and help power a green energy revolution in Britain.

The plans for Blyth were hailed as a levelling-up opportunity by then PM Boris Johnson.

The Governments 100million funding helped the firm raise another 1.7billion.

But with its future in doubt, potential buyers are circling the factory  considered one of the best battery manufacturing sites in Europe thanks to its rail and sea links and access to clean energy.
Two Beatrice Community Hospital employees were honored at this years Nebraska Hospital Association Convention.

BCH Chaplain Sharon Schuster was honored as the BCH 2022 Caring Kind Award winner. In addition, retired Infection Prevention and Employee Health Nurse Manager Rose Wischmeier was honored with the Nebraska Hospital Associations Meritorious Service Award.

Schuster was recognized at the annual Caring Kind Awards Luncheon, along with Caring Kind representatives from other Nebraska hospitals.

Sharons selection by her co-workers for this honor was celebrated with family at an organization-wide employee fiesta earlier this year.

Schusters nomination noted that her music, hugs, kind words and thoughtfulness brighten the day for patients and employees.

Wischmeier was presented the NHAs Meritorious Service Award at this years convention.

Wischmeier retired in July of this year after serving as the hospitals Infection Prevention and Employee Health Nurse Manager for 40 years.

Wischmeier, a registered nurse, spent her career focused on improving the environmental health of BCH while ensuring all employees followed proper infection prevention and employee health protocols.

Through the years, she has seen her share of viruses, from influenza and Ebola to Covid-19. She was a strong patient- and employee-advocate and worked diligently to provide a safe and healthy environment for all staff to provide patient-centered care.

This years NHA convention was held Oct. 19-21 in LaVista.
Aston Martin has warned that higher costs from global supply chain and logistical disruptions look set to hit its profit margin this year.

The group's third quarter revenue increased by 33 per cent to 315.5million, driven by a 28 per cent hike in average selling prices to 189,000.

But higher costs outweighed the benefit of increased revenue, meaning its underlying operating loss widened to 55million, from 29.1million.

Outlook: Aston Martin has cut its annual outlook and seen its share price tumble today

The luxury car group said the snags were having a 'more prolonged' impact on working capital than it previously predicted, and cut its adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and ammortization margin expansion outlook to growth of about 100 to 300 basis points from roughly 350 to 450 points previously.

The company said it had 400 unfinished vehicles waiting on parts, costing it 106million in inventory costs by the end of the period.

Aston Martin shares fell sharply today and were down 14.82 per cent to 90.09p this afternoon. The group's share price has slumped over 85 per cent in the last year.

Carmakers and manufacturers globally have been hit hard by long-running issues with supply of parts and chips used in production during the pandemic, and those woes were only made worse after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Amedeo Felisa, Aston Martin's boss, said: 'Whilst (supply chain issue) has created short-term impacts on our performance, I am confident that with the actions we are taking, we will exit the year in a stronger position to deliver on our goals for 2023 and beyond.'

In the nine-month period, pre-tax losses grew to 511.3million from 188.6million during the same time a year earlier.

The London-listed group now expects to deliver 6,200 to 6,600 vehicles this year, up from more than 6,600 vehicles forecast earlier.

The company's net debt was around 60million lower than at the beginning of the year, at 833million. Aston Martin also successfully completed its 654million equity capital raise in the period.

Executive chairman, Lawrence Stroll said: 'Over the last two quarters we have encountered specific supply chain challenges that have delayed our ability to meet customer demand.

'Whilst we moved quickly to resolve the shortages that affected our Q2 performance, our Q3 growth was hindered by new supply chain challenges, impacting more than 400 vehicles that had been planned to be delivered in the quarter.

'Although these headwinds, which are already improving in Q4, have disrupted our near-term financial performance and modestly impacted our full year guidance, the medium and long-term outlook is robust.'

Sophie Lund-Yates, an equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: 'Aston Martin Lagonda will deliver fewer vehicles than expected this year.

'Supply chain disruption and logistic stalemates mean the group is being forced to downgrade guidance.

'This is not the development the luxury carmaker needed, its valuation has already motored downwards since listing just a short time ago, with genuine questions being raised about the sustainability of the groups long-term growth drivers. Volume downgrades should also come with a dose of healthy scepticism, with it being possible that weaker demand, not just supply issues, could be lurking beneath the surface.

'Free cash is walking out the door, not helped by the unhelpful delays to deliveries which is damaging working capital. Aston Martin has already gone cap in hand to investors to the tune of 650million, it will be some time before such an equity raise is welcomed again. That means things need to start moving by AMLs own steam, sooner rather than later.'

Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, added: 'Investors have had an extremely difficult time with the stock, which is down by more than 80 per cent year-to-date and almost 98 per cent since its IPO in 2018.'
A tool manufacturer announced plans this week to shut down a nearby manufacturing plant.

Malco Products, a developer and manufacturer of high-grade tools, is going to cease its locking-handle tool division next year after fulfilling current customer orders.

Malcos headquarters are in Annandale, Minn., and the facility where the locking handle products are manufactured is in DeWitt. The company currently has 63 workers at the location.

Malco purchased the DeWitt facility in 2017, with a goal to produce locking handle pliers and introduced the Eagle Grip line.

For the past five years, our teams in both Annandale and DeWitt have been working tirelessly to bring this vision to life and to make it a success, said Rich Benninghoff, President and CEO of Malco Products. This has included a significant investment in both time and in capital resources. Despite all of these efforts, the reality is that this platform doesnt align with our core focus, so weve made the difficult decision to exit the locking handle tools business.

Malcos DeWitt location is at the former Vise-Grip factory in the center of town.

More than 300 jobs were cut in 2008 when Newell Rubbermaid, the owner of the Vise-Grip brand and its plant in DeWitt, with a population of around 500, announced production would be transferred to China.

Malco is in open dialogue with various partners and stakeholders to help determine the best path forward for the operation.

We are a strong, healthy, and growing company that is doing great work in creating products that are making a difference in the performance, efficiency and safety of the trade professionals who rely on Malco tools to get the job done, Benninghoff added. This shift will allow us to double down on what we do best and continue to grow and invest in our business year after year.

Malcos remaining inventory of locking handle pliers and clamps will be available for purchase by locating an online seller on the Eagle Grip website until sold out.
The world must respond firmly to any Russian attempts to disrupt Ukraines grain export corridor, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, as more ships were loading despite Moscow suspending its participation in a U.N.-brokered deal.

One of the global consequences of Russias war on its neighbour has been food shortages and a cost of living crisis in many countries, and a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey on July 22 had provided safe passage for vessels carrying grain and other fertiliser exports.

Russia suspended its involvement in accord over the weekend, saying it could not guarantee safety for civilian ships because of an attack on its Black Sea fleet.

In a late Tuesday night video address, Zelenskiy said ships were still moving out of Ukrainian ports with cargoes thanks to the work of Turkey and the United Nations.

But a reliable and long-term defence is needed for the grain corridor, Zelenskiy said.

Russia must clearly be made aware that it will receive a tough response from the world to any steps to disrupt our food exports, Zelenskiy said. At issue here clearly are the lives of tens of millions of people.

The grains deal aimed to help avert famine in poorer countries by injecting more wheat, sunflower oil and fertilizer into world markets and to ease a dramatic rise in prices. It targeted the pre-war level of 5 million metric tonnes exported from Ukraine each month.

The U.N. coordinator for grain and fertiliser exports under the accord said on Twitter on Tuesday that he expects loaded ships to leave Ukrainian ports on Thursday. Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Twitter that eight vessels were expected to pass through the corridor on Thursday.

Having spoken to his Russian counterpart twice in as many days, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar hoped the deal would continue, adding that he expected a response from Russia today and tomorrow.

POWER CUTS

Russia fired missiles at Ukrainian cities including the capital Kyiv in what President Vladimir Putin called retaliation for an attack on Russias Black Sea Fleet over the weekend. Ukraine said it shot most of those missiles down, but some had hit power stations, knocking out electricity and water supplies.

Nine regions were experiencing power cuts.

We will do everything we can to provide power and heat for the coming winter, Zelenskiy said. But we must understand that Russia will do everything it can to destroy normal life.

Authorities in Kyiv were preparing more than 1,000 heating points throughout the city in case its district heating system is disabled, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

The United States denounced the attacks, saying about 100 missiles had been fired on Monday and Tuesday targeting water and energy supplies.

With temperatures dropping, these Russian attacks aimed at exacerbating human suffering are particularly heinous, State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters at a daily briefing. Russia denies targeting civilians.

Kyiv came under further attack overnight, authorities said.

Zelenskiys chief of staff Andriy Yermak said Ukrainian soldiers shot down 12 out of 13 Iranian drones.

We are now actively conducting a dialogue regarding the supply of modern air defense systems, we are working on this every day, he said on the Telegram messaging app.

KHERSON EVACUATIONS

Russia told civilians on Tuesday to leave an area along the eastern bank of the Dnipro River in the Ukrainian province of Kherson, a major extension of an evacuation order that Kyiv says amounts to the forced depopulation of occupied territory.

Russia had previously ordered civilians out of a pocket it controls on the west bank of the river, where Ukrainian forces have been advancing for weeks with the aim of capturing the city of Kherson, the first city that Russian forces took control over after invading Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Russian-installed officials said on Tuesday they were extending that order to a 15-km (9-mile) buffer zone along the east bank too. Ukraine says the evacuations include forced deportations from occupied territory, a war crime.

The mouth of the Dnipro has become one of the most consequential frontlines in the war.

Seven towns on the east bank would be evacuated, comprising the main populated settlements along that stretch of the river, Vladimir Saldo, Russian-installed head of occupied Kherson province, said in a video message.

Russian-installed authorities in the Kherson region also said an obligatory evacuation of Kakhovka district, close to the Nova Kakhovka hydroelectric station, was to begin on Nov. 6.

Moscow has accused Kyiv of planning to use a so-called dirty bomb to spread radiation, or to blow up a dam to flood towns and villages in Kherson province. Kyiv says accusations it would use such tactics on its own territory are absurd, but that Russia might be planning such actions itself to blame Ukraine.

In the city of Bakhmut, a target of Russias armed forces in their slow advance through the eastern Donetsk region, some residents were refusing to leave as fighting intensified.

Only the strongest stayed, said Lyubov Kovalenko, a 65-year-old retiree. Lets put it this way, the poor ones. Everyone is wearing whatever clothing we have left.

Rodion Miroshnik, ambassador of the neighbouring Russian-occupied region of Luhansk, said Russian troops and their allies had repelled Ukrainian attacks on the towns of Kreminna and Bilohorivka.

Moscow describes its actions in Ukraine as a special military operations to demilitarise and denazify its neighbour. Ukraine and Western nations have dismissed this as a baseless pretext for invasion.

SOURCE: REUTERS
A priest who gave a widely condemned address in Co Kerry church over the weekend is to be prevented from saying Mass again after the Bishop of Kerry rebuked his comments as unchristian.

Retired priest Fr Sean Sheehy told worshippers at St Marys Church in Listowel that gay couples were sinful, and criticised free contraception being provided by the HSE as it was promoting promiscuity.

A video of Fr Sheehys comments, where he also criticised abortion and the trans community, has been shared widely online and has prompted condemnation of his views.

What is so sad today is you rarely hear about sin but its rampant. Its rampant, Fr Sheehy said during his homily delivered over the weekend.

We see it, for example, in the legislation of our governments.

We see it in the promotion of abortion.

We see it in the example of this lunatic approach of transgenderism.

We see it, for example, in the promotion of sex between two men and two women.

That is sinful, that is mortal sin.

And people dont seem to realise it, but its a fact, its a reality.

Some people attending the Mass left the church as a result, to which the priest told them God help you and God bless you who are here, who are worshipping God.

In response to the comments, Bishop of Kerry Ray Browne apologised to those who were offended by Fr Sheehys offending homily and said his views do not represent the Christian position.

He said that to have total respect for one another was a fundamental Christian teaching, and for these issues to be spoken of in such terms a weekend parish Mass was not appropriate.

I am aware of the deep upset and hurt caused by the contents of the homilies in question delivered over the weekend.

I apologise to all who were offended.

The views expressed do not represent the Christian position.

I regret that this has occurred while a parish pilgrimage to the Holy Land is taking place, he added, in reference to parish priest Father Declan OConnor, who is away.

Speaking to local radio station Radio Kerry on Tuesday afternoon, Fr Sheehy said the bishop had told him he was to be taken off all Masses.

I know myself that what I said cannot be disproven by any honest-to-God Catholic, Christian or Catholic teaching, and thats the bottom line.

He added that he believed that the bishop was muzzling the truth in order to appease people.

Human rights advocate and former head of Amnesty International Ireland Colm OGorman said in response to the priests homily: I can only hope that this man finds his way back to love.

To genuine, open hearted, joyful love, love without judgment, love that expands rather than diminishes ones connection with ones own humanity. I am not lost. He is, he said on Twitter.
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) employed almost 69% of the workforce in Ireland in 2020, figures show.

According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), there were 291,489 enterprises in the non-financial Irish business economy in 2020, at the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Collectively, the 50 largest enterprises in Ireland by were responsible for 59.7% of all gross value added GVA in the non-financial Irish business economy in 2020.

By contrast, these enterprises accounted for 5.5% of all people engaged.

The CSO publication outlines the key statistics for the Irish business economy in 2020.

Business demography data is used to analyse the number of enterprises and employment across the five sectors of industry, construction, distribution, services, and financial and insurance.

In 2020, the services sector accounted for almost half of all wages and salaries paid in Irelands non-financial business economy.

People engaged in the industrial sector enjoyed the highest average sectoral wage in Ireland in 2020, at 53,755 euro.

Eamonn Cleary, statistician in the business statistics division, said: There were 291,489 active enterprises in the non-financial Irish business economy in 2020, with 1,598,643 persons engaged in total.

Total turnover for the business economy was 816 billion euro.

Services enterprises represented 37.3% of this total, while Industrial enterprises accounted for 36.7%.

GVA for the business economy was 275.8 billion euro, of which gross operating surplus (GOS) was 215.8 billion euro and personnel costs were 60 billion euro.

Large enterprises, those with 250 or more persons engaged, accounted for two-thirds of all GVA in the Irish business economy and 58.1% of turnover.

There were 8,342 foreign-owned multinationals operating in Ireland in 2020, with 457,990 persons engaged.

These enterprises had turnover of 581.9 billion euro and GVA of 201.6 billion euro.

By contrast, there were 283,147 Irish-owned enterprises, which had 1,140,653 persons engaged.

Their turnover was 234.1 billion euro, and GVA was 74.2 billion euro.

The Covid-19 pandemic had a notable effect on the Retail Sales Index (RSI) in Ireland in 2020, with the highest seasonally adjusted monthly decrease in the volume of retail sales in April related to the first lockdown, followed by a sharp recovery in May 2020 (+29.8%) and June 2020 (+36.6%) as the country re-opened.

There was also significant use of Covid-19 related income support schemes in Ireland in 2020.

For instance, in April 2020, 57.3% of all enterprises had personnel who availed of at least one of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) or the Wage Subsidy Schemes.
A Government minister has insisted the date for a Northern Ireland election will be confirmed soon.

Steve Baker, a junior minister in the Northern Ireland Office, made the statement amid ongoing uncertainty over whether voters in the region will be heading to the polls this winter.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris faced criticism for failing to set a date for a new election last Friday when a legislative deadline for calling one passed.

He had previously vowed to announce a poll the minute the deadline lapsed.

The 24-week deadline for forming a functioning assembly and powersharing executive in following Mays election ran out at midnight on Friday.

A DUP boycott of the devolved institutions, in protest at Brexits Northern Ireland Protocol, has prevented an administration being formed in the wake of the election result.

While the UK government is now under a legal responsibility to call a fresh election within 12 weeks, it could move to amend legislation at Westminster that would either extend or remove that time limit.

Mr Heaton-Harris held talks with Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney about the Stormont impasse on Wednesday.

Afterwards, Mr Coveney said he believed the UK government had not yet decided whether to call an election.

However, NIO minister Mr Baker told a Westminster debate that a date would be confirmed.

In line with his legal obligation, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State will soon confirm the date of the next Northern Ireland Assembly election, as required by law, he said.

Following that election, and regardless of the result, the Northern Ireland parties really do need to come together to restore the devolved institutions and lead the people of Northern Ireland through the challenging times ahead.

In a statement issued after his meeting with Mr Coveney, Mr Heaton-Harris offered no further detail on his intentions around an election.

The UK and Irish governments continue to share a commitment to peace and prosperity in Northern Ireland, he said.

I reiterated (during the meeting) my deep regret that the Executive has failed to form and the duty that has been placed on me.

Mr Coveney said he believed a final decision had not been taken.

However, he said he expected Mr Heaton-Harris would be providing clarity soon.

On Tuesday, the Northern Ireland Secretary pledged to provide an update on what steps he intended to take next in due course.

Mr Coveney said he reiterated the Irish governments view to Mr Heaton-Harris during their meeting that an election would be unhelpful.

We dont have clarity on a way forward as of yet, but certainly were not going to have to wait weeks for that clarity, he said.

Mr Coveney added: I made it clear that the Irish Governments position is that we dont believe an election at this time is a good thing for Northern Ireland, in the context of the pressures that families and households are facing now, and also in the context of the reality that weve had an election only a number of months ago.

So, we discussed options and views on a way forward. No decisions have been finalised yet, but I dont think were going to have to wait for very long before decisions are made in relation to the way forward.

There really are only two options here: there is a legal obligation to set a date for an election, or else there will need to be new legislation to avoid an election at this time.

Mr Heaton-Harris has acknowledged he has a legal duty to call an election but has avoided setting a date, prompting Northern Irelands chief electoral officer, Virginia McVea, to apologise to election workers who are on stand-by to assist on the basis that polling day would be December 15.

The Government has vowed to secure changes to the protocol, either by a negotiated compromise with the EU or through proposed unilateral domestic legislation, the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, which would empower ministers to scrap the arrangements without the approval of Brussels.

The European Commission has said the latter approach would breach the terms of an international treaty and potentially prompt retaliatory action.

Mr Coveney added: For us, we think that an election would be unnecessary and unhelpful at this time, thats been the Irish Governments view for some time.

But these are difficult choices for the British Government and for the Secretary of State because of his obligations under NDNA (the New Decade New Approach agreement).

On Tuesday, Mr Heaton-Harris expressed concern at the enormous 660 million-plus black-hole of an overspend facing the rudderless Stormont system in the absence of a powersharing executive, and made clear action would be needed to set a budget for Northern Ireland.

He also said he would be looking to cut the pay of MLAs.
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[November 02, 2022] Hudson's Bay Foundation Raises $1 Million for Its Charter for Change Initiative

On October 26, Hudson's Bay Foundation hosted its second annual Evening for Change event, presented by Breville. Bringing together associates, community members, vendors, and impact partners, attendees came together to support Hudson's Bay Foundation Charter for Change, with inspired conversations and celebration of individuals and organizations doing grassroots work to combat racial inequity. The event raised an astounding $1 million to fight social injustice and advance racial equity in Canada. More than 80 organizations sponsored the event, including presenting sponsor Breville and Diamond sponsor Cadillac Fairview. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005678/en/ (Photo: Business Wire) In May 2021, Hudson's Bay Foundation launched its social platform Hudson's Bay Foundation Charter for Change: a $30 million commitment over ten years to help accelerate racial equity in Canada. This initiative supports charitable partners with existing community programming, doing on-the-ground work with a focus on education, employment and empowerment. Hudson's Bay Foundation impact partners include: Indspire, the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund, CEE Centre for Young Black Professionals, Black Youth Helpline, MLSE Foundation, Nia Centre for the Arts and MOSAIC. "We have a collective responsibility to prioritize racial equity and inclusion in Canada, and I am so thankful to ou vendor community and all the guests who attended and sponsored Evening for Change," says Iain Nairn, President & CEO of The Bay. "We are stronger when we work together, and I am even more energized and dedicated to creating change after this event, with so many people coming to the table to support this work."



On Sept. 30, Hudson's Bay Foundation launched Oshki Wupoowane | The Blanket Fund in partnership with the Gord-Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund. Moving forward, 100% of net proceeds from the sale of all HBC Point Blankets go to Indigenous Peoples. Since the launch, Canadians have overwhelmingly stepped up to support the initiative, with blanket sales doubling within weeks of the announcement. "Oshki Wupoowane | The Blanket Fund is an easy way for consumers to use their spending power for good. As a company, we no longer profit from the sale of these iconic blankets; rather the money goes to support grassroots efforts to impact meaningful change at the community level," adds Nairn. "With the support of our customers, we expect to donate approx. $3 million in 2022 alone, and as we head into the holiday season, I have to say - an HBC Point Blanket is a great gift that gives forward!"

ABOUT HUDSON'S BAY FOUNDATION Hudson's Bay Foundation is a registered charity, working to address racial inequality by investing in education, employment and empowerment opportunities for Indigenous Peoples, Black People and People of Colour. In 2021, Hudson's Bay Foundation launched Hudson's Bay Foundation Charter for Change, committing $30 million over 10 years to accelerate racial equity in communities across Canada. By partnering with organisations doing critical work under its three pillars, Hudson's Bay Foundation provides funding for programs and initiatives driving meaningful and sustainable change. ABOUT THE BAY Through a digital-first, purpose-driven lens, The Bay helps Canadians live their best style of life. The Bay operates thebay.com featuring Marketplace, one of the largest premium life & style digital platforms in Canada, with a seamless connection to a network of 85 Hudson's Bay stores. The Bay has established a reputation for quality and style through an unrivalled assortment of products and categories including fashion, home, beauty, food concepts and more. Follow us on our social media channels: Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook. The Bay and Hudson's Bay operate under the HBC brand portfolio. Founded in 1670, HBC is North America's oldest company. The signature stripes are a registered trademark of HBC. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005678/en/

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Neighbors at the Mark IV Estates Mobile Home Park had noticed the back door to James Shekie's trailer standing open for at least three days before one of them reported it and police discovered him dead on the hallway floor.

By then, Lincoln police investigators believe he'd been dead for nearly a week, killed in a failed plot to rob him of 4 pounds of marijuana.

"It just seemed really odd," Cacie Harding testified Monday at Deontae Rush's murder trial.

At about 11 a.m. March 1, 2021, she called the LPD nonemergency number to ask for a welfare check on the neighbor she knew by sight but not name.

By then, a second neighbor, Armand Bile, had noticed the door, too.

"In that neighborhood we don't really talk to each other," he said.

Bile said he'd first noticed it Feb. 26, a Friday. By Sunday, he started to think something may have happened. So the next morning, March 1, he went to check if someone was in some kind of distress.

He poked his head inside and said hello a couple of times. But no one answered, and he didn't see anyone. He thought of calling the police but didn't know what to say. Maybe the guy had just left his door open.

By 11:20 a.m., officers arriving to check on the man who lived there noticed the door wasn't just ajar, it had been kicked open, and his car was parked outside.

"That's a little weird," Officer Shane Alesch could be heard saying on his body-worn camera as he headed to the door.

Inside, he and a second officer walked in to find Shekie stiff to the touch, blood around his waist and a spent .45 shell casing not far away on the floor.

Reghan Daniels of Kansas City, the mother of Shekie's daughter, said Shekie had video chatted with his daughter Feb. 21, 2021, a Sunday. When she hadn't heard from him by the following Tuesday, she felt that something was wrong.

"It wasn't like him," she said.

Concerned, she started calling hospitals and jails.

Monday, the first day of Rush's trial, prosecutors said they would present evidence that Rush, the Omaha man on trial for first-degree murder, had come to Shekie's home early Feb. 23, 2021, kicked in the door and fired three shots at him, hitting him once in the torso.

"The evidence in this case, ladies and gentlemen, will show that Mr. Rush was in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Feb. 23, 2021. He was at Mr. Shekie's trailer. He had a gun in his hand, he walked in and he killed Mr. Shekie for a bunch of marijuana that he didn't even bother to take," Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Eric Miller said in opening statements.

Defense attorney Jeff Pickens said while Rush's phone may have been in Lincoln, Rush wasn't. He pointed the finger at Marquis Moten and his sister, Anna Feilen, who admittedly conspired to rob Shekie.

He said Moten wanted the drugs that Feilen had told him about, and that Feilen, who previously dated both Shekie and Rush, wanted revenge.

"She hated Mr. Shekie enough to want him dead and she hated Mr. Rush enough to falsely accuse him of Mr. Shekie's murder," Pickens said.

The trial continues Tuesday and is expected to last into next week.

Rush is being tried for a second time after a judge granted a mistrial in August over COVID-19 delays.
[November 01, 2022] Gary Li Appointed as Manager of Business Development at Impulse Space, Inc.

Impulse Space, Inc. - leading the development of in-space transportation services for the inner solar system - is pleased to announce its appointment of Gary Li to manager of business development. Previously a senior member of the technical staff at the Aerospace Corporation, Li brings with him spacecraft engineering and technology experience and will be valuable in achieving Impulse's goal of providing efficient and affordable means to the ever-growing space economy. "As we continue to develop a market for in-space transportation, it is important to bring on individuals who are dedicated and passionate about the space industry like Gary," said Impulse COO Barry Matsumori, a renowned industry visionary. "Being in the early phases of his career, we believe this is a great opportunity for both Li and Impuse to take the lead of developing this market space that has not been recognized by any company."



Li will work directly with Matsumori. In his new role as manager of business development, Li will own all aspects of the customer and partner development plan at Impulse Space. He will work closely with internal teams to coordinate customer activities, liaising on partner programs and maintaining prospects that provide the sequence and priority of opportunities that Impulse secures. Prior to being a senior member of the technical staff at the Aerospace Corporation, Li was awarded the prestigious honor of the Matthew Isakowitz fellowship during graduate school. With this honor, Li had the opportunity to work with Aerospace Corporation as a doctoral intern, where he received hands-on experience working with the propulsion science and satellite propulsion groups on hollow cathode research and provided support for the company's satellite mission. Li received a PhD in aerospace engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles and previously received a B.A. in astrophysics and physics from the University of California, Berkeley.

About Impulse Space Founded in 2021, Impulse Space is a Space 2.0 pioneer providing agile, economical last-mile space payload delivery capabilities. With a near-term focus on Low Earth Orbit (LEO), services include in-space transportation, orbital transport of satellites to optimal orbits, in-orbit servicing, space debris deorbit and space station orbit keeping. Long-term, Impulse will include focus on Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO), lunar and beyond, to provide transport of space resources, lunar missions including landers, planetary missions, asteroid resources, in-space manufacturing and propellant depots. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221101006359/en/

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[November 01, 2022] The industry's top exchange with over a million users unanimously praised--BTMIN

SINGAPORE, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- October 31, BTMIN has become a new benchmark in the digital encryption industry, which is popular in the industry. The user praise rate is more than one million users. Only with continuous circulation of digital currency can the value remain stable and continue to appreciate. In this process, the exchange is an indispensable tool to ensure and promote the circulation of digital currency. After careful planning and preparation, the successful operation of BTMIN Global Exchange will bring global users into a new era of digital currency. BTMIN Global Exchange. BTMIN Global Exchange is the industry's top cryptocurrency investment service provider and decentralized trading service platform. Founded in 2019, it is headquartered in Singapore and holds Money Services Business (MSB) licenses in Canada and the United States. The BTMIN global exchange emerged with the generation and development of digital currency. It is the market demand and a way for digital currency to circuate. With the continuous rise of blockchain assets, exchanges with compliant legal currency channels are indispensable. To sum up, BTMIN Global Exchange has a bright future. BTMIN Global Exchange provides a platform for Bitcoin and other digital currency enthusiasts, and drives the healthy development of the digital currency industry.



In the four years of market development, BTMIN has risen rapidly, and has contract trading branches in more than 30 countries and regions around the world, as well as core offices in Los Angeles, Vienna, Tokyo, London, etc., providing services to more than 60 countries. Encrypted digital currency trading service and project investment incubation business, with more than 5 million individual users and more than 10,000 core institutional users, and is in a continuous growth trend. Since its establishment, BTMIN Global Exchange has always adhered to the concept of being a high-quality digital asset manager, and insisted on making investments that are not difficult for investors to make. survey results. At present, BTMIN Global Exchange has introduced many high-quality digital assets in the market to ensure the long-term stable appreciation of digital currencies listed on the exchange, and solve investors' worries.

With the in-depth advancement of blockchain technology, and under the trend of the global development of the digital economy, BTMIN Global Exchange is actively exploring a full-service model and cutting-edge hard-core foundation with enlightening significance, and the curtain of the decisive battle in the global market has begun. Company: BTMIN CRYPTO SERVICES LIMITED

Contact Person: David Vetter

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://www.btminbcge.com/

City: Singapore

Address: 12 Marina View, Singapore 018961 SOURCE BTMIN CRYPTO SERVICES LIMITED

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[November 01, 2022] HGC, AMS-IX and IGC launch a new Internet Exchange in Bangkok Thailand

HONG KONG, Nov. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- HGC Global Communications Limited (HGC), a fully-fledged ICT service provider and network operator with extensive global coverage, AMS-IX (Amsterdam Internet Exchange), the world leading Internet Exchange (IX), and International Gateway Company Limited (IGC), a neutral regional telecommunication and network service provider, today announce the launch of a new IX, AMS-IX Bangkok, in Thailand as part of AMS-IX strategy to implement IX's in various key locations in Asia. Thailand is a fast developing and important Asian Internet hub and one of the prime locations where Internet companies exchange Internet traffic besides Singapore and Hong Kong. The new Internet Exchange located at Bangkok, which is the hub and gateway of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), will improve the quality of Internet connections of companies such as content providers, gaming, OTTs, cloud service providers and internet service providers and aims to build a thriving digital community. Customers connected to the new Internet Exchange will benefit from lower operation costs and enhanced connectivity and redundancy as well as lower latency. Nearly 250 million eyeballs in this subcontinent of GMS including Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand can now enjoy an uplifted online experience. By adding another IXP, HGC and AMS-IX, with the support of IGC, have further increased their global footprint and improved the connectivity in Asia. Next to Bangkok, HGC also partners with AMS-IX in Singapore, Hong Kong, Bay Area and Chicago. HGC will continue to serve as a commercial partner and marketing arm for AMS-IX Bangkok, while IGC provides IX infrastructure, network, and operation in Bangkok. AMS-IX, with their expertise on peering and network monitoring, will give technical support and has operational management of the exchange. "Being an early entrant into the Thailand market, we feel honored to gain penetration into the Greater Mekong Subregion with our renowned partner - AMS-IX. This is a rite of passage for the enhancement of the HGC edgeX brand to be positioned as a premium leader in engaging the internet exchange business to contribute to a better interconnection ecosystem which is dependent on the fast development of digital transformation. We hope to have promoted access to a digitalized world by localizing traffic in this growing market.", said, Mr. Chirawat Mahawat, Vice President Greater Mekong Subregion of HGC. "Bangkok is strategically located at the heart of Southeast Asia which makes it ideal as an international hub for exchanging Internet traffic and a perfect location as a gateway to the GMS. There are over 54 million Internet users in Thailand, representing 80 percent of the population, and this number is still rising rapidly. As AMS-IX we're happy to collaborate with our partners, HGC and IGC, to bring fruit to our mission of increasing the quality of the Internet worldwide by developing and building Internet Exchanges.", said, Mr. Onno Bos, International Partnership Director of AMS-IX. "With reference to the announcement from the Thai government on being ASEAN DIGITAL HUB, we are delighted to be part of the introduction of AMS-IX to Thailand which will foster to achieve such digital transformation policy. The customers will experience better Internet services in term of lower latency, better accessibility to more variety of contents. By having AMS-IX operating in Thailand, together with IGC's IX and network infrastructure in Thailand, it will be a key magnet to strengthen the Thai government policy. Certainly, the digital ecosystem, such as content providers, OTT, ISP and end users will gain much better service experiences and encouraging their sustainable eyeballs." Mr. Pichit Satapattayanont, Chief Executive Officer of IGC said.









From Left to Right: Chirawat Mahawat, Vice President Greater Mekong Subregion of HGC; Onno Bos, International Partnership Director of AMS-IX; Pichit Satapattayanont, Chief Executive Officer of IGC

About HGC Global Communications Limited HGC Global Communications Limited (HGC) is a leading Hong Kong and international telecom operator and ICT solution provider. The company owns an extensive network and infrastructure in Hong Kong and overseas and provides various kinds of services. HGC has 30 overseas offices, with business over 5 continents. It provides telecom infrastructure service to other operators and serves as a service provider to corporate and households. The company provides full-fledged telecom, data centre services, ICT solutions and broadband services for local, overseas, corporate, SME and mass markets. HGC owns and operates an extensive fibre-optic network, five cross-border telecom routes integrated into tier-one telecom operators in mainland China and connects with hundreds of world-class international telecom operators. HGC is one of Hong Kong's largest Wi-Fi service providers, running over 29,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in Hong Kong. The company is committed to further investing and enriching its current infrastructure and, in parallel, adding on top the latest technologies and developing its infrastructure services and solutions. In 2019, HGC Group completed the acquisition of Macroview Telecom Limited (Macroview), a leading digital technology solution and managed services provider. The addition of Macroview further accelerates HGC Group's digital transformation path and positioning as a pioneering ICT and digital services leader. HGC is a portfolio company of I Squared Capital, an independent global infrastructure investment manager focusing on energy, utilities and transport in North America, Europe and selected fast-growing economies. To learn more, please visit HGC's website at: www.hgc.com.hk About AMS-IX AMS-IX (Amsterdam Internet Exchange) is a neutral member-based association that operates multiple interconnection platforms around the world. Our leading platform in Amsterdam has been playing a crucial role at the core of the internet for more than 25 years and is one of the largest hubs for internet traffic in the world with over 11 Terabits per second (Tbps) of peak traffic. Connecting to AMS-IX ensures customers such as internet service providers, telecom companies and cloud providers that their global IP traffic is routed in an efficient, fast, secure, stable and cost-effective way. This allows them to offer low latency and engaging online experiences for end-users. AMS-IX interconnects more than 1000 IP-networks in the world. AMS-IX also manages the world's first mobile peering points: the Global Roaming Exchange (GRX), the Mobile Data Exchange (MDX) and the Internetwork Packet Exchange (I-IPX) interconnection points. More information: www.ams-ix.net About International Gateway Company Limited International Gateway Company Limited or IGC is a subsidiary of ALT Telecom Plc., a neutral regional telecommunication and network service provider. IGC was established in year 2017 to provide wholesale bandwidth for both domestic and international traffic via SRT (State Railway of Thailand) and its nationwide network (so-called GMS network) which has totally about 12,000 km of nationwide-optical fiber network and owns NNI (Network to Network Interface) for 15 Crossing Borders to connect with 24 operators surrounding Thailand and extended connectivity to more than 10 well-known data center in Thailand. Moreover, the Open Access License with 5 CLSs (Cable Landing Station) which located in the most strategic locations for the Submarine Business in Thailand. With Submarine cable network it will allow IGC to play a major role in the Eastern Economic Corridor Project and bridge the Submarine traffic to the GMS Terrestrial network. Visit us online at www.intergateway.co.th and connect us on LinkedIn: International Gateway(IGC) View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hgc-ams-ix-and-igc-launch-a-new-internet-exchange-in-bangkok-thailand-301665677.html SOURCE HGC Global Communications Limited (HGC)

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[November 02, 2022] UST Launches the Second Edition of 'd3code'- India's Largest Hackathon for College and University Students

~ Each member of the Top 5 finalist teams will receive a job offer to join UST ~

~7 lakhs INR for the first prize, 5 lakhs INR for the second prize, 3 lakhs INR for the third prize winning team~ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India , Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- UST , a leading digital transformation solutions company, announced the launch of the 2nd edition of 'd3code', a hackathon for college and university students to come together to develop and showcase their talent. This hackathon will be hosted for students pursuing bachelor's or master's degree courses, ahead of UST's annual technology conference D3. Located at UST's state-of-the-art technology campus in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, D3 (Dream, Develop and Disrupt) brings UST's brightest minds to learn, compete, collaborate and develop using the latest in emerging digital technology. Started in 2019, d3code (pronounced as decode) is a UST initiative to provide students a platform to solve some of the real-world problems and test their passion for innovation, problem-solving, design thinking, and programming skills. Participants can register for the Hackathon on the D3 website between November 4-10, 2022. Speaking about this event, Manu Gopinath, Chief Operating Officer, UST, said, "D3code is an opportunity for budding technology experts and innovative thinkers to demonstrate how technology can help solve challenging problems. We are excited to brng back D3code 2022 this year post-pandemic, and we are pleased to welcome the brightest students from colleges and universities across India to our beautiful technology campus to solve real-world challenges with innovation and technology."



Hackathon rounds and dates:



Each team would comprise of 2-4 members including the team leader. The event will comprise of three rounds. The first two rounds will be online rounds with shortlisted teams from each round progressing to the next round.





Registration and Idea submission - Nov 4 - Nov 10, 2022

Round 1 - Programming challenge - Nov 11 - Nov 13, 2022

Round 2  Video Interview for top 10 teams - Nov 18 - Dec 2, 2022

Round 3  24-hour Hackathon for top 5 teams - Dec 11 - Dec 12, 2022

Top 5 teams awarded - Dec 15, 2022



The final in-person Hackathon, at the UST Thiruvananthapuram campus, will be a 24-hour contest where qualifying teams will build and present prototypes of their ideas to a panel of judges. The winners will be selected based on the judges' vote. The top 5 teams chosen to attend the final in-person Hackathon will have the opportunity to participate in the D3 conference to be held on December 15, 2022, at O by Tamara in Kerala, India. D3code 2022 is an exciting opportunity to win great prizes for the participants. The first prize winning team will be rewarded with seven lakhs Indian Rupees (INR), the second prize team will receive five lakhs INR, and the third prize team will receive three lakhs INR, while the other two teams will receive honorary mentions and two lakhs INR each. Additionally, each member of the top 5 finalist teams will receive a job offer (subject to terms and conditions) to join UST India. About UST: For more than 22 years, UST has worked side by side with the world's best companies to make a real impact through transformation. Powered by technology, inspired by people, and led by our purpose, we partner with our clients from design to operation. Through our nimble approach, we identify their core challenges, and craft disruptive solutions that bring their vision to life. With deep domain expertise and a future-proof philosophy, we embed innovation and agility into our clients' organizationsdelivering measurable value and lasting change across industries, and around the world. Together, with over 30,000 employees in 30+ countries, we build for boundless impacttouching billions of lives in the process. Visit us at www.UST.com Media Contacts, UST:

Tinu Cherian Abraham

+1 - (949) 415-9857

+91-7899045194



Neha Misri

+91-9284726602



Merrick Laravea

+1 (949) 416-6212

[email protected] Media Contacts, U.S.:

S&C PR

+1-646.941.9139

[email protected]



Makovsky

[email protected]



Media Contacts, Australia:

Team Lewis

[email protected] Media Contacts, U.K.:

FTI Consulting

[email protected] Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1422658/UST_Logo.jpg

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[November 02, 2022] HDFC Life & IvyCamp Launch 'Futurance' Phase 5 to select and collaborate with innovative and disruptive startups

MUMBAI, India, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Futurance  the flagship corporate engagement program aimed at identifying startups that develop innovative and cutting-edge solutions  is the outcome of the continued partnership between HDFC Life, one of India's leading life insurance companies, and IvyCamp, an initiative of IvyCap Ventures Advisors Pvt. Ltd. This program has now entered its fifth phase. The last four phases have successfully provided opportunities for eleven startups to engage with HDFC Life's leadership, collaborate with the business teams, expand their customer base, and commercialise their products. Startups from the fraud detection and metaverse space got selected in the fourth phase. Phase 5 of the Futurance program, aims to scout for startups across the following use cases including but not limited to: Alternate & Augmented data: Data from alternate sources to validate customer details, and marketing and enhance the underwriting model

Medical/Health Tech: Remote health testing for customer on-boarding & underwriting

Innovative Sales Tech: Sales tech solutions for lead generation, customer screening, and insurance distribution

AI-based Vision & Voice solutions: AI-based smart-vision solutions to enhance customer experience Speaking on the launch of the fifth phase Prasun Gajri  Chief Investment Officer, HDFC Life, said, "At HDFC Life, we are constantly innovating in every area. We have an advanced sales stack, advanced capabilities using vision, voice and text AI via external partners and internal team capabilities and many other innovations that are part of our processes." "We are constantly looking to raise the bar and enhance our capabilities thereby offering value to all stakeholders. The aim is to simplify life insurance, end-to-end for our prospective and existing customers, employees as well as all our partners." "Futurance, a connect and outreach program for startups began in 2019, to build slutions to meet some of the industry's challenges and encourage new thinking and innovation. The first four phases have witnessed over 450 applications. In the fifth phase we look forward to collaborating with young minds and integrating fresh ideas and innovative tech that will enable us to offer value to all."



Anju Gupta, Co-founder and President of IvyCamp said, "Our long association with HDFC Life has been very unique and meaningful in adding value to HDFC Life's business and internal innovation efforts through collaboration with high potential startups with disruptive solutions. The collaboration has also enabled the startups to scale and opened access to a larger customer base. Today, with the launch of Phase 5 of Futurance, we are excited to continue this partnership to create growth and value through the startup ecosystem, and continue adding value for HDFC Life." mFilterIt and GMetri XR got selected as the winners of Phase 4 and these two companies will work with HDFC Life. Two startups TouchlessID and Perkant Tech who also participated in the final round received a special mention from team HDFC Life.

mFilterIt: Pioneers in Ad Fraud Detection solutions, Business Intelligence, Brand Safety.

GMetriXR: a no-code XR platform to create training modules, online stores, product showcases, immersive tours and more. About HDFC Life HDFC Life Insurance Company Limited ('HDFC Life' / 'Company') is a joint venture between HDFC Ltd., India's leading housing finance institution and abrdn (Mauritius Holdings) 2006 Limited, a global investment company. Established in 2000, HDFC Life is a leading, listed, long-term life insurance solutions provider in India, offering a range of individual and group insurance solutions that meet various customer needs such as Protection, Pension, Savings, Investment, Annuity and Health. As on September 30, 2022, the Company has over 60 products (individual and group products) in its portfolio, along with optional rider benefits, catering to a diverse range of customer needs. HDFC Life continues to benefit from its increased presence across the country having a wide reach with branches and additional distribution touch-points through several new tie-ups and partnerships. The count of our distribution partnerships is over 300, comprising banks, NBFCs, MFIs, SFBs, brokers, new ecosystem partners amongst others. The Company has a strong base of financial consultants. For more information, please visit www.hdfclife.com. You may also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. About IvyCamp IvyCamp is an initiative of IvyCap Ventures, an early-stage Venture Capital firm that nurtures entrepreneurs and their ideas into sustainable businesses, leveraging our Global Alumni Ecosystem. IvyCamp is an Alumni Driven Startup Engagement Platform that connects entrepreneurs with mentors, investors, accelerators and corporates, to help the founders, grow, scale, and connect. The extensive engagement and collaborations amongst various stakeholders, therefore, drive a constant flow of dynamic ideas, leading to true change and lasting impact. IvyCamp creates corporate-startup engagements targeted to help both the corporate integrate business-relevant innovative ideas into their workflows, and the founders to scale. The platform has more than 6,000 startups and we create engagements between entrepreneurs, domain experts, investors, accelerators, and corporates. These collaborations drive a constant flow of dynamic ideas, leading to true change and lasting impact.

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[November 02, 2022] Kampd, the platform dedicated to professional communities launched at Singapore FinTech Festival as its Knowledge Partner

Kampd announced as Knowledge Partner of SFF 2022

Founded by seasoned entrepreneurs, Amit Gupta & Ullrich Loeffler , both also co-founded Ecosystm, a leading Digital Research and Advisory Company

Company raises its seed funding from seasoned investors across Singapore & India SINGAPORE, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kampd, a Singapore-headquartered company aimed at empowering professionals in the knowledge economy through communities and content was formally unveiled today at Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF) 2022. Announced as a Knowledge Partner at SFF 2022, the firm aims to provide a social media platform for like-minded professionals to engage with each other within communities of interest anchored around purposeful content. Commenting on Kampd's launch, seasoned entrepreneur Amit Gupta, Founder, Kampd commented, "It is an honour for us to launch Kampd at one of the most coveted global knowledge forums, and a privilege to have SFF among our founding knowledge communities. It validates our strongest belief that for a powerful forum such as SFF, 'the conversations don't have to end when the talk ends'. We are a one stop platform that brings together professionals, communities, and creators to engage across varied areas of interest. Kampd unleashes the immense potential of the creator economy to benefit professionals across domains through the promise of rich meaningful content. As opposed to the traditional social media platforms that emphasise 'who you know', Kampd enbles users to maximise their potential with 'what you know'."



For creators, who are thought leaders, industry stalwarts, the platform will empower them to create and amplify their content on Kampd, as well as across platforms to eventually build sustained engagement with their followers within the relevant communities. As the Knowledge Partner of SFF 2022, the Kampd platform will give access to the global SFF community of FinTech and technology leaders to engage on the most relevant content from the current and previous editions of the festival. Thought leaders and experts within the SFF community will be able to make use of the platform to continue engaging with one another throughout SFF and beyond, and will also be able to run micro-events to nurture engagement within the platform. Kampd will ensure the conversations continue within the SFF community even after the physical event closes, ensuring a sustained interchange of knowledge.

Commenting on this partnership Pat Patel, Executive Director, Elevandi (an MAS Company), said, "Now in its seventh year, SFF has gone from strength to strength largely because of the way we are able to bring global government leaders, regulators and policymakers together with the corporate leaders, founders and investors. Bringing these key groups of leaders together allows us to really advance the FinTech community and create new ideas and opportunities. Our partnership with Kampd is a great example of this as it allows us to further engage our community in new ways. It allows us to connect people, connect ideas and connect insights." Kampd is founded by seasoned entrepreneurs Amit Gupta and Ullrich Loeffler. Based in Singapore, both co-founded Ecosystm in 2018, a Digital Research and Advisory Company with its global headquarters in Singapore serving the biggest global digital brands. Through Ecosystm, the two co-founders have demonstrated their ability to disrupt long standing legacy business models at a global scale. Following the success of the prolific founders, they have been backed in their new venture, Kampd with angel funding (undisclosed amount) from seasoned investors and eminent industry leaders across Singapore and India. Download the Kampd app here. Use the invite code 8P7F for exclusive access to the founding communities on Kampd. For more information on Kampd, please visit https://www.kampd.com/ About Kampd Kampd, short for 'Knowledge Amplified', is a social media platform for professional communities and content. We enable the growth and success of professionals in this fast-changing knowledge economy with the ability to keep up with developments in their fields. An effective way to do this is through exchange of knowledge between like-minded people. Kampd is enabling such interchange for professional communities of interest with purposeful content. SOURCE Kampd

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[November 02, 2022] MetricStream GRC Summit in London, Experience the Power of Connection, Host GRC Leaders from Around the World

MetricStream, the global market leader in integrated risk management (IRM) and governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) is hosting the much awaited GRC Summit on November 8th and 9th in London. The two-day event, Experience the Power of Connection, will feature prominent GRC professionals representing more than 20 different industries including banking and financial services, automotive, manufacturing, healthcare, fintech, the energy sector, telecom and more from 15 different countries. In this complex business environment, MetricStream's GRC Summit 2022 aims to bring together business leaders from across the world to collectively discuss and deliberate on how they can build better governed, more compliant, connected, and risk-intelligent organizations together. GRC professionals will connect around operational resilience, risk management, compliance, cyber risk, ESG and much more and share best practices for maintaining resiliency and thriving in a risk laden environment. "GRC leaders face more pressure now than ever to deliver against the backdrop of rapidly evolving risks. The GRC Summit will provide leaders with a unique opportunity to explore how modern technologies and a Connected GRC strategy can help them take a more proactive stance against risks," said Prasad Sabbineni, Co-CEO, MetricStream. "The GRC Summit has always been the forum for GRC professionals to share best practices and discuss proactive measures to protect their greatest assets; their people, their intellectual property, and their opportunity to thrive and grow." MetricStream will also be showcasing its latest release, Euphrates, empowering customers to easily personalize and configure products to their unique needs. New APIs help connect MetricStream with external systems and enrich GRC insights to accelerate decision makin. GRC professionals are demanding flexible and scalable software systems that meet the unique needs of their rapidly evolving risk profiles. The modern low code / no code platform allows individual customers to adapt the MetricStream platform, functions, and features to their unique business requirements.



MetricStream's GRC Summit has been a pillar of the GRC community for the last 9 years. Celebrating 10 years the GRC Summit includes the following key sponsors: Platinum Sponsor: KPMG UK

Gold Sponsor: HCLTech Silver Sponsors Capgemini

C-Risk

CUBE Content Governance Ltd

Deloitte

Prometeia

Sonata Software MetricStream is also continuously adding new names to the list of prominent speakers including the following. Merlin Linehan, Risk Manager, European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD)

Carlos Martin, Executive Director Risk Management, JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Phil Crook, Head of Compliance, Nationwide Building Society

Harvey Bootland, Head of Controls, Shell International Ltd.

Sarah Harman, Leader - Risk Systems & ERMF, Nationwide Building Society

Peter Bassey, Vice President, IT Audit Portfolio Manager & Cyber SME Credit Suisse

Pierre Lenders, Head of Sustainability, Capital Fund Management

Andrew Wedlock, Head of Strategic & Prudential Risk, Hargreaves Lansdown MetricStream's 10th GRC Summit will bring together the best and brightest minds in the GRC space to discuss, analyze, and map out Connected GRC strategies and solutions required to build more risk-intelligent, compliant, and well-governed organizations. Over 200 attendees from GRC risk, compliance, audit, operational resilience, information and cyber security, sustainability and ESG are expected to attend. MetricStream will be showcasing its latest state-of-the-art product - Low-code / No-code GRC Cloud platform that hosts innovations across Enterprise, Operational Risk, Regulatory Compliance, Third-party Risk, IT & Cyber Risk, Interna Audit and ESG. MetricStream will also be hosting its annual Journey Awards that recognizes and rewards customers, individuals, and partners who exemplify our mission to help customers thrive on risk. Winners will be declared and awarded on the last day of the event- November 9, 2022. Experience the Power of Connection in London on 8th and 9th of November. Register now. About MetricStream, Inc. MetricStream is the global SaaS leader of Integrated Risk Management and GRC solutions that empower organizations to thrive on risk by accelerating growth via risk-aware decisions. We connect governance, risk management and compliance across the extended enterprise. Our ConnectedGRC and three product lines - BusinessGRC, CyberGRC, and ESGRC - are based on a single, scalable platform that supports you wherever you are on your GRC journey. MetricStream is headquartered in San Jose, California, with an operations and R&D center in Bangalore, India, and sales and operations support around the globe. More information is available at www.metricstream.com, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005468/en/

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[November 02, 2022] RS PRO expands their IoT range in Southeast Asia

The extended RS PRO range showcased at Industrial transformation Asia-Pacific 2022 offers 23% of cost savings to leading brand alternatives SINGAPORE, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- RS , a trading brand of RS Group plc (LSE: RS1), a global omni-channel provider of product and service solutions, has launched a new range of products in their IoT range. At a press conference held at Industrial Transformation Asia-Pacific 2022 (ITAP 2022) on October 18th, RS showcased its very own private label, RS PRO, along with products from trusted global brands such as Fluke, Schneider Electric and Phoenix Contact. The RS PRO range includes new service solutions and an extended range of IoT and energy efficiency solutions. Responding to the increasing demand in IoT solutions, RS has included over 300 products in its RS PRO IoT range, including IO-link sensors, data cables and HMI displays, antennas and network testing equipment. This brings the RS PRO IoT range offering to over 8400 IoT enabling and smart connectivity products, which are compatible with all sensor brands, and allows users to improve their perational efficiency.



On the range expansion, Sean Fredericks, President of APAC, says, "We're helping our customers embrace the IoT evolution in Southeast Asia. Our new range of more than 300 products will not only benefit our customers but will provide engineers with the choice of affordable options to meet their engineering needs. At RS, we are consistently striving to deepen our product range and provide value to our clientele in the most efficient ways." IO-Link is a universal, open communication standard protocol that allows IO-Link enabled devices to exchange and analyse data and convert it into actionable information. It is recognised worldwide as an international standard for sensors in the industrial automation environment. RS PRO makes IoT practical and accessible for everyone, providing a dedicated range with a wide variety of smart objects and elements needed to connect them together.

Each RS PRO product is backed by the RS Seal of Approval, which represents industry standards for audit, inspection, test, and certification. This, combined with longer than average warranties reflects RS Components confidence in the quality and longevity of their products. For information on IO-Link sensors, please visit their website for more details RS RS is a trading brand of RS Group plc (formerly Electrocomponents plc), a leading global omni-channel industrial product and service solutions provider to customers who are involved in designing, building and maintaining industrial equipment and operations, safely and sustainably. We stock more than 700,000 industrial and electronic products, sourced from over 2,500 leading suppliers, and provide a wide range of product and service solutions to over 1.2 million customers. With operations in 32 countries, we trade through multiple channels and ship over 60,000 parcels a day. We support customers across the product life cycle, whether via innovation and technical support at the design phase, improving time to market and productivity at the build phase, or reducing purchasing costs and optimising inventory in the maintenance phase. We offer our customers tailored product and service propositions that are essential for the successful operation of their businesses and help them save time and money. RS Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange with stock ticker RS1 and in the year ended 31 March 2022 reported revenue of 2,554 million. Further information is available via these links:

Twitter: @WeAreRSGroup; @RSdesignspark

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/rs-asia-pacific/ RS

https://sg.rs-online.com/web/

DesignSpark

www.rs-online.com/designspark

RS Group plc

https://www.rsgroup.com/ SOURCE RS

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[November 02, 2022] CENTUM INKS STRATEGIC ALLIANCE WITH ISRAEL BASED RAFAEL

GANDHINAGAR, India, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Centum Electronics Limited today announced a strategic partnership with Israel headquartered Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Limited. As part of the MoU, both the companies will exclusively collaborate in the field of Electronic Warfare systems for the Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air Force, Indian Coast Guards and other government agencies. The MoU envisages development and indigenous production of the futuristic light weight Electronic Warfare systems in lower frequency bands and life cycle support of the existing Electronic Warfare systems. The MoU was signed by Mr. Nikhil Mallavarapu, Executive Director, Centum Electronics Limited and Mr. Oded Fisher, Naval Warfare System, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Limited at DefExpo 2022, India's flagship Defence Exhibition being held in Gandhinagar (Gujarat) from October 18 - 22, 2022. Mr. Vinod Chippalkatti (President) and Mr. Subhash Ahlawat (Director) from Centum Electronics and Mr. Shardul Rauthela (Director - Naval Systems) from Rafael Advanced Defense Systems were also present on the occasion. Commenting on the partnership, Mr. Nikhil Mallavarapu said, "We are delighted to be associated with Rafael. Through this partnership, we look forward to offering a wide variety of high-edge defence technologies. In Rafael, we have found a good partner who has a good understanding of the EW segmentand they also bring in a global perspective."



With the Indian Defence sector opening up on account of major policy changes initiated by the Government of India, both Centum and Rafael will leverage their knowledge, expertise and skills in the Electronic Warfare domain to capitalise on the opportunities coming up. This MoU will enhance Centum's indigenous Electronic Warfare system design and manufacturing capabilities through Rafael's decades of experience in lower frequency band Electronic Warfare system. This exclusive collaboration is likely to generate significant revenues over next three to five years. "Rafael is committed to the AatmaNirbhar Bharat vision and is proud to collaborate with a state of the art company as Centum for the benefit of the Indian Navy," adds Mr. Oded Fisher.

Today, the Centum Group's offerings range from customized product design & development, manufacturing services and turnkey solutions for mission-critical applications. These solutions are offered through the key operating business units that work together to address the customer needs. Each business unit is led by a strong and experienced management team. About Centum Centum was founded in 1994 in Bangalore, India. Since then, Centum has rapidly grown into a diversified electronics company with operations in North America, EMEA and Asia. The company offers a broad range of products and services across different industry segments. It has continuously invested in strengthening its design & product development capabilities while developing deep domain knowledge in the segments it operates in. Centum has also established truly world-class manufacturing facilities with cutting edge infrastructure as well as a global supply chain capable of delivering products with high quality and reliability. A key contributor to Centum Group's growth has been the strong relationships forged with international customers and partners. This customer-focused approach coupled with Centum's culture hinged on the core-values of Technology-Teamwork-Trust has resulted in a track-record of high quality products & services and excellent execution ability. About Rafael Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. is synonymous with Dynamic Defense, Daring Innovation, and Technological Ingenuity. For over 70 years, the Company has pioneered advances in defence, cyber and security solutions for air, land, sea, and space. Rafael's innovations are based on extensive operational experience and understanding of evolving combat requirements. They enable the rapid development of effective solutions for complex battlespace challenges. Rafael is dedicated to continuously enhancing its customer service, as well as expanding its global industrial cooperation programs. Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1936110/Centum_Rafael.jpg

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[November 02, 2022] Bidgely Partners with NISC to Enhance Customer Experience for Utility Cooperative Members

National Information Solutions Cooperative (NISC) has integrated Bidgely's UtilityAI solution into its service platform to enhance customer experience for utility cooperative members. Bidgely's artificial intelligence (AI)-powered energy insights are embedded within NISC's software platform to provide utility members with a 360-degree view of their energy consumers, improving various customer touch points, such as customer service, call center experiences and targeted marketing programs. In addition to driving higher satisfaction for end consumers, this integration further advances NISC's innovation efforts to foster success among utility cooperative members. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005202/en/ National Information Solutions Cooperative (NISC) integrates Bidgely's AI-powered energy insights into service offering to advance innovation efforts for utility cooperative members. (Graphic: Business Wire) "Bidgely's energy insights are a perfect complement to our SmartHub and Meter Data Management Strategies, and we are excited to introduce a new set of offerings to our utility cooperative members," said David Bonnett, Vice President of Product Management for NISC. "As we continually increase our member base and service offerings, we are confident Bidgely's scalable and highly secure solutions will continue to grow with us." Applying AI and machine learning techniques to smart meter data, Bidgely's UtilityAI solution itemizes a household's energy usage down to the appliance level. Equipped with behind-the-meter energy intelligence, utility cooperatives are able to not only make smarter, more informed business decisions for grid managementand planning but also encourage greater energy efficiency among consumers, resulting in higher engagement and loyalty. NISC's utility cooperative members can apply Bidgely energy insights to a myriad of organizational operations, including:



Increased customer satisfaction by providing relevant energy insights that educate and empower consumers to better manage their energy costs.

by providing relevant energy insights that educate and empower consumers to better manage their energy costs. Improved call center experiences by equipping utility representatives with at-a-glance customer information to resolve issues quickly and at a lower cost-to-serve.

by equipping utility representatives with at-a-glance customer information to resolve issues quickly and at a lower cost-to-serve. Reduced call center inquiries by providing budget alerts, forecasting tools and monthly summaries that minimize bill-related questions or surprises.

by providing budget alerts, forecasting tools and monthly summaries that minimize bill-related questions or surprises. More time- and cost-efficient program targeting by accurately identifying consumers for program enrollment (i.e. time-of-use rates; load shifting) and personalizing marketing communications based on consumption patterns.

by accurately identifying consumers for program enrollment (i.e. time-of-use rates; load shifting) and personalizing marketing communications based on consumption patterns. Greater grid resilience through a better understanding how energy flows along the grid, including electric vehicle (EV) detection, high demand times of use and distributed energy resource generation. "We are proud to partner with NISC in bringing the next wave of advanced digital technology to utilities in rural communities across the U.S. for the first time, which traditionally has only been available to large utility corporations," said Abhay Gupta, CEO of Bidgely. "One of the greatest aspects of AI is that it can be implemented universally, which is what we believe is essential in achieving greater energy equity around the world." To learn more about how Bidgely's UtilityAI solution optimizes grid operations and enhances customer engagement, read NISC Partners With Bidgely to Drive Digital Transformation for Coop Members.

About NISC NISC is an information technology organization that develops, implements and supports software and hardware solutions for our Members. We deliver advanced solutions, services and support to 935 independent broadband companies, electric cooperatives and other public power entities. NISC is an industry leader providing information technology solutions including financials, service, operations and marketing as well as many other supporting platforms and business services. With facilities in Mandan, N.D.; Lake Saint Louis, Mo.; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Blacksburg, VA. NISC and its subsidiary employ more than 1,300 professionals between the four locations and remotely throughout the United States. Additional information about NISC can be found at www.nisc.coop. About Bidgely Bidgely is an AI-powered SaaS Company accelerating a clean energy future by enabling energy companies and consumers to make data-driven energy-related decisions. Powered by our unique patented technology, Bidgely's UtilityAI Platform transforms multiple dimensions of customer data - such as energy consumption, demographic, and interactions - into deeply accurate and actionable consumer energy insights. We leverage these insights to empower each customer with personalized recommendations, tailored to their individual personality and lifestyle, usage attributes, behavioral patterns, purchase propensity, and beyond. From a Distributed Energy Resources (DER) and Grid Edge perspective, Bidgely is advancing smart meter innovation with data-driven solutions for solar PVs, EV detection, EV behavioral load shifting and managed charging, energy theft, short-term load forecasting, grid analytics, and TOU rate designs. Bidgely's UtilityAI energy analytics provides deep visibility into generation, consumption for better peak load shaping and grid planning, and delivers targeted recommendations for new value-added products and services. With roots in Silicon Valley, Bidgely has over 17 energy patents, $75M+ in funding, retains 30+ data scientists, and brings a passion for AI to utilities serving residential and commercial customers around the world. For more information, please visit www.bidgely.com or the Bidgely blog at bidgely.com/blog. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005202/en/

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During a recent visit at West High School to discuss his novel "600 Hours of Edward," Billings-based author Craig Lancaster couldnt help but notice the degrading conditions of the students' copies. Worn out spines and tattered covers were the norm after near constant use since it was added to the school districts curriculum in 2012.

They had seen a lot of action in recent years, Lancaster said. So, I just thought that it was time for a refresher.

Soon after the visit, Lancaster checked with his publisher to determine how much it would cost to replace the books in all the high schools and began a GoFundMe campaign without their knowledge or involvement.

Not 12 hours later after starting the campaign, Lancaster exceeded $1,100 in donations.

His original goal was to raise enough money for 50 new books for each public high school in Billings. Following some input from the schools, he's now personally delivering 40 new paperback copies to each one along with 30 going to the career center.

Donations came primarily from friends and family members of Lancaster both in and out of town with individuals contributing from Virginia, Ohio and Texas. The donations ranged from $20 to $100 with the author adding matching donations. It was when an anonymous donor made a $500 contribution that the fundraising goal was met.

Lancaster was surprised by the speedy and generous response to the campaign, but not by the collective support amongst educators.

This was very much a community effort, however youd like to define that, he said. Whether through the Billings community or an online community, they really came together and that was the most gratifying part.

His first experience with public education in Billings came ten years ago when "Edward" was re-published in 2012 and a group of local English teachers in the district advocated for its addition to the high school curriculum reading list. The book was quickly accepted. Since then, Lancaster has regularly met with classes that have read the book.

When delivering the new copies to Senior High School Tuesday, he met with principal Jeff Uhren along with English students and teachers to discuss the novel and answer questions about its plot, his writing process, its sequels and specific details like the protagonist's affinity for the 1960s cop show "Dragnet".

Uhren said all the schools can immediately benefit from this donation since they are already on the reading list and arent subject to a review process by the district board of trustees. Budgets also aren't impacted since they were already paid for.

Definitely excited, Uhren said of how he felt when he learned about the new books. [Its] not all that common to get donations like this so it definitely helps when the books have been used for as long as these have.

"600 Hours of Edward" tells the story of a 39-year-old with Aspergers syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder, Edward Stanton, who lives alone on a rigid and detailed daily routine in Billings. When a single mother and her son move in across the street, he is faced with potential changes to his schedule and life along with past personal grievances over the course of 25 days, or 600 hours.

Lancaster says he cant say how popular or unpopular his book is with students, since they rarely criticize it during his visits but thinks students can connect with the story due to its familiar setting and neurodivergent protagonist.

During Lancaster's visit to Senior, one teacher recalled the excitement a student felt reading the first book they'd read with a character who was also autistic. Lancaster said this response, along with empathy felt during specific scenes, is common throughout most of the classes he meets with.

Although not originally from Montana, Lancaster has lived in Billings since 2006excluding a two-year period in Maineand has gone on to write 10 books. Most of them are set either in Billings or the eastern region of Montana.

He frequently returns to these settings due to the emotional connections hes developed over the years but also because of his lack of deep roots to the area.

Its been really rich ground to work on, he said about writing in Billings. And I would have really dug reading a book set in my town when I was in high school.

Because of both his prior support from local teachers and his own belief in public education, Lancaster hopes both the book and community efforts to bring it to students will continue to inspire readers.

Lancaster believes local teachers were so adamant about including the book in the district's curriculum because they saw its potential from the beginning.

Theyre the ones who pushed for this book because they know how to reach these kids, he said. And if theyre the ones who are making sure of that, Ill be the one making sure they have the books.
[November 02, 2022] Wallbox and Uber Extend Partnership to Boost Access to Home Chargers Across Europe

Drivers on the Uber (NYSE:UBER) platform in seven European countries can now purchase discounted home EV chargers, as Wallbox (NYSE: WBX) - a leading provider of Electric Vehicle (EV) charging and energy management solutions worldwide - and Uber expand their partnership across the continent. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005564/en/ Wallbox and Uber Extend Partnership to Boost Access to Home Chargers Across Europe (Photo: Business Wire) The partnership, which will operate in the UK, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, France, Portugal and Belgium, builds on Wallbox and Uber's partnership in the USA and Canada that was successfully launched in 2021. Supporting drivers switching to electric is key to Uber's ambition to become a zero emissions platform in Europe by 2030, with Uber aiming for 100% EV in cities such as London as early as 2025. Drivers are going electric in Europe nearly 5x faster than average European private car owners, with 6.2% of Kms driven on the Uber platform across the region now being fully electric. Access to charging, both at home and on-street, remains a key barrier for drivers making the switch. As part of the partnership, drivers on the Uber platform will be able to purchase a home charger plus installation from Wallbox at a discounted rate. Masud Rabbani, CBO Wallbox, said: "We are delighted to expand our successful partnership with Uber. At Wallbox, we want to make the transition to EV as smooth and simple for drivers as possible and we believe our products offer that to drivers on the Uber platform around Europe. We look forward to this partnership developing over the coming years." Chris Hook, Head of Global Sustainability Strategy at Uber, said:



"We want to be the cleanest mobility platform on the planet, becoming a 100% electric platform across Europe by 2030. Partnerships with private and public stakeholders will be key to this success. "Drivers consistently tell us that lack of easily accessible charging is an important concern. By expanding our collaboration with Wallbox in Europe we hope this will help address this key barrier for switching to EVs and help ensure drivers can make the switch as seamlessly and as soon as possible."

ENDS About Wallbox Wallbox is a global technology company, dedicated to changing the way the world uses energy. Wallbox creates advanced electric vehicle charging and energy management systems that redefine users' relationship to the grid. Wallbox goes beyond electric vehicle charging to give users the power to control their consumption, save money, and live more sustainably. Wallbox offers a complete portfolio of charging and energy management solutions for residential, semi-public and public use in more than 110 countries. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Barcelona, the company now employs over 1000 people in its offices in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. About Uber Uber's mission is to create opportunity through movement. We started in 2010 to solve a simple problem: how do you get access to a ride at the touch of a button? Billions of trips later, we're building products to get people closer to where they want to be. By changing how people, food, and things move through cities, Uber is a platform that opens up the world to new possibilities Wallbox Forward Looking Statements

This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding the timing of Wallbox's achievement of its emissions targets and goals. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "anticipate," "believe," "can," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "may," "might," "plan," "possible," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "will" or the negatives of these terms or variations of them or similar terminology, but the absence of these words does not mean that statement is not forward-looking. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements, including those discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in Wallbox's Post-Effective Amendment No, 3 to Wallbox's Registration Statement on Form F-1 (File No. 333-260652) Filed on September 28, 2022, as such factors may be updated from time to time in its other filings with the SEC, accessible on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov and the Investors Relations section of Wallbox's website at investors.wallbox.com. These and other important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press release. Any forward-looking statement that Wallbox makes in this press release speaks only as of the date of such statement. Except as required by law, Wallbox disclaims any obligation to update or revise, or to publicly announce any update or revision to, any of the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005564/en/

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[November 02, 2022] Lawfully Closes $2.5M in Seed Funding & Hits 800k Registered Cases on its App

NEW YORK, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lawfully, Inc., creator of the popular immigration status management app for individual immigrants, today announced its raise of $2.5M seed funding from investors including Bluepoint Partners, Lotte Ventures, TBT, and angel investors with a focus on legaltech and AI. Additionally, Lawfully celebrates a noteworthy milestone of more than 800k registered cases on its app, an increase of 400% from the beginning of 2021.

Lawfully officially launched its first product, Lawfully Case Tracker, in 2020 and has seen tremendous growth within its organization and immigrant community from those who are looking for help with their visas and green cards. 12% of green card applicants within the US have used Lawfully's mobile app, while 80% of users have 1-year retention of ongoing cases, consistent with reports that each year 1 million new green cards and 10 million long-term nonimmigrant visas are issued. "With immigration laws frequently changing, it can be challenging for applicants to understand the intricate U.S. immigration system, said Joon Ahn, CEO of Lawfully. The Lawfully app makes it simple for applicants to view their cases while assisting in the search for legal support from American immigration attorneys. In our opinion, every immigrant should have Lawfully Case Tracker on their phone as it is such an essenial tool.



Lawfullys reach and growth are not without the help of some leading investors, which include: Bluepoint Partners: The company offers businesses the strategic and financial capabilities of a multinational corporation while being an approachable company with a local presence.

Lotte Ventures: The company fosters rapid growth for established firms through fund investments and accelerates programs for early-stage entrepreneurs.

Thoughts Become Things (TBT): An ad-venture capital firm utilizing industry knowledge and experiences to help you build services and products that can make the world a better place.

Angel Investors who support immigrant communities with an interest in immigration, including Sanghun Kim, the former CEO of S. Koreas #1 search engine company, Naver. The company also introduced four new features in the last three months, including:

Expedite request assistance; subscribers can access tools like statistical data, cover letter templates, tips, and more.

subscribers can access tools like statistical data, cover letter templates, tips, and more. Q&A with Lawfully immigration experts; submit an individual question regarding your immigration issue to get an answer from Lawfullys experts.

submit an individual question regarding your immigration issue to get an answer from Lawfullys experts. New analytics of processing time and trend; with time and trend analytics, users have access to processing time from start to end, set the steps, compare their case to similar cases, and estimate how quickly their case will be processed.

with time and trend analytics, users have access to processing time from start to end, set the steps, compare their case to similar cases, and estimate how quickly their case will be processed. Interview Reviews; users can access past interview questions and ratings, compare interview experiences with others, as well as access USCIS interview reviews. About Lawfully, Inc.

Lawfully is a legaltech startup reimagining the legal industry with innovative technology solutions for immigration applicants and lawyers. Lawfully is the first and only company that offers analytics of individual immigration cases and provides visibility to the immigration process. The Lawfully Case Tracker app is available on iOS and Android; for more information, visit https://www.lawfully.com. Evan Sneider

Red Rooster PR

[email protected]

954-673-6835



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[November 02, 2022] Reliq Health Technologies, Inc. Files FY 2022 Annual Audited Financial Statements, Announces 485% Year-over-Year Increase in Revenues

HAMILTON, Ontario, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reliq Health Technologies Inc. (TSXV:RHT or OTCQB:RQHTF) (Reliq or the Company), a rapidly growing global healthcare technology company that specializes in developing innovative Virtual Care solutions for the multi-billion dollar Healthcare market, today announced that the annual audited consolidated financial statements (Financial Statements) and Managements Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2022, are now available on the Companys profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com).

We have now filed our annual audited financials for Fiscal Year 2022, said Dr. Lisa Crossley, CEO of Reliq Health Technologies, Inc. FY 2022 was a period of tremendous growth for the Company. Revenues for the fiscal year increased by 485% to $8,551,807 for FY 2022 as compared to $1,462,165 for FY 2021. Despite the significant resurgence of COVID-19 (Omicron variant) in late 2021 / early 2022, revenue from software and services sales increased by over 1,940% to $2,739,516 for FY 2022 compared to $134,264 for FY 2021, consistent with the Companys prior statements that for 2023 and beyond the majority of the Companys revenue would be generated by software and services sales vs device sales. We expect growth to accelerate through the end of calendar year 2022 and through 2023. We remain on track to onboard over 100,000 patients to the platform by the end of December 2022 and over 200,000 by mid-calendar year 2023. Subsequent to June 30, 2022 the Company received $341,805 in proceeds from the exercise of 1,139,350 share purchase warrants @ $0.30. The remaining 3,738,332 outstanding warrants @ $0.30 have expiry dates between November 13, 2022 and December 3, 2022. Exercise of these warrants would generate up to an additional $1,121,499.60 in proceeds for the Company. To date as a Company we have been focused primarily on cementing our first mover advantage and establishing ourselves as the market leader by acquiring as many clients and patients as possible in the shortest possible time period, continued Dr. Crossley. Going forward we will be shifting resources to the account management side to help accelerate onboarding, reduce the time it takes for patients to go from initial onboarding to fully adherent and billable, and accelerate collections. The Company expects to be generating significant free cash in 2023 and intends to initiate a share buyback program at that time to offset any dilution incurred over the past several years. The Company is also pleased to provide the following corporate update. Highlights from FY 2022 Annual Audited Financial Statements

During the twelve month period ending June 30, 2022 and subsequent, the Company: Increased sales 485% to $8,551,807 for FY 2022 relative to $1,462,165 for FY 2021.

Increased revenue from software and services by over 1,940% to $2,739,516 for FY 2022 (FY 2021 - $134,264). Going forward the Company expects the majority of its revenue in 2023 and beyond to come from higher margin software and services vs device sales.

Increased gross profits over 515% to $5,301,304 for FY 2022 (FY 2021 - $857,954). Gross Margin for the year was 62%. The gross margin was affected by a temporary increase in device costs in Q3 and Q4 FY 2022 which has subsequently been resolved as the Company identified new device suppliers. Gross margins are expected to reach the target 75% in 2023 due to reduced device costs and an increase in the percentage of the Companys total revenues from higher margin software and services vs device sales.

On January 1, 2022 CMS introduced five new billing codes for Remote Therapeutic Monitoring (RTM), allowing clinicians to provide ongoing in-home treatment and monitoring for patients with musculoskeletal and respiratory conditions. RTM involves having patients use medical devices that collect non-physiological data such as therapy/medication adherence and therapy/medication response, and also allows for patient self-reporting of key metrics such as pain level, mobility, nighttime waking due to breathing difficulties, etc. The new RTM codes have increased Reliqs target patient population by over 20 million newly eligible patients to over 57 Million total eligible patients in the US alone.

Signed an agreement with Data Soft Logic (DSL) to provide iUGO Care to DSLs existing and new clients. Data Soft Logic currently has over 600 home health and hospice care agency clients who work with more than 1,000 primary care physicians to provide care to over 500,000 Medicare and Medicaid patients. Reliq started onboarding DSLs patients in Q2 Calendar Year 2022 and expects to ramp up to adding over 50,000 new patients per year each year beginning in 2023, at an estimated revenue of $60 per patient per month.

Signed an agreement with Cognizant to leverage Cognizants Care Management resources for future deployments of Reliqs iUGO Care software to large scale clients. Cognizant provides services to 300+ health systems and over 347,000 care providers who together provide care to over200 million lives globally. The agreement with Cognizant will allow Reliq to scale to new levels and provide even the largest healthcare organizations with confidence that the Company can meet the needs of their patient populations, no matter the size, allowing Reliq to access new opportunities to provide virtual care to much larger patient populations both within the US and globally.

Signed a contract with a large physician practice network in Florida to onboard over 50,000 patients to its iUGO Care platform by the end of 2023.

Signed a contract with a network of 40 Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs) in Florida which is expected to add over 48,000 patients to its iUGO Care platform every year beginning in 2023.

Signed contracts with 99 new US primary care physician practices and 28 other healthcare organizations in specialties including hospice care, nephrology, orthopedics, long term care, skilled nursing, hospital care, cardiology and care management.

Signed contracts with 25 new home health agencies in the US and 3 adult medical day care facilities.

Signed an agreement with a US Contract Research Organization to use Reliqs iUGO Care software and Patient Engagement services to support their oncology and other clinical trials.





Notes on Accounts Receivable and Revenue from Financing



To date the majority of the Companys revenues have been generated through the sale of devices. Subsequent to July 1, 2021 all device purchases are associated with a subscription for software and services, and therefore are a direct leading indicator of future software and services revenue. Clients are offered 12- or 24-month payment plans for hardware purchases. The Company charges a higher price for devices that are paid for through payment plans and therefore generates higher margin revenue for these devices. Because hardware revenue is collected on a monthly basis over a 12- or 24-month period per the purchase payment plan, the Companys receivables will continue to increase as device sales increase. This is as expected and is not an indication that the receivables are at risk of not being collected. As the Companys software and services revenue increases as a percentage of total sales, the outstanding receivables as a percentage of total sales will decrease.



Note that revenue from hardware sales (corresponding to the total purchase price of the devices) is recognized when the client takes possession of the hardware. Hardware revenue is then received monthly in accordance with the hardware purchase payment plan. Software and services revenue is recognized on a monthly basis for software and services delivered in the given month and is collected monthly in accordance with the Companys standard Net 60 day payment terms.

The audit process for FY 2022 was substantively different from previous years. Since the Companys revenue had grown significantly and new revenue lines and payment terms had been introduced, the process was much more complex and time-consuming than either the Company or its auditors had originally anticipated.

During the audit, various changes were made to the financial statements for FY 2022 to address the evolution of the business and to comply with IFRS standards, including:

A Long-Term Receivables category was added to account for Sales of devices and services with payment plans lasting more than 12 months. A portion of revenue from any Sales involving payment plans lasting more than 12 months was recognized as Financing Income. As a result, ~$306,000 of Q4 Sales revenue was moved from Sales to Financing Income, with ~$76,000 recognized in FY2022 and ~$230,000 deferred, to be recognized in FY 2023 and FY 2024. This had a small negative impact on gross margin for Q4 FY 2022 but is not expected to impact gross margin in future years.

Impact of COVID-19 on Operations in Q3 and Q4 FY 2022

Revenue for the quarters ending March 31, 2022 and June 30, 2022 was temporarily impacted by the COVID-19 surge caused by the Omicron variant during the period from November 2021 through February 2022. During this period, many of the patients on the iUGO Care platform contracted COVID-19. Some of these patients became sufficiently ill that they required hospitalization or were temporarily prescribed in person home care visits. Under the terms of the Medicare and Medicaid virtual care programs leveraged by the Companys clients, clinicians cannot bill for many of the proactive, preventative services delivered using the iUGO Care platform for any month in which a patient receives acute care in the form of hospitalization or prescribed in person home care visits. The Company was therefore not able to provide billable services to those specific patients during the month in which they received acute care due to COVID-19, and as a result was not able to bill the associated client for affected patients during the acute care period. In addition, many of the Companys physician and home health agency clients and their clinical staff contracted COVID-19 during the Omicron wave, which in some cases resulted in longer training and patient engagement times for new patients. For these clients this increased the time from which their patients were onboarded to the point at which the Company was able to bill for its services to over 90 days. Despite the challenges associated with the Omicron variant surge and its impact on growth in Q3 and Q4 FY 2022, the Companys software and services revenue for the year increased over 1940% relative to FY 2021.





While there is the potential for COVID-19 surges in the future, these waves will only have a short term impact on revenue. Overall the long term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Companys business is strongly positive, as it led to a significant increase in the scope and reimbursement levels of the virtual care programs funded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and drove a dramatic increase in acceptance and adoption of virtual care solutions in the Community Healthcare market. As a result, the market demand for the Companys products and services has increased exponentially over the last twelve month. Date for Webinar to Review Q1 FY 2023 Annual Audited Financials

The Companys quarterly financial statements for Q1 FY 2023 (quarter ending September 30, 2022) are due to be filed on or before November 29, 2022. The webinar to review the financial statements will be scheduled on or before November 30, 2022. About Reliq Health Reliq Health Technologies is a rapidly growing global healthcare technology company that specializes in developing innovative Virtual Care solutions for the multi-billion dollar Healthcare market. Reliqs powerful iUGO Care platform supports care coordination and community-based virtual healthcare. iUGO Care allows complex patients to receive high quality care at home, improving health outcomes, enhancing quality of life for patients and families and reducing the cost of care delivery. iUGO Care provides real-time access to remote patient monitoring data, allowing for timely interventions by the care team to prevent costly hospital readmissions and ER visits. Reliq Health Technologies trades on the TSX Venture under the symbol RHT, on the OTC as RQHTF and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the WKN: A2AJTB. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD Dr. Lisa Crossley CEO and Director For further information please contact: Company Contact

Investor Relations at [email protected] US Investor Relations Contact

Lytham Partners, LLC

Ben Shamsian

New York | Phoenix

646-829-9701

[email protected] Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward Looking Information Certain statements in this press release constitute forward-looking statements, within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements that are not historical facts, including without limitation, statements regarding future estimates, plans, programs, forecasts, projections, objectives, assumptions, expectations or beliefs of future performance, are "forward-looking statements". We caution you that such "forward-looking statements" involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual and future events to differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to commercial operations, including technology development, anticipated revenues, projected size of market, and other information that is based on forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions of management. Reliq Health Technologies Inc. (the "Company") does not intend and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements except as required by law. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties relating to, among other things, technology development and marketing activities, the Company's historical experience with technology development, uninsured risks. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. SOURCE: Reliq Health Technologies Inc.



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[November 02, 2022] KA Imaging Announces New Strategic Funding Fueling Innovation

X-ray manufacturer KA Imaging announced today new funding for its activities. Both new investments focus on the Reveal 35C detector. In-Q-Tel, Inc. and INOVAIT are now part of the strong list of partners working with KA Imaging. Spectral Imaging in the Emergency Department One of the projects, "Single exposure Dual Energy Subtraction X-ray Device for Image Guided Therapy", aims to use the Reveal 35C in the Emergency Room. KA Imaging, in partnership with Sunnybrook Research Institute, will obtain X-ray images from patients, and use it to develop new material separation imaging algorithms for real-time image-guided therapy applications. Funding for this project was provided in part by INOVAIT through the Government of Canada's Strategic Innovation Fund. "We're proposing a widely accessible and affordable solution to achieveimproved soft tissue, bone and foreign object visibility, without added acquisition time or patient imaging dose," explained Karim S. Karim, CTO of KA Imaging.



INOVAIT is a pan-Canadian network funded by the Government of Canada and hosted at the Sunnybrook Research Institute with the objective of building a truly integrated image-guided therapy ecosystem, fueling continuous innovation that revolutionizes healthcare globally. Through connecting, educating, and investing in the industry's brightest minds and most promising ventures, INOVAIT will support and encourage collaborative development and the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into medical technologies. Accelerating innovation

KA Imaging has also signed a strategic investment and technology development agreement with In-Q-Tel, the not-for-profit strategic investor that accelerates the development and delivery of cutting-edge technologies to the U.S. intelligence and national security community and its allies. "KA Imaging's patented technology benefits application areas ranging from healthcare to non-destructive testing. Reveal's unique energy subtraction capabilities and portability make it a solution that can be effectively and easily deployed in challenging environments," said Michael Falcon, Investment Partner at In-Q-Tel. "We are pleased to be part of the In-Q-Tel portfolio and look forward to expanding our relationship with IQT and its government partners, " said Amol Karnick, President and CEO of KA Imaging. About Reveal 35C Reveal 35C is a single exposure, portable, digital dual-energy subtraction X-ray detector. In medical applications, this means a regular DR, plus soft tissue and bone images. In the NDT market, these capabilities can be translated into material differentiation. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005135/en/

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[November 02, 2022] NTT Research Develops Closed-Loop Control of Innervated Tissue

NTT Research, Inc., a division of NTT (TYO:9432), today announced that the collaboration between its Medical & Health Informatics (MEI) Lab and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has produced a novel technique for closed-loop control of innervated tissue of a live insect. The results were published on June 27 in Scientific Reports, part of the Nature portfolio, in an article titled "In vivo closed-loop control of a locust's leg using nerve stimulation." The paper's co-authors are affiliated with the MEI Lab, the Neuroelectronics Group within TUM's Munich Institute of Biomedical Engineering (MIBE) and TUM's Chair of Zoology. Professor Bernhard Wolfrum leads the Neuroelectronics Group. The article describes implantable electrodes that stimulate an extensor motor nerve in an insect, Locusta migratoria, using a closed circuit of feedback control. The paper's lead author is Francisco Zurita, a Ph.D. candidate at TUM, who is one of the team members contributing to NTT Research's project. This work is part of a joint research program between TUM and NTT Research. Neurotechnology-based diagnosis and treatments already impact a wide range of medical conditions. This work reaches into two relatively unexplored areas: implantable electrodes and closed-loop control. First, instead of applying electrical current to stimulate muscle tissue from outer areas, as is conventional in insect or rodent tests or in human trials, this study uses electrodes that interface directly with peripheral nerves. Second, whereas the most common method of modulating neural activity is in an open-loop fashio, these researchers have developed a technique that takes feedback into account, thereby allowing for some degree of control over what would otherwise consist of more variable outputs. The paper describes a cuff electrode for an extensor motor nerve, fabricated using a 3D-printed mold, which elicits leg movement in the live locust. A flexible resistor senses the leg angle, and a connected microcontroller directs a train of digital-level voltage pulses to control the movement in real time given a selected angle set point. Offered as a model for other researchers exploring neural control of biological systems, this work has several potential applications involving manipulation of the body in acute and chronic conditions, as well as prosthesis and cyborg systems, such as the cardiovascular bio digital twin (CVbioDT), a research objective of the MEI Lab.



"The development of cuff electrodes is applicable for implantation in vagus nerves," said Dr. Tetsuhiko Teshima, a Visiting Researcher at the Neuroelectronics Group, Research Scientist in the MEI Lab, and one of the paper's co-authors. "Vagus nerves that connect to the heart tissue will be stimulated or recorded using our cuff electrodes or circuits and then it becomes possible to regulate heart functions, creating a regulatory system that aligns with the MEI Lab's digital twin project. Another promising application is sciatic nerve stimulation for prosthesis." The collaboration between the MEI Lab and the Neuroelectronics Group officially began in early 2020, following the signing of a multi-year joint research agreement between NTT Research and TUM. The original scope of work covered the screening and optimization of functional materials for implantable electrodes, as well as their assembly and biocompatibility. In June 2020, NTT Research opened an office in Munich in support of the joint research. At its founding in 2019 as part of NTT Research, the MEI Lab embarked on a bio digital twin initiative focused initially on the cardiovascular system. In July 2021, Joe Alexander, M.D., Ph.D., who was leading this effort, became director of the Lab. Professor Wolfrum's lab is focused on designing and fabricating bioelectronic interfaces and sensor arrays for stimulating and recording signals in vivo and in vitro. In addition to Mr. Zurita, and Drs. Teshima and Wolfrum, the paper's co-authors include Fulvia Del Duca and Lukas Hiendlmeier, two other Ph.D. candidates supported by NTT Research, Dr. Michael Gebhardt and Professor Harald Luksch, chair of the Department of Zoology at TUM.

"To help realize the shared goals of our work with NTT Research, I was able to bring together several specialists in material science, zoology and circuit development," said Dr. Wolfrum. "We are encouraged by the results and anticipating follow-up work on new materials and further development of cuff electrode systems." Along with this work with TUM, the MEI Lab is also engaged with the Disease Biophysics Group in Harvard University's John A. Paulsson School of Engineering and Applied Physics and the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center (NCVC) in Japan. The MEI Lab's ongoing research includes work on multi-scale precision cardiology platforms, such as the CVbioDT and heart-on-a-chip technology, aimed at developing the infrastructure for a digital replica of an individual's heart. About NTT Research NTT Research opened its offices in July 2019 as a new Silicon Valley startup to conduct basic research and advance technologies that promote positive change for humankind. Currently, three labs are housed at NTT Research facilities in Sunnyvale: the Physics and Informatics (PHI) Lab, the Cryptography and Information Security (CIS) Lab, and the Medical and Health Informatics (MEI) Lab. The organization aims to upgrade reality in three areas: 1) quantum information, neuroscience and photonics; 2) cryptographic and information security; and 3) medical and health informatics. NTT Research is part of NTT, a global technology and business solutions provider with an annual R&D budget of $3.6 billion. NTT and the NTT logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION and/or its affiliates. All other referenced product names are trademarks of their respective owners.  2022 NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005283/en/

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[November 02, 2022] Boston Financial Closes $164 Million National Multi-Investor Fund

Boston Financial, one of the largest and most established syndicators of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits ("LIHTC") in the U.S., today announced the closing of Boston Financial Institutional Tax Credits 57 Limited Partnership ("ITC 57"), a $164 million LIHTC fund. ITC 57 is the third LIHTC fund syndicated by Boston Financial this year, representing the firm's ongoing commitment to equity initiatives that enable investors to contribute to meaningful social impact strategies and goals in affordable housing developments across the country. ITC 57 will provide capital for the new construction and preservation of existing affordable housing properties in 16 communities in 13 states: Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Montana, Ohio, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. Six of the properties in ITC 57 will bring affordable homes to majority Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) communities, and one property will have 20% of its units designated for persons with disabilities. In addition, four of the properties included in ITC 57 will provide fully funded supportive services for residents including: elder care, case management for formerly unhoused people, employment assistance, care for those escaping domestic violence, health and dental care, food and utility assistance, legal assistance, and childcare resources. One of these communities, Samma Senior Apartments in Bothell, WA, which is run by Imagine Housing, a mission-driven, nonprofit affordable housing developer, will bring a total of 76 new affordable homes to the community, as well as on-site case management for formerly homeless households, resource and referrals for employment assistance, domestic violence suppot, childcare resources, and more, all at no cost to the residents.



ITC 57 has secured commitments from six investors, one of whom is new to Boston Financial, demonstrating the firm's ability to bring in new capital as well as grow relationships with existing clients. Similarly, it attracted fourteen developer partners, including two new partners to the firm. The fund is expected to create nearly 2,100 new jobs, bringing an estimated additional $233.4 million in wages and business income to the surrounding communities, as well as over $81 million in federal tax revenue. "As we navigate an increasingly complex deal-making landscape while continuing to maintain quality fund offerings for our investors, Boston Financial could not be more satisfied and grateful for the collaboration and commitment of our developer and investor partners," said Todd Jones, Head of Tax Credit Equity Production at Boston Financial. "It's the resiliency of these partners that enables us to continue tackling the tremendous affordable housing crisis across the country - even in the midst of the many micro and macro-economic challenges communities are facing at this time."

Since the beginning of the LIHTC program in 1986, Boston Financial has worked with over 200 investors to preserve or build over 360,000 affordable homes. ITC 57 is Boston Financial's third LIHTC multi-investor fund closing of the year, following the California-focused $83 million fund in March 2022 and the landmark $290 million ITC 56 fund in April 2022, the single-largest multi-investor fund syndicated by Boston Financial in the last 15 years. About Boston Financial: Founded in 1969 and acquired by ORIX Corporation USA in 2016, Boston Financial is the largest Low Income Housing Tax Credits ("LIHTC") syndicator in the country, managing a $15.8 billion portfolio comprising over 2,100 properties. Boston Financial's vision is to create a future where everyone has a home, one investment at a time. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005273/en/

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[November 02, 2022] Kyndi Receives 2022 Customer Experience Innovation Award from CUSTOMER Magazine

Kyndi Natural Language Search honored for improving customer service technology San Mateo, California (October 31, 2022) - Kyndi announced today that TMC, a global, integrated media company, has named Kyndi Natural Language Search as a 2022 Customer Experience Innovation Award winner, presented by TMC's CUSTOMER magazine.



The 2022 Customer Experience Innovation Award recognizes best-in-class companies setting the standard in delivering exceptional customer experiences through all channels, including social. "When customers can't find the right answers with legacy search tools, they are relegated to calling a support agent. In most cases, customers, especially younger generations, are tired of this experience, which often results in case escalation and customer churn," said Ryan Welsh, CEO and Founder of Kyndi. "Kyndi's NLP-powered search understands a person's question intuitively, helping them find the right answers immediately and satisfy the customer quickly. This is the customer experience users expect and we are thrilled to be recognized as a 2022 Customer Experience Innovation Award winner. More importantly, we appreciate the acknowledgement for helping organizations increase customer loyalty by creating a fast and more relevant search experience."

The Kyndi Platform for the Natural Language-Enabled Enterprise allows businesses to quickly unlock the insights in large volumes of unstructured data. Powered by breakthrough natural language technologies, Kyndi's solutions enable companies to maximize search relevance and the speed of finding answers in text-based, unstructured data, no coding required. Organizations can take immediate advantage of Kyndi's AI-powered solution to drive customer service and support excellence, enhance customer experience, expedite policy and compliance research, and deliver timely and comprehensive market intelligence. "The importance of the social channel is just one of the shifting dynamics enabling innovative solutions that maximize CRM, voice of customer, brand management, lead generation/qualification, collections and HR," said Rich Tehrani, CEO, TMC (News - Alert). "We congratulate Kyndi for receiving a 2022 Customer Experience Innovation Award and for helping to improve customer experiences across multiple channels. Kyndi can help organizations boost customer self-service and support quality, allowing customers to use their own words as if they were speaking to a person, and quickly receive relevant, contextual answers back." About Kyndi Kyndi is a global provider of the Kyndi Platform for the Natural-Language-Enabled Enterprise, an AI-powered solution that empowers people to do their most meaningful work. Trusted by the world's most innovative organizations, Kyndi's platform delivers highly relevant and context-driven information at unprecedented speed, keeping humans at the heart of critical problem solving. Backed by prominent venture investors including Intel (News - Alert) Capital and PivotNorth, Kyndi was recently awarded a Competitive Strategy Leader in Natural Language Processing by leading research and consulting firm Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert), and was named a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum. Customers include government agencies and enterprises across manufacturing, media, and hi-tech industries. Learn more at: Kyndi.com and follow us on Linkedin and Twitter. About CUSTOMER

Since 1982, CUSTOMER magazine (formerly Customer Interaction Solutions) has been the voice of the customer experience, call/contact center, CRM and teleservices industries. CUSTOMER has helped the industry germinate, grow, mature and prosper, and has served as the leading publication in helping these industries that have had such a positive impact on the world economy to continue to thrive. Through a combination of outstanding and cutting-edge original editorial, industry voices, in-depth lab reviews and the recognition of the innovative leaders in management and technology through our highly valued awards, CUSTOMER strives to continue to be the publication that holds the quality bar high for the industry. Please visit http://www.customer.tmcnet.com. About TMC Through education, industry news, live events and social influence, global buyers rely on TMC's content-driven marketplaces to make purchase decisions and navigate markets. As a result, leading technology vendors turn to TMC for unparalleled branding, thought leadership and lead generation opportunities. Our in-person and online events deliver unmatched visibility and sales prospects for all percipients. Through our custom lead generation programs, we provide clients with an ongoing stream of leads that turn into sales opportunities and build databases. Additionally, we bolster brand reputations with the millions of impressions from display advertising on our news sites and newsletters. Making TMC a 360 degree marketing solution, we offer comprehensive event and road show management services and custom content creation with expertly ghost-crafted blogs, press releases, articles and marketing collateral to help with SEO, branding, and overall marketing efforts. For more information about TMC and to learn how we can help you reach your marketing goals, please visit www.tmcnet.com and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, @tmcnet . Kyndi Contact:

[email protected]

TMC Contact:

Michelle Connolly

Senior Marketing Manager

203-852-6800, ext. 170

[email protected]





Edited by Erik Linask



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[November 02, 2022] GCOM Wins rvatech Gala Award, Celebrates Expansion of New Richmond Office

RICHMOND, Va., Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GCOM , a leading technology company that specializes in outcome-driven solutions for state and local governments, today announced that the company was selected as the winner of the Richmond Technology Councils (rvatech) Technology Builder Award at the associations annual gala on Thursday, September 28.

Awarded annually to a local company delivering technology solutions and/or services that build capacity and increase operational efficiency, the honor emphasizes GCOMs commitment to creating healthier, safer, more prosperous communities via its products and services portfolio. Central to the nomination was GCOMs impactful work with the Commonwealth of Virginia, including innovative solutions like the Framework for Addiction Analysis and Community Transformation (FAACT), Virginia Analysis System for Trafficking (VAST), and workforce-related projects driving results in the Commonwealth. These programs are spearheaded by GCOMs data and analytics arm, known as Qlarion before the companies merged in 2021.



This award is a testament to GCOMs work in Virginia, focused on enabling our government customers to harness data and transform the way they operate and serve residents, said Alex DerHovhannessian, VP of services at GCOM and head of Virginia operations. I am thrilled to celebrate this honor with our team. This award represents continued momentum in Virginia for GCOM as the company celebrates the opening of a new Richmond office in Riverfront Plaza. The expanded office space, walking distance to public sector offices downtown, follows significant multi-year growth developing trusted-advisor relationships and delivering outcomes for GCOMs clients.

As our business in the Commonwealth has grown, our footprint in the Richmond area has also expanded, added Derhovhannessian. Our new Richmond office is close to our government customers, and we are able to draw on the talented technology workforce in Virginia as we add new members to our team. It is an honor and privilege to partner with Secretariats, Agencies, and Higher Education Institutions to deliver products and services that provide transformational outcomes for the Commonwealth. The company also operates offices in: Columbia, MD, Reston, VA, Albany, NY, Kansas City, MO, New York, NY and Tallahassee, FL. To learn more about GCOM or explore career opportunities, click here . About GCOM:

GCOM delivers outcome-driven technology solutions to state and local government that improve population wellbeing, create safer and more equitable communities, and foster a thriving economy. GCOMs SaaS solutions, coupled with its IT and data analytics services, help governments to provide real-world program impact for residents. Spanning health and human services, public safety, and economic development, GCOMs solutions include several purpose-built products focused on the Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), vital records management, self-sovereign identity, community health analytics, and more. Contact: Kendall Adams

REQ on behalf of GCOM

[email protected]



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[November 02, 2022] Prescription Drug Safety Network Reached More Than 22,000 Students with Prescription Drug Safety Digital Education During 2021-22 School Year

Purdue Pharma L.P. lauds the Prescription Drug Safety Network ("the Network") for educating thousands of students about prescription drug safety during the 2021-2022 school year. The Network, of which Purdue Pharma L.P. is a founding member, released annual impact data for the digital education curriculum it provides to middle and high school students across the U.S. The curriculum was made available to schools at no cost through the Network's strategic partnership with EVERFI, the leading Impact-as-a-ServiceTM education innovator. Since the Network's launch in 2017, Purdue Pharma has sponsored educational programming for middle and high school students in North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Tennessee. To date, more than 101,000 students have taken the course in over 1,200 schools throughout these states. Program highlights from the 2021-2022 school year include: Reach : The program was used by more than 22,000 students across 250 schools in North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Tennessee.

: The program was used by more than 22,000 students across 250 schools in North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Tennessee. Knowledge Gain : Students increased their scores on understanding prescription drug safety by 47%, and 51% felt more confident in supporting a friend when the course was complete.

: Students increased their scores on understanding prescription drug safety by 47%, and 51% felt more confident in supporting a friend when the course was complete. Attitudinal Changes: After taking the course, 89% of students would be able to avoid misusing prescription drugs if offered and 86% would step in to discourage someone from sharing or selling prescription drugs. The Prescription Drug Safety Network curriculum provides students with information about three classes of prescription medicines (opioids, stimulants, and central nervous system depressants), including proper use and disposal, and includes interactive scenarios that help guide individual learning on potential situations involving misuse. The Prescription Drug Safety Network course is aligned with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Health Education Standards and state academic standards. "The Network's ongoing efforts to deliver engaging and evidence-based education is a critically important step in helping to support future generations to avoid prescription drug misuse," said Craig Landau, MD, President and CEO, Purdue Pharma. "I am proud that, as an organization, we have been able to continually support this program, and the results from this year's report confirm that we're reaching students on these important topics." Prescription drug misuse and abuse among teens remains a pervasive problem. According to research from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, adolescence and young adulthood is often the time when young people begin misusing drugs, and that drug use at an early age is an important predictor of a substance use disorder later in life. Additionally:



5,700+ US youth report misusing pain relievers for the first time in the past year 1 .

. 1 in 4 students believe that ADHD medications can be used as a study aid to improve academics or test performance. 2

2/3 of teens who misused prescription drugs in the past year report they acquired them from family or friends.3 The Prescription Drug Safety Network provides students with the knowledge and tools to make healthy, informed decisions when it comes to prescription medications. The curriculum uses an evidence-based approach to learning along with interactive, true-to-life scenarios that reinforce key learning objectives. To learn more about the program, visit https://everfi.com/networks/prescription-drug-safety-network/.

About Purdue Pharma L.P.

Purdue Pharma and its subsidiaries develop, manufacture and market medications and consumer health products to meet the evolving needs of healthcare professionals, patients, consumers and caregivers. If consummated, Purdue's plan of reorganization will deliver billions in value to communities across the country to fund programs specifically for abatement of the opioid crisis. The bankruptcy settlement would also deliver funds to private abatement trusts for the benefit of personal injury claimants. Substantially all of Purdue's assets would be transferred to a new post-emergence company with a public-minded mission. This new company would be governed by new independent board members, and would operate in a responsible and sustainable manner taking into account long-term public health interests relating to the opioid crisis. The company would continue serving patients and consumers who rely on its medicines and products, pursuing its pipeline, and introducing medicines that will help save and improve lives. MR-08122 1 https://www.samhsa.gov/homelessness-programs-resources/hpr-resources/rise-prescription-drug-misuse-abuse-impacting-teens

2 https://www.samhsa.gov/homelessness-programs-resources/hpr-resources/rise-prescription-drug-misuse-abuse-impacting-teens

3 https://www.samhsa.gov/homelessness-programs-resources/hpr-resources/rise-prescription-drug-misuse-abuse-impacting-teens View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221101005883/en/

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[November 02, 2022] Enterprise Connect 2023 Announces Keynotes by Microsoft and Cisco

Enterprise Connect, the leading conference and exhibition for enterprise communications and collaboration, today expands its conference program and announces keynote presentations from Microsoft and Cisco. Additional keynotes will be announced in the coming weeks. Enterprise Connect brings IT decision-makers together to explore the trends and technologies driving enterprise communications through expert-led conference sessions, along with extensive peer networking and an exhibit floor featuring the major industry players. Enterprise Connect 2023 takes place March 27-30, 2023 at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando, FL and digitally. Register here. For more than 30 years, Enterprise Connect has brought corporate IT decision makers together with industry vendors, analysts, consultants, and channel partners to focus on the issues central to enterprise communications. Over three days of a sponsor expo and four days of the conference program, Enterprise Connect showcases the latest systems, software, services and applications, and helps attendees understand their role. Nicole Herskowitz, Vice President, Microsoft Teams & Platform Marketing will present a keynote address on March 28. Working at Microsoft for over 20 years, Herskowitz is responsible for Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 Platform product marketing. Prior to working the on the Teams business, Herskowitz spent five years leading platform product marketing and developer audience marketing for Microsoft Azure. Herskowitz has also held leadership roles on the Visual Studio, SharePoint and Project businesses. During her time at Microsoft, Herskowitz's responsibilities have included product management, product marketing, and sales strategy and execution in both worldwide and European offices. Prior to joining Microsoft, Herskowitz worked for a startup focused on a customer relationship management SaaS solution for small businesses. Herskowitz earned her MBA at the University of Michigan and undergraduate degree at University of Texas at Austin. Before attending graduate school, Herskowitz worked as a strategy and technology consultant at Arthur Andersen. Javed Khan, Senior Vice President/General Manager, Collaboration, Cisco will also present a keynote address on March 28. Khan brings over 20 years of enterprise and consumer product leadership to Cisco. Khan currently manages the multi-billion-dollar business that includes the award-winning Webex portfolio of products including the Webex App, Webex Devices, and Webex Contact Center. Previously, Khan managed Cisco's Cloud Calling business and the Webex Meetings business unit. Khan also served as Vice President of Enterprise and Consumer Security products at Symantec. Eric Krapf, General Manager, Enterprise Connect said, "Enterprise Connect offers enterprise IT and communications professionals a unique opportunity to come together with their peers and the leading independent experts to network and learn together. Over three days, our conference program and expo hall will showcase the latest trends, challenges, and opportunities in enterprise IT/communications. Attendees will have continual opportunities to meet those who share their focus on transforming enterprise collaboration systems to deliver superior employee and customer experience." Enterprise Connect celebrates individuals working in Enterprise IT and communications organizations. Fostering the careers of women in the feld of enterprise communications and IT is more important than ever. Enterprise Connect's Women in Communications Spotlight Awards recognize and celebrate women who demonstrate outstanding qualities of leadership and expertise in technology. Through their actions and leadership, they serve as role models for a new generation of women seeking to excel in the profession of enterprise IT and communications. The submission deadline is December 9. The Spotlight award is part of Enterprise Connect's extensive Women in Communications program.



Enterprise Connect's IT Hero Award honors enterprise IT professionals and teams who go above and beyond their day-to-day responsibilities to provide exceptional service, vision, and expertise to their organizations. Whether seasoned enterprise IT professionals or high-impact new performers, enterprise IT Heroes show outstanding initiative and dedication in helping to make a difference in their enterprises. The submission deadline is December 9. View the Enterprise Connect conference agenda here.

To register to attend Enterprise Connect 2023, click here. Enterprise Connect will also offer a digital component for enterprise communications and collaboration professionals to participate digitally. For media registration click here. For additional information on exhibition or sponsorship opportunities, contact Natalie Bustamante at [email protected]. Stay connected with Enterprise Connect on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. About Enterprise Connect

For more than 30 years, Enterprise Connect has been the leading conference and exhibition for enterprise communications and collaboration in North America. Enterprise Connect brings corporate IT decision makers together with the industry's vendors, analysts and consultants to focus on the issues central to enterprise communications. Enterprise Connect owns and produces No Jitter, (nojitter.com), providing daily blogging and analysis of enterprise communications, and it also serves the community with a weekly email newsletter, research surveys and a Webinar Series. For more information, visit enterpriseconnect.com. Enterprise Connect is brought to you by Informa Tech. About Informa Tech

Informa Tech is a market leading provider of integrated research, media, training and events to the global Technology community. We're an international business of more than 600 colleagues, operating in more than 20 markets. Our aim is to inspire the Technology community to design, build and run a better digital world through research, media, training and event brands that inform, educate and connect. Over 7,000 professionals subscribe to our research, with 225,000 delegates attending our events and over 18,000 students participating in our training programs each year, and nearly 4 million people visiting our digital communities each month. Learn more about Informa Tech. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005068/en/

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In the past year, the Billings Clinic emergency department has implemented several new safety measures for its staff and patients. It has also provided its staff with an app that allows employees to obtain private, remote mental healthcare services. Billings Clinic Emergency Department Director Dr. Jaimee Belsky told the Gazette after the shooting last month the rise in gun violence in Billings can be linked to a statewide lack of mental health resources.

Montana has one of the highest suicide rates in the United States, according to data from the state Department of Public Health and Human Services. Around 90% of those who die by suicide in Montana have a treatable mental illness, such as depression and alcoholism.

 If you or someone you love are having thoughts of suicide, call the national suicide and crisis lifeline at 988. The lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals in the United States.
[November 02, 2022] Google Canada opens doors to new office in downtown Montreal and commits $2.75 million towards Quebec's tech ecosystem & digital skills training

Google Canada reconfirms support of Mila with a new funding grant, expands Google Career Certificates and announces Google.org grants to Digital Moment, NPower Canada and local nonprofits MONTREAL, Nov. 2, 2022 /CNW Telbec/ - Today, after nearly twenty years in Quebec, Google Canada is celebrating the official opening of the Google Viger space, a sustainability-focused office in downtown Montreal. The office proudly pays homage to local Montreal communities and the vibrancy of the city. To deepen support for Quebec's technology ecosystem, Google is committing $2.75 million, which includes continued support of Mila, expanding Google Career Certificate courses and providing Google.org grants to Digital Moment, NPower Canada and other local nonprofits. "Since our beginnings in 2004 where 3 engineers made up our entire presence, the new office is home to a variety of teams that work on some of the most crucial products and services Google offers worldwide, everything from cybersecurity, to AI research, to Chrome and Cloud," says Fabrice Jaubert, Montreal Site Lead, Google Canada. "The retrofitted historical building pays tribute to Montreal by reflecting the essence of five of the city's most beloved neighbourhoods - Little Italy, Le Village, Le Plateau, Chinatown and Old Port, it includes carefully curated art from local artists, and is equipped with the latest LEED Gold sustainability standards." Today's new $1.5 million in funding to Mila Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute will help support fundamental AI research projects in areas like AI for Humanity, climate change, and sustainable agriculture. Support will also be provided to increase successful participation of students and faculty from underrepresented groups in computing research careers. Mila's work to push boundaries in the development of innovative approaches to machine learning for AI, has put Montreal on the map as a world-renowned AI hub. "Google's ongoing investment in AI in Quebec and at Mila is a testament to the strength of private, public, and academic partnerships that enable the best and brightest researchers as they advance responsible AI applications across sectors," says Valerie Pisano, President and CEO, Mila. "Google's ongoing commitment to Mila's research community and our equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives confirms Quebec's global leadership position in AI, enabling cutting-edge research, growth and innovation." Google is also announcing a Google.org grant to Digital Moment (formerly Kids Code Jeunesse) to launch The Quebec Digital Literacy Project, a program aimed to equip teachers & students in grades 3-12 with digital skills. The Quebec Digital Literacy Project is a three part solution, consisting of classroom programming; a youth-led social innovation lab, and ongoing roundtable discussions to reflect and share ideas on key issues such as social equity and climate change, and how the role of changing technologies can address them. "Since 2013, Digital Moment has been working with schools, school boards and communities across Quebec to bring digital skills into youth's education," says Kate Arthur, Founder & CEO, Digital Moment. "With Google's funding, we will be able to go further, reach deeper, and continue to empower young people, especially those from underserved and underrepresented communities, to be engaged and innovative citizens in a digital era." To help job seekers in Quebec gain the technial and digital skills required in the current job market, Google is now offering the Project Management and IT Support Google Career Certificates in French. The courses will be available to the public on Coursera, a global online learning platform. Google.org will also provide a grant to NPower Canada to deliver the Google Career Certificates in Quebec. NPower Canada will offer need-based scholarships to the programs that will be distributed through local workforce development nonprofits La Maison de l'Amitie and AIM CROIT .



"We are excited to offer our TechPathways programs in Quebec to continue to help more job seekers equip themselves with professional training and in-demand tech skills, including Google Career Certificates, allowing them to launch into meaningful careers," said Michell Miller, Managing Director, Quebec, NPower Canada. "Since NPower Canada's inception in 2014, more than 80% of our 4,700 alumni have found employment in the technology sector, and we are thrilled to soon be able to help the Francophone population with the launch of our fifth national site in Quebec." Since Google Canada opened doors in Montreal in 2004, giving back to our local community has always been a core part of our mission. This continues today with additional funding and Google.org grants to the following local organizations: Startup Montreal, Pathways to Education, E2 Adventures, UpstartED, AI4Good Lab, and Resilience Montreal. These organizations work to tackle digital skilling, fostering startup communities, STEM education, job training, wellness for the most vulnerable and more.

About Digital Moment Founded in 2013 by Kate Arthur, Digital Moment (formerly Kids Code Jeunesse) is a Canadian-based charity and a global leader in mobilizing communities to build a better future through digital skills education. Digital Moment focuses on creating programs and experiences for youth and their communities on digital skills like coding, algorithm and data literacy, and artificial intelligence. Digital Moment includes three educational initiatives: Kids Code Jeunesse , Digital2030 , and a social innovation lab. About NPower Canada NPower Canada is a charitable organization that launches underserved youth and adults, including people with disabilities, BIPOC and LGBTQ2S+ individuals, into meaningful & sustainable careers in technology. Through its free in-demand digital and professional skills training programs, NPower Canada connects job seekers to employers who are looking for junior IT/tech talent. NPower Canada has grown from enrolling 87 learners in 2015 to 1,700 in 2021, scaling within Ontario and expanding nationally to Alberta in 2019, Nova Scotia and British Columbia in 202 and Quebec in 2022. To date, more than 80% of NPower Canada's 4,700 alumni have secured in-demand tech jobs such as Help Desk Analyst, QA Specialist and Information Security Analyst with industry leaders such as Accenture, CGI, CIBC, Cisco, Deloitte, IBM, RBC, Softchoice, TD and TELUS. About Mila Founded in 1993 by Universite de Montreal Professor Yoshua Bengio, Mila is now an AI research institute that brings together nearly 900 researchers studying machine learning. Montreal-based Mila's mission is to be a global hub for scientific advances that inspires innovation and AI developments that benefit everyone. Mila is a not-for-profit organization recognized worldwide for its major contributions to the field of deep learning, including language modelling, machine translation, object recognition and generative models. To learn more, visit mila.quebec/en/ . About Google Canada Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. As a global technology leader, Google's innovations in web search and advertising have made its website a top internet property and its brand one of the most recognized in the world. Google Canada has offices in Waterloo, Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa with employees working on teams across Engineering, AI Research, Sales and Marketing. About Google.org Google's philanthropy brings the best of Google to help solve some of humanity's biggest challenges combining funding, innovation, and technical expertise to support underserved communities and provide opportunity for everyone. We engage nonprofits and social enterprises who make a significant impact on the communities they represent, and whose work has the potential to produce meaningful change. We want a better world, faster  and we believe in leveraging technology and applying scalable data-driven innovation to move the needle. SOURCE Google Canada

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[November 02, 2022] TAAL ANNOUNCES GOING PRIVATE TRANSACTION

TORONTO, Nov. 2, 2022 /CNW/ - TAAL Distributed Information Technologies Inc. (CSE: TAAL) (FWB: 9SQ1) (OTC: TAALF) ("TAAL" or the "Company"), today announced that it has entered into a definitive acquisition agreement (the "Acquisition Agreement") pursuant to which Calvin Ayre, who currently owns approximately 38.5% of the outstanding common shares of the Company (the "Common Shares"), will indirectly acquire all of the remaining Common Shares by way of a statutory plan of arrangement and take the Company private. The parties to the Acquisition Agreement include the Company, Indigo IP Holdings Ltd. ("Indigo"), an entity 100% owned by Mr. Ayre, and 14487460 Canada Inc. (the "Acquiror"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Indigo. Pursuant to Acquisition Agreement the Acquiror will purchase all of the Common Shares not held by Mr. Ayre at a price of C$1.07 per Common Share in cash pursuant to a court-approved plan of arrangement (the "Transaction"). The purchase price represents a premium of approximately 35.4% to the Company's closing share price on the Canadian Securities Exchange on November 1, 2022, the last trading day prior to today's announcement, and a premium of approximately 39.9% to the 10-day volume weighted average price on that date. The Company's board of directors (the "Board") unanimously approved the Acquisition Agreement following a unanimous recommendation from a special committee of independent directors (the "Special Committee") comprised of Deborah Rosati, Marco Strub, Michael Darcy and Daniel Diemers constituted to review the Transaction. Both the Special Committee and the Board determined that the Transaction is in the best interests of the Company and fair to shareholders (other than Mr. Ayre, Indigo, the Acquiror and their affiliates) and unanimously recommend that shareholders vote in favour of the Transaction at the special meeting of shareholders to be held to approve the Transaction (the "Special Meeting"). Leede Jones Gable Inc., the Special Committee's independent financial advisor, has provided an opinion to the Special Committee that, as of November 2, 2022, and subject to the assumptions, limitations and qualifications to be set out in the fairness opinion letter, the consideration to be received by the Company's shareholders (other than Mr. Ayre) is fair, from a financial point of view, to such shareholders. Deborah Rosati, director and Chair of the Special Committee, stated, "After careful deliberation, the Special Committee considers that the Transaction represents the best available path forward for the Company and its shareholders in the current circumstances. The Company will require access to significant additional capital in the near future to continue its operations, and the Special Committee noted the challenging market environment for obtaining any equity financing, and the uncertainty and cost that would be associated with obtaining any available debt financing. The Transaction will provide the shareholders with immediate and certain cash value in these current market conditions, while providing the Company with additional flexibility to operate as a private company in the hands of a committed long-term investor." Transaction Details The Transaction is to be implemented by way of and subject to a court-approved plan of arrangement under the Canada Business Corporations Act. Completion of the Transaction requires approval by two thirds of the votes cast by shareholders, as well as the approval by a simple majority of votes cast by minority shareholders (which excludes Mr. Ayre, Indigo, the Acquiror and their affiliates) present (or represented by proxy) at the Special Meeting. The Transaction is also subject to court approval and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions. The Company expects to mail an information circular for the Special Meeting in November 2022, and to hold the Special Meeting in late December 2022. If approved by Shareholders, the Transaction is expected to close shortly following the Special Meeting. Following closing it is expected that the Common Shares will be delisted from he Canadian Securities Exchange and application will be made for Taal to cease being a reporting issuer in Canada.



The Acquisition Agreement includes customary representations, warranties, covenants, indemnities, non-solicitation provisions, and conditions typical for transactions of this size, nature and complexity. The Acquisition Agreement may be terminated by, among other things: the Acquiror or the Company, if the acquisition has not closed by February 28, 2023; by either party by mutual written agreement or if the shareholders do not approve the acquisition; and by the Company, if the Company proposes to enter into a definitive agreement with respect to an unsolicited superior proposal, subject to a right of the Acquiror to match such superior proposal. There can be no assurances that the Transaction will be consummated in accordance with the terms of the Acquisition Agreement, or at all. Further details regarding the terms of the transaction are set out in the Acquisition Agreement, which will be publicly filed by Company under its issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Additional information regarding the terms of the Acquisition Agreement, the background to the Transaction and the fairness opinion will be provided in the information circular for the special Meeting.

Advisors Leede Jones Gable Inc. provided the fairness opinion in connection with the Transaction. Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP is acting as legal advisor to the Company, SkyLaw Professional Corporation is acting as legal advisor to the Special Committee and Fasken, Martineau, DuMoulin LLP is acting as legal advisor to Indigo. The Company's public filings are available at www.sedar.com. About TAAL Distributed Information Technologies Inc. TAAL Distributed Information Technologies Inc. delivers value-added blockchain services, providing professional-grade, highly scalable blockchain infrastructure and transactional platforms to support businesses building solutions and applications on the BSV platform, and developing, operating, and managing distributed computing systems for enterprise users. BitcoinSV Blockchain is the world's largest public blockchain by all major utility metrics, data storage, daily transaction volume, scaling ability, and average block size. For more information please visit  www.taal.com/investors. Required Early Warning Reporting The Common Shares to be beneficially acquired by Mr. Ayre pursuant to the Transaction will be purchased by the Acquiror, for aggregate cash consideration of approximately $26.6 million. As of the date of this press release, Mr. Ayre holds 15,643,306 Common Shares representing approximately 38.5% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares. Immediately upon the closing of the Transaction, Mr. Ayre will beneficially, own or control, 100% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares. Upon closing of the Transaction, the Acquiror and the Company intend to cause the Common Shares to cease to be listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange. This press release is also being issued pursuant to National Instrument 62-103  The Early Warning System and Related Take-Over Bid and Insider Reporting Issuers in connection with the Transaction. An early warning report will be filed by Mr. Ayre with applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities with respect to the foregoing matters, a copy of which will be available under the Company's issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. To obtain copies of the early warning report, please contact Paul Rajchgod, Managing Director  Private Equity, at [email protected]. The Acquiror's address is Suite 410, Canada Place, Benjamin Lauchland Dr., St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information Certain statements included in this news release constitute "forward-looking information" as defined under applicable Canadian securities legislation. The words "will", "intends", "expects" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking information, although not all forward-looking information will contain these identifying words. Specific forward-looking information contained in this news release includes but is not limited to statements regarding: the closing of the Transaction, the anticipated timing of various steps to be completed in connection with the Transaction (including the mailing of the information circular, the holding of the Special Meeting and the closing of the Transaction) and other statements that are not material facts. These statements are based on factors and assumptions related to historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments. Since forward-looking information relates to future events and conditions, by its very nature it requires making assumptions and involves inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results or events could differ materially from those contemplated in forward-looking statements as a result of, without limitation, the following: (i) the ability to secure the required shareholder or court approvals; (ii) the occurrence of a "Material Adverse Effect" (as defined in the Acquisition Agreement), the receipt of a superior proposal, or the failure by either party to satisfy any other closing condition in favour of the other provided for in the Acquisition Agreement, which condition is not waived; (iii) general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; and (iv) the future performance, financial and otherwise, of TAAL. TAAL cautions that although it is believed that the assumptions are reasonable in the circumstances, these risks and uncertainties give rise to the possibility that actual results may differ materially from expectations. Material risk factors include, but are not limited to: (i) the possibility that the Transaction will not be completed on the terms and conditions thereof, or on the timing, currently contemplated, and that it may not be completed at all, due to a failure to obtain or satisfy, in a timely manner or otherwise, required shareholder and court approvals and other conditions of closing necessary to complete the Transaction or for other reasons; (ii) the possibility of adverse reactions or changes in business relationships resulting from the announcement or completion of the Transaction; (iii) the possibility of litigation relating to the Transaction; and (iv) risks inherent to the Company's business and/or factors beyond its control which could have a material adverse effect on the Company or the ability to consummate the Transaction. For additional information with respect to risks and other factors which could occur, see the risks set out in TAAL's Annual Information Form for the financial year ended December 31, 2021 under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in TAAL's continuous disclosure filings available on the Company's issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Given these risks, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking information contained herein. Other than as required by law, TAAL undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking information to reflect new information, subsequent or otherwise. The CSE, nor its Regulation Services Provider, accepts no responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. SOURCE Taal Distributed Information Technologies Inc.

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[November 02, 2022] ComplyAuto Teams Up with Cybersecurity Innovator Coro

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) revised Safeguards Rule going into effect on December 9, 2022, along with a host of other state data protection laws, automotive dealers across the country are being forced to ramp up their information security programs to meet strict regulatory requirements. In response, ComplyAuto today announced an exclusive partnership with Coro , an end-to-end cybersecurity platform, to become the first all-in-one solution to help dealers meet technical, administrative, and legal requirements of state and federal data protection laws.

After vetting hundreds of different cybersecurity technologies and providers, Coros focus on reducing the barrier to entry for enterprise-level cybersecurity tools with a simple, automated, and dealer-tailored solution made it the obvious partner choice for us, said Chris Cleveland, Co-Founder and CEO, ComplyAuto. Until now, dealers have been forced to outsource their privacy and cybersecurity needs to numerous third parties such as attorneys, compliance firms, IT professionals, and a variety of different cybersecurity software vendors. With this unique partnership with Coro, dealers can now achieve all of this within a single pane of glass inside of ComplyAuto. Cleveland believes that through its partnership with Coro, ComplyAuto will be able to save dealers a significant amount of both time and money by offering a solution that combines over 10 different data protection tools in a single platform with one login. Dealers will be able to use ComplyAuto to satisfy data encryption, multi-factor authentication, 24/7 threat monitoring (EDR/MDR), penetration testing, vulnerability scanning, phishing simulations, unauthorized activity monitoring, and data leak prevention requirements. Coro is dedicated to providing enterprise-grade cybersecurity protection to companies in every industry regardless of their size and complexity, and with this ComplyAuto partnership we are bringing comprehensive, AI-powered cyber protection to the automotive industry, said Guy Moskowitz, CEO, Coro. By integrating Coros advanced protection for devices, users, email, networks, and cloud applications with ComplyAutos data privacy technology, dealerships of all sizes will finally be able to achieve top-notch protection and regulatory compliance with one comprehensive, affordable platform. Within the past few year, a record number of dealerships have been victims of ransomware attacks and other cybersecurity incidents. With claims rising and liability increasing due to new state and federal regulations, many cybersecurity insurance carriers are not willing to renew policies without proof that dealerships have overhauled their cybersecurity infrastructure with the tools mentioned above. Cleveland hopes that dealers that could otherwise not afford these types of tools can now use ComplyAuto to comply with the FTC Safeguards Rule, state privacy laws, and cybersecurity insurance requirements.



Moskowitz has seen small and midsize businesses increasingly become the target of sophisticated cyber crimes, and says that the typical mid-market company can expect to face thousands of cyber-attacks and regulatory violations in 2022. He believes that automotive dealerships are no different. They house a wealth of sensitive customer information, but rarely have budgets or dedicated IT departments to monitor and respond to threats and regulatory violations, and are thus often lagging in cybersecurity measures. This new partnership between Coro and ComplyAuto will empower dealers to prioritize safeguarding their business and comply with regulations. With over 5,000 dealerships across the country entrusting ComplyAuto with their state privacy and federal information security needs, and endorsements by over 35 state auto dealer associations (including an NADA Affinity partnership), ComplyAuto has become the leader in automotive privacy and cybersecurity compliance.

Coro will reinforce and expand ComplyAutos current product and service offerings so that it can become the only solution that a dealership will ever need for all of its data protection concerns, said Cleveland. "Cybersecurity and compliance can no longer be separated, and companies across every industry must seriously consider how to ensure their business practices comply from a cybersecurity perspective," continued Moskowitz. "Dealers need to invest in technologies that will allow them to comply with federal and state regulations because the cost of not doing so is truly high. Modern cybersecurity solutions will relieve this burden." About Coro

Coro is one of the fastest growing security solutions for the mid-market, providing cloud based cybersecurity in a box that empowers organizations to defend against malware, ransomware, phishing, and bots across devices, users, and cloud applications. More than 5,000 businesses depend on Coro for holistic security protection, unrivaled ease of use, and unmatched affordability. Built on the principle of non-disruptive security, the Coro platform employs innovative AI technology to identify and remediate the many security threats that today's distributed businesses face, without IT teams having to worry, investigate, or fix issues themselves. Investors in Coro include Balderton Capital, JVP, MizMaa Ventures, and Ashton Kutchers Sound Ventures. For more information, please visit Coro at coro.net , or via LinkedIn , Twitter , or Facebook . About ComplyAuto

ComplyAuto is a RegTech (regulatory technology) company offering cloud-based software that helps dealerships modernize compliance through automation and advanced technology. Founded in 2020, ComplyAutos flagship product is its cloud-based privacy and cybersecurity software. Within two years, ComplyAuto has become the #1 automotive privacy and cybersecurity platform in the United States, representing over 5,000 dealers. More details can be found at complyauto.com. Media Contacts

Dana Zemack

Scratch Marketing + Media for Coro

[email protected] Chris Cleveland

Co-Founder and CEO, ComplyAuto

[email protected]



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[November 02, 2022] MHTC Wins Calix Innovations "Giant of Marketing" Award for Achieving 50 Percent Conversion Rates and Increasing Managed Services Revenue by 700 Percent in a Year

Calix, Inc. (NYSE: CALX) recognizes MHTC as a "Giant of Marketing" and a 2022 Calix Innovations Award winner. Announced at Calix ConneXions 2022, the award honors MHTC for successfully differentiating in highly competitive markets with a data-driven, subscriber-centric approach to marketing. The southwestern Wisconsin-based broadband service provider (BSP) built their managed Wi-Fi offering on the Calix Revenue EDGE platform to excite suburban subscribers, including work-from-homers and technology innovators. The full power of the Revenue EDGE platform-including Calix CommandIQ, Revenue EDGE managed services, and Calix Cloud-enables MHTC to easily meet subscribers' unique needs. Last year, the BSP launched a personalized MHTC-branded mobile app (built on CommandIQ) to give subscribers more control of their home Wi-Fi experiences. MHTC leveraged Calix Marketing Cloud (Marketing Cloud) and the Calix Market Activation Program to execute an omnichannel marketing campaign focused on accelerating app adoption. With more subscribers on the app, MHTC leveraged this direct line of communications with subscribers to successfully launch managed services-ExperienceIQ advanced parental controls and ProtectIQ home network security. The response was phenomenal. In the past year, MHTC increased its average revenue per user (ARPU) by 6 percent and its revenue from managed services by 700 percent. Their Net Promoter Score (NPS) also increased by 20 percent to a stunning +90-three times the telecommunications industry average.



Their successful omnichannel marketing campaign helped MHTC meet the needs of their subscribers and increase revenue by: Increasing mobile app adoption by 276 percent in Q4 2021. The MHTC marketing team saw remarkable results from their omnichannel campaign during Q4 2021. Their marketing campaign, complete with weekly prizes, ran across email, social media, and mobile notifications. The campaign went viral on social media thanks to subscribers sharing their app use and the prizes they won-further increasing MHTC's visibility and contributing to their growing NPS.

The MHTC marketing team saw remarkable results from their omnichannel campaign during Q4 2021. Their marketing campaign, complete with weekly prizes, ran across email, social media, and mobile notifications. The campaign went viral on social media thanks to subscribers sharing their app use and the prizes they won-further increasing MHTC's visibility and contributing to their growing NPS. Driving higher subscriber engagement with email open rates of up to 50 percent. Thanks to the Marketing Cloud integration with Mailchimp, MHTC built a high-performing email marketing channel. Marketing Cloud enabled MHTC to tailor email messaging to better reach their target subscribers, further increasing marketing effectiveness. MHTC achieved high conversions with open rates of 40-50 percent compared to an industry average of 21 percent.

Thanks to the Marketing Cloud integration with Mailchimp, MHTC built a high-performing email marketing channel. Marketing Cloud enabled MHTC to tailor email messaging to better reach their target subscribers, further increasing marketing effectiveness. MHTC achieved high conversions with open rates of 40-50 percent compared to an industry average of 21 percent. Growing the number of subscribers using new managed services by more than 300 percent each. With a stronger line of communication to subscribers through their app and higher email open rates, MHTC successfully launched and grew the usage of their new managed services. By understanding their subscribers better, they could more easily tailor their Wi-Fi offerings to create exceptional experiences. As a result, since January 2022, the BSP increased the number of subscribers using ProtectIQ by 465 percent and ExperienceIQ by 344 percent. "We are thrilled to receive this recognition from Calix," said Melissa Lease, senior manager of marketing and sales at MHTC and newly inducted member of the Calix Broadband Marketing Hall of Fame. "It demonstrates that having an aligned team can have a giant-sized impact. The Revenue EDGE platform enables us to run unparalleled managed Wi-Fi that can support a growing portfolio of value-added managed services. Marketing Cloud gives us access to a subscriber insights engine to better understand our subscribers. Then the Market Activation Program makes it easy for us to pair those insights with customizable, agency-quality materials to run campaigns that drive growth and maximize our marketing return on investment. As a result, we can more easily expand and grow the exceptional subscriber experience that MHTC is known to provide."

"We are proud to recognize MHTC as the winner of the 2022 Customer Innovations Award for Marketing," said Matt Collins, executive vice president of commercial operations and chief marketing officer at Calix. "By crafting an omnichannel, data-driven approach to marketing and leveraging the full power of Calix platforms, MHTC drove business growth and gained an advantage in competitive markets. They were able to accomplish this by meeting the needs of their subscribers. The result was a dramatic increase in the adoption of new managed services and revenue growth. Over the past year, they have increased their subscriber base, grown ARPU, and positively impacted subscribers' lives. MHTC stands out as a giant in the broadband industry, and we are proud to partner with them in their success." Learn how other BSP marketers use Calix platforms to support phenomenal business growth by registering for the ConneXions 2022 Virtual Learning Experience, running until November 3, 2022. About Calix Calix, Inc. (NYSE: CALX)-Calix cloud and software platforms enable service providers of all types and sizes to innovate and transform. Our customers utilize the real-time data and insights from Calix platforms to simplify their businesses and deliver experiences that excite their subscribers. The resulting growth in subscriber acquisition, loyalty, and revenue creates more value for their businesses and communities. This is the Calix mission: To enable broadband service providers of all sizes to simplify, excite, and grow. This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based upon management's current expectations and are inherently uncertain. Forward-looking statements are based upon information available to us as of the date of this release, and we assume no obligation to revise or update any such forward-looking statement to reflect any event or circumstance after the date of this release, except as required by law. Actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from current expectations based on risks and uncertainties affecting Calix's business. The reader is cautioned not to rely on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Additional information on potential factors that could affect Calix's results and other risks and uncertainties are detailed in its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC and available at www.sec.gov. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005309/en/

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[November 02, 2022] Midway International Airport, Belmont Village Senior Living Join Forces to Commemorate U.S. Veterans With 'American Heroes' Exhibition

The Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) unveiled a new gallery exhibit today titled "American Heroes: Portraits of Service" at Midway International Airport, located in the pedestrian walkway between the CTA Orange Line station and the terminal. Organized by the CDA in partnership with Belmont Village Senior Living and co-sponsored by Harrison Street, the specially-curated exhibit features portraits of 65 senior veterans from across the country who served America during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, captured by nationally recognized photographer Thomas Sanders. "On behalf of Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot and the Chicago airport community, I am proud to partner with Belmont Village Senior Living ahead of Veterans Day to unveil this exhibit that honors the brave men and women who have sacrificed so much to serve our country," CDA Commissioner Jamie Rhee said. "We're always looking for more ways to highlight the contributions of service members at Chicago's airports through exhibits, regular Honor Flight Chicago trips to visit the national war memorials in Washington, D.C., and increased contracting opportunities for veteran-owned firms alongside other minority- and women-owned businesses." Through the exhibit, Midway travelers can read about each veteran's service experience through storyboards and plaques that hang alongside the portraits. The captivating and powerful stories include experiences from Chicago-area veterans such as Myron Petrakis, who served as a Navy machinist during World War II on the USS Murrelet. "I am dedicated to the memory of my boyhood friends and shipmates who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country in WWII," a quote from Petrakis in the exhibit reads. "I lost six friends and 31 shipmates that I trained with when our sister ship the USS Minivet hit a mine on December 28, 1946, during sweeping operations in the Korean Straits. The war did not end for the minesweepers on VJ day." Another Chicago veteran featured in the exhibit, George Mueller, was liberated from a camp in Germany during World War II and then served in the U.S. Army during Korea. "During WWII as a teenager, I was in a concentration camp in Germany," Mueller said in his featured quote. "I was liberated by the Russian army who then sent me to the Americans. Ten years later, I was proud and thankful to serve in the American Army." Belmont Village Senior Living first launched the American Heroes: Portraits of Services photography project in 2008 when Sanders was commissioned to capture and preserve the compelling personal stories of veterans. The portraits led to Sanders' first published book "The Last Good War: The Faces and Voices of World War II." Since then, Sanders has returned to Belmont Village communities various times to capture new stories and images of veterans. Over the last 14 years, the portfolio of portraits has grown to more than 1,000 photos of Belmont's resident veterans with more than 30 permanent exhibits in Belmont Village communities across the country. p> "The American Heroes: Portraits of Service" has been a long-standing photography project at Belmont Village to capture the stories and images of veterans in our communities in an effort to preserve their history," says Patricia Will, Founder & CEO of Belmont Village Senior Living. "The project is a staple in Belmont Village's culture with portraits displayed in permanent galleries in our communities throughout the nation. The exhibit at Midway Airport is the first time our portraits will be displayed in a public venue, and we are delighted to share our residents' stories of bravery and commitment with the general public."



"Harrison Street is proud to sponsor this incredible tribute honoring senior veterans at Midway Airport," says Christopher Merrill, Co-founder, Chairman & CEO of Harrison Street. "Since 2005, we have invested over $13 billion in senior living communities, including independent living, assisted living and memory care units across North America that have housed more than 60,000 seniors. We support veterans and active military, having recently partnered with the U.S. Government and Department of Defense to provide over 4,000 homes to military families located across six U.S. Air Force bases. We are pleased to join our long-standing partner, Belmont Village, and the Chicago Department of Aviation to pay tribute to the selfless service of these veterans." About Belmont Village Senior Living

Founded in Houston in 1997, Belmont Village is an integrated developer, owner, and operator of high-quality seniors housing with more than 4,000 employees. Its 33 locations across the country and in Mexico City, provide award-winning assisted living and memory care programs and ongoing collaborations with Baptist Health South Florida, USC, UCLA, and more to continually improve their cognitive health and evidence-based enrichment programs. Renowned for distinctive design, high standards of life and safety, and reputation for leading edge, quality of care, Belmont Village is certified as a Great Place to Work and has been ranked as one of FORTUNE Magazine's 50 Best Workplaces for Aging Services since 2018. www.belmontvillage.com, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. About the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) The Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) is self-supporting, using no local or state tax dollars for operations or capital improvements at O'Hare and Midway International Airports. Chicago's airports offer service to over 250 nonstop destinations worldwide, including 47 foreign countries, combined. Together, Chicago's airports serve more than 105 million passengers each year and generate approximately $70 billion in annual economic activity for the region. Please visit flychicago.com to learn more about the Chicago Department of Aviation. About Harrison Street Harrison Street is one of the leading investment management firms exclusively focused on alternative real assets. Since inception in 2005, the firm has created a series of differentiated investment solutions focused on demographic-driven, needs-based assets. The firm has invested across senior housing, student housing, healthcare delivery, life sciences and storage real estate as well as social and utility infrastructure. Headquartered in Chicago with offices in London, Toronto, San Francisco and Washington DC, the firm has more than 240-employees and over $50 billion in assets under management. Clients of the firm include a global institutional investor base domiciled in North America, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Latin America. Harrison Street was awarded Best Places to Work by Pensions & Investments for seven consecutive years (2014-2020) and was recognized by PERE as the 2021 Alternatives Investor of the Year, North America and 2020 Global Alternatives Investor of the Year. For more information, please visit www.harrisonst.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005010/en/

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[November 02, 2022] MetLife Selected As Insurance Carrier For New Hampshire's New Voluntary PFML Insurance Program

MetLife has been selected as the carrier to fully insure and administer New Hampshire's new Granite State Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) Plan. This innovative program will offer affordable and voluntary paid leave insurance to New Hampshire-based employees who may need to take paid time away from work to care for their families or themselves. The program will provide up to 60% wage replacement insurance benefits for the same leave reasons supported by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and will be available to all individuals working in New Hampshire whether or not their employer chooses to participate in the program. NH employers can customize the terms of the insurance policies they purchase, such as the length of the waiting period, and may extend the PFML insurance coverage from 6 to 12 weeks. NH businesses that choose to enroll in this new program through MetLife and pay all or a portion of the NH PFML insurance premium for their employees will be eligible to request a business enterprise tax (BET) credit equal to 50% of their premium cost for the first 6 weeks of coverage they purchase. "We're thrilled that Gov. Chris Sununu and the New Hampshire Departments of Administrative Services and Employment Security recognized our experience and expertise in the field," said Juliane Kowalski, head of MetLife's Absence and Disability business, Group Benefits at MetLife. "Thanks to a strong collaboration with the State of New Hampshire, our preparations are going well and we will be ready to offer the New Hampshire PFML program beginning January 1, 2023. These fforts reflect MetLife's commitment to creating employee benefits that enable working Americans to have greater security and confidence for the future."



"I'm incredibly excited about moving forward, in partnership with MetLife, with a revolutionary paid leave insurance product for our citizens," Governor Chris Sununu added. "New Hampshire is yet again leading other states in the region and the country as we continue to do all that we can to attract and retain an essential workforce for our growing employer base." Under the Granite State PFML Plan, New Hampshire workers are covered for various reasons, from medical leave for one's own serious health condition to family leave, including bonding with a new child, caring for a family member with a serious health condition, military exigency and caregiver benefits.

The program will allow employers to begin enrollment starting on December 1, 2022, with policies effective on January 1, 2023. Individuals will have the ability to purchase insurance using a 60-day enrollment period that will start on January 1, 2023. To learn more about the New Hampshire Paid Family and Medical Leave Plan, visit www.paidfamilymedicalleave.nh.gov. To learn more about MetLife's PFML plans, visit www.metlife.com/PFML. About MetLife MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET), through its subsidiaries and affiliates ("MetLife"), is one of the world's leading financial services companies, providing insurance, annuities, employee benefits and asset management to help individual and institutional customers build a more confident future. Founded in 1868, MetLife has operations in more than 40 markets globally and holds leading positions in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. For more information, visit www.metlife.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005685/en/

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[November 02, 2022] Harris Williams Advises Ned Stevens Gutter Cleaning on its Sale to Cobepa S.A.

Harris Williams, a global investment bank specializing in M&A advisory services, announces it served as lead advisor to Ned Stevens Gutter Cleaning (Ned Stevens), a portfolio company of AVALT, on its sale to Cobepa S.A. (Cobepa). Cobepa completed the acquisition in partnership with Ned Stevens' existing management team and The Jordan Company (TJC). AVALT will remain a minority investor in the company. Ned Stevens is one of the country's fastest growing and trusted providers of gutter cleaning and other exterior residential services. The transaction was led by Brent Spiller, Zach Ledwith, Christian Brumbaugh and Ricko Eriksson of the Harris Williams Consumer Group. "Ned Stevens is a leader in the exterior home services space and has thrived under AVALT's ownership. It has been exciting to see Ned Stevens' continued growth and evolution, and we look forward to Ned Stevens' continued success under Cobepa's ownership," said Brent Spiller, a managing director at Harris Williams. "Investors continue to remain interested in residential services because of its strong fundamental drivers across economic environments, value creation opportunities through significant whitespace potential and clear benefits of scaled platforms. Ned Stevens checks all of those boxes and then some, and we are honored to have helped the Ned Stevens team find a great partner in Cobepa," said Zach Ledwith, a director at Harris Williams. "The Harris Williams team worked side by side with our team to find the right partner for Ned Stevens. Their expertise in residential services and market knowledge were critical to driving a great outcome. We are excited for all the growth ahead of us in our next chapter with Cobepa," sai Rob Rapuano, CEO of Ned Stevens.



Ned Stevens is one of the country's fastest growing and trusted gutter cleaning and home maintenance companies. Since its founding in 1965 in Fairfield, New Jersey, Ned Stevens has expanded its service offerings and geographic footprint, servicing 15 states and Washington D.C. The company has earned multiple accolades and thousands of five-star reviews thanks to its commitment to complete customer satisfaction. Ned Stevens employs an experienced team of gutter and home maintenance providers that give homeowners back their safety, time, and peace of mind. AVALT is a family office that invests only its own principals' capital in high quality companies that have significant long-term potential. AVALT builds truly collaborative partnerships with management teams to drive significant growth and change in their businesses. AVALT's permanent and flexible capital supports those companies as they achieve their full potential, without regard to any fund structure or fixed time horizon.

Cobepa is an independent, privately held investment company with offices in New York, Brussels, and Munich. Cobepa manages a diverse portfolio of private equity investments representing approximately $4.2 billion of equity capital. Cobepa invests in leading companies with superior business models, sustainable market positions and leading management teams. In the U.S., Cobepa is primarily focused on investments in the healthcare, business services, and tech-enabled services sectors. TJC, founded in 1982, is a middle market private equity firm that has raised funds with original capital commitments in excess of $19 billion with a 40-year track record of investing in and contributing to the growth of many businesses across a wide range of industries, including diversified industrials; technology, telecom, and utility; logistics and supply chain; and consumer and healthcare. The senior investment team has been investing together for over 20 years, and they are supported by the Operations Management Group, which was established in 1988 to initiate and support operational improvements in portfolio companies. TJC has offices in New York; Chicago; and Stamford, Connecticut. Harris Williams, an investment bank specializing in M&A advisory services, advocates for sellers and buyers of companies worldwide through critical milestones and provides thoughtful advice during the lives of their businesses. By collaborating as one firm across Industry Groups and geographies, the firm helps its clients achieve outcomes that support their objectives and strategically create value. Harris Williams is committed to execution excellence and to building enduring, valued relationships that are based on mutual trust. Harris Williams is a subsidiary of the PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC). The Harris Williams Consumer Group has completed transactions across a variety of verticals, including food, beverage and agribusiness; branded consumer products; consumer services; and restaurant and retail. For more information on the Harris Williams Consumer Group and recent transactions, visit the Consumer Group's section of the Harris Williams website. Harris Williams LLC is a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA and SIPC. Harris Williams & Co. Ltd is a private limited company incorporated under English law with its registered office at 8th Floor, 20 Farringdon Street, London EC4A 4AB, UK, registered with the Registrar of Companies for England and Wales (registration number 07078852). Harris Williams & Co. Ltd is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Harris Williams & Co. Corporate Finance Advisors GmbH is registered in the commercial register of the local court of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, under HRB 107540. The registered address is Bockenheimer Landstrasse 33-35, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany (email address: [email protected]). Geschaftsfuhrer/Directors: Jeffery H. Perkins, Paul Poggi. (VAT No. DE321666994). Harris Williams is a trade name under which Harris Williams LLC, Harris Williams & Co. Ltd and Harris Williams & Co. Corporate Finance Advisors GmbH conduct business. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005956/en/

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[November 02, 2022] Stibo Systems announces ambitious ESG strategy

Global master data management (MDM) leader Stibo Systems announces its ambitious environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy. The goal is to deliver data transparency through innovative MDM solutions, meeting internal ESG benchmarks and helping customers and partners set and meet their own. "With increasing demands from customers and employees for tangible sustainability action as well as new regulations coming soon in Europe and inevitably following in the United States, ESG is on everyone's mind - if a company isn't already working on sustainability goals, they are thinking about it," said Paul van Lennep, Stibo Systems Head of ESG & Sustainability, appointed in September. Today, Stibo Systems commits to empowering companies worldwide to achieve their corporate social responsibility (CSR) objectives and optimize business, environmental and social performance. As pillars of its ESG strategy, Stibo Systems pledges to: Reduce climate impact Stibo Systems is committed to working systematically to reduce carbon emissions and environmental impact from the entire operation, leading by example in its industries. The company will commit to setting emissions reduction targets grounded in climate science through the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) by early 2023. Become the most attractie and valued employer in the MDM field



Stibo Systems strongly believes its workforce should reflect the diversity of the communities in which it operates. In addition, the company will set ambitious standards aligned with its diversity, equity and inclusion framework across the organization. One of targets is to have a maximum of 60% of one gender in management and leadership positions by 2030, increasing diversity for the company. The company will further continue to run programs to combat discrimination and promote equality. Play an active role in society and support development in local communities

Stibo Systems believes in contributing to the societies in which it operates, actively developing and participating in relevant societal engagement programs. The goal is to enhance development in local communities, as well as cascading education into society, supporting research, social and cultural tasks and causes that benefit the well-being of those communities. Stibo Systems set tangible targets in this area as well and aims to increase the company volunteering program, where all employees get two days to volunteer and impact an increasing number of underprivileged groups through education and support. Encourage and enable customers to meet ESG and sustainability objectives Looking beyond its own operations, Stibo Systems will affect the way its customers operate and enable them to meet their ESG targets by offering solutions to enable better ESG and sustainability performance. To ensure sustainability is ingrained in the company culture, Stibo Systems plants a tree for each new customer, partner and employee. Learn more about Stibo Systems' sustainability master data management and corporate social responsibility. About Stibo Systems Stibo Systems, the master data management company, is the trusted enabler of data transparency. Our solutions are the driving force behind forward-thinking companies around the world that have unlocked the strategic value of their master data. We empower them to improve the customer experience, drive innovation and growth and create an essential foundation for digital transformation. This gives them the transparency they require and desire - a single, accurate view of their master data - so they can make informed decisions and achieve goals of scale, scope and ambition. Stibo Systems is a privately held subsidiary of Stibo Software Group, founded in 1794, and is headquartered in Aarhus, Denmark. More at https://www.stibosystems.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005974/en/

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[November 02, 2022] A Year in Travel 2022 by eDreams ODIGEO

LONDON , Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- eDreams ODIGEO , one of the world's largest online travel companies and one of the largest e-commerce businesses in Europe, launches its 'Year in Travel' report today, providing an overview of the past year, insight into the year ahead and predictions for 2023. In the USA, the group's brand is eDreams . eDreams ODIGEO 2022 bookings & search data reveals: TOP DESTINATIONS 2022: American travelers' top destinations in 2022 were all domestic: Las Vegas, Orlando and Denver were the most popular destinations for Americans this year (as in 2021), followed by Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale, Miami & Los Angeles. In 2022, 72% of eDreams ODIGEO's American customers travelled within the USA as opposed to 28% journeying to the rest of the world. Among the nationalities that visited the USA during this year, the French top the list, followed by Germans and Spanish visitors. TOP SEARCHES 2022: American travellers searched mainly for domestic travel destinations, with Las Vegas, New York and Orlando topping the list, followed by London, Los Angeles, Miami and Paris. TOP GROWTH DESTINATIONS: eDreams ODIGEO's data further reveals that the top 3 growth destinations for Americans in 2022 compared to the previous year were Canada, primarily Vancouver (+1092% bookings), Toronto (+574% bookings), and Montreal (+303% bookings). It is important to bear in mind that these growth figures are atypical in that they reflect a return to travel following the disruptions of previous years. TRAVEL HABITS: How long did Americans travel for in 2022? In 2022, 48% of eDreams ODIGEO American customers chose to travel for short breaks of between 2-4 days.







Trip duration Percentage of American travelers 2 days 11 % 3 - 4 days 37 % 5 - 6 days 17 % 7 - 13 days 22 % 14 - 20 days 6 % +21 days 7 %



During the pandemic, travellers began to replace long-term planning with last-minute action and this habit has remained, with the majority of US travellers (47%) choosing to book within a two week window of departure - followed by 19% booking 16 - 30 days and 31  60 days before departure and 15% booking more than 60 days before departure. 2023 PREDICTIONS: European countries are popular for travel next year, with three European countries in the top 2023 booked destinations (Paris, Barcelona & Madrid) and six in the top searched destinations for 2023 (London, Paris, Rome, Frankfurt, Barcelona & Lisbon). Top booked destinations for 2023 (American travelers) Top searched destinations for 2023 (American travelers) Las Vegas London Orlando Paris Paris Cancun Cancun Tokyo Los Angeles Rome San Francisco Orlando Barcelona Honolulu Madrid Frankfurt New York City Barcelona Fort Lauderdale Lisbon

Dana Dunne, CEO of eDreams ODIGEO, comments: "The data speaks for itself, consumers are embracing the opportunity to travel whenever they can. Our bookings data shows short breaks are currently the most prominent, revealing that consumers are looking to squeeze in holidays wherever possible, with almost a third of trips lasting for just three-four days. This trend could also be representative of more flexible work patterns, enabling travellers to bring their laptops with them and work abroad whilst enjoying a long weekend in a new, exciting environment. "This is reflected in the most booked destinations, with a range of European destinations such as Budapest, Copenhagen and Malta pushing some of the more traditional European holiday destinations out of the top ten. "Our findings also reveal that travellers have been spontaneous with their bookings, with nearly half (45%) taking place just 15 days before departure, or less. This underpins consumers' desire to seize the day after being restricted on their travel plans for so long. "The jam-packed sporting calendar coupled with the coronation next year is the perfect recipe for further growth to key European destinations in 2023, such as London and Paris. As people look to put the pandemic in their rear-view mirror, we expect the travel resurgence to continue in 2023." Website showing full report data here . Methodology *Global and market specific eDreams ODIGEO booking and search statistics from the report "A Year in Travel", containing statistics from over 690 airlines worldwide, for trips booked 1 January - 31st October and which refer to trips from 1 January to 31 December 2022, as well as bookings made for 2023. Comparisons have been made with the same dates in 2021. About eDreams ODIGEO eDreams ODIGEO is one of the world's largest online travel companies and one of the largest e- commerce businesses in Europe. The business is the largest player worldwide in flight revenues, excluding China, and the largest in Europe. Under its four leading online travel agency brands  eDreams, GO Voyages, Opodo, Travellink, and the metasearch engine Liligo  it serves more than 17 million customers per year across 44 markets. Listed on the Spanish Stock Market, eDreams ODIGEO works with over 690 airlines and +2.1 million hotels. The business conceptualised Prime, the first subscription product in the travel sector which has attracted 3.5 million members since launching in 2017. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/a-year-in-travel-2022-by-edreams-odigeo-301666675.html SOURCE eDreams ODIGEO

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[November 02, 2022] Pawtocol Launches Kingdom, World's First Web3 Social Platform for Pets and Pet Owners

Built on the Ethereum Network, Kingdom Will Reward Users with Cryptocurrency for the Popularity of their Created Assets AVENTURA, Fla., Nov. 2, 2022 /CNW/ - Pawtocol, creator of blockchain-powered solutions that improve the lives of pets and pet owners, today announced the launch of Kingdom, the world's first blockchain-powered social platform for pets and pet owners. Kingdom creates a seamless experience for users to mint unique, one-of-one assets of their pets that will live on the blockchain forever. Kingdom users are able to make their assets public and participate in the rewards program offered by the platform, giving them the opportunity to earn rewards for receiving likes, winning contests, and being on top performing leaderboards. "Kingdom is more than just a social media platform, it is a community of people who are passionate about pets and want to share their passion with others. Unlike other social platforms out their today, Kingdom is dedicated to delivering a one-of-a-kind experience that is solely focused on pets," said Colin Jordan, chief executive officer at Pawtocol. "As digital transformation continues to accelerate and more digital experiences are being created all around us, we believe that pets will be one of the major focuses moving forward. Today, Pawtocol is thrilled about taking the next step in our journey with the launch of Kingdom and we are committed to staying at the forefront of development in this space with new products and services like our Pawtocol pet tags, Petsyy marketplace, and more." The Kingdom platform is an ERC721-compliant decentralized application, designed on the Ethereum network. Once minted, Kingdom dgital assets can be utilized for a variety of purposes:



- Decentralized Applications: Use Kingdom Pets in decentralized applications (DApps) as assets or to generate rewards.

- Collectibles: Collect Kingdom Pets as a digital version of your pet on the blockchain.

- Social Media: Use Kingdom Pets on social media as avatars, stickers, or emojis.

- NFTs: Use Kingdom Pets as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to represent digital ownership of pets and information associated with them.

- Gaming: Use Kingdom Pets as in-game items. (future) As a part of Pawtocol's mission to improve the lives of pets and pet owners, they will be donating 10% of all of their Kingdom revenue to their Pawtocol Pet Fund. The Pawtocol Pet Fund donates 100% of all of the resources it receives directly to animal rescues and shelters.

"We have already made so much progress with the Pawtocol Pet Fund, partnering with 8 shelters across Arizona, California, and Florida," said Marlina Cotter, animal rescue coordinator at Pawtocol. "With the launch of Kingdom today we will not only gain more visibility for our mission to end kill shelters in America, but we will receive much needed resources that will allow us to expand our reach and make a larger impact by creating more partnerships across the country." Kingdom is generally available to the public as of 12pm PT today. To learn more about the new platform and create your own custom Kingdom pet assets, visit www.enterkingdom.io. Pawtocol Holding Corp. ("Pawtocol"), is a wholly owned subsidiary of New Wave Holding Corp. ("New Wave") (CSE:SPOR) (FWB: 0XM2) (OTCPK: TRMNK). About Pawtocol Pawtocol is an ecosystem of blockchain-powered solutions that make a positive impact on the lives of pets and pet owners all over the world. Utilizing blockchain technology provides continuity, transparency, and data ownership opportunities that have never been seen before in the pet industry. Pawtocol's goal is to deliver a new level of value to each and every member of our community, including the rescues and shelters that desperately need our support in their efforts to lower the homeless pet population and end kill shelters in America. For further information please contact [email protected]. About New Wave Holdings Corp. New Wave Holdings Corp. (CSE: SPOR) (FWB: 0XM2) (OTCPK: TRMNF) is an investment issuer that has been focused on supporting innovative and fast-growing companies within the esports, NFT, Metaverse, Blockchain, and Web3 sectors. Investors interested in connecting with New Wave Holdings can learn more about the company and contact the team at http://newwavecorp.com. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pawtocol-launches-kingdom-worlds-first-web3-social-platform-for-pets-and-pet-owners-301666719.html SOURCE Pawtocol

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MSU Billings Center for Inclusive Education to celebrate 75th anniversary

Montana State University Billings Montana Center for Inclusive Education will celebrate their 75-year anniversary during the Diamond Jubilee Open House on Friday, November 4 from 3-6 p.m. in the College of Education Room 122. The celebration is open to the public.

The MCIE aims to create a fully inclusive society that values diversity and serve the diverse population of Montana through continuing professional development opportunities for educators and direct service providers.

This event marks 75 years of the MCIE serving the disability community in Montana. MCIE Director Tom Manthey, Ph.D., says the people are the most important thing at MCIE. First and foremost, we serve children and adults with disabilities, their families, and the professionals that work with them.

Tina Hoagland, assistant director of the MCIE, said the MCIE has been a leader in Montanas disability community since their opening in 1947. While this is a milestone anniversary, we plan to continue to be innovative in the field for the foreseeable future, said Hoagland.
[November 02, 2022] Audax Private Debt Provides Financing To Support Cobepa's Investment in Ned Stevens

Audax Private Debt ("Audax") announced that, as Joint Lead Arranger, it provided a unitranche facility to support Cobepa S.A.'s ("Cobepa") acquisition of Ned Stevens ("Ned" or "Company"). Based in Fairfield, NJ, Ned Stevens is a leading provider of residential gutter cleaning and essential exterior home services. Ned provides gutter cleaning, soft wash, and other related, non-discretionary residential services in 15 states. The company has grown rapidly, fueled by its reputation for high quality service, expansion into new markets, and the addition of complementary service offerings. Peter Stern, Managing Director at Audax Private Debt, said, "We have been long-term supporters of Ned Stevens and have seen the Company establish itself as a leading provider of valuable home services, including gutter cleaning, and complementary service offerings. The Ned team has done a fantastic job building the business in both its existing and new regions as well as strategically introducing new service lines to the market. We are excited to partner with the Cobepa team to help Ned continue with its impressive pace of expansion." "We are excited to partner with Audax in conjunction with our acquisition of Ned Stevens," said Peter Connolly & Andrew Hollod, Managing Directors at Cobepa. "Their familiarity with the business and support through the process was important during these past several months. Ned Stevens is poised for significant growth ahead, and we are confident in Audax' ability to scale and support our growth objectives and operate as our partner throughout our investment." About Audax Private Debt

Based in New York, Audax Private Debt is a leading debt capital partner for Nort American middle market companies. Since its inception in 2000, Audax Private Debt has invested over $31 billion across more than 1,060 companies in support of over 270 private equity sponsors, and has raised $25 billion in capital. The platform offers its clients a range of financing solutions, including first lien, stretch senior, unitranche, second lien and subordinated debt, as well as equity co-investments. With more than 50 investment professionals and over 160 employees, Audax Private Debt provides financing certainty, add-on investment capability, and the experience and collaborative approach to partner with private equity firms and their portfolio companies. For more information, please visit www.audaxprivatedebt.com or follow us on LinkedIn.



Audax Private Debt is an integral part of Audax Group, a leading alternative investment manager with offices in Boston, New York, and San Francisco. About Ned Stevens

Founded in 1965 and headquartered in Fairfield, New Jersey, Ned Stevens (www.nedstevens.com) is a leading provider of gutter cleaning, soft wash and other related, non-discretionary residential services in 15 states. Ned's client-focused team of field service workers provide necessary exterior services to residential homes across the US.

About Cobepa

Cobepa is an independent, privately held investment company with offices in New York, Brussels, and Munich. Cobepa manages a diverse portfolio of private equity investments representing approximately $4.2 billion of equity capital. Cobepa invests in leading companies with superior business models, sustainable market positions and leading management teams. In the U.S., Cobepa is primarily focused on investments in the healthcare, business services and tech-enabled services sectors. For more information, visit www.cobepa.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102006049/en/

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[November 02, 2022] Matinas BioPharma Reports Third Quarter 2022 Financial Results and Highlights Recent Progress

EnACT Phase 2 study of MAT2203 in cryptococcal meningitis met its primary endpoint with 95% two-week patient survival in the Cohort 4 all-oral regimen

Phase 3 pivotal trial of MAT2203 for treatment of cryptococcal meningitis to commence Q1 2023 The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) chose EnACT as its Outstanding Abstract and IDSA Awardee at IDWeek 2022 Eric J. Ende, MD, MBA appointed as Chairman of the Board effective October 1, 2022, with founding Chairman Herbert J. Conrad remaining as an Independent Director $33.1 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities at September 30, 2022, sufficient to fund planned operations through 2023 Management to Host Conference Call Today, Wednesday, November 2nd, at 4:30 p.m. ET BEDMINSTER, N.J., Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Matinas BioPharma Holdings, Inc. (NYSE AMER: MTNB), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on improving the intracellular delivery of nucleic acids and small molecules with its lipid nanocrystal (LNC) platform delivery technology, today reported financial and operational results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2022, along with a corporate update. Since our last quarters reporting, the Company has achieved some very significant milestones, highlighted by our lead, Phase 3-ready asset, MAT2203, successfully completing Phase 2, commented Jerome D. Jabbour, Chief Executive Officer of Matinas. Interim EnACT Cohort 4 survival data were recently presented at IDWeek, with results that are simply unprecedented for an oral therapy in this vulnerable patient population. Following this impressive clinical validation of our LNC platform technology, we are aggressively preparing MAT2203 for Phase 3, and remain intently focused on advancing this platform into other areas of significant need, including the intracellular delivery of nucleic acids such as mRNA and other oligonucleotides, as we look ahead to close 2022 in strong fashion. Third Quarter 2022 Highlights and Recent Events MAT2203 Interim data from Cohort 4 of the Phase 2 EnACT study (Encochleated Oral Amphotericin for Cryptococcal Meningitis Trial) of MAT2203 (oral amphotericin B) for the treatment of cryptococcal meningitis (CM) were presented at IDWeek in October 2022. As part of IDWeek, the EnACT abstract was the recipient of the Outstanding Abstract and IDSA Awardee by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. In the EnACT trial, MAT2203 exceeded the primary endpoint threshold for early fungicidal activity (EFA) of 0.20 log 10 CFU/mL/day, with a mean EFA achieved of 0.30 log 10 CFU/mL/day with 95% confidence intervals from 0.22  0.38.

CFU/mL/day, with a mean EFA achieved of 0.30 log CFU/mL/day with 95% confidence intervals from 0.22  0.38. Cohort 4 also yielded key secondary endpoints, including overall survival and safety. For 40 patients receiving MAT2203 treatment, interim overall survival remains at 90% through 18 weeks, while the survival rate at Week 2 was 95% (the primary endpoint for the upcoming Phase 3 registration trial in cryptococcal meningitis). Importantly, the incidence of adverse events relating to kidney function and anemia were significantly lower for MAT2203 compared to the conventional IV amphotericin B standard of care treatment across the entirety of the EnACT trial, with no evidence of kidney toxicity even with up to 6 weeks of oral MAT2203 treatment.

The pivotal Phase 3 registration trial of MAT2203 in cryptococcal meningitis is planned to initiate early in the first quarter of 2023 and will assess MAT2203 as step-down therapy following 2 loading doses of IV amphotericin B (similar to EnACT Cohort 2). This open-label randomized trial, which will be partially financially supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), involves a three arm non-inferiority design in approximately 270 persons living with HIV who have cryptococcal meningitis. The primary endpoint for this Phase 3 study will be 2-week all-cause mortality, with a pooled analysis across the two MAT2203 treatment arms compared with IV amphotericin as the standard of care to support either a 2-week or 6-week treatment of cryptococcal meningitis indication as supported by the data. An adaptive, de-risking design allows for the potential to add additional patients once enrollment has reached 75% to offset unforeseen patient deaths unrelated to study drug. Enrollment is expected to take approximately 18 months, with topline data expected in the second half of 2024.



Late-breaking data demonstrating the in vivo efficacy of MAT2203 in treating two strains of mucormycosis (R. delemar and M. circinelloides) in immunosuppressed mice were also presented at IDWeek 2022 by Dr. Ashraf Ibrahim of the Lundquist Institute. The preclinical data with MAT2203 demonstrated a prolonged median survival time, enhanced overall survival, and reduced tissue fungal burden of target organs including lung and brain as compared to AmBisome (IV amphotericin B), positioning MAT2203 as a potential clinical solution for this deadly invasive fungal infection.

External Collaborations In April 2022, Matinas and BioNTech entered an exclusive research collaboration centered on the combination of Matinas proprietary LNC platform technology and BioNTech mRNA formats. The Companies continue their collaborative formulation work on multiple nucleic acids, ultimately directed toward planned preclinical in vitro and in vivo testing. The parties remain in advanced discussions for a potential option to license the LNC platform for various nucleic acid applications.

Appointment of Eric Ende MD, MBA to Chairman of the Board of Directors In September 2022, the Company also announced the unanimous appointment of board member, Eric J. Ende, to succeed Herbert J. Conrad as Chairman of the Board, effective October 1, 2022. Mr. Conrad, the founding Chairman of Matinas, remains on the Board as an independent director of the Company. Dr. Ende joined the Companys Board of Directors in March 2017. Third Quarter 2022 Financial Results Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities at September 30, 2022, were approximately $33.1 million, compared to $49.6 million at December 31, 2021. Based on current projections, the Company believes that cash on hand is sufficient to fund planned operations through 2023. For the third quarter of 2022, net loss attributable to common shareholders was $5.5 million, or a net loss of $0.03 per share (basic and diluted), compared to a net loss attributable to common shareholders of $6.8 million, or a net loss of $0.03 per share (basic and diluted), for the same period in 2021. The reduced loss resulted from the Company recording $1.1 million in revenue from its research collaboration with BioNTech SE, along with a slight decrease in operating expenses year over year.



Conference Call and Webcast Details



The Company will host a live conference call and webcast to discuss these results today, November 2, 2022, at 4:30 p.m. ET.



To participate in the call, please dial 888-609-1607 (Toll-Free) or (862) 298-0702 (Toll). The live webcast will be accessible on the Investors section of Matinas website, www.matinasbiopharma.com, and archived for 90 days. About Matinas BioPharma Matinas BioPharma is a biopharmaceutical company focused on improving the intracellular delivery of nucleic acids and small molecules with its lipid nanocrystal (LNC) platform technology. The Company is developing its own internal portfolio of products as well as partnering with leading pharmaceutical companies to develop novel formulations that capitalize on the unique characteristics of the LNC platform. Preclinical and clinical data have demonstrated that this novel technology can provide solutions to many of the challenges in achieving safe and effective intracellular delivery, for both small molecules and larger, more complex molecules, such as mRNA, DNA plasmids, antisense oligonucleotides, and vaccines. The combination of a unique mechanism of action and flexibility with formulation and route of administration (including oral), positions Matinas LNC technology to potentially become the preferred next-generation intracellular drug delivery vehicle with distinct advantages over both lipid nanoparticles and viral vectors. Forward Looking Statements This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including those relating to our business activities, our strategy and plans, our ongoing research collaboration with BioNTech and any potential license of the LNC platform technology, the potential of our LNC platform delivery technology, and the future development of its product candidates, including MAT2203, MAT2501, the anticipated timing of regulatory submissions, the anticipated timing of clinical studies, the anticipated timing of regulatory interactions, the Companys ability to identify and pursue development and partnership opportunities for its products or platform delivery technology on favorable terms, if at all, and the ability to obtain required regulatory approval and other statements that are predictive in nature, that depend upon or refer to future events or conditions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "could," "believes," "estimates" and similar expressions. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, our ability to obtain additional capital to meet our liquidity needs on acceptable terms, or at all, including the additional capital which will be necessary to complete the clinical trials of our product candidates; our ability to successfully complete research and further development and commercialization of our product candidates; the uncertainties inherent in clinical testing; the timing, cost and uncertainty of obtaining regulatory approvals; our ability to protect the Companys intellectual property; the loss of any executive officers or key personnel or consultants; competition; changes in the regulatory landscape or the imposition of regulations that affect the Companys products; and the other factors listed under "Risk Factors" in our filings with the SEC, including Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. Except as may be required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to such forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Matinas BioPharmas product candidates are all in a development stage and are not available for sale or use. Matinas BioPharma Holdings Inc. Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets September 30, 2022 December 31, 2021 (Unaudited) (Audited) ASSETS: Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 11,175,838 $ 21,029,806 Marketable debt securities 21,875,015 28,592,049 Restricted cash - security deposit 50,000 50,000 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 3,997,798 1,321,466 Total current assets 37,098,651 50,993,321 Non-current assets: Leasehold improvements and equipment - net 2,144,102 1,537,728 Operating lease right-of-use assets - net 3,742,019 4,218,890 Finance lease right-of-use assets - net 7,026 22,270 In-process research and development 3,017,377 3,017,377 Goodwill 1,336,488 1,336,488 Restricted cash - security deposit 200,000 200,000 Total non-current assets 10,447,012 10,332,753 Total assets $ 47,545,663 $ 61,326,074 LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY: Current liabilities: Accounts payable $ 656,717 $ 938,270 Accrued expenses 3,696,932 2,850,888 Operating lease liabilities - current 540,076 538,546 Financing lease liabilities - current 7,860 21,039 Total current liabilities 4,901,585 4,348,743 Non-current liabilities: Deferred tax liability 341,265 341,265 Operating lease liabilities - net of current portion 3,683,949 4,140,387 Financing lease liabilities - net of current portion - 2,621 Total non-current liabilities 4,025,214 4,484,273 Total liabilities 8,926,799 8,833,016 Stockholders' equity: Common stock 21,685 21,627 Additional paid-in capital 188,529,404 184,251,138 Accumulated deficit (148,996,657 ) (131,634,208 ) Accumulated other comprehensive loss (935,568 ) (145,499 ) Total stockholders' equity 38,618,864 52,493,058 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $ 47,545,663 $ 61,326,074





Matinas BioPharma Holdings, Inc. Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss (Unaudited) Three Months Ended September 30, Nine Months Ended September 30, 2022 2021 2022 2021 Revenue: Research and development $ 1,062,500 $ - $ 2,125,000 $ 33,333 Costs and expenses: Research and development 3,706,828 4,621,255 12,811,462 10,343,451 General and administrative 2,818,252 2,256,689 8,423,868 7,710,625 Total costs and expenses 6,525,080 6,877,944 21,235,330 18,054,076 Loss from operations (5,462,580 ) (6,877,944 ) (19,110,330 ) (18,020,743 ) Sale of New Jersey net operating loss & tax credits - - 1,734,133 1,328,470 Other income, net 988 41,394 13,748 108,298 Net loss $ (5,461,592 ) $ (6,836,550 ) $ (17,362,449 ) $ (16,583,975 ) Preferred stock series B accumulated dividends - - - (395,799 ) Net loss attributable to common shareholders $ (5,461,592 ) (6,836,550 ) $ (17,362,449 ) $ (16,979,774 ) Net loss available for common shareholders per share - basic and diluted $ (0.03 ) (0.03 ) $ (0.08 ) $ (0.08 ) Weighted average common shares outstanding - basic and diluted 216,864,526 215,179,949 216,792,083 208,130,431 Other comprehensive loss, net of tax Unrealized loss on securities available-for-sale (181,152 ) (52,837 ) (790,069 ) (229,766 ) Other comprehensive loss, net of tax (181,152 ) (52,837 ) (790,069 ) (229,766 ) Comprehensive loss attributable to shareholders $ (5,642,744 ) $ (6,889,387 ) $ (18,152,518 ) $ (16,813,741 ) Investor and Media Contacts

Ankit Bhargava, MD

Allele Communications, LLC

815.721.4912

[email protected] Source: Matinas BioPharma Holdings, Inc.





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[November 02, 2022] Lumen Enters into Agreement Regarding Divestiture of EMEA Business to Colt Technology Services for $1.8B

Transaction will strengthen Lumen's financial position and sharpen strategic focus DENVER and LONDON, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) and Colt Technology Services (Colt), a digital infrastructure company, announce today they have entered into an exclusive arrangement for the proposed sale of Lumen's Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) business to Colt for $1.8 billion. This represents a very attractive multiple (~11x) for Lumen's EMEA business and will create additional value for its shareholders. More information on this transaction can be found in Lumen's 8-K to be contemporaneously filed with this release. The envisaged transaction is subject to customary conditions and would involve the divestiture by Lumen of its EMEA business, including its terrestrial and subsea networks, data centers and network equipment in the region to London-headquartered Colt. Upon completion, the transaction will further Lumen's strategic focus on investing in core businesses that are expected to drive long-term, profitable growth. Benefits to Lumen: Purchase price represents a strong ~11x multiple of the EMEA business's estimated 2021 adjusted EBITDA.

Additional capital and a streamlined portfolio will drive more focused investments on enterprise growth and help maintain Lumen's strong balance sheet.

The terms of the transaction enable Lumen to continue to serve multinational enterprise customers through its strategic partnership with Colt. "We are continuing to execute on portfolio optimization at Lumen, creating additional value for our shareholders by monetizing non-strategic assets at accretive multiples," said Lumen President and CEO Jeff Storey. "This transaction would enhance our focus so we can invest more efficiently in our most strategic opportunities  our key Enterprise and Quantum Fiber initiatives  and partner with regional leaders like Colt in Europe and Cirion in Latin America to continue serving our multinational enterprise customers." "This transaction would mark the next chapter in Colt's exciting story of global growth and world-class innovation," said Keri Gilder, CEO, Colt Technology Services. "We're deeply committed to building extraordinary connections for our people, customers and partners across our digital infrastructure. This acquisition would strengthen and extend these connections across existing and new geographies, helping us to accelerate growth and bring the power of the digital universe closer to our customers." Known for its commitment to customer experience and its industry-leading environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance, Colt is a global digital infrastructure business with over 60 offices around the world. The transaction will extend Colt's infrastructure to new geographic markets, boosting the services and capabilities it delivers to global enterprises and strategic partners. Benefits to Colt: Extends Colt's network into additional countries, European cities and data centers, offering businesses throughout Europe expandedfiber network connectivity.

expandedfiber network connectivity. Offers Colt access to a full range of product solutions for diversified Enterprise, Hyperscaler, Government and Wholesale customers.

Positions Colt to meet growing enterprise and international IP traffic in EMEA via extensive terrestrial and subsea reach.



Strategic partnership Most of Lumen's EMEA employees would join Colt after the transaction closes. Colt and Lumen will establish a strategic relationship that will enable Lumen to continue delivering a seamless experience for its multinational customers with needs in EMEA. The partnership will also allow Colt to continue serving the needs of the EMEA-based customers with service needs outside of EMEA.

"Lumen has a strong interest in Colt's success, and we expect to remain a close business partner and key customer," said Storey. "Colt's strong reputation and customer focus make them the ideal partner to serve the needs of our customers, and we expect to remain Colt's partner of choice for their customers' needs in North America." "Colt and Lumen share values, and a drive to deliver outstanding customer experience," said Gilder. "This combination is powered by amazing people and incredible infrastructure and is inspired by technology's ability to change the way we live and work." Lumen and Colt envisage the transaction would close as early as late 2023 upon receipt of all regulatory approvals in the U.S. and certain countries where Colt operates, as well as the satisfaction of other customary conditions. The purchase agreement contains various customary covenants for transactions of this type, including various indemnities and purchase price adjustments. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC is acting as financial advisor to Lumen in connection with the transaction, and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP is serving as legal advisor to Lumen. Evercore Group L.L.C. is acting as financial advisor to Colt in connection with the transaction and Baker & McKenzie LLP is serving as legal advisor to Colt. About Lumen

Lumen is guided by our belief that humanity is at its best when technology advances the way we live and work. With approximately 400,000 route fiber miles and serving customers in more than 60 countries, we deliver the fastest, most secure platform for applications and data to help businesses, government and communities deliver amazing experiences. Learn more about the Lumen network, edge cloud, security, communication and collaboration solutions and our purpose to further human progress through technology at news.lumen.com/home, LinkedIn: /lumentechnologies, Twitter: @lumentechco, Facebook: /lumentechnologies, Instagram: @lumentechnologies and YouTube: /lumentechnologies. Lumen and Lumen Technologies are registered trademarks in the United States. About Colt Colt Technology Services (Colt) is a global digital infrastructure company which creates extraordinary connections to help businesses succeed. Powered by like-minded partners and amazing people, Colt is driven by its purpose: to place the power of the digital universe in the hands of its customers, wherever, however and whenever they choose. Since 1992, Colt has set itself apart through its deep commitment to its customers, growing from its heritage in the City of London to more than 60 offices around the world. The powerful Colt IQ Network connects 222 cities and 32 countries with more than 1000 data centres, 51 Metropolitan Area Networks and over 31,000 buildings across Europe, Asia and North America's largest business hubs. Privately owned, Colt is one of the most financially sound companies in the sector. Obsessed with delivering industry-leading customer experience, Colt is guided by its dedication to customer innovation, by its values and its responsibility to its customers, partners, people and planet. For more information, please visit www.colt.net Forward-looking Statements Except for the historical and factual information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, including statements regarding the expected transaction proceeds, timing and benefits of the proposed transactions, and other statements identified by words such as "estimates," "expects," "projects," "plans," "intends," "will" and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, many of which are beyond our control. Actual events and results may differ materially from those anticipated, estimated or projected if one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if underlying assumptions prove incorrect. Factors that could affect actual results include but are not limited to: the ability of the parties to timely and successfully receive the required approvals of regulatory agencies; the possibility that the anticipated benefits from the proposed transaction cannot be realized in the manner contemplated; the possibility that it may be more difficult than anticipated to segregate the Company's EMEA business from its other businesses in connection with the Divestiture; the possibility that the post-closing commercial relationships between the parties will not operate in the manner currently contemplated; the possibility that the Company might be required to pay higher than anticipated tax payments, to make unanticipated payments under the transaction agreements or to otherwise receive less net cash proceeds than anticipated; the possibility that the Company's customers, vendors or employees could react unfavorably to the Divestiture; changes in the Company's cash requirements, financial position or business, operational or financial plans; the effects of competition from a wide variety of competitive providers; the purchaser's ability to successfully maintain the quality of its product and service offerings and to introduce new offerings on a timely and cost-effective basis; and other risk factors and cautionary statements as detailed from time to time in the Company's reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. There can be no assurance that the Company's proposed Divestiture of its EMEA business will in fact be consummated in the manner described or at all. You should be aware that new factors may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to identify all such factors, nor can we predict the impact of each such factor on the proposed transaction. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Unless legally required, the Company undertakes no obligation and expressly disclaims any such obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Furthermore, any information about our intentions contained in any of our forward-looking statements reflects our intentions as of the date of such forward-looking statement, and is based upon, among other things, regulatory, technological, industry, competitive, economic and market conditions, and our related assumptions, as of such date. We may change our intentions, strategies or plans without notice at any time and for any reason. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lumen-enters-into-agreement-regarding-divestiture-of-emea-business-to-colt-technology-services-for-1-8b-301666790.html SOURCE Lumen Technologies

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[November 02, 2022] Manulife Investment Management's GRESB Real Estate and Infrastructure Assessment results showcase commitment to ESG integration

BOSTON, Nov. 2, 2022 /CNW/ - Manulife Investment Management today announced the results of its 2022 GRESB assessments for private markets real estate and infrastructure, released in October 2022 and covering the 2021 calendar year.1 The firm saw above-average management scores for both asset classes. Real estate asset performance scores, as compared to the global average, were also above average for all submissions. Additionally, its global real estate portfolio was ranked second in its peer group. And Manulife's general account, managed by the real estate investment team at Manulife Investment Management, was ranked first in its peer group this year. The GRESB Real Estate and Infrastructure Assessments provide a rigorous methodology and consistent framework to measure the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance of individual assets and portfolios based on self-reported data. Performance assessments are guided by what investors and the wider industries consider to be material issues, aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Climate Agreement, and major international reporting frameworks. The GRESB assessment provides investors with global ESG benchmarking and standardized information and tools to help monitor and manage the ESG risks and opportunities. Manulife Investment Management pays a per fund submission fee, per year, for the assessments. "We're excited to share the results of Manulife Investment Management's 2022 GRESB Real Estate Assessment as we've outperformed the global averages for all of our submissions, achieving green star rankings across the board," said Marc Feliciano, global head of real estate investments, Manulife Investment Management. "We've participated in the GRESB Real Estate Assessment for 10 years. As an early participant, we're proud of our role to help establish the GRESB benchmark that is used today to assess the ESG integration and performance of portfolios covering $6.9 trillion of gross asset value across the globe." "We're pleased with the Infrastructure Assessment results as they highlight our approach to ESG integration and management," said Recep Kendircioglu, global head of infrastructure, Manulife Investment Management. "Importantly, the results enable us to benchmark and to engage with portfolio companies in an insightful and productive way to increase sustainability metrics." GRESB Real Estate Assessment

Manulife Investment Management was among 1,820 property companies, real estate investment trusts, funds, and developers that participated in the GRESB Real Estate Assessment covering $6.9 trillion of gross asset value.1 In the assessment this year, Manulife Investment Management's real estate portfolio earned a GRESB score of 87 out of a possible 100 points. Manulife's general account, managed by Manulife Investment Management, received 88 out of a possible 100 points. GRESB Infrastructure Assessment

Manulife Investment Management was among 652 infrastructure assets and 166 funds in the GRESB Infrastructure Assessment in 2002.1 Gross asset value reporting to GRESB was $1.7 trillion this year. In the assessment this year, the firm's GRESB infrastructure management score for its Infrastructure fund I earned 29 out of a possible 30 points. Its Infrastructure fund II scored 30 out of a possible 30 points. "We're proud to share these assessment results and outperformance with investors in an environment where the entities participating in the real estate and infrastructure universe have grown by 20% and 17%, respectively," said Regan Smith, head of real estate and infrastructure sustainability, Manulife Investment Management.1 "The assessments showcase the significance of our expertise, with a focus on due diligence and risk assessment, as well as the responsible management of real estate and infrastructure assets on behalf of clients." Manulife Investment Management's global private markets capabilities include real estate, infrastructure, timberland, agriculture, private equity and credit. For more information on Manulife Investment Management's private markets, please click here.







1 Based on GRESB results released October 2022 that cover the 2021 calendar year. Manulife Investment Management paid a per fund submission fee, per year. The Real Estate GRESB Rating is an overall measure of how well ESG issues are integrated into the management and practices of companies and funds. The Infrastructure GRESB Rating provides the basis for systematic reporting, objective scoring, and peer benchmarking of the ESG management and performance of infrastructure funds around the world. More information about the GRESB Real Estate Assessment is available here. More information about the GRESB Infrastructure Assessment is available here.

Manulife Investment Management has submitted to the GRESB Real Estate Assessment at the fund level since 2012, operating as Standard Life until 2015. Recognition was given on October 12, 2022, based on the reporting period 20122022.

About Manulife Investment Management

Manulife Investment Management is the global brand for the global wealth and asset management segment of Manulife Financial Corporation. We draw on more than a century of financial stewardship and the full resources of our parent company to serve individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. Headquartered in Toronto, our leading capabilities in public and private markets are strengthened by an investment footprint that spans 19 geographies. We complement these capabilities by providing access to a network of unaffiliated asset managers from around the world. We're committed to investing responsibly across our businesses. We develop innovative global frameworks for sustainable investing, collaboratively engage with companies in our securities portfolios, and maintain a high standard of stewardship where we own and operate assets, and we believe in supporting financial well-being through our workplace retirement plans. Today, plan sponsors around the world rely on our retirement plan administration and investment expertise to help their employees plan for, save for, and live a better retirement. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulifeim.com. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/manulife-investment-managements-gresb-real-estate-and-infrastructure-assessment-results-showcase-commitment-to-esg-integration-301666817.html SOURCE Manulife Investment Management

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The Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz Announces Investigation of FIGS, Inc. (FIGS) on Behalf of Investors

The Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz announces an investigation of FIGS, Inc. ("FIGS" or the "Company") (NYSE: FIGS) on behalf of investors concerning the Company's possible violations of federal securities laws.

If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss, click here to participate.

In June 2021, FIGS completed its initial public ofering ("IPO"), selling approximately 34.3 million shares of Class A common stock for $22 per share.







On May 12, 2022, FIGS announced disappointing financial results, adjusting its expected sales, gross margins, and EBITDA due to supply chain issues. The Company also admitted that it had continued to rely on air freight instead of the less expensive option of overseas shipping, despite previous claims that air freight was transitory.

On this news, FIGS's stock fell $3.21, or 25%, to close at $9.64 per share on May 13, 2022, significantly below the IPO price, thereby injuring investors.

Follow us for updates on Twitter: twitter.com/FRC_LAW.

If you purchased FIGS securities, have information or would like to learn more about these claims, or have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Frank R. Cruz, of The Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz, 1999 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 1100, Los Angeles, California 90067 at 310-914-5007, by email to [email protected], or visit our website at www.frankcruzlaw.com. If you inquire by email please include your mailing address, telephone number, and number of shares purchased.

This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102006121/en/
We'll keep the commentary minimal but we have to say this is a smart move . . .

Jackson County Exec Frank White's team effectively eliminated tough questions about recent campaign financing moves and instead focuses on culture war.

This effort won't get much reaction from his challenger Teresa Cass Galvin and reminds voters of her GOP affiliation. She's calling it a "desperate" move but we know that already.

More to the point, standing up for abortion might win back progressive voters in Brookside & Ward Parkway areas who don't seem to care about rising property taxes.

Credit Caleb Clifford with this bit of local politicking that is a clever gambit to refocus on the conversation from the Executive's incompetence and toward the Democratic Party platform & agenda that's largely supported in most of this voting area . . .



Jackson County Executive announces his plan to release $1 million in ARPA funds to establish Reproductive Equity Fund

KANSAS CITY, Mo.  Jackson County Executive Frank White, Jr. today is announcing his plan to release $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to aid women seeking reproductive health services out of state, known as the Jackson County Reproductive Equity Fund.



While the money will not be used to cover the costs of abortions, it will be made available to help women and familys cover the cost of transportation, lodging and childcare for women who must now go out of state to get an abortion. If approved by the Jackson County Legislature, the County Executives Reproductive Equity Fund would also provide support for organizations that are already providing reproductive healthcare access in the region such as postpartum support, doulas and lactation support.



As elected leaders, it is our responsibility to take action when our community is in danger and it is clear that the Supreme Courts overturning of Roe v. Wade has created a major health crisis in Jackson County, said Jackson County Executive Frank White, Jr. The Jackson County Reproductive Equity Fund will provide support for women of all ages and circumstances, including victims of rape and incest who are now legally forbidden from terminating the pregnancy of their assailant.



Following the Supreme Courts ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade in June, the state of Missouri criminalized abortions without any exceptions for rape or incest. In August, a majority of the Jackson County Legislature refused to place an advisory referendum on the November ballot asking voters if they think Missouris abortion ban should be repealed to ensure safe and legal access to abortion. The advisory referendum would have provided an opportunity for voters to inform elected officials about their position on a very important issue.



Some politicians may try and tell you that this is not an issue for local government. I could not disagree more, said County Executive White. It is extremely important that we all, especially those of us elected to serve our communities, step up and do everything we can to provide the support necessary, while also working to ensure that reproductive health services are once again legal, safe, accessible and affordable in Jackson County.



County Executive White is absolutely right  cities, counties and states are now the battlegrounds for reproductive equity and maternal health. That's why I am proud to sponsor the legislation necessary to create a Reproductive Equity Fund in Jackson County, said 1st District At-Large Legislator Jalen Anderson. Once established, the fund will help Jackson County provide the support that so many women now need, while also helping to reduce the damage done to our community by the obliteration of Roe.



"I have spent my life fighting to protect a woman's freedom to choose if, when and how they want to become a parent or grow their families, said 2nd District At-Large Legislator Crystal Williams. I want to commend the County Executive for his continued leadership on reproductive health and for his willingness to fight to ensure that everyone has the freedom to control their own lives, bodies and futures."



County Executive Whites Reproductive Equity Fund is similar to the one established earlier this year in St. Louis City.



###



Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

Jackson County Exec plans to redirect $1M for women to travel out-of-state for abortion procedures JACKSON COUNTY, Mo. (KCTV) - The Jackson County Executive wants to release $1 million in federal money to help women travel out-of-state for abortion procedures. The Jackson County Reproductive Equity Fund would redirect $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act money to cover women and families' cost of transportation, lodging and childcare while seeking an abortion outside of Missouri, where there are strong abortion restrictions.

Jackson County Legislature plans to establish abortion travel fund The Jackson County Legislature plans to use federal funds to establish a new county fund that would help women get abortions and other reproductive health care services out of state.The Jackson County Reproductive Equity fund will use $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to get its start.

Developing . . .
There's a bevy of news across the metro regarding police action, court cases and alleged misdeeds.



Check TKC news gathering . . .

Man charged in shooting death at KCMO bus stop KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A man is charged with second degree murder in a shooting at a Kansas City, Missouri, bus stop. The incident happened about 5 p.m. on Oct. 19 at east 12th Street and Grand Avenue.

Kansas City man charged with premediated murder in Overland park shooting OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - A Kansas City, Missouri, man is charged with premediated first-degree murder after he allegedly shot and killed a man at an Overland Park as station in August. Zarrell Semaj Finley made his first appearance in Johnson County court on charges Tuesday.

Kansas City man sentenced to 18 years for sex trafficking 14, 16-year-old teens KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A Kansas City, Missouri, man who previously admitted to his role in a sex trafficking conspiracy, which included two teens, was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Tuesday. Cory Lavell Smith, 28, pleaded guilty in March to one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking and one count of sex trafficking.

Neighbors: Woman shot, dumped on side of road in Raytown RAYTOWN, Mo. - One person is in police custody after an injured woman was discovered on the side of a road in Raytown, police said. The woman later died at a hospital. Beyond that information, police haven't shared more details. FOX4 spoke to neighbors in the area of E.

Raytown police say person of interest in custody in woman's homicide KMBC file image SOURCE: KMBC file image Police in Raytown said a person of interest is in custody in connection with a woman's death on Halloween.Authorities said officers were called at 8:05 p.m.

Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department responds to serious-injury shooting KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department responded to a serious-injury shooting shortly before 1 p.m. Tuesday in Kansas City, Missouri. Officers arrived to the scene at 10500 East 42nd St. after receiving reports of the shooting. Upon arrival, police located one victim in serious condition.

'Stop the racial profiling.' Independence officer slammed KC woman into car, she says A Kansas City neighborhood leader says she was racially profiled by an Independence police officer, who she says used excessive force during a traffic stop last month. Rachel Riley was pulled over on October 4. The 57 year old has been president of Kansas City's East 23rd St.

KU Health System's 'Revive' program part of network to prevent youth violence in KCK KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- - Over the last couple years, KSHB 41 News has reported on the uptick in teen violence in Kansas City, Kansas - specifically gun violence. We know communities that see more violence see worse health outcomes.

Developing . . .
As we were compiling this list of garbage . . . One item stood out above the dreck . . .

THERE'S FINALLY A JACKSON COUNTY DEBATE WHEREIN THE EXEC ANSWERS QUESTIONS!!!

Don't worry . . . There's not much to it because it's in Kraske's place wherein softballs, whispers and polite talk rule.

But something is better than nothing.

And so, there's THAT and . . .



We unpack the mostly partisan sponsored content today in a quick blast . . .



Check www.TonysKansasCity.com news gathering . . .

Courthouse Election Conversation Debuts Ahead Of Voting Deadline

Jackson County Executive candidates: Frank White and Theresa Galvin One week away from the election, Jackson County Executive candidates Frank White Jr. and Theresa Galvin joined Steve Kraske on KCUR's Up To Date. During the conversation, they discussed the new county jail under construction, next year's round of property assessments, how a downtown Royals ballpark would impact the county and other topics.

Show-Me Post-Advert Crackdown

State says feds initiated investigation of Missouri hospital that denied emergency abortion * Missouri Independent The federal government, not state political leaders, initiated an investigation of the care Freeman Health Services in Joplin provided after a denying a woman an emergency abortion, a Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services spokeswoman said Monday. On Aug.

Big Bucks Favor Incumbent

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly doubles fundraising by Derek Schmidt in latest finance reports - Kansas Reflector TOPEKA - Gov. Laura Kelly's campaign touted more than $3.1 million in fundraising in the final months before the November election, saying most of these contributions came from individuals. The Democratic incumbent nearly doubled the money raised by her Republican rival, Derek Schmidt, who reported $1.7 million in contributions.

Rock Chalk Political Attacks Cont'd

No matter election results, threats to LGBTQ students in Kansas will continue in new session - Kansas Reflector Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Brenan Riffel is a graduate student studying higher education administration at the University of Kansas, where she serves as both an academic adviser and assistant complex director.

No Good Tech News In The Dotte

Six months after the massive cyber attack on Wyandotte County, taxpayers know little about it - including the cost Six months after a devastating ransomware attack on Wyandotte County computers was belatedly acknowledged, the public still knows precious little about it. Yet, one source says taxpayers will have to foot the bill for millions in repairs.

Meet The New Underboss

Governor's adviser the frontrunner for Missouri AG job if Eric Schmitt wins Senate seat * Missouri Independent If Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt prevails in next week's race for U.S. Senate, Gov. Mike Parson is considering tapping one of his top advisers to replace him. Numerous sources both inside and outside the governor's office who spoke with The Independent say Parson is leaning towards appointing Andrew Bailey as the state's next attorney general if Schmitt is victorious on Nov.

Former KCK Mayor Wastes My Time & Yours With Democracy

Kansas Democratic candidate Mark Holland on facing Goliath Photo by Jesse Kielman For decades, there have been few political certainties as rock solid as what exists in Kansas. In presidential elections since 1980, Republicans have won by over 20 points in every election not featuring Ross Perot. The Republican party has controlled the state senate since 1917, including a continuous supermajority since 1996.

Check Long Shot Slap Fight

Democrat Schmidt asserts GOP Rep. LaTurner wrong on abortion rights, election fraud - Kansas Reflector TOPEKA - Democratic Patrick Schmidt appealed for voters' attention in the 2nd District congressional race by objecting to U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner's opposition to abortion, birth control and refusal to support certification of the 2020 election results.

Heiress Visits

With Careers She Helped To Destroy . . .

Trudy Busch Valentine teams up with downballot Democrats in an attempt to bolster party's power statewide AIn her long-shot bid to become Missouris next U.S. senator, Trudy Busch Valentine is leaning on other Democratic candidates around the state to connect with voters and generate enthusiasm.

Progressives Down To The Wire

The race for Kansas governor is tight. Here's where Kelly and Schmidt stand on the issues Kansas - a deeply Republican state that became the darling of national liberals by rejecting a potential abortion ban in August - heads into the Nov. 8 election for governor with a fairly stark choice. Democratic Gov.

Smarty Pants Pundit Seyz Ur Stoopid!!!

Opinion: Ignorance is a luxury we can no longer afford We had the luxury for decades of laughing at the people on the street interviewed by late night comedians who couldn't answer questions like, "Who was the queen of England?" or, "In what country would you find the Panama Canal?" or "how many moons does the earth have?"

And this is the OPEN THREAD for right now.
Check the latest deets of a tragedy in the dotte . . .



Police Chief Karl Oakman said there was an invite-only party at a home in the 1600 block of South 50th Street, when some unknown people showed up at the home. Oakman said when they were asked to leave, the suspects began shooting up the house as they left.



Oakman added in an update Tuesday morning that the party had been promoted on social media. Previous parties had been held at that home with no reported issues, and a parent was at home at the time of the shooting.





Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Person of interest in custody after KCK shooting Halloween night kills 1 teen, injures 6 Well, good morning. Uh This is an update from our shooting that took place last night, just about around 89 P. M. Correction. Uh 1600 block of south 50th, officers were dispatched on *** shots fired call upon arrival. They contacted the home owner and it was discovered that there was one um individual that was deceased at the scene.

Police: Person of interest in deadly KCK Halloween party shooting in custody KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Police in Kansas City, Kansas, said Tuesday a person of interest is in custody related to a deadly shooting at a Halloween party on Monday night . A police spokesperson said investigators have also recovered the dark-colored SUV allegedly driven from the scene by the suspects.

One dead, at least 5 injured in shooting at KCK Halloween house party KANSAS CITY, Kan. (KCTV) - A shooting at a large Halloween party home near South 50th Street and Elmwood Avenue left one person dead and others injured Monday evening. The Kansas City, Kansas Police Department stated police were called to the area just west of I-635 and south of Metropolitan Avenue just after 9 p.m.

'We just heard screaming:' Neighbors talk about deadly shooting at KCK Halloween party Terrified neighbors just back from trick or treating dropped to the floor of their home to avoid stray bullets when gunfire erupted at a Halloween party right next door Monday night."I'm just glad everybody is safe. We took appropriate measures to be safe.

Developing . . .
Nearly 40 years after the high-profile murders of two Toronto women, police announced they have arrested and charged a man with the 1983 slayings of Susan Tice and Erin Gilmour  the latest decades-old cases to be cracked using genetic genealogy.
Yellowstone County commissioners had no questions for ExxonMobil, one of the county's largest taxpayer, at their weekly meeting Tuesday morning.

ExxonMobil announced a deal last week to sell its Lockwood refinery for $310 million to Houston-based Par Pacific, a small energy company that operates three refineries in Hawaii, Washington and Wyoming and owns five retail gas stations.

Dan Carter, spokesman for the refinery, offered to visit commissioners shortly after the deal went public to present information on the sale and answer questions.

"This is an interesting time for all of us," Carter told commissioners Tuesday morning.

ExxonMobil pays roughly $5.9 million in taxes a year to Yellowstone County in two six-month payments. Carter assured commissioners that the latest tax bill had been paid and that the next would be covered as well.

It's an important data point. State law allows for property owners to protest their property tax bill if they feel they've been assessed at a rate higher than what their property is worth.

ExxonMobil has weighed protesting its property tax in the past, a decision that would create a significant budget crunch with the county and local school district. However, each time it considered protesting, ExxonMobil eventually decided against it.

Taxes paid under protest are held in an interest-bearing escrow account until the disputes are settled with the state Department of Revenue. Taxing entities like the county or school district can request money from the escrow account but risk having to repay the funds, most likely through a levy, if the taxpayer prevails in the protest.

Along with local taxes, the Lockwood refinery is an important employer in the county and Carter addressed the implications for its workers once Par Pacific completes ownership.

"What that means is all 300 employees... are going with the sale," he said.

ExxonMobil has said part of the deal ensures all the refinery's employees will be offered jobs with Par Pacific as the transition takes place.

Carter also promised that the refinery's commitment to the community would continue. ExxonMobil has regularly donated funds and technology to area schools, helped sponsor community events and even donated buckets of hand sanitizer to the county during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Our work with the community is important," he said.

Commissioner John Ostlund welcomed the news, and emphasized that as an employer and as a business operation the refinery played an important economic role in the region.

"The refinery is an important part of business in Yellowstone County," he said.
Officials are resuming efforts to plan an approximately 16,500-acre timber project that would take place south of West Yellowstone, just outside the western border of Yellowstone National Park.

The Custer Gallatin National Forest announced in October it had revised its draft environmental assessment for the South Plateau Landscape Area Treatment Project, and a 30-day comment period is open until Nov. 5. The website where a form exists for commenting can be found at: https://cara.fs2c.usda.gov/Public//CommentInput?Project=57353.

If its approved, crews would conduct an estimated 5,551 acres of scattered clear-cuts, 6,593 acres of commercial thinning, 2,514 acres of noncommercial thinning and 1,804 acres of additional fuels treatments in the project area.

Lodgepole pine stands dominate the area that would be logged, and the Forest Service wrote that over 26,000 of those acres are highly susceptible to mountain pine beetle due to the homogenous size, age and tree spacing.

Mariah Leuschen-Lonergan, a spokesperson for the Custer Gallatin National Forest, said a maximum of 57 miles of temporary roads would be built, and they would all be decommissioned after the work wraps up.

On top of the logging, the Forest Service is calling for changes in access designations along all or part of nine national forest system roads. That includes a proposal to decommission a 2.6-mile section of the South Fork Madison Road. The move is aimed at improving water quality.

The South Plateau project would extend across 40,000 acres spanning south from U.S. Highway 20, north and east from the Montana-Idaho border and west from Yellowstone National Park. The work would occur over a 15-year period.

Hebgen Lake District Ranger Jason Brey said in a video posted on the Custer Gallatin National Forests Facebook page that since 2010, staff on the district have worked to improve forest health, reduce fuel loading and enhance wildlife habitat within the Hebgen Basin.

What were trying to achieve for fuels reduction  both for protection of infrastructure in the town of West Yellowstone and for forest health conditions  complements the need of the town to maintain that recreation-based economy, he said.

Officials wrote that the South Plateau project will aid in reducing the risks associated with insect and disease outbreaks in trees, and they believe reducing fuels will make wildfire suppression efforts more effective and safe. The project will also bolster the timber products industry.

Mike Garrity, executive director of Alliance for the Wild Rockies, said the act of adding clear-cuts and logging roads will threaten grizzly bears and Canada lynx  a species that relies on the hiding cover provided by dense trees.

Grizzly bears are still threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and they are doing the best they can to drive their numbers down instead of protecting their habitat, Garrity said. And this is on the border of Yellowstone National Park.

Alliance for the Wild Rockies was one of several conservation groups that objected to the previous environmental assessment for the South Plateau project. That assessment was released for comments back in the summer of 2020, and an objection period ran in the spring of 2021.

Leuschen-Lonergan said the pause was due to the ongoing revision of the Custer Gallatin National Forest land management plan, which was signed early on this year. Officials wanted to make sure the projects components aligned with the plans direction, she said.

The new assessment calls for the retention of snags, live trees and pockets of old growth forest. Its also designed to regenerate aspen and protect whitebark pine, which are declining across much of the West, Leuschen-Lonergan said.

The Custer Gallatin National Forest plans to follow the National Environmental Policy Act scoping process anew, beginning with the 30-day comment period. Garrity said he wont know whether his group will litigate over the project until the Forest Service reaches a final decision.

What theyre proposing  were totally against it. We think its illegal, but they are plowing ahead to bulldoze more logging roads and clear more grizzly bear and lynx habitat on the border of Yellowstone, he said.
By Trend

French La Gazette online newspaper published an article about the meeting of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev with President of Russia Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan in Sochi on October 31, Trend reports.

The article, referring to the the final Statement, said that Azerbaijan and Armenia reaffirmed their commitment to strict compliance to all the agreements for the comprehensive normalization of the relations between both countries, ensuring peace, stability, security and sustainable economic development of the South Caucasus.

The article emphasized that both sides agreed to refrain from using force and threats of its use, resolve all the problems solely on the basis of recognition of sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of borders in accordance with the UN Charter and the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration.

"The importance of forming a positive atmosphere to continue the dialogue between Azerbaijan and Armenia was emphasized to continue dialogue between representatives of society, expert associations and religious leaders with Russia's help as well as to attract trilateral inter-parliamentary relations in order to strengthen trust between the peoples of the two countries," the article said.

In addition, the article, citing the words of Head of Azerbaijani state Ilham Aliyev during his bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, noted that Karabakh conflict is already history and it was resolved two years ago.
Billings West High School locked down Wednesday morning for just over an hour after three students overdosed on concentrated THC called "dabs".

Billings police arrived at the school at 8:21 a.m. in response to a complaint of three 14-year-old students overdosing, according to a press release from Billings Police Lt. Matt Lennick.

According to a statement by School District 2, administration placed the school into a "soft" lockdown at approximately 8:35 a.m. for a medical emergency."

The lockdown was lifted at 9:37 a.m. and the school continued normally.

Two of the students were taken to local hospitals for medical care and one was released to a guardian.

An initial investigation found concentrated cannabis with high levels of THC known as dabs. No other substances were found or believed to be used by the students.

Soft lockdowns are used in response of potential emergencies rather than immediate emergencies at schools to allow classes to continue. Hard lockdowns require the entire school to go into emergency procedures.

Principal Kelly Hornby said soft lockdowns are used to respond to a broad range of medical emergencies and to allow emergency personnel clear access and passage in the school hallways while also maintaining the students anonymity.

Students have been known to use dabs for years in Billings, but School Resource Officer Sergeant Matthew Chaney said the number of instances has increased since the legalization of recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older in Montana this year.

Overdose calls for dabs specifically are also new.

We find kids with dabs all the time, he said. But these types of medical emergencies are uncommon.

Overdoses where cannabis is the only drug used are unlikely to be fatal, but can include symptoms like anxiety, hallucinations, increased heart rates and blood pressure, nausea and vomiting, panic attacks and paranoia. THC levels in concentrated cannabis have been found to average between 56-69% versus the 15% average found in the typical marijuana plant. In some reported cases, dabs have exceeded 80% THC.

There are numerous ways to ingest dabs that include smoking and freebasing, but Chaney said vape pens are the most common with students. He stressed the risk it posed specifically to inhibiting teenage brain development.

Recent studies have shown that frequent use of more potent cannabis can lead to cognitive dysfunction, psychosis, impaired memory and mood swings. Physical effects over repeated consumption can include developing a higher tolerance to THC, addiction and physical dependence.

Police and district officials are investigating the possession and distribution of the dabs, police said.
The Tv6 Fan Zone touched down at the All Out Sports bar again on Monday at the Queens park O
Ukraine will do everything to give people electricity and heat, but Russia will do everything to destroy normal life.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this in a new video address, Ukrinform reports.

Good health to you, fellow Ukrainians!

Today, I continued our diplomatic activity so that the world reacts strongly to another Russian escalation, to the terror against our energy facilities, and to Russia's attempt to exacerbate the food crisis again.

I had a call with French President Emmanuel Macron. I thanked him for the support already provided and informed him about our urgent needs, primarily in defense. There must be an air shield for Ukraine. Today it was clearly said. We discussed with Emmanuel very specific projects both to strengthen our defense and to rebuild the destroyed facilities.

The bet of terrorists for the winter is completely transparent to everyone, and this challenge should be viewed precisely as a challenge to all of Europe. Moscow will present any winter difficulties in its propaganda as alleged proof of the failure of a united Europe. Therefore, together we must prove to the terrorists that failure is a word about them, not about Europe.

We agreed to hold two very important events. The first is in December in France. The subject covers all the challenges of winter: from energy to finance, from weapons to protecting the sky. And the second event is to convene the business of France and help Ukraine.

We talked with President Macron about the situation with our food exports. These days, the movement of ships with Ukrainian agricultural products has continued, primarily thanks to the principles of the partners, namely the UN and Turkiye, which do not accept Russian efforts to destroy the grain agreement.

But the grain corridor needs reliable and long-term protection. Russia should clearly know that it will receive a tough response from the world to any steps that disrupt our food exports. This is literally a matter of life for tens of millions of people.

In particular, I talked about this with the Prime Minister of Cambodia today. This country now holds the presidency of ASEAN, one of the most powerful world associations. That's more than 600 million people in ten countries. And for each of these countries, the food crisis is a real threat to national security. If food prices rise due to Russian aggression, if there is a deficit in the food market, this will inevitably lead to catastrophic consequences in most ASEAN countries, as well as in other regions of the world. Therefore, pressure on Russia for the sake of guarantees of food security is now needed from everyone - and from Asian countries as well. We work for this.

European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson visited Kyiv today. She helped us a lot in the process of Ukraines accession to the pan-European power grid. This is what significantly strengthened Ukraine. And now we heard the necessary signals of support from the European Commissioner. We discussed the initiative to create such a format, which, like a military "Ramstein", will work for the sake of our common security, but precisely in the energy sphere. Something like an "energy Ramstein" - funds, technical support, transformers, generators, energy carriers - this is what is vitally necessary for our defense.

Assistance to specific cities and communities was also discussed. Such as Mykolaiv, Nikopol, Kharkiv and others, which are subjected to constant Russian terror - literally every day and every night.

I informed the European Commissioner about the liquidation of the consequences of yesterday's massive Russian attack on our energy sector. About our needs due to such strikes. As a result of the visit, we have many working agreements.

As of now, we can report that the technical possibility of water supply has already been restored for all consumers in Ukraine. For most, it is also technically possible to supply electricity. Stabilizing blackouts continue in nine regions of Ukraine. Energy workers and local authorities are doing everything to reduce the time of blackouts.

It should not be forgotten that restoration work continues without a break in the territories that were liberated from the occupiers: in the Kharkiv region, in Donbas, in the south of the country. For example, gas supply has already been restored for more than 20,000 consumers in liberated areas of the Kharkiv region. Heat supply systems are being restored in Vovchansk, Balakliya and other cities.

We will do everything to give people electricity and heat this winter. But we must understand that Russia will do everything to destroy the normality of life.

They do not care about the cost of energy terror. If you look at the cost of yesterday's Russian attack alone, the missiles and drones used cost Russia the equivalent of more than 2,300,000 average Russian old-age pensions. And that's one attack! Monthly incomes of 2,300,000 Russian pensioners... Instead of overcoming poverty in their country, the Russian leadership spends everything to avoid admitting a historical mistake they made with this war against Ukraine.

They are hopeless on the battlefield. Ukrainian warriors have already proved it. But it takes time, it takes effort, it takes patience to prove that even the hope for winter will not come true for Russian terrorists. I'm sure we'll get through it.

I thank everyone who helps Ukraine!

Glory to each and every one who works to bring our victory closer! Glory to all our warriors who are holding their positions, no matter how difficult it may be, and are gradually liberating our land!

Glory to Ukraine!
Almost 9,000 Ukrainian defenders received standard and winter kits from Great Britain, each containing more than 40 items.

As reported by Ukrinform, the press service of the General Staff reported this on Facebook with reference to the Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

"Nearly 9000 Ukrainian recruits have been issued 40+ items of standard and winter kit from the British Army to prepare them for the difficult winter ahead," the statement reads.

The General Staff thanked their British colleagues for their support and assistance to the Armed Forces.

As Ukrinform reported, on October 5, the training of junior commanders of the Armed Forces began in Great Britain, which includes classes on leadership, psychological, methodical, fire, technical, and tactical training.

Since September, Lithuania has joined the international training program launched by the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Ukraines missile and artillery units have completed about 100 fire missions in southern Ukraine, hitting enemy positions and logistics.

The relevant statement was made by the South Operational Command on Facebook, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

In the Southern Bug operational zone, the situation is remaining tense but controlled, according to the South Operational Command. Russian troops are keeping the defense and attempting to hold the occupied frontiers.

The enemy continues to conduct air reconnaissance with spy drones in the Kherson regions Beryslav district and Kherson district, and the Mykolaiv regions Bashtanka district and Mykolaiv district.

On the night of November 2, 2022, Russian invaders opened fire on Ukrainian positions with multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), cannon artillery, mortars and tanks.

The enemy also attacked the back areas with strike drones and air-launched missiles.

In particular, last night several detached houses were damaged in Russias shelling of the Mykolaiv regions Shyroke community. The fires caused by enemy shelling were extinguished. No casualties were reported.

In the Black Sea, Russias naval group consists of nine warships, including one large landing craft and one missile carrier equipped with eight Kalibr-type cruise missiles.

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Three Russian MiG-31K aircraft and missile containers have been detected at the Machulishchy air base in Belarus.

The relevant statement was made on the AFU StratComs Telegram channel, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The photographs show three MiG-31K supersonic interceptor aircraft, which can carry Kh-47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and fire them at a range of 2,000 kilometers, the report states.

Additionally, one can see several missile containers, which may be used to store Kinzhal missiles.

A reminder that Russias numerous attacks on Ukraines territory, which took place on October 10, 2022, were directed against civilians. Russian projectiles caused damage to infrastructure objects and killed civilians.

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On Thursday, November 3, eight ships with agricultural foodstuffs will move along the "grain corridor" in the Black Sea.

Black Sea Grain Initiative continues. On Thursday, November 3rd, 8 vessels with agricultural products are expected to pass through the grain corridor. We got confirmation from UN, Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov posted on Twitter.

He added that inspections would be carried out in the Bosphorus Strait on November 2.

As reported, on October 29, the Russian Federation announced its withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative due to the alleged attack on its Black Sea Fleet ship in Sevastopol Bay, accusing Ukraine and Great Britain of the attack.

Despite Russia's demarche, 12 ships with grain left Ukrainian ports the day before.

The Ukrainian and Turkish delegations and UN representatives in the Joint Coordination Center agreed that the movement of ships through the "grain corridor" would be suspended on November 2.

Photo credit: Ministry of Infrastructure

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With its actions in Ukraine, Russia actually threatened the development of nuclear energy throughout the world.

"Everything that existed and related to nuclear safety in the world has been destroyed. And Im talking not only about Zaporizhzhia and Chornobyl NPPs. To date, Russia has actually destroyed the structure of nuclear energy development. In project threats, we considered terrorist acts and earthquakes but not the attacks on a nuclear plant with the use of heavy weapons... No one in the world considered anything in this context," Minister of Energy of Ukraine German Galushchenko said at a briefing following the meeting with EU Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson on November 1, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

The minister considers that it is necessary now to preserve and strengthen solidarity among the countries of Europe and to continue ramping up sanctions against the Russian Federation.

"The distance at which Russia can launch missiles is dangerous for the existence of any nuclear power plant. This is a matter of industry development. If we don't do anything about it, they will finally kill nuclear energy all over the world," Galushchenko summed up.

As reported, the Zaporizhzhia NPP has been captured by the Russian military since March 4. The invaders place military equipment and ammunition on the plants territory and shell the surrounding area and the nuclear power plant itself, destroying it, causing external power supply outages.

In order to preserve the integrity of the premises of the Zaporizhzhia NPP, the International Atomic Energy Agency is negotiating a safety zone around the plant with Ukraine and the Russian Federation.

Photo: mev.gov.ua

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The U.S. Coast Guard has finished a lengthy environmental review of a proposed new railroad bridge over the Missouri River between Bismarck and Mandan, setting the stage for a formal decision next month that will clear the way for BNSF Railway to tear down the existing 139-year-old structure.

A local citizens group that has worked for years to save the Bismarck-Mandan Rail Bridge on Wednesday indicated it's considering a legal battle to try to stop its removal.

Meanwhile, North Dakota's Department of Environmental Quality this week said it intends to sign off on the project under a provision of the federal Clean Water Act that gives the state a say on projects impacting waters within its borders.

The bridge was built in 1883, with the spans replaced in 1905. BNSF wants to tear it down and replace it with a bridge that can handle modern rail traffic. The Coast Guard, which decides on projects proposed along that part of the river, has been studying the proposal for nearly three years, including whether it's feasible to keep the current structure.

The Coast Guard's final Environmental Impact Statement, released late last month, concludes that it's not. The Bismarck-Mandan Rail Bridge "is approaching the end of its useful life and needs to be replaced to safely move future rail traffic along the BNSF northern corridor," the agency wrote.

Officials determined the best alternative is to remove the existing bridge and build a new one about 20 feet upstream.

That option "avoids the necessity of retaining walls on the eastern and western banks of the Missouri River. (It) encompasses the least amount of excavation and associated truck traffic impacts, soils impacts, vegetation impacts and land use impacts," the agency said, adding that the alternative also "would have no net rise in the 100-year base flood elevation."

The next step is a "record of decision" finalizing the federal position. A Coast Guard timeline indicates that's expected Dec. 1.

BNSF views the final EIS as "a good step forward," spokeswoman Amy McBeth said.

"We do need to build a new bridge -- this one is reaching the end of its life span," she said. "Moving North Dakota grain, moving coal, this bridge is a very important piece of our network, and the infrastructure we need to replace. We are eager to get started on that."

Opposition continues

The Friends of the Rail Bridge group, which hopes to preserve the existing bridge, issued a lengthy statement condemning the Coast Guard decision.

"The historic 1883 rail bridge is six years older than the Eiffel Tower in Paris and is as important to the identity of the Bismarck/Mandan community as the Eiffel Tower is to the people of France, as evidenced by the more than 6,000 people who signed a petition to save it shortly after BNSF announced its intention (to) replace the 139-year-old bridge," the nonprofit said.

FORB claims the Coast Guard's decision is flawed.

We still have the opportunity to save the bridge based on the numerous legal shortcuts and errors in the EIS," President Mark Zimmerman said.

The federal decision would allow BNSF to build a single-track bridge with the capability of carrying a second track in the future if train volume made it necessary.

FORB claims that officials haven't considered "the full economic, social, and environmental costs of running two tracks through Bismarck/Mandan and the rest of North Dakota," violating federal law. The group also claims "BNSF prevented any honest look at a preservation alternative that best serves the long-term interests of the Bismarck Mandan community and the people of North Dakota."

BNSF says planning for a potential two-track system in the future wasn't part of the bridge replacement process, and it disputes the claim that it hampered bridge preservation efforts.

"We've had five years, and 20 meetings that FORB was a part of, as well as the Coast Guard and others," McBeth said. "This has certainly been an open and transparent process, that FORB has been a party to."

The study says the process "allowed for consideration of retention of the existing bridge throughout."

The Coast Guard said efforts by consulting parties -- one of which was FORB -- "to identify alternatives to retain the bridge that were technically and economically feasible were unsuccessful due to additional project costs and projected floodplain rise."

A 2019 feasibility study conducted by North Dakota State University estimated the cost to turn the current structure into a foot bridge at just under $7 million.

FORB hasn't specifically raised money for preserving and repurposing the bridge, according to Zimmerman.

"Private foundations have expressed interest and support when ownership of bridge is determined. Certainly the North Dakota Outdoor Heritage Fund would be considered for possible funding assistance," he said. "Difficult to raise money for something whose status is not determined."

Ownership issue

The preservation group continues to maintain that the issue of who actually owns the Bismarck-Mandan Rail Bridge has not been adequately addressed.

FORB maintains that the state has held ownership of the Missouri River bed up to the high-water mark since statehood, along with any permanent fixtures attached. The group argues that North Dakota took over ownership of navigable rivers from Congress when it became a state in 1889, and since Congress did not transfer ownership of the bridge to the railway before the state joined the union, the state retains the property.

The nonprofit believes state ownership might help save the bridge because it could not be destroyed without approval from the State Historical Board. State Historic Preservation Officer Bill Peterson previously determined that the bridge is historically significant and that removal would be "an adverse effect on a historic property."

BNSF has called the argument "legally absurd," and the state Attorney General's Office has twice this year refused to wade into the debate.

The Coast Guard said the railroad "provided evidence that BNSF has clear title to the bridge ... and that the title did not pass to North Dakota when it became a state in 1889."

Attorney General Drew Wrigley in refusing to issue an opinion on the matter in April appeared to suggest that the courts would be the proper venue for the dispute.

FORB noted that in its statement, and said it "plans to take any legal actions or steps necessary to ensure that these legal deficiencies in getting the permit to tear down the historic 1883 bridge are corrected, and to otherwise protect and preserve the bridge to the fullest extent possible under the law."

Another hurdle

BNSF is on the verge of clearing another hurdle for the bridge project. The North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality this week released a notice of intent to issue a water quality certification for the bridge project.

The federal government delegates that authority to states and tribes under the Clean Water Act so they can protect the quality of federally regulated waters within their borders.

DEQ in its notice of intent said that "based on conversations with and data provided by BNSF agents, construction of the new bridge and deconstruction of the existing bridge ... can be accomplished, and the water quality standards supported and documented with conditions."

The state agency lists more than two dozen conditions, ranging from not releasing debris from the current bridge into the river to reporting any spills of hazardous materials. BNSF must also obtain a state construction permit and develop a state-approved water quality monitoring plan. And it may not use explosives to remove the existing bridge.

Dismantling the bridge rather than blowing it up will ensure that pieces of it can be retained if any groups wish to use them for historic preservation projects, McBeth said. She offered as a possible example using stone from the piers in interpretive signs.

A public comment period runs through Nov. 21. Comments can be mailed to: Peter N. Wax, Environmental Scientist, NDDEQ, 4201 Normandy St., 3rd Floor, Bismarck, ND 58503-1324; or emailed to pwax@nd.gov.

What's next

Once the Coast Guard issues its formal record of decision, BNSF will work to obtain the needed federal and state permits.

The railroad expects construction of a new bridge to take 2-3 years once physical work begins, according to McBeth. The existing bridge will be left in service until the new one is operational, she said.

The bridge will be built to handle a double track, but if the railroad chooses to add a second track in the future -- including through Bismarck-Mandan -- it would need to go through another regulatory approval process, she said.

BNSF estimated at the beginning of the bridge replacement process that a new structure would cost $60 million to build, with removal of the current bridge tacking on another $4 million, but costs "undoubtedly have gone up," McBeth said.

"We didn't anticipate that it would be five years later," she said.
Next year, Ukraine plans to organize the third summit of the Crimea Platform at the level of heads of state and government.

The Office of the President of Ukraine said this in a statement following a meeting to sum up the results of the first parliamentary summit of the Crimea Platform, Ukrinform reports.

"Participants in the meeting decided to hold the third summit of the Crimea Platform at the level of heads of state and government next year," the report said.

On November 1, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held a meeting to discuss the results of the first parliamentary summit of the Crimea Platform.

The model of reintegration, restoration and development of the Ukrainian Crimea, which should be ready for implementation as soon as the peninsula is freed from the temporary Russian occupation, was discussed at the meeting.

Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelensky seeks to build defense relations between Ukraine and the Czech Republic.

The leader stated this in an interview with Czech television, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Zelensky expressed the opinion that after the Russian-Ukrainian war is over, the whole world will reconsider its attitude to security: "I believe that security will be a number one priority."

"We will defeat Russia on our land, but this doesnt mean that they will not return in 10 or 20 years. I would like to believe that they will change their attitude toward the world and to their society, to no longer despise it, but develop democracy. I would like to believe they will, but well see. In any case, we understand that we have to defend ourselves," said the president of Ukraine.

He recalled the recent successful negotiations between the governments of Ukraine and the Czech Republic. In this context, Zelensky says he seeks to build certain defense relations between the two nations.

"I am in favor of building separate defense relations between our states. I have proposed certain things to the Prime Minister. Our teams will start working on that," he said.

The head of the Ukrainian state emphasized that people want to see safety on land, on water, and in the sky. "We, the leaders of modern world, of Europe, where the biggest war in the last 70 years is going on, must ensure this  start the process strategically so that politicians who will come after us can continue," Zelensky concluded.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on October 31, the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Petr Fiala, along with the delegation of the Czech government, came on a working visit to Ukraine.

As a result of the meeting with Ukraines Cabinet officials, three cooperation documents were signed, intergovernmental consultations began, and additional military aid was announced.
Ukrainian Internal Affairs Minister Denys Monastyrskyi has met with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Central and Eastern Europe in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Robin Dunnigan, who are paying a visit to Kyiv.

The relevant statement was made by the Ukrainian Internal Affairs Ministry, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to Ukraine Bridget A. Brink also took part in the meeting.

The parties discussed the current situation in our country, as well as the coordination of further steps related to cooperation and aid in the context of the urgent challenges and the emergence of new threats to Ukraines national security and defense due to the escalation of the enemys aggressive actions, namely massive air attacks on the countrys critical civil infrastructure, the ministry noted.

Monastyrskyi outlined the role and functions of the units of the Ukrainian Internal Affairs Ministry, which are part of the national defense forces, directly involved in military operations, protecting numerous critical infrastructure objects, conducting demining works within the liberated areas and restoring vital activities in the de-occupied settlements.

Monastyrskyi told the U.S. representatives of the scale of contamination of Ukrainian territories with explosive items and emphasized the urgent need to strengthen the capacity of demining units, mainly with modern special equipment.

Additionally, Monastyrskyi thanked the U.S. Department of State for $47.6 million provided in demining assistance to Ukraine and the modern special radiological, chemical, biological and nuclear protection equipment handed over to the Ukrainian State Emergency Service.

The U.S. representatives assured the Ukrainian side of the unwavering support of the United States for Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity amid Russias war of aggression.

Photo: Ukrainian Internal Affairs Ministry

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The Ukrainian side has warned the Islamic Republic of Iran of the consequences of supplying missiles and even more unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to Russia.

The relevant statement was made by Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba at a joint briefing with Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister Jose Manuel Albares Bueno in Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The threat is real, and we have informed Iran through diplomatic channels about the consequences that will follow if this decision is endorsed and implemented. We were as substantive as possible. Now it is up to the Iranian side to take a step, Kuleba said.

According to Kuleba, when it comes to the complicity of any country in the Russian aggression and killing of civilians, Ukraine will be absolutely ruthless, taking actions in response.

Because it is about defending our state and our citizens. A much wiser decision for Iran would be to completely halt the supply of any arms to Russia, which are used against Ukraine, Kuleba noted.

A reminder that Spokesperson for the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Yurii Ihnat stated earlier that Russia was planning to deploy Iranian-manufactured missiles along the northern border of Ukraine. The United States has not yet confirmed reports of the supply of Iranian missiles to Russia.

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Participants at UNHCR Regional consultation on Good Practices on Identification and Protection of Stateless Persons in Europe, Madrid, 20-21 October.  UNHCR/Valeriia Cherednichenko

MADRID  UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, hosted a two-day regional consultation in Madrid on the identification of stateless people and statelessness determination procedures on 20 and 21 October. The consultations brought together 31 European countries to help work towards the common goal of eradicating statelessness.

The broad participation at such an event, with both European Union (EU) and non-EU countries, demonstrates the sustained commitment of European States towards addressing statelessness. The consultations provided a platform for technical experts to share experience and good practices and inspire other countries in their efforts to uphold the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons.

It is extremely encouraging to see such a high level of engagement from nearly 40 Government experts across Europe, all committed to pursuing efforts to better identify and protect stateless people. There is a wealth of expertise and experience as well as many good practices that can be replicated within the region and beyond, said Pascale Moreau, Director for the UNHCR Regional Bureau for Europe.

The key focus of the event was the establishment and improvement of Statelessness Determination Procedures, which help States identify who is stateless within their territory and ensure they enjoy the rights to which they are entitled.

Globally, 28 countries currently have a Statelessness Determination Procedure in place, including 15 countries in Europe. This number has nearly doubled across the continent since the launch of UNHCRs #IBelong Campaign in 2014, evidencing European states commitment to tackling this problem, as illustrated by the pledges made at the High-Level Segment on Statelessness in 2019. It is hoped that these consultations will galvanize further efforts towards the protection of stateless people in Europe, the implementation of pledges, and the eventual eradication of statelessness.

Across Europe, hundreds of thousands of people are estimated to be stateless or have their nationality undetermined. Many in these situations are precluded from basic rights and services, often not allowed to go to school, see a doctor, get a job, open a bank account, buy a house, get married or move freely. They can face a lifetime of obstacles.

The Consultations were held ahead of the 8th anniversary of UNHCRs #IBelong Campaign to end Statelessness on 4 November.

UNHCR is currently serving as the Secretariat to lead the establishment of the Global Alliance To End Statelessness, which will seek to build on the concrete gains generated by the #IBelong Campaign and serve as a platform to increase collective advocacy efforts, catalyze political commitments, and accelerate the implementation of concrete solutions to statelessness.

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A Burundian refugee family takes a bus home from Tanzania.  UNHCR/Samuel Otieno

During her first visit to Burundi, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees Kelly T. Clements urged for increased international support to areas and communities where Burundian refugees are opting to return home. More than 200,000 Burundian refugees have returned from neighbouring countries since 2017.

In todays world of conflicts, persecution, climate shocks, and rising poverty and hunger, the opportunities for refugees to go home are few and far between, said Clements. Burundi is a rare exception and my appeal to the international community is to pledge strong support that will accelerate ongoing reintegration efforts and enable real solutions, the one all refugees want  to be able to go home and rebuild their lives.

Speaking at the High-Level Roundtable on the Return and Reintegration of Burundian Refugees in Bujumbura today, which brought together government officials, aid agencies, donors, development actors and Burundian returnees, Clements appealed for more development financing to aid refugee reintegration and to make returns sustainable.

At the event, H.E Minister of Interior Martin Niteretse said the Government of Burundi was committed to supporting returnees but called for stronger humanitarian and development efforts.

We are grateful to UNHCR and other stakeholders for supporting Burundian refugees who have decided to return home, said Niteretse. We hope that through these discussions, we will have a better understanding of how we can all work together to provide durable solutions in the return and reintegration process so that no one is left behind.

Ahead of the roundtable, the Deputy High Commissioner saw first-hand the challenges that recently returned refugees are facing after years of living in exile during a visit to Makamba province.

I met families, grateful to be home again but anxious about what jobs are available, what means they have to cultivate their land, needing shelter, education for their children, documentation, and access to basic services, said Clements.

During her visit to the country, Clements also met with Congolese refugees in the Nyakanda camp in eastern Burundi. She visited bakeries, carpentry shops, and fish farms run by refugees to earn an income, and which contribute to local economies within the host community.

Burundi hosts more than 87,000 refugees, mainly from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

To help refugees in Burundi and to better support Burundians returning home, we need more support, said Clements.

As of 25 October, UNHCR had received just 33 per cent of its US$80.5 million funding requirement for Burundi for 2022.

Sponsored by the European Union, the high-level roundtable in Burundi is taking place ahead of the 2022 High Commissioners Dialogue on Protection Challenges, to be held in Geneva in December 2022. The Dialogue will focus on strengthening development cooperation to advance protection, inclusion and solutions for refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), stateless persons, and returnees.

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SIOUX FALLS, S.D.  A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a lower court's decision to block parts of a South Dakota law that would have required ballot petition workers to publicly disclose their personal identification information.

The Republican-controlled Legislature in 2020 passed a law that would have required paid ballot measure circulators to list their personal information, including phone number, residential address, email address and driver's license information, in a directory. The law was just one attempt by lawmakers in recent years to add barriers to ballot measures, which have given progressive causes a chance at enactment in the politically red state.

Circuit Judge Steven Grasz wrote in an opinion for a three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals that being forced to disclose the information would be chilling in today's world and the law would violate the First Amendment.

United States District Judge Lawrence Piersol issued a temporary injunction against the law last year.

Dakotans for Health, an organization that was formed around a ballot measure to expand Medicaid eligibility, sued to have the law overturned. The organization is now focused on placing a proposed constitutional amendment on the 2024 ballot to codify abortion rights.

Our state Legislature continues to try to destroy the initiative process with these kinds of laws," said Rick Weiland, the director of Dakotans for Health. We've had success in the federal courts based on the First Amendment.

Weiland said that the ruling from three appeals court judges who were appointed under former President Donald Trump showed the importance of protecting a long-standing tradition to circulate and pass laws at the ballot box.
A new estimate of oil and gas mineral rights owned by North Dakota pegs their value at $2.8 billion. The appraisal released Thursday to the state Land Board says that's an 18% increase from last year. Officials say the increase comes largely from strong oil and natural gas prices and sustained production over the past year. The report examined about 9,000 wells in which the state holds an interest. That's about half of those operating in the state. In the fiscal year that ended in June, North Dakota received a record $464 million in royalties from state-owned minerals.
The opportunity to play Division I collegiate football is not something Texas State redshirt Read moreA second chance: Spears' life changed by near death experience
Date: 11 Nov 2022 - 10 Dec 2022

Time: 11:00-19:00

Town/City: Architectural Association, 36 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3ES

The Architectural Association (AA) School of Architecture would like to invite you to the Private View of Alberto Cruz: Observation, Act and Form an exhibition of drawings, sketches and paintings by Chilean architect and academic Alberto Cruz (19172013).

Alberto Cruz was an architect and architectural theorist who devoted most of his professional life to education. In 1952 he played a seminal role in reinvigorating the School of Architecture of Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso, and years later in the creation of the Ciudad Abierta-Amereida (the Open City) at Ritoque.

In 1975 he was awarded Chiles National Architecture Award. Shown now for the first time outside Chile, Cruzs drawings and notebooks offer the clearest manifestation of his radical ideals about education and his colourful aesthetic, which he also expressed in his architectural work.

Cruzs legacy is a ground-breaking tenet for studying, teaching and approaching architecture, and his ideas and practices have found new grounds in numerous architecture faculties around the globe. It is for these reasons that his works have found their way to London, to the AA Gallery, where the Open City and its ideas have arrived through the publication of Cruzs works and through his Chilean architecture students. But they have also materialised in the AA School through Hooke Park, an open forest with a strong sense of architectural exploration and community.
November 2 2022

Dundee City Council has set out its vision for the coming 30 years with a detailed road map for the city centre and seven priority development areas.

Prepared by Stallan-Brand the draft plan sets out a long-term investment strategy through to 2050 to manage the decline of retail and promote green transport. The ambitious report calls for the 3,400 population of the inner city to double within three decades by 'softening' the dividing line with the city centre through priorities such as redeveloping the Wellgate Centre to better connect with Hilltown.

Underutilised upper floors will be prioritised for residential conversion to halp achieve this goal, in tandem with a redoubling of efforts to tackle vacant properties through compulsory purchase orders with particular emphasis on attracting a share of the growing build to rent market.

Conceding that this work is beyond the scope of the city to deliver in isolation, council leader John Alexander said: "The city council and its public partners cannot deliver this vision alone, and we will need to attract significant levels of private investment to create new homes, leisure and business properties. We will use the City Centre Strategic Investment Plan as a prospectus to secure external investment by providing a clear vision of the future."

The local authority is inviting feedback on its draft City Centre Strategic Investment Plan for the next six weeks to inform its early stage ideas for seven key areas; East Port, The Wellgate Centre, Westport, Overgate North, Keiller Court and a sustainable transport hub at the Bell Street multi-storey car park.

Feedback on the report should be made prior to 13 December.
(@FahadShabbir)

The International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday it has tentatively agreed to provide a $2.4 billion loan to Serbia

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd November, 2022) The International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday it has tentatively agreed to provide a $2.4 billion loan to Serbia.

"I am pleased to announce that the IMF team and the Serbian authorities have reached staff-level agreement on a 24-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) with access amounting to SDR 1.9 billion, equivalent to about EUR 2.4 billion," IMF Head of Mission to Serbia Jan Kees Martijn said in a press release. "This arrangement would help address emerging external and fiscal financing needs given the challenging global economic environment and support the authorities' macroeconomic policies and structural reform efforts, with a focus on the energy sector.

"

Martijn noted that Serbia was facing the fallout from regional and global challenges, including the Russia-Ukraine conflict. GDP growth is predicted to slow to about 2.5% this year and 2.25 next year because of weaker demand from EU trading partners, higher energy prices, supply chain disruptions, and the recent drought. The current account deficit is also expected to increase to 9% of GDP both this year and the next.

The authorities intend to use the financing that will become available during the first part of the arrangement and to treat the remaining access as precautionary. The SBA is subject to approval by the IMF Executive board, which is expected to consider it in December.
WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd November, 2022) A potential plan by the Biden administration to ease sanctions on Venezuela in order to allow US companies to pump oil would likely discourage American energy companies from investing in boosting production in the United States, a former commissioner in the Texas Railroad Commission, the regulator of the top oil-producing state, told Sputnik.

Last month, media reported that President Joe Biden's administration is considering easing sanctions on Venezuela in the wake of the OPEC+ decision to cut oil production by 2 million barrels a day due to declining demand caused by a slowing global economy.

"I have heard about that. I'm gonna say this pretty candidly, it's one of the stupidest ideas I've ever heard to open up the flow of oil from Venezuela," former Texas oil regulator Ryan Sitton said.

From a technical perspective, Sitton said, it makes sense to seek Venezuelan oil because it is actually a fairly good replacement for the United States for the heavier crude oil it previously bought from Russia.

"From that perspective, makes sense, which is why the president's considering it, the problem is.. well, basically, Venezuela is another country that is violating human rights acts, they've done bad business in the oil business for a long time, you're funding a really authoritarian communist regime," Sitton said.

Instead, the Biden administration should invest in boosting the United States' own energy infrastructure to provide some long-term stability, he added.

"There's a short term fix, which is let's buy a little more oil from Venezuela, but once again, you do that, and what does it say to the US producer? I will screw you and I will go buy oil from a communist regime in Venezuela," Sitton said.

Sitton also said the move "just further sends the message to US oil companies don't invest here (in US). And it's just stupid."

Venezuela, an oil rich South American state, has been under the pressure of US sanctions for over a decade. In 2019, former President Donald Trump blacklisted PDVSA in a bid to topple Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by straining Caracas cash-flow.

Since 2021, energy prices have been surging worldwide as the global economy rebooted after the pandemic. The growth increased after the European Union and other Western states imposed sanctions on Russian oil and gas, disrupting supply chains amid surging demand. A price cap on Russian seaborne oil, suggested by the G7 and expected to be implemented in December, and the decision by OPEC+ to curb production also strained the already tense global energy situation.
(@FahadShabbir)

Falfurrias, United States, Nov 2 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Nov, 2022 ) :Sheriff Urbino Martinez has collected the remains of so many dead migrants who have come across the US southern border that he is known as "The Undertaker." "It's deadly out there," says Martinez, who patrols the small Texan county of Brooks, a few dozen kilometers (miles) from Mexico.

"We started keeping track of the dead bodies from 2009," he told AFP in his office, pointing to 20 thick volumes, where his department has information on 913 cases.

But, he says, that's only a fraction of the true human toll of the border crossings.

"I would multiply that times five, maybe even 10 for those bodies that will never be recovered." The United States logged a record 2.3 million migrant encounters at its southern border in the year to September -- a key issue for some voters as they head to the polls for next month's midterm elections.

Many were sent back south; an unknown number made it into the country without being detected.

At least 700 people are known to have died in the attempt.

To avoid the checkpoint in Falfurrias, the main town in Brooks County, migrants are directed by human traffickers into vast farmsteads where dense vegetation, treacherous sands and soaring temperatures can prove fatal.

Sometimes, there isn't much of a person left to find.

Martinez's folders are labelled "human remains" -- a chillingly accurate description of the photographs that sometimes show partial torsos or just a few bones.

"If it's real hot, your body will decompose completely within 72 hours, and then the animals are going to tear whatever's left.

"The feral hogs, the rats, anything that's out there that can tear the limb off, they're going to do it. We found human bones inside a rat's den before." Numbers are down in Brooks county this year -- Martinez has logged 80 bodies so far in 2022, all of which were processed through his mobile mortuary.

"It is less than last year but it is 80 too many," he says.

- No identification - The death that Martinez finds in Brooks is not unique to his county.

The same pattern of tragedy is repeated all along the Texan border: desperate people dying as they flee the crushing poverty, violence and terror of their dysfunctional homelands.

In the border town of Eagle Pass, the municipal cemetery is strewn with rudimentary crosses for dozens of unknown dead; the men and women whose American dreams ended in anonymous graves.

Around 40 plaques, labelled John or Jane Doe, sit next to a small US flag.

Across town, the migrants are still coming, gambling that the possibility of death en route is better than the alternative.

"It was an ordeal," said Alejandra, a 35-year-old Colombian who crossed the rushing Rio Grande to reach Texas, even though she cannot swim. "But it was scarier to go back."Cowering under a tree from the hot sun, Alejandra said she needed asylum because of the danger she faced from organized crime in Colombia.

"If we go back, they'll kill us," she said, looking at her three teenage children.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Braslia, Nov 2 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Nov, 2022 ) :Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday "authorized" the transition to a new government, without acknowledging his defeat to leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Bolsonaro, 67, broke two days of silence after his razor-thin loss to Lula on Sunday, which sparked protests from his supporters across the country and fanned fears he would not accept the outcome.

In a speech that lasted just over two minutes, the far-right incumbent neither acknowledged defeat, nor congratulated Lula on his victory.

Bolsonaro started by thanking the 58 million Brazilians who voted for him, before commenting that the roadblocks erected by his supporters across the country were "the fruit of indignation and a feeling of injustice at how the electoral process took place." "Peaceful protests will always be welcome," he said, adding that people should not be impeded from coming and going.

"As president of the Republic and a citizen I will continue to comply with our constitution," he said, before handing the podium to his chief of staff Ciro Noguiera, who said Bolsonaro had "authorized" the "start of the transition" process.

Lula's Workers' Party announced Tuesday that his vice-president-elect Geraldo Alckmin would lead the transition process which would begin on Thursday. Lula will be inaugurated for his third term as president on January 1.

Bolsonaro's appearance, however succinct, capped two days of tensions over how he would respond to such a narrow loss after months of alleging fraud in the electoral system.

"Anyplace else in the world, the defeated president would have called me to recognize his defeat," Lula said in his victory speech to a euphoric sea of red-clad supporters in Sao Paulo on Sunday night.

Bolsonaro remained silent even as key allies publicly recognized his loss, including the powerful speaker of the lower house of Congress, Arthur Lira.

Federal Highway Police (PRF) on Tuesday reported more than 250 total or partial road blockages in at least 23 states by Bolsonaro supporters, which they were attempting to disperse, in some cases firing teargas at demonstrators.

Protesters wearing the yellow and green of the Brazilian flag, which the outgoing president has adopted as his own, said they would not accept the outcome of the election.

"We will not accept losing what we have gained, we want what is written on our flag, 'order and progress'. We will not accept the situation as it is," Antoniel Almeida, 45, told AFP at a protest in Barra Mansa, Rio de Janeiro.

On Monday night, Judge Alexander de Moraes of the Supreme Court ordered police to disperse the blockades immediately. He was acting in response to a request by a transport federation that complained it was losing business.

Bolsonaro became the first incumbent president in Brazil not to win re-election in the post-dictatorship era after a four-year term in which he came under fire for his disastrous handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, which left more than 680,000 dead in Brazil.

He also drew criticism for his vitriolic comments, polarizing style and attacks on democratic institutions and foreign allies.

Bolsonaro used his brief speech to reflect on his time in office and said the victory of a majority of right-wing candidates in Congress "shows the strength of our values: God, homeland, family, and liberty." "Our dreams are more alive than ever. Even in the face of the system, we overcame a pandemic and the consequences of a war," Bolsonaro said, referring to Russia's war against Ukraine, which has reverberated around the globe with rising prices and concerns of a major food crisis. "I was always labeled undemocratic and unlike my accusers, I always played within the limits of the constitution." The post-election drama follows a dirty and divisive election campaign between Bolsonaro and Lula, who returns to office in a dramatic comeback.

Brazil's president between 2003 and 2010, Lula crashed into disgrace in a corruption scandal that landed him in jail before his conviction was thrown out due to bias from the lead judge. However, he was not exonerated.

The election outcome showed just how polarized the country is between the two very different leaders.

Lula scored 50.9 percent to Bolsonaro's 49.1 percent -- the narrowest margin in Brazil's modern history.

With a massive to-do list, Lula leaped into action, meeting Argentine President Alberto Fernandez in Sao Paulo and holding a series of phone calls with US President Joe Biden, France's Emmanuel Macron, Germany's Olaf Scholz, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and others.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

OTTAWA, Nov. 2 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Nov, 2022 ) :The Canadian Federal government revealed Tuesday its immigration plan to welcome half a million immigrants each year by 2025 to tackle the problem of labor shortage.

Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Sean Fraser released Canada's 2023-2025 Immigration Levels Plan which embraces immigration as a strategy to help businesses find workers and to attract the skills required in key sectors.

According to a news release from the immigration ministry, the Canadian economy is now facing critical labour market shortages causing uncertainty for Canadian businesses and workers. The ambitious immigration plan will manage the social and economic challenges Canada will face in the decades ahead.

Last year Canada welcomed over 405,000 newcomers, the most in a single year.

According to the plan, the government is continuing that ambition by setting targets in the new levels plan of 465,000 permanent residents in 2023, 485,000 in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025.

"Our plan has a focus on economic growth," Fraser said. "By the third year of this plan, 60 percent of new immigrants will be admitted under economic immigration categories." The plan also brought an increased focus on attracting newcomers to different regions of the country, including small towns and rural communities.

Immigration accounted for almost 100 percent of Canada's labour force growth and by 2032 it's projected to account for 100 percent of Canada's population growth, the release said.

According to the release, Canada's worker-to-retiree ratio is expected to shift from seven to one 50 years ago to two to one by 2035.
Kyiv, Ukraine, Nov 1 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Nov, 2022 ) :Grain exports will halt on Wednesday after Moscow pulled out of a deal to let ships through the Black Sea, as Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded "real guarantees" from Kyiv before returning to the agreement.

Russia announced its suspension on Saturday, accusing Ukraine of misusing the safe shipping corridor for an attack on Russian ships in Crimea. Kyiv has dismissed this as a "false pretext" to withdraw.

The Turkey and UN-brokered deal signed in July by Kyiv and Moscow is crucial to easing a global food crisis caused by the war.

In a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Tuesday, Putin wanted Kyiv to give "real guarantees" that it was "not using the humanitarian corridor for military purposes", a Kremlin statement said.

No grain ship movements were planned for Wednesday, the body overseeing the export deal said, although three more grain-loaded cargo ships left Ukrainian ports on Tuesday.

Moscow had warned on Monday it was "more risky, dangerous" to continue the exports without Russia's participation.

Russia is also putting greater pressure on Ukrainians inside the country as recent attacks damaged the country's infrastructure, plunging families and businesses into darkness weeks before winter.

On Tuesday, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said water and electricity supplies had been "fully restored" in the capital.

But the attacks have "seriously damaged around 40 percent of the entire energy infrastructure" of Ukraine, the presidency said in a statement.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich said Monday's bombardment was "one of the most massive shellings of our territory by the army of the Russian Federation".

- Infrastructure strikes - Following the strikes, aerial views showed Kyiv thrown into darkness overnight, with the only lights coming from street traffic.

Monday's shelling had left 80 percent of the capital's consumers without water and 350,000 homes without electricity.

Klitschko warned there would still be planned power cuts in the city "because of the considerable deficit in the power system after the barbaric attacks of the aggressor".

Ukrainian energy operator Ukrenergo said it would limit supplies to all consumers in central and northern regions of the country to "reduce the pressure on the network".

EU commissioner for energy Kadri Simson arrived in Kyiv "to help scale up support to the Ukrainian energy sector", she said on Twitter.

The Ukrainian army said Russia launched 55 cruise missiles Monday, mainly at energy infrastructure.

Russia's defence ministry claimed Tuesday the "massive strikes... significantly disrupted the management and logistics of the Ukrainian armed forces".

Russia has pivoted to systematically attacking the Ukrainian utilities network after setbacks on the battlefield, where its army is facing pushbacks on the eastern and southern fronts.

In the south, Kyiv's forces are preparing for fierce battles to recapture the city of Kherson and its surrounding region.

Kherson is one of four regions -- along with Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Lugansk -- that Moscow claims to have annexed but does not fully control.
(@FahadShabbir)

Niagara Falls, United States, Nov 2 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Nov, 2022 ) :In the US border town of Niagara Falls, residents accustomed to the soothing roar of the famous waterfalls recently discovered a much less pleasant sound: the "haunting hum" of bitcoin mining farms.

"I get four hours of sleep, maybe, because of that constant noise," said Elizabeth Lundy, an 80-year-old retired hairdresser. "I can hear the noise even through the storm windows." On a sunny October morning, a mechanical whirring could be heard clearly on Lundy's front porch. The noise turned to a deafening din as one walked two blocks toward Buffalo Avenue where the US bitcoin miners operate.

Bitcoin mining farms have multiplied in the United States since China halted this activity in 2021. The United States is now emerging as a global leader in the industry.

Attracted by the cheap hydroelectric power available in Niagara Falls, Blockfusion took up residence at a former coal factory there in 2019, followed by US Bitcoin in 2020, which operates from a former sodium plant.

US Bitcoin installed hundreds of noisy fans outside, needed to cool the thousands of computer graphics cards that heat up as they solve the complex equations required to earn them cryptocurrency.

- 'A 747 jet' - "It sounds like a 747 jet," said Frank Peller, a 70-year-old resident who lives in a brownstone more than a mile from this crypto mining operation.

"It's the loudest in the morning, at night and if there's high humidity and a breeze," he added.

He once could sit in his backyard and hear the roar of Niagara Falls more than two miles away. But now, "you can't hear it at all" and you can't avoid "the roar of bitcoin mining every day." Bryan Maacks, who lives closer to Buffalo Avenue, described a "haunting, vibrating hum" -- a vexing throb that has run through his house day and night since last winter.

"It's very mentally daunting. It's like having a toothache for 24 hours a day every day," Maacks, 65, said.

He said he wears headphones all the time and uses a fan to block out the noise to get to sleep.

Maacks launched a petition and made a "US Bitcoin Stop the Noise" sign on the back of his red pickup truck, which he parked for several weeks in front of the company.

"The noise pollution of this industry is like nothing else that has been there," said Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino in his office decorated with paintings of the famous waterfalls.

That's quite a statement in a city that embraced heavy industry for decades.

Faced with a flood of complaints, mainly regarding US Bitcoin, the mayor decreed a moratorium on any new mining activity in December 2021, then in early September set strict noise limits of 40 to 50 decibels near residential areas.

- 'Noise barrier' - US Bitcoin said it's taking steps to address the problem.

"Immediately upon these concerns being flagged, we erected a plastic barrier," the company said in a statement to AFP.

"We also conducted acoustic studies and had plans drawn for a larger noise abatement wall" that was prevented from being built by the moratorium, the company said.

In the nearby town of North Tonawanda, the Canadian mining company Digihost, is also facing the ire of local residents, and has undertaken the construction of a soundproofing wall more than six meters (20 feet) high, at an estimated cost of several hundred thousand Dollars, Mayor Austin Tylec said.

In Niagara Falls, City Hall ordered the closure of the two bitcoin farms in early October until they comply with new local statutes.

While both companies say they are cooperating with the city, only Blockfusion had shut down its processors by the end of October and reduced the number of fans running, with US Bitcoin's still running at full capacity, an AFP reporter found.

"If they continue to refuse to comply with our order to stop, then we'll have to be in court," Restaino said.

Such a legal battle already pits the bitcoin farm Red Dog Technologies against local authorities in Tennessee. Other complaints about noise pollution in the vicinity of computer centers have arisen from North Carolina to Pennsylvania.
Galveston, United States, Nov 2 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Nov, 2022 ) :Cindy Scott teaches women to shoot using multi-colored targets and weapon bags decorated with unicorns, convinced that guns are not only safe but symbols of female empowerment.

"I get calls from women that are going through divorce, that just filed restraining orders or who are widowed," she says.

"The second amendment is for everybody, but it's for law abiding citizens." The right to bear arms -- the privilege asserted in the Second Amendment to the US Constitution -- is one of the key faultlines that runs through America.

While it is not on the ballot in the midterm elections on November 8, it is a touchstone issue that frequently -- but never neatly -- divides left from right, Democrat from Republican, city-dweller from countryfolk.

On one side are those who believe that access to firearms fuels the country's terrifying homicide and suicide rates, with more than 37,000 deaths from guns so far this year, according to gunviolencearchive.com.

On the other side are those like Scott, who view firearms as indispensible for self-defense.

Her home state of Texas is one of 23 states that do not restrict the carrying of weapons.

Those who say there should be controls on guns don't understand the reality of the life that most people live, she says.

"They spend millions of Dollars and have bodyguards," she said.

"They live in areas where they are able to have walls and fences...

"So if you were to ban firearms from law abiding citizens, you're taking away their ability to defend themselves." Repeated opinion surveys by reputable organisations such as Gallup find that far from being a minority opinion of the super-wealthy, a clear majority of Americans would like stricter controls on firearms.

- Female instructor - Scott began learning how to handle weapons around a decade ago when she was spending a lot of time alone, or with only her son because her husband was working away from home.

In the early days finding a class with a female instructor was tough.

Years later, after her son had left home and she had more time on her hands, she began teaching other women how to shoot.

Many women who get in touch have gone through a big upheaval in their lives, she says.

"I think the realization when some of them are alone that 'I no longer have a husband,' I think that's when it sets in,"Or they now have gotten their house broken into or their car's been stolen...

"If you have a firearm, you have a tool and it's a tool for self defense."
Gen. Bradley Chance Saltzman officially took charge of the US Space Force on Wednesday following the retirement of former chief Gen. John Raymond, promising to develop the fledgling military branch into a combat-ready force

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd November, 2022) Gen. Bradley Chance Saltzman officially took charge of the US Space Force on Wednesday following the retirement of former chief Gen. John Raymond, promising to develop the fledgling military branch into a combat-ready force.

"The world is becoming an increasingly dangerous place and preserving US national security interests in space is growing harder every day," Saltzman said during remarks at a change of command ceremony. "If deterrence fails, the Space Force will be an indispensable component of our joint force at war ... You have my commitment that I will work relentlessly to make the Space Force the combat-ready force that our nation needs."

As Chief of Space Operations, Saltzman will lead the Space Force, serve as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and advise the National Security Council.

Saltzman started work at the Space Force as deputy chief of space operations for operations, cyber, and nuclear.

On Tuesday, Russian deputy representative at the UN First Committee on Disarmament, Konstanin Vorontsov, said that Western countries are attempting to consolidate space as an arena for military activities and confrontation.

Earlier that day, the committee adopted three resolutions proposed by Russia calling on states to prevent an arms race in space and urging the development of a plan to address the possibility of warfare in space.

The US Space Force is the newest of the military's eight uniformed services, falling under the Department of the Air Force. The branch was founded in December 2019 under former US President Donald Trump.
While investigations continue into the $1.8 million cost overrun for the remodeling of a building during late Attorney General Wayne Stenehjems tenure, questions about conflict of interest have been raised.

Its an issue in the past thats involved legislators and other elected officials that could use some clarification.

Rep. Jason Dockter, R-Bismarck, is part owner of the building and also has ownership interest in the companies that did the remodeling work. Dockter adamantly denies doing anything wrong.

Dockter and his Stealth Properties LLC partner C.J. Schorsch provided the Tribune on Friday with about 800 pages of documents related to the project. They argue the cost overrun was $1.2 million and attribute it to coronavirus pandemic delays, change orders and overages. The documents also were provided to the Legislatures audit committee and Attorney General Drew Wrigleys office. They were shared with Montana investigators looking into the overrun.

Talk radio host Joel Heitkamp has filed a complaint with the North Dakota Ethics Commission over Dockters involvement. Heitkamp believes Dockters role in the project is a conflict of interest because of his legislative duties and the fact he served as Stenehjems treasurer for two political campaigns.

Dockter rejects that argument, saying, We have our lives outside of the Legislature. He added, We have businesses.

Thats true -- a citizen Legislature isnt a full-time job, though it does take a big chunk of time from a lawmaker. The Legislature is in session every other year, from roughly January through April. The session is limited to 80 legislative days.

Lawmakers also serve on interim committees when the Legislature isnt in session. They are involved in a variety of professions and businesses. They are supposed to avoid conflicts, but thats basically a personal decision. Its rare that a legislator recuses himself or herself from a vote or other activity.

Dockter certainly isnt the first legislator to lease a building to a state office or agency. Questions have been raised about the practice in the past, but the argument has won out that a legislators business shouldnt be barred from taking part in commerce.

As the Tribune editorial board has noted previously, part of the cause of the overrun was the lack of oversight. Under present statute the attorney generals office was allowed to handle the project in-house. The Tribune believes the attorney generals office needed oversight assistance thats available at the Capitol.

The Montana investigation will hopefully answer the questions surrounding the project.

Its not known when, or if, the Ethics Commission will rule on Heitkamps complaint. The commission doesnt have to accept all complaints.

It's also not clear whether Dockter's situation will result in any clarity on legislators acting as landlords to the state. But it would be helpful for lawmakers if they had some guidance for future situations, which we are sure will arise.

Dockter has promised to resolve any questions with the attorney generals office. The Tribune hopes he can do that, and that the Montana investigation can be completed soon. The public deserves answers and reputations are at stake.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

ANKARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd November, 2022) Turkey has informed Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu about Ukraine's response to Russia's concerns about the grain, noting there are no concerns about the corridor's safety, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Wednesday.

Akar said on Tuesday that Ankara had received a written response from Kiev to Moscow's concerns about the grain deal.

An Istanbul source with knowledge of the matter later told Sputnik that Ankara would inform Moscow about Kiev's response.

"We meet with ministers from both sides to resolve emerging issues. Last night, we spoke to Shoigu on the phone. He had concerns, we accepted his concerns. We also held talks with Ukrainian ministers. Having carried out the necessary work, we conveyed to Shoigu that there is no reason for concern, we expect the situation to normalize," Akar told the Milliyet newspaper.
Armed bandits in the northwestern Nigerian state of Katsina have kidnapped 39 children working on a farm and demanded a ransom, the Katsina state police said on Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd November, 2022) Armed bandits in the northwestern Nigerian state of Katsina have kidnapped 39 children working on a farm and demanded a ransom, the Katsina state police said on Wednesday.

"Yes, the Command can confirm that 39 young children were kidnapped by bandits on Sunday while working on a farm in Faskari LGA (local government area). The bandits in their large number, invaded the farm and abducted the children," police spokesman Gambo Isah said, as quoted by the Ripples Nigeria news portal.

Isah added that the heavily armed intruders started shooting indiscriminately after they surrounded the farm.

A source told the Daily Trust newspaper that the bandits demanded 3 million naira ($6,840) from the owner of the farm to allow him to harvest, but he paid them only a third of this amount and decided to start working on the farm, while collecting the remaining sum. This angered the bandits, who proceeded to abduct the children. Another source was cited as saying that the bandits demanded 30 million naira.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday sent a letter to US Senate President Kamala Harris and House Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi informing them that he intends to terminate the designation of Burkina Faso as a beneficiary under the African Growth and Opportunity Act

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd November, 2022) President Joe Biden on Wednesday sent a letter to US Senate President Kamala Harris and House Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi informing them that he intends to terminate the designation of Burkina Faso as a beneficiary under the African Growth and Opportunity Act.

"In accordance with section 506A(a)(3)(B) of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2466a(a)(3)(B)), I am providing advance notification of my intent to terminate the designation of Burkina Faso as a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA)," Biden said in the letter published by the White House.

Biden said the termination was due to Burkina Faso not making continual progress toward establishing the rule of law and political pluralism as required by the AGOA.

The US president said the termination will be effective on January 1, 2023.

Biden added that he will continue to monitor the situation and assess whether the Burkina Faso is making progress toward meeting the AGOA eligibility requirements.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Egypt's President, Abdel Fattah Sisi, urged the Ethiopian government to enter into a legally binding agreement on the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam at the the League of Arab States summit on Wednesday

CAIRO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd November, 2022) Egypt's President, Abdel Fattah Sisi, urged the Ethiopian government to enter into a legally binding agreement on the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam at the the League of Arab States summit on Wednesday.

"We demand from the Ethiopian side to sign a legally binding agreement on filling and operating the Renaissance Dam," Sisi said addressing participants of the summit.

In his speech the Egyptian leader also urged Ethiopia to "demonstrate the good will" in relation to the dam.

Ethiopia has been undertaking the large-scale dam building project since 2012.

According to analysts, the launch of the dam will inevitably lead to water shortages in Sudan and Egypt, which located downstream the Nile. Since the beginning of construction three countries have held more than a dozen of talks for discussing the water use, however the contradictions remain. Relations between the countries severely deteriorated in summer 2020, after Ethiopia had started the first stage of filling the dam reservoir without preliminary agreements. On July19, Ethiopia reported the end of the second stage.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd November, 2022) Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Wednesday that the UN-brokered grain deal was still effectively functioning after Russia suspended its participation, as eight vessels of agricultural cargo would depart from Ukraine on November 3.

Earlier in the day, the UN Coordinator for the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Amir Abdulla, also announced that he expects loaded ships to sail on Thursday.

"#BlackSeaGrainInitiative continues. On Thursday, November 3rd, 8 vessels with agricultural products are expected to pass through the "grain corridor.

We got confirmation from the UN. Also, inspections will be carried out in the Bosphorus tomorrow," Kubrakov tweeted.

On October 29, Russia announced suspending its participation in the Black Sea grain deal after the attack on ships of its Black Sea Fleet involved in protecting the grain corridor. The Russian Ministry of Defense said the attacks were carried out by Ukraine assisted by UK experts.
ANKARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd November, 2022) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he had discussed with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday the entry of Russian agricultural products to the markets, at the first stage deliveries will be made to Somalia, Sudan and Djibouti.

Erdogan said earlier that after his talks with Putin and talks between the Turkish and Russian defense ministers, an agreement had been reached on restoring the grain corridor. The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday that Russia was resuming participation in the grain deal.

"Yesterday, during our talks, we discussed the entry of Russian grain and fertilizer into the global markets. We determined that at the first stage, these products should be received by countries in need, such as Somalia, Sudan, Djibouti, that is, countries in need," Erdogan said in an interview with A Haber broadcaster.
Iran will send a delegation to Vienna in the coming days to strengthen relations and cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd November, 2022) Iran will send a delegation to Vienna in the coming days to strengthen relations and cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Wednesday.

"In the coming days, we will send a delegation from Iran to Vienna to begin talks on strengthening cooperation with the IAEA. There is consensus between (Chairman of Iranian Atomic Energy Organization Mohammad) Eslami and IAEA head Rafael Grossi on this," the minister said during a joint press conference with his Syrian counterpart, Faisal Mekdad, as quoted by the Iranian news agency Fars.

Amir-Abdollahian added that exchanges with all parties to the Vienna talks on the renewal of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) are continuing, despite "contradictory" statements by the United States.

"Despite some contradictory statements by US officials, the exchange of views continues, and the exchange of messages through the European Union coordinator regarding the rescheduling in the Vienna talks also continues," the minister said.

The top Iranian diplomat also said he would discuss the situation around negotiations on the resumption of the JCPOA with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Wednesday.

"I will call Borrell in a few minutes to discuss the latest exchange of views and messages (on the JCPOA)," the minister added.

In 2015, Iran and the P5+1 group of countries comprised of China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany as well as the European Union, signed an agreement - formally known as the JCPOA - that obligated Tehran to scale back its nuclear program and reduce its uranium reserves in exchange for sanctions relief.

In 2018, then US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the JCPOA and reimposed comprehensive sanctions against Iran. Tehran responded with a gradual abandoning of its commitments under the nuclear agreement.

After Joe Biden succeeded Trump, the US and Iran both stated their readiness to return to the nuclear deal. Vienna has hosted several rounds of talks since April 2021, but the negotiation reached an impasse.

On October 31, US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley said that the US would not waste its time at present trying to revive the original 2015 nuclear agreement.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd November, 2022) Italy has halted its sixth package of military aid for Ukraine saying it needs first to clarify with NATO allies what exactly Kiev needs and what Rome is able to provide, Italian newspaper Il Messaggero reported on Wednesday, citing sources.

Rome has paused the military assistance to Ukraine "only because it is necessary to coordinate with NATO and consider in detail Ukraine's military demands," a government source was quoted as saying.

"Only then we will understand what Kiev needs and what weapons we can supply," the source added.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is scheduled to meet Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Defense Minister Guido Crosetto in coming days to discuss, among other things, arms supplies to Ukraine, according to the newspaper.

Ukraine has reportedly asked Italy to send SAMP-T anti-aircraft missile systems, but the Italian defense ministry made it clear it did not have enough to spare and might send an alternative weapon, Il Messaggero said.

Last week, the Italian government donated "20 to 30" M109L self-propelled howitzers to Kiev as part of the fifth military aid package. Italy has already provided Ukraine with M113 armored personnel carriers, six PzH 2000 howitzers, and two multiple launch rocket systems in the previous four packages.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd November, 2022) The multinational NATO battle groups near Russia's borders, including the troops of non-regional members of the alliance, have grown by 2.5 times since February, reaching more than 30,000 people, and could increase even more, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday.

"Formations of the armed forces of non-regional NATO states have been deployed in Eastern and Central Europe, as well as in the Baltic states. New multinational battalion tactical groups are being created in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. The strength of the military group has increased by 2.5 times since February 2022 and currently consists of more than 30,000 people, and in the near future it may increase even more," Shoigu said at a meeting of the joint board of the defense ministries of Russia and Belarus.
SEOUL (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd November, 2022) South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has held an emergency meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) over North Korea's missile launches and ordered for taking retaliatory measures, saying that Pyongyang would not be able to destabilize the Seoul-Washington alliance and the South Korean society, the presidential office said on Wednesday.

"President Yoon Suk-yeol ... made it clear that the attempts by North Korea to destabilize South-Korean-US alliance and South Korean society will not be productive. He also ordered for immediate serious measures so that North Korea would certainly pay for its provocation," the statement read.

The participants of the emergency meeting, including the heads of the foreign, intelligence and unification ministries, said that North Korea's launch of the ballistic missile, which fell near the South Korean territorial waters 35 miles away from the northeastern city of Sokcho, is an "unprecedented provocation," and strongly condemned it as an act, "seriously threatening peace and stability" on the Korean Peninsula, the statement also said.

The officials also expressed regret that Pyongyang had conducted the test-launch during the national mourning in South Korea over the deadly Halloween stampede in Seoul's Itaewon district.

Wednesday's launch is North Korea's 29th this year. Pyongyang has emphasized that its test launches are being carried out in response to "provocations" by Seoul, which has recently been conducting active military exercises both independently and jointly with the US and Japan.
Why is Managed Detection and Response (MDR) adoption growing?

This blog argues that it is because of MDRs ability to successfully combat 3 types of threats:

Ransomware attacks

Advanced malware

And 1 more

Read on to learn how MDR functions while defending your organization against each threat type.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd November, 2022) The Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group (banned in Russia) shelled Syria's Idlib de-escalation zone twice over the past 24 hours, Maj. Gen. Oleg Yegorov, deputy head of the Russian Defense Ministry's Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria, said at a briefing.

"Two shelling attacks from the positions of the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group were registered in the Idlib de-escalation zone over the past day," Maj. Gen. Yegorov said.

"One attack in Idlib province, one in Hama," he said.

Maj. Gen. Yegorov said one Syrian soldier was wounded in Idlib in sniper fire.

The Russian Defense Ministry's Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides and Control over the Movement of Refugees in the Syrian Arab Republic was established in February 2016.

Its tasks include the signing of agreements on illegal armed groups and individual settlements joining the regime of cessation of hostilities, as well as coordinating the delivery of humanitarian aid.
UNITED NATIONS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd November, 2022) The United States and Albania are convening a UN Security Council meeting on November 2 to discuss the ongoing protests in Iran, the US mission to the United Nations said in a statement on Tuesday.

"The United States and Albania will co-host a UN Security Council Arria-formula meeting on November 2 to highlight the ongoing repression of women and girls and members of religious and ethnic minority groups in Iran and underscore ongoing unlawful use of force against peaceful protesters," the statement said. "The meeting will also identify opportunities to promote credible, international, independent investigations into the Iranian government's human rights violations and abuses."

The United States will continue to condemn Iran's violent repression of women and peaceful protesters through the UN system and will keep pursuing options to hold the Iranian government accountable, the statement added.

Experts expected to brief the US Security Council include Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran Javaid Rehman as well as Iran human rights defender and Nobel Peace prize Winner Shirin Ebadi.

In September, riots erupted in Iran in connection with the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who passed away while in police custody after being detained for improperly wearing a hijab. The rioters attacked members of Iran's security forces, killing an as of yet undetermined number.

The Iranian government has said the unrest was planned and supported by Western powers who seek regime change in Tehran.
On Monday this week, Pope Francis received, in the Vatican, the new Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Congo, His Excellency Deogratias Ndagano Mangokube.

Stanislas Kambashi,SJ - Vatican City.

The new Ambassador met Pope Francis, in the Vatican, for the presentation of Letters of Credence. After he met with the Holy Father, the Congolese diplomat granted an interview to Vatican News.

Deogratias Ndagano Mangokube described the cordial welcome and atmosphere he experienced during the meeting with the Holy Father. He then dwelt on the mission he received upon his appointment as Ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Democratic Republic of Congo to the Holy See.

Enhancing relations with the Holy See

"To build relations and enhance the image of Congo, the first Catholic country in Africa," is the mission received by Ambassador Mangokube from his country. For this to happen, the diplomat intends to listen to his compatriots. "I hope that the Congolese people will share their points of view with me so that together we can see what there is to improve and initiate for the future," he said.

He added that one of his duties is to "ensure follow-up and monitoring of the agreements signed between the Congolese State and the Holy See."

The Catholic Church's contribution to the DRC

The Congolese diplomat further stressed the critical contribution of the Catholic Church to the life of the Congolese. He highlighted several educational and training structures, such as "nursery, primary, secondary and university institutions."

For him, these are excellent services that the Church renders to the State beyond religious affiliation.

"Many Congolese who have studied in Catholic schools are contributing to the public affairs of the State," he said. Ambassador Mangokube considers this complementarity between the State and the Church a "value" to be safeguarded for the good of the vast central African country and its people.

The Pope has not forgotten the DRC

"The Congolese continue to wait for the arrival of the Pope in the DRC," said the Congolese diplomat. The Ambassador confided to Vatican News that he presented an African wax print fabric to Pope Francis, known locally as Kitenge. The colourful Kitenge is common in most of Africa. The Ambassador presented the Pope with a Kitenge that has his image. It was initially designed for the postponed Apostolic Journey, which was to have taken place in July 2022. Ambassador Mangokube said he felt reassured to hear from the Pope that "he has not forgotten the Congo" and that a trip to the country is on his agenda.

An invitation to Congolese nationals in Italy

Ambassador Mangokube reiterated his invitation the Congolese in Italy to develop a close relationship with "their embassy." This will enable them understand the difference between what the embassy to the Holy See does and the role of the other embassy of the DRC to the Republic of Italy.

"In Africa, we are the first Catholic country, and, beyond religion, the actions undertaken by the Catholic Church contribute to the development of the country; this is why Congo has considered it necessary to have a permanent diplomatic representation with the Holy See," he explained.
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Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, Archbishop of Managua in Nicaragua, speaks about the Popes solidarity with the Church in Nicaragua, and his invitation to its ministers to be messengers of reconciliation and hope.

By Patricia Ynestroza

Cardinal Archbishop Leopolda Brenes of Nicaragua spoke to Vatican News at a press conference for the release of a new document by CELAM, the Episcopal Conference of Latin America.

At the conference, which took place at the Vatican Radio headquarters, the Nicaraguan Cardinal said that, in view of the difficult situation in his country, it is necessary to walk in communion.

Echoing what Pope Francis said to him in a papal audience with the Presidency of CELAM, Cardinal Brenes said that the pastors of Nicaragua must be messengers of reconciliation and hope.

He added that there is much tension in families, and that it is necessary to be promoters of peace.

Your Eminence, the Pope addressed the situation in your country.

Of course, it was sure that this topic would be addressed with the Pope. He is well-informed and knows the situation very well, and he just asked me some details, and I gave him my opinion. He showed solidarity with us, and invited us to continue with pastoral work, to be messengers of reconciliation, and messengers of hope. We cant lament certain situations that we see. We cannot be looking backwards, but we must always go forward, and above all walk in communion, in closeness. The Pope reminds us of shepherds, who have to go in front, in the middle, and behind, accompanying their people. And this is what he invites us to as pastors in the Church on pilgrimage in Nicaragua.

Last week, at the "Cry for Peace" initiative organized by the Community of Sant'Egidio, we also prayed for peace in Nicaragua.

I believe that it is always necessary to pray for peace, and not only for socio-political situations and problems, but rather to pray for peace for the heart. If a heart is not at peace, not reconciled, there is something that is missing. I think we always have to pray for peace in our hearts, so that this can spread, first of all, to the family. There is much tension in families, much tension between neighbors. There must always be a call to pray for peace, to be promoters of peace, like the Church. The great work that the Church does in the World Day of Prayer for Peace, the first of January of each year, is making a great impact, and is appreciated by all. Praying for peace as a great desire of the Lord, who asks us to be true promoters of peace.

As members of the Presidency, you had an audience with Pope Francis. What topics did you address?

Our intention was to deliver to Pope Francis the product of the reflection of the Ecclesial Assembly that we developed last year, as requested by the Pontiff. Many brother bishops were asking the Holy Father to encourage a sixth Conference. The Pope, however, told us that we were still in debt to the Conference of Aparecida, with regard to so many topics that have not yet been exhausted, so he presented the idea of an Assembly, which is what happened last year. It was wonderful, and there was no idea of presenting a book, as we did, but rather we thought of presenting a synthesis of the reflections that were made. This is what was presented to the Pope as a first indication, because we, as the Presidency, will then send it to all the Episcopal Conferences so that it can begin to be studied. Because there are so many beautiful things that were said. But they are not part of a project, but rather the product of the reflections of more than a thousand people, because about a hundred people attended in Mexico, but at a virtual level more than a thousand people participated. And behind the thousand, there was another number that had been working in the parishes.

How has the process of synodality been carried out in your country?

I believe that Latin America has been on a journey for a long time, living in synodality. Perhaps we do not use the term synodality, but even though we use the term communion, the experiences we have had from the various assemblies of the Latin American Episcopate have given us a whole experience. And for us in Central America, it has also been wonderful, because SEDAC [the Episcopal Secretariat of Central America] is an organization that is older than CELAM. We came about first, and that journey together has grown into something that is very important, the friendship between we bishops. And we have already been feeling this, in this work that the Holy Father is now proposing to us, defining the synodality of walking together, and I think it is very positive for Latin America in a special way.
Britain's new Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has faced opposition in Parliament for the first time since he was elected as the nation's first British Asian government leader. Sunak was confronted with questions after less than two days on the job.

By Stefan J. Bos



The leader of Britain's oppositional Labour party Keir Starmer used the Prime Minister's Questions time to make a historical observation.



He made clear that Rishi Sunak's election as prime minister showed that the nation can overcome still simmering racial and ethnic tensions at a time of concerns about migration. "The appointment of the first British Asian prime minister is a significant development in our national story. And it is a reminder that for all challenges we face as a country, Britain is a place where people of all races and of all beliefs can fulfill their dreams," he said.



However, he noted, "that is not true in every country. And many didn't think they would live to see the day when that would be true here. It's part of what makes us all proud to be British."



However, Starmer quickly criticized Suella Braverman's appointment as home secretary just six days after she resigned over data breaches.



Yet speaking during his first outing in what is known as the House of Commons since becoming prime minister, Sunak said Braverman had "made an error of judgment" but said "she recognized that" and had "accepted her mistake."



Sunak stressed he had been delighted to welcome her back into "a united Cabinet that brings experience and stability to the heart of government," prompting shouts of agreement from his Conservative Party supporters.



The Conservative prime minister added that Braverman would "focus on cracking down on criminals, on defending our borders, while the party opposite remains soft on crime and in favor of unlimited immigration."



It comes after the government delayed announcing its plan to repair Britain's finances until November 17.



Chancellor Jeremy Hunt suggested the delay was "prudent" to avoid more market turbulence. "The number one priority is economic stability and restoring confidence that the United Kingdom is a country that pays its way," he said.



An earlier rushed-through tax plan was among the reasons why Liz Truss resigned after just six weeks in office, making her the shortest-serving prime minister in British history.



Yet with key figures from both the Truss and Boris Johnson's governments returning, it's now up to the 42-year-old Sunak to restore trust in government.
Radio is a powerful medium in the Philippines, with local journalists able to easily buy up airtime to reach wide audiences. But with that reach comes risk.

In October, gunmen killed Percival Mabasa, a popular community radio host known as Percy Lapid. He was the third radio journalist to be killed in the country so far in 2022.

And while police quickly arrested a suspect over Mabasas shooting, analysts say the Philippines generally has a poor record in securing justice in media killings.

The Philippines ranks seventh on the Global Impunity Index, which calculates the number of unresolved journalist murders as a percentage of a countrys population. Since the index  released Tuesday by the Committee to Protect Journalists  was started in 2008, the Philippines has appeared every year.

That impunity to the killers of journalists fosters a more dangerous environment. The Philippine nonprofit foundation, the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, has documented 281threats or attacks in the past six years.

Of those 281 incidents, claimed Jonathan de Santos, chair of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), 37 were attributed to local governments and 37 to the police, which local governments have a degree of control over.

He added that nearly all the journalists killed since 2016 worked in radio.

VOA sent emails to the Presidential Management Staff and national police requesting comments. Neither had responded by the time of publication.

Local airtime

Many radio stations in the Philippines are funded by political interests, and journalists buy segments of airtime, known as blocktiming, a unique practice in the Philippines, to broadcast their own shows.

Allowing journalists to buy up airtime allows for greater coverage of local or underreported news.

Radio is still the medium with the biggest reach because of the low cost of access and because it is available even in geographically remote areas, said Santos, who is also news editor at Philstar.com. Radio journalists in the Philippines also usually talk about local, even hyperlocal, issues.

But the combination of political affiliations and block-time shows being less regulated means these journalists can become an easy target, Santos told VOA via email.

Since [the journalists] are technically not employed by the station, there is little control or oversight over blocktime content, Santos said. The shows could also be funded by politicians and used for partisan ends. Many [blocktime hosts] also often use plain, even aggressive language, which makes them more relatable to their audiences but also means criticism of local government officials and policies might cut deeper.

In Mabasas case, the Lapid Fire host appeared popular among listeners. The YouTube channel where he uploaded his broadcasts had 224,000 subscribers. On it, he criticized former President Rodrigo Duterte and current President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and accused officials of corruption and abuse of power.

The Philippines journalists union is advocating to reduce block-timing and offers training.

But in a country with a poor record for media safety, even the most experienced journalists find themselves under fire from critics.

Lourdes Escaros is a news anchor at RMN DZXL, one of the countrys largest and oldest radio networks. She told VOA that negative news about the government often triggers abuse and death threats directed at her and her family.

Threats online [are] very rampant. Like, they want to kill me and my son. [Or] stop criticizing the government or else they will kill me.

Sometimes, they tagged me on Facebook just to attack me and criticize me for attacking the government. Duterte's time was hell. Trolls and the government were, like, partners in crimes in attacking us, Escaros said.

Still, Escaros has no plans to quit.

Its my dream. I love it, she told VOA. The job may not pay well, but I chose this profession, and this is my life.

Under Dutertes administration, the government formed a Presidential Task Force on Media Security in 2017 to investigate attacks. But local journalists say it has had limited success.

The task forces Facebook page is updated regularly. As recently as September, it posted a statement about an attack. But Raymund Villanueva, a journalist for Kodao Productions and a safety officer at the NUJP, believes the body is inactive.

There has been no administrative order by Marcos Jr. ordering its continuation. So, I dont think its a legal entity at this point, Villanueva said. There has been no appointment of a new executive director, so were not sure if it still exists legally. And weve dismissed it.

The Presidential Task Force on Media Security did not respond to VOAs email requesting comment.

Villanueva said harassment affects digital as well as radio journalists.

Based in Quezon City outside the capital, Manila, Kodao Productions focuses on underreported issues. Because of that, it has been criticized as anti-government.

Kodao regularly reports on the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, a leftist political group whose armed supporters have carried out attacks for decades.

Villanueva said Kodao reports on its peace talks with the government, its agendas on human rights and international humanitarian law, national industrialization and rural development.

Its just our stories are strong on human rights, environment, Indigenous peoples. Its necessarily critical of social problems in the Philippines, said Villanueva. Were not the type to directly attack the government.

The outlet has weathered harassment, including cyberattacks in late 2017 and early 2018 that crashed the Kodao website, Villanueva said.

Kodao separately used to run programs to train people in poorer communities to become radio broadcasters.

But because of risks to journalists, the media outlet suspended in-person training.

Weve pretty much stopped putting up registrations because those that we train are now in jail or are dead or are being hounded by the military, Villanueva said.

Conditions for media have never been good going in the Philippines, said Villanueva. And under the Marcos Jr. administration, "essentially there is no difference, change or respite."

The Office of the Press Secretary, the head of Presidential Communications Group in the Philippines, recently made a statement on Facebook that it is committed to protect journalists.

The country in 2022 ranked 147 out of 180 on the Press Freedom Index, where 1 has the best conditions for media.
Malaysia says it is considering plans to shutter the local office of the United Nations refugee agency, amid accusations the government is forcibly returning Burmese asylum seekers who have fled Myanmar for their lives.

The military regime that seized power in Myanmar early last year says Malaysia has repatriated hundreds of its nationals on chartered flights in recent months. The junta claims theyre coming home by choice. But rights groups say Malaysia is forcing them back  after arresting them for entering illegally  and that some are probably asylum seekers who will be arrested and possibly tortured or killed on their return.

Myanmars military is accused of arresting and killing thousands of its people in a bloody bid to crush a dogged civil and armed resistance to its rule. Dissidents, journalists and military defectors have been pouring into nearby countries, including Malaysia, for sanctuary.

Speaking with local reporters in early September, Malaysias National Security Council chief, Rodzi Mohamed Saad, said the government had prepared a draft plan for managing the countrys refugees without the U.N.s refugee agency, the UNHCR, and without foreign interference.

He criticized the UNHCR for issuing its own ID cards  without the governments case-by-case input or approval  to asylum seekers judged to have legitimate claims or fears of being persecuted back home. Though the cards carry no official legal weight in Malaysia, Rodzi called the practice unfair and said it amounted to disrespecting the country.

Responding to questions about the plan in parliament a few weeks ago, Abdul Latiff Ahmad, a top aide to Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, said preparations to take over from the United Nations were already underway. Therefore, there is no longer a need for a UNHCR office in Malaysia, he said.

At another news conference on October 27, Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin said the plan had not yet been approved but was still under review. Picking up on the security chiefs themes of respect and self-reliance, he added, I must take care of our country first before taking care of outsiders.

Refoulement risk

Rights groups have roundly rebuked the idea, fearing the UNHCRs exit would see a spike in refoulements, the forced return of refugees to countries where theyre likely to be persecuted.

The likely risk of refoulement for refugees in Malaysia would increase if UNHCR were to leave, said Patrick Phongsathorn, a human rights advocate for Fortify Rights, a research and pressure group covering Southeast Asia.

Refugees often see UNHCR as an important and somewhat neutral arbiter in their cases, whereas the government of Malaysia has historically, and continues to, target refugees, he added.

I think that it [refoulement] will definitely increase because at least now you have someone watching over them, said Mahi Ramakrishnan, director of Beyond Borders Malaysia, a refugee rights group.

In concert with local groups like her own, she added, there is that element of someone monitoring whats happening, and especially the UNHCR, which has the international protection mandate. Now imagine if that has been taken away completely.

Malaysia currently hosts some 180,000 refugees and asylum seekers, according to the UNHCR, most of them from Myanmar.

The ID cards it issues to vetted and approved applicants dont always spare the holders arrest when caught by police without proof that theyre living in Malaysia legally, Ramakrishnan said, but they can, and sometimes do.

She and others are hoping the recent talk of closing the UNHCR office is mere political bluster ahead of the national elections set for November 19, a cynical bid for votes amid the tide of xenophobia stirred up by the pandemic. But they also worry it may be more than that, having sensed growing tensions between the office and its host for a few years.

With little apparent warning or explanation, the government stopped allowing UNHCR staff into the countrys immigration detention centers in 2019, making it impossible for the agency to offer them any assistance, let alone cards.

In July, the Home Ministry also announced that all UNHCR card holders would now have to register with a new Tracking Refugees Information System so that their whereabouts could be monitored.

Transition talks

Tricia Yeoh, CEO of Malaysias Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs, a research and policy organization, said the tracking system could be the start of what may eventually become a government-run program for managing refugees. But she added that it would have to evolve into a far more comprehensive approach that cares for refugees and asylum seekers wellbeing as well.

For that, she said the government should start by signing up to the U.N.s Refugee Convention, which sets some basic conditions for how to treat refugees, with non-refoulement at the top of the list. Yeoh said other key reforms should include giving refugees and asylum seekers the right to public health care and education and to work, which they dont yet have.

So, its not just about the signing of these international documents, but also what the local laws entail. That would mean that basic access to health care and education would need to be provided, and certain laws and policies would need to be changed in order to accommodate that, she said.

With the political will to see those reforms through, Yeoh said they could probably be put in place within a few years.

The local UNHCR office also told VOA that building a comprehensive system for managing refugees tends to take governments years and that the agency was already working with Malaysian authorities on a framework for sharing refugee data, joint registration and screening.

Spokeswoman Yante Ismail said their latest meetings were held earlier this month.

UNHCR welcomes the Malaysian governments continued interest in establishing a national framework to manage the refugee situation in the country that may eventually result in the government assuming greater responsibility for refugee management and protection, she said.

Yante added that the agency remained committed to a gradual transition of responsibility based on the countrys capacity and expertise to take on refugee management in line with international protection principles.
U.S. President Joe Biden is hoping to use the US-ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh next week to continue making his case for strengthened economic ties and diplomatic neutrality in a region that has become a geopolitical battleground between America and China.

Bidens visit comes several months after the White House hosted a summit of ASEAN leaders as part of a charm offensive to highlight Americas commitment to the region. However, analysts were pessimistic that Bidens high-profile diplomacy would curb the influence of the superpower in ASEANs backyard.

This is because China is an important economic partner for the regionand China has also established many functional areas of cooperation with ASEAN, many of which are already institutionalized, said Joanne Lin Weiling, a co-coordinator of the ASEAN Studies Center at the Singapore-based ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute.

She noted that Bidens strategic alliances in the region were largely intended to counter China, which made them an uncomfortable fit for ASEAN, which includes countries like Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia, which have very strong ties and relations with China.

Still, the Biden administration is hoping to find a receptive audience in areas such as maritime cooperation, sustainable development, connectivity and economic relations  and will likely avoid issues that raise obvious conflicts with Beijing.

The reality in the region is most of the ASEAN member states are trying desperately to not be forced into making a choice between China and the US, Phil Robertson, a deputy director of Human Rights Watch in Asia, told VOA Khmer.

So, there is an ongoing game of strategic ambiguity in the region, where ASEAN member states will take what they can from each side while trying to make as few concrete commitments as they can which would cause them problems with one side or the other.

The White House announced that Biden will attend the 10th U.S.-ASEAN Summit in person from November 12-13. Participants are expected to establish the U.S.-ASEAN Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) to boost multilateral relations.

The US-ASEAN Summit is part of a series of diplomatic meetings around the ASEAN summit, which Cambodia is hosting before it passes the baton of annual leadership for the regional grouping to next years chair, Indonesia.

It comes during a time of soaring geopolitical tensions over the Russia-Ukraine war and Chinas ambitions to take control of Taiwan. The most pressing crisis within ASEAN continues to be Myanmar, where the junta has refused regional diplomatic interventions or global calls to release political prisoners.

The Myanmar crisis will be front and center in the discussions at the ASEAN summit because both the ASEAN member states as well as the various dialogue partners are extremely concerned by the disastrous situation in that country, the massive rights violations and crimes against humanity happening every day there, and the growing civil war, said Robertson.

He added that he hoped the bloc would agree on clear penalties if Myanmar fails to release political prisoners, cease attacks on its people or move toward democracy, such as a global arms embargo, and targeted sanctions against the junta and its business interests.

But when it comes to making commitments around democracy and human rights in their own countries, Robertson said Washington was unlikely to secure any firm agreements.

Seven ASEAN member states are also part of the US Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, which was launched in May this year to further economic collaboration in areas such as digital economy, supply chain resilience, clean energy, sustainable infrastructure.

Chheang Vannarith, executive president of Asian Vision Institute in Cambodia, noted the ASEAN Summits come just days after Xi Jinping secured power for another term during the Communist Party Congress. And Taiwan is just one area of growing stress between China and the U.S., simmering tensions over the South China Sea and North Koreas nuclear threat.

So, the Chinese role and influence in the world are growing at the same time the power competition between United States and China is still rising in the region and the world. So, that is very complicated, he said.

Cambodia faces the difficult task this week of keeping 10 ASEAN members and numerous dialogue partners happy, or at least avoiding sticking points that will highlight disagreements, and the wide range of issues sure to be on the table.

So, being the Asean Chair this year is not easy, Chheang Vannarith said.
Advocacy groups are welcoming a decision by India's Supreme Court that bans what is known as a "two-finger" test on rape survivors, calling it a patriarchal and invasive practice and ruling that anyone violating the directive will face misconduct charges.

Medical experts have used the test to determine whether a woman has engaged in regular sexual intercourse.

Calling the practice regressive and unscientific, a two-judge panel said, "the probative value of a woman's testimony does not depend upon her sexual history. It is patriarchal and sexist to suggest that a woman cannot be believed when she states that she was raped, merely for the reason that she is sexually active."

New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement, "The judgment brings hope that the justice system will finally stop using this unscientific process."

In the past, the Supreme Court had "deprecated," or voiced disapproval of, the use of the test in several orders, Justice DY Chandrachud, one of the two judges, noted.

"The so-called test has no scientific basis. It instead re-victimizes and re-traumatizes women and is an affront to their dignity. So, the two-finger or per vaginam test must not be conducted," Chandrachud said.

"The test is based on an incorrect assumption that a sexually active woman cannot be raped. Nothing can be further from the truth  evidence of a victim's sexual history is wholly immaterial while adjudicating whether the accused raped her. It is regrettable that it continues to be conducted even today."

The bench made the observation while restoring conviction in a 2004 case of rape and murder of a woman in the eastern state of Jharkhand. On October 31, the Supreme Court overturned a ruling by the Jharkhand High Court acquitting a man  who had been previously convicted by a lower-level trial court in the state.

The Supreme Court asked the federal and state governments to ensure that the two-finger test is no longer conducted on rape survivors. The court ordered the Indian health ministry to conduct workshops for all health service providers across the country, in order to communicate the proper procedure to examine rape survivors and let them know that in no situation are they to conduct two-finger tests.

The court also ordered the health ministry to ensure that the chapter on two-finger tests is removed from the syllabus of medical education.

Since 2013, the Supreme Court has said the test and its interpretation violate the right of rape survivors to privacy, physical and mental integrity, and dignity. Indrajit Khandekar, a Maharashtra state-based activist and medical doctor, said this is the first time the court has banned it and attached punitive action on doctors found conducting the test.

Khandekar, a forensic expert, filed a public interest litigation in the Bombay High Court in 2010 seeking a ban on the test on the basis of a 258-page report that he prepared following his research on the use of the test.

The attachment of the provision of punishment in Monday's ruling from the country's highest court raises hopes the test will finally be eliminated, Khandekar said.

"The two-finger test or the virginity test is an unscientific, inhumane, derogatory, and discriminatory practice that violates a woman's dignity," Khandekar told VOA. "The test can be physically, psychologically, and socially devastating to girls or young women. Other people have no right to know whether or not a particular girl is a virgin."

In several cases, the doctor's opinion after conducting a two-finger test, and the assumption that a rape survivor had engaged in regular sexual activity, was used to cast a stigma on a young woman's character, calling her one with bad morals, he said.

"As a result, one might wonder whether this is a trial for rape on a woman or a trial for the victim's character. Even the insertion of the fingers into the vagina of a female without her consent is nothing but a second assault," Khandekar said.

Medical doctor Ranjana Pardhi, who has long campaigned against the two-finger test, said that studies published in several medical journals show that the inspection of the hymen cannot give conclusive evidence of vaginal penetration or any other sexual history.

"Abnormal hymenal features such as a hymenal transection, laceration, enlarged opening, or scars are found in females with, as well as without, a history of sexual intercourse. Vaginal laxity and size of introitus [an opening] also is not an indicator of sexual intercourse. There are some other tests to confirm sexual intercourse or penetration," Nagpur-based Pardhi told VOA.

"The so-called virginity test or two-finger test is medically flawed."

Pardhi added that activists campaigning against the test are hopeful that their long fight is going to bear fruit but warned that without enforcement, it might not be successful

"We also hope that the law enforcement agencies and the judiciary will strictly penalize the medical professionals for noncompliance. Otherwise, the ban will remain unimplementable and meaningless," she said.
On the second and final day of the 31st Arab League summit in Algeria, Arab leaders sought consensus on longstanding issues that have divided member states.

An Algerian military band played the country's national anthem Wednesday, as visiting Arab heads of state paid homage to the host country on the anniversary of its own revolution that brought independence from France 60 years ago. President Abdel Mejid Tebboune presided over the summit.

Arab League head Ahmed Aboul Gheit noted various key issues under discussion, including the current Cold War climate affecting the world and an ongoing food crisis facing the Arab states.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi told fellow heads of state that insecurity in one part of the Arab world affects Arab states in other areas, and that the scurity of the Gulf "affects us all."

The head of Libya's Presidential Council, Khaled al-Mneishri, told Arab leaders that his country is still seeking security and stability, 10 years after its revolution that toppled veteran leader Moammar Gadhafi.

He said the Libyan people are still trying to rebuild their state on the basis of freedom, democracy and law, but that goal remains under threat locally, regionally and internationally. He added that he wanted the support of all Arab brethren in demanding that outside mercenaries leave the country.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas addressed the conference Wednesday, criticizing Israel. He said Israel's policies leave Palestinians with no choice but to reconsider all agreements that they have made with it.

Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates have normalized ties with Israel in recent years  a move strongly opposed by Algeria and some other Arab countries.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan said his country supports the security and stability of Syria, in addition to all Arab and international efforts to bring about a political solution that protects the indivisibility of the country.

The Syrian government was not invited to this year's summit.

Fouad Hussein, Iraq's foreign minister, told Arab media his country is trying to call international and Arab attention to the military interference of neighboring states, so they may put an end to it.

Iraq is not looking to impose sanctions on Iran and Turkey, and is not looking for conflict with those states, he said, but it does want to draw attention to what is going on so those countries understand that their actions have major consequences inside Iraq, regionally and internationally.

Hussein apparently was referencing military action by Iran and Turkey in Iraq's Kurdish regions.

Ibrahim Dukheiri, an Arab League bureaucrat, told journalists that several of the major issues being worked on at the summit and among Arab diplomats include food and agricultural security and increasing trade among the Arab states.

He said that the league has made several decisions, especially regarding food security and agricultural cooperation among Arab states, and the issue of increasing trade among them.

This year's summit took place without the presence of several major Arab leaders, including Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, Jordan's King Abdullah and Morocco's King Mohammed VI. Observers say the absence of these leaders gives less clout to the summit's pronouncements.


In the parable of the Good Samaritan, imagine youre the one whos been left by the side of the road. The change in perspective will work wonders for your sense of contingencyand generosity.

From sociologists Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Dentons worries over moral therapeutic deism in their 2005 book, to the Pew Research Centers documentation of the growing trend of religious nones (people who claim no religious affiliation), to common claims that we now live in a post-Christian culture, the idea that religion and modern affluence cannot coexist has deep roots. Indeed, one might go back further and cite sociologist Max Webers The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.

Peter Berger wrote an excellent rejoinder to the secularization thesis 12 years ago, noting that on the whole the phenomenon has not panned out as many feared. And yet  one cannot deny that, even in the United States, affluence and faith stand in inverse relationship. In 2014, Pew recorded that 14% of people who make over $100,000 per year identify as atheists compared to half that, 7%, among those who make $30,000 or less.

So it makes some sense to expect that increased affluence means decreased faith and religiosity, but why? And is this something modern and new? Or is it timeless?

While orders of magnitude more people, due to modern market economies, enjoy the blessings of affluence today than in the preindustrial world, human nature stays the same. Jesus warned, Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation (Luke 6:24). When a rich young man came to him and asked, What must I do that I may have eternal life? (Matt 19:16), Jesus told him to follow the commandments, which the man claimed to do. Yet apparently he still felt unfulfilled, further asking Jesus, What do I still lack? (Matt 19:20). To which Jesus replied, Go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me (Matt 19:21). Instead, the young man goes away sorrowful, and Jesus laments, How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! (Mark 10:23).

The data above seem to indicate that Jesus lament holds for our modern affluence.

But wait a minute. Isnt salvation a free gift (see Rom 5:1516)? Dont Christians believe by grace you have been saved and not of works (Eph 2:89)? How then can it also be hard?

The difference comes from ones perspective, not just materially but spiritually. Jesus not only said, Blessed are you poor (Luke 6:20), but also Blessed are the poor in spirit (Matt 5:3). And when his disciples asked him, Who then can be saved? he responded, With God all things are possible (Mark 10:2627). Moreover, he comforted all those who labor and are heavy laden, by assuring them that my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matt 11:30).

So for those who have riches, the life in Christ is hard. But for the heavy laden, it is easy.

While Christians disagree over the place of good works in our salvation, few would deny their importance. At the end of all things, all will be judged according to their works (Rev 20:12). Jesus even says that when we care for others, You did it to me (Matt 25:40). Moreover, he says this will be the basis by which he will separate the just from the wicked. So one way or another, works matter. But works are, well, hard. Have you ever tried actually loving your neighbor? It can be hard enough just to like them!

But imagine for a momentif you have no personal experience to draw fromthat you desperately needed your neighbor. Many of us have experienced such hardship. Maybe your family wasnt loving and supportive. Maybe you lost your job and couldnt pay the bills. Maybe no one believed that you had something to contribute, and your efforts and ideas were dismissed or marginalized. All you wanted was someone to listen to you and understand. Whether or not thats you, Jesus calls out, Come to me  for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matt 11:28-29). By comparison with the hardships this world brings, following Jesus is a cakewalk. Prayer? Fasting? Almsgiving? Simplicity? Forgiveness? Repentance? No problem! The work of loving our neighbor is easier the more we understand how much we need both God and them.

Many saints of the Church, such as Jerome, Augustine, and Ambrose, urge us to see ourselves in Jesus parable of the Good Samaritanbut not as the Samaritan! Rather, they emphasize that we are all, affluent or otherwise, the man that fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead (Luke 10:30). Jesus is our Good Samaritan, and only when weve realized our true condition and experienced his mercy can we be Good Samaritans to others.

Which brings us back to affluence. Healthy families and friendships, sufficient material provision, meaningful workthese are all blessings for which we should be grateful if we have them. But we must also beware not to place our worth in these things. Clinging to Christ is indeed easy for those whove been deprived of such blessings, for whom much of life has been toil and curse. With the scales of affluence removed from our eyes through ascetic practices, we can see our condition as it really is and use our resources to serve others, and Christ in them.

And if you havent had the bittersweet blessing of personal hardship to draw from, look around. No doubt with the right perspective, you can find the face of Christ in those suffering beside you. With all our affluence today, rather than worrying over waning faith and despairing over our salvation, we ought to see the tremendous opportunity that affluence affords us to love our neighbors on a scale premodern people could never imagine. Such different outlook could make all the difference in the worldand beyond.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday did not concede defeat in his first public remarks since losing Sunday's election, saying protests by his supporters were the fruit of "indignation and a sense of injustice" over the vote.

However, he stopped short of contesting the election result and authorized his chief of staff, Ciro Nogueira, to begin the transition process with representatives of leftist President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

It took Bolsonaro, a right-wing nationalist, more than 44 hours to comment after the election was decided by electoral authorities, with the delay raising fears he would seek to cast doubt on the narrow result.

Amid his silence, supporters blocked highways to protest his defeat, with some calling for a military coup to stop former president Lula from returning to power.

The highway blockades have disrupted fuel distribution, supermarket supplies and the flow of grains exports to major ports, according to industry groups.

In his brief national address, Bolsonaro joked that journalists would miss him, thanked those who voted for him and said he would abide by the constitution, which stipulates a transition of power on January 1.

"The current popular movements are the fruit of indignation and a sense of injustice about the way the electoral process took place," he said.

He said protesters should avoid destroying property or "impeding the right to come and go," but did not tell them to go home.

"Bolsonaro has not put out this fire. He spoke to his hardcore supporters without criticizing the demonstrators on the highways," said political risk analyst Andre Cesar at Hold Legislative Advisors in Brasilia. "He is keeping his more extremist followers mobilized."

Karina Laurinda, 34, who took part in highway demonstrations outside of Sao Paulo, said she would keep protesting.

"Even if he says to calm down, not to react, we're still going to react because we won't accept a Lula government," she said.

Lula contacts

Bolsonaro's chief of staff and Vice President Hamilton Mourao have begun to make contact with the Lula camp to discuss a transition. Other allies, including the speaker of the lower house of Congress, have called since Sunday for the Bolsonaro government to respect the election result.

In a statement, the Supreme Court said it considered that, by authorizing the government transition, Bolsonaro was recognizing the result of the election.

Before Sunday's vote, Bolsonaro repeatedly made baseless claims that the electoral system was open to fraud and accused electoral authorities of favoring his leftist adversary.

Bolsonaro did not directly repeat those claims on Tuesday. But his reference to "injustice" in the electoral process showed he had learned from the post-presidency of U.S. President Donald Trump, his ideological ally, according to Leonardo Barreto, political analyst at Vector Consultancy in Brasilia.

Trump has continued to repeat false claims that the 2020 U.S. election was "stolen" by widespread fraud and retains a significant core of supporters who believe them.

"He is going to copy Trump for the next four years to keep his conservative movement alive," said Barreto, forecasting that the 2026 election would be a rematch between Bolsonaro and Lula's Workers Party.

Lula's victory represents a stunning comeback for the 77-year-old former metalworker, who spent 19 months in jail for corruption convictions before they were annulled last year.

Lula has vowed to overturn many of Bolsonaro's policies, including pro-gun measures and weak protection of the Amazon rainforest. His aides confirmed on Tuesday that he would attend this month's COP27 United Nations climate summit in Egypt.

Lula's centrist running mate, former Sao Paulo Governor Geraldo Alckmin, will coordinate the transition, the Workers Party announced on Tuesday, with the help of party leader Gleisi Hoffmann and former Education Minister Aloizio Mercadante.

Nogueira, Bolsonaro's chief of staff, told journalists that the president had authorized him to begin the transition process with Alckmin once his name is formally submitted on Thursday.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is scheduled to meet with China's Xi Jinping on Friday. Scholz heads a delegation of business executives as the first EU leader to visit China since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The visit comes less than two weeks after China's leader Xi Jinping secured an unprecedented third term.

VOA's Mandarin Service interviewed Joerg Wuttke, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, on October 27. Wuttke, who has spent some 30 years in China, is a respected observer of the world's second largest economy who says that Xi Jinping clearly is picking a senior counsel of loyalists, and some have substantially less experience going into their positions than their predecessors. Wuttke says that has increased uncertainty over how they will handle their new leadership responsibilities at a challenging time for China's economy.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

VOA Mandarin: Obviously this big moment has passed. The Party's Congress is now behind us. What was your first impression or first reaction to the members, to the names of the new Politburo Standing Committee and the Politburo?

Joerg Wuttke: It was definitely a surprise. We have greater clarity now; it is obviously Xi Jinping calling the shots to an extent which we didn't see before. He has aligned a group of people that are totally loyal to him. We have basically left the sphere of achievements and meritocracy. It is all about loyalty. And we have to see where this group of people are leading China.

VOA: The premiership goes to Li Qiang, who is currently the Shanghai party chief. Tell us about your impression of Li Qiang.

Wuttke: Well, I never met Li Qiang, but what actually concerns me more than an individual is the fact that since 1988 we have never seen a prime minister coming into office that did not shadow his predecessor. So, in a way, we have for the first time someone, who is running a city, becoming head of the state council, which of course is a totally different ship to maneuver. So, I guess that's going to be very difficult. Also, the head for the economy, Mr. Xuexiang Ding, will be someone who is not acquainted with business.

VOA: Other than Li Qiang as the prime minister, there are some other important people to replace current members of Xi Jinping's economic team. How about those people?

Wuttke: Yeah, we are in a turbulent time here. We have a real estate crisis. We have a severe impact from U.S. sanctions. We have an increase in debt burden in localities as well as the uncertainty about when are we getting out of this COVID lockdown. It would be great to have a stable and good communicative team at the economic front in order to tell the market where we're heading. And we don't. We are basically entering a period of uncertainty. But the uncertainty is by design. The president decided to have a group of loyalists with him in the Politburo. So, let's see at the end of the day and whatever happens or does not happen is under the watch of President Xi.

VOA: I think on another occasion you spoke with other news media, you talked about how the Chinese Communist Party is not monolithic. There are a variety of views. Some are more liberal, more pro-market and others like Xi Jinping himself are more pro-state. After this reshuffle, the change of guard, do you think there will be more liberal voice in the next administration?

Wuttke: Well, there always will be different voices and the fifty shades of grey about where to steer the country. But it's very clear in (Xi's) speech (before the party congress) already. (Xi Jinping) mentioned Karl Marx 15 times. He mentioned the market three times, and it was clearly indicating that he expects international tensions. He mentioned struggle 17 times and 12 times in the context of international affairs. So, he's preparing the country for struggle, and struggle means  uncertainty and difficult times. He's trying to obviously rally the population behind him. And we have to see what that leads to. We have an engagement with (German) Chancellor Scholtz next week. The German chancellor coming might give an indicator if Xi Jinping wants to engage with foreign countries, with Europe in particular, as he has been off the scale for 1,000 days. (It) will be very interesting to see how this kind of vision of struggle translates into engagement with foreign leaders. Is he trying to accommodate? Is he trying to reconnect with them in positive terms? Or is that going to be all about, you know, struggle and offense in a way?

VOA: Compared to four or five months ago, are you now more pessimistic or you are about the same or more optimistic for the next, say, three or five years?

Wuttke: I think my struggle is I'm trying to be realistic in order to (see) which direction this might go. We have not entered the space where we know where we're heading. I have been here for about 30 years. I grew up in opening up mode by Deng Xiaoping. My first Party Congress I witnessed personally was in 1982, where Deng Xiaoping was clearly trying to integrate China, opening up and so forth. But maybe at the tail end of my career in China, I have to witness China actually closing up again to some extent. So, in a way, it's full circle which is, of course, disappointing. But at the same time, it's their country, their choice.

VOA: Do you see decoupling down the road? How confident are you, as a member of the business community, about this new leadership particularly on the economic side?

Wuttke: Decoupling is hard to achieve because China is the globalization story, meaning that China is deeply embedded in many, many markets. But decoupling is in the cards (and) can only be achieved in small incremental steps. Luckily, because we want to remain coupled up. We want to be connected. So, in a way, we have a situation where, when you talk about struggle, when you talk about self-reliance, that is a strong indicator that China actually actively wants to decouple. That would be very sad. I think it would actually mean lower growth potential and certainly will also have a negative impact on the global economy. Is it going to end up there? I'm not sure, but certainly we will see some baby steps in that direction. Let's hope that pragmatism and reason prevail because we have too much to lose, frankly, if we do decouple.

VOA: Are foreign businesses, like European businesses as well as American businesses, are we going to see more like a retreat? Are we going to see more people leaving China?

Wuttke: We see more people leaving China, that's clear. We don't see people from business leaving in the sense (of) companies leaving. We see more engagement on the top 10, for example, of European companies. That's primarily German. That's primarily cars, chemicals, mechanicals, machineries. Because there's no other China, there's no other choice. They have to be here, and they have to be there more engaged even.

But then 10 companies don't necessarily stand for 1,800 members that European Chamber is representing. We have not seen companies moving away and I don't expect this, but what we have noticed is that new investment, new additional activities from those companies that normally would come up in China has been rerouted to other regions. So, we see more interest into Thailand, into Southeast Asia, into India, but even closer to home, Turkey and Eastern Europe, for the simple fact that executives can fly in and out easily. They have also realized that the World Bank has predicted China to grow this year 2.8 percent and the rest of Asia 5.3 percent. These leaders follow the money and, hence, there will not be an exodus of European business from China. But we will definitely be underachiever given the potential of this economy.

VOA: In your opinion, do you think the Chinese leadership, particularly Xi Jinping himself and his other senior advisers, are aware of the situation that their economy is not in good shape and foreign businesses are leaving, or at least putting (new) investments on hold?

Wuttke: I think they must be aware of this, that they have smart ministries and consultants and advisers. But again, if you have a totally different policy approach, then actually, you know, foreign business doesn't mean too much to you. Yes, you needed it in order to make sure that you can close the technology gap. But he had made it very clear that his focus is on state-owned enterprises. His primary goal is not necessarily growth. It is about security, stability. It's about wealth distribution. It's about common prosperity. In a way, they go more for stability and are willing to pay an economic price for it.

VOA: You said that it's end of an era for China.

Wuttke: Yes. Clearly, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao's era was the era where it was all about integrating China peacefully. It was all about getting rich first and powerful later. But now basically, as Mao unified China and Deng Xiaoping made it rich, it seems like that Xi Jinping focus is really making China powerful.

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted wide-ranging bilateral talks on Wednesday with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and expressed his great concern about the security of Chinese nationals in the long-time South Asian allied country.

Sharif visited Beijing for the first time since assuming office in April. He was one of the first foreign leaders to meet Xi after the Chinese leader secured a historic third term in office last month.

Officials said Xi and Sharif reviewed bilateral cooperation and reaffirmed their commitment to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a Chinese-funded multibillion dollar bilateral project designed to help Islamabad upgrade and expand its economy.

President Xi expressed his great concern about the safety of Chinese nationals in Pakistan and conveyed his hope that Pakistan will provide a reliable and safe environment for Chinese institutions and personnel working on cooperation projects there, a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said.

Thousands of Chinese are working on CPEC projects, but growing militant attacks against the foreigners, particularly in the turbulent southwestern Baluchistan province, have alarmed Beijing and led to a slowdown on some of the projects in recent months.

The latest attack took place in April when a female suicide bomber killed three Chinese teachers along with their local driver in the southern port city of Karachi, threatening to derail the CPEC undertaking and strain bilateral ties.

"Pakistan will further step up security measures and do all it can to protect the safety of Chinese institutions and personnel, said the Chinese statement, quoting Sharif.

Ethnic Baluch insurgents took credit for plotting the Karachi attack as theyve done for other raids on Chinese nationals. The insurgents claim to be fighting for an independent Baluchistan and denounce CPEC projects in the natural resources-rich region, alleging the projects are meant to deprive local residents of their resources.

China has invested nearly $25 billion over the past seven years in large-scale infrastructure development projects in Pakistan under its flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which seeks to link China with the rest of the world through new roads, rail and sea routes. Both countries say the investment has created more than 70,000 direct jobs and has effectively addressed Pakistans energy crisis.

Xi told Sharif on Wednesday that Beijing will continue to work with Islamabad to help address its economic challenges.

Pakistan has long struggled with a balance of payments crisis in the wake of dwindling foreign exchange reserves. Severe floods this summer have added to the challenges facing the nascent Sharif administration, causing an estimated $30 billion or more in losses across the impoverished country.

The central banks of the two countries Wednesday also signed a memorandum of understanding on establishing RMB [Chinese currency] clearing arrangement in Pakistan, an official announcement said. It added that the deal will further boost usage of RMB for cross-border transactions among Chinese and Pakistani enterprises and financial institutions. This will also promote bilateral trade and investment between the two countries.

The statement continued without elaboration that President Xi pointed out that the world, our times and history are changing in ways like never before. Facing a highly uncertain world, both sides should stand on the right side of history.

Sharifs office said Xi also pledged an additional assistance package of nearly $69 million to support Pakistans relief and rehabilitation efforts in flood-hit areas.

ML-1 upgrading

The Chinese leader stressed in his meeting with Sharif the need for the two countries to work together to create conditions for the early implementation of the Main Line-1 (ML-1) high-speed railway improvement project under the CPEC framework.

Pakistani officials estimate that upgrading the 1,872-kilometer colonial-era railway track between Karachi and the northwestern city of Peshawar will cost nearly $10 billion. Sharifs office described the ML-1 as a project of strategic importance and said both sides "would make joint efforts for launching it.

CPEC has built the deep-water strategic Gwadar Port in Baluchistan that gives Beijing international trade access to the Arabian Sea.

It is important to accelerate the construction of auxiliary infrastructure for Gwadar Port to unleash its role in driving interconnected development in the region, Xi said.

The United States has been critical of CPEC and BRI, calling them debt diplomacy or a debt trap to make developing countries increasingly rely on China.

The International Monetary Fund reported in September that about 30% of Islamabads foreign debt is owed to Beijing.
As the midterms approach, the Republican Party is facing a tougher than expected fight from the Democrats for control of the House of Representatives despite having had a rare opportunity to redraw the political map in their favor.



"People thought, 'Well, Democrats are going to get shellacked in redistricting, and, you know, they more or less managed to fight to a draw,'" says Michael Li, senior counsel for the Brennan Centers Democracy Program. Though Republicans are still likely to win control of the House, he said.



Every 10 years, congressional districts are redrawn to reflect population changes and ensure that each House lawmaker represents roughly the same number of people. But how the new boundaries are drawn and the communities the new districts encompass can benefit one political party or the other.

State legislatures are often in charge of the process, meaning that the party that controls a state capital can bend redistricting to its advantage. That process is called gerrymandering.

In 2020, Republicans controlled the drawing of 187 of 435 congressional districts in the House of Representatives, while Democrats redrew 75. The rest were done by commissions or other bodies.



"The maps aren't great. There's not a lot of competition," says Li, who focuses on redistricting, voting rights and elections. "They're still skewed in a number of states  in particular, Texas, Georgia, Florida, Ohio  but, despite that, they [the maps] ended up in a kind of neutral place."



So neutral that, while it remains unlikely that Democrats will keep their House majority next year due to factors not related to redistricting, it's not out of the question, according to Li.



Lack of competition



The 2020 redistricting appears to have yielded fewer competitive districts than ever. Only about 60 are seen as truly up for grabs, with the rest viewed as "safe" for Democrats or Republicans.



"Over the last several decades, with each decennial redistricting process, we have seen fewer and fewer competitive districts. Now, some of that has to do with redistricting," says Jennifer Victor, an associate professor of political science at George Mason University in Virginia. "A lot of that change in competitiveness also has to do with geographic sorting. People just choosing to vote with their feet and live in places where people are more like them."

That's a concern because democracies require some level of competitiveness, she says.



"The more and more Americans who live in places where they feel like their political identity doesn't match the majority, or doesn't match the trends in their area, the more disconnected they feel from their government, the more unrepresented they feel, and that can be one component of destabilization in a democracy," Victor says.



Playing it safe



In the recently completed redistricting, Republicans appear to have opted to ensure safer districts, rather than aspire to control more districts. In fact, President Joe Biden would have won more districts under the new maps than he did under the old maps two years ago, Li says.



"What you want to do, if you're trying to maximize seats, is spread your voters out among as many districts as possible so that you win a bunch of districts by like 52, 53, 54% - narrow wins," Li says. "But that strategy almost backfired on Republicans last decade in states like Texas, because districts got more diverse, and key blocks of voters, particularly white suburban women, shifted toward Democrats."



The result was that some of those districts got much more competitive than Republicans anticipated, and Democrats even won some of them.



"I still think Republicans are favored to win the House, but I think with these maps, if they win a majority, it'll be a narrow majority," Li says, "and Democrats have a chance to retake the majority in 2024, 2026, assuming that these maps remain unchanged."

Among the biggest losers in redistricting are communities of color, he adds.



"Political discrimination is actually racial discrimination that comes at the expense of communities of color," Li says. "Because we still have residential segregation, it's easy to pack together or break apart communities of color, in order to change the partisan valence of maps."



Cure for gerrymandering?



Another key reason both Democrats and Republicans have realistic hopes of winning a majority in the House in coming years is the fairer maps drawn by nonpartisan commissions or courts rather than politicians looking to gain or consolidate power.



State legislatures have traditionally been responsible for redrawing boundaries for both state and congressional districts. Fourteen states now use commissions but only four of those  California, Arizona, Colorado and Michigan  use truly independent commissions to redraw congressional boundaries, and Li says they've all done a good job drawing representative districts.



"The U.S. is an outlier in the way that it draws its political districts. In almost every other modern democracy, a neutral body or neutral actor draws the maps, and the U.S. is an outlier in that it largely leaves control of drawing maps in the hands of people who benefit from the maps and partisan actors," Li says. "There's a lot of putting your thumb on the scale that occurs in the U.S. system which I think skews democracy in any number of ways."

In addition to using independent commissions, Victor says gerrymandering could be stopped by eliminating districts and having regions represented by multiple members of Congress based on percentage of votes. In that scenario, states would have a multiple representation system rather than one member of Congress from every district.



"Not only does it fix the gerrymandering problem, it improves the sense of representation and political efficacy," Victor says. "It would also create the incentives for third political parties to operate and actually have a real probability of winning in some places. And so we would see the United States slowly move towards multi-partyism, which would be a much better fit for our population than the two-party system that we have."



The move could be made without amending the Constitution but the elected officials who currently hold power would have to sign onto changes that could potentially take their power away.



And even though legislative maps are supposed to only be redrawn each decade, this round of redistricting might be far from over.



"In America, we draw maps and then we fight about them in court," Li says. "What has happened so far in redistricting may just be act one of a multi-act play and there could be a lot more fights over maps to come and a lot more redrawing of maps and a lot more litigation about maps down the road and the near- and even medium-term future."
A landmark deal to allow grain exports from Ukraine, which was back on track Wednesday after being briefly suspended, has played a crucial role in easing a global food crisis sparked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Brokered by the United Nations and Turkey and signed by Moscow and Kyiv on July 22, the agreement established a protected sea corridor to allow grain shipments to resume for the first time since the fighting began in February

Here is what we know about the deal, known as the Black Sea Grain Initiative:

Why was it needed?

When Russian troops attacked in late February, Moscow imposed a blockade on Ukraine's Black Sea ports, halting all agricultural exports from one of the world's breadbaskets.

The move left 20 million metric tons of grain stranded in Ukraine's ports, causing food prices to surge worldwide.

Before the war, up to 90% of Ukraine's wheat, corn and sunflower exports were transported by sea, mostly from Odesa, with many developing countries relying heavily on Kyiv for grain.

Agricultural commodity prices were high before the war because of the post-COVID-19 economic recovery, but the conflict pushed the price of grains such as wheat and corn to levels unsustainable for countries dependent on their import, such as Egypt, Lebanon and Tunisia.

What does the deal cover?

The deal ensures the safe export of grain, foodstuffs and fertilizers, including ammonia, from three Black Sea ports in southwestern Ukraine: Odesa, Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi.

The first grain ship to leave under the U.N.-backed deal set sail on August 1.

According to U.N. figures as of November 1, a total of 9.7 million metric tons of grain and other agricultural products have been transported in the first three months of the initiative, the vast majority involving wheat and corn.

Valid for 120 days, the agreement is up for renewal on November 19 in a process that can be done automatically without further negotiations.

The U.N. says extending the deal is crucial for global food security and is pushing for it to be renewed for one year.

Although the initiative is working well, shipments are about 40-50% lower than what they were before Russia's invasion, the U.N. says.

How does it work?

According to the U.N.'s website, the agreement establishes a safe corridor between the three Ukrainian ports and an area in Turkish waters where the vessels are inspected before being allowed to continue their journey.

To monitor the agreement, a joint command and control center was set up in Istanbul to oversee smooth operations and resolve disputes.

Known as the Joint Coordination Center (JCC), the JCC has four teams of eight inspectors  two each from Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the U.N.

These teams inspect outbound vessels carrying grain at the Turkish inspection area to ensure all merchandise is approved.

The teams also examine empty ships returning to Ukraine to ensure they are not carrying any weapons or other unauthorized goods or people.

Safe passage

The deal establishes a buffer zone of 10 nautical miles around each vessel traveling along the corridor with no military ships, equipment or drones allowed within that radius.

All ship movements logged by the JCC are transmitted to the relevant military authorities to prevent any incidents, with any violations or threats to be handled by the JCC.

At the start of the war, Ukraine mined its main Black Sea ports to head off threats of a Russian attack from the sea, but experts said it would take too long to de-mine all these areas.

The deal allows Ukrainians to guide the ships along safe routes that avoid known mine fields and into and out of its territorial waters.

Deal briefly suspended

On October 29, Russia said it was suspending its participation in the deal, accusing Ukraine of using the shipping corridor to launch a drone attack on its Black Sea fleet in Crimea's Sevastopol port.

After a call between the Russian and Turkish defense ministers, the deal resumed operation at 0900 GMT on November 2 with Moscow saying it had received written guarantees from Kyiv ensuring the corridor would not be used for attacking Russian forces.
[[A series of prisoner swaps between Ukraine and Russia  the latest of which came on October 17  are bringing relief and joy to the families of the released. But human rights activists say that an unknown number of Ukrainians  including some who were captured at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol  are still being held in Russia and Russian-occupied territories. Omelyan Oshchudlyak has the story. VOA footage by Yuriy Dankevych.
The closure of camps for people displaced by Islamist militants in Nigeria's Borno state has pushed more than 200,000 people into extreme poverty, a rights group says.

The 59-page report by Human Rights Watch was released Wednesday, more than one year after Borno state authorities began shutting down IDP camps in the capital, Maiduguri.

The rights group said lack of essential support by humanitarian aid organizations since then has pushed over 200,000 IDPs into deeper suffering and destitution. It said authorities did not provide those removed from camps with adequate support for food, shelter and security.

Anietie Ewang, author of the Human Rights Watch report, said authorities did not get the opinions of the IDPs before closing the camps.

"This plan to shut down these camps is very premature because the authorities cannot ensure that people who are moving out of these camps can continue to sustain themselves," she said. "In many of the places they're urging people to return to, there's not enough infrastructure to support the large number of people coming in."

The report said more than 140,000 IDPs were compelled to evacuate eight camps in Maiduguri between May 2021 and August of this year. It said two other camps housing a total of nearly 74,000 people are expected close by the end of 2022.

Borno state authorities said the decision was made to resettle IDPs back to their ancestral homes, reduce reliance on aid, and foster the redevelopment plan for the conflict-stricken state.

Baba Ali Mustapha, the immediate past welfare coordinator for the Borno state ministry of women affairs, defended the decision to close the camps, saying authorities have been making efforts to help the IDP's resettle.

"The state government did it with the intention to build their resilience," he said. "That doesn't mean they're left stranded. Monthly, the state government goes to give them food items, some of them were even given starter packs to start a business. It's a gradual process.

But Ewang questioned whether Nigerian authorities made the right decision.

"When you cut off people from their source which is predominantly humanitarian aid on the premise that you want to wean them off of food aid to develop and you're not putting in place any sort of alternatives, are you really pursuing a development objective?" she said. "We're not seeing people benefit, we're rather seeing people suffer, and that is really concerning for us."

Millions of people in northeast Nigeria have been displaced from their homes since the Boko Haram insurgency began in 2009, with more than 1.8 million displaced in Borno state alone.


The space for independent media to work in Belarus is getting smaller, as authorities label news outlets as extremist organizations and imprison journalists.

The latest to be persecuted under the country's law against extremist organizations is freelancer Ales Lyubyanchuk.

On October 27, a Minsk court sentenced Lyubyanchuk to three years in prison for participating with an extremist organization.

Lyubyanchuk had contributed stories to several news outlets and previously worked for Poland-based Belsat TV, reporting on events including mass protests after President Alexander Lukashenko claimed victory in the contested 2020 elections.

"Many leading independent media in Belarus today are recognized as 'extremist organizations'," said Andrei Bastunets, chair of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ).

Enacted in 2021, the law against extremist organizations applies not only to the leaders of these so-called groups but to those deemed to have participated with such groups. That extends to people who gave interviews to media outlets, including Zerkalo  the prominent media outlet previously known as Tut.By  BelaPAN and Radio Liberty, Bastunets said.

"Even for an interview, we are seeing people prosecuted for 'complicity' with extremist group activities," Bastunets said.

Those convicted can face up to seven years in prison.

The threat of legal action adds to the risks for media, already under pressure after the contested election.

Mass protests took place across the country after the 2020 vote, with thousands of protesters and opposition members detained, including dozens of journalists.

Since then, some of the country's largest and best-known independent media were forced to leave, Bastunets said.

For those organizations, their work is either completely based outside of Belarus if they don't want to risk the safety of correspondents, or they use a "hybrid format," where stringers use pseudonyms or work under the condition of anonymity.

Belarus still has some independent journalists and editorial offices inside the country, Bastunets told VOA's Russian Service. "But it is clear that they are under strong pressure from the authorities, and this greatly affects their editorial policy."

The Belarus embassy in Washington did not respond to VOA's request for comment.

But Lukashenko has previously said data showing high numbers of journalists in prison in Belarus was "misinformed." In a May 2022 interview with The Associated Press, Lukashenko said Belarus has "true freedom of speech" and that whether a person is a journalist or a politician, "the law is one, and it must be observed."

'No one left'

Igor Ilyash, who works for outlets including Belsat TV, believes the "extremist organization" law has added to an already repressive environment.



Under the law, "even minimal interaction with [so-called extremist organizations] entails criminal prosecution," Ilyash said.

"In 2021, the authorities tried to expel independent media from the country, shutter them and destroy them," Ilyash told VOA. "Then in 2022, we are seeing a wave of cases for cooperation with the media."

Ilyash's wife, Katerina Andreeva, who is also a Belarusian journalist, is currently imprisoned in Belarus for her reporting.

The persecution of those who speak with media "is a new stage in the constriction of totalitarianism, when not only journalism itself is illegal but any interaction with a journalist is criminally punishable," Ilyash said. "This demonstrates the conditions in which journalism is in, in Belarus in general."

The risks to journalists and their sources are changing how media operate, Ilyash said.

"I know that journalists prefer to do this in deserted places. For example, in the forest. And I'm not exaggerating  these are real stories. Journalistic activity in Belarus is driven underground," he said.

Belarus media now working outside the country's borders rely on their audiences to send information.

Olga Ratmirova, head of investigations at the Belarusian Investigative Center, said, "We continue to work from abroad. And we succeed, thanks to the audience's credibility.  This suggests that Belarusians have a request for unbiased information."

Ratmirova said since her investigative media outlet left Belarus, its audience has increased.

"We are working to ensure that Belarusians receive information that does not broadcast the position of any particular media," she told VOA.

When asked whether journalists in exile receive any information about how their colleagues still inside Belarus work, Ratmirova said, "Personally, I get the impression that there is nothing and no one left."

She cited the case of Siarhei Satsuk, editor-in-chief of the news website Yezhednevnik, who investigated corruption in the medical field.

A court last week sentenced him to eight years in prison for abuse of power and incitement.

"Before his arrest, Satsuk handed over a letter to his colleagues, where he said that he would most likely be imprisoned, and that this was the work of those who cover corruption in medicine," Ratmirova said.

"Such trials continue, and now we can say that there are practically no independent media outlets left in Belarus. There are only journalists and media outlets that work from abroad," Ratmirova said.

Belarus has a poor media freedom record, ranking 153 out of 180 countries on the Press Freedom Index, where 1 denotes the best environment for media.

Reporters Without Borders, the watchdog that compiles the list, says media in Belarus "have never been more repressed by authorities" than since Lukashenko's reelection.

This story originated in VOA's Russian Service.
Fourteen-year-old Shahid Ahmad Ganai took his family's cows for grazing some 200 meters away from his house in Trikanjan, a hilly terrain on the Indian side of Kashmir.

But that Sunday afternoon was interrupted with sudden screams. His father, Abdul Jabbar Ganai, 52, and mother, Parveena Begum, 47, frantically ran towards the grazing spot in the remote Boniyar village neighborhood of Baramulla district.

"We rushed toward the spot and saw our youngest son, Shakir, rushing toward us in a state of shock," said Ganai, describing what happened on June 12. "He [Shakir] told us that Shahid was attacked by a leopard. Both of us ran as fast as we could to save our son, but all in vain," the distraught father said while pointing towards the site.

Located in the foothills of the Himalayas on the Indian side of Kashmir, the region has about 24,214 square kilometers of forest land constituting around 20% of its total geographical area, including five national parks, 14 wildlife sanctuaries and 35 conservation reserves, official figures show.

The region's forests host several types of wildlife including leopards, bears and wild boars. Humans and animals rarely used to cross each other's paths but in the past two decades, wildlife experts say the "frequency of interactions" between the two has increased.

Data provided by the local wildlife department claims some 234 people have been killed and 2,918 others injured from January 2006 to November 2021 due to man-wildlife conflict across the Kashmir region.

Five leopards and 17 bears were killed after being declared "man-eaters" under subsection [6] of section 11 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 of India since 2011.

The mutilated body of Shahid was found deep inside the forest by locals accompanied by police and wildlife officials. The same leopard is said to have struck in another village of Boniyar just two days later on June 14.

The leopard mauled a 12-year-old girl identified as Rutba Manzoor when she was playing outside her house. Manzoor's family refused VOA's request for comment, with one of the family members saying that they don't want to relive the tragedy and are removing themselves from "anything that disturbs our mental peace."

In just four months, Ganai said five children and more than 50 sheep were killed by the leopard in 11 encounters, leading the residents of Boniyar to hit the streets asking for Jammu and Kashmir Wildlife Department to hunt the animal down.

"Locals, police and wildlife officials killed the leopard after several days of search," Ganai said. "Many lives would have been saved had wildlife officials issued an order to kill the leopard soon after the first incident," the grieving father added.

Man-animal conflict factors

Mehreen Khaleel, a primatologist and head of Wildlife Research Conservation Foundation, or WRCF, a Kashmir-based NGO, says the interaction between humans and animals in the Kashmir valley has increased in the last two decades, but notes there are additional factors for such conflicts.

"We don't have enough data to support the cause of these increased interactions. Non availability of prey, increased disturbance in wild habitats, change in land use patterns in fringe zones are a possible few of the reasons," Khaleel said. "The large-scale shift from agriculture to horticulture in fringe zones, reduction of escape spaces, closure of natural animal corridors has increased the occurrence," she said, adding that climate change also has played a greater role considering the geographic location of the Kashmir region.

Man-animal conflict in the Kashmir valley is not only confined to the areas closer to forests. The presence of wild animals such as bears, porcupines and leopards have been found in many parts of central Kashmir.

In September, a female bear and her cub were caught by a joint team of police and wildlife department officials from Rajbagh neighborhood of Srinagar city after their movement was spotted inside a posh residential area with the help of CCTV cameras.

On June 4, 2021, Adha Shakil, a 6-year-old girl, was playing with her doll inside the lawn of her two-story house in the Ompora area of central Kashmir's Budgam district when a leopard attacked her and took her to a nearby forest nursery.

"Everything happened in a matter of a few seconds," the victim's grandfather, Ghulam Hassan Mir, told VOA. "She just screamed, and I came out running to see what happened to her. She was missing and the doll she was carrying in her hands was lying on the ground. I immediately figured out that it was a leopard attack and Adha won't return alive."

Mir said rumors about the presence of the leopard inside the area had been heard for over two years.

"Today people are scared that the incident might repeat in [the] future," Mir said. "It seems that there is no value for a human life in Kashmir, otherwise the government would have ordered for the conversion of a forest nursery into a park," he said, adding the forest department cut a few trees, which according to him is not enough to create safety for people.

"Thousands of people consisting of civilians, army, police and wildlife officials," Mir said, failed to trace the dead body of his granddaughter until the next afternoon.

"One needs to understand how dense this forest nursery is," he said. "Moreover, people are claiming that one more leopard is present inside it [the forest] as many local residents claim have found fresh footprints of the wild animal. Government will act only after another fatal incident."

Aliya Mir, a wildlife rescuer associated with Wildlife SOS, disagrees that human-animal conflict has increased, saying instead that the reporting of such incidents has increased.

"There was a communication gap between people and the wildlife department due to which such incidents did not use to come into the notice," Aliya told VOA. "Bridging the gap between the people and the wildlife department has reduced casualties, as the department has set control rooms in every district to address emergency and rescue calls."

Long-term impact

Lying on a torn mattress, inside a dark room of his single-story mud and brick house, Mohammad Yousf Kohli, 70, cannot walk without underarm crutches as one of his feet was damaged completely following a bear attack near a grazing area in Check-Dard-Khor, a remote village in district Srinagar.

"I was sitting watching my sheep grazing and all of sudden a giant bear came out of bushes and attacked me," Kohli said, adding his pet dog saved his life by attacking the bear. "For three days I remained unconscious inside the hospital. I received injuries on my head, neck, arms and foot."

Kholi told VOA that his family suffered financially as the money earned in the last five years was spent on his treatment.

"We have nothing left at our home. The incident made our financial condition from bad to worse," he said, adding that he did not receive compensation from the government. "I used to support my family but now I have become their liability."

There are frequent bear attacks in Check-Dard-Khor, Kholi says, as people spot them regularly especially during evening hours.

"People are scared to move out in the evening," he said. "Most of the families living in our area have purchased dogs so that they can have an idea about the presence of wild animals roaming here."

Compensation for victims

Rashid Naqash, Kashmir zone wildlife officer, told VOA that his department is doing everything it can to prevent man-animal conflict. He says wildlife officials regularly conduct awareness programs in attack-prone areas.

Naqash says the government provides rupees three lakh ($3,645) as compensation to the families of the slain victims and people with serious injuries.

"Besides the compensation, we have deposited rupees one crore ($16,4059) at the state-run hospital, Sher e Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, for the treatment of the injured people," he said.

But families of victims say the compensation is often delayed. Ganai's family says they have yet to receive any money five months after the tragedy.

"I plan to construct a new house which will have basic facilities such as an internal washroom," Ganai, the father, said. "Our area is prone to leopard attacks, and we are scared to go to the washroom in the evening or at night as we have to cover a lot of distance. I, being a poor man, can't afford to do anything without money. My only hope is the compensation amount and I need it immediately to secure the lives of my family members."

Naqash told VOA that the Kashmir zone wildlife department usually gives out money based on priority, but in some cases, it takes some time due to technical issues.

"Everyone will get compensation soon. Jammu and Kashmir Wildlife Department is committed to its promises," he said.

Khaleel, the primatologist, believes there will be a spike in man-animal interactions in the coming years as animals are losing their habitats as well as their prey. Additionally, she warned, an "increase in population of invasive species such as wild-boar and porcupine" might exacerbate the existing problem and she recommended that "it needs to be managed at the earliest."


Days after an intruder brutally attacked Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul Pelosi, at his home, another intruder has assaulted a Pennsylvania Democratic candidate, this time in his backyard.

Richard Ringer, running for a state House seat in Fayette County, was left unconscious Monday morning after a man hit him 1012 times in the head around 5:00 am, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

"He was larger than I am and he pinned me down on my left side," 69-year-old Ringer said. "He hit me 10 to 12 times in the head, in the face, and by the eye, and he knocked me out."

Once Ringer came to, he called 911  the third time in two weeks for what appears to be election-related crimes against him. In one of the earlier incidents, someone had vandalized his garage door with words that included, "your race" and "dead." In the other, a brick was hurled through one of his windows.

Unfortunately, Ringer wasn't able to give a detailed description of yesterday's attacker.

From the Post-Gazette:

Democrat Richard Ringer said he was bloodied and knocked unconscious by an attacker in his backyard around 5 a.m.  Mr. Ringer said his hands were bloodied and his faced bruised from the attack. Mr. Ringer said he couldn't provide police with much of a description of the man. Mr. Ringer has also had two incidents of vandalism to his home that have occurred within the last two weeks. One, a threatening apparently election-related message spray-painted on his garage door and the other a brick thrown through a storm door window. The spray-painted message was partially washed off by the rain by the time Mr. Ringer saw it, but what was left clearly visible were the words "your race" and "dead." Taken together, Mr. Ringer said he can't help but be suspicious that the three incidents within three weeks of the general election are related to his candidacy, especially considering how "calm and quiet a neighborhood" it is. The incidents in Mr. Ringer's Uniontown area neighborhood come as election officials around Pennsylvania and elsewhere brace for potential harassment and violence on Election Day.

Richard Ringer is running as a democrat for state representative in PA's 51st District. You can see the bruises on his face after Ringer says he was assaulted early this morning outside his Fayette Co home. Ringer says this is the 3rd incident at his home in the past 3 weeks. pic.twitter.com/fKVKcn87rM  Jim Madalinsky (@JimWTAE) October 31, 2022

Looks like all the inciteful dog whistles coming from Republican politicians are paying off for the GQP.
An Iranian delegation will travel to Vienna for talks with U.N. nuclear watchdog officials, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Wednesday, as negotiations to revive a 2015 nuclear deal remain stalled.

Iran will send the delegation "in the coming days in order to begin talks and strengthen cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency," Amir-Abdollahian told reporters in Tehran.

He did not provide details on the delegation's composition or the precise date of the discussions.

The U.N. watchdog has been pressing Iran to give answers on the presence of nuclear material at three undeclared sites, a key sticking point that led to a resolution criticizing Iran being passed at a June meeting of the IAEA's board of governors.

Amir-Abdollahian expressed hope that the IAEA would be able to resolve accusations brought against Iran and that "we will be able to pass through this stage through technical cooperation."

Iran has repeatedly said it wants the IAEA to drop its interest in the three sites, a position that the nuclear watchdog says lacks credibility.

After months of friction, the two sides met face to face in Vienna in September.

"Dialogue has restarted with Iran on clarification of outstanding safeguards issues," IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi tweeted at the time, adding that he had met with the head of Iran's nuclear organization, Mohammed Eslami.

On-and-off talks between Tehran and world powers have been underway since April last year to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, which gave Iran much-needed sanctions relief in return for curbs on its atomic program.

The landmark Vienna accord has been in tatters since then-U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from it in 2018, and Iran later began backing away from its own commitments.

An "exchange of messages" via European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was ongoing "concerning the establishment of a new schedule of Vienna talks," Amir-Abdollahian said.

Borrell has been coordinating efforts to try to revive the deal. Amir-Abdollahian added he was set to speak with Borrell later Wednesday.

The EU in August submitted a final draft of a modified nuclear text for the agreement, but key issues remain between Tehran and Washington, as well as the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
A San Francisco judge on Tuesday ordered the man accused of breaking into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home, beating her husband and seeking to kidnap her, to be held without bail.

Adam Lipson, a public defender appointed to represent David DePape, entered a not guilty plea on DePape's behalf during the brief hearing in Superior Court in San Francisco. It was the first public appearance since the early Friday attack for DePape, a fringe activist drawn to conspiracy theories.

Wearing orange jail clothing, DePape only spoke to tell Judge Diane Northway how to pronounce his last name (dih-PAP). The 42-year-old defendant is scheduled to return to court Friday.

After the hearing, Lipson said he looks forward to providing DePape with a "vigorous defense." He also said he met DePape on Monday night for the first time and had not seen the police reports yet.

"We're going to be doing a comprehensive investigation of what happened. We're going to be looking into Mr. DePape's mental state, and I'm not going to talk any further about that until I have more information," said Lipson, who noted that a no-bail detainer in state court is a moot point because DePape also has been placed on a federal hold in the case.

The Pelosi family had asked for a Zoom link to be able to watch Tuesday's proceedings, but the judge said she did not get the request in time.

The attack on 82-year-old Paul Pelosi sent shockwaves through the political world just days before the hotly contested midterm elections. Threats against lawmakers and elections officials have been at all-time highs in this first nationwide election since the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol, and authorities have issued warnings about rising extremism in the United States.

DePape faces state charges of attempted murder, burglary and elder abuse. He also faces federal charges including attempted kidnapping of a U.S. official. Those charges are outlined in an affidavit detailing the assault, which was largely captured on police body camera imagery after authorities responded to a 911 call from the Pelosis' Pacific Heights home.

In Washington, U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger provided a sobering update Tuesday of security protocols for members of Congress.

Manger said that although many improvements have been made since the Capitol attack, including the hiring of nearly 280 officers by the end of this year, "there is still a lot of work to do."

"We believe today's political climate calls for more resources to provide additional layers of physical security for members of Congress," he said

Manger said the attack on Pelosi's husband was "an alarming reminder of the dangerous threats elected officials and public figures face during today's contentious political climate."

Speaker Pelosi was in Washington at the time and under the protection of her security detail, which does not extend to family members. She swiftly returned to San Francisco, where her husband was hospitalized and underwent surgery for a skull fracture and other injuries.

District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said the assault on Paul Pelosi appeared to be premeditated, and she appealed to Americans to "tone down" the political rhetoric.
A Kenyan official says suspected al-Shabab militants have carjacked an ambulance in the countrys northeast and abducted four people - the driver, two paramedics, and a patient - and taken them toward the border with Somalia.

Security forces in northeast Kenya are searching for four people who officials say were abducted by armed militants Tuesday evening near the town of Mandera, near the borders with Ethiopia and Somalia.

Mandera County Commissioner Onesimus Kyatha said suspected al-Shabab militants hijacked an ambulance as it was on its way to El-wak subcounty hospital.

And on-board was a driver, a patient, and paramedics, he said. We believe that suspected AS (al-Shabab) were involved in the hijacking of the vehicle.

Its not clear what the patient was seeking treatment for at the hospital or what urgent medical care was needed.

Kyatha said the hijacked vehicle was headed toward the border with Somalia.

We have made appeals to both to the Somalia administration across the border and the local elders to intervene and possibly we get back the vehicle plus the occupants, he said.

The abductions come as the Somali government conducts what President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud calls an all-out war against the Islamist militants.

Kyatha said Tuesday nights abductions may have been a reaction to Somalias offensive against al-Shabab.

What is happening across the border is that there is a massive root-out of those fellows (al-Shabab) and we believe some of them could have maybe crossed over to our county and thats what we are dealing with at the moment, he said.

Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for twin bombings on Saturday in Somalias capital, Mogadishu, that left at least 121 people dead and about 300 injured.

Meanwhile, the families of the four Kenyans abducted are waiting and hoping for good news.
North Korea fired at least 24 missiles Wednesday, including at least three toward South Korean territory, an unprecedented barrage that triggered alerts on televisions in the South and air raid sirens on an island off the coast.

One of the North Korean missiles fell into waters just 57 kilometers east of Sokcho, a coastal tourist city in South Korea's northeast, according to South Korea's military.

Another missile landed 167 kilometers from Ulleung County, a sparsely populated island region off South Korea's east coast.

The third fell in international waters just 26 kilometers south of the de facto inter-Korean sea border, officials said.

North Korea has fired over 50 ballistic missiles this year  a record high  but until today none had been launched toward South Korean territory or resulted in public air raid alerts.

In response, South Korea's military said its warplanes launched three missiles north of the de facto sea border to demonstrate South Korea's "capability and readiness to strike the enemy with precision."

It is the first time since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War for either country to send missiles across the Northern Limit Line, according to South Korea's Ministry of National Defense.

In response to the North's launches, South Korea's transport ministry said it closed some air routes off its east coast until at least Thursday morning.

The developments further raise tensions on the Korean Peninsula, where both sides have increased displays of military strength.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said the North's launches were "effectively a violation of our territory" and ordered swift measures "to ensure North Korea pays a clear price," according to a statement from his office.

Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada called the launches "utterly unacceptable." Tokyo officials say they have lodged a complaint to North Korea via diplomatic channels in Beijing.

In a statement, the U.S. military's Indo-Pacific Command said North Korea's launches did not pose an immediate threat to the United States or its allies but highlighted Pyongyang's "reckless behavior."

North Korea fired the missiles in five rounds throughout the day, according to summaries shared by South Korean and Japanese defense officials and media reports. Around midday, the North also launched over 100 artillery shells into a sensitive buffer zone near the sea border on the east coast, Seoul officials said.

Perhaps most provocatively, one of the missiles was on a trajectory toward Ulleung, a remote, volcanic island off South Korea's east coast. While the missile landed well short of the island, it triggered loud sirens there for about 2-3 minutes just before 9:00 a.m.

Residents did not initially know it was an air raid warning, reported South Korea's JTBC broadcaster.

On televisions throughout the country, some broadcasts were interrupted at 8:55 a.m. to alert residents about the launches.

Such alerts are highly unusual in South Korea, where North Korean missile launches are hardly mentioned in newscasts.

The launches come as South Korea mourns the deaths of at least 156 mostly young people who were crushed to death Saturday in a crowd surge during Halloween celebrations.

North Korea has not offered condolences over the incident.

Dangerous spiral

North and South Korea are stuck in a cycle of provocations, with each side blaming the other for raising tensions.

Earlier this month, the two Koreas exchanged warning shots at sea, after South Korea accused a North Korean commercial ship of crossing the border.

In response, the United States and South Korea have increased the size, frequency, and publicity of their joint military drills.

Ankit Panda, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, warns of a "spiral dynamic" in which both sides "will feel compelled to keep upping the ante."

"This could be leading to a much more dangerous destination," he told VOA.

North and South Korea remain in a technical state of war, since their 1950s conflict ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.

Why North Korea is launching missiles

While North Korea appears intent on provoking a sense of crisis, to what end is not clear.

Pyongyang has long ratcheted up tensions in order to create leverage ahead of negotiations with the United States. But North Korea has consistently rejected recent U.S. and South Korean offers of dialogue. In September, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said there would be "absolutely no denuclearization, no negotiation and no bargaining chip to trade."

North Korea's strategy appears meant to compel international acceptance of its nuclear weapons program, "whether the U.S. recognizes its status rhetorically or not," according to Chad O'Carroll, the Seoul-based founder of the NK News website, which focuses on North Korea.

"Seems it also wants to impose serious costs for the U.S. and ROK for renewed [military] exercises," O'Carroll tweeted.

On Tuesday, North Korea warned for a second consecutive day that Washington and Seoul should halt military drills.

"Such military rashness and provocation can be no longer tolerated," said Pak Jong Chon, secretary of the Central Committee of North Korea's Workers' Party, in a statement posted to North Korean state media.

A day earlier, a North Korean foreign ministry official warned of "powerful follow-up measures" if the U.S.-South Korean drills do not stop.

South Korean and U.S. officials have for months warned that North Korea is in the final stages of preparations for what would be its seventh nuclear test since 2006.

On Tuesday, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price dismissed North Korea's latest threats and repeated Washington's long-time insistence that the joint military exercises were defensive in nature.

"Unfortunately, this seems to be the DPRK reaching for another pretext for provocations it has already undertaken, potentially for provocations that it might be planning to take in the coming days or coming weeks," Price said.

Lee Juhyun contributed to this report.
North Korea fired at least 10 missiles Wednesday, including at least three toward South Korean territory, triggering alerts on televisions throughout the country and air raid sirens in an island province off the coast.

South Korea's military says one of the missiles fell into waters just 57 kilometers east of Sokcho, a coastal tourist city in South Koreas northeast. Another missile landed 167 kilometers from Ulleung County, a sparsely populated island region off South Korea's east coast. The third fell in international waters just 26 kilometers south of the de facto inter-Korean sea border, officials said.

North Korea has fired about 50 ballistic missiles this year  a record high  but until today none had been launched toward South Korean territory and none had resulted in public air raid alerts.

The developments further raise tensions on the Korean Peninsula, where both sides have increased displays of military strength.

"The launch is very unusual and unacceptable as it fell close to our territorial waters in the NLL for the first time since the division" of the Korean Peninsula, said Shin Chul Kang, Lieutenant General of South Koreas Army.

"Our military will respond decisively," Shin added.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered "strict measures be taken swiftly to ensure North Korea pays a clear price for its provocation," according to a statement from his office.

At a background briefing, a South Korean military official said North Korea launched over 10 missiles of various types on both sides of the Korean Peninsula.

On Ulleung Island, loud sirens sounded for about 2-3 minutes early Wednesday, but residents did not know it was an air raid warning, reported South Korea's JTBC broadcaster. On televisions throughout the country, some broadcasts were interrupted at 8:55 a.m. to alert residents about the launches.

Such alerts are highly unusual in South Korea, where North Korean missile launches are hardly mentioned in newscasts.

The launches come as South Korea mourns the deaths of at least 156 mostly young people who were crushed to death Saturday in a crowd surge during Halloween celebrations.

There are also concerns of a North Korean nuclear test and as Pyongyang issues increasingly firmly worded warnings toward the United States and its ally South Korea.

On Tuesday, North Korea warned for a second consecutive day that Washington and Seoul should halt military exercises, which have recently been increased as a response to North Koreas moves.

"Such military rashness and provocation can be no longer tolerated," said Pak Jong Chon, secretary of the Central Committee of North Korea's Workers' Party, in a statement posted to North Korean state media.

A day earlier, a North Korean foreign ministry official warned of "powerful follow-up measures" if the U.S.-South Korean drills do not stop.

South Korean and U.S. officials have for months warned that North Korea is in the final stages of preparations for what would be its seventh nuclear test since 2006.

On Tuesday, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price dismissed North Korea's latest threats and repeated Washington's long-time insistence that the joint military exercises were defensive in nature.

"Unfortunately, this seems to be the DPRK reaching for another pretext for provocations it has already undertaken, potentially for provocations that it might be planning to take in the coming days or coming weeks," Price said.

Lee Juhyun contributed to this report.
With just one week to go until the U.S. midterm elections, a key senior U.S. official is expressing concerns that misinformation, or influence operations by U.S. adversaries, could ignite violence at the polls.

For weeks, top officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security have said they have found no traces of specific or credible threats to the November 8 vote.

But increasingly officials have voiced fears about the heightened domestic political tensions that have gripped much of the country and about how that could play out on Election Day when mixed with false or misleading narratives, sometimes from foreign countries such as Russia, China and Iran.

"It's a significant concern," Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) told a forum Tuesday in Washington. "You've got disinformation and misinformation, which can be used by foreign adversaries to sow discord among the American people to undermine confidence in the integrity of our elections and to incite violence against election officials."

In addition,"you've got these horrible physical security concerns at an unprecedented level, threats of intimidation, of violence, of harassment against election officials, polling places, voters," she said.

CISA, which serves as the lead risk management agency for election security, is not alone in its worries.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has repeatedly warned about the potential for violence during the midterm elections, saying as far back as June that the election could serve as a rallying point for domestic extremists bent on violence.

And senior U.S. law enforcement officials have likewise warned the number of threats against election workers and election officials has grown dramatically, with more than 1,000 reports since June 2021.

Of those, almost 60% have come from seven states, all of which saw the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election challenged by skeptics or audited because of unsubstantiated allegations of fraud.

"It is a very sad state of affairs when election officials are worried about their security," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told a conference in Virginia last week. "We have reports of a number of election officials expressing concern."

State and local officials have also reported seeing more calls for violence on social media, including threats against election officials and some calls for a civil war.

Watch related video by Anita Powell:

Officials with both DHS and CISA say they have responded by working closely with state and local officials who have the ultimate responsibility for running elections, sharing the latest threat intelligence and helping to coordinate with law enforcement officials.

CISA has also been holding classes for election workers on how to deescalate potential confrontations, going as far as to post a shortened version on YouTube.

Additionally, CISA and state election officials and organizations have sought to push back against potential influence operations designed to spread false and misleading information, promoting websites like CISA's Rumor Control site, designed to debunk narratives aimed at creating confusion and doubt.

While senior U.S. officials have yet to draw a direct link between specific disinformation and specific cases of election-related violence, they say there is no doubt adversaries such as Russia, China and Iran have consistently pushed to increase political tensions within the U.S.

"We know our foreign adversaries are doing this," FBI Assistant Director for Counterterrorism Robert Wells said last week, pointing to Russia in particular.

"Russia likes to sit back and watch the United States kind of tear ourselves apart," he said. "I think they like what they're seeing but they will definitely take steps to fan the flames on social media."

And officials worry about what will happen when those efforts are combined with a growing anti-government and anti-authority sentiment.

"Myriad conspiracy theories continue to proliferate, with various narratives associated with false claims about the [2020] election," said DHS Assistant Secretary Samantha Vinograd, noting those claims "have a historical basis in cementing clear and credible violence."

"We have also seen the window between aspirational rhetoric online, or seemingly aspirational rhetoric online, and action narrow significantly," she said, speaking alongside the FBI's Wells. "We are certainly very focused on what we consider to be an incredibly heightened threat environment."
The death of a 40-year-old television personality while on assignment in Pakistan has raised concerns about the safety of journalists there, the work conditions they face and the risks they take to get the story.

Sadaf Naeem, a broadcast journalist for Lahore citys Channel 5, was killed on Sunday as she was covering a convoy taking former Prime Minister Imran Khan from Punjab province to Islamabad for a political march.

Her funeral and burial were Monday in Lahore.

Witnesses say Naeem was trying to climb onto a container truck carrying Khan when she apparently lost her footing and fell to the ground, where she was crushed. Khan expressed condolences to Naeems family.

Although the exact cause of the fatal fall is still not known, journalists and experts are voicing concerns about the challenging conditions in which many Pakistani journalists work, at times without proper training or safety equipment, or in hostile environments.

In an interview with VOA, Naeem Bhatti, the journalists husband, called his wife's death an accident and made the decision to forgo a postmortem.

Naeem's family and friends described her death as a "personal loss of a young and vibrant journalist."

The Pakistani federal government and the provincial government announced that Naeem's family will be financially compensated but that no investigation into her death will be conducted because her death was reported as an accident.

Prominent journalist Mazhar Abbas said, however, that though it is imperative to thoroughly investigate Naeems death, it is also important to look into the circumstances that lead journalists to work in dangerous situations without being adequately prepared.

Although some of the media organizations do provide some basic safety training to the journalists, all media organizations should ensure safety training for their employees, he said. There have been several incidents in the past of journalists losing their lives or being physically harmed while reporting from the field.

Iqbal Khattak, the head of Freedom Network, a Pakistan-based media watchdog, stated, "We must know the reasons that caused her death and whether there were suitable security precautions for the journalists who were covering the lengthy march."

According to Freedom Networks data, since 1990 more than 140 journalists have been killed, and 65% of those victims were targeted. The organizations findings also show that in recent years, many journalists lost their jobs after criticizing government policies.

Khattak added that journalists need to be told loud and clear that they should take all requisite precautions while covering any events and incidents.

In December 2021, Pakistan passed a landmark law  the Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals Act  to ensure the safety of journalists. The law is intended to offer a safety mechanism for journalists, but according to Khattak, it has not yet been put into effect because the commission that is supposed to supervise the law's application has not been established.

This story originated in VOAs Urdu service.
Europe has warmed more than twice as much as the rest of the world over the past three decades and has experienced the greatest temperature increase of any continent, according to a report by the World Meteorological Organization.

The report on the state of the climate in Europe follows a summer of extremes. A record-breaking heat wave scorched Britain, Alpine glaciers vanished at an unprecedented rate and a long-lasting marine heat wave cooked the waters of the Mediterranean.

"Europe presents a live picture of a warming world and reminds us that even well-prepared societies are not safe from impacts of extreme weather events," WMO secretary-general Petteri Taalas said in a statement.

From 1991 to 2021, temperatures over Europe warmed at an average of 0.5 degree Celsius per decade, the report said, while the global average was just 0.2 degree C.

Last year, extreme weather events made worse by climate change  chiefly floods and storms  caused more than $50 billion worth of damage in Europe.

The reason Europe is warming faster than other continents has to do with the fact that a large part of the continent is in the sub-Arctic and Arctic  the fastest-warming region on Earth  as well as changes in climate feedbacks, scientists said.

For example, fewer clouds over Europe during the summer has meant that more sunlight and heat now reaches the continent, said Freja Vamborg, senior scientist with the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Some scientists have called Europe a "heat wave hot spot" as the number of heat waves on the continent has increased faster than in other regions because of changes in atmospheric circulation.

Although temperatures are rising, the European Union has cut greenhouse gas emissions by 31% between 1990 and 2020, the report said, and it aims to slash emissions by 55% by 2030.

On November 6, delegates will arrive in Egypt for COP27, the annual U.N. climate summit.

French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are expected to attend. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's decision not to attend the COP27 climate summit is being kept under review, his spokesman said Monday.
Russia said Wednesday it is resuming its participation in an agreement facilitating the shipment of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea.

The Russian Federation considers that the guarantees received at the moment appear sufficient, and resumes the implementation of the agreement, the defense ministry said in a statement.

Russia suspended its participation Saturday after alleging Ukraine used drones to attack the Russian Black Sea fleet.

The United Nations and Turkey brokered the agreement in July with Russia and Ukraine to resume Ukrainian grain shipments and allow for Russian shipments of fertilizer amid a global food crisis.

In a statement issued Tuesday through his spokesman, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warmly welcomed the announcement from the Russian Federation on its resumed participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

Guterres said he continues his engagement with all actors toward the renewal and full implementation of the initiative, and he also remains committed to removing the remaining obstacles to the exports of Russian food and fertilizer.

Russias suspension interrupted shipments in recent days, while the other parties to the scheme worked to get some shipments out of Ukrainian ports and to carry out some of the inspections in Istanbul called for under the deal.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the agreement Wednesday as "a significant diplomatic result for our country and the whole world" after Russia rejoined a deal.

Iranian weapons

The Pentagon on Tuesday raised concerns that Russia may try to get more weapons from Iran and North Korea to use in its war against Ukraine.

Russia recently has targeted civilian infrastructure with Iranian-made drones, and Iranian personnel are helping the Russian military launch these drone attacks from the Crimean Peninsula, according to the United States.

Iran has repeatedly denied it is providing Russia drones and military support.

We do have concerns that Russia may also seek to acquire additional advanced munition capabilities from Iran  for example, surface-to-surface missiles  to use in Ukraine, said Pentagon press secretary Pat Ryder.

Atlanta-based cable news network CNN has reported that Iran is preparing to send Russia about 1,000 additional weapons, including surface-to-surface, short-range ballistic missiles and more suicide drones.

Also Wednesday, the White House accused North Korea of shipping artillery shells to Russia via other countries, something North Korea denies.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. believes North Korea is "trying to make it appear as though they're being sent to countries in the Middle East or North Africa."

He declined to provide a specific estimate of the quantity of ammunition being sent to bolster the Russian effort but said they are not going to change the course of the war.

Security Council

Meanwhile, Russia was denied Wednesday its request to the U.N. Security Council to establish a formal inquiry into its charge that the U.S. and Ukraine have biological weapons programs in Ukraine. Its a claim that Kyiv and Washington deny.

China was the only country to vote with Russia in support of a draft Security Council resolution on the measure. The U.S., Britain and France voted against it, and the other 10 council members abstained.

U.N. disarmament officials have long said they are not aware of any biological weapons programs in Ukraine.

VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this story. Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
Somali authorities are scrambling to avert famine from a record drought that has affected nearly eight million Somalis, or half the population. The largest city in Somalia's South West state, Baidoa, is bearing the brunt as thousands of families flee starvation in the countryside to displaced camps in the city. Aid groups and authorities are pleading for international help to prevent further loss of life.

The U.N.s World Food Program aid Somalias worst drought in nearly half a century has wiped out millions of livestock and has nearly 8 million people, including 1.5 million children, facing chronic hunger.

The unprecedented failure of a fifth rainy season in a row has displaced more than 1 million Somalis from the countryside, forcing them to head to the outskirts of cities like Baidoa.

Many have no option but to walk and the most vulnerable dont always survive.

For Maroog Adan Laamow, it was a difficult journey. It took three days and three of her children died of hunger. She said the family has not received any aid for three months.

Our only source of income is the firewood we cut and sell, she said in Somali. If we dont sell any, we are unable to eat and sometimes go hungry all night.

Children under the age of 5, the most vulnerable to malnutrition, receive what care is available at Baidoa hospital.

Khadijo Isak said the drought has decimated her crops and livestock.

We have not been able to grow our crops for four consecutive seasons due to lack of rain, she said in Somali. Our livestock has been wiped out and my son is suffering from malnutrition."

Hospital admissions for children are rising quickly, said Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim at Baidoa hospital. The hospital had been admitting about 150 to 200 malnourished children per month, a figure that has risen to 300 to 400.

Somalias Southwest State government is working closely with aid agencies to lessen the impact of the drought and try to prevent famine.

The state minister of humanitarian and disaster management, Abdinasir Abdi Arush, is coordinating relief efforts.

Our goal is to ensure that no famine occurs in this country, and we expect God to help in our efforts to ensure that it does not happen, he said in Somali. It is important that we do all that is possible to prevent people from dying of hunger. As a government, we have been entrusted with responsibility by our people."

But in the makeshift camps for the displaced, there are few visible signs of adequate aid for drought victims.

The last declared famine in Somalia in 2011 killed a quarter of a million people.

If more food aid doesnt arrive soon, aid groups say another famine in Somalia could be even worse.
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has signed a Decree approving the "Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan on trade and economic cooperation", approved on August 24, 2022 in Baku.

After the Agreement indicated in Part 1 of the Decree comes into force, the Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan will ensure the implementation of its clauses.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan will submit a notification to Kazakhstan's government on implementing domestic procedures required for the Agreement to enter into force.
England's Icarus Theatre Collective recently put out a casting call for a new production of William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet that would transplant the star-crossed lovers to the Holocaust. In this version, Hitler Youth member Romeo falls in love with a Jewish girl named Juliet despite the fact that the opening lines of the play explicitly describe the Capulets and Montagues as two houses being both alike in dignity, which is an interesting way to "both-sides" frame the relationship between the Nazis and the Jews whom they oppressed and genocided.

This was the company's official description of the play:

In defiance of their entire society and in secrecy from their closest friends, hopeful young lives burn amidst a cataclysmic backdrop of impending war and the horror of the Holocaust. Sun and moon shine down on star-crossed lovers as a Jewish girl falls for a member of (Hitler) Youth and the boy questions everything he was taught to believe.

In a nod towards inclusivity, the company released a casting call in search of "non-binary artists, and/or those of global majority, black or Asian heritage" to join the production. It specifically called out both Romeo and Mercutio as being roles that would be open to non-binary performers; the company was also looking to cast a female-presenting performer in the role of Tybalt, Juliet's hot-headed cousin.

This is all seems good and well, except for the part where the company neglected to include any Jewish performers in their casting search. For a play about the Holocaust. In which half of the cast, including one of the two main characters, is supposed to be Jewish.

Oops.

For what it's worth, the theatre company's Artistic Director, Max Lewendel  who was also directing this production of Romeo & Juliet  is himself Jewish. Does that make it all okay, or is there a lot more to unpack there? Your mileage may vary.

Either way, the company has since apologized, and in fact cancelled the production entirely.

This may strike some people as an extreme choice, or "cancel culture run amok," or what-have-you. The Telegraph specifically called out the non-binary casting details in its headline about the show, passive-aggressively suggesting that this was a mock-worthy issue of more foolish "woke-ness."(Frankly, the gender assignment language in the casting call is fairly common for the theatre industry). But even if the company did put out a new casting call that was inclusive of Jewish performers, there still be the awkward both-sides Holocaust-denial angle of the Nazis and the Jews being "two houses, both alike in dignity." That's a harder fix. Enemies becoming lovers is very, very different from an oppressor falling in love with a member of the group they oppressed.

'Non-binary' Romeo and Juliet set in Nazi Germany apologises for omitting Jews from casting call [Craig Simpson / The Telegraph]
Swazilands absolute Monarch, King Mswati III, wants citizens to protect the country from pro-democracy groups he blames for tarnishing the image of the Southern African kingdom abroad.

In his speech at the opening of parliament, King Mswati said activities of the groups have deprived the country of good opportunities and benefits that could help improve the living conditions of Swazis.

Denial

But, Wandile Dludlu, the national coordinator for the Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF), a pro-democracy group, says the kings accusations are unfortunate and misplaced.

He says the international community is aware that state security agencies intimidate, harass and abuse the rights of citizens critical of the king and his administration.

We are not surprised by the utterances of his majesty. We live in a global village and it is not possible to keep hiding the shenanigans of his majesty, said Dludlu. He is denying the reality that he is the cause of the main problem that continues to pain the country negatively out there. By refusing to democratize, respect human rights, [and] respect the rule of law, these are the things that cast negatively about the country out there.

Pro-democracy supporters worry that the kings latest pronouncement enables security agencies, including the police, to violently crack down on their activities including meetings and protests. Dludlu said he agrees with the concerns of pro-democracy supporters.

His majesty is taking a more tougher stance on demonstrations on dissidents as he calls us," he said. "Going forward, we will continue to do our best to mobilize Swazis to continue protesting. We are making a call because these utterances are educative enough for the world to see what type of a leader and leadership is in Swaziland.

He said there is a need for the international community to pressure the king to create the enabling environment to ensure the administration respects human rights and the rule of law.

In our view his majesty will continue to posture so bad as he does if many governments in the world continue to treat him with white gloves, continue to trade with Swaziland without taking a good look at the human rights record of Swaziland, said Dludlu.

AGOA

The United States recently removed Swazilands membership in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) after the country failed to meet benchmarks to be part of the trade agreement. The king blames pro-democracy groups for the countrys AGOA exclusion. About 17,000 people reportedly lost their jobs after Swazilands was excluded from AGOA.

But, Dludlu says opposition and pro-democracy groups are not to blame.

His majesty is the one whose government has not honored the five benchmarks required by AGOA in trading with the U.S. government, said Dludlu. It is his majesty who has been detaining and arresting for instance Mario Masuku, the president of PUDEMO, Maxwell Dlamini, the secretary general, [and the rest]. Its not the pro-democracy forces."

It is not the pro-democracy forces who are corrupt and who are squandering at least in their own admission nothing less than $6,873,894 per month, in an economy so small are misdoings of his majesty. So he cannot shift blame and he cannot play the blame game. He has to face the reality of democratizing this country and allowing it to develop and prosper as a country in Africa as it should, Dludlu added.
Tanzanias army has deployed hundreds of troops to help firefighters who have been battling a blaze on Africas highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro, for almost two weeks.



Tanzania's National Parks Authority says the fire has destroyed hundreds of hectares of the mountain's forests. Tanzanian tour operators and porters worry their trade will dry up if the fire is not soon brought under control.



According to a statement from Tanzanias Peoples Defense Force Tuesday, the troops have already joined efforts to fight the fire in Mount Kilimanjaro national park.



The statement said the army will fully cooperate with other stakeholders to prevent further damage to the park.



The fire broke out October 21 in Karanga Camp, an area located about 4,000 meters above sea level.



Some 500 people are battling to contain the blaze, including firefighters, national park staff, tour guides, and civilians.



No injuries have been reported so far and Tanzanias national parks authority says tourism has not been affected.



However, tour operator Ally Malika says his business has suffered.



He says, it has really affected us since in some cases tourists refused to climb the mountain, worrying that the fire would affect them. Malika says I think the fire will stop because along with the ongoing efforts to contain it, there is also rain in some areas which helps put out the fire.



Tour operators say more needs to be done to stop incidents like this, including increased aerial surveillance.



Fred Mkonyi is a managing director of Fred Trekking and Safaris company.



There should be satellite cameras to survey the whole area to identify threats and disasters like these," he says. "If there is anyone involved in the fire, then the law will step in. Mkonyi adds that Kilimanjaro national park is very big, so you cant have guards to cover the entire area. If we dont have the satellite, he says, we can also have helicopter patrols.



Fires are common around Kilimanjaro at the end of dry seasons. In 2020, another fire broke out on the mountain and destroyed more than 95 square kilometers of vegetation and 12 huts used by tourists.



Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain peak in Africa, is one of Tanzanias leading tourist destinations. Around 50,000 people climb Kilimanjaro annually, bringing tens of millions of dollars to the region.
A new U.N. report finds agricultural automation can boost global food production and be a boon for small-scale farmers in developing countries.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, has just released The State of Food and Agriculture 2022 report. The reports authors said automation is rapidly changing the face of agriculture. New technologies, they say, are quickly leaving behind some of the old larger-type tractors and large machinery in ways that could benefit small holders in developing countries.

Parallels can be drawn with the introduction of cellphones. The World Bank, among other observers, notes African and other developing countries can harness digital technologies to boost their economies by advancing from landlines to smartphones.

FAO said automation can play an important role in making food production more efficient and more environmentally friendly.

Chief FAO economist Maximo Torero said many emerging technologies would have been unimaginable years ago. He cited as examples fruit-picking robots that use artificial intelligence and sensors that monitor plants and animals.

Automation allows agriculture to be more productive, efficient, resilient, and sustainable and can improve working conditions, Torero said. However, as with any technological change, automation also implies disruption to the agricultural systems. The risk is that the automation could exacerbate inequalities if we are not careful on how it is being done and developed and deployed.

The report looks at 27 case studies from all over the world. They represent technologies at different stages of readiness suitable for large or small agricultural producers of varying levels of income.

Torero said the report investigates the drivers of these technologies and identifies barriers preventing their adoption, particularly by small-scale producers. The report, he said, also looks at one of the most common concerns about automation  that it creates unemployment.

While it concludes that such fears are overblown, it acknowledges that agricultural automation can lead to unemployment in places where rural labor is abundant, and wages are low, he said. It is important to understand that in a continent like sub-Saharan Africa, where there is an enormous amount of youth population, we can build the skill sets of these people to be able to have access to these technologies.

In areas where cheap labor is abundant, the FAO urges policymakers to avoid subsidizing automation while creating an enabling environment for its adoption. At the same time, the report said governments should provide social protection to the least skilled workers who are likely to lose their jobs during the transition.
Students at the University of Malawi are protesting over the schools decision to have only one semester per year, doubling the length of time needed for a degree. The school closed Wednesday after students blocked roads to the campus, and administrators say classes will not resume until the demonstrations end.

The students have been holding demonstrations on and around campus since Friday in an effort to make officials abandon the new academic calendar, set to begin next year.

On Wednesday, protesters blocked roads to the campus by burning tires in the streets.

Humble Bondo, president of the universitys Students Council, said protests were stepped up this week after management failed to address students concerns during a meeting Monday.

During the meeting we presented our stand, and we said to them, We will not stop our vigils until the academic calendar changes, Bondo said. So, instead of addressing our issue on the table or the option that we gave them, they said we cannot manage to do this.

The university, so far, has not stated a reason for cutting back to one semester per year.

Similar protests in September ended in clashes between the police and students.

The University of Malawi administration said in a statement Wednesday it decided to close the institution because the protests were threatening the security of management and members of the public.

They instructed all the students to leave the campus by noon.

Bondo said closing the institution was unfair.

The impact is a lot, he said. Mind you that we are fighting this so that we should have the same academic calendar, we should finish the period within one year, two semesters. But this will also prolong the time that we will stay at the university. So, this will put us in an awkward position.

University spokesman Alfred Banda told VOA Wednesday he would not make further comments about the matter.

Education expert Benedicto Kondowe faults the university administration for closing the institution and said he hopes the matter gets resolved soon.

If they take longer, some of the students would drop out because they will lose motivation because it does not make sense to do a four-year program in five, six years, Kondowe said. So, there is already a risk there, what about a girl child? Some of the girls will fall pregnant, so there is huge implication that the duty bearers will need to consider in the circumstances.

Student union president Bondo told VOA the students are seeking a court injunction against the closure of the institution.
U.S. officials expressed concern Tuesday about threats from Iran against Saudi Arabia.

"We are in constant contact through military, diplomatic, intelligence channels with the Saudis, and we wont hesitate to act in defense of our interests and our partners in the region," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.

The Associated Press and Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Saudi Arabia had shared intelligence with the United States about a potential attack.

Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder said in response to a question about the reports that U.S. military officials "remain concerned about the threat situation in the region."

"Were in regular contact with our Saudi partners, in terms of what information they may have to provide on that front," Ryder said. "But what weve said before, and Ill repeat it, is that we will reserve the right to protect and defend ourselves no matter where our forces are serving, whether in Iraq or elsewhere."

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
The United States announced on Thursday up to $5 million in rewards, seeking information on a Singaporean national whom officials say provided sanctioned services to North Korea to enable Pyongyang's nuclear programs.

Kwek Kee Seng is accused of engaging in an extensive scheme to evade U.S. and United Nations sanctions by covertly transporting fuel to North Korea through a Singapore-based shipping agency, Swanseas Port Services (S) Pte Ltd.

In violation of U.S. law, Kwek Kee Seng "has organized the delivery of petroleum products directly to the DPRK as well as ship-to-ship transfers of fuel destined for the DPRK using one of his oil tankers," said Paul Houston, a deputy assistant secretary of state for the Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service.

Thursday's Rewards for Justice announcement is part of Washington's ongoing efforts to disrupt financial tools of persons engaged in illegal activities that support North Korea's weapons proliferation programs, money laundering, and specific cyber operations.

The U.S. efforts to curb North Korea's illicit activities come amid Pyongyang's unprecedented missile firings and escalating nuclear threats.

"The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is a country of major concern when it comes to proliferation," said Gonzalo Suarez, a deputy assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation.

"As of this morning, it has launched over 50 ballistic missiles, including six intercontinental ballistic missiles, and we assess it is prepared to also conduct a nuclear test," Suarez added.

North Korea on Thursday continued its unprecedented pace of launches, sending six more missiles into the sea, as it continued to lash out at the United States and South Korea for conducting joint military exercises.

U.S. officials also voiced concerns about North Korea's weapon proliferation. White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby said Wednesday the U.S. has information that indicates North Korea is covertly supplying Russia with a "significant" number of artillery shells for its war in Ukraine.

In Pyongyang, North Korea's foreign ministry this week demanded that the U.S. and South Korea stop large-scale military exercises, calling them a provocation that may draw "more powerful follow-up measures."

"The DPRK knows full well that the military exercises that we conduct are purely, purely defensive in nature," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said during a briefing Tuesday.

The spokesperson warned of "profound costs and profound consequences" if North Korea went ahead with its seventh nuclear test.

A diplomatic source who asked not to be named told VOA that South Korea, together with the U.S., have "full capability" to "wipe out" North Korea should Pyongyang launch an attack against Seoul. He said South Korea currently has no plan to request that the United States redeploy the tactical nuclear weapons that Washington withdrew from Seoul in the early 1990s.

The Rewards for Justice Program is administered by the State Department's diplomatic security service. The program has paid more than $250 million to more than 125 people who provided information that have helped resolve threats to U.S. national security since 1984.
The United States is trying to curb the flow of weapons to the Islamic State terror groups affiliate in Somalia, taking aim at a smuggling operation that is also helping to arm its al-Qaida-linked rival, al-Shabab, with weapons from Iran.

The U.S. Treasury Department Tuesday announced sanctions against eight individuals and one company all involved in the yearslong effort to smuggle millions of dollars of weapons between Yemen and Somalia.

Among those targeted are Abdirahman Fahiye, believed to lead IS-Somalia's day-to-day operations, Mohamed Ahmed Qahiye, who heads IS-Somalias intelligence wing, and Isse Mohamoud Yusuf, a former pirate who continues to run weapons on behalf of IS.

The sanctions "take direct aim at the networks funding and supplying both ISIS-Somalia and al-Shabab," Brian Nelson, the undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement, using another acronym for the IS affiliate.

"The involvement of those designated [Tuesday] in other criminal activity, including piracy and illegal fishing, demonstrates the extent of ISIS-Somalia's integration with illicit networks and other terrorist organizations operating in the region," Nelson added.

Tuesday's move by the Treasury Department follows an earlier round of sanctions, introduced last month, aimed at crippling al-Shababs ability to raise money.

The new sanctions, though, focus on smugglers and terror leaders said to be enmeshed in IS-Somalia, despite current or past ties to al-Shabab, links to al-Qaidas affiliate in Yemen or links to Iran.

"I don't think it's anything ideological," Caleb Weiss, a senior analyst with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Bridgeway Foundation, told VOA via email.

"They're using the same basic smuggling networks and smugglers that are happy to do business with the highest bidder," Weiss said. "I am sure Iran is also looking at this as an angle to make extra cash, as well."

According to U.S. Treasury officials, it has been big business.

Abdirahman Mohamed Omar, an IS-Somalia member and weapons smuggler, is said to have completed more than $2 million in transactions over the past four years, procuring weapons like AK-47 machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, for his own group and for al-Shabab.

Another sanctioned smuggler, Mahad Isse Aden, is alleged to have transferred almost $800,000 to arms suppliers in Yemen between 2015 and 2020.

Even the senior IS-Somalia officials have not been above doing business with Iran.

The Treasury Department said in early 2020, IS-Somalias intelligence chief, Qahiye, was part of a senior delegation that got a $10,000 payment from Iranian businessmen.

But there are questions as to where all the weapons and money are going as some recent intelligence estimates have questioned the group's capabilities.

Information gathered by United Nations member states and published in a report this past July, indicated the group has fewer than 300 fighters in Puntland, with "a small footprint that lacks the capacity to undertake major operations as a result of attacks from [al-Qaida linked] al-Shabab."

Even the information issued by the U.S. noted that despite efforts to raise funds and the movement of hundreds of thousands of dollars, IS-Somalia members receive low wages.

Some former counterterrorism officials think that may have to do with IS-Somalias focus, which is not on Somalia itself.

IS-Somalia "is much more invested in its ability to support ISIS networks elsewhere," Edmund Fitton-Brown, a former top U.N. official who is now a senior adviser to the New York and Berlin-based Counter Extremism Project (CEP), told VOA.

The notion is supported by intelligence that indicates that despite its small size, IS-Somalia is home to one of the Islamic States key regional hubs.

U.N. member state intelligence published earlier this year suggests the so-called al-Karrar office based in Somalia serves as a key financial hub for IS, moving money from Yemen to Afghanistan to help buy weapons and pay the salaries of IS fighters in Somalia, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The United States called Wednesday for Iran to be removed from the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the main intergovernmental body dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women.

This work is vital. It makes a real difference, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said of the CSW. And it deserves our full support, especially when the rights of so many women and girls are under attack. But the commission cannot do its work when it is being undermined from within.



She said Irans membership is an ugly stain on the bodys credibility.



In our view, it cannot stand, she said.



The U.S. announcement was first made in a statement from Vice President Kamala Harriss office earlier Wednesday.



Thomas-Greenfield spoke at an informal meeting of Security Council members, known as an Arria meeting, focused on the mass protests that started in Iran on September 16, following the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, 22. The Kurdish woman was arrested in Tehran by so-called morality police for wearing her headscarf improperly.



Police say she had a heart attack in custody, but her family disputes that. The family's request for a committee of independent doctors to investigate her death was rejected by the Iranian authorities.

Independent probe urged



It is clear that the so-called investigations into the death of Mahsa Amini have failed the minimum requirements of impartiality, independence and transparency, Javaid Rehman, the U.N. special rapporteur for Iran, told the meeting in a video briefing.



He called for an independent, international investigation into her death  a call that was supported by several council members.



Irans ambassador sent a letter on Monday to all U.N. members urging them not to participate in Wednesdays meeting, saying it violated the U.N. Charter by interfering in Tehrans internal affairs.



Ahead of the meeting he told reporters that Iranian law enforcement could manage any unrest, but that it would not do so at any cost.



The importance of human life and dignity is what ultimately guides our decision, Amir Saeid Iravani said without taking any questions. Therefore, the restraint displayed by Iranian law enforcement should not be [seen as] a sign of weakness.

The regime has been widely criticized for its use of disproportionate force against peaceful protesters. The special rapporteur said at least 277 people, including 40 children, have been killed by security forces in the demonstrations. Thousands more have been arrested.



Make no mistake about it, the Islamic Republic [of Iran] is a totalitarian system that uses forced confessions and torture to stifle all dissent, actor and activist Nazanin Boniadi told council members.



She said the future of the country can only be written by its own people on its own streets and urged international support.



The international community should want what the courageous demonstrators in Iran want, Boniadi said. Its time for us to stop abetting the Islamic Republic and support the freedom-loving people of Iran.



Albania co-sponsored the meeting with the United States.

Iran police 'ignited a fire'



The Iran morality police wanted to make an example. They ignited a fire, Albanian Ambassador Ferit Hoxha said of Aminis arrest. He said now the genie of freedom is out of the bottle.



Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Iranian human rights lawyer Shireen Ebadi said the people will no longer settle for anything less than a democratic and secular government.



Many young people in Iran were killed for freedom and democracy, she said by video. Dont let the Islamic Republic impose more grief on peoples lives. Wed be grateful for your standing on the right side of history.



The U.N. Economic and Social Council is the body that elects members to the Commission on the Status of Women. Thomas-Greenfield told reporters after the meeting that she would work with other countries in the coming days and weeks about how to proceed on seeking Irans removal.
Thousands of people have attended vigils and rallies around Australia, to remember a 15-year-old Aboriginal boy killed on his way home from school.

The police believe fifteen-year-old Cassius Turvey was attacked with a metal pole in the Western Australian city of Perth on Oct. 13.

Authorities said his head injuries were so severe he was placed in an induced coma after suffering two strokes and bleeding on his brain. He died in the hospital.

Cassius Turveys death has reignited fears of racial violence towards First Nations communities.

His mother, Mechelle Turvey, doesnt want the tragedy to sow fear or division. "We have lots of amazing young people in our community," Turvey said. "Black, white and brown. I want to tell those children not to be fearful. You can still walk the streets. I feel like I am sharing my son with everyone  even people that did not know him."

Some indigenous leaders believe Cassius Turveys death was racially motivated, but the police in Western Australia have said that sort of speculation could hinder their investigation. A 21-year-old man has been charged with murder and the police are investigating the use of alleged racial slurs by the attacker.

In federal parliament last month, Lidia Thorpe, an indigenous senator, acknowledged the pain the teenagers death had caused. She said, "To Cassius family, friends, and community, Im sorry. To Black Australia, Im sorry. Im sorry that we are here again. We get another justice hashtag for the loss of another Black life."

At vigils across Australia, campaigners have worn black T-shirts bearing Cassius Turveys face with the words "Forever 15."

Others wore the black, red, and yellow colors of the Aboriginal flag.

The teenagers death has reignited debate about discrimination in Australia. Data released in 2018 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows the life expectancy of First Nations people can be up to a decade less than for non-Aboriginal Australians. The bureau reported that Indigenous Australians also have higher rates of infant mortality, poorer health and lower levels of education and employment.

Colonization by the British in 1788 led to the dispossession of Aboriginal land and the disruption of culture and kinship systems. Campaigners have argued these privations have had lasting consequences for the health and wellbeing of Australias original inhabitants.

The number of Indigenous Australians in prison has more than doubled, according to government data. In 1990, 1% of First Nations were behind bars, rising to 2.3% in 2022.
Democracy requires free and credible media. This was among the critical messages that U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs Elizabeth Kennedy Trudeau delivered during a recent visit to Central Asia.

Trudeau visited Uzbekistan, Washington's strategic partner, and Kyrgyzstan, which the Biden administration sees as "the light of freedom" in Central Asia despite continuing setbacks and a wave of recent detentions of activists and civil society figures.

In an interview with VOA, Trudeau said her time in the region was devoted largely to candid conversations with the leaders of governments and non-governmental representatives.

The situation looks very different when you're in Bishkek or Tashkent, she acknowledged, because the issues that citizens and governments face, you understand better when you actually can sit and talk.

In Uzbekistan, it was really focusing on [President Shavkat Mirziyoyevs] reform agenda, Trudeau said. We also had very clear conversations on media freedom and the issue that's not only facing Uzbekistan, but the United States  disinformation.

We spoke very frankly about Russia's unjust and unprovoked war in Ukraine, and we understand Uzbekistan's view on that. We talked about their principled and non-aligned status on that, she added. We also talked about how we can deepen our partnership. Uzbekistan is a vitally important country for us.

Frank conversations with Kyrgyzstan

Trudeau claims a strong relationship with neighboring Kyrgyzstan as well.

But even as Kyrgyz media quoted her calling this part of Central Asia the light of media freedom, supporters of the current regime were calling for the closure of media outlets that are critical of the government. October saw mass arrests of activists and bloggers.

We've made our views known, Trudeau said of those moves. I think conversations like this need to be very frank. What we have said to our partners in the Kyrgyz Republic is that democracy is best served with a vigorous and open media.

She still believes that Kyrgyzstan leads the way in media freedom in Central Asia, emphasizing continuous U.S. assistance.

What we come back with whenever we go on trips is sort of a laundry list.  Here's something they want to explore more in partnership with us. So, the onus also is on us to make sure that we meet those asks.

'A partnership of equals'

In Uzbekistan, along with officials and the non-governmental sector, Trudeau met with Saida Mirziyoyeva, the presidents eldest daughter, whose office highlighted in a statement that the U.S. official was not there to preach.

As one of the top diplomats responsible for promoting American values and communicating its priorities, Trudeau told VOA that this is a partnership of equals and that Washington does not have all the answers.

When we sit around a table, we need to listen as much as we talk," she said. "The U.S. needs to approach it with humility and understand that we have as much to learn as we do to share.

Trudeau praised Mirziyoyeva for her expertise and her passion for her country.

We talked about women's rights and gender issues. We talked about the importance of media freedom. We had a great conversation on disinformation and how it impacts citizens in the U.S. as well as citizens in Uzbekistan.  There are no borders to disinformation. So, we need to address this collectively. How do we make sure our citizens have the tools they need to be able to identify it, to be able to get the facts?

Usually, U.S. diplomats avoid engaging the family members of leaders, especially in regions such as Central Asia, where corruption and nepotism have deep roots.

But, Trudeau said, I was very comfortable meeting [Mirziyoyeva] as head of her foundation, which is doing remarkable work not only on women's rights, lifting women business owners, but also on media freedom. You know, this is someone who's very passionate and very engaged on the subject. And I'd like to think the United States will always meet people who care about the issues as much as we do.

When VOA asked whether the U.S. government sees Mirziyoyeva as a relevant person in the Uzbek political system, Trudeaus answer was, absolutely.

Countering disinformation

How does the Biden administration envision working with Central Asian governments on countering Russian disinformation? These countries are still rated among the most closed societies, and democratic reforms, despite promises, have been slow to take hold.

The Kyrgyz government closed a TV station this year, accusing it of posting an anti-Russia video, while in Uzbekistan, authorities have been pressing media outlets to maintain neutrality by not publishing or airing anything questioning the Russian war in Ukraine. Uzbek journalists tell VOA that the government is not as restrictive on war coverage as it was at the beginning of the conflict, but they confirm widespread self-censorship.

No one's got an easy answer on this, said Trudeau, acknowledging the challenges in fighting disinformation.

We're all seeing it. So, as we sat in Bishkek and Tashkent, we said, What are you seeing? How is that impacting your average citizen? Where are they getting information? Who do they trust? And one thing we heard again and again is media literacy, making sure that people understand how they themselves as citizens can be armed to make those determinations on what's true.

Central Asian journalists and bloggers who met Trudeau appreciated the outreach but posed their own questions about the depth of the U.S. commitment: Will Washington follow up? What kind of support can the media community expect from Washington? Will there be more funding, more assistance and development programs?

What they will see, Trudeau said, is continued consistent engagement being responsive to countries needs. 

As the information environment shifts, we need to collectively meet that demand, because journalism and media freedom are the front line of democracy, she said. This is a war space just as much as land, sea, and air. So, the question is 'How are we arming ourselves to be able to adapt?'

This article originated in VOA's Uzbek Service.
011122 Bougainville women leaders call for expertise

New Dawn FM News



Local Bougainvillean Leader and Executive Director for Leitana Womens Development Agency and other like-minded women leaders called on Conciliation Resources who positively responded to facilitate three-days consultative constitution workshop to contribute ideas, views and aspirations on behalf of the women folk in Bougainville.

Conciliation Resources representative Laura Raiku is happy to work with the women leaders to facilitate this workshop.

She said Conciliation Resources is an International Peace-building organization, aimed at working with people who have experienced violent conflict similar to Bougainville as it is in its post conflict stage.

This is a very important Peace building process and Constitution making process. It is very important that Peace process you will be going through is setting the right foundation for the future of Bougainville.

We work with communities, civil societies, NGOs and local government. We support different peace processes, rehabilitation post conflict or conflict conventions., she stated.

The team returned to Bougainville to work in 2001 and 2002, just after the signing of the Peace Agreement, by working alongside Anthony Regan, former President James Tanis and Sr Lorraine.

According to Raiku, they draw from the Peace process and tell the world about the negotiation process, peace agreement and share some of the lessons with other people in the world.

We came back in 2015 and 2016, with our current building support working with the Nazarene rehabilitation support with Sr Lorraine and the ABG government under the department of Independence Ready Mission and Implementation.

ENDS
Police in Zambia have arrested an opposition leader on charges of libel and hate speech after she criticized President Hakainde Hichilema's media director.

Police spokesperson Rae Hamoonga said National Democratic Party leader Saboi Imboela is in police custody and has been read a "warn and caution" statement informing her that whatever she says could be used against her in a court of law.

Hamoonga said Imboela was arrested for a Facebook post that criticized the president's media director, Clayson Hamasaka.

Imboela's lawyer, Joseph Chirwa, said she was called into police headquarters in Lusaka on Tuesday and told she would be questioned by the anti-fraud squad.

"She was warned and cautioned rather for the offense of hate speech contrary to Section 65 of the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act. She was warned and cautioned, charged and arrested for the offense of criminal libel contrary to Section 191 of the Penal Code of Zambia, Chapter 27 of the laws of Zambia," Chirwa said.

Zambia enacted the controversial measure in 2021 under the former ruling party, the Patriotic Front.

Critics have expressed concern that the law is being used to muzzle freedom of expression, freedom of the press and the right to privacy.

More than a dozen opposition leaders and citizens have been arrested in the past year for public comments deemed critical of the government or government officials.

The opposition and human rights defenders have accused the ruling party of suppressing dissent. Hichilema's spokesperson, Anthony Bwalya, has repeatedly denied the allegations, calling the opposition "petty."


Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) lawmakers Job Sikhala and Godfrey Sithole, who have been held in remand prison for more than four months, are fuming over Movement for Democratic Change leader Douglas Mwonzoras foiled attempt to visit them at Chikurubi Maximum Prison.

In a tweet, Sikhalas spokesperson, Freddy Masarirevu, said, Through their lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa, Hon @JobSikhala1 & Sithole complained that Prisons was imposing visitors on them. Ms Mtetwa said one such visit was of Sen Mwonzora. She told the Court that he went there uninvited & was told by accused that they didnt want to see him...

Mwonzora claimed that he talked to Sikhala and Sithole at Chikurubi prison but did not give any details. Sithole and Sikhala said Mwonzora lied about the visit as they refused to see him.

Prison officials recently blocked CCC leader Nelson Chamisa from seeing Sikhala and Sithole at the dreaded prison.

Sikhala, Sithole and 14 others are facing charges of inciting violence and attempting to defeat the course of justice.

They allegedly committed the crimes soon after body parts of slain CCC activist, Moreblessing Ali, were found in a disused well in Nyatsime.

A man is currently awaiting trial over the killing of Ali, whose body is at Chitungwiza General Hospital mortuary. Relatives of the deceased say they wont lay her to rest until those who killed her are jailed.

On Wednesday, High Court judge Justice Rogers Manyangadze presided over Sikhala and Sitholes appeal against denial of bail by magistrate Manuwere on charges of obstructing/defeating course of justice.

According to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, Manyangadze will hand down his ruling on Friday.

In a tweet, the ZLHR said,  In opposing the release of Hon. Sikhala, the National Prosecuting Authority claimed that Hon. Sikhala is likely to jeorpadise/undermine objectives of the criminal justice system.

Masarirevu added that Sikhala and Sithole will appear in court on the 15th of November, 2022, for trial commencement.

The state, promised to furnish all state papers to the legal team by the 10th. The two MPs are very much in good spirit, physically fit & said they are ready.

Across Zim, we are trying to ensure that people have access to justice & today in Gokwe, we are in court assisting Shepherd Chiwome, a villager, who is seeking to recover his 3 cows, which were unlawfully dispossessed from him by his former in-laws & Chief Nemangwe because he

customary law union. But to Chiwomes surprise, his in-laws confiscated his cattle on the pretext that he owes his former father in-law lobola arrears & handed them over to Chief Nemangwe, who is keeping them at his kraal up to now & thereby depriving him of his property which he

desperately needs to utilise as draught power during the farming season.
Meloni government under fire over new measures.

Italy's new government of far-right prime minister Giorgia Meloni is to crack down on unauthorised rave parties by introducing stiff fines and lengthy jail terms.

The measures were announced on Monday by interior minister Matteo Piantedosi as police broke up an illegal rave in a disused warehouse in the northern city of Modena.

Over the past weekend thousands of revellers from Italy and across Europe attended the Witchtrek 2K22 rave which had been due to last until Tuesday but was broken up by police on Monday morning.

Under the new decree, the government will introduce a new crime of "invasion for dangerous gatherings" of more than 50 people, with organisers of illegal raves facing up to six years in prison.

Authorities will also be able to hand out fines of up to 10,000 and confiscate sound systems.

The measures were welcomed by deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini, leader of the right-wing Lega party, who said on Twitter: Happy Halloween to everyone except those from half Europe who came to cause chaos in Modena in Italy with an illegal rave party".

Meloni defended the measures, claiming that: "Up to now Italy has given the impression of being lax, with the new rules we will be the same as other European countries".

However the government came under fire for targeting raves while ignoring thousands of fascist sympathisers who gathered on Sunday in Predappio , the birthplace of dictator Benito Mussolini, to mark the centenary of of the March on Rome

Piantedosi argued that the two events were "completely different things", claiming that the rally in Predappio had not disrupted public order and "has been happening for many years".

Enrico Letta, leader of the centre-left Partito Democratico (PD), said the new measures against unauthorised raves "sound like a limit to the freedom of citizens and a preventive threat against dissent", while Giuseppe Conte, leader of the populist MoVimento 5 Stelle (M5S) likened the legislation to that of a "police state".

Photo Tgcom24-Mediaset
Coming back to Soho House Rome one year after its opening, it seems its lost its exotic air.

After a summer of watching it splattered across our Instagram feed, the ten-story industrial building made of travertine, looks a lot less cool. The feeling of trying to prove you are better than someone radiates from the photos, blatantly defying the Soho House no phones, no cameras rule. There is a no pictures policy, not to protect celebrities, but because its just really irritating when youre having dinner and the people seated next to you are taking pictures of each other. Dont we get enough of that from tourists invading Romes best restaurants?

While the Roman sun, let's face it, will easily allow the use of the terrace and 15-meter pool from April to October, the status shake- down upon exiting the elevator doesnt give off the community vibe that is supposedly the core value of Soho House.

"Membership here feels more like a Prada bag than a private club." Source: Sohohome.com

Strangely enough, the staff seems to perpetuate this broadcasting of aspiration, selectively interacting with nonmember friends and ignoring others. Perhaps hoping to impress those worthy of the House, and score another sale.To join, it is not enough to pay an entrance fee.

One must be passionate about art and connected to the world of creativity. Applications, even if submitted by a member, are carefully studied by the London team for admission. And punctually only one out of three passes.

Its an inclusive community in theory, certainly when we consider the historically elitist and prejudiced circolo clubs found in Rome, where last names are the ultimate in social cachet. However, one could go so far as to say that Soho House Rome appears to be selling low - level exclusivity to a new generation of status- conscious Romans. While there are groups of like- minded creators to be found, there is no shortage of older men and their well- heeled young lovers.

But, to be fair, a membership to the most talked about club in the world has a few perks .

In this club you can do everything under one roof: meet people, work, have lunch, watch a movie, participate in events organized by the team, and go to the gym or pool.

Source: fanpage.it

Soho House Rome also has a private collection of contemporary works by young Italian artists (Gianni Politi, Nico Vascellari, Silvia Giambrone, Romina Bassu, Marta Mancini, Ludovica Gioscia, to name a few) who have themselves become members of the house, in keeping with founder Nick Jones' focus on the creative class.

The style of Soho House Rome, from the architecture to the furnishings is iconic, designed by the in-house team who wanted the facade on the ground floor, and some industrial elements, to dialogue with the mood of the neighborhood.

The neighborhood of San Lorenzo, chosen purposefully as anti- historic center, is a residential area that traditionally housed artisans, laborers and railway workers. It is also known as a place where up-and-coming artists work, finding affordable studio space, and where many students live.

Since Soho House Rome has landed here, housing prices have increased and there is talk of making the local squares pedestrian- only. Another case of gentrification in an arts community?

Soho House was never designed to be about money or status, but about who the actual person was, it doesnt matter if that person was a struggling script writer or a person who has written a hundred successful screenplays. Its disappointing that Romes location is catering to an Im- better- than- you crowd.

Hopefully the Soho House community will have more success in their next Italian location - Milan.

Next opening Milan

This one in San Lorenzo is the first Italian Soho House, but soon another will be ready in Milan, opposite the Pinacoteca di Brera.

The membership fee

Those under 27 can join the community, which currently has 120,000 members, with a reduced fee: 500 euros a year and the opportunity to reserve rooms in every Soho House in the world.

The full fee for a local Soho House is 1,800. On the other hand, to gain access to those around the world (Every House) goes up to 2,200, but always only after passing the selection process.

Info

Soho House Roma, 12 via Cesare de Lollis, RomaTop ph: Fanpage.it
Edwards Vacuum plans to build a $319 million plant in Genesee County  a project that will boost the upstate semiconductor industry and bring 600 jobs to a mostly undeveloped business park.

Edwards plant will become the second  and by far the biggest  at the Science and Technology Advanced Manufacturing Park, or STAMP, where business recruiters have long sought to attract a high-tech project of this scale.

Wednesdays announcement came about a month after Micron Technology committed to investing up to $100 billion in a semiconductor manufacturing plant just outside of Syracuse that is expected to create 9,000 jobs.

Edwards, which is based in the United Kingdom, will build equipment based on its dry pump technology at the new plant. The technology helps maintain the clean environment needed in semiconductor manufacturing facilities.

Schumer urges Edwards Vacuum to consider STAMP for project "Leading Western New York sites like STAMP offer a major opportunity for companies like Edwards Vacuum that are looking to grow by plugging them into Upstate New Yorks rapidly growing semiconductor industry," Schumer said in a statement.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said legislation he championed supporting the domestic semiconductor industry  called the CHIPS and Science Act  was crucial to the decisions made by Edwards and Micron.

Not only are we going to get chip fabs like we did with Micron in upstate New York, but were going to get a lot of the supply chain folks, Schumer said.

Schumer had urged Edwards president, Geert Follens, to choose STAMP for a new plant, mostly recently in a phone call with him last month. He said to me often, Were going to need federal help from the CHIPS Act, and I told him Id use all my clout as majority leader to get it, and he told me that was a major reason they came here, as well.

Gov. Kathy Hochul said between the federal CHIPs Act and the states own Green CHIPs legislation, we are better positioned than ever to make New York a global hub for advanced manufacturing and attract the jobs of the future.

Edwards decision underscores the importance of attracting a company like Micron to upstate New York, to open the door to other projects, said John Boyd, a site selection specialist and a principal in the Florida-based Boyd Co.

Business recruiters and government officials are pursuing semiconductor industry investments similar to the way they court automotive and aerospace plants, given the chips' wide-ranging applications, Boyd said.

"Those [semiconductor] projects really are so highly coveted because they result in suppliers and vendors," he said. "Theres such a myriad of industries that want to do business with a major semiconductor plant."

Tom Kucharski, CEO of Invest Buffalo Niagara, said Edwards' project at STAMP will be a natural geographic fit for serving semiconductor plants around the state.

"We're fortunate to win this one and have a Buffalo-Western New York-upstate New York company stay here and do this in New York state when they could have done it elsewhere," Kucharski said. Edwards has a distribution center in Sanborn, in Niagara County.

Kucharski called Edwards' announcement a vote of confidence in the region, not only in the STAMP site but also its resources like the region's colleges, its workforce, the availability of low-cost power and an ample water supply.

Edwards said phase one at STAMP will consist of a $127 million project to build 240,000-square-foot plant. The company said the project will reach a total investment of $319 million over seven years.

Edwards plans to start construction in spring 2023 and complete the first phase by late 2024, said Steve Hyde, president and CEO of Genesee County Economic Development Center. The company will be located in the park's northeast quadrant and use about 80 acres.

Business recruiters for years have promoted the 1,250-acre STAMP as a home for large-scale technology investments. The rural site is north of Batavia, in the Town of Alabama, situated between the Buffalo and Rochester markets.

As Micron picks Syracuse, Genesee County is still seeking its own semiconductor win The STAMP site is in the running for 20 projects, six of them semiconductor operations, worth a combined $45 billion and promising a possible 25,000 future jobs.

Plug Power is building a $250 million green hydrogen plant at STAMP, as the parks first tenant, with a pledge to create 68 jobs. But economic development recruiters have watched some other big-ticket projects choose competing locations over STAMP, such as a $17 billion Samsung chip plant that will be built in Texas.

Hyde said landing projects like Plug Power and Edwards are the payoff from a dozen years of work on promoting STAMP. Edwards emerged as a prospect about a year ago, and the GCEDC and its partners have worked since then to get a deal.

"This whole strategy has been about bringing manufacturing back to where it has such deep roots," Hyde said.

The Edwards announcement came just under a week before Election Day, with two prominent figures involved  Schumer and Hochul  on the ballot.

Unlike many major project announcements, which often feature politicians and company executives and development officials, the Edwards announcement was low-key, coming via news release with no press conference or photo opportunity.

Hyde said he believes the timing of the Edwards deal had more to do with the recently approved CHIPs Act, as companies rush to apply for those related incentives.

Edwards is owned by Sweden-based Atlas Copco Group and has about 8,000 employees worldwide. Theyre a major supplier in the semiconductor supply chain, Schumer said.

Edwards officials noted over the past year, many of its major customers have announced plans for investments in the United States.

Against a backdrop of growing demand, clearly showing a greater need for investment in manufacturing capabilities that are located close to our customers, we continue to commit significant investment in our operational footprint, said Kate Wilson, president of Edwards semiconductor business, in a statement.

The project is in line for a host of other incentives.

Empire State Development has offered up to $21 million in a mix of performance-based Excelsior Jobs tax credits, investment tax credits and an additional $1 million to support training of workers for the plant.

The state Power Authoritys board of trustees will review an application for low-cost hydropower at a future meeting. And Edwards is expected to apply for incentives from the Genesee County Economic Development Center.
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Social media was abuzz last month with anecdotal reports from Airbnb Inc. hosts about a collapse in bookings. There was precious little sign of that in the homestay platforms Tuesday earnings report, which saw a 29% increase in quarterly revenue from the year-earlier period to $2.9 billion. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight If theres a problem  and its a nice one from shareholders point of view  its that Airbnb is making too much money, not too little. The company risks alienating customers by advertising a low daily rate and then tacking on exorbitant service and cleaning fees. Happily, its promising more transparency, and thats long overdue.

Airbnb did warn of moderating booking growth and pressure on average daily home rates, which spooked shareholders a little. But management said its seeing no hints of a decline in peoples demand and willingness to travel, and is anticipating still impressive revenue growth of around 20% in the fourth quarter.(1)

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The company reported a record $1.2 billion of net income, equivalent to a 42% profit margin, as the average daily rate of properties booked on its site exceeded $150. Airbnbs algorithms prioritizing better all-in pricing might account for some of those anecdotal accounts of bookings collapsing, management said. Despite buying back shares, Airbnb is sitting on cash and equivalents worth almost $10 billion.

This isnt a great look when your sales pitch is helping homeowners earn extra income or travelers find an alternative to expensive hotels. So it was a relief to hear management say on Tuesdays investor call they had heard customer criticism of its opaque pricing structure loud and clear, and would move towards displaying an all-in rate earlier in the reservation process, as well as giving more prominence to better value all-in offers in search results. While it might thereby forgo some profit, Im confident the approach will benefit the business in the long-term.

Airbnbs rude financial health is astonishing when you consider its been barely two years since the pandemic caused bookings to collapse and it laid off 25% of the workforce. The company went from being the Navy to the Navy SEALs, a small lean elite group, Chief Executive Officer Brian Chesky told investors this week. Thats a colorful way of saying its fixed costs are now much lower.

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Unlike a lot of travel businesses, Airbnb doesnt have to spend much on marketing because more than 90% of customers come directly to the site. Businesses pushing employees to return to the office so far hasnt dented demand for longer bookings: About one-fifth of stays are for longer than a month, and almost half are at least a week.

This is great news for Airbnb which makes money via the service fees it charges hosts and customers, with hosts paying 3% of the gross value of the booking while guests pay a 14% levy.

However, customers get angry when the advertised nightly rate jumps significantly once Airbnbs fee, cleaning costs and taxes are added on, reminding them of those pesky hotel resort fees they thought they were escaping. Sometimes Airbnb hosts arent even aware how much their guests are ultimately paying.

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My sympathy for hosts is limited  does it really cost hundreds of dollars to clean a home? Around 55% of active listings charge a cleaning fee, which on average is less than 10% of the total reservation cost, the Wall Street Journal reported in September.

Increased transparency and prioritizing better value homes might cost Airbnb some margin, and bearish investors are likely to conclude Airbnb is preparing for tougher times. But improved customer satisfaction should lead to more repeat bookings. As the companys impressive financial results attest, people are still desperate to travel. Airbnb is wise to stop giving them a reason to stay home.

More From Bloomberg Opinion:



Money-Losing Airbnb Hosts Have Three Options: Teresa Ghilarducci



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Zuckerbergs $1,499 Headsets Wont Help Meta: Parmy Olson

(1) Using the mid-point of the provided 17%-23% growth range

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Chris Bryant is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering industrial companies in Europe. Previously, he was a reporter for the Financial Times.

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Attacking the credibility of polls (and pollsters) has become a kind of bank shot for those aiming to destroy the credibility of the institution that polls simulate: elections. Among MAGA adherents, if the polls are off, its not because polling has become more difficult. Its because everything is corrupt and nothing is true.

The political science department of Vanderbilt University has said that pre-election polls in 2020 exhibited the largest errors in 40 years. That mistake hovers over the 2022 election and influences the work, and reputations, of the partisans and pollsters (and partisan pollsters) who are trying to gauge the trajectory of a large, diverse and unruly electorate.

One partisan who has staked out a clear patch of terrain in this debate is Simon Rosenberg, a longtime Democratic consultant. Rosenberg is a particular kind of political player, both partisan and credible. While he wants Democrats to win, he also values his reputation as an astute analyst of American politics; he wants to be right.

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At a time when there is growing discussion of a red wave  Democrats Prepare for Loss of Congress as Voters Break Late to GOP reads a recent headline  Rosenberg has been making the case that Democrats might still buck history and retain control of Congress. I think the election now is very close and it is unknowable whats going to happen, Rosenberg told me. The polling cant get down to a level of granular detail when elections are this close.

His bet is that much of the anti-Trump coalition of 2018 and 2020 will reconstitute itself as an anti-MAGA force, having correctly gauged that the stakes of this election are immense.

History suggests that an in-party led by a relatively unpopular incumbent president is going to have a tough time. Its hard to gauge how the MAGA threat to democracy might alter that equation. Quality polling in swing states mostly indicates tight races for US Senate and governor in the final campaign week, with few exceptions. Polling on the generic ballot for Congress has generally been tight. But most news media coverage, and many analysts, presume Republicans will win a majority in the House at least. If the polling errors of 2020 are replicated in 2022, overestimating the Democratic share of the vote, a larger red wave would result.

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The challenges to accurate polling include a volatile electorate and recurring nonresponse bias, the tendency of Republican voters to shun polls at a higher rate than Democrats. But Rosenberg believes the vast changes in the electorate since 2016 make it just as possible for pollsters to undercount Democratic votes. We have a far greater number of irregular voters on both sides. Trump brought in irregular Republicans. So trying to understand in a midterm which of those groups is going to vote, and then trying to figure out who in each congressional district, in each state, is going to vote, is incredibly hard, he said.

The presidential electorate grew from fewer than 129 million in 2016 to more than 155 million in 2020. Meanwhile, the midterm electorate exploded from 2014 to 2018. Turnout rose from 36.4% in 2014, the lowest since 1942, to 49.4% in 2018, when a record 122 million Americans voted.

That roller coaster ride has made modeling the electorate, and parsing its affinities, more difficult. It has also led to more attacks on the integrity of legitimate pollsters. As pollster Natalie Jackson noted in a tweet, if polling and news organizations make predictions that incorrectly favor Democrats, they will not be accused merely of error: They will be attacked as partisans trying to depress Republican turnout. There is no similar countervailing pressure from the Democratic side.

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Contrary to myth, national polls were pretty accurate in 2016. Donald Trump lost the popular vote by 2.87 million, roughly as expected. But Trump relentlessly attacked the vote tally and the polls that predicted it, and the MAGA assault on them has never abated.

Rosenberg is trying to counter that attack. In effect, he wants to take the built-in uncertainty that MAGA employs to cast doubt on polling (and elections) and reclaim it as a talking point for Democrats. No ones ever polled an electorate like this before, he said. Weve never had this enormous infusion of new voters into the electorate.

In the 20th century, elections provided an answer to which candidate received the most votes  and whose election analysis was correct. On Nov. 8 or soon thereafter, the results of the 2022 midterms will be known. But the legitimacy of those votes, and the meaning of them, will not be resolved. MAGA candidates in Arizona, Michigan and elsewhere have refused to say that they will honor election results. Attacks on the election outcome were being readied before votes were even cast.

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That precarious state may have more to do with the volatile political environment than any technical issues about polling methods and data. American democracy is in deep turmoil. In that regard, shaky polls are a highly accurate snapshot.

More From Bloomberg Opinion:

 Three Reasons the Polls Could Be Wrong: Jonathan Bernstein

 Americans Care About Democracy, Just Not Enough to Save It: Julianna Goldman

 Biden Cant See Why America Is in Trouble: Clive Crook

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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The cure for high oil prices is high prices, or so says the commodity industrys adage. Let the invisible hand of the free market work its magic. High prices will simultaneously reduce demand and increase supply, eventually making the good less expensive. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight This has proven true for centuries: In commodities, a bust follows every boom. It happened after the Klondike Gold Rush in 1896, during the second oil crisis in 1979 and following the most recent US shale boom a decade ago. Generations of petroleum engineers, geologists and financiers have grown up swearing by it.

But the axiom no longer seems to be governing the oil market.

To be sure, the elevated cost of crude is suppressing appetite. But the other side of the equation  supply  isnt working out. The industry simply hasnt been reacting to high prices with more investment as it has before. This means demand will have to do all the work to rebalance the oil market. The result is likely to be a slower economy and more sustained energy costs than in the past.

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Why isnt the supply lever working? Money certainly isnt the problem. Big Oil has reported its best-ever six-month period, earning more than $100 billion in profits from April to September. Exxon Mobil Corp. just enjoyed its best quarter in its 152-year history, which goes all the way back to John D. Rockefeller.

Neither Exxon nor its competitors Chevron Corp., Shell Plc, TotalEnergies SE and BP Plc have announced any major increases in spending beyond what they have already planned. Institutional investors, led by BlackRock Inc., have convinced virtually every oil executive to keep spending under control. Pierre Breber, the chief financial officer at Chevron, put it this way: Were not really paid for growth by the market. Instead, they are channelling the profits into dividends and share buy backs.

In the past, some executives would have tried to kickstart a boom-to-bust cycle: Boost spending early, increase production and then cash in before prices crashed. Today, the pressure from shareholders to remain frugal is so strong and uniform across the industry that from the outside it almost looks like a cartel. And the result is cartel-like: Big Oil is collectively underinvesting by a lot.

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Last year, the industry spent $305 billion on oil exploration and production, significantly below whats required to meet oil demand until the end of the decade based on the most likely scenarios. According to the International Energy Agency, the worlds energy industry needs to spend nearly 50% more annually ($466 billion) from 2022 to 2030 to meet the worlds oil needs based on current climate change policies. Even if governments implement current strategies and other climate pledges they have made, including some net-zero targets, investment still needs to grow by 25% from current levels until at least 2030.

Lets not kid ourselves. Oil companies are doing what we told them to do: Spend less on fossil fuel production. From green philanthropists to big Wall Street investors, the message has been nearly unanimous. One can hardly blame the executives for doing as they were told. The industry, of course, soon realized that spending less was rather good business, particularly when very few deviated. Only a handful of state-owned oil companies in the Middle East are today boosting their fossil fuel spending meaningfully.

The industry has been calibrating for a world of peak oil and rapidly declining petroleum demand. But that world simply does not exist today, nor will it tomorrow or in the near future. Russias invasion of Ukraine has made that all too clear.

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Facing high oil prices, Western governments are now trying to force the industry to accelerate spending. But having witnessed how profitable it can be to ignore the industrys old adage, oil executives are very reluctant to cooperate. They know more spending means lower prices.

On Monday, US President Joe Biden threatened the industry with higher taxes unless companies agree to boost not just oil production but also oil refining. White House officials portray the speech as an olive branch to the fossil fuel industry  a direct plea that represents a 180-degree policy change from Bidens campaign, when he promised no more drilling.

Government officials are wise to arm themselves with a stick when negotiating with a powerful business sector. Windfall taxes could play a role in the talks  though theyre unlikely to be effective. Reducing the profitability of an industry via higher levies doesnt encourage more spending.

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If Biden wants more oil, he needs to reset the conversation completely, and that means telling green campaigners and Wall Street investors  loud and clear  that America needs fossil fuels right now.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Javier Blas is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering energy and commodities. A former reporter for Bloomberg News and commodities editor at the Financial Times, he is coauthor of The World for Sale: Money, Power and the Traders Who Barter the Earths Resources.

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With energy prices soaring, thanks partly to Russias invasion of Ukraine, countries around the world have been experimenting with a hodgepodge of interventions to ease the pain, including consumer subsidies, price regulation and ad hoc nationalizations. Because all of these measures come with significant potential downsides, one other supposed solution has been getting increased attention: windfall taxes.The idea of such taxes is to demand a surcharge from companies that have benefited from high energy prices, then use the proceeds to aid ailing consumers or businesses. The European Union recently proposed a solidarity contribution of at least 33% of the surplus taxable profits of oil and gas companies. It would also cap the revenue of renewable-energy and nuclear-power companies whose profits are linked to the price of gas. So far, more than a dozen EU countries have either enacted a windfall tax or said theyre planning to. In the UK, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is being urged to increase a limited windfall tax imposed earlier this year.On Monday, US President Joe Biden joined the chorus, accusing oil companies of war profiteering and threatening them with big new levies if they fail to bring down consumer prices. For policymakers, such measures have an obvious appeal. Russias invasion created a boon for the energy industry. Surging quarterly profits for companies such as BP Plc, Shell Plc and ExxonMobil Corp. have resulted in billions distributed in dividends or spent on share buybacks. Why shouldnt some of this bonanza be used to support the vulnerable?Moreover, windfall taxes are (in theory) economically efficient, as theyre easy to collect and hard to avoid. They also have the benefit of simplicity and tend to poll well with the public. Politically, theyre a no-brainer.Yet in politics, as in life, theres no such thing as a free lunch. The benefits of windfall taxes are very likely less than advertised  and the unintended consequences are likely to be substantial. For one thing, they often fail to raise the anticipated revenue. In one notorious experiment, a windfall profit tax that the US imposed on oil companies in the 1980s raised just $80 billion in gross revenue out of a projected $393 billion. Todays levies are designed somewhat differently, but the effect is likely to be the same: Italys windfall tax has (as of September) yielded only about one-fifth the income the government had hoped for. Another problem is determining what constitutes a windfall. Energy is a volatile industry. Todays windfall can easily turn into tomorrows wipeout, meaning that occasional years of high profits are essential to meeting future demand. Yet the temptation to define normal profits at a confiscatory rate will be strong, and all too likely to persist beyond the current crisis. Especially in Europe, new taxes have often proved habit-forming.Such measures also tend to discourage needed investment. Although Europe is right to move toward net-zero carbon emissions over the long term, the fact is that fossil-fuel producers will be needed to bridge the gap for many years, and much investment will be required by renewables firms subject to the new tax. If these companies think their profits can be seized whenever a bureaucrat deems them excessive, theyll have less incentive to add capacity, and Europes goal of energy independence will be all the harder to meet. Finally, theres a principle at stake. Imposing an arbitrary tax on a small subset of companies deemed to have been too successful sets a dreadful precedent. It penalizes blameless shareholders and punishes prudent investment. Worse, it simply evades all the difficult questions the Western world must confront  on taxes, spending and more  as it belatedly tries to wean itself from Russian energy.Right now, energy companies rolling in dough make a convenient target. But a persistent truth of policy making is that there are no easy solutions to hard problems. In this case, a windfall tax is no solution at all.
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It was supposed to be a big celebration for Hong Kong. This weeks Global Financial Leaders Investment Summit, organized by the citys central bank, was meant to showcase the revival of Hong Kong as Asias financial hub, after years of isolation that resulted from stringent Covid controls. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight But the mood is all gloom and doom. Since Chinas Communist Party congress last month, bankers and asset managers I have spoken to are worried. They wonder whether they have viable careers at all.

The defiant tone President Xi Jinping took toward the US got those hardworking financiers scared. Already, strains between the two global superpowers led some of the biggest US pension funds to reassess their exposure to China, with one slashing its portfolio allocation and another halting new investments.

What if geopolitical tension over Taiwan intensifies and Washington DC imposes more sanctions on Chinese companies, or even restricts US investments in Chinese assets?

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There would be knee-jerk liquidation followed by a collapse in trading. Hong Kongs stock market is dominated by foreigners, who, as of 2020, accounted for more than 40% of total trading, with US institutions alone contributing 10%, according to the latest data available. If they walk away, investment banks will struggle to sell new public listings, while sales desks can say goodbye to commissions.

Even for those who tap into Chinese money, investment management is no longer an intellectually satisfying profession in Xis new China, which prioritizes industrials over consumer tech and embraces the states role in the economy. Just look at how volatile the Hang Seng Index has become  even unconfirmed social media posts can swing the entire market. Out are fundamental valuation methods; in is rampant speculation on topics ranging from China reopening its economy to state-owned entities buying large stakes in big tech companies. Its as if the entire market has become a meme stock. Whats a professionals value-add then?

Xi, for one, doesnt see bankers offering much value. Six of the 13 new members of the Politburo have backgrounds in science and tech. He Lifeng, widely tipped as the next economic tsar, is not a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, Chinas most powerful decision-making body.

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For decades, financiers in Hong Kong have been Chinas biggest cheerleaders and its bridge to developed nations. They advocated for economic growth and argued for a better relationship between the two superpowers when no one else was. Even theyre losing faith in Xis China.

More From Bloomberg Opinion:

 How Xi Jinping Can Make China Investable Again: Shuli Ren

 How the World Should Deal With Xi Jinpings New China: Editorial

 How Markets Judged Rishi and Xi; Manilas Migraine: John Authers

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Shuli Ren is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asian markets. A former investment banker, she was a markets reporter for Barrons. She is a CFA charterholder.

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Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has been at loggerheads with leaders of the northern Tigray region since 2020. Their forces fought each other for more than 16 months before a truce was declared in March. It unraveled in August when the two sides accused each other of staging fresh attacks. Fighting persisted until African Union brokered another truce in November. The conflict has pushed millions of people into hunger and tarnished Abiys once-illustrious reputation as a Nobel laureate.

1. How did Abiys fortunes change?

Abiy started with a bang when he became Ethiopias prime minister in 2018. He scrapped bans on opposition and rebel groups, purged allegedly corrupt officials and ended two decades of acrimony with neighboring Eritrea, an initiative that won him the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. He also welcomed foreign capital to maintain momentum in one of the worlds fastest-expanding economies. But he struggled to contain ethnic tensions, and his attempts to sideline the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front, once the nations preeminent power broker, led to civil war. The conflict stalled planned economic reforms and prompted the US government to impose sanctions on Ethiopia and withdraw its duty-free market access. The nations misery has been compounded by the worst drought in four decades and soaring grain and fuel prices.

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2. What sparked the civil war?

Abiy set about consolidating power under his newly formed Prosperity Party after taking office. This meant confronting the TPLF, which had dominated the ruling coalition since a Marxist regime was overthrown in 1991 and continued to govern Tigray. Abiy ordered a military incursion into Tigray in November 2020 after accusing forces loyal to the TPLF of attacking a military base to steal weapons. The TPLF said its raid was a preemptive strike because federal troops were preparing to attack. The government eventually gained the upper hand in the war, and the rebels withdrew to within Tigrays borders in December 2021. Five months after the initial cease-fire was declared, the TPLF accused federal forces and allied troops from neighboring Eritrea of starting a new offensive. A new truce was reached following talks in South Africa led by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo. It remains uncertain whether it will hold.

3. Whats been the fallout from the war?

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The government hasnt disclosed casualties, and access to the conflict zones was restricted, but there are fears that hundreds of thousands of people have died due to fighting, hunger and a lack of medical care. The United Nations estimated in November that the war, along with a drought in eastern Ethiopia, had left about 20 million people in need of aid. The government has rejected allegations from civil rights groups that it obstructed efforts to dispense aid or that its forces were party to widespread human rights violations. A panel of UN experts in September reported that all sides in the fighting have likely committed abuses such as extra-judicial killings and rape. It said that there were reasonable grounds to believe that some of the violations amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

4. What are the other tensions about?

The government has accused members of the Oromo Liberation Army, which has aligned itself to the TPLF and has been campaigning for greater regional autonomy, of killing hundreds of civilians and deployed the army to avert further violence. The group, which controls part of the central Oromia region, in turn alleges that the federal police have targeted and killed ethnic Oromos and Nuers. Ethiopia and Sudan are meanwhile at loggerheads over the rights to a swath of fertile land along their border. Al-Shabaab, a Somalia-based Islamist group thats linked to al-Qaeda and is seeking to expand its influence in the Horn of Africa, also staged an attack in Ethiopian territory in July 2022.

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5. Why all the instability?

Africas oldest nation-state, Ethiopia has long been plagued by discord among its more than 80 ethnic groups. The country was an absolute monarchy until the 1974 socialist revolution that deposed Emperor Haile Selassie. It became a multiethnic federation in 1991, when a TPLF-led alliance of rebels overthrew the Marxist military regime that followed Selassie. The Tigrayans, though comprising just 6% of the population, came to dominate national politics. After failing to quell three years of violent protests over the marginalization of other, bigger communities, including the Oromo and Amhara, Hailemariam Desalegn quit as prime minister in 2018. The then-ruling Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front named Abiy, an Oromo, as his successor. Abiys party won a decisive majority in mid-2021 elections.

6. Whats been the impact on the economy?

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Ethiopias $111 billion economy expanded by an average of more than 7% annually between 2018 -- the year Abiy took power -- and 2021, but the International Monetary Fund sees the growth rate slowing to 3.8% in 2022. With its finances under strain, the government announced in 2021 that it wants to restructure its $28.4 billion of external debt. The US urged multilateral lenders to halt their engagement with Abiys administration. The IMF has yet to initiate a new program for Ethiopia -- a key requirement for debt restructuring -- after the previous one lapsed without any money being disbursed.

--With assistance from Fasika Tadesse.

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Mike Pences comments were also one of the clearest instances of the former vice president trying to set himself apart from Donald Trump, amid the expectation that Pence will challenge Trump for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024.

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Gas prices in the Buffalo Niagara region  which kept dropping as prices rose nationwide during the early fall  have started climbing, ending a more than four month stretch of steadily dropping pump prices.

The average pump price locally was $3.77 on Wednesday, up 10 cents from a week ago, according to the AAA of Western and Central New York. Nationally, prices have been falling again over the past three weeks, with the average price dropping 3 cents over the past month to $3.77.

Blame regional supply issues for prices in the Northeast bucking the national trend, according to experts. But the expectation is this price increase won't last long.

"New York State was kind of spared when prices started going up [nationally] recently, but now things have definitely reversed," said Elizabeth Carey, a spokeswoman for AAA of Western and Central New York.

Carey said factors like stalled imports to New York Harbor and a Pennsylvania refinery that was temporarily down for maintenance contributed to tighter supplies that led pump prices to rise.

"It's supposed to be short-lived," she said. "They just need to get things in check."

This is the time of year when gas prices tend to fall, as oil companies switch to lower-cost winter blends of fuel. And local motorists are still benefiting from gas tax holidays implemented earlier this year by New York State and by Erie and Niagara counties.

The state's average price on Wednesday was $3.83, up from $3.67 a week ago. Nationwide, gas prices held steady over the past week, AAA said.

According to Gasbuddy.com, the cheapest gas in the Buffalo Niagara region could be found for less than $3.40 a gallon at a handful of stations on Native American reservations and a pair of stations in Niagara Falls.

Nationally, gas prices have been dropping for three straight weeks.

"The national average is closing in on the previous low from September, which was interrupted when refinery issues caused prices to skyrocket in the West and Great Lakes," said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at Gasbuddy.com. With those issues resolved, gas prices in the West have plunged. Even so, California's average pump price is $5.54, the highest in the country.

Gas prices in the Buffalo Niagara region are 30 cents higher than they were a year ago.

Gas prices locally fell below $3 a gallon in the fall of 2018 and dipped under $2.20 a gallon during the spring of 2020 as the Covid lockdown kept people at home and steeply cut into demand.

Prices started to rise steadily in December 2020 and began to soar in March after the Russian invasion of Ukraine roiled the world's energy markets. Gas prices peaked in the Buffalo Niagara region at around $4.90 a gallon in mid-June, just as the state and counties across New York to adopted a gas tax holiday that capped the sales taxes collected on gasoline.

The states sales tax on motor and diesel fuel was suspended through the end of the year. Erie County limited its sales tax to the first $2 charged per gallon of gas and diesel through the end of February.

Meanwhile, Niagara, Allegany, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties are collecting tax on the first $3 charged per gallon of gas and diesel. The Niagara County reduction is scheduled to end at the end of November.

Diesel customers are feeling the pain of rising prices even more. The average price of a gallon of diesel in the region on Tuesday was $5.70, up 57 cents a gallon in the past month and up 57% from a year ago, according to the AAA.

That high price affects fleets of delivery trucks that run on diesel.

"All of that gets passed on the consumer, so it's been challenging for the businesses," Carey said.

Gas prices are a hot political topic, especially with Election Day approaching.

President Joe Biden this week raised the threat of pursuing higher taxes on oil companies if they don't invest more in production and refining capacity.

If they dont, theyre going to pay a higher tax on their excess profits and face other restrictions, Biden said. Legislative action by Congress would be required for such a tax to take effect.

Biden criticized the oil companies' "outrageous" profits.

Their profits are a windfall of war, Biden said, in a reference to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the sanctions by Western nations that followed.

The CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, Mike Sommers, pushed back on Biden's remarks, saying his administration "should get serious about addressing the supply and demand imbalance that has caused higher gas prices and created long-term energy challenges."

"Oil companies do not set prices  global commodities markets do," Sommers said. "Increasing taxes on American energy discourages investment in new production, which is the exact opposite of what is needed."
She celebrates passing 200,000 followers by offering half-price on her patented Elon Mask cleansing masks  an odd joke, but lets go with it. She also sells lengths of rope that are used to symbolise the boundaries around oneself, within which one can feel safe. Literally, money for old rope.

In this case, the young woman has no special powers, but she has become a successful influencer 12 years after leaving behind the traumatic schoolyard. Sissy ( Aisha Dee ) signs her video posts with Sincerely, Cecilia and the words I love you all so much.

Horror is the perfect medium for getting square. The title of this new low-budget Aussie splatter comedy seems to echo Carrie, the Brian de Palma classic from 1976, in which Sissy Spacek used her special powers to lay waste to her high school bullies.

In case youre already gagging, we havent got to the horror yet. That takes place on a lonely farm, during a hens party weekend for the girl who was once Sissys BFF. Emma (Hannah Barlow, who co-wrote and co-directed the movie, with Kane Senes) runs into Sissy in the supermarket. They havent seen each other for years, so the bright-eyed Emma insists she must come.

Sissy remembers the video they made on Emmas 13th birthday, vowing to be best friends till the grave. The other people at the party are mostly loud and self-consciously awful: catty, obsessed by celebrity TV, vapid. One is Alex (Emily De Margheriti), who made Sissys life hell when they were 13.

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Horror is flexible enough to encompass a social agenda. Barlow and Senes have a lot on their minds  the effects of bullying, the rise of online charlatans and their impact on tender young minds, the cruelty of modern technological communication  but it can bring an earnest tone to what should be a freewheeling adventure. Just when this threatens, the filmmakers unleash some quite unexpectedly gory mayhem. The movie never looks back after this.

Its far from perfect, but it has a fresh tone and the desire to take risks. The gore just keeps getting funnier as the events turn darker. We cross into the realm of horror-comedy, as Sissy realises how long she has been waiting for revenge. Dees performance is one of the films strengths: Sissy is as confused as everyone about the terrible accidents that keep happening.
The City of Buffalo and Niagara County will each receive $100,000 from New York State to create their own threat assessment management teams to assist in combating domestic terror attacks like the one that occurred a Tops supermarket in Buffalo on May 14.

The teams  composed of law enforcement officials, mental health professionals, school administrators and other community stakeholders  will be charged with catching so-called warning signs that a person may become violent and then disrupting potential incidents before they occur.

In addition to Buffalo and Niagara County, a third team will launch in New York. An existing program in Monroe County and a new statewide training initiative will also each receive $100,000, said Jackie Bray, the state commissioner of Homeland Security and Emergency Services.

AG's report on Buffalo mass shooting sheds new light on how gunman's video, ideology spread New York State Attorney General Letitia James is recommending sweeping changes to U.S. internet law in the wake of the deadly May 14 attack at a Buffalo supermarket, saying in a report published Tuesday that several online platforms had enabled horrific mass shootings and hate-based violence.

Bray appeared Tuesday afternoon at Buffalo Police Headquarters with Rep. Brian Higgins and other officials to announce the $500,000 in funding.

Bray added that counties can decide whether they want to support county, city or regional teams.

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order May 18 to put the county-based teams in place.

6 months after Buffalo mass shooting, videos used by accused gunman remain on YouTube Five years after YouTube began ramping up its restrictions on firearms content, many of the videos that informed the accused May 14 shooter  and others like them  remain on the site.

New York has launched several other anti-terror initiatives in the wake of the Tops massacre, including the creation of a new State Police unit to track online radicalization, and a new homeland security team to address domestic terror. By the end of the year, every county in New York must also submit a plan for detecting and confronting threats of racially motivated domestic terrorism.

Police Commissioner Joseph A. Gramaglia noted Tuesday that the Buffalo Police Department has already been engaged in efforts with a region-wide threat assessment team that began in November 2021. The infusion of state money will help Buffalo in boosting those efforts, he said.

"This grant will help save lives. Let's be very clear about that," Gramaglia said.

The new program is closely modeled on a three-year-old initiative in Monroe County called the Rochester Threat Advisory Committee, or ROCTAC, which will also receive funding to expand its operations. As of late June, that team had intervened in 38 cases where a person appeared to pose a risk of violence, Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter told The Democrat & Chronicle  though it is impossible to say whether those interventions prevented future attacks.

Like ROCTAC, the new threat assessment teams will consist of representatives from across the community. Monroe Countys 28-member team includes participants from local schools and colleges, social service agencies, non-profit organizations, local and federal law enforcement and private businesses, including Wegmans and Kodak. After receiving a referral through a participating organization or a confidential tip line, ROCTAC members assess the risk that a person might spiral toward violence and connect him with support services, often related to mental health.

Such programs work, Bray has said, because attackers paths to violence are often predictable. The accused Buffalo gunman displayed several known warning signs, for instance, including killing and mutilating a stray cat and writing that he wanted to commit a murder-suicide as part of a class assignment.

Funding for the new threat assessment teams comes through the Department of Homeland Securitys Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention Grant Program, which will also support new statewide training initiatives and research into domestic terrorism prevention. The $500,000 comes in addition to $10 million in state domestic terrorism funding that Gov. Kathy Hochul announced in August.

"The truth is there is an increase in targeted violence across the country, and an increase in domestic violence extremism across the country. The threats we face, and that our communities face, are far more diverse and far more intangible to get our arms around than they were 20 years ago," Bray said Tuesday.

"And so New York is leading the way by pioneering county level, city level, local threat assessment and management teams in all of our communities. The governor made this a priority after the awful attack on May 14 in this city of this year, and wanted to make sure communities have the resources they need to be able to interrupt targeted violence before it happens," she added.

At Tuesday's news conference, Gramaglia described how his department will use the $100,000 in state funding.

Buffalo's May 14 victims face uphill battle in lawsuits against online platforms Victims attorneys signaled interest in six platforms they say played a role in the May 14 Tops massacre.

"Funding for this project will go to hire an additional project manager, among other things, that will help bring this coordinated effort together, coordination of meetings, implementation and communications plan to assist with threat and report training focusing on behavioral approaches and violence prevention. The manager will also coordinate cases presented to the team, collect data and work to increase awareness so that anyone who identifies a person they believe is on the pathway to violence, we can do something to intervene before that happens," Gramaglia said.

He added that the team will consist of four detectives and a detective sergeant who will be going out and doing live active investigations from the moment they become aware of a potential threat in an effort to intervene.

"Our crime plan in the City of Buffalo is based on crime prevention. Unfortunately, when things happen, we also have to have the resources to try to solve those crimes. The better job we do at preventing the crime, the more it frees our detectives up to do the work that they need to do. That comes with funding that has been provided here by both the federal government, the governor's office and commissioner's office, as well," Gramaglia said.
Who do I see about that?

The question used to turn up regularly in the social-issue films of the late Hollywood powerhouse and producer-director Sydney Pollack (such as This Property is Condemned, Three Days of the Condor, Bobby Deerfield and Absence of Malice) when characters collided with problems for which nobody was willing to accept responsibility. When asked about this almost 40 years ago, he spoke of how institutions constantly threaten and frustrate the individual, making the point that when there isnt anybody to see, you are in trouble, and there isnt anybody to see with institutions because institutions arent anybody.

Not much has changed over the decades. The question that Pollack put into the mouths of his characters might well have been asked by the staff and patients of the Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina carved its merciless path of destruction through the city in late August 2005. As recounted in the harrowing Five Days at Memorial (Apple TV+), soon after the category 5 Atlantic hurricane hit, the levees broke and the hospital found itself besieged by a flood that put at risk the lives of all those inside.

Vera Farmiga, centre, plays Dr Anna Pou who was on duty when Hurricane Katrina struck. Credit:Apple TV+

What ensues serves as a timely microcosm for the disasters taking place around the globe as I write  not only along Australias east coast, but elsewhere in Asia, Europe, Africa and, again, the south-east US. The big picture presents a steady breakdown of order, of the fragile civilisation that the people in the hospital  and all of us  expect will be in place when we wake up in the morning.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size A global human trafficking syndicate has exploited flaws in Australian border security and the immigration system. See all 15 stories . Australias anti-money laundering watchdog has granted a government licence to a cash-transfer company used by alleged money launderers involved in sex trafficking and drug syndicates. AUSTRAC registered the money-moving firm owned by Jintao Jerry Li despite red flags that his business empire had long been used by people laundering money. Businesses founded by Li were implicated in a major money-laundering case in New Zealand in 2020. Authorities in Australia have also linked his local money-moving businesses to more than $1.4 billion in fund transfers over eight years, many of which appear suspect or to have links to Chinese organised crime and underground Asian sex rings. Jintao Jerry Li AUSTRACs authorisation of Lis business, ACSF International Trading, to operate as a financial services entity exposes the struggle facing state and federal agencies in policing suspected money laundering. This is AUSTRACs key role, but after it passes its intelligence about suspect money movers to other agencies, it mostly relies on them to take operational action. Two official sources aware of the situation said no law enforcement agency had acted on AUSTRACs confidential warnings about Lis businesses.

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There are limited circumstances under which AUSTRAC can deny a licence to a financial services firm, and this combined with the failure of law enforcement agencies to act, led to ACSF securing its required registration, the sources said. It is unlawful to operate a money-moving business in Australia without an AUSTRAC registration. But while businesses must meet a fit and proper test to obtain such a licence, AUSTRAC cannot strip a licence based only on intelligence suggesting a business is being used for organised crime. The registered address for Lis business in Sydney. Credit:Janie Barrett AUSTRAC declined to comment but stressed it had provided extensive intelligence to support law enforcement investigations in these matters. The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald were unable to contact Li. The failure to prevent a decade of suspected money laundering throws light on the serious problem facing Australian authorities and the Albanese government in containing a practice by which criminal enterprises move money around and make it look like legitimate income. With limited resources, agencies such as the AFP must triage AUSTRAC intelligence and make hard decisions about which businesses to target. This leaves some firms free to continue operating despite obvious risks they may be moving dirty money.

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On Monday, senior Queensland police organised crime fighter Brad Phelps warned that illegal sex traffickers involved in serious exploitation of vulnerable Asian women were earning hundreds of millions of dollars. This money was then circulated overseas before moving back into the Australian property market. He called for these money trails to be investigated. Detective Inspector Phelps also described how his investigators had exposed an underground sex trade involving Asian women moved around Australia like cattle. Phelps was interviewed by Trafficked, a project led by The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, 60 Minutes and Stans Revealed documentary. The investigation exposed exploitation of Australias border security and immigration system by criminal syndicates involved in human trafficking and other crimes. In June, this masthead revealed how police were tracking another suspected Chinese money laundering syndicate headquartered in Victoria and NSW that moves hundreds of millions of dollars annually to China and elsewhere. The Chen Organisation counts as its customers a relative of Chinese President Xi Jinping, along with Asian triads and bikies, according to briefings from law enforcement officials. In a thinly veiled reference to the Chinese government, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw spoke out in June about governments turning a blind eye to the proceeds of crime washing through their economies. Officials in the United States have directly called out Beijings failure to combat money laundering trails that flow through Western countries. Australian authorities, including the AFP, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, AUSTRAC and the ATO, have recently ramped up efforts to target money laundering, but more than half a dozen sources say they are being hampered by the sheer scale of the problem, inadequate resources and the failure of Beijing to act.

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There have been some successes. A recent operation codenamed Sunnybank and led by the tax office targeted a money-moving business in Queensland (not Lis) that sent tens of millions of dollars offshore for underground Asian sex rings. The principal is also involved in local Chinese Communist Party-linked organisations. Attorney General Mark Dreyfus declined to comment on the Li case but AUSTRAC said Australia had a robust anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regime. AUSTRAC registration of the Li-owned ACSF International Trading enables it to move funds overseas in return for a cut of every dollar shifted. This masthead is not suggesting that Li is personally engaging in money laundering, only that his businesses are suspected of being used by money launderers and criminals. Similarly, it is not suggested that he is personally involved in the crime syndicates that use his business. Li was a director at a money transfer business identified by the Australian Federal Police in 2016 as moving funds for a drug network. It is not suggested Li was aware of the source of the funds. Documents released by the AFP under freedom of information laws cast light on Lis remittance business in Sydney being used to move drug funds.

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The documents reveal high-level members of a [Chinese] criminal syndicate were depositing large amounts of cash which were suspected to be the proceeds of crime. Policing sources have also confirmed that networks suspected of involvement in sex trafficking regularly used Lis remittance businesses to transfer money. In February, AUSTRAC released a briefing paper urging financial institutions to beware of money movements that may be indicators of sex-trafficking activity. Most instances of forced sexual servitude have occurred in NSW and Victoria, AUSTRAC wrote. There is consistent demand for illegal and forced paid sexual services in Australia. Forced sexual servitude coordinators have adapted to take advantage of environmental and technological changes to include online services in their illegal operations. When providing paid sexual services to customers online, forced sexual servitude coordinators continue exploiting their victims and profiting from their activities. In New Zealand, the Department of Internal Affairs prosecuted two companies founded by Li that breached anti-money laundering obligations between 2014 and 2019. The companies moved up to $400 million between New Zealand, Australia and China.

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Perhaps fearing that Arab voters would deny him victory, Netanyahu tweeted allegations of violence and vote tampering at Arab polling stations. He provided no evidence, and the countrys non-partisan Central Elections Committee dismissed the baseless rumours. Netanyahu later said he was asking for total electoral purity because thats the basis of democracy. Arabs make up some 20 per cent of Israels population and have been a key factor in blocking Netanyahu in recent elections. But this time around their vote was split among three different factions, each of which was at risk of falling below the threshold, which would mean those votes were wasted. Netanyahu was Israels longest-serving prime minister, governing for 12 consecutive years  and 15 years altogether  before he was ousted last year by a diverse coalition led by the centrist Yair Lapid. But the coalition that Lapid cobbled together, which included the first Arab party ever to join a government, was ravaged by infighting and collapsed after just one year in power. Those parties were poised to capture just 54 seats, according to the polls.

Lapid, addressing supporters early on Wednesday, insisted that the race was not decided. Until the last envelope is counted, nothing is over and nothing is final, he said. Supporters of Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Prime Minister and the head of Likud party celebrates the first exit poll results for Israels election, at the Likud party headquarters in Jerusalem. Credit:AP The nights strongest showing was by far-right MP Itamar Ben-Gvirs Religious Zionism, which emerged as the third-largest party. At an all-male campaign gathering in Jerusalem, religious men wearing Jewish skullcaps and waving Israeli flags danced in celebration. Ben-Gvir is a disciple of a racist rabbi, Meir Kahane, who was banned from parliament and whose Kach party was branded a terrorist group by the United States before he was assassinated in New York in 1990.

Kahanes agenda called for banning intermarriage between Arabs and Jews, stripping Arabs of Israeli citizenship and expelling large numbers of Palestinians. But while Kahane was seen as a pariah, Ben-Gvir is one of Israels most popular politicians, thanks to his frequent media appearances, cheerful demeanour, knack for deflecting criticism and calls for a harder line against Palestinians at a time of heavy fighting in the occupied West Bank. Young ultra-Orthodox men are among his strongest supporters. Ben-Gvir lives in the hard-line West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba and is a strong proponent of settlement construction. He has described Arab colleagues in parliament as terrorists, called for deporting those who are disloyal and recently brandished a handgun in a tense Palestinian neighbourhood of Jerusalem as he called on police to shoot Palestinian stone-throwers. At the celebration, Ben-Gvirs supporters chanted Death to terrorists. We want to make a total separation between those who are loyal to the state of Israel  and we dont have any problem with them  and those who undermine our dear country, he said.

Muhammad Shtayyeh, the Palestinian prime minister, said the rise of Israels far right was a natural result of the growing manifestations of extremism and racism in Israeli society. If the Netanyahu alliance ends up controlling a majority, Ben-Gvir and his party leader, Bezalel Smotrich, are sure to drive a hard bargain. Ben-Gvir has said he will demand the Cabinet post overseeing Israels police force. The pair have also said they will seek legal reforms aimed at weakening the independence of the judiciary and giving parliament power to override court decisions they dont like. That could clear the way for the dismissal of criminal charges against Netanyahu. Smotrich and other members of the party have also made repeated anti-LGBTQ comments. Such positions could put a future Netanyahu government on a collision course with the Biden administration, which supports a two-state solution with the Palestinians. It could also alienate Israeli allies in the US, particularly the predominantly liberal Jewish American community. Ben-Gvir is one of the most radical politicians in Israeli history. If he comes with so much political power, this will pose a major headache for Mr Netanyahu, said Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, an independent think tank.

He said Netanyahu, if asked to form the next government, might try to seek other potential coalition partners instead. With Netanyahus opponents vowing never to sit in a government with him, that could be a difficult task. Loading In Israel, voters vote for parties, not individual politicians. No party has ever won a majority on its own, and coalition-building is necessary to govern. The Likud Party was projected to be the largest, with some 31 seats in parliament, followed by Lapids Yesh Atid, with 22 to 24 seats. Lapid was the mastermind of the coalition that turned Netanyahu into the opposition leader.

The coalition was made up of nationalists who oppose Palestinian statehood, dovish parties that seek a peace agreement and  for the first time in the countrys history  a small Arab Islamist party. The groups were united over their distaste for Netanyahu. But that coalition collapsed this spring because of infighting. Loading The centrist Lapid, a former author and broadcaster who became prime minister as part of a power-sharing agreement, has portrayed himself as an honest and scandal-free change from the polarising Netanyahu. In his short term as caretaker leader, Lapid welcomed President Joe Biden on a visit to Israel, led the country in a brief military operation against Gaza militants and signed a diplomatic agreement with Lebanon setting a maritime boundary between the enemy nations.
How many of you are on Truth Social? Kari Lake, the Republican candidate for governor of Arizona, who has repeatedly sowed doubt about election integrity, asked at a recent rally. The crowd erupted in applause. If youre not on it, go there and get on it quick. The site has become a key organising platform for election deniers before the midterms, stoking concerns about voter fraud and spreading rumours about problems at the polls. One group used the site to promote stakeouts of ballot drop boxes in a search for illegal voting, posting a picture that went viral and helped spur similar efforts in at least 10 states. Former President Donald Trump embraces Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake at a rally in Mesa, Arizona. Credit:AP Trump has used the site as a public sounding board for his legal defences as several investigations encircle him. He has continued to shape Republican talking points and boost candidates running in close races. And he has embraced messages and imagery from QAnon, the conspiracy theory movement that also found a new home on Truth Social. The real test for Truth Social may arrive in the coming months, as initial excitement around the app fades and the problems with its financing possibly come to a head. The site shows few signs of courting a wider mix of users from across the political spectrum, which would be necessary to reach lofty targets set by the company before the app launched.

The sites parent company, the Trump Media and Technology Group, has its hopes pinned on a deal announced a year ago with Digital World Acquisition, a special purpose acquisition company that raised $US300 million in an initial public offering of stock. The company later secured commitments from three dozen hedge funds to provide an additional $US1 billion in financing upon the completion of the merger. Loading But the deal and that $US1.3 billion are now in doubt as investigations by federal prosecutors and securities regulators could force Digital World to liquidate itself in early December and return to shareholders the money raised in its IPO, derailing the merger. Digital World has struggled to get its shareholders to approve a measure that would give it until September to complete the merger with Trump Media. The SPAC faces another deadline for securing that vote Thursday. If the deal with Digital World collapses, Trump Media will need to come up with financing to keep Truth Social running. It has raised roughly $US37 million, mainly from Republican political donors.

William Wilkerson, a former Trump Media executive who was fired in October after he said publicly that he had filed a whistleblower complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission, said in an interview that the company was using up about $US1.7 million in cash each month. Truth Social recently began running advertising on its site. Loading But Wilkerson said if the deal with Digital World failed, a plausible alternative would be for Trump Media to consider a merger with Rumble, a conservative video-sharing alternative to YouTube, which has emerged as Trump Medias main business partner. Wilkerson, as well as a second person with knowledge of Truth Socials operations, said about half the people working at Trump Medias office in Sarasota, Florida, are Rumble employees. Rumble provides much of the back office operation to Truth Social. In August, Trumps company joined the video-sharing companys ad platform. Rumble recently completed its own merger with a SPAC, giving it access to roughly $US400 million in cash.

It is a high probability now that Rumble is a publicly traded entity, Wilkerson said during the interview, which he did while with his legal team of Philip Brewster, Patrick Mincey and Stephen Bell. Trump Media did not address a potential future merger with Rumble. But in an emailed statement, the company blamed the SEC for the delay in completing the merger with Digital World. Despite being chartered to protect retail shareholders, Trump Media said, the SEC is willfully damaging them with its illicit political targeting scheme  and should expect severe consequences for doing so. Rumble did not respond to requests for comment. A combination of Rumble and Trump Media could present an imposing conservative alternative to Twitter, especially as Truth Social faces an increasing competitive threat from Elon Musk, who completed his $US44 billion takeover of Twitter on Thursday. He has promised more lenient moderation policies that could draw some conservatives  including Trump himself  away from Truth Social. Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, also plans to buy Parler, in a deal that could draw conservative users.

I like Elon, but Im staying on Truth, Trump said during a Fox News interview after Musks takeover. But those risks have largely overshadowed a series of smaller victories for Truth Social, capped this month with the release of its long-delayed Android app, making the app available to about 40 oer cent of Americans who use that operating system. (Its iPhone app launched in February.) Did anyone happen to notice that Truth Social is Number One, ahead of TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, Amazon, and all others? Trump asked on Truth Social last month after the Android app launched and received more than 100,000 downloads. Just asking! Trump remains the apps raison detre. While his 4 million followers are a shadow of the 88 million who subscribed to his frenetic Twitter feed before he was barred in January 2021 over fear that he would incite violence, his truths can resonate far beyond the confines of Truths ecosystem. After federal agents searched Trumps Mar-a-Lago home looking for classified documents, he made the unsupported claims on Truth that the FBI was corrupted by Democrats, that the documents may have been planted, and that the documents were declassified the whole time.

If he wants that message to break into the Twittersphere, he needs people to screenshot it or post it or write something about it, said Jared Holt, the senior research manager for Institute for Strategic Dialogue. That happens all the time. The day after the Mar-a-Lago search, web traffic to Truth Social more than doubled from earlier averages, according to data from Similar Web. Days later, an armed man tried to break into an FBI office in Cincinnati and was later killed by law enforcement. A Truth Social account bearing the name of the man identified by law enforcement, Ricky Shiffer, had posted about the Mar-a-Lago search and told followers to get whatever you need to be ready for combat. The same account also appeared to confess to an attack on the FBI. That was a tell that the platform was reaching a milestone, Holt said. Because the unfortunate truth is that any platform  once it gets big enough  has to deal with somebody doing something like that. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
An Erie County employee has accused former Lackawanna mayor and county political appointee Geoffrey M. Szymanski of harassing and stalking her while he was her supervisor with the Buffalo and Erie County Workforce Investment Board, as well as after he resigned.

Szymanski unexpectedly resigned his $110,781 position in August after 2 years in the job. His last day of work was Aug. 12.

In an email sent to county leaders last week, employee Catherine E. Brown said Szymanski subjected her to "serial harassment, discrimination, intimidation and stalking behavior" and that she continues to be subjected to workplace retaliation and a hostile work environment from those currently in the office, including exclusion from meetings and bullying from colleagues.

Brown, 37, declined to comment publicly on the matter when reached by The Buffalo News.

Szymanski, 47, denied the stalking accusation but told The News, "I'm being advised by legal counsel not to speak regarding my former position as director at this time as I am no longer indemnified under county policy."

When Szymanski resigned in August, county spokesman Peter Anderson said Szymanski resigned "citing burnout from the pandemic and a desire to seek other employment."

In her email, however, Brown stated that Szymanski "abused his position of power and authority and manipulated it to harass me, intimidate me and create a hostile work environment." She also wrote that his pattern of harassment and stalking continued after his resignation, leaving her "no other choice" than to seek legal protection from the police and courts.

On Sept. 19, Family Court Judge Deanne Tripi signed a six-month order of protection for Brown. The stay-away order bars Szymanski from approaching or communicating with Brown. It also required him to immediately surrender all firearms, handguns and rifles.

"I wasnt happy about the order of protection because I wasnt stalking her under any circumstances," Szymanski told The News. "I made it very clear to her that I wanted no communication with her and blocked her cellphone number so she could not call me or text me."

He went on to say that if he was free to speak, he believes public sentiment would favor him and the current leadership team at the Buffalo and Erie County Workforce Investment Board. The Workforce Investment Board is responsible for developing, coordinating and overseeing publicly funded workforce development/training initiatives. Jointly operated by the county and the City of Buffalo, the executive director and special assistant positions are county positions.

"I am so proud of the work my team and I were able to accomplish in my almost three years as director," Szymanski said. "We won state and national awards, and one of them is now being modeled by the White House and is going to be used nationally in investing in our nursing programs."

Szymanski became executive director of the Workforce Investment Board in 2020 after stepping down as mayor of Lackawanna due to term limits. He previously served as a City Council member. He and County Executive Mark Poloncarz are both Lackawanna natives with close political ties.

Brown said in her email that she was previously hesitant to report Szymanskis behavior because of his political connections and her fear of retaliation, which she believes has occurred.

Anderson said no mention was made of any personnel concerns related to Szymanski's resignation because no issues had been raised regarding his behavior before he left.

"Pandemic burnout and a desire to seek other employment were the only items cited in Mr. Szymanskis resignation letter," Anderson said. "There was never a complaint filed with the county against Mr. Szymanski. Shortly after Mr. Szymanskis departure, Ms. Brown filed a complaint against interim Workforce Investment Board (WIB) Director Francine Nicholas and additional employees of the WIB, none of whom are county employees."

In regard to other ongoing workplace retaliation complaints made by Brown, Anderson said, "The Division of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) is currently investigating that case. In addition, after receiving the email in your possession alleging retaliation by new WIB Director Jaqueline Hall, the county has opened another EEO investigation which is currently ongoing. We take all complaints of harassment and retaliation seriously, and investigate them fully under New York State Law."

Szymanski holds a masters degree in public administration from SUNY Buffalo State and served in the U.S. Navy from 1993 to 1998. He served as a Lackawanna City Council member for six years prior to being elected mayor, a post he held from 2012 through 2019.

In announcing Szymanski's appointment in January 2020, Poloncarz praised him as a Navy veteran and experienced leader who served his community well and would work with the administration "to build a more prepared, inclusive, dynamic county workforce."
Three state Assembly districts in Erie County have become "battlegrounds," with Assembly Democrats spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to retain the seats, while Assembly Republicans are donating significant amounts to pull an upset in one of the races.

Campaign spending in each of the three Assembly districts is well over $200,000, and it is showing in mailboxes filled with campaign fliers, signs in yards and ads on television.

And much of the money is coming from Albany-based Assembly campaign committees.

The Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee gave a total of more than $467,000 to three incumbent Assembly members from Erie County: $190,000 to William Conrad, $157,500 to Patrick Burke and $120,000 to Monica Wallace.

And the New York State Republican Assembly Campaign Committee contributed $32,000 to Sandra Magnano, who is challenging Burke in the 142nd District.

She is the only Assembly candidate in Western New York to receive a large contribution from the Assembly Republican Campaign Committee, which gave large donations to just four Republican candidates statewide.

"Thats going to be a hotly contested race, obviously one that the Republicans in Erie County and in Albany see as an opportunity to flip a seat," Michael Kracker, chairman of the Erie County Republican Committee, said of the Burke-Magnano race.

"Those are traditional battleground seats for us," Erie County Democratic Chairman Jeremy Zellner said of the Assembly districts where Conrad, Burke and Wallace received the big donations. "We're working very hard to get the message out that our incumbents are delivering for the community, and that's not always cheap."

Burke and Magnano have spent a total of nearly $250,000 in their race for the 142nd District seat, according to the New York State Board of Elections. Much of the district includes West Seneca, a town that former President Donald Trump won in 2020.

But the leader so far in spending in area Assembly races is the 140th District, where Conrad and his challenger, Republican Scott A. Marciszewski, have spent a total of $282,000. Conrad was elected two years ago to the seat held for many years by Robin L. Schimminger, D-Kenmore, who did not seek reelection in 2020.

And in the 143rd District, Wallace and her opponent, Republican Frank C. Smierciak, have spent $240,000.

Twelve incumbent members of the Assembly in Western New York are seeking reelection Nov. 8, with eight of them facing opposition.

The incumbents include six Democrats and six Republicans.

The candidates running for the Assembly, where Democrats hold a super majority, include:

139th District

Territory under new map: Orleans and Genesee counties, Newstead and part of Monroe County.

Incumbent: Stephen M. Hawley, R-Batavia.

First elected elected in 2006, Hawley is the owner of an insurance agency and is the deputy minority leader of the Republican Conference. He also has the Conservative Party endorsement.

Challenger: Jennifer A.O. Keys of Leroy. She is a community health care manager running on the Democrat line.

140th District

Territory under new map: City and Town of Tonawanda, parts of North Tonawanda and Buffalo.

Incumbent: William C. Conrad III, D-Town of Tonawanda

A former social studies teacher and Tonawanda Town Board member, Conrad is finishing his first term in the Assembly. He is also running on the Working Families line.

Challenger: Scott A. Marciszewski of the Town of Tonawanda is deputy chief of patrol for the University at Buffalo police. He has the Republican and Conservative endorsements.

141th District

Territory under new map: Northern and eastern Buffalo.

Incumbent: Crystal D. Peoples-Stokes, D-Buffalo, the majority leader of the Assembly, is a former teacher and Erie County legislator. She has served in the Assembly since 2003.

Challenger: None

142nd District

Territory under new map: West Seneca, parts of Buffalo, Lackawanna and Orchard Park.

Incumbent: Patrick B. Burke, D-Orchard Park

A former Erie County legislator, Burke was first elected to the Assembly in 2018 and also works as a political science instructor at SUNY Buffalo State.

Challenger: Sandy Magnano, a registered nurse for 40 years, is running on the Republican and Conservative lines.

143rd District

Territory under new map: Cheektowaga, Depew, parts of Lancaster and Buffalo.

Incumbent: Monica Piga Wallace, D-Lancaster

Wallace, a law clerk in federal court and faculty member of the University at Buffalo Law School, was first elected in 2016. She also has the minor party Integrity line.

Challenger: Frank C. Smierciak ran against Wallace in 2020, losing in a close race after absentee ballots were counted, although he was ahead on election night. He is running on the Republican and Conservative lines.

144th District

Territory under new map: Eastern Niagara County, Alden and part of Lancaster.

Incumbent: Michael J. Norris, R-Lockport

An attorney who is seeking his fourth term, he also has the Conservative line on the ballot.

Challenger: None

145th District

Territory under new map: Western Niagara County and Grand Island.

Incumbent: Angelo Morinello, R-Niagara Falls

A former Niagara County assistant district attorney and Niagara Falls City Court judge, Morinello was first elected to the Assembly in 2016 and also has the Conservative line.

Challenger: Douglas Mooradian, a sales specialist from Niagara Falls, has the Democrat line.

146th District

Territory under new map: Amherst.

Incumbent: Karen M. McMahon, D-Amherst

McMahon, a confidential law clerk to state and federal judges, is seeking her third term in the Assembly and will also run on the Integrity Party line.

Challenger: Katrina A. Zeplowitz, a staffer for State Sen. Edward A. Rath III who has worked in state and local government for the last 10 years, will run on the Republican and Conservative lines.

147th District

Territory under new map: southern Erie County and most of Wyoming County.

Incumbent David J. DiPietro, R-East Aurora

A former small business owner and East Aurora mayor, DiPietro was first elected in 2012 and also has the Conservative endorsement.

Challenger: None

148th District

Territory under new map: Cattaraugus and Allegany counties, part of Steuben County.

Incumbent: Joseph M. Giglio, R-Gowanda

First elected in 2005, Giglio is a former state deputy inspector general. He also has the Conservative endorsement.

Challenger: None

149th District

Territory under new map: Hamburg, parts of Lackawanna and Buffalo.

Incumbent: Jonathan D. Rivera, D-Buffalo

Rivera worked in banking and for Rep. Brian Higgins and Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz before he was elected to the Assembly two years ago. He also has the Working Families Party line.

Challenger: Ralph R. Hernandez of Buffalo is a retired Marine Corps sergeant who served as president of the Buffalo School Board. He is running on the Republican and Conservative lines.

150th District

Territory under new map: Chautauqua County, a small section of southern Erie County.

Incumbent: Andrew W. Goodell, R-Jamestown.

Goodell, a former Chautauqua County executive, has served in the Assembly since 2011. He is running on the Conservative line.

Challenger: Sandra A. Lewis, a retired SUNY Fredonia instructor running on the Democrat line, said she believes being in the majority in the Assembly will afford her the opportunity to effect change on issues such as affordable housing and mental health accessibility.
ROCHESTER  As Democrat Kathy Hochul took the stage at Abraham Lincoln School 22 on Upper Falls Boulevard Saturday, the lineup behind her seemed to represent all the advantages enjoyed by the incumbent governor of New York.

Rep. Joe Morrelle and Monroe County Executive Adam Bello bring the power of the area's Democratic Party. Adam Urbanski, president of the Rochester Teachers Association, commands an army of unionized teachers knocking on doors and making phone calls.

Even the kids posing for photos with their governor proved perfect for the cameras recording Hochul's every move.

Republican Lee Zeldin targets a tough audience: NYC Democrats Zeldin is sticking to a calculated game plan of constant appearances before potential Democratic defectors. He cites former Republican Gov. George E. Pataki's three consecutive victories in 1994, 1998 and 2002, and thinks it can be done again.

"She is a longtime friend who works incredibly hard to lead the state," Morrelle told a crowd gathered at a book drive sponsored by the New York State United Teachers union. "She is a great friend of Rochester."

As Hochul's faceoff against Republican Lee Zeldin enters its final days, she is charging harder than at any other time in her long political career. She traverses the state on an almost daily basis, concentrating on New York City and its trove of Democratic voters while tending to her own upstate base as well. The first upstater in more than a century (as well as the first woman) to vie for the governor's office, Hochul finds herself in an unusual defensive position. Polls show Zeldin squeezing into single digits Hochul's once-commanding lead, prompting prominent Republicans like Governors Glenn Youngkin of Virginia and Ron DeSantis of Florida to campaign in New York for the congressman from Suffolk County.

Now, torrents of money flow into the coffers of both candidates as Zeldin's GOP is heartened and Democrats rush to Hochul's aid. For the first time since Gov. George E. Pataki's victory in 2002, Republicans in New York sense the possibility of an upset in uber-Democratic New York.

But none of it fazes Hochul, the diminutive figure working her way a few days ago through the state's fourth largest city. She seems to have revived her well-chronicled gift for retail politicking, visiting small businesses and plunging into crowds while state troopers hover nearby. On this Saturday in Rochester, she seems the same Kathy from Hamburg who started on the Town Council.

"When I was in third grade  I grew up in a big Irish Catholic family  and took out a book about Harriet Tubman," she tells the kids at Abraham Lincoln School, referring to the famous Underground Railroad conductor with ties to Rochester. "When I read about her life, I did a book report on her. She was brave and courageous. And now I have a statue of her in my office."

But then Hochul latches on to the concepts that she hopes will prompt the Democratic base she needs. Especially upstate, she touts jobs and the economy.

"We're bringing 50,000 jobs to upstate with Micron," she says about the tech giant planning a mega-facility in suburban Syracuse. "And Joe Morrelle helped with the legislation (providing government incentives)."

Indeed, Hochul is basking in the glow of Micron Technologies' plans to invest $100 billion in the facility over the next 20 years that is expected to directly employ 9,000 and indirectly many thousands more. While Zeldin hammers her on crime, he also complains about a state government that taxes too much and over-regulates its businesses  driving away those migrating to other states. She has no problem defending the $5.5 billion in state incentives that helped lure the Idaho-based Micron to the Syracuse area.

Those with her at Abraham Lincoln School will provide key components to the effort she hopes will prompt Democrats in Rochester and elsewhere to go to the polls. Urbanski, the teachers union chief, said the Saturday assemblage represents a powerful coalition of Hochul supporters. His group of 3,100 teachers will not only ask its members to vote, but staff phone banks and mail flyers encourage votes for the governor and other endorsed candidates.

Urbanski acknowledges that the crime issues raised by Zeldin are presenting a challenge to Hochul, and that they must be overcome.

"We're not taking anything for granted," he says. "There's a lot at stake here for public education and for those who are truly disadvantaged."

No stranger to Delavan-Grider

It was no accident that Hochul, accompanied by her husband, Bill (general counsel for Delaware North Cos. and former U.S. attorney for Western New York), earlier on Saturday chose the Delavan-Grider Community Center on Buffalo's East Side to mark her ballot on the first day of early voting. In the heart of Buffalo's Black community, it served as the venue for President Biden to console a grieving community following the May 14 shooting at the Jefferson Avenue Tops that killed 10 Black Buffalonians.

Hochul arrived at the polling site accompanied by most of Erie County's slate of Democratic candidates this year, as well as other top Democrats like Mayor Byron W. Brown, County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz, Rep. Brian Higgins and Assembly Majority Leader Crystal D. Peoples-Stokes. African American voters form a normally reliable cadre of Democratic voters, and Hochul is counting on them for support. For sure, she will gain a high percentage of Black voters against Zeldin. But she must also attract numbers to avoid the less-than-robust Black turnout that doomed former Gov. Mario M. Cuomo's bid for a fourth term in 1994.

And while a steady stream of mostly Black voters flowed into the community center last Saturday, Board of Elections officials report weekend totals at about half of the same period in the 2020 presidential year (about 28,000 then compared to about 14,000 this year). Still, voters like Luveena Ward of Buffalo said they marked their ballot for Hochul.

"I like what she says, and she does what she says," Ward said. "And I like that she showed up after what happened at Tops. She's from this area and knows the people."

Brown, meanwhile, senses "a lot of excitement" as Election Day approaches, and predicts Hochul will win comfortably. But he acknowledges that turning out the vote is "absolutely crucial" to her success. That's where the mayor's own political organization comes into play.

"I will do everything I can to let everyone know that voting for Gov. Hochul is in the best interest of our community," he told The Buffalo News.

The governor, meanwhile, stood before a phalanx of still and television cameras after casting her vote, and immediately focused on efforts to combat gun violence that she constantly touts in the face of her opponent's relentless criticism. Zeldin's anti-crime message, most observers believe, has propelled his recent surge in the polls.

She has been no stranger to the Delavan-Grider Community Center, she says, "in good times and in bad."

"We went back with a strong sense of purpose that we as a community would rise up and also make sure we had the toughest gun laws in the nation," she says, "so that no teenager could ever again buy an AR-15 and do this in our lifetime.

"Public safety is top of mind," she adds.

WNY projects 'not set in stone'

Later in Rochester, Hochul was making her final pitch in tours of small businesses led by Mayor Malik Evans. She finds an enthusiastic audience at Women of Color on South Avenue, a collaborative of 10 businesses owned by Black women in the South Wedge neighborhood. Connie Marple, founder and manager, is in the governor's corner.

"She's definitely pro-woman and pro-choice. She's all about empowering women, especially in a man's world," Marple said.

After one more stop at Loves Barbershop on Thurston Road, Hochul sums up her final pitch in an interview with The News. Zeldin's opposition to her pledge of $600 million in state funds for a new Buffalo Bills stadium, she says, only touches on how his election could submarine a host of Western New York projects planned by the state. She lists projects such as millions for the Outer Harbor, DL&W Terminal, Central Terminal and $1 billion to reunite the neighborhood split by construction of the Kensington Expressway as threatened by a new governor who could reverse her commitments.

"These are all not set in stone," she says. "Just like the stadium, and that's set in panic among a lot of Bills fans."

Ditto, the governor says, for the gun laws enacted after the Tops shooting, such as restrictions on sale of assault-style weapons to people under 18, or removing 8,000 illegal guns from the streets.

"He could reverse all the bills and I proposed and signed to protect people after the massacre in Buffalo," she said, adding Zeldin now talks about arming teachers or allowing people to carry guns in places of worship. She makes the closing argument that her measures more effectively fight crime.

"You can keep people scared," she says, "or you can keep people safe."
Until last December, state Attorney General Letitia James was considered the Democratic Party's leading candidate for governor in 2022 following the resignation of Andrew M. Cuomo.

But a gubernatorial campaign never gained traction for the veteran politician from Brooklyn, and now her 2022 plans remain solely focused on re-election as the state's top law enforcement officer.

"I put my toe in, and said  nah  I've got too much work to do," James told The Buffalo News editorial board a few days ago, adding that she is not sure the "fire is there" for another attempt.

Gov. Kathy Hochul summons powers of incumbency to stave off Lee Zeldin's challenge As Gov. Kathy Hochul's faceoff against Republican Lee Zeldin enters its final days, she is charging harder than at any other time in her long political career.

Now James heads toward Election Day as the attorney general front-runner, though Republican Michael Henry  showing some strength in the polls  will have something to say about it. A commercial litigator based in Manhattan, he said he harbors no stepping stone plans.

"I'm running because I am frustrated about one-party control of our state," he also told News editors and reporters, adding that he has no plans to "weaponize the office for political purposes."

Like other Republicans on the New York campaign trail this year, Henry assigns top priority to a criminal justice system he thinks needs overhauling. He says spiraling crime rates in New York stem from Democrats' cashless bail reform and a resulting revolving door for criminals.

Henry said he is fine with some criminal justice reforms aiming to reverse discrimination against the poor and minorities, but like other Republicans, seeks revisions in a system he says only encourages recidivism.

"We should fully repeal cashless bail and have the Legislature come together to do the hard work," he says. "But we have to make sure violent offenders are not let out over and over again."

Allowing more judicial discretion regarding "dangerousness" of bail candidates should top the list, he says.

While New York attorneys general have traditionally carved out their own priorities and specialties through the years, Henry focuses on undoing the James agenda. He is "troubled," he says, by James' campaign goal of investigating any possible transgression in New York by former President Donald Trump.

"She declared his guilt before she was sworn in," he says. "This is not about being a party's attorney or an individual's attorney."

He says even Cuomo  still a major GOP target more than a year after leaving office in disgrace  deserved better treatment from his opponent after she launched an investigation into sexual harassment allegations against him.

"She handicapped and basically tainted the investigation," he says. "It looked very political to me. In many ways, she put her own ambitions above the people of the State of New York."

Henry promises a renewed purpose for the office's Public Integrity Unit and its mission of rooting out government and political corruption, with more cooperation between federal authorities and the state comptroller.

"How can we work together to determine how the peoples' resources can be used properly?" he says.

He also embraces a more traditional view of gun rights, pronouncing no faith in Cuomo's SAFE Act that strictly regulates some weapons. New Yorkers should have the right to carry weapons responsibly, he says, but "common sense" red flag laws that might have identified shooters like the one accused in the Tops Markets attack in May should continue.

He also sees the attorney general's need to loosen its grip on some aspects of business regulation that he blames on "downstate people who really don't care what goes on up here."

"A lot of red tape and bureaucracy has to be cut," he said.

Republican Lee Zeldin targets a tough audience: NYC Democrats Zeldin is sticking to a calculated game plan of constant appearances before potential Democratic defectors. He cites former Republican Gov. George E. Pataki's three consecutive victories in 1994, 1998 and 2002, and thinks it can be done again.

Henry also touts a host of law enforcement endorsements, including the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association and other PBAs including representing state troopers and New York City police.

James makes no apologies for her pursuit of Trump, pointing out her investigations center on allegations that his real estate development company reported differing asset values of various properties over the years.

"Because the evidence is clear," she says, rejecting the former president's assertion that her probe is spurred by politics.

And the attorney general disputes Cuomo, who also charges politics motivated her investigation.

"He was the one who referred the matter to my office and said he trusted Letitia James," she said, referring to the harassment allegations. "I wish Gov. Cuomo well."

Now James looks ahead as she seeks a second term, turning away her opponent's claims that bail reform lies at the heart of the state's crime problems. She points to mental illness, the associated lack of pre-trial services in the criminal justice system, a shortage of parole officers and social services.

Police agencies must investigate new ways of dealing with mentally ill, she says, besides the use of lethal force.

"You cannot talk about crime in isolation and you cannot limit it to bail reform," she said.

Still, she supports much of the bail reform initiatives stemming from full Democratic control of Albany.

"We don't want to return to the days of criminalizing poor people and people of color," she said, defending the concept of bail reform as a means of enhancing equality in the criminal justice system.

Acknowledging that the attorney general is afforded wide latitude, she promises to focus on crime prevention, strengthening law enforcement and raising awareness that much of the state's crime problem is gang related.

"I know how Albany works," she says. "Ninety percent of the legislation we introduce is passed."

She also plans to concentrate on abortion rights, and is concerned about the increase in women traveling to New York from other states for abortions. She wants to investigate cryptocurrency, protect pensions and continue her efforts against bad debt collectors in New York. But crime, she says, remains at the top of her agenda.

"I've been focused on public safety my whole career," she says. "Why is that? Because I've attended too many funerals over the years."

She is endorsed by a host of unions and women's rights groups.
CVS Health booked a third-quarter loss of more than $3 billion after setting aside money for a potential opioid litigation settlement but still beat expectations and raised its 2022 forecast
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on approving "Direct agreement on investment document between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Masdar Azerbaijan Energy LLC and AccessBank CJSC".

According to the decree, in order to ensure the implementation of the decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated April 2, 2021 No. 2561 "On measures for the implementation of a pilot project related to the construction of a solar power plant with an installed capacity of 230 MW", it was decided to approve the "Direct agreement on investment document between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Masdar Azerbaijan Energy LLC and AccessBank CJSC",signed by Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan on behalf of the Government of Azerbaijan on July 30,2022.

This decree comes into force from the date of signing.
When Nanette Massey hosted her first seminar on racism in 2018 for a primarily white audience, it wasnt the success she had hoped for.

It was held at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo on Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo not long after a Black Lives Matter sign had been installed on the side of the building.

I was thinking, OK. Those are my white people. Thats my audience, " said Massey, who is Black.

Things didn't turn out the way she expected. The audience didn't connect in the way she had hoped.

Four years later, as city residents and leaders focus on racism following the May 14 mass shooting at Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue, Massey hopes to turn those difficult discussions into action.

Massey, who has expanded her portfolio of discussions on racism since that 2018 event, will co-host a workshop at Canisius College's Montante Cultural Center with Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility: Why Its So Hard For White People to Talk About Racism, which reached the New York Times bestseller list.

The event will be held Saturday, nearly six months after the mass shooting that killed 10 Black people.

Immediately following the attack, Massey said, the outpouring of love and support from the white community was swift, substantial and appreciated. But how do white people and Black people move forward from there? Massey and DiAngelo hope the workshop will help guide folks  Black and white.

All the white people that showed up to get food to people in need in the area surrounding Tops, that was great, said Massey, who lives on Jefferson Avenue. But, for real, let's take a look at how easy it was for the shooter to Google and find an outsized amount of Black people corralled in a certain area of town. What there is to do now for white people isn't just bring food and go back to Clarence or Hamburg and pat yourself on the back having done your good anti-racism deed for the day."

DiAngelo, an education professor at the University at Washington, said one of her objectives for the seminar is to provide healing to the Buffalo community.

Im looking forward to the opportunity to work with Nanette Massey, who has been doing powerful workshops based on my book for several years now, and also to offer some kind of processing and healing to the Buffalo community, for Black people there in Buffalo hopefully some affirmation and validation to the daily experience of systemic racism, DiAngelo said. The Tops shooting may be an amplified example, but, certainly, its on the continuum of what Black people experience on a daily basis.

DiAngelo also wants to help white people in the community understand that systemic racism impacts everyone.

Were all a part of it and  if we arent actively challenging it, then were passively contributing to it. There is no neutral place, she said.

The racist May 14 massacre killed Celestine Chaney, Roberta Drury, Andre Mackneil, Katherine Massey, Margus Morrison, Heyward Patterson, Aaron Salter, Geraldine Talley, Ruth Whitfield and Pearl Young.

Not Connecting

Massey, who is not related to victim Katherine Massey, read 'White Fragility' after she conducted that first workshop on racism in 2018 at the Elmwood Avenue church. The event, which drew about 30 people, "fell really flat," Massey said.

Massey recalled some attendees got defensive.

What I was saying was, the measure of all your work is how are you relating to Black people. Do Black people come sit at your kitchen table? Could you sit in a group of Black people and not have your whiteness be the center (of attention)? Massey recalled. Thats what I was trying to say. What they heard was, 'Our activism isnt enough.' "

She didn't think she was connecting to her audience, and she didn't understand why.

Then, a Black friend recommended the book, White Fragility, which was released the same year.

White people were reading it, and theyre feeling what shes saying, Massey said.

Massey built on DiAngelos ideas from the book and began doing workshops on Zoom during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

One of the objectives of the upcoming workshop at Canisius College is to help urge white people, in particular, from doing good to doing better, Massey said.

"Ultimately, its not about doing the right thing or saying the right thing or any of that," she said. "Its about who do I want to be in the world."

To register for the workshop, click here, visit nanettedmassey.com or call 716-325-0995.
Exclusive: Mischief will tour a new production next January.

Mind Mangler: Member of the Tragic Circle, based on the character created for Magic Goes Wrong, will visit venues across the UK with a script by Henry Shields, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Lewis.

The show was first seen at the Edinburgh Fringe earlier this year and will now be adapted into a two-act experience. WhatsOnStage gave Mind Mangler a solid review, saying: "the jokes are plenty, hearty and effortlessly delivered". It is directed by Hannah Sharkey, with Lewis starring in the titular role and Sayer as his 'stooge'.

The piece follows a somewhat unfortunate magician as he attempts to find stardom and pull off a few magic tricks en route.

It will open at Wyvern Theatre, Swindon on 7 January 2023, visiting Cardiff, High Wycombe, Milton Keynes, Birmingham, Cheltenham, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Exeter, Liverpool, Leicester, Brighton, Nottingham, Newcastle, Woking, Wimbledon, Southend, Bromley, Salisbury, Salford, Southampton, Guildford and will finish with a week at Theatre Royal Bath, from 18 to 22 April 2023.
Greed and a desire to sit at the "executive table" of a drug conspiracy motivated Deandre Wilson to kill three adults from Florida, steal the cocaine they intended to sell, and then leave a 3-year-old boy alone in a minivan for eight hours with the bodies of his dead parents, according to a federal prosecutor's closing argument Tuesday in Wilson's murder trial.

Wilson is charged with fatally striking Dhamyl Roman-Audiffred with a handgun inside a home on 4 Roebling Ave. in the Schiller Park neighborhood and then stepping outside and shooting Miguel Anthony Valentin-Colon and Nicole Marie Merced-Plaud, who were sitting in the minivan with their son, Noelvin.

"He pistol-whipped Dhamyl. He shot Miguel. He shot Nicole. He stole the van," Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph M. Tripi told jurors. "And we're lucky Noelvin is still alive. That's what the proof in this trial showed."

Defense attorney Kevin Spitler, however, called Wilson a fall guy for the two drug dealers in the house with him on the September 2019 evening when the three were killed  both of whom ended up testifying against him in U.S. District Court in Buffalo.

"He's easy pickings, right?" Spitler told jurors. "On parole. A good guy to blame. Let's go after him."

A burned car, charred remains and an abandoned toddler: Trial in grisly 2019 triple homicide begins On Tuesday, the trial began against a man charged in a triple homicide who prosecutors say set up a plot to rob the victims of cocaine and then shot and killed them before taking part in burning the bodies in an effort to conceal the crimes.

While prosecutors sought to buttress their case with cellphone tracking, text messages and surveillance video, the foundation of their case is Jariel Cobb and his brother, James Reed, Spitler said.

Cobb, 49, and Reed, 40, who have pleaded guilty to narcotics distribution and setting a fire to destroy evidence, among other counts, have testified against Wilson in the triple-murder trial. Cobb has acknowledged using an ax to dismember Roman-Audiffred's body before putting the remains in several garbage bags and, with Reeds assistance, loading the bags into Cobbs trunk and taking the remains to 225 Box Ave., where they threw them onto a burn pit in the backyard. Reed said he spent the rest of the night tending the fire to make sure the body parts burned.

Spitler told jurors not to trust Reed, who lied to police early in the investigation, or Cobb, whom Tripi called the "ringleader" of a Buffalo drug operation that brought in drugs from California, New Jersey and New York City over the years.

"Not only are they not upstanding citizens, they're liars," Spitler said. "Liars."

The others  not Wilson  killed the trio from Orlando, Fla., Spitler said.

Videos tie ex-gang leader to triple murder, burned-out van, abandoned child Federal prosecutors believe two men in custody on drug charges are also tied to the deaths of a Florida couple found inside a burned-out minivan on Tonawanda

Tripi called Wilson "the driving force behind these murders," telling jurors they would be able to convict him "even if James Reed and Jariel Cobb never testified."

"They're in the best position to provide details to you," he told jurors.

Cobb had no motive to kill the three, Tripi said, noting that Cobb made between $6,000 and $18,000 selling every kilo of cocaine the Florida suppliers brought him.

"He just wants to keep the kilos rolling," Tripi said.

Wilson wanted to be like Cobb and James, he added, because they made more money than he did as a $13.25-an-hour member of a demolition crew, he said.

The Florida contingent brought drugs to the house, and "he was in a position to rob them and murder them," Tripi said.

When Roman-Audiffred was in the kitchen, Wilson sprang from a bathroom and struck her with a gun, opening a gash in her head, prosecutors say.

"What are you doing? There is people in the van," Reed recalled his brother saying to Wilson.

After shooting Valentin-Colon and Merced-Plaud in the head, Wilson drove the minivan to a secluded spot behind a building on Scajaquada Street, and then he went to Darien Lake for a Meek Mill concert, according to trial testimony.

Cellphone tracking showed Valentin-Colon and Merced-Plaud's cellphones were with Wilson as he drove along the Thruway to the concert, Tripi said.

Police: Charred car with 2 bodies driven by child's missing parents Police said they have not identified two bodies found inside a charred vehicle, but said the rental car was driven from Florida to Buffalo by the missing parents of a 3-year-old

"The person who controlled their phones murdered them," he said.

After the concert, Wilson and Cobb retrieved the minivan. Wilson drove the minivan into the rear yard area of 111 Tonawanda St., with Cobb following behind in his car. In the rear yard, Wilson and Cobb removed the child from the minivan and doused the minivan and the bodies of Valentin-Colon and Merced-Plaud with gasoline, according to trial testimony and court papers. Then they lit the vehicle and bodies on fire, according to court papers.

Testimony in the trial started Sept. 27, and the evidence included a surveillance video that shows Wilson holding a gas can that was brought to ignite the fire.

"He's ready to burn," Tripi said. "You don't have to believe the words of Jariel Cobb and James Reed," Tripi said. "You just have to watch the video."

Cobb has testified that he intervened to keep Wilson from killing the little boy.

Grandparents visit 3-year-old found sleeping on West Side porch Noelvin was a little timid at first. It was the first the time the 3-year-old Florida boy found sleeping on a West Side porch Monday morning and whose parents are feared dead after remains were found in a charred vehicle later that day was allowed to visit with his grandparents. They sat down on the floor with him at

A video shows Cobb, Wilson and the little boy leaving the site where the minivan and parents' bodies were burned.

Spitler sought to cast doubt on Cobb's portrayal as "a good guy" who kept the little boy alive.

While Wilson was at the concert, Cobb knew where the van was parked, Spitler said.

"He knew where that van was," Spitler said. "He could have gone there anytime if he wanted to" and retrieved Noelvin.

Spitler sought to cast doubt on whether the boy was actually left unattended in the van for eight hours.

Grisly new details emerge from guilty pleas in 2019 triple murder The men accused of killing three people in a 2019 drug robbery allegedly left a 3-year-old boy strapped in his car seat overnight with the bodies of his parents, who were shot to death in front of the toddler, court records show.

A surveillance video shows Noelvin leaving the site of the burning van with Wilson and Cobb, holding up his hands reaching out to Wilson, an indication that he believes Wilson is good "and would not kill three people," Spitler said.

During his closing argument, Spitler continually defined Cobb and Reed as lacking integrity.

"Mr. Spitler says they're not outstanding men," Tripi replied. "That's obvious. We put them in jail for a very long time."

Even with his cooperation with the prosecution, Reed will be sentenced to 16 to 18 years in prison, and Cobb faces even longer prison time, Tripi said.

When Cobb leaves prison, "he'll be an old man," Tripi said.

And as for Noelvin on the path, running from the burning van, he was a traumatized child just holding up his hands, not necessarily for either Cobb or Wilson, Tripi said.

Except for Noelvin, Tripi said, "there were no good people on the path running from that van."
The TV ad is everywhere  just as it would have you believe violent crime in New York is everywhere. Grainy clips, flashing by in rapid succession, showing armed hoodlums committing all manner of assorted mayhem.

Never mind that an early version of the ad included footage from Oakland, Calif. Never mind that one gun-toting criminal was someone having a mental health crisis who was actually holding a piece of metal, not a firearm. And never mind that the pandemic crime surge was national, in red states and blue.

Republicans like New York gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin know how to get a message out, confidently aware that accuracy is not the point.

And Democrats? Well, the fact that incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul is desperately trying to motivate supporters to vote as polls show the race tightening far more than party enrollment would dictate says all you need to know about Democratic messaging.

Nothing better illustrates that difference than the debate  if you can call it that  over crime. Months ago, the center-left think tank Third Way released an analysis with the eye-catching title The Red State Murder Problem. It was a ready-made talking point/campaign theme/attack ad all rolled into one and served up on a silver platter.

Using census data and 2020 state crime reports, the latest available at the time, its bottom-line finding was that Eight of the top 10 worst murder rate states voted for Trump in 2020. In fact, the top six states in terms of per-capita murder rates were all Trump states, with murder rates in the double-digits, while New Yorks 4.11 per 100,000 people was well below the national average.

Yet you rarely hear about the rampant murders in Mississippi, Louisiana or Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnels Kentucky, which occupy the top three spots.

Whether one does or does not blame Republican leaders for high murder rates, it seems that Republican officeholders do a better job of blaming Democrats for lethal crime than actually reducing lethal crime, the study concluded.

Conservative think tanks counter with their own analyses indicating that large cities with Democratic mayors drive the high murder rates in GOP states. As the Manhattan Institutes Rafael A. Mangual put it in a New York Post op-ed, The 50 largest cities in America, home to 15.3% of the countrys population, saw 34.2% of the countrys murders in 2020; 34, or 68%, of the 50 cities had Democratic mayors in 2020, while only 14 (six of which were in blue states that voted for Biden in 2020) had Republican mayors.

Some might argue the rates were high in Democratic cities because of bail reform, or because of defund the police initiatives  which youd be hard-pressed to find any Democratic mayor actually backing. Alternatively, you could argue that its because trickle-down policies of red state governors starve urban cities of the resources needed to steer the impoverished away from crime.

Either way, thats a debate worth having. And if you buy the conservative argument, then voting for Zeldin would be a waste of time anyway because governors cant reduce crime in big cities like New York or Buffalo that have Democratic mayors.

However, having such a debate requires two participants. How often have you heard Democratic candidates cite the Third Way study, or anything like it to counter the GOP narrative? Hochul certainly didnt in her one and only televised debate with Zeldin.

Hochuls most notable anti-crime talking point? Playing up her unconstitutional efforts to disarm law-abiding gun owners if they dare leave home.

But its not just Hochul who is unable to mount an effective counteroffensive as the polling gaps close around her. Its a national affliction for a party that  gun rights aside  has the best of most arguments while being congenitally unable to voice them. They turn a deaf ear to the pleas of frustrated experts offering potent rebuttals or attack lines, while refusing to speak out in ways that would grab the publics attention and frame crime and other issues on their own terms.

Its why people like the election-denying Trump acolyte Zeldin, abortion hypocrite Herschel Walker in Georgias Senate race and fly-in fraud Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvanias might well win despite political and personal challenges that should have disqualified them long ago.

Instead of being steamrolled by the organized political party of Will Rogers dreams, they remain competitive because of Democratic ineptness that makes it look more and more like the famous humorist wasnt joking  he was prognosticating.

All of which leaves us with quite a choice between now and Nov. 8: one party that doesnt believe in democracy, and the other doesnt know how to effectively practice it.
Last Thursday, Daley Farm of Lewiston, LLP, filed a lawsuit against three Winona County commissioners and members of the Land Stewardship Project.

Daley Farm alleges that members of the Winona County Board  Marie Kovecsi, Chris Meyer, and Greg Olson  intentionally appointed people to the Winona County Board of Adjustment who had prejudged Daley Farms variance application for its Modernization Project and had a specific intent for the appointed persons to deny the application.

Daley Farm further alleges that members of the nonprofit Land Stewardship Project  Cherie Hales (who was a member of the Winona Board of Adjustment), Bobby King, Doug Nopar, Johanna Rupprecht, Barb Sogn-Frank, and Kelley Stanage  conspired with Kovecsi, Meyer and Olson to deprive Daley Farm of their constitutional right to a fair hearing before an impartial and unbiased audience of decision makers.

The lawsuit comes 12 days before the Nov. 8 election, in which Meyer is a candidate.

The suit alleges that from the end of 2018 through 2019, members of the Land Stewardship Projects local organizing committee had email and phone conversations with Kovecsi, Meyer and Olson to manipulate appointments to the Winona County Planning Commission in a way favorably to the Land Stewardship Project, blocking Daley Farms proposed Modernization Project.

The project would require a variance request to allow the dairy farm to exceed a 1998 zoning ordinance that caps feedlots to 1,500 animal units.

In a statement, Ben Daley of Daley Farm said: When any person approaches their government for a permit or variance to conduct a lawful business or activity, that person is entitled to a fair hearing before an unbiased judge. This fundamental right is well known and should be universally respected by everyone, regardless of political or personal beliefs about a particular issue. In appealing the denial of our variance application, however, we uncovered direct evidence that Land Stewardship Project conspired with three county commissioners  Marie Kovecsi, Chris Meyer, and Greg Olson  to ensure that the Board of Adjustment was stacked with people who had already made up their minds, without hearing or considering any of the evidence, and were publicly opposed to our project. This is not the level of integrity that we should expect or tolerate from our public officials. After much contemplation, we decided to move forward with this lawsuit to hold these people accountable for their actions.

Meyers attorney, John Lesch, gave the following statement: We understand that the Daley Farm has announced their intention to initiate a lawsuit against Winona County Commissioner Chris Meyer. While commissioner Meyer has not been served with a complaint, we understand the basis of their claim is a vote she took almost four years ago, in January 2019, to confirm the appointment of members to the Board of Adjustment  members who later made decisions that the Daleys didnt like. The complaint, aside from the fact that it contains no valid legal claims against commissioner Meyer, will be dismissed for its host of legal deficiencies. This fact, and the fact that it was intentionally filed one week before commissioner Meyers re-election to the Winona County Board of Commissioners, reveal it as no more than an attempt to influence the election against commissioner Meyer. On Aug. 17, 2022, commissioner Meyers opponent posted a photo of his political supporters, including the plaintiff, Ben Daley, on his Facebook page  illustrating this lawsuit as a tool of political revenge. We expect that this political suit will be dismissed, as it is no more than a legal expenditure to prop up the campaign of her opponent.

The Land Stewardship Project added in a statement: Daley Farms filing of a lawsuit in Minnesota District Court last week naming the Land Stewardship Project and individual citizens as defendants is the latest effort by this limited liability partnership to suppress the publics right to discuss and debate the future of our community here in Winona County. This litigation appears to be an attempt by Daley Farm and its agents to intimidate public servants for doing their jobs. In addition to suing the Land Stewardship Project as an organization, Daley Farm is, shockingly, suing individual community members and neighbors. The lawsuit is an effort to intimidate the hundreds of farmers who have worked with LSP in southeastern Minnesota to protect clean water, promote soil health, support beginning farmers and bolster the local economy for the 37 years that this organization has had an office in Lewiston. This lawsuit has no merit, and LSP will vigorously defend itself and the public interest in the case.The proposed trial start date is Nov. 1, 2023.
TOGETHER WE TRAIN WINONA is a new initiative that will provide tuition at no cost for Winona County residents who are unemployed or underemployed to attend Minnesota State College Southeast.

Participants will receive the education and training they need to strengthen their skills and obtain full-time employment. Information about the program can be found at www.southeastmn.edu/TrainWinona.

Winona County, Winona CareerForce and Minnesota State College Southeast are partnering to identify, engage and enroll eligible individuals to participate in TOGETHER WE TRAIN WINONA. No student will need to take out loans or pay out of pocket to participate in this program. Winona County is providing $150,000 in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds to support the new initiative.

The TOGETHER WE TRAIN WINONA initiative is an exciting opportunity to support Winona County residents and fulfill the goals of the American Rescue Plan funds, said Maureen Holte, interim county administrator, Winona County. Many individuals and businesses across our county will be positively impacted.

Available through 2024 or until all funds are used, TOGETHER WE TRAIN WINONA will offer grants to eligible Winona County residents to attend MSC Southeast. Financial assistance will include tuition and fees for each participant and will cover books, technology rentals, supplies, tools, uniforms, or other items directly related to course work.

We are excited to be working with MSC Southeast to help individuals who are unemployed and under-employed get the training needed to succeed in their chosen career path, stated Autumn Herber, Workforce Development Specialist at Winona CareerForce. And being able to receive that training without any cost is such a wonderful opportunity, and one not to be passed up.

All participants will be required to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) prior to enrollment. ARP funds will be utilized after other available financial aid, such as federal and state grants, is applied.

TOGETHER WE TRAIN WINONA funds can be applied to any of the colleges career and technical certificate, diploma and degree programs. (Note: Liberal Arts & Sciences and Transfer Pathway majors are excluded). Non-credit continuing education classes are also eligible for funding.

By partnering with Winona County and Winona CareerForce, we will be able to help Winona residents who need a college credential to succeed, said Dr. Marsha Danielson, President of Minnesota State College Southeast. This funding will be a powerful tool to help lift up members of our community who are unemployed or under-employed, as well as to strengthen the local workforce.

To be eligible for TOGETHER WE TRAIN WINONA, individuals must be residents of Winona County who graduated high school prior to January 1, 2020, and be unemployed or under-employed. Students must remain a Winona County resident throughout their program and maintain a 2.0 GPA.

For more information about TOGETHER WE TRAIN WINONA, go to www.southeastmn.edu/TrainWinona or contact Autumn Herber, Workforce Development Specialist, 507-205-6057 or Autumn.Herber@state.mn.us.
When Winona native Kirstin Schultz decided she wanted to be a teacher in the third grade, she never could have imagined the impact she would make on her home community.

But, over 30 years deep into her career of teaching almost exclusively third grade, Winona Area Public Schools district employees have stepped up to let Kirstin know how much she means to them by naming her Winona Education Association Teacher of the Year on Monday.

Kirstin shared that it is pretty special to have this recognition in her hometown, saying that she was surprised and emotional when she learned she won the honor.

Kirstin, who loves seeing her students excitement about school, has worked her entire career in the WAPS district  with 22 years clocked in at Jefferson specifically.

Shes had to overcome hard moments throughout those years, both personally and professionally.

Kirstins daughter Justine, who flew back from a conference in Texas the night before the ceremony just to be there to celebrate her mom, said that Kirstin lost her father two months ago.

The loss didnt stop Kirstin from continuing to teach the best that she can, though. Kirstins ability to bounce back from sad situations impresses Justine.

Justine said she learned from her mother that things will be tough, but you can always get through it.

The recent loss made Justine extra emotional when she learned about her mother being named Teacher of the Year, because she knows how proud Kirstins father would be of her.

As for hardships that have affected Kirstin professionally, Kirstin explained how she overcomes them: I think we just have to keep moving on.

In the case of COVID-19, she said: There were a lot of gaps in kids learning. And I think we just, as were teaching now, were still filling in those gaps. And just keep moving on with our teaching. Getting kids back on those routines, making up those skills.

Kirstins peers recognize the great work she is doing in the district also, as she has helped her students throughout the past few decades no matter what situation is being faced.

Annette Freiheit, superintendent of the WAPS district, shared why she thinks Kirstin is so deserving of the honor of being Teacher of the Year.

Shes just an awesome teacher. I mean, she thinks about her kids all the time and puts them first and makes class exciting and fun and engaging. And (she) is always very supportive of our students, Freiheit said.

Freiheit said that the excitement from students Monday morning when they learned during an assembly that Kirstin was the Teacher of the Year is a prime example of the impact the districts teachers have on the children.

Freiheit said during the assembly, attendees could see how much the kids engage with school, that they love, that they enjoy being here

And they do their best to act their best, and I think that just is because they know theyre respected and loved by the staff, Freiheit said.

Freiheit said that naming a Teacher of the Year is important, because its important to recognize people who are doing well in their career fields.

She continued: Particularly with the field of teaching, its just one of those professions that is so critical to our country. And when you can recognize those who stand out I think its always a good thing and a good role model for others who want to go into the field and hopefully encourage others to go into the field.

Amber Mlynczak, a member of the Winona Education Association Teacher of the Year committee, said that Schultz was a perfect candidate for this years award.

She has dedicated so many years to our elementary students and to our school district, Mlynczak said. She has served on tons of committees and has been a part of a lot of growth that weve had in our district. And so she kind of goes above and beyond as a teacher.

Justine shared about her mother: I always tell people my mom is a great mother. Great friend. But one of the best educators that I know.

With the title of Teacher of the Year, Kirstin will be honored at a banquet later this month. She will also partake in local events in the upcoming year.
Gov. Greg Abbott has said he will sign a bill that would make Texas by far the most populous state allowing people to carry handguns without a license.
EL PASO, Texas (AP)  U.S. Border Patrol agents launched pepper balls at a group of migrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border along the Rio Grande in El Paso after the agency said one person threw a rock at one agent and another was assaulted with a flagpole.

Video captured Monday by the El Paso Times shows Border Patrol agents approaching the group, which included a man holding a very large Venezuelan flag, that had crossed the shallow river.

Border Patrol spokesperson Landon Hutchens said in a statement that as the group of Venezuelan nationals protested along the river, they tried to enter the U.S. illegally.

One of the protesters assaulted an agent with a flag pole, Hutchens said. A second subject threw a rock causing injury to an agent at which time agents responded by initiating crowd control measures.

Those measures included launching less-lethal force" pepper balls, he said. The projectiles release an irritant to the eyes, nose and throat.

Hutchens said the crowd then dispersed and returned to Mexico. Hutchens did not give details on the agents' injuries.

Before the conflict at the river Monday, a group of migrants had marched in Juarez, across the border from El Paso, demanding an opportunity to cross the border, the newspaper reported.

According to a new Biden administration policy that took effect last month, which came in response to a dramatic increase in migration from Venezuela, Venezuelans who walk or swim across the U.S. border will be immediately returned to Mexico.

The Biden administration has agreed to accept up to 24,000 Venezuelan migrants at U.S. airports while Mexico has agreed to take back Venezuelans who come to the U.S. illegally over land.

Roberto Velasco, Mexicos director for North American affairs, tweeted Monday that the Mexican government had requested information from its U.S. counterparts about the confrontation.

Jonathan Blazer, director of border strategies at the American Civil Liberties Union, called the footage highly alarming.

People seeking asylum on U.S. soil should be screened for protection, not pushed back, especially through use of force," Blazer said.

According to statistics from Customs and Border Protection, its officials used less-lethal force  such as batons, stun guns, tear gas and pepper spray  338 times in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.

Hutchens said the Customs and Border Protections Office of Professional responsibility will review Monday's incident.
JUNEAU  Dodge County Clerk Karen Gibson suggested that board members might bring a lunch to the annual budget debate on Nov. 15.

Someone else added they might bring dinner.

We have to stay until its done, even if it takes until midnight, said Gibson about the meeting that starts at 9 a.m.

The 210-page budget was revealed on Oct. 26 with a 38-cent-per-thousand decrease in the mill rate. The new county administrator, Cameron Clapper, presented a summary of the proposed budget.

The operational tax levy is recommended at just over $36 million, compared to the $35.8 million levy adopted in 2022. That is an increase of $203,000. What is new is the addition of debt tax lexy, which has long stood at zero and will now be just less than $2 million. Given a total of $8.6 million of equalized assessed value (up $1.1 million or 15% from last year) that translates into a reduction of 12.7%. The total mill rate thus stands at $4.40, down from a rate of 4.78 in 2022. The 38 cent drop (7.9%) translates into a 2023 savings of $76 for the owner of a $200,000 home, $95 for a $250,000 home and $114 for a $300,000 home.

Clapper indicated that debt service levy will allow for a steady tax rate while continuing to meet county obligations.

Just more than 25% of total revenue comes from property taxes. A total of $8.3 million in sales tax is used to cover capital projects including roads. A total of $2.5 million is being used to cover county operational costs. A total of $4.9 million in American Rescue Plan Act (COVID-19 relief) funding has been applied to county projects.

No undesignated fund balance (reserve) has been applied.

Speakers at Tuesday nights meeting included: Anthony Mau, AJ Schnitzler, Daniel Luethje, Bob Neuman, Jeremy Johnson, Ross Purdy, Melissa Frievalt, Jerry Kjornes and Tom Jacobson.

Government is not a business and theres no division between the people and the government, said Mau. Please consider the citizens in this budget and separate true needs from wants, because its going to be tough for everyone.

Schnitzler suggested that more money than necessary was spent in his district, District 18. Those funds include American Rescue Plan Act funds (not tax levy) for road projects and other expenditures. He listed many projects in the millions of dollars and called them largely unnecessary.

The more a road is outside District 18 the more the people that road serves, he said. Our real bread and butter projects are serving a lot of people. Thats where were getting a lot of bang for our buck. Thats where were getting the most benefit for the miles of blacktop that were putting down. We have to focus on how we can make better use of what we have rather than how much money we can get.

It all starts here, said Luethje. These are pretty hard times. Were still blessed as a nation. Were blessed in Dodge County, but if the taxpayers have to cut their budgets and the county keeps expanding theirs, somethings wrong.

The debt levy is an extra burden on the taxpayers, said Purdy, a previous county board candidate. There have to be ways to cut back on things. Lets consider the taxpayers, and instead of thinking what is wanted think of what the taxpayer can be expected to bear.

Frievalt broke into tears when she said, I am not speaking only for myself tonight, but for many who cannot be here  people who are suffering under financial strain and hardship. Now is your opportunity to shine. Its your opportunity to take a stand for fiscal responsibility and provide relief to some of my friends who are suffering  to provide some relief to the citizens of Dodge County.

Targets of later debate included: increased revenue at Clearview while the county continues to pay its mortgage; the need for a second veterans service officer; the need for a new emergency services vehicle at a cost of $840,000; continued implementation and use for the countys half-percent sales tax; a wage/benefit increase of 7.4% for county employees ($5.25 million total); economic recession and other issues.

Dave Guckenberger added his support for hiring a new finance director to replace Dave Ehlinger, who left the position nine months ago.

We need a finance director. Perhaps we need to offer a bonus to get a body in there because we clearly need it, he said.

This non-plan plan is not sustainable, said Kira Sheahan-Malloy.

Jeff Breselow said, I implore this board to do something with this budget. Think long and hard. We got to get this thing under control.
A recent recruit to the Beaver Dam Police Department was honored with the Craig Birkholz Leadership Award by classmates of the Fox Valley Technical College Law Enforcement Recruit Academy.

Beaver Dam Police Officer Joseph Salazar attended the academy with fellow officer Megan Ruhland. Both passed the academy and are now members of the police department. Salazar received the honor during the commencement program last month and is the first Beaver Dam police officer to receive the award.

I definitely was surprised when I got it, Salazar said. There were multiple other cadets that I would have given the same honor. The fact that it was voted on by my classmates means something more significant to me.

Fond du Lac Police Officer Craig Birkholz was 28 when he and other officers responded to a sexual assault complaint in Fond du Lac on March 20, 2011. He was fatally shot by a suspect who died by suicide during the standoff that followed he shooting. At the time, Birkholz had served Fond du Lac Police Department for two years.

Salazar was hired at the Beaver Dam Police Department in May and started at the police academy in June. He grew up in Beaver Dam and worked for the Wisconsin Prison System and in the Washington County Jail prior to the pandemic in 2020. He then worked for the U.S. Postal Service when some people he knew started encouraging him to be a police officer.

Salazar said that the leadership award was one of two awards that the recruits could receive. The other one was the backup officer award. The recruits were together for five months and Salazar said he did try to be encouraging of others during group work.

Salazar said that he was able to use his work experiences along with life knowledge while at the academy. He also helped with the physical training program while going through the program and felt past work experiences helped him that role as well.

Salazar said that it was the family of Birkholz who chose the characteristics that were voted on by his classmates which the family felt described Birkholz.

The sentimental value is significant, Salazar said.
WAUPUN  The Waupun Area School District approved two tax levies Monday night, with the final outcome depending on the Nov. 8 election results. The election will determine whether the district can exceed the states revenue limits by $980,000 annually for three years.

If approved, the funds would go toward maintaining current programming and operations, said Waupun District Administrator Steven Hill. This is amid rising costs, stagnant state aid and stagnant enrollment. As we looked at our budget process for this year we realized that we just are not going to be able to make the budgetary needs to meet the high expectations we have for our district and what our community expects from their school system.

On Monday Waupun School Board President Steve Chene compared the school district to a ship.

The SS Waupun is stout, but were taking on water, he said. Were a good ship, we have an excellent crew (administration, teachers and support staff), so from the captain down to the cabin mate weve got good people. Weve got good facilities. We have excellent, conservative fiscal management. We serve our students well. Im intensely proud of the work we do.

Superintendent Steve Hill said, Im extremely proud of the progress that the Waupun Area School District continues to make, and the largest thing in front of us now is the Nov. 8 election. We need approval so we can maintain our small class sizes in the elementary school. We need to maintain our buildings the best way that we can. We have beautiful facilities but the junior/senior high school is now 20 years old. We have roofing projects that we need to put on hold to maintain our fund balance (reserve). We want to keep this as a destination district. Im fearful if the referendum doesnt pass what will have to go.

He indicated that the district is shorted about $2 million every year for special education students and other necessary increases such as teacher salaries.

We have challenges, but Im filled with pride when I go around in the buildings and see all of the great work that everyone is doing, Hill said. The school district is really wonderful for the opportunities it provides to members of the community and we want to keep that moving forward.

Finance director Carrie Hintze explained the budget cap, a limiting factor when it comes to meeting rising costs.

The revenue limit worksheet looks at our average number of students, which is multiplied by a base number ($10,000 per student) to give you a total revenue cap. Then there might be extra exemptions or unusual things added in, like say voucher program payments. That all builds the total  the cap  of what you can have.

The total district expense budget for 2022-23 stands at $29.7 million, up about $2.1 million from the previous year.

Debt service stood at $3.07 million in 2022. The debt service will be about $13,000 more ($3.08 million) in 2023. It will remain fairly steady through 2038, with non-referendum fund borrowing paid off in 2027.

If the referendum passes, the tax levy for the 2022-23 school year is set at $6.4 million for the general fund, $528,000 for the non-referendum debt service fund, $2.6 million for the referendum debt service fund and $450,000 for the community service fund for a combined fund total levy of $9.9 million.

If the referendum fails, the tax levy for the 2022-23 school year will be set at $5.4 million for the general fund, $528,000 for the non-referendum debt fund, $2.6 million for the referendum debt service fund and $450,000 for the community service fund for a combined fund total levy of $8.9 million.

The levy rate will be $7.16 per thousand dollars of assessed value if the referendum passes. If it fails, the levy rate will be $6.45 per thousand dollars of assessed value. Last year the tax levy rate was $7.63 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, down 93 cents from the 2020-2021 mill rate of $8.56.
While nobody won Mondays $1.2 billion Powerball jackpot, a $50,000 ticket sold in Camp Douglas remains unclaimed as of Wednesday, Nov. 2.

The ticket was purchased at Home Front Travel Mart for Saturdays drawing, according to the Wisconsin Lottery. The convenience store is expected to receive a 2% bonus, or $1,000, for selling the winning ticket.

Along with the Camp Douglas prize, more than $38 million in lower-level cash awards were doled out over the weekend. The jackpot soared to $1.2 billion on Monday after no one matched all six numbers in the drawing. Its the second largest jackpot in Powerballs 30-year history.

The odds of winning the $50,000 ticket were 1 in 913,130. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.

No one has hit all six numbers since Aug. 3.

This is only the second time that Powerballs jackpot has reached $1 billion, Powerball Product Group Chair Drew Svitko stated. While playing for a jackpot of this magnitude is exciting, please remember to play responsibly.

The next Powerball drawing will take place on Saturday at 9:59 p.m. Tickets must be purchased before 9 p.m. to be included in the drawing.
If a series of public involvement meetings are any indication, the School District of Wisconsin Dells may have some extra money to operate with over the next four years.

The schools would have this extra cash without it costing area taxpayers an extra dime for the time-being and likely would have a negligible impact during its lifespan. If the referendum passes, the districts tax levy would remain roughly $140,000 lower than it was for 2021-22.

On the upcoming fall election (Nov. 8) ballot, the district has proposed an operational referendum of $1.2 million recurring over the next four years, with a total addition of $4.8 million during that span.

Due to potential increases in area property values, an increase in state aid, and lingering federal funds through the 2023-24 school year, a passed referendum would not raise the current mill rate (amount of tax payable per $100,000 of property value) for district residents and projects to continue that through its lifespan, which would end in the 2025-26 school year.

The mill rate for the district is $6.77 for the 2022-23 school year, which constitutes a $0.99 drop from last year.

The additional $1.2 million would backfill the loss of the ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funds (after the 2023-24 school year), said Slack. Weve used a pretty conservative figure moving forward those next three years in terms of equalized valuations. If property values continue to increase, youd probably see those (mill rate) numbers decrease.

Slack added that the school district has worked with the states Department of Public Instruction as well as Robert W. Baird, a Milwaukee-based investment firm, to determine tax estimates for the district with a passed referendum.

District administrator Terry Slack said that one of the key factors for the referendum is the districts status of being locked into a low revenue limit by the state despite enrollment slightly increasing over the past decade.

The upcoming referendum is the districts first operating referendum in 15 years. Slack attributed the gap in time to support from the community, which included the landslide passage of a $34 million referendum in 2018 to fund the new Wisconsin Dells High School and the upcoming auditorium being built on donated funds.

The School District of Wisconsin Dells is one of 92 school districts in the state putting a referendum on the Nov. 8 ballot.

The district held its first public involvement meeting at Lake Delton Elementary School on Oct. 19. Area residents and district teachers such as Darren Jorgenson and Sherry Moyer voiced their opinions regarding the upcoming measure.

Moyer expressed her hopes for the referendums passage and asked about potential cuts if the referendum is voted down, in which Slack responded that potential extracurricular programs, along with a bus route, would likely be cut, as well as some academic programs.

Our goal would be to have as little impact on academics, but things like elective programming would be something we would have to look at, said Slack.

Jorgenson asked if all programs in the district would be maintained with the passage of the operating referendum. Slack said they would be and may possibly be expanded slightly. Jorgenson is in charge of one of the new programs in the district, as he teaches a fire training course every other Wednesday to a group of Wisconsin Dells High School juniors and seniors.

Fire program at Wisconsin Dells High School off to strong start Wisconsin Dells High School has implemented a fire training program for the 2022-23 school year, with former Delton Fire Department chief Darren Jorgenson teaching introductory firefighting methods.

At the meeting, Slack said the district would likely pursue another public opinion regarding building a new elementary school to replace Lake Delton Elementary in 2024 if the upcoming referendum passes.

One week later, another meeting was at Spring Hill Elementary School. Brad Luger, a district resident from Marquette County, voiced vehement opposition to the referendum, citing his displeasure with the districts closing of Neenah Creek Elementary School in Briggsville following the 2020-21 school year, among other issues.

Ive got my vote, said Luger. Its going to be a big fat no. Somebodys got to pay for that referendum. We just cant keep affording new stuff all the time.

Briggsville says goodbye to Neenah Creek Elementary School BRIGGSVILLE  Members of the Briggsville community said goodbye to Neenah Creek Elementary S

Slack addressed Lugers point about schools closing, stating that the Adams-Friendship Area School District has closed four elementary schools due to population reduction in the district, which Slack added is not a pressing issue in the Dells area. He added that the mill rate for the School District of Wisconsin Dells was $15.75 in 1993-94, demonstrating the drastic decrease since.

Linda Marston, a 35-year employee of the district who is currently an elementary speech instructor, mentioned how a rejected referendum in 2021 was the reason for the Neenah Creek closure. She then warned of inevitable cuts if the upcoming referendum experiences the same fate.

Clem Greco, a Lake Delton resident who taught schools in Chicago prior to moving to the area, mentioned traffic issues picking up students from Spring Hill Elementary after school. He emphasized how those would worsen if students from Lake Delton Elementary needed to be moved there.

Melissa Belzer, a resident of the Town of Newport just south of Wisconsin Dells, was the lone resident who raised questions at the third meeting at Wisconsin Dells Middle School on Nov. 1. She asked about savings from the Neenah Creek closing, which Slack said is roughly $3 million spread out over a 10-year period.

He also clarified to Belzer, as well as at the other meetings, that the district would currently be operating in deficit-mode if it were not for remaining ESSER funds, further strengthening the optimal nature of an operating referendum passage.

Belzer also asked about property tax impacts from the referendum. Slack said that any slight changes, whether they are increases or decreases, would depend on the property values of the municipality in which residents live within the district.

In all of the meetings, Slack answered questions from various respondents regarding the consequences of the referendum being voted down. He said that the district would hold subsequent meetings in the spring to discuss which programs would need to be cut, merged, or consolidated, as well as a possible closing of Lake Delton Elementary School.

Students at Lake Delton would be merged into Spring Hill if Lake Delton closes. Slack said that Spring Hill would likely hold students from 4-year-old kindergarten through fourth grade, while Wisconsin Dells Middle School would have students from fifth through eighth grade in the scenario.

Weve got to find a way to keep services going and fund those services, said Slack at the Oct. 19 meeting.

The school is in need of many structural and internal repairs, and Slack and the district board has decided it is not fiscally responsible to put the needed work into the current building. It is a goal for the district to eventually build a new elementary school, and Slack and board president Jennifer Gavinski both said that the passage of the referendum will allow the district more time to effectively construct a plan to do so.

Any master planning for a possible new school to replace Lake Delton Elementary is contingent upon the passage of the referendum, according to Slack.

Slack opened all of the meetings with short presentations where he discussed the states imposed revenue limit for school districts and how the School District of Wisconsin Dells always operates at a lower limit than most others. The district spends $767 less than the state average per student each year.

Despite the district being one of the lowest spending in Wisconsin, student needs, particularly in special education and mental health, have increased, and Slack mentioned how the district does not receive adequate funding for those services. In addition, transportation, heating, and other operating costs not controlled by the district have increased.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is headed to Madison on Friday night for a get-out-the-vote event.

The Vermont independents Madison stop is one of many hes making in swing states across the country as he focuses on turning out youth voters  a group more liberal but also less likely to vote than most other age groups.

Scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. at the Orpheum Theater, the event comes as the data-crunching site FiveThirtyEight shows Wisconsins gubernatorial race as a toss-up and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson as the likely winner of the U.S. Senate race.

But none of Wisconsins candidates will appear with Sanders Friday, according to a spokesperson for the tax-exempt organization that helped coordinate the event.

Our organizations fall under independent expenditures which prevents us from directly coordinating with candidates, NextGen America spokesperson Shelby Purdum said in a statement.

Independent expenditures are expenditures that organizations make toward political causes, but they cannot be coordinated directly with campaigns, according to the Federal Election Commission.

Sanders won Wisconsins presidential primary in 2016, beating Hillary Clinton by more than 10 points. In the 2020 Wisconsin contest, however, he lost to now-President Joe Biden by more than 30 points.

Sanders is scheduled to stop in Eau Claire and La Crosse before his Madison event on Friday. He is scheduled to go to Oshkosh on Saturday.
RACINE  While Tim Michels remains steadfast in his support for expanding school choice, which would bolster private education and likely weaken public school funding in Wisconsin, the Republican gubernatorial candidate says he is not part of the extreme that wants to end public schools.

Governmental support of private schools, particularly in Wisconsin, has been growing over the past decade, including through providing more tax dollars for parochial schools rather than only public schools.

This shift has perhaps no more prominent supporter than Michels. He backs a proposal that would, unless a new funding plan is established, increase taxpayer costs by $500 million to create a universal school choice program in Wisconsin. There are established school choice programs in the City of Milwaukee and the Racine Unified School District, as well as a less-robust statewide program.

While there remains a fringe idea among conservatives to do away with the public school system entirely, Michels campaign says his beliefs do not go that far.

Its ridiculous to assert anyone wants to end public schools, Michels campaign spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement to The Journal Times.

There perhaps is no difference more stark between Michels and Evers than on education.

Evers career has been in public education, starting as a science teacher and later being twice elected to lead Wisconsins public schools as superintendent of public instruction in 2013 and 2017.

Reacting to an article with the headline Big question in the governors race: Should Wisconsin dismantle public schools? incumbent Democratic Gov. Tony Evers responded in a one-word tweet: No.

Public education advocates say support for school choice among Michels and other Republicans has damaged Wisconsins public schools. Public school districts are largely funded by the state based on how many students are enrolled, so having more students enrolled in private schools means less funding for public schools.

Its a really complex thing, said Angelina Cruz, president of Racine Educators United, the union that represents the Racine Unified School Districts educators. It (school choice) is about divesting in public schools and moving that money into the private sector. It is a Ponzi scheme.

School choice programs allow eligible students to attend K-12 private schools paid for by tax dollars. Only families making less than a certain amount of money  typically either families that earn 200% or 300% of federal poverty level, depending on where they live  are allowed to take part.

Thoughts on schooling Public support for public schools has been falling in recent years, particularly among Republicans. According to polling from Gallup, while 61% of Republicans said they had a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in 1973; in 1987, their confidence had fallen to 50%; by 2022, it was down to 14%. Polling of all Americans, not just Republicans, found confidence in public schools at 58% in 1973, 50% in 1987 and 28% in 2022.

Evers vetoed a Republican proposal during the last legislative session to expand school choice in Wisconsin, citing an estimate that doing so would cost at least half-a-billion dollars.

School choice for all families," Kelly said, "will increase competition and foster greater parental involvement, which will help all schools improve  public and private. Tim will empower parents with options to choose the school that best fits their child. Hes investing in students, not structures. He cares about the futures of children, not the bureaucrats."
Its about Bloody time we end period poverty

Free sanitary pads available to Wits students as SRC launches pilot project.

The Wits SRC has launched the Wits100 Centenary Period Poverty Pilot Project, which will see 10 000 sanitary towels made available on campus to Wits students. The project seeks to eradicate period poverty, by upholding female students fundamental right to dignity.

Speaking at the launch on 28 October, Wits Chancellor and champion of womens empowerment, Dr Judy Dlamini applauded the SRC initiative and said: There is hope for South Africa and the continent of Africa. I commend the leadership, hard work and collaboration displayed by these young leaders in ensuring the successful launch of this project.

Period poverty is a struggle faced by many women and girls in low-income as they battle to afford menstrual products.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) about five million menstruators globally do not have access to menstrual materials, adequate education and WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) - resulting in extreme period poverty. In South Africa, seven million menstruators miss school, university, or work due to period poverty every month. Period poverty has been described as a form of human rights violation and contributes to bigger issues that exacerbate inequalities. Furthermore, it has physical, emotional and mental implications and further exacerbates the stigmas around periods.

Dr Dlamini donated dispensers towards the Wits100 Period Poverty Pilot project. The dispensers will be installed in 40 female bathrooms across Wits University campuses in Solomon Mahlangu House, Central Block, The Matrix, Wits Science Stadium, the FNB building and at the Parktown Education campus. The first tranche of 10 000 sanitary towels has been donated by the Motsepe Foundation, African Fashion International and Eyerus.

Lesego Louw, Wits SRC Deputy President commended Wits University management for supporting the project from its inception to the launch despite the various challenges to date. This project needs to outlive the incumbent SRC and have a life of its own Louw explained emphasising the importance of sustainability.

Through supporting and aiding the call to have free sanitary towels at Wits, the university is actively breaking the stigma around periods and safe environment on campus Approximately 75% of the universitys student population receives financial support from the government to pay for their studies. 6273 female students at Wits are funded by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). Students on the national bursary scheme come from combined family income is R350 000 or less.

As such universities reflect society, however, they must provide direction to society when it comes to solving societal problems.

Wits University takes a bold stance on fighting period poverty, continuing its commitment toward ensuring human rights are upheld most importantly the right to human dignity declared Jerome September, Dean of Student Affairs.

The celebratory launch was concluded with students gathering in dance taking to the CUFF IT TikTok challenge and launching balloons into the air as a sign and commitment to eradicating period poverty.
The good news: New Yorks state Education Commissioner Betty A. Rosa has dismissed petitions from 14 parents who sought to remove school superintendents and principals for upholding a Covid-19 mask mandate that was imposed by the state.

The bad news: Some of these same parents have moved from contesting mask mandates  now a moot point  to objecting to the content of books included in school curricula.

First, the mask petitions: There was some confusion about mask regulations in January, when these petitions were filed, but to think that principals or superintendents should be dismissed over enforcing rules meant to protect the health of children and adults is thoroughly ridiculous. Rosa noted in her statement that supervisors could only be dismissed for willful violations or neglect of duty and that she didnt have authority to dismiss principals at all.

Its concerning that parents feel its necessary to go to these lengths to punish school officials who, as Rosa says, were acting in good faith. And it makes us question how much of this had to do with worries about the welfare of schoolchildren. The petitions seem much more connected with the needs of these people to stake out their positions in a major pandemic-era ideological battleground.

Significantly, two parents who ran for Hamburg school board seats last May, Kelly Hunter and Jackie Best, were among those who filed petitions. Both Hunter and Best, who lost their school board races, ran as part of the Fight for Your Family Initiative, which raised money through the same crowd-funding site that collected funds for the defense of Thomas Sibick, a Buffalo man charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

A good example of Fight for Your Family Initiative rhetoric was posted on Facebook by Hunter in January, when these petitions were submitted. An excerpt: Our fastest path is massive civil disobedience and continuing to be loud, speak up, take over board of education seats this spring, and create massive upheaval.

These words sound more like a call to chaos than concern over the education of children, where wed think order, not upheaval, would be the goal.

Thankfully, Best and Hunter were not elected to Hamburgs Board of Education and were not successful in getting a seasoned, well-regarded school superintendent removed through these petitions.

But theres new cause for concern. At recent Hamburg Central School District school board meeting, a few parents  including Best  have come in and read aloud what they view as pornographic excerpts from several books, including one entitled The Perks of Being a Wallflower, a popular young adult title about a boy who survives child abuse and writes about his coming-of-age experiences from the perspective of his 20s. Though not required reading, the book is offered in a Hamburg High School elective course. The objecting parents seem to have relied on excerpts theyd gathered from other sources; none had read the entire book.

As Superintendent Mike Cornell explains, the book offers a powerful message for young people in their mid- to late teens, particularly now  it helps them connect to someone else going through a hard time. Cornell also notes that, in his district, Nothing is required reading. There are choices and every parent has recourse.

Cornell, who welcomes visits from parents to school board meetings, says, They have perspectives. They are free to share them. At the end of the day, we are all parents. It is not us vs. them.

But what about those for whom everything is about us vs. them? Attacks on books  and, really, almost any book can be deemed unacceptable by someone  are now widespread among those seeking to use the challenges as red-meat rallying cries that will help them gain elected offices. For many, this starts with elections to school boards.

Is the goal of giving young people the best start possible as they prepare for adulthood part of all this activity? Given the ties that the Hamburg school board candidates have to national far-right groups like Moms for Liberty  Best is a member  it seems much more likely that, just as has happened in other school districts across the country, books will be weaponized in the effort to infect local schools with the nations political dysfunction.

Moms for Liberty, an organization with 240 chapters in 42 states, and more than 100,000 members, is a leader in the growing nationwide book-banning crusade. Its chapters have challenged Martin Luther King Jr. and the March to Washington because of photographs of political violence and Ruby Bridges Goes to School because of racist remarks.

Now that movement is active in Western New York school districts, which is worrying, to say the least.

Using school board meetings in order to spread popular right-wing talking points has nothing to do with teaching, reading or learning. Or parenting.

  

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.
Centenary gifts for a special birthday

Retired radiologist Professor Joshua Levy (BA 1942, MBBCh 1947) celebrated his 100th birthday on 1 November 2022.

Les Glassman (BSc 1979, BDS 1984), the Universitys representative in Israel, presented Professor Levy with centenary gifts on the special day.

Prof Levy completed both a bachelors degree in the history of music and was in the same graduation year as the first female black woman doctor Dr Mary Malahlela (MBBCh 1947).

Prof Levys mother, Dr Amelia Hersch (BA 1926, BA Hons 1929, MA 1931) was one of the first students at Wits. She was a translator of Yiddish, Hebrew and German poetry and an editor of publications such as Common Sense and Jewish Affairs. In 1928 the South African Philosophical Society awarded her its prestigious South African prize. Her masters thesis was titled The harmonising of experience and the ethical end.
Unlike Mr. Hoffman (Another Voice, 10/24/22), I stand with the majority of Americans who are concerned about the climate crisis and support legislative actions at the state and federal level that will address this worsening threat. The climate crisis has lead to increasing risks of drought, forest fires, flooding and severe storms which wreak havoc on communities, businesses, agriculture and the freedom to live where we choose without fear of death, injury or financial disaster.

According to the National Centers for Environmental Information (ncei.noaa.gov), the US has experienced 338 weather and climate disasters from 1980 through 2021. These 338 weather disasters cost Americans more than 2.295 trillion dollars. The trend over the past four decades has been an increase in the number of weather-related disasters. Unless something is done to reduce green house gas emissions, we can expect this trend (and the attendant clean-up costs) to become so onerous that it will no longer be safe or affordable to build homes and businesses in these disaster-prone areas.

Regarding the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, no one is being forced to give up gas vehicles or gas appliances anytime soon. The CLCPA will ensure that by 2030, 70% of our electricity is sourced from renewable energy such as hydro, wind and solar. By 2035, if gasoline-powered passenger cars and trucks are no longer sold in New York state, people will buy electric vehicles. Those vehicles will be plugged into an electric grid that transmits electricity sourced from predominantly renewable energy sources.

Janet Lenichek

Amherst
Students attend a class at Yan'an High School in Yan'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Oct. 27, 2022. [Xinhua/Zhang Bowen]

XI'AN, Oct. 31 (Xinhua)  Toward evening, heated discussions and laughter emanated from a brightly-lit senior high school campus in Yan'an, a former revolutionary base in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Even in their first grade at Yan'an High School, several students passionately shared their understanding of topics such as cultural confidence.

"Cultural confidence is about inclusiveness, openness, pride, and self-confidence," said 16-year-old Chang Ruixue, adding that the rich history of her school has always propelled them to look at a far bigger picture and thrive on challenges and difficulties.

Yan'an High School was the first school of its kind set up by the Communist Party of China in 1938. It has a glorious history as well as fine revolutionary traditions and has fostered many talent for the old revolutionary base areas.

Starting from a campus of several cave dwellings, the school now has two campuses with modern facilities and a total of 5,500 students.

Over the past decade, Yan'an City has invested 11.5 billion yuan (1.59 billion U.S. dollars) in building and expanding 501 kindergartens, and primary and middle schools, according to the local education bureau.

Modern educational philosophy has also been introduced across schools in Yan'an to help broaden the horizons of the youth, such as organizing plenty of extracurricular activities.

Zhang Yazun, a 13-year-old local middle school student, said she felt fulfilled volunteering as a part-time guide at several revolutionary sites during weekends.

"The opportunity has greatly boosted my daughter's confidence, and she has shown more interest in broadcasting and hosting," said Zhang's mother, Hou Junyu.

Now, nearly 50,000 student volunteers like Zhang have helped at museums, memorial halls, and revolutionary sites in Yan'an as tour guides during their spare time.

Yan'an has built cooperation partnerships with 88 schools in over 10 provinces and municipalities nationwide, including Beijing and Shanghai, which has helped improve the education quality of the old revolutionary base.

"Being a diplomat is a big dream for me as I'm eager to shine in the global arena when I grow up," said Chang Ruixue.

This photo shows a view of Yan'an High School in Yan'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province on Oct. 27, 2022. [Xinhua/Zhang Bowen]

(Source: Xinhua)
A country is defined as any land area that functions as its own independent political unit under the control of its own government. Currently, the United Nations recognizes 193 countries and two non-member observer states, taking the total to 195 universally recognized countries. Nevertheless, several new countries have formed over the years due to the dissolution of an existing country or the breaking off of an existing territory that had been trying to establish itself as a new sovereign nation. For example, the dissolution of the USSR led to the formation of about 15 new nations, all of which joined the UN between 1991 and 1993. The following article discusses some of the newest countries in the world.

South Sudan - July 2011

Aerial of Juba, the capital of South Sudan, with the River Nile on the right.

Formally referred to as the Republic of South Sudan, this landlocked East-Central African nation gained independence from the Republic of the Sudan on July 9, 2011, after several years of conflict between the two countries. About 98.83% of the countrys population voted for the independence of South Sudan in a referendum held between the 9th and 15th of January 2011. However, despite its official independence, South Sudan continues to remain in conflict with Sudan for the division of the oil revenues, as about 75% of the oil reserves of Sudan are in the present South Sudan territory. Moreover, since December 2013, South Sudan has witnessed a civil war that has led to the death of approximately 400,000 people and left another 4 million displaced.

Montenegro - June 2006

Scenic panoramic view of the historic town of Perast at famous Bay of Kotor in Montenegro.

Montenegro is a small mountainous country situated in the Balkans in Southeastern Europe. In 1991, the single nation of Serbia and Montenegro was formed after the collapse of Yugoslavia. In 2003, this became the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. Finally, on May 21, 2006, the "referendum on Montenegrin independence" was held, where 55.5% of the electorate voted for the country's independence. Confirming the results of the referendum, the independence of Montenegro was declared by the Montenegrin Parliament on June 3, 2006. Montenegro's independence was eventually recognized by the United Nations Security Council's permanent members, the European Union member states, and Serbia.

Serbia - June 2006

Historic center of Belgrade on the banks of the Sava River in Serbia.

Serbia is a landlocked country situated at the meeting point of the Carpathian Basin and the Balkan Peninsula in Southeastern Europe. Serbia became an independent nation in 2006 after the peaceful dissolution of its confederation with Montenegro. Serbia has a rich history, with several people living in the area since the Paleolithic Age. Starting from the 16th century till the beginning of the 19th century, Serbia was a part of the Ottoman Empire. In the mid-19th century, the Serbian Revolution led to the establishment of a nation-state and the regions first constitutional monarchy. After World War I, Serbia joined other South Slavic nations and founded the erstwhile Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Read MoreThe Culture Of Serbia

East Timor/Timor-Leste - May 2002

Aerial photo of Dili, Timor-Leste.

Officially referred to as the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, East Timor is an island country occupying the eastern half of Timor Island, the adjacent islands of Atauro and Jaco, and an exclave named Oecusse in Southeast Asia. On May 20, 2002, Timor-Leste became a new sovereign state after gaining independence from Indonesia. This small island nation has a long history of colonization. In the 16th century, East Timor became highly influenced by the Portuguese and remained a Portuguese colony till 1975. Many years of internal conflict led to a "unilateral" declaration of independence, further inviting atrocities in the entire region, with the citizens being attacked by pro-Indonesian militias. A special UN force had to be deployed, and in 1999, an UN-sponsored East Timor Special Autonomy Referendum led Indonesia to relinquish the territory's control.

Palau  October 1994

The port at Palau.

Formally referred to as the Republic of Palau, Palau is an island nation situated in the western Pacific Ocean, geographically forming a part of the bigger Micronesia island group. Palau officially became independent on October 1, 1994. Initially settled by migrants from Maritime Southeast Asia approximately 3,000 years ago, the Jesuit missionary Paul Klein first drew Palau on a European map. In 1885, Palau islands became a part of the Spanish East Indies. In 1898, after the defeat of the Spanish in the Spanish-American War, the Palau islands were sold to Germany and were administered as German New Guinea. The League of Nations made these islands a part of the South Seas Mandate after World War I. During World War II, several battles were fought here between the American and Japanese forces. In 1947, the islands became a part of the US-led Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. In 1978, Palau refused to join the Federated States of Micronesia due to cultural and linguistic differences. Palau became a sovereign nation in 1994 under a "Compact of Free Association," an international agreement with the US.

Eritrea  April 1993

Asmara, the capital city of Eritrea.

Officially referred to as the State of Eritrea, Eritrea is an East African country situated in the Horn of Africa region. Modern-day Eritrea was created due to the incorporation of several independent kingdoms, which led to the formation of Italian Eritrea. In 1942, with the defeat of the Italian colonial army, Eritrea came under British rule until 1952. On September 15, 1952, the Eritrean Autonomous State was established under the Ethiopian Federation by the United Nations. In 1962, the annexation of the entire region by the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie started a civil war that lasted for the next 30 years. The Eritrean War of Independence, fought by the Eritrean Liberation Front, resulted in the de facto independence of Eritrea in 1991. After an independence referendum, Eritrea gained de jure independence from Ethiopia on April 27, 1993.

Czech Republic and Slovakia  January 1993

Prague, Czech Republic.

The 1989 Velvet Revolution led to the end of the communist party rule in Czechoslovakia and the subsequent dissolution of Czechoslovakia into two independent Central European nations: the Czech Republic (Czechia) and Slovakia (Slovak Republic) on January 1, 1993. Besides being a member of the United Nations, both these countries are also a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, NATO, and other international organizations.

Croatia  June 1991

Aerial view of Hvar town in southern Croatia.

Formally referred to as the Republic of Croatia, Croatia is situated at the junction of Central and Southeastern Europe. Croatia declared independence on June 25, 1991, after the cessation of its association with the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. However, this triggered the Croatian War of Independence, which was fought between the government-loyal Croat forces and the Yugoslav Peoples Army controlled by the Serbs, from 1991 to 1995. Currently, Croatia is a member of several international organizations, including the United Nations, the European Union, the Union for the Mediterranean, and the World Trade Organization.
With one side against the Atlantic Ocean and the other tucked into the Appalachian Mountains, North Carolina is home to some of the most beautiful and diverse natural wonders in North America. There are many must-see spots in this long-overlooked state that are seldom recognized for their natural beauty.

1. Whitewater Falls

Whitewater Falls Upper Falls. Image credit Scott Alan Ritchie via Shutterstock

Running through both North and South Carolina, the Whitewater River is home to the largest waterfalls east of the Rocky Mountains. Whitewater Falls, located in North Carolina, is one of the most stunning features found in the Appalachian Mountains. Visiting these falls can serve as a great day trip for both tourists and locals alike.

The observation deck overlooking the falls makes finding the perfect spot to take photos and videos easy and straightforward. For those looking for a challenge, there is also a hiking trail that leads to the top of the falls themselves. As a warning, this trail is only for experienced hikers.

The park is open all year round from dawn until dusk making Whitewater Falls one of the most accessible natural wonders in North Carolina.

2. Sliding Rock

Sliding Rock in Western North Carolina Near Brevard in the Fall. Image credit Jill Lang via Shutterstock

Sliding Rock is one of the more unique attractions on this list, found in the majestic Pisgah National Forest, near the towns of Brevard and Asheville. As the name would suggest, Sliding Rock is a naturally occurring water slide.

A far cry from the crowded and overpriced water parks found in the city, Sliding Rock serves as a much more modest, quiet, and affordable time. If you are wanting to experience something "outside of the box," this 60-foot-long water slide is a great way to spend a summer afternoon.

Weather permitting, the attraction is open from April to October; just remember to bring your five-dollar entrance fee.

3. Linville Caverns

You will find a lot more than just rock formations at the Linville Caverns. Photo credit: Sarraf Ahmed via Unsplash

Not ideal for the claustrophobic, the Linville Caverns remains to be one of the most impressive cave systems in the US. Located deep inside Humpback Mountain, the caverns are a truly awesome display of beauty that you will have a hard time finding elsewhere.

Dominated by towering stalactites and stalagmites these caves will make most visitors feel transported onto another planet.

Stunning geographical features are not the only thing to look for either. The Linville Caverns are home to many animals including hibernating bats and even fish that traverse through the many small streams that snake through the caves. Entrance, along with a guided tour of Linville will only set you back around 12 dollars per person.

4. The Outer Banks

Wild horses of the Outer Banks, NC in the sand dunes. Image credit Heart Mountain Homestead via Shutterstock

The natural beauty of North Carolina is usually associated with its connection to the Appalachian Mountains thus leaving its stunning Atlantic Coast often ignored. The Outer Banks is host is endless miles of tranquil beaches, sleepy seaside villages, and lovely ocean views.

The Outer Banks is a small island chain that stretches across the coast of the entire state. Far away from cities and crowds, the Outer Banks serves as a perfect getaway for couples and families.

While there is no single must-see attraction in the Outer Banks, the overall atmosphere of the islands is so different from the mainland that everyone, especially locals should go and see it for themselves.

5. French Broad River

French Broad River NC rapids. Image credit BAHud via Shutterstock

One of the oldest rivers in the world, the French Broad River dominates the geography of western North Carolina. Winding through the many mountains and valleys, the French Broad River is the perfect addition to an already astounding landscape.

Due to its incredible age, countless creeks and streams have formed from the French Broad River. Every manner of water activity is at your disposal. Fishing, swimming, and boating are all popular past times for the locals.

There is nothing more North Carolina than spending a warm summer's day floating along the French Broad River.

6. Looking Glass Rock

Looking Glass Rock during the autumn season. Image credit Sean Pavone via Shutterstock

Made up of millions of years' worth of volcanic rock, the world-famous Looking Glass Rock is truly a sight to behold. Tranquil, green-covered mountains stretch to the horizon as far as the eye can see.

Looking Glass rises above an already stellar landscape and outshines the competition. Located off the Blue Ridge Parkway, it is easily accessible for those who are daring enough to make the trip.

The park itself is about a three-hour drive from Charlotte, making this destination more of a commitment than some of the other natural wonders. However, this certainly should not stop you from experiencing what many feel is the best natural wonder in North Carolina.

Summary

While many look to western states like Colorado and Utah to escape to the great outdoors, there are still many wonders in places like North Carolina. Home to countless natural wonders and outdoor activities, North Carolina is criminally underrated whenever the topic of natural beauty comes up. Go see for yourself.
An Iowa man's wrong turn led him to a burning house. His quick action saved four siblings asleep inside
King Ranch and the Foundation of Masculinity

How King Ranch and Brown-Forman are Redefining What It Means to be a Man

What makes a man a man? Is masculinity defined by certain qualities one possesses or is it more an ideology outlining the expectations of a man, something that changes from century to century depending on whos in power?

With all the hot topic talk around pronouns and gender fluidity these days, it can be hard to remember a time when gender roles and gender social norms were the unquestioned lay of the land  when being a man or being a woman evoked certain expected ways of being. Sure, those expectations were derivations of survival roles humans played long long ago, but some of what we still believe a man should be results from the accepted embodiment of those antiquated survival methods.

RELATED: How We Teach Consent to Young Boys

King Ranch

To better understand the longstanding qualities and history often associated with the American Man and United States masculinity, one must look into the mythology of the cowboy and the wild west. The strong, chiseled, cigarette-smoking, John Wayne-type epitomized what it meant to be a man, a substance carved out from life on the American ranch. In conjunction with ranching, alcohol  particularly bourbon whiskey  has long been associated with what it means to be a man, so to better understand the origins of masculinity norms in the United States, I ventured to the birthplace of American ranching  King Ranch in South Texas  where the family-owned establishment had recently partnered with another family-owned legacy brand  Brown-Forman  to launch a King Ranch Edition of Old Forester Bourbon.

When I arrive off the plane in Corpus Christie, Texas, Im greeted by a woman holding a sign for King Ranch. As I load my bag into the SUV, a man swings around the corner, adding his luggage to the trunk of the vehicle. The man is Scott Kleberg, board member of King Ranch and descendant of King Ranch founder, Richard King, who purchased the creek-fed oasis in 1853.

King Ranch

As we ride toward the ranch, Kleberg turns and asks, What does a trip about King Ranch and Old Forester have to do with AskMen?

I explain Im exploring how the social norms of American masculinity are rooted in American ranching  some norms of which are still very much present today  and hope that by learning more about our ranching past through a visit to King Ranch, Ill better understand how being a man in western culture has been shaped by guns, horses and bourbon.

Over the course of the visit, we engage in several traditional manly activities, including bourbon tasting, firing shotguns at clay targets, hand making leather goods and watching vaqueros train horses. And while these experiences helped provide a unique firsthand look at some of the human qualities ranch life embodies  grit, determination, persistence, resilience  an unforeseen element presented itself as the backbone of ranch life masculinity: authentic family values and the role of a strong woman.

King Ranch

Theres a popular adage, behind every strong man is an even stronger woman, and the phrase is particularly relevant when exploring what makes a man a man. If part of a mans traditional strength is to be a provider for his family, his strength in this area  or his ability to provide  is exponentially heightened by the woman or partner he chooses. In the case of King Ranch and maintaining an astonishing seven generations of family ownership, their success has less to do with a rough, gruff patriarch dolling out responsibilities to his clan and more to do with Captain Kings collaboration and shared values system with his wife, Henrietta King, which instilled the bedrock ideology of family taking care of family and the understanding that a unified cohesive collective is much stronger together than a family divided.

In many ways, King Ranch exemplifies how true masculinity is not uncompromising, aggressive or brutish, but rather is diplomatic, logical, forward-thinking and respectful. True masculinity understands that some decisions or actions may not be met with enthusiasm from all parties seated at the table and, knowing this, provides space for discussion, shared input, and the acknowledgement that when it comes to instilling family values for future generations, they can only be imprinted if man and woman work in partnership toward the same goals, acting as one unit.

Henrietta King is just as responsible for the growth of King Ranch as her husband, having taken over its operations after his death and helping to drive its expansion. The ability to do so, it could be said, has just as much to do with true masculinity as it does with true femininity: the ability to inspire, be authentic, and make decisions that benefit the collective, not only the individual.

When values like the ones on which King Ranch was formed extend beyond the confines of masculinity and femininity, they become family values, and its these family values which served as the starting point for the King Ranch collaboration with Brown-Forman, the makers of Old Forester. Brown-Forman  another legacy family in its eighth generation  has also withstood the test of time by continuing to operate from a place of authenticity. Its the combination of authenticity and family values that unites these two families together, merging the resilient aura of South Texas with the integrity of the worlds first bottled bourbon to launch a product thats in alignment with their core beliefs.

King Ranch

In many ways, embarking on the journey to King Ranch demystified the idea of masculinity being born out of the lone cowboy who puts the world on his back for himself and his family, and instead of reinforcing an old Hollywood trope, the King Ranch experience highlighted that true masculinity exists in ones ability to create a legacy. Legacy doesnt mean you have to run a ranch in South Texas or a distillery in Kentucky, but it does mean having an awareness of who you are, what you stand for and how you want to give back to society and the common good.

While popular culture wants us to believe that masculinity is defined by power, wealth, and control, we can use the example of King Ranch/Brown-Forman as a reminder of how ones values, ones choices, and ones actions are the true hallmark of what it means to be a man. By living authentically for yourself first, youre giving permission for others to follow in their own unique footsteps and flourish into the individual they are meant to become. True masculinity then becomes more about acceptance, compassion, humility and grace  qualities more of us can learn to embody no matter which end of the gender spectrum we reside on  for the betterment of each individual within the human collective and society as a whole.

Follow @kingranchinc, @brownforman, @oldforester, and check out https://king-ranch.com and https://www.brown-forman.com for the latest on all things King Ranch and Brown-Forman

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WARSAW, Poland (AP)  Polish soldiers began laying razor wire Wednesday along Poland's border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad after the government ordered the construction of a barrier to prevent what it fears could become another migration crisis.

Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said a recent decision by Russias aviation authority to launch flights from the Middle East and North Africa to Kaliningrad led him to reinforce Poland's 210-kilometer (130-mile) border with Kaliningrad.

Due to the disturbing information regarding the launch of flights from the Middle East and North Africa to Kaliningrad, I have decided to take measures that will strengthen the security on the Polish border with the Kaliningrad oblast by sealing this border, Blaszczak said.

Blaszczak said the barrier along the border would be made of three rows of razor wire measuring 2 1/2 meters (eight feet) high and 3 meters (10 feet) wide and feature an electronic monitoring system and cameras. The Polish side also will have a fence to keep animals away from the razor wire.

Before now, the sparsely inhabited border area was patrolled but had no physical barrier.

To the south, Polands border with Belarus became the site of a major migration crisis last year, with large numbers of people from the Middle East entering illegally. Polish and other EU leaders accused the Belarusian government  an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin  of masterminding the migration to create chaos and division within the 27-nation bloc.

Poland erected similar rolls of razor wire before building a permanent high steel wall on the border with Belarus, which was completed in June.

Blaszczak, the defense minister, said the government was persuaded to install fencing near Kaliningrad because of Poland's experience at the Belarus border, where a similar action prevented a hybrid attack from Belarus or significantly slowed down this attack.

The chief executive of Khrabrovo Airport in Kaliningrad, Alexander Korytnyi, told Russias Interfax news agency on Oct. 3 that the facility would seek to attract airlines from countries in the Persian Gulf and Asia, including the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

Story continues

In the last month, Poland's Border Guard agency has not detected anyone attempting to enter the country illegally from Kaliningrad, although a few mushroom pickers wandered into the area by mistake, agency spokeswoman Miroslawa Aleksandrowicz told state news agency PAP.

Some in Poland are criticizing the barrier.

Zuzanna Dabrowska, a commentator writing for the conservative daily newpaper Rzeczpospolita, wrote Wednesday that the barrier would be ineffective and a hazard because razor wire is dangerous for animals and people who try to cross it.

She argued that people from the Middle East and Africa were still trying to illegally enter Poland from Belarus despite the border wall.

The barrier did not scare them away, because they have no safe retreat, pressured by Belarusian border guards, Dabrowska wrote.

Poland's government has strongly criticized critics of the Belarus border wall, depicting them as helping those who seek to harm Poland.

The exclave of Kaliningrad, with a population of about 1 million, is the northern part of what used to be the German territory of East Prussia and became part of the Soviet Union after World War II.

It is home to the Baltic Fleet of the Russian Navy and also an industrial center. Seaside dunes and resorts, whats left of the old Prussian architecture in the city of Kaliningrad, and maritime and amber museums are among the tourist attractions.

Soldiers began laying the razor wire in Wisztyniec, the place where the borders of Poland, Russia and Lithuania meet. Lithuania, like Poland, is a member of both NATO and the European Union.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined Wednesday to comment on the Kaliningrad border barrier, describing it as a Polish matter.

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Follow all AP stories on global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

Vanessa Gera, The Associated Press
Former President Donald Trump and his company settled a lawsuit alleging his security assaulted a group of men protesting Trump's rhetoric outside of Trump Tower in 2015, averting a public trial.
The wheels on the bus go round and round, but you might not hear them.

Wrangell was the only school district in Alaska to be awarded with a $395,000 grant last month to purchase an electric school bus through the Environmental Protection Agencys Clean School Bus Program.

The awards are the first year of a five-year program totaling $5 billion created by the Infrastructure Act signed into law a year ago.

John Taylor, co-owner of Taylor Transportation, had been approached by a school bus manufacturer in Anchorage about the grant. Taylor Transportation contracts with the school district to...
Appeal to trace missing Wrexham man

Police are appealing for information to help trace a missing man from the Wrexham area.

Officers from NWP Wrexham Town say there is concern for Dean Fogarty, who hasnt been seen for few days.

Dean, who is originally from Ireland, has been living in the Wrexham area.

A police spokesperson said: If you know Dean, have any information about Dean, have seen him recently or have any way of contacting him please make us aware as a priority.

You can contact North Wales Police on 101 quoting reference number 43961.
BATON ROUGE (AP)  With less than a week to go until midterm elections, U.S. Rep Clay Higgins touted a recorded message from Donald Trump Tuesday in which the former President endorsed the Louisiana Republican.

Throughout his campaign, Higgins has said that Trump supports his bid for a fourth term in Congress. However, The Advocate reports that the audio recording, which was posted on Higgins campaign Facebook page, is the first time the former president publicly gave the incumbent a verbal endorsement for reelection.

I hope Im your favorite president of all time, Trump said in the recording. Clay is an America first warrior, who is fighting to secure our border; defend our Second Amendment, which is under siege; and restore our energy independence.

The recording of Trump was released the same day that early voting ended in Louisiana and a week before voters across the country will head to the polls  deciding on key congressional races that will determine which party will control the U.S. House and Senate for the next two years.

Higgins first rose to acclaim in southwest Louisiana as a sheriffs department captain who made anti-crime videos, urging criminals to turn themselves in  earning him the nickname of Cajun John Wayne.

Clay protected our communities as a law enforcement officer in Louisiana and works hard in Congress to uphold the rule of law and support our very brave police," Trump said. He is a big fan of the police as am I. Congressman Higgins has my complete and total endorsement, so please get out and vote for Clay.

The congressman has periodically stirred controversy with social media posts since first being elected in 2016  including a Facebook post in 2020 promising he would drop armed protesters where they stand. Most recently, Higgins made headlines after joking on Twitter about the attack on U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosis husband. Higgins tweet has since been deleted.

While the incumbent is the likely favorite in the race, Higgins faces seven candidates vying to unseat him  among them Holden Hoggatt, a political newcomer and fellow Republican who has emerged as Higgins most formidable challenger.

Story continues

The attorney has picked up bipartisan endorsements, most recently from three former congressmen who represented Acadiana  Democrats John Breaux and Chris John, and Republican Charles Boustany.

When you get elected to serve in Congress, you serve all the people. Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, black and white, all creeds and all beliefs," former U.S. Sen. Breaux wrote in his endorsement for Hoggatt. I believe Holden Hoggatt will be a Congressman who makes all of us proud.

Leading up to the election Hoggatt has touted his record as a prosecutor and his stable family life while attacking Higgins in ads, alluding to the incumbents sometimes controversial videos, social media posts and a former wifes allegation that he once pointed a gun at her. Higgins vehemently denied the accusation in a 2016 interview with The Associated Press.

In Louisiana, the election for the 3rd Congressional District seat could be decided Nov. 8, as the state has a unique jungle primary." Under this system all candidates, regardless of party, run against each other on the same ballot. If no one candidate tops 50% in the primary, the top two vote-getters advance to a runoff in December.

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Follow APs coverage of the elections at: https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections

Check out https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections to learn more about the issues and factors at play in the 2022 midterm elections.

Sara Cline, The Associated Press
On October 23, Cassius Turvey, a 15-year-old indigenous youth, tragically died surrounded by his family in a Western Australian hospital after a horrific assault.

Ten days earlier, Turvey and his friends had stepped off a bus after school and were heading home in the Perth suburb of Middle Swan. The four, aged 15, 14 and 13, were in school uniform when a car reportedly pulled up beside them with several people inside. It is alleged that one young man jumped out of the vehicle and ran towards the youth, bashing Turvey on the head with a metal pole.

Cassius Turvey [Photo: The Awesome Boileys Page]

According to police statements, the car had been damaged the day before. The driver of the vehicle allegedly blamed the group of boys for the damage. Police have stated that Turvey and his friends were not involved. It appears that they were instead targeted because of their racial background. At least one of the boys has said the group of adult men, who were of European descent, directed racial insults at them, including Turvey, during the attack.

Turvey suffered serious head injuries and was hospitalised. He was discharged after 5 days. Within hours of returning home, he had suffered a seizure and two strokes. Multiple surgeries were not enough to save the teenager who had been placed in an induced coma. After five days, the family made the heart-breaking decision to turn off his life support.

The violent attack has been met with an outpouring of grief and anger. Turvey has been described as a much-loved member of the community, including at his school among his peers and teachers, who was kind, generous and fun-loving.

At this point, only one of the alleged assailants has been arrested. Jack Brearley, a 21-year-old man who has been charged with the alleged murder of Turvey and aggravated assault on one of Turveys friends. The metal pole that was used as part of the assault has not been found. None of the other individuals in the car has been charged three weeks after the incident.

Mechelle Turvey, Cassiuss mother, explained in an interview last week that she was concerned from the beginning that the attack was not taken seriously by the police. They only took a brief statement on the night of the attack.

We did not hear from any detectives, no police. Nothing. For five full days. That was their opportunity. That was their window, Turvey said.

In an attempt to contain community concern, Police Commissioner Col Branch urged the public to refrain from unfounded speculation about racism regarding Turveys death.

Western Australian Labor Premier Mark McGowan made similar comments.

On Friday a group of indigenous elders made a statement on the death. Our kids arent bad, but they are portrayed as bad, they stated. You see them locked up in prison, you dont see them for who they really are. It seems like our state government just wants kids locked up.

The group challenged initial police statements that Turvey may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. They noted that the boy was in his school uniform with his friends in broad daylight. None of the kids are bad, they have a right to walk the streets.

The group posed a series of questions: There were several people involved in this very serious attack on our children. Only one has been charged with murder. Why is that? Why did Perth Childrens Hospital release Cassius from hospital after just 5 days?

The anxiety and distress over violent racist attacks and police inaction are well-founded. In addition to widespread discrimination, Aboriginal people, and youth in particular, have been subjected to vigilante attacks.

In 2016, Elijah Doherty, a 14-year-old in Kalgoorlie, was dragged under a vehicle and killed when he was pursued in an alleged vigilante act over stolen dirt bikes. The perpetrator was acquitted of manslaughter, instead being convicted of a road traffic offence.

In 1992 Louis St John Johnson was murdered on his 19th birthday in Perth by several young men who were part of a British racist group, National Action. In 1988, Leslie Sampi, who was 20 years old and intellectually disabled, was violently killed in Broome by two non-indigenous men who were acquitted by a non-indigenous jury.

More broadly, Aboriginal youths are among the most oppressed sections of the working class. They are frequently the subject of police harassment and violence. Indigenous youth make up the majority of those in juvenile detention in most states and territories. There have been more than 455 Aboriginal deaths in custody since 1991.

Police harassment and persecution of working-class youth, especially the most oppressed, such as Aboriginal and migrant youth, enforces brutal social conditions that are especially acute for broad sections of the Aboriginal population. Aboriginal youth have some of the poorest health conditions, unemployment and poverty rates of any demographic.

While much remains unclear about the killing of Turvey, it takes place in a definite political context.

Aboriginal and other minority youth are frequently targeted for media witch-hunts. For several years, for instance, the corporate media and sections of the political establishment waged a campaign against supposed African gangs in Melbourne. Lurid and entirely false claims of a wave of crime were used to try and whip-up a law-and-order atmosphere.

Such blatant vilification goes hand in hand with more subtle promotions of nationalism and racism by the entire political establishment. Labor and the unions, founded upon the racist and anti-Aboriginal program of white Australia, still frequently scapegoat foreigners and others for the social crisis that is the result of their own pro-business policies. This has created fertile ground for the growth of far-right forces.

More broadly, the deepening onslaught on the jobs, wages and conditions of workers, the skyrocketing cost of living and a decades-long social crisis, has greatly exacerbated social tensions that erupt in various forms of anti-social behaviour and violence.

Broad layers of workers and young people have responded with shock and horror to the killing of Turvey. A GoFundMe page that was established by Turveys cousin to fund his funeral and memorial has in just 7 days raised more than $500,000.

Vigils have been held in cities across the country, and even in New Zealand and Los Angeles, bringing together workers and young people of all backgrounds, indigenous and non-indigenous. Further vigils are being held in a number of Australian locations this evening, including the capital cities.

Speaking at a vigil in Midland attended by more than 3,000 people over the weekend, Turveys mother said: I dont want to fuel hate... it is about all our kids. Black, white, brown, pink and yellow it doesnt matter. We are all the same, all people on this planet. She added, this isnt about a black kid getting assaulted and losing his life, all kids matter, my son just saw people as people.

The Socialist Equality Party explains that the fight against racism, all forms of discrimination and for the protection of the most vulnerable layers of the population, cannot be waged on the basis of appeals to the powers-that-be, or racialist identity politics that divide workers on the basis of their background.

Instead, what is required is a unified movement of the entire working class, directed against the whole political establishment and the capitalist system itself, which is the source of nationalism, racism and oppression.
Handlers load baggage onto a Delta Airlines jet at Denver International Airport. [AP Photo/David Zalubowski]

On Monday, 15,000 Delta Airline pilots voted to go on strike by more than 99 percent, after contract talks have dragged on for three years between management and the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA).

Delta pilots have been working under the strictures of their 2016 contract. The contract became open for negotiations in 2019 before being put on hold during the first years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Negotiations resumed under the direction of a federal mediator.

Today, Deltas nearly 15,000 pilots sent a clear message to management that we are willing to go the distance to secure a contract that reflects the value we bring to Delta Air Lines as frontline leaders and long-term stakeholders, said Capt. Jason Ambrosi of ALPA in a public statement.

Deltas stocks dropped on Monday and Tuesday after the strike vote results were announced, with Market Watch noting the airlines stocks were $12.64 below its 52-week high ($46.27), which the company achieved on April 21st.

Airline cabin crews work under the same anti-labor Railway Labor Act (RLA) that over 120,000 railroad workers worker under. Under the stipulations of the 1926 RLA, these workers contracts do not expire, they merely become amenable, allowing employers to keep them on the job while negotiations wind their way through federal mediations.

They are also subject to severe restrictions on their right to strike or other forms of self-help. However, those terms finally expired for railroaders on September 16, with the ending of a final 30-day cooling-off period.

Following the vote, ALPA said: Before a strike can take place, the National Mediation Board must first decide that additional mediation efforts would not be productive and offer the parties an opportunity to arbitrate the contract dispute. If either side declines the arbitration, both parties enter a 30-day cooling off period, after which pilots and management can engage in self-helpa strike by the union or a lockout by management.

Airline workers have been forced to bear the brunt of the airlines subordination of health and safety to the drive for profit. In 2020, airlines and the official trade unions lobbied for a massive $54 billion federal bailout as part of the CARES Act.

This was justified at the time on the grounds that this money would be used to prevent mass layoffs and pay the salaries of furloughed workers. But three years into the pandemic, tens of thousands of workers been made to leave the industry, with nobody hired to replace them. Staff shortages were a long-running problem before the pandemic but the pandemic made it much worse as airlines were forced to furlough or let go of workers in their thousands, Business Insider reported in July.

The publication cited an Oxford Economics study which estimates that globally, there were 2.3 million fewer people working in aviation by September 2021 compared with the beginning of the pandemic. The CEO of Malaysian Airlines warned last June that adequate staffing levels are not expected until next year.

The massive dislocations and travel meltdowns which occurred over the summer left hundreds of thousands stranded or separated from their luggage. This was caused by airlines efforts to maximize their summer profits without having the necessary staff.

The strike vote by 15,000 Delta pilots raises the possibility of a concerted struggle among all sectors of transport workers, from rail to airline, right at the onset of the busy holiday season.

United Airline pilots on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected a tentative agreement, which would have locked them into a 15 percent pay increase over a year and a half. According to ALPA, United has taken a wait-and-see approach to negotiations, offering the lowest possible pay raises at the outset. United pilots plan to conduct a series of informational pickets in the coming weeks.

This week, representatives from American Airlines and the American Pilots Association will meet to consider a tentative agreement struck between negotiators last month before taking the offer to its members.

United and Southwest Airlines flight attendants held nationwide pickets in September in opposition to the lack of pay raises and employee burnout. Its time for Southwest to pony up, said Ryan, an air flight attendant at the company, to the World Socialist Web Site. Southwest flight attendants are currently involved in government mediations.

When asked about the impact of a strike at Delta, Ryan declared it would be perfect. Maybe SWA would get their sh-t together and get these contracts done to avoid that happening here. In addition to contract disputes, Southwest and Delta employees also both have faced their managements efforts to jeopardize their health through forcing flight attendants to don toxic uniforms, resulting in severe health complications.

The struggle in the airlines combines with a rapidly escalating movement for a strike of railway workers. Rail workers in three unions have already voted to reject a pro-company contract proposal pushed on them by the White House and various trade unions, raising the possibility of a national strike. On Monday, nearly 60,000 railway conductors and engineers began voting on the deal, a vote which will determine the fate of the Biden-sponsored contract.

ALPA and Delta have sought to downplay the threat of a strike taking place. Our goal is to reach an agreement, not to strike. The ball is in managements court. Its time for the company to get serious at the bargaining table and invest in the Delta pilots, stated Ambrosi of ALPA.

The pilots associations cautious approach has encouraged the airline to double down. In a statement, Delta declared with confidence that this authorization vote will not affect our operation for our customers and that There are many steps remaining in the process and many opportunities left for collaborative negotiations before a strike is even allowed to be considered.

As with the rail workers, who have faced the joint efforts of the government, corporations and unions to impose the will of management, airline workers should take these statements to mean that a similar conspiracy against their interests is being prepared. Rather than wait to face this sellout on their own, they should seek to unify their struggles with their fellow transport workers on the ground and jointly build momentum to carry their struggle forward.

Rail workers have done this through forming the Rail Workers Rank-and-File Committee, which has organized opposition to both the contract and the betrayals by the union bureaucracy.
Elon Musk consolidated his private control over Twitter on Monday by ousting the corporate board of directors of the micro-blogging social media platform and declaring himself the firms sole director.

Twitter headquarters is shown in San Francisco, Friday, October 28, 2022. [AP Photo/Jeff Chiu]

On Monday afternoon, the Wall Street Journal said that Twitter had submitted a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and reported that the nine members of its former board are no longer directors as of the consummation of the $44 billion merger, which closed last Thursday. The filing said that Musk had always planned to assume the role of sole director since the terms of the acquisition deal were first made public last spring.

The SEC document also addressed important financial matters for the oligarch billionaire Musk and the shareholders of Twitter stock. According to the Journal, the terms of Musks $44 billion purchase agreement called for each share to be canceled and converted into the right to receive the merger consideration of $54.20 per share.

The firing of the board and the option to convert shares into cash were accompanied by other critical details for the financial elite, including a plan to repay the companys $13 billion in debt. While Musk has claimed his objective in taking private control of Twitter was because it is important for the future of civilization, and to try and help humanity, whom I love, news reports have made it clear that the financial performance of the business is his top priority.

The New York Times reported on Sunday that Twitter had not turned a profit in eight of the last ten years and that it has been running deficits in the hundreds of millions annually. The Times said that company debt will now balloon to about $1 billion a year following the acquisition.

The Times article continued, To make ends meet, Mr. Musk probably has to slash costsby a lot. Over the weekend, he was said to be already moving to do so by ordering job cuts across Twitter. One investor who put less than $1 million in the buyout of the company said he was told by the head of Mr. Musks family office to expect that around 50 percent of Twitters 7,500 employees would be laid off.

Among the immediate measures being considered to offset an expedited fall in advertising income on the Musk-owned platform, is to implement a subscription charge of between $8 and $20 per month for users of the service.

Attempting to make the monthly service fee look like a bargain, Musk proposed that the current verified account designationa blue checkmark next to the username that is reserved for accounts deemed significant by Twitter itselfshould be made available to everyone for $8. Tweeting on the subject on Tuesday, Musk wrote, Twitters current lords & peasants system for who has or doesnt have a blue checkmark is bullshit. Power to the people! Blue for $8/month.

Musks previous references to ensuring that Twitter exists as a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence have quickly been reduced to the level of public relations.

Among the first individuals to roll over his shares and keep them with the new privately owned Twitter was Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, whose $1.89 billion in shares are second only to Musks.

Other opponents of democracy who signed on for shares in the Musk-owned Twitter included a subsidiary of the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar, which contributed $375 million in exchange for shares of Musks holding company called X Holdings.

During the past four days, Musks personal wealth has increased by more than $2 billion as a section of the financial elite have joined in the investment frenzy generated around the worlds richest man making the social media platform with nearly 400 million active users into his own private property.

Not everyone in the US political establishment is enthusiastic about Musks plans for a privately held Twitter. The investment by the Saudi Arabian monarchy into the new Twitter has sparked the concern of US Senator Chris Murphy (Democrat of Connecticut) who tweeted on Monday, We should be concerned that the Saudis, who have a clear interest in repressing political speech and impacting U.S. politics, are now the second-largest owner of a major social media platform.

However, Murphys objection has nothing to do with advancing the struggle for democratic rights in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world. Murphy said he was asking the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) to conduct an investigation into the national security implications of Saudi Arabias purchase of Twitter.
Cleaning staff who formerly worked at the massive Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx have announced a class-action lawsuit against the hospital seeking damages, including back pay for overtime work they performed without compensation.

MMC Bronx Norwood Montefiore Medical Center campus as viewed from North Central Bronx Hospital on March 20, 2018 [Photo by Hugo L. Gonzalez / CC BY-SA 4.0

According to a report on the Gothamist website, the lawsuit names two plaintiffs, but is seeking class-action status to cover at least 200 more. One of those named, Danny Cruz, worked at the hospital for about five years, ending last month, on the 4 p.m. to midnight shift. He reported that he often worked the following day from 7 a.m., and often accumulated as much as 80 hours a week. State and federal law mandates time-and-a-half overtime pay beyond 40 hours, but the cleaning staff at Montefiore say they never saw it.

The workers were employed by an outside agency, the New Jersey-based CSS Building Solutions. While this agency was responsible for issuing paychecks, Montefiore was jointly responsible for their employment. They wore Montefiore uniforms on the job, and received their work orders and instructions from hospital management.

The use of outside contractors for minimum-wage jobs has become extremely widespread in recent years, not only in hospitals but also in universities and offices of all kinds. Institutions which enjoy non-profit status are particularly eager to use such arrangements, which they sometimes point to in order to deny responsibility for pay and conditions on the job, while saving millions by outsourcing work to outfits that pay minimum wageor even less.

Gothamist quoted an attorney for the plaintiff, Lou Pechman: We have seen a pattern in the New York metropolitan area of hospitals hiring so-called subcontractors to do the dirty work in their institutions while paying these essential workers substandard wages and no overtime.

Montefiore Medical Center has grown to many times its original size in recent decades. It used to serve only the northern part of the Bronx. In recent years it has bought and otherwise acquired numerous smaller facilities, an expansion that has accelerated in the last decade. It now includes 13 hospitals and 300 outpatient facilities in the Bronx and in nearby suburbs in Westchester, Rockland and Orange Counties, north and west of New York City. It serves about one-third of the population of the Bronx, the citys poorest borough.

The current CEO of Montefiore Medicine is Philip Ozuah, a pediatrician. Montefiore Medicine is an umbrella organization that includes all the above hospitals and ambulatory facilities. Ozuah was hired two years ago, but before that he was the CEO of the Montefiore Health System, one of the constituents of Montefiore Medicine. In his final year before his promotion to CEO of the entire system, his compensation was $13 million. His predecessor as CEO of Montefiore Medicine, Steven Safyer, was being paid $8 million at the same time. These figures demonstrate that, while the hospital may be classified as non-profit, its pay structure at the top mirrors that of corporate America.

The hospital system in the US is broadly divided into three main categories: public institutions, whether city, state or federal (including Veterans Affairs); huge for-profit chains, like the Hospital Corporation of America, Tenet Healthcare and many others, which have seen massive growth in recent decades; and institutions like Montefiore, sometimes called voluntary hospitals, which are privately run and not for profit.

The methods of operation of the so-called nonprofits have become almost identical to those of the for-profit chains. They are beholden to the giant banks and wealthy bondholders, and they pay their top administrators obscene salaries, along with other forms of compensation, which they claim is necessary to compete for talentin other words to attract executives who can make millions in the private sector.

The expansion of the Montefiore system, like that of other medical centers, has been accompanied by cost-cutting measures that have affected patient care as well as working conditions of staff, as was reflected in the walkout of nurses at the Montefiore New Rochelle Hospital in December 2020.

Clinic patients at a Montefiore location on Fordham Road in the Bronx, which serves a neighborhood that is largely immigrant and poor, were outraged to recently find out that the administration planned to move the clinic some two-and-a-half miles south. The decision, reportedly taken on the advice of the gigantic McKinsey and Company global management firm, was aimed at saving on real estate costs, and was made without any input from the community.

In December 2021, the nurses at Montefiore in the Bronx protested the acute understaffing that leaves patients stranded in the Emergency Department, sometimes for more than 24 hours, because there are not enough nurses on the medical-surgical floors. At that time, nurses said they were caring for 15, 20 or more patients in the emergency room, instead of the usually acceptable number of five or six.

Moreover, 1199 SEIU, the union that bargains for 78,000 hospital workers in New York City, including non-nursing staff at Montefiore, agreed last year to a three-year agreement with 3 percent annual pay increases, which will leave workers with as much as a 15 percent cut in real wages by the end of the contract.

Seventy-five percent of Montefiores patients are covered by Medicare or Medicaid, the federal and federal-state programs that respectively benefit retirees and the poor. The great majority of the medical centers revenue comes from government programs, but this has nothing in common with a genuine system of high-quality universal health care.

The hospitals compete with one another for scarce resources. A kind of revolving door exists between hospital management and local and state politicians, not very different from that between other branches of government and those sectors of the economy they regulate.

The medical centers typically reward politicians for previous favors, or employ them in expectation of future favorable treatment. This process is exemplified by former Borough President of the Bronx Ruben Diaz, Jr., whose term ended December 31. Diaz announced less than two months later that he had become a vice president of strategic initiatives at Montefiore. Another local politician, Marcos Crespo, the former Bronx County Democratic Party chairman, also took up duties as a Montefiore vice president. City and State, a print and online newspaper specializing in New York politics, reported that State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, also from the Bronx, was an old friend and colleague of Diaz, and with Diaz on the hospital payroll could be expected to look more favorably at Montefiores needs. City and State also reported that while Borough president, Diaz had made about $1.2 million in discretionary funding available to Montefiore.

These arrangements are integral to the way the capitalist system parcels out resources from the shrinking social safety net. While unlimited billions for war in Ukraine and even greater billions in preparation for war with China are appropriated without question, decent wages and legally mandated overtime for poorly paid workers in hospitals cannot be found. Only a socialist health care system, fully funded and controlled by the working class, can remedy this state of affairs.
On Tuesday afternoon, Brazils fascistic President Jair Bolsonaro made his first statement since his defeat in the presidential election, which was announced on Sunday night.

In his brief speech, Bolsonaro thanked the 58 million Brazilians who voted for me, while failing to acknowledge the victory of his challenger, former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of the Workers Party (PT), who won 60 million votes.

Bolsonaro speaking at the presidential palace on Tuesday (Photo: Fabio Rodrigues-Pozzebom/ Agencia Brasil) [Photo: Fabio Rodrigues-Pozzebom/ Agencia Brasil ]

Instead, he praised his fascist supporters who have erected more than 300 blockades on roads across Brazil, rejecting the elections results and calling for an intervention by the armed forces to prevent Lula from taking office.

Bolsonaro stated that The current popular movements are the result of indignation and a feeling of injustice of how the electoral process was carried out.

At the same time, the president sought to dissociate himself from the violent actions he is encouraging, stating that our methods cannot be those of the left... such as invasion of properties, destruction of patrimony, and curtailment of the right to come and go. This is yet another of the maneuvers that have mirrored Donald Trumps conduct during his attempt to overthrow the 2020 US election, which Bolsonaro has adopted as his main political model.

In the 45 hours before his pronouncement, while his supporters were creating havoc throughout the country, Bolsonaro met with his closest political allies, his military ministers, and representatives of the armed forces, including Defense Minister Paulo Sergio Nogueira and Air Force Commander Carlos Baptista Junior.

In these meetings, the fascistic president and his accomplices worked out the dubious content of his first post-election speech, as well as the next steps of their ongoing conspiracy to subvert democracy in Brazil.

As part of this plan, Ciro Nogueira, the presidents chief of staff, was chosen to speak publicly after Bolsonaro about a process of transition to Lulas new government. The nominee to lead the transition team on behalf of Lula is his vice president, Geraldo Alckmin, whose long-time right-wing political ties will allow a better accommodation of the PT to the reactionary forces brought to state power by Bolsonaro.

However, despite the political accommodations by the PT, the actions of Bolsonaro and his allies over the last three days signal that the next two months leading to the presidential inauguration will be a period of intensifying political crisis.

On Sundays election day, the Federal Highway Police (PRF) promoted under Bolsonaros command extensive roadblocks to make it difficult for voters to get to the polls, especially in states where Lula had a majority. One of the clear objectives of the operation was to make his competitors feel aggrieved and generate a deadlock over the validity of the elections.

In the following days, the PRF openly allowed Bolsonaros pro-coup demonstrators to mount their own roadblocks. Videos recorded in Santa Catarina, a state that is home to important sections of the bourgeoisie aligned to the fascistic president, showed PRF officers virtually integrated into the pro-coup blockades.

In one of the videos, an officer declares, The only order we have is to be here with you. In another, speaking into a microphone, a commander declares to the protesters that at no time we will arrive to irritate or to confront any of you, who are our bosses.

In the midst of the growing protests, the representatives of the bourgeois institutions revealed all their political impotence to confront the threats posed by Bolsonaro, by turning to the president himself to curb the crisis provoked by him.

According to Folha de Sao Paulo, the ministers of the judiciary assessed that the demonstrations [had] escalated so much that a statement from the president was essential to try to contain the movements of his supporters in the streets.

In contrast to the complicity of the police and the state with this pro-coup movement, a spontaneous episode revealed that the only social force truly capable of defending democracy is the working class. Faced with the blockade of the Rio-Santos highway, workers from the BrasFELS shipyard in Angra dos Reis got off the bus in which they were returning home from work, confronted Bolsonaros fascist supporters and cleared the road.

The mobilization of the working class against the authoritarian threats promoted by Bolsonaro and the military would necessarily bring with it social demands that would drive a powerful movement against capitalism. For this reason, the PT, which represents rotten Brazilian capitalism, is absolutely opposed to directing any appeal to workers.

Condemning calls for a confrontation with Bolsonaro supporters made by the Homeless Workers Movement (MTST), linked to the pseudo-left PSOL (Socialism and Liberty Party) and to the PT itself , the president of the PT, Gleisi Hoffman, declared, We dont agree with that because this is a responsibility of the state.
Soviet writer Vasily Grossman (Stalingrad, Life and Fate, The People Immortal) was born in 1905, the year of the first Russian Revolution, in Berdichev, a town in what is now Ukraine, which then formed part of the Russian Empire. After the 1917 October Revolution and the civil war, Grossman moved to Moscow in 1923 where he studied to become an engineer.

Though never a party member, he witnessed first hand the major political and literary debates and struggles of the 1920s, in which Leon Trotskys Left Opposition opposed the nationalist betrayal of the October Revolution by the Soviet bureaucracy. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Grossman met Left Oppositionists, including the Trotskyist literary critic Alexander Voronsky, and many figures from the Communist International (Comintern).

Although many of his friends and colleagues were arrested and executed, Grossman survived the Great Terror of 1937-1938. During World War II, he became one of the most popular war correspondents with the Red Army. Grossman was the first journalist to cover the Nazi genocide of Eastern European Jewry.

However, as part of the growing promotion of anti-Semitism by the Stalinist bureaucracy, The Black Book documenting the Holocaust that he and fellow writer Ilya Ehrenburg co-authored was pulped in 1947. All of Grossmans writings during and after the war were subject to significant censorship, including during Nikita Khrushchevs Thaw (mid-1950s to mid-1960s), which the bureaucracy initiated amidst an immense crisis in 1956, allowing for broader political and cultural discussions. Grossman completed the second volume of his opus magnum on World War II, Life and Fate, in 1959, but the work was banned and only published in 1980, 16 years after his death.

British poet and translator Robert Chandler and his wife, Elizabeth Chandler, have spent decades translating many of Grossmans works into English, most recently Stalingrad (the prequel to Life and Fate), The People Immortal and The Road.

The following is an interview with Robert Chandler about Grossman, his views of literature and Soviet society, and his reception in the West. A follow-up interview with the Russian scholar Julia Volohova on Grossmans relationship to Alexander Voronsky and the literary debates of the 1920s will be published in the coming days.

Robert Chandler [Photo by Robert Chandler]

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You have spent many years translating Vasily Grossman. What attracted you to the writings of Grossman, and why and when did you become convinced that works like Stalingrad and The People Immortal should be translated?

Its been over 40 years since I first was introduced to Grossman. It is curious that really at every step of the road I have been a little reluctant and then ended up realizing that I had hugely underestimated Grossman. The first step was when the late art historian and friend Igor Golomstock pushed this enormous novel at me [Life and Fate] and said I should translate it if I wanted to become established as a translator. He thought it was a great novel. I just laughed at him and said, I dont read books as long as that in Russian, let alone translate them.

At the time I was much more interested in poetry, especially modernist poetry, as well as magical realism. Grossmans Life and Fate seemed a bit old-fashioned. But Igor was an admirably obstinate man. He did programs on the novel for the BBC Russian service and sent me transcripts of his programs. I realized that this novel was remarkable. I published an article about it in Index on Censorship and that led to the book being published.

But at the time I sort of absorbed what was an absolutely widespread view: that Grossman had been a rather dull, if better than average, Soviet novelist, who had undergone some kind of transformation during his last years and written this one truthful work. Wanting to bring the worldwides attention to Grossman, well-meaning admirers chose to exaggerate the difference between Grossmans earlier and later work.

It was a historian, Jochen Hellbeck, who told me, emphatically, what a great novel Stalingrad was. He was also very insistent that I should look at manuscripts and typescripts. That seemed a non-starter because from what I had read, there were 12 complete versions of the novel. Fortunately, an Italian scholar, Pietro Tosco, who was working in Moscow, was able to send me a complete scan of one of the first typescripts.

I was also very grateful to Yuri Bit-Yunan, a Grossman scholar working in Moscow. He gave me a very clear explanation of what these supposedly 12 different versions were. A lot of them were not complete versions at all; they were just extra chapters added late in the day. It was quite clear that there was one version that was probably the earliest complete typescript and that everything after that was part of a process of compromise in which Grossman was dealing with the editors, trying to come up with something that everybody would find acceptable.

Once I had discovered that one truly important typescript, everything became a lot easier. The other thing that made things easier was that there were three different lifetime publications. There was a 1952 journal publication. That was while Stalin was still alive and it was the most heavily censored. Then there was one in 1954, after Stalins death [in March 1953], which is a bit less censored, and then there was one in 1956 when Nikita Khrushchev had started the Thaw. It was entirely clear, looking at those three different versions, what kind of things Grossman was eager to reintroduce into the novel when given the opportunity.

Working on Stalingrad was an education in the nature of Soviet censorship. Some of the cuts were the kind of things I was expectingmentions of collectivization, the Gulag and so onbut a great many of them werent. A great many of the things that Grossman was eager to introduce were more a matter of tone: bits of humor, an important general making some sort of silly, frivolous or selfish little remark or joke before an important battle. Generals werent supposed to do that. All mentions of insectsall the fleas, the licegot ruthlessly edited out of the versions published in 1952 and 1954.

[Soviet writer and dissident] Andrei Sinyavsky [1925-1997] once defined Socialist Realism as a kind of neo-classicism: everythings got to be solid, and everything has got to be dignified, everything has got to be in the same toneseriousespecially when dealing with something really important like the battle of Stalingrad which was foundational for the justification of the post-war Soviet Union.

Once it was clear to me how Grossman wanted to move, it gave me confidence in dealing with the typescripts. I would say that in probably 95 percent of the instances where I introduced passages from the typescript other people in my position would have done the same. And the version we published certainly works; I have been overjoyed by the way that this version has been picked up in at least another dozen countries.

Stalingrad cover

The new edition of Stalingrad does not seem to have been published in Russia, however, is that correct?

No, it hasnt been. Its the one country where, while there is not an absolute ban on Grossman, he is not widely read. He is much more widely read in most other European countries and in some non-European countries. Certainly Life and Fate is still published in Russia, but Grossman would be liable to be in prison for things he wrote in it. Drawing a direct parallel between Nazi and Stalinist policies is a criminal offense today.

I had a very clear, bittersweet moment when I realized why Grossman isnt widely read in Russia today. About nine to ten years ago I met Arseny Roginsky, one of the founding members of [the human rights organization and research institute] Memorial. He was speaking at a conference in Cambridge. I introduced myself as the translator of Grossman. He smiled very, very warmly at me and said, Ah, our writer. But Memorial by that time was a very marginalized organization on its way to being suppressed, unlike when it first started in the late 1980s, early 1990s, when it was a huge organization. The destruction of Memorial is a great sadness. But Im sure a complete version of Stalingrad will be published one day. Russians usually do get around to publishing good writers in the end, even if it sometimes takes a very long time.

There has been a massive promotion of neo-Stalinism in Russia under Putin, and Grossmans works clearly go against that. Grossman was one of the most important war journalists of the 20th century and was proud to call himself a writer of the war. Can you speak more about his experiences during the war and how they shaped his writings?

His 1930s work is uneven. Sometimes a great, original writer suddenly appears and then there are duller passages. His reporting during the war was hugely important both to him and to his readers.

Vasily Grossman in Stalingrad in 1942

Red Star was a remarkable journal. It was the official army newspaper, there is no equivalent to it in any other country. Along with Pravda and Izvestiia, it was one of the most widely read newspapers of the time, read by both civilians and in the army. David Ortenberg, the editor for the first years of the war, was a gifted and brave editor. He took on [Soviet writer] Andrei Platonov [1899-1951] as a war correspondent on Grossmans recommendation, even though Ortenberg knew perfectly well that Platonov had incurred Stalins rage ten years before that. Most of the great Soviet writers did some writing for Red Star.

Grossman was a very courageous man indeed. And he had an extraordinary gift for getting people to talk to himall kinds of people: Senior generals who had a reputation for being taciturn, just ordinary soldiers. His daughter once told me how she and her schoolfriends had been amused, perhaps a bit puzzled, at seeing Grossman on a bench on the street talking to people they themselves would have looked down on, almost down-and-outs. He probably gave people a sense that he wasnt judging them, and this freed them up. Other correspondents were amazed, they would try to get an interview with some important officer and totally failand then Grossman would chat to the man for hours on end. No less importantly, he was able to remember these long conversations in detail. He didnt take notes, and thats part of what made people feel at ease with him and ready to trust him.

We need to remind ourselves that the Soviet Union was in many ways a hierarchical and snobbish society, certainly by the late 1930s. Grossmans account of the terror-famine in Ukraine is derived largely from what he was told by the domestic worker employed by the Zabolotskys. He was very close to the poet Nikolai Zabolotsky (1903-1958) and spent a lot of time in that household. Their cleaner had lived in the Ukrainian countryside and had actually been an activist, taking part in the collectivization and the grain confiscations during the terror-famine. Grossman was ready to listen to a cleaner, which a lot of Soviet writers at that time and a lot of important Soviet figures at the time would not have wanted to. They would have seen cleaners as beneath them. But he was not like that, he would listen to anyone.

From left to right: The Italian scholar Pietro Tosco, Grossman's daughter Ekaterina Korotkova and Robert Chandler. [Photo by Robert Chandler]

His curiosity for other people and his ability to listen to them seems to be related to his conception of realism. How would you describe his understanding of realism?

Grossman is a rare example of a writer who wrote better and better throughout his life. His last stories are getting very close to poetry. Grossman does not go out of his way to use language in an extraordinary way. He will always use the most ordinary and plainest language that is adequate, but if ordinary, plain language isnt adequate, he does come up with very extraordinary phrases.

As for his realism: his tastes were fairly old- fashioned. He did not have much time for modernist poetry. He could recognize that Osip Mandelshtam [1891-1938] was a great poet. Nevertheless, Grossman wrote a rather moving formulation that a lot of modernist poetry was like the work of jewelers, whereas what he wanted to do is to write works that would be peoples daily bread.

Grossman has sometimes been criticized for being merely realistic. One reviewer of the first publication of Life and Fate wrote that Grossman had no real imagination, that he was a mere reporter, telling us what he or someone else witnessed. Thats totally, totally wrong-headed.

Grossman wanted the truth. When a source of truth was available to him, when there were people he could speak to or things he could read, he would use them. But if there were not, then he would draw on his imagination.

One of the two or three most memorable passages of Grossman is the scene in the gas chambers in Life and Fate. Sofia Osipovnas last thoughts as she adopts little David are that she has, at last, become a mother. Grossman clearly had nothing but his own imagination to draw on for this scene and its absolutely convincing. The scene doesnt seem in any way different from Grossmans writing when he was relying on his or other peoples memories. Few writers, in fact, have been able to imagine more convincingly what most people would consider unimaginable.

Grossman has often been described as a dissident writer. Historically, this is not quite accurate, however, and your publications of Stalingrad and The People Immortal, in fact, make that clear. Grossman was not part of the dissident movement (and he died before it really took off) and for a certain period of time, he was both popular and well-established. Moreover, until the end of his life, despite his severe criticisms of Stalinism and the Soviet government, he did retain a commitment to socialism and the October revolution, unlike many dissidents who turned away from socialism, especially after the crushing of the Prague Spring in 1968. How did Grossman, in your assessment, view the revolution and Soviet society, and how did this view evolve over the decades?

It is very difficult with writers like Andrei Platonov and Grossman to know what they were truly thinking in the 1930s. I sometimes think its easier to be certain of what, say, Dante, believed 700 years ago than of Platonovs or Grossmans beliefs.

We can say one thing for sure: Grossman was very close to his cousin Nadia Almaz who was deeply involved with the internationalists and the Comintern circle, people like Victor Serge [then a member of the Left Opposition]. Nadia Almaz was a kind of mentor to Grossman. She helped him to get published for the first time in Moscow. A lot of the more attractive figures in his writing are Comintern people. Krymov in Stalingrad and Life and Fate is not a self-portrait, but Grossman gives a lot of his own experiences to Krymov. Grossmans notebook account of his journey to Yasnaya Polyana, Leo Tolstoys estate, is practically identical to Krymovs journey there in Stalingrad. Grossman would not have given his own experiences to someone alien to him.

Throughout his work, including the very last short stories, theres a great deal of sympathy on Grossmans part for the early Peoples Will activists, the early revolutionaries. Thats the thing Im most confident about. I would even say that he romanticizes them. [Narodnaya Volya or The Peoples Will, was a revolutionary organization in the 1880s, which included figures like Andrei Zhelyabov and Vera Figner. It was part of the populist (or Narodnik) movement out of which Georgi Plekhanov, the father of Russian Marxism, emerged as well.]

Grossmans relation to the dissident movement and the revolution is a complex question. Its true that there wasnt really a dissident movement when Grossman was still alive. He kept pretty much out of public life during his last years. He was seeing a lot of people who were coming back from the Gulag and was collecting accounts of that. So, on the one hand, he was not a part of anything we could call a dissident movement; on the other hand, his passages on Russian history in Everything Flows are the sharpest and most damning accounts of what went wrong in Russia over the centuries that Ive read. They are among the finest passages of his writing. So he was unflinching in that respect. But like Andrei Platonov or Varlam Shalamov [1907-1982], he was writing from inside Soviet society, whereas a writer like Mikhail Bulgakov [1881-1940], who was probably always hostile to the revolution, was almost writing from outside or even from above.

I disagree with you, however, about one point. It is true that Grossman remained sympathetic, till the end of his life, to the 19th-century Populists and the early revolutionaries. And it may be true that he remained committed to the October Revolution throughout the 1920s and 1930s, perhaps even later. In his late masterpiece Everything Flows [1964], however, he is devastatingly critical of Lenin and the October Revolution. In Grossmans understanding, the 1917 February Revolution offered Russians a chance of freedom that they, tragically, failed to grasp.

What is striking about Grossmans writings is how sharply he perceived the contradictions of Soviet society. His depiction of Soviet society during the war in Stalingrad has an almost panoramic character. Someone writing from the outside would have hardly been able to do that.

I like the word panoramic. Theres a huge variety to his work. However important his criticisms, it would be a great loss if he were simply to be pigeon-holed as a critic of the Soviet Union.

Let me say a word about his short stories, since they are another indication of his paradoxical standing. I did not read his last short stories until the early 2000s. No one ever mentioned them to me so I assumed they werent important. Several of them, however, are masterpieces.

Most of them were published in the early 1960s, but only in Soviet journals. They didnt have the glamour of the samizdat [non-official, self-published works, distributed in the West and among the dissidents in the Soviet Union] so they didnt circulate among the dissidents. Nor were they published in big official editions, so they did not really get noticed.

Mama is an account of the household of Nikolai Yezhov (1895-1940), the head of the Soviet secret police, his family and his world seen through the eyes of his little five-to-six-year-old adopted daughter. All the most prominent Soviet politicians of the time, including Stalin himself, used to visit the Yezhov household, as did many important artists, musicians, film-makers and writers, including the writer Isaak Babel.

We see these figures, however, only through the eyes of little Nadya or of her good-natured but politically ignorant peasant nanny. Grossman leads us into the darkest of worlds, but with compassion and from a perspective of peculiar innocence. The nanny is described as the only person in the apartment with calm eyes. Its an extraordinary story, but its very little known. Its in the collection titled The Road, which includes several of his stories.

It is astonishing how many works we are still discovering today even by a relatively well-known figure such as Grossman. A complete edition of Stalingrad, in my view a real masterpiece of 20th century literature, came out only some 70 years after it was written. It gives a sense of how much more there is yet to be discovered about Soviet literature.

Were hugely, hugely ignorant of Soviet culture generally. I think one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, not just in Russia but internationally, was Pavel Filonov [1883-1941]. He was an absolutely passionate socialist. He didnt want to sell his paintings, so they all ended up in the Russian Museum, in what was then Leningrad [today St. Petersburg]. Of course, they were completely at odds with the style of Socialist Realism, and so the Soviet authorities hid them away until the late 1980s. And Western art historians havent been bothered to make the journey to Petersburg and take in these paintings.

"Two Heads. Rabbles" (1925) by Pavel Filonov

Its pretty simple: by and and large, we only know the writers and artists who have been the subject of some huge international scandal. We know about Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak [1890-1960] because the Soviet authorities forced him to refuse the Nobel prize. It was much the same with [the dissident writer] Alexander Solzhenitsyn [1918-2008] and the poet Joseph Brodsky [1940-1996]. Because they were exiled, they got huge attention. Grossmans case is a little different. We ignored him for many years, but then we learned the dramatic story of the arrest of his manuscript. This, long after his death, won him some international attention, even if only for his last works.

That seems to be changing, however. There are many new translations of important Soviet writers like Grossman, but also Shalamov, a supporter of the Left Opposition in the late 1920s, and Mikhail Zoshchenko [1894-1958]. And it is striking how positive the reception of your latest translations of Grossman has been. Why do you think his works speak so directly to readers today, including young generations who have gone through experiences that are seemingly entirely different from those of Grossman?

It took quite a long time for Grossman to really become popular. In the United States, Life and Fate was published in the mid-1980s, but then fell out of print. Here in the UK, it remained in print, but was only selling about five hundred copies a year. It was not until the early 2000s that people rediscovered Grossman. That was partly the doing of historians like Antony Beevor, who was constantly going out of his way to draw attention to him. And it was partly because of the republication of Life and Fate in an excellent edition with the New York Review of Books Classics.

Its also partly due to the world becoming a more difficult place in the past 20 years. I know a couple of war correspondents who are at present in Ukraine. Theyve been rereading Grossman with passionate enthusiasm and they feel like it really relates to what theyre seeing now. The magical realism that was popular when I was first translating Grossman has perhaps begun to seem a bit facile in todays world, with its multitude of huge, intractable real problems.

One thing that continues to take me aback is how often people I dont know write to me out of the blue and say almost in identical words, Reading Life and Fate changed my life. I suspect that part of the reason for this is Grossmans emphasis on moral choice. There are a lot of moments in his work when people are faced with moral choices of life-and-death importance. Take the burning hospital scene in Stalingrad, for instance: a very junior, seemingly rather silly young nurse, is running away from the hospital because her first reaction is fear, fear that her face might be scarred. She runs some distance from the hospital, then suddenly comes to a stop, runs back to the hospital and from that moment behaves with unfailing heroism, climbing the burning staircase several times and helping to drag people to safety. There are many similar moments in Grossmans work. He gives his characters a chance of redemption, and they seize it.

A Russian friend living in the US told me that when she lived in Russia she was faced with important moral choices every day, whereas living in America she would often go for months on end without having to make any real choices at all. But thats changing, people are conscious that they have to make more and more moral choices, with climate change and all our other intractable problems. I think Grossmans difficult realism speaks to that.

There are also other aspects of Grossmans work that are becoming important today. During the last 20 years, the Anglophone world has gradually been coming to recognize that the second world war was basically fought between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, and that the Western allies playing a very secondary role in it. There are many, many reasons why Grossman seems more relevant today than when I was first translating him over 40 years ago.
SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP)  North Macedonias parliament adopted a law Wednesday that prevents organizations and cultural clubs from using names considered linked to fascism, a response to Bulgarian clubs with names of controversial figures opening in the country and sparking protests.

The proposed law passed with 67 votes in the 120-member parliament. The law bans political parties and cultural clubs from using symbols and the names of individuals associated with fascism or considered to be directed against other religions or ethnic groups.

Last month, hundreds of left-wing supporters and nationalists protested in the southern town of Ohrid against an ethnic Bulgarian association naming itself after King Boris III, a Bulgarian monarch who is deeply resented in North Macedonia for his countrys role in World War II, when Bulgaria allied itself with Nazi Germany.

Protesters held banners reading No negotiation with fascists, and threw eggs and stones at the clubs premises, which were guarded by police. Earlier this year, another ethnic Bulgarian cultural club caused a stir in North Macedonia by adopting the name of another divisive WWII figure.

Boris III reigned from 1918 until his death in 1943 and oversaw Bulgarias alliance with Axis powers during World War II. That move enabled Bulgaria to occupy parts of neighboring Greece, Romania and what is now North Macedonia. Bulgarian forces accepted Nazi German demands to round up and deport to their deaths Jews in the occupied regions, but Boris successfully resisted pressure for Bulgarian Jews to face a similar fate.

Jewish community groups in North Macedonia expressed shock at the ethnic Bulgarian organizations choice of name.

According to the new legislation, newly opened clubs of Bulgarians that feature controversial names must change the name within three months or face removal from the Central Register, where all clubs and companies must be registered.

Relations between North Macedonia and neighboring Bulgaria are poor, largely due to disagreements over regional history and culture that led Bulgaria to block North Macedonias bid to join the European Union.

Story continues

Bulgaria accuses the government in Skopje of disrespecting shared cultural and historic ties. Among Sofias key demands were an acknowledgment that the language of North Macedonia is derived from Bulgarian, changes in history textbooks and the recognition of a Bulgarian minority.

The size of the Bulgarian community in North Macedonia is a matter of contention. Official data from the countrys 2021 census put it at 3,504 people, or about 0.2% of the population. Bulgaria has disputed the figure, noting that about 90,000 of North Macedonias roughly 2 million people received dual Bulgarian citizenship based on family roots in the last two decades.

While still named Macedonia, North Macedonia had a decades-long dispute over culture and history with Greece. That ended with the country changing its name to add North, and Athens dropping its objections to its neighbor joining NATO and the EU.

Konstantin Testorides, The Associated Press
On Tuesday, November 1, UAW presidential candidate Will Lehman sent the following letter to Neil Barofsky, the Monitor appointed by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan to oversee the conduct of the UAW. The letter demands that the Monitor investigate reports from workers that UAW officials are telling Temporary Part Time (TPT) workers (also known as Supplemental Employees) that they cannot vote in the UAW elections.

If you are a TPT worker who has had similar experiences, contact Lehman at willforuawpresident@gmail.com. For more information on the campaign, visit WillforUAWPresident.org.

Dear Mr. Barofsky,

I am bringing to your attention a matter of utmost importance regarding reports of violations of federal law by the UAW in restricting the right of UAW members to vote in this election. On behalf of Temporary Part Time (TPT) members of the UAW, I ask that you conduct an immediate investigation into this matter and take swift action to remedy the violation of the workers right to vote.

Rule 5-1 of the Election Rules states: Members who work only part time but pay the required dues may not be denied the right to vote. Section 401(e) of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act also states that all members in good standing shall have the right to vote for or otherwise support the candidate or candidates of his choice, without being subject to penalty, discipline, or improper interference or reprisal of any kind by such organization or any member thereof.

My campaign has heard from multiple workers that elected UAW officials at Detroit Assembly Complex-Jefferson (formerly JNAP) in Detroit (UAW Local 7) and the Detroit Assembly Complex-Mack (UAW Local 51) are telling TPTs that they do not have the right to vote in the election for International UAW officers.

At Detroit Assembly Complex-Jefferson, a worker contacted my campaign and volunteered information that at least one UAW shop steward is telling TPTs they cant vote. This worker reported that a TPT asked out loud whether they could vote in the elections, and the answer was a no. (See attached text discussion dated Friday, October 28.) There are roughly 4,500 workers at JNAP, and a substantial portion are TPTs, indicating that thousands of workers could be disenfranchised.

[Photo: WSWS]

At Detroit Assembly Complex-Mack, workers are reporting the same violation of the right to vote. According to these workers, multiple TPTs are saying that at least one UAW official is informing TPTs that because they do not get profit sharing, they are ineligible to vote in the election. One worker reported to my campaign that a UAW official is telling TPTs that if they receive ballots in the mail, that they should not fill them out or mail them. The Mack Avenue plant has roughly 5,200 workers and a high rate of TPTs, also indicating a high rate of disenfranchisement.

The workers who stepped forward with this information asked to remain anonymous because they are fearful that the UAW and/or their employer will target them for retribution. Pages 409 and 410 of the UAW-Stellantis contract from 2019 make clear that TPTs can be fired for any reason within a year of being hired. Because they have no rights and because the UAW regularly treats them like second-class citizens who can be fired easily, it makes sense that these workers are reticent to step forward publicly.

There are other issues of concern at these plants which indicate an intention on the part of the UAW to suppress the vote among TPTs.

Local 7 (JNAP) has no reference on its website to the UAW election. Its calendar (See attached) does not even include the election or any of the critical deadlines associated with the balloting process (checking ballot, mailing ballot, etc.). Rule 2-4 of the Election Rules states that Local Unions must give Notice of Election. It reads: Local Unions shall either post the informal notice or a link to the UAWs or Monitors website regarding the Election. The informal notice shall (1) provide members with key information concerning the 2022 Election, including the nomination process, schedule, and other relevant information; and (2) direct members to the websites, where they may view these Rules and obtain up-to-date information regarding the 2022 Election.

Furthermore, it appears that Local 51 is promoting and endorsing a candidate for UAW president on its Facebook page. Rule 4-6 of the Election Rules says: Federal law prohibits the use of any union or employer resources to promote the candidacy of any person in a union election. This includes computer equipment and networks like Facebook pages. Section 401(g) of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act also prohibits such activity.

These violations compound concerns over what workers are reporting to my campaign regarding UAW officials telling TPTs they cannot vote in the election. Because we are less than a month away from the deadline for ballots to be sent and because these reports indicate that the UAW may be systematically telling TPTs that they cannot vote, this matter requires swift action in order to ensure the fairness of the election. TPTs pay dues and are just as much a part of this union as full-time workers. It is high time they be treated like human beings with rights.

I therefore demand that you require the UAW publish a statement asserting that Temporary Part Time workers are eligible to vote in the international election, and that each UAW local be required to email its entire membership notifying them of the election deadlines and clarifying that TPTs have the right to vote. I ask that this be done by November 7, so that TPTs have time to ensure they receive ballots on time to cast their votes in this critical election.

If you are a TPT worker who has had similar experiences, contact me at willforuawpresident@gmail.com.

Thank you,

Will Lehman

For more information on the campaign of Will Lehman, visit WillforUAWPresident.org.
Behind the backs of the population, the Biden administration is implementing a dangerous and reactionary shift in immigration policy and enforcing it through dictatorial expansions of presidential power.

The aim of the shift is to dramatically reduce physical border crossings on a scale not seen in decades, as well as to block asylum seekers from reaching US soil where the US Constitution applies. This right-wing shift exposes as lies the claim that US imperialism is a beacon for democracy and that its war against Russia has anything to do with human rights.

On October 30, NBC News reported that the Biden administration has drafted a policy document granting the executive branch the power to detain Haitian immigrants at Guantanamo Bay, adjacent to the military prison where the government has imprisoned and tortured hundreds under the auspices of the war on terror.

Now the Biden administration says it may use Guantanamo as a lily pad for immigrants, though the correct term would be internment camp. Under the initial proposal, 400 Haitian immigrants would be held in cells and bunk rows in a constitutional no mans land where they have no right to challenge their treatment or deportations as they would have if they had arrived on US soil.

Days earlier, the Biden administration pulled out of mediation talks with lawyers representing over 300,000 recipients of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) who sued the Trump administration for rescinding TPS for 240,000 Salvadorans, 77,000 Hondurans, 14,000 Nepalese and 4,000 Nicaraguans in 2018. The Biden administration has continued to oppose the immigrants challenge, essentially backing Trumps revocation of TPS status and threatening to deport hundreds of thousands of people.

Earlier in October, data published by the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) documented that the Biden administration removed 2.8 million immigrants from the United States in Fiscal Year 2021, more than any year in American history.

Most significantly, the data revealed that over one million were removed under Title 42, the antidemocratic provision by which the government bans immigration due to a public health emergency. Trump initially invoked Title 42 citing the COVID-19 pandemic as a pseudo-legal justification, and courts have maintained it under Biden. Those banned from entering the US under Title 42 also do not have constitutional rights and cannot apply for asylum.

On October 12, the Biden administration signed a new rotten deal with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) banning tens of thousands of immigrants from Venezuela from crossing into the United States, also under Title 42. AMLO has agreed to allow the Venezuelans to live in tent cities, where immigrants escaping societies ravaged by imperialist war and capitalist exploitation live in squalor and disease.

With a blend of cynicism and hypocrisy that the Democratic Party has perfected over the last 200 years, Biden and the Democrats continue to posture as defenders of immigrants.

At a recent event for new US citizens, Biden repeated the hackneyed Democratic Party appeal: Its the dreams of immigrants like you that built America. But on Monday, when a group of asylum seekers tried to march across the Rio Grande near El Paso carrying a flag that said, We, the migrants, built America, Bidens CBP fired pepper balls down at their heads, as they scrambled across the river back to their tarp houses in Mexico.

The attack on immigrants comes as poverty and scarcity devastate the working class of Latin America and the Caribbean. The pandemic and the prolongation of the US/NATO war against Russia in Ukraine have had a devastating impact on hundreds of millions of people in countries who have suffered over a century of US imperialist domination.

In Haiti, society is in a state of collapse, as cholera spreads, food and gas are running out, and gangs take control of broad portions of the country. Nevertheless, the Biden administration has deported refugees back to Haiti, even after family members reported that the Haitian government was detaining deportees in a penitentiary in exchange for ransom money.

Those who make it to the US are treated with extreme brutality. The World Socialist Web Site spoke with a young Haitian mother who was detained by the Biden administration at the border last year:

It is painful to talk about what happened to me in Texas. When I talk about it, it feels like someone is putting a fork in my heart. When I was detained, it was horrible. First, I was forced to sleep under a bridge with my baby. Some of the guards were beating us under that bridge, like you used to be able to see on the news. When we were moved to a prison, I thought things would get better, but they didnt. In prison they took my childs medicine even though he was bleeding. I was there four days, they didnt give us food, we were only eating crackers. We couldnt bathe, brush our teeth, we had to sleep on the floor. The babies were dehydrated, their eyes looked like they were going to faint. One doesnt know what to do as a mother when your child says, Mom, Im hungry, Im hungry, but you cant do anything. My baby was vomiting, he had diarrhea, he was bleeding in his feet. And when we left the guards mocked us for smelling bad.

The policy pivot currently being carried out by the Biden administration is a massive concession to the fascistic political right.

The Republican Partys midterm strategy has gone farther than the usual right-wing chauvinistic language. The Republican governors of Texas and Florida (Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis) have spent the last several months bussing and flying over 11,000 immigrants to large cities run by Democrats in a series of stunts aimed at portraying immigrant workers as criminals.

The Democratic political strategy has been to adapt to this narrative. In a Pennsylvania Senate debate with Trump-backed Republican candidate Mehmet Oz, for example, the Democrat John Fetterman denounced illegal immigrants and called for secure borders.

Amid this right-wing climate encouraged by the political establishment, incidents of violence against immigrants are growing. In late September, Michael Sheppard, the warden at an immigration detention center in Sierra Blanca, Texas, fired on a group of migrants who had stopped for a drink in the desert, killing 22-year-old Mexican immigrant Jesus Ivan Sepulveda Martinez and critically wounding 31-year-old Brenda Berenice Casias Carrillo.

The ongoing attack on immigrant workers is an international process and a warning to the entire working class. On Monday, British Tory Home Secretary Suella Braverman denounced immigration as out of control and an invasion. The same day, a right-wing individual threw firebombs at a center for immigrant refugees in the coastal town of Dover, where the government detains refugees in crowded internment camps, where they sleep on floors and catch diseases like diphtheria.

The same applies in the democratic European Union, where thousands of immigrants fleeing North Africa and the Middle East drown attempting to enter every year.

Just yesterday, a boat carrying 68 refugees sank off the Greek island of Evia. Earlier in October, 92 immigrants from Morocco, Iran, Bangladesh and Pakistan were discovered in Greece after having been abandoned and stripped completely naked by authorities. In Italy on Tuesday, fascist Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni appointed a man who has been photographed wearing a Nazi armband as a minister in her government.

The attack on immigrant workers is driven by the logic of the escalating war against Russia. In wartime, the most ruthless attacks on democratic rights are always bound up with restrictions on immigration and the shoring up of the repressive apparatus of the nation-state.

As US imperialism entered the First World War, the Wilson administration signed the Espionage Act, which restricted both anti-war speech and immigration and now serves as the basis for the prosecution of Julian Assange. As the US prepared to enter the Second World War, the Roosevelt administration signed the Smith Act, also known as the Alien Registration Act, which banned anti-war speech, blocked immigration and enabled Japanese internment.

The fight to defend the rights of immigrants must be based on a fight to mobilize the working class against imperialist war, social inequality and their source: the capitalist system. The Socialist Equality Party (US) demands the lifting of Title 42 restrictions, the granting of legal status to all immigrants who wish to enter the US, the guaranteed right to travel to all regardless of nationality, and the dismantling of CBP, ICE, DHS and the national security complex.
Judge Nicholas Ayoub of the 61st District Court ruled on Monday that the prosecution had established probable cause to send former Grand Rapids police Officer Christopher Schurr to trial for second-degree murder in the death of 26-year-old Congolese refugee Patrick Lyoya.

A TV display shows video evidence of Schurr struggling with and shooting Patrick Lyoya [Photo: Grand Rapids Police Department]

Schurr shot Lyoya in the back of the head during an altercation following a traffic stop on April 4. After being delayed multiple times, the probable cause hearing was finally held on Monday. Ayoub released his decision in an 11-page statement after taking the weekend to review the evidence, in which he concluded that Schurrs case should go to trial.

Ayoubs decision outlines the three means by which the defense hopes to acquit Schurr: (1) that he used force reasonably necessary in defense of himself or others; (2) that he used appropriate force in response to force used by Lyoya to avoid arrest; and (3) that he used reasonable force to prevent a felon from fleeing to avoid capture.

In response to the first justification, Ayoub cites the common law requirements for self-defense: The homicide of Patrick Lyoya would be justified under the law of self-defense only if the defendant honestly and reasonably believe[d] his life [was] in imminent danger or that there [was] a threat of serious bodily harm and that it [was] necessary to exercise the deadly force to prevent such harm to himself.

Based on this standard, Ayoub wrote, The evidentiary record from the preliminary examination contains enough to allow a person of average intelligence to conclude that [Schurrs] fear was not reasonable or that [Schurrs] shooting of Lyoya in the back of the head was not reasonably necessary.

As for the second element of the defense, the judge points out that it is not materially different from the common law definition of self-defense. According to Ayoub, Lyoya fighting back only excuses any obligation to retreat, it does not justify Schurrs decision to use deadly force. This point is therefore fully addressed by Ayoubs arguments in the first part.

The final point of the defenses case refers to the fleeing felon principle in common law. Ayoub writes, the use of deadly force is justified if: (1) evidence shows that a felony actually occurred, (2) the fleeing suspect against whom force was used was the person who committed the felony, and (3) the use of deadly force was necessary to ensure the apprehension of the felon.

The judge notes that the legal question once more comes down to the idea of necessity. Ayoub points out, As the prosecutor suggests, at the instant that the shot was fired, Lyoya was not in a position of actively escaping or fleeing. A reasonable juror could find a lack of necessity for deadly force strictly for the purpose of preventing escape.

Ayoub concluded, necessity to ensure the apprehension of the felon is a question of fact for the jury to decide.

The Lyoya familys attorneys Ben Crump and Ven Johnson responded to the judges decision, stating, The case will now rightfully move to trial, which is the next step in our pursuit for obtaining full and complete justice for the murder of Patrick Lyoya. Our legal team will continue to fight to ensure former Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurr and the City of Grand Rapids are held accountable for his actions.

Matt Borgula, one of Schurrs attorneys, expressed certainty that a jury will acquit his client. Referring to the burden of proof in a probable cause hearing, Borgula told WOOD-TV, Its a low burden, meaning is there enough to charge someone with a crime? And here the judge thought so and were not surprised. But at the same time, I think the judge indicated, at least in part, that there are some significant questions here that will make it very difficult for the prosecutor to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Officer Schurr committed a crime and we feel strongly that he will be acquitted during a jury trial.

Borgula further told WOOD-TV that he plans to appeal Ayoubs decision.

After the hearing last Friday, Borgula told MLive in an interview, There is absolutely no evidence to suggest, from anyone who is in law enforcement, or who is an expert in the field, that this wasnt justified under the circumstances.

Borgula was here referring to the testimony of Captain Chad McKersie from the Grand Rapids Police Department. According to Ayoubs decision, He opined that [Schurr] followed policy and procedure in this case, and that the use of deadly force was justified under the totality of the circumstances.

However, as Ayoub stresses, McKersie also testified that a number of alternative techniques and responses were available to [Schurr].  He explained that even in using the firearm, an officer is taught that they may aim at different parts of the body depending on the level of force that is necessary.

Peter Lyoya, the father of Patrick Lyoya, spoke with WOOD-TV after the hearing. Ayoub showed that he has the heart of a parent, and Becker showed that he has the heart of a parent. My heart is receiving a little bit of relief because Im seeing people around me who are helping to get me the justice, he explained.

When I came here on Thursday and Friday, I felt like my heart, me and my family, our hearts were broken. I was surprised, astonished, to see how they are accusing, they try to portray my son like a real criminal. That really hurt my heart. My heart was still bleeding, my wifes heart was bleeding, to see that son, Ive already lost him, I buried him, and yet they are still crushing his image, his reputation, his name, just to acquit the officer.
In this Thursday April 16, 2020 file photo, The Amazon logo is seen in Douai, northern France. [AP Photo/Michel Spingler]

Recently, Amazons ONT8 fulfillment center in Moreno Valley, California, located in the Inland Empire area, has received national attention because of a unionization drive there by the fledgling Amazon Labor Union (ALU). However, ALU was compelled to withdraw its petition to hold a unionization vote at the facility, although it reportedly intends to resubmit.

This was the latest setback for the ALU, which, after winning the first-ever union election at a US Amazon facility at the JFK8 warehouse at the start of the year, has largely stalled in its subsequent unionizing efforts. The withdrawal of its petition at ONT8 followed by only three days the rejection of the ALU by a wide margin in a union election in the ALB1 warehouse in Albany, New York.

This was all the more remarkable given the fact that a fire had broken out at the warehouse only a few days before the vote. This was the third fire to have broken out at an Amazon warehouse in New York State recently, including one at JFK8, where dozens of workers and several ALU reps were suspended for demanding that workers be sent home. The ALU hardly raised the issue of the JFK8 fire in its Albany campaign, however.

The fortunes of ALUs organizing efforts have stalled at precisely the point that the ALU has ingratiated itself with the Democrats and the AFL-CIO bureaucracy. The ALU was able to secure victory at JFK8, even as a far better-financed and publicized campaign by the Retail, Warehouse and Department Store Union at an Alabama facility floundered. They did this by convincing workers that ALU was a more democratic, rank-and-file alternative to the established trade unions, dominated by unaccountable bureaucracies joined at the hip with management.

But as money from New York City real estate and support from President Biden and other leading Democrats pour in, support and enthusiasm for ALU among workers is beginning to dry up, even as Amazon workers around the country and the world are rising up against low pay and working conditions.

The setback for ALU at ONT8 does not reflect satisfaction by Amazon workers with their working conditions. On the contrary, a reporting team from the World Socialist WebSite which visited the warehouse last week encountered widespread opposition.

An Amazon truck driver spoke on the issue of pay, stating that truck drivers for Amazon get paid $17 an hour, compared to the standard $32 an hour for truck drivers in other industries.

Everyone is underpaid, the employee stated. People inside the warehouse are underpaid. So is every department. Human Resources, theyre underpaid. And they only got a $1-an-hour raise too. You have about six departments, and theyre all underpaid. All of them.

According to a June 2019 report on Freight Waves, Amazon truck drivers at the time received pay at 18.4 percent less than rates posted for DAT Solutions, a freight exchange service provider. A similar report showed that Amazon Air freight pilots, who are members of the Teamsters, make 33 percent less than their counterparts who fly for FedEx or UPS.

Another worker with five years pointed to the low pay for higher-seniority workers, Everybody got a $1 raise. They gave $1 to the new hires, who start at $18. With their shift differential, it puts them at $19.50 an hour. And Im making $20.40. Thats not right, after being here five years.

The work is the same. I dont agree with a lot of Amazons ways, so thats why Im not promoted. And Im at that age that I cant. Im not going to go back to school.

Another worker commented on the recently installed accommodations such as fans, water coolers and shaded rest areas at the facility. Ive noticed that the company started to, just recently, how do I say, keep everyone as happy as they can. Theyre trying to appease a lot of people right now. Referring to the recent walkouts by Amazon employees at the San Bernardino Air Hub during a heat wave, the worker said, I think theyre worried about workers walking out like how they did in San Bernardino.

A significant number of workers at ALU are students or youth who see their jobs at Amazon as only a temporary stopping point. Some workers say this played a role in their reluctance to support the ALU campaign. I just see this as a part-time thing; I only work here two days a week. I clock in, do what my job wants me to do, then go home, one worker stated.

One worker, who splits his time with classes at Cal State University Long Beach, said, My girlfriend is in the teaching credential program. Shes doing student teaching. Thats four months without pay. Its so horrible. They make it so hard on teachers.

But another significant factor was the experience which workers have had with other unions. One woman described her experience with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) while she worked for the government of Riverside County. They [the SEIU] are despicable. Theyre just there to steal your dues and do nothing for you. She explained that the ALU does not have a plan and that they have not even negotiated a contract for JFK8, months after they unionized.

Other workers stated that they like their job, but feel as though workers deserve better and because of that felt obliged to sign the ALUs petition to hold a unionization vote. Thats why I signed my name up, one worker said. Im okay with my pay, but I feel as though every worker here deserves better.

One worker, when discussing the ALU petition, stated, Workers are not going to go back to the 1930s. Workers are not going to sit around and stay quiet. Bosses cannot do what they got away with back in the day and workers arent going to let that happen either.

The worker agreed that, with or without the ALU or a union, workers will have to rise up to demand something better. I work 11- to 12-hour shifts sometimes, and with these demanding schedules, you know, I guess these companies profits are more important than ones private life. Scheduling time off is difficult since Im always being called in at the last second.
Twenty-five years ago this month, over 120,000 Ontario teachers waged a courageous two-week strike against the right-wing, Mike Harris-led Progressive Conservative government. The strike was the culmination of a mass movement that had been developing in the working class since late 1995 against the Tories Common Sense Revolutiona Thatcher-style program of sweeping public spending cuts, privatization, deregulation and anti-worker laws.



The strike became a direct political confrontation between the Harris government and the teachers, who rapidly won the sympathy and active support of large sections of workers in Canadas most-populous province. Popular support for the strike was so strong that a judge denied the governments request for a court injunction banning the strike, fearing that the injunction would be ignored and the authority of the courts as bulwarks of capitalist property and order undermined.

An insurgent working-class movement, the largest in North America during the 1990s, was gathering pace, calling into question the future of the Tory government and the domination of the capitalist elite over social and economic life. Precisely at this juncture, the union bureaucracy intervened to strangle the strike. They did so because the impending broadening of the teachers struggle to wider sections of working people threatened the interests of the union bureaucracy, with its close ties to the capitalist state and big business.

Throughout, the teacher unions described the strike as a political protest. They did so as part of their effort to contain and suppress it: in order to make clear to Harris and his ministers that they had nothing to fear from the unions, that they would not challenge his governments right to govern or lead a working class political offensive against its class war agenda. After the courts balked at trying to stamp out the struggle, the union bureaucrats took on the job themselves, calling off the strike and capitulating to the governments demands.



The 55,000 education support workers currently in a direct confrontation with the hard-right government of Doug Ford must draw critical political lessons from the historic 1997 teachers strike. Caretakers, education assistants, early childhood educators, and administrative staff are in a direct political struggle with the government after it tabled draconian strikebreaking legislation Monday that robs workers of their constitutional right to strike and seeks to impose brutal real-terms pay cuts. Reprising the line taken by the teacher unions in 1997, the Ontario School Board Council of Unions and Canadian Union of Public Employees are trying to limit worker opposition to a political protesti.e., a short-lived walkout aimed at urging Ford to return to the bargaining table.



To prevent the defeat of their struggle and organize a successful campaign of mass defiance of the Ford governments draconian anti-strike law, education support workers, teachers and their supporters throughout the working class must seize control of the struggle from the union bureaucracy by building rank-and-file committees in every school and workplace. The experience of the 1997 strike demonstrated that what education workers lacked above all was their own rank-and-file organizations to coordinate their fight, and their own party to provide political leadership. To assist in the clarification of these crucial questions of working class perspective, we are republishing a statement by the editorial board of the International Workers Bulletin, a predecessor to the World Socialist Web Site, published in November 1997 following the sellout of the Ontario teachers strike.

The betrayal of the 1997 Ontario teachers' strikeThe lessons for all workers

17 November 1997

The two-week strike by Ontario's 126,000 public school teachers and its betrayal by the teachers unions and the Ontario Federation of Labour contain vital lessons not only for the Canadian working class, but for workers all over the world.

The teachers struck against a right-wing provincial government that has launched a frontal assault on social programs, as well as trade union and democratic rights. The teachers stood firm in the face of Ontario Premier Mike Harriss threats of massive fines and other legal sanctions. Their stand galvanized the active support of parents, students and workers all across the province, who turned out in the tens of thousands at a series of rallies to demonstrate their class solidarity with the strikers.

The strike was the largest-ever work stoppage in Ontario, Canada's most populous province, and the biggest teachers strike in North American history. From the outset it took on the character of a broad social movement of working people, transcending the more narrow, sectional standpoint of most trade union struggles.

It was a direct challenge to the Tory (Conservative Party) provincial government, aimed at forcing Harris to rescind his so-called Education Quality Improvement Act (Bill 160). The teachers walked out not only to protect their jobs and working conditions, but to defend the public school system against the governments attack. Thus the strike centered on a question that goes to the heart of the social position and democratic rights of the entire working class.

Moreover, it was the culmination of two years of working class protests against the Harris government. Hundred of thousands of workers, students and unemployed people have demonstrated against the Tories cuts in social spending, which include a 21 percent reduction in welfare benefits and the imposition of a workfare program.

The teachers walkout became the focal point of the mass opposition to the Tories. Even the capitalist press had to concede that the strike had the support of a large and growing majority of the public.

Precisely because the strike had become a broader social struggle which raised fundamental political and class issues, objectively challenging the corporate offensive against working people which is the basis of capitalist prosperity, the trade union apparatus moved to terminate the walkout. Its interests were directly threatened by the strike because the trade union bureaucracy, in Canada as in every other country, defends the profit system and answers to the needs of big business, not the working class.

Union leaders call off the strike

At the height of the walkout, with the Harris Tory government isolated and in crisis, having failed to obtain a court injunction against the teachers, the union leaders, backed by the New Democratic Party (NDP) politicians, dropped their opposition to Bill 160 and offered major concessions to the governments demands for job cuts, reductions in teachers preparation time and increases in class size. When Harris refused their capitulatory offer, the unions called off the strike.

The courts had denied Harriss request for a back-to-work order because there was real concern within the ruling class that workers would refuse to comply. Recognizing the potential for a mass movement that could spin out of the control of the unions, the judge, in effect, instructed the union leadership to do the dirty work of smashing the strike.

Thus the teachers were defeated not by the might of the state, nor by any weakening within their ranks. Rather their struggle was sabotaged by their own leadership.

The Ontario teachers strike has provided a devastating exposure of the reactionary role of the existing trade union organizations, which, all over the world, are collaborating with big business and capitalist governments in the destruction of the past social conquests of the working class, including the right to decent public schools.

It has brought into sharp relief the crisis of leadership and political perspective confronting the international working class. The Ontario workers faced a dilemma common to workers in every countrythe absence of any mass political alternative of the working class to the parties of big business.

The more directly the teachers were locked in struggle with the Harris Tory government, and confronted with the task of bringing it down, the more clearly they came up against the most essential question: the need to build a new party based on a perspective of struggle against the whole of the profit system and all of its political parties.

Despite the attempt of the union leaders to cast the struggle in the most narrow possible termsas a contractual dispute with an aberrant politician and his demonic partyOntario workers were well aware that Harris was simply carrying to their logical end the policies embraced by all of the establishment parties in Canada, including the union-backed NDP. Over the past seven years workers in the province have endured successive Liberal Party, NDP and Conservative (Tory) regimes. All have launched attacks on the jobs, social services and democratic rights of the working class.

In fact, Harris was able to sweep to power in 1995 only after masses of working people turned with disgust from the NDP government of Bob Rae, which carried out unprecedented attacks on public service workers and enacted brutal social spending cuts.

And on a national level, the Liberal Party government of Jean Chretien takes its cue in social policy from the Harris regime in Ontario.

Thus the Ontario strikers were starkly posed with the following problem: Harris had to go, but what would replace him?

This is the very question that confronted the French workers in their mass strike movement of 1995, when they took to the streets against the right-wing government of Juppe, having previously experienced years of austerity and job-cutting under Socialist Party governments that ruled with the backing of the French Communist Party.

The same can be said of Britain, where the Labour Party has embraced a Thatcherite social program even to the right of the Tories, and of Australia, where the Labor Party did the bidding of big business during its 13 years of national rule.

In the US, the political disenfranchisement of the working class is maintained by the AFL-CIOs support for the big business Democratic Party.

At the heart of the trade union bureaucracy's betrayal of the working class is its support for the political parties that defend the capitalist system, including so-called Labor, Socialist and Communist parties, and its opposition to the construction of genuine parties of the working classparties based on the struggle to abolish class privilege and social inequality and unite workers internationally against the profit system.

In Ontario, the more the strike assumed the character of a political struggle against the government, the more overt and desperate became the bureaucrats attempts to channel the anti-Tory movement behind the other capitalist parties. That is why they brought NDP and Liberal Party politicians onto the platform at the support rallies called by the teachers unions and the Ontario Federation of Labour.

Teachers, parents and students throughout Ontario, and workers in the rest of Canada, were stunned and outraged by the labor bureaucracys betrayal of the strike. Rank-and-file teachers in Toronto and elsewhere sought to organize a movement to defy the union leaderships surrender.

However this opposition lacked a coherent alternative perspective to the pro-capitalist politics of the trade union bureaucracy. Such a perspective can, in fact, only be developed in the working class through the construction of a genuine socialist party, based on an assimilation of the historical experiences of the international workers movement and a scientific understanding of capitalist society.

The central lesson of the betrayal of the teachers strike is that there is no alternative to the struggle to build a mass socialist party of the working class, committed to an internationalist program.

The Socialist Equality Party of Canada intervened in the strike to fight for this orientation. It warned teachers of the treachery of the unions and urged them to make their struggle the catalyst for the all-out mobilization of working people against the Harris government, and to build the SEP as the new party of working class.

It explained that even the most basic demands of working people, such as high quality public education, are incompatible with the insatiable profit demands of the capitalist market. Societys resources can be mobilized to end poverty and unemployment and raise the material and cultural level of the people only if the economy is radically reorganized, with the most important levers of economic life placed under public ownership and utilized in a planned and rational way, under the democratic control of the working class.

The SEP distributed statements in the thousands at mass rallies in Toronto on November 6 and 8. Its November 8 statement, entitled: The way forward after the betrayal of the teachers strike: workers need their own party, declared:

All the struggles against the Tory cuts, their reforms of social programs and the downsizing of the public sector must be brought together in a political struggle aimed at bringing down the Harris regime and building a movement to replace it with a government democratically controlled by and serving the interests of the working people.
The Will Lehman campaign is holding a final election rally on Sunday, November 6, at 2:00 pm EDT. All workers are encouraged to register and attend. For more information on the campaign, visit WillForUAWPresident.org.

Autoworkers in Indiana expressed strong support for United Auto Workers (UAW) presidential candidate Will Lehman on Tuesday, while speaking in detail about their working conditions and experiences with the UAW bureaucracy. A campaign team visited the General Motors Metal Center in Marion and the Allison Transmission complex in Indianapolis.

The small industrial towns of Central IndianaMuncie, Anderson, Kokomoplayed a critical role in the mass industrial struggles that led to the founding of the UAW in the 1930s and the militant struggles of subsequent decades. Inspired by the Flint, Michigan sit-down strike in 1936-37, workers occupied GMs Delco Remy and Guide Lamp plants in Anderson, defying GMs Black Legion thugs, the declaration of martial law and occupation of the town by the Indiana National Guard.

Over the last four decades, however, the UAW has colluded in the savage attack on the jobs, living standards and working conditions of workers in the area.

Campaigner hands flyer to GM Marion stamping worker [Photo: WSWS]

Lehmans supporters spoke with GM workers at the Marion Stamping Plant, which employs 758 workers in the production of stamped metal parts for GM vehicles. As recently as 2014, the plant employed 1,600 workers.

Once an industrial hub, Marionlike other automotive towns in Indianahas been devastated by decades of downsizing and wage cuts. As of 2017, one in four Marion residents lived in poverty. Among adolescents between ages 12-17, nearly half (45 percent) live below the poverty line.

Workers were enthusiastic to hear about Lehmans campaign and his call for a fight against layoffs and concessions. One worker approached campaigners, saying, I been waiting for you to show up. I voted for Will and have been following his campaign. I saw his supporters were down in Spring Hill, Tennessee. The tiers are ridiculous, and they have to go. He grabbed a stack of flyers to distribute inside the plant and stuck a poster on the bulletin board by the entrance.

Marion Metal Center worker Alex [Photo: WSWS]

A veteran worker with 24 years in the auto industry described the Marion plant as a melting pot of workers who had come from other GM plants that had closed and carried out mass layoffs: Weve got guys here from Hamilton, Ohio; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Bowling Green, Kentucky; Mansfield, Ohio; Janesville, Wisconsin; Grand Rapids, Michigan; and the GM stamping plant in Indianapolis.

He himself went through the experience of the 1999 spinoff of GMs Delphi parts division, which then declared bankruptcy in 2007, tearing up the wages, pensions and conditions of 42,000 former GM workers. When I was at Delphi, they cut our wages in half from $30 an hour to $15, and the UAW let them do it.

The worker also spoke about the experience of Indianapolis GM stamping workers, 80 miles to the south. In 2011, GM closed its Indianapolis Stamping Plant, destroying 650 jobs, after workers rejected the demand by the corporationbacked by the UAWthat they accept a 50 percent wage cut in order to attract a new buyer for the plant. In reference to the militant struggle by the workers, the veteran commented, The guys here tell me they threw the UAW International officials out of the meeting for demanding the wage cuts.

Another worker described the indifference of local UAW officials to conditions at the stamping plant. You cant even get the phone answered, because theyre sleeping.

A millwright added, The UAW is not taking any stand against management. The committeemen always say, They can do that and management just does what it wants. Theyve been combining skilled trades positions and cutting jobs. Now, they want to turn welders into die makers. We dont know if its for electric vehicles or what. There is a shortage of skilled tradesmen because theyve been outsourcing everything and havent hired enough apprentices. Die makers are the only ones who are supposed to run the presses, but now they want production workers to do it. I told them I wasnt going to do it and said, You train them. Oh, I forgot, you dont know how to.

He went on to describe safety violations by management, carried out with the collusion of the local union officials: They want to be lean and mean, but theyre endangering us. Theyre saying if you are trained to run a small gantry crane you are skilled enough to run a big overhead crane. Management has lost their minds. Those cranes move dies that weigh 50 tons. If they move a few inches the wrong way, they can kill or badly injure someone. The company and the union say safety is the priority but thats a bunch of crap. We dont have a local union.

In January 2021, a worker at the plant was crushed to death by a 7,000-pound section of steel wall dropped by a malfunctioning fork truck.

Lehman campaigner speaks with worker at Allison Transmission plant in Indianapolis [Photo: WSWS]

Lehmans supporters also spoke with Allison Transmission workers in Indianapolis. In 2007, GM sold its Allison Transmission commercial and military business to the Carlyle Group and Onex Corporation for approximately $5.6 billion. This included seven manufacturing facilities in Indianapolis, which employed 3,400 workers producing automatic transmissions for medium and heavy-duty commercial vehicles. The plant also produces transmissions for US military tanks and other armored vehicles.

One worker said he voted for Will because we need a change. He added, We have a lot of tier workers in here and I know [Will] talks about getting rid of that. And I think we should. Theyre bringing workers in here for less than $15 an hour. Thats crazy. This company made record profits in the past couple of years. Responding to Wills call for the rank-and-file workers to take decision-making power out of the hands of the UAW apparatus, he said, I agree with that. The UAW is nothing more than a racket, in my opinion.

Scott, a worker with more than four decades at the plant described the changes he has seen. For the legacy workers its ok, but for the new guys they dont have pensions or good wages. None of us has had COLA for years. The local negotiated a six-year agreement and when it expires, we could be in a recession. Weve given up all our negotiating power. The company cant even hire anybody with a $15 starting wage. Amazon is paying more than that.

He went on, GM sold us in 2007. We havent had a raise in 15 years. At some point, we are going to have to strike. We voted by 97.2 percent to reject the last contract but they pushed the contract through. Now were being forced to work two Saturdays in a row and for a lot of guys Sunday is their only day off. The total point of the union was to protect and represent us. But the higher-ups in the union dont care. But were the ones in there making the product and the profits.

Another worker said, I voted for Will yesterday. There is too much authority in the company instead of the union. The company tells the union what to do. There is no grievance procedure. The grievances are just childish. I worked for 20 years at Ford and was a shop steward there. This union here is totally different. Its more in the companys hands. Ford shut down in 2011. Then GM Stamping, the Chrysler foundry, Harvester and all the big plants. It worries me about this one. Hopefully, Im going to make it to retire. But then there is the next generation, and Id like to leave them something, but I dont know.

At first, the worker expressed some hope that the chip shortage and growing tensions with China and Russia might lead businesses to bring back jobs to the United States.

He quickly shifted, however, when Lehmans supporters told him Will was fighting for the international unity of all workers against the global corporations.

I think it would be great. We need to even up like that. I mean, we need that. We all need to stick together, he said. Whether we are in Mexico or Japan or wherever were at. If we are all going to be autoworkers, we all need to be the same. We all need to stick together.

The Will Lehman campaign is holding a final election rally on Sunday, November 6, at 2:00 pm EDT. All workers are encouraged to register and attend. For more information on the campaign, visit WillForUAWPresident.org.
Rochelle, a long-time educator in Michigan, recently spoke to the WSWS about Will Lehmans campaign for UAW president, his call for workers to form rank-and-file committees, and broader political issues facing workers, including the escalating war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Like teachers throughout the US, Rochelle is angry over the unnecessary suffering of children, educators and communities from the bipartisan let it rip policy of the Trump and Biden administrations during SARS-CoV-2. That terrible and ongoing death toll is now compounded with widespread school transmission of RSV, flu and other pathogens. She explains here why she is supporting the fight of socialist Will Lehman for UAW president and what his campaign means for educators.

Among her reasons for supporting the Will for UAW President campaign, Rochelle also cites the betrayal of the strike at American Axle, where her husband worked. The 2008 strike stretched for 87 days before the UAW bureaucracy forced through a massive concessionary contract. More than half of the 3,650 workers in Michigan and New York lost their jobs. By 2012, the billionaire owner closed the plant and shifted work to Mexico. Rochelle emphasizes, If we were to unite internationally, workers like my husband wouldnt be thrown under the bus. They would work together in solidarity.

To learn more about the campaign of Will Lehman for UAW president, visit WillForUAWPresident.org.

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Rochelle: I think its important for educators to support Will Lehmans campaign for UAW president. We all need rank-and-file committees. I am a member of the Michigan Educators Rank and File Safety Committee.

We teachers are on the front lines. We know what has to be done to help our communities. We need good public health officials based on science, not determined by what is politically or economically preferred by business.

Opposition to war

I support Will because hes against the false sense of nationalism which pits us workers against each other, instead of unifying us. Hes for a much better quality of life for all workers.

War shouldnt even be a question. It benefits no one other than the war-industrial complex of capitalists. It is also a diversion, to take the conversation off the topic of the pandemic. Wait until we see the cost of heating our homes this winter! That, in addition to the cost to put gas in our vehicles and the outrageous cost of food. A friend in England is already talking about bread lines there, its very bad.

The only war we need to be waging is against the pandemic. The capitalistic forces have carried out some of the largest crimes against humanity in this lifetime during the pandemic.

We are spending all this money on a proxy war in the Ukraine. As a result, everyday people are facing enormous economic struggles. Meanwhile, [American Federation of Teachers president] Randi Weingarten is spending teachers union dues to travel to the Ukraine to promote this war. It is sickening that they claim this promotes democracy. This benefits neither the ordinary Ukrainians nor Americans.

This is geopolitical war profiteering. The unions are part of the problem, not part of the solution. They are too deeply entrenched in the geopolitical capitalist system.

The bureaucracy within the unions needs to be eliminated so that the union can be controlled by the rank-and-file rather than the business interests. This isnt just a problem among autoworkers. We educators feel it.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on educators and students

Our unions havent done what we needed to protect us, our students and our communities, especially during this pandemic. The pandemic highlighted the crisis; schools became one of the largest drivers of community spread.

Many of my students live in multigenerational homes, with grandparents, nieces and nephews. More than one has lost a parent to COVID. One girl who suffers from anxiety came down with COVID. Her father then caught it, struggled for months, then passed away from COVID pneumonia. She feels responsible for her fathers death.

In addition to their grief, the family has new financial struggles. They cant afford medications to manage chronic health conditions, medications that take several weeks to build up to therapeutic levels, creating additional difficulties and health setbacks. It makes me sick to see these conditions.

Schools and factories are the two main centers for community spread because so many people congregate from different areas. Some of my students have had COVID multiple times, others lost grandparents, aunts and uncles, or been hospitalized themselves. It is very traumatic for all of them. After the CDC shortened the official quarantine period, many workers feel pressured to come back before they are well. I saw it with one of my coworkers.

Schools are dealing with many more issues: social, emotional and economic. This is true nationally and internationally. We lack the resources and personnel to cope with this crisis. Behavior referrals have increased together with the number of emotional issues. Many more students are struggling. The alternative high school in my district has more students than ever before.

Educators are maxed out. They feel they are dispensable. Our lives and our health dont matter. Initially, when kids were home during the lockdown, we were praised as heroes. But as things continued, teachers were called lazy for teaching remotely, with some claiming we shouldnt be paid because we are not working. While many were working even harder to help these kids.

We often described it as building the airplane while we were flying it. The complications were huge. We didnt have proper training or experience with some of the technology that was introduced or utilized during remote sessions. Internet and Wi-Fi were not always available. New platforms and programs were suddenly introduced. It was absolute chaos.

The union bureaucracies were part of a nationwide push to get back to face-to-face. This contributed to high levels of community spread, illness, and deaths. Rank-and-file committees help ensure the voices and needs of the general population and the workers on the front lines are being heard.

Workers in Michigan took matters into their hands [walking out of the auto plants in March 2020 over COVID] because the leadership in the unions and the political parties wouldnt do it. Many lives were saved here in Michigan because of that. But shortly after Biden was elected, science and metrics went out the window. He and the unions partnered up to get all the schools open for face-to-face learning and pushing all the laborers back to work. As a result, the number of infections and deaths ballooned.

In Michigan, they threatened to take away school funding if we werent face-to-face. The result? In the United States, one out of every 311 people have died, but in Michigan, it is one out of every 254. And in St. Clair County, it is 1 out of every 180 people!

The US Government Accountability Office reports that COVID played a role in one of every four maternal deaths in 2020 and 2021. The US already had higher maternal death rates than other developed countries before the pandemic.

This was to make profits. All they wanted was everything open. The consolidation of wealth is disgusting. Many of the local mom-and-pop shops were forced to close their doors, while Amazon and other big business made unconscionable amounts of money.

The CDC shortened recommendation quarantine periods. This had nothing to do with science, and everything with economic gaingetting workers back to work. Then they stopped tracking the information to claim the pandemic was over, just stopped reporting it. It makes me angry, trying to blame the lockdowns and isolation for all these new high numbers of RSV, instead of acknowledging that our infrastructure is severely outdated and needs to be improved, especially air quality, in all of our public spaces.

Workers are told theres no money. But theyre sending it overseas for war. We get contracts imposed on us. Laws have been changed to illegalize strikes, like among teachers. There is a push to weaken our ability as workers to secure a basic standard of living, and safe working conditions.

Supporting Wills campaign will help change the paradigm

Teachers should support Will Lehman because the union apparatuses are working against us and our communities. Supporting Wills campaign will help change the paradigm. The union bureaucracy is tied to the political and economic forces of capitalism which work against all of us, nationally and internationally. We need to eliminate that bureaucracy and bring control to rank-and-file workers. That will allow us to successfully fight the struggles we need to fight.

Will calls for unifying across borders. My husband was a UAW member on strike at American Axle in Hamtramck in 2008. They worked ungodly hours. Hed sometimes leave the house at 3 AM and not get home until 6 or 7 PM. He had a coworker, a young, single mother who worked all this overtime to help provide for her daughter. She contracted pneumonia, developed encephalitis, and died.

The workers at American Axle fought the tier system but were left isolated by the UAW bureaucracy. They were pitted against the workers in Mexico, and the union promoted a deal for a buy-out, buy-down. After the drastic cut in wages, the company still closed the plants in Hamtramck down and sent the work to Mexico.

If we were to unite internationally, workers like my husband wouldnt be thrown under the bus. They would work together in solidarity. What Will is saying opens up a whole new conversation. Everybodys feeling it, aware of the different struggles elsewhere, and that they are not alone. Many people feel it and just dont speak it. We desperately need this conversation.
US Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder acknowledged during an official briefing yesterday that active-duty US military personnel are not only deployed inside of Ukraine, but are operating far away from the US embassy in Kiev.

The day before, an unnamed US Department of Defense official said at a background briefing that U.S. personnel had resumed on-site inspections to assess weapon stocks in Ukraine.

Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder Holds A Briefing

Reporting on this announcement, NBC News noted that these inspectors in Ukraine appear to be some of the first members of the U.S. military to re-enter the Eastern European country since the start of the war, outside of military guards posted at the U.S. Embassy...

During Tuesdays on-camera briefing, Travis Tritten of military.com asked, The military has personnel inside of Ukraine, who are doing weapons inspections now. Im wondering what the rules of engagement for those personnel are if they are fired on by the Russians or they are targeted by the Russians.

Ryder replied, We do have small teams that are comprised of embassy personnel that are conducting some inspections of security assistance delivery at a variety of locations.

My understanding is that they would be well far away from any type of frontline actions, we are relying on the Ukrainians to do that, we are relying on other partners to do that. Theyre not going to be operating on the front lines.

He continued, Weve been very clear there are no combat forces in Ukraine, no US forces conducting combat operations in Ukraine, these are personnel that are assigned to conduct security cooperation and assistance as part of the defense attache office.

To this, Tritten replied, But this would be different because they would be working outside the embassy. I would just ask if people should read this as an escalation.

Ryder claimed that the US action was not escalatory, and simply refused to answer Trittens question about what the US would do if any active-duty US troops were killed.

Especially over the past weeks, Russia has expanded its targeting of logistics sites throughout Ukraine, with weapons depots being a major target. What will be the consequence if these US troops, serving as liaisons for the coordination of logistics and weapons shipments, are targeted, including inadvertently, by Russia?

The fact that the massive funneling of arms into Ukraine by the US and NATO powers now requires the deployment of military personnel in Ukraine explodes the fiction that the US is not directly involved in the conflict, and is also revealing about the forces with which the US is allied.

To date, the United States has sent more than $50 billion in military and economic assistance to Ukraine. Having financed and supplied the war, the US wants to make sure it has direct control over where the weapons have ended up and how they are being used. This is part of the conflict within the American political establishment in advance of the midterm elections.

The US military and State Department are also concerned that advanced weapons may end up in the hands of elements within Ukraine that may use them in a way that Washington has not approved beforehand.

The Pentagons statements followed the release of a report by the State Department on its plans to Counter Illicit Diversion of Certain Advanced Conventional Weapons in Eastern Europe.

The report referred to a variety of criminal and non-state actors [who] may attempt to acquire weapons from sources in Ukraine during or following the conflict, as occurred after the Balkan Wars in the 1990s.

Criminal actors, however, are embedded in the Ukrainian military, particularly in the form of the fascistic Azov Batallion, which is playing a frontline role in the war against Russia and whose leaders have been brought to Washington and feted by Congressmen, Democrat and Republican alike.

The open secret is that the actual US force presence in Ukraine is far greater even than that admitted by the Pentagon on Tuesday.

In October, veteran journalist James Risen reported that the Biden administration had authorized the clandestine deployment of US Special Forces in Ukraine. Clandestine American operations inside Ukraine are now far more extensive than they were early in the war, wrote Risen.

Secret U.S. operations inside Ukraine are being conducted under a presidential covert action finding, current and former officials said. The finding indicates that the president has quietly notified certain congressional leaders about the administrations decision to conduct a broad program of clandestine operations inside the country. One former special forces officer said that Biden amended a preexisting finding, originally approved during the Obama administration, that was designed to counter malign foreign influence activities.

In July, the New York Times reported that dozens of US ex-military personnel are operating on the ground in Ukraine and that retired senior US officers are directing portions of the Ukrainian war effort from within the country.

US forces are intimately involved in all aspects of Ukrainian military operations, having helped provide intelligence for the strike that sunk the Moskva, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet, in April, and for Ukrainian strikes that have killed Russian generals.

The announcement comes amidst a major escalation of the war over the past month. Following military setbacks in both Northern and Southern Ukraine, Russia has mobilized hundreds of thousands of reservists, annexed four regions of Ukraine, and threatened the use of nuclear weapons to defend them.

A series of major provocative actions targeting Russia have massively increased tensions, including the bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, for which Russia has blamed the UK, as well as the assassination of Russian far-right ideologue Daria Dugina and the bombing of the Kerch Bridge, which the New York Times reported were carried out by Ukrainian forces.

Over the weekend, Ukraine carried out an attack on Russias Black Sea Fleet, the Times reported, which prompted Russia to withdraw from its grain agreement with Ukraine, threatening to escalate the global food crisis.

Under these conditions, forces within the US, including admiral James Stavridis, have renewed calls for more direct US intervention, including in the form of the dispatch of warships to the Black Sea.
At least 141 people, including dozens of children, are dead, with scores more injured, after a 143-year-old pedestrian cable-suspension bridge straddling the Machchhu River in Morbi city in the western Indian state of Gujarat collapsed last Sunday evening, around 6:30 pm.

Rescue operations by the army, navy and national disaster rescue personnel were still ongoing Tuesday, with many people reported missing. As a result, the death toll is almost certain to rise significantly.

Search and rescue work is going on as a cable suspension bridge collapsed in Morbi town of western state Gujarat, India, Monday, October 31, 2022. The century-old cable suspension bridge collapsed into the river sending hundreds plunging in the water. [AP Photo/Ajit Solanki]

The bridge was prematurely thrown open to the public on October 26, the Gujarati new year day, after being closed for repairs and renovations for several months. The decision to reopen the bridge was taken by the private company that was given charge of bridge operation and maintenance at the insistence of the Gujarat state government earlier this year. The horrific incident has caused widespread shock not just in Gujarat, but throughout the country.

Both municipal and Gujarat state authorities are complicit in this entirely preventable tragedy. The Oreva watch company, which claimed to have carried out extensive repairs and renovation on the bridge, failed to even seek, let alone obtain, the requisite fitness certificate from the municipal authorities before opening the bridge. Yet neither the municipal nor the state government stepped in to prevent the reopening from going ahead, despite the fact that the bridge was known to have suffered severe damage in a 2001 earthquake.

The bridge collapse is a major embarrassment for the national Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, led by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Gujarat is the home state of both Modi, who served as chief minister from 2002 to 2014, and his chief henchman Amit Shah, who is Indias Home Minister. Shah is known as the main implementor of the BJPs virulent Hindu-communalist campaign, including threatening to push migrants from Bangladesh into the sea and enacting the anti-Muslim Citizenship Amendment Act.

Gujarat is set to hold state assembly (parliament) elections in December. The bridge collapse is therefore a serious political problem for the BJP, which has ruled the state for the past 27 years and overseen sweeping business deregulation and privatization. The Modi-led BJP national government has made privatization of all public assets, including bridges, roads, enterprises and railways, a central feature of its domestic policy ever since it came to head the national government in 2014. Opposition to Modi and the BJP is growing due to its disastrous handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in more than 5 million deaths and Indias pandemic of poverty, hunger and mass joblessness, which has been further exacerbated in recent months by sharply rising food and fuel prices.

Modi was on a three-day visit to Gujarat and the neighboring state of Rajasthan when the tragedy occurred. He inaugurated an aircraft manufacturing facility and participated in National Unity Day celebrations on the birth anniversary of Vallabhbhai Patel, a right-wing Congress Party leader from Gujarat and Indias first home minister. It was Modis second visit to the state since October 10, as he seeks to strengthen the BJPs re-election effort.

The state BJP government has announced a measly compensation of Rs. 400,000 to the kin of each deceased person, whereas the Modi-led national government announced half that amount. Taken together, this amounts to total compensation of just $7,300 for those who lost relatives. People who were injured will receive a derisory Rs. 50,000 from the state and national government.

Around 500 people were standing on the bridge when it collapsed, despite it having a maximum capacity of 125 persons. The overcrowding occurred because the Oreva watch company had sold an excessive number of tickets and allowed hundreds of people to get on the bridge, a major tourist attraction, especially during the festive new year season. The bridge started swaying dangerously and then snapped, plunging the victims into the river, many on top of each other. Most of the dead were women and children or elderly people. Out of the dead, 78 were elderly and 56 were children, according to official figures.

A Morbi resident, Ranjanbhai Patel, commented to the media, 'As most of the people had fallen into the river, we were not able to save them.

Another young man was quoted by the BBC as saying, 'My sister and I fell in the water. I survived but my sister is still missing. I went to the government hospital, searched everywhere, but my sister is nowhere to be found. Weeping, he said he has been looking for her since Sunday evening.

More casualties are expected as the rescue mission continues. 177 people have been rescued so far. Dozens of people were critically injured. TV footage showed people holding the cables and remains of the bridge as emergency teams tried to reach them. Some attempted to climb up the wrecked bridge while others swam to safety.

Officials confirmed that the bridge collapsed because it could not bear the weight of so many people. Sandeep Singh, the chief municipal officer of Morbi, stated to the press, Historically, only 20 to 25 people used to go in a batch on the bridge and that has always been there.

While the police were quick to arrest the nine people responsible for operating the bridge, it is the top officials of the city and the BJP state government who bear chief responsibility. Up until March 2022, the upkeep of the bridge was under the jurisdiction of the municipality. However, the municipality handed over its maintenance and operation through a public tender to the Oreva watch company, which has no experience in operating bridges, let alone supervising bridge repair.

Lower-level municipal officials were reluctant to grant the contract for the bridges operation and maintenance to a watch company. But the municipal authorities were reportedly compelled to do so after receiving a nudge from the BJP state government. This is because the multi-millionaire owner of Oreva is a big supporter of the BJP and is politically well-connected.

The Gujarat government claims to have appointed a five-member committee to probe the bridge collapse. However, it is all but certain that the real culprits including ministers in the BJP government will be shielded while obfuscating the totally corrupt nexus between BJP politicians and industrialists.

The tragic events of the weekend are just the latest in a long series of failures of basic infrastructure. Many of Indias bridges and roads are in woeful shape and tens and even hundreds of thousands of people perish every year from flooding, bridge collapses and landslides.

While visiting Morbi, Modi expressed his condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the bridge collapse. Rarely in my life, would I have experienced such pain, he claimed. He called for a meticulous investigation.

Indias Supreme Court is scheduled to hold hearings on November 14 in response to a public interest litigation filed on behalf of the victims. Filed by an advocate, it charges the government authorities with negligence and utter failure to protect the public.
State governments in Victoria and New South Wales have abolished mandatory reporting of positive rapid antigen tests for COVID-19.

The move is grossly reckless and irresponsible. Making the submission of new COVID cases voluntary will further deprive public health authorities of accurate and up to date information on the continuing transmission of the virus. It follows the replacement of daily reporting of case numbers with weekly statistics. Scientists and medical officials are being deliberately kept in the darkjust as reports are emerging of a new wave of infections driven by new Omicron subvariants.

Staff prepare to collect samples at a drive-through COVID-19 testing clinic at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022. [AP Photo/Mark Baker]

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) NSW President Dr Michael Bonning warned that the end of mandatory reporting would make it more difficult to respond to future outbreaks.

On Friday, Victorian authorities released weekly infection figures, showing 8,537 reported cases, nearly 25 percent higher than last week. The number of those hospitalised also rose by 20 percent compared to the previous week, with another 172 COVID patients. Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton issued a statement explaining that these and other indicators show we are at the start of another COVID-19 wave.

Sutton also explained that new Omicron subvariants, known as BQ.1 and XBB, were circulating and that these are driving significant case and hospitalisation waves overseas due to their ability to escape immunity from past infection (including BA.5) and waning immunity from past vaccination.

Despite the worsening situation, the Labor government in Victoria and Liberal-National government in New South Wales are proceeding with their coordinated dismantling of public health restrictions. Backed by the federal Labor government, last month the two governments ended the five-day mandatory isolation requirement for people who contracted coronavirus. This measure effectively encouraged sick people to continue going to work and infect others, underscoring the ruling elites determination to block even the most basic efforts to restrict the spread of the virus.

There is bipartisan agreement that the pandemic must be falsely presented as over. This is based not on scientific and public health grounds but on economic and class ones. Big business interests have made clear that all impediments to profit-making activities must be permanently removed, with workers remaining in their workplaces regardless of the nature and level of COVID-19 transmission. The result is a continuing daily death toll that especially affects the elderly and immune-compromised, and a steadily accumulating number of people affected by Long COVID, with this mass disabling event having unknown long term implications.

The ruling elites sabotage of accurate case reporting is an important component of the let it rip strategy.

In the first year-and-a-half of the pandemic, mass COVID testing was performed using highly sensitive and accurate polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. Provided free of charge, these were conducted by trained nurses and medical workers. At the peak testing level, in mid-2021, more than 200,000 people across Australia were being tested daily. Everyone who felt even minimal COVID or cold symptoms got tested. Due to inadequate government investment in facilities and staff, testing centre queues sometimes stretched for hours. Ordinary people nevertheless waited to be tested, reflecting the widespread sense of public responsibility and determination to prevent the dangerous spread of infection.

Mass PCR testing repeatedly and rapidly detected outbreaks of community transmission, contributing to Australia being one of the least affected countries in the initial stages of the pandemic.

Rapid antigen tests (RATs) were promoted from mid-2021, at the same time as state and federal governments were moving to permanently end lockdown and other public health restrictions.

In August last year, the New South Wales government issued RATs to Year 12 students who were instructed to do their exams in crowded school halls, despite Sydney being in lockdown at the time. This measure was condemned by medical experts. The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia issued a statement that it was increasingly concerned at the level of commentary that promotes rapid antigen tests for the detection of Covid-19, despite the evidence [that] shows that there are significant differences between the actual performance of rapid antigen tests and manufacturers claimed test performance.

RATs unreliability has since been confirmed by research studies. One paper published last January in BMJ [British Medical Journal] Evidence-Based Medicine found that compared to PCR tests, RATs failed to detect COVID-19 in 36 percent of infected children. For infected kids who did not have symptoms, the rapid antigen tests missed the virus in 44 percent of cases.

Despite this, state governments made the mass distribution of RATs a centrepiece of their school reopening drive at the beginning of the year. Then Prime Minister Scott Morrison made clear the pro-business imperative behind this campaign, declaring that school closures were adversely affecting workforce participation.

In New South Wales and Victoria, families and teachers were issued free RATs and instructed to test twice weekly, regardless of having any symptoms. NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet openly stated this was aimed at boosting confidencein other words, the tests were being used as a cover for the reopening drive amid widespread concern and opposition to the official embrace of mass infection.

Reporting of COVID cases was made mandatory last January in response to such sentiment. Positive RATs had to be logged through an online form or app, with a failure to do so in NSW incurring a fine of $1,000.

Over the course of this year, testing provisions have been wound back. PCR testing centres have been shut down and access to such tests restricted. RATs are no longer freely provided in many schools and regular testing by students and school workers is not required. The federal Labor government likewise last July ended the free provision of RATs to concession card holders.

The lifting of the mandatory reporting in Australias two most populous states is effectively encouraging people not to alert authorities when they contract COVID.

In the first week after mandatory reporting was scrapped, identified case numbers via RATs substantially declined in NSW and Victoria, despite evidence that actual infections were rising. The real level of coronavirus transmissionalready much higher than the official figures indicatewill bear no real relationship to the number of voluntarily provided positive test results.

As part of the fight to build a movement of the working class for the elimination of COVID-19, the Health Workers Rank-and-File Committee (HWRFC) and the Committee for Public Education (CFPE) call on all workers, students and professional people to join an online public meeting on Sunday, November 20 at 3 p.m. (AEDT).

The meeting, titled, Unite educators and health workers: Oppose the ending of COVID protection measures! Lives before profit! will outline a political perspective, including the building of rank-and-file committees, to unify health workers, teachers and other sections of workers in the fight for decent wages, working conditions and the elimination of COVID-19. Register now: https://bit.ly/3CRCuOh
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev made a phone call to the President of the Republic of Turkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan on November 2.

During the phone conversation, they discussed the Sochi meeting of the leaders of Azerbaijan, Russia and Armenia and the signed joint statement.

President Ilham Aliyev congratulated President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the occasion of the start of mass production of Togg, a global technology brand that provides mobility services in Turkiye, and described it as a new success of Turkish industry.

During the phone conversation, the presidents exchanged views on various aspects of friendly and brotherly relations between Azerbaijan and Turkiye.
Seventy-five years ago, on 30 October 1947, 23 countries signed the Final Act of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Devised as a temporary agreement that would boost international trade, the GATT regulated world trade for almost 50 years before being succeeded by the birth of the World Trade Organization in 1995. However, the GATT still exists as the WTO's umbrella treaty for trade in goods.

DDG Gonzalez said that the GATT's durability owes much to the fact that it is underpinned by simple principles, such as non-discrimination, gradual reform through successive rounds of negotiations, and flexibility in the form of exceptions allowing members space for domestic policies. She underlined that the 75th anniversary should be a reminder that the GATT is a tool for international cooperation which is now all-the-more needed in view of the multiple crises affecting the world.

In her introductory remarks, WTO Director-General, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, recognised the incontrovertible role of global trade in driving prosperity around the world and in lifting over a billion people out of poverty since the establishment of the GATT. She said the multilateral trading system is a jewel worth polishing and that the success at the 12th Ministerial Conference was just the start of the reforms that need to be made.

Professor Irwin looked back at the century-long efforts of nations to come up with a well-functioning trading system, beginning with the Cobden-Chevalier Treaty of 1860 between the United Kingdom and France. He explored the role of international organisations, such as the League of Nations, in fostering the discussion of trading principles which would culminate with the adoption of the GATT in 1947.

Professor Irwin set out some of the differences between the multilateral trading system, safeguarded by the WTO, and the GATT, highlighting in particular the WTO's dispute settlement system. He concluded with three points: first, the world trading system is firmly embedded in the current geopolitical order; second, the path has been long and hard but the payoffs have been enormous; third, a return to economic nationalism and fragmentation is not just economically costly but dangerous.

The recording of the webinar can be found here.
Families gathered in Halifax to welcome home loved ones from HMCS Kingston and HMCS Summerside on Tuesday. (Heloise Rodriguez-Qizilbash/Radio-Canada - image credit)

Two naval ships returned to Halifax after four months at sea on Tuesday.

HMCS Kingston and HMCS Summerside, each carrying crews of 46, set sail in June to support NATO in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"They've been doing a very important mission with the NATO standing maritime mine countermeasure group, where they have worked with allies to deepen and perfect their ability to clear mines in the theatre of operations if required," said Rear-Admiral Brian Santarpia.

"That's a skill set ... evidently important now as we see the mines that were laid in the Black Sea. So we know that that threat exists, that it can deny ships the ability to operate safely in the area."

Santarpia said both vessels were part of a small group receiving specialized training on finding and disabling underwater mines, explosive devices planted to destroy ships or submarines.

"It's a sort of skill set that takes real practice. We use divers in order to find those mines and we use remote sonar equipment off the ships to actually do it," he said.

Second World War mines

During those practices, Santarpia said divers found mines that were laid during the Second World War.

"So off the coast of Europe, there are still mines in the area and our team went and found one off the coast of France where the divers actually went down, set the charge and and detonated a mine," he said.

Heloise Rodriguez-Qizilbash/Radio-Canada

Welcoming loved ones home

Karl Toulouse was part of the crowd waiting to welcome back loved ones. He was waiting for his son, Jonathan, and said they planned to celebrate with pizza.

"We're very grateful he's coming back happy and healthy," Toulouse said. "And he's pretty anxious to be home and we're lucky that he's had the opportunity to see Europe on this current deployment."

Executive officer investigation

In early October, the Canadian Armed Forces announced an executive officer on HMCS Kingston was dismissed from her duties on a coastal defence vessel after allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour during a port visit in Portugal.

The Department of National Defence said the incident occurred in late September. The name of the executive officer has not been made public. The allegations have not been tested and as of a month ago, the investigation was still underway.

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Dublin, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Indonesia Telecom Operators Country Intelligence Report" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The total telecom and pay-TV service revenues in Indonesia will grow at a CAGR of 2.8% over the 2021-2026 period, mainly supported by contributions from fixed broadband and mobile data segments.

The report provides an executive-level overview of the telecommunications market in Indonesia today, with detailed forecasts of key indicators up to 2026.

Published annually, the report provides detailed analysis of the near-term opportunities, competitive dynamics, and evolution of demand by service type and technology/platform across the fixed telephony, broadband, mobile, and pay-TV segments, as well as a review of key regulatory trends.



Mobile data will remain the largest revenue contributor over 2021-2026, driven by continued rise in 5G subscriptions on the back of 5G network expansions by operators, and growing mobile data ARPU.

Fixed broadband revenue will increase during the forecast period, supported by growing adoption of higher-ARPU FTTH services supported by ongoing fiber infrastructure expansions by operators.



The Country Intelligence Report provides in-depth analysis of the following:

Demographic and macroeconomic context in Indonesia.

The regulatory environment and trends: a review of the regulatory setting and agenda for the next 18-24 months as well as relevant developments pertaining to spectrum licensing, national broadband plans, tariff regulation, and more.

Telecom and pay-TV services market outlook: analysis as well as historical figures and forecasts of service revenue from the fixed telephony, broadband, mobile voice, mobile data, and pay-TV markets.

The competitive landscape: an examination of the positioning of leading players in the telecom and pay-TV services market as well as subscription market shares across segments.

Company snapshots: analysis of the financial position of leading service providers in the telecommunications and pay-TV markets.

Underlying assumptions behind our published base-case forecasts, as well as potential market developments that would alter, either positively or negatively, our base-case outlook.

Story continues

Scope

The overall telecom service revenue in Indonesia will grow at a CAGR of 2.8% during 2021-2026.

Mobile data will remain the largest revenue contributor at a CAGR of 4.2%, over 2021-2026, supported by driven by continued rise in 5G subscriptions with network expansions and growing ARPU.

Fixed broadband revenue will increase at a CAGR of 7.8%, from $1.1 billion to $1.6 billion in 2021-2026, thanks to growing adoption of higher-ARPU lines.

Fixed voice revenues will increase, at a CAGR of 4.4%, from $184.1 million to $228.2 million in 2021-2026, due to strong growth in VoIP subscriptions as users switch from circuit-switched.

Key Topics Covered:

Market highlights

Demographic, macroeconomic, and regulatory context

Demographic and macroeconomic context

Regulatory context

Telecom market outlook

Total telecom service revenue

Mobile services market

Fixed services market

Pay-TV service market

Competitive landscape and company snapshot

Companies Mentioned

Telkom Indonesia

Indosat Ooredoo

XL Axiata

3 Indonesia

Smartfren

Bakrie Telecom

Citra Sari Makmur

First Media

Indovision

Transvision

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/qihuj8

CONTACT: CONTACT: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood,Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./ CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900




Grants

Ellucian Foundation Awards $500,000 in PATH Scholarships

The Ellucian Foundation, the charitable arm of the Ellucian higher education technology solutions company, has announced its 2022 award of $500,000 in PATH (Progress, Accomplishment, Thriving, and Hope) scholarships to 35 historically Black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions across the United States. The grants will be used to help students who are struggling financially stay on track to graduate.

The scholarships were awarded by an independent judging committee in block grants of between $10,000 and $25,000 per institution and up to $1,500 per student. Money can be used for tuition, housing, food and other needs, with limited exceptions. Not-for-profit institutions outside the U.S. were also invited to apply, and those awards will be announced later.

The Ellucian Foundation and the PATH scholarship were established in 2020. To date the foundation has provided over $1 million to 65 institutions and 1,100 grants to individual students. Read about the scholarship program, eligibility requirements, and deadlines here. The Ellucian company offers a variety of services to higher education institutions, including assessment, consulting and cloud transition, data analytics and management, and training. Visit the company's website here to learn more.
MENOMONIE  Devils Punchbowl Preserve near Menomonie has been protected for nearly 25 years by the Landmark Conservancy. The sheer, sandstone cliffs and waterfall are a geologic wonder along the Red Cedar River valley.

A new study by University of Wisconsin-Stout biology professor Amanda Little and student Britney Serafina is shedding more light on the preserve and its unique plants. They undertook a six-month-long challenge of identifying and cataloging every plant species, finding more than 200 within the three-acre site.

Little and Serafina will talk about their experience during a Conservancy virtual presentation from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 9; you can find the event on Facebook.

In 1998, the Stout University Foundation donated the Devils Punchbowl to the Landmark Conservancy, a nonprofit land trust based in Menomonie that protects and manages more than 40,000 acres in western and northwestern Wisconsin.

This year, a grant from the Wisconsin Rare Plant Preservation Fund of the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin provided funding for a definitive plant survey of the site.

Its a unique geologic and botanical preserve located in the heart of western Wisconsin farmland, Little said. We hope this research will highlight the sensitive plants also present at the site so that they can be better preserved and less trampling off-trail may occur.

The research by Little and Serafina between May and October revealed 200-plus vascular plant species; more than 30 mosses and liverworts, including two mosses new to Dunn County; 12 species of ferns and 12 species of sedge.

It was surprising to find so much diversity in a small area, Little said.

Two of the moss species hadnt previously been identified in Dunn County, a heavily logged and farmed region, Little said. Each of the species only had one individual clinging to untrampled cliff faces in the preserve, indicating that conservation may be needed.

They received support with moss identification from Joe Rohrer, UW-Eau Claire faculty emeritus.

Plants at the site represent at least eight ecological community types found in the state.

I was interested in doing this study because of my growing fascination in plant studies. Once quarantine started in 2020, I found that my true passion lies with plant identification, said Serafina, an environmental science major from Baldwin.

New stairs installed this summer lead from 410th Street  Paradise Valley Road  to the floor of the circular-shaped Devils Punchbowl.

Future surveys will be done to document species change over time at the preserve, Little said.

Devils Punchbowl also is home to rare land snails.

Along with the environmental science major, UW-Stout has undergraduate programs in applied science, with a concentration available in biology, and in applied biochemistry and molecular biology.
Kristallnacht, Night of Broken Glass, occurred on Nov. 9, 1938, a night of violence and destruction instigated by Nazi leaders against the Jewish population in Germany prior to World War II.

In remembrance, Jacob Hellman, a third-generation Holocaust survivor, will share his familys story of Kristallnacht during Kristallnacht Memorial Night.

The event will be held at University of Wisconsin-Stout from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 9, in the Memorial Student Center Great Hall. Doors will open at 5:45 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

There will also be an opportunity for attendees to reflect through conversation and an interactive artistic activity to commemorate the Night of Broken Glass. Light refreshments will be available.

Hellman is a lecturer and professor of public speaking in UW-Stouts English, philosophy and communication studies department.

The Hellmann familys story

Hellmans grandparents Richard and Betty Hellmann  Jacobs father, Stanley, changed his name to Hellman  often shared their experiences during Kristallnacht, of the violence they witnessed as they fled their home and of their journey to the United States.

As Hellman continues to share their experiences, he wants to positively contribute to the culture of social justice and believes we need to combat messages of hate.

We need to remember our roots as humans, he said. In our lifetime, the Holocaust will pass out of living memory. We need to preserve the memory and as a human society need to keep it alive, or we are doomed to repeat it.

For six centuries, Hellmans grandfathers family had lived in Gunzenhausen, a Bavarian town of about 16,000 people, 35 miles southwest of Nuremberg, Germany. Then, in the mid-1930s, tens of thousands of Jews emigrated from Germany for fear of persecution, including Hellmans family.

However, before they were able to leave Germany, the Hellmanns were witness to Kristallnacht. As their home was ransacked, the Hellmanns fled in the dark of night with nothing but the clothes on their back, while Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues all over Germany were vandalized and set on fire.

The Hellmanns drove to different cities across Bavaria, seeking refuge with friends and family, eventually finding shelter in Nuremburg. It was not until the following September that they were able to secure tickets on a train to Antwerp, Belgium.

From there, aboard the Veendam, a ship of the Holland-American line, the family arrived in Hoboken, New Jersey, on Nov. 9, 1939, on the one-year anniversary of Kristallnacht.

My familys story enriches UW-Stouts story, Hellman said. I want to spread a message of tolerance to everyone and add to our universitys tapestry and diverse community.

For a complete story, visit Stanley Hellmans article, Kristallnacht: a Familys Saga, published in WhereWhatWhen.com.
Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso declared a state of exception in two provinces Tuesday, after at least five police officers were killed and prison guards taken hostage in the latest wave of attacks in the deadly gang war consuming the country.

The state of exception and nightly curfew in the coastal provinces of Guayas and Esmeraldas will be in place for 45 days, and allows the government to limit freedom of assembly and movement.

Officials said organized crime groups launched at least 13 attacks with explosives and firearms against police and oil installations in response to a transfer of inmates from Guayas 1 prison. The prison authority also reported that "shots were fired inside" the facility.

National police officers work at the crime scene of an attack on a patrol car where two policemen were killed in the Maria Piedad neighbourhood in Duran, Ecuador, on November 1, 2022. / Credit: GERARDO MENOSCAL/AFP via Getty Images

Located in the southwestern port city of Guayaquil in Guayas province, the prison was one of the main scenes of a series of prison massacres that have left about 400 inmates dead since February 2021.

Interior Minister Juan Zapata told reporters in the Ecuadoran capital of Quito on Tuesday there were "reactions (of) organized crime" in Guayaquil and in the northwestern oil port of Esmeraldas.

These incidents included car bomb attacks and an explosion at a bus terminal.

In the early morning hours, two police officers died when people with firearms attacked their patrol car in Guayaquil, authorities said.

Three more officers were gunned down later in the day in the port and the nearby city of Duran.

A separate attack on a police station there left two officers injured.

In Esmeraldas  the same city where two headless bodies were found hanging from a pedestrian bridge on Monday  inmates took eight guards hostage, according to the SNAI prison authority.

All were later freed, the prison authority said, without giving details about the guards' condition.

A video circulating on Twitter appeared to show two guards with explosives tied to their bodies and a man claiming to be an inmate denouncing what he called prison corruption. AFP could not independently verify the video.

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"If war is what they want, war is what they'll get," said the man, his face obscured, adding: "We will use these guards."

The SNAI had earlier announced on Twitter that it was moving about 200 inmates from Guayas 1  transfers that were necessary due to required maintenance to cell blocks.

But according to the purported hostage video, the move was because of events at Esmeraldas.

"Given the events in Esmeraldas and GYE (Guayaquil), we activated our tactical and investigative units to maintain order and find the perpetrators," the police said on Twitter.

The education ministry suspended classes Wednesday in Esmeraldas province's capital of the same name, while President Lasso also canceled a planned trip to the United States.

He said he will lead a central command post in Guayaquil following the wave of violence, and added that police "will intensify their operations."

"These acts of sabotage and terrorism are... a declaration of open war against the rule of law the government, and against all of you, the citizens," the president said in an address broadcast on radio and television.

"Today, narco criminals feel uncomfortable and they express their discomfort with violence," he added.

Ecuador  once a relatively peaceful neighbor of major cocaine producers Colombia and Peru  has seen a wave of violent crime that authorities blame on turf battles between rival drug gangs believed to have ties to Mexican cartels.

With the proliferation of organized crime, some local gangs, such as the Lobos and Los Tiguerones, morphed into micro-cartels.

Both gangs work with Mexico's Jalisco New Generation cartel, and have been responsible for deadly prison riots. The Department of Justice considers the Jalisco cartel "one of the five most dangerous transnational criminal organizations in the world." The cartel's leader, Nemesio Oseguera, "El Mencho," is among the most sought by Mexican and U.S. authorities.

Hundreds of inmates have been killed  many beheaded or incinerated  as the fighting spilled into Ecuador's hugely over-populated prisons.

Civilians have increasingly been caught up in the bloodshed, which has included a spate of car bombs, while the violence has also claimed 61 police lives since last year.

Ecuador has gone from being a drug transit route in recent years to an important distribution center in its own right, with the United States and Europe the main destinations.

The murder rate in Ecuador nearly doubled in 2021 to 14 per 100,000 inhabitants, and reached 18 per 100,000 between January and October this year.

In 2021, law enforcement seized a record 210 tons of drugs, mostly cocaine. So far this year's seizures total 160 tons.

Iran court sentences seven anti-government protesters to be executed

Elon Musk's leadership style as head of Twitter

U.S. Federal Reserve expected to raise interest rates again
Ben Sasse

(CNN)  The University of Florida Board of Trustees unanimously approved Republican US Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska as the university's new president Tuesday in the face of faculty and student criticism over the secretive search process, his limited relevant experience and his past criticisms of same-sex marriage.

Ahead of the vote, Sasse spoke to the board Tuesday and outlined his reasons for taking the job and his plans to position UF to succeed in what he called an age of technological disruption.

"I'm here rather than at some other school, or rather than trying to claw to stay in the United States Senate for decades, because I believe that this is the most interesting institution in the state that has the most happening right now, and is therefore the best positioned to help lead our country through a time of unprecedented change," Sasse told the board Tuesday.

When asked about his plans related to LGBTQ faculty and students, Sasse said he expected that his positions would be the same as that of outgoing President Kent Fuchs. He also declared his intention to adhere to "political celibacy," saying he would step down from all partisan activities.

"I'm not a partisan figure in this role," he said.

The trustees approved Sasse's appointment by a 13-0 vote. The Board of Governors meets November 10 for final approval.

"I am incredibly gratified by the engagement," Sasse said after the vote. "In a community this big, there is going to be a lot of diversity of opinion, and that is a good -- not a bad -- thing."

The appointment is a sharp career shift for Sasse, a sitting senator who was elected in 2014 and was reelected to another six-year term just two years ago. A conservative who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump after the attack on the US Capitol, Sasse has said he plans to resign his Senate seat for the position at UF.

Prior to his election to the Senate in 2014, Sasse was president of Midland University, a private Lutheran liberal arts school in Nebraska with an enrollment of about 1,600 students. He graduated from Harvard and earned a PhD in American history at Yale and also worked at Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey and private equity firms, according to his website.

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By contrast, UF, one of the premier public universities in the country, has an enrollment of over 60,000 students on a 2,000-acre campus with over a thousand buildings. Unlike Sasse, UF's most recent presidents had extensive, decades-long careers as administrators at major universities prior to taking the school's top job.

His appointment comes amid concerns of undue political influence at the University of Florida under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. Last year, three professors were barred from testifying as paid experts in a voting rights lawsuit challenging a new voting law signed by DeSantis, a decision that was later overturned.

The 15-person University of Florida Presidential Search Committee announced Sasse as its sole finalist to become UF president last month.

"Ben brings intellectual curiosity, a belief in the power and potential of American universities, and an unmatched track record of leadership spanning higher education, government and the private sector," committee chair Rahul Patel said in the statement.

The committee said in a statement they had reached out to more than 700 candidates and unanimously chose Sasse.

His candidacy sparked protests and opposition from students and faculty. Last month, student protesters entered an open forum with Sasse and chanted against his appointment. The university announced it would enforce its rule barring protests inside buildings on campus for Sasse's public appearance on campus Tuesday.

In addition, the UF Faculty Senate last week approved a no-confidence resolution by a 67 to 15 vote disapproving of the process that led to Sasse's selection.

Sasse pick criticized for secrecy and LGBTQ views

About a dozen students spoke against the approval on Tuesday morning in front of the Board of Trustees, questioning why Sasse -- a partisan politician with limited experience and no apparent connection to Florida -- was the committee's only candidate.

"It's hard for many students to envision a leader that has negative things to say about members in our community," said Paul Wassel, graduate student council president. "For others, their thoughts are clouded by wondering how Dr. Sasse can be the most qualified candidate for this position considering what was claimed as an exhaustive search. I too myself have doubts in these two areas for Dr. Sasse."

Outside the building where the meeting was taking place, UF Police set up barricades to prevent potential protests. About 70 people gathered outside, loudly chanting phrases such as "Hey hey, ho ho, Ben Sasse has got to go."

Dayanna Peek, a third-year UF student, was one of those who gathered outside to protest Sasse's selection. She said Sasse was a "homophobe" and a "puppet of Ron DeSantis" whose beliefs were not aligned with the university.

"They set up barriers here because they know we're trying to get in and show our voice, we're trying to come and show he's not welcome here," Peek said. "After this, if he decides to accept, we're just going to have to protest, constantly protest, and make sure he's aware that we do not want him here."

Last year, DeSantis signed a bill that exempted the names of applicants for the presidencies of Florida public universities and colleges from disclosure under public record laws through much of the selection process.

Dr. Lisa Lundy, a professor who served on the search committee, said last month Sasse was the only candidate because other candidates didn't want to be named publicly unless they were the sole finalist.

"I think the situation was that all of the candidates were in positions that they felt could be compromised if people found that they were in the running for another job," Lundy said.

Mori Hosseini, chairman of the board of trustees, said other candidates would not have interviewed for the job without the promise of secrecy in the new law.

Following the Supreme Court's landmark decision legalizing same-sex marriage in 2015, Sasse took the stance that only a man and a woman should get married. Speaking Tuesday, he said the high court's decision was "the law of the land" and irrelevant to his role atop UF.

According to Dr. David Bloom, a member of the selection committee, Sasse explained his opposition to same-sex marriage by saying he was "supporting his constituency in Nebraska, but he would be supporting the constituency of the faculty, staff, the students at UF if he were to become president."

The-CNN-Wire

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Related: No Confidence in Anti-LGBTQ+ Senator Ben Sasse, UF Faculty Says
Republican secretary of state candidate Kristina Karamo has issued a striking defense of her last-minute legal bid asking a court to potentially reject tens of thousands of Detroit votes: It's a way to protect the voting rights of Detroiters. Those potentially impacted by the lawsuit don't buy Karamo's characterization. Instead, some see it as a ploy to disenfranchise voters in the nation's largest majority-Black city.

Karamo seeks a court order declaring that only absentee ballots requested by Detroit voters in person will count.

"I saw that and I'm going 'only for the city of Detroit?' What's wrong with you?" said Enid Cyrus, a 71-year-old Detroit voter who said she called the clerk's office to request an absentee ballot that she returned via the mail last week.

An election worker counts absentee ballots inside Hall E of Huntington Place in downtown Detroit on Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022.

Shirley Myles, a 73-year-old voter in the city, said it's obvious to her why Karamo has targeted Detroit.

"This is a Black city and those that are not Black are low-income," she said. "That is why and that is wrong."

Myles, who said she mailed in a request for an absentee ballot she returned early last month, said Karamo was making a last-ditch attempt to try to change the rules for voters in the city.

"I don't understand how she can put in a request in a lawsuit for something that when we voted was not even in effect at all," Myles said.

Tens of thousands of Detroit voters  who have the right under the Michigan Constitution to request absentee ballots by mail or in person  have already returned their absentee ballots for the upcoming Nov. 8 election. As of Monday, 82,941 absentee ballots were sent out to the Detroit voters and 47,932 have been returned, according to the Secretary of State's Office.

Karamo received former President Donald Trump's backing after serving as an election observer in Detroit in 2020 and leveling unfounded allegations of misconduct. She participated in lawsuits to overturn the results of the presidential election in Michigan and other battleground states won by President Joe Biden.

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Her latest legal effort asks the court to order a halt to the count of absentee ballots obtained without identification and those returned through drop boxes Karamo's lawsuit alleged were not properly monitored. Election officials verify absentee ballots in Michigan by reviewing the voter's signature on the ballot application and return envelope, not through photo identification. All drop boxes in the city are under 24/7 camera surveillance, according to city election officials. Other plaintiffs in the lawsuit brought by Karamo include poll challengers who have observed the vote count in Detroit in previous elections now leading trainings for election monitors and an organization that has touted its legal effort to decertify the 2020 election.

Residents of Detroit drop off their ballots at the primary ballot drop box in the front of the city of Detroit Department of Elections building on Monday, Aug. 3, 2020.

David Fink, the lawyer representing Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey in the lawsuit, called the legal challenge "blatant racism" reminiscent of Jim Crow voter disenfranchisement during a court hearing Monday. Karamo, who is Black, vehemently rejected the characterization at a Monday news briefing during which she accused those who said her lawsuit would disenfranchise Detroiters of lying.

More:Kristina Karamo seeks court order that could impact thousands of Detroit voters

More:Jocelyn Benson faces Kristina Karamo in Michigan secretary of state race: What to know

She repeatedly said that her lawsuit asked the court for guidance on alleged election law violations in the city. "The goal is not to make Detroit residents physically present themselves," she said during her news briefing. But the complaint specifically requests that the court "declare that only Absentee Ballots that have been requested in person can be validly voted in the election."

Karamo's campaign did not respond to a request for comment regarding whether the complaint will be amended to exclude the request to stop the count of absentee ballots not requested in person. A lawyer involved in the lawsuit indicated an amended complaint would not be filed during a court hearing that preceded Karamo's briefing. It is not clear how Detroit voters who have already returned their absentee ballots could comply with such an order if Karamo scores a legal victory with the Nov. 8 election less than a week away.

Secretary of State candidate Kristina Karamo talks to delegate Jeffrey McQueen during the MIGOP State Convention at the DeVos Place in Grand Rapids on April 23, 2022.

Karamo has blamed low voter turnout in Detroit on unproven claims of widespread election fraud and painted her legal challenge as a way to protect the voting rights of Detroiters from ballots she alleges were cast illegally. "Our concern is that illegal ballots might dilute the legal vote," she said. Karamo, who is registered to vote in Oak Park, made several references suggesting her own voting rights were on the line in her lawsuit.

Incumbent Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Detroit resident, called Karamo's lawsuit filed in the Wayne County Circuit Court last week an "egregious" attempt "to have valid votes thrown out" in a tweet. Political leaders in the city, including Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and U.S. Rep. Rashida, D-Detroit, similarly blasted Karamo's lawsuit during a Democratic rally headlined by former President Barack Obama in the city last weekend.

Richard Mack, an attorney with the Detroit Branch NAACP, said Karamo knows her lawsuit is poised to fail but said despite its defeat, her decision to file it alone threatens the voting rights of Detroiters.

"She knows that she's not going to win," he said at a news briefing. But it might deter some absentee voters who hear about the lawsuit from turning in their ballots if they think their vote won't count. "If they could just shave off a few percentage points of absentee voters who think that because of the paper, because they read the headline that they may have a problem with absentee voting, then that's a victory for her," Mack said.

Fink indicated future plans to pursue sanctions against the attorneys involved in the lawsuit. Detroit Branch NAACP President, the Rev. Wendell Anthony, said he supports such an effort to ensure Detroit taxpayers won't have to foot the legal bill for defending the city against Karamo's legal bid. He characterized her challenge as a frivolous "lawsuit in search of a violation."

The Rev. Wendell Anthony of Fellowship Chapel speaks about the late congressman John Conyers Jr. on Monday, Nov. 4, 2019, during his funeral at Greater Grace Temple in Detroit.

At a court hearing Monday, Karamo's lawyers withdrew a motion requesting a visiting judge outside of Wayne County hear the matter, alleging judges on the ballot in the county would create an appearance of impropriety. The lawyers said they did not realize Wayne County Circuit Chief Judge Timothy Kenny presides over all election-related cases and that his name does not appear on the ballot for the upcoming midterm because he will retire in several weeks.

Election officials recommend voters who have requested and received their absentee ballots complete and return them as soon as possible in person at their local clerk's office or a drop box to avoid postal delays. Those eligible can register to vote and cast a ballot until 8 p.m. on Nov. 8 Election Day. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.

Clara Hendrickson fact-checks Michigan issues and politics as a corps member with Report for America, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project. Make a tax-deductible contribution to support her work at bit.ly/freepRFA. Contact her at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743. Follow her on Twitter @clarajanehen.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroiters on why Karamo lawsuit targets them: 'This is a Black city'
Italian paramilitary police raided hotel rooms used by employees of a catering company on The Equalizer 3 on the Amalfi coast and arrested two caterers after seizing more than 100 grams of cocaine on Tuesday, according to local media.

Italian newspaper Il Giornale reported that Carabinieri cops broke into hotel rooms in the seaside resort of Maiori used by the Equalizer 3 caterers after the head of the films catering service suddenly died of a heart attack on Monday evening. Several small packages of cocaine were subsequently found in the mans clothing, raising suspicions that there could be more drugs on the productions premises.

More from Variety

The police search yielded 120 grams of cocaine and led to two other members of the films catering vendor being placed under house arrest in the hotel on alleged drug dealing charges. A third employee of the catering company was found in possession of a small amount of cocaine and had his drivers license pulled.

In addition to the hotel, police searched an area of Maioris small port where production of the film has set up camp, the newspaper reported.

Equalizer 3  on which Sony Pictures has partnered with Italys Eagle Pictures  is currently in its fourth week of shooting in the Amalfi coast area with Maite Bulgaris local outfit Garbo Produzioni handling the films physical production service. The pic tapped into Italys generous production incentives, through Garbo.

A representative for Garbo Produzioni on Wednesday said the company had no comment.

Equalizer 3, which is directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by Richard Wenk, stars Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning almost 20 years after they co-starred in Man on Fire. Italys Gaia Scodellaro (You Me and the Apocalypse) also stars. Plot details are being kept under wraps, and the film will release on Sept. 1, 2023. Producers are Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Washington, Antoine Fuqua, Clayton Townsend, Alex Siskin, Steve Tisch, Tony Eldridge, and Michael Sloan.

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Staff members work at a service point to provide water and food for Foxconn employees before their departure on October 30, 2022 in Zhengzhou, Henan Province of China. VCG/Getty Images

Foxconn denied claims on social media that some of its workers died from COVID in their dormitory.

Unverified videos circulating online claimed that eight workers died in one dormitory room.

Foxconn called the footage "maliciously edited," and said no workers had died at its facility.

Apple's biggest iPhone maker, Foxconn, has denied claims from videos circulating on social media that some of its workers died from COVID-19 at its plant in Zhengzhou, China.

"Following a detailed investigation into the online video footage alleging 'deaths at room 726,' Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn) solemnly clarifies there are no deaths at our facility," the company said in a statement to Insider.

Foxconn added in its statement that it believed the footage was "maliciously edited."

The videos, seen by Insider, claim to show workers shouting and protesting confinement in their dormitories, with captions alleging that eight employees died in their shared dormitory room. Foxconn's Zhengzhou facility employs around 200,000 workers  many of whom are from rural villages and towns  and operates dormitories to house them.

Some of the clips appear to show staff in white protective suits standing in a courtyard surrounded by residential blocks, while wails and yells can be heard.

A compilation of the clips was tweeted by a Chinese dissident, Bloomberg first reported. The video has accrued more than 500,000 views.

Insider was unable to independently verify the veracity of the videos.

Huge outcry over Foxconn workers trying to escape prison-like COVID confinement measures

Foxconn's Zhengzhou factory recently drew widespread attention on Chinese social media, after videos emerged of its workers climbing fences and walking back to their hometowns to escape prison-like COVID-19 measures at the plant. Insider could not independently verify the authenticity of the videos.

After the videos went viral, Foxconn announced on Sunday that it would arrange vehicle transport for workers who wanted to return home.

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Foxconn employees take shuttle buses to head home on October 30, 2022 in Zhengzhou, Henan Province of China. VCG / Contributor

The facility adopted a temporary "closed loop system" over the last two weeks, after a small coronavirus outbreak at the plant. According to the system, workers have to be transported directly from their dormitories to the factory and back. The system allows the factory to run while attempting to stamp out any trace of the virus, in accordance with Beijing's strict zero-COVID mandate.

However, it's also greatly restricted the movement of the workers, who aren't allowed to leave the premises. Discontent also grew over the risk of food shortages, with only production line employees being given meal boxes while other workers received basic fare like bread or instant noodles, Bloomberg reported.

The outbreak and subsequent developments with Foxconn's workers could spell trouble for the global supply of iPhones ahead of the holiday season.

On Wednesday Beijing time, Zhengzhou authorities ordered a full 7-day lockdown of the area around Foxconn's plant. It remains to be seen how exactly the lockdown will affect iPhone shipments.

Foxconn said it would continue running in a closed-loop system, according to Bloomberg.

The Taiwan-based electronics manufacturer produces an estimated 70% of Apple's global iPhone shipments, according to Reuters. Production of the iPhone could fall by as much as 30% due to the recent COVID-19 measures, the outlet reported.

Reuters and Bloomberg reported separately this week that Foxconn is raising workers' wages at the Zhengzhou plant in an attempt to shore up its workforce amid the departures.

November 2, 2022: This story was updated to reflect that Zhengzhou entered lockdown from November 2 to 9.

Read the original article on Business Insider
London  Alaa Abdel-Fattah, a prominent rights activist imprisoned in Egypt, went on "full hunger strike" on Tuesday and intends to start refusing even water from the first day of the COP27 climate conference, which kicks off this weekend in northern Egypt, according to his family. The dual Egyptian-British citizen has been on a hunger strike for months in hopes that the U.K. government might take action on his case.

Alaa has been behind bars in Egypt for most of the last eight years. He was an important figure in pro-democracy "Arab Spring" protests that led to the overthrow of then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 2011. He's been locked up, on charges that human rights groups dismiss as spurious, for virtually all of Egypt's current authoritarian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi's rule, since 2014.

"Regardless of how it ends, Alaa has already won this battle," his sister, Mona Seif, said in a tweet on Tuesday. She said he could either be freed, or "if he doesn't make it and dies in prison, his body will tell the whole world what a bunch of liars you all are, ruthless inhumane creatures that should not be trusted with one plant let alone people and the future of this planet."

So for @alaa, my beautiful amazing brother, there is no choice to be made, he moves forward knowing he has already won his battle irrespective of what will be written on its last page#FreeAlaa #FreeThemAll #Cop27 #Egypt pic.twitter.com/fYKBz1gOHu  Mona Seif (@Monasosh) November 1, 2022

For the last 200 days, Alaa has been consuming less than 100 calories daily, and his family says they're worried for his life. They have been calling on the British government to pressure the Egyptian government to at least allow a British consular visit to Alaa in prison.

Alaa's other sister, Sanaa Seif, set up camp outside the U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office in London about two weeks ago to draw further attention to her brother's case.

Last week, 64 members of both houses of the U.K. parliament wrote to the British foreign secretary to ask him to use the COP27 summit as an opportunity to secure Alaa's release.

"Alaa's situation is so grave that it requires a robust message," the U.K. lawmakers wrote. "In that light, we strongly encourage you to make clear to your Egyptian counterparts that Britain's engagement with COP will be seriously undermined by the continued mistreatment of one of its citizens."

A foreign office spokesperson told the BBC on Tuesday: "We are working hard to secure Alaa Abdel Fattah's release and we continue to raise his case at the highest levels of the Egyptian government. The foreign secretary most recently raised his case when he met Egyptian Foreign Minister [Sameh] Shoukry at the United Nations General Assembly in September."

Meanwhile, it was reported that Egyptian authorities had already arrested nearly 70 people in connection with calls issued on social media for people to stage protests on November 11, during COP27.

Protests have effectively been banned in Egypt since al-Sisi cracked down on political dissent when he came to power, but Egypt's COP27 organizers have said that limited demonstrations will be allowed in designated areas.

One activist from India named Ajit Rajagopal was detained in Cairo after setting off on a solo march for climate justice, where he aimed to walk to the site of the COP27 conference in the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, Reuters said. He was released after being questioned for hours over a poster he was carrying showing the route of his walk.

Campaigners including climate activist Greta Thunberg, who's skipping this year's climate conference but visited Alaa's sister Sanaa at her camp outside the foreign office in London, have expressed doubt over the extent to which activists will be able to freely express themselves around the summit.

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Jennifer Lawrence has revealed she and Lynne Ramsay are planning to collaborate in film adaptation of Ariana Harwiczs Die, My Love.

The film is an intimate portrait of a woman in rural France who is driven to insanity amid marriage and motherhood. As of now, theres no word on when the film will be released.

Ramsay, though, is a star in her own right, as shes has directed several hit films, including Ratcatcher, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Morven Callar and You Were Never Really There.

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Jennifer Lawrence Is a Veteran Struggling to Recover Her Memories in Emotional Trailer for Causeway (Video)

In a New York Times profile, the Silver Linings Playbook actress spoke about her role in the upcoming Apple TV+ drama Causeway, in which she plays a soldier who struggles to adjust to her life upon returning to her New Orleans hometown.

She also expressed a desire to break away from studio-sized films and instead, continue doing smaller, more independent fare, like Causeway. Lawrence said that while she doesnt regret signing on to The Hunger Games franchise, which she starred in from 2012 to 2015, she didnt expect all the subsequent fame and attention she would receive.

Those movies were fantastic, she told the New York Times. The only thing that gave me pause was just how famous it would make me.

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She also spent fall shooting the comedy No Hard Feelings, in which she plays an irresponsible woman hired by a rich couple to befriend their socially awkward kid (played by Andrew Barth Feldman). No Hard Feelings will be the second produced film from Lawrence and Justine Ciarrochi.

I just want to laugh for two hours and forget about the fact that America is slipping into autocracy, Lawrence said.

Lawrence is also set to star in a biopic of Hollywood agent Sue Mengers.

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.  Kelvin Gastelum is looking to turn things around in his fighting career.

A UFC middleweight and winner of The Ultimate Fighter 17, Gastelum (17-8 MMA, 11-8 UFC) is determined to bounce back from a losing skid and improve form now that he made major changes in his life.

Gastelum moved from California to Arizona, and switched teams from Kings MMA to Fight Ready over the course of the past year.

Well, first of all, California, I had to get the hell out of there, Gastelum told MMA Junkie on Tuesday. It was crazy expensive. It was actually something that had ran through my mind before, and when the opportunity to move, I freaking did it.

Other than that, I need to change my game up. Things arent going the way I want them in my career. I need to switch things up. I made some radical changes by coming out here to Fight Ready and coming out here to Arizona, and you know, changing my whole environment, changing where I live and getting real uncomfortable.

I think thats really what it was. I was at a really good, comfortable position in Huntington Beach, living really good, but I needed to get out of that. I needed to switch things up in my life and make sure this is really wanted to do, and it is.

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Gastelum has yet to fight under the Fight Ready team. He was supposed to have his first fight under the new banner in April at UFC 273, but an injury forced him out of the even. Gastelum will go without competing in 2022, as hes scheduled to return on Jan. 14 vs. Nassourdine Imavov at a UFC Fight Night event in Las Vegas.

It hasnt been my best year, but Im an optimistic person, so I always kept my head pretty positive even though it hasnt been the best of situations this year, Gastelum said. So here we are. Im recovered from my injury, and Im about to jump into another camp here at Fight Ready, and hopefully the fight does go through.

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Last time I got injured one week out, and it was very unfortunate, and its been a rough process to get to this point, but here we are.

Gastelum is 1-5 in his past six fights. Not so long ago in 2019, the Mexican-American pushed current champion Israel Adesanya like never before in an ultra competitive fight that stands in the minds of many as one of the best title fights in middleweight history.

The 31-year-old fighter is confident the switch can make him a title contender once again.

Ive learned so much, Gastelum said about his pivot to Fight Ready. I think my game has grown so much as well. Its a different environment, a different set of eyes, a different way of doing things, and its worked out well. Ive had a full training camp until I got injured, so I cant wait to get in there and show people what Ive been working on.

Story originally appeared on MMA Junkie
Longbranch Bourbon co-founder and Texas native Matthew McConaughey raises a toast his MJ&M partners, who raised $8M on Thursday night at their 10th annual fundraising event

Tyler Schmidtt/The Mill Photography Studio

Matthew McConaughey is proud of his roots.

The Oscar-winning actor, 52, who grew up in Uvalde, Texas and currently lives in Austin, has long gone to great lengths to show support for his home state, most recently by inviting fans on a luxurious ranch-style stay in Texas Hill Country.

Longbranch, the award-winning bourbon co-created by McConaughey from the makers of Wild Turkey, has teamed up with the newly expanded glamping property Walden Retreats to offer customers an immersive bourbon-infused experience on the outskirts of Austin.

McConaughey says he doesn't see his promotion of Texas "as a mission." Rather, "I think it just naturally comes out of me," he tells PEOPLE. "Look, I'm a man of the world. I've traveled. I've filled many passports. But I'm from Texas. How much is me being from Texas also how I was raised by my family."

"There are certain expectations that come with being a Texan when you're young," he explains. "And you also get consequences when you screw up, because people go, 'That's not very Texan of you.' It's a sort of measuring stick of what you get applauded for and what you get disciplined for in Texas."

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Matthew McConaughey

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McConaughey however stresses that the Texans he knows were encouraged to also venture outside the state.

"It's not necessarily a place that says, 'No, you have to stay here, don't go anywhere,' " he says. "It's not an insular state like that. Texans are like, 'Go travel.' I find that, even myself, around the world I meet Texans all over the place, more so than any other state. And part of that is that sort of adventurous spirit of get out there, go see. You wonder what's happening over somewhere in the world? Fill your passport, go check it out. Then come back home and tell us about it."

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McConaughey's latest getaway venture with Longbranch and Walden Retreats was his way to "get people outdoors a little bit more."

For each Longbranch Ranch package booked, the brand will match the cost and donate to The Trail Conservancy, a local nonprofit dedicated to protecting Austin's beloved Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail.

"I know how much that's done for my own health, mentally, spiritually and physically in my own life," he says of being outside in Texas. "It's hard to find that time these days in the world, in the lives we live. So if you can combine a luxury experience, plus an open invitation to get outdoors, or go take a walk in the middle of the night, or whatever it's going to be, that's a true five-star experience in my mind."

McConaughey says his love for the outdoors traces back to his childhood growing up in Uvalde. "The first time you go, 'Can I stay outside or sleep in a tent tonight?' And I did, in the backyard," he recalls. "It was a scary night and I was scared of every sound that happened, but I did it and ended up enjoying it."

"I remember when I moved to Longview, I built a really great tree house," he continues. "On one night a weekend, I'd go stay in the tree house and loved that. I felt like I was all alone in the world, like I was hiding out."

Guests 21 and older can book a Longbranch Ranch package by visiting the "book now" page at waldenretreats.com for stays beginning March 1, 2023.
Throughout the past three years that Platte County Pheasants Forever reorganized in the community, the best part has been making an impact on local youths, according to the groups presidents.

Pheasants Forever is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to conserve pheasants and other wildlife through habitat improvements, education, public access and conservation advocacy in North America. The Platte County chapter reorganized a few years ago and had its first youth hunt in 2020.

The third annual youth mentor hunt was held the afternoon of Oct. 30, where youth had the chance to learn about and experience hunting along with a mentor, such as their parent(s) or other family member.

We had 14 young men and women join us for clay pigeon shooting, safety talk with our conservation officer Kyler Prochaska and a pheasant hunt, Platte County Pheasants Forever President Casey Schwarting said. This is our chapters favorite day of the year where we have the amazing opportunity to ignite a youths passion for the outdoors that will last for their lifetime.

Vice President AJ Palensky described this years hunt as fantastic. Palensky added he believed each youth had the chance to get a bird, or share a pheasant if two of them hit a bird at the same time. He said about fifty birds were released and roughly 30-35 were harvested.

The mentors did a great job of leading their kids, Palensky said. It just went better than I could have imagined.

Afterwards we did a kind of a feed where we had some hot dogs and pulled pork  had a chance for everybody to kind of sit down and get to know each other, kids mingling around each other, maybe they meet some new friends, so forth.

Palensky noted he overheard many kids asking their parents if they could come back next year and if they could bring a friend and/or family member.

That combined with the smiles on their faces really shows that they truly enjoyed it, Palensky said. And I think it's an experience that points them in the right direction towards wanting to get back out there.

Schwarting noted one kid who was able to shoot a gun for the first time over the weekend.

We took them out hunting and that young man was able to get his first bird which was absolutely incredible, Schwarting said. The first time ever shooting the gun that day and being able to harvest the bird  We're creating memories for these kids and just be a part of that, it's just a huge blessing.

The group has secured land in Platte County on which youth can learn to hunt in a safe environment.

When Casey and I kind of got together to roll this out, our goal was to obtain a piece of ground to allow for youth to hunt and youth only, Palensky said. I think there's a lot of benefits that can come with the community to for a child to be able to have a safe place to go out and not have to fight crowds of 30 or 40 adults that are out there trying to pheasant hunt as well or duck hunt or whatever they choose to hunt at that point in time.

Additionally, the group had its second annual banquet on Oct. 1 at Ag Park in Columbus, which saw a good turnout, Schwarting noted.

Palensky said he estimates that this years banquet saw a 30% increase in attendance from 2021.

I think the community is starting to understand that we are more geared toward towards the youth and keeping our program alive, we call it No Kids Left Indoors, Palensky said. We want our funds and anything that we do to be geared towards kids and so the support has been overwhelming. I think more and more people are learning that and taking that to heart and it really helps out.

No Kids Left Indoors is a national movement aimed at unplugging kids from electronics and getting them to spend more time outdoors.

According to Schwarting, there are just over 100 members of Platte County Pheasants Forever and a handful of kids. The group continues to grow each year.

I know we get phone calls probably weekly with people wanting to learn more and how they can be involved and how they can help, Schwarting said. A lot of encouraging things (are) happening in the community as far as outreach and it's been very cool.

Both men noted the great amount of support the local chapter has received from the community. Palensky said he expected support from the community but not so quickly.

I'd say we've come close to doubled where from where we started three years ago, Palensky said. Just kind of chatting with some of the guys yesterday (Sunday) at the hunt, a lot of people were wanting it to come back and they're very glad that it's came back.

Schwarting noted that hunting is a lifestyle and many things go along with hunting, including safety and conservation.

There's so many learning lessons that you can have in hunting and the memories that there, Schwarting said. Some of my fondest memories are hunting with my uncle and my dad. Being a part of that even in a small way, it's hard to express in words how important it is to our group.

Schwarting added he wants to continue to grow Platte County Pheasants Forever.

We're going to do more youth hunts. We were told that group anytime they want to go hunting, just reach out to us, and that's anybody in the community, Schwarting said. Anytime someone calls or text me and says hey, I got a kid that wants to get into hunting and wants to learn, I'm going to make time to somehow get them out to enjoy the outdoors and teach them anything I can.
Gosh, Mickey Mouses legacy sure is swell.

The true story behind the Walt Disney character that became the signature symbol for a century-old conglomerate is told in the upcoming Disney+ documentary, Mickey: The Story of a Mouse, debuting November 18 on the streamer to celebrate Mickeys birthday.

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Marwencol helmer Jeff Malmberg directs the documentary, which Oscar winner Morgan Neville (Wont You Be My Neighbor?), Meghan Walsh, and Chris Shellen produce. Mickey centers on Mickey Mouses ongoing artistic and cultural significance while unpacking the controversies surrounding the nearly 100-year-old cartoon mouse.

A quarter and two dimes construct the most universal symbol ever created by man, were told in the trailer. Never lose sight of one thing, and it was all started by a mouse, Walt Disney says in a 1954 clip shown in the trailer.

Per the official synopsis for the film: One of the worlds most beloved icons, Mickey Mouse is recognized as a symbol of joy and childhood innocence in virtually every corner of the globe. It has been a remarkable journey for a character dreamed up at a low point in the career of Walt Disney, an ambitious young artist who moved to Hollywood from Kansas City, Missouri. Disneys groundbreaking short Steamboat Willie, the first synchronous-sound animated film, turned Mickey into an overnight sensation and made shorts featuring the plucky mouse a staple of moviegoing during the height of the mediums popularity. In the decades that followed, Mickey was transformed into strikingly different versions of himself, reflecting both the trajectory of his creators stunning rags-to-riches career and dramatic societal shifts positive and negative  in the nation he came to represent.

Legendary Walt Disney artist Floyd Norman (Sleeping Beauty, The Jungle Book) is featured in Mickey after making history as the first Black artist to be hired long-term at Walt Disney Studios in 1956. Norman later developed various television projects such as Hey! Hey! Hey! Its Fat Albert, Sesame Street, and Soul Train before returning to Disney to animate on Robin Hood and joining the story team on The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan, and other animated features.

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Mickey: The Story of a Mouse premieres November 18 on Disney+.

Watch the exclusive trailer below.

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Click here to read the full article.
A week before midterm Election Day, absentee ballot returns in Greater Lansing are lagging behind record numbers set in November 2020, according to data released by the Michigan Department of State.

In Michigan, all early voting is done by absentee ballot. The 2022 governor's race is Michigan's first since 70% of voters approved no-reason absentee voting in 2018, and the process was the method of choice for a majority of Ingham and Eaton County voters in November 2020 and in the August primary  while being used by a significant, yet lower proportion of voters in Clinton County.

Charlotte clerk Mary LaRocque, whose position is non-partisan, said voters of all parties have told her they appreciate the convenience of absentee ballots. In last year's Charlotte mayoral election, for instance, about 75% of the 1,161-person turnout voted absentee.

"A lot of people like to absentee vote so that they can take that ballot home and spend some time looking at over and researching some of those offices," LaRocque said.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Ingham County officials reported 38,841 people had returned absentee ballots, about 62% of the ballots sent out. Eaton County reported 14,702 returned ballots, equaling about 63% of the sent ballots. While Clinton County said voters had returned 10,535 ballots, amounting to about 61% of those distributed.

Each total tracks significantly below November 2020's final absent voter turnout, part of a record-shattering statewide turnout overall.

It's not clear what the early data means for the many consequential elections and proposals on the ballot  nor is it necessarily an indicator of how overall turnout will end up, officials said. The 2020 election happened before COVID-19 vaccines were available. It was also a presidential election, when voter turnout has historically been highest.

According to online data from area clerks, as of August, Ingham County had 210,842 registered voters, Eaton County 88,103 and Clinton County 62,629.

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In an email, Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum said overall turnout in her jurisdiction will depend on how many voters show up to precincts on Election Day.

"If the percentages of the vote total that comes from (absentee) ballots remains consistent with 2020 or August 2022, I expect a very low overall turnout," Byrum, a Democrat, said. "If voters return to voting in-person like they did prior to 2020, then I expect this turnout to be at or a bit higher than a typical gubernatorial election."

In November 2020, though, about 70% of Ingham voters, 59% of Eaton voters and 14% of Clinton voters voted absentee  totaling 101,264, 36,738 and 27,241 votes in each county, respectively.

Election officials, including Mary Jackson, left, and Nick Martinez, right, both of Lansing, check absentee ballot envelope numbers match the ballots inside Monday, Nov. 2, 2020, at the Lansing City Clerk's office in Lansing, one day before the election.

Proportionally, the trend continued in August's primary elections.

In Eaton County, the share of absentee ballots among total votes cast actually increased to about 59%  14,149 out of 23,938 total ballots. It dropped slightly in Ingham County to about 67%  38,470 out of 57,533 cast ballots. And although Clinton County did not provide total ballots, available data show 31% of Democratic gubernatorial primary voters and 12% of Republican gubernatorial primary voters cast absentee ballots  7,721 and 9,258 in each respective primary.

Absentee voters trend Democratic, but not always

Clerks say the process  which allows all eligible voters to request and cast ballots early through the mail or at designated ballot drop boxes  has made voting more accessible. But it's also been the subject of intense scrutiny, particularly by right-wing election deniers in the aftermath of former President Donald Trump's 2020 defeat.

The option wasn't considered controversial until Trump spread falsehoods about widespread voter fraud, Byrum said. Michigan Republicans attempted to tighten absentee voting laws and restrict outside funding for elections by advancing the Secure MI Vote initiative as a ballot question, but petitioners turned in signatures after the state's June 1 deadline.

In August's Republican gubernatorial primary, about 65% of 25,331 voters across Ingham, Eaton and Clinton counties voted in-person on Election Day. Meanwhile, a majority of Democratic gubernatorial primary voters cast absentee ballots across the three counties, with about 35% of 54,748 turning out on Aug. 2.

"It used to be that Republicans voted by absentee ballot more than Democrats," Byrum said. "Now, it seems as though that may have changed as the former president encouraged his supporters to vote in person."

An absentee ballot drop box outside the Meridian Township Municipal Building on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, in Okemos.

Linda Marquardt, vice chairperson of the Eaton County Republican Party, said her party's members believe there's "perhaps more security in the (in-person) process."

"We saw concerns over ballot drop boxes in the last election cycle, and I think some people are concerned about whether signature-match verification on absentee ballots is being done," Marquardt said. "But I can say in my own county  I don't know what's happening across the state  but I really have trust in the clerks that are managing that process in Eaton County."

Ahead of the 2020 election, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, directed clerks to presume signatures on ballot applications were valid. Still, 1,400 ballots statewide were rejected for mismatching signatures, and 1,852 were discarded for not being signed at all, according to a December 2020 press release from Benson's office. Michigan was on par with the national rejection rate for absentee ballots  about 1%  in 2020.

More:Michigan election officials in the dark on key procedures ahead of 2022 elections

More:Fact-checking allegations of misconduct against Benson: What we found

Many clerks can't begin processing ballots until Election Day

Under Michigan law, not all jurisdictions can begin processing absentee ballots before Election Day. Delayed results gave way to skepticism among some conservatives in 2020, when Trump claimed victory on the night of Election Day, despite ballots in multiple states, including Michigan, still being counted.

More:Michigan 2020 election results could take multiple days. That means the system's working.

More:'Get to TCF': What really happened inside Detroit's ballot counting center

The Republican-led legislature passed a law in September, approved by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, that allows cities and townships with a minimum population of 10,000 to pre-process  but not count votes from  absentee ballots, starting two days ahead of August primaries and November general elections.

While some larger jurisdictions  including Detroit and Ann Arbor  will use the full two days, at least six of the state's 10 largest communities will not utilize the option in November, The Detroit News reported in October. Those opting against said pre-processing means additional work and labor costs with few benefits, as workers can't tabulate the votes until Election Day; also, fewer absentee ballots are expected amid a midterm compared to a general election.

Despite the new law, Williamstown Township still doesn't have the option. Not being able to count early complicated matters in 2020, when Township Clerk Robin Cleveland, a Democrat, and her staff worked until 5:30 a.m. Wednesday morning. It also means election results trickle in later.

"That's an arbitrary number," Cleveland said. "People with 10,000 voters have more people working elections than the smaller jurisdictions like us, so it doesn't help us with our flexibility."

More on the 2020 midterm elections:

School board races:National issues, pandemic led to partisan Lansing area school board races

Election workers:How those who administer elections, count ballots are navigating increasing scrutiny

How eligible voters can cast their ballots before Nov. 8

Voters can apply for ballots online, by mail or in person. Absentee ballots can be returned using designated ballot drop boxes, through the mail or at their local clerk's office, though completed ballots must be received by the local clerk by 8 p.m. on Election Day to be counted.

To avoid potential delays, election officials recommend hand-delivering within two weeks of Election Day.

The midterm elections will decide the balance of power in many elected offices, including the U.S. House of Representatives, governor, attorney general, secretary of state, state legislature, the state supreme court, university and K-12 school boards and several local offices. Voters will also determine ballot measures regarding abortion rights and voting rights, among numerous local issues.

You can learn more about who's on the ballot from the Lansing State Journal's election guide, or by accessing a sample ballot on the secretary of state's website.

Detroit Free Press reporter Clara Hendrickson contributed reporting.

Contact reporter Jared Weber at 517-582-3937 or jtweber@lsj.com.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: A look at how voters tend to cast their ballots in Greater Lansing
Senior Russian military leaders recently discussed when and how Moscow might use a tactical nuclear weapon to reverse its struggles on the battlefields of Ukraine, The New York Times reported Wednesday, citing multiple senior American officials it did not identify.

The Times said that Russian President Vladimir Putin was not a part of the conversations but that they heightened concerns Russia would consider the nuclear option if its fortunes do not improve with conventional weaponry.

"The fact that senior Russian military leaders were even having the discussions alarmed the Biden administration because it showed how frustrated Russian generals were about their failures on the ground, and suggests that Mr. Putins veiled threats to use nuclear weapons might not just be words," The Times reported.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, speaking with reporters Wednesday, declined to comment "on the particulars" of The Times' reporting. He added that Putin has made reckless comments in the past but that "we have not seen any indication that the Russians are making preparations" to use tactical nuclear weapons.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February, taking control of swaths of the country it has since claimed to annex. Ukraine, however, has in recent weeks liberated parts of the occupied territory.

Putin has made veiled threats that tactical nuclear weapons could be a viable option under some circumstances. But more recently, Russian rhetoric has centered on unsubstantiated claims that Ukraine is considering use of a radiation "dirty bomb," an accusation Ukrainian officials vociferously deny. Such claims could be used as a pretext for escalating the war. In a speech last week, Putin denied Russia was preparing to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

'A TEST FOR OUR ENDURANCE':Will brutal winter be a game changer for Ukraine or Russia?

Other developments:

North Korea covertly sent a significant number of artillery shells to Russia in support of its invasion of Ukraine, Kirby said, adding that the shipments are not going to change the course of the war.

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About 300,000 Kyiv households got their power back, the local grid operator said, but the southern cities of Nikopol and Chervonohryhorivka were in the dark after a large-scale drone attack, Dnipropetrovsk Gov. Valentyn Reznichenko said.

Asked by reporters how long he would continue to keep additional U.S. troops in Poland and other NATO countries, President Joe Biden responded, Theyll be there for a long time.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said he will send land mine teams to help clear mines left by retreating Russian troops in Ukraine. He also offered to mediate talks aimed at ending the war. President Joe Biden has confirmed he will attend the ASEAN and East Asian summits in Phnom Penh in mid-November.

Polish soldiers began laying razor wire Wednesday along Poland's border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad after the government ordered the construction of a barrier to prevent what it fears could become another migration crisis.

MISSILES WILL BE TOUGH TO SHOOT DOWN: Iran ready to ship missiles to Russia; Kremlin drafting 120,000 more troops

Car pass in a street in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Nov. 1, 2022. Rolling blackouts are increasing across Ukraine as the government rushes to stabilize the energy grid and repair the system ahead of winter.

Russia agrees to again allow grain shipments from Ukraine ports

The on-again, off-again agreement under which Russia allowed grain to be shipped from Ukraine is on again effective Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced. Russia had said over the weekend that it would no longer recognize the Turkey-and-U.N.-brokered plan that released millions of tons of grain shipments desperately needed in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere.

To get the deal revived, Ukraine pledged not to attack Russian forces in a designated Black Sea corridor after the Kremlin accused Kyiv of targeting its ships in Crimea with drones Saturday.

We demanded assurances and guarantees from the Ukrainian side that ... humanitarian corridors will not be used for military purposes, President Vladimir Putin told a Security Council meeting, according to Russian media. Putin also warned he may pull out of the deal again if Ukraine doesn't live up to its terms.

In a rare instance of agreement between the countries' leaders, Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Erdogan for mediating the deal.

Moscow had complained that it continued to run into obstacles in exporting food and fertilizer, and the U.N. agreed to work toward removing them. The agency had said the July grain deal brought down global food prices about 15% from their peak in March.

UN Security Council rejects Russian request for bio weapons inquiry

Russia was rebuffed Wednesday in its request that the U.N. Security Council establish a commission to investigate unfounded claims that the U.S. and Ukraine are carrying out military biological activities that violate international law. Both countries dismiss the allegations as Russian propaganda.

Only China voted in favor of the Russian resolution, with the U.S., Britain and France opposing it and the other 10 council members abstaining.

In addition to U.S. and Ukrainian officials, independent scientists have disputed the Russian allegation. An Associated Press investigation in March found the claim was taking root online, uniting COVID-19 conspiracy theorists, QAnon adherents and some supporters of former President Donald Trump.

Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are missing, but search can be dangerous

Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are missing in action, but authorities are warning relatives not to post photos on social media. Deputy Minister of Defense Anna Malyar urged families not to release any information about their missing loved ones in the public domain. Photos of a man in military uniform could prove disastrous if he is hiding in temporarily occupied territory and is looking for ways to return or is held captive by the Russians as a civilian, Malyar said.

US, allies to provide $25M for Ukraine's immediate energy needs

The European Union and other Western allies, including the U.S, Japan and Britain, will provide more than $25 million to cover Ukraine's urgent energy needs, the Ukraine Energy Ministry said in a statement. The country's energy infrastructure has been battered in recent weeks by Russian missile and drone strikes. Rolling blackouts have become a way of life, and engineers are constantly repairing damaged equipment.

"Ukraine's energy sector needs not only financing but also the best world experience, technologies, and solutions that would allow it to withstand Russia's attacks," the statement reads.

Elon Musk won't cut Ukraine off from satellite network

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has notified Ukraine that he will keep funding its access to a crucial satellite network providing battlefield and humanitarian communications, according to Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraines vice prime minister and minister of digital transformation. Federov said Musk told him he will continue to provide Starlink to Ukraine after Musk had complained last month that it was costing his company $20 million a month.

There are no problems for now with Starlink, Fedorov said.

Partisan Ukraine attacks hurt Russia's front-line strength, think tank says

Effective Ukrainian partisan attacks are forcing the Kremlin to divert resources from front-line operations to help occupied territory, degrading Russias ability to defend against Ukraine's now-two-monthlong counteroffensive, a U.S.-based military think tank says.

Ukrainian partisans have assassinated at least 11 Russian occupation officials and prominent collaborators, the Institute for the Study of War says in its latest assessment. Russia is struggling to control 33,000 square miles of seized Ukrainian territory, excluding Crimea, the institute says. The institute blames poor Russian security for the partisan attacks and says increasing manpower shortages are probably degrading Russia's ability to effectively secure rear areas and fight effectively on the front lines.

"The Kremlin still has not effectively countered Ukraines organized partisan movement and is unlikely to have the capabilities to do so," the assessment says.

Norway bulking up defense, draws warning from Russia

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stre says his government will raise its military defense preparedness in line with the "serious security situation Europe is in." Defense Minister Bjrn Arild Gram added that not all the actions being taken will be seen or publicly discussed. He said defense forces have a good overview of the situation, and were making our defense forces able to handle this situation over time. The announcement drew criticism from Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova at a briefing Wednesday.

"Oslo is now among the most active supporters of NATO's involvement in the Arctic," she said, accusing Norwegian leaders of a "deliberate pursuit of a destructive course toward escalation of tensions in the Euro-Arctic region and the final destruction of Russian-Norwegian relations." She added that "any unfriendly actions will be followed by a timely and adequate response."

Contributing: Francesca Chambers, Maureen Groppe, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Live Ukraine updates: Russian generals reportedly discuss using nukes
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Bernd von Jutrczenka/Getty Images

The UAE tried to dissuade Saudi Arabia from supporting an OPEC oil production cut, according to the Wall Street Journal.

National security advisor Sheikh Tahnoun secretly met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in September.

The UAE said an output cut wasn't economically necessary, echoing the White House's view.

The United Arab Emirates sent its national security advisor on a secret mission to Saudi Arabia in September to convince OPEC's de facto leader not to cut oil production quotas, sources told the Wall Street Journal.

The UAE's Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in Riyadh and warned a cut would risk political backlash and echoed the White House's view that it was economically unnecessary, according to the report.

A UAE spokesperson told the WSJ that the information concerning bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the meeting in question, and the production cut were inaccurate but didn't elaborate.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia are long-time allies that typically align on issues pertaining to energy and security. Last month, the UAE went along with the OPEC+ decision to slash production quotas by 2 million barrels a day, while signaling to the West that it could supply the market with more crude from Emirati production.

Still, the report on the UAE's secret mission could indicate a growing split among key players in the oil cartel.

Last month, a top spokesman for the US National Security Council that Saudi Arabia coerced other OPEC members that opposed the output-quota cuts to back its plan.

Countries that were uncomfortable with lowering production included the UAE, Iraq and Bahrain, the Financial Times reported.

Meanwhile, the US-Saudi alliance has deteriorated sharply. After the OPEC+ meeting, the White House accused the oil group of aligning with Russia, and President Joe Biden warned of consequences in relations between Washington and Riyadh.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will fly to Egypt next week (REUTERS)

The Prime Minister has reversed his decision to skip the COP27 climate change conference in Egypt next week.

On Wednesday Rishi Sunak said he will attend the event after being widely criticised for saying he would not attend due to pressing economic matters in the UK.

There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change, Mr Sunak wrote on Twitter.

There is no energy security without investing in renewables.

That is what I will attend next week: to deliver on Glasgows legacy of building a secure and sustainable future.

Its a stark contrast to his comments last week, when Mr Sunak insisted he must focus on the depressing domestic challenges.

His attendance in Sharm El-Sheikh was dependent on preparations for the autumn budget, due on November 17, a spokesperson said.

The spokesman said the PM believed the public would rightly want him to focus on issues at home, particularly on restoring fiscal credibility and delivering a budget that works for the British people.

While the U-turn has been praised by Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney and Mr Sunaks climate tsar Alok Sharma, many opposition MPs called it an embarassment.

Shadow Climate and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband said the prime minister has been shamed into attending COP27 by the torrent of disbelief that he would fail to turn up.

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said Mr Sunak had been dragged kicking and screaming into doing the right thing, while Green MP Caroline Lucas said it was an embarrassing mis-step on the world stage.

Liberal Democrat climate change spokeswoman Wera Hobhouse said the whole debacle has shown the environment is simply not a priority for Mr Sunak.

Hes only going after being embarrassed by Boris Johnsons attendance. We need action rather than just attendance from the Prime Minister.

Ms Hobhouse urged the Government to build more renewable energy sources to help reduce household energy bills.

Mr Sunak announced his attendance the morning after Mr Johnson, one of his predecessors in No 10 and rival in the Conservative Party, confirmed he will be joining the talks in Egypt.

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The COP27 climate-change conference will begin on Sunday, November 6 and end on Friday, November 18.

Cop stands for Conference of the Parties, and the summit is attended by countries that signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

World leaders, accredited non-profits, the press, and members of observer organisations will attend the conference in and around the UN offices of the host country.

High profile guests include US president Joe Biden and French president Emmanuel Macron. The King will not be attending this year, despite being there last year.

It was reported that no royal will be attending in his place, either, despite long-term involvement and advocacy for environmental affairs.

Prince William is instead expected in New York for the Earthshot Prize awards  a far cry from last years full Royal Family appearance at COP26 in Glasgow.

More than 2000 speakers, 35,000 participants, and 300 points of discussion are expected to pan out over the week.
A lawyer for one of two Iowa teenagers accused of murdering their Spanish teacher, Nohema Graber, asked a judge to suppress evidence gathered by law enforcement, claiming that the accused's constitutional, statutory and Miranda rights were violated.

Willard Noble Chaiden Miller and Jeremy Everett Goodale have been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the 2021 death of the 66-year-old Fairfield High School teacher. The two teens, who are being charged as adults, pleaded not guilty last year.

In court filings, prosecutors revealed that Miller's motive was his poor grade in Graber's Spanish class.

MORE: 2 teens charged in Iowa Spanish teacher's death plead not guilty

In interviews with investigators, Miller "voiced his frustration over Graber hurting his grade point average and thought she was doing that to other students also," even going as far as to use an expletive to describe Graber, court documents show.

In a hearing Wednesday, a lawyer for Miller claimed that there was not a knowing or voluntary waiver of Miller's right to remain silent or right to an attorney before he was interviewed by law enforcement last year, asking a judge to throw out evidence.

The defense also asked the court to throw out evidence gathered by search warrants, claiming they violated Millers' constitutional and statutory rights. The defense claimed that search warrants included conclusions not supported by facts and failed to include the credibility of individuals relied upon by law enforcement, referring to a confidential informant.

In court filings, prosecutors pushed back against this claim, stating that the two witnesses in question should be viewed as "citizen informants," saying they had nothing to gain from providing information to law enforcement

PHOTO: In this Nov. 23, 2021, file photo, Willard Noble Chaiden Miller is escorted into a bond review hearing at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Fairfield, Iowa. (Zach Boyden-Holmes/The Register via USA Today Network, FILE)

The defense also claimed the warrants were overly broad and did not sufficiently explain why a cellphone and laptop should be seized.

The focus of the hearing Wednesday was a Miranda form signed by Miller's mother. Miller's lawyer argued that the accused's mother, Annalisa Clifford Gold, did not know what she was signing when she signed a Miranda form that allowed investigators to interrogate her son.

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Prosecutors pushed back on that claim, saying that law enforcement read the defendant his Miranda rights, that the defendant clearly understood them, initialed them and waived them.

MORE: 2 teenagers charged in death of high school teacher

Clifford Gold testified Wednesday that she did not have her reading glasses when law enforcement asked her to sign a Miranda form at the Jefferson County Law Center. When she told law enforcement she couldn't read the form, an investigator paraphrased what it said and told her it was so they could speak with Miller.

She then signed the form, but claimed she was not told information or rights that were listed on it, including that Miller was in custody and that she had the right speak with him. Clifford Gold also alleged that police had not told her Graber had been found dead when she signed the Miranda form.

PHOTO: An undated photo of Nohema Graber. (Fairfield (Iowa) Police Department via AP, FILE)

Clifford Gold also alleged law enforcement continued to interrogate Miller "long after" she told them to stop.

The prosecution claimed that whether Clifford Gold was allowed to speak with her son, got in the room or told officers to terminate the investigation makes no difference in this circumstance because of the nature of the offenses being investigated by police. The nature of the offense meant that Miller would be treated as an adult under Iowa law.

Recordings and a transcript of Miller's interrogation are being kept under seal.

MORE: Police arrest teen for shooting Washington Commanders player Brian Robinson Jr.

Officers went to Clifford Gold's house at about 5:30 a.m. on Nov. 4, 2021. Miller was then taken into the Jefferson County Law Center. Clifford Gold said she was not notified that her son was being charged until 4:15 p.m.

Clifford Gold claimed she was told all of Graber's students and their parents were being rounded up by police to figure out what happened to her and why she had disappeared, alleging she was under the impression that all the students were together and that parents were with them. She believed that police just needed her permission to be able to talk to students.

Clifford Gold alleged she was not aware that her son was in trouble until she was told she could not see him. Clifford Gold alleged she would not have let her son speak with police without a lawyer if she knew he was being charged with murder.

After consulting a friend, who was a former police officer, Clifford Gold said she told police to stop the interrogation of her son, but later learned the interrogation continued for "hours." Clifford Gold alleged that law enforcement denied her access to her son, who at the time was only 16 years old, and said she had no way of communicating with him when he was taken into custody.

Attorneys for the defense have until Nov. 21 and prosecutors have until Nov. 28 to file a briefing on the motion to suppress evidence.

In court filings last year, law enforcement claimed they received a tip from an associate of the two teenagers that included social media messages between Miller and Goodale allegedly sharing details of their motive and plan for killing Graber. After her family had reported that she was missing, Graber was found in Chautauqua City Park concealed under a tarp, wheelbarrow and railroad ties.

Defense asks judge to throw out evidence in teens' alleged murder of teacher over bad grades originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
When the Department of Justice introduced a federal election security task force in the summer of 2021 to assist election officials with risk assessment and to investigate and prosecute threats against election workers, state and local officials hailed the move, hoping the crackdown would stem a deluge of departures from their ranks.

But more than a year later, as another election approaches and threats against election workers persist, some election administrators have grown frustrated with what they say are the DOJ's seemingly paltry results -- with one state official slamming the feds' efforts to date as little more than "theater."

"At the national level, the DOJ and the FBI aren't doing the election communities any favors," North Dakota State Election Director Brian Newby told ABC News. "They're talking about threats to election workers -- and then when we have calls, they say that nothing is really a threat."

MORE: False accusations of election fraud prompt some election workers across the US to quit ahead of Election Day

With just one week until the midterms, some election officials say their interactions with federal law enforcement officials have left them feeling discouraged by the high bar for prosecuting what appear to be clear-cut crimes. Others have reported minimal engagement from the task force, even as they continue to report harassment and threats.

In August, Justice Department officials said the task force had reviewed "over 1,000" reports of threats, though only 11% had met the threshold for federal criminal investigation.

To date, only eight cases have been charged -- one of which resulted in a conviction and 18-month prison sentence.

"While many of the contacts were often hostile, harassing, and abusive towards election officials, they did not include a threat of unlawful violence," the August press release from DOJ said.

Barb Byrum, the clerk for Ingham County, Michigan, said she has been disappointed with the Justice Department's efforts -- particularly in her key swing state, where violent threats culminated in a 2020 domestic terror plot to kidnap the governor, Democrat Gretchen Whitmer.

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PHOTO: An election worker works at the Orange County Registrar of Voters less than two weeks before midterms Election Day on October 27, 2022 in Santa Ana, Calif. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

"I am aware of a federal task force, but to my knowledge they have done absolutely nothing to assist state and local elections officials," Byrum said. "This is not to say that we would not welcome federal help, at least some of us -- but to date they have had absolutely no presence in Michigan, to my knowledge."

Newby, the North Dakota election official, suggested that the task force has actually had an adverse effect.

"If people aren't confident, they don't vote," Newby said. "Having a task force highlighting violence -- all you've done is cause disruption. It causes a lot of angst and they're not producing anything of value. It's almost just theater on their part -- it's not helping anyone."

Other election officials continue to support the task force, which they applaud as a resource for risk assessment and planning.

"We very much appreciate having a federal law enforcement task force that's dedicated to this issue and have found it extremely helpful not just when dealing with actual threats, but in having a resource to help us plan for scenarios that may occur," Michigan Secretary of State spokesperson Angela Benander told ABC News.

MORE: Domestic extremists pose 'heightened threat' to 2022 midterms: Law enforcement

Threats against election workers have been on the rise since the 2020 election, when former President Donald Trump and his allies leveled unfounded claims of fraud against election workers across the country. On email and social media, supporters of the former president have leveled a flurry of threats against election officials from governors and secretaries of state to Election Day poll workers.

However a survey of election officials in March by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice found that very few election officers have reported threats to law enforcement. Of those who did, 89% reported them to local officials.

Some election officials say the decision to report threats to law enforcement requires a balance between election security and free expression.

Cassondra Knudson, the spokesperson for Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon's office, told ABC News that while the DOJ task force has been "very responsive," her office "has yet to report any threats that stand the First Amendment test." She said the state has flagged the DOJ when they see "something close to the threat line," but that overall it has been "pretty minimal."

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said he found the DOJ's low rate of investigation and prosecution "not surprising."

MORE: Trump signed voter fraud document despite being told numbers were inaccurate, judge says

"It may not be so much that these things are not worthy of investigation than that there's no immediately evident federal crime," Ashcroft told ABC News.

"Unless the person is threatening bodily harm or violence -- in that case they're committing a crime -- but if somebody's calling in saying, 'You're going to go to prison for all the crimes you've committed and you better watch out' or, 'Maybe you should kill yourself for all the bad things you've done subverting elections' ... well, frankly, as terrible as that is, it's not a crime," Ashcroft said.

"People have a First Amendment right to kind of call and yell at public officials," he said. "To put it bluntly, it doesn't surprise me to hear that a relatively low percentage of these threats are investigated, because they're probably a lot of threatening things that happen that don't rise to the level of criminality."

While many victims of threats never see their antagonist, others have been confronted in person. Michella Huff, an elections executive in Surry County, North Carolina, described a group of out-of-state politicians who appeared at her office on March 28, threatening to have her fired if she didn't grant them access to her county's voting machines, which is against state and local election law.

Huff refused, and she recently installed a panic button at the county election offices as a result of the harassment she said she and her staff have faced.

PHOTO: Election workers verify ballot signatures at the Orange County Registrar of Voters during a media tour showing ballot security for the November 8, 2022 election, in Santa Ana, Calif., November 1, 2022. (Mike Blake/Reuters)

"We had not seen it here before," Huff told ABC News, describing her county as firmly Republican. "Naively, I thought we would be exempt, but it hit here hard on March 28, especially though the primary."

"I don't know what their end goal is," she said. "It's been very hard to figure out."

Huff's complaints were conveyed to the Justice Department, but it was not clear whether an investigation was conducted. Huff said she never saw or heard from any DOJ, FBI or DHS official -- a refrain echoed by election officials elsewhere.

"I'm not aware of how they are offering direct support to the counties," one Boulder County, Colorado, official told ABC News. Another official in Marion County, Florida, said, "I haven't really heard anything from the task force."

A Justice Department official told ABC News that over the past year, the task force has held approximately 40 meetings, presentations and trainings with the election community, state and local prosecutors and law enforcement, vendors providing election support services, and major social media companies.

MORE: With 10 weeks until midterms, election deniers are hampering some election preparations

"The Task Force has regularly engaged with these organizations' memberships to hear directly from election officials and workers regarding the types of threatening communications that they receive, the challenges such communications pose to election administration, and their greatest concerns and needs with respect to combating physical threats," the official said.

Liz Howard, senior counsel for the Brennan Center's Democracy Program, recommended that the Justice Department consider hiring an adviser that has "existing relationships in the election official community, so they can expand their network and increase awareness of the task force."

Some states have already rolled out their own platforms for reporting threats to election workers. Georgia's secretary of state, for example, recently launched a text message alert notification tool for election workers to use ahead of the midterms.

Howard told ABC News that the multiple threat-related arrests made by the DOJ are a "step in the right direction" -- but that "more needs to be done."

"We believe that the Elections Threat Task Force needs to be expanded to include state and local law enforcement," Howard said. "Local law enforcement needs to be at the table and they're going to be a critical player in addressing these threats and preventing them going forward."

Facing threats of violence, election officials are growing frustrated with DOJ task force originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
The claim: Cattle in Australia are required to get an mRNA vaccine, some have died

The New South Wales government is partnering with U.S. biotechnology company Tiba Biotech to fast-track mRNA vaccines for Lumpy Skin Disease and Foot and Mouth Disease, according to a Sept. 28 press release. Both illnesses have the potential to be devastating for Australia's $28.7 billion livestock industry.

A viral Instagram post claims mRNA vaccines are already mandatory for the country's cattle  and with disastrous effects.

"A friend informed me today that her neighbor, a dairy farmer, is now forced to vaccinate her herd with an mRNA vaccine!" reads part of the Oct. 1 Instagram post. "She complied and of the 200 herd of cattle, 35 died instantly!"

The post goes on to claim that mRNA vaccines alter DNA and therefore the milk produced by vaccinated cattle is also altered. The post garnered more than 400 likes.

These claims are not true, though.

There are no mandatory vaccinations for cattle in New South Wales, and mRNA vaccines are still in development, according to the state government. And officials have received no reports of any cattle dying from other vaccines.

In addition, mRNA vaccines do not alter the DNA of humans or animals, experts say.

USA TODAY reached out to several users who shared the post for comment.

Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks

No livestock vaccine mandates in New South Wales

The New South Wales Department of Primary Industries addressed the claim about mandatory cattle vaccines in an Oct. 4 Facebook post, saying it "has not mandated the use of any vaccine in livestock."

The mRNA vaccines for Lumpy Skin Disease and Foot and Mouth Disease are still in the development stage, according to a Sept. 28 press release. The government is challenging the vaccine manufacturers to have the inoculations ready for use by August 2023.

"It is critical that we develop mRNA vaccines for FMD and Lumpy Skin as quickly as possible to protect our States livestock sector, Minister for Agriculture Dugald Saunders said in the press release.

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There has been no indication from the government that these vaccines will be required for cattle, though.

And there are no reports of deaths from the non-mRNA vaccines available for livestock in Australia. A spokesperson from the NSW Department of Primary Industries told USA TODAY in an emailed statement the agency has received no reports of cattle deaths as a result of any vaccination.

Vaccines do not alter DNA

The COVID-19 pandemic threw a spotlight on mRNA vaccines, though the technology has existed for several years.

Despite its similar name, mRNA vaccines do not alter DNA.

"These vaccines do not enter the nucleus of the cell where our DNA  genetic material  is located, so it cannot change or influence our genes," reads a section of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.

The mRNA vaccines act more like an instruction manual, said Frank LoVecchio, the medical director of clinical research at the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University.

Unlike other kinds of vaccines, mRNA inoculations do not contain dead pieces of the virus, explained LoVecchio. Instead, they teach the body how to code for specific proteins. When a person or animal contracts the virus, their body can immediately start producing antibodies to fight the infection.

Would the body normally do that? Yes of course," said LoVecchio. "The vaccine makes it happen more efficiently.

There is also little concern about mRNA vaccines being passed on to someone through the consumption of meat or milk, according to experts.

"mRNA vaccines are much less concerning in this regard anyway than say classical inactivated virus-based vaccines," said Pall Thordarson, the director of the University of New South Wales RNA Institute. "For the latter, you could find those inactive virus particles in meat or milk for perhaps weeks in some cases. In the case of mRNA it ... breaks down very quickly  we are talking a matter of days at most."

Thordarson said the regulatory authorities in Australia "would not allow any animal product to be sold until they were certain that the vaccines have been cleared from the animal."

Even if someone did ingest elements of a vaccine, he said, the particles would be destroyed in the stomach by gastric juices.

Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim cattle in Australia are required to get an mRNA vaccine, and some have died. The New South Wales government said it has not made any vaccines mandatory for cattle, and mRNA vaccines are still in development. It has received no reports of any cattle deaths from other types of vaccinations, a spokesperson for the department said.

Our fact-check sources:

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: False claim about vaccine deaths in Australian cattle
Tensions rose in the Korean Peninsula on Wednesday while the two Koreas test-fired missiles one after another in a series of tit-for-tat moves.

North Korea fired a total of 23 missiles that were a combination of ballistic and surface-to-air weapons.

The tests included four short-range ballistic missiles fired at 6:51 a.m. local time from its North Pyongan Province into the West Sea. Two hours later, the North fired three short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea (Sea of Japan) one of which landed in the waters below south of the NLL, or North Limit Line.

PHOTO: A woman walks past a television screen showing a news broadcast with live footage of the island of Ulleungdo at a railway station in Seoul on Nov. 2, 2022. (Jung Yeon-je/AFP via Getty Images)

This is the first time since the two Koreas split that a ballistic missile fell close to our waters, south of the NLL, South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a written statement.

MORE: North Korea flies warplanes near South Korea after series of missile tests

The missile fell 104 miles northwest of South Koreas Ulleung island, triggering an air raid alert which forced the islands 9,000 residents to evacuate to underground shelters.

PHOTO: South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol attends National Security Council after North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile, in Seoul, South Korea, Nov. 2, 2022. (Yonhap/Reuters)

The North soon after continued to fire off an additional 10 or more short-range ballistic and surface-to-air missiles from South Hamgyung Province to the east and from South Pyongan Province and South Hwanghae Province to the west.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered the military to ensure that North Korea pays a clear price for its provocation, according to his office.

In a retaliatory move South Korea quickly responded by launching its own air-to-surface missiles into a similar area above the NLL, launched by two F-15K and KF-16 jet fighters.

PHOTO: People watch a TV broadcasting a news report on North Korea firing a ballistic missile off its east coast, in Seoul, South Korea, Nov. 2, 2022. (Kim Hong-ji/Reuters)

This precision strike by our military shows that we have willpower to decidedly respond to any sorts of provocation and the capability and readiness to precisely strike the enemy, the JCS said.

The warning did not stop Pyongyang from firing about 100 artillery shells into the eastern waters near the maritime border.

MORE: North Korea launches 2 ballistic missiles as Seoul says nuclear test is imminent

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South Korea demanded Pyongyang cease fire with a statement that they once again clearly warn that responsibilities of all situations hereafter lies completely on North Korea as North Korea continues to provoke despite repeated warnings from our military.

Wednesday's launches came hours after Pyongyang warned that it could use nuclear weapons to make the U.S. and South Korea pay the most horrible price in history if South Korea and the U.S. joint military drills continue.

North Korea tests 23 missiles, prompting response from South Korea and raising tensions originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
EL PASO, Texas  A tense and chaotic scene erupted at the U.S.-Mexico border along the Rio Grande in El Paso as a large group of migrants crossed the border waving Venezuelan and Honduran flags and Border Patrol officers fired crowd-control projectiles.

The Border Patrol has been expelling Venezuelan migrants to Mexico since mid-October, and many have found themselves stuck in limbo in border cities. In Juarez, dozens have been sleeping on the south banks of the Rio Grande, hoping for a change in U.S. policy.

A video captured by the El Paso Times on Oct. 31 shows dozens of Border Patrol agents and support personnel forming a line along the border of the Chihuahuita neighborhood and the railroad tracks to push the migrant group back to Mexico. One migrant waves a large Venezuelan flag as he retreats into the low-running river and can be seen jabbing the flagpole toward agents.

Shooting incident: FBI investigating after US Border Patrol fatally shoots Mexican man in El Paso

A migrant shows injuries sustained after being shot with a projectile by border agents after crossing the Rio Grande on Oct. 31, 2022.

Agents fired at least three shots of what Border Patrol spokesman Landon Hutchens initially called "crowd control projectiles" after agents said they were assaulted. Hutchens later confirmed agents used a "less-lethal force pepperball launching system." The incident is under review by U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Professional Responsibility, he said.

"One of the protesters assaulted an agent with a flag pole," Hutchens said in an emailed statement. "A second subject threw a rock causing injury to an agent at which time agents responded by initiating crowd control measures."

Use-of-force incidents by Border Patrol agents in crowd control have been rare in the urban footprint of El Paso, where the Rio Grande, canals and the 30-foot border fence discourage mass border crossing.

A group of migrants marched earlier Monday in Juarez, demanding an opportunity to cross the U.S. border.

They walked beneath an enormous cloth painted like a U.S. flag by U.S.-based artist Roberto Marquez but with the words "We the migrants built America" in the blue corner instead of stars. Several dozen migrants later crossed the U.S. border waving a Venezuelan flag before they were repelled into Mexico.

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"We have a responsibility not only as migrants but as human beings to do something for our brothers," Marquez said. "There has always been injustices, everywhere, along the border with the migrants. Now I think is the time for us to raise the voice to say what we need to say."

Immigration pipeline: Political theater vs. daily survival: Inside the dire situation facing migrants bused across US

U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat, said in a statement that she is "concerned about everyones safety and security in the area" and is staying in contact with the Border Patrol and the U.S. Consulate in Juarez.

On Oct. 12, the Biden administration announced a deal with the administration of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in which Mexico agreed to take in Venezuelans expelled under the U.S. health authority of Title 42. In exchange, the U.S. promised 65,000 additional work visas for Mexican, Central American and Haitian migrants and agreed to process up to 24,000 Venezuelans into the country  by air, not at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Many Venezuelans are traveling without documents in Mexico and cannot qualify for the program.

Juan Acereto, U.S. liaison for the Juarez municipal government, said the Mexican border city is working with the federal government to provide migrants with refuge and work permits "so that they can access our labor market, and integrate into our community, if they so desire."

Contributing: Daniel Borunda

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Border Patrol repels large migrant group at El Paso border
A burn ban remains in place in Columbus amid drought conditions in Platte County.

The average year to date rainfall amount for the area is 26.56 inches and Columbus is 12 inches below normal, said National Weather Service Meteorologist Clint Aegerter.

On the year you're sitting at 14.56 inches and as far as normal, it is certainly below normal, Aegerter said. Normal through a year is 28.67 inches.

The number of red flag warnings issued for the area has also skyrocketed this year. A red flag warning means there is a presence of warm temperatures, very low humidities and stronger winds which increase the risk of fire danger.

So far in 2022, Aegerter said, the NWS has issued a total of 16 red flag warnings for Platte County. Last year five had been issued and the year before had seen six.

It's definitely the most in a year, Aegerter said. The previous record would have been 2012, the drought year, we had 15.

Columbus Fire Chief Ryan Gray said grass/field fires remain a concern from the lack of rain seen this year.

We've had a few of the surrounding areas that we've responded to as mutual aid. Luckily, we haven't had any significant field fires within our district, Gray said.

The Columbus Fire Department has had a burn ban in place for several weeks due to the dry conditions. Gray said that while commercial fire pits are allowed, things like burning in a barrel or burning leaves on the ground is banned.

Grass fires can be started by a variety of causes.

It can start from agricultural equipment, heated up from the engines, sitting idle for a while. It can start from just a simple spark, a cigarette, anything. It's a multitude of things that can cause them, Gray said. The winds that we get and the lack of moisture is just a recipe for a big fire that travels really fast. It's very difficult to control.

Gray added there are preventative measures that can be taken to help avoid a grass fire.

One thing to keep in mind is how you dispose of your cigarettes or smoking materials. That's the big thing, Gray said. As far as agriculture, those guys have got to get out there and do what they have to do just be mindful of the conditions and do what you can to keep heating equipment or things like that away from dry materials.

As with all calls, the fire departments response to a grass fire depends on different factors, including information received from dispatch, what equipment is en route, etc.

On a case by case basis, it's very difficult to put a standard game plan of attack on those types of incidents. It really relies on your knowledge and experiences to make those decisions, Gray said. At the time the call comes out, especially with field fires, the weather, wind shifts, all that stuff is different every day. So you really have to take all those things into consideration when you're making those decisions.

Gray said he could not be sure when the burn ban will be able to be lifted.

That is something that we look at pretty regularly here in Columbus to determine if we're going to lift it or not, he said. The concern right now is the lack of moisture. As we see an increase in precipitation, we will look at lifting that burn ban.
It should have been one of the proudest days as a parent for John Persons. But 90 seconds before the president of Tops Friendly Markets was to watch his son receive his college diploma, his cellphone started buzzing with the worst news imaginable.

His company's executive vice president for operations was on the line, telling him a shooting had just occurred at their only store on the east side of Buffalo, New York. While the horrific details of the May 14 mass shooting were not immediately clear, Persons said he was told enough to prompt him to leave his son's graduation in Alfred, New York, and drive 2 1/2 hours back to Buffalo.

"I recognized the need to be present, to help assess and coordinate and understand exactly what was happening first with all of our associates, and secondly of how I could be of assistance to the community," Persons said.

PHOTO: John Persons, president of Tops Friendly Markets, sits for an interview with ABC News, in Buffalo, N.Y. (Alysha Webb/ABC News)

In an interview with ABC News, Persons opened up about his company's response to the massacre and the challenges of opening the store targeted in one of the most underdeveloped neighborhoods in Buffalo, and reopening it in the aftermath of the rampage.

Tensions have arisen in particular over a compensation fund that gives different amounts of money to people depending on whether they are family of people who died or workers who were present at the time. And some loved ones of those killed say that the company has not done enough to help them.

"It was a tough balancing act, not just that first day, but that first week, the first month and it still is a tough balancing act," Persons said.

Tops market, 'my 1st and only job'

While in high school, Persons said he began working at a Tops store in a Buffalo suburb, starting as a part-time grocery cart wrangler. He grew up in the business, he said, climbing from cashier to stock boy and eventually store manager. In 2016, he was named president of the 60-year-old, 150-store company.

"It is my first job and my only job," said Persons, who has worked at Tops for 38 years.

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PHOTO: A sign commemorating the victims of a mass shooting at the Tops market on May 14, 2022 stands outside the store, Oct. 23, 2022, in Buffalo. (Malik Rainey/ABC News)

In the early 2000s, elected officials approached Tops about building a grocery store in the Cold Spring neighborhood of Buffalo's east side. Besides a few small corner stores, the predominantly Black neighborhood did not have a full-service grocery store and residents were forced to drive or take public transportation several miles to get to one.

It wasn't an easy sell to bring a supermarket to an underdeveloped area of high unemployment, low homeownership, high crime and lack of education, said Darius Pridgen, the president of the city's Common Council, Buffalo's equivalent of a city council.

"It took a lot to bring Tops (to the east side), it took a lot of community pressure, a lot of agreements for Tops to come," said Pridgen, an east side resident and pastor of one of the area's largest churches, True Bethel Baptist Church.

He said Tops was the only major grocery store chain to consider the request from city leaders to build on the east side and the store opened in 2003.

"We opened to a great deal of fanfare and a very warm reception. The community engaged us right away," said Persons, adding that many of the store's workers are from the local community.

May 14 shooting: 'beyond our comprehension'

Payton Gendron, the 19-year-old suspect in the Buffalo mass shooting, is accused of planning for months what federal prosecutors called a racially motivated attack  killing 10 Black people and wounding three others.

PHOTO: Buffalo Police on scene at a Tops Friendly Market following a mass shooting, May 14, 2022, in Buffalo, N.Y (John Normile/Getty Images, File)

Gendron has been charged in both federal and state courts with multiple counts of murder and hate crimes. He has pleaded not guilty in both cases.

PHOTO: People gathering outside of Tops market embrace a day after a gunman killed ten people in a mass shooting, May 15, 2022, in Buffalo, N.Y. (Scott Olson/Getty Images, File)

"It was something beyond our comprehension how someone could be that filled with rage and hate and perpetrate just a horrible act like that," Persons said.

The attack came after several shootings at retail chain stores nationwide, including the August 2019 mass shooting at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart that left 23 people, most of them Latinos, dead in what prosecutors said was a hate crime.

PHOTO: John Persons, president of Tops Friendly Markets, sits for an interview with ABC News, in Buffalo, N.Y. (Alysha Webb/ABC News)

"I think the idea of this type of attack has always been present and we had protocols in place to help our store team deal with such an event and we continue to have those protocols in place," Persons said. "I would tell you that even with that type of training, even with that type of awareness, I believe it's very difficult for anyone to actually deal with an event like that when it's actually happening."

Tensions arise in the aftermath of the Tops massacre

One way Tops attempted to help in the immediate aftermath of the attack, Persons said, was by seeding $500,000 to create the Buffalo 5/14 Survivors Fund. In a partnership with the National Compassion Fund, a group that provides a way for the public to give directly to victims of mass casualty crimes, the 5/14 Survivors Fund collected donations from more than 13,000 people worldwide.

Persons said Tops donated an additional $250,000 to the fund, which grew to $6.4 million that is now being distributed to 169 individuals, including the families of those killed.

But the manner in which the fund is being dispersed has caused tension with some Tops employees. However, Persons said that after seeding the fund, Tops took a hands-off approach to how it was managed and distributed.

"We wanted to make sure that we werent managing. We wanted to initiate it and give it to the community," Persons said. "It's very important that this fund be administered by people who are actually in the community, people who understood the event, people who understood Buffalo and understood the community of east Buffalo."

"We literally did not have a seat at the table. They didn't include us," Tops employee Fragrance Harris Stanfield told ABC News, referring to herself and other Tops workers who were at the store when the shooting erupted and survived.

Harris Stanfield, who was working at the Jefferson Avenue store along with her 20-year-old daughter said she had to run for her life and panicked when she became separated from her daughter in the chaos that ensued.

PHOTO: Tops supermarket worker Fragrance Harris Stanfield speaks of surviving the May 14, 2022, massacre at the grocery store in the East Side neighborhood of Buffalo, New York. (Alysha Webb/ABC News)

She said she believes workers who were present and survived the shooting should have gotten $50,000 each and that the $9,500 they received minimizes the psychological trauma. While Harris Stanfield has not returned to work and is receiving workman's compensation, she said some of her Tops colleagues had to resume their jobs out of financial necessity before they healed.

"The fact is we're not looking for a handout, it's just that we shouldn't have to constantly suffer and scrape and plead, and asked and fill out a thousand pounds of paperwork just to pay our bills. And $9,500 will not take care of anybody's family for a year. Nobody's. I looked at that and said this is like my salary for eight weeks," she said.

MORE: Son of Buffalo mass shooting victim fears death penalty will make suspect 'a martyr'

A 27-member steering committee of mostly community leaders -- including two Tops executives and a union representative for Tops workers -- dispersed payments from the fund after setting a list of protocols.

MORE: Unsung hero of the Buffalo mass shooting describes why he didn't want to leave people behind in the store

Jeffrey Dion, executive director of the National Compassion Fund, said his group has organized 23 survivors' funds dating back to the 2012 mass shooting at an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater that left 12 people dead and 70 injured. He said that prior to the Aurora shooting, other funds had been created but left out people who were psychologically traumatized.

"One of the foundational principles of the National Compassion Fund is that we work to include psychological trauma in every event possible, in every fund that we do," Dion told ABC News.

Tops' response to the rampage

Persons said that in addition to seeding the 5/14 Survivors Fund, Tops continued to pay its workers at the Jefferson Avenue store during the two months the market was closed following the shooting and provided counseling and regular group therapy sessions at a library near the store.

He said employees who haven't returned to work are still being paid through workman's compensation or some other capacity, and a few have taken jobs at other Tops stores.

The store reopened on July 15 following a major renovation.

But some loved ones of those killed in the shooting told ABC News they feel Tops has not done enough.

Persons, however, said he has reached out to all of the families in an attempt to address their concerns, but declined to discuss the details of those conversations. He said Tops representatives attended all of the funerals.

"We reached out to every family and there was, generally speaking, collaborative support. We did everything we could," Persons said. "There were some very emotional conversations, and some very difficult conversations."

Tragedy now 'part of Tops' history'

Persons said many of the store's employees came back to work with the attitude they were not going to allow the suspected gunman to win, and coined the phrase "Jefferson strong," which they printed on T-shirts and used in chants during therapy sessions.

MORE: How Buffalo shooting victim's son shields his ailing father from tragedy

He noted that one of the positive things to come out of the tragedy was that Tops was able to reengage with the east side community, and "reestablish the relationships we had with so many great community organizations."

While Tops could have permanently closed the store and walked away from the neighborhood, Persons said the company, instead, has re-dedicated itself to "continue to be a better neighbor."

"We have come to realize that this event, this tragedy is part of Tops' history and it's certainly part of the history of that store and the store team. We don't shy away from that," Persons said. "So, if we want to remember anything about these tragic events, in my mind, it's how we made some good out of this horrible, horrible tragedy."

Buffalo grocery store president speaks out after massacre as tensions rise with some workers originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
PEORIA  The Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce announced a $500,000 grant from the state of Illinois during a Tuesday news conference at the office of the Greater Peoria Economic Development Council.

The funds will go toward attracting and retaining skilled workers, Joshua Gunn, the president and CEO of the chamber, told reporters.

The funds will go toward a three-pronged plan to bolster the city's talent pool. The first prong will involve funding programming to foster a sense of community among the city's residents and persuade skilled workers to stay put.

"When we start to talk about attracting people to the region, I don't want to make it sound like we are giving up on those that already exist," Gunn said. "It's super important to retain the talent that we have in our region, and that means doing things that are cool and fun and exciting because people have choices more so than ever on where they can live and we have to help them choose Peoria."

More:Inferiority complex' is a hurdle for future growth in Peoria area, says Chamber CEO

The second prong will be a marketing campaign aimed at drawing in professional workers, which Gunn called a "strategic investment in bragging."

The final prong will be an incentive program for transplants, the exact nature of which has not yet been determined. Gunn said that Peoria should look to distinguish itself from other areas with similar goals.

"There's about 50 communities that are doing direct cash payments today and we don't want to get lost in that noise," he said. "We want to be strategic and give people something that's going to help them stick  not just choose Peoria for a year, but for a lifetime."

More:Young professionals are key to growing Peoria. Here's how the city hopes to attract them

Gunn said the project's overall success will be measured by its ability to reverse Peoria's population decline.

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"There are not enough people coming into our funnel and there are too many people going out of our funnel," he said. "If we have net population growth in the next 10 years, that would be tremendous for Peoria."

More:Why Peoria and Bloomington-Normal battle for residents, and who's winning lately

Jehan Gordon-Booth, who represents the Illinois House of Representatives District 92, joined Gunn at the news conference. Gordon-Booth, who grew up here, said that the $500,000 represents an initial investment in what will hopefully be an ongoing state-funded project.

"I love this community, and finding innovative, creative, fun ways to make Peoria a choice community for families, a choice community for young professionals, is something that I'm very much so tapped into and excited to explore," she said. "Going into the last budget cycle, I made it my business to fight to make sure that we were supporting the Peoria community."

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: How does Peoria reverse population decline? This could help a lot
In Japan, rice whiskey has been a style that distilleries have been making for years, but in America this category is still relatively unknown. Despite that, Louisiana distillery J.T. Meleck is hoping youll put down the bourbon for a second and give rice whiskey a try.

According to the TTB (the branch of the federal government responsible for overseeing alcohol), whiskey is a spirit distilled from a fermented mash of grain. So despite the fact that most whiskey made in America is bourbon, which must be made from at least 51 percent corn, rice whiskey certainly meets the legal definition. J.T. Meleck specializes in rice spirits, which makes sense considering the amount of rice that is grown in Louisiana. The distillery first started making rice vodka back in 2018, but now theres a 100 percent American Rice Whiskey thats entirely a grain-to-bottle Louisiana product.

More from Robb Report

With our new American Rice Whiskey, we are offering our best, ready for you to share with family and friends this holiday season, said Mike Fruge, founder and owner of Fruge Spirits, in a statement. We were patient in our process to release a rice whiskey that was the best it could be, authentic to our Louisiana brand and true to our familys story. Were giving what we have directly to you; we hope you enjoy it. The whiskey is distilled in a copper column still, aged for nearly five years in full-size, 53-gallon American oak barrels and bottled at 96 proof. Tasting notes describe butterscotch, caramel and dark chocolate on the palate with a hint of spice along for the ride as well.

Although Japanese rice whisky has been around for some time, it does have its detractors. There are some who look at it as basically a high-proof shochu, which it arguably is. But brands and distilleries like Kikori, Ohishi and Fukano have been elevating the production and barrel aging process to really give it the characteristics a discerning whiskey drinker is looking for in terms of complexity, mouthfeel, palate and nose. There are a few other American brands making rice whiskey, such as Burlock and Barrel in Florida, but overall this is still a very new category and it remains to be seen how the general whiskey drinking public will respond.

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J.T. Meleck previously released a version of Founders Edition that was aged for four years in smaller 30-gallon barrels. This whiskey, in a run of less than 1,000 bottles, sold out in December of 2021. The new version will be available in Louisiana and Arkansas at select retailers for $47, and should be available year-round going forward.

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Nov. 1People who were incarcerated as children in New Hampshire are set to receive notice in the coming days about the process to collect a piece of a settlement fund for survivors of abuse in juvenile detention facilities.

The $100 million fund was passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Chris Sununu this summer, as hundreds of people alleging abuse at the state's juvenile detention facilities prepared to sue the state. The settlement fund process was slammed by the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, and by attorneys representing hundreds of victims alleging abuse in a lawsuit against the state. The settlement process will only compensate survivors of physical and sexual abuse within narrow definitions.

Notices of the settlement fund will be published in newspapers and on social media. The process to claim funds begins Jan. 1, 2023.

People who were abused as children and teenagers at the Youth Development Center, the Sununu Youth Services Center, the State Industrial School, the Philbrook School, the Tobey Special Education School, the Youth Services Center, and any other facility that housed adjudicated delinquent youth, and youth accused of crimes before their trials are eligible for a piece of the fund.

People who want to file claims of abuse  instead of bringing a lawsuit against the state  may give up their right to sue later.

The Attorney General's Office gets the first crack at evaluating victims' claims and deciding on a compensation amount.

If a victim does not agree with the attorney general's decision, they can ask for more, withdraw their complaint and file a lawsuit, or appeal to the state-appointed fund administrator, former Justice John Broderick, and give up the right to sue.

Sexual abuse claims are capped at $1.5 million and physical abuse claims will net no more than $150,000  no matter how much abuse survivors endured. Some plaintiffs in a lawsuit brought by attorneys David Vincinanzo and Rus Rilee have alleged years of rapes and beatings, and the attorneys have said the payments are often less than what survivors could win in court.

"The State's settlement process created to favor only the State is not a product of negotiation with the victims and is unfriendly to them," Vincinanzo wrote in an emailed statement.

The fund's defenders say the settlement process is faster than a lawsuit.
This article originally appeared on Outside

Whenever I go on a long road trip, whether that's traversing expansive roads in the Southwest or snowy thoroughfares in New England, I always stop by a Chinese restaurant. This could be a humble Taos strip mall eatery or a simple-but-elegant mom-and-pop spot in Bar Harbor, Maine--always, I'm greeted by familiar aromas of garlic and ginger and warm chatter between the waitstaff in Cantonese or Mandarin. I'm at home as I dig into Mongolian beef slicked with soy glaze or a silky egg drop soup. In the U.S., there are more Chinese restaurants than McDonald's and Starbucks combined. Their ubiquity is a testament to immigrant families' resilience and documents the evolution of a thoroughly American cuisine.

The new cookbook The Woks of Life offers a glimpse into one such Chinese American family: Bill, Judy, Sarah, and Kaitlin Leung. Bill was born in Liberty, New York, while Judy lived in Hubei and Shanghai before immigrating to Monticello, New York, in 1983. "For both Bill and me, food was a life raft that connected our families to where they came from," Judy writes in the book. A love letter to the experiences of the Chinese diaspora, The Woks of Life features 100 recipes inspired by food from the Leungs' travels to Taiwan and China, as well as dishes from their home and family's restaurant.

Bill learned to cook from his parents, while Judy brought the tastes of her hometowns to her new American home--together, they imparted their food heritage and epicurean wanderlust to their daughters, Sarah and Kaitlin, who are 32 and 30 years old. "Our family cares a lot about food," Sarah writes. "Like, a weird amount." When the then-college-bound Leung sisters started to make their favorite home-cooked meals, they struggled to understand their parents' vague "a little of this, a little of that" instructions, often communicated over long-distance phone calls. That's when Sarah and Kaitlin started documenting their family recipes, launching The Woks of Life blog in 2013. It quickly acquired a loyal fanbase; was awarded Best Special Interest Blog in 2015 by Saveur; and was featured on PBS, NPR, and in Outside magazine.

Part family memoir, part cookbook, The Woks of Life expands on the website, inviting readers into the Leungs' kitchens and recounting treasured memories, like Billy and Judy's early dating years and family camping trips. Each member--and their culinary talents--is represented equally: Judy recreates the Scallion Pancakes of her childhood, Bill shares his family's restaurant's signature Garlic Fried Chicken Wings, Kaitlin details her Shortcut Dan Dan Noodles, and Sarah reinvents the Chinese Bakery Cream and Fruit Cake, a staple at every Chinese kid's birthday party. Each dish receives meticulous instructions--including a step-by-step photo guide on making Cantonese Roast Duck--with QR codes sprinkled throughout that direct readers to their blog for more in-depth techniques.

While some dishes, such as Bill's Mother's Cantonese Zongzi (glutenous rice dumplings), can be complicated and require a few rounds of practice, the labor is so worth it. Most recipes are easy to replicate, though, making for a satisfying weeknight dinner with a bowl of white rice, like the Liangban Pressed Tofu with aromatic sesame oil and Three-Cup Chicken with dark and light soy sauce. "Chinese cooking seems intimidating and complex, but once you know the ingredients to stock in your pantry, as well as a few tricks, you'll be totally surprised at what flavors you can pull off in your own kitchen," Sarah says. And what a delicious surprise it is: like my passing visits to American Chinese restaurants, The Woks of Life led me on a culinary road trip from New Jersey to New York, all the way to Taiwan, Shanghai, Xinjiang, Hubei, and Hong Kong.

Buy the Book

Beyond the kitchen, the Leungs love exploring nature and cooking outdoors. Their Hong Kong-Style Crispy Rice Skillet is designed for the stovetop but can also be made over a campfire. You can find the recipe here.

For exclusive access to all of our fitness, gear, adventure, and travel stories, plus discounts on trips, events, and gear, sign up for Outside+ today.
Body camera footage of an attack on the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi could be released as suspected assailant David DePape faces trial on a host of state and federal charges.

There are no plans to release the body cam footage prior to court proceedings, a San Francisco Police Department spokesperson told The Independent on Tuesday.

Members of the Pelosi family are expected to be shown the body camera footage and hear the 911 call that was recorded about the attack, CNN reported .

A number of prominent conservatives have been calling for the release of the footage, part of a larger movement among Republicans spreading conspiracy theories and downplaying Mr DePapes apparent links to right-wing extremism .

In a podcast episode on Monday, former Fox News host Megyn Kelly alleged a rat inside the police force was keeping details like video footage from the public.

Lets see it, Ms Kelly said. Lets see it all. I dont know what went on. I know enough to smell a rat. Theres something going on here that theyre not telling us. I just dont know what it is.

Her guest, Arkansas US Senator Tom Cotton, also called for police to release any footage of the attack.

Others, like conservative commentator John Cardillo, have made similar calls for footage.

The entire fact pattern of the case makes no sense whatsoever, the former New York police officer told far-right radio host and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon.

Across social media, commenters with apparent right-wing views aired similar conspiracies about the break-in.

They were joined in their speculations by powerful Republicans.

Many conservatives have spread conspiracies about the attack on Mr Pelosi, or even made light out of it.

Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake drew laughs from a crowd while joking about the attack and its relation to concerns over school shootings.

Donald Trump repeated a debunked conspiracy theory that the assailant hadnt actually broken into the Pelosi home

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Texas Senator Ted Cruz, meanwhile, shared a post from a far-right commentator casting doubt that alleged attacked Mr DePape was motivated by right-wing ideology.

As The Independent has reported , Mr DePape left a trail of extremism online including Holocaust denial, anti-trans hate, antisemitism, racism, and QAnon theories.

The 42-year-old DePape is accused of breaking into the couples San Francisco mansion and attacking the Speakers husband Paul with a hammer before being disarmed and arrested by police.
When Beth Waldron got a letter from her health insurance provider last year that her blood thinner Eliquis would no longer be covered, she faced two options: Change to another medication that could have adverse side effects or go from paying $30 a month to more than $600 a month out of pocket.

She didnt know initially that the maker of Eliquis offers a copay coupon card that allows patients to get the drug for only $10 a month.

She also didnt know that the card, like many patient assistance programs offered by drugmakers, came with a lot of fine print.

Patient assistance programs and manufacturer copay coupons, intended to help those who cannot afford their medications, have come under scrutiny for being a short-term solution to the much larger problem of prescription drug prices that are bleeding patients dry.

HOW DO PATIENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS WORK?: The pros and cons of prescription coupons and more.

"I think depending upon the drug and depending upon the assistance program, you know, some are more generous than others and patients need to fully understand the fine print," Waldron, 53, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, said. "But I don't see the assistance cards as being the solution to high prescription drug prices."

How do patient payment assistance programs differ?

Some programs have income restrictions or only people on certain types of insurance qualify. Some, like the Eliquis coupon, have an annual cap so they don't actually cover the drug for a full year. And increasingly, insurance plans are excluding any assistance dollars from counting toward the patient's out-of-pocket total and deductible.

COPAY ACCUMULATORS: Patients can't count drug discounts toward health insurance deductible

Some are quick and easy to obtain, while others are more complicated, according to Rich Sagall, president of NeedyMeds, an organization that aggregates information on 40,000 patient assistance programs and allows people to search by drug or diagnosis.

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"We have as much information as we can get on every program. So we talk about eligibility guidelines, how long it takes to get the medication, how many times you get a refill, anything we can think of," Sagall said.

Advocates for lower drug prices ask why companies allow some patients the ability to pay $10 for a drug while charging others 60 times that when drugmakers could just make the drug cheaper across the board.

"I think the biggest thing is the fact that patients have to jump through these hoops at all, you know, rather than just having lower drug prices or having a drug on formulary," Waldron said.

She found she could get the coupon for Eliquis from her doctor, but she talked to other patients who didn't know it existed until she posted it on social media.

Not all prescription cards are the same

The card Waldron got was for 24 months, but some are for six months. Some can be renewed, but others can't, said Waldron, who has researched these issues as an independent patient advocate for those on anticoagulants.

"So if you like apply and get a copay card once, then that's it. You can't apply for a copay card and get another one in the future," she said. "I've been on (a blood thinner) for 19 years. So 24 months is helpful, but that's not gonna help me for the rest of my life."

However, Sagall said that's true for some copay cards, but others can be used repeatedly for several years.

CVS Caremark, with 103 million members and 68,000 national network pharmacies, added Eliquis back to its formulary in July after the pharmacy benefit manager  the middlemen who negotiate drug prices and decide which drugs are covered on behalf of health insurance plans  said they secured a better price for the drug.

"Anti-coagulant therapies are among the non-specialty products where we are seeing the fastest cost increases from drug manufacturers, and we will continue to push back on unwarranted price increases," CVS Caremark said in a statement to USA TODAY.

The newest issue facing patients seeking assistance is the introduction of copay accumulator and maximizer programs which ban assistance money from counting toward deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums.

These programs are the subject of debate in statehouses across the country and a new lawsuit from patient groups seeking to ban them.

This practice is not only illegal but increases the cost of prescription drugs for millions of patients nationwide, said Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute in a press release announcing the suit in August. Nearly one in four Americans taking prescription drugs struggles to afford them. The growing practice of insurers and PBMs not counting copay assistance is one reason why."

Why do these coupon programs exist?

Drug manufacturers say they offer coupon programs to help patients offset the rising out-of-pocket cost of prescriptions due to health insurance plan design changes.

Every day there are patients who show up at the pharmacy and find their commercial insurance wont cover the cost of their medicine," said Brian Newell, spokesman for the drugmaker trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. "To help fill these gaps in insurance coverage, biopharmaceutical companies offer coupons and other forms of patient assistance."

Pharmacy benefit managers say drugmakers only offer coupons to entice people to take more expensive brand-name drugs.

Three companies, OptumRX, Express Scripts and CVS Caremark, control about 80% of the drug market. They've all spoken out against copay assistance cards  or even stopped covering drugs with coupons available  with OptumRx posting on its website, "The presence of a copay card means patients may not have financial incentive to utilize a lower-cost preferred therapy."

The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, which represents pharmacy benefit managers, says copay coupons are marketing tools used by drugmakers to get more people to use high-priced drugs.

Drug manufacturers and drug manufacturers alone set and raise prescription drug prices," the association said in a statement. "The fact is, drug manufacturers only use copay coupons to boost their profits by steering patients to more expensive medications when less expensive, clinically effective alternatives exist. Thats why drugmakers use of copay coupon tactics are banned under Medicare and other government healthcare programs."

The USA TODAY Network has previously covered the back and forth between drug makers, pharmacy benefit managers and the health plans they represent over who is to blame for high drug prices.

Read more about the factors at play here:

'IT IS LEGAL EXTORTION': Diabetics pay steep price for insulin as rebates drive up costs

REFORM: Biden urges Congress to pass reforms to lower prescription drug costs, change Medicare rule

DRUG PRICES: Seniors' health care suffers due to skyrocketing fees for prescription drugs, pharmacists say

SUPREME COURT: States can regulate pharmacy benefit managers

Patients say they are the ones that suffer

Patients mostly just say they're frustrated and confused, trying to afford their medication and navigate what programs are available to help.

While Susan Adams, of Wiley, Texas, says patient assistance programs have been a blessing for her family, she postponed getting a new expensive biologic drug for her spondyloarthropathy because she was unclear on the income restrictions and didn't think she'd qualify.

"I've investigated that more and hope that other patients know that they can avail themselves of these programs with most levels of income," she said. "Most of these drugs are just impossible to afford ... without financial assistance."

When these programs started, they were really mostly for uninsured people, said Robert Popovian, chief science officer of the Global Healthy Living Foundation, which advocates for patients with arthritis and other chronic illnesses.

But the need for drug copay assistance among the insured has grown as health plans have shifted more and more of the cost burden onto patients via high deductible health plans, said Kollet Koulianos, vice president of payer relations at the National Hemophilia Foundation.

"Every year these deductibles are getting higher and higher. And for patients there's a breaking point," she said. "Americans struggle to pay."

The average deductible today is over $5,000, Koulianos said.

So many  more than 80% of cancer patients use copay assistance according to the American Cancer Society  are turning to patient assistance programs, manufacturer coupons, or retail discount programs like GoodRx or Blink Health which all have pros and cons associated with their use, patient advocates say.

Patients need to be aware of limitations on assistance

Waldron said the manufacturer coupon she used was a lifesaver, allowing her to stay on her medication in the short term while researching other options for the long term.

But she learned from the manufacturer that only about 50,000 of the 150,000 patients who lost coverage for the drug this year took advantage of the coupon.

"Patients aren't aware that these programs exist," Waldron said. And then there are the restrictions of the coupon programs.

"One of the big limitations of these (coupon) programs is you have to be commercially insured," Waldron said. "You can't have Medicare, Medicaid, Department of Defense, Tricare, or any of the other government-sponsored insurance. So that leaves a whole lot of people ineligible for these assistance programs."

Waldron found there were other limitations with the card including an annual price cap.

Although it brought the price down to $10 a month, it only covered up to $6,400. Since the drug costs $7,600 per year, the person using the card would have to pay full price for the last few months of the year.

"So a $10 copay card is not really $10 every month, it's $10 until you hit that annual maximum," Waldron said.

People also need to be aware of the impact of manufacturer coupons on their employer health plan, Koulianos said.

When she went to fill a prescription for a cholesterol medication, she was asked if she wanted the generic or the brand name. The generic cost $5 while the copay for the nbrand name was $100.

She started to choose the generic, but the pharmacist said there was a manufacturer coupon that brought the brand name copay down to $5 too.

She decided to stick with the generic because she knew her employer would bear the cost of the more expensive version if she used the coupon.

This is a scenario critics of manufacturer coupons point to as an ongoing issue, saying the discount is simply there to entice people to take the higher-priced drug over the generic. Pharmacy benefit managers say this drives up costs for everyone on the health plan.

"When coupon programs drive increased sales of high-priced drugs, employers and insurers must pay for them. Those increased costs are passed along to members in the form of higher premiums," PBM OptumRx says on its website.

But PhRMA, the association that represents drugmakers, cites data showing that less than 1% of coupons are used on medications with a generic available.

A study by IQVIA, a pharmaceutical analytics and research company, found that "While copay cards are still being utilized by patients on brand scripts after (generics become available), the use is limited and only makes up 0.4% of the total commercial market volume."

Most cases where patients are relying on these coupons are similar to Waldron's situation, PhRMA said.

There is no generic for Eliquis and some of the alternative blood thinners that are cheaper have different side effects or require frequent blood tests, according to info from GoodRx.

Waldron said she made the decision to take Eliquis with her doctor, and health plans shouldn't be forcing her to switch to something that could be harmful to her.

"I had no idea that someone other than my doctor could decide which blood thinner I take. Because blood thinners are a rather dangerous class of medication," she said.

Like the copay coupons, patient assistance programs offered by nonprofits and foundations run by drugmakers each have their own set of qualification standards which typically include income maximums and some sort of proof that you don't have insurance or that your insurance doesn't cover your medication.

Finding these programs is more difficult than the copay coupons which are generally offered at doctors' offices and pharmacies. To find a patient assistance program, people typically have to go searching online on manufacturer websites or on a site like NeedyMeds.

"Finding it is hard. But getting into it is not that difficult, because a lot of pharma companies have very liberal rules and regulations about what they allow. When these companies started this, it was very strict, you had to have no insurance. Now, it's like everybody qualifies," Popovian said.

copay accumulators and maximizers add confusion

Throwing a new wrench in the patient assistance landscape, insurers began in 2017 to implement rules which say that any assistance money you receive no longer counts toward your deductible or out-of-pocket totals.

Koulianos said hitting a month where the assistance has run out and you owe the full deductible in order to get meds can be disastrous for patients on specialty drugs.

She worked with a hematology patient who couldn't afford the $6,250 for one month of meds after his assistance was exhausted. It took more than a month of calling and negotiating with the pharmacy benefit manager and insurance plan to get them to agree to waive his cost. By that time he'd had an uncontrolled bleed and became hospitalized.

He ended up going from a patient who cost his health plan less than $80,000 over two years to one who cost his plan $3.5 million.

"So putting an obstacle in the way of somebody who has no other option is going to have unintended consequences. And most employers especially, they don't understand that they're not seeing the whole picture. They're applying these rules as a one size fits all option, and not really thinking about the downstream consequences," Koulianos said.

Follow Katie Wedell on Twitter: @KatieWedell and Facebook: facebook.com/ByKatieWedell

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Prescription copay assistance scrutinized for role in drug prices
Ten years ago, I made a bet that women could loosen the gun industrys stranglehold on our politics and take down the wealthiest, most powerful special interest that has ever existed.

I believed their money and influence were no match for the pricelessness of a childs life. And when it came to protecting our children, nothing could stop an army of angry women.

And I was right: today, Moms Demand Action has volunteers in every single stateand with nearly 10 million supporters, were the largest grassroots movement in the country and we are twice as large as the NRA.

Our volunteers and our survivors of gun violence are rewriting history through the unglamorous heavy lifting of grassroots activism that results in gradual change. Because it really is relentless incrementalism that leads to revolutions.

This year, we were finally able to pass the most important federal gun safety legislation in 30 years. But we have so much more work to do. Were seeing guns and abortion inextricably tied together in a radical political agenda that endangers women and our families and our communities.

And isnt it interesting that the same lawmakers who say gun laws won't stop gun violence want us to believe abortion laws will stop abortion?

As the saying goes, if you dont have a seat at the table, you are probably on the menu. Women are on the menu. We hold less than a quarter of the 500,000 elected positions in this country. And that's why we are on the menu again November 8th. Our safety and our rights and our freedoms are on the menu.

I know well prevail because I have seen firsthand the difference women make when they show up. And I invite you to show up with us. Because of the courage and the tenacity and the commitment of women like us, we are winning.
Suspect accused of politically motivated attack on Paul Pelosi was 'completely caught up in the fantasy, in the MAGA fantasy,' his boss says

US House of Representatives Speaker, Nancy Pelosi (R), with her husband Paul Pelosi (C), attend a Holy Mass for the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul lead by Pope Francis in St. Peter's Basilica. Photo by Stefano Costantino/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

The suspect who attacked Paul Pelosi was consumed by conspiracy theories, The NYT reported.

Frank Ciccarelli, a carpenter, worked with the suspect, David DePape, for about six years.

"If you got him talking about politics, it was all over," Ciccarelli said.

The suspect who attacked Paul Pelosi was consumed by conspiracy theories, his current boss told The New York Times.

Frank Ciccarelli, a carpenter in Berkeley, California, told the Times he worked with the suspect, David DePape, for about six years. Ciccarelli said DePape began to spend more time online over the last few years, engulfed in right-wing conspiracy theories, as per the news outlet.

"If you got him talking about politics, it was all over," Ciccarelli said. "Because he really believed in the whole MAGA, 'Pizzagate,' stolen election  you know, all of it, all the way down the line. If you go to Fox News, if you go on the internet and you look at QAnon, you know, he had all these theories."

Adam Lipson, a public defender assigned to represent DePape declined Insider's request for comment.

At a press conference on Monday, San Francisco's District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said DePape broke into the Pelosi home Friday evening and assaulted Paul Pelosi  the husband of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi  with a hammer in a "politically motivated" attack.

The Speaker was in Washington, DC, at the time of the attack.

When Ciccarelli met DePape, he said the suspect was struggling to find work and was hanging outside a lumber store in Berkeley, California, The Times reported. Ciccarelli said that once DePape found housing, "he had much more time to spend on his computer."

Ciccarelli said this time spent roaming the dark web led him to become increasingly isolated in the last few years and wanting to work less in the carpentry business, as per The Times.



"He was completely caught up in the fantasy, in the MAGA fantasy," the carpenter told The Times.

The Justice Department charged the 42-year-old with two felonies. An FBI affidavit accompanying the complaint said that during an interview with San Francisco Police Department officials after his arrest, DePape said he wanted to break the House speaker's knees when he entered her residence.

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On Tuesday, DePape pleaded not guilty to charges including attempted murder and kidnapping.

Several reports revealed DePape had previously pushed 2020 election lies and supported conspiracy theories such as believing that COVID-19 was a plan created by the global elite.

Representatives for Pelosi and Ciccarelli did not respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
With the war in Ukraine showing no signs of subsiding and Russian forces continuing with drone attacks and missile strikes on infrastructure facilities, organizers of Ukrainian Fashion Week are already exploring alternative countries for designers to show their collections in February.

The seeming disconnect or contrast between destruction and fashion may appear to be glaring to outsiders, but Ukrainian designers and entrepreneurs are keeping with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskys dictum that business owners and employers alike continue to keep their businesses going as an act of retaliation and to maintain as much normalcy as possible. His wife, Olena Zelenska, continues to champion the fashion industry and the design community.

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Determined to maintain their businesses, operations and employee bases as best they can despite the ongoing onslaught, 43 Ukrainian brands made the latest installment of Ukrainian Fashion Week international. Thanks to the support of nine other national fashion weeks, starting with Malta Fashion Week in July, these designers and companies were able to spotlight their spring collections on the runway or virtually. Having just completed its 51st season, UFW is the oldest fashion week in Eastern and Central Europe, according to the organizations head of international communications Yelyzaveta Ushcheka.

Instead of celebrating its 25-year anniversary this year as anticipated, Ukrainian designers and brands have been waylaid by the daunting circumstances. More than 10 million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February, seeking safety, protection and assistance, according to the U.N. The recent escalation in fighting has resulted in 40 percent of the countrys energy infrastructure being seriously damaged.

The brands are still working under missile attack and air raids. Some designers have moved to Europe [temporarily] because they have children. But their companies are still based in Ukraine, and some designers have stayed in Ukraine, Ushcheka said. They are still making great collections in these terrible circumstances. They are showing Ukrainian courage and resistance through fashion. But all of the people in Ukraine do not give up. They believe that we will win and that we need to carry on and to work.

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Before the Russian invasion on Feb. 24, hundreds of thousands of people worked in Ukraines textile industry, including more than 100,000 in the fashion industry. As of 2018, there were 600 designer brands and 300 mass market ones in the country. However, an estimated 30 percent of design companies have stopped or temporarily suspended operations, due to the war, according the UFW. Most of them are expected to resume after the victory, Ulscheka predicted.

Some fashion business owners, like Ruslan Baginskiy, and their respective teams have relocated and have moved production to the western part of Ukraine. Other brands have returned to Kyiv after a short stay in Lviv or Ternopil, such as The Coat and Frolov. Several brands have relocated for the time being, such as Dzhus to Poland and Elena Burenina to France. Those who never left and are still rooted in Kyiv include Vorozhbyt & Zemskova and Andre Tan. Both companies have been sewing clothes and equipment for volunteers of the Ukrainian army, while simultaneously crafting their collections. UFWs founder and chief executive officer Iryna Danylevska is also in Ukraine.

In addition to seamstresses, there are production specialists, stylists and photographers still at work. With all of the terrible things that Russia is doing now, they can ruin Ukraines infrastructure, factories and residential buildings. But they cant ruin everything. And they cant stop the work of the designer. That is why we are doing what we are doing now to get this international visibility and support so that their businesses wont close. The war doesnt have the right to do that, Ushcheka said.

Vorozhbyt & Zemskova was among the Ukrainian brands that showed overseas last season.

Through its Support Ukrainian Fashion initiative, the UFW is already appealing to additional national fashion weeks, seeking support for Ukrainian brands and designers to participate in the next round of shows that are scheduled for early next year. The organization aims to help Ukrainian designers have a presence at the four major ones in New York, London, Milan and Paris. Some Ukrainian designers did so on a limited basis this fall through a non-UFW initiative. UFW organizers had inquired about participating in New York Fashion Week in September, but the cost of staging a group show was too expensive for the Ukrainian team to cover, Ushcheka said.

International support and distribution are more crucial than ever, given the wars impact on this years sales, she said. While Ukraines airspace remains closed to civil aircraft for safety reasons and shipping delays having been rampant in many parts of the world for months, Ukrainian brands have higher hurdles to clear than other international brands. Nevertheless, companies are finding workarounds, through the countrys postal service Ukrposhta and other delivery services. In early September, Ukrainian government officials, the European Commission and the World Bank estimated cost of reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine was $349 billion.

Along with Malta, Ukrainian designers participated in varying degrees in Copenhagen Fashion Week, Budapest Central European Fashion Week, Berlin Fashion Week, Transylvania Fashion Festival, Vienna Fashion Week, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid and Brussels Fashion Week, before winding down last month at Vegan Fashion Week in Los Angeles. Depending on the location, Ukrainian resources received varying degrees of financial support. In some cases, all of their expenses were covered, whereas others could take care of everything but public relations and guest management.

Unfortunately, some fashion weeks said that they could not support us without money, because they do not have the budget for that. But we are hoping for international support for the coming season, Ushcheka said. Now we understand that it will be almost impossible to hold this next season safely in Ukraine in February. We dont know what will be. We think that next season will be held on the international fashion week.

Some labels were inventive in their presentations. The Coat made a fashion film in the Pyrohiv Museum of Folk Architecture that was shown during Copenhagen Fashion Week. Gudu, Darja Donezz, Kir Khartley and Sidletskiy were represented in different ways at Budapest Central European Fashion Week. In Transylvania, Apsara, Dima Makeev, Panove and Sheezen held shows, and met with representatives of the European Fashion Council, an organization celebrating its fifteenth year.

Brands like Chereshnivska made certain their spring collections would be shown.

For example, Nadya Dzyak continues to make its signature plisse in Kharkiv, one of the Ukrainian cities that is facing daily military attacks by Russian forces. As fighting has intensified in recent days, companies are dealing with water shortages, as well as the ongoing problem of rolling blackouts. Nevertheless, everyone is working in Ukraine. When there isnt any electricity, they pause. When the electricity comes back, they continue to work. Many manufacturers have been buying generators so they can work, when there is no electricity. Ushcheka said.

The Coat opted for a digital presence at Copenhagen Fashion Week.

In other Ukraine-related news, United24, an unprecedented platform that connects the Ukrainian government with international businesses to unite people and support Ukraine, has raised $201.7 million with the help of such ambassadors as Demna Gvasalia, Imagine Dragons, Elina Svitolina, Andriy Shevchenko, Barbra Streisand and Mark Hamill. Balenciaga and Bang & Olufsen are two of the brands that have collaborated with the platform since it was started six months ago.

United24 was started six months ago to unite people and rally support for Ukraine.

Separately, an American footwear company Bearpaw has donated 120,000 pairs of winter boots for people who have been displaced by the crisis in Ukraine. The boots are being distributed to families in five regions of the country by USA for UNHCR, the U.N.s Refugee Agency. Bearpaws home city of Sacramento has one of the largest number of Ukrainian immigrants per capita nationwide  22,000 as of early August. With winter approaching and below-freezing temperatures and snowfall routine in Ukraine, Bearpaw wanted to support the Ukrainian community, a company spokesman said. The San Francisco nonprofit My New Red Shoes rounded up 1,000-plus volunteers to help process the cargo. Through Airlink and their donor and digital freight forwarding partner Flexport.org, USA for UNHCR received donated transportation and logistics services costs to deliver the boots  which were valued at $9 million retail  in Kyiv and Lviv.

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The West Shore Symphony Orchestra will kick off its 2022-2023 Masterworks Concert Season at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 20 with a program titled Dramatic Prism.

Featuring works by Russell Peck, Felix Mendelssohn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Dmitri Shostakovich and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, the concert is intended to offer a dynamic array of moods and perhaps fire the imagination.

Two commissioned works, one arranged by the orchestras music director Jennifer Sacher Wiley and the other written by composer Erin Graham will also be featured. Additionally, the concert will showcase guest artist Andrew Rammon, who will perform Shostakovichs first cello concerto.

A pre-concert lecture will be held at 2:15 p.m. Both it and the performance will be held at Trinity Lutheran Church located at 2000 Chestnut St., in Camp Hill. Tickets are $15 for general admission and $12 for seniors for the concert. There is no cost for students to attend, but high school and college students should bring a school ID. Tickets can be purchased at westshoresymphony.org or at the door.

In addition to the Masterworks Concert, the symphony will also offer a free childrens concert held on Saturday, Nov. 19 at 9:30 a.m. in the same location. This family-friendly program is free and will run for about 45 minutes. Snippets of many of the works to be performed the following day will be interwoven through an original, scripted concert drama intended to introduce young listeners to the instruments and music of the orchestra. Young concertgoers will get to meet guest puppet Spirus Buck and be introduced to a student production team from Camp Curtin School in Harrisburg

Works to be performed during the Masterworks Concert display a prism of changing moods ranging from brooding and mysterious (Beethovens Egmont Overture and Mendelssohns Hebrides Overture), soulful (Rimsky-Korsakovs Russian Easter Overture, and fiery (Shostakovichs Cello Concerto No. 1, 1st movement) to intimate (Lysenkos Popular Ukrainian Songs, arranged by Sacher Wiley), buoyant (Pecks Signs of Life for string orchestra,) and shifting (Graham Two Scenes for Orchestra).

Guest cellist Rammon was born in Las Vegas to a musical family. He grew up in Germany where he studied at the Frankfurter Musizkschole. After returning to the states, he went on to earn degrees from Pepperdine University and the Cleveland Institute of Music. Rammon has performed extensively as a soloist and in chamber groups in the U.S. and abroad. He is currently a cellist of the Lycoming Piano Trio and the Grammy-nominated Eaken Piano Trio. He has served as principal cello of the Williamsport Symphony and also has taught at Susquehanna University, Lycoming College, Bucknell University, Mansfield University and as a sabbatical replacement at Penn State University. He resides in Silver Springs, Maryland.

The West Shore Symphony Orchestra features some 60 instrumentalists drawing from the general West Shore and Harrisburg area. This is the sixth season that Jennifer Sacher Wiley, a professor of music from Susquehanna University, has led the group. The symphony performs three Masterworks Concerts a year, and also plays outdoor concerts for the community during the summer.

The group holds rehearsals on Monday evenings and encourages any strings players who may wish to join the orchestra beginning in winter 2023 to apply via the form on the website. This season, the West Shore Symphony Orchestra will also be holding a Concerto Competition for high school string players living in Pennsylvania with a deadline of Dec. 1. To learn about these opportunities, visit the website at westshoresymphony.org.
By Sarah Marsh and Andreas Rinke

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Olaf Scholz makes an inaugural visit to China on Friday that will be closely watched for clues on how serious Germany is about reducing its economic reliance on Asia's rising superpower and confronting its Communist leadership.

His one-day visit on Nov. 4, will make Scholz the first G7 leader to visit China since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and the first to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping since he consolidated his grip on power at a Communist Party Congress.

Deep trade ties bind Asia and Europe's biggest economies, with rapid Chinese expansion and demand for Germany's cars and machinery fueling its own growth over the past two decades. China became Germany's single biggest trade partner in 2016.

A recent survey by the Ifo think-tank found that nearly half of German industrial firms now rely on significant inputs from China.

But Scholz's trip comes at a time of growing concern in the West - particularly in Germany's top security ally, the United States - about China's trade practices, human rights record and territorial ambitions.

It also comes amid worry at home about Germany's dependence on another increasingly assertive, authoritarian state given the ongoing fallout of its over-reliance on Russian energy.

"It is extremely important that we never again make ourselves so dependent on a country that does not share our values," Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told broadcaster ARD when asked about China.

Scholz, who will meet with both Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Xi, will press China to open up its markets, raise human rights concerns and discuss "autocratic" tendencies, a German government spokesperson said last week.

He also hopes China can help persuade Russia to end the war in Ukraine, a government official said on Wednesday.

"This trip is an exploratory trip to find out in personal exchange where China stands, where China is going and what forms of cooperation are possible," the official said.

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Germany had already started to take a slightly more hawkish stance on China under former Chancellor Angela Merkel, for example by sending a warship to the disputed South China Sea for the first time in two decades last year.

Now Scholz's government is drafting its first ever China strategy, on the basis of a coalition deal that struck a tougher stance on Beijing, mentioning sensitive issues such as Taiwan and Hong Kong and human rights violations in Xianjiang.

The chancellor made his inaugural Asia visit to Japan, not China, unlike his predecessor in a sign of the changing times.

MERCANTILE APPROACH?

Yet some coalition members, European officials and rights activists worry there are early signs Scholz, who has warned against decoupling, will not mark a decisive break with what they view as Merkel's mercantilist approach towards China.

Scholz will be accompanied by a delegation of business leaders including the chief executives of Volkswagen , BASF, Siemens, Deutsche Bank, BMW, Merck and BioNTech, according to sources familiar with the matter.

No company deals were planned, a German government official said.

However, "his decision to bring a business delegation shows that, for Germany, profit continues to trump human rights," Dolkun Isa, president of the Munich-based group the World Uyghhur Congress, said on Wednesday, arguing that Scholz was overlooking a genocide taking place in the Xinjiang region.

Beijing denies any abuses there.

Last week the German chancellor also pushed through a cabinet decision to allow China's Cosco to invest in a terminal at Hamburg port despite pushback from his coalition partners.

Scholz's junior coalition partners, the Greens and (FDP) Free Democrats, have long been more hawkish on China than his Social Democrats (SPD) and the Cosco decision prompted outcry.

FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai called the decision "naive" and criticized the timing of Scholz's trip to China as "deeply unfortunate".

Moreover French and German government sources told Reuters French President Emmanuel Macron had suggested to Scholz they go together to Beijing to send a signal of EU unity to Beijing and counter what they see as Chinese attempts to play one country over another.

But the German chancellor declined Macron's offer, the sources said.

EU countries should adopt a more united approach, the European Union's industry chief told Reuters on Monday.

(Reporting by Sarah Marsh and Andreas Rinke; Additional Reporting by Paul Carrel; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
The aftermath of the recent bomb attack in Mogadishu

Al-Shabab militants have carried out several attacks in Somalia in recent weeks, including twin car bomb explosions in the capital, Mogadishu in which 120 people died.

The Islamist group has been active in Somalia for more than 15 years. Are attacks increasing and are there more civilian casualties?

Government crackdown

In recent weeks, the government has launched a large-scale offensive against al-Shabab, working together with local clan militia.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who was re-elected in May, has pledged "total war" against the Islamist militants after they attacked a popular hotel in Mogadishu in August, killing at least 21 people.

And government forces have been gaining ground, according to analysts.

Somali government forces have gone on the offensive against al-Shabab

"The bombings were a message sent by the militants to show that they are still alive, despite the fact that they were defeated...by government forces," President Mohamud said of the recent attacks in Mogadishu.

Horn of Africa analyst Rashid Abdi says al-Shabab could be carrying out more attacks as a response to its losses.

"No surprise Al-Shabab is more lethal now. Its back is to the wall. It has lost more territory in four months than it has in five years.

"It is facing most serious clan revolt ever. Its economic empire [is] under strain,"

The US embassy in Mogadishu has also suggested the recent attacks could be connected to battlefield losses.

How active is al-Shabab now?

In recent years, the group has changed its approach from direct military confrontation, to tactics such as bombings, raids and assassinations of Somali and foreign officials.

It has also continued to be successful in generating revenue from local clans, collecting taxes and running courts outside government-controlled areas.

President Mohamud says the group has 15,000 to 18,000 fighters, and UN experts say it has a monthly revenue of about $10m (8.7m).

Bar chart showing conflict deaths

The Somali government doesn't publish statistics on killings by militant groups.

However, the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (Acled) collects data on attacks by al-Shabab as well as by government and foreign forces against militant targets.

Story continues

Their information indicates 2022 is on course to be one of the worst years on record for fatalities. The number so far this year is above that recorded for 2020 and 2021.

In 2017, more than 500 people were killed in one attack in Mogadishu. The government attributed this to al-Shabab, although the group did not confirm it was behind it.

Map showing breakdown of fatalities in 2022 by region

The militant group still retains control over large areas of rural Somalia and continues to mount attacks in urban centres.

ACLED figures for all fatalities show that this year, conflict was concentrated in central and southern regions, including Mogadishu, the capital, and surrounding areas.

There have been a few attacks in the north of the country, and to the north-east, some groups loyal to the so-called Islamic State are active.

However, Islamic State operates on a much smaller scale.

Are foreign forces fighting in Somalia?

Various international players have participated in the fight against the group, the key one being the US, which decided earlier this year to send troops back to the country.

Last month, the Biden administration also announced that it had blacklisted 14 individuals it accused of being leaders or financiers of al-Shabab.

Somali's national army has been aided by US military intervention

During President Trump's administration, the US significantly increased the use of airstrikes and drones to combat the militants. But it then withdrew troops in December 2020 following strained relations with then president Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed "Farmajo".

The African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) has also been supporting the country's army against the militants, having taken over from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) earlier this year.

Kenya has had troops fighting al-Shabab in Somalia since 2011 and the group has carried out frequent attacks.

In January 2019, 21 people were killed during a raid on the DusitD2 hotel complex in the capital, Nairobi.

The group's deadliest attack on Kenyan soil was in April 2015 when gunmen attacked Garissa University College in eastern Kenya killing 148 people, most of them students.

The International Crisis Group says "the renewed mobilisation against al-Shabab carries risks of increased violence against civilians with little prospects of full military victory on either side."

Additional research by Erwan Rivault

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By Asif Shahzad and Syed Raza Hassan

KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) - It was the kind of attack Pakistani authorities had dreaded.

A highly educated female suicide bomber killed three Chinese teachers in Karachi in April along with their local driver, targeting nationals from Pakistan's most important partner and seeking to undermine a relationship on which Islamabad's financial survival largely depends.

The blow threatened a major segment of Beijing's Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, a $65 billion network of roads, railways, pipelines and ports in Pakistan that will connect China to the Arabian Sea and help Islamabad expand and modernise its economy.

Separatists from the vast, impoverished Pakistani province of Balochistan claimed responsibility for the attack after a young, educated mother from a well-to-do family blew herself up in an assault captured on CCTV and broadcast on local news channels.

In a video on social media, the separatists warned China to leave Pakistan or face further carnage.

Even though months have passed since the attack, Pakistani authorities remain deeply worried.

"Attacks on the Chinese nationals and projects in Pakistan are of grave concern for the government," the interior ministry said in a statement to Reuters last week, adding that the government was in active pursuit of such militant outfits.

The Baloch National Army (BLA), the banned group that issued the video, is part of a decades-old insurgency that usually targets Pakistani security forces.

But in recent years the BLA has attacked Chinese nationals, because, it says, Beijing has ignored warnings not to enter deals and agreements regarding Balochistan.

China is involved in major mining and infrastructure projects in the resource-rich province, including the deep-water Gwadar port, all part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

At the start of the video, a masked gunman addresses China. Speaking in English he says: "President of China ... you still have time to get out of Balochistan, otherwise you will be taken out of Balochistan in such a way that you will never forget."

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Shortly afterwards, schoolteacher Shari Hayat Baloch, 30, is filmed walking in a park with her young son and daughter and later addressing the camera in combat fatigues.

Smiling and calm, the 30-year-old thanks fellow Baloch separatist fighters for giving her the "opportunity" to become the movement's first female suicide bomber.

Video: Funeral held in Pakistan for journalist killed in Kenya

CONCERNS IN BEIJING

A team of Chinese officials travelled to Pakistan to assist in investigations, the interior ministry said, a sign of the seriousness Beijing attaches to the attack. The visit has not been previously reported.

The Chinese officials supported Pakistan's counter-terrorism forces in areas such as CCTV footage enhancement and data retrieval from cell phones, the ministry said.

The team left in late August after spending nearly two months trawling through tens of thousands of data files, according to four Pakistani sources directly involved in the probe. The leads they found helped Pakistani authorities zero in on the main suspect in the university attack, who was arrested in July.

China's foreign ministry did not reply to queries from Reuters. It has previously condemned the April 26 attack and demanded that Pakistan punish the perpetrators, protect Chinese citizens and prevent such incidents from happening again.

Security for Beijing's interests in Pakistan will be on the agenda during a visit by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to China this week, where he will be one of the first leaders to meet President Xi Jinping after he secured a third term in office.

PATH TO SUICIDE

Hayat - a science teacher who had a masters degree in Zoology - was planning to enrol in a second masters degree at the time she detonated explosives in her rucksack as a minivan carrying the three Chinese teachers drove by, police said.

The four officials involved in the probe said interviews with dozens of students, friends and relatives indicated that her path to radicalisation began at the university in the Balochistan capital Quetta through the Baloch Students Organization (BSO).

"It may be difficult to know exactly what provoked her to join the Baloch armed struggle," said an undated counter-terrorism department report on Hayat seen by Reuters.

"However, she remained a member of the Baloch Students Organization Azad in her student life," it said.

Unlike the broader BSO, its breakaway faction BSO Azad is banned by authorities who see it as an extreme wing of the Baloch campus movement.

Two BSO officials contacted by Reuters declined comment.

BSO Azad remains underground, and Reuters was unable to contact any of its senior leaders for comment. The BLA, also a banned organisation, did not respond to e-mailed requests for comment.

Two members of staff at Quetta University confirmed to Reuters that Hayat had been active in the BSO Azad when she studied Zoology there from 2011 to 2014. They declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the subject.

One of them recalled that the man Hayat later married, Habitan Baloch, was a leading figure in BSO Azad at the time.

BRAINWASHING

The four officials said another influential figure in Hayat's life appeared to be Karima Baloch, a leading Baloch activist who featured in the BBC's list of 100 inspirational and influential women in 2016.

Karima moved to Canada that year after saying she had received threats in Pakistan. Her body was found in the waters off Toronto in late 2020, an event that the officials believe prompted Hayat to join the BLA militants.

Toronto police have said they believed Karima's death to be a non-criminal matter.

According to two of the Pakistani investigators, as part of brainwashing, the wife of a slain former leader of the BLA spent time with Hayat and introduced her to families of people who had disappeared or whose bodies were found after they had gone missing.

On the day of the Karachi attack, Habitan, a dentist, tweeted that he was "beaming with pride" at what his wife had done.

The post has since been removed and Pakistani authorities say they do not know the whereabouts of Habitan or the couple's children. Reuters could not reach him via his social media profiles or relatives.

Hayat's father, Mohammed Hayat, a retired civil servant, told Reuters: "In our families, everyone talks about the resistance, that's a normal thing. I never knew that she could ever have extremist inclinations."

Following the bombing, Pakistani law enforcement agencies detained at least seven Baloch students across the country who were suspected of being involved.

All have since been released, a top counter-terrorism official said.

Pakistan has long blamed old enemy India for supporting the Balochistan insurgency. India, which has fought wars with both Pakistan and China, denies the charge.

KEY SUSPECT

The four officials said China's data analysis helped lead investigators to a man they say played a key role in coordinating the Karachi attack.

Dad Bukhsh, a 26-year-old Baloch separatist wanted by authorities for suspected involvement in previous attacks on Chinese targets, travelled from Karachi to the Afghan city of Kandahar in December, 2020, according to the officials.

There he received training in bomb making and armed combat and met several leaders of the Baloch insurgency who were in neighbouring Afghanistan at the time, the officials added.

Afghanistan's ruling Taliban, who were fighting their own insurgency against Western forces at that time, declined to comment on Bukhsh's activities. Reuters could not independently verify his alleged role in the April bombing.

According to two of the sources, Bukhsh returned to Karachi in July, 2021, and began to scope out the KANUPP nuclear plant, which is being expanded with Chinese technology and manpower and was considered a potential target for attack.

The interior ministry did not respond to a question on any potential KANUPP attack.

When the facility proved inaccessible, Bukhsh was invited by a BLA operative to meet Habitan, who communicated to him that the new target was to be Chinese teachers at Karachi University, the sources involved in the probe said.

Bukhsh enrolled in an English language course in a campus adjacent to the university in order to trace their daily movements.

In January, Hayat arrived in Karachi from Balochistan, and she and her husband moved from property to property over the following weeks as they prepared for the attack.

On April 24, two days before the bombing, Habitan and Bukhsh left the city and went to Balochistan, according to the officials. Bukhsh returned to Karachi soon after making an alibi that he wasn't in the city on the day of the attack.

Murtaza Wahab, an adviser to the provincial government in Sindh of which Karachi is the capital, said a joint team of counter-terrorism and intelligence agencies worked on different leads that resulted in Bukhsh's arrest in the city in July.

Police have filed charges against Bukhsh in an anti-terrorism court, government prosecutor Zulfikar Ali Mahar told Reuters. He is in custody, and does not yet have a lawyer. Reuters was not able to contact him.

Bukhsh will be tried on terrorism charges for killing Chinese nationals and launching an attack against the state's interests, Mahar said, adding, "We are waiting for the court to give us a date to start his trial."

(Writing by Mike Collett-White; Additional Reporting by Gul Yousafzai in Quetta, Saud Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan; Editing by Mike Collett-White, Gibran Peshimam and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
VAN BUREN - Two former Crawford County deputies fired over excessive force complaints had requested a public hearing at the sheriff's department lobby Wednesday in efforts to clear their names, the sheriff's office reported.

But neither Levi White nor Zack King showed up Wednesday. Instead, a woman showed up up to make accusations that she is another person who has been roughed up during an arrest by White.

White and King were caught on video making a rough arrest of Randal Worcester on Sunday, Aug. 21. The video taken by a bystander showed White, King and a Mulberry police officer, Thell Riddle, beating Worcester in Mulberry, Arkansas after a convenience store clerk in Alma claimed Worcester threatened her.

Crawford deputies' excessive force:Two Arkansas deputies fired after video of arrest beating went viral. Here's what we know

Crawford County Chief Deputy Brad Wiley did appear at the name-clearing hearing.

"I have a prepared statement for you," Wiley said to reporters. "The Crawford County Sheriff's Department received a request on behalf of former deputies Levi White and Zachary King for a name-clearing hearing. As a result of this request, the Crawford County Sheriff's Department has provided a forum for the employees to address the public and the basis for employment decisions. The name-clearing hearing is informational only, it is not an appeal to previous employment decisions nor are the previous employment decisions subject to reconsideration."

Wiley then walked away from the podium. The deputies did not appear. Sheriff Jimmy Damante did not appear at the hearing.

More coverage:Sheriff defends suspended deputies in beating arrest case

Attorney David Powell of Fort Smith, who previously represented Worcester, said Worcester is now represented by another attorney in Oklahoma City. Powell is now representing a woman who also says White used excessive force in her arrest.

Tammy Nelson said on Aug. 21 she was at her home where she was involved in a civil matter that resulted in a heated argument that didn't go to well. White was sent to the call, where things escalated for the worse, she said.

Story continues

Tammy Nelson talks to the media after a press conference at the Crawford County Justice Center on Nov. 2.

"I was just attacked by him and violated, and thrown to the ground," Nelson said. She was arrested on complaints of obstruction of a government operation and harassment, and jailed.

Powell said the incident was similar to what happened to Worcester that was caught on video. He has heard from other clients who have such complaints, he said.

"We came here today basically thinking that there was some kind of name-clearing event and we wanted to know what they were clearing their names of," Powell said. "As far as I know there is still an ongoing FBI investigation and a special prosecutor has not made a decision on whether or not to file criminal charges against these officers. They both have been released from the sheriff's office, they no longer work here and they are subjects of civil complaints."

More coverage:State chooses special prosecutor in excessive force case

More coverage:Federal lawsuit filed against Arkansas law officers

Activist Derek Van Voast of Springdale, who works as an assistance to The Rev. Jesse Jackson, traveled to Van Buren where he expected to hear from White and King too.

"Any time someone gets their chance to clear their name and they get the stage, wrong, right or indifferent, I think they should, and I think they could," Voast said. "And by their lack of showing they didn't care to clear their names. That tells me everything I need to know. You see, time is the most precious thing on this Earth, and if you don't have enough time to clear your name than it is not that important to you."

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Crawford County deputies don't show at hearing for excessive force
The Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a court filing on Monday that several Arizona groups monitoring of ballot drop boxes can amount to illegal voter intimidation in violation of the Voting Rights Act.

The DOJ filed a statement of interest voicing support for a recent lawsuit from the League of Women Voters of Arizona, which accused several Arizona groups of engaging in an escalating scheme of voter intimidation and harassment.

Although lawful poll-watching activities can support democratic transparency and accountability, when private citizens form ballot security forces and attempt to take over the States legitimate role of overseeing and policing elections, the risk of voter intimidationand violating federal lawis significant, the Justice Department said in the filing.

The groups  Lions of Liberty, Yavapai County Preparedness Team and Clean Elections USA  have reportedly been surveilling drop boxes while armed and in tactical gear, filming voters, posting their information or images online, and reporting them to police if they drop off more than one ballot, according to the League of Women Voterss lawsuit.

The DOJ noted that most of these actions have previously been found to violate the Voting Rights Act, including filming and photographing voters, monitoring voting sites while armed and threatening adverse consequences like harassment, public opprobrium, and baseless allegations of felonious conduct.

The department also pushed back on a recent decision in a similar case brought by the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans. A federal judge rejected the groups request to block Clean Elections USA from observing ballot drop box locations, ruling it would infringe on their constitutional rights.

However, the DOJ argued in Mondays filing that the First Amendment does not protect individuals right to assemble to engage in voter intimidation or coercion.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Federal prosecutors announced charges against a former professional boxer from Montenegro for allegedly trafficking more than $1 billion of cocaine.

Goran Gogic, 43, was arrested by authorities Sunday night at the Miami International Airport as he tried to board a flight to Zurich, Switzerland, according to the Department of Justice. He is accused of overseeing the logistics of cocaine shipments aboard cargo ships going from South America to Europe passing through ports in the United States, court documents show.

Authorities intercepted three of those shipments on separate occasions at the Port of Philadelphia and the Port of New York and New Jersey in 2019, the DOJ said in a news release.

Goran Gogic at a bought in Hamburg, Germany in 2004.

The shipment that was intercepted at the Port of Philadelphia aboard the MSC Gayane on June 19, 2019 contained 17,956 kilos of cocaine and was alone worth over $1 billion, making it one of the largest cocaine seizures in U.S. history, prosecutors said in a memorandum. Several members of the vessels crew members were arrested and prosecuted, also.

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Packages of cocaine seized from the MSC Desiree at the Port of Philadelphia.

The ships would be loaded with the cocaine at night near the ports where they were docked. Ship crewmembers would hoist the shipments up from speedboats and hide them in select shipping containers, according to the news release. Gogic was present when each shipment was loaded, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors allege that Gogic coordinated with every part of the smuggling operation: the crew aboard commercial cargo ships, the traffickers in Colombia who sourced the cocaine, the speed boat workers who loaded the drugs onto the ships and the dock workers in Europe who received and offloaded the shipments.

Story continues

Opinion: Jake Paul is showing boxing how to succeed. And it's not listening

This complex operation relied on having access to each ships crew, route, manifest, real-time positioning and geolocation data and a knowledge of what legitimate cargo is contained in each container, the DOJ said in its news release.

Authorities also seized cocaine connected to Gogics scheme at ports in Peru, Panama, the Netherlands and other countries, the DOJ said.

This arrest came as a surprise to Gogic, his lawyer Lawrence Hashish told USA TODAY Tuesday. Hashish said he could not yet comment on the facts of the case, but said his client maintained his innocence.

Gogic is charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act and three counts of violating the same act, and faces a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison, according to the DOJ.

He is in custody and has a detention hearing set for Nov. 7, Hashish said.

As a professional boxer, Goric had a record of 21-4 in a career spanning from 2001 to 2012, according to BoxRec. Most of his fights took place in Germany.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ex-boxer Goran Gogic charged with trafficking $1 billion of cocaine
Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., on Oct. 11, 2022, in Rochester, N.H., left, and Don Bolduc, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire, Oct. 5, 2022, in Auburn, N.H. (AP Photo)

New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan and Republican Don Bolduc debated Wednesday night after the two U.S. Senate candidates previously went head-to-head last week, with questions on abortion, inflation and immigration, among others.

Incumbent Hassan and GOP challenger Bolduc debated less than one week before Election Day.

The debate was the first since Bolduc received an endorsement from former President Donald Trump. In a Truth Social post earlier this week, Trump called the candidate a "strong and proud 'Election Denier,' a big reason that he won the nomination."

The candidates have sparred over inflation, 2020 election fraud and abortion.

More: Get political news, fast and to the point, delivered to your inbox. Sign up for the OnPolitics newsletter.

The competitive Senate race will determine if Hassan serves another term. The Senate is currently split 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris giving Democrats the tie-breaking vote.

Hassan highlights record as former governor, senator

In her closing statement, Hassan said it has been the honor of her lifetime to serve as New Hampshire governor and senator. She said she is running for reelection to bring people together and solve problems, saying theres more work to do to lower costs.

Hassan said her opponent wants to impose an extreme agenda.

He isnt accountable to you, she said. I will always listen to you and work to deliver for New Hampshire.

- Rachel Looker

Bolduc touts outsider status in closing statement

In his closing statement, Bolduc blamed the nation's problems on Hassan and President Joe Biden. The retired general said professional politicians are the biggest problem of all. "This is a sad situation we are in," the Republican candidate said.

 David Jackson

Hassan expresses concern over political rhetoric

When asked about how much responsibility politicians need to take to prevent political violence, Hassan said the point of democracy is to have a system for resolving disputes that isnt violent.

Story continues

It is absolutely essential that we tone down the rhetoric, she said.

She emphasized that she is concerned about the rhetoric that she has heard, specifically referring to the Jan. 6 Committee investigating the attack on the Capitol.

- Rachel Looker

Previously: House Jan. 6 committee subpoenas former President Donald Trump

Bolduc: I've done 76 town halls

Repeating his claim he would not vote to raise taxes, Bolduc said he has repeated his pledge during 76 town halls in New Hampshire.

 David Jackson

Bolduc says attack on Paul Pelosi is 'sign of the times'

Bolduc said the recent attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is a sign of the times, after offering his sympathies.

Its a sign of political problems, said Bolduc, arguing that polarization on both sides are fueling rising political violence in the United States.

-- Ken Tran

Bolduc: I will not raise taxes, period

When asked about the Fair Tax Act, a national sales tax on purchases of new goods and services, Bolduc said he was never in favor of a Fair Tax.

Its taken out of context by Senator Hassan and her team, he said, when asked about his past record saying he would support the legislation. ... Its a lie.

Bolduc said he signed a pledge not to raise taxes and he will not raise taxes, period.

- Rachel Looker

Hassan turns inflation on Bolduc

Hassan accused Bolduc of supporting a fair tax, saying this would increase your costs on things like rent and healthcare and food.

Just at a time when inflation is straining our families so dramatically, said Hassan, turning inflation to Bolduc.

-- Ken Tran

Hassan says cutting U.S. 'demand' can help combat drug trafficking

Hassan said the United States is doing what it can to stop the flow of drugs into the country, particularly fentanyl.

She also said part of the problem is American "demand" for drugs; cutting that can help the government battle drug cartels.

 David Jackson

On fentanyl and opioid crisis, Bolduc slams border policy again

Bolduc criticized Biden and Hassan again for border policy and fentanyl in the United States.

We dont have secure borders because we have a terrible immigration policy, Bolduc said, calling for more investment in the border and saying that Hassan hurt our borders."

-- Ken Tran

Bolduc and Hassan on bipartisanship

Bolduc said Hassan did not answer the question as to whether the country should expand the Supreme Court, dodging the question himself.

Shes not bipartisan. She is not, he said. She just gave you a typical political answer.

Hassan responded that she is proud of being named the most bipartisan senator in the country by the independent Lugar Center and is proud of her record delivering bipartisan results.

Bolduc said he does not know how she even got that award.

- Rachel Looker

Hassan opposes adding justices to Supreme Court (and attacks Bolduc on abortion)

Hassan said she did not support increasing the number of justices to the Supreme Court, saying it would only further "politicize" the bench.

She also used the question to again attack Bolduc for opposing abortion rights, which the high court struck down earlier this year.

 David Jackson

Bolduc says 'character integrity' is important to him in Supreme Court

On the Supreme Court, Bolduc said he would evaluate nominees to the high court on character integrity.

Bolduc said the nomination process has become too politicized.

I dont want them legislating from the bench, I want them to be judges that have a good history of being fair and honest.

-- Ken Tran

Bolduc says he does not support CHIPS Act

Bolduc said he would not have voted for the CHIPS Act, which he called essentially a bailout.

He said it didnt create any solutions and that the United State does not need to be making components, we need to be making the whole thing.

Bolduc added that manufacturing needs to return to the United States.

- Rachel Looker

'America is delivering': Biden signs bipartisan computer chips bill into law

Hassan defends semi-conductor program that is target for critics

Hassan defended the federal law on semi-conductor manufacturing, saying it will provide jobs and help unclog the global supply chain.

Critics, include Bolduc, called the law a bailout for the semi-conductor industry and its lobbyists.

 David Jackson

Hassan slams Bolduc for calling to eliminate the Department of Education

In her rebuttal to Bolduc, Hassan attacked him for his calls to eliminate the Department of Education. What Don Bolduc doesn't tell you is he supports eliminating the Department of Education, said Hassan.

Again, Hassan invoked her credentials as a senator, citing previous work to preserve funding for rural schools.

-- Ken Tran

Bolduc: Education should be handled at the local level

Bolduc said the federal government should not be involved in education. He put the blame on the Department of Education for the decline of education scores.

He said education should be handled at the local level, saying parents need to be in charge.

It needs to be locally driven, not driven by the federal government and thats how we need to invest in it, he said.

- Rachel Looker

Hassan: Local parents and teachers need to work together - without the feds

Hassan downplayed federal involvement in school policy, saying parents and teachers should work together at the local level.

The senator and former governor noted that she got involved in public life because of her son's disability issues at school.

 David Jackson

Hassan praises COVID vaccine mandates

Hassan said COVID-19 vaccine mandates have been very important in protecting my familys health.

She specifically mentioned her son with cerebral palsy, saying that the threat of COVID was no longer a significant threat to him.

-- Ken Tran

Learn more: USA TODAY Covid updates

Candidates answer who has been the best president in last 20 years

Bolduc said the best president in the last 20 years was President Donald Trump for improving the economy and securing the country.

Hassans answer: President Barack Obama.

- Rachel Looker

Candidates talk about high prices

Hassan said she is worried about rising prices for all kinds of products; Bolduc blamed Hassan and the government overall for higher prices.

 David Jackson

Bolduc on climate change

When asked about what climate provisions he agrees with, Bolduc said he doesnt agree with the Inflation Reduction Act, calling it is a tax increase on middle class and claiming it has hurt Granite Staters.

He avoided answering the question as to how he would work to slow climate change.

- Rachel Looker

Bolduc says he doesnt admire anybody

On whether the candidates admired any political leaders, Bolduc cited nobody.

The world is in such a difficult position right now, Im not gonna say I admire anybody right now. The world needs a lot of work.

Hassan gave a quick answer to the question, saying President Vladimir Zelenskyy.

-- Ken Tran

Hassan: Clean energy will help with climate change

Hassan again touted her support of clean energy programs, this time as a way to address climate change.

She also noted, again, that clean energy will reduce dependence on oil and cut energy prices.

 David Jackson

Hassan: Bolduc most extreme nominee

Hassan called Bolduc the most extreme nominee for U.S. Senate New Hampshire has seen in modern history.

She claims he has tried to conceal his extremism from voters, adding that he has claimed the election was stolen in 2020.

Hassan added that Bolduc has started to cast doubt on the 2022 elections, claiming that if his preferred candidate for president doesnt win in 2024 and hes in the Senate, he would overturn the election.

- Rachel Looker

Bolduc attacks moderators for throwing Hassan a softball

After Hassan called Bolduc an extremist and attacked him for his previous claims that the 2020 election was stolen, Bolduc accused the moderators of throwing her a softball.

Thanks for giving her a softball, thats exactly what she needed, said Bolduc, redirecting the question to inflation and energy costs.

We need to focus on the future, Bolduc said.

-- Ken Tran

Bolduc: The 2020 election was not stolen - and I don't want to talk about it

Bolduc insisted that he does not believe the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump, despite previous statements to the contrary.

He also said he does not want to discuss the issue any more, saying he wants to "focus on the future"  though Democrats will doubtless keep bringing him up his history as an "election denier."

 David Jackson

Fact check: Joe Biden legally won presidential election, despite persistent contrary claims

Bolduc: This is not a way to secure a border

Bolduc said the border is not secure.

I worked on the border. I wrote policy for the border. This is not how we do borders, Bolduc said.

He claimed Hassan did not answer the question when asked about border policies, claiming she lies.

You cant trust a word she says and she thinks she can hide behind her title, he said.

- Rachel Looker

Hassan cites support for border investment

Responding to Bolducs criticisms over the southern border, Hassan cited her previous votes for more investment in the southern border.

I have voted repeatedly to provide more personnel and more technology and more funding for physical parts of entry and physical barriers at the border, said Hassan.

-- Ken Tran

Hassan defends border policies, despite Democratic criticism

Hassan defended her record on border security as both senator and governor, whether it was the southern border with Mexico or opposition to Syrian refugees.

She said public safety was her goal, despite criticisms from pro-immigration Democrats.

 David Jackson

Border: Republicans made inroads with South Texas Latinos last election. Now, theyre hoping for a red wave

Hassan calls to stay the course on Iran

On the protests in Iran and maintaining U.S. interests, Hassan invoked her credentials as the incumbent senator.

I have worked in a bipartisan way to make sure that we are strengthening our cybersecurity and counterterrorism efforts, Hassan said, noting her leadership position in the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

On Iran, Hassan called to stay the course. We have to continue sanctions and we have to continue working with our regional allies and the rest of the free world to hold Iran accountable, she said.

-- Ken Tran

'Woman, life, liberty': Iranians on why they'll risk beatings and death for change

Bolduc emphasizes strong national security Iran

When asked about the best ways to advance U.S. interests in Iran, Bolduc said it is important to have strong national security.

We dont. Its weak, he said.

He called the situation in Iran tragic and said it is happening because they lack respect for the United States. Bolduc called the United States is weak economically and militarily.

- Rachel Looker

Hassan: I disagreed with Biden over Afghanistan

Hassan took the opportunity to say she has disagreed with the Biden administration, particularly on its "arbitrary" withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

She also said she disagreed with President Donald Trump's plans to pull out of Afghanistan.

 David Jackson

More: Staying could mean death. The escape nearly killed her. How one woman fled Afghanistan for freedom.

Hassan: Important to provide support to Ukrainians

Hassan said the Ukrainian people are giving their lives for democracy, showing that democracy is worth fighting for and they are standing up to Russia's Vladimir Putin.

It is critically important that democracies stand together, she said, adding that Putins aggression and threats are not tolerated.

We know how important it is we provide critical support... for the Ukrainian people to defend themselves and repel Russian, she said.

- Rachel Looker

Bolduc calls Ukraine a mess because this administration is a mess

On Ukraine, Bolduc criticized Bidens foreign policy altogether, saying the war in Ukraine goes back to the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The withdrawal from Afghanistan was a debacle, Bolduc said, arguing that the withdrawal empowered Putin to invade and empower China, whos going to invade Taiwan.

-- Ken Tran

The war in Ukraine: Russian generals reportedly discuss using nuclear weapons in Ukraine; Russia rejoins grain deal: Live updates

Hassan wants to re-evaluate U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia, doesn't say how

Hassan said she wants the United States to re-assess its relationship with Saudi Arabia, citing its human rights problems and its gamesmanship with oil supplies. She did not provide specifics.

 David Jackson

Hassan claims Bolduc is singing big oils song

Hassan claimed her opponent is singing big oils song.

She said "big oil" has thousands of wells that could be tapped into on federal lands, but said oil companies are jacking up their prices and paying executives rather than lowering prices at the pump.

She said fiscal responsibility is important and highlighted how she helped cut the deficit in half during the last year.

- Rachel Looker

Bolduc attacks Hassan on energy, again

Bolduc blasted Hassan on energy costs and oil again, saying we need to open up our own potential on oil production.

On Saudi Arabia relations and OPEC, Bolduc said the U.S. needs to get tougher on ourselves, again criticizing Democratic energy policy.

-- Ken Tran

Bolduc: Everything Hassan does wastes money

Bolduc repeated his frequent claim that Hassan supports too many government programs that cost too much money, such as with clean energy or health care programs.

"Everything she talks about wastes money," Bolduc said. "This is the issue."

 David Jackson

Bolduc: Hassan is hurting New Hampshire voters

Bolduc said Hassans actions as the former governor caused gas prices to rise.

You know what shes doing? Shes hurting Granite Staters, he said. Shes hurting Granite Staters to the point where shes taking money out of their pockets for the last two years.

- Rachel Looker

Hassan avoids answering on stimulus checks

Addressing heating concerns ahead of winter, Hassan was asked whether she would support direct stimulus payments to families in need of heating assistance.

Hassan didnt answer the question directly, saying: We would need to take a look at what our economists and the economy tells us about additional support payments to Granite Staters.

-- Ken Tran

Hassan: Bolduc supports 'big oil'

Hassan again hit Bolduc for his support of "big oil" energy companies, saying they have contributed to inflation of gas prices. Hassan said she is pushing clean energy programs than can reduce gas prices, and American dependence on oil.

 David Jackson

Hassan highlights need to lower costs

Hassan said it is important that everything possible can be done to lower peoples short-term costs.

She said Bolducs proposals would raise peoples costs, claiming Bolduc proposes eliminating social security and implementing a 23 percent sales tax on rent and healthcare.

Hes trying to conceal these extreme conditions, she said.

- Rachel Looker

Bolduc hits Hassan and Biden on energy

Bolduc, on what Congress can do to help curb inflation, argued that disaster energy policies under Biden have caused inflation.

Reverse the disaster energy policies, said Bolduc, calling to reopen the Keystone XL pipeline. We need to reverse all these energy policies and Im ready to vote yes.

-- Ken Tran

Previously: Inflation eased to 8.2% but remained high in September, CPI report shows

Bolduc: I would not have voted for COVID relief bills

Bolduc confirmed he would not have voted for any of the trillion-dollar COVID relief bills, despite their popularity with voters.

"They were unnecessary," he said.

Bolduc also accused Hassan of ducking questions.

 David Jackson

Bolduc hits back at Hassan over dodging abortion question

In response to Hassan, Bolduc emphasized how Hassan avoided answering the question on where she stands on abortion.

Bolduc said he believes federal government should stay out of the abortion decisions and believes it belongs to states rights and the state law.

- Rachel Looker

Previously: Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, eliminating constitutional right to abortion

Hassan points to legislative victories on inflation

Pressed on inflation under Democratic control, Hassan cited legislative victories Democrats passed over the summer as actions taken to curb inflation, pointing to the bipartisan infrastructure bill and CHIPS act that boosted domestic manufacturing of computer chips.

Taking aim at Bolduc, Hassan said he wouldnt have passed legislation aimed at lowering prescription drug costs.

-- Ken Tran

Hassan: Bolduc is trying to conceal his 'extremism'

Hassan insisted that Bolduc would vote for a federal abortion ban, and is working to "conceal his extremism."

 David Jackson

Hassan dodges abortion question

When asked if she thinks the right to abortion should be guaranteed up until birth, Hassan dodged the question.

She called abortion rights fundamental rights for women to make their own healthcare decisions.

She referenced what she called Bolducs extremism on the issue.

- Rachel Looker

Bolduc attacks Hassan on abortion

Bolduc said Hassans claims that he would vote for a nationwide abortion ban is a lie.

That is an absolute lie. I have no record, said Bolduc, citing his military service on his honesty, then accusing Hassan of being out of step with New Hampshire voters. Shes the one that is extreme.

-- Ken Tran

Bolduc passes on abortion question; says it's not a federal issue

The first question went to Bolduc and dealt with abortion; Bolduc is anti-abortion, but did not discuss that. He said it's a state issue, and he will not vote one way or anther on any federal abortion bill. He added he will abide by state law.

 David Jackson

When is the debate?

The live debate will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 2 at 8 p.m. It is scheduled to last one hour.

- Rachel Looker

How to watch?

The debate will air live on WMUR-TV and on WMUR.com.

- Rachel Looker

Midterm elections: These races will determine who controls the Senate: Here are eight to watch

Expected topics tonight include abortion, extremism, and outsider-ism

Hassan and Bolduc have warmed up for their debate by stressing favored issues on social media  so expect to hear a lot tonight about abortion rights, political "extremism," and being a political "outsider."

On her Twitter feed, Hassan said Bolduc's opposition to all abortion rights symbolizes the kind of extremism that needs to be defeated.

"My extreme anti-choice opponent would join McConnell in passing a nationwide abortion ban," Hassan said. "Our fundamental rights are on the ballot, and Im counting on you to help us defend them."

Bolduc, meanwhile, cast the incumbent senator as part of an old political establishment that voters are rejecting.

"Granite Staters are ready for change in their leadership," Bolduc tweeted. "They want an outsider who isn't afraid to go against the status quo and put New Hampshire first."

 David Jackson

Ahead of debate, Bolduc doubles down on hoax that litter boxes are in schools

Bolduc has made headlines and captured attention for pushing the false conspiracy theory that students are using litter boxes at school.

At a campaign event last Thursday, Bolduc told supporters that schools are putting litter boxes for children that are furries and fuzzies and singled out a New Hampshire high school.

The school has refuted Bolducs claims, saying on Twitter that his statements are entirely untrue. This isnt the first time conservatives have pushed the hoax. A school in Michigan was accused of providing litter boxes to students which the school districts superintendent quickly debunked.

On Wednesday morning before the debate, Bolduc doubled down on his claims, telling NBC News he was not backing down, and that the burden of proof is on the school to prove litter boxes arent being used.

-- Ken Tran

Fact check: No, a Michigan public school did not provide litter boxes for students identifying as cats

Who is Maggie Hassan?

New Hampshire Democratic Senate candidate, Gov. Maggie Hassan waves to supporters during an election night rally in Manchester, N.H., early Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2016.

Maggie Hassan, 64, is running for reelection to keep her Senate seat. The Democratic senator served as the former New Hampshire governor from 2013 to 2016. She was elected to her current Senate seat in 2017.

Hassan serves on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and chairs the subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Spending Oversight. She is also a member of the bipartisan Common Sense Coalition.

She has focused on mental health and addiction funding in the Senate as well as passing COVID relief packages.

- Rachel Looker, Merdie Nzanga

Who is Don Bolduc?

Don Bolduc, 60, is vying for the New Hampshire Senate seat. A former police officer and retired Army general, Bolduc is a supporter of former President Donald Trump's claims that the election was stolen.

He previously ran for a Senate seat in 2020, but lost in the primary.

New Hampshires Republican Gov. Chris Sununu described Bolduc as a conspiracy theory extremist" in August, but vowed to support the Republican challenger one week before Election Day.

Don and I didnt see eye to eye during the primary, Sununu said. But again, Im going to support the Republican ticket because the issues that folks are voting on are inflation, gas prices, heating oil, which is skyrocketing here in New Hampshire and causing a major concern.

- Rachel Looker, Merdie Nzanga

What do the polls show?

Latest polling shows Hassan has a slight lead over Bolduc, but the gap is closing as Election Day approaches, according to FiveThirtyEight, a site that analyzes polls and political data.

At one point, Hassan had an eight point lead over Bolduc toward the beginning of October.

Her lead has shrunk within the last week.

- Rachel Looker

Where do the candidates fall on key issues?

Abortion and inflation are among top concerns for voters nationally and in New Hampshire. They have also been topics of discussion at Hassan and Bolducs previous two debates.

When asked about his stance in a debate last Thursday, Bolduc said he would not support a federal ban, such as the bill proposed by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham in September that would prohibit abortions after 15 weeks across the country.

It is now a state issue, Bolduc said. I support New Hampshires law. I support granite staters, referring to state law that allows abortion up to 24 weeks.

Bolduc and Hassan have also addressed economic issues like inflation in debates and are likely to again on Wednesday. Last week, Hassan attributed rising costs across the state, country and world to the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

The senator said she would work to lower current costs while addressing the long-term drivers, pointing to a bill she co-sponsored to lower prescription drug costs.

"Right now, these immediate costs are really hurting people, Hassan said.

Bolduc has said he would tackle high prices by challenging energy policies his opponent has agreed on with President Biden.

"Her policies hurt people. My policies will reverse all of this," Bolduc said.

- Savannah Kuchar

Rea Egan, of Chesterfield, N.H., exits the voting booth after filling out her ballot at the Chesterfield polling station during the state's primary on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022.

What happened in the previous debates?

The first debate between U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan and Don Bolduc pitted Hassan's record against Bolduc's campaign trail rhetoric.

Bolduc accused Hassan of failing constituents by supporting the Biden administration's economic and energy policies. She claimed he has undermined democracy and endangered women.

The candidate also sparred over abortion and who should have the authority to set abortion policy. Hassan has made abortion a centerpiece of her campaign. Bolduc has said he opposes a national abortion ban.

More: Hassan, Bolduc in first Senate race debate: Here's how they matched rhetoric vs. record

Their second matchup covered election integrity and voter fraud.

Bolduc was asked during the debate whether he believes the governor and secretary of state when they say that there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the state and that elections are secure.

"I believe Granite Staters, and I'm the only one sitting here who's been to every town and city in the state over two years," Bolduc said, citing things he said he has heard about voting machines, ballots cast by out-of-state college students and more.

More: Election 2022: Hassan, Bolduc debate election fraud, campaign styles

- Rachel Looker

Which Republicans have backed Bolduc?

In addition to Trump's endorsement earlier this week, more Republicans have thrown their support behind Bolduc now that Election Day is nearing.

New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu changed his stance on Bolduc, calling him a conspiracy theory extremist in August but now vowing to support him.

Rick Scott, a Florida senator and chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, called Bolduc a "true patriot." At a recent campaign event in New Hampshire, Scott told voters he was there to make sure Bolduc is elected the next senator.

More: Confident Republicans unify behind Bolduc, other candidates once seen as risky

- Rachel Looker

Hassan receives backing from Jill Biden

First lady Jill Biden visited New Hampshire Saturday to campaign for Democrats on the ballot, including Hassan.

Biden emphasized the Senate race, saying the choice between Hassan and Bolduc couldnt be any more stark.

Every election is important, but we know that in the midterms especially, it could come down to just a handful of votes, Biden said.

More: Jill Biden pushes for Hassan, Democrats in Portsmouth as election nears

- Rachel Looker, Steven Porter

New Hampshire Democrats focus on abortion

New Hampshires current race for U.S. Senate could have major implications for abortion rights nationwide if voters pick Bolduc over incumbent Sen. Maggie Hassan, according to state Democratic leaders.

Polling suggests most Granite Staters will respond positively to messages in favor of abortion rights. Whats less clear is how voters with nuanced views on this topic will make sense of a partisan debate that directly involves shifting policies at both the state and federal levels.

Hassan v. Bolduc: Why Democrats in NH are focused on abortion. What do voters think?

While Democrats argue Republicans intend to clamp down on womens access to reproductive health care, Republicans contend that Democrats have staked out a position thats too extreme.

- Rachel Looker, Stephen Porter

Previously: Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, eliminating constitutional right to abortion

Candidates answer questions at candidate forum

Hassan and Bolduc took questions from business owners and members of the Chamber Collaborative of Greater Portsmouth at a candidate forum Oct. 25.

Bolduc called out the Hassan campaigns attack advertisements about him, stating continued political divisiveness recently led to an incident when another driver began following his car.

More: Bolduc, Hassan face questions from Seacoast business owners. Here's how they responded.

I will tell you all the ads out there about me from my opponent are lies. Its not true. The (lack of) civility out there, I feel and I see, and its wrong, he said. And I will not lower myself to that level. I will not do that. You deserve better in your public servants.

Hassan labeled Bolduc as possibly the most extreme opponent nominee for the United State Senate that New Hampshire has seen in modern history.

The first-term senator additionally cast doubt that Bolduc would accept the results of the upcoming election if he loses.

- Rachel Looker, Ian Lenahan

New Hampshire Republican U.S. Senate candidate Don Bolduc chats with supporters during a primary night campaign gathering, Tuesday Sept. 13, 2022, in Hampton, N.H.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New Hampshire Senate race: Hassan, Bolduc debate as election nears
BERLIN (AP)  Mevlude Genc, who worked for reconcilition after five members of her family were killed in a racist attack that shook Germany in the early 1990s, has died.

Authorities in Northrhine-Westphalia state said Sunday that Genc died at 79, providing no further details.

Genc and her husband Durmus, who had immigrated from Turkey to Germany, lost two daughters, two granddaughters and a niece when far-right extremists set fire to their home in the western city of Solingen in 1993.

Four young Germans were later convicted of murder and attempted murder. They were sentenced to between 10 and 15 years in prison for the arson in which 17 people were also seriously injured.

The attack and others that occurred around the same period stoked international concerns about resurgent neo-Nazi sentiment following German unification in 1990. Many of the victims were Turkish immigrants who came to Germany as guest workers after World War II.

Despite her devastating loss, Genc appealed to Turks and Germans alike to overcome hatred and reach out to each other.

The death of my family should open us up to be friends, she said during a memorial ceremony shortly after the attack. Lets live together hand in hand.

State governor Hendrick Wuest said Genc embodied like few others the belief in the goodness of human beings.

Her legacy will live on, he wrote on Twitter. Our thoughts are with her family.
A view of Salem Health from a Life Flight helicopter in Salem, Oregon on Friday, July 1, 2022.

SALEM, Ore.  An employee at Salem Health in Oregon is under investigation after posting a video on social media mocking a patient's suffering.

In the video, uploaded Monday morning to Twitter, the employee makes faces as a patient is heard groaning in apparent pain in the background. The caption read, "When a patient has poor coping skills."

The original video posted to the employee's Twitter account was removed and the page has been deleted. However, a TikTok user used the original video and showed screenshots of them messaging Salem Health on social media asking for the hospital to act.

The TikTok video posted Monday has 3.5 million views and nearly 7,000 comments.

More: North Carolina nurse accused of killing patients with fatal insulin doses, officials say

Oregon: Oregon mayor charged with attempted murder in alleged Halloween road rage shooting incident

Salem Health released a statement on Facebook, saying they appreciate community members bringing the video to their attention and that they are "taking this very seriously."

The hospital said the employee will not be working while the investigation is conducted. The employee has an active certified nursing assistant license in Oregon, according to the state. The license expires in January 2024.

"This individual does not speak for Salem Health," the hospital's Facebook post said. "We want to assure you that this one careless action does not reflect the position of Salem Health or the hardworking, dedicated and compassionate caregivers who work here."

In 2020, another Salem Health employee was investigated for uploading a video mocking COVID-19 protocols. The oncology nurse ultimately signed a consent order in November 2020 agreeing to leave practice until Oregon State Board of Nursing reviewed the case. Her license was restored or reinstated in January 2021.

Folllow Dejania Oliver on Twitter: @DejaniaO.

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This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Salem hospital employee under investigation for video mocking patient
With delays in the postal service possible, the Pennsylvania Department of State on Tuesday urged residents who are voting by mail-in or absentee ballot to hand deliver their ballots as soon as possible.

Its time to return your mail ballot to ensure it arrives by the deadline of 8 p.m. on Election Day. Do not wait until the last minute, said Leigh Chapman, acting secretary of State. Hand deliver your mail ballot now to your county election office or authorized drop-off location to be certain your vote will be counted.

In Cumberland County, the only drop-off location is at the county Bureau of Elections at 1601 Ritner Highway, Suite 201 in Carlisle. A member of the county sheriffs office will be on hand to make sure residents only drop off their own ballots.

Residents are also urged to make sure they fill out their ballots properly, including signing and dating the ballot. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that ballots without dates will not be counted in the Nov. 8 election. The court directed county boards of elections to segregate and preserve those ballots.

To make sure their ballots are counted, residents should read the instructions carefully on how to fill it out, seal the ballot in the inner secrecy envelope marked Official Election Ballot, seal the secrecy envelope in the pre-addressed outer return envelope, and sign and date the declaration on the outer return envelope.

Those who end up being unable to mail or hand deliver their ballot before the Nov. 8 deadline can bring their mail-in ballot packet to their polling place on Election Day, surrender that ballot and then vote in person.

Those who applied for a ballot but did not receive one can vote by provisional ballot at their polling place on Election Day, and the county Bureau of Elections will then verify that the resident didnt vote by mail before counting the provisional ballot.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Nov. 8. Chapman reiterated that some results may not be known the night of Election Day and asked residents to be patient with the process.

We will not have unofficial results on election night in every race, Chapman said. That is not indicative of anything bad or nefarious happening. It simply means the process for counting all eligible votes cast in Pennsylvania is working the way it is designed to work.
Three abortion rights protesters interrupted oral arguments at the US Supreme Court to urge voters to protect abortion access and denounce the high courts decision to strip a constitutional right to care.

The demonstration on 2 November marked the first protest within the courtroom in nearly seven years, and nearly five months after the courts decision in Dobbs v Jackson Womens Health Organization that overturned Roe v Wade and Planned Parenthood v Casey, landmark cases that affirmed a constitutional right to abortion.

Supreme Court justices were hearing oral arguments in an unrelated case of Bittner v United States on Wednesday when a protester called out to American women voters to denounce Dobbs and remember to vote in midterm elections.

A second protester said that the right to choose will not be taken away and urged women to vote for our right to choose.

We will restore our freedom to choose, a third woman called out from inside the court. Women of America, vote!

Each protester was removed from the court by police and placed under arrest.

A press release identifies the woman as Emily Paterson and Nikki Enfield of Virginia and Rolande Baker of Arizona.

Generations of women, including my own, have fought to win our right to vote and our right to choose, according to a written statement from Ms Baker, identified as a great-grandmother and retired schoolteacher from Tucson. Now we must use our ballots and our voices to restore our freedom to choose.

More than a dozen states have outlawed most abortions and at least 66 clinics across 15 states have closed within the first 100 days after Supreme Courts conservative majority issued the Dobbs decision.

Voters in several states are voting directly on measures related to reproductive healthcare in midterm elections this fall.

Americans across the US will be also voting for candidates at the state level  from legislators to secretaries of state and governors  who will be crucial in deciding future state legislation to outlaw or severely restrict abortion access.

Voters also will determine the balance of power in Congress, which could advance a nationwide ban on abortion care or severe restrictions on abortion access at the federal if Republican lawmakers control either chamber. President Joe Biden has pledged to veto any such legislation.

This is a developing story
Ships, including those carrying grain from Ukraine, are seen anchored off the Istanbul coastline on November 2, 2022. Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Russia pulled out of its grain export deal with Ukraine over the weekend.

But it made a sudden U-turn on Wednesday and said it would resume operations.

The grain export deal, brokered by Turkey and the UN, is vital to the global food supply.

Russia abandoned its plan to block food exports leaving Ukraine on Wednesday, after a convoy of ships ignored President Vladimir Putin and sailed out of Ukraine anyway.

Moscow, which suspended its participation in the deal over the weekend, said in a statement on Wednesday, that it will resume operations again because it received assurances from Ukraine that it would not use the sea corridor for military purposes.

"Thanks to the involvement of the international organization, as well as the assistance of Turkey, we managed to obtain necessary written guarantees from Ukraine not to use the humanitarian corridor and Ukrainian ports ... for military actions against the Russian Federation," the statement said.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who helped broker the deal along with the UN, said Russia also told Turkey that operations would kick off again as of midday on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

Ukraine's Ministry of Defence did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

The landmark grain deal between Moscow and Kyiv, which was brokered in July, was designed to keep agricultural products, including grain, moving out of Ukraine, which is a major food producer, amid the war.

But over the weekend, Russia said it would stop its involvement in the deal for an "indefinite term" after what it said was a Ukrainian drone attack on Russian naval ships in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol.

Without providing evidence, Russian officials said it could not "guarantee the safety of civilian ships" after the attack. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the move "rather predictable," the BBC reported.

But despite the country's withdrawal, a UN official said Tuesday that they would press ahead with their plans to let authorized ships leave Ukraine.

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On Tuesday, three cargo ships carrying corn, wheat, and sunflower oil were tracked leaving Ukrainian ports and traveling toward Istanbul, Ismini Palla, a UN spokeswoman told The New York Times, adding that Moscow had been notified of the departures.

Around 40% of the world's wheat supplies come from Ukraine, which is often referred to as the "breadbasket of Europe."

The agreement is critical to easing the global food crisis caused by the conflict, The Guardian reported, as food from Ukraine is exported around the world, including to drought-stricken nations as part of relief programs.

The World Food Programme warned earlier this year that Russia's invasion could result in a "hunger catastrophe" if such a food export deal was not struck.

The head of the European Council in June also accused Russia's troops of burning Ukrainian fields and stealing wheat, compounding food shortages.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder

He also noted that Moscow will try to get more drones and surface-to-surface missiles from Iran to use to attack Ukraine.

Read also: Russia could soon start attacking Ukraine with Iranian ballistic missiles, military intelligence says

"If we see Russia employing such capabilities on the battlefield, we'll certainly do what we can to illuminate that," Ryder added.

At the same time, according to him, the United States has no indications that China has provided any military assistance to Russia.

Earlier, U.S. news channel CNN reported that Tehran also intends to supply the Kremlin regime with 1,000 short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missiles for the war against Ukraine.

Read also: Iran to supply Russia with more than 200 drones in November, says Ukrainian defense intelligence agency

At the same time, the Iranian authorities  despite there being ample evidence of Irans military cooperation with Moscow  continue to deny supplying weapons to Russia.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
On October 31, a Russian rocket fell in Moldova

Read also: Ukraine shoots down Russian cruise missile over Moldova, no casualties, but buildings hit

The Russian Federation is using Moldovan airspace to carry out cruise missile attacks on the territory of Ukraine, the spokesman for the Air Force Yuriy Ignat said on Ukrainian national television on Oct. 31.

Read also: Russian missile attacks injure 13 across country, Klymenko says

The Russian forces attack Ukraine both from southern and northern directions, he said.

Concurrently, they use the territory of the sovereign state of Moldova, its airspace, for terrorist attacks on Ukraine, he said.

Read also: Russia hits critical infrastructure facility in Kharkiv in morning missile attack, says mayor

This is another crime that must be documented and shown to the international community.

The Russians have used Moldovas airspace for missile attacks on Ukraine before, the spokesman said. The Armed Forces of Ukraine also documented the presence of Russian drones near the Romanian border.

Its not the first time weve recorded UAVs 5-10 kilometers away from the Romanian border, Ignat said.

Read also: Russian missiles hit energy infrastructure, cause massive blackouts, loss of heat and water

Russian forces launched a massive missile attack on Ukraine in the morning of Oct. 31. The Russian Federation fired 50 missiles at Ukraine, 44 of which were shot down by air defense forces.

One of the downed missiles fell on the territory of Moldova in the village of Naslavcea, directly on the border with Ukraine, on the banks of the Dniester River.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
BERLIN (Reuters) - Scientists in Germany are working on ways to restore seagrass fields in the Baltic Sea, vast natural sinks that store millions of tonnes of carbon but which are shrinking fast in the face of falling water quality, global warming and disease.

According to the Geomar Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel, the Baltic region contains almost 300 square kilometres of the plant, storing some three to 12 megatons of carbon.

Seagrass stores that carbon "for centuries to millennia", Angela Stevenson, a postdoctoral researcher at the centre, told Reuters. "A big aspect to think about here is to conserve these systems, to make sure that that CO2 does not get re-emitted and further add to these emissions."

In Germany's Kiel fjord, Stevenson and her colleagues have planted a test field using seeds and single-shoot transplants from a natural meadow nearby, exploring which cultivation methods might be the most promising to restore seagrass fields.

The team is also testing how the plants can cope with heat by exposing the plants to heatwaves over generations to try to make them more resilient.

"If the temperatures go up to 26 degrees Celsius and above ... for months on end, which we might see in the future with climate change, then that could really pose an issue for the whole system. It may entirely die," said Stevenson.

Europe alone lost one third of its seagrass areas between the 1860s and 2016, according to one 2019 study.

Seagrass is not a silver bullet for bringing carbon emissions down enough to reach net zero, Stevenson added. Even if Germany were to restore all the areas that have lost seagrass, they would only grab up to 100 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually - a very small percentage of the German target.

Germany has pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50% by 2030 compared with the levels in 1990. The government also aims to turn the country carbon neutral by 2045.

(Reporting by Swantje Stein and Martin Schlicht; Writing by Miranda Murray; Editing by Jan Harvey)
Delta, American, and Air Canada have issued flight waivers due to potential unrest following the Brazil's election.

Jonne Roriz/Getty Images

Several major airlines have issued flight waivers to and from Brazil following political unrest after Brazils contentious election.

Delta Air Lines issued a travel waiver for passengers who were heading to, from, or through Sao Paulo through Nov. 4 due to potential civil unrest. Impacted travelers could rebook and travel by Nov. 7. Similarly, American Airlines issued its own waiver for travel to, from, or through both Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro through Nov. 2, allowing travelers to rebook by Nov. 3 and travel by Nov. 8.

Outside of the United States, Air Canada issued a waiver for travel to or from Sao Paulo until Nov. 6. These travelers can rebook their flights through Nov. 13.

Due to the current situation in Brazil, we understand that you may want to make alternate travel arrangements, Air Canada wrote on its website.

The waivers are being issued after leftist candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva narrowly won the election, which was held on Sunday, defeating current conservative Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, according to The Associated Press. Since then, Bolsonaro has not conceded the election and encouraged his supporters to peacefully protest, including celebrating the effort by truckers who have created nationwide roadblocks.

Since the election, traffic around the international airport in Sao Paulo snagged, leading to dozens of flight cancellations with travelers pictured rolling their suitcases along the highway to try to catch a flight, the AP noted. Protesters set tires on fire at at least one road block in the state.

The AP reported some of Bolsonaros supporters have called for the military to intervene and for the disbandment of Congress and the Supreme Court.

On Tuesday, the Brazilian Supreme Court ordered the roadblocks to be immediately cleared.

Bolsonaro has taken a page out of Donald Trumps playbook, repeatedly warning the only way he would lose was if the vote was stolen, The New York Times reported. But on Tuesday, his chief of staff confirmed the government would hand over power to the incoming administration.

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I have always been labeled as anti-democratic and, unlike my accusers, I have always played within the four lines of the constitution, Bolsonaro said, according to the wire service. Current popular movements are the result of indignation and a feeling of injustice regarding how the electoral process occurred.

On Monday, President Joe Biden congratulated Lula da Silva and commended the strength of Brazilian democratic institutions following free, fair, and credible elections.

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Read the original article on Travel & Leisure.
TEL AVIV, Israel  Benjamin Netanyahu will return to power, thanks to the rise of Israel's far right, which won a majority of parliament seats in Tuesday's election, final results showed Thursday. The rise of religious parties ousted the establishment left-wing party for the first time since 1992.

The triumph clears the way for Netanyahu to form the most right-wing government in the history of Israel, which was formed as a socialist democratic state. The government could have vast implications for the LGBTQ community, secular citizens and Palestinians. U.S. Jewish groups have raised concerns about the bloc's agenda.

According to final results, which will be certified in the coming days, Netanyahu's bloc will pick up 64 out of 120 seats in the Israeli parliament. Netanyahu and his Likud-led government consists of the ultra-Orthodox parties, United Torah Judaism and Shas, as well as the far-right Religious Zionism party.

Outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid congratulated Netanyahu and instructed his staff to prepare an organized transition of power, his office told The Associated Press.

The state of Israel comes before any political consideration, Lapid said. I wish Netanyahu success, for the sake of the people of Israel and the state of Israel.

The Times of Israel also reported that U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides had phoned Netanyahu to congratulate him on his win.

Likud party chairman Benjamin Netanyahu arrives to polling station during Israeli elections in Jerusalem, on Nov. 1, 2022.

Why it matters

The far-right Religious Zionism party is expected to play a crucial role in Netanyahu's government and receive senior ministry portfolios.

The party is known for its anti-LGBTQ policies and hard line against Arab-Israelis and Palestinians, and it could affect Israels relations with the U.S., its most important ally.

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., warned Netanyahu when they met in September in Israel against forming a coalition with the far-right party, noting it could harm U.S.-Israel relations, according to Axios.

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HERZOG AT THE WHITE HOUSE: Biden meets with Israeli president ahead of Israel's election for prime minister

Heres where the partys influence is expected to be felt:

Netanyahu's corruption cases could disappear

Netanyahu is on trial on charges of corruption in three different cases, accused of fraud, breach of trust and bribery. He faces up to 10 years in jail if convicted.

That could change if his allies in Religious Zionist make do on their election campaign promise: abolishing offenses of fraud and breach of trust against lawmakers.

The proposal has been widely criticized for being a highly tailored legal move, aimed at terminating a large part of Netanyahus trial. The reelected prime minister responded to the criticism by saying the changes wont apply to him retroactively.

Robbie Sabel, professor of International Law at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, echoed a number of Israeli legal experts in disputing Netanyahus assertion, telling USA TODAY that if the offense is abolished, you cant convict someone of it. So they don't have to say it will apply retroactively. If they abolish it, Netanyahu cannot be convicted of those offenses.

Justice Minister Gideon Saar called the partys legal reform plan a paradise for government corruption, while Prime Minister Yair Lapid said its a deliberate campaign to cancel Netanyahus trial, which would mean the end of Israeli democracy as we know it.

Likud party chairman Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara cast their ballots during Israeli elections in Jerusalem on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022.

Plan to curb power of Supreme Court

Religious Zionisms plan to overhaul the legal system in Israel also seeks to curb the Supreme Courts power, preventing it from striking down parliamentary legislation that would violate one of Israels Basic Laws  the closest Israel comes to a constitution.

The anti-Netanyahu parties have called the move an attack on democracy. The move would be legal because there is no limit to what parliament can do," Sabel said.

Israels Supreme Court is, like in many other countries, considered a gatekeeper protecting civil rights.

The judicial reform plan also would make sure that a majority of the committee that appoints Supreme Court judges are elected officials  a change from the current committees structure, in which a majority are unelected officials. This, Sabel said, would arguably make the committee more political.

The LGBTQ community

Israel has made significant progress on LGBTQ rights in the past couple of years, thanks to left- and right-wing secular parties, allowing gay couples to jointly adopt and legally access surrogacy, as well as being home to one of the most famous annual Gay Pride parades in the world.

But with Religious Zionism in power, hateful rhetoric against the LGBTQ community is becoming an increasingly accepted part of Israeli society.

Party leader Betzalel Smotrich declared himself a proud homophobe and has made a number of derogatory comments against the LGBTQ community, saying homosexuality isnt healthy for society and comparing recognition of the community to driving through a red light.

Ofer Neumann, CEO of Israel Gay Youth, said he believes the darkness Religious Zionism brings into the LGBTQ community comes from its rhetoric rather than what it can actually achieve politically.

I'm not sure they're as eager to actually bring to life their bizarre ideas of what a person can or cant do. I think they rather use it as a political tool in order to win more votes from people who are driven by hate, Neumann told USA TODAY.

Religious Zionism might vote against any further laws aimed at strengthening the rights of the LGBTQ community, but a majority of Israeli lawmakers oppose its views, including Netanyahus Likud party.

Neumann said Netanyahus Likud party doesnt believe in the words of Smotrich and the party's No. 2, Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Likud prides itself of being an encompassing liberal party, often pointing to one of its highest-ranking members, Amir Ohana, who is openly gay, as the best example.

The battle of reality is determined by the powers of progress, and Religious Zionism is losing that battle, Neumann said.

The fate of Palestinians

When Arab and Jewish politicians from the left and right wing toppled Netanyahu in June 2021 and created the most diverse coalition in the countrys history, many saw this as an opportunity to lower the tensions between Israel and the Palestinians.

But a string of Palestinian terror attacks and Israeli military operations in the West Bank has put 2022 on a trajectory to be the most violent year in the West Bank since 2005, according to U.N. Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland.

Human rights activist and political analyst Bassem Eid said the prospect of having Religious Zionism in the next Israeli government is a disaster for Palestinians.

There is no doubt this will make the situation for Palestinians much worse, Eid said.

One of the effects will be a continuation of the growing settlement enterprise in the West Bank, which is receiving full support from Religious Zionism.

Ben-Gvir has a particular goal that worries Eid: the eviction of Palestinian families from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Jerusalems municipality has been at loggerheads with the families for decades, arguing that they are residing there illegally without proper documentation of ownership.

The families, on the other hand, have lived there for generations, some dating back to before Israel was established in 1948, and they say they indeed have legal paperwork.

Israeli-Arab population

Another minority in Israel that is worried about the Religious Zionism partys power in the next government is the Arab-Israelis, who constitute some 20% of the country.

The party calls Arab-Israeli lawmakers terrorists  with Ben-Gvir going as far as advocating deportation of illoyal Arab-Israelis.

Jafar Farah, the director of the Mossawa Advocacy Center for Arab minority in Israel, pointed at two main issues that worry him about the far-right party: house demolitions and police violence.

Its expected that the government will immediately implement house demolitions against some Bedouins in the Negev desert, Farah told USA TODAY. An estimated 80.000 Bedouins in the desert, which covers most of southern Israel, live in what is known as unrecognized villages or outposts, which makes any construction on their homes subject to demolitions.

Farah, who prefers the term Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel, also expects an increase in police violence against the community, saying there has been a total failure to investigate cases of people injured or killed by police in the past 20 years.

The Religious Zionism party will encourage police officers to use more live fire in confrontations with people in the community, Farah said.

As for the increasing violence internally in the Arab-Israeli community, which has seen 88 people killed in 2022, Farah isnt optimistic that Netanyahu will invest much-needed police resources to fight organized crime.

Netanyahu also spoke a lot about fighting crime in our community. But in the end he did nothing when he was in power, Farah said.

The outgoing government has also been widely criticized for failing to combat organized crime in Arab-Israeli communities, despite having an Arab-Israeli party in the coalition.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Benjamin Netanyahu wins Israeli vote, bringing right-wing government
The Beasts, Rodrigo Sorogoyens psychological thriller about a French couple who come to live a peaceful life in Spains Galician countryside, but get a less than warm welcome from the locals, won the Tokyo Grand Prix at the 35th Tokyo International Film Festival at Tuesday nights closing ceremony.



The festival, which unspooled Oct. 24 to Nov. 2 at venues in central Tokyo, also awarded Sorogoyen Best Director honors and named The Beasts star Denis Menochet best actor.



More from Variety

The film, which premiered out of competition at Cannes this year, opened in French theaters in July. The Japan release has yet to be announced, however.



Winning the second-place Special Jury Prize was Iranian director Houman Seyedis satirical drama World War III. At its premiere in this years Venice Film Festival Horizons section it won Best Film, while lead Mohsen Tanabandeh took the Best Actor prize. The films Japan release has also yet to be decided.



Best actress honors went to Aline Kuppenheim for her portrayal of a woman sheltering a man under threat from Chiles Pinochet dictatorship in Manuela Martellis 1976.



The award for best artistic contribution was given to Sri Lankan director Sanjeewa Pushpakumaras Peacock Lament, while the audience award went to Rikiya Imaizumis By the Window, one of three Japanese entries in the Competition.



According to festival organizers, admissions nearly doubled from last years edition, jumping from 29,414 to 59,541. Another indication of a return to pre-pandemic normality: The number of overseas guests rose to 104, compared with only 8 in 2021.



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Meanwhile, the number of films directed by women or non-binary people totaled 14.8%, or 25 of the 169 films screened. As a sign that TIFF is keeping pace with local trends, women directors accounted for 12% of all feature films released in Japan in 2020, according to a study by the activist group Japan Film Project, while the similar figure for the 2000 to 2020 period was 3%.

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By Azernews





By Yusif Abbaszada

The results of the tripartite Sochi meeting for the normalization of Azerbaijani-Armenian relations have once again demonstrated the spirit and direction of the peace process, Azernews reports, citing MP Sevil Mikayilovas comments for Trend.

The results of the Sochi meeting are another success of Azerbaijani diplomacy, and it shows that the negotiations process is proceeding in keeping with the peace agenda charted namely by Azerbaijan, the parliamentarian opined.

Ahead of the tripartite meeting, President Ilham Aliyev let Putin know Azerbaijans resolute position, declaring once again that the Karabakh conflict is over.

The Karabakh conflict has already been consigned to history. It was resolved two years ago, so there is practically nothing to discuss in this context, the parliamentarian said.

Thus, President Ilham Aliyev crossed out the Sochi Plan of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said it is time for the resolution of the conflict, the parliamentarian stressed.

Sevil Mikayilova added that Armenia, which is always after support from various political circles, and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was again defeated in face of new realities. The absence of the Karabakh notion in the statement was an illustration of Azerbaijans resolute stance, the parliamentarian added.

Sevil Mikayilova added that the Armenian political leadership tries to get certain privileges, help, and support at all meetings. It was anticipated that the Sochi meeting would be of the same kind.

During the Prague meeting, the Armenian political leadership could not achieve what it wanted despite the help of its patrons. The Armenian prime minister had great hopes for the Sochi meeting, but Armenias efforts were doomed to failure again.

The conflict has been resolved, and given the new realities, states, considered to be international power centers, accept Azerbaijans political superiority. Armenia should draw a conclusion from this, instead of looking for supporters in various circles, it should think about opening communications, defining borders, and, most importantly, taking practical steps in the direction of signing a peace treaty.

It is pivotal to advance the normalization process in order to bring about sustainable peace to the region. The Sochi statement also emphasized the importance of intensive preparations for the conclusion of a peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia. One can assume that the Sochi meeting will be important in terms of Armenia finally understanding this reality and behaving appropriately, Sevil Mikayilova concluded.
HARRISBURG  Pennsylvania officials cannot count votes from mail-in or absentee ballots that lack accurate, handwritten dates on their return envelopes, the state Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday, a week before tabulation will begin in races for governor, the U.S. Senate and the state Legislature.

The court directed county boards of elections to segregate and preserve those ballots.

The justices split 3-3 on whether making the envelope dates mandatory under state law would violate provisions of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964, which states that immaterial errors or omissions should not be used to prevent voting.

Written opinions laying out the courts reasoning were not immediately available.

State and national Republican Party organizations and several GOP voters sought immediate review by the Supreme Court, bypassing lower courts, once it became clear some county officials planned to throw out ballots without the proper dates and others were expected to count them. The individual voters were dismissed from the case by the high courts order.

Ronna McDaniel, head of the Republican National Committee, called it a massive win for election integrity. Republicans went to court. Now Democrats have to follow the law, she tweeted.

The Republican National Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee and the state party sued Secretary of State Leigh Chapman and election boards in every county. Beth Rementer, press secretary for Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, said the decision was under review but showed it was important that voters should carefully follow all instructions on the ballot and double check before sending.

Pennsylvania counties have reported receiving more than 850,000 completed mail-in ballots from the roughly 1.4 million that voters have requested. About 70% of requests have come from Democrats and about 20% from Republicans.

The total number of the undated envelope ballots is likely small but may be enough to determine the winner of a close race. In the 2020 presidential election, Philadelphia reported receiving almost 381,000 mail ballots. Among them were about 8,300 undated ballots.

Officials in some counties have said they were already putting ballots without dates on the return envelopes into separate piles in anticipation of a court ruling. Some counties may try to notify voters that their ballots are missing the dates, providing those voters the ability to visit their election offices to fix them.

On the issue of the federal civil rights law, Democratic Justices Debra Todd, Christine Donohue and David Wecht saw a violation of federal law, while Democrat Kevin Dougherty and Republicans Kevin Brobson and Sallie Mundy did not.

The status of ballots without properly dated envelopes has been repeatedly litigated since the use of mail-in voting was expanded in Pennsylvania under a state law passed in 2019.

Last week, Department of State officials under Wolf argued in a brief that state law between 1945 and 1968 directed county election boards to set aside mail-in ballots when the envelope date was later than the date of the election.

But a 1968 change in state law, they said, deleted from a section of the Election Code the requirement that counties set aside ballots based on the date appearing on the ballot-return envelope.

The dates are not used to verify whether ballots are received in time to count on Election Day; that happens when counties time-stamp them upon arrival. There has been evidence that at least some Pennsylvania counties have deemed any date to be acceptable, even dates in the future.

Republican litigants had urged the justices to rule based on the language of state law, that voters shall ... fill out, date and sign the declaration printed on the outer envelope of the ballot. As an alterative, they asked the justices to have ballots from undated or improperly dated return envelopes segregated.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in May that the dates arent mandatory, but recently the U.S. Supreme Court deemed that decision moot, leading to the current litigation.
(Bloomberg) -- China has ordered a seven-day lockdown of the area around Foxconn Technology Groups main plant in Zhengzhou, a move that will severely curtail shipments in and out of the worlds largest iPhone factory.

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The lockdown will last until Nov. 9, the local government said in a statement posted to its WeChat account. It ordered people and vehicles off the streets except for medical or other essential reasons, a prohibition that threatens to cut off the flow of additional workers and components needed to rev up production ahead of the holiday-season crush.

The abrupt action reflects Beijings Covid Zero approach and is likely to further disrupt Foxconns main operations base, which cranks out an estimated four out of five of Apple Inc.s latest handsets. The Taiwanese company, whose main listed arm is Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., was already grappling with a Covid flare-up that forced some of its 200,000 staff into quarantine and pushed others to flee the facility -- some on foot.

The government notice emerged after Zhengzhou reported Covid-19 cases jumped to 359 for Tuesday, up more than three-fold from a day before. Officials there have in recent days progressively imposed a web of smaller lockdowns and restrictions on areas as small as an apartment block.

The plant will keep operating within a closed loop, or a self-contained bubble that limits contact with the outside world, Foxconn said in a statement. But the company didnt address questions about how it will ship goods in and out of the compound during the area-lockdown. An Apple representative didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Read more: IPhone Factory Worker Walked 25 Miles to Escape Covid Lockdown

The lockdown comes at a crucial time for Apple, which launched the iPhone 14 during an unprecedented slump in global electronics demand. While faring better than other smartphone makers, the company has backed off plans to increase production of its new iPhones this year after an anticipated surge in demand failed to materialize, Bloomberg has reported. Apple has posted better-than-expected results but warned of a holiday slowdown.

Foxconn has sought to mitigate the potential disruption by raising wages and arranging for backup from its other Chinese plants should assembly lines stall in Zhengzhou. In recent days, its also fought to quell speculation on social media that some of the infected staff had died.

In previous lockdowns, government officials have allowed not just essential services but also key local enterprises to work around Covid restrictions. Many important companies in Shanghai and the southern metropolis of Shenzhen, for instance, continued operating even when other factories were starved of manufacturing components.

The Zhengzhou factory should also have stockpiled enough components to keep operating for a while, so much would depend on the length of the lockdown -- officials elsewhere in China have sometimes extended such actions for months.

Its unclear if Foxconn has negotiated workarounds with the local government in Zhengzhou. Any disruption there threatens to snarl Apples finely orchestrated supply chain. Thousands of components from Europe to Asia are shipped into Zhengzhou, assembled manually into devices, then shuttled off to the rest of the world.

That single facility is responsible for 80% of capacity for the iPhone 14 series, with more than 85% of iPhone 14 Pro capacity based there, according to Counterpoint senior analyst Ivan Lam.

(Updates with Foxconns comment from the fifth paragraph)

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The Pentagon announced this week that it sent weapons experts into Ukraine to inspect American-supplied arms being used against Russia.

Well share the details of that operation, plus concerns Russia may soon seek more advanced weapons from Iran, Saudi Arabias warning to the United States and why B-52 bombers are heading to Australia.

This is Defense & National Security, your nightly guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond. For The Hill, Im Ellen Mitchell. A friend forward this newsletter to you?

Why Biden is sending weapons experts into Ukraine

U.S. weapons experts are in Ukraine to inspect American-supplied arms being used against Russia, making the group among the first U.S. military members in the country, apart from those providing security at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.

President Biden has pledged that U.S. troops will not be sent into the fight, but this weeks announcement comes amid rising concern  particularly among Republicans  about how effectively Ukraine is utilizing U.S. military support.

Just checking: A senior Defense Department official told reporters on Monday that it had not seen credible evidence of the diversion of U.S.-provided weapons.

Limited details: The Pentagon has not said how many weapons experts are in Ukraine or where they will operate.

Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said Tuesday the embassy personnel would be far away from any type of frontline actions.



Ryder said the inspections had been in development for a while, though he did not say when the weapons experts arrived in Ukraine.

An earlier firestorm: House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) set off a firestorm last month when he said a Republican majority would not issue a blank check to Ukraine.

McCarthy and other GOP leaders sought to clarify that the party would not seek to scale back support for Ukraines fight against Russia, but instead wanted to increase oversight of U.S. aid.

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The U.S. has committed nearly $20 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since January 2021, including rocket and air defense systems that have helped counter Russias superior military might.

A broader plan: The weapons inspections are part of a broader plan released by the State Department last week to counter the diversion of advanced weapons in Ukraine. It noted that Russian forces capturing the weapons was the main source of weapons loss so far in the war.

Wars can provide opportunities for weapons to fall into private hands via theft or illicit sales, sometimes creating black markets for arms that endure for decades, said a fact sheet on the plan.

To counter that risk, the U.S. will work with Ukraines military and other officials to better account for and safeguard weapons, identify and investigate suspected arms trafficking, and ramp up monitoring on Ukraines borders.

Read the rest here

US WORRIED RUSSIA MAY BUY MORE WEAPONS FROM IRAN

U.S. officials are worried that Russia may try to gain additional advanced weapons from Iran to use in its war in Ukraine, the Pentagons press secretary said Tuesday.

We do have concerns that Russia may also seek to acquire additional advanced munition capabilities from Iran, for example, surface-to-surface missiles, to use in Ukraine, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters.

More to come?: Iran has already given Russia drones to use to attack Ukrainian targets, and Washington expects Moscow will likely seek more of those, Ryder said.

Earlier Tuesday, CNN reported that Iran is preparing to send Russia about 1,000 additional weapons, including more drones and for the first time, surface-to-surface short range ballistic missiles.

Such a shipment would come as the U.S. has assessed that the Russians are experiencing munitions shortages.

Read that story here

US warned of Iranian attacks in Saudi Arabia, Iraq

Saudi Arabia has warned the United States of an imminent Iranian attack on targets in the kingdom and in Iraq, with the U.S. military now on heightened alert, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

Riyadh shared intelligence with Washington indicating the elevated danger, causing Saudi Arabia, the U.S. and other neighboring countries to raise the alert level for their military forces, Saudi and U.S. officials told the Journal.

Asked about the report later Tuesday, Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said he would not talk about specific force protection levels but that U.S. officials do remain concerned about the threat situation in the region.

In regular contact: Were in regular contact with our Saudi partners in terms of what information they may have to provide on that front, Ryder told reporters. But what weve said before, and Ill repeat it, is that we will reserve the right to protect and defend ourselves no matter where our forces are serving, whether in Iraq or elsewhere.

Pressed on whether the Saudis provided anything to the United States in the past few days that would be a cause for concern, Ryder said he did not have any additional information to provide.

Warnings: Saudi officials told the Journal that Iran is set to attack areas in the kingdom as well as Erbil, Iraq, to try to distract from ongoing women-led protests in Iran. The protests began in September after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old who died while being held by the countrys morality police

Read the rest here

B-52s head to Australia as China slams move

The United States is planning to send nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to Australia as tensions with China continue to simmer, the Pentagon confirmed Tuesday.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporations Four Corners television program first reported that up to six B-52s would be sent to the Royal Australian Air Forces Tindal base in northern Australia.

Asked about the deployment, Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said the U.S. has a long-standing relationship with Australia and that its not uncommon for us to send aircraft through to participate in joint exercises, combined exercises with Australia.

Beijing sees red: The move has already drawn the ire of China, which accused the U.S. of stoking tensions in the region.

The relevant practices of the U.S. side have increased tensions in the region, seriously undermined regional peace and stability, and may trigger an arms race in the region, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Monday, as reported by Reuters.

A clear message: Ryder, meanwhile, said the deployment sends a clear message to countries in the region that the United States has the capability to deter and, if necessary, engage and that it maintains capabilities to be available to respond to a variety of contingencies worldwide.

Separately, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Martin Meiners told The Hill that U.S. military aircraft, including B-52s and other bombers, have visited Australia to participate in joint exercises for years and will continue to do so.

Read more here

ON TAP TOMORROW

The Naval Submarine League will hold its 2022 symposium on Expanding the Reach of the Undersea Force, with U.S. Strategic Command head Adm. Chas Richard, Attack Submarines Program Executive Officer Rear Adm. Jonathan Rucker, and Commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet Submarine Force Rear Adm. Jeffrey Jablon, at 8 a.m.

Government Executive Media Group will host a virtual Continuous Diagnostic and Mitigation (CDM) Summit, with Randy Resnick, director of zero trust portfolio management at the Defense Department, and acting Justice CIO Kevin Cox, at 8:30 a.m.

The Defense Strategies Institute will hold its Assured Microelectronics Summit at 8:45 a.m.

The National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations will host a conference on Arab-U.S. Uncertainties and Constants: What Lies Ahead? at 9 a.m.

WHAT WERE READING

Thats it for today. Check out The Hills Defense and National Security pages for the latest coverage. See you tomorrow!

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A health worker gives a dose of the polio vaccine to a child during a vaccination campaign against polio in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sept. 19, 2022.

A health worker gives a dose of the polio vaccine to a child during a vaccination campaign against polio in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sept. 19, 2022. Credit - Saifurahman SafiXinhua/Getty Images

Before this year, polio didnt feel like an urgent threat. The disease was eradicated in the U.S. in 1979, and thanks to a global vaccination campaign, its endemic (though far from widespread) in just two countriesPakistan and Afghanistan.

But the calculus changed in 2022. In July, an unvaccinated man in New York state contracted polio. And this year, poliovirus has circulated in wastewater in London, Jerusalem, andas recently as Oct. 28in New York City and several surrounding counties. Unvaccinated and undervaccinated in these areas are at risk for paralysis disease, researchers wrote in a report announcing the new New York findings. Anyone who falls into that category should complete the vaccination series as soon as possible.

Paradoxically though, one of the two types of polio vaccines is playing a role in the recent spread. To combat the outbreak, the U.S. government is considering rolling out yet a third variety of vaccine. Heres what you need to know about the two different polio vaccines, the new one on the horizon, and how to keep your family safe.

The differences between the two polio vaccines

The first polio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk and approved in the U.S. in 1955, is known as the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV). It is administered by injection and uses a killed poliovirus to familiarize the immune system with the disease and prime it to recognize a live, wild virus should it ever encounter one.

The second, developed by Dr. Albert Sabin and approved in the U.S. in 1963, is known as the oral polio vaccine (OPV) and uses an attenuatedor weakenedstrain of the virus: one that cant cause disease but can do the same job of priming the immune system as the IPV.

The OPV has two big advantages: its easier and cheaper to administerwith just a few drops to the tonguethan the IPV. Thats why it has been the vaccine of choice for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI)a consortium made up of Rotary International, the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, the CDC, and moreand other health organizations conducting mass international vaccinations campaigns. But it comes with a disadvantage, too. On rare occasions, the live virus in the OPV can revert to virulence, either causing polio in the person who received the drops, or shedding in their feces and spreading through the environment. Vanishingly small traces of feces on hands or surfaceseven after handwashingcan be sufficient to transmit the virus on the rare instances when this shedding occurs. So far in 2022, there have been 555 cases of polio in 21 countries caused by so-called circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV), according to GPEI. For this reason, the U.S. phased out the use of the OPV in 2000. But much of the rest of the world still uses it.

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In countries where they continue to use OPV, says Dr. William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, you have more cases of polio that are related to the vaccine than to the wild virus.

Read More: Routine Childhood Vaccination Rates Fell as Misinformation About the COVID-19 Shot Rose

None of this means that OPV is more menace than boon. The reversion to virulence is rarehappening in about one in three million doses administered, according to Schaffnerand not every case of reversion leads to a case of polio. Since the GPEI began its work in 1988, the OPV is estimated to have prevented 16 million cases of paralysis and 1.5 million deaths. Still, the virus that infected the Rockland County man and turned up in the wastewater in New York is just this type of vaccine-derived virus, presumably carried into the country by someone from a part of the world that uses the OPV. The London and Jerusalem strains are also genetically linked to the New York strain, suggesting an OPV origin.

But the IPV has a drawback, too, in addition to the comparative difficulty and expense of administration. The OPV, since it is taken orally, confers whats known as gut immunitymeaning that assuming a person who receives the vaccine is not among the unfortunate few in whom the virus reverts to virulence, there is no viral replication in the intestinal system and thus no shedding in feces, even if that person picked up a cVDPV from someone else. The IPV does not establish gut immunity; the vaccine may forever prevent a person who receives the shot from contracting polio, but it doesnt prevent intestinal replication if that person picks up a cVDPV. That presents a danger, because the IPV-vaccinated person could then spread the cVDPV further.

Whats long been needed is a new oral vaccine: one that establishes gut immunity but is much less likely to revert to virulence. And such a vaccine now exists.

The new oral polio vaccine

In 2021, researchers working with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; the National Institute for Biological Standard and Control (NIBSC) in the U.K.; the University of California, San Francisco; and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) developed a novel oral polio vaccine known as nOPV2. (The 2 in the name signifies that it is targeted specifically at polios type 2 strainthe only remaining one of the three strains that once existed. Types 1 and 3 have been eradicated.) The nOPV2 vaccinewhich isnt yet approved for use in the U.S.includes an attenuated virus genetically engineered to be much stabler than the one used in the existing OPV. Rather than having to undergo just a single mutation to revert to virulence, the virus in the nOPV2 must mutate at up to five different points on its genome before it can present a danger.

Read More: RSV Cases Are Rising in Kids and Babies. What Parents Should Know



Its a virus that can still accumulate mutations like any virus, says Raul-Andino Pavlovsky, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of California, San Francisco, who was involved in the vaccine development. But its a little bit crippled so it doesnt evolve as quickly as the original oral polio vaccine, and therefore its safer.

Much safer, actually. We incorporated changes to make it more faithful as it copied, says Andrew Macadam, principal scientist with the NIBSC, who also worked on the new vaccine. With our virus, weve never seen reversion to virulence in in vitro tests, in animals or in people. In March 2021, the new vaccine was first put to work in Africa, and since then, 500 million doses have been administered, especially in Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. In that time, says Macadam, theres not been a single verified case of vaccine-associated polio [with the nOPV2].

How to protect yourself from polio

At the moment, the IPV remains the best means to protect yourself and your family. Currently, 92.5% of U.S. children have received the prescribed 3 doses of the shots by age two, according to the CDC. But vaccination rates vary greatly across the country. In Idaho, the figure is 86.6%, for example, and in the District of Columbia, its only 80.4%. In the zip code in which the Rockland County man who recently contracted polio lives, the vaccination rate stands at a dangerously low 37.3%. For that reason, the CDC is considering authorizing the use of the new vaccine in the U.S., hoping to stem the current spread of vaccine-derived poliovirus by establishing gut immunity in people who receive the nOPV2 drops. The new vaccine may be superior to the IPV because of that additional layer of immunity it provides, but more than 20 years of vaccine policy are not overturned quicklyespecially since the IPV has been so successful in the U.S.and the U.S. government is taking its time in deciding whether or not to make the move.

Out of an abundance of caution, CDC is looking at all options to stop the circulation of poliovirus in New York, said Jannell Routh, the CDCs team leader for domestic polio surveillance, in a statement to TIME. On Oct. 19, Routh said, the CDC and New York state formed a polio working group and began preliminary discussions to consider the criteria under which nOPV2 might be used in areas with persistent circulation of poliovirus. Any use of the nOPV2 would require emergency use authorization from the FDA, Routh added.

Neither Routh nor other CDC spokespersons would speculate as to when the polio working group would reach a conclusion on whether or not to recommend the use of the nOPV2. For now, Routh said, vaccinating those at-risk in the affected and surrounding communities with IPV, a safe and highly effective vaccine, continues to remain the priority. Three doses of IPV provides 99% protection against paralytic disease caused by poliovirus infection.

The nOPV2 is new, and the outbreak in New York is newer still. But at the moment, at least, its an old preventive that represents the front line in protecting the vulnerable.
From networking events and board retreats, to collaborations, offsites and trainings, Downtown Works offers event spaces for up to 275 people throughout San Diego County

SAN DIEGO, November 02, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Downtown Works, renowned in San Diego County for hospitality-inspired, high-design coworking spaces, is taking reservations for corporate events, private meetings, and offsites for 2 to 275 people in its Carlsbad, Pacific Beach and Little Italy San Diego locations.

Downtown Works coworking continues to provide business community connection in San Diego County with event spaces and furnished, tech-enabled conference rooms for board retreats, off-site strategy meetings, collaborations, trainings, and more.

The Downtown Works location in Carlsbad offers 2.5 acres of outdoor event space, and scalable furnished indoor conference areas. Free parking is included. Those renting space for events or off-site meetings can bring in their own food and beverage. Downtown Works assists with catering and party rental contacts for large events.

The Little Italy San Diego and Pacific Beach locations offer a variety of indoor event spaces and private conference rooms. All include coffee service, A/V and more.

"Nothing beats meeting in person  whether its a corporate networking event or a team huddle. Weve designed our event spaces and meeting rooms to be flexible and strive to make connecting with customers and team members comfortable, easy, and fun," says Downtown Works Chief Operating Officer David Adato.

Organizations such as Startup San Diego, SCALE, 6 Degrees Networking, American Marketing Association San Diego, and others have hosted events and meetings at Downtown Works  click here to see clips and photos of events at Downtown Works.

Kirsty Nunez, president and chief research strategists at Q2 Insights and co-chair of the AMA San Diego Art of Marketing conference says, "Downtown Works private meeting rooms are a convenient and comfortable for our board and committee meetings as we have members throughout San Diego County. The staff is incredible, and the rooms equipped with beautiful furniture. We couldnt be happier with the experience."

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To book an event or meeting, contact Director of Operations Niki Ellis at Niki@downtownworks.com.

About Downtown Works

Downtown Works, a hospitality-inspired coworking company, features enterprise-grade technology, a service-driven staff, inspiring interior designs and comfortable, furnished offices that allow creatives, professionals, and entrepreneurs to collaborate, network and grow their businesses. Visit www.downtownworks.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221102005396/en/

Contacts

Hilary McCarthy

hilary@clearpointagency.com

774 364 1440
Gael Greene, one of the most influential restaurant critics in American history, whose sharp wit and unique way of writing about food and the restaurant industry led admirers to call her the Dorothy Parker of restaurant critics, died Tuesday from cancer. She was 88.

Greene served as New York Magazines food critic from 1968 for more than 30 years, demystifying restaurant culture and food for a city  and country  that at the time didnt particularly care or understand the topics. Her reviews were earthy, full of puns, frequently linked eating and sex, and above all encouraged readers to think about food and dining out as social, artistic and cultural matters.

Shes credited with inventing the term foodie in the 1980s to describe what is now a widely recognized subculture of enthusiasts, and co-founded the charity City Meals on Wheels. But even before that, she was celebrated for her no holds barred takes on food and restaurant life, and became so well known that she took great pains to hide her identity from restaurants, including fake names and the large hats that became her trademark.

Also Read:

Henry Selick Sets Record Straight About Whos Really Behind Tim Burtons The Nightmare Before Christmas

Born in 1933 in Detroit, Greene attended the University of Michigan and for a while was an investigative reporter for UPI followed by the New York Post, where she first began writing about food. She moved over to New York Magazine in late 1968 and was their food critic until her retirement in 2000. She continued as a columnist until 2008, when she was fired, an act that drew widespread criticism among peers in New York.

Greene wrote two novels, including the best-seller Blue Skies, No Candy in 1976. She published her memoir, Insatiable: Tales from a life of Delicious Excess in 2006. She was also a judge on Top Chef Masters for two seasons.

She was married once, and according to the New York Times had no children.
Green Stream Holdings Inc.

Company Will No Longer Have Any Obligations To Issue Securities To The Holder, Diagonal Lending LLC f/k/a Sixth Street Lending, LLC; Company Repaid Another & Last Existing Note In Favor Of 1800 Diagonal Lending LLC F/K/A Sixth Street Lending, LLC, For $43.8k+; Company Had Previously Announced That The Company Repaid $50.3k Note In Favor Of 1800 Diagonal Lending LLC F/K/A Sixth Street Lending, LLC On August 30th, 2022

NEW YORK, NY, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Green Stream Holdings Inc. (OTC PINK: GSFI) ("the Company") ( https://greensolarutility.com ), an emerging leader in the solar utility and finance space, recently announced that it has settled and repaid a second and final Convertible Promissory Note in favor of 1800 Diagonal Lending LLC f/k/a Sixth Street Lending, LLC dated May 22, 2022 through payment in full of $43,851,88 fully extinguishing such note.

On November 1, 2022, the Company filed an 8-K that said: The Company on October 31, 2022 prepaid its Convertible Promissory Note in favor of 1800 Diagonal Lending LLC f/k/a Sixth Street Lending, LLC dated May 2, 2022 through payment in full of $43,851,88 totally extinguishing such note.

Accordingly, the parties have no further rights or obligations as to each other as to such debt, and the Registrant will have no obligations to issue securities to Diagonal Lending LLC f/k/a Sixth Street Lending, LLC as to such debt.

About Green Stream Finance, Inc.

Green Stream Finance, Inc., a solar utility and finance company with satellite offices in Malibu, CA and New York, NY, is focused on exploiting currently unmet markets in the solar energy space, and is currently licensed in California, Nevada, Arizona, Washington, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Colorado, Hawaii, and Canada. The Company's next-generation solar greenhouses constructed and managed by Green Rain Solar, LLC, a Nevada-based division, utilize proprietary greenhouse technology and trademarked design developed by world-renowned architect Mr. Antony Morali. The Company is currently targeting high-growth solar market segments for its advanced solar greenhouse and advanced solar battery products. The Company has a growing footprint in the significantly underserved solar market in New York City where it is targeting 50,000 to 100,000 square feet of rooftop space for the installation of its solar panels. Green Stream is looking to forge key partnership with major investment groups, brokers, and private investors in order to capitalize on a variety of unique investment opportunities in the commercial solar energy markets. The Company is dedicated to becoming a major player in this critical space. Through its innovative solar product offerings and industry partnerships, the Company is well-positioned to become a significant player in the solar space.

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Forward-Looking Statements:

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and is subject to the safe harbor created by those sections. This material contains statements about expected future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties. That includes the possibility that the business outlined in this press release cannot be concluded for some reason. That could be as a result of technical, installation, permitting or other problems that were not anticipated. Such forward-looking statements by definition involve risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Green Stream Finance, Inc. to be materially different from the statements made herein. Except for any obligation under the U.S. federal securities laws, Green Stream Finance, Inc. undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

For All Inquiries Contact:

president@greenstreamfinance.com

Website: greensolarutility.com

SOURCE: Green Stream Holdings Inc.




BOSTON  Democratic legislative leaders in deep-blue Massachusetts knew they wanted to expand abortion access and shore up protections for patients and providers after Roe v. Wade fell.

There was just one problem: Republican Gov. Charlie Baker.

Baker supports abortion rights but he vetoed parts of a 2020 bill codifying them into state law over issues with access to the procedure later in pregnancy. The possibility he could do so again this summer spurred unusually public squabbling between Democrats over what Baker would approve.

Baker ultimately signed the abortion bill. But the episode shows how Democrats have spent the last eight years either using the Republican as a foil  or blaming him for being an impediment who makes it harder to actually get things like abortion protections over the finish line, Mike Connolly, a progressive state representative, said in an interview.



They likely wont have either option come January. Massachusetts voters are poised to elect a Democrat  state Attorney General Maura Healey  next week and consolidate the partys control for only the second time in some 30 years after Baker decided not to seek a third term.

Democrats are also on track to win back the governors office in Maryland, where they already control the Legislature. And Republicans could gain trifectas in Wisconsin and Kansas, where incumbent Democratic governors are locked in close races. Even if Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers wins, Republicans are well-positioned to gain veto-proof majorities in the Legislature to neutralize his second-term agenda.

One-party rule is generally regarded as a good thing for the party in power, while divided government, the argument goes, allows for key checks and balances. But there are perils to unilateral power. It can bring dormant intraparty fault lines to the surface, torch relationships among lawmakers and splinter the party in powers voter base. In some cases, unified control can lead to the sorts of insurmountable impasses and general gridlock its expected to avoid.

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Single-party control would seem to be the smoother path to achieving broad party goals. There isnt an obvious roadblock. And you dont have to worry about finding bipartisan compromises or entrenched opposition, Evan Horowitz, executive director of the Center for State Policy Analysis at Tufts University, said in an interview.

But I dont think the history of it is quite that sanguine, he said. Differences inside the party in power  are dramatic enough that there will be similar needs for compromise, horse trading and sometimes outright defiance by one branch against another. So dont expect kumbaya governance.

Unleashing partisan priorities

There are 37 states where one party runs everything. Republicans control 23 states, while Democrats control 14.

The number of states with one-party rule has steadily been on the rise in recent years. Seventeen had divided governments in 2018. That dropped to 13 in 2020 and is now down to 12, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Thats a marked contrast to governance in the nations capital, where every president since Jimmy Carter has faced at least some period of divided government. Joe Biden is on track to join his predecessors as Republicans are poised to retake at least one chamber of Congress next week.

In Massachusetts, voters are likely to elect just their second Democratic governor in three decades  Healey leads Donald Trump-endorsed Republican Geoff Diehl by double digits in public polling  and keep long-held Democratic supermajorities in the state House and Senate.



One-party control didnt always work out for the last Democratic governor.

Deval Patrick, the states first Black governor, clashed openly with the Democratic-led Legislature over transportation funding, casino gambling and expanding charter schools. Sometimes, top Democrats hammered out compromises behind closed doors. In other cases, like with the transportation bill that raised the state gas tax, lawmakers bucked the governors wishes through overrides.

When Deval first ran for governor, almost all of the Legislature was on the opposite side of him in the primary. That, I think, colored the initial relationship he had with them when he went into office, Doug Rubin, who served as Patricks chief of staff and was an architect of his campaigns, said in an interview.

Unlike Patrick, the governor being sworn in next year will have preexisting relationships with the Legislature. Diehl is a former state representative. Healey has worked with lawmakers as attorney general and has been endorsed by Democratic legislative leaders.

But it wont be all smooth if Democrats get their trifecta: The next administration will be immediately tasked with finding a new leader for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and tackling the budget shortfalls, staffing issues and myriad safety woes laid bare by a federal investigation into the beleaguered agency earlier this year.

Healey, a progressive prosecutor running a more moderate campaign, and moderate-leaning Democratic legislative leaders would also face pressure from progressive lawmakers who want free public transportation and to lift the ban on rent control. Healey supports allowing communities to pursue rent control and outlining a pathway to fare free buses. But Democratic legislative leaders have been ambiguous on both  shielded by a Republican governor who supports neither.

From the perspective of legislative leaders, if a Republican governor is promising a veto, then what is the point of doing all the work to pass the legislation if we dont know we have that supermajority [to override it]? Connolly, the progressive state representative whos leading the push for restoring rent control, said. Being able to point to a Democratic governor who is willing to support some of these ideas, such as local-option rent control, makes it that much easier.

Maryland presents similar challenges for Wes Moore, the Democratic nominee who holds commanding leads in both fundraising and approval ratings in public polls over Trump-endorsed Republican Dan Cox. Both men are vying to succeed moderate GOP Gov. Larry Hogan, who is term-limited.



Moore, should he prevail next week, will be Marylands first Black governor and just the third ever elected in the country. Hell immediately face pressure to fill a spate of state government vacancies: Democrats have accused Hogan of allowing seasoned government staff to depart from key agencies  the department of corrections, juvenile services and public health among them  and being slow to replace them.

Hes also likely to have a hand in overseeing the rollout of the states recreational marijuana industry next year, should Maryland voters approve a ballot measure next week, and making sure its diverse.

Democrats in Annapolis dont expect agreement on every measure. But many say theyll welcome an environment thats less combative than the eight years under Republican rule, which required constant vote-counting to ensure the party had enough support to veto overrides.

I don't think we should be governing from a place of fear of what if things go wrong, Bill Ferguson, the Maryland Senate president, said in an interview. I think we should be governing from a place of saying now it's our opportunity to do what's right.



Republicans in waiting

In Wisconsin, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has stymied Republican lawmakers efforts to expand gun rights and change the battleground states election laws. Hes vetoed more than 100 bills in the past session  a record for the state  including a package of new voting rules that would have banned mailing absentee ballot applications and prevented private money from being used in election administration, among other aims.

Republicans already control both chambers but could gain supermajorities in the Legislature, rendering Evers somewhat powerless even if he wins reelection. Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has vowed to reconsider every single thing Evers vetoed.

Republican Senate President Chris Kapenga said in an interview that the election bills Evers rejected will absolutely happen  though it would be easier to pass them with an open line of communication to a Republican governors office.

People sometimes think oh, they have a supermajority, theyre going to be able to do whatever they want. Thats not the case at all, Kapenga said. Its difficult to get all of your votes to actually override a veto.

But Mike Tate, a former Wisconsin Democratic Party chair, said that the possibility of Republican supermajorities is still a very real question and concern for Democrats.

Its about as far from an ideal situation as you can get in a governing sense, he said in an interview.

That could also be the case in North Carolina. While Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper isnt up for reelection this year, his power could also be limited if Republicans increase their margins in the Legislature: Republicans need to net three seats to gain a supermajority in the House and two in the Senate. They could use that power to usher through new abortion restrictions or to revive a bill Cooper vetoed that would have required local sheriffs offices to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.



In Kansas, if Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly is ousted by her GOP challenger, Attorney General Derek Schmidt, Republicans would regain the control the party lost with her election in 2018.

The last time Republicans occupied both the governors mansion and the Legislature, it was defined by tax-cutting and budget-slashing to shrink a gaping deficit.

I was kind of a hard ass, said Ray Merrick, a former Republican House speaker who shepherded major tax and budget deals when Republicans fully controlled Kansas government. I ran a tight ship, a lot of people resented that. But you had to be that way and do that to get things accomplished.

If Kansas Republicans secure the governorship again, theyre likely to set their sights on similar goals by trying to pass a taxpayer bill of rights limiting tax increases. Another long-held legislative priority would be providing Kansans with education savings accounts that could go toward subsidizing private school tuition, a big push in the school choice debate.

But some Topeka insiders predict that Republicans may become paralyzed by infighting between the moderate and conservative wings of the GOP, tensions that have escalated in recent years.



Today, theres no middle ground, which is too bad, Merrick said. It would be tough to get things accomplished now, a lot tougher.

Brakkton Booker and Liz Crampton contributed to this report.


Season 5's penultimate episode wastes little time picking up last week's heart-pounding, Hannah-rescuing plot thread. June (Elisabeth Moss) and Luke (O-T Fagbenle) meet with agent Tuello (Sam Jaeger) in an aircraft hangar, where they learn the details behind the raid. Three jets will cross the border into Colorado, where 30 girls "stolen from their parents" will be extricated from Gilead's wife-prep school. The elite unit of paratroopers won't hesitate to kill anyone who gets in their way.

June's concerned for Hannah and the other girls' safety, but the commander leading the mission  who also has a young daughter  immediately puts her at ease. "My plan is to bring your daughter home and go home to mine," he says with confidence and kindness.

Meanwhile, Serena's (Yvonne Strahovski) settling into the Wheeler's home for the second time. She and Noah are posing for publicity shots to be presented at the opening of Gilead's new fertility center in Toronto. She asks to attend the event in person, but Mrs. Wheeler refuses to let her leave the house again. Wheeler also wants her to wean Noah off nursing and switch to bottle-feeding, which will mean less alone time for Serena and her son. The Lady Wheeler also refers to Noah as "my smart boy," a stinging comment that clearly sets Serena's blood boiling.

But she continues to play nice, and obediently delivers her pumped milk to the fridge later that evening. She also takes the opportunity to swing by Mr. Wheeler's office and butter him up before pitching him on her request to attend the center's opening. He responds with snark and sarcasm, but says he'll consider it.

Back in Gilead, Commander Lawrence (Bradley Whitford) has invited Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) and recent widow Naomi Putnam (Ever Carradine) to his home. He awkwardly proposes marriage to the latter  "You can move in here with the kid if you want"  suggesting the arrangement would benefit both of them. Mrs. Putnam's initially relieved she's not being sent to the colonies, but is shocked to hear this offer coming from the Commander who ordered her husband Warren's execution.

Story continues

The Handmaid's Tale

Sophie Giraud/Hulu Commander Lawrence (Bradley Whitford), Naomi (Ever Carradine) and Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd)

The next day, June and Luke join Tuello at the rescue mission's command center. As they watch a live-feed of the military jets flying toward Colorado, we get a rare peek at Hannah in her school. Following bedtime prayers led by a supervising Aunt, Hannah and the other girls retreat to their tent-like dorms. Rather than going right to bed though, Hannah secretly signs a piece of her artwork, displaying a rebellious side her mother would no doubt be proud of.

At the command center, June approaches the live broadcast of the raid, smiles hopefully, and whispers, "You're coming home." But just as the trio of aircraft cross the red line representing the border, Tuello's team loses contact with them. Alarms sound, chaos ensues, and he urgently has June and Luke escorted from the room. He later meets them in the hallway to inform them the mission was a failure, Gilead had anticipated their arrival and swiftly shot down the planes. There were no survivors.

Lawrence calls June the next day. He's angry with her for siding with the Americans, who invaded his country. But his offer still stands. She can safely move her family to New Bethlehem, where she'll live alongside Hannah (and her eventual Commander husband) and Nick (Max Minghella.) But she also must go public, allying herself with Gilead and denouncing America's attempt to rescue the girls in Colorado.

June not only refuses, but doubles-down on her defiance, telling Lawrence his late wife Eleanor hated him. She also confesses she allowed Mrs. Lawrence to die, rather than helping her upon realizing she was attempting suicide. The conversation ends with Lawrence telling June she'll never get Hannah back, and June hanging up with a furious "Go f yourself!"

Serena's day isn't off to a great start either. Mr. Wheeler has permitted her to attend the opening of the fertility center, but the missus is none too happy Serena circumvented her decision by going up the Wheeler chain of command. She slaps her hard across the face, twice, calls her a whore, and tells her to stay away from her husband.

But things are better at the center's opening, where eager female visitors fawn over Serena and Noah. She sings Gilead's praises, suggesting the country's clean air and devotion to God helped her get pregnant. But Mrs. Wheeler's still pissed. She tells Serena to go home and leave Noah behind in her care.

The Handmaid's Tale

Russ Martin/Hulu Yvonne Strahovski

But Serena didn't pack a bottle for the baby  again defying Mrs. Wheeler  so she must nurse Noah before leaving. But rather than feeding her son, Serena holds him tight and makes a break for it out a nearby emergency exit. As the door's alarm sounds, she frantically flags down a car outside and convinces the confused driver to take off.

When we catch up with June, she's composed herself following the fallout with Lawrence. She's also ready to take the fight to the next level. She meets with Tuello to hash out a new plan, leading them to reach out to Nick for help. But Tuello also tells June that Nick previously turned down his offer to come to Canada under an immunity agreement.

Fast-forward to June and Nick's secret rendezvous, where she immediately confronts him about not accepting Tuello's offer. He explains he can't leave new wife Rose, who's both pregnant and happy with her life in Gilead. He also says he's supporting Lawrence in attempting to make the totalitarian country a better place. The meeting's a bust, but the pair still express their love for each other. Nick also sends his love to Nichole, while June advises him to set the right example for his coming baby.

Speaking of Nick's pregnant wife, she's gathered with the other wives  including Mrs. Putnam and Mrs. Mackenzie, a.k.a Hannah/Agnes' Gilead mom  in Lawrence's living room. Meanwhile, Mr. Mackenzie is in the next room with the other Commanders. They're celebrating their recent military victory, boasting over the respect it's brought them from allies Russia, China, and North Korea.

The Handmaid's Tale

Sophie Giraud/Hulu Max Minghella

But Mackenzie soon pivots to the problematic June Osborne, whom he wants dealt with once and for all. His proposal doesn't gain much traction though, as Lawrence attempts to brush it off  "It's certainly worth considering"  before joining the wives. As they enter the room, Mackenzie raises a glass and praises Lawrence's leadership skills. The Commander awkwardly plants himself by Naomi and puts a hand on her shoulder. Mrs. Putnam looks quietly horrified as she gazes toward the unwelcome physical gesture, noticing a wedding band on Lawrence's finger.

The episode's final scene takes us back to Toronto, where Tuello's memorializing those killed in the Gilead raid at a candlelight vigil. June, Luke, Moira (Samira Wiley), and Rita stand by the victims' family members, including the young daughter of the commander who'd comforted June prior to the mission. The girl approaches the podium, where an American flag hangs over pictures of the victims, including her father.

She attempts to lead the group in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, but anti-refugee protesters are yelling and picketing in the background. She struggles to focus and remember the words, so with her mother's permission, June joins her to help her get through it. As they're about to complete the pledge, however, gun shots ring out. The crowd attempts to take cover, bullets pierce the flag, and June grabs the girl in a protective embrace, narrowly evading the shots and diving to the ground.

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Former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso walks towards his flight at Narita International Airport in Narita, near Tokyo Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022, on his way to South Korea. Aso left for Seoul on Wednesday to meet with South Korean officials as the two countries try to improve ties badly strained by Japanese wartime atrocities. (Kyodo News via AP) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

TOKYO (AP)  Former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso left for Seoul on Wednesday to meet with South Korean officials as the two countries try to improve ties that were badly strained by Japanese wartime atrocities.

At the center of the disputes between the two countries are South Korean court rulings in 2018 that ordered Japanese companies to compensate wartime forced Korean laborers. The Japanese government and the companies have refused to comply with the rulings, saying all compensation issues have been settled under a 1965 normalization treaty and accusing South Korea of violating the international law.

But ties have started showing signs of improvement since South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's conservative government took power in May. As key Asian allies to the United States, having a strained relationship also poses a concern for their security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region as it faces growing threats from China and North Korea.

Gaffe-prone Aso is also known for his family business wartime use of forced laborers.

In 2008, wartime documents surfaced showing that Korean forced laborers were used at Aso's grandfathers mine, from which he has distanced himself. Aso kept mum when Japans Health and Welfare Ministry acknowledged that other wartime documents showed that the Aso family mine in Fukuoka, southern Japan, also used 300 British, Dutch and Australian prisoners from April 1945 through Japans surrender four months later.

The trip comes days after a crowd surge in the South Korean capital, Seoul, killed over 150 people. Yoon declared a national mourning period Sunday.

Kyodo News Agency said Aso was to meet with Yoon later Wednesday.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Aso is not representing the government, but is visiting South Korea as the head of a non-partisan Japan-South Korea friendship organization made up of political and business representatives.

Matsuno declined to confirm reports that Aso may meet with Yoon, and denied that Aso was carrying a letter from Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to Yoon.

Story continues

Another veteran ruling lawmaker, Fukushiro Nukaga, who heads a group of parliamentarians promoting friendship between the two neighbors, was also due to visit South Korea, Kyodo News agency reported.

Nukaga is expected to meet with Yoon on Friday.

Matsuno said earlier Tuesday that exchanges of lawmakers and private sector representatives between the two countries are a meaningful way of supporting bilateral relations. He said the two sides need to bring their relations back to a healthy state based on friendship and cooperation that the two countries have built since the normalization of their ties.

We intend to continue to closely communicate with the South Korean government, he added.
Jim Obergefell speaks with voters at a park in Sandusky, Ohio on July 18, 2022. AP Photo/Nick Cammett

The Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges legalized same-sex marriage nationwide 7 years ago.

Now, Jim Obergefell  the man for which that case was named  is running for Ohio state House.

Insider spoke with him in his hometown of Sandusky about the campaign and his perspective on LGBTQ issues.

SANDUSKY, Ohio  As a crowd of roughly a hundred people milled about on a cold Thursday morning awaiting the arrival of US Senate candidate Tim Ryan in his bright-red campaign bus, a bald, bespectacled man was busy chatting people up.

"I'm looking forward to November 8th getting here," the man could be heard saying to a handful of attendees. "But you know, the nice thing is, everything I went through with the court case  a lot of that really prepared me for something like this."

The "court case" in question was Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark 2015 civil rights case in which the Supreme Court ruled five to four that same-sex couples were guaranteed the right to marry.

And the man for which the case was named, Jim Obergefell, was at the Sandusky event in his capacity as the Democratic nominee in Ohio House District 89, a Republican-held seat in northern Ohio.

"I think a lot of us hear when we're growing up, you know, 'one person, a couple people can change the world,'" Obergefell told Insider during an interview at a local coffee shop the day before the Ryan event. "And I think most of us were like, 'whatever, that's just a saying.'"

Obergefell speaks with local voters at Jackson Street Pier in Sandusky on October 27, 2022. Bryan Metzger/Insider

"I lived it," he said after a brief pause. "And I have to keep being part of making things better."

If elected, Obergefell would be the only openly gay member of the state House and just the third openly LGBTQ legislator in state history. But he says he's not deterred by that reality, suggesting a more advocate-like role for himself in the legislature.

"Someone has to do it. I mean, our government is dysfunctional. Ohio is dysfunctional," said Obergefell. "Someone has to be there as a voice of common sense, a voice of human decency, and a voice who won't be afraid to say, 'this is wrong, this is harming people.'"

Story continues

A household name in the race

In July 2013, Obergefell and his late husband, John Arthur, initiated a lawsuit in a federal district court against the state of Ohio demanding recognition of a marriage performed in Maryland just days earlier. Arthur, who was Obergefell's partner of 20 years, was suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and would die just three months later. Under Ohio law at the time, his death certificate would have listed him as unmarried.

As the case made its way towards the nation's highest court, it was consolidated with other similar cases across a handful of other states. Because Obergefell's case had the lowest case number, his name would go on to become synonymous with marriage equality.

Today, the defendant in the case  then-Ohio Secretary of Health Richard Hodges  counts himself as a friend of Obergefell's and a supporter of his campaign.

"I wasn't an enthusiastic proponent of the law," Hodges, himself a former Republican state legislator, told Insider in a phone interview, referring to Ohio's ban on same-sex marriage. "I understood the equal protection consequences in what the court was going to be looking at, and was sympathetic."

Much has changed for Obergefell in the last nine years, as circumstances and fateful choices transformed a Cincinnati real estate broker and IT professional into what Hodges calls a "civil rights rock-star."

A button for Obergefell's state House campaign. Bryan Metzger/Insider

Today, Obergefell is trying out the role of politician, knocking doors in his hometown on the coast of Lake Erie and often engaging with voters about more basic economic concerns.

And he's doing so at a time when marriage equality is once again the subject of federal debate and states adopt legislation seen as targeting LGBTQ people. Obergefell's opponent, Republican state representative DJ Swearingen, is the chief co-sponsor of a bill that echoes Florida's Parental Rights in Education Act  commonly known as the "Don't Say Gay" law. That effort has prompted denunciation from the local paper's editorial board.

"Those things don't create jobs," said Obergefell. "They don't protect our environment, they don't make sure Lake Erie is clean, and healthy, and protected going forward. It doesn't make sure that health care, affordable, quality health care is available to everyone. It doesn't do anything to protect families, or to respect families."

'At least think about it'

Obergefell says he was first approached about running for office just days after the 2015 Supreme Court ruling when Brian Sims, a gay Democratic state legislator from Pennsylvania, told him to consider it.

"Jim, people are going to start mentioning public service to you," Obergefell recounted Sims telling him. "He said, 'do me a favor: don't just say no, don't just brush it off, at least think about it.'"

But Obergefell was still mourning the loss of his husband John, who died in October 2013. In 2016, he made the decision to move from his long-time home in Cincinnati to Washington, DC, embracing his new-found role as a political activist and hoping for a fresh start.

"There were just too many ghosts. Everywhere I went, I saw John," he said.

Obergefell threw himself into a variety of new ventures that included co-founding a wine company that supports LGBTQ rights and other progressive causes, co-authoring a book about the landmark Supreme Court case, serving on the board of an organization that advocates for LGBTQ elders, and working for Family Equality, a nonprofit that advocates for LGBTQ families. He also became a public speaker, appearing regularly at universities and in corporate settings.

He later moved back to Ohio in 2019, initially settling in Columbus because  having spent three years in DC  he wanted to live in a place with a large, active queer community. But the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting isolation led him to re-evaluate his life once more, and he moved back to his hometown of Sandusky in June 2021.

"I mean, all five of my siblings are still in the area, most of my nieces and nephews," he said. "There's something really, really joyful about still being in touch with, going out with, people I've known since the age of three."

Obergefell poses with Democratic US Senate candidate Tim Ryan at Jackson Street Pier in Sandusky on October 27, 2022. Bryan Metzger/Insider

When Chris Redfern  the last Democrat to hold the Sandusky-area district and a former state party chair  asked Obergefell to run, he accepted, formally launching his campaign in January 2022.

And the fact that this is Obergefell's hometown is immediately apparent; his campaign treasurer, Judi Nath, told Insider at the Ryan event that she's known Obergefell since they were both 12 years old.

'Someone has to do it'

Knocking doors on a near-daily basis across the district, Obergefell says he's been encouraged by the reception he's gotten in his Rust Belt district and has yet to have a negative experience at someone's doorstep. He also benefits from an unusually high degree of name recognition for a state legislative candidate, owing to the national attention he's received and his presence as a notable local figure.

"It isn't unusual for people to say, 'I know who you are, and I'm voting for you,'" he said.

He attended Sandusky's first Pride parade in 2018 while still living in DC, and was presented with keys to the city at last year's celebration. Local organizers have even taken to calling Sandusky the "birthplace of marriage equality."

"I don't start with it, and I don't focus on it," he said of his association with the 2015 Supreme Court case. "I will mention it, just as part of expressing what my values are."

Obergefell said he's encouraged by not just the social changes he's seen in Sandusky, but by positive signs of economic revitalization. Downtown, buildings have been recently reconstructed and trendy restaurants and bars can be found on most blocks.

"The city is, in my mind, finally embracing the lake," he said. "That really is a big driver of our economy, because of tourism and recreation."

Obergefell appears to stand a decent chance of making it into office. Though Republicans have held the seat since 2014, the first-time candidate has significantly outraised his Republican opponent in 2022, according the campaign finance tracking website Follow The Money. But even if he wins, he's likely to have diminished power as a lawmaker, since partisan control of the chamber is expected to remain in Republican hands.

Obergefell stands on Columbus Ave in Sandusky, OH on October 26, 2022. Bryan Metzger/Insider

Generally soft-spoken, Obergefell becomes particularly animated when talking about the threats he sees against LGBTQ people, especially transgender people. The Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and eliminate the constitutional right to an abortion, he says, has put a "target on the back of marriage equality."

And while he says he's "hopeful" that the Senate will codify same-sex marriage into law, he warns against deriving any comfort from the fact that Republicans generally express disinterest in revoking marriage equality, as Insider reported earlier this year.

"They're just waiting to see which way the winds blow," he said. "And if they see a benefit in the future of jumping on the bandwagon of, 'yeah, this should be overturned,' what's going to stop them from doing that?"

'I want to find love again'

Obergefell says he's given little thought to what might be next if he loses, an outcome very much in the realm of possibility.

"Good question!" he exclaimed after a lengthy pause. He suggested he could return to the nonprofit world, saying he had a "great experience" working for Family Equality. "But who knows, maybe some other opportunity will present itself and I'll think, 'oh, maybe I should do this now!'"

That spontaneous, see-what-comes-next approach is largely how Obergefell has lived his life over the course of the last decade. But personally, he's continued to mourn the loss of his late husband, the 9 year anniversary of which passed in October. He says that both grieving and a busy travel schedule have prevented him from getting back into dating.

"John is still so present in my mind, in my heart," said Obergefell. "That lawsuit happened because I love John. He was dying. We wanted to exist. We wanted to matter. We wanted to be seen by our government."

Obergefell noted that as he was bed-ridden and in need of around-the-clock care in the final months of his life, Arthur would frequently tell him that he wanted him to find love after he had passed. But he says that he may now be ready, and that he found some closure in a ceremony celebrating the opening of John Arthur Flats, an LGBTQ-friendly senior housing facility in Cincinnati named after his late husband.

"A lot of people lose a loved one, and not many of them have that loved one's name on something like that," he said. "Very, very few of them have a Supreme Court case that happened because of that relationship."

"So I feel really lucky that I have that," he added.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Associated Press

University of New Brunswick President Paul Mazerolle told the Associated Press in a phone interview Saturday that the school is also bringing in a team of outsiders to review its policies and procedures for graduate study, including issues raised by how Mastrianos research was handled and evaluated.

Being subject to a complaint, I need to let that process run its course, Mazerolle said, recognizing that theres a time issue, and this is almost 10 years ago this was all propagated.

And thats why we need to have this looked at through our complaint processes.

He said the schools lead integrity officer, chemistry professor David MaGee, is performing an initial review to decide if a full investigation is warranted and who should conduct it. There is no time limit.

Mastriano, who was elected to the Pennsylvania Senate in 2019 after decades as a U.S. Army officer, was awarded a doctorate in history in 2013 for his research into American World War I hero Sgt. Alvin York. But that research, which formed the basis of his 2014 book, has long been criticized by other researchers as inaccurate, sloppy and even fraudulent.

Mastriano has not directly responded to numerous requests for comment about his research from the Associated Press, going back almost two years, including on Tuesday. He is running against Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro in the Nov. 8 election for governor.

But on Monday, he discussed his graduate research during an online interview, saying the left wing goes after our academic work on the right.

I mean of all the things Ive done, it was brutal, he told Real Americas Voice, speaking of his doctoral studies. And I did have concerns that some of the left-leaning professors there would hold my politics or my military background against me.

One of the rival researchers who has challenged his work, University of Oklahoma history doctoral student James Gregory, sent the new complaint to New Brunswick administrators on Oct. 6, about a month after the school made public Mastrianos doctoral dissertation. Dissertation embargoes like the one that prevented access to Mastrianos work for nearly a decade are among the topics being examined by the outside team Mazerolle is having look into graduate research policies and practices.

His dissertation and subsequent book are built upon falsified research, Gregory wrote in a cover letter to a list of what he described as 213 cases of academic misconduct in Mastrianos doctoral thesis. This has polluted the historiography of Alvin York causing every historian who used his work to have an inaccurate base on which their claims are built.

In the letter addressed to whom it should concern, Gregory recounted how a complaint he made last year, based on problems he identified with the book, was handled. He said MaGee told him the allegations did not warrant a formal investigation and amounted to honest errors that would be corrected.

But Gregory argued the corrections made in response to issues with the book, which were appended to the dissertation in 2021 before it was posted online this August, are themselves plagued with academic misconduct and ignored most of what Gregory complained about last year.

I find this to be a gross case of incompetence for a university which is supposed to uphold academic integrity, Gregory said. Not only does it showcase the poor response to a serious allegation, but it also reduces the reputation and level of standards for all other students at the University of New Brunswick.

Mastrianos dissertation, largely a biography of the war hero from Tennessee, also documented his attempt to locate the precise spot of Yorks famed gun battle in the woods of northern France in the waning days of the war.

A faculty member who evaluated the work, New Brunswick history professor Jeff Brown, said Mastrianos degree was granted over his protests. Armed with his doctorate, Mastriano finished his military career by teaching at the Army War College in Carlisle until 2017.

The controversy led some current New Brunswick history graduate students to seek a meeting with their department head, and Mazerolle said the fallout has caught his attention.

Im hearing generally two things from faculty and graduate students, Mazerolle said. One is that people are wanting to get on with their work and that this is kind of a distraction. And then Im hearing on the other side, there are people who are deeply concerned and worrying about the reputation of the department and worried about the reputation of peoples degrees.

Mazerolle said the external reviewers of the schools processes and policies, who have not yet been named, will focus on the role of faculty advisers as well as the handling of embargoed dissertations.

Days after filing the new complaint, Gregory received an email from MaGee saying the initial investigation was starting right away.

Its unfortunate that it took an entire publicity debacle for UNB to look for actual reviewers to confirm my complaints. I can only hope they do their due diligence this time in regards to the faulty dissertation, Gregory said Tuesday. They should also make sure to correct the issues that led to this poor example of research being awarded a Ph.D.
Joanna Gaines Struggled with Insecurity After Getting Bullied as a Child for Her Korean Heritage

Joanna Gaines is looking back on her journey to embracing her Korean heritage.

Born to her American father Jerry and Korean mother Nan (who met when Jerry was stationed in South Korea with the U.S. military), the Fixer Upper star grew up in Rose Hill, Kansas  a small town outside of Wichita  with her two sisters, Teresa and Mary Kay a.k.a. "Mikey."

"We were literally the only Asians in our entire school," Gaines, 44, recalls of her childhood in this week's issue of PEOPLE.

As a student, Gaines remembers being called names and getting teased for eating rice in the cafeteria at lunch.

"It was deeply personal because that was half of my story," she shares. "I realized if this isn't accepted, maybe I need to hide it and play more into the other side of who I am."

Joanna Gaines rollout

Courtesy

RELATED: Joanna Gaines Shares Her Favorite Wedding Day Memory: 'Got in the Limo and Ate!'

Looking back, Gaines says, "My early memories, a lot of the things that come up are the moments where I switched off and I thought to myself, 'Oh, I can't be this,' or 'I shouldn't be this' or this won't be approved. Like I won't get the approval, you know, that you want as a kid."

For more on PEOPLE's cover story with Joanna Gaines, listen below to our daily podcast PEOPLE Every Day.

"I just internally processed all by myself, which as a kid, we all know isn't healthy because what you end up doing is just shoving it somewhere," she continues. "It ends up coming out at some point because we have to deal with it. So for me, sadly, it took years for me to wrestle with that."

It was only after leaving her small town for a college internship in New York City that she began gaining a whole new perspective.

"I saw more people that looked like me than ever before," she says. "I left really understanding the beauty and uniqueness of Korean culture and for the first time I felt whole, like this is fully who I am and I'm proud of it."

Joanna Gaines rollout

Courtesy Joanna Gaines

RELATED: Joanna Gaines Announces First Solo Memoir 'The Stories We Tell': 'Messy and Winding and Beautiful'

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But Gaines still had to process the deep-rooted insecurities she had been quietly living with for years.

"There were a lot of things I believed that weren't true," she explains. "I had to go back and cross those out and say, 'This is the truth. You are worthy. You are enough.' My biggest regret is not owning it earlier and really loving who I am."

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 Magnolia Network star addresses the process of undoing those falsehoods in her first solo memoir, The Stories We Tell, out Nov. 8.

"I had to actually go backwards and say, 'This is the lie I believed for 21 years, and now I have to rewrite that,'" Gaines shares. "When we really take hold of our story and write it down, there's so much healing that can come from that."

Joanna Gaines rollout

Courtesy

That process has given her a new sense of purpose.

"When I finished the book, I looked up and I just remember thinking, if I wouldn't have done that, I wouldn't hold what I'm holding now, which is empathy, perspective, and clarity," she says.

For more on Joanna Gaines, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribe here.

Gaines' memoir, The Stories We Tell, hits bookshelves on Nov. 8.
Joe Fraser hailed the comeback of my life after Great Britain stormed back from last place to claim a bronze medal in the mens team final at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool, and qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Frasers fall from the pommel in the second rotation saw his five-strong squad slump to the bottom of the eight-team standings at the halfway stage, before the 23-year-old led a sensational recovery to pip Italy by less than one and a half points for a place on the podium.

We pulled together through the hard times and we were there for each other on the highs, said Fraser, who has battled a ruptured appendix and a fractured foot already this year. I went out there and gave it my all. This will be up there for the rest of my life.

Jake Jarmans display on high bar sealed a bronze medal for Great Britain (Peter Byrne/PA)

The hosts, whose team also included Jake Jarman, James Hall, Giarnni Regini-Moran and Courtney Tulloch, finished on 247.229 ahead of the Italians on 245.995. China cruised to gold with a 257.858 total, while Japan, who had qualified on top of the standings, held on to take silver on 253.395.

British hopes of a first world team medal since 2015 had been hanging by a thread when both Fraser and James Hall fell from pommel, then Jarman stumbled on his dismount from the vault, the apparatus that had earned him both European and Commonwealth Games gold medals this year.

But scores in excess of 14 from Hall and Tulloch kept British hopes alive heading into the final two apparatus and a brilliant display on parallel bars by Fraser, scoring 15.0, left bronze at the mercy of the notoriously unpredictable high bar.

Hall, Fraser and finally Jarman all delivered, having effectively gone head to head with the Italians, who produced two strong routines on pommel, before a fall on dismount by Yumin Abbadini effectively sealed Britains comeback bronze.

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The extent of the achievement was evident for Fraser, who punched the air in delight before being engulfed by his team-mates when their place on the podium was officially confirmed.

I definitely made it hard for us, said Fraser. The second piece (pommel horse) was tough for me. I made quite a few mistakes. On a three up, three to score situation its very detrimental for our performance.

James Hall battled through a problematic pommel routine (Peter Byrne/PA)

We were in eighth right up until two rotations to go and I said to the lads: Right, come on, weve got nothing to lose here. Lets step up and do what we do. I just went out and gave it my all. This is the comeback of my life.

For Regini-Moran, it was a further remarkable chapter in a career that saw him recover from three serious surgeries to earn his place at the Tokyo Olympics last year.

It was a bit of a struggle out there, admitted the 24-year-old. But the fact that we didnt give up goes to show, not just gymnasts but people around the world, that no matter where you are, fight to the end and dont give up.
Kenya's President William Ruto to flag off peacekeepers to eastern DR Congo, in Nairobi

By Edwin Waita

NAIROBI (Reuters) -Kenya's President William Ruto on Wednesday officially deployed troops to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to join an East African regional force aiming to end decades of bloodshed.

The seven countries of the East African Community (EAC), which Congo joined this year, agreed in April to set up a joint force to fight militia groups in Congo's east. The Kenyan troops will join a contingent from Burundi.

Despite billions of dollars spent on one of the United Nation's largest peacekeeping forces, more than 120 armed groups continue to operate across large swathes of east Congo, including the M23 rebels, which Congo has repeatedly accused Rwanda of supporting. Kigali denies the claims.

Uganda has already sent troops into Congo as part of separate deployment to chase down an Islamic State-linked armed militants, one of the warring groups in eastern Congo.

"We all have a stake in a stable Democratic Republic of Congo and its security," Ruto said at a send-off ceremony for the troops in Kenya's capital Nairobi.

Ruto said the United Nations and African Union had given "tacit" backing to the Kenyan deployment.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told Reuters Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was not a mandating authority, and that decisions on whether or not to finance such missions were out of his purview.

A U.N. source told Reuters there has been some uncertainty around Kenya's deployment because Nairobi wanted international funding, which requires an official mandate from the U.N. Security Council or the African Union.

"We have been working very hard to mobilise the international community to support the east African force," Kenyan Defence Minister Aden Duale said at the event.

On Wednesday morning several thousand people held a demonstration in the city of Bukavu, eastern Congo, against the regional force because, they said, some of their "enemies" are member countries of the East African Community.

(Reporting by Edwin Waita, Hereward Holland, and Mukelwa Hlatshwayo; Additional reporting by Crispin Kyalangalilwa; Writing by Hereward Holland; Editing by James Macharia Chege, William Maclean and Sandra Maler)
Matt Hancock has arrived in Australia ahead of his appearance on Im A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!.

The former health secretary will take part in the forthcoming series of the ITV reality show as a bombshell contestant, arriving once the show has already started and the original line-up of contestants have settled into jungle life.

The news has sparked anger across the country, with the MP immediately having the Tory whip revoked and prime minister Rishi Sunak sharing his disapproval in the decision.

On Wednesday (2 November), the MP was photographed grinning as he touched down in Brisbane Airport and was greeted by paparazzi in arrivals.

Hancock wore a white t-shirt and navy long-sleeved shirt, along with a pair of jeans, and told reporters that hed had a very pleasant flight.

However, when asked how he felt about entering the jungle, Hancock said he was keeping my mouth zipped.

Hancocks forthcoming appearance on the show has been met with outrage, with many questioning why a sitting MP is able to take part, as he will be unreachable while in the jungle.

Im A Celebrity series one winner Tony Blackburn joked that the former Tory minister was probably appearing on the show to pay for the soaring cost of his electricity bill, while adding that it was clear Hancocks political career at the moment isnt going any further.

Hancock last week in Westminster (Getty Images)

Hancock resigned as health secretary last year after violating his own Covid regulations by having an affair with aide Gina Coladangelo.

During Wednesdays episode of Good Morning Britain, Susanna Reid was forced to apologise after Daily Mail journalist Andrew Pierce called Hancock a d***head.

Weve known Matt Hancock for a long time, Pierce added, indicating himself and Daily Mirror associate editor Kevin Maguire. When they see him, warts and all, it will not be nice.

Im A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! returns Sunday 6 November at 9pm on ITV.
FRIENDS --

NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty

Matthew Perry gets by with a little help from his Friends.

On Monday's episode of SiriusXM's Andy Cohen Live, host Andy Cohen asked the actor about his residual income from the popular sitcom in which he played Chandler Bing.

"You talked with Diane Sawyer about the resurgence of Friends over the last few years, and it made me wonder," Cohen, 54, began. "Are the Friends checks that come in today, would you characterize them as bountiful checks? Or would you say it's a trickle at this point?"

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 08: Matthew Perry poses at a photocall for

David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty

RELATED: Matthew Perry Says Salma Hayek Asked Him to 'Spoon a Little Bit' on Set of 'Fools Rush In'

In response, the Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing author, 53, quipped, "Well, yesterday I bought Iowa."

After Cohen again asked if the checks were "bountiful," Perry replied: "They're not bad."

The actor explained, "And they come in form of a text: 'You just made this.' And I go, 'Oh, great.' "

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.

Continuing the joke, Cohen said, "I heard you really had your eye on Colorado." Perry responded, "Yeah I did. But The Rock got that."

The star is perhaps best known for playing Chandler on Friends, which ran for 10 seasons on NBC from 1994 to 2004 and also starred Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer.

RELATED VIDEO: Matthew Perry Says He Looks Forward to Being a Husband and Father: 'I'm Not Afraid of Love Anymore'

In Perry's interview with Cohen, he also talked about his dating life, telling the host that he "could not be more single."

After briefly touching on his past experience with dating apps, he said he prefers to date offline. "I am off forever," he told Cohen. "It's not the way to meet people, I don't think. I'm not sure how to meet people, but that's not the way to do it."

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As for whether or not he is looking for a partner who is also sober, Perry said, "That would be good. But it's not a necessity."

"You know, I wouldn't like to be with somebody who drank so much that you couldn't recognize them," Perry explained. "That would not be good... But I don't have any rules about that."

Perry's memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing is out now.
Oregon is seeking help from the public in locating the person(s) responsible for shooting a black bear and leaving the animal to waste.

The Oregon State Police Wildlife Division explained via news release that on Oct. 29 at 3 p.m. Troopers responded to a tip about a dead bear in a tree with an arrow in its flesh.

They found that the bear had also been shot two times with a gun. The Jackson County Fire Department assisted in retrieving the carcass.

Jackson County Fire Department was called to retrieve the bear carcass

The incident occurred near Anderson Creek Road, outside of Talent.

ALSO: In San Diego, a dead great white shark and a plea to anglers

On October 31, a second bear was found dead in a tree in the same area. Its body was decomposed but OSP believes the animals death was human-caused.

Both incidents are under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Oregon State Police Dispatch at 1-800-452-7888, text *OSP (*677), or email at TIP@osp.oregon.gov. Case number is SP22291483.

Top image is generic, courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Story originally appeared on For The Win
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

The man accused of attacking Paul Pelosi with a hammer was arraigned on Tuesday.

He pleaded not guilty to a litany of state charges, including attempted murder and kidnapping.

A filing from the DA's office also offered grim new details as to how the attack transpired.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul Pelosi lay unconscious in a pool of his own blood for three minutes after an attacker struck him in the head with a hammer at full force during a break-in last week.

According to new details from San Francisco's District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, the suspect hit Pelosi with the hammer in front of police officers after Pelosi failed to grab the hammer away from him.

The suspect, David DePape, pleaded not guilty to several state charges including attempted murder and attempted kidnapping at a Tuesday arraignment, and he faces two felony charges from the US Justice Department as well.

"What's clear is this case is vulnerable to misinformation," Jenkins said outside the San Francisco Superior Court. "This was not a random act of violence and this was not a random residential burglaryhe sought to come and harm the speaker of the house of the United States."

On Tuesday, the San Francisco DA's office asked Judge Diane Northway to detain DePape until future hearings.

Northway also signed a protective order disallowing DePape from coming within 150 yards of Nancy or Paul Pelosi, or contacting them.

In a court filing, the DA offered a new insight into the incident that happened in the early hours of Friday, October 28. Prosecutors described the graphic scene that police witnessed when opening Pelosi's door.

Prosecutors wrote in the court filing that after police reached the residence, Pelosi walked with the attacker to the first floor of his house and was able to open the door for them. The two struggled over the hammer in front of the officers at the doorway before the suspect bludgeoned him, the filing said.

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"One officer ordered, 'Drop the hammer!'" the filing said. "But Mr. Pelosi could not maintain his grip on the hammer. A second later, Defendant wrenched the hammer away from Mr. Pelosi, immediately stepped back, and lunged at Mr. Pelosi, striking Mr. Pelosi in the head at full force with the hammer, which knocked Mr. Pelosi unconscious."

The filing added that Pelosi passed out briefly and started to bleed from his head before medical help arrived.

"The officers rushed into the house, tackled Defendant, and disarmed him," prosecutors wrote. "Mr. Pelosi remained unresponsive for about three minutes, waking up in a pool of his own blood."

Paul Pelosi underwent surgery at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital to repair "a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands," Speaker Pelosi's office said in a statement last week.

If convicted on the state attempted kidnapping charge, DePape could serve up to 20 years in prison and could serve life in prison if convicted on all state charges.

His public defender has denied all allegations against him.

Authorities claim that DePape broke into Pelosi's San Francisco home last week looking for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was in Washington, DC, at the time of the attack. Prosecutors added that DePape opened up to police after he was detained without any questioning.

"Defendant told officers and medics at the scene, 'I'm sick of the insane fucking level of lies coming out of Washington, DC, I came here to have a little chat with his wife,'" according to the filing. "Defendant added: 'I didn't really want to hurt him, but you know this was a suicide mission. I'm not going to stand here and do nothing even if it costs me my life. Hurting him was not my goal. I told him before I attacked him, that he's escalating things, and I will go through him if I have to.'"

DePape also previously espoused conspiratorial views, believing that COVID-19 was a plan hatched by the global elite, following QAnon and pushing 2020 election lies.

At the Tuesday press conference, Jenkins made it clear that she'd push for him to stay detained through proceedings, calling him "dangerous."

"I consider him dangerous," Jenkins said at the press conference. "This is not representative of the state or safety of San Francisco, it's more representative of the state of politics in the United States."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Pennsylvania's highest court ordered state election officials on Tuesday to not count mail ballots with dates omitted or that were incorrectly dated by voters  the latest development in a long and twisting legal battle over how ballots are tallied in the state.

The state Supreme Court deadlocked 3-3 on whether not counting those ballots violated federal law, issuing a brief order Tuesday that said Pennsylvania election officials should not count those ballots and should keep them segregated from other ballots.

The case  which was brought by the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee, the state Republican Party and individual voters  will likely result in more Democratic-leaning voters being tossed out, since Democrats disproportionately vote via the mail. Pennsylvania is hosting a key governors race and one of the most important Senate races in the country this fall, between Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Mehmet Oz.

The court order did not explain any of the justices reasoning, saying only that opinions would follow at a later date. The court is currently short one member following the death of former Chief Justice Max Baer in early October.

Undated and incorrectly dated ballots have been at the center of a years-long legal fight in Pennsylvania. State law requires that voters date their ballots, even though state law also specifies that ballots must be received by election officials by the close of polls for them to count. That means the date when they are cast has no bearing on whether theyre counted.

During the 2020 election, three state Supreme Court justices ruled that similarly situated ballots should count, and three ruled that they should not. A fourth justice served as a tiebreaker, writing that they should count for the 2020 election but not future ones.

This decision eventually spawned several state and federal lawsuits regarding future elections. Earlier this year, a federal appeals court ruled that undated or incorrectly dated ballots should count in a case about a state legislative race, writing that the state law requiring that ballots be dated is immaterial under federal law and that should have no bearing on whether ballots are accepted or rejected.

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That decision rattled the close Republican Senate primary between eventual winner Oz and GOP opponent David McCormick. McCormick  who was narrowly trailing Oz in the count  argued that undated primary ballots should count in his race, while Oz and other Republicans argued that they should not.

At the time, the federal appellate court wrote that the date requirement  in which voters are supposed to write, on an exterior envelope, the date theyre filling out their ballot  was effectively pointless.

Those looking to enforce the date requirement cannot offer a persuasive reason for how this requirement helped determine any of these [voters] qualifications, the court wrote. And we can think of none.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court eventually allowed undated mail ballots to be counted for that legislative race  after McCormick had already conceded  before vacating that appellate court decision on procedural grounds in October.

The Pennsylvania Department of State had previously ordered counties to count those undated ballots in the midterm election. In an unsigned statement issued Tuesday evening, the department said We are reviewing todays order, but the order underscores the importance of the states consistent guidance that voters should carefully follow all instructions on their mail ballot and double-check it before returning it.

It is unclear how many undated ballots there will be in the general election. That number is believed to generally be small  for example, during this years primary state election officials said that 65 of the states 67 counties collectively reported 860 undated Republican mail ballots. However, even a small number of ballots could be significant if contests are close in the state next week.

So far, over 900,000 mail ballots have been returned in the state, according to data compiled by the United States Elections Project. Of those, over 70 percent have come from voters registered as Democrats.
Federal labor officials have filed a new and sweeping complaint against Starbucks alleging that the coffee chain retaliated against union workers by shuttering a popular location in Ithaca, New York, among other charges.

A regional director for the National Labor Relations Board found merit in the unions claim that the June store closure was meant to dissuade workers from organizing. In the complaint filed at the board on Tuesday, the director said Starbucks actions were illegal and asked that the company be ordered to reopen the location.

The director also accused Starbucks of threatening to withhold benefits and wage increases from workers if they unionized; selectively enforcing work policies against union supporters; disciplining or firing workers who were activists; and failing to bargain in good faith.

In addition to reopening the store, the director said Starbucks should have to make workers whole for their lost wages and offer reinstatement to five employees.

Unless the company and board officials reach a settlement, the allegations will be litigated before an administrative law judge.

Starbucks now faces more than 20 complaints at the NLRB, which referees disputes between unions and employers. Officials say the company has repeatedly broken the law by firing pro-union employees, cutting their hours and offering pay hikes and other benefits to those who decline to unionize.

Starbucks has denied retaliating against union supporters following other charges from labor board officials. A company spokesperson told HuffPost that Starbucks negotiated with the union over the College Avenue closure and agreed to transfer baristas to other locations at their current pay rates.

We routinely review the partner and customer experience in all our stores, and when operations necessitate, we will open or close a store in the regular course of business without regard to union activity, the company said.

Starbucks has faced a huge wave of organizing in recent months. Workers at more than 200 stores around the country have voted to join the union Workers United since the first elections in the Buffalo, New York, area last December. The company has fought the organizing effort from the beginning.

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I think they wanted to scare partners out of unionizing ... This is the perfect opportunity to make them an example.Evan Sunshine, barista at the College Avenue Starbucks in Ithaca, New York

The Ithaca filing revolves around one of the most severe charges coming from NLRB officials: that Starbucks is deliberately closing certain locations to crack down on the union campaign. Shuttering a workplace and causing workers to lose their jobs or be transferred can make other workers think twice before trying to organize.

It is against the law to shut down a workplace in order to avoid a union or discourage unionization (although it is legal if the company nukes the entire business). Starbucks has maintained that its store closures were not in retaliation for organizing.

Baristas at the College Avenue store near Cornell University unionized in April, along with two other Starbucks locations in the college town. A week later, they went on strike to protest a broken grease trap they said had overflowed, causing a disgusting mess and unsafe working conditions inside.

On June 3, Starbucks announced that it would be closing the College Avenue store for good, attributing the decision in part to the troublesome grease trap. The baristas were given one weeks notice of the closure.

Evan Sunshine, who worked at the College Avenue store, said Starbucks gave employees an exhaustive list of reasons why the store should be closed, but he believes there was one motivating factor.

They closed the store because we went on strike, said Sunshine, a 20-year-old junior in the labor program at Cornell. I think they wanted to scare partners out of unionizing. This is a whole city that unionized, three stores all within a couple miles of each other. [The workers] are very outspoken. This is the perfect opportunity to make them an example.

Workers pick up placards during a rally for efforts to unionize Starbucks stores on June 11, 2022, outside the State Capitol in Denver.

Workers pick up placards during a rally for efforts to unionize Starbucks stores on June 11, 2022, outside the State Capitol in Denver.

In the complaint, the regional director alleges that Starbucks retaliated against Sunshine by refusing to grant him a transfer to another store or allow him to enroll in the companys Coffee Master program.

Sunshine recently started working at a different Starbucks in Ithaca. He spent the summer interning in Washington, D.C., and working at a unionized Starbucks store in Northern Virginia.

Some of the College Avenue workers landed at nearby Starbucks locations but others took jobs with other employers, according to Sunshine. The union provided some financial assistance while baristas crowdfunded more for those who were left unemployed.

Although Starbucks has shuttered several stores amid the union campaign, Starbucks Workers United says College Avenue was the first to be closed following a successful union election. The workers had voted 19-1 in favor of the union.

The union alleges that Starbucks has fired dozens of organizers around the country due to their activism, though the company denies the claims. A federal judge recently ordered the company to temporarily reinstate seven workers in Memphis, Tennessee, who were fired earlier this year, saying there was reasonable cause to believe the firings were retaliatory. Starbucks appealed that ruling unsuccessfully.

In the Ithaca case, Sunshine said he and his co-workers are heartened that the NLRB regional director found merit in their claims.

We all thought for months now that we were retaliated against and treated incredibly poorly.  Now we have an institution telling us that it was completely unfair and illegal, he said.

Related...
ReportLinker

The Global Tabletop Kitchen Products Market size was estimated at USD 37. 99 billion in 2021 and expected to reach USD 40. 14 billion in 2022, and is projected to grow at a CAGR 5. 92% to reach USD 53.

New York, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Tabletop Kitchen Products Market Research Report by Product, Application, Region - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06341851/?utm_source=GNW

66 billion by 2027.



Market Statistics:

The report provides market sizing and forecast across 7 major currencies - USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD, CAD, and CHF. It helps organization leaders make better decisions when currency exchange data is readily available. In this report, the years 2018 and 2020 are considered as historical years, 2021 as the base year, 2022 as the estimated year, and years from 2023 to 2027 are considered as the forecast period.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:

This research report categorizes the Tabletop Kitchen Products to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:



Based on Product, the market was studied across Buffet Products, Dinnerware, Drinkware, Flatware, and Whitegoods.



Based on Application, the market was studied across Commercial and Residential.



Based on Region, the market was studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas is further studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The United States is further studied across California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The Asia-Pacific is further studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. The Europe, Middle East & Africa is further studied across Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.



Cumulative Impact of COVID-19:

COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, and the long-term effects are projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report delivers insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecasts, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.



Cumulative Impact of 2022 Russia Ukraine Conflict:

We continuously monitor and update reports on political and economic uncertainty due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Negative impacts are significantly foreseen globally, especially across Eastern Europe, European Union, Eastern & Central Asia, and the United States. This contention has severely affected lives and livelihoods and represents far-reaching disruptions in trade dynamics. The potential effects of ongoing war and uncertainty in Eastern Europe are expected to have an adverse impact on the world economy, with especially long-term harsh effects on Russia.This report uncovers the impact of demand & supply, pricing variants, strategic uptake of vendors, and recommendations for Tabletop Kitchen Products market considering the current update on the conflict and its global response.



Competitive Strategic Window:

The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.



FPNV Positioning Matrix:

The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Tabletop Kitchen Products Market based on Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.



Market Share Analysis:

The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.



Competitive Scenario:

The Competitive Scenario provides an outlook analysis of the various business growth strategies adopted by the vendors. The news covered in this section deliver valuable thoughts at the different stage while keeping up-to-date with the business and engage stakeholders in the economic debate. The competitive scenario represents press releases or news of the companies categorized into Merger & Acquisition, Agreement, Collaboration, & Partnership, New Product Launch & Enhancement, Investment & Funding, and Award, Recognition, & Expansion. All the news collected help vendor to understand the gaps in the marketplace and competitors strength and weakness thereby, providing insights to enhance product and service.



Company Usability Profiles:

The report profoundly explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Tabletop Kitchen Products Market, including Arc International, BSH Hausgerate GmbH., Haier Group Corporation, Heath Ceramics, Hendi B.V., Koninklijke Philips N.V., LeCorporation, Lenox Corporation, Linen Chest, Matfer Bourgeat International, Mepra S.p.A., Pinti Inox S.p.A, Robert Bosch GmbH, Rochini Gmbh, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Steelite International Ltd., The Oneida Group, The Vollrath Co., L.L.C., Villeroy & Boch AG, and Zalto.



The report provides insights on the following pointers:

1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players

2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets

3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments

4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players

5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and breakthrough product developments



The report answers questions such as:

1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Tabletop Kitchen Products Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Tabletop Kitchen Products Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Tabletop Kitchen Products Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Tabletop Kitchen Products Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Tabletop Kitchen Products Market?

6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Tabletop Kitchen Products Market?

7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Tabletop Kitchen Products Market?

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06341851/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



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ReportLinker

The Global Topical Drugs Market size was estimated at USD 12. 99 billion in 2021 and expected to reach USD 14. 16 billion in 2022, and is projected to grow at a CAGR 9. 22% to reach USD 22. 06 billion by 2027.

New York, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Topical Drugs Market Research Report by Product, End-use, Region - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06342019/?utm_source=GNW





Market Statistics:

The report provides market sizing and forecast across 7 major currencies - USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD, CAD, and CHF. It helps organization leaders make better decisions when currency exchange data is readily available. In this report, the years 2018 and 2020 are considered as historical years, 2021 as the base year, 2022 as the estimated year, and years from 2023 to 2027 are considered as the forecast period.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:

This research report categorizes the Topical Drugs to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:



Based on Product, the market was studied across Liquid Formulations, Semi-Solid Formulations, Solid Formulations, and Transdermal Products. The Liquid Formulations is further studied across Solutions and Suspensions. The Semi-Solid Formulations is further studied across Creams, Gel, Lotions, Ointments, and Pastes. The Solid Formulations is further studied across Powders and Suppositories. The Transdermal Products is further studied across Transdermal Patches and Transdermal Semi-Solids.



Based on End-use, the market was studied across Burn Centers, Home Care Settings, and Hospitals & Clinics.



Based on Region, the market was studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas is further studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The United States is further studied across California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The Asia-Pacific is further studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. The Europe, Middle East & Africa is further studied across Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.



Cumulative Impact of COVID-19:

COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, and the long-term effects are projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report delivers insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecasts, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.



Cumulative Impact of 2022 Russia Ukraine Conflict:

We continuously monitor and update reports on political and economic uncertainty due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Negative impacts are significantly foreseen globally, especially across Eastern Europe, European Union, Eastern & Central Asia, and the United States. This contention has severely affected lives and livelihoods and represents far-reaching disruptions in trade dynamics. The potential effects of ongoing war and uncertainty in Eastern Europe are expected to have an adverse impact on the world economy, with especially long-term harsh effects on Russia.This report uncovers the impact of demand & supply, pricing variants, strategic uptake of vendors, and recommendations for Topical Drugs market considering the current update on the conflict and its global response.



Competitive Strategic Window:

The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.



FPNV Positioning Matrix:

The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Topical Drugs Market based on Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.



Market Share Analysis:

The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.



Competitive Scenario:

The Competitive Scenario provides an outlook analysis of the various business growth strategies adopted by the vendors. The news covered in this section deliver valuable thoughts at the different stage while keeping up-to-date with the business and engage stakeholders in the economic debate. The competitive scenario represents press releases or news of the companies categorized into Merger & Acquisition, Agreement, Collaboration, & Partnership, New Product Launch & Enhancement, Investment & Funding, and Award, Recognition, & Expansion. All the news collected help vendor to understand the gaps in the marketplace and competitors strength and weakness thereby, providing insights to enhance product and service.



Company Usability Profiles:

The report profoundly explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Topical Drugs Market, including Alcon, Inc., Bausch Health Companies Inc., Bayer AG, Cigna, Cipla Inc., Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd., GSK Group of Companies, Hisamitsu Pharmaceuticals Co. Inc., Johnson & Johnson Private Ltd., MedPharm Ltd., Merck & Co., Inc., and Novartis AG.



The report provides insights on the following pointers:

1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players

2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets

3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments

4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players

5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and breakthrough product developments



The report answers questions such as:

1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Topical Drugs Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Topical Drugs Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Topical Drugs Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Topical Drugs Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Topical Drugs Market?

6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Topical Drugs Market?

7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Topical Drugs Market?

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06342019/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________

Story continues

CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001




ReportLinker

The Global Tungsten Market size was estimated at USD 4,291. 34 million in 2021 and expected to reach USD 4,680. 69 million in 2022, and is projected to grow at a CAGR 9. 32% to reach USD 7,327.

New York, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Tungsten Market Research Report by Product Type, Application, Region - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06342108/?utm_source=GNW

91 million by 2027.



Market Statistics:

The report provides market sizing and forecast across 7 major currencies - USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD, CAD, and CHF. It helps organization leaders make better decisions when currency exchange data is readily available. In this report, the years 2018 and 2020 are considered as historical years, 2021 as the base year, 2022 as the estimated year, and years from 2023 to 2027 are considered as the forecast period.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:

This research report categorizes the Tungsten to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:



Based on Product Type, the market was studied across Alloy and Pure Metal.



Based on Application, the market was studied across Nanowires, Permanent Magnets, Superalloys, and Tungsten carbide tools.



Based on Region, the market was studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas is further studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The United States is further studied across California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The Asia-Pacific is further studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. The Europe, Middle East & Africa is further studied across Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.



Cumulative Impact of COVID-19:

COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, and the long-term effects are projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report delivers insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecasts, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.



Cumulative Impact of 2022 Russia Ukraine Conflict:

We continuously monitor and update reports on political and economic uncertainty due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Negative impacts are significantly foreseen globally, especially across Eastern Europe, European Union, Eastern & Central Asia, and the United States. This contention has severely affected lives and livelihoods and represents far-reaching disruptions in trade dynamics. The potential effects of ongoing war and uncertainty in Eastern Europe are expected to have an adverse impact on the world economy, with especially long-term harsh effects on Russia.This report uncovers the impact of demand & supply, pricing variants, strategic uptake of vendors, and recommendations for Tungsten market considering the current update on the conflict and its global response.



Competitive Strategic Window:

The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.



FPNV Positioning Matrix:

The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Tungsten Market based on Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.



Market Share Analysis:

The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.



Competitive Scenario:

The Competitive Scenario provides an outlook analysis of the various business growth strategies adopted by the vendors. The news covered in this section deliver valuable thoughts at the different stage while keeping up-to-date with the business and engage stakeholders in the economic debate. The competitive scenario represents press releases or news of the companies categorized into Merger & Acquisition, Agreement, Collaboration, & Partnership, New Product Launch & Enhancement, Investment & Funding, and Award, Recognition, & Expansion. All the news collected help vendor to understand the gaps in the marketplace and competitors strength and weakness thereby, providing insights to enhance product and service.



Company Usability Profiles:

The report profoundly explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Tungsten Market, including A.L.M.T. Corp., Allegheny Technologies Inc., Almonty Industries Inc., ATTL Advanced Materials Co.,Ltd., Betek GmbH & Co. KG, Buffalo Tungsten Inc., China Minmetals Corporation, China Molybdenum Co., Ltd., Chongyi Zhangyuan Tungsten Co., Ltd., Global Tungsten & Powders Corporation, Guangdong XiangLu Tungsten Co. Ltd., H.C. Starck GmbH, IMC Group, Japan New Metals Company, Kennametal, Inc., M&I Materials Ltd, Nippon Tungsten Co., Ltd., Plansee Group, QuesTek Innovations LLC, Sandvik Group, Specialty Metals Resources SA, Umicore N.V., and Xiamen Tungsten Co., Ltd..



The report provides insights on the following pointers:

1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players

2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets

3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments

4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players

5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and breakthrough product developments



The report answers questions such as:

1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Tungsten Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Tungsten Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Tungsten Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Tungsten Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Tungsten Market?

6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Tungsten Market?

7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Tungsten Market?

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06342108/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________

Story continues

CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001




WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite the lesson of the Cuban missile crisis 60 years ago, China has shown no interest in discussing steps to reduce the risk posed by nuclear weapons, senior U.S. officials said on Tuesday, after Chinese leader Xi Jinping signaled last month that Beijing would strengthen its strategic deterrent.

The Pentagon says China is undergoing a major expansion of its nuclear forces and is moving toward having 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030. But Beijing has long resisted arms control talks with Washington, arguing that the United States already has a much larger arsenal.

Alexandra Bell, deputy assistant secretary of state for arms control, verification and compliance, told an Atlantic Council that despite U.S. efforts, Washington and Beijing still had not begun engagement on the issue.

"As a first step, we'd really like to have a conversation with them about each other's doctrines, about crisis communication, crisis management," Bell said, noting that Washington has had such talks with Russia for decades.

"We're not in that space with Beijing yet. So, there's work to be done to begin the conversation, we think bilaterally," Bell said.

"We're now at the 60th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis. We don't need to repeat that to know that we need to be at the table having conversations with each other," Bell said, referring to events in 1962 when the United States and the Soviet Union came close to nuclear war over the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba.

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said last year after a call between Xi and President Joe Biden that the two had agreed to "look to begin to carry forward discussion on strategic stability."

But Xi signaled during a Communist Party Congress in October that China would strengthen its strategic deterrent, a term often used to describe nuclear weapons.

Richard Johnson, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for Nuclear and Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Policy, told the forum the United States was looking to begin exchanges with China on "more basic things" than the number of warheads.

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"If that's the argument that Beijing is giving, we're not asking to have a discussion about numbers. We're saying, let's talk about putting some guardrails into the relationship so that we don't have unnecessary crises," he said.

Johnson added that if Beijing preferred to not engage bilaterally, it could "demonstrate some transparency" about its nuclear build-up through the International Atomic Energy Agency by declaring its plutonium stocks for civilian purposes.

"The Chinese have stopped doing that, and that's a real concern," he said.

(Reporting by Michael Martina and David Brunnstrom; editing by Richard Pullin)
Saudi Arabia has warned the United States of an imminent Iranian attack on targets in the kingdom and in Iraq, with the U.S. military now on heightened alert, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

Riyadh shared intelligence with Washington indicating the elevated danger, causing Saudi Arabia, the U.S. and other neighboring countries to raise the alert level for their military forces, Saudi and U.S. officials told the Journal.

Asked about the report later Tuesday, Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said he would not talk about specific force protection levels but that U.S. officials do remain concerned about the threat situation in the region.

Were in regular contact with our Saudi partners in terms of what information they may have to provide on that front, Ryder told reporters. But what weve said before, and Ill repeat it, is that we will reserve the right to protect and defend ourselves no matter where our forces are serving, whether in Iraq or elsewhere.

Pressed on whether the Saudis provided anything to the United States in the past few days that would be a cause for concern, Ryder said he did not have any additional information to provide.

We continue to communicate regularly, he said. Ill just leave it at that.

U.S. forces are currently in Saudi Arabia and in Iraq to help train, advise and protect against attacks from Iran-backed fighters.

Saudi officials told the Journal that Iran is set to attack areas in the kingdom as well as Erbil, Iraq, to try to distract from ongoing women-led protests in Iran. The protests began in September after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old who died while being held by the countrys morality police

Since late September, the Iranian military has steadily attacked bases of an Iranian-Kurdish opposition group in northern Iraq, using ballistic missiles and armed drones.

During the strikes, U.S. forces brought down an Iranian drone that officials said appeared poised to attack American troops in Erbil.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Nov. 2Steve Blesi said his son had waited his whole life for a journey like the study abroad trip that carried him across the world to South Korea.

"He'd wanted to do this adventure for a number of years. He was always big on adventures. Even when he was a little kid, he talked about going on an adventure ... it was his whole thing," Steve Blesi said of his son, Steven.

That lifelong dream made it all the more heart-rending when the Blesi family learned Steven Blesi, a 20-year-old Kennesaw State University student and Lassiter High School grad, was among more than 150 people killed in the crowd crush over the weekend in Seoul.

"I knew he had a desire to go and explore the world, and I was hesitant to send him, even this year. Because I told him I couldn't protect him over there," Steve Blesi said.

Steven Blesi's death was first announced Sunday, hours after the fatal Halloween incident. Over 100,000 people crowded into the narrow streets of the Itaewon district, with a crowd surge trapping hundreds in a narrow alleyway.

South Korean officials acknowledged Tuesday that a lack of proper crowd management was likely a factor in the deadly incident.

"You had 137 cops there for 100,000 people  that's just asinine," Steve Blesi said. "It doesn't bring our son back, but that's just crazy ... From what I've read, people were piled on top of each other four and five deep. So our son died a horrible death, and that angers me to no end."

The other American student known to have been killed in the tragedy, Anne Gieske of the University of Kentucky, posted Instagram photos with Steven Blesi the same day as the crowd crush.

"There was a message from her father that shared some pictures with my wife, and we're thankful for that," Steve Blesi said. "But I've not been in touch with their family. They're going through the hell we're going through."

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He added, "In the short time he was in Korea  two months out of the four months he was supposed to be there  he made a lot of friends there. All very similar, just seeing an incredible spirit and a happy and easy to get along with type of individual. The outpouring of friendship from his friends in South Korea there is just remarkable."

Though Steven Blesi's time was cut short, his father said he enjoyed every moment of the trip.

"He went to this place called Jeju Island, and he did some volunteer work there ... and then his friends went hiking there up to the volcano, went to waterfalls there  high heights, full day type adventures ... He said, 'Geez, I'm putting on weight, Dad, because the food is so good here.'"

Asked how he wanted his son to be remembered, Steve Blesi said, "Just a generous, loving, friendly, positive person. Always willing to help. Never judging people. Always seeing the positive aspect of things. The world's a darker place with him not in it."
Senate spending In the race to represent Washington in the U.S. Senate, Democrat Patty Murray has raised $18.7 million and spent $20.9 million through Oct. 19. She has about $1.5 million in cash available, according to the Federal Election Commission. Her opponent, Republican Tiffany Smiley, has raised $16.5 million and spent $14.7 million, according to the FEC. She has $1.7 million available in cash. The top five contributions to Murrays campaign have all come from the Murray Victory Fund 2022, a joint funding political action committee. The PAC has contributed $731,839 total to Murrays campaign. Other top donations to Murrays campaign have come from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Blue Senate 2022, Green Senate 2022 and the Murray Schatz Victory Fund. The top contributors to Smileys campaign are the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Senate GOP Winning Women Victory Committee, which has contributed about $61,000 total to Smileys campaign, and Reclaim the Senate 2022.

District 4 campaigns In the race to represent Central Washingtons District 4 in the U.S. House, Republican Dan Newhouse has raised $2.07 million and spent $2.06 million. He has $314,303 cash available through Oct. 19, according to the FEC. His top contributions have come from the GT Farm Team, Winred, Kelley Drye and Warren Political Action Committee, John Deere PAC and Western Energy Alliance PAC. Opponent Democrat Doug White has raised $702,046 and spent $566,260. He has $135,786 cash available. Whites top contributions have been made by ActBlue, Russell Richard, Laura Lundgren, Walter Krueger and Mary Dillon.

State legislature District 14 House Chris Corry has raised $181,347 and spent $116,007. The top recent contributions to his campaign include $1,000 sums from Dorothy Reed, Insurance and Financial Advisors PAC, Washington Medical PAC, Washington Beer and Wine Distributors Association and University of Washington Education Committee. The largest single donation to his campaign comes from the Klickitat County Republican Party in the amount of $1,500. Campaign finance information was not available for his opponent Laurene Contreras. Gina Mosbrucker has raised $120,350 and spent $86,547. The top recent contributions to her campaign include $1,000 sums from the Washington State Fraternal Order of Police, Credit Union Legislative Action Fund, Doordash, Lyft and Washington Indian Gaming Association Campaign for Tribal Self-Reliance. The largest single donation to her campaign comes from the Klickitat County Republican Party in the amount of $1,500. Her opponent, Liz Hallock, filed for mini-reporting, meaning her campaign pledged not to raise and spend more than $5,000 or more than $500 from a single source. District 15 Senate Nikki Torres has raised $89,302 and spent $25,929. Recent top contributions to her campaign include $1,000 each from the Credit Union Legislative Action Fund, the Leadership Council, Hospitals for a Healthy Future PAC, Trucking Action Committee and Chevron Policy Government and Public Affairs. Lindsey Keesling has raised $4,016 and spent $3,109. Top contributions to her campaign include $1,000 from the Kennedy Fund, two payments of $500 from the Franklin County Democrats, and $300 from Alisha Victorine.
Brian Kelly, head of EV sales at University Volkswagen in Seattle, with a Volkswagen 2023 ID.4 EV. (Greg Gilbert / The Seattle Times)
Washington has filed suit to stop a $4 billion investor dividend by Albertson as part of its merger with Kroger. But one legal expert doubts the state can legally block the payment. (Sarah A. Miller/Idaho Statesman via AP)
In honor of Ulysses S. Grants 200th birthday, the Battle of Pilot Knob Historic Site will host a traveling exhibit from the Missouri Humanities Council. Grant, who was the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877 and had a brief stint in Ironton while commanding the southeast portion of Missouri when he received his commission to lieutenant general.

Starting this Friday, on Fridays from noon to 4 p.m. and on Saturday and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. during the month of November, guests will be able to experience the exhibit highlighting the life and accomplishments of Grant.

The event only lasts for the month of November before heading to the Stars and Stripes Museum in Bloomfield, explained Brick Autry with the Battle of Pilot Knob Historic Site. The exhibit is provided by the Missouri Humanities Council.

Grant was born in April of 1822, and died in 1885. Besides being known as the 18th president, Grant is also well known as the man who defeated Robert E. Lee at the Appomattox, where Lee surrendered. While staying in Ironton, Grant received the title of lieutenant general from President Abraham Lincoln for his victory of Chattanooga, a rank previously held by George Washington.

While Grants time in Ironton was limited according to Autry, he did spend a couple weeks in the Arcadia Valley area. Autry explained during the couple weeks early in the Civil War, Grant commanded some of the first Illinois troops before Fort Davidson was built.

On Nov. 11, a special exhibit opening reception will be held from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at the Battle of Pilot Knob State Historic Site, located at 118 East Maple in Pilot Knob. Visitors will be able to tour the exhibit during the special reception.

The museum will have shortened winter hours starting in November. With these hours, the museum will only be open weekends only, so it is recommended to check before going to the museum to ensure it is open.

All of the events are free, including the reception for the Grant exhibit.

For more information about the exhibit or reception, Autry and Bryan Bethel will be able to answer questions at 573-546-3454.
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Letters have a firm 200-word limit and will be edited for grammar, clarity and accuracy.

The person who signs the letter must be the author. Anonymous letters will not be considered. Letters must address the editor, not a third party.

We will not print form letters, libelous letters, business promotions or personal disputes, poetry, open letters, letters espousing religious views without reference to a current issue, or letters considered in poor taste.

Letters reflect the opinion of the writer. The Yakima Herald-Republic cannot verify the accuracy of all statements made in letters.

Writers are limited to one published letter per calendar month.
When construction began on the Aswan High Dam during the Cold War-roiled 1960s, some hailed it as welcome modern progress: a gateway to the industrialization and wider electrification of Egypt and the long-awaited answer to devastating Nile River flooding and inconsistent irrigation.

Others mourned the relocation of more than 100,000 people whose homes would be destroyed and feared an uncertain environmental future of coastal erosion and health concerns. Still others lamented the imminent loss of priceless ancient Egyptian and Nubian temples, tombs and other historic sites that had awed visitors for millennia.

Among those who recognized the treasures worth was Abraham Rossenvasser, an Egyptologist who hailed from a small Jewish community in Argentina. A new documentary making its world premiere Thursday at the 35th annual Virginia Film Festival explores the toil, tenacity and international consensus-building skills of a son of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine whose story is rarely told.

Charlottesville-based director Ricardo Preve will be on hand for From Sudan to Argentina, his new film about the quest to preserve Nubian history, at 6 p.m. Thursday at Violet Crown Charlottesville 5. The film will open on screens across Argentina the same evening.

I think its a good time to know about Abraham Rossenvasser now. With all the bad things that are going on, its a story of a remarkable man, Preve said. Its an inspiring story.

Argentina and Sudan share the fact that we are two former colonies. Out of that mess, we get extraordinary people who pull everybody forward.

Preves film, presented in Spanish and Arabic with subtitles, dives into international collaborations that brought France, Sudan, Argentina and other nations together to help preserve the landmarks and archaeological sites. I think the world woke up to the huge impact the lake would have on the history of mankind, he said.

Preve loves working in East Africa, and he admires the resourcefulness of Sudanese officials who continue to work hard to preserve their ancient treasures.

To the Sudanese, its a great source of pride, Preve said. With almost no resources, theyre always trying to protect their heritage.

Rossenvasser died in 1993, and Preve tells much of the tale through the perspective of Elsa Rossenvasser Feher, Rossenvassers daughter. She had followed her father into a science career, earning doctorates in both nuclear physics and mathematics, and had been in Sudan with her parents during the 1960s while the Aswan project was underway.

When Preve set out to interview Feher in La Jolla, California, he couldnt help wondering, Is she going to remember seventy years ago? he said.

He neednt have worried.

Oh, my gosh, what a mind, Preve said. She never missed a name or a date over five days of filming.

Feher shared stories of her fathers impoverished upbringing, which included riding a horse bareback with both his brothers to attend school in Buenos Aires, and the passions for science and history that helped him create a distinguished career as a leading Egyptologist in South America.

Preves living link to the archaeological adventure died in September.

Elsa got to see the finished documentary before she died, he said. I know she was beaming with happiness over her father not being forgotten.

Some archaeological sites can be seen today. Egypts famed Abu Simbel temple complex and its massive statues of pharaoh Ramses the Great were preserved by extensive undertakings to take them apart and reassemble them on higher ground at the shores of the newly created Lake Nasser.

Others disappeared from view under 500 feet of water.

Aswan High Dam has not outgrown controversy over the past six decades. Efforts to compensate Nubian residents for the loss of their property began in earnest in 2019. The political and environmental legacy of Lake Nasser remains complicated.

And November 2022 brings the 100th anniversary of archaeologist Howard Carters discovery of the tomb of King Tutankhamen, which draws the worlds attention once more to the cultural, spiritual and historical significance of both human achievement and personal experiences  and their lasting universal value.

The important thing is not to lose sight of the history, Preve said.

Tickets are $14 and $12. For details, go to virginiafilmfestival.org.
Today

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 52F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 52F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.

Tomorrow

Sunny skies. High 71F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.
There arent many days until Election Day on Nov. 8, but there are still plenty of ways to vote.

In Charlottesville and most of Albemarle County, theres just one choice on the ballot to consider: the election for the 5th District Representative to the House of Representatives. They are the incumbent Republican Bob Good and his Democratic Party challenger Josh Throneburg.

However, part of Free Union in Albemarle County was redistricted to be in the 7th District. Voters there can vote for the incumbent Democratic Representative Abigail Spanberger or the Republican Yesli Vega.

Early voting runs from now through Saturday, Nov. 5. Mail-in ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 8 or dropped off at your local registrars office by 7 p.m. on the same day.

Voters who cast their ballots in-person must have a valid ID with them. Valid forms of ID include a Virginia drivers license, a passport or a copy of a current utility bill. Voters without ID will have to sign a statement saying they are the registered voter they claim to be.

People can register to vote up to and including Election Day. These voters will be given a provisional ballot, which will be set aside until elections officials can verify voter registration applications, and counted after.

People can find out where to vote by contacting their registrars office or by visiting https://gttp.votinginfoproject.org.
YORK  A very special van filled with hearing and sight test equipment arrived at Emmanuel Lutheran School last Friday. In just this year, the mobile screening unit from the Nebraska Lions Foundation has traveled close to 260 schools to provide free screenings for students.

Nebraska Lions Foundations Allen Darrell said, If the schools had to do this on their own, it might take a week or two to do it, and the schools are saving about five to ten thousand dollars if they go through our process.

Volunteers from the York Lions Club use a Welch Allyn Spot Vision Screener that takes pictures of the back and front of the eye to detect any visual problems such as Amblyopia (lazy eye). According the Nebraska Lions Foundation, the eye is almost completely developed by the time a child turns six years old. Less than 20 percent of children receive a comprehensive eye exam prior to age six. Its better to catch vision problems early than later down the road when it could lead to learning difficulties in the primary grades.

The screenings began in 1987 in a Bluebird bus. Theyve also held screenings in Winnebago, then a trailer, and now van that makes it safer and easier for them to bring the equipment into schools. Darrell said theyve touched the lives of nearly 40,000 students in the state this year. The participating local schools on Friday were Emmanuel Lutheran School and St. Joseph Catholic School.

Along with screenings at schools, the Nebraska Lions Foundations conducts screenings at health fairs and events. For hearing, they collect inside the ear and outside the ear hearing aids for those who are hearing impaired.

For information about the screenings, contact your local Lions Club or the official site of Nebraska Lions Club, www. Md38.com.
New Delhi: Abhishek Banerjee's upcoming film Bhediyas trailer, starring Varun Dhawan and Kriti Sanon in the lead was well received by the audience. The fans are quite happy to see him back on the screens with this film. Now Abhishek has a new announcement for this fans!

Currently, Abhishek Banerjee and Rajpal Yadav are in Jaisalmer shooting for Apurva which also stars Tara Sutaria. The actor has kickstarted shooting for the film. Taking to social media, she shared a picture of himself with veteran actor Rajpal Yadav and wrote Golden evening with a golden man .. Very few artists can stay relevant across generations. @rajpalofficial is one of them. Rajpal Yadav also commented on the post. "Love you brother," he wrote.

Fans of the actors could not keep their calm as they saw the news of them coming together and started showering their love in the comments section. Great to see you both together, commented one user. Jodi no.1 Rajpal Yadav bhaiya Abhishek bhai, added another user.

See Abhishek Banerjee's post

Abhishek Banerjees presence was felt throughout the trailer and the audience couldn't ignore the talent in him. Without a doubt, Abhishek Banerjee is the funniest element of the film Bhediya. Now the actor is appearing in films like Rana Naidu, Dream Girl 2 and Apurva and was recently seen as a lead in Nazar Andaaz.

After playing the role of Sultan in Helmet, Vishal Tyagi in Pataal Lok, Lawyer Eeshit Mehta in Rashmi Rocket and many more, it is quite fascinating to see how slowly and steadily, with every character, Abhishek Banerjee has successfully sustained his image as a quality actor in the mind of todays audience. His extraordinary work portfolio has impressed the audience and today he is recognised from the character he plays on-screen.
All Souls' Day 2022: All Souls' Day is observed on November 2 by Catholics all across the world. In Roman Catholicism, All Souls' Day is a significant occasion. This date was chosen so that it would fall after All Saints Day- as a part of the celebrations of "Allhallowtide". Allhallowtide includes Halloween on the last day of October, All Saints' Day on November 1, and All Souls' Day on November 2.

The day was chosen to fall after All Saints' Day- when a feast is conducted to remember church members who have attained eternal life. The church turns to pray for the souls it believes are suffering in purgatory after this feast.

All Souls' Day: History

The legend connected with its foundation is given by Peter Damiani in his Life of St Odilo: a pilgrim returning from the Holy Land was cast by a storm on a desolate island. A hermit living there told him that amid the rocks was a chasm communicating with purgatory, from which perpetually rose the groans of tortured souls.

The hermit also claimed he had heard the demons complaining of the efficacy of the prayers of the faithful, and especially the monks of Cluny, in rescuing their victims. Upon returning home, the pilgrim hastened to inform the abbot of Cluny, who then set 2 November as a day of intercession on the part of his community for all the souls in Purgatory.

Also Read: All Saints Day 2022: Day, history, significance and why this day is celebrated

All Souls' Day: Significance

A person's soul can depart from this world in one of three ways, according to Catholic beliefs. A person who passes away in a state of complete grace and communion with God goes to heaven, which is the first option. The second is hell, where those who pass away while still committing mortal sin are inevitably damned by their own free will.

Purgatory is supposed to be the final choice for those who are not yet in mortal sin but are still in a condition of lesser (venial) sin. Purgatory is necessary so that souls can be cleansed and perfected before they enter heaven as per scriptural beliefs.

All Souls' Day: Prayer

"Blessed are those who have died in the Lord; let them rest from their labours for their good deeds go with them." -Gospel Verse, Rev 14:13
Wedding venues: The big, fat Indian wedding season is here and it's time to splurge and have the time of our lives! If a destination wedding within India is something you are looking at, the first state that comes to mind is Rajasthan. The land of beautiful forts, palaces, luxury hotels, and heritage sites encapsulates the true essence of India's beauty and can make for memorable wedding destinations. Rajasthan itself has plenty of options when it comes to the choice of a destination wedding. Here are 5 cities that can be the perfect base for your dream wedding:

1) Jaipur

The Rajasthan capital with its plus hotels and heritage properties makes for a beautiful wedding destination. Vicky Kaushal-Katrina Kaif tied the knot in this beautiful city. While there are heritage sites, from Samode Palace, Oberoi Rajvilas Palace, Ram Bagh Palace, and Taj Jai Mahal Palace, the options for luxury hotels are many.

(Pic: Instagram/@katrinakaif)



2) Udaipur

The City of Lakes is a majestic wedding destination. Gorgeous lakes, royal palaces overlooking the lakes, luxury resorts - this city is a dream wedding destination, but by no means easy on the pocket. This is one place where you can organise the memorable wedding you have been dreaming of. Some top venues in Udaipur include Lake Palace, Shiv Niwas Palace, The Leela Palace, and The Oberoi Udaivillas among others.

Also read: The RED Wedding! Why Indian brides continue to prefer red lehengas and saris for shaadis

3) Jodhpur



In the Blue City, you can organise a mesmerising dream wedding with royal backdrops and dreamy, romantic locales. It is slightly less sought-after as compared to Jaipur and Udaipur, and this means you can have an intimate wedding, which is slightly less commercialised. You can of course have a regal wedding like our very own desi girl Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas at Umaid Bhawan Palace.

(Pic: Instagram/@nickjonas)

4) Jaisalmer

The desert town, rightly called India's Golden City, is as dreamy a wedding destination as it can get. Situated in one of the farthest parts of Rajasthan and surrounded by the great Thar desert, this is an ideal place to host your fairytale wedding. Forts, havelis, palaces - getting married in this wonderful city will leave you with a lifetime of memories.

5) Pushkar

This is another, albeit slightly less popular wedding destination of Rajasthan. There are many luxury hotels like the conveniently located Westin Pushkar Resort & Spa where you can organise a dream wedding.

Also read: Travel to Vietnam from India in under Rs 50,000 - things to see, where to stay, what to eat

Verified
Whether youre planning on vacationing or moving to the Philippines, its always good to be prepared ahead of time so that you can enjoy your trip as much as possible and make sure you see everything on your itinerary. Whether youre looking for sun-filled beaches or tropical jungles, the Philippines offers something for everyone. From luxury resorts to popular landmarks and museums, here are 10 of the best places to visit in the Philippines in 2022-

Bohol Island

Bohol is a small island with an even smaller population, but it's home to one of the most popular destinations in the country: Panglao Island. The pristine white sand beaches and crystal clear water are perfect for snorkelling, diving and surfing.

Cebu City, Metro Cebu

Cebu is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Philippines. It is home to some of the country's most beautiful beaches, mountains, and islands.

Boracay Island, Aklan

Boracay, located on a powdery white beach, is undoubtedly one of the most popular Philippines holiday destinations. Located 120 kilometres south of Manila, Boracay Island has everything you need for a laid-back vacation: crystal clear water that seems like it goes on forever, pristine beaches with soft white sand, and tropical views. Restaurants are abundant and food can be found around every corner.

Puerto Princesa City, Palawan

Puerto Princesa City is a popular destination for those who want to explore untouched natural beauty. Hire a kayak and paddle around the Puerto Princesa Underground River, which will make you feel as though you're exploring an alien world.

General Santos City, South Cotabato

Having a plan will help you feel prepared when the unexpected happens. With your map and list of places to visit, you'll be ready for anything.

Vigan City, Ilocos Sur

Vigan City is a must-see destination for culture and history. The old Spanish colonial town is home to over 2,000 ancestral homes that were built during the 17th century.

Manila

The capital city of Manila is a great place to visit, with its vibrant and colourful culture and architecture. It's also a country of contrasts, and Manila offers a perfect snapshot of all that the country has to offer.

Baguio City, Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR)

Baguio City is a city found in the Cordillera Administrative Region of northern Philippines. It's part of an area known as the Summer Capital for its cool climate. In addition, this city has been voted one of Asia's best destinations by both CNN and Forbes Magazine.

Batanes Group of Islands

The Batanes Group of Islands is a must-see destination on the list. This group of nine islands is located in the northernmost part of Luzon Island and can be reached by ferry from Manila. The islands offer some of the best beaches and seascapes, with pristine white sand and crystal clear water so that you can enjoy swimming, snorkelling, or just lazing on the beach all day.

Camarines Sur Province

Camarines Sur is a province rich with history, culture and natural beauty. This province is also home to one of the most famous Philippine festivals, Paraw Regatta Festival.

(Above mentioned article is a sponsored feature, This article is a paid publication and does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of IDPL, and IDPL claims no responsibility whatsoever.)
Moscow: Amid the escalating tensions in Ukraine, Russia on Wednesday issued a statement outlining the risks of nuclear war, saying "nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought". "In implementing its policy on nuclear deterrence, Russia is strictly and consistently guided by the tenet that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. Russian doctrinal approaches in this sphere are defined with utmost accuracy, pursue solely defensive goals and do not admit of expansive interpretation," Kremlin said in a statement on preventing nuclear war. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has raised concerns about the security situation at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP).

The ZNPP site has been controlled by Russian forces since March. Until recently, operational decisions were taken by its Ukraine staff, but Russia has announced it has taken control of the facility and is now taking those decisions. In recent months the site has been beset with power outages caused by shelling, putting nuclear safety and security at the plant at risk.

Also Read: Ukraine war updates: Power, water cuts hit Kyiv after Russia's 'massive' missile strikes

Russia said it is strongly convinced that in the current situation, "caused by irresponsible and impudent actions aimed at undermining our national security," the most immediate task is to avoid any military clash of nuclear powers.

"We urge other states of the `nuclear five` to demonstrate in practice their willingness to work on solving this top-priority task and to give up the dangerous attempts to infringe on the vital interests of each other while balancing on the brink of a direct armed conflict and encouraging provocations with weapons of mass destruction, which can lead to catastrophic consequences," it added.

Also Read:'Signs of injections' on Russian president Putin's hands, says expert - Read on

In a further sign of the precarious situation in the area of the ZNPP, the IAEA team has reported there had been shelling in the vicinity of the plant in recent days, following a period of reduced military activity. Last week, shelling near the thermal power plant switchyard temporarily disconnected one of the ZNPP`s three back-up power lines through which the town of Enerhodar has been receiving electricity.

"Operating staff at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant are working hard in very challenging circumstances to prevent the kind of repeated power outages we saw in early October," Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi of the IAEA.

"While their determined efforts have had some positive results, the plant`s power situation remains extremely vulnerable."Director General Grossi has engaged in high-level talks with both Ukraine and Russia in recent weeks aimed at agreeing and implementing a nuclear safety and security protection zone around the ZNPP as soon as possible.
Among other issues, Philomath mayoral candidate Lawrence Johnson worries the city will outgrow its infrastructure and resources without a change in leadership.

Johnson is running against incumbent Mayor Chas Jones. Johnson is semi-retired with a professional background in law that includes a stint as a deputy district attorney as well having worked in finance and education.

Essentially, Im a retired CPA, Johnson said. Ive been kind of a small business adviser my whole life.

Growing up mostly in California, Johnson moved to Oregon in 1980. In the past hes made unsuccessful runs for county commissioner and district attorney in other areas. Coming to Benton County in 1998, he settled in Philomath in 2016, losing a City Council bid in 2020.

Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Corvallis Gazette-Times.

Pledging a responsive, transparent approach to government, Johnson said hell keep close tabs on city services and spending as well. Sustainability is high on Johnsons priority list, along with responsible, accountable development. He plans on pushing the city toward renewable energy as a long-term solution to rising energy costs.

You really need to put the cart behind the horse, he said about developing. You need to make sure theres a water supply available first, then the infrastructure for sewer and streets and things like this.

Water security is part of Johnsons focus on sustainability. He wants the city to incentivize reductions in water usage. He's also calling for a review and revision of water rates aimed at meeting increased housing demand.

He hopes to avoid problems with growth similar to what he saw in California, he said.

I started doing a little research, and 97% of the water for Philomath comes from the Marys River, Johnson said, noting a recent lack of rain. River levels are dropping; they are not increasing.

Planning to go through the city budget with a fine-toothed comb, Johnson proposes a cash bonus for employees who produce cost-saving ideas. He also wants to look a city staff compensation in terms of equity and performance.

Traffic is another problem Johnson would like to tackle. He said Philomath has massive traffic issues for a city its size, criticizing the Police Department for what he considers a lax approach to enforcement. He said tickets were written over traffic violations much more frequently in the past.

The speeding is just ridiculous, he said.

Addressing another hot topic, the legalization of psychedelic mushrooms, Johnson noted psilocybin treatment passed statewide with a comfortable margin in 2020.

But on the same ballot as he will appear, Philomath voters will consider a two-year moratorium on psilocybin services and manufacturing. That's because the City Council voted 4-3 in July to put it back in front of the voters.

He wouldn't have voted yes, he said. Johnson believes the psychoactive mushrooms have proven medical value for treating conditions such as PTSD.

As mayor, Johnson would look to target legislative dysfunction on the dais. The City Council has struggled in meetings, burning up the clock on some issues while failing to address others, Johnson said. He believes the council could be more effective with its time and more welcoming to the public.

Trying to rebuild public trust is the most important thing we can do, he said.

Elected to the Philomath City Council in 2018, Johnsons opponent Jones won the mayors seat in 2020. With a Ph.D. in hydrology, Jones directs the Climate Resilience Program for the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians.
New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister has come up with a response to BJP leaders Amit Malviya, Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, and Kapil Mishra's recent tweet which included a photo of a poster featuring Arvind Kejriwal. It appears the poster was put up outside Tihar jail to mock the AAP leader over allegations made by conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar against former minister Satyendar Jain.

What Arvind Kejriwal said

Reacting to the poster, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal wrote on Twitter, "No matter how hard BJP and LG sahib may try, we will not let the yoga classes being provided to Delhiites be stopped. Today I am meeting all the yoga teachers."

                                Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) November 2, 2022

Kejriwal was referring to the latest feud between Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena over the provision of 'free yoga classes' to Delhiites under the 'Dilli ki yogshala'. Kejriwal claimed that he had submitted a file to the L-G on Oct 26 but it hasn't received the latter's approval.

BJP vs AAP: Poster mocking Delhi CM outside Tihar jail

On Wednesday morning, social media was flooded with photos of an edited poster featuring Arvind Kejriwal giving a massage to an unidentified person.

Kejriwal Massage Center posters outside Tihar Jail after ED disclosed that his extortionist minister Satyender Jain was getting masseurs in the jail



Despite court strictures, Kejriwal continues to defend Satyendra Jain and indulge him so that he doesnt spill the beans. pic.twitter.com/kfjEONeHe9  Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) November 2, 2022

The poster was re-tweeted by Delhi BJP leaders Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, Kapil Mishra and others on Twitter. This added fuel to the already heated war of words between AAP and the BJP over 'corruption' charges and pollution issues.

What did Sukesh Chandrasekhar say?



Incarcerated conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar has written to Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena, alleging that AAP leader Satyendar Jain, who is lodged in Tihar Jail number-7, was threatening him through Director General Prison and jail administration to withdraw a complaint filed in the high court.

In his letter, Chandrashekhar claimed that he paid an amount of Rs 10 crore to Jain as "protection money'', and that he knew Jain since 2015. The conman claimed that he had contributed over Rs 50 crore to the party as he was promised an important position within the party in South India.

"I have been lodged in jail since 2017 and I have known, Mr. Satyendar Jain of AAP since 2015, and have contributed more than 50 crore to AAP on the promise of giving me an important post in the party in South Zone, and also helping me to be nominated to the Rajya Sabha following the expansion," a hand-written letter of Chandrashekhar, which was posted through his lawyer Ashok Singh, read.

"After my arrest in 2017 for the two-leaf Symbol Corruption case, I was lodged in Tihar Jail and was visited by Satyendra Jain, who holds the portfolio of jail minister, multiple times, asking me if I had disclosed anything related to my contribution to AAP to the investigating agency which arrested me," it read.

"Thereafter, in 2019 again I was visited by Satyendra Jain and his secretary and his close friend Sushil in jail, asking me to pay Rs 2 crore every month to him as ''protection money'' to live safely in the jail, and to get even basic facilities provided," it further read.

"Also, he asked me to pay Rs 1.50 crore to DG Prison Sandeep Goel, who he said was a loyal associate of his. He forced me to pay, and a total amount of Rs 10 crore in a matter of 2 to 3 months was extorted from me through constant pressure. All the amounts were collected in Kolkata through his associate Chaturvedi. Hence a total amount of Rs 10 crore was paid to Mr. Satyendra Jain, and Rs 12.50 crore to DG Prison Sandeep Goel," it read.

(With agency inputs)
Kabul: According to media reports, eight people were injured in a blast that shook Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul on Wednesday. According to the Kabul security department's spokesperson, eight people were injured in a blast that targeted a vehicle carrying employees of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, according to TOLO news. During the morning rush hour, the blast targeted a minibus carrying Taliban employees in front of a government building in Police District 5."I was near the area when a really loud explosion was heard, and many people were injured. The explosion happened next to a bus," TOLO cited a local resident. According to media reports, police have cordoned off the area and prohibited people, including journalists, from entering the blast site. No one has claimed responsibility for the explosion so far.

Afghanistans Media shaken by Taliban

The disruptions of 2021 - the Taliban's takeover of the war-ravaged country - shook Afghanistan's mainstream media, which had only recently begun to recover. According to an Afghan Diaspora Network report, a survey conducted by Reporters Without Borders and the Afghan Independent Journalist Association in December 2021 revealed the closure of more than 200 media outlets, resulting in the layoff of approximately 6,400 journalists following the regime change. For the past two decades, the transfer of power from a Western-backed government to the Taliban has resulted in many changes in the way institutions operate. Several media personalities who were not used to working within the framework of the Taliban regime relocated to neighbouring or western countries, according to the Afghan Diaspora Network.

Also Read: Death of Pakistani journalist in Kenya: One scribe being killed every fourth day, shows UN data

Though it remains to be seen what the future holds for the country's popular media, the upheaval has undoubtedly distressed it in the short term. While the majority of the media is attempting to adjust to the new environment, the turmoil has presented an opportunity for Pakistan, according to the Afghan Diaspora Network. Drawing criticism from all sides for sowing discord and interfering in Afghan governance, Islamabad has now resorted to manipulating Afghan media to improve its public image, according to the Afghan Diaspora Network. According to some Afghan journalists, the efforts are part of a well-coordinated strategy aimed at filling the country's media void with favourable coverage of Pakistan.

Talibans further plan

Though common Afghan journalists working on the ground are not aware of the full plan, they suspect it to be backed by Pakistani agencies. Afghan journalists facing distress are being roped in for positive coverage about Pakistan and its possible role in rebuilding Afghanistan reported the Afghan Diaspora Network. Fully funded training courses are being offered to Afghan media persons with a special focus on female journalists. Some local media houses are said to have been contacted with offers of monetary assistance. A few of them facing financial duress are vulnerable to this strategy. Pakistani private media companies are also being encouraged to set up their outlets in Kabul to counter any negative perception about the Pakistani government/Army

Also Read: 'Signs of injections' on Russian president Putin's hands, says expert - Read on

Separately, Islamabad is stepping up engagement with local Afghan NGOs/civil society and efforts are being made to rope in some foreign media houses, and western outlets focused on the Af-Pak region are being approached for establishing offices in Islamabad for better coordination. However, its intention of gaining a strategic foothold artificially through media may not be effective given the public distrust of it. With the emergence of social media, the public consumption of news and narrative has witnessed a definitive shift over the past few years, reported the Afghan Diaspora Network.
New Delhi: The national capital's air quality remained 'very poor,' while Noida's air quality remained 'severe.' Many people have been admitted to the ICU after reporting pneumonia or chest infections, according to reports. On the same day, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said that the BJP is abusing farmers and has refused to give farmers incentives. Rai also revealed that the Delhi and Punjab governments were both willing to offer incentives, but the Central government refused. Both Delhi and Punjabs government was ready to give Rs. 500 to farmers as incentives when farmers refused to take He further gave advisory to the people of Delhi on the deteriorating weather condition of the capital. He even blamed the people of Delhi for the city's bad air quality.

Delhis Environment Minister advise for people of Delhi

Gopal Rai also gave some advice to the people of Delhi. Like the Construction Work pictures should be sent to the Green Delhi App. Car-Bike shall be shared if possible. If people cannot follow the Red Light On, Gaadi Off scheme they should Work from Home. Coal and wood should not be burnt. And security guards should get electric heaters.

Also Read: Delhi air Quality reaches 'Alarming Level', residents facing respiratory issues, eye irritation

Air Quality Indexes ranging from 0 to 100 are considered good, while those ranging from 100 to 200 are considered moderate, those ranging from 200 to 300 are considered poor, those ranging from 300 to 400 are considered very poor, and those ranging from 400 to 500 are considered severe.

BJP      



Delhi  Punjab Govt         



        Incentive     



    ,          



@AapKaGopalRai pic.twitter.com/JVD7vf5rzQ  Aam Aadmi Party Delhi (@AAPDelhi) November 2, 2022

According to the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change, the commission has been informing and sensitising all stakeholders (industrial houses, commercial establishments, construction agencies, State Govt/ GNCTD agencies, ULBs in NCR, and the general public) about the preventive, mitigating, and restricting actions required under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).

Also Read: 'Where is ED, CBI?: Mamata Banerjee demands judicial enquiry into Morbi bridge incident

Here is what the health experts say regarding the Air-pollution in Delhi

Experts in Delhi say that "This is a medical emergency as people are affected by short-term and long-term impacts of the pollution. You are immediately affected when the lungs are exposed to this air," Chairman of the Institute of Chest Surgery at Medanta Hospital, Dr Arvind Kumar told ANI on Wednesday. Dr. Kumar went on to say that when smoke enters the chest, it causes immediate acute inflammation in the windpipe and lungs, followed by these toxic chemicals being absorbed from the lungs and reaching the bloodstream. They then spread from head to toe, affecting every organ, he added. He also stated that the hospital reporting large numbers of people complaining about chest infections and pneumonia proves that pollution is at its peak. He went on to say that the most common symptoms of pollution are sore throats and eyes, burning in the eyes, red eyes, watering eyes, dry-itchy eyes, burning sensations in the nose, and a metallic taste on the lips. The chairman of Medanata also spoke about the long-term effects of pollution on a child's brain.

(With agencies inputs)
New Delhi: Connectivity projects should respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Tuesday, in an apparent reference to China's controversial Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Jaishankar made the remark at a virtual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) hosted by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. In his address at the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) meeting, Jaishankar also asserted that "fair market access" is the only way to move forward, and said Chabahar port and the International North South Transport Corridor could become "enablers" for better connectivity in the SCO region.

According to a joint communique issued at the end of the meeting, India was not among the SCO-member countries that supported the BRI. It said Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan reaffirmed their support for China's BRI and to work jointly to implement the project.

In his remarks, Jaishankar also said India intends to foster greater cooperation with the SCO member states in countering the global food crisis. The food security challenge has erupted following the Ukraine conflict.

On economic engagement, Jaishankar said India's total trade with the SCO member states is only USD 141 billion, and that there is a potential to increase it manifold, noting that "fair market access is to our mutual benefit and the only way to move forward."

There have been some concerns in India over China not giving access to Indian traders to certain sectors of the Chinese market.

While underlining the need for better connectivity in the SCO region, Jaishankar said it should be built around the centrality of "interests of Central Asian states".

"Represented India at the meeting of SCO Council of Heads of Government which has just concluded. Underlined that we need better connectivity in the SCO region built on the centrality of interests of Central Asian states," he tweeted.

The external affairs minister said better connectivity will unlock the economic potential of the region in which Chabahar port and the International North South Transport Corridor could become enablers.

"Connectivity projects should respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Member States and respect international law," he added.

India has been severely critical of the BRI as the USD 50 billion project includes the so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The CPEC passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Jaishankar also underlined the potential of Chabahar port for the economic future of the SCO region.

Will unlock the economic potential of this region in which Chabahar port and the International North South Transport Corridor could become enablers. Connectivity projects should respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Member States and respect international law.  Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) November 1, 2022

Located in the Sistan-Balochistan province on the energy-rich Iran's southern coast, the Chabahar port is being developed by India, Iran and Afghanistan to boost connectivity and trade ties.

At a connectivity conference in Tashkent in July last year, Jaishankar projected Iran's Chabahar Port as a key regional transit hub including Afghanistan.

The International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) is a 7,200-km-long multi-mode transport project for moving freight among India, Iran, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia and Europe. India has been supporting the project.

"Highlighted that in 2023, the UN International Year of Millets, India intends to foster greater cooperation with SCO Member States on countering the food crisis," Jaishankar tweeted.

"Appreciate condolences expressed at the loss of lives in the Morbi tragedy. Look forward to India's ongoing chairship of the SCO," he said in another tweet.

The CHG meeting is held annually and focuses on the trade and economic agenda of the bloc and to approve its annual budget.

On BRI, the joint declaration said the heads of delegations emphasised the SCO member states' position in favour of encouraging regional economic cooperation in various forms, promoting the creation of favourable conditions for trade and investment in order to gradually implement the free movement of goods, capital, services and technologies.

"Reaffirming their support for China's 'Belt and Road Initiative' initiative, the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Russian Federation, Republic of Tajikistan and Republic of Uzbekistan noted the ongoing work to jointly implement this project, including efforts to link the construction of the Eurasian Economic Union and BRI," it added.

In his address, Jaishankar highlighted India's strong cultural and historical connect with the SCO region and reiterated the country's firm commitment towards deepening multilateral cooperation in the areas of food and energy security, climate change, trade and culture.

He also spoke about the launch of the global Mission 'LIFE' (Lifestyle for Environment) by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month, and its relevance to ensuring food and energy security.

Jaishankar drew attention to India's commitment in fighting the challenge of climate change and also achievements made in this direction.

He also emphasised India's strong recovery on the economic front after the pandemic.

The external affairs ministry said Jaishankar also expressed interest in expanding India-SCO trade on the basis of fair market access.
New Delhi: The contractors who carried out repairs of the suspension bridge at Morbi in Gujarat were "not qualified" to carry out such jobs, the prosecution told a court in Morbi on Tuesday (November 1, 2022). Citing a forensic report, the prosecution said that the flooring of the bridge was replaced but its cable was not replaced and it could not take the weight of the changed flooring. As per the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report, prosecutor HS Panchal told the court that forensic experts believed that the main cable of the bridge snapped because of the weight of the new flooring. The collapse of the bridge on Sunday evening claimed 135 lives.

"Though the FSL report was presented in a sealed cover, it was mentioned during the remand plea that cables of the bridge were not replaced during the renovation and only flooring was changed... Weight of the bridge increased due to the four-layered aluminium sheets for the flooring and the cable snapped due to that weight," Panchal told reporters.

The court was also informed that both the repairing contractors were "not qualified" to carry out such work.

"Despite that, these contractors were given repair work of the bridge in 2007 and then in 2022. So the accused's custody was needed to find out what was the reason for choosing them and at whose instance they were chosen," the prosecutor said.

ALSO READ | Morbi suspension bridge had reopened 5 days back after renovation; lacked 'fitness' certificate

The magistrate's court remanded four of the arrested accused -- two managers of OREVA Group and two sub-contractors who had repaired the bridge -- in police custody till Saturday. The four who were remanded in police custody were OREVA managers Dipak Parekh and Dinesh Dave, and repairing contractors Prakash Parmar and Devang Parmar, hired by the OREVA Group.

Chief Judicial Magistrate MJ Khan remanded five other arrested men, including security guards and ticket booking clerks, in judicial custody as police did not seek their custody, Panchal said.

Police had on Monday booked nine persons under Indian Penal Code section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).

PM Modi calls for 'detailed and extensive' inquiry into Morbi bridge collapse tragedy

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday called for a "detailed and extensive" inquiry into the Morbi bridge collapse tragedy and said its key learnings must be implemented at the earliest. Modi, who chaired a high-level meeting in Morbi to review the situation, was also briefed on the rescue operation and the assistance provided to the affected families, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a statement.

"The need of the hour is to conduct a detailed and extensive inquiry which will identify all aspects relating to this mishap," Modi said.

Authorities must stay in touch with the affected families and ensure that they receive all possible help in this tragic hour, he said.

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi, who holds the minister of state rank, were among those who attended the meeting.

Earlier on Tuesday, PM Modi also visited the site of the bridge collapse and went to the local hospital where the injured are recovering.

He also interacted with those involved in rescue and relief work and lauded their efforts.

Went to Morbi, which witnessed the horrific bridge mishap. Met the bereaved families and extended condolences. I visited the site of the tragedy and went to the hospital where the injured are recovering. Also met those involved in rescue ops and chaired a review meeting. pic.twitter.com/hAZnJFIHh8  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 1, 2022

At least 135 people have so far died in the Morbi bridge collapse tragedy and 170 others rescued.
NEW DELHI: In no respite to Delhiites, the air quality in the national capital continued to decline on Wednesday falling under the very poor category. According to SAFAR, the air quality index (AQI) in Delhi was recorded at 354 this morning, as reported by the news agency ANI. Similarly, the air quality also continued to dip in the adjoining cities of Noida and Gurugram.

According to ANI, the Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded at 406 in Noida (UP) in the 'Severe' category, 346 in Gurugram (Haryana) in the 'Very Poor' category & 350 near Delhi Airport T3 in the 'Very Poor' category, while Delhi's overall AQI was recorded at 354 (Very Poor category).

Air quality continues to dip in Delhi-NCR



Air Quality Index (AQI) presently at 406 in Noida (UP) in 'Severe' category, 346 in Gurugram (Haryana) in 'Very Poor' category & 350 near Delhi Airport T3 in 'Very Poor' category



Delhi's overall AQI currently at 354 (Very Poor category) pic.twitter.com/O9wGblAYqx  ANI (@ANI) November 2, 2022

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered "good", 51 and 100 "satisfactory", 101 and 200 "moderate", 201 and 300 "poor", 301 and 400 "very poor", and 401 and 500 "severe".

On Tuesday also, the air quality in the national capital remained very poor as well as the Air Quality Index was measured at 385, reported news agency ANI. The residents in the city woke up to a smoggy morning lowering the visibility. The air quality in the adjoining cities of Noida and Gurugram also witnessed a dip in the air quality.

With a continued dip in the air quality in the national capital, the Commission for Air Quality Management on Tuesday directed the Delhi government to intensify preventive measures and consider deploying water sprinklers and anti-smog guns round-the-clock to check spiraling air pollution levels in the city.

Delhi slipped into the 'severe' category on the AQI meter on Saturday. With air pollution worsening in the national capital, Delhi authorities halted all construction work and demolition activities till further orders.
Alwar: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday reacted to Sachin Pilot's comments that he will eventually leave the party like party stalwart Ghulam Nabi Azab, who too earned praise from the Prime Minister. Gehlot said, "They should not make such remarks. KC Venugopal has asked everybody in the party to not make any such remarks. We want that everybody should follow discipline". Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Wednesday said, "...I find the heaps of praises by PM Modi (on CM Gehlot yesterday) very interesting. PM had similarly praised GN Azad in Parliament. We saw what happened after that. It was an interesting development yesterday. Shouldn't be taken lightly..."

Pilot, the former Rajasthan deputy CM, also urged his new party chief Mallikarjun Kharge to "take action" against those who triggered the recent political crisis in Rajasthan. He said only 13 months were left for the assembly elections in the state and whatever decisions are to be taken, like the CLP meeting, the AICC would take them very soon.

Also Read: Looks like ASHOK GEHLOT is going the GHULAM NABI AZAD way: Sachin Pilot on PM Modi praising Rajasthan CM

In the run-up to the nomination for Congress president election, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was forced to bow out of the process after several party MLAs supporting him did not attend a Congress Legislature Party meeting.

Alwar, Rajasthan | They should not make such remarks. KC Venugopal has asked everybody in the party to not make any such remarks. We want that everybody should follow discipline: Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot on Sachin Pilot's remarks https://t.co/ptGGHUY7M3 pic.twitter.com/ELTQLrNG3K November 2, 2022

Narendra Modi made these remarks while addressing an event in Banswara during which he recalled that the two worked in past without any discord. The Prime Minister also hailed Gehlot as one of the senior-most Chief Ministers in the country and an experienced politician.

Ashok Ji (Gehlot) and I had worked together as CMs. He was the most senior in our lot of CMs. Ashok Ji is still one of the senior-most CMs among those who are sitting on the stage right now, PM Narendra Modi said while addressing the gathering at Mangarh Dham ki Gaurav Gatha in Banswara, Rajasthan.
The Election Commission can announce the dates of the Gujarat Assembly elections on Wednesday i.e. today. Citing a tradition adopted in 2017, the Election Commission had earlier this month not announced the Gujarat elections along with the dates for the Himachal Pradesh elections. Let us tell you that in Himachal Pradesh, polling will be held in a single phase on November 12. Counting of votes will take place on December 8.

The Election Commission had clearly indicated that counting of votes for Gujarat would also take place on December 8, keeping the date of counting for Himachal Pradesh almost a month after the polling. In 2017 too, elections were announced on different dates in both the states, but the counting of votes took place simultaneously on December 18.

According to the Election Commission website, assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh were held simultaneously in 1998, 2007 and 2012. Let us tell you that the term of the 182-member Gujarat Legislative Assembly is ending on February 18, 2023.
New Delhi: Bharatiya Janta Partys state president has commented on Jharkhands Chief Minister Hemant Soren. The State President, BJP Jharkhand on Thursday. Soren's problems may worsen as a result. Aside from that, the ED has conducted raids in numerous locations across the country in connection with this matter in recent months. ED's search operation is also ongoing at the same time. Meanwhile, the BJP has demanded that the Chief Minister resign. Deepak Prakash in his tweet quoted, Jharkhand has become a symbol of corruption during the 32-month rule of the Hemant government. The Chief Minister has a direct role in protecting against corruption, he himself took the work of taking allocation of mineral mines in his own name and all this he did not only in his own name but also of his close ones.Hemant Soren presided over the UPA legislators' meeting at his Ranchi residence today.

Of all the raids that have happened so far, there is not a single case in Jharkhand where they have not found anything. The ED is not returning empty-handed, but has recovered crores of crores from the homes of the Chief Minister's close friends, which clearly shows that there is nothing black in the pulse but the whole pulse is black. Deepak further added. The law is doing its job and the hands of the law are long, no one can escape it, this is the belief of the public. ED is an independent organization and whoever commits an economic offence or engages in looting the state or plundering its mineral wealth, commits corruption, then ED will take action.

                       .



ED                                   .  Deepak Prakash (@dprakashbjp) November 2, 2022

Also Read: A must-read tale of honesty: Mumbai woman finds her gold bracelet on road 5 hours after she drops it!

Soren has been summoned to appear before the central financial crime investigation agency on Thursday at its regional office in Ranchi, the state capital. Under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the agency wishes to question and record his statement (PMLA). JMM leader Manoj Pandey responded to the ED summons by saying, "ED will work." If there is an injustice, we will go to court. I'm not sure if ED can summon CM. If this is the case, CM will respond after consulting with legal experts. Is summoning him for those allegations legal? If this is the case, PM should be summoned in several cases. It's political vendetta."

Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren presides over the UPA legislators' meeting at his residence in Ranchi



(Photo Courtesy: Information Public Relations Department, Jharkhand) pic.twitter.com/0sn3QLY6ZO November 2, 2022

Also Read: 'Those who do such work are committing CRIME...': Mamata Banerjee makes SIGNIFICANT remark on Morbi incident

Three people have been arrested in connection with the case, including his political aide and MLA Pankaj Mishra. On July 8, the ED raided Mishra and his alleged associates in Sahibganj, Barhait, Rajmahal, Mirza Chauki, and Barharwa in Jharkhand, covering 19 locations in the case linked to alleged instances of illegal mining and extortion.
JNU PG Admissions 2022: Jawaharlal Nehru University will release the first merit list of JNU for postgraduate courses today, November 2. The JNU PG first merit list 2022 will be available on the website jnuee.jnu.ac.in. To view the JNU 1st merit list, applicants must log in using their application number and password. The blocking of seats based on the initial JNU merit list will start on November 2, and pre-enrolment registration and fee payment will follow. From November 14 to 17 and 21 to 23, selected candidates will be admitted and registered. On November 8, JNU will release its second merit list, and on November 13, it will release its third and supernumerary list. By December 2, the university will release the final JNU PG merit list. JNU's PG courses are set to start on November 28.

JNU First Merit List 2022: Heres how to check

Visit the official website of JNU jnuee.jnu.ac.in

Click on the "JNU PG Results List -1" link on the home page.

Now, enter the CUET application number and password.

Submit the given captcha code in the space provided.

Click on the login button.

The JNU PG 1st Merit List 2022 will be visible on the screens.

The CUET PG results will be used to create the JNU PG merit list for 2022. The CUET PG test was administered by NTA from September 1 to September 12, and the results were made public on September 26. 3,34,997 of the 6,07,648 candidates who registered for the CUET PG exam actually showed up for the test.
Last month, many Corvallis Clinic patients received a letter in the mail that left them upset and confused about their insurance coverage.

Now, patients on original Medicare are wondering about what steps to take next to get the care they need, they said in interviews, on social media and many letters to the editor to Mid-Valley Media.

The Corvallis Clinic is considering switching original Medicare to a nonparticipating provider status.

The Corvallis Clinic sent a letter to all original Medicare patients on file, prompting them to consider changing to Medicare Advantage to maintain the level of care patients are receiving.

The reason behind the possible switch is financial stress within the health care industry, according to the letter.

In some cases, the reimbursement levels for an original Medicare patient may not even cover the operating cost of seeing that patient, the letter read.

'Frightening'

The medical group has patients all throughout the mid-Willamette Valley, serving Benton, Linn and Lincoln counties.

Many of those patients took to the NextDoor app and other social media platforms to try to find answers and express their feelings.

To anyone depending on Medicare, this is a frightening letter, said Gene Dannen of Corvallis, a patient of Corvallis Clinic for more than 20 years.

The letter indicates the clinic may be switching the status to nonparticipating provider," words that Dannen believes can be misleading to patients. He said many people are reading that and believing they have to switch providers and leave the Corvallis Clinic, he said by phone.

Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Corvallis Gazette-Times.

The way he first read the letter, Dannen thought it meant the clinic would no longer accept original Medicare patients at all.

But according to Corvallis Clinic Marketing Communications Coordinator Sarah Wai, that is not the case.

We are not saying that we will no longer be seeing original Medicare patients, Wai said over the phone.

Misunderstandings

She acknowledged there have been a lot of misunderstandings surrounding the letter with the Corvallis Clinic receiving a lot of calls from people with questions.

Despite that, she said clinic leaders do not plan to send out a follow-up letter.

The letter was sent with the intention to give Medicare patients notice that we were considering a change, Wai said.

But when and if that change is happening remains unclear.

Wai said the decision is yet to be made by the board of directors. The change would happen after 2023, she added, even though the letter urges patients to enroll now to avoid limitations and inconveniences.

If a decision was made, the Corvallis Clinic plans to have "clear communication" with patients about the switch, she added over email.

The cost of Medicare Advantage coverage isnt necessarily more expensive and is often a little below or above what patients are paying for original Medicare, Wai said over the phone.

Typically, Medicare Advantage provides patients with more coverage, she said, adding a caveat that it depends on the individual's needs.

Resources

If the Corvallis Clinic ultimately decides to change its status, things may get more complicated for patients with original Medicare.

Original Medicare patients may have to pay out of pocket and get personal reimbursements from Medicare, Wai said.

Because each individual case is different, it's hard to generalize, she said. Thats why the letters went out in advance of the possible change, to inform patients of their options, she said.

Wai said there are plenty of resources available, such as Statewide Health Insurance Benefits Advisors. SHIBA provides free, unbiased confidential assistance with Medicare and health care choices, according to its website at https://shiba.oregon.gov/Pages/index.aspx.

We are telling patients to speak with primary care providers and insurance agents to figure out whats best for them.

Providers at the Corvallis Clinic are payer agnostic, said Wai, but they can help direct patients to resources like SHIBA and the Medicare FAQ page on the Corvallis Clinic website at https://www.corvallisclinic.com/medicare-faq/.

Making sense of it

Corvallis resident Laurie Russell has done some research and spoken to an insurance broker. But she is still concerned, both for her coverage and her 93-year-old mothers care.

Russell said she too, had trouble making sense of the letter in her mailbox. She can envision a scenario in which the vagueness was intentional.

She believes that the Corvallis Clinic is waiting to see how many people will switch plans from original Medicare to Medicare Advantage before the health care provider makes a decision about being a nonparticipating provider.

Russell's current original Medicare plan includes a supplemental coverage that covers her mothers specialty services. She is concerned that if she switches to an Advantage plan, she will lose coverage for her mothers chronic condition, she said by phone.

Its a lot to navigate, and Russell is especially concerned for older adults trying to figure out what to do, especially when many are not on the internet.

Although the letter gave some resource options, Russell said that many of the resources arent very accessible for older generations.

My 93-year-old mother wouldnt know how to do this if she didnt have me, she said.

Russell is frustrated and feels that issues like this are a call for broad access to health care insurance.

I wish we had health care coverage that covered everyone like every other developed country in the world, she said.

Overriding trends

Retired physician Mike Huntington said Corvallis Clinic's move falls into a larger trend he has watched in the health care industry.

He first noticed there was a problem when his practice noticed more patients with advanced cancers despite advances in early diagnoses. The problem, he said, had to do with insurance coverage.

It makes our health care a commodity, he said.

Since then, Huntington has been an advocate for Medicare for All.

When Huntington opened his letter from the Corvallis Clinic, he said he was saddened, but not surprised.

And now Huntington is concerned about his own coverage.

Huntington was a patient of primary care for 20 years, and now is a patient of specialty care at the Corvallis Clinic. He worries he wont be able to get his specialty care covered.

Medicare Advantage may have some attractive perks, but it may not be appropriate with some patients with chronic conditions, he said.

Huntington believes Corvallis Clinic has been backed into a corner. The letter references a financial struggle within the industry. He reads the letter as trying to get as many people as they can to switch now, he added.

He advises patients to call their providers to make sure they are still taking their insurance and speak with insurance brokers at this time to figure out next steps.

Huntington added he has a lot of respect for the Corvallis Clinic and feels its leadership shouldnt be blamed for trying to survive. He wishes, though, it would instead critique the system that has allowed this to become a normal pattern for health care.

He hopes the community can come together to advocate for stronger original Medicare coverage.
Hyderabad: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has attacked the TRS government in Telangana saying that it supports the BJP on legislations in Parliament and that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao "does drama" before the polls but is "in direct line" with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Addressing a rally during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Gandhi said that "BJP and TRS work together" and the Prime Minister "gives orders to your CM on phone".

"Whenever there`s any bill in Parliament, TRS supports BJP and diverts attention from Opposition issues. BJP and TRS work together. Your CM (KCR) does drama before polls but he`s in direct line with PM Modi. PM Modi gives orders to your CM on phone," Rahul Gandhi said.

Telangana will face assembly polls next year. A bypoll to the Munugode assembly seat will be held on November 3. TRS has been renamed as Bharat Rashtra Samithi reflecting the party`s desire to have a national footprint. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, in his remarks at the rally, attacked the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"PM Modi is touring Gujarat for the last six days. Polls schedule for Himachal Pradesh is released but the poll schedule for Gujarat isn`t released as PM Modi has to inaugurate many more bridges there like the one that collapsed in Morbi," he said.

The Election Commission declared the poll schedule for Himachal Pradesh last month.PM Modi on Tuesday chaired a meeting in Morbi to review the situation in the wake of the unfortunate bridge mishap in which 135 people were killed.

The Prime Minister said that the authorities must stay in touch with the affected families and ensure that they receive all possible help in this tragic hour.

Officials briefed the Prime Minister on the rescue ops and the assistance provided to those affected. The Prime Minister said the need of the hour is to conduct a detailed and extensive inquiry which will identify all aspects relating to this mishap.

He also added that the key learnings from the inquiry must be implemented at the earliest. Chief Minister Bhupendrabhai Patel and senior officials were present in the meeting.

Earlier, upon reaching Morbi, the Prime Minister visited the site of the bridge mishap. He went to the local hospital where the injured are recovering. He also interacted with those involved in rescue and relief work and lauded their fortitude.
NEW DELHI: Delhi BJP has now put up a poster mocking Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party over sensational allegations of extortion made by conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar against one of their party leader and former minister Satyendra Jain. The posters have been put up outside Delhis Tihar Central Jail in which CM Kejriwal can be seen giving a massage to an unidentified person.

The poster has been re-tweeted by Delhi BJP leaders Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, Kapil Mishra and others on Twitter as a war of words erupted between the ruling AAP and the BJP over the conmans sensational claim.



Incarcerated conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar has written to Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena, alleging that AAP leader Satyendar Jain, who is lodged in Tihar Jail number-7, was threatening him through Director General Prison and jail administration to withdraw a complaint filed in the high court.

In his letter, Chandrashekhar claimed that he paid an amount of Rs 10 crore to Jain as "protection money'', and that he knew Jain since 2015. The conman claimed that he had contributed over Rs 50 crore to the party as he was promised an important position within the party in South India.

"I have been lodged in jail since 2017 and I have known, Mr. Satyendar Jain of AAP since 2015, and have contributed more than 50 crore to AAP on the promise of giving me an important post in the party in South Zone, and also helping me to be nominated to the Rajya Sabha following the expansion," a hand-written letter of Chandrashekhar, which was posted through his lawyer Ashok Singh, read.

"After my arrest in 2017 for the two-leaf Symbol Corruption case, I was lodged in Tihar Jail and was visited by Satyendra Jain, who holds the portfolio of jail minister, multiple times, asking me if I had disclosed anything related to my contribution to AAP to the investigating agency which arrested me," it read.

"Thereafter, in 2019 again I was visited by Satyendra Jain and his secretary and his close friend Sushil in jail, asking me to pay Rs 2 crore every month to him as ''protection money'' to live safely in the jail, and to get even basic facilities provided," it further read.

"Also, he asked me to pay Rs 1.50 crore to DG Prison Sandeep Goel, who he said was a loyal associate of his. He forced me to pay, and a total amount of Rs 10 crore in a matter of 2 to 3 months was extorted from me through constant pressure. All the amounts were collected in Kolkata through his associate Chaturvedi. Hence a total amount of Rs 10 crore was paid to Mr. Satyendra Jain, and Rs 12.50 crore to DG Prison Sandeep Goel," it read

"During a recent investigation by ED, I had disclosed about DG Prison and also the racket run by the DG and jail administration, and also filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court seeking CBI inquiry, where the court issued notice and the matter is scheduled for a hearing next month," Chandrashekhar`s letter read.

"Also last month during an investigation by CB1/ACB Div-5, I had disclosed all the details of amounts paid to Mr. Satyendra Jain and AAP and DG Prison. But no action has been initiated," it further read. "As now Satyendra Jain is lodged in Jail-7, Tihar, he has been threatening me through DG Prison and jail administration, asking me to withdraw a complaint filed in the high court, I have been severely harassed and threatened," it read.

"Sir, I humbly request you to direct the investigation agency to file a case on my complaint which has been also given to the CBI. I am ready to give all evidence supporting my complaint against Mr. Satyendra Jain of AAP," Chandrashekhar`s letter read.

"I am being harassed, the AAP and their so-called honest government have to be exposed and shown that even in jail they are involved in high-level corruption. I hereby undertake to tender full cooperation with complete honesty before any forum," Chandrashekhar`s letter added.

Earlier, after he made repeated requests for a transfer outside Delhi, Sukesh was shifted from Tihar jail to Mandoli jail in Delhi in August after he allegedly received death threats within Tihar. In October, the Supreme Court declined to entertain another plea by alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar seeking transfer from Delhi`s Mandoli jail to any other jail outside the capital.

(With Agency Inputs)
JAIPUR: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Congress MLA Sachin Pilot has raised suspicion over the former eventually leaving the party like party stalwart Ghulam Nabi Azab, who too earned praise from the Prime Minister. Speaking to reporters, Pilot called the PM praising his worst critic and political rival Ashok Gehlot as a serious matter and an interesting development.

"...I find the heaps of praises by PM Modi (on CM Gehlot yesterday) very interesting. PM had similarly praised GN Azad in Parliament. We saw what happened after that. It was an interesting development yesterday. Shouldn't be taken lightly..."

#WATCH | Rajasthan Cong MLA Sachin Pilot says, "...I find the heaps of praises by PM Modi (on CM Gehlot y'day)very interesting. PM had similarly praised GN Azad in Parliament. We saw what happened after that. It was an interesting development y'day. Shouldn't be taken lightly..." pic.twitter.com/QBknOLVWJT  ANI (@ANI) November 2, 2022

Pilot, the former Rajasthan CM, also said that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will take disciplinary action against state Congress MLAs for turning out for the September 25 CLP meet that triggered a big political crisis.

As far as Rajasthan is concerned, a CLP meet called on September 25 couldn't be held. AICC considered it a matter of indiscipline...Rules are the same for all. So, if indiscipline occurred & replies were given, action should be taken. I believe party chief Kharge will take a decision soon, Pilot told reporters.

The cautious remarks from Pilot on Gehlot came a day after PM Modi praised the Rajasthan CM as one of the senior-most chief ministers of any state and an experienced politician.

Narendra Modi made these remarks while addressing an event in Banswara during which he recalled that the two worked in past without any discord. The Prime Minister also hailed Gehlot as one of the senior-most Chief Ministers in the country and an experienced politician.

Ashok Ji (Gehlot) and I had worked together as CMs. He was the most senior in our lot of CMs. Ashok Ji is still one of the senior-most CMs among those who are sitting on the stage right now, PM Narendra Modi said while addressing the gathering at Mangarh Dham ki Gaurav Gatha in Banswara, Rajasthan.

During his speech, PM Modi also regretted that the struggle & sacrifice of tribal communities didn't get their rightful place in history written after Independence. Today, the country is rectifying that decades-old mistake. India's past, present & future is not complete without the tribal community, the PM said in Banswara.

Every step of our freedom struggle, pages of history are filled with tribal valour, the Prime Minister said. Responding to his speech, Gehlot said that PM Modi gets respect globally because he is the PM of a country where democracy is deep-rooted.

Gehlot said that when PM Narendra Modi goes abroad he receives great honour. because he`s the PM of the nation of Gandhi, where democracy is deep-rooted. "When the world realises this, they feel proud that the PM of that country is coming to them..." Gehlot said during the event Mangarh Dham ki Gaurav Gatha, which recalled the 1913 Mangarh massacre.

Besides Gehlot, Prime Minister Modi earlier shared the dais with MP CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel during the event. The Prime Minister also declared the Mangarh Dham in the Banswara district of Rajasthan as a national monument. It was here that the British forces - on November 17, 1913 - gunned down more than 1,500 people of the Bhil tribal community.

The Prime Minister remembered that the entire area which was a barren land earlier got transformed with greenery after he urged everyone via the platform of Van Mahotsav. He thanked the tribal community for selflessly working for the campaign.
New Delhi: The aim of the Central government is to turn Delhi into a grand city complete with all amenities in accordance with its status as the capital of the country, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. PM inaugurated 3,024 newly constructed EWS flats at Kalkaji area, built for rehabilitating slum dwellers under the `In-Situ Slum Rehabilitation Project` and handed over keys to eligible beneficiaries at Bhoomiheen Camp in a programme at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Wednesday. The Prime Minister informed that more than 3,000 homes have already been prepared in the first phase of Kalkaji Extension alone. Very soon, other families living in the area will get the opportunity to enter their new homes. "I am sure that these efforts of the Central government will play a big role in making Delhi an ideal city", he said.

"Our government is leaving no stone unturned to fulfil the aspirations of citizens in Delhi. The aim of the Central government is to turn Delhi into a grand city complete with all amenities in accordance with its status as the capital of the country," the PM said. Referring to his talk of `aspirational society` from the ramparts of Red Fort, the Prime Minister said that Delhi`s poor and middle class are both aspirational and talented.

Also Read: PM Narendra Modi hands over keys of 3,024 EWS flats in Delhi to slum dwellers

Speaking on the topic of unauthorised colonies in Delhi, the Prime Minister acknowledged the constant worry of the people about the status of their houses. "The Central government has also done the work of reducing this concern of the people of Delhi. Work is going on to regularise the houses built in unauthorised colonies of Delhi through the PM-UDAY scheme. Till now thousands of people have taken advantage of this scheme", he said. He also mentioned that 700 crore rupees have been spent in providing interest subsidies to poor and middle-class families for constructing their own houses.

  -                   https://t.co/3cBvsnft5t  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 2, 2022

The Prime Minister pointed out that for decades, the system of governance in the country was plagued with the mentality that poverty is poor people`s issue but the government of today belongs to the poor and it is not in its nature to leave them be. He highlighted that the poor remain Central to policy formation and decision-making systems and that the government is treating the issues of the urban poor with equal importance.

The Prime Minister said that there were 50 lakh people in Delhi, who did not even have a bank account. That deprived them of any benefit of the banking system. "They were in Delhi but Delhi was very far from them," he said. This situation was changed by the government and a campaign for financial inclusion via opening accounts. This resulted in direct benefits to the poor people of Delhi, including street vendors.

Emphasising the development in the Delhi NCR region, the Prime Minister informed about the expansion of metro routes from 190 km to 400 km after 2014. He further noted that in the last 8 years, 135 new metro stations have been added to the network which ended up saving time and money. He also informed that the Government of India with an investment of Rs 50,000 crores is widening roads to provide relief to Delhi from traffic congestion. The Prime Minister gave examples of Dwarka Expressway, Urban Extension Road, Akshardham to Baghpat 6-lane Access Control Highway and elevated corridor in the form of Gurugram-Sohna Road.

The Prime Minister informed that services like Rapid Rail for Delhi NCR are going to begin in the near future. He noted the grand construction of the New Delhi Railway Station that is going to take place and expressed delight at the construction of Bharat Vandana Park on 80 hectares of land in Dwarka which is now moving towards completion in the next few months. "I am told that over 700 big parks in Delhi are maintained by the DDA. Various parks are being developed by DDA on the 22 km stretch between Wazirabad barrage to Okhla barrage", he informed.
New Delhi: In a shocking revelation in the Morbi bridge collapse case in Gujarat, the Additional Public Prosecutor, Advocate HS Panchal, accused the managers of Oreva company of recognising the tragic mishap as the Act of God in the court. "One of the two managers of Oreva company (that have been arrested) told the court that it is an `Act of God`," said Additional Public Prosecutor, Advocate HS Panchal. It has also been revealed that the bridge's cable wires were "rusting away" and were not in good enough condition to be opened to the general public. Two managers at Orvea Company are among the four people who have been taken to police custody till November 5.

Cable were old, greasing was not done

"In the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report, the Investigating Officer (IO) said that the cable (of the bridge) was rusting away. The Investigating Officer says that only flooring of the bridge was done and the cables were not changed, oiling-greasing also wasn`t done," Advocate HS Panchal said. The FSL officer also revealed that it was an old cable. Asked about details of the accused sent to police custody today, Panchal said, "Out of the 4 people who were sent to Police custody, two are managers at Oreva Co and two others did fabrication work for the bridge. The five others who were sent to judicial custody are security personnel and ticket vendors."

Also Read: 'Where is ED, CBI?: Mamata Banerjee demands judicial enquiry into Morbi bridge incident

"In the report, the Investigating Officer (IO) stated that the tender process did not take place and contract was directly allotted," Advocate Panchal further said.

Nine taken into custody

Out of nine persons arrested pertaining to the October 30 collapse of the century-old suspension bridge, killing 135 people, Gujarat`s Morbi Court on Wednesday has sent four people to police custody and the remaining five into judicial custody till November 5. Of the four persons in police custody, two are managers of the Oreva company, which threw the bridge open for visitors after seven months of maintenance works, and the other two are fabrication work contractor`s people.

SP of Morbi, Rahul Tripathi said, "We are questioning all the four accused in our custody and we are trying to establish the liability of the different kinds of lapses in the bridge renovation. We are doing a thorough investigation and if anyone`s role comes forward, he or she will be booked and arrested."

"Yes, We have given a scientific report to the court but details of the same can`t be shared with you at this stage as this will hamper our investigation," he added.

Also Read: Contractors who repaired Morbi bridge were 'not qualified': Prosecution tells court

FIR under culpable homicide

The Gujarat Police has filed a First Information Report under IPC sections 304 and 308 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) in the bridge collapse tragedy. Earlier, the Gujarat government constituted a five-member committee to probe the bridge collapse incident.

"An FIR has been registered against the maintenance and management agencies of the bridge, under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), and 114 (abettor present when offense is committed) of the India Penal Code," said Morbi B Division Police Inspector, Prakashbhai Dekavadiya.

What Gujarat Home Minister said

In a press conference, Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi expressed his condolences and said, "The death toll in the Morbi hanging bridge collapse incident has gone up to 132. The Chief Minister has constituted a high power committee yesterday itself while leaving Ahmedabad. All officers, posted at different locations, were asked to report at Morbi by 2 am. The investigation is going on." The Gujarat Home Minister further informed that a criminal case has been registered in connection with the incident.

Also Read: Gujarat Assembly polls delayed as PM Modi has to inaugurate more bridges like Morbi: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge

"An investigation has begun today under the leadership of Range IGP," Sanghavi said. Everyone worked all through the night. The Navy, NDRF (National Disaster Relief Force), Air Force and Army arrived at the spot quickly. More than 200 persons have worked the entire night for search and rescue operations," Sanghavi said.

At least 135 people, including women and children, were killed and over 100 are receiving treatment for their injuries sustained after a cable suspension bridge in Morbi town collapsed on Sunday, plunging people into the Machchhu River. The search and rescue operation is underway in the Machchhu river. "According to the information received from the district administration, one or two people are still missing. We are carrying out search operation along with other agencies. 5 teams of NDRF are working here," Prasanna Kumar, NDRF commandant said today.

(With ANI inputs)
Hyderabad: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has condemned the `Internal Survey Report` being circulated on social media and alleged that it had been an attempt to tarnish the image and mislead people ahead of the Munugode bypolls. "A forged statement, entitled `RSS Internal Survey Report`, is being circulated in Social Media today. Released ostensibly in the context of the Munugode Bypolls on Nov 3, 2022, this report is signed by an unknown person and is clearly released with the mala fide intention of confusing and misleading people," an official statement from the Pranth Karyavaaha of Telangana RSS, Kacham Ramesh said.

The statement further stated that the Sangh did not conduct any such survey and they condemn the "mischievous act" of publicising this fake document, adding "RSS is a voluntary organisation that has been working for the last 97 years with the primary aim of nation-building through individual character-building. The RSS, as an institution, participates neither in politics nor does it conduct political surveys."

Terming the elections as a crucial and critical part of democracy, the statement said that RSS encourages every Indian to "exercise their franchise", calling the act of publishing "forged document in the name of RSS" something that derides and abuses democratic and social values.

The RSS said that such actions do not befit the position of any individual or institution of responsibility, adding "Of late, attempts have been made to denigrate a cultural voluntary organisation such as the RSS, by people who have been resorting to fake, baseless and implausible news stories and comments for political gains."

It sought stringent action from the government and concerned officials against the persons responsible for it. Recently on Tuesday, a clash broke out allegedly between TRS and BJP workers, on the last day of the Munugode by-election campaign, in Telangana`s Nalgonda.

Also WATCH: Stones, sticks in BJP vs TRS battle ahead of Munugode bypoll in Telangana

According to the state Chief Electoral Officer, Vikas Raj, as many as 298 polling stations have been set for the Munugode by-election and 2,41,855 voters will cast their vote in the election slated to be held on November 3. Vikas Raj said, "The Munugode by-election campaigning will end on Tuesday at 6 pm and the polling time is from 7 am to 6 pm, adding "There are around 105 critical polling stations identified."

The official informed that booth-level officers and medical teams are available in all stations, and mentioned that they have given the new design voter ID for the first time in Munugode and have also set up webcasting in all the polling centres. 51 teams have been assigned, including flying squads and static surveillance teams are deployed, he had said. "As many as 199 Micro Observers are deployed. We have deployed 3,366 state police and 15 companies of the central police force in Munogode. 185 cases have been registered and Rs.6.80 crore and 4,500 litres of liquor have been seized so far," Vikas Raj had said.
New Delhi: The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has asked the Delhi government to shut schools till air quality in the national capital improves. The national capital's air quality has deteriorated to 'severe' in the last few days, according to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data. Air pollution in the 'severe' category affects healthy people and seriously impacts children and those with existing diseases, according to the CPCB. The apex child rights body said it had taken a serious view of the matter and expressed concern over the 'severe' air quality impacting the health of children.

NCPCR Chairperson Priyank Kanoongo has written to the chief secretary and strongly recommended considering appropriate action. He has urged the Delhi government to consider shutting schools in the interest of the children till air quality in the national capital improves.

As of November 2, the real-time air quality index (AQI) for Delhi is 353, the national capital's pollution is labeled to be 'hazardous'. AQI from 0 to 100 is considered as good, from 100 to 200 it is 'moderate', 200 to 300 is considered 'poor', and from 300 to 400 it is said to be 'very poor' and from 400 to 500 or above it is considered as 'severe'. With air pollution worsening, Delhi authorities halted all construction work and demolition activities till further orders.
New Delhi: Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena in his communication with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has never been "abusive", said a statement from Raj Niwas on Wednesday. "On the contrary, even in matters of extreme breach of propriety or blatant verbal misconduct on part of the CM, his ministers and members of AAP, the L-G has ignored and refrained from any comment. It may be noted that it took the Delhi High Court to reprimand and restrain them from being abusive towards the L-G," the statement said. Even in matters of procedural impropriety, deliberate lapses and apparent misdemeanours in matters of governance affecting the people of Delhi, the LG has conveyed his views in writing, in a most dignified, proper and parliamentary language. His choice of words even in conveying his displeasure or non-concurrence over valid issues of concern to the people of Delhi has been more than civil and proper, the statement said.

L-G office says allegations 'attempt to deflect...'

The L-G's office further said the way an issue is being tried to be manufactured with the help of pre-decided planted questions is unfortunate. "This is obviously an attempt to deflect people's attention from real issues that have recently come to the fore and should be avoided by the Chief Minister. It will do the people of Delhi, a lot of good if the CM and his government followed the advice/directions given to CM by the L-G, in a fully constitutionally valid manner and in the unquestionably dignified, civil and proper language," added the Raj Niwas statement.

Delhi excise policy row

Amid row over Delhi`s excise policy, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said that Rs 4,000-5,000 crore was going to be generated from the policy, but there was a loss in revenue due to the intervention of Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena.

"Excise policy of AAP was supposed to generate revenue of Rs 4,000-5,000 crore but just two days before its implementation the L-G 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 mediapersons here.

This came after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over the RTI`s new disclosures in the matter of the excise policy scam case.

Poonawalla alleged that the `New Liquor Policy of AAP` caused a huge loss. He said that in 288 days, there has been a loss of Rs 2,000-2,300 crore.

"AAP`s New Liquor Policy caused a loss of almost Rs 2,000-2,300 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 said underscoring that the new policy should have garnered profit instead of bearing a loss of Rs 8 crore per day.
Patna: The Sashastra Seema Bal, along with Bihar Police, has detained a woman carrying only a driving license issued in California at the India-Nepal border in the Kishanganj district. The woman was identified as Farida Malik who is of Pakistani origin but claims to have US citizenship. She was intercepted at Galgalia border in Kishanganj district, as she was trying to sneak through a security check post without any valid documents. According to officials, Malik was arrested in Uttarakhand one year ago and served a jail term. After being released, she was deported to the US. Now, she again came to India but her motive was yet to be ascertained.

"We have detained her in the women police station and questioning is on. We have also informed the US Consulate at Kolkata. We are trying to find out the reasons for her arrival in India and why she is going to Nepal.

Also Read: Chinese woman, living as Nepali MONK in Delhi, arrested on spying charges

The alleged woman was not carrying valid documents including passports and visa. She is only carrying a driving license. The movement of Malik is suspicious," said an officer of the women police station of Kishanganj.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will today inaugurate 3024 newly constructed EWS flats in Delhi built for rehabilitating slum dwellers. The flats, which have been built at Kalkaji, have been constructed under the In-Situ Slum Rehabilitation Project and PM Modi will hand over keys to eligible beneficiaries at Bhoomiheen Camp in a programme at Vigyan Bhawan.

As per an official release, the flats have been constructed at a cost of about Rs 345 crores and are equipped with all civic amenities. They have vitrified floor tiles, ceramics tiles, Udaipur green marble counter in the kitchen, etc.

Public amenities like Community parks, Electric Sub-stations, Sewage Treatment plants, dual water pipelines, lifts, Underground reservoir for hygienic water supply, etc have also been provided.

The flats are equipped with all civic amenities including finishing having been done with vitrified floor tiles, ceramics tiles, Udaipur green marble counter in kitchen, etc. pic.twitter.com/xxEU9XvfUo  ANI (@ANI) November 2, 2022

"The allotment of flats will provide the people with ownership title as well as a sense of security," the Prime Minister's Office said.

In-situ slum rehabilitation in 376 "Jhuggi Jhopri" clusters is being undertaken by Delhi Development Authority (DDA). The objective of the rehabilitation project is to provide a better and healthy living environment to the residents of the Jhuggi Jhopri clusters, with proper amenities and facilities.

It is noteworthy that the DDA has undertaken three such projects at Kalkaji Extension, Jailorwala Bagh and Kathputli Colony.

Under the Kalkaji Extension Project, in-situ Slum Rehabilitation of three slum clusters namely Bhoomiheen Camp, Navjeevan camp and Jawahar camp located at Kalkaji are being taken up in a phased manner.

Under Phase I, 3024 EWS flats at the nearby vacant commercial centre site have been constructed.

The Jhuggi Jhopri site at Bhoomiheen Camp will be vacated by rehabilitating eligible households of Bhoomiheen camp to the newly constructed EWS flats. Post vacation of Bhoomiheen Camp site, in Phase II, this vacated site will be utilised for rehabilitation of Navjeevan Camp and Jawahar Camp.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated 3,024 newly constructed EWS flats at Kalkaji, Delhi built for rehabilitating slum dwellers under the `In-Situ Slum Rehabilitation` Project. PM Modi then handed over keys to eligible beneficiaries from Bhoomiheen Camp at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi. "In line with the vision of the Prime Minister to provide housing for all, in-situ slum rehabilitation in 376 Jhuggi Jhopri clusters is being undertaken by Delhi Development Authority (DDA). The objective of the rehabilitation project is to provide a better and healthy living environment to the residents of the Jhuggi Jhopri clusters, with proper amenities and facilities," read an official statement by Prime Minister`s Office (PMO).

The Delhi Development Authority has undertaken three such projects at Kalkaji Extension, Jailorwala Bagh, and Kathputli Colony. Under the Kalkaji Extension Project, in-situ Slum Rehabilitation of three slum clusters namely Bhoomiheen Camp, Navjeevan camp, and Jawahar camp located at Kalkaji is being taken up in a phased manner.

Also Read: 'We've freed our investors from red tapism....', says PM Narendra Modi at Invest Karnataka 2022 Summit

Under Phase I, 3024 EWS flats at the nearby vacant commercial center site have been constructed. The Jhuggi Jhopri site at Bhoomiheen Camp will be vacated by rehabilitating eligible households of Bhoomiheen camp to the newly constructed EWS flats.

Delhi | Prime Minister Narendra Modi hands over keys to eligible beneficiaries at Bhoomiheen Camp after inaugurating 3,024 newly-constructed flats at Kalkaji, Delhi under the 'In-Situ Slum Rehabilitation Project' pic.twitter.com/qXNkeHwfPp  ANI (@ANI) November 2, 2022

Post vacation of Bhoomiheen Campsite, in Phase II, this vacated site will be utilized for rehabilitation of Navjeevan Camp and Jawahar Camp."Phase I of the Project has been completed and 3024 flats are ready to move in.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates 3,024 newly-constructed flats at Kalkaji, Delhi under the 'In-Situ Slum Rehabilitation Project' pic.twitter.com/9GliKNv8ui  ANI (@ANI) November 2, 2022

These flats have been constructed at a cost of about Rs. 345 crores and are equipped with all civic amenities including finishing having been done with vitrified floor tiles, ceramics tiles, Udaipur green marble counter in kitchen, etc. Public amenities have also been provided. The allotment of flats will provide the people ownership title as well as a sense of security," the statement added.
Lucknow: Five persons, including two masterminds of the Cooperative Bank fraud case in which Rs 146 crore was digitally transferred by hackers, have been arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police`s Special Task Force (STF). However, the hackers from Delhi are still on the run. According to the police, the cyber thugs spent Rs 1 crore in 18 months, hired three hackers, used six devices, used three keylogger softwares and roped in three employees to breach the bank`s server to transfer the money on October 15.

Those arrested have been identified as Dhruv Kumar Srivastava, Ramraj (mastermind), Karmveer Singh, Akash Kumar, and Bhupendra Singh. Additional SP, STF, Vishal Vikram said that Ramraj is section officer in Uttar Pradesh`s Home Department, while Karmveer is an assistant manager in the payment section of the Cooperative Bank`s Sitapur branch.

The team recovered a bank ID card, 25 sets of Aadhaar Cards and blank cheques, eight mobile phones, and seven ATM cards from the accused. They have owned up to their crime.

Also read: Triple murder in Uttar Pradesh: SP slams Yogi govt on poor law and order

In his confession, Dhruv Kumar Srivastava revealed how they hired a hacker who had expertise in taking remote access to the bank`s system. On October 15, five teams of the gang assembled at KD Singh Babu Stadium. "The gang managed to breach the server and Rs 146 crore was transferred," said the officer.

After the money transfer, the gang reached an eatery for refreshments when the bank`s staff got an alert and the money transfer was frozen, the ASP added. When the gang members came to know of this, they panicked and fled to different destinations. The accused said they were working on the `project` for the last 18 months and had also spent Rs 50 lakh in purchasing the devices.

Kanpur Schoolboy found dead in mysterious circumstances

A class 12 student, who had gone reportedly missing from Uttar Pradesh`s Kanpur, was found dead in a secluded place near his school, police said. Assistant Divisional Commissioner of Police (Kanpur), Brijesh Srivastava, said that there were no injury marks on the body of 18-year-old Ronil Sarkar. "We are waiting for the post-mortem report. The police will probe how the boy reached the secluded place, which is around 500 metres from his school," he added.

Police, meanwhile, have converted the missing report case into a murder FIR. According to police, Ronil went to school on Monday morning. In the afternoon, when he did not return home, his family began to look for him and met his tuition teacher. After failing to trace him, Ronil`s family lodged a missing person report.

On Tuesday, a local informed the police about spotting the body of a youth near a railway track. Since the body had a school uniform, they contacted school authorities for identification.
New Delhi: Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Wednesday (November 2, 2022) urged his new party chief Mallikarjun Kharge to "take action" against those who triggered the recent political crisis in Rajasthan. The former Rajasthan deputy chief minister said only 13 months were left for the assembly elections in the state and whatever decisions are to be taken, like the CLP meeting, the AICC would take them very soon.

In the run-up to the nomination for Congress president election, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was forced to bow out of the process after several party MLAs supporting him did not attend a Congress Legislature Party meeting.

"Congress is an old party... I request the new president to take action against indiscipline," Pilot said.

"As far as Rajasthan is concerned, a CLP meeting called on September 25 couldn't be held. AICC considered it a matter of indiscipline...Rules same for all. So, if indiscipline occurred and replies were given, action should be taken. I believe party chief Mallikarjun Kharge will take a decision soon," he added.

Notices were issued to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal, chief whip and PHED Minister Mahesh Joshi and RTDC chairman Dharmendra Rathore after MLAs of the Ashok Gehlot camp skipped a CLP meeting on September 25 and held a parallel one at Dhariwal's residence against any move by the party to make Sachin Pilot the new chief minister.

In July 2020, the then Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, along with 18 of his supporting MLAs, had revolted against the leadership of Gehlot.

Meanwhile, Pilot also commented on Prime Minister Narendra Modi praising Ashok Gehlot at a programme on Tuesday and said that it was "interesting" and that it "should not be taken lightly".
Ranchi: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) Party has slammed the Centre after the Enforcement Directorate issued a summon Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren calling him for questi0ning in the illegal mining case on November 3. Attacking the Centre, JMM leader Manoj Pandey termed the ED action as vendetta politics.

"PM should also be summoned in several cases," Pandey said. "We`ll approach the Court if there`s injustice. Don`t know if the ED can summon a Chief Minister. If so, the Chief Minister will respond after consulting legal experts," the JMM leader told ANI.

JMM leaders remarks came minutes after Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren was summoned by the central agency for investigation over contravention of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and in a money laundering probe linked to an illegal mining case in the Sahebganj district.

While reacting to ED`s summon to Hemant Soren, Jharkhand BJP State President Deepak Prakash said, "The law will not spare the one who does wrong. Jharkhand people are apprised of the fact that Hemant Soren has taken an illegal mining lease in the name of his Press Advisors, his key aide MLA Pankaj Mishra, and his wife. There has been a scam of thousand crores. If the ED is summoning the Chief Minister, it is a welcome move."

Asked about the JMM`s party leader`s allegations of the Centre doing `vendetta politics`, Deepak Prakash said that the people, who are accusing are those who did the work of looting the mineral wealth of Jharkhand, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leaders have resolved to ransack the poor.

Another BJP leader from West Bengal, Saumitra Khan supported the ED`s move. "One always has to pay for wrong deeds. If the Chief Minister did something wrong then he will pay for it," Saumitra said.

Notably, Soren has been asked by the agency to appear before its Jharkhand`s Ranchi based regional office by 11.30 am.

The ED`s move came almost a month after it seized a passbook and a chequebook, including two signed cheques, of Soren from the home of his alleged close associate Pankaj Mishra, who enjoyed political clout being the representative of Soren and exercised considerable control over illegal mining businesses as well as inland ferry services in Sahebganj and its adjoining areas through his accomplices.

Mishra is in judicial custody now for exercising control over the mining of stone chips and boulders as well as installation and operations of several crushers set up across various mining sites in Jharkhand`s Sahebganj district.
New Delhi: Union Minister and BJP leader Bhupender Yadav on Wednesday, November 2, 2022, attacked Aam Aadmi Party over Punjab farm fires and said that as of today, a state run by the AAP government has seen over 19 per cent rise in farm fires over 2021. Pointing out that Haryana, a state run by the BJP government has seen a 30.6 per cent drop in farm fires. Blaming AAP for rising pollution in the national capital, he said, "there is no doubt over who has turned Delhi into a gas chamber."

"Sample this: As of today, Punjab, a state run by the AAP government, has seen an over 19 per cent rise in farm fires over 2021. Haryana has seen a 30.6 per cent drop. Just today, Punjab saw 3,634 fires. There is no doubt about who has turned Delhi into a gas chamber," Yadav tweeted.

Sample this: As of today, Punjab, a state run by the AAP government, has seen an over 19% rise in farm fires over 2021. Haryana has seen a 30.6% drop.



Just today, Punjab saw 3,634 fires.



There is no doubt over who has turned Delhi into a gas chamber.



Wondering how? Read on... pic.twitter.com/Nh8fYN9gnf  Bhupender Yadav (@byadavbjp) November 2, 2022

AQI 'very poor' in Delhi

Earlier on Wednesday, the pollution in and around Delhi reached an alarming level as the air quality index (AQI) has been recorded as very poor. According to the Meteorological Department, the AQI in Delhi today was recorded at 354 which falls under the category of very poor.

As per the parameters set by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the AQI category from 301 to 400 is considered very poor and from 401 to 500 severe. Further, as per the information provided by the air quality data agency `SAFAR`, the AQI in Anand Vihar was recorded in the severe category at 406 today, followed by ITO 382 and Akshardham 363.

Also Read: 'Why concerns ONLY for...': Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann lashes out at Modi Government over THIS

Earlier in October, Environment Ministry pointed out that increasing incidents of stubble burning in Punjab this year have become a matter of serious concern. 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.

CAQM on stubble burning statistics

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. 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.
Thiruvananthapuram: The war of words between Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Governor Arif Mohammed Khan intensified on Wednesday with Vijayan asking the latter to "behave" and reminding that "this is Kerala". "Some (Governor) here are trying to run a parallel government here and are even directing the police on how to run their department. He says he will withdraw the pleasure towards the Ministers. What he fails to understand is that there is an elected government here and a legislature and above all that, he should understand that this is Kerala. He thinks all powers are vested with him and considers himself even above judiciary," Vijayan said while inaugurating a public meeting called by the Left Democratic Front at the auditorium at the state CPI-M headquarters here.

He went on to add that it appears the Governor has an agenda. "Just look, several universities in the country are under the control of the RSS and a similar agenda is on the cards here and he wants to do the same here by placing RSS followers here," Vijayan said and sternly warned Khan that this is Kerala.

Also Read: 'SACK Finance Minister IMMEDIATELY...': Kerala Governor writes to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan

He said Khan is not performing his duties as a Governor and is not signing Bills which are sent to him. "There have been rulings from the Madras High Court on the responsibilities of the Governor," added Vijayan, and accused Khan of trying to create a scenario here which will enable the Centre to intervene.

Also Read: 'People who cannot tolerate...': Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan slams Governor Arif Mohammed Khan

Khan of late has been going hammer and tongs against the way Vijayan is running the higher education sector and first removed 15 nominated Senate members of the University of Kerala for not obeying his directions.

Then riding on a Supreme Court order which asked the Vice Chancellor of the Kerala Technological University to step down as rules were not followed in his appointment, Khan asked 10 other VCs to quit.

This irked the Vijayan government and following an intervention of the Kerala High Court, all the VCs have been given time till November 4 to reply to the show cause notice served by Khan as the Chancellor on why they should not be removed.

Khan is presently out of station and will return on Friday.
New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is expected to meet her Tamil Nadu counterpart, M K Stalin on November 2 during her visit to Chennai. They can discuss their respective strategies for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. During the visit, Banerjee commented on the Morbi bridge collapse. A suspension bridge collapsed on Sunday (October 30) in Gujarat which has now become a mega issue. She called for a thorough inspection of all old cable bridges in her state, to avoid any future mishap like Morbi. Banerjee during the visit commented on those who are not constructing such bridges and playing with the lives of people are committing crimes, as per Mamata Banerjee. She further added that the state government is not properly helping people because they are busy with Gujarat elections.

Harsendu Panchal, the Public Prosecutor in this city, made some startling revelations in the Morbi bridge collapse case on Wednesday. He stated, citing the FSL's preliminary report, that the contractor did not change the cables, that rusted ropes were only painted, and that the flooring was changed. Panchal presented a detailed report of the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in a sealed cover to the First Class Judicial Magistrate here on Tuesday late evening. Mamata Banerjee also wants the government to make a judiciary committee on the Morbi bridge collapse.

We stand by the victims of the Morbi Bridge collapse tragedy & pray for their speedy recovery.



Politics is not greater than the lives of people. I express my condolences to the families of the victims - Hon'ble CM @MamataOfficial on the Morbi bridge collapse tragedy. pic.twitter.com/WgO6F2QUGl  All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) November 2, 2022

Also Read: 'Saddened by the DEATH of...': Read PM Modi's EMOTIONAL tweet after demise of THIS noted 'GANDHIAN'

All about the Morbi Bridge collapse

On Sunday (October 30) the Morbi bridge collapsed above the Machchhu River, killing over 130 people. People were seen falling into the river in disturbing videos and photos. When the bridge collapsed over 500 people drowned in the Machchhu River. Residents and government officials began rescue efforts immediately. The Morbi bridge is a popular local picnic spot that draws large crowds on weekends and other holidays.

That area has no electricity connection - a factor that made the rescue operations further difficult. Local MLA Lalit said that the overbridge was inaugurated just 6 months ago due to the elections. He alleged that the work was done in extreme haste and proper checks were not made.

Also Read: 'Congress is plagued by familism, but BJP...': Amit Shah's BIG ATTACK ahead of Himachal Pradesh election

Lawyers refuse to fight Morbi Bridge Collapse case

Lawyers in Gujarat's Morbi staged a protest march, expressing their refusal to fight the case for all nine accused in the Morbi bridge collapse case, in which 135 people were killed on October 30. Two of the nine accused are members of the Oreva group (a Gujarat-based electrical appliance manufacturer), which is being investigated for allegedly opening the Morbi suspension bridge without informing the local municipality on Gujarati New Year's Day.

The Oreva group was awarded the contract to maintain the century-old suspension bridge. Four of the accused in the case have been placed in police custody until Saturday, while the other five have been placed in judicial custody. Two of the four people in police custody are Oreva company managers, and the other two are fabrication work contractors. Morbi's lawyers have refused to fight the case on behalf of all nine defendants.

Also Read: 'Where is ED, CBI?: Mamata Banerjee demands judicial enquiry into Morbi bridge incident

Morbi bridge collapse - Act of God' as per the accused

According to reports, one of the defence lawyers argued that this was an act of God, and thus the arrest of the accused was illegal. "The accused inside the Court framed the mishap as an `Act of God, but as per the FIR registered in the case it is a case of `criminal negligence and not an `Act of God," Dilip, Ex-President, Morbi Bar Association said. "The Morbi Bar Association will also take a rally to the incident spot, where the bridge collapsed, and will pay tribute to the deceased of the Morbi mishap," said Jeetu Jadeja head of Morbi Bar Association. The suspension bridge above the Machchhu River in the Morbi district collapsed on October 30.
New Delhi: Amid the worsening condition of Delhi-NCRs air quality, with AQI plunging to 400, AAP-led Punjab Chief Minister, Bhagwant Mann lashed out at the centre for not paying heed to his recommendations on stubble-burning issue and also blaming Punjab solely for the situation. Mann accused the BJP government of overlooking concerns of deteriorating air quality in regions like Haryana and Rajasthan and concentrating mainly on Delhi and Punjab. We gave recommendations to Centre but they didn't pay heed to them. Why are questions being raised only about Delhi & Punjab? Several cities of Haryana and Rajasthan are also reporting poor AQI, why isn't the Centre raising questions on these states? Mann said.

We gave recommendations to Centre but they didn't pay heed to them. Why are questions being raised only about Delhi & Punjab? Several cities of Haryana and Rajasthan are also reporting poor AQI, why isn't the Centre raising questions on these states?: Punjab CM on stubble burning pic.twitter.com/iHoIdzlRTq  ANI (@ANI) November 2, 2022

BJP accused AAP for dipping AQI

Earlier, BJPs national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia raised concerns about dipping air quality in Delhi and stubble-burning issues in Punjab and demanded the resignation of Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann. He reprimanded Kejriwal for not being able to control the citys pollution and demanded Delhi CMs resignation.

"Earlier, Kejriwal used to put the blame for the pollution problem on his neighbouring state. Now AAP is ruling the Punjab and the problem of farm fires has not been obviated. What`s your answer, Kejriwal Ji?" BJP spokesperson said. Gaurav Bhatia also sieged AAP over the increase of 30 per cent in the cases of stubble burning in Punjab.

Also Read: Delhis Air quality remains in Very Poor' Category, overall AQI at 354

PM Narendra Modi allocated funds to states

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi is providing funds to the states without any discrimination and rising above party politics. The reports also prove that Punjab was given the maximum amount of Rs 1,300 crore and Haryana Rs 693 crore for stubble disposal," Bhatia said.

"Still, on the other hand, 7,648 cases of stubble burning were reported in Punjab during the year 2021-22, which increased to 10,214 in the year 2022-23. Thus there was an increase of 33 per cent in the incidence of stubble burning in Punjab," he added.

Haryana CM on AQI

Previously, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that the number of incidences of stubble burning in Haryana is less than 10% of that in Punjab. "There are not even 10 per cent cases of stubble burning in Haryana as compared to Punjab. Last year there were 2,561 incidents of stubble burning, whereas it has decreased to 1,925 this year while 13,873 incidents have taken place in Punjab this year," Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar said while addressing a press conference in Chandigarh on Monday.

Notably, Stubble burning had worsened across Punjab, leaving no chance for an improvement in Delhi's Air Quality Index (AQI) as the capital sorely seeks clean air. Increasing incidences of stubble burning in Punjab this year have become a source of considerable concern, with the Union Environment Ministry warning that the AQI is anticipated to worsen because just 45-50 per cent of the state's irrigated area had been harvested as of October 24.

(With ANI inputs)
New Delhi: South stunner Actress Hansika Motwani, who has been a part of several superhit films in Tamil and Telugu, is all set to tie the knot in December this year at a Jaipur fort. Her wedding is going to be a grand affair and preparations are in full swing. Hansika will marry a Mumbai-based entrepreneur Sohael Khaturiya, who owns the popular garment brand, Avant.

MEET HANSIKA MOTWANI'S HUSBAND TO-BE

On Wednesday, Hansika made the announcement public with the grand proposal pictures. She took to Instagram to post a series of pictures including one that showed her future husband going down on a knee to propose to her in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The pictures also showed the words 'Marry Me' made using flowers in the background during the proposal. Hansika, who posted a series of five pictures of the proposal, wrote, "Now and Forever". Several top celebrities have been congratulating Hansika ever since she put out the post.

Actresses Anushka Shetty, Khushbu, DD and Sriya Reddy were among those who congratulated the actress on Instagram.

HANSIKA MOTWANI WEDDING DATE, VENUE

According to India Today, Hansika's royal wedding will take place at a 450-year-old fort and palace. She is marrying a Mumbai-based businessman on December 4 at Mundota Fort and Palace in Jaipur, Rajasthan. The pre-wedding festivities will commence on December 2. The gorgeous actress's destination wedding is likely to be at the Mundota Fort and Palace, Jaipur.

The report also claims that Hansika's pre-wedding festivities will begin with a Sufi night on December 2 with Mehendi and sangeet ceremonies on December 3 respectively.

The couple's Haldi function will take place in the morning, followed by wedding in the evening.

(With IANS inputs)
New Delhi: Ever since Elon Musk announced that Twitter will levy a monthly charge on those with a blue tick, he has been facing criticism from all ends. Now, self-proclaimed film critic and analyst, Kamaal R Khan who is known for making comments on famous personalities took a jibe on the announcement. Taking to Twitter, he said that he does not have time to pay monthly charges so he will pay for 5 years in advance. He also asked Musk to end him a link so that he can send the payment. Dear @elonmusk, I dont have time to pay monthly charges, So I will pay for 5 years in advance. Pls send me the link to pay, KRK tweeted.

See KRK's tweet

Dear @elonmusk I dont have time to pay monthly charges, So I will pay for 5 years in advance. Pls send me the link to pay. November 1, 2022

Yesterday on November 1, Elon Musk took to his twitter handle and made the official announcement regarding the charges. Twitters current lords & peasants system for who has or doesnt have a blue checkmark is bullshit. Power to the people! Blue for $8/month, he wrote.

See Elon Musk's tweet

Twitters current lords & peasants system for who has or doesnt have a blue checkmark is bullshit.



Power to the people! Blue for $8/month.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022

Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday announced a new version of "Twitter Blue" where he planned to charge USD 8 a month for Twitter`s subscription service with priority in replies, mentions, and searches. This announcement came after various media reports revealed that Twitter is planning to charge users USD 19.99 (over Rs 1600) for the new Twitter Blue subscription that brings extra features like edit and undoing tweets. Tesla CEO further added that the new service will get the users "Priority in replies, mentions and search, which is essential to defeat spam/scam - Ability to post long video & audio - Half as many ads." "Price adjusted by country proportionate to purchasing power parity," he tweeted.

KRK is known for making silly comments on famous personalities. A few days ago, he apologised to actor Salman Khan for blaming him for his arrest.

(With ANI inputs)
Mumbai: Global Icon Priyanka Chopra on Tuesday extended her condolence over South Korea`s Halloween stampede. Taking to Instagram, Priyanka shared a note on her stories which she captioned, "Such a tragedy...revelry turns into a night of untold horrors with so many young lives lost."

She added, "Sending prayers and strength to families who lost their loved ones."The stampede took place on Saturday night and led to the death of at least 26 foreign nationals from 14 countries when crowds of people celebrating Halloween swelled in narrow alleys of Seoul`s popular nightlife 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. Here is the post shared by Priyanka:

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.South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has declared a period of national mourning.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Priyanka will be seen in international projects such as `It`s All Coming Back To Me`, and the series `Citadel`. Produced by Russo Brothers, `Citadel` will hit the OTT on Prime Video. The upcoming sci-fi drama series is being directed by Patrick Morgan and stars Richard Madden alongside Priyanka.

In Bollywood, she will be starring with Alia Bhatt and Katrina Kaif in Farhan Akhtar`s `Jee Le Zaraa`, which promises to be another tale of friendship following the lineage of `Dil Chahta Hai` and `Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara`, both of which have become cult classics over the years.
Mumbai: Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, on Wednesday, expressed gratitude to his fans for showering immense love on the actor and shared a birthday selfie with fans outside his house. Taking to Instagram, Shah Rukh Khan shared a picture of him along with his fans standing outside his house Mannat and captioned it, "It`s so lovely to live in front of the sea.....the sea of love that spreads all around me on my birthday....thank u. Grateful for making me feel so special....& happy."

Taking forward his ritual of greeting his fans outside his house, the `Swades` actor didn`t disappoint his fans and this year he greeted the fans twice outside Mannat. At 12 midnight and at 6 pm in the evening. SRK`s fan clubs shared a video on Instagram of him greeting all his fans.

Take a look at the video shared by fan account

The `DDLJ` actor took selfies with his fans which he shared on his social media accounts. Starstruck fans from various cities queued up since early morning to wish the star in their own special ways. Many even carried sweets, t-shirts, and huge posters of SRK along with them. SRK`s charismatic personality radiates in the massive fan following. The superstar has given the audience memorable films like `Baazigar`, `Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na`, `Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge`, `Kuch Kuch Hota Hai`, `Kal Ho Naa Ho`, `Veer Zara`, and many more.

On the occasion of his Birthday, SRK treated his fans as he unveiled the official teaser of his next action thriller film `Pathaan` which also stars Deepika Padukone and John Abraham in the lead roles. Helmed by Siddharth Anand, the teaser is currently getting a lot of praise from the audience.`Pathaan` is all set to hit the theatres on January 25, 2022, in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

Apart from that, he also has Rajkumar Hirani`s upcoming film `Dunki` alongside Taapsee Pannu and south director Atlee`s upcoming action thriller film `Jawan` opposite south actor Nayanthara, which is all set to hit the theatres on June 2, 2023, in his kitty.
New Delhi: The government on Tuesday released a draft common income tax return form for public consultation, according to a finance ministry statement released on Tuesday. The statement said that the proposed draft ITR takes a relook at the return filing system in tandem with international best practices.

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It also said it proposes to introduce a common ITR by merging all the existing returns of income except ITR-7. However, the current ITR-1 and ITR-4 will continue. The ministry said this would give an option to such taxpayers to file the return either in the existing form (ITR-1 or ITR-4), or the proposed common ITR, at their convenience.

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According to the statement, the scheme of the proposed common ITR is that basic information (comprising parts A to E), schedule for computation of total income (Schedule TI), schedule for computation of tax (schedule TTI), details of bank accounts, and a schedule for the tax payments (schedule TXP) is applicable for all taxpayers.

It also mentioned that The ITR is customised for taxpayers with applicable schedules based on certain questions answered by the taxpayers (wizard questions).

The questions have been designed in such a manner and order that if the answer to any question is `no`, the other questions linked to this question will not be shown to the taxpayer, it added. "Instructions have been added to assist the filing of the return containing the directions regarding the applicable schedules.

"The ministry said the proposed ITR had been designed in such a manner that each row contains one distinct value only. This will simplify the return filing process. The utility for the ITR will be rolled out in such a manner that only applicable fields of the schedule will be visible and wherever necessary, the set of fields will appear more than once, it said.

The statement said the taxpayer would be required to answer questions which apply to it and fill the schedules linked to those questions where the answer has been given as `yes`. This will increase the ease of compliance. It said once the common ITR Form is notified, after taking into account the inputs received from stakeholders, the online utility will be released by the income tax department.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 17th October released the 12th instalment of financial benefit under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN). There might be a certain group of eligible farmers who might not have recieved the 12th instalment of Rs 2,000 under PM KISAN. If you too are one among the farmers who have not received Rs 2000 in your account under, then you can register your complain at the PM Kisan Helpdesk. You can lodge your complain from Monday to Friday.

Meanwhile, as per media reports, PM KISAN 12th installment 2022 money disbursal will continue till November 30. So you can count the days till the end of the month, for your PM KISAN 12th installment of Rs 2000 to be credited in your account

Your PM KISAN money might be stuck due to a few reasons. There should be a YES tick on all the following factors

- eKYC

- Eligibility

- Land Seeding

If you don't conform to the rules on eKYC, Eligibility and Land Seeding, your PM KISAN quarterly installment of Rs 2,000 might be impacted.

Additionally, you can also contact pmkisan-ict@gov.in to register your greviances.

You can call this helpline number 011-24300606.

Alternatively, you can also dial up the following phone numbers:

PM Kisan Toll Free Number: 18001155266

PM Kisan Helpline Number: 155261

PM Kisan Landline Numbers: 011-23381092, 23382401

PM Kisan's new helpline: 011-24300606

PM Kisan's another helpline: 0120-6025109

E-mail ID: pmkisan-ict@gov.in

PM KISAN Scheme was launched by PM Narendra Modi in 2019, aims to provide income support to all landholder farmer families across the country with cultivable land, subject to certain exclusions. Under the Scheme, an amount of Rs 6000 per year is released in three-monthly instalments of Rs 2000 each directly into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries. While lakhs of eager farmers are waiting for the disbursal of Rs 2,000 in their account, there are several farmers who are not eligible for the PM KISAN Scheme.
New Delhi: The death of Pakistani investigative journalist Arshad Sharif in Kenya has escalated tensions in the neighbouring country. Sharif was shot dead by Kenyan police, which they claim was a case of mistaken identity. However, the fact that hed fled Pakistan after a controversial interview with a PTI leader has raised suspicions of an ISI hit.

Sharifs death adds to the growing list of journalists killed in the line of duty over the years in different corners of the world. Take Mexico for example, where over a dozen journalists have been killed this year alone  some by cartels and some by suspected law enforcers.

Journalists also pay with their lives and limbs in conflict zones  whether in the Middle East, Africa, or in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

The United Nations has proclaimed November 2 as the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists.

As per UNESCO data, 1,564 journalists have been killed across the world since 1993. Between 2011 and 2021, a total of 956 journalists were killed in some or the other corner of the globe. Another 2,653 journalists were imprisoned in the same period. This translates to one journalist being killed every fourth day and two journalists being imprisoned every third day!

Iraq has been a graveyard for journalists

Iraq has turned out to be a graveyard for journalists with 201 fatalities since 1993. It is followed by Mexico (150), the Philippines (115), and Syria (113); India reported 54 fatalities in the same period.

Pakistan (90) witnessed more journalist killings than even conflict-ridden Afghanistan (81), with the latter reporting half of those in only three years (2016-18).

The Russia-Ukraine war, on the other hand, has so far claimed over a dozen journalists.

In India, UP and Bihar see most killings of journalists

In India, the states of Uttar Pradesh (12) and Bihar (9) have reported the most killings of journalists.

The latest killing was of local journalist Subhash Kumar Mahto at Sakho village in Bihars Begusarai district. Mahto was shot dead by miscreants outside his home on May 20 this year.

According to UNESCO, only 13 per cent of journalist killings since 2006 have been solved. Also, the percentage of women journalists killed has seen a steady rise. Some 11 per cent of journalists killed in 2021 and 2022 (till September 30) were women, up from 6 per cent in 2020.

The Covid-19 pandemic has also presented new challenges to the community.

Widely recognised as essential workers, journalists were required to be reporting from Ground Zero on the sufferings of people, healthcare services, economic downturn and government action (or inaction). This exposed them to the risk of contracting the virus, and as per the Press Emblem Campaign, around 2,000 journalists succumbed to coronavirus between March 2020 and February 2022.
JERUSALEM: Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared well placed to return to power as exit polls following Tuesday's election showed his right-wing bloc heading for a narrow majority lifted by a strong showing from his far-right allies. Israel's longest-serving premier, on trial over corruption charges which he denies, was poised to take a narrow majority of 61 or 62 of the Knesset's 120 seats, according to Israeli television exit polls.

"It's a good start," Netanyahu, 73, said in a video broadcast by Israeli public broadcaster Kan 11, but added that exit polls were not the real count.

A final result is not expected until later in the week, and wrangling broke out immediately with Netanyahu's Likud party warning of possible attempts to falsify the results.

Israel's fifth election in less than four years exasperated many voters, but the turnout was reported at the highest levels since 2015.

The campaign was shaken up by firebrand West Bank settler Itamar Ben-Gvir and his ultra-nationalist Religious Zionism list, now poised to be the third-largest party in parliament after surging in from the political margins.

"The time has come that we go back to being in charge of our country!" Ben-Gvir said in a speech punctuated by chants of "Death to Terrorists" from hundreds of cheering supporters.

Netanyahu's record 12-year consecutive reign ended in June 2021 when centrist Yair Lapid and his coalition partner Naftali Bennett managed to stitch together an alliance that included an Arab party for the first time.

Security on the streets and soaring prices topped the list of voter concerns in a campaign triggered by defections from Prime Minister Lapid's unlikely ruling coalition of right-wing, liberal and Arab parties.

The campaign was dominated by the outsized personality of Netanyahu, whose legal battles have fed the stalemate blocking Israel's political system since he was indicted on bribery, fraud and breach of trust charges in 2019.

Lapid's camp was poised to take 54-55 seats, with his There Is a Future party coming in second-largest in parliament, according to the polls.

Speaking to supporters at his party headquarters, Lapid stopped short of conceding the election and said he will wait until the final results were in.

"We have no intention to stop," Lapid said. "We will continue to fight for Israel to be a Jewish and democratic, liberal and progressive state."

He campaigned on his stewardship of the economy as well as diplomatic advances with countries including Lebanon and Turkey. But it was not enough to stop the right.

The result, however, left Netanyahu depending on support from Ben-Gvir and fellow far-right leader Bezalel Smotrich, who have moderated some extreme anti-Arab positions but still call for anyone deemed disloyal to Israel to be expelled.

The prospect of a government including Ben-Gvir, a former member of Kach, a group on Israeli and U.S. terrorist watchlists, and who was once convicted for racist incitement, risks alarming allies including Washington.

It also reinforced Palestinian scepticism that a political solution to the conflict was likely after a campaign that unrolled against a backdrop of increasing violence in the occupied West Bank, with near-daily raids and clashes.

"The election results proved what we already know, that we have no peace partner in Israel," Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said in a statement.

The outcome could be affected by whether or not Balad, a small Arab party, gets over the threshold for entry into parliament, which could shake up the distribution of seats and potentially thwart Netanyahu.

The Central Elections Committee said it had found no sign of any manipulation and said there was no basis to rumours of supposed fraud.
BRASILIA: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday did not concede defeat in his first public remarks since losing Sunday's election, saying protests by his supporters were the fruit of "indignation and a sense of injustice" over the vote. However, he stopped short of contesting the election result and authorized his chief of staff, Ciro Nogueira, to begin the transition process with representatives of leftist President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. It took Bolsonaro, a right-wing nationalist, more than 44 hours to comment after the election was decided by electoral authorities, with the delay raising fears he would seek to cast doubt on the narrow result. Amid his silence, supporters blocked highways to protest his defeat, with some calling for a military coup to stop former president Lula from returning to power. The highway blockades have disrupted fuel distribution, supermarket supplies, and the flow of grains exports to major ports, according to industry groups.

In his brief national address, Bolsonaro joked that journalists would miss him, thanked those who voted for him and said he would abide by the constitution, which stipulates a transition of power on Jan. 1.

"The current popular movements are the fruit of indignation and a sense of injustice about the way the electoral process took place," he said.

He said protesters should avoid destroying property or "impeding the right to come and go," but did not tell them to return home.

"Bolsonaro has not put out this fire. He spoke to his hardcore supporters without criticizing the demonstrators on the highways," said political risk analyst Andre Cesar at Hold Legislative Advisors in Brasilia. "He is keeping his more extremist followers mobilized."

Karina Laurinda, 34, who took part in highway demonstrations outside of Sao Paulo, said she would keep protesting.

"Even if he says to calm down, not to react, we're still going to react because we won't accept a Lula government," she said.

Lula's victory represents a stunning comeback for the 77-year-old former metalworker, who spent 19 months in jail for corruption convictions before they were annulled last year.

Lula has vowed to overturn many of Bolsonaro's policies, including pro-gun measures and weak protection of the Amazon rainforest. His aides confirmed on Tuesday that he would attend this month's COP27 United Nations climate summit in Egypt.
By Trend

Ankara expects Germany to return to its neutral stance on Turkiye-Greece relations, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz over the phone, Trend reports citing Daily Sabah.

Erdogan and Scholz discussed the bilateral relations and regional relations in a phone call, Turkiye's Communications Directorate said in a statement.

Turkiye and Greece are at odds over a number of issues, including competing claims over jurisdiction in the Eastern Mediterranean, overlapping claims over their continental shelves, maritime boundaries, airspace, energy, the ethnically split island of Cyprus, the status of the islands in the Aegean Sea and migrants.

Turkiye, a NATO member for over 70 years, has complained of repeated provocative actions and rhetoric by Greece in the region in recent months, including arming islands near Turkish shores that are demilitarized under treaties, saying that such moves frustrate its good faith efforts for peace.

Turkiye and Greece will resolve all issues related to the Eastern Mediterranean through dialogue, German Chancellor Scholz said in Athens on Thursday.

"Good neighborly relations, with Turkiye, for example, are of significance not just for both countries, but for all of Europe and trans-Atlantic relations," he said during a joint news conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Erdogan said that he attaches "special importance" to close dialogue developed with Scholz to strengthen bilateral relations in every field.

According to a recent study, more than half of the participants listed Germany as the most important partner of Turkiye among European Union countries. Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom ranked as the three most trusted European countries.

Turkiye-EU dialogue, negotiations to update the customs union and talks on Turkiye's EU accession should be revived, Erdogan stressed.

Turkiye-EU relations are marked by disputes on several issues, including tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean, Turkiye's role in Syria, the migrant crisis and the stalemate in Turkiye's accession process to join the bloc. However, Turkiye has recently reiterated that it is part of Europe and sees its future in the EU, adding that it will continue to work toward full membership. Ankara is calling to reenergize the accession process and update the Turkiye-EU Customs Union as it advocates for regular high-level dialogues, visa liberalization and further counterterrorism efforts.

Turkiye has the longest history with the union and the longest negotiation process. The country signed an association agreement with the EU's predecessor in 1964, the European Economic Community (EEC), which is usually regarded as a first step to eventually becoming a candidate. Applying for official candidacy in 1987, Turkiye had to wait until 1999 to be granted the status of a candidate country. For the start of the negotiations, however, Turkiye had to wait for another six years, until 2005, a uniquely long process compared with other candidates. In recent years, the accession process seems stalled.
SEOUL: A North Korean ballistic missile landed less than 60 kilometres off South Korea's coast on Wednesday, the first time an apparent test had landed near the South's waters, leading to air raid warnings, officials said. The missile was one of three short-range ballistic missiles fired from the North Korean coastal area of Wonsan into the sea, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. The JCS said at least one of the missiles landed 26 kilometres south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), a disputed inter-Korean maritime border. The missile landed 57 kilometres from the South Korean city of Sokcho, on the east coast, and 167 kilometres from Ulleung, where air raid warnings were issued.

"We heard the siren at around 8:55 am and all of us in the building went down to the evacuation place in the basement," an Ulleung county official told Reuters. "We stayed there until we came upstairs at around 9:15 after hearing that the projectile fell into the high seas."

A resident on the southern part of the island said they received no warnings.

The launches came just hours after Pyongyang demanded that the United States and South Korea stop large-scale military exercises, saying such "military rashness and provocation can be no longer tolerated."

A spokesman for the South Korean military said authorities were analysing the launches to see whether the missiles' flight paths were intentional or whether one had gone off course.

It was the first time a North Korean ballistic missile had landed near South Korean waters, JCS said.

"Our military can never tolerate this kind of North Korea's provocative act, and will strictly and firmly respond under close South Korea-U.S. cooperation," JCS said in a news release.

"For North Korea to test missiles in S or SE direction into East Sea and towards South Korean territory is highly unusual and particularly provocative," Joseph Dempsey, a defence researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, wrote in a post online.

On Monday United States and South Korea began Vigilant Storm, one of their largest combined military air drills, with hundreds of warplanes from both sides staging mock attacks 24 hours a day.

North Korea has test-fired a record number of missiles this year, and has said that a recent flurry of launches were in response to the allied drills.

Japan defence minister Yasukazu Hamada said the government believed at least two ballistic missiles had been launched from North Korea, one flying east and another southeast.

"North Korea has been repeatedly launching missiles at an unprecedented rate, in new ways that we have not seen before," Hamada said to reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday morning.

"These actions threaten the peace and stability of Japan, the wider region, as well as the broader international community, and are utterly unacceptable," he added.

Japan has lodged a complaint and protested the actions via diplomatic channels in Beijing, he said.
Russian president Vladimir Putin's health has often made headlines as reports speculated the 70-year-old's ill-health. Earlier, there were videos circulating of Putin 'trembling, struggling to stand' and now there are photos that allegedly show marks and a dark colour on his hands.

Commenting on the photo and the speculation, retired British army officer and member of the House of Lords Richard Danatt told Sky News that the 'black' tint on his hands is a "sign of injections going in when other parts of the body can't take injections."

Also Read: UK warns Russia of severe consequences if nuclear weapons used in Ukraine

In May, there was immense speculation about Russian President Vladimir Putins ill health. According to the Independent, an FSB (Russian Federal Security Service) officer had claimed that Putin is suffering from a "rapidly progressing cancer". He had also said that the 70-year-old Russian leader was suffering from headaches and his eyesight was fast deteriorating.

Amid talks of use of nuclear weapons in the Russia-Ukraine war, Putin said that Russia hasn't mentioned using nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Instead, he claimed that Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, could create and detonate a "dirty bomb".
Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday expressed his "great concern" about the safety of Chinese nationals in Pakistan, and conveyed his hope that its all-weather partner will provide a reliable and safe environment for Chinese institutions in the country. President Xi conveyed this concern when he met with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on his official visit to China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing today. "President Xi expressed his great concern about the safety of Chinese nationals in Pakistan, and conveyed his hope that Pakistan will provide a reliable and safe environment for Chinese institutions and personnel working on cooperation projects there," the official statement from the Chinese said. This follows the recent surge in targeted attacks on Chinese nationals in Pakistan by ethnic rebel groups. In the wake of increasing attacks, Beijing has expressed concerns about the inadequate security measures by Islamabad.

After the Karachi university bombing in April this year, the Pakistani media reports said the Shehbaz Sharif government has decided to bear the security costs of almost all Chinese projects. In a joint statement today, both sides also expressed their strong determination to counter all threats and designs against CPEC and China-Pakistan friendship.

"Pakistan reaffirmed its commitment to the safety and security of all Chinese personnel, projects and institutions in Pakistan. The Chinese side appreciated Pakistan`s strong determination and vigorous measures in this regard," the statement read.During his meeting with Xi, Shehbaz Sharif congratulated Xi on the successful conclusion of the 20th CPC National Congress. "He lauded the central role of the CPC and its leadership in promoting China`s development, prosperity and national rejuvenation," the statement read.

He reaffirmed Pakistan`s commitment to further strengthen and deepen the "All-weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership" and enhance practical cooperation in all areas. The two sides also exchanged views on bilateral relations, as well as, the regional situation and international political landscape."

The two sides agreed on the importance of the China-Pakistan All-weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership amidst the emerging global challenges. The meetings were marked by traditional warmth, mutual strategic trust and commonality of views," the statement read.

In the joint statement, the two sides also raked up the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.

"The Pakistani side briefed the Chinese side on the situation in Jammu & Kashmir. The Chinese side reiterated that the Kashmir issue was a dispute left from history that should be properly and peacefully resolved based on the UN Charter, relevant UN Security Council resolutions and bilateral agreements," the statement added.
LONDON: British Home Secretary Suella Braverman faced heavy criticism on Tuesday for describing the arrival of asylum seekers as an invasion, with lawmakers across the political spectrum warning of the risk of using inflammatory language. Her comments came a day after a man used firebombs to attack an immigration processing centre in the port town of Dover. Braverman, who is fighting to save her job after she admitted breaching security rules, told parliament on Monday that she was working to stop the "invasion on our southern coast" in reference to the arrival of migrants in small boats across the English channel.

Robert Jenrick, an immigration minister in Braverman's interior ministry, said his boss's language reflected the scale of the challenge, after a record number of nearly 40,000 asylum seekers arrived in Britain via small boats so far this year.

But he added: "I think in my role you have to choose your terminology wisely and we don't want to see incidents like the one that occurred in Dover happen again."

Braverman was reappointed interior minister by new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last week, six days after she resigned from the same role for breaching ministerial rules by sending a sensitive government document via her personal email.

She has also been accused of failing to listen to legal advice on the prolonged detention of migrants at another processing centre, and failing to secure adequate accommodation, both claims she has denied.

Roger Gale, a lawmaker in Braverman's governing Conservative Party whose constituency includes that centre, said her predecessors had found alternative accommodation such as hotels but that had stopped when she took over.

"I don't accept or trust this home secretary's word," he told Times Radio. "She is only really interested in playing to the right wing."

Conditions at the site at Manston in Kent were last week described by Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration David Neal as "pretty wretched". A report found people were sleeping on the floor, some were not given access to telephones and were not allowed to close toilet doors fully.

Intended to house around 1,500 migrants for less than 24 hours at a time, numbers have swelled to more than double that, with one Afghan family saying they had been there for 32 days.

"Let's stop pretending they are all refugees in distress, the whole country knows that is not true," Braverman told parliament.

Yvette Cooper, the home affairs spokeswoman for the opposition Labour Party, said the rhetoric had deteriorated in line with the government's performance.

"No Home Secretary who was serious about public safety or national security would use highly inflammatory language on the day after a dangerous petrol bomb attack on a Dover initial processing centre," she said.
Washington: North Korea is providing Russia with a significant number of artillery shells to use in the ongoing war in Ukraine, the United States has claimed. "Our information indicates that the DPRK (North Korea) is covertly supplying Russias war in Ukraine with a significant number of artillery shells, while obfuscating the shipments, by making it appear they are going to countries in the Middle East and North Africa," White House Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby told reporters on a call.

The number of shells that North Korea is allegedly sending to Russia is "not insignificant," but the White House does not believe the supplies can tangibly change the direction of the conflict in Ukraine, Kirby said.

"We dont believe that the material he (Russian President Vladimir Putin) is currently getting or going to get is going to change the outcome on the battlefield in any appreciable way," he said. White House Strategic Communications Coordinator said the US will raise the issue during consultations with its allies and partners, and will also do so at the United Nations regarding undertaking any additional accountability measures against North Korea.

Also Read: North Korea missile lands near South Korean coast for first time; Seoul issues air raid warnings

Last month, the United States said it saw indications that Russia approached North Korea to purchase ammunition. In addition, US media reported, citing Biden administration officials, that Moscow is looking to buy artillery shells as well as missiles from Pyongyang. Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia has since denied the claims.

This comes as increased escalating tensions in the Korean peninsula as North Korea launched nearly two dozen missiles on Wednesday, including one that landed near South Korean waters. North Korea carried out a record number of weapons tests in 2022 in the face of pressure from the Biden administration. The US and South Korean forces earlier this week conducted joint air exercises, which North Korea described the drills as a "ceaseless and reckless" provocation.
Costa Rican regulator Sutel (Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones) has called on the government to help it regain control over unused 2.6GHz spectrum holdings, which it claims are vital for the development of 5G in Costa Rica.

Earlier this year, the government of Costa Rica successfully recovered unused 5G-capable 3500MHz spectrum from state utility firm Grupo ICE, with the countrys president Rodrigo Chaves Robles signing an agreement in early September to procure ICEs airwaves.

The Ministry of Science, Innovation, Technology and Telecommunications (MICITT) had previously issued the spectrum to Grupo ICEs subsidiary RACSA (Radiografica Costarricense SA). The ministry argued that the groups failure to utilise the spectrum was in breach of the countrys telecom laws, and that it must therefore return the spectrum to the state.

Sutel Council President Gilbert Camacho Mora said: The Executive Branch must continue with the immediate actions necessary to recover these resources, because they have the technical and legal criteria to move forward. A further delay in the arrival of 5G in the country means a loss of competitiveness and loss of investment in the country, as well as a limitation to the benefits that users could receive from these technologies.

TeleGeography reports that Grupo ICE has been accused of failing to utilise spectrum holdings in the 1400MHz and 26GHz bands as well as the 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz bands.
Sub-3GHz spectrum continues to be an important topic for the telecoms industry, but addressing it is becoming increasingly urgent as operators face rising data demand with limited resources.

At the 13th Huawei Global Mobile Broadband Forum in Bangkok, delegates again met to collaborate on the ultimate goal of global ubiquitous connectivity. Huawei alongside industry members highlighted the importance of sub-3GHz spectrum and innovative solutions to deliver widespread and quality connectivity globally. Ultra-wideband, multi-antenna, green and intelligence were the hot topics of the discussion.

GSMA CTO Alex Sinclair painted a bright landscape for operators. Sinclair proudly announced, 5G has broken records in being the fastest-growing connectivity standard since the industry began. Sinclair also pointed to specific use cases that are driving the need for sub-3GHz bands and in turn drive evolution to advanced 5G, such as edge computing, extended reality XR, and reduced capability services (RedCap). If you want to get the maximum benefits of 5G rollout, we should need all spectrum we can get and we definitely need to take full advantage of mid-band and low-band, said Sinclair.

Next to speak at the summit was Ashish Narayan, the ITU Asia-Pacific programme coordinator, who called for more government collaboration to drive universal connectivity and sustainable digital transformations as this in turn drives economic development. He pointed out there are three key challenges to connectivity at the moment: delivering meaningful connectivity, and closing both the coverage gap and the usage gap.

Sub-3GHz evolution, all bands stride for a leading 5G network

Trues Associate Director of RAN planning and optimisation, Sukrawan Rojanasaksotorn said in her speech Trues 5G network connects all 77 provinces of Thailand, with more than 99% population coverage in major cities. "We aim to maximize sub-3GHz value and improve 3dB coverage in all bands, ensuring 5G consistent experience from outdoor to indoor. She also pointed out that 8T8R is expected to be the trend and has been deployed by True, resulting in an increase of up to 1.8x in network quality and capacity in their latest trial results.

Telefonica Group manager of wireless Carlos Lopez Calvo kicked off by showcasing the telecoms giants successful RAN strategy which tapped massive MIMOs and aided it in being more energy efficient. He detailed that FDD spectrum was vital for indoor coverage in suburban and rural areas, and the company found positive results in moving from mid-band 4T4R to 8T8R, with the latter being more environmentally friendly as a bonus as this is the benefit of wideband and multi-antennas.

A key challenge for all operators is the constant assessing of cost to benefit when rolling out and configuring cell sites, noted Calvo, considering the leap in technology advancement and 5G device penetration. Multi-band evolution is beneficial to maximize spectrum value. This will bring more efficient carrier aggregation to achieve global 1st 5G 3CC CA, in which single user throughput reaches 1.7Gbps. Calvo added FDD bands will be the fundamental layer for 5G, lower bands can be tapped into through ultra-wideband 4T4R. Additionally, cell sites have increased by 30% energy efficiency by reducing six boxes to two, and this led to a boost in connections on 4G and 5G.

Indonesian operator XL Axiatas Group Head of Technology Strategy and Assurance, Kustanto, noted data traffic growth surged 25% to 30% year-on-year in 2022 for the operator. It is a trend that is expected from operators globally as more advanced services launch, but the data increase did not grow in line with network capacity. Kustanto pointed out that one solution was optimising current spectrum and leveraging new technologies to improve spectrum efficiency. The company began using Huaweis 8T8R to boost capacity, reducing energy consumption by 26% and saving cost per GB.

Argentina Telecom highlighted how, like all other operators globally, it is dealing with the challenge of high capex and opex as it upgrades from 4G to 5G. To achieve this, the operator tapped into equipment that is sustainable and energy efficient. Carlos Bardon, Network Planning Manager, said: We needed to increase the capacity in our network to follow our strategy. Some months ago, we finished a trial with dual-band 8T8R RRU. The result was very good as we obtained a 40% traffic increase and a boost to user experience. Another important thing is that we continue with the deployment of massive MIMO in FDD and we employ that technology to increase the capacity in higher density areas.

China Telecom Shanghai has had a different journey from most operators, as it faces the challenge of operating in an advanced multi-gigabit city. The next step in high-speed 5G network construction is to deliver wider, deeper, and truly ubiquitous coverage. The coverage will be wider and deeper from urban to nationwide areas, and from deep indoors to outdoors, said China Telecom Shanghai wireless director Lu Heng. Multi-band synergy technologies deliver better 5G user experience, and fully harness the value of the 3.5GHz and 2.1GHz spectrums.

Turkcell radio network Associate Director Mustafa Karakoc warned: Because of increasing data demands, mobile sites are getting much more complex and you need to simplify especially before launching 5G. The company upgraded from Huaweis 4T6S solution to its 8T8R aerials which gained it capacity in the 1.8GHz and 2.1GHz airwaves and led to energy savings of 15%.

Algeria Telecom Mobile (Mobilis), has a large population to serve with over 47 million subscribers, which CEO Chaouki Boukhazani compares to a small continent. We have to adopt new solutions and technologies that empower the 5G market and for business success. Mobilis is now deploying 8T8R in all provinces of Algeria to gain market share over the next two years, and achieve a throughput of 50Mbps. Meanwhile, by adopting massive MIMO, we overcame the mountainous challenge of covering a large landmass to gain the best coverage in a relatively short period of time, Boukhazani added.

Finally, Mohamed Madkour, VP of Huawei global carrier network solutions and marketing, spoke at length about latest Huaweis FDD all scenarios products and solutions. New ultra-wideband RRU supports simplified multi-band network deployment and millisecond-level power sharing across all carriers, bands, and RATs, which reduces power consumption while ensuring legacy GSM, UMTS coverage. For single-pole scenarios, Huaweis FDD BladeAAU solution, which is the industry's first to combine FDD Massive MIMO AAUs and Sub-3GHz passive antennas. It allows for simple deployment on one pole. Huawei has also launched the RuralLink solution that is designed for remote areas, with a simplified design and ultra-low power consumption.

Madkour emphasised that: For the evolution of technologies in the future, we will continue with our current approach of pursuing ultra-wideband, multi-antenna and intelligent technologies to deliver ultimate user experience, reduce carriers cost and contribute to achieving green and carbon emission goals.

The Sub-3GHz FDD Gigaband Whitepaper was released in the last session of the summit. This whitepaper analyses the development of remote radio units  core parts of base stations  and explains the current status and technical challenges of continually evolving sub-3GHz bands towards green, simplified, and high-performing networks. It also explores the trends for the evolution of sub-3GHz and ultra-wideband, multi-antenna technologies, providing a valuable reference for wireless regulators, mobile operators, consulting analysts, and equipment manufacturers.

To resolve the conflict between the limited sites, spectrum resources and increasing capacity demand, the complexity growing out of more RATs, more bands, and the goal of energy saving, the only way out is to pursue innovation towards ultra-wideband, multi-antenna, green and intelligent technologies, said Cao Ming, vice president of Huawei Wireless Network Product Line, in the opening speech.

Connectivity has not slowed down in its rapid development and we can see that clearly here. Operators are seeing more challenges to their bottom line as they race to keep up with the never-ending desire for advanced connectivity. Operators need more access to spectrum bands, particularly those in sub-3GHz to support their 5G ambitions, and this will take much industry collaboration to achieve.

Operators can also prepare by tapping into innovative solutions that are sustainable and future-proof, while also not too damaging to the bottom line. This will contribute to the ultimate goal of the industry, that is - ubiquitous connectivity.

Download Huawei's Sub-3GHz FDD GIGABAND Whitepaper here.
Digital infrastructure provider Vertiv has completed the installation of Hormuud Telecoms undersea cable landing station (CLS) in Somalia.

This new critical infrastructure is projected to support economic, societal and digital growth in the region, by empowering more Somali citizens and businesses with access to the internet.

Hormuud Telecom aims to introduce innovative and high quality connectivity solutions in Somalia through the deployment of a new open access cable landing station, opening up more opportunity for internet access for Somali citizens.

Hormuud Telecom selected Vertiv as its digital infrastructure partner of choice, due to Vertivs extensive experience and expertise in bringing key technologies to Africa. Spear-headed by Hormuud Telecom, the cable landing station has been outfitted with Vertiv power and cooling equipment in partnership with Pure Earth International, a Vertiv authorised distributor across the horn of Africa.

This cable landing station is monumental for Somalias digital growth and to put it on the global map of digitalisation. In todays world, and especially the post-pandemic world, it is essential for all citizens to have access to the internet and data. The projects goal is to fill the gaps in internet infrastructure that exist currently in the Somali landscape. The deployment of this landmark undersea cable positions the region for much-needed high-speed internet, says Pierre Havenga, managing director of Vertiv in Africa.

The cable landing station will enable massive acceleration of broadband proliferation and thereby improve online connectivity in and around Somalia. It will accommodate various submarine cables, in turn streamlining the process of establishing cross-connections to local and global partners, making it easier, quicker, and more efficient for all stakeholders.

Hormuud Telecom anticipates significant expansion in the network capacity of multiple submarine cables for Somalia in the near future, says Yasin Hassan, head of corporate communications at Hormuud Telecom.
What some deemed to be a landmark meeting assembled on Oct. 26 as Evelyn Causey, AHC National Register Coordinator, Alabama Historical Commission representatives, and members of an environmental logistics group called Terracon, based in Jacksonville, Florida, made their first official visit to the Historic Dupree School Preservation Project in Ashford.

First on the agenda was a partnership luncheon meeting held at Antioch Baptist Church, located near the historic school, where information was exchanged between the AHC and project representatives. Before opening the session with the Pledge of Allegiance, Doug Sinquefield, project advisory board member, also representing the Houston County Commission, remarked, We must never forget the great people we are here to represent. They built roads. They built homes. They built schools and they built a nation.

Steve Smith, chairman of the board, greeted the group by acknowledging the partnership was a giant leap forward for the effort to save Dupree School, as well as preserve it for future generations.

Standing to address the gathering, Causey related that AHC and Terracon had completed their survey work and identified that Dupree School possessed historical significance and was eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. She then spoke about the process and what National Register designation means for the school.

Elizabeth Davenport-Jacobs of Terracon then reported on the logistics of funding available to the project. She explained that they would help source funding through the Certified Local Government program and the subgrant program for historic properties that sustained damage as a result of Hurricane Michael.

The meeting adjourned for the group to travel a half mile distance where they reconvened for a tour of Historic Dupree School.

Reviewing a recently discovered set of blueprints for a 1937 addition to the building that he brought to the site, Ashfords Mayor Pro Tem and project advisory board member Ronnie Whitehead said, The city is behind this effort. He also recalled that as a young boy he rode his bicycle on the schools dirt crossroads. Whitehead also remembered enjoying bluegrass music nights at the school.

Diane Aman of Troy Bank & Trust and the historic schools preservation project board vice-president stated, I grew up not far from Dupree School and this is also where I first voted.

Following the tour, the group assembled on the historic schools west lawn to go on record with a series of statements of support for the ambitious project.

Brad Kimbro, Wiregrass Electric Cooperative Chief of Operations (COO) and member of the advisory board for Historic Dupree School, said, Dupree School is important to our Wiregrass community. Saving this building and having it recognized as a National Historic Registered Landmark will be a catalyst for new growth and development. Personally, I am happy to do all I can to assist with this community effort.

Chairman Smith stood at a lectern in front of a gathering of supporters with the historic school building rising in the background. This project needs passionate volunteers and also philanthropists who are seeking to invest in an effort that helps the community while their investment is effectively managed by good stewardship, Smith said.

Historic Dupree School has stood on its one-acre site since its founder, notable Alabama educator and gentleman farmer Simon B. Harper, purchased the land in 1904. Current research is now seeking to document if a predating rough hewn schoolhouse was located at the same crossroads in the late 1800s.

A grassroots campaign began in 2021 to save the historic school. Now, in 2022, the work continues to progressively refine into a highly credible operation that is gaining state and national attention. Not only is the project working to protect the site in the long term by way of historic trust, project leadership has also introduced a program to return what they call Light and Life to the historic site. Once the facility is complete, it will house a museum cultural center, a bluegrass folk music hall, and facilitate extension education.

Preservation is more than just saving a historic building, it is primarily about building community, said Smith, who then fervently committed, This project might appear daunting to some, but we stand here today to say It will be done.

Those seeking further information on this project may visit the projects Facebook group @friendsofdupreeschool
The Abu Dhabi Exports Office (Adex), the export-financing arm of Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD), has signed an AED36.7 million ($10 million) line-of-credit agreement with the National Bank of Iraq, part of the Capital Bank Group.



The agreement aims to boost economic cooperation between the UAE and Iraq which, in turn, will strengthened bilateral relations. It will also encourage Emirati companies to export their products to Iraq.



The agreement allows Adex to open a line of credit with the National Bank of Iraq for the purpose of relending importers in Iraq to acquire goods and services from an Emirati Exporters. The move adds momentum to Adexs effort to contribute to the economies of both countries and support the UAEs strategy on economic diversification.



The financing agreement was signed virtually by Khalil Al Mansouri, Acting Director General of the Abu Dhabi Exports Office, and Ayman Abu Dhaim, CEO of the National Bank of Iraq. The ceremony was attended by H.E Mohamed Saif Al Suwaidi, Director General of Abu Dhabi Fund for Development and Chairman of the Export Executive Committee of the Abu Dhabi Exports Office, and other senior officials from both sides.



Al Suwaidi said: The agreement is part of Adexs effort to strengthen strategic partnerships with regional and international banks, so it can create opportunities to lend importers to buy our products and services more easily. This will increase the competitiveness of national exports. More importantly, the agreement will enable us to fulfil our common interest of economic development of the two countries.



Ayman Abu Dhaim said that the agreement represented an important step towards bolstering economic cooperation between the UAE and Iraq.



Through the facilitation of trade, the two countries will benefit economically, which is what the two nations aspire for. The agreement will allow Iraqi companies to benefit from the competitive financing provided by Adex, while also supporting Emirati exporters to trade their products in a safe and secure manner, he explained.



The Abu Dhabi Export Office aligns with the UAEs strategy to diversify the economy by increasing the competitiveness of the export sector, protecting exporters from financial risks resulting from delays or non-payment and facilitating imports of Emirati goods and services through competitive financing.  TradeArabia News Service
GORDON  Jerry McCallister loves the land that has been in his family for more than six decades.

A multi-use farm, Mule Shoe Plantation produces peanuts, cotton, corn, and timber. The property features high-fenced areas for guided deer hunts. Theres a lodge and a picturesque pond. At another point, a small replica general store holds old tools, cast iron cookware, and other family treasures.

Mule Shoe Plantation is considered one of Alabamas Treasure forests, which are utilized for educational and demonstration purposes and has received the Helene Mosley Memorial Treasure Forest Award in the past.

At nearly 80 years old, McCallister has turned over the operation of the farm to the younger generations of his family. But he didnt hesitate Wednesday to join about 70 students from Cottonwood High School and Columbias Houston County High School on a farm-city tour of Mule Shoe Plantation, one of the activities leading up to the annual Farm-City Week, which will be recognized Nov. 18-24.

McCallister said he worries about large tracts of farm land being divided and sold off in smaller pieces and what that means for the future of agriculture. And while agriculture and farming isnt for everybody, McCallister hopes the visit to Mule Shoe gives the students a better appreciation of how farm and timber lands contribute to their own lives.

Im excited about the future for this bunch of kids, but Im also terrified for this bunch of kids, he said.

The Farm-City Program, sponsored by the Alabama Farmers Federation, is designed to deepen the understanding between farmers and urban workers and residents about the role each play.

What were hoping to do is to educate these kids about the farm life and to expose them to the agriculture lifestyle  the forest, row crops, wildlife, said Brady Dunn, a forestry specialist with the Alabama Forestry Commission. Were just bringing them out here and letting them see what a working farm actually is.

Dunn and other staff from the Alabama Forestry Commission led discussions at different stops around the farm to talk about the role pine forests play in the state as well as the jobs that are available to those who have an interest in forestry and wildlife management. They provided statistics on the impact of timber in the state  23 million acres, about 70% of land in Alabama, is forest land  and briefed students on the number of everyday items that involve wood products.

At one stop, Dunn encouraged students to be good stewards of the land during their lives.

We want to inspire these kids; and hopefully, the next generation  which they are  will take an interest in the agricultural lifestyle, Dunn said.
ELBA  One juvenile is charged with having a weapon near the city schools here Wednesday but that arrest is not connected with an earlier lockdown of the schools, law enforcement officials said at a news conference.

Elba Police Chief Troy Staley, Twelfth Judicial Circuit Chief Assistant District Attorney Jon Folmer, and Elba City Schools Superintendent Chris Moseley met with media representatives approximately one-half hour after the schools officially came off a four-hour lockdown.

Staley said that his department received information of the threat of a possible active shooter situation, at 8 a.m. and immediately contacted the sheriffs department, the district attorneys office, and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. We were able to identify the possible offender and make contact with them. We also made sure there were no weapons on the school campus or in the school.

Staley said that the threat was possibly the result on an altercation that occurred on the school campus the day before. A press release received from ALEA earlier Wednesday said that a suspect in an online threat toward Elba City Schools this morning was taken into custody.

At this time we dont have any evidence that anything further will escalate, Staley said. The schools came off lockdown at 12:25 p.m. Wednesday. Safety of our kids is one of our top priorities here in the city of Elba, he said.

There is no indication that anyone else was involved, Staley said. Parents can rest assured that that we do everything we can to ensure the safety of our students.

Moseley echoed the chiefs statement.

I promise that I, as the superintendent, will do anything I can to take care of this because I have 500 students to take care of and I will make sure that I do everything in my power to make sure it doesnt happen and if it does that we will come after (the perpetrator) and not turn a blind eye.

Moseley said no student was removed from Elba City Schools Wednesday. Weve got law enforcement on the campus, he said. The reaction here today was wonderful with so many different agencies coming together to work as one. They could not have done better.

I want to publicly say that the way our teachers, our administration our students and everyone involved reacted was outstanding, Moseley said. There are a lot of moving parts to make that happen and make the kids feel safe and I guarantee you that happened today.

Moseley said that he and school personnel will continue working with law enforcement officers.

Folmer commended the cooperation of all the school personnel involved, promising to prosecute any person involved in the threat to the fullest extent. The school personnel on every level all cooperated. It was very much a combined effort done with professionalism, he said. We made sure every person in that school knew what was going on as it progressed and that we were taking appropriate steps.

The incident remains under investigation, Staley said.
An employee prepares to pump gasoline at a fuel station in Ho Chi Minh City on October 11, 2022. Photo by VnExpress/Thanh Tung

The Ministry of Industry and Trade should take responsibility in regulating the fuel market instead of pushing this task on other government bodies, lawmakers said Wednesday.

Although several agencies are involved in managing the fuel market, the trade ministry needs to take the lead in this duty, and should be responsible for the recent shortages, said Tran Van Lam, a member of the National Assemblys Finance and Budget Committee.

The ministry needs to react more quickly to market developments and gather enough information on issues to propose solutions, he said on the sideline of the ongoing National Assembly meeting.

Lam said that that the fuel shortage that has been plaguing Vietnam in recent weeks is unusual.

As of Tuesday nearly 20% of 550 fuel stations in HCMC recorded an inventory shortage.

In Hanoi, several stations Tuesday put up signs stating "out of gasoline." Some limited sales to VND30,000-50,000 ($1.21-2.01) per motorbike, while others did not sell to cars.

"Global oil prices are relatively stable, but there are unusual issues happening in the domestic market. We need to find out why," Lam said.

Hoang Van Cuong, a member of the same committee, said that management is responsible for recent disruptions in fuel supply.

Other countries are not experiencing the same problems. Vietnam even has its own two refineries that meet 70% of domestic demand, he said.

"Collaboration between the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Finance in sourcing inventory, trading and price management is poor."

The two ministries on Tuesday raised gasoline prices for the third straight time in a row, hoping to provide retailers a higher commission.

But retailers remain in difficulties.

"We only receive 50% of what we have delivered. We are still making losses as our commission remains zero," said the leader of a retailer with 17 outlets in Ho Chi Minh City, who asked not be identified.

Tung, who owns a franchise of a major distributor in Hanoi, said that a delivery truck only comes every two or three days, which is why his station must limit sales.

Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien said last week that Vietnam is not facing fuel shortages, as its 3 million cubic meters are enough to serve domestic demand until the end of November.

The fuel market in Vietnam is regulated by both the trade and finance ministries, but the latter has called on the government to let the trade ministry take over to resolve the issue.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh told VnExpress Wednesday that he has asked government bodies with studying the possibility of letting the Ministry of Industry and Trade be sole regulator of the fuel market.

"Of course there are reviews that are needed to be completed, but we are aiming to task one ministry with the management of the fuel market."

Commenting on the recent market disruptions, Chinh said he has asked Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai to find and provide solutions.
The prices of some older iPhone models are rising amid a shortage of the latest iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max phones and the dollars sharp appreciation.

Two weeks ago Ngoc Huyen in Ho Chi Minh City saw a store charging VND21.5 million (US$865) for a 128GB iPhone 13 Pro Max, but now the price has gone up by 3.7% to VND22.3 million.

An employee told her some other older models had also become more expensive.

Ha Xuan Vu, owner of a second-hand iPhone shop in HCMC, exclaimed that this was the first time in his 10 years in the business that older iPhones were seeing prices rise at a time when the latest model was released.

He said the 14 Pro and Pro Max, the most expensive versions, are out of stock at many places while the 14 and 14 Plus are not attractive enough for most buyers.

Those who own iPhone 12s cannot wait for the 14 to be delivered and are buying the 13 instead, also an upgrade, he added.

CounterPoint Research said the rise in iPhone 13 prices in the U.S. seems to have impact on the Vietnamese market, and a refurbished one is selling at 11% higher even after the 14 was released.

Huy Nguyen, a spokesperson for distributor CellphoneS, said the rising dollar is putting pressure on the prices of imported electronics.

The price hikes would surely affect retailers revenues, he added.
ST25 rice on display at a shop in HCMC. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

Vietnamese 5% broken rice, which usually costs less than its Thai peers in export markets, raced past them in October to reach record levels.

It fetched $425-430 per ton, $48-51 and $18-25 higher than similar varieties from India and Thailand, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Vietnam exported over six million tons of various kinds of rice for nearly $3 billion in the first 10 months, up 17% and 7% year-on-year.

According to local businesses, this is not the first time Vietnamese rice has fetched higher prices than Thailands, but its brand recognition is growing in the world market.

"Vietnamese fragrant rice is still behind Thailand, but it is becoming increasingly popular with foreign consumers," Pham Thai Binh, general director of Trung An Hi-tech Farming Joint Stock Company based in the southern city of Can Tho, said.

His company exports some 30 containers of rice to Europe every month at $700-1,250 per ton, he said.

Australia recently registered the Gao Ong Cua Vietnam trademark for ST24 and ST25 rice varieties developed by agricultural engineer Ho Quang Cua.

ST25 won the Worlds Best Rice Contest in 2019 and ST24 came second in 2017.

Loc Troi Groups rice with the trademark Com Vietnam Rice is sold at 4,000 supermarkets in France.

Local firms expect rice exports to remain big and fetch high prices for the next three years since the world is facing climate change and food supply is falling.

Thailands rice production is declining.

Vietnam is the worlds third biggest rice exporter after India and Thailand and accounts for 7.8% of global rice trade.

Its rice is now sold in 28 countries and territories around the world, mainly in Asia and Europe.
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 by Reuters/Kim Hong-ji

"Every time I close my eyes, that scene pops up in my head. What I saw and heard haunted me," actor Hieu Nguyen recalled the deadly Halloween stampede in Itaewon on Oct. 29.

Hieu, who was in South Korea's Itaewon on the day, said: "I made it out of Itaewon. At the moment, I'm still terrified."

At least 153 people died in the stampede on October 29 as people rushed into a narrow alleyway in the packed nightlife area of Itaewon. This is the deadliest disaster in South Korea since the sinking of the Sewol ferry in 2014.

The actor said he traveled to South Korea with friends in late October. His group went to the Halloween festivities in Itaewon on October 29.

"We arrived in Itaewon early so we were strolling around the area. After a while, it kept getting more and more crowded. At 9 p.m., we decided to sit down at a bar on the street. At the time, I saw the crowd in front of me starting to push and shove each other," Hieu said.

"The stream of people from both ends of the street kept pouring in. I heard some say a celebrity had appeared there, while others said there was a fire at a nearby bar. I still dont really know what was the cause of the stampede that night," he said.

When Hieu saw the crowd continue to push, shove and press each other, along with people saying things like "stop pushing or we will die" and "Im suffocating," he had a bad feeling about this and told his friends to get out of Itaewon quickly.

"The chaos continued until the police stepped in. I only heard screaming, combined with police and ambulance sirens. It felt like I was facing hell. It was so haunting," he recalled.

"I can still feel the horror of that day and deeply mourn the ill-fated victims. They put on nice outfits and beautiful makeup to go out on Halloween without knowing that disaster was about to strike and that that night would be their last."

Since returning to Vietnam, Hieu said he still didnt have the courage to read the news or turn on the TV. He didnt even want to listen to his friends talking about the tragic accident in Itaewon.

Hieu, 32, is known for his roles in domestic movies like Huong Ga (Rise), Bo Ba Rac Roi (Triple Trouble), Lat Mat 2 (Face Off 2) and Truy Sat (Tracer).
The central Quang Tri Province has enlisted scientists to help restore a local beach, lauded by the French as the "Queen of Beaches," to its former beauty.

Cua Tung Beach in northeast Quang Tri and part of Vinh Linh District, is known for its bow-like shape and pristine white sands. In its heyday, the beach spanned 700 meters, with the sands spanning 25-30 meters, and visitors capable of wading chest-high into the water 100 meters offshore.

The beach was a popular destination to French people during colonial time in Vietnam.

In a conference late last month, Ha Si Dong, deputy chairman of Quang Tri, said the beach plays an important role in the provincial development strategy, as a famous destination that attracts tourists from many countries like Thailand and Laos.

However, since 2003, the construction of multiple structures along the Ben Hai estuary, including breakwaters, ports and bridges, has caused the water flow to change and erosion to occur, seeing the sands of Cua Tung beach lost to the sea.

Nowadays in the summer, the beach only spans five to seven meters, and the sand slope is becoming steeper than ever, discouraging tourists and affecting the livelihoods of locals. Since 2010, Quang Tri has been inviting scientists to study the water flow, its impacts on nature and the population, as well as to propose a plan to restore the beach to its former glory.

In two studies conducted in 2010 and 2019, Nguyen Quang Hung from the University of Natural Sciences said the impacts of the breakwaters at the Ben Hai estuary can be clearly observed. The sands are often trapped behind by the breakwater in the south, depriving Cua Tung Beach, located in the north, of its natural sand source. The pristine sands are therefore gone, replaced by a coarser version and an eroded shoreline.

Hung and his research team suggested bringing around 200,000-300,000 cubic meters of white sands from the south of the Ben Hai estuary to Cua Tung Beach, along with the construction of a breakwater about 200 meters from the shore. The plan is hoped to restore the pristine sands to the beach over a long period of time.

Tran Thanh Tung, from the Thuy Loi University, said the construction of an offshore breakwater would prevent sands from leaving the beach too much and reduce wave impacts on the shore.
The traffic noise cant be avoided because the apartment is close to the Hanoi Ring Road No. 3.

But, when this combines with the "screams of children, the sound of drilling holes in the wall, the sounds of husband and wife arguing, parents scolding children, broken dishes...it makes us very uncomfortable every time I open the door to the balcony," Nga said.

The noise makes it hard for the children to talk or study, she added.

Hoang Lans family, also living on the fourth floor, is unable to escape loud noises despite choosing to purchase a home away from the main road.

Her family and other residents of the 4th floor of the Linh Dam apartment complex in Hanoi have had endure months of loudspeaker noise from the complex's common area.

"The noise is never-ending. Even when condo houses are closed on the weekends, you can't sleep any more because of the loud music coming from speakers," Lan said.

The residents have complained about the issue to the buildings management for months, but the noise only stopped for several days before returning to "normal."

Urban noise pollution is not a recent issue, but a clear remedy seems to have escaped everyone, including policy makers. In a 350-person online survey conducted by VnExpress on October 18, just about every respondent said theyd suffered from the noise problem. 50% said theyd reported the issue to building authorities and 37% said they would install their own noise-canceling solutions.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Thi An, head of the Institute of Natural Resources and Environment, said that authorities have not paid enough attention and it was inflicting a lot of damage.

She said just about every activity including karaoke music, household tasks, industrial processes, construction and transportation contributes to noise pollution. Blaring karaoke music, both in commercial establishments and homes, has been a persistent problem in cities.

Local authorities have cracked down on mobile karaoke services following complaints about their loudness at night.

"More than 8 million people reside in Hanoi, which also has over 7 million vehicles, dozens of industrial parks, and a wide range of commercial and leisure activities. Increased noise pollution is the outcome of all of that when combined with rapid urbanization, " An said, adding that studies show the noise pollution problem is getting worse.

For instance, a study by the Institute of Occupational Safety and Environmental Health at 12 major highways and intersections in Hanoi measured the average daytime noise at 77.8 to 78.1 dBA, well above the permissible standard by 7.8-8.1 dBA. The average noise level at night was 65.375.7 dBA, above the recommended range by 1020 dBA.

Tragicomedy plays

Lan said tensions over the unbearable noise occasionally leads to strange incidents like the one on October 16 when a group of youngsters played funeral music to retaliate against dancing music played by a group of senior citizens.

A few young people brought loudspeakers to play funeral music in front of a group of elderly people when they were constantly subjected to noise, Oct. 16, 2022. Photo from phone screenshot.

A residential group leader in the Linh Dam condo complex confirmed the incident, adding that the elderly group had been spoken to but continued to repeat the activity.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment must certify sound analysis and measurements, failing which it becomes challenging to fine actions that cause noise pollution, several experts have said.

They have also pointed out the anomaly in the rule that requires background noise (traffic, conversations, and sounds from adjacent businesses) to be subtracted from the noise level analysis, when in reality, background noise levels have also above the permitted threshold in many instances.

Nga, 30, said her family members have had to visit a doctor to get treated for insomnia caused by the noise that lasts from dawn until night.

They also see no respite in sight.

According to Dr. Tran Thi Hong Thu, Deputy Director and Head of the Clinical Department at Mai Huong Psychiatric Hospital in Hanoi, there are 1020% more patients seeking treatment for insomnia than in pre-Covid times. The usual causes include stress and/or noise at work or home.

In addition to the noise from daily activities, people who live close to traditional artisan villages, machine and welding shops must also put up with excessive noise.

Nhu Hong Ngoc, 28, rents a house in Me Tri Village in Hanois Nam Tu Liem region (Hanoi). The area is well known for the tradition of preparing "com" (young rice). "The constant pounding of rice by mills and grinders from three in the morning until now gives me a headache and raises my heart rate. I needed to check this at the hospital."

Hearing impairments are affecting more and younger people, Dr. Do Hong Giang, Head of the Department of Audiology at the Ho Chi Minh City Otolaryngology Hospital, told VnExpress in April 2021.

Most patients at the clinic used to elderly or young children with congenital issues, but over the last few years, more people over 40 have started showing up.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 25% of the world's population will have hearing issues by 2050. From 1.6 billion in 2019 to 2.5 billion in the next three decades, the number of people at risk of suffering hearing loss will be significantly higher.

Ngoc said she is a tough situation. "Since this (pounding rice) is how households here make a living, I am cant ask that they stop producing. Moving away to a quieter place is the only thing that will help my hearing."

The issue of noise pollution in Vietnamese cities has some factors that hinder effective solutions, according to Dr. Truong Hoang Truong, dean of the faculty of urban studies at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City. These include a lack of sense of community and rules and regulations that are not strict enough.

Nga dreams of a day when she has more money to move to a better condo so she can live away from busy roads and business districts.

"I need to find a long-term solution for myself and my family rather than endure noise like this all the time."
Vietnam confirms additional 756 new Covid-19 infections on Wednesday

An additional 756 new Covid-19 infections were confirmed on Wednesday, 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 11,504,091.



On November 2, an additional 344 more patients recovered from the disease, raising the number of recoveries in the country to over 10.60 million.



On Wednesday evening, one death from Covid-19 was recorded, raising the country's total fatalities to 43,165, accounting for 0.4 per cent of total infections.



By November 2, the country had injected over 262 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines.



The Ministry of Health is calling on local authorities to continue administering Covid-19 vaccines as coverage lags in several localities.



According to the ministry, the third and fourth dose coverage for people over 18 years is at 78.50 per cent and 81.30 per cent.



Third-dose coverage for children from 12-18 years has reached 62 per cent.
Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) has reported a 71% jump in its net profit for the third quarter which rose to hit SR2.7 billion ($719 million) on the back of solid Q3 sales which surged by 50% y-o-y to hit SR10 billion ($2.7 billion) for the quarter.

The largest multi-commodity mining and metals company in the Middle East, Maaden said its Q3 sales increased by 50% compared with the same period last year hitting SR10 billion ($2.7 billion).

Ma'aden enjoyed higher production volumes during the period, which were partially offset by lower commodity prices. Its y-o-y ebitda increased by 37% to more than SR4.2 billion.

Due to lower commodity prices, higher input material costs, ebitda was lower than in the previous quarter.

Commenting on the results, CEO Robert Wilt said: "During the quarter, Maaden increased production volumes and continued to build the platform to deliver on our ambitious growth targets. Our focus is to deliver long-term growth and we remain on track for a record year, underpinned by the companys strong cash generation, diversified operations, and global customer base."

"This has mitigated the impact of external pressures in Q3 from lower commodity prices and higher input material costs, which have already started to normalize in Q4. Looking ahead, we will continue to develop our operations so that we can deliver sustained, market-leading growth while establishing mining as the third pillar of the Saudi economy," he added.

Among the major developments this quarter, Maaden had signed four MoUs with the largest fertilizer companies in India, in August, increasing Maadens access to the worlds largest export market for phosphate and ammonia.

In August, Maaden ended trial production and commenced commercial production at the Ammonia 3 plant, part of its third Phosphate Project. The plant has a capacity of approximately 1.1 million tonnes annually and will strengthen Maadens position as the global leader in fertilizer production.

During the quarter, the first gold was extracted from Mansourah-Massarah, and initial production remains on track to begin in Q4-FY22.

As Maadens largest gold project to date, the plant is expected to produce an average of 250k ounces per annum, increasing Maadens current gold mining capacity by 70%, it added.

In early September, Maaden launched its Local Content program, Tharwah which will build on the group's current contributions to the national mining ecosystem and to the robust, self-reliant local business ecosystems.

"The program, focused on maximizing the contribution of the mining industry to the Saudi Arabian economy in line with Vision 2030, is a key pillar of Maadens ESG strategy. Maaden aims to increase its Local Content contribution to SR33 billion and create up to 47,000 local jobs by 2040," satted Wilt.

Maaden remains committed to creating stakeholder value and building the third pillar of the Saudi economy, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
In late September, the government of Somalia announced aggressive new measures aimed at crippling the ability of the al-Shabaab terror group to raise funds and to conduct militant operations.



In the spirit of this endeavor, the United States Department of State and Department of the Treasury announced sanctions against leaders of the Al-Shabaab terrorist group, and against a network of individuals who facilitate funding the group.



On October 17, the Department of State designated five al-Shabaab leaders as Specially Designated Global Terrorists under Executive Order 13224, as amended.



Mohamed Mire is a senior al-Shabaab leader responsible for the groups strategic decision-making and leads the groups interior wing, overseeing many of the groups activities in Somalia. Mire previously served as the chief of zakawat (religious taxation) as well as the groups so-called governor of the Hiraan Region in central Somalia.



Yasir Jiis is an al-Shabaab leader and the commander of the armed wing, the Jabha, which conducts attacks.



Yusuf Ahmed Hajji Nurow, also known as Gees Ade, runs al-Shabaabs intelligence wing, the Amniyat, which plays a key role in the execution of suicide attacks and assassinations.



Mustaf Ato is a senior Amniyat official responsible for coordinating and conducting al-Shabaab attacks in Somalia and Kenya. Ato is a significant external operations plotter for al-Shabaab and responsible for the 2013 Westgate attack, the 2016 Garissa University attack, and other attacks in Northeast Kenya.



Mohamoud Abdi Aden is an al-Shabaab leader. He took part in planning the 2019 attack on the DusitD2 Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, that left 22 civilians dead.



At the same time, the Treasury Department designated a network of nine al-Shabaab financial intermediaries who hold leadership roles and act as facilitators between al-Shabaab and local companies. Al-Shabaab extorts money from local businesses to the tune of $100 million annually, thus financing itself and its affiliate, al Qaida.



The nine sanctioned financiers are Abdullahi Jeeri, a weapons smuggler; Khalif Adale, who has served as al-Shabaabs finance leader for collecting money from non-governmental organizations; Abdikarim Hussein Gagaale, a deputy within al-Shabaabs Finance Department; Abdi Samad, an al-Shabaab militant who has been in close contact with the al-Shabaab Senior Leadership Council; Abdirahman Nurey, an intermediary between al-Shabaab and the local private sector; Mohamed Hussein Salad, Ahmed Hasan Ali Sulaiman Mataan, and Mohamed Ali Badaas who are part of an al-Shabaab smuggling and weapons trafficking network in Yemen.



Finally, the U.S. Department of State is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information on Hassan Afgooye, a key leader of al-Shabaab.



The United States is focused on identifying and disrupting al-Shabaabs illicit networks operating in Eastern Africa, said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson. We will continue to take action against the weapons smuggling and fundraising activities of al-Shabaab and other al-Qaida affiliates.
The United States is taking steps to impose visa restrictions on over 500 Nicaraguan individuals and their family members. We are doing so pursuant to Presidential Proclamation 10309, announced Secretary of State Antony Blinken, which suspends entry into the United States of members of the Nicaraguan government and others who are undermining the return to democracy in Nicaragua. These individuals include members of Nicaraguan security services, such as the Nicaraguan National Police, penitentiary officials, judges, prosecutors, higher education officials and non-government actors who enable regime repression and corruption as well as their family members.



No member of the Nicaraguan government nor anyone who facilitates the Ortega-Murillo regimes abuses should believe they can travel freely to the United States, declared Secretary Blinken in a statement.



The White House also announced expanded sanctions authorities, including specific trade-related measures for Nicaragua. These new authorities will support U.S. efforts to hold the Ortega-Murillo regime accountable. The regimes accelerating repression this year - closing space for civil society, increasing its security cooperation with Russia, and silencing independent voices - compel the United States to act.



Governments that deny their peoples basic rights or threaten the security interests of their neighbors should not expect that their political, economic, and trade relationships will remain unaffected, said Secretary Blinken.



In addition, the U.S. Department of the Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on Nicaraguan mining authority General Directorate of Mines, an office in the Ministry of Energy and Mines, and Reinaldo Gregorio Lenin Cerna Juarez, a close confidante of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.



The United States, together with its allies and partners, believes that a return to democracy and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in Nicaragua is essential. Secretary Blinken stressed, We will use diplomatic and economic tools available to promote accountability for the Ortega-Murillo regime, reiterate our call for the immediate and unconditional release of political prisoners, and urge the restoration of civic space for the people of Nicaragua.
Jam on at the Folklife Center

ELKO  The Western Folklife Center presents Jam On! at 6 p.m. Nov. 9. All musicians and spectators welcome at this free monthly jam session.

Facilitated by members of Southwind and other community musicians, Jam On! features a mix of old-time fiddle tunes, folk songs, country tunes, ballads and more. Lead a song for the group, join in on tunes introduced by others, or just come to listen and enjoy. The Pioneer Saloon will be open.

Horizon Hospice volunteer training

ELKO  Volunteer hospice training will be provided Nov. 9-10 at Horizon Hospice, 1250 Lamoille Hwy suite 413, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day.

A light continental breakfast and lunch with be provided on both days. Call 775-778-0612 to register.

Lets Dance at the Folklife Center

ELKO  The Western Folklife Center presents Lets Dance! At 6 p.m. Nov. 10. Dance lesson run from 6-7 p.m., followed by open dancing at 7 p.m.

Lessons focus on a rotating variety of styles, including rodeo swing, two step, waltz, line dance, Basque dancing, and other interesting steps. Adults and teens are welcome. No experience necessary.

Classes are $5 lesson. Free open dance.

Southwind in concert

ELKO  Local favorites Southwind bring Celtic, Western, and contemporary toe-tappin fiddle tunes to the Pioneer Saloon at 6 p.m. Nov. 16.

Listen for free at 501 Railroad St.

Collecting for Harbor House

ELKO  Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospitals Auxiliary is accepting donations from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 17 and 18 at the Sugar Bush Gift Shop for CADVs Harbor House, a shelter that helps men, women and children who are victims of domestic violence.

Anything that can be donated is greatly appreciated. Items needed include womens tights, sweat tops and bottoms  all sizes, hand lotion, makeup and womens sanitary supplies. Cash donations are also welcome.

Everyone who donates will be entered into a drawing for a gift. For more information or questions, call the Sugar Bush Gift Shop at 775-748-2015.

Holiday bazaar at St. Josephs

ELKO  On Nov. 19, the Saturday before Thanksgiving, the Women of St. Josephs will be hosting the annual community bazaar where you can find unique handmade crafts (many under $15), fresh baked goods, cookie cafe (build your own cookie tray!), quarts of homemade chili, and green chili chicken and red chili pork tamales.

The bazaar is held at St. Josephs Catholic Church in Mater Dei Hall located at 340 Fir St. Saturday hours are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free coffee and breakfast breads will be available from 8:30-10 a.m. Homemade soup, chili, and tamales will be sold from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The Women of St. Joseph is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fundraising for charities within the community and St. Josephs Catholic Church. Proceeds from this event will be used so that funeral receptions can be provided to families during their time of need, to support youth activities, and for various charities within the community.

This event is known for its handmade crafts and homemade tamales, but especially their homemade baked goods to be purchased just in time for Thanksgiving. It provides the community with the opportunity to enjoy a warm bowl of soup or chili, a place to visit and to shop early for Christmas.

Items for sale include crafts constructed out of repurposed items, freshly made wreaths and garlands, and raffle tickets.

For more information, to reserve a booth to sell handmade crafts or to pre-order tamales, please contact Jody at 775-934-0729 or the church office at 775-738-6432.

Open mic event at the Folklife Center

ELKO  The Western Folklife Center presents Micd Up, Live From Elko at 6 p.m. Nov. 19. This evening of open mics and open hearts is driven by creativity from around the West.

Expect poetry and music. Expect prose and stories. Expect an open flow of western expression from the folks who answered our open-ended call for this open mic show. Theyre micing up and going live from our iconic G Three Bar Theater stage.

This concert is part of the Western Folklife Centers 2022 Wild Ride program series. $15 general admission/$10 members, seniors, students/ $5 kids under 12. Livestreaming free on westernfolklife.tv.

Jiggs Turkey Carnival

JIGGS  The annual Jiggs Turkey Carnival is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 20 at the Jiggs Community Hall.

The event features baked foods, bingo, door prizes and raffle items.

A lunch of Indian tacos, baked potatoes, beans and sandwiches will be served. Vendors will include activities for the kids and homemade items for sale.

Participants can get their family photo taken for the holidays, and do some shopping.

Call 775-744-2603 for more information.
ELKO  Police are looking for a person of interest after a woman was shot in the leg Tuesday morning.

Elko Police Department officers were called to the area of Bullion Road and Morse Lane at 7:15 a.m.

Upon arrival, EPD Officers located the victim, who had what appeared to be a single bullet wound to her calf, police said. She was transported to Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital for treatment.

EPD detectives examined evidence and conducted interviews, and have identified a person of interest.

The attack appears to be targeted and there is currently no danger to the general public, police said. Further information about the suspect was not released Tuesday.

Anyone who has information on this case is encouraged to contact EPD detectives at 775-777-7310.

It was the first such incident in Elko County in over a month, but at least the 10th incident involving firearms so far in 2022.

In September, a Pennsylvania man was accused of invading a cabin in Deeth, where he stole a Colt .45 revolver and used it to shoot open his safe, stealing at least four other firearms.

Also in September, a Ryndon man was arrested for allegedly beating his mother and threatening to kill his wife, then shooting holes through the roof of his pickup.

In August an Elko man was arrested on burglary charges after allegedly stealing two safes containing 16 firearms.

In July, a Spring Creek man was accused of felony child abuse and domestic battery after allegedly shooting two of his children with a BB gun.

Also in July, another Spring Creek man was accused of pointing a shotgun at a coworkers face and firing, but the victim pushed the barrel away to avoid injury.

In June, a driver fired a handgun multiple times at a vehicle at 12th and Idaho streets during what police called a road rage incident. No one was injured.

In April, a woman was shot and killed by her husband who then shot and killed himself in Spring Creek.

Also in April, a Spring Creek man was arrested for firing a gun five times inside a home while several children were inside. No one was injured.

That same month an Elko man was arrested for attempted murder after allegedly shooting at his live-in girlfriend when she came to pick up her belongings  which included the gun. However, the charges have since been dropped.

In March, a Spring Creek man was shot to death near Carlin and the shooter then shot and killed himself.
Since the 18th CPC National Congress, Xinjiang has fully leveraged its advantages of being located in the hinterland of Eurasia that connects two large markets, and spared no efforts to build itself into a core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt. By strengthening its economic ties with neighboring countries and other Chinese provinces, Xinjiang has evolved from a landlocked region into a highland of greater openness.

Over the past 10 years, foreign trade in Xinjiang has been expanding with an optimized structure. According to the Bureau of Statistics of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, in 2021, Xinjiangs total import and export of goods amounted to $24.298 billion, an increase of 13.7% over the previous year. The surplus of trade in goods hit US$15.125 billion, an increase of $4.84 billion over the previous year. Xinjiangs foreign trade is showing a momentum of rapid and steady growth.

Xinjiang is trading with a diverse range of countries. In 2021, Xinjiang established economic and trade relations with 176 countries and regions, trade with Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, its top three trading partners, reached $10.535 billion, $5.465 billion and $981 million respectively.

With continuous reform of foreign trade system comes ever-increasing number of business entities year by year. From 2012 to 2021, the share of foreign trade done by private enterprises in Xinjiang grew from 70.6% to 86.3%, making the private sector a significant contributor to trade expansion, job growth and tax revenue increase in Xinjiang.

Steady progress has been made in international cooperation. Over the past 10 years, Xinjiang has deepened reform and opening-up, and advanced the construction of the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt, further widening openness. Xinjiang has also strengthened economic and trade exchanges and cooperation with Belt and Road countries, signing 21 cooperation agreements with 25 countries and international organizations, and concluding 45 pairs of sister cities  the friends circle of Xinjiang has never been greater.

At the same time, Xinjiang has continued to improve connectivity with countries along the Silk Road Economic Belt, opening 118 bilateral transport roads, accounting for one-third of Chinas total. All sections of the Xinjiang-Europe highway have become operational, the second railway to Kazakhstan was also opened, a total of 26 cross-border fiber-optic cables were deployed, and the 5-in-1 network of roads, railways, flights, pipelines, and telecommunications has basically taken shape.

Up to now, Xinjiangs railway mileage has hit 8,768 km, total road mileage has reached 217,300 km, and all prefectures and cities in Xinjiang have highway access. The region also boasts 24 airports, ranking first nationwide. Xinjiang has dispatched altogether 6,242 China-Europe freight trains to Central Asia and Europe, with an average annual growth of 55.1% over the past decade.
Vietnam International Agriculture Fair is set to kick off in Can Tho City on November 2.

According to the organising board, the fair will therefore showcase a range of high-tech agricultural products, machinery, agricultural equipment, modern agricultural product processing lines, processing and preserving agricultural products, agricultural materials, fertilisers, and pesticides.

Furthermore, several trade promotion programmes will also be held within the framework of the event.

Moreover, the opening ceremony of the event will also witness the launching of product traceability management system in Can Tho.

The purpose of the annual fair is to intensify agricultural trade promotion activities as a means of bolstering co-operation, seeking fresh markets and partners, exchanging experience, and promoting brand products. This is in addition to increasing the general competitiveness in Vietnamese agricultural products and attracting investments in agriculture.

449 new COVID-19 cases recorded on November 1

The national COVID-19 caseload rose to 11,503,334 with 449 new cases recorded on November 1, according to the Ministry of Health, reported Vietnam News Agency.

COVID-19 vaccination at a site in Da Nang, Vietnam (Photo: VNA)

With 386 patients given the all clear during the day, the number of recoveries rose to 10,603,598.

Meanwhile, there are 62 patients needing breathing support.

One death from COVID-19 was recorded in the past 24 hours. The total fatalities stood at 43,164.

As of the end of October 31, the total number of doses of COVID-19 vaccines injected was 261,957,574 with 84,563 doses administered on October 31.

Vietnam - US Trade Forum 2022 to get underway in mid-November

The Vietnam  United States Trade Forum 2022 will be held in Ho Chi Minh City on November 17 to help further promote trade and investment ties between the two countries, reported the Voice of Vietnam.

The event will be co-organised by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (Amcham Hanoi), the US-ASEAN Business Council (USABC), and the Oregon State government.

Leading experts from Vietnam and the US are expected to update participants on trade and investment policies of both countries amid a period of global supply chains shifting trends, post-COVID-19 economic recovery, and the future development of digital trade and services.

Experts will also seek ways to boost connectivity and engagement of Vietnamese businesses in the global supply chain, help them devise effective, long-term business plans and create further investment co-operation opportunities.

According to the latest data compiled by the General Statistics Office, the US remains Vietnams largest export market, with an estimated export turnover reaching US$93.4 billion, and imports from the market hitting about US$13 billion over the past 10 months.

Last year saw bilateral trade hit US$111.56 billion, representing an increase of nearly US$21 billion compared to 2020 and making the US Vietnams second trading partner, after China, with two-way trade exceeding the US$100 billion mark.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Planning and Investment reports that the US investment in Vietnam has reached US$11 billion, with several leading US corporations such as P&G, Coca Cola, Apple, Google, and Intel injecting their money into the country despite COVID-19 challenges.

Vietjet offers cheap tickets for Lunar New Year holiday

Passengers can easily book Vietjets hundreds of thousands of attractive promotional tickets to fly during the Lunar New Year holiday, reported Vietnam News Agency.

Illustrative image (Photo: Vietjetair.com)

During six golden days from November 1 to 6, hundreds of thousands of promotional Eco tickets up to 90% off will be opened for sale and passengers only have to apply the promotion code 2023 when booking at website www.vietjetair.com or Vietjet Air mobile app to receive attractive offers.

Promotional tickets are applied to all domestic routes from the North and Central to the south with flight period from January 6, 2023 to January 22, 2023 and routes from the South to the North and Central from January 23, 2023 to February 06, 2023.

Passengers also enjoy free payment when booking and paying via Vietjet SkyClub or apply the programme "Fly now - Pay later with easy online check-in in just three minutes, providing a flexible financial solution and convenience.

Illustrative photo (Source: TNO)

Vietjet is ready to welcome passengers to fly with the modern fleet, friendly and professional cabin crews, fresh and hot meals, health care products and services, travel insurances, new accommodation facilities, new utilities and many unique cultural and artistic performances at the altitude of 10.000 metres.

Vietjet is a fully-fledged member of International Air Transport Association (IATA) with the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certificate. As Vietnams largest private carrier, the airline was awarded the highest ranking for safety with 7 stars in 2018 and 2019 by the worlds only safety and product rating website airlineratings.com and listed as one of the world's 50 best airlines for healthy financing and operations by Airfinance Journal in 2018 and 2019.

The airline has also been named as Best Low-Cost Carrier by renowned organizations such as Skytrax, CAPA, Airline Ratings, and many others./.
President Nguyen Xuan Phuc (R) welcomes Danish Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary Elizabeth (Photo: VNA)

Expressing his delight at the joint efforts of Vietnam and Denmark in building on their traditional friendship over the years, the Vietnamese leader highly valued the special sentiments that the Royal Family, Government and people of Denmark have given to Vietnam during the countrys national construction and development.

Crown Prince Frederik said he is excited to visit Vietnam, a country that holds a special position in the Danish Royal Family and himself, and congratulated Vietnam on the impressive achievements in socio-economic development and international integration.

He said he is impressed by the sound development of the comprehensive partnership between the two countries, underlining that businesses accompanying him are keen on seeking partnership opportunities with their Vietnamese peers, especially in green growth, renewable energy and energy efficiency.

He said his country shares with Vietnam the vision on sustainable development, and showed impression on Vietnams efforts in implementing the commitment to achieve net-zero emission in 2050, saying that he believes Vietnam and Denmark are having numerous opportunities to boost cooperation in green growth and energy transition.

The Danish Crown Prince also expressed his hope to promote the establishment of a green strategic partnership to further lift up the effective and substantial cooperation between the two countries.

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc highlighted that positive developments have been seen in the Vietnam-Denmark friendship and comprehensive partnership, especially in the areas of politics-diplomacy, trade-investment, environment, education-training, and people-to-people exchange.

Currently, Denmark is an important partner of Vietnam in Europe and northern Europe, with two-way trade reaching nearly 600 million USD in 2021. Denmark has become the third largest investor in Vietnam with a 1-billion-USD Lego factory project which pushed the total Danish investment in Vietnam to 1.78 billion USD.

Underlining that there is still room for the two countries to expand their cooperation, the Vietnamese leader expressed his hope that the Danish Royal Family and Government will continue to support the promotion of the comprehensive partnership in the future.

He asked for Denmarks assistance in experience, technology and finance for the implementation of climate commitments, while expressing his belief that Danish enterprises will be successful in Vietnam in areas of Denmarks strength and Vietnams demand, thus effectively grasping opportunities from the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).

The two sides agreed to expand cooperation in education, training, culture and tourism to foster their friendship and mutual understanding, contributing to bolstering the developing ties between the two countries.

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc asked Crown Prince Frederik to convey his invitation to visit Vietnam to Queen Margrethe II./.
Lai Xuan Mon, PCC member and Standing Deputy Head of the PCC Commission on Popularization and Education (R) receives Mr. Luis Enrique Gonzalez Acosta, President of Cuban news agency Prensa Latina. (Photo: CPV)

At the reception, Mr. Mon expressed his pleasure to welcome Mr. Luis Enrique Gonzalez Acosta and members of the delegation to visit the PCC Commission on Popularization and Education, stressing that the delegation's visit came at an important time when the 4th session of the 15th National Assembly was taking place and the 6th meeting of the PCC term XII was a great success.

Introducing some basic features of the PCC Commission on Popularization and Education to be the advisory and assisting agency of the PCC, he expressed his excitement about the effective cooperation between the Vietnam News Agency and the Cuban news agency PL in recent years in the fields of information exchange, printing and distribution of Vietnam Photo Newspapers, expert cooperation, and support of each other's resident reporters. He appreciated the cooperation programs between the two news agencies of great significance, contributing to enhancing the understanding and traditional friendship between Vietnam and Cuba.

According to Mr. Mon, the upcoming cooperation programs between the Vietnam News Agency and the Cuban news agency PL are very meaningful, especially as the leaders of the two news agencies agreed to coordinate in organizing the photo exhibition in Vietnam and Cuba on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Cuban leader Fidel Castro's historic visit to Vietnam.

Highlighting Vietnams great achievements over the past renewal process, he noted that hostile forces have not ceased to give false views and slander to fight back and destroy the ideological foundation of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Therefore, the press agencies need to resolutely fight against false and hostile views; identify this as a constant, enduring and long-term struggle and one of the cross-cutting tasks, he said.

At the reception (Photo: CPV)

For his part, President of the Cuban News Agency PL, Luis Enrique Gonzalez Acosta, thanked Mr.Mon for the warm welcome to the delegation.

He said Cuban people, as well as Cuban press and reporters, always follow news about Vietnam through the Vietnamese press system.

Reporting the results of the working session with the Vietnam News Agency, Mr. Luis Enrique Gonzalez Acosta affirmed that the cooperative relationship between the two news agencies is a strategic relationship, especially in carrying out the mission to fight against the false information of hostile forces.

Affirming that the relationship between the two Parties, the State and the people of Cuba - Vietnam is very good, he added that it is necessary to further strengthen cooperation between Cuban and Vietnamese media agencies to strengthen the understanding and traditional friendship between the two countries./.
Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (L) and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (Photo: VNA)

Congratulating China on the success of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) as well as great achievements that the country has gained so far, the Party leader said he hopes the Party, State and people of China will successfully implement the Resolution of the congress.

Briefing Li on the outcomes of his talks with CPC General Secretary and State President Xi Jinping, he lauded the Chinese Governments important contributions to the reinforcement and development of the relations between the two countries.

He suggested that with their important role, the two Governments direct ministries, sectors and agencies to successfully realise cooperation agreements reached between the two sides during this visit.

The leader highlighted that Vietnam and China are close neighbours sharing long-standing friendship and many similarities in political regime and development path. The two Parties, countries and peoples have given each other priceless support and help during the past struggle for national independence and the current socialism building, he stated, adding that Vietnam has stayed persistent to the One China policy.

For his part, the Chinese Premier expressed his belief that the visit by the Vietnamese Party leader will contribute to promoting the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between Vietnam and China in a healthy, stable and sustainable manner in the new period.

Affirming that China attaches great importance to developing relations with Vietnam, Li highlights the similarities between the two countries.

He said he believes that under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) led by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, the Party, State and people of Vietnam will successfully implement the Resolution of the 13th National Congress of the CPV as well as the countrys goals for 2030 and 2045.

At the meeting, the two sides shared delight at the positive and healthy growth of the relationship between the two Parties and countries over the years. They agreed that in the new development period of the two Parties and countries and amid the current international situation, the two sides should further strengthen cooperation in all fields, while maintaining high-level exchanges and contacts, fostering political trust, beefing up trade and investment collaboration, and creating a material foundation and motivation for the development of the bilateral partnership.

The two countries should also work together to ensure stable and sustainable development of trade ties, while strengthening cooperation in maintaining the stability of the supply chain, coordinating with each other and making full use of free trade agreements, and increasing the strategic connectivity to contribute to the post-pandemic recovery and development, they concurred.

They also agreed to enhance coordination at multilateral, regional and international forums, and working together to maintain peace and stability in the region./.
Students attend a class at Yan'an High School in Yan'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Oct. 27, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhang Bowen)

XI'AN, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Toward evening, heated discussions and laughter emanated from a brightly-lit senior high school campus in Yan'an, a former revolutionary base in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Even in their first grade at Yan'an High School, several students passionately shared their understanding of topics such as cultural confidence.

"Cultural confidence is about inclusiveness, openness, pride, and self-confidence," said 16-year-old Chang Ruixue, adding that the rich history of her school has always propelled them to look at a far bigger picture and thrive on challenges and difficulties.

Yan'an High School was the first school of its kind set up by the Communist Party of China in 1938. It has a glorious history as well as fine revolutionary traditions and has fostered many talent for the old revolutionary base areas.

Starting from a campus of several cave dwellings, the school now has two campuses with modern facilities and a total of 5,500 students.

Over the past decade, Yan'an City has invested 11.5 billion yuan (1.59 billion U.S. dollars) in building and expanding 501 kindergartens, and primary and middle schools, according to the local education bureau.

Modern educational philosophy has also been introduced across schools in Yan'an to help broaden the horizons of the youth, such as organizing plenty of extracurricular activities.

Zhang Yazun, a 13-year-old local middle school student, said she felt fulfilled volunteering as a part-time guide at several revolutionary sites during weekends.

"The opportunity has greatly boosted my daughter's confidence, and she has shown more interest in broadcasting and hosting," said Zhang's mother, Hou Junyu.

Now, nearly 50,000 student volunteers like Zhang have helped at museums, memorial halls, and revolutionary sites in Yan'an as tour guides during their spare time.

Yan'an has built cooperation partnerships with 88 schools in over 10 provinces and municipalities nationwide, including Beijing and Shanghai, which has helped improve the education quality of the old revolutionary base.

"Being a diplomat is a big dream for me as I'm eager to shine in the global arena when I grow up," said Chang Ruixue. 

This photo shows a view of Yan'an High School in Yan'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province on Oct. 27, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhang Bowen)

Editor: JYZ
Serco, a global provider of public services in key sectors such as rail, transport, citizen services and defence sector, has announced the official opening of its regional hub in the Saudi capital.

Located in the capitals cosmopolitan Riyadh Front district, the new office comes as part of Serco's long-term strategy to develop its Saudi-based resources. Building on strong foundations which already engage specialist teams with 15% Saudi-national representation in the delivery of high-profile contracts such as Expro and Royal Commission of AlUla, Serco anticipates that growth in Saudi projects will result in the kingdom accounting for over 50% of Serco Middle Easts revenues by 2026, said Serco in its statement.

The new office was inaugurated by Badr AlBadr, Deputy Minister in the Saudi Ministry of Investment and Neil Crompton, British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia in the presence of senior Serco Group officials including its CEO Rupert Soames, Country Director Mona Althagafi.

Serco's new Riyadh hub will also host ExperienceLab, the group's customer insight and service design agency centred around people and innovation, said the statement.

A dedicated space and team have been put in place to help organisations within the kingdom use the unique understanding of data and insights to design, evolve and adapt services to cater to their end-users and deliver world-class experiences, it added.

Speaking at the launch, Althagafi said: "We are honoured to be able to celebrate this landmark event. Having our regional hub in Riyadh is strategically vital as we need to be as close to our key customers as possible so that we can continue to offer them the most responsive and innovative services available using global best practice and expertise delivered by our local team."

"At the same time, we are striving to offer our Saudi team the best possible training and the most rewording work experiences, she added.-TradeArabia News Service
By Gu Siyu

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, Xinjiang has fully leveraged its advantages of being located in the hinterland of Eurasia that connects two large markets, and spared no efforts to build itself into a core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt. By strengthening its economic ties with neighboring countries and other Chinese provinces, Xinjiang has evolved from a landlocked region into a highland of greater openness.

Over the past 10 years, foreign trade in Xinjiang has been expanding with an optimized structure. According to the Bureau of Statistics of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, in 2021, Xinjiangs total import and export of goods amounted to $24.298 billion, an increase of 13.7% over the previous year. The surplus of trade in goods hit US$15.125 billion, an increase of $4.84 billion over the previous year. Xinjiangs foreign trade is showing a momentum of rapid and steady growth.

Xinjiang is trading with a diverse range of countries. In 2021, Xinjiang established economic and trade relations with 176 countries and regions, trade with Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, its top three trading partners, reached $10.535 billion, $5.465 billion and $981 million respectively.

With continuous reform of foreign trade system comes ever-increasing number of business entities year by year. From 2012 to 2021, the share of foreign trade done by private enterprises in Xinjiang grew from 70.6% to 86.3%, making the private sector a significant contributor to trade expansion, job growth and tax revenue increase in Xinjiang.

Steady progress has been made in international cooperation. Over the past 10 years, Xinjiang has deepened reform and opening-up, and advanced the construction of the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt, further widening openness. Xinjiang has also strengthened economic and trade exchanges and cooperation with Belt and Road countries, signing 21 cooperation agreements with 25 countries and international organizations, and concluding 45 pairs of sister cities  the friends circle of Xinjiang has never been greater.

At the same time, Xinjiang has continued to improve connectivity with countries along the Silk Road Economic Belt, opening 118 bilateral transport roads, accounting for one-third of Chinas total. All sections of the Xinjiang-Europe highway have become operational, the second railway to Kazakhstan was also opened, a total of 26 cross-border fiber-optic cables were deployed, and the 5-in-1 network of roads, railways, flights, pipelines, and telecommunications has basically taken shape.

Up to now, Xinjiangs railway mileage has hit 8,768 km, total road mileage has reached 217,300 km, and all prefectures and cities in Xinjiang have highway access. The region also boasts 24 airports, ranking first nationwide. Xinjiang has dispatched altogether 6,242 China-Europe freight trains to Central Asia and Europe, with an average annual growth of 55.1% over the past decade.

Editor: Zhang Zhou
Sending ships from Ukraine along grain corridor to resume on Nov 3  Minister of Infrastructure

Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov announced the continuation of the grain initiative from November 3, citing confirmation from the UN.

"Black Sea Grain Initiative continues. It is expected that on Thursday, November 3, 8 vessels with Foodstuffs will pass through the grain corridor. We received confirmation from the UN," he said on Twitter on Wednesday night.

Kubrakov added that inspections of ships in the Bosphorus will also be performed on November 2.

As reported, after Russia announced on October 29 that it was withdrawing from the grain initiative because of an alleged attack by Ukraine on ships in Sevastopol, exports were temporarily suspended. However, on October 30, the delegations of Turkiye, Ukraine and the UN at the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) agreed on the resumption of the movement of 16 ships on October 31, including 12 ships to leave Ukrainian ports. The movement continued on 1 November.

On Tuesday, the UN secretariat at the JCC reported that there were no plans for the movement of dry cargo vessels under the Black Sea Grain Initiative on November 2, but 36 inspections of ships were conclude that day in Ukrainian ports.
Telecom group VEON, which owns the largest Ukrainian mobile network operator Kyivstar, has announced the beginning of the competitive sale of Vimpelcom, its wholly owned Russian mobile service provider.

VEON said in a statement that it is studying options for achieving the optimal outcome for all stakeholders.

The company did not disclose any information about potential buyers or other details.

As reported, in May 2022, in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine, Kyivstar President Oleksandr Komarov, as an expert in the telecom market with many years of experience, said that the VEON international holding would not be able to operate simultaneously with both Russian and Ukrainian telecom assets for a long time.
Electricity supplies to Ukraine from Slovakia totaled 300 MWh on October 30 and November 1, according to data on the ENTSO-E website.

According to the delivery schedule posted there, on October 30, some 25 MW were imported for seven hours (from 8:00 to 15:00) and on November 1, delivery of 25 MW was confirmed for five hours (from 10:00 to 15:00).

According to the auction platform of NPC Ukrenergo, on October 30, a cross-section from Slovakia was bought by D.Trading LLC  25 MW at 9:00 and 15 MW at 10:00-15:00, as well as Nextrade LLC  10 MW at 10:00-15:00.

On November 1, the section was bought by D.Trading  25 MW for six hours at 11:00-16:00.

Starting from October 16, Ukrainian traders D.Trading, state trader ECU, ERU Trading, and from October 30, Nextrade began testing the possibilities of importing electricity and booking different power sections from Slovakia on certain days, but deliveries are not made on all days when a section is purchased.
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food and the Union of Poultry Breeders of Ukraine have agreed by the end of the year to stabilize prices for chicken eggs in Ukraine and prevent wholesale prices from exceeding the level at which eggs are now supplied to retail chains.

According to the agency's website, the corresponding memorandum will be valid until December 31 this year, although it can be extended if necessary.

Within the framework of the document, representatives of the poultry industry undertook to saturate the domestic market with the necessary volumes of eggs, in particular, by increasing the number of laying hens and egg production.

For its part, the ministry undertook to provide egg producers with the necessary resources and conditions for work, as well as an opportunity to attract affordable loans for the development of production activities. In addition, it will contribute to the stability of domestic prices for grain forage and oilseeds used in the production of feed for birds.

As reported, with reference to the ministry, due to Russian aggression, the largest reduction in egg production in Ukraine was recorded in April 2022 - up to 3.78 billion eggs, which is 17.3% less than in April 2021. From May 2022, the decline in their production reached a plateau, and starting from July, the decline slightly accelerated (by 0.7 percentage points). In September, its pace decreased, and in January-September 2022, some 9.29 billion eggs were produced, which is 15.7% less compared to January-September 2021.
The dismissal of Yuriy Vitrenko, Chairman of the Board of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy, will not affect the provision of consumers with resources, Minister of Energy Herman Haluschenko believes.

"It's not worth connecting the issue of gas supply to a specific person. The system works. There was one manager, now there will be another manager. This will not affect the gas supply to either the population or industry," he said during a joint press conference with European Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson in Kyiv on Tuesday.

According to him, the new head of the company will be tasked with solving the issues of managing regional gas distribution companies, increasing gas production and attracting financial resources for gas purchases.

"There is an unchanging task - this is stable work. But there is a new range of tasks, if we are talking specifically about Naftogaz. This is to solve the issue of regional gas companies, which today have been transferred to management. There are many things that need to be completed. In addition, of course, this is gas production. Today we see that it is possible to increase it even in war conditions. And, of course, this is a matter of the company's financial resources - raising funds," the minister explained.

Regarding possible other personnel changes in the energy sector, he noted that "it is difficult to predict who might resign tomorrow."
The United States has launched a $47.6 million demining assistance project in Ukraine, the Department of State said on Wednesday.

"On September 30, the Department awarded $47.6 million to Tetra Tech, Inc. of Pasadena, California to provide urgent humanitarian demining assistance to Ukraine in the face of Russia's brutal war of aggression," according to the statement.

Under the terms of the project, the company will "strengthen the Government of Ukraine's capacity to locate and remove landmines, unexploded and abandoned ordnance, improvised explosive devices and other explosive hazards from civilian areas."

In addition, Tetra Tech will provide Ukraine with the tools needed to carry out demining work.

This project forms part of the $91.5 million in demining assistance that the Department of State will provide over the coming year.
Over the past day on Tuesday, November 1, the Armed Forces of Ukraine carried out 33 strikes on enemy building up, missile troops and artillery destroyed 11 air and 13 ground targets, the General Staff said.

"The aviation of the Ukrainian Defense Forces over the past day has dealt 33 strikes to the enemy. Some 26 areas of concentration of weapons and military equipment, as well as seven positions of anti-aircraft missile systems of the enemy were under attack. Over the past day, Ukrainian soldiers shot down a helicopter, two UAVs of the Orlan-10 type, six attack UAVs Shahed-136.

In addition, over the past day, missile and artillery units of the Defense Forces hit four areas of concentration of manpower, weapons and military equipment, three ammunition depots and six other important military targets of the enemy.

According to updated information, enemy losses were confirmed in the area of the settlement of Muzykivka, Kherson region, on October 29. Thus, as a result of fire damage, the Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile and gun system was destroyed, and up to ten units of other military equipment of the enemy were damaged. In the area of the settlement of Snihyrivka, Mykolaiv region, on October 30, some 12 invaders were destroyed.

The movement of archival documents from the administrative buildings of Kherson by the Russian invaders was noted.

"Despite the official completion of mobilization on the territory of Russia, summonses continue to be received by men of military age," the General Staff said.
The Grain Corridor in the Black Sea, which ensures the export of agricultural products from Ukraine, will resume work on Wednesday, November 2, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a meeting of the parliamentary faction of the Justice and Development Party, according to Anadolu.

The head of state said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had a telephone conversation with Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar," the agency said.

Erdogan also said the day before he discussed the topic of the "grain corridor" with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In addition, on Wednesday, Erdogan plans to discuss the issue of grain supplies with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky considers the biggest mistake of Ukrainian politicians in 30 years to have not been built a strong security system.

"We in Ukraine have not built a strong security system for 30 years, because we did not expect such aggressive steps from them. This was the biggest mistake of our country, Ukrainian politics," he said in an interview with Czech television published on Wednesday.

Noting that a number of leaders are "pushing" Ukraine into negotiations with Russia, Zelensky said: "Don't push me into negotiations, I don't want to repeat these mistakes. I think one war is enough for Ukraine this century."

Asked about possible compromises, Zelenskiy replied: "They must take steps back, retreat. They can wait for us to de-occupy our territories. We will lose a lot of people and they will lose a lot of people. This is a tragedy. And they can retreat beyond our borders, including Crimea. And then they can say - let's look for ... not a compromise, some kind of solution, how to live in the next 100 years."

At the same time, the president is sure that "if they do not want to give up Donbas and Crimea, this means that the war will not end. Because we have an example of such a frozen conflict. They will remain, and we will say that these are our territories, ... and they - what them. Each side will wait until they start de-occupying them. This is not about peace, this is not about ending the war."

Answering the question of what he would do after the victory, Zelensky said: "After the victory, I will go to Crimea. I want to see the sea. It wont be in winter, what should I do at sea in winter?"
Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Health, the integrated health network of Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Investment Company said it is exploring a potential joint venture with Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company, the country's sovereign wealth fund, for setting up a long-term care and post-acute rehabilitation facility in Bahrain that will be operated by Amana Healthcare, a Mubadala Health Partner.

The proposed facility will bring Mubadala Healths renowned expertise in the field of post-acute health services to Bahrain to provide the highest quality of treatment to the currently underserved patients requiring long-term care, said a statement from the Abu Dhabi group.

Patients with complex medical needs will now be able to receive long-term care and post-acute rehabilitation. The offering of these services within a specialized facility will also alleviate the pressure on the healthcare system by freeing up bed capacity in acute hospitals across the Kingdom, it stated.

On the strategic move, Mubadala Health CEO Hasan Al Nowais said: "The collaboration will bring Mubadala Health closer in achieving its vision of transforming the regional healthcare landscape."

"Providing high-quality care to our patients is at the core of everything we do. It is, therefore, a privilege to have the opportunity to share and provide our expertise and knowledge to patients in the wider region, and who are currently underserved in this field," he stated.

Welcoming the partnership, Mumtalakat CEO Khalid Al Rumaihi, said: "Our strategic collaboration with Mubadala Health is promising as we share the same level of commitment to building long-term, sustainable partnerships that are aligned with the investment principles and values of our respective organisations."

"We are committed to investing in Bahrain and supporting the economic growth in the Kingdom by focusing on key economic sectors including healthcare. Our collaboration with Mubadala Health allows us to explore developing a key healthcare facility that will address a gap and add value to the current Bahrain healthcare ecosystem," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has called on the international community to introduce and expand sanctions against Russian media that disseminate false information, including to justify Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine.

"Now it is critically important to consolidate joint efforts to combat Russian propaganda and disinformation, in particular, by stopping the activities of Russian propaganda broadcasters abroad. In this context, we call on the international community to introduce and expand sanctions against Russian media that disseminate false information, including to justify Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on the International Day to end impunity for crimes against journalists.

The Foreign Ministry said since 2014, Russia's war against Ukraine has been accompanied by crimes against journalists and the destruction of independent journalism in the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories. Murders and kidnappings of media representatives, arrests, seizure of TV towers, groundless searches in the premises of editorial offices are just a small list of crimes of Russian invaders against the media, the ministry said.

"Since February 2022, during eight months of full-scale aggression, Russia has committed 457 crimes against journalists and the media in Ukraine, according to the monitoring of the Institute of Mass Communication. As of October, Russian invaders have killed more than forty Ukrainian and foreign journalists," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry also notes the alarming deterioration in the situation with human rights and freedom of speech in the temporarily occupied Crimea.

"After the occupation in 2014, when independent journalists were forced out of the peninsula or arrested, the phenomenon of citizen journalism is developing on the peninsula. Ordinary citizens, risking their lives, join the coverage of the crimes of the Russian occupiers. According to human rights activists, currently 14 journalists, including citizen journalists, are being held behind bars in the occupied Crimea or on the territory of the Russian Federation," the ministry said.

It is indicated that the invasion of Russian troops became a new countdown for brutal repressions against representatives of regional media, in particular, hundreds of media outlets in the temporarily occupied territories were forced to stop working due to threats and the inability to carry out journalistic activities under the conditions of temporary occupation.

"Ukrainian regions occupied by Russia are systematically isolated from the Ukrainian information space, Ukrainian broadcasting and the work of national Internet operators are blocked there, while the occupiers are broadcasting Russian state channels. Russia is also waging an active information war, spreading disinformation about Ukraine, conducting special operations to undermine society and discredit relations with international partners," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.

The Foreign Ministry said Ukraine and its partners will also continue to make efforts to investigate the crimes of Russia against journalists in Ukraine and the activities of Russian propagandists involved in criminal information operations as an integral part of a full-scale war against Ukraine.

"The perpetrators of these atrocities will be brought to the strictest accountability. We thank the thousands of Ukrainian and international journalists who, often at the risk of their own lives, tell the world the truth about the war in Ukraine," the ministry said.
As part of cooperation, Nova Poshta has acquired 20 Fifish sapper robots for underwater demining for UAH 5 million for the State Emergencies Service.

According to Nova Poshta, thanks to these robots, pyrotechnics will neutralize the ammunition remaining at the bottom of the reservoirs after active hostilities in Mykolaiv region.

"Such works detect explosive objects in waters and transmit to sappers the exact coordinates of their location. With the help of a special working arm, the device can move the ammunition or place a detonator next to it in order to subsequently neutralize it. The robot is equipped with VR glasses. Thanks to them, the sapper sees what is happening under water and directs device in the right direction," Nova Poshta says.

The first eight robots have already been handed over to rescuers. In the near future, another 12 sapper robots will arrive in Ukraine: the company will also transfer 11 of them to the State Emergencies Service, and one sample will remain with the Ukrainian Robotics Association for further improvement. It will be finalized by Ukrainian specialists in accordance with the requirements of the State Emergencies Service. Their task is to improve the engine, increase the operating time of the device and improve lighting.

The company noted that Ukraine is now one of the most mined countries in the world. About 200,000 square kilometers, which is almost a third of the state's territory, need to be cleared.

Another area of partnership between Nova Poshta and the State Emergencies Service is the logistics of rescue teams. The service prepares lists of necessary goods, from electronic devices to cars, and the company is engaged in their search, purchase and delivery. Nova Poshta also provides logistical support to the State Emergencies Service of Ukraine.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Alvarez, who arrived in Ukraine on Wednesday, visited Makariv, Kyiv region, said head of Kyiv Regional Military Administration Oleksiy Kuleba has said.

"Mr. Albares personally saw the destruction committed by the Russian army in our Kyiv region. He also showed Mr. Minister the kindergarten Teremok, which the occupiers shot and destroyed to the ground. It was the only inclusive kindergarten in the community. Today, this institution needs capital construction. I am grateful to Spain for the clear position and support of Ukrainians," he wrote on the Telegram channel.

Together with the minister, a Spanish group of criminologists arrived in Ukraine, which will help document Russia's crimes on the territory of Ukraine.
At the annual conference of the International Bar Association (IBA), Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin stressed the need to create a compensation mechanism as soon as possible, the Prosecutor General's Office reports.

In a message posted on Wednesday on the Telegram channel, it appears that during his speech, the Prosecutor General explained why a special international tribunal for the crime of aggression needs to be created while the war is still going on.

"This is also pressure on Putin's entourage, which will bring political changes in the Russian Federation closer and, in the end, our victory. Such a decision can save thousands of lives," the prosecutor general said.

Kostin thanked for the opportunity to once again present the Ukrainian position in the international arena and stressed that it is necessary to ensure punishment for the crime of aggression through an international tribunal for the sake of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people and to restore the foundations of international law.

According to the Prosecutor General, the joint moral obligation to the Ukrainian people is the speedy creation of a compensation mechanism.

"In order to feel justice, people who have lost relatives, property, survivors of torture, injury, sexual violence should receive compensation at the expense of Russian assets seized from those who financed the war," he added.
Spain has handed over five groups of generators and 30 ambulances to Ukraine, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said.

"We are also handing over equipment: five groups of generators that are already coming to Ukraine. We provide this at the request of the Ukrainian side. This request was addressed to me by my friend Dmytro Kuleba after the latest attacks. This equipment will help maintain the electrical supply of hospitals and other medical facilities," Albares said at a press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv on Wednesday.

He added that Spain will send Ukraine another 14 generators, which are bought with the funds of the Spanish cooperation agency.

Albares pointed out that Spain also handed over 30 ambulances to Ukraine.

"We handed over 30 ambulances thanks to the UN Population Fund. These ambulances will provide assistance to pregnant women, as well as women in labor who cannot get to hospitals," the Foreign Minister said.

In addition, the Minister informed about the arrival in Ukraine of a group of experts from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Spain, who arrived to train Spanish specialists who will work in the investigation of war crimes and crimes against humanity, which they will conduct together with the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine.
Soon Ukraine will receive an Aspide air defense system battery and four Hawk air defense systems from Spain, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said.

"We have been working for a long time with Jose Manuel [Spanish Foreign Minister], as well as our colleagues from other departments, to ensure that Ukraine receives a new package of military assistance from Spain as soon as possible. I am very glad that the new package is there. It is already on its way to Ukraine, and in the near future our state will strengthen its defense capability by receiving a battery of the Aspide anti-aircraft missile system and missiles for it, four Hawk air defense systems, anti-tank missile systems, guns and shells for them, as well as other military equipment," Kuleba said at a press conference with the Spanish Foreign Minister in Kyiv on Wednesday.

The Foreign Minister stressed that this is exactly what Ukraine asked Spain for.

"This is exactly what will help us protect our civilian infrastructure," Kuleba added.

He drew attention to the fact that after the Spanish Foreign Minister informed about the decision to transfer Hawk systems to Ukraine, this became a signal for other countries to start searching for Hawk systems and preparing them for transfer to Ukraine.

"Even more air defense means will come to us," Kuleba said.
Electricity provided to all residents of Kyiv region de-energized after Russian attacks on Oct 31  DTEK

Specialists from DTEK Kyiv Regional Grids have completely restored electricity in Kyiv region after the Russian attack on October 31, including all residents of Vyshgorod.

"DTEK returned electricity to 300,000 families in Kyiv region... Electricity has already been provided to all residents of Vyshgorod, which suffered from the Russian attack on October 31," the company said on its Facebook page on Wednesday.

As the company explained, on October 31, DTEK specialists returned power supply to the majority of de-energized consumers in the region  284,000 families, and on November 2, they completed the restoration work for the grids supplying Vyshgorod.

At the same time, 102 specialists were involved in the restoration work around the clock.

At the same time, due to the increased load on the power grids, DTEK Kyiv Regional Grids called for turning on energy-intensive devices one by one and minimizing electricity consumption during peak hours from 6:00 to 11:00 and 17:00 to 23:00.
Ukrainian aviation inflicts 20 strikes on occupiers in past 24 hours, areas of concentration of weapons, positions of enemy air defense systems hit

The aviation of the Defense Forces has carried out 20 strikes against the Russian occupiers during the current day, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on Wednesday.

"The areas of concentration of weapons and military equipment, as well as the positions of the enemy's air defense systems, were hit," the report says.

It notes that units of missile troops and artillery of the Defense Forces during the day hit three areas of concentration of manpower, weapons and military equipment, an ammunition depot and three other important enemy military facilities.
Buildings of Rubin and Yantar sanatoriums in Truskavets to be modernized for housing for IDPs

The buildings of the Rubin and Yantar sanatoriums in Truskavets (Lviv region) will be modernized for housing for internally displaced persons (IDPs), the pro bono consultant of the Truskavets urban community on this project is Integrites law firm, the press service of the law firm told Interfax-Ukraine.

"As part of the project, it is planned to modernize the buildings of the Rubin and Yantar sanatoriums with a total area of approximately 32,000 square meters, located in the central part of Truskavets, into houses with common premises (canteens, social centers). They were mothballed at the beginning of Russian aggression in 2014-2012," Oleh Zahnytko, the partner of Integrites, told the agency.

According to him, as a result, from 1,600 to 3,000 people - both families and single persons will receive housing.

The project is proposed to be implemented on the basis of a public-private partnership (PPP) with the aim of integrating IDPs into the economy of the region. Integrites has been advising the city on the financial and management structure of PPPs since July 2022.

"We, as a company, represent a public partner  the city that solves its problems: it wants to revitalize the site in the center and integrate IDPs," he said.
Egypts presidency of COP27 submitted on Saturday three draft documents to the countries participating in the conference in order to accelerate the pace of negotiation and reach a unanimous agreement in the final statement of the conference.
The GCC Board Directors Institute (GCC BDI) has teamed up with the National Centre for Family Business (NCFB) to strengthen the role of family business in Saudi Arabia and ensuring their sustainability.

For this GCC BDI, a not-for-profit organisation that guides board directors of organisations in acquiring the know-how and tools to reach and sustain effective corporate governance, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NCFB.

The MoU focuses on the development of a long-term strategic relationship between GCC BDI and NCFB as well as strengthening their cooperation to explore collaborative opportunities and enhance standards of corporate and family governance in Saudi Arabia. The MoU also aims to reinforce the role of family businesses in furthering the Saudi economy and increase their contribution to KSAs GDP and Vision 2030.

The MoU was signed in Riyadh by Jane Valls, Executive Director of GCC BDI, and Dr Ayth Al Mubarak, Chief Executive Officer of NCFB during a Family Business Governance Forum being run by GCC BDI in collaboration with NCFB.

Positive impact

Valls said: At GCC BDI, we aim to create a positive impact on the economies and societies in the region through promoting professional directorship and raising the level of board effectiveness. Family Businesses are a key component of this mandate, and this is where our MoU with the NCFB in Saudi Arabia will help us enhance the standards of corporate and family governance in the kingdom. By joining forces with NCFB, we seek not only to empower family businesses in the kingdom but also to ensure their long-term competitiveness in the changing business landscape.

Dr Ayth Al Mubarak, Chief Executive Officer of NCFB, said: Family businesses represent 63% of the private sector entities in Saudi Arabia, and account for 32% of the national gross domestic product (GDP). Family businesses are key to the growth of the countrys GDP, and this MoU with GCC BDI will go a long way in raising awareness about effective governance in line with Saudi Vision 2030. We aim to work collaboratively with GCC BDI to extend a wide array of programmes and certifications to empower family businesses in the kingdom.

The MoU stipulates close collaboration between GCC BDI and NCFB on raising awareness and providing professional development and education through workshops and forums, such as the GCC BDI Family Business Governance Workshop. This involves, among other aspects, running a Certification in Board Directorship for Family Businesses.

Research and studies

GCC BDI and NCFB will also work together on relevant research and case studies, as well as other topics of mutual interest, including partnering on forums and workshops.

Given the significance of family businesses on the national level, the NCFB was opened by a royal decree in 2014, directing the Ministry of Commerce to support and organise the centre. The NCFB works towards its mission by providing services and the effective communication with family businesses, public agencies, advisory and management consultation firms, and the general community.

Over the past one-and-a-half decades, GCC BDI has grown to over 2,600 members and has helped over 2,600 board directors across the Gulf region in developing their professional capabilities. Founded in 2007 as a not-for-profit entity, GCC BDIs mission is to promote the highest professional standards of corporate governance and directorship through capacity building, advocacy, and sound governance practices.-- TradeArabia News Service
Ukraine prepared for more Russian strikes on Monday and warned of the possibility for a new round of evacuations from the capital during a relative lull from the airstrikes on energy facilities and other key infrastructure in recent weeks.
Egypts Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will travel to Algiers on Friday to take part in meetings of the Arab League Council ahead of the upcoming Arab summit, the Egyptian foreign ministry announced.

Shoukry is scheduled to take part in the Arab foreign ministers meetings to be held on 29-30 October as part of preparations for holding the 31st Arab League summit on 1-2 November in Algeria, foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said Thursday.

The meetings are expected to review the summit agenda and decisions to be introduced during the summit activities.

This is the first Arab League summit after a two-year hiatus, which makes the event important for helping Arab countries face the grave challenges facing them due to the current critical international and regional conditions, Abu Zeid said.

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Egypt has witnessed a boom in its healthcare sector over the past few years with the establishment of robust and effective entities, such as the Egyptian Drug Authority and the Unified Purchasing Authority, besides the implementation of the Universal Healthcare System, which all come in line with Egypt's Vision 2030, said Michael Wanis, country head of Bayer, a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company.

Wanis' remarks came his address at the third edition of Al-Ahram Establishments pharmaceutical conference that was held over two days and concluded on Monday.

Egypt's Vision 2030 aims at extending integrated healthcare to all Egyptians, which aligns with Bayers vision and its slogan Health for All, Hunger for None," Wanis pointed out.

Bayer is a world-leading company in healthcare that has operated in the Egyptian market for over 90 years with a main objective of providing the best approved treatments for patients in a sustainable manner, he added.

This is achieved through the localisation of the pharma industry. In this respect, Bayer started its journey in Egypt in 1996 by producing one of the antibiotics in all its concentrations, which makes EGP 21 million in sales at the present time, he noted.

Bayer started localising aspirin manufacturing in the Egyptian market in 2010 with total sales of EGP 280 million, he said, adding that one of the companys anti-allergic treatments was added to the Egyptian approved drugs list in 2015 with total sales of EGP 130 million. These stops brought our overall sales from locally produced treatments to EGP 430 million annually in October 2022, Wanis explained.

He referred to the partnership between his company and the Egyptian Drug Authority that includes manufacturing 60-70 percent of Bayers consumer products over the coming three years, with total investments worth EGP 240 million.

Bayer has future plans to meet the Egyptian market's tendency to export to neighbouring countries, according to Wanis.

He said that imported drugs make up seven percent of the Egyptian drugs market.

The cascading crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, have affected the global economy; including the pharma industry, in terms of the shortage of hard currency to meet importing needs, he continued.

Wanis pointed to the public-private partnerships as a key and vital actor that helped provide imported drugs for Egyptian patients.

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Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi held on Wednesday separate talks with a number of Arab leaders on the sidelines of the Arab League summit in Algeria, the first since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

El-Sisi took part in the 31st Arab Summit on Wednesday, during which he urged the Arab world to recall the brightest instances of cooperation in its history amid the current global and regional challenges.

On the sidelines of the summit, El-Sisi met with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, and other leaders.

El-Sisi met with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. The two leaders affirmed their desire to cement relations on all fronts.

They also stressed the importance of maintaining military cooperation and coordination and stepping up efforts to combat terrorism, especially in light of the different security challenges, notably in the Sahel region.

El-Sisi affirmed Egypt's support for the Algerian presidency of the summit, expressing hope that the summit will result in serious recommendations and visions that reflect the joint efforts exerted under the umbrella of the Arab League to resolve various crises in the region.

The two leaders agreed on the importance of bolstering cooperation in several regional issues of mutual interest, including the crisis in Libya, according to a statement by Presidential Spokesman Bassam Rady.

El-Sisi and Tebboune affirmed the importance of achieving security and stability in Libya, holding the national election in the nearest time, and reinforcing international efforts to expel foreign forces and mercenaries from Libya.

Meeting Iraqi president

El-Sisi held his first meeting with his Iraqi counterpart Abdul-Latif Rashid, who assumed office in October.

El-Sisi asserted Egypt's unwavering stance with Iraq, which is based on supporting its unity and sovereignty in a manner that maintains its security and stability and contributes to preventing the re-emergence of terrorist organisations.

Rashid said Egypt plays a prominent role in strengthening the mechanisms of joint Arab action in the face of the current crises and challenges in the region.

Egypt, the Iraqi president said, is "a role model in maintaining stability and advancing the development and economic and social conditions in the Arab world," the spokesman added.

Rashid expressed his country's aspiration to benefit from Egypt's successful experiment in implementing development projects, especially in the transport and services sectors, added the spokesman.

Meeting Tunisian president

During El-Sisi's meeting with his Tunisian counterpart Kais Saied, he expressed Egypt's interest in developing ties with Tunisia in a sustainable framework to achieve economic integration and strategic cooperation.

El-Sisi stressed Cairo's support for the ongoing march of development and reform in Tunisia, according to the Egyptian news agency MENA.

Saied voiced his country's keenness on bolstering cooperation with Egypt for the best interest of both sides.

Tunisia has praised Egypt's efforts in implementing development projects and comprehensive economic reforms, Saied said, adding that his country looks forward to benefiting from the Egyptian experience.

Saied also expressed his appreciation for the Egyptian efforts to combat terrorism and extremism.

Meeting Jordanian crown prince

El-Sisi met with Jordans Crown Prince Al-Hussein bin Abdullah II, where he stressed the necessity of continuing coordination and consultation between the two countries amid the huge challenges facing the region.

The Jordanian crown prince stressed his countrys appreciation for the ongoing coordination with Egypt to tackle various crises facing the countries of the region, which threaten the security and stability of Arab peoples.

The crown prince also praised Egypts pivotal role in addressing Arab issues and enhancing Arab solidarity.

Meeting Yemeni presidential council leader

El-Sisi met with head of Yemens Presidential Leadership Council Rashad Al-Alimi, where he stressed Egypts readiness to support the security and stability of Yemen, which is of great importance to Egyptian national security.

The security of the Arab region and the Red Sea area necessitates the continuation of efforts to reach a permanent ceasefire and political settlement in Yemen and ensure the countrys unity and integrity, the president added.

Last month, Egypt called for the renewal of the UN-mediated six-month truce in Yemen, which expired on 2 October.

Al-Alimi, for his part, hailed Egypts efforts to support the security and stability of Yemen and reviewed with the president his governments efforts to restore peace and stability.

Al-Alimi also reviewed with El-Sisi challenges facing the Yemeni people as a result of the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the country.

Meeting Somali president

El-Sisi met with his Somali counterpart Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, where he stressed Egypts readiness to continue providing support to Somalia to strengthen its state institutions.

El-Sisi also affirmed Egypts readiness to activate the various forms of bilateral cooperation between the two countries, especially on the economic and commercial levels, provide humanitarian and relief aid to Somalia to face droughts, and train Somali technical cadres.

The Egyptian president also stressed Egypts support for Somalia in all the challenges that the country is facing, especially the danger of extremism and terrorism.

For his part, Mohamud hailed Egypts historic support for Somalia in all areas, affirming his countrys keenness to enhance coordination with Egypt on various regional issues of mutual concern and develop bilateral cooperation on all levels.

Mohamud made his first visit to Cairo in July since the start of his new term as president earlier this year, during which he discussed with El-Sisi Red Sea security and a number of regional issues, including the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam dispute between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia.

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Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday rejected the idea held by some that the United States is an "untouchable power," saying history shows that on the contrary, it is quite "vulnerable," semi-official Fars news agency reported.

He made the remarks in an address to a meeting with students from across the country ahead of national Student Day and the National Day of Fight against Global Arrogance celebrated on Nov. 4 to mark the Iranian people's takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran less than a year after the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

"Some think that the United States is an untouchable power, but if we take a look at the events that unfolded on this day (in history), it turns out that no, it is completely vulnerable," Khamenei told the students.

The historic day full of lessons for the Iranian nation manifests US "wickedness and suffering blows," he noted.

Washington claims that the starting point for its hostility toward the Iranian nation was the takeover of its embassy in Tehran, "which is a lie," Khamenei said.

The disputes and differences between Iran and the United States began on Aug. 19, 1953, the day when the Americans staged a coup against the government of then Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh who had nationalized the country's oil industry in March 1951, he added.

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President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi gave a speech at the Arab League summit in Algiers on Wednesday where he underscored the importance of Arab unity in facing challenges ranging from the Palestinian issue to water security and climate change.

The president stressed that any instability in the states of the Maghreb (North Africa) have an impact on the Arab states in the Middle East and vice versa.

Addressing Arab leaders at the 31st summit of the League of Arab States, which is being held in Algiers on 1 and 2 November, President El-Sisi said that the different Arab countries are threatened by the same dangers, including interference by foreign actors in Arab affairs and military aggressions against some Arab countries.

These factors have led to prolonging crises without solutions at a time when international and regional economic, development, and environmental challenges are intensifying, and while international polarisation is increasing, he said.

El-Sisi said that Egypt looks forward to effective partnership between Arab countries based on an aspiration for a prosperous future shaped by boosting and integrating Arab political, economic, and security capabilities to establish a solid system capable of facing common challenges.

This solid system will provide protection for all of us from the international polarisation that has been escalating, he said.

Palestinian rights, revival of Arab Peace Initiative

Moving forward in progress and development requires serious work to resolve the various crises in the Arab world, foremost among which is always the issue of Palestine, El-Sisi said.

The president said that Arab countries ability to work collectively to restore Palestinian rights has historically been, and will continue to be, the real measure of Arab unity.

El-Sisi expressed Egypts support for the Arab peace initiative that was proposed by Saudi Arabia in the Arab League summit in Beirut 2002 to end the Arab-Israeli conflict based on land for peace, which was endorsed by the Arab countries.

The Arab Peace Initiative also remains the embodiment of [Arab] unity and of our common vision for a just and comprehensive solution [to the Palestinian issue], based on the two-state solution and the principle of land for peace to ensure the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the borders of 4 June 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital, El-Sisi said.

Crises in Arab countries

President El-Sisi said that more collective Arab action is needed to deal with crises like the ones in Libya, Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Sudan.

The security and safety of the people of these brother countries will be threatened by these crises and they will continue to be a source of instability that impacts us all and hinders our development efforts, El-Sisi said.

On Libya, El-Sisi said that Egypt is exerting efforts to ensure that a political settlement is reached as soon as possible and without the interference of foreign agendas.

He said that Egypt reiterates its stance that all foreign forces and mercenaries should withdraw from the country within a specified timeframe, that the institutions of the Libyan state should be reunified, and that the militias should be dissolved in a manner that prevents the renewal of military confrontations.

Water security, GERD, climate challenges

President El-Sisi also addressed the dilemma of water security that is affecting several Arab countries, which he said will have serious consequences if ignored.

The president said that Egypt reaffirms the importance of continuing to urge Ethiopia to demonstrate the political will necessary to reach a legally binding agreement on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

Egypt, the president said, calls on Ethiopia to implement the presidential statement issued by the Security Council in September 2021 and to adopt any of the many solutions put forward through many rounds of negotiations.

The Arab group at the United Nations backed Egypt and Sudan when they supported Tunisias draft resolution at the Security Council in 2021, which turned into a presidential resolution issued in September 2021.

The resolution called for the revival of the talks between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia to reach a legally binding agreement on the GERDs operation and filling policies according to a timetable under the auspices of the African Union.

Egypt and Sudan have rejected Ethiopias unilateral decision to operate the GERD and start filling its reservoir, including its recent move to embark on the third phase of filling the 74-billion-cubic-metre reservoir and operating the dams turbines without the downstream countries consent.

The two downstream countries have repeatedly called on Addis Ababa to sign a binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam that would secure their water rights and protect their people's interests.

The challenge of water security is inseparable from other challenges facing the region, foremost among which is climate change, El-Sisi said.

The president invited the Arab leaders to attend the 27th session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh on 7-8 November.

We can transform this challenge [climate change] into a real opportunity for development and move to economic models that are more sustainable, he said.

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You may be hearing the phrase loss and damage in the coming weeks as government leaders meet in Egypt for the 2022 U.N. Climate Change Conference.

It refers to the costs, both economic and physical, that developing countries are facing from climate change impacts that they are unable to adapt to. Many of the worlds most climate-vulnerable countries have done little to cause climate change, yet they are experiencing extreme heat waves, floods and other climate-related disasters. They want wealthier nations  historically the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions  to pay for the harm.

A powerful example is Pakistan, where extreme rainfall on the heels of a glacier-melting heat wave flooded nearly one-third of the country in the summer of 2022.

The flooding turned Pakistans farm fields into miles-wide lakes that stranded communities for weeks. More than 1,700 people died, millions lost their homes and livelihoods, and more than 4 million acres of crops and orchards, as well as livestock, drowned or were damaged. This was followed by a surge in malaria cases as mosquitoes bred in the stagnant water.

Pakistan contributes only about 1% of the global greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change. But greenhouse gases dont stay within national borders  emissions anywhere affect the global climate. A warming climate intensifies rainfall, and studies suggest climate change may have increased Pakistans rainfall intensity by as much as 50%.

The question of payments for loss and damage has been a long-standing point of negotiation at United Nations climate conferences, held nearly every year since 1995, but there has been little progress toward including a financial mechanism for these payments in international climate agreements.

Many developing countries are looking to this years conference, COP27, as a crucial moment for making progress on establishing that formal mechanism.

Africas climate conference

With Egypt hosting this years U.N. climate conference, its not surprising that loss and damage will take center stage.

Countries in Africa have some of the lowest national greenhouse gas emissions, and yet the continent is home to many of the worlds most climate-vulnerable countries.

To deal with climate change, these countries  many of them among the worlds poorest  will have to invest in adaptation measures, such as seawalls, climate-smart agriculture and infrastructure thats more resilient to high heat and extreme storms.

Loss and damage is different from adaptation. After climate disasters, countries often need financial help to cover relief efforts, infrastructure repairs and recoveries.

Egypt is emphasizing the need for wealthy countries to make more progress on providing financial support for both adaptation and loss and damage.

Climate injustice and loss and damage

The conversation on loss and damage is inherently about equity. It evokes the question: Why should countries that have done little to cause global warming be responsible for the damage resulting from the emissions of wealthy countries?

That also makes it contentious. Negotiators know that the idea of payments for loss and damage has the potential to lead to further discussions about financial compensation for historical injustices, such as slavery in the United States or colonial exploitation by European powers.

At COP26, held in 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland, negotiators made progress on some key issues, such as stronger emissions targets and pledges to double adaptation finance for developing countries. But COP26 was seen as a disappointment by advocates trying to establish a financial mechanism for wealthier nations to provide finance for loss and damage in developing countries.

What loss and damage payments might look like

The lack of resolution at COP26, combined with Egypts commitment to focus on financing for adaptation and loss and damage, means the issue will be on the table this year.

The nonprofit Center for Climate and Energy Solutions expects discussions to focus on institutional arrangements for the Santiago Network for Loss and Damage, which focuses on providing technical assistance to help developing countries minimize loss and damage; and on fine-tuning the Glasgow Dialogue, a formal process developed in 2021 to bring countries together to discuss funding for loss and damage.

The V20 group of finance ministers, representing 58 countries highly vulnerable to climate change, and the G-7 group of wealthy nations also reached an agreement in October 2022 on a financial mechanism called the Global Shield Against Climate Risks. The Global Shield is focused on providing risk insurance and rapid financial assistance to countries after disasters, but its unclear how it will fit into the international discussions. Some groups have raised concerns that relying on insurance systems can overlook the poorest people and distract from the larger discussion of establishing a dedicated fund for loss and damage.

Two elements of developed countries reluctance to formalize a loss and damage mechanism involve how to determine which countries or communities are eligible for compensation and what the limitations of such a mechanism would be.

What would a threshold for loss and damage eligibility look like? Limiting countries or communities from receiving compensation for loss and damage based on their current emissions or gross domestic product could become a problematic and complicated process. Most experts recommend determining eligibility based on climate vulnerability, but this can also prove difficult.

How will world leaders respond?

Over a decade ago, developed countries committed to provide US$100 billion per year to fund adaptation and mitigation in developing countries. But they have been slow to meet that commitment, and it does not cover the damages from the climate impacts the world is already seeing today.

Establishing a loss and damage mechanism is considered one avenue to provide recourse for global climate injustice. All eyes will be on Egypt Nov. 6-18, 2022, to see how world leaders respond.

Bethany Tietjen, Research fellow in climate policy, The Fletcher School, Tufts University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on Wednesday that he would attend the 27th session of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Egypts Sharm El-Sheikh next week.

There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change. There is no energy security without investing in renewables. Sunak said on Twitter earlier Wednesday, adding that therefore he would attend COP27 next week.

The British PM stated he would deliver during his participation in COP27 to deliver on Glasgow COP26s legacy of building a secure and sustainable future.



There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change.



There is no energy security without investing in renewables.



That is why I will attend @COP27P next week: to deliver on Glasgow's legacy of building a secure and sustainable future.  Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) November 2, 2022





Rishi Sunak, who was appointed prime minister on 25 October, has been condemned for announcing that he will not be at the summit at the Egyptian Red Sea resort last week.



Sunak's spokesman on October 27 cited the PM's "pressing domestic commitments" linked to the disastrous economic plans of Johnson's short-lived immediate successor, Liz Truss.



He was also criticised for downgrading the post of the government's COP26 minister Alok Sharma and climate minister Graham Stuart, preventing them from attending cabinet



On Tuesday, his spokesman said his attendance was "under review".



Britain's former prime minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday said he will go to the upcoming UN climate change conference that will kick off next week from 6 to 18 November after being "invited by the Egyptians". Rishi Sunak, who was appointed prime minister on 25 October, has been condemned for announcing that he will not be at the summit at the Egyptian Red Sea resort last week.Sunak's spokesman on October 27 cited the"pressing domestic commitments" linked to the disastrous economic plans of Johnson's short-lived immediate successor, Liz Truss.He was alsofor downgrading the post of the government's COP26 minister Alok Sharma and climate minister Graham Stuart, preventing them from attending cabinetOn Tuesday, his spokesman said his attendance was "under review".Britain's former prime minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday said he will go to the upcoming UN climate change conference that will kick off next week from 6 to 18 November after being "invited by the Egyptians".

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Russia agreed Wednesday to resume its participation in a deal brokered by Turkey and the U.N. to keep grain and other commodities moving out of Ukraine's ports during Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Turkey's president said.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu informed Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar that the deal for a humanitarian grain corridor would ``continue in the same way as before'' as of noon Wednesday.

Erdogan said the renewed deal would prioritize shipments to African nations, including Somalia, Djibouti and Sudan, in line with Russia's concerns that most of the grain exported since the agreements first was reached in July was ending up in richer nations.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Russia agreed to continue carrying out its role in the deal after receiving written guarantees from Kyiv that Ukraine would not use the sea corridor for military actions against Moscow, according to a statement by the Russian defense ministry

Russia suspended its participation in the grain deal over the weekend, citing allegations of a Ukrainian drone attack against its Black Sea fleet. The Russian Defense Ministry said Monday that ship traffic from ports in southern Ukraine was halted, calling the movement ``unacceptable.''

The Defense Ministry said Wednesday that Ukraine had formally committed to using the safe shipping corridors through the Black Sea ``exclusively in accordance with the stipulations of the Black Sea initiative,'' a reference to the separate U.N. and Turkey-backed agreements signed by Moscow and Kyiv on July 22.

Ships loaded with grain departed Ukraine on Tuesday despite Russia suspending its participation in the U.N.-brokered deal, which aimed to ensure safe passage of critical food supplies meant for parts of the world struggling with hunger. But the United Nations had said vessels would not move Wednesday, raising concerns about future shipments.

The United Nations and Turkey brokered separate deals with Russia and Ukraine in July to ensure Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia would receive grain and other food from the Black Sea region during Russia's war in Ukraine.

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Saudi Arabia has shared intelligence with American officials that suggests Iran could be preparing for an imminent attack on the kingdom, three U.S. officials said Tuesday.

The heightened concerns about a potential attack on Saudi Arabia come as the Biden administration is criticizing Tehran for its crackdown on widespread protests and condemning it for sending hundreds of drones _ as well as technical support _ to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine.

``We are concerned about the threat picture, and we remain in constant contact through military and intelligence channels with the Saudis,'' the National Security Council said in a statement. ``We will not hesitate to act in the defense of our interests and partners in the region.''

Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Nor did Iran's mission to the United Nations.

One of the officials who confirmed the intelligence sharing described it as a credible threat of an attack ``soon or within 48 hours.'' No U.S. embassy or consulate in the region has issued alerts or guidance to Americans in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere in the Middle East based on the intelligence. The officials were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Asked about reports of the intelligence shared by the Saudis, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said U.S. military officials ``are concerned about the threat situation in the region.``

``We're in regular contact with our Saudi partners, in terms of what information they may have to provide on that front,'' Ryder said. ``But what we've said before, and I'll repeat it, is that we will reserve the right to protect and defend ourselves no matter where our forces are serving, whether in Iraq or elsewhere.''

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said America was ``concerned about the threat picture,'' without elaborating.

The Wall Street Journal first reported on the Saudis sharing the intelligence earlier on Tuesday. Iran has alleged without providing evidence that Saudi Arabia and other rivals are fomenting the dissent on its streets by ordinary Iranians.

Of particular ire is protest coverage by Iran International, a London-based, Farsi-language satellite news channel once majority-owned by a Saudi national.

The U.S. and Saudis blamed Iran in 2019 of being behind a major attack in eastern Saudi Arabia, which halved the oil-rich kingdom's production and caused energy prices to spike. The Iranians denied they were behind the attack, but the same triangle-shaped, bomb-carrying drones used in that attack are now being deployed by Russian forces in their war on Ukraine.

The Saudis have also been hit repeatedly in recent years by drones, missiles and mortars launched by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. Saudi Arabia formed a coalition to battle the Houthis in 2015 and has been internationally criticized for its airstrikes in the war, which have killed scores of civilians.

In recent weeks, the Biden administration has imposed sanctions on Iranian officials for the brutal crackdown on demonstrators after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September after her arrest by Iran's morality police. The administration has also hit Iran with sanctions for supplying drones to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine.

At least 288 people have been killed and 14,160 arrested during the protests, according to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran. Demonstrations have continued, even as the feared paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has warned young Iranians to stop.

Iran already launched a series of attacks targeting Kurdish separatist positions in northern Iraq amid the protests, killing at least 16 people, including an American citizen.

U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia have also been strained after the Riyadh-led alliance of oil producing nations, OPEC+, announced in October that it would cut production by 2 million barrels per day starting in November.

The White House has said it is reviewing its relationship with the Saudis over the move. The administration said the production cut is effectively helping another OPEC+ member, Russia, pad its coffers as it continues its war in Ukraine, now in its ninth month.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Tuesday reiterated that the administration remains concerned that Iran may also provide Russia with surface-to-surface missiles.

``We haven't seen that concern bear out, but it's a concern we have,'' Kirby said.

Even as the U.S. and others raise concerns about possible Iranian action, the administration has not ruled out the possibility of reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which was brokered by the Obama administration and scrapped in 2018 by the Trump administration.

The U.S. special envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, said on Monday that the administration was not currently focused on the deal, which has been stalled since August.

Still, Malley refused to declare the deal dead and said the administration ``makes no apology'' for ``trying to do everything we can to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.''

The deal had provided Tehran with billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for the country agreeing to roll back its nuclear program. It includes caps on enrichment and how much material Iran can stockpile and limits the operation of advanced centrifuges needed to enrich.

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Mittal (left) with Hashan at the signing ceremony.

Saudi-based Tdafoq Energy said it has entered into a distribution and manufacturing licence agreement with Delectrik Systems, a leading maufacturer of sustainable energy storage systems based in Gurgaon, India.

Tdafoq Energy is a major industrial group that provides sustainable, clean and affordable energy systems to businesses and individuals across the kingdom.

As per the deal, it will exclusively sell Delectrik's Vanadium Redox Flow Battery products manufactured at its Indian factory in the Gulf countries.

The agreement was signed in the presence of Delectrik Founder & CEO Vishal Mittal (left) with Tdafoq Founder Hajed Mohammad Hashan, it stated.

On the strategic partnership, Tdafoq Energy said with this it aims to become a global technology leader in the fast-growing stationary energy storage segment, supporting the Kingdom's Vision 2030 economic diversification objectives.

As part of the deal, Tdafoq is setting up a local Flow Battery manufacturing plant in Saudi Arabia which will serve the Gulf region. The production capacity at the facility will be scaled to a GWh capacity by 2025.

Delectrik's products are based on patented stack and system design using a proven and mature Vanadium Redox Flow Battery chemistry.

The company manufactures RFB10, RFB40 and RFB200 series of Vanadium Flow Batteries with 10 kWh, 40 kWh and 200 kWh capacity respectively, said a company spokesman.

"These systems are building blocks which can be connected to build even large systems of 100s of MWh. They are mainly designed for use in residential, commercial, industrial and grid scale stationary Energy Storage applications," he stated.

A major player in the global scene, Delectrik is commercially selling these products in several big markets including US, Australia, Western Europe, Middle East and India.-TradeArabia News Service
Israeli troops killed a Palestinian on Wednesday after he seriously injured a soldier with a van, Israeli occupation authorities said, as votes were counted in an Israeli general election.

The Israeli occupation army said the man was "neutralised" in the shooting at the Maccabim checkpoint, near the Israeli town of Modiin. The Palestinian health ministry later confirmed he had been killed.

"The assailant got out of his vehicle with an axe to attack the officer, who fired at the attacker and neutralised him," the army said. "The officer was seriously injured and taken to hospital."

The Palestinian health ministry identified the dead man as Habas Rayan, 54.

The attack came as early results from a Tuesday general election in Israel gave a narrow lead to veteran right-winger Benjamin Netanyahu at head of an alliance with religious parties and the far right.

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Arab leaders convened on Wednesday in Algeria for the second day of the 31st summit of the largest annual Arab conference to seek common ground on divisive issues in the region. The meeting comes against the backdrop of rising inflation, food and energy shortages, drought and soaring cost of living across the Middle East and Africa.

The kings, emirs, presidents and prime ministers are discussing thorny issues such as the establishment of diplomatic ties between Israel and four Arab countries as former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies appears to be heading to an election victory.

The summit's discussions are also focused on the food and energy crises aggravated by Russia's war in Ukraine that has had devastating consequences for Arab countries, struggling to import enough wheat and fuel to satisfy their populations.

Deepening the crisis is the worst drought in several decades that has ravaged swaths of Somalia, one of the Arab League's newer members, bringing some areas of the country to the brink of famine.

Russia's reinforcement of its blockade on Ukraine's Black Sea ports on Sunday threatens to further escalate the crisis, with many Arab countries near solely dependent on Ukrainian and Russian wheat exports and fertilizers.

The event provides an opportunity for Algeria _ Africa's largest country by territory _ to showcase its leadership in the Arab world. Algeria is a major oil and gas producer and is perceived by European nations as a key supplier amid the global energy crisis that stems from Russia's war in Ukraine.

Algeria, along with other Arab countries, remains fiercely opposed to the series of normalization agreements the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco signed with Israel over the past three years have divided the region into two camps. Sudan has also agreed to establish ties with Israel.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune vowed in his opening speech Tuesday to put forth considerable efforts at the summit to try to reaffirm support for the Palestinians in their conflict with Israel as the Arab and international communities' attention shifts to other conflicts and crises.

``Our main and first cause, the mother of all causes, the Palestinian issue, will be at the heart of our concerns and our main priority,`` Tebboune said. He blasted Israel for its ``continued occupation'' of Palestinian territories and ``expanding its illegal settlements.''

Last month, Algeria hosted talks in a bid to end the Palestinian political divide and reconcile the Fatah party, whose Palestinian Authority rules parts of the occupied West Bank, and the militant Hamas group, which has control of the Gaza Strip.

The Arab summit comes at the time of heightened tensions in the West Bank, where the Israeli military has conducted nightly arrest raids in searches for Palestinian militants. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in recent months, including armed gunmen, stone-throwing teenagers and people uninvolved in violence.

The 22-member Arab League last held its summit in 2019, before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. A final declaration from the gathering in Algeria's capital, Algiers, is expected later on Wednesday.

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Chinese authorities imposed lockdowns on 600,000 people in the area surrounding the world's largest iPhone factory on Wednesday, as workers complained of disorderly Covid controls at the facility.

All people except Covid-prevention volunteers and essential workers "must not leave their residences except to receive Covid tests and emergency medical treatment", officials from central China's Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone said.

The move comes after images emerged on Chinese social media last week showing people breaking out of the facility, which is run by Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn and makes products for Apple.

Employees complained online of poor conditions, a lack of supplies and having to flee the factory on foot to avoid Covid transport curbs. Foxconn says there are currently more than 200,000 workers at its Zhengzhou plant.

"Being paid is not important anymore, the most important thing is to survive," one 30-year-old man working at Foxconn told AFP, saying he was staying at the factory because he was afraid of adding to an outbreak in his hometown.

"The anti-virus measures on campus are shambolic, virus-negative people are living together with virus-positive people," said the worker, who asked to remain anonymous.

He said the food provided to employees was "not filling", and complained of a lack of medicine for sick colleagues.

China is the last major economy committed to a zero-Covid strategy, persisting with snap lockdowns, mass testing and lengthy quarantines in a bid to stamp out emerging outbreaks.

But new variants have tested local officials' ability to snuff out flare-ups faster than they can spread, causing much of the country to live under an ever-changing mosaic of Covid curbs.

The district in Zhengzhou city said Wednesday that all businesses would be required to work from home, with only "key enterprises" allowed to continue operating. It did not specify which businesses fell under that category.

Only medical vehicles and those delivering essentials are allowed on the streets.

The district's more than 600,000 residents will have to take nucleic acid tests every day, the local government said, warning that it would "resolutely crack down on all kinds of violations".

The Communist Party-run Dahe Daily said on Wednesday local authorities would "thoroughly disinfect" Foxconn's facilities, including employee dormitories, over the next three days. Workers quarantining at the factory would need to show seven days of negative tests before leaving for their hometowns.

The paper also said the government had promised to provide timely meals and to set up a counselling hotline for workers.

'Closed loop'

Foxconn told AFP on Wednesday its Zhengzhou park "maintains closed-loop operation", without providing details.

The company said at the weekend it was testing employees daily and offering transport to those who wanted to leave, after the videos on social media showed employees walking down motorways with their suitcases.

Footage shared with AFP by a Foxconn employee showed a large group of workers pushing their suitcases down an empty road on Tuesday afternoon, towards a line of people in hazmat suits.

The Zhengzhou factory accounts for around 80 percent of iPhone 14 production, senior analyst Ivan Lam at Counterpoint Research told AFP.

Apple did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.

Local governments in the area surrounding Zhengzhou city have asked Foxconn workers to register with authorities if they return home and to complete several days of quarantine upon arrival.

The company also said on Tuesday it would quadruple bonuses for employees willing to remain at the factory during the outbreak.

Chinese social media users accused Zhengzhou authorities on Wednesday of "performatively" lifting Covid restrictions after the city announced a day earlier it would "restore normal production and life".

"In the morning you lift the lockdown, then at night you lock down again, what are you trying to do?" Weibo user Taodixing asked.

China reported more than 2,000 fresh domestic infections on Wednesday for the third day in a row.

Henan province, where Zhengzhou is located, officially reported 359 Covid-19 infections on Wednesday, a jump from Tuesday's 104.

The southern Chinese manufacturing hub of Guangzhou also announced partial lockdowns in several districts this week in response to rising case numbers.

According to analysts Capital Economics, the number of people in quarantine in China is at its highest level since the Shanghai lockdown in spring, with outbreaks in more than 50 cities.

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German officials have agreed on the main details of a plan to provide up to 200 billion euros ($198 billion) in subsidies to households and businesses to ease the strain of high gas, electricity and heating prices.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the governors of Germany's 16 states agreed Wednesday on a two-stage plan to tackle high gas prices that largely mirrors the recommendations last month of an expert panel.

Some other European Union countries think the move by the 27-nation bloc's biggest economy should have been coordinated with them and have expressed concern that it could push up prices elsewhere.

Scholz has repeatedly defended the plan, insisting that Germany is showing solidarity with the rest of Europe and its program is similar in scope to other countries'.

Scholz's Cabinet agreed that the state will take on the cost of gas customers' monthly bill in December. That will be followed by a price subsidy for part of what households use starting in March and through April 2024.

Officials aim to backdate the start to Feb. 1; state governors are still pressing the federal government to find a way to make it valid for January too.

For businesses, the so-called "gas price brake'' is being introduced in January already.

In addition to that, an "electricity price brake'' is to take effect on Jan. 1, capping the cost of part of what households and businesses use. It will be financed in part by using "windfall profits'' that many electricity generators have run up as a result of high energy costs.

German officials say the plan, which will limit subsidies to a proportion of pre-crisis use, will still encourage people to save energy.

"One thing is clear, (costs) won't quite go down to the level we had before the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, but the increase won't be as enormous as what some people have received in the way of bills,'' Scholz said.

Both houses of parliament have cleared the way for the government to borrow the money for the plan.

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The world is worse off today than it was seven years ago when pledges and commitments to climate action and development were made. What COP27 can do to change course.

In a few days, the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) will begin in Sharm El-Sheikh, setting in motion the series of negotiations and deliberations to save the planet and all life on it from the catastrophic consequences of climate change.

Against a tumultuous global backdrop shaped by the war in Ukraine and other mounting geopolitical crises, and economic deterioration strangling growth, driving up prices and propelling developing countries further into the maws of debt, the summit must find ways to grapple with the climate crisis in a practical and comprehensive way, in fulfilment of the provisions of the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Comprehensive does not just refer to the various courses of climate action and funding to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, accommodate to their effects and address the loss and damage climate change has inflicted on the biodiversity, natural resources and general wellbeing of societies. It also refers to the need to rebel against deliberate attempts to reduce sustainability to the reduction of carbon emissions because, as pernicious as they are, these are not the only emissions that harm the climate. Comprehensive also requires setting climate action in the framework of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) that must be reached without delay by 2030, as world leaders had pledged in a special UN summit in September 2015.

Sadly, the world is worse off today than it was seven years ago when those pledges and commitments to climate action and development were made. According to the most recent report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) we are continuing to deviate to an alarming degree from emissions reduction targets. Instead of a 45 per cent decrease by 2030, the emissions will increase by about 14 per cent.

As for the eradication of poverty, not only has the international community failed to reduce the number of people suffering from extreme poverty; their number increased to 719 million by the end of 2020. That figure, moreover, did not take into account the rising prices of food and energy after the war erupted in Ukraine and the residual economic and social effects of the Covid-19 pandemic that have driven even more people into destitution. But as I have said before, we cannot blame the failure of public policies, the poor performance of developmental institutions and the waste of resources at their disposal on the war or Covid-19. As the UN secretary-general had warned before the pandemic, the world was already off target on this and other SDGs.

In October, as part of the preparations for the summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, we organised three dialogues with prominent experts in funding, development and climate economics on climate action priorities. The following summarises the main conclusions:

- The notion of a contradiction between development and climate action flies in the face of both scientific evidence and practical experience. In a lecture on synergies and trade-offs between climate action and sustainable development, Stephane Hallegatte, a senior climate change adviser at the World Bank, offered proof that the failure to factor in poverty and developmental needs in the formulation and implementation of climate action policies harms both the climate and development. Hallegatte cited a study on five African countries that showed that those who fell below the poverty line had been affected by sharp increases in food prices, loss of agricultural incomes, natural disasters such as floods and droughts, and health crises. By contrast, a comprehensive approach to development is one that increases investment in education, healthcare, agricultural productivity, and infrastructural development to support production, financial inclusion, private sector development and more efficient social safety nets. Hallegatte said that investing in infrastructure that was more resilient to climate shocks would raise the cost of the infrastructure by an average of three per cent; however, it would yield $4 worth of benefit for the economy and society for every $1 spent on resilience. He simultaneously observed that spending on accommodation for the adverse effects of climate change had to go hand in hand with huge investments in emissions reduction and in the alternative and renewable energy sectors using sophisticated modern technologies. This, Hallegatte said, necessitated international cooperation which, as Homi Kharas, an economist at the Brookings Institution stressed, meant surmounting funding obstacles and the slow sharing of the fruits of scientific and technological advances.

- Successful climate action requires integration between funding and science and changes in behaviour in order to achieve the SDG priorities and, above all, the elimination of extreme poverty. This conclusion was supported by the studies on the practical experiences in developing nations conducted by the French American economist Esther Duflo who was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics for her applied work on poverty alleviation. While the wealthiest 10 per cent of the world who live in industrialised nations are responsible for 50 per cent of global harmful emissions, she said, the inhabitants of the worlds poorest nations live in the hottest regions which makes them more vulnerable to the climate shocks that are constantly damaging their livelihood and health. Accordingly, for any just transition to an economic mode that was better for climate and development required more investment in and efficient use of research and development, benefitting from the available science and technology in agriculture, irrigation and forest conservation. Duflo cited examples of projects in India and Africa that achieved tangible results in these areas and underscored the need for sufficient funding in conjunction with shifts in the behaviour of all stakeholders in government, civil society and the private sector in addressing the priorities of climate change and sustainable development.

- The actual annual funding that developing nations need for climate mitigation and accommodation are at least 10 times the $100 billion per year pledge that industrialised nations made in the Copenhagen climate conference in 2009. The distinguished Indian economist Montek Ahluwalia explained that the estimates of the amount of money needed a year to finance climate change vary considerably in the reports of international agencies. He cited the following:

The UN IPCCs estimate for funding requirements for energy: $2.8 trillion.

The International Energy Agencys estimate for energy sector funding needs: $3.5 billion.

The McKinsey Global Institutes estimate for energy needs and land use: $4.5 trillion.

The IMFs estimate for energy and related sector investment: $3.3 trillion.

The Climate Policy Initiatives estimate for the same sector: $3.7 trillion.

A recent working paper that Ahluwalia co-authored with Utkarsh Patel, soon to be published in book form by the Brookings Institution, observes that these estimates, which vary from between $2.8 trillion and $4.5 trillion, amount to about three to four per cent of the global GDP.

Excluding the industrialised nations and China, which presumably has the capacity to meet its financing needs without external financial assistance, the paper found that developing nations would need $1.3 trillion a year of investment in the energy and related sectors. This is 13 times more than the $100 billion Copenhagen pledge and even a significant chunk of that has never reached developing nations. The authors and other economists, such as Amar Bhattacharya whom they cite in their study, suggest that half the amount could be financed domestically and that the other half would have to come from foreign public and private sources. They add that just coming up with that half of the $1.3 billion, which is five times the $100 billion pledge, requires international financial institutions to undertake an unprecedentedly huge role in direct funding and supporting private funding. The latter involves costly guarantees in order to allay private sector concerns about economic risk and political instability. In this regard, I believe it is vitally important to expand the rules of the International Development Association (IDA) on long-term concessional loans to include low-middle-income countries in addition to the lowest-income countries, thereby benefiting all African and other developing countries.

The foregoing issues will certainly be raised in Sharm El-Sheikh in the course of its extensive agenda which Egypt, as COP27 president, has designed to be practical, comprehensive and inclusive. The Egyptian presidency has taken it upon itself to ensure that COP27 holds the summits participants to their pledges. The presidency also worked closely with the UNs five economic regions, climate pioneers and specialised advisory and financial institutions to prepare lists of projects that merit investment and funding. A set of objective criteria were applied in this process, such as their compatibility with the priorities of their target societies and their local sustainability.

I was particularly encouraged by the proposals on reforming the global financial architecture which has become overly reliant on costly debt instruments as opposed to investment and long-term concessional finance for climate and sustainable development. One of these proposals hails from Bridgetown, Barbados, whose energetic Prime Minister Mia Mottley has vowed to rally international support behind it.

In the coming days, people from around the world will have their eyes on Sharm El-Sheikh, eager to see whether the spirit of international cooperation can prevail over the excess of political crises, tensions and divisions, and lack of trust in the world today. The task of saving the planet outweighs disputes and conflicts driven by the thirst for temporary geopolitical gains and manipulations of the loopholes of an international order inherited from the aftermath of World War II. It is time to make way for fairer and more efficient arrangements that pave the way for a new global order that truly safeguards peace, achieves prosperity and benefits all people in this rapidly changing world.

An Arabic version of this article appeared on Wednesday in Asharq Al-Awsat.

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The polls are preliminary, however, and final results could change as votes are tallied in the coming hours.

It was the fifth election in less than four years in Israel, all of which largely turned on Netanyahu's fitness to govern. The polls by three major Israeli TV stations indicated that Netanyahu and his allies would capture the 61-seat majority in parliament required to form a new government.

The exit polls also showed far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben Gvir's Religious Zionism as the third-largest party. Ben-Gvir is a disciple of a racist rabbi who was assassinated in the 1990s and has promised a hard line against the Palestinians.

Ben-Gvir is expected to seek a Cabinet position as head of the ministry that oversees police. Just last month he brandished a handgun in a tense Palestinian neighborhood of Jerusalem and called on the police to shoot Palestinian stone-throwers. He has also called for deportation of Arab lawmakers.

Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption, would be able to battle the charges as prime minister, improving his chances of avoiding conviction or jail time. His opponents view him as a grave threat to Israel's democratic institutions and the rule of law.

Election officials said that by 8 p.m. local time (1800 GMT), two hours before polls close, turnout stood at 66.3%, over five points higher than the same hour in the 2021 election and the highest at that point since 1999, when the main issue was the flagging peace process with the Palestinians.

Netanyahu's main rival is the man who helped oust him last year, the centrist caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who has warned against the nationalist and religious alliance that would emerge should Netanyahu return to power.

``Vote for the state of Israel, and for the future of our children,'' Lapid said after casting his ballot in the upscale Tel Aviv neighborhood where he lives.

After he cast his vote in the West Bank settlement where he lives, Ben-Gvir promised that a vote for his party would bring about a ``fully right-wing government'' with Netanyahu as prime minister.

Ben-Gvir, who has been convicted of incitement for his anti-Arab rhetoric had seen his clout rise in the polls ahead of the vote and has demanded a key portfolio should Netanyahu be tapped to form a government.

With former allies and proteges refusing to sit under him while he is on trial, Netanyahu has been unable to form a viable majority government in the 120-seat Knesset, or parliament.

``I'm a little worried,`` Netanyahu said after voting. ``I hope we end the day with a smile.''

Netanyahu's opponents, an ideologically diverse constellation of parties, are equally hamstrung in cobbling together the 61 seats needed to rule.

That impasse has mired Israel in an unprecedented political crisis that has eroded Israelis' faith in their democracy, its institutions and their political leaders.

``People are tired of instability, of the fact that the government is not delivering the goods,'' said Yohanan Plesner, a former legislator who now heads the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank.

Buoyed by his followers' almost cult-like adoration, Netanyahu, 73, has rejected calls to step down by his opponents, who say someone on trial for fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes cannot govern. Netanyahu denies wrongdoing, but embarrassing details from his ongoing trial repeatedly make front page news.

In Israel's fragmented politics, no single party has ever won a parliamentary majority, and coalition-building is necessary to govern. Netanyahu's most likely path to the premiership requires an alliance with extreme nationalists and religious ultra-Orthodox parties.

These parties would demand key portfolios in a Netanyahu government, and some have promised to enact reforms that could make Netanyahu's legal woes disappear.

Ben-Gvir's ultranationalist Religious Zionism party has promised to support legislation that would alter the legal code, weaken the judiciary and could help Netanyahu evade a conviction.

Critics have sounded the alarm over what they see as a threat to Israel's democracy.

``If Netanyahu is triumphant,'' wrote columnist Sima Kadmon in the Yediot Ahronot daily, ``these will be the final days of the state of Israel as we have known it for 75 years.''

Netanyahu's Likud party has tried to tamp down worries, saying any changes to the legal code won't apply to Netanyahu's case and that the more extreme elements of his potential coalition will be reined in.

Netanyahu, currently opposition leader, paints himself as the consummate statesman and only leader capable of steering the country through its myriad challenges. Polls say the race is too close to predict.

Netanyahu was ousted last year after 12 years in power by the diverse coalition forged by Lapid, Netanyahu's main challenger.

The coalition, made up of nationalists who oppose Palestinian statehood, dovish parties that seek a peace agreement, as well as, for the first time in the country's history, a small Arab Islamist party, united over their distaste for Netanyahu.

But that coalition collapsed this spring because of infighting.

The centrist Lapid, a former author and broadcaster who became premier as part of a power-sharing agreement, has portrayed himself as an honest and scandal-free change from the polarizing Netanyahu.

In his short term as caretaker leader, Lapid welcomed President Joe Biden on a successful visit to Israel, led the country in a brief military operation against Gaza militants and signed a diplomatic agreement with Lebanon setting a maritime boundary between the enemy nations.

Still, Lapid's chances to return to leadership are shaky. He is relying on voters from Israel's Palestinian minority, who make up one fifth of the population. Their turnout is predicted to reach historic lows, but if they unexpectedly do come out to vote, that could slash the Netanyahu camp's numbers.

``We must vote,`` said Jiwad Abu Sharekh, 66, a Palestinian citizen of Israel from the mixed Arab-Jewish city of Lod. ``If you don't vote, the right wins. We want to stop the extremists on the right.''

After the votes are tallied, the parties have nearly three months to form a government. If they can't, Israel will head to yet another election.

``I hope this time it will be final,'' said Avi Shlush, a voter in Tel Aviv. ``But it will not be final. We are heading to another election.''
Chen Dong, Cai Xuzhe and Liu Yang arrived in early June for a six-month stay on board, during which they will complete the station's assembly, conduct space walks and carry out additional experiments.

Mengtian, or "Celestial Dream," joins Wentian as the second laboratory module for the station, collectively known as Tiangong, or "Celestial Palace." Both are connected to the Tianhe core module where the crew lives and works. Like its predecessors, Mengtian was launched aboard a Long March-5B carrier rocket, a member of China's most powerful family of launch vehicles. Tiangong is currently populated by a crew of three astronauts -- two males and one female, according to the China Manned Space Agency.

"The space program is a symbol of a major country and a boost to the modernization of China's national defense," said Ni Lexiong, a professor at Shanghai University of political science and law, underscoring the program's close military links. "It is also a boost to the confidence of the Chinese people, igniting patriotism and positive energy," Ni said.

A large crowd of amateur photographers, space enthusiasts and others watched the lift-off from an adjoining beach. Many waved Chinese flags and wore T-shirts emblazoned with the characters for China, reflecting the deep national pride invested in the space program and the technological progress it represents.

The Mengtian module arrived at the Tiangong station early Tuesday morning, state broadcaster CCTV said, citing the China Manned Space Agency. Mengtian was blasted into space on Monday afternoon from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on the southern island province of Hainan. It was expected to take about 13 hours to complete the flight and docking mission.

China's third and final module docked with its permanent space station Tuesday to further a decadeslong effort to maintain a constant crewed presence in orbit, as its competition with the United States grows increasingly fierce.

Following Mengtian's arrival, an additional uncrewed Tianzhou cargo craft is due to dock with the station next month, with another crewed mission scheduled for December, at which time crews may overlap, as Tiangong has sufficient room to accommodate six astronauts.

Mengtian weighs in at about 23 tons, is 17.9 meters long and has a diameter of 4.2 meters. It will provide space for science experiments in zero gravity, an airlock for exposure to the vacuum of space and a small robotic arm to support extravehicular payloads. The already orbiting 23-ton Wentian, or "Quest for the Heavens" laboratory is designed for science and biology experiments and is heavier than any other single-module spacecraft currently in space.

Next year, China plans to launch the Xuntian space telescope, which, while not a part of Tiangong, will orbit in sequence with the station and can dock occasionally with it for maintenance. No other future additions to the space station have been publicly announced. In all, the station will have about 110 cubic meters of pressurized interior space, including the 32 cubic meters added by Mengtian.

China's crewed space program is officially three decades old this year, with the Mengtian launch being its 25th mission. But it truly got underway in 2003, when China became only the third country after the U.S. and Russia to put a human into space using its own resources.

The program is run by the ruling Communist Party's military wing, the People's Liberation Army, and has proceeded methodically and almost entirely without outside support. The U.S. excluded China from the International Space Station because of its program's military ties.

Despite that, China is collaborating with the European Space Agency on experiments aboard Mengtian and is cooperating with France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Pakistan and the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) on a range of projects from aerospace medicine to microgravity physics, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Prior to launching the Tianhe module, China's Manned Space Program launched a pair of single-module stations that it crewed briefly as test platforms.

The permanent Chinese station will weigh about 66 tons -- a fraction of the size of the International Space Station, which launched its first module in 1998 and weighs around 465 tons. With a lifespan of 10 to 15 years, Tiangong could one day find itself the only space station still running, if the International Space Station adheres to its 30-year operating plan.

China has also chalked up successes with uncrewed missions, and its lunar exploration program generated media buzz last year when its Yutu 2 rover sent back pictures of what was described by some as a "mystery hut" but was most likely only a rock. The rover is the first to be placed on the little-explored far side of the moon. China's Chang'e 5 probe returned lunar rocks to Earth for the first time since the 1970s in December 2000, and another Chinese rover is searching for evidence of life on Mars. Officials are also considering a crewed mission to the moon.

The program has also drawn controversy. In October 2021, China's Foreign Ministry brushed off a report that China had tested a hypersonic missile two months earlier, saying it had merely tested whether a new spacecraft could be reused. China is also reportedly developing a highly secret space plane. China's space program has proceeded cautiously and largely gone off without a hitch.

Complaints, however, have been leveled against China for allowing rocket stages to fall to Earth uncontrolled twice before. NASA accused Beijing last year of "failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris" after parts of a Chinese rocket landed in the Indian Ocean.

China's increasing space capabilities was also featured in the latest Pentagon defense strategy released Thursday. "In addition to expanding its conventional forces, the PLA is rapidly advancing and integrating its space, counterspace, cyber, electronic and informational warfare capabilities to support its holistic approach to joint warfare," the strategy said.

The U.S. and China are at odds on a range of issues, especially the self-governing island of Taiwan that Beijing threatens to annex with force. China responded to a September visit to Taiwan by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi by firing missiles over the island, holding wargames and staging a simulated blockade.
The first call was made at 6:34 p.m. with one person saying, "We are having problems going down the alley and we might get crushed because people keep pouring in. I think police need to regulate things."

Records of emergency calls on the fateful night show people voicing fears of getting crushed and others asking for police intervention to regulate the crowds.

Police received calls from worried pedestrians three hours and 40 minutes before the fatal stampede in Itaewon this Halloween weekend that killed at least 156 people and injured scores of others.

Police received 10 more calls from worried partygoers from 8 to 10 p.m. A second caller at 8:09 p.m. said, "There are so many people here that there's pushing and shoving and people are falling and getting hurt. I think you have to come down here."

A fourth caller at 8:53 p.m. said, "There are so many people here that we're getting crushed. This is total chaos."

Similar complaints were made until 10:11 p.m. The seventh caller who phoned police at 9:07 p.m. said, "There are so many people here that there's a risk of getting crushed to death. Please direct the pedestrian flow so people can move in one direction."

But police responded to only four out of 11 calls and went to the scene to inspect pedestrian traffic. "There are no records of police responding to the other five calls about the crowds from 9:07 p.m. until right before the tragedy happened," an official at the National Police Agency admitted.

The local precinct commander may have made an error of judgement. "Frontline commanders who were dispatched to the scene said they didn't perceive the risks of surging crowds. The decisions made in the field leave something to be desired," the NPA said.
Both emergency workers and ordinary citizens played a part in helping the victims of the Halloween stampede in Itaewon by providing first aid to the injured, prompting more and more people to sign up for cardiopulmonary resuscitation classes.

The website of the Korean Association of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation saw a fourfold increase in visitors, while the Korean Red Cross is also inundated with inquiries about CPR lessons.
The traditional mask dance drama talchum is highly likely to be added to the UNESCO list as South Korea's 22nd intangible cultural asset.

UNESCO said Tuesday that talchum is recommended for inscription in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

A final decision will be made at a session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Rabat, Morocco from Nov. 28 to Dec. 3. Once a cultural asset is proposed for inscription on the list, the decision is rarely reversed.

Talchum is a comprehensive art encompassing dancing, singing and drama that criticizes society and plays an important role in consolidating regional identities as it is performed in local dialects and with folk songs.
Honeywell and Aramco have signed a joint venture (JV) deal to provide a set of end-to-end business process automation solutions under the Aramco Namaat Industrial Investments Programme, which would create over 300 jobs within five years.

The technology solutions can be offered to a wide range of industrial sectors to help maximise profitability, improve productivity, sustainability and operational excellence, on a global scale.

The new JV offerings will leverage Aramcos Plant.Digital platform (formerly Integrated Manufacturing Operations Management System  iMOMS) as well as Honeywell Connected Enterprises technology development and industrial digital solutions implementation experience.

Tools, processes and practices

The JV aims to equip industrial companies with the tools, processes and practices they need to run plant operations more effectively and accelerate sustainable digital transformation and operational excellence initiatives. It will emphasise the development, integration, and deployment of Operations Technology (OT) solutions and Digital Transformation consulting.

This JV agreement with Honeywell is expected to bring new jobs to the market, contribute to economic growth and serves as another way in which Aramco continues to pursue its Digital Transformation program as part of its evolution to become the worlds leading digitalised energy corporation, said Ahmad Al Saadi, SVP Technical Services at Aramco.

The JV offering combines Aramcos Plant.Digital platform and its technical and domain knowledge in end-to-end plant operations with Honeywells global software development, systems integration capabilities and commercialisation expertise to help industrial companies become more sustainable while maximising yield, reducing downtime, improving plant productivity and increasing profit.

Tremendous value

The powerful combination of Aramcos business, operations, technology and Plant.Digital delivery expertise, coupled with Honeywells proven experience in industrial software and big data analytics solutions, as well as our long tenure in the kingdom, is anticipated to unlock tremendous value for the industry, said Kevin Dehoff, president and CEO, Honeywell Connected Enterprise.

The collaboration highlights the efforts of Aramco and Honeywell to support Saudi Vision 2030  the national roadmap to transform the Kingdom into an industrial powerhouse and a global logistics hub. The visions focus is on developing high-tech and knowledge-based careers that add significant value to the Saudi economy to compete globally.

Honeywell and Aramco have partnered for more than 60 years to drive Saudi Arabias industrial leadership forward through technology and innovation. This JV is the latest milestone in that journey, building on an MoU signed between Honeywell and Aramco in September 2021 to explore the co-development and commercialisation of a next-generation digital technology solution for industrial companies.

Closing of the joint venture is subject to certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. The companies also signed an MoU in 2017 to explore the benefits of Honeywell's Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) offering in support of Saudi Vision 2030.-- TradeArabia News Service
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is expected to visit Korea later this month. Despite an earlier message from Riyadh that it might be difficult for the de facto Saudi ruler to travel to Korea this year, the two countries are talking about a visit again.

Diplomatic source on Tuesday said the two foreign ministries are "fine-tuning schedules" so that he can come this month -- most likely right after the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia on Nov. 15-16.

Riyadh seems to have agreed that a visit is necessary for the two countries to mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations. Mohammed last visited Korea in 2019.

Mohammed is consolidating his position as the virtual Saudi ruler in place of his ailing father King Salman. He was officially appointed prime minister in October after conducting a brutal sweep of other factions in the royal family and instituting reforms that concentrate power in his hands.

Korea is interested in juicy construction contracts under the Gulf country's NEOM smart city project worth US$500 billion. Seoul is also seeking to expand cooperation with Riyadh in the nuclear power plant and defense industries now Mohammed has signaled he will be breaking with the decades-long custom of automatically buying American weapons as relations with the U.S. sour.
North Korea launched three short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Wednesday morning. One of them fell into South Korean territorial waters, triggering an air raid alert and sending residents on Ulleung Island scurrying for shelter.

A cruise ship departs from a port on Ulleung Island on Wednesday after an air-raid warning being cleared. /News1

The Joint Chiefs of Staff here said the missiles were fired from multiple areas at around 8:51 a.m. One of them flew across the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border, for the first time since the Korean War and fell into the East Sea only 57 km from Sokcho, Gangwon Province and 167 km from Ulleung Island. North Korea refuses to recognize the NLL, which runs close to its own coastline, but rarely violates it so blatantly.

President Yoon Suk-yeol (2nd left) chairs an emergency meeting at the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul on Wednesday. /News1

The provocation was followed by at least seven other missile launches of various kinds from the West Sea. The JCS fired warning shots in response and warned the South "will never condone the North's provocation and firmly respond to it in close cooperation with the U.S. while further strengthening surveillance and vigilance." North Korea has been launching a continuous series of provocations amid signs of another imminent nuclear test.
KYODO NEWS - Oct 15, 2022 - 14:35 | All, Japan, Coronavirus

Numerous tourist spots in Japan saw visitors return Saturday, the first weekend after the government scrapped coronavirus border controls and implemented a domestic travel subsidy program in a bid to spur inbound and local tourism.

The changes implemented Tuesday are part of government efforts to "live with the coronavirus" by reviving the economy while curbing the spread of COVID-19.

In a shopping area lined with classic buildings near Ise Jingu, a shrine in Mie Prefecture, central Japan, a Swiss tourist expressed his excitement about visiting the country for the first time in three years.

In a shopping area lined with classic buildings near Ise Jingu, a shrine in Mie Prefecture, central Japan, a Swiss tourist expressed his excitement about visiting the country for the first time in three years.

Stephan Paletzki told Kyodo News in the Okage Yokocho district that he had traveled to Japan every year before the pandemic and he was not worried now as he had received three COVID-19 vaccine shots.

Wearing a mask, which he said was a bit tight around the ears, Paletzki, 49, said people no longer wear masks in Switzerland.

Earlier Saturday, people jostled at East Japan Railway Co.'s Tokyo Station as they waited to board bullet trains to western Japan.

"I saw some foreign tourists and I feel as if our pre-pandemic life is coming back," said Shinya Kato, a 27-year old company employee from Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo.

"There might be another wave later so I want to enjoy myself as much as I can while the disease's spread is still low," Kato said.

He said he was traveling with his friend to the Kansai region in the west that includes the major cities of Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe.

Japan removed its 50,000-person daily entry cap and its ban on individual travelers and non-prearranged trips, allowing foreign tourists to travel freely in the country.

Along with more inbound travelers, the tourism industry is hoping that the National Travel Discount program will help the sector to emerge from a slump caused by the pandemic.

The program has started in all 47 prefectures, except Tokyo that will join on Oct. 20. It offers residents of Japan subsidies of up to 11,000 yen ($74) per night up to a total of seven nights.

Related coverage:

FOCUS: Japan travel scheme rollout stunted as firms spend quota prematurely

Japan scraps COVID border controls in hopes of reviving tourism boom

Japan to run new domestic travel subsidy program to late Dec.: gov't
KYODO NEWS - Nov 2, 2022 - 20:02 | World, All, Coronavirus

A major motor show originally scheduled to start on Nov. 18 in the southeastern Chinese city of Guangzhou is set to be postponed to stem coronavirus infections, an organizer said Wednesday, as China sticks to its radical "zero-COVID" policy.

The Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition is a large-scale event at which major global automakers launch new models. The postponement is seen as being sure to affect the automakers' sales strategies.

An industry source said a new promotion method, including wider internet usage, will be explored.

With Xi Jinping maintaining the stringent anti-virus measures after the start of his third five-year term as the ruling Communist Party chief last month, more than 200 million citizens in 28 cities across China have come under some form of lockdown as of Oct. 24, according to a unit of Nomura Holdings Inc.

The Chinese city of Dandong, which borders North Korea, with a population of over 2 million, implemented lockdown measures in its central areas Tuesday following the detection of one asymptomatic and several suspected COVID-19 cases.

In China, people living in areas under lockdown are banned from leaving their homes, making it difficult for them to procure adequate food and daily necessities.

An iPhone factory of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., known by its trade name Foxconn, in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou was recently locked down due to coronavirus infections, triggering an exodus of workers, according to local media reports.

The plant has around 300,000 employees, and some fled the compound on foot because public transportation was suspended in areas where COVID cases were confirmed.

Shanghai Disneyland was shut down Monday after one of its visitors was found to be infected with the virus, leaving many trapped in the park where a Halloween event was being held.

Those stranded had to take COVID tests and were told by the staff that they could not leave until they tested negative, according to some visitors.

Shanghai is set to host the annual China International Import Expo from Saturday. It features many foreign companies promoting their products bound for the Asian country's market, but the number of visitors is expected to fall sharply compared with last year due to the strict anti-virus measures.

The capital Beijing bans the entry of people from locations in the country where COVID cases have been found, leaving many residents unable to return and prompting citizens to refrain from traveling outside the city.

A Beijing-based Japanese company official, who decided against traveling to Shanghai for fear of having to quarantine, expressed frustration with the draconian steps, saying, "I wonder when these strict restrictions will be lifted."

On Tuesday, China reported about 2,750 COVID cases, including asymptomatic ones.

Although the number of infections is far lower than in other countries, the Chinese government has expressed worries about the heavy strain on its health care system if the virus spreads further.
KYODO NEWS - Nov 2, 2022 - 18:33 | All, Japan

A Japanese governor was ordered Wednesday by a court to pay back 20.9 million yen ($141,700) that a local government had spent on purchasing one of Toyota Motor Corp.'s most luxurious sedans.

The court said the Yamaguchi prefectural government could have chosen a cheaper model given its budgetary constraints, concluding it misused taxpayers' money when it bought the Century sedan in 2020.

It also found that Yamaguchi Gov. Tsugumasa Muraoka failed to perform the duty of directing and supervising prefectural officials, which could have prevented them from making an illegal decision.

The Yamaguchi District Court ruled that the prefectural government's procedures around the decision to buy the Century, which it had claimed was intended for use as transport for imperial family members and foreign guests, was "inadequate."

It also emphasized that the Imperial Household Agency had never made requests to any prefectural government in the country for a specific car model for such purposes.

Presiding Judge Noriyuki Yamaguchi said that the entire amount paid for the purchase must be reimbursed to the prefectural government.

The damages lawsuit was filed by Shunji Matsubayashi, 75, a former prefectural government official. His lawyer said that this kind of ruling recognizing the illegality of a public vehicle purchase is very uncommon in Japan.

The prefectural government already had three models of the Century, and had traded in two of them to buy a new one in 2020. Those models were thought to be ageing and the trade-in was part of its cost-cutting efforts, as it had expected to have a deficit of 27.6 billion yen in its initial budget for fiscal 2020.

The 20.9 million yen is said to be the second-most expensive official vehicle in Japan after one owned by the Tokushima prefectural government.
KYODO NEWS - Nov 2, 2022 - 23:45 | All, Japan

Japanese authorities on Wednesday proposed that the safety of nuclear plants aged 30 years or older be checked at least once a decade to obtain approval for continued operation.

The proposal from the Nuclear Regulation Authority came as the government seeks to scrap a rule that limits the operating life of reactors to a maximum of 60 years.

The regulator said the proposed mandatory safety checks should also be applied to nuclear reactors in use for more than 60 years. It means that if the safety is confirmed, Japan may be able to authorize nuclear plants to run for 80 years, as in the United States.

"The (proposed) regulations will be much stricter than the current system," Shinsuke Yamanaka, chairman of the nuclear watchdog, said at a press conference. "It is our responsibility to regulate properly."

Amid deep-seated concern over the use of nuclear energy in Japan, he suggested that the older a nuclear power plant, the more difficult it is to pass the screening process because the regulator plans to increase assessment points as its lifespan extends beyond 30 years.

The watchdog will continue discussions on how best to ensure the safety of reactors while hearing opinions from power companies before deciding on a broad plan to revise the country's nuclear regulation law by the end of this year.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in August that Japan will use nuclear reactors that meet stringent safety standards as much as possible in an attempt to reduce carbon emissions and secure a stable electricity supply.

Under the current standards introduced after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, Japan limits nuclear reactors' service period to 40 years in principle.

But if approved by the regulator, the 40-year period can be extended by up to 20 years.

As the government wants to rely more on nuclear power, it is hoping that the time when plants remain off-line for safety reviews will not be included in the 30 years.

But the regulator said Tuesday the off-line time should be counted in the lifespan as equipment ages even when safety screenings are conducted.

Although the government pushes to reactivate idled reactors, public concern over nuclear facilities remains strong in the country following the crisis triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.
KYODO NEWS - Nov 2, 2022 - 23:10 | World, All, Japan

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso agreed Wednesday that more communication is necessary to improve bilateral ties.

The meeting between Yoon and Aso, vice president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, took place in Seoul as the two countries try to find solutions to labor compensation issues that have complicated relations for the past few years.

Yoon, meanwhile, asked Aso to contribute to promoting civilian exchanges for the development of ties between the two countries, the office said in a statement.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida wanted Aso, an LDP heavyweight, who has previously served as both deputy prime minister and finance minister, to pave the way for a formal summit between the premier and Yoon, sources close to the matter said.

Kishida, who took office in October last year, is considering holding talks with Yoon on the sidelines of an international gathering, such as the Group of 20 summit slated to be held in Indonesia later this month.

In late September, Kishida and Yoon reaffirmed that the two nations would aim to restore "sound bilateral relations" in a meeting on the fringes of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, which was fully closed to the media and described by Tokyo and Seoul as "informal."

Still, the in-person, sit-down talks were the first between leaders of the Asian neighbors since December 2019.

Aso, head of a group of cross-party lawmakers and business leaders promoting Tokyo-Seoul relations, visited South Korea just days after a Halloween crowd crush incident in Seoul that left more than 150 people dead, including two Japanese women.

The meeting came as North Korea fired a barrage of artillery projectiles Wednesday, with one of the missiles falling on the south side of the de facto maritime border for the first time since the Korean Peninsula was divided.

Under Yoon's predecessor Moon Jae In, Tokyo-Seoul ties sank to their lowest point in years after South Korea's top court in late 2018 ordered two major Japanese companies to pay damages to Korean plaintiffs over issues surrounding forced labor during World War II.

The companies have refused to adhere to the rulings in line with the Japanese government's decision not to recognize them. Local courts have since ordered some of the firms' assets in South Korea to be liquidated in order to compensate the plaintiffs.

Tokyo has called on Seoul to handle the issue properly, saying the relationship would suffer "serious consequences" if the assets were indeed sold off, harming the interests of Japanese businesses.

The Japanese government has maintained that all claims stemming from its colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945 were settled "completely and finally" under a 1965 bilateral agreement.

Based on the agreement, Japan provided South Korea with grants and loans in the name of economic cooperation.

In May, Yoon became president of South Korea with a pledge to take a future-oriented approach toward Japan, while Kishida has also emphasized the necessity of building constructive ties with the country.

Tokyo and Seoul are now discussing plans to set up a foundation, funded by contributions from South Korean firms to pay compensation for wartime labor to plaintiffs on behalf of Japanese corporate defendants, diplomatic sources said.

Although details remain undecided, Japan and South Korea are trying to resolve the dispute by the end of this year, according to the sources.

Another veteran LDP lawmaker is also scheduled to visit South Korea as head of a cross-party group of lawmakers seeking friendly bilateral relations. Fukushiro Nukaga told reporters after a meeting with Kishida on Tuesday that he plans to talk with Yoon on Friday.
KYODO NEWS - Nov 2, 2022 - 23:15 | Japan, All, World

North Korea fired a barrage of artillery projectiles including short-range ballistic missiles Wednesday, the South Korean military said, with one falling on the south side of the de facto maritime border for the first time since the Korean Peninsula was divided.

A total of 23 missiles were launched from various places, in what a South Korean military source said was a record number fired by North Korea in a single day.

An air raid alarm was sounded around 8:55 a.m. on South Korea's Ulleung Island off the country's east coast, the military said, adding that one missile crossed the Northern Limit Line, a border drawn by U.S.-led U.N. forces after the Korean War.

"It is the first time since the division (of the Korean Peninsula) that a North Korean missile has fallen near South Korean territorial waters," South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

The JCS described the missile launches as "unprecedented" and "totally intolerable."

The latest launches by Pyongyang came as a joint air exercise was being conducted by the United States and South Korea.

It was around 6:51 a.m. that the military first detected four unidentified projectiles fired off the west coast from North Pyongan Province area, which later turned out to be short-range ballistic missiles, while three more were launched from Wonsan, Kangwon Province, around 8:51 a.m. off the country's east coast.

According to the military, about 10 missiles, including short-range ballistic missiles and ground-to-air missiles, were additionally confirmed to have been fired off both coasts.

North Korea also fired about 100 artillery projectiles into the maritime buffer zone in the north of the NLL around 1:27 p.m. in violation of a 2018 bilateral military agreement, South Korea said.

The accord was signed when the inter-Korean summit was held between then-South Korean President Moon Jae In and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

In response, the South Korean air force fired three air-to-ground missiles toward the north side of the maritime border between 11:10 a.m. and 12:21 p.m., the military said.

"Though one (North Korean) missile crossed the NLL, we fired three missiles to show our willingness (to respond in a determined manner) and capability," a military official said.

Later in the day, six more projectiles, including ground-to-air missiles, were fired from North Korea off the east and west coasts between 4:30 p.m. and 5:10 p.m., the military said, adding that it is maintaining its "readiness posture" against further possible provocations.

President Yoon Suk Yeol held a national security meeting with his top officials in which he ordered that resolute measures be taken to ensure North Korea "pays a price" for its provocation.

Yoon "made it clear that any attempts by North Korea to shake our society and the South Korea-U.S. alliance will not work," the presidential office said in a statement.

In Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters, "North Korea has been launching missiles at an unprecedented pace, which is totally unacceptable."

The Japanese government said that Pyongyang fired a projectile, possibly a ballistic missile, around 4 p.m., adding that it is believed to have already fallen outside Japan's exclusive economic zone in the Sea of Japan.

The projectile reached a maximum altitude of less than 50 kilometers, and there were no reports of damage to Japanese aircraft or ships, said Senior Vice Defense Minister Toshiro Ino.

Japan lodged a protest with North Korea via its embassy in Beijing, according to the Defense Ministry.

In response to the latest launches, Takehiro Funakoshi, head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, reaffirmed close cooperation with allies through phone calls with his U.S. and South Korean counterparts Sung Kim and Kim Gunn over boosting deterrence and dealing with the threat of North Korea.

The senior officials also shared "serious concerns over the heightened tensions" on the Korean Peninsula, according to the ministry.

On Monday, the United States and South Korea began their first large-scale joint air exercise in five years. The exercise, to be held through Friday, involves around 240 planes, including F-35 advanced stealth jets.

Prior to the missile launches, North Korea on Tuesday criticized the joint air exercise and warned that the United States and South Korea would "pay the most horrible price in history" if they attempt to use armed force against Pyongyang, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

Speculation has been growing that the North could conduct its seventh nuclear test and first since September 2017 in the near future.

North Korea has launched ballistic missiles regularly since the start of this year, with one in early October being the first to fly over the Japanese archipelago in five years.

The North fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan last Friday, marking its 28th round of launches this year if cruise missiles are included.

Related coverage:

North Korea launches 2 ballistic missiles into Sea of Japan
This photo taken on Nov. 1, 2022 shows the sub-venue of "ASEAN Students 'Talk with Taikonauts'" event in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.(Photo by Jeffrey Wong/Xinhua)

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- More than 100 Bruneian college students were inspired and motivated by talking with three Chinese astronauts, or taikonauts, via video link on Tuesday.

During the talk with students of Brunei and other Southeast Asian countries, the three taikonauts, Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe, who are on a six-month mission in orbit, shared with youth from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) their life and scientific work in Tiangong space station.

The main venue of the event, titled "ASEAN Students 'Talk with Taikonauts'" was Beijing, while students from ASEAN countries joined the dialogue at sub-venues.

Yu Hong, Chinese ambassador to Brunei, said that China's dream to explore the cosmos has never been an isolated one.

"We hope that the realization of this dream will continue to promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind and make greater contributions to the development of human civilization," she said at the event held at the Institute of Brunei Technical Education (IBTE) Aviation School.

During a question and answer session, Muhammad Abdul Hanan Husain bin Soekarddy, an IBTE student representing ASEAN youth, raised the first question to the taikonauts, about challenges they are facing when working and living in outer space.

"I'm very excited to have this opportunity to ask questions to the three taikonauts in Tiangong space station," he told Xinhua.

"I am currently studying aircraft maintenance engineering at school. The experience of talking directly to the Chinese astronauts is precious to me, which prompts me to consider further my study on aviation abroad in the future," he added.

Nur Izzah Atikah Hj Ismail, a Universiti Brunei Darussalam student studying mechanical engineering, told Xinhua that dialogue made her more interested in outer space, hoping to learn more about China's space exploration efforts.

"We welcome foreign counterparts to enter into China's space station, and countries across the world to participate in science experiments in the space station," Yu Hong told Xinhua.

"China is willing to work with all countries committed to the peaceful use of outer space, including Brunei and other ASEAN countries, to carry out more international cooperation and exchanges," the ambassador added. 
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (2nd L) looks at a collapsed bridge in Morbi district of India's western state of Gujarat, Nov. 1, 2022. Modi Tuesday inspected the bridge collapse site in the western state of Gujarat where more than 100 people were killed, officials said. (Str/Xinhua)

NEW DELHI, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday inspected the bridge collapse site in the western state of Gujarat where more than 100 people were killed, officials said.

Ahead of the visit, Modi chaired a high-level meeting on Monday night during which he was briefed about rescue efforts.

The century-old British-era pedestrian suspension bridge collapsed on Sunday evening, plunging hundreds of people into Machchhu River in Morbi town, about 241 km west of the capital city, Gandhinagar.

Reports said that 177 people were rescued and over 100 people were undergoing treatment at the Morbi civil hospital.

Soon after the bridge visit, Modi reached the civil hospital in Morbi to meet the injured. The prime minister was seen asking the survivors about their health.

According to officials, search and rescue operations, carried out by teams of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Indian navy, the Indian air force and the Indian army, were called off on Monday evening and resumed Tuesday morning.

Officials said Modi also met with those involved in rescue and relief operations.

The local government of Gujarat has already ordered a probe into the deadly collapse of the bridge.

The bridge is a popular tourist attraction in the area. It was shut for renovation for seven months and was open for the public on Oct. 26, the Gujarati New Year.

Reports said that around 500 people, much beyond its capacity, were on the suspension bridge at the time when it crashed into the river.

Police have arrested nine people including officials of Oreva, the company that carried out repair work, ticket sellers and security men. However, the owners of the company have not been arrested.

Oreva group is actually a Gujarat-based watchmaker company. Reports said that the watchmaker reportedly outsourced the "technical aspect of the renovation" to a smaller construction company, Devprakash Solutions.

Oreva has been accused of violating multiple safety rules, leading to the huge tragedy just four days after the bridge reopened to the public.

Questions have been raised over why Oreva with no experience in construction was given responsibility for maintaining a bridge. 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) looks at a collapsed bridge in Morbi district of India's western state of Gujarat, Nov. 1, 2022. Modi Tuesday inspected the bridge collapse site in the western state of Gujarat where more than 100 people were killed, officials said. (Str/Xinhua)
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has announced a next generation compute portfolio that delivers a cloud operating experience designed to power hybrid environments and digital transformation.

The new HPE ProLiant Gen11 servers provide organisations with intuitive, trusted, and optimised compute resources, ideally suited for a range of modern workloads, including AI, analytics, cloud-native applications, graphic-intensive applications, machine learning, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), and virtualisation.

The foundation of any hybrid strategy is compute, said Neil MacDonald, executive vice president and general manager, Compute, at HPE. HPE Compute brings businesses closer to the edge, where data is created, where new cloud experiences are delivered, and where security is integral. The new HPE ProLiant Gen11 servers are engineered for the hybrid world to deliver an intuitive cloud operating experience, trusted security by design, and optimised performance for workloads.

Intuitive cloud operating experience

On HPE ProLiant servers, an HPE GreenLake for Compute Ops Management subscription provides a cloud-native management console. This increases operational efficiency by securely automating the process to access, monitor, and manage servers, no matter where the compute environment lives.

The console provides simple, unified, and automated capabilities to allow customers to control their compute with global visibility and insight. Customers can also easily onboard thousands of distributed devices and benefit from faster server firmware updates to focus efforts on business operations, and not on managing complex IT infrastructure.

HPE GreenLake for Compute Ops Management also includes carbon footprint reporting for customers to view emission metrics, from individual servers to full compute environments, to monitor energy usage.

Trusted security by design

HPE continues to lead and deliver secure infrastructure, from edge to cloud, starting at the silicon level with the HPE Silicon Root of Trust, an industry-exclusive security capability that protects millions of lines of firmware code, from malware and ransomware, with a digital fingerprint that is unique to the server. Today, the HPE Silicon Root of Trust secures millions of HPE servers around the world.

The next-generation HPE ProLiant servers build on this security innovation with the following new features to protect data and systems:

Ensure verification and authentication for device components with the new version of the HPE Integrated Lights-Out (iLO), with iLO6. ILO is a remote server management software that enables customers to securely configure, monitor, and update HPE servers seamlessly. The latest version features new authentication using the Security Protocol and Data Model (SPDM), a key security capability in servers for authenticating and securely monitoring devices in an open standards-based approach.

Prevent alterations to unique server identity access with the inclusion of platform certifications and Secure Device Identity (iDevID) by default.

Gain an additional layer of authentication by monitoring a secure boot and system state through the Trusted Platform Module (TPM).

Adopt the highest level of security through the HPE Trusted Supply Chain. The HPE Trusted Supply Chain advances end-to-end security with certified servers that feature hardened data protection during the manufacturing process. Recently, HPE extended options for certified servers, from US-based factories, to produce and ship worldwide.1

Optimised performance for any workload

As organisations run more demanding workloads, including AI, machine learning, and rendering projects, they require optimal compute and accelerated compute performance. The next-generation HPE ProLiant servers are optimised to deliver high performance on an organisations most data-intensive workloads and support a diverse set of architectures, including 4th Generation AMD EPYC processors, 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors, and Ampere Altra and Ampere Altra Max Cloud Native Processors.

Compared to the previous generation, the new HPE ProLiant Gen11 servers support twice as much I/O bandwidth for the most demanding applications, 50% more cores per CPU for improved workload consolidation, and 33% more high-performance GPU density per server to support AI and graphic-intensive workloads.

Service providers, and enterprises that are embracing cloud-native workloads, require dedicated, cloud-native compute to deliver agile and extensible capabilities to drive innovation. In June 2022, HPE announced that it was the first tier-one server provider to offer compute with optimised cloud-native silicon, using Ampere Altra and Ampere Altra Max cloud-native processors, in the new HPE ProLiant RL300 Gen11 server.

HPE GreenLake

Organisations looking to transition from one generation to the next, can adopt HPEs next-generation compute through a traditional infrastructure purchase or through a pay-as-you-go model with HPE GreenLake. HPE GreenLake is an as-a-service platform that enables customers to accelerate data-first modernisation and provides over 70 cloud services that can run on-premises, at the edge, in a colocation facility, and in the public cloud.

Additionally, through HPE Financial Services (HPEFS), customers can convert existing technology assets into capital to purchase new or upgraded technology.

Expanding the customer experience

Through HPE Pointnext Services, an award-winning team of over 15,000 experts, customers adopting the HPE ProLiant Gen11 servers can leverage in-depth global expertise to deploy next-generation HPE ProLiant servers and create new experiences, gain real-time insights from their data, and modernise IT to unlock value.

Today, HPE unveiled enhancements to its customer experience, supporting HPE ProLiant Gen11 servers, including:

HPE Pointnext Complete Care Secure Locations offers customers assigned experts to deliver support to locations where access, connectivity as well as electronic and verbal communications, are subject to specific security measures.

HPE Expert on Demand provides customers with access to services professionals with dedicated expertise related to HPEs next-generation compute offerings.

HPE Support Centre, which provides online services and a support platform, has been enhanced to include greater collaboration, case management, enhanced virtual agent troubleshooting and a new digital insights dashboard.

Support for HPEs next-generation compute has been extended from three to five years, to up to seven years.-- TradeArabia News Service
Located about 85 km southeast of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, Li Changhong's 25-acre Moringa plantation has withstood a prolonged dry spell to retain some luster.

The expansive farm that sits next to the busy highway connecting Nairobi to the port city of Mombasa, is a cherished getaway for the Chinese agripreneur who defied naysayers to introduce Moringa and Aloe Vera farming in a region renowned for acute droughts.

During a balmy mid-morning weather in October, Li huddled with a group of workers from nearby villages to survey the farm filled with succulent Moringa trees and Aloe Vera underneath.

The Moringa and Aloe Vera farm has not only thrived in the face of extreme weather events but has also provided steady income flows to the local workforce.

Teresia Mutua, a 43-year-old mother of four who has been working at the farm for the last seven years, was in high spirits as she explained how her fortunes have changed for the better.

"Since I was employed here, my life has changed a lot because I have managed to educate my children and I live a better life than when I was a housewife," said Mutua.

In addition, Mutua who is a widow said she has acquired essential skills like how to plant Moringa, prune, and harvest the flowers and seeds that are renowned for their medicinal and nutritional value.

Born at a village near Li's farm, Mutua said the tropical tree that is native to Kenya's arid zones has proved to be a viable alternative for local small-holder farmers reeling from the escalating climate crisis.

According to Mutua, planting conventional staples in her locality including maize and legumes has become unsustainable in the face of acute and recurrent dry spells.

Besides employing locals, Li's Moringa farm has also served as a demonstration center on how to plant, apply fertilizer, water, and harvest seeds and flowers from the plant.

Li said he has signed an agreement with 700 local farmers and plans to supply them with free Moringa seedlings for free, to enable them to diversify the crop varieties that can cope with harsh weather patterns.

"We hope to get more farmers on board when the rainy season commences so that they can plant Moringa trees. We can buy the seeds and flowers from the farmers and boost their income," said Li.

Li, who is the Director of Eshine Agricultural Planting Company Limited settled in Kenya in 2008 and was an early pioneer of Moringa farming in the drylands to help meet the high demand in the Chinese market.

Already, the entrepreneur has established a factory on the outskirts of Nairobi where Moringa leaves and seeds are processed into powder and exported to China.

Li said Moringa seedlings and leaves have proved effective in managing chronic ailments including diabetes and high blood pressure, adding that the tree is a cash crop that can provide sustainable livelihoods to dryland communities in Kenya.

His Moringa plantation in the semi-arid Makueni county has twenty salaried employees who tend to the crop and also train local farmers how to grow it to maturity, and earn a decent income from the sale of seeds and leaves.

In the near future, Li plans to establish a Moringa factory near his farm with the hope it will ease the processing of seeds and flowers besides creating additional jobs for locals. Li believes that the country required a new market, enhanced access to capital, technologies, and investments in value addition to boost income from agricultural products

He revealed that through "Company + Model", he plans to scale up the cultivation of Aloe Vera by a critical mass of small-holder farmers in Makueni county through the provision of free seedlings and training on the best agronomic practices for the crop.

Drought tolerant and mainly used as food and cosmetics in China, Aloe Vera can transform the livelihoods of farmers in the arid parts of Makueni county, already grappling with the adverse effects of drought, said Li.

Popular in Kenya for its medicinal value, Li said that once his plans to cultivate 5,000 acres of the crop in Makueni county are actualized, the benefits will trickle down to the villagers in terms of employment across all value chains.

Daniel Munyao, a 61-year-old retired administrator and father of five, said that training at Li's farm motivated him to start growing Aloe Vera which he believes is an ideal alternative to some traditional crops whose future is at stake due to climatic shocks.

"I have chosen to grow Aloe Vera since it does not require a lot of work, is drought tolerant, and has a ready market," said Munyao.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
JERUSALEM, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Major Israeli TV exit polls suggested on Tuesday night that former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc won enough seats in the parliamentary elections to form a ruling coalition government.

Exit polls of the country's three main TV channels indicated that the long-time leader and his alliance of far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties won 61 to 62 seats in the 120-seat parliament.

The polls also showed that ultra-nationalist lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir's Religious Zionism won 14 to 15 seats, becoming Israel's third-largest party. 
PHNOM PENH, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a transaction advisory services mandate with Cambodia's state-owned Electricite du Cambodge (EdC) to support the development of 2 gigawatts (GW) of solar power in Cambodia, the lender said in a press statement on Wednesday.

The mandate will help the Southeast Asian nation achieve its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, the statement said.

Under the mandate, the ADB will help the EdC conduct a nationwide study on opportunities for additional solar power capacity in combination with a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), to be implemented from this year through 2030, it said.

The ADB will also assist the EdC in bidding out a 100-megawatt pilot project identified under the study to the private sector, which will build, finance, and operate the project, the statement said, adding that the pilot project is expected to mobilize up to 100 million U.S. dollars of investments and serve as a model to replicate fast and efficient procurement of affordable renewable power in Cambodia.

The development of 2 GW of solar power is in line with the strategy of the Cambodian government to meet its growing energy demand by maximizing the adoption of renewable energy and energy efficiency, the statement said.

Key to the strategy will be harnessing Cambodia's abundant solar resources, whose share in the installed capacity increased from practically nothing in 2016 to around 12 percent at the end of 2021, it added. 
MACAO, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Macao Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau hoisted Signal No. 8, the third-highest level, on Wednesday evening for Tropical Cyclone Nalgae and issued a blue storm surge warning.

The bureau said the storm is expected to be very near Macao early Thursday, bringing downpours and cool weather. It urged residents to take preventive measures against waterlogging.

Macao Marine and Water Bureau said all marine transport has been canceled. Nucleic acid testing stations across the city have suspended operation, said the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Center of Macao.

Three bridges linking the Macao Peninsula and Taipa-Coloane, and the Lotus Bridge that connects Taipa-Coloane and Hengqin Island of Zhuhai, have been shut down due to safety concerns.

Classes in Macao's kindergartens and primary schools have been canceled on Tuesday and Wednesday. 
TEHRAN, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- By helping develop trade and friendly relations among firms from different countries and regions, the China International Import Expo (CIIE) substantially contributes to the expansion of global trade and the world's economic prosperity, said the CEO of Iran's top saffron production company.

The expo provides the participating companies with a unique opportunity to better present themselves at the international level, Ali Shariati-Moghadam, CEO of Novin Saffron company, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Born in Kashmar County, the northeastern Iranian province of Khorasan Razavi, Shariati-Moghadam started to cultivate saffron on a piece of land given by his mother at the age of 14.

Founded in 1992, Shariati-Moghadam's company is a top Iranian exporter. He received a medal and plaque of honor from Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi last month.

"My company's participation in the CIIE has a strategic feature," said the CEO.

The CIIE's fifth edition is set to be held in Shanghai on Nov. 5-10. Shariati-Moghadam hopes to present his company's products, ranging from high-quality saffron to its byproducts such as saffron instant beverage powder, to the Chinese market through the upcoming expo.

He described China as a favorable and lucrative market for his company's products, owing to a more health-conscious public with a rising purchasing power.

He said his company has defined a mission to present saffron to mainly East Asian countries, like China, Japan and South Korea, as a food ingredient.

"We are very interested in presenting our products at the expo and even seek to begin joint production of some of them in China in the future, as saffron and such Chinese medicinal herbs as ginseng, and green tea, can make a very good combination," Shariati-Moghadam noted.

This would be his first participation in the CIIE. "I count on the upcoming expo as a new start and a turning point in my company's activities and cooperation with Chinese businessmen," the Iranian businessman said.

As a major international exhibition with leading companies from different corners of the world participating, the CIIE provides firms around the globe with the opportunity to "experience a real-life small-scale global village", to "meet and know each other better, exchange experiences and expand their businesses," he said.

While his company will see its debut in the CIIE, Shariati-Moghadam said he has already taken part in several other exhibitions in cities like Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai.

"My previous participation in Chinese expos gave me the feeling that the country's market has a huge potential for joint projects in the field of saffron production," he said.

Shariati-Moghadam said he noticed a growing number of European participants in Chinese exhibitions, "an indication of their popularity and importance."

"In my previous participations in other Chinese exhibitions, what caught my eye was the rapid development of the country, which makes it a favorable market for cooperation," said Shariati-Moghadam.

"I maintain that China has chosen the right path for development," and "over the past decades, it has managed to eliminate a large number of cumbersome regulations and has also made huge and diverse international investments," he said.

The CIIE "gives China's value and supply chains an important advantage," and "helps facilitate trade relations and contacts among companies from different parts of the world," Shariati-Moghadam added. 
Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 2, 2022. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)

BEIJING, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif in Beijing on Wednesday.

China has always viewed its relations with Pakistan from a strategic and long-term perspective and prioritized Pakistan in its neighborhood diplomacy, Xi told Sharif, who is on an official visit to China.

China appreciates Pakistan's firm will for friendly cooperation with China and appreciates its support on issues related to China's core and major concerns, Xi said.

China will firmly support Pakistan's efforts in safeguarding national sovereignty, territorial integrity, development interests and national dignity, he said.

China sympathizes with the Pakistani people who have suffered from the devastating floods and will provide additional emergency assistance to help Pakistan in post-disaster reconstruction, Xi said.

Xi briefed Sharif on the important outcomes of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). He pointed out that China will continue to adhere to the basic state policy of opening-up and continue to provide new opportunities to Pakistan and other countries with China's new development.

He called on the two sides to advance the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor with greater efficiency and welcomed Pakistan to expand its export of high-quality agricultural products to China.

Sharif said it is a great honor to be one of the first foreign leaders invited to visit China after the landmark 20th CPC National Congress, which demonstrates the profound friendship between Pakistan and China.

Pakistan hopes to learn from China's successful state governance experience and deepen cooperation with China in various fields to advance its own development. This is the direction and only choice for Pakistan in the future, the prime minister said.

Pakistan will further strengthen security measures and spare no effort to protect the safety of Chinese institutions and personnel in Pakistan, Sharif said. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 2, 2022. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)
Photo taken on Aug. 16, 2022 shows the construction site of the Headquarters Building Phase I Project of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. (Xinhua/Wang Ping)

The China-aided Africa CDC headquarters building will help scale up the African health system in a tremendous way, according to Teruneh Zenna, Ethiopia's former ambassador to the United Nations.



ADDIS ABABA, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- The China-aided future headquarters building of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) will be another gift from China to Africa, said Teruneh Zenna, Ethiopia's former ambassador to the United Nations.

The Chinese government has not only funded but also is building the future Africa CDC headquarters which would accommodate all facilities in one place to scale up the African health system "in a tremendous way," Zenna said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

"The Chinese are showing Africans that they are always at their side. Look at the African Union headquarters they provided us. Now, they are giving us the Africa CDC building with a modern laboratory, training, conference, and data centers," Zenna said.

Noting that the African continent lacks preparedness and medical institutions to cope with outbreaks such as Ebola and AIDS that have resulted in the deaths of millions of people across the continent, the veteran diplomat said having such a facility on the African soil is praiseworthy, adding that the facility would also enable the African continent's aspiration to manufacture vaccines and tackle future pandemics.

"This (the building) is a very great contribution because it aims at saving the lives of the African people. China always does such visible, lasting, useful things that are much-needed by the people of Africa," Zenna said.

Photo taken on Aug. 16, 2022 shows workers at the construction site of the Headquarters Building Phase I Project of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. (Xinhua/Wang Ping)

He said using the headquarters as a command center, the AU will help its member states to strengthen their capacity to detect and respond quickly and effectively to disease threats and outbreaks such as Ebola, COVID-19, and yellow fever, among others, and the headquarters would also serve as a platform where Chinese medical experts would help Africans build their capability to fight future pandemics.

"China has been assisting Africa and now the Chinese and African relations have reached such a level that no one would stop it," Zenna said. "Africa lacks (professional) human resources, capability, and medical instruments. The Chinese developed those instruments very fast so when the Chinese come with such assistance, Africa will develop its scientific capability to withstand future shocks."

The construction work of the Africa CDC headquarters started in December 2020 in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. The project, with a total construction area of nearly 40,000 square meters, is expected to be completed late this year. The future headquarters will be equipped with modern office buildings, high-end laboratories, and accessories.

As the COVID-19 pandemic showcased Africa CDC's indisputable role in leading continental anti-pandemic efforts, experts believe that the future headquarters will further augment the AU healthcare agency's institutional capabilities. 
Visitors view Tingatinga paintings at the China Cultural Center in Tanzania in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on Nov. 1, 2022. The China Cultural Center in Tanzania has hosted an artworks exhibition named "Charming Tanzania--Tingatinga Painting & Ebony Carvings Exhibition" with a view to cementing cultural relations between the two countries. (Photo by Herman Emmanuel/Xinhua)

DAR ES SALAAM, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- The China Cultural Center in Tanzania has hosted an artworks exhibition named "Charming Tanzania--Tingatinga Painting & Ebony Carvings Exhibition" with a view to cementing cultural relations between the two countries.

The exhibition which opened Tuesday in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's largest city, showcased important artworks from both Tanzania and China, appreciating the role that art and culture play in international understanding and friendship.

Auleria Dotto, the acting director of the National Arts Council of Tanzania, said the Tingatinga artwork has had a substantial market in China since the beginning of 2000. The Tingatinga painting and ebony carving are the most unique and internationally influential artistic forms in Tanzania.

Dotto thanked the China Cultural Center, and the Chinese Embassy in Tanzania in particular, for promoting and advancing Tingatinga artworks.

Joseph Kahama, the secretary general of Tanzania-China Friendship Promotion Association, said art pieces and paintings go to great lengths and depths toward understanding a culture.

Wang Siping, Cultural Counsellor of the Chinese embassy and Director of the China Cultural Center in Tanzania, said the center has invited a Tingatinga artist to present 30 artistic masterpieces, while Chinese-born Zhang Jingnan who has been in Tanzania for many years was also invited to showcase his collection of ebony carvings.

Wang said the duo has established permanent ebony carvings exhibitions in Beijing and Changchun in China, having made great contributions to expanding the influence of this art form in China and even in the world. 

Visitors view Tingatinga paintings at the China Cultural Center in Tanzania in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on Nov. 1, 2022. The China Cultural Center in Tanzania has hosted an artworks exhibition named "Charming Tanzania--Tingatinga Painting & Ebony Carvings Exhibition" with a view to cementing cultural relations between the two countries. (Photo by Herman Emmanuel/Xinhua)

An artist works on a Tingatinga painting at the China Cultural Center in Tanzania in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on Nov. 1, 2022. The China Cultural Center in Tanzania has hosted an artworks exhibition named "Charming Tanzania--Tingatinga Painting & Ebony Carvings Exhibition" with a view to cementing cultural relations between the two countries. (Photo by Herman Emmanuel/Xinhua)
Photo taken on Oct. 31, 2022 shows the booth of the Chinese-Egyptian joint venture XD-EGEMAC, an electric equipment maker, at Egypt Energy expo in Cairo, Egypt. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

CAIRO, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- A growing partnership between Chinese and Egyptian companies in the field of power and energy has been greatly manifested at Egypt Energy, a three-day grand expo in Cairo that concluded on Tuesday.

With the participation of more than 120 companies from at least 13 countries, the Egyptian government-sponsored energy expo was a warmup in green business ahead of the upcoming 27th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change COP27 hosted in Egypt's resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh.

Many of the various Chinese manufacturers took part in the expo with a view to promoting partnerships with Egyptian companies in the production of electric equipment and localized green energy solutions.

Featuring two types of China-developed low-voltage panels for power distribution, management and protection, Egyptian bus-duct maker Lecrobar said it planned to produce these products in Egypt in early 2023, starting with the body of the panels under its Chinese partner's supervision and then the switches.

Localized manufacture "will save hard currency for Egypt and will help us learn from the expertise and technology provided by China," Ahmed el-Habachi, the chief executive officer of Lectrobar, told Xinhua.

Ma Shengdong, a regional manager at China's industrial electrical equipment and new energy company Chint Group, the partner of Lecrobar, told Xinhua that his company entered the Egyptian market in 2012, and has recently started a localization strategy in the North African country, after Chint's sustainable and green energy solutions have been incorporated into various Egyptian green and social service projects.

"We have gradually gained recognition from local customers," the Chinese businessman said, adding his company is a green solution provider for Egypt's massive Benban Solar Park, one of the world's largest photovoltaic power stations located in Upper Egypt's Aswan Province.

Shi Chen, general manager of the Chinese-Egyptian joint venture XD-EGEMAC, another electric equipment maker that participated in the expo, said his company has completed 25 electrical substations, including four for the Benban Solar Park, and provided more than 130 sets of power transformers and nearly 500 bays of switchgear in Egypt.

"Our vision is to provide smarter and greener energy solutions. In the future, we will combine our vision with the strategy of Egypt's Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy to provide greener energy to serve local people," Shi added.

Eslam Ahmed, a senior marketing specialist at the state-owned Egyptian Electricity Holding Company, said bilateral cooperation between Egypt and China in the field of renewable energy is "extremely important," adding more Chinese companies have approached them for cooperation in this regard.

"We have very big cooperation with Chinese companies in the fields of electricity and electrical automation because of China's expertise in the field, and we seek to expand investment opportunities for Chinese companies in Egypt," Ahmed told Xinhua at the expo. 

Photo taken on Oct. 31, 2022 shows products on display at Egypt Energy expo in Cairo, Egypt. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

People visit Egypt Energy expo in Cairo, Egypt, on Oct. 31, 2022. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

People visit Egypt Energy expo in Cairo, Egypt, on Oct. 31, 2022. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)
The Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT) today announced the launch of the first 13 of 1,000 technology projects that will be implemented under the recently announced Technology Transformation Program.

The new projects, revealed at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) 2022, are being executed by major national and international champions, such as Etisalat, Cisco, PTC, Oryx Data, and One Moto.

Launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the program is designed to supercharge the UAEs industrial transformation and help turn the country into a global hub for Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies and industries of the future.

The companies are proactively accelerating the pace of technological transformations across the UAEs priority sectors, contributing to the development of a knowledge- and innovation-based economy.

The programme will attract major international companies to test innovations in the countrys supportive environment, reinforcing the UAEs position as a leading destination for tech and innovation. The new program aims to boost exports of technological products by around AED 15 billion a year.

Under the Technology Transformation Programme, the UAE is inviting tech firms from around the world to engage with its innovation ecosystem.

Unveiling the projects, Sarah Al Amiri, Minister of State for Public Education and Advanced Technology said: "The projects announced today mark the first step in the Technology Transformation Program, which will support our national priorities and the development of key sectors in the coming decades."

"The launch of this program represents the beginning of a new phase of national competitiveness and sustainable industrial growth in the UAE, enabled and driven by R&D and advanced technology," she stated.

"At the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, we have a clear roadmap for the next 10 years. It is a decade in which the UAE will further enhance its position as a global hub for science, technology, and innovation, in line with our leaderships vision. Our partners are key to this journey and we are committed to exploring collaborations with all companies that seek to join the UAE in its bold technological and industrial transformation, said Al Amiri.

The new projects will have a significant impact on the companies in which they are implemented. By leveraging advanced technologies and Fourth Industrial Revolution solutions, businesses will be able to significantly reduce energy consumption and wastage, enhance efficiency, and increase productivity as well as competitiveness in global markets.

According to her, the Technology Transformation Program also presents an opportunity for national and international champions looking to play a leading role in the countrys industrial journey.

The ministry is inviting these champions to join the programme to benefit from its projects, as well as support smaller businesses on their own technology transformations. Businesses in the UAE can apply through MoIAT to participate in and benefit from the projects, she added.

Ciscos project is currently supporting three local companies  Emirates Macaroni Factory, National Paints and Falconpack  in their digital transformation journeys.

Under its Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) program, Cisco will focus on the convergence of information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) to provide companies with enhanced security, visibility, and connectivity.

This project aims at driving digital transformation across the national industrial establishments in the UAE, which is an essential pillar in Ciscos CDA program in the country. The projects are also focusing on leveraging IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things).

PTC is offering 25 companies free access to its IIoT platform, ThingWorx, which will enable companies to increase their manufacturing efficiency through ensuring asset optimization, workforce productivity, quality improvement and speed to industrialization. The platform can increase throughput by up to 20 percent, reduce unplanned downtime by up to 30 percent, and reduce energy consumption by up to 13 percent, according to PTC.

Additionally, one of the countrys largest telecoms groups, Etisalat, is building a platform for industry 4.0 technologies. It is deploying 4IR proof of concept projects within the manufacturing sector, working alongside companies to support the adoption of advanced technologies.

Meanwhile, Oryx Data Incubator, a start-up specializing in real-time streaming and IIoT solutions, is working with Ittihad Paper Mill and Strata to enhance operations.

This particular project will help to reduce energy consumption by 10 percent and will lead to 100 percent machine availability along with the prediction of 93 percent of potential failures, said Al Amiri.

Finally, a global mobility company, One Moto, is working on a project to build the UAEs first electric vehicle (EV) assembly, and eventually manufacturing, facility in Dubai as part of its mission to electrify all last-mile vehicles in the UAE by 2024. The firm has set up its global HQ in DIFC and plans to target 100 cities by 2024, she added.-TradeArabia News Service
UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomes the completion of the first trial of the Special Criminal Court in the Central African Republic (CAR), hailing it as a milestone in the country's efforts to bring to justice those committing serious crimes, his spokesperson said on Tuesday.

In its judgment issued on Monday, the Special Criminal Court found three accused armed group members guilty of certain crimes against humanity and war crimes following their involvement in the May 2019 massacre of 46 civilians in Lemouna and Koundjili, in the northwest of the country, Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson, said in a statement.

The three were sentenced to prison terms from 20 years to life, and the judgment is subject to appeal, the statement added.

Guterres "notes that this trial is a milestone in the Central African Republic's efforts to bring to justice those responsible for serious crimes, which is crucial for fighting impunity, breaking cycles of violence and contributing to transitional justice," the statement said.

The secretary-general called on member states to continue to provide support to the Special Criminal Court to ensure continuity of its operations, and on the CAR government to promptly renew the court's mandate, it said. 
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang hosts the 21st Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) via video link at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 1, 2022. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

BEIJING, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday chaired the 21st meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Beijing and put forward a five-point proposal on promoting SCO cooperation.

Kazakh Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Akylbek Japarov, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Tajik Prime Minister Kokhir Rasulzoda, Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov, foreign ministers of India and Pakistan and representatives from SCO observer states attended the meeting, which was held via video link.

Li said that the SCO has made important contributions to peace and stability in the region and to the development and prosperity of regional countries. He added that at the meeting of the Council of Heads of State held in Samarkand last September, the parties reached new common understandings on the development of the SCO.

Upholding peace and pursuing development remain the trend of our times and the people's aspirations. China will continue to work with members of the SCO family to deepen political trust, win-win cooperation and friendly exchanges, champion the Shanghai Spirit, and jointly deliver greater benefits to the peoples of all countries, Li said.

He then made five proposals on advancing SCO cooperation:

First, safeguarding security and stability to foster a sound environment for development. China is ready to deepen law enforcement and security cooperation with all parties to provide safeguards for the economic and social development of all countries, Li said.

Second, expanding trade and investment to bolster regional economic recovery. Li said SCO countries need to jointly uphold the WTO-centered multilateral trading regime, support the development of an open world economy, and enhance trade and investment facilitation.

Third, enhancing connectivity to realize integrated development of the region. Li pointed out that it is imperative for SCO countries to further align development strategies, raise the efficiency of clearance at ports of entry, and preserve the resilience and stability of regional industrial and supply chains.

Fourth, promoting sustainable development to build up resilience against risks. Efforts must be made to enhance the capacity of regional countries for food and energy supply and pursue a balanced and orderly transition to green and low-carbon development, Li said.

Fifth, enhancing people-to-people and cultural exchanges to strengthen the bond between peoples. SCO countries need to fully leverage the cooperation mechanisms on education, culture, science, technology and press, and ensure the success of activities under the SCO Year of Tourism next year, Li added.

In briefing participants on China's economic situation, Li said that confronted with complex and intricate factors at home and abroad, the Chinese economy once came under downward pressures beyond expectation, with a notable decline early in the second quarter.

"China responded swiftly and resolutely, and introduced a policy package for stabilizing the economy and follow-up measures," said Li, adding that China focused on helping market entities stay afloat and keeping employment and prices stable. China relied on deepening reform to better unlock market vitality and social creativity.

Li said through these efforts, the Chinese economy reversed the downward trend in time.

"We will vigorously promote steady, sound and sustainable economic development," he added.

Li said China has more than 160 million market entities, and its people are hardworking and intelligent. This is where the greatest resilience and confidence lie in China's economic development.

China will continue to work for the full delivery of the policy package introduced for stabilizing the economy, work to maximize its effects, keep major economic indicators within the appropriate range, and strive for better results, Li said.

Li said China will stay committed to the fundamental national policy of reform and opening-up and the win-win strategy of opening-up.

China will continue on the path of peaceful development, take an active part in the reform and development of the global governance system, and work with all parties to advance world peace, stability, development and prosperity, he said.

Participants of the meeting spoke positively about the important outcomes of SCO cooperation in various fields and noted the SCO's stature as an effective platform for international cooperation and its increasingly important role in maintaining mutual trust between member states, boosting development and promoting regional peace and security.

They expressed the willingness to further tap into the cooperation potential, strengthen the mechanisms for cooperation, enhance cooperation in such areas as economy and trade, investment, innovation, environmental protection, agriculture, people-to-people and cultural exchanges, connectivity and digital economy, uphold multilateralism, and jointly tackle the challenges of food and energy security and climate change, to improve the well-being of all peoples and promote regional and global stability and prosperity.

The meeting released a joint communique and adopted a number of cooperation documents and resolutions in economy and trade, digital economy and other fields. 

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang hosts the 21st Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) via video link at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 1, 2022. (Xinhua/Yue Yuewei)
A symposium titled "Hong Ting Forum: Understanding the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China" is held at the Museum of the Communist Party of China in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 2, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuwei)

BEIJING, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Diplomatic envoys to China, think tank experts and journalists from nearly 80 countries exchanged their views on the guiding principles of the recently concluded 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) at a forum on Wednesday.

The symposium titled "Hong Ting Forum: Understanding the 20th CPC National Congress" was jointly hosted by the Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee and Xinhua News Agency at the Museum of the Communist Party of China in Beijing.

Speaking at the forum, Qu Qingshan, president of the Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee, said the pivotal CPC congress reviewed the work of the past five years and the great transformations seen in the first decade of the new era, laid out the Party's missions and tasks on its new journey of the new era, and outlined the development goals and major policies of the Party and the country for the next five years and beyond.

Think tank exchanges are important because they provide a platform for the international community to comprehend the new concepts, domains and expressions pertaining to the CPC's history and theories, thereby paving the way to gain a deeper understanding of China, its people and the Party, said Qu, who is also chairman of the National High-Level Think Tank Council of the institute.

Fu Hua, president of Xinhua News Agency, shared his insights on the milestone CPC congress. The report to the 20th CPC National Congress is a political declaration and a program of action for the Party to bring together the Chinese people of all ethnic groups and lead them in securing new success for socialism with Chinese characteristics, Fu said when addressing the forum, adding that the report serves as a window for the world to understand China.

To comprehend the 20th CPC National Congress, it is imperative to gain a profound understanding of the Party's new theories, its distinctive character featuring self-confidence and self-reliance, as well as the global vision the CPC has maintained, said Fu, who is also director of the Academic Committee of New China Research of Xinhua News Agency.

The agency will continue to boost its global communication capabilities, better convey the stories of China, the CPC and the new era, and serve as a bridge connecting China and the rest of the world, Fu said.

The opening of the forum was presided over by Lyu Yansong, editor-in-chief of Xinhua News Agency and deputy director of the Academic Committee of New China Research.

Other participants also exchanged their insightful perspectives both online and offline on topics covering the key role of the Party, Chinese modernization and China's fine traditional culture. 

A symposium titled "Hong Ting Forum: Understanding the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China" is held at the Museum of the Communist Party of China in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 2, 2022. (Xinhua/Xing Guangli)
DHAKA, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh exported goods worth 4.36 billion dollars in October, which was 7.85 percent lower than the same month a year ago, according to the latest official data on Wednesday.

However, the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data showed that Bangladesh's total exports in the first four months of the current 2022-23 fiscal year (July 2022-June 2023) reached nearly 17 billion U.S. dollars, up 7.01 percent year on year.

The EPB data showed Bangladesh earned 16,853.51 million dollars from exports in the July-October period, compared to 15,749.48 million dollars in the same period a year earlier.

Of the total earnings, the EPB data showed the country's income from ready-made knitwear and woven garment items surged 10.55 percent to 13.95 billion dollars during the cited period.

Bangladesh saw exports soar more than 34 percent to 52.08 billion dollars in the 2021-22 fiscal year (July 2021-June 2022), official data showed. 
MOSCOW, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a phone conversation on Tuesday to discuss the implementation of a deal on the export of grain from the Black Sea ports.

A Kremlin statement said that Putin repeated Russia's accusation that Ukraine used the humanitarian corridor to carry out strikes on the infrastructure and vessels of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, which ensured the safe operation of the shipping route.

Putin called for a detailed investigation into the incident and demanded Ukraine's guarantee of not using the humanitarian corridor for military purposes, before discussing the issue of resuming work within the deal or the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

According to Putin, part of the Black Sea Grain Initiative has failed as restrictions on the export of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers to world markets are not removed.

He also noted that during three months of the deal, the task of ensuring the delivery of food as a priority to the most needy countries was not fulfilled.

In this regard, Putin voiced Russia's readiness to supply "significant volumes" of grain and fertilizers to Africa for free.

Also on Tuesday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar discussed the grain export deal over phone.

On July 22, Russia and Ukraine separately signed a document in Istanbul with Turkiye and the United Nations on grain and fertilizer exports from Ukraine and Russia to ensure supplies to global markets amid the Russia-Ukraine armed conflict.

On Oct. 29, Russia announced the decision to immediately and indefinitely suspend its implementation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, accusing Ukraine of launching drone attacks against the Russian Black Sea Fleet's ships and infrastructure at the naval base in Sevastopol. 
The 31st session of the Arab League (AL) summit kicked off on Tuesday evening in the Algerian capital of Algiers with regional food security and Palestinian issue being on top of the agenda.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
LUSAKA, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Zambian government on Tuesday announced that the country has realized the goal of fully vaccinating 70 percent of the eligible population against COVID-19.

"We are proud to announce to the nation, and the world at large, that our joint efforts have led to over 75 percent of eligible citizens being fully vaccinated," Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema said.

While attributing the achievement to the support from local people, the Zambian president warned against complacency and called for continued efforts.

Beatrice Mutali, the United Nations (UN) resident coordinator in Zambia, thanked the Zambian government for ensuring that those eligible get vaccinated.

Zambia launched the COVID-19 vaccination program in April 2021, which was initially targeted at people aged over 18. In December 2021, children aged 12 and above were included in the program. 
MANILA, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos on Wednesday placed four regions of the Southeast Asian country under a state of calamity due to the severe tropical storm Nalgae.

Marcos signed the document to put Calabarzon, Bicol Region, Western Visayas, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) under a six-month state of calamity, where more than 1.4 million people were adversely affected by Nalgae over the weekend.

He said the declaration of a calamity state will hasten the government and private sector's rescue, recovery, relief and rehabilitation efforts and help effectively control the prices of basic necessities and prime commodities.

Nalgae, one of the most destructive cyclones that battered the Philippines, triggered flash floods and landslides in many parts of the country. The government has tallied at least 132 deaths as of Monday.

Marcos also stressed he might include other areas in the declaration of a state of calamity if warranted, taking into consideration the continuing damage assessment in affected areas and based on the recommendation of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

Nalgae is the 16th tropical cyclone to lash the Philippines this year. It slammed into Catanduanes, an island province in the Bicol region, before dawn on Saturday.

The Philippines is one of the most disaster-prone countries globally, mainly due to its location in the Pacific Ring of Fire and Pacific typhoon belt. On average, the archipelagic country experiences 20 typhoons yearly, some of which are intense and destructive.

In April, tropical storm Megi dumped rains in central and southern parts of the Philippines, inundating many areas and causing landslides with over 220 deaths. 
Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 2, 2022. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)

BEIJING, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan on his official visit to China at the Great Hall of the People on Wednesday.

Xi welcomed Sharif and thanked him for his congratulatory letter right after the opening of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Noting that China and Pakistan are good friends, good partners and good brothers, Xi said amid global changes and instability in recent years, the two countries have supported each other and forged ahead, demonstrating an ironclad friendship.

"China views its relations with Pakistan from a strategic and long-term perspective, and Pakistan has always been a high priority in China's neighborhood diplomacy," Xi said.

China is ready to work with Pakistan to elevate the level of all-round strategic cooperation, speed up efforts to build a closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era, and inject new impetus into their all-weather strategic cooperative partnership, according to Xi.

Xi stressed that China commends Pakistan's firm commitment to advancing friendship and cooperation with China, and expressed appreciation for Pakistan's support on issues vital to China's core and major concerns.

China will continue to firmly support Pakistan in safeguarding its sovereignty, territorial integrity, development interests and dignity, and in achieving unity, stability, development and prosperity, the Chinese president said.

"China expressed deep sympathies to the Pakistani people over the devastating floods that have hit the country, and will provide additional emergency relief to help with post-flood reconstruction," Xi said, adding that China supports Pakistan's efforts to revive agricultural production, and will strengthen cooperation with Pakistan on disaster prevention and relief and climate change.

After presenting the key outcomes of the 20th CPC National Congress, Xi underscored that China will continue its fundamental policy of opening-up and provide new opportunities to Pakistan and the rest of the world through continuous development.

Xi said China will further deepen synergy between its development strategies and those of Pakistan, calling on the two sides to make full use of the Joint Cooperation Committee of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), advance CPEC with greater efficiency, and make CPEC an exemplar of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

It is important to accelerate the construction of auxiliary infrastructure for Gwadar Port to unleash its role in driving interconnected development in the region, Xi said, hoping the two sides will work together to create conditions for the early implementation of the upgradation of the Main Line-1 (ML-1) and the Karachi Circular Railway project.

"Pakistan is welcome to export more quality agri-products to China," Xi said, adding that China will work with Pakistan to expand cooperation in digital economy, e-commerce, and photovoltaic and other new-energy technologies, and take solid steps to advance cooperation concerning agriculture, science, technology and people's livelihood.

He said China will continue to do its best to support Pakistan in stabilizing its financial situation. China supports its provinces with a strong industry in pairing up with Pakistani partners to advance industrial cooperation, and hopes the Pakistani side will provide a sound business environment.

Xi expressed his great concern about the safety of Chinese nationals in Pakistan, and conveyed his hope that Pakistan will provide a reliable and safe environment for Chinese institutions and personnel working on cooperation projects there.

Xi pointed out that the world, our times and history are changing in ways like never before. Facing a highly uncertain world, both sides should stand on the right side of history, keep up their strong cooperation in multilateral mechanisms, and work closely on major international and regional issues so as to uphold true multilateralism, international fairness and justice and the shared interests of developing countries, and inject certainty and positives into the world.

China will work with Pakistan to advance the operationalization of the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, make the global economic governance system fairer, more equitable, inclusive and mutually beneficial, and build a community with a shared future for mankind, Xi said.

These collaborative efforts will provide a strong underpinning for the development of the two countries, and contribute more to global peace, stability and prosperity, Xi said.

Sharif noted that it is a great honor for him to be among the first foreign leaders to visit China after the successful 20th CPC National Congress, which marked a new milestone. He said the visit is a testament to the profound ironclad friendship between Pakistan and China.

On behalf of the Pakistani government and people, Sharif once again expressed hearty congratulations to President Xi on his re-election as general secretary of the CPC Central Committee. He said that over the past decade, under the dynamic leadership of President Xi, China has created a miracle of great development achievements.

He said China has upheld multilateralism, promoted global solidarity and cooperation, and made important contributions to safeguarding world peace and development. In doing so, China has lived up to its responsibility as a major country.

The world cannot operate without China, and China's development cannot be isolated or contained by any force, Sharif said, expressing his confidence that President Xi, with his extraordinary vision, will continue to lead China toward even more remarkable achievements and create an even brighter future for the world.

Sharif stressed that deepening Pakistan's all-weather strategic cooperative partnership with China is a cornerstone of Pakistan's foreign policy and the national consensus of Pakistan. He expressed heartfelt appreciation to the Chinese government and people for the valuable anti-COVID support, and for the generous assistance in the wake of the devastating floods. No country has ever helped Pakistan or other developing countries with such wholehearted sincerity, he said.

Sharif reiterated Pakistan's firm commitment to the one-China policy and its firm support for China's position on issues concerning China's core interests including Taiwan, Xinjiang and Hong Kong. He said even as Pakistan learns from China's successful experience and tries to rely on its own efforts, Pakistan will deepen all-round cooperation with China to better develop itself. He said this is the only way forward for Pakistan.

Hailing CPEC's profound impact on Pakistan's economic and social development, the prime minister said Pakistan is ready to work with China to continue promoting high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and hopes to have China's strong support in the upgradation of ML-1, the Karachi Circular Railway and other important infrastructure projects.

Sharif said Pakistan will further step up security measures and do all it can to protect the safety of Chinese institutions and personnel.

Sharif said Pakistan fully supports the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative put forth by President Xi, and it will strengthen communication and collaboration with China in international and regional affairs to make a positive contribution to world peace and development.

The Pakistan-China friendship is unbreakable, and Pakistan will always stand firmly with China, Sharif said.

After the meeting, Xi held a welcoming banquet for Sharif at the Golden Hall of the Great Hall of the People.

Wang Yi and He Lifeng were present at the events. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 2, 2022. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)
Jordanian special forces take part in a drill at the opening ceremony of the 13th Special Operations Forces Exhibition and Conference (SOFEX) in Aqaba, Jordan, on Nov. 1, 2022. The 13th Special Operations Forces Exhibition and Conference (SOFEX) kicked off in Jordan's Aqaba on Tuesday with the participation of more than 300 companies from 38 countries. (Photo by Mohammad Abu Ghosh/Xinhua)

AMMAN, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- The 13th Special Operations Forces Exhibition and Conference (SOFEX) kicked off in Jordan's Aqaba on Tuesday with the participation of more than 300 companies from 38 countries.

King Abdullah II of Jordan inaugurated the exhibition, which also attracted official delegations from 98 countries.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, SOFEX General Manager Ayman Batran said the exhibition has become a global hub to showcase the latest developments and specializations related to special forces.

King Abdullah II Special Forces Group Commander Nael Shugeirat stressed the importance of the SOFEX in strengthening international cooperation in the development of defense industries.

Various types of latest technologies and weapons in the field of defense and weapon manufacturing were displayed at the exhibition. The Jordanian Armed Forces and other security apparatuses showcased their military, technological and training capabilities, as well as Jordan's role in international peacekeeping missions.

This year's SOFEX, which was established in 1996, was held after a four-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 



Jordanian special forces take part in a drill at the opening ceremony of the 13th Special Operations Forces Exhibition and Conference (SOFEX) in Aqaba, Jordan, on Nov. 1, 2022. The 13th Special Operations Forces Exhibition and Conference (SOFEX) kicked off in Jordan's Aqaba on Tuesday with the participation of more than 300 companies from 38 countries. (Photo by Mohammad Abu Ghosh/Xinhua)

Jordanian special forces take part in a drill at the opening ceremony of the 13th Special Operations Forces Exhibition and Conference (SOFEX) in Aqaba, Jordan, on Nov. 1, 2022. The 13th Special Operations Forces Exhibition and Conference (SOFEX) kicked off in Jordan's Aqaba on Tuesday with the participation of more than 300 companies from 38 countries. (Photo by Mohammad Abu Ghosh/Xinhua)

People attend the 13th Special Operations Forces Exhibition and Conference (SOFEX) in Aqaba, Jordan, on Nov. 1, 2022. The 13th Special Operations Forces Exhibition and Conference (SOFEX) kicked off in Jordan's Aqaba on Tuesday with the participation of more than 300 companies from 38 countries. (Photo by Mohammad Abu Ghosh/Xinhua)

Aircraft from the Royal Jordanian Falcons perform during an airshow of the 13th Special Operations Forces Exhibition and Conference (SOFEX) in Aqaba, Jordan, on Nov. 1, 2022. The 13th Special Operations Forces Exhibition and Conference (SOFEX) kicked off in Jordan's Aqaba on Tuesday with the participation of more than 300 companies from 38 countries. (Photo by Mohammad Abu Ghosh/Xinhua)

Jordanian special forces take part in a drill at the opening ceremony of the 13th Special Operations Forces Exhibition and Conference (SOFEX) in Aqaba, Jordan, on Nov. 1, 2022. The 13th Special Operations Forces Exhibition and Conference (SOFEX) kicked off in Jordan's Aqaba on Tuesday with the participation of more than 300 companies from 38 countries. (Photo by Mohammad Abu Ghosh/Xinhua)

Jordanian special forces take part in a drill at the opening ceremony of the 13th Special Operations Forces Exhibition and Conference (SOFEX) in Aqaba, Jordan, on Nov. 1, 2022. The 13th Special Operations Forces Exhibition and Conference (SOFEX) kicked off in Jordan's Aqaba on Tuesday with the participation of more than 300 companies from 38 countries. (Photo by Mohammad Abu Ghosh/Xinhua)

People attend the 13th Special Operations Forces Exhibition and Conference (SOFEX) in Aqaba, Jordan, on Nov. 1, 2022. The 13th Special Operations Forces Exhibition and Conference (SOFEX) kicked off in Jordan's Aqaba on Tuesday with the participation of more than 300 companies from 38 countries. (Photo by Mohammad Abu Ghosh/Xinhua)
Bell Textron, a Textron company, has announced the signed agreement for the sale of 10 Bell 505 helicopters to the Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF) at The Special Operations Forces Exhibition & Conference (Sofex) in Aqaba, Jordan.



The contract includes the delivery of the aircraft with a flight training device and a comprehensive computer-based training package to enable an enhanced approach to basic and advanced rotorcraft flight training at the King Hussein Air College in Mafraq, Jordan.



It is with profound gratitude to the Royal Jordanian Air Force that we share news of this agreement to purchase the Bell 505s as the new helicopter trainer for the Air Force, said Patrick Moulay, senior vice president, International Business, Bell.



We are dedicated to the Armed Forces, the Air Force, and the citizens of Jordan and offer our commitment to ensure the best of service. The Bell 505 will serve alongside the men and women of the Air Force by playing a critical role in ensuring the operational readiness of its cadets, commented Sameer Rehman, managing director Africa and Middle East, Bell.



The Bell 505 is a popular aircraft for commercial and military customers alike, offering phenomenal power, optimal visibility and high-tech Garmin avionics. The company recently celebrated the 400th Bell 505 delivery since its launch in 2017.



We look forward to adding the Bell 505 aircraft to our fleet and providing our pilots with one of the best possible aircraft for their training. The addition of 10 new aircraft will enable us to further expand our operations in the country, in turn increasing the capabilities of the Royal Jordanian Air Force, said Brig Gen Mohammad F. Hiyasat, Commander, Royal Jordanian Air Force.



As the most advanced helicopter in its class on the market, details has been considered in the design of the Bell 505, starting with the fully digitally controlled engine, and advanced avionics that dramatically reduce pilot workload and maximize safety in a multitude of operational scenarios.



Sofex is the world's leading special operations forces and homeland security exhibition. Currently in its 13th year, the show was established by HM King Abdullah II to provide a platform to present and demonstrate new and innovative equipment and technologies in security operations.  TradeArabia News Service
JERUSALEM/RAMALLAH, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian on Wednesday after he carried out a car-ramming attack at a checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah, the Israeli army and Palestinian health ministry said.

The Palestinian man drove to the Maccabim checkpoint, hit an Israeli officer and wounded him seriously, the Israeli army said in a statement.

The man then got out of his car and tried to attack the officer with an axe before he was "neutralized," the army statement added.

The killed Palestinian man was identified by the Palestinian health ministry and local sources as Habes Rayyan, 54, from the village of Beit Duqqu, northwest of Jerusalem.

A video clip published on social media platforms shows the alleged entire process of the incident.

The incident came a day after exit polls suggested the return to power of hawkish former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right bloc in the Israeli parliamentary elections.

Tension has been mounting between Israelis and Palestinians since March when the Israeli army intensified its military actions and operations against Palestinian militants and activists by storming Palestinian towns and cities in the West Bank.

At least 130 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since January, and over 20 Israelis killed in attacks by Palestinians since March, according to official Palestinian and Israeli figures. 
This year marks the 30th anniversary of China's accession to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands protection. Along with an ecologist, a Xinhua correspondent has visited a wetland in Hangzhou Bay to observe migratory birds living there.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Indian army troopers on a boat search in the Machchu river on Nov. 1 after a cable bridge collapsed in Morbi district of India's western state of Gujarat on Sunday. (Xinhua/Stringer)

GUJARAT, India, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Indian troops continued to search for victims after a cable bridge collapsed in India's western state of Gujarat on Sunday evening. The death toll in the tragedy has risen to 135, officials said.

People watch as Indian army troopers on boats search in the Machchu river on Nov. 1 after a cable bridge collapsed in Morbi district of India's western state of Gujarat on Sunday. (Xinhua/Stringer)



Indian army troopers on boats search in the Machchu river on Nov. 1 after a cable bridge collapsed in Morbi district of India's western state of Gujarat on Sunday. (Xinhua/Stringer)

Rescuers on a boat search in the Machchu river on Nov. 1 after a cable bridge collapsed in Morbi district of India's western state of Gujarat on Sunday. (Xinhua/Stringer)

A rescuer searches in the Machchu river on Nov. 1 after a cable bridge collapsed in Morbi district of India's western state of Gujarat on Sunday. (Xinhua/Stringer)
SEOUL, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's police chief on Tuesday admitted bungled preventive measures toward a deadly crowd crush that occurred Saturday night at the Itaewon district of the South Korean capital Seoul during Halloween celebrations.

Yoon Hee-keun, commissioner general of the National Police Agency, told a parliamentary committee that although the police had received 11 emergency calls alerting danger and urgency at the scene from 6:34 p.m. local time on the day of the incident, they had only taken incomplete preventive measures.

According to details on the emergency calls submitted by the policy agency to the National Assembly cited by local news media, the first caller to police said people could be crushed at a narrow alley, if things went wrong, as there were both people going up and coming down entangled.

The caller asked the police to come to the scene to control crowd at the entrance to the alley.

Ten more calls had been made to the police 112 emergency call center over the next three-and-a-half hours before the Halloween festivities turned into sheer chaos.

Around 10:15 p.m. local time Saturday, a dense crowd thronged a narrow sloping alley in Itaewon and fell over one another for the Halloween event, according to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

At least 156 people were killed and 157 others injured in the country's deadliest disaster since a ferry sinking incident left 304 people, mostly high school students, dead in April 2014.

The death toll could rise further as 33 people were in critical condition.

Most of the victims were those in their 20s and 30s as over 100,000 people gathered in the popular nightlife district of Seoul for the country's biggest no-mask outdoor Halloween event since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Before the crowd crush took place, other callers had appealed to the police for help.

After having received 11 emergency calls, police officers came to the scene only four times to control crowd without detecting any potential danger for the disaster.

The police chief told a press conference before the parliamentary session that the police response to the emergency calls in the field was incomplete, apologizing to the victims and the bereaved families and vowing a thorough probe into the incident.

South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo told a press conference with foreign correspondents in Seoul earlier in the day that the Halloween crowd crush can be blamed on incomplete crowd management.

"It seemed that one of the significant reasons (for the incident) was eventually crowd management, for which (South Korea) somewhat lacks sufficient institutional support and systematic efforts," Han said.

Han said that even if large police officers were to be deployed to Itaewon, it would have had limitations in controlling the massive crowd given that the country had incomplete regulations on crowd management.

The prime minister vowed to enhance relevant rules to prevent the recurrence of similar disasters, noting that what were the decisive factors of the incident would be determined by the ongoing police investigations. 
BEIJING, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang sent a congratulatory letter on Tuesday to the 23rd Pacific Basin Nuclear Conference held simultaneously in Beijing and Chengdu.

Nuclear power is safe, stable and efficient clean energy, Li noted in the letter. The peaceful development and utilization of nuclear power not only injects fresh impetus into human development but also plays a significant role in ensuring energy security, addressing climate change, promoting green and low-carbon energy transformation, and advancing the development of high-end equipment manufacturing, Li said.

The Chinese government firmly supports the active and orderly development of nuclear power and vigorously promoting technological advances and industrial development in this field on the premise of ensuring absolute security, Li said.

He stressed that China is willing to work with other countries to deepen international exchanges and cooperation in nuclear power on the basis of equality and mutual benefits to facilitate the transformation of economic and social development and deliver more benefits to people of all countries.

He called on nations to take the well-being of their people into consideration, fulfill their obligations per the international legal instruments regarding nuclear security, and jointly uphold the international nuclear non-proliferation system with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as its cornerstone. 
BEIJING, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) that concluded last month in Beijing has unveiled a new, attention-drawing blueprint for China's development in the next five years and beyond, which well balances policy continuity and change, and is conducive to both China and the world, scholars said at a recent press briefing.

The event was hosted by the China Public Diplomacy Association on Tuesday. Cao Li, a professor with the Party School of the Central Committee of the CPC, said that the report to the congress underscored advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization.

"More than 1.4 billion people are moving into a modern society. It is a task that no country that has achieved modernization has ever faced. We can imagine how challenging it is," Cao said.

Noting that the most challenging and arduous tasks in building a modern socialist China in all respects remain in rural areas, Cao said the report points out that China will advance rural revitalization across the board and move faster to build up its strength in agriculture, which is highly relevant and encouraging.

This is the latest rural development target set by China after winning the biggest battle against poverty in human history.

Fan Jishe, another professor with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, said he was impressed by the report's assessment of China's external environment that the world is entering a new period of turbulence and change.

"But China has always been committed to its foreign policy goals of upholding world peace and promoting common development, and building a community with a shared future for mankind," Fan said.

"While finding changes in the outside world, China wants to be a responsible country, a predictable player and a stabilizing force," Fan said. 
This photo taken on Nov. 2, 2022 shows former Israeli Prime Minister and leader of the Likud party Benjamin Netanyahu (C) at the party headquarters in Jerusalem. Exit polls from Israel's parliamentary elections suggested Tuesday that former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc has a good chance of making a comeback after the country's fifth elections since 2019.

Exit polls of three main Israeli TV channels indicated that the long-time leader and his alliance of far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties won 61-62 seats in the 120-seat parliament, suggesting they have enough seats to form a ruling coalition government. (JINI via Xinhua)

JERUSALEM, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Exit polls from Israel's parliamentary elections suggested Tuesday that former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc has a good chance of making a comeback after the country's fifth elections since 2019.

Exit polls of three main Israeli TV channels indicated that the long-time leader and his alliance of far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties won 61-62 seats in the 120-seat parliament, suggesting they have enough seats to form a ruling coalition government.

Speaking with supporters at his campaign headquarters, Netanyahu said the early results are "a good start," and called the supporters to wait for the final results. Exit polls suggested his Likud party won 30 to 31 seats.

Prime Minister Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid party was projected to gain 22-24 seats and his wider alliance to secure 54 to 55 seats, according to the exit polls.

Lapid said early Wednesday that it was too early to make conclusions about the final outcome. "Nothing is decided" until the last vote is counted, said Lapid. Neither Netanyahu nor Lapid has claimed victory yet.

The polls also showed that ultra-nationalist lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir's Religious Zionism won 14-15 seats, becoming Israel's third-largest party. Bezalel Smotrich, chairman of the Religious Zionist Party, tweeted that the party "made history." The pro-settler leader wrote: "This is the day God made a revelation and we rejoice in it."

Hadash-Ta'al, an alliance of two Arab parties that doesn't support either of the blocs, is projected to win four seats, exit polls indicated.

The elections were held after repeated elections with inconclusive results that have paralyzed the Israeli political system for almost four years.

In a statement Tuesday, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) slammed the elections, noting that it "will not confer on Israel any legitimacy."

No matter who wins the elections, "Israel will remain a permanent occupation power on the Palestinian land," Hamas spokesman in Gaza Abdul Latif al-Qanou said in the statement. 

This photo taken on Nov. 2, 2022 shows former Israeli Prime Minister and leader of the Likud party Benjamin Netanyahu (C) at the party headquarters in Jerusalem. Exit polls from Israel's parliamentary elections suggested Tuesday that former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc has a good chance of making a comeback after the country's fifth elections since 2019.

Exit polls of three main Israeli TV channels indicated that the long-time leader and his alliance of far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties won 61-62 seats in the 120-seat parliament, suggesting they have enough seats to form a ruling coalition government. (JINI via Xinhua)

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, also a leader of the centrist Yesh Atid Party, speaks to supporters in Tel Aviv, Israel, Nov. 2, 2022. Exit polls from Israel's parliamentary elections suggested Tuesday that former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc has a good chance of making a comeback after the country's fifth elections since 2019.

Prime Minister Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid party was projected to gain 22-24 seats and his wider alliance to secure 54 to 55 seats, according to the exit polls. (Tomer Neuberg/JINI via Xinhua)

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, also a leader of the centrist Yesh Atid Party, speaks to supporters in Tel Aviv, Israel, Nov. 2, 2022. Exit polls from Israel's parliamentary elections suggested Tuesday that former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc has a good chance of making a comeback after the country's fifth elections since 2019.

Prime Minister Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid party was projected to gain 22-24 seats and his wider alliance to secure 54 to 55 seats, according to the exit polls. (Tomer Neuberg/JINI via Xinhua)

Israeli ultra-nationalist lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir addresses supporters in Tel Aviv, Israel, Nov. 2, 2022. Exit polls from Israel's parliamentary elections suggested Tuesday that former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc has a good chance of making a comeback after the country's fifth elections since 2019.

The polls also showed that ultra-nationalist lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir's Religious Zionism won 14-15 seats, becoming Israel's third-largest party. (JINI via Xinhua)

Israeli ultra-nationalist lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir addresses supporters in Tel Aviv, Israel, Nov. 2, 2022. Exit polls from Israel's parliamentary elections suggested Tuesday that former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc has a good chance of making a comeback after the country's fifth elections since 2019.

The polls also showed that ultra-nationalist lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir's Religious Zionism won 14-15 seats, becoming Israel's third-largest party. (JINI via Xinhua)
QUITO, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso declared a state of emergency on Tuesday in the two coastal provinces of Guayas and Esmeraldas, which were hit by 12 attacks overnight.

Security forces will intensify operations to guarantee the safety of citizens in both provinces, where "a curfew starts at nine at night," Lasso said in a message to the nation on television.

The measure was adopted after the two provinces, considered the most violent in Ecuador, experienced 12 violent attacks on Monday night and early Tuesday morning, which the government attributed to drug mafias.

Several community police units were attacked with explosives and a patrol vehicle was attacked by criminals with firearms, leaving at least five policemen dead.

"These acts of sabotage and terrorism are a declaration of open war against the rule of law, the government, and against all of you, the citizens. We did not allow it! I am here and I have arranged to act harshly within the framework of the law," said the president. 
UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Tuesday condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the recent terrorist attack in the Somali capital of Mogadishu.

In a press statement, the members of the Security Council reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security.

They reiterated that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed.

The council members underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice.

They expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims, the people of Somalia, and wished a speedy recovery to those injured.

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. 
BAKU, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Special forces of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces began military exercises near the southern borders of the country on Wednesday, according to the Ministry of Defense.

The units and subunits of the air force and rocket and artillery troops are involved in the military drills, which also feature the organization of interoperability with other types of troops.

The exercises will see the units of the special forces fulfill several tasks backed by the units of the air force and rocket and artillery troops, the ministry said. 
Abu Dhabi, represented by the Department of Municipalities and Transport, and Kyrgyzistans Bishkek City have signed a twinning agreement to strengthen cooperation between the two cities and further enhance relations.



The agreement was signed by Falah Al Ahbabi, Chairman of the Department of Municipalities and Transport, and Emilbek Abdykadyrov, Mayor of Bishkek City.



As part of the city twinning agreement, the two capital cities will enable mutual exchange between delegations and business community members to develop trade, economic, scientific, cultural, sporting and other ties.



The agreement will also facilitate exchange of knowledge in urban planning and explore the feasibility of joint venture projects.



Falah Al Ahbabi said: "The agreement will enhance friendly bilateral relations between our nations, and the exchange of experiences between our two municipalities will be facilitated. Furthermore, the agreement will be a helpful tool for promoting cross-cultural exchanges between Abu Dhabi and Bishkek in the fields of culture, sports, and tourism.  TradeArabia News Service
ADDIS ABABA, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) has appealed for urgent funding to respond to growing humanitarian calamities in drought and conflict-affected parts of Ethiopia.

The UNOCHA, in its latest situation update on Ethiopia issued late Tuesday, said as of the end October, the 3 billion U.S. dollars requirements for the 2022 Ethiopia Humanitarian Response Plan is only 39.6 percent funded, excluding the Ethiopia government's contribution, with 1.2 billion U.S. dollars donor funding received to respond to conflict, drought and flood-induced humanitarian needs.

The UNOCHA said the funding constraint came while the impact of multiple crises including conflict, drought and floods continues to increase humanitarian needs across the East African country.

The water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), camp coordination and camp management, and protection sectors are the least funded, it said.

"Funding gaps are reported across all sectors, hampering the mobilization of timely response. For the drought response, 857 million U.S. dollars have been received to date out of the 1.66 billion U.S. dollars required," the UNOCHA said.

Continued donor support is critical to enable humanitarian partners to maintain and strengthen the delivery of assistance to vulnerable people in conflict and natural disaster-affected areas across the country, the UNOCHA underscored.

In the agriculture sector, the UNOCHA said an estimated 17.5 million people are in need of agricultural support in 2022 across Ethiopia, of whom 11.5 million people are targeted.

It warned that the ongoing drought's impact is expanding, eventually increasing the number of people to be assisted and livestock to be supported.

Figures from the UNOCHA show that since late 2021, about 4 million livestock have perished, and more than 30 million livestock are emaciated and at risk.

The figure is an increase from 3.5 million livestock deaths and at least 25 million at risk that was reported by mid-May 2022.

The UNOCHA further indicated that large scale new displacements, estimated in hundreds of thousands of people, continued to be reported in northern Ethiopia following the resumption of hostilities towards the end of August.

"Partners are stretching their limited available resources to address the rising needs, re-prioritizing activities to meet the most severe needs first," it warned. 
UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warmly welcomes the announcement from Russia on its resumed participation in the implementation of a deal to facilitate grain export via the Black Sea, his spokesman said on Wednesday.

Guterres is grateful for the diplomatic efforts of Turkiye, and thanks UN coordinator Amir Abdulla and his team for their work to "keep this vital food supply line open," Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman, said in a statement.

The secretary-general continues his engagement with all actors toward the renewal and full implementation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, and also remains committed to removing the remaining obstacles to the exports of Russian food and fertilizer, the statement said.

On July 22, Russia and Ukraine separately signed a document in Istanbul with Turkiye and the United Nations on grain and fertilizer exports from Ukraine and Russia to ensure supplies to global markets amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

On Oct. 29, Russia announced the decision to immediately and indefinitely suspend its implementation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, accusing Ukraine of launching drone attacks against the Russian Black Sea Fleet's ships and infrastructure at the naval base in Sevastopol.

Russia on Wednesday announced its return to the implementation of the deal, saying Ukraine has promised not to use the humanitarian corridor for military attacks. 
UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Increased fighting has forced UN peacekeepers to withdraw from a base in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a UN spokesman said on Wednesday.

The peacekeeping mission in the country, known as MONUSCO, continues to protect civilians and to work alongside the Congolese army to deter the M23 and other armed groups in the eastern part of the country, said Stephane Dujarric, the chief spokesman for the UN secretary-general.

However, Durjarric said, "following consultations with national partners, the mission withdrew peacekeepers from its base in Rumangabo, in North Kivu province, an area where the Congolese army is no longer present."

He said a crowd of people threw stones at a peacekeeping convoy on Tuesday at an army checkpoint near a displaced persons site about eight km north of Goma, the capital of North Kivu. Despite firing warning shots, two peacekeepers were injured, and a mission vehicle was set afire.

"Our colleagues note that this type of violence and destruction of equipment limits the mission's capacity to carry out its mandate to protect civilians and support the delivery of humanitarian assistance to vulnerable communities," said the spokesman.

He said renewed fighting between the army and the M23 rebels forced thousands to flee their homes in Rutshuru Territory in North Kivu. Many of the displaced are living in schools, hospitals, churches, and other sites, although the majority are living with host families.

Despite severe access constraints, humanitarian workers have started helping displaced people in Nyiragongo territory, providing them with water and healthcare, Dujarric said.

According to Dujarric, humanitarians identified more than 180 unaccompanied children for child protection workers and assisted some 2,000 others to receive psychological support. Humanitarian needs still exceed present capacities, especially in the south of Kayna health zone in Lubero territory, which was already home to some 50,000 displaced people. 
ANKARA, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday discussed resuming the implementation of a deal that allows the export of grain from designated Black Sea ports.

In a phone conversation with Zelensky, Erdogan expressed his pleasure that the parties had resolved the grain shipments problem via cooperation, Turkiye's presidency said in a statement.

While saying it was of critical importance for the entire world that both Ukraine and Russia could sell their grain products, Erdogan emphasized the significance of the continuation of the grain shipment agreement, it added.

Russia on Wednesday announced its return to the implementation of the grain export deal via the Black Sea, saying Ukraine has promised not to use the humanitarian corridor for military attacks.

Thanks to the participation of the United Nations and the assistance of Turkiye, the joint coordination center for the implementation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative on Tuesday received a written guarantee from Ukraine of not using the shipping route defined in the deal and Ukrainian ports designated for grain export to conduct military operations against Russia, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Earlier on Wednesday, Erdogan confirmed that Moscow had agreed to resume its implementation of the grain export deal.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar was informed by his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu that the grain agreement would "continue in the same way as before" as of Wednesday, Erdogan told his party members at the parliament.

He said "the goods news" followed his phone talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin a day earlier, in which the two leaders discussed the deal's implementation.

First shipments now will prioritize African countries, including Somalia, Djibouti, and Sudan, Erdogan added.

The UN-brokered grain export deal was reached in late July in an effort to ensure the supplies of Russian and Ukrainian grain and agri-products to global markets in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Russia announced on Saturday its suspension of the implementation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, accusing Ukraine of carrying out drone attacks on the Russian Black Sea Fleet near Sevastopol and infrastructure at the naval base there, which Ukraine denied.

On Tuesday, Akar said, "Ukrainian interlocutors made (written) statements that relieved these concerns both during their conversations with us and during the meetings of the officials at the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul." 
LUSAKA, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Zambia's central bank on Tuesday launched a "Go Cashless" campaign aimed at encouraging people to adopt digital means of accessing and using financial services in a safe and secure manner.

Denny Kalyalya, the Governor of the Bank of Zambia (BoZ), said during the launch that the use of digital financial services will translate into tangible improvements in the welfare of consumers and contribution to economic growth.

"Over the last two decades, financial inclusion has been a central theme for many financial sector regulators the world over, due to the benefits of a financially included society," he said.

The central bank chief said the mobile phone has become a tool that not only facilitates communication but was also a means of accessing financial services.

The central bank, he said, working in collaboration with its partners, will embark on a number of activities aimed at promoting digital financial services such as roadshows as well radio and television programs, among others.

"As people migrate towards digital financial services, it is important that they are aware of some key safeguards to enable them to use the services in a safe and secure manner," he added.

According to a central bank survey of 2020, digital financial services, especially mobile money, was a major contributor to financial inclusion in the country resulting in overall financial inclusion of the adult population increasing to 69.4 percent from 59.3 percent in 2015. 
QUITO, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Ecuadorian Interior Minister Juan Zapata said Wednesday that at least 28 people have been arrested in Ecuador after a series of attacks rocked the two coastal provinces of Guayas and Esmeraldas on Monday night and Tuesday morning, which left five policemen dead.

The arrests were made in the last few hours in raids conducted by special groups of the police and the armed forces.

At a press conference held on Wednesday morning, the interior minister said that the special groups also seized eight firearms, 227 ammunition, three rifles, three pistols, 60 detonating capsules and eight sticks of dynamite.

Also seized in the operations were 600 envelopes of controlled substances, 13 cell phones, a motorcycle, a vehicle and three police uniforms.

In addition, two persons were arrested with a truck which carried 16,416 explosives, 1,200 dynamite and 150,000 detonating capsules from a factory in Peru, according to the interior minister.

The state of emergency declared by Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso on Tuesday would last 45 days in Guayas and Esmeraldas and it has been in force since Tuesday night.

Lasso described the attacks as acts of sabotage and terrorism, saying that it was a declaration of open war against the rule of law, the government and citizens.

The president vowed he is willing to act harshly within the framework of the law.

Since Tuesday night, Lasso has been leading a Unified Command Post that was activated in Guayaquil, provincial capital of Guayas, to take actions against drug mafias which are blamed for the deteriorating security situation in Ecuador's coastal region.

The Ecuadorian president flew to Guayaquil to supervise the joint operations launched to protect the population by responding forcefully to drug criminal organizations. 
WINDHOEK, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's Deputy Minister of Environment Forestry and Tourism, Heather Sibungo on Wednesday called on African countries to submit more ambitious nationally determined contributions (NDCs) as well as adopt ambitious deadlines for achieving net zero emissions.

Speaking at a press briefing in Windhoek, Namibia, Sibungo said Namibia further calls on developed countries to provide the means of implementation and support for the effective implementation and enhancement of nationally determined contributions by developing countries. Namibia has revised its NDCs to address shortcomings identified as hampering effective implementation, she added.

The semi-arid nation has revised and updated its NDCs and set a target for reforestation of about 20,000 hectares every year as of 2021 and at the same time to reduce the deforestation rate by 75 percent by 2030.

Sibungo said a considerable amount of finance is urgently needed to support NDCs implementation to reach a net zero emissions trajectory as soon as possible.

"Namibia urges the scaling up of the levels of climate finance, by providing concrete long-term targets for climate finance pathways and accounting methodologies for the collective goal by developed countries to reach 100 billion U.S. dollars a year from 2025 and beyond, while striking a balance of the allocation between adaptation, mitigation and loss and damage through a significant increase of grant-based support for adaptation," she said.

The Conference of Parties or COP27 will be held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, from Nov. 6-18, 2022.

At this year's conference, Namibia will be represented by a delegation from the government, private as well as the academic sector while the country will have a pavillon to accommodate all side events. 
TUNIS, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Tunisian Minister of Economy and Planning Samir Saied said on Tuesday that Tunisia has no choice but to implement the reform plan presented to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"We have presented a detailed reform plan to the IMF after losing credibility over the past few years," the Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP) quoted Saied as saying during a conference organized by the Confederation of Tunisian Citizen Enterprises in the nation's capital of Tunis.

"Otherwise, our children's future could be at stake," the minister said, adding that the release of an IMF loan depends on the progress of the reform.

The release of the loan in tranches will ensure the implementation of the country's reform, he added.

On Oct. 16, Tunisia and the IMF reached a staff-level agreement to support the country's economic policies with a 48-month arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) of about 1.9 billion U.S. dollars, Tunisian media reported on Saturday.

The final agreement on the arrangement is subject to the approval of the IMF's Executive Board, which is scheduled to discuss Tunisia's request in December, an IMF statement was quoted as saying.

The loan is expected to support the Tunisian government' economic reform by restoring the country's external and fiscal stability, enhancing social protection, promoting higher, greener and inclusive growth, as well as creating private sector-led jobs. 
UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- A cease-fire agreement between Ethiopian government and regional Tigray forces is "a welcome first step," which hopefully can serve as solace to millions that have suffered during the two-year conflict, a United Nations spokesman said on Wednesday.

"This is very much a welcome first step, which we hope can start to bring some solace to the millions of Ethiopian civilians that have really suffered during this conflict," Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told a regular press briefing.

The Ethiopian government and the country's regional forces from Tigray on Wednesday agreed to cease hostilities after days of peace talks in Pretoria, South Africa.

In a joint statement, the two sides said they have agreed to permanently silence the guns and end the two years of conflict in northern Ethiopia. 
CANBERRA, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Convicted arsonists could be electronically tracked during the bushfire season under new proposed laws in South Australia (SA).

The legislation, which SA Attorney-General Kyam Maher detailed ahead of introducing it to Parliament, would give police the power to seek court orders compelling arsonists previously found guilty of deliberately starting a bushfire to wear tracking devices.

Police already keep watch on convicted and suspected arsonists but Maher said electronic tracking would boost surveillance of those who pose the greatest risk through the fire danger season, which officially runs from Nov. 1 through to April.

"For the first time, once these laws pass, police will be able to apply to electronically monitor those who have been convicted in the past of setting bushfires," he told reporters.

"It will be the police who make the assessment about the risk that someone who's been convicted of this offence will pose, and it will be the court that decides on the evidence presented to them whether to make this order or not.

"If they make such an order, it applies indefinitely for the fire danger season."

More than 180 people were arrested for allegedly lighting bushfires across SA, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales in 2019.

As of 2017-18 SA Police were tracking more than 200 firebugs through their existing means.

Maher said the new laws would only apply to the most dangerous offenders.

"It's a handful of people each year who face these charges and are sentenced, so the numbers won't be massive but it will be targeted directly at those who pose the most risk," he said.

"An offender is at liberty, under the legislation, to apply in the future to have that order taken off them but, unless that happens, it applies for every fire danger season." 
China stress its commitment to push ahead peace and development for humanity at 20th CPC National Congress

09:58, November 01, 2022 By He Yin ( People's Daily

"Our Party has dedicated itself to achieving lasting greatness for the Chinese nation and committed itself to the noble cause of peace and development for humanity. Our responsibility is unmatched in importance, and our mission is glorious beyond compare," said Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, in a report to the 20th CPC National Congress.

The congress profoundly revealed a message that the CPC always pursues the common good and universal harmony of the world.

At present, the international balance of power is undergoing profound adjustments. Unilateralism, protectionism, hegemonism, and power politics are posing greater threats to world peace and development, and the backlash against globalization is rising. The world has entered a new period of turbulence and change.

China focuses on the main goal of achieving national rejuvenation and promoting human progress, and holds high the banner of peace, development, cooperation, and mutual benefit.

Chinese diplomacy showcases its own features, style and ethos of advancing with the times, responsibility, as well as openness and inclusiveness. It has won broad recognition and appraisal from the international community.

Containers are being handled at a terminal of the Lianyungang port, east China's Jiangsu Province, Aug. 8, 2022. Since this year, the Lianyungang port has fully leveraged its advantages in integrated transport development and rail-ocean intermodal transport, to promote high-quality development China-Europe freight trains. (People's Daily Online/Wang Chun)

Xi, from the perspectives of the general trend of history and the international landscape, has made major innovations in both theories and practice in Chinese diplomacy, proposing a series of new ideas, new propositions and new initiatives with distinctive Chinese features, which reflect the call of the times and lead the trend of human progress.

Drawing wisdom from the fine traditional Chinese culture, Xi proposed to build a community with a shared future for mankind and foster a new type of international relations. He champions the common values of humanity, the right approach to justice and interests, the vision of global security, and the vision of global governance.

He inherits and carries forward the fine traditions of Chinese diplomacy and enriches Chinese diplomacy with new connotations. He put forward the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the Global Development Initiative (GDI), the Global Security Initiative and other major initiatives, and promoted the construction of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, New Development Bank and other multilateral financial organizations.

The Communist Party of China and the Chinese people have provided humanity with more Chinese insight, better Chinese input, and greater Chinese strength to help solve its common challenges and have made new and greater contributions to the noble cause of human peace and development.

Chinese diplomacy, forging ahead while making innovations in both theories and practice, is constantly making new contributions to the world.

Chinese diplomacy mirrors China's broad mind to help others succeed while seeking its own success.

China continues to place its own development in the coordinate system of human development, seeing the interests of the Chinese people are integrated with the common interests of the peoples of other countries. It seeks common development through its friendly cooperation with other countries and strives for win-win results through its exchanges with the rest of the world.

By the end of 2021, China has built 79 zones for economic and trade cooperation in 24 countries along the BRI routes, investing $43 billion and creating 346,000 local jobs.

In the face of a once-in-a-century pandemic, China has stood in the forefront of international cooperation against COVID-19, sharing its containment protocols and diagnostic and treatment plans with over 180 countries as well as international organizations, sending 38 medical expert teams to 34 countries, providing over 2.2 billion doses of vaccines to more than 120 countries and international organizations.

Anti-pandemic materials donated by China to Vanuatu arrive in Port Vila, capital of Vanuatu, July 4, 2022. The materials include masks, protective suits, goggles and respirators. (Photo courtesy of the Chinese Embassy in Vanuatu)

Chinese diplomacy is open and inclusive. It showcases China's broad mind.

China unswervingly builds an open world economy and pushes for an economic globalization that is more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial for all. It safeguards the diversity of civilizations, promotes dialogue and cooperation between civilizations, and pursues the shared human values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom.

The country advocates forging a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness, justice, and win-win cooperation, pursues friendship and cooperation with all countries, and strives for a new approach to state-to-state relations.

It holds high the banner or true multilateralism and adheres to the vision of global governance characterized by consultation and cooperation for shared benefits, to make global governance fairer and more equitable.

Chinese diplomacy values friendship, takes responsibility, acts in good faith and seeks justice. China meets every commitment it has made.

To promote the construction of the BRI, the country has held two sessions of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, which formed 270 and 283 deliverables, respectively.

To implement the GDI, China upgraded the South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund to a Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund, enhanced its investment in the China-UN Peace and Development Fund and set up a Global Development Promotion Center.

To enhance China-Africa cooperation, China and African countries will jointly carry out 10 major cooperation plans, eight major initiatives and nine programs.

China always adheres to its political commitments and faithfully fulfills its obligations when dealing with international affairs, so as to inject stability and certainty to the fast-changing world.

When all countries pursue the cause of common good, we can live in harmony, engage in cooperation for mutual benefit and join hands to create a brighter future, Xi said. China will stand firmly on the right side of history and on the side of human progress on the new journey in the new era. Although this is an era fraught with challenges, it is also an era brimming with hope. The Chinese people are ready to work hand in hand with people across the world to create an even brighter future for humanity.

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Du Mingming)
Petronas, Accenture and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are collaborating to evaluate commercialisation opportunities globally for the cloud-based logistics solution and services platform Stear.

The arrangement was formalised on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference (Adipec) 2022, taking place from October 31 to November 3.

Developed by Petronas in partnership with Accenture in 2021, Stear is designed to optimise the logistics operations and costs of offshore vessels using key technologies such as fuel management, intelligent routing and scheduling of vessels with near real-time voyage tracking and monitoring. AWS is joining the team to help scale and commercialise Stear, which plays a key role in supporting offshore exploration, production and development, while helping logistics operations reduce carbon emissions.

Operational costs

Petronas has been using the Stear platform since 2021, and it has proven to significantly optimise operational costs, while reducing carbon emissions by 15%. With our proven success and increased interest amongst industry players for a solution like this, our collaboration to explore the commercialisation of Stear is timely. In fact, Stear can also support the broader industry reduce carbon emissions and we can do more by scaling it to onshore logistics optimisation, said Petronas Senior Vice President of Project Delivery and Technology, Datuk Bacho Pilong.

Accentures Senior Managing Director and Strategy & Consulting lead for Growth Markets, Valentin De Miguel said: Building on our longstanding relationships with both Petronas and AWS, this collaboration promises to deliver significant benefits to the industry. Not only has Stear helped Petronas lower vessels fuel consumption, it also reduced cargo transfer time through more accurate planning and scheduling, while recording and resolving schedule deviations faster.

Managing Director, Asean, AWS, Conor McNamara said: Building on our long-term relationship, were excited to collaborate with Accenture to support Petronas in the transformation of their operations, and in co-developing commercialisation opportunities for Stear. By leveraging AWSs differentiated Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Internet of Things offerings, Stear will deliver a step change in the efficiency, sustainability and cost effectiveness to both Petronas and the broader logistics industry, delivering immediate value to customers, partners, and the environment.-- TradeArabia News Service
COLOMBO, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan Minister of Tourism Harin Fernando on Tuesday said Russia's largest charter airline Azur Air and the flag carrier of France Air France will resume flights to Sri Lanka this week.

The minister said that Azur Air will commence flights to Sri Lanka from Thursday and Air France will commence flights from Friday.

Fernando said that Switzerland's national airline, Swiss International Air Lines will also start weekly flights to Sri Lanka from Nov. 10 to May 2023.

These developments will ensure that Sri Lanka will get more European tourists, he said.

Russia and France are among two of Sri Lanka's largest sources of tourists, he said. 
ATHENS, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- A man was rescued by a cargo ship after a boat carrying 68 migrants sank near Cape Kafireas, Evia Island, on Tuesday morning. The rescue of the man this afternoon brings the total number of survivors to 10, according to the Hellenic Coast Guard.

The rescue operation has been underway since early Tuesday in the Aegean Sea. None of the survivors was wearing lifejackets, the Coast Guard said.

The migrants were from Egypt, Afghanistan and Iran, Coast Guard spokesperson Commander Nikos Kokkalas told Greek national broadcaster ERT. He said the rescue operation had been hampered by strong winds of up to 9 on the Beaufort scale.

More than one million people have illegally entered Greece since 2015. Most have continued their journey to other European countries, but hundreds more have drowned at sea. 
This photo taken on Nov. 1, 2022 shows a scene at the opening ceremony of the Web Summit 2022 in Lisbon, Portugal. The Web Summit 2022 in Lisbon, one of the largest technology and entrepreneurship events in the world, opened here on Tuesday. During the four-day event, some 2,630 startups and companies will display the edge-cutting technologies in such fields as internet and cryptocurrency. (Photo by Pedro Fiuza/Xinhua)

This photo taken on Nov. 1, 2022 shows a scene at the opening ceremony of the Web Summit 2022 in Lisbon, Portugal. The Web Summit 2022 in Lisbon, one of the largest technology and entrepreneurship events in the world, opened here on Tuesday. During the four-day event, some 2,630 startups and companies will display the edge-cutting technologies in such fields as internet and cryptocurrency. (Photo by Pedro Fiuza/Xinhua)

LISBON, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Lisbon Mayor Lisbon Carlos Moedas said on Tuesday that the Portuguese capital of Lisbon strives to become the "world center for internet startups" with the launch of the "Unicorn Factory Lisbon" project.

At the opening ceremony of the Web Summit 2022 in Lisbon, one of the largest technology and entrepreneurship events in the world, Moedas said that Lisbon is a "city where the impossible becomes possible," encouraging young entrepreneurs to follow their ambitions and make their ideas a reality.

Portuguese Minister of Economy and the Sea Antonio Costa Silva said that the government will allocate 90 million euros (89 million U.S. dollars) over next four years to support a total of 3,000 startups.

During the four-day event, some 2,630 startups and companies will display the edge-cutting technologies in such fields as internet and cryptocurrency. More than 70,000 participants from 160 countries and regions are expected to attend the event, said organizers of the web summit. 

Attendees arrive at the venue of the Web Summit 2022 in Lisbon, Portugal, on Nov. 1, 2022. The Web Summit 2022 in Lisbon, one of the largest technology and entrepreneurship events in the world, opened here on Tuesday. During the four-day event, some 2,630 startups and companies will display the edge-cutting technologies in such fields as internet and cryptocurrency. (Photo by Pedro Fiuza/Xinhua)

Portuguese Minister of Economy and the Sea Antonio Costa Silva speaks at the Web Summit 2022 in Lisbon, Portugal, on Nov. 1, 2022. The Web Summit 2022 in Lisbon, one of the largest technology and entrepreneurship events in the world, opened here on Tuesday. During the four-day event, some 2,630 startups and companies will display the edge-cutting technologies in such fields as internet and cryptocurrency. (Photo by Pedro Fiuza/Xinhua)
Edvards Smiltens is seen after he was elected as Latvia's new parliament speaker in Riga, Latvia, on Nov. 1, 2022. Latvia's new parliament assembled for its first session on Tuesday, to swear in lawmakers and elect leaders in a televised ceremony. Edvards Smiltens of the United List became the new parliament speaker, with 82 votes in favor and 11 votes against. (Photo by Edijs Palens/Xinhua)

RIGA, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Latvia's new parliament assembled for its first session on Tuesday, to swear in lawmakers and elect leaders in a televised ceremony.

Edvards Smiltens of the United List became the new parliament speaker, with 82 votes in favor and 11 votes against. Meanwhile, his rival Aleksejs Roslikovs of Stability was supported by the 11 members of his party, but 82 MPs voted against him.

Smiltens' victory was predictable, since the United List, along with New Unity and the National Alliance, is likely to become a partner in Latvia's next government coalition.

Zanda Kalnina-Lukasevica of New Unity, and Janis Grasbergs of the National Alliance were elected vice speakers of the Latvian parliament.

Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins' New Unity party came out in the lead in the parliament election on Oct. 1 and is currently holding talks with the United List and the National Alliance to form the Baltic country's new government coalition. 
THE HAGUE, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Dutch government said Tuesday that it plans to raise 3.2 billion euros (3.2 billion U.S. dollars) through a new levy on companies in the fossil fuel sector.

The funds will be used to ease the burden of the energy crisis on consumers.

The so-called "temporary solidarity contribution" for crude oil, natural gas, coal and petroleum refining companies will be introduced retroactively over the year 2022, according to a letter sent to the Dutch parliament by the Finance Ministry.

In this way, large profits from increased energy prices will be additionally taxed.

The 3.2 billion euros the government expects to raise through the levy will be used to partly compensate for an energy cap for small consumers affected by high energy prices, the letter said. (1 euro = 1 U.S. dollar) 
by Martina Fuchs

GENEVA, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- The CEO of Arcelik, one of the world's biggest home appliance makers, told Xinhua recently that China is a bright spot for business amid global recession fears and an increasingly gloomy market outlook.

Speaking of the present headwinds against the world economy, Hakan Bulgurlu said, "we will have to go through a lot of pain before it gets better."

China, however, is "a little bit of a different picture," he said in a video interview with Xinhua.

Established in 1955, Arcelik is a Turkish multinational household appliances manufacturer headquartered in Istanbul. With 45,000 employees, its global operations include subsidiaries in 53 countries, 30 production facilities in nine countries.

Arcelik's domestic sales in China have grown by roughly 80 percent in 2022.

"I find China one of the more promising places to be in the future. It has always been the factory of the world, and I think it will continue to be the factory of the world," said Bulgurlu.

"The world economy has significantly slowed down, and we are facing a recession on many fronts," said the Turkish businessman, who had lived in Hong Kong for 13 years.

Calling himself "a big fan" of China and Asia, Bulgurlu said he is optimistic about the business performance in the future Chinese market. "I think demand for appliances continues. We want to continue investing in China to actually bring our brands in."

The international businessman also shared his view on environment protection as he is going to attend the upcoming 27th session of the Conference of Parties (COP27) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Summit scheduled for Nov. 6-18 in Egypt.

Recalling his reaching of the summit of Mt. Qomolangma in 2019, he said that experience taught him a lot about leadership in the fight against global warming and the responsibilities companies and business leaders share to act on climate change.

According to Bulgurlu, four product groups, namely heating and cooling, refrigeration, lighting and electric motors, consume about 40 percent of all power. Many current technologies have made these production much more efficient.

"We need global regulations to make us use the best available technologies in all of these product groups to reduce power consumption," he said.

Regarding the upcoming COP27 meeting, he said "I hope to make some progress and talk not only with policymakers but other CEOs as well."

"I actually admire China in the sense that when China makes a decision, it follows through very, very fast," Bulgurlu said. 
MEXICO CITY, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Mexico on Wednesday condemned the United States' refusal to lift its six-decade trade embargo against Cuba despite the repeated and near unanimous calls of the international community to end the sanctions.

During a UN General Assembly session studying Cuba's draft resolution to lift the embargo, Mexico's permanent representative to the United Nations, Juan Ramon de la Fuente, said the sanctions harm not just Cuba's economy, but also the health and welfare of Cubans.

The embargo, said de la Fuente, prevents crucial international cooperation, even at such critical times as a global pandemic like COVID-19, and a natural disaster like Hurricane Ian that devastated parts of western Cuba in September.

"We have seen how the embargo hindered the arrival of medical supplies to tackle the pandemic, as well as food for the Cuban people," he said.

"Making the civilian population suffer from hunger is another conduct prohibited by international humanitarian law," he said, adding that Mexico believes "there should be no sanctions of any kind" against any country, outside those the UN Security Council decides to adopt.

The embargo violates the UN Declaration on Principles of International Law, which rejects imposing unilateral coercive measures, or sanctions, for political purposes.

De la Fuente called on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and member countries to continue demanding the end of the embargo, a demand whose continued rejection by the United States is unacceptable, he stressed.

Last year, for the 29th time in a row, 184 countries voted in favor of lifting the embargo, and the United States and Israel voted against.

According to Cuba's estimates, the U.S. embargo against the island nation has resulted in more than 150 billion U.S. dollars in economic losses at current prices, strangling the island's development and undermining the quality of life. 
New Delhi: In view of the ongoing tension between the Russia-Ukraine war and China-Taiwan, the risk of nuclear war is increasing rapidly all over the world. Day-to-day media reports suggest that Russia is threatening Ukraine not to test their patience. On the other hand, the US intervention between Taiwan-China has aggravated the matter further. At present, America is looking at China as its biggest rival.

For this, America has started deploying weapons from its naval base Guam to Australia. The atmosphere of the whole world seems to be going towards destructive war. Meanwhile, some American experts say that India should start testing thermonuclear bombs once again. Let us tell you that even 24 years ago, India tested a thermonuclear bomb, although it is said that the test of that thermonuclear bomb of 1998 was not successful.

Ashley J Tellis, Senior Fellow of America's famous think tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, says that India should start testing its 1998 thermonuclear bomb and now India should move towards becoming self-reliant in arms. Experts believe that due to weapons, the balance remains between the two enemy countries. He said that if India needs any kind of help for this, then America will come forward for it.

Ashley J Tellis said that India should consider this. Ashley J also said that if China increases its nuclear weapons, then it can be a cause of concern for India. Let us tell you that in the past, a big thing was revealed about China, in which it was said that China is preparing to make 1000 bombs by the year 2030. Not only this, China is building silos for hundreds of nuclear missiles in the country's desert areas so that these weapons can be hidden.

Ashley J Tellis says that in view of this threat from China, India will one day be compelled to test a thermonuclear bomb. He has said that I believe that when India conducts this test, America should avoid going against New Delhi. I would go so far as to say that the US should assist India so that it can acquire an effective deterrence to avoid any nuclear attack. For this, America can help India to build a nuclear submarine. He can do this by helping India through France.

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United States: Researchers discovered Chinese knockout of western parts in Iranian-made suicide drones that Russian forces slammed into Ukrainian cities.

In an ongoing terror campaign across the country, the Russian military has relied on Iran's explosive Shaheed-136 drone system to target critical infrastructure in Ukraine over the past two months.

According to a new report from the Institute for Science and International Security, these weapons appear to have been manufactured with Chinese components based on Western designs.

Also Read:Russia is hiring Afghan commandos with US training

Researchers in their analysis published Monday found that the Shaheed-136 drone uses an engine made by Beijing Micropilot Flight Control Systems, a copy of the engine made by the German company Limbach Flugmotoren.

For example, the Shaheed-131 drone, which is controlled by a remote operator and flown and flown by the Russian military in Ukraine, has an engine built in Iran, but it uses the reverse of another Beijing Micropilot Flight Control System engine. - Engineer copy. ,

And this Chinese engine is based on a design by the British.

China is more important than ever in enabling Iran to manufacture and provide drones to the Russian military. The researchers conclude in their report that it appears Chinese businesses are supplying Iran with counterfeit products of Western origin. Which are used to make UAV combat drones.

According to Spencer Faragasso, a research fellow at the Institute for Science and International Security, it is unclear whether China acquired these Western designs through transactions or any other means.

In this situation it appears that China has imported the designs for these engines, produced them locally, and in some cases exported them to Iran, according to Faragasso. Other examples of Iranian kamikaze drone engines have been directly identified.

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However, it is not immediately clear how much China has contributed to Iran's ability to build drones. Additionally, it is unknown when the specific Chinese constituents arrived in Iran.

In addition to Chinese components and designs, the researchers found that Iran's Shaheed-136 and Mohajer-6, a separate drone that Tehran supplied to Moscow, contained components made in the US and Europe.

The Wall Street Journal revealed last week that Ukrainian investigators were able to investigate a downed drone and discovered components made in the West that help propel, steer and guide the weapons.

This, according to Faragasso, emphasizes the need for customs officials, governments and companies to exercise caution when disseminating commercial goods with military applications.

Also Read: 'Beware.. if helps Ukraine..', Russia's stern warning to Israel

The researchers wrote in their report that Western suppliers, who would be expected to cooperate with the authorities, are a good place to start when identifying Iranian procurement networks.

After that, the authorities must systematically uncover Iran's supply chain by locating trading firms, distributors, shipping firms, friendly agents of Iran and eventually those inside Iran who are in charge of organizing these purchases.

In recent weeks, as his army has experienced setbacks on the battlefield, Russian President Vladimir Putin has used Martyr-136 to attack and terrorize Ukrainian cities that are far from the front lines.

These tiny devices, which can fly around like regular drones and are loaded with explosives, are actually long-range infiltration weapons. This explains why people sometimes refer to them as suicide or kamikaze drones because they can move around a specific area before being directed at a specific target, into which they can fly and detonate.

Russia and Iran have denied the use of Shaheed-136 in Ukraine, despite evidence from Western intelligence agencies. US officials confirmed last month that Iranian military personnel had recently occupied Crimea to assist Putin's troops in operating drones, and Russian officials traveled to Iran to learn how to use the weapons. Had it.
GUWAHATI: According to officials on Tuesday, the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) and Bhutan have talked about collaborating on trade projects to boost future links between the two nations.

Sabyasachi De, the NFR's chief public relations officer, reported that a business development meeting was recently held in the NFR's Alipurduar division, and delegations from the foreign ministry, trade associations, and chamber of commerce of Bhutan were present the meeting.

The delegations from the host countries went to the Hasimara train station, where the NFR is strategically building an infrastructure to support commerce with Bhutan. The Central Warehousing Corporation and the CPRO are working together to establish a siding and warehouse to improve logistic trade with Bhutan, according to the CPRO.

Indian Railways has actually already sent its first shipment of cargo to Bhutan via a multi-modal route made up of 75 utility cars.

The vehicles were shipped by the New Modified Goods (NMG) rake, which was created specifically to ship light motor vehicles (LMV), from Chennai to Hasimara railway station. On October 28, the rake arrived in Alipurduar division, from where the shipment was then conveyed by land to Bhutan.

The delegation is planning to go to Changrabandha station soon.

There were also discussions about the transportation of cars, cement, and stone products, as well as improving interpersonal relationships and the growth of tourism.

According to De, the Alipurduar division conveyed to the representatives of the Bhutanese government the idea that railways are the most environmentally friendly method of logistics for commodities and are a viable choice for mass transit both within the nation and beyond South-East Asia.

NFR representatives explained to the Bhutanese delegations how cost-effective and strategically advantageous it is to move commodities quickly and in large quantities to markets throughout India and Bhutan.

Indian Railways has already begun new projects for cross-border connections by building a broad-gauge railway line from Kokrajhar (Assam) in India to Gelephu in Bhutan, the CPRO said.

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Emirates and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) have jointly held a first of its kind workshop on pilot training and flight safety for the aviation industry.



Hosted by Emirates Flight Operations Training together with IATA, the Evidence based training  Competency Based Training Assessment Workshop was organized recently at the Emirates Aviation College in Dubai.



Training experts from airlines, including Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, Iceland Air, UAE Presidential Flight, Etihad, flydubai, Air Arabia and Indigo and civil aviation authorities, such as General Civil Aviation Authority, UAE (GCAA) and the Irish Aviation Authority, attended the workshop. Aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing, as well as the International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations (IFALPA) and training institutions, including Emirates Flight Training Academy (EFTA) and CAE, were in attendance.



Covering an entire day of discussions and presentations, industry participants gathered and shared best practice and challenges regarding how to develop, implement and run effective evidence-based (EBT) and competency-based training and assessment programmes.



Capt. Bader Al Marzooqi, VP Flight Training, Emirates, said: The forum was a great example of collaboration and partnership with key stakeholders across the aviation industry to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of pilot training programmes. We shared critical insights, information and best practices that will lead to real-world, applicable solutions that positively impact the implementation of evidence based training programmes.



The forum was a meeting of minds and a great platform for the industry to come together to discuss common challenges around pilot training. We thank IATA, and everyone who attended and contributed to the forum, for their unstinting support.



Capt. Yann Renier, Head of Training & Licensing, Safety & Flight Operations Division, IATA, noted: Emirates Flight training department hosted a Competency- Based Training and Assessment (CBTA) workshop to elaborate on competency based approach of training that includes Evidence-Based Training with more than 40 training managers representing airlines, training organizations and aircraft manufacturers.



This event permitted to share latest CBTA development and to identify the main challenges the industry is facing in implementing CBTA and share those with the 80 participants that joined the workshop virtually. I would like to thank the participants that joined us in Dubai and virtually. The workshop illustrates the restart of the operations and I am persuaded that it will be continued in the future.



Sham Suddin Bin Khalid, Flight Operations Inspector Air Carrier, and GCAA, said: The Emirates workshop was a day of reflection and discussion on how best we can train our pilots in the overall interest of aviation safety. A collaborative effort, it was indeed heartening to see the sharing of information and data between stakeholders including airlines, manufacturers and training organisations. We are hopeful that this conversation and cooperation continues in the years to come, contributes to the vision of enhancing pilot competencies and improves the safety record of our industry.



The workshop discussed various topics, such as how to implement and expand successful EBT and CBTA programmes. Specifically, the challenges with constructing syllabi for such programmes, developing and standardising trainers, as well as managing and making use of training data were addressed. The event aims to be followed by more in order to continue to share best practice and develop pilot training for the benefit of the whole aviation industry.  TradeArabia News Service






Jakarta: The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia will provide funds to help Indonesia tackle the tuberculosis epidemic and buy meningitis vaccines, the country's health ministry announced on Tuesday.

At least eight agreements, including financial support from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia for the Indonesian health sector, resulted from discussions with foreign officials during the Ministerial Meeting of the Group of 20 last week by the Minister of Health, Budi Gunadi Sadikin. in Bali.

Saudi Arabia will provide $5 million in financial assistance for meningitis drugs and vaccines for Hajj and Umrah pilgrims, according to a statement from the Indonesian Health Ministry.

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Additionally, the UAE is providing $10 million to tackle TBC (tuberculosis) in Indonesia.

Indonesia has the highest rate of meningitis cases in Southeast Asia, due to a lack of vaccine supplies and insufficient domestic production.

Since there is a shortage of vaccines in Indonesia, the world's largest country with a Muslim majority, it has become difficult for Indonesian travelers to perform Hajj and Umrah.

Another important issue is tuberculosis. According to a World Health Organization report this year, Indonesia had 969,000 incidents annually, second only to India in terms of number of cases.

Officials in Indonesia announced plans in March to launch a massive screening program as the nation seeks to eradicate the infectious disease by 2030.

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According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, the majority of tuberculosis cases are found on the island of Java, which is home to about 150 million people and includes Jakarta.

According to the Jakarta-based organization Stop TB Partnership Indonesia, financial support from the United Arab Emirates will help Indonesia fill the funding gap needed to fully finance its national program against tuberculosis.

Dia S Saminarsih, Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Stop TB Partnership Indonesia, told Arab News that the UAE's commitment, which is a direct result of bilateral diplomacy, is very strategic.

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As Indonesia needs to catch up to recover from service disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, this support is also timely.
United States: Former US Marine Richard McKinney, who was taught to despise Islam during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is enraged at the Muslim neighborhood when he returns to Muncie, Indiana.

According to local media, he was upset that his daughter would be made to sit next to their children in their primary school.

In 2009, McKinney visited the Muncie Islamic Center, which he considered his last act, unable to control his anger towards Muslims.

Also Read: Pope's visit to Bahrain to strengthen ties with Islam

He had already visited the mosque to choose a location to hide his bomb and to gather information supporting his belief in Islam as a "killer ideology" with the intention of killing or injuring hundreds of Muslims. He had made an exploratory journey.

"I told people that Islam is cancer," he remarked at the time. I had surgery to fix it.

However, when McKinney entered the mosque, he ran into a type of protest he hadn't imagined, and something happened that day that would have reversed his plans.

McKinney recently spoke to CNN about how that unexpectedly changed after he left his house to go to the mosque, which he initially thought would kill him.

He entered the mosque armed, but faced resistance he had never imagined.

Instead of the murderous scenario he had imagined, several worshipers came to him and took the weapon he intended to use to kill them. Then Muhammad Bahrami, one of the founders of the Islamic Center from Afghanistan, approached, gave him a bear hug, and wept.

"I still don't understand it, even now!" According to McKinney, that is then.

Also Read: Palestinian rage increases in the face of Israeli election boycott

Alternation between two extremes

In the Islamic center of his city and later in the Muslim community, McKinney met several people who helped him control his anger, until he felt bad about what he was planning to do. Put.

One of them was Jomo Williams, an African-American who lived in a McKinney-like hostility after his great-grandfather was murdered and castrated by "white occupiers" and who had maintained this hostility even after converting. . Islam.

The wife of the Afghan Muhammad Bahrami, who first embraced McKinney, was a woman he called "Mother Teresa", from the Muslim community in Munsi.

Mother Teresa was also aware of the damage caused by the war. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, she fled the country with her family, spent six years in a Pakistani refugee camp, married and immigrated to the US.

McKinney continued to visit the Islamic Center to see Bahramis and other Muslims, read the Holy Quran, and befriend the Muslims who taught him about Islam and its principles.

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McKinney's conversion to Islam came eight months after his initial visit to the mosque. After the ceremony, he was greeted by those whom he once intended to harm in a "big hug pit".

Later, McKinney became a supporter of Islam and held the position of President of the Islamic Center in Muncie for two years.

Stranger at the gate

The story by Richard McKinney is the focus of the short film Stranger at the Gate. The film, which won a Special Jury Prize at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival, describes how McKinney changed his mind and became a Muslim and even took an unexpected role in the mosque after abandoning his original plan. played.

The center's Afghan co-founder, Muhammad Bahrami, is described in the film as acting in a startled manner when he hugged Richard before crying.

The film's director Joshua Seiftel says Richard McKinney's story gave him hope that he could heal some of the most dire divisions in the United States, making his film debut in his online "Secret Lives of Muslims" video series.
Cambodia to train Ukrainian sappers 2 November, 08:48 PM Ukrainian sappers (Photo:Natalia Kravchuk / NV)

Under an agreement between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Cambodian PM Hun Sen, Cambodian sappers will train the Ukrainian military in demining operations, The Washington Post reported on Nov. 2. Cambodia is one of the worlds most heavily mined countries, with considerable institutional expertise in the field.

Heng Ratana, Director General of the Cambodian Mine Action Center, consulted with Japanese partners and decided to send the first group of sappers to Ukraine in early December. The second group of instructors will be sent in Q1 2023.

Cambodian sappers are considered among the most experienced in the world. After a series of civil and interstate wars, lasting for nearly thirty years and finally ending in 1998, huge swathes of the country were left mined, presenting a danger for the civilian population  especially in rural areas. Since then, Cambodian experts destroyed huge amounts of ordnance and landmines. Their sappers also participated in mine clearing across several African and Middle Eastern countries  under the auspices of the UN.

Video of day

Cambodia opposed the Russian invasion of Ukraine by voting for the UN resolution condemning Russias war of aggression.

Cambodia is always against any country that invades another country, PM Hun Sen said.

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Erdogan discusses grain deal crisis with Putin 1 November, 10:49 PM Erdogan and Putin at the SCO summit, September 2022 (Photo:Sputnik/Oleksandr Demianchuk/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had a phone conversation with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, discussing the critical Black Sea grain deal  which Moscow seeks to sabotage  press service of the Turkish president reported on Nov. 1.

During the phone call, Erdogan said that Turkey will continue to take necessary steps regarding all parties involved, in order to solve outstanding problems surrounding the grain export agreement.

At the same time, Erdogan expressed confidence that the mechanism of facilitating Ukrainian food exports will be adjusted and preserved.

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On Oct. 29, Russia announced that it was suspending its participation in the grain deal, citing the drone attack on Sevastopol Bay in occupied Crimea, suggesting that Ukraine and the UK are to blame.

At the same time, Kyiv called Moscows exit from the grain deal food blackmail, and said that Russia was withdrawing from the agreement under a false pretext.

Ukrainian Ambassador to Turkey Vasily Bodnar said that the grain deal continues to work, and the vessels are being inspected by mediators  Turkey and the UN. On Oct. 31, 12 ships with 354.5 thousand tons of agricultural products left from Odesa and nearby Ukrainian ports.

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Six suicide drones destroyed overnight on approach to Kyiv 2 November, 11:55 AM Wreckage of an Iranian-made kamikaze drone used by Russia (Photo:Vitalii Hnidyi/Reuters)

Ukrainian air defense forces shot down six Iranian-made Shahed-136 kamikaze drones on the night of Nov. 2, Kyiv City Military Administration reported on Telegram.

The UAVs were destroyed in Kyiv Oblast as they approached the capital.

"At night, fighter aircraft of air defense units and units that directly defend objects on the outskirts of the capital destroyed six Shaheds," the message reads.

In total, 12 out of 13 kamikaze drones were shot down in Ukraine overnight. The Ukrainian Air Force clarified that the attack drones were destroyed in the eastern and central regions of Ukraine, but did not say in which specific oblasts.

Video of day

On the night of Nov. 1, the Russian military struck Poltava Oblast with four suicide drones.

On the night of Nov. 2, it was reported that Shaheds were moving toward Poltava Oblast from Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Later they were spotted over Kremenchuk.

Since early October, the Russian military has been attacking Ukrainian cities with Iranian-made kamikaze drones. According to intelligence, in November Iran plans to supply Russia with more than 200 combat drones.

CNN wrote that Tehran also intends to supply the Kremlin regime with 1,000 short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missiles for the war against Ukraine.

At the same time, the Iranian authorities  despite their being ample evidence of Irans military cooperation with Moscow  continue to deny supplying weapons to Russia.

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US will work to stem supply of Iranian weapons to Russia, State Department says 1 November, 11:41 PM US State Department spokesman Ned Price (Photo:Manuel Balce Ceneta/Pool via REUTERS)

The United States will use all tools at its disposal to expose, confront, and counter the supply of arms from Iran to Russia, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said during a press briefing on Nov. 1, as reported by CNN.

We are concerned that Russia may also seek to acquire advanced conventional weapons from Iran, such as surface to surface missiles that will almost certainly be used to support Russias war against Ukraine, Price said.

He added that the United States would vigorously enforce all arms trade sanctions on both Russia and Iran, to make it harder for Iran to sell these weapons to Russia.

Video of day

CNN earlier reported that Iranian authorities intend to supply Moscow with a new batch of kamikaze drones and 1,000 short-range ballistic missiles, by the end of 2022.

Read also: Iran condemns calls to investigate supply of suicide drones to Russia

The Pentagon is yet to comment on reports of Iran potentially supplying Russia with missiles.

Earlier, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, said that Russia could start using Iranian short-range ballistic missiles against Ukraine in November.

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Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

In a democracy, it is the inherent democratic right of the people to choose their representatives. But, the government cannot be considered fully representing the people unless the people have the right to choose the right to reject/none of the above (NOTA) options. Assurance of the availability of the right to reject or NOTA in the election procedure is a must to materialise the essence of democracy and freedom, but Nepal has not been able to materialise yet.

If you voted in the local elections last May, it is time for another one scheduled for November 20. And, here are the things you should know about the right to reject before you utilise your rights.

Democracy and freedom of expression

Picpedia

The powerful means of ensuring peoples participation in governance is the right to express ones views and having the means to exercise that right. Keeping it simple, the theoretical and practical form of freedom of expression enjoyed by the people in a country is a means of examining the use of democracy. The generally accepted principle of election is that it should be fair and transparent, where every citizen should be given an opportunity to express their views.

If the channels of freedom of expression of the people are blocked or become less effective, or if freedom of expression is not exercised freely, or if it appears to be of a planned nature rather than fully manifested, there is little basis for believing that democracy is in line with its ideals. The right to reject is an integral part of freedom of thought and expression and has an interdependent relationship with the right to vote and freedom of expression.

Does the right to vote include the right to reject?

The simple understanding is if a process is carried out for any purpose to express ones choice, one has the right to accept or reject it. Freedom of expression includes the right to speak as well as the right to silence.

In the same way, the right to vote means that a candidate does have the right to vote or the right to reject. There is no specific law allowing the right to reject as such yet in Nepal. However, in January 2014, the Supreme Court of Nepal passed a landmark judgment, which gives the voters the right to reject. They could cast negative votes, rejecting all the candidates if they do not want to vote for anyone.

Owing to the landmark decision, the concerned agencies were supposed to start their homework to ensure negative voting provisions in the electoral process. However, the ruling was not implemented in the elections of 2017. Five whole years after the first verdict, the Supreme Court again issued another directive order to formulate a law to allow the voters to reject candidates in the election in September 2019. But, neither the government nor the Election Commission seems to be working on providing citizens with the right to reject and choose NOTA.

Why is the right to reject necessary?

File: A voter shows the thumb while casting a vote

When voting in the election process, are the people compelled to cast their vote only for the candidate whom the political party trusts? What if all of the present candidates do not compel the voters to vote in favour of any of them, no matter how incompetent they may be? If the existing candidates or options are unacceptable, forcing them to accept without removing them is forcing them to choose the inferior option. Under the guise of democracy, it is not necessary to establish a system of choosing least of all the least forever.

If there is dissatisfaction with the incumbent candidates, the people cannot be considered to be represented in the government as long as the people do not have the right to reject them. Then, such a government cannot be considered to exist in the true sense as a legitimate government. If any of the existing candidates are not found to be acceptable during the voting, the voters may express their opinion in such a way as to create the best competitive conditions for the candidates and reject the existing candidates for the purpose of governing and controlling the people.

Would not it be better if people do not participate in the voting process?

File: A woman casts her vote during parliamentary elections on December 7, 2017.

The non-participation of people in the election for a reasonthey do not like the candidatesdoes not portray a healthy sign of democracy. Elections without the participation of the people or without the real will of the people cannot lead to the development of a good democratic culture.

A resolution passed by the United Nations General Assembly calls on all nations to participate in the decision-making process for the institutional development and consolidation of democracy. Therefore, in addition to the many practical difficulties, the justification for giving the voter a place to express his or her dissent to vote for any of the candidates (right to reject) is necessary to respect the inherent right of the people to seek the option they have chosen from the heart and reject other options given. Citizens have the right to select the candidate nominated by the political party and also the right to reject them.

Giving space is necessary and appropriate for a democratic election. In order to protect the right to secrecy of the citizen regarding the issue of non-voting, it will be necessary to make provision for the right to reject (NOTA) in the ballot paper in order to prevent the situation of not going to the polls for not liking the candidates.

Is voting a right or duty?

Election Commission. Photo: Chanda Bahadur Ale

The right to vote or not to vote for a candidate in an election is the inherent right of the voter. Of course, there is no denying that participation in elections is a part of ones civic duty but participating in elections is one thing and voting in ones favour is a completely different matter.

Countries including Australia, Belgium, Greece and many countries in Latin America principally believe in compulsory voting (as a duty) raising the issue of participation. They have taken voting duty so seriously that they impose sanctions/punishment on the non-voters, having introduced the laws.

In our legal framework, there is no provision to show dissatisfaction with the number of votes given to the candidates, due to which even if the participation of the people in the voting process is seen, the real result as per the will of the people cannot be revealed.

Therefore, for the real existence of the right to vote, it is necessary to make provision for rejecting all candidates and to exercise it and give it legal recognition.
Collaboration yields internship and experiential opportunities for students

PAXTON, Mass. , Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Boston Mutual Life Insurance Company, a national provider of insurance solutions for individuals and the workplace with a corporate office in Canton, and Anna Maria College have come together in an educational partnership to provide Anna Maria students with access to internship opportunities, guest speakers, and real-world exposure to business through an established life insurance carrier.

As part of their new partnership, Boston Mutual Life Insurance Company is offering internship positions for Anna Maria College students. Pictured here: Business Administration major Jordan Matovu '22 and Criminal Justice major Zack Roncarati '25 with Boston Mutual Life Chairman, CEO, and President Paul A. Quaranto, Jr. (who is also an Anna Maria College alum).

Boston Mutual will offer Anna Maria students paid internship opportunities each semester. Undergraduate and graduate students must interview for the newly created positions in Boston Mutual's Distribution & Business Development, Customer Experience, Human Resources, Corporate Communications, and Enterprise Risk Management departments. The positions will involve remote options, thereby elevating accessibility for students. Students will benefit from corporate mentoring and learn about the diverse opportunities available in the insurance industry, which is a major economic sector for New England.

In addition to offering students real-world work experiences, Paul A. Quaranto, Jr., '11G, Chairman, CEO, and President of Boston Mutual, has committed company representatives to guest speaking sessions with Anna Maria's Global Business Club. Quaranto will personally lead two of the sessions, which will provide students with industry knowledge directly from an executive leader.

"As an Anna Maria alum, I am honored to be able give back to an academic institution that provides its graduates with such a well-rounded educational experience," said Quaranto. "By creating opportunities for these students and engaging with them in the classroom, this partnership aligns with our organization's commitment to supporting the communities in which we live and serve by making an investment in the future workforce. We are honored to partner with Anna Maria on this collaboration."

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The internship program and speaker sessions represent the initial elements of this collaboration between Boston Mutual and Anna Maria College. Looking ahead, both organizations envision future projects together.

"At Anna Maria, we call our students 'professionals in training' as we strive to prepare them for their careers," said Anna Maria College President Mary Lou Retelle. "Through Paul's leadership and support for his alma mater, this partnership will create new career pathways for our students and open opportunities for them in a major business sector. I look forward to watching this partnership deepen and to the profound impact it will have on our students and their studies."

About Anna Maria College

Located just outside of Worcester in Paxton, Massachusetts, Anna Maria College is a 76-year-old private, co-educational institution inspired by the ideals of the Sisters of Saint Anne. We prepare our students to become ethical leaders by combining a values-based, service-focused education with strong functional knowledge and the skills necessary to address the rapidly changing needs of their world. Anna Maria delivers undergraduate and graduate degrees along with certificate programs on campus and online. For more information, visit www.annamaria.edu.

About Boston Mutual Life Insurance Company

Founded as a progressive life insurance company in 1891, Boston Mutual Life Insurance Company is a national carrier that provides insurance solutions designed for working Americans and their families, as well as enrollment and billing options at the workplace. With offices based in Canton, Massachusetts, and Omaha, Nebraska, as a mutual company, Boston Mutual Life is dedicated to acting in the best interests of its policyholders, producers, employees, and its communities. For more information, please visit www.bostonmutual.com or contact your Boston Mutual Life representative. Follow the company on Facebook or LinkedIn.

MEDIA CONTACT

Anna Maria College

Hugh Drummond

617.962.1834

hdrummond@annamaria.edu

Boston Mutual Life Insurance Company:

Meredith D'Agostino

800.669.2668, ext. 276

meredith_dagostino@bostonmutual.com

Boston Mutual Life Insurance Company logo (PRNewsfoto/Boston Mutual Life Insurance Co)

Cision

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SOURCE Boston Mutual Life Insurance Company
ISTANBUL, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Beko, one of the leading home appliances brands in Europe*, is delighted to announce its integration with Youreko, an energy efficiency tool that helps consumers choose sustainably and understand the financial running costs when choosing new appliances.

The integration of the Youreko tool on Beko's website, displays information to consumers on how energy efficient Beko's appliances are when compared with traditional models and how much money the consumers could save in the long run with manufacturer's appliances. The tool supplements the listings of Beko's washing machines, washer dryers, tumble dryers, dishwashers, refrigerators and freezers.

Currently operational on the Beko UK website, the Youreko partnership will be further implemented on Beko's websites in Romania and Poland, helping consumers across Europe to calculate their cost saving potential.

Resource efficiency is a key priority for Beko, particularly in the current economical and climate-conscious environment. This integration with Youreko is an extension of the brand's ongoing commitment to providing products for their consumers to encourage sustainable living.

The tool helps consumers on Beko's websites by providing more information on the energy consumption and financial cost of running a particular appliance. Utilising an easy-to-read gold, silver or bronze tiered rating system, the tool signals where money and energy can be conserved most, helping consumers make more informed buying decisions.

By integrating Youreko into its products, Beko is also able to make a smart-recommendation to the consumers based on a product's energy efficiency rating. This calculation is based upon a comparison against a more traditional, like-for-like model of the appliance.

Akin Garzanli, Chief Marketing Officer at Arcelik, of which Beko is one of their key brands commented, "At Beko, we appreciate that consumers want to be well-informed when deciding about a big purchase, especially household appliances which will last for a long time. Of course, given the current financial landscape, every penny saved, counts. We hope that with the integration of Youreko on our sites, we will help empower our consumers to make decisions with information that is relevant to them."

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The Youreko Energy Savings Tool is available to use on the Beko UK website, with multiple products that help consumers enhance sustainable living at home.

Notes to Editors

About Beko:

Beko is the international home appliance brand of Arcelik, which is a multinational household appliances manufacturer that operates with 12 brands and employs over 45,000 people worldwide. It is one of the top three large home appliances brands in Europe* in the white goods sector.

Beko has been focusing on healthy living for years, raising awareness and developing products that make healthy living possible and convenient. Beko's brand mission is 'healthy living is only possible on a healthy planet'. Beko is committed to protecting the planet by designing and manufacturing energy-efficient products and investing in resource efficiency in production.

*Source Euromonitor International Limited; Large Appliances as per "Major Appliances" in Consumer Appliances 2022ed, retail volume, 2021 data. For more information, please visit www.beko.com

About Youreko:

Youreko's Energy Savings Tool presents the energy efficiency of products in financial terms on manufacturer and retailer websites. This allows people to understand the impact of energy efficiency on their wallet, helping them in their purchase journey.

Youreko's innovative approach to energy efficiency also provides manufacturers and retailers with an effective way to market their efficient products. Top products stand out clearly when people can see the real financial benefit of buying a more efficient appliance.

For more information visit: https://www.youreko.com

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Akin Garzanli (CMO, Arcelik) (PRNewsfoto/Beko)

Cision

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SOURCE Beko
Allied Market Research

High demand for safety features, stringent safety rules and regulations, and rise in demand for comfort while driving have boosted the growth of the global blind spot detection (BSD) system market. Based on region, Europe accounted for the highest share in 2021, contributing to nearly two-fifths of the total market share, and is projected to continue its leadership status by 2031

Portland, OR, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to the report published by Allied Market Research, the global blind spot detection system market generated $3.9 billion in 2021, and is estimated to reach $13.7 billion by 2031, witnessing a CAGR of 13.7% from 2022 to 2031. The report provides an in-depth analysis of top segments, changing market trends, value chain, key investment pockets, competitive scenario, and regional landscape. The report is an essential and helpful source of information for leading market players, investors, new entrants, and stakeholders in formulating new strategies for the future and taking steps to strengthen their position in the market.

Download FREE Report Sample (303 Pages PDF with Insights, Charts, Tables, Figures) at https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/9473

BSD System Industry Report Coverage & Details:

Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 20222031 Base Year 2021 Market Size in 2021 $3.9 billion Market Size in 2031 $13.7 billion CAGR 13.7% No. of Pages in Report 303 Segments covered Technology, Vehicle Type, Vehicle Propulsion, Sales Channel, and Region Drivers High demand for safety features Stringent safety rules and regulations Rise in demand for comfort while driving Opportunities Technological advancements Restrains High initial cost and complex structure Lower efficiency in bad weather conditions

Covid-19 Scenario:

The Covid-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the market due to commute restrictions and weakened the financial performance of market players.

The sales of BSD system is directly associated with automotive production and sales activities across the globe. However, during the pandemic period, few companies introduced new sensors to improve advanced drivers assistance systems (ADAS) in vehicles.

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The report offers detailed segmentation of the global blind spot detection (BSD) system market based on technology, vehicle type, vehicle propulsion, sales channel, and region. The report provides an analysis of each segment and sub-segment with the help of tables and figures. This analysis helps investors, market players, and new entrants in determining the sub-segments to be tapped on to achieve growth in the coming years.

Based on technology, the radar segment accounted for the highest share in 2021, contributing to nearly half of the total share, and is expected to maintain its leadership status during the forecast period. However, the camera segment is expected to manifest the highest CAGR of 15.0% from 2022 to 2030.

Interested to Procure the Data with Actionable Strategy & Insights? Inquire Before Buying - https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/9473

Based on vehicle type, the passenger cars segment held the largest share in 2021, accounting for more than three-fourths of the market, and is expected to maintain its dominance in terms of revenue by 2031. However, the heavy commercial vehicles segment is estimated to witness the largest CAGR of 16.7% during the forecast period.

On the basis of vehicle propulsion, the ICE segment dominated the market in 2021, accounting for more than 90% of the market, and is projected to maintain its leading position throughout the forecast period. However, the electric segment is estimated to showcase the highest CAGR of 20.7% during the forecast period.

Based on region, Europe accounted for the highest share in 2021, contributing to nearly two-fifths of the total market share, and is projected to continue its leadership status by 2031. However, market across Asia-Pacific is projected to portray the fastest CAGR of 15.7% during the forecast period. The research also analyzes regions including Europe and LAMEA.

Leading players of the global blind spot detection (BSD) system market analyzed in the research include Continental AG, Bosch Mobility Solutions, VBOX Automotive, Hyundai Mobis, Autoliv, Inc., Delphi Technologies, Denso Corporation, Ficosa International SA, Preco Electronics, Valeo Group, Xiamen Autostar Electronics Co., Ltd., Magna International Inc.

Access the Statistical Data and Graphs, Key Players Strategies - https://bit.ly/3NrigzG

The report analyzes these key players in the global blind spot detection (BSD) system market. These players have adopted various strategies such as new product launches, expansion, partnerships, and others to increase their market penetration and strengthen their position in the industry. The report is helpful in determining the business performance, operating segments, product portfolio, and developments of every market player.

Similar Reports We Have on Automotive Industry:

Automotive Ultrasonic Technologies Market Research Report 2022-2030

ADAS Market Research Report 2022-2030

Automotive Rear View System Market Research Report 2022-2030

Vehicle Radar Test System Market Research Report 2022-2030

Side View Camera System Market Research Report 2022-2030

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Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of " Market Research Reports " and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.

We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Allied Market Research CEO Pawan Kumar is instrumental in inspiring and encouraging everyone associated with the company to maintain high quality of data and help clients in every way possible to achieve success. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.

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Abu Dhabi Airports is gearing up to launch advanced biometric technology, which uses a passengers facial features as their passport to offer a seamless experience throughout their travel journey at Abu Dhabi International Airport, from the time they arrive at the airport to the time they board their flight.

The technology uses smart cameras to capture an image of the passengers face and confirms whether they are cleared to travel, said a statement from Abu Dhabi Airports.

The same information is then used prior to boarding, avoiding the need to present documents again. The use of biometric technology in the aviation industry is a game changing advancement that will, without a doubt, transform the way we travel, and Abu Dhabi Airports are spearheading this transformation.

The technology will be implemented gradually, and its first phase is currently being tested at the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facility in Abu Dhabi International Airport, the only US immigration preclearance service in the region that allows passengers to clear US immigration while they are still in Abu Dhabi.

It will also enable a smooth and quick airport experience upon arrival in the United States, said the statement.

Introduction of the advanced technology at Abu Dhabi International Airport will herald the start of tailored travel and give passengers a unique travel experience.

On the technological milestone, Managing Director and CEO Engineer Jamal Salem Al Dhaheri said: "We are looking forward to leveraging this holistic biometric technology, the first of its kind in the UAE and the world, to further enhance our passenger journey."

"The project will commence at Abu Dhabi International Airport and will then be transferred to the new Midfield Terminal in the future as we continue to be committed to enhancing the airport services and experience," said the top official.

"We also take this opportunity to recognise Etihad, the first airline to use this technology, as well as Next50, our technology partner, and the UAE Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship, without which todays ground-breaking announcement would not have been possible," he added.

Major General Suhail Saeed Al Khaili, the Director General of the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security said: "This advanced technology provides a smooth passenger customer journey, by leveraging biometric data records, which will enable travellers at Abu Dhabi International Airport to check in, clear immigration, access lounges and board their flights using only biometric data, without the need to present passports or boarding passes."

"This move comes ahead of Etihad increasing flights to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York from four to 11 flights a week from November 15, 2022. The USCBP technology is also in place at JFK meaning guests flying to Abu Dhabi from New York will also enjoy a seamless boarding experience," he noted.

Mohammad Al Bulooki, Group Chief Operations Officer, Etihad Aviation Group said: "This innovation is an important next step in Etihads self-service journey. It means Etihads US flights become even more streamlined, on top of the benefit of arriving as a US domestic passenger without the need for further delays."

"This is a showcase of Abu Dhabis progress in the expanding field of biometrics, making the journey easier for guests while maintaining stringent security," noted Al Bulooki.

This system, wholly financed by Abu Dhabi Airports and delivered by Next50, an Abu Dhabi tech-based company, will be tested on Etihad Airways flights to the US, and is phase one of a major roll-out that will be introduced throughout the entire airport for all airlines to benefit from, in the coming months.

CEO Ibrahim Al Mannaee said Next50 was committed to supporting the realisation of Abu Dhabi's vision by deploying cutting edge technologies in the aviation industry.

"The biometric implementation is a testament to our promise to work hand-in-hand with AD Airports, Etihad Airways, and key partners to enable Abu Dhabi International (AUH) to become the most technology enabled airport in the region," he noted.

"The deployment of the innovative biometric solution facilitated by Next50 on US flights seeks to deliver a seamless passenger experience to customers," he added.

The introduction of this advanced technology was announced at the Abu Dhabi Air Expo 2022, which is being hosted by Abu Dhabi Airports at Al Bateen Executive Airport.-TradeArabia News Service
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Dublin, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Insecticides China Monthly Report 2022" newsletter has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



Insecticides China Monthly Report provides you with real-time intelligence on China's insecticides market.



It is a monthly published newsletter, which can be downloaded in PDF format. The subscription period is yearly, grants the subscriber 12 issues in total.



China's insecticides market has grown rapidly in recent years, almost tripling in value between 2007 and 2013, and China is now a leading exporter of insecticides.



However, the industry faces a battle to adapt to tightening environmental regulations and the banning of several highly toxic products.



Insecticides China News will help you stay ahead of the game in this fast-changing market with real-time reporting on the entire insecticides industry chain, from raw materials to end consumption.

This includes:

Breaking news from China and abroad

The latest market data, including price information for raw materials, intermediates and end products, import/export data, production, consumption, operating rates, etc.

In-depth analysis of market trends, Chinese government policy, the performance of leading Chinese producers, M&A, new technologies, occurrence of pests, and more

Expert commentary from industry insiders, including regular guest articles and interviews with insiders at leading Chinese manufacturers, associations and government organizations

Sample Headline News

Editor's Note

Company Dynamics

Zhongnong Ruihua to build new capacity for acetamiprid TC

Gansu Wobilin to build new capacity for malathion TC & chlorfenapyr TC

Jiangxi Oushi expands monosultap TC & cartap TC capacity

EI report of Shandong Youdao's insecticide & intermediate project approved

Market Analysis

Acetamiprid price dips & imidacloprid price stabilises in tight supply in early Sept.

Prices of some insecticides TC keep stable in late Sept.

Pest

Autumn maize to suffer moderate-to-relatively-heavy occurrence of fall armyworm

Import and Export

Chlorpyrifos exports to Colombia see a big YoY increase in H1 2022

Policy

Hainan strengthens management of pesticides into the island from 15 Sept.

Registration

ICAMA releases 14 newly-registered insecticides in Sept.

News in Brief

Sichuan Guoguang's two subsidiaries back to normal production

Anhui Zhongbei to build capacity for insecticide formulations

Seven chemical producers along rivers in Hunan have to shut before end of Oct.

MARA revokes registration certificates with 4 organophosphorus insecticidal AIs from 1 Sept.

Hunan Haili's 3kt/a pirimiphos-methyl line to go into production in H2 2023

Qixiang Tengda's suspension may impact supply of some insecticidal raw materials

Jiangxi Huihe's spirotetramat TC production line under acceptance check

Identification of chemical parks in YEB to finish before the end of 2023

Gansu Runtaihe to bulid 10kt/a mercaptan series products

Anhui BPI Chemicals' lufenuron TC line comes into trial production

Price Update

Ex-works prices of major insecticides in China on 8 Sept. 2022

Shanghai Port prices of major insecticides in China, 8 Sept. 2022

FOB Shanghai prices of major insecticides in China, 8 Sept. 2022

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Companies Mentioned

Zhongnong Ruihua (Gansu) Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

Gansu Wobilin Plant Protection Co., Ltd.

Jiangxi Oushi Chemical Co., Ltd.

Shandong Youdao Chemical Co., Ltd.

For more information about this newsletter visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/k54ayg

CONTACT: CONTACT: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood,Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./ CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900




SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China will seek high-tech solutions to resolve its complex environmental challenges and make use of innovations in big data, biotech and artificial intelligence to tackle pollution, habitat loss and climate change, it said on Wednesday.

In a new action plan, the Chinese government said it would build a "green technology innovation system" over the 2021-2025 period to tackle air, soil and groundwater pollution, reduce waste and protect ecosystems, noting that current technologies were not mature enough to serve the country's long-term needs.

The system will be backed by tax incentives and new "green technology banks", and China will also encourage enterprises and financial institutions to provide more support to innovative green technologies, the plan said.

The new plan is designed to help the world's biggest greenhouse gas producer meet its targets to bring emissions to a peak by 2030 and to become "carbon neutral" by 2060. China has cut CO2 emissions per unit of economic growth by a third in the last decade, but overall volumes continue to rise.

The hi-tech plan appeared days before the start of a new round of global climate talks in Egypt, with Chinese representatives expected to focus on persuading industrialised countries to provide a long-awaited $100 billion annual fund to help poorer nations adapt to rising temperatures.

The plan promised to "deploy science and technology systematically" to resolve a wide range of environmental problems, improve its ability to assess the impact of rising temperatures in vulnerable regions, and monitor new sources of pollution, harmful chemicals and drug-resistant bacteria.

It also reiterated its commitment to carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) technology to prevent greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere. It promised more research to support large-scale demonstration projects and the use of aquifers and oil-bearing formations to contain sequestered CO2.

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The government will also support research into "deep decarbonisation technologies" in a variety of industrial sectors, including steel, cement, thermal power and agriculture, it said.

The plan, published by the Ministry of Science and Technology and other government departments, also called for more international cooperation in the field of climate and environment, including with the United States.

(Reporting by David Stanway; Editing by Michael Perry)
The food maker is using TikTok to Launch its Flip Chief Flavor Taster Contest Calling on Fans to Rank Their Favorite Flip Flavors in celebration of National Greek Yogurt Month

NEW BERLIN, N.Y., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- America's No.1 Greek Yogurt brand,1 Chobani, is turning National Greek Yogurt Day (November 9) into a month-long celebration. The food maker announced today a contest across TikTok in honor of the food category it disrupted more than 15 years ago. Chobani fans can post a TikTok video ranking their top three Chobani Flip flavors and use the hashtag #ChobaniFlipCFT for a chance to win the Flip Chief Flavor Taster Contest.

For more information about the Chobani Flip Chief Flavor Taster Contest, visit www.chobanicft.com

The Chobani Flip Chief Flavor Taster Contest builds on the brand's ongoing marketing efforts to reach a younger consumer base. Earlier this year, Chobani launched its first metaverse experience on Roblox, which is best known for its popularity among young users.

"TikTok is the perfect platform to run our Flip Chief Flavor Taster Contest because it helps us reach a younger generation of Greek Yogurt consumers," said Meredith Madden, Chief Marketing & Category Officer of Chobani. "Our brand fans love reviewing and ranking our Flip products on TikTok, now they can do it for the ultimate prize."

What is Greek Yogurt?

Greek Yogurt is a nutrient-dense food that should be celebrated. It is an excellent source of high-quality protein and delivers essential nutrients and probiotics for gut health. Chobani makes its Greek Yogurt using nearly 2 billion pounds of milk a year that is sourced from dairy farms near its manufacturing plants in New York and Idaho. Once the raw milk is received from the farms, the cream is separated from the milk, which then becomes skim milk. The skim milk is then pasteurized, and 6 live and active cultures are added. The cultured milk is put through a straining process to remove the excess liquid, giving Chobani its creamy texture and protein content. Finally, fruits are added or blended into the yogurt to create a full-flavor experience.

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In 2007, Chobani entered the food scene with the simple mission of making a high quality, delicious cup of Greek Yogurt. Chobani founder and CEO, Hamdi Ulukaya, spent two years perfecting his Greek Yogurt recipe, which resulted in a disruptive, delicious, nutritious, natural, and accessible dairy snack. The company has since grown well beyond yogurtlaunching oat milks, coffee creamers, ready-to-drink coffee, and non-dairy probiotic drinksbut Chobani has never forgotten its Greek Yogurt roots. In addition to Blended and Fruit on the Bottom Greek Yogurt, Chobani also launched dairy innovations that revolutionized the Yogurt category, including Chobani Greek Yogurt Drink, Chobani Flip Greek Yogurt, Chobani Less Sugar Greek Yogurt,2 Chobani Complete, Chobani Daily Probiotic Drinks, and Chobani with Zero Sugar.3

By the Numbers

Chobani has seen tremendous success from its Greek Yogurt portfolio. In the last 52 weeks ending October 15, 2022, Chobani is up nearly 17% in total Nielsen reported sales compared to a year ago. For the $8.6 billion yogurt category, Chobani holds 20.8% market share for the same time period. This strong growth helped Chobani increase its position in the category and solidify its No. 1 position in Greek Yogurt.

Over the years, Chobani Flip has been one of the main growth drivers for Chobani in the yogurt category. Chobani Flip was up nearly 11% in total Nielsen reported sales for the last 52 weeks ending October 15, 2022.

Chobani Flip Chief Flavor Taster Contest

The Contest will run through November 30 and the official winner will be announced in December on Chobani's Tik Tok Channel. The winner of the Flip Chief Flavor Taster Contest will win a trip to Chobani's facility in Twin Falls, Idaho where the winner and one guest will be the first to try upcoming Flip flavors and see how the product is made. The winner will also receive one month's supply of Chobani Flip yogurt (30 individual cups) and merchandise. For more details on the contest, please visit www.chobanicft.com

About Chobani

Chobani is a food maker with a mission of making high-quality and nutritious food accessible to more people, while elevating our communities and making the world a healthier place. In short: making good food for all. In support of this mission, we are a values-driven, people-first, food-and-wellness-focused company, and have been since Hamdi Ulukaya, an immigrant to the U.S., founded the company in 2005. We produce yogurt, non-dairy oatmilk, dairy- and plant-based creamers, ready-to-drink coffee and plant-based probiotic drinks. Chobani yogurt is America's No.1 yogurt brand, and it's made with only natural ingredients without artificial preservatives.

Chobani uses food as a force for good in the world  putting humanity first in everything we do. Our philanthropic efforts prioritize giving back to our communities and beyond: working to eradicate child hunger, supporting immigrants, refugees and underrepresented people, honoring veterans, and protecting the planet. We manufacture our products in New York, Idaho, and Australia. Chobani products are available throughout North America and distributed in Australia and other select markets. For more information, please visit www.chobani.com and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

1 Nielsen, xAOC, 52 weeks ending 10/15/22

2 Chobani Less Sugar Greek Yogurt: 9g sugar per 5.3oz; similar yogurts without sugar substitutes: avg. 16g sugar per 5.3oz. Chobani Less Sugar Greek Yogurt: 10g sugar per 6oz; similar yogurts without sugar substitutes: avg. 18g sugar per 6oz.

3 Not a low calorie food

Cision

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SOURCE Chobani, LLC
SINGAPORE, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Four of China's most established food trade fairs  "Food2China EXPO" by Guangdong (China) Imported Food Association (GDIFA) and Constellar-WorldEx, "Zhong Shi Zhan" by China Commerce Development Center (CCDC), "Guangzhou International Food and Ingredients Exhibition (GIFIF)" by the China Council For the Promotion of International Trade Guangzhou Committee (CCPIT), and "Wine to China EXPO" (originated from Shenzhen TOEWine)  have signed a long-term partnership agreement to launch the inaugural Food2China Expo, which will be held at Poly World Trade Center Expo (Guangzhou) from 21 to 23 September 2023.

Food2China Expo, collaboratively organised by the above-mentioned parties and to be managed by Constellar-WorldEx, Guangzhou Chamber of International Commerce and Shanghai Hehe Exhibition Group, will leverage on the extensive expertise and experience from the individual fairs to become the largest and most influential international food trade exhibition in Guangzhou, connecting Guangzhou to Greater China and the rest of the world.

As one of China's earliest trading ports and a major terminus of the maritime Silk Road, Guangzhou is an international gateway to Chinese cuisine and culture. A key commercial centre, it is also an international food hub where cuisines around the world can be enjoyed. With Guangzhou's strong global reputation and business credentials, Food2China Expo expects to occupy over 66,000 square metres exhibition area, attracting over 1,400 exhibitors and 80,000 visitors comprising F&B producers, processers, buyers, importers, caterers, restaurants, e-commerce and other professional service providers from over 40 countries and regions.

"Food2China Expo represents strong collaboration between the Chinese government, enterprises and industry associations to integrate resources and expertise towards the development of the largest professional food trade exhibition in the GuangdongHong KongMacau Greater Bay Area", said Mr Wolfgang Qi, General Manager of Constellar-WorldEx. "Food2China Expo is the key trade platform for stakeholders to address changing food consumption needs and preferences, as well as improve the quality of living for Chinese citizens."

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The establishment of Food2China Expo will be a significant boost to Guangzhou's exhibitions and events sector, elevating the city's reputation as the influential global hub for the food industry. Food2China Expo will host and conduct over 20 themed sessions and forums, where participants can discover new opportunities and collaborations, forge new networks, keep up-to-date with the latest trends and gain deeper insights on policy implementation, food innovations, applications and more.

Apart from the exhibition showcase, Food2China Expo will bring about a new business exchange and cooperation platform where exhibitors can optimise their participation via onsite and all-year-round business matchmaking services, connecting with over 300,000 leads in the qualified buyers' databases accumulated over 20 years from the respective individual trade fairs.

The launch of Food2China Expo presents a timely opportunity for international companies to explore the massive potential of the Chinese market. As the international joint venture partner for Constellar-WorldEx and Asia's partner of reference for curating innovative event and venue experiences, Constellar will bring to this long-term partnership its expertise in facilitating transnational collaboration and expanding networks.

"In an increasingly connected global economy, our goal is to unlock the value of international partnerships to help businesses grow," said Mr Mel Shah, Senior Vice President (International & Business Development), Constellar. "With our experience organising internationally renowned business-to-business events such as the Industrial Transformation ASIA-PACIFIC, Agri-Food Tech Expo Asia and Singapore FinTech Festival where we convene communities to showcase innovations, connect with one another and exchange knowledge, Food2China Expo will set the stage for Constellar-WorldEx to play a pivotal role in inspiring China's food trade industry for long-term collaborative and sustainable growth."

Find out more about Food2China Expo here.

For media enquiries and interview requests, please contact the Constellar Communications team at comms@constellar.co

About Constellar

Constellar connects a global eco-system of event partners and consumers through a holistic portfolio of intellectual property (IP) in the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) industry. As Asia's partner of reference for curating innovative event and venue experiences, Constellar activates impactful networks to bring global markets, businesses and consumers together for sustainable growth. With our expertise and dedication, we are invested in helping clients to build trusted relationships with stakeholders for the long term and enabling cross-industry collaboration through world-class audience engagement solutions. Visit constellar.co for more information.

About Constellar-WorldEx

Constellar-WorldEx (previously known as WorldEx-SingEx Exhibitions (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd), who manages Food2China EXPO, is a joint venture with Singapore's Constellar Holdings - one of the leading exhibition companies in the Asia-Pacific region jointly invested by Temasek Holdings and Cuscaden Peak Investments (formerly known as Singapore Press Holdings Private Limited before it was privatised on 13 May 2022). With 20 years of experience in organising exhibitions, and leveraging on Constellar's global network and expertise, Constellar-WorldEx focuses on developing markets and networks in Asia and Greater China for sustainable growth as it connects them with the rest of the world.

SOURCE Constellar
TOKYO, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In the complicated world, there are always people who can find their own small happiness. Or look up at the stars, or overlook the sunset. The latter is the infinite happiness pursued by the masses. Don Quijote's cross-border official website provides this happy channel. Now, people can own Japanese local products without leaving home. Satisfying purchase needs while also enhancing happiness.

Don Quijote is a well-known general department store in Japan. Covering daily necessities, shoes and bags accessories, beauty and skin care, kitchen utensils and many other products. On the cross-border official website of Don Quijote, you can buy the required goods without leaving home, and all goods are directly mailed from Japan. Don Quijote is committed to create a secure shopping environment for its users.

Official website:

https://mpglobal.donki.com/ec-web/d/h?lan=en&utm_source=portalsite&utm_medium=referral

Entering the cross-border official website of Don Quijote, it only takes 3 seconds to directly register as a member, and you can start an immersive shopping journey. The website will strictly protect the personal information and privacy of users.

The Don Quijote cross-border official website can meet different shopping needs. Anyone can find what they want. It provides convenience for all aspects of your life.

The beauty and skin care area not only brings many well-known popular brands, but also many unique Japanese niche brands. Committed to providing every woman with the beauty product that suits her, love life and love yourself. The daily necessities area, from kitchen utensils, to stationery and daily consumables, makes life more comfortable.

Baby products area, covering various daily necessities such as baby bottle, infant formula, skin care, baby food, tableware and so on. Made in Japan, safe and healthy.

In addition, on the homepage of the Don Quijote cross-border official website, there are various coupons from time to time. There are a lot of benefits and surprises. Don't miss them!

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After receiving the coupon, users can choose the goods they like, add them to the shopping cart and pay. Support a variety of payment methods, such as WeChat pay and Alipay. It should be noted that the No. 1 warehouse and No. 2 warehouse need to be placed separately ( Japan Direct Mail-Warehouse NO.2 can enjoy free shipping and tax if it is over 5,000 yen). On the order details page, users can check the order status. Whether it is logistics information or after-sales process, can be checked at any time. The whole process is convenient, fast, safe and efficient.

(For Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions: After receiving the coupon, users can choose the goods they like, add them to the shopping cart and pay. Shipping charges are calculated based on product volume and weight. Support a variety of payment methods, such as credit card and Alipay. On the order details page, users can check the order status. Whether it is logistics information or after-sales process, can be checked at any time. The whole process is convenient, fast, safe and efficient.)

In this special period, The Don Quijote cross-border official website is an invisible link connecting customers from all over the world. People can also feel the rich and colorful Japanese local culture without leaving home. For more product and discount information, please visit the official website to experience.

SOURCE Don Quijote
Democracy is on the ballot Nov. 8.

And we believe that means a vote for Democrats Mandela Barnes for U.S. Senate and Tony Evers for governor.

Their Republican opponents, incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson and businessman Tim Michels, continue to cast doubt on the 2020 election, and both have fudged on whether they will accept the outcome of the 2022 vote. A commitment to basic democratic principles is a threshold neither passes, and their willingness to cavalierly ignore longtime norms of democracy is dangerous.

U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, a lifelong Republican who has stood bravely against her party as it bowed to the whims of former President Donald Trump, put it this way in a recent interview with NBC's Chuck Todd:

"No one of any party should be voting for people who are election deniers. "(Election deniers) are telling you they'll only certify an election they agree with. ... There's not much graver threat to the democracy than you can imagine than that."

WATCH: @RepLizCheney (R-Wyo.) says "no one of any party" should be voting for an election denier.



"[Election deniers] are telling you they'll only certify an election they agree with. ... There's not much graver threat to the democracy than you can imagine than that." pic.twitter.com/gbNumptZsI  Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) October 23, 2022

If the Republican Party is to escape Donald Trump's cult of personality, it has to begin in elections like these. Normally, the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin editorial board does not recommend candidates in elections, but because of the stakes in this election  and our deep concerns with these candidates  we have decided to do so.

Ron Johnson is Wisconsin's worst senator in decades

Johnson has played fast and loose with the facts for years. Hes an anti-science superspreader of conspiracies who has claimed sunspots cause global warming and warned that the vaccines that saved millions of lives could make the COVID-19 pandemic worse. He has touted unproven remedies for the virus and even suggested that gargling with mouthwash could kill it.

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It took Johnson more than a month to acknowledge the obvious: that Joe Biden had defeated Donald Trump for the presidency. And even then, the senator held a sham hearing the next day that allowed Trumps lawyers to air arguments that had been shot down in courtrooms across the country.

Editorial:Election deceiver, science fabulist, billionaire benefactor. After 12 years, it's time to term-limit Sen. Ron Johnson

Johnson later threatened to vote against the certification of electors from swing states when Congress met for the ceremonial counting of Electoral College votes. Though he had a change of heart after the deadly insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, he continued to downplay the violence, claiming the attackers were people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law.

Johnson's office also was involved in an attempt to pass a document regarding Wisconsin electors to then Vice President Mike Pence just minutes before Congress was to certify the vote. Johnsons explanations for what happened  and for what he and his staff knew  dont add up.

More recently, the senator has suggested the government should rewrite the rules for the two government programs seniors rely on most  Medicare and Social Security  making them subject to annual political fights in Congress rather than mandatory payments as promised. And hes claimed before a Republican group that climate change was bullshit.

All the while, this incompetent senator has compiled an appallingly slim list of accomplishments for 12 years in office. He even took a pass on trying to help Wisconsin workers when a large state contractor was moving jobs out of state, saying: "It's not like we don't have enough jobs here in Wisconsin."

His opponent, Mandela Barnes, is young at 35 but has served two terms as state representative and one as lieutenant governor. He comes from solid middle-class roots in Milwaukee and knows what it's like to work hard.

Barnes is an unapologetic progressive but no radical. His positions on the major issues facing the country are reasonable, measured and mainstream.

On immigration, Barnes favors comprehensive reform and a path to citizenship, not abolishing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, as some Johnson supporters have claimed. In the not-so-distant past, Republicans from deep red states like Florida's Sen. Marco Rubio favored just such a plan.

Johnson and supporters have made crime a major issue in the campaign, falsely claiming that Barnes wants to defund the police. In fact, Barnes hasnt called for defunding the police. Instead, he favors giving police the resources they need to keep the public safe but also spending money on crime prevention, including for schools and job creation.

Crime is a local issue handled by mayors, city councils and police departments  not senators. Its emergence in the Senate race this fall is simple fear-mongering on the part of Republicans, who are hoping to scare voters that the Black man running for Senate is too different and too dangerous to serve  actual words used in commercials supporting Johnson.

One of the ads even intentionally darkened Barnes skin. The ads are racist and disgraceful.

More:Supporters of Mandela Barnes accuse Republicans of airing racist ads in Senate race with Ron Johnson

Johnson also criticized Barnes' position on the states bail system. Barnes favors eliminating cash bail and moving to a system in which judges would decide whether to hold or release defendants before trial based on their danger to society  similar to the system used in federal courts. The states cash bail system needs reform and Barnes is correct to raise it as a concern. Cash bail discriminates against poor defendants while not necessarily defending the public from dangerous suspects.

Our take on Barnes: Hes a quick study who will lean progressive but remain pragmatic. Most importantly, he will focus on helping working-class constituents rather than delivering tax cuts to billionaire donors as Johnson has done.

Tony Evers has earned a second term. Tim Michels is a Trump acolyte.

Tim Michels is where he is today because of Donald Trump's endorsement in the Republican primary in August  an endorsement that required Michels to toe the Trumpian line:

After getting Trump's stamp of approval, Michels at first declined to support a Trump run for president in 2024. But Michels soon fell in line, saying that, of course, he would support a Trump candidacy, even after the former president's disgraceful incitement of a riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

Michels has cast doubt on the 2020 election, saying that maybe the election was stolen and refusing to rule out supporting a legislative effort to overturn the election results even though decertifying the election is both illegal and impossible.

He has argued that the Wisconsin Elections Commission, created by fellow Republicans while Scott Walker was governor, should be shut down and that all rules the commission set for local clerks to carry out elections should be eliminated.

He has refused to say whether he would certify the next presidential election if Trump makes another run and loses again in Wisconsin.

He says he wants to fix the "big problems that we had in 2020," including the use of ballot drop boxes and private funding to help local municipalities conduct elections during a pandemic. He has not explained how drop boxes and private funds made the election fraudulent.

At times, Michels seems to have only a rudimentary knowledge of the duties and responsibilities of the job he is seeking. Working for his family's highway and pipeline construction business, Michels has spent years away from Wisconsin at homes in Connecticut and New York City.

Recently, he called on Gov. Evers to stop prison paroles altogether  a move that likely isnt possible under state law. The governor appoints the chairperson to the state parole commission but does not make parole decisions for inmates convicted of a crime committed before Dec. 31, 1999. After that, the state's "truth in sentencing" law eliminated parole.

At a recent speech before Milwaukee Rotary, Michels suggested he would not enforce the state's abortion law that makes the procedure a felony, saying he would not arrest any doctors. His campaign immediately walked that back, noting that the governor wouldnt arrest anyone but that district attorneys and police should enforce all laws.

In fact, Michels has long embraced a position on abortion that is out of step with most people in Wisconsin: He has opposed adding exceptions for rape and incest to Wisconsin's ban on the procedure. Recently, he said he'd sign a bill that included those exceptions, but his campaign says his personal views haven't changed. The Republican Assembly leader said there is little likelihood of passing a bill creating exceptions for rape and incest.

And then there are the troubling conflicts of interest this wealthy construction magnate will have to navigate should he become governor. Michels has said he would divest himself from Michels Corp. if he is elected, but he hasnt said how he would do that and experts say it will be hard to do.

This matters because state law requires the governor to sign off on road construction worth more than $1,000 and bars public officials from profiting from government actions. Its a tough needle to thread for a man whose company has won more than $1.1 billion in taxpayer-financed construction projects in the past eight years.

Michels sells himself as "a businessman not a politician," and says he plans to do demolition work in Madison. But, in fact, his wealth has been built off taxpayer-financed government projects. And, in reality, Republicans have run all or most branches of government in Madison since 2010. So will Michels really demolish what his own party built, even though it's been great for his family's business? Or is this his version of "drain the swamp"  an empty campaign promise?

Tony Evers, on the other hand, has been a steady, competent hand at the tiller of state government. Evers, an aw-shucks, euchre-playing everyman, has solid instincts and has consistently embraced good government.

One example: The former state superintendent skillfully managed a deadly pandemic even as the Republican-led Legislature refused to do its job as people were dying.

Editorial:Wisconsin is being swamped by the coronavirus pandemic. Republican leaders do nothing.

As cases and deaths mounted, Republican lawmakers wasted the summer and early fall of 2020 doing nothing to combat the virus, and instead, made a political issue out of fighting a governor who simply tried to keep everyone safe.

Evers, meantime, continued to advocate for science-based solutions including mask-wearing, social distancing and vaccines. The governor also was right to be cautious in reopening schools and businesses, though his actions drew flak from political opponents.

Evers has fought for increased funding for K-12 schools and a state office focused on sustainability and environmental justice. He established advisory groups to address "forever chemicals" and climate change. Michels, on the other hand, has said he doesn't believe in human-caused climate change, even though more than 99% of scientists agree that humans play a key role in global warming.

In August, Evers announced a plan to return $600 million to taxpayers out of the states surplus. The governor has advocated taking the question of legal abortion directly to voters through a binding referendum, a proposal immediately shot down by the GOP-controlled Legislature.

And Evers has said increasing shared revenue for municipalities would be a priority, showing that he understands that municipal finance is broken in many areas of the state. Michels, on the other hand, is flirting with a flat tax, which could be a boon for the rich but expensive for the middle class and disastrous for the finances of cities and towns.

But the most important reason to vote for Evers? His veto pen.

If Michels is elected, Republicans will have total control of state government  the governors chair, both houses of the Legislature, and the state Supreme Court. After two rounds of gerrymandering, the state Assembly and Senate are out of reach of Democrats, probably for years,despite Wisconsin being a purple state with roughly equal numbers of voters from both parties.

Year after year of one-party rule is dangerous  no matter which party it is. Evers provides a check on that power  an important check in a presidential battleground state that will figure prominently in the 2024 election. Evers can turn back the worst Republican instincts, especially when it comes to conducting elections. He can protect the citizens from their power-politics moves, which somehow always boost their financial backers over everyone else.

Ron Johnson and Tim Michels are by no means unique in the new Republican Party. A recent Washington Post analysis found that a majority of Republican nominees on the ballot for the House, Senate and key statewide offices  291 of them  had denied or questioned the outcome of the last presidential election.

Most of them know better but continue to press the lie to ignite the Trump base, a revealing indicator of character. Sen. Johnson was even recorded admitting Trump lost Wisconsin because he underperformed other Republicans on the same ballots in the same election. "He didnt get 51,000 votes that other Republicans got, and thats why he lost," Johnson said.

We all need to do our part to stamp out this dangerous nonsense on Nov. 8. Wisconsin voters can send a message that they want competent, rational governance; that they value living in a democracy where the citizens remain in charge.

We urge voters to give Gov. Tony Evers a second term as governor and to fire Ron Johnson after two, six-year terms and send Mandela Barnes to the Senate. If you can't bring yourself to vote for a Democrat, consider passing over these two races and voting in the remaining races on your ballot.

Make no mistake: Democracy is on the ballot this year. Please vote for candidates who have shown they believe in it.

Editorials are a product of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin editorial board, which operates independently from the network's news departments. Email: jsedit@jrn.com

Why we write editorials. Meet the editorial board.

Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin: Vote for Mandela Barnes and Tony Evers to defend democracy
Caesar Sengupta has worked on, and overseen, several category-defining projects in the past decade and a half. As a product lead at Google, he was in charge of ChromeOS, the companys desktop operating system. He then headed the Android-makers Next Billion Users initiative that made products such as Google Pay in India to serve and onboard the next wave of internet users.

Last year, he left Google with scores of colleagues to start a new venture. Now, he is ready to share what they have been up to.

Sengupta said Wednesday his startup, rebranded as Arta Finance, will work to provide individuals access to alternative assets that have so far largely been limited to the ultrawealthy.

Arta is building the digital family office for the world, said Sengupta in an interview with TechCrunch. However, this is a highly regulated space, so we have to take very measured and cautious steps and we are also building it in a by-the-book manner.

Sengupta also disclosed that Arta Finance has raised some funding: It has raised over $90 million across seed and Series A funding rounds from investors including Sequoia Capital India, Ribbit Capital, Coatue and more than 140 entrepreneurs, including Eric Schmidt, Betsy Cohen and Ram Shriram.

He and his colleagues identified the problem because they related to it in their personal lives, Sengupta said.

We realized that once you get to the $10 million to $15 million range, you can get the private bank to engage with you, and they will help you. But for the vast majority of us, who have some money and are making money, our options are very limited, he said.

You can go to the financial planner, but it feels old-school for us tech-savvy people. You can try to do it yourself, but most of us are so busy with our work and life that all sorts of financial planning falls by the side. But if you look closely, certain parts around investing is a big data problem -- the kind of problem we can apply machine learning to at scale.

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Image Credits: Arta

On Arta, customers will gain access to investment opportunities in alternative assets, including private equity, venture capital, private debt and real estate. The eponymous platform will allow members to start with as low as $10,000 in investment and gain access to funds from top-10 fund managers that have consistently delivered high returns over the past decades.

Arta customers will also be able to avail lines of credit without having to sell their stocks. "We don't want our customers to liquidate to get liquidity," Sengupta said. Members will also have the option to create "highly personalized" portfolios using stocks, bonds, options and leverage, he said, adding that fund managers and banks typically pool every customer's money and are slow to make changes to their portfolio selection.

The startup says it will accrue interest based on performance and will be transparent about its pricing.

Arta has chosen a massive unsolved problem in the global fintech space. Caesar and team are uniquely accomplished in having built multiple cutting-edge products that are used by billions of internet users. Similar to many other consumer fintech companies we have partnered with, this one also requires a more user-centric approach, a more delightful user experience and a more seamless and scalable platform than likely exists today, said Shailendra Singh, managing director at Sequoia India, in a statement.

Arta is going live with accredited investors in the U.S. today. Sengupta said the startup plans to expand to many markets, including Singapore and India, over the coming years.

"What excites us about Arta is the depth of understanding of two critical lines. The first one is the complexity in financial services and the need to have more transparent access to the information that will allow you to make better decisions, said Micky Malka, founder of Ribbit Capital, in a statement.

Second, is the automation of it by using the best technology around. At Arta, we find the best of the two. They understand the consumer, they understand the pain, and they have the experience of working with the best technology. We're excited to see how they can influence and change how everyone thinks about their capital and assets."
STOCKHOLM, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Hygiene and health company Essity extends its partnership with United Nations Foundation by joining the organization's campaign #EqualEverywhere to accelerate progress towards gender equality.

Essity has been a partner to the United Nations Foundation since 2016 with the aim of contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with Goal 5: Gender Equality being one of Essity's prioritized SDGs*. As a leading hygiene and health company breaking barriers to well-being, Essity has decided to join the UN Foundation's annual campaign #EqualEverywhere to further advance progression towards gender equality.

"As a hygiene and health company developing and providing products for all stages in life and breaking stigmas around sensitive, often gender-related topics, Essity is fully committed to do what we can to contribute to gender equality. By extending our partnership with the UN Foundation, we will continue to pursue global discussions in collaboration with the public sector and other companies to accelerate progress towards achieving this vital goal", says Josephine Edwall Bjorklund, Senior Vice President, Communications at Essity.

Essity has for many years been addressing gaps in menstrual health and hygiene while promoting the empowerment of women and girls. Since 2016, Essity is working actively to increase dialogue about menstruation and hygiene issues among young people in Mexico, reaching over 7.5 million people up to date. Projects like these have been initiated as research shows that menstruation is the most stigmatized topic, followed by incontinence and menopause in countries such as Mexico, Colombia and Brazil**.

In addition, Essity's intimate hygiene brands such as Bodyform/Libresse/Nosotras/Saba and Tena are also heavily involved in breaking taboos with campaigns such as "Blood Normal" which was the first TV advertisement for period products to replace blue liquid with a more representative red, "Viva La Vulva" which helped normalize the conversation about the female body and "The Last Lonely Menopause" which encourages conversations about menopause.

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"The UN Foundation's #EqualEverywhere campaign aims to reach, inspire, and mobilize diverse champions to take up the cause for equality for everyone, everywhere," says Michelle Milford Morse, the UN Foundation's Vice President for Girls and Women Strategy. "We are thrilled to partner with Essity and to benefit from Essity's enduring commitment to gender equality."

To learn more about Essity's partnership with the UN Foundation, please visit Essity's homepage.

More information about #EqualEverywhere can be found at United Nations Foundation's campaign website.

* Essity's prioritized SDGs:

- Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being

- Goal 5: Gender Equality

- Goal 6: Clean water and Sanitation

- Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

- Goal 13: Climate Action

- Goal 15: Life on Land

** Essity's Global Hygiene and Health Survey 2022 based on responses from more than 15,000 people world-wide.

For further information, please contact:

Helena Hansen,

Media Relations Manager,

+46 70 616 96 69

helena.j.hansen@essity.com

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/15798/3659559/1647236.pdf Essity joins United Nations Foundationas campaign to tackle gender inequality https://news.cision.com/essity/i/uni366049,c3109068 UNI366049

Cision

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/essity-joins-united-nations-foundations-campaign-to-tackle-gender-inequality-301665835.html
Zion Market Research

NEW YORK, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to Zion Market Research has published a new research report titled Power Monitoring System Market By End-User (Data Centers, Manufacturing & Process Industry, Utilities & Renewables, Electric Vehicle Charging Stations, And Public Infrastructure), By Component (Software, Hardware, And Services), And By Region - Global And Regional Industry Overview, Market Intelligence, Comprehensive Analysis, Historical Data, And Forecasts 2022  2028 in its research database.

According to the latest research study, the demand of global Power Monitoring System Market size & share in terms of revenue was valued at USD 4 billion in 2021 and it is expected to surpass around USD 6 billion mark by 2028, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 5.64% during the forecast period 2022 to 2028.

What is Power Monitoring System? How big is the Power Monitoring System Industry?

Power Monitoring System Industry Coverage & Overview:

A power monitoring system is used to measure the extent of power consumption to upgrade and support ongoing power-saving activities along with detailing plans for better power distribution to meet the requirements of the industrial and commercial sectors. Even though electricity may not be visible, it is an extremely common and convenient form of energy that is used to convert into other forms like sound, light, heat, etc. As of current times, electricity has become an indispensable part of our everyday life with its applications in our personal as well as professional lives. Power monitoring systems are required for environmental safety purposes since they not only aid in analyzing the total cost spent on electricity consumption but can also help in reducing the cost, or unnecessary wastage of electricity.

In power monitoring systems, a large network of power meters, that record power consumption data, are connected via the internet and provide real-time information on the amount of power used. The meters are also connected to online software which allows users to identify power consumption trends while also relaying the information to the electricity provider for billing purposes. Since these devices convert an invisible source of energy into readable, comprehensible information, it allows the community to utilize energy with a proactive approach instead of waiting until the bill arrives, which would be too late to make changes in power consumption habits. There are a few pointers why power monitoring systems are more relevant than ever for the entire population: it allows for the identification of problems with power quality, provide prevention to motors from currents of fluctuating voltage, and it is easier to locate faulty equipment before it malfunctions, and it also prevents overheating in conductors and transformers.

Story continues

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(A free sample of this report is available upon request; please contact us for more information.)

Our Free Sample Report Consists of the Following:

Introduction, Overview, and in-depth industry analysis are all included in the 2022 updated report.

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About 194+ Pages Research Report (Including Recent Research)

Provide detailed chapter-by-chapter guidance on Request

Updated Regional Analysis with Graphical Representation of Size, Share, and Trends for the Year 2022

Includes Tables and figures have been updated

The most recent version of the report includes the Top Market Players, their Business Strategies, Sales Volume, and Revenue Analysis

Zion Market Research research methodology

(Please note that the sample of this report has been modified to include the COVID-19 impact study prior to delivery.)





Global Power Monitoring System Market: Growth Dynamics

The global power monitoring system is projected to grow owing to higher awareness programs undertaken by government authorities to educate the masses about the benefits of power monitoring systems and why they are essential for effective power consumption. These programs involve initiatives like collaborating with private companies to run exhaustive advertising and marketing initiatives to reach the remotest location, making power monitoring systems available at subsidized rates under critical conditions, and research and investment in smart meters.

For instance, in 2009, the Australian Federal Government announced an investment of AU $100 million to create a partnership with the energy sector to develop a low-carbon economy by optimizing power consumption in the country with the help of smart meters. The global market growth may also be driven by the rising use of electricity in modernized cities for household to commercial purposes. As per World Data, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) consumed more than 113.2 billion kilowatts every year and as of 2020, almost 100% of its population has access to a constant electricity supply.

The high cost of equipment may restrict the global market growth. An increase in energy demand is projected to provide growth opportunities for the global market. However, there may be some challenges on the way owing to tampering concerns.

Directly Purchase a copy of the report with TOC @ https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/buynow/su/power-monitoring-system-market

Power Monitoring System Market: COVID-19 Impact Analysis

The global market cap suffered losses during Covid-19 since the majority of the manufacturing units had closed. Due to supply chain disruption, the availability of raw materials also caused a decline in the global market. Energy power consumption in commercial areas decreased drastically because of a temporary halt in the operations of businesses which resulted in overall reduced demand for the product.

Power Monitoring System Market: Segmentation Analysis

The global power monitoring system market is segmented based on component, end-user, and region.

Based on component, the global market is divided into software, hardware, and services. The global market may witness the highest growth in the hardware segment as it has in the past since hardware products are more in number as compared to software items. As per the National Smart Grid Mission, India, around 4.2 million smart meters were installed in the country as of April 2022.

Based on end-user, the global market segments are data centers, the manufacturing & process industry, utilities & renewables, electric vehicle charging stations, and public infrastructure. The global market is projected to be dominated by utilities & renewables during the forecast period owing to the rise in the installation of power meters to examine the generation and use of power. With recent strategies, investors are claiming to grow the utility business by almost 70% in the coming decade. Renewable is also witnessing a sudden surge in the global market driving the demand for related monitoring systems.

The global Power Monitoring System market is segmented as follows:

By End-User

Data Centers

Manufacturing & Process Industry

Utilities & Renewables

Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

Public Infrastructure

By Component

Software

Hardware

Services

Browse the full Power Monitoring System Market By End-User (Data Centers, Manufacturing & Process Industry, Utilities & Renewables, Electric Vehicle Charging Stations, And Public Infrastructure), By Component ( Software, Hardware, And Services), And By Region - Global And Regional Industry Overview, Market Intelligence, Comprehensive Analysis, Historical Data, And Forecasts 2022  2028 Report at https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/report/power-monitoring-system-market

Competitive Landscape

Some of the main competitors dominating the global Power Monitoring System market include -

General Electric

ABB

Eaton

Schneider Electric

Rockwell Automation

Yokogawa

Fluke Corporation

Omron

Mitsubishi Electric

Siemens

Legrand

Key Insights from Primary Research:

According to the analysis shared by our research forecaster, the Power Monitoring System market is likely to expand at a CAGR of around 5.64% during the forecast period (2022-2028).

In terms of revenue, the Power Monitoring System market size was valued at around US$ 4 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach US$ 6 billion by 2028.

Based on end-user segmentation, utilities & renewables were predicted to show maximum market share in the year 2021

Based on component segmentation, hardware was the leading revenue-generating component in 2021.

On the basis of region, Asia-Pacific was the leading revenue generator in 2021

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Key questions answered in this report:

What is the market size and growth rate forecast for Power Monitoring System industry?

What are the main driving factors propelling the Power Monitoring System Market forward?

What are the leading companies in the Power Monitoring System Industry?

What segments does the Power Monitoring System Market cover?

How can I receive a free copy of the Power Monitoring System Market sample report and company profiles?

Key Offerings:

Market Size & Forecast by Revenue | 20222028

Market Dynamics  Leading Trends, Growth Drivers, Restraints, and Investment Opportunities

Market Segmentation  A detailed analysis by component, by end-user, and by region

Competitive Landscape  Top Key Vendors and Other Prominent Vendors

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Regional Analysis:

The global power monitoring system market is projected to register the highest growth in the Asia-Pacific because of the exponentially rising population and the resulting need for power. The growth is also driven by rapid industrialization in countries like China, Singapore, South Korea, India, and others. Since the use of electricity in these counties is exceptionally high, the governments have increased their efforts toward educating the masses about power management and have taken intensive efforts for installing power management devices to better control effective power distribution. The foray into adopting smart meters may also propel regional market growth.

Europe is projected to garner considerable revenues owing to government measures to control power consumption and reduce the carbon footprint resulting from inefficient use of electricity. North America is showing promising signs of growth along with Latin America and the Middle East since electricity and its correct monitoring is the only way forward to sustainable development and growth.

By Region

North America U.S. Canada Rest of North America

Europe France UK Spain Germany Italy Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific China Japan India South Korea Rest of Asia Pacific

The Middle East & Africa Saudi Arabia South Africa Rest of the Middle East & Africa

Latin America Brazil Argentina Rest of Latin America



Recent Developments

In October 2021, HPL Electric & Power announced that it had received funding of INR 178.9 crore from the largest private utility of an east Indian state. The investment has managed to strengthen the leading position of HPL Electric & Power in the smart meters segment.

In February 2021, Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd announced that to meet the growing electricity demand in Mumbai, the company will bring an additional 200 megawatts of power to the city thus curtailing the supply and demand gap. The current electricity supply in the city is 2700 MW whereas the demand is as high as 5000 MW. The company has already invested INR 1500 crore to upgrade electricity supply systems in the city.

Report Scope

Report Attribute Details Market Size in 2021 USD 4 Million Projected Market Size in 2028 USD 6 Million CAGR Growth Rate 5.64% CAGR Base Year 2021 Forecast Years 2022-2028 Key Market Players General Electric, ABB, Eaton, Schneider Electric, Rockwell Automation, Yokogawa, Fluke Corporation, Omron, Mitsubishi Electric, Legrand and Siemens. Key Segment Based on component, based on end-user, and based on region Major Regions Covered North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East &, Africa Purchase Options Request customized purchase options to meet your research needs. Explore purchase options

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BlueWeave Consulting and Research Pvt Ltd

In terms of geography, global snack food packaging market has five major regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East and Africa. The developed countries of North America, such as the United States, account for the highest market share in the global market, which is attributed to high customer consumption as well as stringent government policies on the safety of snack food products. The United States is considered a matured market for bakery and snack foods, while Europe is considered the second major market in the global snack food packaging market. However, outside of the United States, opportunities to increase snack food sales are increasing as well. In the global market, China, Japan, and India are expected to drive the growth of snack food packaging market in Asia Pacific.

New Delhi, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global snack food packaging market is flourishing due to changing patterns in global food consumption, a positive outlook for disposable personal income, and an increasing preference by people for processed foods, as the rapid demographic shift from rural to urban areas happens across the developing countries.

BlueWeave Consulting, a leading strategic consulting and market research firm, in its recent study, estimated the size of global snack food packaging market at USD 18.14 billion in 2021. During the forecast period between 2022 and 2028, BlueWeave expects the size global snack food packaging market to grow at a CAGR of 5.8% reaching a value of USD 26.71 billion by 2028. Food packaging protects food products and helps in extending the shelf life of the products, attracting more customers. The snack food packaging market is expected to expand significantly over the forecast period due to the introduction of numerous production facilities and their need to keep up with market trends. Rapid changes in people's lifestyles and food preferences, as well as population growth, particularly in developing countries, are expected to drive market growth over the forecast period. People's increasing preference for processed foods, because of population shifts from rural to urban areas, is also driving the growth of the snack food packaging market.

Global Snack Food Packaging Market  Overview

Packaging helps in preserving the flavor, texture, and quality of snack food items. People of all ages are becoming more interested in snack foods, which has led manufacturers to develop fresh, eye-catching packaging that helps to increase product visibility. With the help of clever packaging, they could keep snacks and food tasty and fresh. To keep snacks palatable, they store them in packaging for wafers, crackers, potato chips, and crackers. Materials for snack food packaging are created to meet the industry's packaging requirements. Additionally, expertise lies in utilizing new and updated technology to provide highly competitive solutions. Snack food packaging is in high demand and its market expansion is being driven by both changes in global food consumption patterns and a positive outlook for disposable personal income. Fresh packaging opportunities have also arisen because of the widening selection of products being produced in single-size servings for greater convenience, portability, and portion control.

The demand for environmentally friendly packaging has also increased due to rising environmental concerns. The demand for better snack food packaging materials has increased because of all these factors. As these are current trends in the overall snack food market, consumers desire healthier snack food products but are unwilling to give up flavor. Additionally, the custom of snacking in between meals has created a significant demand for goods on the international market. There are now more opportunities for ready-to-eat snack foods because of rising disposable incomes and the number of isolated families.

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Global Snack Food Packaging Market  Technology Advancements

Manufacturers are producing more single-serve packaging in addition to environmentally friendly and reusable packaging. Single-serve packaging demand is being driven convenience, health consciousness, and hygiene. The demand for single-serve packaging is growing because of consumers' growing appetite for snack foods and their busy, on-the-go lifestyles. The market for snack food packaging is transforming, as evidenced by ongoing advancements and improvements. Global snack food packaging market has segments, such as Polyethylene (PE), Polypropylene (PP), Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), Bioplastics, and other segments based on the material type; Pouches, Bags, Boxes, Composite Cans, and others based on the packaging type; and Chips/Crisp/Dries/Plantain Chip, Nuts & Dry Fruits, Baby Food, Ready-to-Eat Food, and others as application segments. The Chips/Crisp/Dries/Plantain Chip application segment is projected to dominate global snack food packaging market, accounting for most of the market share. In the transition to environmentally friendly technologies and the use of renewable plant-based materials, N B Polymers has taken the lead. The main drivers of market growth for snack food packaging include convenience, changing consumer lifestyles, and the availability of indulgent exotic flavor options at affordable prices.

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Impact of COVID-19 on Global Snack Food Packaging Market

As opposed to other manufacturing industries, the food industry was kept under essential services by all governments, so its impact on the global market was less because of COVID-19. Businesses that provide flexible packaging to sectors, such as packaged food, should fare well during the ongoing pandemic. Stockpiling, legislative initiatives, and shifting consumer demand patterns all contribute to the demand for packaged food. As a result of the pandemic's increased threat to food safety, many consumers in major developing countries, such as India, have shifted from unpackaged food to packaged food. The expansion of e-commerce retail and flexible packaging for packaged foods during COVID-19 pandemic also boosted domestic packaged food sales. However, trade restrictions and supply chain disruptions are hampering global market expansion. As a result of mitigation measures taken by packaging suppliers and regional government aid packages to revive the economy, global snack food packaging market is expected to grow during the forecast period.

Competitive Landscape

Prominent players in global snack food packaging market include Berry Global Group Inc., Sonoco Products Co., Logos Packaging Holding Ltd, Constantia Flexibles Group GmbH, Eagle Flexible Packaging, Inc., Swiss Pac Pvt. Ltd., Graham Packaging Holdings, ProAmpac, Bemis Company, Amcor, Clondalkin Group, Bryce Corporation, Sealed Air Corporation, Huhtamaki OYJ, Winpak Ltd, Pactiv LLC, Owens-Illinois Inc, Pouch Direct Pty Ltd., Purity Flexpack Ltd., WestRock Company, and Glenroy Inc. These companies use various strategies, including increasing investments in their R&D activities, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, collaborations, licensing agreements, and new product and service releases to further strengthen their position in global snack food packaging market.

Dont miss the business opportunity in the Global Snack Food Packaging Market. Consult our analysts to gain crucial insights and facilitate your business growth.

The in-depth analysis of the report provides information about growth potential, upcoming trends, and statistics of Global Snack Food Packaging Market. It also highlights the factors driving forecasts of total market size. The report promises to provide recent technology trends in Global Snack Food Packaging Market and industry insights to help decision-makers make sound strategic decisions. Furthermore, the report also analyzes the growth drivers, challenges, and competitive dynamics of the market.

Recent Developments

In April 2021 , Amcor partnered with Nestle to bring sustainable packaging on shelves.

In June 2021 , Huhtamaki Oyj., acquired the assets of Jiangsu Hihio-Art Packaging Co. Ltd. in China

In December 2020, Berry Global, Inc. signed an agreement with Repsol S.A. for the procurement of recycled polypropylene, which is used in food and healthcare packaging, for its European packaging facilities.

Scope of the Report

Attributes Details Years Considered Historical Data  20182021 Base Year  2021 Estimated Year  2022 Forecast Period  20222028 Facts Covered Revenue in USD Billion Market Coverage North America (US, Canada), Europe (Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, France, Spain, The Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Austria, Croatia, NORDIC Countries, Rest of Europe), Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia & New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Rest of Asia Pacific), Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Rest of Latin America), Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Morocco, Kenya, Algeria, Turkey, Rest of Middle East and Africa) Product/ Service Segmentation Material Type, Packaging Type, Product Weight, Application, Region Key Players Berry Global Group Inc., Sonoco Products Co., Logos Packaging Holding Ltd, Constantia Flexibles Group GmbH, Eagle Flexible Packaging, Inc., Swiss Pac Pvt. Ltd., Graham Packaging Holdings, ProAmpac, Bemis Company, Amcor, Clondalkin Group, Bryce Corporation, Sealed Air Corporation, Huhtamaki OYJ, Winpak Ltd, Pactiv LLC, Owens-Illinois Inc, Pouch Direct Pty Ltd., Purity Flexpack Ltd., WestRock Company, Glenroy Inc.

By Material Type

Polyethylene (PE) Polypropylene (PP) Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Bioplastics Others



By Packaging Type

Pouches Bags Boxes Composite Cans Others



By Product Weight

Less than 100 gm 101 gm to 500 gm 501 gm to 1 kg 1 kg to 3 kg Above 3 kg



By Application

Chips/Crisp/Dries/Plantain Chip Nuts & Dry Fruits Baby Food Ready-to-Eat Food Others



By Region

North America Europe Asia Pacific Latin America Middle East and Africa



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India has enough laws in place to check hate speech but it requires the executive to enforce them.

TCN Staff Correspondent

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NEW DELHI  Days after United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres criticised India over its human rights record and growing hate speeches during a three-day visit, the Supreme Court, on October 21, directed police chiefs of at least three states  Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand to take immediate action against the offenders by lodging criminal cases without waiting for formal complaints.

A bench comprising Justices KM Joseph and Hrishikesh observed that the trend of making hate speeches very disturbing and wondered what have we reduced religion to, directing police chiefs that hesitation to comply with the direction would attract proceedings for contempt of the apex court against the erring officers. The comment is seen in the backdrop of several state governments in recent times failing to put a lid on hate speeches.

The top court categorically directed the aforementioned states to file a report before the Court regarding the actions taken on the hate speech crimes which happened within their jurisdiction, reported LiveLaw. It said the state of affairs in India was shocking for a country that is supposed to be religion-neutral.

The Constitution of India envisages a secular nation and fraternity among citizens assuring the dignity of the individualThe unity and integrity of the nation is one of the guiding principles enshrined in the preamble, the judges said.

Petitioner Shaheen Abdullah had asked the SC to direct the Centre and state governments to initiate probes into the incidents of hate crimes and hate speeches. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioner, presented a recent Hindu Sabha as an example where BJP MP from West Delhi, Parvesh Verma, called for the total boycott of these people in a hard-to-miss reference to Muslims.

This is the second time in a week that the top court invoked the constitutional mandate of fraternity and secularism to ensure that constitutional principles govern the basic ethos of societal values.

Before the recent order, the top court on October 21 observed that hate speeches against minorities sullied the entire atmosphere of the country and needed to be curbed. Significantly, in a separate order on the same day, the apex court sought responses from the Uttarakhand and Delhi governments on what action police have taken against those who made hate speeches at a religious conclave (Dharam Sansads) held in the state and the national capital in December last year.

Hate speech has been a problem in India for decades. But the scale of the problem has accelerated in recent years, with Indian minorities being regularly targeted with hateful speech and polarising content.

It would earlier usually rise in the run-up to elections. But now, with our changing media landscape, politicians have realised that something offensive said in one state could be magnified for direct political benefit in another state immediately.

With social media and TV channels amplifying remarks and tweets even by minor politicians  many of whom find it the easiest way to make headlines  the hateful rhetoric seems pervasive and non-stop.

Commenting on the significance of the October 21 order, noted lawyer M.R. Shamshad in an article for The Indian Express wrote: An important aspect of this direction is that the court can be approached to initiate contempt action against responsible officials for non-action on hate speech.

However, a slew of orders in the past by the Supreme Court has brought little change on the ground as hate speeches continue unabated.

Last month, the top court took a very dim view of the functioning of mainstream television news channels in the country, stating that they often give space for hate speech and then escape without any sanctions.

In relation to hate speech, the critics and the opposition parties have kept flagging concerns over the Narendra Modi governments alleged failure to deal with the situation, underscoring that the politicians and leaders of religious right-wing groups  mostly enjoy support from the current dispensation  get away with hate speeches. Notably, even ministers in the BJP government at the Centre and in many states have been stoking violence over the past several years in public rallies and meetings.

India has enough laws in place to check hate speech, experts told the BBC but added that they require the executive to enforce them.

Anjana Prakash, a senior advocate who had filed a plea in the Supreme Court seeking action against some Hindu religious leaders who called for violence against Muslims at a December event in Uttarakhand state, told the news outlet that the executive most of the time dont want to act.

The NDTVs VIP hate speech tracker in early this year showed that during 2009-14, there were 19 instances of hostile rhetoric towards minorities by high-ranking politicians. But from 2014, when Modi became PM, to the start of 2022, there have been 348 such instances  a surge of 1,130 percent.

Hate speech has not so far been legally defined in India. However, several provisions across laws prohibit certain forms of speech, writing and actions as exceptions to free speech. This includes the criminalisation of acts that could promote enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.

The states are unfortunately unlikely to respond. The police are not deaf and dumb. They simply seem to be uninterested since their bosses sitting on top play dog whistle politics. Not only the police, but all the agencies have also become fragile.

In the majoritarian set-up of Indian policy, it is absurd to expect political representatives to act. For this, a massive overhaul is required.
Fund will support research organizations through competitive, peer-reviewed process

OTTAWA, ON, Nov. 2, 2022 /CNW Telbec/ - The scientific breakthroughs of tomorrow will be born out of the work that our researchers and innovators are doing today. That is why the Government of Canada is committed to supporting, leveraging and protecting Canadian research and science to grow the economy and improve the quality of life of Canadians.

Today, the Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, along with the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health, announced that Dr. Elizabeth Cannon has been appointed as chair of the independent expert panel that will review the full applications to the Strategic Science Fund (SSF). As announced in August 2021, the SSF is a new approach to supporting third-party science and research organizations through a transparent, competitive, peer-reviewed funding process.

Dr. Cannon, OC, FRSC, FCAE, has led research at the forefront of global positioning systems (GPS) since 1984, commercializing technology to over 200 agencies worldwide. She is President Emerita and Professor Emerita of Geomatics Engineering at the University of Calgary. Among her many appointments, Dr. Cannon has served on the Minister of Natural Resources' National Advisory Board on Earth Sciences and been president of the U.S. Institute of Navigation and a director on the board of the Canada Foundation for Innovation. She has also served as chair of Universities Canada and co-chair of the Business + Higher Education Roundtable. From 1997 to 2002, Dr. Cannon was the NSERC/Petro-Canada Chair for Women in Science and Engineering for the Prairie Region and worked to raise public awareness about science and engineering careers for women.

Dr. Cannon and the members of the independent expert panel will meet later this month to review the full applications that were submitted as part of phase two of the Strategic Science Fund. Program details can be found on the Strategic Science Fund website.

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Quotes

"By investing in science and research, the Government of Canada is helping to expand our understanding of the world, generate new ideas and cement Canada's position as a world leader in research and innovation. The Strategic Science Fund will bring greater transparency and accountability to how we fund third-party science and research organizations and provide them with the support they need. The work of Dr. Cannon and the independent expert panel will be integral to that process as the government continues its historic support for science and research."

 The Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry

"It is by strengthening evidence-based decision-making that we can improve Canadians' overall well-being and prosperity. That's why the independent expert review panel chaired by Dr. Cannon will work to ensure science and research organizations receive federal funding through a transparent and competitive process so they can contribute to the scientific breakthroughs of tomorrow."

 The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health

Quick facts

The Strategic Science Fund (SSF) will allow the Government of Canada to support research and related activities in specialized areas in cases where organizations cannot access other federal funding programs.

Members of the Canadian and international academic, private and not-for-profit sectors were invited to join the independent expert panel on a volunteer basis. The panel, which represents a diversity of expertise, disciplines and backgrounds, will serve until it provides its recommendation of successful applicants to the government.

Since 2016, the Government of Canada has invested more than $14 billion in science and research and related initiatives.

Associated links

Stay connected

Find more services and information at Canada.ca/ISED.

Follow Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada on social media.

Twitter: @ISED_CA, Facebook: Canadian Innovation, Instagram: @cdninnovation and LinkedIn

SOURCE Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

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QUEBEC CITY, Nov. 2, 2022 /CNW Telbec/ - Christian Fournier, Executive Vice-President and Lead, Property and Casualty Insurance at Beneva, is pleased to announce the appointment of Guy Lecours to the position of Chief Operating Officer of L'Unique and Unica. He succeeds Yves Gagnon, who is retiring after forty years in the industry.

Logo Beneva (CNW Group/Beneva)

"I am delighted about the appointment of Guy Lecours. Thanks to his numerous achievements in the insurance field, his strategic vision and his unifying style, Guy Lecours will contribute to the development and innovation of our brokerage activities in Quebec and Ontario," said Christian Fournier.

A remarkable career

Guy Lecours is a seasoned leader with more than 25 years of experience in the insurance industry. He has worked for insurers through brokerage networks for much of his career. A Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries, Guy Lecours has held various senior management positions at major companies mainly in Quebec, but also elsewhere in Canada. He sits on several boards of directors, including that of the Groupement des assureurs automobiles where he was chairman until March 2022.

He joins the L'Unique and Unica team, where he will play a leading role.

"I am very proud to join the teams at L'Unique and Unica, whose reputation is well established. I look forward to contributing to the success of both organizations and to actively serving our brokers and their clients," said Guy Lecours.

Solid succession

Guy Lecours will take up his duties on November 21, 2022. Yves Gagnon will retire on November 11. The entire Beneva team wishes Yves, a pillar of the brokerage sector, a happy retirement and thanks him for all his years of loyal service.

About Beneva

Created by the coming together of La Capitale and SSQ Insurance, Beneva is the largest insurance mutual in Canada with more than 3.5 million members and customers. Beneva employs over 5,000 dedicated employees: people looking out for people. Its human approach is rooted in mutualist values that are shared by its employees. With $26.8 billion in assets, Beneva positions itself as a major player in the insurance and financial services industry. Its head office is located in Quebec City. For more information, go to beneva.ca.

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Policyholders of contracts issued by an insurance company of Beneva Group Inc. are members of SSQ Mutual and La Capitale Civil Service Mutual.

About L'Unique General Insurance

L'Unique was founded in 1978. Since 2004, it has been a member company of the La Capitale group (now combined with SSQ Insurance to form Beneva). With its vast network of independent brokers, L'Unique distributes a complete range of general insurance products. Thanks to its in-depth knowledge of the Quebec market, L'Unique is able to provide brokers in the province with products and tools that meet their needs and ensure quality service to policyholders.

About Unica

Founded in 1955, Unica Insurance provides innovative niche Commercial and Personal insurance solutions to protect VIP clients' homes, vehicles and businesses. Delivering best-in-class insurance protection backed by a renowned claims experience, Unica allows its customers to safeguard their hard-earned assets and protect their momentum. Unica is a subsidiary of Beneva, one of the largest property & casualty insurers in Canada. Our products are offered exclusively through a network of select professional insurance brokers across Ontario. For more information, visit unicainsurance.com or follow us @unicainsurance.

SOURCE Beneva

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Last week, Elon Musk officially completed his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter. But Musks path from Twitter super-user to Twitter owner and CEO was anything but straightforward.

While hes long been known as a prolific tweeter, it was a surprise to most that he was interested in exterting an even bigger influence on the platform. After quietly acquiring a majority stake in the company, he offered to buy the whole thing  even though it wasnt for sale.

Twitters board seemed hesitant at first, but Musks money was hard to turn down. In a matter of days, the company agreed to alter its path entirely. Then Musk changed his mind multiple times. First, the deal was on hold. Then, he wanted out entirely. Twitter sued, kicking off a massive legal battle in a Delaware court. But just before the trial was scheduled to begin, Musk said he would honor the deal after all.

Now, there are fresh questions about what exactly Twitter will look like under Musk. Hes proposed numerous changes, including changing Twitters moderation rules and reversing permanent bans. He also has a new plan to charge for verification. These decisions are only just beginning to play out, but have already caused massive upheaval both within the company and on the platform itself. Watch the video above for the full story.
SALT LAKE CITY, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Health Catalyst, Inc. ("Health Catalyst," Nasdaq: HCAT), a leading provider of data and analytics technology and services to healthcare organizations, today announced KPI Ninja by Health Catalystthe most comprehensive end-to-end solution to help Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) smoothly transition from being transactional data intermediaries to population health enablershas earned National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Certification for HEDIS Measures (MY 2022) for the third consecutive year.

This certification for its Health Plan Measures and Allowable Adjustment Measures validates that the HEDIS measure logic KPI Ninja uses to calculate measures results or select eligible patients' administrative or clinical data sources will produce accurate results. It also demonstrates for HIEs and other healthcare organizations that KPI Ninja has gone through the industry's most rigorous assessment of the accuracy of its HEDIS measures, which can, in turn, help support the industry's migration to value-based care (VBC).

"KPI Ninja's continued commitment to innovation and validated quality measures paves the way for HIEs and organizations who want to successfully transition to value-based care," said Renee Towne, Vice President of Population Health at KPI Ninja by Health Catalyst. "We see this as yet another step forward in providing a robust set of integrated population health capabilities to meet the diverse and evolving data needs of HIEs and its participants."

The NCQA HEDIS Measures certification is just one example of the value that KPI Ninja delivers across its platform, and it follows the commendable recognitions of NCQA's DAV Certified Data Partner status, NCQA's eCQM Certification, eHealth Exchange Validated Product, and HITRUST Risk-based 2-year Certification. These combined certifications give HIEs and other healthcare organizations the assurance necessary for relying on data to provide the comprehensive, real-time views of patient health needed to improve population health outcomes.

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About Health Catalyst

Health Catalyst is a leading provider of data and analytics technology and services to healthcare organizations committed to being the catalyst for massive, measurable, data-informed healthcare improvement. Its clients leverage the cloud-based data platformpowered by data from more than 100 million patient records and encompassing trillions of factsas well as its analytics software and professional services expertise to make data-informed decisions and realize measurable clinical, financial, and operational improvements. Health Catalyst envisions a future in which all healthcare decisions are data informed.

About NCQA

NCQA is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations. It also recognizes clinicians and practices in key areas of performance. NCQA's Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) is the most widely used performance measurement tool in health care. NCQA's website (ncqa.org) contains information to help consumers, employers and others make more-informed health care choices. NCQA can be found online at ncqa.org, on Twitter @ncqa, on Facebook at facebook.com/NCQA.org/ and on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/ncqa.

Media Contact:

Tarah Neujahr Bryan, Chief Marketing Officer

media@healthcatalyst.com

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SOURCE Health Catalyst
With New Mexico's gubernatorial election a week away, presidents past and present are weighing in on the matchup between incumbent Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and Republican challenger Mark Ronchetti.

Former president Barack Obama endorsed Lujan Grisham last week, and his successor, Donald Trump, announced his endorsement of Ronchetti Monday morning. President Joe Biden is expected to visit Albuquerque on Thursday for a Democratic Party rally.

Trump's endorsement of Ronchetti, via a post on Trump's Truth Social platform, echoed one of the main lines of attack Republicans have aimed against Lujan Grisham, who is seeking a second term. Trump hammered the governor on New Mexico crime rates, drug and human trafficking at the U.S.-Mexico border, and promised Ronchetti  best known as a longtime meteorologist for KRQE-TV who ran for the U.S. Senate in 2020  would deliver better results.

Republicans have also taken Lujan Grisham to task for New Mexico's low performance on educational assessments following pandemic-related school closures as well as economic turbulence during the first two years of COVID-19's prevalence. In the closing weeks, Ronchetti has also raised Lujan Grisham's settlement of a sexual harassment claim by a former spokesperson for her 2018 campaign.

Gubernatorial candidate Mark Ronchetti speaks during a campaign event on Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022, at La Posta de Mesilla.

The governor, meanwhile, has highlighted state investments in K-12 and higher education, healthcare services, economic growth since COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, ambitious climate change goals and a promise to protect the right to terminate pregnancies in New Mexico.

She immediately used Trump's endorsement to tie Ronchetti to fears among some independents about Trump's potential return to power, should he run for president in 2024. Her campaign warned that Ronchetti "would bring Donald Trump's extreme national Republican policies to New Mexico."

Abortion emerged as a prominent campaign issue following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling striking down a federal right to the procedure last summer.

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Ronchetti has suggested putting the matter to New Mexicans in a referendum and has endorsed banning abortion after 15 weeks of gestation except for cases involving rape, incest or danger to a mother's life. Meanwhile, a prominent pastor in Albuquerque, Legacy Church's Steve Smothermon, has repeatedly stated that Ronchetti has favored a more sweeping ban in private discussions.

Lujan Grisham has vowed to resist any further restrictions, after New Mexico's repeal of a dormant 1969 abortion ban in 2021, and has pledged to use her discretionary capital outlay to fund a new women's health clinic in Dona Ana County.

Although New Mexico is a three-party state, Libertarian candidate Karen Bedonie appears to have gained little traction as measured in opinion polls. Bedonie is a former Republican and fervent Trump supporter who exited the GOP primary to run as a Libertarian instead. In a Facebook live stream, she laid claim to the conservative vote and said, "That man cannot win with me in the way." Notably, New Mexico's most famous Libertarian, Gary Johnson, endorsed Ronchetti over Bedonie, who garnered 3 to 5 percent in different polls reported in recent days.

A poll conducted for the Albuquerque Journal and reported last weekend showed Lujan Grisham's support reaching 50 percent, after a slow climb against Ronchetti, who polled at 42 percent of likely voters. Bedonie drew the support of 3 percent, coming in behind "undecided" with 5 percent.

The divide in support was little changed from the Journal's first poll in August and, if anything, the governor's support may have increased slightly despite intense negative advertising by Ronchetti, the GOP and political action committees.

A different poll conducted for KOB-TV showed Lujan Grisham leading Ronchetti 46 percent to 39 percent, with Bedonie reaching 5 percent and 9 percent of participants undecided. Although that 9 percent is greater than the governor's 7-point lead in that poll, it does not predict how many undecideds will cast their ballot at all.

A third poll, conducted by Emerson College for The Hill, showed a much closer split in support: Just under 49 percent for Lujan Grisham and 46 percent for Ronchetti, with Bedonie at 1.5 percent.

Ultimately, New Mexicans will choose their next governor by voting rather than opinion polls and presidential endorsements. More than 259,000 voters had already cast ballots as of Tuesday, the majority of whom were registered Democrats.

Republican participation could prove greater on Election Day, Nov. 8, however, tightening the count in the final hours of voting.

Algernon D'Ammassa can be reached at 575-541-5451, adammassa@lcsun-news.com or @AlgernonWrites on Twitter.

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This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: New Mexico contest for governor enters final week
GATINEAU, QC, Nov. 2, 2022 /CNW/ - The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, is leading the Canadian delegation to the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP27, in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, from November 618, 2022, where 190 other countries will gather to engage in important negotiations and dialogues around fighting climate change and adapting to its impacts.

Ongoing global geopolitical challenges have only strengthened Canada's resolve to fight climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution while growing a clean economy that builds a more resilient, affordable future for all. The world must accelerate global efforts in this critical decade to keep the Paris Agreement goal of 1.5C within reach and avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change.

Ahead of COP26 in Glasgow, UK, last year, Canada committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by forty to forty-five percent below 2005 levels by 2030 in order to meet the Paris Agreement. Canada is now focused on implementation, having launched the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan in March 2022, the most comprehensive sector-by-sector road map to achieve our target. As the transition to cleaner economies accelerates worldwide, Canada stands to gain from seizing opportunities in this competitive global race.

Over the course of COP27, Canada will support ambitious outcomes within the negotiations, including on issues related to climate finance and adaptation. Canada will also advance concrete actions that raise global ambition, including building international support for the phasing-out of coal-fired electricity, reducing methane emissions, increasing climate finance commitments from developed nations, cutting plastic waste, and protecting nature.

For the first time in recent history, Canada will also have a national Pavilion to highlight both domestic and international leadership in the fight against climate change and promote Canadian innovations, from low-carbon businesses and clean technologies, to sustainable finance and nature-based solutions. The Pavilion will provide a critical venue to convene key partners and stakeholders on important discussions, including on carbon pricing and on Indigenous climate leadership in Canada.

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Canada's delegation, led by Minister Guilbeault, includes Catherine Stewart, Ambassador for Climate Change, and Steven Kuhn, Canada's Chief Negotiator for Climate Change. Canada has taken steps to ensure diverse perspectives are reflected through its inclusive delegation, which will be comprised of parliamentarians representing both the House of Commons and the Senate; Indigenous representatives; representatives from civil society organizations and youth, business, and labour, as well as most provinces and territories.

Shortly after COP27, Canada will welcome the world to Montreal from December 719, 2022, for the United Nations Biodiversity Conference, COP15, where it will continue to advocate for international collaboration on an ambitious post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. Protecting nature and halting biodiversity loss in Canada and around the world are top priorities for Canada.

Quotes

"Canada has come a long way on climate action both at home and abroad, alongside international partners, since the coming into force of the Paris Agreement. But the reality is that we need to see a fundamental increase in global efforts. In Egypt, we will continue to push for the acceleration of concrete climate actions to reduce emissions and enhance resilience in communities and economies as the world faces the brunt of climate change impacts. Real, positive, and transformational change is possible. We won't back down."

 The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change

Quick facts

COP27 is the twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an annual conference that coordinates international efforts to address climate change and reviews the UNFCCC's progress and implementation.

Since COP26 in 2021, Canada has made significant advances in domestic climate action:

In 2021, Canada and Germany published a plan to deliver on the developed countries' goal to mobilize US$100 billion per year to help developing countries cut emissions and adapt to the effects of climate change. On October 28, 2022, Canada and Germany released a Progress Report on this plan, that focused on actions developed countries have taken since COP26, and additional areas where further efforts could strengthen the impact of climate finance on the ground.

The Climate Finance Delivery Plan Progress Report focuses on tangible efforts of developed countries and other contributors in advancing the ten collective actions introduced in the 2021 Delivery Plan, with particular focus on four key action areas: increasing finance for adaptation, addressing barriers in accessing climate finance, working with Multilateral Development Banks to increase and improve climate finance, and improving the effectiveness of mobilizing private finance.

As part of its $5.3 billion climate finance commitment, Canada is helping developing countries, which are often the hardest hit and face some of the greatest capacity challenges, to deal with increasingly severe climate change impacts like floods, drought, and storm surges from extreme weather like super typhoons and hurricanes.

More information about the Canada Pavilion can be found online .

Associated links

Environment and Climate Change Canada's Twitter page

Environment and Climate Change Canada's Facebook page

SOURCE Environment and Climate Change Canada

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View original content: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/November2022/02/c2628.html
Olly Stephens was stabbed to death in Emmer Green in Reading

The father of a boy whose murder was plotted on social media has said there should be "no more excuses" for delaying a new online safety bill.

Olly Stephens was 13 when he was stabbed to death in Reading last year.

His parents have championed a new law aimed at stopping youngsters sharing harmful online content after it transpired his killers planned the attack on 11 social media platforms.

The government said protecting children online remained "a top priority".

Stuart Stephens told the BBC that law changes were not happening quickly enough

Stuart Stephens, Olly's father, was due to travel to Westminster on Tuesday to watch parliament debate the Online Safety Bill but was told the night before that it would not be going ahead.

The delay came after the legislation was also put on hold over the summer.

Mr Stephens told the BBC he was "annoyed and disappointed" by the latest postponement.

"Law changes aren't coming quick enough and children are dying because of it," he said.

"This [bill] needs to be passed... no more excuses - it's been four years in the making."

He added that the UK was "quite far behind" countries like Australia where similar legislation has already been passed.

"It's tragic story after tragic story on the news - and you can point your finger squarely at social media because without it a lot of this stuff wouldn't happen," he said.

The landmark legislation is one of the first attempts to lay down in law a set of rules about how online platforms should deal with content.

Stuart Stephens has preserved his son's bedroom

Olly had got into a petty row with a group of teenagers who were not part of his social circle.

Two boys recruited a girl - all of whom were 13 at the time - who was used to lure Olly to Bugs Bottom fields in the Emmer Green area on 3 January 2021.

Their trial heard how they all shared disturbing voice notes and content across 11 social media platforms ahead of the attack.

The two boys were convicted of murder, with one being jailed for 13 years and the other for 12 years. The girl admitted manslaughter and was jailed for five years.

In a statement, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said: "Protecting children and stamping out illegal activity online is a top priority for the government and we will bring the Online Safety Bill back to Parliament as soon as possible."

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Dima Berlin/Getty Images

The number of available remote and flexible job options is declining, according to a new study from LinkedIn.

Remote jobs dropped to 14% of all listings in September, down from a peak of 20% in February.

The drop comes as demand for remote and flexible jobs is increasing, LinkedIn reported.

Many office workers have welcomed the flexibility of remote and hybrid working options, but those jobs may be drying up, a new study shows.

According to LinkedIn's October 2022 Global Talent Trends report, employers are scaling back remote offerings in anticipation of an economic downturn, even as flexibility remains a top priority for job seekers. After job openings with remote options peaked in February at 20% of all listings, they dropped to 14% in September, which is the most recent statistic, LinkedIn data shows.

These changes come as hiring begins to slow, coming off record-high growth in 2021, according to LinkedIn. In the US, hiring rates dropped 13% in September 2022 versus the same time the year prior. The shifts also follow a rise in mandates for workers to return to the office at companies like Amazon, Apple, and Google, creating rifts in their workforces.

"This year we are seeing a slower pace of growth, as the economy comes back down to earth after a meteoric rise last year in one of the fastest recoveries we have ever seen," LinkedIn chief economist Karin Kimbrough said in the report.



She continued: "Nevertheless, labor-market dynamics remain tight. So, in many ways, employees still hold the power to demand more from their employers when it comes to salary, flexibility, and benefits. But this power balance is likely to start leveling out in the coming months."

Flexibility was listed as the third most important priority to candidates, after compensation and balance, according to a LinkedIn survey conducted in August 2022. The data further found that the US leads the remote work trend globally, followed by the UK, Germany, and India, based on number of applicants for remote-friendly jobs.

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Even with a shrinking number of remote jobs, Jennifer Shapley  LinkedIn's vice president of global talent acquisition  said she anticipates job flexibility will remain a major priority for candidates.

"Even facing an uncertain future, people still highly value two areas of work life that have gotten a lot of attention since the start of the pandemic: work-life balance, and flexible-work arrangements  including remote work. I expect those two attributes to remain top talent drivers for years to come," Shapley said in the report.

According to the report, demand for flexible work options continues to increase even as availability declines. LinkedIn's data shows that during the February peak, remote job postings attracted 50% of all applications  by September, as availability started to drop, that percentage increased to 52%.

Read the original article on Business Insider
National Association of Dental Plans

National Lifetime Achievement Award Honors Contributions to Dental Benefits Industry

DALLAS, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The National Association of Dental Plans (NADP) recently awarded the dental benefits industrys top honor to Ronald Bolden, Cignas vice president of dental and vision growth and strategy for U.S. Commercial, during CONVERGE 2022, the associations annual conference. Bolden received this lifetime achievement award for his innovative and exemplary leadership during significant industry and association transitions.

Bolden first became engaged with the organization in 2013 when he volunteered to serve on the NADP Research Commission. He had various leadership roles in the organization during his six years on the board, including serving as NADP Chairman 2019-2020. Bolden skillfully guided NADP through the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under his mantle of leadership, NADP members embraced new technologies to successfully deliver new affordable and innovative dental benefits to their clients and customers.

During his time as Board Chair, Bolden skillfully steered the association in the following areas:

Leading the first NADP leadership transition and hiring a new executive director

Bolden served on the 2019 Search Committee to find a new executive director after the retirement of the groups longtime leader. He was instrumental in the review and screening of candidates and worked closely with the new director during her first year in the role.

Transitioning to a new dues model

Bolden led a successful transition to a new revenue-based membership dues model. He communicated the news to members via letters to delegates, the annual business meeting and his newsletter columns.

Promotion of NADP Programs

Bolden has participated in Advocacy in Action, the NADP Day on the Hill. He was extremely impressed with the impact of this meeting and the associations reputation as the voice of the dental benefits industry. He shared his insights with the membership in his newsletter column and encouraged members to participate.

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Volunteer Service

Bolden began his volunteer service on the Research Commission in 2013 and served as vice chair from 2014-2017 and later as board liaison from 2017-2020. During his tenure on the Research Commission, he first demonstrated his leadership ability and keen industry insights by helping the Commission adapt its research reports to reflect industry changes resulting from the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

Boldens leadership and vision effectively steered NADP in the right direction through several critical challenges. By keeping NADP a strong, viable association, he contributed to the advancement of the dental benefits industry, and Bolden continues to encourage active participation on NADP volunteer groups.

Professional Biography

Bolden has worked at Cigna for 24 years and most recently accepted the role as Cignas Vice President of Dental and Vision Growth and Strategy for U.S. Commercial. In this capacity, he and his team are responsible for developing and implementing dental and vision sales strategies, working in close partnership with senior leadership and market growth leaders across the U.S. Previously, he was responsible for Cignas dental and vision market insights and innovation, which included the creation of Cigna's Dental Innovation Studio. In this role, he served as the business lead in evaluation, implementation and delivery of strategic business relationships helping to guide and deliver innovation. He has also served as a company spokesperson at many industry events and conferences.

Bolden began his career in the health insurance industry after obtaining a B.S. in Biology from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. Ron resides in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he previously served as a board member and vice chair for the Arizona Diversity Council.

About The Gabryl Award

The Gabryl Award, also known as the NADP lifetime achievement award, is the dental benefits industrys highest honor. It is presented to volunteers who have six or more years of service that advances the dental benefits industry. Recipients are recommended by NADP volunteer groups, and nominees are chosen by the Board of Directors. Ron was recommended by the Research Commission, Communications WorkGroup and Membership WorkGroup.

About NADP

National Association of Dental Plans (NADP), a Texas nonprofit corporation with headquarters in Dallas, is the representative and recognized resource of the dental benefits industry. NADP is the only national trade organization that includes the full spectrum of dental benefits companies operating in the United States. NADPs members provide Dental HMO, Dental PPO, Dental Indemnity and Discount Dental products to more than 200 million Americans.

CONTACT:

Michael Adelberg

Executive Director

(972) 458-6998, x101

madelberg@nadp.org




SofWave Medical, Ltd.

- Brazils Health Regulatory Agency, Agencia Nacional de Vigilancia Sanitaria (ANVISA) Grants Sofwave Regulatory Approval to Market SUPERB



SAN CLEMENTE, Calif., Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sofwave Medical Ltd (the Company) (TASE: SOFW), an emerging leader in energy-based non-invasive, aesthetic medical devices for practitioners worldwide, today announced that Brazils health regulatory agency, ANVISA, the equivalent of the US Food and Drug Administration, has given an approval to market Sofwaves SUPERB device in Brazil. The approval is required prior to the commercialization and marketing of medical devices in Brazil. Permission to distribute Sofwaves aesthetic devices is immediate, following public notice of the approval via Brazils government newspaper.

Brazil Possesses Favorable Demographics Ahead of SUPERBs Marketing Launch

According to a global survey by the International Society of Plastic Surgery 1 : Brazil, is second only to the US in non-invasive aesthetic procedures worldwide (in 2020, nearly 2 million procedures were performed in Brazil).

Roughly 60% of all cosmetic procedures are performed in clinics outside of hospitals 1

Participants from Brazil are the largest congregation of international registrants attending the American Academy of Dermatology Annual meetings2.



We are elated to receive the regulatory approval for SUPERB. Brazil is strategically important to Sofwave and an integral addition to the Companys global expansion plans, said Sofwaves Chief Executive Officer Louis Scafuri. In light of Brazils favorable demographics and positive sentiment towards aesthetic medicine, we anticipate an exciting brand launch as Sofwave continues to demonstrate treatment superiority over conventional minimally invasive and other non-invasive solutions. We will be able to ramp-up plans to distribute our devices in only a short period of time since regulatory approval goes into effect immediately following public notification of SUPERBs approval. We expect orders from Brazil to provide a meaningful sales contribution to our growth in the medium to long term.

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The Company continues to have regulatory submissions pending in other countries including the Peoples Republic of China, Japan, Taiwan and Mexico.

About SUPERB

Sofwaves state-of-the-art SUPERB (Synchronous Ultrasound Parallel Beam) Technology addresses the growing demand for non-invasive treatments that deliver noticeable wrinkle reduction. The devices seven cooled transducers are directly coupled to the epidermis, creating a unique 3D array of volumetric thermal zones that deliver parallel energy simultaneously, heating precisely at the right depth in the mid-dermis to improve the overall appearance. A single Sofwave treatment reduces facial wrinkles in a fast 30 to 45 minute non-invasive treatment with no interruption to a patients daily routine or post-treatment discomfort.

About Sofwave Medical

Sofwave Medical Ltd. has implemented an innovative approach to wrinkle reduction and lifting using proprietary breakthrough technology. Synchronous Ultrasound Parallel Beam technology is FDA-cleared to improve facial lines and wrinkles, lifting the eyebrow and lifting lax submental tissue (beneath the chin) and neck tissue providing physicians with smart yet simple, effective, and safe aesthetic solutions for their patients. Contact: Info@sofwave.com

Investor Contact:

Brian Ritchie

LifeSci Advisors LLC

(212) 915-2578

britchie@lifesciadvisors.com

Sources:

1.) Global survey from the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, December 28, 2021, Link.

2.) American Academy of Dermatology: Annual Meeting Geographical Report 2014-2019, Link.




ReportLinker

The Global Swim Watch Market size was estimated at USD 561. 23 million in 2021 and expected to reach USD 606. 40 million in 2022, and is projected to grow at a CAGR 8. 30% to reach USD 905. 79 million by 2027.

New York, Nov. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Swim Watch Market Research Report by Product, Distribution Channel, Region - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06341820/?utm_source=GNW





Market Statistics:

The report provides market sizing and forecast across 7 major currencies - USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD, CAD, and CHF. It helps organization leaders make better decisions when currency exchange data is readily available. In this report, the years 2018 and 2020 are considered as historical years, 2021 as the base year, 2022 as the estimated year, and years from 2023 to 2027 are considered as the forecast period.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:

This research report categorizes the Swim Watch to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:



Based on Product, the market was studied across Analog Watches and Electronic Watches.



Based on Distribution Channel, the market was studied across Offline Channel and Online Channel.



Based on Region, the market was studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas is further studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The United States is further studied across California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The Asia-Pacific is further studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. The Europe, Middle East & Africa is further studied across Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.



Cumulative Impact of COVID-19:

COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, and the long-term effects are projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report delivers insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecasts, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.



Cumulative Impact of 2022 Russia Ukraine Conflict:

We continuously monitor and update reports on political and economic uncertainty due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Negative impacts are significantly foreseen globally, especially across Eastern Europe, European Union, Eastern & Central Asia, and the United States. This contention has severely affected lives and livelihoods and represents far-reaching disruptions in trade dynamics. The potential effects of ongoing war and uncertainty in Eastern Europe are expected to have an adverse impact on the world economy, with especially long-term harsh effects on Russia.This report uncovers the impact of demand & supply, pricing variants, strategic uptake of vendors, and recommendations for Swim Watch market considering the current update on the conflict and its global response.



Competitive Strategic Window:

The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.



FPNV Positioning Matrix:

The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Swim Watch Market based on Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.



Market Share Analysis:

The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.



Competitive Scenario:

The Competitive Scenario provides an outlook analysis of the various business growth strategies adopted by the vendors. The news covered in this section deliver valuable thoughts at the different stage while keeping up-to-date with the business and engage stakeholders in the economic debate. The competitive scenario represents press releases or news of the companies categorized into Merger & Acquisition, Agreement, Collaboration, & Partnership, New Product Launch & Enhancement, Investment & Funding, and Award, Recognition, & Expansion. All the news collected help vendor to understand the gaps in the marketplace and competitors strength and weakness thereby, providing insights to enhance product and service.



Company Usability Profiles:

The report profoundly explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Swim Watch Market, including Apple Inc., Armitron, Casio India Company Private Limited, COROS, Fitbit, Garmin Ltd., Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., Marciano Watches, Moov Inc., Noise, Polar Electro, SKMEICO, SUUNTO, Swimmo Inc., Swimovate Ltd., Timex.com, Inc., Xiaomi, and Zepp Health Corporation.



The report provides insights on the following pointers:

1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players

2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets

3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments

4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players

5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and breakthrough product developments



The report answers questions such as:

1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Swim Watch Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Swim Watch Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Swim Watch Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Swim Watch Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Swim Watch Market?

6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Swim Watch Market?

7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Swim Watch Market?

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06341820/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________

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CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001




(Adds LNG Bonny II; shows Diamond Gas Victoria is docked; revises arrival date for Elisa Aquila, LNG Adamawa; removes Kmarin Diamond, LNG Abalamabie, Golar Glacier after they change destinations) Nov 2 (Reuters) - The following liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers are expected to arrive in Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands in the coming weeks. Estimated arrival dates, often revised by port authorities and AIS Live ship-tracking data on Refinitiv Eikon, are updated below. Some tankers heading for Belgium and Britain may be loading at the terminal. Those expected to load are indicated with an (L). Those likely to perform ship-to-ship transfers are indicated with (STS). Tankers that have docked are indicated with (A). Floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) terminals are added to the table when they become fully operational. As of Sept. 30 2022 this includes the Eemshaven terminal in the Netherlands. For the Reuters LNG guide, click here: LNG TANKER CAPACITY in EXPECTED ARRIVAL FROM PORT cubic metres BRITAIN Diamond Gas Victoria 174,000 Nov. 2 (A) United States Isle of Grain Elisa Aquila 174,000 Nov. 2 Norway Isle of Grain Vivit Americas LNG 174,000 Nov. 3 United States South Hook Bilbao Knutsen 136,000 Nov. 5 N/A Dragon Al Mafyar 261,000 Nov. 6 Qatar South Hook Umm Slal 261,000 Nov. 8 Qatar South Hook LNG Adamawa 138,000 Nov. 9 Nigeria Isle of Grain Methane Mickie Harper 167,000 Nov. 10 United States Dragon Gaslog Windsor 176,000 Nov. 10 United States Isle of Grain Gaslog Sydney 154,000 Nov. 13 United States Milford Haven LNG Enterprise 174,000 Nov. 15 United States South Hook Grace Dahlia 174,000 Nov. 17 United States Milford Haven LNG Bonny II Nov. 18 United 173,000 States Milford Haven BELGIUM Aamira 261,000 Oct. 31 (A) Qatar Zeebrugge Clean Planet 159,000 Nov. 3 (L) Russia Zeebrugge Maran Gas Troy 157,000 Nov. 4 Qatar Zeebrugge Eduard Toll 172,000 Nov. 4 Russia Zeebrugge LNG Merak 174,000 Nov. 5 (L) Russia Zeebrugge Rudolf Samoylovich 170,000 Nov. 5 Russia Zeebrugge Al Marrouna 149,000 Nov. 9 Qatar Zeebrugge Energy Pacific LNG 173,000 Nov. 11 Qatar Zeebrugge NETHERLANDS Energy Integrity 170,000 Nov. 2 N/A Gate Gaslog Georgetown 174,000 Nov. 2 United States Gate Magdala 173,000 Nov. 3 United States Eemshaven LNG Rosenrot 176,000 Nov. 5 United States Gate Maran Gas Achilles 172,000 Nov. 8 United States Eemshaven Seapeak Hispania 137,000 Nov. 9 N/A Gate Sources: Ports, AIS Live ship tracking, Refinitiv Eikon data. (^) Partial unload (*) Arrival date estimated based on flows data (Reporting by Nora Buli in Oslo)
Time to say thank you

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Millions of cleaners have only one goal every day  they work to ensure that we can feel comfortable and safe in our living and work environment. Cleaning is one of the most important industries in the world, yet most of the people undertaking this important work are invisible to you. Every day, the skilled, hardworking, and dedicated cleaning staffs are working to ensure our facilities are clean and safe, especially during the Pandemic.

Karcher Malaysia Celebrates Thank You Cleaners Day 2022 with staffs of PARKROYAL COLLECTION Hotel, Kuala Lumpur

Karcher promises to make cleaning a more efficient and less stressful procedure for the cleaners. As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability program, Karcher Cleaning Systems Sdn Bhd organized a "Thank Your Cleaner Day". Thank Your Cleaner Day recognises the hard work cleaners do and lets them know they are valued and appreciated.

This year, Karcher Malaysia celebrates Thank Your Cleaner Day together with the Hospitality sector consists of GENTING, AMARI, HILTON, SHERATON, PARKROYAL, FRASER, etc at PARKROYAL COLLECTION Kuala Lumpur. A total of 100 attendees from various hotels attended the event to show their appreciation to the cleaners. Karcher presented the Appreciation Trophy to honor excellent work ethics and best industry practices to 10 companies while 10 cleaner staffs were awarded with a certificate and appreciation gifts in recognitions of their exemplary work performance.

For 87 years, Karcher is constantly striving to achieve the best solution to very cleaning task globally. As the world's leading provider of efficient, resource- conserving cleaning systems, Karcher makes a difference by serving our customer's cleaning needs in an economical and environmentally-friendly manner for both homes and commercial industry.

Showing greater appreciation for cleaning services  this is the objective of Thank Your Cleaner Day, which takes place again this year in October 2022.

SOURCE Karcher Malaysia
(Drops redundant words in 2nd paragraph. Fixes grammar in 6th and 9th paragraphs.)

TOKYO, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp president Akio Toyoda on Wednesday raised the issue of tax breaks in a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on support for the mobility industry as a pillar of the economy as Japan seeks to cut carbon emissions.

The pair's meeting came after Kishida said he wanted to exchange views with auto industry leaders over issues like reducing carbon. Kishida in June toured a Toyota plant in the automaker's home prefecture of Aichi in a rare visit.

A key challenge facing Toyota and its major Japanese peers, Nissan Motor Co and Honda Motor Co, is catching up with rivals like Tesla Inc who have forged ahead in fully electric vehicles (EVs).

"I feel that we were able to kick off (a discussion about) Japan's carbon neutrality efforts and digital transformation, with mobility as core," said Toyoda, who leads a committee on mobility-related issues under Japan's powerful business lobbying group Keidanren, speaking to reporters after the meeting.

Toyoda said he brought up a tax concession at the meeting with the prime minister, who showed a willingness to keep a discussion going on support, according to the Toyota executive.

At the end of the meeting Kishida said the public and private sectors need to work together to protect the Japanese economy and jobs in the face of digitalisation and push for carbon neutrality.

Toyota, broadly seen as a bellwether for Japan Inc and once a darling of environmentalists for its hybrid gasoline-electric Prius model, is facing particularly heavy scrutiny from green investors and activists over its stance on EV.

The Japanese automaker has been pushing back against critics, arguing that while battery-powered EVs are a powerful weapon for cutting carbon emissions there are various other options to achieve the goal.

"Right now we're in a period of transition (in decarbonisation) so we should let technological innovation take place in various ways and offer various choices," Toyoda said.

Reuters reported in June that Toyota president Toyoda, who also leads Japan's auto lobbying group, has called on the Japanese government to make clear that it backs hybrid vehicles as much as battery EVs - or face losing the auto industry's support. (Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
(Bloomberg) -- The supply outlook for cooking oil will be a hot topic at a conference in Indonesia this week after Russia suspended its participation in a pact to ensure safe transit of ships carrying grain and foodstuffs from Ukraine.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Ukraine accounted for almost half of the worlds sunflower oil exports before the Russian invasion in February. The war choked off that supply, and helped drive prices of palm oil, the most consumed edible oil used in everything from margarine to ice cream and shampoo, to a record close in April. Indonesia is the top global supplier of palm oil and Malaysia is the No. 2 producer.

Other topics are the increasingly volatile weather, the viability of biofuels in a year when food costs hit a record, and government policy in Indonesia, which roiled the market this year by imposing a temporary ban on exports. Analysts Dorab Mistry, James Fry and Thomas Mielke also present their outlooks at the conference, which is on Nov. 3-4. Heres a closer look at likely talking points:

1. Russias War in Ukraine

Russias move to halt participation in a UN-brokered pact that allows exports of crops, including sunflower oil, from Ukrainian ports through a safe corridor in the Black Sea is the latest threat to global food security. Its a further manifestation of the deepening geopolitical tensions that are sending shock waves through food supply chains still recovering from the pandemic.

The war in Ukraine has already skewed global trade flows of grains and oilseeds, raising longer-term questions about the availability of supplies from the Black Sea. A prolonged conflict will likely make those changes permanent, paving the way for palm oil to expand market share in places like India and China, where supplies of sunflower oil from Ukraine have dried up, according to Anilkumar Bagani, head of research at Mumbai-based Sunvin Group.

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India, the largest importing country for palm oil, sunflower oil and soybean oil, is at the center of the struggle for market share. On top of all that, the potential for lasting Covid restrictions in China, and fears of a looming global economic recession, will probably keep the market volatile in coming months.

2. Weather Watch

La Nina is returning for a third year. The climate phenomenon occurs when the surface of the Pacific Ocean along the equator cools and the atmosphere above it reacts. This usually brings more rains to oil-palm regions in Indonesia and Malaysia, and drier conditions to soybean and corn areas in Argentina and Brazil. The event could spur flooding in Southeast Asia and hurt soybean crops in South America, said Oscar Tjakra, a senior analyst at Rabobank in Singapore.

If La Nina Persists, Expect More Drought and Flooding: QuickTake

Meteorological departments in Indonesia and Malaysia have warned about the risk of heavy rain and floods during the year-end monsoon season. Indonesias weather agency forecast an early rainy season this year in most of its regions with extreme weather during October and November. Prolonged floods will disrupt harvesting and transport of palm fruit, as well as reduce oil quality.

3. Indonesian Export and Biofuel Policy

Top shipper Indonesia flip-flopped this year on a controversial export ban and domestic sales rule, designed to cool the home market. Local supply ballooned as a result, which forced the government to reverse tack and ramp up exports by offering levy waivers that are in place through the end of the year.

Investors are focused on the fate of the domestic market obligation, which requires local producers to sell a portion of their output on the home market. The country in August raised the amount producers can export to nine times the domestic sales requirement from seven times, so they can now ship more.

Indonesias biodiesel plans are also in the limelight. The country has the highest volume of blending in the world with a mix of 30% palm with 70% diesel, the B30 mandate. The government will complete road tests in December to raise the mix to 40%. If successful, B40 will divert more palm to fuel and less to exports, potentially driving up food costs. By contrast, Malaysia is slowing implementation of B20 in transport to prioritize palm supply for food.

4. Malaysias Worker Shortage

Worsened by the pandemic, Malaysias chronic labor crunch is a big source of frustration. The largest group of growers forecasts production will shrink for a third consecutive year as a shortage of workers hampers harvesting and results in billions of dollars of crop losses. Unlike Indonesia, the No. 2 grower relies on overseas workers and the shortage has become progressively worse.

Although the government has approved some applications for foreign worker quotas, growers say there are still administrative and procedural glitches that cause delays. Meanwhile, Malaysias plan to impose a multi-tier levy system for foreign labor could further raise costs for plantation companies.

5. Sustainability

Increased scrutiny on sustainability and ESG practices is a lively debate for palm, which has been shrouded in controversy over allegations ranging from deforestation to open burning and forced labor. Sustainability solutions may have taken a back seat during the pandemic, but they will be thrown into the limelight again as the European Union reviews its Renewable Energy Directive and increases its ambition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Particularly worrisome is the European Parliaments latest proposal to advance the deadline for phasing out palm-based biofuels much earlier than the initial target of 2030. That would jeopardize palm as a biodiesel feedstock, as it could prompt European member states to adopt legislation that excludes the oil from renewable energy targets, or even from being used as a biofuel at all.

A sustainable vegetable oil conference is taking place at the same time as the main gathering this week. On the schedule is the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries, and ministers from Indonesia, China, India, Russia and Ukraine.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2022 Bloomberg L.P.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- It was the fall of 1972. Richard Nixon became the first president to visit China, and Britain had just joined the European Community.

(PRNewsfoto/Virginia Natural Gas)

Television watchers tuned in to hear detective Steve McGarrett say "Book 'em Danno" on Hawaii Five-O while teenagers lined up in arcades at shopping malls across the country to play the latest state-of-the-art video game, "Pong."

It was also the year when Hayden Barry began his career at Virginia Natural Gas.

After graduating from Warwick High School in Newport News, Hayden joined the energy company on November 13, 1972, at just 18 years old and now at 68, has no plans to retire any time soon.

And if you are doing the math in your head, that's 50 years with Virginia Natural Gas (VNG), making him the longest-tenured employee ever with the company.

A tall man with weathered features from years of working in the sun and on his farm, he leaned back in his chair as a big grin rolled across his face when asked why he was still working.

"I just love my job and I'm too young to retire," said Hayden. "I love being part of the VNG team and continuing to serve our customers."

Hayden grew up in the Hampton, Virginia area, and was born deaf, a disability that never got in his way of pursuing his dreams.

"I was born deaf, and sound never existed in my life, so not hearing was completely normal to me," he said. "I just knew that 'normal' people either went to college after high school or looked for a job. I choose the latter."

Hayden tried college life for two weeks after high school and decided it was not for him. Summoning his mom to pick him up at Blue Ridge Community College in Weyers Cave, Virginia, he returned home to start looking for a job.

Job hunting is a grueling process but imagine how grueling it could be for someone who is deaf or hearing-impaired. Hayden knew his disability could present challenges for many employers, but he also knew that everyone deserves to be considered for a job just as much as someone without a disability.

Story continues

He began his career with Virginia Natural Gas as a meter reader, then as a storeroom keeper, a position he held for 35 years until 2007.

"I was responsible for all the inventory at three separate storerooms during that time," said Hayden. "I moved over from Norfolk to Newport News in 1982 and took care of the storeroom there as well as Hanover and Suffolk. I'm a workaholic and I stayed busy all the time, which was perfect for me."

In 2007, he landed another position with the company, this time going back to his initial first jobmeter reading.

The VNG meter reading team drives more than 100,000 miles each year, capturing data automatically from a device mounted on company trucks. Hayden knew, he said, he had found the perfect job.

"I'm home-based and since I work alone, I can start my day when the sun comes up, sometimes as early as 5:30 a.m.," Hayden said. "it's a great job for someone my age."

While driving his route, Hayden does have the occasional interaction with customers. You may wonder how he communicates with them.

"I read lips," he said.

While not completely deaf, Hayden does have 15% hearing in his left ear and a cochlear implant in his right ear, which he waited until he was 50 years old to have implanted.

"I hate it, so I rely on reading lips," he added. "I'm self-taught and as long as I can see you talk, we can have a conversation. But because of my lack of hearing, I must make sure I also keep my head on a swivel, so I know if a dog or person is approaching as well as always being aware of my surroundings."

In his 50 years with the company, Hayden said he has seen a lot of people come and go. But one thing has remained constantthe quality of people that work at VNG.

"People here have always treated me with respect and have not made my hearing loss a big deal," he said. "Of course, there are things that I can and can't do, but all my supervisors and teammates have treated me well and taken care of me. They know that my job has been one of the main staple things in my life."

Fifty years ago, Hayden walked through a door of opportunity when it opened, and more importantly, had the courage to walk through it. One day, when the time is right, he said, he'll know when it's time to walk back out through that same door and retire.

"I'll know when that time will come, but not today," said Hayden. "When it comes, I'll spend more time on my farm, with my wife and the grandkids. But even then, I really won't be 'retired' since there will always be something to do."

About Virginia Natural Gas Virginia Natural Gas is one of four natural gas distribution companies of Southern Company Gas, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO). Virginia Natural Gas provides clean, safe, reliable and affordable natural gas service to more than 300,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in southeast Virginia. Consistently ranked in the top quartile for customer satisfaction by J.D. Power and Associates, the company also has been recognized by the Virginia Department of Energy (Virginia Energy) and the Virginia Oil and Gas Association for its safety, innovation, environmental stewardship, community outreach and educational programs, and has been named Local Distribution Company of the Year five times since 2015. The company has been ranked by its business customers as one of the most Trusted Business Partners in the utility industry according to Cogent Reports, and a Top Workplaces in Hampton Roads by Inside Business. For more information, visit virginianaturalgas.com and connect with the company on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Nextdoor.

About Southern Company Gas Southern Company Gas is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE:SO), America's premier energy company. Southern Company Gas serves approximately 4.3 million natural gas utility customers through its regulated distribution companies in four states with approximately 600,000 retail customers through its companies that market natural gas. Other nonutility businesses include investments in interstate pipelines and ownership and operation of natural gas storage facilities. For more information, visit southerncompanygas.com.

Hayden Barry of Virginia Natural Gas (VNG) celebrates his 50th year with the energy company, making him the longest-tenured employee with VNG.

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/virginia-natural-gas-employee-celebrates-golden-anniversary-301666325.html

SOURCE Virginia Natural Gas
Attorneys for Spotsylvania School Board member Nicole Cole on Wednesday withdrew a request for a temporary injunction preventing new division superintendent Mark Taylor from taking office, but said they plan to refile the request.

Cole and her lawyers, Charles King and Phillip Thompson, were in Spotsylvania Circuit Court on Wednesday afternoon for a hearing on the request, which was filed Oct. 26, six days before Taylors Nov. 1 start date.

Jeremy Capps, representing the School Board, filed a response Wednesday morning, arguing that since Taylors contract went into effect Tuesday, the legal concept of sovereign immunitywhich provides that the government cannot be sued without its consentprevents the court from being able to issue the injunction.

Coles complaint as originally filed does not address the issue of sovereign immunity, as it was filed before Taylors contract was effective.

Judge William Glover at Wednesdays hearing asked if King was prepared to argue the concept of sovereign immunity and King asked for leave to amend the plea.

King said after the hearing that he plans to argue that sovereign immunity does not apply in this case.

Our position is that it does not apply where Ms. Cole is asking the board to do something they are required to do by law, he said. Virginia law requires a school division to have a properly licensed superintendent and we are claiming Spotsylvania does not have one.

Glover granted King 14 days to file the amended plea and Capps then has 21 days to respond.

Cole is also the plaintiff in another lawsuit filed by King and Thompson in Richmond against the Virginia Board of Education, seeking to void Taylors license on the grounds that he does not meet the requirements established by Virginia Code.

Thompson said Wednesday that Richmond is where the real case is.

A hearing on this lawsuit has not yet been scheduled.
Attorney General Jason Miyares office has received a nearly $20,000 deposit from Virginias NAACP chapter to fulfill a Freedom of Information Act request concerning the offices Election Integrity Unit.

Robert Barnette, president of Virginias NAACP, said theres not enough transparency about the unit.

He said the organization sent Miyares office a letter on Sept. 14 asking for records related to the establishment of the Election Integrity Unit, as well as its expenditures and activities. It also requested records of documented cases of election fraud in Virginia.

Formed in September, the unit is composed of more than 20 attorneys, investigators and paralegals. Its tasks are to provide legal advice to the Department of Elections, as well as investigate and prosecute violations of state election law.

I pledged during the 2021 campaign to work to increase transparency and strengthen confidence in our state elections, Miyares said in a statement when he announced the unit in September. It should be easy to vote, and hard to cheat. The Election Integrity Unit will work to help to restore confidence in our democratic process in the Commonwealth.

Barnette said the attorney generals office responded by quoting about 500 hours of estimated time to produce the records and a nearly $20,000 deposit.

He added that he feels the price of the FOIA is a tactic to dissuade the NAACP from pursuing its request.

Given the importance of fair elections, the attorney generals stated desire for transparency, we would have thought he would want to make these records public, Barnette said in a news conference outside the state Capitol on Tuesday. We would have thought that the attorney general would want his Election Integrity Unit to operate in the light of day.

Miyares spokesperson Victoria LaCivita said state law allows public bodies to charge compensation for time and resources to fill FOIA requests.

This is a matter of state law, she said. We have nothing to hide, and the responsive documents will be provided in a timely manner.

During the news conference, Barnette noted Virginias deplorable history of intentional voter disenfranchisement and voter suppression, and added that his organization is alarmed that the Election Integrity Unit could intimidate people of color from voting.

Bertrall Ross, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said that historically, people of color have been directly or indirectly intimidated from voting through prohibitive laws.

He noted the literacy tests and poll taxes required to vote in Virginia until the mid-1960s and how they disproportionately affected African Americans, who faced generational economic and educational disparity in the years after the Civil War until the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Ross pointed to allegations of vigilante groups intimidating voters at polling locations in Arizona as a recent example of how the present maps ... intimidation tactics that were being used post-Reconstruction and all the way through the first half of the 20th century.

You kind of can see the mirror images of that particular time with respect to this Election Integrity Unit, which can generate within people a sense that theres something awry, Ross said.

LaCivita pushed back against the idea that the attorney general office would play a role in voter intimidation or suppression.

It is an absolute insult to the attorney general to falsely claim that he, as the first Hispanic ever elected to statewide office in Virginia, is trying to intimidate and prevent Virginians of any color or background from exercising the rights that were denied to his own family members, LaCivita said. The right to vote is one of the bedrock freedoms that brought the Miyares family to the United States to begin with.

She added that Miyares mother left Communist Cuba in the 1960s to come to America, and he is the first Latino to serve as Virginias attorney general.

Miyares understands how precious a free society is, and is passionate that every American has a voice and is guaranteed to be heard at the ballot box, she said.

LaCivita said the attorney generals office received the deposit from NAACP on Tuesday and that it will fill the request within seven business days, or on Nov. 10.
Make no mistake, the future of the Founding Fathers' vision of Democracy is on the ballot. If Republicans take back the Congress, what will we lose? A womans right to make her own health decisions, sensible laws to reduce gun violence, the collective health and well-being of the population, any progress on reducing the effects of climate change, support for freedom in Ukraine, among many other rights at risk.

The National Republican Congressional Committee is spending millions of dollars on television ads to shamelessly lie and distort Spanbergers many accomplishments that have benefited not only citizens of the 7th District but the country at large.

What does Yesli Vega offer? The same tired Trumpian talking points. She is a lightweight first-time county supervisor who has consistently voted no on virtually everything that has been proposed. She has no vision, no knowledge, and recruits vile outsiders like Ted Cruz to come to Virginia to try to convince voters that she has something.

Shes got nothing.

When asked about the contents of recent legislation, she admits she has no idea, but shell study up on it when she gets into office. Seriously? She is too cowardly to debate, having weaseled out of at least three opportunities to show voters what shes got. She avoids the press and refuses to answer questions.

In contrast, Spanberger is the fifth most bipartisan member of the House and the most bipartisan Member of Congress from Virginia. She has voted against Nancy Pelosi for Speaker of the House not oncebut twice. She has recently called for new leadership in the Democratic Caucus.

Patriotic Americans in the 7th District can show the rest of the country the way to preserve Democracy by reelecting Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger.

Michael McClary

Culpeper
About the only thing left to do now is actually vote.

A number of contested races are on the ballot countywide.

Voters will elect mayors in Burt Countys three cities, several city and school board races are contested as is one of the county board seats. Three of the races, all of them to be decided by Tekamah-area voters, are contested by candidates mounting write-in campaigns.

Tekamahs East Ward is one of them. Incumbent Kelly Adamson was running unopposed until last month when Lisa Thompson entered the race as a write-in candidate.

Write-ins also are affecting the races for Tekamah-Hermans Board of Education.

Half of the board is elected every two years. Candidates for the six seats are nominated by ward and elected at-large. Standing for election this year are both of the seats representing the districts rural Burt County voters and one of the three seats representing school district patrons in the City of Tekamah. Both of the incumbents from the rural ward, known as Ward 2, filed for re-election. They are Paul Potadle and Bill Skinner. They are being challenged by write-in candidate Donnette Smith.

From the city ward, Ward 3, incumbent Sheryl Stansberry is being challenged by write-in candidate Shawn Qualley.

A fourth write-in, Sue Blake-Soll, is running for her seat on the Tekamah Airport Authority board. She was appointed to the seat in late March, following the death of her husband, Al Soll, who held the seat at the time. Her appointment came after the deadline for incumbents to register for the election, forcing her to mount a write-in campaign to keep her seat. She joins another incumbent, Brett Langley, in the pick-two race.

In order for a vote to count for a write-in candidate, voters must blacken the appropriate circle on their ballot and then, obviously, write the candidates name. Because the four have registered with the election commissioners office, voters who intend to vote for any of them get a little more leeway with spelling.

Several other races also are contested. In Tekamah, two-term incumbent mayor Ron Grass is being challenged by first-term city council member Jane Walford.

Walfords run for mayor means she has to give up her West Ward council seat which is up for election this year. Joel Bacon and Jessica Russell survived the May primary and are on the ballot for the open seat.

In Oakland, incumbent mayor Ted Beckner is being challenged by Dan Jacobs. Four years ago, Beckner won a close contest between the two, 296-284.

In Lyons, four-term incumbent mayor Andy Fuston declined to seek another term. Council member Kyle Brink and Erin Mockler are running for the open seat.

Four candidates are running for the three seats representing the West Ward of the Lyons-Decatur School District. The candidates include incumbents Chad Brehmer, Jim Vlach and Even Myers and newcomer Shandra Carr.

Incumbent Charlie Wheaton, Kyle Phillips, Rick Coen and Tyler Vacha all are running for two seats on the Lyons City Council.

Among the countys 12 townships, only Silver Creek and Summit have contested races. Voters in Silver Creek are asked to choose three from a field that includes Ray Petersen, Trent Leichleiter, John Hundahl and Colby Hansen. In Summit, Joe Goebel, Dennis Fleischman, Tom Hansen and Dave Wakehouse are in a pick-three race.

Tekamahs West Ward voters also have a choice to make at the county level. The 2020 census forced a change to the boundaries for districts on the county Board of Supervisors. The West Ward was moved from District 3 to District 1 and the citys East Ward was moved from 1 to 3.

In District 1, incumbent Democrat Kevin Tobin is being challenged by Republican Sam Titus.

Incumbent Ted Connealy is running unopposed for the District 3 seat. In District 5, the area around Lyons, Republican Jeff Kutchera is running for the seat being vacated by Democrat Dale Webster. In District 7, south central Burt County, incumbent Republican Carl Pearson is running unopposed for his second term.

Elsewhere in the courthouse, District Court Clerk Michele Quick, County Assessor Katie Hart, County Attorney Edmond Talbot, County Clerk Sarah Freidel, County Sheriff Eric Nick, County Surveyor Fred Frankllin and County Treasurer Robin Olson all are unopposed. All are incumbents for their respective offices.

Two seats on the Board of Directors for the Burt County Public Power District are up for election. Incumbents Mike Williams and Greg Johnson are being challenged by John Helzer in a pick-two race.

At the state capitol, the District 16 seat in the state legislature is up for grabs. Incumbent Ben Hansen defeated challenger Connie Petersen 6,455-2,269 in the May primary. In Burt County Hansen, the Blair businessman was an 1,123-399 winner over the Hoskins, Nebraska woman. Both are on the November ballot again.

All of Nebraskas constitutional officersthe governor, secretary of state, treasurer, auditor and attorney generalalso are on the ballot.

In the open race for governor, Republican Jim Pillen squares off against Democrat Carol Blood, Libertarian Scott Zimmerman and write-in candidate Dave Wright.

Burt County voters also will notice a new name in one of the federal races. Redistricting caused by the recent census has moved the county into Congressional District 3. The incumbent is Republican Adrian Smith.

He will face Democrat David Else, and Legal Marijuana Now candidate Mark Elworth, Jr.

The deadline to register, and the deadline to request an early voting ballot be mailed to you, both passed on Friday, Oct. 28. Those early ballots must be returned to the county election office by the time the polls close on Election Day, Nov. 8. Those wishing to vote early but have not requested a ballot, still may do so in-person at the county clerks office at the courthouse, during regular business hours, through Monday, Nov. 7.

The polls are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Nov. 8. There are five polling places in Burt County. Both City of Tekamah wards as well as the Arizona, Riverside, Silver Creek and Summit townships all vote at Tekamah City Auditorium. The City of Oaklands two wards plus the Bell Creek, Oakland and Pershing townships all vote at Oakland City Auditorium. The City of Lyons and Everett and Logan townships vote at City Hall in Lyons. Village of Decatur and the Decatur and Quinnebaugh townships vote at the fire hall in Decatur while the Village of Craig and Craig Township vote at the fire hall in Craig.
The Salvation Army will be having Christmas assistance sign-ups from 9 a.m. to noon and 1:3-4:30 p.m. Nov. 7-11 at the Fremont Salvation Army, 707 N. I St., in Fremont.

Assistance is available for Dodge and Burt County residents to help with a Christmas meal for families and individuals, and toys for children 12 and under.

Individuals must bring an ID for everyone in the household (state ID or drivers license, school ID, passport, birth certificate, Social Security card, etc.), proof of address, proof of income, an idea of what their child wants/needs, and clothing sizes.

Only one person per family is asked to attend the sign-up.
Afghanistans Taliban rulers declared a general amnesty for their former foes who fought them for two decades as part of the Western-backed Afghan government.

But supporters of a late Afghan general say they have been under relentless Taliban persecution for the more than 14 months since the Taliban seized power.

Senior figures close to General Abdul Raziq, the former police chief of southern Kandahar Province, say his supporters, primarily members of his Pashtun Achakzai tribe, have faced killings, forced disappearances, torture, detention, displacement, and property seizures.

The Taliban denies any revenge targeting of Raziqs supporters or members of the Achakzai tribe.

Ongoing Persecution

But tribal members say Taliban persecution has continued since the seizure of Spin Boldak, a border town and Achakzai stronghold in Kandahar, a month before the Taliban seizure of Kabul on August 15, 2021.

Afghanistan is hell for the supporters of the late General Abdul Raziq, Akhtar Mohammad Khan Badezai told RFE/RL. The exiled former Afghan presidential adviser speaks to the media on behalf of Raziqs family.

People are being killed merely for carrying a photo of General Raziq, he says.

Badezai claims some 4,000 of Raziq's supporters, including women and children, have been killed in Taliban reprisals. He adds that thousands more have forcefully disappeared or remain in Taliban captivity.

Those killed and persecuted were not only members of the Achakzai tribe but members of other Pashtun tribes and even ethnic Tajiks and Uzbeks, he says.

When pressed about the evidence of the persecution and killings, he cited the names of a few prominent Achakzai figures who were killed after the Taliban takeover and claimed that the Taliban has killed some 50 former members of the Afghan security forces in eastern Nangarhar Province because they had served under Raziq.

He says a list is now being compiled of all the alleged victims killed, tortured, and forcefully disappeared by the Taliban.

The Taliban amnesty is a lie, he says. There is no province in Afghanistan where our people have not been martyred.

Badezai's claims cannot be independently confirmed. But reports by leading human rights organizations have accused the Taliban of extensive abuses, including extrajudicial killings, disappearances, arbitrary detentions, torture, and denying Afghans -- women and girls in particular -- their fundamental human rights.

Achakzai Targeted

Mohammad Naeem Lalai Hamidzai, a former Kandahar lawmaker, also claimed extensive persecution by the Taliban. He told RFE/RL that the Taliban systematically targeted the estimated 18,000 members of the Spin Boldak border force and Kandahar police that Raziq led until he was killed in 2018.

Hamidzai alleged that more than 300 members of the two forces were killed during the first days of the Taliban takeover.

These people are well known. They were all members of our tribe, he said, referring to the Achakzais. An estimated 500,000 members straddle Kandahar and the southwestern Pakistani province of Balochistan. Most Achakzais are traders benefiting from vital trade and smuggling routes crisscrossing their homeland.

In a report released in November 2021, the global rights watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) documented some killings and disappearances of former members of security forces in Kandahar.

The Taliban summarily executed some former security force members in front of their families, the report said. Others who were well known for fighting against the Taliban are among those forcibly disappeared.

Hamidzai said that the Taliban also detained up to 1,800 alleged supporters of Raziq, many of whom remain missing, even after the Taliban released more than 700 of them.

This persecution that began during the Taliban takeover 14 months ago still continues, he said, claiming that targeted assassinations extend into Balochistan, where the Achakzai live near a strategic pass connecting Spin Boldak to the provincial capital, Quetta.

On October 11, the Pakistani English-language daily Dawn reported the assassination of Abdul Samad Achakzai in Quetta. He was a former police commander in Kandahars Panjwai district and reportedly a close confidant and relative of Raziq.

For many years, Quetta and other Balochistan districts were the scenes of tit-for-tat killings in which Raziq targeted fugitive Taliban figures who retaliated by targeting members of his Adozai clan. Adozai are one of the several Achakzai clans straddling the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

'Torturer In Chief'

Raziqs influence grew because of his reputation as a formidable Taliban foe. He joined the anti-Taliban forces in late 2001. In subsequent years, he became the powerful commander of a border force.

In 2011, Raziq was made Kandahar police chief. His influence in Kabul and his Western allies made him the most powerful Afghan military figure in southern Afghanistan.

In 2017, HRW called him Kandahars torturer in chief." After multiple failed assassination attempts against him, he was killed in an insider attack in October 2018.

Tribal Feud

Hamidzai alleges that the Taliban have seized his house, the properties of Raziq, and other assets of Achakzai members.

He says the Achakzais now want to avoid reigniting a tribal feud with Nurzai, a rival Pashtun tribe. Some Nurzai members are now senior Taliban leaders in Kandahar. Achakzai leaders and others in Kandahar accuse them of turning the crackdown on Raziqs supporters into a tribal vendetta. The two tribes have engaged in a century-old tribal feud that has claimed hundreds of lives.

There is an effort to light a fire that will keep on burning for a long time, he says, alluding to disputes among Pashtun tribes that go on for generations.

Hamidzai says that delegations of Achakzai tribal leaders have repeatedly petitioned Taliban leaders in Kandahar and Kabul to seek an end to their persecution. But these efforts, he adds, have failed.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejected the charges that the Taliban is engaged in widespread, ongoing atrocities against Raziqs supporters or the Achakzai tribe.

But he did acknowledge that in the days following the Taliban's seizure of Kandahar in July and August 2021, a few of Raziqs supporters were killed in retaliation for his alleged atrocities.

The atrocities Raziq had committed had prompted personal feuds and rivalries, which resulted in the killing of six or seven of his supporters, he told RFE/RLs Radio Azadi. But the Islamic emirate acted swiftly and arrested the culprits while warning others that violators of our general amnesty will face severe consequences.

In September, the Taliban said it was investigating a mass grave in Spin Boldak where the remains of 12 people were discovered. Taliban officials claimed the victims were killed in 2012 when Raziq was Kandahars police chief. Raziqs supporters deny the mass grave is filled with his alleged victims. They claimed that the mass graves are from the time of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.

Patricia Gossman, an associate Asia director for HRW, said the organization is unable to probe all of the alleged abuses by the Taliban in Kandahar. But she says the militant group is determined to crush any sources of resistance and has also let its forces carry out vendettas.

The two motives come together in this case, she said, adding that the Taliban fears any lingering support for Raziqs forces. They want to punish those who supported him or who might want to revive armed resistance.
An explosion hit a bus carrying Taliban administration employees in Kabul early on November 2, police said, wounding seven people. "Due to a blast on a minibus from the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, seven have been injured," said Khalid Zadran, Kabul's police spokesman. Zadran said the blast was caused by a roadside mine. No group claimed responsibility for the blast. Last month, an attack by gunmen on a vehicle in western Afghanistan, which was claimed by the Islamic State group, killed five medical personnel employed by Taliban security forces. Though large-scale fighting has ended since foreign forces withdrew in August 2021, the United Nations has said security is deteriorating. To read the original story from RFE/RL's Radio Azadi, click here.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif agreed on November 2 to launch a high-speed rail project that could cost $9.8 billion. A statement from Sharifs office described it as a project of strategic importance. The project involves upgrading a 1,871-kilometer colonial-era track from Karachi to Peshawar to carry high-speed trains. Pakistan formally approved the project this week without saying where the funding would come from or providing technical details. The United States has criticized China for using what it calls debt diplomacy to make developing nations dependent on Beijing. To read the original story from Bloomberg News, click here.
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.
Three armed robberies were reported within four hours around Colorado Springs early Wednesday morning, according to Colorado Springs police.

The first incident was reported around 1:15 a.m., when officers arrived to a convenience store on the 300 block of Mount View Lane, in the area of the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. Police said video surveillance footage showed "multiple suspects" had entered the store, and at least one of them was armed with a handgun.

Police did not indicate how much merchandise or cash was taken.

Two other incidents occurred in the southeast area of the city. Just before 3:10 a.m., police received reports of a robbery at a business on the 400 block of North Murray Boulevard, according to the blotter. Police said "multiple individuals" armed with handguns entered the store and stole an "undisclosed amount of cash and merchandise."

Police reported no injuries in the incident.

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About two hours later, officers responded to a business in the 2400 block of Arlington Drive, near the intersection of South Circle Drive and Monterey Road, for reports of a third armed robbery.

Police said three suspects armed with handguns entered the store and stole an "undisclosed amount of cash and merchandise." Police reported no injuries in the incident.

Police have not reported any arrests being made in the three robberies, and said the investigations are ongoing.
Just under four months after a body was found on the side of Old Stage Road on June 10, authorities have arrested four suspects in the case, the El Paso County Sheriff's Office announced Wednesday.

Around 1 p.m. that day, the body of Manuel Hernandez-Uribe, 30, was found lying on the side of the road in unincorporated El Paso County, according to previous Gazette reporting.

According to court records, Hernandez-Uribe had warrants out for his arrest in El Paso County for aggravated motor vehicle theft, eluding a police officer and other charges.

On Oct. 5, the Sheriff's Office arrested Ector Sarabia-Cabrera, 23, who faces charges of second-degree murder, kidnapping with a deadly weapon and first-degree burglary. According to online court records, Sarabia-Cabrera had no previous criminal history in El Paso County.

Sarabia-Cabrera is being held at the El Paso County jail on a $500,000 bond. His preliminary hearing, when prosecutors must establish probable cause that the accused committed the crime, is scheduled for Nov. 16.

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The Sheriff's Office, in coordination with the Regional Fugitive Task Force and other law enforcement agencies in the Denver area, found and arrested the three other suspects, officials said.

Isidrio Sarabia-Gonzalez, 24, Braulio Barron-Rubio, 34, and Yessica Cortes-Barcenas, 28, are also being held at the county jail on the same charges as Sarabia-Cabrera and are each on a $500,000 bond, court records show.

Hernandez-Uribe's death came on the heels of a separate homicide on Old Stage Road. On May 24, hikers discovered the body of 30-year-old Jermaine Trevion Wilson. Two people were arrested in connection with Wilson's death.
A suspect is at large after fleeing an armed robbery Tuesday in southeast Colorado Springs, according to Colorado Springs police.

Police said witnesses at the Family Dollar store near South Academy Boulevard and Airport Road reported that the suspect entered the store around 9 a.m. with a gun, demanded money and left with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Police said they believe the suspect was wearing a black hoodie, blue rubber gloves, dark jeans and carrying a backpack.

Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Colorado Springs Police Department at 719-444-7000 or, to remain anonymous, Crime Stoppers at 719-634-7867.
Monument developer Matthew Dunston has been accused of stealing political signs that had been erected in Palmer Lake north of Colorado Springs.

Dunston denies the claims.

Those are all lies, he said Tuesday.

Palmer Lake police received a complaint on the matter and issued a summons for theft under $300, said Police Chief Jason Vanderpool.

The sign was taken, we found out who did it and served him a summons for theft, he said.

Vanderpool said he would not comment further until the matter goes to court.

Were just going to let it lie, Vanderpool said. The individual that did that has been served.

Dino Salvatori, owner of Palmer Lake Wellness Center, a medical marijuana dispensary, said five of the stolen signs  favoring a Nov. 8 ballot proposal to allow recreational marijuana sales in the small town on the northwestern edge of El Paso County  belonged to him.

He said he had placed one large and four smaller pro-marijuana signs on what he thought was his property near his store off Highway 105.

But the signs were on a right-of-way easement, which is state property, and the Colorado Department of Transportation removed them last week, Salvatori said.

The agency also removed other signs, some opposing the marijuana issue, some supporting candidates for the mayoral election and some regarding a school district property tax proposal.

Signs were stolen while they were in the back of a Department of Transportation truck, Salvatori said he was told by a CDOT worker.

If signage is in (an) easement area, CDOT removes them and stores them, and you can pick them up if you want and reset them, Salvatori said. CDOT called me and said we cant give you back the signs because they were stolen.

Three witnesses who work for the state transportation department told police their account in a police report dated Oct. 26, which The Gazette obtained Tuesday.

Employees said after they collected the illegally placed signs and loaded them into their truck, they drove to another area in Monument and noticed a truck following them.

When they pulled over on the side of the road, a man later identified as Dunston requested the campaign signs that he owned.

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He and a woman loaded signs into their truck and left, employees said.

Employees allege that Dunston took other signs besides his own. Dunston says he did not.

When police contacted Dunston to let him know they were issuing him a summons, he returned eight signs to police, the report states. But it does not say what the signs were or whose they were.

Dunston told police he did not take Salvatores signs and didnt know what had happened to them. He told The Gazette he returned signs to the police relating to the mayoral race, which he told police he had taken to return to the owners.

The accusations against him are false, said Dunston, who lives in the area with his wife and four kids and has projects that include The Preserve at Walden, the Monument Academy East campus, and has considered bringing a festival grounds to the area.

The marijuana proponents have no shortage of signs, only a shortage of places to put signs, which is why they have signs placed all over the marijuana grow property, but there are barely any other signs elsewhere, he said.

If anyone drives through the town of Palmer Lake, they cant help but notice that there are many prominently placed anti-marijuana signs in the town along the Highway 105 corridor," he said. Those signs were placed at the request of prominent Palmer Lake property owners who care about and have a vested stake in our community.

Dunston said as the owner of one of the marijuana shops targeted in the ballot measure, Salvatori stands to gain big money if this gets shoved through but doesnt live locally and has no personal stake in our community.

Salvatori, who has a public address in Golden, said Palmer Lake needs the taxes that recreational sales would generate to fix roads and other city services that are in bad shape.

Proponents have argued that allowing recreational marijuana sales would bring in more sales tax revenue to pay for municipal infrastructure, public safety services and mental health programs.

Opponents, who include Colorado Springs City Council, the board of El Paso County commissioners and School District 49, say legalizing recreational marijuana would increase crime, exacerbate mental health problems and be detrimental to other facets of community life including youth.

Ballot measures regarding recreational marijuana sales in Palmer Lake were rejected four previous times.

If the current measure, which Palmer Lakes board of trustees approved in September, passes this go-round, the towns two medical marijuana stores would be able to sell recreational marijuana products.

Palmer Lake voters approved in 2018 a ballot question that would implement a 5% sales tax on recreational pot sales, if a measure were to be approved in the future.

Palmer Lake has 4,120 active registered voters as of Friday, according to the El Paso County Clerk and Recorders Office.

It's one of three southern Colorado communities seeking legalization of retail sales that currently are only allowed in Manitou Springs in El Paso County. Voters in Colorado Springs and Cripple Creek also will decided on recreational pot sales proposals next week.
More than 20 El Paso County residents on Tuesday publicly called for hand counts of local ballots just one week ahead of Colorado's Nov. 8 general election.

During the regular county commissioners meeting, residents repeated disputed claims that mail-in balloting is fraudulent and said they did not trust the county's election process. Many called for major reforms, including a return to one-day voting with valid identification and a return to hand-counting ballots.

Colorado has been conducting mail-in elections since 2013.

"We want to trust the election system. We don't," resident Steve Spencer told commissioners.

Some speakers  including former Senate District 9 candidate Lynda Zamora Wilson, one of several GOP candidates who lost in the local primary election and requested discretionary recounts  repeated allegations that during the recount of the June 28 primary election in El Paso County a canvass board failed to follow statutory requirements to compare, during an accuracy test, the manual count of ballots with the machine count.

Zamora Wilson was one of seven GOP candidates, most from El Paso County, who in August filed a lawsuit in Denver District Court alleging specifically that election officials did not "compare the manual count of those ballots with the results of machine count that was tabulated by each of the chosen voting devices in the primary election." The suit named El Paso County Clerk and Recorder Chuck Broerman and Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold as defendants.

Broerman did not respond to those claims during the public meeting Tuesday, but in previous interviews with The Gazette called the lawsuit "categorically false in every way imaginable."

The Secretary of State's Office, he previously said, sets the criteria for the tests completed on the ballot tabulating machines ahead of an election and recounts. Broerman has said his office followed that criteria "to the letter."

The Secretary of State's Office has also said the lawsuit was "without merit."

A Denver District Court judge ultimately dismissed the case in late August. In September, the Colorado Supreme Court declined to hear the plaintiffs' appeal of the Denver court's decision.

Broerman on Tuesday called El Paso County's elections "secure," and commissioners encouraged residents to publicly inspect ballots kept on record in the Clerk and Recorder's Office.

His office digitally scans each ballot and per state law makes them available to residents for inspection while also maintaining voter anonymity, Broerman said. Residents can schedule a two-hour timeslot with his office to review a sampling of paper ballots and conduct their own hand-tallies, he said.

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"I do think people have the best trust in looking at an actual printed ballot, not something thats been (photocopied)," Commissioner Longinos Gonzalez said before volunteering to help review ballots at the clerk's office.

Commission Chairman Stan VanderWerf also said residents who are concerned about voter fraud can bring their concerns to the Fourth Judicial District Attorney's Office, which has a designated voter fraud investigator.

Broerman said about 56,000 people had returned completed ballots in El Paso County as of Monday. His office expects about 60%, or around 270,000, of the county's approximately 465,000 active registered voters to participate in this year's election, he said.

Of the ballots that have been returned so far, 38% are from Republican voters, 24% are from Democratic voters and 35% are from unaffiliated voters, Broerman said.

The Clerk and Recorders Office must receive ballots by 7 p.m. Nov. 8. Ballots postmarked after the deadline will not be counted.

Broerman said Tuesday it is now too late to return completed ballots by mail. Voters must now return their ballots at drop boxes or in person at a voter service and polling center through 7 p.m. on Election Day.

Five voter service and polling centers are open in El Paso County through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Monday and Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Seventeen additional voter service and polling centers will open across the county beginning Friday, Broerman said. All 37 of the county's voter service and polling centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday.

For a full list of El Paso County ballot drop box and voter service and polling center locations and operating hours, visit epcvotes.com and click on the "2022 Elections" tab.

Broerman has previously said only voters who need in-person services should use a voter center. Their primary use is for registering new voters and issuing ballots to those who did not receive one in the mail. The centers also offer ballot marking devices for people with disabilities, he said.

The clerk also said residents should not "wait until the last minute" to vote. El Paso County's Nov. 8 ballot is the largest in 34 years, Broerman said. Residents who are voting on Election Day should expect to take, on average, 15 to 20 minutes to complete their ballot, he said.

Residents can visit the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder's website at epcvotes.com for more information. They may also call 719-575-8683 or email elections@elpasoco.com with questions, Broerman said.

Click here to read The Gazette's 2022 Colorado General Election Voter Guide
Colorado Springs architect and musician Dave Weesner has had a long love affair with theater pipe organs. He helped rescue the 1927 Wurlitzer organ that still stands at the City Auditorium, and also bought his own. He and some friends relocated it to the Immanuel Organ Gym, where they play every Thursday at noon in the long-running Sack Lunch Serenade Shows.
Nearly 743,000 Colorado voters have returned their ballots for the November election, according to Tuesday data  an increase of more than 200,000 in only 24 hours.

This is the biggest daily jump in voter turnout since early voting officially kicked off last week. An average of 90,300 ballots were returned every day from Tuesday through Friday last week, and only 94,800 ballots were returned over all of Halloween weekend, according to data from the Secretary of States Office.

The 742,935 ballots returned so far represent a 19.5% turnout of the over 3.8 million active registered voters in Colorado with only one week left until Election Day.

While Tuesdays voting gains are impressive, early voter turnout is still below previous years. At this point during the 2020 election, nearly 1.8 million ballots had been returned, according to data from the Secretary of States Office. While presidential elections typically yield higher voter turnout, at this time during the 2018 midterm election, more than 792,000 ballots were returned.

The party-split among early voters has remained stable, with unaffiliated voters still leading the early turnout. More than 272,000 of the ballots turned in so far came from unaffiliated voters, making up 36.7% of the total. Democrats were in second place with 33.1% of returned ballots, followed by Republicans with 29.2%.

Nearly 99.5% of ballots cast were mailed in, with only 3,946 people voting in person.

Older voters are still dominating the early turnout but have fallen slightly. Voters aged 65 and over have returned 46.95% of Colorados ballots  a strong plurality but the first time its dipped under 50% since early voting began. Voters aged 45 to 64 have returned 32.95% of ballots and voters younger than 45 have returned 20.1% of ballots.

Jefferson County voters continue to make up the biggest chunk of early voters, submitting nearly 93,000 ballots so far. Rounding out the top five: El Paso, Arapahoe, Denver and Douglas counties, with returned ballots ranging from 84,552 to 57,160.

The Secretary of States Office is expected to release updates on the returned ballots every weekday through Election Day on Nov. 8.

Ballots were mailed to registered Colorado voters two weeks ago. Early voting officially kicked off Oct. 24 with the opening of 411 drop boxes and 121 voting centers throughout the state.

Voters can find their closest drop box or voting center and the hours of operation at GoVoteColorado.gov. By Election Day, there will be over 350 voting centers available to submit ballots, in addition to the 411 drop boxes now open.

The ballot for the general election includes 11 statewide ballot measures, as well as more than 150 state and local races, plus local ballot initiatives in some counties.

The voter registration deadline to receive a ballot in the mail ended on Monday; however, Coloradans can still register to vote online at GoVoteColorado.gov and then vote in person until 7 p.m. on Election Day. In-person voting will be available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day.

The Regional Transportation District is offering free rides in its service area to allow voters to drop off ballots at ballot boxes or vote in person on Election Day.
Democrat Whitney Mixdorf is challenging Republican Waylon Brown in Iowa Senate District 30. Brown currently represents Senate District 26 but is running in Senate District 30 due to redistricting.

This is her first run in the district. She lives in Clear Lake.

1. What made you decide to run?

As a busy mom I found myself wishing our state lawmakers would stop focusing on culture war issues and start working on real solutions to improve the lives of working families like mine. I am running for the future of not only my three children, but for families across Iowa. Like many others, I became frustrated with the extreme polarization of politics. Somewhere along the line, we have forgotten what it means to be a true public servant. Our goals should never include harming others with our words or actions. We shouldnt be passing laws that will exclude our fellow humans from living life with the same rights we expect for ourselves, and we shouldnt be okay with making others suffer so that we ourselves can get ahead.

It is difficult for me to sit back and watch hardworking people continuously fight a system stacked against the working and middle classes. The opportunity to have a decent life shouldnt only be available for the already wealthy or big campaign donors. Its time for someone to jump in to work toward improving the lives of families making $250,000 or less per year! I have a deep passion for helping others however I can, which is exactly what led me to become involved in activism and politics in the first place.

2. Proudest professional accomplishment?

My husband and I own and operate South Shore Donut Company in Clear Lake, which we opened in 2017. When the pandemic hit, things got pretty tough for small businesses and restaurants in particular. I had to buckle down and get very creative on how we could change our business to survive the shutdowns and the mitigation measures we needed to put in place to be able to eventually reopen. Through trial and error, I took the majority of our business online and created an extensive online ordering system. It took a lot of hard work, but I am incredibly proud that our business not only survived, but actually grew during the pandemic. I also used these new skills to help other local restaurants update their systems to survive as well.

In addition to my three children, work, activism roles, and campaigning, I am also finishing up my degree at Waldorf University. I returned to school at the age of 34 to prove to my daughters that we can achieve anything with hard work and determination. Im very proud that I have maintained a 3.9 GPA and will finish my degree in leadership communication in January.

3. What are your top two priorities for 2023?

My top two priorities for 2023 will be to save our public education system and defend womens rights.

The private school vouchers will only serve to defund public schools. They are billed as scholarships for underserved children, but in reality, they wont help the children who need it most. The 10,000 kids that will be eligible for these vouchers are either below a certain poverty line or have special learning needs (with individual education plans or IEPs). There is a large problem with this: Many of the most underserved counties in Iowa dont have a private school, and private schools do not have to accept or provide services to children with IEPs.

North Iowa is filled with rural communities, and each of these small towns relies on their school not only to educate their children but to provide jobs, safety, and activities for its citizens. We have seen what happens when schools are forced to close or consolidate  small towns dry up and disappear. People lose their jobs, families leave town to live closer to their new school, and businesses close their doors for good. I want to fund our public schools, save our small communities, and protect our rural way of life.

On womens rights, I am a mom of three by choice, and a mom of three for choice. I will never vote for any person/policy that says my daughters are second-class citizens. Women deserve every right to bodily autonomy as men do, and removing that right absolutely makes us second-class citizens. Abortion is something I believe most of us would like to prevent, but we do that by guaranteeing access to health care and contraceptives, and by ensuring our young adults receive a quality education on their sexual and reproductive health -- not by taking away the right to decide our own health care.

4. What sets you apart from your opponent?

I am the only pro-education and pro-freedom candidate in this race. We already know that Waylon Brown has voted yes to the private school voucher bill. He also voted against several of our schools right here in District 30 so they wouldnt receive even one dollar in additional funding for this year, including Clear Lake, Mason City, St. Ansgar, and RRMR. Our schools are cutting teachers and programs because they are being underfunded by the Iowa Legislature, and our kids deserve better.

My opponent also voted in favor of the extreme abortion ban. Depending on who wins races like ours, Iowa 100% will ban almost all abortions at six weeks. That is before most women even know they are pregnant. It will also be one of the most extreme abortion laws in the country. While there are some exceptions in the bill for rape, incest, or the health of the mother, the criteria for these exceptions are inadequate and invasive. I believe that we should all be able to make our own choice in regards to our health care, and abortion is health care. These are private decisions that should be made between a woman, her doctor, and whichever higher power she believes in. Politicians and the religious beliefs of others have no place in any of our doctors' offices. We cannot allow our freedoms to be taken away one by one.

5. Ultimately, why should people vote for you?

I want Iowa to be for everyone; a state filled with opportunities, a top-rated public education system, bustling small-businesses, thriving Main Streets, and neighbors willing to jump in to help each other. I hope to see an Iowa where we can all flourish. Where women have the same rights to bodily autonomy as men, where the working-class is prosperous, where everyone has affordable health care, and where our mental health needs are addressed without delay. I want to solve the child care crisis and affordable housing shortage that is holding back our local economy, legalize recreational marijuana for adult use, and invest in the communities and people of North Iowa. In short, I want Iowa to be the place where our kids will choose to raise their own families someday.

But we have to work for it, and that work has to begin now. Lets move forward, together.

This story has been updated to clarify Mixdorf's name.
A Franklin County man was arrested Friday and charged with five counts of sex-related crimes.

According to a Tuesday release from the Iowa Department of Public Safety, 73-year-old Daniel Wiechmann was arrested by troopers from the Iowa State Patrol at his residence in Hampton on several warrants that were the result of a joint investigation conducted between the Ankeny Police Department, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and the Polk County Attorney's Office.

The investigation began in October 2021 after a report was filed with the Ankeny PD claiming sexual abuse had been occurring between Wiechmann and several juveniles over the course of several years. The alleged abuse took place in several counties in Iowa. Wiechmann served as an attorney in the Franklin County area, which prompted the involvement of the DCI.

The Franklin County Attorney's Office asked the Polk County Attorney's Office to assist in the investigation and possible prosecution to evade any conflict of interest.

Wiechmann has been charged with one count of third-degree sexual abuse, two counts of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, indecent contact with a child and indecent exposure. Those charges have been filed in Polk, Dallas and Franklin counties. He faces 17 years in prison if convicted on all counts.
Two Mason City schools received the lowest possible performance rating, according the Department of Educations 2021-22 annual accountability report.

Mason City High School and Mason City Virtual Academy both received priority ratings, according to the report. To receive that rating, a school has to post an overall score a 44.16 or below.

The high schools overall score was 44.1 and the virtual academy received a 41.37. The average school score was 54.65.

The two schools were among 60 Iowa schools, or 4.64% of the schools in the state, to receive a priority rating. A majority of Iowa schools were given either an "acceptable," which saw the highest increase this year, or "commendable" rating.

"We definitely have some work to do right at the secondary level. We're not surprised by this in any way. When I think about the deep 'why?' -- like 'what's the root cause of some of this?' -- a lot of it is lingering effects of COVID," said Assistant Superintendent Bridgette Wagoner.

The Iowa School Performance Profile gives each school a rating based on several factors, including standardized test scores, attendance, staff retention, graduation rates, and suspension rates.

Each school receives a score up to 100 and is placed in one of six categories: exceptional, high-performing, commendable, acceptable, needs improvement, and priority.

The cut point for the needs improvement and priority categories were increased in 2022 to ensure Iowa continues to meet the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requirement of identifying at least 5% of Title I schools in need of comprehensive support and improvement, according to the Iowa Statewide Accountability System Information Guide.

This is the first year since 2019 that new schools are being identified for additional support to meet requirements of ESSA. According to a press release, the U.S. Department of Education offered states flexibility from federal accountability requirements for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years due to the unique circumstances caused by the pandemic.

Wagoner explained attendance issues and the dramatic impact COVID had on test scores can be seen in the recent report.

"I feel really good about what we did see happen in elementary, but the impact in our middle grades and then moving into high school, it's really alarming," said Wagoner.

Mason City Virtual Academy, which had a reported 86 first- through 12th-grade students enrolled, reported below-average test scores in math and language arts.

The virtual academy's math proficiency score was 43.18%, compared with the state average of 64.97%. Only 61.36% of students were proficient in language arts compared with the state average of 70.84%.

Mason City School District takes lessons from virtual academy's first year With year one over for the virtual academy, the Mason City School District is looking for areas to improve.

"It's new to most public schools offering virtual. It's not something that public schools have been in the business of very long, so it's just the growing pains of that and figuring out how to do it best," said Superintendent Pat Hamilton.

Hamilton said many students in the virtual academy come from other districts since traditional schools didn't fit their needs. Mason City Alternative School Principal Katie Fistler, who oversees the virtual academy, has been sharing ideas how to help students struggling in a traditional environment.

"I'm hopeful that we're going to kind of like embrace the reality that's there, and pivot. We can do things in a virtual environment that we can't do in other environments, but we definitely got a little caught off guard with the way enrollment went with virtual academy," Wagoner said.

Mason City School Board approves purchase of math curriculum The math is equaling to new curriculum at the Mason City School District.

Mason City High School saw a drop in math and language arts proficiency. Last year's report showed math proficiency at 50.52% and it is now at 47.64%. Language arts proficiency dropped five percentage points to 58.4% this year.

Wagoner said the district saw the high school rating was impacted by a "huge attendance issue" and growth issues in math and reading. Hamilton said attendance is better this year.

"This year, we put into place some new courses for math that hopefully can help kids close those gaps and get on a path to get to where they need to be for graduation," said Wagoner.

"I'm confident a lot of the things that they are doing at the high school with their instructional leadership teams and meeting every Wednesday, going through data and looking at what kids can do, they're working. So I'm confident things will look better," Hamilton said.

Four Mason City schools received acceptable ratings and two received "needs improvement." Jefferson Elementary School received the only commendable rating with an overall score of 56.62.

"All elementary schools are off any sort of negative list," said Wagoner. "I want to make sure we celebrate that. Our elementary schools have done a ton of work."

Jefferson, with a reported enrollment of 335 kindergarten through fourth-grade students, received a math proficiency score of 80% and a language arts proficiency of 77.04% this year.

"I know what we can take from Jefferson and share it with our other buildings is the work that they're doing, making sure that kids are doing meaningful, independent work all the time when they're in direct interaction with the teacher," said Wagoner.

The profiles are meant to be a tool for parents, educators, and community members to understand how schools are performing, but do not give the full story, according to a statement from Iowa Department of Education Director Ann Lebo.

While the Iowa School Performance Profiles does not tell the full story about schools, the website provides important data to help schools with their improvement planning, identifying supports to address high-need areas and improving student outcomes going forward, said Lebo.

Schools can use information from the profile to assist in developing achievement goals and to guide their improvement efforts, according to the Iowa Statewide Accountability System Information Guide.

"Every piece of feedback that we get and every data [piece] that we get reinforces the same thing, which is how do we make sure that every single kid in our community graduates and lands in a place of gainful employment and a sense of efficacy in this community?" said Wagoner.

"We're always looking at constant improvement. It wouldn't make a difference what the scores were, we still want to get better," said Hamilton.

The remaining Mason City schools are ranked as follows:

No Mason City schools ranked as exceptional.

Jefferson Elementary School was ranked as commendable.

Harding Elementary School, Hoover Elementary School, Roosevelt Elementary School, and Lincoln Intermediate were ranked acceptable.

John Adams Middle School and Mason City Alternative School were ranked as needs improvement.

Mason City High School and Mason City Virtual Academy were ranked priority.

For more information about Mason City Community School Districts school performance profiles or other school districts, go to www.iaschoolperformance.gov/ECP/Home/Index. Individuals with questions about the Mason City performance profiles or about the schools can reach out to the district.
Updated 6:05 p.m.

GREENSBORO  A bus driver walkout stemming from a "misunderstanding" left many riders frustrated and some without a way to get to work Tuesday morning.

"People were yelling and cursing," said Katy Hubbard, who was at the J. Douglas Galyon Depot early Tuesday when bus riders were trying to figure out what to do. "That messes up people's money. They earn money every day to survive and they can't get to work that day and they don't get to eat that day."

Her friend, Trey Boyd, who works as a day laborer, said he wasn't able to get to HireQuest to work Tuesday.

"By you not being there exactly at 7, you cannot work for that day," said Boyd, who doesn't have a permanent home. "How do you pay for a hotel room if you haven't worked that day. It kind of gets rough at night when it gets cold."

Bus drivers at the Depot wouldn't speak with a News & Record reporter about their concerns.

Their employer, RATP Dev USA, which contracts with the city to provide bus drivers, said the walkout stemmed from a misunderstanding over the cost of medical benefits.

In a statement to the News & Record, RATP Dev USA spokesman David Barkoe said the walkout affected 17 of GTA's 19 fixed bus routes.

"Many drivers were delayed in operating their schedules after a misunderstanding over medical benefit costs on the first day of open enrollment benefits coverage effective January 1, 2023," Barkoe said Tuesday in the email. "Because of the misunderstanding, RATP Dev USA management took additional time to provide employees clarity of the benefit enhancements. Dedicated benefits experts from RATP Dev USA will be on site in Greensboro tomorrow to answer additional questions."

Paratransit service was provided as normal to users with scheduled rides and all fixed route services returned to operation by 11:30 a.m., Barkoe said. No further disruptions are anticipated, he said.

I was surprised to hear about the walkout this morning, Mayor Nancy Vaughan said. We were not notified until the walkout had begun.

If the bus drivers want to negotiate, they would have to negotiate with RATP Dev USA Inc.  the contractor for whom they work, Vaughan said.

At Tuesday night's council meeting, City Manager Taiwo Jaiyeoba said that the city told RATP "consistent, immediate communication is very important when issues like this arise.  Its not acceptable for us to be hearing about this at 7, 7:15 a.m. when people are going to school or work, or those who have medical appointments and have to be there.

Jaiyeoba said the city is working with the company to improve communication.

We can also maybe provide some emergency support services for people so they don't run the risk of losing their jobs or having medical emergencies because of this situation or even getting late to school or missing classes, he said.

In July, RATP Dev USA Inc. took over the contract to provide bus drivers after Keolis North America decided not to execute the first-year extension on its three-year contract.

Fare reimbursement The city of Greensboro, which contracts with RATP Dev USA, said riders who paid for their fare but didnt receive service may contact GTA Customer Service at 336-335-6499 to receive a bus pass or have a credit added to a UMO card.

After receiving four new proposals from Keolis, National Express, Trans Dev and RATP Dev., the city chose RATP Dev to provide drivers for both the fixed routes and paratransit routes. On March 1, the City Council approved by an 8-0 vote a five-year contract with RATP Dev for $122,694,877.

At that meeting, Vaughan lauded the average wage for bus drivers, which she said was about $28 per hour, plus benefits.

"We worry about making sure that people are paid a livable wage," Vaughan said at the time.

On Tuesday, the mayor said she was "very disappointed because I knew that people depend on our system to get to work or get to school or possibly medical appointments.

Guilford County Schools has a partnership with GTA whereby the district pays for students to be able to ride the city buses for free as a way to get to and from school if they choose. A district spokeswoman could not provide an estimate of how many students might have missed rides to school Tuesday because of the city bus situation.

City Councilwoman Sharon Hightower, who serves as the council liaison to the Greensboro Transit Advisory Commission, said the city can't get in the middle of negotiations between the drivers and their employer.

"We've got to let them resolve that," she said. "At least we're moving forward."

Robert Cheek, who was trying to catch a bus Tuesday morning, said he understood the bus driver's need to protest a situation they felt was unfair. However, he said supervisors should have stepped in to pick up the routes and there should have been a contingency plan in place.

"I don't think a person who was supposed to be at work at 8 o'clock in the morning ... should get fired because they weren't able to get there," he said. "People rely on public transportation."

Updated at 3:29 p.m.

GREENSBORO  The company that provides bus drivers for the Greensboro Transit Agency said this morning's walkout by the drivers was a "misunderstanding over medical benefit costs.

In a statement to the News & Record, RATP Dev USA spokesman David Barkoe said the walkout affected 17 of GTA's 19 fixed bus routes.

"Many drivers were delayed in operating their schedules after a misunderstanding over medical benefit costs on the first day of open enrollment benefits coverage effective January 1, 2023," Barkoe said in the email. "Because of the misunderstanding, RATP Dev USA management took additional time to provide employees clarity of the benefit enhancements. Dedicated benefits experts from RATP Dev USA will be on site in Greensboro tomorrow to answer additional questions."

Paratransit service was provided as normal to users with scheduled rides and all fixed route services returned to operation by 11:30 am, Barkoe said. No further disruptions are anticipated, he said.

The city of Greensboro, which contracts with RATP Dev USA, said riders who paid for their fare but didnt receive service may contact GTA Customer Service at 336-335-6499 to receive a bus pass or have a credit added to a UMO card.

GTA operates 19 routes from 5:15 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and 17 routes from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

Updated at 11:20 a.m.

GREENSBORO  The city announced that Greensboro Transit Agency bus routes will be operating by 11:30 a.m. after an apparent walkout this morning by the drivers. The city has 19 fixed bus routes.

The city of Greensboro announced the suspension of all bus service in a news release early this morning. Some students at Guilford County Schools rely on the buses to get to classes.

Service to the system's paratransit system was restored later in the morning, the city said.

I was surprised to hear about the walkout this morning, Mayor Nancy Vaughan said. We were not notified until the walkout had begun.

Vaughan said the bus drivers are unionized but shes not sure which union. A call to Teamsters Local 391 was not immediately returned.

If the bus drivers want to negotiate, they would have to negotiate with RATP Dev USA Inc.  the contractor for whom they work, Vaughan said.

In July, RATP Dev USA Inc. took over the contract to provide bus drivers after Keolis North America decided not to execute the first-year extension on its three-year contract.

After receiving four new proposals from Keolis, National Express, Trans Dev and RATP Dev., the city chose RATP Dev to provide drivers for both the fixed routes and paratransit routes. The City Council approved 8-0 a five-year contract with RATP Dev for $122,694,877 on March 1. The contract includes two, one-year options.

At that meeting, Vaughan lauded the average wage for bus drivers, which she said was about $28 per hour, plus benefits.

"We worry about making sure that people are paid a livable wage," Vaughan said at the time.

As far as the drivers' demands, Vaughan said Tuesday she heard that the drivers had some sort of issue or concern related to the employee health insurance. However, she was not entirely sure of their complaints.

Certainly, I am very disappointed because I knew that people depend on our system to get to work or get to school or possibly medical appointments.

Guilford County Schools has a partnership with GTA whereby the district pays for students to be able to ride the city buses for free. Thus, students can ride the city buses to get to school if they so choose. A district spokeswoman wasnt immediately sure how many students might have missed rides to school because of the city bus situation.

City Transportation Director Hannah Cockburn and City Councilwoman Sharon Hightower, who serves as the council liaison to the Greensboro Transit Advisory Commission, could not be reached for comment. The contractor also has not yet responded to requests for comment.

This story will be updated.

Posted 8:37 a.m.

GREENSBORO  Greensboro Transit Agency bus service is suspended this morning because of a lack of drivers, the city of Greensboro said in news release.

The system's paratransit system also was not operating earlier this morning, but that service has been restored, the city said.

"As the City of Greensboro knows more details, we will update the public," the news release said.

This story will be updated.
Best time to enjoy beautiful red leaves across China

People's Daily Online) 16:33, November 01, 2022

Photo shows red maple leaves in Horqin Right Wing Middle Banner, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. (Photo/Liang Yongfeng)

Autumn brings a visual feast of beautiful red leaves across China. In different parts of the country, this is the best time to enjoy red leaves.

Leaves turn red when the temperature drops. According to the China Meteorological Administration, recent cold air has resulted in temperatures continuing to fall in most parts of the country.

The administration forecast that the period between Oct. 21 and Nov. 5 will be the best time to enjoy red leaves in large parts of north China, the northern part of regions along the Yellow River and the Huaihe River, the southeastern part of northwest China, and the northern part of the Jianghan Plain in central China.

The southern part of regions along the Yellow River and the Huaihe River, the northwestern part of regions along the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River, the Jianghan Plain and regions south of the Yangtze River, as well as the eastern part of southwest China will see the best time for appreciating red leaves between Nov. 6 and Nov. 20.

Also, the period between Nov. 21 and Dec. 5 will be the best period to enjoy the scenery of red leaves in many regions south of the Yangtze River, the southern part of Guizhou Province and the central part of Yunnan Province in southwest China, as well as the northern part of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Du Mingming)
Prosecutors in the state of Baja California Sur did not name the suspect in the Oct. 29 death of Shanquella Robinson, a Charlotte native who graduated from Winston-Salem State University in 2018. But on Thursday, they said they had approached Mexican federal prosecutors and diplomats to try to get the woman extradited to face charges in Mexico.
Probably over 99% of farmers in Central Illinois grow corn that has some bio-tech genetic changes. That technically makes it a GMO, genetically modified organism.

The other 1% of the corn in the territory is going to be organic, a non-GMO by definition, and destined for a specialty market where it receives a high price and products made from it are also priced at a premium.

Those particular farmers are paid several dollars more per bushel for organic corn, because production costs are higher, and yields may be lower, resulting in less revenue per acre.

Those GMO corn producers have the benefit of raising a crop that will survive stronger herbicide applications, but also a crop that can be fatally toxic to insects, such as corn rootworms and corn borers. Without such genetic protection, todays cornfields might produce only a half to three-quarters of the crop they do.

But that crop in 99% of Central Illinois cornfields faces a serious threat because it has built-in biotechnology. And that threat comes from south of the border in policy that is being threatened by the president of Mexico. About 18 months ago President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador issued a decree to end the importation and use of GMO corn by his country. Gulp.

Mexico imported 640 million bushels of corn from the United States in the marketing year that just ended in August. Likely all of it was genetically modified to resist insects or herbicides. It was fed, not only to Mexican livestock, but also processed into the same products that U.S. consumers purchase at a grocery store. Probably no difference, except the label was probably in Spanish.

Is this a big deal? Consider that 60% of Illinois corn is exported. If it is loaded on a barge, it likely travels somewhere overseas. If it is loaded on a freight train, there is a chance it may end up in Mexico. Subsequently, the Mexican anti-GMO decree will halt 640 million bushels of U.S. corn, some of it Illinois corn, which will gravitate toward a cheaper market.

A year ago, the Mexican agriculture director told U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack not to worry about the 2024 deadline that would end Mexicos importation of GMO corn. Last week, his deputy director said the deadline was still in place, and Mexico would find other sources for 640 million bushels of corn, if the United States would not deliver corn that was non-GMO corn.

Whoa! says Tom Haag, the new president of the National Corn Growers Association. NCGA says something must be done, now! Currently, farmers are ordering seed corn that will be planted in the spring of 2023, harvested in the fall of 2023, and much of it marketed in the spring of 2024, after the threatened Mexican ban on GMO corn is in place.

Mexico says thats all right, it will just buy non-GMO corn from individual farmers. Interested farmers will have to accept Pesos, arrange for freight cars traveling to Mexico, and negotiate international letters of credit with their bank.

Good luck with that.
DECATUR  A 25-year-old man is in stable condition after being shot Tuesday night.

According to Decatur police Detective Sgt. Steve Carroll, officers responded to a call of shots being fired at approximately 11:45 p.m. Tuesday in the 2200 block of East Wood Street.

"As we were responding, a 25-year-old male Decatur resident showed up at a local hospital with gunshot wounds," he said. "He is in stable condition."

Witnesses reported seeing one male dressed in all black with a hood pulled over his head. He walked on to the lot and fired multiple rounds at the victim, then fled on foot, Carroll said.

Police recovered shell casings from the scene. The investigation is ongoing.

Anyone with information on the shooting should call Crime Stoppers at 217-423-8477 (TIPS).
DECATUR  The Decatur Board of Education will release the closed session recordings on Friday from meetings in which members improperly discussed the plan to build a new Dennis School in Lincoln Park.

Decatur resident Lee Ann Clary filed a request for a review of the board's actions with Attorney General Kwame Raoul. He issued the decision on Sept. 30 that after review of the minutes and recordings of closed meetings from Oct. 12, 2021 through June 28, that the school board had violated the Open Meetings Act by holding discussions and making decisions about the proposal, including how to fund it using COVID-19 relief funds, which would bypass the need for a referendum. The school board was ordered to release those recordings and had 35 days to do so.

It feels like they waited until the last minute to even think about releasing these, Clary said Wednesday. The 35 day deadline really was. They had to decide whether they were going to appeal or not. This morning I talked with the attorney we're working with at the attorney general's office, and he was grateful that they didn't appeal. He felt that maybe they might have, which would have been a lawsuit that I would have been named in, and the attorney general, and we would have had to defend. So I'm thankful that they did decide to put the tapes out.

The school district's legal counsel, Brian Braun, told the board at its Tuesday meeting that his office had reviewed 30 hours of closed session tapes included in the Attorney General's order and had edited the recordings to remove discussion that was not relevant to the Dennis School proposal.

The instruction there was to make sure that we were fully compliant with the order, Braun said. If anything was questionable, we included it, and if anything was clearly not (relevant), we excluded it. What remains is roughly 2  to 3 hours of closed sessions tapes.

Those recordings will be posted on the Decatur Public Schools website, www.dps61.org, on Friday, said board President Andrew Taylor, though he did not provide a time of day. District spokeswoman Denise Swarthout said she would provide a time as soon as she knows it.

The school board and Decatur Park District board revealed in June that they had been in talks about the plan for months, and Decatur Public Schools had appealed to the General Assembly for a waiver that would allow use of the COVID relief funds for the project.

That alternative project is moving forward, said Kent Metzger, director of buildings and grounds, during a presentation he made at Tuesday's meeting on facilities projects. A committee made up of district staff, community, board members and American Dreamer staff has met to discuss particulars and present suggestions for design to BLDD Architects, who will design the building. A presentation on the result of those meetings is expected at the Nov. 15 school board meeting.

Clary and her husband, Phil, both worked on the request to the attorney general and the reason, she said, was that they felt the whole proposal had been planned and carried out in secret. It should have been done in open session meetings to allow the community a chance to voice their opinions, she said.

It irritated us, Clary said. We don't have children in the school system. We're retired. We looked at Lincoln Park and it isn't a good place for a school. It is not a 'not in my back yard' issue. We would have been happy with a logical place for the school.
DECATUR  With Election Day just one week away, fierce debate about Illinois SAFE-T Act dominated a local candidate forum.

During the Decatur Regional Chamber of Commerces Pancakes & Politicians forum on Tuesday, candidates at the federal, state and local levels sparred over the acts elimination of cash bail.

Some candidates told voters they believe changes to the act might be on the way.

Right now, behind the scenes, there are sheriffs and state's attorneys that are negotiating with people that are supporting the act, said state Sen. Steve McClure. So, things are happening right now.

Illinois Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today Act (SAFE-T Act) was passed by Democrats in the middle of the night in early January 2021. Many of the laws provisions have already gone into effect, aside from its centerpiece, the "Pretrial Fairness Act," which effectively abolishes Illinois cash bail system starting in January.

Democrats argue the bill will help prevent people from being jailed solely because they lack the funds to bond out while awaiting trial for nonviolent or low-level offenses.

The new system allows judges the discretion to order pretrial detention under specific circumstances, considering factors like a defendants danger to the public as well as their flight risk.

McClure, who is running unopposed in the 54th District, said he believes more of his Senate Democratic colleagues would support Republican amendments to the SAFE-T Act if Republicans pick up more seats in both chambers this election.

After the forum, McClure told the Herald & Review hes spoken with officials who voted for the bill who regret the vote and are hoping that something changes, though he would not specify who.

Long story short, if Republicans have a big election, there's going to be changes that I think are significant, he said.

McClure was mum on what those changes might look like. Though many Republicans have called for the SAFE-T Act to be repealed, Illinois Democrats hold supermajorities in both the House and the Senate. Republicans simply dont have enough votes to repeal, replace or amend the SAFE-T Act without significant Democratic support.

The reality is in Illinois, that unless the Democratic party decides that they want to make a change, nothing is going to change, said state Rep. Dan Caulkins, R-Decatur.

Caulkins urged audience members to put pressure on your Democratic representatives to help usher in changes to the act.

State Rep. Sue Scherer, D-Decatur, who was one of the deciding House votes on the SAFE-T Act, did not attend the forum. Neither did state Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield, whos running in a heated race against state Rep. Sandy Hamilton, R-Springfield, in the 48th Senate District.

At an unrelated event later on Tuesday, Scherer defended her SAFE-T Act vote and told the Herald & Review she believes many are inciting unnecessary fear about the elimination of cash bail.

The bill was made to make it more fair, Scherer said.

The new process for pretrial release outlined in the SAFE-T Act helps equalize the pretrial process for working class and poor people who cant afford cash bail to get out of jail as opposed to wealthier individuals who can, Scherer said.

As the only statewide Democratic candidate at the forum, state Treasurer Michael Frerichs entered the debate in defense of his party despite having no active role in the passage or enforcement of the SAFE-T Act.

My state senator has filed a trailer bill to clean up these things, Frerichs said, in reference to state Sen. Scott Bennetts proposed Senate bill tweaking language in the SAFE-T Act. It's very easy to just point fingers at the other side and say it's their problem to fix. My state senator put his neck out there. There are people in his own party who disagreed with what he wanted to do.

Frerichs then directed his comments to Caulkins.

And if you want to step up and work with him on this, I'm sure he would love to have Republican support on his bill as well, Frerichs said.

Macon County Board Chairman Kevin Greenfield later suggested that eliminating cash bail could hurt the countys finances.

From our county level, we really don't know how devastating it's going to be funding wise, Greenfield said. We really don't know how much money we're going to lose (from) people that don't post bond.

Other candidates present at the forum included Republican Regan Deering for Illinois 13th Congressional District; Democrat Paul Lange for Illinois 15th Congressional District; Dr. Lisa Smith, the Republican candidate for state Rep. in the 96th District; and incumbents Ryan Kreke, Patricia A. Dawson and Marcy A. Rood for Macon County Board District 4.

Democrat Andrew Weatherford and Republican Shane Mendenhall, candidates for Macon County circuit judge, were also in attendance and traded jabs.

Weatherford criticized his opponent for having a lack of criminal trial experience.

The candidate that is most qualified and has the best experience is the one that's been standing in front of Macon County juries, Weatherford said. I've done that. I've done that for both criminal and civil cases. My opponent has not.

Even Mendenhall, who defended his courtroom experience, invoked the SAFE-T Act, arguing that Weatherford stands with the acts supporters.

He's aligned himself with those who are more concerned about protecting the criminal than the law-abiding citizen, Mendenhall said.

The SAFE-T Act wont be listed on any ballots, but Macon County voters can visit the Macon County building to request their sample ballots to see what will be, according to Macon County Clerk Josh Tanner.

Early in-person and mail-in voting have already begun. Extended early voting office hours are in place at the Macon County Office Building. The county clerk's office is open from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Friday, Nov. 4, and again on Monday, Nov. 7, as well as 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 5 and 6.

Voters can find more information about voting and Election Day on the county website.
UPDATE, 2:27 p.m.

Pana High School students are available for pickup following a lockdown of the school earlier this afternoon.

In an updated letter released to parents of Pana students, Superintendent Jason Bauer wrote that all high school students had been safely transported to designated safe locations as of approximately 1:38 p.m. this afternoon. The lockdown at Pana Jr. High has also officially been lifted.

High School students may now be picked up at either of the two following locations:

First United Pentecostal Church, 910 E. 6th Street Pana, IL 62557

Church of the Nazarene, 1200 E. 6th Street Pana, IL 62557

"We are grateful to the multiple agencies that assisted with evacuation efforts this afternoon," Bauer wrote in the letter, adding again that all students and faculty are safe.

1:30 p.m.  Pana High School is on lockdown after a note reading There is a shooter in the school right now" was found on a bathroom stall, the Pana School District superintendent wrote in a letter to parents Wednesday afternoon.

In the letter, posted to the school district website just before 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Superintendent Jason Bauer wrote that the Pana Police Department has been contacted and is assisting the school administration in dismissing students "in a safe, secure, and calm manner."

All school staff and students are currently safe, Bauer said.

As of the letter's release, students were in the process of being transported to the safe locations indicated by the school's crisis management plan.

Pana Junior High is also on a lockdown as a precautionary measure.

Bauer said the district will provide more information "as it becomes available" regarding where to pick up high school students when the school day is over.

"We are grateful to the Pana Police Department for their quick and timely response," Bauer's letter read. "Everyone is currently safe. As always, the safety and well-being of our students and staff is our number one priority."

This story will be updated.
I recently heard a radio advertisement which unfairly suggests that my long-time co-worker and trusted friend Shane Mendenhall somehow lacks the requisite experience to serve as Macon County judge. This clearly politically motivated attack ad could not be further from the truth.

Experience matters, and Shane Mendenhall clearly has the resume to serve as Macon County judge:

 Shane has successfully represented law-abiding folks (of all races, backgrounds, and ethnicities) injured due to the negligence of others.

 Shane has helped recover millions of dollars (and argued in courtrooms across America) for consumers ripped off by corporations.

 Shane has successfully represented workers of all professions (including local police officers and firefighters) who suffer on-the-job injuries.

 Shane has worked with residential and commercial buyers, sellers, landlords, and tenants to achieve their desired outcome.

 Shane has been trusted by hundreds of local residents (including my own family) to create their estate plans.

 Shane has successfully navigated the complexities of state and federal laws and regulations for many local businesses, including construction companies, restaurants, and medical providers.

 Shane has reviewed and prepared hundreds of contracts for businesses and individuals (and has litigated many contract disputes in court).

 Shane has volunteered countless hours to improve our community, through service on various boards and pro bono legal work.

Aside from his vast and diverse experience in and out of the courtroom, Shane is an incredible person with exceptional character and family-based values. He treats everyone with respect and dignity, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, wealth, or political background. These characteristics make him the obvious choice for Macon County circuit judge.

Selfishly, I hate the idea of no longer being able to work with my friend and mentor. But my loss will undoubtedly be Macon Countys gain.

Zach Anderson, Mount Zion
BRISTOL, Va.  Some critics of the citys handling of its landfill issues appeared pleased Tuesday with an open house that included one-on-one interaction with experts.

About 40 Twin City residents attended the 90-minute event that included two members of an expert panel that was the architect of the citys plan of action to resolve odor and emission issues with the landfill. Craig Benson and Bob Gardner participated in the panel assembled this spring by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and Gardner is involved in the work now, in his role with SCS Engineers.

Members of the HOPE for Bristol citizens group have long called on city leaders to be more transparent about its landfill measures and to better inform the public on both what is occurring and planned.

I think tonight was very helpful as far as what the city did for the people and community, HOPE Vice President Mike Dean said. It opened up a lot of doors and gave a lot of answers about whats happening.

HOPE president Joel Kellogg said, I wasnt sure coming in. There is a lot of good questions and answers coming up from residents  Its a long time coming. I am happy to see some small attempt at communication. But its a long time coming. Kudos where they deserve it; this is one of the few areas.

Kellogg also filled out a comment card in hopes of getting more information from SCS Engineers, the citys consultants, regarding its conversations with DEQ.

Mayor Anthony Farnum called the event informative.

I think this has been a good event tonight, but its just one of many steps we need to take to address the issues at hand but also to have improved communication  to really let the citizens know what the plan is now and going forward with the future of the landfill, Farnum said.

Weve talked about how many projects we have to do and obviously the cost, the mayor said. Overall Im still optimistic were going in the right direction and well get some relief in what were smelling.

Dean said what the city needs now is financial help.

I feel theyre [city] going in the right direction. I feel the city needs a little more funding to speed up the process and more pressure has to be put above for people to step in to do something for Bristol, Dean said.

At the last City Council meeting, Eads estimated the cost of completing all the recommendations by the expert panel will cost between $20 million to $30 million. All of those steps are now expected to be completed by the end of 2023, Eads said.

Weve been in the process of evaluating that [costs]. In April we sought federal funding for the landfill and that was turned down in September, Eads said. The state was generous enough this past year to allocate $2 million through DEQ to flow through to the city for remediation efforts at the landfill, and I anticipate well ask the state legislature for additional funds in the coming year.

Asked about one-time versus ongoing expenses, Eads said, Everything in the expert panel report is going to be a one-time expense. Most of those items are also going to require ongoing maintenance for the foreseeable future.

Currently at the landfill, sonic drilling associated with the installation of thermocouples started on schedule on Oct. 26. The wells are being capped at the end of each workday to minimize, as much as possible, gas emissions from the bored hole until the installation of the well casing pipe occurs, according to a statement from the city. Contractor Connelly & Associates anticipates this work will be finished Dec. 15, depending on weather.

The installation of the thermocouple system, which will monitor landfill temperatures, is also a recommendation from the DEQ expert panel report and a court-ordered mandate that must be completed by Dec. 31.

That work is to occur in conjunction with the sidewall liner pilot to try and limit escaping gas.

We anticipate the pilot sidewall odor mitigation system being completed by Dec. 31, Eads said.
November has traditionally kicked off a holiday seasonal surge of COVID-19 and health experts are bracing for another.

For the past two years the period from mid-November through January has seen massive numbers of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths. With colder weather, indoor activities and gatherings, another surge seems likely, according to Jamie Swift, Ballad Health Systems chief infection prevention officer.

Based on what we know about COVID, we do expect another increase around the Thanksgiving-Christmas holidays. We do expect numbers to go back up but its very hard to predict. There are several variants that are spreading. Thankfully the ones off of omicron seem to not be causing increased hospital admissions; certainly were not seeing ICU admissions.

Were not sure what that surge will look like; if it is going to be just cases, if its going to be a surge in the hospitals. There is a lot were trying to work through and predict the best we can, Swift said.

This region experienced its first summer surge this year with sharp increases in hospitalizations and deaths in July and August before slowly declining in September and October.

On Wednesday, Ballad was treating 71 COVID patients in its hospitals including eight in intensive care units with four on ventilators. Thats down from 83 last Friday when 11 were in ICUs.

Eighteen area residents died last week due to COVID-19. Nearly 800 have died since March.

Cases are surging in the LENOWISCO health district of Virginia Wednesday, according to the Virginia Department of Health, while slow growth is reported in the Mount Rogers district and declining in the Cumberland Plateau district

The University of Virginia modeling forecasts sharp rises in cases in November and December in the LENOWISCO and Mount Rogers health districts  peaking in mid- to late December  while the surge in the Cumberland Plateau district is forecast to start later and peak in January.

Case rates and hospitalizations across the commonwealth remain low, according to the UVa, report. But early signs suggest Virginia may be headed into a period of new growth  Modeling continues to suggest the possibility of another major winter surge.

Most Southwest Virginia counties had a medium level of community spread Wednesday with only Buchanan and Tazewell counties classified as having low levels.

In Northeast Tennessee, only Unicoi County has a high level, while Sullivan, Carter, Washington and Hawkins counties were classified as medium, according to the CDC. All other Tennessee counties except two were listed as low levels.

Swift urged people to get the new bivalent COVID booster shot that is currently available.

I think one of the best things the community can do right now is go get that bivalent booster. Weve not seen a great uptick of that vaccine across the nation. The new vaccine is recommended for anyone age 5 and up who has received the primary series, Swift said. Its a new take on the vaccine in that it has the original strain protection but also the omicron is in there. Getting that booster now would really put us in a better position as we expect to see cases go up the next couple of months.

Nationwide, only 7.3% of the U.S. population age 5 and older have received the latest booster. That compares to 12.6% in Virginia.

Swift blamed part of the slow response on confusion.

The previous booster before this, there were certain age ranges and high-risk patients and never really open to everybody. People that I talk to really arent even aware there is now a booster that is recommended for everyone whos had their series, she said. Obviously there is COVID fatigue. People just dont want to think about it and I think that plays into it some. I think its more a lack of awareness and understanding. Its available at local pharmacies; many of our physicians have it. You can get that booster and get protected before the holidays.

The surge looms in a region currently experiencing high rates of influenza and RSV, a respiratory disease among babies and young children.

Flu has hit hard and early. Our flu cases are doubling week over week. We are seeing significant spread of flu, RSV cases are up and pediatric admissions with RSV are up, Swift said.

Its happening nationally. Everybody seems to be having a very early flu season. We typically dont see peak flu numbers until January or February. We started seeing flu in September and October, and we are doubling or tripling week over week with a significant spread of flu across our community, Swift said.

Last week, across all Ballad testing sites, there were 877 positives. For Sunday and Monday of this week they documented 446 positives in two days.

This flu vaccine seems to be a good match to the vaccine so another reason to get the vaccine this year, she said, adding it is readily available at pharmacies, health departments and physician offices.
HICKORY  Nu Chapter of The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International recently held its fall business meeting and induction ceremony at St. Andrews Lutheran Church in Hickory.

The chapter inducted three new members: Anyea Gibson, Kathryn Simmons and Lynn Evans. Gibson is a dance instructor for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools at Harding University High School. Simmons is an English/language arts teacher for Hickory Public Schools at Northview Middle School. Evans is a first-grade teacher for Newton-Conover City Schools at North Newton Elementary School. Each new member received a pin, a certificate of membership, and a long-stemmed red rose to commemorate the occasion. The chapter also welcomed four members through transfer and reinstatement: Maria Ballard, Judith Ray, Thalia Holman and Sonia Foster.

Leslie Black presented the presidents report and began by celebrating Nu Chapter achievements. At the April NC DKG Convention in Asheville, Nu Chapter earned the Presidential Award as one of the top six chapters in the state, Superior Chapter Achievement Award, and Communications Excellence Award. At the DKG International Convention held in New Orleans in July, NC DKG President Beth Winstead awarded Nu Chapter committee chair, editor, and webmaster and NC DKG News editor Carol Bostian with the prestigious North Carolina Star of the Southeast Award.

Winstead shared that Carol is often found behind the camera documenting state events and meetings as well as photos of new officers, committee chairs, and award winners. She has a never say no attitude when asked to pitch in or help with anything.

Black also reported on the Nu Chapter Strategic Plan goals adopted by the executive board for 2022-2023. These goals focus on three critical areas: membership, community connections, and building resources. The chapter will work to encourage and support members, partner with Safe Harbor of Hickory and Classroom Connections, and promote The NC DKG Educational Foundation.

In addition to the presidents report, chapter committee chairs reported on recent activity and plans for the year. Martha Brown, chair of the Beginning Teacher Support Committee, shared that Nu Chapter will support first-year teachers in Newton-Conover City Schools and Hickory Public Schools with treat bags in the fall and spring and with an Adopt a First-Year Buddy program. Yvonne Hilderbran, Nu Scholarship Committee chair, presented $500 National Board stipends to two members: Lee Ann Perry, media coordinator at Banoak Elementary School; and Kerri Wimberly, math teacher at Bandys High School. The stipends will support these members in their efforts this year to renew their National Board Certification. Teacher Grants chair Suzanne Cadwallader announced that the Phyllis Frye Copeland Endowment Grants, which were due Sept. 30, will award up to $3,000 for non-consumable classroom materials.

Amanda Swengros shared a short presentation on DKG Internationals official international project, Schools for Africa. Schools for Africa is a global initiative that partners with UNICEF to help girls, orphans, and other vulnerable children in 21 sub-Saharan countries attend school. Nu Chapter members were also reminded of Knickers for New Life, an organization that works to make it possible for girls in Uganda to stay in school by providing health education, underwear, and MakaPads, along with funding for separate latrines and hand wash stations. Swengros distributed water bottles to all members and encouraged them to use the bottles to collect change or bills for these two charities and bring these donations to either the November or January chapter meeting.

Black also announced that Nu Chapters second Taste & Talk fundraiser is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 5, at Tri-City Baptist Church in Conover. Nu Chapter will sell 125 tickets for the event at $10 each. Guests will enjoy a taste of 35 recipes, including appetizers, soups, salads, sides, entrees, desserts, breads and punch, as well as leaving with a recipe book of all the featured treats. Proceeds from this event will be divided among chapter scholarships (50%), beginning teacher support (25%), and leadership development (25%).

Each Nu Chapter meeting ends with a tradition called the Brag Bucket. Kathryn Simmons reminded members that the World Fellowship Fund, a DKG International initiative, provides scholarships to sponsor women from around the world to pursue a masters or doctoral degree. For the Brag Bucket, members donate $1 or more in honor of personal or chapter celebrations that they share with the chapter and all proceeds go toward the World Fellowship Fund.

Delta Kappa Gamma is an international honor society that promotes professional and personal growth of women educators and excellence in education. Nu Chapter is excited to begin another year of supporting women educators in Catawba County.
Let's start with the basics. Pocahontas wasn't her name; her formal name was Amonute, and her more familiar name was Matoak (also Matoaka or Meto-aka). Pocahontas was either a nickname or way of describing her and is translated as something like "mischievous girl."

That she was the daughter of Wahunsenaca (Chief Powhatan), who was chief of an alliance of about 30 Algonquian-speaking tribes in Virginia, is true, although calling her a princess misrepresents the way political office descended in Native American societies. That occurred matrilineally and the identity of Pocahontas's mother is unknown, according to Daniel K. Richter's book "Facing East from Indian Country: A Native History of Early America." Pocahontas also may not have been her father's favorite of his approximately 30 children from many wives.

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Born in 1595 or 1596, Pocahontas would have been about 11 or 12 years old when 27-year-old John Smith and the English settlers arrived in 1607 to found Jamestown. The story that she had a close relationship with Smith and saved his life after he had been captured by throwing herself across his body just before he was clubbed to death is implausible and disturbing considering their age difference. It was also one Smith left out of his initial recounting of his time in Virginia. He didn't mention it until his 1624 book, published when Pocahontas had already died. Historians now believe that the story was either made up entirely or that Smith misunderstood a ceremony meant to bring him into the Algonquian community, albeit in a subordinate role.

While Pocahontas was reported to have visited the Jamestown settlement with parties taking food and messages from Powhatan to his "English tributaries," she was described by Jamestown residents as a "youngster wearing the non-garb traditional for children in her society," according to Richter's book. She was also known for doing cartwheels.

About a year after Smith left Jamestown  according to some sources due to a gunpowder injury, although Richter asserts in his book it could have had more to do with colonists' revolt against his leadership  Pocahontas is reported to have married Kocoum, the younger brother of Chief Japazaw of the Potowomac.

Meanwhile, relations between the Powhatans and the English colonists had gone downhill over issues like English demands for food tribute and land claims. During this time of discord, Pocahontas was lured onto the ship of Englishman Samuel Argall and held captive while Argall pressed Powhatan for the release of English prisoners and weapons. While kept in captivity from 1613 until 1614, Pocahontas was put under the supervision of Deputy Gov. Thomas Dale and the tutelage of Rev. Alexander Whitaker, who instructed her in Christianity.

" " Pocahontas did convert to Christianity, though whether it was on her own accord is also still up for debate. Library of Congress
Although we might desire to sometimes, it is impossible to operate within a bubble in todays interconnected world. Global societies, markets, and governments are readily linked together with everything from social media to trans-oceanic flights to Zoom. We depend on, use our relationship with, and relate to one another every day.

The dairy business is no different.

The milk checks arriving in U.S. farm mailboxes fluctuate based on world supply and demand. On the supply side, global milk production is influenced by the policies governments oceans away may apply to their farmers. And just as we work to build interest in dairy products at home, we must recognize that many more shoppers and consumers live outside of our borders and are also looking for affordable nutrition that is produced responsibly.

Thats why its critical to have world-wide partners who share U.S. dairys priorities of protecting the future of the dairy industry and growing total demand for dairy products. As they say, a rising tide lifts all boats.

A unified voice

Last month, this kind of supportive relationship was formalized when representatives from the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) and National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) met with leaders of the Federacion Nacional de Productores de Leche de Chile (FEDELECHE). While a whopper of an acronym, FEDELECHE might be thought of as the NMPF-like organization in the South American coastal country.



As the dairy farmers and USDEC leaders who participated in the week-long trade mission to the emerging market learned, Chiles dairy industry has many similarities to ours. Consolidation and the trend toward fewer, larger farms is slowly occurring, and there is concern about the fact that more farms are located farther away from population centers. However, dairy demand is also robust in the country that has seen greater domestic production as well as skyrocketing growth in cheese imports in the last few years.

Chilean dairy farmers also share the same commitment to their animals and land as U.S. farmers. Most of the countrys dairies are located in the Los Lagos and Los Rios regions  The Lakes and The Rivers. At the same time that drought and soil erosion are challenging farmers, consumers want to be assured that their food is produced in an environmentally friendly way. A voluntary sustainability support program has already attracted nearly 200 farms. Further, the country boasts thorough guidelines on animal care best practices.

Weve all been in the same boat, being labelled as contaminants. The whole dairy world is fighting this, recognized FEDELECHE first vice president Guillermo Petermann in a meeting with the American contingent, describing the common challenges dairy farmers on both continents face. However, we believe our narrative is true because we trust the animals and think milk is the best product.



FEDELECHE, NMPF, and USDEC signed a memorandum of understanding to signify the two countries commitment to not only share information and collaborate, but to bring a unified voice to the world stage in terms of dairys place in society and in nutrition.

In an international community that has a strong presence from the European Union countries, where environmental restrictions on dairies are becoming prohibitive, bringing a strong pro-dairy voice to the table is essential, as Marilyn Hershey, dairy farmer and Dairy Management Inc. board chair, emphasized with the Chileans. By joining with other countries that share the same standards and outlook as the U.S., our perspective and the importance of dairy gains even more credibility.

The U.S.s relationship with Chilean dairy farmers and their leaders will provide both countries that chance to strengthen the future of their dairy industries by advocating for the important work they are already doing and their proactive mindset. We look forward to developing this, Petermann added. Our scopes are very similar.

To comment, email your remarks to intel@hoards.com.

(c) Hoard's Dairyman Intel 2022

October 31, 2022
Today, November 1, 2022, Google Hangouts is scheduled to die. The mobile app has been kicking people out of the service one by one since July, and the last vestiges of Hangouts, the web app, will be shut down today. Hangouts was  for a time  Googles best, most ambitious, and most popular messaging effort, but 5 billion downloads later, Google is moving forward. Hangout relatives, google chat By now all messages and contacts should have been automatically imported, but the new service is only a pale shadow of Hangouts original design.

Closing Hangouts is the latest chapter Clutter This is Google Message History. Google Talk launched 17 years ago, and Google still doesnt have a competitive messaging platform. Part of the reason for Googles 10 millionth messaging app is that Messages has a solid and stable home within Google. The 2022 message collection is a great example of this. Google Workspace does Google Chat  Googles take on Slack  and then theres Google Messages  a kind of carrier-centric competitor to Apples iMessage service  which apparently comes from the Android team. Is the team that makes Android more or less important than the team that makes Gmail and other Google apps? Both have understandable reasons for chasing messages, but splitting Googles user base between two incompatible products makes it difficult for any project to win. Outside of those two big projects, theres still Google Voice, and a bunch of messaging services found in apps like Google Photos and Google Pay.

Once upon a time, Google tried to fix this. Messaging should have had a real home at Google, and that home should have been Google+. In 2011, Google CEO Larry Page decided that social media was the future and founded the Google+ project across the company. The G+ boss was named Senior Vice President, making him one of eight people who reported directly to Page, making Google+ a mainstay of Google. This department was supposed to completely take over messaging, and two years later the messaging project  Google + Hangouts  was launched.

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Android application for the first day.

Blob emoticons and a video call in progress.

Do you think Android uses tablet apps? The Google

Like Google Chat, Hangouts worked in Gmail.

Who can forget the ugly, vomit-green version of Hangouts launched in 2014?

By the end of 2014, you can quickly switch between Hangouts, SMS, and Google Voice by simply clicking the button to the left of the input field.

The current (and I think final) design for Android. The Google

Dubbed Project Babel, Hangouts was tasked with getting thisunites google messenger At that time, Google had four messaging apps, namely Google+ Messenger, Google Talk, the Android SMS app, and Google Voice. Hangouts launched in 2013 Integrated SMS at the end of the year. By 2014, the app was fully functional, with Hangouts, SMS, and Google Voice messaging all in one app, all accessible from your phone or anywhere on the web. with the release of Android 4.4 in 2013 there I was There is no standalone Android SMS app. Hangouts was the only default SMS setting.

Google made their own version of iMessage and it was a great service. All of your communications were available from a single messaging app in a single, easy-to-use interface. Google also has a tangible advantage over iMessage, thanks to its extensive cross-platform compatibility. Hangouts ran on Android, iOS, the web, and within Gmail. That means the service works natively on phones, watches, cars, tablets, web browsers, and even Google Glass. Google is likely to have a good position in messaging today if it keeps updating and investing in Hangouts.

However, Hangout House fell apart already in 2014. Amid complaints that Google+ was a ghost town, the knives came out. Vic Gundotra, the vice president of Google+ and the driving force behind the project, is leaving GoogleAnd on the same day, reports appeared that Google+s resources will be drastically reduced and the mandatory Google-level integration of G+ will end. Hangouts is stuck in a dying department, while some projects like Google+ Photos managed to move to a stable landing spot, but Hangouts didnt, and by 2015 youll regularly see complaints from customers that the project is underfunded.

The other problem with Hangouts is that it hit service providers. The combination of SMS and Super Messaging in one application did not appeal to service providers. They wanted something that was focused on SMS and SMS only, so that users wouldnt be tempted to not use the carriers product. Google gave in and introduced the standalone Google Messages service in the next Android version. Due to Googles lack of regulation and stability, Hangouts lasted about a year as Googles best integrated messaging service. Hangouts was still a zombie-abandoned product that was still better than a bunch of new messaging services that Google would launch and finally retire today.
Russia has previously ordered the evacuation of civilians from the zone it controls on the west bank of the river, where Ukrainian forces launched an attack to capture the city of Kherson. Russian-appointed officials said Tuesday that the order would now be extended to a 15-kilometer zone on the east coast.

According to Ukraine, the evacuations cover forced displacement from the occupied territory, which is a war crime. Russia, which annexed the territory in an unverified referendum, says it is moving civilians to safety because of the threat of Ukraine deploying unconventional weapons.

Due to the possibility of using war methods prohibited by the Ukrainian regime, as well as information that Kyiv is preparing a large-scale missile strike against the Kakhovka hydropower plant, there is an immediate danger that the Kherson region will be flooded, said Vladimir Zaldo of the occupied Kherson region. Russias installed leader in a video message.

Given the situation, I decided to extend the evacuation zone to 15 kilometers from the Dnipro, he said. The decision enables the establishment of multi-level defense in order to repel Ukrainian attacks and protect the civilian population.

Moscow has accused Kiev of planning to deploy a so-called dirty bomb to spread radiation, or detonate a dam to flood towns and villages in Kherson province. According to Kyiv, the accusations that it would use such tactics on its own territory are absurd, but Russia itself may be planning such actions to blame Ukraine, they said.

Cover image: Getty Images
Back in My Day is an Information Age series profiling some of our older ACS members and Information Age readers speaking about their early days in IT.

This week, we speak with Melvyn (Mel) Austin, aged 84, from Perth, Western Australia.

How did it all start for you?

Actually, it was at the age of just 16, straight out of school, when I joined the Life Insurance Office in Perth, which was then known as the AMP Society.

This was in 1954, long before digital computers, and during a time where you could sign up with a company as a young, inexperienced recruit and work your way to the top, as our CEO had done.

Was that the path you followed?

Not quite!

It was a company requirement that staff had to complete relevant qualifications by age 21 and be rotated through a range of different departments over a 10-year period to gain wide exposure to the diverse aspects of the financial sector.

What were some of the pre-computer technologies like?

While working in Life Insurance Renewals, we used an Addressograph machine to print labels for renewal notices, which relied on embossed metal address plates and an ink ribbon to do the printing.

The amounts for the premium notices were added up by human computers, using adding machines that created extremely long print rolls, from which the numbers were called out by clerical staff so that another person could check for errors in the process.

When I moved to the Investments Section, we had to manually calculate mortgage repayments for new loans and for a 30-year loan with monthly repayments, it was necessary to raise a number to the power of 360!

The only way to do this without computational power was to use logarithms (up to seven figures for accuracy).

What other processes did you use?

In the Calculations Department we were using Facit electric calculators for multiplication and division, and felt quite privileged to have these, while in other departments calculations were done using hand-cranked Odhner calculators.

I still have one of these!

We also used punched cards for some processes and in 1966 I was seconded to our Fire and General subsidiary to establish an accounting department in WA using a system based on punched cards.

It turned out to be a bit of a nightmare as seven punched cards were needed to store basic information for each policy.

All cards had to be retained for one year for balancing purposes and IBM Ledger machines were used for maintaining accounting records.

How was the upgrade from these methods to digital computers?

Amazing!

It happened for me in 1980, after more than two decades with the AMP Society, when I was appointed Branch Data Processing Officer (Department Head) for the WA spoke of AMPs Australia-wide network, headquartered in Sydney.

Id always been fascinated by computers and had obtained an A+ score on the IBM Aptitude Test for Computing Personnel, so this was a wonderful opportunity, which I celebrated by joining ACS (and still have my original members certificate).

Can you tell us about the equipment being used?

The mainframe in Sydney HQ was a UNIVAC machine, while in the branches we had DEC PDP-11/40 minicomputers, to which VDUs were linked in a daisy-chain arrangement.

Connected to each DEC mini was a huge hard drive, with a disk bigger than an LP record, and when one of these suffered a head crash we put the gouged disk up on the wall along with an amusing eleventh commandment cartoon saying: Thou shalt make back-ups.

Also connected to the DEC was an NCR cash register which recorded the days receipts on a cassette tape that looked like an audio cassette.

The DEC was housed in its own computer room, which was so exciting at the time that people would often come to gaze through the windows and be mesmerised by the flashing lights and spinning tape drives.

At the end of each day, all the data was uploaded to the UNIVAC in Sydney HQ via a dedicated phone line for overnight batch processing, with backups being made on the DECs tape drive.

Printing, back then, was done on continuous folded paper with punched holes down each side to feed it through the printer.

What was the diversity of the IT workforce like back then?

The IT staff in Perth consisted of 2 men and 3 women and at that time women had to leave if they became married.

Later, a female executive was appointed in Sydney to focus on diversity issues and when she visited one department in Perth, which consisted mainly of female staff, she asked: Do you have any problems between the sexes in your department?

Definitely! replied the department head.

What do you mean? asked the concerned-looking executive.

The girls just won't leave the boys alone, replied the department head.

Getting back to the technology of the time, how did things move on from the UNIVAC and DEC days?

All of this equipment was replaced by an IBM network, using a controller instead of the DEC mini and it became my responsibility to dispose of the PDP-11/40.

Fortunately, I was able to sell it to a hospital through a friend who was a medical physicist.

We were also able to upgrade from the huge paper-feed dot matrix printers into laser printing.

Then MS-DOS PCs arrived, which used floppy disks, and hard drives that had to be formatted before use.

The PCs enabled us to create our own menus with batch files and we installed software that allowed them to function as either standalone machines or as dumb terminals for the mainframe.

How did your career finish up?

In 1990 I was promoted to the executive as Manager of Accounting and Administrative Services, which still included responsibility for data processing in WA, and from there I eventually took early retirement after 40 years of service.

What have you been doing since leaving work?

Ive always retained my interest in computers and taught myself HTML so I could set up websites for clubs I belonged to, including my local Probus Club, whose website I manage.

Im also highly committed to ongoing learning and reading books about technology; I still have one containing binary arithmetic and machine language programming instructions.

Actually, at the age of 84 I find Im still learning one new thing every day (but forget two).

IT has been a great career for me and, along with ACS membership, Id recommend it to anyone, especially in cyber security following the tragic breaches suffered by Optus and Medibank Private customers.
What do you mean Australia is no longer prioritising cyber professionals? Photo: Shutterstock

Surprised ICT industry bodies are questioning the wisdom of a federal government decision to deemphasise recruitment of cyber security specialists and programmers by removing 27 job roles from the official list of jobs used to prioritise skilled visas.

Home Affairs and Cyber Security Minister Clare ONeil made the changes to the Priority Migration Skilled Occupation List (PMSOL) as a way of helping clear the backlog of skilled visa applications that, she told the AFR, were adding up to 45 minutes to the processing of each application.

Amidst massive delays for processing of skilled migrant visas, the government committed $36.1 million to clear the backlog of visa applications and finalised 745,000 visa applications in June and July this year alone, including 9,550 temporary skilled visitor visas.

This number has since increased to 43,000 temporary skilled visas and 47,000 permanent skilled visa applications approved to date.

The new framework groups job roles into four categories, with priority going to health and education occupations, accredited employer applications, and applications from regional Australia.

Despite ONeils claims that streamlining the PMSOL would reduce visa processing times, the removal of several ICT-related job roles  including ICT security specialists, analyst programmers, developer programmers, software engineers, and software and applications programmers  was incongruous given the impact of the recent spate of cyber security breaches that have plagued organisations including Medibank, Optus, Woolworths subsidiary MyDeal, Vinomofo, Toyota, Telstra, and ADF contractor ForceNet.

Compromised businesses have scrambled to catch up with cyber criminals, but with the industry long suffering a chronic shortage of cyber security specialists  and the recent surge in attacks further increasing demand that has already been pegged at 30,000 additional cyber security specialists by 2026  industry bodies were questioning the wisdom of deprioritising cyber and other seriously deficient skills.

Given Australia's ongoing chronic technology skills shortage, ACS is surprised IT visas are being de-prioritised, ACS CEO Chris Vein said, particularly given the important role tech plays in delivering the healthcare and education services the government is clearly looking at supporting with these changes.

The Opposition wasted no time pouncing on the policy backflip, with Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Dan Tehan calling it extraordinary that as Australia faces a growing threat from cyber criminals and scammers that Labor have removed cyber-related roles from the PMSOL, making it harder for businesses to bring talented cyber professionals to this country to work.

Whose interests are served by making it harder for Australian businesses to bring cyber experts to this country to work to protect Australian citizens and their data, Tehan asked. Australians need more cyber protection, not less.

Tech sector losing its primacy?

The changes to the PMSOL come just weeks after ONeil lauded the governments decision to boost Australias permanent migration numbers to 195,000 per year  including 142,400 skilled migration positions  in a move that she called a turning point in our history as momentous as the post war populate or perish program that was the foundation of our post-war reconstruction, nation building and national security.

The new plan, she noted at the time, would allow State and Territory Governments to be responsive to skills shortages and plan for their future needs. From software analysts to chefs, Australia will once again be attractive to prospective workers.

With software analysts and chefs now removed from the list of priority visa applicants  along with other in-demand jobs including accountants, engineers, veterinarians and chief executives  some were questioning the strength of the governments true commitment to skilled migration, particularly in light of Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Andrew Giles claim that the Albanese Government is committed to re-establishing immigration as a nation-building function of Government.

The PMSOL changes highlight the risks of trying to resolve Australias IT skills shortfall using migration, Vein said, and in so doing served as a reminder that Australia has to also work on building our domestic workforces capabilities, encouraging businesses to invest in advanced technology and encourage students to enter STEM careers.

The government has recently backed a range of support mechanisms to boost cyber and ICT skills development, with recent skills-related government policy decisions including a $60 million commitment to cyber security training grants and support for university training initiatives, and efforts to boost access to Indian talent through certification equivalency.

Last year, the former Morrison government actually expanded the PMSOL to help the cyber security better target its recruitment and skills development efforts.

Industry figures had responded warmly to previous government efforts to address the skills gap by boosting boost skilled migration.

We welcome the governments initiatives to strengthen training in priority industries while responsibly using migration to ease current critical skill and labour shortages, Roy Lovli, head of IT consulting firm Kyndryl Consult, said in the wake of a recent federal Budget that, he said, left him heartened to see the Federal Government embracing skills development and putting such focus on enabling Australia to be more sophisticated in technology to help future-proof our economy.
EASTON, Md.  A Middle East media ministry is giving embattled Iranian women a voice after government officials shut down the nation's internet amid mass protests that have turned deadly.

SAT-7  a multimedia Christian broadcaster  has seen its WhatsApp and Instagram services disrupted by the digital media blackout, but live satellite television broadcasts are still getting through.

Its live Farsi-language programs are bringing encouragement and hope to the nation rocked by the recent death of a young woman held by Iran's morality police. Mahsa Amini, 22, allegedly was beaten to death for reportedly not properly wearing her hijab, a traditional headscarf.

Women burning their hijabs

Media reports have shown young women burning their hijabs in Tehran, the nation's capital, while young men join the growing protests. Dozens of people, including student protesters, reportedly have been killed in clashes with Iran's security forces.

Despite the internet blockade, SAT-7 continues to broadcast live via satellite into homes and is attempting to connect with social media users in Iran to provide support, communicate hope in the transformative power of the Gospel, give women a voice, and let them know they're not alone.

Last year, the ministry's support team had 47,000 one-on-one conversations with Iranian viewers via its social media channels.

Seeing what's happened to Mahsa has broken all our hearts, said the network's Hengameh Borji, who presents a Farsi-language program. Co-presenter Sally Momtazi said, Basic rights is not just a women's fight, but it has become the men's (fight), too.

Women treated as virtually sub-human

Since the Iranian Revolution took place in 1979, Iranians have only known religion to be used as a way to control them.

Iran's massive population of young people are eager to see change and freedom, especially women who've been treated as virtually sub-human without any rights, said Rex Rogers, president of SAT-7 USA (www.sat7usa.org). They've had enough.

SAT-7's faith-and-educational programs in the Middle East and North Africa often speak up for women in the region's male-dominated culture  explaining to viewers women are equal with men in God's eyes and created in his own image.

Disregard for women is nothing new in Iran

According to one study, Iran holds the world record for domestic violence against women.

A staggering two out of every three Iranian women suffer domestic violence in their lifetime, double the global average, says the Research Center on Women and Family in Tehran.

More than one in every 20 married women in Iran has experienced near death domestic violence or feared for her life.

And it's estimated half of all murders of women in Iran are at the hands of their husband or immediate relatives  gender-related killings known as femicides.
Eleven more people have died of COVID-19-related causes in Forsyth County, the second-highest count in the states weekly report since the height of the omicron surge in mid-February.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services lists Forsyth with 915 confirmed deaths related to the pandemic since mid-March 2020.

According to the weekly report released Wednesday, there was just one death listed for the week that ended Oct. 29.

DHHS cautions that its weekly totals are subject to revision, including factoring in cases and deaths that occurred weeks or months ago, but were only recently confirmed as related to COVID-19.

Those ages 75 and older represent 450 of the Forsyth COVID-19 related deaths, along with 197 ages 65 to 74, 165 ages 50 to 64, 36 ages 25 to 49, and four ages infant to 24. There are 58 deaths that do not have an age listed for the deceased.

Meanwhile, the county had its first week over week increase in cases in four DHHS COVID-19 dashboard reports at 423.

Thats up from 303 cases for the week that ended Oct. 22. That weekly count was at its lowest level since 237 for the week that ended April 16.

About 14.4%, or 61, of those counted as a confirmed case last week were considered as being re-infected.

Forsyth has had 115,923 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

Forsyth health director Joshua Swift and Novant Health Inc. infectious diseases expert Dr. David Priest have stressed that the DHHS weekly case totals include only laboratory confirmed cases and dont include most people who determine they are positive with an at-home test.

Priest said Tuesday that even though the Triad and North Carolina is in a lull for COVID-19 cases, he expects another uptick later this year and into early 2023 as more people spend more time indoors without mask restrictions in place.

Priest said that as of Tuesday, there are 75 COVID-19 patients systemwide for Novant, with just one requiring the use of a ventilator. He said almost all COVID-19 patients are ages 65 and older, and either unvaccinated or havent completed their vaccine booster regimen.

Priest warned that even as many, if not most, people have either been vaccinated or exposed to a COVID-19 variant, the latest subvariants remain very contagious even though they may not cause much more serious disease.

By this point, most of us have either had COVID or some kind of natural immunity or been vaccinated, or both, Priest said.

Its important to remember that vaccination protection does fade over time, so with Thanksgiving coming up, its probably best to get boosted within the next two weeks.

Influenza update

DHHS reported Wednesday that a child in the eastern part of the state has died from complications associated with influenza.

To protect the familys privacy, the childs hometown, county, age and sex are not being released.

The latest DHHS count has five adult deaths linked to flu, up from one in the previous report.

The CDC recommends flu vaccination every year for everyone 6 months and older. In addition to being the best way to prevent infection with the flu, vaccination can make illness milder for those who do get the flu.

Certain groups are at higher risk for serious illness from flu, including children younger than five, pregnant women, people over 65 and those with certain chronic medical conditions such as heart or lung disease.

However, more than half of the children who die from flu have no known medical condition that would put them at higher risk.

Early treatment with an antiviral drug can also help prevent flu infections from becoming more serious. Antiviral treatment works best if started soon after symptoms begin.

Priest stressed the presence of influenza is already high in the Triad and most parts of the Southeast just one month into the traditional flu season that begins Oct. 1 and runs through at least March 31.

Priest said the increase in flu cases reflects the successful tapping down of cases as people wore masks for COVID-19 protection the previous two flu seasons.

This year, were seeing much higher activity in October, which means were already about two-thirds of the way toward our typical peak, Priest said.

Priest also emphasized getting a seasonal flu shot soon to build up protections ahead of the winter months.

We know that both influenza and COVID can have downstream effects, and there is an association with heart attacks and strokes in the weeks after someone has the flu or COVID, Priest said.

Vaccines not only protect you from getting infections, but also protect you from severe consequences in the weeks after that infection, particularly for those already with certain risk factors.

COVID-19 statewide

The statewide new case count last week was 8,020, down from a revised 7,151 in the previous report.

Of those North Carolinians with a positive test result last week, 1,306, or 16.3%, were considered re-infected.

North Carolinas total confirmed case count since the onset of the pandemic is at 3.25 million.

There were 281 COVID-19 related deaths reported statewide last week for a total of 27,234 since the onset of the pandemic.

Last week, the number of COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals in North Carolina was at 623, up 22 from the previous report.

COVID-19 hospitalizations statewide averaged 668 last week, down from 676 from the previous week.

Hospitals in the 17-county Triad region averaged 163 COVID-19 patients, up six from the previous week.

The current dominant omicron subvariants have proven to be more contagious, but have not produced a surge in hospitalizations.

The BA.5 subvariant made up 65.5% of new cases from Oct. 9 to Oct. 22, along with 15.9% the BA.4.6 subvariant and 6.8% the BF.7 subvariant. There were eight subvariants listed by DHHS.

DHHS reported 10.1 million COVID-19 virus particles found in wastewater samples last week. Thats compared with 6.8 million and 13.6 million the previous two weeks.

DHHS has said that COVID-19 virus particles appearing in wastewater can signal how quickly the virus is spreading, even if people dont get tested or have symptoms.
The Greater Omaha Packing Co. beef plant in South Omaha will expand its capacity by nearly 30% and add 275 jobs thanks to a $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack visited Omaha on Wednesday to formally announce the grant, part of an initiative by the administration of President Joe Biden to increase competition in the heavily concentrated meat industry.

The administration has said a lack of competition within the industry has both depressed prices producers receive for their cattle while leading to higher prices for consumers.

I think this is a good day for producers, a good day for those interested in working in the facilities, a good day for the communities who will benefit and a good day for consumers, Vilsack said of the initial round of grants being released Wednesday.

Many cattle producers and consumer advocates think a lack of competition in meat processing is giving packers too much market power, to the detriment of both consumers and farmers and ranchers. Some 85% of the more than 30 million head of cattle raised for slaughter each year in the United States are processed by just four leading meatpackers.

Packers argue there is nothing inherently wrong with cattle markets. They attribute recent years higher prices for consumers and lower prices for cattle producers to natural supply and demand forces and to market disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vilsack a year ago announced that the administration would make $500 million from the American Rescue Plan available as grants, loans and loan guarantees for small, startup meat-processing facilities, expanding national production capacity and giving local producers more places to market their livestock.

Vilsack said the goal of the program is to increase competition, expand capacity, strengthen the nations food system, create jobs and lower food costs for consumers.

The grant Greater Omaha will receive is part of an initial round of $73 million in grants to mostly small meat processors and one of two in Nebraska.

From its base in South Omaha, Greater Omaha Packing lays claim to being the fifth-largest U.S. beef packer, behind only the Big Four of Tyson, Cargill, JBS and National Beef.

The South Omaha plant is among the largest ones to receive the new grants. The firms plant in South Omaha slaughters some 2,400 head of cattle daily  cattle raised mostly by producers in Nebraska and Iowa  and employs roughly 1,500 workers.

The grant will help Omaha Packing add another processing line to the plant for an additional 700 head of daily capacity. There is no timetable yet for when construction of the line would begin.

Its just going to allow us to be able to provide more opportunity for producers outside of the big four, and obviously provide more jobs, said Wendy Thornhill, director of marketing and communications with Greater Omaha Packing.

The other Nebraska grant is $688,011 to Lot 279, a craft meat producer in Norfolk that sells beef products direct to consumers.

The grant will help fund the construction of a processing facility for use by at least three family-owned cattle producers who are seeking to create their own brands of value-added beef products. The company will provide fee-based processing services to the producers.

Cattle producers shrinking share of the beef dollar compared to packers was the subject of a series of stories in the World-Herald last year.

Vilsack was scheduled to tour the Greater Omaha beef plant, which features robotic systems and conveyors controlled by computer software that sort and store as many as 65,000 boxes of refrigerated beef cuts.

The system tracks the product in each box, its weight, when it was packed and makes decisions on what box to ship to the customer that requests it. The company ships beef across the nation and to more than 70 different countries.

Henry Davis is the third-generation leader of the company founded in Omaha by his grandfather in 1920.

Vilsack said the agriculture department will be taking applications on a second round of grants that will total roughly the same amount of funding.
The future of the former Vise-Grip plant in DeWitt is up in the air again just a few years after it reopened.

Malco Products, which bought the plant in 2017 and reopened it in 2019 to make Eagle Grip locking pliers, a product similar to Vise-Grip, announced this week that it plans to exit that business early next year after fulfilling all current customer orders.

For the past five years, our teams in both Annandale and DeWitt have been working tirelessly to bring this vision to life and to make it a success. This has included a significant investment in both time and in capital resources, said Rich Benninghoff, president and CEO of the Minnesota-based company. Despite all of these efforts, the reality is that this platform doesnt align with our core focus, so weve made the difficult decision to exit the locking handle tools business.

Benninghoff said the company "is engaged in discussions with industry partners and potential buyers and will communicate further details as they become available."

However, he said it plans to wind down operations by the end of the year, and if no buyer is found by then, the 63 employees who work there will lose their jobs.

"If a sale does not occur, we anticipate position eliminations may begin on Dec. 31," Benninghoff said. "Some positions will remain active beyond that date, depending on operational need."

He said Malcos human resources team has met with all employees, and the company will be offering all employees a severance package even if operations continue under new ownership.

According to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice sent to the state Department of Labor, the company plans to offer three employees the opportunity to transfer to its Minnesota plant, while the others will face layoffs starting Dec. 31.

This is the second time DeWitt has faced closure of the plant.

In 2008, Newell Rubbermaid, which owned the plant at the time, decided to outsource production of Vise-Grips to China. That decision cost about 330 people their jobs and ended an 86-year history of the iconic locking pliers being manufactured in the tiny Saline County town of about 500 people, where they were invented.

Malco applied for and received state tax incentives in when it bought the plant in 2017, and based on the requirements  which requires companies in most instances to meet employment targets for at least six years  it's possible the company might have to pay some of the incentive money back.

Moria Holly, DeWitt's village clerk and treasurer, declined comment. Saline County officials could not be reached for comment.
NONFICTION: Journalist Ted Conover immerses himself in life off the grid in the San Luis Valley of Colorado.

"Cheap Land Colorado" by Ted Conover; Alfred A. Knopf (304 pages, $30)



In "Cheap Land Colorado: Off-Gridders at America's Edge," his new book of immersive journalism, Ted Conover returns to his home state to explore the San Luis Valley and the people who live there. The valley's flat, arid plains are bordered by sand dunes and the Sangre de Cristo mountains and are populated by hundreds of people in remote trailers and cabins, living off the grid.

You might think it a bleak place, so windswept and isolated, but Conover grew to love it.

"I liked the low density, the slower pace, how affordable most things seemed," he writes. "It was a beautiful, wild and mysterious world."

Conover grew up in Denver. An author and a journalism professor at NYU, he has spent a lifetime steeping himself in unusual and fascinating situations. His first book, "Rolling Nowhere," in which he rides the rails as a hobo, began as his senior thesis at Amherst College.

Since then he has ridden with truck drivers in Africa, tracing the path of AIDS; crossed the Mexican border with migrant workers; attended raves in Minnesota. His 2000 book, "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing," won a National Book Critics Circle award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Over the years, Conover has mastered the difficult balance that first-person reportage requires; he is a character in the story  an observer, participant and narrator  but the story is not about him.

"Cheap Land Colorado" opens with Conover knocking on doors, volunteering for a nonprofit that offers assistance to isolated residents  firewood, clothing, whatever they need. He is open-minded, but wary. "A lot of people live out here because they do not want to run into other people," he notes. Their driveways are barricaded with gates and chained dogs, or posted with "a rifle-scope motif that says, 'IF YOU CAN READ THIS YOU'RE WITHIN RANGE!' "

Initially, Conover is there to report for a magazine piece, but he finds himself fascinated by the area and returns again and again for years, eventually buying his own five-acre plot.

The strength of this book lies in Conover's voice, confident, observant, nonjudgmental. He seems to find everyone interesting. Still, he recognizes "the needy are not always the good."

The book's structure doesn't follow a strict chronology, nor does it follow one main character; readers expecting a traditional nonfiction narrative might be slightly at sea, at first. While the arc of the book is roughly chronological, the chapters are thematic.

Off-gridders, he writes, live here for a multitude of reasons. "Most seemed to be escaping more typical American lives that had become unsustainable, whether because of too many bills or too many disappointments," he writes. "This part of the world is a good place for fugitives or others who want to disappear; neighbors tend not to be intrusive and law enforcement sometimes seems barely there."

Off grid doesn't mean out of touch, though, and folks have generators, wind turbines and solar panels, Wi-Fi and cellphones. They post on Facebook; they send texts. When Conover writes a piece for Harper's magazine about the valley, many residents read it online.

The photo on the book's cover is of Conover's land  his trailer, his blue shed, his view of Blanca Peak. He admits that his "city-loving wife" back in New York doesn't quite get what it is that draws him here. But after years of his visiting, the land has become part of him.

"It was quiet! I owned it. My newfound independence relaxed me."

One more reason to live off the grid.
Nine bidders were initially interested in the Falls City-area farmland.

They opened at $1,000 per acre, and took turns driving the price higher.

Past its assessed value of $4,185 per acre. Past the UNL 2022 Nebraska Farm Real Estate Reports average of $6,070 per acre for all farmland in the southeast region.

And even with a week left in the month-long online auction, past the reports average of nearly $10,000 per acre for center pivot-irrigated land  and these 117 acres werent even irrigated.

Auctioneer Jason Smith of DreamDirt didnt know what to think.

Its close to Falls City. Its on a hard-surface road. But other than that, its fairly unremarkable. A lot of people call me and joke and say there must be gold buried out there.

After bidding reached $17,000 an acre, just two potential buyers remained. They kept bidding until one of them blinked  and the other had the high bid at $27,400.

And that could be a record sale price for Nebraska farmland, Smith said. Or not. Despite research his office did  finding what it believes to be the previous high of $17,800  there appears to be no central clearinghouse of Nebraska farm sale prices.

I know, but I don't know," the auctioneer said. "In other words, I can't prove its a record because nobody really keeps track of that. But that said, I can't find any examples that are higher.

Jim Jansen, an agriculture economist extension educator at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who helps compile the farmland real estate report, knew of farmland that sold for higher, but it was bought by developers for uses that didnt include farming.

He couldnt recall a farmer-to-farmer sale going higher.

If its not a record, its on the upper end.

Jay Rempe, a senior economist for the Nebraska Farm Bureau, is from Falls City and was surprised  flummoxed  that land there could potentially set a record.

But he suggested three possible price-driving forces for farmland. First, with at or near-record farm income this year and last, some farmers have the means. Also, real estate can be a stable investment in an uncertain economy.

And finally, scarcity of land: Oftentimes, farmers have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to purchase a nearby piece of ground that would work nicely into their operation and they pay up to not miss the opportunity to purchase the ground, Rempe said in an email.

And thats what happened on the east edge of Falls City. Brothers David and Steven Frederick farm neighboring ground, and they wanted to add to their operation  to leave something for their sons and grandsons to work when theyre gone, David Frederick said.

They plan to grow it, not develop it.

Its just a piece of land that lays next to us. We farm. Thats what we do.

They didnt expect to pay apparent record prices, but then they ended up in a bidding war with Falls Citys best-known businessman.

Charles Herbster, owner of Conklin Co., had his eye on the property, too.

Its right on the highway, its a very good farm. Its a beautiful farm that lays totally flat, he said.

The former candidate for governor was trying to buy it as farmland, but also could envision developing it, perhaps with a future use for Conklin.

In 2019, Herbster broke an auction record when he paid $1.51 million for a black Angus bull for breeding.

But last week, he stopped short of another possible record when he ended his bidding at $27,000, leaving the Frederick brothers to walk away with a $3.2 million bill from Smith, the surprised auctioneer.

It wasnt something you could have predicted was going to happen, Smith said. Two people just wanted it really badly.
A 48-year-old Lincoln man has been sentenced to 14 to 20 years in prison for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl.

Devon Whitlow was arrested six days after the girl's father arrived home at about 7:30 p.m. Feb. 2 to find Whitlow putting on his pants in an upstairs closet at his home, according to court records.

The father told police he saw Whitlow alongside his half-naked 15-year-old daughter.

In an interview, the girl said that she knew Whitlow, but that he had come to the house uninvited that day and asked to use the bathroom, then grabbed her by the arm and took her upstairs before sexually assaulting her.

A 15-year-old can't legally consent to sex under Nebraska law.

Whitlow ultimately pleaded no contest to first-degree sexual assault.

Lancaster County District Judge Susan Strong sentenced him Monday on the charge, plus a year to 18 months for an assault at the jail. Whitlow also will have to register as a sex offender.
NEBRASKA CITY  A couple dozen of denim-wearing union employees sat front and center Wednesday as Nebraska Supreme Court justices lobbed questions at attorneys in a case that started over whether certain Department of Health and Human Services workers could wear jeans to work.

Outside the high school theater, where oral arguments were held, Justin Hubly, executive director of the Nebraska Association of Public Employees (NAPE) Local No. 61, said the litigation started in December 2019, before the pandemic, which feels like a lifetime ago.

But it's a meaningful case to union members, he said.

"Even though today we're really not talking about dress code anymore," Hubly said.

Or about jeans. They've already negotiated that with HHS in a later labor contract.

He said it's about HHS being required to bargain with the union when they make such changes and about arbitration orders being enforced, he said.

It all started with HHS changing its dress code in December 2019, requiring all employees to wear business casual clothing Monday through Thursday. Jeans, T-shirts and sweatshirts no longer were allowed.

Soon after, Christine Slaymaker and more than 200 other members of the NAPE Local No. 61, the union representing government workers in the state, filed a grievance challenging the revisions.

They said HHS violated their contract by not giving union members proper notice, failing to negotiate the changes and implementing the new dress code in an "unreasonable manner."

And they pointed out the inconsistent way it was being carried out. While some employees could wear jeans, others could not, even if they didn't interact with the public.

Both sides agreed to what's called a binding arbitration where they abide by the decision of a neutral arbitrator to avoid going to court, a more costly option.

But when the arbitrator, Jim Nash, ruled in favor of the workers and directed HHS to reactivate its previous dress code, allowing jeans, HHS appealed  first to the Lancaster County District Court and now the Supreme Court  saying he had exceeded his authority.

On Wednesday, attorney Grant Dugdale, representing HHS, said they contend he "didn't do anything close to what the contract required."

His decision failed to include specific findings of fact and conclusions of law and he added "language that wasn't there" regarding how a policy should be implemented, Dugdale argued.

Chief Justice Michael Heavican asked why HHS didn't point it out to the arbitrator, who had given both sides 30 days to ask for clarification of his order, to give him a chance to revise it, rather than appeal to district court.

Dugdale said nothing in the collective bargaining agreement allows for them to do that. But it does say they can appeal a decision to the district court if an arbitrator exceeds his or her authority.

If they agree, Justice Jonathan Papik asked, "What's the appropriate remedy?"

Should the case go back to the arbitrator so he can rewrite his order? Or back to the district court, which upheld the order earlier this year?

Dugdale said it should go to a new arbitrator, which would start the process over.

On the other side, attorney Dalton Tietjen, who represents NAPE, said the briefs in the case show Health and Human Services simply doesn't want to accept a binding arbitration decision.

"The appellant dislikes the result and the appellant is searching high and low for a reason to invalidate it, unsuccessfully," he said.

Tietjen said HHS's failure to ask the arbitrator to clarify his order demonstrated to him an "egregious lapse."

"I hesitate to say bad faith, but perhaps," he said.

Tietjen asked the Supreme Court to affirm the district court's order.

In the hall, Hubly said union members wore jeans Wednesday in a sort of "silent protest of how silly to spend the taxpayer dollars litigating a case all the way up to the Supreme Court over such a trivial issue."

The Supreme Court took the matter under advisement.

The state's high court travels to high schools several times a year to participate in educational programming for students within their communities. The Nebraska City High School visit was the first visit to the city 45 miles east of Lincoln, according to the court's news release.
Daniele Schulzkump noticed something different when she walked into the lunchroom at Meadow Lane Elementary on the first day of school.

A sense of calm.

Thanks to the opening of Robinson Elementary School in northeast Lincoln, the school near 70th and Vine streets saw its student body drop by more than 100 kids this school year.

That meant a drastic change at Meadow Lane, which was nearing capacity. Drop off and pick up of students ran smoother, staff no longer had to share space and instead of 100 students eating lunch at a time, it was more like 80.

"That's a huge difference," said Schulzkump, Meadow Lane's principal for the past eight years.

The impact two new schools are already having on existing buildings this fall is evident in Lincoln Public Schools' yearly enrollment snapshot unveiled Tuesday, which shows growth largely stalling after a modest jump in students last year.

In total, 41,784 students from early childhood to 12th grade are enrolled at LPS as of Oct. 1, marking an increase of just 18 students from 2021, which saw enrollment rebound by more than 200 students following a year of decline because of the pandemic.

Districts are required to tally their enrollment on Oct. 1 but have until Nov. 1 to turn in the final number to the Nebraska Department of Education.

LPS originally projected a decrease of about 200 students this year based on birth data.

LPS was able to close that gap thanks to higher preschool enrollment  early childhood enrollment is up 76 students overall  and likely due to some families that moved to Lincoln, said Matt Larson, LPS associate superintendent of instruction.

"So we're actually pleased with this enrollment because it's up 18 students, but when you factor in the projected enrollment, it's actually up 200 from where it was projected," Larson said.

Kindergarten enrollment declined by about 150 students, but in general, cohorts stayed relatively the same from 2021. In some cases, class sizes even grew, including in high school, where the number of freshmen (3,272) is up significantly from last year's eighth grade class (3,099).

Tuesday's snapshot gives one of the first glimpses into the impacts the opening of Lincoln Northwest High School and Robinson have had on existing buildings, too.

The two new schools  part of the $290 million bond issue approved by voters in 2020  drew students from other schools nearing or over capacity, lightening the burden on those buildings.

Meadow Lane and Kahoa elementary schools, which lost portions of their attendance areas to Robinson, lost 113 and 50 students, respectively. Both schools were nearing 95% capacity last year.

That shows that Robinson, built in the booming Waterford development near 104th and Holdrege streets, is doing exactly what it was designed to do, Larson said.

"It makes it easier to have more classroom space and it's also easier on the infrastructure of the school, the cafeteria, the library, crowdedness in the hallways, your ability to have (P.E., arts and technology classes)," Larson said.

While opening a new building can be hard on kids who have friends change schools, the drop in enrollment at Meadow Lane opened up crucial space for staff, Schulzkump said. The school's family services offices, for example, were previously in the hallways and interventionists and special-education staff doubled up in the same rooms.

"It's nice to downsize a bit," Schulzkump said.

At the high school level, the introduction of Northwest led to enrollment declines at Lincoln High and North Star, as officials predicted would happen when the new high school at Northwest 48th and West Holdrege streets opened.

North Star lost 170 students and Lincoln High is down 138, although both schools  which have a capacity of roughly 1,900 students  are still over 2,000.

Northeast (1,811) and Southwest (2,170) also saw slight declines, while Lincoln East  now the city's biggest high school at 2,256 students  added six students.

Officials expect that the opening of Standing Bear High School at 70th Street and Saltillo Road in 2023 will help ease overcrowding at East. Early projections show anywhere from 600 to 750 students attending Standing Bear in its first year, Larson said.

Northwest opened with 498 ninth, 10th and 11th grade students.

Although Scott Middle School lost 45 students, it still remains the city's largest (1,137) middle school. Meanwhile, Moore (739) added 93 students and Goodrich and Schoo  other middle schools approaching capacity  also saw gains.

Kooser overtook Belmont as the district's biggest elementary school, boasting 888 students after adding 67 this year.

Overall, Larson said he would anticipate a few years of slower growth based on birth projections, but other variables such as an influx of refugee families could change that.

Any growth, though, is an improvement over 2020, when LPS lost 735 students amid the pandemic, the first time in two decades enrollment had dropped.
Sen. Ben Sasse was chosen Tuesday to be the next president of the University of Florida, winning unanimous support from the university's board of trustees at the conclusion of a four-hour meeting.

His appointment must be approved by the state's Board of Governors, which will meet Nov. 9 in Tampa.

Following that, Sasse is expected to resign from the Senate in late December, setting in motion the process for appointing a new Nebraska senator.

Early speculation points to the likelihood that Republican gubernatorial nominee Jim Pillen would appoint Gov. Pete Ricketts to the Senate seat in early January  if Pillen wins the governorship in November  although Ricketts has not yet said whether he would seek that appointment.

During an intensive round of questioning by members of the University of Florida's governing board Tuesday, Sasse said there had been "no conversations" with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis about the position of university president and that he had not been "ushered through this process" by anyone connected with the governor's office.

Those questions were prompted by some media speculation in Florida.

In answer to another question centered on student concerns about Sasse's position on LGBTQ rights, Sasse said he "recognize(s) the universal dignity of every human being" and there would be no change in the university's policies protecting LGBTQ rights.

Meanwhile, departing University of Florida President Kent Fuchs told the Independent Florida Alligator, the student newspaper, that he has full confidence in Sasse.

Fuchs said Sasse reminds him of another prominent politician, former President Barack Obama.

"They just seem very similar to me in terms of age (and) in terms of their ability to communicate," Fuchs said.

"Very different politics; but if President Obama was a sole candidate here, I'd be incredibly supportive of it as I am with Sen. Sasse."

Sasse will bring great communications skills, Fuchs said, along with resources from donors, foundations and federal government funding support.

"I believe he'll be phenomenally successful," Fuchs said. "I also believe he'll set aside his politics and I would suggest we should do the same."

Ten speakers  mostly students  opposed the choice of Sasse, overpowering one supporting voice.

Opponents urged the board not to appoint "a politician" to head the university, suggested that he would be "a puppet of Gov. DeSantis," raised concerns about his position on LGBTQ issues and suggested he "does not represent the values of our university."

The university needs "a Gator, not an elephant" as its president, one opponent argued, choosing to identify Sasse with the Republican Party.

Mori Hosseini, chairman of the Board of Trustees, suggested that the university needs "a once-in-a-generation leader," a president with "audacious vision," and that's what Sasse provides.

In a lengthy question-and-answer session with members of the governing board, Sasse said he believes the University of Florida is "the most interesting university in the country now," poised to move ahead after being ranked as one of the top five public research universities in the nation.

The opportunities both in Florida and at the university are "breathtaking," he said. "There is an unbelievable amount of dynamism in this institution."

But, he acknowledged, "there are tons of listening and learning that I need to do" in entering the job.

There will be "no activity in partisan politics in any way," Sasse assured the trustees in what he described as "a pledge of political celibacy."

In later remarks, Rahul Patel, chairman of the board's search committee, said all 12 prospects who were identified as finalists insisted on confidentiality.

They included nine presidents of top research universities, he said.

Sasse can be "a transformative leader," Patel said.

The board of trustees agreed to negotiate a contract with Sasse that would include a salary not exceeding $1.6 million a year.
Margaret Reist Local government reporter Margaret Reist is a recovering education reporter now writing about local and county government and the people who live in the city where she was born and raised. Follow Margaret Reist Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

Candidates in the Lancaster County Attorney's race have far outspent those in eight other contested county races, though a few others have gotten a substantial boost from heavy hitters in their parties.

Bold Alliance, a political advocacy group founded by Nebraska Democratic Party chairwoman Jane Kleeb, donated $10,000 to County Commissioner Sean Flowerday, who is running for reelection to the District 1 seat; $25,000 to County Commissioner Rick Vest, who is running for reelection in District 5; and $15,000 to Adam Morfeld, the state senator challenging Lancaster County Attorney Pat Condon.

Flowerday, a Democrat running against Republican challenger Cameron Hall, has spent $82,600 on his campaign, according to the latest filing with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission, compared with $36,400 in expenditures by his opponent.

By comparison, Morfeld has spent more than $418,000, compared with Condons $136,500, according to the latest campaign filings.

Candidates in most other races spent considerably less.

The Peed family and its business Sandhills Global contributed $60,000 to Condons campaign, which also got donations from 21 of the 38 attorneys in his office, according to the Omaha World-Herald, which found his campaign had the most and largest donations from employees of the county attorney's office. Two prominent members of Condon's office urged fellow attorneys to donate, which prompted at least one complaint to the countys human resources department, the story said.

Morfeld's coffers benefited from $11,743 from Planned Parenthood and $10,000 from the Conservation PAC, in addition to the Bold Alliance contribution. Former Nebraska governor and U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey threw in $5,000, and the International Association of Firefighters donated $7,500.

The Conservation PAC, whose treasurer is Chelsea Johnson, donated $5,000 to term-limited state Sen. Matt Hansen, a Democrat running for Lancaster County clerk. It also has donated to City Councilman James Michael Bowers, who is running for a seat in the Legislature.

Gov. Pete Ricketts contributed $10,000 to Hall, who is challenging Flowerday for the District 1 county commissioner seat. State Sen. Suzanne Geists Legislative campaign donated $5,000.

Ricketts also donated $5,000 to Jason Krueger, the Republican challenging Vest for the District 5 seat on the county board.

Nebraska first lady Susanne Shore, who endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Patty Pansing Brooks, also donated $500 to Morfelds campaign.

A happy Halloween

A shout out to Councilwoman Jane Raybould, who suggested the City Council switch its traditional late meeting from the last Monday in October so the public, and council members, could get to the most pressing responsibility of the day: handing out candy.

The council typically meets at 3 p.m., but shifts to 5:30 p.m. on the last Monday of the month, giving people who work easier access to the public meeting. Its also typically one of two meetings that allow public comment on any subject, not just those on the agenda.

This month, because Halloween fell on a Monday, Raybould suggested having the 5:30 p.m. meeting  with public comment  on Oct. 24.

That meant Mondays meeting started at 3 p.m., with a few city officials in costumes: Lincoln Parks and Recreation Director Maggie Stuckey Ross as a blackjack dealer, the mayor as Sandy Olsson in "Grease" (the final scene Sandy) and Raybould with a witchs hat.

Things wrapped up quickly and the city hall reporter got home in time to greet an exceedingly cute parrot and a pirate.

Food trucks sticking around

If youre downtown and want to grab a sandwich  or a taco, perhaps  at a food truck, youll have a bit more time.

Chalk it up to some lovely fall weather.

A pilot program to expand the citys food truck program into parts of downtown  near the State Office Building at 14th and L streets and in the South Haymarket under the Rosa Parks Way overpass  began in May.

It was supposed to end Tuesday, but the city's Dan Marvin told the council Monday that the city has recently had five more food trucks apply, and the nice weather will give them a chance to try out the downtown locations.

That will give city officials more data and input from food truck vendors to use to evaluate the pilot and come up with a permanent program, he said.

City officials plan to let the food trucks set up shop next week, before the council votes on the ordinance to extend the pilot until the end of the year.

Recognizing wildfire response

The Lancaster County Board recognized the work of volunteer fire departments, city and county law enforcement departments and others who helped fight the wildfires that spread through southern Lancaster County last month.

More than 120 firefighters from at least 24 departments fought the largest wildfires in the areas history, Commissioner Sean Flowerday said. Agencies established a shelter, ran tanker trucks of water to firefighters and delivered bottled water to thirsty crews, while others coordinated communication and other efforts.

Local farmers also helped, Flowerday said, tilling land to create firebreaks.

It was an overwhelming and incredible response from our first responders and they deserve our deepest gratitude and appreciation, Flowerday said during a ceremony Tuesday.
HARTINGTON  A judge has revoked bond for a man charged with fatally shooting four Laurel residents and setting fire to their homes this summer.

Upon a state request, County Judge Douglas Luebe on Wednesday ordered Jason Jones held without bond while awaiting trial. Luebe had previously set bond at $5 million.

Assistant Nebraska Attorney General Corey O'Brien, acting as a special Cedar County Attorney, asked that Jones be held without bond because the four first-degree murder charges he faces carry a possible death sentence and a minimum of life in prison without parole. Were Jones to bond out of custody prior to trial, O'Brien said, he would be a risk to flee the area to avoid prosecution.

Jones' attorney, Todd Lancaster, of the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy, did not resist O'Brien's request for no bond.

In addition to the four murder charges, Jones, 42, of Laurel, is charged with four counts of use of a firearm to commit a felony and two counts of first-degree arson. Those six charges all carry maximum sentences of 50 years in prison.

At the conclusion of Wednesday's 15-minute hearing, Luebe scheduled a preliminary hearing for Dec. 7 in Cedar County Court. Lancaster said it's possible Jones may waive the hearing and agree to be bound over to district court, where the case ultimately will be heard.

Jones appeared with Lancaster 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 incidents in which 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 another home. He is accused of setting both houses on fire.

Seated in a wheelchair, Jones gave brief responses of "Yes, sir" and "No, sir" to Luebe's questions.

Victims' family members filled two rows in the courtroom. O'Brien told media before the hearing they would not comment Wednesday because of the raw emotions that continue to exist, and some also may be called as witnesses in future court proceedings.

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 a Lincoln hospital for treatment of serious burns over a large portion of his body. He spent 82 days in the hospital before he was released on Oct. 26 and taken to the Reception and Treatment Center.

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.
A 23-year-old man fatally shot by Omaha police southwest of downtown early Sunday had indicated he wanted officers to shoot him, Omahas police chief said Tuesday.

Chief Todd Schmaderer said Officers Dominic Lombardo and Justin Georgius tried hard to get Jeramyah Wilson, 23, to put down his gun. Wilson, who was alone in an SUV near 30th and Marcy streets, verbally threatened officers multiple times, Schmaderer said.

An officer told investigators that Wilson was speaking through the drivers-side window of the SUV and made a quick movement toward the passenger side of the vehicle, toward an officer who was behind cover. Thats when Lombardo and Georgius started shooting, striking Wilson. Wilson died later at the Nebraska Medical Center.

It does bear some resemblance to suicide by cop, Schmaderer said. Wilson made some statements to that effect, he said, and those statements were recorded on police body cameras.

A relative of Wilsons, contacted Tuesday afternoon, said the family may comment after they have had time to process the information about what happened.

A 9 mm Ruger handgun was found on the floor of the SUV. Police said two shell casings also were recovered. They are thought to be from the shots Wilson fired that brought seven police officers to the scene. The gun was empty of bullets when it was recovered.

Audio of the incident was clear, but the video is partially obstructed because officers had taken cover.

Wilsons mother lives in the area and was among the witnesses at the scene, Schmaderer said. He said she pleaded with her son to drop the gun and surrender.

The audio of the incident will be released after a grand jury investigation.

Schmaderer said Wilson can be heard saying, Ill smoke you all, I swear to God. Theyre about to make me do some sh**, Mom. Go inside.

Wilson, who was found to be in possession of a stolen gun, continued to resist the officers pleas to surrender for six minutes, Schmaderer said. He also continued to threaten the officers.

Shoot me, bitch, Wilson said, according to Schmaderer. Im gonna shoot you.

Police said the two officers fired a total of 11 rounds.

The investigation is ongoing with the aid of the Nebraska State Patrol and the Sarpy County Sheriffs Office. Schmaderer said the investigation should be completed by the end of the week.

The officers are being interviewed today, right as we are speaking, Schmaderer said Tuesday afternoon. Ill tell you that from what I have seen, theres nothing about this incident that has me worried about anything (the officers) did wrong from a policy standpoint.

Lombardo, who has been with the department 1 years, and Georgius, who has 14 years of service, have been placed on paid administrative leave.

Wilson was awaiting trial in Douglas County District Court on two counts of felony terroristic threats. He also was awaiting trial in a separate case on several misdemeanors, including second-offense driving while intoxicated.
OMAHA  Halloween night at a popular neighborhood party on Omaha's Minne Lusa Boulevard began with shrieks of delight from costumed children collecting candy.

It ended with police gunshots and sirens.

Residents and community members Tuesday reflected on a night that could have turned out much worse after a car drove around a barricade and the driver hit the gas as hundreds of people were walking in the street in northern Omaha.

Officer Bryson Blandford shot the driver of the car, 31-year-old Dontavius Levering, near Newport Avenue, a few blocks from where Levering drove onto Minne Lusa Boulevard shortly after 7 p.m., officials said. Blandford, police said, fired seven shots and Levering was hit three times  in the jaw and once in each shoulder. He is expected to survive.

James Moore Sr., whose family had organized one of the bigger household events along the boulevard, said that he was grateful for police actions and that no trick-or-treaters appeared to have been hurt.

"That could have been my children and grandchildren who might have been hurt," he said. "A lot of people could have been hit."

Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said Tuesday afternoon that Blandford, who has been with OPD for four years, saved lives and acted in accordance with OPD's policies and procedures.

Schmaderer said his officers have trained to respond to a situation in which a vehicle is threatening a large crowd, such as the incident in Wisconsin last year where a man drove an SUV through a Christmas parade, killing six people and injuring dozens more. Just last week, a jury found Darrell Brooks guilty in that case.

"It clearly caused this officer concern, and that concern would be justified," Schmaderer said of Levering's actions Monday night. "Had the officer not been there, it's not hard to extrapolate that somebody would have been run over by this car."

Witnesses said Levering would rev the engine and hit the gas, almost striking people walking in the street. He stopped and started, first driving south in the northbound lane of Minne Lusa Boulevard, then circling the medians of the boulevard. The car's trunk wouldn't stay closed so when he braked, the trunk would fly open.

Levering was driving with his headlights off.

Some people chased the car, imploring the driver to stop. Others shouted at him, telling him that he couldn't drive there and that he had almost hit their kids. Many people already had called 911 to report what was happening.

One young mother said an officer told her and others to get on the ground and cover up their children as the car came down the street.

The Minne Lusa trick-or-treating event is an annual neighborhood party, and Omaha police officers and firefighters attend the gathering to connect with the community. Large barricades with white-and neon-orange stripes block access to Minne Lusa Boulevard from Sharon Drive to Newport Avenue.

Blandford was assigned to work the event, Schmaderer said, and had his police cruiser parked on a median on Minne Lusa near Newport Avenue, where he was handing out candy to children from the cruiser's trunk.

Blandford had heard another officer share via radio that a car had gone around a barricade. Blandford then saw a car approaching from the north. By that point, officials said, the car was in the southbound lane of Minne Lusa Boulevard.

Schmaderer said Blandford ran through the crowd, moving kids out of the way, and stood in the car's path, putting his hand out to signal that the driver should stop.

Blandford told bystanders to move and yelled "Stop" at the driver at least five times, the chief said.

Levering continued to drive the car toward Blandford and the people behind him. Blandford then fired at Levering. Photos released by Schmaderer from Blandford's body camera show the car driving head-on toward Blandford. Blandford's shadow, which shows him holding and aiming his gun, is reflected on the street. His arms can be seen at the top of the frame, with his hands holding his gun.

"The officer positioned himself the way he did to protect those behind him," Schmaderer said.

Police officials said Blandford began shooting as Levering approached. Blandford continued firing toward the driver's side as the car passed. In Blandford's body camera footage, it's evident that the car's driver's-side window is broken.

The car quickly came to a stop at the curb in front of a house. Blandford and paramedics who were there then provided medical aid to Levering.

Omaha Fire Department personnel took Levering to Nebraska Medical Center in serious condition. As of Tuesday afternoon, his condition was stable.

Lt. Neal Bonacci, a police spokesman, said when released from the hospital, Levering will be booked into jail on suspicion of attempted first-degree assault on an officer and use of a weapon to commit a felony  the weapon being his car. Bonacci said contrary to some witness reports, Levering did not fire a gun at trick-or-treaters, and no gun was found in the car.

Blandford has been placed on paid administrative leave and will be interviewed this week. But Schmaderer said that based on footage from Blandford's body camera and witness statements, he thinks Blandford acted correctly.

The police shooting was OPD's second in two nights. Schmaderer noted that OPD has had three such shootings so far this year, which matches last year's total and is less than half the highest annual total of the previous decade  seven, in 2016.

One resident, who declined to give her full name, was trick-or-treating with two of her children, ages 6 and 12. They had gone to the boulevard for the event for the past five years.

"How's this going to affect the kids when they go trick-or-treating? How are they going to remember this?" the woman said. "I would just like to know what the purpose of (the driver) was. You ruined kids' lovely Halloween night."

The woman said people ran after they heard the gunshots and everyone went home. The gathering usually continues until about 8 or 8:30 p.m.

Members of a nonprofit Omaha organization, Black Men United, passed out candy to kids Tuesday to try to make up for what happened.

Colleen Cannon, the group's program manager, said organizers encouraged children to wear their costumes and come to 4200 N. 30th St., where they handed out candy.

"That's sad that the kids can't even go trick-or-treating," Cannon said.

Levering has a lengthy criminal record. He served prison time in 2012 and 2013 on a charge of theft by receiving stolen property. He also was found guilty of attempted burglary in 2016.

Police said the investigation into what happened is continuing. Levering has not been able to be interviewed because of his condition, police said. Police officials don't yet know what Levering's intentions were  his listed address is on a street just off Minne Lusa Boulevard.

The Nebraska State Patrol and the Sarpy County Sheriffs Office are assisting with the investigation. Per state law, a grand jury will convene to review the case.
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  Bus rides are now free for military veterans in the Racine area.

The Racine City Council Tuesday evening unanimously approved a measure that will waive the fare for veterans.

According to figures released by the Racine County Veterans Services Office, approximately 8,000 people in the RYDE Racine urban service area are veterans.

How it will work Upon boarding, veterans must present a veterans photo identification card or valid Wisconsin drivers license with a veterans designation for the fare to be waived.

The initiative was introduced by Alderman Mollie Jones, who said she comes from a long line of veterans. Both her husband and brother served in the Vietnam War, and an uncle served in World War II.

I am very happy to support this initiative, she said and later added, This is near to me.

Advocates

Veterans and advocates for veterans spoke in favor of the measure during public comments.

Zach Zdroik, a Marine who is now executive director of the nonprofit Veterans Outreach of Wisconsin, said he could talk at length about the issues effecting veterans, from homelessness, to the struggle to survive, to suicide, to getting to the places that provide services for vets.

Tonight we have an opportunity to focus on one of those, and thats getting rides for veterans, Zdroik said. Every single veteran, no matter who they are, no matter what their military history is, at one point they raised their right hand and said, I will give my life for the United States of America and for the freedom we have right now.

Zdroik said everything the people have comes from the sacrifices made by veterans.

Even the littlest thing, he added, such as a free bus ride, helps a vet.

According to Shawn Rivers, the Racine County veterans service officer, himself a veteran, approximately 300 veterans are served each week by his office and the Veterans Outreach of Wisconsin, which provides a free food pantry for veterans and operates a village of tiny homes on Yout Street for veterans at risk of homelessness.

A free bus ride could help veterans get to the Racine County Veterans Services Office where Rivers works at 1717 Taylor Ave.

RYDE Racine joins Kenosha Transit in providing this benefit to veterans. Fox Cities Valley Transit and Green Bay Metro also waive fares for veterans with service-connected disabilities.

It is an honor to provide this benefit to our veteran community. Breaking down transportation barriers will aid our veterans in finding safe and affordable housing, securing economic stability and accessing social services, Transit and Mobility Director Trevor Jung said in a statement.
DOVER  Federal investigators are reporting untrained staff, lax monitoring of medications and other new problems found this summer inside the state-run Wisconsin Veterans Home at Union Grove.

The issues uncovered by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service follow a report earlier this year of substandard evaluations going back many years at the Racine County facility.

Veterans home administrator Kimberly Storlie declined to comment, but other state officials said the home has taken steps to address issues raised in the new inspection.

Colleen Flaherty, spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, said federal inspectors found relatively few problems compared with previous reviews, and none of the new issues included any instance where a resident was harmed.

"Union Grove is a special place for Wisconsin veterans to call home with incredible dedicated staff," Flaherty said.

Coming in an election year, the situation is drawing renewed criticism of Gov. Tony Evers, one week before voters on Nov. 8 choose between the Democratic governor and Republican challenger Tim Michels.

Republican state lawmakers Sen. Van Wanggaard and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos are blaming Evers for the veterans homes latest woes, just as they did earlier this year.

Wanggaard and Vos released a copy of a letter Monday to the governor in which they are urging him to improve staffing at the home by calling out the Wisconsin National Guard, if necessary using federal economic stimulus money to fund the National Guard.

The two Republicans last spring criticized a decision to end a previous National Guard deployment that was aimed at combatting a statewide nursing shortage during the COVID-19 pandemic, including at the veterans home.

Blaming Evers again this week for the end of the earlier deployment, Wanggaard and Vos wrote: Our veterans and their families are suffering because of your poor decisions at Union Grove. What is your game plan? This isnt political; peoples lives are at stake.

Evers campaign representatives declined to comment.

The previous National Guard deployment was part of a federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was authorized by President Biden  not Evers.

Before the latest release of federal inspection results at the veterans home, Michels was joined by U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Janesville, last week at a campaign stop in Dover to highlight past deficiencies reported at the state-run facility.

The home, which is named for Union Grove but actually is located in Dover at 21425 Spring St., is licensed for 158 residents, and currently has about 80 residents who are veterans or veterans spouses.

It is one of three such facilities for veterans in Wisconsin.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported in May that residents in recent years endured physical abuse, medication errors, unsanitary conditions and other problems. The newspaper found deficiencies in inspections dating back to the administration of Republican Gov. Scott Walker and continuing since Evers unseated Walker in 2019.

In the latest findings, federal inspectors checked on two complaints of resident abuse, both of which were found to be unsubstantiated. Inspectors, however, determined that staff in the home failed to report the abuse complaints to the proper authorities, and failed to reassign or suspend employees while those complaints were investigated.

Other violations alleged in the new report include that staff did not take steps to protect residents who were prone to falls; did not adequately review instructions from pharmacists; and failed to monitor and document the symptoms of residents taking psychotropic medications.

The findings, released this week, stem from inspections conducted inside the veterans home in June and August of this year.

The most serious violation, according to the report, was that the facility did not assure adequate training for certified nursing assistants entrusted with resident care. Two nursing assistants were on the job without required training on dementia management and abuse prevention.

This has the potential to affect all of the residents residing in the facility, the inspectors noted.

Veterans home administrators assured the federal agency that officials have since reviewed the training requirements and taken steps to comply. A skills fair to boost employee readiness was planned this summer, and administrators also have implemented new hiring requirements to further ensure adequate staff training.

The inspection report indicates that officials similarly have reported taking steps to correct the other deficiencies found in the inspections.

Storlie took over as the homes top administrator, or commandant, effective on Aug. 28 of this year.

Following the Journal Sentinel report in May, Steil, whose congressional district includes the veterans home, had requested an investigation or other action from both the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service sent inspectors to conduct this summers review of the facility.

Steil released a response received this August from the Department of Veterans Affairs, which had dispatched its own nursing staff to the veterans home to assist in 2020 at the same time National Guard troops were there to help manage the COVID-19 pandemic.

In writing to Steil, Veterans Affairs noted that the federal agency had 55 nursing staff employees in the Dover facility for 30 days in the summer of 2020. Those staff members were pulled out after 30 days, the agency wrote, because they were no longer needed.

Editor's note: This report has been updated to include new remarks from the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs.
The United States Department of Agriculture has awarded 15 nonprofits over $600 million in Farm and Food Workers Relief Program grants to assist farm workers, meatpackers and grocery workers nationwide with direct COVID-19 related relief payments. The United Migrant Opportunity Services (UMOS), headquartered in Milwaukee, will receive $56,886,475 to implement the program in 13 states, according to a news release from UMOS.

A one-time direct payment of $600 will be made to over 75,000 eligible applicants nationwide within a two-year period. In Wisconsin, UMOS anticipates dispersing over $8.9 million in debit cards to over 10,000 eligible agricultural workers (including dairy) and approximately 4,800 meatpackers throughout the state, the release stated.

We applaud USDA for appropriating direct relief payments for eligible frontline farmworkers, meatpackers and grocery workers to help defray costs associated with previous or ongoing purchases of personal protective equipment and other expenses incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic such as testing, quarantining, vaccinations, childcare costs and other reasonable and necessary personal, family and or living expenses, stated Lupe Martinez, president and chief executive officer of UMOS.

Farm workers, meatpackers and grocery workers were classified by the federal government as essential workers during the pandemic.

UMOS will deliver services directly in Wisconsin, Illinois, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Missouri and Texas. UMOS plans to partner with other nonprofit organizations in Florida, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Iowa, Indiana and Nebraska to identify eligible workers and assist with the application process. Any farm worker or meatpacker who earned at least $1 in agricultural work, has proper documentation and proof of identification can apply.

UMOS and its partners will outreach to farm workers, meatpacking workers and their employers, accept and process applications, collect verification, determine eligibility and issue payments. UMOS will maintain strong financial controls to ensure funds get into the hands of eligible workers and will use an elaborate database system to avoid payment duplication for those who migrate and work throughout several states.

We are especially happy to see frontline agricultural workers recognized for their contributions to the nations workforce and the food supply chain. Oftentimes they are overlooked in federal agricultural relief efforts, Martinez stated.

For more information on the Farm and Food Workers Relief Program and eligibility requirements, call UMOS at 833-758-2004.
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 vast majority of candidates running to become their states' chief election officers oppose hand counting ballots, a laborious and error-prone process that has gained favor among some Republicans embracing conspiracy theories about voting machines.

An Associated Press survey of major party secretary of state candidates in the 24 states found broad skepticism about hand counting among election professionals of all ideological stripes. Of 23 Republicans who responded to the survey, 13 clearly said they opposed implementing a statewide hand count of ballots instead of a machine count.

GOP candidates in Arizona and New Mexico have previously endorsed the idea of a hand count. But others cautioned it was a dangerous road to follow.

"Hand counting ballots is a process that requires time, manpower, and is prone to inaccuracies," Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab, a Republican who is seeking re-election this year, wrote in response to the AP survey.

The desire to hand count ballots stems from conspiracy theories spread by former President Donald Trump and his allies that the electronic machines that tabulated the results of the 2020 presidential election were rigged. Now some Republicans inspired by his election lies seek to expand or require hand counting of all ballots.

Counting by hand takes longer, requires large groups of people to examine ballots, and has been found by multiple studies to be less reliable than using voting machines.

"The reason the U.S. moved to counting machines is due to both human error and fraud with hand counts, so we looked for a better way to count the vote," said Kim Crockett, the Republican nominee for secretary of state in Minnesota, in an email. "The error rate for hand counts is higher than the error rate for ballot counters in most cases."

Crockett, who has called the 2020 election "rigged" and echoed some of Trump's other election falsehoods, also stressed that she thinks her state's voting machines still need further inspection.

The process came under scrutiny last week when rural Nye County in Nevada embarked on an unprecedented full hand count of this year's midterm votes, starting with mailed ballots and those cast early in-person. The process was painstakingly slow until it was halted by the state's supreme court over concerns that early vote tallies could be leaked publicly.

While the AP survey found most candidates strongly favor machine tabulators, two GOP secretary of state candidates in politically pivotal states  Arizona and New Mexico  want to shift to the unreliable method of counting ballots. A third in yet another swing state, Nevada, has backed Nye County's effort and voiced support for making that sort of procedure standard statewide.

In Arizona, Republican State Rep. Mark Finchem, who is running for secretary of state, joined his party's nominee for governor, Kari Lake, in filing a lawsuit seeking to outlaw the use of any machine to record or tabulate votes. The case was dismissed by a judge who levied sanctions against the Republicans.

In New Mexico, GOP secretary of state nominee Audrey Trujillo has said she wants widespread hand counting of votes.

"Hand count my ballot. We already have paper ballots," she said in an interview on the video platform Rumble. "If we had that, I guarantee you tons more people would go out and vote."

Neither Finchem nor Trujillo responded to the AP's survey.

Nevada's Republican secretary of state candidate has offered conflicting responses. A campaign spokesman for Republican nominee Jim Marchant told the AP that Marchant would be fine with a machine count as long as there also are paper ballots, which are universally used in Nevada. But the prior month, Marchant told the AP in a separate interview, "My goal is to go to a hand count paper ballot system."

Nevada's current secretary of state, Republican Barbara Cegavske, told interim Nye County Clerk Mark Kampf to halt the hand count of early arriving mailed ballots and early in-person votes until after polls close Nov. 8 following a ruling late last week from the state's high court. The state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union had sought to halt the hand count over concerns that observers could hear the results as they were announced, risking a potential public leak of early returns.

The nascent hand-count had been riddled with problems on its first day, with repeated delays and errors among the volunteer staff of 12 teams of five split into two different shifts. They got through 900 of 1,950 ballots on the first day, with one volunteer lamenting the slow pace: "I can't believe it's two hours to get through 25."

An AP reporter observed two teams of five taking as long as three hours to count 50 ballots. When teams realized they had mismatched tallies for certain candidates, they would stop and recount the ballots for those candidates again. That effort followed a hand count in another rural Nevada county, Esmeralda, where election workers in June spent more than seven hours hand-tallying the 317 primary ballots.

Kampf said the teams improved during the second day.

Eleven candidates, mostly Republicans, did not respond to the AP's survey, including one of the most prominent election conspiracy theorists running for the position  Republican Kristina Karamo in Michigan, a community college instructor who has been spreading the lie that voting machines in 2020 were rigged.

"Election deniers are using the language of election integrity to dismantle the actual infrastructure of election integrity," said David Becker, the co-author of "The Big Truth," a book about the risks of Trump's voting claims, and executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research. "If you want inaccurate results that take a really long time and cost a lot, then hand counting is your solution."
The two largest U.S. pharmacy chains, CVS Health and Walgreen Co., announced agreements in principle Wednesday to pay about $5 billion each to settle lawsuits nationwide over the toll of opioids. A lawyer said Walmart, a third pharmacy behemoth, is in discussions for a deal.

The prospective settlements are part of a shift in the legal landscape surrounding the opioid crisis. Instead of suspense over whether companies in the drug industry would be held to account through trials or settlements, the big question is now how their money will be used and whether it will make a difference in fighting a problem that has only intensified.

The deals, if completed, would end thousands of lawsuits in which governments claimed pharmacies filled prescriptions they should have flagged as inappropriate. With settlements already proposed or finalized between some of the biggest drugmakers and distribution companies, the recent developments could be among the last multibillion-dollar settlements to be announced.

They also would bring the total value of all settlements to more than $50 billion, with most of it required to be used by state and local governments to combat opioids, which have been linked to more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S. over the last two decades.

"It's one more culprit of the overdose crisis that is having to pay their dues," said Courtney Gary-Allen, organizing director of the Maine Recovery Advocacy Project. "Average Americans have been paying it for a long time."

Gary-Allen, who is a member of a council that will help determine how Maine uses its opioid settlement funds, said more money to address the problem will help. In her state, she said, the needs include more beds for medical detox and for treatment.

Neither Woonsocket, Rhode Island-based CVS nor Deerfield, Illinois-based Walgreens admitted wrongdoing.

The plans spring from mediation involving a group of state attorneys general. Before they move ahead, state and then local governments would need to sign on. So far, the detailed, formal deals have not been presented to the government entities so they can decide whether to join.

Under the tentative plans, CVS would pay $4.9 billion to local governments and about $130 million to Native American tribes over a decade. Walgreens would pay $4.8 billion to governments and $155 million to tribes over 15 years. The exact amount depends on how many governments join the deals.

Both noted they have been addressing the crisis through such measures as starting educational programs and installing safe disposal units for drugs in stores and police departments. Both also said the settlements would allow them to help while staying focused on their business.

Paul Geller, a lawyer for governments in the lawsuits, said talks with Walmart continue. Walmart representatives would not comment Wednesday.

"These agreements will be the first resolutions reached with pharmacy chains and will equip communities across the country with the much-needed tools to fight back against this epidemic and bring about tangible, positive change," lawyers for local governments said in a statement. "In addition to payments totaling billions of dollars, these companies have committed to making significant improvements to their dispensing practices to help reduce addiction moving forward."

If these settlements are completed, they would leave mostly smaller drug industry players as defendants in lawsuits. Just this week, a group of mostly regional pharmacy chains sent to a judge, who is overseeing federal litigation, information about claims they face, a possible precursor to scheduling trials or mediating settlements involving some of those firms.

"One by one, we are holding every player in the addiction industry accountable for the millions of lives lost or devastated by the opioid epidemic," Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said in a statement.

Most of the nation's opioid overdose deaths initially involved prescription drugs. As governments, doctors and companies took steps to make them harder to abuse and obtain, people addicted to them increasingly switched to heroin, which proved more deadly.

In recent years, opioid deaths soared to record levels around 80,000 a year. Most of those deaths involve illicitly produced version of the powerful lab-made drug fentanyl, which is appearing throughout the U.S. supply of illegal drugs.

Only a handful of opioid settlements had bigger dollar figures than the CVS plan. Distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson this year finalized a combined settlement worth $21 billion, and drugmaker Johnson & Johnson finalized a $5 billion deal.

Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, and members of the Sackler family who own the company have a proposed settlement that would involve up to $6 billion in cash, plus the value of the company, which would be turned into a new entity with its profits used to combat the epidemic. A court put that plan on hold.
LEXINGTON  The Nebraska State Patrol arrested a Kearney man today in Lexington for outstanding warrants and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.

Late Tuesday, NSP was contacted by Lexington Police regarding a subject with an arrest warrant. That subject was believed to be in possession of a handgun, but his exact location was unknown. NSP also received information from the Kearney Police Department that the same subject had made a threat against the NSP office in Lexington.

A short time later, it was determined that the suspect, identified as Clifton Dedrick, 27, of Kearney, was in a hotel room at the Comfort Inn in Lexington, across the street from the NSP office. Troopers evacuated the occupant of an adjacent room before attempting to make contact with Dedrick. Multiple attempts were then made to contact Dedrick.

At approximately 2:50 a.m. today, troopers breached the hotel room door and made contact with Dedrick, who exited the room voluntarily and was taken into custody without incident. Troopers located a handgun on a table in the room. Dedrick was lodged in Dawson County Jail for outstanding warrants and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.
COZAD  Michael Winslow sounds like  everything.

The comedian and sound effects master utilizes audio effects that are made entirely with his voice. Audiences might recall a memorable performance by Winslow imitating Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix, using his voice to create an overamplified guitar. He also achieved fame with a performance as a radar operator in Mel Brooks 1987 comedy, Space Balls, where he created all the sounds his radar equipment could possibly make. Before his screen jammed with real strawberry jam.

Winslow will bring his brand of humor to central Nebraska for two shows. Audiences can enjoy his comedy at 8 p.m. Friday at the Blue Hill Community Center in Blue Hill and also at 8 p.m. Saturday at Band Factory in Cozad. Tickets are $20.

Comedian Gary Menke will open the shows.

On stage, Winslow has one simple job: I make people forget about the rent for one hour.

It gets pretty noisy, Winslow said of his performance. Just because I make sounds doesnt mean that it cant be musical. There will be a lot of improv and some music, some movie projection stuff and other strange things. And Im going to teach the audience how to make their own sounds, with one proviso: Dont do it in front of animals. They bite.

Last year he auditioned for Americas Got Talent and showcased his skills before a new audience.

Ever since the Americas Got Talent thing, Ive had no choice put to continue in that direction, Winslow said. I have a whole new program. Im getting into vinyl now. Im going to start pressing records. And Im getting more into production. There will be specials coming up soon.

In the past several years, Winslow, 64, has explored creating sound effects for video games.

Theres all this new technology, and I have no choice but to evolve, he said. Technology caught up to me. Im going to make sounds that can go into keyboards and drum machines. And apps. Thats the direction now, apps that make noises.

During a previous interview from his home in Chicago, Winslow worked with a reporter to create dog sounds.

When you make dog noises, you dont know what youre saying, he explained. I do  and I didnt at first. Theres a whole language going on, but sound educates. Everybody has this skill set and everybody can make sounds, but we really dont use it properly.

Well, Winslow does. He has made a career out of imitating sounds. Another piece of advice: Dont do it on an aircraft.

Its now illegal to imitate the flight attendant call button on an aircraft, he joked. You cant do that any more.

The comedian credits his ability to create sounds as a way to travel the world with his show.

Ive been around this planet 80 times, he said. Its given me accents and enabled me to go to other countries and sound like them  which confuses the crud out of them. For me, its a growth business, to make sounds.

As an example, Winslow created the sound of a garage door opening, went on to the sound of a door opening and threw in the sounds of a beach with waves and seagulls.

Adding sounds to films and music gives listeners a richer sonic landscape. As a professional, Winslow knows to give just enough audio clues to let listeners fill in the details.

Too much of anything is no good, he said. Ive seen folks overproduce things. Ive seen people with the most expensive camera equipment in the world put out garbage. And then Ive seen people with the worst equipment ever, barely operating, and they tell the best stories ever. It just depends on who is holding it.

While performing in Ireland, several hearing impaired audience members attended the show.

They sat near the speaker, he said. I was playing at Dublin University, and they put their hands on the speaker, just like when Beethoven had to grit his teeth on the piano to hear the notes. Its the same concept, really.

Working on the set of Space Balls, Winslow recalled his time with director Mel Brooks.

I had plenty of interaction with him because I was on the main set, Winslow said. A studio executive came down and told him that he was three pages behind in the script, so he took out the pages and tore them up. Now were no pages behind. Okay, lets just make it up. And we did. And Im still shocked. I feel bad for that young studio executive who came down to tell him that.

Winslow calls comedy the great emotional equalizer. Humor allows people to connect.

Even if they hate each other, its a powerful communication tool, he said. Like I said, my job is to help people forget about their rent for an hour. At the show, I may even perform my backward country song. Thats where you get all your stuff back.
HALSEY  Because so many youth groups use the facilities, a group of students has launched a campaign to rebuild the 4-H camp lost to the Bovee range fire in October.

The campaign is organized so that all Nebraskans can participate in the rebuilding effort, according to a press release.

All proceeds from the T-shirt campaign will go directly to the 4-H Foundation Fund to rebuild the Halsey camp.

Among the many young people who use the 4-H facilities are the National Honor Society at Arnold High School, local 4-H clubs, the 2022 RYLA attendees and the recently chartered Central Nebraska Interact Club.

Founding member of the Interact group Delaney Rogers and Rotarian Scott McLaughlin designed the front and back of a T-shirt and sweatshirt that are being sold for the rebuilding campaign.

To purchase T-shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies, go to: halseystrongfundraiser2022. All proceeds will go the 4-H Foundation Fund for the rebuilding.
KEARNEY  The next University of Nebraska at Kearney Science Cafe will focus on the science behind quantum entanglement.

The event, Next-generation materials for quantum information science, will be held at 5:30 p.m. Monday at The Loft in Cunninghams Journal, 15 W. 23rd St. in Kearney, and is hosted by Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society.

The 2022 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded for quantum entanglement. This fascinating phenomenon is a driving force behind the currently unfolding second quantum revolution that aims to develop a new generation of quantum technologies, such as quantum computing, quantum sensing or quantum cryptography.

UNK assistant professor of physics Aleksander Wysocki will discuss the fundamental physics behind such applications, describe the difficulties the field faces and outline the current research efforts to overcome these challenges by designing novel materials that can act as building blocks for quantum technologies.

Wysocki is an assistant professor in the UNK Department of Physics. Before joining UNK, he worked as a researcher at Cornell University, Ames Laboratory and Virginia Tech. He completed his undergraduate studies at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poland and obtained his doctorate degree in physics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2009.

His research interests are in the area of computational materials science, with a particular emphasis on spintronic, energy and quantum information technology applications.

For more information, contact Allen Thomas, UNK associate professor of chemistry, at 308-865-8452 or thomasaa@unk.edu.
In July, the legislative committee of Dunn County approved a referendum question that is unprecedented in rural America. The question asks Congress and the U.S. president to nationalize health care. Now its chances look good  and the Nov. 8 referendum could make waves in Wisconsin.

Generally, attempts such as these come from large urban areas. They might come with a left-leaning agenda. But residents in Dunn County, in interviews, seem to support the effort.

This referendum is the result of dozens of locals working together, year after year. They say they dont care if you are blue or red or opaque. They just want you to have some say in whether you have good, reliable health care.

Their goal is to let the public decide if the federal government should cover health care costs for all, rather than just Medicare and Medicaid.

The Dunn County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to add this question to the November ballot. Politically speaking, some of them are incredibly conservative. Others lean in the opposite direction. Yet, members voted to allow this question to go to referendum.

Officials said they simply want to make sure that Americans are heard, that residents have a chance to give their opinion about health care in the United States.

You know, people are going to see that its on the ballot, and theyre going to start asking questions. What does it mean for the federal government to have universal health care? said Monica Berrier, a Dunn County supervisor.

So why does this matter?

If the referendum passes, it wont immediately affect national policy. However, it would tell the state and federal governments that residents of Dunn County want new national health care options.

John Calabrese has spent about 40 to 50 hours per week over recent months having conversations about the referendum with locals. In addition, he and other volunteers have been leaving literature at peoples doors, for those who arent home to discuss the issue.

Its nice weather so people are out and about. Sometimes we chat about it. Whats really unique is that its one of those issues, perhaps the only one, where I have yet to hear one person say to me, Our health insurance system is great in this country.

Calabrese said he doesnt see any organized opposition to the referendum. And thats surprising in such a conservative region of Wisconsin.

I wouldnt be surprised if it passes. I wouldnt be surprised if it got 60% or 65% approval next week, he said.

Although there might not be any organized effort to undermine the referendum, there are residents who oppose it.

Harold Johnson, a resident of Otter Creek in Dunn County, said hes concerned about big government and federal regulations.

Listen, its not that I dont want to pay less for health care. Of course I do. But I dont like the idea of people in Washington controlling me, what I can and cant do, he said. I fought for this country in Vietnam. Id die for this country. And sometimes that means not allowing a communist state to take over. Im hesitant, you know, to allow this referendum to happen.

There are other counties in Wisconsin, including Douglas and Ashland, that are looking to add this referendum  with the same wording and sentiment  to their ballot for the spring of 2023.

So, if its just Dunn County, I dont see it having that much of a direct impact, Berrier said. However, what I hope is that this discussion in Dunn County will inspire other counties to do the same. And I think that if other counties across Wisconsin, and even into other states start doing that, I think that the federal legislators are really going to have to start to pay attention.

But for now, it is a waiting game.

What Dunn County and its voters do on Nov. 8 could very well influence what happens across the state and the country.

I think its really exciting that Dunn County is breaking ground here and being the first county in the state to do this, said Berrier. And I think its really important for us, and the local government, to give the people a voice on national issues as much as we can.

Berrier, who was elected to the Dunn County Board of Supervisors in April and represents District 13, spoke in the public comments during the July meeting, which focused on whether the county would put a question to referendum. Thats more than a little unusual  to speak in the public comments on an issue as a citizen, when a microphone is available to you to say your piece as an elected official.

But thats what Berrier did.

Im the county supervisor for District 13. So, like the others, Im speaking today, regarding the referendum for national health care, she said in July. A question has come up about whether this is really county business, and I want to make the argument that it really is in the countys interest to be advocating for a better health care system.

Berrier said she wanted to make the argument that this should be a referendum question through the perspectives of budget and whether the current system is a responsible use of taxpayer dollars.

For now, Calabrese is knocking on doors and trying to get the word out. We just need people to be informed and to vote, he said.

I was a little surprised to get, like, wholehearted support from the Dunn County Democratic Party, just because their leadership in Washington are not in favor of a single-payer health system. But theyre supporting us. The bigger thing, though, is everyone with a Trump flag in their driveway who are also supporting us.

Not to sound like Im saving the world or anything, but its really positive.
As temperatures continue to drop and Daylight Saving Time comes to an end, Monroe County Health Department wants to remind residents to take action to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning. We fall back an hour on Nov. 6. When you turn back your clocks, its a good time to put new batteries in your carbon monoxide detectors.

We tend to see more carbon monoxide poisonings in the cooler months, said Tiffany Giesler, health officer for the department. Now is the time for Monroe County residents to make sure their heating sources and carbon monoxide detectors are in good working order.

On average, carbon monoxide poisoning sends about 500 Wisconsinites to the emergency room each year, according to data from the Wisconsin Environmental Public Health Tracking Program. These trips to the ER for carbon monoxide poisoning are preventable when people are prepared.

To protect yourself and your family from carbon monoxide, follow these safety tips:

Make sure you have working carbon monoxide detectors. All single-family duplexes and homes in Wisconsin are required to have detectors on every level, including the basement, but not the attic or storage areas. Detectors can be purchased at most hardware stores for $20-$50. Daylight Saving Time changing is a good time each year to replace the batteries in your detector and push the Test button to be sure its working properly. Replace your detector every five years or according to manufacturers instructions.

Have your furnace or wood-burning stove inspected annually. Hire a professional to make sure it is functionally sound and vents properly outside the

home.

Never run a gasoline or propane heater or a grill (gas or charcoal) inside your home or garage. Any heating system that burns fuel produces carbon monoxide. Use a battery-powered detector where you have fuel burning devices but no electric outlets, such as in tents, cabins, and RVs.

Generators should be run at a safe distance (at least 20 feet) from the home. Never run a generator in the home or garage, or right next to windows or doors.

Never run a car in an enclosed space. Even with a door or window open, carbon monoxide levels can still build up to an unsafe level.

At high levels, carbon monoxide can cause death within minutes. Symptoms of overexposure to carbon monoxide include headache, fatigue, dizziness, shortness of breath, nausea, and confusion. If you think you may be experiencing carbon monoxide poisoning, or your detector sounds an alarm, head outside immediately for fresh air and call 911.

Visit the Wisconsin Department of Health Services website and follow the Monroe County Health Department Facebook page for more information about carbon monoxide poisoning.
With Halloween just a few days behind us, McIntosh Memorial Library is hosting a Candy Exchange this week! Area youth are invited to stop by the library to exchange their Halloween candy for books and DVDs! Participants are encouraged to stop by the circulation desk during open hours through Friday, Nov. 4. Anyone bringing in 25 pieces of candy will receive a youth DVD, while 30 pieces of candy will turn into a youth book! The Candy Exchange will take place while supplies last.

The Wisconsin Library Associations annual conference is taking place in Lake Geneva this week. Three staff members from McIntosh Memorial Library are attending the conference. Trina and Laci are speaking at two conference workshops. On Thursday evening the awards banquet will be held. During that event staff and volunteers of the McIntosh Memorial Library will be honored for being recognized as the Library of the Year for the State of Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Library Association engages, inspires, and advocates for library workers and supporters to improve and promote library services for the people of Wisconsin.

Next week is the Friends of the Library book sale! The book sale is scheduled for Nov. 9-12 inside the lobby space of the library. During the event you will find gently used books, AV materials, and magazines priced to sell. During the week of the book sale the Friends of the Library Bookstore will be closed. All money raised from the event will be used by the organization to fund special purchases and support programs offered by the McIntosh Memorial Library.

Do you love art? We sure do! During the week of Nov. 14 two adult art classes are being offered. On Tuesday, Nov. 15 Maggie will be leading a class for adults beginning at 5:30 p.m.; the type of class will be announced later. While on Saturday, Nov. 19 another beginning woodcarving classes is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Registration for both classes is required, as space and materials are limited. Sign up by stopping by or calling the circulation desk at 608-637-7151, extension 6.

To stay up-to-date on everything happening at the library, like the Viroqua Library page on Facebook, visit our website at www.mcintoshmemoriallibrary.org, or visit us in person at 205 S. Rock Ave. in Viroqua.
It was a quiet afternoon with gray skies that threatened rain when I stepped into the Jackson County Poor Farm Cemetery.

Located just outside of Black River Falls along County Highway P are the remains of at least 120 souls who were buried in the small fenced-in cemetery. I say at least 120 because there are unmarked graves as well.

The Jackson County Poor Farm was established in 1870 by the county board to take care of people who could not support themselves. Like most other Wisconsin counties, it included adjacent farmland where paupers could work, with the idea that it would be less expensive to taxpayers.

The farm included some stock and machinery. The house had a kitchen, dining room, parlor and living room downstairs, with four bedrooms upstairs. Jackson County in 1905 moved its Poor Farm to the site of the present Pine View Care Center.

Many counties combined care for the chronic insane along with providing services to the poor, which were known as county asylum poor farms. The nearby counties of La Crosse established the West Salem Insane Asylum in 1887 as a 210-acre farm that later expanded to 550 acres. Trempealeau County built its asylum and farm in 1898.

While the history of some counties is less than stellar when it came to exploiting workers for profits, it was common practice in Wisconsin.

Some poor farm cemeteries are all but forgotten, but a wooden sign clearly marks the Jackson County location, which is neatly mowed and tended. According to cemetery records I was able to find, the earliest burial was Anna Catarina Hautke in 1879. She was born in Germany in 1789. The last burial that I could find was Ben Henkle  birth unknown  on Nov. 30, 1944.

The Jackson County Poor Farm housed infants, young children, teenagers, the homeless, widows and the elderly who had no one to care for them. Some were adopted, others were placed in orphanages, some were committed to other institutions or transferred back to their home county.

Another stone marks the final resting place of Nancy Barnard, who was 20 years old when she showed up at the doorstep of the poor farm on June 24, 1885, according to a 2006 Jackson County Chronicle article. She was described as having short hair, no teeth and a deep fascination with dolls. Her condition was listed as foolish, which today would be known as some form of a mental condition.

Barnard lived at the farm until she died in 1936. Another Nancy Barnard who died in 1904 and buried in the cemetery is likely her mother. Nancys brother Delbert Banard stayed at the farm twice and was a resident there when he died at the age of 44 on May 19, 1904. He is buried in the cemetery.

Nancys father Johnathan also had two stints at the farm before dying in 1888 of dropsy. He is not buried in the cemetery. Nancy had two daughters  the first was Hattie born in 1887. Hattie was taken to the state school in Sparta in 1891 and later moved to Dodgeville.

Her second daughter  Christina  was born on Nov. 8, 1890, and died about a month later. She also is buried in the cemetery. There was no record of the fathers.

There are at least two veterans buried in the cemetery. John Flinn  an Irish immigrant who served with the 2nd Artillery Unit in the Mexican American war from 1846 to 1848  was buried in 1884 after succumbing to paralysis.

The other veteran is Hans Hanson, a Civil War veteran who served in Company G of the 10th Wisconsin Infantry. According to a 2010 research paper coordinated by Black River Falls teacher Paul Rykken, the 10th was mustered into service Oct. 14, 1861, and mustered out Oct. 25, 1864. The unit was involved in 19 notable battles in Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee. There were 113 men from the Black River Falls area that served in the company.

A brief newspaper obituary said: Mr. Hanson had been an inmate of the home for about a year. He had no relatives in this county. He was a quiet, inoffensive old man, but was overtaken by misfortune in his later years.

It started to drizzle as I left the cemetery, where most died in obscurity. Their graves are marked with simple headstones.

Gone, but not forgotten.
An op-ed column written by a La Crosse School Board member may have violated best practice but doesnt violate the law, according to La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke.

Gruenke responded Wednesday to an inquiry by former La Crosse School Board member Robert Abraham concerning an Oct. 23 column written by school board member Katie Berkedal that appeared in the La Crosse Tribune. The column urged voters to approve a $194.7 million building referendum on the Nov. 8 ballot. The plan would consolidate La Crosses two high schools into a single new facility on Pammel Creek Road and convert existing Central and Logan high schools into middle schools. The district would then close its three existing middle schools  Lincoln, Logan and Longfellow.

Abraham, who opposes the referendum, cited guidance from the Wisconsin Association of School Boards and questioned whether Berkedal violated her legal obligation to remain neutral as a board member.

Berkedal later contacted the Tribune to print a clarification on Wednesday stating that she was speaking as an individual, not as a board member.

Gruenke said WASB guidelines state that board members should make it clear they are speaking as individuals and not for the board. However, he said the issue isnt addressed by state statute.

It turns out that the advice given is just best practice; there is no criminal statute that actually prohibits the conduct, Gruenke wrote. The concern is that people may be misled into thinking a private opinion is the opinion of the board, or a board member may eventually step over the line to use government resources for a campaign issue. But there is no statute addressing this issue, so there really isnt anything for me to enforce.

Gruenke said Berkedals op-ed should have been clearer, but it isnt illegal.

Abraham didnt object to every correspondence from people connected with the school district. He said an op-ed from Joe Ledvina, the districts supervisor of buildings and grounds, clearly states he is writing as a citizen.

La Crosse School Board president Juan Jimenez said Wednesday that board members have acted in accordance with the law and in good faith during their communication with the public.

The school board has consistently indicated and reaffirmed that individual board members do not speak for the board by themselves, only as private citizens. This principle is reiterated in policy and reinforced annually with all board members, Jimenez said. All statements made by individual board members are intended as private citizens, not as statements on behalf of the School District of La Crosse Board of Education or in the capacity as a board member.

Abraham said Wednesday he was satisfied with Gruenkes response.
In the final days before the Nov. 8 election, voters filled the parking lot of the local Republican Party headquarters in Onalaska to see Sen. Ron Johnson on his way across the state.

When Johnson drove up with Derrick Van Orden in his environmentalist green bus on Tuesday afternoon, the crowd was all cheers.

Johnson, a Republican running for re-election against challenger Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, was joined by political supporters and his fellow Republicans on the ballot: Ryan Huebsch, running for the 94th Assembly District; Van Orden, running to represent the 3rd Congressional District; former state Sen. Dan Kapanke; and Brian Schimming, a talk show radio host.

Speeches were themed around rallying people to vote and to support Republicans down the ballot.

Johnson, who said he would only serve two terms when he first entered office, said he is running for a third term because the country is more and more divided.

I can help make things better, Johnson said. I think I can help unify and heal this nation. So in the end, I couldnt turn my back on America.

In regards to voter turnout and election integrity, Johnson said he would love to see high voter turnout. He said that Republicans have recruited 5,000 poll workers and observers to ensure voter integrity and he hopes the Democrats have done the same.

When asked if he has confidence in the results of this election, Johnson said, Well see what happens. Is something gonna happen on Election Day? Do the Democrats have something up their sleeves?

Johnson used the opportunity to attack his opponent and the Democratic Party, saying, it is the left that is the divisive party in this country. Its just true. Its just the fact.

Johnson also questioned the legitimacy of Barnes college degree  an issue that was resolved last summer after Barnes received his degree years after attending Alabama A&M University due to a technical error  saying he somehow magically got the degree.

At the entrance to the event, there was a group from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin holding signs in protest of Johnson.

The signs are in reference to a 2017 tax reform bill that reduced the corporate tax rate, which Johnson supported.

Part of that plan also included a provision that allowed those buying private jets to write off the full amount of their new planes cost on their tax return. The Johnson family purchased three private jets in the years following the tax plans passage.
A California judge is allowing a lawsuit to proceed against the Los Angeles Angels over the drug-related death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs. Orange County Superior Court Judge Glenn Salter on Monday rejected the teams request to dismiss the lawsuit and set the start of trial for Oct. 2, 2023. Skaggs was found dead in 2019 in a suburban Dallas hotel room during a road trip against the Texas Rangers. A wrongful death and negligence lawsuit alleged that the Angels knew that public relations employee Eric Kay was supplying drugs to players. Kay was convicted of supplying drugs to Skaggs and sentenced last month to 22 years in federal prison.
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP)  Republican Rep. Liz Cheney visited Michigan on Tuesday to support Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who the the Wyoming representative crossed party lines to endorse last week in a first.

If we want to ensure the survival of our republic, we have to walk away from politics as usual, Cheney said. We have to stand up, every one of us, and say were going to do whats right for this country. Were going to look beyond partisan politics.

Slotkin is a two-term House member competing against Republican state Sen. Tom Barrett in Michigan's redrawn 7th Congressional District, which includes Lansing. The contest is among the most expensive House races in the country and is considered a toss-up.

Slotkin, who described herself as a Democrat representing a Trump-voting district, told reporters that Cheney approached her last month on the House floor about the possible endorsement. Slotkin acknowledged during her speech that the two differ on most policy issues, joking that the last time Cheney was in the area was to counter something the Lansing-area Democrat was doing.

But there is one really, really big thing we agree on and that is preserving the American democracy, Slotkin said.

Cheneys visit to the battleground state comes as she considers a 2024 presidential run after losing her primary earlier this year. Cheney was one of eight House Republicans who lost primaries or chose not to seek reelection after voting to impeach former President Donald Trump in 2020.

In her endorsement last week, Cheney mentioned that she's become acquainted with Slotkin while serving together on the House Armed Services Committee. Slotkin also worked in U.S. intelligence, national security and defense during the Obama and Bush administrations.

Cheney said that this was the first time she has ever campaigned for a Democrat but that it was not a hard decision at all."

Both have been vocal critics of House Republicans who have sought to downplay the siege of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Cheney is vice chair of the House Jan. 6 committee, which recently issued a subpoena for Trump to testify.

As a nation today, we are facing an ongoing assault by the former president and by people that are spreading his lie," Cheney said Tuesday.

Following Cheney's endorsement last week, her primary opponent Harriet Hageman and former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard both announced that they were supporting Barrett in the Lansing-area race.

Barrett criticized Cheney during an event Tuesday morning for having the audacity to endorse his opponent in a critical race that will decide which party controls Congress.

Elissa Slotkin and Liz Cheney prove that the political establishment has an unquenchable thirst for military engagement abroad, Barrett said during the Howell event.
Lake Geneva officials are still considering options for installing some type of traffic control at an intersection where a study determined that a traffic light is not warranted.

Earlier in the year, representatives from the City of Lake Geneva and Walworth County shared the cost to have a traffic study conducted at the corner of Center Street and Interchange North/County Highway H to determine if a traffic signal is warranted at that intersection.

City officials considered installing a traffic signal in that area because traffic has increased near that intersection during the past few years, as the Stone Ridge subdivision on Center Street hill has been developed.

On July 19, an 81-year-old man died after he was struck by a vehicle while crossing near the intersection of Williams Street and Milwaukee Street, just before Williams Street turns into Interchange North.

Representatives from Baxter & Woodman Consulting Engineers, Inc. of Madison conducted a 24-hour traffic study near the intersection June 22 and determined that a traffic signal is not warranted in that area.

City aldermen are now considering options for improving traffic safety at that intersection, as well as in areas of Townline Road, Grant Street, Williams Street and George Street.

Members of the city councils public works committee discussed the issue, Oct. 24.

Alderwoman Mary Jo Fesenmaier proposed that the city develop a chart listing the intersections that could use some type of traffic control and the options for improving safety at those intersections including installing traffic signals, flashing lights, sidewalks or crosswalks.

We need to look at solutions and vote on solutions, not just focus on one idea that wont work, Fesenmaier said. Were constantly told it wont work, but then we dont look at alternatives. So lets look at all the alternatives at the same time.

Public Works Director Tom Earle said he would be in favor of the city developing a chart listing the intersections that are in need of more traffic control and options for improving safety in those areas.

We would like to see what intersections you would like to do that with, he said.

Earle said state officials are currently looking into the possibility of installing traffic signals near the intersection of Townline Road and Edwards Boulevard/Highway 120.

Townline Road and Highway 120 are part of the Highway 120 project, so thats a state project, Earle said. The state is looking into a warrant right now for a signal on Townline and Edwards.

Earle said he would like the city to consider installing a traffic signal on George Street and Williams Street.

I get reports about George Street and Williams Street, like weekly, Earle said.

Stacy Smith of Lake Geneva said she would like the city to continue to discuss traffic safety options for the Center Street and Interchange North intersection including installing crosswalks, flashing yellow lights or another access area into the Stone Ridge subdivision.

Smith questioned why Baxter & Woodmans traffic study was conducted during a weekday in the summer.

She said a traffic study that was conducted in 2003 recommended that a traffic signal be installed near the Center Street and Interchange North intersection because of the projected increase of traffic in that area.

I hope you will take these things into consideration because we dont need another accident to happen again. Its an incredibly dangerous intersection, Smith said. Its your responsibility to do something for those homes that are up there.

Members of the public works committee are set to discuss traffic safety options again during their Nov. 28 meeting.

Im not going to have four intersections with pros and cons put together by next month, but we can start it, Earle said.
Jimmy Dore Thanks the LaRouche Activists for Calling Out Obama on Nuclear War

Nov. 1, 2022 (EIRNS)LaRouche activists Anastasia and Stewart Battle intervened on former President Barack Obama at a Democratic campaign rally in Detroit on Oct. 29. The Battles shouted from the audience challenging Obama for his role in running the 2014 coup detat in Ukraine and his policy of escalating tensions against Russia that has led to the present danger of nuclear warfare. That intervention has been spread widely through social media and print media, seen by millions.

Jimmy Dore, an activist comedian who discusses current political and strategic events, dedicated 15 minutes of his show to the intervention on Obama by the Battles.

Dore opened his show saying, So, Barack Obama got heckled over the Democrats war mongering, and his war mongering. So, you know Barack Obama took us from two wars to seven; Barack Obama dropped more bombs than George Bush; Barack Obama presided over the invasion and bombing of Libya and turning it into a failed state, with open slave marketsthey did that with NATO. He also occupied Afghanistan....

Following that apt description of Obamas presidency, Dore showed a screen shot of Jose Vegas posting of the Battles intervention, reporting that Vega had earlier intervened on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on her support for nuclear war, and said that the Battles showed up to call out bloodthirsty Obama for his role in instigating the conflict in Ukraine.

Dore laid into Obama for his calls for civility after the Battles intervened, reminding the audience that Obama is one of the most powerful people in the world, and is still considered the leader of the Democratic Party:

So, these are people protesting one of the most powerful men in the world about nuclear warthis is not the same thing as interrupting someone at workyou fucking piece of shit on purpose.

Chiding Obama for saying come on and calling for dialogue in response to the Battles disdain for civility, Dore laid into Obama again:

But were not in a middle of a conversationyoure giving a bullshit propaganda-filled fucking political rally, and someones gonna protest itthats what the United States is built on ... were going into a nuclear warweve got to have manners?

Dore then turned his attention to the Detroit audience, who had tried to shut the Battles down.

Somebody had the courage to advocate for no nuclear war with Russia, and the crowd responded by chanting Obama? Imagine having your head shoved so far up your favorite politicians asshole that you would turn on a person who is against nuclear war?

Dore ended with an ironic discussion about those who want to dismiss LaRouche for not being with the in-crowd, quoting Frederick Douglass, saying, I will unite with anyone to do good, and with no one to do bad... adding, Ill unite with anyone to stop a nuclear war.

Thank you to the Battles for doing that.

Perhaps playing coy, Dore asked, Isnt there an antiwar candidate in New York running against Schumer? Dores co-host responded that it was Diane Sare (LaRouche independent candidate for U.S. Senate in New York). Shes antiwar, Dore said. Maybe we should give her a voice.

Yes, Mr. Dore, you should.
EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR TUESDAY NOVEMBER 2, 2022

A Period of Breakouts for the LaRouche Movement

Nov. 1, 2022 (EIRNS)A series of breakouts for the LaRouche movement has come in the weeks following the Oct. 15 Schiller Institute conference Build the New Paradigm: Defeat Green Fascism, which had a catalytic, inspirational effect on experienced activists and the growth of a new LaRouche Youth Movement. And that potential is vectored through the campaign of LaRouche candidate for U.S. Senator from New York Diane Sare.

The threat of civilization-ending thermonuclear war has been forcefully brought into the public conversation through effective interventions at offline events held by U.S. senators, representatives, and a past President, as well as through organizing in the other contemporary town squarethe internet. Millions of people have now seen their leaders challenged to take seriously their responsibility to chart a course for the nation that does not lead to nuclear Armageddon, and seen the failure of those leaders to rise to the challenge. The Congressional Progressive Caucuss issuing a bland letter calling for increased emphasis on negotiations to resolve the crisis in Ukraine, then clarifying the letter, and then retracting it entirely, all within 24 hours.

If youre looking for leadership, particularly in the United States, youll have to provide it yourself!

Diane Sares feisty and polemical campaign to unseat the despicable Chuck Schumer has drawn an increasing rate of media coverage, with recent media coverage spreading as far as Russia and Pakistan. A recent poll by the Trafalgar Groupheld after the Oct. 30 non-debate in Schenectady, from which she was excludedputs Sare at over 5% support among New Yorkers.

Jackson Hinkle, a popular streamer who spoke at the Oct. 15 Schiller conference, dedicated his Nov. 1 stream to the theme he was right, referring to Lyndon LaRouche, around whose January 2000 campaign speech in Connecticut Hinkle organized the show.

Lyndon LaRouche, for those of you who dont know him, he explained,

was a great visionary, ran for President, a great thinker.... He envisioned a world in which ... we would, as humans, tap into our unlimited potentiality for growth, and creativity, and build a brighter future by working with the economic powerhouses of the world, the commodities producers of the world, to produce a more prosperous environment for all.

The U.S.-U.K.-NATO opposition to the new paradigm taking over the world appears more ridiculous, and becomes more dangerous every day. China has forcefully denounced the U.S. National Defense Strategy, which sees China as the most comprehensive and serious challenge to U.S. national security through its supposedly coercive and increasingly aggressive endeavor to refashion the Indo-Pacific region and the international system to suit its interests and authoritarian preferences.

Russia has called out Britain for its role in the attack on Sevastopol and the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines, demanding to know whether then-Prime Minister Liz Truss sent a celebratory text to Secretary of State Blinken.

Meanwhile, the United States publicly has military boots on the ground in Ukraine, in the form of inspectors deployed to keep an eye on the enormous quantities of weapons sent to that nation, weapons that are finding their way into the hands of extremists (that is, besides those Ukrainian extremists who are their intended recipients) and criminals. This may not technically be a military deployment, but if Russia launches a strike against a weapons depot and kills these Americans, what will be the response?

The longer this needless conflict continues, the greater the risk of civilization-ending nuclear warfare.
The 2022 French presidential election was no exception to the rule. The contest pitted candidates one against the other, each surrounded by a campaign team trying to capture votes through rallies and media exposure. Traditionally, candidates, parties, media and citizens are expected to participate in this process, but an equally important player is often overlooked: interest groups.

Interest groups refers to all non-political groups advocating with decision-makers. They range from NGOs to religious groups, companies, professional organisations and trade unions. All of them are regular actors in this democratic sequence, some permanently, others more sporadically.

This situation may seem surprising or shocking to many readers who would not expect to find them taking action at this particular moment in political life. The action of interest groups is indeed often considered a dent in the democratic edifice with its share of sometimes fantasised scenarios: from suitcases of cash to behind-the-scenes transactions and other arrangements between friends, an electoral campaign that is open to interest groups reveals another facet of the political regimes corruption and the drift of a system towards its capture by economic circles (Cage, 2018).

To counter these common cliches regarding the action of interest groups, a research project set out to collect data on these actors during the 2012 presidential election (Courty and Gervais, 2016). Between November 2011 and the first round of voting in April 2012, the result of the survey showed that 1178 organisations had made contact with at least one candidate in the contest [1]. This amounts to more than 6,500 questions or requests made in more than 5,000 pages of documents received by the candidates teams, and involves more than 200 campaign rituals (consultations, meetings, parties, etc.). Ultimately, this hidden side of elections shows one of the electoral activities of civil society that significantly helps to support the campaign for all these people, yet plays only a marginal role in determining the issues and, even less so, the axes of future government policy.

Elections: an important time for interest groups activity

Through this initial collective research, we began to know a little more about the electoral history of advocacy groups, even if it is something of a blind spot in our political history.

The first thing we can be certain of is that electoral action by interest groups is as old as competitive elections themselves, even if there is a lack of data for the period 1848-1880, when only the creation of clubs and committees of corporations for electoral purposes was recorded. Thereafter, the data, although scattered, allow us to outline a steady series of electoral actions by interest groups.

In that set of actions, some are now outdated or difficult to mobilise. The most famous is the presentation of candidates. The rules of the political game have gradually established almost watertight boundaries between partisan, member-based and trade union organisations. This began with the gradual exclusion of organisations that did not fit into the right-left opposition, and ended with the constitutional recognition of the parties monopoly on the presentation of candidates by the Fifth Republic. In the meantime, groups tried to compete with parties, the most famous being the employers circles such as the Parti commercial et industriel in 1901 and the last known one, the Redressement francais, which stopped presenting candidates directly from 1928. It was not until 1951 that such a practice was seen again, with the establishment of an economic front, while in 1956 the most significant event occurred: 52 Poujadist candidates were elected on the lists of the Union de defense des commercants et artisans, which defended artisans and small shopkeepers.

However, such action was not limited to the business community. The anti-alcohol leagues also presented their candidates in the 1902 legislative elections. Other candidates, considered to have little legitimacy, were scattered throughout the country and supported by interest groups, such as a representative of fairgrounds in 1899, and a list of carriers in 1956. The only candidacy that still fits in with this past practice in certain respects is that of Jean Saint-Josse for Chasse, peche nature et tradition (a party defending the traditional values of rural France) in the 2002 presidential election.

The second action used in campaigns was a logical consequence of the abandonment of the first. In the absence of candidates, the groups submitted programmes to the party candidates and asked them to sign or, at least, to acknowledge them. This was the case with the agricultural union in 1889, and later with a great many interest groups who used this practice as a means of appeal by publishing their demands, claims or projects for the next term of office. Here too, this original method of producing extra-partisan programmes became a ritual for employers organisations in the inter-war period. It enabled these groups to publish the list of supported candidates, often those who had agreed to sign the famous electoral commitments. In the most recent elections in France, the majority of groups abandoned the programme aspect in favour of appeals, demands, claims or proposals in the form of a summary document or booklet, often a white paper, which may propose a new project for French society.

Already present during the campaigns, interest groups have invented more discreet ways of taking action that have resulted in a lack of awareness of the work they carry out. Mobilising their members to support candidates is part of this line of action. Turning support into votes requires just one simple step, with precise voting instructions concerning the candidates for the cause or issue of interest, or others specifying the candidates who should not be voted for. This practice, while not the most widespread, is by far one of the most commented upon, particularly following the positions adopted in 2012 by Act Up against Nicolas Sarkozy, and by Civitas against Francois Hollande.

A fourth type of electoral action involves enlisting candidates so that they commit themselves to making the organisations voice heard after the election has been won. Candidates complete questionnaires asking them about their options on a particular issue, and thereby commit to defending a specific group. Their promise may be publicised in the sector concerned, or the elected representatives thus enlisted may create a study group within a parliamentary assembly. The practice most in line with this longstanding tradition is the signing of pacts, of which the 2007 environmental pact attracted the most attention.

In fifth place comes the most important action in some political systems, with the most famous example being the American system: the financing of parties or candidates. Prohibited in France since the 1988-1995 laws on the financing of politics, these practices fuelled a number of controversies before the ban, the most famous of which concerned an office of the CNPF employers union (later MEDEF) in 1955, whose purpose was to finance candidates favourable to employers. Since the 1990s, there has been a lack of clarity over exchanges that take the form of unbilled services  in some cases buses or even barges transporting activists, all under the radar of the supervisory authorities. In the current context, money still plays a part in elections but in ways that are still difficult to quantify in accounting terms (Phelippeau, 2018).

Memories of a campaign In detailing his daily routine during the 1974 presidential campaign, Francois Mitterrand wrote this paragraph on page 134 of his book The Wheat and the Chaff published in French in 1975, and in English in 1982. The italics are ours. Over the past forty days I have written, dictated, corrected hundreds of articles and interviews; received countless journalists; been subjected to photographers flashbulbs from morning till evening; given seven press conferences; appeared on twelve television programmes and as many radio broadcast; debated both my opponents, Valery Giscard dEstaing and Jacques Chaban-Delmas; taken part in nine other debates on regional radio and television stations; been the subject of six films, including two full-length documentaries. Since the French National Television only shoots in its studios in Paris, I limited my public appearances to thirty-two. Almost every night I appeared before huge crowds50,000 in Toulouse; 25,000 in Nice, Grenoble, and Nantes; 15,000 to 20,000 in most other placesand afterward returned home. I spent the rest of my time listening to delegations from organizations and associations of every kind, sent to me, their briefcases and pockets brimming with petitions, resolutions, protests, motions. In between I did my best to maintain my work sessions with my staff, personally checking the posters, pamphlets and books that we prepared for the election, and kept regular contact with my departmental leaders, the leaders of my party and the political and trade union organisations working at my side.

The sixth item in this set of actions brings us back to the contemporary period, with a practice that is certainly ancient but which is only known in its recent forms: the consultation of candidates by interest groups in private (in the organisations premises) or in public (for example in theatres). In 1981, the candidates were invited to a meeting on womens rights, which the future president, Valery Giscard dEstaing, chose not to honour with his presence. Since then, these exchanges have been organised either in restricted committees, such as the meetings between first-round candidates and the French Construction Federation in 2017 and 2021, or in public, such as the LGBT movement during a joint meeting in 2012.

This practice has its symmetry: getting invited as a way of meeting the candidates. The heads of the main NGOs and employers organisations are often keen to point out to their members that they have been received by all the candidates in the first round, the only source of uncertainty being their position with regard to the far-right Rassemblement national party, which is not systematically called upon.

Campaigning groups action: professionals vs. contract workers and amateurs

With such a high volume of activity, the question arises of why interest groups take action. What are they trying to achieve? This first question is immediately followed by another: what effect do they have on the election, the candidates and the future elected representatives?

Before addressing the possible answers to these questions, one must be ruled out straight away: their contribution in votes. Even if numerous electoral commentaries highlight the contemporary importance of certain community votes  hunters, Pieds-Noirs, etc.  few researchers have ventured into this field by proving a link between the mobilisation of advocacy groups and the results of particular candidates.

Groups, their voices and candidates strategies Filmed by Raymond Depardon (1974 une partie de campagne, 2002), at the request of candidate Valery Giscard dEstaing, the latter organised a discussion to prepare the strategy for the period between voting rounds, in an office of the Ministry of Finance in the Louvre, with the members of his campaign team for the 1974 presidential election. This is the explanation he gave on camera, during the meeting, for his strategy for the last three days of the campaign: I think, as well you know, that for the last two or three days, my whole trick has been not to lose votes. So thats why I havent written to the nice turtle doves and the rest of them, because I was thinking Ill lose some hunters, right?

We shall begin with the logic behind their mobilisation during the campaign. There are two opposing analytical frameworks. On the one hand, some authors stress that these organisations only act in order to influence. On the other hand, another area of theory insists on the fact that these interventions respond more to internal issues such as the mobilisation of members, their participation in the shared reflection on the state of the defended cause or the legitimisation of the groups leaders who thus show how much they are devoted to others. In order to settle this debate, it is important to be aware of the population of the interest groups in question. Indeed, an election is a specific context involving organisations that are not very active in traditional politics. Since the entry into force of the Sapin II law  which organises the registration of interest representatives on Agora, a website open to the general public  we are starting to learn more about the groups that are active during the five-year presidential term. Compared to those identified during the presidential campaigns, two sides of French society are emerging.

The first side emerges from the action taken by groups during the parliamentary session, where people who have interacted at least ten times with a decision-maker must register. These figures clearly reveal the over-representation of economic interests in the French political system (79.3% of actors, even lawyers and consultants, advocate for causes on the fringes) and the extremely marginal share occupied by associations (10%) and employee unions (0.2%) [2]. This makes the French political system even more focused on economic issues than the European institutions (less than 60% of the groups present) and certainly shows the withdrawal of associations from the parliamentary and governmental decision-making arenas.

The second face, which takes shape during presidential campaigns, is diametrically opposed in that it opens up one of the few windows for social actors (66.8% of mobilised actors) to try to interact with the candidates.

Table 1: Comparison between the groups in action during the 2012 election and those registered during the 2017-2022 session



Clarification: The HATVPs data have been recoded to avoid the numerous errors of assessment produced by its services, which all too often stop short at the outward appearance of interest groups, their legal status or their title, and not at their real activity (this is particularly the case with the confusion between associations and professional organisations, employee unions and professional unions). These figures were established in May 2020 with 2058 interest groups comprising 6479 collaborators.

This duality was confirmed by a questionnaire survey carried out in 2012 where only 44.2% of the lobbying professionals questioned acknowledged having set up a specific mechanism for the elections (n=183); the others had continued to work normally while the political system was on stand-by. In addition to the opposition between economic interests and societal causes, these two sides give an insight into what separates the insiders of interest representation, whose action is constant whatever the circumstances, and the outsiders who improvise an influential action when the context seems favourable. The difference between these two worlds of interest representation lies in their practices and in the effects they produce or seek. It also lies in the curious sequencing of political life, where the economy ultimately prevails over social considerations.

De Gaulle, the 1962 referendum and the condemnation of the collusion between the interest group agenda and the media agenda The last period covered by De Gaulles memoirs (LEffort. 1962..., published in English as Endeavour, 1971) does not deliver anything on the first presidential elections of 1965 but contains interesting insights into the activity of interest groups during the 1962 referendum campaign, which specifically concerned the planned presidential election [3]. This joint offensive of all the parties was emulated by a number of professional organisations which, though strictly speaking they had no business to involve themselves in political discussions, rushed to take part in that one. There followed a series of open calls to vote No by the CGT, FO region parisienne, CFTC, Ligue de lenseignement, Syndicat national de lenseignement technique, Syndicat national de lenseignement secondaire, Union francaise universitaire, FNSEA, Association dexploitations agricoles MODEF. Noting that these opinions were published or supported by almost all the Parisian and provincial newspapers, the President of the Republic acknowledged that [i]n the long run I had become impervious to this attitude on the part of the press. Once the emotions and resentfulness of the referendum campaign had passed, De Gaulle painted a picture of French society confronted with the ruthless laws of the capitalist system. On the one hand, he claimed that government economic policies had ensured the material progress of the French people, while on the other hand the trade unions, because they took no part in the studies and debates from which decisions stemmed  the chief among them, moreover, being closely associated with systematic opposition of the Communist Party  devoted themselves exclusively to pay claims.

This sequencing opens up the controversial theory of the capture of modern States by the business community [4]. Another, less radical, formulation is possible: the omnipotence of economic interests is not so much due to the means they deploy  their economic capital compensating for their weak social capital  as to the blank cheque they have at their disposal as a result of the expectations of the political-administrative elites [5].

These two campaigning worlds are opposed in the intensity and number of lobbying actions taken. On the one hand, some associations send or publish memos without ever contacting a member of the campaign HQ or worrying about what happens to them. The result is that only 1.4% of the organisations that sent a document published a comparison of the responses they received to their letters. On the other hand, some teams break down their requests into several different media (email, PDF, websites, press releases, etc.), send them to the candidates specialist advisers, follow up by phone to find out how the response is progressing, and then ask the candidate, or call on him/her in the media, to come and present his/her responses and meet the members of the organisation. To summarise these differences between professionals and temporary interest groups, only 7.7% of groups met the candidates in the second round, and 89.7% did not receive any response to their request.

The marginal effect on the political agenda

The lobbying actions of these groups reveal another, final facet of organised civil society: the hierarchy of issues it defends. The French presidential campaign is indeed known for having a civic agenda highlighted by the polls  it presents the hierarchy of expectations of the citizens polled  and a political media agenda that comprises the main issues on which the candidates make their proposals and around which the debates are partly organised  this agenda is based on the themes addressed by the press and developed by the candidates.

All these lobby groups suggest opening up a third agenda made up of the demands of interest groups, which North American researchers call the lobbying agenda. The result of the 2012 survey is highly significant: this third agenda corresponds very partially to that of citizens because of the importance given to economic issues [6]. However, it is almost completely out of step with the agenda of the media and the candidates [7]: the issues of most concern to the candidates did not match those supported by these civil society organisations. An observation that has been broadly made elsewhere also applies here: the field of power is not very sensitive to the issues raised by interest groups, and some of them are not even heard.

Table 2: Issues raised by interest groups during the 2012 elections





Source: The data collected during the 2012 survey was coded for issues in the 5000 pages of documents using the project agenda nomenclature.

Two further examples demonstrate the fact that this agenda does not converge with the other two. The position occupied by immigration (1.2% of the Labour, Employment, Immigration category) shows very clearly that the issue of most concern to actors in the field of power is overlooked by interest groups. Health (9.7%, i.e. the second most important issue) moves into first position if we add to it questions of social policy, social protection and the functioning of this State sector. Thus graded, the issue of health is the first on interest groups list in 2012. It is also the second most unanswered issue after economic matters, just ahead of minority rights issues. One conclusion is that the three key themes of the interest groups campaign are neither the candidates themes nor the issues they actually want to talk about.

The result is a picture that is hardly compatible with the most frequently held fantasies about the influence of interest groups. In fact, as is the case in ordinary political life, the influence of a group on a candidate is extremely marginal and shows a quasi-monopoly of professionals working for central economic interests or for major societal causes. In concrete terms, the actors who manage to obtain a response or to meet and interact with the candidates or their teams represent less than 7% of the groups mobilised.

Unsurprisingly, they are permanent members of the political system, regularly consulted and systematically present [8]. They are also staffed with those individuals most likely to capture the attention of political professionals: former political staff are over-represented, along with former communication professionals. Unsurprisingly, those who get 100% of the responses and attention are groups of local elected officials (including the association of French mayors). But do they have the capacity to win systematically? Here again, the answer is contrary to the power they are given, since all these groups, the dominant ones as well as those on the fringes, only obtain a sort of follow-up right authorising them to contact the government team again to discuss the policy to be put in place. A second response also undermines the power they are deemed to hold [9] : their contribution to the composition of candidates programmes is so marginal as to be almost non-existent; once again, with the exception of the permanent members of the system who are more successful in having a demand taken into account that the previous five-year term had not managed to address: in short, another concrete expression of the right to follow up.

The 2022 presidential election, like the previous ones, saw an outpouring of energy and resources  in 2012, the highest budgets were 500,000 euros  by organisations that believed they had an opportunity to capture the candidates attention, and sometimes the publics. While we should not deny their ability to raise awareness and mobilise their members and their environment around the causes and interests they defend, we must nevertheless take some of the magic out of the electoral ritual by pointing out that it very rarely allows demands to be converted into electoral programmes, or category proposals into bills. During the election, and the five-year term that now follows, the survey carried out confirms the theory on other political systems developed by other political scientists: interest groups advocate on the margins of political goods  the writing of certain technical characteristics of standards  and rarely impose an issue on the governmental agenda. This theory no doubt disappoints those who consider that interest groups are primarily responsible for the drift of the political system. Nevertheless, it is intended to help to return political elites to their rightful place in this debate and not to consider them a priori as the weak link.
Xi Jinping has begun his third five-year term as Chinas president.

Chinese officials changed the countrys constitution in 2018 to permit Chinas presidents to serve more than 10 years. The Chinese Communist party also appointed officials loyal to Xi to the seven-member ruling Standing Committee. This likely makes Xi China's most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong, the first leader of Communist China.

Under Xi's 10 years in power, China has experienced big changes, both within the country and in relation to the rest of the world.

Opinions of China

U.S.-China relations appear to have gotten worse in recent years, and studies suggest Western public opinion also has worsened. The studies note worries over Chinas human rights record and China's increasingly aggressive actions and statements toward Taiwan.

For example, in 2017, more than 60 percent of Australians had a positive opinion of China. The Pew Research Center recently said that number fell to about 15 percent in 2022.

State security measures

Under Xi, the areas of Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong have faced measures that the ruling Chinese Communist Party said were aimed at increasing security. Xi began large operations that put these areas under increased government control.

In Xinjiang, an estimated one million minority Muslim Uyghurs were put in camps. Human rights groups say more than 227,000 people were arrested or prosecuted in the region in 2017.

In Hong Kong, Xi answered huge anti-government protests in 2019 with a broad national security law.

All Chinese leaders since Mao have said reunifying China with the self-governed island of Taiwan is important. Under president Xi, Chinas military has increased its activity around the island in recent years. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosis visit in August was followed by huge Chinese military exercises.

In addition, the Chinese military has been getting closer in size to the United States military. The U.S. Congressional Research Service reported that China currently has about 50 more warships than the U.S. Some U.S. officials warn that Chinas ability to capture Taiwan is increasing.

Economy

Xi has increased state control of Chinas economy and is enforcing more rules on some areas of private business. These include online platforms and for-profit education.

These rules, along with continuing COVID-19 measures, have increased urban unemployment and pushed down consumer confidence.

Years of double-digit growth ended before Xi took office. Chinas economic growth rate has been getting slower. Chinas National Bureau of Statistics said growth was eight percent in 2021. Also, incomes have steadily risen under Xi.

Income inequality, however, has been increasing too. And there is a big difference in wealth between urban and rural areas. Xi is seeking to improve this with his "common prosperity" policy.

China has one of the highest income inequalities among large economies, along with the United States.

Xi has said ending extreme poverty in China is one of the important goals reached by the Communist Party in recent years. In 2012, 10 percent of the population was living on less than $1.25 per day. In 2021, the Chinese government said that number was zero percent.

Reducing corruption, increasing censorship

Upon taking office, Xi began a big effort to stop corruption within the Communist Party. This action has been popular with the public. Xinhua news agency said that, in 2013, the government brought fewer than 200,000 corruption cases. In 2021, that number was about 600,000. Experts say the anti-corruption campaign has been a tool for removing Xis political opponents from office.

Political freedoms and environmental issues

Xi has punished people who protest and express opposition political beliefs. Safeguard Defenders, a human rights group, estimates that detentions and surveillance of individuals rose from around 2,000 to almost 6,000 individuals between 2013 and 2020. Control of information on the internet inside China's "Great Firewall" has also increased.

And Chinas environmental activities have changed. Currently, coal provides almost 60 percent of Chinas energy, but air quality in China has improved in recent years. China also has become the top manufacturer of electric vehicles. China has increased production from about 500,000 vehicles in 2015 to about 3.5 million in 2021.

Im Faith Pirlo. And I'm Andrew Smith

Andrew Smith adapted this Reuters report for VOA Learning English.

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Words in This Story

positive adj. good or useful

prosecute v. to place someone on trial after accusing them of a crime

broad adj. wide; great in size or extent

platform n. a system that sends information to a lot of people

consumer n. a person who pays for goods and services with their own money

double-digit adj. 10 or more

surveillance n. the act of carefully watching someone or something especially in order to prevent or discover a crime

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Thomas Edison may have found an unusual way to enjoy piano music. As someone played, the famous inventor, who had hearing problems, would move close to the instrument and bite it.

Pressing his teeth into the wood of phonographs and pianos helped Edison experience the music in his skull. Or in his own words, it allowed him to hear through my teeth.

Robert Friedman recently showed off marks on a Steinway piano that was once owned by Edison. The piano has groups of small marks above the keyboard. Keys are what the piano player strikes to make sounds.

Friedman, who buys and sells Steinways, purchased the piano last year, and said he was surprised by the tooth marks left by the inventor of the phonograph, a music playing device. Friedman is now looking for the right home for the instrument.

I believe that it belongs somewhere where many, many, many people can see it, Friedman said.

Edison bought the Model B Ebony from Steinway & Sons in 1890 for $725.

Paperwork with the sale includes the words office furniture, suggesting it was sent to his laboratory in New Jersey. The piano for some reason unknown to me ... gives better results than any so far tried, Edison wrote the company. Please send bill with lowest price.

Edison invented the phonograph in 1877. When he bought the piano 13 years later, he was experimenting with sound recording. Edison owned the instrument for many years, so it is possible it was used in early recordings.

There is no known photograph of Edison biting this piano. But he was known to bite into phonographs and pianos to help him experience music as his hearing worsened. His daughter once remembered that a guest cried at the sight of Edison biting on to a piano as someone played it.

Edmund Morris wrote a 2019 biography of Edisons life. In it, he wrote that Edison said: I hear through my teeth, and through my skull. The inventor added: I bite my teeth into the wood and then I get it good and strong.

Friedman said he has seen thousands of Steinway pianos over 50 years. Ive never seen that anywhere, he said about the possible tooth marks.

Friedman bought the piano for about $45,000 in early January 2021. He did not notice the marks at first.

His friend Charles Frommer is a musician and recording history lover. He came to Friedmans house in New Yorks Hudson Valley to tune the piano. Frommer noticed the marks and told him those are Edisons bite marks.

Friedman calls himself the Steinway hunter. He finds and buys the famous pianos from people and then sells them, usually to dealers or rebuilders. But this piano is more complex.

Friedman does not want it to go back into private hands because of its connection to Edison. He has yet to find a historical group that would buy the piano, which he is offering to sell for what it cost him.

The Thomas Edison National Historical Park in West Orange, New Jersey, passed up a chance to buy the piano from its earlier owner in 2020 for several reasons. These included limited space, cost and the fact that some original parts were replaced since Edison owned it, museum curator Jerry Fabris said in an email.

Friedman is still looking for a home for the piano. A film also is possible, as is having the piano recorded for a special instrument recording library.

Edisons listening method has been tested on the piano. Not wanting to mark the instrument any further, Frommer said he and others tried biting the instrument when small wooden pieces were placed on the piano to protect it.

We were able to replicate the effect, Frommer said. And yeah, you do hear it in your skull.

Im John Russell.

Michael Hill reported on this story for the Associated Press. John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English.

_______________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

piano  n. a large musical instrument with a keyboard that you play by pressing black and white keys and that produces sound when small hammers inside the piano hit steel wires

phonograph  n. a device used for playing musical records

skull n. the structure of bones that form the head

furniture -- n. chairs, tables, beds, etc., that are used to make a room ready for use

biography  n. the story of a real person's life written by someone other than that person

tune v. to change the sound of a musical instrument so its sound is correct

curator  n. a person who is in charge of the things in a museum or zoo

original adj. what was present at the beginning or when something was made

replicate  v. to repeat or copy (something) exactly
Halloween night at a popular neighborhood party on Omaha's Minne Lusa Boulevard began with shrieks of delight from costumed children collecting candy.

It ended with police gunshots and sirens.

Residents and community members on Tuesday reflected on a night that could have turned out much worse after a car drove around a barricade and the driver hit the gas as hundreds of people were walking in the street in northern Omaha.

Officer Bryson Blandford shot the driver of the car, 31-year-old Dontavius Levering, near Newport Avenue, a few blocks from where Levering drove onto Minne Lusa Boulevard shortly after 7 p.m., officials said. Blandford, police said, fired seven shots and Levering was hit three times  in the jaw and once in each shoulder. He is expected to survive.

James Moore Sr., whose family had organized one of the bigger household events along the boulevard, said that he was grateful for police actions and that no trick-or-treaters appeared to have been hurt.

"That could have been my children and grandchildren who might have been hurt," he said. "A lot of people could have been hit."

Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said Tuesday afternoon that Blandford, who has been with the Police Department for four years, saved lives and acted in accordance with Omaha police policies and procedures.

Schmaderer said his officers have trained to respond to a situation in which a vehicle is threatening a large crowd, such as the incident in Wisconsin last year where a man drove an SUV through a Christmas parade, killing six people and injuring dozens more. Just last week, a jury found Darrell Brooks guilty in that case.

"It clearly caused this officer concern, and that concern would be justified," Schmaderer said of Levering's actions Monday night. "Had the officer not been there, it's not hard to extrapolate that somebody would have been run over by this car."

Witnesses said Levering would rev the engine and hit the gas, almost striking people walking in the street. He stopped and started, first driving south in the northbound lane of Minne Lusa Boulevard and then circling the medians of the boulevard. The car's trunk wouldn't stay closed so when he braked, the trunk would fly open.

Levering was driving with his headlights off.

Some people chased the car, imploring the driver to stop. Others shouted at him, telling him that he couldn't drive there and that he had almost hit their kids. Many people already had called 911 to report what was happening.

One young mother said an officer told her and others to get on the ground and cover up their children as the car came down the street.

The Minne Lusa trick-or-treating event is an annual neighborhood party, and Omaha police officers and firefighters attend the gathering to connect with the community. Large barricades with white and neon orange stripes block access to Minne Lusa Boulevard from Sharon Drive to Newport Avenue.

Blandford was assigned to work the event, Schmaderer said, and had his police cruiser parked on a median on Minne Lusa near Newport Avenue, where he was handing out candy to children from the cruiser's trunk.

Blandford had heard another officer share via radio that a car had gone around a barricade. Blandford then saw a car approaching from the north. By that point, officials said, the car was in the southbound lane of Minne Lusa Boulevard, past Titus Avenue.

Schmaderer said Blandford ran through the crowd, moving kids out of the way, and stood in the car's path, putting his hand out to signal that the driver should stop.

Blandford told bystanders to move and yelled "Stop" at the driver at least five times, the chief said.

Levering continued to drive the car toward Blandford and the people behind him. Blandford then fired at Levering. Photos released by Schmaderer from Blandford's body camera show the car driving head-on toward Blandford. Blandford's shadow, which shows him holding and aiming his gun, is reflected on the street. His arms can be seen at the top of the frame, with his hands holding his gun.

"The officer positioned himself the way he did to protect those behind him," Schmaderer said.

Police officials said Blandford began shooting as Levering approached. Blandford continued firing toward the driver's side as the car passed. In Blandford's body camera footage, it's evident that the car's driver's-side window is broken.

The car quickly came to a stop at the curb in front of a house off Minne Lusa Boulevard near Newport Avenue. Blandford and paramedics who were there then provided medical aid to Levering.

Omaha Fire Department personnel took Levering to the Nebraska Medical Center in serious condition. As of Tuesday afternoon, his condition was stable.

Lt. Neal Bonacci, a police spokesman, said when released from the hospital, Levering will be booked into jail on suspicion of attempted first-degree assault on an officer and use of a weapon to commit a felony  the weapon being his car. Bonacci said contrary to some witness reports, Levering did not fire a gun at trick-or-treaters, and no gun was found in the car.

Blandford has been placed on paid administrative leave and will be interviewed this week. But Schmaderer said that based on footage from Blandford's body camera and witness statements, he thinks Blandford acted correctly.

The police shooting was the Omaha Police Department's second in two nights. Schmaderer noted that the department has had three such shootings so far this year, which matches last year's total and is less than half the highest annual total of the previous decade  seven, in 2016.

One resident, who declined to give her full name, was trick-or-treating with two of her children, ages 6 and 12. They had gone to the boulevard for the event for the past five years.

"How's this going to affect the kids when they go trick-or-treating? How are they going to remember this?" the woman said. "I would just like to know what the purpose of (the driver) was. You ruined kids' lovely Halloween night."

The woman said people ran after they heard the gunshots and everyone went home. The gathering usually continues until about 8 or 8:30 p.m.

Members of a nonprofit Omaha organization, Black Men United, passed out candy to kids Tuesday to try to make up for what happened.

Colleen Cannon, the group's program manager, said organizers encouraged children to wear their costumes and come to 4200 N. 30th St., where they handed out candy.

"That's sad that the kids can't even go trick-or-treating," Cannon said.

Levering has a lengthy criminal record. He served prison time in 2012 and 2013 on a charge of theft by receiving stolen property. He also was found guilty of attempted burglary in 2016.

Police said the investigation into what happened is continuing. Levering has not been able to be interviewed because of his condition, police said. Police officials don't yet know what Levering's intentions were  his listed address is on a street just off Minne Lusa Boulevard.

The Nebraska State Patrol and the Sarpy County Sheriffs Office are assisting with the investigation. Per state law, a grand jury will convene to review the case.
The Lufkin City Council on Tuesday updated an ordinance that dictates the care and treatment of animals in hopes of addressing the near constant inflow of homeless dogs and cats at the citys shelter.

The work to update the ordinance  which has not been updated since the 1970s  has taken animal Services Director Aaron Ramsey years to complete, he said. While public safety is always a key concern, as shelter director Ramsey said he also has to consider ways to manage the high volume of animals coming into the shelter.

Our existing ordinance is outdated and conflicts with state law in certain areas, city manager Kevin Gee said.

Staff received input from citizens and local animal groups during our process. The proposed ordinance addresses animal issues within the city in a more clear and concise manner and provides regulations for animals that will reduce our shelter populations and further increase public safety.

Ramsey began by looking at what other cities in Texas have done and whether their ordinances have been successful, he said. He believes Lufkin will see the same success, but it wont be overnight.

Ramseys ordinance provided a few key changes to better meet the demands of the community.

Ramsey updated what the city considers inhumane treatment to require pet owners to seek veterinary care and included a definition of adequate shelter.

Adequate shelter must be sturdy and provide the dog with protection from inclement weather and large enough to allow the dog to stand erect, sit, turn around and lie down in a normal position while in the shelter. Shelter also cannot be made from plastic, air shipping containers, metal barrels or pet carriers.

He also further defined water requirements, which state animals be kept on premises where they have access to clean, fresh water at all times. The water container must be able to prevent tipping and spilling of water and must be kept clean and sanitary and refreshed regularly.

Ramseys new ordinance ends the citywide requirement that citizens obtain a permit before trapping any animals. It now permits any resident to use a humane trap and states they shall surrender animals caught in traps to animal control.

One of the new ordinances ends the sale or giving away of dogs in parking lots or other public spaces, though it excludes livestock. Animals also are required to be secured if traveling in an open vehicle and permits animal control or law enforcement to remove an animal from a vehicle if it is in danger from extreme temperatures.

Ramseys update to the ordinances surrounding animal impoundment attempts to solve issues within the shelter.

The updates clarify the process to impound an animal, permits employees to give essential vaccines upon intake  rather than waiting 72 hours as has been required  and allows employees to seek immediate treatment of an animal.

For owners whose animals are frequent fliers, they have to either pay a fine, apply for a breeder permit or sterilize their animal if its impounded on two or more occasions for running at large and requires the owners have the animal microchipped.

This is a key issue for Ramsey, who said the goal is to incentivize pet owners to have their pets spayed and neutered. The shelter often sees frequent fliers  the animals who escape from home or who are just left out  and he believes they are contributing to a massively expanding homeless animal population.

The public doesnt realize, their animals are getting loose and are unaltered. Theyre getting out and reproducing in our community, he said. So were just trying to solve that problem of overpopulation.

The new ordinances also will now permit bird enthusiasts more freedom to house birds in their yard by removing a blanket requirement for fowl to be kept 100 feet from any dwelling. Residents can now own six birds in an area that is 30 to 100 feet from any dwelling and 12 if they are more than 100 feet from any dwelling. Roosters cannot be housed, however, without written permission from the city.

And in homes with multiple pets, the city has increased the number of animals a person can house without a kennel license. The ordinance ends the requirement for citizens to apply for a multiple pet permit, increases the maximum number of animals from five to six and allows more than six animals at a premise if sanitary conditions are maintained.

And a new ordinance prohibits the dumping or abandonment of animals near the shelter.

Proponents of the ordinance spoke up during the public hearing held before the city council vote.

Rachel Kennerly spoke to the overall net positive impact chickens have on the community, and said she was in favor of the updated regulations regarding fowl. Food waste is a significant problem seen not just in Lufkin, but across the state and country, and using it to feed chickens is a great way to deal with that, she said.

Because chickens are omnivores, not herbivores, we can feed them pretty well any of the scraps that come out of our house, she said.

Citing a 2018 Pennsylvania study, she said researchers found a backyard flock of 44 chickens consumed 350 pounds of food waste in five weeks. Kennerly argued the city and landfill could save money and space by encouraging backyard hens.

Luke Owens also spoke up at the meeting; he spoke at the October meeting when the council approved this ordinance on first reading. He asked that the new ordinance be more clear, and said animal control officers should spend more time chasing dogs instead of being scared of chickens.

Molly James, an animal rights advocate and representative of Kurth Animal Shelter Advocates, said the organization agrees with the new ordinance and reminded the city council of whats at stake.

One main concern is the consistently high intake at Kurth, she said. These numbers have remained high over the course of many years and the hope the community will take full-responsibility and spay and neuter their pets has, unfortunately, not been fulfilled.

And it is the animals who are paying for this with their lives, she said. The organization understands this is not a black and white issue, but said the community needs to find workable solutions. No matter public opinion on the current situation, the status quo is not working for the common good of homeless animals, she said.

If it were, the intake would not remain so high, year after year, she said. And animals would not be put down for a lack of space.
A nationwide baby formula shortage that stressed families for much of 2022 is easing in Wisconsin, but questions about formula access still loom for some caregivers.

Grocery store shelves still arent as full as they were before the shortage began in February, said Camen Hofer, the chair of the Wisconsin WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) Association and director of the Wood County Health Departments WIC program.

But Similac is on the shelves, and families have been able to find more of the formula that theyre looking for, Hofer said.

The formula shortage resulted from pandemic-related supply chain issues and two shutdowns of an Abbott Nutrition plant in Sturgis, Michigan  first amid an investigation into reports of bacterial infections that prompted a recall and later due to flooding.

Abbott restarted production of Similac at the Sturgis facility in late August, bringing the popular brand back onto the market. Another recall on Oct. 14 impacted some 2-ounce, ready-to-feed products because of a sealing issue on less than 1% of recalled bottles. But it was not expected to crimp overall supply in the U.S.

Recent photos posted to the Milwaukee Formula Parents Facebook group, which formed to help local parents navigate the shortage, show fuller shelves. But some parents are still struggling to find specialty formulas.

In late August, officials within the U.S Department of Agricultures Food and Nutrition Service anticipated supply problems to linger for the rest of 2022 due to a shift in the varieties and sizes traditionally available in the market.

As stock improves, heres what parents and caregivers  especially those enrolled in the WIC program  should know about formula access.

How long will alternative formulas be available?

Before the shortage, WIC allowed families to spend their benefits on only five of Abbotts Similac formulas, unless they requested a medical formula.

Cans of Reckitt Mead Johnsons Enfamil are shown at a Woodmans Market in Madison, Wis., on Oct. 19, 2022. (Jim Malewitz / Wisconsin Watch)

But the Wisconsin Department of Health Services opened up more options early during the shortage, including different brands and container sizes, with Abbott covering the cost of substitutes.

Alternative brands will remain available through at least Dec. 31, 2022, the third time that date has been pushed back.

Alternate sizes and forms of Abbotts Similac products, including Total Comfort, will continue to be available through Feb. 28, 2023, the state health department said.

Similac products are back. But are they safe to use?

The state health department notes on its substitutions list that WIC participants should return to Similac products if they are available because they are safe and supply is increasing.

We are letting families know that if Abbott products are on the shelf, they are safe to purchase, DHS spokesperson Elizabeth Goodsitt said.

But some parents remain nervous about returning to Abbott after the recall.

Containers of Similac specialty infant formula from Abbott Nutrition are shown at a Woodmans Market in Madison, Wis., on Oct. 19, 2022. Abbott restarted production at its Sturgis, Mich. facility in late August, returning more formula to the market during a nationwide shortage that stressed parents for months. (Jim Malewitz / Wisconsin Watch)

Camila Martin, a pediatric clinical nutritionist at UW Health Kids, said parents should know that Abbotts recall was voluntary, not mandatory. Abbott didnt reopen its Sturgis plant until it met strict cleaning procedures and requirements, she noted.

Theres a lot of eyes on them right now, which helps from a safety perspective  that we know that theyre going to be extra cautious, even more so than before, Martin said.

Although each caregiver knows their baby best, Martin said, for most infants, it is okay just to switch from one (formula) to the other as soon as theyve exhausted that old supply.

Caregivers can ease the transition by preparing separate half bottles of each formula according to the directions and mixing them together, Martin added.

Will international formulas stay on the market?

Although Wisconsins WIC program will stop offering international brands like Kendamil and Bubs after 2022, those products may remain available in stores even after the shortage ends.

The FDA in September announced a long-term pathway for international manufacturers to remain on the market.

Families should weigh multiple variables when considering whether to stick with an international formula, Martin said, especially if there are questions about shipping the formula, language used or mixing directions.

Families should pay close attention to the mixing instructions, which are often in milliliters, not ounces. International scoops may be of different sizes, too, Hofer noted. The FDA has a conversion chart to help prepare international formulas.

If Im working with a family, I would always recommend that they switch to a U.S.-based equivalent that they can get from a store around here, Martin said.

Caregivers should speak with a pediatrician if they have other questions about international formulas  including their iron content, Martin and Hofer said.

What water should I use to prepare formulas?

Some Wisconsin parents have reported a shortage of nursery or baby water products, some of which contain added fluoride.

If a family has an infant thats immunocompromised, distilled water can be an equivalent to nursery water, Martin said. Theres actually no regulations on what nursery water is.

Municipal water is generally considered safe for infants, but parents can check with their physician for specifics on water safety in their area.

The World Health Organization recommends boiling water to kill bacteria  and not letting it sit for more than half an hour  before mixing it with formula while its still hot. Many families may not be aware of this best practice, Hofer said.

But boiling does not get rid of lead, if thats a water supply concern.

Those with concerns about bacteria or lead in their water could buy distilled water or find another safe source, Martin said. She and Hofer recommend that families who rely on well water test it regularly and check with their local health department.

Jugs of water advertised as specially purified for babies are shown at a Madison, Wis. Woodmans Market on Oct. 19, 2022. Some Wisconsin parents have reported a shortage of nursery or baby water products. If a family has an infant thats immunocompromised, distilled water can be an equivalent to nursery water, says Camila Martin, a pediatric clinical nutritionist at UW Health Kids. Theres actually no regulations on what nursery water is. (Jim Malewitz / Wisconsin Watch)

Can I use WIC to purchase formulas online?

Not yet in Wisconsin, although the USDA is working toward online shopping by testing it in seven states. The lack of online ordering limited the options of Wisconsin WIC families who struggled to find certain formulas at brick-and-mortar stores.

Its going to be a little bit until people can actually use their cards online, which is unfortunate, because its something that feels like should be happening as soon as possible, Hofer said.

Congress may reshape WIC as it examines proposals to reauthorize child nutrition programs, but its timeline for enacting such legislation is unclear.

One proposal would require states to authorize at least three companies to accept WIC benefits online by 2025. Other proposals would allow remote enrollment appointments and expand eligibility by 2026 to cover children until they reach 6 years old or kindergarten.

Where else can I get information about infant formula?

Families should talk with their pediatrician or local WIC office. Find contact information for each WIC office here.

The state health department has information for WIC families here, including the current substitutions list.

The American Academy of Pediatrics also has tips, including this information about imported formulas and this page about the newest recall.

WisconsinWatch.org is a nonprofit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009.
"Raising Lazarus: Hope, Justice, and the Future of Americas Overdose Crisis" by Beth Macy; Little, Brown (373 pages, $30)



It was historic  and alarming  news when in August the National Center for Health Statistics announced that, for the second year in a row, life expectancy for Americans had declined, dropping to a level last seen three decades ago.

One factor in that drop was, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic. But another lethal factor has been having an impact for much longer, as journalist Beth Macy writes in her new book, Raising Lazarus: Hope, Justice, and the Future of Americas Overdose Crisis.

Macy writes, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than a million Americans have died from drug overdose since 1996, the largest factor by far in decreasing life expectancy for Americans. In the past two decades, overdose deaths have quintupled. If life-expectancy declines persist, experts predict it will take more than a century to recover.

Overdose deaths affect Americans at every income and educational level, of every race, in every part of the country. They outnumber gunshot deaths and car crash deaths combined.

The overwhelming majority of those overdose deaths are caused by opioids, both legal and illegal. Much of the enormous growth in those numbers can be traced to one legal opioid, OxyContin, and the company that makes it, Purdue Pharma.

Macy laid out that deadly connection in her deeply reported 2018 book, Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America. The book was the source for the 2021 Hulu miniseries Dopesick, which was nominated for multiple Emmys and won one for Michael Keaton for best lead actor. (Macy was involved with the show as a writer and executive producer.)

In Dopesick, Macy wove together two major storylines. One spotlighted the lives of individual victims of overdose and the devastated families they left behind; the other related how the Sackler family, the owners of Purdue, not only developed OxyContin but created a marketing method that essentially peddled the drug as a safe, nonaddictive painkiller  and relentlessly targeted sales at communities vulnerable to it.

Its a story to make your blood boil. In Raising Lazarus, Macy shifts the perspective somewhat. The story of Purdue, the Sacklers and the massive legal attempt to hold them responsible continues in this book. But Macy also turns her attention to people who are trying to do something about addiction and overdose deaths  heroes you never heard of who are saving lives one at a time.

The books title comes from the New Testament story, as explained by the Rev. Michelle Mathis. She heads the Olive Branch Ministry in western North Carolina, which offers boots-on-the-ground help for opioid users.

When Jesus heard his friend Lazarus had been dead for four days, Mathis says, he mourned with others close to him. Then Jesus instructed his followers to roll away the stone from Lazaruss tomb, and he commanded Lazarus to come forth, telling the mourners to unbind him from his burial cloths.

Jesus had already performed the miracle; now, it was up to the community to do the stinky, messy work of pulling the burial shroud off Lazarus.

Those are the people Macy shows us: the ones doing the messy work.

For decades, people who were addicted to drugs were stigmatized as morally deficient or criminal rather than sick. The most popular solution to the problem, promoted by politicians and law enforcement, was the 1980s-vintage War on Drugs strategy to arrest their way out of it by imprisoning users  a solution that has seen little success.

Macy writes about newer ways to treat addiction that, if not quite miracles, have shown much more promise. One of them is buprenorphine, or bupe, as she calls it, a prescription drug that treats opioid addiction by reducing withdrawal and cravings  the dopesickness that so often drives people into relapse. And relapse immediately after prison or rehab, when the user is clean, is when overdose is most likely.

The use of bupe in tandem with other forms of treatment, including counseling and job and housing assistance, have helped countless users recover, Macy writes.

You might think a treatment like this would be offered enthusiastically in every community in America. Instead, the struggle to get bupe is, for many people, far more difficult than just relapsing to street drugs. Macy writes about speaking to a group of sheriffs about the benefits of treating users with bupe while theyre in jail, so they can make an easier transition to life outside and (as studies show) be much less likely to re-offend.

When shes done, she writes, a single sheriff sarcastically slow-claps while the others sit in stony silence. They refuse to be seen as coddling criminals.

So people like Nikki King pick up the slack and get the work done. King grew up in a small town in Kentucky and was already at work creating a program to treat addiction when she was a graduate student. Seven years after she had graduated from high school, Macy writes, King could tick off the names of twenty former classmates who were dead from suicide or drug- and alcohol-related car wrecks, disease or overdose. She was tired of seeing them fall through the cracks.

Energetic and fearless, King takes a job in rural, conservative Ripley County, Indiana, where there are no drug-treatment centers or detox facilities, not a single full-time psychiatrist, and addiction medicines were just about impossible to get. But by 2019, the opioid crisis there had reached a level its leaders couldnt ignore  so many people were using drugs that the countys child abuse and neglect rate quintupled in five years.

As much as the community needed help, King ran into resistance to her methods at every turn. But, Macy writes, she wanted to create a program for marginalized rural people with high rates of childhood trauma and comorbidities. By 2021, she had dubbed her team the Avengers of Mental Health. It had grown so fast that she had to move her own desk into the supply closet.

King is just one of the real-life problem-solvers Macy chronicles. Some of them have lost family members to overdose, like Ed Bisch, who had never heard of OxyContin until the day his son died from it. Some have survived addiction themselves, like photographer Nan Goldin, who turned her brilliant career into a crusade against the Sacklers.

They are inspiring and admirable, every one of them. But they are, Macy makes clear, a scattered army of Davids facing a national Goliath.

Drug use is still highly politicized, as in the current attempts to tie immigration at the southern border to the flood of illegal fentanyl into the U.S., as if cartels might be inefficient enough to smuggle their product in the hip pockets of random people walking across the desert rather than, as Macy notes, carried in via legitimate ports of entry on land and water, hidden in tractor trailers, cars, and shipping containers.

And users themselves are still blamed and stigmatized. Mathis, the minister, recalls attending a community meeting in Mount Airy, North Carolina (the model for Mayberry in The Andy Griffith Show), where the Kiwanis leader vented, I think when they relapse. we should let em die and take their organs!

But addiction is a problem we ignore at our peril, as Raising Lazarus makes clear. The heroes Macy writes about, and Macy herself, keep rolling away the stone.
The annual meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology was held from Oct. 21 to 26 in Charlotte, North Carolina, and attracted approximately 5,000 participants from around the world, including gastroenterology and digestive specialists and other health care professionals. The conference featured presentations focusing on clinical updates in gastroenterology and hepatology as well as the latest advances in digestive health and gastrointestinal disorders.

In one study, Robert Postlethwaite, M.D., of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and colleagues found that a history of type 2 diabetes mellitus, tobacco use, and advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD stage 3) is associated with a greater risk for developing acute pancreatitis in patients taking glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) for obesity.

The authors performed a retrospective single-center study among patients seen in a weight-wellness program between Jan. 1, 2015, and Dec. 31, 2021, and identified patients initiating GLP-1RAs. Patients were stratified based on the development of acute pancreatitis. The researchers found that 2.2 percent of patients (49 out of 2,245) developed acute pancreatitis after being started on a GLP-1RA for obesity. The investigators also found that a history of type 2 diabetes mellitus, tobacco use, and advanced CKD (stage 3) was associated with a higher risk for developing acute pancreatitis. Patients with a body mass index (BMI) >36 kg/m versus those with a BMI 30 kg/m had a lower risk for developing acute pancreatitis after GLP-1RA use.

"A notable finding from our study was that known clinical risk factors for acute pancreatitis, including alcohol use, prior history of acute pancreatitis, and gallstone disease, were not associated with an increased risk of acute pancreatitis with GLP-1RA therapy," Postlethwaite said. "Therefore, providers may not need to withhold GLP-1RA therapies in these groups as patients will likely benefit from obesity treatment and less than 2 percent of eligible people receive antiobesity medications in the United States."

In another study, Andrew Chang, M.D., of Sierra Nevada Gastroenterology Medical Associates in Grass Valley, California, and colleagues found that by understanding patient preferences for telemedicine versus in-person visits, clinical practitioners can schedule patients in a way that maximizes their satisfaction and improves office efficiency.

The authors evaluated ways to utilize telemedicine that will enhance patient experience using surveys delivered via mail or in person to 1,100 randomly selected patients in a community-based practice. Patients had a telemedicine visit between April 2020 and October 2021. A total of 320 surveys were completed. The researchers found that patients who came in for new complaints or serious problems preferred to see their physician in person. Patients who had routine follow-up, had stable medical problems, or needed a procedure-related visit preferred telemedicine. Furthermore, patients felt that physicians demonstrated compassion more effectively in person.

"This may be due to the fact that body language, tone, and facial expressions are more effectively delivered in person than over telemedicine. In general, patients felt that telemedicine was more convenient and therefore preferred for follow-up visits," Chang said. "In-person visits should be offered to all patients who have new complaints or serious medical issues. Telemedicine may be offered to patients with stable medical problems who just need routine follow-up."

Shahroz Fatima, M.D., of New York University Langone Health in New York City, and colleagues found that pregnant women with history of bariatric surgery have an increased risk for pregnancy and labor and delivery complications and should be considered high-risk pregnancies, as the rate of potential complications is higher compared with those without prior bariatric surgery, including when compared with pregnant women with obesity.

The authors performed a retrospective cohort analysis of the 2012 Nationwide Inpatient Sample database to gain insight into pregnancy and labor and delivery complications in women who had undergone bariatric surgery versus those who had not undergone the surgery, with and without obesity. The researchers found that pregnant women with prior bariatric surgery had a lower incidence of hypertension, diabetes (including gestational), and preeclampsia compared with obese pregnant women. Pregnant women with prior bariatric surgery had a higher incidence of hyperemesis, nutritional deficiencies, spontaneous abortion, thromboembolism, alcohol use, and mental health disorders compared with both obese and nonobese pregnant women without bariatric surgery. Furthermore, bariatric surgery increased the incidence of labor and delivery complications, including cesarean section and breech delivery, fetal distress, anesthesia complications, infections in puerperium ectopic pregnancy, spontaneous abortion, and thromboembolic complications.

"Patients with prior bariatric surgery need to be counseled about the increased pregnancy and labor and delivery risks. This may need to be discussed with women contemplating pregnancy prior to bariatric surgery as now we have other effective weight loss modalities," Fatima said. "This cohort also may benefit from close follow-up as a high-risk pregnancy, if pregnancy occurs after surgery, given the risks that we had described in our study."
Republicans in South Carolina have steadily increased their hold on elected offices, occupying all statewide elected seats and all but one spot in the states seven-member U.S. House delegation. There have been some localized red-to-blue flips in recent years, but in many cases the states primaries, rather than general balloting, are the more contentious elections.

In this years midterms, Republicans are looking to maintain their dominance in statewide-elected offices, particularly the governors office, which a Democrat has not won in more than 20 years.

In fact, no Democrat has won statewide in South Carolina since 2006, when Jim Rex won election as the state superintendent of education.

Gov. Henry McMaster is seeking his second full term in the office he has occupied since late 2016, when then-Gov. Nikki Haley left the governors mansion to become the Trump administrations first U.N. ambassador. McMaster  then South Carolinas lieutenant governor  ascended to the office he had long sought, having lost to Haley in a four-way primary in 2010 before winning election as her lieutenant governor in 2014.

McMaster is challenged by Joe Cunningham, a 40-year-old former congressman who has based much of his campaign against the 75-year-old McMaster around the notion of ousting career politicians in office longer than Ive been alive. Should he win reelection and serve out a full second term, McMaster would be on track to be South Carolinas longest-serving governor.

Elsewhere in the state, most of the seats in South Carolinas seven-member U.S. House delegation are considered safe wins for the incumbents, including the states sole congressional Democrat, U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn  currently the No. 3 Democrat in the House.

Republican U.S. Sen. Tim Scott seeks a second term in what he has said will be his final Senate campaign.

The 1st District is the one among South Carolinas seven House districts seen as with the greatest ability to flip between the two major parties. In 2018, Cunningham became the first Democrat in decades to represent the seat, from which then-Rep. Mark Sanford had been ousted after a primary loss that year. But in 2020, Mace triumphed over Cunningham, working to pass a number of bipartisan bills and at times drawing critique from other Republicans as too willing to work with Democrats.

Republicans have majorities in both the state House and state Senate chambers.

Heres a look at what to expect on election night:

ELECTION NIGHT

Polls close at 7 p.m. ET.

HOW SOUTH CAROLINA VOTES

Photo ID is required for all voters, who needed to register prior to Oct. 9.

This years primaries were South Carolinas first elections with no-excuse, in-person early voting. Prior to the 2022 primaries, South Carolina voters had been able to cast absentee ballots in person, but they had to include an excuse for why they could not be at the polls on Election Day. The law passed this year has South Carolina returning to mail-in absentee ballots.

There are two weeks of true early voting ahead of Election Day, with early-voting centers open in all of the states 46 counties, except for Sundays and any state holidays.

DECISION NOTES

The AP may call a statewide or U.S. House race in which the margin between the top two candidates is 0.5% or less, if we determine the lead is too large for a recount to change the outcome.

South Carolina has automatic recounts in runoff elections if the margin between the winning and losing candidate is 1% or less of the total votes cast for that office. Candidates can waive their right to a recount in writing.

The AP will not call down-ballot races on election night if the margin between the top two candidates is less than 2% or if the leading candidate is within 2% of the 50% runoff threshold. The AP will revisit those races later in the week to confirm there arent enough outstanding votes left to count that could change the outcome.

WHAT ELSE SHOULD I KNOW?

Q: WHATS CHANGED SINCE THE PANDEMIC ELECTION OF 2020?

A: For the first time in this years general election, South Carolina has true in-person early voting, as well as no excuse absentee voting. Thats thanks to election reform legislation that state lawmakers passed with overwhelming bipartisan support.

Q: WHAT DID WE LEARN FROM THE PRIMARIES?

A: There were intense GOP primaries in the 1st and 7th District against U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace and Tom Rice, respectively. Both drew former President Donald Trumps anger after opposing him in various ways. Mace won her primary outright against Trump-backed challenger Katie Arrington, a former state House representative, while Rice suffered a major upset against state Rep. Russell Fry.

Q: WHAT DO TURNOUT AND ADVANCE VOTE LOOK LIKE?

A: On the first day of early voting, South Carolinas State Election Commission  which manages the states election procedures, not the secretary of states Office  reported record numbers.

As of Oct. 21, there were 3,378,773 registered voters in South Carolina, where voters do not register by party affiliation. Mail ballot requests have been open since the beginning of the calendar year and were due by Oct. 28.

Q: HOW LONG DOES COUNTING USUALLY TAKE?

A: Vote counts in a few areas  Richland County, around the capital city of Columbia, as well as some pockets near the Upstate city of Greenville  can take considerably longer than the rest of the state.

Q: WHAT HAPPENS AFTER TUESDAY?

A: South Carolina has automatic recounts in runoff elections if the margin between the winning and losing candidate is 1% or less of the total votes cast for that office. Candidates can waive their right to a recount in writing.

Check out https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections to learn more about the issues and factors at play in the 2022 midterm elections. Follow APs coverage of the elections at: https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections
Madisons Community Altar Project celebrating Dia de los Muertos is continuing on following the retirement of its founder, Carolyn Smythe Kallenborn, this summer.

Kallenborn started the project in 2014 after being inspired by people she worked with in Oaxaca, Mexico.

She retired to Oaxaca in June, but handed the event over to Latinos Organizing for Understanding and Development, or LOUD. Its now part of a three-day series of events that celebrates Latinidad in Madison. It begins Wednesday with a screening of War of the Flea in the Anderson Theatre at 1000 Edgewood College Drive.

Because I had been doing a lot of different arts projects, (Kallenborn) said, Well, you know, I kind of want somebody to take (the altar project) over. So, she asked, would I? said Oscar Mireles, founder and executive director of LOUD.

The Community Altar Project will be open from Thursday through Tuesday, including a viewing the first night with Centro Hispano of Dane County at 6 p.m., followed by a poetry reading at 7 p.m.

Mireles has worked with Roberto Mata to curate the altar project into a larger Dia de los Muertos gallery exhibit on the fourth floor of the Common Wealth Gallery at 100 S. Baldwin St., incorporating the work of professional and amateur artists.

The exhibit will feature altars made by residents who participated in an altar-making workshop co-hosted by Centro Hispano on Thursday. The exhibit also will feature paintings by local artists and UW-Madison fine arts graduate students, including Angelica Contreras and Juan DeHoyos.

Dia de los Muertos  Day of the Dead  altars are uniquely personal, with each altar meant to honor the memory of a loved one. In Mexican tradition, there are believed to be three deaths: the first when your body gives out, the second when youre buried and the final death when no one living remembers you.

Its thought that by placing a dead persons favorite foods and personal items on an altar or the persons grave, the person and the persons spirit are reconnected. Nov. 1 honors deceased children and babies, often referred to as the Dia de los Inocentes  the Day of the Innocents. Nov. 2 honors adults.

Each altar box differs in size, having been upcycled from drawers and crates. But put together, the altars create a mosaic of colorful tokens and memories.

The space restrains you, but that restraint will either restrict you or you figure out a way to open it up, Mireles explained. So, every time you look, you see something more. A new detail, a new meaning, a new expression.

The details used to decorate the altars are meant to paint a picture of the persons life. They allow onlookers to ponder not so much what it was like to be the person, but what its like to love him or her.

In October, at a time when Mireles was away from his gallery, an anonymous maker dropped off a finished altar box that depicts a persons journey through in vitro fertilization.

He has no clue who the artist was. But despite not being able to credit a particular artist for the altar, Mireles was so moved by the piece that it now has its own stand near the gallery entrance.

Even though thats a loss of somebody that Ive never met, it conveys a love, a sensitivity at the same time, Mireles said. Its not just I lost my baby, its, I tried so hard to have you as my baby. So, each (altar) is a little story. It invites you in.

An artists reception will be held Friday as part of Madisons Gallery Night.
Staying true to its battleground status, Wisconsins hotly contested races for U.S. Senate and governor appear poised to come down to razor-thin margins next Tuesday, according to the latest Marquette Law School Poll.

In the race for U.S. Senate, incumbent Republican Sen. Ron Johnsons lead over Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes dropped from a 6-point advantage last month to just 2 points, according to polling released Wednesday. Johnson received support from 50% of likely voters, compared with 48% for Barnes. Johnson holds a slightly better edge among registered voters, with a 48%-to-45% lead.

This is purely a toss-up race at this point, poll director Charles Franklin said.

The race between Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republican challenger Tim Michels has remained tight for months, but most recent polling shows both candidates receiving 48% of support among likely voters. Evers held a 47%-to-46% lead over Michels, the co-owner of Brownsville-based Michels Corp., last month.

Our race has never been this close, Evers tweeted Wednesday.

Joan Beglinger, a former independent candidate who dropped out in September and endorsed Michels, was chosen by 2% of respondents. Among registered voters, Michels received 45% of support to Evers 44%, while Beglinger received 5%.

This is truly reminiscent of four years ago, when we had the governors race dead tied in the final poll as well, Franklin said. That year, Evers defeated incumbent Republican Gov. Scott Walker by fewer than 30,000 votes.

Michels campaign manager, Patrick McNulty, said the polls results tell us what we have known all along  the race will be extremely close.

The momentum is on our side in the final stretch, McNulty added. We look forward to deeming Evers nonessential on Election Day.

The poll was conducted from Oct. 24 through Tuesday. It included 802 registered voters; among them were 679 likely voters. The margin of error was 4.6% among registered voters and 4.8% among likely voters.

More than 650,000 absentee ballots have been requested in the state, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission. Of those, just over 500,000 ballots have been returned. Returned ballots account for 18% of registered voters in the state.

To compare, more than 337,000 absentee ballots had been returned one week before the 2018 midterm election, representing about 10% of registered voters.

In the most recent poll, 83% of Republican respondents said they are absolutely certain to vote or have already voted, compared with 89% among Democrats.

Previous polls

Marquettes October poll found Johnson holding a 6-point lead over Barnes among likely voters. September polling found 49% of likely voters supporting Johnson and 48% supporting Barnes, and in August, Barnes had a 7-point lead.

Evers held a 47%-to-46% lead over Michels in October. In September, 47% of respondents supported Evers, compared with 44% for Michels, and in August, Evers had a 4-point lead.

Just remember, polls do not vote, Franklin said. People vote.

There is no registered voter named the Marquette Law School Poll so it really is up to you and in your hands, Franklin added later.

Issues

As with previous polls in recent months, inflation remains the top issue for voters, with 68% of respondents saying they are very concerned. Sixty-two percent of respondents were very concerned with public schools, while 57% said crime. Both gun violence and an accurate vote count in the upcoming election came in next with 56% of respondents very concerned about those issues.

Fifty-two percent of respondents said they are very concerned about abortion policy, which has become a rallying cry among Democratic candidates, including Evers, Barnes and Attorney General Josh Kaul, who faces Republican Eric Toney next Tuesday.

On the topic of schools, 29% of respondents favor putting more money toward private schools, while 63% say public schools should secure more state funds. Along party lines, 90% of Democratic respondents favor more money for public schools, compared with 40% of Republicans. At the same time, only 7% of Democratic respondents said private schools should get more state funds, compared with 49% of Republicans.

Evers, a former educator and state superintendent, has long called for increased state funding of education and earlier this year unveiled plans to spend nearly $2 billion more on public schools in the states 2023-25 biennial budget, with a focus on areas such as literacy, staffing and mental health services.

Michels has proposed expanding school choice options to all Wisconsinites and said in a debate last month he would spend more money on education than any governor in the history of this state, but has not provided specifics.
A growing political divide between rural and urban, and coastal and inland communities, will likely come into sharper focus in the midterm election. This was underscored by Republican President Donald Trumps success in the sprawling, rural 2nd Congressional District, where he earned a single electoral vote in both elections even though he lost the statewide vote.

The top race is between incumbent Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, Maines first woman to serve as governor,and former two-term Republican Gov. Paul LePage. Most polls show a tight race with Mills in the lead. Of note, LePage won his previous two elections in races that featured a big-spending spoiler, allowing him to win without a majority. This time there is a third candidate, Sam Hunkler, but polls suggest his impact will be minimal. Ranked-choice voting wont be used in this race.

The U.S. House race in the 2nd Congressional District features incumbent Democratic Rep. Jared Golden and former GOP Rep. Bruce Poliquin, who made history in their previous faceoff in 2018. That race marked the first time Maines ranked-choice voting system came into play. Poliquin won the most votes in the first round, but Golden emerged as victor with the elimination of third- and fourth-place candidates in a second round. A federal judge upheld the outcome and the validity of the voting system. A third candidate, independent Tiffany Bond, is on the ballot for this election.

For general elections, ranked voting is used in federal races in Maine. Voters rank candidates in order of preference on the ballot. A candidate is the winner if he or she collects a majority vote of the first round. If not, the last-place candidate is eliminated and votes are reallocated in a second round of voting to ensure a candidate wins with a majority.

Among legislative races, Maine has two Somali Americans running for seats. One of them, Mana Abdi, of Lewiston, is assured of winning and making history as the first Somali American in the Legislature because her opponent dropped out.

Heres a look at what to expect on election night:

ELECTION NIGHT

Polls close at 8 p.m. ET.

HOW MAINE VOTES

Maine has no early voting, but more than 500,000 registered voters nonetheless cast their ballots before the election in 2020 thanks to no-excuse absentee ballots. Many of those absentee ballots may be processed before Election Day but cannot be counted until polls close.

The count is often slow after polls close at 8 p.m. ET. Maine has more than 500 reporting districts. Most small towns still count votes by hand.

Maine doesnt achieve 100% of tabulations until clerks are required to report their official tallies to the secretary of state three days after the election.

DECISION NOTES

AP will tabulate 166 contested races in the Maine general election, including the governors race, two U.S. House races and legislative contests. In the 2020 election, about half of precincts reported by 11:19 p.m. and 90% of precincts reported by 9 a.m. the following day.

AP does not make projections or name apparent or likely winners. Only when AP is fully confident a race has been won  defined most simply as the moment a trailing candidate no longer has a path to victory  will we make a call. Should a candidate declare victory  or offer a concession  before AP calls a race, we will cover newsworthy developments in our reporting. In doing so, we will make clear that AP has not yet declared a winner and explain the reason why we believe the race is too early or too close to call.

In the two races where ranked voting applies, AP will not declare a winner unless AP is confident of a decisive majority winner in the first round. If theres no majority winner, then an additional voting round will be conducted by the secretary of state, likely the following week, after ballots are shipped to the state capital and entered into a computer.

The AP may call a statewide or U.S. House race in which the margin between the top two candidates is 0.5% or less, if we determine the lead is too large for a recount to change the outcome.

The AP will not call down-ballot races on election night if the margin between the top two candidates is less than 2% or if the leading candidate is within 2% of the 50% runoff threshold. AP will revisit those races later in the week to confirm there arent enough outstanding votes left to count that could change the outcome.

WHAT ELSE SHOULD I KNOW?

Q: WHAT DID WE LEARN FROM THE PRIMARY?

A: There wasnt much to learn from Maines primary elections. Republican Bruce Poliquin easily won his primary to face Democratic Rep. Jared Golden in the 2nd Congressional District. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and former GOP Gov. Paul LePage were unopposed in their primaries. Likewise, Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree and her opponent, Republican Ed Thelander, faced no primary competitors in the 1st Congressional District.

Q: WHATS CHANGED SINCE THE PANDEMIC ELECTION OF 2020?

A: The secretary of state has encouraged towns to follow CDC COVID-19 guidelines. Many towns are using similar spacing and masking protocols that they used in 2020, but voters are not required to wear a mask to vote. Maine towns may seek permission to use drop boxes for absentee ballots.

Q: WHAT DO TURNOUT AND ADVANCE VOTE LOOK LIKE?

A: More than 175,000 absentee ballots were requested as of Oct. 25, a strong showing for a midterm election. Early ballots favored Democratic 2.5-to-1 over Republicans. No-excuse absentee ballots can be requested up to Nov. 3. After that, absentee ballots are only issued under special circumstances.

Q: HOW LONG DOES COUNTING USUALLY TAKE?

A: Maine is notoriously late with its vote count because of hand counting in most small towns and communities. Also, all of those absentee ballots may not be counted until polls close.

Q: WHAT ARE THE PITFALLS WITH EARLY RETURNS?

A: Theres limited information that can be gathered by absentee ballots. The state records the political party of each vote cast, but the actual votes are not counted until polls close. Democrats were requesting far more absentee ballots than Republicans, possibly indicating more voter enthusiasm. However, many Republicans could just be waiting to vote on Election Day.

Q: WHAT HAPPENS AFTER TUESDAY?

A: Local election clerks have three days to deliver results to the secretary of state, who must submit election results to the governor within 20 days of the election. If no one receives a majority in ranked voting races, then the ballots will be shipped to Augusta and entered into a computer for additional tabulations the week after the election. Maine has no mandatory recounts even in close elections. But the state does allow candidates to request a recount. The state does not require a deposit for a recount if the margin of victory is 1% or less for statewide or multi-county races or 1.5% or less for legislative races or single-county races. Theres a sliding scale cost for races that arent as close.

Check out https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections to learn more about the issues and factors at play in the 2022 midterm elections.

Follow APs coverage of the elections at: https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections
Chinese envoy urges removal of obstacles to Russia's grain, fertilizer exports

Xinhua) 16:57, November 01, 2022

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Monday called on relevant countries to take concrete measures to remove the obstacles facing Russia's grain and fertilizer exports, warning against politicizing and weaponizing economic and trade issues.

Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations (UN), made the remarks at a UN Security Council debate on the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

On July 22, Russia and Ukraine separately signed a document in Istanbul with Turkiye and the United Nations on grain and fertilizer exports from Ukraine and Russia to ensure supplies to global markets amid the Russia-Ukraine armed conflict.

Russia announced Saturday that it would immediately and indefinitely suspend its implementation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, accusing Ukraine of launching drone attacks against the Russian Black Sea Fleet's ships and infrastructure.

China has taken note of Russia's recent announcement on suspending its participation in the initiative, as well as the response of Ukraine, the UN and other relevant parties, Geng said.

"We hope that parties concerned continue to stay in communication, rebuild mutual trust, and find a solution that meets the concerns of all parties," he said, adding that China also hopes UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will continue to play an active role in this regard.

In July, the United Nations signed a memorandum of understanding with Russia on the full access of Russian food and fertilizers products, including ammonia, to global markets.

Russia's grain and fertilizer exports are equally important to the international market, and the memorandum signed between Russia and the UN should likewise be effectively implemented, Geng noted.

"The countries concerned must face up to and eliminate the negative impact of the all-round, non-discriminated sanctions on normal international trade, take concrete measures to solve the real obstacles facing Russia's grain and fertilizer exports," Geng said.

He urged relevant countries to completely abandon the wrong approach of politicizing and weaponizing economic and trade issues.

"Dialogue and negotiation are the only realistic way out of the Ukraine crisis. Cold War mentality, bloc politics, division and confrontation, isolation and suppression will not bring peace," said Geng.

(Web editor: Cai Hairuo, Wu Chaolan)
The last legal obstacle preventing Congress from obtaining Donald Trump's taxes has fallen. On Tuesday the Supreme Court rejected the former president's plea for an order to prevent the Treasury Department from giving six years of tax returns for Trump and some of his businesses to the Democratic-controlled House Ways and Means Committee. The Biden administration has argued that federal law is clear that the committee has the right to examine any taxpayers return. In a message on his social media network, Trump says the Supreme Courts action creates terrible precedent for future Presidents. He accuses the court of becoming nothing more than a political body" with the country paying the price.
Massachusetts voters are facing the choice of returning the governors office to Democratic hands while also weighing ballot questions including one that would raise taxes on individuals earning more than a million dollars.

If elected, Democratic Attorney General Maura Healey would become the states first woman and first openly gay candidate  and the nations first openly lesbian candidate  to be elected governor.

Healey  elected eight years ago as the nations first openly gay attorney general  would also snap whats become known in Massachusetts as the curse of the attorney general.

Since 1958, six former Massachusetts attorneys general have sought the governors office. All failed. During the campaign, the 51-year-old has said she would expand job training programs, make child care more affordable and modernize schools and protect access to safe and legal abortion in Massachusetts in the wake of the Supreme Courts decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

Trump-backed candidate Geoff Diehl is hoping to keep the office in GOP hands. Republican Gov. Charlie Baker isnt seeking a third term. The GOP has retained control of the office since 1991 with the exception of two terms under Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick.

The 53-year old former state representative pledged to impose fiscal discipline in state government, empower parents, and get tough on crime. He also pushed a ballot question that would repeal a new state law allowing immigrants in the country illegally to obtain drivers licenses in Massachusetts.

In another closely watched race, former Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell could become the states first Black woman elected attorney general if she defeats Republican Jay McMahon.

Neither of the states two Democratic U.S. senators are up for reelection this year. The nine Democratic incumbent U.S. House members are expected to win reelection. Democrats currently also hold all statewide offices, except for governor and lieutenant governor, and overwhelming majorities in the Massachusetts House and Senate.

Heres a look at what to expect on election night:

ELECTION NIGHT

Polls close at 8 p.m. ET.

HOW MASSACHUSETTS VOTES

Massachusetts voters may request a no-excuse absentee mail ballot, vote early in-person (through Nov. 4), or vote in person on Election Day, Nov. 8, at their local polling stations. Early vote by mail ballots can be returned by hand delivery to the town clerk, or by delivery to an in-person early voting location and-or drop box, or they can be mailed. Mail ballots will be accepted up to 5 p.m. Saturday Nov. 12 if they are postmarked by Nov. 8.

Early in-person voting began Oct. 22.

To make access to voting easier, Massachusetts has made permanent some of the changes to its voting laws that were introduced during the pandemic.

Most Massachusetts voters have embraced early voting. In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, out of about 3.6 million ballots cast overall in Massachusetts in the general election, about 2.4 million votes were cast in advance.

There are approximately 4.8 million registered voters in Massachusetts. As of Oct. 28, about 1.1 million absentee ballots already had been sent to voters who requested them, and some 526,000 votes had been cast in advance, either by mail ballot or by early in-person voting. The number was expected to increase sharply by Election Day.

All advance votes received up to Nov. 7 are pre-processed, sorted and then counted as part of the normal Election Day tabulation that begins after polls close on Nov. 8. Mail-in ballots received on Nov. 8, or postmarked by Nov. 8 but received by Nov. 12, will be tabulated after the Election Day results. Because most advance voting is counted together with in-person votes on Election Day, there is little perceptible difference in the results between the election night tabulation and those votes that arrive later and are counted during the week after Election Day.

Massachusetts voters have the option to vote early by mail in all elections, with no excuse required. Voters who want to cast their ballots by mail first need to submit an application by mail or online to receive a ballot.

In 2020, mail-in voting proved enormously popular in Massachusetts with nearly 42 percent of those who voted taking advantage of the option.

The state has also expanded the use of early, in-person voting options. During the 2020 election, more than 23 percent visited early-voting centers. Slightly more than 35 percent of voters cast ballots on Election Day, less than 1 percent of absentee ballots were rejected  about 20,000 total ballots. More than a quarter of those were because the voter had already voted in person.

Mail-in votes arent counted in Massachusetts until Election Day.

While voters arent required to show a photo ID, they may be asked to show some form of identification for a handful of reasons including if they are voting for the first time in a state or federal election, are an inactive voter, or if a poll worker has a reasonable suspicion that leads them to request identification.

DECISION NOTES

The AP may call a statewide or U.S. House race in which the margin between the top two candidates is 0.5% or less, if we determine the lead is too large for a recount to change the outcome. Massachusetts has no automatic recount law. Candidates for state and district offices may request a recount within 10 days of an election of the margin is less that 0.5% of votes cast.

The AP will not call down-ballot races on election night if the margin between the top two candidates is less than 2% or if the leading candidate is within 2% of the 50% runoff threshold. AP will revisit those races later in the week to confirm there arent enough outstanding votes left to count that could change the outcome.

WHAT ELSE SHOULD I KNOW?

Q: HOW LONG DOES COUNTING USUALLY TAKE?

Results usually are known in the early hours of the day after election night, although in the past there have been cases where problems arose to delay tabulation in a few precincts or towns.

Check out https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections to learn more about the issues and factors at play in the 2022 midterm elections. Follow APs coverage of the elections at: https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections
WASHINGTON (AP)  Saudi Arabia has shared intelligence with American officials that suggests Iran could be preparing for an imminent attack on the kingdom, three U.S. officials said Tuesday.

The heightened concerns about a potential attack on Saudi Arabia come as the Biden administration is criticizing Tehran for its crackdown on widespread protests and condemning it for sending hundreds of drones  as well as technical support  to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine.

We are concerned about the threat picture, and we remain in constant contact through military and intelligence channels with the Saudis, the National Security Council said in a statement. We will not hesitate to act in the defense of our interests and partners in the region.

Saudi Arabia did not respond to requests for comment. Iran's mission to the United Nations told The Associated Press on Wednesday the U.S. claims are baseless.

Western and Zionist regimes spread biased news aimed at creating a negative mood towards the Islamic Republic of Iran and destroying the current positive trends with regional countries, the mission said in a statement.

One of the officials who confirmed the intelligence sharing described it as a credible threat of an attack soon or within 48 hours. No U.S. embassy or consulate in the region has issued alerts or guidance to Americans in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere in the Middle East based on the intelligence. The officials were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Asked about reports of the intelligence shared by the Saudis, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said U.S. military officials are concerned about the threat situation in the region."

"Were in regular contact with our Saudi partners, in terms of what information they may have to provide on that front, Ryder said. But what weve said before, and Ill repeat it, is that we will reserve the right to protect and defend ourselves no matter where our forces are serving, whether in Iraq or elsewhere.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said America was concerned about the threat picture, without elaborating.

The Wall Street Journal first reported on the Saudis sharing the intelligence earlier on Tuesday. Iran has alleged without providing evidence that Saudi Arabia and other rivals are fomenting the dissent on its streets by ordinary Iranians.

Of particular ire is protest coverage by Iran International, a London-based, Farsi-language satellite news channel once majority-owned by a Saudi national.

The U.S. and Saudis blamed Iran in 2019 of being behind a major attack in eastern Saudi Arabia, which halved the oil-rich kingdoms production and caused energy prices to spike. The Iranians denied they were behind the attack, but the same triangle-shaped, bomb-carrying drones used in that attack are now being deployed by Russian forces in their war on Ukraine.

The Saudis have also been hit repeatedly in recent years by drones, missiles and mortars launched by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. Saudi Arabia formed a coalition to battle the Houthis in 2015 and has been internationally criticized for its airstrikes in the war, which have killed scores of civilians.

In recent weeks, the Biden administration has imposed sanctions on Iranian officials for the brutal crackdown on demonstrators after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September after her arrest by Iran's morality police. The administration has also hit Iran with sanctions for supplying drones to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine.

At least 288 people have been killed and 14,160 arrested during the protests, according to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran. Demonstrations have continued, even as the feared paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has warned young Iranians to stop.

Iran already launched a series of attacks targeting Kurdish separatist positions in northern Iraq amid the protests, killing at least 16 people, including an American citizen.

U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia have also been strained after the Riyadh-led alliance of oil producing nations, OPEC+, announced in October that it would cut production by 2 million barrels per day starting in November.

The White House has said it is reviewing its relationship with the Saudis over the move. The administration said the production cut is effectively helping another OPEC+ member, Russia, pad its coffers as it continues its war in Ukraine, now in its ninth month.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Tuesday reiterated that the administration remains concerned that Iran may also provide Russia with surface-to-surface missiles.

We haven't seen that concern bear out, but it's a concern we have, Kirby said.

Even as the U.S. and others raise concerns about possible Iranian action, the administration has not ruled out the possibility of reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which was brokered by the Obama administration and scrapped in 2018 by the Trump administration.

The U.S. special envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, said on Monday that the administration was not currently focused on the deal, which has been stalled since August.

Still, Malley refused to declare the deal dead and said the administration makes no apology for trying to do everything we can to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

The deal had provided Tehran with billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for the country agreeing to roll back its nuclear program. It includes caps on enrichment and how much material Iran can stockpile and limits the operation of advanced centrifuges needed to enrich.
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.
LAVA HOT SPRINGS  A Hansen man was among two people who died Monday afternoon in a two-vehicle crash on U.S. Highway 30, police said.

The Idaho State Police said a 60-year-old male and a 58-year-old male passenger, both from Hansen, were eastbound in a Cadillac at 12:10 p.m. near milepost 370, west of Lava Hot Springs.

A female juvenile driver with a female juvenile passenger were westbound in a Chevrolet Cruze when the Chevrolet apparently crossed over the center line and collided with the Cadillac, the ISP said.

The driver of the Cadillac was transported by ground ambulance to a nearby hospital, while the passenger died at the scene. Both people were wearing seatbelts.

The driver of the Chevrolet was transported by ground ambulance to a local hospital, while her passenger died at the scene. Neither were wearing seatbelts.

Idaho State Police was assisted by the Bannock County Sheriffs Office, Bannock County Search and Rescue, Bannock County Ambulance and Idaho Transportation Department.
JEROME  An unusual race for coroner sees the incumbent, appointed to the position just six months ago, running as a write-in on Tuesdays election.

When Gerald Brant retired as coroner, the Jerome County Board of Commissioners heard from two applicants for the job. Jason Robertson was the son of a funeral director and has been involved in post-life care all his adult career. Dan Chatterton, retired detective from Jerome Police Department, has worked in law enforcement in the Magic Valley for 27 years.

The Jerome County Commission picked Robertson. The day of the appointment, February 28, was also the first day candidates could declare their intent to run for the May 17 primary, which is what Chatterton did.

Normally in a primary, the party doesnt show preference for one candidate over another. But during the campaign, Robertson came down with COVID and couldnt make a meeting for the candidates. He said that as a result, he didnt receive the support he expected from the Republican Party as incumbent.

You know, small town politics, Robertson said.

Chatterton won the primary, and normally that would be that. Now, Robertson is running as an unaffiliated write-in candidate, and is campaigning to offer voters an alternative.

I think I have better knowledge, Robertson said. I have more respect for the job than I think my competitor has to some degree.

Dan Chatterton said his 27 years experience in Law Enforcement make him well-suited to assist in investigations. He said he has a suspicious mind, and that is useful when carefully collecting details that might be useful to a case.

If you dont have a little bit of a suspicious mind, theres things that can be missed, Chatterton said. If youre not looking for fibers or air or biological samples, and youre just trying to get things done so that the funeral home can work with the family and get things taken care of, you might miss things.

Robertson said his experiences have led him to have an open approach to the job and he doesnt view each case with suspicion.

My point of view is just to do the job; its not to make someone out to be a criminal, Robertson said. I dont have a police mind or an investigative mind in that regard. I try to use the services around me. The deputies and city detectives that are the backbone of the investigative arm of the (county).

Robertson said the majority of incidents hes responded to are traffic fatalities, overdoses and suicides. Due to the tragic nature of many of these events, Robertson said his experience as a funeral director have given him a certain tact when working with the families of the deceased.

Thats something in my previous life as a funeral director for 20-plus years, I have a lot of knowledge of and have dealt with on virtually a day-to-day basis, Robertson said. A lot of people think that I have a good bedside manner, I deal with people fairly well, and I have a way of understanding,

Another concern that Robertson brought up is Chattertons litigious history. On two occasions Chatterton has sued his employer. In 1997 he sued the city of Twin Falls for suspending him while he was a police officer after a conduct complaint, which was ultimately proven false. That lawsuit was settled out of court.

In 2004, Chatterton sued Jerome County, Sheriff Jim Weaver, and up to 50 individuals under the alias of Doe for defamation, lost wages, and other damages based on what he called unfounded allegations that he had pulled a gun on a fellow officer.

That lawsuit was found in favor of the defendants and dismissed. A 2012 Times-News article reported that the lawsuit had been dismissed due to mutual paperwork errors.

The Times-News has recently reviewed court documents showing that the case was found in favor of the defendants and that Chattertons complaint was dismissed.

McFall, Chatterton Vie for Jerome County Sheriff JEROME  Jerome County voters must choose between two men who believe they can solve the countys law-enforcement woes as the Republican nomin

For Robertson, that is an invitation for trouble.

I dont understand how you can support someone that has sued your own county and city for nearly a million dollars, Robertson said.

Chatterton said the past lawsuits had nothing to do with this race.

I dont think any of that has any bearing, Chatterton said. As a police officer in the 90s and beyond, the climate started to change. Police officers were almost an expendable item if there was controversy.

I did stand up for myself, and if I didnt think I was being treated fairly, I vehemently defended myself, he said.

Chatterton retired from the Jerome Police department in 2007, and aside from a 2012 primary challenge for the Republican nomination as sheriff, which he lost to incumbent Doug McFall, Chatterton has been in private business ever since.

He said he had seen things during his career where evidence had not been gathered prior to disposal of the body, or times when autopsies werent in the budget. He said one of the main things hed like to see more of, as coroner, was thorough gathering of evidence to assist with any investigations, and to stay on the same page as law enforcement.

The coroners not the one that goes out and interviews and whatnot, but I give the police officers every bit of evidence that we can possibly come up with to help them solve the puzzle of how this happened, Chatterton said. From my past experience investigating homicides, its not going to be nearly as exciting because you dont chase the bad guy. But I think I have a lot to offer that position that is kind of unique to my experiences.
Next week, Idaho voters will choose between a former congressman and a longtime Boise lawyer to serve as the states next attorney general.

The attorney general is the states top lawyer, representing Idaho in legal disputes and upholding the state Constitution. For the last 20 years, Lawrence Wasden held the position. He was defeated in the Republican primary this spring by challenger Raul Labrador. In July, Boise attorney Tom Arkoosh joined the race as the Democratic candidate after the nominee dropped out.

Labrador, who has raised $313,000 since his opponent entered the race and $943,000 total, boasts support from former attorney general and Lt. Gov. David Leroy, as well as the Conservative Political Action Coalition and former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Arkoosh, who has raised $294,000, has made headlines thanks to support from Republicans like former Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa and former Republican Attorney General and Idaho Supreme Court Justice Jim Jones.

Arkoosh has said hell be a mouthpiece for the law if elected, while Labrador has touted himself as a fighter who will take an aggressive tact as attorney general. Each candidate has accused the other of trying to bring personal political views into an office meant to be partial only to state law.

Arkoosh wants no culture war

Arkoosh earned his law degree from the University of Idaho after completing his undergraduate degree at Harvard. He served as Gem County prosecutor and in the Washington Attorney Generals Office before opening his own practice. He specializes in civil, commercial and natural resources law and has served as a lobbyist for the Surface Water Coalition.

Arkoosh told the Idaho Statesman in an interview that he thinks his experience with complex water law will prove useful as Idaho faces drought conditions and increased competition for water rights. Arkoosh said he wants to address growing issues with fentanyl, an opioid linked to growing overdose numbers, and threats from militia groups. He also said he plans to continue Wasdens aggressive pursuit of high-profile settlements that have brought millions of dollars in compensation to Idaho.

Though hes running as a Democrat, Arkoosh said he was an unaffiliated voter throughout his life before registering as a Republican earlier this year to participate in the partys closed primary. It was Labradors victory in that primary that piqued his interest in joining the race.

I feel strongly that we dont need someone who has promised to be aggressive in a culture war, Arkoosh told the Statesman.

Arkoosh said he believes his opponent will involve Idaho in losing legal battles, citing Labradors support for Idahos abortion laws, which are under deliberation in the state Supreme Court. Arkoosh also said he was concerned with Labradors false assertions of fraud in the 2020 presidential election, a claim Labrador doubled down on in a debate last month, saying the election was stolen in plain sight. In the Idaho Statesmans primary voter guide, Labrador criticized Wasden for declining to join lawsuits that sought to overturn presidential election results in swing states that voted for Joe Biden.

His view of culture has no place in the attorney generals office, Arkoosh said. My opponent talks about freedom and Idaho values. What hes talking about is banning books and arresting librarians, interfering in the woman/doctor relationship, selling public land and defunding public schools. I think (the biggest) Idaho value is the right to be left alone.

Labrador: Name recognition an advantage

Arkoosh said he believes fact-based voters will have a negative association with Labrador, but the former U.S. representative said voters around the state have recognized his name  and thats been hugely beneficial.

Labrador earned his law degree from the University of Washington after graduating from Brigham Young University. He has worked as an immigration lawyer in private practice and in 2006 was elected to the Idaho House. Four years later, he was elected as U.S. representative for the 1st Congressional District, encompassing north Idaho and the western half of the state, including parts of Ada County and Boise.

After three terms in Congress, he ran for governor and lost in the Republican primary to Brad Little by less than 5 percentage points. In 2019, he was elected chair of the Idaho Republican Party, a position he resigned from a year later. He serves as a member of the Central District Health board.

In an interview, Labrador told the Statesman that support for his campaign has been strong since the run-up to the primary. One of the main challenges has been explaining the attorney general role and why its important.

Like Arkoosh, Labrador said he intends to focus on fentanyl if hes elected. He also promised to focus on issues with human trafficking, and said his No. 1 position is to help people and make sure they feel protected by approaching consumer protection from a one-on-one angle and creating a solicitor general position.

Labrador pushed back on accusations that he would use the attorney general position to advise the Idaho Legislature on policy. He said he would dedicate a few attorneys to work exclusively with legislators to ensure bills are legally sound.

Political advice and legal advice are different things, he said.

Labrador also said he would differ from his Republican predecessor, saying his office would be more aggressive in how we structure legal advice than Wasden has been. (Attorneys general) do not call balls and strikes, he said, borrowing a phrase Wasden frequently used to describe his approach. Attorneys aggressively advocate for their clients.
The Algerian authorities have resumed their witch-hunt against illegal migrants in a cleansing campaign ahead of the 2022 Arab summit they are hosting Nov.1-2 in a bid to white-wash their disastrous legacy.

Neither Palestinian migrants nor Syrians were spared from the Algerian regime appalling deportation policy which violates international law and the rights of migrants and asylum- seekers.

The move shows that the deceptive Algerian propaganda machine trumpeting Arab solidarity is just hot air and empty slogans used by ruling junta to deflect the public opinions attention, particularly the pro-democracy protesters who are demanding regime change.

According to press reports, a group of more than 140 Palestinian and Syrian migrants have just arrived in Nigers city of Agadez after they were abandoned to their fate in the desert by Algerian security services.

Few days ago, another group of 60 Palestinian and Syrians migrants reached Niger and suffered the same ordeal and nightmare. In their moving and heartbreaking accounts, all these migrants say they were stripped of their identity document and tossed in the desert in awful conditions with minimal food and water.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says Algeria has deported more than 1,200 West African migrants to Niger since the reopening of land borders between the two countries on 14 July.

For years, international NGOs have slammed the Algerian authorities for their ill-treatment of Sub-Saharan migrants, where in some cases they had been left without water or food in the middle of the desert.

In June, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) also denounced the inhumane treatment of migrants expelled from Algeria and called for the respect of human dignity and migrants rights.

From January to May 2022, MSF recorded 14,196 migrants expelled from Algeria, including 6,749 non-Nigeriens. Some 139 of these migrants were women, and 30 were minors.

Approximately two thousand migrants are deported from Algeria and Libya every month on average, including people with severe injuries, rape victims, and people suffering from serious trauma.

Upon expulsion, these migrants are abandoned in the middle of the desert at the Algerian-Nigerien border, at a place called Point Zero, 15 kilometres from the town of Assamaka.

The seriousness of the abuses committed against migrants is beyond dispute. The testimonies of our patients and their physical and mental condition when they arrive in our health structures prove that these people have gone through hell during their expulsion from Algerian and Libyan territory, said Jamal Mrrouch, MSFs Country Director in Niger.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guinea-Bissau, Suzi Barbosa, said on Tuesday that the five million Euros given by Portugal to the Guinean State Budget is the largest direct support to date.

It is an unprecedented achievement for the sectors of education, health, and strengthening of the democratic system, said Suzi Barbosa.

The minister said in a message sent to Lusa that this is the largest direct support to the State Budget given by Portugal to Guinea-Bissau to date.

The Portuguese government has announced support of five million for the State Budget of Guinea-Bissau. The memorandum was signed Monday in Lisbon by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Francisco Andre; the vice president of Cames-Institute for Cooperation and Language, Cristina Moniz; and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guinea-Bissau, Suzi Barbosa.

This extraordinary support of 5 million euros was granted at the request of the Guinean authorities to cope with the worsening of the international economic and financial situation, the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Wnt4 expression in islets. a Reporter constructs monitoring Wnt4 expression (Wnt4eGFPCre) and used for lineage tracing (Wnt4eGFPCre; mTmG). Expression pattern of Wnt4 revealed by mGFP immunostaining in Wnt4eGFPCre Tg+; mTmG Tg+ islets at E18.5 (b, c), P0 (d), P5 (e) and 8 weeks (f). DAPI marks the nucleus, Insulin -cells, Glucagon  cells, as color-encoded. Expression of Wnt4 is detected by WNT4 antibody in 8 weeks WT islet (g). Transcription of Wnt4 (GFPCre) is detected by GFP immunostaining in Wnt4eGFPCre Tg+ islets at 8 weeks (h) and 1 year (i). b-d, h and i, High magnification of yellow squares in corresponding panels. ee, split channels of the yellow square in (e). Scale bar 100 m in (bi, d), 25 m in (b, c), and 10 m in (h, i). Representative images are from three independent samples. Credit: Nature Communications (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33841-5

Diabetes, which affects millions of people worldwide, develops when the body either generates insufficient amounts of the hormone insulin a hormone that maintains healthy blood sugaror when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces.

When the number of beta cells is too low or they aren't functioning properly, there isn't enough insulin getting released. Beta cells communicate with each other to secrete insulin in a coordinated manner.

An international team of scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) in Dresden, Germany, the Paul Langerhans Institute Dresden (PLID), and the Universities of Oulu, Finland and Copenhagen, Denmark now shows that the gene Wnt4 in beta cells enables them to sense glucose and release the hormone insulin that enables other cells in the body to store glucose. These insights could help to create replacement beta cells for diabetes therapy in the future.

At birth, a baby starts to eat food and turns it into energy. Many nutrients can be converted to sugar (glucose) and be released into the bloodstream. Higher blood sugar levels signal the beta cells in the pancreas to release insulin, which lets the blood sugar into the cells to use or store it as energy. However, at different stages of life, the food-sensing beta cells need to adapt to different foods and needs.

In a recent study in Nature Communications, Anne Grapin-Botton, director at MPI-CBG, and her team in Dresden and at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Biology in Copenhagen, Denmark, together with colleagues from the Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus of the Technische Universitat Dresden found that the gene Wnt4 becomes active in food-sensing beta cells as they mature in early postnatal life.

How it all began

The discovery of the role of Wnt4 in the development of a pancreas started in the 1990s at Harvard University, when Anne Grapin-Botton, a postdoctoral researcher at that time, discussed with Seppo Vainio, now a research unit leader at the University of Oulu. "I remember that when I worked with Wnt4 in kidney development, we speculated that this signal would have a role in the development of the pancreas too," says Seppo Vainio. But the researchers were lacking the right tools at that time.

Over 20 years later, postdoctoral researcher Keiichi Katsumoto in the lab of Anne Grapin-Botton was keen on finding out what function the gene Wnt4 has in pancreas development. In the meantime, the lab of Vainio at Oulu had further developed their mouse models: "With all these tools, we could target Wnt4 function in pancreas development and physiology with Anne Grapin-Botton's research lab," says Seppo Vainio.

Exciting communication between beta cells

Keiichi Katsumoto describes what he observed: "We found that the gene Wnt4 is expressed in beta cells during the maturation of the cell. The cells that start expressing Wnt4 stop proliferating and become more functional. We saw that with less Wnt4, the beta cell secretes less insulin." The team found that even though the beta cells were able to detect sugar in the blood, they secreted less insulin in response to glucose.

"When we saw that mice without the gene Wnt4 were becoming diabetic, we knew we had found something important, but we did not understand how it was acting," says Anne Grapin-Botton, who supervised this study.

"We understood from work in other organs, notably our collaborator Seppo Vainio and his colleagues, that this gene is a signal sent by cells to others. It was exciting to find communication between beta cells in the pancreas, its conservation across several animal species and the mechanisms by which it operates, notably the profound metabolic changes it provokes in beta cells. However, we do not understand yet if beta cells release Wnt4 constantly or under special circumstances. This will be something, we want to explore in the future."

"The results also suggest that the increase of Wnt4 shortly after birth enables beta cells to mature," says Katsumoto. "Our next step is to understand why Wnt4 becomes expressed as the cells mature." Those results could support the development of replacement beta cells for diabetes therapy with added Wnt4 to promote maturation.

More information: Keiichi Katsumoto et al, Wnt4 is heterogeneously activated in maturing -cells to control calcium signaling, metabolism and function, Nature Communications (2022). Journal information: Nature Communications Keiichi Katsumoto et al, Wnt4 is heterogeneously activated in maturing -cells to control calcium signaling, metabolism and function,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33841-5
China is the last major economy committed to a zero-Covid strategy, persisting with snap lockdowns, mass testing and quarantine in a bid to curb outbreaks.

Chinese authorities imposed lockdowns on 600,000 people in the area surrounding the world's largest iPhone factory on Wednesday, as workers complained of disorderly COVID controls at the facility.

All people except COVID-prevention volunteers and essential workers "must not leave their residences except to receive COVID tests and emergency medical treatment", officials from central China's Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone said.

The move comes after images emerged on Chinese social media last week showing people breaking out of the facility, which is run by Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn and makes products for Apple.

Employees complained online of poor conditions, a lack of supplies and having to flee the factory on foot to avoid COVID transport curbs. Foxconn says there are currently more than 200,000 workers at its Zhengzhou plant.

"Being paid is not important anymore, the most important thing is to survive," one 30-year-old man working at Foxconn told AFP, saying he was staying at the factory because he was afraid of adding to an outbreak in his hometown.

"The anti-virus measures on campus are shambolic, virus-negative people are living together with virus-positive people," said the worker, who asked to remain anonymous.

He said the food provided to employees was "not filling", and complained of a lack of medicine for sick colleagues.

China is the last major economy committed to a zero-COVID strategy, persisting with snap lockdowns, mass testing and lengthy quarantines in a bid to stamp out emerging outbreaks.

But new variants have tested local officials' ability to snuff out flare-ups faster than they can spread, causing much of the country to live under an ever-changing mosaic of COVID curbs.

The district in Zhengzhou city said Wednesday that all businesses would be required to work from home, with only "key enterprises" allowed to continue operating. It did not specify which businesses fell under that category.

Only medical vehicles and those delivering essentials are allowed on the streets.

The district's more than 600,000 residents will have to take nucleic acid tests every day, the local government said, warning that it would "resolutely crack down on all kinds of violations".

The Communist Party-run Dahe Daily said on Wednesday local authorities would "thoroughly disinfect" Foxconn's facilities, including employee dormitories, over the next three days. Workers quarantining at the factory would need to show seven days of negative tests before leaving for their hometowns.

The paper also said the government had promised to provide timely meals and to set up a counselling hotline for workers.

Map locating Zhengzhou, China, where a Covid lockdown was announced in its Airport Economy Zone on Wednesday.

'Closed loop'

Foxconn told AFP on Wednesday its Zhengzhou park "maintains closed-loop operation", without providing details.

The company said at the weekend it was testing employees daily and offering transport to those who wanted to leave, after the videos on social media showed employees walking down motorways with their suitcases.

Footage shared with AFP by a Foxconn employee showed a large group of workers pushing their suitcases down an empty road on Tuesday afternoon, towards a line of people in hazmat suits.

The Zhengzhou factory accounts for around 80 percent of iPhone 14 production, senior analyst Ivan Lam at Counterpoint Research told AFP.

Apple did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.

Local governments in the area surrounding Zhengzhou city have asked Foxconn workers to register with authorities if they return home and to complete several days of quarantine upon arrival.

The company also said on Tuesday it would quadruple bonuses for employees willing to remain at the factory during the outbreak.

Chinese social media users accused Zhengzhou authorities on Wednesday of "performatively" lifting COVID restrictions after the city announced a day earlier it would "restore normal production and life".

"In the morning you lift the lockdown, then at night you lock down again, what are you trying to do?" Weibo user Taodixing asked.

China reported more than 2,000 fresh domestic infections on Wednesday for the third day in a row.

Henan province, where Zhengzhou is located, officially reported 359 COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, a jump from Tuesday's 104.

The southern Chinese manufacturing hub of Guangzhou also announced partial lockdowns in several districts this week in response to rising case numbers.

According to analysts Capital Economics, the number of people in quarantine in China is at its highest level since the Shanghai lockdown in spring, with outbreaks in more than 50 cities.

 2022 AFP
Graphical abstract. Credit: Molecular Therapy (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2022.09.002

Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine are looking for ways to heal wounds by using a healing protein that is active in fetuses, but largely inactive in adults and absent in diabetic adults.

"We already know from previous studies at other institutions that if a fetus is wounded, it can regenerate the tissue, or repair it to be like new," said Chandan K. Sen, Ph.D., associate vice president of military and applied research, the J. Stanley Battersby chair and distinguished professor of surgery and director of the Indiana Center for Regenerative Medicine and Engineering at Indiana University School of Medicine.

"But after birth, such regenerative wound healing ability is lost. Healing in adults is relatively inefficient [and] often associated with undesirable scar formation."

In the study, published recently in Molecular Therapy, the team focused on a protein called nonselenocysteine-containing phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase, or NPGPx. NPGPx is active in fetal tissue but becomes mostly inactive in the skin after birth.

"Nature essentially hides this fetal regenerative repair pathway in the adult body," Sen said. "We spotted its absence, and then activated it to improve healing of diabetic wounds."

Researchers used tissue nanotransfection technology developed by faculty at the ICRME to deliver the NPGPx gene to the wound site. Diabetic wounds, which are complicated skin injuries in people with diabetes, are particularly difficult to treat and often lead to amputations or other complications because of how easily they can become infected.

"This is an exciting new approach to harness fetal repair mechanisms to close diabetic wounds in adults," Sen said.

"The study results show that while NPGPx has been known to be abundant in the fetal skin, but not after birth, it can be reactivated in the skin after an injury. We look forward to continued study aiming to achieve a more complete regenerative repair by improving our understanding of how NPGPx functions."

More information: Subhadip Ghatak et al, Driving adult tissue repair via re-engagement of a pathway required for fetal healing, Molecular Therapy (2022). Journal information: Molecular Therapy Subhadip Ghatak et al, Driving adult tissue repair via re-engagement of a pathway required for fetal healing,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2022.09.002
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

A UK study published by The BMJ today has found evidence for "substantial" monkeypox transmission before symptoms appear or are detected (known as pre-symptomatic transmission).

Transmission was detected up to a maximum of four days before the onset of symptoms, and the researchers estimate that more than half (53%) of transmission occurred in this pre-symptomatic phase, meaning that many infections cannot be prevented by asking individuals to isolate after they notice their symptoms.

In a linked editorial, researchers say that if these findings are supported by other studies, pre-symptomatic transmission "would have important implications for infection control globally."

Since the international outbreak of monkeypox in May 2022, more than 70,000 cases have been recorded globally, with just over 3,500 cases in the UK.

Although case numbers are now declining, it's still important to understand the "transmission dynamics" of the virusfor example, how it spreads from one person to another and how quickly symptoms appearto help inform policy decisions and future interventions.

While previous research on pox viruses did not rule out transmission prior to symptoms, this work represents the first evidence to support this.

To explore this further, researchers at the UK Health Security Agency set out to analyze the transmission dynamics of the monkeypox outbreak in the UK.

Their findings are based on routine surveillance and contact tracing data for 2,746 individuals who tested positive for monkeypox virus in the UK between May 6 and August 1, 2022. Their average age was 38 years and 95% reported being gay, bisexual, or men who have sex with men.

The two main measures of interest to the researchers were serial interval (time from symptom onset in the primary case patient to symptom onset in the secondary contact) and incubation period (time from exposure to onset of symptoms).

To estimate this, they linked information on exposure and symptom onset dates from these individuals to their contacts through contact tracing case questionnaires, which they then analyzed using two statistical models.

The models were adjusted for several biases common to virus outbreaks, such as changes in infection rates over time, that would otherwise affect the results.

The mean incubation period was estimated to be 7.6 days in one model and 7.8 days in the other model, while the estimated mean serial interval was 8 days in one model and 9.5 days in the other.

For both models, the median serial interval was between 0.3 and 1.7 days shorter than the median incubation period, indicating that considerable transmission is occurring before the appearance or detection of symptoms.

Analysis of individual level patient data, collected from a subset of patients with more detailed information, seemed to confirm this explanation, with 10 out of 13 case-contact patient pairs reporting pre-symptomatic transmission. Four days was the maximum time that transmission was detected before symptoms appeared.

Based on these results, the researchers say an isolation period of 16 to 23 days would be required to detect 95% of people with a potential infection.

These are observational findings, and the researchers point to several limitations, such as relying on contact tracing to identify the correct case-contact pairs and the self-reported data on date of symptom onset. What's more, the results may not necessarily be directly applicable to other populations with different transmission patterns.

Nevertheless, this was a large study using robust methods and adjusting for key biases that are present in the data, providing greater confidence in the conclusions.

These findings have important implications for isolation and contact tracing policies, say the researchers, adding that backward contact tracing strategies (tracing from whom disease spreads) should account for a pre-symptomatic infectious period when trying to find the contacts of confirmed cases.

In a linked editorial, researchers based in the U.S., UK and Nigeria argue that pre-exposure vaccination and vaccine equity are urgently needed worldwide.

Vaccination is likely to be more cost effective than managing the consequences of preventable infections, including hospital admissions, loss of income during isolation, and long term complications, they explain.

However, they point out that many of the public health measures that have been critical during monkeypox outbreaks in high income countries remain unavailable in much of Africa.

"As the monkeypox outbreak declines in Europe and North America, we have a responsibility to deploy effective tools for viral control on a global levelnot just in wealthy nations," they write. "These tools include research into understanding transmission dynamics in African settings and the inclusion of endemic countries in vaccine trials."

More information: Transmission dynamics of monkeypox in the United Kingdom: contact tracing study, The BMJ (2022). Journal information: British Medical Journal (BMJ) Transmission dynamics of monkeypox in the United Kingdom: contact tracing study,(2022). DOI: 10.1136/bmj-2022-073153
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Access to quality health care is a fundamental human right. Yet more than half the world's population can't obtain even the most essential health care. Out-of-pocket costs drive hundreds of millions into extreme poverty

The solution the World Health Organization and many nations promote is to provide universal health coverage, like Australia's Medicare system. Achieving that is one of the key targets of the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals.

Surprisingly, one of the challenges with increasing access to health care is the danger of getting too much of it. Too many unnecessary tests, treatments and diagnoses cause people harm and waste precious resources.

Overdiagnosis and overuse of health care wastes an estimated 20% of health spending in high-income countries.

With a global team of more than 30 researchers, we've been assessing the situation in low- and middle-income countries. This included analyzing more than 500 scientific articles reporting on studies involving close to 8 million participants or health care services, from more than 80 low- and middle-income countries.

Our world-first scoping reviewspublished today in BMJ Global Health and the Bulletin of the World Health Organizationsuggest the problems of too much medicine are already widespread in low- and middle-income countries. Here's a snapshot of what we found.

Overdiagnosing thyroid cancer

Awareness has grown in recent years that many tiny thyroid tumors are wrongly diagnosed and treated as cancer, including in Australia. Based on the evidence we uncovered, this is affecting health systems everywhere.

Thyroid cancer overdiagnosis occurs when a person is diagnosed with a "harmless" cancer that either never grows or grows very slowlyand wouldn't have caused any problem even if left untreated.

Overdiagnosis of thyroid tumors can cause psychological, financial, and physical harms, including unnecessary removal of the thyroid and related complications.

One analysis included more than 5 million patients with thyroid cancers from more than 50 countries. It found very high rates of thyroid cancer in some low- and middle-income countries. However, death rates from thyroid cancer had remained unchanged in these countries, strongly suggesting much unnecessary diagnosis.

A recent study of more than 27,000 people in China estimated that three in four patients diagnosed with thyroid cancer might be overdiagnosed. That study also found huge variations in the estimate of overdiagnosis across regions in China.

Overdiagnosing malaria

Malaria overdiagnosis occurs when people who don't carry malaria parasites are wrongly diagnosed, and given malaria treatment.

One study of more than 3,000 patients from 95 health centers in Sudan found a growing recognition of malaria overdiagnosis, and calculated that this wasted more than US$80 million in the year 2000.

Malaria is endemic in in many Asian and African countries. However, when malaria is wrongly diagnosed, serious non-malarial infections might be missed and drugs are wasted.

Wasteful imaging tests

In 2014 in Iran, a study found half of the requests for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for low back pain were inappropriate or unnecessary.

Another study from 2021 in Iran, estimated the cost of inappropriate use of brain imaging in just three teaching hospitals to be greater that US$100,000.

Unnecessary imaging tests diverts scarce resources and may lead to unnecessary treatments.

Overprescribing medicines

In Lebanon, a 2020 study found massive overuse of stomach drugs called proton pump inhibitors, with more than two in three people taking them unnecessarily. Approximately US$25 million was being wasted annually.

A large global study in 2020 examined antibiotic use among more than 65,000 children under five in eight low- and middle-income countries: Haiti, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nepal, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda. The researchers found antibiotics were prescribed to more than 80% of children diagnosed with respiratory illness and most of these prescriptions were deemed unnecessary.

Unnecessary use of antibiotics has potential harms including antibiotic resistancewhen bacteria adapt and antibiotics become less effective. Antibacterial resistance is one of the leading causes of death around the world, with the highest burdens in countries and services with limited resources.

Disparities based on wealth

Our reviews found examples of too much medicine alongside underuse in low- and middle-income countries.

One large study of more than 70 low- and middle-income countries found huge inequality in rates of cesarean sections. While the poorest people had inadequate access to emergency cesarean sections, the richest could obtain them when they were not needed.

Time to tackle waste and harm

The World Health Organization notes that as the world moves towards universal health coverage, it's a good time to tackle the waste and harm caused by overdiagnosis and overuse.

It's also a problem we can work together to solve. As the WHO noted, "the 194 Ministries of health with whom WHO works all face this problem."

Solutions are already being tested, though not often enough. One example is a large study in Ghana, which found introducing new rapid diagnostic tests could halve the rates of unnecessary treatment for Malaria.

However, without more action, too many people in low- and middle-income countries will find themselves lacking access to effective health services, coupled with overuse in some areas.

Building on the results of our reviews, we aim to help build a global alliance to reduce overdiagnosis and overuse of health services in low- and middle-income countries. This collaborative effort will seek to develop and evaluate potential solutions.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Screening tests routinely catch cases of breast and colon cancer early, but a screening test for lung cancer is sorely underused in high-risk people and that needs to change, more than 50 cancer organizations said in a joint statement issued Tuesday.

What prompted the move? Low-dose CT screening is recommended for people who are more likely to develop lung cancer, yet only 5.7% of people who are eligible get screened, the groups noted in a call to action for more screening.

"It definitely catches cancer early," said statement co-author Mary Reid, chief of cancer screening and survivorship at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, N.Y.

That's exactly what it did for New York resident Colleen Medvin.

"I'm here because last year, a low-dose CT scan for lung cancer saved my life," she testified during a congressional hearing in September. Medvin was diagnosed with both lung cancer and breast cancer following lung screening at Roswell Park.

"Because each cancer was detected early-stage, surgery was the best option," Medvin noted in her testimony. "I can't believe how lucky I got."

About 46% of lung cancer patients are not so fortunate, and are diagnosed after their lung cancer has spread, Reid noted.

"I'd really like to see a change and I think as a society we know what needs to be done, and we need to do it and not mess about anymore," Reid added.

The cancer groups are urging high-risk individuals, their health care providers and insurers to do their part. Recommendations include a national education campaign, leveraging tobacco prevention and cessation resources to encourage screening, improving access to screening and requiring Medicaid coverage for guideline-based screening. The groups also urged finding ways to create fair access to screening, prioritizing quality measures to increase screening and investing in comprehensive screening sites.

Since 2013, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has recommended low-dose CT scans for high-risk groups, which means it is now covered by most insurance plans. The task force expanded screening eligibility criteria last year.

It is now recommended for people aged 50 to 80 who have smoked 20 pack-years, or about a pack a day for 20 years or two packs a day for 10 years. People who smoked that much but who have quit within the past 15 years are also eligible.

About 14.5 million Americans are eligible for the screening. With early detection, as many as 60,000 people each year who would have died of lung cancer would instead live, the groups said.

"There's no debate here about its efficacy. That is proven," said Dr. Andrea McKee, a spokeswoman for the American Lung Association and chief of the division of radiation oncology at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center's Sophia Gordon Cancer Center in Burlington, Mass. "Rarely do you see so many expert groups across the nation all saying, 'This is agreed. This is an important test for these people, for this patient population.'"

The 5.7% screening rate for lung cancer was tabulated even before the pandemic prompted drops in screening rates for all cancers. Meanwhile, screening rates for breast, cervical and colon cancers range from 67% to 76%.

Unfortunately, a number of barriers exist that keep high-risk people from getting this essential screening. Among them are simply a lack of awareness by both patients and providers, the group said.

Stigma and prejudice persist about spending health care dollars to save the lives of people who smoked, McKee said.

"And so we're having to battle that stigma and advocate for people who either currently smoke or smoked in the past to get beyond that," McKee said.

When the guidelines were first created, not a lot of sites adopted these radiology practices because at the time they needed to pay to join a registry that was expensive, Reid said. Rural areas were particularly underserved, while cities were more likely to have good lung cancer screening programs.

It took time after the results of a large, randomized trial were published in 2011 to establish screening guidelines and codes for charging insurance companies, McKee explained, and for medical offices to put protocols and staffing in place.

"This is a big deal all of a sudden to getit's now about 15 million people in the U.S. who are at high risk for lung cancerto get all of them screened. It doesn't just start on a dime. It's a process to put that infrastructure in place," McKee noted.

Screening also requires pre-authorization from an insurance company, even though the guidelines are fairly straightforward, Reid said, and that puts the burden on primary care doctors.

Another barrier is that many primary care doctors are not trained on the guidelines and what to do if screening turns up a problem for a patient, Reid added.

"I think why we wrote the consensus statement and why we have these talking points is that we have great resources on a national level but on the ground, on the street, there are these things that limit uptake," Reid said.

At least 5% of people eligible for screening live more than 40 miles from a screening facility. In rural areas, at least 25% of eligible people live far from screening sites, the groups said in a statement.

Lung cancer deaths comprise about 25% of all cancer-related deaths, making it the leading cause of cancer deaths.

Educating high-risk patients about the need for screening is an important part of the solution. People feel fatalistic about the disease because they've become used to seeing people die of it, McKee said, but the screening is noninvasive and painless.

It's a "very easy test. You go in there. You hold your breath for 10 seconds," McKee said.

More information: People can determine their eligibility for screening in the American Lung Association's People can determine their eligibility for screening in the American Lung Association's risk assessment quiz

Copyright  2022 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Researchers from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have discovered a new way the brain processes and communicates information that could lead to improved learning in those suffering neurological disorders or recovering from brain injuries.

The study was published in Nature Neuroscience.

Researchers focused on changes in myelination, the process by which certain cells in the brain's central nervous system produce layers of myelin that wrap around neuronal axons. This helps the brain better deliver electrical information throughout the body. Healthy mice were taught to perform a simple task as researchers monitored their brains before, during and after learning.

"Our study provides new information about how the brain changes during the process of learning. The data suggests that anytime anyone learns how to ride a bike, throw a ball, or even learn a new dance move, these behaviors result in changes in the pattern of myelination on the neuronal circuits that are involved in these new motor tasks," said Ethan Hughes, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "It was previously thought that learning did not impact pre-existing myelin. Our work argues that changes in mature myelin sheaths on specific neuronal circuits may play an important role in the ability for us to learn new motor tasks and master them."

Hughes found that gaps between myelin sheaths, called nodes of Ranvier, can lengthen during the learning process. The computational modeling done in collaboration with Alon Poleg-Polsky in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine suggests these changes could alter the speed and timing of neuronal communication in the brain. It also suggests that the better we learn these tasks, the greater the changes in myelination will be on the neuronal circuits involved in the task.

The research could eventually help doctors treat traumatic brain injury or a stroke. Hughes said it could also further treatment options for neurological disorders like multiple sclerosis.

"Medications, learning techniques and rehabilitation that stimulate myelination are beginning to be used to treat people who suffer from multiple sclerosis," said Hughes. "Our research suggests some of the same techniques could also be used to help people with other disorders or injuries regain motor functions they may have lost. It could potentially even help healthy people learn more efficiently."

More information: Clara M. Bacmeister et al, Motor learning drives dynamic patterns of intermittent myelination on learning-activated axons, Nature Neuroscience (2022). Journal information: Nature Neuroscience Clara M. Bacmeister et al, Motor learning drives dynamic patterns of intermittent myelination on learning-activated axons,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-022-01169-4
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Poor quality sleep, including too much or too little shuteye, daytime sleepiness, and snoring, may be linked to a heightened risk of developing irreversible sight loss (glaucoma), suggests a large UK Biobank study published in the open access journal BMJ Open.

The findings underscore the need for sleep therapy in people at high risk of the disease as well as eye checks among those with chronic sleep disorders to check for early signs of glaucoma, conclude the researchers.

Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness and will likely affect an estimated 112 million people worldwide by 2040.

Characterized by progressive loss of light-sensitive cells in the eye and optic nerve damage, its causes and contributory factors are still poorly understood. But if left untreated, glaucoma can progress to irreversible blindness.

While population screening may not be cost-effective, targeted screening of high-risk groups might be, suggest the researchers. And previously published research suggests that sleep disorders may be an important risk factor.

To explore these issues further, the researchers set out to ascertain the risk of glaucoma among people with different sleep behaviors: insomnia; too much or too little sleep; night or morning chronotypes ("owls" or "larks"); daytime sleepiness; and snoring.

They drew on 409,053 participants in the UK Biobank, all of whom were aged between 40 and 69 in 2006-10 when recruited, and who had provided details of their sleep behaviors.

Sleep duration of 7 to less than 9 hours per day was defined as normal, and as too little or too much outside this range. Chronotype was defined according to whether the person described themselves as more of a morning lark or night owl.

Insomnia severitytrouble falling asleep at night or frequent wakingwas classified as never/sometimes or usually, whereas subjective daytime sleepiness was categorized as never/rarely, sometimes, or frequent.

Background information on potentially influential factors was retrieved from the questionnaires filled in at recruitment: age (average 57), sex, race/ethnicity, educational attainment, lifestyle, weight (BMI), and residential area level of deprivation.

Medical records and death registration data were used to track the health and survival of all the participants until a first diagnosis of glaucoma (hospital admission), death, emigration, or the end of the monitoring period (31 March 2021), whichever came first.

During an average monitoring period of just over 10.5 years, 8690 cases of glaucoma were identified.

Those with glaucoma tended to be older and were more likely to be male, chronic smokers, and to have high blood pressure or diabetes than those who weren't diagnosed with the disease.

With the exception of chronotype, the other four sleep patterns/behaviors were all associated with varying degrees of heightened glaucoma risk.

Short or long sleep duration was associated with a heightened risk of 8%; insomnia, 12%; snoring, 4%; and frequent daytime sleepiness, 20%.

Compared to those with a healthy sleep pattern, snorers and those who experienced daytime sleepiness were 10% more likely to have glaucoma, while insomniacs and those with a short/long sleep duration pattern were 13% more likely to have it.

The results were similar when categorized by different types of glaucoma.

This is an observational study, and as such, can't establish cause. The study relied on self reporting rather than objective measurement and reflected one point in time only, acknowledge the researchers. Glaucoma might itself influence sleep patterns, rather than the other way round, they add.

But there are potentially plausible biological explanations for the associations found between sleep disturbance and glaucoma, say the researchers.

The internal pressure of the eye, a key factor in the development of glaucoma, rises when a person is lying down and when sleep hormones are out of kilter, as occurs in insomnia, explain the researchers.

Depression and anxiety, which often go hand in hand with insomnia, may also increase the internal eye pressure, possibly because of dysregulated cortisol production, they suggest.

Similarly, repetitive or prolonged episodes of low levels of cellular oxygen, caused by sleep apnea (sudden stopping of breathing during sleep), might cause direct damage to the optic nerve, it has been suggested.

"As sleep behaviors are modifiable, these findings underscore the necessity of sleep intervention for individuals at high risk of glaucoma and potential ophthalmologic screening among individuals with chronic sleep problems to help prevent glaucoma," conclude the researchers.

More information: Association of sleep behaviour and pattern with the risk of glaucoma: a prospective cohort study in the UK Biobank, BMJ Open (2022). Journal information: BMJ Open Association of sleep behaviour and pattern with the risk of glaucoma: a prospective cohort study in the UK Biobank,(2022). DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-063676
Factors associated with pneumococcal non-vaccination among CLSA participants aged 4764 who reported having a chronic medical condition (CMC) and had complete data (n = 10,284). Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), plotted on the log-odds ratio scale, were estimated through nested logistic regression models: Model 1 for sociodemographic characteristics; Model 2b for recent history of contact with a family doctor and recent influenza vaccination history, adjusting for socio-demographics. Credit: PLOS ONE (2022). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275923

As the flu season begins and the COVID-19 pandemic continues, pneumococcal vaccination is more important than ever to prevent disease and death from pneumonia and other forms of pneumococcal disease.

But vaccine uptake remains low among adults at high risk, say researchers from McGill University.

Q&A with Giorgia Sulis

What is pneumococcal disease?

Pneumococcus is the leading bacterial cause of pneumonia and can cause other serious infections, including sepsis and meningitis. Pneumonia is among the top 10 causes of death among adults in Canada. Most cases of pneumococcal disease are vaccine preventable.

What question did you set out to answer?

Understanding vaccine uptake and the factors associated with non-vaccination has important implications for reducing the risk of pneumococcal disease and can save lives. To find answers, our study (published in PLOS ONE) analyzed self-reported data of pneumococcal vaccine uptake from 33,061 Canadian community-dwelling adults enrolled in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). Specifically, we examined two key groups at high risk: older adults (i.e. those aged 65 or older) and adults aged 47-64 who had underlying chronic medical conditions.

What did you find?

While most cases of pneumococcal disease are vaccine-preventable, pneumococcal vaccine uptake remains low among those at high risk, particularly among adults aged 65 and older and adults with an underlying chronic health condition.

We found that about half of those aged 65 and older, and over 80% of those aged 47 to 64 who had an underlying chronic condition reported never receiving a pneumococcal vaccine in their lifetime. While the proportion of non-vaccinated adults was lower among those who got the flu shot or had contact with a family doctor in the previous year, many people missed opportunities for vaccination. This contrasts sharply with the 80% vaccination coverage target set by the Canadian National Immunization Strategy, to be achieved by 2025.

What is the significance of these findings?

Our study is the largest analysis of pneumococcal vaccine uptake and factors associated with non-vaccination among high-risk adults in Canada. It also sheds new light on the problem of missed opportunities for vaccination. We hope that our study can contribute to raise awareness about this problem and promote effective strategies aimed at increasing pneumococcal vaccine uptake to reduce hospitalizations and mortality.

More information: Giorgia Sulis et al, Pneumococcal vaccination uptake and missed opportunities for vaccination among Canadian adults: A cross-sectional analysis of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), PLOS ONE (2022). Journal information: PLoS ONE Giorgia Sulis et al, Pneumococcal vaccination uptake and missed opportunities for vaccination among Canadian adults: A cross-sectional analysis of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA),(2022). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275923
City University of Hong Kong's smart mask will help improve personal and public health. Credit: City University of Hong Kong

Wearing face masks has been recognized as one of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19, even in its coming endemic phase. Apart from the conventional function of masks, the potential for smart masks to monitor human physiological signals is being increasingly explored. A research team led by the City University of Hong Kong (CityU) recently invented a smart mask, integrating an ultrathin nanocomposite sponge structure-based soundwave sensor, which is capable of detecting respiratory sounds of breathing, coughing and speaking.

Using machine-learning algorithms and a high sensitivity soundwave sensor operable across a wide bandwidth, the smart mask has opened new avenues for its application in the identification of respiratory diseases, as well as a voice interaction tool. This ultra-lightweight wearable technology also has the potential to improve personal and public health by enabling prolonged and systematic respiratory health monitoring in daily life.

A research team led by Professor Li Wenjung, Chair Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering (MNE), Professor Wang Jianping, Professor in the Department of Computer Science (CS), and Dr. Yu Xinge, Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at CityU, recently developed this smart mask, which can detect and distinguish multiple respiratory actions. Professor Shen Jiangang's team from the School of Chinese Medicine of The University of Hong Kong also made an important contribution to the project. The findings were published in Advanced Science.

Nanocomposite-sensor integrated smart mask allows the detection of a wide-bandwidth dynamic pressure range with high sensitivity for tracking multiphase respiratory activity. Credit: Advanced Science (2022). DOI: 10.1002/advs.202203565

Importance of wearing masks even if COVID-19 becomes endemic

"Many countries now believe that COVID-19 will soon become endemic," said Professor Li. "However, we must set aside optimism and be realistic about the likely levels of illness, disability and death associated with this disease in the coming years. It is important to remember that endemicity does not correspond to harmlessness."

He used malaria as an example to illustrate that even though it is currently considered endemic in 87 countries, in 2020, it infected an estimated 241 million people and caused 627,000 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. Thus, he suggested that people should continue to be cautious about COVID-19 and use available and proven measures, including masks, to control the spread of the virus.

The flexible sensor can be used to detect human respiratory activity by integrating it with commercial masks. Credit: City University of Hong Kong

"This smart mask utilizes our self-developed, high-sensitivity, wide-bandwidth flexible sensor that can detect and record daily human respiratory activity, such as breathing, coughing and speaking for cloud data storage," explained Professor Li.

The smart mask developed by the team has a sponge-like structure as thin as 400m, fabricated with carbon nanotube and polydimethylsiloxane (CNT/PDMS) materials, using the team's novel modified sacrificial-release technique. The ultra-thin, lightweight sensor can be practically integrated and work effectively with both rigid masks and deformable non-woven fabric masks.

Good performance in static and dynamic pressure

The research team recruited 31 people in order to collect their respiratory activity while they wore the smart mask. The findings showed that the acoustic wave sensor was highly sensitive in measuring both static and dynamic pressure. Besides performing well in the static pressure range of 27.9 Pa2.5 kPa, the sensor also responded to high-frequency dynamic pressure generated by the human voice, i.e., sound harmonic acoustic energy up to 4000 Hz.

In addition, the sensor can sense air movement, including directional flow and vibration. These findings suggest that the sensor could be used to detect human respiratory activity by integrating it with a commercial polycarbonate mask. It also demonstrated that the smart mask could detect and differentiate three common respiratory functions: breathing, coughing and speaking.

"Advanced artificial intelligence technology enables the integrated mask to recognize different coughing and breathing patterns automatically, indicating its potential use to diagnose respiratory-related diseases in the future," said Professor Wang.

"Presently, researchers use commercial sensors to detect temperature changes and airflow to count the number of coughs, but they cannot capture important physiological information contained in the human voice, coughing and breathing. Our smart mask is sensitive to both subtle air pressure and high-frequency vibrations and can detect three phrases of coughing," added Professor Li.

The team aims to eventually develop real-time diagnostics algorithms for applications such as pneumoconiosis symptom assessment. "As a potentially low-cost, daily smart wearable device, this new IoT smart mask will help personal and public health management of respiratory disease screening and diagnosis, especially in cities with a dense population, like Hong Kong," said Dr. Yu. The speech-detection ability of the smart mask can also help resolve the sound attenuation problem caused by wearing masks.

More information: Jiao Suo et al, WideBandwidth NanocompositeSensor Integrated Smart Mask for Tracking Multiphase Respiratory Activities, Advanced Science (2022). Journal information: Advanced Science Jiao Suo et al, WideBandwidth NanocompositeSensor Integrated Smart Mask for Tracking Multiphase Respiratory Activities,(2022). DOI: 10.1002/advs.202203565
Amani Chibashimba after a NETfacts session in which villagers created their community's "lifeline". Amani Chibashimba now heads the follow-up project, in which several thousand people benefit from NET and NETfacts every month. Credit: Katy Robjant

War and violence have a psychological impact on everyone involved. Victims of organized, sexual, and domestic violence are scarred by these traumas for the rest of their lives. For many of them it is difficult to live a normal life afterwards. Current wars in Europe and around the world make the effective treatment of trauma all the more important.

About 15 years ago, the trauma researchers Maggie Schauer, Frank Neuner and Thomas Elbert from Konstanz developed Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET): a successful form of therapy for severe trauma, which can be implemented in crisis areas. NET supports the affected persons in naming the traumatic experience, contextualizing it in terms of a time period in a particular location, processing the emotions and integrating the event into the overall biography. At the same time, the person and their biography are treated with dignity.

From NET to NETfacts

Based on Narrative Exposure Therapy, a team of psychologists and conflict researchers from the University of Konstanz has now developed the therapy system NETfacts in cooperation with the aid organization "vivo international." Complementing Narrative Exposure Therapy, which focuses on the individual, NETfacts involves the community in which the traumatic event took place.

But why is it important to include the social environment? "Often, the victims are blamed. Even subtle stigmatization of the victims makes them feel worse and blocks them from coming to terms with their trauma," describes Anke Kobach, a psychologist from Konstanz who, together with Katy Robjant from "vivo international," was instrumental in developing the NETfacts system.

One example of such stigmatization is rape myths, which are attempts to trivialize sexual violence or blame the victim. "Keeping silent about the violence you have experienced, not acknowledging the horror, only leads to more violence," Kobach says. "We need the social environment in order to change the norms and acknowledge victims' histories. This is why NETfacts targets the community. "

Applying NETfacts

NETfacts combines individual treatment with a collective process. All individuals in the community are first screened for signs of posttraumatic stress disorder or significant aggressive behavior. Affected individuals are each offered treatment with Narrative Exposure Therapy.

At the same time, the community members work through the history of their shared traumatic eventsfor example, a (para)military raid of their villagefrom different perspectives. Using symbolic objects such as flowers and stones (for positive and negative experiences), they visualize the community's "lifeline" and develop a unified understanding with a focus on the traumatic events.

In combination with the detailed NET trauma narratives, this sheds light on the events and makes them explicitly visible; the "collective memory" of the community is supplemented with the personal experiences of its members. On the one hand, this helps everyone in the community to come to terms with the traumatic event and acknowledge it as part of the community's history. On the other hand, it challenges harmful narratives such as stigmatization and rape myths.

Field study and results

In a field study with a total of 1,066 persons, NETfacts was used in six war-ridden communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo and compared with results from the classic NET program. The study was recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The results show that both NET and NETfacts were able to significantly reduce the severity of posttraumatic stress disorder and depression in all cases.

"In addition to this, after NETfacts, rape myths and other stigmatizations of victims were accepted much less," Anke Kobach says. "The most important finding of our study is that as these norms change, violence decreasesboth emotional and physical violence."

More information: Katy Robjant et al, NETfacts: An integrated intervention at the individual and collective level to treat communities affected by organized violence, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Katy Robjant et al, NETfacts: An integrated intervention at the individual and collective level to treat communities affected by organized violence,(2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2204698119
LOS ANGELES (AP)  As the former captain in charge of the Hollywood Division of the Los Angeles Police Department, Cory Palka was a star himself.

The towering cop with a telegenic smile hobnobbed with celebrities getting stars on the Walk of Fame, ran security for the Oscars awards show and even landed a bit part playing himself on the television drama Bosch about a talented but troubled maverick LAPD detective.

But Palkas ties to the entertainment industry and his allegiances were under scrutiny Thursday after prosecutors said he leaked a sexual assault victims confidential police report to the accused, former CBS leader Les Moonves, for whom Palka served as a private bodyguard for years.

The LAPD said it was conducting an internal affairs investigation into Palka's conduct and the state attorney general was probing any criminal elements after a report said he conspired with CBS to conceal sexual assault allegations against Moonves.

The report, which didn't name Palka, was part of a settlement announced Wednesday by New York Attorney General Letitia James in which CBS and Moonves, its former president, agreed to pay $30.5 million. About $6 million is going to sexual assault and harassment programs. The rest will go to shareholders kept in the dark while executives tried to prevent allegations from becoming public and at least one benefited by unloading shares before news broke.

Weeks after the #MeToo movement erupted with sex abuse allegations against film mogul Harvey Weinstein in 2017, Phyllis Golden-Gottlieb reported to police in the Hollywood Division that she had been sexually assaulted by Moonves in 1986 and 1988 when they worked together at Lorimar Productions, the studio behind Dallas and Knots Landing.

A law enforcement official briefed on the matter confirmed that Golden-Gottlieb, who died this summer, was the woman involved in the leak by Palka. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and did so on condition of anonymity.

Jim Gottlieb said in an email to The Associated Press that he was shocked and very disappointed that his mother's report was leaked to CBS. He said his mother was never looking for money, she just didn't want Moonves to get away with what he did and was satisfied that her report contributed to his downfall.

We would like to think the police are looking out for us, the victims, and not the perpetrators," Gottlieb said. "This sounds just like what you hear about certain police departments being in cahoots with organized crime.

Attorney Gloria Allred, who represented Golden-Gottlieb, said in nearly a half-century of legal practice, she had never heard of police tipping off a suspect to an investigation and said it could have a chilling effect on other women coming forward to report abuse.

Its very, very disturbing, Allred said. Its really outrageous if they did that. And I have to ask, what were their motives if that, in fact occurred? Why were they, for example, trying to curry favor with CBS? Did they receive anything in return?

Golden-Gottlieb went public with her accusations at the time Ronan Farrow reported on allegations against Moonves in The New Yorker in September 2018. Within hours of that publication, Moonves quit.

Nearly a year earlier, the ink was just drying on her police report  which was marked confidential in three places  when Palka tipped off CBS, the report said. Palka then met personally with Moonves and another CBS executive.

The New York AG's report said the complainant had requested confidentiality. It cited the California Constitution, which prohibits disclosure of confidential information to a defendant, a defendants attorney, or any other person acting on behalf of the defendant that could be used to locate or harass the victim or the victims family.

The captain told CBS that he instructed police officers investigating the complaint to admonish the woman not to go to the media with her allegations. He also put CBS officials in touch with the lead investigator.

CBS immediately went into damage control mode, with an executive alerting a member of the news staff to stay close to the phone because they have a situation. He told another staffer not to miss any messages and added: I wouldnt bother you if this wasnt serious.

When the allegations ultimately became public, Palka sent a note to a CBS contact saying, We worked so hard to try to avoid this day. He sent Moonves a note saying he was sorry and, "I will always stand with, by and pledge my allegiance to you.

From 2008 to 2014, Palka had provided private security for Moonves at the Grammy Awards, which CBS produced.

Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School and former president of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission, said a police officer has to adhere to legal and ethical obligations as a member of the force and can't violate those duties when providing private security. Typically, those two roles wouldn't be in conflict.

The question is on a case by case basis as to whether or not it leads to divided loyalty, Levinson said. But the truth is, most of the time it really shouldnt be a tough call."

Patti Giggans, executive director of the nonprofit Peace Over Violence in Los Angeles, said she expects the scandal to have repercussions that extend beyond victims being afraid to report assaults to the LAPD to advocates reevaluating relationships they have built with detectives.

Palka, who retired as a commander last year after nearly 35 years with LAPD, said in his LinkedIn profile that he grew up with eight siblings in a low-income housing project in the Mar Vista community and had spent most of his life in Los Angeles.

Video footage of Palka went viral during the racial injustice protests in Los Angeles in the aftermath of George Floyds death when he took a knee with protesters on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.

He was incident commander at the Academy Awards and numerous high profile events related to the entertainment industry, his profile said.

In Hollywood, he was a frequent fixture on red carpets and at Walk of Fame ceremonies, posing with celebrities like Lynda Carter, Jack Black and Stacy Keach. He was personally thanked during Mark Hamills star ceremony and posed with Hamill, Harrison Ford and George Lucas.

The Hollywood Chamber Community Foundations honored him in 2019 as one of the Heroes of Hollywood.

Celebrity always equates to power and influence, said attorney Debra Katz, who specializes in sexual-harassment law. It becomes very troubling when you have a town of celebrities that have access to the police  when they have a dual role where they provide security and they hobnob with one another.

Palka did not return requests for comment Thursday, nor did an attorney for Moonves and CBS.

Moonves acknowledged having relations with three of his accusers, but said they were consensual. He denied attacking anyone, saying in a statement at the time that Untrue allegations from decades ago are now being made against me.

The Los Angeles County district attorney declined to file criminal charges against Moonves in 2018, saying the statute of limitations from Golden-Gottlieb's allegations had expired.
Fentanyl has become a scourge across America and is taking a toll on the growing number of people living on the streets of Los Angeles. About a third of the 2,000 homeless deaths between April 2020 and March 2021 were from an overdose. The federal government says the highly addictive and lethal synthetic drug has quickly become the deadliest drug in the nation. While help is available, it is outpaced by the magnitude of misery on the streets. Homeless addicts in Los Angeles can be seen sprawled on sidewalks or passed out in alleys. Others peddle tiny doses and puffs of smoke to the desperate seeking their next high.
1) Why do you want to serve as the Missoula County superintendent of schools?

Having served in this capacity for almost 12 years, I am knowledgeable about the educational landscape of our county as well as our state. I am committed to meeting the needs of our most rural students, their teachers, and their families. I want to continue the work in progress, outlined below.

2) In what ways do you plan on facilitating the relationship between your office and the countys school districts, particularly with the three Class III schools the county superintendent directly supervises?

I currently work closely with the school boards at Woodman, Sunset and Swan Valley elementary schools as well as their clerks and supervising teachers/principals to ensure that the districts comply with all state and federal statutes and administrative rules. I am also working to grow the next generation of rural teachers by hosting two yearlong student teaching residents, at Woodman and Sunset. I have written grants in order to develop and sustain an after-school program at Woodman Elementary as well as summer school programming, and with the support of the board we are offering 4-year-old kindergarten this year. Collaboration between my office, the Woodman School Board and our amazing supervising teacher, Mr. Neil Murray, has resulted in significant facilities improvements over the past few years including a new well, new roof, all new flooring, windows and paint, new kitchen, lighting, PA system and perhaps most importantly  high speed internet. This has been made possible thanks to the school levies generously voted for by the Woodman School Community as well as the E-rate program and ARP ESSER funds. At Sunset, we are working on a school renovation to improve school safety and usability of a very outdated space. If there are any contractors out there who would be willing to work with Woodman and Swan Valley Schools on door replacement to meet vital school safety needs, please contact my office.

3) What goals would you hope to accomplish if you are elected to be the county superintendent?

I wish to continue the work outlined in the previous question. I seek to grow enrollment in each district by providing an outstanding student-focused educational program, which is best offered in small K-8 schools. I strive to support and mentor the exceptional teachers who devote their careers to rural education. I will continue to serve as the school librarian for each district (I currently teach library classes at each school). I serve as the president of the executive board of the Montana Association of County School Superintendents, which is a branch of the School Administrators of Montana. In these roles, I will continue to advocate for change at the state level to best meet the educational and social-emotional needs of Montanas and Missoula Countys students. The Office of Public Instruction under Superintendent Arntzen has not been responsive to the needs of students, teachers, parents and administrators, and gutted the services offered at the state level. This includes the current recommendations before the Board of Public Education that would decimate accreditation standards, including access to school mental health and guidance counselors, school librarians who instill in children a love of reading (more necessary than ever in this digital age), and reduce required middle school curriculum offerings, particularly in the fine arts, world languages and career and technical education. I encourage readers to visit bpe.mt.gov/Home/About-Us to read more about the proposed changes and consider providing their own public comment.
A 24-year-old Missoula man is facing two felony charges stemming from allegations that he pointed a gun at people at a bar over the weekend.

Moses N. Manning is charged with two counts of assault with a weapon, both felonies. Hes being held at the Missoula jail pending a $50,000 bail.

Missoula County charging documents state that on Saturday evening and into Sunday morning, multiple witnesses reported a man pointing a gun at them.

The first witness said that a man approached him behind a Ryman Street bar around 11:15 p.m. and asked if the witnesses could guess what was in his bag. The suspect reportedly told the witness he had a firearm and bullets.

At about 12:13 a.m., Missoula police were sent to a different Missoula bar, also on Ryman Street, after getting reports that a man was pointing a gun at people. One witness stated Manning pointed a gun at a woman because she bumped into him.

Manning followed the woman toward the bars exit when another woman pushed him, and he pulled a gun and pointed it at the second woman, charging documents allege.

Another man contacted officers and told them he was standing near a window close to the bars main entrance when he heard a pop noise, turned around and saw a man pointing a gun at him from the other side of the window. This was seen by multiple other witnesses, charging documents state.

Just before 2 a.m. officers found Mannings car parked outside of the Missoula County Courthouse. They arrested Manning, who matched the physical description provided by witnesses in the alleged incidents.

Officers noticed a black handgun on the cars floorboard. Manning told police he was in the bar with a gun and that people were throwing drinks on him, according to charging documents. He denied taking the firearm out inside the businesses, but said he took it out outside, but didnt point it at anyone.

At Mannings initial appearance on Tuesday, his public defender noted he has no criminal convictions.

Two weeks ago, a similar incident prompted a police response when a separate suspect allegedly pulled a gun, also at a bar on Ryman Street.

Mannings next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 14 in Missoula County District Court.
A plaintiff suspicious about election fraud reached an agreement in a lawsuit this week requiring Missoula County to keep long-term records of ballot counting for the upcoming election Tuesday.

Missoula County has agreed to maintain video surveillance footage of the Election Center for the duration of the lawsuit, whereas the usual retention window standard is 30 days. The subject footage will be collected from Nov. 6 to Nov. 14.

John Lott with the Missoula County Election Integrity Project brought the lawsuit against the Missoula County Elections Office and Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman.

Lott told the Missoulian in an email that hes interested in official record keeping of elections as required by the federal 1960 Civil Rights Act.

I wanted to do something very simple: match the number of voters listed as voting with the number of ballots cast, Lott wrote.

While the suit is ongoing, both parties agreed to the order regarding video retention on Monday. The order applies to images taken by two internal cameras within the Counting Center, where ballots are tabulated, as well as footage from the storage room connected to the Counting Center and the six external cameras on the Election Center.

On Wednesday, the Missoula County commissioners stressed the countys commitment to election integrity.

"Missoula County has and will continue to prioritize security, accuracy and transparency in our elections, despite efforts to cast doubt on the system, here and nationwide, the statement reads. Contrary to Mr. Lott's claim, the recent order formalizes Missoula County's commitment to retain surveillance footage from election buildings beyond the standard 30-day retention window, as well as reports, only during the litigation. The County will hold them until the court makes a final determination about how long they must be retained going forward.

Our staff are currently focused on providing excellent service to voters as we head into the upcoming election, and all the processes they follow are open to any member of the public who wants to learn about them, the statement added. Missoula County does not concede any of the legal issues the plaintiffs raise, and we will litigate this case in court, not the media."

A Republican group previously challenged the veracity of the county's process around the 2020 election, and multiple rounds of counting revealed a margin of error similar to those found in official canvasses during past elections.

Since losing the 2020 election, former President Donald Trump and a handful of his Republican followers claimed widespread voting fraud in the November 2020 election, citing mail-in ballot voting as the cause, according to Reuters. Mail-in ballots are widely regarded as a secure form of voting.

Between 2006 and 2016, there were 7,079,953 mail-in ballots cast in Montana elections. In that decade, there was only one confirmed case of illegal voting, the Billings Gazette reported.

Missoulian reporter Zoe Buchli contributed to this report.
The company that makes the shelters, Pallet, says they are designed to last 10 years.

Blayne Metz, the county's shelter project coordinator, said each one can fit two people and all are equipped with a fire extinguisher and windows. They can withstand snow loads of 25 pounds per square foot and 100-mph wind gusts.

"They're pretty basic," Metz said. "But they solve a lot of the issues of allowing personal privacy and giving them a place to call their own and a door to close."

Jim Hicks, the executive director of the Hope Rescue Mission, said the current TSOS has sheltered 180 people since it was set up early in the pandemic. Of those, about half have been able to move out of the Homeless Management Information System by either finding permanent housing or going back to treatment. Unlike the Authorized Camp Site (a separate, low-barrier site for homeless people that's closing soon), residents of the TSOS are required to hit certain benchmarks as far as showing they are moving forward in being employable and getting into permanent housing.

"It's been walking alongside people, giving them some dignity with some accountability," Hicks explained. "And those that really want to kind of move forward will. It kind of sifts out, in some ways, those that don't want to move forward and they'll move on."

Recently, a man staying at the TSOS said he was hearing voices that told him to harm himself, Hicks recalled. But by getting him case management services and other people to help him get connected to the right medication, the man has been reunited with his family.

Another man at the TSOS had gotten a job but started not showing up. When staff members asked him why, the man explained that he had no way of showering every day and didn't want his co-workers to know he was homeless.

"And that's when we kind of woke up, you know," Hicks recalled. "Hey, we all get showered and don't even think about it. So that's when we kind of hustled to find him a shower so that he could again, get another layer of dignity."

The new site will have two specially designed mobile restroom units, each with a shower, that will be connected to hot water and electricity.

Metz said the location of the new site will be much closer to services, including a navigation center at the Trinity housing complex that will connect people to services. Also, there will be 30 units of permanent supportive housing at Trinity for people who are coming off the streets.

The contract awarded to construction company Knife River currently stands at about $864,000 to prepare the new site next to the detention center. All of that money, as well, came from federal American Rescue Plan Act funds. Hicks said some of the funding for having on-site staff members comes from ARPA.

The federal money is no longer coming in, Hicks noted. He said he hopes a Crisis Services Levy on the Nov. 8 ballot is passed by voters. It would mean that about $5 million per year in local tax revenue would go to things like the operation of the TSOS now that ARPA is gone.

"That's why this levy is so important," Hicks said. "To continue the services that we've been able to establish."

Hicks said that there's a list of about 20 or so individuals who are currently living at the Authorized Camp Site who have expressed interest in moving to the TSOS.

Hicks said that the money for the TSOS has been able to affect some real change. For example, a man who had been living illegally under the Reserve Street Bridge for 10 years is now clean, living in an apartment and has a job. That wouldn't be possible without the ARPA funds and strong collaboration between Missoula organizations and governments, Hicks said.

"So yeah, like I say, that Crisis Services Levy going forward is so important," Hicks said.
Many small, rural and tribal schools in Montana will receive improved access to basic mental health services through a partnership made possible by a federal grant.

The partnership between the Western Montana Professional Learning Collaborative, a nonprofit that provides professional development opportunities for educators, and the Montana Small Schools Alliance, will also provide rural schools with violence prevention tools.

There is a strong and growing need to improve and provide equitable school-based mental health support and other resources to prevent school violence and mental health concerns in rural settings, said Jessica Johnson with the Western Montana Professional Learning Collaborative.

According to results from the 2021 Montana Youth Risk Behavior Survey, about 22% of high school students surveyed seriously considered attempting suicide in the last year, and nearly 42% of students indicated they felt sad or hopeless for two weeks or more. Additionally, about 8.9% of students carried a gun on them on more than one day in the last 12 months, outside of using the gun for hunting or sport.

Nearly 17,000 students from 98% of Montanas schools between grades 7-12 participated in the survey conducted by the Office of Public Instruction during the 2020-2021 school year.

Students are being trained to run, hide or fight for their lives at school, Johnson said. We must focus on a continued dialogue on improving student wellness with a stronger focus on prevention. With this federal grant, we will look to meet critical needs in rural, tribal and frontier schools to better support our students.

Of the 150 school districts who are members of the Montana Small Schools Alliance, 120 of them are operating without a single credentialed school counselor, according to a description of the project on the Bureau of Justice Assistances website. As a result, one of the schools teachers has to take on additional training in school counseling to fulfill those duties on top of their responsibilities as an educator.

The $999,999 grant was awarded to the nonprofits from the Bureau of Justice Assistances STOP School Violence Program through the Department of Justice. With the grant funding the partnership aims to serve nearly 150 schools in Montana through mental health assessments, counseling services and improved content and curriculum.

The grant will also fund e-therapy assessments and treatment, direct access to CrisisTextLine, a mental health texting service, and will fund a full-time credentialed school counselor to serve as the Mental Health Resource Navigator.

These added resources to rural schools, who often struggle with hiring counseling staff or contracting services for student mental health issues, come at a time when many districts across the state are facing new challenges with providing their own programs.

Recent legislative changes to Comprehensive School and Community Treatment (CSCT) programs in Montana caused administrative headaches for many school districts and anxieties about funding those services in the future. CSCT programs connect students with severe mental health needs to support during the school day, in their homes or in the community.

The changes moved the program from the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services to the Office of Public Instruction, and affected how school districts pay for their third of the services. Previously, districts could pay their share by contributing classroom space or laptops. With the new rules, they must pay in cash.

When the program was moved, lawmakers gave the OPI $2.2 million to bridge the funding gap for schools, which expired at the end of December 2021.

Prior to the legislative changes, 84 districts contracted mental health services through CSCT programs. Just 10 school districts signed agreements to receive some reimbursement from the federal government for their CSCT programs days ahead of a deadline in February.

Because of the changes some districts opted to scale back their CSCT offerings or eliminate their programs entirely and instead transferred students to outpatient therapy.
Winter weather is creeping its way into western Montana, with forecasts predicting Missoula to see lower temperatures than West Yellowstone next week.

Wednesday brought colder conditions along with some snow to higher elevations from the south end of Flathead Lake up through Kalispell. Snow dusted the mountains surrounding Missoula valley.

National Weather Service meteorologist Jenn Kitsmiller said a push of colder air from Canada ushered in the lower temperatures to western Montana. Northwest portions of the state were seeing the coldest temperatures, especially in the Mission and Flathead valleys.

Missoula is on the line, Kitsmiller said. The valley saw some light rain early Wednesday morning. Most of the snow impact is sitting at higher elevations around 5,000 feet.

Polson and Lake County were hit especially hard with slippery conditions Wednesday morning.

Light snow and slush came down on Highway 93 and Highway 35 in Lake County. Sheriff Don Bell described conditions as "pretty tough" early Wednesday morning, and said there were multiple slide-offs and rollover crashes.

At about 11:15 a.m., Bell said emergency teams were working on two rollover passenger cars on Highway 35, just north of Bear Dance. Trucks were stuck on Jette Hill and Blue Bay Hill. Conditions improved later in the morning, but the area was still getting light snow into the afternoon.

Lolo Pass got a few inches on Wednesday, and chains were required near Lolo Hot Springs, Kitsmiller said. The Bitterroot Valley remained relatively warm.

Wednesdays snow was high in water content and heavy, making trees more prone to falling, Kitsmiller explained. Pockets of northwest Montana reported power outages from downed foliage that snapped under the weight of the snow.

Thats been where a lot of our issues (were) today, Kitsmiller said of the heavy snow.

Forecasts for the weekend and into next week predict below-freezing temperatures. A map from NWS Missoula estimates a low of 9 degrees Fahrenheit next Tuesday in Missoula, Polson and Hamilton, while West Yellowstone sits at a predicted 12 degrees.

Temperatures in West Glacier and Browning are forecast between -1 degree and -4 degrees Fahrenheit.

Were confident that its going to be much colder early next week, Kitsmiller said.

Highs in Missoula are expected to linger in the 20s, with snow in the Missoula valley more likely toward Sunday and into Monday, she explained. Kitsmiller stressed that western Montanans should prepare themselves for the winter conditions as they roll in in the coming days.

Its going to feel like a significant change, she said.
Israel's Netanyahu appears to hold lead in election

JERUSALEM (AP)  Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to hold a narrow lead in Israeli elections. That's according to exit polls. The vote could pave the way for him to return to power thanks to a boost from an extreme right-wing ally known for inflammatory anti-Arab comments. The exit polls were preliminary, and final results could change as votes are tallied overnight Wednesday. However, they pointed to a continued rightward shift in the Israeli electorate, further dimming hopes for peace with the Palestinians and setting the stage for possible conflict with the Biden administration and Israels supporters in the U.S. Tuesdays election was Israels fifth in less than four years.

S. Korea fires 3 test missiles in response to North launches

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  South Korea says it has conducted air-to-surface missile tests in response to North Korean missile tests. South Koreas military says its fighter jets fired three precision-guided missiles near the rivals eastern border on Wednesday. It says the launches were in reaction to a barrage of North Korean missiles tests earlier Wednesday. South Korea says one of the North Korean missiles landed near the sea border.

Brazil's Bolsonaro declines to concede, but OKs transition

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP)  Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has not conceded the election he lost to leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. But after he delivered quick remarks at the presidential residence Tuesday, his chief of staff announced that Bolsonaro had authorized him to begin the transition process. Bolsonaro's less than two-minute speech marked his first public comments since official results were announced two days ago. Although he didn't mention the results, he said he will continue to follow the rules of the nations constitution. He also thanked his supporters and encouraged their protests, as long as they remain peaceful.

Judge keeps armed groups away from Arizona ballot drop boxes

PHOENIX (AP)  A federal judge has ordered armed members of groups monitoring ballot drop boxes in Arizona to stay at least 250 feet away from the locations following complaints that people wearing masks and carrying guns were intimidating voters. In his order Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Michael Liburdi said those groups or anyone working are also barred from filming or following anyone within 75 feet of a ballot drop box or the entrance to a building that houses one. They also cannot speak to or yell at individuals within that perimeter unless spoken to first. The order will be in effect for two weeks.

Officials: Suspect in Pelosi attack was on 'suicide mission'

SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  The man accused of breaking into House Speaker Nancy Pelosis home, beating her husband and seeking to kidnap her told police he was on a suicide mission and had plans to target other California and federal politicians. David DePape was ordered held without bail at arraignment Tuesday in San Francisco Superior Court. His public defender entered a not guilty plea for him. A court filing says DePape allegedly had other targets, including a local professor and several prominent state and federal politicians. The filing also says Paul Pelosi was knocked unconscious by the hammer attack and awoke in a pool of his own blood. DePape's public defender promised a vigorous legal defense.

3 tragedies in Asia take hundreds of lives in 1 month

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  More than 400 people died in October in a series of crowd-related disasters in Asia. A bridge packed with revelers collapsed in India. Halloween partiers were crushed in South Koreas capital. And spectators fled a stadium in Indonesia after police fired tear gas. The dynamics in the three situations were distinct. Experts say poor planning and crowd management contributed to the disasters in Indonesia and South Korea. In India, authorities are investigating whether the recently repaired bridge was properly inspected.

Denmark PM to try to form new government after election win

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP)  Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is in a strong position to remain in power after her Social Democrats won the most votes in Denmarks election and a center-left bloc in Parliament that backs her appears set to retain a majority by just one seat. The result was preliminary and based on the assumption that a vote count in Greenland expected early Wednesday would give the autonomous Danish territorys two seats to the center-left bloc. Despite the success, Frederiksen, who heads a Social Democratic minority government, said she would resign as prime minister and try to form a new government with broader support across the political divide.

Climate Migration: Nomads move to towns in warming Ladakh

KHARNAK, India (AP)  For decades, Konchok Dorjey grazed goats in the arid, treeless Kharnak village in Indias Ladakh region, a high mountainous cold-desert that borders China and Pakistan. But the 45-year-old nomad was forced to give up his pastoral life and move to a town. As this part of Asia is particularly vulnerable to climate change, shifting weather patterns are altering peoples lives through floods, landslides and droughts in Ladakh, an inhospitable yet pristine landscape of high mountain passes and vast river valleys that in the past was an important part of the famed Silk Road trade route.

Harper, Phillies tie World Series mark with 5 HR, top Astros

PHILADELPHIA (AP)  Bryce Harper and Alec Bohm helped the Philadelphia Phillies hit a World Series record-tying five home runs in a 7-0 win over the Houston Astros in Game 3 of the World Series. The Phillies lead the series 2-1. Brandon Marsh, Kyle Schwarber and Rhys Hoskins also homered for the Phillies. Ranger Suarez tossed three-hit ball over five shutout innings for the Phillies. Houston starter Lance McCullers Jr. allowed all five home runs. He's the first pitcher ever to allow five homers in a World Series game.

Takeoff, dead at 28 in shooting, was 'chill' Migos member

At just 28, rapper Takeoff had cultivated a rich hip-hop legacy with Migos along with a reputation as the trios most lowkey member before he was killed in a shooting. Houston police said Takeoff was pronounced dead outside a Houston bowling alley early Tuesday. No arrests had been made. Born Kirsnick Khari Ball, Takeoff grew up alongside the two other members of Migos in suburban Atlanta. Quavo was his uncle and Offset was his cousin. While Takeoff was more reserved, more reserved, he did a lot of his talking through his rhymes and recently said he wanted his flowers before he died.
CUMMING, Ga. (AP)  Former Vice President Mike Pence took the stage Tuesday in Georgia to reinforce the main thrusts of Gov. Brian Kemp's case for reelection against Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams, arguing that Kemp has been good for Georgia's economy and Abrams is soft on crime.

No one in Georgias history has done more to create jobs, cut taxes, restore sanity to your schools, put criminals behind bars, protect the unborn and secure all the God-given liberties enshrined in the Constitution of the United States than Gov. Brian Kemp," Pence told about 150 people in Cumming, part of a belt of Republican-dominated Atlanta exurbs key to Kemp's reelection.

Abrams, who lost narrowly to Kemp four years ago, used Pence's Georgia swing to amplify her long-running critique of Kemps refusal to expand the Medicaid health insurance program. She stood outside a major Atlanta hospital that closed its doors permanently at midnight Monday and noted that Pence, as governor of Indiana, embraced Medicaid expansion even though it was part of Democrats 2010 health insurance overhaul.

Pences visit, along with subsequent appearances this week by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, will spotlight Kemp's campaign in the closing days of advance voting and ahead of what the GOP hopes is a surge of Election Day ballots.

But the former vice presidents appearance also spotlights Georgia Republicans tightrope in assembling a winning coalition of voters still loyal to former President Donald Trump and Republican traditionalists while luring moderates back to the GOP.

Both Kemp and Pence ran afoul of Trump after the 2020 presidential election when they refused to help the defeated president block certification of Democrat Joe Bidens win. Trumps midterm campaign circuit has excluded Georgia, where his presence in 2020 and ahead of two January 2021 Senate runoffs was ultimately viewed as harmful to Republicans.

Kemp gave a four-minute speech slimmed down to his essential message  that Georgia's economy thrived after he decided to lift pandemic restrictions, while Abrams is disqualified because she's insufficiently supportive of police.

Weve been doing good in this day because we have been saying no to Stacey Abrams, Kemp said, speaking in the parking lot of a cigar bar in heavily Republican Forsyth County.

We were listening to you, and because weve done that, weve got an incredible economy," Kemp said. "We've got the most people ever working in the history of the state, the lowest unemployment rate in the history of the state.

Pence jabbed that Stacey Abrams may be the weakest candidate on crime in the history of Georgia," after Abrams in a Sunday debate dismissed Kemp's endorsement by more than 100 sheriffs. She said she was not a part of a good ol' boys club and said I dont have 107 sheriffs who want to be able to take Black people off the street, who want to be able to go without accountability," before backtracking and saying I dont believe every sheriff wants that.

Pence, in a common Republican move this year, linked Abrams with an unpopular Biden.

If she found her way back in the statehouse as governor, shell fall right in line with the failed Biden-Harris agenda," Pence said.

In Atlanta, Abrams stood in front the Atlanta Medical Center just east of downtown as a crane lowered a sign from the massive facility that shut its doors permanently overnight, leaving metro Atlanta with just one top level trauma center.

We have lost more hospitals under this one governor than most states have lost in the last decades, Abrams said, blaming Kemp for leaving billions in federal money untapped because hes declined to expand Medicaid.

Brian Kemp is aggressively undermining, dismantling and harming the provision of health care in the state of Georgia, Abrams said.

Georgia remains one of 12 states, nearly all Republican-dominated, that haven't expanded Medicaid. Abrams emphasized that Pence and Christie both expanded Medicaid as governors and that Ducey campaigned on a promise to repeal Arizonas expansion only to relent once he took office and saw that it was working.

Kemp, she said, is so unconcerned with the health and welfare of the people of Georgia that he would rather stand by a confounding ideology that is not shared by fellow Republicans.

Abrams made Medicaid expansion a centerpiece of her 2018 bid against Kemp and has renewed her push, launching her 2022 campaign in a southwest Georgia town where a hospital closed in 2021. Medicaid is a joint state-federal program used to provide insurance to low-income Americans and subsidies to hospitals that treat them.

We are losing money because hes literally sending it to New Jersey, to New York, to California, the states that he seems to revile, Abrams said. Its as though a Brink's truck backed up to the state of Georgia with $12 billion in it, and Brian Kemp said give it to other people.

Tuesday's show of GOP strength noticeably did not include Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker, who has been dogged by multiple allegations that he paid for and pressured two women to have abortions, in opposition to the anti-abortion views hes expressed as a candidate. Kemp has for weeks sidestepped questions about Walker, saying only that hes trying to lead the whole ticket to victory. Walker campaigned on his own Tuesday.

A Walker aide said Tuesday that he was not aware whether there had been contact between the campaign and Pence's team, but he added that Walkers closing bus tour had been planned for weeks. When Pence came to Georgia in late 2020, he campaign jointly with then-Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, who both lost runoffs.

Barrow reported from Atlanta

Follow Jeff Amy at http://twitter.com/jeffamy.

Learn more about the issues and factors at play in the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections. And follow the APs election coverage of the 2022 elections at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections.
With a week left until Election Day, 28% of registered voters in Montana have already cast mail-in ballots, representing less than half of the ballots that were sent to voters last month.

Turnout this year is widely expected to be lower than recent federal elections. For the first midterm election since 2010, Montana voters won't see a U.S. Senate candidate on the ballot.

Statewide turnout in the 2020 general election was 81% of registered voters, the highest figure since 1972, according to records maintained by the Montana Secretary of State. In 2018 that figure was nearly 72%, but that election also featured a U.S. Senate campaign that was the most expensive in the states history.

Still, turnout this year could see a boost from the increased attention on abortion rights since the Dobbs decision earlier this year and a sustained bump in partisan polarization, said Carroll College political science professor Jeremy Johnson.

I believe well have an even higher turnout than in 14 because politics has generated more excitement in some ways, Johnson said.

At the top of the ballot this year are races for Congress  Montanans will be choosing two members of the U.S. House for the first time since 1990  and a state Supreme Court race that has already toppled records for political spending.

Despite an unusual amount of attention on the judicial race, Johnson said hes not sure it will generate higher turnout on its own. But turnout could be affected substantially by which side of a congressional district line a county lies in. While favoring the GOP candidate, the western district race has been far more competitive and expensive than the solidly Republican eastern district, which has generated very little spending by comparison.

Generally, the more money is spent, the higher the turnout, Johnson said.  Were not seeing that in the eastern congressional district.

This election cycle marks the first time that Gallatin County has overtaken Missoula County to have the second-most registered voters in the state, after Yellowstone County.

Yet Gallatin County lags well behind Missoula in the number of absentee ballots returned, according to data updated Tuesday by the Secretary of States office. Just 33% of ballots had been received by the elections office in Bozeman, compared to a statewide average of 42%.

A slowdown in mail deliveries by the U.S. Postal Service in the Bozeman area may be to blame, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle previously reported. The sporadic delivery has been due in part to staffing issues.

Gallatin County Clerk and Recorder Eric Semerad said Tuesday that he had confirmed with USPS that 25 temporary postal workers have been transferred in from out-of-state to help with the backlog.

Im feeling the same pain that they are, as is every business in Bozeman, Semerad said. Its a tough hiring environment.

He said he wasnt sure whether the USPS issues were responsible for the countys lagging turnout figures, but encouraged anyone who hasnt yet mailed their ballot to turn it in in person at their local elections office.

We always get ballots delivered to us after Election Day and we cannot count them, he said. Theyre rejected because theyre too late to count. I would say, do not put a ballot in the mail, for anybody anywhere in this state. That time has passed.
Barstow police said they seized 110 pounds of cocaine from a semi-truck driven by two Canada residents in a traffic stop shortly before midnight on Oct. 21, 2022.

Federal and local authorities arrested four people and seized over 140 pounds of hard drugs from their vehicles in two separate busts in Barstow this month.

U.S. Border Patrol agents in Barstow seized about 35 pounds of fentanyl and arrested two men identified only as a 23-year-old U.S. citizen and a 31-year-old Guatemalan citizen shortly after midnight Oct. 17 at a gas station near the Interstate 15 off-ramp by Barstow Road, the Department of Homeland Security branch said in a press release.

A few days later, the Barstow Police Department arrested two residents of Ontario, Canada, 52-year-old Sasa Mihajlovic and 26-year-old Sean Sawram, after seizing about 110 pounds of cocaine from a semi-truck they drove, BPD said in a Facebook post.

The seizures provide recent examples of what Barstow residents worry is a worsening problem of drugs being trafficked through and sold in the rural High Desert city, where multiple highways intersect.

Related: San Bernardino County health officials address surge of fentanyl deaths, overdoses

It's unclear what led Border Patrol agents from the Murrieta Station in southern Riverside County to Barstow the night of Oct. 17, but the agency said that officers encountered the two unnamed men in a silver sedan.

"After a brief conversation with the individuals, agents discovered multiple bundles concealed inside the vehicles trunk," the release said. The packages later tested positive for fentanyl at a total weight of about 35 pounds, which the agency says carries a street value of $553,000.

The fentanyl, along with the Guatemalan and U.S. citizens hauling it, were turned over by the agents to Homeland Security investigators, while their vehicle was seized by the Border Patrol, according to the release.

Chief Patrol Agent Aaron Heitke said in the release that San Diego Sector agents of the Border Patrol are responsible for more than half of all fentanyl seized by the agency this year. San Diego agents have seized more than 1,000 pounds of fentanyl since Oct. 1, 2021, according to the release, which says that's a rise of about 200% from the same period a year prior.

Story continues

More: Rainbow fentanyl passed out on Halloween? Why experts say that's 'absolutely ludicrous.'

Four days after that incident, on Oct. 21, Barstow Police officer Irwin Islas pulled over a semi-truck in the area of I-15 and Lenwood Road "for a vehicle code violation," BPD said in a Facebook post.

"While Officer Islas was conducting the traffic stop," the agency said, "Officer Austin Jaramillo arrived and deployed his K9 partner Bailey, to search for the presence of illegal narcotics."

After an alert from the drug-sniffing dog, the officers "located 50 individually packaged kilograms (approximately 110 pounds) of cocaine" in the trailer being hauled by the semi-truck. The officers arrested and booked both Canadian residents driving the truck. BPD didn't provide an estimated black-market value for the seizure, but comparable estimates from past seizures pin a load of this size anywhere from $2 million to $10 million.

Mihajlovic remained in custody at High Desert Detention Center as of Sunday in lieu of $5 million bail on a felony charge of transportation of a controlled substance, according to county booking information. No booking information was available for Sawram.

More news: Off-duty Colton Police officer from Apple Valley dead after accidental shooting in the High Desert

Charlie McGee covers Californias High Desert for the Daily Press, focusing on the city of Barstow and its surrounding communities. He is also a Report for America corps member with The GroundTruth Project, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization dedicated to supporting the next generation of journalists in the U.S. and around the world. McGee may be reached at 760-955-5341 or cmcgee@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @bycharliemcgee.

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: 4 arrested, over 140 pounds of drugs seized in Barstow busts
Mooresville Area Christian Mission (The Mission) will hold its 12th annual Turkey Trot 5K and Kids Fun Run on Thanksgiving morning, Nov. 24, at 8 a.m., located at 266 N. Broad St.

All ages are welcome to participate and are encouraged to dress in their favorite Thanksgiving or Christmas attire.

The great thing about the Turkey Trot is that we see all ages and ability levels, said Scotty Moore, assistant director. Its a fun community event and a great way to support our neighbors in need on a day dedicated to giving thanks.

Net proceeds will help the Christian Mission reduce poverty in the community by providing crisis assistance, case management and educational programming for our most vulnerable neighbors.

We are here to offer hope and provide comprehensive programming to bring families to self-sufficiency, said Amy LaCount, executive director.

According to LaCount, there were 1,200 participants last year, and $60,000 was raised between sponsors, registrations and team fundraising efforts. The mission hopes to raise even more this year to support the 30% increase in services they have provided over the last six months.

Families struggle to make ends meet with significant cost of living increases like rent, gas and food. The support of our generous sponsors and community allows us to prevent homelessness and break the cycle of poverty, LaCount said.

Community members can get involved in the 12th annual Turkey Trot in many ways including volunteering and fundraising. Volunteers are needed to help direct runners and hand out water.

Mooresville Ford has been a proud sponsor of the Mooresville Area Christian Mission and their Turkey Trot 5K since day one. Delivering HOPE to those in need in our community is one of the many things our Mission does. Mooresville Ford is honored to play a small role in this initiative. The Turkey Trot is a great way to start your Thanksgiving Day. Come out and have some fun, said Jeff Shoe, Mooresville Ford, Dealer Principal.

Register before Nov. 10 to receive a free long-sleeve T-shirt designed by Freeman Screen Printers with the 2022 Turkey Trot logo. Visit ourchristianmission.org/turkeytrot to register for the race or volunteer.
When the autumn leaves and breeze roll in and everyone gets in the mood for everything pumpkin, who doesnt want to visit a pumpkin patch? Those gleaming big and small balls of orange seem to call out to us to take them home and celebrate this beautiful time of the year.

It was no different for a teenager named Tyler who wanted to take his little cousin Olivia to see the pumpkins. But Tylers health made it difficult to fulfill his wish. Thats when Carolina Carings Cardinal Kids and volunteer staff jumped into action and made his dream come true. They brought the pumpkin patch to him!

Tylers mom Brenda and sister Dani, along with out-of-state relatives attended, and the whole family was able to make beautiful memories of fall fun, including painting pumpkins provided by Joshs Farmers Market in Mooresville. No party is complete without some delicious treats, so a special thank you goes out to volunteer Carolyn Festa for some beautifully decorated, homemade cookies for the special occasion.

The Cardinal Kids Program is unique in that it is one of the few programs in North Carolina that focuses on the care of children. Its specialized health care teams include doctors, nurses, social workers and chaplains who conduct regular visits, mostly in the home, for children of all ages whether their disease is curable, chronic or life-threatening.

Carolina Caring serves 12 counties across western North Carolina and the Charlotte region including Iredell. For more information about Carolina Caring, call 828-466-0466 or visit www.CarolinaCaring.org.
Voters from Dillon to Plentywood next week will have a hand in further shaping the cannabis landscape in Montana through localized ballot measures.

Eleven of the 16 ballot measures across the state deal with implementing a 3% local option sales tax that's proved highly popular in previous elections. During the June primary, 13 counties, mostly rural, approved the local option taxes by a 3-to-1 margin.

The state already collects a 20% tax on recreational cannabis sales and a 4% tax on medical marijuana sales. Through the end of September, Montana has seen nearly $228 million in recreational and medical sales, and reaped over $33.5 million in tax revenue. Recreational sales, so far at $152.5 million, have eclipsed the state's own projections for the entire 2022 calendar year, which had been forecasted at $130 million.

Five other measures ask voters whether to allow recreational sales in their local jurisdictions or ban them outright. Currently 28 counties and the city of Billings prohibit recreational cannabis sales.

For the second time this year, Granite County voters will decide whether to allow recreational cannabis sales. The county first approved legalization in 2020, but a push in this year's June primary to ban recreational sales won out with 53% of votes. It was the first county to reverse from green to red.

That repeal effort got a boost from Steve Zabawa, a perennial marijuana opponent from Billings who heads up the group SafeMontana. The group's satellite organization in Philipsburg spent some $2,200 in advertising urging voters to repeal recreational sales ahead of the June election, but has reported no activity since the citizen effort to flip the county "green" again got started.

Kendrick Richmond, manager at Top Shelf Botanicals in Philipsburg, went to the county courthouse three days after the election to get the re-do campaign underway. He gathered 394 signatures, about 20 more than needed to reach the November ballot, and has since been trying to coax voters back to their 2020 stance, when Granite County passed legalization by a 10-point margin. He also mustered up enough signatures to put a 3% tax on recreational and medical sales on the ballot.

"We're providing safe products, and I think that's what's lost here is because everything we do goes through the state, background checks and everything," Richmond said in a phone interview this week. "The tax money is important because, and it's not a lot of money, but it'll certainly help and you don't need to do a damn thing for it."

Four municipalities, Great Falls, Deer Lodge, Manhattan and West Yellowstone, will each vote to prohibit recreational marijuana sales in city limits. There are no marijuana businesses inside the city limits of Deer Lodge or Powell County. The Montana Standard reported in September that the Deer Lodge City Council, while not taking a position on matter, agreed in March to put banning recreational marijuana sales to a vote at the request of local marijuana opponents concerned about potential impacts on young people.

Great Falls had banned marijuana sales in city limits through a local zoning ordinance, but District Court Judge David Grubich struck down that ban last month. Owners of the Green Creek Dispensary challenged the ordinance in court, arguing state law required a public vote on whether to ban recreational cannabis sales in a green county; Cascade County approved legalization in the 2020 election.

Simultaneously, Cascade County will join eight others in potentially imposing a 3% local option tax on recreational and medical marijuana, each tax requiring its own vote. The other counties are Gallatin, Madison, Mineral, Sanders, Flathead, Hill, Valley and Sheridan. Of the local taxes, 50% is retained by the county, 45% is distributed to the municipalities and 5% goes to the state to defray the costs of administering the taxes.

Beaverhead County will vote to tax medical and recreational cannabis sales, although recreational sales are currently prohibited in the county. The Dillon Tribune reported on Oct. 19 that a citizen-led effort to put recreational sales on the ballot this November failed to gather the signatures to do so.

The county, population 9,300, has reported almost $600,000 in medical marijuana sales through the end of September. A 3% tax that state law requires to be primarily split between the county and its municipalities would net $18,000 over a nine month period.

Previously county officials have earmarked the potential tax revenue for a specific purpose ahead of the election. Beaverhead County Commissioner John Jackson said Tuesday commissioners have not tagged that potential funding for any department yet, but he would like to see it go toward public safety.

"In my opinion law enforcement is where it needs to go," Jackson said, adding that the sheriff's office isn't hurting for funding, but he is "anti-drug."

If each county approves those tax measures on Tuesday and Granite County allows recreational cannabis to return, all but three of the 28 green counties across Montana will have imposed a local option sales tax on marijuana sales.
Elouise Cobell Day will be celebrated on Nov. 5 in Montana, but many people in the West may not recognize her name.

They may not know the story of her almost 20-year struggle to win justice for Native Americans from the U.S. government, which for decades botched the management of natural resources owned by individual tribal members.

Yet 13 years ago, Blackfeet Tribal member and banker Elouise Cobell finally won a class-action lawsuit against the government, which settled the case by paying out $3.4 billion to Native American citizens and tribal nations.

The case was one of the largest class-action suits in U.S. history, and the presiding judge issued a blistering judgment against the Department of Interior. He called Interior a dinosaur agency that allowed outright villainy to persist.

And who was Elouise Cobell, the woman who brought the federal government to its knees? The great-granddaughter of Mountain Chief, a historic leader of the Blackfeet Nation, she was born on November 5, 1945. Her tribal name was Yellow Bird Woman. Seeing a need, she founded the Blackfeet National Bank, the first national bank owned by a tribe on a reservation, and made sure it offered education, ensuring that young people could become financially literate while also encouraging entrepreneurs.

Because she was a banker, she began looking into how the federal government kept failing its trust responsibilities, sending out checks only sporadically and without explanation. She asked basic questions of four different Interior Secretaries  Ken Salazar, Richard Kempthorne, Gale Norton and Bruce Babbitt. She wanted a clear accounting of how much money came into the Federal Government from tribal leases for mining, oil and gas, logging, minerals and grazing.

And what she particularly wanted to know was how royalties were determined for more than 300,000 tribal landowners.

Answers werent forthcoming. But she spotted a damning pattern: Native Americans had been systematically cheated for generations. What was worse, she said, was learning that they were still being cheated.

She could not even find any accounts existing before 1972, which led her to call the Interior Departments management a forensic mess. But early on, when she confronted Interior staffers, she said she was told to go away and learn how to read an account statement.

Cobell may not have seemed like a firebrand, but she was stubborn. Finally, she told law students at Tufts University in 2010, she became enraged.

People would come to the bank and tell me, I could do this or that if I could get my money. But years passed, and many people I fought for had passed away.

At the beginning of what became her long campaign, Cobell said that when she first approached the Federal Government, she assumed shed certainly get somebody to listen.

But writing letters got her nowhere. Traveling to Washington to meet with those in charge also failed, and one Interior Secretary, she said, refused to talk with her at all. After five tribes banded together in an effort to force Senate hearings, they, too, were stymied. Meanwhile, Indigenous people were still being cheated.

It was President Barack Obama and the Congress that finally settled her class action suit in 2009, awarding $1.4 billion to the landowners and $1.7 billion to tribal nations, which still uses some of that money to buy back land. The Cobell Scholarship Fund was also created to honor her work as lead plaintiff.

Cobell won many honors before her untimely death at age 65, in 2011, including the Congressional Medal of Honor and a MacArthur Foundation genius award. In the words of Michael Munson, dean of Native American Studies at Montanas Salish Kootenai College, she was a warrior woman for American Indian people.

Besides being a banker, Cobell was also a wife and mother who ran a ranch with her husband, and not least, she was a diehard Elvis fan. In her funeral procession, every car radio was tuned to a station playing Elvis Presley songs.

So, hats off to Elouise Cobell. May she continue to be celebrated as the Native American woman who made the federal government admit its wrongdoing, pay back a portion of what it owed, and finally correct an ongoing injustice.
By Alex Pologruto | Nov 2, 2022

Murray State Universitys Cyber Education and Research Center (Cyber Center) has partnered with the Public Infrastructure Security Cyber Education System (PISCES) Project to provide security monitoring to local government entities, making Murray State the first university in Kentucky to partner on the exciting project to support local partners.

MURRAY, Ky.  Murray State Universitys Cyber Education and Research Center (Cyber Center) has partnered with the Public Infrastructure Security Cyber Education System (PISCES) Project to provide security monitoring to local government entities, making Murray State the first university in Kentucky to partner on the exciting project to support local partners.

With support from the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security (KOHS) and the Kentucky Intelligence Fusion Center, the PISCES Project will enable Murray State cybersecurity students to obtain real-world experience while acting as entry-level cyber analysts for local government entities. Enabled by Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Pacific Northwest National Lab, PISCES is a non-profit, non-government entity whose mission is to bring a reliable high-quality pipeline of cyber professionals into the workforce.

We are very pleased to be partnering with the Commonwealth of Kentucky and Murray State University to bring the PISCES program to Kentucky, said Steve Stein, executive director of PISCES-International. The operational experience gained through the PISCES program will make cybersecurity students in Kentucky preferred candidates to enter the workforce."

Involvement from state organizations, such as KOHS and KIFC, allows for expanded opportunities in Kentucky. The project is free for any local government involved. For local government entities that cannot afford regular security monitoring, PISCES will network monitoring from students helping to safeguard their networks. It is also straightforward for local governments to get involved. Murray States partnership will allow students to analyze network traffic for malware and cyber threats without reading the information in the network traffic itself.

This is a perfect opportunity for both Murray State University students and our local governments, said Dr. Michael Ramage, the director of Murray State Universitys Cyber Education and Research Center and the Universitys liaison for the PISCES project. The massive workforce shortage and the cybersecurity challenge confronted by governments can be overwhelming. Organizations like PISCES are addressing both, and I could not be prouder to have them choose Murray State as a partner in this effort.

This partnership combines the Murray States Program of Distinction in Cybersecurity and its responsibility to support the state and region with the opportunity to provide real-world experience for our students who will be on the front line of identifying cybersecurity threats while simultaneously helping local cities and counties with professionally trained and educated individuals who are eager to participate and grow together. The synergy this partnership creates will empower Murray State students to face real-world challenges within the safety net of being guided by PISCES, Murray State and local partners. This partnership could not come at a more ideal time, with the cybersecurity shortage reaching over a three million job shortfall.

The Cyber Center and the Cybersecurity and Network Management program are part of the award-winning Program of Distinction at Murray State University. The program provides degree tracks in cybersecurity and digital forensics, wireless communications, and cloud and systems administration. Cybersecurity and Network Management focuses on cybersecurity and network infrastructure in the rapidly growing technology industry. It is an interdisciplinary program that provides students with a solid foundation in cybersecurity technologies and applying those technologies in a business environment.

For more information please visit the Cyber Center website at murraystate.edu/cyber.
Chinese regulators have downplayed risks from the country's real estate slump and slowing growth at a financial conference in Hong Kong. The gathering of 200 global banking executives carried on despite tropical storm warnings that led authorities to close schools. A top Chinese securities regulator, Fang Xinghai, urged the financiers not to bet against" China. The central bank governor said China still has much room for growth, its job market is stable and its economy remains open to trade. The citys top leader appealed to those attending the event, the first major international conference since Hong Kong relaxed strict COVID-19 precautions, to view the city as a unique link to the rest of China.
WEST LIBERTY  With winter heating bills just around the corner, the West liberty City Council Tuesday night voted to give several residents a break using federal COVID-19 relief funds.

During its regular meeting, the council voted 5-0 to invest $150,000 of the citys American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds into community needs. The appropriation includes $120,000 that will be used to provide utility relief of $400 for 300 households. The utility relief plan was proposed last week by the West Liberty Economic Development Association as an alternative plan to creating an Excluded Worker Fund. According to Escucha Mi Voz, a group of workers who did not receive federal stimulus checks, the city staff and attorneys had resisted a council effort to form an Excluded Worker Fund.

This has been a topic of discussion, obviously, for a very long time, Mayor Ethan Anderson said. He commented that before the council voted on the resolution, the city needed to make sure it was ready to go, as there have been issues in the past where the city had promised something and not carried through.

The checks will make up about 30% of the $522,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds the city received. Half the funds had been requested. Finance committee chair Dana Dominguez explained the resolution to the council, saying it was a good start to getting relief to residents through the ministerial association. She said the difference between the resolution and a direct assistance program is the city provides the money to the ministerial association rather than distributing it. She said $20,000 would also be provided to the West Liberty Food Pantry and $10,000 to schools for student assistance.

On June 21 the West Liberty City Council unanimously approved granting $147,000 of American Rescue Plan funds to local workers who did not receive stimulus checks, but in September recipients of the funds were not seeing the plan moving forward. During the Sept. 20 meeting then-Mayor Katherine McCullough explained the city would not be able to provide funding in that manner because of city staffing and the complexity of mirroring the Johnson County plan. McCullough commented if it was as simple as writing a check, the program would already have been completed.

For months, members of Escucha Mi Voz have been asking city and county governments to invest part or all of the money they received from the federal government from ARPA to aid excluded and essential workers  immigrant workers who did not get stimulus who have faced health and economic impacts from the COVID-19 health crisis. During the meeting, there was not enough room for all the members who attended and many had to stand in the hallway.

This is happening because we fought and won relief, Edgar Velasquez, a grocery store worker and West Liberty homeowner, said. But it doesnt matter what the city promises, only what they do. Together we will make sure this money gets into the hands of the people.
A Davenport man must serve more than 21 years in federal prison as the result of a child pornography investigation.

George Winston Taylor, 65, received a 260-month sentence for receiving child pornography and must also pay $48,000 in restitution, according to a news release issued Tuesday by the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of Iowa. Upon completion of his prison term, he must also serve five years of supervised release.

Authorities started investigating Taylor after getting a tip on social media that someone had uploaded an image of child pornography, according to the news release.

During the investigation, law enforcement officials seized a number of electronic devices while searching Taylors home, they said, and further examination of those devices found about 3,000 images and 400 videos of child pornography.

A federal grand jury indicted Taylor in August 2021 on one count of receiving child pornography and another count accusing him of possessing it, according to federal court records.

Underlying the charges were allegations that between Feb. 24, 2020, and Jan. 15, 2021, Taylor collected or attempted to collect illegal images of minors and possessed such images on Feb. 11, 2021, according to the indictment.

He pleaded guilty on Feb. 17 after entering an agreement with federal prosecutors, court records state. As part of that agreement, the U.S. Attorneys Office dropped the possession charge.

Taylor has a previous possession of child pornography conviction, according to the news release. That conviction was in 1998 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois.

Chief Judge Stephanie M. Rose sentenced Taylor on Oct. 26, court records state.

The investigation was part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative of the U.S. Department of Justice that began in 2006, according to the news release, which states that anyone who suspects someone of sexually abusing a child can contact the Iowa Sexual Abuse Hotline at 800-284-7821.

Online tips also may be sent anonymously to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. A link to that website is available with the online version of this article.
Republican candidate for governor Bob Stefanowski is blaming a new police reform law signed by Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont for encouraging lawlessness Connecticut during the final debate of the race. It's an issue that has become more sensitive since the deadly ambush of two Connecticut police officers. The claim sparked sharp rebuke from Lamont during Tuesday's debate. He accused his opponent of politicizing the tragedy, calling it the cheapest grandstanding imagined. The issue of crime has become more heated in the race since the Bristol shootings. Two years ago, Lamont signed into law a wide-ranging bill that made numerous changes to policing in Connecticut.
Its a thrill to be back after a few weeks off  and who could possibly be in a bad mood on such a gorgeous rainy Tuesday?

***

St. Helenas Tor Kenward will talk about his recent book Reflections of a Vintner: Stories and Seasonal Wisdom from a Lifetime in the Napa Valley at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3, at the St. Helena Public Library. Kenward had a front-row seat to the rise of the Napa Valley wine industry on the world stage, and he tells the story with insight and wit. The program is co-hosted by the Napa Valley Wine Library and the St. Helena Public Library. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing. Reserve a seat at napawinelibrary.com.

***

Photos by Jeff Bridges, one of the most talented and likable actors in Hollywood, are on display at the Napa Valley Museum. The show is billed as a fascinating, surprisingly candid body of photographic work offering a vision of Hollywood that is both intimately human and formally beautiful. And dont miss the companion exhibit of photos by Jeffs wife, Susan Bridges, who captured behind-the-scenes shots during the infamously troubled production of Heavens Gate (a fascinating but difficult-to-watch movie, in my opinion). The museum is next to the Veterans Home in Yountville. While youre there, please give my best to the museums executive director, the delightful Laura Rafaty of St. Helena.

***

The Cameo Cinema will host special screenings of Dear Zoe, a coming-of-age drama produced by Brenda and Marc Lhormer, at 5 and 7:45 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 9. The Lhormers, whom you might recall as the founders of the Napa Valley Film Festival, will be on hand to answer questions. Tickets at cameocinema.com.

***

Jay Greene will take on the Mayflower in the latest entry of his historical lecture series at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8, at the library. As usual with Jay, no matter how much you know about the subject, youre guaranteed to learn something new.

***

The library will also host a Q&A author talk with Marina Adair, whose contemporary romances have sold over a million copies, at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10. Her St. Helena Vineyard series were adapted into Hallmark Channel movies like Autumn in the Vineyard, Summer in the Vineyard and Valentine in the Vineyard.

***

UpValley Family Centers is seeking tutors to help students in grades TK-8 for at least one hour a week. Knowledge of Spanish is not required, but it is a big plus. Go to upvalleyfamilycenters.org/volunteer and fill out a short form.

***

The long-awaited Monopoly Napa Valley Edition is out, and  well, Ill let you judge for yourself. St. Helena is States Avenue, The Model Bakery is St. James Place, Hall Wines is Indiana Avenue, and Beringer Vineyards is Ventnor Avenue. Plus, you place your Community Chest cards over a lovely shot of the Beringer Rhine House. It retails for $45 (!). Worth considering for Christmas shopping.
It's a St. Helena Star reader's worst nightmare. You unfold your paper and turn to page A2, the usual home of the St. Helena police log, only to find  dun dun dunnnn!  its vanished.

And then you notice its just on A3. Whew!

The police log migrated a bit last week but it still ran in all its glory  not truncated to free up space, as happened a few weeks ago when I was contending with a flood of election letters. For a lot of faithful Star readers, thats all that matters.

Heres how the police log comes to be: twice a day, at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., dispatchers email me the raw logs for the preceding 12-hour shift.

I dont copy those logs verbatim, or else your eyes would glaze over at dozens of entries like this: 07:06 Patrol Check or Information 2210280032 Officer initiated activity at Sylvaner Av, St Helena. Disposition: Checks Ok.

Thrilling, eh? I filter out those entries and rewrite the ones where something discernible happens, converting sentences from the passive to active voice, paraphrasing redundant information, and stripping out jargon like R/P (reporting party), R/O (registered owner), and 10-21 (phone call).

I also redact the names of those arrested  for example Ill refer to a 39-year-old St. Helena man instead of Jesse Duarte.

Those names are public information, but the Star has a longstanding policy of not printing those names in the log. If the offense is serious enough, I or someone at the Napa Valley Register will interview an officer and write a news story describing what happened and naming the suspect.

The St. Helena police log is a Napa Valley institution and probably the most-read item in the paper. Heck, it even has its own podcast. (Shout-out to Tony and Hillary at Nine One Wine!)

A friend told me that appearing in the police log as a tween, after she and her friends had indulging in some innocuous shenanigans, had felt like a rite of passage. She wasnt named in the log, but she was proud to point to the entry and tell people, Look, that was me!

The appeal of the police log amuses me, but it also makes me uneasy. Sure, its fun to read about mischievous little doorbell-ditchers and wandering chickens and goats. But is there something less wholesome behind the police logs broad appeal?

A few weeks ago I had lunch with a canny newcomer to St. Helena who helped me pin down why I feel so ambivalent. He said the police log  especially its sillier entries  reinforces the comforting notion that St. Helena is Mayberry, a tranquil, semi-rural idyll that endures in an era of economic instability, political division and intractable social problems.

The problem with that mindset is that St. Helena is, in fact, not Mayberry. Its a small city with modern problems: crumbling infrastructure, a lack of reasonably priced housing, and the existential threat of wildfires, to name a few.

The staff at the UpValley Family Centers dont sit around twiddling their thumbs. They help families with financial struggles, domestic problems, mental health issues, and all sorts of challenges that were never featured on The Andy Griffith Show.

Our officers aren't Andy and Barney either, and to imagine they are does them a disservice. They're professionals who risk their lives every time they pull over a strange car and strike up a conversation with the driver, who for all they know might be an armed drug dealer or a fentanyl-addled felon who will stop at nothing to avoid another prison term.

The odd thing is, thats all evident from the police log. Its not a sanitized, aw-shucks portrait of life in a small town. It contains accounts of domestic violence, child custody disputes, scams targeting seniors, road rage, alcohol and drug abuse, and unspecified but troubling juvenile problems.

But thats not what people cherish about the log. They love the sheep that got loose in July and kept eluding capture all over town until a PG&E worker lassoed it. They love the vague and comical reports of a possible fight club and a suspicious shovel.

I love that stuff too, and Ill happily keep publishing the log as long as Im around, if for no other reason than that it gives readers joy  and educates us about what the police are up to.

Ill revel in the folksy bits, like when I had cartoonist Joan Martens depict some wayward cows in April.

But I wont let the lighter entries sentimentalize my image of St. Helena or soften my perception of the citys sharp edges.

St. Helenas not Mayberry, and pretending it is wont help us solve our all-too-real problems.
The persistence of speeding traffic in the city of Napas residential neighborhoods has caused a stir among Napans in recent years, resulting in calls for the city government to slow that traffic down.

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Now, the city is working on an update to its traffic calming program, last updated in 2005, that will lay the groundwork for engineered traffic solutions  such as speed bumps, flashing crosswalk beacons and neighborhood traffic circles  to be installed at the neighborhood level. Napa is also seeking community input to help develop a traffic calming toolkit, which will be used to target existing traffic safety issues in Napas neighborhoods.

To identify exactly how to approach Napas own traffic calming puzzle, the city is set to hold a series of five virtual community meetings in the coming weeks. There will also be two more sets of five meetings at an undetermined point early next year, while the documents are in the process of coming together. Each of the five meetings will focus on one of five split-up areas of Napa  meaning that, in total, three meetings will be dedicated to each area  though attendees may comment on any area of the citys transportation network at any of the meetings.

Those interested can attend the virtual meetings, on Zoom, via a link on the city's website.

The early workshops  scheduled between Nov. 16 and Dec. 1, with each forum running from 5:30 to 7 p.m.  will involve introductions of the citys project team; an introduction to the project itself, along with associated goals, objectives and a timeline; a segment in which team members listen to the community to document the communitys traffic safety concerns; and a review of existing collision trends in the area, as well as traffic calming measures and their effectiveness, according to the citys website.

Community members can also submit feedback about traffic via an online map tool available on the citys website.

Lorien Clark, transportation planner for the city, said in an email the format of the workshops will allow the community to share their thoughts both before the creation of the toolbox and as it moves through development over the coming months. She noted that, as part of the update, the city will also send out brochures to educate the public about specific traffic calming-related topics, the details of which will also be determined through the community inputs.

Understanding existing conditions and community concerns is vital to the success of the Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program (NTCP), Clark said in an email. The information gathered during the community workshops and through the online map tool will be used to draft a traffic calming toolbox that is tailored to meet the needs of the community.

Clark also noted that the scope of the program doesnt at this point include traffic calming project construction, though Napa is exploring additional funding sources for that purpose. She added in the email that relevant information gained from developing the citys first Local Roadway Safety Plan  which analyzes traffic safety issues within Napa using vehicle collision data and recommends solutions  will also be included in the Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program development.

Joyce Stavert, co-founder of Slow Down Napa, a community movement that started about two years ago because of concerns about speeding in residential neighborhoods, said in an email that the group is happy the long-planned meetings are finally happening.

"We are hopeful that if enough resident voices speak up as to how frustrated we are with speeding and unsafe driving, the city will take it seriously and develop a true traffic calming plan that addresses the needs of the city's growth over the past 20 years, Stavert wrote.

Maureen Trippe, another Slow Down Napa co-founder, noted that much has happened in the past year to help with slowing down traffic, including lower speed limits on 12 street segments and the citys Local Roadway Safety Plan. At the same time, she said, the currently planned result will essentially be another study, and shes hoping enough participation in the meetings will bring about actionable outcomes.
A man serving a life sentence for a violent sexual assault on a 13-year-old boy more than two decades ago has been denied parole, according to Napa County prosecutors.

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The state Board of Parole Hearings rejected 56-year-old Mark Daigres first parole bid in a virtual hearing last month, the office of District Attorney Allison Haley announced in a news release Monday. The decision requires Daigre, who is serving 115 years to life in state prison for a 1999 kidnapping and sex abuse case, to wait five years before seeking parole again.

At the Oct. 5 hearing, Deputy District Attorney Taryn Hunter argued against paroling Daigre because of the seriousness of the assault, the inmates lack of insight into his crimes, and the danger to the community if he were released, according to the statement.

California law allowed Daigre to apply for parole because he has served at least 20 years of his sentence and is older than 50.

Daigre was arrested after an incident on Dec. 30, 1999, when he saw a teen boy at a Napa bus stop and offered him a ride home, according to the District Attorneys Office. After bringing the boy to his own home, Daigre strangled him to the point of unconsciousness, bound and gagged him, and then violently assaulted him for several hours before letting him go, the agency said.

Daigre was convicted on 21 charges, including aggravated sexual assault, kidnapping and lewd acts on a child, in November 2000 in Napa County Superior Court.
Pacific Union College has launched a collaboration with St. Helena High School, giving students a chance to learn how technology is applied to the environmental challenges they face  including severe drought and wildfires  in their own communities and beyond.

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The 10-week class will meet in person on PUCs Angwin campus and enable students to earn college credit.

It is very cutting-edge and taps into multiple local interests, blending them together in a very modern way, said Benjamin Scinto, the St. Helena principal.

The new partnership with St. Helena High comes as PUC launches a first-of-its-kind conservation technology undergraduate program. Led by Scott Butterfield, the program prepares students for careers in environmental-based professions, including conservation technology.

Students completing the four-year degree program will receive a bachelor of science degree in conservation technology.

Butterfield serves as PUCs Clark Professor of Conservation Technology. A local ecologist, he is the lead scientist for The Nature Conservancys land program and strategic restoration strategy in the San Joaquin Valley. Butterfield has more than 20 years of experience in the conservation field, with more than 40 published peer-reviewed articles and reports.

The term conservation technology is relatively new, but the application of technology in environmental management is not, Butterfield said. Older technology such as GPS, GIS and wildlife cameras have been used in a range of scientific fields. Scientists also use more modern tools including remote sensing, drones, artificial intelligence, coding/programming, eDNA and mobile applications.

Butterfields course introduction usually begins with talking about some of the technology that students are already familiar with. But there is new technology constantly emerging.

Were in this wave people call the third industrial revolution and conservation technology is part of that, Butterfield said. Environmental stressors are so severe that now theres a field building up around it. Technology is currently being developed and applied specifically for environmental challenges. Its an exciting time!

Conservation technology students may go on to have careers in environmental science or biology, but they are not limited to these fields. These skills and the tools students learn about are broadly applicable across the work force, Butterfield said. They are going to touch down in many different jobs and fields of study in the future.

The partnership with St. Helena High is part of PUCs renewed commitment to outreach in local communities. Although St. Helena is only 10 miles from the college, many in the community know little about it.

Its a great way for PUC to give back to the community and also let them know whats being offered at the college, Butterfield said.

The St. Helena students themselves know firsthand how vital environmental issues are and the challenges not only facing Northern California but the world at large.

In the world right now, all we see in the news is big environmental crises happening, from sea level rise and increased fire threats to tsunamis, hurricanes and global warming, said Butterfield, a parent of St. Helena High students. COVID aside, weve had a lot of stressors here in our environment in the last two years. Weve been evacuated twice because of wildfires, which are being driven by forest management and climate change. Weve recently gone through extreme heat waves. Just a few weeks ago (in the first week of September) we had 110-degree heat, which is Palm Springs weather.

The nearly two dozen St. Helena High students will take the Introduction to Conservation Technology course, which will introduce them to technology in the conservation and science fields. PUC is providing transportation for students to attend class on campus.

If students know enough about environmental issues and how they can be confronted, they can sort through them and have a more educated understanding of news that affects them, Butterfield said.

One day, Butterfield hopes those who take the course and enroll in the undergraduate program will go on to fulfilling careers in the environmental sciences and perhaps, he said, even one day take his own job.

PUC offers a College Early program in which students can earn up to six credits at a reduced cost. Lindsay Morton, PUCs assistant academic dean, said college can be a costly endeavor and the transition from high school can be tough.

We want to make that transition easier by offering students in-person and online courses at a reduced rate, so they get ahead of the curve and have a taste of college before they arrive on campus, she said.

Although we love our college on the mountain, Morton said, we can see the need for support and resources in our academies and high schools.

Scinto said he is an advocate for dual enrollment and concurrent enrollment opportunities for students. St. Helena High offers 13 college-level courses.

The course Scott described is unlike anything we offer at SHHS, an aspect I felt capitalized on various student interests, Scinto said.

In a letter recently published in the St. Helena Star, Scinto thanked the St. Helena High School Parent Group and the St. Helena Public Schools Foundation for sponsoring students attending the conservation technology course taught by Butterfield.

PUC is a tremendous local resource, Scinto said. I look forward to future collaborations.
LOS ANGELES  Socorro Reyes could feel himself getting sleepy as his blood pressure dropped.

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He was at his usual Friday morning treatment at a DaVita dialysis center. Reyes had settled into his chair to tune into a religious station to listen to Mass. Before his appointment ended, the dialysis machine started beeping and a technician came over to shift his position and Reyes had to tell them what was happening. He often feels as if the nurses and technicians are not always paying attention.

If a doctor were there, he said, they would have immediately taken action.

Im really interested in a lot of changes in dialysis clinics, because the treatment at times doesnt feel adequate, he said. Doctors arent going to see patients. Some of the technicians only know how to connect us (to the machine). If someone gets sick, they dont know what to do.

For the third time, Californians will have a chance this month to vote on whether to make sweeping changes at dialysis clinics statewide that could affect as many as 80,000 patients. Proposition 29 would require a doctor, nurse practitioner or physician assistant to be present while patients are receiving care at any of the states 600 dialysis centers, and require clinics to disclose if a physician has ownership interests in the facility and to report patient infection data. The upcoming vote has dialysis patients on both sides of the question bracing for how their care might change.

Opponents, including the two largest dialysis providers in the country, say the new requirements would drive up costs and lead to some centers being closed.

Richard Aviles, a 41-year-old dialysis patient living in Long Beach, worries that if Prop. 29 passes his clinic may close, reduce hours or change staff members. Aviles, who goes for treatment three times a week for four-hour sessions at a DaVita dialysis center, said the process to find a new clinic is often stressful for any dialysis patient because open spots are not always easy to come by.

He said he feels safe going to dialysis. He said every dialysis patient is in a vulnerable state when receiving treatment, but he doesnt think having a doctor on hand will help.

It would take time for me to get to know them and for them to learn my history and my family and learn how I want my care to be directed, Aviles said. Now, objectively, sure, more medical professionals I guess couldnt hurt, but it just seems kind of wasteful, considering that whatever we have going is working for us.

Among the other patients he usually notices, many are elderly, have other ailments or sleep through their treatment because thats how they find some relief. Hes worried about what would happen to patients with more fragile health. Finding a new clinic would potentially mean going to dialysis treatment at different hours and even adjusting to how a new nurse or technician inserts and removes the inch-long needles.

Its not an easy thing to just change your sleep schedule around and get acclimated to the rules of the new clinic and to the rhythms of different personnel and just even the application of the needle that they use, Aviles said.

How and where to vote in Napa County this fall This guide from the Napa Valley Register will guide you to the nearest ballot drop sites and voting centers, and includes important dates leading to Election Day, information on registering to vote, and contact information for the Napa County Election Division.

Patients are recommended to receive dialysis treatment after being diagnosed with end-stage kidney failure, when they have lost 85% to 90% of their kidney function. Dialysis prevents waste, salt and extra water from building up in patients bodies; keeps potassium, sodium and bicarbonate and other chemicals at safe levels in their blood; and controls their blood pressure, according to the National Kidney Foundation.

In 2017, there were unsuccessful efforts in the California Legislature to mandate a staffing ratio in dialysis centers. After that idea was rejected, theres been a continued push to have Californians vote on iterations of how the dialysis patient population is cared for. That includes the failed Proposition 8 in in 2018, which would have capped revenues at dialysis centers, and Proposition 23 in 2020, which would have required dialysis clinics to have at least one doctor on site while patients are receiving treatment.

With Prop. 29, the unusually population-specific ballot measure has once again pitted the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers labor group, which supports the measure, against major dialysis providers like Fresenius Medical Care and DaVita in another multimillion-dollar showdown as voters prepare to vote in the Nov. 8 election.

Voters are often skeptical about ballot initiatives that they have no expertise in, says Mark Peterson, interim chair of the Department of Public Policy at UCLAs Luskin School of Public Affairs. With Prop. 29, Peterson said, voters are being asked to get into high levels of technical detail about the levels of medical care dialysis patients need. He said the special-interest dispute between SEIU-UHW and the dialysis centers is likely why voters have rejected previous efforts.

When there is a special interest from one side or the other thats really pushing a particular ballot initiative, voters add on to their underlying suspicion this general skepticism of why is the ballot initiative process being used by a special interest? Peterson said.

Proponents of Prop. 29 have said the new rules are designed to keep dialysis patients safe and to hold dialysis providers accountable. They point out that multiple states, including Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas and Utah, have staff-to-patient ratio requirements at dialysis clinics.

David Miller, research director for SEIU-UHW, said the group denies accusations about using the proposition system to unionize dialysis center workers. He said the proposition is not designed to dictate what doctors may do on site or how they would oversee care.

He said dialysis patients have expressed concern that the centers lack adequate staff if something goes wrong with a patient. He pointed out that earlier this year SEIU-UHW filed an administrative complaint alongside other groups and patients with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services about the disparate impact of dialysis on Latino and Asian patients.

Miller said that Prop. 29 is a strong ballot measure and that asking voters to weigh in on whether more staff should be required at dialysis clinics is not as complicated of a question as opponents say it is.

I feel like they keep trying to turn it and make the conversation about us, (when) their motivations are to take money from employers and from patients and people who are insured in California and do stock buybacks and dividends and take all that money that should be spent for quality of care, and give it to extremely rich people, Miller said.

Typically, nurses and technicians at dialysis centers already have contact information for each patients doctors, said Dr. Nadreen Tareen, an associate professor with Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science.

The dialysis technicians are responsible for hooking patients up to the machines, and nurses provide care too. Tareen said the doctors of dialysis patients are typically on call for the three- or four-hour windows during which patients receive treatment in case something goes wrong. Federal regulations require physicians to see their dialysis patients at least once a month, but Tareen said patients typically see their doctors more often than that.

You dont have to be there to tell them what to do, Tareen said. You can even tell them, This is what you need to do, and if any patient crashes, then you just call 911 like anywhere else.

The No on Prop 29 campaign has a long list of medical industry associations opposing the ballot measure, including the California Medical Association, the American Nurses Association's California chapter, the American Academy of Nephrology Physician Assistants, which represents dialysis technicians, and multiple dialysis patient advocacy groups. Opponents say paying for increased staff could lead to clinic closures.

Jeff Goffman, chief executive of Satellite Healthcare, said he worries about how the companys clinics will survive Prop. 29 if they have to pay for more staff to be there. The majority of the nonprofit providers dialysis clinics are in California, where more than 6,800 patients are served across 77 facilities. Most of Satellite Healthcares patients have their dialysis treatment paid for through Medicare, Medicare Advantage or Medi-Cal.

Goffman said a potential increase of hundreds of thousands of dollars in staffing is risky for a nonprofit like his, where much of the revenue is from government programs. He said many of the patients served are people of color, and the majority have comorbidities such as high blood pressure, obesity or heart disease.

Its a risk to an underserved population, because it is certainly a risk to access to care, and a racial inequity issue when we look at that population of patients that get treated with dialysis, Goffman said. Unfortunately, nonprofits like Satellite will just be collateral damage.

Fresenius Medical Care and DaVita, two of the largest dialysis providers in the country, also oppose Prop. 29. Both companies have been major spenders during the campaign cycle to defeat the proposition. When contacted for comment by the Los Angeles Times, representatives of the two companies used similar wording in separate emails that theyre part of a broad coalition of people and organizations. Both directed The Times to speak with the No on Prop 29 campaign directly.

Kathy Fairbanks, a spokesperson for No on Prop 29, said voters and dialysis patients are confused on why dialysis keeps showing up on the ballot.

Dialysis patients keep getting stuck in the middle of these ballot measures, and SEIU-UHW claims theyre doing this to help patients, Fairbanks said. But putting them in a situation where theyre scared every two years about where they may or may not get dialysis is terrifying, because if you have failed kidneys, you have to have dialysis or you will die.

Reyes is well aware of the fear that arises from the life-threatening dangers associated with kidney disease, which is why he supports Prop. 29.

Reyes was diagnosed with diabetes in 1996. He was suffering from high blood sugar and kept needing to use the restroom. He started on medication, but when it began to affect his work as a machine operator he stopped. But the diabetes got worse, affecting his eyesight. He started dialysis in 2018.

A lot of people ask me, whats the treatment like, what do I think? he said. I take advantage to tell them my errors and why Im on dialysis. Ive told people that, when you feel something, dont wait. Because I waited, and look where Im at.

Earlier this year, in May, he went home to El Salvador to visit his mother. During his two-week visit, he went to seven dialysis treatments. He said a doctor was there in the clinic all day, ready to attend to patients if something went wrong.

He said Prop. 29 is the only way for things to change, because the companies will not change on their own.

I hope to God this proposition passes and they make changes, Reyes said. Were the ones who are suffering in the clinics. People who arent living this, theyre not interested.
Last year, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a $2.7 billion initiative to expand transitional kindergarten to all 4-year-olds. The state gave school districts only 13 months to prepare for the first wave of the expansion, which began this school year.

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Thats not much time, especially during a pandemic and in the midst of a dire teacher shortage. School districts had to make plans for implementing the new grade, hire teachers and aides, and find classrooms for the new students.

By far, staffing has been the largest challenge for districts. Statewide, districts need thousands of teachers and aides to staff transitional kindergarten classes throughout the four-year rollout of the expansion.

This year, some districts were able to meet most of their needs by moving teachers who were doing other jobs, including subbing, running reading programs or teaching other grades. Now districts are worried about finding qualified teachers for the next few years of the expansion. The scramble to find staff is also creating a domino effect on child care programs and preschools whose teachers are ideal candidates for higher-paying transitional kindergarten classrooms.

TK is a great opportunity for students and beneficial for families as well, but the rollout is so fast that I dont know that we have all the staffing and workforce available to meet the needs, said Noemy Salas, senior director of Early Childhood Education Programs for the Chula Vista Elementary School District in San Diego County. All of the districts are hiring. We are competing for the same teachers and that is a concern.

The California Education Department did not release guidelines for how to implement the expansion of transitional kindergarten until February of this year. Once they had the guidance, districts had to seek approval for their plans from local boards of education by June 2022 for a fall start date.

Education Deputy Superintendent Sarah Neville-Morgan said the districts had all of last year to plan for the expansion, and the multi-year rollout gives them several years to grow to meet full demand. In addition, she said her department worked directly with school districts, provided plan templates, and strategized with districts about how best to expand their transitional kindergarten classes even before the guidance was released in February.

We can completely see and understand they are feeling the pressure. They are dealing with multiple factors and trying to find staff and prepping classrooms for preschool-age children, said Neville-Morgan, who leads the Opportunities for All Branch, which oversees the early learning and care, multilingual support and special education divisions.

It goes back to seizing the moment. This was Californias moment to transform education.

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She points to the Education Departments efforts to help districts prepare and launch the program, such as informational webinars, and scheduling office hours so districts could ask questions and share concerns. The department also created workgroups and design teams to plan how to best carry out the expansion, and recently created a communications tool kit to help districts outreach to community members and parents. The Education Department has also offered grants to districts for planning, implementation, renovation and new construction, and teacher training.

The expansion was bold but the execution has been arduous, said Bruce Fuller, professor of education and public policy at UC Berkeley who also heads the Childrens Forum, which researches education issues in the state.

Ideally, expansion will accelerate in year two as more families learn about the TK opportunity and Sacramento distributes facilities, dollars, and trains necessary teachers in steadier fashion, moving beyond a glacial pace, Fuller said.

State education officials and legislators say the districts shouldnt have been surprised by the expansion because it has been discussed for years.

This is decades in the making. Its a big deal for California, for our kids, for our education and success, said Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, a Sacramento Democrat who is the chair of the Assemblys education finance subcommittee. McCarty authored a bill to expand transitional kindergarten that was later included in the governors budget.

For years McCarty and early education advocates pushed for expanding transitional kindergarten  and failed. But this time, several factors made it possible:

The pandemic required state officials to think differently about how to educate children who were not attending online classes or struggling academically;

Newsom made early education a priority and supported the expansion;

Plummeting school enrollment made room for 4-year-olds on campuses;

Political groups and labor organizations aligned on the expansion.

A lot of children during the pandemic stayed at home, and TK gives them a gentle on-ramp to our schools, Neville-Morgan said. Because more families kept younger children at home, we think having TK launched now creates some of those school readiness components.

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California transitional kindergarten was first offered in 2012 to 4-year-olds who turned 5 between Sept. 2 and Dec. 4. These children had previously enrolled in kindergarten but in 2010 a new law required children to turn 5 by Sept. 1 to enter kindergarten.

Now, with the expansion, each year of the rollout will see more children eligible to attend school based on their birth dates. By 2025-26, all 4-year-olds will be eligible.

At that point, up to 500,000 California children will be eligible to attend transitional kindergarten and more than 300,000 are likely to be enrolled, according to the Learning Policy Institute, a research organization focused on education policy and practice.

The institute estimates California will need 12,000 to 16,000 transitional kindergarten teachers and between 16,000 and 20,000 assistants for those classrooms.

There are several ways to become eligible to teach transitional kindergarten. A teacher with a multiple-subject credential with 24 units of early childhood development completed by August or a child development permit is qualified. There is also a temporary waiver available to teach for those with preschool experience, a bachelors degree and early childhood development credits.

In addition, the state is developing a new credential approved by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing last month. The PK-3 early learning credential will cover transitional kindergarten through third grade.

Deborah Stipek, a professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Education who is a member of the commissions Early Childhood Credentialing workgroup, said the state is helping with staffing on several fronts: teacher preparation grant funds, the development of the new PK-3 credential, and flexible paths for potential teachers to fill the available jobs.

I suspect that any schedule would have seemed too fast for some districts, Stipek said. They have a three-year runway, which seems substantial.

Jennifer Siebel Newsom talks student mental health, school meals in Napa Jennifer Siebel Newsom, wife of Gov. Gavin Newsom, arrived in Napa on Tuesday to take part in two education-related events focused on student mental health and school nutrition.

There are a couple of districts farther along in expanding transitional kindergarten, including San Diego Unified, which invited all 4-year-olds this year.

We worked around the clock to get teachers in the pipeline and kids in the seats, said Stephanie Ceminsky, director of early learning for the district. She said enrollment in transitional kindergarten more than tripled compared to last year and the district opened 189 classrooms this year.

Most districts are moving more slowly with the rollout schedule.

Los Angeles Unified needed 500 teachers and aides to staff the expansion this year, said Dean Tagawa, executive director of the districts Early Childhood Education Division. But with reassignments of current staff, Tagawa said his department only hired 20 people outside the district.

As the largest district in California, Los Angeles Unified had a roster of qualified teachers because it has several programs for kids under 5, including transitional kindergarten, state preschool classrooms, and early education centers for 2- to 4-year-olds. It also ran various programs over the years that targeted 4-year-olds for school readiness.

It was like we just kept moving, Tagawa said. It wasnt as challenging and we had the teachers already.

For other districts, it has been tougher and there is still anxiety about finding enough teachers.

Sacramento City Unified has 346 kids enrolled, said Aida Buelna, transitional kindergarten administrator for the district. It has 19 transitional kindergarten classrooms, up from 10 before the expansion. Buelna said the district plans to add another 15 to 19 classrooms next fall.

There was no way we were going to be able to do this all at once, Buelna said. For next year, we want to start hiring early.

At Chula Vista, finding teachers for the dual language immersion transitional kindergarten classrooms, where students are taught in two languages, has been even more challenging because they require an extra certification, Salas said.

In the process of building out transitional kindergarten, Salas lost at least 10 instructional aides working in the districts preschool program. Now, shell have to fill those jobs, too.

To find qualified teachers and assistants, districts are looking directly at the legion of child care and preschool teachers already working with 4-year-olds at private and nonprofit preschools and child care centers. Some programs have lost teachers and aides to districts, which pay more and offer summers off and pension plans, and preschool and child care providers are worried about losing even more as districts need more teachers in the next few years.

They are the best ones to be teaching TK but its leading to stress on both sides, said Rita Palet, executive director of early education programs and services for the San Diego County Office of Education. You are going to see that every new year  staff leaving preschool to go to transitional kindergarten.

Palet and other education officials say they support early education teachers who want to make the switch. But they say they feel as though the state didnt take into account how difficult it would be for child care and preschool programs to fill the gaps left by departing staff and students.

We have highly institutionalized state preschool and Head Start programs. You cant just move those kids and move those teachers instantly without doing real damage, Fuller said. I dont think anybody thought through how slowly those tectonic plates, that are interrelated, would be moving.

Neville-Morgan and McCarty said recent increases in the reimbursement rates the state pays providers for child care and preschool for low-income children should help with hiring and retention. But advocates and providers say the increased rates are not enough to meet state staffing requirements for younger children, who require more adults per child than 4-year-olds.

In California, the typical center-based preschool teacher with a bachelors degree earns about $42,600 a year compared to $84,700 for a transitional kindergarten teacher, according to a June study by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at UC Berkeley.

The center found that nearly half of all preschool teachers have a bachelors degree or higher and three-quarters have a child development permit. The center has been advocating for an expedited certification pathway for preschool teachers based on a similar process for private school teachers who are able to get a multiple-subject credential without attending a preparation program, said Elena Montoya, senior researcher at the UC Berkeley center.

Teachers who might leave their work in a preschool to go work in TK may love their job and love what they are doing, said Montoya. But they may have to make this choice because their wages are not enough to subsist on.
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YEREVAN.  Zhoghovurd newspaper of the Republic of Armenia (RA) writes: According to Zhoghovurd dailys information, many MPs of the [ruling majority] "Civil Contract" Faction of the National Assembly were not surprised that no document was signed after the October 31 meeting of RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and RF [(Russian Federation)] President Vladimir Putin in [Russias] Sochi [city].

The thing is that a circle of [these] MPs was aware that RF had submitted a document consisting of 15 points, whose points 14 and 15 were problematic for both sides. In particular, the MPs told Zhoghovurd daily that point 14 referred to the extension of the term of the Russian peacekeeping mission in Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)], which Armenia was in favor of, Azerbaijanagainst, and point 15 referred to the issue of self-determination of Artsakh, which Azerbaijan was also against.

Although the issue of self-determination of Artsakh is not settled by the western version [of the Armenia-Azerbaijan] either, taking into account the neutrality of the RF side after the [military] actions of Azerbaijan [against Armenia] in September, the ruling [political] team [of Armenia] remains inclined to the western version and the normalization of relations with themcutting off the connection with the RF.

In any case, as of now, the future of the [Russian] peacekeepers [in Artsakh] is uncertain, and although Pashinyan had said he was ready to sign the issue of extension [of their mandate in Artsakh], it never happened.
The US is committed to Armenian-Azerbaijan peace and negotiations between the two countries, said the US State Department spokesperson Ned Price during the press conference.

The reporter noted that on Azerbaijan-Armenia there was no tangible progress yesterday in Sochi other than this glorified statement by presidents.

Is it your impression, that both side are still interested in signing a peace contract by the end of the year? Is there any room for the United States to weigh in and to keep  help them keep this candle lighting, if may? the reporter asked.

Mr Price, in turn, noted we, of course, were not a participant in this meeting. It is not for us to speak to. But to the latter part of your question, Secretary Blinken has emphasized this repeatedly, including when he brought the two foreign ministers together in New York.

We are committed to Armenian-Azerbaijan peace and negotiations between the two countries.

We believe direct dialogue is key to resolving issues and to reaching that lasting peace, and that lasting peace, by the way, that both countries have stated that they seek.

So, well continue to engage over the next months to facilitate discussions between Armenia and Azerbaijan, bilaterally, with partners, and through multilateral organizations as well.

Asked whether we should expect phone calls or meetings between the Secretary and the ministers, Price said that all of that is on the table.

We will do what it is we deem most useful to bring about the cause of lasting peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, he said.
The Ambassador of Armenia to the UK, Varuzhan Nersesyan, on Tuesday met with Tobias Ellwood, the Chair of the Defense Select Committee of the UK House of Commons.

During the meeting, Ambassador Nersesyan presented the security challenges in Armenias region, noting the impact of the recent large-scale military attack of Azerbaijan on the sovereign territory of Armenia and the need for the immediate withdrawal of the armed forces of Azerbaijan from the internationally recognized borders of Armenia.

Also, the ambassador emphasized Azerbaijan's continued use of keeping Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) as hostages, thus violating the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020. In addition, the ambassador drew his interlocutor's attention to Azerbaijan's inhuman treatment of Armenian POWs, noting the latest example of extrajudicial killing of unarmed soldiers.

In addition, Ambassador Nersesyan briefed MP Ellwood on the efforts of the Armenian government to establish comprehensive peace in the region, and emphasized the need to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through existing international mechanisms.

The parties exchanged views also on the future of Armenia-UK relations and discussed the avenues for further development of their parliamentary cooperation on international platforms.
Armenia's economy is experiencing a boom today. According to the data of January-September, the economic activity index was 14.1 percent. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced this in the National Assembly, at Wednesdays joint session of parliamentary standing committees, during the latters debates on the draft 2023 state budget of Armenia.

"Of course, this is an extremely important indicator. It is important to note that this pace gives us the opportunity to consider the results of 2022 to have overcome the net economic difficulties caused by the pandemic and war in 2020 and to restore the pace of our economic development. We can return to the pace of 2019 already in four years, with the results of 2018-2022.

It is also very important to evaluate this economic dynamics. Of course, some for political reasons, some for non-political reasons, say: what does the government have to do with this economic growth and success? I think the biggest role of the governments is that the country be maximally ready to face economic difficulties, and secondly, to take advantage of the opportunities for economic growth that can be created. Our approach was as follows, that the government should interfere as little as possible in economic relations, and deal more with issues of creating economic opportunities and overcoming economic problems.

Today, we are reaping the fruits of our policy of overcoming monopolies, our policy of eliminating oligarchy, our policy of ensuring everyone's equality before the law, and overcoming systemic corruption. This is what the government was supposed to do," Pashinyan added.
Armenia doesn't have any misunderstandings with Iran, the Armenian foreign ministry spokesperson says, Mehr News Agency reported.

Vahan Hunanyan told in an interview with Mehr that Armenia and Iran enjoy very long historical relations and these relationships are not only limited to governments, but also exist between the two nations.

Describing Iran as a key partner for Armenia, he expressed hope to see that these relations will become stronger in all domains.

"I think we don't have any misunderstandings with Iran," he said and added that Yerevan and Tehran do not have different opinions on most issues.

As a result, the two countries' relations will get stronger in the future, the Armenian diplomat noted.

Answering a question about his country's relation with Azerbaijan, he said, "Armenia seeks to establish peace in the South Caucasus region. In this regard, we entered into negotiations with the Azeri side but they always raise their maximum demands in the negotiations."

Hunanyan added that all the problems should be resolved at the negotiating table.
The existence of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border was recorded both in Sochi and Prague. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this in the National Assembly, at Wednesdays joint session of parliamentary standing committees, during the latters debates on the draft 2023 state budget of Armenia.

He noted that this fact allows the Armenian side to talk about Azerbaijan's actual aggression against the sovereign territory of Armenia.

"It has been managed to be recorded on international platforms that there is a border between the Republic of Armenia and Azerbaijan, which is specified by the Almaty declaration of 1991 and related documents, and it has been subjected to aggression," said Pashinyan.

He noted that the visit of the EU observation mission to Armenia became possible thanks to the recording of the above-mentioned fact.
YEREVAN.  The secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, Armen Grigoryan, on Wednesday received the head of the European Union (EU) monitoring capacity mission to Armenia, Marek Szczygiel, who is the Head of the EU Monitoring Mission to Georgia, the Security Council office informs Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Grigoryan welcomed the visit of the head of this EU mission to Armenia, and expressed satisfaction with the results of bilateral cooperation. The Security Council chief emphasized with confidence that this bilateral cooperation has the potential to contribute to the strengthening of the security environment in the region.

Szczygiel, for his part, expressed his gratitude for the assistance shown at both the state and local levels, in particular, he emphasized the high willingness to contribute to bilateral cooperation.

At the meeting, the interlocutors reflected on the activities of the EU civilian mission.
Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated Beijing's willingness to invest in Pakistan despite obstacles in recent years due to security concerns and the global economic downturn.

Jinping noted the strategic partnership between the countries during a meeting in Beijing with newly elected Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Xinhua reported.

During the meeting, he said he was very concerned about the safety of the Chinese in Pakistan and hopes that Pakistan can provide a safe and secure environment for Chinese institutions and personnel conducting cooperation in Pakistan.

Sharif's office said in a statement that he thanked Jinping for China's invaluable assistance to Pakistan's relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts after the devastation caused by the floods in the country.

The two sides agreed to accelerate the implementation of projects and discussed expanding Chinese investment in Afghanistan, it was noted.
The foreign ministers of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan had a conversation on the margins of the three countries' leaders in Sochi on Monday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"As for the meeting of the foreign ministers of the three countries in Sochi, it was not a meeting or negotiations of delegations, it was a conversation or face-to-face contact between the three ministers. And, of course, this conversation took place in the context of the negotiations that took place between their leaders. That's all I can say," she said.

Commenting on Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's statement that Yerevan is ready to establish relations with Baku on the basis of Russian proposals, and what proposals she was referring to, Zakharova quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin. "I would draw attention to Russian President Vladimir Putin's words regarding the fact that the discussion will continue, and we consider it incorrect to put some of the very sensitive issues into public discussion, because it may hinder the negotiation process," she said.

A meeting of the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan was held in Sochi on Monday and a joint statement was issued as a result of the meeting.
The official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has commented on the prospects of the "Zangezur corridor."

Answering the question of the Turkish Anadolu Agency as to how the Russian MFA evaluates the efforts of "organizing the Zangezur corridor," Maria Zakharova noted: "Well, we use the term 'route.'"

According to her, the issue of unblocking transportation links in the region was discussed at the summit held in Sochi, Russia.

"An agreement has been reached that the relevant work will continue within the framework of the tripartite working group under the joint chairmanship of the deputy prime ministers of Armenia, the Russian Federation, and Azerbaijan. Basically, as it was defined in the statement of the leaders of the three countries on January 11, 2021," said Zakharova.

The leaders of Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan met in Sochi on Monday, after which a joint statement was adopted.
The statements by the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, are ill-advised, disconnected from the logic of negotiations, and not at all allied and partnership-based. This was stated by spokesperson Vahan Hunanyan of the foreign ministry of Armeniaand in response to Sputnik Armenia's inquiry.

"They [i.e., the aforesaid statements] call into question the member-state obligations signed by him [i.e., Lukashenko] within the framework of the CSTO," Hunanyan added.

At the special session of the CSTO on October 28, Lukashenko had stated that Azerbaijan was not an enemy or opponent for the CSTO member states, and it would not be right to oppose the CSTO to Azerbaijan. He had emphasized that Azerbaijan was now headed absolutely by "our man, Ilham Aliyev." The President of Belarus had added that both Azerbaijan and Armenia are "close" countries for Belarus, and the conflict between these two countries should be settled in an absolutely peaceful way.

And during his meeting Tuesday with CSTO General Secretary Stanislav Zas in Minsk, Lukashenko said that he had long offered options for a peaceful settlement of the conflict between Baku and Yerevan, but Armenia did not agree to them, and therefore the president of Azerbaijan had been left with no other choice but using force.
The Sochi summit showed: Russia is too early to write it off, Russian political analyst Sergei Markedonov wrote in his commentary on the Bunin & Co. telegram channel.



"On the last day of October, a trilateral summit on the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict was held in Sochi. Commenting on the results of the complex negotiations, Russian President Vladimir Putin, outlined several fundamentally important theses. However, two of them deserve a special mention. According to the Russian leader, the meeting with Ilham Aliyev and Nikol Pashinyan was "useful", because it created the conditions for further steps towards the settlement of the situation in general. Putin didn't hide the fact that "not everything could be coordinated, some things had to be taken out of the preliminary elaborated at the expert level" of the joint statement of the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.



How do we assess the results of the Sochi summit? Can we say that Moscow has regained the informal status of the main moderator of Armenian-Azerbaijani settlement. The joint statement of Putin, Aliyev and Pashinyan is the fourth since the end of the second Karabakh war. Each of them has its own "zest". If the first documented the emergence of a new military-political status quo, the second proposed a plan for the economic rehabilitation of the region to transfer the conflict settlement from sacred business to pragmatic, and the third consolidated Moscow's special role in the peace process.



But less than a year passed between the third and fourth documents (published at the end of the Sochi summit on October 31, 2022). However, during this time, much has changed in the Caucasus, and in the post-Soviet space as a whole. The "Minsk Group" has in fact stopped its work, the EU has sharply intensified its mediation (from December of last year to August of this year in Brussels, excluding a meeting in the fields of the European political community in Prague). The Americans did not lag behind their EU partners either. At some point it seemed that Russia was sidelined in the peace process, and Moscow's involvement in the special military operation in Ukraine turned Karabakh into a non-core diplomatic asset. There was an impression that Brussels and Washington had taken the preparation of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty into their own hands.



However, the Sochi summit showed: It is too early to write Russia off. The Kremlin tried to seize the initiative. And if we estimate the text of the joint statement of October 31, 2022 in the context of understanding of the positions of Moscow, the paragraph about "key contribution of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in provision of security in the zone of its deployment" and "demand for its efforts in stabilization of the situation in the region" is very eloquent. As is the confirmation of the fact that the mediation efforts of the Russian Federation are needed by both sides of the conflict. Baku and Yerevan (at least on the official level) have already achieved unanimity on this issue.



But does this mean that the fact that the initiative has been taken over is undisputed? Certainly not. It is no less eloquent if only because of Nikol Pashinyan's trip to Tehran the very next day after the Sochi talks. Armenia seeks to hedge risks. The meeting of the commission on delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in Brussels is not far off. Already today, a mission of observers from the EU and OSCE representatives are working there. Compared with last year, today Russia is acting in a more rigid competitive environment. And here we are talking not only about the West, but also about the East. And the fact that after the Sochi talks the results were the subject of a conversation between Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan also testifies to the thesis put forward above. Russia is more complicated than yesterday. And tomorrow these difficulties will not disappear. However, Moscow has shown that its potential in the Caucasus must be reckoned with. No matter how complicated the Ukrainian puzzle is, the issues of Armenia and Azerbaijan remain important to Russia.
Simultaneously with the Armenian Prime Minister's visit to Tehran, Azerbaijan's State Security Service in an unproductive move announced the arrest of members of an armed group allegedly affiliated with Iran, publishing false and outdated information, IRNA writes.

Iran has a clear position on the South Caucasus and stresses that border changes are a red line and tensions should only be resolved with the involvement of the countries of the region, the publication said. In this regard Iran offered a "3+3" format to resolve the disagreements between Baku and Yerevan, but "the extra-regional interference and enmity of the Zionist regime (Israel - Ed.) with Iran and its influence on the government in Baku led the officials of that country to the point of not perceiving a clear message from Tehran and even in some cases to act contrary to the interests of the region."

Nevertheless, in order to de-escalate the situation, Iran invited the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to Tehran.

President Ilham Aliyev was also invited to visit Tehran, but due to Baku's delays the visit has not yet taken place.

Based on this, one gets the impression that the statement of the Azerbaijani State Security Service is a nervous reaction to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's visit to Tehran.

The Azerbaijani State Security Service published a statement claiming that it was investigating a group of Azerbaijani citizens who were allegedly with the Iranian secret service, which was engaged in their military training and financing.

Repeating its false claims, the State Security Service once again announced a warrant for the arrest in absentia of several individuals accused of leading a secret and illegal armed group in 2018.
The threat of the use of nuclear weapons by the Russian Federation exists and it is not related to the failure to comply with their ultimatums. However, one should not be afraid of the Russians, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview with Czech television.

"I'm not sure that there will be a nuclear war. I don't want to assess it, because Russia is very fond of doing the opposite. It hears some kind of a message, 'Oh, like Ukraine said, says what's going to happen? Let's make it so it won't be"... They say 'won't use nuclear,' and Russia says 'let's think about how to use it,'" Zelenskyy said.

The president explained that it is because of such actions of the Kremlin that he does not want to assess the possibility of nuclear war.

"I believe that Russia should not be feared, I do not believe that they are adequate. You shouldn't link Russian ultimatums or compliance with their conditions to 'if you don't comply, they will use (nuclear) weapons.'" This is a big mistake, absolutely unrelated things," Zelenskyy explained.
Belarus confirms its loyalty to its allied obligations in practice. Minsk has always consistently advocated a peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict, said the commentary of the official representative of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, Anatoly Glaz, published on the website of the ministry.

"You know, the Armenian Foreign Ministry has taken a very original position. Loyalty to its allied obligations has been confirmed by Belarus not in words, but in deeds throughout its history. The current difficult moment is one of them. It is unprofessional to question this obvious fact. Integrity is one of the features of our foreign policy. This is why our partners and allies can have confidence in us in the future. If other countries behaved the same way, many problems could be avoided. It is absolutely clear that the approaches voiced by the President of Belarus are not out of touch, but on the contrary - are based on reality, are clear and honest in an allied way. It is in this open way, without political games and intrigues, that questions should be discussed when we are talking about people's lives and destinies. At the summit, which, given the haste with which Armenia convened it, was held online, N.V. Pashinyan was present and gave all the necessary comments to his colleagues, the heads of states. Why this belated assessment by the Armenian Foreign Ministry? Let me remind you that the Belarusian side has consistently advocated the peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict, making significant efforts in all available formats, both multilateral and bilateral. Former and present leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia are grateful to the Head of the Belarusian state for his sincere desire for peace and prosperity of all peoples of the South Caucasus, for his personal contribution to the normalization of the Azerbaijani-Armenian relations. Therefore we recommend our friends and partners to carefully read and re-read the numerous speeches of the Belarusian head of state on this difficult but solvable issue," said Glaz.

Earlier, the Armenian Foreign Ministry commented on the statements of President Alexander Lukashenko on the role of the CSTO in the security of Armenia. The Foreign Ministry of Armenia considered the resonant statements of the Belarusian leader as non-alliance and out of touch with reality. The Foreign Ministry believes that these statements call into question Lukashenka's own commitments as a CSTO member.
Netanyahu on course to return to power

Benjamin Netanyahu, flanked by his wife Sara, addresses supporters in Jerusalem, declaring Likud is "on the brink of a very big victory". Photo: AFP

Israel's former premier Benjamin Netanyahu appeared set to return to power on Wednesday, saying his right-wing camp was on the cusp of a great election win, after exit polls predicted his bloc gaining a slim parliamentary majority.



"We have won a huge vote of confidence from the people of Israel," a smiling Netanyahu told cheering supporters at his Likud party election headquarters. "We are on the brink of a very big victory."



His voice hoarse from weeks of campaigning across the country, Netanyahu vowed to form a "stable, national government," as the crowd interrupted him singing "Bibi, king of Israel."



Lifted by a strong showing from his far-right and religious allies, Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption he denies, was on course for a comeback, according to Israeli television exit polls late on Tuesday, which predicted his bloc of four parties taking 62 of the Knesset's 120 seats.



Less than 18 months out of office, Netanyahu said he would wait for the actual vote count, with final results expected in the coming days.



The record 12-year consecutive reign of Israel's longest serving prime minister ended in June 2021 when centrist Yair Lapid managed to stitch together an unlikely coalition government of liberals, rightists and Arab parties.



But the fragile alliance unravelled a year into its rule.



As actual results began trickling in, Lapid stopped short at conceding the election and said he would wait until the final count.



Exit polls late on Tuesday predicted his camp would take 53-54 Knesset seats, far behind Netanyahu.



"The people want a different way. They want security," Netanyahu said, "they want power, not weakness... they want diplomatic wisdom, but with firmness."



Israel's fifth election in less than four years was dominated by the outsized personality of Netanyahu, whose legal battles have fed the stalemate blocking Israel's political system since 2019 and deepened the split between his supporters and opponents.



The campaign was shaken up by firebrand West Bank settler Itamar Ben-Gvir and his ultra-nationalist Religious Zionism list, now poised to be the third-largest party in parliament after surging in from the political margins.



Netanyahu has been counting on support from Ben-Gvir and fellow far-right leader Bezalel Smotrich.



But the prospect of a government including Ben-Gvir, a former member of Kach, a group on Israeli and US terrorist watchlists, and who was once convicted for racist incitement, risks alarming allies including Washington.



In an apparent attempt to allay fears abroad, Netanyahu, who in 2020 forged formal diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, said a government under his leadership would act responsibly, avoid "unnecessary adventures" and "expand the circle of peace."



Nonetheless, his possible comeback reinforced Palestinian scepticism that a political solution to the conflict was likely after a campaign which unrolled during increasing violence in the occupied West Bank, with near-daily raids and clashes. (Reuters)
Bangladesh opposition leader Dr Kamal Hossain and his daughter Sara Hossain have been found concealing substantial income from foreign sources earned from legal services rendered in the country, according to domestic media reports, and many are questioning whether they will face any action for these. According to the country's top television channel, Hossain has claimed involvement in several international arbitrations in 2019. Still, income from these have not been shown in his income tax returns for the relevant assessment year. Fresh questions have arisen after a High Court order for maintenance of the status quo on the pending case against the Hossains for allegedly concealing their law firm's income. Experts did not also rule out the possibility of a "biased" ruling by the court, since the Hossains practiced there and were known to wield much influence. Tax lawyer Shahnaz Parveen Dolly said: "Hossain's most recent tax evasion transgressions appear to be his misleading the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, where he practices as a senior advocate. The case concerns the allegation of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) that Hossain and his daughter, Sara Hossain, through their law firm, surreptitiously evaded more than Taka 6.85 crore in tax payments in the 2018-2019 tax year." Noting that there are very few instances where the High Court has interfered with the workings of a tax tribunal and quashed a case against tax assessees who have allegedly concealed their incomes from the tax authorities, she said that the Hossains are rare beneficiaries of the exercise of such powers by the High Court. "In the case of ordinary citizens, such powers are almost never exercised by the courts to protect tax dodgers." The crux of the case is that, for assessment year 2018/2019, the NBR found irregularities in two Standard Chartered Bank accounts, owned and operated by both the father and daughter. For assessment year 2018/2019, the proceedings of which has now been stayed by the High Court, Hossain received $216,718.04 for which no evidence has been provided to the country's financial watchdog or the High Court. In the arbitration proceeding between Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Ltd and Tanzania, he and two other lawyers who worked as members of the Tribunal were paid these hefty amounts. Moreover, he served as a member of numerous international arbitration cases, including the Iran-US Claims Tribunal, and the international tribunals dealing with maritime disputes between Malaysia and Singapore, and Guyana and Suriname. In his own curriculum vitae, Hossain list at least 18 such cases for which he was highly paid. Under Section 17 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 1984, the total income of any assessment year of any person includes all income, from whatever source derived, which is received or deemed to be received in Bangladesh by or on behalf of such person in such year or accrues or arises to him outside Bangladesh during that year, cited another lawyer. NBR's former Chairman Abdul Majid, in a television interview, stressed that law is equal for everyone but any exception is regrettable. Any income earned overseas needs to be disclosed in the tax return, he said, adding that any lack of accountability, in case there is no disclosure, raises the the risk of money laundering. While in a writ petition, Hossain's law firm admits to receiving payment from overseas for legal services, he stands accused of misleading the High Court Division where he practices as a senior advocate. In a stark contrast to the lower court decision, the duo obtained a ruling from a High Court division bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice S.M. Maniruzzaman, asking the government to explain why the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal decision against their firm should not be quashed. Ironically, in the case of all other citizens, such powers are almost never exercised by the courts to protect tax dodgers, according to legal experts. Experts are increasingly vocal that specially privileged persons like the Hossains should not be allowed to get away with concealment of their actual overseas income earned as residents in Bangladesh because that sets a bad example for tax enforcement. "The allegations brought against Kamal Hossain and Sara Hossain by the NBR raise serious concerns about tax evasion by persons who often claim to be vanguards of equality before the law. Yet, instead of facing the allegations in an open court, these 'above the law' elite resort to abusing the process of the court in order to put the cases against them in deep freeze, away from the gaze of the ordinary citizens for whom the laws remain applicable," A.K.M. Zakir Hossain, a professor at a public university, said. Despite repeated attempts to reach out for comments, Hossain declined to talk to the media. Hossain, an Awami League turncoat, ended up leading the opposition Jatiyo Oikyo Front, in which both BNP and the pro-Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami were included, during the last parliament polls. Asked about his political volte-face, his highhanded responses to the media, drew widespread condemnation from all quarters. "How much have you taken for asking me this question," is how he once responded, showcasing his abhorrence to facing uncomfortable questions. Hossain's son-in-law David Bergman is also a known pro-Pakistan propagandist who has opposed the 1971 War Crimes trials. "It won't be farfetched to say the offensive blitz launched by Bergman against the current government surely driven by his father-in-law's ambitions," veteran Bangladesh watcher Sukhoranjan Das Gupta said. --IANS sumi/vd ( 924 Words) 2022-11-01-23:18:01 (IANS)
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], November 2 (ANI/NewsVoir): The 10th edition of TrafficInfraTech Expo along with Smart Mobility Expo, Parking InfraTech Expo and Road InfraTech Expo will take place in Mumbai from November 16-18, 2022 at Hall no 4, Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai. Organised by VIS Group, the Show is in tune with the Government's vision of strengthening all node of transport - Roads, Railways, Airports, Ports, Mass Transportation, Waterways, and Logistics Infrastructure - and of providing safe mobility with the inclusion of technology. In 2022-23, the National Highway Network would be expanded by 25000 kilometres, with a budget of Rs 20000 crore (USD 2.67 billion). With so much of focus on strengthening India's mobility space, the event will be the perfect place for solution seekers to meet the technology/product providers in Traffic Management/Technology, ITS, Tolling, Telematics, Parking, Mass Transport, EVs and new Mobility. With participation from over 200+ brands, 5000+ business visitors, from 20 countries including USA, the UK, UAE, Germany, Israel, Australia, the Expo will have latest products and systems in ITS, IoT, AI & Blockchain, Logistics, Vehicle Telematics, Delineator; Road Safety, Traffic Monitoring, Smart Parking App, ATCS, New construction technology, New Mobility and many more will be on display under one roof. The Expos will be an ideal platform to witness technological advancements, meet technology/solution providers, identify key market trends and to meet & learn from the experts. Some of the innovative products/technology that will be exhibited include surveillance systems, public access systems and access control system high-quality video security products, Toll Automation, Parking Management & ATMS; Smart city solutions ATCS, smart parking, big data analytics and intelligent streetlights. At the Expo, one can witness a complete range of enforcement technology solutions: ANPR enabled-software that is built with advanced AI helps monitor and identify vehicles in real-time. In addition, integration with intelligent video analytics software can enable applications such as vehicle counting, average speed detection, stationary vehicle detection, and wrong way detection. With this information, traffic flow throughout the day can be calculated and traffic violations can be identified immediately, enhancing road safety. The visitors can see camera-based parking management and parking detection solutions for on-street and off-street parking monitoring. There are solutions for Traffic Survey & Data Analysis, 4D imaging radars to provide real-time solutions to detect bridges, vehicle-under-the-bridge scenarios and manholes. Also being showcased are intelligent Fleet Safety Solutions. Another focus area at the expo is the showcasing of technology and solutions for durable pavement construction. The show is supported by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, powered by Mumbai Metropolitan Road Development Authority, and supported by organizations like National Highways Authority of India Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation, The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking, National Highways Builders Federation, Association of State Road Transport Undertaking, CSIR-Central Road Research Institute, Builders' Association of India, Association of Multimodal Transport Operators of India and others. Conference The three-level conference covers topics like Town Planning and Transport Infrastructure; ITS with 5G and beyond; GPS based Tolling; Technical presentations on Utilisation of Steel Slag in Road Infrastructure, Innovations in Pavement technology and materials, Next Generation Road Safety, Multi-Modal Integration: Infrastructure, Policies, Inter-operable transport card, Mobility as a Service and Micro Mobility; Future of Parking in India, Taking India's EV based sustainable transport System to the next level and more. Established in the year 2000, Virtual Info Systems Pvt Ltd has grown into a successful and internationally acclaimed organizer of specialized trade shows and publishers of industry-specific premium vertical magazines. Over the decade, the company has been providing up-to-date industrial and business information, focusing on its mission of spreading awareness on matters including Smart Mobility, Professional Cleaning, Hygiene Solutions & Sustainable Building Technology, and contributing in the making of a Smart, Sustainable and New India. Additional Information The Bharatmala Pariyojana envisages development of about 26,000 km length of Economic Corridors, which along with Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) and North-South and East-West (NS-EW) Corridors are expected to carry majority of the Freight Traffic on roads. Further, about 8,000 km of Inter Corridors and about 7,500 km of Feeder Routes have been identified for improving effectiveness of Economic Corridors, GQ and NS-EW Corridors. The programme envisages development of Ring Roads/bypasses and elevated corridors to decongest the traffic passing through cities and enhance logistic efficiency; 28 cities have been identified for Ring Roads; 125 choke points and 66 congestion points have been identified for their improvements. This story has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content in this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
Leading industry body Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has announced Subhrakant Panda as its President-Elect. Panda, who is currently the Senior Vice President of FICCI, shall succeed Sanjiv Mehta as President of the apex chamber at the conclusion of the 95th Annual General Meeting to be held on December 16-17, 2022. Panda is Managing Director of Indian Metals and Ferro Alloys Ltd (IMFA) -- which is the country's leading, fully integrated producer of ferroalloys with captive mining and power generation employing 6500 people. He has handled various responsibilities in IMFA and implemented expansion plans after he was appointed Managing Director which led to significant growth in revenue and profitability. Commenting on the announcement, FICCI President-elect Mr Panda said, "I consider it a privilege to helm this great institution at a crucial time." "Even as the India growth story gathers momentum, there is work to be done pushing the reforms agenda further besides engaging with stakeholders on important issues such as decarbonisation and sustainability. I will work to strengthen FICCI and take these forward." Notably, he is the first industrialist from Odisha to take up a leadership role in FICCI. India is seen to have emerged as a bright spot at a time when the global economy is facing turbulence; with his deep understanding of the economic and industry issues, Panda is determined to strengthen further FICCI's position as the leading industry chamber which will contribute to the India growth story through its engagement with various stakeholders, the industry body said in a statement on Wednesday. The President-Elect has been active in FICCI for two decades and was the first Chairman of the FICCI Odisha State Council besides heading the FICCI National Manufacturing Committee. Panda was also Past President of the International Chamber of Commerce (India Chapter) and the Paris-based International Chromium Development Association (ICDA). (ANI)
Amala Paul, who has been doing phenomenal work in Tamil, Telugu and Malyalam films, will be seen doing a special appearance in the action extravaganza and will be playing a key role opposite Ajay. She will be joining the team in the next schedule which is being planned for December this year.

Helmed by the 'Tanhaji' actor 'Bholaa' is an official Hindi remake of 2019's super hit Tamil film 'Kaithi'. The original film revolved around an ex-convict who decides to meet his daughter for the first time after being released from prison but gets caught in a face-off between police and the drug mafia.

'Bholaa' marks Ajay's fourth directorial film after 'U, Me aur Hum' in 2008, 'Shivaay in 2016, and 'Runwav 34' in 2022.

The film stars Ajay Devgn himself and actor Tabu in the lead roles.The official release date of the film is still awaited.

Tabu and Ajay have shared the screen in films including 'Vijaypath', 'Haqeeqat', 'Thakshak', 'Fitoor', 'Drishyam', 'Golmaal Again' and 'De De Pyaar De'.

Apart from 'Bholaa', the actors will also be seen in 'Drishyam 2'.

Helmed by Abhishek Pathak, the film also stars Akshaye Khanna, Shriya Saran, Rajat Kapoor, and Ishita Dutta.

Apart from these, Ajay will also be seen in producer Boney Kapoor's next 'Maidaan' and director Neeraj Pandey's next untitled film which is all set to hit the theatres on June 16, 2023. (ANI)
Actor Sushmita Sen's brother Rajeev Sen and sister-in-law Charu Asopa's daughter Ziana turned a year older recently. Marking her niece's first birthday, Sushmita took to Instagram and penned an emotional note. "Look at that strong and mysterious Phoenix!!! Born a Scorpio for a reason!!!May you always Rise and Rule!! Happpyyyyy 1st Birthday Ziana!!!May God bless you with his best always!!! Thank you for gracing our lives!!! #BuaKiJaan," she wrote. In the birthday message, Sushmita tagged the birthday girl's parents. Reacting to the post, Charu dropped a string of red heart emojis in the comment section. After seeing Sushmita's heartfelt post for her niece, many fans lauded the Miss Universe for showering the little one with love and staying away from commenting on the troubled marriage of Ziana's parents Rajeev and Charu. After giving their marriage a second chance, the duo has once again decided to part ways reportedly.Rajeev reportedly blocked Charu on Instagram, while she deleted all his pictures from her social media. Charu tied the knot with Rajeev in 2019 but soon after their marriage, reports of their divorce started circulating. The two became parents to daughter Ziana in November last year.The two headed for divorce a few months ago. However, they decided to stay together to be with their daughter. In September 2022, Charu dropped a family picture featuring Rajeev and their daughter Ziana from Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations along with an announcement they are keeping their Marriage for good."Marriages are made in heaven but it is left to us to make it work. Yes, we announced that we are ending our marriage and realised that we had reached the dead end and nothing beyond. Divorce was an option we were considering and we won't deny that. Happy to announce that we have decided to keep our Marriage for good, We both are blessed with a beautiful daughter ziana & we wish to give her the very best as parents. Her upbringing & happiness is our number one priority. We want to thank all our fans for always supporting us as a couple & never giving up on us. Thank you everyone for blessing Ziana with so much love. Charu & Rajeev," she wrote. Going by the latest reports, it appears that Charu and Rajeev's marriage is on the verge of ending. In one of the recent interviews, Charu said that Rajeev cheated on her during her pregnancy. (ANI)
Celebrated food writer Julie Powell, whose popular blog the 'Julie/Julia Project' inspired Nora Ephron's final feature film, 'Julie & Julia,' passed away due to cardiac arrest on October 26 in her home in Olivebridge, at the age of 49. According to Variety, Julie's husband Eric confirmed the news of her demise to the New York Times. Powell set out to cook every recipe in Julia Child's 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' and document her journey on her blog. 'Julie & Julia,' starring Meryl Streep as Child and Amy Adams as Powell, was based on the food blogger's journey and jumped back and forth from the 1950s to the early 2000s. For her work, Streep received a nomination for best actress at the 82nd Academy Awards. As per the reports of Variety, Powell started the 'Julie/Julia Project' on Salon.com in 2002 after becoming disenchanted with her pointless job with the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. She quickly developed a big following; according to Salon, her page received about 400,000 page views by the end of the year. Soon after, Powell agreed to publish her blog as a book with Little, Brown & Company. 'Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen,' the resulting book, was released in 2005. After that, Powell wrote 'Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession,' another novel on cuisine that combined her time in Kingston, New York learning how to butcher with reflections on her and her husband's extramarital activities. John Foster and Kay Foster welcomed Powell into the world on April 20, 1973, in Austin, Texas. With a bachelor's in theatre and creative writing from Amherst College, she earned her degree in 1995. According to Variety, Powell is survived by her parents, John and Kay, her husband Eric and her brother Jordon. (ANI)
Taking to Twitter, FM Sitharaman shared a picture and wrote, "With a team of volunteers and well-wishers watched #KantaraMovie in Bengaluru. Well made @shetty_rishab(writer/director/actor). The film captures the rich traditions of Tuluvanadu and Karavali."

https://twitter.com/nsitharaman/status/1587816045275885568

Replying to the Finance Minister, Rishab Shetty tweeted, "Thank You Mam."

In the picture, FM Sitharaman could be seen posing with the volunteers inside a cinema hall.

Helmed by Rishab Shetty 'Kantara' was released on September 30 and gathered a massive response from the audience for its storyline and amazing visuals.

Previously, legendary south actor Rajinikanth also praised the actor for his film.

According to trade expert Taran Adarsh, the film has minted over Rs 47 crore in the Hindi market after 19 days of its release and has already crossed the lifetime collection of actor Yash's 'KGF: Chapter 1.'

After the massive response, fans on social media started the #KantaraForOscars trend and demanded that the film has to be considered for the Academy Awards.

Produced by Homable Films 'Kantara' starred Rishab Shetty, Pramod Shetty, Achyuth Kumar, Sapthami Gowda and south actor Kishore in the lead roles.

In the past couple of years, many south Indian films like 'Baahubali', 'KGF', 'Pushpa', 'Karthikeya 2' and now 'Kantara' got a worldwide appreciation for their amazing content. (ANI)
Taking to Instagram, Tara shared a couple of pictures which she captioned, "And so it begins.. This wild ride to play #Apurva."

https://www.instagram.com/tarasutaria/

In the pictures, the 'Heropanti 2' actor could be seen donning a black crop top paired up with black track pants and matching boots.

Apurva is an edge-of-the-seat thriller and will see Tara Sutaria in a never seen avatar, based on a story that will keep audiences hooked right to the very end.

Earlier in July, Tara announced the film on her Instagram with a special post that she captioned, "Fearless has a new face, and her name is #APURVA! I am so honoured and thrilled to play such a strong, powerful young woman. Apurva is a game of survival with impossible odds. A nerve-wracking tale that keeps you hooked till the end."

About 'Apurva', the 'Student of the year 2' actor earlier stated, "I couldn't have asked for a better script and as a young woman it makes me proud to be able to play Apurva. This is a story of a girl whose grit and inner strength is remarkable, and I'm thrilled to begin my journey in portraying a young woman whose intelligence, wit and courage are the reasons she survives against all odds."

'Apurva' marks the 26-year-old actor's first female-oriented film of her career.

Produced by Murad Khetani and directed by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat, the official release date of the film is still awaited.

Meanwhile, Tara was recently seen in an action thriller film 'Ek Villain Returns' which gathered decent responses from the audience. (ANI)
Kareena Kapoor Khan shared a glimpse of how she is spending a day off from the shoot with her baby boy Jeh on Wednesday. The 'Jab We Met' actor, who is currently shooting for Hansal Mehta's project in London, posted cute images with her younger son Jeh. In the pictures, Kareena was seen spending time with Jeh in the park. The mother-daughter duo looked adorable in winter outfits. The 42-year-old actor was seen dressed in a blue denim shirt and jeans that she paired with a jacket and black boots. https://www.instagram.com/p/CkdUWR5IJEK/ On the other hand, her little munchkin was seen wearing a grey outfit with half red jacket. Jeh posed away from the camera and was seen amazed by the tall trees around him. In one of the pictures, he was seen hugging and kissing the tree. Sharing the pictures, she wrote, "Kiss a tree..Be free...Fall with the love of my life #Day off from work...Loving it." Kareena and Saif tied the knot in October 2012 in a private ceremony in Mumbai. The couple was blessed with Taimur in 2016 and later in 2021 they became parents to Jeh. Speaking of the project, it is being helmed by Hansal Mehta. It is co-produced by Ekta Kapoor and Kareena. On working with Kareena, Ektaa has earlier shared, "Kareena has been an actor with a huge, admirable (almost envious) body of work... and while her male co-stars turned producers in due course, she's finally joined the bandwagon now! I've always believed that women have an equal part or play in the business and success of a film." Ektaa added, "It's been a hard journey, but an encouraging & happy one! I'm so glad that today, we can empower each other like this! Here's to wishing Kareena Kapoor Khan the best on her journey as a producer...adding another feather to her already illustrious career! May we have more of her in our tribe!" Apart from that, Kareena will be next seen in director Sujoy Ghosh's next thriller film which is based on the book The Devotion Of Suspect X. It also stars Vijay Varma and Jaideep Ahlawat. Kareena flew down to London a few days ago and ever since the actor has been sharing many posts to keep her fans updated.(ANI)
According to a study, children whose mothers test positive for COVID-19 have lower severe symptoms than their parents, if they become infected with the virus at all. In one of the first studies to explore how COVID-19 specifically affects older infants, researchers from the University of Washington and at institutions at four other locations in the Western and Southern U.S. found that the number of infected people in a household was the factor most closely linked with the infant's likelihood of being infected. "The focus on infants early in the pandemic was about possible transmission risks during pregnancy, birth or through breastfeeding, but there were other questions about the risks in the household to infants and other children when caregivers are sick," said Melanie Martin, assistant professor of anthropology at the UW and the first author of the study, which published Oct 12 in Frontiers in Immunology. "Infants are in the most contact, and very close contact, with their caregiver than with any other family members. And so we asked, how much are infants at risk, and how do you protect children when they are sick?" The study analyzed surveys and antibody results (taken from pin-prick blood samples) of 46 pairs of COVID-positive mothers and their infants for two months following maternal infection. Infants were at least 1 month old, and COVID-positive mothers were enrolled in the study within days, sometimes hours, of receiving their positive PCR test results. The researchers also recruited a comparative group of 11 COVID-negative mothers, who tested negative after exposure or symptoms, and a control group of 26 mothers with no known COVID exposures or symptoms. In all, about half of the infants of COVID-positive mothers developed symptoms or antibodies indicative of COVID-19 infection. The rates of infection and symptoms in those infants were similar to those of other household children, but lower than for fathers and other household adults. None of the COVID-negative mothers or their infants tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, including one infant who tested PCR positive. While nearly half of the mothers in the control group had antibodies targeting SARS-CoV-2, likely signaling a previous infection they were unaware of, none of their infants did. Infant age and maternal symptoms were not associated with risk of infection among infants of COVID-positive mothers, but families with greater numbers of infected family members were more likely to have infants who had tested positive. "Infant infection was mostly related to household infection. The risks to infants were not stemming solely from their mothers; there was just transmission in the household," Martin said. Researchers noted that the study was limited by its overall sample size, and that data relied on participants' own reports and collection of blood samples. With some COVID symptoms nearly impossible to assess among infants -- headache, loss of smell or taste -- and others, such as a runny nose, common outside of COVID, researchers noted that parental perception of symptoms could vary. The study was conducted from June 2020 to March 2021, before vaccines were widely available, though one COVID-positive mother and some of the mothers in the control group had received a first dose during the study. The researchers removed the samples taken after vaccination from their analyses, but observed antibody responses following vaccination in those mothers. Nearly all infants in the study were breastfeeding. While the researchers weren't able to directly test for protective effects of breastfeeding against infection, the breastfed infants who had been exposed to COVID did not appear to be at higher risk of infection than other children and adults in the household. In a previous paper, the researchers found that none of the milk collected from the infected mothers contained SARS-CoV-2 virus. Most milk samples contained antibodies to the virus for up to two months following infection. "Overall, the risks to COVID-19 exposed infants in this study were minimal. The findings support recommendations for infected mothers and other caregivers to continue infant care and feeding as usual, including breastfeeding," Martin said. The study was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the UW Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology, the UW Department of Anthropology, and the Washington State University Health Equity Research Center. (ANI)